Return of the Runebound Professor

With everyone’s introductions done and tensions rather low in the clearing, there were only a few things left that Noah had to take care of before he and the others could return to Arbitage, which would come with its own host of new problems.

And so, while everyone else was distracted by a mixture of Lee, Jalen, and the general absurdity of the situation as a whole, he made his way over to Yulin.

The girl stood at the edge of the clearing, a clear separation between her and the others. Alexandra had been keeping her company and trying to get her to mingle with the others to little success.

Noah had been forced to wait for Alexandra to head off to get them some food before he made his move. He trusted her, but this wasn’t something he wanted to do with other people around. It made things more difficult — and whether Silvertide knew it or not, his words still rung in Noah’s head like an echo.

There was no room for weakness. No room for mercy when the people that depended on him were involved. He wouldn’t be cruel, but there would be no chances. No opportunities for someone to take advantage of idiocy.

Yulin looked up at Noah as he arrived behind her. Neither of them had to say a word. She didn’t even look surprised at his arrival. She just quietly nodded, then followed Noah through the blackened trees and into the forest.

They walked for several minutes in silence. Noah took those moments to sift through his thoughts. Yulin was a student, no older than any of the others. She’d also gone out of her way to help everyone, going so far as to put her own life at risk.

Those were huge marks in her favor. Noah highly doubted that Jakob or Verrud had planned to kill Isabel at the cost of their own lives. Of course, he had no delusions that the two of them were the only ones aware of her rune.

They had only been the beginning. If they’d known, then higher members in the families had known as well. Yulin could have been a plant from someone even higher up, set in case her professors had failed. She certainly had the training to pull it off.

Noah shook his head. Conspiracy theories without anything to base them on would get him nowhere. All he knew was that, from here on out, the Torrins and the Herrons were functionally his enemies. It just remained to be seen where Yulin’s allegiances truly laid.

He and Yulin came to a stop after about ten minutes had passed with the only sound being the crunch of the dry ashen sticks beneath their feet. The scent of burnt wood lingered in every part of the Scorched Acres, and this one was no different.

For some reason, it was oddly comforting.

Noah turned to face Yulin.

“Are you going to kill me?” Yulin asked quietly, her features bearing no more expression than a still lake.

“That’s an odd question to ask in such a calm tone.”

“It would make sense. I am associated with your enemies. I am surprised you did not do it earlier, but I suspected that you knew your students would not approve and so you were waiting for a more opportune time to act.”

“You knew that and you didn’t run?” Noah tilted his head to the side, a habit that he’d mistakenly built up during the time he’d spent in his Spider persona — one that he wasn’t so sure he’d be shaking off anytime soon.

“Running would be pointless. You escaped from the Damned Plains. I think you’d be able to hunt down a Torrin on the brink of exile. They would accept me back in, but with Jakob dead, there is little use for me in the near future. I would be given up the moment you made it clear you were hunting for me.”

Man, this is almost sad. She’s so resigned to whatever fate she gets dealt that she barely even seems to care about her own life. I just can’t tell if this is an act or if this is genuinely what the Torrins have made her into.

“I doubt the Torrins would be so willing to work with me after what I did to their last head—”

“You were just a bystander.”

Noah arched an eyebrow. “I think we can get past the bullshit for today, Yulin. We’re in a very unique spot, you and I. One where there’s no point to keep secrets.”

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“Because you’re going to kill me.”

“Because I’m either going to kill you or you’re going to join my side,” Noah corrected. “And regardless of what you end up doing, my secrets remain safe. Thus, I don’t feel any fear in revealing that I killed Evergreen. She had it coming.”

Not going to mention that Lee and Moxie were involved, though. I really don’t care what the Torrins think of me at this point… but I’m going to have to take the last few steps to gaining power before I let them find too much out. That’s a problem to deal with after this.

“She probably did,” Yulin admitted. “She was a cruel woman.”

“She was,” Noah agreed. “Killing her was one of the best things I’ve done here.”

“Here?” Yulin asked.

Noah shook his head. That was a secret that she wasn’t getting anytime soon. “Let’s focus on the topic at hand, Yulin. I want to know why.”

“Why what?”

“Why did you help my students? If you hadn’t, Jakob and Verrud likely would have gotten what they wanted. Was it to take revenge on them for the way they treated you?”

“No,” Yulin said. “I am a servant. To serve is my duty.”

“That’s the bullshit that the Torrin family hammered into your head, and I don’t buy it for a second.”

A tiny smile flickered across Yulin’s lips. “No. Neither do I. But that is still the answer the world must hear.”

“And the answer that I hear?”

Several seconds passed before Yulin spoke.

“Marley was an insufferable spoiled brat that used me like a toy and punching bag. Jakob saw me as an emotionless weapon to be used in the training of his brat. I never cared. That was just life… until I ran into Alexandra. She wanted to train with me just because it was fun. No ulterior motives. She just wanted to talk and fight. At first, I viewed it as reconnaissance for the mission. I didn’t realize how much fun I was having until it was too late.”

“Alexandra was safe, though,” Noah pointed out. “She was nowhere near the fight. You brought her to it.”

“She would have been distraught if the others were killed. I was just repaying a debt.”

“So it was purely transactional. That’s what you’re trying to say? You only helped because you felt you owed Alexandra for giving you a few moments where you were actually treated like a human.”

“Yes.”

I’m not so sure I buy that. This was more than repaying a debt.

“That was a lie.” A quiet voice echoed through the trees around them.

Noah and Yulin both looked to their left as Aylin stepped out from between two scorched trunks and approached them.

“You followed us?” Yulin asked, blinking.

“I asked him to,” Noah replied. He put a hand on Aylin’s shoulder. “He’s particularly good at pulling the truth out of situations. I would have preferred that we could speak with just the two of us for a little longer, but I trust he’s come to a decision if he’s revealed himself.”

“She’s been honest about everything but two answers,” Aylin said. “She doesn’t believe that she was repaying a debt, and she didn’t view it as transactional.”

Yulin stared at him in surprise. “How could you possibly know that? Are you a Mind Rune user?”

“No.”

“Answer his questions honestly, please,” Noah said. “And well done, Aylin. It doesn’t look like you took a bite out of her.”

“I am doing my best,” Aylin said, his voice slightly terse. He was definitely exerting more than a little effort to make sure he didn’t mistakenly start snacking on the Torrin.

There were a few seconds of silence. Then Yulin grimaced. “I might honestly prefer if you just killed me.”

“At this point, I’m really not feeling all that inclined to do so,” Noah said. “You don’t have an ulterior motive. My only concern was if you were working for someone above Jakob or Verrud. But I don’t think that’s the case, is it?”

“It isn’t.”

“Truth,” Aylin said.

Yulin heaved a sigh. “This is so embarrassing. I helped because I’ve never had a friend before. I didn’t want Alexandra to be sad or angry at me. I wanted to be able to keep training with her. That’s it.”

Noah didn’t need Aylin to say anything. The Knowledge Demon gave him a slight nod, but it was practically pointless. Yulin was telling the truth.

“That’s a reason I can get behind,” Noah said. “Most anything other than not working directly for the Torrins to kill Isabel would have been, honestly. But now you’ve got a new problem to figure out.”

“You mean you’re not killing me?”

“I already said I wasn’t a while ago. But you are going to have to figure out what it is you want to do. Because if you want to keep training with Alexandra, that means you’re joining up with me — and turning against the Torrin family. I know you gave an excuse of following Emily, but I think we both know that won’t hold up with them. You’ll be their enemy. Is that fine with you?”

“Yes,” Yulin said without an instant of hesitation.

Normally, Noah would have been concerned about such a hasty decision, but he wasn’t really all that surprised to see how much Yulin disliked her family. He hadn’t liked the vast majority of the Torrins he’d met himself — though the few he did like more than counterbalanced his distaste for the rest.

“Then come on. Let’s head back to the others. I’ll look into getting you assigned to me or Moxie as a student,” Noah said, turning on his heel and striding back toward the others.

“Is that even possible?” Yulin asked, hurrying after him alongside Aylin.

Noah threw a wry glance back over his shoulder at them. “I came back from the dead. I think I can recruit an extra student along the way.”

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