Eldritch Exorcist

42. Emergency return

I left the hut where Ophelia rested, happy that my new apprentice was doing relatively well. I quickly paid a visit to Astrid’s house, but she did not explain to me about her eyes, this apparently being a secret enforced by her god.

I tried some strange things to see if she would react, but she either did not see them or kept a stone face. However, she did seem to follow me with her eyes, so I wasn’t sure.

I did explain to her how I found out the god’s titles, as it was still part of the deal. The trick was simple. The knowledge granted by a god could only be accessed by the person receiving it. But shortly after being bestowed with it, it would take time to settle into the subconscious. For a short while, it was like an exposed nerve, a new foreign construct in the body. And just as the tongue subconsciously will go over a wound in the mouth, so too does the consciousness attempt to do something about the new knowledge.

So if the mind is panicked and stops having access to rational responses and starts looking for instinctual ones, there is a chance it will tap into the granted knowledge, even without training.

After the short explanation and some more small talk about the ritual and how it went, I was back in the hut granted to me and the cat. Q’Shar was currently out with the people being released from here, trying to catch some phone service to check how the agency was doing.

It was after a couple of hours that he came back, not looking too happy.

“What happened?” I asked immediately.

“I have good and bad news. The good news is that we finalized the property. The land is officially yours, the Vatican part is also done.”

“That quick?” I asked, surprised. The documentation had taken over a month, but the Vatican registration was done in just a day.

“Yes. The registration is fast. It’s just that they don’t have people to do it, so I used a favor to process it the same day.”

“Ok, and the bad news?” I asked, not seeing a reason for him to be this pissed when he entered the room.

“We need to return as soon as possible. When Mark, the CEO, called us to let us know the papers were processed, he also mentioned that he received two offers for the very same land we just acquired. One was accompanied by a substantial amount of money and another by a very serious threat to him,” said the cat with a serious face.

I clicked my tongue. “Fuck. Others found out.”

“Yes. They might try something soon. We need to be back as fast as possible. How’s the girl doing? Can she leave tomorrow morning?”

“She should manage. We don’t have much of a choice now.”

He paused. “And are you sure about her? You think she has what it takes?”

“Yes. I’m pretty sure after what I saw. As long as she deals with the fear and grief, she should make an excellent mage.” I lowered my voice. “Also, I think I might not have found that fire giant guy by accident.”hing. What did she get herself into?