The Primal Hunter

Mission: Mysterious Organization Double-Agent Infiltration went much more smoothly than Jake had expected. After he left the Baron’s place, Jake went and just relaxed in the city for a day as he sat down and did a bit more crafting. After this day, he left the city again, still disguised as a scalekin.

Once a good distance away, and when he was sure no one was watching, he changed himself back to looking like – and Identifying as – a human before flying back toward the city with his stealth skill active while also wearing his usual getup. Once he got close to the mid-sized city again, Jake dispelled his stealth skill while still flying up in the air, instantly feeling many gazes on him.

This time, he showed no subtlety but just flew into the city. During the conversation with the mysterious hooded figure, the person had told him to go to the Guild and say that he had lost the package during transportation, and while Jake wasn’t a fan of doing that, the Baron and Duke assured him they would still report the job as completed successfully to not impact Jake’s reputation negatively.

However, as it turned out, this wasn’t even necessary…

Shortly after Jake entered the Guild, and before he even had a chance to approach one of the employees, a regular-looking guy sitting off to the side of the room sent him a telepathic message.

”Excuse me, you’re a Courier, right? Might you be coming out of Hillspring City? I have an aunt living there, and I heard some bad news…”the person said. Disregarding how weird it was to send a telepathic message to say something like that, Jake knew this was just a probing question.

”I am indeed. The trip was long, but when you have an important delivery to an even more important client, you cannot slack off too much,” Jake replied. ”One in high places, both figuratively and literally.”

”You have arrived earlier than I expected,” the person said when he affirmed Jake was the one. ”I am here representing a mutual friend. Please play along.”

Due to the speed of telepathy, Jake had barely entered the Guild as the man sitting close to the door stood up and opened his arms wide. ”Bloody hell, you’re finally here! Lizzy has been on my ass since she heard you were coming. Good to see you, buddy.”

The man went over and dragged Jake into a hug, Jake naturally playing along. ”You know how it is with work and everything. Can’t always know my schedule ahead of time, but hey, I’m here, aren’t I?”

”That you are! Now, let’s get going before she rips both of us a new one!”

Jake did as asked and nodded as the two walked out together while making idle chatter. No one seemed to care about the reunion of two old friends, and Jake and the other guy quickly got away from the Guild as they headed toward a large mansion close to the outer walls, no one following them.

The man Jake had met was barely C-grade, and someone Jake later came to learn was pretty much just a middleman who worked for a wealthy lady – Lizzy - in the mansion. However, in order to appear less suspicious, the two of them acted as if they were in a relationship. These were the first two people Jake met, who he confirmed were part of this organization, even if they were auxiliary members who pretty much carried out direct orders without questions while knowing pretty much nothing about the organization that employed them.

Once in the mansion, Lizzy and the man introduced themselves and, after some probing questions, fully confirmed Jake was who he said he was. Jake was subsequently led into a cellar beneath the mansion, where he was left alone with a token and surrounded by quite a powerful barrier. One definitely not made by the two C-grades living there.

Down in the cellar, Jake activated the small token the pretend-couple had given him, and soon after, a familiar hodded figure appeared.

”I am glad to see you are reasonable, not only in your decision to take us up on the offer but by not delaying your arrival needlessly,”the figure said right away, not even saying hello or anything.

Jake had already taken out a chair before he used the token and was currently sitting in a relaxed pose. Very purposefully, mind you. He had been fronting himself as a powerful individual with this organization before, and he was going to keep doing so.

”Eh, I thought I might as well get things done quicker this way,” Jake shrugged.

”Nevertheless. It was a wise choice, and I hope you continue to make wise choices,” the figure answered. ”Now, could you confirm the nature of the item the Infernal Baron wanted you to deliver? Show it to me?”

”Patience, patience. Before all that, let me just explain things a bit from my viewpoint,” Jake said as he leaned forward and looked directly into where he suspected the eyes of the hooded figure would be. ”I am right now stuck between two factions. Some nobleman Baron, and a shadowy organization that has been semi-threatening me from the get-go. I am entirely neutral toward this Baron as I, quite frankly, don’t know shit about him. Meanwhile, you have made less than a stellar first impression, which I would heavily advise you to address. Especially as I also get a strong impression you want more than just to buy a delivery from me. So, how about we start with some honesty before we proceed? Who exactly are you?”

The figure was silent for a few moments, Jake getting the feeling the person was consulting with someone. After a few seconds, they spoke again. ”Very well… how much do you know of the Infernal Baron and the family he belongs to?”

”Fuck all,” Jake shrugged.

”Then allow me to enlighten you...”

Jake got his second lore dump of the last two days as the figure explained most of the same things the Duke of Flames had. It mentioned how it was a big family, how their patriarch was a duke and near the peak of A-grade, and how their Path included consuming – thus killing – elementals as part of their Path. Of course, the tone of the explanation was a lot different than the Duke’s.

While the Duke of Flames had presented everything with a sense of pride and matter-of-fact, this figure had a lot more emotion. It was clear they didn’t like the family at all. Fact-wise, things were pretty much the same, though, and Jake got the impression neither party was lying about anything. They just had their own spin on things.

”As for our organization… we oppose the Duke of Flames and the actions of his vile spawn. They are a scourge upon this world, and cleansing it of their presence would be a blessing,” the figure finished. ”As for details… I will need to see if you truly have the delivery in question before saying more.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

By now, Jake thought he had done enough to not appear like a pushover. He hadn’t been entirely subservient, which was exactly how he wanted things to be. Same as with the Duke of Flames. Jake was a contractor, not an employee, so the person who hired him wasn’t allowed to say jack-shit about how Jake did things, and he wanted to make it very clear he always had the option of giving them the middle finger and quitting, if just out of pure spite if they tried to fuck him over.

”Alright, fine,” Jake said as he dug into a pocket in his cloak and took out the Sealed Elemental, which he had re-cast a stable arcane barrier on. Quickly erasing the barrier, the shadowy figure used Identify on the item, confirming its authenticity but making no moves for Jake to hand it over.

”The genuine delivery indeed,” the figure said with a nod. ”Thank you for trusting us with this… but before we continue, may I ask you. If you were to choose between supporting the dukedom that I told you about or an organization you knew borderline nothing of but who opposed this dukedom, who would you support?”

The question sounded genuine, but Jake didn’t really appreciate the fact that the barrier he was standing within apparently also had the ability to discern lies. At least the figure tried to find out if Jake was lying using it, naturally failing upon encountering Shroud. It would under usual circumstances, that is, but this time around, Jake let it go through as his honest answer was one he was fine with the organization knowing.

”I would support whoever offers me the most. I became a Courier to challenge myself and to gain as much recognition as possible as I grow my reputation and rank. Who I work for doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things as long as I benefit,” Jake answered genuinely. Of course, he didn’t include the part where he only did all this to get a lot of Nevermore Points and a great Grand Achievement, but hey, they didn’t ask.

”A purely selfish approach where pragmatism takes precedence, I see… but let me ask. What do you think of elementals? How do you see them?”

”With my eyes?” Jake said with a smirk. ”But in all seriousness, I can’t tell you how I feel about an elemental before meeting them, now can I? People are different, and I am sure some of them are assholes.”

Once more, Jake allowed the lie-detector skill to fully work. Based on all the context clues, Jake was pretty damn sure this organization was very pro-elemental and cared a lot about them, so making himself appear sympathetic toward them would prove beneficial. Also, it was pretty easy to say he didn’t have anything against elementals, considering he didn’t.

”You referred to elementals as people… I hope you realize how rare that is,” the figure said.

Shrugging, Jake kept up his casual demeanor. ”I mean, considering I have a niece of sorts who is an elemental, it would be very weird for me not to consider them people.”

Alright, technically, Sylphie wasn’t just an elemental but a weird mix between beast and elemental, but that did make her at least partly elemental, which made Jake’s statement not a lie.

”I see… I believe I can explain a bit more about who we are and what we stand for, and with this explanation, you will understand who you should truly support…”

Once again, it was lore dump time. As expected, the group that hated the Duke of Flames could be summed up as a hardcore elemental rights organization. Not the peaceful protest kind either, but the type to actively try and kill every single member of the dukedom in what they felt was a justified position. The figure even explained how killing anyone who helped the dukedom in any way was the right thing to do. Even if that help only came in the form of being a poor E-grade farmer.

That is when Jake learned that the ”inconsequential challenges” the Duke of Flames talked about them doing for nearly a century were things like this elemental rights organization slaughtering thousands of E and even some D-grades in the Duke’s territory in what were effectively terrorist attacks.

Something the Duke evidently didn’t give a shit about. He only started to care when the organization began to mess with his ability to collect rare elemental variants. Oh, by the way, rare variants tended to also be the sapient sort and not the regular mindless elementals, so… yeah.

After listening and assuming everything he had learned about this scenario was true, Jake reached a conclusion:

They both fucking sucked.

Alas, Jake was not in the Challenge Dungeon to pass judgment, and he was in no position to. At least not yet…

Luckily, the shadowy figure was finally finishing the lengthy explanation of the organization’s goals, and just in time before Jake decided the Grand Achievement wasn’t worth listening to the extremist speech.

”… and once the elemental race can once more roam freely, fearless of the monstrous Duke and his spawn, only then will our quest be complete. Only when the Path is driven to utter ruin and every single person of that horrible Lineage dead is it time to celebrate. When their legacy is nothing but a bad memory! So let me ask you, Courier… are you willing to be on the side of justice?”

”If justice is the one who offers the best terms, then yes,” Jake said, not buying into the extremism. ”But hey, if it’s also fighting the good fight, that’s just a nice bonus.”

”I understand you do not share our conviction, but not to worry, that is no requirement. As a Courier, let your actions speak. So let me request of you your first mission. We need information on the Duke of Flames from an insider, and we believe that you could become that insider. Be our agent at his side who will assist us. Of course, to do that, sacrifices must be made, and while it is a shame that a young Soothfire Elemental will meet its end in such a horrific way, the Sealed Elemental must be delivered in order to not raise suspicion. So, are you willing to assist us?”

As the person said this, not one but two notifications popped up. One saying he had completed a side job, and one giving him another.

Special Courier Side Job Completed.

Special Courier Side Job: Deliver the Sealed Elemental to the Infernal Baron.

Objective: Package delivered (0/1)

Accept Side Job?

So… yeah, Jake had to head back to the Infernal Baron again to deliver the Sealed Elemental for the second time to the same person. It was a bit silly, but Jake was pretty sure he had just gone from being a potential double agent to now potentially being a triple agent.

Also, Jake learned that somehow, the organization knew the name of the elemental within the Sealed Elemental item… which made him suspect they maybe somehow knew all along? In either case, shit was getting complicated, and Jake hoped he would be able to keep up with all the nonsense going on.

After Jake left the mansion, he headed straight for the Infernal Baron’s place again. He still went through the trouble of disguising himself and whatnot, pretty much just putting on a show as he felt people keep an eye on him – showing the organization still wasn’t super trusting quite yet – as he made his way to the Baron.

Of course, the Baron also knew that Jake could be under surveillance, so everyone acted as if it was Jake’s first time going. Once he was finally in front of the Baron and re-delivered the Sealed Elemental, the questioning began.

Jake only gave half-truths as he explained his meeting, ending with the organization potentially wanting Jake to join. He purposefully didn’t mention anything about them wanting Jake to infiltrate the Duke’s faction but did throw in that he believed that was something they could want down the line.

So, to summarize, Jake was now working with the dukedom to infiltrate the elemental rights organization that wanted Jake to work with the dukedom, who wanted Jake to infiltrate the organization, who wanted Jake with the dukedom… both sides believing they were the smart cookies who had thought up this wonderful plan, not knowing the other party had the exact same idea.

Where did this leave Jake? Well, from an outside perspective, he could now openly associate with the dukedom faction. He also didn’t need to be careful if he ever met with the organization, as that was what the Duke expected Jake to do. Yep, things were definitely a mess, and Jake was looking forward to what kind of high-octane mission he would receive as what he would describe as an infinite loop agent.

”The first step has been taken, but we still need to work through the Guild, seeing as you are a Courier. We will need some time to organize things, and we will contact you soon. However, to ensure that you qualify for the next task, it would be pertinent to work on improving your reputation as a Courier and upgrade your Medallion,” the Duke of Flames said as their meeting finished, pouring water all over Jake’s hopes and dreams.

That’s right… it was back to grinding regular old Courier Jobs, showing that even when one moved up in the world to become an infinite loop agent, one still couldn’t quit the grind.