章 575: Hitting the Books
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It didn't take much for everything to unfold now that Jon got involved. He was right, some scenarios don't just happen without his interference even with his friends working hard on them.
In Riften, Maven Black-Briar met with Jullanar at last and gave her a job. Jullanar was of course disguised as Sparrow and she could a few words out of Maven. Surprisingly and despite how Maven was upset with Jon, she didn't accuse him of sabotaging her work in Riften or even getting in close contact with Honningbrew Meadery, her rival in the mead business.
"Jon Dare may be arrogant and moves around without accounting consequences but he is by no means someone who would waste time like this. Such petty actions don't even bother me but they rather harm your guild, Little Sparrow."
Seeing Maven say such words to her and aside from the bad vibes, Jullanar was left with a few clues on what exactly is going on. She knows that Jon knows but he only reveals what makes things easier for her but not ultimately easier to the point where she can breeze through all the missions he gives her.
Yet for Maven to see through Jon to such extent. It is true that enemies walk on narrow paths and would understand each other over time. Jon and Maven had an unspoken animosity as she thinks that Jon is the one who killed her son but still has no proof and can only hate him in agony without having anything to do about it other than keeping Riften out of his grasp.
Jullanar had to travel to Whiterun afterwards and infiltrate the Honningbrew Meadery as a skeever exterminator. The plan was to go in, kill the skeevers, go into the brewing chamber, ruin the mead and wait for a tasting agent that arrives from the Jarl's palace. Once the ruined mead is served, it will cause the reputation of the Honningbrew Meadery to plummet and for the Meadery Owner to be imprisoned. Maven Black-Briar would then interfere and seize the Honningbrew Meadery eliminating her biggest competition in Skyrim.
There is more to the plan actually.
Before the meadery operation, the Golden Glow estate was also part of a small company conspiracy against Maven Black-Briar. Once the Thieves Guild cleaned up the estate, they found a document directed to the owner with orders to harass Maven and cut her supplies. The same sort of document carrying the same insignia was found at the Honningbrew Meadery and it had information that would cause the Competition against the Black-Briar Meadery to tilt in the favor of the Honningbrew Meadery.
And that was hardly the end of it.
After investigating further, the Guild found out that the Golden Glow estate was sold to an anonymous buyer and the Honningbrew Meadery was invested in by the Dare Dragon Company.
A lot of fingers were pointed at Jon Dare almost immediately but it wouldn't be possible since Jon himself uses the network of the Thieves Guild to conduct deals such as buying estates and conducting such large transactions.
Both Jon Dare and Maven Black-Briar are the lifeline of the Thieves Guild thus despite how the two hate each other, they make consideration to not harm the guild which does their dirty bidding and thus the Thieves Guild is outside all their investment struggles
Those fingers pointing towards Jon didn't last long, however, as offending one of the patrons and an old member of the guild always comes with a price. It was also easy to retort to any accusation towards him regarding those matters.
But that wasn't the most important happening in the Thieves Guild at the moment. For some reason, the Leader of the Guild, Mercer Frey became so energetic as of late. He was always depressed and clueless for the past three years but now he is back to the top of his game which should be something good for the Guild but many felt the opposite. Mercer started hiring thugs and mercenaries in large numbers and even made very hasty moves in the open with the blessings of Maven of course.
But to what end? Despite the obvious rash behavior Mercer has shown, no one could even hold a speck of dust against him. There was a reason why such a crafty Thief is the leader of the Thieves Guild despite his lack of popularity among the thieves. He is good… insanely good at that… or that's what the world believes.
Jullanar became very aware that there is something behind Mercer's return to the limelight especially after a big job lately but many dismissed her worries as Mercer being old and crafty or some nonsense she didn't buy.
Leaving Jullanar and her worries aside, Jon was back in Winterhold in his study with his wife after the two seemed to have done it as they finally had a private moment together.
Alina was smiling ear to ear now that she has Jon all for herself and forgot to rally Jonrad's message to him… not that it mattered at the moment.
"Let's go on an adventure… all by ourselves." She suggested.
"Straight out of nowhere? Where to?"
"We traced a few books about the Eye of Magnus but they were stolen. You already know that. We launched an investigation and found where they were taken. I am tasked with their retrieval. It is going to be on a mountain north to Whiterun overlooking the White River."
"I understand. So we are finally Hitting the Books?"
"Hitting the Books?" Alina asked.
"Nah, just something I predicted. So a man & wife adventure time is it?"
"I wouldn't have taken it any other way."
***
Finally and after some long time, Jon and Alina visited the College all by themselves and took their badges as they submitted, going on a mission together. It is rare to see Jon doing some voluntary work for the college but as a powerhouse of his own, seeing him doing this assures the people whom he takes care of especially after the incident where he paralyzed the whole city once.
Inside the college, it seemed that the Thalmor advisor Ancano was very active trying to recruit some members into his cause to take the initiative to research the Eye of Magnus and caused quite the headache for the others. He kept going on about how the Thalmor should be involved in this investigation but it seemed that Arch-Mage Savos put him in his place by calling him out in a meeting and telling him to quit bothering the scholars and researchers over some customs that aren't even approved by the Magic Society. With that, a rift formed between Ancano and Savos Aren causing the latter to keep looking for excuses to try and distance the important matters away from the former.
Regarding Jon and Alina and after finishing up with all the preparations, they traveled on Flame Horse Atronachs together like the old days without even taking a portal. The road trip was meant to be a fun activity for only the two of them and they managed to make the most of it. The war is not that active around Winterhold thanks to [Lust] and what it did last time and Jon himself sent a few messages full of hard languages to the two sides of the war to not be so confident and threaten the trade routes of Winterhold.
For one man to cause two warring sides to take this war elsewhere, this is the kind of character Jon Dare can be if he fully flexes.
After a couple of days of traveling in the snowy winter, Jon and Alina reached Fellglow Keep, the place where the books were thought to be. This place was crawling with Rogue Mages, the sort that goes behind the laws and commits crimes in order to attain particular types of powers. Those kinds of mages are sometimes not any better than bandits and are hostile to anyone who trespasses their territories, they also recruit the poor locals with magic talents and promise them a chance to hone their powers but it's all a hoax.
As expected, those Rogue Mages met Jon and Alina with hostility the moment they were spotted. The two of them were wearing their College robes and looked too classy compared to those rogues.
"Halt! Leave this place at once. Your kind is no welcome here!" A Dunmer mage blocked the path for Jon and Alina with some of his peers a flame atronach backing them up.
It didn't look more dangerous than a mere band of straggler thieves who learned some tricks judging by the weapons they carried alongside the spells they evoked. A real mage wouldn't rely on mundane weapons if they are adept with the arcane arts which disqualify those people from being proper magic casters to begin with. Even the Atronach they had wasn't controlled by any of them but rather summoned through a ritual and functions as a sentry.
Alina seemed to be intending to repay hostility with hostility and wipe out those rogues but surprisingly enough, Jon touched her shoulder and conveyed to her that it is better to use diplomacy in such a situation.
Alina looked at him doubting the actions of her murderous husband but ended up watching as he spoke.
"Greetings! We are from the College of Winterhold and we are here on official business with the leader of this coven." Jon said.
"The College?"
The name put those men in a pinch just by mentioning it. A bunch of untalented spellcasters like them doesn't even qualify to set foot in the College let alone compete with a genuine mage in magic combat but…
"I knew it!" The Dunmer on the lead said, "More of a reason to turn around and leave. Our leader made it clear that the people of the College are no welcome here."
Jon and Alina exchanged looks with her trying to convey that they should go blasting spells and kicking ass until they get what they are here for. The thing is Jon wanted to play this one in a different way.
"Alright. Can you at least rally to your leader that we are here? I want to confirm whether she'd meet us or not so that…"
*Spark*
One of the mages cast a minor lightning spell towards Jon's leg as he was speaking. It landed on the ground as it obviously missed but the mage tried to make it look like a warning shot.
"Got stones in your ears? We are not receiving any visitors." He shouted.
Jon wasn't even triggered by the spell nor did Alina. This sort of child play wasn't even at the level that can kill a dear.
"Well… at least I tried."
With a wave of his hand, a gust of wind struck the mages and forced them to stagger down before a very tiny web of scattering bolts spread all over the surroundings and knocked them all down.
"You didn't kill anyone?" Alina asked in surprise.
"Do I need to?" Jon replied, "I have something in mind for coming here so let's not kill anyone."
"Why don't you wear the skirt and I wear the armor?" Alina said with an unsatisfied tone before laughing cheekily as Jon stared at her.
"If you want to go all out, do it with a proper opponent else it would be called Arcane Bullying. And don't worry, it is just right behind those walls."
***
Jon and Alina stormed the Keep together with nothing that can be related to the word strategy. In fact, it was a mixture of abuse and kidnapping. The two of them didn't go with the big innovative spells and returned to the basic ones such as [Fire Bolt] and [Frostbite]. They were acting as if they were giving their opponents a chance but in truth, they were just having fun bullying folks around.
Whoever was taken down in the fight would be dragged to Jon's Cube and be imprisoned there in a special cell Jon especially made. After cleaning the Keep's underground area, a few high-level mages appeared and posed a little challenge to Alina but she still gave the same handicap she gave to the others and still won without any difficulty whatsoever. A former student of the College was found, a High Elf named Orthorn who seemed to be the one who assisted this group of rogue mages to steal the books Alina is after.
The moment he saw Alina and Jon, he recognized them almost in an instant and unlike the game, he didn't dare to even ask for help when he was tricked and caged by those rogue mages. Alina simply opened his cage and ordered him to run back to Winterhold and present himself to Faralda who oversees the College Security.
The interesting thing about those rogue mages and unlike most groups, there were good ones among them and they managed to capture and experiment upon vampires. Jon was really into figuring out what they after and understanding their work. He left the vampires they capture intact and merely put them to sleep so they don't use the chance and escape.
And to answer those questions about the nature of their research, there is no better than asking the lead of the circus herself. The Leader of the Rogue Mages, the Boss in the Last Room, the Woman known as the Caller.
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