The Succubus

7

Matt swallowed. No one would be getting murdered for that skill shard. However, judging by the look on the party leader’s face and the crowd’s growing laughter, a brawl was about to break out anyway.

Matt hoisted Zephyr up and whispered, “Start moving. We need to move. Now.”

Before he could get Zephyr balanced on his wobbly legs, the man who had been pushed aside earlier spat at the party. “Hah! That’s what you arrogant pricks get for cutting—”

Before he could finish, the son of Brackus of Brackus Holdings snatched the skill shard out of the reader and hurled it at the man. While he ducked to the side of the projectile, his attacker took that opportunity to bash him in the face. With the first punch thrown, both parties went at it, and it immediately spread to the rest of the room.

People took the opportunity to get aggression out or settle grudges.

Matt pulled Zephyr along, no longer trying to be subtle and just trying to find the edge of the fighting. He didn’t want to get crippled by an errant blow from someone multiple Tiers above him. Benny wouldn’t cover the cost of healing him after all.

They had almost made it when something hit him from behind. As he and Zephyr tumbled to the ground, Matt picked out a gleam under a broken chair leg.

It was the skill shard.

Matt's world slowed.

He glanced at Zephyr and saw the man was completely out of it, eyes closed, mouth slack.

I have to take the chance. It may be useless for most, but I could use it. I just hope this doesn’t get me killed.

Matt quickly grabbed the chair leg, and the skill shard with it. As he pulled Zephyr back to his feet, he raised the chair leg threateningly while letting the skill shard slip into his sleeve.

Carefully, he swung the chair leg at someone’s back and let that knock the wooden weapon out of his hands. Then he switched the arm he held Zephyr with, trapping the skill shard in his elbow.

The feeling of the small crystal shard pressing into his flesh haunted Matt’s every step and pumped adrenaline through his veins like never before.

Once he and Zephyr were out of the brawl, he carried the old drunk to his room, quickly dumping him on the bed before heading to the maintenance room. As Matt closed the door and ensured he couldn’t possibly be seen by Zephyr, and before he fully stepped into the hallway in view of the cameras, he shoved his right hand into his pocket and let the skill shard slide down his sleeve and fall in.

His heart was racing, but not from the fight. He had been an unwilling participant in more than one of them. No, it was the danger of the stolen skill causing him to spiral.

When Matt entered the maintenance room, he prepared to make tables and chairs as a cover. Benny popped in not five minutes later, once the noise died down a bit.

“Oh, good, you already started. And I saw you getting the old man out of there. I can’t charge him rent if he’s dead. So, good work.”

Matt resisted the urge to scowl when Benny made callous statements like that. He had practice. The comments were commonplace.

“No problem, Boss. What’s the damage? Do we need more tables or chairs?”

“Tables. People can eat standing up, but no one wants to eat on their lap. If they wanted to sit, they wouldn’t use my chairs as fucking weapons.” With that, Benny stomped out.

Matt let out the breath he’d been holding.

He’d almost shit himself when Benny said, ‘I saw you.’ Matt expected Benny to check on him, but if he had seen him steal the skill shard, Benny would have just killed him. Useful or not and lazy as he was, Benny still treated his customers like they were his only source of income. Which they were.

Matt knew he shouldn’t be checked on for the rest of the night, and there were no cameras in the maintenance room. The spare tables and chairs were kept in a separate storage room, so there should be no interruptions while he hid the skill shard.

If the arrogant party complained the skill shard was missing, which Matt bet they would, Benny would try and appease them by searching the staff. It was Benny’s standard practice, so he could say he did his best, then do nothing else.

Matt grabbed a finished table and wedged it under the door handle. Then he went to the desk and pulled out his pad.

It was an older model that had seen numerous repairs by Matt and the previous owners. He pulled out a shim, carefully pried off the back, and immediately ripped out the speaker. The pad’s sound system was subpar and intermittently went out, so it was no real loss.

In the newly opened space, Matt carefully placed the skill gem. It was a close fit. Thankfully, the shard was oblong, a little less than an inch long and a quarter inch wide in the middle.

He quickly inspected his work and guesstimated it would work. Most of the cramped internals were taken up by the screen. The processor was small, and the mana battery was even smaller. He had the skill shard nestled in next to the battery right where the speaker had been.

Matt grabbed a hot glue gun. After an eternity waiting for it to heat up, he applied a drop under the skill shard, stopping it from rattling and giving its hiding place away.

As fast as his shaking hands could move, he closed the pad back up and checked to make sure it still worked. Nothing seemed amiss. Matt shook it to see if he could hear anything move.

Not a sound. It was perfect.

After cleaning up and putting everything away, Matt smiled and was about to get back to making tables when he saw the small speaker. He couldn’t leave it out. It wasn’t like anyone else came in here, but leaving any clue to his theft was stupid, suicidally so.

He proceeded to smash the small speaker until only an indiscernible powder remained, which was tossed to intermingle with the dust and debris already in the shop.

With the evidence of his theft taken care of, Matt removed the table he used to bar the door against interruptions and began making new tables. After about an hour, the shouting started. Matt repressed a smile. Shortly after that, Benny came in with the irate party leader.

As soon as Brackus's idiot son saw Matt, he started screaming, “Did you steal it, boy?! I’ll fucking kill you if you took it!”

Inside, Matt smiled. That was all he needed to hear. It was a question, not a statement.

Outwardly, Matt put on a surprised face and stood up. “Steal what, sir? I didn’t steal anything. Benny would kill me if I did, and I’ve been working here for over a year. Never stole a thing.”

The man didn’t seem to care, but the show was for Benny not him. He had a wand in his hand he pointed at Matt.

Matt knew what it was, a mana detector. These things only worked at close ranges but would find Mana Concentrations. A skill shard would be detected if said skill shard wasn’t right next to a mana battery, which would overpower any reading with unstructured mana. Even if he replaced the battery with the skill shard, so long as no one tried to mess with the pad, they wouldn’t think anything was amiss but a broken pad.

Even if the wand picked something up. Mana was supposed to be there after all.

Matt hadn’t expected the man to have a detector like this on hand, but it was a standard tool used at the orphanage to check for any kind of mana contraband. There was nothing to be concerned about. While he personally hadn’t smuggled anything in, kids liked to brag about their successes, and the best smuggling methods were well-known by all the orphans.

This was a very reliable way to beat the scanners.

“C’mere, Matty. Let Mr. Brackus scan you. Doubt you took it but, if you did, say so now. Even if you swallowed the thing, the wand will find it. Don’t do nothin’ stupid,” Benny recited through a bored expression, clearly only humoring the man.

With nothing to fear, Matt walked over and let the pompous ass run the wand over him, focusing on his stomach, shoes, and pockets. After a murmured curse, he waved the wand over all the drawers. When he repeatedly found nothing out of the ordinary, he stormed out.

Wanting to reinforce his alibi, he stopped Benny before he left. “Wouldn’t it be more likely that someone else took it and absorbed it already?”

Benny yawned out, “Nah. Not that anyone would want to take that shit skill, but it takes days to absorb one.” As he was leaving, he examined the tables Matt had stacked in a corner. “That’s enough for tonight, just get some sleep and finish tomorrow. All this ruckus over a great life-saving skill turned into a shitty defensive one. Whoever heard of a channeled defensive skill? No one can afford that kind of mana cost.”

As Benny turned the corner, Matt heard the murmuring turn to ‘arrogant whelps who throw skill shards then want them back.’

Matt was surprised Benny didn’t try and get him to stay up all night to finish. He had before. “Thanks, Boss. I’ll be sure to finish it first thing tomorrow.”

Not caring if Benny heard him, Matt took the excuse offered and fled to his room.