I looked at the man before me. The terrified man I did not know what to do with. How was I supposed to treat someone that had threatened to kill me, and was now looking at me like that?
“So, why exactly did you need me?” I asked. “There must be something pretty attractive at stake for you to be going around attacking random people you encounter. Or is that the sort of thing you do for fun around here?”
The men shared looks among themselves, their expressions telling me that they were surprised to still be alive. The lords of this place would have likely killed them if they dared attack.
“The Alchemist Guild has called for healers.” the leader of the men said. “There was a reward for any we could…convince to join us.”
Enslave and force to work for them was what they actually meant. As expected of this shitty world. But the name they spoke of caught my attention. The Lake of the Forgotten was a weak place, the royal knights did not allow anyone powerful to step within.
The aim was to make a little money on the side and make others do their work, not actually lose the Lake. Even the ‘city lord’ of this place was only Rank 4. The head of the Alchemist Guild was but Rank 3. But he was one of the stronger people in the town.
I could see people rushing to get a reward for him.
“And why exactly does he need a healer?”
“The Head has fallen ill, my lord. The heirs are the ones calling for healers.” the leader said.
“I see.” I didn’t really see. The situation was clear enough, but I didn’t know what I should do.
The Lake would not be easy to escape from. The royal knights did not easily allow people to leave, and they were at least Rank 5. Staying was not an option either. The Lake had a rather large population of beasts, and I did not have the power to deal with them. There were Rank 5s among them.
The only option I saw was getting into the town. Perhaps I could discover some way to escape then. Perhaps I could strike a deal with the royal knights? I was a descendant of the Emperor—the only descendant except Leif. That might get me some pull.
Wait. I shouldn’t reveal that. There were factions within the royal family and, well, a few of them might wish me dead. If they knew I existed. But for now they didn’t, and it might be better if it remained that way.
“Lead me to that little town of yours.” I asked. “And tell me your name.”
The men looked surprised. No, this was more than surprised, they were downright shocked. I suppose they did not expect me to actually want to go there.
“Oak, ugh, my lord. The name is Oak.” the leader of these men said. I looked at him with suspicion. What kind of name was Oak?
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<td style="width: 99.0922%; text-align: center">A Bloodline Ability has awoken.
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<td style="width: 100%">[ The Face] presents itself</td>
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I looked at the notification. Then I looked at the men. There did not seem to be any reaction from them. Then again, they weren’t looking at me. In fact, they seemed to be deliberately avoiding looking me in the eye, preferring to look at the ground.
Was this some way to show respect? Or did they just fear me enough to not want to meet my eye? That made me almost disperse my bolts—almost. I was not so foolish to be so unarmed in the presence of armed men. Even if I was uncomfortable with the terrified looks on their faces.
But back to the matter at hand. [The Face]. What was this new ability? There did not seem to be an immediate effect, it was a bloodline ability. There likely wouldn’t be much use to begin with. The royal house only had one ability that was mentioned in the book.
[Bloodline Cutting Blade]. A blade used to kill entire bloodlines. I doubted [The Face] could match it. But it wouldn’t do for me to ignore it either. Perhaps it had some use.
I looked down at Elena, wondering what I should do. Darkness magic was not exactly good with lifting people up and carrying them around. I didn’t trust ‘Oak’ and his men to carry her either.
So I did it myself. The effort was rather easy—I had expected her to weigh more. But Rank 3 did mean I was stronger than I should be. With her already being so light, it was easy enough to lift her.
“Escort me to the city.” I said. “Do so and I shall forgive your…crimes.”
I would have paid them, but I didn’t exactly have money either. That hadn’t been among my priorities when leaving the Eldanveir estate. In retrospect, it should have been.
The men started walking, still not daring to face me. I followed, wondering if I should trust them. What if they led me to the trap? That was a possibility. I didn’t even know how I would deal with it. How would I even know? The book hadn’t provided me with a map.
I had to just keep my mana ready and be prepared for them to betray me. Staying here was not an option. Going by myself was not an option. So I had to take a chance and hope I could deal with it if they betrayed me.
That sounded so logical. Why was my heart still beating so fast? I know. I didn’t really like being put into a situation like this. The high levels of danger I had been exposed to did not agree with me.
I didn’t even have a choice in the matter. Then again, few people in situations like mine did. I groaned, running my fingers through my hair, feeling the curls against my skin. A new feeling considering my previous hair had been very straight. And that reminded me of my new Bloodline Ability.
[The Face]. I needed to know more about it.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
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[The Face].
This is the face of the Emperor Founding. Of the Emperor that rules, and the princess long dead. This is the face that breaks the clouds, and this is the face on the coins.
This is the face of royalty.
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Oh great, a puzzle. Just what I wanted when I asked for more information. I only understand about half of these things. So I had the same face as the Founding Emperor and the current Emperor? I could presume that the ‘princess long dead’ was the Rose Princess, Aphra’s mother. The one the Duke of Eldanveir had raped and killed in an attempt to get the Emperor out of his capital.
So I had their faces. The royal coin also had the Founding Emperor’s face on it, so that part was self-explanatory. But the question remained.
What did all of this mean? I asked for an explanation on my Bloodline Ability, not for a poem on what the royal family looked like. Perhaps the System could give me a better answer.
I waited for a few moments, but no new notification seemed to be coming. So I did not know what the bloodline ability actually did. I should have expected that. Not knowing how to do things was starting to become a pattern in this world.
A flash of light filled my surroundings as I walked, making me stop in my steps.
“What was that?” I asked, trying to feel my surroundings. Mana felt…distant. More than it had been even when I called on it to form the bolts.
The men looked frightened. Oak’s legs were literally shaking. I turned my attention to my surroundings, wondering what I had missed while I had been focused on the System.
The mana was distant, busy with something as I looked at it. The cloaks of mana that usually surrounded the men were much diminished. I looked at Elena’s. The effect on that one had been less—the men only had about a tenth of their mana left while she had half of it remaining. But it still meant we were weaker.
Where had the mana gone?
I looked around, trying to get a sense of what was happening. Mana had to have gone somewhere. Had a beast snuck up on us while we weren’t looking? That would explain some things. Taking from another’s mana cloak wasn’t exactly unknown. The Monarch of Justice had done an advanced version of it when he turned the magic system offline.
That was him taking all the mana in our surroundings. This was just a part of the mana we had ourselves. What had taken it? A creature that could do such a thing was usually quite powerful.
I felt a shiver run across my back as I imagined just how powerful. This was not an easy-to-use ability. There was a chance that this person was just loved by mana—the Monarch of Justice could apparently do such things at birth—but it was unlikely. The Prince of Magic was not your average person.
This beast was at least Rank 5.
I looked around in a panic, my eyes searching for a beast. A part of me wanted to just skip over the beast. Perhaps then I wouldn’t have to deal with it. Why was it that I had to face beasts more powerful than me repeatedly?
What had I done to deserve such things?
Was wishing to be transmigrated really such a crime?
More flashes of light made their presence known. For several moments it seemed like light and darkness were fighting each other down here, at the bottom of this lake. I could not see my own cloak, but I was sure it had grown smaller.
The cloaks of those around me had reduced even more, as if the creature was not satisfied with how weak it had us. I did not understand why it was acting so. Were we not already under its grasp?
What more could it even hope to gain? A Rank 5 could kill us easily. This was starting to make less sense the more I thought about it.
Was there perhaps something else going on? Now that I thought about it, there were regions and things that caused such disturbances.
The light and darkness were flickering between each other at this point. One second the area was filled with light so bright I could not bear to open my eyes. Then it would be gone, and I could see because it was too dark.
I had to close my eyes. I had a feeling I would go blind if I didn’t. The change was not a natural thing. This could be a fight. There could be someone causing this for some reason. Or some kind of phenomenon.
The latter made a lot more sense at the moment. Why would someone do something like this? What would they even hope to gain? A magical phenomenon of some kind made a lot more sense.
A magic phenomenon still consumed mana. And the mana tended to come from the mana cloaks of those around them.
Still, I could not understand why the phenomenon had occurred. The book did not mention such things happening in the Lake of the Forgotten. The reaction of Oak’s men did not make it seem normal either. Heck, they seemed even more terrified than me, huddling together as if afraid to face it.
I could relate.
A light covered the land, so bright I could see it even through my eyelids. The light remained for a few seconds, and then disappeared. Then darkness covered the land, light not returning.
The sound of a ding informed me that I had a notification. I tried to ignore it, but then the dings got insistent. The System wanted me to see this one. I complied. The light would…probably be blocked by the notification anyway. At least I hoped it would be.
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The Power of Healing has been added unto the powers of Darkness by your actions.
Darkness is overjoyed and seeks to reward you.
Elena has been healed.
The Power of Healing (Darkness) has been granted to you.
Error!
Light protests this course of action.
Resolving…
Resolving…
Resolving…
Light grows impatient.
Darkness grows impatient.
Light has declared a War of Elements.
Darkness responds.
Local mana system intervention commencing…
Error!
Local mana system resolved.
The War of Elements has ended.
Light has lost.
The Power of Healing shall now be shared.
Darkness thanks you.
Darkness affinity has increased.
Light protests. Light is angry with you.
Light shall make its anger known.
Light affinity has increased.
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What.
The fuck.
Was going on?
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Story magic is excited about what is to come.
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