Stahlia Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
Our carriage was trundling along down a large highway. Surrounded by a vast plain on all sides that stretched to the horizon. In the distance, we could see some clusters of buildings dotted here and there, the various satellite towns that surrounded the capital city. We had departed Fess early this morning, around an hour and a half before the sun rose, and we were making good progress. According to our driver, we should be within sight of Drakas, the capital of the Kingdom of Drakas, wherein King Drakas sat on the throne of Drakas, by mid-evening. It¡¯s like that one Japanese cartoon back on Earth, the one where the Prince, the Planet, and the King all have the same name¡ Vegetable or something.
Sana and Giogi had both grown bored of the scenery shortly after we entered these vast plains, but after having traveled together for the past few days, they had little left to talk about, so we rode in silence. Personally, I was hoping we would run into some more combat, I had really wanted to hit level ten before having to go to the Royal Academy, but I was less than halfway through level nine, so that was unlikely. Thankfully, I should still be able to get the last skill I wanted; I had discovered in Fess, that entering new regions would give me a small bonus to my Life Points, I only needed ten more and I would be able to ¡°finalize¡± my current build.
Letting my thoughts wander, I recalled Rosial¡¯s face the last time I had known for sure it had really been her. It had been the night of her Dedication Ritual and she had been crying over the result. I had promised her that I would always walk beside her as her older sister. That had been two years ago now, and I had no idea where she had been taken. Jacqueline had assured me there was little chance she would be in the capital; although the Order of Shadows had facilities there, they would know better than to put her somewhere I might accidentally run into her.
Lost in thought, I was startled back to the present at Sana¡¯s excited cry, ¡°Oh! Look there! You can see the city coming over the horizon!¡± I looked up out the window and sure enough, there was a hill of white on the horizon. ¡°Is it not beautiful Stahlia? We should be there within the hour!¡±
I frowned and craned my neck up to check the progress of the sun, it was hardly past midday. ¡°No Sana, I think we are still a good way off; the driver said we would arrive around mid-evening, and it is only just past noon. We can likely only see the city from here because of how big it is.¡±
Sana grumped at me for raining on her enthusiasm but agreed that I was probably right, recalling how we had still been able to make out the Ris mountains up until halfway through our second day of travel.
I checked my menu to see if being able to see Drakas qualified as entering its region; it did, as I now had 75 Life Points. This was something I had discovered earlier on our journey; namely, I could earn LP from things besides leveling up or leveling up my talents. In this case, traveling around and visiting places for the first time also granted me a small amount of LP. I searched through the skills list and grabbed the one I had been eyeing. Its effect would be perfect for what I needed over the next several years, and it would likely remain useful after that though perhaps a bit diminished, so I didn¡¯t feel like I was wasting my points or skill slot.
¡°Blue Blooded(75LP): User receives a slight positive correction to Charisma when interacting with members of the Noble or Royal Social Strata. This correction is more effective when the user is perceived as a noble or is otherwise acting with a noble¡¯s affectations but loses almost all effectiveness if the user is not recognized as a noble by their target.¡±
Regarding the skills and talents I could purchase, it seemed there was some degree of predictability to their costs. The most powerful ones, like Cold Blooded and Prodigy all cost 500LP. Then they were arranged into tiers of 100 points, with the lowest tier being 100. Those like my new Blue Blooded were in their own category I had chosen to call ¡°Exceptions¡±. These all cost less than 100, and seemed to be discounted due to me meeting some condition or other, in the case of Blue Blooded, it was likely discounted due to my own noble status.
There were a few other skills and talents I had my eye on, and while I would love to go for a bunch of tier fives, I was forced to admit that at 500LP per item, that was a bit unfeasible. I¡¯ll have to find a balance between effectiveness and cost unless I stumble onto a way to get them for free as I did with Cold Hearted, although that one still feels like it was pre-arranged by someone¡ I could also save points by practicing a talent first, since it seemed talents could be acquired through effort, not just a class, like how I had acquired the fire magic talent by simply practicing fire magic.
All that aside, Blue Blooded should aid me when dealing with the Francois family, as well as the noble children and teachers at the academy. I wasn¡¯t particularly planning on sparing or killing them when I burned this kingdom; unless they were party to those who I was planning to bring down I couldn¡¯t care less. Still, if I was able to make friends and gain allies, I would at least have an easier time gathering information. I confirmed my choice and watched the skill write itself into my menu. Now to test it out¡
¡°Lady Sana, pray tell me, what do you plan to do once we arrive? Personally, I shall be greeting Dominic and Count Francois.¡± Sana blinked at me before shaking her head rapidly as if to clear away a fog.
¡°Stahlia, have you been practicing your etiquette when I wasn¡¯t looking? I could hardly recognize you for a moment¡ I think I will first visit the Central Temple.¡± Perfect, it looks like the skill worked.
Giogi, who had been observing the exchange just now scoffed. ¡°What do you mean Sana? Stahlia didn¡¯t do anything special just now, she just put on some fancy speech is all.¡± And that confirms that the skill lacks an effect when the other party doesn¡¯t recognize me as a noble. Good to know. Sana had initially treated me very differently after my father received his barony; I had to go to a great deal of trouble and practically order her to continue treating me the way she used to. Having been raised by the church, she had always been a stickler for things like rules and expectations.
On the other hand, out of all my self-proclaimed ¡°knights¡± Giogi had been the only one who had become even more drab after my father¡¯s title. It was almost as if me actually having a peerage somehow contradicted his worldview. In any case, Giogi didn¡¯t view me as a member of the nobility. It was a small saving grace that I was genuinely grateful for since it meant that at least one person could always be counted on to treat me normally.
Jacqueline didn¡¯t count; she had pledged her fealty to me as her lady and, although she would reprimand me when I acted dumbly, she endeavored to be the perfect lady in waiting and could hardly be counted on to treat me like a normal person anymore. I had actually had to order her to chide me since, in the days following her pledge, she had started taking my words as gospel for some reason.
Sana and Giogi started bickering over whether or not I had just done anything special, so I tuned them out and focused my gaze on the slowly approaching city. The people who took my sister from me are there. I might be weak now but wait for me, Rosial. I¡¯ll definitely get strong enough to rescue you! Just wait and be strong for me.
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Drakas City, the capital of the Kingdom of Drakas. Otherwise known as the Silver City, is built around a singular mountain in the middle of a vast plain. The city itself is composed of four layers, with each layer rising higher up the mountain. The name ¡°Silver City¡± comes from the coloration of masonry. The walls and buildings of the upper two rings are made of mythril bricks. Although expensive, this unique construction imparts a strong resistance to mana, partially shielding the city from powerful magic attacks.
At the peak of the mountain sits the Royal Palace, home to the King and his family. The fourth ring, arrayed around the palace on the high slopes rests the Noble Quarter, this ring holds the manors of the Noble families who reside in the capital. The Noble Quarter is separated from the third ring by a wall of Mythril. The third ring, named the Upper City, holds many large buildings and manors.
The upper city is home to the wealthy among the commoners, as well as civilian retainers of the nobility. It is separated from the Lower City by a wall of Mythril, though smaller than the higher wall. The second ring, named the Lower City, is home to the commoners of the capital. Important buildings such as warehouses and courtrooms can also be found in the second ring. Though not made of Mythril, the buildings in the second and first rings are painted with silver coloring in order to match and unify the appearance of the city; even for a kingdom as large as Drakas, Mythril is not so commonplace that it can be used to build the homes of commoners.
The second ring runs from roughly halfway up the mountain to its base, where it is separated from the Slum by a thick and high outer wall. This wall has four gates, one facing each point of the compass, through which entry into the city can be obtained. The slum, arrayed around the outer wall has no wall or fence to protect itself and is made up of densely packed small hovels. The overwhelming majority of residents live in this part of the city, and it extends for several miles on all sides of the outer wall.
Contrary to its name, not all parts of the slum are poor. The closer one resides to the outer wall the better off they are financially. The ¡°true slum¡± begins roughly two kilometers from the outer wall and is populated by Criminals and Vagabonds. The closer to the very edge of the slums one finds themselves, the more unsavory the people. The more unsavory the people the more unsavory the businesses.
While Brothels and Slave markets can be found in the Lower City, those are regulated under Drakas Law. The various establishments in the outer perimeter of the Slums have a reputation for asking no questions and taking any customers. Jacqueline had informed me that indeed, even some Nobles with peculiar tastes could occasionally be found visiting the outer slums in disguise.
It was into these outer slums that I found myself entering around four pm. I recalled the information my father had told me about the capital as I gazed out the window and observed a group of children dressed in rags chasing a flea-bitten mongrel with a large stick. Sana had turned away from the window with a disgusted look on her face. To spare my friend, I pulled a curtain shut blocking out our sight. ¡°[######]¡± I cast the only spell available to me with level one flame magic and lit the lamp hanging in the center of our wagon.
¡°We should be through this part of the city within a half-hour.¡± Sana nodded gratefully to me, while Giogi was glaring angrily at the carriage door. Those kids probably make him think of his past self huh, ¡°Giogi, do not do anything stupid. We might be in a carriage bearing a temporary noble¡¯s crest, but it would take the guard long enough to get to us if a fight broke out.¡±
¡°I know that Stahlia, it¡¯s just¡ how could those kids be so cruel to that dog?¡± I could only shake my head; Giogi was still ten and unlike me, he didn¡¯t have a past life to draw experiences from. He also was blissfully unaware of this kingdom¡¯s dark side. People are cruel after all. That was the one common factor I had gathered from both my lives.
Sure enough, we arrived at the eastern gate without incident before the hour was up. As our carriage bore a noble¡¯s crest we were fast-tracked through the inspection and let into the Lower City without much fuss. Once we were inside, I snuffed out the flame and opened the curtains. The sun was behind the mountain from where we were, casting the lower city into shadow. Still, it was beautiful.
Wrought iron lamp posts were placed sporadically along the major street we traveled down, each lamp was fitted with a Light Crystal. Light Crystals were a refined magic stone enchanted with the Light element. My Red Mage tutor had touched upon the refining of magic crystals, but as he had little experience on the subject himself, we had only briefly covered the topic. According to him, the enchantment being used by the lights in the capital would absorb the Light of the Goddess during the day, and then release it at night. The sporadically placed lamps, combined with the lights coming from within the shops made the Lower City seem to glow in the gloomy world.
Sana was looking out the window with an openly amazed expression. This late at night there were no longer that many people out, or so I could assume, but even then, the number of people was still comparable to what we had seen in Fess. Giogi was likewise looking around with a gleefully excited gaze. If I had not had experience with large urban centers I would probably be shocked as well, but I had already established that large towns in this world had a lot of people living in them, so I had somewhat expected this sight in the capital.
One thing I had not been expecting was the layout. While the capital was clearly well planned, with circular streets wrapped all the way around the city, and four main roads cutting straight up the side of the mountain, it seemed the concept of zoning was unknown. While Ris and Fess had designated market squares, shops in this city were interspersed seemingly at random among what were clearly primitive, by Earth standards, apartment complexes. I could only imagine that it would be a nightmare for an outsider like myself to find anything specific, and there would be no way for me to know if I had found a high-quality establishment or not.
Still, I don¡¯t imagine I will have any real cause to enter the lower city too often. I do want to be prepared in case I have to though¡ ¡°Jacqueline, please have Count Francois locate a suitable guide in case I should have need of returning here. I imagine the city may have changed a great deal since you were here last.¡±
While Jacqueline¡¯s occupation as a Shadow was secret from Giogi and Sana they were under the impression that Jacqueline had once served a noble family that lived here. Jacqueline nodded and gave her assent to my direction.
We soon arrived at the gate leading us into the Upper City, and we were let through without much delay thanks to the Noble Crest on our carriage. This level was where the Central Temple was located so, at Sana¡¯s request, the driver made a detour off the main road and took one of the circular streets. We arrived at the central temple and Sana let herself out of the carriage.
Looking out past her, I was astonished at the scale of this temple; the one in Fess had been near twice the size of the one in Ris, but here in the capital, the Center Temple was nearly eight times the size of the temple in Fess. It was completely enclosed in its own wall, cutting it off from the Upper City. Evenly spaced around the wall were statues of the twelve gods and goddesses similar to the little figurines I recalled from the dedication ritual, though these were much, much larger.
Whereas the figurines had been roughly 1:7 scale, the statues along the temple wall were closer to 7:1. What¡¯s more, rather than being painted the color of the season, these statues were made of precious metals. Oxidized Copper for Spring, Silver for Summer, Gold for Autumn, and White Gold for Winter. Just how much money was spent on that¡? Indeed, this world still used the gold standard for its currency. Even if these statues were hollow, I could only see them as priceless. Even more audaciously grandiose were the two statues at the peak of the temple.
One was of a woman facing the east and was sparkling faintly from the lights below it; based on the coloration I could only assume it was made of gemstone, probably yellow diamond. The other was of a man facing the west, his statue was a glassy blackish purple that I could assume was obsidian or onyx. The man and the woman looked like giants from this distance, so they must have been massive.
¡°Fufufu, the Temple is gorgeous is it not, Stahlia?¡± Sana was gleaming up at me while waiting for an attendant priest to finish unloading her belongings.
I shook off my stupefied face and smiled down at her, ¡°Yes, it is simply amazing. I am honestly jealous you get to live in a place like this while Giogi and I will be stuck in the Noble¡¯s Quarter.¡±
Sana glanced towards the Nobles Quarter further up the mountain with a somewhat wistful look.
¡°¡Yes, though I wish I was able to stay with you¡ it will be lonely living by myself¡ so far from our village. you need to promise to visit me, Stahlia!¡± I could agree to that request easily enough, but if I would actually be able to was another story entirely. I still didn¡¯t know how restrictive the Francois family would be; I was nominally engaged to Dominic after all.
¡°¡I can¡¯t promise it will be often until I have spoken with Count Francois and Lord Dominic¡ Still, I have experience sneaking out so I should be able to visit from time to time.¡± Sana gave me an exasperated glare.
¡°Stahlia, you do not have to ¡®sneak out¡¯ you can always summon me from the temple you know¡¡± Ah, she does have a point. The Francois are a count family after all. Still, summoning an apprentice priestess for tea might be a bit much¡ I¡¯ll have to ask them.
I grinned at Sana and, seeing that the attendant priest had finished collecting her belongings, bid her farewell with a promise that I would ask after her to Count Francois. Our carriage departed and made its way back to the main road. We rode in silence, Giogi was visibly tense as we approached the gate to the Noble¡¯s Quarter. Right, the last time he met Dominic he got his ass beat. Come to think of it, the last time I met Dominic I beat his ass¡ I felt my stomach twist up.
The guard at the gate to the Noble¡¯s Quarter, unlike the previous gates, did not let us straight through. Upon confirming us with our driver, he signaled, and a carriage was brought over for us. As we were currently in a travel carriage designed for long distances, we were to transfer our belongings over into this new carriage before entering the Noble Quarter.
Once all the luggage had been moved over, the Driver removed the Ris Crests from the doors of his carriage and presented them to Jacqueline who then affixed them to our new carriage. Apparently, this carriage was a gift to me from Count Francois for use while I was in the city; I could not use one of his before the wedding since I was expected to bear only my own family¡¯s crest. Once the new Crests were properly affixed one of the guards climbed up into the coachman¡¯s seat and we boarded.
The interior of the new carriage was, in a word, extravagant. The furnishings probably cost about as much as my entire house back in Ris. The seats were made of velvet, a material I had not expected to find in this world. The walls were coated in a lacy floral pattern, with a rich dark brown varnished wood edging. The lamp was a magic tool that could be activated by placing a magic stone in the correct receptacle rather than a simple wax candle. The fluffy cushioned benches we were sitting on were made of what appeared to be engraved copper. Smiling grimly to myself, I steeled my resolve as we passed through the gate.
We rode quickly through the Noble Quarter, arriving at an estate located about three-quarters of the way to the castle gates. Looking out from the carriage window, I could see a servant vanishing into the home, likely to inform the Francois family of our arrival. I quickly patted myself down, making sure I was presentable; for better or worse, I had to force myself to play the role of Dominic¡¯s Fianc¨¦e for the next several years in order to gather information and hone my skills in preparation for the festival of burning.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Before long, a man I recognized as Count Francois excited the main building. Accompanying him was Dominic and a woman I didn¡¯t yet know. Based on her attire, however, I could reasonably assume that she was Lady Francois. I didn¡¯t know if Count Francois had a second or third wife, but I could assume this was Dominic¡¯s mother due to the social conventions for greeting a noble child¡¯s betrothed that had been drilled into me by my own mother. Jacqueline exited the carriage first and stood to the side to make room for Giogi to climb down.
Giogi stood to the side, back straight with a hand on his sword-hilt; the pose expected of a guard knight waiting on his lord or lady in an unfamiliar place. The approaching Francois trio stopped about three meters away from the carriage, and I stood up in the doorway. Dominic closed the remaining distance and held out a hand towards me. Taking his hand I allowed him to help me down the steps, suppressing my revulsion at the action. Strangely, the whole time I held his hand, there was an odd tingling, not unlike the feeling I had gotten when Stil evolved. Once was on the ground, I expected that he would be introducing me to his mother.
¡°You are wearing the earrings I had sent to you; they compliment your dark hair well." Then, without seeking my permission, he lightly touched my ear around where the pearl was fastened. I was momentarily taken aback by the action but managed to force a smile, ¡°Ahem, Thank you, Lord Dominic. Is that your mother I presume?¡±
My voice was stiffer than I would have liked, but thankfully he seemed to get the hint, as he removed his hand from my ear and led me by his other hand to his parents, ¡°Mother, this is my Fianc¨¦e father and I spoke of. Lady Stahlia von Ris, daughter of Baron Fynn von Ris. Lady Stahlia, this is my mother; Lady Margeritte von Francois wife of Count Nikolaus von Francois.¡±
Margeritte looked down at me with a stern expression, I had no desire to antagonize the lady of the house I was ostensibly marrying into. Especially not if I was planning to be housed on their estate for the foreseeable future. I really can¡¯t afford a bad impression here¡ While I was formulating my response, I took a moment to look over Margeritte carefully.
She was obviously beautiful, but she had a stern face. Her hair was a very light blonde; Dominic¡¯s own hair seemed to be his father¡¯s brown diluted by his mother¡¯s blonde. Her eyes were the same deep green as Dominic but lacked the glint I had noticed in them when he visited Ris Village.
I curtsied while slightly bowing my head, ¡°Lady Margeritte von Francois, I am Lady Stahlia von Ris daughter of Baron Fynn von Ris. As I am engaged to Lord Dominic, I pray that we will get along favorably both now and in the future.¡±
Margeritte looked me over impassively as I gave my greeting and, after a moment, her stern face melted into a pleasantly warm smile, ¡°My, I had my doubts when I learned your family was only recently granted a peerage, but you are exemplary well raised. Lady Stahlia, I am Lady Margeritte von Francois. You may call me ¡®mother¡¯ if you wish.¡±
She punctuated her introduction with a full curtsy of her own; as her house was higher status than my own, she was only socially obligated to half curtsy. It seems I made a good impression. Trying my best not to gag on the words, I thanked her, ¡°¡Then ¡Mother, I look forward to the time we will spend together.¡±
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Count Francois breathing a sigh of relief, apparently, he had not expected this introduction to go well. It¡¯s a good thing I decided to purchase the [Blue Blooded] skill, it¡¯s already paying for itself.
Ushering us inside, I was introduced to the other present members of the family. Lord Fredrick was Dominic¡¯s older brother. He was eighteen and served in the royal guard, he was the spitting image of his father, but much more muscular. Lady Sanatori was apparently the wife of Count Francois¡¯ first son, who was not present; Lord Nietzsche was doing his duty as the heir and attending to the Francois holdings while his father dealt with the other nobles in the capital.
Sanatori was what I could only describe as demure. She was only slightly taller than my current self, so I had a feeling I would be taller than her when I was finished growing. Her hair was the same blonde as Margeritte, and while not as dark, they had similar green eyes. Nietzsche has an Oedipus complex maybe? Or is he a lolicon? His wife is similarly proportioned to me, and I¡¯m ten! Let¡¯s make a mental note to distance myself from him whenever possible, he seems to have strange tastes.
The last member of the family to be introduced was¡ ¡°Hiya! I¡¯m Elienor Francois! Nice to meetcha!¡±
¡Dominic¡¯s little sister, the nine-year-old Elienor von Francois. She had a tomboy personality and a rough manner of speech highly unbefitting a young noble lady. Her hair was nominally blonde but had streaks of pinkish-red in it that I could only assume were dyed. Her eyes were the bright blue of her father.
¡°Elienor, what have we told you about your behavior?¡± Margeritte¡¯s voice was calm but the look in her eyes was scary. Elienor didn¡¯t flinch, however, indicating this was a usual conversation for her.
¡°Well, Stali is set on marrying big bro right? Only makes sense she should meet the real me dontcha think ma?¡± So I¡¯m ¡®Stali¡¯ now? Also, can¡¯t you see your mother¡¯s eyes? You sure you should¡ oh, there it is. Margeritte had delivered a firm chop down on Elienor¡¯s head.
¡°My apologies Stahlia, Elienor has a few rough edges that refuse to buff out. Agnes! Please escort Elienor to her room and be sure she stays there.¡± A woman wearing a maid uniform similar to Jacqueline¡¯s stepped forward and grabbed Elienor¡¯s hand before pulling her out of the room while bowing repeatedly to those of us who remained.
¡°Now, it is late so why do we not resume our talks in the morning? Stahlia, these two will be assigned to you while you stay with us; I have had them prepare one of the guest houses for your use and the manservants have already brought your things there. Frieda, Lucy, if you will. Giogi, a room has been prepared for you in the knight¡¯s barracks.¡± At Count Francois¡¯ words, two maids stepped forward.
Frieda seemed to be slightly younger than Jacqueline. She had an elegant face and straight blonde hair that was ever so common in this kingdom. Lucy was shorter, appearing to be no more than twelve. She had white hair and red eyes with very pale skin, but what really stood out were her ears; tapering into points she was clearly an elf. The two curtsied to me and Frieda spoke on their behalf.
¡°Lady Stahlia, we will show you to the guest house. Master Giogi, the knight¡¯s barracks is on the way so if you accompany us we can likewise lead you to your own accommodations.¡± Jacqueline gave her a hard look, at first I thought fearfully that Jacqueline had recognized a former colleague but after a moment she lightened her gaze and smiled.
¡°You two seem capable, I look forward to working with you in care of the young Lady.¡± Ah, she was evaluating them as maids, not Assassins. Frieda curtsied to Jacqueline and thanked her for the high evaluation and then led us to the guest house. Giogi seemed upset to leave, but I knew why he was being housed elsewhere; the Francois family could hardly permit an unmarried male the same age as me to live together. Traveling was one thing, but when it came to permanent residence society was much stricter.
Arriving at my guesthouse, I was a bit startled. This side building, which was connected to the main house by a short hallway, was nearly as large as my home back in Ris. When we entered the foyer, I was greeted by Stil who had been brought straight here. He dolefully looked up at me from his place in front of the hearth, his expression all but screaming ¡°It¡¯s cold! Turn this thing on already!¡± Chuckling to myself, I asked Lucy to light the hearth while Frieda showed Jacqueline around.
After Lucy finished, she returned to my side. As Jacqueline was still being given the short tour the two of us, three if you count Stil, were alone, ¡°Lucy, please forgive me if I seem rude; I have not had the opportunity to meet an Elf due to Ris Village¡¯s remoteness. Are your people common in the Kingdom at large?¡±
She smiled wanly at me but didn¡¯t seem upset, ¡°No Lady Stahlia, Dark Elves are hardly common. Most Elves keep to themselves secluded in their own lands. Only those of us who are beset by the desire to travel, or were exiled for some reason are found in this kingdom.¡±
Somewhat surprised, I looked her over again, ¡°Those taken by the urge to travel? You hardly look older than me. Also, from what I learned in my lessons would you not be a High Elf?¡± I made sure to keep my tone as polite as possible, to not insult her. Hopefully, I was portraying myself as innocently curious about the world. She didn¡¯t seem offended at all and smiled as she answered my questions.
¡°Lady Stahlia, surely you learned of Elves¡¯ lifespans; we live far longer than humans but also age slower. I may look to be only a human child, but I am nearly twenty-five this year. As for my race, you are correct. By blood, I am a High Elf. However, when I was exiled due to my albinism, I was given the title ¡®Dark Elf¡¯ it means ¡®One who has forgotten their family.¡¯¡± So Dark Elves are outcasts from the normal elven lands huh? That¡¯s pretty sad; Lucy seems very nice.
I apologized to Lucy for prying into what was no doubt a sensitive topic, no matter how much she would insist to the contrary. So this world has stereotyped racist purity-obsessed High Elves, but the Dark Elves aren¡¯t a race at all, rather a social class among elven kind? I wonder how that would have worked if I had picked Dark elf during my character creation... it certainly seemed like they were being treated as a race there¡ In any case, let¡¯s make a mental note to avoid the High Elven kingdoms. I don¡¯t want to have to deal with their bullshit.
Right as she finished answering me, Jacqueline and Frieda returned, ¡°Lady Stahlia, the accommodations you have been given are most excellent. Frieda has informed me that Count Francois instructed a late dinner be sent to us that we may relax from our journey. In the morning, he would like to meet with you to discuss the specifics of your enrollment.¡±
I confirmed that that would be acceptable, and Jacqueline sent Frieda off to deliver a response to Count Francois¡¯ request for a meeting.
A little while later, I was seated at a small table. Lucy and Frieda had already eaten dinner earlier in preparation for our arrival, so Frieda attended to me while Jacqueline ate in a side room and Lucy prepared my bed. The meal was extravagant for a ¡°late dinner¡±, consisting of three courses. Firstly, was a light soup made of broth and some fowl that tasted vaguely like a duck.
Second, was a wheat noodle dish resembling Alfredo, lastly was a small cake made with chocolate and dusted tea leaves. Fortunately, Frieda thought to warn me so I was able to conserve room to eat from all three; it would have been incredibly rude for me to send any of the dishes back without having touched them at all.
I made sure to fish out a few pieces of pseudo-duck for Stil, a sight that surprised Frieda until I explained that it was part of my tamer¡¯s bond with him that I would feed him a portion of the same food I ate. Retiring to my bedroom, I was bathed by Lucy and finally allowed into bed. Sinking deeply into the mattress, I could only marvel at how much of a difference in lifestyle there was between a count family in the capital and a remote baron family.
I woke early the next morning. Normally, I would now sneak out of bed and do some light training, but I had opted to put that on hold for the near future, at least until I got to know my new environment better. Still, I woke earlier than would normally be expected from someone in my station which meant I was able to catch Lucy moving quietly around my room setting out clothes and replacing the water pitcher.
Magic could be used to outright create water, but mages and tools that could do so in large quantities were extremely expensive so even wealthy nobles still drew water from a well. Though they did use magic to treat it thereby preventing many varieties of illness.
Hoping lightly out of bed I employed my sneak talent to slip up behind Lucy; I was curious how my purchased talent stacked up against an Elf¡¯s perception. Before I had a chance to do anything though, she turned about ¡°Good morning, Lady Stahlia. You are up early, are you not?¡± Hiding my surprise, I stepped back and greeted her.
¡°Good morning, Lucy. No, I don¡¯t think I am up particularly early; I did go to bed sooner than I usually would after all.¡± Catching a quick passing frown fly across her face, I continued, ¡°Do not worry about forcing yourself to rise before me; I am aware how difficult that can make life for an attendant. Jacqueline and I have an arrangement wherein, if I wake up before she is ready for me, I will simply occupy myself with a book or by practicing simple magic until she has finished her preparations.¡±
Of course, I knew what I was saying flew in the face of what a master would normally say to their maid, but I was hoping to gain a little freedom here for myself; if Lucy were to force herself to wake up before me it would wear on her and would also detract from potential morning training time.
Thankfully, after thinking over my words for a short time, Lucy nodded, ¡°I see, if that is how you usually are, I will emulate mistress Jacqueline in this. Yesterday Lady Margeritte did instruct us that you may be a little different than a normal noble but that we should accommodate you as best we can, within reason.¡±
Wow, turns out I must have made a much more favorable impression on Margeritte than I thought. To think a woman that strict on her own daughter would be so accommodating to her daughter-in-law to be. In any case, I was dressed and had my hair done up before Lucy escorted me to the dining hall in the main house. Presumably, I would be eating here on occasion when someone in the main house had business with me, while normally I would be eating in my side house as I was not officially a member of the Francois family. The breakfast served was a thick grain strained into a paste and sweetened with honey. It most resembled oatmeal and was something I had not eaten when living in Ris.
After the meal, I was led to a waiting room. Jacqueline and Frieda were still absent, I assumed Jacqueline was carrying out her earlier order to learn about the town. As for Frieda, I had no idea. After a short while, Count Francois called for me to enter. When I was let in, I was surprised to find Dominic sitting on a lounge while Count Francois was seated behind a large desk. There was another man I did not recognize sitting across from Dominic.
Dominic stood when I entered, and taking my hand, led me to the lounge seat. It was large enough for three people to sit comfortably, and at his escort, I took a seat at one end. Dominic sat back down and Count Francois cleared his throat. ¡°Stahlia, this is Duke Percius. He is the headmaster of the Royal Academy and has requested to meet you ahead of your enrollment next week.¡±
As I had been led to sit down before introductions, I gave a slight bow in lieu of a courtesy, ¡°Duke Percius, I am honored you would desire to see me, I am Lady Stahlia von Ris. To what do I owe the pleasure of this audience?¡± I omitted my father¡¯s name from the introduction since both my presumed future father-in-law and Fianc¨¦e were present, and Duke Percius was not a member of either of our houses.
Presumably pleased with my introduction, Percius smiled and gave a slight bow of his own. ¡°Lady Stahlia, I am Duke Percius, in service to the King I administer the Royal Academy. Your achievements spread ahead of you, and I most look forward to your time as a student. Blessed by one of the Winter Pantheon, an accomplished Alchemist with many revolutionary developments, and already capable of Red Magic, all at your young age. Indeed, I am most looking forward to seeing how you will flourish at the academy.¡± Ok, that¡¯s a bit much. I could feel my cheeks reddening slightly. Glancing at Dominic and Count Francois, both of them had an inscrutable expression; clearly, I was expected to answer this for myself.
¡°I see, I as well, am greatly looking forward to my time at the Academy.¡± Percius nodded, that was the answer he had been expecting.
¡°Stahlia, as you know, the enrollment period for a young Lady is three years, following which you would return home to attend bridal training.¡± I nodded at that, although I had no intention of attending any such special training it was a fact that my time at the academy was limited by law. For reference, male students would spend five years at the academy. Dominic was two years older than me and entering his third year, so we would actually end up graduating at the same time. Percius continued.
¡°Our Lord the King has instructed me to allow you entrance into the Special Student Program¡± That comment got a reaction from Dominic, though it seemed Count Francois had already been aware.
¡°Lady Stahlia, a woman, a Special Student? Before even her first year?¡± Percius silenced Dominic with a wave of his hand.
¡°Indeed, it is almost unprecedented, but it would serve a great boon for your house would it not Dominic?¡± Dominic fell silent and nodded quickly while shooting his father a look. ¡°You could have told me!¡± It seemed to say.
¡°Um, Duke Percius¡ Forgive me, but Ris Village is remote and my family only received peerage but recently. I am unaware, what is Special Student?¡± Percius nodded, probably he expected me not to know.
¡°Special Students are the top members of the enrolled student body; the position comes with several perks not available to the main student body, though it also comes with some obligations. As for those perks, well, me coming here personally would be one of them; As the headmaster of the Academy, it is one of my duties to directly oversee the Special Students in their studies and render assistance for their projects when they request it. Additionally, you will be permitted to forgo the usual classes, as long as you are able to test out of them. In place of the normal class schedule, you may take any class you wish to. For example; despite being a first year, you could enroll yourself in the third year magic courses as long as you pass the tests for the first and second year prerequisites.¡±
That sounds really useful, I can test out of all the math, writing, and sciences thanks to my past life and blame it on my home tutors. Stuff like Geography and history might be a bit harder; I only know Drakas Kingdom stuff, the temple and my tutors didn¡¯t cover foreign regions. But there was also that part about obligations¡ ¡°That sounds like an enticing offer Duke Percius¡ I hesitate to ask, but what are the obligations?¡±
Percius nodded to me again and explained, ¡°All the Special Students are nominally enrolled into either the Knight or Mages order while they are students. They may be dispatched to deal with issues arising near the royal capital. In and of itself, it is not very demanding and while on dispatch you are of course excused from classes. However, you will be expected to help put down monsters and the like.¡±
Well, I can see how a normal noble girl might balk at that; that must be why Dominic was so surprised they would offer a woman a position like this. But for me, that would mean I can keep earning experience while stuck in the capital.
Making sure to portray myself as deep in thought, I asked a question in a hesitating voice, ¡°Fighting¡ what kinds of monsters could I expect to run into if I should be dispatched...?¡±
I heard Dominic sigh from beside me; he understood I was perfectly fine with fighting from the incident two years ago. I caught his father shooting him a glare for letting his noble fa?ade slip. Percius seemed deep in thought, then answered in a level tone, ¡°Goblins, Wild Stawri, the Occasional Orc¡ I believe the most dangerous thing you would encounter in the region the Special Students are dispatched to would likely be a Murder-Rabbit.¡± A what? A rabbit is more dangerous than an Orc?
After making myself look thoughtful for another minute, I gave my answer, ¡°Duke Percius, I would like to nominally accept the position. Assuming I can test out of the first and second-year courses, please have me enrolled in Fourth Year Red Magic, as well as Blue, Green, and Yellow magic at the lowest level. If I do well there, I would also like to study Black and White magic next year.¡± Magic is one thing, but they would probably balk if I asked to be trained with swords too. Besides, I have Jacqueline for that, ¡°Other than those, please place me in any classes you believe I would do well to take.¡±
Duke Percius looked surprised for a moment, but quickly composed himself, ¡°Well, I can understand the appeal and according to your tutor you did manage to pick up red magic quite quickly, so I am curious to see how you do in the other branches. I will make the arrangements for you.¡±
Of course, he would be surprised though; magic affinities were a thing. It wasn¡¯t like not having an affinity meant you couldn¡¯t learn a school. Anyone could learn to cast any type of magic, however, mana consumption would go down drastically if your affinity matched. I had originally thought that the talent had something to do with affinity, but as it turned out affinity was something deeper than that; all having a talent did was allow you to omit the chants, depending on how high its level was.
Still, the mainstream practice was to test your affinities, then study a school you matched with. At most people would learn one or two additional schools, not all six. However even if it made me stand out, this was something I was determined to do. Even with the limited number of Red spells I knew, I had already noticed some patterns in the wording and had theorized some of the underlying meaning. For instance, virtually every Red spell I learned began with the line [##, ####]. I was all but certain that meant "fire", but as for its purpose in the chant, I hadn''t the faintest clue.
Frankly, it was curious that nobody seemed to be trying to translate the language used by spell chants; it was almost like there was something preventing it. My Red Mage home tutor had been completely baffled when I pointed out the patterns I was noticing, and seemingly wasn¡¯t able to see them himself. If I was able to glean even a small amount of information it could prove a valuable trump card in my upcoming endeavors, to that end, I needed more and varied samples; hence my desire to enroll in all schools of magic.
After some more idle chatter, Duke Percius bid his farewells and departed leaving me with Dominic and Count Francois. Lucy had been minding a corner in case she was needed and so that I would not be alone with a group of men. After sitting in silence for a moment, Count Francois spoke up.
¡°Dominic, your fianc¨¦e is exceptional. To be able to wrap Duke Percius around her finger that easily. Treat her well so that she does not seek to leave our house.¡± Wait what does he mean by that?
Dominic was sitting with a somewhat grim look on his face. Did I do something wrong¡?
¡°Count Francois¡ Did I perhaps overstep myself¡?¡± Count Francois looked at me incredulously.
¡°You truly did not notice¡? Duke Percius never intended to truly offer you the position of a Special Student; it was a formality. He was expecting you would reject it when he brought up the subjugation of monsters. If you had not based your enrollment on the prerequisite that you first passed the first and second-year classes, he was likely to find an excuse to retract the offer and refuse you.¡± Ah¡ right, a normal noble girl would have backed off when she heard she would be expected to fight monsters.
¡°Ah¡ I did not realize that¡ Living in Ris Village, I have encountered goblins from time to time so the idea of fighting monsters is not particularly foreign to me¡ I feel I must apologize for placing you in a difficult spot Count Francois.¡± I gave Count Francois a half-truth to explain why the idea of monsters didn¡¯t scare me, otherwise, I was worried he would grow suspicious. He shook his head lightly, a smile returning to his face.
¡°I see, if that is your reasoning it cannot be helped. Still, it will hurt your reputation if you cannot pass those classes. Dominic, instruct your fianc¨¦e in what she will need to know to get a passing mark for foreign geography and history. You have one week so do hurry.¡± Scary¡ he already knows what my weak points are¡ just how close does he keep up with my father. And this means I must spend the next days with Dominic almost exclusively! Looking at him sidelong I saw him watching me carefully, with a familiar glint in his eye, the same glint he had gotten when he decided to fight Giogi and the other five boys back in Ris. Scary!
Extra Chapter: The Watchers
A large all-white space
Two figures, one male and one female, were standing in front of a large sphere. A globe depicting a world that was not Earth. A third figure, an androgynous youth, was floating in the air with their legs crossed, tapping away on a smartphone.
After a few minutes of silence, the man turned to the woman and spoke, "Oy! Where d''you git off?! Tryin'' to get ''er into yer good graces so early?! Ain''t this supposed ta be ah ceasefire?!" The man turned to the Androgynous Youth.
Looking up from their smartphone, the Androgynous Youth spoke, "It''s fine, a god''s gift wouldn''t work for Stahlia anyways, the [Pantheonic Blessing System] is inherently incompatible with her [Custom Class] by its very nature; this will only make things more interesting." The man''s face turned red, and he opened his mouth to protest. The Androgynous Youth''s eyes turned cold, "I said it''s fine. Is that clear?"
The man could only nod, cowed before the youth''s gaze. To any onlooker this would have been a curious sight; the man was tall and well built, strong abs and arms well-tanned and oiled. Cowed by a youth of indeterminate gender who looked as though a strong breeze might have knocked them from their airborne perch.
The woman was nonplussed. Without looking up from the globe she intoned; "What exactly is the custom class pray tell? You said it was something even you could not do. I find that incredibly hard to believe."
The Androgynous Youth opened their mouth to answer when all of a sudden they burst into laughter. "Pray tell, what humors you so? I was asking you a serious question." the woman asked of them. The Androgynous Youth shook their head.
"Nothing you said was so funny, the pawn simply discovered he is a she. ¡®Momma, where is my penis?¡¯ Ha!" Shaking their head, the Youth tossed the smartphone over their shoulder, where it promptly vanished into thin air.
"To answer your question, quite a lot is different. For one, the amount of soul potential [Custom Class] requires is insane. I would say that it''s more than a tier six or seven class, like the [Aspirant] or [Lord] class systems. ninety-nine out of a hundred times, trying to acquire [Custom Class] would make your soul pop off." The woman raised an eyebrow.
"More energy than tier six or seven?" she intoned. The youth nodded.
"More than ten times tier six, almost twice as much as tier seven. Compared to the regular system it doesn''t even compare. I would wager that even some of the lower gods might not have a big enough soul to adequately support it."
The Youth pulled out their smartphone and waved it in front of the man''s face, "See? I told you. The blessing failed, it got blocked and couldn''t activate." The Man grunted by way of response.
The Woman waited to see if the Youth planned to continue, but when they did not, she asked another question, "But most of that potential would be taken up by the [Divine Authority] you added, would it not? Any soul that could host a seed of divinity would be able to use the [Custom Class] I should think."
The Youth sighed and glanced down at the phone. They grumbled to themselves while pretending not to hear the Woman''s question, "What a boring sister..." Pointing the phone at the globe, the Youth flicked their finger across the screen, sending a small stream of light into a small dot that had just appeared on its surface, "There, as long as that class change doesn''t kill you, it should make things more interesting... and for good measure, this." The Youth tapped their finger on the phone screen, sending one extra small particle of light into the dot.
They turned to the woman, "I saw what you did, interesting.¡± They said, before flashing a grin, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll tell you; stop looking at me like that.¡± The woman nodded, before returning her expression back to one of neutrality.
The youth glanced down at his phone briefly before taking a deep breath, ¡°So, you know how the system usually works. Based on how much Soul Potential a person is born with, quantified as mana, the system assigns them a tier-one class. By fulfilling various obligations, they can go about improving their soul¡¯s potential. The system frames this as ¡®leveling up¡¯. Upon reaching certain thresholds, the system will either derive a higher tier class or, if they lack enough spare potential, grant them a new class line. Classes grant skills according to their tier, as well as augmenting their holder with buffed stats, while the system allocates any spare potential to grant talents based on the user¡¯s actions.¡±
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The youth took a breath and checked their phone. Suddenly, their eyes snapped up and they glared at the man, ¡°You sent a demon to her.¡± The woman looked up at the man, anger clear on her own face, despite her earlier actions. However, she knew better than to speak up and further agitate the youth.
The man grunted, ¡°Aye, that I did. Considerin¡¯ you let ¡®er get away wit tryin¡¯ tah bless ¡®er, this much should be just fine. No?¡± The man jerked his chin towards the woman, who quickly averted her eyes. The youth furrowed their brow while checking their phone.
¡°Which one did you send¡ Ah, that should be fine, in fact, her getting involved with this should make things way more interesting. I¡¯ll allow it.¡± The man breathed out in audible relief, while the woman opened her mouth to protest. However, catching the look the youth shot at her, she held her tongue.
The youth was about to continue the explanation, when all of a sudden, an alarm began blaring on their phone. Quickly checking it, they smiled, ¡°Good, the auto retrieval mechanism worked this time; I won¡¯t have to go out and do it manually. Oof looks like we got an extra, sorry about that¡ Here, I¡¯ll give you the courtesy to make up for it.¡± The youth pointed their phone at the globe and sent a beam of light from it down to a spot, all while holding a disconcerting grin on their face. The woman frowned.
¡°You certainly don¡¯t look sorry.¡± With a chuckle, the youth ignored her and continued their earlier train of thought.
¡°Very few people have enough potential to achieve a tier-six class, even fewer can get a tier-seven. [Custom Class] should be impossible for a mortal to properly use, not because it comes with a built-in divine authority, but because it lacks the safety features inherent to the system. Unlike how the standard classes are balanced, with more cost-intensive abilities being segregated, [Custom Class] allows the user to select any ability from any tier, at any time. As long as they have enough potential to afford it. Of course, that does nothing to prevent the long-term side effects of¡ YOU BITCH!¡±
The youth suddenly appeared in front of the woman, with their fist implanted into her sternum. The woman collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. The youth stood up and waved a hand, causing a door to appear. ¡°I fucking told you that a [Pantheonic Blessing] was incompatible, why the fuck did you try and force it. She is MY. Toy. Not. Yours.¡± The youth stepped through the door.
The man looked down at the woman, ¡°Ya shouldni half done that.¡± She groaned and stood back up before dusting herself off.
¡°I¡¯ll live. Besides, what¡¯s done is done; our sister doesn¡¯t like reverting causality if he can help it.¡±
The man nodded.
¡°Indeed, our brother might be a stickler for the rules she set, but that just means he follows them herself.¡±
Before long, the youth returned, ¡°I fixed her soul so that your fuck up won¡¯t disintegrate it. Hands. Off. My. Toy. You hear me?¡± The woman nodded, a solemn expression fixed on her face. ¡°Seriously. I hate directly interfering with the soul, it¡¯s so tiring.¡±
The youth stopped for a moment, recollecting themselves, ¡°Where was I¡? Right. So basically, the regular classes are built in such a way as to protect the soul of the user, if there isn¡¯t enough potential then the system gives a tier-one class or no class at all. If there is enough, then the user is allowed to acquire a higher tier class. For safety though, everyone who gets a class starts at tier-one. Custom Class bypasses all of this, letting its user take any ability, of any tier, at any time. Limited only by their quantified soul potential, ¡®Life Points¡¯. Do you understand the difference now?¡±
The woman nodded, ¡°Thank you for explaining it to me¡ incidentally, you have that other soul, are you going to incarnate it?¡± The youth glanced down at their phone.
¡°This? Yea, in a few mortal years. We¡¯ve been sending a lot of them over recently, the constant influx of high potential souls is stressing the system, so I¡¯ll wait for it to recover a bit.¡± The youth returned to tapping away on their phone, it was clear they were done talking to the woman. The woman and the man went back to overseeing the globe.
All was quiet for a few minutes until, suddenly, the youth jumped down and opened a doorway while exclaiming, ¡°Oh shit. OI, what the fuck! Nononono don¡¯t do that. You shouldn¡¯t fucking do that yet. You¡¯re not strong enough for that! DAMNIT! FERMINA! THIS IS YOUR FUCKING FAULT!¡± The youth ran through the door. Before it shut, the man and the woman heard them greet someone.
¡°Yo George! Looks like you died again huh? Man, you just aren¡¯t very lucky.¡±
The man glanced at the woman, ¡°Seems attached to this¡¯un huh.¡±
The woman glanced at the shut door for a moment before responding, ¡°Indeed, our sibling certainly seems to have taken a liking to this soul. The next game ought to be quite fun indeed.¡±
2-3 Day Off
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
After the meeting with Duke Percius, I spent the next six days sequestered in my side building with Dominic. As he was entering his third year at the Academy, he was familiar with the material I would need to know for the exams I was set to take. As such, his father Count Francois instructed him to cram the knowledge into me. At first, he had been somewhat harsh about it, probably assuming I would meet failure. But after the second day, he was forced to admit I was coming along swimmingly all things considered. Of course, much of that was thanks to my Memorization talent I had picked up several years ago. I even managed to get the skill to level up in the process of cramming my head full of knowledge about the surrounding regions.
Margeritte would drop by at least once a day to look in on us. She seemed overly worried about me; having been made aware of the circumstances that lead to me having to study so much so quickly, she was behaving like a mother hen whose chick was in the jaws of a cat. Honestly, I just wish you would focus on your own daughter! Isn¡¯t she going to be entering the academy next year? On the subject of Elienor, she had visited twice but had stopped coming once she learned there was nothing ¡°interesting¡± going on. Personally, I greatly preferred my own little sister to this creature.
Jacqueline was spending a great deal of time away from me, still learning the locations of everything in the city. Even for someone with her skills, the slums had changed a great deal in the twelve years she had been gone from the capital, so relearning them was taking her time. Lucy seemed to be my primary attendant, though Frieda was the senior employee out of the two. While Lucy attended me during my study sessions, Frieda would busy herself with this and that, maintaining the side building I was housed in.
Finally, on the evening of the sixth day, Dominic sat up. ¡°Well, at this point, you will either pass or you will fail. There is not much good in stressing over it anymore; I think you should take a day off from studying tomorrow that way on the first day of next week you can approach the tests with a refreshed mind.¡± You aren¡¯t fooling me, Dominic. I can tell you¡¯re just fed up with going over all this material for ten hours a day. Still, you have a point about relaxing. It would be beneficial.
¡°Dominic¡¡± At some point during our studying, he had all but ordered me to call him by name when we were alone, and only use the lord title when there were non-attendants present. Even though I personally didn¡¯t really care for being overly familiar with him, there was little I could do after he ignored my socially acceptable protests, so I had begrudgingly agreed to do so.
¡°Hmm? What is it Stahlia?¡± His own speech had become much more casual after I agreed to call him casually.
¡°¡Do you believe your father would permit me to go into the city? If I am to relax I do not think I could do it cooped up in this building as I have been. For better or worse, I now associate this room with endless studies.¡± That was of course, largely a lie. I would be perfectly content to remain in this room provided I was alone. I was already confident I could pass the tests and had now moved my mind along to information gathering, a purpose which would necessitate me going out.
However, in order to go out, I would require his father¡¯s permission, since I intended to go to the Upper and Lower cities and needed a writ of passage to leave the Noble Quarter. Sneaking out was an option, technically. But I would rather be more familiar with the city before attempting that as I had only been here a week, and most of that had been spent cooped up to study.
¡°Permission to go out? Right, you are probably curious about the city, Ris is so small in comparison. I will consult with my father for you.¡± Attempting not to show my displeasure, I thanked him for his offer and bid farewell as he left, accompanied by his own attendant. It was already getting late, so I retired to bed after a quick meal and a bath.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
¡°Dominic¡ why are we here?¡± I questioned the young man stood slightly in front of me with what I could only assume was a confused expression spread across my face.
¡°Well Stahlia, you told me you wanted to see some places you did not have in Ris Village. This was the first that came to mind.¡± He seemed utterly pleased with his choice of location for some reason.
¡°I mean¡ I did say that, but¡¡± Dominic cut me off and beckoned me to the door held open by two well-oiled muscular men. Both were naked from the waist up, showing off a well-tanned six-pack and large pectorals. Additionally, they were collared. Sighing, as I couldn¡¯t see a socially acceptable way out of this situation, I hesitatingly walked through the door and into the building.
This had all started last night. Dominic¡¯s attendant had come and informed Lucy that Count Francois had given permission for my outing on the condition that Dominic and Gregory would accompany us. I had been less than thrilled with the idea, but given it was the only way I could get out into the city, I had agreed and thanked him readily enough. The next morning, Lucy dressed me in a dress with far fewer frills than I had been expecting. When questioned, she informed me that Dominic and I would be going out under the guise of being upper-class merchants as opposed to young nobles. That was something I could get behind, so I agreed without too much fuss.
When I got down to the estate¡¯s courtyard, Dominic and Gregory had been waiting for me. I had wanted to bring Stil, but Lucy advised that bringing a monster into the city could cause problems that we could not solve without borrowing Francois¡¯ name, which would blow our cover. I was slightly concerned with going out and not having one of my guards with me, but I knew that Jacqueline would be observing from somewhere out of sight, so I didn¡¯t argue with Lucy over Stil.
Dominic had then asked me if I had anywhere in mind to go. Of course, he had to have known that I wouldn¡¯t have the faintest about any places in the city. Normally I would profess a desire to visit an alchemy workshop, but I had no desire to bring Dominic to a place I was looking forward to seeing, his presence was sure to spoil the atmosphere of any location visited. In lieu of that, I simply asked him to ¡°Take me someplace I could not visit in Ris¡ If possible, I would like to see a Demi-human.¡± That had led to my current predicament.
We were at the ¡°Bartmoss¡¯ Slave Emporium¡± a licensed slave purveyor. Of course, I was already aware that slavery was legal in this world. It was also true that Ris didn¡¯t have a slave market, so this qualified as ¡°something I couldn¡¯t see in Ris.¡± I would also probably be able to see Demi-humans here. That left me very little wiggle room to avoid going in. Still, I hope he doesn¡¯t try and get me to buy one¡ I wasn¡¯t about to start an emancipation movement, I wasn¡¯t stupid; I had nowhere near enough political capital to ever be successful. But that didn¡¯t mean I wanted to be involved in the slave trade myself.
The slave trade in Drakas was a government-sanctioned and regulated business. From what I understood, it was a well-organized one as well. From the signage I could see, it seemed that the Bartmoss¡¯ Slave Emporium dealt in three of the five types of slaves.
The first type of slave, a Debt Slave, was a person who had fallen into debt they could not pay off. To cover part of their losses, their creditor was legally allowed to sell them as a slave. The second type was a Voluntary Slave. Voluntary Slaves were those individuals who had proactively chosen to sell themselves. This would be done usually to secure money for their family when they fell on hard times. Voluntary slaves would also be released after a certain period had elapsed as stipulated in their contract. Of course, whether or not that contract was actually honored was another thing entirely, so becoming a voluntary slave was viewed as a last resort, little better than becoming a debt slave.
The third type of slave sold here was a Born Slave. Born slaves were nominally the children of other slaves who had been born into bondage. However, the label also applied to those that the Drakas Kingdom declared as legally slaves by species, namely Demi-humans.
Indeed, it was perfectly legal to grab any Demi-human you found and put them under a slave contract. Slave Contracts were what ensured total obedience from a slave; they were a form of contract magic, which itself was a sub-school found in both Black and White magic. These contracts would compel their targets to follow the orders given by the owner with varying degrees of penalty for going against the owner. Anything from an uncomfortable itch that wouldn¡¯t go away to instant death was possible.
The other two types of slaves that were not sold here were War Slaves and Illegal Slaves. War slaves were those taken as prisoners during war, as the name implied. Illegal slaves were slaves that had been enslaved illegally, basically all kidnapped children and travelers.
A fat man with an oily head approached us, presumably he was the slave merchant. He greeted us affably, a far cry from what his appearances might suggest. ¡°Ah, young master, how might I assist you today?¡± Dominic motioned to his manservant.
¡°The young lady and I are just looking around today; she has traveled from a small village and was curious to see a Demi-human.¡± Dominic turned to me, ¡°Shall we look around Stahlia?¡± You bastard, this isn¡¯t what I had in mind at all!
Pasting a fake smile on my face, I nodded, ¡°Indeed, shall we?¡± and offered him my hand. A slave, presumably sent by the merchant came over to answer any questions we might have. Dominic took my hand with a magnanimous smile, and we started browsing the ¡°wares¡±. The large majority of them were human debt slaves, though there was a good number of voluntary and born slaves as well.
Strangely, despite the Drakas Kingdom¡¯s stance, only one in ten of the slaves was a Demi-human. The gender ratio was more or less fifty-fifty. Dominic was watching my reactions carefully, and when he noticed my gaze lingering on one of the rabbit-kin slaves, he turned and addressed the guide.
¡°My partner comes from a small village you see, I believe she is curious as to their appearances, having not had an opportunity to see one before, might I trouble you to show her the back area?¡± The backroom? I really don¡¯t like the sound of that¡
The slave guide nodded and motioned for us to follow him. He led us out of the general area and towards the back of the establishment. We passed out of the area where the slaves were freely milling about and into a room where they were being kept in what could only be called cages. As we went, the general quality of slaves seemed to decrease; whereas the front room had been full of healthy people, the further back we went the weaker and weaker they became, accompanied by a marked decrease in living conditions. What the hell!?
¡°Dominic, I don¡¯t think-¡± Dominic squeezed my hand and stealthily shook his head.
In a whisper, he addressed me, ¡°Stahlia, don¡¯t say anything. I know how you feel, but I wanted to show you the truth.¡±
In the very back of the room, the guide let us through a door. The first thing that hit me was the stench, and I reflexively covered my nose in shock. It smelled like a zoo on a hot summer day. The slaves here were not in cages so much as they were in small kennels, barely able to fit their inhabitants. Looking around, virtually every single one of them was a Demi-human, humans were now the vast minority, though there was still a handful of them present. While the front room had been mostly young adults, this back area was filled with a wide variety of ages, ranging from outright infants to grey-haired elders.
¡°Most of those here come from illegal beast-men settlements that the knights order subjugated.¡± Dominic - answered my unvoiced question, ¡°The survivors are sold off in bulk, though only a handful of them will ever be purchased, storage is cheap enough that the shops can still manage to turn a profit on the transaction.¡± Frankly, I wanted to return to the front room and forget I had ever seen this place.
Just as I was about to suggest we go back, one of the kennels in the far corner caught my attention. It was occupied by two Cat-kin, one a young woman and the other a little girl probably around four years old. Both of them were dressed in torn rags, and the woman was covered in blotchy bruises. What had caught my eye was the girl¡¯s appearance. She had hair nearly the same shade as my own and eyes a very light azure. Other than the tail and pointed ears, she looked a lot like me when I was her age. By extension, she also bore a strong resemblance to my kidnapped sister, Rosial.
Seeing the state she was in brought back memories of the horrors Jacqueline had told me Rosial was being forced to undergo. ¡°Ahh¡¡± I let out an involuntary reaction, causing Dominic to look over at me and follow my gaze to the kennel.
¡°Hmm? Oh, a Cat-kin huh¡? Actually, doesn¡¯t she kind of look like your late sister¡? Of course, I don¡¯t mean to imply Rosial was a beast-kin, but setting aside the ears and tail they do look similar¡¡± He glanced sidelong at me, but I paid him no mind, I was trying not to throw up from how much this one reminded me of my sister. Dominic seemed to read something into my expression because after a moment of hesitation he clapped his hands.
¡°You there, who is that one?¡± Looking at the indicated kennel, the slave guide answered Dominic¡¯s query.
¡°The cats? They were captured alongside each other by the knight¡¯s order about a year ago. The master¡¯s given up on selling them at this point¡ ah, it looks like the older one might actually have expired, my apologies.¡± As he was talking to us, he had approached the kennel and given the woman a sharp prod in the side to get her to look up at us and, rather than look up, her head had lolled to the side, exposing vacant lifeless eyes.
Dominic studied me for a moment as if thinking something over. I had turned away; I didn¡¯t want to see someone who reminded me of Rosial, especially not in this sort of condition. ¡°You say that the owner has given up on selling the younger one? Fetch him for me, would you?¡± The guide hesitated but then nodded and left us alone with a bow.
The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
¡°Dominic¡ what are you planning?¡± I honestly didn¡¯t want to know, but I was worried if I didn¡¯t speak up things would go in a direction I didn¡¯t like.
¡°Do not hide it Stahlia, looking at that kitten reminds you of Lady Rosial does it not? I was considering buying it for you. Of course, she could never replace your little sister, but I had thought you might struggle with the thought of her looking so much like Rosial, and being in a condition like this...¡± I was mortified and about to tell him off when the shop owner returned, stealing my chance to do so.
¡°Ah young master, has this kitten caught your eye? Unfortunately, the older one seems to have passed away, and she herself is in poor health, so I can¡¯t in good conscience sell her to you.¡± Dominic frowned at him.
¡°Stop beating around the bush; we both know you will sell, how much?¡± The slave merchant¡¯s conciliatory smile vanished, and he nodded.
¡°It seems you have already made up your mind. One Drakas Small Gold.¡± Dominic looked at the girl, she gazed back at him with eyes dead to the world, unmoving.
Wait no! this is like my engagement all over again, I can¡¯t let myself get led along here! ¡My instability right now is stemming from my feelings towards Rosial triggered by the state this girl is in, so it should be easy enough to fix... I took a deep breath and activated Cold Hearted, targeting my Empathy. Suddenly, I no longer cared about my surroundings; rather than feeling revulsion about how the people were being forced to live I simply felt sickened by the smell and wanted to leave.
¡°That seems a bit steep considering her condition. I will offer you five Silvers.¡± The merchant shook his head.
I cut in. ¡°Dominic, I truly do not care. Can we leave? This stench is foul.¡± Dominic looked at me, surprised, and opened his mouth to respond. In a panic, the slave trader held up his hand.
¡°Very well, you drive a hard bargain. What say you to Six Silvers?¡± Dominic¡¯s eyes briefly flashed, and after a moment, he nodded.
¡°Six Silvers then, go and get the contract magic ready.¡± What a pain. Why do I have to deal with this?
The merchant processed the transaction and had Dominic sign a piece of paper legitimizing the sale. The merchant undid the contract magic on the girl that marked him as her owner and motioned for Dominic to establish the contract in his place. Dominic grabbed my hand and pressed it against the magic circle drawn over the contract paper. I felt a bit of my mana get forcibly sucked out and into the collar, establishing me as the girl¡¯s owner. ¡°Why did you do that?!¡± I shot him an angry glare. Why should I have to take care of this cat?! She smells like shit!
¡°Why? Well, she reminds you of Rosial. I thought you might be able to provide her a shot at a future¡¡± Glancing down at the slave he had gifted to me, Dominic smiled and addressed her. ¡°This is Stahlia, she is your owner now. What¡¯s your name?¡± The girl looked slowly from Dominic to me and then nodded with dead eyes.
¡°Pet¡¯s name is Pet¡ Stahlia is Pet¡¯s owner.¡± There was a faint glimmer in the girl¡¯s eyes when she said her own name. What? Her name is ¡°Pet¡±? Whatever. Can we go now?
¡°Dominic, can we leave yet? Also, at least buy her some clothes, being followed around by a near-naked beast would not look good for my social image.¡± Dominic gave me a confused look and agreed, ordering a set of cheap child¡¯s clothes that were being conveniently sold by the slave merchant. All in all, Pet had cost a total of 7,100 Drak. Only slightly more expensive than my dagger had been.
Exiting the slave trader¡¯s, I quickly disabled [Cold Hearted] and was immediately struck by a wave of nausea. I could remember everything I had thought, how I had felt when I lacked Empathy. It was sickening. I knew this would happen; I had done some experimentation over the previous two years, but I had hoped if I no longer empathized, I would be able to avoid clamming up from thoughts of my sister and be able to speak up for myself.
Instead, I had no longer given a shit and wound up owning a slave; the exact situation I had wanted to avoid. I looked back at Pet and fought the urge to vomit as I recalled how I had thought of her. I¡¯ll at least do my best to look after you for now, and eventually, once I¡¯ve dealt with things, I¡¯ll do my best to free you¡ I¡¯m sorry! Her name was a problem for me as well, but it was something I would have to address later. For now¡ ¡°Pet¡¡± ugh¡
¡°Do we have any further business in town?¡± Dominic turned to question me. I had wanted to explore a bit more, but after the fiasco just now, I was just about done with Dominic¡¯s shit for the day. That was when Pet¡¯s stomach made a gurgling noise.
When I turned to face her, she recoiled and reflexively held her hands up to shield herself. Poor thing¡ did they beat her when she was hungry¡? I reached out a hand towards her, causing her to flinch and recoil away from me before suddenly letting out a soft cry; presumably, the contract had interpreted her recoiling as defying me and started hurting her. I rested my hand gently on her head and rubbed between her cat ears, similarly to how I had used to pat Rosial.
¡°It seems she is hungry, I am feeling a bit so myself, why not find a place to eat something and then return to the estate?¡± Dominic seemed about to say something, so I cut him off before he could protest. ¡°Dominic, it is an owner¡¯s duty to take care of their pets is it not? Would you have me refrain from feeding Stil?¡± Dominic caught his retort and shook his head, though he held a dissatisfied expression. Good. You don¡¯t get to just force a slave on me, and then prevent me from taking care of her. One thing was certain, Dominic had utterly failed to earn himself any favors from me today.
Dominic eventually spoke up, ¡°¡Let us return to the upper city then, I would prefer not to eat at a lower city establishment.¡± I nodded; I could agree to that at least. We made our way back to the upper city and Lucy led us to a small caf¨¦ overlooking a fountain plaza. Of course, Pet wouldn¡¯t be able to sit at the table with us, and I knew better than to press that issue. Still, I insisted she was to be given a chair and fed the same food we were eating, again citing Stil as my benchmark. For her part, Pet seemed utterly overwhelmed when the food was given to her.
¡°Pet¡ Pet can eat this¡?¡± I could only purse my lips and nod to that. She hesitatingly took a mouthful of the soup, lacking formal education she was drinking straight from the bowl, but that was honestly cute in its own way. I¡¯ll have to teach her properly later, If anyone objects I can just tell them I¡¯m training her just like I trained Stil. Comparing her to a monster is a bit... but it should let me get away with a fair amount that I normally couldn¡¯t do for a slave. I scoffed at the last thought the instant I thought it. Once I was satisfied that she would continue eating without prompting I turned my attention to my own plate. Looking out over the fountain plaza while we ate, I mostly kept to myself; for better or worse, Pet really did make me think of Rosial and I was lost in my own memories.
The plaza itself was quite beautiful. The fountain was made of a white stone and carved with a relief featuring various religious iconography. From what I could tell, it seemed to depict the moment the God of Darkness and Goddess of Light bestowed fragments of their own divinity on the seven heroes. We spent roughly an hour at the caf¨¦ before heading back to the estate.
Getting back to the estate, I made sure to thank Dominic for getting his father to agree to my request, and then went with Lucy and Pet to my side building, taking a secondary entrance instead of going through the main building. That had been at Dominic¡¯s suggestion; he intended to privately inform his father and mother that I had been gifted a slave. How fucking considerate of you. When I got into my room, Pet peered fearfully around from behind me. After I had rubbed her head and fed her, she seemed to have opened up a bit to me but was still skittish.
Frieda briefly raised an eyebrow when she saw Pet¡¯s head peeking out, so I waved for Lucy to explain to her. Stil sniffed at the air and having detected an unfamiliar scent, made his way over. He stuck his beak out towards her, causing her to jump back slightly. ¡°Stil, this is Pet. Be nice.¡± Stil glanced over at me, he had been a bit more expressive since his evolution, a fact that I attributed to the increased intelligence stat value. Dutifully, he sat down and rubbed his head against her stomach. ¡°Pet, this is Stil, my trained monster. He wants you to pet his head.¡± Fearfully, she reached out and after a moment¡¯s hesitation quickly ran her hand over his head.
When he didn¡¯t bite, she stroked him again, a half-smile appearing on her face. I left Pet to play with Stil and went over to Frieda and Lucy. ¡°Frieda, please arrange a sleeping space for her in the corner of my room; it doesn¡¯t need to be anything fancy as long as it¡¯s warm. Has Jacqueline returned yet today?¡± Frieda answered in the negative before moving off to make arrangements for Pet. Apparently, she and Lucy had decided they would treat Pet the same way they treated Stil, while I considered that to be a bit crass, I was able to accept it as a compromise over how a Demi-human slave would usually be treated. I went up to my room to change out of my travel clothes while making a mental list of things I would need Jacqueline to do the next time I saw her.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Dominic
I left Stahlia¡¯s room accompanied by my head manservant Gregory. Honestly, what is with that girl? Stahlia had been made my Fianc¨¦e a little over two years ago. When I had first found out I had accepted the information in stride, I had always known that I would have a marriage arranged for me by my father. When he told me she was a fallen noble daughter though, I had become curious. When I asked my father to arrange a chance for me to meet her incognito, to my surprise he accepted and bought me, along with the Third Prince of all people, to meet her and her family.
The girl I met was one surprise after another. After the second day, I was thoroughly convinced of why my father wanted her to join our house. Despite being a fallen noble, she had enough grace and charisma to wrap the local boys around her fingers. She not only excelled in her studies, but she was actually teaching several of the classes. Frankly, she was exceptional.
What¡¯s more, she seemed to be able to resist my gifts; I had been born under very special circumstances. In my previous life, I was a meek nobody who died a virgin at the age of forty-five. I didn¡¯t even get to become a wizard. Floating in a white void, I met an androgynous figure who claimed to be a god. Apparently, they were offering me a chance to live again. When I questioned why they would choose me, the figure chuckled and said I ¡°checked all the necessary boxes¡±.
Of course, I didn¡¯t believe them, but all they did was shrug and tell me that it was fine, I had died naturally so my agreement wasn¡¯t necessary. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a baby¡¯s cradle. I had actually reincarnated, just like that ¡°god¡± said I would. What¡¯s more, I had seemingly hit the jackpot; my new family were high nobles in the largest kingdom on the continent. I could have everything I ever wanted!
Things only got better from there. I very quickly learned I had been given an isekai cheat ability as well; at my dedication, it was revealed that I possessed an extremely rare purpose, that of ¡°Demon Aspirant¡±. This purpose was one of the only ways for a human to employ the abilities of demons. In gaming terms, it was able to bypass the race restrictions placed on demonic powers. Thankfully, my father was able to use his social position to keep things quiet, although I never saw that priest again.
One of the skills that came with my class was called [Incubus Eye]. As the name implied, it mimicked the ability of an incubus and was able to charm women. While the ability was, frankly, a bit sickening it did have its uses. Using that power, I set about arranging things in my favor. Getting favors from young noblewomen was exceedingly easy for me, and I was able to manipulate various things behind the scenes to work out in my favor.
As they say, women control half of society so by endearing myself to that half, I was able to garner quite a bit of support. But it wasn¡¯t perfect. From the outside looking in, it might seem like I had everything one could want, but that couldn¡¯t be further from the truth. Humans thrive on meaningful connections, and in my case, I was unable to form such connections due to my powers.
See, prolonged use of my [Incubus Eye] had led to me being unable to turn it off. It reminded me a bit of an anime I had been quite fond of, where the main character had been able to compel anyone to obey one command via direct eye contact. Everything had been going great, until his power evolved and he lost the ability to turn it off, leading to his plans falling apart. My own situation was similar; no matter who it was, as long as they were female, I could get away with anything.
This meant I wasn¡¯t able to form a real relationship; my connections were built on hypnotism and lies. Hence my ecstasy when I realized that Stahlia was resisting my [Incubus Eye]. It wasn¡¯t perfect, as she was still clearly being drawn to me; she didn¡¯t notice her sister getting sicker and sicker while I was in the village. It didn¡¯t take me long to decide I wanted to marry her, this was a woman I could form a real relationship with.
As if that wasn¡¯t enough, she was actually able to keep up with me physically as well. I was at the top of my class in swordsmanship, owing to my class having extremely potent ability values. But when I wound up fighting Stahlia, she didn¡¯t just beat me, she beat me down. The only thing I could think of was that she was using some form of enhancement magic, this owing to the fact that she had offered to appraise me. Of course, I hadn¡¯t let her; it would spoil my chances with her if she learned of my class.
In all respects, I considered Stahlia to be the perfect woman to have at my side. I told my father that I wanted to marry her, and the third prince made arrangements so that our union would be legal. For her part, Stahlia seemed overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, but I was sure she would come around in time. I would actually have to work at it, but I should be able to manage something, after all, I was quite the catch.
It was a week or two after I had returned to my family¡¯s estate that we got the bad news; Stahlia¡¯s sister Rosial had died of her illness. I felt extremely bad about this; my presence had distracted Stahlia from her sister¡¯s deteriorating condition. If I hadn¡¯t been there, it was likely that Stahlia¡¯s skill at alchemy might have been able to save her sister¡¯s life. I sent her a letter to make amends, but didn¡¯t hear from her; I would later learn that the letter had never arrived.
The next interaction we had came at Stahlia¡¯s tenth birthday; it was customary among the nobility for betrothed to send each other an item of jewelry for this event. For Stahlia, I selected a pair of earrings with Rosial¡¯s birthstone set in mythril. I knew Stahlia didn¡¯t have her ears pierced, however, I imagined that she would be grateful for such an extravagant gift. Besides which, I would soon be able to see her again; as she had turned ten, she would be joining me at the academy this year.
When we did reunite, I was ecstatic; it would seem that somehow, her resistance to my charm had progressed to outright immunity. Now, our relationship would be completely organic. I had also seemingly been correct about the earrings; she had gotten her ears pierced in order to wear them. From our reunion, things only seemed to get better; as fate would have it, I was able to spend the better part of a week with her.
Stahlia had been invited to take the position of a Special Student, however, to do this, she would need to test out of two years of school, and into the third year. This was where I came in; being a third-year student myself, I was able to provide her with tutoring in the subjects she had not been able to learn in Ris Village. Once again, she surprised me with her academic excellence. Stahlia voraciously absorbed knowledge, and before I knew it our tutoring had progressed beyond its original scope and I found myself teaching her material from the third and fourth years that I was just learning.
Once I realized I had exhausted the material I had to teach her, I suggested that we should take a day off so that she could rest before the tests. Her next request, to see a demi-human gave me pause, but I wanted to answer it if I could. So, I decided to show her. I got my father¡¯s permission to take Stahlia to see the slave market and began making plans with my manservant Greggory, and Stahlia¡¯s maid Lucy.
The trip went absolutely horribly. I was pleased to learn that the conditions of the market made Stahlia uncomfortable. However, what we found in the back room ruined the day. The cat-kin Pet had an appearance that closely mirrored that of Stahlia¡¯s late sister. Of course, this caused Stahlia a great deal of mental anguish. Hoping to perhaps alleviate that, I arranged to purchase the slave for her.
Stahlia played along well enough to assist in the purchase of the slave, though I initially thought that she was simply being a bit cold. It wasn¡¯t until we got out of the shop that I realized how badly I had messed up; Stahlia, rather than viewing the slave as a surrogate of her little sister, seemingly regarded it as little better than her tamed Stawri, Stil. With great effort, I held my peace; this was simply how the people of this world viewed Demi-humans. I would have to work on Stahlia¡¯s perceptions for a while and try to slowly bring her around.
2-4 Placement Tests
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
Early the next morning, I was awoken by a scream, ¡°AHHH! It¡¯s soooo CUTE!¡±
Rolling groggily out of bed, I stumbled into the common area of my side house. Elienor, Dominic¡¯s little sister, was grasping Pet¡¯s cheeks firmly between both hands and pinching them together. I see Dominic must have told his family last night when they had dinner, and Elienor came to see her. Come to think of it, I didn¡¯t see much of her this past week, Margeritte must have been keeping her away while Dominic tutored me.
¡°Elienor, what are you doing¡?¡± She turned to me and grinned happily, still pinching Pet¡¯s cheeks together. For her part, Pet looked terrified.
¡°Stali, where¡¯d you find such a cute kitten?!¡± I groaned and started rubbing my forehead, trying to both get rid of the lingering sleep and forestall the oncoming migraine.
¡°Lord Dominic found her actually, and purchased her for me. Lady Elienor, do you not think what you are currently doing is a little bit¡ unbecoming?¡±
¡°Stali, I was lucky enough to be born a High Noble, I plan on enjoyin¡¯ life without any of that fancy-schmancy etiquette garbage!¡± Elienor spoke in a completely serious tone. Apparently, she was conscious of her position; she just didn¡¯t care. Turning my attention to Pet, I decided to try and rescue her.
¡°Lady Elienor, it would seem you are scaring Pet, I understand she is cute but please try and contain yourself. I would like very much if I could avoid traumatizing her.¡± Elienor gave Pet¡¯s cheeks one final squeeze and released them. Pet ducked away and came to hide behind me, both of her ears pressed flat against her head. If she¡¯s hiding behind me now, does that mean she¡¯s no longer scared of me? I recalled how she had flinched at my hand just the other day. No, she most likely is simply more afraid of Elienor than she is of me.
¡°Stali, you¡¯re a bit weird yourself, Pet¡¯s a slave ya know?¡± I nodded.
¡°I am aware. However, Lord Dominic has entrusted me to care for her the same way I care for Stil and I intend to do so. To that end, I do not mind if you interact with her, but I must ask you to treat her the same way you would Stil; I highly doubt you would pull at Stil¡¯s feathers would you?¡± It¡¯s kind of hard to talk about a person like an animal but, hopefully, this will help control Elienor.
That settled, I called for Lucy and bid her help me get ready. It was going to be a long day. I dressed in the uniform for the Royal Academy; A fancy blood-red dress with white embroidery depicting my noble crest as well as a white, long-sleeved, shrug. Girls wore this dress while boys wore a similarly styled suit reminiscent of a military dress uniform. Other than the family crest, the clothes were identical for every student. Supposedly, the Academy was a Meritocracy devoid of status, but considering the prominent placement of family crests, I had to wonder how much truth there was to that sentiment. Certainly, the Noble-born students may behave in such a manner towards each other, but the Academy also accepted commoners with exceptional classes on scholarship. Like Giogi; I highly doubted that status played absolutely no role whatsoever.
The first day of the Academy would consist of a series of placement tests taken by all incoming students. Second Year and higher students did not actually have to attend but there was an unwritten rule that they should at least make an appearance. Based on the results of the placement tests, new students would be sorted into classes based on their ability levels. It wasn¡¯t to the effect of skipping grades; rather, new students would be split into three groups. Group A was the ¡°cream of the crop¡±, students who excelled on their placement tests. Group B students were those with average results, and Group C were the underachievers. My own tests would be a little more unique.
Normally, Special Students would be offered the position at the start of their third year, the eligibility having been determined by their results the previous two years. In my case, my placement tests were being used to gauge my eligibility to enroll as a Special Student from day one effectively skipping two grades. It could be said that the Special Students were in their own group, ¡°Group S¡±, although such a designation did not officially exist. Once the testing was finished, the second day of school would be a social event with all students present. More or less, it was a welcome party. The third day would see an opening ceremony where the students would finally learn what group they were in and go to their classes for the first time. Actual learning didn¡¯t start until the fourth day.
The trip to the Academy grounds was largely uneventful; the grounds occupied fully one-fourth of the Noble Quarter of the city, with four main entrances. One entrance was built into the wall leading to the Upper City, this one was used by commoner scholarship students who were housed in large apartment complexes serving as dormitories there. Two of the entrances were on either side of the Academy grounds and were used by nobles who lived in the capital¡¯s Noble Quarter.
The last Entrance led into the highest level of the city, the royal place. It was reserved for the exclusive use of the Royal Family, thankfully for my nerves, none of the current royal children were of age to attend. There was also a dormitory building used by nobles whose families did not have a residence in the capital, mostly Barons and the poorest Counts. I would have been living there if not for my engagement qualifying me to use a side building on the Francois Estate.
In any case, my commute was incredibly simple. The Francois family was one of the higher count families in the Kingdom. There were no other Counts with higher social standing than them, and the only ones above were the current four Ducal houses and the Royal Family. As I was commuting with Dominic, I was able to borrow that status to expedite my entrance to the Academy Grounds. I was also technically able to borrow that same status in my dealings with other nobles, but I had no intention of doing so if I could help it. Such a course of action would no doubt cause problems after I broke the engagement off.
As it occupied a full fourth of the entire noble quarter, the academy grounds were massive. They were smaller than the university I had attended back on Earth, but it was close. Once our identities were confirmed, a guide was assigned to me, and they started leading me to the central building. As we went, she explained to me the purpose of each section.
The central building was three stories and held all the classes for first- and second-year students, as well as faculty offices. So it¡¯s the liberal arts building more or less. Behind the central building and out of my sight was the Martial Building. This consisted of large gymnasiums and an outdoor track that ran around the building¡¯s perimeter. The Martial Building was the one in which students taking combat-type courses such as swordplay or riding would have classes.
On the side closest to the palace was the Mage Hall, this was a four-story building built in the shape of a six-pointed star. Each ¡°point¡± was dedicated to one element of magic: the Red Point for Fire, Blue Point for Water, Green Point for Earth, Yellow Point for Wind, White Point for Light, and Black Point for Dark respectively. Each floor was devoted to a year. The ground floor covered introductory magic or ¡°third year¡± as it was referred to by the grade level system. The second floor was for the fourth year, the third floor was for the fifth year, and the fourth level was the ¡°master course¡±. As even boys only spent five years at the academy, getting into the fifth-floor classrooms required skipping grades as a matter of course.
The building closest to the upper city gate was the dormitory, something which held little interest for me as I was living off-campus. The building closest to my own point of entry was the general studies hall and held classes for third and year and above students in fields like mathematics, history, geography, alchemy, and basically any other subject that was not taught in the Martial Building or Mage Hall. Assuming I was able to pass all my tests today, I would likely spend much of my time in the Mage Hall and General Studies Building.
With my partial guided tour now concluded, I was led into the central building and further to a large room with about fifty people, presumably students, therein. I checked with one of the adults and then went to my indicated seat. The seating was split down the middle with boys on the right-hand side and girls on the left, facing the front of the room. In terms of d¨¦cor, it was spartan, lacking any form of decoration whatsoever. The only object breaking up the uniformity of the walls was a large black slate that, although almost three times the size, resembled the mana-infused iron that had been used in Ris as a blackboard.
I had arrived with a few minutes to spare, which I spent appraising the students around me. True to the creed of the school, we were not seated according to social status. In fact, I could not tell if there was a method to how we had been seated at all; I was near the middle of the room despite being a baron¡¯s daughter. To my right was a duke¡¯s daughter and on my left was a commoner. I could only tell their social positions because of their crests; the commoner didn¡¯t have one and the ducal daughter¡¯s was embroidered with gold thread. My own crest was embroidered with copper. Dominic¡¯s was with silver. Giogi was seated on the far side of the boy¡¯s section, a little back behind where I was, like the girl on my left his uniform had no crest. As Sana was not attending the Royal Academy proper, but rather a specialized course within the central temple, she was not present.
After the bell tolled the hour, one of the adults stood up at the front of the room. ¡°Welcome new students from all walks of life. It is my pleasure to commence this year¡¯s placement exams. As you are no doubt aware, the purpose of these exams is to ascertain the group you are best suited to. Please ensure to do your best, and myself and the other proctors will be watching so do keep your sheets to yourselves. This comes up every year, so I will say it now; you are not expected to be able to answer every question. The exams cover material all the way up to the third year. If you cannot answer a question, simply mark it with a cross and move on. These exams are not factored into your yearend ranking so there is no cause for concern. With that being said, we will now be passing out the exams.¡± With his long-winded explanation out of the way, he motioned and the other proctors went down the rows handing out the tests.
I accepted my paper and left it facedown waiting for the signal to start. Written on the back of the paper was the subject, this first exam covered geography and history. Based on what I learned at the temple, most students would only be able to answer questions about their local regions, but from what Dominic taught me I can expect this to cover the entire Central Continent. The head proctor gave us the signal to start and I flipped the test over and skimmed the whole document. It was twelve pages long, and most of the questions were of the short answer variety. Based on my previous tutoring, it seemed that the twelve pages were split roughly into three sections, each summarizing the basic knowledge that would be covered in a given year of school.
They¡¯ve condensed an entire year into three pages? Am I really able to test out of two whole years of class from a single twelve-page test? I shrugged to myself and started going through the first section. The first section covered the basic geography of the Drakas Kingdom and was fairly straightforward.
Reading each question, I filled in my answers carefully; pencils didn¡¯t exist so I was doing this in ink with a quill. The first section spent a page on the five major territories of the kingdom. Namely, the four cardinal directions as well as the central district around the capital, with a final question for each page asking me to summarize the given region in a single paragraph. So specific memorized information, followed by a more freeform question to see if you actually understand, or if you were just regurgitating memorized facts. This was similar to a style of testing I was familiar with from Earth. Smiling to myself I read the first question and started writing, taking great care with how I worded the last question of each page.
The Northern Region is largely marshland, bordering the Western Great River to its north and the Central Region to the south. The primary export comes in the form of freshwater fish and foodstuffs that thrive in a wet climate such as rice. Limited river crossings provide some trade with the Northern Alliance, but the political instability of that region necessitates a degree of caution. The Northern region is governed by the Claurence Duke family, who maintain political neutrality.
The Eastern Region is a mountainous forested land, bordering the Ris Mountain range to the east, and the central region to the west. The primary industries revolve around logging and mineral extraction. The lone safe passage through the Ris Mountains allows for some trade with the Trade Confederacy, but due to recent embargoes leveled by the confederacy, this trade is currently in decline. The Eastern Region is governed by the Lawrence Duke Family, who took over from the Despita Duke Family, under the Third Prince¡¯s faction.
The Southern Region is a sparse forest interwoven with rolling hills and large meadows. It lies along the shore of the South Ocean, with most of the population focused in port cities. The primary industry revolves around Ocean fishing and trans-oceanic trade with the Southern Continent, through the spice river trade route. The Southern region is governed by the Lester Duke Family, under the Second Prince''s Faction.
The Western Region is a rocky land with no major industry to speak of. Its geography is harsh and unwelcoming, leading the populace towards difficult lives. Due to the terrain and hardy people, the Western Region forms the backbone of Drakas¡¯ military. Though they have a border along the Western Ocean, that Ocean¡¯s large population of sea monsters prevents stable trade routes from forming, leading to little source of economic benefit for the people there. The Western region is governed by the Febligi Duke Family, under the First Prince¡¯s Faction.
The Central Region is a large plain situated in the middle of Drakas. The large amount of Arable land has led to the region becoming the breadbasket of the Drakas Kingdom, with many varieties of grain and produce being grown here before being exported to the other regions. The Central Region is governed directly by the King and can therefore be placed in the King¡¯s Faction.
I looked around the room. Coming up with and writing down my answers had taken me about forty minutes, there was still an hour and a half left in the allotted time. The majority of the other students taking the test seemed to be about halfway through the first section, judging on the position of their writing implements and papers. After only taking a quick glance around the room I returned my attention to my own sheet and flipped over to the second section; I didn¡¯t want the proctors to think I had been cheating.
The second section covered the general geography of the other major regions on the central continent, over the course of six pages. Again, I was asked a series of specific questions, followed by a freeform one at the end of each page. It seemed the second year was more focused on the political ramifications of the geography rather than the geography itself, as the specific questions focused on the political systems and culture of each region, rather than their geography. The first two pages were about the region immediately to the east of Drakas; The Trade Confederacy.
The eastern region opposite the Ris Mountain range from the Kingdom of Drakas is governed by the Trade Confederacy. The region has a variety of climates similar to Drakas, though they are more interspersed than Draka¡¯s monolithic climate regions. The Trade Confederacy that governs this region is a loose confederation of independent city-states controlled by powerful merchant families. Each city is responsible for its own laws and defense, but they will unify under a common defense treaty when threatened by an outside power. This treaty, accompanied by the difficulty of moving large numbers of troops through the mountain pass and by sea, has spared the confederacy from direct integration to the Kingdom. Despite obvious diplomatic tensions, as they can be considered a merchant state, the Confederacy has established economic ties with Drakas. The population is as diverse as the number of climates, and the merchant mindset of the confederacy allows them to exploit this diversity to great effect. Due to the lack of a formalized national military, the plague of monsters and Demi-humans runs rampant in the confederacy, necessitating the outsourcing of labor to mercenaries in the Adventurer¡¯s Guild.
I reviewed my answers, making sure I had written everything I could think of in a coherent manner. In all honesty, the simplicity of the questions was worrying to me; my lessons with Dominic had taken the better part of ten hours a day over a whole week. I had learned a LOT more than what these tests were covering. Still, I couldn¡¯t think of anything to add or change, so I moved on to the next two-page subsection, which was about the region immediately north of Drakas, the Northern Alliance. Unlike the Trade Confederacy, the Northern Alliance was openly hostile to Drakas, having been created as an alliance of small powers specifically to counter Drakian military expansion.
The Regions to the north of the Kingdom of Drakas, across the Western Great River, transition from marshland into a plain, before finally touching the foothills of the Wyrmstooth Mountains. The major political body of this area is known as the Northern Alliance. While the individual nation-states are small, they have a standing international military made specifically in opposition to Drakas. Internal politics are varied, with the various nation-states vying for economic and military supremacy over each other. This unique dynamic has led to the soldiers and diplomats of this region becoming highly skilled at their own roles, which translates into an effective means of self-defense against foreign aggression.
The last two pages of this section were a combo, covering the remaining regions of the central continent, the Spirit Forest, and the Wyrmstooth mountains. These two regions were both countries in their own right, however, they held little contact with the other nations of the central continent. The unique terrain afforded to them allowed them to live in relative isolation. There was also a largely uninhabited region in the center of the continent, a vast desert. However, due to the harsh environment, it had not been very well explored and any records from past expeditions were far too old to glean any meaningful information from. As such, it did not seem the test intended to cover it.
The Wyrmstooth mountains are inhabited by the Mountain Dwarf clans, little is known about the state of their country. What contact the various human powers have with them is limited to trade and not much else; though dwarves are present in the human states, these are by majority Plains Dwarves. The Mountain Dwarves are by nature reclusive and leverage their territory¡¯s inhospitable terrain and fearsome predators to maintain a distance from other groups. The last time any serious dialogue was had, after the fall of the thirteenth, the Mountain Dwarves consisted of twenty-four clans with one clan serving as a ruling body over the others, if this is still the case or not, is unknown.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The Spirit Forest is home to the only elven kingdom on the Central Continent. While not as reclusive as the Mountain Dwarves, The Elves are favored by the spirits who live with them in this forest, existing in symbiosis with them. The spirits turn away outsiders who do not receive their blessing. This has caused the Elven kingdom to become isolated, and the fact that it still exists to this day is known only due to the occasional Dark Elf leaving the forest to journey in the human realms. The forests are vast, much larger than they should be based on their circumference. This phenomenon is believed to stem from the Spirits who call the forest home, and only those of elvish descent are able to accurately navigate the treescape.
Stretching, I glanced around the room again. This page had taken me a bit longer, nearly an hour. At this point, I noticed that several of the students had turned the test over completely, signaling that they had finished. I hadn¡¯t been going slow, these students were likely those who had been unable to answer all of the questions and chosen to turn their tests in incomplete, as per the proctor¡¯s instructions. Surveying the room, it seemed roughly half the students had turned over the test, of those who remained; the great majority were working on the second page. Based on their family crests, those who were continuing seemed to come from Count and Duke families. Makes sense, higher status would lead to better access to learning resources. Still, these questions aren¡¯t exactly hard¡ I really get the feeling that I must be missing some key detail.
Returning to my own paper, I flipped to the last two pages. These covered the history of the Kingdom of Drakas, with roughly eighty questions; each one in the format of ¡°What major event occurred on this date?¡± or ¡°What date did this major event happen?¡±. Answers ranged from the births of important people, the coronation of a specific king, or the resolution of a major war. In total, it spanned from the year zero of the current millennia all the way up to the present day, with the fall from grace of my own house being the final question. I filled out the sheet to the best of my ability in the limited remaining time and turned my paper over. Sitting up, I stealthily stretched my back, and realized with a start that everyone was watching me.
The proctor strode directly over to my desk and picked up my paper. ¡°I believe I told you all that if you did not know the answer to a question you did not have to answer it.¡± His voice was loud, he was obviously intending for it to carry throughout the room. Ah, that would be why everyone was watching me like that, I must have been the only one who worked all the way up to the bell.
¡°Well sir, I do recall you saying that. The thing is, I was able to answer all of the questions¡ Although I must admit I did nearly run out of time.¡± He fixed me with a glare as a murmur ran through the room. I could hear whispers here and there ¡°No way!¡± ¡°Who does she think she is? She is only a baron¡¯s daughter¡± among others. Yea, status has nothing to do with academy life¡ my ass!
The proctor started scanning through my test on the spot, likely hoping to catch any errors and make an example of me. To tell the truth, I was a bit nervous. The test had seemed far too easy when I was taking it, but I had been taught how to mask my inner thoughts so I managed to sit impassively while I waited for him to finish.
I was rewarded for my patience with the sight of his face screwing up further and further the more he progressed through the test, while the whispering died down as it became apparent he wasn¡¯t about to stop. Finally getting to the last two pages, he tucked my test away into a binder. ¡°¡full marks.¡± His whispered declaration carried through the room in a way that his earlier shouting hadn¡¯t managed, eliciting a new bout of excited murmuring.
¡°I thank you, sir, for taking the time to grade my test so quickly.¡± I stood and gave him a proper curtsy as the bell rang and the next proctors began to enter the room. I would later learn that the exam proctors were the actual teachers of each subject, with the A Group teacher taking on the role of the head proctor. This meant that I had been publicly graded, in front of my entire year by the Academy¡¯s foremost authority on history and geography; if I had made even a slight mistake, he would have called me out on it in order to set an example of the attitude expected of students. Likewise, he was also as fair and impartial as his station dictated he should be; I had genuinely achieved a perfect score.
The next placement exam would cover mathematics. Contrary to the underdeveloped sciences of this world due in no small part to the existence of magic, as a field, mathematics was about on par with renaissance era Earth. This was due to that very same magic that had stunted biology and chemistry. As magic produced fantastical phenomena, it had stunted the discovery of periodic elements, leaving the world stuck in the idea of elements of nature. However, those phenomena still followed certain laws, and the laws had been mathematically quantified; leading to advances in geometry, algebra, and physics. When a mage was producing a spell, the amount of mana he had to expend could be calculated in advance, this was compounded by the size of the ritual and the number of mages participating, each with their own mana outputs.
Due to this, the mages could be marked as constants, and an algebraic formula could be established to calculate the amount of magic available versus what was required. Geometry had been likewise developed, as when producing a magical effect to cover an area or fill a volume, you would first need to know the squared space or cubic volume to be affected. Due to spells that altered aspects of the physical world along predictable lines, the laws of physics were well understood, and in a way even better understood than on Earth, due to the second set of laws that governed the behaviors of mana in the physical realm.
The proctor and their assistants for the mathematics exam gave us the same speech about how the test was not counted for our yearend grade and could be handed in incomplete. They then proceeded to pass out the exams. This exam was markedly shorter than the geography cum history cum politics one, clocking in at a mere four pages. The amount of time, however, was the same two hours and ten minutes. Each page had a decreasing amount of questions, with thirty questions on the first, and three on the last. Likewise, the complexity of the questions increased the closer I got to the end. I flipped back to the first page and started working.
The first thirty questions were incredibly easy. Starting with basic addition, it progressed through the four primary operations, increasing the number of terms as it went. By the end, it was asking pseudo algebra; a long-form equation with numbers in the six-digit range that required proper application of the order of operations, though it lacked any unknowns so it was not yet at the point it could be considered true algebra.
The page touched into algebra and began using word problems, requiring me to first pull out the needed values from the question, then build my own equations. While the questions did involve mana calculations and other magic-related aspects, there were also some questions that applied algebra in a more mundane form; things such as economics and distances. The second page was also fairly straightforward for me and I finished it in only a few minutes. The third page introduced Geometry, and was asking questions about the area of various locations, the volumes of certain containers, and how much mana was required to produce a certain effect to fill that region under ideal conditions. I had already learned the necessary laws for mana conversion under ideal conditions, they were quite similar to calculating Force-Newtons or Joules, so this page was likewise very easy.
The last page, with its three questions, was the only one that gave me pause. I read the first question twice to make sure I was getting it correct. ¡°A magic knight riding a wyvern at a constant speed of one hundred kilometers an hour fires a fireball spell with a speed of sixty kilometers an hour. Assuming the fireball¡¯s speed is constant, what is the maximum effective volume the fireball can target within three seconds of having been fired? Assume standard velocity loss ratio over distance traveled, and assume the caster is not in possession of a flare catalyst.¡± I tried to think, taking several minutes where I was just biting my quill. I knew how I could solve this problem, but I had not ever been taught the method in this life. I briefly considered leaving the last page blank, but gave up on the idea when I remembered my goal to pass all these exams and be excused from the first two years of classes.
There was nothing for it, I would simply have to employ knowledge from my past life and hope I could get away with it. To that end, I decided to show the minimum amount of my work. Well, I already hadn¡¯t been showing much work; on the first page, I had been able to solve almost all of the equations in a single step, only the later ones with more than three numbers I had had to write down some things to keep my train of thought intact. I quickly outlined the known information. The Wyvern was flying in a straight line at a constant speed of 100km/h. I could express its motion as a function of time, where the distance traveled was equal to 100t.
Alright, first convert kilometers an hour into kilometers a second. This calculation I had to do out on my paper since I wound up going into the millions place of decimals. Now, I need to account for the fireball being fired at a ninety-degree angle relative to the Wyvern¡¯s flight. If the fireball is fired at any angle greater than ninety degrees or less than two hundred and seventy it would actually lose distance and still wind up within the range covered by the ninety-degree shot since the fireball has less velocity than the wyvern¡
I wrote down my final answer and stretched out my hand, which was cramping up; despite vowing to write down very little of my work I had actually wound up writing a fair amount. This problem had taken me nearly an hour to solve; I had been hampered by the need to avoid writing down much of my work so as to obfuscate my process, in fact, had it not been for my memorization talent, I probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to remember all the details I had calculated in the first place. Looking up from my paper to gauge how far along the rest of the students were, I was startled to see the proctor looking down at me.
He was standing only a foot or so in front of my desk and was looking down at my paper with an expression of disbelief. Looking nervously around the room, I saw that every other student had long since turned in their papers and were once again watching me. Unlike last time, this time there was an excited chattering coming from the majority. Makes sense, after the last proctor I¡¯ll bet they are all really curious as to how this will turn out¡ I had been so wrapped up in my calculations that I hadn¡¯t noticed the noise, and the proctor was so absorbed watching me that he had apparently neglected to silence them.
¡°..Excuse me, sir, can I help you?¡± I gave the proctor a quizzical look. Come on, why are you just standing there? After a long moment, he finally responded.
¡°This question, you solved it?¡± He had since recovered some facsimile of dignity and was now staring at me with a calm expression, though there was an uncomfortable glimmer in his eyes.
¡°¡yes, I was able to answer it, although it was not easy to do so, I do not think I will have enough time to finish the other two though¡¡±
¡°THAT¡¯S QUITE ALRIGHT!¡± His voice was loud and some spittle flew from his mouth, his excited reaction that dropped all noble pretense caused me to recoil in shock. ¡°You, You¡¯re Stahlia von Ris right?!¡± Cool it with the spit you old bat! Thankfully, his volume had lowered, but he was still nearly shouting and his mouth juice was flying everywhere, though he was far enough away it was thankfully not hitting me.
¡°Y-yes, I am¡?¡± He nodded.
¡°I¡¯ve been instructed to inform you that your participation in the next two exams has been excused; your numerous alchemical inventions have waived the sciences test, and your graduation from a temple school excuses the religious one. I had my doubts when the headmaster told me that, but it seems you really are a genius¡¡± His faculties seemed to be returning to him as he went through his instructions. He must be the kind of person who excites easily but is serious when it counts, how rare for a mathematician. ¡°If you could follow me, the headmaster wishes to speak with you while the other students take the last two tests.¡±
There was an in no way disguised ripple of excited chatter among the other students now; from the males, I picked up comments along the lines of my marriage prospects. From the girls, I could hear mutterings regarding how lucky I was, though a few of them seemed to be outright hostile in tone and word choice.
¡°U-um, sir, should you really be the one to guide me to his office¡?¡± If anything, I desperately desired not to be alone with such an easily excitable individual. Not that I was worried about him doing anything; I simply didn¡¯t want to be placed in a position to have to deal with him myself if he went off the rails.
¡°Well normally yes, I would fetch one of the servants, however, I desperately wish to know exactly how you solved that question.¡± Oh shit. I really don¡¯t like what parts he chose to emphasize there¡ I was now getting the sneaking suspicion that the last page was not considered solvable in this world, at the very least it was definitely not something I should have gone and solved. Indeed, back on Earth, some schools, and even some countries, would place ¡°unsolvable¡± questions on school entrance exams. The idea was to catch any would-be geniuses early so they could be put in an environment that was properly conducive to their growth. Based on my impression of his personality, he seemed like the kind of teacher who would do something like that. I tried one last time to get out of it.
¡°W-well, I mean, I just sort of¡ solved it¡?¡± His calm expression wound up into a massive shit-eating grin.
¡°Then you will have to walk me through your process while I observe it. That question was designed to be unsolvable, several necessary elements were deliberately omitted, yet you arrived at the correct answer.¡± I knew it. This is really bad, I knew I would stand out in school, but to think it would happen like this!
Without anything else to do, I nodded my head in a noble¡¯s seated half-bow and collected my things. While we walked to the headmaster, he peppered me with dozens of questions regarding my thought process; unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t easily explain a concept like calculus with analytical geometry on the move so I shut him down by telling him I couldn¡¯t think very clearly without the paper in front of me. Even more unfortunate, this only caused him to decide that after I spoke with the headmaster, I would be given the same problem and paper so he could follow along with my process.
Arriving at the headmaster¡¯s office in short order, the math proctor knocked and I heard Duke Percius¡¯s voice calling for us to enter. When we went in, I immediately recognized Count Francois, the Geography proctor, and Duke Percius himself. There was also a man wearing armor I had never seen before, as well as a wispy grey-haired woman in a grey robe. I curtsied and introduced myself following Count Francois¡¯ naming me.
Duke Percius waved for me to sit down and a seat near the center of everyone; they were all seated facing me, while Duke Percius was also facing me although from behind his desk. Percius commenced the purpose of this meeting by speaking with the Math proctor. ¡°Lord Gustav, I take it by the fact that you brought her personally that she exceeded expectations?¡±
Gustav nodded. ¡°Indeed, not only did she finish all three pages before any of the other students, she went on to solve one of the questions on the last page.¡± This revelation caused a small stir, with each of the adults glancing around at the others.
Duke Percius raised his hand to silence them and continued. ¡°Indeed, that is quite impressive and most unexpected. Lord Ferdin, you said she got a perfect score on all the questions in your history exam, according to the publicly known information?¡± So there were some ¡°impossible¡± questions on that test too¡ thankfully I only know what Dominic taught me, so I didn¡¯t answer them in a manner that would stand out excessively¡ I¡¯ll have to ask Jacqueline later on regarding what information would not be ¡°publicly¡± available.
Ferdin nodded. ¡°Her answers were acceptable and correct within the public understanding. We would be having a different conversation if they were completely correct after all.¡± The look he shot me sent a shiver down my spine.
Duke Percius nodded. ¡°Saintess, as she was excused from your own examination would you share your thoughts now that you have met her?¡± The Saintes remained largely impassive, but her eyes snapped to mine with an intensity otherwise unexpressed by her posture. After a moment she gasped.
¡°She has the touch of winter. It seems the report of her local priest was accurate.¡± Her impassive face had crumbled, being replaced by one that exhibited a religious fervor I had some experience with through televangelist programs back on Earth. It was disconcerting to be looked at with that kind of intensity.
¡°And as for Lord Tiber, he is currently proctoring the sciences exam, although he is already more than familiar with your exploits Stahlia, due to the numerous recipes published under your name. It seems you have fulfilled our agreement. As you expressed, I will have you enrolled as a Special Student. With exception of Lord Gustav and myself, you will not be having classes with anyone else in this room, but you are still expected to defer to them as teachers.¡± Duke Percius¡¯ voice was monotone as he delivered his proclamation, and his gaze didn¡¯t leave Count Francois¡¯ face as he spoke.
¡°Congratulations, you are the first female to hold the position of Special Student since my own time here.¡± Wait, it¡¯s that rare? Surely there were plenty of girls before me with talent, maybe not as much talent or the memories of a past life to fall back on, but still, I¡¯m the first in years?
My memory flashed back to the conversation I had had with Count Francois and Dominic about Duke Percius having expected me to decline. Right, they probably were others, but they declined because of the political and social pressure placed on them as daughters. I really hope I can get along with my classmates¡ it sounds like a boy¡¯s club.
Unfortunately, Duke Percius wasn¡¯t done yet. ¡°Seeing as you will be skipping several years, your current guard will not be able to accompany you during your lessons. As such, arrangements have been made for a replacement. This is Sir Rowell, he will be your guard-knight while you are on academy grounds.¡± So they won¡¯t let me keep Giogi. Still, I can¡¯t fault them for that. It would be a bit much to have a first-year escorting me around among third-year and above students. If anything happened, I would be in great danger, from their perspective. Of course, I can handle myself, and after classes officially start, I¡¯ll also be allowed to have Stil with me as a tamed monster.
The knight stood up and gave me a half bow with impeccable control despite wearing what looked like incredibly heavy armor. ¡°A pleasure to make your acquaintance Lady Stahlia, I am Rowell. Unfortunately, I am of common birth so I do not have a last name to give.¡± Several things jumped out at me about his introduction. Firstly, were his movements. Each and every one of them was perfect and under his full control. Despite looking to be only about twenty, he was in full control of his body. Secondly were his manners. He had named himself without naming his father; considering he admitted to being a commoner this could be perceived as a slight towards me.
I gave him a half bow from my seat as was proper and reintroduced myself to him. He then moved quickly, with careful silent footsteps to stand behind me in the proper position for a guard knight. There¡¯s something uncanny about the way he moves, I almost feel like I¡¯ve met him before. After thinking over it for a moment longer, I spoke up to test the water. ¡°I thank you Duke Percius, Sir Rowell seems highly skilled; I will feel most at ease with him in my shadow.¡± Duke Percius remained completely impassive without reacting at all to my bait, merely inclining his head in a manner that demonstrated his having accepted my praise. From behind me, however, I sensed Rowell tense slightly before relaxing. I knew I recognized those movements, that¡¯s a basic ready stance from Shadow Blade Style. I¡¯ll have to warn Jacqueline that they¡¯ve placed another one in my sphere of influence, it¡¯s possible they might be suspecting her, or at the very least losing confidence.
It seemed the meeting was at an end, as Duke Percius next moved to dismiss me from the room. ¡°Well then Stahlia, this concludes our business for the day. Lord Francois has been made aware of the particulars regarding your new position and will make the necessary arrangements on his end. Lord Gustav, would you be so kind as to show Stahlia around the Mage¡¯s Hall? Including your own Blue Magic, most of her other classes will be there for the first year. She is taking all colors save for White and Black.¡± Gustav¡¯s eyes widened briefly when he heard I had enrolled in classes for all six schools of magic; most people had an affinity for one or the other and therefore didn¡¯t branch out very far.
As for myself, I had been tested by my previous magic tutor back in Ris after I had learned my first Red Magic spell. Apparently, I didn¡¯t possess any particular affinity; I was equally compatible with all six colors, though I was likewise equally incompatible. In short, I had no particular advantage or disadvantage as far as magic was concerned. It would seem this fact had not made it to the Royal Academy just yet.
So Gustav teaches math and Blue Magic? That would explain why Percius indicated I would still be having classes with him. That means I won¡¯t be able to avoid him, I¡¯ll have to come up with a way to explain calculus¡ For his part, Gustave was more than happy to take Duke Percius up on his offer, citing that he wished to discuss the test with me in any case, so showing me around the Mage¡¯s Tower would be a good opportunity to talk. With great resignation, I curtsied goodbye and followed Gustav out of the room.
2-5 Mages Hall
Stahlia Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
I followed Gustav out of the headmaster¡¯s office, with Rowell following behind me a few steps back. As we walked, Gustav thankfully did not pester me with more questions about my math, though I knew I would have to come up with something quickly. He led me out of the central building and towards the eastern side of the Academy grounds, where the Mage¡¯s Hall was located. The mages hall was a tall building shaped like a six-pointed star. Each point was dedicated towards its own school of magic, while the center hexagon was used as a practice area for applied magic as well as having administrative facilities on the upper floors.
We cut around to one of the points and he let me into the building through a door at the very tip. While from the outside each point looked uniform to the others, once I got inside the atmosphere changed. The point we had entered was likely the one dedicated towards red magic, as the interior color scheme was red. The carpet, wall d¨¦cor, furniture, everything was some shade of red. It was to the point of being garish and hurt my eyes. Gustav seemed to notice me squinting as the color assaulted my vision and chuckled with a wry smile.
¡°Welcome Stahlia, to the Red Wing. Kell wanted to incorporate open flames into the d¨¦cor, but the other professors complained about the smoke, so he had to settle for a simple color scheme instead. This is where Red Magic is studied and taught. Since you¡¯ve been enrolled in the fourth-year classes your classes will be on the second floor. That being said, are you actually capable of using Red Magic already? Bear in mind that we teach magic via chanting here; skills and talents will not qualify you for lessons, even as a Special Student.¡±
Apparently, my tutoring results from back in Ris hadn¡¯t been spread. What a failure of the kingdom¡¯s information departments. Mages are so highly regulated in this country, and yet my tutor didn¡¯t report my successes? And Percius seemed so well informed about me as well¡ I nodded. ¡°Yes, I have learned the chants for all of the basic Red Magic Spells through a tutor in my home village, I actually acquired a Fire Magic Talent by using the chants, though it only lets me cast Ignition at the moment.¡± Gustav got an excited gleam in his eyes again; he really was easy to predict.
¡°And you have enrolled in all schools of magic? Did your tutor neglect to explain affinity to you?¡±
I shook my head no. ¡°He did explain them, and even tested mine; I have no affinity to speak of, I am equally compatible with all schools of magic.¡± Gustav stopped walking, his eyes were starting to bug out of his head now, and I could swear I saw him salivating. I reflexively stepped back.
¡°I-I must say¡ if that is true¡ Mathematics, Alchemy, Magic, you are incredibly gifted. If you do not mind¡ I would like to run the affinity test here once as well, just to ensure there was no mistake. You have so many talents, I would hate to think of you wasting time because of the wrong information.¡±
As much as I wanted nothing to do with that suggestion, I could only imagine he wouldn¡¯t let me escape so I mournfully agreed. Gustav led me quickly through the halls of the Red Wing and into the central area. The first floor was a massive open space, made entirely out of Mythril. Presumably, this is where practical lessons would be conducted, the Mythril would prevent damage to the building due to its innate resistance to magic. Though it pales in comparison to the two levels of the city itself made from Mythril, this room must have cost an exorbitant amount in its own right. The silver sheen is pretty though¡ We ascended to the second floor where the administrative offices were located, and Gustav led me to a room with his name on the door.
¡°Wait here Stahlia, I will fetch the necessary equipment and be back shortly.¡± With that said, Gustav spun on his heel and practically raced out of the room. I looked around his office, surprisingly, due to his brusque personality, the room was very tidy. I had imagined his space would be strewn with papers and failed experiments. I selected a seat for myself and sat, waiting for his return.
Gustav returned after about half an hour, carrying a box and accompanied by another man. Unlike Gustav, who was dressed the part of a Noble, this man was clearly a mage of some variety. He was wearing a long red robe complete with a pointy hat. ¡°Stahlia, this is Kell. He teaches the classes in Red Magic. When I told him you were here, he insisted on observing the attribute test; He is skeptical you would be able to learn Red Magic at your age and still be capable of learning others.¡± I glanced at the aforementioned Kell. Incapable of learning¡? It¡¯s not like having one element makes its opposite impossible to learn though¡ I had a feeling Kell was looking down on me for some reason, or perhaps he simply didn¡¯t believe what he had been told about me, it was pretty outlandish, to put it mildly.
I stood and introduced myself to Kell. ¡°It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Sir Kell, I am Stahlia von Ris. I look forward to being in your care this year.¡± As Gustav did not introduce him with a title I could assume he was a commoner; however, due to his position as a teacher, he still outranked me. At least in the Academy anyways. Finishing my greeting with a curtsy, Kell looked me over once before nodding. He did not return the introduction. A difficult personality huh? Well, I suppose that just means he must have the skills to get away with it.
¡°Gustav, enough dithering. Administer the test so I can get back to my work.¡± Scratch that, he¡¯s being outright rude. I glanced at Rowell to make see if he was going to do or say anything. Thankfully it seemed he had opted to let this affront slide; I wasn¡¯t sure how strong Kell was, but Rowell was most likely a shadow making him just as strong as my Jacqueline.
¡°Now now Kell, I imagine she is going to surprise you. She certainly surprised everyone else she¡¯s met today.¡± Kell rolled his eyes and shifted his weight onto his heels, crossing his arms, and shot Gustav a withering glare.
Gustav glared back but went about removing the equipment from the box. When I had been tested in Ris, I had been tasked with filling a specific crystal with mana. These crystals were cheap; technically they were the byproduct of refining magic stones. When grasped, it would suck out mana and change color according to your affinity. My crystal had remained the same color as before I grasped it. What Gustav removed from the box, was a small contraption.
It had a wide circular base, into which were set six magic stones. Each Magic Stone was colored one of the six colors of magic and was completely opaque. Rising out of the center of the base was a long rod, presumably a handle for me to grip. Setting the device in front of me, Gustav indicated for me to grasp the rod. Reaching out, I took it in my dominant hand. Nothing happened.
¡°Gustav, was this device supposed to do something?¡±
¡°Yes, when you send mana into the rod, the stones will glow if you have an affinity for that color of magic.¡± Ah, so unlike the crystal test, I have to actually send mana myself. Easy enough. I channeled some of my mana into the rod through my palm. Immediately, all six stones lit up and began emitting six bright lights in their respective colors. Gustav actually fist-pumped when this happened, and Kell uncrossed his arms while leaning forwards.
¡°Unbelievable¡¡±
¡°I told you Kell, is she not completely outside the realm of common sense?¡± Kell was shocked, and Gustav was triumphant. Continuing, Gustav elaborated on what had just happened.
¡°See Stahlia, I suspected as much. Your tutor presumably administered a crystal test. Those are usually fine, but I was suspicious when you said you had no affinity. It should be impossible to acquire a magic talent without an affinity for that element. This tool is fairly rare; the only one in the Academy belongs to Kell, hence why I had to bring him along. The crystal test will only be effective if you lack an affinity since it changes colors to match the ones you do have. This device will simply display the presence of an affinity. In short, you do not have ¡°no affinity¡± you have an affinity for all six colors.¡± Gustav was over the moon with himself, practically shaking from giddiness. Kell was less enthused.
¡°Gustav. Do not ignore the Orc in the room. She should not have been able to activate the tool in the first place. Doing so requires Blood Magic.¡± Blood Magic? Where have I heard that term before?
Gustav shrugged and nodded. ¡°Yes, well I just assumed she probably could, after everything else I have seen today.¡±
¡°You just assumed?¡± Kell sighed and then addressed me. ¡°Stahlia, what do you know about Blood Magic, and how long have you been able to use it?¡± Me? Using Blood Magic? All I did was move mana like when I use my physical enhancements¡ Right! Blood Magic, Jacqueline said that term once as well, back when I first told her about my enhancements! Jacqueline told me not to tell anyone I could do it, but I thought she just meant for me to keep it as a trump card, is it actually that special? Stil can use it now, and my understanding is that most adventurers can use physical enhancements¡
¡°Um, well, I have been able to enhance myself with mana since I was¡ five, I think?¡± That was a lie, It¡¯s been since I was two, but I get the feeling I shouldn¡¯t say that¡
Kell gave me a very stern look at that answer. ¡°Who taught you?¡±
I gulped. ¡°Is, is ¡°Blood Magic¡± forbidden? I um, well I sort of taught myself¡¡± Something about Kell¡¯s demeanor was compelling me to answer more or less honestly. Gustav stepped in on my behalf.
¡°Come now Kell, can you not see? You are scaring her. No Stahlia, Blood Magic is not forbidden. You could think of it as the seventh color, it is just very very rare is all. I just assumed you could use it because most all prodigies throughout history could.¡± I see, so I was able to do it all the way back then because of my Prodigy skill. Like a hidden effect or something? I wonder if it has any more hidden effects? Or if any of my other skills have ¡°Hidden Effects¡± Blessing of winter outright says it has one, though by virtue of saying it has one it may as well not be hidden¡ Then again, is it really an effect of prodigy?
Kell muttered something and rubbed his temples before speaking up again. ¡°Whatever. Stahlia, Blood Magic is incredibly rare. Theoretically, anyone can learn it, but for most people, it takes years of training in other schools of magic before you can freely manipulate your own mana. In this Academy, Gustav and I are the only instructors who can use it. You are most assuredly the only student. I would recommend keeping this information to yourself so as to not spark the jealousy of High Nobles.¡± With that said, Kell collected his magic tool and swiftly made his departure.
Once he was gone, Gustav smiled. ¡°Well, there you have it. Now, since we are already in my office, please, have a seat over here-¡± he indicated a chair in front of his desk ¡°-and using this paper, do explain how you solved that question.¡± I grimaced, but with no alternative, I took my seat.
¡°Lord Gustav, what do you know about dimensions?¡±
Gustav frowned and tapped his forehead with his index finger. ¡°Dimensions? You mean like space?¡± I nodded before continuing.
¡°Indeed. We inhabit three dimensions, possessing both Length, Width, and Depth. The question assumes this as well; at its core, it was asking for a solution of volume; a measurement of three-dimensional space. However, given the omitted information designed to make the question ¡°impossible¡±, solving it as a volume using geometry was impossible. All I did was, rather than solving a single problem of three dimensions, I solved an infinite number of problems that occupied two dimensions.¡±
¡°Two dimensions? Infinite Problems? But the answer required an answer of the third dimension, the volume of the region targetable, and I fail to see how you had the time to solve that many problems unless you mean to tell me you can manipulate temporal magic as well.¡±
Wait, temporal magic? Is that a thing?! I¡¯ll have to look into it later, it sounds really useful. I smiled. ¡°Yes, but you can translate a two-dimensional region into three dimensions with a bit of logic; it really is fairly simple once you think about it.¡± He motioned for me to continue.
¡°I simply imagined all the possible angles the fireball could be shot in on a flat plane, then translated the plane into three dimensions by spinning it.¡± I used the paper he gave me to sketch three examples; namely, the knight firing the fireball slightly behind him, to his side, and slightly ahead. If he fires behind him, because the wyvern is flying forwards, the fireball will still be traveling forwards just much slower. Therefore, it will be carried into the part of the plane that it could have gotten to by being fired to the side. As such, we can ignore the scenario in which the knight fires behind him. This leaves us two situations; he fired ahead of him at an angle, or straight to the side.¡± Gustav furrowed his brow, it was clear that he understood what I was saying, but he wasn¡¯t grasping how the two dimensions would translate into three.
Continuing on, I kept up my explanation. ¡°Assuming he fires straight to the side, we can predict the interval the fireball will travel over the three seconds; like so.¡± I sketched three points onto the paper and then drew a line connecting them. ¡°We can use these three points to find an algebraic formula that expresses the maximum distance the fireball can travel as it relates to the time traveled.¡±
I shaded in the region below the line and above the wyvern¡¯s flight path. ¡°Next, we need to determine another set of points, for if the fireball is fired ahead of him at an angle. This can be done by simply adding the speed of the wyvern to the speed and angle of the fireball, fractionally according to the angle it was fired at.¡± I sketched out three more points, one for fifteen degrees, forty-five degrees, and seventy-five degrees. ¡°This was easy since fireballs do not suffer air resistance, or the effects of gravity, being magical phenomena, they simply burn mana to counteract those forces and then dissipate once their battery is exhausted. It would have been much harder if he shot an arrow or threw a spear.¡±
¡°Now we calculate a second algebraic equation for the line passing through these three points.¡± I shaded in the region for the second line. ¡°On a two-dimensional plane, the fireball can wind up anywhere within the shaded region, do you agree?¡± Gustav nodded; I could see he was starting to realize what I had done. ¡°The last step is to transform this two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional space. Imagine if these lines, while preserving their slopes, were rotated around the line formed by the Wyvern¡¯s flight. You would be left with two cones.¡± Gustav was now watching me very intently.
¡°And then you just find the volume of the cones. But how did you establish the radius?¡± I smiled at him.
¡°If you can imagine a cone as an infinite number of circles stacked on top of each other, each circle is slightly smaller than the one below it. If that is the case, then the Radius for any given circle would be the equation of the line. All you have to do is solve that equation an infinite number of times, once for each circle, and sum the results.¡± I drew the formula for the area of a circle, pi was a known quantity in this world, due to the math being somewhat advanced relative to the apparent time period. Substituting the line formula for the radius, I then performed an integral of the resulting equation and solved it for the relative regions.
¡°By transforming the equation like so, you can solve infinity with only one operation. I cannot explain why it works, I just know that it does. I must apologize for that.¡± Gustav followed along with what I was doing while stroking his chin deep in thought. After a moment, he jumped up and grabbed a piece of paper. Furiously sketching out numbers and equations, I blinked in surprise while watching him. After a half dozen minutes, he spun around, grabbed my hand, and exclaimed.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
¡°Lady Stahlia, not only alchemy, but I feel like you may have revolutionized mathematics as well! This method of yours is easily ten, not twenty years ahead of the greatest scholars of our age. Not only does this work for cones, but by applying the same principles to other shapes, the necessary calculations for magic can be drastically reduced, not just magic, I imagine this would have applications in industry and economics as well!¡± I mean, yea, calculus would do that¡ ten to twenty years though? Algebra was developed in the ninth century, but Calculus took until the 17
th back on earth¡ Honestly, it¡¯s just surprising that calculus is where this world¡¯s math stopped¡ the logical jump to go from two dimensions to three via rotation isn¡¯t all that large¡ I know I¡¯m going to regret this, but not explaining how I solved that problem would have been an even worse idea; I can¡¯t afford to have the teachers suspicious of me cheating or something. I would rather deal with the fallout of my ballooning reputation than have to put up with my instructors constantly second-guessing me.
While he was shaking my hand, I suddenly heard a loud DING and had a series of notification windows display themselves.
¡°[Prodigy II] Experience has reached the required threshold. [Prodigy II] has leveled up. [Prodigy III] Acquired. As an effect of acquiring [Prodigy II], the Prodigy Roulette has been spun.¡±
¡°Acquired [Eidetic Memory I] as reward from Prodigy Roulette¡±
¡°Obsolete Talent [Memorization II] has merged with [Eidetic Memory I]. [Eidetic Memory I] has leveled up. [Eidetic Memory II] Acquired.¡±
Wait, this leveled-up Prodigy? I was less than halfway to Prodigy III! I spent so much time getting experience by making new alchemy recipes and techniques, and you¡¯re telling me that simply introducing calculus was able to accomplish the same amount of experience in just a few hours?! I knew exactly what I had done as well, presumably because of Eidetic Memory, my memory was now crystal clear; even things that had started to fade over the past ten years, like my Earth Mother¡¯s face, were now back in full clarity. I even had memories from my childhood on Earth restored in detail.
The sudden rush of memories caused me to groan and rub at my head. Gustav quickly let go of my hand, conveniently misinterpreting my distress. ¡°My apologies Stahlia, it seems I have startled you. Still, this truly is remarkable, I cannot wait to see what else you will come up with during your time at the academy.¡± Glancing at the clock, he made note of the time. ¡°Dear me, it seems we have spent far too much time in my office; we must hurry and finish your tour or the headmaster will be quite cross with me.¡± Thankfully, despite the fact that I was overwhelmed with the sudden restoration of old memories, Eidetic Memory was still working, and recording information in detail during my tour, so despite my dazed state, I was later able to review everything I had been shown.
According to my recollections, after leaving his office I was then rushed around the Mage Hall¡¯s remaining wings and introduced to the various instructors for each school of magic. I was not shown the wing for Red Magic, as I had already met Professor Kell, though given how the only major difference between each wing seemed to be the scheme of the decorations, I could presume that it was very red, and likely had a lot of fountains. Professor Clarice was the White Magic instructor. She was a bookish woman, very slight, with wispy frazzled auburn hair, and an incredibly large pair of very thick-lensed glasses. She greeted me affably when Lord Gustav introduced me as one of this year¡¯s Special Students and said she was looking forward to having me in her classes next year.
The White Wing reminded me a lot of the temple back in Ris Village, only a lot fancier. Indicative of the religious connotations of white magic in this world, a large statue of the goddess of light dominated the center of the main foyer, and statues of the twelve gods were arrayed around it. It was a bit confusing since White Magic was distinct from Miracles; as far as I was aware, you didn¡¯t need to hold strong beliefs to cast White Magic, and thanks to my now exceptional memory I was sure I had not ever heard anything to the contrary.
Professor Diggory taught green magic. He was a giant, bald man. Standing nearly eight feet tall, with an incredibly muscular build one would not typically expect of a mage. He was very quiet and said few words, simply acknowledging my introduction and giving his own, polite, noble greetings. According to Lord Gustav, he believed that to grow as a Green Mage, one should endeavor to exhibit the strength of the earth in the way they lived. So he¡¯s a taciturn muscle head?
Still, the Green Hall was impressive. If not for the roof and walls, I would have thought we were outside. The floor was dirt, with grasses and small trees growing here and there. It gave off the impression of being in a small sparse forest or copse. There was even the sound of birdsong, though I could not spot any of the animals, so whether or not they were really there, or the sound was a magical phenomenon was impossible to determine.
The instructor for Yellow Magic was an incredibly handsome man, even I could tell. He was well built but not to large, with perfectly chiseled facial features, and thick lustrous blonde hair. His appearance made sense once he was introduced as His Highness Lord Hector, which would make him a distant relation of the crown. What someone of his pedigree was doing teaching magic at the academy was beyond me and I knew better than to question it, even if I had been in the mental state to do so. He seemed entirely absent from our meeting, likely weighed down by some other matter that was commanding his full attention; even Lord Gustav, as capricious as he seemed to be was able to pick up on this fact and cut our introduction as short as possible before rushing us out of the Yellow Hall.
As for the hall itself, the Yellow Hall was strange. It was very quiet. To the point that simply standing in it, I could hear my own heartbeat. It was empty as well, cavernous and barren of seemingly any furniture. Of all the halls, I found this one the most uncomfortable.
Lastly, I was introduced to Professor Flit. Flit oversaw Black Magic. Despite the ominous sound name of his station, he was a cheery individual. Black Magic was not after all, inherently evil, it simply had the capacity for evil much like any other power. He was somewhat on the short side for a man, and fairly plain looking. He greeted me warmly, more outwardly friendly than any of the other professors had been, save for Lord Gustav, however, I could see me getting along with Professor Flit much more easily than Lord Gustav. This was due to the fact that, while Lord Gustav was exceedingly friendly, he was also exceedingly energetic. In contrast, Professor Flit seemed incredibly well adjusted and easygoing.
The Black Hall stood out in how it did not stand out; whereas each hall seemed to be an eccentric take on the idea that ¡°magic should look magic¡±, the Black Hall seemed like your average school building or university lecture building. It was well organized, with clearly marked classrooms, study areas, and even a library. I had half a mind to go back to Percius and request to be put into Black Magic this year as opposed to next. All in all, the professors, except Flit, seemed to be a collection competing over the title of ¡°Kingdom¡¯s biggest weirdo¡±, and their respective Halls were a reflection of this.
At the conclusion of our tour, the Academy Bell Tower was signaling the time as nearly 5:00pm, and Lord Gustav escorted Rowell and me to the exit of the Mage¡¯s Hall. Waiting for me by the entrance of the hall, were Giogi and Dominic. Giogi looked somewhat disgruntled and shot a glare towards Sir Rowell. I had to imagine he had been told about his being more or less replaced. For his part, Dominic was nonplussed. Sir Rowell gave a bow towards Giogi. ¡°I must imagine you are the Knight-in-Training Giogi. I am Sir Rowel, I will be guarding our lady at the academy and I look forward to working with you.¡± Giogi¡¯s mood visibly improved and he introduced himself with gusto.
¡°Lady Stahlia, how did you find the Academy?¡± Dominic had observed my guard¡¯s interaction but now turned his attention to me.
¡°I found it thoroughly engaging, I am greatly looking forward to my time here. Are we to head straight back to the Estate now?¡± He gave me an amused nod.
¡°Indeed, it seems my sister has done something¡ unique with your pet cat, and mother is beside herself¡¡±
Uh-oh¡ What on earth has Elienor been doing with Pet?! It¡¯s not even been a full day!
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
We traveled back to the estate via carriage. Upon arriving Dominic escorted me down from the carriage and I was met with the sight of Elienor and Pet standing side by side. Pet had been dressed in a small maid uniform and had a pink bow tied onto the end of her tail. Elienor gave her a firm nudge, and Pet stepped forward. After taking a deep breath and exhaling once, She picked up her skirt slightly and executed a near-perfect curtsy.
Excuse me what? Pet was living in a literal cage until yesterday, how in the world¡? I looked back at Elienor. ¡°Lady Elienor, what did you do?¡±
Elienor shook her head and flashed a smirk. ¡°I have no idea what you mean, I merely taught her to give a greeting; she¡¯s a surprisingly quick learner.¡±
I was about to retort when Lady Margeritte came out of the house. ¡°Stahlia dear, do come inside and join me for tea. I wish to know the circumstances behind this slave.¡± She wasn¡¯t smiling, but her tone and eyes seemed neutral. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s mad at me. I chanced a glance at Dominic and he gave me a knowing smirk. You asshole. I¡¯ll bet you know exactly how this happened! Hell, you probably put her up to it!
¡°Very well Lady Margeritte, allow me to accompany you.¡±
We separated for a time to allow me to change out of my school attire and into a different, but equally annoying to put on, dress. When I reconvened with Margeritte and Elienor Jacqueline had returned from her trip into the city and was attending me, while Lucy served tea to everyone. Technically, since one of the servants assigned to me is the one doing the serving, doesn¡¯t that mean I¡¯m the host here?
Fortunately, Margeritte didn¡¯t seem to think so, as she quickly took a sip of her tea before addressing Elienor and me. ¡°Now, what exactly is going on? Lady Stahlia, Dominic had informed me that you had taken a liking to a young slave when the two of you went out, I was not expecting a cat though. And you Elienor, why are you dressing up such a filthy creature?¡±
I grimaced internally. So she isn¡¯t at all wondering about the manners Pet learned in a single morning and afternoon but is instead surprised that Pet is a beast-kin? Elienor seemed to agree with me, however, unlike myself, she wasn¡¯t as keen on hiding her internal thoughts. ¡°But mum, isn¡¯t Pet just the cutest little thing? Especially with that bow in her tail!¡± Ok yea, and Elienor isn¡¯t much better¡ am I the only one who has noticed just how damn strange it is to have learned manners so well so quickly?
I frowned. First I had to set the record straight; I hadn¡¯t ¡°taken a liking to a young slave¡±, that was her son. As I was preparing to set the record straight, I recalled the nauseating experience shortly after re-enabling my Empathy. Thanks to my new [Eidetic Memory II] having rendered my existing memories into 4k Ultra HD, I was intimately reminded of exactly how I had felt looking at Pet without the capacity to feel Empathy. I swallowed my objections and grit my teeth.
¡°Yes Lady Margeritte, while I was accompanying Lord Dominic into the city we briefly stopped so that he could fulfill some business for Lord Nikolaus. While there, when I saw Pet, I was overcome by memories of my late sister. You were never blessed with the opportunity to meet Lady Rosial. Apart from the ears and tail, Pet is the spitting image of my late sister. I impulsively asked Dominic to acquire her for me.¡± I paused my bullshit to gauge her reaction before continuing. Seeing that she was listening attentively, I put on my full power little girl¡¯s eyes while banking on [Blue Blooded] and my own innate charm.
¡°I must admit that I find it comforting to have her in my presence, due to that similarity. If it would cause you no trouble might I be permitted to keep her in the guest house?¡± I closed my mouth and formed my lips into a soft smile while tilting my head ever so slightly. After a moment, Margeritte broke out into a smile of her own.
¡°Oh, how could I say no to a request like that? I had heard how close you were to your late younger sister; if this cat helps you to deal with such a hole in your heart then I will permit you to keep her by all means. However, do try to keep Elienor away from her; I fear that animals can be a bad influence.¡± I mean, Pet¡¯s manners are better than Elienor¡¯s from what I can tell¡ As if to prove my point, the young lady in question saw fit at that moment to announce her discontent with her mother¡¯s decision.
¡°Buuutttt Mooooaaam!¡±
¡°No buts, Elienor. While Lady Stahlia has a decent enough reason, you have none. A young noble lady should not be interacting with a beast person for no good reason.¡±
At this point, the tea party devolved into an argument between Elienor and Margeritte. I used my stealth talent to somewhat hide my presence in order to avoid drawing either of their attention while I sipped my tea.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
That evening, finally released and back in my room, I came up with an excuse to send away Lucy and Frieda so that the only remaining occupants were Jacqueline, me, Stil, and Pet. Jacqueline and I were accomplices, so I could of course trust her, and Stil couldn¡¯t talk in the first place. Even if he could, he was fiercely loyal to me so I felt he could be trusted. This left Pet, who I had only known for a couple days. I¡¯m going to hate myself for this¡
Jacqueline handed me a cup of tea while I mulled over how best to approach the new issue. ¡°Pet.¡± The young catkin looked up at the sound of my voice, her eyes were slightly fearful; my tone had been a bit steely. ¡°Pet, this is an order; you will not share any information discussed here tonight with anyone not already in this room. Is that clear?¡±
She briefly tensed up and flinched. I could see a faint glow coming off her neck and from under her clothes near her heart; proof that the contract magic had been invoked. ¡°Pet understands mistress.¡± Ah right, that was a thing.
¡°Right, yea no. When it¡¯s only the people in this room, you don¡¯t have to call me that, you can call me whatever you want. Of course, when there are other people you need to call me ¡°Mistress¡± as Dominic told you, in order to avoid problems.¡± Pet paused with her mouth open. After a moment she smiled and stood up before giving me another near-perfect curtsy. ¡°Thank you, Nee-san!¡±
"Huwa?!" I had just been taking a sip of the tea Jacqueline handed me, and wound up doing a spit take. Nee-san? Like, the weeb thing? what the hell, doesn''t that mean something like "older sister"? How the fuck did a weeb term from Earth wind up in this world, is it just a beast-kin thing? There''s also her manners being so perfect all of a sudden, I need to figure out what the hell is going on with that.
I grimaced, but I wasn¡¯t about to get irritated about what she chose to call me so soon after telling her she could call me whatever she wanted. I gave Pet the food I had prepared earlier and turned my attention to Jacqueline, who I caught watching us with a warm expression. Noticing my gaze and raised eyebrow, she quickly wiped the expression off her face and returned to a look of business professionalism.
¡°Ahem. I take it you are ready for my report then, my lady?¡± I nodded and prompted her to get on with it. ¡°Right. [########]. Regarding the matter spoken of by Aaron in Fess, I haven¡¯t found very much. Only some references in a journal I found in the main house, to a certain adventurer being close friends with the Francois¡¯ eldest son Nietzsche. As far as the Order facilities in the city, I visited the ones I could get into freely that I had a plausible reason for stopping by; there are others, but they will have to be infiltrated so it will take me more time. Regarding the ones I did visit, there were no signs of Lady Rosial.¡± I nodded, I hadn¡¯t been expecting a sudden break so soon after arriving. Though I couldn¡¯t help myself from turning gloomy. As if picking up on my mood shift, Jacqueline was quick to continue.
¡°That being said, it was not entirely fruitless; I did find a document in a military supply depot the Order uses as a front for moving questionable materials. It was dated the month after Lady Rosial was taken and references a shipment of two hundred thirty-six Mountain Lilies, three hundred eleven Blood Roses, and five Kingsbane.¡± She was beaming me with a reassuring smile as if that nonsensical report was supposed to cheer me up.
Why would that document have been anything important enough to report to me? Sure Kingsbane is rare, but Mountain Lilies and Blood Roses aren¡¯t particularly special¡ Kingsbane was a virulent poison in its own right, and when alchemically refined it was one of the main ingredients of Grave Oil; something I already knew the Order used in large quantities.
Mountain Lilies, on the other hand, were incredibly common. As were Blood Roses, which could be harvested anywhere a large amount of blood had been shed, such as the numerous old battlefields that dotted the militaristic Kingdom of Drakas. Mountain Lilies could be used in the production of face cream, perfume, and other beauty products, young girls would often stick them in their hair as an ornament¡ And blood roses are collected by boys out exploring battlefields in search of treasure or odd trinkets.
I opened my eyes wide in realization. Jacqueline nodded. ¡°I thought you would figure it out. Indeed, ¡°Mountain Lilies¡± is an Order code word meaning ¡°Young Girl¡± while ¡°Blood Rose¡± means ¡°Young Boy¡±. ¡°Five Kingsbane¡± is the obfuscated signature of Five. In other words, that supply manifest really means that the Order is accepting a shipment of two hundred thirty-six girls, three hundred eleven boys, and it was all authorized by five.¡±
¡°Jacqueline, did this report say where they were being taken to?¡± She nodded.
¡°A building in the slums of the capital, I did go and check it out briefly but it has since fallen into disrepair and is no longer in use.¡± I clenched my fists. On one hand, I was ecstatic; after two years I had a lead. On the other hand, it looked like it had already turned into a dead end. Still, it does prove one thing; Rosial was here. Jacqueline shook my shoulder to get my attention.
¡°One other thing to keep in mind, Lady Stahlia¡ Those numbers are extreme¡ In any given year, the total number of initiates is less than a hundred combined, boys and girls. Something might have happened to cause the Order to need a lot more recruits¡ If that¡¯s the case, I normally would have been informed¡¡±
I gulped at the possible implications of Jacqueline having been left out of the loop. ¡°Right, and I have something to share with you about the Academy. I think they¡¯ve assigned another Shadow to watch me there. A young knight who calls himself Rowell.¡±
2-6 School Social
Stahlia Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
¡°One other thing to keep in mind, Lady Stahlia¡ Those numbers are extreme¡ In any given year, the total number of initiates is less than a hundred combined, boys and girls. Something might have happened to cause the Order to need a lot more recruits¡ If that¡¯s the case, I normally would have been informed¡¡±
I gulped at the possible implications of Jacqueline having been left out of the loop. ¡°Right, and I have something to share with you about the Academy. I think they¡¯ve assigned another Shadow to watch me there. A young knight who calls himself Rowell.¡±
I grimaced, the implications were indeed frightening. Jacqueline fell silent with a pensive look on her face. ¡°In any case, there isn¡¯t much we can do about it right now, is there?¡± Jacqueline nodded at my assertion. ¡°In that case, there is one last thing that needs to be done tonight. Pet, could you come here, please?¡± Pet looked up from her now empty plate. She looked a bit scared, but wasn¡¯t in pain; I had phrased my request as such so that it wouldn¡¯t activate the compelling force of our contract.
After a moment, Pet stood up and walked over to me. ¡°Thank you. Pet, would you, would you let me check something about you really quick? It might feel strange but I promise it won¡¯t hurt.¡± I neglected to do this with Rosial because I was afraid she would ask awkward questions and my secret would get out. With Pet though, I can rest assured she won¡¯t tell anyone. That¡¯s one benefit of the slave magic I guess¡ I felt my stomach twist up a little. After a moment of hesitation, Pet nodded.
I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring way and slowly reached out my hand towards her. Feeling her warmth against my palm, I instinctively started rubbing my hand on her, gently of course. After a moment, Pet got a funny look on her face and started purring softly, an action that caused her to turn beat red. Adorable. I started rubbing a little more aggressively, but still taking care to be gentle; I didn¡¯t want to hurt or scare her.
Pet gave a sharp yelp. ¡°Nee-San, My head feels funny!¡± I nodded.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, it will feel better soon, we¡¯re almost done.¡± After another moment of petting Pet, I felt her resistances fail completely, and my mana was able to flow into her unobstructed. Her information appeared in a menu window for me to peruse.
Name/Age: Pet, 4
Species/Level: Beast-kin[Ebony Cat Tribe], 4
Ability Values:
- Strength C: 65
- Endurance C: 65
- Dexterity B: 91
- Intelligence C: 65
- Charisma C: 65
- Mana E: 13
Special: Slave(Owner: Stahlia von Ris)
Skills: Envious*, Language Proficiency[Central Human], Language Proficiency[Central Beastkin]
I gave Pet one last head rub before removing my hand. She looked a bit disappointed. Well, it looks a lot like when I check Stil. I haven¡¯t checked a person other than the boys back in Ris, but this matches up with what I could see then, in fact, this showing me skills and species/level info means it¡¯s showing more information than it did back then. Probably has something to do with the ¡°Special¡± section. Both Pet and Stil are magically linked to me.
Her stats were impressive for a level four, but when you took into account it came at the cost of having basically no mana, it didn¡¯t seem overpowered. Blood Magic let me easily match and overpower these numbers, even when I was her level, and there were chanted spells that could do something similar to my own enhancement. I did note that her Dexterity was one grade higher than the other stats, indicating that the plus one boost from being female still applied even to demi-humans.
Ebony Cat Tribe huh. I wonder if that¡¯s a rare one? I know the beast-kin in this world tend to group up into large clans, but Drakas doesn¡¯t keep records of which subtypes are more numerous since they see them all as ¡°abominations¡±. ¡°Cats are Cats, Dogs are Dogs, and Rabbits are a plague¡± is the general sense of this shitty kingdom. I turned my attention to the main stand-out feature, that is to say, her single skill ¡°Envious¡±.
The name is a bit scary. It makes me think of Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. With my heart in my throat, I focused on Envious, causing the description window to appear.
¡°Envious(500LP): One of the Sin skills. User can obtain a copy of any Talent they witness. Acquired Talents will be the lowest level. Repeated observation of a Talent that is a higher rank than the user''s will yield Talent Experience. Use of this skill progresses user towards Demonization[Demon of Envy].¡±
I swung my head around and stared at Pet. She was holding both hands on her head with a faint smile on her face. Noticing my gaze, she looked up at me. What the hell? Why does she have a skill that¡¯s going to turn her into a fucking demon?! ¡°Pet¡ how did you learn to do that curtsy?¡± Pet cocked her head sideways and answered innocently.
¡°Elienor-Sama was showing Pet how to act properly. Pet wanted to impress you but couldn¡¯t do it right. Then Pet got really upset, and then *BAM*! Pet could do it properly. Elienor-Sama said Pet was very clever!¡± The smile she beamed at me didn¡¯t have a single hint of any ill intent. Also, ¡°Elienor-Sama¡± the fuck? I chose to ignore the weeb speak, for now, and focus on the bigger issue.
¡°Just like *BAM*?¡± Pet nodded. Right, that¡¯s probably Envious getting activated, she probably has no idea about it, so she can¡¯t explain properly. I briefly considered giving her an order to speak truthfully, but doing that would almost certainly destroy the trust I had managed to build up in the past couple of days. For better or worse, she really reminded me of Rosial, I didn¡¯t want her to hate me. The line about her becoming a demon was a bit scary, but much like the issues with the Order, there wasn¡¯t much I could do about it right now.
¡°Alright, well that was everything. I have the school social tomorrow so I should probably sleep early.¡± Jacqueline nodded and started preparing my bed. As I started pulling at some of the fastenings holding my clothes together, I felt a small tug at my skirt hem. Glancing over, I saw Pet¡¯s small hand tugging at me.
¡°Can¡ can Pet sleep with you Nee-San?¡± Her upturned eyes reminded me of Rosial, and I felt my heart melting. I bit my lip.
¡°That¡ That wouldn¡¯t be a good idea¡ If Frieda or Lucy were to find you in the bed, they might do something bad¡¡± Pet¡¯s eyes started to tear up a bit at the corners, enhancing her begging by a factor of a thousand. ¡°Ugh. Fine. But only for tonight alright?¡± Of course, I was under no illusions that it would be ¡°only for tonight.¡± Pet used beg! It was super effective!
As I was preparing to fall asleep, Jacqueline approached me. "One more thing Lady Stahlia. You will likely meet the King during the Entrance Ceremony, when that happens make sure to watch out for..." What she told me was indeed quite frightening. I''m so glad I have such a knowledgeable vassal!
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
A nondescript location, later that night
I was kneeling with my head down, waiting for him to arrive. I was both thrilled and terrified. We did not usually make our reports in person, let alone to this man. I checked and rechecked myself. Of course, my effects were in perfect order, I was no amateur. The routine of going over my equipment simply helped to calm my nerves. Before long, he arrived.
I quickly lowered my head upon confirming his entrance. ¡°You may make your report.¡±
I dared not raise my head but quickly began talking lest this great personage grows irritated. ¡°As you command, Lord Five. I successfully made contact with the target. I believe she noticed me, so garnering her sympathies should prove simple enough. However, I can only follow her in and around the academy due to my cover. Will this be adequate?¡±
Lord Five nodded. ¡°Yes, that will suffice. I have other eyes on her at the Francois¡¯ Estate.¡±
I dared to risk a peek at his lordship¡¯s visage. ¡°Not the eyes of that traitor?¡±
Lord Five shot me a glare and I quickly lowered my head again. ¡°No. Not ¡°Jacqueline¡±. Someone far superior to her in every regard. Do you question me?¡±
At his inquiry, I suddenly felt a chill, the chill of cold steel being pressed against my throat. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a small hand gripping the blade, as well as a flash of black hair. I gulped instinctively. ¡°No, I do not question you, my Lord.¡±
He nodded. ¡°Good. My word is absolute. 23, release them.¡± I felt the pressure of the knife abate at his command. ¡°Remember, the target intends to destroy this kingdom and one of our own, your sister, is aiding her.¡±
My heart filled with anger at the thought. ¡°Please permit me to simply remove them, my Lord.¡±
¡°No.¡± His voice was suddenly very cold. ¡°Your target still has her uses, you will simply watch her, for now.¡±
Tch. Killing her would be so simple though¡ ¡°Yes my Lord, my blade is yours to command.¡±
¡°Of course it is.¡± With those parting words, I felt his presence vanish. After a moment to collect myself, and calm my heart, I stood up and departed. It would be a big day at school tomorrow.
That 23 is so lucky though¡ directly serving our lord every day, I wish I was in her position.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Contrary to my expectations, Lucy did not say anything about Pet¡¯s location when she came to my room the next morning. Rather, she seemed to find the sight of the young catkin clinging to my side and trapping me from getting up early to train endearing. I was not, however, without problems.
¡°Jacqueline, what is this?¡± Jacqueline glanced over from where she was preparing my school uniform.
¡°That would be a Bra, Stahlia. You wear it around your chest.¡±
No shit. ¡°I know what it is! Why did you give me one?¡±
Jacqueline smiled at me. ¡°So that you could wear it.¡± I groaned.
¡°But why do I have to wear it¡?¡± Jacqueline just shook her head.
¡°Lady Stahlia, you are ten years old, you need to start practicing certain things now or you will regret it later. Besides the fact that you are entering school marks a good turning point in your life.¡± She seemed utterly convinced that I should wear this thing.
¡°But what about my other goals? A Bra would just get in the way! I¡¯ll use a wrap.¡± Jacqueline shook her head.
¡°No, you would be surprised Stahlia, a properly fitted Bra will not get in the way of fighting at all; I wear one myself.¡± I smiled, she had unwittingly given me an out!
¡°Ah, but I do not recall you ever taking my measurements! Therefore this Bra is not fitted properly! What if I get attacked and have to fight? It might chafe and distract me.¡± Jacqueline shook her head.
¡°I eyeballed it. In your case, it wasn¡¯t hard to guess accurately since you¡¯ve barely started growing.¡± I felt my cheeks grow red and instinctively covered my chest with my hands. Now that I¡¯m properly feeling it, I think I have started growing¡ I¡¯ll be bigger eventually! Wait, why do I care about that!? In the end, I did wind up wearing the proffered article of underwear. It felt incredibly awkward having something clinging onto my chest under my bodice.
I had been mostly ignoring my new gender and any issues it presented had been minor inconveniences at worst. Indeed, the biggest struggle was using the bathroom¡ getting dressed¡ dealing with strangers¡ actually, there were a lot of inconveniences. Now that I was being confronted by a constant reminder squeezing my torso, I was finding it hard to focus on things other than my gender.
Case in point, when I entered the yard to take the carriage to the Academy, Dominic was there to greet me. As soon as my eyes met his, I suddenly felt very conscious of the fact that I was now starting to develop in certain aspects. Dominic seemed to pick up on the fact that I was feeling a bit distressed and quickly came up to me, offering his hand. ¡°Lady Stahlia, are you perhaps feeling ill?¡±
I couldn¡¯t help but break off our eye contact. ¡°N-no, I am quite alright. I am simply nervous regarding the social today.¡± Dominic¡¯s expression went wide-eyed for a moment before a smile broke out across his face. For some reason, he seemed absolutely thrilled.
¡°Ah, is that so? Worry not, I am sure everyone present will love you.¡± He again offered his hand, it was clear that I would not be able to avoid taking it. Reluctantly, I took his hand and allowed him to escort me to the carriage.
¡°After all, you look absolutely stunning in your dress today.¡± I felt a shiver run up my spine. Of course, there was no way he would know about the recent addition to my wardrobe, but having my appearance complimented now of all times was doing wonders for my recently deteriorating self-image. I managed a half-smile and thanked him for the compliment in the firmest voice I could muster before boarding my carriage.
¡°I-is that so? T-thank you, Lord Dominic.¡±
His smile stretched out even further, I was beginning to think he might be messing with me on purpose. ¡°Of course my Lady, your smile is radiant today as usual.¡± Not once did he blink while helping me up onto the carriage. Ugh. Why are boys so creepy? Wait, I was a boy once too! Blegh! I¡¯ve been wearing panties for nine years now! Why is it a fucking bra of all things that makes me feel so uncomfortable! Of course, deep down, I knew it wasn¡¯t the bra in and of itself that was making me feel this way. It was the fact that I had just been suddenly confronted with the fact that my body was starting to mature. I had always known this would happen eventually, I thought I was comfortable with it, but apparently not so much.
We arrived at the school without much further distraction. I was greeted at the gate by Rowell, my guard knight, and suspected shadow, who stood by when Dominic helped me down from the carriage. The number of people watching this from the sidelines was quite uncomfortable, to say the least. Entering the main hall, I was greeted with the sight of nearly three thousand students, the vast majority of them the children of various nobles.
The room itself was gigantic, outside of assemblies like this one, I couldn¡¯t see a real use for it. The decorations were likewise impressive, banners depicting the crest of the royal family, as well as smaller flags with the crests of the five dukes decorated each wall. The cloth was a rich dark red, similar to our school uniforms, but one could easily tell that it was far higher quality. Those banners probably cost more apiece than Ris Village¡¯s GDP.
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There was even a full orchestra towards the front of the room, playing music that to my ears sounded vaguely classical, but some of the instruments were strange. I could see what looked like the ones you would expect to see; violins and cellos, trumpets and trombones, a piano. Of course, they didn¡¯t look exactly like the ones in my memories, but it was close enough you could reasonably call them as such. But I could also see instruments I wouldn¡¯t have ever expected to see in an orchestral arrangement; there was a set of bongos keeping the rhythm, a kind of stringed instrument I was pretty sure was called a biwa, and even something that vaguely resembled a kazoo of all things. I mean, the music still sounds pretty good even considering the arrangement is a bit¡ It¡¯s honestly more weird that I didn¡¯t know about these instruments beforehand; my memory is perfect now, and yet I can¡¯t recall either of my parents even once mentioning or trying to get me to learn music¡ isn¡¯t that something noble children are supposed to learn?
Off to one side of the room, was a line of very large tables all laden down with extravagant dishes. I could recognize a few of them; they were somewhat similar to things I had been served at the Francois Estate. Other¡¯s I could somewhat guess as to their identities; for instance, the one towards the far end appeared to be an entire Direwolf whole roasted. The smell coming off of the table was delightful, and I could feel my mouth watering slightly.
Dominic was greeted by a group of boys roughly his age, whereupon he introduced me as his fianc¨¦, before making an excuse and leaving me alone. He looked apologetic about it, however, in my current mental state, I would greatly prefer if he were to stay as far away as possible. I managed an awkward smile and bid him a farewell before stepping back and placing my back against the wall.
Every so often, someone would come up and introduce themselves; various faculty who wanted to show their face to the new Special Student or students, curious about the first year garnering so much attention from the teachers. Of course, the kids who had been in my testing group were interested in me for their own reasons. At least in their case, I could recognize some of them by face if not by name. A couple of them even managed the feat of standing out; namely, the commoner girl and the daughter of a duke who had been sitting near me during the tests.
Most of the students in my year, that is to say, those students who had just become students, were still grouped together according to their social positions. This line blurred a bit in the higher years, but from what I could tell, gazing in from the sidelines as I was, it never went away entirely. These two, however, the commoner and the high noble girl, seemed to be discussing something animatedly with each other. Curious, I strained my ears.
¡°You heard right? They have opted to make one of the incoming first-years a Special Student right away! It¡¯s you, isn¡¯t it? Lady Edith.¡± The commoner girl seemed impressively close to the noble, considering her status. According to my memory, that¡¯s Edith von Claurence. Her father is the regent of the Northern territory.
¡°No, Sar, it is not me. I do believe it is that Baron¡¯s daughter¡ Stahlia von Ris was her name. The one who caused the stir among the first prince¡¯s faction with her engagement to the Francois¡¯ third son.¡± Edith shot a pointed look at me, making eye contact. It would seem that my eavesdropping was noticed¡ but what¡¯s this about an incident among the first Prince¡¯s faction? I thought the Francois family were in the Third Prince¡¯s¡ oh.
Without anything else to do, and based on the gestures Edith was making with her line of sight, I made my way over to the two of them. ¡°Pleased to make your acquaintance, I am Stahlia von Ris, first daughter of Baron Ris.¡± I addressed my greeting towards Edith and gave her a full curtsey. Towards the commoner Sar, I inclined my head. Even with the supposed ban on rank-based actions at the school when in doubt it was better to go with convention and I had no way of knowing how Edith might react to a casual greeting.
Edith raised an eyebrow before quickly introducing herself. ¡°I am Edith von Claurence. This is Sarala, a friend who came with me from my father¡¯s domain. Everyone is equal here, Stahlia. Call me Edith.¡± Edith was just a bit taller than me, just enough so that I had to lightly bend back my head to meet her eyes. Though, come to think of it, so was Sarala. Are we really in the same year? I also made note of the fact that both girls had a visible, albeit faint bulge to their chests. Something that I definitely wouldn¡¯t have noticed, and in fact did not notice, yesterday. Damnit, Jacqueline! This damn piece of cloth is making me so self-conscious!
Still, the fact that Sarala was considered a friend, and not a servant or attendant, of Edith¡¯s. Despite the latter¡¯s social position, spoke volumes of Edith¡¯s character. It might be worth it to try and befriend her. The Claurence family is staying neutral in the cold war conflict between the Princes, so they get access to a lot of information I wouldn¡¯t be so easily capable of getting for myself. It was also worth a wager, that if Edith really was so kind, then I could eventually confront her with the truth of the kingdom and gain a true ally. For that though, I would have to be very careful and be sure to vet her out completely.
I put on an awkward smile and nodded. ¡°In that case, by all means. Please call me Stahlia.¡± Edith nodded started asking me all kinds of questions about growing up in Ris Village. As she herself had grown up in a large city, she was greatly curious about the conditions of a veritable frontier village, and how such an environment would have produced someone like myself. Sarala, on the other hand, seemed to retreat a bit from the conversation once Edith and I got going. I suppose, even if she is technically a friend, it must be incredibly awkward for Sarala to be caught in the conversation between two nobles like this¡
I decided I should do something to try and make her feel more at ease around me, since based on my earlier observations she was perfectly at ease around just Edith. ¡°Sarala, we keep talking about me, but you must be very impressive yourself, to be allowed to follow Edith to all the way to the Academy.¡± Very briefly, I caught a look of irritation flash across Sarala¡¯s face. Hmm? Does she not like being addressed¡? As I was pondering if I might have said something wrong, I recalled my earlier eavesdropping; despite being at the academy where status supposedly didn¡¯t matter, and Edith being her friend, Sarala still referred to her as ¡°Lady Edith¡±.
Ah, it¡¯s like that then. With my newfound realization, I turned to Edith. ¡°Is that right Lady Edith? Sarala must be quite talented herself.¡± Edith nodded, and began telling me all about Sarala¡¯s early accomplishments. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that the irritation had vanished from Sarala¡¯s face, and she in fact now looked quite embarrassed.
¡°Indeed, Sarala is very talented; by the time she was four years old, she had already acquired Fire Magic I, Ice Magic I, and Shadow Magic I. As of the new year, her Shadow Magic has become Darkness Magic I, and her Fire Magic has nearly become Flame Magic!¡± Edith¡¯s eyes were sparkling as she described her friend. For my part, I was equally impressed. I had the Prodigy skill-boosting my own abilities, and I had struggled for nearly two years to get Fire Magic I, but Sarala had apparently gotten three magic talents by the time she was four.
I turned to Sarala with a gleam in my eye. Considering my goal to translate the magic language, I need to get Sarala to be my friend. I was about to start asking her questions, when there was a loud chime from the front of the room, near where a full orchestra was entering. Sarala snapped her head towards the sound and exclaimed; ¡°Oh look! Something else, let us focus on it, Lady Stahlia, Lady Edith!¡± Her ears were still quite red. I see she¡¯s weak to being praised, I¡¯ll have to remember that for operation ¡°Win Sarala¡¯s friendship.¡±
Up at the front of the room and speaking into a magic tool to project his voice, I recognized Percius. ¡°Thank you to all of our students and Alumni who could attend our welcome banquet for this year¡¯s newest crop of young talents!¡± He paused and looked around the room. ¡°It is with great pleasure that I lead you all in welcoming them all.¡± The room erupted into applause, as several of the new students looked around bashfully, me included when I noticed a group of boys that were watching Edith and me with an uncomfortable intensity.
¡°As is the tradition in our fine institute of meritocracy, I will commence tonight¡¯s festivities by announcing the top three incoming students. The rest of you will have to wait until tomorrow to learn your rankings.¡± Oh fuck. I¡¯m definitely on the shortlist¡ I swallowed and did my best to prepare myself for the unwanted attention. ¡°Placing third in the placement examinations with a score of sixty-two, I present Edgar von Strappe, first son Count Strappe.¡± Applause filled the room again at those words. Looking around, I was able to spot a boy who was having his back clapped by those around him. I could vaguely recall seeing him in my own testing. Sixty-two though? Assuming that¡¯s out of a hundred, what the hell? Were those tests really supposed to be so difficult?
Percius called for silence, and the applause abated. ¡°Placing second, with a score of seventy exact, I present Sarala, daughter of Mira. A rare case of a commoner woman managing to place so highly, our institution is pleased to welcome her among our ranks!¡± The applause was a bit more subdued following this announcement, presumably, it was very rare for a commoner to rank highly at all, let alone second place. But Sarala is the friend of Edith, so she has the backing of one of the five duke families. That should help shield her a bit once the word gets out. Indeed, among those not clapping, were the boys surrounding Edgar. Each of them was watching my group of three girls, specifically Sarala, with fairly obvious jealousy and hostility.
It¡¯s a bit strange that they know who she is, considering she¡¯s a commoner¡ This must be an example of Edith¡¯s influence, as well as a testament to how much of an achievement it is to learn three magic talents so early. Let alone getting an evolved magic talent. I glanced at Sarala out of the corner of my eye; I didn¡¯t want to look at her directly, lest she thinks I was staring like so many others were. Indeed, she was certainly embarrassed, her face was red and she had slid slightly behind Edith as if trying to hide in her shadow.
Again, Percius called for silence, and again the applause abated. Here it comes. I took a deep breath, clenched my jaw, and squared my shoulders. ¡°Coming in first place, and setting a new record for the academy with a perfect score of one hundred. I present Special Student Stahlia von Ris, first daughter of Baron Ris and fianc¨¦ of Dominic von Francois, third son of Count Francois.¡± There was no applause. Rather, everyone was looking around at each other with confusion on their faces. I see Edith really does have good ears, apparently, very few people knew about me ahead of time.
Suddenly, Edith exclaimed from behind me, in a voice that carried due to the silence. ¡°Congratulations Stahlia! That¡¯s a remarkable achievement!¡± Instantly, several heads snapped around and zeroed in on us. Wait, did they not even know what I looked like? But they knew Sarala¡¯s appearance? Or was it that they knew she would be near Edith? Several of the boys in my year, and even some older students and one or two of the teachers were now eying me with a frankly, revolting expression. Like a wolf looking at a lamb.
I shifted uncomfortably. What the hell, I¡¯m ten!? That guy over there looks older than my dad! Suddenly, I felt my hand get grabbed and tugged to something warm. Due to my mental state, I failed to offer much resistance. Glancing in that direction, I saw Edith had pulled my hand into her chest, which I couldn¡¯t help noting as possessing much more defined lumps than my own. Despite being the same age, why the hell are hers bigger? Wait, what am I thinking?! Ignoring my inner turmoil, Edith again spoke up in a voice that I now realized was intended to carry through the room. ¡°I am so glad to have had the chance to make you my friend Stahlia!¡± I see, she knew that people would eventually come to know who I am, predicted the reaction, and decided to publicly announce me herself, all while insinuating her and I were close, thus placing me under her protection! The sudden wave of realization washed over me, blowing the fog out of my mind and causing my opinion of Edith to shoot up several hundred points immediately.
Indeed, following Edith¡¯s announcement, a wave of whispers passed through the room and the majority of those carnivores who had been eyeballing me turned their gazes elsewhere. ¡°Thank you, Lady Edith.¡± I whispered in a small voice, employing a trick Jacqueline had taught me to speak without visibly moving my lips. Edith responded using a similar technique, though I didn¡¯t find that particularly odd; it was useful for nobles as well as assassins, and she was a duke¡¯s daughter.
¡°Of course, Stahlia. We are friends after all.¡± She gave a small smile before nodding her chin slightly in a direction. ¡°Though I suppose I should turn you over, Dominic is making his way over to us.¡± I looked, and indeed, Dominic was sliding through the crowd and making his way towards us.
¡°Lady Edith, might I request you hand my fianc¨¦ over to me? The first dance shall be commenced shortly.¡± Edith nodded and passed my hand over to Dominic. Don¡¯t just hand my hand to him! At least let go and let me give it to him myself¡ I already know I won¡¯t be able to avoid dancing at least once. Dominic took my hand, and held it up at around the height of my shoulder, such that our elbows were slightly bent. Before he led me away, he addressed Edith one more time. ¡°I must say Lady Edith, that was an interesting scene to witness. Do pass along a message to your father from mine.¡± Without actually saying anything about what said message really was, Dominic led me towards a space in the room that was largely devoid of people.
I feel like I just witnessed something really important¡ What the hell was that about, and what does he mean by message? I tuned out the surroundings and focused inwards. I abused my Eidetic Memory skill to replay the full sequence of events, as well as everything I knew about Edith and the Claurence house. After about a minute of realtime analysis, I realized what I had likely just witnessed. Edith is the first daughter of Duke Claurence. As such, even though she¡¯s a woman and thus has less political power than her brothers, her actions still hold a lot of weight.
The Claurence and Percius houses have thus far maintained neutrality in the succession cold war, while the other three dukes have each chosen to back a different prince. The Ris house is likewise neutral, despite my father receiving the favor of the third prince, we hold too little influence for our allegiance to mean anything, thus we have been largely ignored. But I am currently set to marry into the Francois house, one of the strongest Count families. By declaring that ¡°Stahlia is my friend¡± in front of so many nobles and their children, Edith basically declared that the Claurence House is no longer neutral, and is now planning to back the third prince.
I shuddered at the realization that I had just witnessed a single move on the political chessboard, and yet this move was likely going to sway the future of the entire kingdom. And I¡¯m directly in the eye of the storm. I was torn from my thoughts when Dominic turned to face me. ¡°Well Stahlia, might I have the pleasure of this dance?¡± I couldn¡¯t stop myself from flinching slightly at the idea, but I was able to prevent a look of complete disgust at the thought of being held close in his arms.
¡°I-It would be my pleasure, Dominic.¡± Too late, I realized I had called him familiarly, it had been a reflex response to him doing the same with me, despite the fact that we were in public and there were other couples preparing to dance all around us. My face turned slightly red and I had to glance away. I heard a nearby noble girl let out a small squeal before her own partner turned her away.
The dance turned to be, unfortunately, one of the slow romantic type ones where the male would lead and hold the female close to his chest. I also couldn¡¯t back out by saying that I didn¡¯t know the steps, as this was one of the dances I had been taught by my mother during one of her bouts of ¡°you need to be a proper young lady!¡± training.
As we danced, Dominic leaned forward just a bit, close enough that he could speak directly into my ear without being heard. Unsurprisingly, he was also speaking without moving his lips. ¡°Stahlia, I do apologize that I left you alone. Had I known Lord Percius was going to do that I wouldn¡¯t have left your side like that.¡± I was spun away from him in a move similar to a step in a waltz, before being pulled back and landing into his chest. I was startled by how firm it was, and I felt my heartbeat quicken slightly. What the hell?! You¡¯re just working up a sweat from the dance Stahlia. Nothing to worry about. You aren¡¯t attracted to this jerk!
¡°If I had been with you, none of those men would dare have laid such eyes on you. I will pull some favors and arrange for you to receive a greater degree of protection.¡± His tone was surprisingly cold. Glancing up I could see he had set his jaw, and was staring directly at one of the older men who had been looking at me earlier.
¡°No, it¡¯s ok I-¡° He cut me off.
¡°No I must insist Stahlia, because of my negligence, this has blown out into a political affair involving the forces that move the country. If I don¡¯t move appropriately, then our engagement may be dissolved¡ I don¡¯t want to lose you.¡± I was being held close enough to his chest that I could feel his heartbeat. It was calm and steady, and despite our exertion, he was not visibly sweating. He¡ He¡¯s serious?! What the hell did I do that would make him fall for me like this?! My cheeks turned crimson, and I had to fight the urge to hide them by burying my face in his chest. What the hell is going on with me? There¡¯s no way wearing a bra for the first time should make me like this! It¡¯s just a piece of fucking cloth!
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The rest of the day ball passed without much else of note. After my absolutely embarrassing dance with Dominic, I was able to excuse myself from him with the age-old classic excuse of ¡°I need to go pick some flowers.¡± When I returned to my previous location, Edith had stepped to the dance floor and was currently dancing with the number three. Based on his facial expressions, I could only imagine he was being warned off Sarala.
Sarala as well had left. Based on her personality, I could only assume she had hidden away from shyness, due to Edith having stepped to the dance floor. I slunk over to the food table and selected a few items, relying on my stealth talent to ward off any potential approaches. Unsurprisingly, Rowell had no issues continuing to follow me, despite me actively hiding my presence.
As the event wore on, I was able to calm down somewhat. It helped that, other than Rowell, nobody was paying me any attention anymore. But seriously. What the hell is going on with me? The only thing that changed since yesterday was Jacqueline giving me that fucking bra, which caused me to notice my body started changing a little. I groused to myself as I picked at a dessert tart. As I was putting the last piece of tart in my mouth, it hit me.
It¡¯s fucking puberty! This whole time, I¡¯ve been able to more or less deal with my gender by just ignoring it, but now my hormones are starting to go out of whack, and Jacqueline confronting me with that bra made me extra sensitive to the changes! I shuddered as I remembered, in perfect detail, all the awkwardness of my last puberty experience, the one from my previous life. I hope this shit finishes quickly, I just can¡¯t wait to start all that gross stuff I know girls do¡ I wanted to find a dark corner and curl up to cry.
2-7 School Entrance and First Day
Stahlia Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
I woke up the next morning in a decent mood, relative to when I had gone to sleep. I was still anxious regarding the newly discovered changes I would have to experience, but I was now better able to rationalize them. At least that¡¯s what I was telling myself. In actuality, it was more or less Pet who had helped me get over myself; when I had gotten back to the estate, she had noticed how anxious I was being and tried to comfort me. Even though she really wasn¡¯t able to understand what was going on, and even though her own situation was far, far worse than mine.
It¡¯s my own fault for ignoring and putting off this issue for ten years, even though I was fully aware it would be a thing that would happen to me eventually. Looking over to my left, I smiled at the sight of Pet¡¯s sleeping face. Indeed, she had managed to find her way into my bed again. Still, her presence was having a calming effect on me, so I would put up with a bit of selfishness.
Today was the school entrance ceremony. Granted, I already knew I was in Group A, but I still had to attend the entrance ceremony, as well as attend the first day of classes after. Even if I wasn¡¯t expecting to have any real lessons. My uniform was the same as usual, including the recent unwanted addition, and I bid farewell to Pet before heading to the yard in order to board the carriage that would take me to the Academy.
For her part, Pet seemed a bit resistant to me leaving, however, Elienor coming by my room saved me from any tears; Pet ran away and hid as soon as she heard the unique sound of Elienor¡¯s footsteps in the hall. I get the feeling that Elienor may have caused a trauma¡ Thankfully, Elienor was only coming to see me off, and not to entertain herself with my slave. Elienor was actually fairly well behaved the other day, even when she saw Pet briefly, she didn¡¯t squeal about it or anything. I wonder what Margarette said to her¡ I shivered at the vision of an angry Lady Francois and thanked my lucky stars I had purchased the Blue Blooded skill.
Once again, I rode to school with Dominic, although he wasn¡¯t doing anything different compared to the previous couple of days. Maybe I was just getting used to the attention, but it didn¡¯t bother me as much as it had before. I simply put up with his attention while offering the societally expected responses.
Once again, Rowell was waiting for me at the gates of the school. Giogi and he seemed to have developed a rapport at some point without my noticing, and as we walked towards the main assembly hall for the entrance ceremony, the two of them killed time by discussing¡ me. Specifically, my early life, if it could even be called that while I was still only ten years old. Watching the two of them and listening in on the stories, I realized that almost two weeks had passed since I had seen Sana, and I hadn¡¯t had a proper conversation with Giogi in days.
The thought that I was being pulled away from them by the force of my obligations to noble society struck me, and I felt a pang in my chest. My world is changing, whether I like it or not. We arrived at the assembly hall in short order, and Dominic separated from me to go and join his class, he was in the A Group of year 3, so I would actually wind up seeing him again soon in some of my magic classes. I made my way over to the other first years, since only three of us knew which group we had placed into, all the first years were grouped together in one large mass.
Today¡¯s agenda was pretty simple, there would be a commencement speech similar to the one from last night, we would all pledge an oath to the kingdom, which was thankfully not magically binding, and then we would be dismissed. The other students would immediately go to their classes, but the first years would spend the first period being sorted into their groups and classes. We would finally actually attend a class starting in the second period. I was initially afraid I would be expected to give some sort of address as the top incoming student, however, thankfully this world didn¡¯t seem to have that custom.
Instead of a first-year address, the King would be making an appearance and saying a few words. This was a good opportunity for me to see the man I regarded as my personal enemy; beyond the higher-ups of the shadows, the King was the one at the root of my problem since he was the one calling the shots in the end.
As I made my way over to my peers, I spotted Edith and Sarala of to one side. Edith was standing aloof and surveying the crowd, while Sarala had adopted a meek stance, and was somewhat withdrawn into Edith¡¯s shadow, having placed herself between the higher ranked girl and the wall. It¡¯s a lot like last night, Sarala really doesn¡¯t like attention.
There were several other first years a bit away from them who were keeping a close watch on Edith while whispering amongst themselves. In retrospect, the same thing had been going on at the social gathering yesterday, but as I had been one of the ones watching her, I had ignored the others. As I was musing about how much political and social influence Edith a fellow ten-year-old girl wielded, she spotted me.
The peanut gallery¡¯s whispers greatly intensified as Edith waved at me and called out. ¡°Stahlia! Over here!¡± I suppressed a grimace; now that I had realized the implications of being friendly with her, I somewhat wished I could pull back. Still, being friendly with her would give me access to Sarala, so it was beneficial to me in a way. I just hope I can avoid the worst of any political fallout, at least until I finish my own objectives.
I plastered a smile on my face and waved back before making my way over to her. ¡°Good morning, Lady Edith, Sarala.¡± I greeted the pair as I approached to within earshot. Edith spotted Giogi behind me and raised an eyebrow, so I introduced him. ¡°This is Giogi, son of Sutven. He grew up in Ris Village like me and has been appointed my apprentice guard knight by Lord Francois. Though, due to my course schedule, he will not be with me very often, hence why I have also been granted Sir Rowell who you saw with me last night.¡± I nodded in the direction of Rowell, who had taken up a post near a pillar a small distance away; close enough to still interfere should something happen to me, but far enough away to have a better vantage over the crowd of children.
Edith nodded and gave Giogi a slight incline of her head. There was still a bit of time before the entrance ceremony would start, so I decided to try and get a little bit more information from the pair of girls. ¡°Lady Edith, I do not believe we discussed this last night, but what courses are you taking? Even if you did not make the top three, I imagine you still tested out of several of them.¡± Edith nodded and smiled.
¡°I tested out of all the first-year courses, so I will be enrolling in the second-year general studies course. Sarala is taking almost all third-year courses like yourself, so I imagine you will be seeing more of her than me, please do treat her well.¡± Nice, I imagine I will be seeing Sarala in my magic courses, hopefully. She¡¯s probably in a higher Red Magic course than me, and I¡¯m not taking Black Magic. But the Ice Magic Talent falls under Blue Magic, so I might see her there.
I flashed Sarala a grin. ¡°Indeed, I will be in your care, Sarala.¡± The girl in question gave an awkward smile in return.
¡°Yes, I imagine we will have a lot of time to get to know each other¡¡± She trailed off at the end, but considering I got a full sentence out of her, I could assume I was making progress.
As we were having some idle chit-chat, Percius¡¯ voice rang out over the students in the hall. ¡°May I have your attention! I would now lead you all in the vow of loyalty, so that we may officially declare the start of the new school year!¡± He clapped both his hands together, before twisting his left hand over his heart, and his right hand on the hilt of his sword. This was the Drakas Kingdom¡¯s standard military salute, and one that I had practiced until I was able to do perfectly; being that, as a Special Student, I would be nominally enlisted in the military while attending school.
Mimicking Percius, I waited for him to start speaking. ¡°I offer my life, my purpose,¡±
¡°¡°¡°I offer my life, my purpose,¡±¡±¡±
¡°I swear my eternal loyalty¡±
¡°¡°¡°I swear my eternal loyalty.¡±¡±¡±
¡°To the Throne.¡±
¡°¡°¡°To the Throne.¡±¡±¡±
¡°To the King.¡±
¡°¡°¡°To the King.¡±¡±¡±
¡°And to the Divine Twelve, in whose footsteps we walk.¡±
¡°¡°¡°And to the Divine Twelve, in whose footsteps we walk.¡±¡±¡±
¡°Long Live Drakas! Long Live His Majesty!¡±
¡°¡°¡°Long Live Drakas! Long Live His Majesty!¡±¡±¡±
Following the pledge, Percius once again announced the three top students from the incoming students, he then announced the third-year students who were set to become Special Students. There were three others besides me, all boys. While I had never seen two of them before, I was closely acquainted with the third. In fact, I was presently engaged to him. Indeed, Dominic had become a Special Student. This means we¡¯ll be spending even more time together¡ I was conflicted about how to feel about this. On one hand, having him nearby was convenient; I could use him as a shield of sorts when Edith wasn¡¯t available, and unlike her, he came with much less political baggage. Granted he came with baggage of an entirely different variety.
On the other hand, being near him was very awkward for me; his constant attentions were incredibly uncomfortable, and following the dance and events surrounding me being confronted with my body the day before, I was very conflicted about how I should be approaching him. I¡¯ll just have to grin and bear it, at least until I rescue Rosial¡ and find a way to break of our engagement.
Following this announcement, Percius gave a very long, very boring speech. It basically boiled down to ¡°you all are the future of this kingdom, this academy exists to foster your purpose, work hard and glory to the kingdom¡ blah blah blah.¡± Following his speech, there was a round of polite applause. After a moment, Percius held up his hand and motioned for the room to be silent. ¡°I am honored to present to you all, His Majesty, King Drakas. He will now greet you who make up the future of this kingdom and say a few words.¡±
A blaring of trumpets sounded, announcing the entrance of the king. As one, the entire assembly adopted the salute and held the pose, waiting for the king to enter. The king came out from the back of the stage and strode up to the speaker¡¯s platform. He had a steady gait as if he was completely used to commanding such attention. Of course, being the king, he absolutely was. When he arrived at the speaker¡¯s platform, he paused and surveyed the room.
For a brief moment, I had the disconcerting feeling that he and I had made eye contact, but the feeling quickly passed as his gaze swept over the place I had been standing. After this, he returned our salute, however rather than placing his right hand over his sword hilt, he raised his right hand to his forehead in a manner similar to the earth salute. As far as I was aware, this was the salute that a commanding officer would return to their men. ¡°Be at ease.¡± At the king¡¯s command, everyone in the room released their salutes and returned to their seats.
His voice was deep and carried out over the room dripping with charisma. Despite my convictions, I found myself wanting to serve the kingdom just from the sound of his voice. I surreptitiously bit through the tip of my tongue, drawing blood. The acrid taste that filled my mouth cleared the fog from my head. So that¡¯s the ¡°Voice of the King¡± Jacqueline warned me about. It¡¯s a damn good thing she told me a way of clearing my head. Indeed, the king of Drakas had a skill, The Voice of the King, that was said to be able to compel any citizen into obedience.
Thankfully, it was just a skill that carried a mental attack on the soundwaves of his voice, meaning it was easy to resist if you knew how; the first criteria was to be aware of it, which I cleared thanks to Jacqueline. The second criterion was to drown out the mental noise with something else. In my case, I used the pain from having bit my tongue, since that was easy to conceal and do secretly. Truthfully, it was actually a fairly weak skill, only scary if you didn¡¯t know about it ahead of time. Glancing to my left and right, I saw that Edith was digging her nails into her palms, and briefly caught Sarala making a swallowing motion.
It makes sense that a duke¡¯s daughter would know about the king¡¯s voice, and she probably warned Sarala. I found it comforting that, even if they weren¡¯t planning to betray the kingdom like I was, both of my new friends were not so fanatically loyal as to allow themselves to be enthralled. After the king told us all to be at ease, he thankfully stopped using his skill, and merely used regular voice projection magic.
¡°Children of Drakas, I am pleased to see you present yourselves before me. Study hard. Work hard. Learn well. If you are blessed with talent, you will excel. If you are a failure, you will fall. For the glory of our kingdom, and the glory of the human race!¡± Following this statement, the trumpets sounded once more, and the king exited the stage, returning to wherever he had come from. Well, that was an interesting statement¡ is this the part where we all start chanting ¡°Sieg Heil!¡±?
Once the king was well and truly gone, Percius returned to the speaking platform, and bid all of the upperclassmen to go to their classes, while us first years were to stand by until they were gone. Once the older students were gone, Percius was joined on stage by three men. He introduced them as the teachers in charge of each group and announced we would now be placed into our classes. Starting with the three of us who had already been announced as being members of Group A, the instructor in charge of the A Group read aloud a list of names. Those students whose names were called were instructed to move to one section of the room, away from those who hadn¡¯t been called yet.
So not only the top three, they¡¯re intent on naming and shaming all of the students, huh? As I had thought, once the Group A instructor finished his list with a ¡°That is all.¡±, the Group B instructor then began reading his, again, the Group B students were instructed to move to another part of the room, away from the remaining students. I made sure to watch and listen carefully, trusting in my Eidetic Memory talent to remember the names and faces of each student, along with which group they were in.
Once the Group B instructor had finished reading his list, the Group C instructor simply declared ¡°Those of you whose name was not called are in Group C. Do your best, and you might be able to accomplish something next year.¡± Well, that¡¯s pretty harsh, the academy takes the meritocracy bit seriously, I¡¯ll have to make sure I don¡¯t fall behind. In all, about a fifth of the total students had been placed in Group A, and of the remainder, a third were in Group B. Everyone else was in C.
Starting with Group A, we were then led out of the room and presented with a small piece of paper detailing what classes we had, and when. Glancing down at mine, I saw that my morning classes were Introductory Blue, Green, and Yellow Magic, as well as Intermediate Red Magic. Good, those are all the courses I specifically asked for, all that¡¯s left are the classes I gave Percius carte blanche to put me in¡ I read the next part of my schedule. After lunch, I had Advanced Etiquette, Advanced Alchemical Theory, Advanced Mathematics, and¡ Advanced Swordsmanship¡? What the hell? I specifically avoided asking for swordsmanship classes¡ I figured Percius might put me in one anyway since I¡¯m a Special Student and might have to go kill some orcs or something, but Advanced? When have I ever demonstrated any skill with a¡ DAMNIT DOMINIC! Indeed, the only reason I could think that I had been placed in the advanced level, was that Dominic had insinuated that I knew how to fight.
With my mood considerably fouled, I passed around each of my classes where I met the students I would be learning with, shared a little bit of useless information about myself, and learned a little bit of useless information about them in turn. The first day of a class must be the same in every world. As ¡°luck¡± would have it, Dominic was in the same Swordsmanship class I was. Yea, ¡°what a coincidence!¡± he says. Coincidence my ass, either you or your dad definitely arranged this with Percius behind the scenes! On an actual lucky note, Sarala did in fact share my Blue Magic class with me.
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The next day, classes finally began I was technically now allowed to bring Stil onto campus with me, however as I was not taking any courses that I would need him in, I opted to leave him at the estate; having a monster follow me around would simply be asking for attention. Though I already had quite a bit of that given my status as a Special Student, so it might not have mattered in the long run.
Unfortunately, due to being introductory courses, my Blue, Yellow, and Green Magic classes all covered more or less the same topic, that is to say, the fundamentals of spell casting. This was largely information I had already learned from my Red Magic tutor and having it repeated three times really sucked. Still, I had known the first few classes would be like this; most people only studied one color at a time, so each color had to make sure to cover the fundamentals.
Thankfully, I had Blue Magic with Sarala, who was equally as bored as me. As I listened to Gustav drone on about the same information I had heard twice already today, I turned to my shy classmate. ¡°Why are you taking Introductory Blue Magic, Sarala? I was under the impression that you already have the Ice Magic Talent?¡± She gave a small start, likely having not expected to be addressed.
¡°Well, I suppose it is because I got my Ice Magic Talent from a spirit. I don¡¯t actually know much about Blue Magic outside of the Talent, but I have an affinity for it.¡± A spirit?!
¡°You got to meet a spirit?!¡± Up at the front of the room, Gustav had been talking about the first of three methods to cast spells. Counting my magic tutor back in Ris, this was the fourth time I had heard this information, and the third time today.
¡°By reciting the correct words, mana Is drawn up from the body and manifests phenomenon in the material worl- Stahlia, Sarala, am I boring you?¡± I gave a start and my face turned red at his poignant remark. Of course, the correct answer was ¡°Yes, very much so.¡± But there was no way I could say that.
¡°No not at all Instructor Gustav, I am absolutely enthralled. By reciting the spell formula, mana is drawn out and shaped into a magical phenomenon. By altering the pronunciation of certain parts of the chant, the final effect can be altered. This is the key advantage over casting via talent assistance, wherein the final effect is static and cannot be adjusted.¡± Gustav grimaced.
¡°Stahlia, I am aware you and Sarala have prior experience with magic, but if you are not going to pay attention at least be silent; I had not touched on augmented chanting yet.¡± My face got even hotter and I ducked my head as a chuckle made its way around the room.
¡°Yes, Instructor¡¡± From my left, I heard a small chuckle. Even the ever-shy Sarala was laughing at me.
¡°I am glad you understand. Now, as your fellow student alluded to, the primary advantage of a chant is the ability to augment it. By changing how certain parts are pronounced, we can change the effect. Doing this, however, costs more mana than saying the chant normally or using a talent. That is the Third Law of Magic; The amount of mana consumed by a spell is directly proportional to the strength, size, and quantity of the effects manifested. Since I can see a few questioning faces, the First Law states that mana can neither...¡± Gustav continued, and after making sure I was now being paid no attention, I returned to Sarala.
¡°Still, a spirit? What was that like¡?¡± I was sure to whisper, I did not want a repeat of what had just happened.
Sarala let out a small giggle. ¡°It was terrifying. I was out in the woods in the evening helping my father when all of a sudden the air grew very cold.¡± I shivered, not from cold but from the implication; There were three broad categories of spirit. Lesser Spirits were basically formless masses of element-aligned mana. They had no intelligence and simply floated around until they dissipated. Spirits were identical to lesser spirits, but larger, and had the intelligence of a domesticated animal or particularly dumb child.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
On the other hand, Greater Spirits were indistinguishable from the races in terms of their intellect. They were also far, far superior to us when it came to the magic of their given element. The only saving grace was that they could only use the element they were aligned to; Undine could only use water, Ifrit fire, Gnome earth, and so on. Greater Spirits were also known to alter their environment with their mere presence, such was their mystical might.
The term was familiar to me from my previous life as the name of the ninth circle of hell, but in this world, it had no such implication, despite the very real existence of the Nine Hell Kings. At least, I thought they were probably real. None had been reportedly seen since the founding of Drakas back near year 0 of the current calendar.
Sarala nodded at my unspoken realization. ¡°Yes, a Cocytus. It came out of the forest and walked around, freezing the ground on its path. It approached my father and I; the two of us were completely still, too afraid to move. After a moment, it reached out and touched my hand. I felt a burning sensation and got really bad frostbite, then it just wandered back into the forest. The next day, I was able to talent cast simple ice magic.¡±
¡°¡That sounds so scary¡¡± Those were my honest thoughts, I couldn¡¯t imagine what Sarala must have been thinking at the time. Unlike me, she couldn¡¯t just turn off crippling fear if it got to be too much. Not that doing so was always a good idea; in my experiments with my skill, I had learned that fear was directly responsible for our self-preservation instinct.
When I had been messing around, I got curious about the open fire Silvia was cooking over. Everyone has dark thoughts sometimes, back on Earth psychologists referred to it as the ¡°Call of the Void¡±. Things like ¡°I could totally just run over that lady crossing the street.¡± Contemplating how to get away with murdering your boss. Or ¡°That fire looks hot, I wonder how long I can hold my hand in it?¡± As it turns out, fear, specifically fear of consequence and fear of pain is the reason we don¡¯t act on those impulses. Thankfully I was able to brew an alchemical salve that prevented my hand from scarring.
As I was ruminating on Sarala¡¯s story, Gustav was continuing his lecture. He had moved on to the second method by this point. ¡°The second method of casting a spell is through the use of a Magic Talent. Magic Talents can be acquired by acquiring enough affinity for a specific element via chanting spells. The Magic Talent allows for one to cast a spell extremely quickly; one only needs to recite the keyword of the spell to activate it. This speed makes Talent Casting the preferred method for battlefield mages, however as the chant is not performed, the spell cannot be modified thru augmented chanting, making it a very restrictive method.¡±
One of the students raised their hand, prompting Gustav to call on them. ¡°Yes, Sorrin?¡±
The called student stood up, which was apparently the respectful way to ask a question of a teacher. ¡°Yes, Instructor Gustav. You say that to cast a spell using a magic talent, you only have to say the ¡°keyword¡±, but what exactly is a ¡°keyword¡±?¡± Gustav nodded, I am glad you noticed that Sorrin¡¡±
While idly listening, I had begun to fiddle with my hair, wrapping a lock of it around my pointer finger. My hair really is long¡ As if he was determined to embarrass me, Gustav singled me outright as I was staring at my hair and thinking about its length. ¡°Stahlia, since you seem to have enough free time as to do your hair in class, would you care to answer Sorrin¡¯s question?¡± My face turned red again. Damnit, I¡¯ve been blushing a lot recently, and at a bunch of really stupid shit too.
I clenched my jaw and sent Gustav a stink eye, before standing up and clearing my throat. ¡°Right, as for the question ¡°What is a keyword?¡±, A spell chant is made up of three distinct parts-¡± Although given that nobody seems bothered to actually try and learn the language, the fact that they know its three parts is hella suspect. ¡°-The first part of a spell is the Invocation. The Invocation calls on the power of a specific element, ¡°Invoking¡± it if you will. The second part of a chant is the ¡°Body¡± the chant body describes the magic phenomena, which will then activate according to that description. It is the body that is altered when one performs an augmented chant. The final component of a spell is the Keyword. The keyword is colloquially known as the ¡°name¡± of a spell and is the part spoken after a brief pause when chanting. For example¡¡±
I picked up a small scrap of paper and took a deep breath. ¡°## ####, #### #### ##### # ## ########! [######] Following my chant, a small spark of flame appeared between my fingers that were pinching the paper, causing the paper to catch and burn. ¡°In that example, ## #### is the Invocation, calling on the power of the element of fire, #### #### ##### # ## ########! is the Body, describing what I want the fire to do, and [######] is the Keyword, which activates the spell.¡± In a way, it reminds me a bit of computer programming, if we consider the Keyword to be the name of a function, the Body to be the Function itself, and the Invocation to be the input data for that function. Of course, the input data is in the wrong spot, and when augment chanting what gets changed is the body of the function, not the input data.
Gustav nodded. ¡°A well-structured explanation and well-executed example. I would expect nothing less from a Special Student.¡±
Sorrin gave me a half bow as a show of thanks before sitting down himself. ¡°Thank you Lady Stahlia, that was beautifully done.¡±
I curtsied towards Gustav and sat down while doing my best to ignore Sorrin¡¯s compliment, even though I could feel a twitchy smile threatening to show itself. I give Sarala a lot of shit, but I haven¡¯t been doing too well with praise recently myself¡ why the hell am I so self-conscious?! Of course, I knew why. Whether or not I wanted to admit it to myself or not, now that was another beast entirely.
Paying my internal dilemma no mind, Gustav continued his lecture. ¡°The only thing Stahlia left out of her explanation, is that that is what we call the Third Law of Magic; Spell chants are constructed of three parts, Invocation, Body, and Keyword, in that order. Moving along, we are nearly out of time for today¡¯s lecture, so I will briefly summarize the third and final method of using magic.¡± At the word ¡°final¡±, he placed special emphasis and shot me a brief look. He¡¯s definitely hinting about Blood Magic and warning me not to do anything that would draw suspicion. I sat up straighter in my chair.
¡°The third and final method of casting magic is Faith Casting. With Faith Casting, one must pray to one of the twelve gods. If you have enough faith in them, the god being prayed to will work a miracle. This method of casting a spell is unique in that it does not use the magic language, and does not expend mana from the one praying. Rather, the prayer can be said in any language, and the god provides the mana needed for the spell. While this might sound enticing, it has the significant drawback of depending on a third party; the gods are notoriously fickle, and there are many recorded examples in history of even the most pious believer being abandoned in their hour of need.¡±
Gustav had timed the end of his lecture perfectly, even with my interruptions, because as soon as he finished speaking on the subject of Faith Casting, the bell rang announcing the end of the period. I stood up and gathered my things, before bidding Sarala farewell and heading out. Next was lunch, and after that were my afternoon classes, culminating in sword-fighting. I was both dreading and excitedly looking forward to it.
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I ate a lunch prepared for me by Lucy, there was a cafeteria of a sort, but in keeping with the theme of status not mattering but still totally mattering, it seemed most high nobles would either travel home to eat or have their own food brought in. As I was engaged to Dominic, this was one of those instances where I fell into the category of pseudo-high noble. As such, I had been informed I would be expected to not eat with the other students by my hosts.
Since taking a carriage back to the estate would cause the meal to be rushed, and having food brought in every day was, in my mind, wasteful, I instead decided to introduce the idea of a box lunch. While Margeritte was skeptical, Lucy took it as a challenge and managed to produce an offering that wouldn¡¯t have seemed out of place being served as a normal meal. Seeing this, Margeritte relented, saying something about how ¡°Nobles could show off the skill of their chef through their boxed lunches!¡±, and let me have my way.
My etiquette class was a massive waste of time, but to keep up appearances there wasn¡¯t anything I could really do about that. Essentially, the whole class was just afternoon tea. A gaggle of noble girls would arrive at the classroom, in which several tea tables had been set up, and take turns hosting in small groups. The instructor would move through the room and do things like correct posture, offer an alternative, more refined, way of saying something she overheard us talking about, and otherwise be useless. Presumably, the class contents would be rotated as the year went on, and we wouldn¡¯t be having a daily tea party for the next eight or so months.
Mathematics and Alchemy were¡ different. I had found out yesterday during the class orientation that I had not been placed in the classes to learn. I had found these two entries odd when reading my class schedule, I had just been distracted immediately by the final entry. After all, in terms of mathematics, not only had I passed the placement exam with a perfect score, I had also introduced a field of mathematics that was brand new to this world.
Alchemically, I was in more or less the same place as with math, several new formulas and processes had my name on them. As it turns out, both of these were in fact the reasons I had been placed into the courses by Percius in the first place. As I was still only ten years old, the school couldn¡¯t officially commission me. Not that I would have agreed to it if they had offered. Instead, by working through a loophole in the wording of a Special Students obligations, I had been made a sort of teacher¡¯s assistant to Gustav in mathematics and Perrin in alchemy.
Though billed as ¡°Advanced¡± classes, both my alchemy and math course only had a few other students, all of which were fifth years in the A Group. Rather than teaching their respective classes, Gustav and Perrin were more like researchers with a small team of doctoral students assisting them. The subject of research being my ¡°inventions¡±. Thus, I would be spending two hours every day explaining calculus and delving into the various concepts and recipes I had introduced into alchemy. I can handle and even somewhat look forward to the alchemy class since eventually they¡¯ll run out of stuff I¡¯ve already done and we will presumably start doing new research, but the math is just a pain in the ass! I was a student, not a Doctor of Mathematics, I¡¯m not qualified to teach calculus!
Still, the worst was yet to come. Namely, my swordsmanship class. Following a rousing discussion about the origins of Condescending, I arrived at the practice field. Unlike lectures and study-based classes, physical classes such as Horse Riding, Archery, and indeed Swordsmanship, did not meet on the first day for an orientation session. Why was beyond me, presumably they would still have to go over what to expect in the course, as well as introduce everyone to each other. In any case, this would be my first time meeting my classmates.
I arrived at the field and was greeted by the sight of roughly fifteen boys, all around Dominic¡¯s age. I was, as one might expect, the only girl. I was also the youngest member. These two facts caused me to immediately become a tad uncomfortable, and my palms started to sweat. Even my legs were a bit wobbly as I made my way towards them. Calm down, This is just like when you taught Giogi and the other village boys. The only difference is that you¡¯re also a student now. And you¡¯re the youngest and smaller than everyone. And all these boys are probably at the age where they start chasing after girls, we know for sure at least one of them is engaged already, don¡¯t we? My internal musings were not helping things.
After pausing for a moment, I took a deep breath and stepped off the path and over to the group. I was trying to find the words to introduce myself and had even gone so far as opening my mouth when Dominic popped out of the crowd and made to take my hand. ¡°Alright everyone, this is my fianc¨¦, Stahlia. The one I informed would be joining our class.¡±
I hurriedly closed my mouth and forced it to adopt a smile. Performing a small curtsy, I introduced myself. For some reason, I was actually finding Dominic¡¯s grip on my hand reassuring; my legs had stopped shaking and I had a much easier time finding my words. A fact that vexed me a great deal. ¡°I am Lady Stahlia, Lord Dominic¡¯s fianc¨¦. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances.¡±
Following my self-introduction, Dominic fulfilled his obligations and introduced each of them to me in turn. Given that these were all noble greetings, the introductions took a good ten minutes to complete, and by the end of them, the instructor had arrived. The Swordsmanship Instructor defied my expectations. I had been expecting a bald muscle-bound giant covered in scars and toting a sword at least as long as his arm. What I got was a man of average height who, while definitely toned and fit, was not noticeably larger than the average person. Nor was he bald, he had a decently thick mop of sandy blonde hair that was tied back to prevent it from getting in his eyes. His weapon was likewise unremarkable, a simple hand and a half sword sheathed at his waist, a small round shield strapped to his back.
Honestly, I can see the reasoning behind his chosen weapons; the sword can be wielded in combo with the shield, or he can two-hand it to increase striking power, due to the slightly longer hilt. He has the air of a veteran as well, despite his appearance. I might be looking forward to this a bit¡ The instructor, having quickly spotted me, made his way over and introduced himself. ¡°Greetings milady, I am Sir Brisben von Eckerd. While it is uncommon for the class to grow so late, Sir Dominic speaks very highly of your skill. I am looking forward to teaching you Drakan Style Swordsmanship. If I may ask, what style have you been using so far?¡±
So me being in this class WAS Dominic¡¯s doing! But what does he mean ¡°it¡¯s rare for the class to grow so late¡±? today is the first day of the school year, and yea, there is no way in hell I can tell him ¡°Oh yea, I use Shadow Blade Style, I was taught by one of the Kingdom¡¯s secret assassins!¡± ¡°A pleasure to meet you, Sir Brisben. I am Lady Stahlia von Ris, daughter of Baron von Ris. As for my style, regretfully I do not know its name. I learned it by watching some of the adventurers in my hometown, while occasionally receiving pointers from them. ¡if I may be so bold, what do you mean it is rare for the class to grow?¡± I opted to go for a flagrant lie regarding my sword style. Thankfully Shadow Blade Style was, by its very nature, not very widely known so the odds of him recognizing any of its forms were slim.
He seemed to buy my excuse and answered my return question in good humor. ¡°Ah, well if it was something one of those lowlifes taught then I doubt it even has a proper name¡ Ah, I mean no disrespect to you, milady. I am aware that Ris village is on the frontier and cannot afford to be picky with who it makes use of in defense against monsters¡ just a friendly word of advice, Adventurers do not have the greatest reputation in most of the kingdom, so you might want to avoid spreading that you learned anything from them¡¡±
¡°Regarding the class, well I have been teaching the same group of boys since their first year. When we started there were twenty of them, but that number dropped off over the years. You¡¯re the first new student who has enrolled since we started.¡± Well, I already knew that Adventurers didn¡¯t have the greatest of reputations, but the truth would have been a lot worse. As for the class being the same, something could actually be said for that, keeping the same group of people with the same instructor throughout their entire school life. It would build a sense of camaraderie if nothing else¡ and here I am intruding on that¡ damnit Dominic!
It would seem that Sir Brisben had one more thing to say to me, or more like he had a request for me. ¡°That being as it is milady, I have a good idea of all the boy¡¯s abilities, but other than Dominic¡¯s review of your own I lack information. Since you don¡¯t know the name of your style, I cannot form any guesses from that either. Since we do not really have much in the way of other options, I will have to ask you to have a spar with someone¡¡± At the words ¡°spar¡± Dominic stepped forward and volunteered himself.
¡°I will fight her, Instructor.¡± This led to a round of laughter from the other boys, and whispered mutterings about him being ¡°protective¡± and ¡°jealous¡± were tossed about. They can mutter all they like, I would honestly prefer to fight him than any of them, our last match wasn¡¯t really much of anything but he¡¯s had two years in this class since then. Us fighting would give me a benchmark for how much growth I can expect to get from these lessons.
Brisben thought for a moment, then gave his ok. Dominic led me over to a rack filled with training weapons. While Shadow Blade Style was nominally for stealth and assassination, thus favoring small blades like daggers, it was not without options for larger weapons. Seeing as this was an appraisal of my ability with a sword, I selected an arming sword; it was short enough that I could use more of my style¡¯s forms than I could with a Bastard or Long Sword, but would better serve for my appraisal than a dagger or short sword.
I toyed with the idea of grabbing a shield as well, but I had no idea how to use one in the first place, so it would be about as useful as intentionally tying a heavy weight to my arm in order to intentionally restrict my movements. For his own selection, Dominic picked a Bastard Sword and a medium-sized round shield.
We entered the training area and squared off against each other. Brisben stood towards the edge of our square, while all the other boys clustered around the perimeter. As Brisben raised his hand, we both took a ready stance; I dropped low to the ground in a crouch, and Dominic squared his feet while raising his shield. Brisben dropped his hand.
I sprang forward like a shot from a canon; I was not using enhancements, seeing as this was supposed to be a test of sword ability and if I enhanced myself I was very likely to instantly crush my opponent. Instead, I simply used my compressed legs like a spring and pushed forward of the ground.
The distance between us closed rapidly, I kicked the ground twice more to further accelerate myself, all while keeping myself as low as possible to abuse our size difference to my advantage. As I got within two meters of him, Dominic finally reacted, swinging his shield arm around and planting the shield between me and him. To slow.
I turned my shoulder towards his shield, it would hurt a bit, but my plan was to allow myself to crash into him; he would expect to block a thrust or slash and be bracing for that, not my full body weight. As we made contact with each other, I felt my stomach jump up into my mouth like what would occasionally happen on a rollercoaster. I had been bracing myself for an impact, but it was nowhere near as strong as I was expecting. In a moment, I knew why.
I sailed past Dominic, as he had released his shield. As I flew through the air, he brought his sword to bear, now holding it with two hands. Shit! Memories of our previous fight flew through my head; I had charged him head-on then as well, and quickly brought an end. Of course, he would have prepared for me to do it again.
Still, I¡¯m also more skilled than I was then, not just you! I jabbed the point of my sword into the ground, using it to arrest my movement. While this would have worked with a metal sword, though it would definitely have damaged the edge, my wooden training sword snapped clean in half.
Dominic immediately halted his swing, and Brisben declared him the winner of our duel, without either of us having landed a blow. Fuck! If this had been a real fight¡ I could have used my Blood Magic and gutted him, or better yet, come up from behind and just stabbed him before he knew what was coming.
Around the sidelines, the boys other than Dominic were gossiping about what they had just witnessed. Such lines as "I thought he said she was a good fighter?" or "That wasn''t a style, she just charged at him!" and "What use is sword fighting for a woman anyway?" entered my ears. These are just some adolescent boys... why is it that their harsh criticism is making me want to cry? Brisben cleared his throat and the chatter died down. "It seems the lot of you are still novices, despite being in your third years... Dominic, if that was a real fight, not about with wood, what would have been the outcome?"
Dominic gave me a look and grimaced. "I would have been dead or mortally wounded and unable to continue inside of three seconds, Instructor." The boys around the arena exchanged uncertain glances with each other.
One of them spoke up and voiced what was likely the majority opinion. "Dominic, are you not just saying that to defend your fianc¨¦''s honor...?" Dominic shook his head.
"Instructor, they are more likely to believe your explanation than mine." He said ruefully, as he made his way over to where I had come to a halt and offered his hand to help me up. Due to the onlookers, I suppose I have to take it...
"Indeed Dominic, you are probably right about that... Listen carefully, you lot. From an outside perspective, it may have looked as though she simply threw herself at him in a mad charge. In a sense that is indeed all she did, however, judging by her footwork and stance, she normally would have gone much faster thru use of magical enhancement. It is only because she did not use magic that Dominic was able to react at all, and when he brought his shield to bear, knowing that she wouldn''t be able to stop, Stahlia made the decision to turn her own body into a projectile without any hesitation. Even knowing it would cause her injury, she instantly selected the most optimal course of action. I would wager that her style focuses on highly aggressive movement and swift decisive attacks, further enhancing oneself with magic. In a live combat scenario, you would never see her coming."
The boys had all fallen silent; it looked like they were genuinely considering the instructor¡¯s words. Well, he''s mostly right; it would actually be over before the situation became a combat one in most cases, and even without using magic, I think if I had played it smart I still would have won.
I got cocky. I¡¯ve only been fighting against Jacqueline, a fellow Shadow Blade Style user, and dumb monsters. I knew Shadow Blade Style struggles against other styles in terms of technique; it depends heavily on surprise or augmentation with magic to make up the gap if you need to go head to head. Still, Dominic worked really hard these past few years, his general stance and movements were nothing like they were. This was a good experience for me, I¡¯ll have to work hard to pick up the Drakan Style, it seems like it will make a good addition to my arsenal for when I have to confront an enemy head-on.
For the rest of the class, the Brisben had the rest of the students pair up and go through a series of forms with each other; one would attack with slowed movements, while the other would defend. After each set, the defender role would swap with the attacker. Taking me aside, Brisben walked me through the basic forms of Drakan Style, telling me that I would be expected to practice and do my best to close the gap between myself and the other students with Drakan Style.
From what I could tell based on the basic forms, Drakan Style seemed to be highly reactive. Whereas Shadow Blade Style was designed for surprise, speed, and one versus one, Drakan Style was focused on group fighting in pairs or trios. A lot of its defensive moves focused on opening up the enemy to a counter-attack from a nearby ally or covering a nearby ally who was being attacked from their blind spot.
Before long, the final bell of the day rang, and I was able to go home. It was a really long but productive day. When I got home, I found Pet hiding under my bed; apparently, Elienor had made a new dress specifically with Pet in mind. I see that Margeritte was not able to control her for very long after all. Of course, Pet refused to release the arm she had clung to, and so I relented and let her sleep clinging to my side again. Hopefully, Lucy continues to simply ignore her...
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First Law of Magic
Mana can not be created or destroyed, only moved from one vessel to another. The amount of Mana in a system is always a predictable, measurable, and finite quantity.
Second Law of Magic
The mana cost of a spell or other Magical Phenomenon is directly proportional to the Size, Power, and Duration of the spell or Phenomenon. The cost can be reduced by having an affinity for the invoked element, or implementing a compatible catalyst, but can never be reduced entirely.
Third Law of Magic
A Spell Chant consists of three distinct parts: The Invocation, which calls upon the element of the spell. The Body, which describes the magical phenomenon to be produced. And the Keyword, which triggers the execution of the spell.
2-8 J2: An Unassuming Turncoat
Jacqueline, Second Month 947, Town of Fess
¡°¡ I would like to visit an Alchemy Shop in a large town and compare it to Sieg¡¯s store in Ris Village.¡± I nodded to my lady¡¯s request, signaling her that I had understood the subtext. A little while later, after she had retired for the night, I lay awake and reminiscing. It was two years ago now, two years ago since I pledged myself to help my lady destroy the Order of Shadows that I had served for as long as I could remember.
The Order had taken my lady¡¯s younger sister and would even now be in the process of training her. Like they had trained me. I shivered as memories rose unbidden, memories of the horrors I had experienced, and that the sweet child would be going through as I lay here in bed. Strange, that I would remember things like that now, after so long. It didn¡¯t happen before I chose to walk my current path¡ Indeed, these recent recallings of the early days were a new occurrence.
Like all agents of the Order, I had prided myself on being emotionally unshakable, now I would often find myself lying awake in the dead of night lost in thought. It had all changed when I made that pledge. Resigning myself to be unable to sleep, I sat up in my cot and gaze across the room at my lady¡¯s sleeping face. It was clear in the darkness to me thanks to the Dark Sight Talent I had been forced to acquire; locked in an airtight room with a combination lock and no light source, forced to strain my eyes until I acquired the talent, or died.
As I gazed at my lady, ever so briefly, I saw another face imposed on her. I could not remember having ever seen this face on any person, and yet at the same time, it was familiar to me. It had been showing up from time to time, usually superimposed over my lady, but in my dreams as well, always running away from me, occasionally becoming me to give chase. When I caught it and turned them around to ask who it was all the features would be melted into an indistinct blob of flesh.
I shook my head to clear the face off of my lady¡¯s and gave her one last look before rising and heading out into the night city. A quick glance at the moon and stars told m that I had about four hours left before I needed to be back to prepare for my lady¡¯s day. Right, first let¡¯s kill some time by scouting out a route for tomorrow. After, if it¡¯s still too early I suppose I could do some practice.
I ran across the rooftops, first from the hotel to the town square. Taking care to memorize the layout of the streets, thanks to my memory-boosting talents and skills I would have no trouble remembering them later. I next ran across the roofs on a path towards the adventurer¡¯s guild. I had to take a bit of care here, lest I be spotted by the adventurers who were still active at the taverns and brothels in the area. Even if they were less skilled than the Kingdom¡¯s Knights, Adventurers still had their own abilities and could be quite troublesome in their ability to sense potential threats.
Having memorized this route as well, I briefly paused and observed one adventurer, he seemed to be a bit apart from the others and was watching the doors and windows of the tavern with his back to the wall. As I studied him, his head snapped around and faced me, requiting me to break off my idle observations and hide. That¡¯s what I mean about adventurers and their uncanny ability to sense threats. Sheesh. There¡¯s no way he would have been able to see me, and I wasn¡¯t letting off any bloodlust, yet he still picked up on the fact I was watching him.
After I followed the rooftops from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild to the Alchemy Shop that my lady would be visiting, I again checked the time. Looks like I still have a couple of hours to kill, time for some practice. I dashed across the rooftops towards a place I had made note of as we entered Fess. Arriving at my destination, I looked down from my perch at the building below.
The place I had come to was a crime den. A black market of sorts, they would take commissions similar to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Unlike the Guild, however, these commissions were not bound by any laws of the Kingdom. The organization behind the ¡°Black Guild¡± was given tacit, and in some cases outright, approval to operate by the kingdom¡¯s higher-ups in exchange for services rendered. Indeed, they would service me nicely as a form of practice. Making note of the positions of each of the guards, I dropped down from the roof. Stealing up to behind one of them, I stretched out with my dagger and cut his throat; I was not using grave oil, as it was incredibly rare so its use would invariably draw suspicion to myself. Due to this, he was able to make a strange gurgling wheezing noise as life left him. It is a popular misconception that throat-cutting leads to a silent death, and certainly, the victim cannot call for help, but they are still quite able to make noise as they pass on.
I stepped quickly back and into a shadow cast in the moonlight by a doorway. I was counting on the noise of his comrade¡¯s death to draw the other guard over. Rewarding my patience, the other guard soon approached my hiding spot. As he saw the body, blood drained from his face and he opened his mouth to scream the alarm. I was waiting for this. Darting out of my doorway, I flicked my hand at him, tossing my dagger blade first into his conveniently opened mouth and severing the back of his throat.
I chose to leave the dagger rather than waste time retrieving it; it was just a cheap thing I had swiped off a drunkard earlier, and I had others. With both the guards dispatched, I slipped into the building to look for any more ¡°employees¡±. Moving from room to room, I made sure to keep to the shadows as much as possible, however, the building was largely empty, much to my chagrin. Finally, in the last room, I found another person.
The man was sitting behind a desk waiting for me, the setting moon rendering him in silhouette through the window behind him. ¡°I see you let yourself in¡ so¡ to what do I owe the pleasure King¡¯s Dog?¡±
I said nothing, it didn¡¯t matter to me if he knew what I used to be; he was going to die here tonight. I drew one of my daggers and lunged at him. The man let out a surprised grunt and knocked the edge of an ashtray, flipping it up and deflecting my strike. ¡°Just like that huh!? Well, you won¡¯t find me so eas-¡± His head rolled forwards and he fell onto the desk, blood beginning to pool on his shirt.
I pulled my sword out of the shadow I had stabbed it through; upon sliding out of his back, blood bubbled up and out of the hole. I was right to practice, I had wanted to do this whole exercise without falling back on my shadow¡¯s tools. Still, it¡¯s lucky that the moon was behind him casting a shadow with his chair back. If we had fought for real it would have been loud, he was actually quite skilled. I flicked the blood off my sword and made my way back to the inn, it was nearly time to wake my lady.
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The morning was uneventful. My Lady had breakfast and our group set out to accomplish our errands. I lead my lady down the route I had scouted the day before, separating from my lady¡¯s friend Sana as we passed by the street that lead to the temple. When we arrived at the adventurers guild, we entered so as to send a letter to my lady¡¯s fianc¨¦e and his family.
Upon entering, I quickly took in the surroundings, making note of the exits, windows, and any people who might become a threat. I was immediately placed on guard. Sitting in the corner, in a position from which he could easily observe the surroundings, was the adventurer from the tavern I had encountered last night. It didn¡¯t seem like he recognized me, but I would be sure to keep an eye on him as we mailed the letter.
As luck would have it, the adventurer in question would be the one to deliver the letter. As he was taking it from the guild master, his eyes met mine briefly. He stared at me for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and addressed my lady. ¡°Francois and Ris eh? Guess they got what they wanted after all¡ poor girl.¡± He then left the guild to go about fulfilling his quest. Aaron huh? Thank you for warning me, I will be sure to look into it. I didn¡¯t know how he figured it out, but that last line was clearly intended to warn me about an issue with my lady¡¯s engagement.
¡°Jacqueline, do I know that Adventurer?¡± I wracked my memories for a moment before I realized; I had met him once before seeing him at the tavern, if however briefly.
¡°I believe he was the one who delivered the Count Francois¡¯ letter to your father two years ago. I am surprised you remember his face, you only saw him but for a few moments.¡± My Lady nodded, and after a moment she commented on the adventurer¡¯s parting remarks. Of course, you would notice what he said as well, don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯ll figure it out and protect you!
Leaving the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, we made our way to the alchemy shop I had scouted last night. Once arrived, my lady wasted no time in entering the shop and beginning her perusals. In a different life, maybe you could have lived simply, happily opened your own shop, or taken over Sven¡¯s. Grown old in the village surrounded by family and friends¡ instead, you were born cursed, caught up in political machinations you had no business with¡ I felt a pain in my heart at the sight of my lady so enthralled, but quickly pushed it down and slipped out; my lady may have had more than one objective in mind when she elected to visit the shop, but she was still doing it to give me some time away from her with which to conduct an investigation.
I slipped away from the shop at the earliest opportunity. I had to hurry; we had not discussed timing but I could guess that my lady would keep finding excuses to occupy herself until it was time to reunite with her friend. This would give me just over three hours with which to work. I could possibly have done this last night, however, the building I was heading to would have been far more dangerous then, and showing up while my charge was sleeping would have raised awkward questions.
When I made it to the outskirts of Fess, I quickly checked my surroundings to be sure I was clear of people. Confirming I was well and truly alone, I darted off the road and into an alleyway. From there, I activated shadow step and walked through the wall. This was the main entrance of an Order of Shadows safehouse, enterable only by walking through the shadows in the most literal sense. Once inside, I focused my senses and confirmed that the usual occupant was out.
Every major city and every town over a certain population had one of these safehouses, and every safehouse had at least one permanent resident. Ostensibly, their purpose was for gathering information; the Shadow¡¯s network was much faster than waiting for traveling merchants or Knight Messengers. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that the resident agent couldn¡¯t serve other purposes if, for example, the local lord developed aspirations beyond their station.
Still, this was the closest safe house to Ris Village, so any retrieval mission dispatched after Lady Rosial would have at one point stopped by in Fess. It was unlikely there were any traces left over, it had been two years, but I knew my lady would appreciate it if I were to look anyway. I spent roughly an hour in the safehouse, digging through various documents. Unfortunately, not only could I not find any traces of Lady Rosial, I could not find any information worth sharing with my lady whatsoever.
Not that I expected to find much, a small safe house like this wouldn¡¯t store any sensitive records, and the most sensitive information will only be kept on a living record anyways¡ I shivered at the thought of those living records. Even before I began to feel following my betrayal, I had always found the living records creepy. Former Shadows whose Memorization Talent had evolved into Eidetic Memory, they would go insane from all the suddenly restored memories of our training and the life before.
Rather than waste their talent and the resources invested in them, they were instead locked away and forced to store sensitive information in their now perfect memories. A slave contract ensured that they would not betray the Order with their insanity. At the thought, I touched my neck, glad that no such contract had been placed on me. Field agents were not enslaved; doing so would restrict our ability to act independently and adapt to a changing situation. I imagine if word of my own actions leak, that policy might be revisited¡
Out of time, I made sure everything was back in its original place and left the safehouse. Arriving back at the alchemy shop, I was just in time to seamlessly reunite with my lady, who was just finishing up her last order of business. Based on the boy¡¯s expression of abject despair, it appeared that my lady¡¯s endeavors had been fruitful. Later that night, I reported my lack of findings to my lady, and she confirmed that she had not been expecting me to find anything. Following our clandestine discussion, she fell asleep
I opened my bag and removed a small sphere; this was the magic tool used by field agents to send reports. After making my report and storing the ball I lay down in my cot. Thankfully this night I was not bothered by strange visions or dreams and was able to sleep soundly until it was time for me to wake in the morning.
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Special Report, 10
th day of the second month, Year 947
As stated in the previous special report, we are currently in the Town of Fess and will be departing on the morning of the 11
th day. Nothing major to report regarding the actions of Primary Target while in Fess. Our party had breakfast at the inn, then spent the day in town.
Prior to our arrival in the capital, an adventurer named Aaron should arrive bearing a letter addressed to Count Francois. Contents of the letter are unimportant formalities. Following the dispatch of the letter, Primary Target passed the time in an alchemy shop, where she had a rousing discussion with the local alchemist regarding some of her inventions.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
At approximately five o¡¯clock, we reunited with Incidental Target Two and returned to the inn. After having a light dinner we retired to the room. At the time of writing this report, Primary Target and both Incidental Targets are sleeping undisturbed.
Expect the next Special Report on the Evening of the 11
th day, following our arrival at the Royal Capital City of Drakas.
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Jacqueline, 20
th Day, Second Month 947, Royal Capital Drakas
I slipped out of the building I had been investigating. Another bust, unfortunately. Since arriving in the Royal Capital a week ago, I had been running errands on behalf of my lady. It worried me to be separated from her for so long, however, I could be assured of her safety. As she was engaged to marry into the house, the Francois family would not allow any harm to come to her; doing so would besmirch their honor as Drakas Nobility.
Even my attendant work was largely superfluous at this point. Nominally I was my lady¡¯s head maid, but that title was largely meaningless in the face of Lucy and Frieda, the two maids provided to my lady by her fianc¨¦e¡¯s family. Instead of attending to her, I had delegated most of my duties to the two newcomers, of course after I judged them as being competent, and had spent the week relearning the streets of the capital.
The city proper was no issue, it had not changed all that much in the decade since I had last been here. The slums, however, were unrecognizable. Even on a year-to-year basis, the slums could change to the point of being a completely different environment, and it only got worse the further from the main roads you got. Still, through a great deal of effort, I was able to confidently say that I now had a good handle on the current layout. It had taken me a week, but my explorations paid off. After all, I was able to find this place.
The building I had just exited had not been used in some time. If I were to make a conservative estimate, I would say it had been abandoned for nearly two years. Which lines up with Lady Rosial¡¯s disappearance perfectly¡ I had learned of this building following my visit to the Order of Shadow¡¯s headquarters. That had been a nerve-wracking experience for me, given my change of loyalty.
Still, it was not something that I could avoid. Following extended field operations, it was standard for returning agents to undergo a debriefing at headquarters once they had the opportunity to return to the capital. My own debriefing had taken place the day after we arrived in the capital. I arrived at the headquarters building, an unassuming place in the noble¡¯s quarter, just after the noon bell.
After announcing myself using the code phrase I had been given via my communication tool, I was quickly ushered inside the building and into an interior room. Unlike the safe houses, there was no need to shadow walk in order to get in. Due to the building¡¯s location in the noble¡¯s quarter security was a non-issue.
Nobles knew better than to invade each other¡¯s property, and this building was designed in such a way so as not to stand out. As far as any onlooker was concerned, it may as well be the capital home of a well-off Baron or poor Count. Hardly anything worth sticking their nose into. Once you got inside, however, things quickly changed.
The interior was spartan. Not just simply decorated, it was devoid of decoration whatsoever. It gave the impression that the building¡¯s entire budget had been spent on the exterior, and in a way that was correct. The Order would not waste money on such trivialities as priceless artworks that served no purpose other than to stroke the egos of their owner.
Towards the middle of the building were various offices, one of which was my current destination. Entering, I immediately caught my breath. The figure seated on the other side of the building had a hood up hiding his face completely, and I had to guess that the shadow it cast over his face would not be so easily dispelled by merely shining a light at it. But it was not his appearance that caused me to pause; it was his ring.
Trained agents could take in every detail the moment we saw something, and I had immediately felt my gaze drawn to his hands. On both hands, he lacked a pinky finger, leaving him with four digits. On one such digit, the ring finger of his right hand sat a ring. Set in this ring was a ruby roughly the size of a thumbnail. Engraved on this ruby the character ¡°5¡± was faintly glowing, indicating the presence of magic of some kind. So I have entered the Dragon¡¯s Den unprepared.
Of course, I had been theorizing about what questions I might be asked and what answers I should give. Playing word games in my head to practice telling half-truths that could avoid being picked up by lie detection magic. I had already learned how to speak like that during my own training of course, but interrogations from Shadow cannot be compared to an interrogation from a guard or city official. All of that preparation may as well have flown out the proverbial window though. After all, Five was one of the ones who taught those methods.
¡°Is something the matter, Jacqueline? As I recall, that is your current name.¡± I couldn¡¯t see his face, but I imagined him raising an eyebrow from his tone and inflections. This is the man most likely responsible for stealing away Lady Rosial from my lady¡ For a brief moment, I entertained the idea of lunging at him and trying to end this here and now, however, I knew better than that.
There was no way I would be able to beat him in a head-on fight, and doing something so stupid as to tip my hand and fail would only expose my lady to needless danger. Her path would be hard enough without me making it thornier. There was also the question of where exactly Lady Rosial was. Even if I were to kill Five now, there was no way for me to be sure of finding her, and even with his death, another would come and take his place. We would have to find Lady Rosial before we could strike out against this man.
¡°No sir, there is no matter. I must confess, I was simply taken aback; I did not expect to be seeing you personally.¡± He nodded and gestured for me to have a seat.
¡°But of course, your most recent assignment has been most productive, and seeing as I have been handling the majority of your reports, I feel I am the one most qualified to conduct this debriefing. Now, sit.¡± I did as instructed and took a seat. Five watched me for a moment, most likely monitoring my bearings and trying to gauge my emotional state. I willed my heart to be still, I could not afford to appear unduly nervous, but nor could I appear perfectly calm. This is going to be exceedingly difficult.
After watching me in silence for what felt like several minutes, but in reality, was probably only a handful of seconds, Five slid a paper across the desk to me. Glancing down, I saw that it was a copy of a report I had sent, specifically the one from the fourth month of 945, the month of my betrayal. I skimmed the report, confirming that it was indeed what I had written, there were no alterations slipped into it to catch me off guard.
Report, 30
th day of the fourth month, Year 945
Primary Target has finally made a recovery from her grief-induced stupor. Following what she told me in confidence was ¡°A vision from the goddess Caina, telling me I must confront my future head-on, and cannot afford to waste away in self-pity.¡± Primary Target seems to understand the implications of such an Oracle, as she called me out into the woods, away from any prying eyes or ears before informing me. It seems I am the only one so informed, as Primary Target has not told even her parents or friend from the temple.
Under the pretext of ¡°confronting her future¡±, Primary Target has once again begun studying various topics in great detail, requesting her parents find her a magic tutor, and to pull her out of the temple school. She plans to make up for the lack of schooling with private education through various tutors, financed using the royalties paid out after her numerous alchemical discoveries and inventions. The stated goal is to get a head start on the curriculum she will be learning at the Academy.
Secondary and Tertiary Targets are not raising much of a fuss over such a complete one-eighty; I speculate that they are simply happy to have their remaining daughter back in good spirits, and have otherwise become desensitized to strange things occurring in Primary Target¡¯s surroundings.
After I read the report, I looked up at Five. From within the darkness of his hood, I could picture him still watching me intently. I cleared my throat. ¡°This is the report I submitted following Primary Target¡¯s recovery from her depression.¡± After a moment, Five nodded.
¡°Indeed. And what a remarkable recovery it was. Tell me Jacqueline, an Oracle in which one directly hears the words of one of the twelve, and the recipient is not even of the cloth. It is truly a remarkable occurrence, is it not?¡± I paused for a moment, unsure of where he was going with this line of questioning.
¡°¡Yes, when I was first told, I did not quite believe her at first myself, but given everything else that has occurred through the Primary Target, I was able to be convinced of the veracity of her claim.¡±
¡°And yet, I should think that given how auspicious this occurrence is, it would warrant a complete retelling of events¡ would it not?¡± Damnit, I should have included more detail¡ The best lies contain as little fabricated detail as possible and just a pinch of truth, but in this case, I put too little¡ Outwardly, I nodded after a moment.
¡°Indeed, I suppose that I became desensitized to Primary Target constantly betraying all expectations and treated the occurrence as somewhat normal. I believe I should be reassigned.¡± This was an absolute gamble on my part, of course, I had no desire to be reassigned. I simply needed to show that I ¡°acknowledged¡± my ¡°mistake¡±, or risk falling under suspicion.
Five was quiet for a time, save the sound of his fingers tapping at his desk. ¡°¡No, I do not think that that is necessary, nor would it be a good idea. The target has come to trust you a great deal, removing you now and placing another agent on her would simply draw too much suspicion. That being said, be sure to make more thorough reports in the future, one can never be sure what small detail is most important. As for the rest of your debriefing, tell me exactly what Primary Target said to you regarding her oracle.¡±
I bowed my head in a show of acknowledgment, while furiously trying to come up with something plausible. My Lady and I had come up with only the bare minimum of details regarding what to tell someone if we were ever questioned, trusting that we would have no issues convincing anyone of our truthfulness. Instead, we were more worried that having too many details may make it difficult to keep the story straight. We had never accounted for the possibility of the mastermind seeking me out specifically though.
After delaying as long as I could without it becoming suspicious, I started to weave my concocted tale. ¡°Primary Target woke me up with a shout from her room in the middle of the night. When I went to check on her, she smiled like I had not seen since the disappearance of her sister. When I asked her what was the matter, she appeared thoughtful for a moment, then asked me to take her into the woods, far enough away that there was absolutely no chance of us being overheard.¡± I waited, to see if Five would give any indication of whether or not he was buying into my story. When none was forthcoming, I continued.
¡°I was skeptical of the need for such secrecy, however when I brought her out into the woods, she described to me a dream, a dream in which she visited a forest locked in winter.¡± I heard five suck in breath audibly, it would seem that I had successfully managed to trick him thus far, using a similar description to what I had really been told was paying off.
¡°While there, she met a figure of a young girl, who claimed to be the goddess Caina herself. This goddess told her that great change was coming and that she was meant to be at the front of it. To that end, she must confront and accept her fate in the capital. Primary Target then affirmed that she was done wallowing in her misery, and that going forward, she would endeavor to live for the memory of her sister.¡±
Following the conclusion of my story, Five was silent. After a moment, he nodded. ¡°That will be all. Resume your assignment.¡± I could only blink as my brain failed to process what he had said.
¡°¡Sir?
¡°You heard me. You have given me much to think about, I only wish your reports had been so accurate two years ago. Go pick up your order and return to Primary Target.¡±
I felt a shiver, the fact that he knew I had placed a certain order was disconcerting, to say the least; it meant I was likely being tracked, if not directly observed. ¡°Very well, Thank you, Sir.¡± I stood and gave a small bow. As a rule, Shadows did not differentiate between genders unless undercover. As I left the room, I heard a muffled mutter from Five. I was of course, smart enough not to indicate I had heard.
¡°Still, if ¡ is making a mo ¡. what co¡d ¡. mean?¡±
I had one stop to make before I left the headquarters building. I had to visit the records room and check the monthly reports from the months immediately before and after Lady Rosial¡¯s kidnapping. I had originally been planning to come back later on, but now that I knew Five was on the move, I could not risk coming back without a summons. That meant that as dangerous as it was, I would have to look today before I left.
I was able to get into the records room without too much trouble, after all, nothing truly damning was stored here; that information was only recorded by living records. Besides that, when every member of an organization is trained in assassination and anti-personal combat, dedicated security becomes superfluous. As a field agent, I possessed clearance to enter this room, so if anyone had stopped me, I could simply say I was searching for something else to help with my currently assigned mission. The only real risk was Five¡¯s presence in the building.
After checking through the files around the date I was searching for, I found a report that looked promising. It was recorded as a purchasing invoice for a number of supplies that would not seem overly suspicious if the document were to be misplaced or lost. Given that all of the Order¡¯s documents were technically a matter of record, and therefore accessible to any high noble we had long used code phrases in place of actual items.
As I read the manifest, I found the line I had been looking for. Now, how do I tell my lady about this? I absolutely cannot tell her Five is in the capital, or that I was confronted by him at what was supposed to be a routine debriefing¡ Right, I found this document in a military supply depot, not the Order¡¯s headquarters. ¡but I still need to warn her that I might be under suspicion¡ I¡¯ll allude to me being left out of the loop, she should be able to figure it out from there.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
As I made one more lap around the abandoned building, I once again confirmed it had not been used in some time. There were a few small traces that a large number of people had once been housed here, however as for wherever they had then gone, there was no clue whatsoever. Shrugging to myself, I left the structure and made for the upper city. As Five had alluded too I did indeed have an order to pick up.
I arrived on the street outside of the building and for the umpteenth time since I left headquarters, I confirmed that nobody was tailing me. So assured, I quickly clambered up onto the roofs and cut across them. Using the soon to be setting sun to my advantage, I occasionally darted through the shadow world to further confuse any potential trackers.
I arrived at my destination with only a handful of minutes to spare; the capital truly was massive, I had left the building in the slums at around four in the afternoon and it was now nearly seven in the evening. The building in question was a shop at which I had placed an order on behalf of my lady. I absolutely had to pick up the requested items before her social function tomorrow.
Entering through the front door, I was greeted by an elderly woman. ¡°Took you long enough, I was just about to give up on you and close up for the day.¡±
I bowed my head contritely. ¡°I apologize for my tardiness, some unexpected events came up. I have the money ready if you would like to quickly conclude our business.¡± The woman nodded and passed me a parcel.
I did not confirm the contents, doing so here would bring shame to my lady. I paid the woman and quickly left her store so that she could close shop for the night, then made for the Francois Estate. Only when I was safely back in my small quarters provided to me by Count Francois did I open the parcel and confirm its contents.
Holding them up to the light so I could confirm the quality of the work, I nodded to myself. I imagine she will do her damndest to avoid having to wear these, but it is for her own good in the end. Hopefully, she won¡¯t fight for too long and get used to them quickly. I put the newly made training bras away before making my way over to my lady¡¯s room to prepare her outfit for tomorrow.
2-9 Daily Life
Stahlia Ten Years Old, Seventh Month of 947
¡°Oh Fire, #### a ball and fly ##### to ###### my target! [Fireball]¡± As I said the keyword, I felt the heat of the flame formed on my hand, as a sphere of flame manifested. It shot off and struck the orc-shaped straw target a little ways away from me. Sarala was off to the side with Edith, both of them watching me. Sarala raised an eyebrow.
¡°Lady Stahlia, you said you had something to show us, but that was just a regular beginner tier Red Magic, was it not?¡± I nodded.
¡°It was for demonstration purposes. This is what I wanted to show you.¡± I once again exhaled, clearing my mind. Mana was much easier to control with fewer distractions, emotional and physical disturbances only got in the way and clogged things up, which made it chanted spells cost more and outright disturbed Blood Magic by making the Mana harder to control. The Fifth Law of Magic stated that the amount of mana cost and power of a spell would go up or down based on the caster''s emotional state. In general, a clear head would be most effective, although certain branches of magic might actually be cheaper with strong emotions. For example, Fire Magic tended to be greatly enhanced by hatred and anger. The phrase "burning with hatred" was quite literal in this world.
After clearing my head, I opened my eyes and chanted again. ¡°Oh Water, #### a #### fly ##### to ###### my target! [Water Ball]¡± At my command, a sphere of water manifested in the air in front of me, before flying off at speed and piercing the chest of the target. I grimaced at the mana drain, this spell cost a lot more than the first one, likely having to do with my kitbashed chant. The sight of the spell caused Edith to open her eyes slightly, while Sarala stared completely wide-eyed with her mouth hanging open.
After taking a moment to collect herself, Sarala approached me. ¡°Stahlia, that wasn¡¯t the chant for a water ball spell like we learned in our Blue Magic, what did you just do?!¡± I smiled wryly, Sarala tended to get a bit flustered and forget her manners when excited. Once you got her to open up to you and stop being so shy, she was really a sweet girl.
¡°Indeed, it was the chant for a fireball spell, I just replaced a few words with ones from the water ball spell. It costs a lot more mana than doing water ball normally though, I¡¯m not exactly sure why that is.¡± Indeed, over the past several months I had been learning various spell chants during my Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green Magic classes. then, using that information, I had begun the painstaking process of comparing the effects of the spell to the magic language composing its chant. By cross-referencing the different words from my repertoire of chants, I was beginning to form a comprehensive reference of what different words meant. Of course, I could easily be missing something, unlike when I learned to speak the common language ten years ago, nobody was available to teach me. In fact, if I were to tell people I was actually trying to translate the language I would get laughed at.
The general consensus varied from person to person; some said that the words have no meaning; mana was formed by the soundwaves produced in the chant. Others said that it was the language of the gods not meant for mortal understanding. Still yet another theory stated that the words themselves were only part of the chant, and that somehow they held meaning only when observed from a higher dimension. I wasn¡¯t exactly sure what the difference between the language of the gods and higher dimension theories was; in my mind the gods were essentially higher dimensional entities.
Still, I had to imagine that those theories were all wrong since I was definitely making progress. As demonstrated by my recent success at combining the invocation and keyword of one spell with the chant of another, from two different colors to boot. Albeit it came at the cost of exponentially more mana, rendering its usefulness questionable. There was also a logical argument against this rule; if it was the sound vibrations that were responsible for shaping mana, then how the hell did Magic Talents manage to cast spells when they assisted to omit the chant entirely. There was also the existence of Blood Magic, I had recently become able to produce a small flame on the tip of my finger without speaking at all.
I glanced at my stat sheet, confirming my mana expenditure, and confirming the fact that my mana was not recovering.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 20
Name/Age: Stahlia von Ris, 10
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 9 Experience: 1450/9000
Species: Human (Pureblood)
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Small Seed [LOCKED]
Ability Values:
- Strength D: 96
- Endurance B: 126
- Dexterity S: 190
- Intelligence S: 270
- Charisma B: 126
- Mana A: 76/126[FROZEN]*
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 3/3: Prodigy III*, Eidetic Memory II*, Stealth IV, || Monster Handling III*, Dagger Fighting V* Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemy Correction IV*, Teaching II*, Mana Efficiency II*, Fire Magic II*, Water Magic I*, Earth Magic I*, Wind Magic I*
Skills 3/3: Divine Authority[Class Features]*, Finesse Fighting*, Blue Blooded*, || Language Proficiency[Central Human]*, Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Blessing of Winter*
Talents Experience: [+]
It had been five months, unfortunately I was not making much progress in searching for Rosial, the fact that the Shadows had potentially caught on to us was stymying our efforts. Still, it wasn''t like I had been idle; I had been studiously working at translating the magic language, name pending. Eidetic Memory made that much easier than translating an unknown language with no reference normally should be; since I only needed to see or hear a chant once to properly remember it now, I was able to swiftly increase my sample size of words and use the context of the spell effects to try and puzzle out meaning. I had also managed to pick up Drakan Style to the point it would be listed as an option on my menu.
The initial fireball had cost me ten mana, a bit less than in the past given my increased rank of Mana Efficiency. The Water Ball, however, had used a whopping twenty. If I had cast Water Ball using the normal chant, it would have been about the same as Fireball, perhaps just a couple of points more expensive.
Honestly, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure about how effective my mana consumption was when chanting. My Blood Magic used way less mana, compared to a dexterity enhancement spell found under Yellow Magic, my own physical enhancements used less than about half of the mana to produce the same effect. Of course, there was the limiting factor in that I could only manage to influence my own body or things that were very close to me. According to Kell and Gustav, this was a normal limitation of Blood Magic.
And I still haven¡¯t had any change in the amount of experience I have. At our last tea party, Sana told me that she¡¯s level six now, and Giogi is level seven. Both of them were only level four when we left Ris. I suppose I really am only able to get experience points by killing things, otherwise, all the effort I¡¯ve been putting into my translation and studies should have leveled me up at least once by now¡
Shaking my head to clear the idle ramblings, I glanced over to my assistant and my observer, who I had been tuning out. Sarala had been helping me with my experiments, teaching me chants she knew from before the Academy. Edith had been providing me a place to work, with the promise that I would let her drop by and watch from time to time. At first, I was wary of sharing too much with them, but after having Jacqueline do a thorough background check, I was now confident that I could let them in on a few small things, like my kitbashed water ball chant.
It was also very helpful to do my experiments at the Claurence Estate courtesy of Edith since I had Rowell following me at the academy and in all likelihood informing the Order of Shadows on everything I did there. Likewise, at the Francois estate, I would have to contend with Elienor pestering me to teach her magic, something she had started doing over these past months. There was also the case of Pet. I felt bad for her, as I had more or less placed her under house arrest in my room. I just had to keep telling myself it was to protect her, due to her Envious skill, I couldn¡¯t risk her seeing anyone using skills or talents.
I had been bedridden for almost a week after acquiring the Wind Magic Talent, and when Pet had seen me using a fire magic spell with talent casting, she had been knocked out for three days. According to an appraisal I did while wiping her forehead with a hot towel, the only change was that she had acquired Fire Magic I thanks to Envious. These two events combined caused me to suspect there was more going on behind how talents were actually acquired, and that getting too many too quickly could be harmful. Or maybe it was the potency of the talents, I didn¡¯t have enough information and was wary of conducting any experiments to find out more.
So it was that for a variety of reasons, I turned to Edith for help in securing a location to run experiments at. Even if I was still worried about the political ramifications of owing her a favor, or the risk that some things I didn¡¯t actually want to be discovered came to light. Especially considering my end goal was to have figured out enough of the magic language to create my own custom spells, something that was largely viewed as impossible; the vast majority of currently in use spells had been passed down orally or in grimoires, and new spells only seemed to come from ancient texts occasionally discovered in ruins left over from before the demon war.
Enough of my rambling, I still have things to do today. I cleared my throat to get the pair¡¯s attention. ¡°Sarala, do you remember that thing Instructor Kell was talking about in the last lecture?¡± Of course, I remembered, I had heard almost the same thing three times in a row.
Sarala nodded. ¡°Yes I remember, ¡°Chant Holding¡± right? he was saying it was one of the requirements for passing the advanced blue magic classes, they first introduce it in the introductory class since it takes so much effort to learn. Nobody in our class was able to get it right, not even you or me.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yea, Chant Holding. I got to hear about it three times, which also means I got three times the in-class practice.¡± Edith giggled and Sarala rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. Both of them had heard me complain about the uniformity of the introductory courses on numerous occasions. That aside, I looked at the thoroughly abused target and stretched out my hand. ¡°[###### ###]¡±.
A beam of white light fired out from my palm and skewered the target through its head. This time it was Edith who spoke up. ¡°¡Stahlia, that was a chantless Light Ray, was it not? The White Magic Spell? Forgive me if I am mistaken, but you are not currently enrolled in White Magic.¡± Sarala nodded emphatically.
¡°Correct, I am not enrolled in White Magic. However, that was not a chantless spell. I chanted it this morning, and have been chant holding it since then.¡± Chant holding, as explained by our instructors, was the act of chanting a spell ahead of time and releasing it when needed by reciting the keyword. It was a method to combine the convenience of Talent Magic with the versatility of Chanted Magic since a chant-held spell could be augment chanted. The one major downside was that Mana wouldn¡¯t regenerate while you were focusing on a chant-hold.
Sarala eyed me suspiciously. ¡°From this morning? Even though last week nobody in the class could do it?¡± I nodded.
¡°Yes from this morning. As it turns out, there¡¯s a really simple trick to it that I was able to work out while I was mixing parts of different chants to see what would happen.¡± Edith rolled her eyes at my explanation, even if she wasn¡¯t enrolled in the magic classes like Sarala and I, she at least knew the theory and was able to correctly recognize how absurd what I had just said was. Sarala just shook her head before offering her own thoughts.
¡°Even if you ¡°can only hold one spell at a time¡± that is still more than the majority of the class, no, all of us can do¡ ¡so¡ are you going to tell me how you did it? That¡¯s why you brought it up right?¡± I nodded.
¡°As far as I can tell, the trick is understanding the spell you want to chant-hold. You need to know exactly what will happen when you say the keyword and hold a mental picture of that in your head. It¡¯s easier said than done, but you should be able to manage it with Water Ball.¡± Sarala looked thoughtful, most likely she was imagining what happened when a Water Ball spell was formed.
After a moment, she closed her eyes and stilled her breathing. ¡°Remember Sarala, you need to hold the picture of the Water Ball in your head until you feel your mana freeze; that¡¯s when you know you¡¯ve properly formed the spell.¡±
¡°Until I feel my mana freeze. Got it.¡± Sarala breathed out one last time and opened her eyes. ¡°Oh Water, ####### #### ### ##### a ball and fly ##### to ###### my Target!¡± She then paused, brow furrowed slightly. After a moment she twitched before glancing around. After about a minute, she fixed her eyes on the remains of my straw orc and opened her mouth again. ¡°[Water Ball]¡± Instantly, a fist-sized sphere of water formed in front of her and launched out at the target, thoroughly obliterating what dregs of it had thus far managed to survive.
Sarala wiped her forehead clear of the sweat that had begun to form, gratefully taking the towel Edith offered her. She had only cast the one spell, but it had taken a much greater amount of effort for her than me. I haven¡¯t appraised her, but I would have to guess she probably doesn¡¯t have my mana efficiency talent. Likewise, she is likely a lower level than me, based on what I¡¯ve seen with Giogi and Sana, and would have a lower mana rating meaning that overall she could probably only manage that two or three times at most.
¡°Congratulations Sarala, it looks like you have successfully managed to chant-hold. I am sure Instructor Kell will be quite impressed.¡± Sarala accepted my praise with a wry smile.
¡°Until I tell him you were the one who taught me the trick to it.¡±
I shook my head and replied sarcastically. ¡°Noooo anything but that!¡± This wasn¡¯t the first time Sarala had made such remarks since we started interacting more frequently. At first I had been worried about them, but eventually, I realized that she was just being playful.
Edith lightly cuffed Sarala on the back of the head. ¡°Do not tease her like that.¡± Like Sarala, Edith had opened up to me over the past months as well, revealing a less formal private side.
Sarala clutched her head in mock pain. ¡°Lady Edith! That was mean!¡± Honestly having friends like these two isn¡¯t so bad, I hope I can manage to save our friendship even after I strike a serious blow to the kingdom¡
As I was warmly watching my two friends banter with each other, I heard the city bell toll out one pm. Damn, I¡¯ll have to head back¡ I was not looking forward to my afternoon plans. While I had grown used to the accursed piece of cloth Jacqueline made me wear on my chest, the fact remained that my body was still changing. One of the more irritating side effects of those changes was the involuntary bouts of self-consciousness I now tended to experience when dealing with boys, especially whenever I received a compliment.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It was like I was becoming tuned into the opposite sex. Not like, I am becoming¡ aware¡ of it. The whole experience was exceptionally uncomfortable given my disposition in my previous life. Dominic was a particular nuisance since I was nominally engaged to him. I would occasionally be struck with thoughts of what came after marriage, even though I had no intentions of going through with any weddings. It wouldn¡¯t be so bad if I didn¡¯t have my past life¡¯s memories to go on, I don¡¯t recall ever being taught sex ed in this life atleast, so those particular thoughts wouldn¡¯t be an issue.
Presumably, that would be one of the things I was intended to learn during bridal training, another life event I was hellbent on avoiding, which was supposedly set to occur after I finished at the academy when I was thirteen. Predictably, the thought of receiving sex ed from my new perspective caused my cheeks to flush, a phenomenon that Edith noticed.
She swiftly stepped up close to me, forcing me to turn my head back slightly to meet her gaze. As I looked up at her, she reached out and poked my cheek. ¡°That was the bell just now was it not? Is someone thinking about a particular meeting they have planned for later today¡?¡± While her tone was teasing, I could detect a hint of amusement behind it.
While that wasn¡¯t the reason behind why my face had reddened, it was a fact that I was scheduled to have lunch with Dominic today at two pm, meaning I had to leave Edith¡¯s family¡¯s estate around one. Still, this was a misconception I had to correct, even if it hadn¡¯t worked the past dozen or so times I had corrected it. ¡°No Edith, I was not thinking of Dominic just now, I was thinking of¡¡± Right, it¡¯s not like I can say ¡°I was just thinking about sex!¡± at best she would brand me a pervert, and at worst, she would assume it was sex with Dominic. That¡¯s assuming she knows what sex is in the first place. God forbid she asks ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± and I have to explain¡
My face had gotten progressively redder as my thought train ran away from the station, which in turn caused Edith to grin mischievously and pinch both cheeks in her hands. ¡°Shtahp hit!¡± She gave one final squeeze before letting go.
I glared at her and began picking up my things; preparing to head off to meet with my other, more serious, tormentor. Edith called out to my back in a somewhat sad voice, giving me pause. ¡°You know Stahlia, I really am jealous that you actually like your fianc¨¦e¡ Your family was only recently given their peerage, so you don¡¯t really realize how rare that is for us young noble ladies.¡±
I didn¡¯t turn around and just shook my head. ¡°I do not like him. I wish you would stop teasing me about that.¡± I could hear Edith sigh as I left the yard.
¡°¡Right, whatever you say Stahlia.¡±
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
I arrived back at the Francois Estate by one-thirty, and quickly headed to my side building; I would of course be expected to change into a fresh dress before meeting Dominic for lunch. Upon arriving, I heard a shrill cry and Stil bounded up to me. I smiled and gave him a piece of the dried meat we kept on hand for him, and stroked his head feathers.
It must be frustrating for him. In the beginning, Stil had been excited about the city; it was full of new sounds and smells. However, that quickly changed to what was obvious boredom. Unlike Ris, I couldn¡¯t let him wander around freely here; he was, after all, a monster. As such, other than going out with Jacqueline or myself on occasion, he spent most of his time cooped up on the grounds of the Francois Estate.
I felt a tug on my sleeve and glanced down to see Pet. Like Stil, she also suffered from extreme boredom, due to me having placed her on house arrest for her own safety. Thankfully Lucy and Frieda hadn¡¯t questioned me doing that, explaining Envious to outsiders was obviously not a thing that was going to happen, and I had been struggling to come up with a good excuse for my decision. As far as I was aware, they had come to the conclusion that I simply wished for Pet¡¯s existence to be kept a secret. Something or other to do with my ¡°pride as a noblewoman¡± and the ¡°shame of keeping a filthy beast¡±.
I smiled at her and rubbed between her ears. That was another discovery I made over the past few months; Pet liked being pet. At least on her head, I had gotten curious and tried stroking her tail once. She had most definitely not appreciated that nearly as much as having her head pat. ¡°How are you doing this afternoon?¡±
Pet glanced around the room quickly before answering. ¡°Pet was playing with Lady Elienor earlier, but I missed nee-san a lot¡¡± I nodded.
¡°Sorry for having to keep you in the house like this¡ I¡¯m just worried about you getting sick again.¡± I was really sorry to, but as much as I disliked restricting her; there was no way for her to go around unaccompanied, and I couldn¡¯t take her with me to the Academy. Due to all the students learning and practicing there, that was basically asking for Envious to activate repeatedly, which would at best probably advance her demonization, and at worst might actually kill her from talent overload.
¡°Pet doesn¡¯t mind!¡± I had apologized several times before, and she always adamantly insisted that she was fine with it. ¡°It¡¯s lonely without nee-san, but this house is a lot nicer than Pet¡¯s last house!¡± Right, an actual house is nicer than a literal cage¡ Jacqueline came out from her room, presumably having heard mine and Pet¡¯s exchange.
¡°Lady Stahlia, I have prepared your change of attire, please hurry; you must not be late.¡± I grimaced but allowed Jacqueline to lead me to my bedroom and change me. My new dress was similar to a sundress, though it fully covered my shoulders, and had a frankly excessive amount of lace according to my sensibilities, though it was presumably quite fashionable; Jacqueline tended to excel at picking my clothes, she had even arranged a new training bra that was dyed and stitched in such a way that it wouldn¡¯t stand out under what was more or less a sundress.
Though as I look at it, this bra seems to have the same dimensions as the other ones¡ it just serves to remind me of how annoying everything is currently. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve grown at all! Unlike most girls, I had foreknowledge of exactly how big I would get; my hope was that I could use this to estimate how fast I was developing, and thus estimate when my hell would be over. By the time we had finished changing me and redoing my hair, it was nearly one-fifty.
As I was leaving, I looked back over my shoulder at Pet, who had climbed up onto a chair at the table and was coloring with some of the pastels I had acquired for her. ¡°Itte kimasu!¡± Pet glanced up at me and nodded.
¡°See you soon Nee-san!¡± I shrugged to myself inside my head and made my way towards the main building. I had played a few JRPGs back in my previous life, and thanks to Eidetic Memory, I could remember a large portion of the dialogue. I had been using some Japanese words periodically when I was alone with Pet, out of curiosity to see if I would elicit any response.
The thought had crossed my mind that she might actually be another reincarnation like myself, but so far she had been unresponsive whenever I tried speaking to her in earth languages other than a handful of Japanese words and phrases. She reacts properly to Japanese, but not English, German, or French. Even with the Japanese, she doesn¡¯t react to anything more advanced than what I would consider ¡°weeb talk¡±. While the jury was still out on whether or not Pet had memories of a past life, as the months dragged on and I poked at it from more and more angles, I was drawing to the conclusion that the Beast-kin, or at least the Ebony Cats, simply had a few Japanese words woven into their language.
I arrived at the main house¡¯s reception hall just as the city bell was ringing two pm. Waiting for me was Dominic, alongside his father Nikolaus. I balked for a moment, I had been aware I was eating lunch with Dominic, I had not expected his father to be present as well. Hurriedly, I performed a curtsy and greeted him. ¡°Greetings, Lord Francois. To what do I owe the pleasure?¡±
Nikolaus inclined his head towards me. ¡°Do not mind me, Lady Stahlia. I simply have a message for the two of you from Lord Percius. Once I deliver it, I will be going.¡± Chancing a glance at Dominic, for once he seemed just as I was. Nikolaus withdrew two sealed envelopes from his suit pocket and passed them to Jacqueline. Right, that¡¯s odd. Normally he would have a servant pass those to her. That would indicate it is a matter of some importance¡ but in that case, shouldn¡¯t he have passed it to me directly? Or to Dominic?
Jacqueline received the letters and put them away, whereupon Nikolaus bid his farewells to me and Dominic and departed. Dominic glanced at Jacqueline before addressing me. ¡°Well Stahlia, would you prefer we go to lunch first? Or should we see what the Duke wants with us that is so important he would use a count as a messenger?¡± Right, there¡¯s that too. The fact that he sent a high noble to deliver a message to a Baron¡¯s daughter. Even if I am nominally engaged to his son that¡¯s just weird.
Right, well, let¡¯s put off the message for now. ¡°I spent the morning working on my magic studies so I am rather famished. If it is alright with you Dominic, I would like to eat first.¡±
Dominic nodded and extended his hand out towards me. Doing my absolute best to keep a straight, normal face, I reached out my own hand and allowed him to escort me. My efforts failed when he did something quite unexpected and raised my hand to his lips. I was pulled out of my surprise by the sensation of something relatively soft and slightly damp pressing against the back of my hand. I immediately felt my face growing hot and jerked back my hand.
What the hell?! He¡¯s been getting more and more irritating the past few months, always slipping in compliments and trying to make me react in public, but that¡¯s the first time he¡¯s done that! I would maybe have expected him to do it in a public setting to get a reaction out of me or something¡ but the only people here are the two of us and Jacqueline. His own manservant isn¡¯t even here! I realized I was staring at my hand and quickly shifted my gaze. To my horror, Jacqueline had a faint blush of her own, and Dominic had definitely noticed me looking at my hand if his expression was anything to go by.
I tried my best to glare at him, but the best I was able to manage was to blink my eyes and flap my mouth. This¡ this is the worst. Dominic affected an apologetic face and tone. ¡°My apologies, Stahlia, I didn¡¯t mean to startle you. You simply looked so lovely in that dress that I was overcome.¡±
God fucking damn it! With a significant deal of mental effort, I managed to meet his eyes. ¡°T-thank you¡ sh-should we go?¡± I managed to forcibly raise my hand and offer it to him. Dominic smiled, flashing me with two rows of perfectly white teeth, and took my hand. Thankfully he refrained from kissing it. I really hope this meal goes by quickly. Being near boys was an uncomfortable experience. Being near Dominic was exceedingly uncomfortable, and seemed to only get worse every time he did something. Worse, I was starting to think I might actually like being complimented, despite the fact that it always made me incredibly embarrassed.
We passed out into the yard and boarded the carriage that had been prepared for us. Our plan for lunch was to visit an eatery in the upper city and then attend a play. Presumably, there were some guards mixed in with the citizenry, as we were not going undercover as merchants like we had been back when we bought Pet. Though I have Jacqueline with me, so even if there are no guards, it should be safe. As had become the norm, Giogi was unavailable to serve his job as my guard knight; I was told that he had deemed himself entirely unfit and requested special training. Not that I was too bothered, one less boy my age was better for my mental stress. When we arrived at the location we would be eating, Dominic stood first and extended his hand towards me; clearly intending to escort me down from the carriage.
Resigning myself, I took his hand. He better not fucking kiss me again, there¡¯re so many more people watching now. I descended the carriage steps with Dominic¡¯s assistance, whereupon he turned and led me towards the door. Letting go of my hand, he opened the door and politely motioned for me to enter the building. Wait? He really didn¡¯t kiss me?! I looked down at my hand before I could stop myself.
Of course, Dominic noticed this movement and raised an eyebrow. ¡°Were you expecting something?¡± He had on an infuriating self-assured half-smirk.
¡°No! It¡¯s not like I was expecting anything!¡± The instant the words left my mouth, I clapped my hands over it. Oh my fucking god. I really just said that¡ The blushing, the constant embarrassment, insisting that he irritates me whenever anyone asks, the expecting things and then getting surprised and¡ no, there¡¯s no way I was actually disappointed he didn¡¯t kiss my hand. Other than the secret disappointment, because I definitely am not I¡¯m turning into a textbook fucking tsundere! I even physically abuse him during swordsmanship classes!
Despite my mortifying realization, I knew I had to get off the street and out of public sight before I further embarrassed myself. I ducked my head and went to walk past Dominic and enter the building. As I was passing him, I heard a mutter so quiet I doubted my ears for a second. But the words I heard caused me to do a double-take.
¡°¡it¡¯s not like I was expecting anything¡ She said it. She actually said it! My fianc¨¦ is a real-life tsundere!¡± The mutter sent a shiver down my spine and I felt like I had been doused with cold water. What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck. What the actual fuck! I froze mid-step.
¡°¡Dominic, did you say something¡?¡± Please, please, please, PLEASE tell me I was mistaken!
¡°Hmm? Yes, I just realized something as all, I was talking to myself, you do not need to worry about it, Stahlia.¡± FUCK! There¡¯s only one legitimate reason he would know the term ¡°tsundere¡± and react to the specific phrase I used. This makes things a lot more complicated. I pasted a fake noble smile on my face and nodded.
¡°If you say so, shall we enter?¡± Thankfully, the ice water that had been dumped over me had thoroughly cooled my head, allowing me to act properly. If worse comes to worst, maybe Cold Hearted? Is there even a combination of emotions I could turn off that would help me stay calm? Love, Empathy, Remorse, Anger¡ none of those seem like they would work. Fear might work¡ no. I can¡¯t risk a lack of fear causing me to tell him I¡¯m reincarnated too.
One thing for sure, this was going to be a much more interesting meal than I had originally thought. What I really need, is information. I need to somehow learn if he poses a threat, and I need to consider the possibility of other reincarnations working for the kingdom. Their presence would complicate things when I make my move. My own custom class was most likely fairly unique since when I picked it, it had been marked as an alpha feature. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean there was zero chance someone else had it, just that the chance was lower.
But I¡¯m pretty sure the staple is that transmigrators and reincarnations always get powerful abilities. I might not have been big on the whole Japanese media craze, but I do recall seeing some people complaining about that trope on some message boards. What would be perfect, is if I could come up with a way to safely appraise him¡ but there¡¯s no way I could do that without him noticing.
As I was lost I thought, pretending to read the menu, Dominic was watching me intently. One things for sure, if he wasn¡¯t interested in me before, He definitely is now. Fuck, he probably had a tsundere fetish in his past life. I stepped in such a steaming pile, why couldn¡¯t I stop myself before I said anything? The waiter came by and pulled me out of my thoughts to take our orders.
I quickly skimmed the menu; I hadn¡¯t actually been reading it. ¡°Right, I would like to order¡ the Gratin¡± The waiter nodded and Dominic placed his order, a Quiche. As the waiter was making his way back to the kitchen, another thought occurred to me. I didn¡¯t realize it earlier, but a Count¡¯s son taking his fianc¨¦ out to a restaurant to eat instead of having chefs prepare food at his estate isn¡¯t exactly normal either. But looking at that menu, a lot of the items were from earth¡ As if reading my mind, Dominic spoke up at that moment.
¡°Gratin is a dish made of baked cheese with a meat or mushroom filling. I actually developed it and the other items on that menu myself and arranged for this place to be opened. Hopefully you enjoy it.¡± I gave what I hoped was a decent smile. And I didn¡¯t bother asking what the dish was made of, because I already knew and was distracted. Shit, I hope he didn¡¯t notice¡
¡°Ah, if it is cheese, I imagine I will find it quite appealing, truthfully I simply selected an item at random; I did not recognize any of the names and was too embarrassed to ask¡¡± To punctuate my statement, I averted my eyes and turned my face away slightly. Dominic nodded to my comment. Right, Hopefully, he bought that¡ I need to change the subject though¡
¡°Ah, while we wait for our food, should we check the contents of Duke Percius letters? Jacqueline can seal the room for us.¡± Dominic thought for a moment, then nodded. At his nod, Jacqueline first cast her noise-canceling spell, then a locking spell. Finally, she produced the letters from her hidden pocket and presented them to the two of us, according to which was addressed to whom.
I took the offered letter opener and broke the seal. Surprisingly, the letter was quite short, and entirely devoid of noble euphemism. Though its phrasing raised other concerns.
Special Student Stahlia,
In accordance with your contract and obligations, please forgo your morning classes and meet with me together with Special Student Dominic and Special Student Asten tomorrow, the fifth day of the seventh month, year 947.
The three of you are being deployed alongside a contingent of knights in your capacity as Special Students. Details will be discussed during our meeting. When finished reading, dispose of this letter.
I read it one more time to make sure I wasn¡¯t missing anything, before gripping it between my thumb and pointer finger. ¡°[########]¡± At my spoken command, the letter burst into flame. Dominic handed me his letter, as he lacked the ability to use fire magic. I likewise burned his letter before asking him the million-dollar question. ¡°What do you think that is all about?¡±
Dominic shrugged. ¡°A monster outbreak most likely. Duke Percius is just fond of conspiracy and secrecy; the majority of the times I have seen him contact my father, he used equally contrived language. Do not worry, I will be there to protect you.¡± He flashed me another full-toothed smile. Great, the last thing I want is to be deployed alongside you without knowing how big of a threat you are¡ At least this will let me get some experience and potentially level up¡ silver lining?
Fifth Law of Magic
The cost and power of a spell is further affected both positively and negatively by strong emotions, with the color of a given emotion corresponding to the schools of magic that it most greatly affects. E.g. Anger, being a red emotion greatly enhances the power of Red Magic while reducing its cost, but makes Blue Magic less efficient in terms of both power output and mana cost.
2-10 Preparations
Stahlia Ten Years Old, Seventh Month of 947
I arrived home from the lunch date and was met with the sight of Elienor combing out Pet¡¯s hair. After getting over her initial shock and fear, partially thanks to Elienor¡¯s persistence, Pet had warmed up to Elienor quite nicely, and I would often find them together. Whenever Elienor was able to escape her mother Margeritte, that is. Watching the two of them behaving so innocently does wonders for my mental state, especially after how stressful lunch was.
Sitting with Dominic in the private booth at the play had been one thing. At least there I could focus my attention elsewhere. But sitting across from him at the table for lunch had been immensely stressful. Right, I¡¯ve been acting a lot more careful with my secrets¡ for the most part. He most likely doesn¡¯t know or suspect I¡¯m a reincarnation as well.
After giving it some thought, I had decided how I would treat him, at least for now. I was going to have to play things safe. I could recall a few instances where my actions might have hinted at my status to someone else like me, such as the origins of a lot of my alchemical processes and the whole calculus incident. But Dominic was giving no indication that he knew or suspected. Unless taking me to that restaurant was meant to gauge how I reacted to the food, but there¡¯s nothing I can do about that now.
Going forward, I would have to be more cautious about employing my otherworld knowledge, I had been flying free under the pretext that ¡°My enemies already know I have Prodigy¡±. My plan had been to blame any and all of my discovered developments on that talent, which so far had been working. But now that I had to contend with the existence of other reincarnations, I couldn¡¯t be so risky until I knew more.
I had considered telling him I was a reincarnation straight out, but almost immediately rejected that idea. It was too dangerous. Even if we came from the same world with the same original values, Dominic had clearly been affected by the values of this world in a bad way; I only had to look at Pet to see that. She was still terrified of him striking her and would hide the moment she caught his scent approaching my chambers.
I can only be glad that she doesn¡¯t associate me with that memory even though I was there too. It would help if I knew what his abilities were like. All I know is his level of swordsmanship, though he could be faking that. My Blood Magic Appraisal is too easily noticed, and I don¡¯t know the chants for regular appraisal magic. Asking to learn it would be a bit¡ yea it would make people suspicious, plus everybody who knows those chants is on a register, something I would rather avoid. For now, I¡¯ll ask Jacqueline to-
Speaking of catching someone¡¯s scent, as I stood at the doorway in thought, Pet looked up and sniffed the air a moment. A happy smile spread across her face and she tugged herself free of Elienor, much to the latter¡¯s chagrin if her facial expression was any indication. ¡°Stahlia nee-san!¡± I quickly cut off my train of thought and took a half step back to absorb the impact as I caught the flying kitten.
I glanced back at Elienor, who was looking on with an expression of abject despair as she clutched ruefully at her hairbrush. Grinning, I addressed Pet. ¡°Pet, I think you owe Elienor an apology, but what do you think?¡±
Pet paused where she had been rubbing her face into my stomach. After seriously considering the subject, she nodded and turned to Elienor and lifted the hem of her skirt in a curtsy. ¡°Pet apologizes Elienor Ojou-sama!¡±
Elienor nodded, quickly adopting an expression of faux outrage. ¡°You should be sorry! I spent so long fixing your hair, and you went and messed it up! We¡¯re going to have to start over now I think.¡± Elienor then preceded to lunge towards Pet, who let out an excited shriek and darted away.
I watched them with a gentle smile. Edith and Sarala are fun to spend time with, but this is nice too. Pet calls me ¡°nee-san¡± which means something like ¡°older sister¡± if I remember correctly, but doesn¡¯t she behave more like a daughter? This begged the question of what role Elienor played in my pseudo-family, but I decided not to think too hard about it. Pet calls her ¡°Ojou-sama¡±, even if ¡°Ohime-sama¡± might be more appropriate, given the actual noble status involved¡ I guess that makes her like an aunt or something? Wait, I said I wasn¡¯t going to think about this!
I shook my head to clear away the lingering thoughts and turned my attention away from the cavorting pair to the book I had borrowed from Kell. It was a grimoire of Ice Magic chants. Under the school of Blue Magic, there was the main focus, Water Magic, but there were also other elements known as ¡°variants¡±. Every school had at least one variant, and in the case of Blue Magic there were two; Ice Magic and Sanguimancy.
Variants were not officially taught until the second year, but I had leveraged some of the privileges afforded by my position as a special student to get Kell to lend me a book of Ice Magic. I had to admit I was curious about Sanguimancy, as the name implied it was the control of blood as a medium. But it was extremely heavily regulated to the point where it may as well be illegal. I might have been able to use the Francois or Claurence name to acquire some material, but it would definitely invite some very undesirable questions.
I could always have Jacqueline acquire a Sanguimancy grimoire or compendium via some back channels, but it wasn¡¯t something I desperately needed. Learning Ice Magic would serve me much better as a trump card, given the full scope of my blessing made me outright immune to that element. I read for about two hours while Pet and Elienor continued to play.
¡°Stali, Imma spend the night ¡®kay?¡± I looked up from my book to see Elienor had finally caught Pet, and was presently holding her tightly in a hug of sorts.
¡°As long as Lady Margeritte gives her permission, I do not have a problem with that.¡± Elienor had spent the night in my chambers a couple of times, after wearing down her mother and extracting her begrudging permission, a feat that I was still unsure how she managed to accomplish.
¡°Yep, I¡¯ve already got that!¡± Pet looked up at Elienor.
¡°Elienor Ojou-sama is going to spend the night?¡± Elienor nodded her affirmation.
¡°Elienor, you did get her permission, right?¡± I narrowed my eyes and fixedly met Elienor¡¯s gaze.
After a moment, Elienor broke off our unofficial staring contest. ¡°I-I¡¯ll get it tomorrow!¡±
I raised my eyebrow, causing Elienor to splutter out another excuse. ¡°I-it¡¯s better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?¡±
Somehow, I always end up with a headache when Elienor is involved¡ While trying to come up with an argument that would get Elienor not to commit suicide by proxy, I was caught by Pet¡¯s puppy dog eyes. Ugh. What¡¯s with you? Aren¡¯t you a cat-kin¡? Fine. If Elienor wants to die so badly, it¡¯s her life! I wash my hands of this. ¡°Fine, but when your mother asks me, I will tell her that you informed me you had permission.¡±
Elienor¡¯s face blanched, but she was mature enough in her immaturity to own her own fate. ¡°I-it¡¯ll be f-fine right? Yea, p-probably.¡±
For her part, the majority of the silent war between Elienor and common sense had gone over Pet¡¯s head. ¡°Yay! Elienor Ojou-sama is going to sleep with Pet!¡±
Another hour later, and I found myself lying down on one side of my bed, with Pet in the middle, and Elienor on the far side. My bed was large enough to where this wasn¡¯t too much of an issue, but after the events of the day I was finding it hard to sleep even though I was both mentally and physically exhausted. As I lay awake, a rogue thought floated across my restless tired mind.
This really is like a sort of pseudo-family¡ Pet is the adopted daughter, Elienor is like an irresponsible aunt who dotes on their niece too much, and I¡¯m like the working mother who has to put up with their antics¡ because the dad is¡ Finally, I drifted off to sleep, where I had an extremely awkward dream. The details of which I swore to myself I would never remember, even if my talents made that a literal impossibility.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
The next morning, instead of my usual classes, I found myself standing in Percius¡¯ office alongside Dominic and Asten. I had seen Asten before and knew he was also a Special Student, however, we did not share any classes. To my knowledge, he was studying Black Magic and was in the fourth-year course. As Dominic knew both of us, he performed the introductions in Percius¡¯ stead. As it turned out, Asten was a Baron¡¯s child like me. His house was located in the capital, where his father served as a Knight Commander.
I wonder what his dad¡¯s opinion of his son studying Black Magic instead of swordsmanship is? I took the seat indicated by Percius, and waited for Percius to start explaining himself. After waiting for a maid to finish passing out tea, Percius motioned for everyone other than the three of us and himself to leave the room. Dominic¡¯s guard gave a light bow and complied immediately, and he was soon followed by Asten¡¯s guard. Rowell, my guard, and suspected Shadow scowled and looked like he might protest, but after a moment he likewise left.
Percius was handed a box by the maid before she took her own leave. Placing the box on the table, Percius rested his hand on it and mumbled a quick word I couldn¡¯t catch. The box began to glow, and sounds from outside the room grew faint before they disappeared entirely. So this is a sound-blocking magic tool. It¡¯s surprising that he would use something so expensive instead of just having one of the magic instructors do it, or learning the spell himself.
Supposedly, the Yellow Magic spell used for blocking out sound had a few weaknesses that tools like this somehow were able to overcome. But are we really about to be discussing something so important it would require going that far to protect the secret? I thought back to what Dominic had said about Percius tending to be eccentric in his own way. I hadn¡¯t noticed anything the last few times I interacted with him¡ maybe he was putting on a fa?ade and this is his true self?
Finally, Percius started speaking. ¡°I suppose you are all wondering why I have gathered you here today.¡± Oh for fuck¡¯s sake. Next to me, I caught sight of Dominic scowling, though he didn¡¯t go so far as to speak out against Percius¡¯ antics. I groaned inwardly and swore not to play along, effecting a blank expression. ¡°There is a great danger brewing in-¡±
¡°Cut the crap Percius.¡± I looked up, startled at the language being spoken to a Duke. Asten was rubbing his forehead. Wait, did a Baron¡¯s son just say that!? Asten continued, ignoring the look on Percius¡¯ face. "There¡¯s an issue in a nearby frontier village, citizens are disappearing from their homes.¡± My face blanched at the mention of a ¡°nearby frontier village¡±, by all accounts, Ris was one such village.
As if reacting to my sudden worry, Asten continued. ¡°The Village is located due west of the capital, about a week by carriage.¡± Phew, since Ris is to the east I know it isn¡¯t my village. ¡°The three of us are being sent along with a group of knights to investigate the disappearances and deal with the problem. We are just there to observe, the knights will do most of the work.¡± As he said the last bit, he fired a reassuring smile in my direction. He probably noticed my face getting pale. But what does he mean by ¡°observe¡±? Percius led me to believe I would be expected to fight.
I decided to ask. ¡°Lord Asten, if I may, Lord Percius¡¡± I was going to say that Percius had originally told me I should expect to have to fight monsters, but I couldn¡¯t think of a polite way to phrase it without implying that Percius, a Duke, was a liar.
Asten filled in the blank in his own way and ¡°answered¡± my question. ¡°Ah, do not worry about it, Percius is technically my Grandfather, I get special treatment when it comes to calling him out.¡± I swung my head around to look at Percius in surprise. He nodded, confirming Asten¡¯s statement. Responding to my visible confusion over how a Baron¡¯s son had a Duke for a Grandfather, I was given a brief explanation. This was apparently an open secret in noble society, I just hadn¡¯t been aware of.
Asten¡¯s father was actually the son of Percius¡¯ favorite whore. As he was a bastard child, he could not inherit Percius¡¯ noble peerage. As luck would have it, the son in question wound up possessing a fairly rare martial class, and Percius leaped at the chance excuse to grant him a peerage, elevating him to the rank of Baron and arranging him a posting within the knight¡¯s order. Now that Asten was a student at the Academy, Percius had proven himself to be something of a doting grandparent. I¡¯m not sure how I should feel about that. On one hand, Percius seems to be something of a family man. On the other, he¡¯s cheating on his wife with a whore and making bastards.
Whatever, it isn¡¯t my position to say anything, nor do I have any reason to do so. As long as Percius does his job and doesn¡¯t get in my way. Outwardly, I clenched my fists and nodded. ¡°When do we depart?¡±
As it turned out, we would be departing in two days. Combined with the week-long journey, it would take nine days for us to reach the village one way. Assuming three to five days of investigation, then seven days back and I would be gone for nearly a month. Accompanying us would be a squad of six knights, who would be traveling on horseback. It wasn¡¯t as though going by carriage would needlessly slow our pace though; the knights always traveled with a provisions wagon.
Though they could requisition supplies from towns and villages we passed through, it was their policy not to do so unless the Kingdom was in a state of emergency or at war. Unfortunately for the victims, some villagers disappearing did not constitute either of those scenarios. We Special Students would be traveling in two carriages. Dominic and Asten would be taking one large carriage with eight seats, whereas I would be taking a smaller one with four.
This was due to my gender; it would be considered improper for me to travel for such a length of time with a male of similar age to me, even though or especially so if said male was my fianc¨¦. For some reason, nobody said anything about me traveling to the capital from Ris with Giogi though¡ I was, however, left with a bit of a dilemma; I needed to choose who I would be bringing along. Thankfully, likely as oversight from the Order, Rowell would not be coming with me. His assignment only covered the Academy, and the knights travelling with us would also be serving as guards.
This allowed me to conveniently avoid having an Order spy watching my moves. Actually, doesn¡¯t that mean I¡¯ll have a bit of freedom on this trip? Even if I am stuck with Dominic, I can at least keep up with my magic experiments. I should see if they¡¯ll let me draft Sarala. Jacqueline was a no-brainer, I would be drawing far too much attention to myself as a young noble girl by not bringing a maid. This left me with one seat, assuming I was allowed to kidnap Sarala.
Pet will be fine with Elienor, especially since Dominic is coming and given the risks of Envious activating. I could bring Lucy or Frieda as well, having an extra maid wouldn¡¯t be seen as suspicious, and might even be expected. But Jacqueline will be sufficient for that role, and neither Lucy nor Frieda would add anything else to the party other than their maid abilities. After considering our party composition, I realized a role that was missing.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
I¡¯ll send a letter to the church and see if I can borrow Sana, having a healer might prove beneficial. Technically I was capable of healing as well, but as I had not officially begun studying White Magic I didn¡¯t want to let that fact out, as it would raise questions about where I was learning the chants, given the excessively relegated nature of Magic in the kingdom. It wasn¡¯t like I had broken any laws, technically. I simply listened in on the White Magic classes during their practical lessons and Eidetic Memory picked them up for me. It was actually getting fairly close to leveling up.
With Stil taking the floor, that fills my carriage. Though I still need permission to bring two of my members. Now, how to go about this in the most efficient way possible?
¡°So, you want me to send a letter in your name to Lord Percius, Lord Claurence, and to the capital¡¯s Cardinal?¡± Nikolaus looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. Following my decision to try and get Sana and Sarala I had debated the most effective way of getting what I wanted and arrived at the solution of ¡°throw it all at father¡±. Borrowing the Francois name by using my engagement as a launchpad would ensure that my letters actually arrived.
I could get ahold of Percius easily enough, my position at the school afforded me that. But contacting a Duke and a Cardinal within two days was a tall order for a lowly Baron¡¯s daughter. Hence, I requested a meeting from Nikolaus, so as to ask him to send the letters in my name. This would ensure that the latter two would reach their intended destinations.
I had clarified with Asten earlier that, despite Percius¡¯ mannerisms, this was not actually a ¡°top secret mission¡± and the fact that we were going out on it would become public knowledge at the Academy the day of our departure. Not that there was a departure parade or anything, we simply would be absent from classes, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to piece together why a group of special students was all absent at the same time.
¡°Yes, if I were to send the letters, the latter two would not arrive on time. As you know, I am being sent out on an investigation mission within my capacity as a Special Student. I realized that out of the party assembled, I am the only mage. As such, I would like to inquire Lord Claurence about the possibility of allowing Sarala to accompany us. She is not a Special Student, but I can attest to her magical talent. Likewise, in case anything should happen, I wish to leverage my personal connection with Apprentice Priestess Sana to arrange a healer for our party. The letter to Percius explains these same circumstances, and requests his permission for Sarala to be placed on leave from her classes.¡± I tapped each of the three letters Jacqueline had placed on the desk in turn.
Nikolaus nodded thoughtfully. His facial expression didn¡¯t change otherwise, but he seemed to at least be considering my proposal. After a moment, he tapped his fingers on two of the letters. ¡°Lord Claurence and Lord Percius are not an issue. I expect they will release Sarala into your custody for the duration of the assignment without too much trouble.¡± ¡°Into my custody¡±? Ah, she¡¯s a commoner and a regular student. This is a state-sponsored assignment, so in this case, I imagine she would be treated as a civilian contractor of sorts. Her being in my custody must mean I¡¯m her babysitter. That won¡¯t be an issue. I nodded.
¡°But the request for Apprentice Sana, I have my reservations.¡± Nikolaus fixed me with a level stare, waiting for me to speak.
¡°¡And what might those be, may I ask?¡± I met his gaze. It was mildly impolite for me to do so, but I got the feeling he was testing my backbone¡ or something.
He smiled faintly and started drumming his fingers on the desk. Looks like I made the right call. I think that¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen him smile¡ ¡°Apprentice Sana is the one who provided the late Lady Rosial with her blessing¡ was she not? I merely question the skill of a priestess, when her blessing could not even protect its target for three years.¡± You. Fucking. Bastard.
I felt a wave of cold anger wash over me at his words, and my hands started shaking. I clenched my hands in my lap under the desk, willing them to stop. Carefully, I lifted my eyes and met his gaze. He was looking down at me, no longer smiling still drumming his fingers on the desk. Something about his demeanor just pissed me off even more. Right. This is going nowhere. I took a deep breath and mentally invoked Cold Hearted to erase my ability to feel anger.
Out of all the emotions, I could kill, Anger was the least dangerous. In the absence Empathy tended to make me incredibly sick after I turned it back on, to say nothing of how I acted when it was off. Fear was integral to the self-preservation instinct, and turning it off tended to make me do some really stupid things. Anger had the fewest repercussions, mostly it just left me feeling generally apathetic when something normally anger-inducing occurred. That sense of apathy could kill motivation or generally breed laziness. In this instance though, there shouldn¡¯t be too much of a downside.
I felt my head clear and blinked a couple of times to clear away any lingering foggy vestiges. ¡°That may be so, however when that happened she was incredibly broken up about it, and threw herself into her studies with a passion. I highly doubt she still lacks the ability. Besides which, my late sister received a blessing. Apprentice Sana would be coming with us to offer healing.¡± Not to mention that a blessing failing wouldn¡¯t be Sana¡¯s fault, it would be the fault or will of the god who gave it. And besides that, Rosial isn¡¯t dead, not that you would know.
Nikolaus waited a moment, studying me. Then he nodded. ¡°You make a good case, I will send the letter to the Cardinal.¡± Just like that? That feels a bit¡ anticlimactic. He didn¡¯t even offer a counter-argument. ¡°I am quite pleased, you came up with a decent argument for your case while being glared at by me. Not many nobles could manage that, let alone children.¡± Ah, so it was a test. Why though? I¡¯m already engaged to your son¡ and despite saying you¡¯re pleased, you aren¡¯t showing it at all! You smiled earlier, why not now?!
I stood and curtsied, thanking Nikolaus for his time. Not until I was back in my room did I risk turning back on my Anger. As soon as it came back on, I started shaking. Not from fear, but from a cold rage. Normally the blowback isn¡¯t like this¡ I was right to consider that Rosial being the source of my anger might make it worse. Pet was peaking out from around a corner, her ears pressed flat on her head. They say some cats and dogs can smell their owner¡¯s emotion¡ I hope I¡¯m not scaring her.
The sight of Pet, who looked even more like Rosial with her ears flat and her tail hidden behind the corner, was as usual quite calming. I was able to calm myself before long, which caused her to smile relievedly. ¡°Welcome back Stahlia Nee-san!¡±
¡°Right, I¡¯m back¡ where¡¯s Elienor?¡± As I pet Pet, she purred softly. Between purrs, she told me Elienor hadn¡¯t come to my room today. She purrs, calls me Nee-san, and says a bunch of other weeb stuff, but not once has she gone ¡°Nyah!¡± I wasn¡¯t even that big into anime before I died, and I somehow feel cheated¡
¡°Right, well I have something I need to tell you. I¡¯ll need to go on a trip for a while, I¡¯ll probably be gone for around a month.¡± Pet instantly clamped her hands around my arm. Figures¡
¡°Noooo! Take Pet with you!¡± I grimaced, she was looking up at me with tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. Damnit, she¡¯s learned how to tug at my heartstrings, but this time I can¡¯t give in!
¡°No Pet, you don¡¯t¡ No, you probably don¡¯t want to come.¡± I bit my lip to try and distract myself from her wide-eyed begging.
¡°No! Pet want¡¯s to go with Nee-san!¡± I¡¯d love to take you with me too, but for one, it¡¯s probably going to be dangerous, secondly, Envious is a thing. And Thirdly, Dominic will be there¡ ah, that should do it.
¡°No, you really don¡¯t. Dominic is going to be coming too.¡± Pet instantly recoiled at the mention of his name. On one hand, I feel kind of bad for using him like this¡ wait, why do I feel bad? Like, I actually feel guilty using his name..? What the hell! No, I feel guilty for using him to scare Pet, not for using him. Yea, that¡¯s it.
¡°I have no choice but to go, you don¡¯t have to come with me though, I was planning to leave you here and ask Elienor to look after you.¡± Pet still looked upset but was now visibly weighing her options, not that she had any. I just couldn¡¯t risk the dangers that would come with bringing her along. If worse came to worst, I would invoke our contract and order her to stay, even if that wound up destroying our trust.
After a lot of pondering, which was accompanied by her tail flicking back and forth restlessly, she sighed and nodded. ¡°Pet will stay with Elienor Ojou-sama.¡± I nodded and rubbed her head affectionately, she glared at me with a pout but didn¡¯t pull away.
¡°Thank you, Pet. Now I need to find Elienor and let her know.¡± As could be expected, Elienor, upon being told she would have Pet all to herself for nearly a month, took far less convincing.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
It was the morning of the second day, and I was sitting in a carriage with Sarala, Jacqueline, and Stil. We would be making a stop at the temple to pick up Sana on the way out of the city. Sarala as it turned out, had actually been quite pleased that I had thought of her when I decided I wanted a second mage. Despite her shyness and general weakness to having her talents praised, she was still human. Edith had been markedly less happy.
When I had gone to pick up Sarala, she had fixed me with an angry glare and sternly warned me that I was not to allow any harm to come to our mutual friend. Of course, I had not been planning to allow that in the first place, so I agreed immediately, which caused Edith to cool off a bit. She even managed to see us off with a cramped smile. One of these days, I¡¯m going to have to find out what makes these two so close, considering the difference in their stations.
As we approached the temple, I realized that Sana had never met Sarala. Even though Sana and I had been meeting each other for tea once a month, and I had told her about Sarala and Edith, they had never actually met. Inadvertently, I had wound up keeping my two friend groups separate. Though in Sana¡¯s case, can I really call it a friend ¡°group¡±? As I pondered such important questions, we arrived at the temple entrance where Sana was waiting for us with a trunk containing her clothes for the trip.
Jacqueline opened the door and assisted Sana to enter the carriage. I was about to introduce Sarala when Sana beat me to the punch. ¡°You must be Sarala! I¡¯m ever so glad to finally meet you. Stahlia has told me so much about the time she spends together with you and Lady Edith!¡± Aww shit, here we go again. Predictably, Sarala retreated in the face of Sana¡¯s unrelenting extrovertism. The sight of Sarala glancing around nervously cooled Sana slightly, and she apologized. ¡°Sorry¡ Stahlia told me to be careful because you could be shy, but I was so excited to finally meet you that I got a bit carried away¡¡±
We rode in awkward silence for a bit, before Sarala mumbled something, instantly drawing Sana¡¯s attention back to herself. ¡°¡es¡±
¡°Miss Sarala¡? Did you say something?¡±
¡°n..mes¡± Sana furrowed her brow.
¡°Names? What do you mean?¡±
Sarala grimaced, but in the end, managed to get a full sentence out. ¡°We have the same names. Stahlia, Sana, Sarala. S-A-A.¡± I facepalmed. Of all the things, she noticed that? Then again, as aspiring mages, we spend a lot of time pouring over words to memorize spells, and pronunciation is important for chants.
After blinking a few times and digesting what she had been told, Sana broke out into a giggle.
¡°I suppose we do, don¡¯t we? I wonder if we will have trouble keeping track of each other on this mission.¡± At that, the two of them quickly managed to overcome Sarala¡¯s shyness and began discussing a variety of topics. Though, uncomfortably, a lot of those topics happened to be Sarala asking Sana something about me, and then listening to the story that would result.
I decided to do my best to tune them out, acting embarrassed and trying to stop them from talking about those events would do me no good. In fact, it would likely just goad them further. Instead, I focused inwards. I was hoping to level up again during this outing. Even if we didn¡¯t encounter anything substantial in the investigations, I had every intention of finding an excuse to do some clandestine hunting. If the previous trends continued, I would need three more levels to unlock another pair of slots.
Although I could not currently browse the Talent or Skills menu, I could still theorize and plan for what types of abilities I wanted. Strangely enough, the contents of my menus did not seem to be compatible with the Eidetic Memory talent I had, which of course included the Skills and Talents menus. Whether this signified anything, or if it was insubstantial was beyond me.
Originally, I was planning to save for another strong skill, like Finesse Fighting. But now I had other priorities. Namely, I had been made aware of potential dangers in my surroundings. Namely, other reincarnations. A skill or talent that provides an effect similar to the appraisal spell would be a good idea. Especially if I can assure that it¡¯s harder to detect than my Blood Magic, and doesn¡¯t take as long to activate as reciting a chant. I should also scan through and compare all the magic talents to the list of variants I have from the Academy. If there are any not on the Academy¡¯s list, acquiring one could serve as a good trump card.
Something like ¡°Danger Sense¡± might be good as well, if it was passive. I also needed to look into Envious. Particularly I needed to search the term ¡°Envy¡±, as I had a sneaking suspicion that ¡°Progresses user towards Demonization[Demon of Envy]¡± would be accompanied by a skill change. ¡°Envious¡± was just too specific of a word. And while I¡¯m at it, I may as well search for Pride, Lust, Sloth, Wrath, Greed, and Gluttony too. Just for good measure and to cover all my bases, I should also try out the seven virtues as well. I don¡¯t want any more surprises if I can help it.
I also needed to check on the sword fighting talent and see how close I was to acquiring it automatically; I had been training for the past seven months and still didn¡¯t have it. I had gotten Dagger fighting automatically back when I was a toddler, and it hadn¡¯t taken more than a couple of months of nightly training with Jacqueline. As I was wrapping up my mental checklist, I happened to glance down at Stil. Right, and he has a few skills that were pretty useful, so I should look up those names as well and see how much it would cost me to acquire them. Mana Sensing and those Enhancement ones.
I drew a line under my mental checklist and stretched. As I looked out the window, I saw that the sun was setting. In the far distance, I could still see the faint glow of the capital against the dimming sky. It seemed we would be staying out in the field for the night; I had thought we would continue on to the inn town that lay along this road, but apparently not. I was told that it was one of the measures the kingdom took to control the monster population and dissuade bandits; by having their soldiers camp outside while on a mission or patrol, they were able to increase their force projection in the countryside. I was also given an apologetic smile to accompany this explanation, a fact which I decided to not dwell on.
Stretching, I made to go towards the back of our carriage where the luggage was kept, and start unloading. An action that Sana ignored, but caused Sarala¡¯s eyes to open wide. ¡°Lady Stahlia, what are you doing?¡± I turned to face her.
¡°Hmm? I was just going to collect the tent and help Jacqueline set it up¡¡± I had been so excited to be out traveling again, that I completely spaced out on the fact that there were a lot more people than last time. I need to play my role¡ I can¡¯t just do what I want like I did before, especially not with Dominic here. A quick glance confirmed, to my relief, that Dominic was not paying any attention to me at the moment.
Sarala glanced at Sana and Jacqueline and observed that neither of them seemed surprised by my actions, though Jacqueline looked exasperated. ¡°Sana¡ I thought you may have been exaggerating some of those stories, given how proper Lady Stahlia has always been in the presence of Lady Edith¡ It seems I was mistaken. My apologies.¡±
Sana giggled and nodded. ¡°Yes, Stahlia can be¡ different¡ as far as nobles are concerned, but I think that is a good thing!¡± Sarala seemed to think deeply before answering.
¡°You do have a point¡ I could count on two fingers the number of noble children who would befriend a commoner at the Academy, after all.¡± Well isn¡¯t that nice, they get along¡ Why is it that pointing out the ways I¡¯m weird is what they bonded over?!
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
¡°Rowell¡±, A Nondescript Location.
I checked over my equipment, making sure I was presentable. Tonight it was time for my monthly report. As usual, I produced the magic tool from my bag after checking that nobody was near my barracks room. Setting it on my desk, I activated it and sent my report.
Report, 30
th day of the seventh month, Year 947
Today was the day Primary Target departed from the capital city to embark on their assigned mission. They were accompanied by five knights Primary Target¡¯s betrothed and his retainers, Primary Target¡¯s friend from their home village, Primary Target¡¯s friend from the Academy, Secondary Target, and another Student from the Academy along with their retainers.
Primary Target was able to arrange things so that I could not accompany them, despite this nominally being a school trip. I am prepared to follow them from a discreet distance and am awaiting the order to move out. End Report.
I sat back and checked my bags. Normally I would not expect a reply but this was an abnormal situation. After all, the primary target was aware of our existence. We should be taking every precaution; it was beyond me why she was still only a target of observation and not a target of elimination.
True to my expectations, my magic tool flashed. I activated it and read the response, and then swallowed dryly.
Response, 30
th day of the seventh month, Year 947
Permission to deploy for covert observation denied remain on standby until Primary Target¡¯s return.
~Five
I stared at the signature line of my received reply. Five? He¡¯s one of the ones at the top of the order. Why is he sending a reply personally?! I had known that my mission was a big deal; when I received my briefing it had been explained that my target had come to learn of the existence of the order, and I was to monitor her and determine what she would be doing with that information.
But I had no idea that one of the single digits was involved, let alone that they would be the one receiving my monthly reports; that was, after all, the only way he could have responded so quickly. To think that someone so important is managing my mission¡ Thank the twelve I don¡¯t have to give reports in person. I do not think I would be able to manage meeting someone like five face to face, he must be terrifying.
2-11 Investigation of Ang
Stahlia Ten Years Old, Eighth Month of 947
After a long and uneventful trip, we managed to arrive at the frontier village in question, the village of Ang. The village was situated at the edge of a large forest and was being established in order to cut lumber to feed into Drakas¡¯ economy. Though there were monsters known to inhabit said forest, none of them should have been capable of overrunning the village by this stage, hence why the kingdom had gone as far as dispatching knights from the capital instead of leaving it to a nearby garrison force.
The trip itself was really was uneventful, we didn¡¯t run into any bandits, orcs goblins, wolves, or anything fun at all. Dominic didn¡¯t even do anything to embarrass me. Now that he think¡¯s I¡¯m a tsundere, maybe he¡¯s trying for a ¡°neglect¡± bent to make me fall for him. Wouldn¡¯t that be nice?
I had been a bit concerned that my current physiological condition might negatively impact the journey for me, given the greater number of men than women, but it turned out that by having Sana and Sarala as well as Jacqueline I was able to cope. Whenever I would start feeling uncomfortable, I could simply retreat to one of my girlfriends and relax my mind a bit. Before I died, I would have loved a trip like this, if I had had any male friends to go with that is.
The village was small. Smaller than Ris village. I could probably count the number of buildings with fingers if I were to borrow Sarala and Sana¡¯s hands. It was, as nihilistic as this would sound, frankly amazing that the kingdom put in as much effort by sending us and the knights. I had figured we were going to an established village, like Ris, but Ang was barely past what you would call a settlement.
As we came to a stop outside the fence that encircled the village, I couldn¡¯t help but compare it to the wall that protected my home village, I wouldn¡¯t even need physical enhancements to climb Ang¡¯s wall. One of the knights called out in a loud voice. ¡°Send word to the village chief and open the gate! We are knights of his majesty sent to root out the cause of your misfortune!¡±
After a brief moment, I heard the sound of a door opening and, by looking through the gaps in the wall, perceived a old man wearing what I suppose was technically armor. In the most generous meaning of the word. The man came out of what was most likely his guard hut and peered at us through the gaps. After confirming the crest on the two carriages in use by the Special Students and the Knight¡¯s regalia, the man put his fingers to his lips and let out a piercing whistle. He then proceeded to unbolt the gate and swing it open.
We advanced into the village and people began to trickle out of their houses. I see, so the whistle was an ¡°all clear¡± signal of sorts. I suppose when your village is this poorly defended and six heavily armed and armored men come up to it on horseback accompanied by two carriages and a wagon, you would get a little tense. Studying the people, the first thing I noticed was how destitute they looked. The second was the absence of men. Even in Ris village, where many men would go out into the fields or forest during the day, there were still some who remained in the village.
Among the many faces, I could count the number of men on one hand. That number included the gate guard, who had not followed us into the village proper. I spoke my thoughts out loud, hoping to get Sara and Sarala¡¯s impressions. ¡°There aren¡¯t many men, are there?¡± Sana glanced around briefly before answering.
¡°Now that you mention it, I do believe that there should be more than this¡ I had assumed this was similar to Ris, however, you are right Stahlia, the number seems a bit too low.¡±
Sarala nodded and added her own thoughts. ¡°While I cannot speak to the population of a small village, if both of you share that opinion, I would be inclined to agree¡ do you think that this has something to do with why we are here?¡± I could only purse my lips and shrug.
¡°I suppose we will find out when we speak with the village chief. Until then we can only speculate.¡±
Thankfully, we didn¡¯t have to wait very long. We passed essentially straight through the village to the village chief¡¯s home near the middle. As we were passing, I passed the short amount of time taking in the surroundings. Jacqueline had recently been teaching me a few tricks to quickly grasp my surroundings and draw conclusions based on quick observational evidence, which I was trying to employ here.
Like I had noticed earlier, the vast majority of people I could see were either women or girls. There were only a handful of men, but each one of them seemed to be older. There were some boys as well, but none older than eight or nine. So clearly, whatever is preying on the villagers is favoring men, which rules out goblinoids, And we came in a party with six male knights, two male students, and the male attendants of those students. I see this going absolutely perfectly and us having no issues.
Of the women we were passing, almost every single one of them looked gloomy, which made sense considering their men were missing. The homes themselves, while squat and made of cheap local material, were not showing any immediately visible signs of violent happenings. So, we¡¯re after something that targets only men and boys between the ages of ten and roughly fifty, has seemingly no interest in women or girls, and is able to get into people¡¯s homes without creating any signs of forced entry. Alternatively, it could be luring the targets outside of their homes without entering them themselves.
I spun through my memories trying to fit my observations with what I knew. Nothing from my memories of this life came to mind, though I hadn¡¯t ever specifically studied monster ecology outside of what I was likely to run into locally so it wasn¡¯t a long list. I could think of a couple of options from my previous life though. Some flavors of vampires would only drink the blood of the opposite sex, and they needed to be invited before entering a private building. If we were dealing with a female vampire, and vampires in this world worked like that, then it would fit with what I was seeing.
There was also a Succubus, and unlike with Vampires, I did know that demons existed in this world. They even had their own continent, and periodically fell under the rule of the Nine Hell Kings in order to invade the other continents in some grudge match against the Goddess of Light and God of Darkness. Assuming Succubi existed in this world and worked the same way, they should have the ability to charm men and get them to do their bidding. They would also feed on men¡¯s vitality through sex, draining their victim¡¯s lifeforce until they were a mere withered husk.
There was also a Siren, though modern folklore tended to depict them as a sort of mermaid or fish person, in their source, they were large birds with a woman¡¯s head. Like Succubi, Sirens would charm and lure men to consume them. Though in this case, the consumption was in the literal sense, not a euphemism.
I made a mental checklist of my three candidates, but I wouldn¡¯t be able to mention them, since I didn¡¯t actually know if there were monsters like these in this world. It was possible there were, but they had a different name, or they had the same name but didn¡¯t follow the conventions I knew of. If Dominic wasn¡¯t here, I could get away with asking an innocent question about ¡°something I read about¡± but I can¡¯t risk him suspecting me. I made another mental checklist entry to do some reading on the less common monsters native to this world. Even if I might never encounter one, in retrospect it would be useful information to have.
As I was making my musings, we arrived at the village chief¡¯s home, where an old man emerged to greet us. He was likely in his seventies or even eighties, with greying hair and a weathered complexion. The Knight Commander dismounted his horse and gave the chief a slight bow. Since Knights were technically the lowest rank of nobility, albeit a title that was not inherited, seeing the knight humble himself towards a commoner caused my personal impression of him to go up a few points.
Dominic Asten and I got out of our respective carriages and the commander introduced himself, as well as the three of us. Each of us accompanied his introduction with a bow of our own, or in my case a curtsey. ¡°Chief Carl, I am Knight Commander Albert. I command five knights who have been sent out by our King Drakas to aid your village. Accompanying us are the Special Students; Lord Dominic von Francois, Lord Asten von Lambert, Lord Dominic¡¯s fianc¨¦ Lady Stahlia von Ris, and their retinues.¡± Albert finished his incredibly long-winded introductions and inhaled deeply.
Of course I would be introduced as ¡°Dominic¡¯s fianc¨¦¡±, can¡¯t just leave that part out huh. Oh well, it still bothers me but I¡¯m growing used to the label at this point¡ Still, ¡°Lambert¡± huh? Pretty sure that¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve actually heard Asten¡¯s last name¡ even at the meeting with Percius, it never came up.
Chief Carl nodded and bowed in response to Albert¡¯s introduction. ¡°On behalf of Ang Village, I thank you.¡± His tone sounded stiff as if he wasn¡¯t used to speaking in such a manner. ¡°Please, come inside so we can talk¡¡± Carl trailed off as he glanced awkwardly at our large party. Picking up on his distress, Albert nodded.
¡°Certainly, Lords Dominic and Asten, Lady Stahlia, and myself will take you up on your kind offer. The rest of you men, begin setting up a patrol route around the village. Make sure the villagers can see you, it should improve their mood somewhat.¡± Since his plan made sense, I spoke up.
¡°Knight Albert, if it pleases you, allow one of your men to guard my companion, Apprentice Sana. She could perhaps offer some words of comfort in her capacity as a priestess.¡± After a moment¡¯s thought, Albert nodded and jerked his head towards one of the knights, who in turn gave a crisp salute and made his way over to Sana.
I turned to head inside the building when I noticed Stil. My Hawri was standing perfectly still, with his neck feathers flared out around his neck, similar to a cat with its fur standing on end. His eyes were fixed in the general direction of the forest. I followed his gaze and studied the general area he was staring at. At first, I couldn¡¯t see anything, so I used Blood Magic to enhance my eyesight.
I still couldn¡¯t make anything out, but I didn¡¯t want to write off what Stil was doing. I knew better than that. As I was pondering, I noticed another member of our party behaving oddly; Sana had turned slightly red and was short of breath. It was similar to how she looked after casting miracles consecutively. Dominic shot me a look and reached out towards me, likely planning to take my hand to escort me inside, but Albert stopped him.
¡°Lord Dominic, I beg your forgiveness for my impudence, but it seems Lady Stahlia¡¯s Stawri has noticed something.¡± Dominic glanced at Stil then retracted his hand, though he looked a bit miffed about having been told off.
Thank you, Albert, glad to see you¡¯re observant. Now, what has got Stil so riled up? With my enhanced eyesight, I could count the ridges in the tree bark even from where I was stood five hundred or so meters away from the closest tree. There should be no difference between my visual acuity and Stil¡¯s. I could conclude it wasn¡¯t something he smelled, because he was staring. If it had been an odd scent then he would be peering around, trying to spot the source. Since his gaze was fixed on a specific point within the forest, that meant he could actually see something.
Then there was the reaction of Sana, I highly doubted she had suddenly gotten sick, so her symptoms indicated there was something out there. So Stil can see whatever it is, and Sana is at least reacting to it. What do they have that I don¡¯t? I had never actually used my Blood Magic Appraisal on Sana, so I wasn¡¯t privy to any skills she had, but I did know Stil¡¯s.
So, it¡¯s a skill Stil has that I don¡¯t. That¡¯s basically all of his skills, but only two of them jump out at me. Keen Senses and Mana Sensing. I can rule out Keen Senses, I already know he doesn¡¯t smell or hear whatever it is, and right now my eyesight should be equal to or better than his. That leaves Mana Sensing. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have a way to sense mana myself. So there are things that are invisible without the ability to perceive mana. I¡¯ll have to add mana sensing to the list of abilities I need to purchase a skill for¡
For now, there was nothing I could do, so I shook my head and addressed Albert and those others who were watching me. ¡°Commander Albert, it would seem there is something on the edge of the forest. Stil can sense it, but he doesn¡¯t seem to be able to pinpoint its exact location¡ just that whatever it is, it is incredibly dangerous. I have not seen him react so stiffly before.¡±
Albert followed Stil¡¯s gaze, then addressed his men, ordering them to pair off and investigate the forest around the area Stil had indicated before they went to conduct their patrols. The odd man was left with Sana, as Albert had noted her current condition, though he was delicate enough not to draw attention to it. With that, the three of us Special Students and Albert made our way inside Carl¡¯s house.
Once inside, Dominic pulled out a chair from the lone table for me and the three of us sat down. Even though he was technically the host, because the three of us were full nobles and Albert was at least nominally a noble, Carl remained standing. This just feels¡ wrong? An old man is standing up in his own home while three kids are sitting at his table. Still, there wasn¡¯t much I could do, other than try to guide our talk to a quick end. Of course, Dominic would be leading the talk, as he was the highest-ranking among us, so my influence would be limited.
Contrary to my worries, the meeting began and Dominic immediately turned over control to Albert. ¡°Commander Albert, you handle the specifics since your men will be the ones primarily doing the investigation.¡± I can¡¯t tell if he¡¯s being intelligent and picking the best person for the job, or being lazy and delegating. Either way, it worked for me, so I decided to not say anything.
¡°Thank you, Lord Dominic.¡± Albert inclined his hand before stepping forward, like Carl he was standing. ¡°Chief Carl, please, give us any details you can about the incidences.¡±
Carl gulped nervously and nodded. ¡°Right, it started early last month, first it was just a hunter who didn¡¯t come back outa the forest. Then a few days later, the hunter¡¯s son didn¡¯t come down to the well. We all thought he might have gone into the forest to look for his Pa, so we put together a search. Two of the men who went out on the search never made it back.¡± He paused, and went to take a sip of water from a jug that had been sitting on the table.
So, whatever it is, it¡¯s strong enough to take on two presumably fit men with average levels, likely armed with a potential goblin or wild animal encounter in mind. I thought back over my previous three ideas. Well, assuming vampires have a sunlight weakness, it¡¯s probably not one of those. Unless of course, the men wandered into a cave or something. Likewise probably not a Siren since two men disappeared at once, according to the accounts of Sirens they aren¡¯t that strong and they have to keep the song going or their charm effect wears off. Of course, it still could be one of those things, it¡¯s not like I actually know anything about those monsters in this world, or if they even exist at all.
I turned my attention back to Carl, as he had resumed his recounting of events. ¡°After that, I declared that nobody should go into the forest alone and that anyone who enters should run as soon as something happened, but every few days, another couple of men would disappear. Finally, I decided to ban people from going into the forest altogether, and people started disappearing right outta their homes. That¡¯s when I sent a request for help¡¡± He fell silent, given how small communities like this tended to function, he was likely thinking of all the people who had gone missing.
Why did you wait so long to call for help then¡? As far as I know, preparations to leave began as soon as the capital received your request but you had to have known the kingdom would still take a leisurely approach to the response. Since it didn¡¯t look like he was going to continue of his own accord, Albert began asking him specific questions. Things like how far the villagers had ventured into the forest, whether or not anyone had reported noticing any changes in the forest leading up to the disappearances, and the locations of any notable features near the village.
After all of the more pressing matters had been attended to, Albert turned his attention to the three of us at the table. ¡°Have any of you anything to ask?¡± He probably expected that given Dominic¡¯s earlier action in turning over the meeting to him, that we would say we didn¡¯t. Contrary to that likely expectation though, I did have one thing I was wondering about.
¡°I have one question I would like to ask. Carl, after people started disappearing from their homes, did any of the women or girls inside of said homes come to any form of harm? Additionally, did any of them report having heard or seen anything when their husband or father went missing?¡± This was one question I had been waiting for Albert to ask, but he had never wound up doing so. Albert gave a brief start when I finished, probably having realized he forgot something so obvious.
This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Albert touched his chin thoughtfully. ¡°No, no injuries¡ I don¡¯t know if this is what you mean, but the local crone has been babbling on about how death is passing through our village. I¡¯ve been ignoring her though, she¡¯s a bit funny in the head at the best of times and there¡¯ve been no bodies, nor signs of struggle.¡± Inwardly, I facepalmed. Right, let¡¯s just ignore the obvious plot hook¡ because she¡¯s crazy! Outwardly, I politely thanked him.
¡°Thank you for your answer, Carl. I think I would like to speak to this ¡°crone¡± at least once, just in case.¡± Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of Dominic Staring at Carl with his mouth hanging open. Even Dominic realized how much of a quest flag this is¡ what the hell Carl!? Of course, I couldn¡¯t really blame him; without outside knowledge of fiction from my past life, I too likely would have scoffed at the notion that a crazy old lady had noticed anything important.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Dominic and I arrived at the outskirts of the village just as the sun was starting to set. After the meeting had concluded, I had wanted to head to see the crone right away, however, I couldn¡¯t think of a convincing excuse for why it was necessary. Not without risking tipping off Dominic to the fact that I had knowledge of the concept of flags. In the end, our group spent about an hour in discussions, wherein we determined who would be doing what in the coming days.
Carl had arranged for a building to be set aside for our use; the only occupant had been a pair of brothers, so it was currently vacant. We had decided that my group would use the smaller back room of the building, as there were only four of us and we were all female, while the men would use the larger common room.
In order to further save space due to a large number of men, some of them would be on rotation to guard the building and patrol the village, swapping out with the others periodically. Dominic and Asten were, of course, not part of this rotation.
Following the conclusion of said discussion, I bit the bullet and approached Dominic. Since I still couldn¡¯t think of a decent excuse, I decided to try throwing it at him. I took a deep breath and called out. ¡°Dominic, may I have a moment?¡± Dominic looked back at me and raised an eyebrow, then nodded and stepped to the side. Good, he picked up on the fact that I wanted to have a private conversation.
Jacqueline took up a post nearby, out of conventional earshot, but still close enough for her to hear our conversation. Sarala glanced at the two of us and smirked before saying she was going to go find Sana at the town square. Right, so now Sana is going to be convinced that I¡¯m secretly deeply in love with this guy. You all are in for a shock when our engagement gets broken off.
¡°So, what did you want to talk about, Stahlia?¡±
I nodded. ¡°You want to go and see the crone that Carl mentioned, do you not? I would like to accompany you.¡±
Dominic raised an eyebrow. ¡°I do not believe I indicated as such¡ do you perhaps find the story about her ramblings suspicious?¡±
Right, I have to be careful about how I word this so I can avoid him becoming suspicious of me. ¡°¡No, not suspicious, more like I am intrigued about the woman herself rather than her ramblings. I saw how you reacted to Carl and assumed you were planning to go and see her.¡± Dominic looked like he was thinking about something, so I added one final touch.
¡°If you do not plan on going, that is fine as well, it is not like I wanted to go with you or anything.¡± I embraced my cringe-worthy line, and fully welcomed the blush it would cause; my face turning red would help sell my performance. I heard a sharp snort of air blow through Dominic¡¯s nose, and he nodded.
¡°Right, we can go together then.¡±
The crone¡¯s house was out on the very edge of the village, near the forest. I wasn¡¯t particularly worried, but in order to avoid causing a fuss, I made sure to assure Albert that we would be back with the group before dark. I had expected that I would have to argue against being assigned one or more of the knights as a guard, however, Albert made no moves to do so.
After a bit of thought I realized that, due to Dominic and I both being deployed alongside the knights, the kingdom had essentially acknowledged our abilities. We would probably still be given a guard or two if we requested one, but not having one suited my needs perfectly so I chose to happily and conveniently ignore the fact that I didn¡¯t have one.
As we approached the door of the crone¡¯s shack and knocked, I heard a shriek from inside the building. ¡°Death! Death has come for me!¡± Dominic and I looked at each other, while Jacqueline and Dominic¡¯s manservant took up defensive postures. I had expected Jacqueline to react, but to my surprise, Dominic¡¯s manservant was also fairly skilled. Though Jacqueline appeared to be superior.
Dominic saw that I was ready and nodded. He then kicked down the door. What the hell!? I was expecting you to open it slowly! Still, I was able to react to the unexpected action after only a slight pause. ¡°[Light #####]¡± At my spoken command, a spell I had chant-held instantly deployed. It was a very simple White Magic spell of the Light Element, all it did was create an instantaneous bright flash.
After a significant amount of consideration over which chant I should keep prepared, given that I could only manage a single one, I decided that an on-demand instant distraction best meshed with my abilities. The light illuminated the interior of the room, and I swiftly cut inside, with Dominic following behind me. Due to our swordsmanship lessons, where we often spared together, we were more or less in perfect sync.
We quickly surveyed the room and confirmed that it was empty aside from ourselves. There was also a distinct lack of furniture. Other than a small table, a shelf with some cooking implements, a bedroll, and a rack containing dried herbs and some meat, it was barren. Dominic jerked his chin towards the only other door and we quickly formed up alongside it, while Jacqueline and Dominic¡¯s manservant entered the room and took up vigilant positions near the front door.
I reached out my hand and pushed the door open. Dominic went in first this time and I followed. This door led out into a small garden behind the house. Fallen on her rear in a patch of what was probably basil, was an old woman. She was shaking and staring at a point on the opposite side of the yard from us. Following her gaze, I couldn¡¯t see anything there, so I went to slowly approach her. As soon as I took a step forward, however, I was struck by an unsettling cold feeling.
It felt like a gust of cold air had blown from where the woman was looking. I should have brought Stil, something is definitely here! I chanced a glance at Dominic. To my surprise, he seemed entirely unbothered and was walking over to the woman, having sheathed his sword. So is it only women who can feel this thing? And that¡¯s why it targets men? As if perfectly timing her entrance so as to dash my hopes, Jacqueline emerged from the building. Making her way over to me she, like Dominic, seemed entirely unaware of the presence that was in the yard with us.
I kept my gaze fixed at the source of the uncomfortable sensations that were plaguing me, and slowly worked my way across the yard until I was standing near the crone. Still keeping my eyesight locked on the spot, I knelt down near the crone and reached out a hand towards her. She had been shaking violently enough to where Dominic had opted to keep his distance from her, and Jacqueline had picked up on the way I was behaving and thus taken a defensive stance while watching the same general area as me.
As soon as my hand touched her arm, the woman froze still. At the same time, the feeling of unease emanating from the side of the garden abated. ¡°Miss, are you ok? My name is Stahlia. My friends and I came here to help.¡±
The crone snapped her head around at the sound of my voice, revealing a pair of cloudy white orbs. She¡¯s blind? But she told the chief and all the other villagers that she could see death walking through the village¡ Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my forearm which caused me to give a surprised cry. Dominic immediately came over and tried to drag the woman away, but she wouldn¡¯t let go.
¡°Of all the insolence!¡± Seeing him making to draw his sword, I hurriedly moved and inserted myself between the two of them.
¡°Dominic, it¡¯s fine! She is just scared; she also can¡¯t see, so grabbing my arm is a natural response for her. Don¡¯t be rash¡¡± He kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, but didn¡¯t draw it.
¡°And you are unharmed?¡± I nodded.
¡°Yes, I cried out because I was surprised; she hasn¡¯t hurt me.¡±
Dominic nodded, then released his sword hilt and stepped back. The crone was glancing around. Strangely, despite being blind, her gaze lingered on each person who was in the garden. First, myself, who she had seen first. Then Jacqueline and Dominic¡¯s manservant, who had arrived after hearing me cry out. Lastly, she turned her gaze to Dominic, and almost immediately recoiled away, hiding behind me as she did so. Lady, you''re like, at least seventy years old, and you¡¯re hiding behind a ten-year-old, from a twelve-year-old¡ She had started to shiver again and was now babbling incoherently.
I sighed. ¡°Dominic, I think you should take your manservant and stand watch outside the front of the house¡ It would seem she is afraid of men. I can ask her a few questions and fill you in later¡ would that be alright?¡± Dominic had been looking at the woman intensely, with an odd expression on his face. Hearing my words, he shook his head a few times before responding.
¡°¡right, that would probably be for the best. But Stahlia¡ be careful. There¡¯s something about her that¡¯s odd.¡± He then waved at his manservant and the pair left through the way we had come in. Something odd about her¡? No shit! What¡¯s odder is why she reacted specifically to you, not me. Both of us are reincarnations so it isn¡¯t that.
Once Dominic had moved to the front of the building, the woman once again calmed down. I took the chance to reintroduce myself, and try and engage her in conversation. ¡°Miss? My name is Stahlia. Can you tell me your name¡?¡±
The crone snapped her eyes back towards me. ¡°Name? My¡ name? I¡ What¡¯s my?... Who, who are you? You look¡ look like him! Like that man! Oh keep him away! Away!¡± The woman began shivering again. Ugh. Yea so she¡¯s completely crazy. Crone was an apt description.
I grit my teeth. For better or worse, this woman was able to perceive whatever entity was coming into the village, and I needed to do my best to get information from her. ¡°My name is Stahlia, miss. Can you tell me, who do I look like?¡±
At the sound of my voice, the crone calmed down and looked me over from head to toe. It was a disconcerting feeling to say the least, given that her eyes lacked light.
¡°Sta..hlia.. hmm yes. You do, you do! You look like him! Like that man! But he was only one, you have two¡ no, three! Three stars! Oh, please, keep him away!¡± Three¡ stars? I have three stars? What the hell is she talking about? She can definitely see something when she¡¯s ¡°looking¡± at me¡
¡°Miss, I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t understand¡ what do you mean I have ¡°three stars¡±?¡±
The crone looked me up and down again. ¡°Three stars? You have three stars? Hmm yes¡ I see that! Most wonderful! You should be able to protect me from that man then! Oh please keep him away from me¡¡± Right. This is going nowhere. She¡¯s completely senile. I decided to try one last approach before giving up on her.
¡°Miss.. how do you see these ¡°stars¡±? I look at myself every day, but I have never seen them.¡± The crone paused. ¡°You¡ you want to see the stars? You just look at them! Look at them and fill your eyes with light!~¡± Her voice sounded almost rapturous by the end of her sentence. I won¡¯t be able to get anything out of her about the man or the stars it seems¡
¡°Jacqueline, can you block the sound from leaving this space, I want to try something, and I can¡¯t risk any of the villagers hearing.¡± Really, I don¡¯t want Dominic overhearing, since I¡¯m about to ask about him. Hopefully, if he was eavesdropping, that excuse will be enough to satisfy him.
Jacqueline nodded, and talent cast her wind magic spell, cutting us off from the outside world. ¡°It is done.¡±
I nodded my thanks and then turned back to the crone again. I was about to ask about Dominic when I realized her behavior had completely changed. She was now gazing around herself in wonder. ¡°Ooohhh! The light! The light is so beautiful!¡± The light? The only thing that changed was Jacqueline casting a wind spell to enclose us¡ wait, so the ¡°light¡± is mana? Then ¡°stars¡± means mana vessels? I have three mana vessels? No. That can¡¯t be right, otherwise, everybody would have a ¡°star¡±. These ¡°stars¡± are seemingly unique to me and this ¡°man¡± she¡¯s so scared of.
Still, this did give me a couple of hints. This crone definitely had some ability that let her see mana, and it presumably involved ¡°filling her eyes with light¡±. If I interpreted that in the loosest sense, it meant ¡°filling your eyes with mana¡±. But I tried that earlier, and all it did was give me beyond twenty-twenty vision¡ There¡¯s still something missing. Other than that, I now could form a hypothesis about why Dominic had scared her.
I don¡¯t think he¡¯s the ¡°man¡± she keeps rambling about. She¡¯s been scared of him since before she first saw Dominic. No, it has got to have something to do with Dominic¡¯s mana. From my reading, I knew that mana was just ¡°mana¡±. It didn¡¯t have any real qualities, though it could take on certain attributes when being used to cast spells. Dominic wasn¡¯t casting any spells, so his mana should have been fairly clear, like deionized water. But she can only see mana, and something about how she perceived him scared her. That means that something was giving his mana an attribute when she saw him¡ A skill? Maybe he was using a skill when she saw him?
It was the only thing I could think of, and she was too incoherent for me to verify. There isn¡¯t anything in any of the books that I¡¯ve read about skills needing mana to function, and I haven¡¯t noticed my mana getting consumed when I use my skills¡ ¡°Miss, could you look at me for a moment¡?¡± Thankfully, there was a simple way I could test my hypothesis.
The crone turned her head away from the light, her expression looked a bit sad at not being able to see it anymore. Right, so which one to go with¡ It¡¯s also possible I¡¯ll have to do more than one if she can¡¯t notice a change in my mana after the first¡ for safety, let¡¯s go with Anger, Remorse, then Fear. Empathy has too harsh of a blowback when I turn it back on, and I do not want to risk turning off love, given how Cold Hearted works with the other four. Right, here goes nothing.
I mentally triggered my skill, and instantly, the vague sense of irritation I had towards the woman vanished. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t seem to notice any change, or if she did, she didn¡¯t react. Nothing huh? Well, here goes another one. I turned off remorse. This time the woman¡¯s eyes narrowed a creepy spectacle, given that they were a solid milky white in color. So that confirms it. Using skills does affect mana in a perceivable way, but then why didn¡¯t any of the books I read, or my instructors, mention it? Is the ability to perceive mana really that rare?
I decided not to risk turning off fear since it would cause me to let my guard down towards Dominic. Even if he was currently outside Jacqueline¡¯s barrier, I didn¡¯t want to take any risks. Besides, I had already gotten confirmation of my hypothesis. ¡°Miss, is something the matter?¡± I¡¯ll just get her to say it, and call the experiment a success.
¡°You¡ your light. It feels¡ cold¡¡± That¡¯s probably the most well-constructed sentence this crone has said so far. I nodded and turned off my skill. The crone¡¯s eyes immediately softened, and after a few moments it was as if she had completely forgotten me; she was back to staring at Jacqueline¡¯s spell. That just begs the question, if straight-up disabling your emotions is only enough to make your mana ¡°cold¡± then what the hell does Dominic¡¯s skill do to make her recoil like that? It was a terrifying thought.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
After reconvening with Dominic, I explained to him that I had been unable to get anything of value from her, simply that she was convinced something in the town was out to get her. Thankfully, he seemed to accept my excuse and we returned to the home that Carl was loaning to us. Dominic and I parted, and I reconvened with Sarala and Sana.
We filled each other in on what we had done since separating at Carl¡¯s house early this afternoon. Sana had, after taking a moment to recover, gone to the village square and spent the day praying with various village women. Something that the villagers were very grateful for since the village priest was among the men missing.
Sarala had spent the day with two of the knights as they walked the perimeter of the village wall. As she put it, her individual talents were better suited for battle rather than reconnaissance. Neither of them had anything to report regarding any strange presences or happenings during their days. I filled them in on most of what had happened with the crone, though I omitted my discovery regarding skills and mana. Jacqueline had already agreed to keep that quiet as well, though since very little had been said out loud, she didn¡¯t have the full picture in the first place. After our little meeting, we went to sleep.
I awoke sometime later in the middle of the night. I sat up in bed and glanced around uneasily. There¡¯s that feeling in the air again... coming from outside¡ I glanced around the room, confirming that everyone was still sleeping. Fortunately, the light from the moon filtering through the boards on the windows was just enough to make out vague details. For the most part, my companions were indeed resting peacefully. Stil was twitching restlessly but hadn¡¯t woken up. Sana was sweating somewhat heavily but was likewise still asleep. I debated waking them all up and getting the knights, but for some reason, I got the feeling that that would be the wrong thing to do.
Whatever this thing is, it only targets men. Getting the knights probably wouldn¡¯t help unless they can perceive it. For the same reason, none of my group would be of much use either, other than Stil. I hope I don¡¯t regret this, this is probably the stupidest thing I¡¯ve ever done. I quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed out of the room.
Arriving at the door into the back garden, I took a deep breath and pushed it open as silently as I could before slipping out. Well one upside of my small figure is I don¡¯t have to open doors so wide¡ Accompanied by my distressing thoughts, I moved away from the doorway and out into the moonlight. The disconcerting feeling was emanating from the middle of the building¡¯s garden.
Right, now what? I had come this far, but I didn¡¯t have a way of seeing whatever this thing was, nor did I really have a way of hurting it. Although for some reason I didn¡¯t feel like it was hostile. Now, I guess I should try and communicate somehow? ¡°¡Hello¡?¡± Oh, great start me.
After a moment, I felt a strange crawling sensation over my skin. As if I was being watched or studied. The source of the presence still seemed to be sitting stationary. ¡°No response huh? No, I guess that crawling feeling was sort of a response¡ I wish I was able to see whatever it looks like, then I would be able to tell if it even understands human speech¡¡±
Fill my eyes with light was is? I tried pushing mana into my eyes. Instantly the world around me sharpened, and I began picking up more detail. But this isn¡¯t mana, it¡¯s just more physical detail¡ I pushed more mana into my eyes, to the point where I began to get a headache. Now I was able to count the scales on the wings of a nearby moth, but I still couldn¡¯t see the thing that was standing in the middle of the garden. Clearly, there is something else beyond just filling my eyes with mana. I tried to think. If mana was really something that could be perceived just like that then everyone would be able to do it with enough training. Kell and Gustav would have mentioned it to me during one of our private discussions about Blood Magic. I pondered the question, all the while keeping my gaze fixed on the spot where whatever it was, was standing.
Presumably, I have to shape the mana somehow, or impart an attribute to it¡ I tried forcing the mana packed into my eyes into a ¡°lens¡± shape, using the mental image of an infrared camera. Unfortunately, this didn¡¯t seem to have any effect. Suddenly, the presence shifted. In an instant, it was standing much closer to me, in fact, it was right in front of me!
I jumped backward, but something caught my back, holding me in place. I felt an incredibly sharp pain in both of my eyes, and the world went dark as I screamed.
2-12 Gods and Life
Stahlia Ten Years Old, Eighth Month of 947
The world went dark as I screamed. I scrambled backward and away from whatever the entity was. This time, it allowed me to get away. Fuck! Why did I come out here alone!? I scrambled backward, desperately trying to find the door. I didn¡¯t know of any healing spells that would be able to restore something as complicated as my eyes but based on the fading pain, they had probably been gouged out.
I blinked. The pain is¡ fading? I paused and reached a hand up, touching my face. It did not feel wet, nor could I smell the iron stench of blood. I glanced down at my hand. It was blurry, but I could see it. Slowly, the image came back into focus. What¡¯s more, it was bright. My hand seemed to be emitting a faint glow. Periodically, it would pulse brighter. It took me a moment to realize that it was pulsing in time with my heartbeat.
I looked up and saw that the plants in the garden all seemed to be glowing, and all of them pulsing in a rhythm, though slower than my own pulsation. Standing in near the middle of the garden, was a tall figure wearing a black robe. The figure was the only thing in the garden not glowing, though over where its heart should be was a sphere of light with a black core. It reminded me a bit of a solar eclipse. On its head, it was wearing a sort of wide-brimmed flat-top hat. Peaking out from under the hat was the beak of a crow. My mind flashed back to the statues that adorned the central temple. This figure was a spitting image of one of them. If that was his identity, then this would be the second god I met face to face.
¡°¡m-Mortis¡?¡± My voice was trembling more than I would have liked, and my knees were shaking making it impossible for me to stand up. It was like there was a cold wind blowing out from the figure, one that pierced my heart and invoked a sense of deep terror. I took a deep breath and sent the mental command to Cold Hearted. Turning off fear was risky, the lack of proper risk assessment could screw me, but when I was being crippled by it the risk was worth it.
¡°Good. You can finally see me. I¡¯ve been waiting for you to figure it out all day.¡± Excuse me? God of death? Aren¡¯t you here to like, kill me? and where''s Jacqueline, Sana, Sarala, or anyone? I screamed several minutes ago...
¡°Yes, I can see you now. What are you after?¡± Whether I liked it or not, now that I no longer was afraid, there was now some irritation slipping into my voice.
¡°Mind your tongue. A backbone is good, but I am still a god.¡±
Well, aren¡¯t you all high and mighty? ¡°Sure, you¡¯re a god. What do you want with me, that the god of death would take the time to come to such a small village? Did you do something to my friends? And while we¡¯re at it, what did you do to me?¡± Mostly I¡¯m just worried if this is permanent or not¡ everything glowing could be a serious detriment.
Mortis sighed and crossed his arms. Shaking his head, he glared at me. ¡°So impatient. If I answer those questions will you be quiet and listen?¡±
I remained silent and folded my arms, before giving a quick nod.
¡°Good. As for what I want from you, mostly just to see the newest player with my own eyes. As for what I did to you, I gave you eyes that can see life. Something you could have gotten on your own, but it would have inconvenienced me to have to wait for you to figure it out. I did nothing to your friends. If you are asking why they did not come to your aid after you screamed, well. I am the god who hold authority over death. I simply bade the sound to die before it reached them.¡±
He killed sound? Is that metaphorical, or did he literally kill a physical phenomenon that wasn''t alive in the first place? And what''s this about giving me "eyes"? I frowned and covertly opened my menu, which caused Mortis to shoot me a questioning look. Wait, can he see my menu? In any case, I didn¡¯t have any new talents or skills that I could see. ¡°So, Deus Ex Machina, what exactly are these eyes? I don¡¯t have any new skills or talents.¡±
Mortis palmed his forehead. ¡°I thought you said you would listen quietly¡ but still, your authority is over the system¡? Antenora didn¡¯t tell me that¡ As for your snarky nicknames, knock it off. I am the god who reigns over death. I may not be allowed to kill you, but there is no rule that says I can¡¯t kill you.¡±
All I could do was blink confusedly. ¡°You can¡¯t kill me, but there isn¡¯t a rule that says you can¡¯t kill me¡±¡? What does that even mean¡? Still, that was a big piece of information I had just gotten, about him not being allowed to kill me. I should disable Cold Hearted now. Not being afraid is making me a bit of a bitch, and now that I know he isn¡¯t going to kill me, my rational mind should be able to overcome any lingering fear.
I switched off my skill, and the subtext of what he had said was immediately super obvious. Right, just because you aren¡¯t allowed to do something doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t do it. Missing one emotion really skews my perception. I need to make sure to be more respectful, he is a god. thankfully, I was no longer paralyzed by fear, though I was still incredibly uneasy due to the aura he seemed to be emitting constantly. ¡°Well, if these ¡°eyes that can see life¡± aren¡¯t a skill¡ what exactly did you do, Lord Mortis?¡±
Mortis nodded, my change in tone had definitely improved his mood. ¡°Good, glad to see you have some instinctive desire for self-preservation. I¡¯m not sure what you mean? You were already using Blood Magic as if it were natural, I just tweaked your mana a little bit and added the Divine Element. Can we please move on to the topic at hand?¡±
I hastily checked my mana flow. I see, so I needed to add a bit of the Divine Element aspect in order to produce this effect¡ I didn¡¯t think I was able to add aspects to my mana while it was still inside my body, let alone Divine Element¡ Considering this outright violates the fourth law... I wonder what other applications this might have? I¡¯ll need to experiment. ¡°I see¡ thank you for answering my questions, Lord Mortis.¡± I gave a respectful curtsy. Now, why are you here?
¡°Good. Now, as for why I am here. Like I said before, I mostly just wanted to see the new player Antenora was speaking so highly of. I could have easily sent one of my familiars to guide you instead.¡± I raised an eyebrow, but otherwise held my tongue; I didn¡¯t want to risk offending him again.
¡°As you are no doubt aware, I am the eleventh god, the one who reigns over death. It is my duty to collect the souls of the deceased in this world and ferry them into the cycle. There is a problem in this area, however. The deceased men from this village, their souls¡ are being stolen!¡± From the dramatic flair of his voice, I could tell that he considered this to be a bombshell statement.
I mean, that¡¯s bad I guess¡ but what are you wanting me to do about it? I nodded. ¡°Right, I can see where souls being stolen would be a bad thing¡ but what do you want me to do? You¡¯re a god are you not?¡± Mortis nodded.
¡°Precisely. I am a god, and that is why my hands are tied; the twelve are fairly restricted when it comes to our actions outside of our duties. As such, we move through champions. At present you are the only champion able to act freely. I asked Antenora if I could borrow you.¡±
Champion? ¡°Borrow¡± me? It sounded like I had missed something rather important when I had my face-to-face with Antenora. ¡°Umm, pardon my interruption¡ I do not recall becoming a ''champion'', let alone the possession of Antenora¡ ¡and, wouldn¡¯t giving me eyes that can ''see life'' violate some sort of restriction?¡±
Mortis looked at me, cocking his head a bit. If I could see his eyes, I imagine they would have been curious. ¡°Were you unaware? When you acquired the [Blessing of Winter], you became Winter¡¯s champion in the great game. Autumn¡¯s champion is presently indisposed, and neither the Spring nor Summer champions have been selected yet. Thus, I asked to borrow you to deal with this issue, since the game hasn¡¯t started yet. Obviously, it does not, else I would not have done so.¡±
Perhaps he read the surprise from my silence because after a moment he continued. ¡°¡You received an explanation of this, did you not?¡± I shook my head.
¡°No, Lady Antenora told me that my allegiance didn¡¯t matter in the end.¡±
¡°¡The goddess of traitors, plots, and deceit told you she was giving you an incredible power, for naught, and you believed her?¡±
I could hear the disappointment laden in his voice, but all I could do was meekly nod my head. I actually did believe her¡ looking back at it now it makes sense that I wasn¡¯t being told everything¡ Why was I so blind? Just because I wanted the power to help me get back Rosial? Or was there another reason? I was getting the feeling that I was wrapped up in something a lot bigger than just destroying Drakas.
¡°Right¡ seeing as I am completely ignorant, Lord Mortis, would you be willing to give me some of the information I am lacking? What exactly is a champion, how can I opt out, and what is the ''great game''?"
Mortis let out an audible sigh. ¡°I suppose I can do that, it does tie into what I need you to do after all. The champions are those selected to represent the gods in the great game, which is what we call the war between the races and the Hell Kings. You cannot opt-out, the only way for your position to pass on to another is for you to die.¡± I scowled.
Sounds like I got saddled with something incredibly annoying. All I want to do is save my sister, not fight as the champion in some sort of holy war. ¡°¡You said you need me to do something because Autumn¡¯s champion is indisposed¡ But the four factions are at odds with each other, are they not? Why would I help the Autumn faction if I am supposed to be the champion of winter?¡±
Mortis shook his head. ¡°We might have our disagreements, but when it comes to the great game we set those aside. If the nine kings were to win, we would lose our authority; that which enables us to govern this world as its gods.¡± Everyone¡¯s out to protect themselves, got it.
¡°¡what is it you want me to do¡¡± Mortis nodded.
¡°Simple, kill the Succubus that is infesting this village, before it gathers enough souls to advent Second Seat, Queen of Lust Asmodea.¡± Based on his tone, you would think he had just told me to head down to the supermarket and grab a jug of milk.
Ex-fucking-cuse me? ¡°Second Seat, Queen of Lust Asmodea¡±? Advent? The consequence for failure is the advent of one of the Hell Kings!? After a minute, Mortis started reaching out to poke my cheek. I took a quick step back and managed to recompose myself. ¡°I-isn¡¯t it just a bit early for the hell kings to be coming back? It¡¯s only nine-forty-seven right now. If the history I know is correct, shouldn¡¯t it be closer to the year one thousand before this all starts happening?¡±
Mortis shook his head. ¡°No, why would we start selecting champions if they would be over fifty before the game started? The game begins in three years. We are currently in the pregame; by stopping Asmodea¡¯s advent we can deprive the hell kings of one of their pieces.¡±
I feel like I¡¯m getting a headache¡ ¡°Right, let me see if I understand this all correctly. The nine kings are fighting against the twelve gods, but you lot are not allowed to fight yourselves, so you wage a proxy war using four mortals. Against what is essentially a deific entity. I was more or less conscripted to be one of those four, and if I fail at what was supposed to be in essence, a school trip, another king will manifest back into the mortal world? Am I getting everything correct?¡±
Mortis nodded, causing me to start vigorously rubbing my temples. ¡°Incidentally, there are already four kings who walk this world. The Third Seat, King of Gluttony Beelzebub and the Fourth Seat, Queen of Envy Leviathan have both advented. The Fifth Seat, King of Wrath Satan and the Throneless King, Belphagor of Sloth both survived the previous game.¡±
Now I actually have a headache. So there are already four hell kings doing who knows what in the mortal world, two of them have been here for a thousand years or more already. Mortis nodded. ¡°It seems you understand the gravity of the situation, I shall take my leave then. A final word of advice; do not use the divine element too much, that headache you are currently experiencing is likely a result of using too much of it in one go.¡± With that, he turned and walked into the air, seeming to fade out of existence.
I hurriedly cut off my mana flow to my eyes, and the throbbing that had formed in my head abated somewhat. Right, of course, there would be consequences to using divinity in a mortal body¡ but don¡¯t I have an ¡°authority¡±? isn¡¯t that the power of gods? At least based on what Mortis was saying earlier. I haven¡¯t ever gotten a headache or anything from using my menu or buying skills. Other than that one time I got a fever¡ I sighed tiredly. The sun was just starting to peek up above the horizon, I had been out in the garden for almost two hours. I should go back to sleep for a little bit at least. Apparently, we have a demon to find, and there¡¯s a time limit.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Staring at myself in the mirror, I traced a series of lines across my chest. Upon waking up, I had been surprisingly refreshed, despite the events of the early morning. While waiting for Jacqueline to prepare my clothes, I decided to try experimenting with giving an elemental aspect to mana while keeping it inside my body. I was leery of using any of the four basic elements without preparing safety measures first; the last thing I needed to do was immolate myself, so I settled for the Divine Element.
My headache had cleared up after getting a goodnight¡¯s sleep, and I was very curious about the specifics of what I could see. Besides, rather than experimenting with a new ability, I would rather spend time learning the limits of the one I already knew about.
As I traced over the lines of pulsating light, I kept a count and confirmed what I had noticed the other day; that the lines seemed to match my heartbeat. In the mirror, I could see Jacqueline busying herself behind me. She was also covered in lines of glowing light, but hers seemed to be significantly brighter than mine. If my lines were a candle flame, then she was a torch.
I blinked and my vision went blurry. It was much harder than I had thought to keep the divine element in tune with my mana; if I did anything more than move my hands a bit, I would lose focus and my mana would lose the imbued aspect. There¡¯s no way I can fight with this, but it certainly works for gathering some basic information. I refocused my mana and re-applied the aspect.
Next, I carefully and meticulously started applying my enhancements to my arms. It was a real struggle to maintain both a strengthening enhancement and a mana aspect separately and at the same time. As I added mana to my arms, I noted the light increasing in intensity. That confirms what I suspected, ¡°Life¡± is ¡°Mana¡±, so is mana like someone¡¯s lifeforce? Still, it meant that as long as I had the opportunity, I could use these eyes to get a rough estimate of someone¡¯s strength.
My hands paused just above my heart. Within that knot of light, I could vaguely make out two spots that were much brighter than their surroundings. One of them, the brighter one, was a similar color to the rest of the light that suffused my body, very nearly white. The other knot was dimmer but still noticeable, a sort of icy blue. If I looked very carefully, I could just make out a third spot, this one was more like a void than light though, a single pinprick that was devoid of any light. These must be the ¡°suns¡± that crone as rambling on about. But could you really call that dark spot a sun? And I didn¡¯t see any ¡°sun¡± on Mortis¡ not that I looked very closely.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and lost focus on my mana, the light instantly vanishing from my sight. Spinning around I saw Jacqueline, who was holding my clothes for the day.
¡°My lady, it takes time. You will fill out eventually.¡±
I felt my face start emitting a glow of a different color. Of course Jacqueline would make that assumption; from her point of view, I had been cupping my chest while staring at a mirror with a thoughtful look on my face. I shook my head rapidly from side to side. ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. I was just thinking of something!¡± Jacqueline nodded, adopting a very serious expression. Now she¡¯s fucking with me. God damnit¡ I decided that it was in my best interest to simply ignore my vassal for the time being, and I meekly held out my arms so she could begin dressing me.
I arrived in the courtyard where we were set to have breakfast before returning to the search. Of course, I now knew what we were looking for, but I had no easy way to provide that information. I most certainly couldn¡¯t say I had a nighttime rendezvous with the god of death. I also need to find an opportunity where I can focus for a few moments and take a peek at Dominic with my¡ divine eyes, yea, until someone tells me the actual name for this ability, that¡¯s what I¡¯ll call them.
I took a seat at a smaller table alongside Dominic and Asten. It was par for the course, but we three had our own table. ¡°Stahlia, how was the night?¡±
I briefly froze at Dominic¡¯s question, wondering how he had known something had happened until I realized he was just asking what could be considered a very normal question. We were in an unfamiliar place that had people going missing repeatedly after all. I put on a smile and answered him amicably.
¡°My night was peaceful, all things considered. How did you sleep, Dominic?¡±
He nodded. ¡°Mine was likewise peaceful. I had half expected whatever this thing is to come after me or Asten, but it seems that whatever it is, is not hungry at the moment.¡±
I frowned and tilted my head. ¡°Hungry? How can you be sure that the victims are being eaten?¡± Dominic furrowed his brows.
¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? All the victims are men or boys, across an age range possessing high vitality. We are dealing with a Succubus for sure.¡± Internally I did a small triumphant fist pump. Good! That takes care of how to get everybody on the right track, now I can just go with what Dominic says and pretend I¡¯m supporting my fianc¨¦! Externally I affected a quizzical expression.
¡°A demon? Are you sure?¡±
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Dominic nodded. ¡°Yes, I am fairly certain. There is the way Lady Sana was acting yesterday as well; individuals attuned to the gods tend to react poorly in the presence of the enemies of said gods.¡±
I mean, I¡¯m pretty sure she was reacting to the presence of a god, not a demon, but if it helps get us on the right track, let¡¯s roll with it. Who knows, that might actually be true as well. I nodded. ¡°I see, in that case, we should figure out a plan of action using that as a starting point. It is my understanding that Demons of Lust like Succubi have a way of charming men to do their bidding.¡±
I thought my suggestion was prudent and assumed it would get the ball rolling on a plan, but Dominic and Asten seemed to be of a different opinion. Asten looked at me incredulously while Dominic shook his head and spoke up. ¡°No, this is what the knights are for, at this point, we can leave it to them.¡± I was speechless.
Do you even hear yourself? ¡°We can leave it to them.¡±? That isn¡¯t a flag at all. As I was trying to come up with a retort, Albert came up to our table. Evidently, he was psychic because he completely read my train of thought and cut me off before I could retort. ¡°Lords Dominic and Asten are correct, Lady Stahlia. My knights and I are more than capable of dealing with one Succubus. All of us have the equipment to protect ourselves from such manipulative methods, and for added safety in the event that it is a particularly strong specimen, we operate in pairs. Should one be charmed, the other will be able to use a recovery item.¡±
Yep. One of those groups will be gone by the end of the day. Maybe if this was just a run-of-the-mill succubus then that plan might work, but according to Mortis, it¡¯s about to advent the Queen of Lust. ¡°If you say so then I will trust your men¡¯s expertise, Commander Albert.¡± There¡¯s no way they will listen to what I have to say, not unless I reveal the source of my information, which I can¡¯t do. I¡¯ll have to find a way to deal with this myself.
Dominic gave a head bow to Albert, and the latter made his way back to the table with the knights. He came over specifically to dissuade me from acting on my own, didn¡¯t he. Our food was brought over as I was thinking. While Jacqueline was getting mine plated, I took the opportunity to check out Dominic. Focusing inwards, I brought up my mana and pushed it into my eyes, then meticulously applied the Divine Element aspect to it. When I opened my eyes, I was met by a world of color. The trees, grass, bushes. Birds, a rabbit, the knights, Sana, Sarala, Jacqueline, and other people. It was dazzling.
I felt my control slipping and sucked in my breath. Focus. I hope it¡¯s only the Divine Element that is so difficult to apply internally. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be able to use this at all. No! Stop wandering and focus! The world of light came back. Glancing around at the people, I noted how everyone seemed to have a different color; Sana was a sort of gold, while Sarala was icy blue, like my ¡°star¡± except it was her natural color. Jacqueline was a dark purple, and Albert was ironically a soft pink. I wonder if this is somehow indicative of their affinities?
I turned my attention to Dominic, who was sitting next to me, and immediately wanted to throw up. His color was pus yellow, and whereas everyone else¡¯s light was pulsing rhythmically, his seemed to bubble and ooze as it flowed through him. What¡¯s more, his pattern was completely different. Whereas mine and everyone else¡¯s seemed to follow the circulatory system, Dominic¡¯s was different. If I had to place it, it seemed like it was simply flowing freely how it pleased, like mucous dripping down from a sick person¡¯s nose.
I fought back the urge to gag and looked more closely at Dominic¡¯s sickening mana. If I were to see tiny wiggling maggots in his light, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised, it¡¯s that gross. Like flu mucous or thick diarrhea. Though I was leery of staring and being found out, I quickly focused in on his heart. There doesn¡¯t seem to be any ¡°stars¡±, so if my working theory is correct, Dominic doesn¡¯t have anything from one of the twelve. Though other than my authority and my blessing, I have no idea what my third star is meant to be.
Having confirmed that he at least wasn¡¯t one of the champions, and didn¡¯t have something like my Custom Class, I next gave his whole body a once over, searching for any indication of a skill he kept active. I was now reasonably certain that what had scared that crone was merely the passive disgustingness of his mana, but I reasoned I may as well check for my earlier hypothesis anyways if only to cover all my bases.
Just because I was wrong about mana being ¡°clear¡± when you aren¡¯t doing anything doesn¡¯t mean I was wrong about him having any skills in use, and I already confirmed with the crone that skills can change how mana is perceived. Honestly, I almost hope this color and texture is the result of skills he¡¯s using¡ it would frankly be pitiful if this was just his natural state.
As I ran my eyes quickly over him, I almost missed it. It was incredibly faint, but he would periodically emit a ¡°pulse¡± of mana from his eyes. Contrary to the general ooziness of his regular mana, the pulse was in time with what I assumed was his heartbeat, though if it was, then it was a little bit fast.
These pulses were possibly even more revolting than his normal mana; where that had a consistency like snot and the color of pus, these pulses were gaseous and vomit green. It reminded me a bit of the cartoon representation of fart gas.
Following the nearly invisible shockwave of mana as it traveled through the air, I observed it pass over some of the knights, who were within his line of sight. The pulse seemingly passed right through them without doing anything, and I almost breathed a sigh of relief, until I saw the table with Sana and Sarala. When the wave of gassy mana passed over them, I saw their light flicker, and some of the gassy aura seemed to suck into them, mixing with their regular mana. I let out a small gasp.
¡°Stahlia, is something the matter?¡± His voice caused me to jump a bit, and I lost my focus. As the world of light faded, I turned to Dominic.
¡°No, I was simply thinking how good it is that we have such brave and talented knights with us.¡± What the hell? It had no effect on the knights, but that mana definitely did something to Sarala and Sana. The question is, what exactly did it do?
Dominic gave me a long look, then shrugged and picked up his utensils. I struggled to keep a straight face, barely succeeding, and picked up my own utensils to begin eating. Think! It didn¡¯t work on the knights, but it did work on my friends¡ The knights are adults, my friends are pubescent girls like me. Age and Gender are the main differences¡ no, there¡¯s also level. Those knights are at a higher level than the three of us. Damnit! If Jacqueline had been in his line of sight, I would have been able to rule out level as a possible reason.
For better or worse, I didn¡¯t have enough information at the moment to make a full deduction, the best I could come up with was mere speculation, at least until I had the opportunity to examine the phenomenon in more detail. Though that would involve me having to stare at Dominic again¡ It was then that I felt a warm smile on my back. I turned around to catch sight of Jacqueline, who had definitely seen me studying Dominic¡¯s profile so intently just a moment ago. That¡¯s it. Just kill me.
We finished our meal, and it came time to determine what we should all be doing. Of course, I wanted to go out into the forest and hunt down the succubus, but there was no way Dominic and Asten would agree to that. I think I¡¯ll have to wait until this evening, and go out with just me and Jacqueline¡ hopefully, none of the knights fall victim, but with the way things are going¡ I can¡¯t help but worry.
In the end, it was determined that Dominic and his retinue would patrol the perimeter of the village, in such a way as to be seen by the villagers. Asten and his would move along the road, and my own would remain in the village. The cited reason for this was that My party consisted entirely of supports, which was fair. Sana was a healer and Sarala was a mage. I was nominally a battlemage, having both sword and magic talents. The fact that Jacqueline and I could both serve as front liners was of course not public knowledge. Actually, thinking about it, my group is the only one that¡¯s actually well balanced¡ The knights are all brawlers, maybe a handful of basic chants, Dominic and Asten both don¡¯t use magic at all, and they don¡¯t have a single dedicated caster in their party. I¡¯m also the only one who brought a dedicated healer¡
The party compositions of my colleagues aside, this division of labor actually worked out for me. If Jacqueline and I were going to go out tonight in secret, then a position where the two of us could take it somewhat easy during the day was much appreciated. Ideally, Sana would simply be doing more of what she did yesterday, and we would more or less watch over her while she was doing that.
So how did it end up like this¡? I had thought it would be easy, just stand watch while one of my friends gave moral and religious support. Yet I wound up being thrust into a crisis, directing a mob of three to five-year-old girls as they ran around the edges of the forest and the fields collecting grasses and various other items at my behest.
Everything had started normally. Sana had taken up a position near the village center, and mothers began dropping of children before heading out into the fields. Even though most of their men were missing, and in all likelihood, dead life went on. If nobody tended the village¡¯s fields then the people would starve.
Sana had made for a convenient and trustworthy babysitter; despite being an outsider, she was still a religious figure, as well as a member of the group that had come to help with the problem. So I was idly passing the day along, observing as Sana told stories about the twelve and Sarala used a few simple spells to amuse the children, when a girl a bit older than the children we were babysitting came running into our midst with a panicked look on her face.
The roughly seven-year-old arrived in the village center and looked around before locking eyes on Sana and running up to her. Exclaiming through her tears ¡°Please! You have to help my mother!¡±
What¡¯s this now? Sana glanced over at me, and when I nodded, she started wiping the girl¡¯s tears. ¡°Now now, it¡¯s ok. What¡¯s the matter with your mother?¡±
After a few minutes of sniffling, the girl had been calmed enough to somewhat explain what was happening. ¡°Her¡ She¡¯s pregnant¡ She says¡ mom says the baby is coming!¡± Ah, and all the village women have gone out into the field since the men are missing¡ and nobody thought to stay behind for the pregnant woman!? I stood up from where I had been sitting off to the side. I¡¯m not going to let a little girl lose her sibling if I can help it.
¡°Sana, go with her and do what you can. Sarala, watch over the kids that are too young to help. Jacqueline, go to our carriage and collect my equipment. After you have delivered it to the pregnant woman¡¯s house, go help Sarala.¡± I got a nod from Sana and Jacqueline, while Sarala hesitated for a moment before nodding.
¡°Stil! Go into the forest, I want Jesper Root, and Poppy if you can find it.¡± My Hawri gave a keening bark and dashed off. With his [Keen Senses], he should be able to find what I wanted in short order.
¡°If you¡¯ve had your dedication then come with me out to the forest edge, there¡¯s some other plants we need.¡± Unfortunately, the village didn¡¯t have a dedicated apothecary or alchemists. In that Regard, Ris village had actually been quite lucky. In most cases, villages would rely on home remedies. There was a chance I could find what I needed by searching houses, but it would likely be faster to employ mass child labor and get it myself. Other than the items that were potentially toxic like Poppy, or grew too deep in the forest, like Jesper Root.
I clapped my hands, and after a moment, about twenty kids between the ages of three and five stood up and came over to me. I led my youth troupe out of the village and to the edge of the forest. Giving them a warning about not leaving my sight, I then described the half dozen plants I wanted and sent them off. Thankfully, gathering was one of the things that children this young would tend to help out with, so they knew of four of the plants I wanted already.
As I was overseeing the children, I caught sight of my hound running out of the forest towards me. Clutched in his beak, Stil was carrying a Jesper Root and a sprig of Poppy. I held out my hand and received the items, carefully putting them away in a bag Jacqueline had given me before departing to attend her assignment. Checking the contents of the bag, plus what the children were now bringing me, I determined that I had enough material. Clapping my hands, I announced to the children that we were returning to the village.
When I got my posse back to the village square, I handed them off to Sarala and Jacqueline. Jacqueline gave me directions to the pregnant woman¡¯s house, and I told Stil to stay and watch over everyone with Jacqueline and Sarala; we were being used as more or less babysitters by the villagers, so I didn¡¯t want to take away any more people than I had to, and Stil wouldn¡¯t be needed to help deliver a baby. Jacqueline would be extremely helpful, but I would rather she stays with the kids in case something goes wrong that Sarala can¡¯t deal with¡ besides, having an adult over there can¡¯t be the wrong decision.
I arrived at the woman¡¯s home, where I found Sana sitting on a bed next to a clearly pregnant woman, holding her hand and praying. Sitting fretfully near the foot of the bed was the same seven-year-old from earlier. I can tell that she¡¯s pregnant, but her belly seems a bit small¡ I¡¯ll bet that it¡¯s premature birth. That would explain why none of the other village women stayed in case she went into labor; they weren¡¯t expecting her to go into labor yet.
¡°Alright, what is your name?¡± I approached the seven-year-old after setting down my bag on the table.
The girl looked up at me, the corners of her eyes were still a bit teary and her lip was quivering but otherwise, she seemed to be holding together if only barely. ¡°Li-Lisa¡¡±
I nodded. ¡°Alright then Lilisa, can you do me a favor? I need a big pot of water, it might be heavy so use this jug and make multiple trips.¡± I indicated a pot that was sitting near the firepit, as well as a jug I spotted on a low shelf.
The girl looked between the two objects and me, before clenching her fists. ¡°Y-you promise you can help my mother?¡±
Oof. That¡¯s heavy¡ I mean, I can¡¯t be 100% sure but¡ ¡°I promise, now go.¡± Even if this was a promise I couldn¡¯t really know for sure if I could keep, even if I knew I was raising a flag, I decided I would still say those words. To hell with flags, gods and demons, games and champions and whatever. I¡¯ll make my own fate, starting with saving this mother and her baby.
The girl set her teeth and gave a sharp nod before grabbing the jug and running towards the door, pausing for just a moment, she called back ¡°My name is Lisa, not Lilisa!¡±.
¡°Sana. When you finish your prayer, finely chop this and this. Mix them with this, and then grind this.¡± I set out the Jesper Root and Poppy, followed by Black Juniper and White Puff Mushrooms. The first three ingredients would be boiled into a beverage. When drunk it induced a high that, while not as effective as a whiff of my ether, would suffice as a pain killer on short notice. The Puff Mushrooms were super absorbent, and had a built-in antiseptic effect that emerged as they dried; I intended to pack dust made from grinding them up into the woman¡¯s vaginal cavity after the delivery.
Sana looked over the four items I had put on the table with wide eyes. ¡°We really are doing this, aren¡¯t we?¡± I could only nod.
While Sana was finishing up her prayer, I took the remaining items I had had the children gather and began preparing them. These ingredients needed some more advanced techniques to get right, and while Sana had learned how to do all of these techniques during our temple schooling, I still had a lot more practice than her. I worked quickly, and by the time Sana had finished her last verse, I was just about finished.
Lisa had filled about half of the pot I indicated with water, she was really pushing herself to fill the jug so quickly. As she arrived and dumped the jug out into the pot, she paused and glanced around the room.
¡°Uhm¡¡±
I nodded without looking up. ¡°Stahlia.¡±
¡°Right, Miss Stahlia, should I start the fire? Doesn¡¯t the water need to be hot¡? That¡¯s what the village ladies said when Kars was born last spring¡¡±
Ah yea, I should probably take care of that, if only to set her mind at ease so she doesn¡¯t make a mistake from being overly worried. Without looking up from the herb I was pulverizing into a paste, I pointed a finger at the pot. ¡°Oh Fire, # desire a ######### heat. ######## this water with your ######. Burn #### ####### in your ###### #######! [#### Water]¡± I felt a wave of drowsiness that quickly abated as my spell sucked out roughly a fifth of my mana. The water in the pot immediately heated to the point of boiling, and Lisa blinked several times before smiling and darting out of the building again.
The spell had a short incantation all things considered, but it was extremely expensive to cast. As far as I could tell, it used mana as a vector to add energy to the targeted volume of water. The amount of mana depended heavily on the initial temperature, as well as the quantity of water to be boiled. It also only worked on water. I tried it on a goblin once, but nothing happened.
Finishing up my pounding, I collected some of the prepared herbs and dumped them into the pot of boiling water. I didn¡¯t have time to brew anything extremely complicated, but what I had applied to the water just now would give it various qualities to ease the birthing process. I portioned some of the water into a separate container from the pot, then started a fire with [Ignition], so that the water remaining in the pot would continue to boil even as Lisa added more well-water to it.
Right, that takes care of that. Once Sana finishes preparing her herbs I just need to mix them with some mana-infused water and set the mushrooms near the fire to evaporate the moisture. Next¡ I glanced at the bed the woman was lying in. I¡¯ll need some sort of stirrups, otherwise, this will get really complicated.
This whole time, the woman had been doing breathing exercises, watching me work without comment. Well, for whatever reason she seems to trust me at least. Either that or this is a really bad birth and she¡¯s actually super out of it in pain right now¡ No. Happy thoughts. ¡°Excuse me miss, I need to set up something to hold up your legs¡ would you happen to know where the village midwife keeps that?¡±
The woman sucked in her breath, then shook her head. After squinting her eyes and wincing. She managed to grunt out a word between clenched teeth. ¡°Rope.¡± while flicking her eyes up towards the home¡¯s exposed main roof beam. Oh great. Seems like she¡¯s still present, but is in too much pain to protest the fact that her midwives are a pair of ten-year-olds. So it¡¯s a difficult birth after all. I searched through the house and quickly found a long rope.
I never thought I would be in a position of tying up a young woman¡ Carefully so as not to strain her, I looped the rope around her legs and managed to toss it over the ceiling beam. Tying it off, I now had her legs in the correct position. I checked her, but it didn¡¯t look like the baby was coming soon, so when Sana finished her task, I gave her a cloth and told her to start wiping the woman¡¯s forehead.
Once I finished preparing the painkiller, I set it aside; It would only be useful after delivery, or if for some reason I had to do a c-section. If I gave it to her now, there was a chance she wouldn¡¯t be able to feel her contractions anymore. Now we wait.
A few hours later, around three pm, the woman gave a much louder cry than she had been. I moved over and checked her again. Her Cervix was extremely dilated, and I could see what I thought might be the baby¡¯s head. Right, it¡¯s time. I clapped my cheeks with my palms and nodded at Lisa and Sana.
¡°Lisa, hold her hand and help her breathe as I showed you. Sana, make sure to keep wiping her head and give another prayer just to be safe. Miss, it¡¯s coming now so I need you to start pushing along with your contractions.¡± At my words, everyone sprang into action. Sana gave a tired nod; she had been praying a lot over the past hours and was mentally exhausted. Lisa was clearly worried but was doing her best to stay strong. The woman gritted her teeth and nodded.
I moved down into a position where I could observe the birth and help if needed, making a concerted effort not to throw up as I did so. This all settles it. There is no way in hell I am going to get pregnant at any point, for any reason. This whole situation is awful and completely disgusting. I swallowed down my bile, while listening to Lisa giving a count for the mother.
Before long, the baby¡¯s head was visibly poking past the cervix, stretching it out to a diameter that caused me to wince and cross my legs in sympathy. After another minute, enough of the head was through that I was able to reach inside and guide it. Taking care not to pull, that would damage the baby, I held its head up as the woman continued to push. I hadn¡¯t seen very many babies in either of my lives, and other than Rosial I had never helped in delivery before, but this baby seemed small to me. It¡¯s definitely a premature birth.
After another ten minutes, roughly, the baby was fully out and in my arms. I guess it¡¯s sort of cute¡ or it would be if it wasn¡¯t covered in blood, and hadn¡¯t just ruined my dress. I held the baby and waited for him to start crying. After a few moments, there was a sharp wail coming from the newborn. I took the towel Sana passed to me and wiped the baby off, which did indeed remarkedly improve its cuteness, and passed him to his mother.
As I took a moment to breathe easy and compose myself, I surreptitiously engaged my divine eyes and observed the infant¡¯s lifeforce. It was a pleasant shade of forest green, a little dimmer than Lisa¡¯s but that was to be expected; I could expect a seven-year-old would have leveled up at least once. Thankfully there didn¡¯t seem to be any problems with the child¡¯s physiology or mana, at least none that I could observe with just idle observation.
Now that the child was out, the placenta passed easily enough around an hour later. As we were tidying up, some of the midwives came over in a hurry, but I was too exhausted to pay much attention to what they were saying. I can just review the memories later. As it turned out, they were largely praising me and Sana for reacting so quickly, while the rest were apologizing for placing us in that position.
I looked up and checked the sun. It¡¯s about five pm now. I should rest for a few hours before going out tonight. Even if I¡¯m exhausted, I can¡¯t give this Succubus any more time to finish its mission. With Jacqueline and Stil alongside me, we should be able to manage, even if there is a bit of risk. I informed Dominic and Asten, who had recently returned, what had happened before excusing myself from our evening meal.
Jacqueline woke me up at nine pm after everyone else had gone to bed. As she was dressing me, she gave me a quick recap of what had happened after I went to bed early. Much to my chagrin, but not to my surprise, one pair of the knights had not returned.
Fourth Law of Magic
The process by which a spell is formed follows three distinct steps, in order they are: Formulation, wherein the concept of the spell is formed, either by chant or talent. Expulsion, wherein mana is allocated towards the process and expelled from the body. Manifestation, wherein the expelled mana is given an elemental aspect and shaped into the phenomenon.
2-13 Demons and Death
Geoff, Eighteen Years Old, Eighth Month of 947
¡°Damnit, Clyde!¡± I ran. Gods curse me but I ran. It was supposed to be an easy mission, escort a trio of noble children from the Special Student program, deal with whatever threat was plaguing Ang Village and come back. Nobody said anything about having to deal with a fucking Original Sin! Why didn¡¯t the church say anything!?
One of the nobles had deduced that we were likely dealing with a succubus, a deduction that our commander agreed with. We took appropriate countermeasures and set out. If it had been a Tempter or even a mid ranked Demon Noble then we would have been able to deal with it. Demons of Lust were not a major threat if you could counter their innate charm abilities. But an Original Sin was different.
Other than the Hell Kings themselves, the Original Sins were said to be the oldest Demons, the oldest ones hailed from the time of creation and constituted the original followers of the Nine. If a Sin is here¡ then it can only mean that the nine are returning¡ I have to warn the captain!
¡°Eheheh!¡± A childish voice rang out through the trees behind me, and I felt my stomach drop. Spinning around with a desperate scream, I thrust out with my sword. I was rewarded with a sensation of tearing flesh and a soft scream. It sounded more aroused than pained.
¡°Now now, when I said I wanted your sword, that isn¡¯t what I meant¡¡±
I released the sword and spun on my heel. ¡°[#### ####]¡± With my wind enchantment I kicked off the ground, going as fast as I could. Trees were blurring past me at an incredible rate, but as fast as I was moving, I couldn¡¯t shake the sense of dread that was following me.
Clyde¡ I felt bad for abandoning him, but somebody had to tell the commander about this threat. We had been taken by surprise around noon. Deep in the forest, I had been talking to Clyde to pass the time while we searched when out of nowhere he had fallen silent. When I had looked back at him, my partner was staring glassy-eyed and slack-jawed at a tree in the distance. Following his gaze, I had seen the figure of a young girl.
As I ran, I slammed into a tree after failing to take a turn properly due to my speed. I sat up and rubbed my head, looking behind me. She¡¯s gone¡ I got away¡ I slowly rose to my feet and turned in the direction of the village. Floating in the air ahead of me was a young girl with black wings and a crimson heart-tipped tail.
¡°Aww, did you get all tuckered out? Don¡¯t worry, I know how to revive a man.¡± The devil licked her lips suggestively. I cried out in despair and turned to run back the way I had come. I have to get away! I can¡¯t die here! I promised I would come back¡
The girl had approached my partner, even as I tried to use the anti-charm item on him. Reaching out with a single finger, she traced Clyde¡¯s jawline, causing a tremor to run through his body. ¡°Good boy, now knock out your friend and bring him with us.¡± Before I could react, Clyde had landed a heavy punch onto my helmet, the impact knocking me out instantly.
When I had woken up, I was in a cave, most likely deep in the forest. I could hear a sensual moaning coming from the next chamber. Clyde¡¯s armor was in a pile nearby. Damnit! I don¡¯t have long, once she¡¯s finished with him, she¡¯ll be able to charm me as well! I got up as silently as I could and made to leave. Unfortunately, the only exit to the chamber I was in would take me through the room that was presently occupied.
As I ran I would occasionally hear a giggle or catch a glimpse of my pursuer, forcing me to change course. Damnit! She¡¯s herding me like a fucking sheep! Indeed, I was being guided back towards the cave. Before long, it came into sight and I collapsed from exhaustion. I saw the succubus alight on a nearby rock, but I didn¡¯t have the energy to run anymore.
I took a moment to clear my lungs, breathing in and out deeply. Then, I took a deep breath and held it before entering the next room. I was greeted by the sight of the nubile succubus riding Clyde. My partner was already starting to show signs of Drain Syndrome. It was too late for him. I said a silent prayer for his soul in my head and thanked him for giving me the chance to get away with his sacrifice.
I made it as far as the entrance to the next room before I was brought to a halt by the sound of a shrill feminine scream of ecstasy. A breathy voice called out. ¡°You¡hah¡ you know you can¡¯t¡hah¡ can¡¯t escape¡hah¡ right?¡±
Well, she knows I¡¯m here. ¡°I can and I will foul demon. I do not know how you managed to defeat our preparations, but know that you will never succeed!¡±
The air was still for a moment before sickening laughter echoed around the room.
¡°EhHaHAHA! Prep¡hah¡rations? You two ¡hah¡ made those? I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t even notice.¡±
I felt my face pale. Surely our magic tools would have had at least some effect, she had immediately drained Clyde after capturing us¡ which meant it had taken her some effort to charm him¡ right?
¡°You don¡¯t even know do you? What you¡¯ve stepped into?¡± Her voice had dropped low and was uncomfortably close to my ear. When did she move!?
Perking back up, she cheerfully announced, ¡°Let me introduce myself then! I¡¯m Sitri, Fifth of the Sins of Lust! Now, come Geoff, and surrender your sword!¡±
Sitri!? The Fifth of the Sins of Lust!? You mean, One of the Original Sins!? With a wail of despair, I took off running, her voice echoing behind me.
¡°A chase? I love tag!¡±
As I lay exhausted, the devil approached me and straddled across my chest. ¡°That was fun! Are you looking forward to the next part as much as I am?¡± I groaned and screwed my eyes shut as the sounds of my armor being literally ripped to pieces filled my ears. Clara! Mother! Forgive Me!
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eighth Month of 947
I dressed simply, for once not in a dress but in some light armor. I donned a black cloak that should help me blend into the darkness as we slipped out. Lastly, I accepted the dagger Jacqueline offered me. It was one of her Magic Daggers coated in Grave Oil, taking care not to touch anywhere near the blade, I attached the sheathed weapon alongside my own dagger. While my own would suffice for most things, it would likely be insufficient against a demon, hence Jacqueline loaning me one of hers.
Together we stealthily slipped out of the room, leaving behind Sana and Sarala. Stil had been let out earlier that night, Jacqueline having given some excuse or other to the remaining knights, so he was waiting for us near the gate. We stole quickly through the streets. Unlike sneaking out of Ris, getting out of Ang was shockingly easy. This was in part due to the lack of guards, but the village itself was also much smaller. We arrived at the gate and I gave a low whistle masked to sound like a random bird call.
Stil came bounding over from where he had been laying down to wait, and I reached up to unlatch the gate. As my hand reached the lock, a distressingly familiar voice caused me to freeze.
¡°Going somewhere, Stahlia?¡±
I spun around and was greeted by the sight of Dominic, standing in full kit as if he was preparing to go out somewhere. No, I imagine that¡¯s exactly what he¡¯s preparing for. A little ways behind him stood Asten, likewise dressed to go out. I groaned to myself.
¡°What are the two of you doing here?¡±
Dominic smirked. ¡°We could ask the same of you now, could we not?¡± To my surprise, it was Jacqueline who answered my question.
¡°Lord Dominic instructed me that ¡°Stahlia is very likely to want to go out and deal with the problem on her own, if she does please do inform me.¡± Lord Dominic and Lord Asten agree with you that this is an issue that cannot wait for the kingdom to send reinforcements, they wish to help us.¡±
Excuse me!? Why the hell would you tell him that!? If they¡¯re with us, we won¡¯t be able to fight at full strength, besides the fact that they¡¯re men and our enemy is a fucking sex demon! What the hell Jacqueline? I was understandably, a bit stunned by this seeming betrayal, so when Dominic held out his hand with a confident smirk on his face I reacted on autopilot and accepted it.
Dominic led me out of the village and into the forest, with Jacqueline and Asten following close behind. Stil seemed to sense something was wrong, so instead of running ahead to scout like he usually would have, he stuck close to us. Why would she do this? There has to be a reason¡ I watched Jacqueline out of the corner of my eye while otherwise keeping my gaze fixed ahead.
She looks¡ pleased with herself? As if she¡¯s done something good. Indeed, Jacqueline was wearing a warm expression as she kept one eye fixed on me walking hand in hand with Dominic. Something must have happened to her- That¡¯s it. It¡¯s that disgusting mana he emits, it has to be. I didn¡¯t have the mental leeway to examine him with my divine eyes at the moment, but if my guess was correct, Dominic¡¯s Skill must have something to do with influencing women.
That would explain why it only affected Sana and Sarala but passed the knights by completely. If I¡¯m right about this, it probably causes women to be bent in favor of him. That would explain why Jacqueline always seems to like seeing us together, why Edith was so quick to turn me over at the social when he asked her to, why Sana seemed so taken in by him back at Ris village, and why¡ and why I didn¡¯t notice anything was wrong with Rosial!
I felt my head going white with anger and I instinctively clenched my hands into fists. Dominic gave a tug at our joined hands in response.
¡°Stahlia, is something the matter? The forest might be a bit scary at night, but I promise I will keep you safe.¡±
With a start, I killed my anger. Getting angry won¡¯t help things here. I need to keep calm it¡¯s true that Dominic¡¯s skill might be responsible for me not noticing Rosial¡ but it¡¯s also possible it isn¡¯t something he can control or is even aware of. It could very well function like my [Finesse Fighting] or [Blue Blooded] where it¡¯s just a passive effect.
¡°No, nothing is the matter Dominic, I just thought of something irrelevant to the task at hand is all.¡± Thanks to having killed my anger, I was able to keep a steady voice. Still, I need to think of a countermeasure I can apply to my friends and allies. Depending on how strong the influence is, who knows what he could accidentally learn about me by saying the wrong thing to the right person. Jacqueline very well may have let out some big secrets with what she did tonight.
We traveled about an hour deeper into the forest, walking in silence. It wasn¡¯t like I would be able to separate from them without raising suspicions, I would simply have to deal with what happened and do my best to avoid tipping my hand in a visible way. This went from hard mode to fucking Dark Souls. After some distance, Asten raised his hand signaling for us to stop.
When we came to a halt, he waved his hand towards a tree just ahead of us. Smearing the tree trunk was a patch of blood, and there were signs of someone or something having fallen near the base of the tree. In a whisper, I gave Stil an instruction.
¡°Stil, is it human?¡± My Hawri sidled up to the tree and sniffed at the blood before letting out a low keen to indicate an affirmative.
Dominic and Asten nodded at each other before Asten moved forward and inspected the impressions in the soil at the base of the tree. ¡°based on the depth, I would say it was probably an adult male, likely wearing something heavy. It could be a knight in armor.¡±
I nodded and gave Stil another order. ¡°Stil, Track.¡± I received another ¡°affirmative¡± and Stil darted off ahead of us. Nodding to Dominic, Asten, and Jacqueline, we started moving again, this time following Stil. As we moved through the forest, we kept coming across traces of a lone male running, desperately running.
Assuming that the man is in fact a knight, how bad must the demon be to have caused him to flee in such abject terror? As we walked, I saw a flash of movement in the darkness, a little ways away from us. I squeezed Dominic¡¯s hand to get his attention and flicked my eyes in the direction of the movement.
Dominic nodded and released my hand. Taking a step away from me, we began to naturally spread out, pretending to be inspecting various things, as though we had lost the trail and needed to find it again. All the while, we were slowly encircling the spot where I had seen something. Before long, we had the area surrounded.
In one motion, I drew my own dagger and lunged towards a dark shadow. With a gurgle, it fell forward and rolled out into the moonlight. I inspected my kill, while retrieving my dagger from the back of the dead goblin. Damn, I mean I know it wasn¡¯t going to be that easy, but a goblin? Really? I quickly cleaned my blade and sheathed it, before returning to the trail.
When our group reconvened, Asten was giving me a conflicted look. For her part, Jacqueline was ambivalent. Dominic didn¡¯t seem overly put off, though he did raise an eyebrow. I shook my head before quickly apologizing for the false alarm. ¡°Sorry, I saw something moving but I guess it was not our objective.¡±
Asten nodded slowly before answering. ¡°¡Right, well it is good that you called it out though¡ we would not want to miss something because one of us was worried about jumping at shadows¡¡± I should just ignore his reaction and let him form his own conclusions. If I¡¯m going to worry about him getting put out by me killing a goblin, then I won¡¯t be able to get anything done tonight.
We started moving again. After about half an hour of following Stil, he stopped and tilted his head in a direction just off the trail. It was his way of indicating he had found something important. I closed my eyes and focused on my sense of hearing and smell. I could hear the sound of wind rustling the trees, a branch cracking under the foot of some far-off creature, and the rustling of metal from the direction Stil was indicating.
A quick look confirmed that the other three had noticed the same thing; each of them had adopted a low stance and were making ready with their weapons. The four of us spread out a bit, while Stil came up to my side so we could work off each other. Collectively, we crept along until we were on the edge of a clearing. Peering into it, I could see a pile of shredded metal, cloth, and leather.
A little ways away from it was a single naked emaciated corpse of a male, probably one of our missing knights. What I couldn¡¯t see, was the source of the rustling noise. It was clearly coming from that pile of what I can only assume is armor scraps¡ seriously, how strong is this demon if it was able to just shred armor like that¡? A dozen feet to my right, I caught Dominic making a hand signal that indicated he was going to advance into the clearing.
Right, not like you being the one to go in is the smartest thing¡ Ideally, it would be either me or Jacqueline since we can¡¯t be charmed. I signed back my understanding, then motioned to Jacqueline to cover him while I slipped along the side towards Asten. My plan was to put one female with each male, in case our target tried anything. I arrived next to Asten just as Dominic and Jacqueline were reaching the corpse.
Dominic raised a hand and gave a thumbs-up, indicating he had positively identified the body as belonging to one of our missing knights. That¡¯s one, so where¡¯s the other? My eyes fell on a looming black hole on the far side of the clearing. A cave. Knowing the trope, the demon will be in there. It seemed Dominic agreed with my silent conjecture, as I saw him pointing at the cave and waving for Asten and myself to come over. Asten signed back a positive answer, and the two of us stood up before creeping forward.
We arrived near the entrance alongside Dominic and Jacqueline. I took the lead in approaching the cave. Peering into the cave I was unable to really make out any details in the gloom; the contrast between the dark interior and the moonlight was too intense. Night vision. I should get night vision at some point. I added the ability to the list of things I thought I needed, before taking a step forward.
Clutching my dagger in one hand, I kept my free hand on the hilt of Jacqueline¡¯s loaned dagger. The air emanating from the cave felt heavy, and I was filled with a sense of cold foreboding. Unbidden, the beaked mask of Mortis I had seen the previous night flashed through my thoughts. If we go in there, one of us is going to die. I didn¡¯t know how I knew, but I just had a strong feeling that only death awaited our group if we entered that cave.
I fell backward as my legs betrayed me; despite being mentally willing to enter the cave, for some reason, my legs would not comply. Before I could hit the ground though, I was caught.
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¡°Whew, glad I was able to catch you, would be a shame if someone as pretty as you got hurt!¡±
The voice was female and much higher than Jacqueline¡¯s. I felt my stomach jump into my mouth and in one motion drew Jacqueline¡¯s loaned dagger and spun on the spot, slashing with the momentum of my turn. I was met with the sight of a young girl, probably fourteen to fifteen years old by appearances, though given what she was her physical appearance was no indication of her true age. She was standing about four meters back away from me where she had landed, idly twirling a finger through her hair. She was wearing a sort of tube top and a miniskirt, so even if she hadn¡¯t just cleared such a distance in a single leap there would have been plenty to get suspicious over.
¡°Wow! I get that you¡¯re grateful for me saving you from injury and all that, but I only accept blades from men, sorry!¡± she giggled as she jumped back away from me.
Looking past her, I could see Asten and Dominic collapsed on the ground, with Jacqueline standing over them brandishing a raised fist. Evidently, they had been charmed and she had knocked them out. Stil was standing still, his eyes locked on the succubus, and his feathers raised. He wasn¡¯t attacking though, even though it should be obvious from the situation that she was hostile to us.
If I had to guess, he¡¯s sensing the gap between his mana and hers. If I had the leeway to look, I imagine she would be as bright as the sun relative to everyone else I¡¯ve seen so far. Still, mana isn¡¯t everything. If I can just cut her with the Grave Oil that should do it. I adopted a stance that would allow me the most flexibility of action and held up Jacqueline¡¯s dagger in a loose guard. Stil picked up on what I was doing and started to slowly circle her. Jacqueline lowered her fist and surreptitiously drew her own oiled dagger while moving so as to position herself in the bitch¡¯s blind spot.
The succubus was entirely nonchalant throughout all of our maneuverings as if to say that no matter what we tried she would be just fine. That¡¯s alright though, overconfidence leads to mistakes. Jacqueline and I aren¡¯t warriors, we¡¯re assassins. A beat. I enhanced my legs and right arm, flinging my dagger at her. Kicking off the ground I moved towards her in a straight line.
As I had learned the hard way so many months ago, moving predictably against an opponent of equal or superior skill was a good way to wind up beaten. But this wasn¡¯t a one versus one. The instant I moved, I sent Stil a mental image over our thought connection and he sprang into action. Jacqueline reacted to my movements and threw her own dagger while drawing a spare in the same motion, and launching herself towards the succubus.
As the three of us barreled towards her from three different directions, coupled with the added threat of two flying blades, I pumped mana into my brain. This was a Blood Magic technique I had picked with the assistance of Kell and Gustav over the past few months. By looping mana through my synapses, I could slow my perception of time by a factor of three. Theoretically, I could go slower, but I had found that my reaction speed couldn¡¯t keep up with more.
Besides that, I could only maintain this enhancement for a minute at best before running out of mana; enhancing neurons took a lot more mana than enhancing muscle tissue. An order of magnitude more. I also couldn¡¯t turn the enhancements off and on mid-action to conserve resources like I could with my muscles, turning it off meant that my perception would go back to normal.
The ability had a lot of drawbacks, but while using it I had, for a brief few weeks, been able to consistently beat Jacqueline in sparring, despite her level advantage and greater experience. Of course, she quickly devised a way to turn the tables on me, and I was down to only winning one in every five matches. It was more or less my current ultimate form, my pinnacle.
Watching the succubus with time moving slow, I saw her smile. In the next instant, just before the daggers would have reached her, she darted out her hand towards the first before stopping abruptly. She narrowed her eyes at the blade, then very meticulously brushed the handle, tweaking its trajectory, merely guiding it around her, where it would eventually hit a tree. The second one she grabbed from the air outright and flung towards Jacqueline.
She noticed the oil. In that brief half¡ no, a quarter of a second she recognized the danger touching the blade would pose and changed her course of action to avoid it. Indeed, I had thrown my dagger at her with the expectation that she would do something absurd like catch it from mid-air. My hope was for the highly destructive Grave Oil to wind up afflicting her person when she did so.
The returned projectile caused Jacqueline to have to twist herself in midair, killing her forward momentum. Frankly, it was miraculous she was able to react at all. Seeing as I was now down my support, I kicked down into the ground ahead of me hard, forcing my momentum to die off. The shockwave of my feet digging into the dirt rattled my joints and I had to briefly redirect mana into my ankles to enhance their durability lest they be shattered.
This had the knockdown effect of stopping my bullet time for a second. In that mere second, I lost track of the Succubus entirely. When I caught sight of her again, she was holding Jacqueline by the throat. Stil was chewing on her elbow, but she was utterly ignoring him. Looking closer, it appeared that every wound he was inflicting healed almost instantly. Fuck! Stil is male! She¡¯s drawing energy to heal straight out of his own saliva! I whistled Stil off and he let go immediately before backing off with his feathers up threateningly.
¡°Grave Oil. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to actually have something that could have hurt me. I¡¯ll have to take out my frustrations on something.¡± Her tone was utterly devoid of its earlier playfulness. She¡¯s fucking pissed. I forced myself to stand. I didn¡¯t typically use such a high degree of enhancement while practicing, and I was suffering for it now, my legs felt like they had been dipped into frying oil. I grit my teeth, not from the intense pain but to stop them from chattering in fear.
¡°L-let her go.¡± To punctuate my sentence, I drew my own dagger. This one wasn¡¯t coated in Grave Oil, but as I drew it I used a bit of Blood Magic to create a few drops of water with which I coated the blade. Hopefully I can bluff well enough to get her to at least let Jacqueline go. Once she¡¯s free she¡¯ll do something! She has to.. or else¡
The succubus eyed me, or more specifically, the dagger I was holding. ¡°Let her go? Or what? You¡¯ll kill me with that butter knife? You wouldn¡¯t even be able to touch me. I can smell your mana dwindling, if I had to guess you could maybe move like you did earlier for ten more seconds, tops? Blood Magic might be special to you humans now, but to Originals like myself, we can remember a time when it was the standard.¡±
So she recognized what I was doing¡ That isn¡¯t surprising, but ¡°Original¡±? The hell does she mean by that? How long ago are we talking? The only thing I could think of with my available knowledge was the creation story I had been told at my dedication, specifically about the Hell Kings rebelling against the Goddess of Light and God of Darkness. Still, I have to try. If I do nothing she¡¯ll just kill her and then me.
I pumped mana into my legs. After a moment of consideration, I decided not to enter bullet time. I likely wouldn¡¯t be able to react fast enough even in that state, so I would be better served by extending the duration of my other enhancements. I sprung forward, keeping my eyes fixed on her throat.
The succubus sighed, and moved her hand into a position to catch me as I entered her reach. Just as I was about to enter her sphere of influence, I gave a shout. ¡°[Light #####]¡± releasing my chant-held flashbang spell. This consumed the rest of my dwindling mana, and I felt the strength leave my legs. The succubus gave a startled cry and shifted her arm to block out the light, thus swinging Jacqueline¡¯s body into my reach.
Perfect, I leave the rest to you! I joined my arms to get as much strength as I could and swung my arms down at the Succubus¡¯ wrist, where her hand connected to her forearm. I was met with a satisfying feeling of flesh tearing as my blade passed through, severing the appendage. Good that I missed the bone, but this is really going to hurt¡ Indeed, without mana, I had no way of arresting my flight.
I slammed into the ground and bounced into a tumble, rolling ahead over heels while I tucked my head into my chest and covered it with my arms. Finally, I came to a halt thanks to a large, round, and bark-covered brake. I lay there dazed, mentally taking stock of the various pain signals coming from all over my body. I can taste iron, my leg muscles are probably shredded, and I don¡¯t think my elbow normally bends in that direction. When the adrenaline wears off I¡¯ll probably go into shock. Still, it could have been much worse.
I tried standing and winced as my core gave out. Right, I¡¯ll settle for rolling over. That didn¡¯t go much better, but I was able to get into a position where I could see Jacqueline. She was in recovery but was slowly standing up. The Succubus was a little bit away from her, staring in disbelief at her bloody stump. Jacqueline hurry! I wasn¡¯t able to move my mouth to speak, so I settled for a mental shout.
As I watched, cheering Jacqueline on mentally, the succubus straightened her back. ¡°Right. I¡¯m done playing.¡± She vanished, before appearing behind Jacqueline and dropping an elbow onto the back of her neck. Vanishing again, she appeared right in front of me. I felt a sharp pain in my side and found myself once again airborne.
Crashing down in the middle of the clearing, I coughed, and a large amount of blood spewed out of my mouth. I think that kick just broke two or three of my ribs. My head had landed at an angle where I could see the succubus standing on one leg, her other raised in the air from the follow-through of launching me. Stil reacted by lunging at her but she merely flicked him away, and he slumped to the ground unconscious or dead; I couldn''t tell. She walked over so as to be standing over me. My head adrenaline was starting to wear off, so I was finding it much harder to ignore the burning pain in my various broken bones and other injuries.
As I was forced to look up at her, I was overcome with fear in addition to the pain. Her face was cold as she looked down at me like some kind of insect she wanted nothing more than to crush. Right, so far I¡¯m disabling Anger. Let¡¯s do fear too if only to deny her the satisfaction. Since I¡¯m not a dude anymore, she won¡¯t be able to take my soul. I need to remember to file a formal complaint with that douchebag Mortis when he comes to grab me. I switched off my fear, and felt my face relax somewhat. My injuries still hurt, but as the sensation pain was tied to fear I was more able to cope. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but I could sort of accept the pain now, and then somewhat ignore it.
When my face slackened, the Succubus tensed up and, though I didn¡¯t believe it was possible, her glare deepened. ¡°Hiding your fear won¡¯t save you from my anger.¡± She raised up one of her feet before bringing it down on my knee, shattering the joint. I winced as the new source of pain came in, but quickly categorized it under ¡°things to be ignored¡± and gave the succubus a defiant smirk.
¡°Black would have been sexier than none.¡± She stared at me dumbfounded for a moment, then slammed her foot down on my other knee. In response, I spat out blood at her. ¡°You can¡¯t break me.¡±
I meant this comment to goad her into killing me sooner so as to deprive her of any pleasure she might have gotten, but it caused her to narrow her eyes. ¡°No you¡¯re wrong. He only told me I couldn¡¯t kill or defile you. You or the boy. Everyone else is fair game.¡±
I had a really bad feeling about the way she phrased that last bit. ¡°Clearly, you have a great deal of resilience to physical pain. Let¡¯s play a game shall we?¡± She started walking leisurely towards Jacqueline. I wasn¡¯t fast enough to stop my eyes from widening, and the succubus noticed this, breaking out into a smirk. Bending over, she leisurely picked up Jacqueline and tossed her over closer to me. Close enough that I could have been able to touch her if I had the energy to move my arms.
Disappearing from my view, the succubus soon returned, holding one of the Grave Oil daggers. ¡°I wonder what will happen if I rub this on her fingertips? How far up her arm will it eat? Will she wake up?¡±
Fucking damnit! Of course, if hurting me doesn¡¯t work she¡¯ll go for one of my friends or allies. She probably picked Jacqueline because she plans to use Asten and Dominic to recover energy and heal her hand later. Well one of them, she can¡¯t hurt ¡°the boy¡± so one of them is off-limits. Still, there was one way I could get out of this, and that was, sickeningly, to take away the succubus¡¯ fun here as well.
I¡¯m sorry Jacqueline. I activated [Cold Hearted] for the third time, disabling Empathy. ¡°Based on the amount of oil we used, probably up to her elbow? Maybe a little bit higher. Of course, if you cut instead of rubbed it would take the whole arm.¡± The succubus smirked.
¡°Your bluff won¡¯t help, I saw your face when I suggested the game.¡± I forced my shoulders up a minute amount. I wasn¡¯t physically able to shrug at the moment, but she was smart so I¡¯m sure she would figure ut what I was implying.
¡°Try me. I¡¯ll bet my life that it eats no further than her collar bone if you stab below the wrist. If it eats further then I¡¯ll willingly comply with whatever the person who ordered you not to kill me wants. If I¡¯m right then you have to leave me and Jacqueline alone. Whichever of the two boys you aren¡¯t allowed to fuck as well I guess. You can have the other one.¡± There¡¯s no way I¡¯m wrong about the Grave Oil¡¯s effectiveness, this gets most of us out of here mostly intact. We can get back and let the kingdom know one of the ¡°Original¡± demons is here, whatever that means¡ I¡¯ll have to take a demonology class or something.
The succubus gave me a hard stare, before giggling and returning to her previous, childish, attitude. ¡°Great! Am-az-ing! So you¡¯re Winter¡¯s pet this session! That explains it. Winter is always the funniest to play with! I¡¯ll take you up on that bet¡ if you seal it with a pact.¡±
Pact magic was similar to slave contract magic. The only real difference was that there was no master-slave dynamic involved, and both parties had to willingly consent to the formation of the pact or the spell wouldn¡¯t trigger. In effect, it would compel members of the pact to adhere to the tenets in it, much like how a slave would be compelled to follow their master¡¯s orders. Well, that¡¯s better than I would have hoped for. This guarantees she will let the three of us go without going back on her word. Idly I noted how sick I was going to feel when I turned empathy back on, given that I was essentially selling Asten¡¯s soul to a literal devil.
¡°I¡¯m willing to back up the bet with a pact, but I don¡¯t know the spell.¡± The Succubus shook her head.
¡°Were you paying attention to what I said earlier? When I was your age, Blood Magic was the standard.¡± She gripped my head and hauled me up to her eye level, then with a smirk, she puckered her lips and kissed me. In my surprise, I made the mistake of opening my mouth, a fact which was instantly taken advantage of. I felt a strange tingling spread out from my mouth. It was pleasant, sort of like popping a mint. It left me wanting more.
After a moment, a burning sensation entered my head, as memories of a discussion I didn¡¯t remember having entered my mind. Next, I was assaulted by an itching sensation all over my body, and the sharp pain of bones popping back into place and fusing. In only a few seconds, the majority of my injuries had healed completely. Sitri pulled away, and I was left gasping for breath. I patted myself down, checking that my injuries were healed, then held out my hand towards Sitri. ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll do it now.¡±
Sitri nodded and passed me the dagger. I walked over to Jacqueline and knelt by her left arm. She¡¯s right-handed, so the left arm would be the best pick. Without hesitating, I took the dagger in hand, then brought it down on her palm. Immediately, the Grave Oil began to cause the limb to decay. In her unconsciousness, I observed Jacqueline¡¯s face twist in pain.
During the instant of establishing the pact, Sitri and I had held a conversation via our mana connection, it was during this conversation that I had learned her name and we had hashed out the particulars of the contract. Namely, that the bet was over how much of Jacqueline¡¯s arm would be consumed by the Grave Oil. I would be considered the winner if it was less than her collar bone, Sitri would win if it was past that. Upon my win, Jacqueline, Dominic, and I would be free to go, but Asten would remain as ¡°compensation¡± for the damage we had done to Sitri.
If Sitri won then the lives of Jacqueline and Asten would be forfeit, Dominic would be free to go, and my pact with Sitri would convert into a slave contract. As an extra clause, Sitri offered to use restoration magic on me. In exchange, I would be required to administer Jacqueline¡¯s wound myself. After considering the task of getting two badly injured bodies, mine and Jacqueline¡¯s, out of the forest I determined it was an acceptable measure. Jacqueline would be losing an arm either way, so I may as well make the situation following as easy for us as possible.
After the oil had eaten its way halfway up her wrist, Jacqueline¡¯s eyes flashed open and she let out a scream of pain. Even for someone with as high a pain tolerance as her, having a part of your body rot to nothingness was more than she could seem to bear. By the time it had gotten to her bicep, Jacqueline was delirious. Her eyes had rolled back into her skull and she was vaguely mumbling to herself. After the oil had eaten up to her shoulder without showing any signs of slowing, I was beginning to get worried I had miscalculated.
However, it thankfully began to slow. Eventually, the rot stopped while there was still an inch left of her armpit. In place of the rotting, she was now gushing blood from the stump of her left arm. Since she was already in shock from the previous pain, there was little chance she would notice a little more.
¡°Oh Fire, Grant ## # ###### ###### from your #######. Let Your heat ###### my ####### from this ###### ##### and let your ####### be known! [Flame Dagger]¡± I quickly chanted out a spell and used the resulting flickering orange blade to cauterize her wound. Sitri inspected the remnants of her arm before smirking.
¡°Well then Stahlia, as per our agreement, you are free to go. With this, I have enough souls so I will be taking my leave. Keep the hand; you can use it to prove my existence. I¡¯ll just grow another one.¡± Sitri stretched, then walked over to Asten and slung him over her shoulder. Considering her slight build, it was a strange sight to behold.
After making sure she was really gone, I checked on Jacqueline and Dominic. Dominic was still out cold, but it seemed he had transitioned from induced unconsciousness to sleep. I considered taking advantage of the situation and appraising him, but my mana was still recovering and I didn¡¯t want to risk him waking up before Jacqueline and I managed to get the story straight. I gave him a good kick to the head to ensure he stayed asleep and moved on to check Jacqueline.
My vassal was also in a state of unconsciousness, and I could see her eyes flicking around under her eyelids, and her breathing was erratic. I took out a rejuvenation potion and a numbing agent from my bag and poured it down her throat while pinching off her nose and tilting her head to trigger her to swallow. Stil nudged at my hand. He had apparently awoken at some point. His hindleg had a limp, and several of his feathers around his right side were damaged but he was otherwise miraculously unharmed. I whistled to him, and told him to grab Dominic, before downing a mana recovery potion and engaging enough enhancements so that I could shoulder Jacqueline.
We took off running, moving generally away from the clearing in no particular direction until the sky was gray. My plan was to tell Dominic that the Demon was much stronger than we had thought; he had been charmed almost immediately. Jacqueline had lost an arm protecting me, and Asten had essentially ordered us to run while he distracted it to buy time. Of course, I needed Jacqueline to wake up before then so I could set the story straight.
Arriving in a clearing a good distance away from the one where we had fought, I had Stil drop Dominic and then arranged him with his back against a tree. I set Jacqueline down a bit away from him and arranged her in an upright position. I could have used some of the smelling salts in my bag to get her awake right now, but it would be better for her health if I let her wake up naturally, as long as she didn¡¯t take too long.
I sat down, and seeing me adopting a resting position, Stil collapsed and began panting. Ah yea, he was probably getting really tired as well. I suppose now is a good time as any to do this. I canceled [Cold Hearted] on my Anger, Fear, and then Empathy. Immediately I was attacked by a wave of nausea, unlike anything I had experienced before. I fell over onto my side, shaking in mental agony as I struggled to come to terms with what I had done.
I killed him! I literally signed the death warrant of an innocent man! No, not just a death warrant. Mortis said that souls were being stolen from the cycle. I erased his existence! I wretched though, as I had not eaten anything for some time, nothing came up. I lay there shivering for some time, thinking about Asten and cursing myself, until I heard a rustling from nearby.
¡°Lady.. Lady Stahlia? Are you hurt?¡± Looking behind me, I saw Jacqueline reaching towards me with her arm, and though she had evident lingering pain expressed on her face, it was being overwritten with concern. Concern for me. Even though I was the one who had sacrificed her and Asten. I burst into tears at the sight. Between the dry heaving, the crying, and Jacqueline urging me to explain what happened, something broke inside me. I get it now. She knew this would happen the moment she figured out I was winter¡¯s¡ She knew what I would be forced to do in order to live with myself¡
[Cold Hearted], Disable my Remorse. Like a switch, Asten''s death and Jacqueline''s arm, they didn''t bother me anymore. I still felt bad of course, I was able to empathize, but the overwhelming sense of guilt that had been making me ill vanished.
2-14 Resolution of Ang
Dominic, Twelve Years Old, Eighth Month 947
I woke up with a pounding headache. Reaching up and touching my head, I felt a large welt. Inspecting my fingers as I pulled them away, I was shocked to see flakes of dried blood. I was sitting with my back against a tree in a large clearing.
With a start, I jumped to my feet and groped for my sword only to find that it was missing. Then, as the blood rushed to my head, I collapsed back onto my knees in agony. I heard a shout, and as I looked up through eyes squinted in pain, I saw my fianc¨¦ Stahlia, peering down at me.
¡°Dominic, it¡¯s alright, we are safe now. We got away.¡± She seemed concerned, and given my present condition, I couldn¡¯t blame her.
Glancing around, I saw that Stil was collapsed in a heap looking thoroughly exhausted. Jacqueline was sitting near a tree a few meters away from us, though her posture seemed a bit lopsided. With a start, I realized that she was missing an arm and that the wound had been cauterized. I shuddered as I imagined how much that must have hurt.
As I looked around the clearing, I noticed that we were missing one member, ¡°Where is Asten?¡±
Stahlia furrowed her brow and shook her head, ¡°Probably dead. After you got knocked out and Jacqueline lost her arm, Asten decided to distract the demon while Jacqueline and I ran away with you.¡±
She didn¡¯t seem broken up about his death, but then they had hardly been close. To my knowledge, this was the first time the two of them had really interacted, despite both of them being Special Students. Still, for me to have been knocked out¡ I didn¡¯t remember being hit by the succubus¡¯s attacks. As I thought back over the events of the fight, the last thing I could remember was seeing an obviously suspicious girl appear behind Stahlia. She had looked back at the three of us and held up a finger in front of her lips before winking.
After that, everything was dark and then I was waking up in this clearing. That would mean either Asten or Jacqueline knocked me out. Jacqueline can¡¯t be charmed by a female succubus owing to her being her. I can¡¯t be charmed because of my skills, so there would be no reason for my allies to have to knock me out. That means Asten must have been charmed and attacked me.
I knew I shouldn''t have brought him. I figured that I should bring him along to prevent Stahlia from growing suspicious of me when I showed up while she was sneaking out. I had thought she was planning something, knowing her personality, and had approached Jacqueline to try and head her off. I had originally wanted to have Jacqueline stop her from doing anything, however, she had not been willing to go that far, even when I used my [Incubus Eyes] at full power.
Instead, I settled for having Jacqueline inform me of what Stahlia was planning. Imagine my shock when Jacqueline informed me that the plans had already been made and that the two of them were taking the Stawri out tonight. That idiot! This demon was able to bring down two knights! What are you expecting to be able to do alone!? Still, stopping her was futile. I had a few ideas for how I might have been able to restrain her, but none of them would work here. Not without raising some serious questions that I didn''t want to be raised.
I knew I would be able to do something about the succubus myself since I should be immune to its charms via my own abilities. The only thing I could do then was to go with her, and then strike down the demon after it thought it had made me its ally. I knew this would work because of my own Incubus Eye; there was no notification or way to tell when a target was fully under my control. I would only know by observing their actions, so I would just have to wait until I resisted the charm effect from the succubus and then act charmed.
The only issue was, of course, Asten. If Stahlia, Jacqueline, and I were all to disappear together, it would put him in a very difficult spot. Taking him with us was a risk, but if worse came to worse, I could just knock him out myself. Actually, having him with us might not be a bad idea... He could provide a decent distraction in his own right and help keep Stahlia and Jacqueline from noticing I haven''t been charmed. I would still need an excuse to explain how I overcame the charm... but I should be able to flirt my way through it. I am, after all, the protagonist of this story. Hell, if things go well, this might set another one of Stahlia''s route flags. The "He saved me from the succubus!" event scene...
But the plan backfired. Asten was charmed and proceeded to knock me out before I could do anything... but if that was the case, it didn¡¯t explain why he would offer to buy time; The succubus was strong enough to take down a pair of knights and had then taken Jacqueline¡¯s arm. That meant it would be Stahlia and Stil versus a demon and Asten. The succubus would be immune to almost anything Stil could do, and Asten shouldn¡¯t have had any problems with a Stawri of all things. This meant it was basically Stahlia versus Asten and a Succubus. She might be good, but she¡¯s not that good.
The only explanation was that after knocking me out, the Succubus had decided to let the rest of us go for some reason. This plotline is so contrived, the villain is too lazy to dispose of the main character and his love interest so lets them go. I guess this means I¡¯m supposed to spend the next few years in a training arc and then have a climactic battle to avenge Asten¡¯s death. I gazed at Stahlia and felt a warm smile break out over my face.
The look of revulsion this caused her to briefly show before carefully masking her inner turmoil was a bit disheartening, but then again, I did enjoy the tsundere motif. If her hair was a slightly brighter shade of red, she would be perfect¡ Lucky for you that the villain of this story is a female succubus, and not a male one-winged angel, or things might have gone pretty badly for you huh? Stahlia pulled me out of my revelry by shaking my shoulder.
¡°Dominic, were you listening at all? We need to get back to the village and report this! That succubus was an Original Sin!¡± I nodded vaguely. Her face is so close¡ I felt a strange warmth welling up, it was something I had never felt before, not in this life at least. She narrowed her eyes and pushed out her chin. Clearly, she was getting upset that I was tuning her out.
Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into my head. In one motion, I angled my own head properly and closed the remaining distance between us. It was just a quick peck, nothing like what I planned on doing in the future, but it was enough to cause her to jerk back away in surprise. I was half expecting the classic slap across the face, but instead, my fianc¨¦ went for the lesser-known classic of ¡°vigorously rubbing her lips on the back of her hand¡±.
My fianc¨¦ is a rare tsundere I see. I will be sure to treasure her carefully. Still, it was strange. I knew I had some fucked up tastes. Before I died I had been just getting into some really interesting porn. I was, after all a forty-year-old virgin. Waiting for my new body to go through puberty so that I could begin to indulge myself had been one of the most difficult experiences of my fifty some odd years of life.
But even as I had been becoming more and more of a degenerate, I had never been a lolicon. And yet, I find myself being so strongly attracted to Stahlia¡ Is it just my predilection for tomboys and tsunderes? The fact that I know we will be getting married eventually? Or is there something else? It was a mystery, but for better or worse, the more time I spent with her, the more I found myself wanting to keep her all to myself.
¡°Are you done grinning like an idiot?¡± I glanced up at the girl in question, then hauled myself up to my feet. Taking care this time so as not to upset my head injury, once I was up, I moved around experimentally. Seeing as everything was fine, I turned to face Stahlia, who was now standing with her arms crossed.
I gave my offhand over my heart while holding my dominant over where my sword would normally be, had I not lost it during our flight. Bowing my head, I answered her question, ¡°Yes, thanks to the caress of your lips I feel invigorated once more. Shall we make for the village?¡± It was an overly dramatic statement, but it had the desired effect of short-circuiting her brain and leaving her blushing while opening and closing her mouth, unable to come up with a retort. I love when she goes dere.
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Getting out of the forest and back to the village proved relatively easy. Jacqueline was in no condition to fight, and Stil was exhausted. Normally two children this deep in the forest might have struggled, but Stahlia and I were both nobles of Drakas and Special Students to boot. The handful of weak monsters we encountered proved no threat to us, and we managed to make it back to the village before noon.
My manservant Gregory was there waiting with the other two servants I had brought with me, along with Asten¡¯s retinue and Stahlia¡¯s two friends. I mean, who brings a group of girls on a mission like this? I get that they have some skill, but wouldn¡¯t you normally bring servants and use the knights for battle?
Upon seeing her, one of Stahlia¡¯s friends let out a shriek and came running out of the village towards us. If I recall correctly that one was Sana¡ the girl from her home village. Sana came running up to Stahlia, who tiredly raised a hand in greeting, ¡°I¡¯m back¡¡±
This was apparently a dissatisfying answer, as it caused Sana to cross her arms and glare at Stahlia, ¡°And just what were you thinking!¡±
Stahlia glanced away and mumbled something I couldn¡¯t catch. Observing her other friend, the Claurence''s dog Sarala, I was a bit surprised to see that she was giving Stahlia a blatantly surprised look. Almost like she was staring at a rare animal. As soon as she noticed my appraising gaze, she wiped the look off her face with a quick shake of her head.
As I was pondering the strange reaction, I caught sight of Asten¡¯s manservant approaching me while clenching his hands. I gave a subtle shake of my head, which caused the man to stop, close his eyes and take a deep breath. He then gave a slight nod and backed away from the group, to where Asten¡¯s other two attendants were.
It was a saddening sight, but there was nothing I could do. Asten would be honored posthumously for his sacrifice, and it would bring a large degree of prestige to his house. Lord Percius will be upset though; I¡¯ll have to see if father can arrange things to prevent him from attempting anything.
After wrapping things up at the village entrance, we made our way to the village chief¡¯s home in order to have a private discussion with the knight commander. It was paramount that we reported the gravity of the situation here in Ang Village, it would likely require the remaining citizens to evacuate while a full suppression team of seasoned veteran knights was deployed. Such was the threat of an Original Sin-ranked demon.
The discussion was largely redundant, Stahlia had the demon¡¯s hand, and a quick check of its mana confirmed our account. The fact that she had managed to collect even something so small was grounds for great prestige in and of itself. It wouldn¡¯t be at all surprising if she was granted some reward for this. I freely admitted to having been overcome and missing the majority of the fight; this would benefit me in the long run, as any rewards and accolades Stahlia received would pass to me in a scant few years anyways. It was better to push her as far as possible in order to increase the scale of her achievements, thus increasing the size of any rewards she was offered.
It was decided that we would depart the very next day along with one of the four remaining knights. The other three knights would stay in the village and do what they could, while we made all due haste to report the situation; it was not lost on the knight commander that the three who stayed behind were, in all likelihood, doomed to die. To his credit, he selected the freshest of the other three knights to be the one to return to the capital with us.
The next morning the entire remaining population of the village came to see us off. Unlike the previous trip, Asten¡¯s attendants took the smaller carriage, while Stahlia and her party boarded the larger one with myself and my three attendants. We were arranging ourselves like this to save time at checkpoints; having the two nobles in one carriage would enable us to have our identities verified together thus saving valuable time. The small carriage would trail behind several days, but with Asten having passed, we had no use for his attendants.
As we boarded, the lot of the villagers bowed their heads and murmurs of gratitude made their way to our ears. Likely, rumors of what the three of us students had faced had made their way around. As well as the very obvious fact that one of us was no longer present. Rather than being upset that we were leaving them now, the villagers seemed to understand that we were going to get help because there was nothing we personally could do.
We rode our horses hard, to the point where a few died of exhaustion. Fortunately, this was a true emergency of the national scale, so we were able to leverage our status and mission to appropriate new horses from the villages and towns we passed through. By sleeping in shifts in the carriage and riding through the nights, we managed to cut our travel time down from the previous seven days to a mere three. Of course, doing this did nothing to help our fatigue, and by the time we were arriving back in the capital we were all of us exhausted.
This was particularly bad in the case of Stahlia, who had been running herself ragged even before our seventy-two-hour dash. More than once, I had found her drifting asleep on my shoulder, only to wake up a few minutes later with a jolt and scoot away from me with a red face. As we kept going, however, and Stahlia got more and more tired, she also became less and less resistant, and by the time we were pulling into Drakas, she had wound up spending the past several hours sleeping on my shoulder.
Of course, I was tired too, but I was much too interested in watching her resistances slowly crumble to sleep much myself. Besides, her sleeping face is absolutely adorable. I was truly enjoying the experience of someone falling for me naturally, I knew I would treasure my memories of building this relationship.
We arrived at my family¡¯s estate, and I poked her cheek to wake her up. I had briefly considered waking her up with a kiss, but I decided to forgo that at present; there were too many people around and we were not married yet. Truthfully, her sleeping on my shoulder was already pushing the bounds of what would be considered socially acceptable. I shouldn¡¯t have to worry about Sana, Doggy, Jacqueline, or Stil. Gregory was on my side of course, but the other two servants I had with me answered to my mother, and for whatever reason, she seemed immune to my powers.
My working theory was that she either possessed a magic item to protect against charm effects, which was likely considering her position as a high noble, or that my abilities didn¡¯t work on her due to our blood relationship. Though unless Elienor wasn¡¯t related to me by blood, the latter was unlikely, since I was perfectly capable of influencing my sister as I pleased. Though if it turned out that she really isn¡¯t my sister, that would make my future bright indeed.
In any case, my poke woke Stahlia up. She tilted her neck and stretched her arms, producing several pops and cracks that sounded like they were incredibly satisfying, ¡°Mmm¡ Have we arrived¡?¡±
I took a moment to appreciate her sleepy face before I nodded, ¡°Yes, we are back at the Francois Estate. I should think you will want to retire immediately and sleep in your bed; we are scheduled to have an audience with Duke Percius and General Bonet tomorrow. We will have to report Asten¡¯s death in detail and describe the threat to them. And by we, I mean you, since I was unconscious.¡±
Indeed, the soldier would make a preliminary report, he had already departed to do so. Then it would take them at least until the morning to collect the necessary individuals to hear the eyewitness account, even if it was an emergency, bureaucracy still took some time. We would likely be summoned sometime in the early to mid-morning.
Stahlia nodded after a moment to digest my words, then extended her hand to me. I stared blankly for a moment before I accepted it and helped her down from the carriage. She¡¯s never initiated contact before, always being the recipient. She must be way more tired than I thought. Still, being sought out naturally like that¡ it really did feel good. I had grown used to woman doing whatever I wanted thanks to my abilities in this world, though I knew I was repeating myself, having someone able to resist my charms come around naturally was truly exhilarating.
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I took her hand and helped her down from the carriage. As her feet hit the ground, I felt a chill run down my spine. Turning around, I saw Pet staring at us from a distance, her tail was standing straight up and she had her ears pressed flat against her head. Interesting, I knew she wasn¡¯t fond of me, but I haven¡¯t seen her in a while¡ I¡¯m not sure what I did to cause her to so blatantly detest me¡ It¡¯s truly saddening.
I had originally purchased her for Stahlia after seeing how distressed her appearance had made Stahlia. Indeed, she did look an awful lot like Stahlia¡¯s late sister Rosial. However much to my surprise, Stahlia had very quickly gotten over her distress, seeming merely bored with the creature during the sale. As it turned out, this had worked in my favor, as the slave trader lowered the price substantially after seeing her lose interest. Based on her next set of actions, that is, feeding and clothing it, I had determined that she had tactfully feigned boredom in order to acquire the slave more easily.
I had been a bit appalled by what came next though, as Stahlia was seemingly treating Pet as¡ a pet. Though I suppose that was better than the conditions she had been living in prior to being purchased. It was something that I was still trying to come up with a solution for; that is, Stahlia¡¯s prejudicial views towards beast-kin. I simply couldn¡¯t understand how she could treat someone so cute like her monster Stil.
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Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eighth Month of 947
After I recovered and managed to convince Jacqueline that I was fine, I apologized for her arm. Even if I didn¡¯t actually feel bad about it anymore, it was important to keep up appearances. She then assured me that even with only one arm, she would be more than capable of serving me. I nodded; I hadn¡¯t doubted that she would let herself fail over something like a missing arm. I quickly explained the information to tell Dominic. Considering that she was seemingly under his thrall to some extent, I made sure to also withhold quite a bit of information from Jacqueline.
Conveniently, as I was nearing the end of the information I considered safe to share, Dominic began to stir. I quickly brought my conversation with Jacqueline to an end and motioned for her to be silent. I made my way over to Dominic just in time to witness him jump to his feet and then promptly collapse again, clutching his head in pain. Fucking dumbass! You¡¯ve just had a major head injury! I bit back the retort I wanted to say and instead called out to calm him down, ¡°Dominic, it¡¯s alright, we are safe now. We got away.¡±
He looked up at me, and then quickly looked around the clearing, taking in the condition of everything. After a moment, his gaze returned to me, ¡°Where¡¯s Asten?¡±
I nodded and gave him my reply, keeping things as brief as possible, ¡°Probably dead. After you got knocked out and Jacqueline lost her arm, Asten decided to distract the demon while Jacqueline and I ran away with you.¡±
Dominic gave me a shocked look, before seeming to fall into deep thought. I was growing impatient, we needed to get a move on, or the knights might come into the forest looking for us. As I was about to say something, Dominic met my eyes, and a stupid dopey smile spread out across his face. What the hell!? Do you have any sense of time, place, occasion!? Despite my revulsion, being looked at like that still made my heartbeat quicken. In an effort to mask my embarrassment, I turned up my nose in an effort to appear disgusted.
After a moment, much to my horror, I realized that in my attempt to mask my embarrassment, I had inadvertently gone full tsundere again. God damnit! We don¡¯t have time for this! I decided to bring this to an end quickly, ¡°Dominic, enough. We need to get back to the village and tell everyone about the danger¡ That demon, it was an Original Sin.¡± I got no reply, Dominic once again appeared deep in thought. This guy!
I leaned forward and grabbed his shoulder, ¡°Dominic, were you listening at all? We need to get back to the village and report this! That succubus was an Original Sin!¡± He stared at me impassively, causing me to narrow my eyes in frustration. In a bid to break his eye contact, I tilted my head back away from him slightly. All of a sudden, I was met by a soft, pleasant sensation on my lips.
Blinking in surprise, I jumped backward away from Dominic. What the FUCK!? He kissed my hand before, but what the hell! Time! Place! Occasion! Unlike the kiss I had been given a few hours ago, this one was much¡ when I realized I was currently comparing kisses of all things, I felt like vomiting. Reflexively, I scrubbed at my mouth. Thankfully I hadn¡¯t accidentally opened it this time.
Dominic was smirking at me, a look I returned with a glare, ¡°Are you done grinning like an idiot?¡±
Dominic stood up and moved his body experimentally. While waiting for him to answer, I crossed my arms and resisted the urge to start tapping my foot. After a moment, he turned and faced me, ¡°Yes, thanks to the caress of your lips I feel invigorated once more. Shall we make for the village?¡±
Taken aback, all I could do was look at him in shock. I¡ I didn¡¯t send you any mana though? All you did was kiss me, there shouldn¡¯t have been anything¡ no that isn¡¯t the issue! Where the hell do you get off just kissing me like that¡ I mean, we¡¯re engaged but¡ I gave up thinking about it. As long as he doesn¡¯t try and push things any further¡ I can deal with this for another two years. Then I¡¯ll leave the capital for my bridal training and never see him again. If I¡¯m going to get the knowledge I need to save Rosial, I need the Francois, and to get the Francois, I need Dominic. I can tolerate a kiss or two for that. My mind made up, I turned and started making my way to the village without a word.
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We arrived at the village a little bit before noon. The trip was largely uneventful, Jacqueline was managing with only one arm, but I could tell she was in pain still, so I didn¡¯t engage with her. Stil was exhausted and a bit injured himself, so he stuck with Jacqueline. This left only Dominic and me to protect the group. However, we only encountered a group of three goblins. I quickly collected my experience points and we moved onwards towards the village.
When we got to the village, the first thing to catch my eyes was the worried faces of my two friends. Sana in particular came running straight at me after crying out in relief. Right, she probably missed me, I should have left a note or something. I raised my hand and called out in greeting, ¡°I¡¯m back¡¡±
At my words, her look of relief turned into one of anger. Wait, did I say something wrong? Why is she angry? Sana stopped a short distance from me, though well within arm¡¯s reach, ¡°And just what were you thinking!¡± Yea, definitely angry. Why though?
I cocked my head and answered, ¡°That two knights were dead, and I should probably do something about it before more people died?¡±
Sana glared at me, ¡°What about me and Sarala? Don¡¯t you feel at least a little bit bad about leaving us without saying a word!? What if you never came back!¡± To her credit, she was still able to control herself to the point that she was barely keeping a low voice. If she suddenly started yelling at a noble in front of so many villagers, not to mention the knights, things wouldn¡¯t go well for her.
But that makes sense why you''re angry now Sana, sorry but I actually don¡¯t feel bad¡ I literally can¡¯t. This is going to be harder to act than I thought¡ I considered turning on my remorse and simply working through the blowback once I was in private again, but I got the feeling that it would be getting worse and worse the longer I pushed it off. I¡¯m well and truly screwed, aren¡¯t I?
¡°Ah¡ right¡ I do feel bad about that, but I was worried about the two of you¡ In the end¡ Asten didn¡¯t make it. Think about how I would have felt if that was you or Sarala?¡± My statement took the wind out of Sana¡¯s sails quite nicely and left her standing there looking at me apologetically.
¡°¡sorry for snapping at you¡ are you at least unhurt?¡± I nodded and did a quick spin with my arms outstretched. Sana squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.
¡°Good. Chief Carl and Sir Albert want to speak to you and Lord Dominic, they are up at Chief Carl¡¯s house.¡±
I thanked Sana for delivering the message. Indeed, I had noticed Carl and Albert making their way to Carl¡¯s house after visually confirming Dominic and I entering the village. I grabbed Dominic, who had just finished informing Asten¡¯s manservant of the former¡¯s death, and we made our way up to Carl¡¯s house. Once arrived, I made a report similar to what I had told Jacqueline. This doubled as me informing Dominic since we hadn¡¯t talked much on the way back.
When I informed them that the Succubus had identified herself as Sitri, and claimed to be an Original Sin, I was met with disbelief. Thankfully I had Sitri¡¯s hand, which I produced as evidence to my claims. Albert produced a Mana Scope from inside his pouch and touched it to the hand. Mana scopes were a magic tool that was able to read the mana capacity of a given vessel by applying the principles behind the first law of magic.
After a moment, Albert shook his head. ¡°I cannot get a reading, the portable scope I was given should be able to read the mana quantity of anything up to the level of an average Demon Count, but it just maxes out and tells me it ''cannot get an accurate reading''.¡± The pronouncement led to silence in the room.
Just before the silence was about to become awkward, Albert spoke up, ¡°Whether or not this Sitri is truly an Original Sin, the fact stands that we lack the necessary resources to deal with something as strong or stronger than a Demon Count.¡±
He looked around the room, briefly meeting eyes with myself, Dominic, and Carl, ¡°Lady Stahlia, Lord Dominic. This has gone outside the scope of what the Special Student program is intended to handle. We have already lost Lord Asten. I will not comment on your actions in going alone out of respect for his sacrifice and thanks for the information you managed to recover. But I am sending you both back to the capital with your retinues. One of my men will accompany you and report what you have discovered, the kingdom will likely want your testimonies regarding the encounter. I and my remaining two men will do what we can in the village while awaiting reinforcements.¡±
I pressed my lips together and curtsied. It wasn¡¯t lost on me that he was likely saying these words under the impression that he was signing the death warrants for himself and his men. Of course, he doesn¡¯t know that Sitri has fucked off, and there isn¡¯t any way for me to inform them of this without spilling the details surrounding the pact I made¡ which definitely won¡¯t be received well.
The meeting finalized with us planning the way we would get back to the capital. Unfortunately, we would be riding nonstop, except to trade out horses when they became unable to continue. The replacement horses would be appropriated under the emergency provisions clause in Drakas¡¯ military code. This is going to be exhausting. Further compounding my issues, it was decided that Dominic and I would share the larger carriage between the two of us in the name of saving time.
The next day, the entire village came out to see us off. I say us, I think it might have been me and Sana specifically. More than one woman was present with a toddler tugging on their hand and pointing at us excitedly. One of them in particular was standing a ways away from the rest of the crowd; they were in fact standing in their doorway, using the frame to support themselves. Standing just outside the door was a seven-year-old girl holding a newborn infant. The girl was manipulating the infant like a puppet, making it wave its hand at me.
Lisa and¡ I never actually learned the mom¡¯s nor the baby¡¯s name, did I? Oh well, it isn¡¯t really important. I climbed into the carriage and took the seat Dominic escorted me to. Much to my annoyance, he promptly sat down next to me. The seat in question was near the head of the carriage, and large enough for two people. The other seats were made for up to three people and were a bit plainer than the one I was on. Although all of the seats were rather opulent. Presumably, the two-person seat was specifically designated for the noble passengers.
Jacqueline, Sana, and Sarala took one of the two remaining seats, on the side of the carriage closer to me. Dominic¡¯s attendants took the further of the two seats, and we departed. The first few hours of the trip, and indeed most of the first day, were relatively comfortable. Sana had healed Jacqueline¡¯s arm, though all this had amounted to was the wound closing. Lost limbs were exceedingly difficult to restore. Gods very rarely if ever granted miracles to this end, a fact Sana had felt exceedingly distressed over.
I would potentially be able to do something with alchemy, a high-level Elixir or Rejuvenation Potion could regrow body parts in a few days, but the ingredients I needed were traded on the level of percentages of a country''s GDP. Theoretically, there could be a spell chant that would restore missing limbs, but if it existed, it would be a very closely guarded secret on the level of royalty. In short, it was a good thing I had opted to go with her non-dominant arm. Of course, Jacqueline is talented enough that even if I had taken her dominant arm, she probably would have learned to cope in only a few days. Still, her not having two arms will be an issue in the long run. I''ll have to start working on a plan to get it back or find a suitable replacement.
Either way, Jacqueline was proving herself to be exceedingly capable with only the single-arm, still perfectly able to attend to me. Still, she wasn¡¯t able to drive the carriage and both Sana and Sarala did not know how to do so in the first place. Of course, there had been questions about why Jacqueline had even gone with our group when it was explained how she lost her arm, but Dominic of all people shut them down by stating that she had been trained as a knight and served as a hidden second bodyguard due to my unique position in noble society. It was frankly, a little bit scary how close to the truth he really was. This left the driving to be rotated amongst Dominic¡¯s three manservants as well as the actual driver.
My party had very little to do, but due to where I was sitting, I wasn¡¯t able to easily engage in conversation with them. As the day turned to night, I found myself dozing off periodically. Each time, I would jerk myself awake to find my head had lolled to the side and onto Dominic¡¯s shoulder. Each time I would immediately jerk away and scoot as far as I could to the opposite side of our shared seat.
As the night turned to day, I was sore, stiff, and exhausted. Dominic slept just fine, a fact which irritated me even more. For whatever reason, he had no issues staying up against the wall when he slept. Why the hell does my body gravitate to his shoulder!? Why can¡¯t I stick to the damn wall! Of course, there was the possibility that I was being affected by his skill. I focused inside myself, drawing up mana and feeding it into my eyes, applying the Divine Element to it as I went.
Unfortunately, likely due to the fact that his eyes were closed, there were no waves of mana being emitted at the moment. And if I do it when he¡¯s awake, I¡¯ll have to be staring at him while I¡¯m in his vision. Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to see if his mana is affecting me since it only goes where he¡¯s looking¡ And if I do that, it means he¡¯ll see me looking at him!
This all would be so much easier if I just appraised with my blood magic, but without the target¡¯s expressed consent, their mana would resist my own. It was also extremely easy to notice someone else¡¯s mana flowing into your body. It was exceedingly unpleasant if you were resisting it but would feel quite nice if you willingly accepted it. I had learned this back in Ris when checking the statuses of the village boys I was training. In short, if I were to try, even while he was asleep, he would most likely notice right away and ask me what I was doing.
I forcibly tore my gaze away and started to count the grains in the wood of the side paneling that was on my other side. One board had a little over eighty. I knew because I had already spent an amount of time counting them and remembered it. I groaned and stretched while sneaking a look at Dominic. He was still idly watching me. Peaking around the carriage¡¯s cabin, it seemed that everyone else was actually asleep right now. I suppose that if I did it now, he would be the only one to see me¡
I glanced out the corner of my eye while trying to work up the courage to engage my divine eyes. Dominic was still watching me while leaning on the sidewall of the carriage. Am I really that interesting¡? In my opinion, the answer was no. But Dominic clearly found something fascinating. I took a deep breath and went to apply Divine Element to the mana in my eyes. To my surprise, the aspect failed to take, and I couldn¡¯t turn them on.
What the hell? I looked over at Jacqueline and turned them on; her mana looked perfectly normal, due to Dominic watching me, she was not in his line of sight presently. I turned my eyes back to Dominic, and immediately lost control of my mana, deactivating my divine sight. Is he immune to divinity!? No. there¡¯s no way he should be, that¡¯s the sleep deprivation talking. I¡¯ve seen his mana just a couple of days ago, but he wasn¡¯t watching me then.
I spent a few minutes considering various possibilities. After narrowing them down, I went to do a test. Making sure I wasn¡¯t looking at Dominic, I engaged my divine eyes again. I moved my line of sight until I was able to see the mana pulses, but not Dominic. Then, pretending to stretch, I moved my arms into my line of sight. The moment I was able to see my own arms, I lost control of my mana again, and the divine eyes were disabled.
So it was that one. My experiment had narrowed down the cause of my issue. I was afraid. I was afraid of knowing the truth, that I might actually just be starting to like him. Now that I knew he had some power, I had subconsciously locked onto the idea that it was influencing me, and the reasons I reacted the ways I had been as a result of his skill. I was afraid, that I would see that it wasn¡¯t affecting me. Because that would mean I actually was starting to like him.
I should disable fear and get it over with. I need to know, that way I can come up with countermeasures. But despite knowing that I should just get it over with, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to actually turn off my fear. I tried, vainly, a couple of times more to look without turning off fear, but it didn¡¯t work. In the end, I spent so much time waffling about that the other passengers woke up. Fear or no fear, I was not going to be caught staring at Dominic.
The second day dragged on. My sporadic bouts of sleep were growing more frequent, but I still couldn¡¯t stay asleep for more than a few minutes at a time. As everyone else began to doze off, I resolved my tired heart and mind. There¡¯s nothing good that comes from not knowing. If it turns out I am being influenced, then I can begin work on countermeasures. If by some chance the fact that I¡¯m also a reincarnation makes me immune, then I need to confront the fact that I might be starting to fall... and figure out how to come to terms with that or deal with it.
I spent the night coming up with arguments and psyching myself up, waiting for Dominic to wake up. That morning, he once again woke up before everyone else, and once again he began to pass the time by watching me. I took a deep breath, closed my tired eyes, and disabled fear. When I woke up, Dominic was looking down at my face, while my cheek was resting on his shoulder. I felt refreshed, despite what should have been in no way a restful sleep.
I sat up and stretched, as everyone else was collecting their things and getting ready to disembark. ¡°Mmm¡ Have we arrived¡?¡± I¡¯ll act tired and take the chance to check now. I guess turning off my fear also made me less resistant to the idea of using him as a pillow. Nothing I can do about it now. As I came out of my stretch, I went through the process of activating my divine eyes and observed his mana waves.
Dominic nodded and answered my question before offering me his hand. ¡°Yes, we are back at the Francois Estate. I should think you will want to retire immediately and sleep in your bed; we are scheduled to have an audience with Duke Percius and General Bonet tomorrow. We will have to report Asten¡¯s death in detail and describe the threat to them. And by we, I mean you since I was unconscious.¡±
I reached out, being careful to minimize my movements so as not to disrupt my focus, and paid close attention to his mana pulse as it washed over my arm. Much like the knights, it passed straight through me without affecting my own mana at all. Well, I guess that answers that¡
2-15 R2: A Cruel First Blood
Subject 23, four years old, 945
¡°Subject 23, how are you today?¡±
Oh, Mr. Five! You¡¯re back! It had been a little while since the last time Mr. Five had come to talk with me. I had no idea how long I had been floating in this inky blackness but, I was able to hold on and not lose myself thanks to Mr. Five periodically talking to me.
¡°Yes, I am back. Subject 23, I think you should be able to come out soon¡ Is that something you would like?¡±
Out? What is out like¡? It had been so long since I found myself in this place, I had only the vaguest recollections of what the place beyond the blackness was.
¡°Yes, I think you should be ready to come out and meet your family. I will be with you soon.¡±
You¡¯ll be with me¡? I¡¯ll get to see what you look like Mr. Five!?
I didn¡¯t get an answer, not exactly, but I got the feeling that my excitement had pleased Mr. Five. If Mr. Five was pleased, then that was good. I floated in the inky blackness, alone once more.
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I sat up and felt my stomach and throat constrict painfully. I can¡¯t breathe! There was something in my throat, and it was so bright I could not see anything. I was cold, so cold I could not stop shaking. I wanted to cough, but the thing was stuck. I could feel snot coming out of my nose and I was crying.
Suddenly, a sharp pain struck my back. Thrown forward by the painful thing, I felt whatever was in my throat come out. I coughed, and my stomach felt like it was squeezing. A lot of water and smelly slimy stuff came out of my mouth and nose, as well as a long black thing.
¡°Subject 23, are you ok now?¡± That¡¯s Mr. Five¡¯s voice¡ so he¡¯s here with me! I quickly turned my face in the direction of his voice, but I still could not see anything properly.
¡°There, there, do not be alarmed, for I am with you.¡± As he spoke, I could feel him gently rubbing my back. It felt nice. I started shaking again, and Mr. Five stopped rubbing my back. He started rubbing both of my arms very hard and it hurt. I tried to pull my arms away, but he squeezed them tightly.
¡°Subject 23, do not pull away. You need to warm up.¡± At the sound of his voice, telling me to stop trying to pull my arms away I froze. I have to do what he says, if I don¡¯t listen then he will leave me! The thought of being left alone was scary.
Eventually, the pain from Mr. Five rubbing my arms got a bit better, and I wasn¡¯t shaking anymore. I could also see a tiny bit now. Mr. Five was wearing a black cloak that hid his face. I want to see what he looks like¡ but I bet he would be angry if I tried to look. I could not make him angry, so I decided to not try and peek.
Mr. Five stopped rubbing my arms and held something out in front of me. I squinted in the still too bright light and was able to make out that I was being handed a sort of long shirt and a towel. I reached out and took the towel, using it to wipe the slimy stuff off of my body. Doing that helped warm me up some more also. As I was getting into the shirt, Mr. Five was watching my movements closely.
Even though I was naked, it wasn¡¯t embarrassing. If it was Mr. Five then I knew there must be a reason why he was watching me dress. When I finished, he nodded and motioned for me to follow him. I got up and quickly followed him out into a long hallway. It was a bit easier to see in this room, but my eyes still hurt. Mr. Five was walking very fast, I was having trouble keeping up with him. By the time we came to the door at the end of the hallway, I was having a hard time breathing.
After going down the long hallway, we passed through a very large room with tables in the middle, and lines of doors along both walls. Mr. Five turned to me. ¡°It seems that the restoratives have prevented about eighty percent of the muscle atrophy. That is more than I expected, this is where you will be living for the next while. Your room is this one. It is forbidden to enter the room of another child. Go into your room and sleep, I will be back in the morning.¡±
I nodded. ¡°Thank you for saving me from the black place, Mr. Five.¡± He gave a quick nod and left me, so I did as I was told and went into my room. Inside my room, there was a table and chair, a bed, and a little girl. On the table was a plate of food, a glass of water, and a small round object. I turned to the little girl.
¡°You aren¡¯t supposed to be in other people¡¯s rooms!¡± The little girl looked back at me.
¡°This is my room. That¡¯s what Mr. Five said.¡± I looked at the girl suspiciously. She was about my age, probably. Maybe a bit shorter than me, at the very least I had to look down to look her in the eye. She had black hair and gold eyes, her hair was tied to the sides in twin tails with a piece of string.
I shook my head. ¡°No Mr. Five brought me to this room just now and said it was mine; you must be mistaken.¡± The girl put one hand on her chin and furrowed her eyebrows.
¡°Mr. Five brought me to this room too and said it was mine.¡± The only conclusion then, was that we were meant to share. However, there was only one bed, one table, one chair, one plate of food, and one round thing. As I was thinking about what to do, the girl nodded.
¡°It¡¯s ok; I don¡¯t get hungry so you should eat it.¡±
¡°Are you sure?¡±
The girl nodded. ¡°Thank you then.¡± I went to the table and started eating the food. It didn¡¯t taste very good, but as I ate, I started to feel very hungry. Before long I realized I had eaten everything. The girl hadn¡¯t moved while I was eating, and she now pointed at the round thing.
¡°You have to take the pill too. My sister always said that pills are good for you.¡±
I looked at the round thing. It didn¡¯t look like something you would eat. ¡°Your sister said that these are good for you?¡±
The girl nodded. ¡°Yep! My sister was amazing.¡±
I frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t have a sister, I wish I did.¡±
The girl seemed to think for a moment. ¡°I know, how about I can be your sister!¡± Her voice was cheerful as if this was the most obvious thing, and in retrospect, it was.
¡°I scooped up the pill thing and ate it, I wanted to be a good sister too, like the girl¡¯s older sister. Since I was taller that meant I was the big sister, and I had to set a good example. Suddenly I realized something important, something I had somehow forgotten. In a panic, I turned to face the girl.
¡°Do you have a name? I don¡¯t have a name, but Mr. Five calls me Subject 23.¡± The girl thought for a moment.
¡°I¡ I don¡¯t know. I think I used to¡ but it¡¯s sort of hard. Like it¡¯s far away¡¡± This wouldn¡¯t do, my new little sister needed something I could call her. As I looked at her, thinking about what I should call her, the inside of my head got really itchy. I tried to scratch it, to make it stop, and after a bit, the itching subsided. When it went away, I was left with a name in my mind.
¡°Stali! I¡¯ll call you Stali! That¡¯s a good name for a sister!¡±
The girl thought about it, rolling the name over her tongue a few times before she smiled and nodded. ¡°Un! Stali! I like that name!¡±
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Subject 23, Four Years Old 946
I blocked the cut that was coming towards me with the flat end of my blade before dropping into a low stance. Sliding forward across the floor, I lunged upwards. Bringing the point of my knife to the throat of Subject 36 I froze.
¡°End!¡± At the call of the trainer, I stepped back away from Subject 36 and put my knife away. Recently, all of the kids who lived here had been learning to fight with knives and other small weapons. Periodically we would spar with each other like this. If you lost three times then the trainer would bring you down the long hallway towards the black place. I didn¡¯t want to go back there again, so I made sure that I never lost even once.
Sometimes they would bring someone back, but often the kids who went to the black place did not return. Subject 36 looked scared; he had just lost the third time, so he would have to go to the black place. I¡¯m just glad it isn¡¯t me. Stali had never lost either, though I never actually saw her fight. That was probably a good thing since we were being trained to be assassins and take care of bad guys.
The lady who was training us hid her face just like Mr. Five did, but she never told me her name. Still, Mr. five made it clear that we were all supposed to obey her when he came to introduce us on the first day. Subject 36 was looking down at the floor when the woman came down to him.
¡°36.¡±
Subject 36 grimaced and raised his head.
¡°You lost.¡± Her voice was empty, she since was simply stating a fact. Subject 36 looked like he was about to say something in retort, but thought better of it when the woman put a hand on the cane she always had strapped to her waist. While losing three times would get you sent to the black place, talking back or not doing what we were told would get us hit with that cane.
I had never been hit since I had to set a good example for Stali. I got a lot of extra food because of how well I behaved. The last time he visited, Mr. Five had even said I might be able to advance to the next hall soon, and that he was pleased with my progress. I was sad at the thought of having to leave Stali, but at the same time, I was excited to be making Mr. Five happy. I was also wanting to see someplace new, I had lost count of the number of times I had slept in this hall.
Subject 36 was led out of the room through the door that led to the black place, and the rest of us worked together to put the tables back in the middle of the room. When the room wasn¡¯t being used for training, it served as a sort of common room for all of us to interact with each other. There were lots of things that we were allowed to do, as long as we were good and followed the rules.
Today though, I wasn¡¯t planning on doing any of the things in the common room, I was planning to hang out with Stali in our room. I had been told I would probably be moving up in the next few days, so I would probably have to leave Stali behind. Hopefully, they would let her move up soon as well; after me, she was probably the most talented.
I swung open our door and immediately spotted Stali lying on the bed that we shared. It had been cramped at first, but we had eventually gotten used to it. She was laying on her stomach and kicking her feet in the air. When she heard the door open and shut at my entrance, she jumped up.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
¡°Wentee!¡± that was what she called me, a sort of blending of my number ¡°twenty-three¡± became Wentee. She had insisted that it wasn¡¯t fair for only her to have a name when I had a number, so after much deliberation that was what she had settled on. It had made me uncomfortable at first, but she eventually convinced me by promising to only use it when we were alone. As the days had worn on, I did eventually warm up to the name.
¡°Wendi! Guess what?¡± She looked extremely excited as she beamed up at me. I had been growing pretty fast recently, though when I wasn¡¯t with Stali I wouldn¡¯t have noticed. She was still about the same size she had been when I first met her, but I was now a few fingers taller than her. The fact that I was growing so much taller made me happy as the big sister, though it really frustrated Stali, what with how she now had to crane her neck at a hard angle to be able to look me in the eye.
¡°Hmmm, what?¡±
Stali took a deep breath and exclaimed, ¡°They told me I could move up! I get to go with you!¡± I blinked for a moment, letting her news sink in. A smile broke out across my face, something that only Stali seemed able to cause.
¡°That¡¯s great! I was so sad when I learned that we would get separated!¡± I grabbed Stali and pulled her into a hug. I¡¯m so glad I get to stay with my sister!
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¡°Wentee¡±, Five Years Old 947
Stali and I had spent some time in the ¡°next stage¡±. Long enough that neither of us could remember how long. I was even bigger now. Stali only came up to about my chest. I didn¡¯t know why she wasn¡¯t growing. maybe it had something to do with how little she ate. Seriously, I had never seen my little sister eat even a single bite of food.
That didn¡¯t matter though, she was my sister, so I would look out for her. I really needed to. The second stage was awful. The slightest failure was punishable by intensive torture. I was constantly on my toes just to avoid misstepping. The threat of the sensory deprivation room was bad, but it paled towards what would happen here. One trainee was suspended above a tub full of corpse worms so that his feet and lower legs were submerged, then had healing magic continually cast on him.
My one rock, other than Stali, was Mr. Five. He was always worried about me, often coming by to check on how I was doing. After one particularly bad session where I had been forced to undergo surgery to enhance my muscles, he apologized repeatedly that I had to go through something like that. It was ok though because I knew he was doing it for my own good; After the surgery, I was suddenly much stronger, able to keep up with the other kids who had been at this stage for much longer than I had. I just wanted to be able to please him by succeeding and surpassing whatever he expected of me.
On the bright side, Stali was around more often. There were fewer trainees in this section, so it was a lot harder for her to make herself disappear into the crowd as she had always somehow done back at the first stage. Often, as I was undergoing the pain resistance training or the augmentation, Stali would sneak into the room, just out of sight of the agent who was working on me, she would mouth words of encouragement, or if she was able, lightly brush my hand. It was these brief moments of respite that gave me the strength to live up to Mr. Five¡¯s expectations of me.
I wanted to do the same for her, but every time I tried to follow her, she would manage to slip away somehow. I asked her numerous times how she was managing it, but every time she would just chuckle and say she wasn¡¯t sure what I meant, she was just walking normally.
It was the start of just a normal day for me when I was approached by one of the trainers after breakfast. She had Stali behind her, who looked really excited. I knew why right away of course; this was the trainer who only ever approached you when you were deemed ready for stage three, ¡°Subject 23, Lord Five has determined it is time for you to proceed with the final selection for stage two.¡± I nodded. I was ready.
The trainer led me to a door that I had occasionally seen other children brought through but had never dared approach myself. As we walked, I whispered to Stali in such a way as to avoid the ears of the trainer who was escorting me. Our training had proved extremely useful in forging our bond as adopted sisters. ¡°Stali, do you know what¡¯s ahead?¡± It was, in my mind, extremely likely that Stali had slipped past the door at some point. She was much better than me at hiding and tended to be a bit curious.
She shook her head, ¡°Nope! But I¡¯m glad I get to go with you!¡±
Before too long, we had arrived in front of the door. It swung open to receive us, but the interior was too dim for me to see properly. I gulped, for some reason growing anxious. Beside me, Stali gripped my hand and led me forward with a word. ¡°It¡¯s ok, I¡¯ll be with you!¡± I¡¯m supposed to be the big sister¡ I couldn¡¯t let my little sister be the one to protect me, confirming my resolve, I pushed my way through the darkness and into the room.
As soon as I was through, the door swung shut behind me with a thud. I whirled around in shock, as the lights began to increase in brightness. I shivered and turned around. I was met by the sight of Mr. Five, standing next to a cage. On a table in front of the cage was a row of daggers. ¡°Subject 23.¡± I jumped to attention; I had long ago learned that Mr. Five liked prompt obedience. ¡°The time has come for you to demonstrate your resolve. Take a dagger.¡±
I stepped forward and picked up a dagger. I had been taught how to maintain weapons ever since I had come out of the sensory deprivation stage of training, but this was the first time I had held a weapon that felt this cold. I looked to Mr. Five and he nodded.
¡°Good, that blade is enchanted. It will inflict the most pain possible from a single cut. You will enter the cage now, and prepare yourself.¡± Wait, I¡¯m going into the cage? What about Stali¡? As soon as I entered the cage, and turned around I had my answer. Stali had picked up her own dagger and was in the cage with me. I was struck by panic. Mr. Five¡¯s voice rang out, and I turned to face him. ¡°I will be back in one hour. When I return, I expect one of you to be dead.¡± My heart sank. No! I can¡¯t! I won¡¯t! I had never questioned his orders before, but this, I couldn¡¯t¡
¡°It¡¯s ok Wenti.¡± I turned at the sound of my sister¡¯s voice. To my surprise, we weren¡¯t the only ones in the cage. There was a boy in it with me. To my surprise, I recognized him. It was Number 36, the boy I had sent back to the sensory deprivation tank a year ago. As I looked him over, I heard Wenti nearby me. ¡°See? Mr. Five only said one of us had to die. Since he¡¯s here too, we can kill him! Then you and I can stay together.¡±
I gulped and nodded. That¡¯s technically true, we can do that¡ but I haven¡¯t killed anyone before¡True I had known what I was being trained to do. But being trained for something and doing it¡ There was a difference. The boy seemed to be somewhat delirious, he was barely holding together as his eyes darted around every which way.
Distantly, I considered the fact. I did that to him¡ I could have lost the fight, I hadn¡¯t ever lost one before but I knew he had already lost two¡ It¡¯s my fault he had to go back. It was blindingly obvious to me now why most of the people sent back to the sensory deprivation never came back. I hefted my dagger, feeling the weight of it, and the cold of the metal against my skin. I slowly approached him, and his eyes landed on mine.
¡°Who¡ who are you!? Stay back! G-get away!¡± 36 scrambled back away from me. As he flailed his limbs, I could recognize, he was unarmed. In this room, only Stali and I had weapons. Am I supposed to kill an unarmed person¡? Of course, I knew that I would have to do that eventually. But for the first time? It had ironically been impressed upon us all how important life was, and we were forbidden from actually hurting each other in training. The penalty for even accidentally harming a fellow recruit was extreme.
I shivered, and my dagger fell from my hand, clattering onto the floor. ¡°Stali, I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t do it. I broke him, I can¡¯t kill him to¡ I just can¡¯t¡¡± I could feel tears beginning to form in my eyes. Stali nodded.
¡°It¡¯s ok Wenti¡ I¡¯ll do it.¡± I watched. I wanted to look away, but I decided I shouldn¡¯t. I was already forcing my sister to do what I should be doing, but I should at least bear witness. Unlike me, who struggled with the idea of it, Stali walked straight up to 36. Glancing down at him, she hesitated only for a moment, and then swung the dagger once, severing his throat cleanly. His face twisted in pain; Mr. Five had evidently not been lying about the enchantment. But he could not scream, only gurgle out painfully.
Before long, Five came out and collected me from the cage. He was pleased and showered me with praise, which was confusing. I had failed I couldn¡¯t do it. I looked back over my shoulder at 36¡¯s body. I could see Stali, still standing over him. She caught my gaze and shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s ok Wenti, I¡¯ll keep you safe.¡± I nodded. I¡¯m so lucky to have such a caring little sister! The door swung shut, blocking my sight of her. But I wasn¡¯t worried; somehow I knew. Stali would always be with me. Facing forward, I advanced onwards towards stage three.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Five, Seventh Month of 947
I growled to myself and strummed my fingers on the table angrily. Everyone is retarded. I had just finished sending a response to ¡°Rowell¡±. The moron had planned to pursue Stahlia to Ang Village. Seriously. Why do I even bother? In all honesty, the fact that Stahlia had been sent to Ang village in the first place was due to a mistake on the part of a now-departed clerk.
Besides, what the hell is that succubus thinking? Going after a whole town¡¯s worth of men!? Idiots, the lot of them. The best I could do was warn her not to lay a finger on Stahlia or Dominic. The two of them were still needed. Drumming my hands on the desk, trying not to strike it too hard as to not shatter the wood, I heard a knock on the door. ¡°Enter.¡±
23 entered. I hadn¡¯t given her an alias yet, because she didn¡¯t need one. Out of all my subordinates, she was the most competent. Of course, what would you expect from an [Assassin Prodigy]? Seriously though. Two Prodigy talents popping up in the same generation, of the same household? So soon before the next war? The gods must be screwing with me. Frankly, it was a boon that she had arrived when she did. Her talents were going to prove very useful in the coming strife.
And she¡¯ll serve as a good deterrent if Stahlia ever actually tries to go through with her hair-brained schemes of revenge. Based on how she acts around that cat, all I should have to do is show even a drawing of 23, and she¡¯ll fall head over heels to do whatever I want her to. I drug myself out of my thoughts. ¡°23, your report?¡±
The girl gave a crisp salute. ¡°Lord Five. The target has met Mortis by my¡ by my hand.¡± If only she would lose that stutter, she would be perfect. For the umpteenth time that day, I began drumming my fingers on the desk. Everything is so¡ irritating.
For better or worse, 23 had a very selective stutter. It was likely an issue with the indoctrination program; things like this cropped up from time to time. Whenever she reported a kill, she would hesitate before claiming the credit. This went all the way back to when I had arranged her first kill. Upon me discussing it with her, she had clammed up and insisted tearfully that she hadn¡¯t done it, all while apologizing for her failure.
The thought of how perfect that first kill had been¡ In any case, it brought a smile to my face. I had placed her in the cage with the trash 36 and left the room. Of course, I was actually watching the whole time. Usually, a subject would wallow about and take until the very last moment before finally hurriedly killing their target. Not 23. 23 was a natural. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would even argue that she was a Demon of Wrath if I hadn¡¯t seen her appraisal results myself.
The girl had, as soon as I left the room, broken out into a smile. Walking up to 36, no skipping up to him. She had brandished the knife in his face. The poor boy had recoiled in terror, begging to know who she was and what she wanted with him. Had that stopped her? No. 23 was far too perfect for that. She started out small, a light cut over his chin, made so fast you could barely see the knife move. Watching the way she gauged the distance, even accounting for how he would flinch, to leave such a fine shallow cut¡ it made me smile just recalling.
Of course, the enchantment on the dagger had activated, crippling 36 with debilitating pain. 23 had giggled. She was thrilled to see him suffering before her. Her next cut, she took off just the tip of his finger, watching his reaction carefully. She¡¯s studying how the degree of injury affected the intensity of pain. That¡¯s what I had thought at the time, but watching her work as she continued her training, I was convinced that she was simply a sadist.
She spent the better portion of the hour carving poor 36 up, piece by excruciating piece. I was amazed at her dedication. She took great care to avoid any major arteries, any wound that would allow the poor failure to expire. As her given hour neared its end, only then did she finally slit the boy¡¯s throat. Even this cut, she kept it shallow, such that it would take him time to bleed out fully. When I came to get her, she was playing with the corpse, drawing patterns on it with the dagger¡¯s blade.
Of course, she reacted to me immediately and stood up, drenched in blood. I let her out of the cage and she bounded up to me as if she was coming back from visiting a friend¡¯s house. My wonder hadn¡¯t ended there though, as I was leading 23 out of the room, she had turned and looked back at the corpse, intently, as if studying a piece of art. After a moment, she had broken out into a smile and turned back to follow me further down the hall, humming some little ditty to herself.
I was pulled from my recollections by the same 23 in the present clearing her throat. Right, work to attend too. So irritating. If anyone else had gotten my attention In that manner, they would be dead. I began drumming my fingers on the desk again. ¡°If that concludes your report 23, you may retire to your room. I will send someone for you later if anything comes up.¡± 23 did a curtsy and bowed her head before saluting and backing out of the door. Seriously, she¡¯s nearly perfect. If only she could overcome that stutter. I skimmed over the report I had been reading before 23 had come in to make hers, the only sound in the room was my own breathing and the one, two, three, one, two, three¡ rhythm of my fingers on the desk.
A crack formed where I had been drumming. Fuck! This is so infuriating! Why do I have to be the one doing paperwork!? Head stuff was always Mephistopheles¡¯ thing! Fucking Summer Champion!
2-16 Epilogue
Epilogue One, P1: Envious Koneko
Pet, Five Years old, Eighth Month of 947.
Nee-san still isn¡¯t back yet¡ Pet was laying on her back, Pet¡¯s legs dangling off the side of the bed. Pet¡¯s Nee-san had gone off with the bad man to do something dangerous and left Pet behind with Elienor Ojou-Sama. It wasn¡¯t like Pet disliked Elienor Ojou-Sama, but¡ She can be a bit overbearing¡
Just as Pet was thinking those things, she stiffened up as she caught a scent. Her eyes darted towards the door. Pet should hide. Elienor Ojou-Sama swung open the door, just as Pet was trying to climb into the dresser. Pet froze and started deliberating how she would react. Maybe, if Pet doesn¡¯t move, Elienor Ojou-Sama won¡¯t see her. It was to no avail, as Pet felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.
Pet felt her ears go flat, as Elienor Ojou-Sama pulled her out from the dresser and sat her in a chair, ¡°Come on! you knew I was coming today, and you didn¡¯t get ready at all!¡±
It¡¯s not like that¡ Pet just thinks you come too much¡ Elienor Ojou-Sama made Pet upset sometimes. She would always complain to her about how lucky Pet was, getting to stay in a nice room and having Stahlia Nee-San for an owner. Pet didn¡¯t think she was that lucky though. Pet had vague memories from when she was little. Memories of a world outside this room. Everything was blurry now, but she wanted to go outside again.
But Stahlia Nee-San told her not to go outside because it was ¡°too dangerous¡±. Pet knows it¡¯s dangerous¡ But Stahlia Nee-San can protect Pet. Maybe, if Pet was strong like Stahlia Nee-San, then maybe Pet wouldn¡¯t have been left behind¡ Elienor Ojou-Sama forced Pet to sit down in a chair and began brushing her tail-fur. Pet isn¡¯t a fox! Pet is a cat! Pet seemed to recall from somewhere that Kitsunemimi enjoyed having their tail¡¯s brushed, but Pet was certain that Nekomimi did not.
The whole affair was exceedingly uncomfortable, it made her spine twitch with each stroke of the brush. But it will be over faster if Pet doesn¡¯t- Nnh! -struggle. Indeed, Pet had tried to get away from Elienor Ojou-Sama before, several times in fact. But Elienor Ojou-Sama would simply track her down somehow and force Pet back into the chair to be brushed. Brushing Pet¡¯s head would be good¡
Stahlia Nee-San would rub Pet¡¯s head sometimes, which always felt good. Much better than having her tail brushed. That just made Pet¡¯s fur stand on end. A particularly sharp tug caused Pet¡¯s tail to shoot up straight in the air. Letting out a yowl, Pet jumped up and tried to get away, only for a hand to clamp down on her shoulder. ¡°Comon¡¯ Stali¡¯s coming back in a few days. Dad got a magic communication from the knights! You want to look pretty dontcha¡¯?"
Pet frowned, but eventually, she reluctantly returned to her seat. ¡°Pet wants to look pretty¡ just¡¡± Pet curled her tail around her waist. ¡°Let Pet brush Pet¡¯s tail?¡± Elienor Ojou-Sama looked forlorn, but after a moment she passed Pet the brush.
¡°Fine, but I get to do your ears!¡± Pet nodded and adjusted her head so as to make it easier for Elienor Ojou-Sama to access her ears. Stahlia Nee-San is coming home¡ finally¡ Pet was very happy as she gently brushed her tail, being careful of the angle of the fur and curve of the bones.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Pet woke up and sat up in bed. Sniffing the air, she stretched her back. Today! Elienor Ojou-Sama said Stahlia Nee-san is coming back today! Pet jumped out of bed and immediately fell onto her face. Sitting up, she tearfully rubbed at her nose and then realized that, sitting felt weird.
Jumping to her feet, she spun in a circle, trying to inspect her back end. It¡¯s gone! It¡¯s gone!? Where¡¯s Pet¡¯s tail!? Indeed, Pet¡¯s tail had seemingly vanished while she slept. Now wide awake, Pet realized something else. This isn¡¯t Stahlia Nee-San¡¯s room¡ Indeed, the room was fancy, far fancier than Pet¡¯s cage had been, maybe even a bit fancier than Stahlia Nee-San¡¯s room was.
Pet darted her eyes fearfully around the room, taking in everything she could. Did Pet get sold? No, Stahlia Nee-San wouldn¡¯t do that. The bad man might¡ but Nee-San wouldn¡¯t let him. Truth be told, the room contained a lot of very strange things. There was a small box made of metal and expensive glass, with tiny metal needles spinning around at different speeds.
The bed was fairly plain all things considered. The Bed in Stahlia Nee-San¡¯s room was gigantic and super fluffy. This bed was just barely big enough for two people to fit, and the disheveled bedding that covered it was a bit plain in contrast with the colorful walls and various paintings hung up.
Speaking of paintings, what human would hang up pictures of beast-kin in their room? Stahlia Nee-san and Elienor Ojou-Sama both treated Pet well, but Pet doubted that either of them would go so far as to hang up paintings of demihumans. It wasn¡¯t all demihumans though, there were paintings of girls and boys too, all of them were fairly good-looking, though a few of them were dressed a bit indecently.
As Pet continued surveying the room, she noticed that there was a gigantic mirror in one corner. Pet has never seen one this big before¡ Carefully, Pet moved to an angle where she could see her own reflection, before jumping back in terror.
That isn¡¯t Pet! Indeed, the face look back from the mirror was not Pet¡¯s. It appeared to be an adult woman, probably in her mid to late twenties. With brown hair and amber-colored eyes, she couldn¡¯t have been more dissimilar to Pet¡¯s own black hair and green eyes.
More importantly, the woman was human. Pet¡¯s ears and tail had vanished. Stumbling back away from the mirror, Pet kept her eyes locked onto the reflection. Who is¡ Why¡? She looks so¡ familiar¡ Clutching at her head, the world began to melt around Pet. Just as it faded into blackness, she thought she heard a voice calling out, but couldn¡¯t make out the words.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Pet woke up in Stahlia Nee-San¡¯s bed. Groggily, she wiped the sleep away from her eyes and stretched. With a start, she jumped up. Right! Stahlia Nee-San is coming back today! Quickly, Pet moved around and got dressed. Only when she had finished getting completely ready, did she remember that she didn¡¯t actually know when Stahlia Nee-San was coming due to arrive.
Well, Pet can just ask Elienor Ojou-Sama when she comes to brush my tail¡ MY TAIL! Clamping both hands down on her back, Pet was relieved to find that her tail was still attached. But why did I think it was gone¡? Before Pet could come up with anything else, Elienor Ojou-Sama arrived.
¡°Pet come on! She¡¯s going to be here in just a few minutes!¡± Pet quickly ran to the window, the mystery of her tail long forgotten. Looking out, she could see a carriage making its way to the estate. Running her way down and out into the yard, Pet arrived just as the carriage was preparing to disembark its passengers. Pet slid to a halt, as much as she wanted to run to Stahlia Nee-San right this instant, she knew that do so would only cause problems, she would have to settle for watching from a distance.
Pet¡¯s tail stood up straight, and her ears went down flat as she saw the bad man come out of the carriage, leading Stahlia Nee-San by the hand. What¡¯s worse, Stahlia Nee-San didn¡¯t seem uncomfortable or smell nervous like she usually did when the bad man was nearby. She smelled normal. Pet couldn¡¯t help herself but to glare at the bad man. Stahlia Nee-San is my Nee-San! What did you do to her!?
Seeming to pick up on Pet¡¯s distress, the bad man turned to face her. Pet locked eyes with the bad man, willing him to have his tail pulled off. He looked back somewhat impassively before suddenly grinning. Th-that jerk! Suddenly, Pet felt a tap on her shoulder. Spinning around, she saw a boy, or maybe it was a girl, floating cross-legged in the air.
¡°How¡¯s life Claire...? No, you would be Pet... Oh, don¡¯t worry, only you can see me¡ and before you talk, I¡¯m not allowing that.¡± Pet was looking all around, wondering where this person had come from, and true to his words, when she tried asking them no sound came out of her mouth.
The floating person nodded, ¡°Good, I¡¯m sorry about this Claire, you¡¯re probably not going to appreciate it much. But the way things are going, my brother and sister are really going to muck things up. You know how siblings are¡ always taking your toys and doing as they please with them¡ Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m going to go ahead and make an adjustment now. Pet, do your best for your Nee-San ok? Ok. Claire, try and help out George if you can alright? Good.¡± The floating youth pointed a strange box that emitted light from one side at Pet, and flicked their finger across it.
Suddenly, as if a fog had lifted from her mind, Pet remembered.
She didn''t remember everything, but Pet remembered Claire. Or did Claire come to know about Pet? The line was blurry. One thing Pet knew, was that this would take some time to figure out, suddenly learning that you used to be another person... were two people? It seemed like Claire had known about things like other worlds before she died, so that was helping to keep Pet calm right now. Right, Claire... no, Pet, I she... we... fuck! Pet glanced around to make sure that nobody was paying very much attention to her. Only the bad man was even looking in her direction, and Pet didn''t care what he thought right now. The person with the "cellphone" had vanished at some point, leaving Pet alone in the corner of the grounds.
Returning to Stahlia Nee-San''s room, Pet set about thinking. It was difficult for her to understand exactly what was going on. It was like she had a wall in her mind, and on one side of it was Claire, on the other was Pet. Pet could reach across to see Claire''s memories, but she didn''t think that Claire was actually there. A lot of Claire''s memories were of this place called "Japan". Apparently, there were lots of very powerful people present in this "Japan", people that Pet could maybe learn from.
There were the words too... Indeed, Pet now realized that she had been speaking "Japanese". Back in her village, she had been the only one to use words like "Nee-san" and "Kaasan". The other Catkin had simply assumed that Pet was in a phase. Pet understands now, she thinks... There were a few memories from "Claire" that explained what was going on. It was likely some sort of "bleed-through" effect, some of these memories had been locked away, then that person had made a door in the wall, and now Pet could see all the memories from this Claire person.
Suddenly, an errant thought flitted across Pet''s mind, as if it had been sent through the wall. {Finally! I got through!}
Epilogue Two, F2: Another Time, Another Player
Franklin, 21 Years Old, sometime in the 2020s
Sitting in one of the computer labs at my university, Professor Dayson frowned and tapped a finger onto the side of her temple. Sitting on a table in front of us, was the burned-out carcass of George¡¯s desktop. Claire Dayson, the professor who had taught George¡¯s programming courses, and the one who had sent him an email asking for details about a survey he had apparently filled out just before dying.
¡°Let me get this straight.¡± Her voice was a bit harsh, but then again, I had basically just dumped a massive conspiracy theory on her. ¡°You want me to believe that George, not only didn¡¯t intentionally kill himself, he was murdered.¡± I nodded. ¡°By a game development company.¡± I nodded again. ¡°After signing up for a beta test?¡± I nodded a third time.
¡°I mean, you¡¯re skipping some of the finer points of my theory, but that¡¯s basically it.¡± Professor Dayson sighed, ¡°Look, Franklin. This isn¡¯t some anime with conspiracies and mafiosos or whatever.¡±
I nodded, ¡°I know Professor, but I just need to know. Can¡¯t you just look and see if we can recover any data off his hard drive? Anything at all. Otherwise¡ I¡¯m worried I might have been the reason he did it¡ I uh, I said some things to him in the cafeteria¡¡± Maybe my attempt at guilt-tripping her got through because Claire uncrossed her arms after a moment.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
¡°Fine¡ I¡¯ll admit, I am a little bit curious about that survey he mentioned, so I¡¯ll look. But bring the computer to my house. I¡¯m not snooping through a dead student¡¯s stuff at work.¡± That¡¯s a little cold professor¡ I get he wasn¡¯t the most polite, but your sort of just blowing off his death like it doesn¡¯t affect you at all¡
I nodded and collected George¡¯s stuff, before making my way towards the door. As I passed by, I caught a reflection in the glass of the window; Professor Dayson was staring at George¡¯s seat while clenching and unclenching her fists. I chose not to comment about it. I guess she¡¯s just putting on a front¡ man I feel like a dick now, asking her to go through his things¡ but I have to know for sure.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
That evening, I arrived at Claire Dayson¡¯s residence. She lived alone with her husband, however, she was one of those college professors who acted like a hip high school teacher; her husband was somewhat used to students visiting their residence with questions or work projects during off-hours. As such, he greeted me at the door. After introducing myself, he directed me towards one of the rooms in the back of the house.
Walking in, I let out an involuntary startled gasp. The room was filled with various anime paraphernalia, from posters and figurines to blue-rays and box sets. Sitting in the middle of all this, in front of a workstation, was Professor Dayson. What the hell? Claire Dayson is a weeaboo? I myself was somewhat familiar with the anime subculture, I watched a lot of popular shows and even read a few light novels. But this was excessive.
¡°Professor¡¡± I began, only for her to wave me off with a quick hand gesture.
¡°I know, I don¡¯ usually bring students to this room. The only reason I¡¯m letting you in is because of how sensitive the topic is. Don¡¯t. Say. A. Word.¡± I nodded hurriedly; seeing as I had no idea Professor Dayson was such a fervid follower of 2D media, she was most definitely closeted. A professor with this level of addiction would be a campus legend.
I placed George¡¯s desktop, which I had been carrying, onto the workstation. Professor Dayson nodded and started quickly removing the side panels, exposing the internal components. As we removed the blackened outer panel, we were both surprised to find that the inside was pristine.
Professor Dayson frowned and started tapping her temple, ¡°This is¡ with how much damage the case had suffered, I was expecting the internals to be a massive pile of melted silicon¡ but it looks like it could just be turned on. The police didn¡¯t remove the hard drive or anything?¡±
I shook my head, ¡°No, this is exactly how it was given back to me. As far as I¡¯m aware they didn¡¯t even open it.¡±
Professor Dayson eyed the screws, where some of the tar had been scraped off by her screwdriver mere moments ago. Nodding her head to indicate her agreement, she motioned to a monitor that was sitting on a side table, ¡°Bring me that while I bypass the front panel power switch.¡±
I nodded and brought the monitor over to Professor Dayson while she messed around with a bit of wire. Connecting the monitor to the desktop, we secured a cable from the PSU into a wall outlet. Unsurprisingly, the completely intact internal workings of the computer seemed to boot up just fine. Displayed on the screen was George¡¯s welcome screen. Professor Dayson moved the mouse and selected the profile icon.
Given the security of his phone, the lackluster security on his computer was perhaps to be suspected, and we were able to get access easily enough. After a moment, the computer displayed George¡¯s desktop. Now, this¡ this is too fucking weird. The only icon on his desktop was a small jpeg of a planet with a different plate structure than the Earth, labeled ¡°NewLife.exe¡±.
Professor Dayson and I shared a look before she double-clicked the icon. What opened up was a screen reading ¡°Life in Progress, please log into a different account.¡± Next to me, I heard a nervous chuckle.
¡°It¡¯s almost like those books you read about being stuck into another world isn¡¯t it¡¡±
I shot Professor Dayson a hard look. Really? George is dead, and you''re going to try and play into some sort of weeb thing? Catching my eyes, Professor Dayson glanced away, ¡°Sorry, that was in poor taste wasn¡¯t it¡¡± I nodded, and pulled George¡¯s phone out of my pocket. If his first account doesn¡¯t work, I can just use his second one.
I navigated the menu to go back to the log-in screen, and input the account key I pulled out of George¡¯s email. What greeted me was the model a boy, or perhaps a young man, who looked a bit like myself, only a handful of years younger. Accompanying the figure, was some status information that was presumably the status of my character.
I frowned, ¡°George was saying something about a survey?¡± Professor Dayson, who had been reading the status information nodded.
¡°He said that he had to take a really weird survey before he was given the code to make his account. Presumably, he took it again for that second code you just used.¡± I nodded, her hypothesis made sense.
¡°Well, he said that his computer caught fire after he clicked on the ¡°play button¡± so I guess that¡¯s what we should do next. I moved the mouse over to click play, when Professor Dayson suddenly tackled me away!
¡°What the hell!? What are you¡?¡± I was startled into silence by the look of horror on Professor Dayson¡¯s face. Following her gaze, I saw smoke coming out of the tower, and the screen was emitting light far brighter than an LCD monitor should have been capable of.
Professor Dayson whirled around and stared me hard in the face. ¡°You just had to go and click it! As soon as you said what happened I knew! I knew it was something like this!¡±
I could only stare blankly, ¡°S-something like what¡?¡±
Claire glared at me, ¡°An Isekai, an ¡°other world transfer¡±. Fuck! So many of my online friends would love this, but I have a husband! God damn it¡¡± The light of the computer had now filled the entire room, outside the door, I could hear Professor Dayson¡¯s husband pounding and shouting something. But an odd buzzing was suffusing the air, preventing me from being able to make out what he was saying.
Shit, we should probably try and run¡ I got up and tried the door, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. Professor Dayson was watching me, with a few tears starting to trickle down her face. She took a deep breath and nodded, ¡°Franklin, this is super important. Don¡¯t tell anyone you¡¯re from another world. If they ask you to fight a demon lord say no. If there¡¯s an adventurers guild, sign up for it; you can usually make good money that way. Try and find me if you can, I¡¯ll do my best to find you. If you meet a god or goddess on the way over be careful and watch out fo-¡± There was a loud explosion, and my world went dark.
Epilogue Three, For the Kingdom
Percival von Drakas, Thirty Years Old, Twelfth Month of 947
¡°And how did the situation develop?¡± My younger brother, Rupert von Drakas nodded.
¡°Our esteemed eldest brother was unable to locate the demon, as we suspected, he is incompetent.¡± I frowned. I had always dislike Rupert, my youngest brother had always struck me as something of a schemer. When he was little, he would amuse himself by setting up elaborate plots to entrap the palace servants. Strangely, his targets were always those who would later turn out to be guilty of some crime.
In a way, his actions were benefitting the kingdom, but his methods¡ It seemed there was nothing he would not do. Once, a maid was caught sleeping with a few of the guards. Rupert had arranged for her to consume a large amount of an aphrodisiac, then thrown her in with the palace dogs. He was barely fifteen at the time. He might have been one of the princes, but there were some things even he couldn¡¯t say, and accusations against the first prince were among them.
¡°Rupert, you know you shouldn¡¯t speak ill of brother Antoine. Even with the early intelligence provided by this ¡®Stahlia¡¯, a demon of that level would have no issues fleeing. It took a few days to assemble the punitive force after all.¡±
Rupert was looking at the moon off in the distance, but he reacted to my words. ¡°¡You''re right. Forgive me, I spoke above my station.¡±
I nodded, ¡°But of course, you are my brother. Even if we must compete for father¡¯s favor, we are still family.¡± Rupert nodded, swirling his glass of wine as he turned his gaze back outside the window and up at the moon.
The silence continued for several minutes before I felt compelled to fill it. ¡°So brother, have you given any thought to marriage?¡± Of course on the surface this was merely an idle question, something to fill the gap. But it would still give me some useful information; whoever Rupert married had a chance to one day become queen. Honestly, for that reason, I was expecting Rupert would answer in the negative. He had never been one to covet the throne, he refrained from the games I would play with our elder brother.
It had been a great surprise to me when Rupert approached me two years ago, offering to support my bid over that of our elder brother. When I questioned him, he stated he was arranging a union between two young nobles that would greatly benefit the country, however one of the nobles, the girl, was descended from the deposed Despita dukedom. As such, Rupert sought to borrow my influence in order to smooth over any tensions this might cause.
Of course I had looked into it, and then agreed to Rupert¡¯s request. If I could gain the support of those nobles in his own faction, and all I had to do was redirect some of the pushback towards one marriage from my own faction of nobles, well it was a bargain. Since then, we had been having these meetings once every other month or so in order to go over our plans for the future. I took a sip of my wine as Rupert turned back to answer my question.
Rupert nodded, ¡°As a matter of fact, I have. I don¡¯t mind telling you, brother, it will be announced at the start of the Academy¡¯s next school year. I am to be engaged to Edith von Claurence, first daughter of Duke Claurence. We will be wed following her coming of age.¡±
My brother¡¯s declaration caused me to choke on my wine. The Claurence house was well known for their stance of neutrality, and while my brother was professed to have no interest in the crown, he was still a prince. There were very few people who honestly believed that he truly had no ambitions.
¡°Edith von Claurence¡ I had heard that she made a move to align her family with your faction early in the school year¡ but to think that you would truly make such a move, brother.¡± I paused, and wet my throat. Rupert was once again looking out at the moon, a distant expression on his face.
I reached out and grabbed his shoulder. Had we not been alone, this would have caused his gaurds no small amount of anxiety. ¡°Brother, do you truly intend to-¡±
¡°¡the¡ Kingdom.¡±
I strained my ears, trying to catch what he was saying. ¡°Rupert, what was-¡± Suddenly, a sharp pain beset my chest. It felt like I was being stabbed through the stomach. Collapsing to my knees, I looked up in time to see Rupert turning towards me.
¡°For the good of the kingdom, I act only for the good of our kingdom. Everything I do is for the future of our country. I¡ I am sorry, dear brother Percival, but I could not afford to delay any longer. With your death, bear witness to my resolve.¡± My limbs were growing cold, and my vision was beginning to flicker in and out.
I watched Rupert from a distance, wiping the rim of his wine glass. So it was poison huh¡ In the end¡ you decided¡ to play¡ the game as well¡ Rupert¡
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Rupert von Drakas, Nineteen, Twelfth Month of 947.
I watched my brother pass into Mortis¡¯ embrace as I wiped the wine glass I had been using and placed it back on the table. It was imperative that this looked like an assassination so as to trigger an investigation. From there, Five would arrange things to frame my elder brother¡¯s faction.
This would lend credence to my stance when I announced my intentions to pursue the throne out of a desire for justice, alongside my engagement with Lady Edith. If everything went according to plan, the majority of the nobles in my late brother¡¯s faction would side with me. That would most likely secure me the backing of three of the five Dukes. Duke Lawrence was already a member of my faction, and by marrying Edith von Claurence I was securing my connection to the formerly neutral Claurence house. Assuming that Duke Lester joined my faction out of a sense of revenge for his lord, I would hold the most power within the kingdom after my father.
If he had any intelligence at all, my older brother would capitulate to me, but if chose to continue to play the game of thrones, then I would be forced to eliminate him as well. I may have to eliminate him anyways, lest he attempts to stab me in the back¡ Everything is for Drakas. I just need to remember that all I do, I do for my country. Indeed, when Five had approached me regarding Stahlia and explained what his plans were, I knew I had to act, or else my country would perish. After all, who would have thought that a Hell King of all things would be working as the King¡¯s enforcer?
They were beings of myth, and yet the Fifth Seat, King of Wrath Satan was right here in Drakas. I looked down at my brother¡¯s body as it began to grow cold and laughed to myself, ¡°It is truly a shame brother¡ you would have made a much better King than I¡ but what the people need now is the strength to do what must be done, not a good king like yourself.¡±
Indeed, what the kingdom needed now was a strong hand to guide it down the only path to survival, even if they had to be guided kicking and screaming. For that, I would need to inherit the Divine Right. I would need to become the king myself. I would become king and side with the nine to go against the gods. Only by overthrowing the twelve and ushering in a new era could humanity survive what was to come. The future in the event of my failure¡ I shuddered at the thought.
I wiped my eyes and stepped outside, where Sitri was waiting for me. I glared at the she-bitch, though she didn¡¯t seem to care. After a moment, I shook my head, ¡°It is done, go take what you need.¡±
Sitri disappeared into the room and came out a few minutes later holding a vial of something I did not wish to know the name of.
¡°Well, with this I can finally advent Asmodea¡ You sure you don¡¯t want to go a round or two before I leave Rupey?¡± The whore licked her lips suggestively.
I glared at her, ¡°You got the last ingredient for the advent. Get out of my country.¡± She giggled in response to my order and shrugged her shoulders before skipping off down the hall.
Working with demons¡ how far I have fallen¡ But given what was to come, I knew I was doing what I must. The next war, it wouldn''t be just one or two of the Hell Kings, Satan was using his connections in Drakas to arrange for all Nine to return. Perhaps I could have moved to stop him, but what would I have done? I was just a man. Now it was too late. I had helped Sitri to get her last component for the advent of the Third Seat. Drakas was well and truly in the camp of the demons now. Our survival would ensure the survival of the human race. Eventually, we would be able to fight back, but not now. Now we had to do what must be done to survive.
I made my way out of the building to where a carriage was waiting, my driver was loyal and wouldn¡¯t talk. For the umpteenth time that night, I found myself gazing up at the moon. I suppose the God of Darkness bore witness to my sins this night¡ What do you think? What do you think of what your chosen kingdom has become? Of course, I received no answer to my silent questions.
Arc Two: Extra Chapters
Extra Chapter: Sweet Dreams
Stahlia, Twenty Years Old, December 25
th 2030
I woke up to the bite of cold air on my exposed legs. ¡°Uwah!¡± I groaned and scrabbled blindly with my hands, trying to find the covers so I could pull them back up. Rather than covers, my hand met something soft and warm. This should work¡ I dragged the soft warm and giggling thing up and wrapped myself around it, seeking the heat that had abandoned me.
¡°Kaasaaan! Get up, it¡¯s time for presents!¡± I slowly blinked open my eyes and rubbed the sleep from them. What met my gaze was the face of my catkin adopted daughter, Pet. The fourteen-year-old had evidently dragged my blanket away to force me to wake up faster.
¡°Right¡ is auntie Elienor here yet?¡± Elienor would spend most of the holidays over at our estate, as her mother had been unable to find a man willing to take the wild daughter as a wife, or even a concubine, she had wound up being disowned upon turning fifteen. It was actually a blessing in disguise for her; free from any semblance of restriction she had managed to come into her own and was now a fairly accomplished knight. Her specialty was guarding noblewomen, and she had even started a new Knight¡¯s Order made up of entirely female knights that served in this capacity. They called themselves the Valkyries.
I sat up and pet my daughter¡¯s head. Even as she grew older, it was something she never seemed to grow out of. ¡°Right, well I¡¯m up. Go out and get set up while I dress.¡± Pet jumped up and dashed out of the room at speed. Glancing over at the empty space next to me, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Look¡¯s like he¡¯ll miss this year as well¡ My husband, Dominic, was constantly absent. I had done my best to be a devoted wife following our marriage but after the first anniversary, it was like he grew bored.
Now I could count on one hand the number of months he would spend at home. Despite his hatred toward demi-humans, he just sort of nodded and signed the papers when I told him I was freeing, and then adopting, Pet. Still, it was better for my daughter this way; she never quite managed to overcome her traumas regarding my spouse.
I got out of bed and put a robe over my nightgown and went over to the window to look out and see the fresh snow. From my twentieth-floor condo, I could look out over a decent amount of the city. On the streets below, a few cars were pushing their way through the snow, and a couple of pedestrians were moving down the sidewalk. In the distance, I could see the sun just peeking up above the city skyline. Wait, since when did I live in a highrise? A feeling of strangeness washed over me for a moment before a call from the adjacent room grabbed my attention.
¡°Kaaasaaaan! You said you would be right oouuutttt!¡±
I smiled ruefully and shook off the feeling of unrest before making my way out into the room. A tree stood in the corner, with a dozen or so wrapped packages strewn beneath it. Pet was sitting right in front of it, her eyes glinting as she eyed one of the packages that had her name on it. Elienor was sitting in an armchair while, to my surprise, Rosial was sitting with Jacqueline at the bar counter.
¡°Rosial! I didn¡¯t think you would make it this year!¡± Ever since we had rescued her, Rosial had, after recovering from her traumas, been working with Jacqueline to try and save other children trapped in the same situation as she had been. Jacqueline nodded, ¡°It was tight, but we managed to wrap up our last mission in time to make it back. I am glad to see you doing well, Lady Stahlia.¡±
I chuckled, ¡°Jacqueline, you don¡¯t work for me anymore, you don¡¯t have to call me lady.¡± She just smiled and shook her head, a polite way of refusing to relent.
I glanced around the room and confirmed that neither of my mothers or fathers were here. Since my second lives¡¯ parents were back in Ris village serving as the village head that was to be expected, but I had been hoping to see my first lives¡¯ parents again. Again, a feeling of unease came over me until Pet came up and shook my arm.
¡°Kaasan, can we start¡ please¡?¡± I looked into her upturned eyes, which blew away my misgivings and nodded.
¡°Yaay!¡± Pet darted over to the tree, and I went to the sofa Elienor was on and sat next to her. As we watched Pet tearing into the gift she had selected Elienor addressed me in a quiet voice. ¡°You know this won¡¯t work right?¡± I tilted my head.
¡°What do you mean? Everyone is happy.¡± Elienor shook her head.
¡°Stali, are YOU happy?¡±
I opened my mouth to retort, of course, I was. I had everything I wanted. But I couldn¡¯t make the words come out. Before Elienor or I could say anything more on the subject, we were interrupted by a happy squeal. Turning in the direction of the sound, I saw that Pet had just finished opening her present, and had discovered the Manga box set of her favorite Shoujo.
I smiled and wished I could take a picture, unfortunately, cameras didn¡¯t exist in this world. Suddenly, a bright flash illuminated the room. Turning to the right, I saw Rosial holding a smartphone with the camera lens pointed at Pet. ¡°Sorry, that was so adorable, I just had to take a picture.¡± Wait, a smartphone? Where did she get that? I felt my head start to hurt, as another wave of unease came over me.
I snapped out of it when Pet stuffed a present into my arms. Glancing down, I ruffled her hair. ¡°Thank you, I love it!¡± Pet puffed out her cheeks.
¡°You haven¡¯t even opened it yet!¡±
I raised an eyebrow. ¡°I don¡¯t need to open it to know I¡¯ll love it.¡± Pet simply glared at me, urging me on with her gaze. I chuckled and removed the wrapping paper, revealing a vinyl of Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson. Wait, how did a vinyl of a song from Earth wind up here? My headache and unease returned, this time accompanied by a loud buzzing in both of my ears.
The next thing I knew, I was sitting up late with Elienor. Pet had gone to bed some time ago, while Rosial and Jacqueline weren¡¯t able to stay; the two of them were technically fugitives, so they couldn¡¯t stay in one place for too long. Elienor turned to me, and over her glass of wine continued our previous topic.
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
¡°You aren¡¯t happy are you?¡± I wanted to retort, to claim that I really was, but I couldn¡¯t make the words come out. Finally, I relented and admitted it.
¡°No, I¡¯m not happy. Something about my life these past ten years just feels fake¡ I tried to look back for an example, but to my shock, I had no memories between waking up this morning and going to sleep with Elienor and Pet one night ten years ago. With my Eidetic Memory talent, I shouldn¡¯t have been able to just forget ten years¡ I frowned, then winced. The buzzing was getting louder.
¡°No, you aren¡¯t happy. This life you lead, it¡¯s a fake.¡± Elienor was leaning in close to me now. I couldn¡¯t help but notice the faint glisten on her lips and the way the red lipstick contrasted her pale skin. With a start, I turned my head away.
¡°Lady Elienor, I am married to your brother, I do believe you are going too far.¡± Elienor frowned, but did not pull back.
¡°Does it really matter? After all this¡¡±
The buzzing in my ears was now unbearable, but with her last line it stopped completely. Vanishing as if it had nover been there before as everything, all the inconsistencies and discrepancies clicked into place. I finished her sentence¡±
¡°¡is a dream, isn¡¯t it?¡±
With a start I sat up in bed. I blinked, slowly adjusting. Before long, I had regained my bearings; I was lying in bed next to Pet, with Elienor on the far side. So everything that just happened was a dream¡ Pet is still a slave, I haven¡¯t married Dominic, I haven¡¯t rescued Rosial, Jacqueline is still my vassal, and Elienor¡ As I recalled the final event of my dream sequence, I happened to notice Elienor¡¯s sleeping face in the dim light.
What the hell!? Why did I have a dream with something like that!? Carefully, so as not to jostle the bed, I checked myself over. Thankfully, things were still dry. Hurrah for small victories. I mean, we didn¡¯t even kiss so there¡¯s no reason I should have¡ Damnit all! I hate this, I just want my body and mind to be normal and not freak out over the smallest thing! Forget! Forget! Forget! Of course, due to my talent, now that I had spent so long thinking about it after waking up, forgetting my dream was impossible.
Extra Chapter: New Beginning
A Mother of Ang Village, Eighth Month of 947
¡°Lisa! Help me get out to see her off!¡± My daughter shook her head angrily.
¡°No mother! Imagine if you got ill? Or if this delayed your recovery? How would Lady Stahlia feel then?¡±
My daughter had a point, but I was not willing to relent here. Lady Stahlia had saved my life, and had now gone off on her own to try and save the village. Even if she had failed to save us, she had brought back information that would lead to the kingdom sending someone who could, at great cost to herself. Or so the rumors one of the visiting midwives had told me went. Even though she was a noble she was, in my eyes, a saint.
I wanted to make sure that I saw her at least one more time. As kind as she was, she was still a noble; it was exceedingly unlikely she would ever return to Ang. I gazed down at my infant son who was sleeping on my breast. ¡°Lili, if you help me to the door, you can hold your brother¡ I don¡¯t think I will be able to support my own weight without holding myself up on the doorframe¡¡±
My daughter¡¯s eyes wavered. I hadn¡¯t let her hold her brother yet, despite being begged he was only a couple of days old. After a few minutes of deliberation, she stamped her foot, ¡°Fine! But if I wind up an orphan it¡¯ll be your fault!¡±
I nodded. ¡°Of course, it will be, but don¡¯t worry, a little walk to the door won¡¯t be enough to kill me.¡± My daughter only glared at me. Perhaps I was being too harsh, her father had been all but confirmed as dead. While she was being strong, it still hurt to lose a parent. But I had to see my savior at least one last time before she left.
My daughter helped me up. Strangely, I had very little trouble moving. The midwives had been suspicious of the herbal remedies that Lady Stahlia had provided me with, but I convinced them to use them anyways. Perhaps she gave me some secret noble treatment? Either way, I was definitely recovering faster than the midwives said I should expect to.
But I knew better than to become overconfident. If Lady Stahlia¡¯s medicines were helping me recover faster, then so much the better. I would still take my time. It wouldn¡¯t do to get ahead of myself and take away Lisa and my son¡¯s sole remaining parent. Other than in this moment, I would take things slow.
Lisa carefully walked me to the doorway, then went back to the bedroom and collected her brother. I wonder what name I should give him? In the village I had come from before the establishment of Ang, it was customary to wait a month before giving a new child their name. Typically, as this boy was my first son, I should give him the name of his father, but since his father died while he was in my womb doing so would bring him bad luck. As such, I had to come up with a different name.
Lisa slipped past me and stood herself just to the side of the door. Word had made its way around the village that Lady Stahlia and Lord Dominic would be departing the village soon after dawn, we were a bit early, as the sun had only just peaked up far enough for a gentle grey light to begin suffusing the world. But I don¡¯t want to be late and miss them. My son is all bundled up, and Lisa is old enough she won¡¯t catch a cold.
Before long, the knights came out and formed a small honor guard, clearing a path for Lady Stahlia and Lord Dominic to walk to their carriage. After a moment, my savior came out and began walking, her maid and two friends followed close behind her. My breath caught in my throat at the sight.
Her two friends were trailing a little ways behind her, like some sort of distance had come up. Especially Sana, the one who had helped Lady Stahlia deliver my son. Lady Sana, who very briefly displayed a look of anguish towards Lady Stahlia¡¯s back as the latter walked down the stairs and between the knights holding back the villagers.
Next was her maid, whose name I didn¡¯t know. This one made my heart skip a beat. Her maid was missing an arm! Maybe the aristocrats can get something like that fixed¡ but still, just what did they go through? Magic that could fix up a missing limb like that did exist¡ but it was exorbitantly expensive. For commoners like myself, it may as well be a myth.
But what got me the most was Stahlia herself. As she walked a path towards her carriage, for a brief moment, she was facing me. Her eyes flicked to me, and to my daughter beside me, who was waving her brother¡¯s arms in a mock wave. Lady Stahlia¡¯s eyes. There was something missing in them. It was as though she had lost, or perhaps given up, something integral. Like there was a piece of her that was missing.
As I gazed at her, I felt my words die in my throat. I had wanted to call out my thanks, but I couldn¡¯t find the words. Just what¡ what did she go through for us¡? It all passed in a moment. The boy, Lord Dominic, helped her to board the carriage and she vanished from my sight. As I gazed at the carriage making its way down the road, a word. A very old word from the time of my forbears leaped to the forefront of my mind.
¡°Stal¡±. My daughter looked up at me.
¡°¡Her name? You mean ¡®Stahlia¡¯?¡± I shook my head.
¡°No. ¡®Stal¡¯. It means ¡®Strength¡¯ in the language of our ancestors. I think it¡¯s a good name for your brother, what about you?¡±
My daughter thought for a moment before shrugging. ¡°If that¡¯s what you think we should call him then go for it. I don¡¯t have any say in the matter.¡± After a moment she continued while fiddling with his arms, making him wave them about. ¡°It¡¯s a good name though.¡±
I smiled and reached out an arm, poking Stal in the face. ¡°Well Stal, that¡¯s what we will call you alright? Grow up big and strong ok?¡±
3-0 Recap + 3-1 C1: Dear Diary, Today I Died.
3-0 Arc 1&2 Recap
Stahlia, Second Month of 948
Eleven years ago, I was born. It was my second time experiencing the phenomenon, though I don¡¯t actually remember the first time. My name is Stahlia von Ris, I am the daughter of Baron Ris, the appointed lord of Ris village, a large-sized frontier village at the foot of the Ris mountain range. Growing up in a village like that, I was able to lead a comparatively simple life. Things have only been getting worse and worse for me recently though.
I have a mother, who though she has a weak constitution loves me very much. My father is strict with his idea of ¡°Noblesse Oblige¡±, but I can tell he loves me in his own way. I also have a little brother, Rosin, but I left home for the Royal Academy when he was only two, so I don¡¯t know him very well. I had a little sister as well, but Rosial was kidnapped by this world¡¯s version of the CIA when she was three, to be raised as an agent.
Oh, did I not mention that? This is the second time I was born, and it was into another world. My first life was on a planet called ¡°Earth¡±. I was a university student named George. Yea, George is a male¡¯s name. See, I was a dude before I died. Remember to always read the fine print on those terms of service agreements, you never know what you¡¯re signing up for!
Still, being a girl now isn¡¯t all that bad. Sure, it has its inconveniences, but once you get past those it¡¯s not so different from being a male. Then again, the fact that my body has started reacting to guys is a bit frustrating. I also haven¡¯t started periods yet, so I can¡¯t comment on that... though I¡¯m not exactly looking forward to the experience¡ Then there¡¯s the fact that this world is in a sort of weird Middle Ages, so I don¡¯t have much say in who I¡¯m going to marry¡ ok yea, I really don¡¯t know how I feel about being a girl now that I put everything out there like that.
Speaking of marriage, I¡¯ve got my fianc¨¦e already, despite being only eleven years old. Dominic is two years older than me, as well as one noble rank higher. He seems to have developed a strong infatuation towards me if his actions are anything to go by. From anyone else¡¯s perspective, this would be a dream marriage. But not for me, see, I¡¯m apparently something called ¡°The Champion of Winter¡± one of four heroes representing the gods.
One of the perks of my position lets me see mana, and Dominic¡¯s mana is disgusting. Seriously, he looks like some sort of putrid diseased creature when I look at him with my divine eyes. He also seems to have some sort of power that influences women around him into a feeling of attraction or compels them to listen to him. Thankfully, it doesn¡¯t seem to be affecting me¡ though that means the way I get all blushy around him is presumably the result of naturally budding romance¡ not sure how I should feel about that¡
From everything I¡¯ve said so far, my new life must sound kind of wild huh? Noble Status, Sister getting kidnapped by a government shadow agency, magic and mana, hero of the gods, gods, an arranged marriage with a surface level perfect catch? Well, what if I told you that was just the cliff notes?
My maid is an assassin for the order that kidnapped my sister, but she betrayed them to work for me, and we¡¯re planning to bring down the government if we have to in a bid to get my sister back. I¡¯m regarded as a prodigy who has revolutionized Alchemy and Mathematics, I can use a very rare form of magic called ¡°Blood Magic¡± that lets me manipulate mana directly, had a face-to-face chat with death, and made a deal with a Succubus that likely lead to the resurrection of one of the Nine Hell Kings. All in only eleven years.
Still, it¡¯s not all crazy. I do some normal things as well; like hanging out with my girlfriends. Sana is an apprentice priestess who comes from the same village as me. Sarala is a talented mage in her own right, and we often practice our magic together. Edith is Sarala¡¯s patron. Her full name is Edith von Claurence, and she¡¯s even higher ranked than Dominic! What do you mean my friends are a little out there? My life has some normal stuff in it! Wait, what was that, Jacqueline? A letter from Edith? Give it here! Hmm¡ What!? Edith is engaged!? To the Third Prince!?
3-1 C1: Dear Diary, today I Died.
Claire Dayson, 26 Years Old, Sometime in the 2020s
The light from the computer was blinding. I watched Franklin get up and run to the door. Of course, it was locked. There was no way they would be letting us out, whoever ¡°they¡± were. Not after we had come so far along in the process. I could vaguely hear my husband¡¯s voice calling out from the other side of the door. I¡¯ll probably never see him again¡ The thought brought tears to my eyes, but there wasn¡¯t anything I could do about it. Be strong Claire.
I channeled the spirit of the Fertility Goddess, Ai-chan. Right, one of my students is coming with me, and another of my students is presumably waiting on the other side. I locked eyes with Franklin, there wasn¡¯t likely to be a lot of time left, ¡°Franklin, this is super important. Don¡¯t tell anyone you¡¯re from another world. If they ask you to fight a demon lord say no. If there¡¯s an adventurer¡¯s guild, sign up for it; you can usually make good money that way. Try and find me if you can, I¡¯ll do my best to find you. If you meet a god or goddess on the way over be careful and watch out fo-¡± The room filled completely with light, and then everything went dark.
¡°-r offers¡ that sound too good to be true¡¡± I was in some kind of black space. Huh? Isn¡¯t this the part where a hot goddess, or in my case a hunk, comes out and begs me to save the world? I ¡°looked¡± around, but it was pitch black, I couldn¡¯t even see my hands in front of my face. I opened my mouth to try calling out for someone¡¯s attention, but no sound seemed to come out.
Well, this isn¡¯t how things are supposed to go¡ At this point, I was simply confused. Did I not get Isekai¡¯d? Did Franklin and I just simply die? No. That was too trope-like to not be an isekai. Maybe it was just Franklin who got Isekai¡¯d, and I got stuck in the space between worlds! The last thought made me shiver nervously.
I tried walking in a direction in the darkness for what seemed like hours, or it might have been only a few minutes. I couldn¡¯t tell time after all, not without anything to see to gauge its passage. Then again, I also couldn¡¯t tell if I was even walking in a straight line. For all I knew, I could be going in circles. There were no visible landmarks. Well, there¡¯s no visible anything really.
I could tell I was moving through space though. Like how you can sense your hands and feet even if you can¡¯t see them. I could still do that much. Eventually, even if I was going in circles, I would have to run into something. At least, the thought of that eventuality, the hope, was what was keeping me going.
I walked for an incredibly long time. Eventually, I began to grow tired, and before I knew it, I was dozing off. I only knew I was dozing because I was suddenly dreaming. At least, I thought I was dreaming. I still couldn¡¯t see anything. But my other senses were working. I was able to smell incredibly well. The world was full of amazing scents, though it was honestly also a bit overwhelming. Was that like a sort of limbo while my soul was loading or something? Did I get reincarnated as a species that can only see with its nose¡? That would be annoying.
Honestly, a lot of the newer stories were starting to run with the idea of a non-human protagonist. It even got to the point where people might harass the author for making their main characters human¡ I didn¡¯t ever do stuff like that, but it did happen. Still, if I can only see via smell, this is going to be tough. I obviously don¡¯t know what my students smell like¡ though they would smell differently now, wouldn¡¯t they? Reincarnation and all that.
I tried opening my mouth, but it refused to obey me properly. Instead, it started crying. The crying was loud incredibly so. So, my hearing is pretty good as well¡ I wish I could stop crying. It looks like this is a setting where you start out as an infant¡ those are the worst! It always takes so long to get anywhere with the plot! Thankfully, I stopped crying as a new scent approached. It smelled safe and affectionate. I never expected I would be attributing those adjectives to a scent, but that was what it smelled like. After a moment, I smelled something I could recognize, although it was a lot more pungent than I remembered¡
Milk? So, this ¡°safe and affectionate¡± thing must be ¡°mom¡±. That confirms I¡¯m at least some sort of mammalian. I was pretty sure babies could see fairly early on, at least in terms of simple light versus dark. That made me wonder if maybe I was blind. Well, if worse comes to worst, I¡¯ll just have to learn to deal with it. Not like I can do anything else. My mouth latched onto the offered, presumably, nipple without me telling it to do so. I also can¡¯t seem to get this body to do what I want it to do. Then again, it is a baby still, hopefully control comes with time¡ I resigned myself to a long bout of boredom until I was able to figure out how to move about on my own.
I woke back up without the ability to smell or hear in minute detail. Everything was still dark to the eye. Well, so much for that. My brain must just be hyperactive. And dreamed up a reincarnation for me while I slept¡ I was honestly really saddened by that. Without anything further to do, I started walking. I walked for what felt like several more hours. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t seem like I would get hungry or thirsty in this place, which, seeing as I was dead probably made sense. Maybe I¡¯m actually just in a coma at the hospital, and I¡¯ll wake up any moment now¡ hahaha¡
I kept walking. Endlessly walking. I started recounting the plots of all of the Light Novels and Anime I had watched, at least the ones I could remember. It was a way to pass the time and retain my sanity. Two days, and I was already wishing for oblivion. Eventually, I began to grow tired. Sighing to myself, though no sound actually came out, I pushed onwards until I collapsed from exhaustion.
Again, I started dreaming. This time, however, in addition to the keen sense of smell and sharp hearing, I was also surrounded by indistinct lights and vague floating shapes. I could see. I wandered around, examining some of the shapes. They were all amorphous, sort of like a thin foam or a thick mist. They would billow and contort. Occasionally, one of them would take a more definitive shape, like the outline of a person or some mundane object. But just as quickly, they would fade back into indistinction.
As I walked about, I noticed a few more things. Firstly, the smells and sounds were omnipresent. It didn¡¯t matter where I was, or what angle I faced, I could smell and hear just as well. Of course, they did seem to fade or lose detail, just not based on anything I was doing. The second thing I noticed, was that this space was vast. The true size I could only guess at, but it was seemingly massive. I was able to estimate the size, because as I walked around examining the various ¡°mist shapes¡±, I found an edge. Beyond this edge, there were no more mist shapes forming, only a thick inky blackness.
Right, even for a dream, this is all so surreal... what the hell is going on? Curious and confused, I made my way over to one of the mist shapes that was currently in the form of an amorphous cloud. As I got closer to it, the shape began to take on a more defined form. Curious, as this had never happened when I was nearby, I leaned in. The form was that of a person, though still indistinct.
As the shape took form, A part of it happened to envelop my head. I jolted back, but not before a stream of vague information entered my head. This is¡ my older brother? Wait, have I reincarnated after all? Curious, I approached another of the mist shapes. This one also took a bit of a shape as I walked over to inspect it. Are they responding to my intentions? I tried it out by approaching a few more mist shapes, and as I did, each began to morph as I got close.
Ok, so now I know how to ¡°trigger¡± the mist, but what exactly does it do? What is it for? I wandered until I found the one that was ¡°my brother¡±. It didn¡¯t seem like he had a name or anything, at least not based on the information I had gotten when I stuck my head into the mist. Speaking of which¡ I leaned forward, far enough for my head to pass just inside the surface of the mist figure. This time, I spent more time analyzing the information.
Hmm¡ it¡¯s not really all that specific¡ These seem like the random thoughts of a three-year-old actually. It has that sort of rambling, lacking information spew of words my sister¡¯s kid spouts off. If I had to organize it, I would say that I can pull three things out of this mess. First, this is apparently ¡°my older brother¡±. Second, ¡°He¡¯s nice¡±. Most importantly, third; based on the descriptions of how he looks, I would have to guess that he¡¯s a nekomimi, usagimimi, or kitsunemimi. Something with pointy ears and a noticeable tail.
I stopped to think for a moment. If ¡°my brother¡± is a nekomimi, doesn¡¯t that mean I¡¯m one too? I felt my heart flutter a bit. Dying and never seeing my husband again is awful¡ but at least my new life is looking up¡ My thoughts of my husband killed all my prior excitement over the idea of becoming a nekomimi girl.
After a bit of time to get over the sudden pangs of sadness, I cracked my knuckles while looking at the ¡°my brother¡± mist figure. Well, I can¡¯t keep calling you ¡°my brother¡±. Going to need a name. Also going to need to figure out how to actually call you it, but I can do that at my leisure. If I had to guess, my issues are stemming from this body just being too young for my adult mind. It should get better as I age.
I thought for a bit, but couldn¡¯t think of a good name for him. Especially after I realized that he already most likely had a name, and my new body just hadn¡¯t heard it yet, or hadn¡¯t realized the significance of it, thus not tying the name to the information in the mist figure. Well, for lack of a better term right now, I¡¯m going to be the adorable nekomimi girl imouto-kun! I hereby dub thee, Onii-chan! Thankfully, there was nobody present to witness my cringe-inducing pose, complete with an upturned chin and pointing finger. I was twenty-five a few days ago¡ Oh well, I¡¯m less than one now! Cute girls do cute things! Except when they slam their head against a knife!
Satisfied, I began moving about the mist shapes, coming up with nicknames for each one. ¡°my mother¡± became ¡°Kaasan¡±, ¡°my sister¡± became ¡°Nee-San¡±, and ¡°my father¡±, ¡°Tousan¡±. All in all, I probably named over fifty of these mist shapes, simply trying to pass the time. Eventually, I would probably wind up back in that all-black space, so I was going to make use of these mist shapes for some stimulation while I could.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
It did not take long, and seemingly just as I blinked, I was back in the black space. I sighed and picked a direction to start walking. I walked and walked, then just to mix things up, I walked some more. I swear I have to be going in circles. Either that or every time I wake up here, I get reset back to the start¡ I¡¯ll have to try and come up with a way to mark where I wake up¡ or not. I don¡¯t exactly have anything I could drop, and wouldn¡¯t be able to see it even if I did. Honestly, at this point, I had more or less given up on finding anything here and was walking just in case it made me fall asleep faster, so I could go back to my mist shapes.
After passing the point where I was fed up with walking, I finally began to feel tired again. Gratefully, I lay myself down and closed my eyes. When I woke up, I was back in the mist shape place. Or, at least I should be. I was seemingly looking through my actual eyes, and smelling with my actual nose. Hearing with my actual ears as well. I was Ecstatic!
I turned my head around looking for a mirror. Or, at least I tried to. My head refused to obey what I telling it to do. Why can¡¯t I control my body!? I tried a few more things, but no matter what I tried doing, nothing moved. My body, though I was starting to doubt that, seemed to be content to simply lie on its back and stare at the ceiling while kicking its legs off the side of what was presumably a bed. I wasn¡¯t sure what it was doing.
I seemed to be in some kind of hut or cabin, based on my limited field of view, and according to the smells and sounds that I was still passively registering the environment was likely rural. I felt my ears twitch, which took a second or two for me to realize that¡¯s what had happened. This confirmed my early suspicions that I was some kind of beast-kin. Oh, I hope it¡¯s a nekomimi! An okamimimi would be good too, but if I had to pick, I would say a nekomimi for sure! kitsunemimi girls are amazing, but those tails just seem like they would be so impractical to actually care for.
My inane ramblings aside, the cause of my ears twitching soon made itself known as my body sat up and turned itself to face the source of the noise. ¡°Kaasan! Okaeri!¡± The adult nekomimi glanced at me with exasperated eyes.
¡°Felicity, how many times has mother told you? It¡¯s ¡®Mom¡¯ and ¡®Welcome back¡¯.¡± I felt a wave of confusion wash over me, or thinking about it, probably not me, but rather the nekomimi girl Felicity I was presently spectating. The confusion seemed to stem from believing that what she had in fact said, was ¡°mom¡± and ¡°welcome back¡±. It seems like I might have screwed up¡ were those mist things like formative memories or something? Was I walking around in some poor little girl¡¯s head and imprinting anime culture into her mind before it was even fully developed¡? That¡¯s just plain fucked.
I wasn¡¯t going to address the fact that I could seemingly understand what the mother was saying; presumably, it was something simple, like the fact that I was in Felicity¡¯s head allowed me to draw on her own knowledge of the words¡¯ meanings. Before Felicity could voice her confusion, there was a horn that sounded off in the distance. Given how keen these nekomimi¡¯s ears were, for it to be so faint it must have been quite the distance indeed.
Through Felicity¡¯s eyes, I saw our mother stiffen, while from Felicity herself I experienced a wave of fear and apprehension. So whatever that horn is, it probably isn¡¯t good. It must be particularly bad if Felicity is able to understand it despite being a toddler. My worries were confirmed when Felicity¡¯s mother grabbed her hand and pulled her up and into her arms before turning and bolting out the door.
Emerging out onto the street, I took the opportunity to memorize as much of the fleeting detail as I could. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t much. Felicity obviously wasn¡¯t cooperating and looking all over the place, she instead kept her gaze fixed firmly on mother. It was an admirable showing of trust from someone so young, but it was a bit frustrating for me.
From what I could gather as we ran through the village, it seemed to be made up entirely of nekomimi like Felicity and her mother. The homes were poor, appearing to be cobbled together from whatever was at hand, rather than constructed based on any sort of plan. It was located in what was likely some kind of forest, based on the surrounding thick trees, and all the people who lived here were most likely related. At least they all had similar hair and eye colors.
So mimi-kin, or at least nekomimi in this world seem to be of the tribal variety, at least I hope it¡¯s that, and not a case of inbreeding. I couldn¡¯t tell where Felicity was being carried to, due to her looking in the opposite direction from where her mom was running, but I could see the villagers beginning to prepare for something, a lot of the men and even the majority of the woman were running past Felicity in the opposite direction, all of them carrying spears or swords. Some had bows strapped to their back.
From what I could tell, it seemed that other than a handful of armed nekomimi, only the children, extremely old, and mothers of younger children were going with us. It¡¯s an evacuation then? What on earth is coming after this village? In the distance, I could now hear the faint sound of horse hoofs beating the dirt. Or rather, Felicity could hear them, and because I was in her head I was aware of them as well. The sound caused a new wave of fear to rush over her, and I felt the odd sensation of ears being pressed flat against the top of my head for the first time.
I could feel our mother¡¯s heart beating furiously through Felicity¡¯s chest. I could also smell something in the air, emanating from all of the people running away from the village. It was fear. Before long, the distant screams started. There was also a sound that I vaguely recognized as the clashing of metal, though that sound seemed to trigger a fear of an unknown threat in Felicity, indicating she had no experience with combat.
Part of me was also afraid, after all, I seemingly shared Felicity¡¯s senses of sight, smell, and hearing. Although had no experience with it, I could imagine that our link extended to other senses, like taste and pain. On the other hand, I also felt disconnected in a way. After all, I was basically watching a movie, I had very little if any control over what Felicity would do. I could give some input if I was back in the Mist room like previously. Though now that I realized that those mist shapes had been the establishing consciousness of a little nekomimi girl, I really had no interest in poking at them further, I had done enough damage already.
I pushed back at the feeling of trepidation, it was a trick I had learned standing in front of classrooms. I wish there was something I could do to help though¡ It just went against my character to stand by and do nothing when a child was in trouble. Unfortunatally, all of my knowledge regarding fleeing, fighting, and survival came from anime and light novels. Felicity¡¯s mother would be much better at this than I would, if I could even do anything at all.
As they continued running, the screams eventually faded along with the clashing sounds of metal. It wasn¡¯t due to us getting far away from them, rather it was because the battle was resolving. Based on the now intermittent and rapidly approaching horse hooves. I could feel Felicity¡¯s building fear, and even caught a few flashes of movement in the distance.
Suddenly, a cry. Felicity¡¯s ears snapped to face the sound followed quickly by her head. Bearing down on them was a horse, with a man wearing metal armor riding it. I couldn¡¯t tell what race he was, owing to his body being almost entirely covered, but my gut was telling me he was human. It would just fit the trope after all¡
The rider bore down on Felicity and her mother, swinging down with some sort of club that looked padded. So it¡¯s exactly that, slavers. The club struck Felicity¡¯s mother and knocked her off her feet. Felicity went sailing through the air and into a tree. I felt the impact and the world went dark.
I sat up, back in the black space. Looking around to confirm my lack of surroundings, I hurriedly got to my feet and started running. I have to get back. It seems like each time I go away from her, a year or two pass for Felicity. I need to get back and find some way to communicate with her! I might not have a lot of knowledge about how this world works, but I do have meta-knowledge of the genre¡ though this isn¡¯t exactly fiction, it¡¯s reality so I have to be careful. Either way, what I know can probably help her, at least a bit.
I ran, with the desire to help Felicity firmly lodged in my heart. That was probably why I ran into a wall, literally. I had finally reached the edge of this black space, after what was probably multiple days of just running. If it wasn¡¯t for the temporary breaks when I got to take a peek at Felicity¡¯s world, I likely would have gone insane. I pushed a hand against the wall, testing its strength. Well, there¡¯s no way to know if this showed up because I actually reached the edge, or if it¡¯s like those mist shapes, and is responding to my desire to reach Felicity.
The wall was hard and at least taller than I could reach by jumping as high as I could. I briefly toyed with the idea of running left or right with my hand on the wall, but tossed the plan right out; I had no way of knowing if there even was a gate or doorway. If there was, I also didn¡¯t know if it was left or right. Running further would at best be a fifty/fifty and at worse be pointless. Let¡¯s operate on the assumption that I¡¯m a free consciousness right now. So far the tropes tend to line up with that idea. In that case, I should be able to interact with this wall and send something through it. Presumably, if we follow the tropes, Felicity¡¯s mindscape is on the other side.
I remembered how it had worked with the mist shapes and tentatively pressed my forehead against the wall. Then, I thought about how I wanted to check up on Felicity. To my surprise and relief, I was able to get a sense of her. The surprise and relief were immediately met with sadness and despair, once I realized the condition she was in.
It wasn¡¯t as distinct as when I was physically present in her mind, instead, I got a rough impression of what she was feeling, and a few mere snippets of input from her senses. If I had to compare it to something, I would say it was like the difference between talking to someone in person and video calling over a dial-up connection; rather than a video feed, I was getting a slideshow, and the slides were less than 144p.
Still, it was something. From what I could tell, Felicity was dead to the world. She was in a cage in a darkly lit room, surrounded by the smell of death and disease. Her mother was nowhere to be found, but there was an older nekomimi girl, probably fourteen to sixteen years old that was caring for Felicity the best she could.
The older girl was seemingly doing a decent job, as while she was covered in bruises and small cuts from what I would assume were beatings, Felicity was relatively unharmed if a bit hungry. I pulled back from the wall, sickened. I had grown up in a first-world country, and as such was only tangentially aware of things like this being confronted by it firsthand would be emotionally devastating for any normal person. I grabbed at my mouth, forcing down the vomit that threatened to spill. Well, I don¡¯t know if anything would actually come out, but I feel like it would, and that¡¯s something I would rather not test.
After taking several breaths to calm myself, I pressed my head back against the wall. This time, I tried to force through something, instead of pulling something out. I selected a happy memory, one of a slice of life anime I had watched and thought about it as hard as I could while willing my thoughts to penetrate. Of course, Felicity would only get some tangential feelings and images, assuming her connection was as poor as mine was to her. It seemed to work, as when I checked again, she was a bit less dead to the world and perhaps a tiny bit happy. Almost like when someone wakes up from a pleasant dream.
Still, sending just that one thought had been incredibly tiring and I felt my eyelids drooping. I guess I¡¯m going over the wall now. I hope things are easier on that side, like when I was interacting with the mist shapes. When my consciousness returned I was, predictably, inside of Felicity¡¯s head. The room smelled absolutely foul this close. There was also a cold smell that made my nonexistent spine crawl. It seemed to be coming off of the older nekomimi girl that was in the cage with Felicity. I don¡¯t really want this confirmed, but that¡¯s probably what death smells like¡
Felicity was watching two human kids, a boy and a girl, who were arguing about a price for Felicity. Apparently, Felicity looked vaguely reminiscent of the girl¡¯s dead sister. This is a good opportunity for Felicity to get out of here¡ I don¡¯t know if this is a good idea, but it can¡¯t be worse than staying in this cage and dying. I imagined myself pressing my head against the wall, and felt the world around me sharpen slightly. The difference was almost imperceptible, like going from a 720p video to 1080p but not changing the window size. Still, it implied I had formed a connection link.
I sent a general impression to Felicity that she should ¡°go with the girl¡±. I was very careful to avoid imprinting anything permanent, though given that I had zero experience with this sort of thing, there was no way I could be sure I had succeeded. The feelings being transmitted to me by Felicity seemed to be a developed mild interest in the girl, and she shifted her gaze to look at the girl.
When she did, my heart sank as the girl gave a start, and then adopted a much colder demeanor. I fucked up¡ This thought was further reinforced when the sale was finalized. The boy, whose name turned out to be Dominic, gestured at the girl, ¡°This is Stahlia, she''s your owner now. What is your name?¡±
Felicity nodded and responded simply enough, ¡°Pet''s name is Pet.¡± The boy grimaced almost imperceptibly, but the girl seemed nonplussed. Fuck! What did I sign this poor mimi-kin up for!?
I swallowed my nonexistent spit and tried to send Felicity a mental impression to ¡°just do what they say¡±. I would have to see if I could somehow extend my limited influence in a way that allowed me to break the slave magic, and do that without harming Felicity. And I don¡¯t even know how magic works in this world. I¡¯m going to have to bullshit protagonist my way through this and learn on my own. If I can even use magic in the first place¡
While I was ignoring Felicity¡¯s surroundings, she was dressed in some simple clothes, and left in the custody of Stahlia and Dominic. As soon as we got out of the slave market and into the street, I saw Stahlia grow incredibly pale and swallow several times. She directed a look at Felicity before shifting her feet uncomfortably and looking away. Oh? Maybe it¡¯s not as bad as I thought?
As if she could hear me and was trying to prove my words correct, Stahlia arranged a proper meal for Felicity, directing some nothings at Dominic about some sort of monster she apparently already had. Felicity was radiating emotions of shock and surprise at the food that was placed in front of her, however, she was too afraid to start eating.
I felt a bit warm and fuzzy as I was confronted with Felicity¡¯s inner turmoil. She¡¯s probably never seen food this nice, her village didn¡¯t look very prosperous from the few glimpses I saw when her mother was fleeing, and then she was a slave¡ I was starting to feel exhausted, so I would probably only be able to send Felicity one more thought before I was kicked back to the black space. I imagined pressing my forehead against a wall again, and sent her the image that ¡°everything will be ok, eat.¡±
Felicity seemed to pick up on my thought, and began eating the food. As she took the first bite, I felt a wave of jealous envy wash over her, and she began eating as quickly as possible. After a moment, the jealousy abated and she continued eating while occasionally shooting a look at Stahlia. I thought I heard a brief chiming noise, like a notification, but I didn¡¯t have much time left to investigate; as I predicted, sending that thought took the rest of my energy and I faded back into the black space.
I sat up and reached around, quickly finding the wall. I thought about immediately sending Felicity another few thoughts so as to tire myself and regain my more direct connection, but until I knew more about the side effects of direct contact like that, I would probably be better served simply watching and observing, only directly reaching out when it was an emergency. Though that notification-sounding noise had been a tad concerning, given the tropes associated with something like that, I didn¡¯t think it was worthy of risking causing potential damage to myself or Felicity by forcing a connection so rapidly just to investigate.
I pressed my head against the wall and was met by the same grainy information feed. If I was interpreting it correctly, Felicity and Stahlia were likely in the Latter¡¯s room. Stahlia was standing over Felicity, speaking to her, ¡°¡and none of that. When it¡¯s only the people who are here now, call me however you want, not ¡®master¡¯ or ¡®mistress¡¯.¡±
Felicity paused for a moment, and I got the general idea that she was struggling to determine how she felt about Stahlia before calling her anything. After a moment¡¯s thought, she spoke up in a cheerful voice, ¡°Pet understands, Stahlia Nee-San!¡±
So she¡¯s decided to think of this Stahlia as a sort of older sister, that should work¡ wait, Stahlia, excuse me Stahlia? Why are you making that face!? Indeed, Stahlia had let out a surprised ¡°Huwa?!¡± cry, and even spit out her tea when she heard ¡°Nee-San¡±. Despite the fact that the word had been said in Japanese. Idly, I noted a maid in the room who didn¡¯t react to Stahlia at all, and merely began cleaning up the tea that had landed everywhere.
As if to solidify my suspicions, Stahlia then grimaced as if she was aware of how cringy randomly inserting Japanese into sentences was. Stahlia is definitely a reincarnated person or at least she has knowledge of them. I think I might have really messed up! The first rule of an Isekai, if there are other Reincarnations not from your class, they are often more dangerous to you than the nobles or monsters!
3-2 C2: Dear Diary, Today I Became We
Claire, Second Month of 947.
Thankfully, despite likely noticing that the words didn¡¯t quite fit, Stahlia did not press the issue and simply accepted Felicity¡¯s new name for her. Stahlia gave Felicity something to eat and began having a conversation with the made, whose name was apparently Jacqueline. Felicity was also apparently ¡°Pet¡± now, but I wasn¡¯t going to call her that.
Jacqueline¡¯s conversation with Stahlia was exceptionally enlightening. Given that Felicity had been ordered to not share anything that was to be discussed, and she wasn¡¯t paying much attention anyway, owing to the food she had been given. This was irritating since due to the distorted connection; I was only catching snippets of Stahlia and Jacqueline¡¯s conversation.
From what I could gather, Stahlia wasn¡¯t exactly the most loyal of nobles, owing to a past transgression on the part of the kingdom, and Jacqueline was some sort of agent under her employment. Still, this bodes well for me and Felicity, I think. Stahlia will likely make at least a bit of effort to protect Felicity, and I can keep watching over her like this until I get things figured out.
Stahlia by this point had wrapped up her conversation with Jacqueline and called for Felicity. Felicity after a moment of looking at her empty bowl hoped down and moved over to Stahlia. Stahlia then proceeded to ask Felicity for permission to examine her. Phrasing aside, the examination seemed to consist of placing her hand on Felicity¡¯s head and rubbing gently between her ears. The sensations I was being transmitted indicated that it was a highly pleasurable experience.
For a moment, I felt a bit jealous that Felicity was getting to experience something like this and I was not. Head pats are such a major part of isekai and anime in general¡ Damn this half-assed reincarnation! If only I was at least on the other side of the wall in Felicity¡¯s head I would be able to at least tangentially experience it¡ Wait, what¡¯s this!?
There was something reaching across the wall towards me. Something foreign. From what I was receiving of Felicity¡¯s feelings at the moment, she also had this something moving throughout her, but for her, it was pleasant. To me, it was a gross feeling, like I was being groped all over at once. I jerked my head back away from the wall and lost the connection. What even was that? It felt wrong. Like I was being violated.
The only thing I could think of was that it was something Stahlia had done since that something had only manifested after she started rubbing Felicity¡¯s head. So something that happened when Stahlia touched Felicity. Given that it happened right after Felicity spoke Japanese, I can assume it was probably something to check if she was a reincarnation¡ a lot of settings make appraisal uncomfortable for the person being appraised.
So assuming it was appraisal magic, that still doesn¡¯t explain why it felt comfortable for Felicity, but uncomfortable for me. Maybe the difference is between physical contact and like, just mana or something. After all, I don¡¯t exactly have a body, and it¡¯s not like I was being directly touched¡ hopefully, Stahlia didn¡¯t detect me, I still don¡¯t know if she¡¯s trustworthy or not. Felicity should be fine, as far as I know, she¡¯s totally normal other than playing host to my soul.
I leaned forward to check up on Felicity again; it had become apparent that time seemed to flow faster for her than me when I broke the connection. I was correct, as Felicity was now having her tail combed out y a noble girl I had not seen before. Still, the fact that a noble is doing that to mimi-kin is unusual, given what I¡¯ve seen so far. Is she Stahlia¡¯s friend or something? A sudden feeling of discomfort was transmitted, and I had the disconcerting sensation of my non-existent tail twitching.
The girl spoke up, ¡°Comon¡¯ Stali¡¯s coming back in a few days. Dad got a magic communication from the knights! You want to look pretty dontcha¡¯?¡±
At the mention of ¡°Stali¡±, who was presumably ¡°Stahlia¡± by the noble girl, Pet sat back down after frowning. I was getting a sensation of barely contained excitement, but also resignation. Curling her tail around her waist, Felicity made a request of the Ojou-Sama ¡°Let Pet brush Pet¡¯s tail?¡±.
The Ojou-Sama agreed, on the condition that she be allowed to brush Felicity¡¯s ears. Well, that makes two nice nobles¡ Stahlia and this girl. Maybe Dominic was just particularly nasty? No, I doubt that. Likely Stahlia just inherited modern values, and this girl is just plain weird.
I continued to watch Felicity carefully, not wanting to let time run away. I wasn¡¯t sure how much time I had missed in that most recent instance, but it was probably in the realm of several months. Before long, Felicity had curled up in what was presumably Stahlia¡¯s bed; there was little chance that a slave named ¡°Pet¡± would be given such luxurious accommodation.
This is going to be a long night for me, isn¡¯t it? ¡I suppose I could just break the connection for half a second relative to me¡ No. I don¡¯t want to risk seeing Stahlia¡¯s return. I might be able to glean some more information about the world, and I can test how much time is skipped any¡ time. Heh.
¡°Yo.¡±
The voice caused me to jump with a start, separating my head from the wall. In a panic, I quickly put it back, before realizing that there was a voice on this side. Shit! I need to see who that is if I even can see them, but I need to keep a connection or I¡¯ll risk missing something potentially important.
¡°No, that¡¯s not an issue; I¡¯m forcing the timeframes to sync up. Honestly, the dilation is lasting longer than it should have. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll fix that before I leave.¡±
Whoever this is, they seem to know what¡¯s going on¡ shit, there¡¯s a lot I want to ask them, but I can¡¯t talk!
¡°I go by EvilGod when I interact with George.¡±
Fuuuuck¡ Reads minds, calls themselves an Evil God, is there a cellphone?
¡°I use a custom phone modeled after a Galaxy 21.¡±
Nai wa¡
¡°Heh, no I¡¯m not that one. But seriously, you aren¡¯t going to ask what I¡¯m doing here, Claire?¡±
I turned around at that, and faced the figure. It was strange, I could see them perfectly even though everything else was still pitch black. The figure was hovering in the air, cross-legged, and was perfectly and completely average in appearance, lacking any distinguishing sexual characteristics, I couldn¡¯t determine if they were male or female. They¡¯re like one of those characters that occasionally shows up in an anime and makes a running gag of their gender.
¡°Careful. Now, I do owe you an apology; Sorry Franklin went and got you killed, Claire.¡±
Excuse me wh- No. They can read minds. I can¡¯t think anything rude. Remember that. But what do they want with me now¡?
The Androgynous Youth nodded. ¡°Glad to see you¡¯re quick on the uptake. See, my brother and sister are breaking a lot of rules, but they¡¯re doing it in ways I can¡¯t really do anything about directly. That¡¯s where you come in. I just need you to nudge George a little bit to break off my brother¡¯s influence. Everything should fall into place then.¡±
George? Nudge George? But that would imply that George is somewhere I can reach¡ or Felicity can reach¡ No, don¡¯t tell me, they¡¯re going to merge our souls or something!?
The Androgynous Youth shook their head, ¡°No, you should be able to communicate with Felicity, I already weakened the wall by sending her a good dream. You just have to breakthrough.¡±
Well, the explanation barely makes sense, and I know trusting and following gods in instances like this is almost never a good idea, but I doubt I have a choice. I nodded, even if I couldn¡¯t see my own head, I was fairly certain that this self-proclaimed god could. I turned around and went to push my head against the wall.
The Androgynous crossed their arms, ¡°Right, just call out to her with your mind. It should get through. Oh, and before I forget; It would be bad if it got out that I¡¯m interfering this much¡ ¡®I forbid you from speaking, writing, thinking, or otherwise using some method to inform about me. Invoke Authority.¡¯¡±
It felt like a dagger had pierced my flesh and I winced painfully. So that was a sort of divine order then¡ they really are some kind of god¡ I don¡¯t want to even think about why I got that specific command though. Nope. Not gonna think about why an Evil god wants to move behind the scenes¡ I sighed, wondering what I had been dragged into and cursing my luck. This is the kind of shit I was trying to warn Franklin about¡ Never, and I mean NEVER get involved with gods in an isekai. That¡¯s rule number one!
I ignored the chuckle coming from behind me, and tried sending a message to Felicity. After thinking about what would be the best greeting, I decided that I should just go with a ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Claire.¡± I was going to scare her either way, but given I was acting under the ¡°request¡± of a God that I could presume was at least indirectly responsible for reincarnating me; the best I could do was try and scare her as little as possible. I pressed my head against the wall. The connection was a lot better now, indicating that EvilGod had been telling the truth about the barrier being weakened at the moment, it was closer to a 720p video now.
I briefly inspected Felicity¡¯s dream before sending the mental shout across the barrier. She seemed to be dreaming that she was in my body. In fact, I recognized the room I shared with my husband. The sight made me feel a bit sad, but there was nothing I could do about it. Felicity had just looked at the mirror and seen my face, and she was panicking big time. That makes sense of course, if I had a dream where I wasn¡¯t in my own body, I would probably freak out as well. And I¡¯m¡ I was an adult. Felicity is four or five.
I focused my thoughts and sent a simple greeting, ¡°Hello! Can you hear me? My name is Claire¡±
However, it seemed like the shock of seeing my body instead of her own, as well as the unfamiliar environment that was my room, had caused Felicity to destabilize the dream; she was waking up. I heard a sigh from behind me, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll just go do it manually.¡±
The signal I was receiving through the wall went fuzzy for a moment, like an old CRT monitor losing the signal. When it cleared, Felicity was now standing outside the house, watching Stahlia climb out of a carriage. So the EvilGod skipped us ahead in time¡? I crossed my heart to never cross them, then crossed it a couple of extra times when a duplicate of the entity popped into existence behind Felicity.
Of course they can exist in two places at once¡ they¡¯re a god. The one behind me nodded and indicated with a quick flick of their hand that I should try and communicate again. Right, so they¡¯re probably serving the role of conduit now, in place of the dream.
¡°Hello! Can you hear me? My name is Claire!¡±
Unfortunately, there was no response to my silent mental shout.
¡°Good, I¡¯m sorry about this Claire, you¡¯re probably not going to appreciate it much. But the way things are going, my brother and sister are really going to muck things up. You know how siblings are¡ always taking your toys and doing as they please with them¡ Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m going to go ahead and make an adjustment now. Pet, do your best for your Nee-San ok? Ok. Claire, try and help out George if you can alright? Good.¡±
Hearing both of the EvilGod speaking at the same time caused some sort of pain in the middle of my head, between my ears. It was like the world knew that having the same person talking from two different places was wrong. Still, I could feel our connection beginning to get better and better. To the point where I felt like I did when I was on Felicity¡¯s side of the wall.
Then the connection got stronger still. What the hell!? What did he do!? I was now able to hear Felicity¡¯s¡ my thoughts? It was like we were being pushed together, forced into the same place. This is bad! If this doesn¡¯t stop soon, I¡¯ll.. I¡¯ll probably overwrite her. I had seen enough anime and read enough to know what happens when a young child suddenly acquires the memories of a previous life.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Typically, they undergo a complete personality shift, being overwritten by whichever life had the most experiances. Due to Felicity¡¯s short life, it was very likely that my personality would be the dominant one after we merged. Of course, there were a few times when it worked out a bit better, without changing the person receiving the memories. Though, I highly doubt someone who self-identifies as ¡°Evil¡± would spare a thought to the mind of some random five your old mimi-kin.
I had to get through to her, to enable the communication this god wanted, before I was forced to overwrite Felicity. I paid no attention to what Felicity was doing, and began metaphorically slamming my thoughts into the wall. After a short time, I found myself in Stahlia Nee-San¡¯s room, thinking about the memories I had just gotten back.
Pet, Felicity, Claire Dayson. I had three names, but which one is me? What is this¡ sensation? I could feel an appendage I had never had before, attached to my back. Experimentally, I gave it a flick and wound up dragged a bit by its weight and inertia. I see so that¡¯s what my tail feels like¡ wait, Claire has had a tail her whole life¡ hasn¡¯t she? I was only managing to confuse herself.
Pet slammed her thoughts into the wall, desperate to save Claire from being erased, while at the same time Felicity wandered around Stahlia Nee-San¡¯s room, going over their memories.
{Finally, I got through!} With that thought, I managed to shatter the wall, connecting fully to Felicity. My next thought was how much it fucking hurt. It felt like I was being ripped in two. Like two of my arms, my tail, my ears, one of my heads, basically half of my body was simply ripped off. No¡ hah. Felicity¡¯s body. We had apparently been separated after I managed to break the wall.
¡°Nyah! W-who¡¯s th-that!?¡±
Adorable, but I suppose I should calm her down. Felicity had, in reaction to my mental shout, let out a surprised yowl, and was now looking around the room carefully with her tail stood on end.
{Felicity, it¡¯s me, Claire. Do¡ do you remember?} Hopefully, she still remembered¡ remembering? Experiencing? Hopefully, she still had some knowledge of who I was from the time we spent merged just now. Unbidden into my mind rushed a series of disjointed events, they seemed to be similar to what I had just experienced; that is to say, being two people at once. So these are her memories? Let¡¯s see. After EvilGod did that ¡°thing¡± they were talking about Felicity experiencing the same thing I was, though to a much lesser extent. Thankfully she didn¡¯t feel that excruciating pain just now. That¡¯s probably because her mind is smaller than mine; an ant doesn¡¯t feel a boot stomping on it, but a foot will feel an ant bite.
But why did I suddenly get these memories...? Was it because I thought about if Felicity remembers what happened? I tried thinking about Felicity¡¯s mother. A bunch of vague indistinct emotions and bland silhouettes entered my head. The quantity of them was surprisingly low. I can assume that this means that she¡¯s started forgetting her mother¡ can¡¯t blame her given how young she is and everything she¡¯s had to endure. The thought made me want to cry.
Felicity suddenly brought her hand up to her face and wiped at her eyes, bringing her hand out, I could see that it was wet. Felicity stared at her hand with what I assume was a puzzled expression, ¡°Pet¡¯s crying? But Pet isn¡¯t sad or hurt¡¡±
That was an interesting development, it seemed that after the wall came down, I was able to more directly influence her. I¡¯ll have to be careful, but for now¡
{Felicity, My name is Claire. Do you remember how you felt a few minutes ago?}
Felicity looked up and around the room suspiciously, ¡°Elienor Ojou-Sama? Are you hiding from Pet?¡±
Elienor¡ probably that noble girl who was combing her tail before EvilGod showed up¡ I need to hurry this along so they don¡¯t get impatient.
{Felicity, I¡¯m not hiding, I¡¯m inside your head¡ You could think of me as a friend whose always been with you.}
Lying to her is a bit¡ but I don¡¯t mean any harm, and I can explain more properly later. For now, I need to figure out who George is, and how exactly I need to ¡°nudge¡± him, and do that all before a God gets impatient.
¡°A friend in Pet¡¯s head?¡± The field of view suddenly skewed, indicating Felicity had likely tilted her head to the side in confusion.
{That¡¯s right. I¡¯ve been watching you for a long time. That person you saw earlier, he made it so I could finally talk to you.}
I felt a wave of hopeful joy coming from my host, which made me feel a bit bad, given that I was basically deceiving her at the moment. I could feel the odd sensation of ears I had never had before twitching excitedly, ¡°Pet has another friend¡?¡±
Oof. I¡¯ll bet she only considers this Elienor person and Stahlia to be her friends. Well, I don¡¯t mind actually being her friend, that would likely work out for the best anyways.
My thoughts confirmed I sent another line to Felicity, {Yep! I¡¯m your new friend. Like I said, my name is Claire!}
The feelings of hopeful Joy I had been getting transformed into full-on happiness, and Felicity did a happy little dance. After a moment, however, the happiness faded and Felicity got a bit sad. I had an inkling about what was getting her down, so I hazarded a guess.
{Just because you don¡¯t see me doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t have fun together. We can talk, and I know lots of stories I can tell you when you¡¯re bored.}
It would appear that I was correct about the cause of Felicity¡¯s sudden depression, as she quickly perked up following my statement. ¡°Claire Nee-San knows lots of stories?¡± This was accompanied by a hopeful sensation. Getting used to feeling another person¡¯s emotions is going to take some time¡ At least it seems that it only goes the one way, other than when I got really sad and she started crying¡ But even then, it sounded like it was just the physiological reaction. Still, I need to get a move on with my assignment.
Given that EvilGod thinks I can do something, that means George must be in Pet¡¯s vicinity. Hmm. Stahlia is basically confirmed to be a reincarnation, but they were reacting to the Japanese. George never struck me as much of a fellow weeb, though he was versed in internet culture. Stahlia¡¯s also got different parts than George, as far as I¡¯m aware. She might have a penis¡ that is another popular trope¡
¡°Can Claire tell Pet a story now¡?¡± I figured I should put my Fujoshi ramblings aside and properly deal with the situation at hand.
{Not right away, how about later tonight? For now, can you tell me a bit about Stahlia and Dominic, Felicity?}
At the mention of Dominic¡¯s name, I felt a cold rage and hatred emanate from Felicity. She apparently absolutely despised him and given their first interactions, I could hardly blame her. Felicity slowly shook her head no, ¡°The bad man is a bad man. He stinks, and he did something to Stahlia Nee-San!¡± Oh? He did something to her? This sounded promising, though it might not be all that much, it was a lead.
{Right, Felicity, do you know what the bad man did to Stahlia Nee-San?} Felicity paused and lifted her arm up and placed a hand on her chin. After thinking for a moment, she shook her head, ¡°No, just that Stahlia Nee-San smells like him sometimes!¡±
¡Right. Let¡¯s not go there. Still, I didn¡¯t have very many hints about this, so diffing further into it would probably be a good idea. I was especially curious what Felicity meant when she said Dominic ¡°smelled bad¡±. But describing a smell almost never worked with children, even most adults would likely struggle to do it well. ¡°The Bad Smell smells bad!¡± was too much of a redundant line to be useful. I could probably do that memory recall thing, and experience the smell for myself, but just going through Felicity¡¯s memories felt wrong.
{¡Felicity¡ Can I look at your memories for a moment? I just want to see what the bad man smells like.} It feels kind of dirty. No, it is dirty. Asking a child to consent to something so invasive¡ There¡¯s no way she would be able to understand what I¡¯m asking her. Still, this was the fastest way to get what I needed, and once I was done with EvilGod¡¯s quest, I would never ask her something like this again. After all, if I failed to work within my current limits, they might just forcibly merge our souls.
Felicity appeared to give my question some serious thought, much to her credit. Eventually though, she consented in a tone that indicated she lacked understanding of the gravity of my request, ¡°Alright, go ahead! But Claire Nee-San needs to tell Pet a story later!¡±
I grit my nonexistent teeth and, for lack of a better term, sent a ¡°request¡± to Felicity¡¯s memories for the information I wanted. The olfactory memory that I was presented with was truly foul. Something like a mix of sweat, rotten eggs, and fetid meat. I felt a wave of nausea wash over me, and Felicity¡¯s stomach lurched causing her to cough. That¡¯s fucking foul. Stahlia smells like this sometimes? Never mind what I was thinking earlier. Something is definitely going on.
{Thank you, Felicity. I¡¯m sorry I made you sick just now} Indeed, the fact that I had reacted to the stench memory so strongly that it got sent across the link¡ I would have to investigate if there was a way to ¡°mimic¡± the wall that I had smashed. A mental barrier of sorts. Not only to protect Felicity from my own reactions when they went out of control but also to have the option of affording her some privacy; it seemed that all of her emotions were transmitted to me, no matter how slight. Living with someone in your head who knew what you were feeling at all times¡ I could think of a few shows and manga with a similar premise, and they were all dystopic. I wonder what my coefficient is, after everything I¡¯ve done to this poor girl¡ Over three hundred for sure.
Still, I was starting to get the picture of what was going on. Most likely, Dominic was influencing Stahlia. I couldn¡¯t be certain which one of them was George, but I was leaning towards Stahlia. I would have to coach Felicity through a conversation or two and try to surreptitiously question Stahlia before I could be certain.
{Well Felicity, I¡¯ll make sure to tell you a very good story later ok? But for now, can you tell me a story? I want to know more about Stahlia Nee-San you see.}
Like a typical child, Felicity¡¯s emotions were a constant ebb and flow. When I told her I would tell her a good story, she was excited. Then immediately sad after I told her it would be later. Then when I asked about Stahlia she got smug and happy. She opened her mouth to speak but I quickly cut her off.
{Wait, try thinking about what you want to tell me, instead of saying it. Don¡¯t you think you might look silly talking to yourself?} Felicity seemed to think long and hard about what I said. It was adorable how she got all serious at the most seemingly random things. Actually, it wasn¡¯t random; she seemed to seriously consider everything I was asking her. No matter if she understood it fully or not. Frankly, that¡¯s a good trait to have. She¡¯ll only get more careful as she grows up and learns more about the world. I need to make sure to foster this mentality of hers.
¡°Pet isn¡¯t talking to herself. She¡¯s talking to Claire Nee-San!¡± She seemed to be exceedingly pleased with that answer if the emotions I was reading were any indication. Right¡ how best to get around this¡ I hit upon an idea.
{Yes, but if you think about what you want to say instead of saying it loud, then you can have a secret conversation, like a spy!}
A sense of excitement emanated from Felicity, ¡°Like a Spy!? You mean Pet can be like Jacqueline Ohime-Sama!?¡± Hold up. What now? I knew Jacqueline was doing some behind-the-scenes work for Stahlia from that report I overheard bits of¡ but like, she¡¯s an actual spy? And doesn¡¯t Felicity have the titles a bit backward? Her owner is an older sister, a noble girl is just a rich girl, and now the maid is a goddamn princess?
Leaving aside the new discoveries for later, I addressed Felicity again, {Yep! Just like Jacqueline Ohime-Sama}
Felicity paused for a moment, then tentatively ¡°thought at me¡±.
{Can¡ Can Claire Nee-San hear Pet¡?}
I intentionally pushed a bit of my satisfaction towards her, which caused her to stiffen slightly. Right, I should explain I can share emotions with her. I¡¯ll refrain from telling her that her own emotions also get shared until she¡¯s a bit older. I wouldn¡¯t want to cause her to try and repress her feelings out of misplaced fear of me getting upset.
{Yes, Felicity, I can hear you. Now, can you tell me about Stahlia?} Felicity radiated happiness, and proceeded to telepathically communicate all of her impressions of Stahlia; how she was the best older sister she could ask for, how she was so happy to have been saved by Stahlia, how Stahlia being with Dominic made her anxious, and how Stahlia had forbidden her from going outside, which made her upset, but she figured there must have been a reason. Accompanying the deluge of thought communications, were occasional flashes of memories that were of particular importance. So memories can be transmitted involuntarily. At least, I highly doubt that Felicity is sending me these on purpose.
Honestly, this nekomimi girl practically worships Stahlia¡ It¡¯s a little bit creepy. But ordering her not to leave the estate grounds? Even to the point of utilizing the slave magic? That¡¯s a bit¡ I don¡¯t know if George would have done something like that, he was a bit full of himself, but he was otherwise a normal above average student. If he did, then there must have been a very big reason.
Likely, if it was such a big reason, Felicity had most probably not been told about it. She was only five after all. Still, I doubted it was something so simple as the nobles not liking mimi-kin. If that was all it was, then simply announcing that Felicity was the property of another noble should be sufficient. I most likely won¡¯t be able to figure it out without finding some way of appraising Felicity, if something like that even exists.
Of course, the easiest method would be to simply ask Stahlia herself, but until I knew for sure I could trust her, that was a big no-no. I could hardly have Felicity demand reasons for orders her master had felt the need to invoke the slave contract over. Not without revealing myself, and that was a big risk.
Stahlia picked that moment to enter the room. Right, I need to make sure that Felicity doesn-
¡°Stahlia Nee-San! Okaeri! Guess what! Guess what! Pet made a friend! You can¡¯t see her because she lives in Pet¡¯s head. Her name is Claire!¡± FUCK! This was probably the worst-case scenario. Now the ball was completely out of my hands and firmly in Stahlia¡¯s court. How will she react¡?
Stahlia¡¯s eyes flashed wide and she stared at Felicity closely. After a moment of hesitating, she shot a look at Jacqueline, who had lost an arm since I saw her last. Jacqueline nodded, and spoke a word in a language I couldn¡¯t recognize, ¡°[#######]¡±.
Even with Felicity¡¯s keen hearing, I could no longer hear anything outside of the room. So that¡¯s some sort of sound isolation spell. I guess magic exists, as expected. My attention snapped back to the present as I heard Stahlia¡¯s words, ¡°Jacqueline. Go make tea and close your ears.¡±
The words were cold. Nothing like how I had heard her speak the last time I saw her a few hours ago, from my perspective at least. Stahlia waited for Jacqueline to leave the immediate vicinity and stuff some small pegs in her ears. Stahlia then turned her attention to Felicity and narrowed her eyes. I gulped my non-existent throat. I felt a bit of fear coming from Felicity, as memories flashed from her to me unbidden. Memories of the only other time she had seen Stahlia acting like this; the day she was purchased.
After watching Felicity for an uncomfortably long amount of time, Stahlia¡¯s eyes briefly flashed. Then, enunciating the words very carefully, as if they had not been used in a very long time; Stahlia spoke in English, ¡°Hay Pro-fess-or C. How is it go-ing?¡±
The voice was lilting, much cuter and higher pitched than I remembered, but there was no mistaking the nickname. Only one self-absorbed student had ever dared call me that.
3-3 C3: Dear Diary, Today We Planned Ahead
¡°Hay Pro-fess-or C. How is it go-ing?¡± The voice was lilting, much higher-pitched than I remembered, but there was no mistaking the nickname. Only one self-absorbed student had ever dared call me that.
That¡¯s a bit of a risk on his part¡ I would have thought George would be more careful than to just reveal himself like that¡ Herself? Haaah¡ I wish I could speak with them directly¡ Maybe I could? But that would require me to take control of Felicity¡¯s body¡ I¡¯ll save that for a last resort. For now,
{Felicity, can you please tell Stahlia Nee-San, ¡®Claire says ¡®I see you¡¯ve gotten shorter¡¯¡¯?}
Felicity cleared her throat, and then stammered, ¡°S-stahlia Nee-San, C-claire Nee-San say¡¯s y-you¡¯ve gotten sho-shorter.¡±
Stahlia gave Felicity a long look, then looked back past her, or rather through her. Opening her mouth, Stahlia prompted me for some sort of evidence other than my name, ¡°Well, If you are the Claire I know, then what was the last thing I said to you over there?¡±
He¡ She¡ damn this is confusing. And poor Felicity is terrified. Damnit George what are you doing this to her for!? Of course, I knew that it was my fault. I should have warned Felicity not to tell Stahlia about me the way she did. Especially not right after she got back from a, presumably, long trip. I¡¯m sure EvilGod would have given me a day or two to work. Thinking back, I came up with the answer to George-cum-Stahlia¡¯s question, and fed it to Felicity.
¡°S-Stahlia Nee-Sa-San, C-Claire Nee-San Say¡¯s you a-asked her a-bout a su-surve-y¡¯¡±
Stahlia stood still for a moment, before visibly relaxing. She reached out and rubbed Pet¡¯s head, ¡°I apologize for scaring you like that, Pet.¡± I did my best to tune out the sensation of head pats I was experiencing for the first time; it felt a lot better than I had imagined and had the effect of immediately calming Felicity down. She actually started purring¡ Or maybe ¡°we started purring would be better¡±? I really can¡¯t think of the best way to refer to us¡ Also, what the hell George!? You don¡¯t sound sorry at all!
Indeed, it was as if Stahlia hadn¡¯t been apologetic in the least; though she had spoken the words, her tone was bland and entirely devoid of emotion. I¡¯ll have to have words with you¡ although lecturing through Felicity as an intermediary might not work out very well.
¡°Who¡¯s Professor C.?¡± Stahlia¡¯s hand stopped moving as she looked down at Felicity. Wait, George said that in English though? Why was Felicity able to figure out what it means in this world¡¯s language¡? And for that matter, why am I able to communicate with Felicity? Indeed, it had only just occurred to me, but this whole time, I had been speaking to Felicity in English myself, while she had been speaking whatever this world¡¯s language was. And yet, we both had no issues understanding each other.
The only thing I could think of, is that our souls sharing a body is causing them to sort of ¡°share¡± the intention behind the words? So since we are directly connected, it means that we are able to impart the ¡°meaning¡± behind what we are saying to each other, independent of the words themselves. And I can understand what George is saying, even when they are speaking this world¡¯s language, that means that I must be getting it translated from Felicity¡¯s understanding of the words.
I could only guess that George had arrived at a similar conclusion because after a moment they gave Felicity an order, ¡°Pet, do not tell anyone else about Claire and do not share anything about what we discuss with anyone, except Claire, unless I give permission.¡±
I felt a strange tightening being transmitted from Felicity¡¯s senses as if her entire body was being squeezed. So that was a slave contact order. George is really taking things seriously, aren¡¯t they? Still, despite it being moderately uncomfortable, it didn¡¯t seem like Felicity really minded all that much.
{Felicity, can you ask Stahlia Nee-San what exactly happened?}
Felicity nodded, which caused Stahlia to raise an eyebrow since, from her perspective, Felicity had simply spontaneously bobbed her head, ¡°Stahlia Nee-San, Claire wants to know what happened exactly?¡± Well, that confirms that the language is being translated as meaning and intent since she was able to rephrase my question but keep the same meaning.
Stahlia nodded and started talking quickly while keeping one eye on Jacqueline. It would seem that Jacqueline is not trusted completely.
¡°Well, after I left university that day, on my way home I either tripped or was pushed out in front of a subway. When I woke up, I was an infant by the name of ¡°Stahlia¡±. The character I had made for that Beta I mentioned to you, although it took me a few months to realize that¡¡±
{Wait, you were an infant?}
Felicity relayed my question, which caused Stahlia to pause, before nodding, ¡°Yea, I was an infant. I¡¯m ten now, soon to be eleven.¡±
So¡ that means time is moving faster in this world compared to Earth. Since from my perspective George died only about a week ago. I used Felicity as a relay to express this, though it seemed she had stopped following the conversation at all and was merely repeating words. That¡¯s honestly probably for the best.
What followed was a nearly three-hour-long discussion in which George, in which I was filled out on what had been going on in their life since reincarnating. Frankly, it seemed like they had been reborn under a cursed star. By the time they had finished recounting what they had been through, the sun was setting. Stahlia suggested we retire for the night and resume in the morning, however, there was one major question that I still wanted to get answered before that though.
{One more thing, how did you know it was me? Felicity only mentioned my name, but you took that and jumped straight to assuming I was your teacher.}
Felicity regurgitated my final question, though at this point I was receiving feelings of extreme boredom along our connection. I¡¯ll need to tell her a really good story¡
Stahlia nodded, ¡°Right, you probably would find that odd. I guess the easiest way to explain it would be to say that I ¡®saw¡¯ you. I got an ability a few days ago that lets me see mana. When I examined Pet after she said your name, I saw that she has two different mana sources layered over each other. So I took a bit of a chance. Luckily it paid off.¡±
That makes sense¡ It¡¯s a bit of a risk, but I suppose he assumed that in the worst-case scenario, he could always order Felicity, though that sounds a bit cold-hearted¡ I wish I knew what I should call them. It was not lost on me that I had been sort of alternating between George and Stahlia, he and she. However, it appeared like they were getting ready for bed now. I¡¯ll ask that in the morning.
Felicity marched our body over to the bed and climbed in next to Stahlia, an action that caused me to balk a bit. Don¡¯t tell me George is letting her sleep with him? She¡¯s five! As if he had heard me, I heard George speak up, ¡°Claire, you should know a bit about what Pet has been through. Just let her have this; I¡¯m not doing it for the reason you¡¯re imagining.¡± That¡¯s true, and you¡¯re technically ten yourself¡ it¡¯s only a bit creepy since I know you¡¯re older inside.
Then again, from what I was getting over my connection to Felicity, it seemed that this was something Felicity considered ¡°her right¡±. Considering the girl was a literal slave, it was a curious mentality for her to have developed. Then again, if the descriptions I was given earlier were anything to go by, Felicity looks up to Stahlia as not just an older sister, but a literal savior figure¡ which makes sense I guess. I would just have to get over myself if I was going to last in this world; it was a fantasy world, things were different here. In that way, it seemed like George had actually been fairly successful in adapting.
{Felicity, do you still want a story? Or do you want to wait until tomorrow?} Felicity was radiating out an aura of exhaustion. Considering the high-level conversation that she had just been forced to take part in, some exhaustion seemed more than fair. Her ears perked up at the mention of a story however, after a moment, she languidly shook her head and buried her face into the pillow.
Right, I¡¯ll have to think of a really good story to tell her¡ Of course, I was far from a creative person. Any stories I might tell would be pulled directly from Manga or Anime. That being said, I would need to make sure to pick one that she would be able to understand enough to get invested in. Certain films came to mind, such as that one about being spirited off to another world in an amusement park.
Or maybe the one about a fish that wanted to be human. No, anything from that studio relies too heavily on visuals, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do a verbal retelling justice¡ then again, I could possibly show her my memories of the movies¡ I decided to do a quick experiment. I called up my memories of the fish movie, the other one might have come across as a nightmare, and pushed them towards Felicity, who had fallen asleep at some point.
Much to my satisfaction, I noted that there was an almost immediate change in Felicity¡¯s emotions, I could also feel our eyes flitting back and forth under their lids. Being able to feel Rapid Eye Movement was, to say the least, a bit uncomfortable. Still, this proved I could directly share my memories with Felicity, at least as dreams. I¡¯ll have to try a few more. I remember this movie almost perfectly, but there are others where I don¡¯t have all the details still. Also, will she remember this when she wakes up? Or will it be like a normal dream and mostly or entirely forgotten? I could only answer that last question by actually asking her in the morning, so I put it to bed for now.
A few hours had passed, Felicity¡¯s movie dream had since ended and she was now in a dreamless deep sleep. At least, our eyes had stopped flicking back and forth under their lids. This is really boring. I had tried sleeping myself, but it seemed I was unable to do so. Something about being a soul without a brain seemed to preclude the need to sleep for me. If this is how it¡¯s going to be, I would honestly rather have my dark space back. At least in there, time moved faster.
And now our nose was itching. Incidentally, I had opted to refer to Felicity¡¯s body as ¡°ours¡± under the assumption that if anything happened to it, I would suffer the consequences as well. Not that I intended to let anything happen to it in the first place, but hopefully by thinking of it like that, I could avoid becoming careless. Who would have thought that your nose can still itch even while you¡¯re asleep¡ In a perfect world, Felicity would unconsciously scratch at the offending body part, however, it seemed she did not notice at all.
Damnit. This is getting really irritating. Just fucking scratch it! As if at my bidding, our arm moved up and scratched the nose, bringing sweet, blissful relief. Right, so that was fucking weird. I hadn¡¯t felt any intentions from Felicity to move. Normally, when she was about to move, I would get a brief flash of the intent right before it happened. This time I got nothing, it was¡ no. That¡¯s exactly what had happened. Did I move the arm?
Experimentally, I tried sitting up. Slowly, our body moved according to what I was wanting it to do. So if Felicity isn¡¯t controlling the body, I¡¯m able to? I quickly laid us back down and replaced the bedding to how it had been before I moved us. No way am I doing anything with this. Not unless I get her permission first. The whole idea of being trapped in one¡¯s own body, but not able to move it, only able to watch. It was unsettling. I would know, given that that was my life now. Though it wasn¡¯t my body I was trapped in, it was originally Felicity¡¯s, and she hadn¡¯t asked for any of this.
I mean, I hadn¡¯t asked for any of it either, but I was the adult in this situation. Still, the fact that I can control our body, if I need to, will be useful to know I¡¯m sure. I wonder if the body will still rest? Like, would Felicity wake up super tired if I were to use our body all night? It was something that could easily be tested, but as stated previously, I was not going to do very much with this new discovery until I had her permission. I¡¯m sure she would give her permission readily enough, from what I had seen so far. But in this case, I wanted to make sure she totally understood what she was agreeing to.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
I passed the night idly from there on, running back over the plots of various Anime and Manga to pass the time. Finally, the sun began to peek over the horizon, and Jacqueline came into the room to wake up Stahlia. Once they were up and dressed, Stahlia asked Jacqueline if there had been a summons for them yet. Presumably, this had something to do with the ¡°disaster¡± that they had mentioned had recently occurred. I had asked for more details. However, George had refused to exposit on whatever had happened on their school trip.
Considering their attitude, and the fact that Felicity had been very surprised about Jacqueline¡¯s missing arm, I could only assume that it must have been something incredibly bad. I also got the impression that they weren¡¯t doing it spare Felicity¡ I think they might have been trying to avoid telling me what happened.
In any case, according to Jacqueline¡¯s report, no summons had arrived yet, but we could probably expect one in a few hours. Stahlia nodded, and had Jacqueline silence the room again, then, once confirming that the maid had left earshot, Stahlia turned to Felicity. ¡°Your turn, Claire. How did you wind up here?¡± I could feel an extremely disgruntled reaction from Felicity, who had woken up while Jacqueline was dressing Stahlia. Which was honestly a sight to behold, I never would have thought someone would be so skilled with just one arm.
Felicity¡¯s reaction was understandable, given that for Stahlia to be questioning me, Felicity had to serve as an intermediary. I bit my metaphorical lip, I had just said I didn¡¯t want to do this.
{Felicity, can I try and speak? If you give me permission, I think I can control our mouth. I can show you another memory, like the one you dreamed about. That way you won¡¯t be bored.}
It was a bit of a gamble since I didn¡¯t actually know if she had remembered the dream. But even if she didn¡¯t, chances were she would be at least intrigued by my proposition. Apparently, she did remember, as Felicity¡¯s next action was to excitedly nod her consent and promptly climb back into the bed. I guess she latched onto the word ¡°dream¡±. This whole affair caused George to raise an eyebrow questioningly.
Once Felicity had secured us into the bed, I called up memories of another movie by that same studio, this one about a giant cat spirit who helps a little girl through a difficult emotional time. Felicity became engrossed in the memory, and her consciousness faded away somewhat. This left the body free for me to control. I swore to myself I would only use this to speak with George.
¡°Right, I suppose you would want to know about that. Before I get into that though, how should I call you? Honestly, it¡¯s kinda bothering me.¡±
Stahlia opened their eyes wide, before nodding, ¡°I see you can take control, at least enough to speak. What did you do to Pet¡¯s consciousness?¡± As they were questioning me, George¡¯s eyes narrowed and briefly flashed, ¡°¡Is she asleep? Her mana dimmed, like it got put into the background or something.¡±
Right, the ability to see life or whatever she called it. I see you do care about Felicity, at least enough to see if she¡¯s safe, ¡°Right, I offered to let her watch one of my memories of an Anime Movie. She got really bored yesterday, and when you suggested she would have to do the same thing again, all I felt was frustration. George, she¡¯s five.¡±
After a moment, Stahlia nodded, ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right, she is a bit young for conversations like that. To answer your question, you can call me ¡®Stahlia¡¯ and I guess consider me¡ a girl. I¡¯ve had ten years to come to terms with that. Besides, I would not want you or Pet to make a mistake and accidentally call me George in front of someone.¡±
Her reasoning made sense, but I thought I could detect a hint of bitterness in their voice. Ah, ten years old would mean she¡¯s just started puberty. That must be pretty disconcerting considering the past life memories. Like suddenly being slammed in the face with the reality of the situation.
¡°Right well, Stahlia it is then. To answer your question; I¡¯ve only been dead for a few days relative to my own perception.¡± That got a bit of a reaction of surprise, but Stahlia prompted me to continue without saying anything further, so I continued on.
¡°Franklin brought me your PC and launched into a long conspiracy theory about how you had gotten murdered for some reason. I agreed to look into your files if only to give him closure. The only thing we found on your hard drive was the executable for NewLife. When Franklin logged into it using information he got from your email, the computer exploded or something. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a sort of black empty space. Periodically I would be transported against a wall of sorts, and spend a day or two in her head. Recently-¡±
I had been about to mention EvilGod, but the words caught in my throat. It would seem that his ¡°invoke authority¡± outright prevents me from saying anything, even to Stahlia. Figures. ¡°Recently, the wall broke down completely, and I found myself fully aware and sharing this body with her. Oh, I¡¯m pretty sure the Japanese stuff was my fault; I might have altered some of her formative memories before I knew I was dealing with an independent soul in its own right.¡±
Stahlia nodded, taking everything in. After a moment, she exhaled, ¡°Well, sounds like Franklin is out there somewhere as well. There isn¡¯t much I can do at the moment, not until I resolve things with Drakas, but I¡¯ll try and look for him once that¡¯s done. Since it sounds like my death really got to him, it¡¯s the least I could do.¡±
Again, she sounds like she¡¯s just making a promise because it¡¯s what I expect her to say. Like she doesn¡¯t actually feel sorry about him being dead¡ ¡°Right, about that. You mentioned you were having boy troubles?¡±
It must have been humorous, seeing a five-year-old nekomimi wink while saying ¡°boy troubles¡±. At the very least, if her glare was anything to go by, Stahlia found my joke hilarious.
¡°No. I¡¯m not having ¡®Boy Troubles¡¯. I just know that my fianc¨¦e is a walking shit stain of a human being, and yet I seem to be falling for him anyway. I was hoping it was his brainwashing mana control thing I mentioned last night, but from what I saw the other day, that doesn¡¯t seem to be the case.¡±
Right, about that. As soon as you mentioned how gross his mana looked, I had a feeling. ¡°Right, about that. Did you know that mimi-kin, or atleast Nekomimi, can ¡®smell¡¯ mana?¡±
Stahlia raised an eyebrow and looked at me quizzically. ¡°It¡¯s true, Dominic smells like sulfur and fetid meat. It is, in no small word, nauseating. For what it¡¯s worth, you smell almost minty.¡±
Stahlia blushed a little bit at my compliment, meaning that I had been successful in lightening the mood.
¡°In any case, she says she occasionally catches a bit of Dominic¡¯s scent underneath your own. It¡¯s not like it rubbed off on you from him holding your hand or something, more like it¡¯s something coming out from you yourself. Are you sure there¡¯s no way he¡¯s not controlling or influencing you? Frankly, from the few memories, she has of him, Dominic seems to be a real piece of work.¡±
Stahlia sat back in thought. After a moment, she nodded slowly, ¡°It might be possible. I don¡¯t have enough information, but if I assume that I didn¡¯t use to be immune, and then something changed that made me immune¡ well, suffice to say I can think of a few possibilities. I¡¯ll have to make a plan before I can act on them though¡ and leveling up a few more times would be really helpful¡±
We sat in silence for a moment, before Stahlia spoke up again. ¡°I understand that you might not feel very good about taking control of Pet¡¯s body. But I had a thought. Do you remember the [Envious] Skill I told you she had last night?¡±
The skill that is probably going to kill her, and the reason you decided to order her not to leave? Yea I remember that one. ¡°What about it? And didn¡¯t you think of ordering her not to use the skill?¡±
Stahlia nodded, ¡°Yea, I thought of that, but the way it seems to work is like, an automatic effect. I don¡¯t have a way of experimenting with it on my own. If I ordered her to do something impossible, it might have hurt or even killed her. So, with that in mind, I settled for ordering her to stay on the estate, where she would be less likely to encounter new talents. But, she has you now.¡±
She has me now? What exactly do you mean by that? I voiced my confusion and Stahlia nodded. Raising her hand up, she spoke, ¡°Pet already knows most of my talents. The only ones she doesn¡¯t know are magic-related, or those that are completely internal and can¡¯t be ¡®observed¡¯. [##### ####].¡±
A fist-sized ball of water formed in the air above Stahlia¡¯s open palm, and promptly fired off into a small tub at the far end of the room. Jacqueline glanced over but went back to what she was doing after Stahlia waved her off, ¡°Did you get any notifications, or pick up anything from Pet just now?¡±
Wait, did you just theorize that if I was in control, Felicity wouldn¡¯t be able to activate [Envious]? And then go and test that!? What if you were wrong! I made sure to display my irritation as I answered her question, ¡°No. I didn¡¯t notice anything. Why the HELL would you go and do such a dangerous test!?¡± Ok, maybe that went beyond ¡°displaying my irritation¡±¡
Stahlia seemed nonplussed in the face of my anger. ¡°I can¡¯t bring in somebody from the outside and say ¡°hey, use your talent in front of my slave.¡± Further, Pet already knows all of the basic talents Jacqueline and I have. In fact, the Magic Talent she would have gotten there would probably have the least impact out of any of the talents I could have experimented with; it¡¯s the cheapest at least.¡±
¡°So, here¡¯s my theory, as well as my reasoning. Talents and Skills are seemingly tied to the soul. In the case of Pet¡¯s [Envious], it picks up on the observations fed to the soul by the senses. The thing is, in my experience so far, skills and talents seem very straightforward; they don¡¯t account for possibilities that are ¡®outside the box¡¯.¡±
I think I can see where she¡¯s going with this. Because Felicity and I are in such a unique circumstance, we might be able to get around the issues that come from [Envious], but getting ¡®in the way¡¯ of that sensory input feed.
¡°So, I was thinking, now that I know you can take control of the body if it¡¯s possible for you to take control of only the senses, then maybe Pet would be able to regain some freedom. From her point of view, nothing should really change since your soul connection would still be feeding her the sensory information. Hell, at the far end, the two of you might become op as hell. Imagine if you fill your soul up with observation and sense-type abilities while Pet takes a bunch of combat-orientated ones.¡±
¡Well, I can¡¯t say I appreciate the assumption that Felicity is going to be in a situation where she needs combat skills¡ but the idea of her not being stuck in the manor anymore, well it¡¯s appealing. Not sure how I feel about my part to play in this though. Sure, I would just be taking over the duty of processing sensory information. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions¡ what if next I decide I should control her hands so she can¡¯t burn herself? Or her legs to make sure she won¡¯t get lost¡?
Frankly, a lot of my misgivings probably stemmed from my original faux pas, when I had screwed up her mind and turned her into a weeb. Still, it¡¯s probably worth the risk. It would let her have a bit of freedom back.
At that moment, Jacqueline called out to get Stahlia¡¯s attention, ¡°My Lady, a summons has arrived. We are to report to Duke Percius¡¯ office for a debriefing. His Highness Prince Rupert will also be there, so Percius should be contained, as it were.¡±
Off. Going to go see the prince, can¡¯t say I¡¯m envious of that. Maybe having some freedom back isn¡¯t such a good idea. Stahlia left while wearing a grimace of suppressed irritation, and I whiled away the time until Felicity came back up from her induced dream. The thought occurs that what I just did to her, was basically the same thing that happened in an opium house¡ Fuck me, this sharing a body thing is proving troublesome for my moral compass¡ I would have to think of a better way of sharing my memories with Felicity. One that didn¡¯t put her out like that.
Either way, Felicity was now awake, so I had to figure out how best to broach the topic of letting me act as an intermediary for her senses. First, I withdrew myself so that Felicity took control of our body again. This resulted in a brief moment of absolutely nothing where neither of us was controlling the body or processing sensory input. It was a bit freaky, and indeed, I felt a brief spark of terror from Felicity before she retook control for herself.
{Felicity, Stahlia Nee-San had an interesting idea.}
I felt our ears perk up at the mention of it being Stahlia¡¯s idea, ¡°Stahlia Nee-San had an idea? Tell Pet!¡±
I grimaced to myself and went on to explain the idea of letting me act as an intermediary for our senses while stressing that Felicity would otherwise retain control of the body at all times. By the time I was finishing the explanation, I could feel a vague sense of irritation from Felicity¡¯s subconscious.
¡°So, if we do that, Pet won¡¯t be stuck inside all the time right? I can go out with Stahlia Nee-San?¡± Of course, you would miss the major hurdles and focus on only the convenient parts. Your innocence is a treasure¡ I bit down on my feelings of revulsion and gave the affirmative. Felicity gave an enthusiastic agreement, and we spent the next several hours practicing.
As it turned out, it was a lot more complicated than ¡°I¡¯ll just process the sensory information while she controls the body.¡± By taking over the sense of sight, I also had control of the ocular muscles. This meant that Felicity could no longer move her eyes on her own. That might not sound too bad until you realize exactly how many times a day you look at something by just moving your eyes. A similar phenomenon occurred with our ears. While Felicity would maneuver her ears entirely based on instinct, I didn¡¯t have that advantage and had to learn to properly control an entirely new set of muscles I didn¡¯t have on my last body.
By the time Stahlia got back from her meeting though, we had managed to get a decently effective system in place; if Felicity wanted to get a closer look at something, she would tell me mentally so that I could move the eyes to look at it. It was my hope that, over time, I would be able to learn to predict what she wanted to see, and eventually make our arrangement seamless.
Stahlia observed the greatly slowed reactions of Felicity¡¯s eyes and ears before nodding, ¡°I assume what we talked about was a success. Good thing then, since It¡¯s been decided to let my winter break start a bit early. Something about giving me time to ¡®come to terms¡¯. Pet, how would you like to visit my home village?¡±
The pure innocent joy I felt coming from Pet¡¯s soul at that question, brought tears to our eyes, which sent Stahlia into a bit of a fluster. I guess this is another issue I¡¯ll have to figure out a solution for¡
3-4 Room To Breath
Extra Chapter: Awkward Meeting
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eighth Month of 947
I stood at the entrance to the meeting room in trepidation. Waiting for me inside was the grandfather of Asten, the boy I had consigned to death. Along with him was Count Francois, the father of my Fianc¨¦e, and Prince Rupert von Drakas, third prince of the realm.
At my side, I had my Fianc¨¦e Dominic, who I had just learned was, in fact, most likely controlling me. Or at least influencing me to some extent. Frankly, that knowledge was as relieving as it was frightening. On one hand, I knew for sure that my conflicted and confusing feelings were, in all likelihood, not entirely mine.
On the other hand, that meant that I was dealing with thoughts that stemmed from an outside source. In a way, I guess it¡¯s sort of similar to how Pet and Claire are with each other¡. No, that was just rambling on my part. There were only the shallowest of similarities there.
Still, knowing exactly how low he was made for cold comfort when he was at my side like he was. I took his hand while forcing my own to not twitch and allowed myself to be escorted into the room. I have to keep up appearances. I felt like that was becoming my mantra, but it was true. I needed to blend in while training myself up.
Though I had been getting distracted from that. Part of me wanted to blame the boy standing on my left, but deep down I knew it was also me. Despite having thought I had acknowledged that this world wasn¡¯t a game, I hadn¡¯t done anything to really change how I was ¡°playing¡± it.
I entered the room, and gave my greeting as stiffly and as formally as possible. After all, one of the Princes was in attendance. I still wasn¡¯t sure how I should feel about that, probably glad? It will at least help contain Percius. On the other hand, this Prince in particular was the one who introduced me to Dominic. It¡¯s only logical to wonder how much he knows about him.
For now, I marked the Prince as a ¡°potential enemy¡±. He was of course a very real enemy in the grand scheme of my goals, but for now, I was willing to play nice if he was.
¡°A pleasure to meet you again, Lady Stahlia. I am glad to see you are doing well, all things considered.¡± The prince gave me a seated half-bow, to which I responded with a proper full curtsy and gave my own personal greeting, ¡°Indeed, I am most honored to find myself in your presence once again.¡±
At that, I took my seat in the indicated place, and Percius cleared his throat, signaling the commencement of the meeting, ¡°Lord Dominic, Lady Stahlia, Tell¡ Please share with those present what happened.¡± His voice sounded tired and empty. He really did love his grandson.
I took a deep breath and began recounting the events that had happened in Ang. Dominic occasionally supplemented something I missed, at least until I got to the part where he was knocked unconscious. For this, I told the same fabricated fight that I had already shared. It was a minor concern that Dominic would learn that these events were a fabrication by question Jacqueline, however, there was little I could do about that until I had time to come up with an answer to that problem.
In this case, however, he was either biting his tongue or was not aware of the ruse. Either way, I was able to speak uninterrupted. It was a bit difficult for me to portray things properly given my Remorse was still off, so I adopted a hesitating tone of voice, hoping to make it seem like my delivery was dry because I found the events so horrifying.
By the time I had finished, Count Francois had begun tapping his gloved fingers on the arm of his chair, while Percius was trying to discreetly wipe tears from the corner of his eyes. The prince didn¡¯t say anything, merely held his hands clasped in front of his face, appearing deep in thought.
After a while, it was Percius who finally broke the silence, ¡°Well, Lord Francois, Your Majesty, I can confirm that the demon encountered was indeed at least a high demon. The fact that they managed to wound it at all is exceptionally impressive.¡±
Then, turning to me, Percius did something rather unexpected. Rather than blame me for Asten¡¯s death, he thanked me, ¡°Lady Stahlia, thank you for recounting my grandson¡¯s final moments. I am sure that was difficult for you.¡±
All I could do in response was briefly nod. I had prepared a few excuses under the assumption that he would be angry or upset, but I hadn¡¯t thought of anything to say if he was grateful. I mean, you¡¯re welcome? It wasn¡¯t hard to recount at all though¡
From there, things moved along swiftly. It was quickly established that I should be granted early leave from this school year, and would be able to return to spend it in my home village. That¡¯s an unexpected boon. Getting away from everybody for a few months should give me some time to reevaluate what I should be doing, and hopefully come up with countermeasures to Dominic.
The fact that it¡¯s my home village as well means I should be able to level up a few times at least, it might be that I can find a skill or two that will help with my issues. I can also speak with Sieg about Jacqueline¡¯s arm¡ though there¡¯s no way that such a small remote shop will be able to provide a restorative for that.
We were let out of the meeting after another hour, and Dominic escorted me out of the building and down towards the street, where he helped me into the carriage. It was strange, but now that I knew that it wasn¡¯t my own influence that was leading to my conflicted feelings, it was like some sort of veil had been lifted from over my eyes.
Rather than set my heart aflutter when he squeezed my hand, all I felt now was a bit annoyed. Even when he kissed my hand after letting me on the carriage, instead of being at a loss for words, I was just annoyed. I still found myself blushing, it was embarrassing after all. But I was able to look past my own embarrassment and see what was really going on.
I have a lot of planning to do for the next few months. Considering everything I need to do, two years until I graduate might not actually be enough time. I had a lot of work to do, but the future was at least hopeful, as long as I kept my eyes forwards.
3-4 Room To Breath
Stahlia 10 Years Old, Eighth Month of 947 A few days later.
Our carriage was moving along at a decent pace. Unlike when I was first traveling to the royal capital, this was not some rented carriage, but rather my own. It had been given to me by Count Francois for use while I was in the capital, and following the decision to commence my winter break early, I had been permitted to use it to travel back home to Ris.
Along with me, I was bringing Jacqueline, for obvious reasons, as well as the Dark Elf Lucy. Count Francois had insisted that I bring Lucy back home with me as a show of support from his house. I had tried to get out of it, but he had not budged. I was also bringing Pet since, now that my old teacher Claire was operating her senses, there was much less risk of [Envious] activating. There was still the ominous-sounding bit about ¡°progresses user towards demonization¡±, however that should be a non-issue so long as the skill wasn¡¯t used. After all, the immediate threat was her death and that had now been circumvented. I had asked Sana if she would like to come back, however the church had not granted her a similar early leave as they had me, so she had to refrain.
In terms of guards, I technically had Giogi with me, as well as Stil. There were a pair of fully trained knights as well, but those would return to the capital after delivering me to Ris. Rowell had once again attempted to assign himself to me, however, a quick appeal towards Count Francois nipped that in the bud. I was willing to play the role of the dutifully engaged daughter-in-law if it meant I could avoid having any extra shadows around. At the thought of that engagement, I let out a sigh and turned my attention out the window. The past few days had been eventful, to say the least.
Thanks to Claire cluing me in on a fact of Beast-kin physiology I had been unaware of, I was now fairly certain that Dominic had done something to me. Thankfully, whatever it was, it seemed to no longer work. However, my confused feelings seemed to stem from some sort of mental influence I had been placed under in the past. The only time that came to mind when this might have happened was back when we first met, shortly before Rosial was kidnapped.
The thought that it was his mind-controlling ability that had caused me not to notice my sister¡¯s dwindling condition was as infuriating as ever, however, I forced those feelings away. Dwelling on the past would not do me any good; I had about five months of time now in which I would be relatively free to act as I pleased. In order to make sure it didn¡¯t go to waste; I had come up with a small list of goals to achieve during my break. The thought occurs to me, that I¡¯ve been playing fast and loose for a while now¡ Ever since the first time I met a god for a face-to-face, I¡¯ve been behaving obliviously. Then the next time I met a god, I got extremely cocky and almost lost everything.
I wasn¡¯t sure exactly what was causing that, but I knew I would have to avoid acting rashly in the future. Looking out ahead of the carriage, I could see Fess coming up in the distance; this would be where we stopped for the night, and also where my first ¡°plan¡± came into play. Of course, this one wasn¡¯t much of a plan. It basically consisted of ¡°Find Aaron.¡± Then, ¡°Somehow get him talking.¡± The last time I had been through Fess, an adventurer by the name of Aaron had implied that my engagement was bad luck.
Jacqueline had tried investigating him but actually come up empty-handed. Considering her talents that was quite the feat on his part and made me think he might be a bit more than just an average adventurer. Still, he presumably knew something about Dominic, or perhaps the Francois, and I would very much like to know what that was. Granted, he was ostensibly an adventurer, so he might not even be in Fess anymore. If that was the case, then I would see if there was anybody who knew where he had gone and try and arrange a meeting.
That was only a side goal though; it would be nice if it panned out, but I wasn¡¯t going to count on it. My primary goal for these next few months was to level up and unlock the next slots for my custom class. This would let me browse the talents and skills list again, and it was my hope that I would be able to find what Dominic was doing or at least a way to counter it. Once that was finished, I needed to come up with better fighting strategies. In theory, I would have been able to kill Sitri, this world didn¡¯t have anything like health bars or meters. One decisive blow would fall even the strongest warrior. I had a few ideas, but it wasn¡¯t likely something I could achieve over just one winter.
For more long-term goals, Sitri had been a massive walkup call. I had assumed, quite arrogantly, that Jacqueline and I would be able to accomplish my mission by ourselves, a two-woman army. That encounter had made blindingly obvious how na?ve I was. I would need to get allies. Not just friends, but people I could count on and maneuver. Surely, there are some nobles that dislike the way the kingdom operates. My first thought was of the eternally neutral Duke Claurence house; despite Edith¡¯s actions at the school social, to my knowledge, there had been no further moves on their part towards aligning themselves with the third prince¡¯s faction.
Of course, I had very little to offer as collateral towards any potential alliances. Well, there was one thing I could offer that would probably be viewed as quite valuable, but I wasn¡¯t sure exactly how I felt about going down that road. After all, I still fully intended on breaking off my current engagement. On that note, I also needed to start working towards that much sooner than I originally intended.
Originally, I had been planning to ride their coattails for as long as possible, however, given what I now knew about Dominic, I had to guess that actually getting away from them would be exceedingly difficult. Dominic did not strike me as the kind of person who would give up easily, given what I had seen of him so far.
There was also the case of Jacqueline¡¯s arm; restoring it should be possible, but it would prove to be a massive resource investment. Of course, I wanted to restore it if I could; she would obviously be better served by having two arms than one, and if I was able to repair it, then it might ease the last long-term goal I had, but just thinking about that one made me queasy, so I usually opted not to.
I¡¯ll deal with that one later tonight¡ I could already feel the bile trying to come up in my throat. We arrived in Fess and were let into the city without much hassle. The carriage proceeded down the main street before letting us off at the same inn as I had stayed in last time; count Francois had wanted to put me into a fancier lodging; however, I had rejected that. Considering I was now actively looking for a way to separate from his house, I ought to avoid accruing debts wherever possible. Taking this carriage was already bad enough, but I lacked a legitimate excuse not to do so, seeing as I didn¡¯t actually own one of my own.
The same receptionist and mini receptionist waitress were there to greet me once we entered; the mini receptionist waitress evidently remembered me fondly, as she positively beamed at the sight of me. I gave her a half-bow of my head as I passed the two of them, and she scampered off somewhere with a stupid grin on her face. This time, owing primarily to Pet being with us, we would be eating in our rooms rather than the dining hall. The fact that I was allowed to bring her into the inn at all was due only to my status.
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Even with my status, that didn¡¯t change the fact that Pet was a beast-kin. She gathered no small number of stares and mutterings as we made our way up to the room. Once we were behind closed doors and removed from prying eyes, Pet¡¯s ears perked back up almost immediately. Given that it was actually Claire who was controlling those, I could no longer use them to gauge Pet¡¯s own mood, but it probably wasn¡¯t much higher than Claire¡¯s. Thankfully, Ris was remote enough that a lot of the racism and restrictions shouldn¡¯t be an issue. Rather, I imagined Pet might be more of a minor celebrity, as most of the people there would have never had reason to see a beast-kin before.
I haven¡¯t brought this up yet, but it honestly might be safer for me to leave them in Ris instead of bringing them back with me. Still, that was something I could broach at a later time. There was also the fact that Pet apparently had a name. The thing was, she refused to tell me what it was, and Claire hadn¡¯t taken control to actually tell me. So, all I knew was that apparently, she did still remember her original name. Not much I can do about it, if she won¡¯t tell me what it is I can only assume that she¡¯s grown attached to ¡°Pet¡± for whatever reason. For now, I had a little bit of time to kill until dinner.
¡°Pet, what do you think about the trip so far? Are you glad to finally be out of the estate?¡± The cat-kin stopped her investigations of the room, mostly the bed, and nodded. After taking several moments to consider her answers, she spoke up.
¡°Pet thinks everything is amazing! She doesn¡¯t like the stares much though.¡± Right, and by ¡°she¡± you mean ¡°Claire¡±.
It had taken us a few days, but eventually, we had settled on a way for Pet to refer to Claire in public; by playing off of Pet¡¯s unique manner of speech. When Pet wanted to refer to herself, she typically used her name. when she needed to refer to Claire, she would use a gendered pronoun. So something Pet came up with was ¡°Pet¡¯s idea.¡± But if Claire had been the originator, it was ¡°her idea.¡±
For better or worse, Claire refused to actually communicate directly by taking control of Pet¡¯s speech. On one hand, I found that to be extremely irritating and roundabout, requiring us to jump through unnecessary hoops. On the other, I could see where Claire was coming from.
¡°Well, it was either wear that or be stuck in the carriage overnight. Do not worry too much, once we get to Ris most of the discrimination should die down.¡± I mean, I don¡¯t remember any discrimination, but that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean it doesn¡¯t exist¡ Still, she¡¯s technically owned by the lord¡¯s daughter. So even if there is something, I can probably crush it.
I made idle conversation with Pet for a few more minutes, until Lucy announced the arrival of the miniature receptionist waitress. Despite being a few years younger than myself, the girl had pushed a trolley all the way to our room, laden with food for everyone. I shot Lucy a look, and the maid quickly moved to help the girl. Internally, I celebrated a small success; I was getting better at correctly guessing when to act guilty little by little. I made sure to have Jacqueline tip the girl a couple of Drakas Small Silvers, and we ate.
Following dinner, I quietly excused myself from everyone. The sun was setting soon, and I had business to do at night. As always, Lucy tried to follow me, but I would only take Jacqueline with me for this. Pet followed me with sad eyes; other than Jacqueline Pet and Claire knew the most about what I was going out to do. This was because Pet¡¯s keen senses made it exceedingly hard to hide the aftermath from her. If I could, I would rather nobody knows about this, but I can¡¯t get away alone because of my station so I need to bring Jacqueline. And Pet has her nose, considering she can smell mana, no amount of washing would remove be able to rid me of the smell that comes after.
Jacqueline and I left the inn and quickly made our way to an abandoned building. Well, Jacqueline made her way there; I followed with half-hearted leaden footsteps. I really am not looking forward to this. That fucking bitch knew exactly what was going to happen, I should have picked up on it based on how open to my suggestion she was.
We got to the building, and I took a seat in the middle of a large room, as I had done in other locations the past three nights before this. Ostensibly, Jacqueline and I were going out to do some ¡°therapy exercises¡± to help me overcome the trauma I had been inflicted in Ang. That explanation was half correct. I was trying to overcome trauma, but it was hardly therapeutic. I breathed in deeply and exhaled as Jacqueline unfastened the back of my evening dress.
¡°[Silence]¡±, as if Jacqueline¡¯s spell was the starting signal, I sucked in air one last time and then enabled my remorse. Immediately, I was assaulted by extreme feelings of guilt. It wasn¡¯t so bad at first; I was forced to confront all the minor things I should have felt guilty over from the previous day. It wasn¡¯t until I had gotten through those and back to the events of Ang that it got bad.
I felt like I had been punched in the stomach, all I could do was fight to try and keep down the very little dinner I had eaten; knowing I was likely going to be throwing up later, I had eaten accordingly. My stomach twisted up and contorted, while my head began to pound. I could hear Asten¡¯s voice asking me ¡°why?¡±, and the image of Jacqueline¡¯s face, contorted with pain as her arm melted away was forcibly seared into my mind¡¯s eye.
Finally, I could take it no longer, and with a gasp, I disabled remorse again. I collapsed forwards weakly, covered in a cold sweat. Jacqueline, seeing that I was done for the night, came up and began to wipe me down with a towel. It doesn¡¯t get easier. It¡¯s been three days, but I still can¡¯t get through it. Honestly, I didn¡¯t know if I was even making progress. For all I knew, I had to fully clear my punishment before turning off remorse or it wouldn¡¯t count.
Of course, I knew it wouldn¡¯t be easy; there was no way Sitri would have agreed so easily if this was something I could overcome in a day. It was a sure bet that she assumed it would be crippling. Still, by forcing myself to confront my guilt daily, it at least seemed that it wasn¡¯t stacking up; once I cleared the events of a day, they no longer showed up the next time.
I had to wonder what the gods were thinking, making the ability they gave to their so-called champions have such a cost. It also made me wonder what the other champions had to deal with. Gradually, my heart rate slowed and my breathing steadied. Jacqueline provided me with a chunk of bread and cheese she had sequestered during dinner. Glancing at the puddle a little way away from me, I grimaced and forced myself to eat what was offered.
Once I was finished, I had a bit to drink as Jacqueline tied up the back of my evening dress again. I stood up but stumbled. If not for Jacqueline promptly catching me I would have wound up falling. God damnit! I could only blame myself for putting myself in this situation of course, but that didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t frustrating. Jacqueline supported my weight until I was able to stand on my own, though it took a few minutes longer for my knees to stop shaking.
We began to make our way back towards the inn, and I trusted Jacqueline to let me know of any dangers as I tuned the world out, focusing only on the cool air on my face. Honestly, it¡¯s a bit extreme. I was responsible for the death of an innocent and maimed my retainer. I¡¯m sure other people have done something similar before, and I¡¯ll bet they don¡¯t get assaulted with guilt to such a degree. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I regrated it; not that I felt guilty for having it, rather, I knew that I would be paying for having that thought during tomorrow night¡¯s session. Still, it did raise a good point; clearly [Cold Hearted] was exacerbating the degree to which I felt the blowback. Normally, while guilt could be crippling, it wouldn¡¯t be to this extent.
We made good time and soon arrived back at the inn, when we got into our room, the only one still awake was Pet. Lucy had been up to greet me the first night, however, I had put a stop to that; I wanted as few people as possible to see me after I got back from wallowing in enforced self-pity. Pet padded up to me on tiptoes, then after a moment¡¯s pause, opened her arms and embraced me in a hug. She didn¡¯t know exactly what was happening on my now nightly outings, and I couldn¡¯t be sure exactly how much Claire was telling her, but I could appreciate her making an effort. It was calming.
I hugged her back, then gave her a gentle push; I needed her to leave my side so I could get dressed for bed. Pet fixed me with a glare but backed off long enough for me to get out of my dress and into a nightgown. As soon as I was dressed, however, she immediately reapplied herself to my side. I laughed softly and tussled her hair, then made my way over to the bed. Pet again let go long enough for me to get in, but as soon as I had laid down, she clamped back onto my arm.
I reached my free hand over and scratched at her ears. I couldn¡¯t be sure if she knew how calming her behaviors were, but at the very least I knew she was trying to help how she could. Before long, I could hear her breathing change into the steady rhythm of sleep, so I stopped scratching her ears and laid back myself, closing my eyes, I allowed my consciousness to fade.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
I woke up with the sun the next morning. Pet had crawled out of bed at some point and was looking out the window at the street below. That was something I had noticed her doing a lot since Claire took over her senses in order to block envious; it seemed after being cooped up for nearly a year, she had developed an interest in people-watching. I got up myself and dressed quickly with Lucy¡¯s help. Ever since Jacqueline had lost her arm, my other two maids had been stepping in here and there, taking over duties that had originally been hers.
They didn¡¯t always do everything, and Jacqueline claimed not to mind. I wasn¡¯t going to question it, as long as nothing ill came of the arrangement. Today we planned on stopping by the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. The public reason for this was to send ahead a letter to my father informing him of my progress. My personal objective was, of course, to learn what I could about Aaron. Jacqueline had offered to look into it on her own, but I had declined that.
There was little chance of him actually being here, so having Jacqueline do extra work made no sense. Instead, we could simply inquire after him in the process of posting the letter. Following the brief stop at the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, we would depart Fess and continue on towards Ris. Fess was the last stop on our way, and the next couple of days we would spend camped outside.
We arrived at the Guild Building, which looked just as dilapidated and run down as I remembered, and Lucy helped me down from the carriage. This drew a few stares; Lucy¡¯s nature as a Dark Elf meant that the appearance at a glance was a twelve-year-old helping a ten-year-old get off the carriage. Those stares would only intensify once the fact that she was an Elf became known.
I was banking on that fact, which was why I had asked her to come inside with me rather than Jacqueline. Assuming Aaron was not here, word would spread faster that there was a noble girl looking for him if it was accompanied by ¡°she¡¯s got an elf for a maid.¡± I was doing this because I didn¡¯t have any legitimate excuses to put out a personal request for him; the only task someone in my position might use the Guild for was letters. Anything more than that, and I would be able to access knights through my connection to the Francois.
We went inside the guild building with one of the knights accompanying me as a guard. This was done so as to dissuade any drunkards from doing something stupid; Giogi had grown a fair bit more capable over the past half-year of training, even to the point that the school had been willing to grant him special leave to start his own break early so that he could continue working as my guard, but he was still a boy. Adventurers were looked down on in Drakas, but that didn¡¯t mean they lacked skill. Indeed, some of them were as skilled as the knights themselves. Technically, I shouldn¡¯t even be going in myself, but I have to show my face on the off chance he¡¯s here. No way would he be inclined to trust some random Elf and a knight, not if he has the type of information I hope he does.
Sitting at the counter was the same older receptionist that had been there last time. It would seem the morning rush had passed, as there was no wait for us to get to the counter. As such, Lucy quickly stepped up and offered the letter, then, as I had instructed her beforehand, she requested Aaron to deliver it, if he was available.
¡°Excuse me, good sir. Please have this delivered to Baron Ris of Ris village in advance of my lady¡¯s arrival. If he is available, she would like the request handled by one ¡®Aaron¡¯, who has fulfilled similar tasks for her in the past.¡±
The old man eyed the letter in Lucy¡¯s hand and nodded before quoting a price, ¡°Considering the distance, That¡¯ll run you three Drakas Golds. And Aaron hasn¡¯t been in Fess for a few months now¡¡± He trailed off while rubbing his white beard. It sounded like he had something else he wanted to say, but he glanced at my knight, who had taken up a post a little ways back, and coughed. ¡°In any case, if you have the coin, I can get one of these lads to take your letter out to Ris.¡±
Well, you could have made that a little bit more obvious, don¡¯t you think? You have something you want to say but won¡¯t say it in front of the kingdom¡¯s knight. Pretty sure everyone here noticed that. Hopefully, I just noticed because I¡¯ve spent so long learning from an assassin and it wasn¡¯t really that obvious¡ I glanced at Lucy, who was closer to the man than I was; thankfully, it didn¡¯t seem like she had noticed anything.
I waved for Lucy to pay the fee, and we left the Guild with as little information as we had had when we went in. Well, there was the question of what he had decided not to say in the present company. If I had a reason to stay in Fess one more day, then I could arrange to go back to the guild without an escort. Unfortunately, I had no such excuse. At least now I know that Aaron probably does know something, and whatever it is, it¡¯s pretty damning. I¡¯ll need to make sure to visit the guild alone when I stop in Fess on the way back to the capital this spring. The thought also occurred that if I had given Jacqueline permission to do some solo work, she might have learned what the old man hadn¡¯t wanted to say.
But that was only an if, it was possible that the man would only have said anything to me. As I was thinking, there came a rap on the carriage¡¯s window. This wasn¡¯t that uncommon when leaving a city or town; occasionally one of the guards would have a question for one of the occupants. Jacqueline was the closest to the window, so she called out, ¡°This Carriage bears the crest of Count Francois, what do you require of us?¡±
The response was, surprisingly, not from a guard.
¡°Aye, The Guild master sent me after ye, ¡®e forgot to give the young lady a letter from her pa.¡± Accompanying this, frankly absurdly rude announcement, the person on the other side of the window presented a sealed paper letter. Why would my father set a letter to wait for me in Fess? He would either send it all the way to Count Francois or just tell me when I arrived in Ris¡ Ah. It¡¯s probably that isn¡¯t it? I motioned for Jacqueline to receive the letter. She took it from the man and then tipped him a small silver; it wasn¡¯t much but, then again, he hadn¡¯t gone very far.
Jacqueline glanced down at the letter and quickly skimmed its contents. Owing to the ruse that had been presented, I didn¡¯t have a reason to read it myself. Thankfully, Jacqueline was quick on the uptake and so had not actually read it aloud. She then sealed the letter and placed it in a pocket on the inside of her apron.
¡°Your father wishes to inform you that he is glad to hear you and Lord Dominic both escaped with your lives, he and your mother are both ready to receive you.¡± Yea, I¡¯m sure that¡¯s what it says. I¡¯ll have to read it for myself later, but I¡¯ll bet that letter was hastily penned by the old man as soon as we left or something like that. Of course, I might be overthinking things, it could really just be a letter from my father, but in six months since leaving home I hadn¡¯t received a single communique from my parents. It would feel odd to suddenly get one now.
I leaned back in my chair, I felt extremely satisfied with how my most recent visit to Fess had gone. I hadn¡¯t been expecting to gain anything from it, and while I still didn¡¯t know what exactly that letter said, it was something more than nothing.
3-5 Reunions
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eighth Month of 947
With a gasp, I felt my body relax and once again became aware of the cool night air on my exposed back. I really can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s getting any better at all¡ I wasn¡¯t sure what was worse, the experience of being confronted by my guilt in such a blunt manner, or the trepidation throughout the day leading up to it. Jacqueline was once again with me, and I gratefully accepted the towel she offered, pressing it against my forehead until my chest stopped heaving.
When I had sufficiently calmed, my attendant produced from her hidden pocket the letter we had been given earlier today. So, I was right, she did refrain from sharing the real content. That was both good and bad news. The good news is that it meant there was actually something substantial. Bad, in that it meant Jacqueline knew about it. Given Dominic¡¯s influence, I had to be extremely careful with what I told her.
Even these nightly excursions, of which this was the fourth, I had to be careful with the reasons behind them. Jacqueline did not know about my [Cold Hearted] Skill; I had told her that I was practicing a new Blood Magic technique. It was a flimsy excuse, but one that she had accepted. I feel like she knows I don¡¯t trust her anymore¡ Whether or not she realizes why though¡ The fact that Dominic had stolen away my one true confidant was just one more entry to add to the list of all the infuriating things he had done.
As if fighting back on his behalf, I suddenly had the memory of that kiss, not the one on my hand, but the real kiss, thrust into the forefront of my thoughts. I felt my cheeks heat up a little before I forcibly squashed the memory. Both to sate my curiosity and to distract myself, I flipped open the letter and read the contents aloud into the night air.
Dear Noble Girl,
I am leaving this with the old man in case you should ever find your way back to Fess in search of me. If you are reading it, then it likely means that you have stumbled upon, or are approaching, the truth. I cannot give you all the answers you probably seek, indeed, I am sure this letter will likely only offer more questions. In your moment of greatest need, ask for me at any guildhall, and word will reach me. Your road is hard, but you are by no means without recourse.
Do not trust the gods, they never hold the interests of their champions at heart.
~Aaron, the Reviled and Cast Down
The letter was correct, in that it did in fact raise far more questions than it answered. I crumpled it up and used [Ignite] to burn it away. Once it was ash, Jacqueline spoke to me, ¡°I take it you were able to read it, my lady?¡± I froze and felt a bead of cold sweat run down my spine.
¡°You were not?¡±
Jacqueline shook her head, ¡°Indeed, it looked like gibberish to me. Staring at it made my head hurt a bit. I figured you might be able to read it, so I came up with some random excuse and stored it away for when we were alone tonight.¡± I turned my gaze to the pile of ashes. Fuck¡ yet another question¡ Thankfully, Jacqueline seemed like she did not plan on asking what the letter had said.
After resting a few minutes longer, as well as eating something, I got to my feet. If anything good is coming of this, I¡¯m at least able to recover faster now¡ It was small comfort in the face of the knowledge that I would be going through this many more times. We made our way through the very light snow and back to where the carriage was set up for our camp.
I allowed the sound of crunching footsteps to lull me into a steady rhythm while I pondered the contents of the letter. The biggest question is who the hell Aaron is. From Jacqueline¡¯s reconnaissance, I know he has some kind of past relationship with the Francois family. But now¡ ¡°the Reviled and Cast Down¡±¡ He also knows that I¡¯m one of the champions for this ¡°game¡± and knows enough to know about how the gods are assholes.
I could think of a few possibilities, but none of them had quite enough evidence for me to feel confident in calling them the correct option. I feel like the fact that he gave his Epitaph was supposed to clue me in, then there¡¯s the fact it was written in a language that ¡°only¡± I could read¡ My first thought was that it had been written in English or some other Earth Language and that Aaron was reincarnated.
I marked that as unlikely after a bit more consideration; it was frankly too risky on his part. Earth had so many different languages, that for him to have properly guessed one I could speak¡ well English was a good bet in that case; about twenty percent of people spoke English as at least a second language. But that still left him with an eighty percent chance I couldn¡¯t read it. There was the fact that looking at it had given Jacqueline a headache; she had only been looking at it for a minute.
I had heard of some people who got headaches from seeing text, but never with only specific languages, and never so quickly. The next conclusion that I arrived at, was that he was the thirteenth; the god who had rejected their divinity. This one I also quickly threw out as being simply fanciful. Basically, the only things that led to that conclusion were his knowledge of my status as Winter¡¯s Champion, and his Epitaph sort of fitting the public perception of that god.
I came up with a dozen more potential identities, ranging from him being another demon to a foreign agent working under deep cover, trying to recruit me to their cause. Each new theory was more fanciful than the one before it, but in the end, I simply lacked information.
As we entered the camp, I opted to just not think about Aaron¡¯s identity. At the end of the day, who he was wasn¡¯t important to me; I would be mindful of him as a potential ally and at the same time be vigilant of potential risk. Short of calling him out, I had no way of verifying any of my theories. I¡¯ll just keep the idea of calling for him in the back of my mind as an absolutely last resort¡ as the letter says ¡°In your moment of greatest need¡¡± though, I can¡¯t say I¡¯m exactly thrilled when I think of how this is probably exactly what he wanted my reaction to be.
I climbed up into the carriage and into the cot that had been set up for me. Watching my every move was a five-year-old adopted little sister, who had once again refused to go to sleep until I came back. Even if the cot was too small for her to actually sleep clutching my arm. Apparently, she was still required to confirm that I was back safely before sleeping herself. Once I was secured under my covers, I felt a soft pressure. Through half-closed eyes, I could see Pet gripping at my forearm from her spot on one of the benches.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Three days later, I found myself fidgeting in the seat of the carriage. This was the day I would be making my return to Ris Village. We had taken the trip back a bit slower, taking advantage of the fact that I had been let go a couple of months early, and thus did not have to race the snow. Still, this would be the first time I had seen my mother and father in just over half a year. The same applied to my brother, though I didn¡¯t really know what to say about that.
Rosin had been two when I left home and would be three now. I had taken a distance from him in the wake of Rosial¡¯s kidnapping. Of course, that wasn¡¯t fair to him, but at the time I had been afraid of forming another attachment only to see it lost. Now¡ Now, I at least want to know my own brother. It might seem counter-intuitive, given how much I had to do towards my primary goal, but I felt like I should at least try.
Pet was sitting next to me on the bench; she had been getting more and more excited as the trip went on, but this final leg she was behaving in a very subdued manner. I imagine Claire must be responsible for that, probably pointed out that she¡¯s going to be meeting my ¡°real¡± family¡ though likely, in a more diplomatic way than that. The thought of introducing Pet to them was a worry of mine; my parents had never done or said anything outright discriminatory that I could remember. I¡¯ll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.
Indeed, I was out of time; The village had been visible for a little while now, and we were now close enough that I could see my mother, father, and a little boy that looked like an older version of Rosin from my memories.
The carriage came to a stop and I took a deep breath. Standing, I approached the doors of the carriage. One of the knights came back from saying something to my father and put their hand on the door. Right. I forced a serene smile that hid my internal anxiousness and waited for the door to open.
The door swung open and the knight offered his hand to me. Graciously, I accepted it and disembarked. After giving the man a respectful curtsy, I turned to face my parents and began walking towards them. As I got closer, I was able to make out more detail. My mother appeared thinner than I remembered but otherwise seemed healthy. My father was the opposite, a bit on the heavy side, though he too seemed otherwise healthy.
Of course, the person I paid the most attention to was Rosin. My brother was clinging to my mother¡¯s skirt and watching me approach with widened eyes. Finally, I stood before them. I quickly curtsied and greeted them, ¡°Father, Mother, I have returned safely. As I said in my prior letter, I was granted an early leave¡¡± I trailed off, my father had held up his hand indicating for me to stop.
Suddenly, I was enveloped in a hug, ¡°Hmgmff!¡± Pushing and clawing my way up, I managed to get my head above my father¡¯s arms and out of his chest. Still otherwise stuck in his embrace, I peered up at his face; According to my memory, I had never received a hug from him. He had been a good father for certain, but he had been distant. Almost keeping me at an arm¡¯s length. It had been my mother who was more overtly affectionate, but even she had been distant to an extent. The feeling I had gotten, especially after we received peerage, was that as their daughter, I came second to their duty.
¡°F-father¡?¡±
I felt his hand on the back of my head, pushing me back into his chest. ¡°I cannot tell you how glad I am to have you back safe. When we received word that you had fought a demon¡ Stahlia, forgive me for being so blind.¡± His tone was hard, but there was an underlying warmth to it; I could tell that he meant what he said.
Wha¡? I was struggling to compute the current happenings. That¡¯s when I felt a more feminine touch on my shoulder. I stiffened, expecting to be scolded by my mother for not comporting myself as a proper lady in public, but instead of scolding, she gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze, ¡°As your father says, Stahlia. I am ever so grateful to have you back safe and sound¡ It must have been terrifying.¡±
What¡ what¡¯s this now? I could feel a strange warmth welling up from their words. And before I knew it, I was crying. I¡ I was so alone! Indeed, I hadn¡¯t realized it, but I had been shouldering so much by myself, with no real support. Of course, my parents didn¡¯t know the full extent; from their perspective, I had merely been tossed into an arranged marriage and shipped off on my own. They didn¡¯t know anything about what had really happened to Rosial.
But even given what they were privy to, it was still a lot. I hadn¡¯t even been a noble three years ago; now I was living on my own, with a fianc¨¦e, and doing work for the kingdom that was usually assigned to teenagers. It was, frankly, a really big ask. Even for the so-called Prodigy.
I didn¡¯t realize how stressed I was¡ I didn¡¯t know how long I had spent crying in my father¡¯s arms like that, but eventually, I managed to compose myself. As my father let me go, I pulled back slightly and realized there was now a long string of mucus connecting me to his torso. My eyes also felt incredibly itchy, and I could only imagine how puffy they were.
I looked up at my mother, and her smile cracked almost immediately. Seeing such a reaction from her, I couldn¡¯t help myself but giggle. This caused my mother to let out a sardonic grin while shaking her head in an exaggerated manner, ¡°Indeed Stahlia, just look at you! No daughter of mine should let themselves be seen like that in public.¡±
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Her words sounded harsh, but her tone and mannerisms were overblown with sarcastic intent. Clapping her hands, my mother waved for Silvia, the second maid we had hired when Jacqueline became my personal attendant. Silvia seemed to have mastered the maid¡¯s role, as I had not realized she was even present until my mother beckoned her.
Silvia stepped forward and offered me a veil. Evidently, my reaction was predicted. I turned my head and allowed Silvia to affix the cloth so that my ruined face was not visible. The entire time, Silvia was incredibly stiff; it would seem Jacqueline was studying her actions very closely. Just like with Lucy and Frieda, apparently, Silvia got so good at being a maid in a quest to get Jacqueline¡¯s approval¡ The thought of my attendant being so fixated on the minutia of maid work and so highly critical of other maids, despite the position being a literal falsehood for her, brought a smile to my face.
Once I was properly hidden, I stepped back a little way and motioned towards the carriage. A head peeked out from inside, with two little fuzzy triangles twitching nervously on top of it. Alright Claire, nice touch with the ears. Pet slowly came out into full view, her tail tucked between her legs, and eyes flicking back and forth between me and my parents.
My mother crossed her arms and gazed at Pet appraisingly, while my Father simply gave her a once over then returned his own line of sight to me. Right, here goes¡ I opened my mouth to make introductions when I was cut off by a pained yowl.
Facing Pet, I saw that the toddler in the room had apparently been feeling left out. Rosin had slipped away from my mother while I was being pampered and had seen something fascinating; a long soft furry thing that twitched in a mesmerizing pattern.
He had then latched onto that long soft fury thing and pulled. Pet had not appreciated this at all and was presently scrambling to get to my side, dragging Rosin behind her via tail link. In spite of myself, I laughed. This slowly spread to my mother, who allowed a warm smile to spread across her face, and my father who gave a snort before quickly recomposing himself. Really dad? Are you trying to say ¡°that¡¯s enough emotional display from me for one day¡±?
Pet was not amused, giving me a reproachful stare as I detached and gently chided Rosin, ¡°Rosin, you must not pull her tail; it hurts when you pull on your finger right?¡±
My brother nodded, though he looked upset at being reprimanded, ¡°It¡¯s soft though! I want to touch it.¡±
I gently shook my head and beckoned Pet to come closer; she probably realized what I was doing, because when she arrived, she bent slightly at the knees, lowering her head.
¡°Yes, it¡¯s very soft, but it also hurts a lot. You can ask permission to rub her ears instead, but only do it if she says it¡¯s ok.¡± Rosin looked up and saw that I was now rubbing Pet¡¯s ears, much to her delight. After a moment of indecision and staring at her now swaying tail, he seemed to make up his mind and asked, ¡°Can I pet them too?¡±
I removed my hand, and Pet nodded, tilting her head a bit so that he could reach her easier. As Rosin discovered the joys of giving head-pats, I turned and addressed my parents. Doing my best to keep any lingering worry out of my voice, I began the introduction.
¡°Father, Mother, this is-¡± this time it wasn¡¯t a yowl that interrupted me, but Pet¡¯s, or rather, Felicity¡¯s normal voice. Albeit a very stutter nervous version of it.
¡°F-Felicity¡ Felicity¡¯s n-n-name¡ is¡ was, F-Felicity.¡± I shot a glance back at Felicity, wondering for a moment if Claire had seized control to say that. But based on Felicity¡¯s current nervous behavior, as well as Claire¡¯s aversion to doing that, I determined that it had very likely been Felicity that had spoken. Of course, that didn¡¯t rule out Claire urging her to speak, but they had most likely been Felicity¡¯s words. Ugh, just thinking about the two of them gives me a bit of a headache¡
Still, if Felicity was just now choosing to reveal her original name, I was sure it had some significance. Let¡¯s roll with it. ¡°-this is Felicity. She¡¯s technically my slave, however, I have been viewing and treating her as a little sister. I hope that you can come to treat her as a close friend of mine, at the very least.¡±
My mother was the first to react, giving Felicity another once over with her eyes. After a moment she murmured to herself, ¡°She does indeed bear a strong resemblance¡¡± After which, the corners of her eyes lifted up in a warm smile and she stepped up to Felicity.
¡°It is a pleasure to meet you, Felicity. I have heard some very good things about how you have helped my daughter cope with her situation after my failure as her mother.¡± She then reached down, without hesitating, and pulled Felicity into a short hug. It wasn¡¯t a lingering hug like I had gotten from my father, more of a brief squeeze really. But considering Felicity¡¯s species and my mother¡¯s position, it was much more than I had expected, leaving me at a loss for words.
We¡¯re in public still too¡ It was only just now dawning on me, that while there wasn¡¯t exactly a crowd, we were not exactly in a private place; simply standing on the road as we were. Thankfully, it seems my father had the common sense to relieve the knights while I wasn¡¯t looking. But my mother, who was so obsessed with ¡°appearing as a lady ought¡± is now doing things like hugging a beast-kin slave in public. I must not have been the only one who had a significant change of heart over the past three years.
My father greeted Felicity next, though he refrained from hugging her, ¡°Indeed, I hear you have been looking out for my daughter. I am incredibly grateful that you would do what I did not.¡± It was a touching scene, just¡ Mom, Dad, she¡¯s five. Not every child is going to be as advanced as me¡ Thankfully, in Felicity¡¯s case, even if the heavy dialogue went over her head, Claire would be able to translate for her so she was unlikely to miss anything important.
Speaking of which, it would appear that Claire had either just finished translating, or Felicity understood more than I thought because she perked up and smiled happily. Then dropped a bombshell.
¡°Kaasan, Tousan, Thank you!¡± ¡Mother and father? Well, I¡¯m not opposed to her calling them that, I mean I already consider her a little sister of sorts, but maybe it¡¯s best I don¡¯t tell my parents what those words mean¡
As if to sabotage me, my mother looked in my direction and raised an eyebrow. ¡no, I have enough lies with my parent¡¯s already, I¡¯ll not add another one for this. Well, a small one, but only to keep the bigger one. ¡°The words are a dialect unique to her tribe of cat-kin. If I understand correctly, she just called father and you¡ well, ¡®father¡¯ and ¡®mother¡¯.¡±
As expected, my parents both showed a bit of surprise towards that revelation. Now it¡¯s in their hands, how will they react I wonder? It was one thing for my parents to accept Felicity as my friend. It was another entirely for them to accept the label she had just bestowed them with; doing so would be essentially accepting a beast-kin slave as their adopted daughter.
After a moment, my father shrugged as if to say he was unconcerned. My mother took a moment longer, before, to my surprise, picking Felicity up and setting her on her knee. Though she was only five, and not much larger than Rosin, she still weighed a fair bit. Enough that my mother let out a soft grunt of effort. Felicity pressed her ears flat, or at least Claire did. Honestly, Claire has gotten pretty good at making the reactions naturally.
After a moment, and once Felicity had clasped her arms around my mother, Claire allowed the ears to perk back up. My mother kept a stern expression the entire time, and turned about before rapidly making her way into our house. My father shrugged as if to say ¡°there you have it¡± and followed her in, leaving me outside with Lucy, Jacqueline, and Rosin. Silvia had disappeared at some point, causing me to question which of my family¡¯s maids was really the ninja. Giogi had been dismissed along with the other knights and had gone to find his own family, or perhaps to find Sark and the other boys he had left behind.
I asked Jacqueline to unload the luggage with Lucy, and then show her around the grounds of our much-smaller-than-the-Francois estate. This left me alone with Rosin. My brother seemed a bit upset at Felicity having taken the attention away from him, something I knew I needed to address right away in order to prevent any trouble later on.
¡°So¡ Rosin, I haven¡¯t seen you for a while huh?¡± I cringed at myself internally. I didn¡¯t need to be able to feel regret to regret having started the conversation off like that.
Rosin nodded, still acting a bit glum and not really acting like he cared to talk. Let¡¯s see, I need something to catch his interest¡ I could call Stil, he probably doesn¡¯t remember him very well¡ No, Stil needs to leave with me, and I still haven¡¯t decided if I should leave Pe- Felicity here or not. Considering her name change, I¡¯m leaning towards leaving her in Ris. Much less likely to make a mistake that way¡ I¡¯ll miss her though¡
Focus. Stil Isn¡¯t an option. I could do some simple magic, he ought to like that¡ but again, that¡¯s no good. He would want to learn himself, which I doubt mom and dad would allow. Plus, if he then finds out Felicity can use a bit of magic herself we¡¯re back to square one.
After thinking for another moment, I couldn¡¯t come up with anything better, so I simply leaned over, poured some mana into my muscles, and picked Rosin up the same way our mother had picked up Felicity. I recalled how I used to carry Rosial around the living room at speed, much to her delight and our mother¡¯s chagrin.
¡°Hold on tight, Rosin¡±
He got off a panicked ¡°Wai-!¡± before I started moving. Of course, I was careful not to drop him, so he didn¡¯t actually need to hold on tight, but it was the appearances that mattered. Before long, Rosin had overcome his initial fright and was gleefully waving his hands in the air and calling out in excitement as I ran short laps around the garden.
This really does remind me of playing with Rosial. The thought was a little sobering, but Rosin was able to banish it with his next cry of ¡°Faster! Faster!¡±
I picked up the speed a bit, but not enough to where he would be endangered, and did another couple of laps before slowing to a stop. I made a big show of putting him down and gasping for breath, ¡°There, are you happier now, Rosin?¡±
Without missing a beat, he nodded and excitedly exclaimed, ¡°Mhm! That was fun!¡±
I reached out and tussled his sandy blonde hair while peering through my veil into his silver-blue eyes. I should do it. I know if I don¡¯t and something happens, I¡¯ll regret it¡ assuming I ever get to the point where I can regret again¡ ¡°Damn it all. Rosin, can I check something real quick? I promise it won¡¯t hurt.¡±
Rosin cocked his head, not really understanding, but nodded his assent after a moment. I took a deep breath and poured mana into his body through my hand that was still tussling his hair. Rosin stiffened as he felt my mana enter, but after a moment he relaxed after it became apparent that it really didn¡¯t hurt. His dedication is during the first month of next year, so let¡¯s see what the gods will, shall we?
After a moment, the mana stream returned to me, and a picture, though one lacking detail, appeared in my head.
Name/Age: Rosin von Ris, 3
Level/Species: Human[Pureblood], 2
Ability Values:
- Strength C: 55
- Endurance D: 33
- Dexterity D: 33
- Intelligence D: 33
- Charisma D: 33
- Mana D: 33
Skills: Language Proficiency[Central Human]
Well, It doesn¡¯t look like he has a class. If he does, it¡¯s a pretty shit one since all his ability values are at the human baseline. I wish he had a class though, not having one as the heir to a noble house¡ I winced as what felt like a knife stabbed me through my skull. My vision blacked out for a moment and I swayed on my feet. When my vision returned, Rosin was looking up at me with concern. Between me and him, however, was a new menu entry. One that made my heart pound in my chest.
What the FUCK!?
¡°Request of Authority Holder to Bestow Target with Class Received.
Valid Authority: {Divine Authority[Class Features]} Confirmed.
Target of Action [Rosin von Ris, Human[PB],3y] Has 570 Life Points Available.
Browse Available Classes? Y/N¡±
I was torn for sure. Of course, having a Class would make his life much easier. On the other hand, I have no idea what the side effects would be like. No. There is no way I¡¯m going to test something like this on my brother...
As I focused on the letter ¡°N¡±, the new menu closed. Accompanying it, my headache abated. What caused that though? Was it me wishing he had a class while I was appraising him? If that¡¯s the case¡ what else can I wish for¡? I had the distinct feeling I had been underutilizing my abilities. I¡¯ll have to start experimenting later, for now though...
Rosin still looked worried, given my brief standing blackout. I clapped his shoulders, ¡°Come on Rosin, let¡¯s go inside. I¡¯m sure mother will be having Lucy go through a gauntlet of tests. Dinner ought to be something special tonight.¡± The mention of food sufficiently swayed my brother and he turned and darted inside the house. Before following him, I glanced around to make sure nobody was watching me, then used the veil to quickly wipe the thin trickle of blood that was coming from my nose.
I need to experiment, but I need to be super careful. I only had that menu open for a moment, and I got a headache and a nosebleed. Actually using it to bestow a class¡ I imagine there¡¯s going to be a cost associated with it¡ I only had to look as far as my own [Cold Hearted] to understand that the system would absolutely extract its pound of flesh.
Once my nose had stopped bleeding, I entered the house and was greeted by my mother giving me a judging look. At first, I panicked, thinking she had noticed me hiding the nosebleed, or that Rosin had said something and I was now suspected of doing lecherous things. As it turned out, Rosin had in fact said something, but rather than be about when I appraised him, it was about how I had run him around the garden.
¡°Stahlia, I won¡¯t say anything this time, since it seems you were able to bond with Rosin, but in the future, if you plan on running around like that¡ do it inside like you used to with Rosial. That way nobody will see you and start strange rumors.¡± My mother¡¯s tone was resigned as if she had given up on something. But there was a hint of warmth as well.
I gave my consent readily, I hadn¡¯t realized how much I missed it, but having my parents so close was something amazing. Overcome, I stepped forward and gave my mother a hug. Felicity saw this from wherever she had been and glomped onto the two of us. Rosin must have felt left out because he quickly clambered into the group hug with a cry of ¡°No fair!¡±
I looked up to see my mother¡¯s flustered face, ¡°W-what¡¯s come over you Stahlia?¡±
I shook my head, ¡°Nothing, mother. I just love you is all.¡±
I¡¯ve got a lot of work to do, but for just today¡ It¡¯s good to be back home.
3-6 Ris Village Tour
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Ninth Month of 947
I woke up feeling refreshed. It had been a fairly long night with my family following dinner, but it had been fun. More important than it being fun though, I had been able to reconnect with my parents and little brother. Once Rosin had been put to bed, I had wound up staying up late and talking more with my parents.
That conversation had been hard; they were reminiscing about Rosial, my mother even went as far as stating how she didn¡¯t want to lose her other daughter. Of course, knowing that Rosial was in fact alive made the conversation a bit awkward for me. There was no way I could tell them this, so I sort of just nodded along. At one point, my father even insinuated we try and find a way to break of my engagement.
That had really come as a shock, considering how big he had been on the idea of fulfilling our duty to the country as nobles and all that, having even gone so far as to say exactly that to me when I had questioned the engagement two years ago. And canceling the engagement like that would be counter-productive. I do want out of it, but I need to set up a smooth landing for myself. I had gently led my father to believe that, while I still had misgivings, I had no desire to see the engagement canceled at this time.
I looked down at my sides, on my right, Felicity was still clinging to my arm in her sleep. Rosin was on my left; he had demanded to sleep with me after learning that Felicity was going to. I might not have formed a proper bond with him in the two years after his birth, but it¡¯s a good thing it isn¡¯t too late, and he¡¯s still open to me.
Eventually, my mother had caved in towards Rosin¡¯s demands and, with my permission, put him to bed in my room. I wasn¡¯t particularly against letting him sleep with me, considering I had been letting Felicity do it for over half a year, though hopefully he wouldn¡¯t grow quite as attached as she had.
I extricated myself from between the two, being very careful so as not to wake them. I had various plans today. People I hadn¡¯t seen in a while that I wanted to greet, and one conversation I, well regretted wasn¡¯t the right word, but one conversation I should have had two years ago but was too frightened by what I might hear to do so.
Jacqueline and Lucy both knew about my plans, so they were ready for me. I wasn¡¯t taking either of them with me for this outing, but I still needed their help getting ready to go out. By the time I was dressed and my hair was brushed and styled, Felicity was just starting to stir. I watched her stretch before calling out, ¡°Good morning, Felicity.¡±
She looked over at me lazily through eyes still evidently filled with sleep, ¡°Ohayo, Stahlia Nee-San.¡± Right, if Claire ever gets her own body, I¡¯ve got to remember to give her a good smack for what she did to Felicity. I smiled ruefully at the sleepy kitten and rose to my feet. Heading downstairs, I ate a quick breakfast and set out towards my first stop.
Exiting my home into the early morning light, I was met with a rush of cold mountain air. Of course, Ris was never exactly warm, but this late in the year you could tell winter was coming. I filled my lungs with the crisp air and nodded to myself before heading down and out the front gate.
As I walked down the streets, quite a few people heading out for the day stopped to greet me. Parents of the kids in my year, friends of my mother, people who I had helped through my connection to Sven. I waved back and greeted them all, but after a little while, it began to grow tedious. Eventually, I ducked off the street and began slipping through backyards. It wasn¡¯t that I disliked being greeted, I simply had places I needed to be.
As I moved through people¡¯s yards I couldn¡¯t help but overhear traces of people¡¯s morning conversations. One lady was chiding her daughter for feeding stray cats. An old man was cooing to his wife about their new grandson. A hunter was complaining about the recent scarcity of game and how the animals he could find were a bit thinner than normal. Just idle chatter about mundane things, no high-tension scenarios, no noble conspiracies. This is bliss. Before long, I arrived at my first stop for the day.
I slipped into Sieg¡¯s, formerly Sven¡¯s, alchemy shop and sucked in a lungful of musty air thick with the scent of herbs. Of course, I could smell something similar at any shop in the capital, or even in the Academy workshop. But something about this one was special. Technically, the shop wasn¡¯t open yet but Sieg had been informed I was coming by a runner yesterday, so he had opened the door early.
The man in question was presently hunched over a cauldron brewing something I couldn¡¯t quite make out the exact identity of from where I was standing. But based on the color of the steam though, it was likely a medicine for illness. I stepped up a bit closer behind him and verified the contents of the pot.
¡°Oh, cough syrup? Is the village expecting a hard winter?¡± I asked an innocent question.
¡°What in the gods damned!?¡± Sieg jumped out of his skin, causing the cauldron to rock dangerously. Hurriedly, I stuck out my hand and grabbed the edge, steadying it. It was hot of course, but I only received a very light burn. Nothing a quick dash of ointment wouldn¡¯t fix.
¡°Lady Stahlia, you should know better than to sneak up on someone like that, especially when they¡¯re working.¡± Sieg¡¯s tone was admonishing but not particularly angry.
I shrugged, ¡°Sorry, but it¡¯s not like there was any harm done.¡±
Sieg gave me a hard look; clearly, he could tell I wasn¡¯t actually sorry at all. After a moment, he sighed, ¡°Let me see your hand.¡±
I held out my burned hand for Sieg to inspect. Grumbling to himself, he rummaged around one of the shop¡¯s back shelves and came back a moment later with a small jar of ointment. From the acrid odor, I could tell that this was burn cream.
In alchemical work, small cuts, scrapes, and indeed burns were a common occurrence so shops were always sure to have some of this stuff prepared. I had used it many times myself. Sieg applied a dollop to my hand and began to rub it into the burned skin. After a moment, the pain of the burn faded away and was replaced by a pleasant tingling; a sign that the agents in the cream were beginning to work.
Sieg promptly released my hand and I took a moment to inspect his work. Satisfied, I thanked him, ¡°I thank you ever so much Sieg Svensbrother. My hand is saved thanks to your efforts.¡±
It was the same over-the-top noble speak that I had used way back when in order to tease Him and his brother. Unlike back then, however, Sieg seemed a bit uncomfortable this time.
¡°Lady Stahlia¡ Perhaps¡ Perhaps you shouldn¡¯t talk to me like you used to¡ not when we¡¯re alone, and well not when we¡¯re not alone either.¡± He was scratching his chin awkwardly while stumbling over his reply. The roundabout way of speaking caused me to take a moment to realize what he was getting at, then it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was¡ I was flirting with him just now, wasn¡¯t I? I felt my face starting to turn red, so I quickly averted my eyes. Wait, how come I can feel embarrassed at my own actions? Shouldn¡¯t that fall under regret and remorse? ¡°¡Sorry, I wasn¡¯t thinking.¡±
Sieg nodded and cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, ¡°So, why did you stop by? Just to catch up?¡±
Right, moving along would be for the best. In the end, my faux pas was just another reminder about how I was changing; things that had been acceptable two years ago, and even just before I had left, no longer were. I should probably refrain from visiting alone in the future too¡ I¡¯ll bring Lucy or Jacqueline if I ever have to come here again.
¡°No. Well, I did want to catch up. But I also had some questions for you. About your supply chain.¡±
Sieg nodded and asked me to wait a moment while he finished up the cough syrup. I waved him off, ¡°I can finish it for you, why don¡¯t you brew a pot of tea or something?¡±
Sieg shrugged and went off to dig through the dried herbs for one that would be suitable for a tea. I turned my attention to the cauldron. The cough Syrup seemed to be brewed from honey, with a few crushed plants mixed in. At first glance, it wouldn¡¯t seem magical, however, the honey in question was from a species of bee monster.
They would not only turn nectar into honey but would also further refine any intrinsic characteristics of whatever flower they had harvested from. It was considered a decently high-grade item, and its presence in a remote shop like this was a bit unusual. Then again, Sven¡¯s shop had always had a curious selection given the location.
Regardless, the syrup was almost done. I watched it carefully, and once I saw the color begin to change from a pale green to a sort of pink, I pushed the cauldron away from the coals so that it could cool slowly. At this stage, the syrup would provide instant relief from the symptoms of a winter cold for a few hours with just a sip.
There were a couple of things I could do to improve the effect, but I didn¡¯t want to step on Sieg¡¯s toes, so I left it alone. A moment later, Sieg came up and handed me a cup. I sniffed the aroma and recognized Snake Grass. I raised an eyebrow; this was one of the herbs I had worked with Sana to make tea from a long time ago. If not handled right, the resulting brew would be sweet to the point of toxicity.
Not that it would actually hurt you, but you would swear it did. I moved to a seat at the counter and eyed Sieg while taking a tentative sip of the tea; he and Sana had always struggled to brew it right. As the tea passed my lips, I widened my eyes in surprise, ¡°It¡¯s delicious.¡± Indeed, it seemed that Sieg had managed to conquer his own tea-related demons.
He chuckled, ¡°Glad to hear it, it took me a while to get it right.¡± We sat in silence just drinking the tea for a few minutes before he set his cup down.
¡°Right, I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t come to just sip tea and finish batches of cough syrup.¡±
I set my own cup down and nodded, ¡°As I said, I want to ask about your supply chain. You see¡¡± I quickly summarized the encounter with Sitri while keeping the details vague, the only thing that was really important was that he knew about her missing arm.
¡°So, that¡¯s what I wanted to ask about; the possibility that one of your vendors could supply a mythic grade restoration aspected ingredient.¡± As I finished my spiel, I picked up my cup and took another sip to wet my throat.
Sieg stroked his chin thoughtfully, ¡°¡That¡¯s a tall order. I can put the word out, but do you have the kind of money for that? Even assuming that Count Francois would be willing to assist you, you still might come up short. For a maid¡¯s arm¡ I really don¡¯t see you getting his help anyways.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Of course, I know that. I do have a plan though. It¡¯s a bit risky¡ but I feel responsible for what happened¡ I think.¡±
Sieg cocked an eyebrow but didn¡¯t comment on the fact that I had stated I only thought I felt responsible. Instead, he latched onto me saying that I had a plan to pay for the ingredient.
¡°And what would your plan be? The amount of money you¡¯re talking about¡ Lady Stahlia, you might have grown desensitized to money. Ingredients like that are worth small countries. Brewing a single regrowth potion from one¡ most people would consider that a waste.¡±
I nodded again and waved for him to bring his ear close. While he was doing that, I quickly chanted a wind spell. Jacqueline¡¯s talent could handle this for her, but my own wind magic was too low for that.
¡°Oh Wind, wrap me in your ###### touch, with your #### block my ##### from those who ##### from afar. [Silence]¡±
Sieg gave a brief start at my flagrant use of magic, but he didn¡¯t pull away. If anything, he pushed a little closer, ¡°Well, I take it that was an area silencing spell? And if you¡¯re going to talk directly into my ear anyways¡ What in the world are you trying to drag me into Stahlia?¡±
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I nodded, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll agree my precautions are necessary. I¡¯m not going to brew a regeneration potion. My plan is to brew a Goddess¡¯ Draught.¡±
Sieg blinked slowly and sat back in a way that was closer to giving up than leaning back. I continued, now that I had said that bit, I didn¡¯t need to be as careful, ¡°Once I¡¯ve taken a dose for Jacqueline, and one more dose for my own purposes, the remainder of the brew can be given to the vendor. Of course, they¡¯ll have to pay for it, but the cost of the ingredients can be deducted from that sum. I¡¯ll even give a discount as a show of gratitude.¡±
Sieg eyed me carefully. He no longer wore the face of a friend, he was now looking at me with the face of a businessman. I can count myself lucky that he¡¯s actually taking me seriously. If I didn¡¯t have an existing track record of doing crazy shit with alchemy, as well as our friendship, he would have laughed me off. Hell, he¡¯s probably just a little crazy himself, even those two things shouldn¡¯t make him willing to entertain my proposal.
Goddess¡¯ Draught. It was a mythical tier of restorative potion. It had the same effect as a Phoenix Down combo''d with an Elixir, then washed down by a Remedy. In short, it was the ultimate panacea. Typically, anyone claiming to be able to brew one would be laughed out of whatever venue they were in. Finding a Goddess¡¯ Draught in their travels would turn an Adventurer into a lord of whatever kingdom they took it to.
And for good reason; there was no known recipe for the item. Scholars could only theorize as to what was required to make one, and every attempt to do so had failed. I had arrived at a working theory over the past few days. Of course, I had no way of knowing if I would be able to succeed in brewing the Goddess¡¯ Draught, but whatever I produced would likely still be able to serve my purposes. After all, I was really planning to brew the best conventional restorative potion I could, and then infuse the result with the divine element via blood magic. Considering that one of the prevailing theories is that Goddess¡¯ Draught is Vitae of the twelves fucking bathwater, I think my method should stand chance at working.
Sieg started laughing at that moment, ¡°Ha! You¡¯re serious, aren¡¯t you? Man, I wish Sven was here, he¡¯d have a fit. Alright Stahlia, I¡¯ll ask around. Quietly. But don¡¯t get your hopes up to high. You¡¯re still asking for something fucking huge, alright?¡±
I nodded my thanks, and after giving Sieg a moment to compose himself, I cut my spell and we could once again hear the quiet bustle from the street outside. We made some more idle conversation, I was telling him about the alchemy work I was doing at the Academy, while Sieg told me some simple stories about various ¡°emergencies¡± that had occurred in my absence. Things like when one of the village mothers had brought her child in, hysterically claiming they had been bitten by a ¡°baby basilisk or something¡± and needed an antivenom immediately, only for it to turn out to have been a harmless garden snake.
After a while, when the sun had climbed up to just before its zenith, I said my goodbyes and departed with a handshake. I had two more stops to make today. I moved quickly along through the town. This time I was actively avoiding people from the beginning; I didn¡¯t have anything against being welcomed back, but when you were the chief¡¯s daughter and everyone seemingly wanted to greet you, well it made it hard to keep appointments.
I decided to detour around the edge of the village. This would take me by the Ris branch of the adventurers guild and bypass the market square, thus avoiding the most people. The Adventurer¡¯s guild was just as tiny as I remembered it, and all of the usual faces were lounging around day drinking. Though there seemed to be an air of grimness about them today. Probably a death, based on the way they¡¯re all acting. It¡¯s a dangerous profession after all. Still, that had nothing to do with me, so after stopping for just a brief moment and giving a nod of solidarity, I powered on towards my next appointment.
I quickly arrived at my destination. Looking at it from the outside brought memories to the surface of my mind; this was where I had originally dueled and beaten Dominic. I was here now at Giogi¡¯s request, mostly to see the other village boys I hadn¡¯t seen for a while. But now that I was here, looking at the building, I was a bit hesitant to go in.
It¡¯s like with Sieg earlier¡ stuff I used to get away with¡ I can¡¯t really do that anymore. I looked down at my skirt; without even questioning it, I had worn a half shin-length skirt that Jacqueline had prepared for me. It was designed in such a way that I should be able to fight in it, similar to my school uniform. But it didn¡¯t really look like anything like what I used to wear when coming here.
Well, just once more for old time¡¯s sake, but I¡¯ll have to make sure that they know I can¡¯t come back anymore¡ That¡¯ll be a hard conversation. Steeling myself, I moved into the empty storage building. I saw Giogi running the boys through a series of drills. After blinking for a moment, and taking in the sight, I realized that these drills were the same ones used in the knight training at the Academy.
Somehow, seeing him striving to train the ¡°knights¡± brought a smile to my face and I let out a bit of a giggle. This was what announced my presence, as I had not yet been noticed by that point. Giogi turned around and greeted me by taking a knee and bowing his head. That was technically the correct way to greet me when he returned to service from a leave of absence, seeing as I was actually his Lady now.
But the fact that you¡¯re doing it in front of all the other boys¡ Stop. Just stop it! Combined with my earlier giggle, I now wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and curl up into a ball of safety. I couldn¡¯t do that though, so I bit my tongue to help push down the embarrassment, and said my line so that he would stop.
¡°Thank you for your loyalty, Giogi. You may rise.¡± After a moment, I added, ¡°Please, rise.¡± He got to his feet and bowed at me. I grimaced a bit, but it went unnoticed. After a moment, Giogi waved his hand and two of the boys dragged over a series of large boxes and laid some cloth on them. Around this, the others set up a series of chairs. In the end, they had created an impromptu long table.
Giogi pulled out the chair that had been placed at the head of the table and beckoned for me to seat myself there. I thought we were going to have a series of duels? What¡¯s he planning¡? My curiosity piqued, I took the indicated seat. Following this, the boys laid out a few baskets containing bread and cheese. I glanced around the warehouse and over the spread. It¡¯s like a banquet of the king of rags¡
Giogi raised a hand, and the idle chatter ceased. He surveyed his troops and then launched into a short speech, ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad to see everyone managed to make it, despite the short notice. I¡¯m sure seeing everyone again has touched our lady¡¯s heart, even if she won¡¯t let it show. That being said, as time moves on things change. We had a grand time playing knights, but things are changing. I¡¯m sure these are memories we will all hold fondly as we grow older. With that, I commence the last meeting of Stahlia¡¯s Knights!¡±
The boys chuckled and performed a toast of sorts with water. Your ten, why are you talking like an old man reminiscing about his childhood¡? Still, I found the sentiment of what Giogi was presumably trying to do touching. He had likely noticed how out of sorts I had been on the trip back. I could assume that with his limited information, he drew a conclusion that I was feeling out of it because of how my mission had gone. He had also learned a lot about social expectations as part of his own training, so he would have realized that I couldn¡¯t continue like I had used to, even if that same realization had escaped me until just recently.
He put this together as a way to try and lift my spirits, by reminding me of a simpler time¡ Or I was massively overthinking his motives and reasoning. That was likely, it was Giogi after all. But I decided I would believe my hypothesis, it would make me feel better if that was what he had been thinking.
We ate our bread and cheese and had a grand time talking about what we had gotten up to before I had left for the Royal Academy. Well, the boys talked and reminisced. I mostly just listened. Honestly, this feels a bit like my senior graduation party in high school. Then again, me and Giogi, it¡¯s almost like we¡¯ve gone off to college. The others will have been taking apprenticeships or working to help their families since turning ten¡ in a way, it sort of is like we¡¯ve all graduated.
In total, I only spent a few hours in the warehouse, far less than I had spent with Sieg. I said my goodbyes, and while they were unlikely to be final goodbyes, there was a sense of finality to them; it was as if both parties involved knew that this ¡°banquet¡± had closed a chapter in our lives. Once I was back out on the street, I looked up at the sun; it was about 4:00 PM.
My final destination for the day did not have an appointment, however, arriving closer to late evening would be better. I thought for a bit about how to kill time. My original plan had been to briefly go and clean up while getting something to eat, but what I had assumed would be a series of duels had instead turned into lunch. I was therefore neither dirty nor hungry.
Eventually, I decided to just meander my way over to my destination along the main road, allowing people to get welcoming me back out of their systems. In this way, I arrived at the church just before 6:00 PM. I passed a pair of men on their way out of the church, they were having a conversation about something stealing crops and damaging the fences around the fields. Apparently, that conversation was engrossing in the extreme, because they nearly ran me over.
The men were a bit gruff at first, pulling the classic ¡°watch where your going girly!¡±. Then they recognized me. After that, they apologized profusely and beat a hasty retreat, practically falling over each other to getaway. It wasn¡¯t like I had a reputation for being cruel, but I was the lord¡¯s daughter. I shrugged off the incident and let myself into the church.
The Priest was having a conversation with one of the temple attendants near the altar, so I took up a position where I knew he would be able to see me and waited for him to finish. He was either almost finished already, or the conversation wasn¡¯t important, because I was only waiting a moment or two before he was making his way over to me.
¡°Lady Stahlia, I had heard you had come back from the capital early. Might I ask how young Sana is doing?¡± right, he did practically raise her¡
¡°Sana is doing quite well, at least as far as I am aware. She has not spoken of any issues with me¡¡± I left my sentence hanging. Now that I was actually here, I was beginning to feel nervous.
The priest seemed a bit concerned at my lingering words, ¡°Lady Stahlia, is something the matter?¡±
Right, I might as well just come out with it. This is a conversation I should have had two years ago, but I danced around the subject because I was afraid of what I might learn. ¡°Well Father, I feel I have lost my purpose as of late. I¡¯m surrounded by shadows and was hoping you could provide guidance¡¡± To punctuate my statement, I fixed the priest with a hard stare.
To his credit, he didn¡¯t show any surprise and met my stare head-on. After judging me for a few moments, he nodded, ¡°I think we should speak in private, it sounds like a very serious issue.¡± With that, he turned and headed towards the door that I knew from visiting Sana led to the living areas for the temple staff.
I followed him at a short distance as he led me down the various hallways and towards a room I had seen a few times but never entered; his office. Once inside, he indicated a pair of couches that were facing each other with a small table between them. I took the seat on the couch that was closest to the door.
The priest took the seat opposite me and fiddled with a sound obfuscating magic tool before folding his hands. I was not offered tea, but then, given the accusation I had just leveled, I would have been leery to drink it had he done so. Besides, him going so far as to use such an expensive tool for our conversation could already be seen as him offering me the greatest of hospitalities. I held my peace, keeping track of my body language carefully so I didn¡¯t do something like cross my arms or lean away from him. After a moment, I won the silent game and the priest spoke first, ¡°How long have you known? Did you find out in the capital or was it since¡?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Since a few months after the fact.¡±
The priest closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, ¡°I thought something might have happened. Your recovery from depression was too abrupt. Was it Jacqueline who told you?¡±
I shook my head, ¡°She confirmed it, but I found out through another source.¡±
¡°Another source? Just who¡?¡± he raised an eyebrow quizzically at my assertation.
¡°Antenora, the Twelfth Goddess.¡± I let my statement hang in the air, it was as if my proclamation had chilled the room.
The priest expressed emotion other than resignation for the first time, first showing shocked surprise but after a few seconds, clear understanding, ¡°She came to you in a dream I take it? And told you Rosial was still alive¡¡±
At the mention of my sister¡¯s name, something we had both been avoiding saying, I felt a bit of rage rising up at the priest. I did my best to suppress it without outright turning it off, but my hands were visibly shaking and I had to clench my jaw. The priest noticed the change come over me.
¡°My apologies, I know I have little right to say that name. So, why are you here? To take revenge?¡± His voice was calm as if to say he would accept whatever I decided.
As much as I would have liked to portray myself as perfectly calm, I couldn¡¯t keep the edge out of my voice, ¡°As much as I would like to, no. I have other targets for that. Unless you prove incapable of keeping silent.¡±
The priest shook his head, ¡°I am a man of the gods. If one of them has set you on a certain path, I would be remiss to do anything to get in the way of that.¡±
Based on everything I know of him he¡¯s telling the truth. It¡¯s a risk, but I need to start gathering allies, and while I wouldn¡¯t be able to count on him for anything major, he has information I can¡¯t get easily elsewhere. ¡°Not that I¡¯ll be letting you walk away without paying recompense; I¡¯ll be having you teach me some things.¡±
The priest nodded, ¡°Of course, it is my goal to assist the goddess¡¯ chosen to walk their paths and achieve their purpose.¡±
I nodded, the rhetoric bothered me, but if that was how he was going to spin it, then whatever. Right, here goes, ¡°Tell me about demons. How to find them, what kind of abilities they have, and how to kill them. Also, any secrets the church is hiding about the Nine.¡±
The priest showed surprise for the second time, ¡°That¡¯s a heavy topic, especially the last part. If I might ask, why do you need to know-¡±
¡°Because three of them are here in the kingdom and a fourth has recently or will soon advent. You heard about Jacqueline¡¯s arm from my parents, I¡¯m sure. It was in a battle against an Original Sin of Lust, Sitri.¡±
The priest was now looking at me suspiciously, ¡°How would you have come to know the number of Kings currently walking the earth? Not even the ranking members of the church such as I are privy to that information.¡±
I folded my arms, ¡°I had a conversation with Death.¡± I had already decided prior to coming here how much information to give him. Letting out this much was a bit dangerous, but it should pay dividends if I was able to learn about my enemies in detail. Besides, by leading with mentioning Antenora, it should properly scare him; as a man of the cloth, he should be familiar with what skills I would likely have. Assuming he arrived at the right answer of course.
The priest sucked in his breath and bowed his head. When he raised it, he met my eyes, his own filled with determination, ¡°You speak of meeting the gods as if you would go for a stroll¡ Are you Winter¡¯s¡?¡±
I nodded.
3-7 Expedition
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eleventh Month of 947
I crawled forward stealthily; my target was just a few tens of feet ahead of me. For various reasons, my methods of ranged attack had been sealed away. I had also lost my weapons, leaving me unarmed. Thankfully, my [Unarmed Combat] Talent was at level four. My [Stealth] was of a similar rank, else I would not be able to close the distance.
I froze, my target had become wary, I didn¡¯t know how they had realized I was closing in, but something had tipped them off. I held as still as possible, trusting in my concealment and [Stealth] talent to hide me from detection. Turn around, I¡¯m not here, you¡¯re perfectly safe. Thankfully, my prey soon lost that inkling of being hunted and returned to what they had been doing.
I inched slowly forward until I was merely a handful of feet away. In one motion, I jumped to my feet, dropped into a ready stance, and pounced! Rosin let out an excited shout and dodged backward, trying to escape. But he was far too inexperienced to escape from me! I caught him by his armpits and lifted him up into the air, spinning us around such that the centrifugal force carried his feet off the ground.
After a few moments of spinning, I set my giggling brother on the ground. Over the past few months, I had been doing my best to bond with him while waiting for the snow to grow a bit thicker and making plans and counter-strategies. For the first few weeks, I had been receiving a crash course in demonology, and now knew a fair bit about demons as well. Enough to realize exactly how fucked I had been, and how absolutely conceited and moronic trying to go with just me, a Hawri, and an assassin slash battle maid was.
Demons got stronger the older they were, infinitely accruing experience. Original sins had been alive since the first demon war. That meant that, at a minimum, Sitri was over twenty thousand years old. At least according to the priest. I had been able to come up with plans for dealing with the lower ranks of demons, and even a few of the ranks of the demon nobility, but my only plan for an Original Sin was to run like hell. I simply wasn¡¯t strong enough.
Which brought me to why I had been waiting for the snow to get thicker. I needed to level up. Of course, I was under no delusions that a scant few months would be enough time for me to close such a huge gap. But unlocking at least the next couple of skill slots for my custom class should be possible. From there, I could look for a solution to my fianc¨¦e problem, and potentially find a skill combo that would let me deal with an Original Sin. Though the latter was a big if, I had a feeling it was a question I would be better off finding an answer to.
As for why I wanted more snow before going on a hunting excursion, I would paradoxically be able to cover more ground in heavy snow than not. At least, I should be able to. It was a method of transportation I had not tested yet. I had tested the individual components, but I had never put everything together. If everything worked, I should be able to achieve near automobile speeds. Possibly even faster, though I was a bit leery of that, given the lack of a seatbelt my method would entail.
Suddenly a weight impacted me, drawing me from my thoughts. While I had been hunting Rosin, a tiger had apparently been hunting me. Seriously, her Stealth talent is somehow higher than mine, and she copied mine! Racial bonuses are bullshit. Still, I knew better than to ruin the fun by complaining. I dutifully allowed myself to be knocked forwards, rolling onto my back as I fell. Felicity landed on my stomach, so I clenched my abs a bit to avoid suffering a mortal wound.
¡°I got you, Stahlia Nee-San!¡± Rosin didn¡¯t want to be left out, and quickly climbed up behind Felicity, ¡°Yea! We got you!¡± A lay still for a moment, before fake struggling. It would be easy to break free, but that wouldn¡¯t be as fun. Felicity rewarded my efforts with an excited shriek and moved to pin my arms down. Rosin caught on and shifted up so he was sitting on my stomach in Felicity¡¯s place.
I was ¡°thoroughly pinned¡±. After ¡°straining¡± against Felicity¡¯s hold on my arms for a few moments, I let them go limp, ¡°Alright, you win, I yield!¡±
Dutifully, Felicity let go and Rosin slid off of me so that I could stand up. As I did, I happened to catch Stil¡¯s eyes. He snorted at me, or at least I think he did; air rushing through a beak doesn¡¯t really have a sound like it does when you blow it out your nose. Either way, his entire demeanor seemed to be saying ¡°What the hell stupid game are you doing with those two chicks? This is the woman I call my master, for fucks sake.¡± It was very expressive body language.
Taking advantage of the lull, I broached a topic I was expecting would lead to tears, ¡°Felicity, Rosin. Do you remember a few weeks ago, when I mentioned I would be going away for a little bit?¡±
Felicity had a look of comprehension flash across her face, and though she grimaced, she didn¡¯t actually protest, and just nodded. Rosin was more forgetful, or at least he didn¡¯t put two and two together, because he cocked his head.
¡°I¡¯m planning to leave in a couple of days, and I¡¯ll be gone for at least a week, possibly as long as two or three weeks.¡± Rosin set his jaw. Surprisingly, even he didn¡¯t seem like he would cry. Neither of them was begging me to stay either. Felicity, I could understand; she had Claire¡¯s guidance. But Rosin was a normal three-year-old.
¡°Rosin, will¡ will you be ok?¡± I didn¡¯t feel bad about leaving him. Despite my nightly efforts, I still hadn¡¯t been able to get through that last bit of my guilt. At this point, I was nigh certain that I was missing something in how Cold Hearted worked that was preventing me from being able to move past my self-torment. Regardless, I still had my love and my empathy, and both of those made me feel Rosin¡¯s hurt at me leaving, even if I couldn¡¯t feel my own.
After a moment, he shook his head. And then, in a statement that was oddly mature for his age, but at the same time touching, he said, ¡°Bigger sister is going away, but big sister will be here!¡± I realized he was talking about Felicity and my hand flew up to cover my mouth as I let out an involuntary ¡°Aaawwwww!¡± Felicity for her part looked away bashfully.
The Rosin showed his age by immediately moving on and ruining the moment. His hand darted out and gave felicity¡¯s tail a quick tug, ¡°Tag! You¡¯re it!¡± and he was off. Felicity gave a slightly pained and angry yowl and dashed off after him, leaving me to wonder what I had even been worried about telling them I was going to be leaving for.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
A couple of days later I was standing with Stil, facing the edge of the forest. It was only me and him. Of course that was risky, but there was no way Jacqueline would be able to keep up with how I planned to travel. Stil would technically be slowing me down, but going completely alone would be asinine. I did have Jacqueline¡¯s gear with me, particularly her enchanted daggers and grave oil would serve as a substantial fallback in case shit hit the fan, but that was all.
I was about to ¡°spread my wings¡± for the first time as it were. I had been relying on Jacqueline as a safety net basically since I popped out of my mother. Now, I was finally going to try and do something on my own. My parents had been resistant to the thought of me going into the forest at all, however, I argued that I needed to get stronger and confront my lingering fears after my battle against ¡°the demon¡±. In the end, my father recognized my resolve and gave his permission, but made me promise to come running back the moment something even felt wrong.
My mother had acquiesced to my father¡¯s decision with a grim expression. She was clearly not pleased, but she wouldn¡¯t go against him. I checked my pack. It contained a week¡¯s worth of preserved food for me. Stil would get his food primarily from hunting. In addition to the food, I also had a small pot and cup, a collection of medical supplies, an insulated bedroll, and some monster repellent. I would be getting water by using magic to melt snow. Having confirmed the contents of my pack, I checked my feet.
Attached to each foot, was a short shaved flat wooden board. In a word, skis. I had had the carpenter make them according to descriptions and diagrams I drew based on my memories of going skiing once in my previous life. Drakas had no ski culture, so it was a process of trial and error until he got them into a useable state. I also had a pair of sticks to assist me with balance, but that wasn¡¯t how I was planning to propel myself.
After confirming that my skis were securely attached, I began to chant, ¡°Oh Ice, gather the snow in a wind around me. Follow my sight and move with force. [Weak Snow Storm]¡±
It was a very short spell, but it represented a milestone; it was the first spell I had composed the chant for entirely on my own. It was massively inefficient, costing nearly quintuple the amount of mana I thought it should. But thanks to some clever use of the First Law, as well as the properties of the Seventh Law of Magic, I was able to get away with it.
In execution, the spell collected snow from the surroundings; initially, I had it creating snow, but I was only able to maintain that version of the spell for a scant few seconds. The gathered snow would then surround me as the caster in a miniature whirlwind. Finally, this whirlwind would then follow my line of sight, effectively carrying me towards where I was looking. By attaching myself to a pair of skis, I was able to reduce my friction a great deal, and thus reach some really nice speeds.
For safety reasons, I had replaced my usual flashbang with a chant-held ¡°cushion spell¡±. This one was a Yellow Magic school spell belonging to the element of wind. It would wrap its caster in a cushion of air to blunt impact for a few seconds. Basically, I had a keyword-activated airbag on hand at all times. Thanks to the Seventh Law, the weak blizzard spell had extremely effective upkeep efficiency in the middle of winter, so I was able to keep the spell running for a good six hours after paying the initial activation cost.
Of course, in order to be prepared to potentially defend myself, I was restricting myself to only three hours of skiing at a time, so as to give my mana a chance to replenish. If I didn¡¯t chant-hold my airbag, the efficiency was so high I would actually be able to ski indefinitely; my natural mana recovery outpaced the upkeep cost of the weak snowstorm. But that would be fucking retarded. As a final touch, as a side effect of [Blessing of Winter], I was perfectly fine being in the middle of my mini blizzard for extended periods.
My spell activated, and I took off at speed, gliding smoothly between the trees. After about a kilometer, I had learned a few things. I was able to control my speed a bit by shifting my gaze closer or further away from myself; the snowstorm¡¯s only instruction was to get to where I was looking, so it seemed like whatever unknown laws governed the actual effects of chants had decided that it would always take the same amount of time to reach that spot. Thus, by looking further away, the snowstorm would, by necessity, travel faster.
I also learned that maintaining my balance was easier the faster I was going. This was a similar principle to a bike or motorcycle, where inertia and center of gravity would naturally right you once you got some speed. Lastly, turning was very slow, unless I slowed way down. I almost hit a tree a few times before I figured that one out.
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Stil had natural snowshoes, and his high dexterity meant he had an easy time keeping up with me, as long as I didn¡¯t get going too quickly. In fact, he was so effective that, had my ski plan failed, my backup plan was a dog sled. Luckily for Stil, that wasn¡¯t necessary.
After my three hours of speed skiing, I had made it to roughly where I had camped with Jacqueline on the first night of our first excursion. Stil was visibly fatigued, given that he had had to run at near his max speed to keep up. I released the spell and slid to a stop. Also releasing my chant-held spell, I let the pack fall off my shoulders. Now, the question is, should I camp here? Or try and go a bit further once my mana has regenerated?
I had set a hard limit on my solo operation of three weeks, so I had time. But I would like to go deeper and hunt something juicier than goblins¡ Indeed, if all I hunted were goblins, I would need to track down seventy-four of the little fuckers to get even one level. Even with good luck, that would take me a few days. I had done a bit of research in the months leading up to my hunting trip and had a decent idea of what all I was likely to run into in the mountains during winter.
Ideally, I would find a pack of Wargs. About halfway in size between a wolf and a Dire Wolf, Wargs were canine monsters that traveled in packs. Individually they held a D rank but could go up to B or even A based on the size of the pack. Right, well whatever I decide to do, I should make sure my immediate surroundings are clear for now.
¡°Stil, can you check the vicinity for any threats before you rest? I¡¯ll have water ready for you when you get back.¡± My companion flared his feathers and darted off to accomplish his assigned task. I dug around in my bag and produced the small pot, which I filled with snow then set over a small fire to begin melting. While the fire was melting the snow I checked over my weapons and otherwise waited for Stil to return.
A moment later, I received a feeling over our mental link. Danger huh? So he found something. I quickly used a Wind Spell to extinguish the fire and grabbed my dagger. I stood up, just as Stil returned to me. I nodded at him and he turned and went back the way he had come, only now with me following him.
We went probably a kilometer before I heard the danger Stil had found. It was a bunch of chittering nasally voices. Goblins huh¡ and there¡¯s a lot of them based on the sound. I slowed my pace and quickly verified that I had [Shadow Blade Style] set as my fighting stance, I would benefit greatly from the bonus to stealth. Turning my [Sneak] Talent up to the max, I slipped from tree to tee, rapidly closing the distance to the source of the cacophony.
Stil likewise melted into the background. In his case, the silvery sheen his feathers had acquired upon evolving into a Hawri was proving quite useful; it blended in decently well with the white blanket of snow. Cresting a small hill, I found myself overlooking an artificial clearing with an extremely large quantity of goblins milling about in small groups.
Oh fuck¡ A bunch of incidental information popped up in my memory, snippets of conversation I had heard in the town. Hunters struggling to find prey, damage to the fields, deaths among the adventurer population. On their own, it wasn¡¯t anything big, but put all together¡ A horde formed.
Technically, a horde was the wrong term. According to monsterology, a large group of goblins pursuant to a single goal was called a rape. The question now though, is whether or not any higher-tiered goblins have shown up. From where I was hiding, I could not see any special variants. But based on the noise levels, I also couldn¡¯t see all of them, and they were at least organized enough to have begun cutting down trees and expanding their clearing.
In order to not risk being seen, I retreated back the way I had come and moved back to my previous clearing. This definitely constituted ¡°something going wrong¡± that I had promised my father I would return immediately. I¡¯m not even going to pretend like I can take on that many by myself. But where the hell did they all come from? I¡¯ve been gone only a few months.
It was a fact that the vermin bred quickly, but as intimately familiar with the Goblin population as I was, I couldn¡¯t see any way for this many to have shown up over the length of time I had been gone. Ris¡¯ ambient population of the creatures was simply too low for a boom of this magnitude. So they had to have come from outside this area. There was no word of them within the kingdom¡¯s borders, which means they came down from the mountains.
Still has pacing around the edge of our clearing, keeping a nose out for approaching threats. Whatever the case, I need to go back to Ris. No way am I spending the night out here with that many goblins. I checked the sun and found that it was about 1:00 PM. Given that I took three hours to get here, if I left now, it would be four by the time I get back¡ That was only if I left now though. The horde was a day¡¯s march from Ris, it didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out what was going to happen next.
I should at least try to get a rough estimate of their numbers and see if I can find any special variants. Even if I go home and report this, they¡¯re too close, any scouting party that gets sent out wouldn¡¯t be able to move as I can, and I doubt a horde that size has much food. Indeed, especially during winter, I wasn¡¯t able to think of any way the Horde could be feeding itself.
Even before winter started, the village was already noticing their presence, and yet nobody actually noticed them¡ My father certainly wouldn¡¯t have let me go out if he had known about the horde and just been keeping it secret from the people to prevent a panic. And Jacqueline didn¡¯t say anything either, she was told in advance about the Mountain Ogre.
Frankly, this whole thing seemed like something that should be absolutely impossible. That settles it. Before I go back, I need to gather at least some information. ¡°Still, skirt the edges, see if you can find any satellite groups.¡± Stil glanced back over his shoulder and flattened his feathers; it was as if he was chiding me for not going straight back to the village. I know, but I can¡¯t go back empty-handed. Not when I can¡¯t figure out why they haven¡¯t attacked yet.
Stil dashed off after a moment and I was left alone. I busied myself by getting all of my things ready for departure, then hiding my pack and skis up a tree. That way, even if a break-off group or scouting party came through this clearing, they would be less likely to find my things while I was away. After about half an hour, Stil returned and used his feathers to signal me to follow him.
He lead me wide, and due North of the main horde, we were heading along a course that lay tangent with the straight-line path to Ris which made me think this was probably a scouting party he had found. After about two kilometers, Stil dropped low to the ground. We were close. Adopting a low stance myself, I drew my dagger and took some distance from Stil.
Moving in the direction he was indicating, I soon spotted the presumed scouting party. It was twelve goblins strong. I eyed Stil a distance away from me. Was this the smallest group he could find¡? It wasn¡¯t like twelve would be a problem, indeed, with Stil¡¯s assistance and the benefit of surprise, the whole fight should take less than fifteen seconds.
But twelve was a lot to be moving independently like this. A checked over my soon-to-be victims, paying special attention to their statures and weapons. Three of them were armed with bows as opposed to the normal crude or improvised weapons favored by Goblins. Of the remaining nine, two of them were substantially taller than the rest. A normal goblin stood around one hundred centimeters. These two ¡°giants¡± were about a hundred and thirty. Some variety of advanced goblin. So the horde is decently far along. The next question is whether or not it has a lord or a king.
In a perfect world, the horde would have neither and would be led by one of the normal variants, like a Shaman or Warrior. But given the surreal irregular circumstances, I was willing to be it would be led by at least a Goblin Lord, and very likely a Goblin King.
I signaled to Stil with a gesture, and he moved around so that we could attack from opposite sides. One of the taller Goblins seemed to sense something and raised its hand. At the signal, the other eleven all froze and then began to fan out. Those are actual tactics on display. From goblins.
If they were going to react like that, then it would be better to move now instead of waiting for Stil to finish his encircling action. That way they would still be close enough for me to take down two or three of them before they recovered from the surprise. That would also put all of their focus on me, and allow Stil to get in a second surprise attack from their backs.
Having made up my mind, I charged out of cover with a full enhancement applied to my legs. Low to the ground, I swept up on the one who was closest to me. Fortunately, it happened to be one of the variants equipped with a bow. Springing up, I felt the familiar sensation of blade rending flesh.
One of the two giant goblins gave a shout, and the ten remaining goblins fumbled with their weapons. Not one to let opponents have a fair fight, I landed into a roll and kicked the ground. This killed my forward momentum and launched me to the left, straight at one of the ordinary goblins. One quick stabbing motion later, and my second victim fell gurgling to the ground.
At this point, the goblins had managed to draw their weapons and were moving to encircle me. Tch! They¡¯re responding faster too, that tall one probably has a leadership skill or talent. I backed away while keeping an eye on the two remaining archers. Both had notched an arrow and were aiming at me, but they had not fully drawn their bows. Waiting for me to get careless or distracted.
I wasn¡¯t backing away without reason though, I was taking advantage of the encirclement action to shepherd the goblins past Stil, who had smartly not yet revealed himself. If I could get them just a little bit further, then Stil would be able to get at the big one who had been giving orders.
Just a little further¡ Good. ¡°Stil! Leader!¡± I called out a quick command of my own.
Stil picked up on what I was asking for and rocket out from his hiding place, moving at a speed where I could barely follow him. I enhanced my eyes, gaining improved kinetic vision, just in time to see Stil kick up clumps of snow as he launched off the ground with his powerful hind legs. Sailing through the air, he Dug his beak into the collar of the larger goblin, then folded in the middle to bring his large hind talons to bear on the poor creature¡¯s sides. Sliced open at the waist, the goblin¡¯s intestines spilled out and the snow quickly began taking on the green hue of goblin blood.
I nodded in satisfaction; the remaining nine goblins seemed to grow sluggish at the death of their leader. Definitely was a skill of some sort. Thankfully, it seemed the other large goblin did not have a similar skill. Instead, he seemed to be some kind of brawler given how he was now brandishing fists at Stil. I left Stil to deal with it on his own and closed the distance towards one of the archers.
Moving fast enough to kick up a small cloud of snow, I rapidly approached the leftmost archer. It screeched in panic and loosed its arrow at me, however with my improved kinetic vision I was able to adjust myself a bit to avoid getting hit; a feat made even easier by how the arrow had not been properly aimed.
Arriving in front of it, I made a swift horizontal slash, then stepped around its side so as to avoid the blood spray. I would be in trouble if goblins ever invent Gorget Plates. Eight¡ no Seven, good job Stil. Seven left. While I had been distracted, Stil had eviscerated the other Goblin Archer. The Goblin Pugilist had one of its arms shredded and had backed off but was still alive.
I turned my attention to the fodder goblins. Now that the variants were dead or severely injured, it wouldn¡¯t even be a fight. Closing the distance with Stil at my side, we did our very best Beyblade impersonation as we moved from opponent to opponent in a fluid motion.
Finally, all that remained was the pugilist. Still pounced on it, knocking it down and pinning it to the ground. I approached and quickly knelt, slitting its throat. I glanced at my status and saw that the fight had granted me a whopping two thousand eight hundred experience. According to the log, the ¡°Goblin Archers¡± had been two hundred each, the ¡°Hobgoblin Monk¡± was worth five hundred, and the ¡°Hobgoblin Lieutenant¡± was worth a full thousand. It wasn¡¯t enough to level me up, but it was a start.
I got to work removing the magic stones while I contemplated what I had gained intelligence-wise. So they have sub-leaders able to control and buff up to at least eleven others. The horde has also been around long enough for Hobgoblins to evolve. Equipment-wise, at least this group still seemed to be using normal goblin gear, nothing fancy. But adventurers have died, so at least some of them should be equipped with scavenged gear.
I checked the progress of the sun; it was right around 3:00 PM. Let¡¯s have Stil find one or two more groups. I won¡¯t engage them, but if I check their compositions, I should have a large enough sample size to do some very rough statistical analysis and come up with a rough estimate of the horde¡¯s force composition. Then I need to go back to the village so we can prep defenses.
I finished collecting the last magic stone and signaled Stil, I gave him the order and put my back against a tree to wait for his return.
3-8 Defense
Stahlia, Ten Years Old Eleventh Month of 947
I crested the small hill at speed and caught air as my skis left the snow behind. Bending my knees to absorb the impact as I landed, I hunched low and shifted my gaze further ahead, accelerating yet more. I needed to get back to the village and warn my father about the horde of goblins that had set up camp a day¡¯s march into the mountains. Thankfully, I was guaranteed to be able to provide some degree of forewarning, my skis let me make that same trek in hours.
Stil bounded along just behind me, thankfully he was able to keep up with this pace, though he would be dead tired by the time we got back to the village. As I skied, I put part of my attention towards a statistical analysis of the information I had.
I had wiped out one scouting party and then scouted three more without engaging them. All four parties had had an identical composition, indicating that these goblins possessed a high degree of organization. That all but confirmed the presence of a Goblin King. A basic Goblin Lord wouldn¡¯t be able to control things to such a degree.
Still, since the compositions were uniform, I could make some educated guesses about the main force composition. Likely one in five goblins was actually a Hobgoblin, and these could be assumed to be in the leadership positions. The absence of calvary among the scouts indicated that the main force was either not in possession of many or was keeping them in reserve. But given the scouting effectiveness of mounted troops, I had to doubt that they would not be included in the scouting parties.
I had also confirmed the presence of Goblin Archers, however, given the presence of Hobgoblins, it could be assumed that the other variants of lesser goblins were also present. The biggest question was where the hell the horde had come from. There had been no news about a horde ravaging the countryside of Drakas, so that indicated that they had descended from deeper in the Ris Mountain range, however that just didn¡¯t seem to make any sense. The mountains were incredibly dangerous, something as weak as a goblin, even in a horde, would struggle greatly in crossing them.
Before long, I had arrived back at the edge of the mountain forest and was within sight of the village. I killed my snowstorm spell and skied to a halt. Since I was using a completely original spell, there was no way in hell that I could risk anyone seeing me use it. I jumped out of my skis, and ran down the road towards my father¡¯s house.
Stopping at the guardhouse, I waved down the captain of the guard on my way, ¡°Can you head up to my father¡¯s house? It¡¯s an emergency. Thanks!¡± I also stopped by the Adventurer¡¯s Guild by making a small detour and grabbed the branch guild master. I wasn¡¯t expecting the guild to do much to help with the defense, unless, of course, my father paid them. However, he could provide testimony about the recent deaths of adventurers to supplement my own story.
I arrived back at my own home, where my father was confusedly greeting the captain of the town guard, ¡°What do you mean my daughter told you to come to see me? She¡¯s away at the moment, and will not be back for at least a week.¡±
I called out, ¡°Father, I¡¯m back. We have a serious issue to discuss. The whole village is at risk.¡±
My dad spun around and stared at me, ¡°Stahlia!? It hasn¡¯t even been a day¡¡± He saw the guild master behind me and my words seemed to sink in, because he nodded, ¡°Right, I am sure you have a good reason for coming back so quickly. Let us all go inside.¡±
Inside the house, we gathered in the seating room. It was the same room where my engagement had been arranged nearly three years ago, and we were sitting in roughly the same places as then. Though Count Francois was now played by the guild master, and the third prince was being played by the captain of the guard. There was no Dominic.
In time, Silvia came in to provide us with tea. Jacqueline was out somewhere with Lucy, owing to the fact that I had not planned on being back for a good deal of time, so poor Silvia was left to attend to the impromptu emergency meeting by herself. I gave her my thanks, she was likely going to have a hard time of it.
After I had taken a sip, my father addressed me, ¡°Alright, Stahlia. What in the world is going on?¡±
I nodded and took a deep breath. While skimming some of the less relevant details, I described the budding situation in the foothills of the mountains. Along the way, I noted a look of realization dawning on the guild master¡¯s face. Perfect, it seems like he¡¯s made the connection between the missing adventurers and my story. I also highlighted the various small things I had noted in the village the past few months; people struggling with foraging for food, damaged crops, the occasional pet going missing.
When I was finished, my father sat back with a grim expression. Nodding in the direction of the guild master he noted, ¡°Judging by Pierre¡¯s expression, it would seem he agrees with you. I share the opinion regarding the missing adventurers.¡± He took a breath before continuing, ¡°If what you say about the position of the goblin force is to be believed, then we likely don¡¯t have a lot of time. Lindell, why did this force go unnoticed?¡±
The guard captain, Lindell, shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know, lord Ris. Lady Stahlia¡¯s claims put them just outside the range of our patrols, but we should have still seen signs of them, traces of their scouting parties and what-not.¡± My father furrowed his brow at Lindell¡¯s words.
¡°the fact remains, that they are now on our doorstep; we lack the time to contact the kingdom, leaving us with just the forces we have at hand. Lindell, go and marshal the guards. Pierre, gather the adventurers for an emergency quest¡ and both of you, do this quietly. I will inform the villagers at a later time, I would rather not incite panic.¡± My father¡¯s voice was calm, but I could sense some vague discomfort behind his words.
Pierre and Lindell both nodded, stood and gave bows before leaving to perform their assigned duties. As soon as they had left, I turned to my father, ¡°Father, I¡¡± I trailed off, my father was giving me a hard stare, and it looked like he had something he wanted to say, but didn¡¯t have any desire to.
Ah¡ It¡¯s probably that. I nodded, ¡°It¡¯s fine dad. I understand.¡± My father¡¯s eyes widened, showing his surprise.
¡°I always forget how smart you are. It might sound crass of me¡ especially after what I said when you returned, and the way your mother and I have been treating you¡ But I have to ask, no, order you. Stahlia, As my daughter and a noble of this kingdom. Help with the defense of the village.¡± I stood up and gave a military salute, I could tell from the way he was speaking; giving that order was painful for him.
But it was the logical thing for him to do, I¡¯m the only combat mage in the town, nobody but me knows about Jacqueline¡¯s magic beyond what a noble¡¯s made usually has. Besides, even if he doesn¡¯t realize, my specialty is Ice Magic. The season lends itself to that quite nicely. Indeed, thanks to the Seventh Law of magic, Ice magic would perform incredibly well at the moment, ¡°Father, I was about to ask if I could help; I am your daughter, as well as the only combat mage in Ris Village. I might not have much experience, but I know a few spells that could affect an army. Thankfully, I do not believe I saw any Goblin Shaman¡¯s, so my advantage should be one-sided.¡±
I¡¯ll ignore the fact that I just raised a flag. For now, the important thing is to reassure my father, so that he doesn¡¯t do anything stupid, like try and prevent me from joining the battle. ¡°Shall I join the guards in their planning session, father? I believe it would be best if I did so; they do not know my abilities.¡± After a moment of consideration, my father consented, but also instructed me to inform Sieg of the issue on my way to the training ground.
Right, I should let Sieg know. He¡¯ll want to brew a lot of medicines¡ There are a few more recipes I could give him as well¡ Thoughts of things like Mustard gas, Cl2, and Napalm flashed through my mind. Mustard Gas and Chlorine gas would actually be fairly simple to produce; we could even adapt the pressure mixer to do so. Napalm would be harder, but should still be doable.
No¡ that would be a bad idea. Almost as soon as I thought of the compounds in question, visions of something going wrong and gassing the village came to mind. Besides, even on Earth, those things had ethical concerns. This world might be harsh, but I¡¯m not sure I should introduce chemical warfare¡ especially not in this kingdom. Considering the two neighboring political entities existed for the sole purpose of deterring Drakan aggression, the thought of providing Drakas with chemical weapons was vaguely nauseating.
For the same reason, as well as production capacity issues, I probably shouldn¡¯t mention gunpowder either. Though making a small amount for my own use might be a good idea, I could only see providing Drakas with the methods of producing something like gunpowder ending badly. With such thoughts in my head, I made my way out to visit Sieg and the guards.
Sieg was surprised but quickly agreed to keep things quiet until my father made an announcement; it was self-evident how speaking of things early might cause problems. What was unexpected was me running into Giogi on my way to the guardhouse. I was walking at a brisk pace; not running so as to avoid causing suspicions, but Giogi had known me for a while and, evidently, he picked up on something in my mannerisms.
Giogi narrowed his eyes, and quickly fell in line a small distance behind me, ¡°Lady Stahlia, it seems that there is a problem?¡± I hesitated for a moment, then decided I may as well tell him; he was nominally my knight.
In a low voice that wouldn¡¯t carry far, I whispered, ¡°There¡¯s a large goblin army about a day¡¯s march into the forest. My father has requested I assist the guard with magic.¡±
Giogi caught his breath. ¡°Does it have anything to do with the Goblin King from a few years ago?¡± I stopped; I hadn¡¯t considered that. If the two incidents were related, it might explain why the goblins were there. Why didn¡¯t I think of that earlier¡? Something like that is what my Eidetic memory should excel at¡ It was worrying, but I would ask those questions later. I started walking again, with Giogi following me. Thankfully, he picked up on my general demeanor and adopted a similar mask of his own.
Before long, we had arrived at the Guardhouse. In appearance, it was a fairly small structure. Ris was, at the end of the day, only a village. Rather than having a dedicated guard population, the village instead enlisted young men who had grown up here. Third and Fourth sons with no other prospects became guards, as it was a moderately better profession than becoming an adventurer.
Giogi stepped forward, and opened the door for me, allowing me entrance. I thanked him with a quick nod and stepped inside the building, wherein I was met with a series of stares from the assembled fifteen guards. I knew Ris had a small guard force¡ but is this really it? This was going to prove difficult. Mentally, I began considering the best spells to use. I need to inflict the most casualties I can with a single cast¡
The guard captain nodded in my direction, ¡°Thank you for coming, Lady Stahlia. I though Lord Ris might send you to provide a direct account of what we¡¯re dealing with.¡±
I shook my head emphatically, ¡°No Lindell, rather, my father sent me to provide insight into my own abilities; he wants you to plan with my magic in mind.¡±
A murmur went through the room; magic was so restricted, that for villagers from such a remote place as Ris, would very likely have never seen it other than possibly a miracle from the temple. The guard captain, who would be the one most familiar with magic, nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll thank Lord Ris. Not many lords would let their daughter fight. Especially not goblins.¡± I shrugged noncommittedly. I certainly didn¡¯t envy my father having to inform my mother, but I was of the opinion his choice was the correct one.
¡°Still, Lady Stahlia, I¡¯m not too well informed on the particulars of magic¡ How useful do you reckon you would be?¡± I paused to think at his question. It was an intelligent one, and I knew my answer would sway the direction of the strategy meeting. After a moment, I nodded and gave my answer.
¡°It depends on your tactics, Captain Lindell. I believe there are two things I could do to maximize my abilities. The first would be to fight on the ground, using barrages of simple spells mixed in with sword fighting¡¡± I could see that Lindell was not very fond of this idea, likely since it put me in the thick of things.
¡°¡The second option, would be a bit of a gamble¡¡± Lindell raised an eyebrow, urging me to continue, ¡°¡Are you familiar with the term ¡®Wide-area anti-army magic¡¯?¡± Behind me, I felt Giogi stiffen, he was most certainly familiar with the term, owing to his knight training.
Lindell was looking me over incredulously, ¡°You can cast forbidden magic? Do you have the king¡¯s permission?¡± I grimaced and shook my head; Wide-area anti-army magic did exactly what the name implied; it obliterated armies. I was not supposed to know the chants for it, and in reality, I didn¡¯t know them. But I knew the names and descriptions of several of the spells that fell into this category.
¡°No, I don¡¯t have permission to cast the spells. But as a Special Student, I am afforded certain privileges. I will be able to get away with it.¡± Lindell eyed me suspiciously, but he had spent his entire life in the village; there was no way for him to know how hard I was lying right now. Giogi had some idea most likely, but as my knight, he was bound by his oath of loyalty and could not legally go against me here.
Finally, Lindell let out a long sigh, ¡°¡Alright. We¡¯ll go with that plan. How many times can you cast the spell, and what can you tell us about it?¡±
I ruefully shook my head, ¡°Only once I¡¯m afraid, and then only because it is presently winter.¡±
Truthfully, there were a few more things I would be doing to be able to cast this spell; the discount I received from the amount of ambient Ice Aspected Mana wouldn¡¯t be enough on its own. I would also need to rely on my [Blessing of Winter]¡¯s strengthening effect towards the Ice Element and would most likely be disabling most of my emotions through [Cold Hearted] in order to take advantage of the Fifth Law.
¡°Then, the spell I will be casting is known as ¡®Frozen Garden, Niflheim¡¯. The chant will take several minutes to recite, so I will need to be defended during that time. That being said before I finish the chant, everybody needs to retreat. The spell does not discriminate. As for the effect, it first locks the area, preventing escape. Then, the affected area is magically frozen, the ambient temperature is lowered to several hundred degrees below the freezing point of water. Only creatures with outright immunity to ice and cold are capable of surviving.¡± I finished my brief explanation and waited for Lindell to speak his thoughts.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
¡°Lady Stahlia¡ with all due respect, can you really cast such a spell? You¡¯re not yet eleven even.¡±
I nodded, ¡°I can. As long as it¡¯s winter.¡±
Lindell took my repeated assertion at face value and nodded, ¡°Very well, we will plan around your spell thinning the numbers. I don¡¯t like relying on a gamble like that, but given the size of the horde, without taking such a risk, we¡¯ll be overrun.¡±
The planning session proceeded apace. I was a bit surprised that the adventurer¡¯s Pierre had been sent to gather did not take part, but as it turned out, they were not going to be directly involved with the defense of the village. Rather than fighting like the guard squad was going to, they would be patrolling inside the village walls and striking down any goblins or hobgoblins that inevitably slipped past the guards and me.
Part of me thinks it would be better to have them at the walls and prevent any goblins from getting past in the first place, but I¡¯m not a strategist. I have some high firepower, but in terms of planning I only know the basics, things like how the high ground is better, or calvary make good scouts.
As far as the actual plan was concerned, it was fairly straightforward. We knew what direction the Goblins were going to come from; supposedly the terrain around Ris would prevent them from coming out of the foothills any other way. As such, we could set up an engagement are at the point of our choosing. Once the Goblins appeared, I was to wait for the order and begin chanting while the guards bought me time. After three minutes, Lindell would sound the retreat, this would begin a staggered fallback outside the region of my spells effect. The fallback would take two minutes to complete, at which point I was to activate the spell.
After my spell ended, the guards would return to check for survivors; while the area of effect of my spell should not have any, some goblins may not have entered the chilling grounds. It was a decidedly simple plan, but given how we had not trained with each other to figure out timings, there was much that could go wrong. Lindell was aware of this and told me in no uncertain terms not to worry about the guards and fire the spell after five minutes.
He was grimacing as he said that, fully aware that he was telling a ten-year-old girl to knowingly take actions that could result in her becoming a mass murderer. No, I¡¯m already becoming one, of Goblins. Fortunately, hesitating wasn¡¯t likely to be a problem in the moment of action. Though, if I did wind up killing some of the guards, well, I wasn¡¯t looking forward to the additional repentance I would have to overcome. And thinking that their deaths would only be a bother is probably in and of itself going to increase my suffering tonight. Fuck.
Once our strategy was decided, I bid a temporary farewell; we had no way of knowing when the Goblins would make a move, so we were going to be living near the battlefield for a while. As such, I needed to collect a few things and grab Jacqueline. While she wouldn¡¯t be able to fight openly in front of the guards, her presence would serve as an anchor for me.
Thankfully, she was at home by the time I arrived and had already begun to pack, as I expected, she had predicted that I would be living away from home for a bit, ¡°T-Thank you-u, Jacqueline.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but stammer a little bit; they were only Goblins, but what I had agreed to do was starting to set in.
Jacqueline caught my stammer and gave me a concerned look, to which I merely smiled weakly and shrugged, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me Jacqueline, I¡¯m just nervous; this will be my first exposure to large-scale warfare is all.¡± And if everything goes to plan, my first exposure to wholesale slaughter. Even if they are just Goblins¡
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
¡°Well, still no signs of movement?¡±
The adventurer shook his head, ¡°The horde is still encamped in the foothills where Lady Stahlia said they was.¡±
Captain Lindell turned to me, as I was observing the Adventurer¡¯s report. Owing to a legal technicality, I was theoretically the highest-ranking person in the encampment, as such I was ¡°supervising¡± most of the actions taken here. Of course, when my father was present, that was his job. He was actually present fairly often; it was my opinion that he disliked me being here, but wasn¡¯t willing to change things now that a plan had been formed. Still, he wasn¡¯t here today, as such, it was my job to pretend to be in command.
As far as this report was concerned, after the third day of nothing happening, we had begun to dispatch adventurers on reconnaissance quests. Contrary to what I had thought, these quests turned out to be quite popular; the recipient was not required to fight, simply go out and confirm the Goblin force¡¯s position. If they were discovered, the quest taker was allowed to flee. Of course, owing to the distance involved, the reports we received were typically twelve hours behind the actual state of the Goblin army. I could have done it faster, but I needed to be present to cast the anti-army magic whenever the horde moved.
¡°If that¡¯s all, you¡¯re dismissed.¡± The adventurer gave a brief nod and disappeared from the command tent. Behind me, I heard some clinks as Giogi relaxed. For some reason, he was always tense when one of the adventurers was giving a report.
Lindell eyed him with a bit of a warm expression, before turning to face me. ¡°Well, it looks like nothing is going to happen today either, Lady Stahlia. I¡¯m sorry for keeping you stuck here, but it should only be another day or two before the word comes back from the kingdom about the response force.¡±
Indeed, the same day as the planning meeting, my father had dispatched three groups of adventurers bearing letters to Lord Fess, the noble regent in charge of the Town of Fess. He would then dispatch a portion of his town¡¯s forces to our aid and forward the letters to the capital, where the army would begin mobilizing. Goblin Hordes were quite the threat if allowed to go unchecked.
I nodded, then asked Lindell a question, the same one I had asked him every night since establishing this camp, ¡°Lindell, any news of the Goblin King? Do we know if it¡¯s the same one from six years ago?¡± Lindell shook his head.
¡°You know as much as I do Lady Stahlia, if I learn anything, I¡¯ll tell you¡ Still, why are you so concerned about this? Even if it is the same king, it doesn¡¯t change anything about what needs to be done.¡± His tone was a bit tired, indicating that he must be getting tired of answering this question.
I mean, you wouldn¡¯t understand. I¡¯m not saying it would change anything about the engagement, I¡¯m trying to figure out why I didn¡¯t remember the Goblin King from five years ago until Giogi said something. My memory failing shouldn¡¯t be possible, other than the contents of the menus. Indeed, the only thing that didn¡¯t seem to work with [Eidetic Memory], was the entries on my menus. This was particularly frustrating when it came to the Talent and Skill lists. But what connection a Goblin King has with those, I just don¡¯t understand¡
As I was thinking, a horn sounded in the distance, then another, and another, and a dozen more. I stood up, ¡°Captain Lindell, it¡¯s starting.¡±
Lindell nodded, ¡°Aye, it sounds like it. What shitty timing.¡± You can say that again. Right after getting a report that it was all clear¡ They must have found and killed the adventurer who relieved the one who just made that report, otherwise, he would have come back ahead of the horde and warned us. Seriously, what the fuck is this horde? Goblins don¡¯t act like this, even with a king.
I left the tent with Giogi and Lindell, and we made our way to the staging area where the guards were beginning to assemble. With me standing to his side, Lindell began the age old tradition of giving a pre-battle speech, ¡°Men, guards of Ris¡¡±
I tuned him out; I had my own pre-battle process to go through. Right. Ice is an element made up of the combination of Wind and Water, Yellow and Blue. So, I can get rid of Anger Since that¡¯s a Red emotion. Like a switch, the minor feelings of irritation towards the horde vanished.
Fear is a Black emotion, it wouldn¡¯t hurt my casting efficiency, but not having it would prevent any chance of me faltering when I see the horde approaching¡ I made up my mind and disabled fear; it would be better to keep as clear a head as possible for what was to come.
Empathy¡ That¡¯s going to have to go as well. Even if they¡¯re goblins, I¡¯m about to kill a lot of them. There¡¯s the chance that some of the guards won¡¯t make it out in time, and I can¡¯t afford to hesitate. Knowing full well that my nightly self-flagellation sessions were probably going to get a lot worse after this, I disabled Empathy as well.
The only one left is Love¡ I¡¯ve never turned off all of the options before, and I don¡¯t want to do that now. Turning off everything was, for some reason, still something I hesitated over. Even without fear, I was afraid of turning off all the emotions [Cold Hearted] was capable of. Looking at how the blowback worked, I got the feeling that the oversight was intentional; that feeling of fear and hesitation was probably some kind of warning put in place by whoever or whatever ran the system.
¡°¡together with her magic, we will prevail. Now men, assume your positions!¡± It would seem that I had successfully missed Lindell¡¯s speech. I climbed up onto the tower that had been specially constructed for me; from here, I could oversee the entirety of the small valley that was to become our battlefield. The angle of the tower was such that it would be extremely difficult to hit me with any arrows as well. Accompanying me were Giogi and Jacqueline. Stil couldn¡¯t climb the ladder and was not with me in the first place; I had instructed him to watch over Rosin and Felicity.
I took a deep breath and began my chant, ¡°Oh Ice, I desire a prison¡¡±
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Lindell, Thirty-Nine Years Old, Eleventh Month of 947
I gripped my sword tightly, and stared death in the face. In front of me was a horde numbering in the low thousands. Behind me was my home village, and a girl young enough to be my granddaughter who was about to commit genocide to protect it. To my left and right were twenty of the bravest men I knew. Together, we would have to hold the line against the thousands-strong force, for five minutes.
Long enough for that girl to finish chanting a spell that would turn the tide of the battle. Fortunately, the battlefield was favorable to us. The goblins would be forced to compact their numbers in order to exit the valley. It was at that point that we would strike them.
I signaled the men with me as the horde drew close. Well, a minute has passed at least. Lord Ris had, upon hearing the plan, provided me with a small magic tool that could display time accurately. Lady Stahlia had repeatedly assured that her own estimate of how long the chant would take was accurate. I had to believe her in that since if she was off, it would mean the deaths of me and my men.
The goblins were upon us now, and my men had begun to engage. Like a proper commander, I was just close enough to engage myself and thus inspire my men, but not close enough to be at risk of taking an unlucky blow. A squad of guards is just as much a living creature as any man, and the commander is its head. Losing me would consign all of my men to their deaths.
Still, it pained me greatly as I watched Dae fall to his knees and vanish under a wave of green bodies, ¡°Ald, Dae¡¯s down! Close the gap!¡± I shifted to the left, dispatching a goblin that had slipped through the breach left by Dae as I did so. The gap was closed almost immediately, but several other Goblins had gotten through. That Giogi boy can pick up any stragglers that target Lady Stahlia, hopefully the adventurers are in position in case they head towards the village.
Two minutes have passed. I pushed the line forward a small amount; it would help to have more ground to retreat with when the time came to begin falling back, ¡°Commander! Watch out!¡±
One of my men shouted at me, I couldn¡¯t tell who in the thick of things. On reflex, I responded by dropping to my knees. A large ax sailed past where my head had been. Too big for a goblin. I followed the swing and met the eyes of a Hobgoblin that towered above me, owing to me being on my knees. The creature snarled at me, and adjust its grip on the haft of the ax, aiming to bring a swing down on my head.
¡°Hiya!¡± I stabbed forward with my sword, but the creature batted aside the blade with a quick twist of the ax¡¯s handle.
I rolled forward and past the monster on its left, narrowly avoiding its falling blade. The ax head buried itself deep into the dirt, showcasing just how hard it had been swung. I wasn¡¯t green enough to miss such an opportunity. Taking advantage of my opponent¡¯s exposed state, I launched to my feet and swung for its neck. I was rewarded with the feeling of steel passing through flesh.
I took a few steps backward, returning to my place in line. Unfortunately, my maneuver had opened a gap for a few seconds. In those seconds, yet more goblins had slipped through. A pained cry rang out. It was human; another of my men had fallen. Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty! I checked the time piece to confirm my count was accurate; three minutes had passed.
¡°Fall back! Retreat to the barrier point!¡± As one, my men began to fall back to the place Lady Stahlia had designated as being outside the range of her spell. I didn¡¯t understand magic myself, but from what Lady Stahlia said, the conditions of this battle had conspired to grant her the ability to release ¡°the final hell on earth¡±. I wasn¡¯t sure what she meant by that, but it was likely a noble euphemism or something.
The fact of the matter was, she had been very clear; if my men were within the range of her spell, they would die. The goblins picked up on the fact that we were falling back and intensified their assault. Another of my men fell to their rusted blades. I hope Lady Stahlia doesn¡¯t blame herself for this¡ it isn¡¯t her fault. We knew some of us were going to die when I came up with the plan. The last thing I wanted, was for our deaths to shake lady Stahlia.
Halfway there. I checked the timepiece; we had just hit the four-minute mark. Only another minute. We can do this. Our victory was within sight. Surely, in the face of whatever spell was about to be activated, even monsters would falter. There was a roar.
I sidestepped a charging Hobgoblin allowing it to run past me. The creature balked briefly; it had not expected to be allowed through the line. In its moment of hesitation and surprise, I cut it down. Turning my attention to the source of the earlier roar, I saw a hulking monstrosity moving towards us. The green bastards parted before it as if repelled by an invisible force.
The Goblin King? No. It¡¯s too small. From the descriptions I had heard, a Goblin King should be similar in stature to a small ogre. This mountain of muscle was about as tall as a large human. So a Goblin Lord then. The horde is too big for him to be in control¡ Don¡¯t tell me the King has a large enough following to have multiple lords as sub-leaders!?
As I arrived at that worrying conclusion in my mind, my body arrived at the border. I was close enough that I could now hear Lady Stahlia¡¯s voice, carrying words of magic over the wind. Each one rang out with power, and the air around me felt charged with some strange energy. At the very least, my arm hair was standing on end.
¡°That¡¯s it! I¡¯m about to cast!¡± Lady Stahlia¡¯s final warning came not a moment too soon and, though I couldn¡¯t see her, I could imagine her face, trying not to think about the possibility that my men and I hadn¡¯t made it out. Thankfully for her, only those who were already dead had failed to return.
My men and I rushed across the line, then turned to face the oncoming horde for one last push. A final few words I could not recognize were said. These contained an air of finality to them, and for a moment, I could swear that all the sound on the battlefield stopped.
The Goblin Lord was charging straight at me, but mere feet away, he slammed into something in the air; looking closely, I could see a faint blueish tint, as if looking through the ice of a frozen river. The barrier¡ This wall can stop a Goblin Lord¡¯s charge!? I shivered at the thought of what it would have been like to be trapped on the other side of the wall.
Suddenly, the Goblin Lord turned and eyed the area behind him suspiciously. As I watched, I noticed what had caught his attention; The tips of the pine needles and the wood of leafless trees were beginning to turn white. The Goblin Lord shivered, and looked down at his weapon; a thin sheet of ice was forming on the exposed metal.
In blatant desperation, he began to beat at the barrier. As I watched, his green skin began to turn blue. The force of his blows reverberated against the barrier, causing cracks to form. But these quickly repaired themselves; the barrier would allow no escape. Suddenly, a snapping noise echoed through the barrier. It was then that I noticed; there had been no sound for some time now. So transfixed had I been on the Goblin Lord, that I had failed to notice the myriad of goblins and hobgoblins that had long since expired.
The cracking noise was the arm of the Goblin Lord; it had frozen to the point of shattering as he tried to move it. Staring dumbly at his stump, the Goblin Lord looked up and met my eyes. In my heart, I felt pity. Pity for a Goblin that would just as soon eat me and my family. This¡ this is Anti-Army magic?
I turned away from the field of freshly made ice sculptures in time to see the one-armed maid supporting Lady Stahlia. Lady Stahlia looked positively exhausted. She did say she could only manage to cast the spell once¡ She must be at her absolute limit right now. I should make a point of thanking her and assuring her that none of my men were caught in the area.
I approached Lady Stahlia to do just that, but stopped short when I saw her eyes; she was studying the battlefield, but rather than expressing any sort of regret or sadness, she looked like she was studying a particularly interesting piece of art. I¡ I¡¯m a soldier, technically, and that scene makes me feel sick¡ she¡¯s just a girl¡ Appearances and age aside, her eyes betrayed no emotion whatsoever that I could discern. They were cold. The eyes of someone unbothered by the atrocities they had committed with their own hands. I shivered in spite of myself.
3-9 Aftermath
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eleventh Month of 947
¡°-With your chilling wind, turn to ice those that stand in my land.¡± I finished the chant I had written shortly after the planning for our defense. It was a real challenge since I was trying to mimic an existing spell without knowing how its chant was structured. That, combined with my limited vocabulary meant that the spell I had come up with was very messy. Still, nobody but me would actually know that.
I took a deep breath, all I had to do now was say the key phrase, and my spell would activate; I could already feel the absolutely massive amount of mana welling up within me, raging to escape. I should at least give them some final warning.
¡°That¡¯s it! I¡¯m about to cast! [Exterminate Ice Field]¡± I had said this was the Anti-Army magic ¡°Frozen Garden, Niflheim¡±, but I didn¡¯t actually know the name of that spell in the magic language, so I was forced to improvise. I felt the mana that had welled up within me leave all at once and collapsed to my knees. A quick glance at my status revealed that I had bottomed out my mana to five points. Considering the scale of this spell, the fact that it cost only a hundred and one mana is a bit silly. Good thing I had so many discounts and boosts.
Jacqueline passed me a mana potion which I promptly drank. It wouldn¡¯t instantly recover my mana; going from empty to full in one go was a great way to enter mana shock, but it would drastically increase my natural recovery rate. Besides me, I heard Giogi gasp. He was staring over the barrier of our tower at the effect of the spell. I couldn¡¯t see it, but based on the instructions I had stipulated, I could imagine what he was seeing.
The spell effectively worked in three stages. First, it created a barrier of ice that encompassed an area I specified. Then, the barrier was reinforced to repair itself when damaged. Second, the spell would super chill the air near the top of the barrier. I had specified to do it this way to save mana; we were at a high elevation already, so the higher air was already naturally a few degrees cooler.
While it complicated the chant, doing it this way saved a bit of mana. The third and final instruction was actually to Air instead of Ice and was simply to blow the super-chilled air down from the top of the barrier to the bottom. This would freeze whatever it came into contact with, completing the spell. I had also installed a few safeties, such as specifying that the cold air was not allowed out of the barrier, but those were relatively minor compared to the parts that described the three main actions.
Suddenly, I was wracked with pain. I clutched at my head, which felt like my brain was turning to mush. My various muscle groups additionally felt like they were on fire. Giogi was freaking out as I began to thrash spontaneously as if I was having a seizure. As if from a great distance, I heard Jacqueline saying something about ¡°level sickness¡±, but I was completely unable to catch any specifics.
After a few moments, the pain died down and was replaced with dull aching. My mouth was dry, similar to a hangover, and my head was still throbbing, but otherwise, I had recovered. That¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve felt like that after leveling up¡ How many times did I¡? I opened my status window and promptly shut it again when I saw how many notifications I had. Yea, I¡¯ll deal with that later.
¡°Giogi, help me down from here.¡± Giogi roused himself and offered his hand, I took it, and he assisted me in climbing down the ladder. Once on the ground, Jacqueline offered me her arm, and I gratefully accepted as my legs were still a bit shaky, ¡°Jacqueline, help me to the barrier, I want to see the aftermath.¡±
Jacqueline nodded, and we began walking to the barrier. Now that the spell was ended, the ice should melt quickly as it expended the mana it was made from. On the far side of the barrier, I was presented with a field of ice sculptures, all posed in various action shots. It looked a bit like the wargaming miniatures I had very briefly been interested in during my previous life¡¯s high school years.
As I was studying a particularly large Goblin sculpture, I heard a throat clear behind me, ¡°Ahem, Lady Stahlia¡ are you alright?¡±
Turning, I saw Lindell the guard captain looking at me concernedly. Am I alright? What does he mean, clearly I¡¯m¡ oh, right. I re-enabled my various emotions, except for remorse. It wouldn¡¯t do to have a breakdown in front of everyone. Now that I was feeling again, as I looked at the ice sculptures, I felt a brief pang of sympathy. It wasn¡¯t much of a battle from my perspective¡
I was a bit curious now if I would face regret for killing the goblins the way that I had. Lindell interpreted my silence as me being troubled, as he spoke up, ¡°Lady Stahlia¡ it might not have been very fair¡ but this was technically war. Think about what would have happened if you hadn¡¯t acted. My men and I would all be dead, and the goblins would be laying waste to Ris as we speak. You did what was necessary. I know it¡¯s small comfort¡ but you should let yourself forgive your actions today.¡± Having said his piece, Lindell scratched at his chin awkwardly.
He has a point. I¡¯ll have to see how tonight goes before I can decide if I need to ¡°forgive myself¡± or not. ¡°Captain Lindell, thank you for your concern, but we have more pressing matters to attend to; the clean up of any remaining goblins. We also need to see if their leader is still around.¡± I moved the conversation along a few steps, as I could see cracks starting to form in the barrier.
Lindell noticed the cracks as well and signaled his men, ¡°Lady Stahlia, how¡¯s your mana?¡±
I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯ll need a while longer to recover. I drank a potion, but the spell consumed nearly all of my mana to cast so it will take some time to recover.¡±
Lindell nodded, ¡°Then, leave the cleanup to us. We can handle a few hundred Goblins on our own, as long as they¡¯re not grouped up like that.¡± Lindell turned and lead his men through a newly formed hole in the barrier. Thankfully, the air had raised in temperature rapidly once it was no longer being artificially cooled.
I selected a nearby tree stump and sat down. My mana would recover a bit faster if I was still. In order to pass the time, I began looking through my new status menu.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 1,257 (+1,257)
Name/Age: Stahlia von Ris, 10
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 20 (+11) [MAX]* Experience: 31000/31000
Species: Human (Pureblood)
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Small Seed [LOCKED]
(NEW) Title: Goblin Calamity*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
- Strength D: 129 (+33)
- Endurance B: 203 (+77)
- Dexterity S: 355 (+165)
- Intelligence S: 435 (+165)
- Charisma B: 203 (+77)
- Mana A: 19/248 (+110)
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 3/5: [Browse Talents] Prodigy III*, Eidetic Memory II*, Stealth V, [], [] || Monster Handling III*, Dagger Fighting V*, Sword Fighting I*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemy Correction IV*, Teaching II*, Mana Efficiency III*, Fire Magic III*, Water Magic II*, Earth Magic II*, Wind Magic II*, (NEW)Ice Magic V(+5)
Skills 3/5: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features]*, Finesse Fighting*, Blue Blooded*, [], [], || Language Proficiency[Central Human]*, Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan Style]*, Blessing of Winter*
The first thing that caught my eye was, of course, my level, which had gone up to twenty and was now labeled as ¡°MAX¡±. There was a little symbol that indicated I could get more information, so I focused on it, and an info box popped up for me.
¡°[Custom Class] Max Level reached. To Derive the next Class, please assign remaining ability value improvements: 2/2 remaining and select remaining Talents: 2/5 and Skills: 2/5.¡±
So, I¡¯ll get a new tier of Custom Class once I apply the ability value improvements. Those will be good, I got one back when first leveled up Prodigy. It looks like I¡¯ll also need to select enough talents and skills to fully occupy all my slots¡ That¡¯s a bit irritating, but I can see the logic in requiring me to ¡°complete¡± the custom class before acquiring the next one.
Thankfully, unlike the time with Prodigy, I wasn¡¯t being forced to immediately apply the ability value bonuses, so I put it off and continued my inspection. Life points are¡ yea. That¡¯s a lot. Then again, I did level up eleven times. I imagine there was something like a bonus for getting to the ¡°MAX¡± class level. Also, holy shit, 31,000 experience for the next level!? How many goblins did I kill!?
A quick check of the log showed that I had killed 5,139 Goblins, 2,560 Goblin Archers, 1,310 Goblin Warriors, and 999 Hobgoblins of various types. This was helpfully marked down in a new section labeled ¡°kill totals¡±. I also noted, that after the first 100k experience, it looked like I had started to be massively throttled, earning less than ten percent of the full value.
Then there¡¯s my new magic talent¡ Ice Magic V. I cast one spell, acquired the talent, and then got enough experience to raise it straight to level five. It overtook Fire Magic instantly¡ Honestly, that was just fine by me. Due to boosts from my blessing, Ice Magic was likely my strongest offensive magic. Finally, I turned my attention to the new section.
Titles huh¡ ¡°Goblin Calamity¡±. Well, the name is self-explanatory. Let¡¯s see the effects then.
I focused on Goblin Calamity and was met with its infobox. ¡°[Goblin Calamity] Awarded to those who have slain a ludicrous number of goblins. Effects: Goblins inflicted with Terror* upon detecting someone with this title.¡±
I saw I could further inspect the details of ¡°Terror¡±, and since I hadn¡¯t encountered that term before, I did so, ¡°Terror: An advanced state of fear. Upon being inflicted with Terror, the victim has a small chance of also being inflicted with Heart Attack* status ailment.¡±
Inspecting ¡°Heart Attack¡± revealed it was an instant death effect. So, by equipping this title, I¡¯m so frightening to goblins, there¡¯s a chance that they will literally drop dead at the sight of me¡ I glanced at the thousands of ice sculptures that sat a little distance away from my seat. Ok yea, that makes sense. Just to be sure, I checked the ¡°Swap Title¡± option and found three choices; ¡°None¡±, ¡°Goblin Exterminator¡±, and ¡°Goblin Slayer¡±. ¡°None¡± was self-explanatory, while the other two were weaker versions of Goblin Calamity, having a chance to inflict fear, and inflicting fear respectively.
I decided to leave the title equipped, as far as I could tell there were no negatives, and having it would be helpful for what would happen next; the counter offensive to clear out the remainder of the goblins. Of course, we would be waiting for reinforcements from the kingdom for that, but given that I was a Special Student, had local geographical knowledge, and had just demonstrated an Anti-Army spell, I had every reason to believe I was going to be ¡°invited¡± to join in the operation.
My limbs had finally stopped shaking, but as my mana was still recovering, I decided to spend a bit of time looking through the talent and skill lists for something that could potentially help with my Dominic problem. First, I opened the Skills list, and searched the word ¡°Appraise¡±. To my mild surprise, there was only one result, and it wasn¡¯t any form of ¡°appraise¡±. Displayed by its lonesome was ¡°Appraisal Immunity¡±.
So there aren¡¯t any skills that grant an appraise ability huh? What about talents then? I hoped over to the talents list and repeated my search. This yielded only the talent [Appraisal Resistance I], which would eventually evolve into appraisal immunity. Fortunately, the description of this talent shed some light on this mystery, ¡°Appraisal Resistance I (100LP): Grants the user resistance to appraisal spell effects. The degree of resistance is directly proportional to the talent¡¯s level. Having a lower level than the tier of the spell will downgrade the information discerned by the spell by the number of skill levels.¡±
So if that description is anything to go by, then Appraisal type effects can only be acquired using a spell. That¡¯s not an option, since if I arrange to learn those spells, I¡¯ll have to go on a registry. I wonder how this interacts with my blood magic though? I put aside my new question for later and jumped back to the skills list. searching for the word ¡°charm¡±, since that seemed to be what Dominic¡¯s ability was doing, I was a bit irritated to see that there were a few hundred results to such a basic search.
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In order to narrow it down, I added the word ¡°eye¡±, since the mana waves seemed to emanate out of his eyes. This shrunk the list to a few dozen entries, but that was still too many for me to be able to determine exactly what he was doing. I thought about it for a minute, then added the word ¡°women¡±, since his ability only seemed to work on members of my sex.
This new set of criteria left me with only three options. [Charming Eye(Women)], [Lady Killer], and [Incubus Eye]. Only the first one was available for me to purchase, while [Lady Killer] was greyed out with a blurb stating it was only available for males, and suggesting I should look for [Cherez La Femme] instead. Apparently, whoever had implemented the skills was a fan of a certain post-nuclear apocalypse RPG.
[Incubus Eye], however, stated that it was ¡°incompatible with users who possessed the Divine Element¡±. Since I couldn¡¯t select them due to not having the prerequisites, I couldn¡¯t read their descriptions. However, the bit about the Divine Element being incompatible with [Incubus Eye] stood out to me. Somehow, I knew that this was what Dominic had. As I thought back when Claire first mentioned that I occasionally smelled like him, my Blessing of Winter is probably shielding me now, but whatever he did back when he visited Ris, is still having an effect.
This left me in the position where I knew what skill was being used but didn¡¯t know how to combat it. It would have been so helpful if I could simply read the description¡ Still, it was at least something; now that I was reasonably certain of what he was using, I could advance around that idea. Incubi are the male version of Sucubi, so like Sitri¡ Dominic is human, as far as I know¡ though his mana is totally different in appearance, and according to Claire, in smell. Is Dominic actually a demon?
If he is¡ he¡¯d have to be a fairly young one¡ I was able to beat him really easily after all. I decided to advance under the assumption that Dominic was possibly a demon, but most likely a human who had demonic abilities. The easiest way to tell for sure would be to look at the rest of his family with my divine eyes.
I removed ¡°eye¡± and ¡°women¡± from my search, replacing them with ¡°resistance¡±. My hope was that it would be as simple as being able to acquire a skill that would offer me resistance to Dominic¡¯s ability. Though the question remained as to whether it would apply retroactively. Surprisingly, my search criteria produced only a single result, [Charm Immunity] which cost a whopping 500 Life Points. I also met the prerequisites, whatever those were, as it was not greyed out.
Reading the description, the skill explained that it provided total resistance to the charm status ailment. Still, 500 LP was a huge investment, I had to keep in mind that I wouldn¡¯t be able to level up any further if I didn¡¯t buy two skills and two talents. While I could earn Life Points through actions other than leveling up, leveling up was the fastest way. Making a mistake here could massively gimp my future prospects.
I may as well check talents before buying this, there¡¯s probably ¡°charm resistance I¡± or something over there. I backed out of the menu and navigated into the browse talents section. Inputting the same search terms, I discovered the expected [Charm Resistance I], for ¡°only¡± 300 LP. Reading its description, it appeared that it offered resistance to the Charm status ailment, based on the talent level. At level six, it would evolve into the Charm Immunity skill. This begged the question of what would happen to the slot when it evolved, however, given the prospect that it would eventually lead to gaining total immunity, I went ahead and purchased the talent. I would have liked something that also applied to allies so that I could extend protection to Jacqueline, however, I understood that would be asking for a bit much.
I confirmed that it was present in my status menu and made a heartening discovery; The talent experience had already gone from zero to five. I watched it for a few minutes and observed it ticking up to six. At that rate, it would probably level up after a few days, maybe a week. So that confirms it, I¡¯m actively being charmed by whatever he did to me. At least it looks like the talent is working on an already existing effect. As for why it started out with five talent experience¡ probably the passive experience I had already gained¡? No idea. The fact that Dominic had now essentially forced me to make a decision regarding my build was irksome, but it wasn¡¯t like the talent wouldn¡¯t be useful even after I bear the current dilemma. As I had recently demonstrated with my Ice immunity, status immunities were incredibly strong.
I have just over 900LP left, and I need to buy one more talent and two skills. Getting three tier threes is probably the best option¡ Or I could get a [Cold Hearted] tier skill, and some tier twos¡ Given the general power level I had noticed with the 500LP skills that option was a bit tempting. I also need to search for the seven sin skills.
I flipped back over to the skills menu and input the word ¡°Envious¡± into the search. Thankfully, only two skills showed up, so I didn¡¯t have to scroll at all. The first skill was Felicity¡¯s [Envious], which I apparently was perfectly capable of buying, not that I was going to. Still, it¡¯s surprising that this demon skill is compatible with Divine Element, but [Incubus Eye] wasn¡¯t¡ I wonder what the criteria behind that is¡? The other skill was [Envy], which I could also buy for some reason, for a whopping 700LP, making it the most expensive skill I had encountered. I briefly checked its description.
¡°Envy(700LP): The final evolution of the Envious skill line. Acquisition of this skill completes Demonization[Demon of Envy]. User is granted the effects of Envious. Additionally, the effects of Envious are extended to include Skills.¡±
So, it¡¯s Envious, but also works on skills instead of just talents, and getting this skill is what turns you into a demon. That confirms that at least certain skills can evolve further, not just talents evolving into skills. But holy shit, that¡¯s a strong effect, though I imagine it would kill you pretty quickly, assuming I¡¯m correct about how getting skills and talents to quickly strains the soul.
In any case, I wasn¡¯t planning on taking a skill that would eventually turn me into a demon, so I backed out of the menu, content with the information I had gained. I¡¯ll need to share this with Claire later, so she can more easily keep an eye on Felicity.
Next, I searched for the other sins from the seven deadly sins. Without fail, each of them had a skill named after them. They also all had a weaker version, and all of them had the line about turning their users into demons. The effects were incredibly strong though, to the point where I was sorely tempted to take one. But I resisted the urge; even a minor risk of turning into a demon wasn¡¯t something I was willing to take.
The strongest, and the one I was most tempted by, was [Pride]. Specifically, its lesser version [Prideful]. [Prideful] had the effect of stealing half your opponent¡¯s stats. Basically, for the duration of the fight, they would be weakened by half, and you would gain that strength. Since it was added to your own stats, you could take pride in the fact that you were always stronger than your opponent.
Since it sounded like an activated effect, rather than Envious¡¯ automatic one, I considered the risk of demonization to be much lower. But at the end of the day, it was still a risk. There was also the concern that you wouldn¡¯t be able to fight properly; if you suddenly gained a couple of hundred points of strength, then you wouldn¡¯t know your own limits anymore. This was a running theme with all of the sin skills, they were strong, but in a way that was easily able to backfire.
Clearing wrath out of my search, I instead entered ¡°500 Life Points¡± as the only search term. This filtered out the skills and only showed me the ones that cost five hundred points. Specifically, I was looking for one that would help even the playing field between me and the demons. The fact that Sitri had said that she ¡°wasn¡¯t allowed to kill or defile me¡± was, in hindsight, incredibly frightening.
It meant that someone strong enough to boss that bitch around was making plans that involved me being both alive and ¡°pure¡±. I could think of a way to foil those plans immediately, but I didn¡¯t want to go down that road. As such, I would need to develop a way of fighting someone who was practically in another plane of existence than myself. It was a challenge that tickled my gamer spirit. There was one idea I had during the past few months, but I wasn¡¯t willing to test it to see if it was viable; the repercussions for doing it wrong would be devastating. It would have to sit reserved as a final Hail Mary in the event that all else failed.
Most of the skills didn¡¯t seem like they would be particularly useful for the stated purpose. Of course, there were a lot of useful sounding skills. Things like [Soul Weapon], which manifested your soul in the form of a weapon. Or [Pocket Space], which was basically an item box. There were amyriad of boost skills as well, like [Herecles Strength] that provided a massive boost to the strength stat.
But none of these jumped out at me as being particularly able to narrow the gap between me and an Original Sin. What use would +500 points of strength be, when my opponent had two thousand? Especially if I was fighting a Demon of Pride, where half my stats would be going to them anyway. No, I needed something more concrete.
Finally, I found something promising. [Kinetic Perception(500LP)]. According to the skill description, it enhanced the user¡¯s kinetic vision and had an activated effect that consumed mana to improve a user¡¯s reflexes. Memories of Sitri prancing around the battlefield while I was completely incapable of keeping up with her surfaced. It wasn¡¯t a guarantee, but it was also possible that my Blood Magic might stack with this skill, making the effect even more pronounced. Even if they didn¡¯t stack, having this skill would free up mana for other Blood Magic enhancements.
A plan began to form in my head, and I confirmed the purchase of [Kinetic Perception]. I flipped over to talents and searched the term ¡°Dexterity Improvement¡±. A few options popped up, with varying prices. A quick inspection revealed that they were a line of talents; the lower-cost ones would evolve into the higher-cost ones. I settled for the 200LP ¡°[Flexible I]¡±. The description stated that it improved the range of movement of joints, as well as adding my level times the talent level to my dexterity stat.
I switched back over to my skills catalog, and searched for ¡°mana¡± there was a specific effect I wanted, which I was sure existed, but I had no way of predicting its name with enough accuracy to narrow down the results in any reasonable time frame. Speaking of the results page, it had well over a thousand entries with the term ¡°mana¡±. I groaned internally and began scrolling.
I passed a lot of interesting and useful sounding skills. Things like [Mana Perception] and [Mana Sense], the difference between the two I couldn¡¯t determine; their descriptions were practically identical. As a guess, I figured that the former might be similar to divine sight, and let you actually see mana, while the latter simply allowed you to sense it as a sort of feeling. Still, neither of those was what I was looking for.
I kept scrolling, and eventually found a promising skill; [Mana Crystallization (300LP)]. According to its description, it allowed its user to exceed their maximum mana capacity by storing excess mana in a solidified crystal that would form near their heart. The thought crossed my mind that this was very similar to the mana crystals that could be found in the monsters of this world, however, unlike the sins skills, there was no disclaimer about ¡°monsterfication¡±.
Still, I don¡¯t have enough Life Points¡ And it isn¡¯t exactly perfect, since it also says that it takes some time to extract mana from the crystal¡ I made a mental note about the existence of this skill, and continued scrolling. I found another skill that could possibly fulfill my purposes, in the form of [Mana Storage Expansion]. But this one was 500LP and came with the downside of a twenty-five percent reduction to mana regeneration speed. If there were other skills that expanded mana capacity, I wasn¡¯t seeing them.
I could probably get the 43 LP for [Mana Crystallization] easily enough, but getting 243 for [Mana Storage Expansion] would be a tall order without being able to level up. I¡¯ll plan on getting [Mana Crystallization for now. My plan, was to greatly enhance my speed, and then expand my mana capacity in order to increase the time limit on my buffs. After that, I would train extensively with magic, and work on further translating the magic language. There were a few words I was really hoping to learn. Words like ¡°Stroke¡±, ¡°Hemorrhage¡±, and ¡°Aneurism¡±. Straight up ¡°Die¡± would be nice as well, provided it worked properly, but something told me that not specifying the cause of death would end up costing a lot of mana.
To this same end, I accessed the ¡°MAX¡± level indicator again, and focused on the ability improvement line, which still read 2/2 remaining. A small window depicting my ability improvement values opened, with arrows I could use to increase them. Without hesitating, I applied one point to mana, and one point to Dexterity, raising them to S and SS respectively. I confirmed my selection and felt an odd tingling sensation. Well, that does it. I¡¯ve committed fully now.
I checked my mana and saw that I was nearly at full capacity. I carefully stood up; my stats had increased a large amount, and it would take me some time to get used to my new strength now that my limbs had stopped shaking and the soreness was gone. Stretching, I tested the range of my motion with the newly acquired [Flexibility I]. I was able to contort my body a fair amount more than previously, but it was nothing inhuman. Checking the sun, it appeared I had been busy for quite some time; it had gone down a considerable distance since I had first opened my menu after sitting down.
Jacqueline was still nearby, as was Giogi. The guards were in the distance, moving towards us. Thankfully, all of them seemed present, though they were sporting a few minor injuries. I stood to greet Lindell as he ascended up from the valley, ¡°Captain Lindell, how did it go?¡±
Lindell started when he heard me address him; apparently, he was quite tired, ¡°Ah¡ I see you¡¯ve recovered¡ that¡¯s good. Things went well for us. As you said, there were no survivors inside the valley¡¡± He had a distant look in his eyes; I could sympathize, in my previous life I had found mannequins a bit disconcerting. Walking around surrounded by frozen goblins must have been somewhat uncomfortable.
¡°And outside the barrier?¡± Lindell shook his head and answered.
¡°There were small pockets of goblins led by hobgoblins; they largely retreated at the sight of us, heading back into the mountains. I fear it will take some time before we can properly clear the area.¡±
I pursed my lips; that wasn¡¯t good news for the village. We had been keeping people inside for the past few days, and of course, it was winter so outdoor activity would be limited anyways, but it wasn¡¯t like there was nothing that needed doing outside.
¡°And what about the magic stones?¡± I had included a line about ¡°shattering stones¡± in my spell chant, but since I didn¡¯t know the word for ¡°magic¡±, I had to rely on my mental image of a magic stone getting my meaning through to the shape of the spell.
Lindell shook his head again, ¡°There weren¡¯t any that we could find. We dug through around about three hundred goblins before we decided to assume your spell worked how you said it would.¡±
Good, it looks like it worked then. So we won¡¯t have to deal with thousands of zombie goblins now. When the knights arrive, we can get them to help round up the remaining goblins. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll slip away and go confirm the camp is empty. It would be a disaster if it turned out they had only sent a portion of their force after all.
But before that, it was nearly night. I had been refraining from doing so for the past few days, telling myself I needed to be ready to fight at a moment¡¯s notice, but I didn¡¯t have that excuse anymore. It was time to confront my remorse once again. Forgiveness huh¡ maybe it really is that simple¡ one can hope at least. As I fretted over what I was about to experience, I recalled Lindell¡¯s words from earlier. They had been directed a misconception on his part, but that didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t useful.
It¡¯s worth a shot, better than just torturing myself night after night.
3-10 Counterattack Extermination
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eleventh Month of 947
I was sitting in the middle of the valley of ice goblins. It might be a bit morbid, however, it was conveniently devoid of people other than Jacqueline and I, owing to the creepy factor. Thanks to my new title, I was unconcerned about remnant Goblins coming upon us while I was indisposed. I had slipped away from my tent in the dead of night, relying on my Stealth Talent and the boost from Shadow Blade Style to bypass the guards standing watch, as well as leave Giogi behind.
It was quite visibly cold out; we were in the middle of winter and the snow was piling up. The fact that we were surrounded by ice sculptures didn¡¯t help raise the temperature much either. Still, Jacqueline didn¡¯t comment as she helped me loosen my top and drop it off my shoulders. Just another side benefit of my blessing¡ It protects me from the cold while otherwise making me sick.
I took a deep breath and grit my teeth before engaging my remorse. Some minor things I had said or done flitted through my head, making me feel a bit sick, but I had grown used to these, and was able to quickly move past this part. Forgive myself, I wonder if it will really be that eas- I was torn from my thoughts as I was assaulted by a massive wave of nausea. Apparently, committing genocide on the goblin horde in the way I had done, was something I should have felt remorse over, and quite a bit of it as well, if this blowback was anything to go by.
Goblins are¡ targets for¡ extermination¡ why would this¡ be any different? I could feel bile rising in my throat. Surrendering to the urge, I stopped fighting and allowed myself to vomit. If I hadn¡¯t acted, then it would have meant the end of the village! Everyone¡ would be dead by now!
I groaned as my stomach contorted, and a lance of pain stabbed through my head. My breath was coming out in ragged gasps. I¡¯m sorry! Is that what I need to say!? Fuck! My chest was getting tight, and it was becoming hard to breath. I felt like I was being squeezed in a vice.
You know what! Fuck you! Fuck the gods and their shitty games! Someone had to send those goblins out of the mountains, and I bet it was you assholes! Are you happy tormenting me like this!? Do you get off on it? I grimaced as another bout of vomit spewed from my mouth. I had been stupid and eaten a somewhat large meal at dinner this evening, and was paying for it now.
Well you know what? I don¡¯t care! My family was in that village, and if you¡¯re going to¡ ugh¡ if you¡¯re going to threaten them, I don¡¯t care who you are! I don¡¯t care what I have to do! I¡¯ll protect my family! Surprisingly, as I made that declaration, the feelings of nausea abated somewhat, and the white-hot rod was seemingly pulled from my head. I spat out a mouth full of bile, and stated my resolve through clenched teeth.
¡°I¡¯ll slaughter. them all if they. threaten my family. I don¡¯t care. how many, or what happens. to me. I¡¯ll protect. mine.¡± After another minute of roiling, I felt my stomach loosen. The tension left my shoulders and I sagged to my knees. I could feel tears beginning to fall; I had managed to overcome my regret from using such strong magic and killing the goblins in such a merciless fashion.
As I slumped forward, I became aware of a warm hand pressed onto my back; Jacqueline had apparently moved to comfort me, ¡°What is¡¡± another wave of nausea assailed me, as I once again beheld Asten¡¯s face. In a hurry, I switched off my remorse. I would overcome that trauma another time; getting past the goblins had been ten times worse than Asten and Jacqueline¡¯s arm had ever been.
I leaned back against Jacqueline¡¯s arm, ¡°Are you finished, Lady Stahlia¡? I¡¯m not sure doing magic experiments is such a good idea so soon after experiencing as much growth as you did in one sitting.
Ah, I did tell her that¡¯s what I was doing, in order to protect the secret of [Cold Hearted] I nodded, ¡°You¡¯re right, I should probably have taken it easy¡¡± I noticed that the moon had risen quite high in the sky, ¡°¡Jacqueline, how long was I out like that?¡±
Jacqueline grimaced, ¡°A few hours. I tried calling out to you, but you did not respond.¡± A few hours¡? It was that bad? How in the world did I manage to last that long¡? The longest I could remember lasting with Asten and Jacqueline¡¯s guilt was only a few tens of minutes. I knew the guilt from the goblins had been more extreme, at the very least I had been hit with more all at once.
The only thing I can think of is that my endurance has gone up a lot, so perhaps I¡¯m able to handle the blowback for longer¡ but I don¡¯t think I actually cleared the goblin guilt just from waiting it out¡ I managed o resolve myself, and in so doing, overcame the guilt. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll still feel a bit bad about it when I turn remorse back on, but as long as I keep the mentality of doing what¡¯s necessary, then the skill shouldn¡¯t punish me.
That had to be the point of putting such a grueling punishment in place for the skill granted to the winter champion; to force them to face reality. Fucking. cunt ass. winter gods! What was especially irksome was how I had been more or less tricked into the position of Winter¡¯s Champion by the goddess of lies. And she hasn¡¯t said a word to me since then. It¡¯s been nearly three years since that first dream. An apology for Mortis trying to get me killed would have been nice¡
I indulged in my anger for a few more minutes; it felt good. After a little while, I calmed myself and stood up, ¡°Jacqueline, help me get dressed, please. We need to get back soon and rest; the knights will be here either today or tomorrow.¡± Jacqueline nodded and came up to help me slip my top back into place.
We snuck back into the camp the same way we had left and retired to bed for the night. The next morning, I was awoken by Lindell rapping at my tent roughly, as well as his voice calling out to me, ¡°Lady Stahlia, my apologies, but the knights have arrived, and their commander claims to know you.¡±
I sat up groggily. A knight who knows me? I can only think of the ones from Ang. So, they survived then. Not surprising considering the threat had left¡ I wonder what the official story about that is actually, considering I¡¯ve been in Ris for the past months, I don¡¯t exactly get news.
Jacqueline had roused herself, and quickly combed out my hair. I slipped into simple but modest clothing; my mother was far from pleased with this outfit, but I was living in a battlefield camp. I could hardly were fancy dresses day in and day out. I emerged from my tent and glanced around, I couldn¡¯t see any knights that I recognized. Presumably, the one who knew me was in the command area with Lindell, who had also vanished after waking me.
I made my way to the command area, and before long I recognized Albert¡¯s voice speaking with Lindell. So it is Knight Commander Albert then. Good, that should streamline me getting involved with the cleanup. Albert was, at the moment, asking Lindell about the field of goblin corpses. While they were still frozen in various places, they had started to thaw, so they no longer resembled ice sculptures.
¡°I am telling you to explain how twenty guards managed a slaughter like that. My men are telling me they were frozen.¡± Albert sounded tired, presumably, they had done a very hard march to reach Ris so quickly.
¡°And I¡¯m telling you, with all due respect sir knight, that you should ask Lady Stahlia about that; it was her spell so she¡¯s far more qualified to give you the report than I am.¡± Lindell sounded tired as well, though in his case the exhaustion seemed to be mental. Given the stress he had experienced over the past several days, and the fact that he was now being grilled by a knight, it was fairly understandable.
I let myself into the command tent and greeted Albert, ¡°Commander Albert, it is a pleasure to meet you again. I only wish the circumstances would have been less dire.¡± I finished off my greeting with a full curtsy.
Albert nodded and bowed alongside his own greeting, ¡°Lady Stahlia, as you say, it is indeed a pleasure to be working with you again. Since you are here, perhaps you can shed some light on this for me; this man is claiming you used Anti-Army magic to rout the goblins. Is that true?¡±
I pursed my lips; what I had done was technically illegal, highly so, ¡°I did not exactly have many choices. The village would have been overrun if we had tried to hold off a horde of that size with twenty guards and a random collection of adventurers.¡±
Albert shook his head, ¡°I understand that, but it doesn¡¯t change the fact that you¡¯ll have to answer to a member of the royal family. Which spell did you use?¡±
I shrugged, ¡°Tell the Third Prince it was Frozen Garden, Niflheim. He will, in all likelihood, dismiss the case.¡± Getting around the legality of my actions would be a bit irritating, as it would depend on my connection to the third prince¡¯s faction through the Francois family.
Albert nodded, ¡°I¡¯m sure he will. Putting that aside, your father told me to handle the situation through you rather than him. It is my impression that he deeply regrets putting you out here.¡±
I nodded, I was aware that he still felt bad about asking me to help while he couldn¡¯t do anything himself. ¡°Lindell, explain the situation with the surviving Goblins to Albert, then turn over command to him.¡±
Lindell nodded and quickly filled Albert in on the details surrounding the goblins retreating back into the foothills of the mountains, and how they were most likely gathering at their original camp a day¡¯s march from here. After his explanation, Lindell turned over command of the village guard to Albert. My intention with that was for Albert to place a guard with each squad of knights as they moved about the foothills. This would help provide the knights with geographical knowledge as they hunted the stray goblins.
Thankfully, the knights would be helping round up the goblins that had survived; this was in order to prevent a new goblin from taking charge and reforming the horde. Though, in my opinion, the original leader most likely wasn¡¯t actually dead. Lindell had told me that the exceptionally tall goblin that died right by the barrier had been a Goblin Lord.
Lindell and I both agreed that the horde was far too big for it to have been led by a single Lord, it was almost certainly led by a Goblin King. Albert, for what it was worth, took our assertions under advisement and agreed to keep the knight squads in groups of ten, plus one guard. It was a bit irksome that the kingdom had only sent three hundred knights, but I could understand their hesitation; I hadn¡¯t been able to provide an accurate count of the horde, only a rough estimate.
Besides, one knight was easily worth thirty goblins and the knight¡¯s armor would be more than capable of blunting all but the luckiest of attacks from a goblin. Hobgoblins would be a bit of an issue, but the knights should be fine as long as there were not too many of them. In short, the kingdom¡¯s decision was pragmatic and logical.
Finished with my musings, I spoke up, ¡°Albert, I wish to join one of the groups.¡±
Albert gave me an appraising look, ¡°Your father wouldn¡¯t like that; now that we are here, he would want you to return home.¡±
I nodded; I knew he would want me to go home, but I had sworn to do whatever I had to do in order to protect my family. I would be breaking that vow if I went home now without finishing what I started.
¡°That may be so, but I want to finish things¡ I¡¯ll go alone if you don¡¯t let me join a squad.¡±
Albert grimaced, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll put you with a squad, but if your father says anything, I¡¯ll be telling him you pulled rank on me.¡±
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Right, I do technically outrank Albert in this instance, as the daughter and appointed representative of the local lord.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
I found myself deep in the foothills along Lindell and Albert. I had something I wanted to say about putting the three ranking members of the suppression force in the same unit, but as I had entrusted the organization to Albert, I held my tongue. I was also aware that he was probably doing this to somewhat blunt my father¡¯s ire when we returned; by this point it should have been extremely obvious that I was not planning on returning home.
Stil was still at the house with Felicity and Rosin; I had not gone to retrieve him, for fear of being forbidden to return. With my new stats, I should be able to get away from my parents easily, but that wasn¡¯t something I wanted to do; it would set a bad precedent for me. Jacqueline had also remained behind in the camp. Given her lack of an arm, there was no way Albert would have allowed her to accompany us. Frankly, it was a minor miracle that nobody had said anything about how she had gone with me when I went after Sitri. I still wasn¡¯t sure why that was.
Giogi had come with us, for what that was worth. It would probably do him some good to work with a team of fully-fledged knights. At the moment, we were moving along towards the goblin¡¯s original encampment. We were supposed to rendezvous with the other squads there at four pm. Along the way, we were to engage any goblin stragglers we came across. I had set my title to ¡°none¡± for the time being, as causing the goblins to flee at the sight of me would be counterproductive to exterminating them.
Unfortunately, we did not run into any groups of stray goblins and made good time to the horde¡¯s camp¡¯s location. This was our predicted worst-case scenario, given that it had been a few days since my spell, the goblins would have had more than enough time to regroup. At this point, none of us questioned the idea of goblins regrouping, we just sort of accepted that it was something that had happened.
Looking down into the camp, we could see a few hundred of the green vermin, including another one that looked like it was probably a Goblin Lord. But there was no sign of a Goblin King. I enhanced my eyes and surveyed the area intently, looking for any signs of the real leader. After not spotting anything, I activated my divine eyes. The goblins barely glowed at all, with the most light coming from their chest; likely where their magic stone was.
The few Hobgoblins were a fair bit brighter than the goblins, roughly the same as the average human really. The Goblin Lord was about as bright as one of the knights, giving a fair indicator of his strength. I should be able to handle him myself, hell the knights probably could; I doubt he¡¯s as well trained as one of them. But ideally, we should try and take him alive. He might be able to tell us where the king is. There was a slim chance that the Goblin Lord would know enough common language for us to interrogate him.
Albert was waving at me, making a gesture as if he was tying something up and pointing at the Goblin Lord. Glad to see we are on the same page, I won¡¯t have to argue my stance that way. We had a few minutes before the other knights were supposed to be in position, so we fell back a short distance to where we could hold a whispered conversation.
Albert opened, ¡°We have no way of communicating our intention to capture the Goblin Lord¡ so that means we have to get to it first, before any of the other units.¡± He glanced over his men, Lindell, and myself.
¡°Lady Stahlia, I hate to say it, but you are the only mage, do you have a method of incapacitating the goblin lord?¡± I thought for a moment. Spells that induced paralysis or sleep type debuffs fell under the banner of Black Magic, which I had not studied yet, and unlike how I had learned a few White Magic spells, I had not done so with Black Magic.
That being said, I could still use my abilities to capture the goblin lord, most likely it would be incredibly easy. But I didn¡¯t want to show off with the knights watching; at the end of the day, they might turn into my enemies. I shook my head, regretting that I couldn¡¯t test my new stats and skills, ¡°No, I don¡¯t know any Black Magic. I can boost you and your men with Wind Magic though, and erect a wall with Ice Magic to cut the lord off from the other groups.¡±
Albert looked grateful, ¡°That will be good enough. What do you need from us?¡±
I cracked my neck in what I hoped would be a reassuring manner, ¡°Thirty seconds to chant the buff spell. I¡¯ll chant-hold the wall and deploy it as you start running.¡± Lindell looked a bit lost, but Albert and the knights were all nodding; they had done drills with mages.
With level five Ice magic, I could actually talent cast Ice Wall now, but I would rather keep the talent a secret if at all possible, hence the chant holding.
I quickly recited the chant for [Ice Wall], it was only a few verses and engaged the process of chant-holding. We made our way back up to the spot where we could overlook the goblins, to our luck, the Goblin Lord had actually moved closer to where our group was hiding. I kept an eye on it while surveying the surrounding areas. One by one I caught the brief flash of the knights signaling they were in position. It appears we didn¡¯t lose anyone.
I tensed up, ready to spring out, and took a deep breath. Albert glanced at his timepiece then signaled me to cast the wind spell. I took a deep breath and began chanting the spell [Fleet Foot].
¡°Oh Wind, Wrap the #### of my allies in your gentle ########. Carry them to ####### with the haste of a #####. May you blow across the #### with the vigor of a #####. [Fleet Foot]¡±
[Fleet Foot] was a targeted buff version of [Wind Step], whereas [Wind Step] buffed the caster, [Fleet Foot] buffed the caster¡¯s allies. As for what defined an ally, I wasn¡¯t completely sure, but it seemed to be tied into who you were desiring to buff, indicating that some aspect of the way chants worked involved reading the caster¡¯s thoughts and intentions to fill in the gaps; I had made extensive use of this in my original Anti-Army chant.
As soon as I finished the chant, a gentle breeze blew out from my location and wrapped itself around my allies feet. It should increase their running speed by about one and a half times; more than enough for them to reach the Goblin Lord before the other groups, especially as it had moved closer to us. Albert stood, and bellowing a war cry to draw the monster¡¯s attention, he charged towards it.
I followed, surreptitiously using some light enhancements on myself to keep up. If asked later, I was planning to say I had talent cast [Wind Step] on myself. Surprisingly, despite using extremely weak blood magic, I actually almost outpaced Albert and had to force myself to slow down. Is this how fast I¡¯ve gotten now? I¡¯m not using my Kinetic Perception¡¯s reflex boost at all, just normal blood magic.
It would seem that I was now as fast as magically boosted knights in heavy metal armor. Of course, I shouldn¡¯t get ahead of myself, they aren¡¯t anywhere close to the speed Sitri reached. I was close enough now to activate Ice Wall. The Wall spells were great for area denial, however, they had a distinct lack of deployment range. What¡¯s more, when augment chanting in a method to increase the range, Wall spells had some of the lowest performance of any spells, costing exponentially more mana for just a few extra feet of distance.
As the words ¡°[Ice Wall]!¡± left my lips, a wall made of Ice sprung up between the Goblin Lord and the other groups of knights. I then turned aside and drew the short sword I was using in place of my dagger; a weapon with such narrow reach would hardly be effective on a large battlefield such as this.
I left the Goblin Lord to Albert and his men and began hunting Hobgoblins. My class experience wasn¡¯t increasing, however, I could still earn Sword Fighting talent experience, and leveling up talents was one of the ways I could earn a few Life Points, in fact, getting Ice Magic to level five straight away had likely given me a large amount of the twelve hundred life points I had after my extermination spell.
As I ran, I switched my equipped fighting style from Shadow Blade to Drakan; the latter would be much more useful in the current situation. I ran towards a group of three knights that had become separated from the rest of their squad. They were engaging with five hobgoblins and a handful of goblins; while not life-threatening for them, it would be time-consuming.
Running up behind, I passed a large amount of mana around my sword¡¯s blade. Now that I had so much more, I was interested to know what the limits of my enhancement were. I stopped when the sword started to vibrate in my hand; the last thing I needed was for it to explode. Swinging wide, I passed the blade through the hobgoblin. More than a hot knife through butter, it felt like I was cutting through the air, my blade hardly registered the flesh of the monster at all.
Of course, this led to me overswinging, and I had to hurriedly pull back the sword. This abrupt action caused me to stumble, and one of the hobgoblins just recovering from the surprise of his friend being cut in half, moved to capitalize on my poor stance. I wasn¡¯t able to recover in time to defend myself, and the knights were being assaulted by dozens of goblins; hardly in a position where I could count on their help.
Despite my predicament, I wasn¡¯t afraid. I opened my menu, and switched my title from ¡°none¡± to ¡°Goblin Calamity¡±. Suddenly, the hobgoblin that was bearing down on me froze. The snarl of rage fell off of its face and was replaced by a look of sheer terror. The hobgoblin spun about and began running for the edge of the battlefield. I recovered my stance and pointed a finger at the back of my fleeing opponent.
¡°[Icicle Bolt]¡±, at my command, a small icicle of magic ice formed in front of my finger before launching itself at speed and skewering the hobgoblin in the back of the head. More and more of the goblins and hobgoblins were noticing me. It was like a wave as they would turn and begin to run, this causing their nearby allies to look around to see why their buddy was running, only to see me and be inflicted with terror.
A not insignificant number of them also simply died on the spot. This¡ this title is something else. It beats dying, but I probably shouldn¡¯t have used it¡ I chided myself for using the title, instead of just firing off a quick talent cast to buy myself time to recover. I¡¯ll just switch that back to ¡°none¡± before they¡¯re all fleeing. Unfortunately, it seemed that even with me no longer radiating an aura of fear, the rout had already begun. Even those that hadn¡¯t beheld my terrifying visage were fleeing the battlefield.
Fortunately, a large number of the knights had not pushed in too far yet, and a perimeter was quickly established. There were a few gaps, and we couldn¡¯t catch all of the goblins, but most of them would be cut down. We did what we had to. If we didn¡¯t wipe them out, the horde would have reformed in time and started the threat all over again. I reassured myself that I had nothing to regret, already not looking forward to tonight. Especially regarding the goblins that had simply seen me and dropped dead. Even with my remorse currently turned off, I felt a bit bad about that. Terror is scary¡ I¡¯ll limit myself to just ¡°Goblin Slayer¡± unless I¡¯m facing another horde.
A quick glance back in the direction I had come, revealed that the knights with Albert had surrounded the Goblin Lord with my ice wall on one side, and were working to disarm it. I turned back around to face the fleeing goblins, hefted my sword, took a deep breath, and charged into the fray. It was more or less a massacre. The large majority of the Goblins were still in a state of terror towards me, so they did not offer any resistance and merely tried to get away as I cut them down.
Thankfully, I was able to do it, though I felt unsettled over how easy it was, likely my empathy. I considered disabling it, but shook off those thoughts; If I continued to run and hide from myself, I would simply wind up with another Asten and Jaqueline¡¯s arm moment haunting me. I grit my teeth and continued to swing my sword arm, running through the basic forms of Drakan Style.
Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Step-back and thrust. Slash, Advance.
The mechanical nature of the fight helped me put behind the actions of what I was doing. Due to the enhancements I had applied to my blade, every swing marked the end of another life.
Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Step-back and thrust. Slash, Advance.
I continued to push forward, leaving a trail of bodies behind me. Thanks to my newly raised Endurance, I wasn¡¯t getting tired from the exertion of swinging my sword, though I had to wonder what my limit was now. I¡¯ll have to test that, it wouldn¡¯t be good to suddenly hit my limit in a fight against an opponent that actually poses a threat.
Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Step-back and thrust. Slash, Advance.
I lopped the head off a particularly large hobgoblin, probably an officer of some kind. I stepped over its body as it fell, and was bathed in the green ichor that spewed from the stump neck. It stank, and I did my best to tune it out; continuing my advance as I tightened my grip on my now slick sword hilt lest it slip from my grasp
Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Step-back and thrust. Slash, Advance.
Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Step-back and thrust. Slash, Advance.
Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Step-back and thrust. Slash, Advance.
Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Stab, Thrust, Slash, Advance. Step-back and thrust. Sla-
¡°Stop, Stahlia.¡± My sword arm fell limp, and the point of my sword dug into the dirt.
¡°What¡¡± Turning my head, I saw Albert, the knight commander. He had ducked inside of my reach and caught my arms, halting my movement. Looking around, I saw several of the knights were looking away awkwardly. I was at the perimeter of the goblin¡¯s camp. Looking behind me, I saw a line cut straight through the middle of it. Whereas the left and right of that space had a number of corpses, all of those had multiple wounds. Within the line, every corpse had a single wound, all in a vital spot. Some had been decapitated, others had been stabbed through the heart. Still, others had been bisected, and others had a slashed throat.
I did that? I tried to release my sword but found that my hand refused to unclench. Taking my other hand, I pried my fingers loose. The sword, now un-grasped, fell from my grip and into the dirt. Looking at my arms, I found that I had turned green, covered in fresh goblin blood. If I turned my remorse on now¡ I imagine I would pass out. Killing ten thousand goblins with a spell, while brutal, had had some distance to it. Killing several hundred by hand, while they were terrified and running away from me¡ I shivered in spite of myself.
What¡¯s that quote? ¡°Kill a dozen people and you¡¯re a murderer, kill a million and it¡¯s a statistic¡±? ¡°¡Albert, let¡¯s go back to the camp. I¡ I need to get cleaned up.¡±
Albert hesitated a moment, then agreed, ¡°Aye, We should do that.¡±
3-11 Wrapping Up
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eleventh Month of 947
It was just a few days after the massacre. The knights had just finished cleaning up the goblin¡¯s former camp. Removing magic stones, burning bodies, tracking survivors. Several of them had escaped back into the mountains, further than the knights dared to go, but that was alright; we had nearly annihilated the force. Of concerning note, was the confirmed presence of two Goblin Lords.
There was the one I had killed with my magic, though it did not show up in the kill log, for reasons I wasn¡¯t able to discern, only hypothesize. Then there was the one from the camp that Albert and his team had managed to capture, with a bit of my help. The interrogation had gone¡ poorly. The Goblin Lord barely spoke common, though it could speak it. However, what limited words it could use were just barely enough for it to vehemently refuse to answer any questions, even when tortured.
Eventually, Albert shipped it off to the capital, claiming that there were methods there that could be used to obtain information directly. I doubt I¡¯ll actually be able to learn if they find anything out¡ Maybe I can ask Edith to pull some strings, her connections as the daughter of a duke should be able to manage something¡ Of course, all of this was simply what I had been told; I was grounded.
My father had, predictably, not been pleased to learn that I forced my way into the counterattack team and promptly grounded me upon my return. I was ¡°Not to set a single foot outside the village until it was time for me to return to the capital.¡± That was fine with me, I had accomplished all of my goals that absolutely required me to leave the village. At this point, I was basically waiting for [Charm Resistance I] to level up.
I had gotten a single level of [Sword Fighting] at some point in the extermination battle. I say at some point because I had retreated so far inside myself that I had completely closed off any conscious sensory input; it even went to the point of overruling my [Eidetic Memory]. No matter how I tried, I couldn¡¯t call up any memories of the battle after I had used my [Goblin Calamity] title. This wasn¡¯t a problem per se, just frustrating, and curious, as it marked the third instance of my [Eidetic Memory] seeming to fail.
The first time was ongoing and had to do with the contents of my menus. Not that I couldn¡¯t remember them, but the memory wasn¡¯t clear at all. Essentially, I remembered my menus using the quality of my original memory, before I had gotten the talent. The second instance was the Goblin King that Giogi had mentioned. Up to that point, I had almost subconsciously remembered important details. I had been able to connect dots almost automatically following the acquisition of new information. That was the most worrying of the three instances, as it of course led me to question what else I might be missing.
No, there¡¯s a fourth instance. Indeed, I could think of one more time my talent had failed; when I had checked Dominic¡¯s ability to affect me using my divine sight. At the time, I had simply accepted that I was not being affected. I hadn¡¯t thought about all the evidence that I had at some point been affected. It had taken Claire telling me as much through Felicity to jog my memory. Up till now, I¡¯ve been assuming my memory is perfect, but now¡ I have to assume that I¡¯m missing things. I shouldn¡¯t question everything, that would be counterproductive. But I need to think things through more carefully, and not put so much trust in my memory.
On the subject of thinking things through more carefully, there was my remorse. Or rather, the lack of it; I had not been hit with the repercussions I was expecting from the massacre at the Goblin Camp. It wasn¡¯t like I hadn¡¯t gotten anything at all. My stomach had been upset by the memories of so many of them simply dying at the sight of me. I had been forced to recall the feeling of being slick with goblin blood, the way it had smelled and made me sticky as it dried. It had been nauseating.
But I hadn¡¯t been forced to dwell on it much. Seemingly, the mental justifications that I was acting as was necessary were satisfying to the skill, and it didn¡¯t force me to relive events again and again. And now I¡¯m thinking about my skill as if it¡¯s fucking self-aware or some shit. Of course, it wasn¡¯t the case, but with how vindictive it seemed to be, it was an easy leap to make. All that, and I can¡¯t get over Asten and Jacqueline!
As I was thinking these things, I was even now being forced to endure the feelings of sickness and the stabbing headache as I relived the memory of making my deal with the devil, signing away Asten¡¯s soul and maiming Jacqueline with my own hands. My newly raised endurance was able to offset the symptoms somewhat, allowing me to have this side train of thought. But it didn¡¯t cancel it out. The longer I had to endure without overcoming, the more intense the symptoms became.
Eventually, it would overwhelm me, and I would be forced to once again turn off my remorse. I just don¡¯t get it¡ I did what was necessary with the goblins. I did what was necessary with Asten and Jacqueline; we would have died if I hadn¡¯t done what I did! Why is that not enough!? As I was thinking those things, a particularly bad cramp caused my gut to spasm. My headache intensified to the point where I was starting to have trouble thinking.
I just want to move on¡ I¡¯m sorry¡ so, so sorry¡ Accompanying those thoughts, I gave up for the night and shut off remorse. This is awful. Jacqueline approached me, and I looked up at her with a pained expression. Her missing left arm was the first thing I saw, causing me to grimace involuntarily; I wasn¡¯t sorry about it at the moment, my grimace was related to the pain I had just experienced. Jacqueline noticed where I was looking and shook her head.
¡°Lady Stahlia, I have told you; I forgive you for what happened then, and Asten would as well, were he here.¡± She looked like she was pained by my reaction upon seeing her arm.
That¡¯s the thing though¡ You don¡¯t know what happened, so you saying that you ¡°forgive me¡± doesn¡¯t mean anything. And there is no way in the nine hells that Asten would forgive me either¡ I had a sudden thought then; Jacqueline was my only confidant. Technically, Claire was as well, but anything I told her would also be heard by Felicity, and while I could simply order Felicity not to say anything, I knew that I didn¡¯t like doing that.
But even if I wanted to, I couldn¡¯t tell Jacqueline things, not while she was still under Dominic¡¯s influence. I¡ I might be able to do something about that, but I haven¡¯t had a chance to test it, so I don¡¯t know what would happen¡ As I was forming a plan, Jacqueline had finished wiping off my sweat and redone my clothes. ¡I¡¯ll ask her then, and do what she thinks is best; at the end of the day, if it backfires, it¡¯s her life on the line.
¡°¡Jacqueline, do you trust me? Answer without consideration of our relationship¡¡± I spoke in a small voice, given what I was planning, I was incredibly nervous.
Jacqueline raised an eyebrow, ¡°Yes, of course, I trust you Lady Stahlia? Why would you feel that I do not?¡±
I shook my head, ¡°No, Jacqueline. I¡¯m not trying to imply you don¡¯t trust me¡ I¡¯m just¡ clarifying. What would you say if I told you I have been keeping secrets. From everyone. From you.¡± I raised my head and fixed my gaze on Jacqueline, who looked at me unwaveringly.
¡°I would assume you had your reasons¡ though if I am to continue answering without consideration to our relationship, I would have to say that I¡ I would be hurt.¡± She kept her voice steady, but by the end, there was a bit of a crack to it.
I nodded, accepting her answer, ¡°Jacqueline, do you have the [Charm Resistance] Talent?¡±
¡°I do have it, the last time I was appraised it was at rank two.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Jacqueline, I have reason to believe you are being charmed. Will, will you let me try something to remove it¡? I haven¡¯t tested this, and there could be side effects¡¡±
Jacqueline gave me a long, questioning stare. After a brief moment of consideration, she knelt in front of where I was still sitting and grasped my hand. I¡¯m glad to see she thought about it before just agreeing out of loyalty.
¡°Lady, no. Stahlia, I¡¯ll accept whatever it is you want to try¡ if it means I can gain your full trust.¡±
Her words made what I was going to say next catch in my throat. I didn¡¯t mean to imply that I didn¡¯t trust you¡ I¡ damn it all¡ Once again, like with the goblins, I was feeling regret that was slipping through my remorse. Emotions are so much more complicated than I ever could have thought.
I took a deep breath, ¡°Alright¡ I¡¯m going to start out by appraising you with my Blood Magic.¡±
Jacqueline nodded and closed her eyes, accepting my mana into herself without resistance.
Name/Age: [Jacqueline], 28
Species/Level: Human(Pureblood), 48
Ability Values:
- Strength C: 230 (+100)
- Endurance D: 174 (+150)
- Dexterity S: 580 (x2)
- Intelligence B: 256 (x3)
- Charisma B: 236 (+100)
- Mana C: 200 (+200)
Special: Charmed(Dominic, Weak hold)
Skills: [Display 10 per page]: Critical Correction[Blades]*,
Clean Killing*, Shadow Step*, Dagger Mastery*, Shadow Walk*, Finesse Fighting*, Fancy
Footwork*, Shadow Form*, Sword Mastery*, Actor* ¨C Page 1/4
I swallowed as her stats displayed to me. Level 48¡ I¡¯m only level 20, and without her stat bonuses from talents and skills, I already outclass her in a few areas¡ As expected, I couldn¡¯t see her class, nor could I see her talents. I quickly tabbed through her skills list, looking for anything that might be providing the boosts she had; I was particularly intrigued by the times two and times three multipliers on her dexterity and intelligence.
As it turned out, the times two multiplier came from her [Fancy Footwork] skill. I already knew that the next skill I was buying would be [Mana Crystallization]; I could use the extra mana alongside my Blood Magic to exceed the x2 modifier, and mana would also serve other uses; I could cast more complex spells if I had a larger pool. But I made a note of that skill to acquire after I got another slot.
But this isn¡¯t what I¡¯m doing here. Right, let¡¯s get this over with. I ignored the vague sense of apprehension I had and fired a thought at the appraisal screen. ¡°Invoke Divine Authority, display the target¡¯s life points.¡± A brief stab of pain lanced through my head, bypassing my endurance stat. When it faded, I saw a new line had appeared between the special section and the skills, ¡°Life Point Balance: 986¡±.
Accompanying this was a notice box similar to what had shown up with Rosin several months ago.
¡°Request of Authority Holder to display Target¡¯s Aggregate Soul Potential Received.
Valid Authority: {Divine Authority[Class Features]} Confirmed.
Target of Action [[Jacqueline], Human[PB], 28y] Has 996 Life Points Available.
Expending Ten Life Points to add Life Points display to Target¡¯s System Profile.¡±
I felt a cool sensation on my upper lip and realized my nose was bleeding. Right, it did that last time. I¡¯ll go through with this for Jacqueline¡¯s sake, but I sure hope I live to regret the decision. I steeled myself, and sent another thought command, ¡°Evolve [Charm Resistance] to [Charm Immunity].¡±
I had no idea whether or not this would work, I personally lacked the life points to test on myself. Even so, I needed to clear Jacqueline of Dominic¡¯s charm if I was going to be able to tell her the things I wanted to. In theory, White Magic would have a spell under the Holy Element that could cleanse the Charm status ailment, but I had a strong suspicion that Dominic¡¯s charm would be above what any normal spell could handle. A Miracle might work, but I would sooner actually marry him than ask the fucked-up gods for their help.
Just as I was thinking that it wouldn¡¯t work and that I had overestimated the scope of my skill, my head exploded in pain. It was the worst feeling I had ever experienced; tens, no hundreds of times worse than my remorse headaches. I felt my legs give out, and my arms lost their strength. I crumpled to the floor like a puppet that had had its strings cut. Looking out at the world as if submerged in deep water, I saw Jacqueline picking me up.
Her words were distant, but I could just barely make them out, ¡°Stahlia! Stahlia! What did you do!? Oh, gods what did you do!?¡± She¡¯s worried about me¡ The only thing that was clear in my foggy state, the only thing that I could make out perfectly, was the new notification.
¡°Request of Authority Holder to Forcibly Evolve Target¡¯s Talent to Skill Received.
Valid Authority: {Divine Authority[Class Features]} Confirmed.
Target of Action [[Jacqueline], Human[PB], 28y] Has 986 Life Points Available.
Expending 600 Life Points to Evolve [Charm Resistance III] to [Charm Immunity]¡
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¡ ¡ ¡
ERROR: Authority Holder does not possess enough Divine Element. Expending Life Span to compensate.
Operation Completed, [Charm Resistance] of [Jacqueline] successfully evolved to [Charm Immunity].
The Charm effect created by [Dominic von Francois] has been removed.¡±
I groaned out in pain and fell unconscious.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Stahlia, Twelfth Month of 947
I woke up in my room. I tried to sit up, but found that I couldn¡¯t muster the energy to lift my head. My head is still throbbing¡ I knew there would be a cost for me¡ but I wasn¡¯t expecting it to be this bad. I recalled the notification I had received just prior to my passing out. Lifespan huh¡ I grimaced and opened my menu. Apparently, I had hurt myself in a unique way, possibly an injury to my soul, because just opening the menu caused me a mild headache.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 277 (+10)
Name/Age: Stahlia von Ris, 12 (+2)
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 20[MAX] Experience: 31000/31000
Species: Human (Pureblood)
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Small Seed [LOCKED]
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
- Strength D: 129
- Endurance B: 203
- Dexterity SS: 355 +21
- Intelligence S: 435
- Charisma B: 203
- Mana S: 236
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: [Browse Talents] Prodigy III*, Eidetic Memory II*, Stealth V, Charm Resistance I*, Flexible I*, || Monster Handling III*, Dagger Fighting V*, Sword Fighting II*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemy Correction IV*, Teaching II*, Mana Efficiency III*, Fire Magic III*, Water Magic II*, Earth Magic II*, Wind Magic II*, Ice Magic V
Skills 4/5: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features]*, Finesse Fighting*, Blue Blooded*, Kinetic Perception*, [], || Language Proficiency[Central Human]*, Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan Style]*, Blessing of Winter*
Talents Experience: [+]
A quick scan of my character sheet revealed that nothing major had changed; I only noticed two things. I had gained an extra ten Life Points of my own, I had gotten ten before when I leveled up [Sword Fighting] once during the extermination. And I had gained two years to my age. So, either two years have passed while I was unconscious¡ or when I expended ¡°Life Span¡±, I lost two years.
I closed the menu in order to get rid of the headache and nestled myself as best I could with my limited movement. I was tired, starving, and just in general uncomfortable. I couldn¡¯t put my finger on what was bothering me. Well, I can probably discount that it¡¯s been two years; I¡¯m weak, but I can move. If I had been immobile like that for so long, I wouldn¡¯t have any muscles left. I don¡¯t think my Strength Stat would be able to bolster me to this extent if I didn¡¯t have any muscles, to begin with.
As I tried to ignore my stomach, I heard a knock at the door. It swung open, and I perceived three shapes entering. Jacqueline, who was accompanied by Felicity and Rosin. I tried to nod my head in their direction, to let them know that I was awake. But all I managed to do was move my chin a bit. But that was enough; Jacqueline was well trained and able to spot small movements like that, and Felicity had Claire sitting in her head, who was an adult and thus more perceptive overall.
First Jacqueline gave a start and veritably flew to my side, a few moments later, Felicity exclaimed and came running over. This left poor Rosin on his own, but he quickly came to the conclusion that ¡°something¡± was happening and came running to my side, ¡°¡®ello¡ eryone¡¡± talking was difficult, I still lacked the strength to move my mouth much more than the smallest amounts.
Jacqueline quickly shushed me, and passed Felicity a washcloth; apparently, I had been out long enough for Felicity to have learned how to wipe a limp body down because she was fairly efficient. Of course, that assumes Claire is properly doing her job, and Felicity hasn¡¯t acquired any talents¡ or it could be the result of one she already had from Jacqueline.
I groaned and tried to thank Felicity, only for Rosin to shove his hand over my mouth, ¡°Miss Jacky said to be quiet!¡±
I felt my mouth pull up into a faint smile, and if I had been able I was sure I would have laughed. Fine, I¡¯ll behave. I lay back and let the three of them fiddle with me until they were content. Well, Rosin and Felicity did the fiddling, Jacqueline took on a supervisory role, ensuring that they didn¡¯t hurt me in my weakened state. After a little while, the two of them left the room.
¡°Alright Stahlia, Felicity is probably going to go and tell your parents that you¡¯ve awoken. Don¡¯t speak. You¡¯ve been unconscious for almost three weeks; it is now the fifteenth of the twelfth month. Sieg has been here periodically to check up on you, but he has no idea what exactly has happened; you¡¯ve physically aged considerably while unconscious, a fact that I have hidden from your parents. I imagine it was the result of whatever you did to me, which did work; I feel like a fog has cleared from my mind. I¡¯m sorry I brought Dominic and Asten out that night¡¡±
Wait, I¡¯ve aged¡? So I didn¡¯t just spend my lifespan, but I also physically aged¡? That would explain how weak I am right now. I can¡¯t imagine what she means by ¡°considerably¡±, but it must have taken a lot of energy. And if it¡¯s the fifteenth, that means my birthday was yesterday. So in total, I lost a bit more than a year of my life. I guess that¡¯s not terrible¡ it could have been a lot worse¡ Especially if I had granted Rosin a class. Holy fuck, a year for a skill, then what would a class be!?
My thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock at the door, and Jacqueline cut herself off, terminating her whispered stream of exposition. My mother and father entered the room, the latter adopting a stance near the edge of the bed, while my mother sat down on the edge and reached out to stroke my face. I could see that her eyes were red and puffy, and she was making no attempt to hide the dark circles that were visible beneath them.
Right, what happened to me is basically the same as what happened to Rosial from her perspective¡ Suddenly falling unconscious and then not waking up, I¡¯m sure she was worried beyond belief. I opened my mouth to apologize to her, when she covered my mouth, ¡°Don¡¯t say anything. Just rest, and regain your strength.¡±
I closed my mouth and let her continue stroking my cheek; if it would calm her down then I didn¡¯t mind, it wasn¡¯t like I was wearing any make-up or anything. My father was apologizing for being so harsh on me and talking about how he knew I was only acting out of a desire to do good for the village. No! That isn¡¯t right! I desperately wanted to tell him that he was wrong; that he hadn¡¯t been too harsh on me.
To tell him that I understood why he had punished me for forcing my way into the extermination team. But if I did that, if I tried to talk, I would upset my mother further. So I bore it in silence, inwardly grimacing at every self-deprecating remark my father made, and every praise he leveled in my direction.
Finally, my parents both retired for bed, it had taken Jacqueline gently letting them know that I should rest. I had actually begun to fear that they might stay the entire night. Jacqueline, who was staying to care for me through the night, took a seat on the edge of my bed, ¡°Stahlia, how are you feeling? Some color has returned to your cheeks.¡±
I tried sitting up and found that I was able to barely move a few inches, though this was still an improvement from before. Next, I tried speaking, ¡°H..ungry¡ and¡ sore¡¡±
Jacqueline nodded, ¡°I imagine you would be; I told you that you grew rapidly in just a few weeks. In your case, you gained a few centimeters, and have filled out a bit more. I have no idea where the energy came from, but growth isn¡¯t free. Sieg gave you some supplemental potions I provided the recipe for. Do forgive me, but I said it was something you were working on.¡±
I grimaced, not as a way of chiding her but because I knew the likely origin of those recipes; they would be used during Shadow Training to prevent various maladies. After a moment, the rest of what she had said sunk in, the part about me having filled out a bit. I felt my cheeks flush faintly, and asked a question that had been bothering me, ¡°You¡ said you were¡ hiding¡ this¡ from my parents¡?¡±
Jacqueline was able to intuit the second half of that question, namely, ¡°How?¡± She answered both questions for me efficiently while preparing some sort of thing for me to drink. If I had to guess, it was more of the supplemental potion she had Sieg make.
¡°Simple really, I was the one responsible for caring for you. Your father obviously wasn¡¯t in the room while I was bathing you, and I prevented your mother from coming in by citing her weak constitution when you were younger. She took my worries to heart regarding that. Unfortunately, Lucy has been a bit of an issue. I couldn¡¯t prevent her from noticing that I was making alterations to your clothes.¡±
I questioned Jacqueline about those alterations; I couldn¡¯t deny that I was curious. According to her, I had graduated from my training bra to a real one, though I was still smaller than I should be based on my memories of character creation. She had also adjusted my shoes a bit so that I would stand a few centimeters shorter; this would help hide my growth spurt. My clothes had been altered so as to obscure my new figure.
It was Jacqueline¡¯s plan to slowly undo the alterations over the next few months and use the excuse that I was experiencing a growth spurt. Since I didn¡¯t have any better plans, I agreed to hers. By the time we were done discussing these things, I had recovered my ability to speak, although I was still weak.
¡°Jacqueline, could you please go and get Felicity? She should be here for this as well.¡± Jacqueline looked at me curiously, but did as I had asked; likely she intuited that I was asking for Felicity because I was about to make good on my unspoken promise of trusting her more. Jacqueline was loyal to me alone now that she had [Charm Immunity], and Felicity could be ordered to keep her silence.
A few minutes later, Jacqueline returned with a very sleepy cat-kin. I had Jacqueline help me up into a seated position while Felicity woke up; Claire likely had some inkling of what was about to happen, because Felicity looked like she was having an internal conversation. Watching her facial expressions change so randomly is amusing, but it¡¯s something she¡¯ll have to work on.
Finally, everything was ready, and I took a deep breath, ¡°Jacqueline, Felicity, I¡¯ve been keeping some pretty big secrets. For starters, Felicity, I knew Claire. Before she was with you, I knew her.¡±
Jacqueline gave me a curious look, but held her silence. She was probably thinking that I would expand and explain myself. Well, she¡¯s right. Though I still won¡¯t share everything, like how I used to be a man¡ but I think it¡¯s time I trusted Jacqueline with knowledge of my past life. Felicity won¡¯t understand perfectly, but Claire can coach her.
I went on to explain, in terms that Jacqueline could understand and that Felicity would eventually understand, all about how I had lived previously and died before being reborn to this life. I left out a few details, things like my previous sex, my custom class, and various irrelevant things. But I told them almost everything else. Once I started talking, it was as if I had broken through a dam and the words just kept coming out.
Jacqueline¡¯s face changed gradually from surprise to incredulity, to rejection, and finally, a look that indicated she had accepted what I was saying. Felicity simply looked lost, but I had expected that. The point was that I was telling her, not whether or not she understood. Claire could address the latter issue given enough time. When I stopped my story to catch my breath, I met Jacqueline¡¯s gaze. Though I wanted to look away, given how she was staring so hard at me, I held it.
Briefly, I considered turning off my fear and meeting her gaze unwaveringly, but I rejected that plan; I was still struggling to overcome my last bout of skill abuse. There was no way in hell I would use [Cold Hearted] for something so petty. After a short while, Jacqueline spoke. It was a simple sentence, but it indicated her acceptance of what I had said, and I could ask for no more than that.
¡°Well, that certainly explains a lot about what you know. I can certainly understand why you were keeping this secret, thank you for telling me.¡±
I nodded before taking another deep breath, ¡°That¡¯s not all though. I¡¯m sure you figured it out, Jacqueline, that I lied about what happened in the forest¡ With Sitri.¡±
Jacqueline slowly nodded, ¡°Are you sure you want to tell me? I have to assume whatever it was, those events are responsible for what you¡¯ve been going through every night.¡±
I grit my teeth and took a gulp of water from the glass on my bedside table; pleased to know that my strength was returning so quickly, ¡°Yes, I want to tell you. Telling you this was the real reason I gave you [Charm Immunity]. Everything else, well, it was to answer your request to trust you.¡±
I told Jacqueline the real story about what had happened in the forest. About the deal I had made. About what I had done, willingly, to her and to Asten. This didn¡¯t take nearly as long as the previous set of confessions, but it still took a bit of time. When I had finished, I closed my mouth and waited for Jacqueline¡¯s response. I was sure she would judge me for it, that she would be angry.
To my surprise, Jacqueline embraced me with her arm, ¡°Thank you for telling me the truth; I¡¯m sure that was an incredibly scary situation. Fighting a demon by yourself, and one as strong as an Original Sin.¡±
I swallowed my spit as she continued, ¡°I can¡¯t say that I forgive you, but I can move past it in light of what you went through to tell me¡¡±
She fixed me with a hard stare, ¡°¡It was your own impulsiveness that led us into that situation; I¡¯m grateful that you got us out, but you owe it to Asten to never forget the result of your rashness.¡±
I accepted Jacqueline¡¯s admonishments; I knew that she was speaking the truth.
¡°I¡¯ll do everything I can to fix my mistake, and I swear I will never forget.¡±
Jacqueline nodded at my resolve, and to my surprise, she took a knee at the side of my bed, facing me.
¡°Stahlia, I want to once again offer you my loyalty and my blade. Not out of the desire to make things right, but to answer your trust in me.¡±
My voice caught in my throat as I tried to respond, but I eventually managed to choke out an answer, ¡°I-I, I humbly, accept¡ Jacqueline.¡±
Jacqueline rose to her feet and smiled at me, ¡°Thank you, Lady Stahlia.¡± It was only then that I realized she hadn¡¯t been calling me as she usually did, marking the fifth instance of my memory failing.
I turned my attention to the cat in the room, ¡°Felicity¡ about the next few months-¡±
¡°No Stahlia, you aren¡¯t leaving us here.¡± The voice that left Felicity¡¯s mouth was not her own. Well, it was her voice, but she didn¡¯t talk like that.
¡°¡Claire? I thought you did not like taking control like that¡?¡±
Felicity¡ Claire shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t. But Felicity fell asleep while the two of you were bonding, and I could tell where you were going with that. ¡®Felicity, I¡¯m going to a dangerous place, to complete a dangerous mission, I need you to stay here, where it¡¯s safe.¡¯ She doesn¡¯t want to, I asked her while you were explaining your past. I explained everything to her in a way she could understand. Stahlia, I can¡¯t even begin to describe the emotional turmoil she experienced when I said you were going to go away and fight. ¡®My tousan went to fight when the evil people came, I never saw him again.¡¯ She absolutely adores you. ¡It probably isn¡¯t the smartest thing, but you should bring her back to the capital with you; have her stay with Edith at the Claurence Estate if you¡¯re worried about Dominic.¡±
I blinked rapidly, trying to sort out what Claire was saying. Finally, I asked her, ¡°Claire, how on earth did you figure all of that out?¡±
Claire smiled smugly, ¡°I¡¯ve read enough books to know what happens after the heroine confesses all of her secrets.¡±
I got a small bit nervous when Claire stressed the ¡°all¡± part of her statement; she of course knew that I hadn¡¯t told the two of them everything. However, it didn¡¯t look like Jacqueline had picked up on it, she was mostly showing surprise at Felicity-Claire¡¯s change in mannerism. Felicity was purportedly asleep, so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about her catching it either, though it was unlikely she would have even if she was awake.
I got the feeling it was also a subtle threat; I didn¡¯t know why Claire was seeking to bring Felicity along to a potentially dangerous place, but the message was clear; ¡°I know the secrets you didn¡¯t tell. You should listen to what I have to say.¡±
¡°Fine Claire, I¡¯ll drop the subject, on one condition. Your priority is Felicity¡¯s safety; if it comes down to it, you will take control and run her away. I know you, and if you''re willing to swear that to me then I will acquiesce to your request.¡±
Claire looked torn; knowing her personality, what I was making her swear was a really big ask. Finally, she sighed and nodded, ¡°That isn¡¯t fair Stahlia¡ Alright. If it comes down to it, I will. I would rather live with myself for that, than experience the anguish she would if the two of you separated now.¡±
3-12 S1: A Studious Student
Sana, Eleven Years Old, Late Eleventh Month of 947
I finished my prayers and stood up. I had been praying for the safety of my friend, Stahlia. Ever since I had heard that a goblin horde was threatening our village, I had been uneasy. The cardinal rejected my request to accompany the knights back to the village, citing that my previous outing had already cost me far too much time from my studies.
So all I could do was pray, pray to the gods that they would protect my friend and my home. Unfortunately, I received no response, but that was to be expected. I was a Faith Caster, not an Oracle. I could speak to the gods, but not hear their voices. Still, I could take solace in the fact that, unlike the prayers of a normal person, I could be assured that my prayers were at least being heard.
I stood and went to attend the cardinal¡¯s private lessons. This was a special course for up-and-coming apprentice priestesses. I had at first been apprehensive about attending; Stahlia had warned me about how high-ranking members of the church may attempt to do untoward things, and she was often right, such that I considered her words to be worth listening to. However I had been taking these classes for several months now, and nothing had happened.
There were only three other students when I arrived. These were my fellow apprentice priestesses, though I couldn¡¯t say that they were friends of mine. We were¡ coworkers at best. Sable and Misha were fellow faith casters, and as such I tended to get along with them, but Eudico was an Oracle. Since she could actually hear the words of the gods, she often received special treatment. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t like her, that would be blasphemous¡ I just wish she wasn¡¯t so stuck up about everything¡
Indeed, as I entered the room, Eudico turned up her nose at me; I was a bit late due to my prayers. I bowed my head, ¡°My apologies for making everyone wait on me.¡±
Eudico rolled her eyes, while Sable and Misha merely nodded their acknowledgment. The cardinal didn¡¯t say anything particular, and simply indicated I should take my seat. I did so, and the cardinal began the lesson.
¡°The four of you, are the best four apprentice priestesses in your year. I, after much discussion with my fellow cardinals, have decided to induct you into the Bishop Program.¡± He spoke calmly and steadily, his voice filling the room and reverberating pleasantly off of the walls.
His words gave me a start, causing me to draw a sharp breath. The Bishop Program was the church¡¯s version of the Special Student program that Stahlia was enrolled in. Its graduates would, if they were men, be granted their own church or temple without having to first complete a pilgrimage. For us women, we would be all but guaranteed a post at the central temple. There were limited postings in the central temple, and as such there were limited slots for women in the bishop program; to be invited was the greatest honor for an orphan like me.
Eudico was incensed though, ¡°The Bishop Program? I mean, it makes sense for me, and I guess for Sable and Misha. But Sana? She¡¯s an orphan! Not to mention that for the past month she has been late to your classes, honorable cardinal.¡±
I could only hang my head in shame; Eudico was right, the Bishop Program was a great honor for someone like myself. Perhaps it was too great, but if the gods had led me to this opportunity, I would be remiss to not leap at it. However, all I could do now was hang my head and accept her words.
The cardinal placed his hand on her head, a gesture that caused her to stop speaking.
¡°Enough, Eudico. Sana is as deserving of the position as anyone else; simply look at how far she has come from her misfortunate beginnings.¡± As always, his voice had a calming effect, and Eudico stopped her aggressive tirade against me.
¡°Now, if the four of you will take the position of prayer, I will lead you in your oath with the gods as our witness.¡±
We four turned and faced a painting of the twelve gods, with one space near the end left open, serving to represent the thirteenth god. In the sky above the twelve sat the sun and moon, while below them lay nine demonic figures. This painting or a variation of it could be found all over the central temple, and it was customary to say a brief prayer as one passed by it. Though I do not understand why the nine hell kings are represented¡ I feel like I¡¯m praying to them as well as the twelve.
Together, the four of us knelt facing the painting, and the cardinal began to speak, leading us in the prayer of induction. It was one we had all memorized, as it was used when one was to rise to a higher station. But it was always to be led by a higher-ranked member of the church, whose purpose it was to oversee the induction of the new members.
¡°We humble servants present ourselves to the twelve gods and goddesses.¡± The cardinal¡¯s voice had taken on a peculiar cadence as he recited the opening lines.
¡°¡°¡°We humble servants present ourselves to the twelve gods and goddess.¡±¡±¡±
¡°To the Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness.¡±
¡°¡°¡°To the Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness.¡±¡±¡±
¡°Hear our prayers, and accept our unwavering loyalty to your teachings.¡±
¡°¡°¡°Hear our prayers, and accept our unwavering loyalty to your teachings.¡±¡±¡±
¡°As we advance in your teachings and walk in your footsteps, guide us to our higher purpose.¡±
¡°¡°¡°As we advance in your teachings and walk in your footsteps, guide us to our higher purpose.¡±¡±¡±
¡°Grant us the strength to stand against those who would betray their purpose. Praise be the gods!.¡±
¡°¡°¡°Grant us the strength to stand against those who would betray their purpose. Praise be the gods!¡±¡±¡±
Following the conclusion of our prayer, an attendant priest appeared bearing a bowl of water. This was water that had received a blessing from the pope and was anointed on the heads of those who had just completed the rite of induction. Dipping his hand into the blessed water, the cardinal sprinkled a few drops on each of our heads, starting with Eudico and moving down the line until he finally anointed me.
I felt a strong feeling of satisfaction welling up, which I promptly squashed, reminding myself that I should take no pride in what had happened here; it was not through my own actions, but rather through the grace of the gods in granting me this purpose. After anointment, the ritual was concluded. The attendant priest presented each of us with a holy sigil, the mark of our new station as members of the Bishop Program.
Eudico received a talisman of the sun, indicating that she spoke on behalf of the gods and in the name of the goddess of light. Sable, Misha, and I each received a carving of the moon, indicating that we were chosen to wield the power of the gods and to hold their ear. Attached to each sigil was a small loop of Mythril thread, using this, the Cardinal fastened the sigils onto our priestess¡¯ robes. Again, starting with Eudico, and working his way down the line to me.
I accepted mine dutifully, crossing my arms in front of my chest and bowing my head in what was the church¡¯s equivalent of a salute. The cardinal bade the four of us to retake our seats, and I took mine. Going up to the podium, the cardinal began to speak, ¡°Now that the four of you have been inducted into the Bishop Program, I would share with you the secrets known only to those who walk hand in hand with the church and its purpose. Before doing so, however, I would bid you swear an oath of secrecy before the gods. Teachings such as these cannot be known except by those chosen by the gods to fulfill a higher purpose.¡±
I swallowed, Stahlia had proven herself once again in my eyes; she had insinuated on numerous occasions that the church held secrets to itself. Now, I was about to learn some of them. It was a shame I couldn¡¯t share them with my friend, but to do so would betray my purpose. I waited my turn and then recited the oath in the presence of the gods.
¡°I Sana, am but a humble servant of the gods, and the church. With the twelve gods and goddesses, and the Goddess of Light and God of Darkness to bear witness, I solemnly swear.¡± It was a generic oath, but as it was sworn in the presence of the gods it was magically binding. Doubly so for a faith caster such as I. I felt some of my strength leave me as a minor miracle was cast; I would now be compelled to keep the secrets I was about to learn.
Once I had finished, the cardinal began to tell us the truth.
¡°At your dedications, you were told the story of how our world was formed. How the Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness were born and found their purpose.¡± He surveyed the four of us, and being satisfied with our expressions of remembrance, he continued.
¡°That was but one truth. What was not told to you, was the existence of the third sibling. There are many accounts of this third sibling throughout history. Periodically, individuals will appear claiming to have seen them. In some accounts, the third is male. In others, female. Only one thing is consistent across history; those who are visited by this sibling always sow the seeds of chaos.¡±
I was listening with rapt attention; as a fervent follower of the church, I was always keen to learn even a tiny bit more about the gods. Learning that the Goddess of Light and God of Darkness had a sibling was probably the biggest thing I had ever learned. Sable and Misha were likewise listening intently. Like me, the two of them were probably wondering what the domain of this god was; to call forth a miracle, one first had to know which god to pray to.
Praying to the wrong god would, at best, accomplish nothing. At worst, the god may be angered by your lack of tact and actively work to harm you. Eudico looked curious, but not to the same extent; since she was an Oracle, she would only interact with this god if they designed to reach out to her first. The cardinal took in all of our reactions and then continued.
¡°Make no mistake, this is an Evil God. You should not call out to them, lest you bring misfortune upon yourselves and this kingdom. They are capricious and act as a child would, seeking only their own amusement. It was they who led the Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness to bestow fragments of their Divine Wisdom and Divine Might onto the Nine who would eventually rebel against their purpose.¡±
¡°The Goddess of Light embodies wisdom and order. The God of Darkness embodies strength and the drive to improve. Their sibling the God of Chaos embodies the same; they would gladly plunge this world into war for their own amusement if not for their siblings holding them at bay.¡±
A shiver ran down my spine, and I vowed to never pray to this god, even if I should ever learn their name. From their reactions, I could see that Sable and Misha seemed to share my feelings. Eudico was, of course, nonplussed. The cardinal nodded solemnly, seeing that we had understood the gravity of his words. He continued the story.
¡°Now, the God of Chaos is not completely evil, while they certainly are an Evil God, their selfish actions have resulted in some good; in their quest for entertainment, they introduced the idea of bestowing certain individuals with a purpose to their siblings. It is thanks to this that now have the purposes bestowed on children through divine power. Are you all following along?¡±
I nodded, along with Misha and Eudico. Sable, on the other hand, appeared to have something she wanted to say. The cardinal acknowledged her, and Sable asked a question, ¡°Honorable Cardinal, you said that the Goddess of light held Divine Wisdom and that the God of Darkness held Divine Might. Does the God of Chaos hold a Divine Power of their own?¡±
The cardinal frowned, giving Sable a hard look, ¡°Sable, why do you ask such a question?¡±
Before his harsh stare, Sable shrank back in her seat, ¡°I-I simply wanted to k-know¡ to know m-more about the gods¡¡± Her voice trailed off meekly.
After a long moment, the cardinal nodded, ¡°An admirable desire. Forgive me for my harsh reaction; undo curiosity is oft a sign of weak character. Those who ask after hidden knowledge are wont to betray their purpose. Rare is the individual whose desire for knowledge is truly their purpose.¡±
He cleared his throat, ¡°However, your question is an apt one, and I shall answer it. Each of the three siblings holds a fragment of the Creator God within themselves, for they were born of their flesh. The Goddess of Light inherited the wisdom of the Creator God; her power is the Divine Wisdom. The God of Darkness inherited the strength of the Creator God; his power is the Divine Strength. The God of Chaos¡ The God of Chaos inherited the voice of their father; their power is the Divine Authority.¡±
The Cardinal continued talking for some time after that. He told us many things, terrible things about demons, and things about the gods that gave us hope. By the end of his lesson, I felt that I had truly grown as a servant of the gods. I went with my three sisters from the church to the dining hall. Meals in the temple for apprentices such as ourselves were typically plain.
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Typically plain; following a great achievement, we would be given much nicer food in celebration. As we had just completed the induction ritual, into the Bishop Program no less, we could look forward to today¡¯s meal. My mouth was already watering at the thought of how delicious it would be. I frowned. That was dangerous. I was beginning to lust after the meal tonight¡ perhaps I should refrain from eating so as to pay penance¡
I was internally torn over what I should do, but I continued to move mechanically through the food line. Before I knew it, the decision was made for me, and I found myself with a plate of celebratory food. Ah¡ my slothfulness led me astray¡ I grimaced and took my seat, internally chiding myself for my sins. However, it was also a sin to not eat food when it was given; doing so would be to deny the cook of their purpose. So, I resolved myself to eat, and pray fervently to the twelve for forgiveness later.
I sat down at the table alongside Sable and Misha. Eudico, despite being in our year and now being in the Bishop Program with us, rarely ate at our table; she would often eat with the cardinal or another higher-ranking member of the church. Occasionally, I would struggle with feelings of envy for her position; there were many things I wanted to ask the ranking members of the church, but I rarely had the opportunity to do so. If I could sup with them as Eudico did, then perhaps I would be able to learn even more.
Normally as we ate, the three of us would discuss the lessons we had that day. But today, we ate in silence. What we had learned was not something we could discuss so idly in a common space. A few of the priests and bishops that passed us by noted our silence uncomfortable, and upon seeing our new talismans they would nod knowingly. I was correct though, the food was delicious. I pushed away from the thought of wanting more; to glut after food was a sin.
Following dinner, we retired to our rooms for the night; Sable and Misha shared a room with each other, while I shared a room with another apprentice priestess. Gabi¡¯s purpose was that of a scribe; she could have enrolled in the Royal Academy if her grades were good enough, and attempted to learn magic. But her village was small, somewhere between Ang and Ris. Like Ris, they had only a single church. It was Gabi¡¯s belief that her purpose was to eventually help the priest there.
Before being inducted to the Bishop Program, I had been of a similar mind, thinking that I would return to Ris one day, but that door had closed as I recited the prayer of induction. Gabi immediately noticed my talisman and offered her congratulations. Dutifully, I bid her thank the gods on my behalf. Smiling, she bowed her head and crossed her arms; I was now above her in the hierarchy of the church so she took my statement as the words of a superior and responded as we had been taught.
Together we said our nightly prayers, Gabi offering additional thanks to the gods on my behalf. I said my own prayers, thanking the gods and begging their forgiveness for the various transgressions I had committed over the day. Once I had finished my repentance, the two of us retired to bed. I awoke in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to face the new day.
I rose, dressed, and offered my morning prayers. I noted that Gabi had overslept again, and gently woke her; this was an ongoing problem of hers. As usual, I softly chided her and told her she should pray for protection and forgiveness regarding her slothfulness. I was a bit surprised when she apologized and crossed her arms over her chest; it took me a few moments to remember that I had been promoted the day before.
¡°The gods are merciful, if we work to better ourselves and overcome our faults they will forgive.¡± I hurriedly quoted a small piece of scripture to reassure Gabi and to cover for my lapse of memory. I¡¯ll have to remember to pray for forgiveness for failing to properly guide those who look up to me so soon after attaining a new station¡
After washing my face and purifying myself, I made my way to the cardinal¡¯s office as per his instructions the previous day; following the conclusion of yesterday¡¯s lessons, he had bid the four of us head to his office space for our next lessons. I met Sable and Misha on the way, and we continued towards the office. Strangely, we did not meet Eudico. I worried that she may be sick, however, my fears proved unfounded, as she was waiting for us already in the cardinal¡¯s office.
The three of us apologized for being late, and Eudico turned her nose up as she usually did. One should think that rising in station as we all have, she would strive to address her pride¡ No, I shouldn¡¯t be judgmental. It is not my purpose to pass judgment; that is for the cardinals, the pope, and the gods above them. I went and took my seat after Eudico, Sable, and Misha had taken theirs; for whatever reason, the cardinal insisted that the four of us always follow this order when in his presence.
Of course, always being first does wonders for Eudico¡¯s personality¡ No, stop it, Sana. That isn¡¯t your purpose. The cardinal surveyed the four of us seated around the room. His office was smaller than the classroom we had been using up until now and lacked desks. In place of those, we had taken seats on the sofas that surrounded a tea table. It was far more opulent than we were used to, and I shifted about uncomfortably as I sank into the plush cushioning.
Sable and Misha seemed to be having similar problems as I, fidgeting about and trying to find a position they could be comfortable in. Finally, they settled down, hunched forward with their legs bent back to hold themselves forward on the seat. Eudico didn¡¯t have any trouble, as always¡ I wish I had her acumen¡ No. Envy is a sin. I sighed to myself and resolved to pray another prayer of repentance.
The cardinal began speaking to us once we had all situated ourselves, ¡°Today, we will be addressing the legends surrounding the founding of the kingdom, and the role the church plays in the thousand years wars.¡± I sat up straight; an unfortunate action, as my shifted weight caused me to sink even deeper into the opulent cushion. I couldn¡¯t help it though, given what had happened to Stahlia in Ang, the thousand years wars were a subject I was greatly interested in.
The cardinal chuckled at my reaction; since he had been the one to approve my accompaniment of Stahlia, he was aware of why I would be so interested in the thousand years wars, or as they were more commonly referred to, the Demon Wars. I bashfully straightened myself out, adjusting my position to one more appropriate for listening to a lecture.
The cardinal began, ¡°The Thousand Years Wars occur, as the names imply, every thousand years ago. A number of the Hell Kings will advent to this realm from their prison in the Nine Circles of Hell, and proceed to attempt to overthrow the chosen races. This much is common knowledge. As you four may have guessed, there is more to this story that the church keeps from the people in order to fulfill our second most important calling; the preservation of order.¡±
The cardinal bade us swear another oath before the gods, and we did so. Following our oath of secrecy, the cardinal resumed his speech, ¡°What is not commonly known, is how hopeless this war is for the chosen races. Sana, you have experienced it firsthand. The strength of demons.¡±
The three girls, Eudico included all turned to stare at me. I glanced around nervously, anxious at being the center of attention, ¡°N-no¡ not firsthand¡ It was Lady Stahlia that fought the demon, n-not me.¡±
Unfortunately, it would seem that my confirmation that I had indeed been near a demon, was enough to draw the interest of the three even further. I grimaced, I disliked being the focus of people¡¯s attention, that spot should be the rightful place of the gods.
The cardinal, thankfully, waved off the three girls and continued his speech, ¡°Well, the fact is, that demons gain strength the longer they live. The oldest demons may as well be gods as far as we are concerned. Few members of the chosen races could hope to stand against them.¡±
At this statement, particularly the part about the strongest demons being ¡°like gods¡±, Sable gave a start and looked at the cardinal incredulously, ¡°Honorable cardinal, forgive me my rudeness, but is that not heretical to say?¡±
The cardinal nodded at Sable, ¡°You are correct, comparing a demon to one of the twelve is blasphemy, it is through that blasphemous statement that I hope to drive home the gravity of the threat. Although, such demons are a rarity; demon culture is a violent affair, and the strongest ones oft have little interest in the affairs of the mortal world, preferring instead to fight amongst themselves for more power. It is only following the order of a hell king that they would move against us. No, the true despair comes from those self-same kings. They were the first to inherit the power of the God and Goddess. It would not be inaccurate to think of them as the first gods of this world.¡±
I swallowed. What he is saying makes sense when you consider the Goddess of Light and God of Darkness descending to grant the betrayers the strength to fight off the beasts and the monsters¡ cut off my thoughts, as the cardinal was beginning to speak again, ¡°Indeed, the power of the Nine can be said to match that of the twelve. It is fortunate then, that only a small number of them ever attack at once. If all nine were to move, it would be a great calamity for the chosen.¡±
A thought occurred to me, about something I had heard Stahlia saying, about how the demon she had fought was trying to bring forth one of the Nine. And she failed to stop it, not that I can fault her for that¡ but that would mean that the next Thousand Years War is going to start soon¡ I had been under the impression that it would occur in the year 1000, as most people were. But by putting things together, I could no longer be so sure. I resolved myself to ask the cardinal once our lessons had finished, and refocused myself on him as he continued.
¡°¡It is fortunate, therefore, that the gods have seen fit to select four champions and gift them with a fragment of power, as well as their divine protection. The Champion of Spring, who can accelerate the growth of purpose for their allies. The Champion of Summer, who burns brightly and exceeds the limits of mortals. The Champion of Autumn, who can recover from any injury with rest, even death. As Mortis resides within the Autumn Faction, he would prevent the passing of their champion and hold safe their soul as the power granted heals their body.¡±
¡°And the Champion of Winter. Often thought of as the cursed child, the unlucky one. They are given the gift of a stone heart, the ability to do what must be done, to forgo their humanity in pursuit of victory. Together these four stand against the Nine, using their gifts in tandem to overcome the kings of hell.¡± The cardinal stopped speaking in order to wet his throat.
It looks like I missed part of the explanation while I was lost in my thoughts¡ I¡¯ll have to apologize later, and say another prayer of repentance. As the cardinal set down the jug of water, I turned my attention back to him so as not to miss another word. He opened his mouth to speak, then left it hanging open. His eyes seemed to be bugging out of his head. I turned my gaze to follow his and saw Eudico.
Eudico had stood up, and her eyes had rolled back into her head. As we watched, they began to emit an azure-silver light. The color of winter¡ Oh, twelve gods! Is Eudico receiving an oracle!? Behind me, I heard the cardinal mutter a word that made my spine tingle, ¡°¡a descent¡?¡±
I fell to my knees on reflex once I realized what he had said. Besides me, Sable and Misha did the same. I could hear the cardinal also kneel behind us. A descent¡ My spine tingled at the thought of what I was bearing witness to; a descent was one level below an advent. One of the gods of the winter pantheon presumably, had descended into Eudico and was using her as a vessel. Rather than speaking to her, and having Eudico relay the words, the god had opted to speak through her. It was the greatest honor an Oracle could hope for, to bear the presence of a god.
{I am Antenora.} Her voice trembled the air as it radiated out.
The cardinal gulped as the goddess identified herself. From the power contained in that voice, there was no question; this truly was one of the twelve who had come to relay a message. The cardinal attempted to ask the question that was on everyone¡¯s minds. He failed twice, but on the third try managed it.
¡°Oh, most holy goddess, what have you come to tell¡¡± He trailed off, as Eudico shot him an icy glare.
{You, know your place. My words are not for you to hear. Leave us.} The cardinal flapped his mouth several times, but eventually turned and left the room with a quick, polite, religious salute. Sable and Misha remained with me, though none of us were willing to look at Eudico; the aura of cold radiating from her seemed to cause the air to tremble. So this is what the gods are like¡ I felt myself quiver with excitement.
Eudico then turned her gaze to me. Realizing her eyes were fixed on me, I was assailed by intense pressure. Once again her voice entered my ears, {You, the friend of my champion. Hear my words and spread them. A thirteenth god was born briefly last night, it falls on me to inform the church. Additionally, The Second Seat, Queen of Lust Asmodea has Advented. They now walk the mortal world once more.}
Like a puppet with its strings cut, Eudico fell to the ground. Her eyes were burned out, and there was some smoke coming off of her body, but she was breathing. She had fulfilled the ultimate duty of an Oracle, and she would never see nor hear the gods again. The church would care for her of course, but I found the sight of her body crumpled strangely saddening. I should be happy for her though¡
I said a prayer over her, managing to call down a miracle to ease her pain; no matter how skilled I was, I wouldn¡¯t be able to restore her eyes. Not even a cardinal or the pope could do that, the gods simply would not heal that which one of them had destroyed. My prayer finished, I instructed Sable and Misha to look after Eudico. Dashing from the room, I went straight to the cardinal who was pacing about anxiously. I had been given a mission by the goddess Antenora herself, and what a mission it was!
Sliding to a halt, the cardinal had to arrest me before I crashed into him. Breathlessly, I told him about the prophecy, ¡°A new god, and one of the Nine has returned? You are certain that was the oracle?¡± He was bound would express doubt, such an oracle was practically unprecedented, and they always ushered in times of great change for the church as we slowly worked out the new god¡¯s personality and aspects. But it¡¯s irksome that he would imply I had failed to remember something so important¡ Something important?
¡°Friend of my champion¡± she said, as a way of addressing me¡ I could only think of one person she could have meant. I remembered when the light of winter had descended on Stahlia at our dedication. My other memories from my third year had faded, but that one remained strong in my mind. Stahlia, she¡¯s the cursed child? The unlucky one? I remembered what had happened in Ang, how she had acted after returning from the battle. How she had been different.
What was it the cardinal said? The ability to forget their humanity¡ That¡¯s all well and good, I¡¯m sure knowing who the Champion of Winter is so early will be helpful. But that isn¡¯t even the biggest news! A thirteenth god! This will change the church¡¯s doctrine! I wonder what they reign over?
Sable and Misha came out of the room supporting Eudico between them, Sable was looking at me incredulously. She¡¯s smart, she probably noticed what Antenora said as well, I have to tell the cardinal, even if it¡¯s just a guess. The cardinal turned to leave, saying he had to call for a conclave of the church¡¯s leadership. As he was turning to go, I called out to him, ¡°Honorable cardinal, wait!¡±
He turned, ¡°Yes, is there something else Sana? I must attend to matters on this most auspicious day.¡±
I opened my mouth to tell him about Stahlia being Champion of Winter, but the words caught in my throat. It was as if some force was holding me back, preventing me from speaking. I mean, it would be more interesting if I didn¡¯t tell him¡
I shook my head, ¡°No, I apologize honorable cardinal; it¡¯s nothing.¡± He nodded.
¡°I see, then, do excuse me. The three of you should take Lady Eudico to the resplendence hall, the caretakers will look after her from now on.¡±
Sable, Misha, bowed their heads and I crossed my arms to bow, ¡°¡°¡°Of course, honorable cardinal.¡±¡±¡±
What was I thinking about a moment ago? Right, Stahlia should be coming back in a few weeks. I can¡¯t wait to hear how the village is doing! I turned to Sable and Misha, both of whom looked a bit confused, ¡°Well, you heard the honorable cardinal! Let¡¯s get Eudico to the resplendence hall!¡±
3-13 Return to Drakas
Stahlia, 12 Years Old, Second Month of 948
My carriage rolled into the capital and I began to mentally prepare myself. Well, that was a lie. I had been preparing myself for the whole journey. I was about to meet Dominic again, however this time I would have the protection of my [Charm Resistance II] talent. Based on how quickly I was gaining talent experience, in another month it should level up again. I didn¡¯t know how much protection it would give me though.
Jacqueline had the talent at level three, and she was able to somewhat resist Dominic, though not to the same degree as I had been able to back before my [Blessing of Winter] was forcibly activated. This led to the fact that his ability didn¡¯t work on me anymore, and the rose-tinted glasses I seemed to have as far as he was concerned, were the result of some sort of lingering curse that had been put on me.
At least Jacqueline should be immune now, and I got ten life points, and I¡¯m apparently the proper size for my age now¡ if what Jacqueline was saying was true. I knew I was growing a bit slow but didn¡¯t realize I was noticeably stunted. All in all, for the cost of one year of my life, I got a pretty good deal. Not that I want to go through that again though. I had decided to focus on the positives, and not dwell on the fact that I had shortened my lifespan.
One such positive was that once I had recovered enough to resume my nightly pity party, I was no longer tormented by memories of maiming Jacqueline. Confessing the truth to Jacqueline had apparently been enough for me to do what the guard captain Albert said, and forgive myself. I was still being tormented by the memory of what I had done to Asten, but I was making progress. Though I¡¯m not sure how I can overcome that¡ It¡¯s not like I can go and tell him the truth, he¡¯s dead.
Claire had a few things to say after I explained what I had done to Jacqueline. The first of which was a very stern warning to avoid using that power because, ¡°If it costs lifespan, there¡¯s always another hidden cost. That¡¯s just how it works.¡± In all honesty, it had been incredibly cute; Claire wasn¡¯t controlling Felicity beyond her senses. This meant that Felicity was awkwardly lecturing me according to what Claire was telling her to say; I had given her explicit permission to do so shortly after discovering Claire¡¯s existence. Neither of us wanted to inadvertently cause Felicity any issues due to the slave contract.
Speaking of Felicity, I glanced to the side and observed her. According to Claire, and Felicity herself as I later confirmed, she did indeed want to come back with me. But looking at her now, I got the feeling she was nervous. At least her facial expression showed she was; Claire hadn¡¯t flattened the ears, leading to an odd expression. Also with me were Jacqueline, Lucy, and Giogi. Everyone¡¯s returning. I wonder how this reunion will go¡ Certainly, it wouldn¡¯t be as heartwarming as my reunion with my family.
As I recalled that reunion from so many months ago, I couldn¡¯t help but also recall our eventual separation. My mother and father had been sad when it came time for me to return, but as adults they understood. Rosin had been inconsolable. He could not understand why both of his sisters were going away and demanded to be allowed to come with us. He only calmed down when my father promised him that they would visit me in the summer.
There¡¯s Sana too, I haven¡¯t seen her in a while¡ I wonder how she¡¯s doing? Also Edith and Sarala as well¡ I¡¯ve got a lot more acquaintances than I thought, huh. At least in contrast with my last life, my circle of friends was rather large. I¡¯ll have to make sure to plan around that when it comes time for me to start taking actions that go directly against the kingdom. I wouldn¡¯t want to drag anyone down by association. The greatest risk with that course of action was to my family. Hell, we even had a history of treason in the eyes of the kingdom. Reconnecting with them the way I had, fighting to protect my home, all of it had made me realize exactly what I was risking.
I really had only two options, and one of them required the political connections I could obtain by remaining with the Francois family. The first option would be to break off ties with the Francois and ally to another house. The Claurence Dukedom came to mind, who I had a connection to via Edith. But that would mean dragging my friend into my political schemes. The second option was to put up with Dominic and leverage the Francois connections to begin gathering information and making arrangements. Not being allied with a larger house was simply not an option, I had no political capital of my own.
Dealing with Dominic¡ now that I¡¯ve managed to find a solution to his charm ability, I¡¯ll be able to see him for what he really is, though considering he¡¯s basically mind-controlling women, he probably isn¡¯t that great¡ Though I still don¡¯t know if he¡¯s doing it intentionally or not¡ Or is that just the lingering charm effect talking? I¡¯m still gaining charm resistance experience every few minutes, so there is still some small effect¡
In short, my feelings towards Dominic were conflicted, but I thought it was perhaps to a lesser degree than it had been previously. Either way, I would see how I felt in a short while longer when I met him. The issue with aligning myself to another house was how to go about doing that. With my own house¡¯s lack of political capital, I had very few cards I could play. My best card that was my abilities, was limited by my gender.
I could leverage that, and try to navigate my way into literally joining a different house¡ Realizing what I had just thought my heart skipped a beat. It¡¯s not a bad idea in theory¡ but why would I think of that? Just a few years ago, I was hell-bent on getting out of the engagement with Dominic, and that was before I knew about his charm skill. Yet, I came up with the idea of entering another engagement as a way out of the first¡
Of course, even if I was to go that route, there was a serious issue that would be extremely difficult to overcome; my engagement to Dominic was sanctioned by one of the three princes. It would take a significant effort to get that overturned. Another Count household wouldn¡¯t work unless I were to approach one that¡¯s in the first or second prince¡¯s faction¡ but then I would be treated as a faction traitor. It would complicate things for my father as a member of the third prince¡¯s faction, not to mention place me under a great deal of scrutiny.
No, jumping to another faction wasn¡¯t an option. That left the neutral nobles but even in that case, there was no way the third prince would approve of the absolution of my engagement to Dominic; it would basically be guaranteeing his faction wouldn¡¯t obtain me. I would still have to rely on one of the other princes, and play up the idea of ¡°well at least she¡¯s not in my rival¡¯s faction.¡± But that still leaves me in the dilemma of having betrayed the third prince¡¯s faction, which causes issues for my father and puts me under increased scrutiny. Maybe not as much as if I directly joined another faction, but still too much.
So, the only option was to remain in the third prince¡¯s faction. In that case, I was really limited. The other counts in the faction were weaker than the Francois, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to play the angle that I was trying to increase my father¡¯s standing. There was the Lawrence Ducal house, but they had assumed the seat after my late uncle and the downfall of the Despita Ducal house, my family¡¯s old name. There was basically no chance of me being able to join that house, the political stir it would create¡
Politics is seriously irritating but what the hell? I just spent the better part of an hour trying to come up with a way to get married to someone other than Dominic. That kind of defeats the purpose of breaking off our engagement, doesn¡¯t it¡? It would seem that at some point, my attitude towards marriage itself had changed, and now I was merely being picky about the partner. I¡¯ll take it as a sign that the lingering charm is weakening since I¡¯m actually trying to figure out how I can get out of the marriage to him¡ though I have to think of a better way to do it, than just marrying someone else.
Well, we¡¯re about to arrive. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be there to greet me. Time to see how effective [Charm Resistance II] is at counteracting the lingering poison. My carriage had just passed the gates of the Francois estate, and I could see Dominic, Nikolaus, Margeritte, and Elienor waiting for me, along with Frieda. Hmm¡ the whole family is lined up¡ I only had a few seconds left before I would need to get off the carriage.
I hurriedly shoved mana into my eyes, aspecting it with the Divine Element and engaged my divine eyes. I did have to say, it had become a bit easier to do this since I had evolved Jacqueline¡¯s talent; prior to doing that, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to activate them so quickly. It was probably something to do with the ¡°lack of Divine Element¡± mentioned by the system notification, right before I had burned some of my lifespan.
Presumably, that lifespan had been converted into Divine Element, and that somehow had made my body more familiar with using it. But I had no way to test this without burning more lifespan, which I wasn¡¯t about to do unless I had to. Even if I was inclined to experiment, the accelerated aging and falling into a coma made it difficult to do so, as I would have a lot of explaining to do.
Even if it was faster to activate, I still couldn¡¯t do much else while the divine eyes were active. Moving too much or focusing on something else for too long would cause me to lose my focus thus turning them off. Well, let¡¯s see. It¡¯s a shame that neither of Dominic¡¯s brothers are here, but I can at least check the rest of his immediate family.
Dominic was standing next to Elienor, but I skipped him for obvious reasons and started with Elienor. I was actually quite fond of her. Not as a friend, but she had a fun personality, and I enjoyed watching her play with Felicity. So Elienor¡¯s mana is red. Assuming my theory about the color having to do with the elemental alignment of the individual, that makes sense for her; she has a very fiery independent personality. I was glad that she seemed normal, as I was personally quite fond of her company. Even if she was a bit irritating at times.
Alright¡ Margeritte¡ she¡¯s a soft yellow. Somewhat bright, so she has a few levels. Otherwise, she¡¯s normal. I moved my eyes to Nikolaus Francois. What the hell? I couldn¡¯t see Count Francois¡¯ mana light. He was seemingly invisible to my divine eyes. I could still make out his physical form, but he was seemingly devoid of light. But if the light is mana, this would imply that he has none whatsoever? That should be impossible, the lowest letter you can have is E, which from what I understand, grants one point of mana per level.
Stil had a few stats that were E, and I had used those to try and calculate the numbers each letter would give. Having zero mana¡ even if he had a skill that gave a minus to the mana improvement grade, like my [Finesse Fighting] does to strength, he should still have some mana from before he acquired it¡ Before I could think too much further about it, Dominic approached the carriage.
I hurriedly composed myself and stood so that I could get this over with. Honestly, I¡¯m really nervous right now¡ I don¡¯t know what to expect from this¡ He knocked on the carriage door and Jacqueline opened it for him. I took a deep breath to psyche myself up and then approached him. Dominic looked up at me, and bared his teeth in a smile, ¡°Welcome back, Stahlia.¡±
I frowned, watching him now was odd. Like half of me found his mannerism extremely appealing, while the other half just found it strange. That smile, it¡¯s really self-assured, isn¡¯t it? As he was standing less than a meter away from me, he obviously noticed my frown, and his smile twitched. Oh shit, yea I need to still act my role, for now. I replaced my frown with a polite smile and extended my hand to take his, ¡°It is good to be back, thank you for welcoming me, Dominic.¡±
Dominic gave me a scrutinizing look as he gripped my hand and helped me down from the carriage. I quickly adjusted my smile, widening it, and tilted my head slightly. As we walked, Dominic continued to study me closely. What the hell, all I did was frown? Is he really that suspicious¡? We were almost to his parents when he finally spoke, ¡°Stahlia, you¡¯ve grown since the last time I saw you have you not?¡±
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The hell!? THAT¡¯s what you were staring at me for? I suppose I need to answer him, ¡°You think so? Well, I suppose I might have, it has been half a year after all.¡±
Dominic nodded, ¡°Indeed, you¡¯re starting to become a woman.¡±
I blinked incredulously. Was that supposed to be a compliment¡? The worst part was that some nagging sensation was telling me that he was incredibly charming just now, but I was nearly certain that that was the charm talking. Holy shit, has he always talked like that? I looked back through a few of my memories, picking the ones where I had become flustered or embarrassed. Without fail, every time I did, it was after Dominic had either done something physical, like kissing my hand, or tried to force through some inane ¡°compliment¡±.
That¡¯s¡ really kind of sad. He probably has gotten so used to relying on the [Incubus Eye] skill, that he can¡¯t even tell how unattractive he sounds when he talks¡ We arrived at Count Francois and Margeritte, and I curtsied to the two of them, ¡°Lord Francois, Lady Margeritte, I am honored to see you again after so long. I will be in your care.¡± For now.
Count Francois gave me a long stare, that lasted just long enough to be slightly uncomfortable before he spoke, ¡°Indeed. Welcome back.¡±
Contrary to her husband, Margeritte was kinder, though irritating in her own way, ¡°Come now Stahlia, ¡®Lady Margeritte¡¯? I¡¯ve told you, you can call me ¡®Mother¡¯ already.¡±
I felt my eye twitch at that, but I knew from experience that she wasn¡¯t going to relent until I did what she wanted, it would be faster if I simply gave in so as to get back to my rooms sooner, ¡°A slip of my tongue, do forgive me¡ mother¡¡±
Margeritte smiled, ¡°See, was that so hard?¡± No, it wasn¡¯t hard, just a bit sickening.
Finally, I turned to Elienor. Once I had greeted her, I would be able to go to my side building and escape from this. I already had an appointment, established via letter, to visit Edith and Sarala tomorrow. I was very much looking forward to that one and just wanted this greeting to be over. I need to find an excuse to visit Sana as well, I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll want to know about how Ris is doing, since she never got to go back.
¡°Lady Elienor, it is good to see you again.¡± I gave a half curtsy, then froze in shock.
Elienor curtsied to me and returned my greeting, ¡°Indeed Lady Stahlia, the pleasure is mine.¡±
Who are you, and what did you do with Elienor!? I fixed my eyes on Elienor and looked her up and down. She looked a bit older than I remembered. Though unlike myself, I was fairly sure she had aged normally and not all at once. As far as I could tell, this was Elienor. I should have checked her mana color before I left, so that I could have compared it to what it looks like now¡
¡°Fufufu, I was hopin¡¯ you might react like that Stali! Didja forget, I¡¯m going to the academy this year, I gotta talk and act proper and all in public ya?¡± She had adopted a smirk, pleased with herself for having pulled off a successful practical joke.
I glared at her, and was about to say something to the effect that she should be acting properly at all times, when a knight came running through the gate without stopping to announce himself. There must be an emergency going on¡ The knight looked around those assembled, and then approached Count Francois.
The count glanced at the knight before stepping away. I feel like I¡¯ve seen this exact scene before¡ Since we were all watching, I took the opportunity to closely examine the knight. He¡¯s wearing the crest of the Royal Order of Knights, the ones who protect the royal family¡ After a few minutes Count Francois nodded, and the knight dashed off leaving the estate behind.
Count Francois rejoined the rest of us. He looked irritated for some reason. Glancing around at his family, he thankfully didn¡¯t stare at me for an extended period this time. Count Francois closed his eyes and took a deep breath, likely to calm himself. Opening his eyes, he spoke, ¡°That was a messenger from the royal castle. The Second Prince Percival has been killed. He was murdered in his countryside manor.¡±
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
A state of nationwide mourning was declared following the public announcement of Prince Percival¡¯s death. His funeral would be held in the capital the week of the school entrance ceremonies, which had been pushed back to allow for the ceremonies and the grieving of the people. Fortunately, I was still able to go to my meeting with Edith and Sarala, though it was likely going to be much more somber than I had originally intended.
As a noblewoman of the kingdom, I was equipped with a black veil; even if I was nominally in a separate faction, there were certain customs that must still be observed. I was on my way to the Claurence¡¯s capital estate at the moment, and thinking about the possible implications of this death.
This should basically confirm the first prince as the murderer, though I doubt there will be enough evidence to do anything about it. The third prince¡¯s faction is the smallest of the three, so he wasn¡¯t really a contender for the throne. As far as I¡¯m aware, the first and second princes were basically neck and neck, with the first having a slight edge. I wonder how the second prince¡¯s faction will shakedown after this though¡
I sighed and gazed out the window of the carriage. The streets were largely devoid of people, only a few were out and about as I was. All of them were dressed in black, as I was, and the women wore a black veil, as I did. I had only gotten permission from Count Francois to still attend my appointment with Edith after pointing out that I could try to inquire about how the neutral faction would be reacting; information that would be highly useful for one of the leading members of the Third Prince Faction.
I arrived at the Claurence estate, and a butler helped me down from the carriage before leading me into the building. As the nation was in a state of mourning, neither of us spoke a word to each other, and he simply gave a polite bow after letting me into the room where Edith was waiting. Lucy took up a post behind me to serve my tea. I had left Jacqueline at the Francois Estate to monitor Dominic. Now that she was free of his influence, I wanted her to try and see if she could find anything since her search proved fruitless the first time.
Sarala and Edith were both seated at the tea table, though when I entered the room Sarala quickly stood up; Edith¡¯s higher status than mine dictated that she remained seated. As I thought, the second prince¡¯s death is going to force us to stand on ceremony here, isn¡¯t it. Already starting to feel a bit frustrated, I curtsied towards Edith and then half curtsied towards Sarala. Edith inclined her head towards me, and Sarala curtsied.
Haaaa¡ ¡°I regret that our long-awaited reunion must follow such saddening events, Lady Edith. Lady Sarala, I am likewise glad to see you again, and saddened by the heavy state of affairs.¡±
Sarala bowed her head, ¡°Indeed, your safe return brings peace to my heart in these dark times.¡±
Only once Sarala had finished did Edith finally speak, ¡°Please, sit Lady Stahlia, Sarala. While Mortis may have touched the royal family with his presence, we should rest assured in the fact that the future of the kingdom is still secure.¡±
Her voice was suitably melancholic, if I didn¡¯t know any better, I would say she was actually grieving. But I did know better, Edith was incredibly adept at politics for her age. She was most certainly acting for the benefit of the servants who had likely been placed by her parents to observe our tea. I took my seat when asked to, and Sarala sat back down once I had done so.
A servant appeared out of the side room with a tea kettle and leaves that I recognized as being from the Sele Fern. It was brewed into a very bitter black tea, and while it had no notable medicinal properties, it was often drunk ceremonially during times of mourning or loss. She¡¯s really laying it on thick, her parents must be more concerned about the coming faction shift than I thought. Personally, I didn¡¯t care for tea this bitter, but given the position Edith was likely in, I accepted the cup without letting my distaste show on my face.
Edith took the first sip, and then ate a small bite of a cracker to show that she wasn¡¯t planning on poisoning us. Normally at a get-together like this cake would be served, but since sweet things were currently socially unacceptable, we got crackers instead. I feel like I¡¯m four years old, having tea in the temple with Sana. Bitter tea, underwhelming snacks, and exaggerated nearly theatrical etiquette. The fond memories improved my mood somewhat.
After I had taken a sip of my own, and a bite of the cracker, I waved to Lucy. My maid approached and produced the letter Count Francois had drafted for me. As far as I was aware, it was addressed to Duke Claurence, and inquired as to the intentions of his house. I was also fairly certain that Count Francois didn¡¯t actually expect a response to the letter, and it was actually just a veiled way of letting the duke know that I had been instructed to question his daughter. Why letting him know was necessary was beyond me, and I was actually of the opinion that telling him was a stupid idea; it would be a lot smarter for me to simply have asked.
Edith motioned for her own maid to accept the letter, and the maid then passed it to her. Once Edith had confirmed the sender and the addressee, she passed it back to the maid and quietly instructed her to take it to her father. She then turned and addressed me.
¡°I was wondering what you had done to get permission to still come to tea. So it was like that after all. You can tell Lord Francois that the Claurence house is intending to align with¡ Prince Rupert and his faction¡¡± Her voice was somewhat sad and broke off a bit at the end. It was no surprise to me that she had been able to deduce the contents of the letter based on who was carrying it, and what names were on it, but her tone was concerning to me.
Wait, does she think I¡¯m abusing our friendship to play faction politics¡? I needed to correct that misconception quickly, but I had to be mindful of the ears in the walls at the same time. I frowned slightly, in a way that Edith would notice due to her proximity, but would not be visible from a larger distance, ¡°I am glad to hear that, we will be able to interact even more if that is the case. I consider you, Lady Edith and you, Sarala to be my very dear friends. It is a shame that our reunion must be at such a sad time as this¡¡±
I let my sentence hang, hoping that Edith would pick up on the fact that I was implying that my actions had only been due to the circumstances, and the subtext that I disliked faction politics coming between our friendship. Edith gave a wane smile, so I had seemingly been somewhat successful. Sarala glanced back and forth between us; as a commoner, she was probably familiar with the political games Edith had to play due to their friendship.
Due to that same friendship, as well as her abilities, she had likely been forced to play some political games of her own as well. I decided to change the subject slightly, and volunteer some information of my own as a peace offering, ¡°Sarala, I am sure you heard, but I was involved in something of an incident while I was visiting my village.¡±
I did an internal fist pump when Edith¡¯s eyes flashed before she fixed her mask; she had picked up on what I was doing. Sarala had either picked up on it as well or was simply curious, as she played along quite well, ¡°Oh yes, an entire Goblin Horde led by a Lord. I hear you were fairly key in the battle. What exactly did you do?¡±
I see, so Sarala never learned about the Anti-Army magic. Or she has heard and is leading me to say it myself and give confirmation to the rumors¡ I stole a quick glance at Edith and nodded, she betrayed no sign of whether or not she knew anything. I nodded to Sarala, ¡°Indeed. Thankfully it was the middle of winter and there was plenty of ice around. I was able to cast a fairly large spell and turn the tide of the battle in our favor. Though without the brave guards of my village, I would not have been able to chant without being overrun.¡±
That should be sufficient to confirm whatever information the Claurence¡¯s spies have managed to gather. By telling them that I had gotten a large discount on the spell, that it had turned the tide of the battle, and that I had needed a not-insignificant amount of time to chant, I had all but confirmed that I had used Anti-Army magic. Especially given how talented Sarala was with magic herself. Edith gave a faint smile towards me, similar to my own earlier, this wouldn¡¯t be something that the walls could tell she had done.
Good, it looks like I got through to her. I picked up my teacup and took a celebratory sip of the bitter concoction. Then Sarala dropped a bombshell on me, ¡°So, Lady Stahlia, do tell, how was your reunion with Lord Dominic¡?¡±
I choked on my mouthful of tea. Why the hell does she care about that!? I looked between the two of them, Sarala was wearing a bit of a smirk. It appeared as if she was fighting the urge to laugh at my reaction; laughing would be a breach of the mourning etiquette so she couldn¡¯t do that. Edith was watching me intently; more so than she had for my earlier information about the battle at Ris.
Wait, why does she care so much¡? Are the Claurence family really that keen on learning about my love life, or rather lack of one? I shot Sarala a withering stare, ¡°Sarala, that is hardly an appropriate topic given recent events¡¡±
Sarala managed to wipe the half-smirk off of her face when she heard my tone, but then she ruined it by smugly stating, ¡°I see, so it was a pleasant reunion.¡± Really? That¡¯s what you got from that?
I caught Edith shaking her head from the corner of my eye. When I focused on her, she looked at me with a sad smile, ¡°I truly, truly envy you, Stahlia.¡±
Why!? I¡¯m stuck in this engagement! I don¡¯t care for him at all¡ Of course, I knew why, both of them were still under the effects of Dominic¡¯s charm. God damnit, playing politics is irritating¡
3-14 Summons
Stahlia, 12 Years Old, Second Month of 948
Lucy knocked on the office door for me, and after a moment I heard Count Francois¡¯ voice call out from within the room, ¡°Enter.¡±
She swung the door open for me, and I stepped inside. Approaching the front of the Count¡¯s desk I curtsied, ¡°Greetings Lord Francois, I have a request for you if you would hear it.¡±
The count raised an eyebrow and motioned for me to have a seat. He¡¯s probably remembering the last time I made a request. I took the seat in front of his desk and held my back straight. I needed to make a good impression, as this time the request was entirely selfish; I wanted to see Sana.
¡°What can I do for you, Lady Stahlia?¡± He began tapping a finger on the desk as he asked me. Good, it means he¡¯s taking the conversation seriously since he does that when he¡¯s thinking or trying to focus.
I nodded and clenched my hands under the desk, out of his sight. Meeting his eyes, I started setting the stage for my request, ¡°Lord Francois, as you have no doubt been made aware, while I was back in my home village for my winter break there was an incident. I participated in that incident to great effect, in the aftermath of the goblin¡¯s extermination, I have found myself questioning my purpose.¡±
My plan was to lead him to believe that I was beginning to suffer some form of stress-related ailment, or was having trouble reconciling my actions. It had been my policy for a while that the best lies contained a bit of truth, and while I had reconciled myself to what I had done with the goblins if not for my skill forcing me to get over it quickly, I would probably have wound up struggling with it for a while.
The count began drumming his fingers on the desk, ¡°I see. You want to see Sana.¡± I felt the sad smile I had been faking drop off my face. Well, it would make sense to be able to figure that out; I just got back from the village, and she was denied the ability to go visit with me. Fine, we¡¯ll go with that and see what I can get. Pursing my lips I replied, ¡°¡Yes, I want to visit her and inform her of the events surrounding Ris myself before she hears of it from some other source.¡±
Count Francois picked up his hands and folded them relaxedly in front of himself while leaning back in his chair. Giving me a lingering stare, he opened his mouth and went in a completely different direction than I had been expecting, ¡°Over ten thousand confirmed casualties, with a single spell. Remarkable for someone your age¡ It would seem some incredibly important people think so as well¡ Here, read this; it arrived a few days ago.¡±
He passed me a letter which I quickly skimmed. It was long and drawn out, full of euphemism and sentences with double meaning. But if I were to interpret it in most likely intended way, it was a sort of arrest order for me; I was not to be permitted to leave the capital following my return and pending an investigation slash interview. The signature was that of the third prince, Rupert von Drakas. While the letter gave no date for this interview, it specified it would be during the first week of school. So sometime during the entrance stuff I had to do last year then.
I finished reading the letter and folded it before passing it back to the count. Trying to keep a cool head, I took a moment to compose myself before asking, ¡°Is that a no then? I would not need to leave the city to visit the central temple.¡±
Count Francois leaned forward in his chair before speaking, ¡°It was ¡®Frozen Garden, Niflheim¡¯, was it not? That was the spell you cast¡ Truly a remarkable achievement for you, to not only have the mana needed to cast that spell, but to even know the words¡ I am sure the prince will be most curious, me, I simply wonder at how you managed to reduce the cost to that degree. The season and your mental state would only do so much¡ To face down a horde of that size and keep your calm¡ impressive.¡±
¡What is he getting at? Is he suggesting he knows I¡¯m one of the champions for this war? But what would he hope to gain from that? Outside of my thoughts, I was very careful to keep myself natural. Now knowing the drawbacks of relying on [Cold Hearted] to control my emotions, I had been practicing my ¡°Noble Face¡± for the better part of my break.
A moment later, the count folded his hands and slid me another letter, ¡°Here, written by the cardinal in charge of Miss Sana, it seems your presence at the temple is desired. Quite popular, aren¡¯t you?¡±
I took the letter, not quite able to prevent my hand from trembling slightly, a fact I was sure the count picked up on. Reading it, I found that it said exactly what Count Francois said it did; I was requested to come to the temple as soon as possible, citing an internal emergency. Well, that isn¡¯t ominous at all¡ What the hell happened¡?
I handed this letter to Lucy, since it was addressed to me not the count, and gave him a slight bow of my head in thanks, ¡°Then, may I make arrangements to depart for the temple?¡±
Once again running his fingers across the top of his desk in a rhythmic tapping, the count nodded, ¡°Lucy, you may make the arrangements.¡±
Right, and you did that just to remind me who¡¯s in charge here¡ I had a feeling that there were machinations going on behind closed doors with me at the center, and the count was trying to clue me in so I would be careful. Of course, given what I just did, that makes sense. No doubt the fact that someone as young as me demonstrated Anti-Army magic, combined with the assassination of the second prince, has seriously shaken up the balance of power. It honestly wouldn¡¯t be surprising if the first prince faction attempted to pull me away from the third prince¡¯s¡
I stood and curtsied to the count, then left through the door as Lucy opened it. Keeping up a brisk pace, I made my way as quickly as possible back to my room. Elienor was brushing Felicity, apparently having finally learned to not touch her tail. Now if only she can learn to stay out of my room unless I invite her in¡ ¡°¡Pet, Elienor, my greetings.¡±
After receiving a reply consisting of a nod from Felicity, and a ¡°Hi Stali!¡± from Elienor, I turned to Lucy, ¡°Lucy, please get a carriage ready as the count instructed. Based on that letter it seems there is an urgent matter at the temple.¡±
Lucy performed a curtsy and quickly left the room. Once she was gone, I began looking through the closet; as this was now an official summons rather than a social call, I would have to look the part. Noticing what I was doing, and having heard the order given to Lucy, Elienor stopped brushing Felicity¡¯s ears, much to the latter¡¯s irritation. She really does brush Felicity a lot huh? Well, it¡¯s been several months and Felicity doesn¡¯t dislike it, so I won¡¯t say anything just yet¡ But in a few days I¡¯ll need to have a chat with Elienor about personal space.
¡°Going out Stali?¡± I nodded at Elienor¡¯s question and gave her a quick answer.
¡°Yes, I have received a letter summoning me to the central temple for a meeting.¡± I slid over a couple of dresses before settling on a red one. Reaching behind me I unfastened the back of my dress and knocked it off my shoulders. I heard a gasp behind me. Ah, right. I probably shouldn¡¯t be dressing myself, it¡¯s ¡°unladylike¡± or whatever, but none of my maids are here right now, and I¡¯m in a hurry.
¡°Stahlia, you grew up a lot over the winter huh.¡± Excuse me¡? Oh shit! In my hurry to get out the door, I had forgotten that I was currently hiding certain developments. It would be another month before Jacqueline¡¯s ¡°growth spurt¡± plan had proceeded far enough for me to not have to worry. God damn breasts!
¡°Ah, have I¡? I didn¡¯t really notice...¡± Elienor gave me a look that implied she didn¡¯t really buy that.
Shoot, now I have another mess I need to figure out. God damnit, why did I get so distracted¡
¡°I¡¯ll catch up before long!¡± Looking up in surprise, I saw Elienor clenching her fists and looking determined, ¡°I hadn¡¯t noticed ¡®cause of your clothes, but you¡¯re finally startin¡¯ to look your age!¡±
Ah¡. I breathed out a sigh of relief, it would make sense that that was her assumption. It was basically unthinkable that someone would grow as quickly as I had. If it hadn¡¯t been for Lucy being in Ris with us, then the ruse about my growth spurt would have been unnecessary once we returned to the capital. Still, it feels a bit weird, being the one whose chest is making the other girl jealous¡ Mine isn¡¯t even that big, and it won¡¯t ever be¡ For a moment, I almost felt sad about that knowledge. I shook my head rapidly to clear such thoughts
¡°Ah¡ well, thank you for your kind words¡?¡± Honestly, hearing that ¡®I¡¯m finally starting to look my age,¡¯ from a shrimp like you¡ It was a bit irritating in a strange way, seeing as I had no legitimate reason to be irritated at Elienor.
Thankfully, Jacqueline arrived at that moment. And where have you been? Leaving me with Lucy all day! Jacqueline glanced around the room and quickly deduced what must have happened. Stepping up, she started manipulating me with her arm, while I did my best impression of a doll to make it as easy as possible for her, ¡°I passed Miss Lucy in the hall and she told me what was going on; I agree we need to get you dressed quickly, but you still should have waited for a maid; you¡¯ve only been wearing a full bra for a few months and still struggle with it after all.¡±
I felt my cheeks flush red at Jacqueline¡¯s remark. I knew she was saying it to give Elienor a plausible timeline for my growth, but her words were true; I was still struggling with a normal bra. Putting my head down where Elienor couldn¡¯t see it, I simply held my arms out while Jacqueline spun me around by my head and tugged my dress into place.
Once this was finished, I said a hurried goodbye to Felicity and Elienor, then followed Jacqueline out of the room and down to the carriage. Boarding the carriage, we set out for the temple. I had Lucy stay behind, she seemed like she was about to say something in protest until Jacqueline gave her a hard stare. Moving at a brisk pace, we were stopped only once by knights. They let us go once I showed them the letter from the church and confirmed my identity. This enforced mourning¡ it honestly feels like what I saw back on earth when Kim Jong-Il died, and the government forced all the citizens to weep for his death¡ At least it doesn¡¯t seem like they¡¯re killing people for not crying.
As our carriage traveled, I took the opportunity to observe the surroundings. The few people who were out of their homes kept their heads down, all of them were wearing black or at the least dark gray. Glancing down at my own crimson attire, I grimaced. I may have chosen the wrong colors in my haste. Indeed, it seemed like I was making mistake after mistake after my meeting with Count Francois today. Did the count get to me that much with his subtle threats and power plays¡?
With such disconcerting thoughts, we made rapid progress. A few times we passed groups of knights, but they didn¡¯t stop us. The few buildings that hadn¡¯t shuttered their windows were devoid of life, and generally emitting an uninviting atmosphere. It¡¯s like there¡¯s a fog over the whole city¡ I felt my gaze drawn northward and looking up, past the innermost wall towards the summit, I beheld the palace. Much like the city below it, the residence of the royal family was exuding an aura of melancholy. Almost like the gloom is flowing down the slope, from the palace.
I couldn¡¯t put my finger on what exactly I was perceiving, but something about the atmosphere was extremely disconcerting. We rode in silence, as I passed the time watching the city pass by. It¡¯s¡ so empty¡ As soon as I had the thought, I realized where the atmosphere was coming from; not only was there an absence of people, the various cats, dogs, stawri, other animals, and tamed monsters were absent, too. The city felt empty and entirely devoid of the life which I had grown accustomed to.
All this, for the death of one person¡ no, the murder of one person. I get that he was important, but this can¡¯t be good for the economy. The mourning period lasts a week, and we¡¯re on the third day¡ I can¡¯t be sure how strictly it¡¯s being enforced outside of the capital; but if it¡¯s even half as strict as this, there will be some pretty severe consequences¡ I didn¡¯t know much about economics, but I knew that this was very unlikely to go well for the citizenry. Why would the king order something like this, when he knows that the war should be coming in a few years¡?
Unless the kingdom believes that the war won¡¯t happen until the year one thousand. Thinking about it, my source for the fact that it¡¯s starting in less than three years was a literal god¡ It was very possible that the kingdom was under the mistaken impression that they had time to spare, and were ¡°taking it easy¡± as it were. If that¡¯s the case¡ should I come forward¡? I don¡¯t exactly want to become a pet of this kingdom as a champion, but my family is going to get caught up in whatever war happens, and coming forward would earn me the support of the church. It would be a fast track to gaining political power.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
That was assuming, of course, that the existence of the four champions was even widely known in the first place. So far, I had confirmed that Jacqueline knew about them, and the priest of my home village. But Jacqueline is a spy tied closely to the kingdom''s secrets in the first place, and the priest is high enough in the church to have his own parish¡ Considering that I didn¡¯t know anything about the champions before Mortis told me about them¡ it was likely a closely guarded secret, to prevent the public from panicking to know that the fate of the races falls on the shoulders of four people.
The Kingdom of Drakas, after all, was hiding a lot of secrets. If they were hiding the existence of the champions, well, it would be just one more secret to add to the pile. Right on top of a state-sanctioned kidnapping ring, the demons wandering the kingdom, and whatever shit the nobility was getting up to. Even governments back in my first life would hide things from their citizens. It was such a well known phenomenon that some people made a living trying to connect all the dots.
Like that conspiracy series on YouTube, the one about how Bush did Nine Eleven to prevent an economic collapse by giving the people a wartime economy¡ ¡°No fucking way.¡± Realizing I had spoken out loud, I waved at Jacqueline to pay me no mind. Drakas¡ is a militaristic expansionist regime. To the point that the neighboring powers have formed more or less out of necessity to deter Drakan aggression. Due to this, the Drakan military has stalled out for a decent length of time. In three years, there will be a massive war for the fate of the world.
If we assume that the king knows about this, then what would he do? He would need an excuse to refocus the military, to get experienced soldiers in place of the fresh recruits. Fighting monsters can only do so much; demons are something else entirely. So, the second prince would make the perfect victim¡ The third prince isn¡¯t influential enough, and the first is the one slated to take the crown. By having the second prince killed, the king can use that as a casus belli¡ declare war on either of Drakas¡¯ neighbors and get the perfect chance to train up the army with real wartime experience before the Demons attack in force.
It made almost too much sense, with only a few small leaps in logic. I frowned and decided to try and surreptitiously gather information about the circumstances of the second prince¡¯s death. It was a conspiracy theory, but it had enough circumstantial evidence that I thought it was worth a bit of follow up at least. To start with, when I¡¯m interviewed by the third prince, I should try and prod him a little bit. I can¡¯t make my intentions too obvious, but I should be able to get something out of him.
As I was beginning to try and come up with questions to ask the prince, we arrived at the temple. Right, first things first, let¡¯s go see what the church wants¡ It¡¯s possible that the priest said something¡ If that¡¯s the case, well I knew telling him was a risk but what can I do? I needed information so I played a card. I had been avoiding considering that possibility, but now that I was passing through the gates of the church, it was at the forefront of my mind.
If it comes down to it, I can take the church as an ally, but that would be putting me way too close to those bastard gods for comfort, so it¡¯s a last resort. The carriage came to a halt and I stood as Jacqueline opened the door and climbed down. Ignoring Jacqueline¡¯s offered hand, I very lightly enhanced my feet and ankles and hoped the three feet to the ground unaided. Jacqueline gave me a disapproving look but I ignored it; I was in a hurry and nobody was watching us at present.
The two of us made our way up to the entrance of the building where an attendant priest answered our knocks. He looked surprised at first, but once Jacqueline handed over the letter I had been given, he quickly opened the door and beckoned for us to follow him in. It¡¯s a bit odd that the temple is so empty during a time of mandated mourning¡ I would expect that there would be services available. Then again, the funerals of this world are an intensely personal affair, I thought it might be different for a royal, but maybe not.
Regardless of the lack of people, the halls of the temple were as imposing as I remembered from the few times I had been here to visit Sana previously. The tall monolithic support pillars were engraved with depictions of various biblical scenes from the holy texts. The walls were barren except for the paintings hung at routine intervals. Frustratingly, it was expected that each time we passed a painting of a particular god, goddess, or group of them that we stop to pray. Since these prayers were blessedly not mandated to be spoken aloud, I was able to simply dip my head and hold still for a moment. But that didn¡¯t mean the constant stopping every ten to fifteen meters wasn¡¯t irritating.
It was more or less assumed that everyone in Drakas followed the religion of the God of Darkness and Goddess of Light, so even visitors were expected to pray. I hadn¡¯t heard accounts of the persecution and harassment of apostates, but it honestly would not surprise me if it was happening and simply nobody talked about it. Thankfully, nobles were almost expected to be a bit distant from the affairs of the church. Owing to that mentality I was able to get away with not minding the dogma too much, other than where my friendship with Sana was concerned.
Finally, after what was likely the twentieth prayer break, we arrived at an inner meeting room. The attendant priest let us in and informed us that Sana and the cardinal would be with us shortly. Accepting his statement with a faint smile, I thanked him and went into the room. As far as church accommodations go, it was fairly luxurious. Not on the level of the Count¡¯s office though¡ What the Hell!? A cardinal!? Within the church hierarchy, cardinals were roughly equivalent to the nobility¡¯s counts. If one of them was attending the meeting then it was something majorly important indeed. So, they almost certainly learned I claimed to be Winter¡¯s Champion then. Guess that gamble failed, I¡¯ll just work to make the best of it.
Before I had to wait too long, the attendant priest opened the door again and Sana passed into the room, followed by an older man wearing robes similar to the priest I was familiar with. Those have a bit of gold trim, indicating that he¡¯s the cardinal¡ honestly, who thought it would be a good idea for members of the church to renounce their names once they finished their learning? It just makes it annoying to know who¡¯s who.
I felt a shiver go down my spine as if reacting to something unpleasant. Next to me, I caught Jacqueline stiffen out of the corner of my eye. What¡? Did the room grow cold all of a sudden? No, I wouldn¡¯t have felt that. The cardinal crossed his arms and bowed at the waist. I had seen Sana do this a few times and knew it was a religious greeting similar to the curtsy I had been forced to master. After a brief hesitation, Sana also bowed towards me. Right, with him here we can¡¯t be friends, we can only be acquaintances at best. I reciprocated their bows with a curtsy, ¡°A pleasure to make your acquaintance, honorable cardinal. My name is Stahlia von Ris, I have arrived as per the summons of the church¡ may I ask what the purpose of this is? The letter was quite vague.¡±
The cardinal beckoned for Sana and me to sit next to each other on a couch, before taking his own seat on the chair facing it. Ok¡ so he¡¯s aware that Sana and I are friends then¡ but if that¡¯s the case, why did she bow? The attendant priest provided everyone with drinks and then bowed while walking backward out of the room. The cardinal had been given a glass of red wine, while Sana and I had been given some sort of juice. The cardinal took a sip out of a shot glass-sized cup of juice provided to him specifically for that purpose; indicating to me that it wasn¡¯t poisoned.
After he had downed the cup, and waiting a few moments as was polite, I took a sip of my own juice. It tastes expensive¡ Probably trying to get on my good side before breaching the subject of me being Winter¡¯s Champion. Wining and dining was a practice among the nobility as well. Though I had, as of yet, not had to participate in those events, outside of the school social. The cardinal opened his mouth to speak. Here it comes. I instinctively closed my eyes, a measure to avoid showing a reaction of disgust when he inevitably named me as a servant of the gods.
¡°Lady Stahlia, may I ask you to dismiss your attendant as well?¡± His voice was steady if a bit commanding.
The hell? That¡¯s not what I was expecting him to say¡ Also again what the hell? Do you want to be in the room alone with two nominally eleven-year-old girls? Still, even if something was to happen, it wouldn¡¯t be expected that a one-armed maid would be much of a bodyguard, so I could assume that this was a matter of confidentiality instead of action with vile motive. And besides, I can defend myself quite well indeed. Certainly better than he¡¯ll expect. I should be fine¡
Nodding, I spoke to Jacqueline while keeping my eyes fixed on the cardinal, ¡°Jacqueline, please leave the room.¡±
Jacqueline moved to the door and gave a curtsy before exiting, leaving me alone with the cardinal and Sana, ¡°Alright then, I have done as you asked. Why, may I ask, was I summoned? Everything I have experienced so far leads me to believe it was for quite the reason indeed.¡±
The cardinal nodded, ¡°That is the case, Lady Stahlia. This has not been made public knowledge yet, but there was an oracle recently. A student in apprentice Sana¡¯s class no less. That oracle has put the church in a relatively difficult position you see.¡±
Tilting my head, I urged him to continue. An oracle¡? Did the gods decide I wasn¡¯t going to play nice if they left me alone and spill the news to the church then? The cardinal continued his explanation, ¡°You see, I was present when most holy Antenora descended, however, the goddess deemed me unworthy of her presence. Instead, she delivered her divine words to apprentices Sana, Sable, and Misha. Specifically, she addressed Sana as the friend of her little sister¡¯s friend.¡±
Excuse me? That lying bitch said I was what? Caina¡¯s friend? Caina was Antenora¡¯s little sister. Also a goddess, she was the one whom everyone believed had blessed me at my dedication. So Antenora lied again. Or told a partial truth. Either way, the church probably doesn¡¯t know I¡¯m one of the champions, but that fucking cunt still attached my name to that oracle through how she addressed Sana. So whatever it is, the church now believes I¡¯m involved. I want to give that piece of trash a piece of my mind, god damnit!
Frowning, I addressed the cardinal, ¡°The friend of her sister¡? Please, forgive me but I have no such relationship with¡ most holy Caina.¡±
The cardinal nodded, ¡°Indeed, I expected you would be under that impression; however both apprentice Sable and apprentice Misha have testified to what most holy Antenora said, and apprentice Sana has stated that you are the only such person she can think that Antenora meant¡ Following the oracle, a conclave was convened on emergency notice, and it was determined that the church should move to bring you into our ranks. Would you consider terminating your engagement with Lord Dominic and taking us up on this? For the will of the gods.¡±
NO! Absolutely not! Working with the church as a champion would be one thing, no way in HELL am I joining it as a priestess! The thought of directly serving the gods like that made me shiver. I smiled and shook my head, ¡°My apologies, honorable cardinal. My engagement is recognized with the third prince as a witness; I cannot break it off so easily.¡±
The Cardinal nodded, ¡°Of course, I understand this is not something that can happen right away; the church will move behind the scenes to arrange things for you¡ I cannot divulge the contents of the oracle to you until you have sworn your vows, but know that it is considered by us to be of higher importance than the will of the kingdom¡ and the will of a single noble girl.¡± He fixed me with a hard stare as he spoke the final words. Fuck. It looks like that cunt bitch is determined to keep me under her thumb¡ I¡¯ll need to figure a way out of this, definitely tell the count¡ but if I do that, it will make it harder to get out of the engagement with Dominic later¡
¡°Most honorable cardinal¡ Are you perhaps, threatening me? If I really were Caina¡¯s friend, would it serve the church to do something as brash as pursuing me so forcefully?¡± I spoke while forcing the coldest tone I could without deactivating the remaining emotions of [Cold Hearted], mostly to buy myself time to think. Contrary to my expectations, a flash of unease crossed the cardinal¡¯s face, and he shook his head.
¡°No¡ we would not be so rash as that. Apprentice Sana would likely wish to know the fate of Ris, I shall take my leave now and allow the two of you time to discuss things. Feel free to use the room for as long as you would like.¡± Standing abruptly, the cardinal moved to exit the room. I¡ scared him just now, didn¡¯t I? I didn¡¯t realize I had placed that much edge into my voice but interpreting what I had said especially with the context of whatever the oracle was.
I¡¯m sure I haven¡¯t heard the end of this, but I managed to buy myself time. Even if it was accidental. But an adult taking a threat from a twelve-year-old girl that seriously? Especially in a male-dominated society such as this¡ The threat itself can¡¯t be everything to it¡ Jacqueline has mentioned a few times before that I emit real bloodlust when I get very angry, to think that I feel that strongly about the gods now¡ I must have made him feel like I was going to cut his balls off or something¡ Sana pulled me out of my thoughts by shaking my arm.
¡°Lady Stahlia, can you silence the room? I need to speak privately with you¡¡± Her voice was low, barely above a whisper, such that it wouldn¡¯t carry far. I glanced around the room and then nodded.
¡°Alright, it must be something really important then. [Silence]¡¡± after hesitating for a moment, I added another spell on top of the first. I¡¯m technically in the temple¡¯s inner sanctum, I may as well be careful. I¡¯ve made enough mistakes today already.
¡°Oh Wind, Cover this room in a gale. With ferocity, cut the connection to far places. Muddle the movement of mouths of me and allies. [Complete Silence]¡± It was a spell I had made up on the spot, with the idea that it would also be able to obscure magical means of eavesdropping.
I felt an inordinate amount of mana drain, causing me to fear I may have screwed up the incantation. After consuming around a hundred fifty points of mana, I heard a large crack. Turning to the source of the sound, I saw that one of the statues had a small crack running down the middle, and faint wisps of wind were surrounding it. It severed the connection to a distant place presumably¡ Well, let¡¯s see what Sana has to say then. This would quite possibly come back to bite me later, though by implying that the church had been spying on a member of the third prince¡¯s faction I could probably deflect the worst of that. Turning to my friend, I nodded, ¡°Alright, the room is safe to speak in.¡±
3-15 Regret
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
¡°Thank you, Stahlia.¡± Sana bowed her head to me before continuing, ¡°¡Stahlia why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±
Huh? ¡®Why didn¡¯t I tell you?¡¯ Tell you what¡? ¡°Sana, what did I not tell you? I apologize, but I haven¡¯t the faintest idea what you¡¯re talking about¡¡±
Sana shot me a glare, ¡°I suppose it makes sense. Now that I think about it, back in our village. All those times you got me to help you sneak out. How you¡¯re able to do so many things. Why you went out without me and Sarala in Ang. How you were able to save Ris from the goblins. I just wish you had told me.¡±
Alright, this isn¡¯t good. What has she figured out then? It was certainly one of only two things, my status as a champion, or my circumstances as a reincarnation. The former was drastically more likely. For now, I¡¯ll try and get her to say it, just to make sure, ¡°Sana, are you talking about¡¡±
I left my sentence to trail off, hoping it would prompt her to speak further. Thankfully, it did, ¡°Yes! You being the cursed champion!¡± So it was that after all. Well, I can¡¯t fault the name, I would certainly consider myself in that manner; this shit is a curse. But how did she find out?
I let my shoulders visibly sag, ¡°¡How did you find out?¡± Confirming was dangerous, but I was reasonably sure that there was no chance of anyone in the church finding out. If she had told anyone, then I had a good feeling that the meeting with the cardinal just now would have gone very differently. This also confirms whether or not the champions are known or not; at the very least, the church knows about at least the Champion of Winter. Alright, let¡¯s set some goals, Sana is my friend, but at the moment she¡¯s also a source of information.
By the end of this conversation, I decided I wanted to know how Sana had figured it out, why she hadn¡¯t told anybody, and if possible, what that oracle detailed. If I could learn that last thing, it would potentially give me a leg up on the church in their efforts to induct me. Sana blinked for a moment, surprise was written plainly on her face, ¡°¡I was expecting you to try and avoid answering me¡¡±
I shrugged, ¡°Well, I don¡¯t see the point; I wasn¡¯t planning on telling you but since you figured it out, I don¡¯t mind that you know.¡± I intentionally used less refined speech, hoping to demonstrate my sincerity and reduce the distance between us. It was a bit manipulative, and I was certain I would feel bad about it later, but I needed at least the first two questions answered.
Sana smiled a bit awkwardly, ¡°Well, I wish you had told me, but I¡¯ll settle for you ¡®not minding¡¯ me knowing. But I guess you don¡¯t really get that at this point; I thought you had changed in Ang after you came back from the forest. You¡¯ve already started giving up your humanity, huh.¡±
I felt my heart jump into my throat. I, it makes sense that the church knows about that¡ they call the winter champion ¡°cursed¡± and all. But hearing Sana say outright that I was acting inhuman was jolting. I¡¯m¡ I¡¯m making a lot of progress, as far as getting over that is concerned¡ ¡°Yea¡ some stuff happened in the forest, with the demon.¡±
Nodding, Sana gave me a bit of a sad smile, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, now that I know you were serving the gods, I¡¯ll do my best to help you.¡±
Right, though what you can do is probably really limited¡ ¡°For now, can you tell me how you found out?¡±
Sana nodded, and then, as if she was saying nothing major at all, she announced, ¡°Most holy Antenora told me.¡±
¡°¡What?¡± I could only raise my eyebrow.
¡°Yea, when most holy Antenora gave the oracle to me and my sisters, she called me the ¡®Friend of her champion¡¯. Given your blessing from the dedication, and your actions so far, it wasn¡¯t hard to figure out who she meant.¡± THAT FUCKING BITCH! I reflexively tightened my jaw and could feel a vein popping on my forehead. Sana recoiled a bit at my reaction. With a great deal of effort, I forced myself to calm down.
I was sorely tempted to use [Cold Hearted], but I didn¡¯t want to lose this anger. If I was no longer angry at the gods for how they were playing games with me, there was a good chance I would become complacent. Still, I need to work on my emotional outbursts. Getting this upset¡ Well, in a way it¡¯s justified, that trash goddess tried to get Sana involved in her plots. But I shouldn¡¯t scare Sana.
Sufficiently calmed, I apologized to Sana. It was, unfortunately, not an entirely convincing apology, but she took it in stride. It¡¯s probably best if I move the conversation along, I¡¯ll make sure to apologize again, once I move past Asten. ¡°Alright, Sana, if Antenora said that to you and your sisters am I right to assume that the church knows as well?¡±
Sana shook her head, ¡°No, the church doesn¡¯t know. Sable and Misha didn¡¯t hear it exactly, they said the words were muddled a bit; it was them who said that most holy Antenora called me ¡®friend of the friend of my sister.¡¯ though I was the one who said it was probably you.¡±
So you were the one who got me involved in this¡ But if you heard her clearly¡ why did you lie to the church¡? ¡°Sana¡ did you lie?¡±
Sana¡¯s face turned mildly angry at the suggestion that she had lied to the church. ¡°I most certainly did not! Lying to a higher-ranked member of the church is a grave sin! If you are the Champion of Winter, then you would also be Caina¡¯s friend, would you not?¡±
That¡¯s¡ that¡¯s really flimsy reasoning, but I guess you¡¯re not wrong? But why in the world would you even come to that conclusion in the first place¡? I imagine the first impulse would have been to tell. After all, from your point of view, I¡¯m sure being a champion is a great honor. Even if it is the so-called cursed champion, ¡°Sana, why didn¡¯t you just tell them that I was the champion?¡±
When in doubt, it¡¯s best to just ask I guess. Somehow, I feel like unless I¡¯m explicit, I won¡¯t get any real answers¡ Sana blinked and showed a confused look on her face, ¡°¡Right¡ why didn¡¯t I tell the cardinal¡?¡± After a moment her confusion vanished. Nodding, ¡°Right, it¡¯s more interesting if I don¡¯t tell him.¡±
It¡¯s¡ more interesting? What the hell is that supposed to mean¡? I could only speculate, but I had the sneaking suspicion that someone or something had messed with Sana¡¯s head, in order to stop her from telling the church about me. Antenora? No. If she didn¡¯t want Sana to say anything, she wouldn¡¯t have called Sana the ¡®friend of my champion¡¯. It¡¯s safe to say that Antenora was trying to tie me to the church.
So, who or whatever muddled Sana¡¯s thought process wants me away from the church¡ the demons? The demons were a possibility, but that would mean Sana had been compromised at some point. Sitri could have done something¡ But I feel like Antenora, a literal goddess, would have noticed if there was some sort of demon ability on her. Then again, Antenora didn¡¯t do anything about Dominic¡¯s charm on me¡
Let¡¯s just move on for now, with the knowledge that thanks to someone messing with my friend¡¯s head, my secret is safe from the church¡ With two of my original goals answered, I hesitated. Asking too much would potentially push her away from me. Well, just asking once and then respecting her answer shouldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°I see, Sana, would you tell me what else Antenora said? The rest of the oracle?¡±
She shrugged and laid it out for me, ¡°Well, you already know part of it. Most holy Antenora spoke of the advent of the Second Seat of the Nine Kings.¡± Well, no. I knew that was something that was going to happen. Knowing that it has happened is good though. But, it sounds like there¡¯s a part two to this. I took a sip of my juice and nodded at Sana, prompting her to continue.
¡°As for the other thing, there¡¯s a thirteenth god!¡± Sana¡¯s eyes were sparkling as she told me, and she seemed barely able to contain her excitement.
For my part, I was choking. Ahk! A what!? It was just what I needed. Twelve of the fuckers was a big enough pain in my ass, and now I was being told they had multiplied. Sana nodded emphatically and passed me a cloth to wipe the dribble of juice from my chin, ¡°I know, it¡¯s certainly exciting. Though I¡¯m not so sure what most holy Antenora meant specifically; the exact words were ¡®a thirteenth god was briefly born.¡¯ That part confused the cardinal as well. Records show that the details are usually a lot more consistent.¡±
Sana¡¯s words, once again, caused my heart to jump. Hesitating, as I was actually a bit scared of the answer, I asked her, ¡°Sana¡ when did¡ when did the oracle get made?¡±
¡°The twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month. I¡¯ve had to wait nearly four months to tell you!¡± She put on a tone of faux outrage at the last part, but I wasn¡¯t paying that much attention; I had just come to a sickening realization.
The twenty-fourth¡ that was when I used my [Divine Authority] to grant Jacqueline [Charm Immunity], before falling into a coma¡ Mortis said that his ¡°authority¡± was over death. What if he meant he had the skill [Divine Authority(Death)]? If that¡¯s the case, then I used the power of a god to influence the system¡ then the ¡°thirteenth god being ¡®briefly¡¯ born¡± ¡was me? I did my best to recall the specific contents of the notice windows I had seen while using my authority. However, like all of my windows, the specifics were vague and fuzzy.
I¡¯m pretty sure it said something about ¡°lacking Divine Element¡±, and charged me a year of life. At the time, I figured that it meant that the skill required mana aspected with Divine Element, but what if it meant something else? Some key difference that sets a human apart from a god?
¡°Stahlia, are you alright? You look faint.¡±
Jerking up, I saw Sana watching me with concern written across her face. Right, questions for later. So many questions, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Just¡ overwhelmed. A thirteenth god is¡ it¡¯s monumental isn¡¯t it.¡±
Sana smiled happily, ¡°Yes! It¡¯s a great event indeed!¡± I could only smile wanly at my friend¡¯s excitement. Well, this was a lot more fruitful than I thought it would be. At this point, I should probably make sure there isn¡¯t anything Sana wants to ask¡ it bothers me that she¡¯s had something done to her, but I shouldn¡¯t go poking at that blindly. It was a difficult decision to make; I wanted to help her, but I couldn¡¯t lie to myself that Sana being prevented from telling the church about me was a great aid.
There also wasn¡¯t that much I could do. I could potentially grant her a skill or talent, but that would put me into a coma again. Not to mention, without knowing what exactly was done, I wouldn¡¯t know what to give her. It could be a charm, or it could be confusion or outright mind control¡ and she isn¡¯t that high leveled, so her LP total will be fairly low.
¡°Sana, that¡¯s everything I want to know. Before the cardinal comes back, is there anything you wanted to hear about Ris? The priest wished for me to carry you his good wishes, and the knowledge that he prays for your success every day.¡±
At my statement, Sana became wistful and got a distant look in her eyes, ¡°¡A whole year, huh¡¡±
I frowned, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sana, did you say something?¡±
She shook her head, ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing important. Stahlia¡ could you send a letter for me? Just let the priest know that I¡¯m doing well and pray for his health.¡± I mean, yea, I could do that. But why don¡¯t you?
¡°I think, that he would prefer to get such a letter from you though?¡± Phrasing my statement as a question, I also slipped back into my more noble manner of speech.
Sana shook her head, appearing sad for a moment before gritting her teeth and wiping the frown off her face, ¡°No, that isn¡¯t possible. We aren¡¯t allowed into the city without permission. If I were to try and write a letter, the cardinal wouldn¡¯t let me send it. My apologies, forget I asked.¡±
He wouldn¡¯t let you send it? Why in the world¡? I was about to ask Sana what she meant when the door opened and the cardinal called out. No sound reached my ears though, and in a rush, I disabled my custom silence spell. Ah¡ I forgot to account for letting a door knock or some other signal through¡ With the spell now terminated, the cardinal likely noticed he could hear what was going on inside the room again, as he repeated himself, ¡°Lady Stahlia, apprentice Sana. My apologies, but Lady Stahlia has been called back by Lord Francois.¡±
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Throughout this all, he pointedly avoided looking at the broken statue. I made a mental note to casually mention to the third prince the fact that the church had placed me in a room with an active listening tool. Glancing at Sana, I saw that she had effected a calm and composed face, but her lip was quivering slightly. I¡¯ll write that letter I think, and inquire as to what exactly she meant by ¡°the cardinal wouldn¡¯t let me send it.¡± It was the least I could do for my friend. I¡¯ll also have to find a way to check up on her from time to time and watch to make sure that whatever happened to her mind isn¡¯t having any other effects.
I had set out today with a few simple goals, and now had a veritable swamp of things to take care of. And so far, my only actual ally is still Jacqueline. I had originally been planning to start sounding out Edith, but given the circumstances of our meeting, I hadn¡¯t been able to do so.
The cardinal handed me and Jacqueline off to the same attendant priest as before, and we were escorted out of the temple. Apparently, they wanted to get me out of there as soon as possible, because the guide took a somewhat altered route. While convoluted, it skipped around most of the paintings, so we only had to stop a couple of times.
Once I was back on my carriage, I slumped back. While I hadn¡¯t noticed at the moment, I had been in a state of high tension since I stepped foot within the temple. There was no real way for me to be able to tell if that tension was from being so close to the gods, from the fear over the church¡¯s machinations, or some other source. Most likely, it was a combination of all of the above.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
While heading back to the Francois Estate, I took a moment to collect myself and iron out all the major points and new information I had learned, as well as try and figure out what my next actions should be. I had learned that Antenora was definitely not acting in my best interests. Well, I had already known that. I had learned she was actively acting against them now though.
I had also learned that there was something that was, if not on my side, at least for now helping me avoid some of the god¡¯s schemes. That someone was fairly powerful as well since they had interfered with the actions of a goddess. Tangential to that was the knowledge that the church was not only aware of the existence of champions, they even had some idea as to what abilities they had. At least enough of an idea to name the Champion of Winter ¡°cursed¡± and describe the loss of humanity that would come from the overuse of [Cold Hearted].
I¡¯ll have to ask Sana what she knows about the other champions when I get the chance. That information would most likely turn out extremely useful. The only reason I hadn¡¯t done so, was to avoid monopolizing the conversation. As it was, I had sort of wound up doing that anyway. Then when I asked Sana if she had anything she wanted to know, she had wound up getting extremely depressed. Definitely need to send the priest that letter.
As for the rest of my future actions, I now had to contend with the church trying to recruit me. On one hand, it was a way out of my engagement. On the other hand, hell no. The absolute last thing I want is to become a willing pawn of those gods. I would actually rather get married and have his kids like a good noble wife than that. No, joining the church was so much of a last resort that it wasn¡¯t even on the list of possible resorts.
¡There¡¯s my hatred of the gods as well. I feel like I might be overreacting a bit recently¡ something to keep an eye on. No, I needed a way out of both the engagement to Dominic and a way to dodge the church. For the latter, I could do what I had thought of earlier, and tell Count Francois. I was certain he would be able to head them off, given his position within the third prince¡¯s faction. But relying on him would basically all but seal my engagement in stone. There would be no way to get out of it after taking out such a large favor.
Again, I circled around to the idea of trying to get into another noble house. Either the Claurence or the Lawrence Dukedoms. The issue with that was the lack of candidates. While Edith had a younger brother she had no older brothers. The younger brother was also a bit too young; by the time he was fifteen and allowed to marry I would be in my early twenties, legally.
The Lawrence house, aside from the issue of them having taken over from the Despita, didn¡¯t have a valid candidate at the moment either; Duke Lawrence had only one son, who was already married. There was the possibility of trying to enter the house as a second wife or a concubine, but while arranging a political marriage was one thing, I didn¡¯t feel comfortable going with the latter route.
Actually, when did I get comfortable with the thought of getting married in the first place¡? When I left for winter break, I certainly didn¡¯t think this way¡ so¡ something changed in Ris? The only three things that came to mind were my re-bonding with my immediate family; that had certainly had an effect on me. Then there was the goblin slaughter, which had also affected me. But I doubted that the effects of the goblin slaughter would cause my opinions regarding marriage to change that drastically.
Then, the third thing. Going into a coma and aging a year? According to Jacqueline, I¡¯m a bit closer to where my body should be now¡ as if that growth spurt corrected an issue of some kind. If I assume that my entire body aged forward a year, then¡ Ah. That realization made a whole lot of things click into place. I was twelve now, and had started puberty two years ago according to my biological age.
So, the overreacting bursts of anger, my general attitude changes, my forgetfulness and sensitivity to people pushing me around¡ Great, I guess that is going to happen soon. It was exceedingly likely, given what I knew, that my body was currently experiencing a hormone spike. I would probably have my first period this month or the next. A thought that caused me to shudder. Jacqueline picked up on my reaction and looked at me questioningly.
¡°Jacqueline¡ have I been acting abnormally recently?¡± Jacqueline paused and thought for a moment before nodding.
¡°Yes, now that you mention it. You have seemed a bit distracted, and prone to bouts of anger over minor things. You¡¯ve been eating a bit more than usual as well.¡± After a moment she added, ¡°From what you told me of your memories, am I correct to assume that you are asking because you suspect that Nymphos will soon grace you?¡±
The mention of one of the goddesses made my eyebrow twitch, so I took a moment to forcibly stop it before I nodded grimly, ¡°Yes, I was considering that possibility.¡±
Jacqueline gave me a reassuring smile, ¡°Then, I shall prepare additional luggage. Just in case.¡±
It took me a moment to connect what Jacqueline was saying. Once I realized the meaning of the word ¡°luggage¡± I blushed bright red and turned my head away from Jacqueline to hide my face. Doing my best to tune out Jacqueline¡¯s giggle and grumbled to myself, ¡°It¡¯s not like I want to deal with this shit¡¡±
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Following a bland meeting with Count Francois, in which I told him the absolute bare minimum about what the church had wanted, I retired to my bedroom. Thankfully my side building was fairly well isolated. The past few days, since returning to Drakas, I had been using my own bedroom for my nightly ritual. Today would be no different. Once Lucy and Frieda had left my room; I had established that Jacqueline would be the one staying in the attached attendant room. In retrospect, the way I had done it was perhaps a bit touchy, but it served my purposes.
Since I was doing this in my room now, I no longer needed Jacqueline¡¯s help to loosen my clothes. The nightgown I had been given was already loose enough. Sitting in the middle of my bed, I watched as Jacqueline moved around the room locking windows and the doors. She looked over at me for confirmation and I nodded. Jacqueline cast silence and I closed my eyes. Right, let¡¯s do this then. Enable Remorse.
At my mental command, my remorse switched on and I was once again confronted with all the things I should have felt guilty about over the course of the day. Most things were small; I had been a bit short with Elienor, I had been irritated with Lucy just doing her job and looking out for me. Other things were a bit harsher; I was confronted with how I had scared Sana with my angry outburst.
Still, those were all simple enough to move past. The hard parts always came after. I found myself sitting back in the room in front of Sana, ¡°No¡ he wouldn¡¯t let me send the letter, even if I wrote one.¡±
The skill¡¯s recreation of my memory amplified Sana¡¯s sad expression, dialing up the emotional weight by adding tears. I felt my stomach lurch and had to fight to keep down dinner. We had placed a bucket in the room, and if I lost control Jacqueline would help keep my aim intact. Soiling the bed would simply create more work for my maids, and more guilt for me. Even so, I knew now how to get over things like this before the blowback got too harsh.
¡°Sana, I¡¯m sorry I asked why you couldn¡¯t do it yourself; I¡¯m going to write that letter, and get to the bottom of things.¡± The trick was to avoid speaking empty words; I meant what I was saying to the figment of Sana.
The skill manifestation smiled wanly and shook its head, ¡°No¡ it¡¯s too late don¡¯t worry about me. Find your sister.¡±
I felt a lightning dagger lance through the front of my head. So, this one is really bad then. Over the past half a year, I had gradually become able to categorize how guilty different scenarios made me based on the amount of blowback I was forced to endure. This one with Sana was on the high end. In a way, it was a testament to how much I cared about her. I bowed my head and let the headache assault me while doing my best to control my stomach. After a few moments of enduring I met the figment¡¯s eyes, ¡°Even so, I am sorry, Sana. I¡¯ll send the letter, but you¡¯re right; I won¡¯t be able to help you with your problems for some time yet. I¡¯m sorry about that, but I have to find Rosial.¡±
The figment of Sana opened and closed its mouth as tears began to trickle from the corners of its eyes. Forcing myself to hold that resolve, I maintained eye contact until the manifestation of my guilt had faded. That one was on the higher end, so I would guess that next is¡ yea. I felt the memory of a moonlit forest clearing flood through my head once again. Sitri was standing over me. I was too injured to do much of anything. Jacqueline, Dominic, and Asten were unconscious. Stil was putting on a brave front, but in this memory world, I could see his fear clearly. Stil had known how outclassed we were from the moment Sitri arrived. But he had still followed my orders loyally.
Stil isn¡¯t why I keep getting dragged back here though. I exerted my will on the memory world and dragged my body to its feet. Ignoring Sitri, as she wouldn¡¯t actually do anything, I moved to Asten¡¯s side. This was a trick I had learned just a month ago; by enduring the constant pain and nausea I was able to manipulate the skill¡¯s manifestations. Once I had learned how to do this, I had become able to clear the lesser trials much more efficiently. But as of yet, I hadn¡¯t been able to get past this one.
I had tried forgiving myself. I had tried asking the manifestation of Asten for forgiveness. I had tried swearing to kill Sitri and avenge him. I had tried a dozen and more other things, but I was still stuck in this quagmire. The past handful of nights, I had simply sat with his unconscious body until the pain in my head and stomach grew too much to bear and I was forced to disable remorse. The memory had him in an unconscious state, so it wasn¡¯t like I could actually interact with him much.
I sat with him for hours, but since this was a memory, it may well have just been minutes. Or no time at all. Eventually, I would be forced out by the pain and discomfort. Three to four hours would have passed in real-time. But in this memory, time was still. I just wish¡ I knew¡ what I was getting myself into. If that damned death god hadn¡¯t come and put me on a suicide mission, then this wouldn¡¯t have happened! The thought of Mortis and his stupid beak mask made my blood boil. This wasn¡¯t the first time I had followed this train of thought, and I knew it wouldn¡¯t lead anywhere helpful.
But it feels good to vent my frustrations. After all, it¡¯s his fault. Everything wrong with this world can be traced back to those fucking assholes calling themselves gods. If not the twelve, then the two above them. Those bastards created the Nine Kings in the first place! I slammed my hand down on the memory grass. There wasn¡¯t any feeling of impact, but the movement felt good.
For another length of time, I stewed in irritation and anger at the gods. Is it something in my contract with Sitri that prevents me from forgiving myself? I ran through the implanted memories of the negotiation with Sitri. Just like the last dozen or so times I had that thought I didn¡¯t find anything. I¡¯m just going in circles, like a hamster on some sort of divine wheel, I¡¯m starting to see why winter is the ¡°cursed champion¡±. ¡Maybe I should just call it quits early tonight.
The headache had been progressing steadily, and I had a feeling I wouldn¡¯t be able to resist the urge to vomit much longer. Yea that sounds good. Getting angry isn¡¯t going to help anything, I¡¯ll just try again tomorrow night¡ I was about to send the command to my skill to turn off remorse when I paused. I had a sudden thought. Getting angry? I was angry, because of the gods using me. Everything that had happened to me seemed to be playing into their divine plan or some bullshit.
But¡ is it really their fault? Antenora¡ Just thinking about her made me angry. After hesitating, I turned off anger; It was a risk, but I was onto something, I just knew it. I couldn¡¯t let my hormonal screwy emotions get in the way of this. Antenora¡ told me Rosial was still alive. Without her, I wouldn¡¯t have recovered from my depression nearly as quickly as I did. I wouldn¡¯t have gotten Jacqueline on my side. Sure, she gave me the [Blessing of Winter] in the first place, basically tricking me into becoming a champion. So in a way, it¡¯s partially her fault that I¡¯m in this predicament now¡
But I was the one who willfully turned on the skill. I was the one who came to rely on it¡ Mortis as well. He told me about Sitri. He probably, no he definitely knew that fight was impossible for me. But if I had stopped to think for even two seconds I could have figured that out as well¡ Sure, he set me up, but I walked into the trap. He¡¯s in the wrong for setting the trap, but it was my cockiness that led to the situation.
I glanced down at Asten¡¯s unconscious body. A sharp lance of pain seared my skull, causing me to grunt. Urk! I¡¯m almost out of time¡ ¡°Asten, I¡¯m sorry. All this time, I¡¯ve thought I was taking responsibility. But deep down I was blaming Mortis, blaming Antenora, blaming the Goddess of Light and the God of Dark¡ Sure, they aren¡¯t blameless. But the fault was mine; it was my choice to go out that night. My choice not to turn back after you and Dominic joined¡ I¡¯m sorry.¡±
As the apology left my lips, a wave of nausea washed over me. This one was too much to bear, and I felt my stomach contents begin to rise. But that didn¡¯t matter now; Asten¡¯s body was starting to fade. The grass, dirt, and trees were starting to fade. Jacqueline, Dominic, Stil, and Sitri were starting to fade. The memory was fading.
¡°I¡¯m sorry Asten! For everything¡ I promise¡ I won¡¯t forget the lessons I learned¡¡± The memory faded completely, and I found myself looking down into a bucket of sick. Jacqueline was dabbing at my mouth with a washcloth while doing her best to support me without her arm. Looking down at her stump, I felt a twinge of guilt. I was out of the enforced guilt state and I still had my remorse enabled. I had beaten the skill. I felt tears begin to build up in my eyes.
As the tears continued to fall, I fixed Asten¡¯s face in my mind. Not relying on [Eidetic Memory]. I treated it the same way I did the contents of my menus and did my best to fix it into my natural memory. I meant every word I said to my memory of him; I would never forget.
3-16 Funeral
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
I was on top of the world and riding an emotional high. Jacqueline gave me a reproving look, as I had started smiling again. These past few days had been absolutely amazing; three days ago, I had finally managed to overcome my emotional trauma from Asten¡¯s death. While I had etched his face into my memory, I still felt giddy about no longer having to struggle with my guilt every night.
In a way, it was also a victory over the gods who had foisted the skill on me in the first place. Even if I was the one who went and used it, they were the ones who set it in front of me. They¡¯re at least¡ twenty percent culpable. I had learned with Asten that I couldn¡¯t get away with blaming the gods for everything, but that didn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t going to hold them accountable for putting the choice in front of me in the first place.
Still, Jacqueline had a point; I needed to stop grinning. Especially not in the dress I was currently being installed in. This was a black dress designed to be worn to somber events. It was devoid of any embroidery or extra frills. The fact that I actually owned such a piece came as a bit of a surprise. Dresses took time to make, and there were few occasions where such a dress would be needed since funerals were such a private affair in Drakas.
Still, I suppose the mentality that it¡¯s better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have it applies. It¡¯s not like owning it is causing me any harm, and I know my family can afford it. Though the fact that I was still in my growth stage gave me a bit of pause. But knowing Jacqueline it would be easily adjustable.
In any event, the reason I was wearing this dress now was that today was the day of the second prince¡¯s funeral. It was a public procession that would bear his body from the gates of the city, up to the summit of the mountain. To where the Tomb of the Royal Family was located. In all of the city, that tomb was the only structure located higher than the palace. The idea was for the former kings to lay their final resting place at the feet of the gods.
As for my part and why I was getting dressed up, my absence would be seen as a slight on behalf of my father towards the crown. Likewise, if I broke out into a smile while watching the procession or god forbid began giggling, then I was also insulting the royal family. It¡¯s a very¡ draconian funeral for sure. For once, even if I wanted to use it, [Cold Hearted] would be unable to help me. It couldn¡¯t do anything about the emotions of happiness or joy.
Still, I don¡¯t have to do too much, and I¡¯ll be next to Dominic the whole time, so if I ever feel a smile forming I can just look at him and get rid of it. I wasn¡¯t a member of the procession like Count Francois was, but Dominic and I were expected to be standing with Elienor, Margeritte, and all the rest of the immediate family members who were present in the capital.
That did put me among the Francois family, but the engagement was already established. If I could get away with it, I would have liked to be elsewhere, to start a rumor that things weren¡¯t going well with me and Dominic. That would possibly blunt some of the fallout when we did break off the engagement. But I didn¡¯t have a good enough excuse to get away with that, and Count Francois would certainly realize my motives.
His recent maneuverings and actions taken solely to remind me of my place were a good indicator of that. I honestly have to wonder if he¡¯s realized I¡¯m actively looking for a way out. Or maybe he¡¯s just worried that another house will approach me, and he wants to dissuade me from jumping over to them. ¡°Ackhcheew!¡±
I broke out into a coughing fit and sneezed as the powder that was being dusted onto my face went down my nose. Due to my age, I didn¡¯t often wear makeup at all. Maybe a small amount of blush. But for this funeral, I was getting the full works applied to me. A waste of time in my opinion, as my skin remained stubbornly pale, to the point that I actually couldn¡¯t tell much of a difference between it and the chosen powder.
Lucy, who was doing my make-up, apologized but I waved her off. This one was my fault for breathing in at the wrong time. Briefly, I considered that Jacqueline probably would have managed something stupid, like counting my breaths and timing the powder application around it. But owing to her missing arm, makeup was one of the few things Jacqueline apparently struggled with now.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it Lucy, it wasn¡¯t your fault at all.¡± I earned a smile for that, and the dark elf thanked me. Life is a lot better when I can give a sincere apology. Just as Lucy was finishing up my makeup, there came a knock at the door. Frieda was the one to answer it; I only just noticed that Jacqueline had left me at some point after getting me into the funeral dress.
After poking her head outside, Frieda came back inside and addressed me, ¡°Lady Stahlia, Lord Dominic is here. How should I answer him?¡±
I pushed back the urge to sigh, ¡°Please tell him that I will be out shortly.¡± Frieda gave a small curtsy and returned to the door. Lucy applied just a little bit more make-up and pronounced me ready. I feel like a children¡¯s coloring book¡ One thing was for certain, I had decided I was not a fan of high amounts of make-up. This was my first experience with it, and while I could acknowledge that I didn¡¯t look half bad, I felt gross having so much crap caked onto my face.
Exiting the room, I was met by Dominic, who was dressed in a black suit of sorts, though like my dress it lacked ornamentation. Upon seeing me, he nodded, ¡°Stahlia, while it may not be appropriate given the occasion, you look nice in the dress¡ I think I prefer your face without make-up though.¡±
Alright then. I mean, I agree with you. But you don¡¯t say that! Thankfully, my plan was working. As soon as Dominic opened his mouth, I lost my earlier giddiness. Reaching out my hand to take his arm, I was careful to keep an even face, ¡°Shall we go then?¡±
Dominic received my hand and escorted me out of my room and then out into the courtyard, where I met Elienor and Margeritte. Sanatori, the wife of Dominic¡¯s oldest brother was also present. The brother in question, Nietzsche, was absent. Since he managed the family¡¯s domain I had actually yet to meet him. Also absent was Dominic¡¯s other older brother, Fredrick. He would be serving in the procession as a member of the Royal Order of Knights.
The two women and Elienor were both dressed similarly to me. Although Margeritte¡¯s did have a few bits of somber d¨¦cor in the form of black embroidery that caused the dress to shimmer slightly as she moved. We still had a few hours before the start of the procession, which would apparently be filled with a somber meal and a toast to the prince¡¯s memory. Not that I have any memories of this prince; I never even met him.
As far as members of the Royal Family were concerned, I had met only two. The Third Prince had come to my home village, in order to approve my engagement. Thinking about that, why the hell would he do that? Even if he¡¯s friends with my father. I¡¯ll have to think about asking when I have my interview¡ or maybe not. Digging into the personal affairs of Royalty is probably not the best idea. I had also met the king at one point, though only briefly. I would presumably see him again at this year¡¯s school entrance ceremony.
Dominic guided me to a seat at the table that had been installed in the yard and helped me into a chair. I was sure it was the lingering charm talking, but a small part of me was pleased with the gesture. I pushed that feeling to the deepest, furthest, and darkest corner of my being as I could. Looking out over the table, the food was simpler than normal, plainer. What would normally be a spread with several dishes ranging from moderately fancy to truly fancy, was today a simple affair of a light soup and bread.
It still tasted excellent, but given what I had become accustomed to eating, there was just something off about it. I suppose the point is to show solidarity or something. Not that it matters much, and it¡¯s good we aren¡¯t fasting. No longer vomiting every night, I had recently become something of a food snob. I was having Jacqueline manage my diet to avoid becoming fat, but I had been indulging myself to some degree. That would be something to watch out for, getting a reputation as a glutton would be bad for my social plans. But for now, I want to celebrate a little.
We ate mostly in silence, this was after all a funeral of sorts. A few small words were said here and there, but overall nothing much of substance. In general, all of the women complimented each other¡¯s appearances, or someone asked for an item from one of the servants. Even with such a simple spread, the meal was still multiple courses and so I was forced to deal with the awkward semi-silence for almost the full two hours. Finally, the incredibly awkward meal ended, and Margeritte suggested that we move to the gates of the estate. The funeral procession would begin to pass us by in only a few more minutes.
Dominic reached out before I had a chance to move and gripped my hand, the suddenness of the action caused me to wince slightly though it didn¡¯t actually hurt. He glanced over at me with a raised eyebrow, ¡°Something the matter, Stahlia?¡±
I gave him a long stare, wondering if he had even noticed how abrupt he had been. No, he probably didn¡¯t. Shaking my head I replied in an even tone, ¡°No, nothing is the matter¡ should we go?¡±
Dominic watched me for a moment, looking like he wanted to say something, but he simply exhaled through his nose and merely nodded. Leading me by my still tightly gripped hand, we moved to the entrance gates of the Estate. There were of course no chairs, but thankfully we wouldn¡¯t be standing here for very long. Most probably the whole affair would be over in only thirty minutes, and from there we would head to the noble gathering at the school.
I had thought that the gathering being held at the school was a bit odd. After considering it though, the fact that the King, the remaining princes, and the high-ranking faction members would be occupied at the palace with the more private funeral, it made sense to have those uninvolved nobles not gather at the palace. I craned my neck to look down the street in the direction the procession would come from, but I wasn¡¯t able to spot them just yet.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dominic looking at me with a complicated expression on his face, but I paid it no mind; his concerns were none of mine, and I intended to be through with this engagement before the end of the school year, one way or another. It seemed that things were conspiring to force me to rely heavily on Count Francois, thus becoming stuck with this lot. Especially after the cardinal¡¯s proposal. Subconsciously, I tightened my hand, only noticing when Dominic winced. Of course, I hurriedly loosened my grip, I might dislike him but intentionally causing pain was not something I intended, ¡°Sorry, Dominic. The circumstances have led me to some troubling thoughts.¡±
He gave me a funny look, ¡°I imagine so¡ you must be thinking of Rosial¡¯s funeral. I understand completely¡ Still, that was remarkable strength, you¡¯ve gotten a lot stronger after fighting those goblins huh.¡±
His statement wasn¡¯t a question, but rather a sort of a pensive statement. No shit I¡¯ve gotten stronger, I know you were told how many goblins I killed. As a reincarnation yourself you should understand shit like experience and level differences, so don¡¯t act surprised when I¡¯ve gotten a bit stronger after something like that! I frowned and was about to make a retort when I was thankfully cut off by the sound of drums and rhythmic footfalls.
Turning to look back down the street, I could now see knights on a formation of drummer boys, young squires of the Royal Order of Knights. Each was dressed in an immaculate black pressed military dress uniform. Based on the slight shimmer, I could guess it was some kind of silk. Probably extremely expensive as well.
They were keeping a slow rhythm, at least as far as a marching cadence was concerned. The noise carried though, due to how many of them were matching the rhythm. Five rows of twenty boys, each in step with their own beat. The ability to keep such perfect step and rhythm with each other at their age, no more than fifteen, caused me to briefly direct thoughts of disappointment towards my own knight squire.
Coming up behind them was an honor guard of standard-bearers, each holding a banner decorated with the Moon over the Sun situated above three swords that formed the crest of Drakas. Five columns of three standard bearers marched past, in time to the beat of the drums. Following up behind them came two columns of five mounted knights. While the standard-bearers were dressed in silvery mythril armor, these mounted knights were covered in what at first I thought was gold. It took me a moment to make the connection that their armor was composed of plates of orichalcum.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I had known about the existence of the metal but had never actually seen it. Unlike mythril, which was common enough to be used as a building material, albeit an expensive one, orichalcum was rarely encountered and commanded a hefty price. Not to the same degree as my needed potion ingredient, but enough that most small countries would only have a few pieces of it. I had thought that the parade seemed a bit small in scale, but it seemed for the nobles, the king had decided to go with quality vs quantity. The lower city would likely be swarmed with soldiers in a massive parade by comparison.
After the mounted knights in golden armor came a carriage that was positively jaw-dropping. I honestly had no idea what it was made of, but the intricate carvings set into the rich wood, gold and silver metal reliefs, and glossy finish gave the impression that it must have been worth millions of drak. Behind this carriage was an even more extravagant one, this without a covered top. Though considering the occupants, I was certain that there must be a magical shield of some sort.
As one group, all of us kneeled. Standing stoic in the front of the open-top carriage was of course King Drakas himself. Besides him but a little ways behind were the first and third princes. I fixed the face of the first prince in my mind, letting my [Eidetic Memory] record it. I had seen pictures of him that were quite detailed, but nothing beat the real thing. Having memorized his face, I broke my gaze from the first, and took a moment to observe the third prince; because of my engagement being recognized by him, any changes to it would require his consent as a matter of honor.
To my surprise, I felt as if our eyes had met. No, I didn¡¯t feel it. He was definitely watching me, the way he suddenly looked straight ahead once I looked at him is basically proof of that. No¡ there¡¯s probably not a major reason for it. Considering our upcoming meeting and the reasons that called for it; it only makes sense that he would take a moment to look at me given the chance. He hasn¡¯t actually seen me since I was eight after all.
Following up behind the middle carriage was a third covered carriage. In this one, though I couldn¡¯t see them, rode Count Francois and the five dukes. Count Francois was uniquely placed being so high up in the Third Prince¡¯s faction, though I didn¡¯t envy him being surrounded by dukes all the same. The first carriage had been bearing the body of the late second prince; now that he was dead, it would be the only time he was ahead of his father.
Bringing up the rear of the procession was a perfect mirror of the front, complete with four more mounted knights wearing orichalcum armor. The sheer display of wealth I had just witnessed was mind-boggling. I thought I had grown used to money, as my family was fairly affluent. However, thanks to my memory, I was able to somewhat estimate the value of everything I had just witnessed, and the figure made my head spin.
Once the procession had gotten far enough away for the sound of drums to have faded, Margeritte called everyone together and bid her own maid get a carriage ready for us to take to the Royal Academy. It would be the first time I was back there since leaving for my early winter break. I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t a bit nostalgic. Though I wish I could go on my own carriage. Being paraded around on Dominic¡¯s arm is a bit¡ no it¡¯s very irritating.
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I entered into the same large assembly hall in which the School Social would take place arm in arm with Dominic. Spread out in front of me were hundreds of nobles, all of them dressed in somber blacks and grays. Those who had been members of the second prince¡¯s faction were showing their solidarity with a single red flower pressed into their lapels or around their wrist in a corsage. Once I got a close enough look at one, I recognized it as a Blood Rose. The same flower that had acted as my first and so far only clue about Rosial.
It grew only on battlefields where the ground had run thick with blood. Are¡ are they subtly calling for blood to be shed, for war? I recalled my theory behind the second prince¡¯s death. This¡ this doesn¡¯t bode well. Sure, the kingdom needs to prepare for the war with the hell kings, but declaring war on another nation wouldn¡¯t help with that¡ if the war was in fifty years I could see it. But it¡¯s in three, we¡¯ll be caught with our pants down.
I resolved myself to speak with the third prince at our meeting and try and figure out the king¡¯s intentions. Especially since if it does come to war, there¡¯s a nonzero chance I¡¯ll get drafted or pressed to join the war effort. Especially after I demonstrated Anti-Army magic¡ Goblins were one thing, but snuffing out the lives of hundreds or thousands of humans¡ I would definitely need to turn off empathy to do that and would probably wind up stuck with remorse off all over again.
Though it was a gathering of nobles, there was no food being served, and there was nobody dancing. The music being played was sad and mournful, perfectly matching the atmosphere. It wasn¡¯t a ball or a gala. No, this was a veritable pit of vipers. The adults were moving amongst each other quietly, sounding out how rivals and allies might act in the vacuum created by the death of a contender to the throne.
The kids were not exempted from this either, as I saw Edith was being approached by members of both the third and first prince¡¯s factions. Well, Dominic noticed which faction they belonged to. I hadn¡¯t paid much attention to faction politics until very recently, so there was a surprising amount I didn¡¯t know about the baron and count houses. For once, I might actually have felt genuinely grateful towards him. If only he would be less smug about it.
Dominic had almost immediately taken a condescending tone when I asked about one of the boys who had approached Edith, ¡°What, you don¡¯t know? That would be Lord Dewrin, the first son of Count Handalore. That house is a member of the first prince¡¯s faction. If they approach you just dodge the questions. Honestly, it is a good thing that I am with you tonight if you do not know the factions.¡± I could only grit my teeth, every time he answered a question in that manner. The answers were useful, so I was sure to pay attention. But keeping the irritation off my face is getting difficult¡
I gave Edith a silent, slight nod. She returned it with a minuscule smile that would only be noticeable if you happened to be looking for it. I did want to support my friend, but given the circumstances, I wouldn¡¯t be able to approach her. Still, she¡¯s a lot better at politics than a novice like me. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be able to manage. Now, what¡¯s this problem approaching me? It looks like trouble.
A boy, a little younger than Dominic by appearance, was clearly approaching us. Based on the style and quality of his mourning garb, he was from an affluent household, but I had honestly never seen him before. As the youth closed the distance, Dominic squeezed my hand and whispered, ¡°That would be trouble. Lord Ferris von Febligi. Don¡¯t answer him and let me do the talking.¡± I wanted to retort at that last bit but honestly, it also sounded like a great idea.
Febligi, the Ducal family in charge of the western region, and leader of the first prince¡¯s faction. What would they want, approaching me and Dominic¡? I didn¡¯t actually need to ask myself that, there were two possibilities. The first, was to try and extract information from Dominic, the son of Count Francois, about the future movements of the third prince faction. The second, and in my mind more likely, was to probe me.
I can assume that the Febligi have an information network at least comparable to the Claurence¡¯s network. If that¡¯s the case, they¡¯ll know about what happened in Ris. Considering the political shakeup, it wouldn¡¯t be unthinkable if they want to, ¡°Lady Stahlia I presume? An honor to make your acquaintance. I am Ferris von Febligi, third son of Duke Febligi.¡±
¡Right. After all, the third prince¡¯s faction is pretty open about their intentions. As much as I genuinely would rather leave this to Dominic, now that I had been personally addressed, I was required to respond. I had an option and an opportunity though. Since my engagement was public knowledge, Ferris would know about it. He would also know that I was standing right next to my fianc¨¦. The fact that Dominic would be ignored could only mean that this conversation was meant to probe me about the engagement. How I responded would subtly indicate to everyone my intentions.
If I gave a straight answer and introduced myself, then I would be signaling that I was dissatisfied with the engagement and willing to negotiate. On the other hand, if I deflected the conversation to Dominic, it would be signaling that I had no intentions of maneuvering on my own. The downside is that Dominic is right next to me, so he¡¯ll know how I answer right away¡
Stalling for a bit of time to try and figure out how to proceed, I looked Ferris over. He was much shorter than Dominic, even slightly shorter than me. His hair was the blonde so common in Drakas, but unlike the blue of most people, his eyes were a striking amber. If not for the slight overbite, he would have been cute in a little brother sort of way. I was torn on how to answer, I could feel the gazes of a lot of interested parties on me. Making a subtle announcement here would do wonders for getting out of the engagement.
But on the other hand, it would besmirch the honor of the third prince. If only there was a way I could get away with it, but I honestly can¡¯t think of one¡ unless¡ that might work actually. I put on a smile and delayed. I was able to think pretty quickly when I needed to thanks to my high intelligence stat, and my entire deliberation had spanned only one or two seconds. Now I deliberately waited. A full ten seconds.
This was long enough to signal to a few parties that I was planning to break off the engagement, but at the same time short enough that I could play it off as mere surprise at the fact Ferris had ignored Dominic. Once my time was up, I half bowed my head instead of a full curtsy. This was slightly disrespectful since Ferris¡¯ Ducal house outranked both my own father¡¯s barony and the counts¡¯ titles.
¡°¡A pleasure indeed, Lord Ferris. I am Stahlia von Ris, the first daughter of Baron von Ris. This is my fianc¨¦, Dominic von Francois, third son of Count von Francois.¡± Dominic stepped forward and bowed, while his head was down he shot me an irritated look at being made to wait so long.
¡°I am her fianc¨¦, Dominic von Francois. To what do I owe the pleasure?¡± By omitting Ferris¡¯ title and name, Dominic was also being a bit rude. It could be interpreted by the peanut gallery that we were both asking him to leave.
Ferris ignored Dominic splendidly, an action that was incredibly rude, especially compounded with previously not introducing himself to him before me. Instead, Ferris addressed me directly again, ¡°Lady Stahlia, do you not think you could do better with a different house?¡±
That proposition left me genuinely stunned. I had figured out the purpose of Ferris¡¯ approaching me. But to see it actually stated so bluntly, in front of so many people¡ it was baffling. The Western regions are the center of the military, and the Febligi have a reputation for being soldiers more so than nobles, but this¡ this is an astonishing lack of tact. Now how on earth should I answer that¡? Besides the number of eyes we had attracted previously, it now felt like nearly the whole room was watching this power play between the third sons of the two remaining princes¡¯ factions.
Well, the upfrontedness is nice¡ if there weren¡¯t so many observers I might actually have taken him up on that, but if I say anything now¡ ¡°I do apologize, Lord Ferris. While my engagement is not one of my own volition, I have no complaints. Besides, even if I had thoughts such as those, I could not act without the permission of the third prince.¡±
There, hopefully by name dropping the third prince, he¡¯ll take the hint and stop putting me in a position like this. Besides me and through my hand, I could feel Dominic shaking slightly. A barely contained rage, it felt like he was about to explode. It really would suck if he blew up on a duke¡¯s son¡ at least while I¡¯m still attached to his house, ¡°Lord Ferris, if you will excuse me, I shall be taking my leave.¡± I pulled Dominic away by the arm.
¡°Stahlia, what were you thinking!?¡± Once we had gotten away, Dominic turned to me with such a question. His face was hard, and if I had to put my finger on it, a bit hurt.
Raising my eyebrow, I answered, ¡°Defusing the situation. You were about to snap at him, were you not?¡±
Dominic momentarily looked shocked, then he dropped a bombshell of his own on me ¡°Stahlia, do you¡ do you not want to marry me¡?¡±
What? I mean, yea exactly. But what did I say that let you figure it out¡? ¡Ah¡ It was the part about needing the prince¡¯s permission, wasn¡¯t it? Considering that Dominic had arrived at the conclusion himself, I saw no harm in being truthful now. I shook my head, ¡°It is not about whether I want to or not. Our engagement was arranged, if I had to answer whether or not I was happy with that¡ well, I am not unhappy.¡±
Dominic was about to say something, when he caught sight of another young nobleman approaching us. He set his face in preparation for another politically charged conversation, ¡°...I see.¡±
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Rupert von Drakas, Twenty Years Old, Second Month of 948
Riding in a Carriage for his Brother¡¯s Funeral
Stahlia von Ris huh. For the umpteenth time since receiving that report three months ago, I muttered the name of that girl in my mind. The demons seemed to have plans for her, and I had my own agents working to figure out what those were. But I was up against the Kingdom¡¯s order of shadows in a game of espionage. To say I was on the backfoot would be the understatement of the millennia.
The only saving grace for me was that I was fairly certain Five, or rather, the Fifth Hell King didn¡¯t know that I wasn¡¯t truly under his dominion. Each of the Seven Kings of Sin could enthrall those who were guilty of that sin. Fortunately, I was not guilty of Wrath. I couldn¡¯t be. Nor could I be guilty of any other sin. One of the few perks of my own curse, I had been born without the ability to feel. Logic dictated that a good ruler needed empathy for his subjects, as such I had stepped away from the race for the throne.
But the present situation did not call for a good ruler. They called for a strong ruler. A ruler who could bear the curse of doing what needed to be done. So I had struck a pact with the King of Wrath, all while acting angered. Then, I had done what only I could do, what needed to be done. Killing my brother on the orders of Five, propelling myself towards the throne. I had been working behind the scenes in more ways than just spying though.
As our carriage passed by the Francois¡¯ Estate, I saw Stahlia for the first time in three years. I thought it was a shame you survived when I arranged for you to be sent to Sitri. I was sure that Five had seen through my plan when the clerk was assassinated. But the blade never fell on my neck. Now, I find out that you are most likely the Champion of Winter. I have to wonder what in the world the demons¡¯ king wants with you.
She was gripping her fianc¨¦¡¯s arm a bit tightly, I raised an eyebrow in surprise. From the reports I had received, Stahlia should have already disabled her emotions. The cursed champion has overcome? Suddenly, her gaze, which had been fixed on my brother, turned to me. I fixed my gaze forward. It was time to re-evaluate my plans, and I began turning over dozens of new scenarios, new possibilities in my head. This kingdom may yet survive.
3-17 Crossroads Part One
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 327 (+50)
Name/Age: Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas, 12 (NEW)
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 20[MAX] Experience: 31000/31000
Species: Human (Pureblood)
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess
von Drakas, Drakas Kingdom) (NEW)
Starting Gift: Small Seed [LOCKED]
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
Strength D: 122
Endurance B: 203
Dexterity SS: 355 +20
Intelligence S: 435
Charisma B: 203
Mana S: 248
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: [Browse Talents] Prodigy III*, Eidetic Memory II*, Stealth V, Charm
Resistance I*, Flexible I*, || Monster Handling III*, Dagger Fighting V*, Sword
Fighting II*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemy Correction IV*, Teaching II*, Mana
Efficiency III*, Fire Magic III*, Water Magic II*, Earth Magic II*, Wind Magic
II*, Ice Magic V
Skills 4/5: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features]*, Finesse Fighting*, Blue Blooded*, Kinetic Perception*, [], || Language Proficiency[Central Human]*, Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan Style]*, Blessing of Winter*
Talents Experience: [+]
Well, I¡¯ve gone and done it. I stared at the new entries displayed on my status menu. My name and social strata sections had been updated following my meeting with the third prince. And that gave me fifty life points as well, for some reason¡ I don¡¯t really know what I would have done to trigger that but whatever. It just means I don¡¯t need to wait for [Charm Resistance] to level up. I could now afford to purchase the sole remaining skill and unlock my class up.
Originally, I had been planning to purchase it after getting the remaining LP from leveling up [Charm Resistance], as well as [Eidetic Memory]. The former was still slowly gaining experience as it fought off Dominic¡¯s lingering charm, and the latter was simply close to leveling up; and would probably do so within the first few weeks of the new semester.
Navigating my menu, I found the skill I had been planning to get.
¡°[Mana Crystallization (300LP)]: Excess mana forms into a crystal located near the heart of the user. This mana can be extracted by the user to fuel magic or circulated around the body to provide passive enhancement. Extracting stored mana takes a small amount of time and incurs some loss in the form of mana bleeding out into the atmosphere. The storage limit is based on the user¡¯s level. There are no physical repercussions caused by the crystal.¡±
I purchased it and confirmed it had appeared in my last skill slot. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, but couldn¡¯t tell if that was from the formation of my mana crystal, or if it was from my class up. The pain faded as I sucked in air, I had been holding my breath for the past several moments. Checking my status screen, I saw that I had gained a second class, still called Custom Class, at level one. I had also been granted one level¡¯s worth of bonus to all my stats, and my experience had gone back to zero; apparently, I did not keep any extra experience that had exceeded my gauge. Predictably, I now needed an additional 3,000 experience per level for a total of 34,000 to hit level twenty-two.
With that taken care of, I flopped back into my bed and stared at the ceiling. I made the best possible move I could have¡ Yet, I still feel like I sold myself, somehow. No, I definitely sold myself, there¡¯s no ¡®feel like¡¯ about it. Still, this neatly solves all my problems¡ but to think that the engagement was all part of a scheme. What would the demons possibly stand to gain by having me marry Dominic? Jacqueline was nearby and could tell that I was distressed about something. But I can¡¯t tell you about it. Not until we get that thing out of you¡ Dammit!
Everything I had been scheming and working towards, I had told Jacqueline all of it. Almost all of my secrets. Because of that, Five. No, the Fifth Seat, King of Wrath Satan knew everything as well. And one of those worms will be in Rosial as well¡ I was doing my absolute best to avoid flying into a rage at the thought of my sister¡¯s body being violated by a demon. I can¡¯t let myself get angry to the point where I have to rely on [Cold Hearted]... Now that I know what Five¡¯s skill does¡ I can¡¯t risk any anger. No wonder one of the champions was given this trap skill.
Was there any other move I could play? Anything at all I could have done differently? I reviewed my memories of the meeting and the events leading up to it, just for my own satisfaction.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948 ¨C Twelve Hours Previously
I was back in my school uniform for the first time in over six months. Thanks to Jacqueline, it was adjusted to my new measurements. Felicity had managed to get Lucy to let her do my hair, so that was a little bit messy. I¡¯ll have to have it touched up in the carriage on the way to the school social, I need to be careful about my appearance, especially after that snafu at the funeral¡
Thinking of the fallout from how I had handled Ferris, I couldn¡¯t help but grimace. Personally, I couldn¡¯t care less how Dominic felt, but when he was being as cold to me as he was now, it was a bit irritating. Though, if I had to guess, there¡¯s a non-zero chance he¡¯s trying to be coy and go for a bit of neglect to convince me to come running into his arms. Our relationship had been extremely cold since then, and he had done his best over the last few days to avoid me.
Tonight at the social is actually going to be the first time that I really interact with him¡ I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t nervous. Since then, I had also learned that Ferris was ten years old, explaining why I hadn¡¯t seen him before. That meant he would be at the School Social. I need to figure out what to say to him¡ On one hand, I can¡¯t close off the door with the other nobility, on the other I need to keep Dominic at least somewhat placated or my life is going to get very difficult. Frankly, I just couldn¡¯t wrap my head around how Dominic was acting. It was almost like a child that had been told no for the first time and couldn¡¯t comprehend it.
He really thought I liked him, didn¡¯t he? I suppose I was acting like that before I knew about the charm. I was always reacting like a maiden in love after all. Maybe I should just tell him I know about the charm? That should mellow him out a bit since it would mean I¡¯m holding something over his head that could potentially ruin him¡ but then I would have to explain how I know. I can¡¯t do that, but pretending to like him isn¡¯t an option either.
I was in a dilemma from my own misspoken refusal. Looking back on the interaction with Ferris, I had misspoken a bit, I could admit that. But Dominic¡¯s reaction was just so¡ childish. If he¡¯s wanting to get a girl to like him, he¡¯s going about it the wrong damn way. Before I could follow this line of thought any further, a knock came at my door, and Jacqueline went to answer it.
Returning, she informed me that it had been Dominic¡¯s manservant come to tell us that Dominic had departed for the school social on his own and would meet me there. Childish. Doesn¡¯t he realize that he¡¯s only making his own image worse by not escorting me? It¡¯ll send a message to the nobles that our engagement isn¡¯t going well. He should know that I¡¯m fine with that given what I told him. Without further ado, I had Jacqueline thank Gregory and then went down to my own carriage.
The trip to the social was uneventful and other than having Jacqueline fix my hair, I rode in silence. Upon our arrival, Dominic was, of course, not present to help me out of the carriage. So, I can¡¯t get down by myself¡ well, I could. But if Dominic is going to play childish games¡ so will I. I¡¯m only twelve after all¡ ¡°Jacqueline, please go and find a young nobleman¡ Lord Ferris, if possible.¡±
Jacqueline gave me one of her very rare smirks; she had been holding back her irritation towards Dominic ever since I had given her [Charm Immunity], and his recent actions had very nearly pushed her over the edge. She disappeared and in very short order returned with Ferris. Ferris glanced around and quickly figured out the situation. He might be tactless, but he¡¯s still a duke¡¯s son so him being able to play politics is a given. Now, as only a baron¡¯s daughter myself, asking a favor of Ferris was a bit presumptuous of me. But, well, he put me in this situation; he can help me get out of it.
Ferris gave a thin smile, ¡°Lady Stahlia, may I have the honor?¡±
I took his offered hand and stepped down from the carriage. A few of the onlooking nobles let out audible gasps at the sight. I was making a big wave, but I was not going to stand for Dominic giving me the embarrassment of going unescorted. Hopefully, if I do something this big, his father will give him a stern talking to. I¡¯ll probably get reprimanded as well, but I can deal with that just fine.
Ferris escorted me into the building, and every young noble we passed seemed to fall silent as we passed. I think one dance, and then I¡¯ll thank him and excuse myself. That should start a nice juicy rumor. Ferris seemed to be enjoying the attention quite a bit himself, ¡°Well Lady Stahlia. I must say, this is quite a turnaround from how you answered me at the funeral four days ago.¡±
I waited until we were out of earshot, before responding in a low voice, ¡°You should have known you were putting me on the spot then.¡± Ferris said nothing, simply shrugging his shoulders. An action that irritated me considerably, since it was me who was suffering the consequences of his tactless actions. Still, at this point, he¡¯s my best way away from Dominic¡ though jumping to the first prince¡¯s faction now of all times would be a bit bad socially¡ but if I leverage my connection with Edith to work with the neutral nobles as well, I should be able to blunt the backlash a bit.
Forcing myself to breathe in and out a few times to calm down. A pair of guard knights swung open the large doors to the assembly hall for Ferris and me to enter. Thankfully, there was no squire announcing the students as they entered the hall. Though, even without that, Ferris and I still turned numerous heads. Right, I know I want to start a rumor, but this is starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.
Thankfully, Ferris seemed to pick up on my minor distress, ¡°Lady Stahlia, is there anything else you need?¡±
He had gotten quite a bit out of this whole affair, and it should influence the faction politics in favor of the first prince. I was debating whether or not to push even further and ask him to a dance, but just as I was starting to reach that point, I caught sight of Dominic, scowling at me from across the room. He had several young noble girls surrounding him. Ferris saw this at the same time as I did and let out a soft whistle, ¡°I certainly misjudged him at the funeral. Dominic von Francois¡ you may be a worthy opponent indeed.¡±
A worthy opponent? So you¡¯re competing? Over me¡? I don¡¯t think Dominic realizes he¡¯s in this little tournament, but I¡¯m honestly rooting for you, Ferris. The limited length of time I had spent with Ferris had been overall very pleasant, and while I wasn¡¯t sure I liked him, I was sure that he was certainly better than Dominic, ¡°Well, Lord Ferris, thank you for the escort. I believe I have made my point, so if you would excuse me.¡±
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Ferris gave me a modest bow before stepping away. Facing Dominic, I adopted the frostiest smile I could and began making my way over to him. As I closed the distance, Dominic gave me a cool stare, ¡°Well Stahlia, I suggest you drop the attitude. After that stunt you pulled, I imagine father will ask the prince to break off our engagement.¡±
Excuse you!? The stunt I pulled? I only did that because you were behaving like a child! And where do you get off lecturing me when you¡¯ve surrounded yourself with a bunch of young ladies yourself? We¡¯re engaged! I fixed my smile and answered Dominic¡¯s challenge, ¡°Oh? The stunt I pulled? Are you sure you should go there¡?¡±
Dominic shrugged exaggeratedly, ¡°As you can see, I have no trouble getting women. Frankly, you should have been honored that I picked you.¡±
I felt my vision beginning to go white, ¡°Oh, is that so? Well certainly, you do seem to have a very charming gaze after all.¡±
As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them instantly. Dominic clasped his lips together looking shaken. Considering I just called him out hardcore, I can imagine why he would be shaken¡ Frankly, I was just glad I had the sense left to hide my words behind a euphemism. Right, I should get away from now, before either of us says something we regret, ¡°Good day, Dominic. I hope you enjoy the social.¡±
Spinning on my heel, I quickly moved towards Edith and Sarala, whom I had spotted off to the side avoiding the general throng. Dominic did not call out to me, which was probably for the best. As I was about to reach Edith, a man came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned away from me and shared a quick whispered conversation with the man. Shooting me a pained glance she turned and went with the man, leaving Sarala behind wearing a grim expression.
I made my way over to Sana, ¡°What happened with Edith?¡±
¡°She was called away, she should be back soon. Stahlia, what happened with you and Dominic?¡± Sarala shook her head as she asked me.
Shrugging my shoulders, I answered her dryly, ¡°He is simply being an ass.¡±
Sarala looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head, ¡°You should try and patch things up with him if you can. All things considered, you are pretty lucky you know.¡±
I wish people would stop saying that¡ There was nothing I could do of course, short of spending my lifespan without regard, dropping in and out of comas, and raising all sorts of questions. I stood with Sarala in silence; Dominic was dancing with one of the girls he had been flirting with earlier, so I ignored him and looked around for Ferris. I should get Ferris to have a dance with me. That¡¯d really drive Dominic up the wall.
Just as I spotted him, I heard a familiar voice call out to me, ¡°Stahlia, may I have a word?¡±
Turning around I saw my Blue Magic instructor, Gustav. I really didn¡¯t want to deal with him right now, so I fixed a frown on my face, ¡°Yes, Lord Gustav. What can I do for you¡?¡±
Gustav nodded, ¡°If you would follow me, the prince would like to have that meeting with you now.¡±
What now? Gustav is the messenger? Since when has he had any connections to the third prince? My frown got larger, but I nodded and followed Gustav out of the ballroom. Gustav led me out of the main building entirely and before I knew it, we were headed towards the Mage¡¯s Hall. My interview with the third prince is in the Mage¡¯s hall¡? That didn¡¯t make much sense to me, but there wasn¡¯t much for questioning it. It would be a private space I suppose, though¡ Gustav as well, a messenger for the third prince? I watched the back of my eccentric mathematics and Blue Magic professor¡¯s head. If anything, he was moving with a purpose entirely unlike his usual attitude.
Gustav led me up to his own office and I felt a sense of hesitation. I had been in this office before a few times, and I knew how small it was. For the third prince to be in there, he would be extremely limited in the number of guards he could have with him. Especially with me and Gustav being present as well. Given what I did to spark this meeting, I can¡¯t imagine he would be lax when it comes to the guards he has with him¡
I tried to peek around the side of Gustav¡¯s body, but I couldn¡¯t make out very much. I could see that the desk chair was empty, which was where I had expected the prince to be sitting. There¡¯s no way that he would be sitting on one of the small couches¡ I took a half step back; thinking about it, this whole thing was really suspicious.
¡°Wait, Stahlia.¡± Gustav hadn¡¯t turned around to speak, though he had most likely just heard my foot hitting the ground, ¡°The third prince is in the back. It isn¡¯t safe for this conversation to be held in the main office.¡±
I fell into a stance that prepped my body to fight or flee, ¡°Gustav, you can¡¯t expect me to believe that.¡±
Gustav shrugged, ¡°He has Lady Edith with him.¡±
His words triggered a short circuit in my thought processes, as I immediately began analyzing the meaning behind it. Usually, Gustav is fairly eccentric. Right now, though, he¡¯s being more or less closed off. I can¡¯t tell from his tone if telling me about Edith was meant to reassure me or to be a threat. I couldn¡¯t see anything the prince would gain by harming the daughter of the neutral Claurence house, but conversely, I also couldn¡¯t see why he would bring her to a meeting between the two of us just to reassure me.
And all of this damn secrecy. Slipping me out of the social, heading to a separate building, a backroom that I¡¯ve never heard of before¡ it¡¯s almost like the prince is trying to keep a secret, a really big secret¡ I made up my mind, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±
Gustav stepped through the doorway and approached the wall behind his desk. Matching his personality, it was covered in a collection of random charts and pictures. Reaching out to one of them, Gustav laid his hand on it. A moment later I heard a loud and resounding ¡°THUNK¡±. Pushing against the wall, a seam appeared before it swung inwards. A secret room? So the prince is there.
Gustav motioned for me to step forward, and after taking a deep breath, I stepped across the threshold. My own personal Rubicon. Like Caesar, I had the strong feeling that I was passing a point of no return. Gustav came up behind me and I heard the door click into place shutting us inside. Given the secrecy, I bet that door can only be opened with Blood Magic, which would explain sending Gustav to get me. There were no visible switches either, so even a blood magic practitioner like me or Sitri wouldn¡¯t be able to open it easily. Not without knowing where to send the mana.
Stepping forward, I found myself in a room roughly the same size as Gustav¡¯s office. So, this is why his office was so small, he attached something like this to the back of it. There was more space in this secret room though as, unlike the front office, this room didn¡¯t have a large desk taking up space, nor the several bookshelves. Instead, the center of the room held a small table around which were four chairs. In the chair opposite the table from the door, sat the third prince.
I curtsied instinctively and recited a greeting, ¡°Prince Rupert von Drakas, it is an honor to make your acquaintance once more. I am Stahlia von Ris, whom you met once before in my father, Baron Ris¡¯ territory.¡±
While doing that on autopilot I took the chance to covertly examine Edith, who was sitting in the chair to the prince¡¯s right. I was still a bit worried that she was here as a hostage. To my surprise, not only did she not seem to be in distress, she seemed resolved and determined. So she was brought here to reassure me most likely, and then her dad is here because she¡¯s unmarried so she can¡¯t be alone with the prince¡? No, that really doesn¡¯t make any sense. That would mean the prince had told Duke Claurence that he intended to bring his daughter into a secret room.
A man I recognized as Edith¡¯s father, Duke Claurence, was seated on the prince¡¯s left. This left one seat open at the side of the table closest to me. I could not figure out the purpose behind him being present, and frankly, the more I thought about this scenario, the more confused I became.
¡°Stahlia. Sit down then, we have a lot to discuss.¡± The prince¡¯s tone was level, but devoid of any emotion. As he was giving me the instruction, Gustav moved to pull the chair out for me.
¡°Right¡ Thank you, Lord Gustav.¡± I took the seat offered and rested my hands on the table while meeting the prince in the eye. It might have been a bit disrespectful, but given the incredibly confusing circumstances, I had the feeling that this was going to go beyond an interrogation about my Anti-Army Magic. Besides, I¡¯m sharing a table with him, meeting his eye is fairly minor considering that.
The prince folded his hands, before speaking in the same level tone, ¡°I am sure you are wondering about Duke Claurence and Edith. I asked my fianc¨¦ to be present when you arrived in order to put your mind at ease.¡±
I¡¯m sorry!? Your what now? Fianc¨¦? Isn¡¯t something like that supposed to be national news!? Unless¡ you haven¡¯t publicized it yet¡? Is that supposed to be an offering to me? Information for me to bring back to Count Francois? No, he probably already knows. So you¡¯re telling me that just for me, no faction politics whatsoever¡ Then, because I¡¯m Edith¡¯s friend?
I looked over at Edith and saw she was giving the prince an incredulous look, one that she would only get away with if what he was saying was true. Well, that¡¯s¡ there¡¯s an age gap there¡ but as far as arranged marriages go, she could have done worse for herself¡ I forced myself to get over the confusion and surprise and simply face the facts, I was not in any place where I could afford to flounder about. For what was to come, I had to stay focused.
But this means the Claurence have decided to join your faction¡ especially given the recent political upheaval¡ This will give you a lot of political pull, won¡¯t it, in fact, it puts you in a very good position to become the next king¡
Edith shot a furtive and concerned look but didn¡¯t say anything. Knowing her, she was probably just told the third prince wanted a word and didn¡¯t know I was involved at all. Sarala¡ she knew about Edith¡¯s engagement, that would explain how she was acting after Edith left the social.
Edith¡¯s words at our reunion came back to me, about how I was ¡°lucky¡± for being in an engagement where I presumably liked the guy. This goes back at least that far then huh, so all those guys who were probing her at the funeral were unknowingly probing an engaged woman about her marriage prospects¡ I felt a fair amount of sympathy towards her then, as I had my own fair share of secrets, I knew what she must have felt like.
No time for that right now though, with the Claurence and Lawrence houses under his banner, the third prince has half the territory dukes. The Febligi might control a decent number of the knights, but between these two, the breadbaskets of the kingdom are with the third prince. It would all come down to how things shook out with Duke Lester. If he sided with the third prince, then the majority of the dukes would be in his camp, and he would be all but guaranteed to inherit the throne.
Everything is working out too well for him¡ almost as if it was set up to be that way¡ I thought that the second prince had been killed by the king to give a reason to declare war on one of the neighboring countries¡ but now it seems way more likely that-
¡°I killed my brother. I poisoned him with wine. Not only that, but I did it on the orders of the Fifth Seat, King of Wrath Satan.¡±
Well, that¡¯s that then. Holy shit. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m leaving this room so easily then, ¡°Your highness¡¡±
The third prince raised his hand, ¡°Stahlia, you may call me Prince Rupert. I intend to speak with you on even footing.¡±
That would mean me calling you ¡®Rupert¡¯ though, not Prince Rupert¡ Biting back my retort, I nodded, ¡°Very well then, Prince Rupert. I take it you have a reason for telling me that?¡±
The third prince nodded, ¡°Indeed. I intend to gain your trust. Would you hear my tale?¡±
There¡¯s got to be something else he¡¯s after¡ Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be so forthcoming. I¡¯m probably overthinking it¡ for now, I may as well hear him out. With that kind of bombshell right at the start, no matter what else I learn¡ I certainly won¡¯t be in any worse of a position. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll hear what you have to say¡¡± At the very least, with more information, I might be able to figure out what he wanted from me that he would go so far.
¡°I am glad to hear that. I had feared that at the mention of me working for the demons, you would be angered.¡± After waiting a moment, to gauge my reaction, he continued.
¡°I have been in the employ of the demons for nearly five years now. I was first approached by a man claiming to be ¡®Five¡¯, I am sure you are aware of him?¡±
I clenched my fists under the table and bit the inside of my mouth, ¡°Yes, I am aware of him.¡± I answered honestly; there was little chance that the prince didn¡¯t already know if he was bringing it up to begin with.
¡°Good, that saves some time. As it turns out, Five and the Fifth Seat. They are one and the same, though I didn¡¯t know that until much later. At first, I did a few things, just small things here and there. After all, this was the king¡¯s right-hand man, what could he possibly be doing that would harm the kingdom? Then, he told me the truth, about the demons, and about how far up the chain of command the corruption runs.¡±
¡°Of course, I didn¡¯t believe him. Not at first, but he demonstrated his powers easily enough. I was convinced. Then he started asking for stranger and stranger things. Awful things, holding the kingdom at ransom.¡± I frowned, causing Rupert to stop and nod, ¡°You have a question. Ask it.¡±
I suppose it would be too much to ask a prince not to be commanding¡ ¡°What does this have to do with me? You can skip the sob story.¡± I was surprised at myself, being that short with a member of royalty was not a very good plan. The prince, however, took it in stride.
¡°Of course. You see, you were one of those requests. More specifically, to recognize your engagement with Dominic von Francois. I was a bit unsure of it, after all, Count Francois was one of the higher-ranking members of my faction. Then the count approached me and asked for the same thing. So we traveled to Ris where I got to have a reunion with my friend. And where I got to meet you for the first time.¡±
So the demons¡ they wanted me engaged to Dominic¡? Why? What would they stand to gain from that? I wasn¡¯t the champion of winter yet or anything.
The prince nodded, ¡°It¡¯s written on your face, you want to know why. I wish I could tell you, but I have no idea. Either way, it¡¯s not like I did nothing to resist. But I had to be careful. After all, my opponent was one of the Nine Kings. Do forgive me, but one of the first things I did was arrange for Gustav to babysit you at the academy; he has been in my employment for a significant amount of time, and as a Blood Mage is uniquely qualified for dealing with Demons, should the need arise.¡±
¡°Imagine my surprise when Gustav reported to me that you were also a practitioner of Blood Magic. Then Five, the bastard, began ordering me to mess with the kingdom¡¯s knight movements. It was around that time that Ang Village began having its troubles. I was able to put two and two together.¡±
¡°You sent me there to die?¡± My short and curt words had cut him off, but I hardly cared. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out what the prince was about to say; he had figured out that a demon was there, and had sent me in knowing that fact. It was all I could do to keep my voice as level and steady as it was.
The prince fixed me with a cold stare and nodded, ¡°Yes, I was hoping that Sitri wouldn¡¯t know who you were or perhaps get a little over-excited. After all, you wouldn¡¯t be able to marry Dominic if you were dead.¡± His tone was blatantly matter-of-fact as if he was stating the most obvious thing in the world; it sent shivers down my spine. I thought it was the cursed champion that was supposed to be cold-hearted¡
3-18 Crossroads Part Two
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
Shivering ever so slightly, I addressed the prince, ¡°You wanted to throw a wrench into Five¡¯s plans, so you tried to have me killed? A shame that he outsmarted you, according to the demon herself she was forbidden from killing me. You got played, your highness.¡±
My tone was a lot harsher than it had been up to this point and I heard Edith let out a gasp to my left. I was done playing nice though; clearly, the prince was goading me for some reason. There¡¯s no way I get out of this room unless I give him what he wants, and honestly, it seems like he¡¯s trying to make me snap at him. The prince¡¯s eyes widened a little at my barb.
I paid it no mind and urged him to continue, ¡°So, I¡¯m sure you had a change of heart, Prince Rupert. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t be telling me all of this¡±
The prince nodded slowly, considering his words carefully, ¡°I thought it was strange, some random girl from a deposed house and the son of a count. Sure, you may have your prodigy talent, but there would be better more efficient ways to secure that if he really wanted it. To tell the truth, I still do not know what to make of your engagement. But I can say for certain you are no random girl.¡±
Well, yea, now that he mentions it¡ if I take it at face value that my engagement is a ploy from the demons, then I would need to wonder why I wasn¡¯t just kidnapped¡ the only explanation would be that Five knew about my blessing all along? But it wasn¡¯t even activated until after Rosial was kidnapped¡
The prince continued speaking, confirming my thoughts, ¡°You are the Champion of Winter. Gustav told me about the spell you cast; about how the math for the mana did not work out. You needed another discount from somewhere. You should consider yourself lucky that there are so few mages with knowledge of the champions who could draw such a conclusion.¡±
Knowledge of the champions huh¡ well, the demons, the church, apparently the royal family now, all have it. I glanced at Edith. For all her political ability when compared to me, she looked small. Like she was trying her best to avoid drawing attention to herself. Though, at the mention of the Champion of Winter, she shot me a look of bewildered confusion. I can¡¯t tell if she knows what that is, or if she¡¯s checking to see if I know¡
Turning back to the prince, I nodded once, decisively, ¡°I am.¡±
There was no point in hiding it; he was certain of himself, and with what I had learned over the past half hour I was certain that it wouldn¡¯t be so simple to just leave the room. I may as well be somewhat open towards him and see where this is leading. There were some secrets I just couldn¡¯t share, like my reincarnation or my future plans for the kingdom.
¡°You admit it, and yet you did such a good job hiding it until¡ something must have changed in Ris. Or before that, with Sitri.¡± The prince¡¯s eyes were calculating as he stared at me. In spite of my building fear, I forced myself to hold his gaze.
¡°Tell me Stahlia, how did Asten die? As I recall, the intelligence we have is essentially only your own account.¡±
Right, if he¡¯s in league with the demons, there¡¯s a chance that Sitri told him the truth. If that¡¯s the case, I could lie here and see how he reacts¡ No, I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell if he was acting or not in his response to me. In that case, should I go all in on the truth? ¡°I did what I had to do.¡±
The prince nodded, ¡°Right, you sold Asten to Sitri so that you and Dominic could get away. Even though you knew already that she wouldn¡¯t hurt you. You still made that choice.¡±
Ah¡ yea, I did. Thanks for reminding me asshole. ¡°By sacrificing Asten, I saved Jacqueline. Between a wet behind the ears noble and someone with her talents, I made the right choice.¡± As I spoke, I couldn¡¯t stop a small wince as I remembered the months of guilt. I¡¯ll live with those memories, but it doesn¡¯t change what I did. That was my decision and I¡¯ll carry it with me until the day I die.
The prince waved me off, ¡°I would disagree but that isn¡¯t the issue. Where to proceed from this point is. I obviously can¡¯t let you marry Dominic. That would be doing exactly what the enemy wants.¡±
So here it is, what he¡¯s really after. I folded my hands and sat quietly while maintaining eye contact. If he attacked me or ordered some hidden assailant to execute me I intended to resist to the best of my ability, though I had the feeling doing so would be futile.
The prince opened his mouth, ¡°How would you like if I gave you your sister back?¡±
In spite of myself, I found that I was leaning forward over the table excitedly, ¡°What do you know about Rosial!?¡±
The prince shrugged, ¡°Not much, though I know what happened to her; I have been running errands for her current master after all.¡±
I felt like the wind had been cut from my sails, and I collapsed back into my chair. I didn¡¯t think that anything he did or said would shake me, especially not after he revealed he knew I was the champion.
¡°Umm¡ should I, should I be here?¡± Edith¡¯s voice was small and timid. To be fair, she had most likely been expecting a simple meeting with her fianc¨¦e; instead, it wound up being an extremely high-level discussion in which multiple state secrets were bandied about like idle gossip. Well, Edith can keep secrets, so that isn¡¯t too much of a concern¡ except if Dominic were to ask her, she¡¯s still charmed¡ I might have to do something about that if I want to guarantee that nothing leaves this room.
¡°Right, Edith, you may leave after we resolve the next issue.¡± The prince turned to face me, ¡°Not for free of course. In exchange.¡± Gustav pulled out a bound scroll and unrolled it on the table between the four of us I recognized it as a magic contract scroll; the regular magic version of the pact I had made with Sitri.
The prince folded both his hands while resting his elbows on the table, ¡°I will do everything I can to reunite you with your sister. In exchange, you will support my bid for the throne, assist in excising the demons from our country, and aid in the rule afterward as my queen.¡±
So, he¡¯ll help me get Rosial back if I help him take the throne and excise the demons, then I just have to marry him and¡ WHAT!? Nonono, his fianc¨¦ is right there, I must have misheard, besides, I¡¯m a baron¡¯s daughter. I chanced a stealthy look at Edith; she was staring at the prince in utter shock. So he did say that, what about her father then? Breaking off the engagement would be a massive insult to his house.
I glanced at Duke Claurence, he was collected and was watching me calmly. Right, so he¡¯s either hiding it, or he¡¯s not surprised¡ the engagement wasn¡¯t public, so there wouldn¡¯t actually be any fallout if it was broken off at this stage¡ And the duke being present for this meeting, with so many sensitive topics, he¡¯s already firmly in the third prince¡¯s camp regardless of the engagement. An anti-demon coalition? It would make sense, if the third prince knew he was being watched, to move outside his faction¡ So, the prince was serious!?
¡°Y-your serious? Your highness, I am already engaged¡¡±
The prince waved his hand dismissively, ¡°At the behest of a king of hell. I would not let that marriage go through even if you reject my offer¡ and no, I no longer plan on having you killed, killing the champion of winter when I face a Hell King would be the height of folly. Regardless of your answer, you may leave this room unharmed.¡±
That¡¯s not¡ I mean it¡¯s nice to hear that but I can¡¯t really take that at face value¡ besides that, ¡°I am only a baron¡¯s daughter, I couldn¡¯t possibly¡¡±
The prince again dismissed my objection with a quick wave, ¡°You are the Champion of Winter, a Prodigy holder, a Special Student in your first year, A Blood Mage, and know an Anti-Army Magic that not even Gustav is aware of going off the description of its effects. What you lack in status, you more than make up for in achievement.¡±
I flicked my eyes around for a moment, trying to come up with an out. My gaze settled on Edith, catching my gaze, she squeezed her mouth shut and closed her eyes. I can¡¯t read her¡ what is that reaction supposed to signal¡? ¡°What about Lady Edith? You yourself are also engaged are you not?¡±
The prince nodded, ¡°I am. Thankfully that engagement has not yet been publicized, and can be broken off without causing either of us any loss of face.¡±
Is that all you think of? Loss of face? What about her feelings¡? ¡Right¡ ¡®I am jealous of you, Stahlia¡¯ was it? So, she doesn¡¯t actually care for the engagement herself; like me, she was pressed into it for politics¡ Then, do I really have a reason to decline this? It would fulfill all of my requirements, though it comes with a lot of burdens of its own¡
On one hand, I would definitely walk away with political power. I would have the top of the country to help get Rosial back, it¡¯s not like my father would object either; him and the prince are old friends¡ Ah, there is that. ¡°Prince Rupert, forgive me but are you not childhood friends with my father?¡±
For the first time, the prince looked insulted at something I had said, ¡°Yes, I am friends with your father, but he is ten years older than me; I am only nineteen.¡±
I mean, I¡¯m twelve. And you think I¡¯m eleven. That¡¯s still a bit of a gap, but it¡¯s not as bad as if he was the same age as my dad¡ I¡¯ll be sixteen when it¡¯s actually time for us to get married, and he¡¯ll be twenty-three. That¡¯s not too bad. Worse than Ferris or Dominic, but far from the largest gap.
If I say yes, I get the best ally I could reasonably hope to have. I get out of the engagement with Dominic. From the way, he¡¯s been talking I get the feeling he¡¯s looking at things as a net of benefits, not romantic attachment. That¡¯s fine with me; we might eventually grow to like each other, or we won¡¯t. That doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t work together.
He would also be the best one to interfere with whatever the church plans on trying behind the scenes¡ their offer looks great, and I¡¯m sure I could make use of them, but that would be placing myself way to close to Antenora and the other gods and goddesses. There¡¯s also the thing with this other power that messed with Sana¡¯s head¡ something or someone able to go over Antenora¡¯s head pushing me away from the church¡ So, I guess the answer is yes then, isn¡¯t it? I opened my mouth to agree to the prince¡¯s proposal.
¡°No, Stahlia! What about Dominic! You love him, don¡¯t you? I¡¯ll be fine, you don¡¯t have to sacrifice your happiness for me!¡± Looking towards the source of the interruption, I saw Edith. She was tightly clutching the edge of the table, and there were tears streaking down her face. Ah¡ the charm is acting up. That¡¯s a bit odd¡ it should only make her think I like him, but she¡¯s acting to try and keep us together¡? That doesn¡¯t work like a charm usually would.
¡°Edith! Get ahold of yourself, you should know better than to interrupt like this!¡± Her father was glaring at her, with irritation plainly written on his face. For his part, the prince remained calm, simply watching me and her.
Edith refused to calm down and had begun to shake slightly. Grimacing, I spoke to Gustav, ¡°Lord Gustav, could you put her to sleep? I doubt she will stop otherwise.¡±
Gustav nodded and reached out towards her. Edith jerked to get away, but Gustav was faster. Catching her shoulder, he briefly closed his eyes. When he opened them, Edith fell limp and Gustav caught her before gently setting her down in the chair. Duke Claurence was looking at me with an expression of curiosity, while the prince merely raised an eyebrow, ¡°Stahlia, do you know something about that?¡±
Well, here it goes. I guess this is the so-called leap of faith. I hope the prince¡ no I guess I should call him Rupert now. I hope Rupert is there to catch me on the other side. ¡°Yes, I believe I do. Before that though, the church has offered to annul my engagement if I join their ranks, I have no desire to do so, will you be able to head them off?¡±
Rupert nodded, apparently unsurprised by my claim. Then again, he knows a fair amount already, just by analyzing bits and pieces of information. It¡¯s not completely unbelievable that he¡¯s figured out, or at least suspects the church has their eye on me as well. Gritting my teeth, I nodded, ¡°Then, I accept your offer.¡±
Rupert nodded, ¡°I thought you would take longer to decide than that. Still, being decisive is not a bad thing, as long as you still thought things through; you understand this is a political arrangement? I will not and can not ever come to love you, or care for you outside of your usefulness to me and the kingdom.¡±
Well, that¡¯s harsh¡ Still, it tracks with how he¡¯s been talking up until now. ¡°I understand, as long as I can get Rosial back, and get revenge on Sitri and Five, I don¡¯t care.¡±
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Rupert smiled for the first time; it was a cold, emotionless smile, ¡°What a fitting pair. The cursed champion and the cursed prince. I wonder what history will call us when they look back? In any case, you said you knew what was going on with poor Edith there?¡±
Cursed Prince? What does he mean by that? He compared himself with me as well, does that mean that he has [Cold Hearted] as well? In that case, him saying he ¡®would not and could not come to love or care about me¡¯ wasn¡¯t him being distant, he was being literal. Well, I can¡¯t say that¡¯s not a bit unsettling, but I can work with that. If anything it makes him a bit easier to predict, and at the end of the day I would be one of the few people who could understand what the world is like for him¡
I bottled those thoughts and moved on to address his question. ¡°Prince Rupert, regarding Edith. She is under the influence of Dominic¡¯s skill; [Incubus Eye]. I do not know how he got it, but it allows him to charm any woman he lays his eyes on. Thankfully, I am immune thanks to my status as a champion.¡±
Rupert looked over at Edith, ¡°An incubus¡ and Dominic, is still human?¡±
Hmm, I said I would take a leap of faith, but mentioning my divine eyes is a bit¡ ¡°As far as I am aware, yes.¡±
Rupert adopted a thoughtful expression, ¡°Gustav, can you dispel the charm?¡±
At Rupert¡¯s question, Gustav placed his hand on Edith¡¯s forehead. Focusing for a moment he shuddered and removed his hand. Looking slightly tired he shook his head, ¡°No, I cannot. The mana is like a tumor or a growth, burrowed deep into her core. Removing it would be extremely dangerous¡ it is deep enough to evade our detection after all.¡±
I probably shouldn¡¯t mention that I removed Jacqueline¡¯s then, at least not just yet. Rupert spoke to Duke Claurence, ¡°You will need to keep her confined then if the charm runs that deep; we cannot risk her saying anything to Dominic, not until we learn more about his role in the plan.¡±
Bowing his head, Duke Claurence gave his assent and even added that he would have Sarala confined as well since she and Edith shared almost everything and it was likely that she was charmed as well. Rupert then indicated the contract paper, and Gustav produced two quills for us to write with. Picking up the one offered to me, I felt a small amount of mana being drawn into it, and a small drop of ink materialized on the tip.
Definitely a magic contract, we¡¯re even writing in our own mana so it will be especially binding. The contract I had with Felicity had only been signed in mana; from my lessons, I knew that the difference between the two was how easy it was to terminate the contract. With the contracts signed in mana, it could be annulled with another contract. When the contract was written in magic, it would require a much more involved ritual.
It makes sense for a royal engagement, to use such a strict method¡ if I sign this, there¡¯s no going back. I took a deep breath. This is what I want. This is the best move I can make. Telling myself that, I exhaled, and wrote my name on the scroll.
I felt a tingling sensation as the magic activated. Across from me, Rupert signed his own name. Now that the contract had been opened, we could discuss the terms of it; until we signed our names again the contract would record the terms as we agreed to them. In essence, it was the same as my mental negotiation with Sitri, only done in real-time.
We discussed things for a little over two hours, and while there were several small things we wound up going back and forth on, we were actually in agreement on the main points. Firstly, we agreed to keep each other¡¯s secrets, barring having permission to disclose something. This one was important, as we now both knew things about the other that would be extremely dangerous.
Secondly, we agreed not to keep secrets. There was a caveat to that, that we simply had to answer the other person honestly. This one in all honesty favored Rupert; the wording allowed for double-speak and half-truths to somewhat bypass the contract, but I was alright with that. My secrets were protected by the first major point, and I would need to learn to speak in riddles anyways. Lastly, we set the age at which I would marry him as well as the terms.
To my surprise, rather than marrying at fifteen like my former engagement to Dominic stipulated, Rupert put the age at sixteen. When I questioned him, he explained that it was customary for the spouse to be of a member of the royal family to live one year assuming the duties of their post after becoming an adult and before the wedding. On my end, it was stipulated that Rupert would assist me in recovering Rosial.
Of the several minor things we discussed, the most pertinent was what to do about my status as the Champion of Winter. Rupert had wanted to reveal it when the engagement was announced. I wanted to keep it a secret. To his credit, he was willing to come to a compromise with me on every issue. In this case, I was given until the announcement to increase my achievements such that announcing my status was no longer necessary to provide legitimacy to the engagement.
The degree to which he was willing to compromise served to demonstrate how important getting this engagement was for him. He can say he does not and cannot care for me all he wants, but as long as he cares about me, I think I can make this work. I was overall careful not to abuse his willingness to compromise, but I did make sure to stick a few extras into the agreement, such as my father being elevated to at least a countship, and a stipulation that he couldn¡¯t just go and have Edith and or Sarala killed to keep them quiet.
Finally, we were finished. Rupert signed his name once more, and with a deep breath in an air of finality, I signed mine as well. The contract flashed bright white and then dissolved, leaving a vague outline of ash on the table. I felt a tugging at my core, a bit like vertigo, and a notification window popped up. It was the second time I had seen this particular notification.
¡°Notice: Following the signing of the Contract of Engagement, Name and Social Strata have been updated. Name: Stahlia von Ris > Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas. Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom + Princess von Drakas, Drakas Kingdom )¡±
I wasn¡¯t expecting to get a social stratum change right away¡ I guess that means that just being engaged to the prince elevates me to the status of a pseudo royal? The idea that I was an actual princess now, at least nominally, elicited a strange feeling. I feel kind of excited about it actually, I mean being a princess is supposedly every girl¡¯s dream. Then again, it feels like, in a way, I finally let go of my past as a male¡ I did tell Claire that I had come to terms with it, and I¡¯ve been contemplating willingly entering a marriage for the past few weeks. But now that I¡¯ve actually gone through with it¡ it feels kinda strange.
Rupert cleared his throat, and in a start, I hurriedly closed the notification. He was holding out his hand to me, with his fingers wrapped around something small. Reaching out my hand, I received a small metal ring with the crest of Drakas engraved onto it, ¡°Now that you¡¯ve signed the engagement contract, you bear the title ¡®Princess von Drakas¡¯ and can speak in the name of the king, should you need to. Take care not to abuse that authority, and I would prefer if you kept our engagement a secret. At least until I¡¯ve found a way to depose Count Francois.¡±
Holy shit! He just casually stated he¡¯s going to crush one of his biggest allies! ¡°Prince Rupert¡ What do you mean by ¡®depose Count Francois¡¯?¡±
Shrugging, Rupert answered my question nonchalantly, ¡°Count Francois is very likely to be working with Five. I don¡¯t have any hard evidence, but on multiple occasions, the two of them have acted in tandem with each other; your engagement was neither the first nor was it the last time that the two of them made a similar request so close together. Furthermore, Dominic is in possession of a demonic skill. There are only so many ways that could have come to pass.¡±
I should tell him about Dominic¡¯s past life. ¡°Stahlia, are you alright? You were zoned out a moment ago. I know magic contracts can be a bit uncomfortable if you aren¡¯t used to them.¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m fine. I was just a bit distracted when I saw my name change.¡± Ah, and that would be the part where we don¡¯t keep secrets from each other kicking in. For now, I¡¯ll need to be careful to dance around the topic of divine authority. Before Rupert could ask the obvious question, I jumped in to give further explanation, my intent being to guide the conversation.
¡°I am able to appraise my own status, and with Blood Magic, I can somewhat track the status of others.¡± Rupert nodded slowly to my answer.
¡°Right, I recall Gustav saying something about you being able to do that. Still, to keep track of it in real-time. An impressive feat. Gustav, see that she receives further instruction.¡± Gustav bowed his head briefly at Rupert¡¯s order.
Just in case Rupert asked a question I didn¡¯t want to answer just yet, I opted to use Dominic as a way to change the subject, ¡°The thought occurs, Dominic has told me that he comes from another world, that he reincarnated into his present body and retains all of his memories.¡± It was a bit of a stretch to interpret Dominic¡¯s tsundere comment as him ¡°telling me¡± anything; but apparently, it was enough for the contract. So somewhat vague interpretations work, at least unless he questions me about it. I¡¯ll need to keep that in mind, if it ever seems like he evaded a question or somehow tried to dodge out of answering. I¡¯ll also need to keep in mind that he can do the same to me.
The relationship between us was going to take a bit of getting used to, but with the underlying honesty, it should be doable. Fortunately, it seemed that Rupert was a bit distracted by my revelation to consider questioning the specifics of how I knew, ¡°A traveler¡ you are certain of this?¡±
Giving my affirmation, Rupert went deep into thought and began muttering to himself, ¡°A traveler¡ ¡ ¡gifts from the gods¡ ¡ ¡prophecy¡ ¡marriage ¡¡± I guess the idea of people coming from other worlds is known at the high levels of society then. That I kind of had a feeling it was happening pretty frequently, what with me, Dominic, and Claire. Franklin¡¯s out there somewhere as well. Still, what in the world is Rupert doing?
He was talking a mile a minute, and low enough that I struggled to keep track of what all he was saying. Thankfully, Gustav offered me an explanation, ¡°He is thinking, running through all the possibilities. The fact that he does this in your presence is a sign that he trusts you; he is very self-conscious of how he appears when doing this. He might not be able to feel like a normal man, but he knows to make an effort where it counts.¡±
All I could do was watch the prince and wait for him to finish. Finally, after a few minutes of mumbling, he snapped out of it, ¡°Stahlia, are you a traveler as well?¡± Well, shit.
I nodded, ¡°Yes, I am.¡± I guess that¡¯s a fair question¡ I could probably have done something with the definition of the word traveler to get around the answer, but if I start lying and trying to get around the contract now, what¡¯s the point of having it in the first place?
Rupert took my answer in stride, ¡°Then, things are starting to make sense. For the time being, you¡¯ll need to continue as you have been; continue to act as Dominic¡¯s fianc¨¦¡ It should take me only a few months to arrange things properly. Once the stage is set, we can have that engagement publicly annulled.¡±
Ok, that¡¯s fucked. It¡¯s already kind of bad that I went around Dominic¡¯s back and just entered another engagement like this. I mean, I don¡¯t like him, especially not after how he¡¯s been acting the past few days. But I feel bad for him, at least a little bit. Or that could be the charm talking. ¡°Why, if you would pardon me, why go along with that charade? Frankly, I feel bad for him.¡±
Shrugging, Rupert answered coolly, ¡°As it stands, you don¡¯t have enough accomplishment to warrant the jump in status. By announcing yourself as the Champion of Winter you could sidestep this and simply annul the engagement with Dominic and enter one with me; I am willing to be the villain in that.¡±
So it comes down to that then. Whether or not to announce my standing. If I do that, things with Dominic should wrap up in a neat bow. There will be some retribution from Five I¡¯m sure, but Rupert seems confident it would be manageable. I don¡¯t think he would suggest this as an option if it wasn¡¯t. I would gain the benefit of the church aiding me as well. They already know me as the friend of a goddess, and that was enough to scare a cardinal shitless.
But at the same time, I would rather get rid of this blessing. The side benefits are nice, but I don¡¯t like having the gods constantly pulling at my strings. No, I¡¯m not going to let myself feel bad. Dominic is older than he looks, he should know better than to act the way he has been, frankly, his use of that charm is disgusting. At the social earlier, he was abusing it just to spite me. He does not deserve my sympathy. Having justified my course to myself, I met eyes with Rupert, ¡°Do what you need to. I do not want to reveal that card unless it becomes my only option.¡±
Rupert gave me a brief bow in affirmation of my wishes, an act which surprised me considerably after his aloof attitude so far. Responding to my expression, he merely lifted his shoulders in the single laziest shrug I had ever seen, ¡°As my fianc¨¦, you and I are now of somewhat similar standing.¡±
¡°¡Right, my apologies, but I think that will take some time to sink in. This is going to be a long conversation with Jacqueline.¡±
Rupert grimaced, ¡°I would prefer if you did not inform her. It is extremely likely that your shadow carries a direct line back to her former master. Don¡¯t make that face; it is highly unlikely that she knows.¡±
Mollified, I let my tension relax slightly, I had been about to say some very choice words. After all, I had only just entered a new level of trust with Jacqueline. What Rupert was implying would be disastrous if it was true. At the very least, he believes it¡¯s true since the contract is letting him say it. ¡°Prince Rupert, please, elaborate¡¡± Rather than anger like I expected, what slipped into my voice was almost¡ desperation.
Rupert looked apologetic, though if what I had been told thus far about his emotions was true it was a ruse. I still found it somewhat comforting though, ¡°The Nine Kings have several obscene abilities that place them above mere mortals. In some ways, they rival the holy twelve.¡±
¡°Fifth Seat, King of Wrath Satan holds dominion over wrath and the demons of wrath. The old stories passed down through the royal family state that anyone who holds anger in their hearts cannot stand against him. Rather than deal a mortal blow, they would find their spears slipping between the ribs of their allies. Unlike a demon¡¯s charm though, the dominion of wrath does not control the victim¡¯s conscious mind. It digs at the subconscious.¡±
¡°Where things are troublesome for us now, though, is from the other half of that dominion; the control over demons of wrath. In our covert resistance and sabotages, we have killed a small number of Shadows. Within their bodies, we discovered a worm attached to their spines. Analysis of its body reveals that it is a demon, specifically, a demon of wrath. It is extremely likely that Five can use his dominion to tap into the senses of these worms and witness their surroundings. Of course, I lack any proof. But it would explain several coincidences I have noticed over the past several years.¡±
You might not have proof¡ but if that¡¯s really a thing¡ it would explain how that bastard might know about Jacqueline¡¯s betrayal. But¡ my divine sight should have picked it up? Unless the worms don¡¯t have mana¡ I¡¯ll need to check Jacqueline very carefully¡ but if we assume that all the shadows have these things, then that means¡ Rosial probably has one as well!
I felt a wave of deep burning anger boiling up inside of me, but recalling what Rupert had just said, I began taking deep breaths and forced it back down. I refuse to rely on [Cold Hearted] I¡¯ll keep my emotions in check on my own. There has to be a way to get rid of that shit, this changes nothing about what I have to do.
I opened my eyes and saw Rupert was watching me.
¡°I won¡¯t share these events with Jacqueline until I find a way to remove the parasite.¡± I just crossed a bridge of trust with her as well! My hatred towards five only continued to grow with everything I learned about him. I¡¯m going to make that bastard pay.
3-19 Epilogue
Dominic, Thirteen Years Old ¨C Directly after Stahlia was summoned to meet Prince Rupert.
I spun the young noble girl around as we danced. Her name was Tanya or something similar. I had only really gathered the little group to get at Stahlia after the trouble she caused me at the second prince¡¯s funeral. I had only managed to further strain our relationship though. Still, where does she get off going around my back to that Ferris douche? She should have sent for me, to let me know she had arrived. That would have sufficed as an apology.
The song ended and I bowed to my partner, who curtsied to me in turn. It¡¯s¡ too easy. There was nothing I couldn¡¯t get with my abilities. One word from me, and this girl would be falling over herself to get her parents to agree to anything. That¡¯s why Stahlia is so¡ infuriating. And so alluring.
I looked around to find her, but she didn¡¯t seem to be anywhere nearby. Where the hell has she gone off to now? Is she with Ferris going behind my back again? No, Ferris is over there. Where could she have gone¡?
¡°Ahem, excuse me, would you care for a dance?¡± Turning around, I spotted a young woman, probably a year or two older than me. She looks a bit familiar, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever met her before¡ Based on her dress, she was probably the daughter of a count, so it was odd I couldn¡¯t recognize her. Still, I don¡¯t have time for this right now. I¡¯ve got to go find Stahlia before she can mess up anything else for me.
¡°No, thank you but I have to go and find my fianc¨¦¡± I turned to leave, but the girl caught my sleeve.
She frowned at me, ¡°No, I do think we should have at least one dance together, Dominic.¡±
Ok¡? She should have politely accepted my refusal, also, where does a random count¡¯s daughter get off calling me without a title? ¡°My apologies, but you have me at a disadvantage. May I ask your name?¡±
The young woman covered her mouth to suppress a giggle, ¡°My name, yes of course, where are my manners. I am Irtis von¡ Asmo¡± She punctuated her introduction with a curtsy, ¡°Now, about our dance? I must apologize but I can¡¯t take no for an answer¡¡±
Irtis? Asmo? I¡¯ve never heard of either of those names. She¡¯s also immune to my ability, or at least resistant to it. This could prove interesting¡ ¡°Very well, Irtis, I shall humor you.¡±
I took Irtis¡¯ hand and lead her out onto the dance floor. The song happened to be a fairly slow one and the dance that accompanied it required me to hold Irtis fairly close. I couldn¡¯t help noticing her scent, it was nostalgic and took me a moment to place, but I eventually recognized it as a vanilla bean. Something I hadn¡¯t smelled since I died. I was quite fond of this smell, hell, it¡¯s almost identical to the air freshener I used to buy¡ I would even say this is my favorite smell.
We turned slowly; this dance was similar to a Waltz, though without the spinning or partner switches. On one pass, Irtis leaned close to my ear and whispered, ¡°I saw what happened earlier. What a shame.¡±
We spun around again, and I whispered back, ¡°I do not know what you mean.¡±
Irtis frowned, ¡°With your fianc¨¦. She does not understand how lucky she is. You¡¯re special after all.¡±
Well, she¡¯s not wrong. Stahlia doesn¡¯t understand the position she¡¯s being offered. She couldn¡¯t hope for a better role. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure she will come around, eventually.¡± I spoke with confidence, after all, I was the protagonist; I was guaranteed to get the girl in the end, and possibly a few more.
Irtis frowned, ¡°I would not be so sure if I were you. After all, she¡¯s special in her own right. Sometimes the smartest people miss the forest for the trees.¡±
What now? Come on, I know she¡¯s a bit smart, but I am definitely the one on top. She¡¯s just having a bit of a tantrum at the moment. ¡°Well, she does not have a choice; the third prince okayed our engagement. She can only come around or learn to deal with things.¡±
Irtis shook her head, ¡°No, did you not hear her earlier? She knows about you¡ all about you.¡±
I pulled back and looked at Irtis¡¯ eyes. I saw myself reflected in them; I was grimacing. She did mention how charming I was, and even put extra emphasis on the word¡ but how would she know?
The song was coming down to its end, and it would soon be time for Irtis and I to part ways, ¡°If I was in her shoes, I would not be so confident in my own gifts... Honestly, I cannot stand girls like her, who fail to realize how good they have it, if only they would play their part. Until next time, Lord Dominic.¡±
The song ended, and we separated from each other. I was right, that was really interesting¡ I should have father look into the Asmo, I would like to get to know Irtis more. ¡Hell, it might be worth threatening Stahlia with that. I could always arrange to have an engagement with Irtis, and reduce Stahlia to my concubine¡
The more I thought about it, the better that idea sounded. Irtis seems to be immune to my ability as well, so she¡¯s basically just a better Stahlia, seeing as she actually recognizes me. I felt a smile creeping out onto my face. I should go and tell Stahlia all about this meeting. I bet she¡¯ll come around and be begging me not to break off our engagement.
There was something though, something nagging me in the back of my mind. What was it Irtis said? About being in Stahlia¡¯s shoes and not trusting in her own gifts¡? And that Stahlia knows about me¡ When, when did I first notice Stahlia had changed a bit? I had thought that Stahlia had become cold around the meeting with Ferris.
But it didn¡¯t sound like that¡ it sounded like she¡¯s been feeling this way for a while¡ I traced back my memories as best I could. I feel like¡ like I¡¯m missing something major¡ I meandered aimlessly around the social floor. Occasionally, I would be approached by one of the other young nobles, but I brushed them off. I think the first time Stahlia¡¯s behavior really changed¡ was shortly before we went to Ang. I accidentally called her a Tsundere out loud¡ and after that, she seemed almost to become conscious of her tsun behavior¡
Like she had recognized the word. My world came crashing down as I stopped my pacing. Stahlia, is like me¡? And she knows she¡¯s like me. She didn¡¯t tell me? But that¡¯s all the more reason for us to be together! If she would work with me, we could probably have the whole kingdom to ourselves¡
It was infuriating. If she was like me, she should be able to see how special and lucky she was, to have been engaged to the only person who would be capable of understanding her. This¡ Now that I knew, I wanted her even more. If only to have someone who understood me. But she doesn¡¯t understand. I need to make her understand. That¡¯s what Irtis was getting at, I think.
I smiled to myself and began planning how I should go about getting her to understand the position she was in. Smiling to myself, I began to move around the floor, trying to find her. However, as I walked about, my smile began to fade. She still isn¡¯t back yet¡
Both Edith and Stahlia had seemingly disappeared, probably together since Sarala was still here. I know those two are friends, but what would they be discussing in private at a gathering like this? They should be out socializing, it¡¯s a social after all. Going behind closed doors could start¡ rumors¡ A dark thought came up from the corner of my mind.
Could it be, that Stahlia is making a serious effort to get away from me? I had thought that the incident with Ferris had merely been her jumping at an opportunity, but was it possible that she was attempting to make inroads with Duke Claurence through Edith? Right. My ability might not work on you, but it does work on Edith. I¡¯ll have her tell me everything next time I meet her. Ideally, I¡¯ll have you with me too Stahlia, so that you can witness your schemes falling apart around your head! Unfortunately, the rest of the evening was spoiled for me, as I couldn¡¯t shake off my smoldering anger.
Wentee, Six Years Old, Second Month of 948 - Shortly Before The School Social
¡°Stali, is there anyone in the next room?¡± Whispering to my ever-present companion, I advanced slowly down the hallway. I wasn¡¯t often allowed to go out on missions; Mr. Five said I was still too young, and too important to risk like that. It was a bit frustrating, I wanted to be useful to him, but if that was how he felt, then I would abide.
¡°No Wentee, it¡¯s clear.¡± Trusting in the words of my companion, I moved into the next room. This was the residence of a minor government official, I didn¡¯t know the specifics other than the fact that he was in the first prince¡¯s faction, and that I was supposed to send him to Mortis. That was one benefit of Mr. Five being so protective of me; I really did not like killing, so being placed in a position where I could avoid doing so was great.
Stali didn¡¯t share my qualms though, as evidenced by the body slumped against the wall; the room had evidently not been clear when she first slipped into it. As always, one clean strike through the neck. I wonder how she handles it¡? Our methodology had been worked out by this point, so there was little use in me worrying; I would often distract the target while Stali killed them from behind. We might be stronger and more trained, but we were still young.
Still, I need to be able to do it myself. I might have to go out without her at some point in the future¡ not being able to kill would be bad. Together, the two of us approached the door at the end of this small room. It was a sort of waiting area of a reception room I guessed, a small space separating the target¡¯s bedroom from the hallway outside. Taking a deep breath, I nodded to Stali and pushed the door open.
The target was fast asleep, Stali had been quick and quiet with the guard. Readying her blade, my companion approached the lump in the bed, ¡°¡Wait¡¡±
At my hissed whisper, Stali stopped and looked at me curiously, ¡°You¡¯re going to try? You don¡¯t have to, you know, I¡¯ll always be here to do it for you.¡±
Pursing my lips and setting my jaw, I shook my head, ¡°You don¡¯t know that. I¡¯m the only one who always gets sent out in a team. I doubt that will last forever.¡±
Stali shrugged and handed me the dagger. Approaching the bed, I climbed up on it quickly and quietly, doing my best not to disturb the man. Looking down at him, I raised the dagger. Right, now I just have to bring it down, the poison will ensure it works¡ I hesitated. I always hesitated.
This was not the first time I had attempted to take out our target myself, but I was never able to go through with it, ¡°Haaa¡.¡±
At my sigh, I felt Stali come up behind me and grasp my hands with her own, ¡°It¡¯s alright. We can do it together, like sisters.¡±
Stali guided my hands down in a quick rapid motion, and the blade pierced the back of our target. He gave a lurch and a gasp, but the paralyzing poison worked fast and he wasn¡¯t able to call out. Stali pulled out the blade and cleaned it off while I sat, staring at my shaking hands.
¡°There, that¡¯s done. How are you feeling Wentee? That was the first time you were holding the knife with me.¡±
Looking up, I saw Stali gazing at me, a look of concern clearly written on her face, ¡°I¡ I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t feel any different¡¡±
Stali nodded, ¡°Right? Once you get the hang of it, it¡¯s no big deal. Come on, we should get out before someone comes.¡±
Together we slipped out of the building and began making our way back to the headquarters building. Another unique aspect of our position was how Mr. Five always had us file our reports to him in person. We ran, as I was staring at Stali¡¯s back. She was always ahead of me, and I was always behind her. I have to catch up, so I can be more useful to Mr. Five, and repay him for saving me.
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With such thoughts in my head, we arrived back at the headquarters building. Letting me in, Stali gently shut the hidden door. Most people were sleeping now, but we needed to be careful all the same. Moving quickly down the halls of the compound, we soon arrived outside of Mr. Five¡¯s office. I raised my hand to knock but froze when I heard his voice.
¡°No, Sitri. I¡¯m telling you that she got through it; your plan failed and, in the aftermath, has set back mine. Now, Stahlia is actively seeking a way out of her engagement, if her recent actions are anything to go by. You are responsible, you will fix it.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have the authority to order me anymore, now that Lady Asmodea is back.¡±
Five¡¯s voice went low, ¡°Would you like to test that theory? My plans are to her benefit as well; she will side with me.¡±
¡°¡What do you want me to do?¡±
¡°Incite Dominic. Most of the brat¡¯s skills are from your lineage anyways. Getting him to act impulsively should be easy enough. Stahlia cannot be allowed to break off this engagement, this is the perfect opportunity to bind one of the champions to our faction; she has the potential to become the Tenth Seat, as you well know.¡±
¡°You know, I almost feel sorry for the boy. Does he even know the truth?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t dally, go and clean up your mistake.¡±
With that, one of two presences vanished from the room. Who was that? It sounded like a woman? Someone messed up one of Mr. Five¡¯s plans¡ Stahlia? This person is trying to go against Mr. Five¡ Doesn''t she know better? No, she probably doesn¡¯t, not many people actually know about him¡ Still, her name sounds familiar¡ kind of like Stali. Looking over at my ever-present companion, I was struck by how¡ sad she appeared. Stali was looking at me with a face stricken by longing.
Before I could ask her what was wrong though, Mr. Five called out from inside the room, ¡°Well? Are you going to come in, or just waste my time?¡± He was already sounding irritated, so I hurriedly put the thoughts out of my head and entered the room to give my report.
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948 - Right After Crossroads Part Two
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 27
Name/Age: Stahlia von Ris auf Drakas, 12
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 20 | Custom Class, 1 Experience: 0/34000
Species: Human (Pureblood)
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Small Seed [LOCKED]
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
- Strength D: 122
- Endurance B: 210
- Dexterity SS: 375 +21
- Intelligence S: 450
- Charisma B: 210
- Mana S: 263
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: [Browse Talents] Prodigy III*, Eidetic Memory II*, Stealth V, Charm Resistance II*, Flexible I*, || Monster Handling III*, Dagger Fighting V*, Sword Fighting II*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemy Correction IV*, Teaching II*, Mana Efficiency III*, Fire Magic III*, Water Magic II*, Earth Magic II*, Wind Magic II*, Ice Magic V
Skills 5/5: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features]*, Finesse Fighting*, Blue Blooded*, Kinetic Perception*, Mana Crystallization*, || Language Proficiency[Central Human]*, Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan Style]*, Blessing of Winter*
Talents Experience: [+]
I sat cross-legged on the edge of my bed. After reliving the meeting with Prince Rupert, I was confident I had made the correct choice to enter an engagement with him. Things were going to get very complicated in the near future, but once we got through that, I would get Rosial back and would even be in a position to work on some other things.
I hadn¡¯t originally had any plans to address the more fundamental issues of this kingdom, but as Queen, I would be able to do so, if I wanted to. Eidetic Memory is about to level up too. Only five more talent experience¡ I could probably get that fairly quickly by just reviewing my memories but I didn¡¯t see the point in doing so. It would level up next week anyway, and I had more important things to attend to right now.
Turning my attention to Jacqueline, who was working on my clothes for tomorrow¡¯s entrance ceremonies, I activate my Divine Eyes. According to Rupert, Jacqueline probably had some kind of Demon Parasite in her, that had been funneling information back to Five. This was a major problem, since I had told Jacqueline so much about myself. I don¡¯t regret telling her, she obviously doesn¡¯t know about the parasite, or she would have told me. But, it would be extremely detrimental if Five knows about all of that, as well as the plans Jacqueline and I have been discussing. It also meant that I couldn¡¯t rely on Jacqueline or divulge to her the news about my change of engagement.
Moving my eyes over her back, I traced the lines of her mana-light. I had looked at her before, but never that close. I had no idea if I would be able to see the worm or not; I hadn¡¯t detected anything when I appraised her prior to granting her [Charm Immunity]. And I don¡¯t want to think about the implications of Five knowing I can grant skills¡
I didn¡¯t see anything, not at first. But just as I was about to give up, I noticed a discrepancy. Normally, the light followed the circulatory system. But on Jacqueline, there was a small space where the light seemed warped and jumbled. Not any larger than a thumb, but it was as if the light was avoiding this part of her. It was situated right at the base of her spine, where Rupert had told me his men had found the parasites in the shadows they had defeated.
So she has one then¡ Five knows everything. I pursed my lips, this wasn¡¯t good. I need to get rid of that thing, but as soon as I do, Five will know I¡¯ve done it. Then he would know that I know about their existence of them. That would put Rupert in danger¡ Of course, any actions I took would be putting the two of us in danger, the same for any he took. But I would prefer to minimize that danger until the last possible minute. The first thing I should do is contact Rupert, and tell him I¡¯ve confirmed the parasite¡¯s existence¡ though I would have to explain how I¡¯ve done so¡
I wasn¡¯t yet ready to entrust Rupert with the knowledge of my ability to use the Divine Element. It was possible he already knew, thanks to his knowledge about the champions. But if he knew, I think he would have asked about it to confirm if I could or not¡ I wanted to trust him, and it may be better for me to let go of the edge of the pool and try to swim, but I struggled to bring myself to do that.
Reaching up, I rubbed at my temples, the circular reasoning was beginning to give me a headache. At the end of the day, I only have two options; trust him or don¡¯t. There is no in-between. Not with our contract. I either tell him everything, or I¡¯ll be playing this game of secrets for the rest of my life. I had thought I could confide in Jacqueline, but for the time being that was no longer an option. I could technically confide in Claire, but giving Felicity knowledge of my secrets would put her at risk.
Sure, I could order her not to tell anyone anything, but that didn¡¯t mean the information couldn¡¯t be extracted through other means. It was better to leave her, and by extension Claire, a bit in the dark. Pursing my lips, I frowned. I¡¯m letting the anxiety get to me. I made a literally life-changing decision today. I should give it a few days to sort things out and figure out how I feel.
Jacqueline picked that moment to turn and address me, ¡°Lady Stahlia, something is bothering you.¡±
I forced myself not to grimace and adopted a small smile, ¡°No, nothing is bothering me in particular. Just thinking about the entrance ceremony tomorrow. I¡¯ll be seeing the king for the second time, and it¡¯s a bit worrying to me. Even if I do know how to avoid his voice.¡±
Jacqueline looked at me with a bit of melancholy, ¡°I would like to say I have known you long enough to tell when you are hiding something, but I can not be sure anymore¡ still, when you are ready to talk, I will be here.¡±
What the hell¡? I don¡¯t deserve you. Honestly, with how I¡¯ve been, and all the mistakes I¡¯ve made, I don¡¯t deserve any of my few friends and allies. I had to blink my eyes rapidly to avoid starting to cry. Apparently, the meeting with Rupert had taken a lot more out of me than I thought it did because I soon found myself waking up to Jacqueline gently shaking me.
¡°Lady Stahlia, you need to get up or you will be late for the entrance ceremony.¡± Right, that¡¯s today. I wonder if Rupert has told the king about the result of our meeting yesterday? That thought caused me a great deal of anxiety, and I immediately regretted having it as my false smile started to twitch a bit at the corner.
Shrugging off my anxiety, I slipped out of bed and Jacqueline began to dress me. Right, even if Rupert did tell him, it¡¯s not like the king would make a big deal out of it at the entrance ceremony. Besides, given how secret and scheming the whole affair is, the odds of Rupert actually telling him, are low. Bordering on nonexistent.
So assured, I finished being dressed, had a quick breakfast, and moved down to the carriages. Predictably, Dominic had already left. He had been a bit odd after I got back from my meeting with Rupert, staring at me with more intensity than usual. It was a bit disconcerting; though, in the end, nothing seemed to have come from it. Still, this is going to be a long couple of months¡
Before long, I arrived at the entrance ceremony. This time, I did not send Jacqueline to fetch Ferris, doing so would only aggravate things further and ideally, I would be able to lie low for the next few months until things were officially broken off. Though I doubted they would, considering I had pretty blatantly told Dominic I knew about his charm abilities. He didn¡¯t bring them up¡ but the way he was staring at me, he realized that I know. It¡¯s the only explanation.
I got out of my carriage on my own, though it didn¡¯t cause much of a stir among the few people who were there to watch us; after the show I had made of the social me being unescorted was probably expected. Heading inside, I spotted Dominic in the group of fourth years. My own allies were lacking, as both Edith and Sarala were absent per Rupert¡¯s orders. I need to do better at making friends and allies this year¡ though if things kick off with Five, I might not have much time¡
A part of me was saying I should just grant Edith and Sarala both charm resistance. I mean, Five already knows I can do that, via Jacqueline¡ Is there really any point in hiding it from Rupert¡? I found a place to stand and wait for Percius to commence the opening ceremonies; I was curious how he was doing, as I had not heard from nor seen him since our meeting.
To pass the time, I turned my attention to the girl nearest me, a baron¡¯s daughter by the color of her family crest. Before I could even say something, however, she shirked away a bit. As soon as she noticed my attention, she retreated¡? I really did make big waves going against one of the highest-positioned count families so publicly¡ I felt someone watching me then, and shifted slightly to place them into the peripheral of my vision.
It was Dominic, watching me with an ill-hidden smirk. I see you arranged this then. I felt my hands shaking and clenched my fists while forcing my face not to show any of the seething anger I was feeling. How petty can you be¡? I could not wait to see the look on his face when he found out I had traded him in for a prince.
¡°Students¡ Welcome to this, the first day of another year¡¡± Percius¡¯ voice boomed out, carrying over the halls and quieting some of the chatter. He looks haggard like he¡¯s been wasting away these past few months¡ I felt a pang of sympathy for Percius as I watched him. His gaze seemed to linger on me for a moment as he surveyed the crowd, but I couldn¡¯t tell if it was just my imagination or not.
¡°In the wake of the tragedy that has befallen our kingdom, it is my duty to remind you all that you are the future of this kingdom.¡±
Percius went on to lead us through the same vows we had sworn the year previous, and then announced the king¡¯s entrance. King Drakas came out on stage, his presence was just as commanding as I remembered it to be. The first years began to murmur excitedly until the king raised his hand to silence them.
¡°Children. It is with a heart filled with sadness that I stand here before you.¡± His voice carried clearly, despite the lack of magic enhancement. The same charisma I remember. Tucking my hand into a pocket that was hidden in the fold of my dress, I clutched the ring Rupert had given me. I wasn¡¯t sure why I did so, I simply did.
¡°Sadness, not because of the death of my son, but because of his weakness, his failure.¡± I knew from his speech last year that the king had a fairly harsh view of things, so while not unexpected, I still had to feel a bit sorry for the late prince.
¡°It is with that in mind, that I have chosen to take this chance to make an announcement.¡± A ripple ran through the room at that; the king making an announcement in this setting was fairly unprecedented. Normally, he would inform the dukes, and they would, in turn, disseminate the words of the king to the counts and barons in their faction. Making an announcement here? To the academy students? The only reason I can think of to do that is if it¡¯s about a royal matter that is immediately relevant to the student body¡ something like¡
¡°I am naming my son, Third Prince Rupert von Drakas, the Crown Prince. Ahead of his elder brother. Furthermore, he will be taking a wife from among the young noblewomen gathered in this room today¡¡± As he spoke, his eyes traveled across the assembled girls and young women. Much like Percius, I could swear that his gaze paused on me. Though this time I didn¡¯t think I was imagining it.
So, Rupert did tell him, or he found out some other way¡ Rupert told me I was able to speak with the authority of the king now¡ I could feel my smile starting to twitch as the room exploded into excited chatter. More so among the unmarried girls than any other group. He probably was magically made aware of the engagement as soon as I signed my name to that contract. The game was rigged from the start. But naming Rupert your successor like this¡? What purpose does that serve!?
As the king left, Percius hurriedly took to the stage. Based on his reaction, I could tell that this had been a surprise to him as well. An unplanned, political landscape-changing announcement. Looking around the room, I spotted Gustav. He shook his head slightly, signaling that he was in the dark as well. I¡¯ll need to have a conversation with Rupert, or at least Gustav. The King obviously did that on purpose, and we need to figure out how it changes things¡ And I need to tell Rupert everything, I can¡¯t afford not to have Edith and Sarala here to act as allies and support¡ My resolve made, I stilled my twitching smile, and faced the stage.
Not a Chapter - Announcement (OLD)
So, people who are in the discord will already be somewhat aware but over the past few weeks there have been some issues going on in my personal life. While it has all since been resolved, I¡¯m finding that I don¡¯t have the motivation to write. I know what to write, and in general how to go about doing that but when I sit down to actually execute, I lose the motivation after ~200 words.
This all culminated on Saturday when I missed a chapter release for Demon Queen. Since I started writing in mid-November, I have not missed a scheduled release, and have written in excess of 350,000 words. After some consideration, I believe that I¡¯ve finally started to reach a point where I¡¯m burning out. Combined with the stress from the personal life drama, the issue is being exacerbated.
After much consideration, I¡¯ve decided to take a short break before things get so bad I want to quit. Both Tricked Into A NewLife, God Must Be Screwing With Me! And I Hate RPGs, So I Guess I¡¯ll Become The Queen Of Demons are going to go on a two-week break; The first week is for me to completely step away and just not have it in my head, and the second week is to rebuild a bit of backlog.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
This is a good time for Tricked to take a break, since Volume Three just ended, but I do feel bad for Demon Queen, since I¡¯m leaving it on a bit of a cliffhanger; I¡¯ll release the missed chapter of Demon Queen sometime in the next week, but further chapters for either story won¡¯t resume until Friday, March 18th.
To get a notification when chapters resume, you can follow my Scribble Hub Profile or join the discord server.
https://discord.gg/qTUNW6HJ6h
4-1: First Day Part One
The Story so Far:
It¡¯s been eleven years since the death of George. I go by Stahlia now, and for reasons we won¡¯t get into I wound up changing teams. It took me some time, but I¡¯ve finally come completely to terms with losing my little buddy. I even managed to become a bona fide princess!
That¡¯s skipping ahead a bit. Let¡¯s see¡ I guess the first major event to recount would be my sister getting kidnapped. I was a real dunce about that, though I wouldn¡¯t have been able to see it coming at least I could have known that the church couldn¡¯t be trusted. Then again, one of their twelve gods is Antenora, goddess of being a cunt-bitc- Ahem, sorry, goddess of plots, deceit, and traitors.
Following that, I was shoved into an arranged marriage and shipped off to the Royal Academy. It wasn¡¯t all bad though, as it turned out, my maid was a member of the same organization that kidnapped my sister. Though given recent developments and me learning about the literal bug she¡¯s carrying around I can¡¯t exactly confide in her anymore¡ I had just told her I was ready to trust her implicitly! I even told her about my status as a reincarnation. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it seems that my enemies were already aware of that. Though I have no idea how they found out about it.
Probably one of the gods told them, or something like that. After all, it seems like the gods just want to screw with me; one of them even sent me on a nice little suicide mission that resulted in nearly half a year of trauma. It¡¯s a damn good thing I have the mind and memories of an-at-this-point-thirty-something, if I was really just an eleven-year-old girl I probably would have snapped and gone insane.
Then there was the Goblin Army that tried to attack my home village. Thankfully I was able to help repel them, though the way I did it was kinda sorta just a tiny bit extremely flashy. I ended up catching the eye of the up-and-coming third prince. After he got me in a room alone with him and his aide he proceeded to dump a bunch of royal secrets on me and followed up with a marriage proposal. After some consideration, I decided to take him up on that offer, since it would solve a lot of my current problems and put me in a very good position for the ultimate completion of my goals.
Of course, that comes with certain obligations, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to back out of this one when I was done with my own goals, but I¡¯ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Things are starting to heat up though, and I¡¯m getting closer to saving my sister from the clutches of the kingdom. Only, it turns out she¡¯s actually being held by a Demon. Not just any demon either, one of the Nine Hell Kings; basically, this world¡¯s version of a Demon Lord. Thankfully my new fianc¨¦e is down with bringing down Fifth Seat, King of Wrath Satan as well.
Now I just need to figure out how to get the bug out of my maid, the Rohypnol out of my second and third best friends, and somehow brew a potion that can regrow missing body parts. All while plotting the downfall of a Demon Lord whose been alive for at least a thousand years. I refuse to rely on those jerkwads, I mean those gods, either. But hey, that¡¯s just my NewLife!
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
I was presently in Gustav¡¯s hidden office; according to my class schedule, I was supposed to be receiving lessons in Advanced Blue Magic at this time. As it turns out, I was the only student enrolled in the class, and the class would be held in Gustav¡¯s offices. Rowell was just outside the door to the main office, in the hall.
He had protested that decision, but Gustav had run him around in a circle, stating that I would be learning restricted spells and that Rowell did not have the authority to learn them. For every protestation Rowell put forward, Gustav countered. When Rowell raised his hands in defeat, I honestly felt a bit sorry for him. He was nominally supposed to be spying on me for Five, but hadn¡¯t managed to accomplish much of that. Though now that I know about the worm, I imagine he¡¯s only actually here to let me know I¡¯m being watched, and throw me off the scent. The question is, does he know that¡¯s all he¡¯s here for?
As soon as we entered the hidden room, Gustav immediately turned and took a knee, ¡°My Lady. I must apologize for that man. I would like to have removed him by now, but doing so would tip our hand.¡±
I felt my face twitch, ¡°Lord Gustav, please do not start treating me like that¡ at least not until things are official¡ please.¡±
I really don¡¯t want people to start treating me like that¡ for as long as possible. Considering that I had pretty much signed up to eventually be queen, I would have to get over the mentality. But until just a few days ago, Gustav had been my instructor; someone in a position above me. Him kneeling just feels¡ weird. Thankfully, he did not seem to want to press the issue.
¡°Very well. If that¡¯s how you want to do things, I can accommodate, at least until after the wedding.¡± I nodded my thanks, before getting right to the heart of the matter.
¡°I take it that was a surprise for you as well?¡± Gustav grimaced and nodded.
¡°Indeed, I suspect his Highness Rupert was likewise unaware; he would have given me some degree of warning if he had known what his father was planning to do.¡± I took the seat that Gustav offered to me, in a way I was grateful that we hadn¡¯t stood on protocol and had instead started discussing things right away. I prefer Gustav this way, rather than the hyper formal persona he had when Rupert was present.
Leaning forward I pressed for more information, ¡°Right, well, do you have any ideas what the King is going for with this? I can¡¯t imagine this will go over well with the First Prince and his faction¡¯s nobles.¡±
Frustratingly, Gustav simply shook his head, ¡°No, I have no idea. I could only guess; but if I were to do so, I would say that he is probably planning to force Rupert to take action. His Highness King Drakas is well aware that Rupert was the one to kill his own brother and, likewise, he knows about Five¡¯s identity. Of course, he also knows that you and Rupert have signed the contract; with all that said, this is likely his way of telling his son to stop moving in the shadows and claim the crown. Lucky you, getting caught up in the Royal Family drama huh?¡±
Setting my jaw, a thin irritated smile graced my face as I retorted, ¡°Of course, there is nothing I would prefer more than that.¡± My voice was dripping with sarcasm. Nothing ever goes just the way I would like, something or someone always comes in and ruins things.
Gustav chuckled, then waved set his hand on a tea kettle. In short order, it started whistling and he added some leaves to steep. As he prepared the drink I began to mentally prepare myself to put everything out in the open. He poured me a cup, and passed it over. After he had taken his own demonstrative sip I raised the cup to my lips and took my own.
Once I had set the cup down, Gustav posted a question to me, ¡°Do you have any thoughts on removing the influence of the charm from Edith and Sarala?¡±
The question surprised me since that was one of the things I had been planning to reveal. Catching the look on my face, Gustav nodded, ¡°It seems you do. Are you willing to divulge it to me? If you do not want to, we will continue looking for another method.¡±
I see¡ by having Gustav be the one to inquire Rupert is letting me sidestep the contract¡¯s compulsion to answer honestly... Why though? I guess he¡¯s trying to offer me a bit of freedom? Or showing that he trusts me without the contract? Either way, I was planning to tell Rupert anyways, and chances are he would want to inform Gustav. Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead¡ but this is a world with magic so that doesn¡¯t apply. Well, here goes nothing.
¡°¡Yes, I would be able to remove the charm. Or more specifically, I can give them the ability to remove it.¡± Gustav¡¯s eyes flashed with interest.
¡°What do you mean when you say you can give them the ability to remove it? Some Blood Magic Technique you developed? Some sort of potion that makes them more resilient to outside mana? Something else entirely?¡± I blinked and shook my head while waving a hand to make him stop. I guess the eccentric one is his real personality, given how fast he was talking just now.
Once he was calmed, I sat back and crossed my arms. ¡°Prince Rupert will keep my secrets because of the contract; you are not bound in the same manner.¡±
The light of curiosity faded from his eyes, though not in its entirety. Folding his hands and adopting a serious expression, Gustav nodded, ¡°So it¡¯s something even bigger than that. I will let Rupert know that you need to speak to him privately on the matter.¡±
The sudden change in demeanor from rapid-fire-eccentric to stoic noble left me in the dust. Woah, I thought I had just pegged him down as eccentric. Just what is going on with his personality shifts? It¡¯s like he¡¯s bipolar or something, except that those aren¡¯t the usual personalities of that disorder¡ I gave him a hard look, trying to figure out which personality was the act. There it is. His hands are trembling a bit, so he clenched them to force the professional appearance, he¡¯s actually dying to know but won¡¯t press the issue because of loyalty to the prince, and by extension me. So much for treating me like you used to¡ I couldn¡¯t help but think of last year, when he had badgered me to learn about calculus.
The memory was saddening, and I frowned involuntarily. Thankfully, Gustav was tactful enough to ignore that. Just something else I¡¯m leaving behind, no use dwelling on it. ¡°No, that would take too long¡ Blood Magic is old, or so I have been told, and it has been theorized that most, if not all, magic originated from it.¡±
Gustav adopted a guarded expression and tone, but now that I knew what to look for, I could still make out a few tells that he was now even more curious. Slowly, he asked a question, ¡°¡What are you getting at?¡±
I nodded and laid my hand on the table in front of him, ¡°Including contract magic, correct?¡±
¡°¡And just who told you that? I know I did not, was it Lord Kell?¡±
I shook my head no and smiled grimly, ¡°No. As it turns out, Blood Magic used to be the primary magic used by people a long time ago, back when the Hell Kings were still human.¡±
Gustav shut his eyes tightly and inhaled slowly before breathing out just as slowly. When he opened his eyes he had lost the majority of the signs of his curiosity. Fixing his eyes on mine, I forced myself to maintain eye contact. After a few moments, he reached out and grabbed my hand. An instant later he released it and I reviewed the new memories I had just acquired.
Unlike with Sitri, this negotiation had been fairly quick. Gustav had agreed to keep any secrets I told him, with the sole exception of being allowed to tell Rupert so that he could act as an intermediary for us. I had also agreed to tell him how I knew about the origin of Magic, though that wasn¡¯t a big deal to me since I planned on telling him about what had happened with Sitri anyways; he was smart enough that a bit of consideration would lead him to a correct, or at least mostly correct, conclusion anyways.
¡°Sitri, the demon I was sorely beaten by in Ang told me that during her age Blood Magic was the predominant form of magecraft, and that chanting did not exist yet. We also entered into a contract to ensure my, Dominic¡¯s, and Jacqueline¡¯s escape. That is how I knew Blood Magic contracts existed.¡± After Gustav got over the surprise and shock at learning the next queen had entered a contract with a demon, I spent the next half an hour reviewing the terms of that contract with him. He was, naturally, worried that I would wind up bound in a way that would prove detrimental to the kingdom.
Thankfully, since I was bound by yet another contract requiring me to tell him the details regarding how I knew about these things it was easy enough to convince him of my honesty regarding the terms. I was honest as well, going over the terms word for word, and describing my actions immediately afterward. These contracts really are convenient, though I need to be careful not to abuse them. I could easily wind up binding myself in such a way that I can¡¯t move freely. I¡¯ve been able to avoid doing that so far, but it is a definite possibility. Unless it¡¯s of the utmost importance, I should avoid sealing agreements with magic.
Once the air had been cleared and it had been made clear that I had not sold my soul to a literal devil, it was time for the big reveal. There was really no way to ease into something this big, so I opted for the blunt approach, ¡°I can grant people skills. I gave Jacqueline [Charm Immunity], and that got rid of Dominic¡¯s taint on her.¡±
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Gustav froze and was silent for a full minute before finally sinking back into his chair, ¡°You¡ you are telling me you can step into the domain of the twelve, and guide the purpose of one of the races? Do you understand the ramifications of such a claim¡?¡±
I bobbed my head up and down, ¡°Yes, why do you think I went so far as to ask you to bind yourself with Blood Magic? And it is not that I can step into their domain. According to an Oracle the church received a couple of weeks ago, I literally became the thirteenth god for a few moments when I granted the skill to Jacqueline.¡±
That revelation caused Gustav to start rubbing his temples vigorously. I waited patiently for him to recover, I knew that this was probably going to be the result of sharing this with him. Finally, he nodded a couple times and sat up, ¡°The church received an Oracle? I assume you learned the details from your friend¡ Sana, was her name? Can you tell me what you heard? They have not communicated anything to the king that I am aware of.¡±
I guess he¡¯s going with the approach of just not thinking about it. I suppose that makes sense, I¡¯m basically shattering all of his preconceptions about how the world works right now. Though I still need to inform about the cost of granting a skill, if it¡¯s something I have to do for two people I¡¯ll be down and out for probably a month or two¡ not that I have a sample size large enough to know for sure¡ Hell, I didn¡¯t even know if I could grant the skill to Edith and Sarala. Jacqueline had been over level forty and had a decent quantity of Life Points for me to spend. It was possible that Edith and Sarala wouldn¡¯t have enough.
I had a theory that I could spend additional time of my own life to make up the difference, but without a test case, I had no way to be sure. As such, while I was willing to give up a few years for my two friends, especially when I knew I would desperately need their support, I had no way to know if it was even possible. There was also the fact that I would age significantly while in my comma. For Jacqueline, I had grown a year or so physically, and I was still young enough we could hide it and pass it off as a growth spurt.
But if I suddenly grew to be sixteen or eighteen, or even older, it would be a lot harder to hide. As such, me giving them the skill was a definite last resort. Based on the clock in the corner, there was about half an hour of time left in our ¡°class¡±. I would need to make sure to at least tell him that there were restrictions, and that I couldn¡¯t be counted on for something insane, like augmenting the skills of an army. In theory, it should be obvious that exercising the ability of a goddess would have a cost associated with it. But given the worldview challenging magnitude of the ability, it was possible that Gustav and Rupert would arrive at the conclusion I could do anything.
Which is certainly not the case. I can do a lot and am certainly special, but I have limits. I also want to avoid using my authority as much as possible, since the gods definitely noticed when I did; they couldn¡¯t have made an oracle about a thirteenth if they hadn¡¯t. I can be almost certain that if they don¡¯t already know it was me, they will figure it out if I keep using it.
¡°Yes, the oracle detailed that Asmodea, Queen of Lust has advented, and that a thirteenth god was born for a moment. As I said a moment ago, I am reasonably certain that last part was referring to me; the timeline matches up with when I gave Jacqueline the skill.¡± This time Gustav didn¡¯t take too long to respond, and simply absorbed the information before nodding.
¡°I see, we were already aware of the new Hell King, and you told me about the¡ goddess thing¡ already. So the only takeaway is that the church is not telling his Highness King Drakas.¡± Falling silent, Gustav began to stroke his chin in thought, ¡°¡Which does not bode well; we are already contending with an infiltration, to have the church moving in the shadows as well¡ Please, maintain your connection to Miss Sana as best you can. While only an apprentice, the fact that she was present for an Oracle should elevate her standing somewhat.¡±
Well, I don¡¯t exactly like the thought of using Sana like that, but this is better than you trying to tell me to cut off ties with her because the church is dangerous. There is no way in hell I would go along with that, this way I can work towards shielding her. At the end of the day, I probably need to get her out of the church somehow. ¡°I do not appreciate being told to use my friendships as political tools, but I can see what you are getting at¡ As long as she does not wind up at risk, I will follow along.¡±
Me from a few months ago would have whined a bit and gone along with the request begrudgingly. The new me was walking her own path, and I would make sure that I was on equal standing with Rupert, at least as much as I was able, at the end of the day the Queen was second fiddle. In some cases even third fiddle. Gustav gave his assent, ¡°That is all I ask, I am sure his Highness Prince Rupert will appreciate your willingness to work with us.¡±
Not wanting to let things fall into an awkward silence, I opted to take this opportunity to roll things back to a previous topic, ¡°¡Regarding that; do not get any ideas about having me make an army¡ Granting skills is, well, costly for me. It is an absolute last resort.¡±
Gustav looked loathe to dive into that topic, but reading the seriousness writ in my expression, he begrudgingly asked me the details, and I spent the remainder of the meeting detailing the repercussions I had experienced, both when I first accessed Rosin¡¯s status menu, and when I had actually exercised my authority on Jacqueline.
As the class period came to a close, Gustave stood and helped me up from my seat, ¡°Thank you for being so open with me and by extension his highness; he will be pleased that his effort to afford you some privacy in the face of the contract was responded to with your trust.¡±
It seemed that the eccentric was sated for now, as he had dropped back into the exceptionally formal mode. That¡¯s really disconcerting that he can switch between two extremes like that. Still, it was just something I would need to get used to. Heading out into the hall, Rowell fell into step behind me. He was doing his best to avoid displaying his irritation at being left out. I honestly need to do something about him. It¡¯s getting annoying to constantly have to find excuses to ditch him¡
I made a mental note to consider a way of ridding myself of my third shadow, though whatever I decided on would likely tip my hand and change the status quo from relative non-aggression to active rebellion, or at least active resistance, given my new position whether or not my future actions could be considered rebellion anymore was debatable. I did have the tacit approval of the newly anointed Crown Prince after all.
My next class was annoying in multiple ways. For one, it was on the opposite side of the Academy grounds. For another, it was my Swordsmanship class. That meant that Dominic was going to be there. I hadn¡¯t interacted with him that much the day before, so I was unsure how the announcement about Rupert purportedly planning to pick his fianc¨¦ would affect our relationship. Hopefully, it wouldn¡¯t. But these things hardly ever went the way I wanted them to.
With a heart filled with trepidation, I made my way out onto the training field and to the group of boys, or rather, young men at this point in their lives. For the most part. There was one of them that was still a boy, and I didn¡¯t mean Dominic acting childish. There was a physical boy going through introductions. More specifically, the other students were introducing themselves to him. After all, Ferris von Febligi had the highest social status out of all those present.
I paused a short distance away, I needed a moment to compose myself before stepping onto this new battlefield. But really, skipping straight into a fourth-year swordsmanship course? I get that he¡¯s the son of Duke Febligi and that house is renowned for their martial prowess, but isn¡¯t this a bit much? The thought occurred that he was probably here because of me. After all, he had made no secret of his intentions to get me away from the third prince faction.
It was easily conceivable that he, or rather his father, would leverage the reputation of his house to place him in a higher-level course. The fact that it was the same course as myself was most certainly not a coincidence, there were several other classes for this year he could have joined. Thankfully he won¡¯t be so easily able to skip ahead in magic, math, or alchemy. Hurray for small victories¡ While I had never really intended to remain with him, I had still been around Dominic long enough to be able to read him a bit by his body language.
While he was smiling as he greeted Ferris, I got the distinct impression that he was furious, as well as a bit agitated. A strange combination of emotions, and one that signaled how hellish the next few months would be. Maybe the king¡¯s announcement will accelerate Rupert¡¯s timetable¡ one can hope at least. Having properly resigned myself, I closed the remaining distance and took a position on the periphery of the class; I did not want to get in the middle of what I was sure was coming.
And now he¡¯s coming this way. Damnit, can¡¯t you take the hint? Sure enough, Ferris had made his way over to me as soon as my presence had become apparent to the rest of the class. As he approached, a hush fell over the other students, save for a few whispers and a couple of them that made concealed gestures to at their neighbor. Of course you would all be overly interested in this. After the incidents the past couple of weeks¡
There was the third party present that was also interested, and I chanced a look in its direction. Dominic had fixed me with an unfriendly glare, but was remaining a bit away from me. So he¡¯s still going for that ¡®neglect¡¯ bullshit hmmm? Fine. I¡¯m not going to deal with this crap for the next few months, if you want to be a child, then I¡¯ll be a bitch. I waited patiently for Ferris to finish his walk and then performed my greeting.
¡°A pleasure to once again meet you, Lord Ferris.¡± Punctuating my words with a deep curtsy and a flat blatantly fake smile. The impression was that I was paying him only the courtesy required by our different stations. It was a far cry from what one would expect a young lady who was being courted to do. But it was exactly the response one would expect from an engaged young lady who was being poached and was not happy about it.
Ferris faltered briefly and, out of the corner of my vision, I saw a look of surprise cross Dominic¡¯s face. What do you expect? I am engaged after all. Just not to you, not that I¡¯ll be telling you that. After all, my fianc¨¦e wants me to act like things are normal between you and me. If you weren¡¯t reacting so childishly, I would have spent the next few months slowly taking a distance and working to reduce our contact so the coming announcement is less painful for you. But since you¡¯re acting the way you are, I see no reason not to add more and more superglue to this relationship. That way when I rip it off later it hurts like hell.
Was I acting petty? Absolutely. At this point though, I honestly did not care one wit. Ferris pulled my attention back to him as he gave his return greeting, ¡°Indeed, it is a pleasure, Lady Stahlia. I look forward to seeing the measure of your ability, I have heard some amazing things after all.¡±
The bow he gave me was not the half-bow that he should have done given the station, but rather a full bow. That indicated that he was still intent on pursuing me. Would it be laying it on too thick if I flat out rejected him here¡? No, given how I acted at the wake, I think I should be able to get away with being a tiny bit blunt. ¡°Lord Ferris, while I appreciate your formality, I do feel it is unbecoming of your station for one such as myself.¡±
He gave me a funny look, but didn¡¯t offer a retort, simply stepping back after a moment and slightly dipping his head by way of apology. I had, in no uncertain terms, told him to stop being so familiar with me. On the surface, it sounded simply like a gentle push to open some distance between us. However given the context of the events over the past few weeks, it took on a much more direct meaning of ¡°I¡¯m engaged, back off.¡±
As Ferris took a few steps back, Dominic fell in to take his place at my side. He was barely managing to conceal an enormously pleased expression, and I flashed a smile of my own briefly in his direction. It was a genuine smile, brought on by the thought of the payback that was coming for him in the near future. It was a bit sadistic for me, especially without [Cold Hearted] active, but I was just done with his shit.
The more I thought about it, the more I grew irritated with myself for worrying about hurting him when I signed the contract with Rupert in the first place. It was a big change for only a couple of days, but I chalked it up to having realized that I was free. So to speak; of course I wasn¡¯t free in the truest sense, but there was a massive difference between an engagement arranged and an engagement willingly entered. Even if love wasn¡¯t involved in either.
The voice of our instructor boomed out across the gathered students, calling for class to begin, ¡°Alright you lot, form up. It¡¯s the first day of the new school year. You all know what that means. Before we get started though, Stahlia!¡±
At the sound of my name I stiffened; in my experience, it was never pleasant when a teacher singled me out and for various reasons, they seemed to keep doing it. Hiding the irritation I was feeling at being called on, I answered crisply, ¡°Yes, instructor?¡±
He nodded at my prompt response and then dropped a nice fat bombshell on the class, ¡°I was told what you were involved with over the break. You will be sparring with me this year so that you don¡¯t accidentally kill someone. The rest of you, pair up!¡±
Yea¡ I guess that makes sense. The level advantage will be a bit large at the moment. Though I wish you had just said I over-leveled them instead of being all dramatic. I doubt I would mess up to the point of killing someone. Still, while his method had been rough it was a welcome suggestion, this way I would avoid any awkward happenings. I stepped back and away from the other students; in a way this was similar to last year since the teacher had been giving me private lessons for the first few months until I had managed to catch up to the other students.
Glancing over the pairs, it seemed that things were moving fairly predictably, with people forming up according to friendships or healthy rivalries. Except for the predictable two. Dominic had paired himself up with Ferris. It was plainly obvious what was going on with that pairing. Great, and I suppose the instructor isn¡¯t going to separate them, is he? Sure enough, the instructor didn¡¯t seem to see a problem with Ferris and Dominic sparring with each other.
Really? The sons of the noble heads of the First and Third Prince factions are being allowed to spar? With swords? There is no way this ends well! For a moment a dark thought flashed through my mind, that perhaps Ferris would ¡°accidentally¡± solve my Dominic problem a few months early. I quickly grabbed hold of that thought and crushed it with a shiver. It was frankly scary how quickly my mind had gone in that direction. Why though? Everything is going fine now that I¡¯ve solved the charm and the engagement problems¡ is it a sort of rebound? I¡¯m growing to hate him as the influence of the charm fades? Then the contract with Rupert may have served as a catalyst¡
Pulling me back to reality, the instructor had shouted ¡°Begin!¡±. The first match, Dominic vs. Ferris, had started before I could interject about how bad of an idea it was.
4-2 First Day Part Two
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948.
¡°Begin!¡± at the instructor¡¯s shout¡ nothing happened. It was honestly a bit of a letdown. Instead of rushing each other, both Dominic and Ferris just stood in place holding their stances. Obviously, I knew what they were doing, each was waiting for the other to make the first move. It was a bit surprising; given Dominic¡¯s recent childishness I had expected he might rush in screaming some fanciful battle cry. Did my apparent acceptance mollify him a bit more than I thought? Or does he actually respect Ferris? Either option was likely, and I couldn¡¯t decide which I would have bet on.
After several seconds of waiting, it was Ferris who made the first move; stepping forward one pace, he closed to just inside Dominic¡¯s range before dropping immediately back out of it. Trying to bait a cheap swing, Dominic won¡¯t fall for that though. Indeed, Dominic only reacted by adjusting his stance slightly to one more appropriate for defense against sudden strikes.
This¡ this is awful. Glancing around, the other students seemed to share my opinion. Our class was largely, and by that I mean entirely, composed of members of Rupert¡¯s faction so all of them had been rooting for Dominic¡¯s swift victory. The fact that he was being forced to take things this slow and carefully was upsetting the onlookers, though they knew better than to do something as banal as jeer.
Just as I was beginning to wonder if anything would happen, Dominic seemingly had enough and made the first actual attack. Swinging his training blade down and around to catch Ferris¡¯ side, he pivoted off the swing and around to the back.
Ferris caught the sword on his own, and attempted a counter after sliding his own blade off Dominic¡¯s. Dominic ducked under Ferris¡¯ sword and attempted a jab with his elbow that was easily avoided. Transitioning into a rapid exchange of blows, the two of them pushed each other up and down the field. This went from nothing to one of the most intense fights I¡¯ve witnessed.
A quick glance around showed that most of the others couldn¡¯t actually follow much of what was going on. The instructor and I both could, but out of the remaining students, only a couple of them seemed able to keep up. I knew Dominic was around this level, but Ferris is three years younger than him, just how intense is the Febligi martial training?
That couldn¡¯t be the whole story though, as I witnessed Ferris leap into the air and come down with his blade being driven ahead by his weight and gravity. A ten-year-old shouldn¡¯t be able to move like that. Not unassisted. Of course, he was being assisted by the levels and stats. Though to be able to keep up with Dominic¡ I wonder what Ferris¡¯ level is? Honestly, the longer I watched the fight the more I wanted to appraise Ferris.
Jumping into the air isn¡¯t a smart choice, and Dominic capitalized on that, but Ferris brought his sword around with an impressive acrobatic maneuver and used it to adjust both his own momentum and deflect Dominic¡¯s blade; by using that same blade as a fulcrum. Dominic has higher base stats than Ferris; his muscles are stronger and more developed since he¡¯s matured¡ physically.
Ferris had a clear advantage in technical ability, and his level was definitely higher. The higher multiplier to his base strength from his stats and smart blade work was the only thing keeping him in the fight. But it¡¯s over, Dominic won. Ferris might have higher stat multipliers, but he was also burning Stamina a lot faster. His acrobatics might look flashy and be hard to track but Dominic was able to keep up, if only just. With that hurdle cleared, he only had to play it safe and he would win.
As if by some spoken agreement, the two of them leaped backward in unison, and as I had thought would be the case, Ferris was breathing more heavily than Dominic.
¡°You, why don¡¯t you try fighting like a man?¡± A murmur ran through the class at Dominic¡¯s comment. He had intended it to be overheard too if the volume was anything to go by. This doesn¡¯t bode well¡
Chancing a glance at the instructor, it seemed he was intent on letting things play out, if he had any intention of stopping them I couldn¡¯t see it. At Dominic¡¯s verbal jab, Ferris cocked his head to the side curiously, ¡°Because¡ I am a boy?¡±
¡°Pff!¡± I couldn¡¯t help it, his retort was so completely accurate, and so in character for someone who didn¡¯t care for the usual noble theatrics. I laughed once. Of course everyone overheard, including Dominic. His face immediately darkened, and an ominous heavy aura seemed to come down over the field. Shit, I just had to go and laugh¡ What is he going to do now?
¡°A boy? Yea, that¡¯s right. You¡¯re just a boy. A little boy. That¡¯s all you are.¡± His words were mumbled, but they carried quite well in the silence that had followed my screwup. Ferris tensed, and readied his sword. HE seemed to recognize the situation he was in, as his demeanor had lost its playfulness. Looking at him now, I couldn¡¯t see Ferris anymore; I saw a warrior facing death.
¡°AAUUGH!!¡± Dominic let out a roar and charged straight at Ferris, any trace of his form seemed to be gone. On a hunch, I pumped mana into my brain and optic nerves, slowing my perception of time to a crawl, then I engaged my divine eyes. Dominic¡¯s sickening mana light was focused on his limbs, his core was nearly dark while his arms and legs were glowing like a roaring furnace.
Compared to my own light, his was at least twice as bright. What did he do!? Ferris won¡¯t be able to avoid a blow that strong or fast! In my world of slow time, I saw Ferris beginning to adopt an evasive stance; he wasn¡¯t going to try to block or deflect. Too slow!
Dominic had closed half the distance. For me, about three seconds had passed, and my time was slowed to roughly a tenth of normal right now. I canceled the divine eyes and diverted more mana to the task of speeding my perceptive abilities.
The instructor¡¯s hand was moving to the hilt of his sword, he had finally realized that something was horribly wrong, and was going to intervene. But he won¡¯t make it. Dominic was going to reach Ferris in only another couple of seconds, according to my perception.
A flash.
I blinked, and knocked Dominic¡¯s sword aside with my own. My legs screamed at me in protest, but I ignored them as best I could and glared up at Dominic, ¡°That. Is. Enough.¡±
¡°Stahlia¡? What, what are you doing¡? Get out of my way.¡± Dominic¡¯s eyes were seemingly looking through me, filled with hatred they were staring straight at Ferris behind me.
Ignoring my protesting muscles, I opened my metaphorical faucet and flooded more mana into my arms. Increasing my strength yet further. With the added multiplier I was able to push him back a bit, but he only leaned into me and was able to cancel out my gains. What the hell kind of skill is he using!? Like an anger and hatred-powered limit break!? I glanced at my mana stat in my status.
I wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain this state for more than a few more moments. Either my muscles would disintegrate, or my mana would run dry. Either way, I would be blown away from the force between us as soon as my resistance faltered. I could step aside and let him through, but that would definitely result in Ferris¡¯ death.
Damnit! You childish! Oaf!
I couldn¡¯t let myself get killed here, but just as I was sending a mental apology to Ferris before I got out of the way, the pressure against me vanished. Of course I stumbled forwards, but unlike Dominic, I was sane. After I caught myself, I turned around and saw the instructor holding up Dominic¡¯s body. He had finally intervened, and it looked like he had done something to incapacitate Dominic.
Now that the situation was under control, I released the mana I was packing into my muscles. Slowly, I knew I was going to be in trouble already from how much mana I had pushed in, a quick glance at my tank showed I was down to only a tenth remaining. As the mana came out of my limbs, I could swear I heard them creaking audibly.
Suddenly feeling weak, I stumbled forward. It¡¯s strange¡ my body feels heavy¡ The instructor noticed what was happening and appeared in front of me. When¡ when did he get to move so fast? If he could do that¡ why didn¡¯t he¡ stop them sooner? I tried to raise my arm and signal that I was fine, but it refused to listen to my commands. Ah¡ I fucked up big time¡ That was my last thought before passing out.
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I came to lying on my back, on a white-sheeted soft mattress. Looking around with just my eyes; my head refused to move, I couldn¡¯t recognize the room. I seemed to be alone, which was a bit frightening. What¡ happened¡? The last thing I could remember was the instructor of my swordsmanship class teleporting over to me and then nothing. Before that¡ I stopped Dominic from killing Ferris in a blind rage¡ I had to move quickly, so I didn¡¯t really consider the method¡ I enhanced my muscles¡ way more than I should have.
I was suffering from the consequences of oversaturating my body with mana, I had heard about this happening to people who overused physical enhancement magic. Normally, it would be recoverable. But that¡¯s only with chanted enhancement spells. What I did was closer to a rough copy of the [Limit Break] skill. I definitely hurt something¡ My status wasn¡¯t too helpful here, since there was no HP meter or stat, and no ¡°current state¡± field. All I could go off was the aches and pains I was physically feeling.
And that assumes I wasn¡¯t given anything to numb them. After considering trying to get up, I decided to remain where I was and rest. I would be checked on eventually, and it wouldn¡¯t be worth the risk of getting up on my own. Not until I knew the extent of my mistake. I had felt real fear at the thought that I may have irrecoverably damaged myself. No, not irrecoverably, there¡¯s always Goddess¡¯ Draught. Of course, that isn¡¯t a real option¡ it¡¯s so rare, though Rupert might be able to arrange something¡ No, I shouldn¡¯t be so pessimistic, I¡¯ll recover normally.
I did my best to keep telling myself that I would recover as I whiled away the time, but that was an unknown. For all I knew, I had absolutely shredded my muscles. Finally, I heard the door open and snapped my eyes to see who had entered. Four people filed into the room. First, Rowell took up a position where he could see everything. What the hell were you doing when Dominic was going psycho huh? Sure, you¡¯re a spy, but isn¡¯t your cover as my guard knight? Shouldn¡¯t you have tried to do something?
Second, my sword-fighting instructor, who stopped a few feet away from my bed and watched me with a conflicted look on his face. Gustav, who I was a bit confused to see. Though I suppose he¡¯s here in his capacity as Rupert¡¯s vassal, and he could cite being concerned about me as one of his top students, giving him a valid excuse. The last of the four took me a moment to recall as I searched her face out in my memory; my head was still a bit sluggish.
Her name was¡ Clarice, the White Magic instructor. I had her class after sword fighting. Clarice approached my bed the closest and waved a hand over me, which bathed my body in bright light. Some White Magic spell. I didn¡¯t feel anything, so it was probably an appraisal of some kind, based on the lack of her losing her shit I could assume it was either fairly basic. Or more likely, it was geared towards medical use and didn¡¯t show much stat info.
¡°Well, you¡¯re awake, how are you feeling then?¡± Her voice was soft but a bit high-pitched. It made me think of a mouse squeaking. Which compliments her mousy appearance I guess. Clarice was short and slight and had brown eyes partially obscured by librarian glasses. Her brown hair was tied up in a bun, further accentuating the appearance of a librarian of some sort.
I tried speaking, but all I managed to do was grimace as pain shot through the muscles of my jaw. Of course grimacing also hurt like hell. She nodded, ¡°Yes that makes sense, given you used a skill like [Limit Break], this is about what I expect of your condition. Honestly, if you wanted instruction in healing magic, you should have waited until class, instead of pulling that stunt.¡±
I wanted to frown, but I was afraid of how much it would hurt so I kept it to myself. It isn¡¯t like I wanted to do something like what I did¡ I just sort of moved. If anything, you should be blaming Dominic¡ Normally, I would have been getting angry right about now, but I was too sore and too drained.
¡°And you Gustav, coming barging into my lesson and dragging me here. The school has nurses, she would have been fine for an hour or two until I finished.¡± I hadn¡¯t spoken much with Clarice before, since I wasn¡¯t in her class, but I was already decided that I didn¡¯t like her a whole lot. White Magic is mostly about healing and boosting one¡¯s allies. Why is the healer so¡ irritable, shouldn¡¯t you have a good bedside manner?
As for why Gustav had gone straight to her after learning what happened¡ well that wasn¡¯t too difficult to figure out, he had gone for the best healer the Academy had. Though the question remained of how exactly he had found out so quickly. I would have to ask later; I didn¡¯t think I was being spied on, but it was a curiosity I would like answered if I had the opportunity to. Besides, I could think of a few viable possibilities other than a shadow if I really tried.
Clarice turned her attention back to me and passed her hands over my body, bathing me in more light, ¡°Honestly, you savior types are all the same. Always jumping in over your heads¡ There, you should be able to move now.¡±
At her words, I tentatively tried to lift my head and found that I was able, though it was sluggish. Looking up at Clarice in disbelief, I croaked out my gratitude, ¡°¡Th-than-k, y-you¡¡±
Clarice waved her had to silence me, ¡°Save your gratitude. I did not heal you. You used [Limit Break] and badly damaged your muscles and pathway. I only started the healing process, the rest will have to move naturally; too much mana will only cause further damage.¡±
I closed my mouth and nodded, but Clarice didn¡¯t seem satisfied with that. Continuing while staring at me hard, ¡°That includes magic you cast as well. Additionally, there will certainly be no more using [Limit Break] until you are fully recovered, preferably even after you recover.¡± She turned to Gustav, ¡°See to it that she actually listens to the doctor¡¯s orders, Gus.¡±
Gustav looked like he had eaten a bug, but he didn¡¯t argue and just mumbled something that was probably his acquiescence. ¡°Gus¡±? Sounds like those two have a history¡ I made a mental note of the information, in case I ever needed to make Gustav uncomfortable for some reason.
Clarice left the room after running one more scan on me, and without saying another word. She¡¯s got an ¡°interesting¡± personality. When I manage to recover, her class will be¡ fun¡ I could only imagine how she might act towards me in her class now that this had happened. Gustav nodded in my direction, ¡°Try not to let Clarice get to you. She might seem brusque, but she means well. For better or worse, she knows first-hand what happens when people bite off more than they can chew.¡±
That probably has something to do with why she calls you ¡°Gus¡± doesn¡¯t it? Not that now was a good time to push that issue. I managed a sloppy smile, then moved to the biggest question on my mind now that my eventual recovery was assured, ¡°I, Won¡¡¯t, how, long was¡±
Gustav nodded, ¡°Brisben here sent one of the class to fetch help right away, who I spotted running down the halls in a panic. After he explained things I went and fetched Carice; in total, you were only out for a half-hour or so. Though, I am certain it felt much longer. Mana over-saturation tends to do that to your perception.¡±
I nodded, then glanced at the sword-fighting instructor, who hadn¡¯t moved since taking his position. Catching my gaze he bowed his head, ¡°My apologies, Lady Stahlia, for my foolhardiness.¡±
Excuse me, what now? I get that you need to apologize socially, but this is a bit more than I was expecting from you. My confusion must have been showing somewhat on my face, as he nodded then elaborated on what he meant by that, ¡°I knew there was a risk to letting those two fight. I figured it would be worth it; if they fought it might help breakdown the faction barriers between the class. I should have known that the politics run too deeply.¡±
¡That¡¯s the takeaway you got from that¡? They were pretty clearly fighting over more than the faction shit. He nodded, then broke out into a grin, ¡°Still, I knew you had gotten stronger but not that strong! When you recover you owe me a duel eh?¡± turning on his heel, my sword-fighting instructor left me alone with Gustav and Rowell. The former of which was rubbing his temples, a motion I sympathized with but did not want to risk making just yet.
¡°Instructor ¡Gustav, where is¡ Dominic¡?¡± Gustav looked surprised by my question, which was curious to me since it seemed like a question that would be obvious to ask. Sure, I was no longer engaged to him, but Rowell was in the room with us for one. For two, I had just been nearly killed because of that bastard, I should think knowing where he was would be information that anyone would want to know in my position.
Pausing for a moment to think, Gustav answered me, ¡°Back at the estate by now I should imagine; his father came to collect him shortly after we got the two of you into the infirmary.¡± Count Francois came to collect Dominic, but left me here¡? Technically, he¡¯s my guardian when I¡¯m in the capital. If he¡¯s leaving me behind like that, I can only presume it¡¯s meant as a threat to me.
If the count was joining in on his son¡¯s childish behavior, then I didn¡¯t see any reason to continue playing nice. If it wasn¡¯t for Rowell being here, I would have asked Gustav to tell Rupert to please hurry things up a bit. This whole family is shit¡ No, Elienor is decent. And Margeritte hasn¡¯t done anything to really earn my ire. Other than asking me to call her mother, even that was tolerable compared to how Dominic and Count Francois are acting. I misspoke! By how they¡¯re treating me, it¡¯s more like I murdered their firstborn or something.
Laying back in the bed, I called out to Gustav. If I wasn¡¯t going to be welcomed to the Francois Estate, I may as well move out, ¡°Lord Gustav, please do me, a favor. Tell Jacqueline to gather what¡¯s important.¡± I didn¡¯t wait to hear or see his response and shut my eyes to rest a bit more. I outranked him, for all intents and purposes. This first day of school didn¡¯t go how I intended¡ and I guess I failed to do what Rupert asked and maintain an outwardly good relationship with Dominic, but I don¡¯t think I can really be blamed, given the circumstances. For now, I need to add ¡°heal¡± to my list of priorities. Once Jacqueline gets here, I¡¯ll use my time off school to try and address that problem¡ I can maybe kill two birds with one stone.
I heard the door open and the sound of two sets of footsteps heading towards it. Cracking an eye open, I watched Rowell¡¯s receding back. You are honestly a shit spy and a worse bodyguard. But I think I have a use for you. We¡¯ll see how you do at that. I did my best to ignore the cold feeling that settled in my stomach at the prospect of what I was planning to do. The step I was going to take. It¡¯s necessary. I can¡¯t avoid this forever, not when I¡¯m planning to take down something like the Order of Shadows. Even with Rupert¡¯s support, I¡¯ve been avoiding the issue for way too long. There¡¯s no way I would be able to act without getting my hands dirty.
4-3 Plans
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
It was two days after getting out of the Francois Estate that I realized I had made a mistake in how I handled things, not in getting out of there. That had, in all honesty, been a long time coming. No, the mistake I had made was using Lord Gustav, one of the instructors, as a messenger. Not only had Rowell witnessed me doing what essentially amounted to giving him an order, but the message had also been delivered to Jacqueline. Someone who I knew was being listened in on at least periodically, and probably near constantly.
It was a grim reminder that I needed to avoid letting my emotions get to my head. Thankfully, at least for the time being it looked like I had gotten away with that mistake, for once. In other news, the day after I moved out I finally started that thing that I had been expecting and dreading for some time. It was incredibly late and I had actually been starting to worry there might be something wrong with me. Then again, a first period can¡¯t be late unless it¡¯s missed entirely, and there¡¯s no way I could be in a position to miss it. I would definitely be aware if I had done that.
It was overall unpleasant, but the knowledge that it was coming, as well as what was probably my endurance stat made it bearable for me and it wasn¡¯t as bad as I had been expecting. Though telling Jacqueline it had started so I could get the things I needed was mildly traumatizing, for some reason. In a way, I actually found it overall oddly satisfying. Not because I was enjoying myself, but because I no longer had it looming over my head off in the background. Now that it had started, instead of getting upset and confused my overall reaction was simply an acknowledgment. I was going to take this as an indication that I had gotten over any lingering misgivings over my gender swap.
As for my living conditions, I owed Rupert for that. According to Gustav, when he learned what had happened, he made arrangements behind the scenes so I would have access to money until I could get in touch with my parents. I was also told to try and keep my distance from Dominic until what was going on could be ascertained, but I was going to do that anyway. Thinking back over the events of what had happened, I could only conclude that he had accessed a skill from the Anger family of demons. Whether it was something he had always had or had only recently obtained, I didn''t know.
Without a free slot to browse the skills list, I couldn¡¯t double-check but I was fairly certain he had used either [Berserk] or simply [Anger]. I had committed both the skill descriptions to memory, back when researching Felicity¡¯s [Envious]. They were similar, though the latter was more insidious; the increase in power was stronger, but it came with the tagline about the skill triggering ¡°Demonization¡± if it was overused. Given his mana color though, ¡°Demonization¡± was probably already in progress¡ though I had never actually seen a real Demon¡¯s mana to compare.
The final side effect of what had happened was my near-complete social isolation. In the past two days since the incident, I had found that the instant I entered a room, all conversation ceased and I would be beset by fervent stares. It was disconcerting at first, but I had grown to ignore it. I was helped by the knowledge that in a few weeks they would all very likely be singing a different tune, though I was careful to remind myself not to let it get to my head.
In the meantime, I had confirmed through very careful experimentation that my limit with Blood Magic was less than a tenth of what I could normally control, and I couldn¡¯t chant at all. Controlling my mana with Blood Magic felt raw, like rubbing salt into an open wound. Chanting didn¡¯t hurt like that, but the spell would immediately destabilize. Either way, it was obviously better to avoid using mana at all, but I needed to know my options in case of any arising issues.
As far as my lessons were concerned, I had surreptitiously dropped the sword-fighting class, by which I mean I had simply stopped attending. The instructor didn¡¯t say anything, and I was not called to see Percius, so I could assume that my actions were at least on the fringe of what was considered acceptable. As for the magic classes, Clarice was a massive thorn in my side, consistently shooting me looks when she brought up an example of a battlefield injury and what spells could treat it. I could still memorize chants, even if I couldn¡¯t participate in practical lessons so it wasn¡¯t like classes were a complete waste of time. Though there had been only three days of classes at this point, so we would have to see how things went as I continued to heal.
That, of course, didn¡¯t hold true for Blue Magic, which was being used as a way for me to keep in touch with Rupert through Gustav as a middleman. Over the past two days, it had also been used to make arrangements for the disposal of Rowell. The Alchemy class that I was still helping to teach would prove integral to that plan, and my math class was as easy as ever, entirely unworthy of mention.
Standing up, I spoke to Jacqueline in a regretful tone, ¡°I¡¯m going out, Jacqueline. Please look after Felicity.¡±
Jacqueline gave me a concerned look, before nodding resignedly. At this point, she knew I was again keeping secrets and a lot of them. The events of the past two days had been a whirlwind and there was no way she couldn¡¯t figure out that things were moving behind the scenes. Thankfully, rather than confronting me, it seemed she had decided on the wait-and-see approach. It was both upsetting and flattering that she was still going to give me that much trust, and it was probably one of the only things keeping me stable as I worked to set things in motion.
Exiting out from the inn I was staying in, under a pseudonym, I headed for the lower city¡¯s adventurers guild. My connection to Rupert had given me essentially an unlimited budget when I indicated that I was planning to move on Rowell and I was going to use as much as I needed to make sure things went well. To execute my plan, I needed people to act on my behalf. For that, I had chosen to use adventurers. My request was going to be a bit illegal, so I couldn¡¯t make it an official request, but there was nothing preventing me from just not using the guild.
As for why I had settled on adventurers instead of actual criminals, the adventurers were more likely to honor the terms of the agreement and not make things go sideways. Of course, there was no guarantee, but it wasn¡¯t like I had a lot of time to come up with a different plan. I knew that Five wanted me married to Dominic, and now that was essentially an obvious impossibility. I had to assume that he would do something soon, and I needed Jacqueline back before then.
I arrived at the adventurer¡¯s guild after moving through the city and went up to the counter. I had dressed in such a way as to evoke the idea that I was a noble in disguise, as that would make the receptionist more likely to put up with a bit of strangeness and not ask questions. Pulling at my hood to ensure my face was hidden, I approached the counter.
¡°Excuse me, I have an appointment.¡± The receptionist looked down at me questioningly, and I handed over a letter I had been provided with to serve as an introduction. Not Aaron¡¯s letter, though the thought of using that crossed my mind, I didn¡¯t think that the situation I was presently in was such that I had ¡°nothing else to lose.¡± This letter was one I had been given by Gustav, who had placed the request in my name, or at least a trusted agent of his had. I didn¡¯t know which.
Taking the letter, the woman read through it before nodding, ¡°Follow me miss.¡±
I followed the woman into a meeting room on the guild¡¯s second floor where I was met by three men, ¡°These are the members of the B-Ranker team¡¡±
I waved my hand, ¡°I don¡¯t want to know. I also don¡¯t want to know your names, it¡¯s better that way.¡±
The three of them adopted serious expressions and the one who was presumably their leader sat up straighter in his seat. This was an obvious loophole when you thought about it, but it was one that was often used by the nobles so it wasn¡¯t likely to be closed anytime soon; I had presented a request to be introduced to a B-ranked or higher team. Once introduced what we discussed was no longer guild business, introducing us was where their involvement ended.
Taking the quest card from the receptionist, I signed that the request was fulfilled and she promptly left. Right, now it¡¯s time to convince these guys to help me out. The leader waited a moment to see if I was going to start before he spoke further, ¡°Well then, what did you want us to do? I have to imagine it won¡¯t be the most legal operation now, will it?¡±
Nodding my head briefly, I took a deep breath, ¡°I need you to kidnap a noble girl and her bodyguard. Stahlia von Ris will be in the forest north of the city in two days to gather material with her alchemy class. She will have one guard, a knight by the name of Rowell.¡±
One of the men, by his armor and weapon he was something of a scout, let out a low whistle, ¡°Kidnapping a noble? Hey boss, aint ¡®Ris¡¯ the name of the Francois¡¯ boy¡¯s fianc¨¦?¡±
I bit the inside of my cheek, my name being a known quantity wasn¡¯t ideal, but it wasn¡¯t unexpected. Still, they know about my relationship with Dominic¡ I was expecting to be known as the one behind so many useful compounds that made their lives easier¡ To try and avoid the conversation derailing I confirmed the man¡¯s question, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s her. Though things aren¡¯t going so well with their relationship¡ My fathe- I mean, if she were to disappear now, it would make some people very happy.¡±
The leader glanced at his two comrades before addressing me, ¡°Still, even if we were to go along with this¡ it wouldn¡¯t be cheap.¡±
Good, Gustav was correct. I had specifically chosen a team after a bit of conversation with Gustav, after all; kidnapping a noble girl, while not unheard of, was still a serious crime. Team Red Iron had a bit of a reputation for doing anything for money. The original request I had placed with the guild had been vague enough to not be suspicious, but specific enough that I all but hand-picked Red Iron.
¡°Money won¡¯t be an issue. If money isn¡¯t enough, I am sure we could work something else out.¡± But you¡¯re going to pick money, aren¡¯t you Kurt? It was honestly impressive how quickly Gustav had moved when I gave him the outline of what I planned and what I needed to go about that. Doubly impressive, or perhaps foolish depending on who you asked, how the prince was basically letting me do as I pleased in this case.
Sure enough, Kurtis licked his lips, ¡°No, money will do nicely. Two days isn¡¯t a lot of prep time though, so it¡¯ll be costly.¡±
I nodded, ¡°And my fa¡ I need both of them kept alive and as unharmed as possible.¡± My fictional father I had now mentioned twice was intended to convince Kurtis that I was simply some noble kid out of her depth, and it seemed to be working. Though, I¡¯ll end up overpaying from this.
Kurtis nodded and his grin got even bigger, ¡°Aye, that we can do though it will be more expensive. After all, we¡¯re dealing with a knight.¡±
A shadow, actually. I would just do it myself, but I don¡¯t fancy my chances without magic. He might be ordered not to hurt me even if I attack him, but I can¡¯t count on that. In any case, I certainly couldn¡¯t subdue an adult man in my current condition, I need my magic for that. ¡°You can name your price.¡±
Kurtis glanced at his two lackeys and then, after receiving a nod from each looked back at me, ¡°One million Drak.¡±
Really? That¡¯s lower than I was expecting, to be honest. I folded my arms and fidgeted a bit, ¡°O-one million¡?¡±
Kurtis¡¯ smile deepened, ¡°You have to understand, your father wants us to kidnap a noble and her knight bodyguard. That isn¡¯t going to be easy. What¡¯s more, the opportunity we have to do it, she¡¯ll be near a lot of other nobles¡ We need to consider that some of their guards might get involved¡.¡±
After a short pause, he continued, ¡°¡Your father is the one who wants this done right¡?¡±
This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Jackpot. My face was still obscured by the hood, but the general angle of my face was discernable. I looked away from Kurtis and pretended to stare at the wall, ¡°Y-yes. That¡¯s¡¡±
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kurtis and his men grinning at each other, ¡°Well, then I¡¯m certain that he can pay that much right?¡±
I could pay a lot more than that. Honestly, I was expecting you to ask for five times as much. ¡°H-half. I can pay you half now, and the remaining half after you finish.¡±
Kurtis¡¯ smile widened, if I had to guess he was happy I wasn¡¯t trying to haggle him down. Is my sense of money really that off? A million is a big number, but like, for what I¡¯m asking them to do¡ it seems low.
¡°We can do that, though do understand that we won¡¯t be handing the two over until you pay us¡ Now, how will we know who the target is?¡±
I let a bit of confidence return to my voice and told Kurtis my plan, ¡°R-Right, Stahlia will be wearing a uniform that depicts her house¡¯s crest. I will be present as well, and make sure she separates from the group at some point, so wait for her to be on her own please.¡± While speaking, I took out a rolled-up paper on which was a sketch of my noble crest and passed it to one of Kurtis¡¯ men.
My sudden change of pace seemed to throw Kurtis for a loop, but after a moment the thought of his upcoming payday his smile returned. Reaching out his hand to me, I simply stared at it until he awkwardly put it away. I might be entering into a brief business relationship with him, but I wasn¡¯t about to shake his hand. Standing, I bowed slightly and hurried from the room.
That went better than expected. Once out in the hallway, I put a *trickle* of mana into my ears, wincing at the pain as I did so. It was faint, but it was just enough to be able to hear the conversation on the other side of the door. A voice that I thought was probably the scout, though I had only heard it once, asked Kurtis a question.
¡°Boss¡ what do ya think? Think we can trust her? This kinda job¡ and she didn¡¯t try and negotiate at all. It¡¯s a bit suspicious.¡±
Kurtis said something I couldn¡¯t catch, probably facing one of the other two, and another voice answered, ¡°It should be fine, I think she was just a wee bit flustered is all. You saw ¡®er reaction when Kurt mentioned her father no?¡±
I stopped listening in as I heard footsteps approaching, and made my way past the receptionist who was leading another client to a different room. Considering the reputation the guild has, they sure are professional about how they conduct business. It was no more than a curiosity, but one that stood out enough to notice.
I got back to my room in the hotel as the sun was setting and Jacqueline set about getting me ready for bed. Perhaps it was because I felt so bad about hiding so many things from her, but I was keenly aware of things I had been missing before. Without Frieda and Lucy, I could plainly see the areas my maid was struggling in due to lack of her arm. When my remorse had been deadened, I had missed a lot of it and had the impression that she was some sort of super maid.
Now that I was fully feeling again though, I could see that she was struggling and was simply good at hiding it. I need to see about getting that fixed¡ Or at least getting her some help. I could always contact Sieg by mail, but I didn¡¯t want to pester him, and that was a long shot at best. Perhaps a prosthesis or something¡ No, I would know if there were any easily accessible magic tools, and a regular prosthesis would just get in her way. If I had considered it earlier, then it might have been a good idea. With things moving the way they are, she wouldn¡¯t have time to get used to one.
Climbing into bed, Felicity curled up under my arm like she usually did, and I put the thoughts of Jacqueline¡¯s arm out of my head. For now, once things settled down a bit, I would look into getting her a temporary replacement until I had a more permanent solution. Such as a custom-made White Magic spell; according to all known chants, regeneration of a limb was impossible. I was hoping that with the right vocabulary, I might be able to come up with something.
Of course, it was possible that such chants did exist and were simply closely guarded secrets, but until I joined the royal family, I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to learn them. Either way, I had classes tomorrow, and an outing to plan for the day after that. It was going to be an eventful few days. Closing my eyes, I again put out distracting thoughts and fell into a dreamless sleep.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
¡°Stahlia!¡± A familiar voice called out my name.
The next day, I was sitting alone on a bench between classes when I heard my name called out. It was nominally lunch though I wasn¡¯t eating today, and was instead taking the opportunity to decompress before my next class, which was White Magic. Lifting my head I looked up in the direction of the familiar voice and saw Elienor.
Right, she did start this year, though I got a tad caught up in things and forgot to really congratulate her or anything¡ My bad. Now, I was sort of in a bit of a thing with her father and older brother, but knowing Elienor, she wouldn¡¯t let something like that stop her. Adopting a smile, I greeted her, ¡°Elienor, to what do I owe the pleasure?¡±
As she was going to answer, I quickly darted my eyes around. Save for Rowell and Elienor¡¯s own knight, I didn¡¯t see anyone nearby. Of those a short distance from us, none seemed to be watching us particularly closely.
Elienor also looked around nervously, in particular, her gaze lingered on Rowell. No way she knows he¡¯s a Shadow, but he was assigned at least in part by her father. I turned to my knight, ¡°Rowell, please wait over there.¡±
Gesturing some distance away from us, he made a face but he couldn¡¯t protest without risking his cover. Especially not when Elienor nodded to me and dismissed her own knight.
¡°Thanks for that Stali.¡± She gave me a relieved smile once both the knights were a distance away. Though Rowell could probably still hear, I would be dealing with him tomorrow. Besides, it¡¯s not like I could tell her something like ¡°Oh by the way, my knight can still hear you!¡± I could, but that would just make her anxious.
¡°No problem at all, what would be the matter?¡± I kept my tone civil, though I hoped that my face would get my concern across to her.
She frowned at the distance I was taking, ¡°Stali¡ My brother is an ass. I live with the guy, please¡ don¡¯t take it out on me?¡±
After a short delay, I nodded. I didn¡¯t want to be distant with Elienor, out of the entire family she was the only one I actually enjoyed the company of, ¡°¡Right, I¡¯m sorry, Elienor. What did you want to talk about?¡±
She smiled briefly, but that was quickly replaced with a troubled frown, ¡°My idiot brother, actually. Sorry.¡±
¡°Well, he is your brother. As long as you don¡¯t plan on asking me to make nice, feel free to vent.¡± I offered a reassuring smile, but internally I was a bit troubled. That damn count¡ Rupert said that he asked for the engagement himself¡ he isn¡¯t planning to try and use Elienor to get me to start playing nice is he? That would really piss me off.
Elienor nodded, ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t do that. It¡¯s¡ Have you seen him recently? I would think probably not.¡±
Slowly, I shook my head no, ¡°No¡ I haven¡¯t been going to the sword-fighting class, and that¡¯s the only one we shared. Why do you ask?¡±
Elienor glanced over her shoulder then leaned in close to whisper, ¡°Something¡ something¡¯s different. ¡When our dad brought him back, he was livid. Not Dominic, our dad. He dragged Dominic into his office, and I don¡¯t know what happened, but Dominic has been¡ different. Something¡¯s wrong, Stali. He keeps muttering about how it¡¯s all your fault, and how he¡¯s going to get you and make you understand.¡±
Well, that¡¯s a thing¡ hopefully he doesn¡¯t do anything rash, but given how he has a literal rage skill, I wouldn¡¯t put it past him to lose control¡ I¡¯ll have to watch out for this. But what the hell? Isn¡¯t that a bit of a heavy change of personality? All I did was reject him, and he flew off the rails and started acting like a child. Then I laughed and now he¡¯s going ballistic and turning into a rage monster?
¡°Thank you for the warning, I¡¯ll be sure to watch myself. ¡What about you? You don¡¯t feel threatened, do you?¡± That was a real concern, that Elienor might get caught between things. Especially now that she had given me a warning. It was a distinct possibility that an unstable Dominic would believe she had taken my side and try to punish her.
Elienor shook her head, ¡°No, not really¡ I know better than to act out in front of him.¡± Right, red flag.
¡°Elienor¡ did he do something to you¡?¡± I let the question hang while fixing my eyes on Elienor and holding her gaze without blinking. After a few seconds, she broke our staring contest and mumbled weakly, ¡°Last night¡ He was mumbling something about another girl, someone named ¡®Irtis¡¯. He¡ he was comparing you to her and muttering about how you just didn¡¯t understand him as she did. I hadn¡¯t ever heard of this girl before, so I asked him who she was. He got real quiet then, and just glared at me.¡±
¡°When I backed up, he practically spat her name at me, like it was my fault for not knowing. ¡®Irtis von Asmo¡¯ then he asked me if I thought she would be a better fit for him than you. I asked him, ¡®does it matter?¡¯ and he got real mad.¡±
Elienor was now trembling slightly and turned to face away from me. At first, I thought she was just being embarrassed about opening up to me, or perhaps a bit scared of telling me her family¡¯s secret going on. After a moment though, I felt my stomach lurch. Elienor moved her hair to the side, and revealed a large purple bruise on the side of her neck. ¡What the fuck¡
¡°I ran just as he moved, he grabbed me by the neck and started s-shaking¡¡± I didn¡¯t have words. He¡¯s fucking insane! How the hell do you go from being rejected to assaulting your sister!?
¡°Elienor¡ I¡¯m sorry, what, what happened after that?¡± My voice caught a bit as I asked her. I was honestly surprised that she wasn¡¯t crying or breaking down given the gravity of the situation, though maybe I should give her more credit. Elienor had always been pretty strong-willed.
¡°N-nothing. I, well I hit him and ran to my room. Gordon stopped him from following me, though Dominic threatened to rip him apart. From his tone, he sounded like he was actually going to try, had our dad not come in and shouted at him to stop acting out.¡±
¡°Stali, I don¡¯t know what my dad said to him in his office, but Dominic is scared of him now. He cowers as soon as our dad even enters the room.¡± Her voice was serious, though she still looked a bit anxious.
I¡ I need to do something about this, since Dominic is only acting this way because of how I acted at the funeral. There wasn¡¯t very much I could do right now though. I had barely been able to stop Dominic¡¯s enraged state when I had my full strength. Without my magic, I was hardly in a position to do anything to physically stop him. The laws of the country were pretty clear on the matter, that until they came of age, inter-family issues were the strict purview of the father, unless he could be proven to be neglecting his duties.
I could go to Rupert, but he would certainly just tell me to wait until we were ready to move on the count as a whole. And what¡¯s worse, the pragmatist in me sees his point and even somewhat agrees with him¡ I¡¯ll at least make sure to tell Gustav about this, Rupert might be able to use it to accelerate things¡ in the meantime, ¡°Elienor, do you want to leave the house for a bit? I can get you a room at the inn I¡¯m staying at.¡±
After a moment, she shook her head, ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea. I can just mind what I say at home, but if I leave I¡¯m worried Dominic might perceive you as interfering in his life or something stupid. He¡¯s, he¡¯s not in a very good place at the moment.¡±
No shit he isn¡¯t. What are you saying? It¡¯s like those stories I would read about sometimes, where the girlfriend or wife defends the abusive husband¡ No, it isn¡¯t that bad, since she¡¯s clearly aware of the problem¡ ¡°Is Count Francois doing something other than just shouting him down?¡±
Elienor thought for a moment, ¡°No¡ I don¡¯t think mom is either for that matter.¡± Before I could ask another question, the bell rang and Elienor gave me one last smile, ¡°Thanks for talkin¡¯ to me Stali! Man, it feels good to get all that off my chest!¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yea, come and find me whenever you need to talk¡ I¡¯ll do my best to help you.¡± Elienor¡¯s knight returned with Rowell and then departed with his mistress as she made her way to her next class.
As I headed towards my own White Magic course, I took a moment to consider everything I had just heard. Something is definitely going on with Count Francois¡ If I had to guess, he¡¯s getting some backlash from Five and is taking it out on Dominic, blaming him for how I acted. Dominic is throwing a temper tantrum about that, and lashing out at the people around him¡ if only I had more people to interact with at school¡ I had come to regret not forming a network in my first year here, since now that Edith and Sarala were temporarily out of commission I had no allies.
There¡¯s that other girl Elienor mentioned as well, Irtis von Asmo. There isn¡¯t a house Asmo to my knowledge¡ Though that isn¡¯t to say there isn¡¯t one somewhere but to have a relationship where Dominic would be comparing her to me, even if we are estranged, Asmo would need to be a fairly major household¡ Asmo¡ Asmo¡dea
Irtis von Asmodea, or should I say Sitri Asmodea. A shiver ran down my spine as the youthful face of the Original Sin came to the forefront of my memory. If that¡¯s her, and it would be too much of a coincidence for it to not be, then this is a major priority. Of course, she would be able to get close to him, he only saw her for a second or two before getting knocked out. Damnit, I need to figure out how to deal with this. If she¡¯s involved now, Elienor is in way more danger than I thought.
With my impending kidnapping, there wasn¡¯t much I could do at the moment. Due to how I had planned things, I had no real way to reach out to Red Iron and call things off. Damnit! I need to get things resolved on my end before Five and Sitri execute whatever move they are planning. I was on the back foot, in part due to my own actions, but at least this time I knew it. With that knowledge, I could plan a response.
4-4 Kidnapping
Chapter 4, Kidnapping
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
When I arrived at my White Magic class, I still hadn¡¯t come up with a decent plan for what I was going to do about Sitri. Though this information would be huge for Rupert, if an Original Sin was influencing the son of a noble as prominent as Count Francois, we would be able to leverage that into a great advantage. Let¡¯s see, the next time I will see Gustav is the day after tomorrow¡ I could go to see him of my own accord, but this is a critical junction. I can¡¯t have a rumor started about me and him.
Though¡ we would be able to steamroll that in the fallout of Rupert announcing our engagement¡ No. I can¡¯t go and see him with Rowell still tailing me, and If I go out late at night, Jacqueline would know. Either way, I would tip off Five that I¡¯m up to something. I¡¯m sure he already suspects, since my interaction with Jacqueline is awkward right now, and I¡¯ve already taken a bit of independent action. If I act rash he would figure out right away that I¡¯m planning something sooner rather than later.
No, it would be better for me to wait until the day after my kidnapping, then we could deal with Rowell and discuss what to do about Sitri all at once. If we were lucky, my plan for how to dispose of the worm-thing would work out. If Rowell survived the process, then Rupert could do whatever he wanted with him, and I would set up to take care of Jacqueline¡¯s. We would need to time things pretty well so that we removed Jacqueline¡¯s parasite at the same time, or nearly at the same time, as making our political moves so as not to tip him off. But we should be able to manage.
¡°Stahlia, were you paying attention? Or were you considering how to go about injuring yourself again?¡± Clarice¡¯s voice was harsh and accusatory. In all honesty, I hadn¡¯t been zoned out for more than a few seconds or two, but apparently, she had it in for me after what happened with Dominic. And it¡¯s not like I tried to injure myself! I just sort of¡ moved.
¡°Yes, Instructor Clarice. I was paying attention.¡± I kept my tone level and was sure to maintain eye contact. I had been a university student; I knew how some teachers could be.
Clarice raised her eyebrow, ¡°Then, answer the question. ¡®Why can magic not restore missing limbs or immediately heal major injuries, like having one¡¯s mana pathways overloaded?¡¯¡±
I closed my eyes for a moment while quickly pulling up the necessary information. Nice of her to repeat the question for me, or I would have been in some hot water, ¡°Magic Spells, even those where the chant is omitted, must describe the process to be carried out. This is done during the ¡®Body¡¯ portion of the chant, and the basic body is automatically inserted by the Talent when Talent Casting.¡±
¡°Healing Magic is theorized to work on slightly different principles; when a chant is recited, the spell draws on the intentions of the caster to fill in specific details about the injury. The greater the gap in what is described compared to the reality of the process, the higher the mana cost. For something as complicated as a missing limb, you would not be able to describe all of the actions needed to regrow it. As such, the mana cost of such a spell would approach infinity.¡±
Which doesn¡¯t make sense, the chant bodies I¡¯ve translated thus far aren¡¯t describing the process in any remote degree of detail. ¡®O Fire, form a ball in my hand and fly forth to my enemies. [Fireball]¡¯ doesn¡¯t describe any of the details about forming the fireball, defining the enemy, setting the speed, or a hundred other things. All magic has to be drawing on intentions¡ or something. I had already tried testing this by ¡°imagining¡± the fireball flying faster or slower, but unless I actually specified the speed with a number by altering the chant body, it didn¡¯t work. I was missing something, clearly.
Clarice nodded and gave me a malicious-looking smile, ¡°Very good, and the second half of the question?¡±
You mean that wasn¡¯t just a dig at my current situation? Fine. I gave her a brilliant smile, ¡°It varies from injury to injury. In the case of overloaded pathways, the mana entering the target to restore the pathway would instead cause further aggravation and damage. Instead, a spell is used that stimulates the body¡¯s natural healing ability.¡± Clarice nodded, but I wasn¡¯t done. If she was going to pick on me with targeted questions, I was going to make sure to be as thorough in my answers as possible.
¡°¡Which begs the question of what the difference between White Magic and Miracles are. Since a Miracle can restore missing limbs and heal blindness if the god prayed to chooses to grant one. Whereas White Mages are limited by the laws of Magic, a Priest or Priestess will always be able to grant healing with enough faith.¡± I sat back in my seat and opened this year¡¯s spell-book to the page I had left off on. Not being allowed to take the books out of the classroom was inconvenient, but controlling the spread of magic was a matter of legality, so no amount of complaining on my part would be able to change it.
Even the books on White and Black Magic I had borrowed last year in order to get a head start, I had to read under the supervision of Gustav and Kell and couldn¡¯t take back with me. Though with my memory, it was only a mild inconvenience; if I wanted to, I could take mental photographs of each page and review them later. But after learning that my [Eidetic Memory] might not be infallible, given the relatively important things that slipped my mind while I was back in Ris, I shouldn¡¯t rely on it completely.
It was an odd experience, committing something to memory while I could already remember it, but if I focused enough, I found I was able to ¡°ignore¡± the information coming from [Eidetic Memory]. It had taken some practice, but I was now able to more or less ignore the skill whenever I wanted to, without causing too much of a lag in my ability to focus on other things. Of course, I still used the ability. Just now I was trying to use it more like a second hard drive instead of primary storage. Which is a good way of putting it, since I noticed that, rather than coming from my own head, it¡¯s more like [Eidetic Memory] is feeding me memories from somewhere else¡
¡°¡Which is why Stahlia¡¯s point was so interesting.¡± The tone at which Clarice had said my name caused me to snap back. She clearly knew I had zoned out and was ignoring her again. What now? My point? About the miracles? ¡°The main difference between the miracles of the gods and the spells of a White Mage is in the mana. It has been documented, that there is something different about the mana coming from a god or goddess, and that aspected as healing. In the previous example of damaged pathways, a god¡¯s mana derived through miracle would not further damage them. Likewise, when restoring limbs or other healing, a god¡¯s chant is not heard, if they even make one. It is theorized that gods simply will mana to do what they need it to.¡±
¡°Now, moving on to the meat of today¡¯s lesson; how basic White Magic can be used to supplement first aid¡" Clarice continued on, while I hurriedly ¡°reactivated¡± [Eidetic Memory] and made sure it was recording what she had said about miracles. It was such a simple explanation, that I had completely missed it. With this, I should be able to still use magic, and perhaps even heal myself If I¡¯m lucky, it might even work on Rowell and Jacqueline. The rest of the class passed by uneventfully, and I was only called on three more times.
She almost called on me a fourth time, to give a practical demonstration, only to ¡°remember¡± that I wasn¡¯t able to use magic at the moment. So far, she¡¯s been nothing but a pain in the ass¡ at least she¡¯s fair though. A petty teacher would not have repeated the question for me like she had, instead of making a public display that I had not been listening. Clarice, on the other hand, handled things in a way that let me know she knew while still allowing me to save face with my classmates. Even the consistent references to my injury could be generally interpreted as her abrasively telling me to be more careful in the future, by ensuring I couldn¡¯t forget the lessons learned. So far, I had to rate her as ¡°annoying but fair.¡±
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
The rest of my classes for the day were simple ending with the Alchemy class, where I was helping to plan the excursion the next day. This would be the first time that most of the students in this class went out to gather their own materials; in the earlier years, what was needed would be provided for them. Since I was being used as something of a teacher¡¯s aid already and had experience gathering materials back in Ris, I had been tasked with helping to plan where we would go. Which, while a bit annoying with everything else I had going on, had been quite helpful for planning tomorrow¡¯s incident.
Though, the students in the class other than myself were fairly nervous, and I had a few whispers worrying about ¡°the crazy Ris girl¡± being the one helping to plan things. I ignored those, and simply did what the instructor wanted while gently steering the outing towards the direction I needed it to go; making sure I would be able to move alone, instead of being saddled with babysitting duties. I might be plotting a kidnapping, but I wasn¡¯t a monster and at least one of my victims had given her consent. I didn¡¯t want to get any of the children involved if I could help it.
When I got back to the inn, I was greeted by a surprise assault from a Catgirl. Felicity¡¯s momentum almost knocked me off my feet, and I would possibly have been injured if not for Jacqueline managing to catch me. Where did she even come from¡? ¡°Felicity, I told you that you needed to be careful for a little bit¡¡±
It just went to show how much I had been relying on Blood Magic enhancement without even realizing it. I had discovered almost immediately after being told I couldn¡¯t use it anymore that I had been going through life subconsciously enhancing myself. I didn¡¯t seem to do it for everything, mostly what could be perceived as an ¡°attack¡±. It was almost like an extension of my reflexes and probably came about owing to how I had been learning to fight from barely two years old. Actually, I first held a dagger when I was one¡ I was a weird kid¡
It had its uses but was something I didn¡¯t want to rely on. I would need to practice not doing it in the future though, for now, it wouldn¡¯t pose much of an issue. Other than minor situations, like Felicity having gotten used to being able to jump on me. Throwing on a melancholic face, Felicity¡¯s tail ducked down between her legs. Though the fact that her ears are still pointed up and alert kinda¡ ruins the whole impression of remorse. You¡¯re doing that on purpose, aren¡¯t you Claire?
¡°Felicity is sorry, Stahlia Nee-san.¡± Whatever.
Reaching out, I tussled her hair gently, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it Felicity, just be more careful about it in the future, alright?¡±
Her tail recovered its earlier excitement, and the melancholy dropped off her face, ¡°Uhn!¡±
¡Claire taught her some new words. Whatever. ¡°So, why are you so excited tonight?¡±
Felicity broke out into a massive grin, ¡°Tousan sent us a letter!¡±
Wait, already? It hasn¡¯t even been three whole days since I sent him a letter about what happened with Dominic though? Even though I had things under control regarding that, I had still written a letter to my father detailing what had transpired. I didn¡¯t want him to worry if he heard about it from another source. Of course, I couldn¡¯t tell him about the arrangement with Rupert, so he was bound to worry anyways. Hopefully, my actions would alleviate some of that before things were revealed to the rest of the world.
No, this must be something else, there¡¯s no way a letter made it from here to Ris, and then the response came back, all within less than three days. The rush postage in this world is impressive, but not that impressive. I smiled, allowing myself to get caught up in Felicity¡¯s pace, ¡°Well, what did it say?¡±
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She put on a very serious expression, though the baby-fat on her cheeks just made it look silly, ¡°Don¡¯t know! Felicity can¡¯t read, and Claire ¡®doesn¡¯t know the letters¡¯!¡±
Pff! Right, that would be a problem¡ I glanced back at Jacqueline, who was suppressing a laugh of her own, ¡°I told her we had to wait until you got back; she spent nearly the entirety of the past three hours watching the street like a hawk.¡±
Felicity tugged at Jacqueline¡¯s skirt, ¡°But Felicity is a cat, not a bird?¡±
I lost it at that, and went to sit on a nearby chair before my laughter caused me to fall over, ¡°Ha! Alright, alright pff. Let¡¯s read the ha! The letter, shall we?¡± Breathing was a chore, but I managed to in the end.
Jacqueline, had to hold herself up with her arm on the wall as a support, though she managed to avoid laughing out loud, instead I saw her shoulders shaking quietly. It was a sight I hadn¡¯t seen in some time. Actually, the last time she laughed like that, was before Rosial got kidnapped¡ The thought of my blood-related sister sobered me, but it wasn¡¯t as painful as it usually was. Having a small adopted family around me helped a lot with that.
I¡¯ll get you out back, and then you can share in this as well¡ After taking a moment with my eyes closed to reaffirm my resolve, I opened them and turned to Jacqueline, ¡°Jacqueline, could you get the letter from my father? I would like to read it before dinner.¡±
Felicity, who had been looking at the two of us incredibly confused, brightened up again and bounded over to my side, where she scooted her way onto the edge of the chair. I made a bit of room for her, and Jacqueline presented me with the letter. Opening it, I read aloud for Felicity, who hung off every word. I¡¯m glad, that after everything she went through, she¡¯s able to reclaim her innocence and live a carefree life like this.
To Stahlia my first, and Felicity my third daughters.
This letter should find the two of you either shortly before or just after the end of Stahlia''s first week back at the Academy. Your mother and I are doing well, work with the remaining knights to track down the few surviving goblins is ongoing, but proceeds well. Not a day goes by that Rosin does not ask one of us when we are going to visit you in the capital, I fear that you will have your hands full with him when we do arrive, Stahlia. Hopefully, Felicity can help you a little as well, eh?
¡I am deeply regretful that my actions pushed you into the position you currently occupy Stahlia and, though I am sure you would deny me, I pray to the twelve that you eventually forgive me for real instead of offering empty platitudes. Though, I must apologize that I am not entirely regretful; had you not gone to the capital, Felicity would not have entered your life. Your mother and I think of the two of you every day and are ourselves counting down the time remaining until we see you again.
Sincerely,
your father, Fynn von Ris.
Your mother, Rosalie von Ris.
Your brother, Rosin von Ris.
I felt a tickle on my cheek and reached a hand up to discover a tear rolling down it. Felicity had latched onto an entirely different portion of the letter; based on her excited demeanor, she was focused on the talk of my¡ our parents visiting. Seriously though dad, I don''t blame you!
It was touching how much my parents were trying, given how last year I hadn''t gotten even a single letter. It made me feel warm and fuzzy. I need to hurry and send a reply, now that I know they''re trying this hard, I feel like the letter I sent about what happened with Dominic is going to actually cause them to worry more than if I hadn''t said anything until after the fact¡ I would write the letter after Felicity went to sleep.
Dinner was a warm affair, though getting Felicity to sit still and eat turned into a bit of a chore. She kept babbling on and on about the visit, at first I tried to engage with her, but eventually, I decided that she just wanted to hear her own voice so I let her talk herself out. Midway through the dessert course, she started to grow listless, and before too much longer she was dozing in her seat.
I got up from my seat and tiptoed over to her, gently looping my hands under her, I tried to pick her up, only to groan and slouch forward. I''m level twenty-one, what the hell!? How much does she weigh!? Granted, Strength was my lowest stat, but still. Without my Blood Magic to compensate, my build is a bit unbalanced¡ This put us in a conundrum. There was no way I could move her myself, and Jacqueline wouldn''t be able to help with only one arm. Not without waking her up, that is.
"Oh for Pete''s sake!" I jumped at the sound of Felicity''s voice but managed to avoid calling out in surprise.
Venturing a question, I spoke to the now standing kitten, "Claire?"
"Iie, kono Dio da. Who do you expect?" I rolled my eyes at Claire''s idiotic reference, and she responded by merely flicking her tail dismissively in my direction, "I''ll bring Felicity up to bed¡ I think she would forgive me for piloting us in this case. You should write the reply letter and then get some sleep yourself. Big day tomorrow after all."
My heart skipped a beat, but I quickly calmed down; Claire didn''t know I was going to be abducted but she did know I had helped plan the field trip, "You''re right. Thank you, Claire."
Claire walked Felicity over to the side room of our shared Suite, where I heard some faint rustlings that indicated she was putting the kitten to bed. Turning my attention back around to the table in front of me, Jacqueline presented me with what I needed, and I began writing a letter back to my father.
Dearest Father,
I must apologize if my previous letter caused you to worry for me. I thought it prudent to inform you about events as soon as possible. I hope this letter can set your mind at ease; I am safe and healthy, as is Felicity. Please be assured, that although I cannot go into details, the situation with Dominic has already been handled, and I believe both you and mother will be pleased with the outcome I was able to arrange. By the time both of you come to visit, I expect the situation to be entirely resolved.
Felicity greatly enjoyed receiving your letter, I read it to her just before dinner, and she could not sit still! I imagine that she and Rosin will both be insatiable bundles of energy. Personally, I am looking forward to spending time with you and mother in the capital¡ though I am unsure how much free time I will have, things will be rather complicated this summer.
¡Father, I do not blame you for your actions, you did what you thought was best for me. I hope you will come to believe me when I say that I have no complaints with my present situation. Any problems I do have, Jacqueline is able to assist with; she is, as always, my faithful shadow.
Sincerely and with love, your daughters, Stahlia and Felicity von Ris.
I placed the letter into an envelope and sealed it, ¡°Jacqueline, please have this mailed to my father tomorrow, I would like if you could have it rushed so that he does not need to wait long.¡±
She took the letter from me and nodded, ¡°I shall do so, will you be going to bed now?¡±
Standing, I gave an affirmative and helped Jacqueline begin to prepare me for sleep. Hopefully, father is able to put things together from that. I can¡¯t make things any more obvious without risking someone getting any information they shouldn''t. Hell, outright calling Jacqueline ¡°my shadow¡± may already be too obvious. It was my hope that my father, being the former son of a Duke, would be able to pick up on the subtext of my letter. Telling him that I knew about the shadows was a bit risky, but given all that was about to happen, I felt that he deserved some forewarning. Retiring to bed, I was able to fall asleep quickly, a good thing considering what was to come.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
The next day, I found myself with roughly thirty other students standing at the edge of a forest on the capital''s outskirts. This was exactly the place where I had told Kurtis and team Red Iron we would be. Everything is going to plan so far. The majority of the students milled around a bit apprehensively waiting for instructions from the teacher, who was busy organizing them into groups.
Per my request and machinations; I was not grouped with anyone. Instead, I was supposed to go from group to group and help people who were individually struggling. It was the perfect excuse to be alone repeatedly throughout the day. I didn¡¯t know when Kurtis was going to make his move, since I had left the specifics up to his team, so I could be accosted at any moment. That scout may even be watching me now, he is a B-rank after all, so he has some skill. Without enhanced senses, it¡¯s conceivable I wouldn¡¯t notice him¡ Rowell might though.
I glanced at my guard out of the corner of my eye, he showed no signs of anything being the matter, but that could just be an act on his part. I¡¯ve never seen him fight either. Worst case scenario, I¡¯ll have to blow my cover and order him to stop. Clutching the ring Rupert had given me inside its hidden pocket, I said a silent prayer to no god that team Red Iron would be able to overcome him, and wouldn¡¯t require me to surprise him with the voice of the king.
I had already confirmed that I could use it, as it was closer to Blood Magic than chanting. Though it was very painful and made my throat sting there were no serious after-effects and as long as I didn¡¯t overdo it, my injury would not worsen. The teacher wrapped up his instructions and the groups of students began to disperse into the woods.
It was a bit exciting, this was the first time I was playing the role of a ¡°Damsel in Distress¡±, sure Sitri had thoroughly distressed me, but that hardly counted. The gap between the two of us was simply too great. Following my first group, I began to plan out how I would spend the day. I¡¯ll spend fifteen minutes with this group, then move to the next. After that, every ten to fifteen minutes, I¡¯ll move again.
My first group was looking for a specific grass that grew at the base of trees, and they seemed to be having trouble determining which one was the species they wanted. It isn¡¯t hard; the one you want has ribbed stems. That one has a straight stem. I may as well do my cover job. ¡°It¡¯s this one, see the ribs?¡±
The girl I was speaking to gave a start, ¡°Ah¡ Thank you¡¡±
She quickly picked the grass, but other than thanking me she didn¡¯t acknowledge my presence. Based on her crest, she was from a minor house in the late second prince¡¯s faction. Those students were the ones who avoided me the most at the moment, but even if it was expected it was still irritating. Whatever, let¡¯s head for the next group.
I traveled from group to group several times without incident until the sun was high in the sky and it was time for lunch. They haven¡¯t made a move yet¡ I doubt they would violate the agreement like that¡ but I¡¯ve given them ample opportunity, haven¡¯t I? A chilling thought occurred, that they might have grabbed the wrong girl, so I did a quick headcount. Everyone is still here¡ Well, nothing for it I guess; I can only continue to play it according to plan and see what happens.
Taking my lunch, I moved a distance away from the group. This caused Rowell to frown, an appropriate reaction for a bodyguard. But he didn¡¯t voice any complaints; I had been eating on my own since the incident with Dominic, and even before that I had very rarely taken his advice. Sitting down, I opened my wrapped lunch and started eating quickly. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my neck and grew lightheaded. Grasping at the spot where I had been stung, I found a small dart fletched with tufts of grass. Ahh¡ so that¡¯s¡ how they''re going¡ to do it¡ smart¡
When I woke up, I was bound with my hands behind my back and gagged. Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t blindfolded, so I could see Rowell was in a similar state as myself, albeit with stronger bindings. So they got us. But Rowell didn¡¯t see a stealth attack like that coming¡? He is a shadow, right? I stared at him and saw him begin to stir groggily, though it was just the beginnings of movement; with most drugs I was familiar with he would still take some time to wake up.
One of the men I recognized from my meeting came in to check on us at the noise, ¡°Hey, she¡¯s awake! The guard is still out cold, but given the amount of Sleeping Sap we hit ¡®im with that¡¯s no surprise.¡±
Not wearing a mask? Confident I see. And you used Sleeping Sap as well? That¡¯s pretty clever. ¡°Sleeping Sap¡± was the sap of a species of Treant that could be found semi commonly in the forest. Though the region we had been in had been cleared ahead of time for safety, it was conceivable that we may have missed one. Assuming the ambush failed, analyzing the anesthetic wouldn¡¯t have told us anything.
¡°Mmmgh!¡± I tried vocalizing at him, now that I had been kidnapped, I needed to move things along.
Coming over, the man bent down to look me in the eye, ¡°Well, get it out of your system. Don¡¯t get your hopes up, no matter how you threaten or promise we won¡¯t let you go. If you scream I¡¯ll give you a swift kick and put the gag back.¡±
He took the gag out of my mouth after saying his piece, and I stretched my jaw a moment before speaking, ¡°Thank you for that, I was a bit worried you would kick me just for making noise. Then again, team Red Iron didn¡¯t strike me as particularly violent, would you please go and get Kurtis? Now that you¡¯ve kidnapped me, I need to tell him where to make the delivery so you can get the other five hundred thousand.¡±
The man stared at me in astonishment, before blinking rapidly and leaving the room. That was a lot easier than I expected. I wish he had untied me before leaving though¡ Now, time to wrap this up. I soon found myself sitting at a table with Kurtis and his two men, out of curiosity I asked them how things had looked from their side. Seriously, how did Rowell, presumably a Shadow, get taken down by a stealth attack¡?
4-5 Success
Kurtis, Thirty-Five Second Month of 948
We were all set to go out and grab the noble girl for the client. For some reason though, I was a bit apprehensive. Something about this whole deal just felt¡ off. Things were a bit too convenient. A million Draks was enough for the three of us to live pretty decently for a few years, normally for a job like this you¡¯d get paid a few hundred thousand. Not that I had any prior experience, depending on who you asked, I was a perfectly law-abiding patriot.
Our current client though, hadn¡¯t so much as balked at the price. Sure, she had been a bit surprised, but then she turned around and paid us half. Half. Five hundred thousand just like. With the promise of the other half when we finished the job. Well, she hadn¡¯t paid on the spot. But we had been shocked speechless when the messenger came and delivered the down payment.
Dent had suggested we just take the five hundred and flee the country, but Adam was smart enough to see the folly of doing something like. Any noble with access to that much money had to be related to one of the dukes at least. Possibly a prince. If we ran, we would become a loose thread, and no amount of hiding in foreign countries could save us. Hell, we might wind up as loose threads even if we stuck around, but we would have a chance.
After some discussion, we opted to go with drugging. It would be a lot safer, though there was a greater risk to us this way; whacking them over the head would be faster, but that risked damaging the targets. We were being paid to take the both of them alive after all. Though why the client cared about the guard was beyond me, normally the guard would be considered expendable and you would just want the noble girl.
The only thought we could come up with was the guard was from another noble house and was serving this Stahlia girl as a political favor. Either way, things were going to be a bit complicated. After some discussion, we settled on Sleeping Sap. It would be cheap, and the fact that the species of Treant that produced it lived in the area would make it harder to trace.
Now, as we were lying in wait, it was just a matter of waiting for the target to move on her own. Surprisingly, she moved about by herself an awful lot. Most of the kids seemed to be grouped up with each other, but this Stahlia was going from group to group every twenty minutes or so. It was a bit confusing, but Dent didn¡¯t dare get close enough to any of the groups to figure out why.
Likewise, because she was moving about so frequently it was ironically harder for us to make a move. Very often, she was too close to one group or another for us to act; if we made a move it would be witnessed or heard and then the alarm would sound. I was starting to worry we wouldn¡¯t have a chance to do anything when the class finally broke for lunch. I¡¯d expect any noble girl worth a million coins to be a socialite, and her moving about from group to group seemed to support that. Strangely though, she moved a fair distance away from everyone else to eat.
Not one to question lady luck, I signaled Dent to make a move. Catching my wave, he slid from tree to tree. Moving by the branches and doing his best to avoid making a sound. Once he was in range, he produced his blowpipe and fitted a dart soaked in the sap. One quick puff and the girl would be out cold.
The dart hit her in the back of the neck, right where our scout had aimed. After swatting at what she probably thought was an insect, Stahlia teetered in her seat and soon collapsed. To my surprise, she seemed to look straight at Dent before she passed out, but that had to be my imagination.
To his credit, her guard reacted quickly, immediately zeroing in on Dent¡¯s position and moving to block his lady from the threat¡¯s line of sight. Just what we want you to do though!
Adam moved next, he¡¯s our healer and alchemist. Though all his healing is traditional poultices and potions; he can¡¯t use magic himself. Still, he knows his trade and had managed to turn some of the sap into smoke. Each of us had a jar filled with the stuff, and Adam threw his towards the guard.
We should have won then; the guard would be surprised and inhaled the smoke, but he was made of sterner stuff. As soon as he heard the jar break, I saw him inhale deeply and hold his breath. This meant he got a good lungful of air before the smoke could spread out. Well, nothing ever goes perfectly. At least while holding his breath, he can¡¯t sound the alarm.
Dent took the opportunity to shoot a Dart at the guard, but with a quick motion of his hand, the bastard caught the dart!
I started moving then, clearly, things would need to be settled up close and personal; if we let him be he would easily hold his breath long enough for the smoke to dissipate. If I put pressure on him, we might be able to force him to breathe.
As I moved, I tried to stay in his blind spot, while Dent shot darts at a rapid pace. One of the upsides to using such a common poison was how easy it was to overprepare. Sure am glad I insisted he make more than we would need!
Adam stayed close, but just out of range of the guard¡¯s sword. There were some black lines showing on his skin though, which was concerning. Shit, this guy¡¯s good if Adam¡¯s already had to take his pill. I have to get in there quick!
I threw my own jar to renew the dissipating smoke just before I arrived and crushed my own pill. Immediately, I felt my heartbeat quicken, and my muscles clenched and unclenched as power shot through them. These combat pills were a concoction of Adam¡¯s; one of them would boost your strength by a few levels for a short window, but you¡¯d be lethargic as a dog¡¯s shit when it wore off.
Leaping into the fray, I left my sword sheathed. A rarity for an adventurer in this kingdom, I was a brawler by purpose so I was naturally stronger with my fists. Rushing the guard, I unleashed a flurry of punches while mixing in a few kicks.
He glared at me, his eyes spitting hatred and irritation. I smiled widely. Ideally, it would piss him off and prompt a mistake. It¡¯s been a minute since he last took a breath¡ Hopefully, the activity is pressuring him! I dropped down to all fours like a cat as his sword passed by where my head was a mere moment ago.
And I barely saw that coming! He¡¯s skilled, that¡¯s for sure! You needed to be at a fairly high level to hold off three B-ranked adventurers and while it may be presumptuous of me, Team Red Iron was above average for our stated rank.
Kicking out my legs, I stayed at ground level; this was a technique I had learned from a beastkin warrior. They might be filthy brutes devoid of the god¡¯s favor, but their warriors knew some good tricks. Staying low would make me a lot harder for a swordsman to hit.
Suddenly, a metal blade flashed right by my cheek, close enough to make a shallow cut. Shit!
Rolling to the side, I tried to launch up into an uppercut, but the guard jumped back and countered with a thrust that I barely sidestepped.
Adam had fallen back, out of the smoke cloud and was breathing heavily. Not surprising, I¡¯m honestly surprised he kept up as long as he did without getting injured. Dent was still firing darts, but had dropped to ground level and was circling around to try and shoot from unpredictable angles. He¡¯s nearly out as well... this is taking too long!
The smoke was once again beginning to thin out, so I needed to give Dent a chance. I made a quick chopping motion with my hand; our team¡¯s signal to wait for an opening. Then, I dove at the guard. It was a risky move, and one full of openings. That¡¯s why it worked.
The guard wasn¡¯t expecting me to rush him down without any thought to self-preservation, and he failed to react. Slamming into his stomach, knocked the wind out of him. Dent took the chance and threw his jar. For someone without a class, Dent was a pretty good shot; the jar smashed right into the guard¡¯s face as he was involuntarily sucking in air.
Pushing off of him, I took distance out of the cloud and released my own breath. After a few seconds of floundering, the guard finally stilled. Waving my two comrades over, I quickly whispered instructions.
¡°Dent, how many darts do you have left?¡±
He glanced at his pouch then mouthed the number to me, ¡°Six.¡±
¡°Good, take them all and stab that bastard in an artery; he took way too long to pass out, so he¡¯s gotta have poison or sleep resistance.¡± Dent nodded and hurried over to the man¡¯s side.
¡°Adam, give me an antidote; the bastard nicked my cheek. Then, we need to get out of here; that was way too long and flashy. Someone almost definitely saw.¡±
Adam pulled a general-purpose anti-poison from his pouch and passed it to me, then he went and hefted up the noble girl. Dent was busy stripping the armor from the guard; he would be too heavy to carry with it on, so we would leave it behind. Two minutes later, we were tearing through the woods towards the cart and horse we had left ahead of time.
Much to our surprise and joy, the alarm wasn¡¯t sounded until we were back at the city gates. I voiced what we were all thinking as we got into our safe house, ¡°I guess we got lucky and nobody saw anything. Thank Antenora for small mercies.¡±
It wouldn¡¯t be for another couple of hours that I realized things had probably been arranged with the city watch ahead of time, when Dent came hurtling into my room and told me that; ¡°Stahlia wants to see you, to tell you where to take her and her guard so we can get the rest of the payment.¡±
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
Kurtis looked exhausted when he finished recounting his side of events, so I thanked him before telling him where we should be delivered, ¡°Again, thank you for your help; I wouldn¡¯t have been able to deal with Rowell without you¡ This evening or tomorrow morning you can bring us to this warehouse near the upper city, and some people will be there with the other half of your money. The guards at the west gate will have instructions to let you pass without searching the cart.¡±
Kurtis took the slip of paper on which was drawn a map and address, before folding it and stuffing it down the front of his shirt, ¡°Aye. We¡ we¡¯ll do it tonight. I want nothing more to do with you or that guard after we get paid. This whole situation is¡ abnormal.¡±
He had a distant, wistful look in his eye. Clearly. Abnormal is an apt descriptor for this situation. I suppose I shouldn¡¯t tell you who¡¯s money you¡¯re being paid with then, you might have a heart attack. I gave my host a gracious smile, ¡°Regarding Rowell, he has both [Sleep Resistance] and [Poison Resistance] talents, though I don¡¯t know the levels¡ you may want to give him another dose¡ or two.¡±
Kurtis waved his hand at Adam while sighing, and he hurried out to re-drug my bodyguard. I suppose I won¡¯t need the backup plan after all. It doesn¡¯t look like they have any intentions of trying to double-cross on the deal. The backup plan was for me to invoke the voice of the king using my name as a princess of the kingdom and compel the three of them to follow my orders. Doing it would be extremely painful owing to my injury, and would necessitate¡ tying up loose ends¡ since nobody could know I was engaged to Rupert just yet.
I was already feeling anxious about what was going to happen with Rowell, and he was a known enemy. These three were at best neutral and at worse collaborators of mine. Having to have them killed would be a tall order for me, but Rupert would definitely insist on it. Thankfully, it won¡¯t come to that.
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Later that evening, I bade farewell to Kurtis and his compatriots, and greeted Gustav. I was a bit surprised he was the one who came to pay my release; though he was wearing a mask to hide his face from the three, I could recognize his voice. Once Team Red Iron had left, a man came and took Rowell away.
Removing his mask, Gustav guided me deeper into the warehouse, ¡°We had a workplace set up further inside. Forgive me for the quality, but it was done in a hurry. I have also arranged for an assistant who can help you with any of the¡ less ladylike aspects of this endeavor.¡±
I bowed my head in gratitude, ¡°Thank you, Gustav. The assistant can be trusted I take it?¡±
¡°Yes, he can be. He was once your father¡¯s guard knight and has been working alongside Rupert for some time now. His name is Ferdinand.¡± We came to a door as Gustav was talking, and he handed me a hooded cloak that would obscure my face but not inhibit my sight, ¡°It is enchanted to mask the sound of your voice so that Rowell, and by extension the parasite, will not recognize you.¡±
I took a deep breath to steady my heart, which had begun to beat faster and faster as I approached the coming moment, ¡°¡Thank you. Though, I doubt such a measure will fool our enemy; Five already knows that I am working against him. The fact that the shadow assigned to me was the one targeted.¡±
Gustav nodded seriously and opened the door for me, ¡°Still, Rupert ordered me to give it to you, so you should wear it.¡±
I bit back my retort and simply shrugged while donning the cloak. While I knew he was only doing it to preserve his investment, and not because he cared for my safety out of any kind of affection I was still a bit touched. After all, Rupert was pretty intelligent in his own right; the unspoken implication of Gustav¡¯s ¡®still¡¯ was that Rupert was trying to act like a fianc¨¦e should, for my sake.
Entering the room, I found that Rowell had been stretched out on a frame-mounted over a wooden table. It was such that the frame could be lifted and rotated, to give access to both his front and back. Accounting for my small stature, there was even a step stool next to the table. On another table, was an assortment of knives and scalpels, as well as a jar labeled ¡°Ether¡±, and an assortment of other potions and compounds.
I felt a sick sense of irony that a chemical I had once developed to help my mother was now being offered to me with the understanding that I would be using it to cut someone open. Maliciously. Next to the table of scary stuff, was the man who had originally taken Rowell away. I suppose that¡¯s Ferdinand. My dad¡¯s old knight huh?
Wearing the hood now, he wouldn¡¯t be able to see my face as I studied him curiously. He was on the taller side, with grey hair and hazel eyes. His skin had the look of a weathered warrior. And considering he was my father¡¯s guard knight he must be fairly old. Over forty at least, based on my father¡¯s age. There wasn¡¯t really a concept of retirement in this world, so older knights weren¡¯t unheard of. But it was a dangerous profession, so the older knights that would actually go out on missions or who had all of their limbs were rare. It was a sign that they were extremely skilled.
After a moment he stepped away from the table with Rowell and bowed, an action that caught me entirely off guard, ¡°Huwah!?¡±
¡°Your Highness, Princess Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas. It is my honor to make your acquaintance, my name is Ferdinand von Claurence. I was once in the service of your father, before the fall of the Despita house¡ If I might say, it was music to my ears when I heard about what you have done to restore your house. Even if its name has changed.¡± His tone was completely level and respectful, but the eyes with which he was looking at me exuded admiration bordering on idolatry.
¡This was the first time anyone has greeted me using my full title, isn¡¯t it¡ That¡¯s going to take some getting used to. And stop looking at me like that! It¡¯s more than a bit creepy! I would have to ask my father about him later; his devotion was on the extreme end, and there had to be a reason for that. For now though, I had other issues to attend to. Doing my best to smooth over my unladylike exclamation, I curtsied.
¡°Thank you, I am Lady Stahlia von Ris¡ und zu Drakas. It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Claurence.¡± Though, my father never mentioned you¡ Actually, wouldn¡¯t Edith have said something about one of her uncles being in the service of my father? From under my hood, I eyed him suspiciously. I was sure he wasn¡¯t a threat; Gustav and Rupert wouldn¡¯t be so na?ve as to send a threat to my side like this. But just the thought that nobody has ever mentioned you before¡ There has to be a reason for that.
I turned to Gustav, ¡°Gustav, how much does he know?¡±
¡°He is aware of the engagement, as well as the existence of the demons. Rupert has also told him about your position of Winter Champion. He has not been told about anything we discussed after the royal proclamation.¡± He spoke the second half in a whisper so that Ferdinand would not overhear. Right, so he doesn¡¯t know about the church or my tenuous divinity.
Approaching the table, I went up the step stool and looked down over Rowell¡¯s unconscious body. Right, here goes nothing. Focusing mana into my eyes, I ignored the pain and applied the Divine Element to it. Following yesterday¡¯s revelation in my White Magic class, I had confirmed that I wouldn¡¯t be further injured by mana once I had applied the divine aspect. Though the usefulness of this discovery was a bit limited since I had to move the mana to where I needed it prior to aspecting.
Still, it meant that if I grit my teeth I could use my divine eyes for short periods of time; the constant flow of unaspected mana to replenish the used mana was a dull throbbing. A bit like the aftermath of a tetanus shot. I roved my eyes over Rowell¡¯s body staring closely. After a moment, I spotted the location near his spine where there was no mana. That¡¯ll be the parasite then. It¡¯s in a different place than Jacqueline¡¯s was¡
I motioned to Ferdinand, ¡°Turn him over, the demon is in his back.¡±
Ferdinand glanced at Rowell curiously, and the latter nodded, ¡°If that¡¯s where she says it is, then that¡¯s where it is.¡±
Ferdinand operated the table without further question and lifted Rowell up before manipulating the frame to turn him over. Reversing things, he lowered the prisoner down onto his stomach. Now, obviously it wasn¡¯t as accurate as something like an MRI would be, but it looked like it was on the inside of the spine, so we wouldn¡¯t be able to get it out without seriously risking paralyzing him. But, that was only if we had to get it out.
Holding out my hand towards Ferdinand, I asked for one of the knives, ¡°The scalpel please, and then put an Ether soaked rag under his face. I don¡¯t want him to wake up.¡±
Gustav gave me a mildly concerned look, ¡°Are you going to do this yourself? I thought you would be having him do it.¡±
I shook my head, ¡°I will need to do a lot more; if I can¡¯t do this much there will be problems in the future, do you agree?¡±
Gustav didn¡¯t answer my question, but the silence was an answer in its own right. I¡¯ll try not to worry about the possibility of overdosing him on Ether either. I have no idea about how dosage would work for anesthetics¡ I¡¯ll just have to do things quickly and trust that his resistance talents will prevent him from dying. Also of concern was the sanitation conditions of the area. Though a healing potion or some White Magic would cure most infections so that was a relatively minor thing.
Ferdinand passed me the knife I wanted and placed the ether under Rowell¡¯s face. Placing the knife a little bit to the right of the spine, I hesitated. I was thinking of when I melted Jacqueline¡¯s arm. Getting over the guilt was one thing, but to turn around and do something similar¡ Right, you have to do this. Hell, you¡¯ll have to do a lot worse than this in the next few weeks and months, probably. Squeezing my eyes shut, I focused on breathing in and out repeatedly. I was not going to use [Cold Hearted]
Ferdinand spoke quietly from nearby, ¡°Do you want me to¡¡±
I cut him off with a shake of my head, ¡°No. I¡¯ll do it.¡± I opened my eyes and applied pressure with the knife, then pulled it towards myself.
I was rewarded with the sensation of slicing meat, like trimming the fat from a steak. The cut was clean, and there was surprisingly little blood, I wasn¡¯t sure if that was a good or bad thing though. I don¡¯t feel sick at least. I moved the knife around, cutting under the skin to separate it from the tissue beneath. Putting the blade aside, I again motioned to Ferdinand, ¡°The clamps please.¡±
Taking the two metal clamps, I fastened them to the edges of the skin and pulled it aside. This exposed the muscle and tissue beneath. Right, chances are the parasite will react violently if I poke too close to it. So I¡¯ll move around this muscle. I just need to be able to touch it, then I can try my method. If that fails, we¡¯ll just cut it out and risk paralyzing him. Hopefully, my method would work, since then I could use it on Jacqueline; I wasn¡¯t going to try and cut the worm off of her and risk paralyzing my maid.
If I had the Goddess¡¯ Draught, then that would be one thing since I could simply hack out the parasite before giving it to her to heal her arm. Two birds with one stone and all that. Just a bit further¡ Forcing my hand around, I was glad of the small size. Alright. If I go any further, it will probably feel me. The fact that it hasn¡¯t felt me already is a bit strange. I have to assume that it¡¯s dormant alongside the host or something like that. It is attached to the nervous system¡
There wasn¡¯t any sign of movement from the parasite so I shut my eyes with my hand shoved inside Rowell¡¯s back. As an aside, this amplified the slimy-wet-warm feeling, and I became aware of his pulse. Right. Ignore that. Focus. Turning myself inward, I forcibly jammed out all of the external stimuli, calming my mind. After a short time of this, I became aware of a dull pulse, like something crawling under my skin. It had been a while since I had actively tried to feel my mana, and I had forgotten how strange it felt. But this isn¡¯t far enough. I need to go deeper.
It was when I reached a state of near-zero awareness and activity that I felt it. A lump, sitting in my chest near my heart. It was cold and tingled a little bit, kind of like the needles pricking a limb that had fallen asleep. My mana crystal. It had been stockpiling mana ever since I had first gotten it, up until I had expended all of my mana stopping Dominic. But it had been slowly refilling over the course of the past few days.
A quick glance at my status menu showed my mana was a little over a hundred and seventy-five percent capacity, so I had a fair amount in my crystal. And the crystal is a separate vessel, so the mana is already in it¡¯s ¡°destination¡± Focusing on the crystal, I grabbed hold of the contents and began to shape it. It was difficult, and there was a bit of resistance; normally manipulating my mana felt like swimming through a cloud made of velvet. It was easy and came naturally after so much practice.
Manipulating the mana in this crystal felt slow like I was trying to row a canoe through a muddy swamp. Still, just because it was hard, didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t possible. I¡¯ll force my way through if I have to! Slowly, I was able to collect the mana, and I began to aspect it. I was of course, giving it the Divine Element. Not just so I could move the mana from my crystal through my pathways without killing myself. But so that I could force all of it into the parasite.
After all, why would the champions be given the ability to use Divine Element? So that they could see the gods? Antenora had appeared in my dreams before I was able to use my divine eyes. Mortis was probably just being a lazy ass by appearing the way he did. No, the only conclusion I could logically reach, was that the Divine Element was somehow needed to deal with Demons. This would be the test of that theory.
By the time I had finished aspecting the clump of mana I was sweating profusely, and my breathing was ragged. This was the largest quantity of mana I had ever manipulated in this way; sure my [Pseudo Limit Break] had been a larger quantity, but that had been basic Blood Magic enhancement. I hadn¡¯t had to aspect the mana, let alone with Divine Element. I pushed the mana down my mana channels towards my hand.
It was painless, as I had expected. Once it was pooled up, I forced my hand forward. Deeper into Rowell, and grabbed ahold of his spine roughly where the Parasite should be. Then, I forced the mana out of my hand. It felt cold like my blood had turned to ice water. After a moment, it was over. I smiled; I knew I had succeeded. Displayed on my screen was an appraisal result.
¡°Larval Demon of Wrath: Deceased¡±
It was upsetting that I couldn¡¯t get any stat information about it, like it¡¯s skills, talents, and stats. But simply knowing that I could kill them without paralyzing the host was enough for me. I moved my hand up and down, careful not to pull at the spine, until I grasped something floppy and squishy. Pulling it out I found a small, white, blood-covered worm. It looked a bit like a larval Mind Flayer in appearance.
I held it up and showed Gustav, like a cat showing a mouse to it¡¯s owner, ¡°Look, my plan worked¡¡±
Ferdinand was already moving even as I fell forward, and was able to catch and support me. A wave of nausea washed over me, and I felt faint. Oh, this is not good. I knew I was going to pass out; this felt remarkably similar to what it was like right before I went into a coma after granting Jacqueline [Charm Immunity]. Apparently, using large amounts of divinity was going to cause me to have to sleep.
I don¡¯t have much time¡ think! ¡°Gustav, I¡¯m going to pass out in a minute. I probably won¡¯t wake up for a few days. Get Jacqueline and Felicity, bring them to the Claurence estate for safety. Tell Jacqueline that ¡®It¡¯s just like Ris.¡¯ and she should go along with whatever you say. Ferdinand, sew up Rowell and give him the recovery potions¡ I need to¡ see iff¡ he¡ can¡ recov¡er¡¡±
My world, once again, went dark.
4-6 The Calm
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
When I came to, the first thing that greeted me was the fuzzy outline of a maid I couldn¡¯t recognize. Right¡ I killed the parasite, then the divinity made me pass out¡ They wouldn¡¯t leave Jacqueline near me until after things calmed down, that would basically be the same as going straight to Five¡¯s face and telling him what we were up to. If we were lucky, he might believe that Rowell and by extension the parasite, had been killed during the kidnapping. That would buy us some time, but it would be foolhardy to count on it.
Gingerly, I sat up in the bed and rubbed my eyes. My limbs were sore, but not as bad as the last time this had happened. Still¡ to think I would go into a coma from just using a lot of Divinity¡ Mortis did say not to overuse it, and using the divine eyes for too long does tend to give me a headache, but still. It would be good to know my exact limits, but testing that would be pretty much impossible. After I killed Jacqueline¡¯s parasite, I would just have to be careful not to overuse it.
The maid saw me sitting up and came over to support me, ¡°Lady Stahlia, I shall send word to Lords Gustav and Claurence that you have awoken.¡±
So this is the Claurence house. Good, Gustav and Ferdinand were able to figure out what I was saying¡. Squinting at her; trying to figure out if she was one of the maids I knew or not, I thanked her for the help, ¡°Thank you, miss¡?¡±
The maid nodded and gave me a smile, ¡°Irina. When Edith heard that you were staying over she insisted I care for you myself¡ my lady is very distraught over recent events.¡±
My vision gradually cleared, and I was soon able to recognize the face of Edith¡¯s maid. I felt a pang of sympathy for my friend and frowned to myself, ¡°Thank you, Irina. Please tell Edith I will try and visit before his Highness Prince Rupert sends me back to the Academy¡ How long was I asleep for?¡±
¡°Three days, it is presently the first day of the second week of school.¡± She then busied herself turning back the covers on the bed and otherwise proceeding to get ready to get me ready. Three days. So not as bad as when I gave a skill and grew a year¡ A quick check of my status confirmed that I had not gained a year. I might have lost some time, but the status screen only tracked by the year. I¡¯ll just have to assume that I didn¡¯t, after all I didn¡¯t get a notification about lifespan being consumed¡
Also from my status screen, I could see that I was at a hundred percent mana capacity. While I was watching, it ticked over to a hundred and one. So I guess the mana crystal wasn¡¯t filling while I was out. Or my mana was just regenerating really slowly¡ Either way, it would be a few days until I was ready to handle Jacqueline¡¯s parasite. There¡¯s Edith and Sarala too¡ Should I just go ahead and give them immunity? I need them on my side¡ No, I would be out for nearly a month if I did two people, and a couple weeks if I did just one. That was assuming that things went exactly the same as with Jacqueline, and the chances of Edith and Sarala having the same amount of available Life Points was slim at best.
Lastly, I experimentally pushed mana into my limbs but immediately called it back as I felt the sensation of being flayed. Wincing from the pain, I saw Irina give me a concerned look, but I waved her off. So my body didn¡¯t heal during the coma then. I had been a bit hopeful that my magic pathways had been restored; when I grew a year, I had apparently also had some growth stunting corrected. But it looked like I hadn¡¯t recovered this time. I imagine if I go into the full coma and lose another few years, I¡¯ll recover fully¡ Not a reason to go for it though.
The fact of the matter was, we were in too great of a precarious position for me to be out of commission for so long. As much as I wanted to help my friends, and I did want to help them, I couldn¡¯t. If I really pushed for it I was sure Rupert would agree, but I was smart enough to recognize the drawbacks. Right, let¡¯s go and see where everything stands.
Irina helped me out of bed and dressed me. While she was doing so, I asked after the state of my acquaintances. According to what I was told, Felicity and Stil would presently be having breakfast and I could see them shortly. Gustav would come by the Claurence estate this evening and fill me in on Rupert. Ferdinand was in the process of interrogating Rowell, who had managed to fully recover. So the surgery was a success then. In a few days I can remove Jacqueline¡¯s parasite as well.
Lastly, Edith and Sarala were still under house arrest in their room. Jacqueline was in a side building of the manor and was being kept separate and otherwise uninformed about proceedings. Thankfully, Gustav had the sense to countermand my delirious order to tell Jacqueline that ¡°it¡¯s just like Ris.¡± Telling her that would have let five know I was moving and had used Divine Element.
Instead, he had gone for the much more intelligent approach of telling her that I had been kidnapped, and my retainers all needed to come into custody. Jacqueline herself was smart enough that she would likely suspect that it was something I had arranged. Or she would panic and think that Five had decided to tighten my leash. Either way, it was better than basically telling our enemy our plan. I¡¯m lucky Gustav is a free thinker. I need to do better though; if I was already Queen he might have followed my orders to the letter. I can¡¯t mess up, I need to be perfect.
¡°Irina, you know a lot about what¡¯s going on, don¡¯t you?¡± I gave her a curious look, but I was inwardly mildly concerned. She might be Edith¡¯s personal maid, but she¡¯s still just a maid, right? I can¡¯t imagine she would know this much if that was the whole story¡
Giving me a reassuring smile, she answered, ¡°Yes, do not worry about that though; while I am officially Lady Edith¡¯s maid, I have entered into a slave contract with Duke Claurence as a precaution given the complicated circumstances.¡± Catching my incredulous look she elaborated, ¡°It is purely for security reasons, and was entirely consensual on my part.¡±
If I didn¡¯t know any better, the look she was giving me was a bit defensive, but I chose not to pursue the topic; I would confirm she was telling the truth about the contract with the duke later, and until then I would simply avoid speaking about anything sensitive in her presence.
¡°Well, shall we go to breakfast then? I imagine that miss Felicity and the Stawri will be happy to see that their mistress has finally awoken.¡± Putting thoughts of plots and treachery out of my head, I nodded and made my way out into the hall where Irina then led me towards the meal hall.
Upon entering, I was greeted with an excited squeal and Felicity came tearing towards me, only to suddenly skid to a halt and nearly trip. Pff! Claire must have warned her not to jump on me, that¡¯s so cute¡ I steadied the wayward cat, ¡°Well, I see someone is happy. Have you been causing any trouble?¡±
Felicity shook her head no while her tail was twitching excitedly, ¡°No, Felicity has been good! Every time she¡¯s almost bad she remembers not to!¡±
So Claire is parenting her then, I worry for her future¡ I gave Felicity a sad, compassionate look. I was rewarded with an indignant flick of the ears; Claire¡¯s silent protest. Giggling to myself, I reached out and pet her head affectionately, ¡°Right, you should go sit down again. Once I¡¯ve said hello to Stil I¡¯ll join you ok?¡±
¡°Ok!¡± Felicity moved back to where she had been sitting before I came in. Stil trotted up to me from where he had been silently and patiently waiting his turn. Pushing his beak up against my hand, he flared out his neck feathers as if to say ¡°Took you long enough.¡±
¡°Aye, I¡¯m back. Glad to see you took good care of Felicity for me, she didn¡¯t give you any trouble, did she?¡± I gently stroked and smoothed down the feathers around the base of his beak.
I was rewarded with a low keening and a vibration passing up from inside his throat; the Hawri version of a purr. I glanced at Irina, and she promptly handed me a small chunk of Jerky that she had grabbed off the table. I fed it to Stil, then went to sit down next to Felicity so we could eat. I¡¯m glad Edith sent her own maid. I would definitely need to make sure I went to see her while I was in the manor.
The food we were provided was incredibly tasty; probably the best food I had eaten in this life, actually. The meal consisted of three courses. The appetizer was a soup whose broth had been strained until it was practically clear, with large chunks of finely cut vegetables and something like a turnip. It was faintly sweet, and all of the ingredients seemed to melt in my mouth.
The main dish was a cut of meat lightly seared and served medium-rare. Whatever it came from, it had a consistency of butter when I was cutting it, but upon meeting my tongue it seemed to firm up and provide the perfect degree of chewiness. It tasted a bit like venison, but smokier. Very likely, it was some type of monster, but I felt strangely embarrassed to ask; like I should know what it was already or something.
Finally, the dessert was a sort of creamy pudding that reminded me of tapioca. Felicity didn¡¯t care for it much, but before I could chide her for complaining, Irina promptly brought her a glass of warmed milk sweetened with honey instead. Ok, but I don¡¯t exactly want her to grow up spoiled. Still, what¡¯s done was done and I saw little point in making her give the milk back now that she had it; that would simply be rude to the Claurence for hosting us.
For my part, I greatly enjoyed the pudding and had no issues eating it. When both Felicity and I had finished eating, I turned my attention to Irina, ¡°My compliments to the chef, and my thanks to Duke Claurence for hosting me and my retinue¡±
She curtsied and gave the affirmation that she would convey my words, ¡°Thank you on behalf of my lord, I will be sure to convey your thoughts. Would you like to see if Lady Edith and Miss Sarala are able to see you now?¡±
I did want to see them, but I felt like that would be a bit crass of me towards Felicity. After all, I had probably given her a bit of a fright by getting kidnapped and then going into a coma. If I had to guess, the only reason she hadn¡¯t latched onto me full of tears the moment she saw me was because Claire had spent the past few days keeping her calm and gently explaining things to her. Looking over at her now, I saw that she was watching me a bit anxiously but was otherwise holding her tongue.
Irina caught the direction of my gaze and nodded, ¡°I shall inform my lady that you would like to see her tomorrow.¡±
Looking up, I gave her a slight bow of my head to show gratitude, ¡°Thank you, Irina, that would be perfect.¡±
Turning back to Felicity, I caught a brief flash of a relieved smile before she quickly wiped it off her face. It was one of the rare moments where she showed an astonishing degree of maturity for her age, considering she was only six and a half. Probably the holdovers of what she went through becoming a slave and living in that market, combined with Claire¡¯s influence. I quickly banished the errant thought; it wouldn¡¯t do to be stuck in the dark past.
¡°Well, what have you been up to the past few days?¡±
As if she had been waiting for me to ask, the young catgirl bounded over to me and produced a large sketch from somewhere I actually couldn¡¯t tell. Where was she hiding that¡? Unrolling it in front of me, I saw that she had drawn a rough depiction of me and her holding hands. I could only tell it was me because of the hair color and eyes; not many people in this kingdom had dark hair, and my icy-blue eyes were pretty darn unique.
To my right, was a boy that I could only guess was supposed to be Rosin. Two people were standing behind the three of us, a man and a woman. Based on context, they were probably my mother and father. A short distance away from the five of us was Jacqueline, going by the colors chosen for the clothes, and a mass of¡ something¡ that came up about to her middle thigh.
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¡°Oh, you drew our family! It looks amazing, but who¡¯s this here?¡±
Felicity gave me a very childish judgmental look, ¡°Obviously that¡¯s Stil! With Jacqi Onee-sama, Stali Nee-chan, Rosin Tou-kun, Otousan, and Okaasan!¡±
Oh, that¡¯s Stil¡ I mean if I squint I can kind of see it¡ I should have guessed that from the context though I suppose. Also, poor Rosin, downgraded to ¡°kun¡±. Show some respect for your younger brother Felicity. ¡°Oh! I see, Stil I should have known, you did very well.¡±
Reaching out my hand, I rubbed her head affectionately, while watching her tail swish too and fro happily. It¡¯s a remarkably bad drawing, but I can¡¯t tell you that. I had noticed her coloring a few times but had never thought to actually look and see what she had drawn before. It was honestly kind of surprising that she wasn¡¯t any better at it than this.
I guess it just goes to show the difference between something she was able to copy with [Envious] versus something that she¡¯s trying to do all on her own¡ I froze mid-thought; Felicity was pushing the paper into my hands, ¡°Here! With this, you won¡¯t forget to come back next time you disappear!¡±
I was¡ speechless. Speechless and a bit hurt, that she would simply accept and expect that me having to ¡°disappear¡± again was inevitable. She had a point though, as loathe as I was to admit it. I disappeared pretty frequently from her point of view. Going to school every day, going to Ang for a week and a half. Living at a camp away from the village while dealing with the goblins. Now being kidnapped and falling into a coma again¡ No wonder she was so vehement about coming back to the capital with me¡
The worst part of my realization was that I couldn¡¯t tell her that I wasn¡¯t going to disappear anymore; I knew for sure that I would. Probably several more times in fact. Suddenly, the shitty drawing looked a lot more beautiful. I clutched the paper, being careful not to crinkle the edges, and carefully folded it, ¡°Thank you¡ Felicity, I¡¯ll make sure to keep it with me¡¡±
¡°Good!¡± I got an energetic and triumphant retort. Well, I should at least make the time to spend with her while I am able to, between my ¡®disappearances¡¯. Starting today. I asked Irina, ¡°Irina, would you please bring some paper or parchment, and something we could draw with?¡±
The drawing was fresh on my mind, and Felicity seemed to enjoy it, so we may as well do it together. The girl in question seemed ecstatic at the idea if the acceleration of her tail was anything to judge by, and we soon found ourselves trading idle conversation as we worked on a pair of pictures. A few hours later, I had finished mine; it was a near duplicate of Felicity¡¯s earlier gift to me, except I had drawn us side hugging instead of holding hands, and added Rosial hugging my other side between me and Rosin.
I presented it to Felicity, ¡°Here, now you have one too.¡± She took it with an excited expression, but that quickly turned into mild confusion.
¡°Stali nee-san, who¡¯s this?¡± She asked in a rather confused tone, that sent a pang through my heart even though I knew she was just being curious.
¡°Ah¡ That would be Rosial¡ she was my first sister, but she¡¯s gone now.¡± Despite my best effort, I couldn¡¯t stop my voice from trembling a bit, as it did every time talk of my sister came up.
Felicity¡¯s face turned gravelly serious, and she cutely stretched her arm to try and pat my head; something she had never done before, ¡°Like Felicity¡¯s Okaasan before Okaasan.¡±
What the hell? No, your mom is¡ oh. Forcing a small smile, I shook my head, ¡°No, not quite¡ it¡¯s, well it¡¯s complicated. That¡¯s why I have to disappear so much; to try¡ to try and help her because she¡¯s in trouble.¡±
A quick glance in Irina confirmed that she was giving us space to talk and didn¡¯t appear to be listening in. I need to make sure to confirm with Count Claurence that she really can¡¯t divulge any information. Felicity seemed a bit confused by what I was saying about Rosial, but that was understandable. It was a complicated subject without knowing all the information. And there is no way I could tell a six-year-old everything.
I settled for telling her a story about Rosial before she was taken instead; one about where we had invented the ¡°running game¡± that Felicity and Rosin had enjoyed playing so much. By the end of it, Felicity looked conflicted about something. Locking eyes with me, she tilted her head, ¡°Stali Nee-chan, is Felicity not a good sister?¡±
What!? No! That¡¯s not what I meant at all! In a mild panic, I waved my hands in vehement denial while reassuring Felicty as best I could, ¡°No, Felicity is my precious sister just like Rosial! If you were in trouble¡ No, if I was in trouble, would you want to help me?¡±
After a moment, Felicity reluctantly nodded; she was clever enough to see where this was going and didn¡¯t seem to like it that much. Continuing, I explained myself, ¡°Well, I feel the same way about you, and about Rosial. Both of you are my precious little sisters, and I would do, no, I will do whatever I have to in order to keep the two of you safe. That¡¯s why, please don¡¯t ask me which one of you I like better. I love both of you so much it hurts.¡±
It seems I got through to her with my final desperate plea, because her face brightened up and she was smiling again. But her tail was noticeably slower, indicating that she was still conflicted about something. I darted my eyes up to her ears, and after a moment they flicked lazily; it was my silent plea to Claire to try and explain things to her. I felt a bit dirty throwing the problem to my former teacher, but I couldn¡¯t think of anything else for me to say¡ and I would likely be far too busy in the coming days, weeks, and months to follow up adequately.
Irina came up gently to my side and cleared her throat. Without looking up, I tilted my head slightly as an indication for her to state her business. Her voice was a bit sad; even if she didn¡¯t know the specifics, she could tell that an issue was occurring between the two of us, ¡°Lady Stahlia¡ Lord Gustav is here, and wishes to speak with you¡ should I ask him to wait?¡±
I gave a lingering look to Felicity, who was tracing Rosial¡¯s figure with her finger, ¡°No, I should see him as soon as possible I think. I imagine we have much to discuss.¡± There isn¡¯t a whole lot more I can accomplish now¡ this will take time. Hopefully, Claire can manage something for now.
¡°Then, this way, Lady Stahlia.¡± Getting up, I followed Irina from the room.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
I was shown into a drawing room, in which both Duke Claurence and Gustav were standing. I froze for a moment, then realized that they were standing because both of them knew about my engagement; I was above both of them. The thought that a duke was among the people I now stood above made me feel dizzy.
Before I swooned, I gave a very quick half curtsy and an abbreviated greeting. The two of them seemed to pick up on this as me still feeling slightly unwell, based on their demeanor shift and apologetic tones when giving their own greetings.
Once we were all seated, Irina prepared tea and then excused herself. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I quickly asked Duke Claurence for assurances about Irina, ¡°Lord Cecil, regarding Edith¡¯s maid, how much does she know and can she be trusted?¡±
Duke Claurence nodded and, after a short pause stated, ¡°Yes, she is bound with a slave contract, though the only terms therein prevent her from divulging information regarding the affairs of this house. As Edith¡¯s friend, and as my liege¡¯s fianc¨¦, your affairs are covered by that.¡±
So it¡¯s a bit of a modified slave contract then, since the only terms are about the secrets, and there isn¡¯t anything about compelled obedience¡ Actually, thinking about it, it¡¯s a bit surprising that nobles don¡¯t use methods like that more frequently¡ There must be a reason for that because it seems very convenient. That wasn¡¯t something to be addressed now, however, we had more pressing concerns.
¡°Thank you, Cecil. Knowing that puts my mind at ease.¡± Turning to Gustav, I commenced the meeting proper, ¡°Gustav, how did things go on your end?¡±
Gustav took a sip of his tea before answering me. Taking a deep breath, he began to explain everything that had been going on with Rupert¡¯s side of things while I was out, ¡°First, noble society is in a bit of an uproar over your kidnapping. His highness, with Lord Cecil¡¯s help, has instigated a few notable neutral nobles to question if it is not the Francois that are behind this incident.¡±
Wow, I was expecting Rupert to use my kidnapping politically, but that¡¯s pretty good. It sets things up nicely, especially given my recent falling out with them. All of the students at the academy know about it, and at least the males should be able to see how Dominic is getting more and more unstable. I straightened my back a bit to show I was listening attentively, and Gustav continued.
¡°Regarding the subject himself, Rowell has made a full medical recovery¡ but there seems to be an issue with his mind. He seems to have snapped and gone mildly insane following the recovery of his body. We have a notable Black Mage looking into it with Mental Magic, but so far have not been able to learn if it was caused by removing the parasite or if the mental state was a result of the training; with the parasite serving to hold his psyche together.¡±
I sat back and exhaled while closing my eyes. That was bad news for me, since it meant I wouldn¡¯t be able to remove Jacqueline¡¯s parasite with clear consciousness. Gustav nodded, ¡°I am glad to see you understand the gravity of the situation; we cannot leave Jacqueline out of the loop indefinitely. So far, we have been lucky in that Five has made no overt moves. But we cannot keep her in the dark forever; she is a liability.¡±
Narrowing my eyes, I glared at him, ¡°Maybe so, but what are you implying?¡±
Gustav answered my hostile stare with a grim look, ¡°When it comes time for us to return you to the academy, Jacqueline will need to go with you; sometime in the next week you need to remove the parasite.¡±
I blinked my eyes in surprise, ¡°You aren¡¯t going to demand I wash my hands of her?¡±
¡°No, though that would be quick and efficient, you would greatly despise that course of action, and she is a notable individual in her own right. Both Rupert and I agree that freeing her from Five¡¯s eyes and ears would be more beneficial than having her disappear.¡±
Well, that¡¯s something then¡ I hate it, but if Jacqueline knew¡ If she knew about the parasite, I¡¯m sure she would tell me to take it out of her, even if I knew there was a risk¡ She would, wouldn¡¯t she? I was still conflicted, but this was likely the best course of action I could take. Even if it was a bit too cold for my liking, ¡°¡Alright. In one week. Please keep me appraised about the progress of that Black Mage¡ I would like to know if I am¡ If I am about to cause such harm to my friend.¡±
The implicit instruction was to tell me the truth, even if it meant telling me that removing the parasite would cause Jacqueline¡¯s mind to shatter beyond repair. Gustav gave his assent to my request, then went on to elaborate on the timeline, ¡°Regarding your return to the Academy. Our current plan is to have you ¡®rescued¡¯ towards the end of the week. This will be handled by a few trusted knights in the employ of Lord Cecil.¡±
¡°Evidence will be found that Count Francois is indeed responsible for your kidnapping, though it won¡¯t be explicit. Just enough to tie him to the crime in the minds of the people. We want the other nobles to draw the conclusion themselves; that will be more effective than accusing him ourselves.¡±
That makes sense, but aren¡¯t you forgetting something? Duke Claurence picked up the conversation next, ¡°Once my men have ¡®rescued¡¯ you, you will officially move into my estate; I will use the suspicions against Count Francois, as well as your friendship with Edith to justify this. His Highness Prince Rupert will wait a few days longer, and then publicly decry Count Francois and evict him from his faction while at the same time reneging his support of your engagement.¡±
I nodded my head, everything so far sounded like it would work and accomplish all of our goals. There are just a couple of things they haven¡¯t addressed though. I chose to wait until the end though, before asking the questions. After all, I would just feel like an ass if they happened to answer my questions without me having to ask them. Gustav picked up the thread next, jumping in to explain what would happen with Rupert after that.
¡°His Highness, will, after absolving your engagement to Dominic personally come to apologize to you. Publicly, the crown prince apologizing to a young baron girl will cause an uproar. Following the apology, he will publicly call after you several times, in order to start spreading rumors. The king¡¯s proclamation about him planning to choose his queen from among the current student body will help with that. After one or two months, depending on the state of noble society, your engagement to his Highness Prince Rupert will be officially announced.¡±
He stopped talking and took another sip of his tea to indicate he had finished the explanation of our upcoming plans. That all sounds good to me, just two things though. ¡°That sounds like a well-thought-out plan, I have two points to raise, if I may?¡±
Upon receiving his affirmation, I asked my first question, ¡°What about retaliation from Five? Either against me following the removal of Jacqueline¡¯s parasite or against Rupert after dissolving my engagement?¡±
Gustav nodded, ¡°A fair question. Regarding yourself, Jacqueline will ideally be able to protect you as a shadow. We will also arrange for as many precautions as we can; both in the form of skilled bodies and magical defenses. You yourself are also highly skilled, and should still be valuable to him in some way. It is our hope that you will continue to be such. Though it is admittedly a risk, we all agreed to walk this path.¡±
Rupert is the Crown Prince now, assassinating him is no small feat, even for the Order. Beyond the various artifacts he has been given along with his new title, he also has the Voice of the King and the other Ruler Magics at his disposal, he should be as safe as possible given his circumstances and our plans. That being said, he is willing to take these risks.¡±
I nodded and gave my consent though it was likely meaningless to do so, I simply wanted to make sure that everyone present knew I was fully on board with the plan, ¡°Very well. I am likewise willing to shoulder the risks needed for this to succeed¡ My second question then, what became of Team Red Iron?¡±
Gustav glanced at Duke Claurence, ¡°My lady, I know of no such adventuring team¡ Though if you mean to implicate them in your kidnapping, are you aware of the consequences for kidnapping a member of the royal family?¡±
I bit my lip and nodded while engraving the faces of the three men into my memory. My natural memory. So they were made to disappear. I sort of expected that would happen. I¡¯ll do my part and remember them, while not insulting their sacrifice by faltering here. The path I had chosen to walk was already beginning to dye red, and I did not expect it would stop anytime soon.
Extra Chapter: Antibiotics
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Eighth Month of 947
Glaring down at the notes and diagrams on the desk in front of me, I let out a heavy sigh. This was the most recent failure in my little project. Then again, without proper equipment, I was a bit limited in what I could accomplish. After Jacqueline lost her arm, no, after I took it from her, I had hit upon a potential new use for alchemy.
This wasn¡¯t something I planned on marketing; it would cause far too much of an upheaval to the markets and drastically shift the tenuous balance of military power on the continent. Not something I was overly concerned with, other than the fact that I didn¡¯t want to be caught up in things. It was bad enough that I was an unwilling player in a power struggle between gods and demon lords.
What I had noticed, was the lack of any real treatment methods for serious injuries; when Jacqueline had lost her arm, I had resorted to cauterizing the wound. If Sana was there, we would have been able to close it with a quick miracle, but that wasn¡¯t an option. A healing potion poured directly on the wound would have sealed it up, but it would have locked any debris under her skin.
Want I was trying to do, was develop a compound that would solve those problems. Namely, I was trying to develop an antibiotic. If I could mix it with a cream, I would have a way of sterilizing wounds without using magic, before applying a healing potion. The issue I was having was the materials.
My chosen compound was theoretically fairly easy to produce. Sulfa drugs were among the simplest antibiotics. Theoretically, they could have been made using only materials and equipment from the early bronze or stone age. As such, it was something I should be able to make while on the road back to Ris, and I was trying my best. No, equipment wasn¡¯t the issue. I was unable to source one of the materials.
A Sulfa Drug could be made by reacting the chemical sulfonyl chloride with ammonia. I had already developed the latter, so the sticking point was obviously the former. To make that chemical, the simplest way was to react Benzene with Chlorosulfuric Acid. Benzene was also easy to get; while nobles like myself preferred magic lights, commoners used oil lanterns, and Benzene was extracted easily enough from the oil fuel.
The Chlorosulfuric Acid was proving almost impossible for me to source though. Theoretically, all I needed was Hydrochloric Acid and Sulfuric Acid. Mixing the two in equal molar quantities would yield Chlorosulfuric Acid in a 1:1:1 ratio. Hydrochloric acid was super easy to get; my nightly inflicted remorse usually resulted in about a liter of the stuff after I finished throwing up. Sure, working with my puke was gross, but it would work for the experiments.
Sulfuric acid though was much harder. So far, I had tried a variety of reactions using oxygen from Air Powder and Sulfur crystals in my mini pressure chamber, but no matter what ratio I tried, I couldn¡¯t seem to get the reaction to trigger. There was also the concern that if I was successful, the acid would eat the seal on the pressure chamber, resulting in a rather violent occurrence.
Rubbing my temples, I muttered several series of numbers to myself. I was attempting to work out a mathematical solution to gauge the ratio I needed, but the Air Powder yield was so just damn imprecise. It would be so much easier if I could just create the damn stuff! Like a jolt of electricity, I sat up. There¡¯s no way it¡¯s that fucking simple¡ is it?
There was one way to test. I grabbed a bucket and pointed my palm at it, ¡°Oh Water, Form a ball of acid in my hand. Fly forth and melt my enemies, Acid Splash!¡±
While chanting the super basic spell, I fixed the image of Sulfuric Acid in my mind. I had no idea what acid was normally produced by this spell, just that it hurt if it got on my skin. But I did know that spells were atleast partially influenced by mental image. It wasn¡¯t to the point that you could control the size or power of a spell. Both of those could only be changed by adding words to the chant, or forcing more mana. But it might be possible to influence the type of something manifested by a spell. Either way, there was no risk in trying.
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A small clear ball formed in my hand and splashed into the bucket. Metal was pretty resistant to corrosion from Acid, at least for a time, so I had a bit of leeway. Unfortunately, I had no way of testing the acid without going all the way to try and make a Sulfonamide. I went through the reaction process. Based on the liquid changing to a yellowish tint, it would seem that my contaminated Hydrochloric Acid had reacted with the magically conjured acid. That¡¯s a good sign!
Next, I needed to add the Benzene. Without a centrifuge, it was pretty hard to extract, so I was sure that this too was contaminated by other materials from the lantern oil, but if I could just prove the formulation was possible, I could refine the process while I was in Ris.
To my great excitement, the solution reacted again, with the yellow color fading away into a clear liquid. Again, due to the lack of a centrifuge, I had no real way of separating the components. Briefly, I thought of trying to do it with magic, via a custom spell, but discarded the idea; I wasn¡¯t sure how I could phrase ¡°separate into the components¡± or something similar with my current vocabulary. In the worst-case scenario, I would consume a lot of mana and break down the molecular bonds. I couldn¡¯t trust the mental image thing here, since what I wanted went a bit beyond selecting a type of acid.
Still, even if it was contaminated that was fine; the end product was a powder anyway so I could always get rid of the acid using other means. I took a small vial of smelling salts from our supplies and mixed the ammonia crystals into my vat of¡ stuff. Almost immediately, the liquid began to bubble slightly, and a white powder began to precipitate out and settle at the bottom of the bucket.
I felt a smile forming as I stared at what I was sure was a Sulfonamide. The idea of trying to picture a specific acid was, to toot my own horn, genius. Influencing the outcome of a spell with a mental image like that was a trick I would have to keep in mind. For instance, it might be possible to picture an oil fire before casting a fireball and wind up with a fire that couldn¡¯t be put out with water. Or maybe I could make Dry Ice instead of Water Ice. There were a lot of possibilities, and most of them would require knowledge of chemistry, something sincerely lacking in this world.
After all, the predominant idea was that spells could only behave according to their scripts, with Healing Magic being one of the few exceptions. This will make a decent trump card if it works out! Unfortunately, further testing would reveal that I could not do something like drastically change the source; Acids all had something in common; their basic structure was similar in that they all possessed hydrogen. But the differences between Carbon Dioxide Ice and Dihydrogen Monoxide Ice seemed to somehow be too great to repeat this feat.
There was one other potential discovery I made though, and this one had even grander implications. After I had managed to separate the white powdered Sulfa from the remaining liquid, I needed to mix it into a healing potion or ointment. The problem was preventing the magical liquid from reacting with the drug. There seemed to be something there triggering the healing effect to dissipate.
After some trial and error, I discovered that I could mix the sulfa drug into the healing potion before condescending it. Seriously, screw that name! Doing it this way caused the sulfa drug to bond with the healing potion in a unique way; the healing property seemed to be heightened if the rich red color was anything to go by. Appraising the potion also yielded a very promising line of text.
¡°Unnamed Healing Potion[High Quality]: An advanced potion capable of triggering minor regeneration of lost flesh, and restoring a large amount of vitality.¡±
If I was interpreting this correctly, then if I was able to make a potion this quality from the generic ingredients I had used¡ If I get good enough ingredients, I might be able to make something that could regrow entire limbs¡ I glanced around at the traveling companions, namely Lucy. When I had confirmed that she had not been paying attention to what I was doing, I dumped the crimson liquid out and onto the ground.
¡°Another Failure, Damnit!¡± Lucy looked up at my faux outburst and gave me a conciliatory smile, while Jacqueline looked on, a knowing smile briefly crossing her face.
4-7 The Eye
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
¡°No! You have to go and talk to him! If it¡¯s you, I am sure he would understand!¡±
Groaning, I sat back in my chair. I felt pity for Edith; she had been like this since I came to visit her. According to Irina, this was abnormal; normally, she was quite stable. But as soon as she had seen me, a look of anguish had crossed her face and she began to rant and cry that I should go back to Dominic. Sarala isn¡¯t much better¡ Though at least she isn¡¯t being vocal.
Indeed, the other girl in the room had looked upset upon seeing me but had otherwise not spoken a word, ¡°Edith¡ you know I cannot do that¡ Can we not simply enjoy each other¡¯s company, without worrying about such things?¡±
Edith bit her lip and screwed her eyes shut, but held her tongue. After what appeared to be a considerable effort on her part, she opened her eyes, ¡°Alright¡ I don¡¯t want this to come between us¡ even if you don¡¯t realize what you¡¯re giving up.¡±
¡°Thank you, Edith. Sarala? Are you alright as well?¡± What the hell? How did she get over the charm just now? I activated my divine eyes and looked Edith over carefully while being careful not to appear as though I was staring. Her mana still seemed a bit sick, the mark that Dominic¡¯s curse was present in her. So she is still charmed¡ but she¡¯s resisting it? It made sense that she would be able to do that, a duke¡¯s daughter would probably have [Charm Resistance] after all.
¡°I will follow Edith¡¯s lead, as always.¡± Sarala¡¯s voice was unconflicted, but something about the way she said it gave me pause. If anything, she should be even more enthralled than Edith, since she spent a week in Ang with him. Yet, she¡¯s going to go with Edith on this one? With no questions? I changed my target to Sarala. Thinking about it, she never really has expressed any adoration for anyone other than Edith¡ even when Dominic was right in the room with us, she never seemed to be overly infatuated with him¡
A close study of Sarala showed that her mana was seemingly normal; unlike Edith¡¯s slightly disturbed mana Sarala¡¯s was closer to my own. I was now deeply intrigued by what was going on, and I strongly felt that it was something far too big to be able to safely ignore. After hesitating for a little while, unsure of if I wanted to go through with this or not, I made up my mind.
¡°Edith, may I cast appraisal on you?¡±
My voice was steady and level, I did not want to give off the wrong impression. Really, the one I wanted to appraise was Sarala, but she would probably refuse unless Edith was first. Edith froze, she had been about to cut into a pastry that Irina had given her.
¡°Stahlia, you can use that magic? I thought it was restricted¡¡± She didn¡¯t seem against the idea, more so that she was confused as to why it was an option in the first place.
Pursing my lips, I shook my head, ¡°Well, in a manner of speaking. It is not regular appraisal magic¡¡±
Edith narrowed her eyes, ¡°What do you mean, ¡®not regular magic¡¯ exactly? Does this have anything to do with why you refuse to go back and apologize to Lord Dominic?¡±
What¡? Where are you getting that from? Why would my magic have anything to do with that¡? I honestly could not follow her logic at all. It didn¡¯t make sense to me in the slightest why she would draw that conclusion. The only possibility I could think of was that the charm, combined with her present somewhat unstable state, was forcing her to somehow relate everything back to Dominic.
I¡ I just want to get rid of it now. I could do that, but without informing anyone things wouldn¡¯t go well¡ It would also potentially turn out to be a waste; Dominic was very likely to be executed when his actions came to light, and at that time it was possible his charm would dissipate. If it didn¡¯t¡ well, there would be a whole host of other issues, and there was no way I had enough lifespan to give every noble girl and woman he had come in contact with immunity.
Nor would I feel inclined to do so; Edith and Sarala were my friends, and I was willing to make that sacrifice for them. For the others though, while I felt bad for them, I wasn¡¯t willing to give up my life over it. I fully intended to live with my friends and family after rescuing Rosial and thwarting the demons out of the kingdom.
¡°Edith, you should just let her. She might be able to help you¡¡± To my surprise, the voice that called out to Edith was Sarala¡¯s. I had actually thought she might be opposed to me peeking at Edith¡¯s status, calling it a violation of privacy or something. After all, she always seemed to hold Edith in rather high regard.
When I looked at her, with my surprise obvious on my face, she shrugged, ¡°I am a bit irritated about that charm as well; if you can remove it, I would do anything.¡±
No longer shy or slightly reserved, she was looking at me seriously. Ok, what the hell is going on? ¡°Sarala¡?¡±
The girl looked at me with eyes filled with determination, ¡°You are our friend, Stahlia. Both Edith¡¯s and mine, and I think it is time that I stopped keeping my own secrets from you. Especially not now that you have made your standing clear.¡±
Edith was watching the two of us with a completely confused face. To be honest, seeing the usually well-informed and confident girl so blatantly out of the loop, was just a bit adorable. Then again, I don¡¯t really know what the hell is going on either! Sarala took hold of Edith¡¯s hand and gently dragged it over to me, before placing it in my own.
¡°Edith, if you trust me, let Stahlia do what she needs to.¡±
With Sarala¡¯s plea and assurance, Edith took a deep breath and nodded, ¡°Alright¡ I still do not understand how you know restricted magic, but I will let you cast the spell.¡±
¡°Thank you, Edith. ¡And Sarala.¡± While giving Sarala a confused look of my own, I grit my teeth against the pain and moved some of my mana into Edith. Her status floated up into my vision, largely showing what I expected to see.
Name/Age: Edith von Claurence, 11
Species/Level: Human(Pureblood), 11
Ability Values:
- Strength D: 60
- Endurance D: 60
- Dexterity C: 100
- Intelligence B: 140
- Charisma D: 60
- Mana D: 60
Special: Spirit¡¯s Liege
Talents[Page 1/5]: Spirit Touched V, Memorization V, Analytics V, Thought Acceleration III, Charm Resistance II, Water Magic II, Ice Magic II, Noble Finesse II, Impeccable Manners I, Mental Math I, [Expand]
Skills: Language Proficiency[Central Human], Blessing of the Ice King, Accelerated Reading, Connection Correction.
Reading through her status, my eyes came to a rest on the ¡°special¡± section. Spirit¡¯s Liege? Then the talent that goes along with that, ¡°Spirit Touched¡± at level five¡ And [Blessing of the Ice King]¡? As I thought, she has [Charm Resistance], but what are these three? My eyes naturally landed on Sarala. She stared back, meeting my stare with her own steady gaze. The plot thickens¡
I focused on the skill, [Blessing of the Ice King] first, her other skills were ones that I could assume were from her class, which she had once confided in me was ¡°Scholar¡±, a precursor to most mage classes and respectable enough for a noble.
¡°[Blessing of the Ice King]: Mark of one who is under the protection of Cocytus, King of the Ice Spirits. Enables the acquisition of Spirit Magic, and the contraction of a Spirit Familiar.¡±
The term ¡°Spirit Magic¡± meant nothing to me, but I had a sneaking suspicion that there was somebody nearby I could ask. Later though, for now, the talent.
¡°[Spirit Touched]: Talent possessed by one who is close with a contracted spirit. Increases loyalty of contracted Spirits, and enables sharing of mana with contracted spirits. Effects increase with level.¡±
Neither of them showed me a Life Point cost, which meant I wouldn¡¯t be able to buy them for myself. Though that would be as expected, considering that both of them list special acquisition conditions¡ Protection of the Spirit King, and close with a spirit¡ Sarala, who, or rather what are you?
I was still connected to Edith at the moment though, and while I wasn¡¯t going to give her charm immunity, I could at least safely lay the groundwork in case I had to. Right, how many Life Points do you have? Invoking my authority, I felt the expected pain in my head. Tuning it out, I checked the new line that had been added to her status.
¡°Life Point Balance: 112¡±
It was more than I had expected, but still around the point where it would cost me at least a year to add the skill. And two weeks or more in a coma. Yea, I can¡¯t do that just yet. Separating my hand from hers, the status window vanished. Feeling the cold trickle of blood running down from my nose, I hurriedly wiped it away before thanking Edith for her cooperation, ¡°Thank you for going along with me, Edith.¡±
Other than the spirit stuff, I had found exactly what I was expecting to find. Though her charm resistance was a bit high, that could be attributed to it constantly working against the curse Dominic had put in her. My own was nearly level three, and it was leveling at a steady pace; a fact I attributed to my authority and blessing further resisting it. Now for the real question. You said you were hiding a secret, but what exactly do you mean by that¡?
When I refocused back to Sarala, I saw that she was holding her hand out to me, waiting patiently. So she knew where this was going to go. Well, let¡¯s see then. I took her hand and attempted appraisal.
Name/Age: Sarala, 6
Species/Level: Frost Wisp, 13
Ability Values:
- Strength E: 22
- Endurance E: 22
- Dexterity D: 66
- Intelligence B: 154
- Charisma D: 66
- Mana A: 220 +20
Special: Spirit Familiar(Edith von Claurence)
Talents[Page 1/3]: Winter Magic II, Ice Magic VI, Water Magic III, Mana Efficiency V, Acting V, Spirit Body V, Manifest Corporeal From III, Independent Action III, Mana Recovery Speed II, Mana Capacity II[Expand]
Skills: Language Proficiency(Central Human), Language Proficiency(Fey), Child of The Ice King.
Sarala was, predictably, the spirit referenced by Edith¡¯s skills and talents. A quick inspection of her skill, [Child of the Ice King] revealed her identity to be that of the daughter of the high spirit Cocytus. Based on her special section, it seemed that she was also the familiar of Edith. As for her talents, pages two and three were mostly things that everyone seemed to have, like reading, writing, cooking, and other generic stuff.
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Winter Magic was one that I recognized; it was a higher form of Ice Magic, with a focus on area of effect spells. Though I had to admit that seeing it owned by someone who was only level thirteen was a bit surprising, she was a literal ice spirit, apparently. Spirit Body seemed to allow her to adopt a body of pure mana, a literal body made of spirit. The cost and duration scaled with the talent level though I couldn¡¯t determine if this was indicative of her ¡°true form¡± or not.
Lastly, [Acting], [Manifest Corporeal Form], and [Independent Action]. The first two were likely responsible for how she was able to pass as a human. [Acting] was self-explanatory; it gave a bonus to her ability to act, with the bonus being tied to Charisma. The fact that she had this talent at level five would help mitigate her low Charisma stat. Meanwhile, [Manifest Corporeal Form] let her assume a physical body, and Independent Action allowed her to move a distance away from Edith without suffering ill effects; this was how she had been able to follow me to Ang.
Before I had a chance to reveal Sarala¡¯s Life Points, she pulled her hand back and my appraisal ended. She looked towards Edith forlornly before turning back to me, ¡°I would prefer not to have the power of a god used on me¡ it would be uncomfortable.¡±
Considering the history that spirits had with the twelve gods, I could imagine why she might feel that way, but it didn¡¯t explain why she was willing to let me use it on Edith. Edith touched her chest over her heart with an odd look on her face, ¡°Stahlia, did you do something? I felt cold.¡±
Well, that¡¯s interesting, Jacqueline didn¡¯t say anything about how she felt when I used my authority on her. Then again, I never asked so that¡¯s more or less my fault. So it feels distinctly different when I use authority versus a regular appraisal¡ No, I need to focus on the big question. Refocusing on Sarala, I locked my eyes with her, ¡°No, Edith. I was not able to remove the charm.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve told you! I¡¯m not charmed!¡± Her outburst was a bit expected, but I wasn¡¯t speaking to her. I was actually speaking to Sarala. Edith¡¯s apparent familiar had used very specific language, referring to ¡°her secrets.¡± Likewise, Edith had not remarked at all about how I was going to learn anything mind-blowing. Those two things led me to one conclusion; Edith did not know that Sarala was her spirit familiar. Though how something like that was possible, I had no idea.
Sarala gave me a sad smile, then seemingly reverted back to her usual demeanor, ¡°Come on, let¡¯s just eat! Then later, Stahlia can tell us how school is going¡ I hope I won¡¯t fall too far behind with magic!¡±
What do you mean, ¡®fall too far behind¡¯? [Ice Magic VI] is the highest magic talent I¡¯ve seen! My own Ice Magic is only at level Five! Of course, I knew she was just putting on an act for Edith¡¯s sake, but I still found her assertation silly. I hadn¡¯t actually seen that many magic talents. It wasn¡¯t like I was appraising everyone I met, in fact I could count on two hands the number of people I had appraised.
Thankfully, we were able to have the rest of our little get-together just fine, without bringing up Dominic or his charm. Whenever it seemed like we might stray toward that topic, Sarala would gently guide Edith away from it. Now that I knew her secret, the amount of subtle manipulation she was doing towards her supposed liege was a bit unsettling. I really wanted to have a private chat with her; there was no way I could broach these topics with Edith present.
Though, if it turns out she¡¯s being malicious, then I have to tell Edith¡ Even if I don¡¯t want to doubt Sarala, I should at least acknowledge that possibility¡ It was frustrating and unfortunate, but I wasn¡¯t really able to set aside my worries. I had been hoping to simply spend time with my friends, but the shadow of the charm and the coming strife was hanging over my head like a smog, clouding my attitude and darkening my mood.
As I was leaving, Sarala followed me out into the hall. Apparently, the girls were not being held expressly in their rooms, because neither the guard nor Irina moved to stop her. Coming up to the room, I had passed another set of guards at the staircase. Presumably, that was the point that Edith and Sarala were not allowed past. Still, I had a feeling I knew why she was tailing me, so I entered a side room.
Sure enough, she followed me in. Nodding to her, I quickly cast a silence spell so that we could talk freely. Sarala sat down and seemed to deflate, ¡°¡So you couldn¡¯t do anything?¡±
I could both see and hear the genuine sadness in her voice, tinged with desperation. Sitting across from her, I shook my head, ¡°No, I could remove the charm right now¡ but there would be consequences. Severe ones; when I did it for Jacqueline, I was in a coma for almost a month and lost a year of my lifespan.¡±
Sarala¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°I noticed you were older¡ your mana was more refined. I didn¡¯t think that¡¡± She trailed off. A moment later, she looked up with a resigned expression, ¡°Obviously you can¡¯t repeat that. I¡¯m sorry for asking.¡±
Frantically waving my hands in denial, I quickly moved to correct that misunderstanding, ¡°No, you misunderstand; I would do it in a heartbeat. For both of you, it¡¯s just¡ things are moving fast right now. I take it you know about the demons?¡±
She nodded and tightened her facial expression, ¡°Not everything. I know Lord Dominic carries demon blood. Unfortunately, my own knowledge is a bit limited since I ran away from home so soon after being born.¡±
I froze with my mouth stuck open. Demon blood? He carries demon blood? ¡°¡Sarala, what do you mean by that? Dominic is a demon?¡±
Looking at me incredulously, she shook her head, ¡°No, a half-demon. Did you not know? I thought that was why you leaped at the opportunity to get out of the engagement.¡±
I could only frown, ¡°No¡ I knew he had demonic mana. I didn¡¯t make the connection that it would mean he was also descended from a demon.¡± Count Francois, it has to be. I saw Marguerite¡¯s mana, and she was normal. Count Francois¡¯ mana was totally concealed though, just like the parasite. ¡°Sarala, how did you know though?¡±
I would definitely need to speak with Gustav, and honestly, I should probably try and tell the prince directly, this was too big to leave to a messenger. Even one as talented as Gustav. But for now, I had several questions to ask of the young spirit. A few minutes wasn¡¯t going to harm anyone, and realistically I wouldn¡¯t be able to see Gustav until tomorrow at the earliest anyway, no matter how immediate my need was.
¡°I didn¡¯t realize until Ang, actually. When the two of you came back with Jacqueline missing her arm¡ I realized that I was happier to see Dominic unharmed than you. From there, a close examination of my mana revealed the manipulations. It took a while, but as you saw earlier; I am a spirit. As a creature derived directly from mana, I was able to excise his foul curse. Unfortunately, I proved unsuccessful with Edith¡¡±
Sarala was looking off into the distance forlornly. After giving her a moment, I ventured a question that had been nagging me since witnessing Sarala¡¯s deft manipulation of my other friend, ¡°What, what exactly is your relationship with her?¡±
She paused, and gave it a great deal more thought than I had expected. Slowly, she began to speak, ¡°I¡ I don¡¯t really know. Spirits might grow quickly, but I¡¯m still a child myself; not all that different than the two of you¡ ¡I like her a lot, ever since I first ran into her out in the woods near the provincial estate¡ Before I knew it, we had formed a bond, as master and familiar¡¡±
Taking a deep breath, she finished, ¡°I don¡¯t know how, beyond that. I, ...I like her. Though, I¡¯m not exactly sure what all that entails¡ it¡¯s the most likely answer¡ Does that answer your worries?¡±
It sounds like you might have a crush. To be honest, it wouldn¡¯t surprise me if that was mutual¡ ¡°Yea, that makes me feel a lot better.¡± Granted, with an acting talent of five, she would easily be able to fool me, but I chose to trust her; thinking back over things, I couldn¡¯t remember a situation where she had really guided the conversation before. In a way, what she was doing now was similar to a nurse helping an invalid stay on track. Obviously obsessing over Dominic wouldn¡¯t be healthy for Edith.
But there was one sticking point, ¡°You should come clean, Sarala. Tell her the truth and how you feel.¡±
It was her turn to act flustered and wave her hands. I could tell; this wasn¡¯t an act, she was genuinely flustered by this, ¡°Nonono! Maybe eventually¡ but not now!¡±
Giggling, I agreed, and gave her my assurances that I would not force the issue by sharing her secret myself; I had enough secrets of my own to know how hard trusting someone was, ¡°Of course, you should wait until after we fix the charm; either once Dominic is dead or, if that doesn¡¯t work, after I wake up from my coma. I want to see her reaction after all!¡±
Sarala stopped what she was about to say, and stared at me wide-eyed, ¡°If Dominic¡ dies?¡±
Ah, yea that does sound a little harsh¡ Ok, really harsh. When exactly did I just accept that he was going to die¡? Still, whether or not I was actually ok with it, this was what was going to happen. Even if I were to protest, Rupert would definitely one hundred percent overrule me. And at the end of the day, for better or worse, I don¡¯t have a problem with him dying. I might hesitate to do it myself, but that¡¯s probably just the last vestiges of the charm talking.
¡°Yes, when he dies; you honestly don¡¯t think that someone who has charmed half the women in the kingdom, including at one point the next queen, would be allowed to live? Do you?¡± I met her gaze with a level and composed stare.
¡°True¡ You are right, it¡¯s just¡ It¡¯s a bit scary how easily you said it, I guess.¡± That gave me pause, and I determined that I would need to be a lot more cautious about how I phrased things going forwards. I also need to make sure to seriously consider things like this¡ I still think that Dominic needs to die, but that¡¯s a harsh penalty. I don¡¯t want to wind up the same kind of queen as Bloody Mary.
I tried to maintain some idle chatting for a bit, but things were a bit awkward after my passing judgment. There were a few more things that I was curious about, such as how a spirit would be as advanced as her but only six years old. My understanding was that spirits started out as a low spirit, then evolved over centuries. Then again, my understanding also says that spirits come into existence from ambient mana, yet her skill clearly referred to Cocytus as her father. Either way, that information wasn¡¯t important right now, and I didn¡¯t want to push her too hard. All things in time.
Eventually, I gave up and said my goodnights before departing to find Gustav. I had some very concerning information to report, though, I had to do it in such a way as to avoid spilling Sarala¡¯s secret. The kingdom wouldn¡¯t really do anything to her for being a Spirit, but I didn¡¯t think it was my place to inform him of that fact. Eventually, I settled for telling him from the perspective of it being a hypothesis I had arrived at after looking at all the variables. Thankfully, he took me seriously.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Two days later, I found myself outside a particular door. I had been avoiding this part of the estate, for fear that the occupant would sense my presence. After all, Jacqueline had an incredibly keen sense of hearing. Even now, I was using all of my stealth abilities. Not that I really understand why Rupert is insisting I still stay hidden, when this is done, Five will know about me regardless.
Alongside me, were Gustav and Rupert, as well as a man I did not recognize but was introduced as the Mental Mage who had been attending to Rowell. While Rowell had yet to make a recovery, the mage believed that if he was present to cast magic while the parasite was removed, he might be able to prevent any serious side effects from emerging.
Rupert was also here, though he was not waiting with us. Rather, he was in a room down the hall. Lacking the same stealth abilities as myself, it had been decided that he should hold back until Jacqueline was unconscious. In order to accomplish that, the Mental Mage approached the door and knocked before entering. From inside, I heard Jacqueline¡¯s voice for the first time in a week.
¡°Who might you be? This whole situation is getting ridiculous, I have complied so far but I demand to know what is being done to find my lady!¡±
She sounded a bit worn out, obviously, she was concerned. After all, though she would know that I had the ability to defend myself, even if I lacked the ability to use mana at the moment. That didn¡¯t mean that she wouldn¡¯t have the nagging doubt that maybe the worst had happened, that I had really been kidnapped. It was that nagging in the back of the mind that would have worn on her the most.
Soon, just a bit longer and I can explain everything.
The man¡¯s voice echoed, and I recognized the keyword of a spell. It was the Mental Magic equivalent of the sleep spell that Gustav had cast on Edith with Blood Magic.
¡°Yes, that is why I have come to see you, Lady Stahlia has been recovered and is on her way now¡ [Deep Sleep]¡±
A moment later I heard a thud, and when I entered the room, I saw that Jacqueline was asleep, and laid out on the table. It wasn¡¯t a sterile environment, but it was certainly better than the dingy warehouse I had operated on Rowell in. Still, I can sort of understand how that worked; telling her I was rescued would cause her to lower her guard momentarily, but she should have still be kind of hard to put to sleep with magic¡ I glanced at Gustav and he intuited my question.
¡°We have been spiking her food with a poison that lowers the resistance to status ailments; nothing that would cause permanent harm, but it was deemed prudent.¡± He sounded apologetic, but I couldn¡¯t really fault him. After all, her resisting the spell would prove very deadly for the Mental Mage.
¡°Thank you, should we get this over with then?¡± Without waiting for an answer, I turned to Jacqueline and focused mana into my eyes. My pathways seemed to be recovering, finally, as the pain was greatly lessened this time. Engaging my Divine Eyes, I looked her over until I spotted her parasite, ¡°There.¡±
Looking where I had pointed, Gustav gingerly moved her maid uniform out of the way, exposing her skin. Mentally apologizing for the violation of her dignity, I held out my hand to receive the knife. With the cold steel sitting heavy in my palm, I shut my eyes and took a deep breath.
Opening my eyes, I exhaled and in one motion sliced into her back. I did my best to ignore the feeling of cutting flesh that was transmitted up the blade, and worked in much the same way as I had with Rowell. Once the opening was large enough, I slid my hand into her body, and moved it until I was close to the parasite.
Next, I grabbed hold of my mana crystal with my mind and began to shape it. This time, I was smart, and only grabbed a portion rather than the whole thing. Just enough to kill the parasite; if it survived, it would at least be stunned and I would just hit it again until it died. Feeling the familiar cold of the Divine Element, I pushed the aspected mana down my arm and into my hand.
With one swift motion, I shoved my hand further and grabbed hold of the worm, even as the mana began to emit from my palm and fingers. Since I didn¡¯t shock it with the full volume this time, I felt it briefly struggle. I simply squeezed my hand tight until the movements stopped. Pulling my hand back, I drug out the white demon and dropped it in the bucket Gustav held out to me.
Rupert came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder, ¡°You did good. Everything is out of your hands now.¡±
I wasn¡¯t sure when exactly he had made his way over to the room, and I knew that he was only offering platitudes, but that didn¡¯t mean it didn¡¯t feel good to hear. Subconsciously, I reached up and found myself gripping his hand on my shoulder. Gustav had finished applying the healing potions, and her wound was now closed up. Motioning to the Mental Mage, he told him to lift the spell.
To be honest, I had not noticed the mage doing much of anything, but I had been hyper-focused on not messing up my own role so that wasn¡¯t surprising. What came next though, was downright soul-crushing. The mage waved his hand over Jacqueline¡¯s forehead while murmuring the word ¡°Waken¡±. Jacqueline¡¯s eyes snapped open and she looked around in a panic before locking eyes with me. Her face immediately softened, and she reached her arm towards me, ¡°Ah¡ My sister, Alysha¡¡±
Her gentle whispering of an unknown name assaulted my ears and caused my heart to fall into despair.
4-8 J3: An Unassuming Flag
Jacqueline, Twenty-Nine Years Old, Second Month of 948
Let¡¯s see, she will need this replaced soon, now that she¡¯s finally started growing. Putting aside my lady¡¯s undergarments, I busily set about preparing her clothes for the next day. Since losing my arm, things had gotten a lot more difficult, but it was not anything I could not manage if I simply put in more effort. Though, recently that had also been getting harder. Ever since my lady gave me a skill¡ no, before that.
What had at first only been moments, mere flashes, of some stranger¡¯s face replacing my mistress¡¯ had recently become much more common. To the point that I feared I may be going insane. Dreams as well, normally I would not sleep; my skills and training allowed me to rest merely through a few hours of meditation. That was a good thing since I needed so much more time for every task now. But recently, I had been feeling tired.
More than once I had caught myself falling asleep for real. Only for a few minutes at a time, but in those brief moments I would see things; shapes and people walking around my head. Most of them vague and indistinct, but there was one that was always clear. The same face that would occasionally replace Lady Stahlia¡¯s. That face had a name, one that I seemed to know, but I could never remember.
¡°Jacqi Onee-Sama, when is Stali Nee-chan coming back?¡±
I glanced over at the little girl my mistress had rescued from slavery. Well, perhaps not quite rescued, but she certainly was not being treated as a slave. As always, I felt a sharp pain in my chest at the sight of her. Knowing that Lady Stahlia¡¯s own pain would be even greater than mine, I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Felicity. I do not know when Lady Stahlia will return.¡±
The young girl furrowed her brow, ¡°But Felicity wants to give her the picture! She just finished drawing it!¡±
My lady had gone on a school trip outside the city earlier today, and would not be back until later; unfortunately, I did not know exactly when that would be. Recently, it seems I had lost my lady¡¯s confidence. There had to be a reason for that, given that I had recently been told many, if not all, of her secrets. The sudden lack of trust had progressed, to the point that now I knew only the bare minimum of her day-to-day schedule. This was a major departure from the past, and if I could regain her confidence I would do anything¡
*KNOCK-KNOCK*
A hurried pounding came from the door, Felicity¡¯s eyes widened; a sign that she did not recognize the person on the other side of the door. Waving the child behind me, I prepped a knife under my skirt before-
*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*
¡°I shall be there shortly!¡±
I pushed the door open indignantly, ¡°Really, what is the hurry¡?¡±
While Felicity might not recognize the man on the other side of the door, I did. I had prepared a dossier on all of Lady Stahlia¡¯s close associates, their associates, and those who served under them. This man was a knight commander serving under Duke Claurence, the father of one of Lady Stahlia¡¯s friends. Lady Edith is ill at the moment, and hasn¡¯t been able to attend the academy¡
¡°Miss Jacqueline, is the slave Pet also here?¡± His voice was professional, but I could tell by his posture that he was prepared for a fight. Worse, I could sense three more presences concealing themselves. They¡¯re all hiding their bloodlust, but the way they are behaving¡ They know.
It would be best for my lady if I played along for now; I could probably take the knight in front of me, but the fight would put Felicity in danger. Worse, it would risk souring her relationship with Edith¡¯s family. But my lady would have told me something, if she was expecting this¡ ¡°Pet, you can come out, but mind yourself.¡±
Felicity peeked her head out from behind my skirt and the knight nodded upon seeing her, ¡°Thank you, I will need the two of you to come with me.¡±
Now that was not unexpected, but it was not something I could do without knowing why; if I left and Lady Stahlia was not expecting me to, then I would have failed as her maid. Still, I had a feeling that this was all part of a plan that I had been left out of¡ for whatever reason. I nodded briefly and began bagging a few things we would need, ¡°May I ask what the problem is, sir knight?¡±
Seeing my prompt compliance, his stance relaxed a bit and he breathed a relieved sigh, ¡°¡There has been an incident; Lady Stahlia was abducted while on her outing. Lady Edith petitioned her father to aid her friend, and he ordered us to collect the two of you. For your own protection of course.¡±
I froze. Abducted? Her? No, not possible. No, maybe? She can¡¯t use magic right now. Suspects¡ Count Francois, Lord Dominic. Maybe¡ A dark thought rose unbidden in my mind. Five? The Shadows¡ Did they get tired of simply watching? No. This is too sudden, too public. Besides, they would go after me first before her if that was the case. Dominic is a moron, but his father¡ Lord Francois is smart. I cannot get a read on him myself, but I doubt he would move like this.
So possibility A, Dominic did something remarkably stupid, even by his own standards. Possibility B, another house, unrelated¡ Febligi? No, they would challenge her openly. She does not have many allies, but conversely, she lacks enemies. The Claurence would not kidnap her. ¡Possibility C¡ She was not kidnapped, she disappeared on her own¡
The third option was the most likely. But that left the question of why, why would she leave me behind? Felicity, she would leave if she thought things would be too dangerous. But I could handle myself, I could help her. She knew that. She wanted me to stay and protect Felicity? No. Not that, I would do it in a heartbeat if asked, but I had not heard even a word of this.
She did not tell me¡ she can not tell me, why? She does not trust me? No, it was recent. Something happened recently. Something that changed our standing. Between now and coming to the capital, she discovered or learned something, something that led to her not being able to confide in me¡ I am a liability.
That was the only conclusion I could come to; for some reason, I was now being considered a liability to the plans Lady Stahlia was making. I could not think of any reason why that might be the case, but it was the only conclusion that made sense. Dropping what I was doing, I looked down and saw that my hand was shaking. Clenching my fist open and shut a few times, I quickly finished packing.
When I was finished, I turned to Felicity, who was watching things with wide eyes. ¡That ¡®Claire¡¯ person must be explaining things to her, there¡¯s no way a six-year-old would be so calm in a situation like this¡ not without some extensive training of course. ¡°Pet, we are going with the knight, these men will protect you.¡±
Because I imagine I will not be allowed to see you, or anyone else, for some time. Following the knights, we left our inn and boarded an unmarked carriage that was waiting outside for us. While there were no windows, I could tell from the motions that we were heading to the Claurence estate. Once arrived, true to my predictions Felicity and I were separated. I was brought to a guest room, and after a quick look around I determined that I was going to be here for some time.
There was a bed available, as well as a small washroom and a chest stocked with food. Otherwise, I had just about everything I would need for a week, or two if I were to ration. I did not have anything else to do, so I lay down on the bed and began to meditate to rest and perhaps glean some further conclusions from what limited information I had.
Unfortunately, I was not able to figure anything out by the time I roused my consciousness. Rather, I simply felt empty. It was a disconcerting notion, but not unexpected. I knew psychologically that I was feeling distraught over the lack of trust, even if I understood that there had to be a reason for it. But that did not make it any easier to cope with.
Just as I was beginning to wonder how long I would be left here, the knight from earlier knocked at my door before letting himself in. Having a seat at the table, he motioned for me to do likewise. Once I had complied, he began to question me. I found this strange; the line of questioning he was taking was not what I had expected. All of the questions were¡ lukewarm.
¡°Where did Lady Stahlia plan on going?¡±
¡°Did Lady Stahlia mention meeting with anyone?¡±
¡°What time did she leave in the morning?¡±
They were routine. As if the Claurence family were really trying to glean information about her disappearance. For a moment, I considered the possibility that she had really been kidnapped. Then a realization hit me. These questions, are simple on purpose. So, they are not meant for me? But for someone else. For when I make a report? No, I would not report the contents of these¡ So for someone¡ listening in real time¡ I was not sure how, but I had a feeling I had hit the nail on the head.
So someone, probably Five, is listening in on things through me? I was not aware of any such spell or enchantment. Sure, some of my gear might have eavesdropping enchantments, but that was doubtful; they were already enchanted with other effects, stacking on another would be extremely inefficient. So it¡¯s something else, something more personal¡ I felt my heart skip a beat, as I considered the possibility.
If that¡¯s the case, then I need to act naturally so as to not arouse Five¡¯s suspicion. I need to act like I have no idea this is going on. All this of course, was contingent on the fact that whatever had compromised me was incapable of reading my mind. If that was the case, then the ruse was already over. But my lady is smarter than that. If they suspected my mind was being read, she would not have handled things in a way that would let me think of these things.
For now, I opted to think about it as little as possible and simply answer the questions I was asked. This went on for a few days, though the questions did vary. In order to keep up with my cover, I began pressuring for any updates of information though as I expected I was kept firmly in the dark. This went on for several days, and I was beginning to fear I may have to break out, or at least attempt to. I could allow myself to be caught, but if I simply sat and did nothing for much longer, it would risk tipping off whoever was using me as a listening device, Five, that I was onto them.
If they don¡¯t know already. Still, I needed to operate under the assumption that they did not. To that end, I began to contemplate how I could break out and then get caught without endangering anyone. Granted, there would be danger regardless, but I wanted to minimize it. Ideally, I would be the only one at risk; if some of the guards got hurt it might make things harder for my lady.
It took me another day to come up with something workable, but just as I was preparing to enact my plan, my door opened. A man I did not recognize entered my room. Giving him a look, I went with the act I had been keeping up, ¡°Who might you be? This whole situation is getting ridiculous, I have complied so far but I demand to know what is being done to find my lady!¡±
I worked just enough frustration into my tone to make it appear as if I was a devoted maid struggling to hold back her emotions. In all honesty, it was not exactly that hard to do, I was surprisingly genuinely frustrated about how things were going.
The man nodded briefly, ¡°Yes, that is why I have come to see you, Lady Stahlia has been recovered and is on her way now¡ [#### #####]¡±
His words made my heart jump. She¡¯s been recovered!? Then this whole time she was actually kidnapped!? Too late, I recognized the keyword. With my mental state disturbed, I was not able to resist the spell, even with my talents, and I felt my eyes grow heavy before I passed out.
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When I woke up, I was in a strange building. Really, calling it a building was pretty generous. It was more of a shack. Looking around in confusion, I lifted my hands to rub the sleep from my eyes. Wait, my hands? Staring at the two limbs in front of me, I could not help but notice, that they were small. No, not small¡ young!? Patting myself all over, I realized to my horror that I was in the body of a small child.
I began to panic as I scrambled out of the bed. Stumbling on my too-short legs, I tore a hole in my knee and red blood began to seep from the wound. The pain was worse than anything I could remember experiencing. Considering that I had been stabbed, beaten, sliced open, and many other things, that was a bit odd. I lacked the time to properly question it though, as tears of pain began to pour down my face.
I heard a voice, and looked up through my tear blurred eyes. There was a girl standing over me, and though her face was blurred by my running eyes, she looked familiar. It was the girl who¡¯s visage occasionally slid over Stahlia¡¯s, ¡°Come on now, don¡¯t cry. Here, let sis get you patched up.¡±
Her words had a calming effect, and I managed to stop sniffling. My sobs were replaced with hiccups though, much to my embarrassment. In response, the girl began patting my back rhythmically and those soon abated, ¡°Come on, Tanya. It¡¯s your dedication today, you can¡¯t go and ruin your face.¡±
At her words, a whole lot came flooding back all at once. Her name, I remember her name.
¡°Thanks Ahlysa!¡± My older sister smiled and picked me up. She was always taking care of me and she was right, I couldn¡¯t ruin today for our parents! After she had walked partway to the temple while dragging me along, I got restless and demanded to be let down, ¡°Dohn!¡±
Alysha let out a soft laugh and let me off her back, but insisted I hold her hand while we walked. After all, the slums were a dangerous place for a three-year-old. Getting to the temple, I was a tad intimidated by all of the people there, both adults and children. Faltering in my steps, I felt a soft yet firm hand on my back. Looking up and behind I saw Alysha¡¯s smiling face, ¡°Go on, you don¡¯t have anything to worry about.¡±
That¡¯s not true! If I go up there, then I¡¯ll never see you again! But contrary to my wishes, I found my feet carrying me towards the altar, even as my face adopted a firm expression to mask my fear. At the priest¡¯s behest, I placed my hands on the appraisal stone. Peering into it, I could see the symbols that would seal my fate. The first time around, I couldn¡¯t read the words. This time, I knew full well that they spelled out ¡°Slitter¡±.
Just like the first time, the priest pronounced me to be without purpose. Just like the first time, I walked back to my sister practically in tears. Just like the first time she told me it was alright. Just like the first time, we went home together with my parents. Try as I might, I couldn¡¯t remember their faces, and in this reliving, their faces were replaced by some generic man and woman I could find anywhere in the kingdom.
It made me want to cry, but I could not. Laying in bed with my sister, I did my best to stay awake. I did not want to sleep, because I knew what would happen if I did. But I was only three. Try as I might, I was too tired. Just like the first time, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in darkness.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
With a jolt, I snapped awake. I wasn¡¯t able to move around, but I recognized the ceiling after a moment. Ha¡ Haaa¡ Back in the Claurence¡¯s estate¡ Looking around, I was shocked to see a girl that shouldn¡¯t be there. No, you¡¯re dead! Why are you here now!? My sister was standing over me, an anxious look on her face. Locking eyes with her I reached out my one hand and tried to touch her face, ¡°Ah¡ My sister, Alysha¡¡±
The girl¡¯s face crumbled and she expressed a look of great pain at my words. No, don¡¯t cry¡ It¡¯s me, your little Tanya¡ My vision was beginning to refocus, and I recognized the man standing with his hand on my sister¡¯s shoulder. Prince Rupert? What is he doing with Alysha¡? My sister and I were commoners through and through. We grew up in the slums.
Come to think of it, why is Alysha in the Claurence Estate in the first place¡? It did not make sense. After a few moments, I realized that Prince Rupert wasn¡¯t the only one in the room. Lord Gustav was here as well, and a few other nobles. Through my confusion, I rapidly attempted to sort things out. As my head cleared, the visage of my sister slowly started to fade.
In its place was my lady, Stahlia von Ris. Blinking rapidly, I felt tears beginning to fall from my eyes. Alysha¡ No¡ I could remember her death now. My own abduction was abnormal; because of how poor the family was, and how Alysha was always with me during the day. Instead of being grabbed and replaced with a Doppelganger Homunculus that would die of illness, my replacement had been murdered.
Murdered and left with my sister¡¯s body. My recruitment had been made to look like a break-in gone wrong. Though I hadn¡¯t seen them, I could only imagine that my parents had faired no better than my sister. I did not know why I had these memories all of a sudden, but it had to have been something that Stahlia did. I wanted to both thank her and curse her name. But at the moment, all I could do was weakly cry.
¡°Come, let her rest for now. You did everything you could do.¡± Rupert¡¯s voice echoed in my ears with no response. But to my great relief, I was left alone with my thoughts. She must have¡ done something to remove the listening effect¡ In a way, it made me feel incredibly special, that so much effort would be expended for my sake. But as a side effect, it seemed that some very traumatic memories had resurfaced.
The prince was here as well¡ Through my haze of grief and other tumultuous emotions, I recalled the letter I had seen her write a week ago. Even if I did not want to know what she had written, I was able to figure it out just by having seen and heard the pen move. A resolution to the problem with Dominic¡ I recalled the king¡¯s actions, the announcement he had made.
That was when I knew for sure that Stahlia was keeping secrets from me since I learned of that through other sources¡ It seemed that my damnable training was still effective since my uncertainty was rapidly fading as I pieced things together. Not something I was particularly pleased with, I had finally remembered my sister, and the thought of losing her again simply didn¡¯t sit right.
That solution¡ She made a deal with Prince Rupert. She is engaged to him now, in lieu of Lord Dominic¡ I knew some things about the prince. For instance, I knew that he had a twisted personality; he only cared about people if they held value. It was a sure thing that Lady Stahlia had a lot of that, but he would never love her. But marrying him would give her a huge advantage¡ Rosial, you really are loved. The way I saw it, Stahlia was giving up her own future in a bid to be able to better help her sister.
Then it came to me. I am like Lady Rosial in a way¡ if Alysha had lived, and somehow learned about what happened¡ would she have done everything she could to help me? Based on my memories, I would have to say that she would. Even if she knew it was completely futile, she still would have tried. Is this why, so many years ago, I was able to be swayed? Because Lady Stahlia reminded me of Alysha?
It made sense. Especially when considering that the face of my sister only ever seemed to occupy my lady¡¯s head. I never saw Alysha out of the corner of my eye. I never saw her on Miss Felicity, Lady Edith, or Lady Elienor. Only ever on Lady Stahlia. You never left me, even when I forgot you¡ Secretly, I had been worried about my lady.
When we eventually found Lady Rosial, it was certainly not going to be pretty. She was bound to be broken. Bound to have had her memories suppressed by the training regime. She would likely have blood on her hands. We might even have to fight her, possibly hurt her in order to restrain her. But if I could remember, after so many years, then for Rosial, there is a chance! Especially since it seemed that Lady Stahlia had developed a method of restoring the suppressed memories.
I have to tell her this! I have to tell her everything, and thank her! Newfound loyalty and adoration for my lady welled up within my heart, and I sat up in bed. Only to lurch forward. I felt weak. Shakily, I stretched my arm out towards the bedside table, and used it as leverage to try and stand up. My bones seemed to creak as I did so. How long was I reasoning things out!? Looking down at my hand, I saw that my nails were noticeably longer than they should be. Even my hair seemed to have grown a small amount. At least a week¡ Maybe more.
Severe feelings of guilt welled up inside me. Ngh¡ After everything she did for me, to leave Lady Stahlia so distraught for this long¡ No good. I need to find her and apologize! I hauled myself out of bed, and made my way along the wall to the door. As I walked, I slowly felt myself regaining strength, but I didn¡¯t trust my legs. After all, I was intimately familiar with what would happen to the human body if left alone for too long. Even if I had been given the same potions I prepared for my lady while she was in her coma, it would be dangerous to put too much faith in my limbs.
Still, I could move a bit faster, so I accelerated gradually. Reaching the door, I made my way out into the hallway. Strange¡ there should be a guard or someone here¡ I glanced around uneasily. The mansion was quiet. Far too quiet. Retreating into my room, I rummaged around in my bag and removed a potion and a dagger from a hidden pocket. The potion I downed immediately; it was a stimulant that would let me move around normally without fear of my muscles giving out. Though the duration is limited.
Gripping the dagger, I went back out into the hall. Pausing for a moment, I focused my mind on my hearing and smell. I was no beastkin, but I could still sharpen my perception with focus. You trained me to be this way Five, after taking everything from me. I was always going to help my lady, but now it¡¯s personal! So resolved, I whirled around at the sound of a clatter coming from the floor above.
Recalling the layout of the estate, I took off at a sprint and soon found my way to the stairs. Running up them, my fears came true and I heard my lady¡¯s voice, or rather her scream, ¡°NO! GET AWAY! I ORDER YOU!¡±
Reflexively, I bit my tongue hard. The taste of iron filled my mouth as for an instant, I felt the compulsion to turn around and leave. The voice of the king. So she is engaged to Prince Rupert. But if she would use it¡ I had to hurry. Rounding the corner, I came into contact with Felicity who was fleeing in the other direction. The young cat slammed into me and looked up in surprise.
¡°Jacqueline! You have to help her!¡± Claire is in control. She¡¯s either responding to Stahlia¡¯s royal order, or keeping the promise she made in Ris!
¡°I will. Go.¡± Clairicity nodded briefly before resuming her flight. Turning, I went down the hall in the direction she had come from. Absentmindedly, I noted that this was the route to Lady Edith¡¯s private rooms. Rounding a corner, I came to a large double door. Throwing it open the first thing that I saw was Miss Sarala, lying face up on the couch, a small red puddle emanating from a wound in her chest.
Her breathing was labored, but she didn¡¯t seem to be in any degree of pain that I could tell. Shock, I need to move quickly. Hurrying over, I inspected the wound. Lady Stahlia was undoubtedly in danger, but she would never forgive me if I let her friend die. Miss Sarala was, to my surprise, seemingly still conscious. Seeing me, her eyes lit up, ¡°Pull.. Pull it out¡¡±
I shook my head, ¡°No, I cannot do that; you would bleed to death.¡±
¡°No. Enchanted¡ sealing, pull it out¡¡± A quick inspection revealed that her claim was accurate; the dagger was enchanted, and a faint light was being drawn out of her body. A mana sealing dagger? That did change things. While not life-threatening, leaving it in would be unhealthy. Making a split-second decision, I grabbed the hilt and tugged the blade free. Balling up the tablecloth to stuff in the wound, I was greatly surprised when, after glowing briefly, Miss Sarala¡¯s wound closed.
¡°Thank you¡ I don¡¯t have enough mana to help, Lady Edith is ahead, with Stahlia¡ and Dominic.¡± She grimaced as she spoke his name. That rat is here? I nodded to Miss Sarala, with her explanation things were beginning to make sense. Standing, I hurried to the door and threw it open. The scene that greeted me was grim, but my lady seemed to be safe at least.
There was blood everywhere, and a lifeless body was lying in the middle of the room, with the two girls sitting nearby it. Lady Edith was holding Lady Stahlia whilst apologizing over and over again like a broken record. My lady was holding a dagger loosely while staring off into the distance with vacant eyes. Grimly, I noted that her clothes were a bit askew.
Closing the distance in two large strides, I inspected the body. Rolling it over, I was greeted with the bloodied face of Lord Dominic. His face was carved up to the point where I could hardly tell it was him, and there were several stab wounds all over his chest and stomach. Satisfied that he was dead, I turned my attention to my lady. Knowing what I did about the charm, it was easy enough to figure out how this had happened.
¡°Stahlia, it¡¯s me, Jacqueline¡ are you¡ are you alright?¡± I didn¡¯t have much experience comforting people, but I would do my best.
Rousing from her stupor at the sound of my voice, her face seemed to regain some light, ¡°I¡¯m¡ I¡¯m ok. Nothing, nothing happened, I was¡ I was able to protect myself.¡±
As she spoke, color and light were coming back to her eyes, ¡°We need to get out of here¡ Jacqueline! Oh thank goodness! You¡¯re back!¡± It seemed the fact that it was me had finally clicked, and she threw her arms around my neck while sobbing joyfully. Considering what I suspected had just been attempted and apparently thwarted, her attitude seemed a bit¡ off¡
I decided it would be better to simply let her get everything out of her system while bringing her to safety. Clearly, the Claurence estate was compromised. Based on her apologies, Edith is probably freed of the charm now, so it should be safe to bring her with us. Picking up Stahlia, I carried her from the room. I¡¯ll protect you now as Alysha protected me, and you in turn will protect Rosial.
4-9 The Storm Breaks
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948
Rupert and Gustav guided me out of the room where Jacqueline was and into a side room. I sort of just went along with them, being in a daze as I was. Who the hell is Alysha!? I hadn¡¯t the faintest idea who Jacqueline was referring to just then, but it wasn¡¯t me. Before I knew it, I was seated across from Gustav and Rupert, the former was watching me with a resigned expression. Right, I knew this was a possibility, but damnit if it doesn¡¯t hurt!
Clenching my fists beneath the table, I looked down as I forced myself not to break down and cry. Several deep breaths later, I was able to lift my chin up and meet the two of them in the eyes, ¡°What happens now.¡±
Rupert nodded and motioned for Gustav to speak, and after a brief conflicted look, he did so, ¡°We have already announced your return, so we simply need to put the plan in motion. You will spend the weekend out of the public¡¯s eye and make your return to the academy at the start of the next school week.¡±
I nodded, freezing a grimly serious expression on my face, ¡°What of the Francois being demons?¡±
This time it was Rupert who answered, ¡°Largely irrelevant; we were going to bring them down anyways. Rushing things on account of that would be unwise and jeopardize the plan. Though, we will prepare a stronger force than originally intended when it comes time to arrest them.¡±
¡°Are we still clear about Lady Elienor?¡±
The prince glanced at Gustav and then confirmed that nothing had changed in regard to that, ¡°Conditionally. She will of course need to be tested; as long as she does not harbor demonic attributes herself, then it will actually be much easier to have her pardoned.¡±
The salvation of Elienor was one of the things I had made sure we had discussed prior to signing the engagement contract. Though, the way it was worded her rescue was not a requirement; Rupert simply had to try and have her saved and could not allow her demise through inaction on his part. If saving her had become impossible, then that clause of the contract would no longer be binding.
Considering the kingdom¡¯s practice of punishing entire families when matters of treason were concerned, I had been genuinely scared for my friend when we were plotting the downfall of her house. Thankfully, the very man I was now with had set a precedent for dodging that particular custom when he managed to save my father. Though I was a bit unsure as to why he had done that, now that I knew he was a functional psychopath. I highly doubted that asking that question would yield a satisfactory answer, so I didn¡¯t plan on wasting time asking it.
The weekend passed me by uneventfully. I did visit Jacqueline daily, but there was little change in her condition. Likewise, my visits with Sarala and Edith did not yield much; I only had a few opportunities to speak with Sarala one on one, but I did not attempt to breach the subject of her heritage. It would be best, I felt, if she was the one to first speak with me about it.
Rupert visited me on the day before I was supposed to return to school. While we had lunch together, it was hardly romantic. Not that I was expecting it to be. While publicly he was coming to apologize to me while also dissolving my engagement to Dominic, in practice it was a business meeting more than anything else. We went over the security measures that were going to be put in place. Namely, I was being assigned four knights that would accompany me to the Academy, and a small brooch.
The knights were something I had expected. In terms of level, they were all in the mid-fifties. When I questioned their composition, I was told that each one of them had four classes, consisting of their Tier-One base class, two Tier-Two derived classes, and a Tier-Three advanced class. In any case, if I took Jacqueline as the standard, then these knights were quite powerful; she was level forty-eight back when I gave her [Charm Immunity] after all. Granted, they wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against Sitri, but a demon of that level would be a very rare sight.
The brooch was something unexpected, and when I asked about it, Rupert explained that it was a locator beacon magic tool. I was a bit miffed about the idea that I had just been given a tracking device, but when he explained it was out of worry that I would be kidnapped for real, I decided to go with it.
That was how I found myself standing in a circle of my new body guards, who were in turn in a circle of very angry school girls. I honestly should have expected this¡ After all, Dominic was still alive, even if he wasn¡¯t at the Academy due to the rumors swirling around the Francois. At least, I had been told that Count Francois had told Duke Percius that Dominic would not attend until things were situated. A political move that did not make any sense to me; surely by not attending in the face of the rumors, it was as good as admitting that they were guilty?
That was why it was so important for me to attend, despite the risk. It showed strength and would help improve my image. All part of the plan for Rupert to ¡°fall for me¡± over the next few months. All that was fine and dandy, but the fact that the majority of the girls, Make that all of them, were under Dominic¡¯s sway was obviously going to cause issues. Like how I was currently surrounded by a pack of angry noble girls. Granted my knights were more than capable of keeping them at bay, and they were for the most part behaving, but it would get ugly if they got injured.
Right, chin held high. This should be over soon anyway. I lifted my head and kept an ambivalent neutral expression. Then, I started walking forward. My knights¡¯ pressure against the crowd caused them to part like a certain sea. As long as things went like this then I would be able to arrive to my classes on time. But with all of them reacting unanimously, their families will certainly realize that something is wrong. That will make it a lot easier when we expose the brat and move in for the kill.
Unfortunately, that would still make classes very awkward. I still was not planning to attend the sword fighting class, but I had all of my magic classes to go to. While still largely male, there were female students in those. Then my Alchemy class and Math class were entirely female as those subjects had a large enough student body to be segregated. Briefly, I considered skipping those as well, as a matter of security, but I opted to attend in spite of the risk. There was little that a group of level ten to level twelve eleven-year-old girls could hope to do, other than slinging mean words at me. That was without taking my knights into account.
Still, words hurt. Even the female teachers were harsh. At least the ones that Dominic had contact with¡ somehow. Clarice was in the clear, as far as I could tell. But she was still short and harsh towards me, so even if she was charmed, I wasn¡¯t totally sure I would be able to tell the difference. By the time the day was over and I was returned safely to the estate, I was physically and mentally drained.
I have at least another week of this until he gets arrested, then it will be even worse until the faux trial and execution. I really hope that the charm dissipates when he dies, otherwise things are going to get even worse¡ I might actually have to worry about distraught attempts on my life at that point. As opposed to calculated attempts on my life from the Shadows.
The next day and the day after went about much the same. By the fourth day, the girls had mostly stopped hurling abuse openly, but they would still stare at me with eyes full of hatred and venom. It wasn¡¯t all bad; several of the girls stopped going to the Academy. Starting with the higher stationed houses, the female student body mysteriously began to fall ill, or need to take a break for stress. A myriad of excuses were used, but it was obvious to me and Gustav that the families in question had noticed that something was amiss with their daughters and were panicking.
By the end of the fifth day, all of the high noble girls had been kept home so it was only the barons and the commoners who were left. This meant that the abuse was greatly lessened, as the barons were much less likely to act rudely towards me because of our similar station. The commoners were smart enough to avoid me all together. The fact that the charm wasn¡¯t driving the girls to act above their station was gratifying to see, as it indicated that it was not wholly dug into them.
The thought that most of them should be able to recover made me giddy, and I was in a very good mood when I arrived at the estate for the weekend. Irina had been reassigned back to Edith permanently now that I was living in the Claurence estate officially. In her place, I had been granted the service of a maid named Christina. She was actually a noble in her own right, the daughter of a baron.
Owing to her birth as the fourth daughter, she was in a similar position to my own family¡¯s second maid; she would not be able to have a marriage arranged by her parents. Her only real options then, were to leave the nobility and marry into a wealthy commoner family, marry a knight and lose her station, or work as a maid for a higher stationed house. There was also the route of trying to strike out on her own, but that was highly unlikely to go well.
¡°Lady Stahlia, Lady Edith would like to see you; she is curious about what is going on in the Academy in the wake of recent events.¡±
I felt my face twitch; that did not sound like it would be a fun conversation since it would most likely devolve into Edith insisting that there was no way ¡°The amazing Lord Dominic could do that!¡± and ¡°You have to tell the truth!¡± While she was technically correct, that just made it worse since it meant I would have to lie to my friend¡¯s face. The number of people who knew the truth was to be kept to the absolute minimum as per Rupert and Gustav¡¯s wishes.
Still, I wanted to help my friend where I could, so I resolved to deal with her until the charm could be cured. Thanking Christina for relaying the message, I asked the same questions that had become our routine this past week, ¡°Thank you, I will be sure to see her as soon as I am able. What of Lord Claurence, Lord Ferdinand, and Jacqueline?¡±
That was not the order I actually wanted to know the answers, but it was the socially correct order to ask about my acquaintances and servant. Christina nodded, ¡°Lord Claurence is visiting the palace to answer a summons from the crown prince. Lord Ferdinand is out on business, and Miss Jacqueline has exhibited no changes.¡±
I nodded quietly. I already knew where Duke Claurence and Ferdinand were. That was according to the plans we had laid out. In fact, Ferdinand was actually leading a team to bring the Francois into custody, while Duke Claurence was going to publicly petition the Crown Prince to expel the count from his faction. Really I had just wanted to know about Jacqueline, though the news was not unexpected.
¡°Well then, I will be going to visit Lady Edith now.¡± Addressing the head of my four knight detail, he nodded, and he and his men fell in behind me. Being followed around the manor was, in my opinion, a bit much, but I could still see the reasoning behind it. After all, the Shadows would probably be able to sneak in here if they really wanted to. In fact, I was sure they could, given that they would need the ability to assassinate a duke if the order was given.
We arrived at the wing being used to house Edith and Sarala, and my guards entered the room after we knocked. They then fanned out and began to check each room carefully. Edith had her own guards as well, so this was a bit silly and was simply violating her privacy. Calling out to the head knight, I ordered them to leave it and wait outside. Begrudgingly, my orders were followed.
Turning to Edith, I smiled apologetically, ¡°Sorry about that Edith¡ How are you doing?¡±
Glancing around at my guards nervously, she waited until they had left and the door was shut before speaking, ¡°Ah, I am doing quite well, all things considered. Come with me, Irina has prepared tea for us!¡±
So that¡¯s where Sarala is then. Indeed, I had not seen my other friend anywhere since I arrived. I smiled, ¡°That sounds nice, lead the way.¡±
It really did sound nice, since Edith hadn¡¯t actually mentioned Dominic once. Dare I hope that she is not actually planning to bring it up¡? No, it will come up during the tea. I may as well enjoy this while I can though. The first hint of suspicion to arise in my mind came when Edith headed towards her bedroom, rather than the tea room. Unfortunately, it would prove to be too little too late.
This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
In hindsight, there were a lot of signs that something was amiss. The glazed over eyes of the servants I had passed and paid no mind to. The lack of Edith¡¯s guards despite the fact that I knew she had eight. The fact that Sarala, despite caring so strongly for Edith, had left her side. There were a lot of things I could have noticed, but we were so close to resolving things, that I got careless.
¡°Edith¡ Are we not going to have tea¡?¡± She froze at the sound of my voice, her hand on the door handle. I heard a cough from the couch, not a sick cough, but the cough of someone who was injured. Looking over, I saw a hand clinging to the back of it. A small hand that I recognized. Sarala!? What the hell is going on!? Whirling around, I saw that Edith¡¯s shoulders had slumped over and she was exuding an air of sadness.
¡°This¡ this is all your fault, Stahlia.¡± She turned the door handle and pushed the door so that it swung open. My initial reaction was to scream, but the words caught in my throat. Dominic¡¯s voice rang out. Low and cold dripping with contempt and a cold fury, ¡°Don¡¯t scream, or I¡¯ll gut the kitty.¡±
That was why I hadn¡¯t screamed; Felicity was being held with both of her arms wrenched behind her head, and a dagger was pressed against her throat. I glared at him, and stepped into the room, ¡°Let. Her. Go.¡±
Dominic laughed, ¡°Ha! You, you are in NO position to make demands, skank!¡±
He isn¡¯t yelling, but he¡¯s clearly angry. Probably, he¡¯s afraid of the guards coming. I need to be careful, but I should be able to manage something. I wasn¡¯t at a hundred percent, but I was greatly recovered. I could use magic freely again, though it still hurt a bit, and seemed to be a bit reduced in potency. I just need him to release Felicity, and then I can grab him. To hell with a faux trial, I¡¯ll just kill him here.
¡°What do you want.¡± I spat my words at him, letting all of the built-up vitriol spill into each syllable.
¡°Just another moment please.¡± He grinned maliciously, and I felt a shiver run down my spine.
A clear, young, flirtatious voice rang out from the hallway. A voice that I recognized.
¡°Aallll dooonnneee! These guys were kinda strong huh?¡±
I didn¡¯t need to check to know that the guards had been dealt with. After all, while they may have been able to deal with a Shadow, or maybe a few Shadows, Sitri was well above their capabilities. I felt the pressure of the demoness behind me, but I refused to turn around.
¡°Well then Domi, you good here? I¡¯ve got another date lined up for me and my new toys.¡±
Dominic nodded, ¡°Yea, I¡¯ll be fine Irtis, you can go deal with the group father said is coming to the manor.¡±
Just as capricious as I remembered, her tone changed. It became much colder as all the color and joviality fell out of her, though the voice remained just as annoyingly high pitched as ever, ¡°Good, don¡¯t fuck up this time. You wouldn¡¯t want to make Nikki mad again, now would you?¡±
Without waiting for his answer, she left and the door slammed shut behind us. At the mention of ¡°Nikki¡± getting mad, Dominic¡¯s entire body convulsed in what was pretty obviously a shiver of fear. Nikki? Nikolaus, probably. So his father did something to him last time he ¡®fucked up¡¯¡? As for what that fuck up was, well it could only be how he had driven me away by acting like a child. Of course I was planning to leave anyway, but from the perspective of Count Francois, it could only look like Dominic being an absolute moron was what had driven me to my actions.
I can use that. This will be sickening, but I just need him to let go of Felicity, then I can act. Putting as much care as I could into my voice, I swallowed my vomit and asked Dominic if he was ok while looking down at the floor off to the side, ¡°Dominic¡ are you¡ are you alright?¡±
He simply glared at me in response, ¡°Don¡¯t pretend to care. Not after everything you did. Do you even know what you threw away? How lucky you were!?¡±
Felicity let out a whimper as he rudely wrenched her arms further back. Her eyes were swimming and her teeth chattered in terror. I threw up my hands and threw away my pride, ¡°No, no I don¡¯t! Just tell me what you want and let her go! Don¡¯t¡ don¡¯t take another sister from me¡ please.¡±
¡°Edith, give her the bracelet.¡± My outburst, which was actually somewhat sincere, caused Dominic¡¯s anger to abate somewhat. At his order, my friend approached me with a bracelet made out of glimmering mythril. My eyes narrowed when I saw it; mythril had mana dampening properties, that was why it was used in the construction of the capital after all. If I put that on, it would dramatically reduce my ability to form magic. I would still be able to use Blood Magic at a reduced speed, but chanting would probably be impossible.
Seeing my eyes widen, Dominic grinned, ¡°Well? Put it on. You know what happens if you don¡¯t.¡± To punctuate his point he pressed the dagger a bit harder against Felicity¡¯s throat, drawing blood.
I fixed him with the coldest glare I could while snatching the bracelet out of Edith¡¯s hand and putting it on, ¡°I¡¯m going. to kill. you, you bahstard.¡± I spoke in unsteady English. I was hoping to unsettle him, but he merely smiled.
¡°So the harlot shows her colors. Irtis already told me your secrets.¡± It was upsetting that I couldn¡¯t get my petty win by shocking him, but that didn¡¯t matter in the grand scheme. Holding up my arm, I showed that the bracelet was securely fastened to my wrist.
¡°There, I¡¯m defenseless now. Release Felicity.¡±
Dominic shrugged, ¡°Hardly. I am sure you will still put up quite the fight, but that¡¯s fine.¡± He threw Felicity away from himself, and while she staggered a bit, her catkin agility allowed her to instinctively remain on her feet. At least she seems mostly unhurt¡ The question remained as to if she was charmed or not, but considering that Claire attested to how much Felicity disliked him, she was probably immune.
After confirming that Felicity was safe, I turned back to face Dominic, ¡°Now, what do you-¡±
Just in time to catch his fist to my stomach. Doubling over in pain, I vomited as my lungs screamed for air. I would have cried out in pain when he next grabbed my hair to haul me back to my feet, except I lacked the breath with which to do so, ¡°According to Irtis, you figured out I was another reincarnator a while ago, is that right?¡±
I still couldn¡¯t answer, as I was too busy gasping for breath. It didn¡¯t seem like he wanted me to answer though, tossing me away from him. Unlike my adoptive sister, I wasn¡¯t able to land on my feet and instead went sprawling. Dominic stalked up to me, ¡°We could have used our advantages to take this kingdom by storm!¡±
His eyes were crazy as he dropped to his knees straddling my waist, ¡°What were you planning!? Huh!? Were you hoping to strike it big as an adventurer!? Go out on some fantasy journey!? Too bad!¡±
My face stung and I saw stars as I realized he had slapped me, without holding back either. I tasted iron, and judging from the pain I had probably just lost a tooth. Rotating my head back around, I glared up at him but inside I was starting to get scared; I had been struggling against his grip this whole time. Even now, I was squirming, trying to get out from under him.
My limbs were flooded with mana, though the bracelet was restricting that somewhat. But Dominic was a lot stronger than I was, and it was making me start to panic, ¡°After all, this is a man¡¯s world. It¡¯s not like where we came from. There are different rules, and different morals. Thanks to your betrayal, I was able to see that¡ no, thanks to Irtis opening my eyes. She¡¯ll make a good wife I think; she respects me like you never would.¡±
¡°Ha! Sure she does!¡± *Ptui!* I spat out a mouthful of blood, which hit the bastard square in the face. Perhaps not the smartest decision, but I was beyond caring; I just wanted to get away.
¡°¡Don¡¯t worry, from one reincarnator to another, I¡¯ll make sure to take good care of you.¡± A disturbing, lecherous grin spread over his face and I felt his hand grabbing roughly at my chest. All thoughts of anger and rage were replaced with fear as I realized his intentions, perhaps a bit late. My struggling intensified as I tried in vain to buck him off.
Flailing my arms, I managed to catch him on the side of the head. This only earned me another punch, this one cracking a rib. Gasping for air, my arms fell limply and I started to cry. I would not beg and plead though. If I could stop the tears I would, but that much was beyond me. No, I was planning to struggle for as long as possible.
As I was recovering my breath, Dominic¡¯s groping found something hard; the ring Rupert had given me that bore the crest of the Royal Family. As always, it resided in a hidden pocket of my dress. Fishing it out, Dominic scowled when he saw the symbols engraved on it, ¡°So, your treachery runs that deep? I¡¯ll have to correct that.¡±
I¡¯m an idiot! He might be a demon, but as a noble he¡¯s still a citizen of the country! So caught up in the events unfolding, that in my fear I had forgotten that I could simply use the voice of the king. Being related to Blood Magic, it was not a chant so even with the mythril bracelet it should work. I opened my mouth to order him to release me, but in that moment he leaned in and forcibly stole my lips.
Jamming his tongue into my mouth, I fought back the urge to gag even as I bit down. Hard. With a yell of pain, Dominic pulled backward, ¡°WOO BIFTH!¡± Spitting a mouthful of his own blood at him I grinned, revealing two rows of teeth dyed crimson. Just as I was about to give the order, he reared up and leapt off me of his own accord. Leaning up on my elbows while ignoring the pain in my side, I saw Felicity.
Her trembling hands were clutching a spoon. Where she had gotten it, I had no idea. Somehow, it was red with blood. How¡? How hard did she stab him with a spoon to draw blood!? Questions aside, this wasn¡¯t good. Like a deer in headlights, the girl was frozen stiff. Her eyes were wide open and locked on Dominic. Glaring at her, he raised his dagger up in the air. Damnit Claire! What did you promise!?
¡°GET AWAY FROM ME! I ORDER YOU!¡± My scream drew on the power of the Drakas Royal Family and laced a compelling force through the air. Edith was seemingly unaffected; she had probably instinctively countered it since she knew about the effects. Dominic staggered forward but seemed able to resist somewhat. Probably owing to the Demon Blood. Felicity on the other hand, had her eyes glaze over.
¡°Damnit Stahlia! You better pull through this, you hear!?¡± Then Claire turned and ran their shared body out of the room. I¡¯ll need to find out exactly what happened later. It looked like Felicity had been knocked out by the voice, and Claire had instantly assumed control. Clearly, there had been an internal power struggle or something.
Time for that later. I stood up while Dominic was still recovering, and drew the dagger I kept sheathed under my dress. The blade was a bit old and worn; it was ten years old after all. Still, the blade gleamed in the light. Falling forwards toward Dominic, I used my weight to stab him in the back. Based on the cough and the blood he spat up it looked like I had hit a kidney.
My momentum and the sudden pain carried us to the ground. Now it was me straddling him. Raising the blade above my head, I brought it down. Again. Again. And again. Eventually, my mind went white. When I came to my senses, I was in a pool of crimson. My arms were leaden at my side; stabbing someone, even with a gravity assist, takes a lot of energy. Based on the state of the body, I had really gone to town.
Edith was by my side, begging forgiveness and crying while generally blaming herself, but I let the words wash over me. I was both physically and emotionally exhausted. I knew that I should get a move on; Sitri was heading to the Francois estate with a bunch of the Claurence¡¯s charmed guards. But whenever I thought about moving, I lost interest in doing so.
Suddenly, I was embraced from behind, though it was a bit awkward, ¡°Stahlia, it¡¯s me, Jacqueline¡ are you¡ are you alright?¡±
Slowly, I turned my head towards the sound. Mechanically, I answered the question, ¡°I¡¯m¡ I¡¯m ok. Nothing, nothing happened, I was¡ I was able to protect myself.¡± But what if I wasn¡¯t¡? What if I completely forgot about the voice¡? This place¡ I glanced towards the body. This place is no good.
¡°We need to get out of here¡¡± It was then that I realized who I was talking to, who had returned to my side at long last, ¡°Jacqueline! Oh thank goodness! You¡¯re back!¡± I felt fresh tears running down my face, but unlike the ones I had just shed, these were tears of happiness rather than fear. Crying into her shoulder, I felt Jacqueline pick me up and begin to carry me away.
Vaguely, I was aware of Edith letting out a tearful cry of her own when we passed the couch where Sarala was lying. Drifting off into my own world, I let myself relax in Jacqueline¡¯s arms. It wouldn¡¯t last though. Too soon, I was forced back to reality by a cold voice, accompanied by the sound of slow, mocking clapping.
¡°Marvelous. I do not believe I have been this infuriated since the last war. You have talent, brat.¡± Pulling myself back to reality, I felt Jacqueline stiff as a board against me. Looking from her down to the speaker, I saw a face that I really dreaded, since I knew that he was a demon. Count Francois was looking up at us from where he stood in the entrance of the Claurence Estate.
Holding his hand up in front of his chest, he began to remove his gloves, ¡°Manipulation, that would be Mephistopheles¡¯s thing. Sometimes Leviathan or Asmodea might get involved. Personally, I would rather use more direct methods. I can not begin to describe how frustrating these past thousand years have been.¡±
Jacqueline slowly set me down, ¡°Stahlia, listen carefully. You need to run.¡±
Count Francois finished removing his gloves, revealing he was missing one of his fingers on each hand. I couldn¡¯t help but notice his hands, as wordlessly they became enveloped in a black flame.
¡°Now, with that dreadfully disappointing son of mine deceased, we can take off the mask and use those direct methods.¡±
Vanishing from my sight, he suddenly appeared less than a meter away. Jacqueline leapt between us, only for his fist to pierce through her stomach and out her back. My vision tinged red with rage, and I howled.
¡°Miss Stahlia, would you kindly fall into the depths of despair?¡±
4-10 Culmination
Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Third Month of 948
¡°Miss Stahlia, would you kindly fall into the depths of despair?¡± My vision tinged red and I howled. The man, no the demon in front of me grinned vilely.
¡°I¡¯ll fucking kill you!¡± I lunged at him, but all I had was my old dagger. He stepped aside and allowed me to sail past him before tumbling down the stairs. Winded and dazed, I forced myself to stand back up. Something hit my back and sent me sprawling again. Something large. Looking over, I saw that Count Francois, or rather, Five had thrown Jacqueline at me.
I saw stars and felt the veins in my head throb. Then a brief moment of relief as she coughed blood. She¡¯s alive! But not for long. Not with a hole that large in her chest. But the sight gave me hope, and hope helped to clear my head. Fuck me! I hope this isn¡¯t too late! Cold Hearted, Anger off! Following my mental command, my anger went out. After all, my opponent was the King of Wrath.
Me getting angry would only play right into his hands. He would make me his unwitting thrall, and all my actions would only serve to benefit him. Hopefully turning off my anger would be able to undo that ability, otherwise, I was fucked. As my shoulders stopped shaking, I was able to painfully stand back to my feet. He looked down at me, his own rage and fury writ on his face.
¡°So we shall do this the hard way.¡±
With that said, I expected that I was about to get burned, literally. That did not happen. Instead, he clapped his hands together, ¡°Twenty-Three. If you would, please show yourself.¡±
A young girl, about six-years-old, stepped out into the room, ¡°Yes Mr. Five, what can I do for you?¡±
She had black hair, tied up tightly in a bun so that it would not get in her way. Her skin was a pale white, and she was dressed in a mini version of Jacqueline¡¯s field uniform. But what stuck out to me the most, what made my heart leap into my throat, were her eyes. They were a pale bluish-silver. A very rare color in this kingdom, I knew of only four people who had them. My mother, myself, Felicity, and, ¡°Ros..ial?¡±
The girl, my sister, looked down at me and cocked her head, ¡°Sister? Nope! I don¡¯t have one of those!¡±
Her voice, for all the world, sounded like a cheerful little girl¡¯s should. Just like how I imagined Rosial would sound had she not been stolen away. For a moment I dared to hope, dared to think that there was nothing wrong with her, that she hadn¡¯t been tortured and forced to do unspeakable things. But her words rang in my ears. ¡®I don¡¯t have one of those!¡¯
I was glad then, that I had turned off my anger already. If I had left it on, the rage I would be feeling right now would be all-consuming. From there, it only got worse, ¡°Twenty-three, would you please¡ kill yourself?¡±
Rosial gave a short nod, ¡°Ok! If that¡¯s what you want!¡±
Flipping a dagger out of her sleeve, it did a revolution in the air before she caught it such that the blade was pointed towards her. Without hesitating she brought it down towards her throat and pierced clean through. A fountain of red erupted out of the wound splattering down the stairway, closely followed by Rosial¡¯s body. A wet thump punctuated the impact with each step as it went along before sliding to a halt. Five¡¯s grin widened.
I was more than glad that I had turned off anger in advance. Likely, I would have passed out from sheer wrath. Instead, I was filled with pure hatred. Hatred for Five, that he would dare take my sister from me. Hatred for the gods, for dragging my soul into this world and their damned game. Hatred for myself, for letting myself fall for his tricks.
That wasn¡¯t Rosial. My eyes confirmed it; looking with my divine eyes, I could see that her mana was wrong. It wasn¡¯t the mana of a person but the mana flow of a monster. The light of mana in a human followed the circulatory system after all. As I watched the homunculus¡¯ mana fade as the puppet died, I shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s a decent trick¡ but that¡¯s not my sister.¡±
Five¡¯s smile vanished from his face and he waved his hand sharply. Some of the black flame flew off his fingertips and engulfed the body of the monster, burning it away until there was naught but ash, ¡°Very well, you caught me. We are short on time, so we will need to be going now, girls, catch her.¡±
His voice was low but carried throughout the room. From a myriad of hiding places, more Rosial¡¯s came out, until there were dozens of them about the place. My gaze fell on Jacqueline¡¯s body. She was still breathing but she was clearly unconscious. Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes. Empathy, off. They were going to take me somewhere, that much was clear. Whatever their plans were, it was a forgone conclusion that if I let them then I would never escape.
Fleeing was my only option. Fleeing would mean leaving Jacqueline to die. It would mean having to fight through, harm, and kill copies of Rosial. Granted, they were monsters. I knew that, but that didn¡¯t mean I would be able to do it without hesitation. Looking down at my wrist, I saw the bracelet that Dominic had forced on me. The lock was firmly in place, so removing it should be impossible.
Fear, off. Without the fear towards the action, I was able to enhance my other arm and grasp the bracelet. Ripping it off my wrist broke my thumb and degloved my hand. It was excruciatingly painful, and I screamed in agony as my skin fell away. With it gone though, I was free to use chanted magic.
¡°Oh Light, your child is in pain and injured. Soothe their wounds and grant respite. [Illuminate Healing]¡± Even as I chanted, I darted straight towards one of the Rosials and stabbed it through the heart. Well, where a heart would normally be, what I had actually punctured was the monster¡¯s mana crystal. For a Doppelganger Homunculus though, that was enough. Without the source of their mana, the body quickly decomposed.
My hand tingled, as the spell took effect, and I looked down briefly at my handiwork Illuminate Healing was a basic White Magic spell that drew on the Light Element to ease pain and close wounds. It wasn¡¯t able to repair damaged tissue, so my thumb was still broken and my tendons remained completely torn. In short, my hand was still useless, but a layer of skin had grown over it so at least I wouldn¡¯t bleed to death.
A more advanced spell would take too long to chant, and I didn¡¯t have a potion on me at the moment so I was shit out of luck in that department. Still, all the bits are still there, so all I¡¯ll have to do is cut the skin off again and use a better spell once I escape. That was easier said than done though, as even though these were only copies of my sister, they were still monsters in their own right. Literally.
Putting them down wasn¡¯t easy, and there were about fifteen more of them in the room. Thankfully, my reinforcements were inbound. Stil came bounding into the room, and though he cast a fearful look at Five, he leaped right onto one of the Rosials, slicing her femoral arteries as he did so. Well, that would have happened had she been human. The doppelganger didn¡¯t have that weak point though, which caused Stil to pause and stare at the lack of blood in mild confusion.
¡°Stil! They¡¯re monsters, neck or heart!¡± At my shouted command, he lunged back down at the monster he had pinned and severed the throat by clamping his beak shut on it. As the monster bleed out he bounded off towards another group of them. Suddenly, a tingle passed down my spine, and I whirled around to see Five eyeing Stil.
I didn¡¯t need to see the future to know what he was planning to do; he wanted me. He didn¡¯t need Stil. Darting forward, I positioned myself between the two of them. This action went contrary to common sense, but I was confident that that asshole wasn¡¯t going to risk hurting me. I could not afford to lose my backup, but thankfully I had the perfect hostage.
My gamble paid off, as Five snarled in anger, ¡°Fine! Have it your way! [Black Flame ###### #####!]¡±
Pointing his finger towards the door, my heart sank as I saw a jet of black flame erupt and seal off my escape route. I still wasn¡¯t going to go down easy though, and I proved that by eviscerating another Rosial that had tried to pin me down by jumping at me in a tackle while calling out, ¡°Stalwi! Up!¡±
He¡¯s even using her memories, the bastard! Still, I was fighting without that pesky thing called Empathy getting in the way, so I merely leaned over the crippled monster and stabbed straight into its mana crystal, even as it tried to cry out about how much it wanted its mommy. But what the hell was that spell!?
At this point, my knowledge of the magic language was pretty damn extensive. I could easily hold a conversation in it if I wanted, and very few words still escaped me. But I had only caught two out of four words of the spell¡¯s Keyword. Black Flame¡ Well, that¡¯s what he¡¯s coating his hands with. It¡¯s really damn destructive as well, seeing how quickly it burned that doppelganger corpse to ash. The destructive force wasn¡¯t the scary part though. The truly terrifying aspect was how he had Talent Cast the spell.
No wonder he hides his mana well enough to avoid divine eyes. He¡¯s a caster for sure, and he probably glows like a goddamned Christmas Tree. While I was trying to estimate Five¡¯s power level in comparison to Sitri, another three Rosials leaped at me in unison.
These tried to encircle me, but I wasn¡¯t about to let that happen, ¡°[Ice Spear!], [Frozen Blade!]¡±
The projectile of ice pierced the first through the mana crystal in an instant. Ice projectiles weren¡¯t the fastest moving but at this range it didn¡¯t matter. The Frozen Blade spell, on the other hand, imbued my dagger with a coating of magic ice. The effectiveness of which was immediately demonstrated as I slashed at the second of the three Rosials.
From the cut across her chest, a layer of ice spread out. However, not just on the surface, but also on the inside. After a few moments, the Ice reached her crystal and caused it to twist and groan audibly before cracking open. That was enough, and she fell to the ground deceased.
The third one managed to catch onto my back, ¡°Tag! You¡¯re it! Heehee!¡± Fuck this! I stabbed backward over my shoulder and caught the creature in the eye, causing it to briefly loosen its grip. Taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, I dropped my dagger and gripped her head with my palm. Momentarily further enhancing myself, I threw her forward over my shoulder and towards another Rosial that was sneaking up on Stil.
I hadn¡¯t been watching but it seemed he was doing his part, as there were another three bodies lying around the room that I didn¡¯t remember killing; also their throats were quite literally torn out, ¡°[Whiteout!]¡± I Talent Cast another Ice Spell. This one created a localized blizzard around its caster. Normally, allies and the caster were not immune, but I had my Blessing of Winter that negated Ice Damage. Stil would suffer a bit, but his feathers should insulate him.
The Ice Damage wasn¡¯t what I was after though, I wanted the side effect that reduced visibility. It would buy me a few seconds to chant a somewhat longer spell.
¡°Talent Experience has reached the required level, [Ice Magic V] has advanced to [Ice Magic VI]. New Talent [Winter Magic I] has derived from-¡±
I dismissed the notification, I didn¡¯t have time for that. Though, this was the first time my Ice Magic Talent had actually leveled up. I wasn¡¯t that close to the next level, was I? According to my memory, I still needed a little over a thousand talent experience to advance to the next level of that talent. The answer came to me a moment later.
¡°[Heat Wave!]¡± Five¡¯s voice growled from the top of the stairs. The magic he invoked was pretty much the opposite of my [Whiteout], and was, therefore, more or less able to dispel the magic. What this revealed was a set of nine ice sculptures. The remaining Rosials had been frozen solid. Ah¡ right. In my haste, I had forgotten that by disabling my emotions I was strengthening my Ice Magic. It was also strengthened by [Blessing of Winter], so it was a little over three times as powerful.
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That still didn¡¯t explain how it had basically instantly frozen the remaining Doppelganger Homunculus, but it made sense if I assumed that they were already weak to Ice. Still, I wasn¡¯t out of the woods yet, I still had a very pissed off Hell King in the room with me, and the only exit was sealed.
¡°Well, I hope you enjoyed that. I suppose I will have to grab you myself. Do not worry, I plan to thoroughly take out my anger on you, at least until you finally do as your told.¡± His voice was actually quivering now, and he was stomping each step as he descended the stairs. It was a bit hard to believe how angry he was. For a moment, I briefly considered ordering Stil to throw himself at Five while I made a dash for the door. But that wouldn¡¯t accomplish much.
Five could easily break Stil and still have all the time to cut me off. Even if he was a mage type, a pyromancer by the looks of things, he had proved his speed earlier. Stil, get Rupert. It was very likely that I was going to be captured now. There was one last card I could play, originally developed for Sitri, but it had never been tested. Besides, the cost of that¡ Even with fear turned off, I was still hesitant to field test it here. So I sent Stil away to go and inform Rupert what had happened. He was the best chance I had for eventual rescue, and informing him as soon as possible was paramount.
Suddenly, I sensed movement behind me and spun around while raising my blade. There was one other Rosial. Odd, I don¡¯t remember this one. Oh well. Shrugging to myself, I brought my dagger down on its shoulder, piercing at an angle that would catch the mana crystal, ¡°Stah¡lia¡?¡±
The girl coughed blood and fell to one knee. But she did not die instantly. Not like the others had. Not like the monsters. Behind me, I heard a laugh. Not an angry cold one, a laugh of sheer delight. No¡! Snaping my divine eyes on as fast as I could, I saw the girl¡¯s mana. Not suffusing her whole being from a central crystal like a monster. No, her mana matched the human circulatory system and was incredibly similar in color to my own.
¡°Well, have you checked yet? That is the real one, and you just killed her! Are you not thankful for the gift your goddess gave you now?¡± Stop.
¡°She recognized you, you know? At the very end.¡± Stop!
¡°If you had not used your skill, if you had hesitated, could you have stopped your blade? Then again, you would have been captured by now. But then, she would still be alive.¡± Remorse, off. I didn¡¯t want to feel anymore.
¡°You should have done as you were told. I might have given her back to you then, but it is far too late for that now, so fall! Fall into despair and rise up reborn as the tenth! It has been prophesied!¡±
Five¡¯s monologue was aggravating. I wasn¡¯t angry. I doubted I would ever be angry again. I didn¡¯t want to feel ever again. Love, off.
¡°Warning: Full Activation of [Cold Hearted] has serious risks. Please confirm action.¡±
Love. Off. So I would stop feeling. That was, after all, step one.
¡°Confirmed. [Cold Hearted] Full activation complete.¡±
As for step two¡
I looked up towards five. My face was devoid of emotion. A noise resounded in my head, like an annoying buzzing of something far away. {Oi, wh.. the fuck! ..no¡o don.. do ..at.} I tuned it out. Fixing my gaze on Five, I opened my mouth.
{Invoke Authority. Disconnect User}
My voice seemed to make the air itself tremble.
Valid Authority: {Divine Authority[Class Features]} Confirmed.
Target of Action [[Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas], Human[PB], 12y]
Disconnecting User Talents¡.Complete
Disconnecting User Skills¡.ERROR:[Unable to disconnect [Cold Hearted]¡.Complete
Disconnecting User Attributes¡.Complete
Warning: User Vessel is 4500% over its maximum mana capacity. Lifespan will be expended to maintain integrity.
What I had done was simple. It was so very simple. But it was probably something only I could do. The first law of magic states that mana could not be destroyed, only transferred from one vessel to another. It went on to state that the amount of mana in a system was always predictable and quantifiable.
The second law of magic stated that the cost of an effect was directly proportional to its strength and duration. Then, what was powering stats, skills, and talents? The answer was mana. I had noticed in Ang, back when I first got my Divine Eyes, that stronger people were brighter than weaker ones; Jacqueline was like a torch next to my own candle.
The other laws of magic were strange. They didn¡¯t deal with mana itself. They only talked about spells. Chanted ones specifically. Only the first two laws mentioned mana irrespective of a spell. Why was that? It was a question I had been asking myself for some time now. I had finally arrived at the answer in Ris, when I first discovered my Authority extended to others besides myself. That was when I realized that the levels, classes, skills, and everything else were not just a part of the world. It was something that had been put in place and could be accessed and controlled.
But the system in question was inefficient. This could be seen easily with how much better Blood Magic was than other magic. When I was a child, I used Blood Magic to heat a bucket of water. Using the [Boil Water] spell had greatly tired me out though after I had leveled up several times. My own enhancements did far more for less than the enhancements made by invoking various buffing magic.
So, if the system was inefficient, how much mana was it wasting? The answer was a lot. I pulled up my status screen.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 27
Name/Age: Stahlia von Ris auf Drakas, 12
Gender: Female
Class/Level: ERROR
Species: Human (Pureblood)
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Small Seed [LOCKED]
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
- Strength D: ERROR
- Endurance B: ERROR
- Dexterity SS: ERROR
- Intelligence S: ERROR
- Charisma B: ERROR
- Mana S: 11,835/263
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: ERROR
Skills 5/5: ERROR
My basic information and mana seemed to be fine, but everything else was displaying an error. Still, this was somewhat expected. This had been intended to be my last resort. My final card to play when I was backed into a corner with no other choices. It hadn¡¯t been something I was going to use here. Until I killed her. There was no point in continuing now, I had failed.
But I would at least be sure to take him down with me. That monster, no, that demon. Emotions were funny, with how difficult they made things, how they got in the way. With how I was now, I could see all the things I had been doing wrong with my magic. It was easy.
I wrapped my body in a layer of mana and then gave it the Divine Aspect. I was right, he does glow like a sun. Looking at five now, I could see how bright he was. The current me was able to see his mana clearly. Though that made sense, since I was now outside the scope of the world and he was presumably using a facet of that system to hide his own power.
Looking down at myself, I saw that I was brighter. Idly, I wondered at how much brighter I was. Pumping some more mana into my brain, I was able to accelerate my thought processes even further. Four times, no, five times brighter. I had roughly five times more mana in my current state than the Hell King before me. Crushing him would be a piece of cake.
I glared up at him. I wasn¡¯t angry, but the glare would serve to let him know of my intentions. Extending an arm, I pointed a finger toward his chest. Speaking at this point was redundant. I was no longer bogged down with useless processes, and could freely manipulate my core, my essence. Still, I was most familiar with Ice. I willed the count to freeze.
He stiffened like a board, sweat was visibly dripping from his brow. He glared at me with a look of pure hatred and animosity, ¡°[######## ## #####]¡± Without [Eidetic Memory] running, I wasn¡¯t able to translate the words he spoke. It didn¡¯t matter, the effect of them was plainly visible. His body was engulfed entirely in black flame.
It was a vain attempt to thwart my Ice. I simply added more mana. I could feel my limbs shredding, the mana circuits were complaining as they dissolved. None of that mattered. All that I needed to do was to freeze this creature. A Hell King would, invariably, return to the Nine Hells following their death. From there it was only a matter of time before they returned to the mortal coil.
But that was only if they died. Blood Magic, at its core, is magic of intention. What you will is what it does. You need only possess enough mana. I had known this fact since I was but a babe. The first time I used magic, I wanted to swat what I thought was a bug crawling on me. That will translated into physical enhancement. Since then, I had only gotten better.
As I was now, what if I were to will this cockroach be imprisoned forever rather than die? What if I did that while applying the Ice Element to my mana and spell? The answer was simple; he would be entombed for eternity in unmelting ice. It was only a matter of time until he ran out of mana, there was no way he would be able to best me.
I stood, surveying my handiwork. An ice sculpture in the shape of a burning man was resting on the stairway of the Claurence Estate. So long as it had mana it would never melt, and would repair any damage it suffered. Granted, that was not eternity, but the ice needed only to feed off the mana in the air.
My vision grew blurry and I swooned, but I forced myself to remain standing. I could not faint now, not when I still had something to do. Enhancing my legs and kinetic vision, I ran. Well, anyone who witnessed me would swear I teleported but that was beside the point. It took fifteen seconds to get from the Claurence Estate to the Francois.
I arrived at the scene of a battlefield and produced a sonic boom as my legs snapped. The shockwave of my arrival knocked aside several of the charmed knights, clearing a path to my target. Sitri stared at me, mouth agape, ¡°How, how did you!? WHAT!?¡±
Giving no answer, for I lacked the time, I simply moved up to her. My mangled legs were held together with a simple enchantment that prevented the bones from moving too much out of place, while what was basically telekinesis replaced my shredded muscles. Gripping the succubus by her head, I smiled. Somewhere deep within my frozen chest, this act made me happy. I hated myself for that; why should I be happy to take revenge on this cunt, and not the man that caused the death of my sister?
There was no time for me to fret though; I would soon be dead. Gripping her head harder, I stared into her eyes, {Invoke Authority, Lock Classes. Restrict Attrib-} I coughed blood and lost my grip on Sitri¡¯s head. Collapsing into a pile of broken flesh, I felt my spirit leave my body. So this is what death is like then. It¡¯s less painful than I remembered. It was too bad Sitri got away from me, but I had still locked her classes, so that would make her a lot weaker. Hopefully, enough for Ferdinand or someone to take down.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Wentee, Six Years Old, Third Month of 948
Sitting up in a panic, I clutched at my neck where¡ where my sister had stabbed me. That¡ That was my sister? Right? Memories were fuzzy and all jumbled up. Honestly, I didn¡¯t know what to think. Looking around, I saw lots of the me-copies. They were all frozen and messed up, it made me a bit sick to my stomach.
Turning around, I saw Stali standing next to Mr. Five with a massive grin on her face, ¡°Look Wentee! The witch is dead! The witch is dead!¡±
She started doing a strange dance in a circle around Mr. Five¡¯s body. I should feel sad, Mr. Five was always trying to do what¡¯s best for me¡ why do I feel¡ relieved¡? ¡°Congrats, Wentee.¡±
The voice made me spin around. Tracking to the source of it, I saw another me, though this one was still in one piece and not an ice statue. It laughed, ¡°Ha, no, I¡¯m not one of those copies. I¡¯m you. Just like Stali is you. I¡¯m here to say goodbye since you won¡¯t be needing me anymore.¡±
That was plainly confusing, Stali was me? She was me? Clearly, this girl was me, since she looked just like me. But Stali looked totally different. There was no way Stali and me were the same person. After all, Stali was my sister. Just like Stahlia. Wait, who¡¯s Stahlia?
¡°Stahlia is our real sister. Stali is just a fake.¡±
This new me was making me mad. I wanted to stab her, but without Mr. Five to give the order I wasn¡¯t allowed to stab people. All I could do was argue, ¡°No! Stali is my sister! I don¡¯t know Stahlia¡±
The me shrugged, ¡°Sure, whatever. Doesn¡¯t matter much; we¡¯re free now anyway and I won¡¯t be around much longer. Hopefully, the memories don¡¯t mess you up.¡±
As she spoke, she began to fade away as if she wasn¡¯t there to begin with. Just as she disappeared, I felt a sharp pain in my neck, like I was being cut open. It knocked me to the floor where I rolled around while screaming for relief.
After several minutes, that pain finally stopped, but just as I was able to sit up, a new pain assailed me as memories. Dozens of memories came flooding back all at once. Memories of me killing people. Memories of the dark place. Memories of my family I didn¡¯t know I had. Memories of my big sister Stahlia. The girl who killed me without killing me.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Rosial, Six Years Old, Third Month of 948
When I opened my eyes, I saw Stali sitting on my chest with a soft smile, ¡°So we remembered huh?¡±
Extra Chapter: Girls Day
Stahlia 10 Years Old, Fourth Month of 947
*CLAP!* ¡°So, now that Stahlia is here, we can officially begin!¡± Edith¡¯s excited words filled the room in which I was sitting with her and Sarala. What in the world¡? I had come over expecting a normal tea time, perhaps some sort of magic practice or something. Sarala, as usual looked a bit apprehensive, but also excited to see what Edith had in store for us. I, on the other hand, greatly disliked surprises.
¡°Edith¡¡± Catching Sarala¡¯s glancing glare, I amended my statement, ¡°Lady Edith, what are we planning?¡±
Edith gave me an incredibly pleasant, and incredibly fake, smile, ¡°Well I just thought, you have been in the capital for two months now, and all you have done is school and research! That¡¯s no good, think of how Lord Dominic feels.¡±
Yea, I could care less how he feels. Still, I would rather not upset you. ¡°¡What have you planned today?¡±
Smiling demurely, the girl in question explained today¡¯s itinerary, ¡°First, we shall be having tea as we usually do. Unlike normal, however, I have arranged for some imported products. It will be more of a tea tasting than a tea party. Later on, I have scheduled for my tailor to come in and take our measurements. I recently discovered several of my dresses were beginning to feel stiff across the chest, and thought it might be fun for us to all dress up and order clothes together!¡±
This sounds like it will be a massive pain. Fashion was just something I didn¡¯t get. Not that I didn¡¯t own an exorbitant amount of clothing. My mother had seen to it that I had enough dresses to rotate on a daily basis if I wanted to. Which I did not; if I had my way, my wardrobe would contain my school uniform, some casual-looking house wear, and something rugged for exploration. Perhaps also a work shirt for my alchemical endeavors.
I was certainly no fashionista. Since arriving in the capital, I had discovered that other girls in my social class tended to have a lot more than I did. Even after my mother was finished, seven dresses was a bit light when one per day per month was considered normal. The fact that my own clothes had already repeated was probably how Edith had figured out I didn¡¯t own much. Her setting this up was probably a tactful way for her to encourage me to get some more to wear; she knew I could afford it given her sources had definitely discovered the various formulas I had developed and sold.
¡°Well, if you think that sounds fun¡¡± My voice trailed off into uncertainty; I really was out of my depth here. Edith wasn¡¯t going to let that stand though, no way.
¡°Oh, I assure you it will be extremely fun.¡± Based on the way her gaze was studying me, I could tell she was already picturing me in a variety of different outfits. This is going to be a long day. The first order of business was the tea party. For better or worse, I had actually come to enjoy tea parties. It was fun to simply sip tea and chat with friends, as well as being calming after a long day of dealing with bullshit.
The imported tea was, in a word, incredible. Edith had managed to get us beverages from both the Northern Alliance as well as the Trade Confederacy. There was even a tea from the continent of Riodhas that was simply divine. As I sipped that one, I thought involuntarily of Sieg since that was the destination he had departed for after leaving Ris.
Adults may have discussed the tea¡¯s various flavors and qualities, and while I was somewhat interested in any potential medicinal uses it had, my two companions were not. Instead, our conversation seemed to revolve around things I considered mundane. Edith largely led the conversation, while Sarala seemed content to be a fringe non-participant. This meant that I was Edith¡¯s primary conversation partner.
Unfortunately, the talk seemed to revolve around things that a preteen girl would find fascinating. Boys, clothes, desserts, she even brought up a unicorn at one point. It was extremely uncomfortable for me, but I couldn¡¯t risk offending someone of Edith¡¯s stature, and Sarala was quite talented with Blue Magic. In short, I had no other choice but to grin and bear it.
Finally, Edith¡¯s maid leaned in to inform her mistress that the tailor had arrived with his entourage. That word was a bit scary since I had no idea why an entourage was something a clothier would need. My answer came quite quickly though when I saw the sheer volume of clothing samples that had been brought. There seemed to be hundreds of dresses, though that number was definitely and exaggeration.
There was an article in every conceivable color. Several different cuts and styles all combined on four large roller-mounted hanger racks. The man in question was introduced to me by Edith as one Ergi Monteiro. As soon as he had said his greeting, he spun on his heel and departed to converse with Edith¡¯s father or possibly the family¡¯s butler. He left us behind with three women who were introduced as seamstresses and his assistants. They were on hand to take our measurements and make small on-the-fly adjustments while we would actually be dressed by each of our maids. Sarala having been loaned the use of one of the Claurence¡¯s general maids.
Edith clapped her hands in excitement and imediatally began rifling through the clothing on display. Though the way she kept eyeing me every few moments went to show that she was most likely not looking for herself. Well, I may as well get it over with¡ I held out my arms for Jacqueline with a resigned expression on my face, and she went about removing the clothing that I had worn to the get-together. Left standing in only my panties and an itchy training bra, I felt exposed and a bit cold.
One of the seamstresses came over to me with a tape and began to hold it up and wrap it around my body. While my premature vital statistics were being exposed, I chanced a stealthy glance at my two friends. Edith was being dragged away from the clothing rack by her maid. In her hands she was clutching two dresses; a short pink thing and a longer red satin piece. Neither of them was particularly practical as both were positively covered in bows and lacy bits.
And those colors don¡¯t match her hair at all. I might not understand fashion, but I at least knew the basics of color theory, and neither of those offerings would look good against Edith¡¯s own lighter hair. Well, the pink one might, but it was a bit too frilly. Edith was at the age where she would start to look better with less¡ ¡°poofy¡± articles. On the other hand, I was still small enough to pull it off. In other words, I¡¯m going to be forced to wear both of those¡ yay¡
On the other hand, Sarala was holding out both of her arms awkwardly. She actually looked worse off than I felt. Then again, she always was a bit shy. Seeing her forlorn face cheered me up just a bit, as awful as that sounded, and I was able to put on a small smile of sympathy. When she noticed it, said smile was returned to me. This created a sort of feedback loop that left both of us giggling by the end. Well, this could certainly be a lot worse. At least I¡¯m with friends and not being dragged around by my mother.
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The measurements were eventually taken, and no sooner had they concluded, then Edith handed off the two pieces she had picked out to my seamstress, ¡°Here! Don¡¯t you think that Stahlia would look amazing in these?¡±
Of course, no commoner seamstress was going to tell the duke¡¯s daughter that she was mistaken. The woman accepted the clothes with a brilliant smile, ¡°My, you have good taste! I do believe that Lady Stahlia will look most lovely in either of these!¡± Those are both the kind of things that a little girl would wear¡ I¡¯m ten! Not six!
The woman disappeared behind a screen, but I could see her outline working on the dresses. To my surprise, Sarala approached the racks with an extremely serious expression. This was a bit confusing until Edith leaned into my ear and offered an explanation, ¡°See, Sarala knows that the best way to avoid becoming my doll is to make her own choices.¡±
The way her words were delivered was cheerful, but the message was clear; my participation in today¡¯s events was by no means optional. Forcing myself not to sigh, I approached the rack and began to rifle through it. Unfortunately, very little caught my eye. I could always pick out a few things at random, but that was very likely to be found out by Edith¡¯s keen intuition.
But nothing is catching my fancy¡ Before I could pick anything, my seamstress appeared from outside of her screen. She had done very fast work, but to my untrained eye it didn¡¯t look like a sloppy rush job. It actually looked better than some factory-made stuff from earth. I wonder what her sewing level is? It certainly had to be quite high.
The two articles were passed off to Jacqueline and I was led behind the screen. This was a bit confusing since I had undressed openly. It all made sense a moment later when I had finished putting on the first item and came back out. Edith squealed in delight and immediately called for me to spin around.
This is so stupid. I complied with the request in order to please my host and received another squeal in thanks. Well, if you like this one so much, you should like the next one even more. The pink dress had been my first choice, I considered it to be quite childish and wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible. Up next was the red one.
It had a hitched-up skirt, with several folds and bows, while the front of the chest had a lacy pattern over the front and even more bows running down the sleeves. One massive pile of fabric in the shape of a heart bow rested squarely on my lower back. While that description sounded odious, it still didn¡¯t hold a candle to the shear¡ frilliness of the pink one.
It took me a few minutes to get changed, and when I came out Edith gave me a rather large smile and applauded. There was no squealing though, something that was a bit upsetting. Unlike the previous reception, this one felt more like it was being done simply to be polite. This¡ I look good in this one too! It¡¯s a lot better than that childish pink thing!
In a bit of a huff, I turned around and went back behind the screen so that Jacqueline could undress me. When I came back, Sarala was gone behind her own screen. Edith was passing the time by perusing a rack with a discerning eye. Based on how serious she was now taking this, she was likely making a selection for herself. She picked out a few things, and passed them to the seamstress just as Sarala came out for her own fashion show.
She had picked a dress dyed a rich blue around the chest and sleeves, but one that paled into an icy blue-white by the time it reached the hem of the skirt. I had no idea how the gradient had been achieved with the available technology of this world, though I suspected magic was most likely involved. There was also a faint sparkle to the whole thing, as though it was covered in a thin layer of ice or snow.
Personally, I was left a bit speechless, but Edith filled in for the both of us, ¡°Ohmygods! That¡¯s so cute on you¡!¡±
After a moment, I nodded dumbly. There wasn¡¯t really anything for me to add to what Edith said. Sarala was plainly cute in that dress. The girl in question smiled nervously and nodded while performing a stiff curtsy. She then spun on her heel and went to change out of the dress as quickly as possible. Edith departed to change into one of her own dresses, as the seamstress had indicated it was ready.
While she did so, I went over to the rack Edith had been looking through when I came back. I had caught a flash of red while she was sliding around the hangers, and I was curious about it. Overall, this was the least frilly of the racks available, and the red I had seen was unique. Unlike the softer red of the dress I had just worn, this one was much deeper. It was a rich red, just a few shades lighter than blood. I thought it would contrast quite well with my dark hair and icy blue eyes.
While both of the other two girls were busy, I sneakily removed the item from the hanger and passed it along to the seamstress. Returning to my place, Sarala was there waiting for me. I was not a moment too soon, as Edith came out. She was wearing a black dress with a veil made of thin lace. Frankly, it looked a bit gaudy and overdone. Sarala giggled and clapped anyways as Edith did a spin with a hand on her hip. She¡¯s not taking this seriously then, probably trying to set me and Sarala more at ease¡ I clapped as well and paid her a complement, and her sarcastic ¡°Why thank you!¡± further confirmed my suspicions that she was merely acting.
The seamstress then came out from behind my curtain, the sight of which made Edith widen her eyes in surprise, though it was fleeting. Instead of returning to doff her own dress and try on the next, she indicated that I should do the one I had picked myself, ¡°Stahlia, why don¡¯t you go and try the one she just finished?¡±
Nodding succinctly, I went behind the screen and had Jacqueline help me put it on. Looking in the mirror, I couldn¡¯t help but have my heart sink a little. The dress was much more adult than the two I had already tried, as though the skirt was folded, it lacked the overabundance of decoration. The top was low cut enough that if I actually had a chest then it would have a small amount of cleavage while still being quite modest. Rather than sleeves or straps, a small section of lace covered my shoulders, upper back, and neckline.
Lastly, the skirt was high enough that I could conceivably run and fight in this thing if I needed, but it was low enough to be deemed fashionable from what I knew. I actually kind of like this one as well¡ Simply put, I still lacked the appearance necessary to accompany this dress. In a few years, it would probably be dashing on me, but at the moment I was too young.
¡°¡Jacqueline, help me out of this thing. It will not work after all.¡± My voice quivered a bit as I held out my arms. But to my surprise, rather than following my command, Jacqueline adopted a thoughtful expression as she studied me. After a moment, she snapped her fingers and dug around in her bag. Removing a small cylinder, she produced what looked like a makeup brush. She then went to work on my face and neckline.
A few minutes later, looking in the mirror, I couldn¡¯t recognize that it was me. Sure, the visage that greeted me was still childish and the dress didn¡¯t completely fit right, but I had affected an aura of maturity that I would have thought impossible. Blinking a few times, I realized that the reflection was smiling. When I carefully touched my own lips, I was able to confirm that it was actually me who was making it do that.
¡°¡Really now?¡± Jacqueline gave me a soft bonk on the head and fixed the makeup that had been smeared by my touch. Then, she applied a thin coating of red lipstick. I had worn something similar a while ago, and hated it; my lips had felt gross. Now though, as I looked in the mirror, I couldn¡¯t help but feel like the vaguely sticky sensation was totally worth it.
When I stepped out for my third runway appearance, I was greeted by silence. Neither Edith nor Sarala had anything to say as they simply stared. After a moment, a rare genuine smile appeared on Edith¡¯s face, ¡°You look lovely.¡±
It was far from the high-pitched squeal that my first piece had elicited, but this one was so much sweeter. A feeling of happiness welled up in my chest, and for once I was actually glad to be wearing a dress. I think, I think I¡¯ll buy this one after all. It was the first time I had purchased clothing of my own volition, and I was filled with a sense of satisfaction as I watched Jacqueline place the order and hand over the money later that day. Why did she actually bring that much money with us¡? That was no small sum¡ A quick glance at Edith¡¯s smug face gave me my answer.
I was set up!
4-11 Flight of the Kitten
A White Void
The world was white, all-consuming, and infinite. Stretching out into the endless horizon as far as the eye could see, an endless expanse of nothing. Despite being made of the same material, it was odd that the floor and sky were distinct. By all accounts, the line between the two should not exist, but any entity with the capacity to perceive its surroundings would notice the point where the floor ended and the sky began. It was best not to consider such things, lest one lose their grip on reality.
Well, the vast realm was not entirely empty. There was a single occupant. A young girl with black hair that hung down to her waist. Her lack of clothes exposed skin that was a few shades darker than snow, and her pale blue eyes darted around confusedly. By her recollection, she should be dead. Her own life used to fuel a power utterly beyond her reach and station. Yet here she was.
Tentatively, the girl rose to her feet; the last time she saw her legs, they had been a twisted mess of torn and sundered flesh. But now they were intact. Once it was confirmed that she could stand, the girl fixed her gaze on the horizon of this realm and started walking. There was, after all, nothing better for her to do. She did not get far, or perhaps it was a great distance before the bleached void was once more disturbed.
A loud crack split the air asunder, causing the girl to whirl around and face what appeared for all intents and purposes to be the automatic sliding door of a convenience store. Granted the glass panes seemed to block sight, rather than serve as windows to what lay on the other side of the door. But at the same time, they were still see-through. The girl wisely put such a logical inconsistency out of her mind before it could cause any damage.
The door slid open, and a perfectly androgynous figure passed through the opening. The figure waved as they entered, calling out, ¡°Yo George! Looks like you died again huh? Man, you just aren¡¯t very lucky.¡±
The girl¡¯s curious stare instantly shifted to a more guarded expression. After all, that was not her name. Not anymore. The androgynous figure slowed and gave the girl a funny look, ¡°George¡? That is you right? Aww man, did I go to the wrong afterlife?¡± They pulled a small device from their pocket. After tapping at it for a few seconds, the androgynous figure looked up at the girl.
¡°Well this is certainly a surprise, you are actually George. Or I supposed Stahlia would be your name now¡¡± The girl¡¯s eyes flashed in sudden understanding at the figure¡¯s words.
¡°So I did die then, I was wondering what happened¡ Are you here to reincarnate me again?¡± Her voice was drab, and if her assertation were correct the androgynous figure may have questioned how she knew of reincarnation. But the girl¡¯s guess was not correct, that was not what the figure was here for.
The figure smiled and shook their head, ¡°No, that¡¯s not why I¡¯m here. Before that though, this is kind of awkward so¡¡±
The figure pointed the device in their hand at the girl and tapped a few icons on it. A beam of light emitted from the front and flew towards the girl where it then proceeded to wrap her in a soft glow. When the glow faded, the figure nodded to themselves, ¡°There, that¡¯s better.¡±
The girl looked down at herself to find that she was now covered by a simple white frock. It was a style of dress she had seen a few times two lives ago, such a thing was often worn by religious depictions of angels. Looking back up at the figure, the girl saw that they were now seated on a plush armchair. Where such a thing had come from she did not know, but at this point she thought it better not to question something so trifling.
Since there was a second chair that lacked an occupant facing the first in which the youth sat, the girl decided to seat herself, ¡°Thank you, for the clothes and the seat¡ Might I ask your name? Also, what did you mean earlier by this being surprising? What is this place exactly? Didn¡¯t I die?¡±
While she thought it might be rude, it turned out that this person was surprisingly easy for her to talk to, and the questions seemed to come out before she could stop herself. The figure seemed to take it in good humor.
¡°Right, you mortals do attach a lot of importance to things like names. You can call me Adroni if you want, my actual name would be a bit¡ incomprehensible. As far as things being surprising, I was actually expecting a dude. This is your astral body¡ kind of like your soul? It really shouldn¡¯t have already taken the appearance of Lady Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas.¡±
When the girl heard her name, she cringed slightly. That was odd, she thought. After all, she was actually a bit fond of her name. She certainly did not find it embarrassing, despite what one might suspect if they were informed regarding her circumstances. The figure nodded a few times to themselves, ¡°I see I see. So you managed to fully accept yourself. That¡¯s surprising, I didn¡¯t expect that to happen so soon, how very interesting.¡±
The girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the youthful figure, ¡°Who exactly are you?¡±
It was a fair question, this person seemed to know an awful lot about her, yet she had no idea who they were. The figure shrugged, ¡°I told you, you can call me Adroni. A new name for the new you. If it would help you understand what¡¯s going on though, George knew me as ¡®EvilGod¡¯.¡±
A look of anger flashed across the girl¡¯s face and she glared at the androgynous figure. She recognized that name, it was the one responsible for putting her in the situation she was in. Except¡ it really wasn¡¯t. Thinking over her life, sure there was a lot of bad. But there was a lot of good mixed in as well. Most of the worst stuff was in some way a result of her own actions. Her facial expression gradually softened as she considered everything that had happened to her.
The androgynous figure grinned, ¡°How forgiving of you, have to say I wasn¡¯t expecting that from the person who used to fly into a rage at the very mention of the gods.¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t forgiven you.¡± The girl snapped at the figure, after all this was the person that had, more or less gotten her killed the first time. But she had to admit, that all things considered, her second life had been far more entertaining than her first, ¡°But I didn¡¯t exactly read the fine print either, so I kind of agreed to what you did.¡±
An awkward silence reigned for a length of time. The androgynous figure was content to sit idly, while the girl did not want to accidentally cross a line she did not know existed. Reincarnation was one thing, but it was a distinct possibility that this figure could do far worse to her if they were upset or angered. After some time, the androgynous figure broke the silence, ¡°To answer your other questions¡ This place, it¡¯s sort of like a buffer. An overflow region if you will. I set it up to prevent memory leaks from crashing the system. As far as what happened to you, yea you died. At least, your body is broken beyond any conceivable method of repair your allies have access to.¡±
It did not surprise the girl that the figure knew about her allies, after all the way it was talking about her so far indicated that it had been keeping an eye on things. It certainly would not be the first godly entity to do such a thing, and as irritated as that made her, she knew that arguing or expressing that frustration was an ill-advised course of action.
¡°Well, if that¡¯s the case, what happens now? I honestly don¡¯t know what all I agreed to when I accepted those terms.¡± The girl had a resigned expression on her face as she looked at the androgynous figure.
For their part, the figure flashed her a cocky grin, ¡°What? Aren¡¯t you curious about the people you left behind?¡±
The girl¡¯s face fell into a frown, ¡°A little¡ I guess Jacqueline is probably dead, Claire should be able to keep Felicity safe. Rupert will manage somehow, since I took down that asshole Five and clipped Sitri¡¯s wings. Edith and Sarala will manage, Sana¡ well I guess you know more about her than I do, huh?¡±
¡°I sort of lost myself when Rosial died¡ when I killed her. So whatever happens now, I guess I deserve it.¡± If her self-deprecating tone was anything to go by, it would seem that the girl believed that she was not going anywhere pleasant.
The figure¡¯s face showed a playful smirk, ¡°Are you sure about any of that? No offense, but you weren¡¯t exactly around to see¡ I could show you if you want.¡±
The girl¡¯s eyes narrowed and she fixed her gaze on the youth¡¯s face. Leaning forward she spoke in a stern tone, but she could not hide the mild spark of hope completely, ¡°What would it cost me.¡±
The androgynous figure¡¯s smirk morphed into a blatantly malicious deep smile, ¡°Nothing much, just consider it a thank you gift for being so interesting. Who would have expected you to go and disconnect yourself from the system like that? Not I.¡±
The girl sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, ¡°So you want something; nothing much isn¡¯t nothing. Of course, you won¡¯t tell me until after I agree¡¡± She opened her eyes, ¡°Fine. Show me what my friends are doing.¡±
The figure¡¯s grin widened, and they set the small box down on a table that appeared between the two chairs. Now that she could see it properly, the girl recognized that the box was actually a smartphone. Though, given everything else in this space, she knew that there was no point in questioning this. Even if she was inclined to question the cellphone, the figure had first contacted her via a live stream chat anyways.
Several beams of light fired out of where the camera would have been, and drew a picture in the air. The girl recognized the person being depicted in the picture; it was a young catkin named Felicity. She was running down a street in the noble quarter of the city. After a moment, the youth snapped his fingers, and the girl found herself seemingly sucked into the image.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Felicity & Claire, Six Years Old, Third Month of 948.
¡°GET AWAY FROM ME! I ORDER YOU!¡±
The force of Stahlia Neechan¡¯s voice struck us just as we were picking ourselves up off the ground. The impact knocked Felicity out, though Claire Oneechan was able to maintain her presence. That didn¡¯t mean she wasn¡¯t affected though, the magic Stahlia Neechan had used implanted a strong compulsion to leave her presence immediately, ¡°Damnit Stahlia! You better pull through this, you hear!?¡±
With that said, Claire began piloting our body away from the immediate area. Out into the hallway, it was a good thing that the stinky girl had already gone. Down around a corner, making our way for the main entrance. We ran headfirst into Jacqueline Oneesama, looking up in confusion and surprise, Claire Oneechan made a snap decision. With Felicity still confused and delirious following the impact of Stahlia Neechan¡¯s magic, there wasn¡¯t much point in discussing things.
¡°Jacqueline! You have to help her!¡± It would be obvious to all three parties who ¡°her¡± was, given the context. Jacqueline¡¯s eyes flashed in understanding, ¡°I will. Go.¡±
Claire Oneechan nodded curtly and then continued our mad spring away from the big house. It wasn¡¯t clear where we should go, but it was obvious that we had to get away from here¡ though Felicity was loathe to leave Stahlia Neechan alone like that. Coming up to the entrance, we froze. Sniffing the air a pungent odor threatened to overwhelm our senses. It wasn¡¯t clear who this smell was coming from, but it was the most revolting thing Felicity had ever had the misfortune of smelling.
It was so unpleasant, that it snapped her out of her delirious state and even gave her the strength of will to eject Claire Oneechan from control over their body. Clamping her hands over her sensitive nose, Felicity tried in vain to block out the pungent aroma. {Blegh! It¡¯s like old fish, blood, and poo all at once!}
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
[Well, that¡¯s a¡ colorful way of putting it. Are you sure those are the comparisons you want to make though?] Claire Oneechan¡¯s mind-voice was in full agreement with Felicity regarding how revolting the smell was, but she had her own thoughts on what to compare it to. [To me, it smells like rotten chicken, sulfur, and vomit¡ Either way, we need to get away, and I think we should avoid whatever it is that¡¯s making that smell.]
Felicity was in full agreement with her thought-sister. The two of them also realized without discussing it, that whatever this was, the smell was similar to Dominic¡¯s. Though, much more intense. Though Felicity wanted to go back to Stahlia Neechan, the magic was forcing her away. Something that Claire Oneechan had realized, and was why she did not try and forcibly take control again. After all, Stahlia had invoked the contract that bound Felicity¡¯s soul.
[Though, there was something more¡ something else layered onto her words. After all, they affected me as well, and the slave contract doesn¡¯t hold my soul like it does yours.] Felicity couldn¡¯t really follow what Claire Oneechan was saying, not without her sharing some memories or conveying her meaning directly. But that would take time and focus, so for now Felicity just made sure to remember Claire Oneechan¡¯s words. After all, she had learned to trust her thought-sister when she spoke like this.
We managed to get out of the big house without running into anyone, something that Felicity was happy about. But for some reason, the lack of anyone made Claire Oneechan suspicious. Still, we were out, and that was the most important thing right now. {Felicity doesn¡¯t care about the guards. Will Stahlia Neechan be ok?}
[That girl is a lot tougher than she has any right to be, she¡¯ll pull through, somehow.] Felicity huffed, but Claire Oneechan had a point. Stahlia Neechan had been through a lot, and always managed to pull through in the end. Though Felicity had a sort of suspicion that this time was different somehow. Even though Claire Oneechan assured her everything would be fine, there was an inkling that something bad would happen.
A feeling that was quickly punctuated by an explosive pressure from the big house. The force of whatever was happening knocked Felicity on her bum. She tried to sit up but found that the pressure wave had not passed. Rather, it seemed like it was only growing in intensity. We were effectively pinned. [Felicity! We need to move¡ I can¡¯t¡!]
{Felicity can¡¯t move! Claire Oneechan, what¡?}
Felicity¡¯s thought trailed off. Something felt wrong. Something was missing, she felt empty, like there was a piece of her missing. Like she had misplaced something extremely important to her. {¡Felicity, we need to go. Now.}
Saying that was all well and good, but Felicity still wasn¡¯t able to move very well. She could sort of twitch her arms and legs a bit, but that was it. Suddenly, another blast assailed us, this one was rather loud and made our ears ring. Right after, the force that was holding her in place vanished, and Felicity was able to get up and move. Taking Claire¡¯s advice, she picked a direction and ran. Claire was being strangely quiet the whole time, which was suspicious, but Felicity knew better than to ask questions right now.
As Claire Oneechan and Stahlia Neechan were so fond of reminding her, curiosity killed the catgirl. As it turned out, the direction Felicity had run was towards the outer wall that led from the Noble Quarter into the Upper City. Being a beastkin slave, it was unlikely that she would be able to keep going in this direction without being caught. {What should we do Claire Oneechan?}
After several moments of silence, Claire responded. [Felicity, listen carefully. Do you remember the sneaking stuff you learned from watching Stahlia and Jacqueline?]
{Felicity remembers, why?}
[Ok, wait for a carriage to come, and then sneak under it. If we¡¯re lucky, news of what¡¯s happening won¡¯t have spread this far yet.]
{But Stahlia Neechan told us not to, so we can¡¯t.}
[¡I think you will be able to¡]
Claire Oneechan¡¯s words didn¡¯t make sense to Felicity, but the way she spoke was very serious, so Felicity would trust her. Luckily, a noble¡¯s carriage came by soon enough, and Felicity was indeed able to sneak underneath it while waiting for the guards to be looking the other way. It made her arms and legs hurt, but she was able to hold on until the carriage had gotten out of sight of the gate.
Dropping onto the street with a groan, we let the carriage pass over us with the driver none the wiser. Then we picked ourselves up and kept moving. Claire Oneechan seemed to think it was a good idea to get out of the city completely, so Felicity tried to move towards the gate to the Lower City. She didn¡¯t know the way, but Claire Oneechan was adamant that if we moved downhill we would find the wall eventually.
It turned out that Claire Oneechan was correct, and Felicity was able to get to the wall as the sun was setting. She was very tired, but Claire Oneechan was adamant that we should get to the Lower City before stopping to rest. Thankfully, we were able to pull a similar trick with a merchant¡¯s cart before the gate locked for the night. Utterly exhausted, Felicity made her way into an alleyway and collapsed on a pile of refuse.
Normally, Claire Oneechan would scold her for doing something like this, but her thought-sister was strangely quiet. {Claire Oneechan¡ why are we running so far¡? Won¡¯t it be hard for Stahlia Neechan to find us again¡?}
[¡Yes, that will be the case, but you let me worry about that, for now you need to sleep. Our body is exhausted.] Claire Oneechan then proceeded to feed Felicity a happy memory about a woman living with a dragon for a maid.
The next morning, the streets were abuzz with whispers of armed conflict breaking out in the Noble Quarter. Nobody was sure exactly what had happened, but Felicity felt like Claire Oneechan knew more than she was telling. There were even some people who used scary words like ¡°rebellion¡± and ¡°coup d¡¯¨¦tat¡±, neither of which Claire Oneechan was willing to explain. This was extremely frustrating, but after being promised an explanation after they got out of the city, Felicity agreed to keep moving.
It took most of the day for us to cross the city and arrive at the wall separating the Lower City from the Slums. This was because, as a beastkin, Felicity had to be very careful not to be spotted, otherwise we would be detained and questioned. The Noble Quarter and Upper City were also smaller and less populous than the Lower City, so the latter was actually far more difficult to navigate even if the quality of guards was lower.
Still, security was stricter on those going up the mountain than those going down in Drakas City, so getting past the final gate and out into the slum that surrounded the wall was fairly easy. From there, Felicity ran until we were a decently safe distance away from anyone. As safe as we could be in the slums, anyway. Felicity then collapsed into an exhausted heap. {Ok, Felicity made it¡ Claire Oneechan, what¡¯s happening?}
[I suppose I would have to tell you eventually¡ And I did promise. Felicity, that empty feeling? The one that feels like you lost something important? That¡¯s¡ Fuck, there isn¡¯t any easy way to say this. That hole, chances are it was caused by Geo- by Stahlia¡¯s contract being nullified¡ by her death.]
Felicity sat in silence. She didn¡¯t wholly understand what Claire Oneechan was saying at first, but the latter helpfully supplied a series of memories and directly fed context across the mental link to help fill in the gaps. So Felicity was able to realize that something had happened and that Stahlia Neechan was probably dead. Felicity also realized that Claire Oneechan had realized something like this was probably what had happened right from the very beginning, when that hole first appeared.
Felicity did not react to the news in the manner Claire had been expecting. Indeed, Claire had expected that Felicity would scream and cry, possibly blame Claire for making them run away, even if that had been Stahlia¡¯s order. No, the way Felicity reacted was arguably worse. She retreated so deep within herself, that Claire could barely hear her thoughts anymore.
Not that Claire didn¡¯t understand where the girl was coming from; she herself was fairly upset about how things had turned out. But she had the benefit of an adult mind to cope. For all her advanced behavior and unique circumstances, Felicity was still a child. A child that was tentatively alone, in an abandoned building, in the middle of a slum. It was a situation that could not be allowed to persist. Tentatively, Claire reached out her consciousness and took control of our body.
Picking us up, she moved to a more sheltered area of the rundown shack and seated us down with our back against a wall.
{Claire Neechan¡ can you help me sleep?}
It had been a few hours since Felicity retreated deep into our mind and walled herself off. To be honest, I was just happy that she had come back so soon. I had been expecting to have to look after us for a while. Then again, she had been through a lot in our short life, so perhaps this degree of resilience should be expected. But that request was troubling in its own way.
[No¡ I¡¯m sorry Felicity, but I won¡¯t do that. You can¡¯t run away from what¡¯s happening. We need to work together to survive¡ Don¡¯t you think Stahlia would be sad if we died? We owe it to her to keep going.] I felt dirty exploiting the girl like this, but I wasn¡¯t about to let her expire just because I didn¡¯t want to get my hands dirty.
{¡No, she would be sad.}
[Good. For now, let¡¯s sleep. In the morning we have work to do.]
{¡Ok¡}
It took a bit of time for Felicity to fall asleep without the assistance of Claire Oneechan¡¯s memories, but in the end, she was able to. While she slept, I made plans for tomorrow. There were some things that we would need to survive, but as a beastkin in the kingdom of Drakas, getting them would be hard. But that was only if we followed the law. We were technically already considered a criminal for being a slave without an active contract, so I had few moral conniptions about breaking other laws.
The next day, Felicity found herself lurking on a rooftop. She was using her vantage point to watch a particular man that Claire Oneechan had singled out earlier. Though she didn¡¯t know how watching this man would help her and Claire Oneechan to survive, she knew she should trust the voice in her head in this case. Even if being kept in the dark earlier was upsetting.
{Claire Oneechan, how will this help Felicity?}
[Don¡¯t worry about it. Just watch¡ Ah, perfect!]
Felicity watched as the man bumped into another pedestrian. Just as they made contact, Felicity¡¯s eyes and ears twitched oddly. They itched a bit like they hadn¡¯t been used in a very long time. Felicity distinctly heard the two men shouting at each other, though her ears were nowhere near as sensitive as her nose so she couldn¡¯t make out exactly what was being said. But it was certain that she heard it, rather than simply knowing what she heard. Then the sensation vanished.
[Alright, that should have done it¡ Do you feel anything different?]
{Different¡?}
[Good. I was worried about that, but we need the money¡ Now we need to spend some time training up the new talent to a degree where it¡¯s usable.]
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
A White Void
The girl felt a sensation of vertigo as, for lack of a better word, she ¡°fell¡± out of the catgirl¡¯s body. With a gasp, she jerked upright and looked around. After confirming her surroundings, she glared at the androgynous figure, ¡°What was that?¡±
The figure shrugged, ¡°I offered to show you what your acquaintances were up to, that was Felicity and Claire.¡±
The girl spat back angrily, ¡°I know who it was! I meant the part about sticking me in her head!¡± After a moment¡¯s pause, her shoulders sagged, ¡°¡I¡¯m glad, Claire will be able to keep her safe for me.¡±
The figure stretched their shoulders, causing a satisfying string of popping noises to echo across the empty expanse, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so sure.¡±
¡°¡What do you mean?¡±
¡°Well, you saw the ending. Claire allowed Felicity to use that dangerous skill of hers¡ What do you think will happen, now that her connection to your divinity has been severed?¡± The girl¡¯s face adopted a look of horror even as the androgynous figure¡¯s creepy smile widened.
The girl¡¯s voice was small, but seemingly carried across the void with ease, ¡°¡How long until¡ How long does she have?¡±
The androgynous figure pursed their lips nonchalantly, ¡°Hard to say, and it would be no fun if I told you. Suffice to say though, you were the main reason the skill wasn¡¯t progressing. Sure, Claire helped with that sensory trick, a really cool exploit you figured out by the way, but that wouldn¡¯t have been enough to stop the progress without your [Champion of Winter] and soul connection.¡±
The girl flopped back into her seat, a look of pained anguish on her face, ¡°¡First Jacqueline, then Rosial, now Felicity¡? Wasn¡¯t there anything I could have done?¡± Though her words were merely whispers, the androgynous figure heard them clearly. They clapped their hands, ¡°Well shall we proceed?¡±
The light show emitting from the phone on the table changed, now depicting a tall man that most people would recognize as the current crown prince, Rupert von Drakas. The girl¡¯s eyes narrowed and she held up her hand in a panicked effort to stave off the inevitable. It was for naught, as she soon found herself being sucked into the image.
4-12 Maneuvering
Rupert von Drakas, Nineteen Years Old, Third Month of 948
This audience was going nowhere. My elder brother the first prince had requested my presence at a most inopportune time, given that my forces were moving against Count Francois. If Antonio was not such an imbecile, I would have expected that this was premeditated. But my brother could not scheme nor plot, he was far too honest for his own good. Just like Percival was far too kind.
Too honest, too kind, too cold. The three princes of this kingdom all had our flaws, but mine was the least likely to cause issues in the future. It was a sentiment our father shared, as I was now the crown prince. Successfully usurping my elder siblings, my name was sure to go down in history alongside the few others who had managed that feat. Not that I cared how history would remember me. I should expect I will be known as a bloodthirsty tyrant, given what is to come.
For a moment, I thought of my young bride-to-be. Cursed as she was to share my fate. I could only imagine what the historians might call us. Of course I was not alone with my brother. Not that I feared him, but it simply was not a risk worth taking. Besides, I was not the only one he had requested an audience with. Our father was also present.
¡°Rise.¡±
As always, the strength of his voice was inspiring. Though as one who bore the name Drakas, the magic suffusing his words would not affect me. No, I was drawn to the resolve behind his words. My father had been king for nearly thirty years, his was a voice forged with much hardship and adversity. The voice of a king.
Together my brother and I stood. Save for our aides, the room was empty; not even the palace guards remained. There was no reason for them. My father was the strongest human in the kingdom by virtue of the magic granted to the royal family. Though my brother and I were immune to the effects of much of it, we were not able to go against our father directly. Idly, I considered how that was similar to the effect of a Hell King¡¯s ruler skill.
That was what made them such difficult opponents. After all, who would not feel anger at the sight of King of Wrath Satan? What man or even woman would not salivate at the sight of Asmodea¡¯s perfection? Everyone had a price, and Mammon had the wealth to make an offer that could not be refused. That was why the champions had the powers to go beyond the limits of a human, to shake off the shackles of a king through death and rebirth, boost the strength of their comrades, and reject their humanity altogether.
¡°Father, I must insist that you reconsider. Rupert has never shown an interest in politics, and naming him your successor so soon after Percival¡¯s death¡ such an act would only incite the nobility.¡± My brother wore a confident expression, and his words were fluid as ever. Against any normal person, his Charisma would win him the argument.
But our father was no normal person. He was the king of the largest kingdom on the continent, and by extension was shielded from the effects of Charisma. That was not to say that he would not be swayed. It simply meant that my brother would have to rely on logical argument and not his stats and skills. My father looked down at Antonio from atop his throne, ¡°You went to the trouble of arranging this audience, only to tell me that which I already know? You do not help your case.¡±
I felt my lips twist into a small grin and hurriedly squashed it. Though I lacked the capacity to feel joy or happiness, long years of pretending had ingrained certain habits into me; my subconscious recognized that I should be happy to see my brother¡¯s argument shut down. That manifested in a smile. It was an exceedingly unique problem to have, and one that I struggled with in nearly all circumstances. Except with her.
A phenomenon I first noticed five years ago in Ris, but something about Lady Stahlia suppressed those involuntary actions of mine. It was not something I understood, though if I had to guess I would say it had something to do with her being a kindred spirit in our curse. Though she had apparently managed to overcome her own skill and restore her humanity if Gustav¡¯s reports were accurate. That was even more interesting; the prince who had to act human, and the champion who had to act inhuman.
¡°But father, given the present conditions of the kingdom, surely you must see how unrest among the nobility would be problematic?¡± Not to be dissuaded, my brother continued to plead his case stoically and incessantly. If he kept going on like this, I might not even need to involve myself with this¡ farce.
¡°AND WHO¡¯S FAULT IS THAT!?¡± The shout from the throne took us both by surprise; father was never one to raise his voice in anger, and yet here he was.
¡°You, Antonio, sitting on your laurels and idly collecting your tributes and platitudes as if they were your birthright!?¡± My brother flinched at the rebuke, taking a few steps back to compose himself.
¡°Father, I-¡±
¡°SILENCE! You have the entire western region at your beck and call. The military arm of the kingdom is in your pocket. Yet I chose your brother over you. Do you not even see why?¡± Antonio faltered, at that. Our father¡¯s words had struck a nerve; my brother did indeed have the more militaristic nobles in his faction. But that would never be enough to win him this game.
He pulled himself up. Straightening his back and squaring his shoulders, he faced my father¡¯s rebuke head-on. It was actually a bit impressive, ¡°Father, our kingdom is a mighty power. I hold the loyalty of the strongest soldiers and the western ports. If I wanted to¡¡±
The temperature in the room seemed to drop, such was the rage and animosity radiating from my father. Granted, the temperature did not actually lower, and after a scant few seconds, the illusion passed, ¡°You would dare threaten rebellion?¡±
My brother faltered for a moment, ¡°N-no¡ I just mean that-¡±
¡°Then explain yourself. What do you mean, dear brother?¡± My voice cut in, and I gave my brother the widest smile I could muster, ¡°If you believe you could do the job better, then, by all means, be my guest.¡± Punctuating my interjection with a wave of my hand towards our father, I stepped off the carpet on which we had both been standing. Metaphorically clearing the way for my elder sibling.
Before he had a chance to respond to my maneuver, there came a knock at the door. This room was sealed from outside interference but was equipped with a crystalline magic tool. By feeding mana into its pair on the other side of the wards and barriers, one could cause it to change color. In this case, the color change was a vibrant red; that meant an incredibly urgent message had arrived. My brother shut his mouth and stood down to await our father¡¯s response.
The king nodded to his own aide, who then clapped his hands and spoke a keyword, [####### #######]. At that command, the wards around the room dimmed, and an audible *CLUNK* reverberated through the air. A moment later, the door was pushed open. The messenger was Henrake, the de facto head of the kingdom¡¯s military and the one in charge of the capital¡¯s security. If he was the one bearing the message, then there was only one thing it could pertain to.
The man knelt before the king and awaited permission to speak. Instead of granting it, the king turned to me, ¡°Rupert, tell us what you have orchestrated.¡±
I bowed my head, noting the look of realization on Henrake¡¯s and the expression of irritation on Antonio¡¯s faces, ¡°I believe this report is regarding a disturbance at the estate of Count Francois. As we speak, I have men provided by Duke Claurence moving to arrest the count and his family on charges of conspiracy, treason, and blasphemy.¡±
I had wanted to keep Duke Claurence¡¯s involvement in my plot a secret, especially to my brother. That was no longer necessary though, as my father¡¯s conduct at this audience had made it abundantly clear that his mind was resolutely made up regarding the succession. Only two things could change that now. The first was for my plans to fall apart, causing my father to change his mind. The second was what I was counting on.
After all, my brother was hopeless, but he was right; my appointment would fracture the nobility, though not quite in the way he was expecting, ¡°Men provided by Duke Claurence? What is he doing working with you!?¡±
Case in point; my brother¡¯s surprised outburst. I kept my calm as I elaborated, ¡°Simply put, I have unified both our late brother¡¯s supporters and the neutral faction under my banner. Three-quarters of the kingdom support my ascension.¡±
Antonio¡¯s remaining foundation crumbled before my eyes in real-time. I watched as his face flashed through a complicated pattern of emotions before finally settling on resignation, ¡°If you would excuse me¡¡±
¡°You are excused.¡± My father¡¯s dry tone caused my brother to grimace, but he did not protest further. Bowing to the king, then giving me a half nod, he spun on his heel and departed. It was not until after he had left, that Henrake cleared his throat.
My father addressed him calmly, ¡°If you have something to add, Lord Henrake, you may do so.¡±
Henrake stood up and then bowed respectfully, ¡°If it pleases your highnesses, the actions against the Francois Estate is but one item that is currently occurring; reports have come in of a massive magical discharge, the signature of which matches the magic of the royal family, around the vicinity of Duke Claurence¡¯s mansion.¡±
I felt my face twist into something approaching distress, ¡°Father, if you would excuse me, I believe I have something rather urgent to attend to.¡±
Though it was quite rude, I did not wait for my father to dismiss me from his presence before I turned and left the audience chamber. An action that was quite unusual for me. Then again, the linchpin of my plan was presently being threatened by the great enemy. If she falls here, everything will come undone. For better or worse, I had gambled everything on bringing Stahlia into my plans. Without her, the situation might be salvageable, but it would be far from ideal.
As was natural, my mind began to whirl as I attempted to figure out how her potential death would throw things awry. The most obvious setback would be the possibility of my duplicity towards the demon coming to light. In that case, I would not be able to do anything other than inform my brother as to the true nature of things and surrender myself. Attempting to keep the throne at that point would invariably doom the kingdom.
Even if Stahlia was able to protect my actions, I would still find myself in an awkward position; Duke Claurence would very likely fall, and the fact that I had acted against Count Francois would come to light. No, it doesn¡¯t matter if she protects my plot or not. Simply the fact that I moved against the count will be grounds for my suppression. Stahlia must be protected.
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As I arrived at that conclusion, I came upon Duke Claurence. He was doing a good job of hiding it, but I could tell that he was distressed about what was happening. Gustav had vanished from my side at some point, but he was smart; he would have been able to piece out from my mumblings that Stahlia needed our help and begun to move towards that end on my behalf.
¡°Come, Cecil. We need to get to the Academy¡¯s command center.¡± Duke Claurence nodded sharply and fell into step behind me. As we walked down the halls of the palace towards our destination, I felt a prickle on my neck. Tensing up ever so slightly, I gripped the hilt of my sword. Where is it¡?
¡°Your Highness!¡± Duke Claurence¡¯s shout caused me to spin around and draw my sword in one smooth motion. Stabbing forward, I pierced the forehead of a young woman wearing a servant¡¯s uniform. Her eyes glazed over, and even as we watched, her flesh began to twist and morph.
¡°Fuck! Cecil, be on guard!¡± Demonization. So Five has already discovered my scheme and seeks to silence me. Well, I suppose there is no point in hiding my cards anymore then. This was obviously one of the Shadows trained by Five, and implanted with one of his worms. No common assassin would spontaneously begin a transformation like this, nor would they have been able to infiltrate the palace.
Shutting my eyes, I called on the magic of the royal family. When I opened them, I beheld a world of light. It would only last a few seconds, and I would gradually go blind if I used it too much. But this was similar to Stahlia¡¯s own ability I had heard about. Based on her descriptions, I knew what to look for. My Eyes of The King soon spotted the absence of mana along the woman¡¯s spine. Without hesitating, I swiftly stabbed into it even as it spread itself out and attempted to encompass the woman¡¯s entire spinal cord.
The bubbling flesh and twisting limbs ceased, indicating that I had killed the demon worm, ¡°Cecil, I am going on ahead. Be wary of shadow agents, if you have to fight make sure to destroy their spine.¡± Gustav had hypothesized that the worms might be able to trigger demonization, but this was the first time I had been able to confirm it.
¡°What about your highness?¡± His voice held genuine concern for my wellbeing, which was admirable considering that his own family was at risk.
¡°I will be going on ahead.¡± Firmly gripping a medium-sized diamond that I always carried on my person, I spoke the Keyword, ¡°[############# ####!]¡±
A flash of light enveloped my vision. When it dimmed, my surroundings had completely changed. I was now standing in the center of Gustav¡¯s hidden office. The diamond, valued at some hundred thousand Drak, crumbled into worthless dust. Of course, that was the value without taking into account the lost enchantment it carried. Teleport Stones were exceedingly rare and getting my hands on this one had cost a small fortune.
This was the ¡°command center¡± we had set up for emergencies, and this definitely qualified as one. Approaching the map of the city that hung on the wall, I studied the various points of light that had appeared on it. These were each representative of my various assets, my personnel. The majority of them were around the Francois Estate, these would be the ones led by Ferdinand.
I had the utmost faith in his abilities, and I knew for certain that he was loyal. But the fact that four of my men have been killed since I first looked at this map¡ They were fighting a strong foe to be sure. Even as the former One, before Five purged the ranks¡ to think that you are struggling this much. I could only trust that he would prevail.
More concerning was Stahlia¡¯s own light. Thankfully, she had accepted the brooch with little complaint, and seemed to be wearing it consistently. If not, I would be unable to trace her on this map. What was concerning was the way her light had just flared up to be nearly as bright as the sun. The brooch worked by drawing on a small percentage of the wearer¡¯s mana, and transmitting it to the map.
As such, the fact that her light had just brightened to such an extent as to be blinding, would indicate that her mana capacity had just grown several times larger in less than a second. A moment later, I could only stare open-mouthed as the light traced a path from the Claurence estate to the Francois. It took less than twenty seconds for my fianc¨¦e to cover a distance of nearly seven kilometers.
Abruptly after arriving it dimmed dramatically, and I was left momentarily unable to see until my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room. Whatever she had done, she had been left with barely any mana at all. She was not dead; our contract was still intact as far as I could tell. That did not mean she was not dying though. From a table to my right, I selected the appropriate Link Stone. The range was limited to only a few tens of kilometers, but my target was easily within that scope.
{Ferdinand, what happened just now.}
[Ah, your highness. Her Highness Lady Stahlia just arrived and did something to the demon we were fighting. She then abruptly collapsed, and the demon fled.]
{You were fighting a demon? Considering you it must have been a fairly old one. What of Stahlia¡¯s condition.}
[The demon in question matches her highness¡¯ description of the Original Sin, Sitri. I have my men checking her highness¡¯ condition now¡ Lord Rupert, they tell me she has passed.]
{¡She has passed. No, that is not possible. Collect her body and bring it to the command center.}
Cutting off the connection, I placed the stone aside. Truly, I hated using the blasted things. It was impossible to convey nuance or tone, all you could transmit were basic words. I double-checked my contract with Stahlia and confirmed that it was indeed still active. She is not dead then, so what happened? What exactly did she do?
I picked up another stone and activated it.
{Gustav, forget the Claurence Estate. Link up with Ferdinand. He is bringing Stahlia¡¯s body to the command center.}
[¡Acknowledged, your highness.]
{Good, be mindful of Shadows on your way, it would seem that we have been completely exposed.}
[I imagine so, considering that I am staring at Count Francois himself, encased in ice¡ The Rosial girl is here as well, and Jacqueline. Should I bring them with me.]
So that¡¯s how it is then. Count Francois and Five were one and the same. While we moved against the count, he decided to move against Stahlia¡ We lost that gamble completely.
[Yes, bring them with you. I promised Stahlia to deliver her sister after all.]
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
A White Void
The girl was once again beset with a sensation of vertigo. Lurching upright, she found herself back in the infinite white space. Glaring animosity at the androgynous figure, ¡°You didn¡¯t have to do that so abruptly.¡± She snapped.
The figure shrugged, ¡°Well what would you prefer? I offered to show you your acquaintances and that¡¯s what I did.¡±
She sighed and sat back. Closing her eyes for a moment, she ruminated on what she had just witnessed. Rupert von Drakas was her fianc¨¦, and though she did not love him, she would be lying if she said she was completely apathetic. He was useful to her just as she was useful to him. There was that niggling thought though, stemming from what she had just born witness to.
¡°¡You said my contract with Felicity was severed.¡± The obvious question hung in the air; she and Felicity had lost their connection, and Felicity was now at risk from her own skill. If the demonization she had just seen while in the prince¡¯s mind was anything to go by, then it was a painful, traumatizing process. The girl shuddered to think that her adopted sister might have to undergo something like that.
The figure waved their hand dismissively, ¡°This is this and that is that.¡±
The girl raised her eyebrow, causing the androgynous entity to sigh, ¡°Hah¡ Is it truly that hard to figure out? Felicity was your slave. Rupert was your fianc¨¦. The two contracts involved are entirely different; sure, they both link your souls. But the latter is far more intimate. Think; you didn¡¯t get all tingly when you signed the slave contract, did you?¡±
Thinking back to that memory of a little over a year ago, the girl nodded. What the figure said was true; she had not thought about it before, but there was a distinct difference in how she felt between the two contracts. This caused her to recall her other two contracts, the one with the demon she had cursed, and the one with her teacher. Both of those had felt unique as well, though closer to the engagement contract than the enslavement.
As she arrived at this realization, the figure spread a smile across their face, ¡°See, you figured it out! Well done!¡± Their tone was truly jovial, and it made the girl¡¯s skin crawl.
¡°¡Mutually linking our souls is a deeper connection than forcing such a bond. I suppose that¡¯s pretty obvious huh.¡± Her voice was thin and self-deprecating. If she had known about the effect she had in suppressing Felicity¡¯s skill, she would have arranged a better contract. Then again, she had no inkling that she would die so suddenly until after she had already assured such a fate through her own actions.
In short, there was no use crying over spilled milk. Unless she found a way to go back, but she dismissed that thought nearly as soon as she had it. Invariably, returning would cost her something dear. The condition she left her body in was well beyond the means of White Magic or Alchemy to repair. It would take a miracle to restore, and if the girl had learned one thing from her dealings with the various gods, those always came at a price.
Still, if her connection to the mortal world through her fianc¨¦ was still there. It was possible that she could use that. Shutting her eyes, she focused inwardly. It was hard, as if there were several barriers in place, but after a moment, she was able to grab hold of a thin string of cold mana. The girl smirked to herself. Mana was the power of the soul, and that was all she was right now so of course she could use it.
Grasping hold of the thread, she shaped it into a wish. Using the Yellow Magic spell ¡°Distant Whisper¡± as a base, she formed the line of mana into a thought, a message. Then she threw it at the connection to Rupert that was welded onto her being. It took a few tries before she managed to break through. To be frank, it was actually incredibly painful; the connection was clearly not intended to be used this way.
¡°Holy shit! You actually went and did it!¡± The androgynous figure expressed pure delight; they had known what the girl was trying to do the moment she started, yet they had not moved to stop her. After all, it would be far more interesting if she managed to succeed, ¡°Hell, that¡¯s going to spice things up a bit. I can already see the tapestry re-weaving itself¡ You have talent. Here, a reward.¡±
The entity reached out and flicked the girl¡¯s forehead. She felt rough energy enter her from the point of contact. After the initial abrasion, it seemed as if the pain from her stunt had faded, ¡°¡What did you just do to me?¡±
The figure grinned, ¡°I patched the hole you tore in your soul by sending that message to Rupert. Wouldn¡¯t want you to drain away into entropy just yet, now would I?¡± The calmness with which he spoke once again caused a shiver to run down the girl¡¯s spine.
¡°Incidentally, what did you send? I didn¡¯t peek at the content, but whatever it was, you altered the fates of a lot of people.¡±
After a moment of hesitation, the girl opted to answer their question. It sounded like they could find out on their own if they really wanted to anyway, ¡°I told Rupert where to find Felicity, and asked him to guard her in my absence.¡±
The figure nodded, ¡°I see I see, yea that would make a big ripple; Claire won¡¯t be able to get her back to the Beastkin¡¯s homeland now, so then it would cause¡ Ah, forgive me. I get carried away by cause and effect far too easily.¡±
Snapping their fingers, the androgynous figure caused a kettle and pair of cups to appear, ¡°It will take me a few moments to set up the next dive, would you care for some refreshments?¡±
The girl took the offered cup and sipped idly at the tea. As disconcerting as it was, this window into her friends¡¯ and acquaintances¡¯ lives was comforting. Though the fact that according to Rupert she wasn¡¯t dead just yet was a bit unsettling, she was sure that was only because she was presently in the ¡°buffer¡± as the figure had called it. Once they had finished and she moved on, she would expire.
There was also the question of Ferdinand being an ex-shadow and a fairly high-ranked one at that. While curious, there was little she could do about that, so she opted not to think about it. She idly sipped her tea, until the figure nodded, ¡°Right, well we¡¯re all set! Ready?¡±
They smirked as they asked for her consent; from the figure¡¯s point of view, her consent was hardly a requirement. She had already agreed to give them a favor in return for being shown these glimpses. The phone thing whirled to life, and projected a shimmer of light into the air between the two of them. The picture drew itself into the air and the girl¡¯s eyes widened.
¡°No thank you! I don¡¯t want to go inside that head!¡± Her protestations fell on deaf ears, as the figure merely grinned, ¡°Too bad! See you in a few minutes!¡±
The girl felt herself be sucked into the drawing of a very familiar demonic girl. It would seem she was going to see how Sitri had felt to have her class and skills sealed away. The girl wasn¡¯t entirely sure if she hoped for it to be painful or not; after all, she was about to learn first-hand.
4-13 Charming
Sitri, 345 Years Old, Third Month of 948
¡°Oh come now Lord Dominic, don¡¯t be like that¡¡± My tone had just the right amount of whiny pout to tug at the boy¡¯s heartstrings. I had been working him over for a month now, under the guise of Irtis von Asmo. To be honest, the fact that he never figured me out was absolutely hilarious. My pseudonym was literally my own name backward after all, and Asmo was just short for my patron Asmodea.
But Dominic was a moron. To be completely honest, the fact that he had access to a demon''s abilities was ridiculous. It was insulting. Demons, particularly of the Lust and Pride families prided ourselves on our conniving and scheming. Then again, he was sired by the King of Wrath, so a bit of stupidity and blockheadedness is understandable¡ but really, how can someone possibly be this dense?
Clinging to his arm and making sure to ever so slightly push my chest into it, I cooed into his ear, ¡°You know what you have to do, just show her how strong you have gotten.¡±
¡°¡But she was able to beat me so easily last time.¡±
Ugh. This is what I hate about guys like you! Things would be so much easier if I could just charm him, but his half-demon blood made him extremely resistant to that.
¡°Come on Dominiiiccc¡¡± Batting my eyelashes, I gave a short pause, ¡°You know better than that! It was just her level was higher than yours! With the stuff your father gave you, you¡¯ll do fine!¡±
¡°You really think so?¡±
¡°I do!¡±
¡°Alright¡ If you say so, I¡¯ll try.¡± Fucking finally! The fact that I couldn¡¯t just go myself made this exceptionally difficult. For whatever reason, Satan seemed adamant that Dominic be involved in the plan. If all he wanted was for her to despair, then he should be able to manage things just fine without this oaf. Frankly, I saw the whole thing as a liability.
No matter, my job here is just about done. Now, I just have to support Dominic in removing the guards, and then deal with the forces being sent to arrest Count Francois. The fact that I had to deal with them was oddly infuriating. After all, if Satan got serious then all of this bullshit would be resolved. Not that I dared point that out, Asmodea wasn¡¯t here to protect me after all. Provisionally, Wrath wasn¡¯t supposed to hurt me, but he could get¡ unpredictable when he was angered.
¡°Should I go with you¡? I can help with the guards, that way you can save yourself for Lady Stahlia.¡±
Dominic looked thoughtful for a moment, ¡°Sure, that would be a big help¡ Do you know where she is then?¡±
¡°Ah¡ Don¡¯t get angry alright?¡± I waited for him to nod before continuing, ¡°She¡¯s probably at the Claurence Estate. The duke announced that they would shelter her after the knights got her back from her kidnappers¡¡±
I could feel Dominic¡¯s shoulders shaking with rage at my proclamation, but he did his best to suppress that. In a way, it was kind of cute, ¡°That¡ that makes sense. I can work with that.¡±
Oh? Better make sure you aren¡¯t going to go and fuck things up. ¡°¡What are you planning?¡±
Dominic grinned, ¡°Well, Stahlia¡¯s friends with Edith right? Edith is one of the girl¡¯s under my sway. Imagine how much it would mess her up if I had Edith be the one to set up a meeting for me?¡±
That¡¯s¡ that¡¯s actually pretty good. Even if she knows about the charm, being betrayed by her friend like that should really push her towards having a mental breakdown¡ if it wasn¡¯t for her skill.
¡°That¡¯s a great idea! Though what about Sarala? You know she¡¯s resistant to you.¡±
He nodded thoughtfully, ¡°That¡¯s true. You said she was a spirit right? Well if we seal her mana that should take care of herself.¡±
How can you be so self-assured!? ¡®Oh, seal a spirit¡¯s mana! It¡¯ll be easy!¡¯ You¡¯re damn lucky she¡¯s so young, otherwise that would never work. Not with your abilities anyway.
¡°Oh! I have just the thing for that!¡± I swiped my hand through the air next to me and cut a hole in space. Reaching into it, I pulled out a dagger made of mythril. It had similar mana sealing abilities to the bracelet that Satan had given to him during one of their many ¡°talks¡±. Granted, there was no way ordinary mythril would be able to hold a spirit at bay. Even one as weak as Sarala.
¡°Oh! A mana sealing dagger? That will do nicely.¡± But of course, Dominic was too self-assured to realize that. At this point, I didn¡¯t even have to hide my advanced magic and skills from the dense imbecile. It¡¯s amazing how far a little flattery will get you with some otherworlders. If only Stahlia was so easy, we wouldn¡¯t be having this issue in the first place.
¡°Yea! This should make that girl easy to deal with!¡±
Dominic planned things quickly, and the next evening I found myself sneaking into the Claurence Estate. Well, sneaking was probably the wrong word. I sort of just walked in. After all, Drakas was quite sexist and all of the high-level knights tended to be male. In theory, the naturally higher strength score made that make sense, but in practice it was easy to exploit.
¡°Oh, aren¡¯t you handsome?~¡± Well, maybe not easy. After all, not many ladies had such well-developed charm abilities as I did. Being one of Asmodea¡¯s original followers, my [Succubus Eye] had maxed out some time ago and derived an even stronger charm eye, [Geass Binding Gaze]. Though, the usage was a bit more limited than my basic racial skill. As far as I was aware, only the [Monarch of Lust] skill had stronger charming abilities.
All I had to do was flash a flirtatious smile and say something seductive and even the most stalwart knight would be like putty in my hands. Unless they were under powerful protection. In which case I could always just kill them. Very few people would then be able to stand up to me in that respect. A normal Succubus would be another story, but not one as old as me.
¡°Dominic! That¡¯s the last of the guards!~¡± Calling out in a cheery voice, the boy in question came around the corner sporting a grimace.
¡°Must you be so loud? Those two will hear you for sure.¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, come on and take care of Sarala.¡±
Dominic shrugged and pushed the door open. Heading into the room, I heard a scream and a shuffle. Then a grunt and the smell of a spirit¡¯s mana. Yea, I figured that room would be pretty sound-proofed. Nobles love their comfort after all. If not for the open door, I wouldn¡¯t have heard the sounds from inside.
¡°You guys, would you head to the Francois Estate? I¡¯ve got some friends there and some bad men are coming to hurt them¡¡± Making my eyes tear up and adopting a desperate expression worked wonders, and the charmed knights practically fell over each other to hurry out and help my supposed friends. Strictly speaking, I didn¡¯t have to talk like that, but being sweet would amplify the spell so it was worth it. Barely.
Sticking my head inside the room, I saw that Dominic had Edith stuffing Sarala out of sight. The cruelty was honestly breathtaking, making her best friend be the one to hide the evidence was¡ inspired. Too bad there¡¯s almost no way you survive this. I honestly couldn¡¯t see a scenario where Stahlia didn¡¯t beat this oaf. Even with how questionable the rest of his plan was, Five still seemed to be in agreement with me on that. After all, he was planning on moving in himself with that brat Ros¡ something.
¡°Dominic~ I¡¯ve got some business to take care of, will you be alright here?¡±
Dominic frowned, ¡°Actually, Stahlia has her own knights, do you think you could deal with them as well?¡±
¡°Ah! How could I forget that!? I should have enough time before my other engagement¡ Just for you though, ok?¡± I turned around and left the room. Slipping into a side passage, I settled in to wait. The trick had been to make Dominic think that dealing with the knights was his own idea. It would help with his confidence for what was about to happen.
A short while later, Edith¡¯s maid headed out and returned to deliver the cat. She departed again soon after, heading for the entryway. Stahlia would be arriving soon if the timing of everything was accurate. Sure enough, not even ten minutes later the star of the show headed down the hallway towards Edith¡¯s rooms. She was accompanied by four middle-aged male knights, and if Satan¡¯s report on them was accurate, they were hovering around level 60.
I watched as they followed Stahlia into the room, then about a second later they came back out, but left the door open. Even for me, charming four knights without them being able to sound off an alarm would be a tall order. It only worked once a day, but I did have a skill that would do the trick here. I confidently stepped out from my hiding place and revealed myself to the four men while activating my [Captivating Mirage].
I felt my magic drawing on the men¡¯s subconscious and influencing their minds. [Captivating Mirage] was an extremely potent piece of magic; drawing on a target¡¯s desires, it caused their perceptions to twist. In short, each of the four men now perceived me as the embodiment of their lustful desires. Combined with [Succubus Eye], I didn¡¯t need to say a word to bring them fully under my finger.
This is the difference between a real Demon of Lust and a damn half-breed! Presentation! Striking a pose to compliment my reference, I called out sweetly, ¡°Aallll dooonnneeee! These guys were kinda strong huh?¡±
Now that Stahlia knew she was screwed and help wasn¡¯t coming, it was time for me to leave. Poking my head inside the door, I saw Dominic holding a knife to the cat¡¯s throat while Stahlia cowered in front of him, ¡°Well then Domi, you good here? I¡¯ve got another date lined up for me and my new toys.¡±
Nodding confidently, Dominic grinned, ¡°Yea, I¡¯ll be fine Irtis, you can go deal with the group father said is coming to the manor.¡±
¡°Good, don¡¯t fuck up this time. You wouldn¡¯t want to make Nikki mad again, now would you?¡± Having said my piece, I departed. Do your best and die well, you shitty bastard. I would be lying if I said I was going to miss dealing with Dominic. By far this had been one of the most annoying assignments I had ever been given. I even got her to activate the skill ahead of schedule, but somehow Satan still blamed me for everything! Whatever. Once I clean up the loose ends I can leave this shitty country and go play with Asmodea.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
My knights were strong, but they were still human, it took a while for them to reach the manor. Well, we could have gone faster, but I didn¡¯t want to tire them out. After all, according to Wrath there would be a rather interesting playmate waiting at our destination. Not many humans managed to reach the pinnacle, so I was quite excited to meet this ¡°One¡± person.
Arriving on the scene, I saw that most of the knights I had already sent over had been incapacitated. Not killed, knocked out. Well, they clearly know that they¡¯ve been charmed. That was annoying; I was hoping to be able to do some psychological damage by appearing and revealing that their comrades had been controlled. Oh well, may as well make my entrance~
¡°Halloo!¡± Jumping into the middle of the group, I punched the first knight¡¯s head clean off. I was not planning on charming anyone except that ¡°One¡± person. Spinning about, I kicked another in the dick. Oh! Were those his testicles in his mouth just now? How exciting!
¡°You! Demon, cease this!¡±
¡°Eheh! Make me!~¡±
One spinning kick to the gut later, and I proved that a knight was a quantity evenly divisible by two. My four elite knights had moved in and were dueling some of the other forces. Unfortunately, the fighting seemed to be quite even. Granted, it took three of the opposing fighters to contend with one of my playthings, but it was still enough to lock them down.
¡°Haah¡ humans are so wea-¡±
I found myself looking up at the sky as I sailed through the air, a blindingly white pain radiating from my ribs. Time seemed to slow as I wrapped a mana barrier around my back to cushion my inevitable impact with the ground. Bouncing twice, I did a quick twist to land on my feet. At least one broken rib, so that would be this ¡°One¡± then.
Making a V sign with one hand, I put the other on my hip while pushing out my chest, ¡°Stuck the landing, how many points, coach?¡±
¡°Return our men to their senses and surrender. I would rather not harm such a lovely face.¡± His tone was incredibly strict and uncompromising. Ugh, one of these ones huh? Man, I hate this type!
¡°Sure thing! Hey Peter, come here real quick!¡±
One of the four elite knights came over at my call, ¡°Yes Katy? What can I do for you?¡±
I looked up at him and bat my eyelashes, ¡°That meanie broke my ribs! Can you believe it!? Won¡¯t you give me a kiss and make it better?¡±
The toy¡¯s face contorted with rage, and he glared at One, ¡°You¡¯ll pay for hurting my Katelin!¡±
Leaning over, he lifted his visor and puckered his lips. Seizing the opportunity, I employed my [Essence Absorption] and sucked up the man¡¯s life force. When I was finished, my mana had been restored, my ribs had healed, and my fatigue had been alleviated. Peter, on the other hand, was dead and shriveled up like a mummy.
¡°Ahhh, man, I really don¡¯t like feeding with those lips~ If you catch my drift...¡± I narrowed my eyes and dropped all pretenses of my cutesy fa?ade, ¡°This is a fucking war. I¡¯m a demon. You don¡¯t want to hurt my pretty face? Ha! Give me a fucking break and pull that stick out of your ass!¡±
One had closed his eyes and was quietly shaking with anger. Let¡¯s push him a bit further, should make things more entertaining. ¡°You know that name he called me? Katy? That was his childhood sweetheart. She died in a goblin raid twenty years ago! My charm made him think I was the love of his life finally come back!¡±
¡°Enough.¡±
Ignoring One, I continued, ¡°You¡¯re going to blame anyone, blame yourself. Tell you what, if you agree to take their places, I¡¯ll free the other three. Sound good? Of course, they¡¯ll never recover mentally once I remove the charm¡ I had to be a bit rough when I applied it, sorry about that!~¡±
One¡¯s quivering stopped and he exhaled his pent-up breath, ¡°Swear it on your master¡¯s name.¡±
¡°I swear on the name of the Second Seat, Queen of Lust Asmodea. Those three men have been mind fucked beyond repair!¡± Now, him and his men would feel despair and their morale would crumble. Or at least, that was what should have happened.
¡°Understood. Men! You heard the demon! Benji, Gerda, Jethro, Thank you for your service.¡± One had fixed his gaze on me. Rather than being filled with rage and hatred, his eyes held a calm indifference and a firm resolve. His commanding presence rallied his men, and together they stopped holding back against my pawns.
The three remaining toys were broken rather quickly, and before I knew it I was on my own. So these men were pretty damn elite themselves¡ No wonder they were able to incapacitate the first group. Well, it was a setback, but not a major one. All this meant was that I would have to take things seriously.
Wrapping myself up in mana, I ensured that it would not be so easy to break my ribs or otherwise injure me again. Then, I took a deep breath and jumped forward toward the three knights that had broken my Benji. Upon my arrival, I sank my fist into the chest of one and crushed his heart. Throwing a side-kick around, I enhanced my leg strength and kicked a chunk out of the side of another. The third I hit with a full blast of [Geass Binding Gaze]. The sheer force of my mana slamming into him liquified his ego and left him a gibbering wreck.
¡°Throw yourself at¡ that one.¡±
Picking a knight at random, I told my gibbering pet to go get itself killed and turned my attention to One. My little display had made it abundantly clear that he was the only one here who stood any chance of harming me.
¡°Oh coach, I¡¯ve been a bad girl~¡±
One simply rotated his shoulders and gripped the hilt of his sword, ¡°Well, then I will have to punish you. Gods give me strength.¡±
¡°What!?¡± I stared at him mouth agape as the light of a miracle descended from the heavens. Are you kidding? That qualified as a prayer!? There were only three real threats to a demon of my level. The first was a Champion channeling their Divine Element into their attacks. The Second was another demon of equal or greater strength. The third was a combatant of sufficient strength further blessed by a miracle.
That third thing was the rarest, but that¡¯s what I was looking at now. Well, shit just got real. Jumping back several meters, I adopted a defensive posture while I sized up my opponent. That isn¡¯t Shadow Blade Style, or Drakan Style¡ Who in the world is this guy! Unfortunately, I was not going to get an answer.
Suddenly, a massive force of magic power slammed into me and blew away my own mana barriers as if they were simply chaff. Turning to face the arrival of divine fury, I saw none other than Stahlia.
¡°How, how did you!? WHAT!?¡±
She did not deem my confusion worth an answer and simply stepped toward me. In an ironic reversal of our first encounter, I was utterly unable to follow her movements. Before I knew it, she had gripped my head in her hand. My eyes widened in fear, fear that she was about to dispatch me with a quick squeeze. I don¡¯t want to go back to the Nine Hells!
Maybe she read my mind. Maybe it didn¡¯t matter in the first place. Stahlia had something far more damning in mind than that.
{INVOKE AUTHORITY, LOCK CLASSES, RESTRICT ATTRIB-}
Stahlia¡¯s grip loosened, and her arm fell to her side. Her eyes adopted a glazed-over expression and a moment later she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. That didn¡¯t matter much though, the damage was already done. A pain that was far greater than anything I had ever felt wracked throughout my body. It was worse than that time I had my nervous system surgically removed and dipped in boiling oil.
It hurt so much that I couldn¡¯t cry out to express my pain. All I could think about was getting away. Somehow, I managed to run. I ran, and ran, and ran. The only thing I could think of was escaping the pain that was flaying my very soul.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
A White Void
The girl jolted upright screaming in agony, ¡°ARGH!!!¡±
The usual sensation of falling having been overridden with the pain of having tens of thousands, nay, millions of experience points and soul potential separated from her being. Not her own of course, but that of Sitri, the Fifth Sin of Lust. Original Sins were the first demonic followers of the Hell Kings. They were the oldest demons, and thus the ones with the greatest strength.
To have that strength sealed away would be traumatic, to say the least. Clutching at her chest, the girl began to calm down. Her lungs heaving for air as sweat soaked through the dress where it clung to her back. Ever so slowly, she began to check herself over, confirming that she was alive. Though the memory of pain was still fresh in her mind, and she could not help wincing as her raw nerves protested.
¡°W-why, why did you make me see that?¡± The girl¡¯s voice was shaky and halting as she asked the androgynous figure.
The figure shrugged, ¡°I thought it pertinent to demonstrate the consequences of your actions.¡±
The girl grimaced but fell silent as she finished catching her breath. Once her heart had slowed, she meekly asked a small favor, ¡°Could you, could you please fix my clothes. It feels gross.¡±
The figure shrugged, but by the time their shoulders had lowered, the girl¡¯s dress had been dried. Or perhaps replaced with a fresh one, she could not tell. Either way, it was no longer soaked in sweat.
¡°Thank you¡ Did she die? I can¡¯t imagine living after experiencing that.¡±
The androgynous one shut their eyes and thought for a moment, ¡°Well, I usually don¡¯t give out spoilers, but since you were so understanding, I¡¯ll tell you that she survived. Though, Sitri may have died¡ it¡¯s complicated.¡±
Their response caused the girl to raise an eyebrow, ¡°What do you mean? How would it be a spoiler? I¡¯m dead. I don¡¯t intend on sending Rupert any more messages either, and you could stop me if you wanted anyway.¡±
The figure cocked their head, ¡°You¡¯re dead? Who decided that?¡±
¡°Uh¡ the part where I wound up here, isn¡¯t this just a buffer zone before you send me on my way?¡±
The figure grinned at the confusion in her voice, ¡°Well, that is one possible outcome. You could always go back instead.¡±
The girl crossed her arms, ¡°Go back? No. There would be no point. Jacqueline and Rosial are dead. Rupert will take care of Felicity; he owes me that much for dealing with Five. No, I don¡¯t have any reason to buy my way back.¡±
¡°Buy your way back? I¡¯m hurt! Granted, it wouldn¡¯t be free, but it would hardly cost you much. Most of the fee has already been paid after all.¡±
The girl frowned, ¡°What do you mean, most of the fee has been paid?¡±
¡°Well, dear Rupert has already repaired your body, though it was quite expensive. All we have to do is pop your soul back in, and reconnect you to the system of course.¡±
His tone was assured, and the girl had no reason to doubt the boy¡¯s words, but that did not make them east to accept, ¡°Rupert repaired my body? How? Don¡¯t tell me he had something like a Goddess¡¯ Draught!?¡±
The figure shook their head, ¡°No, he had that apprentice priestess pray for a miracle, one which I granted. Of course, with your soul stuck here, your present state is that of lying in a coma¡ Though for you that shouldn¡¯t be too far outside the norm.¡±
Cackling a bit at their own joke, the figure quieted down, ¡°Though I feel a bit bad for Sana. Getting a miracle from a higher god is a bit taxing¡¡±
¡°What did you do!?¡± The girl leaped from her chair and lunged at the figure, but with a snap of their fingers, she found herself seated again. Though she tried to jump up once more she found herself unable, as though a large weight was pressing down, holding her in place.
¡°Calm yourself. Nothing permanent; she will simply find it harder to reach out to lesser gods for a few years is all. Still, for someone with nothing to return to, you sure seemed to care about Sana an awful lot¡ what about Edith and Sarala? Surely you miss them.¡±
She could tell that this figure was trying to tempt her. Sure, it might say that the price of going back had already been mostly paid, but the devil was in the details. Mostly was not completely, and there was no telling how wildly a god¡¯s definition of ¡°small¡± differed from her own. She already owed this figure two ¡°small¡± favors, and she did not want to make it a third.
¡°¡I have no desire to return.¡± That was a lie, she wanted to go back quite a bit now that she had thought about the people she still had. Jacqueline and Rosial may be dead, but Sana, Sarala, Edith, Rosin, her mother and father, Ruper, Gustav, the number of people she would be leaving behind was large.
The figure grinned, as it stood now it was apparent that the girl needed only one more push before she would be ready to negotiate, ¡°Then, shall we continue?¡±
Clapping their hands, the phone again lit up. Light shot into the air and formed a picture. As the image coalesced, the girl let out a gasp, ¡°Ahh¡ No¡ Anyone but her¡¡±
She fell back into her seat defeated, even as her mind and vision faded. Sucked into the picture that depicted Rosial von Ris, sitting at the foot of a bed in which lay the comatose body of her elder sister. In a bed by her side and wrapped in bandages from head to toe, the shattered body of a woman. With blonde hair and blue eyes, a torn maid uniform was folded and resting on her bedside table.
4-14 Survivor
Rosial, Six Years Old, Third Month of 948
Sitting there, staring at the sleeping face of Stahlia¡ my sister, and my killer. It was conflicting. My head was all confused, with everything that had happened and the two sets of memories overlapping each other. On one side of me, was the sister I had forgotten. On the other, the sister I had created. That didn¡¯t make much sense and was still confusing, but I had realized that Stali wasn¡¯t real.
Of course, when the person herself was insisting that I had created her, there wasn¡¯t much I could argue about. Though the wish that this was all some kind of game that Stali had come up with, that wasn¡¯t the case. The past three years showed that if the blurry memories were anything to go by. No matter what, I couldn¡¯t seem to remember an instance where anybody actually reacted to Stali other than me.
Then there were the other memories¡ from the other me. The memories showed me doing all the things that Stali had done. All the things and more. I hurt people. I hurt a lot of people, and I thought it was fun¡ No wonder Stahlia¡ No wonder my big sister decided to kill me. Granted, the kind old man insisted that wasn¡¯t true. He swore that my sister had been doing everything that she could to get me back.
But that wasn¡¯t possible. She hadn¡¯t hesitated at all. Even I had hesitated. Not me me, that me always hesitated and made Stali do things. The other me that I could remember. The me that giggled while playing ¡°hide the knife¡±. That me never hesitated to do her job, and even she had paused when she saw Stahlia. But our sister had cut us down without even batting an eye. It had been completely mechanical. Precise. Calculated to end the imminent threat with the least amount of movement and energy.
¡It was beautiful¡ Her form had been perfect, even the other other me was impressed. Though it made sense that she would be so good, considering who had probably taught her. That was the big sister in the bed at the far side of the room. She was good too; even Mr. Five had not been able to beat her, not completely. According to the nice man, she was like me once, but Stahlia had saved her.
That was the most confusing thing. My mind was all mixed up about Mr. Five. My feelings painted him as a strong figure who looked out for me. The other me, Stali, seemed to think he was a big meanie and had been using us to do a lot of bad things. The other other me didn¡¯t care about him, but she wasn¡¯t around anymore so her opinion shouldn¡¯t matter. Except for the way she gave me her whole life before she left, leaving my head all confused about who was who.
That was why Stali had stuck around. She told me that she could have left now, but she was going to stay because things were going to be hard for a while. Then the maid lady I sort of kind of remembered from before the darkness had coughed up blood. Stali said that we should help her, but one look showed that there was nothing we could do.
Then the nice old man showed up. He stood there looking over everything for a while, like he was talking to someone who wasn¡¯t there. Stali didn¡¯t trust him, she told me to be careful, but he came over slowly. Something about him was comforting in a way that I didn¡¯t understand.
¡°You must be Rosial¡ Are you ok?¡±
¡°Wentee don¡¯t talk to strangers!¡± Ok, Stali really didn¡¯t seem to like him.
¡°Would you let me see to the woman there? She¡¯ll die soon if I don¡¯t.¡±
Wordlessly stepping away from the maid lady, I watched as the man produced a small crystal bottle. The contents were a really strong get-better-juice if the color was anything to go by. With a grimace on his face, the man poured the contents of the bottle onto the hole in the lady¡¯s stomach. It stopped bleeding after a moment, and her breathing got better, but she wouldn¡¯t be out of danger just yet. The wound was way too deep for only get-better-juice to help with.
The man turned around and faced me. Getting down on his knees, he reached out and put his hands on my shoulder, ¡°Miss Rosial, I need to take this lady back with me¡ would you like to come along? I promise that you will be safe. You can even see your sister when we get where we are going.¡±
Just a look at Stali¡¯s face was enough to show what she thought of the offer, but that didn¡¯t matter.
¡°I can see Stahlia?¡±
¡°¡Yes, you can see Stahlia.¡±
¡°Then, I¡¯ll go.¡±
Once my mind was made up and I said what I had decided, Stali stopped protesting and started scouting the area around us for threats. The man picked the maid up carefully, making sure not to tear open her cut again. With one long look at Mr. Five, he turned away and began to move out. After a moment, Stali and I followed him.
When I had seen Stahlia again, she was in a terrible state. Frankly, it was impressive that she was even alive. Practically every bone in her body was broken and she was bleeding from every orifice. The fact that her heart was beating at all was a miracle. That had been conflicting. For some reason, the thought of her dying was terrifying to me. Even though memories of our past together were still fuzzy.
There was also anger, after all, Stahlia was the one who had killed me. But then again, I got better so did I really have the right to feel upset? Stali thought I did. A man claiming to be my older sister¡¯s fianc¨¦ came in suddenly and interrupted my confusion. He seemed extremely confused and perturbed by the sight of her, constantly muttering to himself about changes and adjustments.
After a little while of staring at her, he abruptly left, only to return with a girl Stahlia¡¯s age. She freaked out when she saw the state of things, but quickly calmed down and shut her eyes. I was really confused since it looked like she was just standing there with her hands pressed on Stahlia¡¯s forehead, but I knew better than to speak out of turn.
A few minutes of tense sweating later, and this girl opened her eyes while shaking her head in a panic.
¡°I¡ I can¡¯t reach anyone!¡±
The fear and distress in her voice was palpable.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who I pray to, no one is responding! Why!? Why won¡¯t they respond when it¡¯s their¡ Why won''t they respond!?¡±
The man seemed like he was about to say something, when all of a sudden the new girl¡¯s body seized up. Her eyes glassed over and she reached out to Stahlia mechanically. Placing her hand on Stahlia¡¯s brow again, she froze. Then, before my eyes, Stahlia¡¯s body seemed to rewind. All of her wounds closed and even the blood on the sheets flowed backward into her body. The next moment, the new girl collapsed into the arms of the nice man and everyone rushed from the room in a panic.
¡°Urkh¡¡±
The groan from the maid pulled me back to the present. Stali had gone away somewhere while I was remembering, but I could feel her nearby. Looking at the maid revealed a face filled with distress and pain. The nice man had said that it would take a long time for her to heal, and that he doubted she would fully recover. It was strange that they were helping her if that was the case. If she was really like me, then if she couldn¡¯t do her job anymore she should just be gotten rid of.
No, she should be helped, because that¡¯s the right thing to do.
But a broken tool has no use, fixing it is a waste!
Even if it has no value, just getting rid of someone is mean. That''s why Mr. Five is a bad man!
What about Stahlia? She killed you didn¡¯t she?
That doesn¡¯t matter! I¡¯m a good tool, I got better.
It does matter! If she was that mean then she isn¡¯t any better than Mr. Five!
Mr. Five isn¡¯t mean! He rescued you from the dark place¡
But if it wasn¡¯t for him, we wouldn¡¯t have been in the dark place at all, don¡¯t you remember?!
We all remember, that¡¯s the problem!
Why is that a problem? We used to be happy, once Stahlia wakes up, we can be happy again!
If Stahlia wakes up.
You!
Clutching at my hair and rearing back my head, I screamed out my frustrations.
¡°NO, ALL OF YOU GO AWAY! GO AWAY!¡±
¡°¡Rosial, what¡¯s wrong!?¡±
Ignoring the nice man, I fled from the room. The voices wouldn¡¯t stop taunting me. They wouldn¡¯t stop reminding me. They told me things would never be happy again, while some of them argued that things had never been happy in the first place. Running down the hallway, trying to find a place to hide from the voices, a place to escape.
¡°¡Wentee, are you ok?¡±
Looking up through teary eyes, there was Stali¡¯s face. She looked scared but not like me. Not scared of the voices.
¡°Wentee? What happened?¡±
¡°¡The voices were being mean. They told me all the bad stuff that happened¡¡±
Stali¡¯s face contorted into a compassionate gaze. Bending down, she dabbed at my tears.
¡°There there, everything¡¯s ok. This is why I said I wouldn¡¯t go yet, you know? You need to stay with me, I¡¯ll help you keep the voices away.¡±
¡°R-really? You¡¯ll help?¡±
Stali nodded, ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll do everything I can to help you.¡±
We sat together for a while, Stali just stroking my hair. Comforting me, ¡°You think you¡¯re ready to go back? That man might be worried about you.¡±
Her face showed that she still didn¡¯t care very much for the nice man, but she had a point. He was probably looking for me.
*Sniff* ¡°Yea, let¡¯s go back.¡±
Together, the two of us headed back towards the room where Stahlia and the maid were sleeping. When we got there, the nice man gave us a very stern warning not to go running around like that. He said it wasn¡¯t safe. That was kind of funny; with Stali around, I wasn¡¯t in any danger. Even some of the grown-up tools were duller than me. Though they could hit a lot harder.
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It was getting dark, and Stahlia didn¡¯t seem like she was going to wake up anytime soon, so the nice man took me to a place where there was a bed for me. Sleeping wasn¡¯t easy. Every time I closed my eyes, the voices would start to whisper to me. They told me if I went to sleep, I would wake up in the dark place again. That everything was all a dream and that I had never left there in the first place.
¡°¡Stali¡¡±
¡°What is it, Wentee?¡±
¡°Will you sleep with me? The voices won¡¯t stop¡¡±
She didn¡¯t answer, but a moment later the covers rustled, and a warm presence wrapped around me. It felt a lot bigger than it should be. Stali was nowhere near this big. I was the big sister. In a panic, I leaped from my bed and reached blindly for my weapon, only to remember that the nice man had taken it.
What kind of nice man would take away your weapons?
Yea! He wants to get you when you aren¡¯t looking!
Shutupshutupshutup SHUT UP!
Hahaha¡
The voices faded away in a burst of creepy laughter. Without the bedsheets, it was very cold. Shivering, I groped around for the warm thing from earlier. Not caring that it wasn¡¯t Stali. It would give me safety, and warmth, and keep the voices away. My hands closed around something soft and fluffy.
A whine carried over the air to my ears. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, a figure of a four-legged creature slowly took shape. It had a large beak and powerful hind legs. The bulk of its body was covered by thick feathers, and a pair of avian eyes glowed in the darkness.
I know this Stawri¡ Sorting through my foggy memories, to the time before the darkness. A memory once forgotten slowly came back to me, of a Stawri carrying me around on its back. It was smaller than this one and less intimidating, but there was no doubt in my mind that they were the same creature.
¡°¡Stil?¡±
The Stawri before me emitted a low hum from deep in its throat. In spite of myself, I was happy. Crawling back into the bed, the monster wrapped me up in its feathers. It was warm, soft, and most importantly, quiet. Before long, sleep took me. For the first time since the black space, I was able to dream a happy dream.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
A White Void
The girl slowly faded back to reality, or at least what passed for reality in this realm. Her eyes were still wet with the tears her body had cried while her mind was elsewhere. She sat in silence for some time, glazed over eyes focusing on nothing in particular. The androgynous youth waited patiently for her to recover. Time in this realm obeyed their whim, so they could afford a delay, if that¡¯s what it would take.
After some time had passed and the girl had somewhat recovered, she spoke. Her voice betrayed none of the grief and sadness she had just exhibited. Rather, it was firm. Firm, cold, and resolved.
¡°How?¡±
¡°How what?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t fuck with me. I killed her. I felt my blade pierce her heart¡ I watched her soul fade. How, then, did she come back?¡±
¡°What makes you certain she came back at all?¡±
The girl fixed the figure with a glare, ¡°Stil wouldn¡¯t comfort just anyone like that. Gustav wouldn¡¯t let just anyone into my room while I was in a coma. So many things. Not the least of which, you made a deal with me. You would show me the lives of those I left behind. You offered to make another, to send me back. Obviously you knew I would decide to go back after learning that I hadn¡¯t failed. So, stop. Fucking. With. ME!¡±
¡°¡Mind your tongue, I am technically a god. Think about it, you already know enough to figure it out.¡±
The girl crossed her arms and sat back in her chair, ¡°But I refuse. I¡¯m done dancing for you fucking big shot gods. Either obliterate me for my blasphemy or answer the god damned question!¡±
¡°Ha! Well said.¡± The figure smirked at the girl, her newfound stubbornness clearly entertaining to them, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll do you one better. Here.¡± The light being emitted from the phone changed, displaying a series of four menu entries in a style familiar to the girl. She skipped over the first one, as she was already very familiar with it, and read from the second onwards.
¡°Blessing of Spring: User has received the blessing of the Spring Pantheon. Rate at which Talents under the jurisdiction of this pantheon gain experience is doubled. Grants Immunity to the Water Element. Grants the Effect of the [Rapid Growth] Skill. Grants user access to the Divine Element. Secondary Effect: This Skill is hidden from normal appraisal effects.¡±
¡°Blessing of Summer: User has received the blessing of the Summer Pantheon. Rate at which Talents under the jurisdiction of this pantheon gain experience is doubled. Grants Immunity to the Fire Element. Grants the Effect of the [Limit Break] Skill. Grants user access to the Divine Element. Secondary Effect: This Skill is hidden from normal appraisal effects.¡±
¡°Blessing of Autumn: User has received the blessing of the Autumn Pantheon. Rate at which Talents under the jurisdiction of this pantheon gain experience is doubled. Grants Immunity to the Rot Element. Grants the effects of [Sleep of Rebirth] Skill. Grants user access to the Divine Element. Secondary Effect: This Skill is hidden from normal Appraisal effects.¡±
Finishing the last entry, the girl murmured quietly to herself, ¡°¡Autumn¡¯s champion is indisposed, was it?¡±
Her eyes flared up and she glared at the figure while radiating an aura of pure hatred, ¡°Rosial, is the Autumn Champion? [Sleep of Rebirth] was it? What, does it let her treat death as a power nap?¡±
¡°Well, not exactly, but you could think of it like that if you would like. Don¡¯t get mad at me, I¡¯m just the messenger, it was my sister that picked your sister for Autumn this round.¡±
The girl growled, but her anger somewhat cooled. After all, she knew that she needed this entity to send her back. Even after learning her sister was still alive, a part of her was still undecided about whether or not she should get involved again. After all, passing on would free her from all the forces clawing at her life. But if Rosial was to be dragged onto that chessboard, then she would do anything to help.
¡°¡What will it cost me. If you send me back, what will it cost?¡±
The figure grinned, ¡°Nothing much, only your allegiance.¡±
¡°My allegiance? Ah, ¡®The only way out is death¡¯ that¡¯s what Mortis said if I remember correctly. So you want me to willingly take the Blessing of Winter? Or one of the other ones? Fine. FINE! Just send me back.¡±
Crossing her arms, the girl screwed her eyes shut and grit her teeth. After a moment, she opened one eye only to discover she was still in the void of white. The figure sitting across from her was shaking their head in disappointment, ¡°No, you have something wrong. Why would I give you back to my sister? You¡¯ll be much more entertaining in the middle, with a foot in both camps. No, I¡¯ll have you become my Rule Breaker.¡±
¡°¡What do I have to do?¡±
¡°Entertain me, mostly. These endless games get boring after so many repetitions. Stir the pot as best you can."
"That''s it? What about those favors?"
"Ah, don''t worry about those. As long as you do your best and manage to keep being interesting, then we can call it even."
"Yea¡ no. I''m not going back with something like that hanging over my head." The girl crossed her arms defiantly, "Getting stuck under a god''s thumb is the last thing I plan on doing."
"You know, I''m doing my best to preserve your free will here right? I don''t want to spoil things by tying you down. I''m not like my siblings, I don''t intervene all that much¡ Though I must admit, I have been doing so more and more recently, you''re welcome, by the way."
"...Just give me a goal, something to pursue. As long as I know what you want from me."
The figure sighed in an over-exaggerated manner, "Hah¡ Fine, if you want to be controlled so badly, ruin my sibling''s plans. Break the rules, break the game. Thwart the gods and the kings as best you can, all the while squirming on the ground like a worm. Always one step, one mistake away from your own destruction."
The girl met their gaze calmly, "Alright. Was that so hard?"
"It takes half the fun out of it if you know what to do. One of the reasons watching you was so fun, was watching you work things out. Whatever, are you ready to go back?"
The girl paused and thought. She had a distinct impression that once she went back, answers would be a lot harder to come by. Then again, she couldn''t push her luck too much; this god might not be so accommodating if she asked for too many spoilers.
"...One last question?"
the figure tilted their head in acknowledgment, prompting the girl to ask.
"What was the plan? I don''t get it. Being in Sitri''s head, she didn''t seem to know either. What the hells was Five hoping to accomplish?"
"That question is more dangerous than you realize."
"So? Are you going to answer it or not?"
"I don''t think so. I''ll tell you who can though, watching you pursue that answer should prove a mild distraction. Next time you meet Five, ask him directly."
The girl''s eyes narrowed, "What. I beat him. I died, to seal him away. What do you mean, next time we meet?"
The figure grinned, a glint in their eye, "Spoilers."
In a rage, the girl leaped to her feet, the figure''s earlier restraints no longer holding her, "No! Fuck that! Tell me what the hell happened, what was the point!?"
"Sit."
With a shudder that seemed to shake the pseudo air of this realm, the figure''s voice crashed into the girl. With a groan, she fell back into her chair. Though she struggled, she found herself unable to resist the command given.
"Sending you back isn''t free. My brother would be livid; deals have to be made. He will demand his own pawn back. Does that satisfy you?"
The girl glared at the figure, radiating sheer hatred and animosity, "Fuck you. You talk big about wanting me to have my free will, then you issue a command I can''t refuse the moment my actions inconvenience you. You''re just like the rest. A hypocritical, bastard of a god."
A long moment of silence hung on the air, and the girl wondered if perhaps she had gone too far.
"Ha! Hahaha, you know what? You''re right. Imagine that? Tell you what. How would you like to make a deal? Not one of those Blood Magic contracts you mortals use. The original. A Divine Pact, between you and me."
Finding that she was once again able to move freely, the girl adopted a more comfortable position. She was still upset but now kept a more firm handle on her emotions. It was evident how little her righteous fury would accomplish.
"...Regarding what?"
The figure smiled and held out their hand. After staring at it for a full minute, considering her options, the girl reached out and grasped it with her own.
A synthetic voice resounded throughout the space, from everywhere and nowhere.
"Divine Pact[Oath of the Rule Breaker] Signed by user Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas"
"Tutorial Complete, Starting Gift Unlocked. Commencing Revival."
The white void faded to black, as the girl lost consciousness.
When the girl''s body had fully faded, the figure groaned and cracked their back. Stretching out, they sighed before manifesting a door and heading back into a room where a man and a woman greeted them.
"You sent her back?"
The figure glanced at the woman, "Yea. She''s mine now, by contract."
"I suppose I shall need to select a new piece then." She fixed the figure with a stern glare. After a moment, they sighed.
"Here, use this one." Pointing their cellphone at the ever-present globe, the figure caused a beam of light to streak towards the planet below, landing somewhere in the far east.
"...What about the strain on the System?"
"It''s fine. I''ll do something about it. Now, are you satisfied?"
The woman closed her eyes for a moment, "Hmm, this one isn''t very compatible with Winter¡ It''s fine though, I can use him for the Summer slot. I am satisfied."
The man cut into the conversation as the woman bowed out and returned to her previous activities.
"Aye, good fer ''er. What about me? Yer new toy broke mine. That ''sn''t fair to play favorites like this."
"Yea yea, cool it. I''ve already made some adjustments; your pet should be able to break out on his own. Just make sure he stays away from Stahlia, yea?"
The man grunted but seemed satisfied with that. He returned to glaring at the globe, occasionally tapping some part of it or other.
The androgynous figure sighed to themself. That whole engagement had taken a lot more out of them than they expected. Stahlia had been surprisingly astute in their dealings, normally a mortal would be completely unable to oppose their decree, yet she had resisted it twice.
Working with her was bound to be interesting at the very least, and who knew? She might even be able to beat the game. At the very least, this round was shaping up to be quite spicy indeed.
"I''m going out, adding that extra soul is bound to have damaged things. You two remember to follow the rules well I''m gone, yea?"
There was no response, but the androgynous figure knew that their siblings would play nice now. After all, the older sibling had joined the game. Cheating would not be tolerated.
4-15 Epilogue
Epilogue One: Revival
Stahlia, 948
My eyelids felt heavy as awareness slowly returned. There was a fog hanging over my whole mind, as though it had not been awake for some time. That made sense; I had probably spent the past several months in a coma after all.
Fuck! What the hell was I thinking!? ¡®Dying was my fault, this guy had nothing to do with it so taking it out on him would be pointless?¡¯ If it wasn¡¯t for that jerk I wouldn¡¯t be here to begin with!
Haaa¡ No, what¡¯s done is done. Hindsight is twenty-twenty and all that, but you can¡¯t change the past. What I need to do now, is figure out what my future holds.
The first major question was how much of my life span had been spent, as well as what else may have changed. That much was fairly easy to figure out, it only took one quick mental command to call up my status.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 115 (+40)
Name/Age: Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas, 16 (-4)
Gender: Female
Class/Level: ?????C???u?s???t?????o???m??? ?????C???l????a??s?????s?????,???? ?2???0????? ???|?? ?????C???u??s?????t???o???m?? ??C????l????a?s????s????,? ??3????? Experience: 33500/37000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant]) (NEW)
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Small Seed[Available]
Title: Revenant*[Swap Title] (NEW)
Ability Values:
- (-1) Strength E: 128
- (-1) Endurance C: 224
- (-1) Dexterity S: 415 +46
- (-1) Intelligence S: 480
- (-1) Charisma C: 224
- (-1) Mana A: 281
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: [Browse Talents] P?r?o?di?gy ?I?II*,? ?Ei?deti?c? ?Me?mo?ry? ?II?*, S?tea?lt?h? ?V,? Ch?a?r?m? Resi?stan?ce? I?I*?, Fle?x?i?b?le? ?I?I*?,? ||? Mo?n?ste?r ?Ha?ndli?ng ?I?II*?, ?D?a?g?g?er ?F?i?g?ht?i?ng ?V?*,? ?S?wo?rd ?F?ight?i?ng I?I?*?,? U?na?r?me?d Fight?i?ng? IV*?, Al?c?h?emy? Corre?c?ti?o?n? ?I?V?*, T?ea?chi?ng? II*,? ?M?a?na? ?E?f?f?i?c?i?en?cy? III?*, ?F?ir?e ?Ma?g?ic? ?II?I*?,? ?W?a?ter? ?M?ag?i?c II*?,? ?Ear?t?h M?agic I?I?*?,? Wi?n?d M?agic ?I?I*?, ?I?ce? ?Mag?ic VI?*?, Wi?n?te?r? Magi?c ?I,?
Skills 5/5: [Browse Skills] D?iv?i?ne? ?Aut?ho?r?it?y[?C?la?s?s F?ea?ture?s?]*?,? ?F?in?es?s?e Figh?ti?ng?*, ?B?lu?e ?B?l?oo?de?d*,? ?K?inet?ic ?P?e?r?ce?p?t?io?n*?,? ?Ma?n?a ?C?r?y?s?t?a?ll?iz?atio?n*, |?|? L?a?ng?u?ag?e P?r?ofi?cien?c?y?[?Ce?n?tr?al Huma?n?]*?,? ?F?ig?ht?ing S?ty?le?[S?h?ad?o?w? Bla?d?e]*?, ?Fi?g?h?t?i?ng S?t?yle?[?Drak?a?n? ?S?t?y?l?e]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*,
Talents Experience: [+]
Unread Messages(1)
A lot more than expected had changed.
Let¡¯s start from the top then.
Obviously, the first thing to jump out at me was the block of glitchy text that now made up the body of my talents and skills. Forcing myself to ignore that for now, I instead checked the first entry. The one for my age. According to the read out, I was sixteen now. If it worked like last time, then there was no way I would be able to hide this as a growth spurt.
I¡¯ll have to figure out a way to explain suddenly aging four years¡ or rather, five years from almost everyone¡¯s perspective.
The next thing to notice, that was arguably more concerning than my age was my race. It had changed from pureblooded to halfblooded, with my new genes coming from something called a Revenant. The question was, what the hell was a Revenant? It was a type of undead if my memory was accurate, but for some reason, the knowledge seemed fuzzy.
In a mild panic, I tried to remember various events from my past life; that was where my knowledge of a Revenant would come from. To my dismay, everything seemed fuzzy. Or rather, everything seemed disjointed. It was as though the memories belonged to someone else, not me.
Eidetic memory was acting up a bit before, but this is new. It¡¯s like¡ like¡ I don¡¯t know what this is like¡
It felt a bit like my oldest memories, the ones from when I was George were faded. The detail was still there, and all of the specifics were available. They were just¡ distanced from me, like my body was holding them at arm¡¯s length.
Forcing myself to take a deep breath, I moved on. My memory issues were not something so simple that a few minutes of panic would be able to resolve the issues. It was also likely that one of my other new changes might hold the answer to what was going on. The only real concern, was that the fogginess might spread out to other areas. As long as that didn¡¯t happen, I could deal with it. The next line in my status caused a bit of excitement; my starting gift was now available.
Right, there was something about that right after the revival process started.
That being said, there was no indication that it had done anything. The entry had changed from ¡°Locked¡± to ¡°Available¡± whatever that meant. There was no indication that it was actually given to me. Rather, based on the terminology it probably had not. Though it probably wouldn¡¯t have any major effect it was something I was curious about. After all, it had been hanging over my head for a rather long time. Always in the background.
Something else to figure out later. Moving on, the next item was my new title.
¡°[Revenant]: Awarded to those who have returned from a death-like state. Passive Effect: Changes race to Half Revenant. Active Effect: Renders Undead passive towards those who have equipped this title.¡±
That effect seemed like it might be useful, though it would require some caution since having undead ignore me in a group setting might raise questions. Though my whole existence required caution at the moment, so that particular point was rather moot. Either way, having this title equipped for now should be fine; it wasn¡¯t like taking it off would change my race back to Human(Pureblood).
Moving on, all of my attribute values except intelligence had seemingly gone down one level. While painful, it wasn¡¯t the end of the world; I could always raise them back up. There was even a chance that this was temporary, though that was unlikely. All in all, if that and the lost lifespan were the only penalties to literally dying and coming back to life, then I would say I got off quite lightly all things considered. It didn¡¯t even look like the existing attributes had dropped at all, only the improvement values for my next levels.
Next up, my talents and skills were glitched to hell. I could still make out what they were saying, but inspecting them didn¡¯t seem to work; no info box came up in response. The only skills that were legible, were the two new ones. These could also be inspected, so there was no fear of having to fumble around in the dark. The first skill was actually amazing as well, while the second sounded like it had the potential to increase my strength in unique and unpredictable ways.
¡°Rule Breaker(LP N/A): Skill awarded to those who have taken the Oath of the Rule Breaker. Grants a Fragment of Authority which shields the user from the influence of other¡¯s Authority and Ruler Skills. Grants the effects of an Immunity Skill. [Select Skill].¡±
One moment later, I was once again the proud owner of [Ice Immunity] by proxy.
Well, that¡¯s good. Losing Blessing of Winter was going to be a mixed bag; sure, it means I¡¯m out from under the god¡¯s thumb but [Ice Immunity] and [Cold Hearted] were useful. Getting the former back means I won¡¯t have to change my fighting style too much, or rework any of my spells.
Though not having [Cold Hearted] also sort of sealed my ¡°god mode¡± that shouldn¡¯t be too much of an issue. Rule Breaker making me immune to ruler skills was probably the influence caused by getting angry towards the King of Wrath, or lustful towards the Queen of Lust. Not having to worry about that would be a good thing and was the primary function of [Cold Hearted] in the first place.
The second skill was Revenant Physique.
¡°Revenant Physique(LP N/A): Skill possessed by the half undead known as Revenants. Lifts restrictions on Undead Racial Skills. Causes mild discomfort or unease in living targets.¡±
On one hand, the part about lifting restrictions on a whole set of skills was a tantalizing process. If it was anything like Stil¡¯s limited skills then there were probably a lot of fairly unique combinations to be had. On the flipside, the bit about causing discomfort in living people was a bit concerning. It would take some experience to determine how much discomfort, or even what kind of discomfort it was.
Hopefully, it would be something that could be overcome with charisma or some other skill; [Blue-Blooded] came to mind as one possibility, since it improved my impression when I was perceived as a noble. Since I was to be queen, that would mean that my impression would almost always be noble.
The very last thing to be investigated was the completely new line, ¡°Unread Messages (1).¡± Focusing in on that line caused a new window to pop open. It looked suspiciously like an email inbox, and the one unread message was titled as having come from EvilGod. Skipping over the headline information that wasn¡¯t important, I read the body text of the email.
¡°Hey, sorry for dealing with things this way but I had to go patch up a hole in the system. Don¡¯t worry, it wasn¡¯t your fault. When you get to reading this, you will have probably noticed some issues with your status. Don¡¯t worry, that¡¯s temporary¡ mostly.¡±
¡°The attribute scores won¡¯t come back, that was caused by the strain on your soul spending so much time in the buffer. As an apology for that, I¡¯ll give you a hint. Don¡¯t get used to these though, they take away much of the fun. After your wedding, check out the highest point of the mountain.¡±
¡°Oh, and before I forget, since your tutorial ending got cut short your starting gift bugged out. I¡¯ve attached it to this email. When you¡¯re ready, just claim it from here!¡±
Checking the base of the email revealed an icon of a small pumpkin seed thing-looking thing with a paperclip attached to it. Since there was no point in wasting time, I focused on the attachment.
¡°Would you like to claim the Small Seed? Y/N¡±
Yes.
¡°Confirmed, Integrating Small Seed¡±
¡°...Complete¡¡±
The moment the notice said the process was complete, a burning pain pierced my chest. Wincing, a grunt squeezed out from between my clenched teeth as my body doubled over in pain. Curled into the fetal position, my muscles started to spasm. It was agonizing, yet I could not seem to scream.
Finally, after several minutes, my body collapsed with a shudder. Covered in sweat and gasping for breath, the first order of business was to check my status. Everything was still corrupted, however the line about my Starting Gift seemed to have been replaced.
Instead of ¡°Starting Gift: Small Seed[Available],¡± that line now read ¡°Implanted Seed: Progress 0%¡±
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
There was no description of what function it might serve when focused on. As far as I could tell, there seemed to be no differences in how my body felt, other than being sore after the whole ordeal. After a short time spent collecting myself and waiting for the trembling to cease, I quickly gave the rest of my status a once over. Unfortunately, nothing else seemed to have changed.
At least I know I have to do something to further that along¡ figuring out what is probably deliberately obfuscated though, after all. It would be more damn interesting that way, wouldn¡¯t it?
¡°Stali Neechan!¡±
The impact on my bed was enough to cause me to bounce up slightly as the ripple passed through the mattress. It was time to stop pretending to be unconscious and face reality. To that end, my eyes opened and took in an extremely curious sight. Felicity was sitting on the edge of my bed, however, unlike the last time I had seen her, she seemed to have acquired a second tail.
¡°¡It¡¯s good to see you as well, Felicity.¡±
¡°Uhn! Claire says to congratulate you on waking up, and also to tell you not to keep such big secrets!¡±
¡°Right, the prince¡ sorry about that, I couldn¡¯t risk leaking the information though, not even to you¡ Speaking of secrets though, what the hell is up with you?¡±
Felicity craned her neck around over her shoulder to look at the second tail. It was swishing around in a mirror pattern to her original. It was oddly hypnotizing to look at.
¡°Ah¡ it might be best for me to explain that. Felicity still doesn¡¯t fully understand.¡±
¡°Right, was this the result of Envious?¡±
¡°Ah! How did you know?¡±
¡°Never mind that, it¡¯s a long story; I¡¯ll tell you and Rupert together. What exactly happened with¡ that?¡±
Claire shrugged, ¡°Well we had to survive but Felicity and I lacked the skills necessary to. I planned to pick up a few talents by using Envious to copy them but it backfired. Or maybe it was a good thing, we haven¡¯t really had a chance to figure it out since the prince locked us up in the castle.¡±
¡°Alright, but what exactly happened?¡±
¡°Well, Felicity got really weird for a while. Her presence in the body was super weak like she was sick or sleeping. After a week or so, I lost consciousness as well. When I woke up, Felicity was back to normal and we had a new tail. Rupert had some people appraise us and afterward, he put us on lockdown with round-the-clock guard.¡±
She gestured towards the corner of the room, where a knight nodded in my direction.
¡It¡¯s a good thing the contract prevents him from killing my family. It sounds like [Envious]¡¯s second effect activated and Demonized Felicity.
Giving Claire a questioning look I asked her, ¡°¡And did Prince Rupert tell you what the appraisal results said?¡±
Claire shook her head, ¡°No, but it isn¡¯t hard to figure out. [Envious] made us into a demon, didn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Most likely, do you mind if I check?¡±
Claire shut her eyes for a moment, probably speaking with Felicity. A moment later when she opened them she nodded, ¡°Felicity says that you can go ahead and check.¡±
Focusing mana into my eyes and giving it the divine aspect, I directed my attention to Felicity¡¯s light. A moment later, her status entered my mind.
Name: Felicity
Age: 7
Species: [Nekomata(Juvenile)]
Class/Level: Demon Aspirant, 8
Social Strata: Slave(Owner: None, Drakas Kingdom)
Ability Values:
- Strength: B: 93
- Endurance: C: 85
- Dexterity: A: 131
- Intelligence: C: 85
- Charisma: C: 85
- Mana: D: 25
Talents: (87)[+]
Skills: Envy*, Talent Void*,
¡°Stahlia, aren¡¯t you going to appraise us?¡±
¡°Huh? I just did. Your species changed¡ You didn¡¯t demonize though; you became something called a Nekomata. You gained the Demon Aspirant class as well, and leveled up a few times.¡±
¡°You did¡? But what about the head pats?¡±
It would seem that Felicity was back in control, at least I would hope that was the case. The thought of Claire asking for a head pat with wide kitten eyes was a bit disturbing.
¡°Huh? Wait, what the hell am I doing!?¡±
At some point, I had apparently gained the ability to appraise with my divine eyes. This would require further testing, but that wasn¡¯t the most pressing concern at the moment.
When did I learn this?
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Epilogue Two: Freezing Hate
Fifth Seat King of Wrath ¡°Five¡± Satan, 1,017 Years Old, Fifth Month of 948.
Where did things go wrong? I did everything I was supposed to. I followed Faust¡¯s instructions perfectly.
Stahlia¡¯s birth had been foretold by the Eighth Seat, Lord of Prophecy Faust. The prophecy stated that the one destined to take the tenth seat would be born in a small village, that she would be a prodigy holder, and that she would be in the Kingdom of Drakas. Stahlia had met all of those qualifications.
Even when she was picked up by the gods as a champion, it only further strengthened my conviction that she was the one. Giving her to my son should have corrupted her seed of power. Being bathed in his demonic mana constantly, it would have tainted the seed before it could bloom. That would ensure her fall.
Was my failure that my son was an imbecile?
Indeed, Dominic was a moronic, impertinent, simple-minded fool. His actions had jeopardized things on more than one occasion. The number of times I had to use my cover identity to smooth over his mistakes¡ it was infuriating. Laying into him with my own hellflame had been a most cathartic experience. Perhaps that had been going too far?
After all, it did make him desperate. I told Sitri to manipulate him into fixing his mistake. I should have been far, far more specific. She was supposed to make him come around and win Stahlia over with words. Not force himself on her. Granted, if he had succeeded then things might have worked out in the end. But that was a long shot; Stahlia had always been stronger than my useless son.
Granted, throwing her sister at her had been a longshot as well. Faust had called me in a panic, saying that everything was falling apart and demanding that it be fixed. The issue was that he didn¡¯t tell me how to fix it. Blinded by rage, I had been unable to come up with a decent plan and simply decided to take my wrath out on Stahlia.
Me being the one in charge of infiltration was a mistake. If only Mephistopheles had survived the last war instead of me. He was always better at schemes like this, he wouldn¡¯t have failed like I did. Leviathan might have been a good pick as well, though they weren¡¯t even an option since they didn¡¯t advent last time. Belphagor¡ yea, he¡¯s always been useless.
My own wrath at everything falling apart had blinded me to the obvious; Stahlia was the chosen one of the winter gods. No amount of pushing on my part would have worked once she engaged her god-given skill. Far more likely, I would simply cause her to fall out of our reach entirely. If my head had been clearer, if we had simply talked, perhaps an accord could have been struck. After all, from what I had seen through her pet shadow, Stahlia hated the gods almost as much as we nine kings did. But I was blinded.
That brought me back to my present predicament. Encased in a block of un-melting ice. Of course in the beginning my rage and fury knew no end. There had been much for me to complain about, and I had ranted endlessly in my head. Over time however, my rage had calmed. It was strange; for the longest time the only thing known to me was wrath. But now, now things were becoming clear.
Stahlia had something else. I knew she did when she infused her pet shadow with something and broke off Dominic¡¯s control. I thought then that it was just a unique application of Divine Element¡ Whatever it was did scramble the connection for a while. But Divine Element would not be able to explain that power spike.
Stahlia had grown in power extremely rapidly. In only a few brief seconds she had eclipsed my own mana several times over. There was no way a human body should have been able to hold that much mana. Reincarnated individuals did tend to get a few cheat abilities, but this seemed to go beyond that.
There were the words she spoke as well. Words I could hear and yet not hear. As if the knowledge of their meaning was stricken from my mind before she even spoke them. That was the impetus. Right after that was when I saw her mana spiking.
Stahlia had done something, something quite extreme. The question was, what? If my connection to the Nine Hells was still intact, I could ask Faust. Whatever she had done had probably been responsible for breaking his prophecy; if he was still the same as he was a thousand years ago, then he would be doing everything he could to figure it out. That demon hated being wrong almost more than Mephistopheles.
But whatever this ice was, it had severed that connection. All that could be done, was to wallow in my own mind. In a way, my anger cooling was a curse worse than death. Eventually, the ice would melt or break and I would be free, even if I died before then I would just return to my Hell. With my mind clear, I was forced to experience all of that time. Had my thoughts been clouded with rage then the time would pass much quicker.
For the umpteenth time I tried killing my vessel, but it was impossible to move or to form a spell. Mana was simply sucked out of the construct before the spell could take shape. Blood Magic was likewise blocked; the instant the mana left my body, it was absorbed by the Ice. At first, this had caused me to panic; if I died under these circumstances, would I be able to return to my domain? A soul was essentially just mana after all. But that line of thought was folly; the existence of the Hell Kings was like a rule in this world. The System was robust, it would not allow something small like ice that should not exist to break its rules.
No, not like a rule. It is a rule. When that bastard set things up and tricked us with the allure of power¡ That was the price we paid¡ That ass of a god, what was his name? Abel? Adelle? Adroni? That was it. He called himself Adroni. Then again, I was never too sure about the status of his dick.
Adroni. The one who had originally captivated my guildmates and me with promises of power. We would be given an entire world to play with. We would be gods of our own realms.
It was him. He must be behind what Stahlia did. He¡¯s still fucking with us, all these years later! Damnit!
There was no proof of course, but once arrived at that conclusion it just made sense.
So Adroni decided to add his own piece to the board once again. Why now, after so long?
Stahlia had broken the rules. Her being that bastard¡¯s pet was the only logical answer.
Is Fermina in on it? Has our own master grown bored of us?
There was no way for me to tell, but that was fine. A loud crack resounded in my ears.
I smiled.
It doesn¡¯t matter. I know who the root cause is. That bastard. The object of our ire.
A second sound, like glass breaking. My vision was covered in a tapestry of cracks as the ice began to give way.
Adroni, the mad god. The bastard who tricked my friends and I, who continues to screw with us to this day.
The ice shattered, and my body felt a chill as the vaporous mana was absorbed through my skin.
Adroni, the object of my hate.
¡°Notice: Requirements no longer met. Skill [Lord¡¯s Authority[Wrath]] has been removed.¡±
¡°Notice: Skill [Lord¡¯s Authority[Hatred]] has been gained.¡±
¡°Notice: Skills and Talents have shifted.¡±
¡°Notice: Title Gained: [Tenth Seat, King of Hatred]¡±
¡°Notice: Name Change: Satan > Baal¡±
It had been a very long time since I last received a status notification. Eons, in fact. Even as my body convulsed on the ground coughing up blood, I laughed.
¡°Welcome back old friend! Ah, I had forgotten how I missed you!¡±
This, with this, I am free. Free to pursue my own goals. Starting with breaking this kingdom in half.
Shakily, I climbed to my feet as my body settled down. Wiping the blood off my chin with the back of my hand, I inspected my surroundings. It appeared that my frozen body had been placed in a cellar of some kind. Based on the quality of the stonework, my host seemed to be quite wealthy.
¡°You are sure that he has broken free?¡±
¡°Yes! I am certain, I told you didn¡¯t I? No one could keep my master trapped, he¡¯s simply far too strong!¡±
The two voices coming down from the stairs were ones easily recognizable to me. The first belonged to the First Prince of this thrice-damned country, Antonio von Drakas. The second, was that of my infuriating loaner subordinate, Sitri.
So that¡¯s how I got here. Sitri must have charmed the prince and had him sequester my entombed body. That forethought will lessen her punishment.
The door swung inwards, and Sitri led the prince inside the room. Though the darkness was not an issue for demons like us, the prince had to squint in the dim lighting of the cellar.
¡°Ah, Count Francois. It seems you have very loyal subordinates¡¡± His voice trailed off as he caught my cold glare.
¡°Antonio, I wish to have words with my subordinate, would you please excuse us?¡±
¡°Wha!? I am your sovereign! The rightful king of this country! You will not¡¡±
Something about my tone must have tipped Sitri off, as she quickly cut off the prince.
¡°Your highness, please understand the circumstances, my lord has just recovered from a terrible experience. Surely you could forgive his rudeness?¡±
The prince paused for a moment before nodding, ¡°Alright, Just this once. Be grateful for my mercy, I expect great things from you.¡±
Once he was gone Sitri sighed, ¡°Do you have any idea how hard it was to get in his good graces with only my charisma? What about you? What happened?¡±
This is¡ surprising, she sounds genuinely concerned for my wellbeing. Something happened to her.
¡°What do you mean, only your charisma? Charming a man as petty and simple as Antonio should not have been an issue for you?¡±
¡°Well excuse me! That fucking whore only ripped my soul to shreds and sealed my classes and skills! What do you want from me!?¡±
¡°That is none of my concern. All of this is your fault in the first place.¡±
¡°And how do you figure that!? I was only following¡ your¡ orders¡¡±
Whirling around, I glared at the impertinent succubus.
¡°My orders were to fix your mistake. Your mistake was driving Stahlia and Dominic apart. Fixing it would be to fix their relationship, not make him try and RAPE HER!¡±
Raising up my hand, I invoked my favorite skill. The activation gave me pause though, as it had undergone a drastic change. Rather than sheathe my hand in Black Hellflame, my hand was now coated in white fire that seemed to be shedding snow rather than smoke.
I see, anger burns hot but true hate is ice cold. You might be a bastard, Adroni, but you have good aesthetic.
Sitri realized what was coming and shrank back, ¡°No, nono, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry! You don¡¯t need to punish me, Wrath. I won¡¯t make that mistake again!¡±
¡°One out of three, that¡¯s a failing grade. Indeed, you will not make that mistake again. However, I do need to punish you, and my title is no longer Wrath. You may refer to me as Hate.¡±
Closing in on Sitri, I raised my hand.
5-1 Sixteen
Stahlia, Sixteen Years Old, Ninth Month of 948
A whole lot of questions, practically no answers. Not that there was anything to be gained from moping around in bed all day. After a few minutes of contemplation, and letting Felicity get her fill of my hand rubbing her ears, it was time to act, ¡°Felicity, where is everyone else? Edith, Sarala, Rupert, Jacqueline, Stil, Sana¡ and Rosial.¡±
Cocking her head, she appeared thoughtful for a moment, ¡°Felicity doesn¡¯t know, but Claire Neechan says that everyone is being kept in the castle until you woke up. It was Felicity¡¯s turn to watch you!¡±
¡°¡We¡¯re in the castle right now?¡±
¡°Uhn! It¡¯s really big and pretty!¡±
That, that wasn¡¯t really what I meant.
¡°Right, but did anyone tell you why they¡¯re keeping us here?¡±
¡°Yea, Stahlia Neechan is marrying Rupert Oniisama right? Claire Neechan was really mad when she found out, but Felicity is just happy it isn¡¯t Dominic. He smelled gross!¡±
¡°¡Right, sorry about that Claire. I couldn¡¯t tell anyone. ¡Can you find someone who can carry a message, and have Rupert informed that I¡¯m awake now? I need to find out what I missed.¡±
¡°Fiiinnneee, but you have to give lots of pats later ok?¡±
¡°I will, now shoo!¡±
Waving Felicity out of the room with overdramatic hand gestures got me a light giggle before she scampered off. There would be a lot of questions soon but for now, there were a few minutes of alone time to get my thoughts in order. It had been extremely weird; my abilities with Blood Magic had not allowed me to do something like vision-based appraisal before. But now¡
Reaching out my hand and placing it on the bedside table, my hand closed around a flower that had been sitting in a vase. Mana surged through my body and down my arm, permeating the flower. It moved a lot smoother than it had before as though some sort of barrier had been removed. So smooth in fact, that it was difficult to control. The flower burst into flames made of pure mana, before crystallizing into ice. In shock, my hand released and the flower dropped from my grip to the floor, where it shattered.
Holy shit. It¡¯s a good thing I used that visual appraisal on Felicity, instead of contact¡ I might have killed her!
That being said, the contact appraisal had worked. Based on the readout, the flower was a Dragon Lily. Normally, that would be all the information that I received on an inanimate object or simple lifeform, but now¡ Now there was a lot more. Somehow, I knew how old the lily was, its health condition, the various alchemical properties it held, and a myriad of other incidental information.
So, coming back gave me an upgrade? Or was it disconnecting from the system that¡¯s responsible?
Questions for later. For now, learning my limits. Looking down at the icy-lily shards, my eyes focused in on one of the bigger chunks. Plucking it from the ground, the process was repeated and I once again attempted to appraise it. This time, I did my darndest to maintain control of my mana. I did not want to further destroy it. Easier said than done; my mana circuits felt like a faucet that had recently had the hard water removed. What would originally have resulted in a gentle flow, was now a torrent. This was going to take some time to get used to.
Before it shattered, the name of the ice chunk was revealed; ¡°Crystalized Ice Element ¨C Organic.¡± There was also some information about the properties, but the connection was severed before the list could finish populating. Evidently, ¡°crystalized¡± mana did not like receiving more mana, even if it was from the same source.
Almost like overcharging a battery, to be honest. There¡¯re probably a lot of uses for this, but not being able to appraise things is going to be a bit of a pain.
Indeed, the ¡°visual appraisal¡± done with my divine eyes did not seem to work on the shards of crystal. The only thing I could think of was that it had something to do with whether or not the target had a soul or not. As if my divine eyes were reading the information straight from the soul, while the contact appraisal was analyzing the physical. This would need further testing with other things, other people.
In other words, nothing else I can do with it for now. Let¡¯s see how atrophied I am.
The last time had only resulted in me aging two years. It had taken some time to get used to my ¡°new¡± body, what with my reach changing, my center of balance shifting, and all the minor things. Luckily though, my muscles had remained relatively intact, but that was mostly only because of potions supplied by Jacqueline. While she was still alive, based on what Adroni had shown me, she was not in any condition to help me this time. Hopefully, Rupert had managed something, but it would take some testing to be sure.
And based on how I feel, my center of gravity has indeed shifted again¡ ugh.
I had been doing my best to ignore it, but that had been kind of hard with Felicity clinging to me. My body had¡ grown. Granted, it had been growing steadily after the last time I invoked my authority in such a manner, but this was a lot different. After gingerly sitting up in bed and feeling things out, it was apparent that it would take a bit more time than previously to get back to a hundred percent.
It was bad enough there was a momentary fear that it may require me to relearn how to walk in the first place. Groundless of course; as it took only a few moments to figure out how to compensate for the added weight. Still, it would be a bit before it was something I could do subconsciously. That meant that for the time being things would need to be taken slowly, at least as far as mobility was concerned.
The room itself was surprisingly spartan. When Felicity had said we were being kept in the palace, my expectation had been a lot of pointlessly gaudy decoration. Instead, it was barely fancier than my home back in Ris. Sure, the furnishings were all obviously expensive, but they did not look like it at first glance. The bed I was in, for example, was soft and comfortable but it just looked like a bed.
Had I not been laying in it, my impression would have been that it was sturdy and functional, nothing more. Knowing Rupert¡¯s personality, everything was probably like that. He did not strike me as someone who would spend money unless it served a purpose. Gingerly stepping down, my next stop was the mirror set up in the corner. Like the bed, it was simple and unadorned. After looking at the reflection though, it became apparent just how expensive it must have been.
Normally, while looking at a mirror, there were things that would be off. Parts of the reflection would be wrong or distorted by tiny imperfections in the glass. A smudge from a fingerprint might cause the image to blur. Colors would be distorted as the mirror absorbed some of the light instead of reflecting it back. That was not the case here; this reflection was, as far as I could tell, perfect.
It was almost like looking at another, living, breathing, existing copy of myself. To the point that it would not have been surprising if the copy of me did some creepy horror movie shit and smiled at me or waved. Uncanny was the term that immediately came to mind. Of course, my hand simply bounced off a smooth surface when I subconsciously tried to touch my image. This was a mirror, not a portal to a parallel dimension or some such fancy.
The smudge my fingers left on the glass helped to ground the reflection in reality, and made it a lot less disconcerting to look at. Studying myself brought back memories of the first time I had seen this face. As far as I could tell, eleven years ago. Before dying the first time.
I was presented with a highly detailed 3d model of the woman from the gender select screen, sans robe and staff, though she was wearing underwear. Strangely, I did not see any sliders with which to adjust proportions or select a hairstyle, only some color options for all the usual areas every game tends to have. Stuff like skin tone, hair color, iris shade, and so on. At the bottom of the screen were the now-familiar options to proceed to the next section, in this case, class selection, or to go back.
After some fiddling, I realized the mouse became a sculpting tool when hovering over a region of the body; by highlighting the bust, I could scroll the mouse wheel to deflate or inflate, though there was an upper and lower limit. I could also click and drag to make them perkier or saggier, though this also seemed to be influenced by the amount of hot air I pumped into them. This was in all honesty, a highly detailed appearance editor. I set about sculpting my character based on the playstyle I had in mind. Yup, playstyle. I¡¯m totally not making her based on what I personally find attractive¡
I wound up with a lithe build, roughly 160 centimeters tall. A modest bust that was perhaps a bit on the small side. Her hair was a shade of red that was almost black, with a natural wavy pattern. I had spent about twenty minutes fiddling with said hair before a box popped up telling me that hair would grow at a natural rate while playing and thus attempting to set a style would simply result in odd growth patterns.
That message honestly startled me, it was almost like someone was watching me work, but everything else about the game seemed so advanced I just wrote it off as just another smart feature, aimed at players who were extremely picky like myself.
Her eyes color was a very light azure that was approaching silver, it went very nicely with the hair. I left the face mostly intact; I knew better than to try and sculpt something that didn¡¯t look like an abomination. Though, I did smooth it out a bit and round some of the sharp edges just slightly. In all honesty, she wound up looking slightly indistinct Asian with a bit of German. I selected an appropriately light skin tone to match the general shape and then set the lips to a slightly redder tone of that. Looking over the model, I decided it was pretty good for my first session with this editor and clicked on the button to advance to class selection. While the new page was loading, I glanced at the clock on my phone. Grimacing, I decided I had not looked. It was almost 4:00 am.
The class selection page was populated with five lists, each one conveniently labeled with ¡°Tier One-Five¡± respectively. Each list consisted of a familiar scrolling menu populated by terms that would be familiar to any RPG player, each one of which also listed Life Point cost¡
With a jolt, my senses returned. Looking around the room revealed that it was unchanged. I was still in the palace where I had awoken. Only, now sitting on the floor.
Apparently I fell? What the hell was that? Everything was so real like I was back creating the character for the first time¡ That was¡ disconcerting.
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
I checked my body carefully and was pleased to find that it was once again that of Stahlia, not George.
But seriously, what the hell¡? Does it have something to do with [Eidetic Memory] being corrupted? If that¡¯s the case, what about my other skills? What if something like this happens in the middle of a fight!? That would get me killed!
¡°Breathe. It isn¡¯t a big deal, I can just tune out my skills and talents like I used to do, when I wanted to memorize something without Eidetic Memory.¡±
That or it was probably possible for me to outright remove the offending talent by invoking my authority. But that was one hundred and ten percent the last resort; the moment the thought crossed my mind to do that the memory of the pain Sitri, and by extension me, experienced when her class was sealed also surfaced. There was also the highly probable risk that doing something like that would put me in a coma again. No, it would be better to avoid taking that action unless it became the only possible option.
A knock came from the door, indicating that someone had arrived. The sudden sound startled me and caused me to jump to my feet in a panic. Not the best thing, considering that my body was still a bit foreign to me, and my momentum caused me to overshoot the landing even as I called out for whoever it was to enter.
¡°Ah! Come in! ¡SHIT!¡±
The door opened, and Rupert entered the room along with Gustav and Edith. Just in time for my fiance to see my faceplant, his assistant to witness me sliding to a halt, and my friend to see me struggle to quickly recover as tears welled up in my eyes; breasts, as it turned out, were incredibly sensitive to impact.
¡°Stahlia¡? Are you ok!?¡±
Edith, it seemed, was at least sympathetic.
After bushing away the budding tears and taking a moment to come to grips with my display, I decided the best course of action was to pretend that nothing had happened.
¡°I¡¯m fine. Just a bit startled is all¡ I understand why Prince Rupert and Lord Gustav are here, but why are you here, Edith?¡±
My friend¡¯s face contorted into a pained expression of grief.
Oh shit, from what I remember, Rupert was with Duke Claurence when things went to shit. He teleported out, but left the duke behind, he isn¡¯t dead is he!?
¡°I am here on behalf of my father and as your friend, to offer a sincere apology for the failure of our house.¡±
¡°¡Oh. Is your father alright?¡±
¡°Yes, why wouldn¡¯t he be? He has gone out with His Highness Prince Rupert¡¯s forces to put down the rebellion of the traitor prince.¡±
¡°Excuse me?¡±
At the look of incredulity on my face, Edith nodded, ¡°Right, you wouldn¡¯t know; his highness will want to explain¡ I¡¯m glad you recovered, Lady Stahlia.¡±
Edith curtseyed and quickly left the room. Not that there was any reason to blame her, considering who else was in it with us.
I¡¯ll need to find the time to speak with her and Sarala later. For now, it sounds like I missed some pretty major stuff after Adroni sent me back.
¡°¡Prince Rupert, thank you for looking after everything while I was recovering.¡±
I bowed my head in genuine gratitude towards the prince.
¡°Enough, we have more pressing concerns to discuss, and do not have time to waste standing on ceremony. First, how much do you know already? Sending me a message from beyond death, and then asking about Duke Claurence¡ Clearly, you know some things already.¡±
Raising my head, I proceeded to elaborate on what had happened from my perspective after my death; how Adroni had shown me the immediate aftermath as it affected my immediate associates. By keeping things simple and omitting my own speculations, the whole recounting took only an hour. Rupert and Gustav let me talk without asking questions. At this point, they had probably decided to just take whatever they were told at face value, no matter how absurd or outlandish it sounded.
After my spiel had finished, Rupert adopted a pensive expression and began to mumble to himself. Recognizing that he was thinking out loud, I tuned the ramblings out and addressed Gustav.
¡°What¡ what happened with Rosial? Also, Jacqueline. After¡ after what I was shown.¡±
Gustav gave Rupert a side-long glance before answering my question, ¡°Your sister is being looked after, though she has not made very much progress¡ when we are finished here, someone will take you to see her.¡±
After seeing me nod in quiet acknowledgment, he continued.
¡°As for Jacqueline, she pulled through¡ but not unscathed. She is currently paralyzed from the waist down; her lower spine was damaged when Five tore through her stomach.¡±
¡°¡Right. Is she being looked after as well?¡±
¡°She is, Lady Rosial seems to have bonded with her; Jacqueline¡¯s stories about you have been helping maintain her present state without deterioration.¡±
That¡¯s good then¡ A Goddess Draught should be able to repair the spinal damage as well as the arm. This just means I have to go all-in on that plan, instead of making it a side goal.
¡°Thank you. Is Stil still helping Rosial?¡±
Gustav nodded before checking Rupert¡¯s state again. Seeing the prince was about to come out of his own world, my former instructor reached inside his robe and produced a very expensive-looking ring in a small box. At a glance, it was obviously made of rather rare metal. Not mythril or orichalcum though. It was only a guess on my part, but the pearly-fluorescent finish made me think of an alloy of rose gold and orichalcum called rose steel.
While Mythril had a repelling effect on mana, rose steel was extremely conductive. If not for the price tag, it would be the favored material of magic tool makers. The brooch itself was carved into the crest of the royal family and had a rather large blue topaz set in it, which matched my birth month. While this world did not have a custom of engagement or wedding rings, it was not uncommon for high-profile marriages to do something along those lines.
So the engagement was made public then. That¡¯s obviously meant to mark me as being a member of the royal family, unlike the ring something that expensive is definitely not meant to be worn in a concealed manner.
¡°Will me no longer being winter¡¯s champion complicate the engagement?¡±
It was Rupert who answered my question.
¡°No, that was not disclosed. Instead, a somewhat understated version of your fight with Count Francois was spread, and used as justification.¡±
¡°I see. What about him? Was he recovered?¡±
For the first time since meeting him, I saw a genuinely upset expression grace Rupert¡¯s face.
¡°No, he was not. Gustav prioritized Rosial and Jacqueline¡¯s extraction. Though we immediately sent men to collect the count, he had been taken before they arrived. We thought it had been Sitri, but based on what you just shared that seems unlikely.¡±
The room fell into a short lull as they gave me time to process that revelation. It was unneeded, however; I had already been told that Five was going to be freed. This was just a bit sooner than expected was all.
¡°Very well, I assume you have probably already arrived at a conclusion regarding the new suspect. Before that, this brooch?¡±
At my word, Gustav handed the brooch to Rupert, who in turn presented it to me.
¡°I will refrain from wasting time on ceremonies, this is intended to serve publicly as a mark of our engagement. Privately, it will serve as a wedding ring, and carries an enchantment to mask your present state.¡±
Excuse me, it will what?
¡°¡Wedding?¡±
Rupert nodded grimly, ¡°Yes, wedding. In truth, we are rather short on time; the contract we signed specified that we would be married when you were sixteen. Your actions caused that to come much sooner than I had anticipated. Had you not woken up when you did, there was a very real risk that the contract would be violated.¡±
¡°But wasn¡¯t there also a bit about us being engaged for a year at least!? And restrictions on public knowledge!?¡±
Rupert nodded, ¡°Yes, though because of the wording it will suffice if that perception is maintained publicly; consider this an unfortunate loophole brought about by conditions I was not privy to when we made the contract¡ I would have added a clause to account for this possibility had I known of it.¡±
His last remark was a bit biting and made me flinch, though both of the men present were tactful enough not to point that reaction out.
He¡¯s not wrong¡ There really isn¡¯t any way that something like this could have been predicted then, not without me telling him¡ It¡¯s a bit irritating things turned out this way though¡
There was something about the whole situation that just¡ irritated me. I couldn¡¯t quite put my finger on it though.
¡°¡Fine. When will we have the ceremony? Or will we be skipping that as well?¡±
¡°Your parents delayed their trip at my behest; I kept them away due to the present unstable nature of the capital¡ Now that you are awake, I will have them brought here. After their arrival, we will have a small private ceremony. Other than your own parents, you will need three witnesses.¡±
After a moment of careful consideration, given what was being asked, I came up with a few names.
¡°Edith can act in lieu of her father; their family cared for me while I was hiding from Count Francois¡ and D-Dominic¡ As for others, Jacqueline will do, as long as she is able. Then, have a man named Sieg brought to the capital with my parents. Unfortunately, my adult acquaintances are rather limited.¡±
What the hell was that? Why did I stammer just now when I said his name?
Rupert shot a look at Gustav, who nodded, ¡°I will make the arrangements. Assuming things go smoothly, your parents will be here in a week. Given the state of the kingdom, it would be best to have the ceremony as soon as possible after they arrive¡ Within a day or two at most.¡±
That assertation made me raise an eyebrow, ¡°Can they get here that fast?¡±
Rupert nodded, ¡°They can; Gustave will send a magic communication to the knight commander. A unit has been placed on standby to escort them.¡±
¡°Then, about the ring?¡±
Interpreting my question correctly, Rupert explained the enchantment he had mentioned.
¡°I had Gustav¡¯s people construct a complex illusion enchantment on the ring; it will cause you to appear as though you were still around twelve, as well as tweak your voice. It is strictly an illusion though; anyone who is already aware of the truth will not be affected by such a passive method, and it cannot fool touch.¡±
Accepting the ring and slipping it on my finger, I felt it drawing a small trickle of mana. Fortunately, it seemed like it was set up to automatically activate while worn, so it would not take from my focus. A quick glance at the mirror showed no change, but Rupert had said that the illusion wouldn¡¯t work on anyone who knew already, so that should be expected.
¡°I suppose it¡¯s better to have than not¡ Will my parents be safe? You wouldn¡¯t go to such lengths unless you deemed it necessary¡ The kingdom is at war, isn¡¯t it.¡±
¡°Indeed¡ While not unexpected, it is troubling how my brother has acted.¡±
That¡¯s an understatement! The game starts in a little over a year, and Prince Antonio goes and starts a civil war?
Based on the events shown to me regarding Rupert¡¯s family meeting, a civil war was not unexpected. Antonio had clearly been either unstable or unwilling to accept the king¡¯s decision. All it would take was a little push in the right direction to provoke him to act¡
¡°Sitri.¡±
Rupert nodded, ¡°Indeed, I arrived at a similar conclusion after what you told me of your experiences. Likely, she has somehow incited my brother. I had hoped he would take this course of action, but doing it now is¡ ill-timed. Even for him.¡±
¡°How did the political landscape settle?¡±
¡°Gustav can fill you in on that, I have a meeting with the Dukes that I am late for.¡± Rupert stood and headed for the door before pausing, ¡°¡I¡¯m glad to see you recovered.¡±
Sure you are, you bet everything on bringing me in after all.
¡°Thank you.¡±
He nodded and then departed. Following his exit, a knight entered the room so that Gustav would not be left alone with me. That begged the question though, of how much the knight knew about our circumstances. Gustav picked up on my covert glance and elaborated.
¡°A small group of ¡°knights¡± loyal to Ferdinand have been made aware of what happened to you. He is one of them. Other than that, Ladies Edith and Sarala know. Rosial is¡ aware but I am not sure she comprehends. Jacqueline of course, and then Rupert and I.¡±
¡°You have not told my parents?¡±
¡°It would be too risky to tell them over such a long distance, even by magic. That being said, Rupert would prefer if you tell them; otherwise, they would perceive him to be secretly marrying a twelve-year-old.¡±
¡°Well, given that the illusion will not work on touch, I will have to tell them anyway so he can be at ease¡ Now, how have the nobles reacted?¡±
5-2 Spirit of Friendship
Stahlia, Sixteen Years Old, Ninth Month of 948
To answer my question about the state of the other noble houses, Gustav first sent for a map. Once it had arrived, he began indicating various parts of the kingdom while telling me about who controlled which. As had been expected, as a result of Rupert¡¯s machinations, the majority of the nobles had sided with him. His own faction had remained loyal after he made a show of ousting Count Francois and purging the few rogue elements that had been sided with him.
The members of the late second prince¡¯s faction had for the most part fallen under Rupert¡¯s banner, while the neutral nobles had followed Duke Claurence after his own public declaration of support. Only those nobles who were two close to the western regions, or who had already been members of the first prince¡¯s faction had sided with Antonio.
That left the traitor faction pretty heavily outnumbered, and out supplied. From a tactical perspective, even a layman like myself could see that they were in an inferior position. That begged the question of why the civil war had not been ended already.
¡°Well, it isn¡¯t quite so simple. The quality of their troops eclipses our own. Levels being equal, Duke Febligi and his own troops have far more combat experience and train more aggressively. In a straight fight, we would need somewhere around a three-to-one advantage, according to Commander Henrake. The actual number of troops is only around two to one, since Rupert¡¯s supporters were less militant.¡±
¡°So what¡¯s the plan then? I¡¯ll do what I can to support, but I¡¯m not so great at tactics and strategy.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t be taking part. It wouldn¡¯t look good politically to send a twelve-year-old girl to war, and his highness has other ways for you to contribute. Those can be discussed after the wedding though. For now, things have devolved into a stalemate.¡±
¡°What if they feel backed into a wall? A cornered rat and all that.¡±
Gustav nodded, ¡°That is the plan. We control the bread-basket of the kingdom. Prince Antonio¡¯s forces may have the martial edge, but they lack industry; the formerly neutral nobles having sided with his highness.¡±
¡°So Prince Rupert wants to simply wait for now, and see if the opponent can be goaded into making a mistake?¡±
That seems ill-advised to me, especially if we suspect that Sitri and Five are with them, but I really can¡¯t comment on strategy¡ I¡¯m smart, but not in that way. Just like the goblins, it would be better if I was deployed strategically, or in a support capacity.
¡°More or less, at the moment we are waiting for winter to set in. The food stores available should be dwindling come spring, and we have a terrain advantage, with the Ris mountains wrapping around the traitors anyways. They would have to pass through here, but enough of that. Leave the war to us for now, and go meet the people waiting for you.¡±
Gustav had a twinkle in his eye that had been missing for a while, ever since the revelation of his allegiance to Rupert. It was the same eccentric look he had back when I had accidentally-intentionally ¡°invented¡± calculus. It made me think he was hiding something.
¡°¡What are you planning Gustav?¡±
He threw up his hands in greatly exaggerated indignation, ¡°Lies and slander, I have not schemed anything!¡±
¡°Haaah¡ Just tell me where everyone is.¡±
If Rupert and Gustav were going to let me stop for a bit, it was an opportunity that would be grasped wholeheartedly. After everything that had happened, some downtime would be greatly appreciated. After all, it was pretty obvious that things would be picking up again after the early wedding ceremony. If they were going to give me shore leave in the meantime, who was I to say no?
Gustav gave me a quick rundown of what everyone was doing and the order they were available to visit. First up would be a tea with Edith and Sarala, followed by visiting Jacqueline in her room. Lastly, Felicity and Rosial. Originally, Rosial was supposed to be first but I insisted on rearranging things; I did not want a time limit on that reunion. Felicity wound up being merged with Rosial, but since they were both my little sisters that was probably for the best. As much as I wanted to have a private reunion, Felicity had already demonstrated anxiety and jealousy towards Rosial.
I can¡¯t throw everything at Claire, I need to be responsible in raising her as well. After all, mom and dad aren¡¯t here.
Thankfully, I had grown used to moving with a somewhat large escort over the week before the battle, so the four knights that had been attached to me were somewhat easy to ignore. That was another thing I had insisted on; now that my engagement was public, Gustav had wanted to summon everyone to me, but that was just too much. After citing a desire to exercise and grow used to my new body, permission was given for me to be the one to do the visiting.
I can already tell that this whole queen thing is going to be a pain. Then again, they did rearrange everything around my insistence, so it shouldn¡¯t be all bad¡ I¡¯ll need to make sure I don¡¯t abuse that though, I would hate to be a pain in the ass.
Putting all that aside for the time being, I addressed the leader of my escort.
¡°Commander, are we not going to the Claurence Estate?¡±
We were heading for one of the palace¡¯s side buildings instead of the entrance. At least, that¡¯s what it seemed like. I didn¡¯t know the layout of the palace but based on some of the light filtering through the window, it was evident we were moving closer to the mountain peak the palace was built around. It was possible that we were taking a scenic route, giving me a chance to look at the place, but that was unlikely.
¡°No, my lady. Lady Edith and Miss Sarala are being housed in one of the side buildings of the palace; it was his highness¡¯ fear that some of the remaining shadows might attempt to harm them.¡±
¡°¡One of the remaining Shadows?¡±
¡°Indeed, while the Order has been dismantled following the revelation that it¡¯s leader was a demon, not all of the operatives were accounted for among the dead. It is also quite possible that there are agents Count Francois kept hidden.¡±
¡°I see, and so Prince Rupert is housing important persons within the palace?¡±
¡°That is so.¡±
After answering my immediate question the knight commander fell silent. That was understandable; His job was to guard me, and me asking questions made that harder. He would answer me if I asked something but, beyond that, it was clear from his demeanor that he preferred to just do his job. Even if these four knew that things weren¡¯t exactly simple, they did not know the whole story about how I had become Rupert¡¯s fianc¨¦e.
Instead of bothering my guards with questions that could be answered in more detail later by Gustav, I spent the time looking around the palace curiously. This was ostensibly my home now, so my curiosity should be understandable. Even if I tended to agree with Rupert that a lot of this was a waste of money.
Unlike the room my comatose body had been given, the hallways we were walking down were dazzling. The walls were covered in a layer of fabric instead of paint or paper, and the areas that were exposed had been carved into murals that extended the pattern from the fabric. Those walls themselves were made of what appeared to be a high-quality marble, but my knowledge of stonework was limited.
Every five or so meters, there was a bench made of some kind of dark wood, with indoor planters on either side of it. Several of the flowers being grown in them were known to me, as they possessed some trait or alchemical property. All of them were ingredients I had never expected to see in such quantities though, due to the prohibitive cost. Not that the effect was rare or difficult to obtain from other sources though.
Occasionally there would be a doorway or a branch in the hallway we were walking down. Presumably, these all lead to other guest rooms or some other facility, though as far as I was aware they were currently empty.
Not like I asked for a guest logbook or something though. But we haven¡¯t passed anyone yet, and it wouldn¡¯t make sense for other people to be allowed near me while I was still asleep.
The hall so far had been completely empty, with not even a servant or maid passing us. Granted, we were not going that far, as my friends were being housed relatively nearby to my own rooms. When my group arrived at the rooms being used by Edith and Sarala, the doors opened to reveal the two of them standing nervously. At least Edith was nervous, Sarala seemed somewhat composed in a strange reversal of the roles the two usually played.
¡°Enough of that. Just because my title changed, does not mean I want our friendship to as well.¡±
¡°We, we are still friends?¡± Edith looked up at me confusedly, ¡°After what happened? Everything was my fault!¡±
So she¡¯s upset about what happened with Dominic? Well, I¡¯m irritated that she couldn¡¯t get it through her head that I didn¡¯t like him, but she was charmed. Me holding that against her would be beyond petty. Besides, the number of people who know my full story is incredibly slim, I would rather keep them close¡ I don¡¯t want to be alone again, like when it was just me and Jacqueline.
¡°Yes, you were not yourself; I do not blame you for anything that happened. Hell, you got Sarala stabbed but the two of you still seem really close, why would I be holding a grudge?¡±
Edith flinched away from my somewhat stern look, and mumbled under her breath, ¡°Well¡ we had a bit of a talk about that¡¡±
¡°Edith, Stahlia already knows about that, remember she appraised me?¡±
Wait, Sarala already told her¡? Damnit! I wanted to see that reaction!
My own petty feelings aside, it was an unequivocally good thing that Sarala had told Edith the truth about her own heritage. Keeping one friend¡¯s secret from another friend would have been painful, especially if the two of them were as inseparable as Edith and Sarala.
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¡°Yes, I am already aware of Sarala not being human, it is relieving to see that that revelation hasn¡¯t driven a wedge between the two of you.¡±
We fell into a sort of awkward silence then. Sarala seemed to have taken a distance from things; she and I had no issues with each other, and she recognized that me and Edith coming to terms with each other would be the most important outcome of this get-together.
For my part, I was content to wait for Edith to make the next move. After a few minutes, Edith¡¯s maid came in and offered us tea but otherwise things persisted in this manner. Just as the silence was becoming unbearable for me, Edith finally spoke up.
¡°You look¡ a lot older.¡±
So she¡¯s decided to ignore the inconvenient bits, and forcibly move forward. I can work with that¡ though it might cause some trouble later on¡
¡°¡Well, I did age four years in the past few months.¡±
¡°Lady Stahlia,¡± catching my grimace, Edith corrected herself, ¡°Stahlia, when you told Sarala there would be a cost to curing the charm, is this what you meant?¡±
I see Sarala told her about that part of the conversation. Oh well, not like there¡¯s anything to gain by keeping it a secret.
¡°Yea, more or less. Though I did not know exactly how much. In general, it seems that aging is the price I pay for using that ability.¡±
¡°Then¡ thank you for not using it on me. If I had been responsible for you going through that¡ I¡¡±
¡°As I said, it wouldn¡¯t have been your fault. Is that clear?¡±
After a second¡¯s hesitation, Edith nodded, and a small smile broke out on her face, ¡°Thank you, Stahlia. For everything.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t mention it. No really, don¡¯t mention it again. So, you and Sarala? Has anything changed now that she told you about being a spirit?¡±
Sarala shot me a pouty look when I used her as a subject change, but it was skillfully ignored. Edith shook her head, ¡°No, nothing has really changed; I was surprised at first, but after some time passed I realized that she hadn¡¯t really changed. Besides, you keep a demihuman around and treat her like a little sister, what would it say about me if I rejected my own best friend just because she wasn¡¯t human?¡±
¡°Have you considered trying to learn spirit magic at all?¡±
This time it was Sarala who answered my question, ¡°We did, well sort of. The problem is, our contract is a bit unusual in how it was established; I don¡¯t actually know much about that topic since I¡¯m so young for a spirit. We can share mana with each other, but other than that¡¡±
¡°¡We are not able to make much progress with actual spells or other functions.¡±
The way Edith seamlessly finished Sarala¡¯s sentence was a bit jarring, but not really worth commenting on; evidently, they had grown closer after Sarala shared her secret.
¡°Is there anything I can help with? I might not know anything about Spirit Magic, but I am pretty good at Blood Magic and Chanting.¡±
¡°No, this is something we should tackle by ourselves, I think.¡± ¡°Well, as far as I can tell, Spirit Magic is kind of similar to Blood Magic, so I might ask you a few questions later.¡±
The two of them realized they had just spoken at the same time, and said two completely different things. Looking at each other, they shook their heads.
Or maybe they aren¡¯t as close as I thought.
Edith had immediately rejected my offer, while Sarala had expressed interest in it; the two of them talking over the top of each other made me grin.
¡°¡Let¡¯s talk about this later. For now, you and Prince Rupert? I know the basics about why you did that, and that it wasn¡¯t for me. Still, I want to thank you for getting me out of that¡ Is there anything I can do for you?¡±
Edith seemed to want to get off the topic of magic; considering how many times she had seen me and Sarala discussing the topic while ignoring our own surroundings, that made sense. The two of them would also need to confer and decide whether to take me up on my offer of assistance or not.
Though I say I want to help them, I might not have a chance. Who knows what he meant when he said there were plans for me soon, and to take things easy for now. It isn¡¯t kids, thankfully; I still have some time before that happens¡ If the public is to be fooled about my age, I can¡¯t go getting pregnant for a few more years¡
That random train of thought had apparently shown itself on my face, as Edith looked at me with more genuine concern while Sarala looked a bit grim.
Holding up my hand to show the ring on my finger, I shrugged, ¡°We¡¯re more or less married already. Me suddenly turning sixteen threw a bit of a wrench in the original plan, but things worked out.¡±
¡°¡I see¡ Not what you were expecting, was it? I know Prince Rupert can be a bit of a bore.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a pretty strong enchantment, to hide your new appearance? Prince Rupert sure is careful.¡±
Edith had focused on my feelings, while Sarala had jumped at the magic borne by the symbol of my situation. Something about the way they prioritized different aspects of my soon-to-be spouse¡¯s personality made me glad to be able to call them my friends.
¡°Yea, the enchantment will make me look twelve or so, while also adjusting my voice. Though, it only works on people who don¡¯t already know about what happened; that would be why the two of you were unaffected.¡±
After a short pause, I decided I had better also address Edith¡¯s concerns, ¡°As for what I was expecting¡ That doesn¡¯t matter. I entered the engagement of my own volition, and he has upheld all of his obligations and more. For everything I gained, marrying him isn¡¯t so bad.¡±
¡°But you don¡¯t love him, do you?¡±
For some reason, Edith¡¯s assertion about love really ticked me off, and I snapped at her, ¡°No. And he doesn¡¯t love me either, is that a problem? It¡¯s what I expected and agreed to. We are using each other, that¡¯s all.¡±
My friend looked startled by my sharp tone, ¡°Sorry, I did not mean¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. Can we talk about something else, please?¡± Waving her off with a quick hand gesture, the three of us took a few sips of the tea.
Unfortunately, there really wasn¡¯t much else we could discuss. Things were still too strange, and it would take time for all of the recent happenings to settle down and allow us to return to how things had been before. As we sat around awkwardly nibbling at pastries, I couldn¡¯t help but worry.
What if we can¡¯t go back to how things were? What if this distance just keeps growing larger?
The change in our relative statuses was big enough, but that was still surmountable; Edith was friends with Sarala; a duke¡¯s daughter and an apparent commoner. I was friends with Sana and Sarala, a baron¡¯s daughter and two commoners. Prince Rupert had Gustav, who while a noble, was certainly below a prince.
Then again, are they really friends? Gustav definitely adopts a subservient role when with Rupert¡ Even if he does call him more casually¡ I don¡¯t want this friendship to turn out like that!
There was also the cause of my age. Even if we got past the issue of status, I was sixteen now. Edith was twelve. That age gap didn¡¯t usually have a whole lot of friendships.
Then again, Sarala is seven herself, and I¡¯m over forty if I consider George¡¯s life as well as my own. But that leaves the question of physical appearance. I might look twelve to the casual observer, but Sarala and Edith both see my real appearance. Can they look past that?
¡°Ha!¡±
The laugh came from Sarala, and the sudden sound caused both me and Edith to look up at her in surprise.
¡°Sarala¡? Are you ok?¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯m alright, I was just thinking; Stahlia always got so jealous about how much more developed you were.¡±
As she answered Edith¡¯s question, she fixed me with a cool stare, ¡°¡So jealous that she went and used magic to jump ahead and fill out before us.¡±
She finished speaking by giving a thumbs up and winking at me, ¡°Nice!¡±
Edith was rather unamused and mildly freaking out, ¡°Sarala!? You can¡¯t talk like that!¡±
¡°Hmm? Why not? You were saying how jealous you were when you came back from apologizing on behalf of your father earlier, weren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Sarala!¡±
¡°Ha! Haha!¡± Sarala¡¯s antics coupled with Edith¡¯s desperate reaction were just too much for me, and after the earlier tension I couldn¡¯t help myself; I started laughing.
¡°Edith, it¡¯s fine, isn¡¯t it? She¡¯s not wrong¡ I did get jealous with how slowly I was growing.¡±
¡°Yea Edith, what Stahlia said.¡±
¡°You too!?¡± Edith whirled around to look at me in mortified shock, ¡°I can¡¯t believe¡ Sarala, why would you say something like that?¡±
Sarala shrugged, ¡°Is it really a big deal?¡± after pausing for a moment, she grinned and slapped her palm with her other hand, closed into a fist, ¡°I see! This is a cultural difference. For someone like me who doesn¡¯t have a real physical body, I don¡¯t really understand jealousy over those attributes. Sorry for touching a nerve, Lady Edith.¡±
Ignoring the fact that you gave Edith a title just now, what the hell? Now that we know your secret, you¡¯re going to play that card? ¡®Oh, I¡¯m a spirit so I don¡¯t understand!¡¯ As if! You said what you said on purpose, to try and cut the tension before something happened!
Still, it had been effective. The earlier awkward atmosphere had fallen off completely, replaced with Edith¡¯s embarrassment. That being said, bullying her was mean so I moved to contain things before they went too far in the other direction.
¡°Edith, let her be; I was jealous, but don¡¯t worry; I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll pass me again in a few years.¡± Keeping a deadpan expression and tone was difficult, but I managed in the end.
For my efforts, I was rewarded by Edith slowly breaking out into a smile and throwing up her hands in exaggerated resignation, ¡°Fine! I was a bit jealous when I saw you, and maybe I said some things. But it doesn¡¯t matter how much you cheat, I¡¯ll always be bigger!¡±
As she was no longer looking at her, Sarala gave me a covert thumbs-up, and the corner of my mouth raised into a slight smile. Now that things had unwound, we spent the remainder of the get together reminiscing about the past, and I gave the two of them a very abbreviated version of my time in the afterlife; though I left out a lot of the details that could be considered confidential.
In the end, I did not gain everything I had wanted, but the time had certainly not been wasted.
I meant to ask about how things are going with the rest of the Claurence family, and maybe glean some insight into what I missed, but that¡¯s fine; retaining Edith and Sarala as close friends was more important. I can always learn about the past in the future, but losing my close friends would be impossible to recover from.
Those were my thoughts as we wrapped things up with the promise to meet each other again soon. That would be fairly easy to arrange since the two of them were living in the palace for the time being, though there was one sticking point.
¡°Next time, let us come to you.¡± Edith was looking at me seriously, and behind her Sarala was nodding in agreement.
¡°¡But I don¡¯t want status to get in the way of our friendship¡¡±
¡°That¡¯s not the issue; imagine how it looks from the outside, the queen to be going out of her way to visit a duke¡¯s daughter and her commoner attendant? You might be fine, but it will cause me and my father a lot of trouble.¡±
¡°¡When you put it like that¡ I guess I just have to get used to how things are now¡¡± I mumbled the last bit dejectedly, but that didn¡¯t stop Edith from picking up on it.
¡°Behind closed doors, I¡¯ll treat you the same as we always have, but in public¡ that¡¯s not possible. I¡¯m sorry.¡±
The exchange reminded me of a similar event from before my coma, when Gustav had suddenly started treating me as a superior, despite being both my elder and my teacher. It just went to show how things had changed as a result of my new station.
And things are going to continue changing, especially now that news has been made public¡ I guess this is probably one of the reasons that I was given until after the wedding to just spend time with friends before re-entering the public eye. Damnit, this is going to be really hard, isn¡¯t it?
My next meeting especially was probably going to be difficult. Taking a deep breath, I waved aside the guard knight and knocked on the door myself, ¡°Jacqueline, it¡¯s me¡ is it ok if I come in?¡±
From the other side of the door, a familiar, muffled voice called out.
¡°Lady Stahlia!? Of course! Why wouldn¡¯t it be?¡±
5-3 Maid
At Jacqueline¡¯s call, my group entered her room. It was nice, though less decorated than the ones being used by Edith and myself. Understandable of course, and not really worth noting. Jacqueline was sitting in a chair that had a pair of wheels and an axel bolted onto it. Unlike a modern wheelchair, this one was clearly an ordinary chair at first with the wheels being added on after.
Crude, but it would work. Is there any reason they didn¡¯t just make one? That wouldn¡¯t be so hard.
¡°Jacqueline¡ How are you?¡±
Her head turned to face me. Her expression was sad, but lit up with a smile when she saw my concern.
¡°My lady, I am gladdened to see you have recovered.¡±
Nope, not allowing that.
Arms crossed, I raised myself up to my new full height and tilted my head to look down at her.
¡°Jacqueline, how are you? Be honest.¡±
Perhaps it had something to do with the reversal of our positions; I had always been the mistress and she the servant, but this was the first time I was actually looking down on her from a higher position without need of a boost. Even if it was because she was seated.
Jacqueline¡¯s smile fell off and her shoulders slumped looking down and away from me she mumbled, barely audible, ¡°I failed. I failed and have become useless.¡±
Without changing my posture, I waited for her to continue.
¡°¡My lady, you gave me back my past. Instead of thanking you, I failed to protect you. More than that, before abandoning you I besmirched your name. I am unfitting to call myself your vassal, you should leave me and continue moving forward.¡±
Has she been wallowing in this self-pity the whole time I was asleep? Blaming herself? I am the one who has been constantly betraying her trust. Using her. Running around recklessly and forcing her to clean up the mess.
When it seemed like she was done speaking for the moment, I unfolded my arms and pulled a chair over from the side table so that my eyes could meet her own on even ground.
¡°You moron.¡±
Jacqueline¡¯s eyes widened at my statement; it had clearly not been what she was expecting me to say. Unperturbed, my speech had only just begun.
¡°I do not want to hear talk like that from you. You have always been there for me, even when I didn¡¯t deserve it. Whenever I failed, you picked me up and covered for me. So what if you lost your arm? You never complained. Even if it made your work a struggle, you put in more effort and pressed on. Sure, losing your legs is different; no amount of effort would be enough to overcome this.¡±
Her face turned downcast, but I had merely spoken the truth.
¡°¡But so what? So what if you can¡¯t walk anymore? So what if you can¡¯t fight? Why do you think for even a second that I would just get rid of you?¡±
Jacqueline¡¯s eyes flashed, ¡°That¡¯s the problem, my lady. You should get rid of me. I can do nothing to help you as I am now, to hold on for my sake would be the height of folly.¡±
I crossed my arms and sat back in my chair while closing my eyes, ¡°Jacqueline, what gives you the right to tell me that?¡±
¡°My lady, I mean no offense; I speak only the truth as I see it.¡±
¡°Then on top of your legs, you have also gone blind.¡±
Opening my eyes, I saw that Jacqueline had frozen. I pressed the attack.
¡°You have twice sworn yourself to my service. Twice I have betrayed that oath, yet still, you call me your lady. In the future I will need to abandon people, people will live and die by my words and actions¡ People already have.¡±
Asten, Kurtis, Dent, Adam.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me I should leave you now. I already know that would be the smarter thing to do. I don¡¯t care.¡±
She looked like she was about to protest something, but a wave of my hand silenced whatever it was.
¡°Besides, I was told what you did for my sister. Why would you do that, if you claim to have failed me, and think I should cast you aside?¡±
¡°...Because, she reminded me of myself¡¡±
Jacqueline¡¯s voice was small as she spoke, but I picked up on it clearly.
¡°Because of what happened? The memories you recovered when I removed the worm?¡±
¡°¡Yes. I, I remembered everything. My old life, before my own Dedication. It was¡ I remember things that should have faded as if they happened yesterday. It was, is, disconcerting¡ Now I understand what you meant when you would occasionally complain about your skill, and why the shadows who obtained it went insane from the experience¡¡±
She trailed off and we sat in silence. There were a few things to be said about what her breakdown had revealed, but for now, it would be best to hold my tongue. Jacqueline needed some time to cool her head, and pressing the issue immediately would not be good for what I needed to accomplish here today.
After a few minutes, she finally began speaking again. Haltingly, but slowly gaining confidence as she went on.
¡°My own¡ recruitment, was a messy affair¡ My family was poor, so we didn¡¯t have much¡ we didn¡¯t have much space, since we were so close always, my older sister, she got caught up in things. Instead of replacing me with, one of those things. They just killed off my family, and nobody cared.¡±
¡°How do you know nobody cared?¡± It was a struggle to keep my voice calm when she revealed what she had remembered to me. I wanted very much to let my anger at Five and the shadows out in my tone, but that wouldn¡¯t help things.
¡°Because I checked. The past few months have been¡ well, there wasn¡¯t much for me to do, so I asked after Lord Gustav, and he agreed to have it looked into for me, as a favor to you¡ My apologies, for using your name without permission, Lady Stahlia.¡±
That statement was promptly and succinctly waved off. Had I been awake, it was a request that would have been granted without question. Her acting on her own here was entirely permissible.
¡°Pay that no mind, what did you learn?¡±
¡°¡There was not even an investigation. It was not like their bodies were hidden in anyway, rather they were simply left to rot. We were so poor that when my family turned up dead, nobody bothered to look into the cause.¡±
¡°I¡¯m¡ sorry to hear that. Are you sure it was not because of the Order putting pressure on the authorities?¡±
Jacqueline merely shook her head.
Again, the two of us fell into silence for a time. After waiting to see if she would continue and receiving no further comments, I got up and moved to one of the counters. Jacqueline made no move to follow me with her eyes, seemingly lost in some memory or simply content to think of nothing at all while staring off into space.
A quick ruffle through the cabinet revealed a stock tea kettle and some decent, though not luxurious, leaves. Even though this was only a servant¡¯s room it still came equipped with a magic-powered water faucet so filling the kettle was easy.
Right, deep breaths.
It might have been better to chant the [Boil Water] spell, but given the present state of my status sheet, using anything that stemmed from the system was a mildly frightening prospect. Especially given how my corrupted [Eidetic Memory] had tossed me into a flashback, forcing me to relive character creation. There was also the fact that I needed to practice controlling my mana again, so that I didn¡¯t break anything by using too much too quickly.
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The first try instantly boiled off all of the water, creating a puff of steam that caused my guard knights to start. Thankfully, it was a potential outcome that was easily predicted, so the top of the kettle had been left open. If I hadn¡¯t done that, then there may have been a more violent steam explosion.
Jacqueline showed no reaction to this occurrence though, a fact that was a bit concerning. Once my knights had been reassured that there was no danger, it was time to try again. Once again, the water flash steamed and left the kettle dry. The third time though, I managed to only evaporate half the water. The other half was left at a raging boil, which calmed to a more reasonable level after adding cold water to refill.
Adding the leaves, it was time to wait for them to properly steep. To aid this along, the kettle gently shook as I moved it around in tiny circles. Once the water was dyed a rich dark color and began to emit a pungent odor, it was time to pour.
Two cups and saucers were placed at the table, ¡°Would you please wheel her over here?¡±
The knight gave a start at my request but followed the order. Once Jacqueline had been moved to her place, I pulled my chair around so it was next to her. In retrospect, I was not exhibiting the disposition required of my station, making the tea myself and caring for a maid to such an extent. Not that that would bother me at all, the knights would just have to deal with it.
Carefully pouring the brew out into the two cups, my hand reached out and clasped Jacqueline¡¯s. When she felt the handle of her cup she instinctively gripped it firmly, much to my relief. I sat back in my chair to wait for any change in her demeanor while gripping my own cup firmly in hand.
As she looked into the cup, as though trying to locate the meaning to life or some other philosophical question of great importance, light and color slowly returned to her eyes and cheeks. It took her a few minutes longer before she slowly began to lift the cup. Once it was being held below her nose, she paused and inhaled the smell of the tea leaves, a small smile starting at the corner of her lips and spreading out as she did so.
Satisfied, I went to take a sip of my own tea, and immediately gagged as the foul liquid hit my tongue.
What the hell!? The leaves might have been poorer quality than I¡¯ve grown used to, but that doesn¡¯t explain how it tastes so completely awful! What the hell!?
Before any solution came to me, Jacqueline began to move the rim of her cup towards her own mouth.
Oh shit! That isn¡¯t good!
¡°Jacqueline, wait,¡±
My warning came too late though, and I watched in horror as she took a sip of the biologically hazardous substance I had endeavored to poison her with. A long moment passed as she rolled the liquid around in her mouth before swallowing. The whole time, her expression remained neutral.
¡°Lady Stahlia, thank you for the thought but in the future, please allow me to brew any tea you wish to have.¡±
¡°¡I tried to warn you.¡±
¡°Indeed.¡±
It seemed that she had returned somewhat to her earlier disposition, but that was unacceptable.
¡°Jacqueline, I don¡¯t want you to make the tea. I wanted to make it, for you. It¡¯s my fault that things turned out the way they did, and I¡¯m working to fix it, but I don¡¯t know when that will happen. Until then, let me help you? Even if you think I should let you go, let me look out for you for a change.¡±
She looked at me in mild surprise, but I ignored it and pressed on.
¡°You have always been there for me, look where that got you. Now, it¡¯s my turn to be there for you, ok? Don¡¯t act like my servant. Let me make the tea, let me make sure you have everything you need, and let me be the one for you to lean on when things are hard.¡±
¡°That¡¯s¡ I do not think that,¡±
¡°No buts. I do not want to make it an order, but I will if you make me.¡±
Thankfully, after a moment Jacqueline relented. Smiling wanly, she agreed though with a condition of her own.
¡°If you insist, just¡ allow me to re-teach you how to brew tea, and please do not go out of your way.¡±
¡°I can accept that¡ Thank you, Jacqueline.¡±
The first request was easy enough to follow; not to toot my own horn, but once long ago my tea-making ability had been quite good. Apparently, having lost the benefit of my perfect memory, and having spent the past several years with everything being done for me had caused my non-system skills to rust.
The second request was also a no-brainer. Obviously, it would be impossible for me to personally care for Jacqueline every day the way she had for me. My obligations were numerous and would only continue to grow. Still, I could ensure that she had the help she needed until things had been fixed. Now that we had reached an accord, and Jacqueline was somewhat dragged out of her shell though, it was time to make sure she didn¡¯t retreat back into it.
Setting aside the awful not-tea, I asked her a question that had been nagging at the back of my mind since first coming to learn of the subject, ¡°Jacqueline, what exactly have you told Rosial about me?¡±
My former maid nodded, ¡°Right, the young lady was curious about your past. About things that had happened after she was taken. At least, I think that is the case¡ she is still quite confused, even so many months later.¡±
On a hunch, I quickly cut in with another question, ¡°That sounds like a pretty heavy topic, are you sure that the only reason you spoke with her about it was that she reminded you of yourself?¡±
Jacqueline paused in thought, then slowly shook her head.
¡°No¡ I was quite distraught when I woke up and was told you were in a coma again. I knew what was happening, but part of me¡ I was afraid you wouldn¡¯t wake up at all, and that it would be the result of my own failure¡¡±
She caught my eyebrows, raised in mild irritation that she was still blaming herself.
¡°I was afraid that I would be left alone, right after being given back my past. That, those memories, reminded me of what I used to have with my own sister. I think, that I saw the two of us in you and Lady Rosial.¡±
Thought it might be something like that.
¡°Well, from what I hear, those stories have been helping Rosial hold on to what she has left¡¡±
My voice trailed off as thoughts of my sister drifted through my head.
¡°You haven¡¯t seen her yet, have you? You should go, I can wait.¡±
¡°No, this is fine. I don¡¯t¡ I¡¯m still not even sure what I will say when I see her¡ It might be pathetic, but in a way, I suppose I am using you to run away from that, even if it is inevitable.¡± As I spoke, I shook my head sadly.
Jacqueline raised an eyebrow, ¡°Is that not exactly the kind of thing you just told me not to dwell on?¡±
She had a point, annoyingly enough; I was more or less forcing her to move on, while at the same time running away myself. There was one small difference though.
¡°Perhaps, but I will be seeing her today¡ and the last time I saw her, I¡ killed her.¡±
Saying that made it feel like a weight I didn¡¯t even know was there had been lifted off my shoulders. It was liberating to say out loud to someone else. Jacqueline nodded slowly.
¡°I heard about that when they were telling me what happened¡ I can imagine what that must be like, but you know? Rosial doesn¡¯t seem to mind.¡±
Now that was interesting.
¡°What do you mean, she doesn¡¯t seem to mind?¡±
Jacqueline reached out to the tea kettle and slid it towards me, ¡°Could, could you empty this?¡±
From her tone, it sounded like the idea of asking me to do something was uncomfortable, but she would just have to get used to it.
¡°Yes, allow me.¡±
I took the kettle over to the sink and emptied it out then, at Jacqueline¡¯s next request, refilled it and brought it back to the table. Plucking up some of the leaves from earlier, she began to walk me through the process of brewing the tea, from the start. As we worked, she told me a bit about Rosial.
¡°As I was saying, I do not think that she hates you for killing her, as strange as that sounds. Honestly, I am a bit unsure if she even understands that she died in the first place, she knows what death is, of course. But the way she tells the story, all you did was cut her and put her to sleep; when she woke up, the wound was gone¡¡±
The kettle was now singing loudly, so Jacqueline paused herself and swiftly removed the lid before adding the leaves while I watched on. Covering the lid, she left the kettle to sit and continued,
¡°Frankly, it is a bit concerning the way she views the whole thing; in her own words, ¡®my sister¡¯s stab was beautiful.¡¯ The way she talks, its like she¡¯s gone a bit mad already. Not surprising, given what she must have been through¡¡±
Jacqueline¡¯s eyes grew distant again, it was clear she had become lost in memory once more. I could of course pull her out of it, but that probably wouldn¡¯t be the best thing for me to do. The better course of action would be to simply let her reminisce, as long as she did not become completely lost in the past.
A minute later she was back and took the lid of the kettle. Straining out the leaves, she poured two cups and passed one to me, ¡°What do you think you did wrong?¡±
After taking a sip of the offered tea, it seemed to dance over my tongue. My own had been positively vile, but what Jacqueline had produced had a rich, silky flavor. After considering for a bit, my conclusion was that,
¡°Was it because I made it too quickly? I was stirring it to make the steeping go faster¡¡±
Jacqueline nodded, ¡°That¡¯s partially right. You also used magic to heat the water, that¡¯s going to change the flavor of the water a bit¡ Not usually enough to notice, but it looked like you were having trouble regulating your mana?¡±
¡°You were watching!¡±
Jacqueline responded to my indignant retort with a small, sad smile, ¡°Of course, I was trained to always be conscious of everything around me¡ just another example of how I failed after you helped me. There is no excuse for how removed and withdrawn I became.¡±
¡°Knock it off, I have already told you that you did nothing wrong, so stop apologizing to me.¡±
It would take time for Jacqueline to come to terms with that; her training coupled with the way I myself had acted towards her made it so that these scars ran deep. But I would stick things out, for as long as I had to.
¡°¡Of course.¡±
¡°Jacqueline, It is my fault that things turned out the way they did. Well, going back I probably would have made all the same choices, given the information I had at the time, but that does not change the fact that things wound up in such a state because of me. I want to fix that. So please bear with me?¡±
Jacqueline paused, then smiled ruefully, ¡°Honestly, if I did not already know, I would wonder which of us was older. Thank you, Stahlia.¡±
Her response made me happier than anything else she could have said. The fact that she left of my title was a tacit agreement that she would allow me to look after her until things had been fixed. Then, the reference to our ages and wondering who was older was a reaffirmation of our trust.
It was a sure thing that not all of her resistance had been overcome, but she was willing to try. That alone meant more to me than anything, and as I prepared myself to go to my next meeting somehow I knew that it would work out.
Damnit, even when I¡¯m helping you, you still wound up helping me!
5-4 Sisters
It was time for my final reunion, at least for now. There were a few other people I would like to see, such as Sana and Giogi, the latter of whom I regret to say, but I had completely forgotten in the wake of everything.
Poor Giogi, I really hope you managed to get out alright, even Gustav didn¡¯t bring you up.
He would have been around the Francois Estate when things went down. Although we were not super close friends, if he had gotten hurt because of his involvement with me it would be troubling. The state of those two was something to be discussed with Gustav later, for now, it was time to face the music.
Talking with Jacqueline had eased my nerves about the coming encounter somewhat, however they had returned in force now that I was looking at the door to Rosial¡¯s rooms. Taking a deep breath, and raising my hand to knock, I had to jump out of the way as the door flew open.
¡°¡What do you mean that was too much? Felicity did what you said!¡±
To the casual observer, Felicity had just thrown the door open, nearly blowing me away, and was now talking to herself. Of course, that was not the case. If I had to guess, I would say that her sense of smell picked me up on the other side of the door, and Claire realized I was waffling about instead of announcing myself. We would need to have words later.
¡°She¡¯s fine, stand down.¡±
At my sharp order, the knight who was about to grab Felicity fell back into line. The overblown reaction was understandable when you consider what just happened from his point of view so I was not upset.
¡°Felicity?¡± Smiling sweetly at the rambunctious girl, I advanced.
¡°EEH! Menacing!¡± Making a dated reference, she turned on her heel and attempted to flee back inside the room, but I was faster and able to catch her by the scruff of her neck.
¡°Honestly, the things she shows you¡ Relax, I am not going to hurt you.¡±
Felicity had done her best impression of a dead fish after I caught her, going completely limp. At my words, she giggled.
¡°Felicity knows, we were just having fun!¡±
¡°That being said, you need to be more careful, and reflect on your actions; no head pats or ear scratchies today.¡±
The look of sheer mortification and distress on her face at my announcement would have melted even the coldest heart, but luckily I had already died once; my heart was made of sterner stuff. It was damn hard to resist though.
¡°How is Rosial?¡± Moving quickly to change the conversation before my decision wavered, I asked after my blood sister.
Felicity¡¯s face turned dark for a brief instant before she wiped the expression away with an innocent enough smile, ¡°Rosial Imoutochan is inside, she wants to meet our big sister!¡±
¡That emphasis isn¡¯t a good sign. I knew Rosial was a few months younger, but if Felicity is fixating on that, it means she¡¯s feeling like she needs to compensate¡ Maybe meeting them together was the wrong choice? No, if I had picked one or the other, it would make the left-out party feel like I was playing favorites. I need them to get past feelings like that¡
¡°I see, can you, can you introduce us?¡± Letting my true feelings show on my face, it displayed all of the nervousness and anxiety I was feeling at this moment. My show of weakness had the desired effect, as Felicity¡¯s own expression turned serious.
¡°Yes, Rosial Imouto is a bit scared too, but she doesn¡¯t think Felicity knows; she doesn¡¯t know Felicity can smell it.¡±
Taking my hand, Felicity pulled me towards the door. Behind me, one of the knights made a snickering sound, which I ignored splendidly. Upon entering the room, my eyes saw Rosial for the first time in nearly four years. Granted, I had technically seen her just a few months ago, but given what had happened then, I would rather forget it had happened at all.
She was nervously pacing the length of the room, in a manner unlike a child her age. The sight of it reminded me of everything she must have been through, and I recalled the details of what Jacqueline had told me vividly, even without relying on Eidetic Memory. The desire to run up and hug her was strong but owing to our last meeting, my legs seemed unwilling to take that action.
A moment later she saw me and stopped her errant pathing. Looking where she had just been walking, I would have sworn she had worn the carpet down somewhat. We locked eyes in a silence so thick that I could hear my heart thumping in my chest.
¡°Rosial,¡±
¡°Sister,¡±
Both of us started talking at the same time and fell silent in turn.
¡°¡°You go first.¡±¡±
¡°¡°No, you go first.¡±¡±
I was about to continue the clich¨¦, but thought better of it and held my tongue. After another moment of waiting to see if I would speak, Rosial began talking.
¡°Stahlia, sister, I¡ Wait, where did you go!?¡±
Whirling her head around, as though searching the room for someone, Rosial seemed to be in a panic over something, by the sounds of it someone was missing.
¡°Rosial? I did not go anywhere; I am still right here.¡± I took a step towards her, but a small tug on my back halted my movement.
¡°Stahlia Neechan, don¡¯t¡ Rosial Imoutochan doesn¡¯t mean you¡ I think she means her ¡®imaginary friend¡¯¡¡±
Imaginary friend? What does Claire mean by that?
Still, the fact that she had one, and even seemed to have been hallucinating its presence, was a bit concerning. Normally a child having an imaginary friend or two was not a big deal but given Rosial¡¯s past traumas, it was a bit concerning. It was gratifying that Felicity seemed to genuinely care about Rosial, for now I needed to do something to help Rosial. To that end, I gently removed Felicity¡¯s hand from the hem of my skirt.
Slowly approaching her while being sure to stay in vision, I reached out a hand to grasp my sister¡¯s shoulder. The contact caused her to give a start, but after a moment she seemed to recognize where she was and who I was.
¡°Stahlia? Where did Stali go?¡±
So the name of her imaginary friend is ¡®Stali¡¯?
Everything was starting to make sense, slowly but surely.
¡°I don¡¯t know where she went, do you want to go look for her?¡±
My question received a tenuous nod in response, but it was something to work with. Taking Rosial in one hand, I collected Felicity in the other and led the way out of the room. Of course, there was no doubt in my mind that we would find neither head nor hair of ¡°Stali¡± that being said, we did not need to.
¡°What can you tell me about Stali?¡±
¡°She¡¯s always there to protect me!¡± My sister¡¯s face lit up at the opportunity to talk about her imaginary friend.
¡°Really? How long have you known her?¡±
¡°Ever since I left the black place¡¡±
Noting Rosial¡¯s change in tone, I decided to change the subject away from her past.
¡°How has everything been since¡¡±
¡°Since I died? The nice man gives me whatever I need, but I miss Mr. Five¡¡±
Right, I guess that makes sense. I¡¯m sure that asshole was manipulative as all hell. I¡¯ll have to really twist the knife when our paths cross next.
¡°The nice man?¡±
Rosial nodded, ¡°The nice man, the one who found me and the broken tool¡ Ow!¡±
Hearing Rosial calling Jacqueline a ¡®broken tool¡¯ had caused me to subconsciously tighten my grip on her hand, which had obviously hurt her. Quickly letting go, I apologized, ¡°Sorry! I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you¡¡±
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
My sister shrugged it off, ¡°It¡¯s ok, it didn¡¯t hurt that much¡ You really care about her, and me, don¡¯t you?¡±
It was subtle, but her tone had changed a bit. It was less childish, more like someone who had been through something rather extreme. From what I had seen, this was probably the result of the memories she had gotten back from the third figment.
In this state, she¡¯s probably a bit more stable¡ But should I encourage this version? That could wind up suppressing her remaining innocence, but if I try and suppress this version of her it would be like denying the past¡
¡°Yes, I care about both of you, Felicity as well. Family is important to me.¡±
It didn¡¯t seem like treating Rosial like a simple child would be for the best. Much like Felicity, her life had forced her to grow up quickly, though unlike Felicity her mind was a lot more troubled. My feline sister was capable of moments of extreme maturity, but she had a guiding force in Claire. Rosial didn¡¯t have that, so her own mental state was incredibly unstable.
Case in point, creating an imaginary friend. Normally it wouldn¡¯t mean anything, but she¡¯s way too attached.
¡°Have you seen Stali anywhere?¡±
Rosial shook her head, ¡°No, but I don¡¯t think that matters.¡±
¡What? You freaking out was the reason I¡¯m entertaining this search!
¡°What do you mean?¡±
Frowning, Rosial adopted a voice like this was something obvious that I should know automatically, ¡°Stali isn¡¯t real, so she¡¯ll come back on her own if I just wait long enough.¡±
So her personality is totally fractured then. The mature version knows and accepts reality, while the more childish version needs constant attention¡
¡°Well, if that¡¯s the case, what do you want to do?¡±
Rosial¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°I want to spar!¡±
¡°¡No, not happening.¡±
Her expression fell, but this was something that would not be tolerated. The last thing I wanted was to have that kind of relationship with my sister.
Felicity tugged on my hand, trying to get my attention. When I looked over at her, she motioned with her free hand to get my attention. Lending her an ear, she offered a bit of advice, courtesy of Claire.
¡°Claire Neechan says that you should do it.¡±
Claire probably had her reasons, but I couldn¡¯t imagine what they might be. Fighting Rosial was the least desirable outcome here, the one thing that logic dictated should not happen under any circumstance.
But if Claire thinks that I should¡ Maybe it¡¯s for the best?
This was not going how I had expected it to. On one hand, I didn¡¯t know what I had been expecting. Certainly not a pleasant tea party like with Edith and Sarala, nor a tearful commiseration like with Jacqueline. Maybe sparing with her was for the best after all. It was what she wanted to do after all. But was that really behavior that should be tolerated, should be encouraged?
It felt like we were at a crossroads like whatever was decided here would influence Rosial¡¯s recovery. Because she would recover. Even if she had to be dragged along kicking and screaming the whole way, I would be certain to ensure that much at the very least.
But that was for later, for now¡ Taking a deep breath, I decided to trust Claire¡¯s judgment, ¡°Once. Only one match, then we¡¯ll be doing something else, alright?¡±
Rosial¡¯s face immediately lit up at my words.
¡°Hurray!¡±
Turning to the knight commander, I inquired about a place where we could do this thing at. Meanwhile, Rosial had become quite fidgety and was excitedly hopping from foot to foot, shifting her weight around as she went.
I really hope I don¡¯t regret this¡
Our party was guided to a practice room that was presently unused; normally it would be for the guards of whoever was staying in these rooms, but since Rosial and Felicity were being guarded by the regular palace knights, there was nobody to get in our way.
Rosial moved some distance away from me, gripping a wooden knife. The two of us fell into a ready stance in mirror of each other; both of us were using the same style after all.
The question is, should I win or throw?
The idea of Rosial winning through her own abilities was laughable; the only way she could do so was through a stroke of luck so astronomically unlikely it wasn¡¯t even calculable. That probably sounded incredibly cocky and self-assured of me, but it was the honest truth. The gap between us was simply too large. Even if I did not utilize Blood Magic, the odds of her being able to beat me were slim at best; I highly doubted she was as high leveled as me.
Probably around level ten, fifteen at most.
She would be high for her age, definitely, but knowing how much experience was needed to hit twenty¡ I really hoped she wasn¡¯t. It was something that could be checked and would be easy enough to do so, but I decided not to do so. At least until after our match, if her stats were known to me beforehand then it would change my plan of approach. That would not be fair to her.
I think, winning would be best, but I should let her showoff a bit before I do it.
Felicity seemed a bit grumpy; even if she had relayed Claire¡¯s message that didn¡¯t mean she wasn¡¯t feeling neglected, but for now she was holding her peace.
¡I hope she doesn¡¯t want to fight as well, though if she does, I¡¯ll probably just have to do it.
The guard captain asked me if this was really alright and when I answered in the affirmative, he moved to a position where he could serve as a referee for the bout. Holding up one of his hands, he made a chopping motion. Rosial began to circle me, slowly.
Rotating to keep her in view at all times, my pace being set by her own.
This persisted for a while, neither of us willing to move first. Eventually though, Rosial grew fed up with my passivity and activated a skill of her own. A few mirages matching her own appearance separated from her body and walked in mirror of her. My eyes seemed incapable of focusing on any of them, sliding right off after a second or two.
I was aware of where she and her mirage clones were, but it was like they didn¡¯t exist like my brain refused to register their presence. They were advancing towards me steadily, the cadence of their footsteps synced perfectly with my heartbeat.
Right, well, I can still probably block her attack, but this will make it more difficult. Of course it wouldn¡¯t be so easy.
If I couldn¡¯t perceive her with my normal senses, I would just have to augment them. Using Blood Magic to fill my eyes and ears with mana, I enhanced them. Applying an aspect wasn¡¯t needed here, as all that mattered was overpowering Rosial¡¯s skill with my own mana. I was banking on the fact that my own capacity was higher than hers of course, but that was definitely the case.
Sure enough, the mirages faded away from my vision and it was once again possible for me to properly perceive her existence. Just in time as well, since she was a lot closer than I had realized. Hurriedly throwing up my own wooden blade in a guard, I was able to block her attack as she lunged at me. Knocking her own weapon out of her hand with a quick slap, I assumed that was the end of things.
That was a misjudgment on my part, after all, a battle isn¡¯t won by simply disarming your opponent. Rosial¡¯s foot nearly caught me in the sternum, it would have, had I not leaned back at the last moment. A feat only made possible due to my [Kinetic Perception] skill letting me see the attack coming.
So that skill was mostly working, what gives with Eidetic Memory forcing flashbacks instead of just letting me remember detail?
Questions for later, for now I had a duel to wrap up. Darting forward and grabing Rosial¡¯s foot, I used it to put her on the ground. Gently of course; hurting her through my own actions anymore than had already been done was unthinkable.
¡°Do you yield?¡±
She glared up at me and struggled for a moment before going limp, ¡°Fine.¡±
Not that I was going to fall for that, ¡°Say it.¡±
¡°¡I yield.¡±
I let her get up; if she hadn¡¯t admitted defeat clearly she might have tried to continue things. After dusting herself off Rosial fixed me with a pouty face, complete with puffed cheeks.
¡°You didn¡¯t even try to take that seriously!¡±
What¡? Why would I fight you seriously? I didn¡¯t even want to fight in the first place!
¡°What do you mean?¡±
She crossed her arms and glared at me, ¡°When you beat me last time, it was so pretty¡ But here, you didn¡¯t do anything at all!¡±
I¡ I guess that makes sense¡ She only knows assassin and fighting work, so it¡¯s very likely that she¡¯s somehow equating this to affection in some sort of twisted attempt to interact with me? Or I¡¯m completely wrong¡ Damn it! Why is this stuff so hard!?
I bit my lip and closed my eyes, ¡°Sorry, Rosial. I did not realize you felt that way¡ If you want, we can practice more later on, but for now, don¡¯t you think that Felicity feels alone?¡±
I really hope I don¡¯t regret this¡ Was this why Claire told me I should go along with her? I want to help her recover what little of her childhood she has left, not mold her into a perfect killer!
Rosial looked over at Felicity, who was watching from the sidelines with a complicated expression that was halfway between jealousy and awe. For what it was worth, the knights as well seemed somewhat surprised by the fight as well. Even I hadn¡¯t been expecting something like that mirage step thing.
Speaking of which, now that the fight was over it would be alright for me to try and appraise her. I activated my Divine Eyes and¡ couldn¡¯t see her status. Looking at Rosial with my divine eyes, I could see her mana just fine, but her status didn¡¯t show up at all. Looking over at Felicity demonstrated that things were working correctly since her status showed up without issue. To get a third point of comparison, I quickly checked one of the knights but was likewise unable to view his status.
So, it works on Felicity, but not Rosial, and not the Knight. I didn¡¯t check Jacqueline, Edith, or Sarala, but it probably wouldn¡¯t work on them either¡ It might work on Stil, and if it does then I would know what the criteria is.
My working theory for this new sight-based appraisal was that it required the target and I to be soul-linked, or have been soul-linked before. That was hopefully not the case, since it would make the ability almost entirely useless.
I¡¯ll try it on Stil first, then with permission, on Rupert. Until then, best not to worry about it.
Using my original Appraisal method on Rosial was out of the question, at least until I got my mana control back under control; I did not want to turn my sister into frozen sister pieces.
¡°Come on Felicity, Rosial, let¡¯s go back to my rooms. It is getting late.¡±
Rosial looked confused by this suggestion, but Felicity¡¯s face immediately lit up happily.
¡°Yay!¡±
¡°Stahlia, why would we go there if it¡¯s getting late?¡±
I gave Rosial a warm smile, ¡°To sleep.¡±
¡°But our beds aren¡¯t in your room.¡±
¡°Correct, but my bed is.¡±
¡°So will we sleep on the floor?¡±
Are you kidding with me?
¡°No, you two will be sleeping with me.¡±
¡°But why though¡?¡±
This exchange was going nowhere, but I had entertained Rosial¡¯s desire to fight me, now she would entertain my desire for a sleepover.
¡°Because.¡±
Rosial seemed to decide it wasn¡¯t a topic she would get a satisfactory answer to, so she simply went along with it. We got back to my room and had a meal together, just the three of us. After dinner, it was time for girl talk, or it would be if Edith and Sarala were here. Felicity and Rosial were both a bit young for that stuff.
Instead of talking about boys, I taught them a series of games from Earth. Felicity already knew most of these, but be owing to Claire¡¯s guiding force she at least pretended to be new. At first, Rosial was having a hard time figuring out why things like Patty Cake were fun, but eventually she slowly started to enjoy herself. It probably helped that she was naturally competitive, and Felicity turned out to be a good rival for that.
By the time it was time for bed, both girls had grown tired enough that they fell asleep quite quickly. When morning came, both were sleeping peacefully on either side of me.
5-5 Growing Pains
Stahlia, Sixteen Years Old, Tenth Month of 948
A few days after my initial recovery, I was awoken by a lump landing on my bed. It was a bit bigger than usual, by about double.
Still asleep.
The lump separated into two and crawled onto either side of me. This was as expected, as this same phenomenon had occurred the previous three mornings as well. A quiet barely suppressed giggling betrayed the identity of one of my would-be assassins, followed by a ¡°Tch!¡± to reveal the other. Since they had both made noise, it was now time to wake up.
¡°Aahhh, good morning you two, sleep well?¡±
Sitting up and stretching my arms dramatically, I looked at Felicity and Rosial.
¡°Felicity, you ruined it!¡±
The girl in question pouted a bit while apologizing, ¡°Sorry¡¡±
The ears going flat is a nice touch Claire, if you¡¯re actually controlling them right now that is.
After Felicity¡¯s transformation into a Nekomata, Claire had apparently stopped controlling the senses every hour of every day; [Talent Void] seemed to protect Felicity from the worst side effects of her abilities so Claire had shifted into a different role, though she still took control sometimes.
¡°Now now, none of that. Rosial, Felicity just doesn¡¯t have the same experience you do.¡±
The first time they had played ¡°Assassins¡± had given me mixed feelings, but the past few days had allowed me to grow somewhat used to it, for better or worse. At the very least, the two of them playing together had to be a good thing, I just wished they would go for a less violent game. Not that there was any violence involved; from my understanding, they would ¡°win¡± if they got close enough to wake me up by tapping my forehead. They lost if I woke up ahead of time, as had been the case today.
I¡¯m just glad that Rosial hasn¡¯t brought up Stali since that first time¡ hopefully my presence here is having a stabilizing effect¡
It was my assumption that ¡°Stali¡± had been created by a fragment of suppressed memory stemming from the desire to hold on to her past. Now that the past was with her again so to speak, Stali wasn¡¯t needed anymore so her subconscious was letting go. Granted, I wasn¡¯t a psychologist so I could be wildly off base, but that hope was all there really was to go on so I would cling to it.
After shooing the two from my bed so that my day could begin, I got up and rang a small bell. Sasha, my new maid, came in and began to help me get ready.
¡°My Lady, His Highness Prince Rupert sent word that he would be somewhat late for today¡¯s meeting, how should I respond?¡±
¡°Tell him that is fine.¡±
¡°Very well, Lord Gustav wishes to speak with you regarding the upcoming ceremonies, your reply?¡±
¡°We can meet today over lunch.¡±
¡°Over lunch? Will you be hosting, or shall Lord Gustav?¡±
¡°¡I will host.¡±
¡°Very well. Your guard knights report that everything was normal last night.¡±
¡°¡My thanks to them then.¡±
¡°I shall relay it. Then,¡±
¡°Sasha?¡±
¡°Yes my lady?¡±
¡°Stop. Write everything down, or tell it to me all at once. I do not have the patience to spend thirty minutes going over everything, every morning.¡±
¡°¡Yes, my lady.¡±
My new maid meant well, but she was so¡ dull. Jacqueline¡¯s brilliance had utterly spoiled me; about four fifths of everything Sasha brought to my attention would have been quietly handled without my knowledge by Jacqueline. Come to think of it, Lucy and Frieda had been exceptional as well. They had to be since they worked directly under Jacqueline.
I should find out what happened to them, and see if I would be allowed to employ them again. The answer is probably no, but it couldn¡¯t hurt to ask¡ anything would be better than this woman and her inability to think for herself¡
Sasha passed me a roll of paper that she had prepared in advance; a similar exchange had occurred yesterday and the day before. Quickly reading through it and annotating my responses, I handed it back.
¡°See, that was much more efficient, was it not?¡±
¡°¡As you say, my lady.¡±
Haaaa¡ I¡¯ll ask about Lucy and Frieda to Gustav later today. At the very least, I would like for one of them to retrain Sasha.
The one saving grace was that Sasha was the only royal maid I had to deal with. Ordinarily, there would be a whole team assigned to me, but my condition was being kept under wraps, and a maid would quickly find out about my true age given how intimate dressing me was.
Making pseudo slave contracts, like the one Edith¡¯s maid had with Duke Claurence was an option, but one that I had refused. Simply put, I didn¡¯t want to be surrounded by servants. Going from a single maid, with two supporting her, to a whole team was too big of a change. Fortunately, Rupert did not push the issue and had someone make arrangements to get me out of having to contend with an army of servants.
But I¡¯ll have to get over that eventually. Taking care of a member of the royal family isn¡¯t a task one servant can do. Eventually, I¡¯ll have to get more, but not now.
Once my morning routine was finally finished, it was time to start the day. I bid goodbye to Felicity and Rosial, who had ended up moving into my chambers, collected Still and my guard knights and then departed. The first thing on today¡¯s agenda was a meeting with Lord Brisben. He was a count in Rupert¡¯s faction, and one of the nobles who had stepped up to fill Count Francois¡¯ vacancy.
Though I was not performing any official duties yet, Rupert was arranging meetings between me and the various important members of his faction ahead of my public return. This was the first such meeting and was being done now before Brisben took his men back to the frontlines. Personally, I was hoping to be able to tease out a bit of information about the state of the country. I could always demand Rupert be straight with me, but given that I was going to have to live with him that was something preferably avoided.
It was likely that he was expecting me to go about finding the information on my own anyways, and I would hate to disappoint.
¡°Lord Brisben, you may stand.¡±
The man had dropped to his knees as soon as he saw me, yet another thing that was troubling and yet needed me to get used to it.
¡°Thank you for meeting with me today, I trust that I find you in good health?¡± While he seemed genuine enough, his eyes were cold and distant. It was a calculated question, likely trying to get information about my long absence. Thankfully, such questions had been predicted.
¡°Indeed, I have fully recovered from the incident with the Francois.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie, since Count Francois was directly involved with the cause of my long absence. Even if it was not totally the truth.
¡°That gladdens me to hear, when his highness announced the change in your engagement while you were yet indisposed and your father absent, it worried many of us a great deal.¡±
A pleasant smile appeared on my face, this was all going according to the rough prediction Gustav had shared with me the day before, ¡°Yes, my apologies for that. Given the recentness of my kidnapping and the actions of the first prince, it was decided that it would be best for me to remain in hiding until things could calm down a bit.¡±
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Not that I would call a civil cold war very calm, but I suppose it could be worse.
Then Lord Brisben threw me for a loop. His face turned serious, ¡°You were not coerced into this then?¡±
Excuse me what?
¡°Lord Brisben, please explain.¡±
Bowing his head he apologized, ¡°My apologies my lady, but as I am the first person to see you after the trouble earlier this year¡ there have been some murmurings regarding the veracity of what his highness has shared with us¡ Not to mention the first prince¡¯s claims on the matter.¡±
¡°¡Lord Brisben, Prince Rupert is the crown prince, are you questioning his words? I can assure you that this arrangement is one I am quite content with.¡± I needed to buy myself a moment to fully digest what was being said, and to seize the initiative back from Brisben. Hopefully, the memory of my legendary public falling out with Dominic would help him interpret my answer the way I wanted him to.
He totally threw me off course with that, what is the first prince saying about me and Rupert? That I was coerced into the engagement?
¡°My apologies, Lady Stahlia, that was foolish of me.¡± Lord Brisben¡¯s apology seemed sincere at least as far as I could tell from tone and subtle expression. After studying his face closely for a moment I nodded.
¡°My apologies as well, Lord Brisben. It seems I have forgotten what we were just discussing, would you be able to remind me?¡±
From there, we proceeded into what I considered pointless platitudes and political posturing. It was in my opinion all a bit much considering that, as far as Brisben knew, I was twelve. I was able to gather a couple crucial pieces of information though so in the end it was worth it.
Namely, the first prince had spread rumors that Prince Rupert had grown jealous of my achievements and instigated me against Count Francois, thereby betraying the de facto leader of his faction. Secondly, my engagement had been made without first consulting my father, a clear abuse of power on the part of Prince Rupert. The worrying detail was that the second accusation was correct.
Though the fact that I negotiated on my own behalf would count for something, we can¡¯t announce that, since it would reveal that I conspired against the Francois. Even if the count was a demon, we can¡¯t admit that publically, else it would imply that Rupert let a demon into his inner circle¡
I see, Rupert didn¡¯t tell me any of this so that Brisben would see my true reaction. He knew that this news would shake me, and worked that into his plan to strengthen our position. Irritating, but understandable. Now Lord Brisben will bring his observations from this meeting and start spreading the story, shoring up Rupert¡¯s own faction with reassurances and helping to discredit some of Prince Antonio¡¯s claims.
It was a solid plan, though there were some parts I still didn¡¯t fully understand, like why my father had been left in Ris instead of being brought to the capital. Surely his testimony could have been used in lieu of my own.
I¡¯ll have to ask Gustav during our lunch meeting later. Now that the Brisben card has been played, he¡¯ll probably be more willing to share details with me. Assuming I¡¯m correct about why I was kept in the dark at least.
Eventually, Lord Brisben ran out of pointless shit to talk about and we said our farewells.
¡°Thank you for the audience, Lady Stahlia.¡± He bowed rather low and placed one hand over his breast with another resting where his sword would have been, had he been wearing one. It was the Drakan military salute, and the meaning behind it was clear; Brisben was quietly reaffirming his loyalties and willingness to fight on behalf of Prince Rupert and me.
I curtsied lower than was strictly required of my own station relative to his in order to express my gratitude for the sentiment.
So much meaning behind such simple gestures and word choice¡ I hate politics already.
Thankfully the private lunch with Gustav was next, and it would be relatively easy-going by comparison. At the very least, I could still refuse to stand on ceremony with Gustav¡ though having Sasha attending to me would be a pain as always.
¡°Stahlia.¡±
¡°Lord Gustav.¡±
We nodded to each other in lieu of bows and curtsies and I saw Sasha flinch slightly out of the corner of my eye. Hopefully, she would not start trying to ¡°educate¡± me. Though she could always be ordered to stop, it would be preferable if such methods did not have to be used.
For now she seemed like she was going to hold her peace at least, as she merely pulled a chair away from the table for me. After Gustav and I were seated she retreated to the far side of the room, out of earshot.
¡°Gustav, now that Lord Brisben has seen my blind reaction to the rumors, will you be straight with me?¡±
He nodded, ¡°So you did figure it out. Indeed, you have become something of a face to this farce. Prince Antonio is using your absence as evidence of His Highness Prince Rupert¡¯s indiscretions. A rallying cry that has gathered a few additional nobles to his side; it is our hope that they can be brought back following your return to public life¡ that is the main reason we have delayed striking down the rebels despite having such an advantage.¡±
I mulled over his words for a bit before responding, ¡°So Prince Rupert is seeking to avoid weakening the kingdom as much as possible given what is to come?¡±
Gustav nodded, ¡°That is indeed the case.¡±
¡°I would like the full details at some point in the near future, but for now¡ Lady Elienor and Lady Margauritte¡ what became of them?¡±
Across the table Gustav slowly lowered his hands until they were resting flat on the wooden surface. He then exhaled slowly before answering, ¡°Lady Maurgeritte has been executed. Publicly, she was charged with conspiring to hide the traitor Count Francois and aiding in his escape. Between the two of us¡ she was fully aware of his true identity.¡±
So she did know. I can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t think she might. That¡¯s a rather large secret to keep from someone as close as a wife¡ It really puts in perspective how nice she was to me, if she was aware of Five¡¯s designs about the marriage¡ was all of that manipulation? Or did she regret it in some small way, and want to make things as pleasant as possible?
There wasn¡¯t anything to say about her death though, it had come and gone, ¡°And Lady Elienor?¡±
¡°Lady Elienor has been placed under house arrest. It is Rupert¡¯s intention for you to request her to be spared publicly; doing so will earn you some sympathy. The excuse being used, is that the children¡¯s involvement is still being investigated but the civil cold war is hindering things. The general consensus among the nobility is that Rupert does not want to have one of his fianc¨¦¡¯s close friends executed, and is dragging his feet.¡±
Rumors really are a powerful thing. That sets the stage perfectly for me to beg for her life, Rupert then gets to be seen as doting and merciful. The lords won¡¯t care much, but many of the ladies will love it.
¡°Will I put on the show at my debut? Or would it be best for me to wait a bit longer?¡±
Personally, I wanted to get my friend secured as soon as possible, but if waiting a few days would work better for the plan¡ well, she had already waited several months. It sucked, but it was what it was.
Gustav delayed his answer, as Sasha signaled us that the food had been prepared. A moment later the table was set and she had again returned to her post by the wall.
¡°It would be best to wait a short time, a few days. If you move too early, many will say that the whole thing was staged.¡±
¡°And while they would be correct, that would be bad for us. I understand.¡±
We ate in silence for a few minutes before I brought up the next topic.
¡°When is my family due to arrive, and what preparations are left for the wedding?¡±
¡°Your father, should things go according to plan, will arrive tomorrow evening¡ The preparations have all been taken care of, since the ceremony will be small and secret. The bigger issue is your debut return to society.¡±
If everything goes according to plan¡? You wouldn¡¯t say that if there wasn¡¯t a tangible threat.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with my family?¡±
Gustav¡¯s eyes flashed, ¡°Lord Ferdinand has everything under control in that regard.¡±
The de facto spymaster? Why the hell is he involved?
¡°¡I see, and why is the de facto current spy-master overseeing my family¡¯s trip?¡±
Gustav broke out into a smile, ¡°I was instructed only to tell you if you arrived at the conclusion yourself.¡±
So Rupert is using Gustav to test me? No that¡¯s too suspicious¡ Gustav is testing me? No, not everything is a test¡ Something that would be better if I didn¡¯t know, but that Gustav thinks I should know. He didn¡¯t misspeak, he said ¡®should things go according to plan¡¯ knowing it would tip me off. Tipping me off was his intention. He also thinks I know everything I need to in order to figure it out from here¡
¡°Prince Rupert suspects that Antonio will make a move on my family, or at least my father.¡±
¡°That is correct, after all, removing your father from play could only strengthen him; all he would have to do is imply that Rupert arranged it, much the same way as we handled your kidnapping and the Francois.¡±
Fuck! God damnit!
I wanted to scream, but that would accomplish nothing. No wonder Rupert had thought it best not to tell me. Knowing how I typically reacted when family was involved, anyone could see that it would be best for me not to know that there was a tangible risk to my close relations. I hated him for it, even though I agreed with him.
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Why weren¡¯t you told?¡±
When I didn¡¯t answer, Gustav continued, ¡°His highness and I agreed that telling you would be a mistake. It would be far better for your health if you could recover fully with those friends and family who were already here, while we worried on your behalf.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t lie, Rupert is incapable of worrying on anyone¡¯s behalf.¡± In contrast to Gustav¡¯s calm tone, mine was bitter.
Switching to his teacher¡¯s voice, Gustav voiced the concern that was writ deeply in my heart, ¡°Well, perhaps that is the case, but is he wrong?¡±
¡No... He wasn¡¯t wrong. The past few days have been great. If I knew about a potential threat to my family, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to relax like I did. Everything would have been under the shadow of that looming threat. It isn¡¯t like I could change anything either, I could have run out, but then I would be the one at risk. Rupert would obviously prioritize me over my family.
¡°I hate this¡¡±
Gustav only nodded, and we finished the meal in silence, the original purpose of the meeting completely forgotten.
I never would have thought that I would envy Rupert of his ability to not feel¡ I actually sort of wish I still had [Cold Hearted] right about now¡
Extra Chapter: Militarization
Baron Fynn von Ris, Thirty-Three Years Old, Fifth Month of 948.
Looking out over the field of barren dirt, my heart twinged.
So much death.
This was the location where my daughter had helped to defend our home from a force of several thousand goblins only a few months ago. Though the bodies had all been rounded up and disposed of, it was like the land bore a permanent scar; all of the plant life in the area that her spell had affected, was dead. It was as though a snowless winter had sunk its teeth into the land.
Though there was no longer any snow, the trees had not recovered their leaves at all, and the grass had not regrown following the onset of spring. A few of the knights speculated that this was a side effect of Stahlia¡¯s spell, but none of them were well-versed enough in magic to say for certain.
Still, other than being barren, the land harbored no ill effects that we could discern; animals that crossed through it survived, and a volunteer had spent a night there with no discernable repercussions. In a way, the lack of plant life was a sort of blessing. It made it much easier to spot any incoming threats, or so the knight garrison told me.
These knights¡ what strings did Stahlia pull?
The knights who had originally been only a temporary measure had one day announced that they had been permanently garrisoned here and placed under my command as the lord of this region. They immediately set to work constructing a fort from which the mountain pass could be observed and guarded. The village¡¯s guard force, those that survived the battle, worked with them and were presently being trained into a proper militia force.
All this had happened shortly after a pair of letters arrived from Stahlia. The first was greatly concerning, detailing a string of trouble that had occurred with her engagement. The second had been confusing; if it was to be believed, she had managed to figure out a solution to the problem only a few days after it first occurred. It made me feel a bit silly, given that I had only just sent a letter myself urging her caution.
Turning around, I went down from the fortifications to greet the commander.
¡°I would be lying if I told you that I knew about things like this, but to my inexperienced eye, the fort is most impressive.¡±
The knight chuckled, ¡°Aye, but we have a ways to go yet before it¡¯s finished¡ See there, that wall is only the outer skin; we need to raise the inner portion and fill it with compressed earth.¡±
Following his finger, it was obvious now that he had pointed it out; that portion of the wall was only about a half a meter thick, a single row of felled trees. The wall I had just been on top of had a walk way built into it, and a full row of more tree trunks supporting it from the rear.
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I had thought that that wall was not built similarly since it did not face the pass. But then, the fort would have a weak side, should the enemy encircle it.
This was why I had given the knight¡¯s commander carte blanche with the construction effort and direction. My domain was rich beyond its station thanks in no small part to my daughter, so we were able to hire outside help for planning. A fact which the knights had taken full advantage of.
¡°Well, I shall trust your judgment on the matter. If not for you and your men, we would not have been able to garrison a structure like this in the first place.¡±
He nodded, ¡°About that, several of the young men from the village have expressed interest in joining the militia force.¡±
¡°What of it? Some do every year or so.¡±
¡°Aye, but those are fourth sons and failed adventurers; boys with no future. This lot of boys are made up of first and second sons.¡±
Closing my eyes, I thought for a moment, ¡°Sark and his group? My daughter¡¯s friends.¡±
¡°Yes, those are the ones.¡±
This was a dilemma. My village needed defenses, and for those we needed men, I knew that much. But taking first sons was¡ It was not something to be done lightly.
¡°¡Hold a try-out. Show them real fear, scare them. But do not actually hurt them if it can be avoided¡ After that, if they still wish to fight, then I will speak with their fathers.¡±
The knight nodded, ¡°I can do that. You aren¡¯t like most nobles, you know that?¡±
¡°So I am reminded, most often by my wife.¡±
¡°Ha!¡±
The two of us enjoyed a quiet moment before it was time to continue my inspection-in-name-only.
We made our way out of the fort and towards the ramshackle parade ground where the knight¡¯s vice commander was drilling the militia. The survivors of the Goblin attack were going through drills with sweat on their brows and determination in their eyes. It was a sight that really spoke to some part of me, and for a moment I felt the desire to join them, but my station would not permit it.
¡°How goes it?¡± The commander called out to his second, who responded with a crisp salute.
¡°Sir! About as well as you can see.¡±
Given the grimness of his face, that probably wasn¡¯t so good. But I lacked any military context so I couldn¡¯t tell for myself.
¡°Captain?¡±
¡°Ah¡ Well, your villagers have spirit. Sir Cristoff here is just used to working with people who have a combat-orientated purpose.¡±
That makes sense, to get into an Order of Knights requires one to have a combat purpose. The men who join the village guards had no other options, if they had a purpose they wouldn¡¯t be here.
¡°Is there anything we can do?¡±
Sir Cristoff appeared to think for a moment.
¡°Well, we can somewhat close the gap with decent weapons and armor. They¡¯d never be able to stand up to a knight or mercenary who was blessed with purpose, but they wouldn¡¯t need to worry about stray monsters anymore¡ It would cost a pretty penny though.¡±
I merely nodded; I had learned my lesson. The reconstruction had been long completed, now I was making sure that my daughter would never again need to risk her own safety.
If only I knew, what had transpired mere months ago in the capital.
5-6 Unforeseen
Contrary to my worries, my family arrived seemingly safe and sound two days later.
Thank the gods¡ No, thank everything¡
A moment later, I realized that I had just thanked the gods, plural. That meant that I had been addressing the gods of this world, and thanking them for my family¡¯s safety. To say that the notion was conflicting was an understatement, and it made me wonder if it had anything to do with my stint in the afterlife.
No, I won¡¯t be manipulated again. Not by anyone, I¡¯m just genuinely thankful for some good luck for once.
I put the thought out of my head and moved on with my life. If my attitude towards the gods was growing lax, then it was growing lax. The important fact was that it was my attitude, not anyone else''s.
¡°Thank you, when can I see them?¡±
The servant who brought me the message bowed his head, ¡°If my lady wishes, his highness has instructed me to take you there immediately.¡±
Perfect.
¡°Then let us go and collect Miss Felicity and Lady Rosial.¡±
My parents actually had no idea Rosial had been recovered, though as a former duke¡¯s son my father probably had some idea as to what had happened to her. There had simply not been a way to safely inform them about her rescue, according to what Rupert had told me.
I need to figure out how best to break the news¡ Probably should do it to dad first, then he can help with mom when she faints.
Of course, my mother might not faint but she did not have the best track record with surprises. As I was mulling over these things, we arrived at Felicity and Rosial¡¯s room. They had moved to be adjacent to my own rooms; today was actually rather strange in that the two of them weren¡¯t in one of my rooms.
¡°Felicity, Rosial, I have some exciting news.¡±
They had been coloring in Felicity¡¯s case, and¡ sharpening a dagger in Rosials case¡ Both of them had stood up excitedly when I came in and announced myself.
¡°What is it Stahlia Neechan!?¡± Felicity immediately got excited at the prospect of a potential surprise.
¡°Are we going to kill someone?¡± Rosial¡¯s own reaction was less excited and more hopeful. Also rather concerning.
¡°¡No, no killing. Felicity, Rosial. Father and Mother have arrived along with Rosin.¡±
Predictably, Felicity¡¯s tails stood up and began to twitch, betraying her emotions. Rosial sunk into a bit of a concerned sulk.
¡°Really!? When can Felicity see them!?¡±
¡°¡Mother and Father¡? I¡ don¡¯t remember¡¡±
Right, it was never going to be easy, was it?
Giving Felicity a soft chop on the head, I directed her attention to Rosial.
¡°Felicity, Rosial is scared. As the older sister, what should you do? Claire, do not help her.¡±
I added the last part when I recognized Felicity¡¯s expression going blank; a sure sign that she was focusing inwards to have a conversation with her co-pilot. It looked like Claire heeded my instruction because Felicity came out of her blank stare only to furrow her brows in thought. After a few moments, she nodded.
¡°Don¡¯t worry Rosial Imoutochan! You don¡¯t have a tail, so Rosin can¡¯t bully you!¡±
That¡¯s¡ no. You don¡¯t need a tail to be bullied, and that¡¯s not the issue at all!
Rosial seemed entirely confused by this line of dialogue as well as if the idea that she might be bullied hadn¡¯t even crossed her mind.
And why would it? Between his three older sisters, Rosin definitely drew the short straw; Rosial is a trained assassin and a champion. Felicity managed to avoid demonization and now holds a sin skill without being under the sway of a Hell King, and I¡¯m me. The idea that he could bully any of us is pretty laughable.
¡°Haaa¡ Rosial, even if your own memories of them are faint, they remember you. Felicity, be nice to Rosin.¡±
Behind me, I could practically hear Sasha grinning. My new maid might be rather strict on formality and rules, but she seemed to have a soft spot for when I was interacting with my sisters. Though, it was not without ulterior motives, as my heightened senses had caught her mumbling about how good of a mother I would be. Though she now kept those thoughts to herself, it did not change the fact that I was aware of them. That being said, there was no way such trifling issues would be allowed to get between me and mine.
¡°Come on you two, let¡¯s go.¡±
Collecting the pair of hands, our entourage left the room and made our way to where our family was waiting. At first, my plan had been to quietly talk about mom and dad, as a way to ease Rosial¡¯s tension. But it seemed like that was not necessary; while she had initially been quite tense she had calmed as we walked. Her grip on my hand, which had started as shaky and tight, had become relaxed and loose. Her breathing had been short and rapid, as though she was about to have a panic attack, but it was now calm and restful.
She must have employed some technique the shadows taught her to keep calm under fire, but was it a conscious decision on her part? Or did she subconsciously liken meeting our parents to a botched assassination?
I could only hope it was the latter.
¡°You two, wait here; I need to warn our parents before letting them see Rosial. Felicity, please keep her company?¡±
Contrary to Rosial, Felicity had grown tenser and tenser as we walked, and it did not take a prodigy to realize why; our parents and little brother had broken expectations and accepted a demihuman as a surrogate daughter. Even though Felicity was too young to properly appreciate that, she at least knew subconsciously how big of a thing that had been. How could she not, when her whole life had been a product of prejudice?
Now though, she wasn¡¯t a demihuman anymore. It was no small change either, as it had a very visible reminder attached to her rear. Would our parents accept her again? Such worries would certainly be plaguing her, even if I knew they were nonissues. They might be surprised at first, and would definitely have questions, but they would accept her, I had faith in that. That was also why Felicity had been asked to wait with Rosial; I wanted to warn my parents about her changes as well.
Of course, there was one minor issue that had slipped my mind; when the door opened and I entered the reception room, my parents and little brother were kneeling.
Right¡ Queen¡
I closed my eyes and forced the immediate revulsion down. It was something that should have been anticipated, but I had been distracted by the issues regarding my sisters. One would hope that court etiquette like this did not extend to my immediate family, but there was no reason why it would not.
¡°Father, Mother, Rosin, I understand why you are doing this, but please; when we are relatively alone, treat me like your daughter and older sister, not your queen?¡±
I waited a moment before opening my eyes, and saw that they were all standing, though apprehensive about the guards and maid in the room, Ferdinand was also here but that wasn¡¯t surprising given that Rupert had charged him with protecting my family while they traveled. That was fine, I had ways of dispelling tension.
Allowing the smile that had been building up to spill out onto my face, I let my emotions go unchecked and ran at my father. The move surprised him, but he was able to open his arms and receive me in time.
¡°I missed you all so much!¡± My eyes were starting to sting a bit as well, but crying would be too much, so I resisted that as best I could.
From inside our hug, dad¡¯s body stiffened slightly.
Ah. From this distance, he can feel through the illusion.
A mistake to spring such a large change on him without warning, but one that I could rectify easily enough. I stepped back away from him so that he could see my new body; having perceived the illusion once, it no longer worked on him.
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¡°Sorry for surprising you like that, I was overcome by my emotions¡ I should have warned you first.¡±
He blinked several times and shook his head as though to clear away a mental fog. Of course, that didn¡¯t work; he was no longer seeing the illusion, and what his eyes now perceived was reality.
¡°Stahlia¡? Is that really my little girl?¡±
I felt my smile beginning to fade a bit, but his reaction was perfectly reasonable.
¡°Yes, it is really me¡ a lot of things happened, and I wound up growing much faster than expected.¡±
Hopefully, if I treated this as just a thing that happened, and not the major event that it was, it would help him accept it. My mother overheard my statement and narrowed her gaze at me, a moment later she clapped her hands over her mouth as her eyes opened wide.
Was that enough for her to perceive the illusion¡? If that¡¯s the case, I need to really watch my words¡ Or maybe it¡¯s just because she¡¯s my mother that such a little thing broke the secret¡ there isn¡¯t a way for me to really test it, so I¡¯ll just have to be careful.
Rosin, for his part, seemed far too tired to notice anything was going on. Then again, he was only four so he probably wouldn¡¯t notice anything beyond ¡®big sister got bigger¡¯ anyways.
Well, they¡¯re both on the backfoot now, I may as well address the cat and the elephant in the room.
¡°My own condition aside¡ there is something else the two of you should know. Sasha, if you would?¡±
My maid advanced and brought my mother a chair, ¡°My lady, if you would be so kind; Lady Stahlia has instructed me to have you seated for this next part.¡±
This was enough for my dad to realize that I was concerned about my mother fainting, and I saw him screw his eyes shut and furrow his brow. He was mentally preparing himself for something drastic, given that it was only now that I had prepped mother for fainting.
¡°Felicity has¡ changed a bit; one of her skills caused her to evolve into a different species of beastkin.¡±
At the mention of his younger older sister, Rosin¡¯s tired ears perked up, ¡°Big sis Felisity?¡± He looked around, ¡°Where¡¯s she?¡±
Well, that doesn¡¯t hurt my feelings at all.
¡°Mother, please don¡¯t be alarmed, but she has grown a second tail.¡±
My parents exchanged glances with each other before my father let out a tired sigh, ¡°¡That¡¯s all?¡±
¡°Yes, but what do you mean ¡®that¡¯s all¡¯? She has two tails now.¡±
It was my mother who answered, her own voice betraying some degree of exhasperation with me, ¡°La- Stahlia, compared to you becoming a young woman in six months, a second tail is hardly worth concerning ourselves over; Do you have any idea what it was like when his Highness Prince Rupert sent Lord Ferdinand to bring us to the capital for your wedding? Nobody mentioned you had grown up.¡±
That statement left me blinking in confusion, and I glared at Ferdinand from across the room, ¡°You told them they were coming for the wedding and didn¡¯t think to mention that I had grown up?¡±
Ferdinand shrugged off my accusatory words, ¡°His highness instructed me not to cause them undue confusion; had I attempted to explain your condition without showing them firsthand, they would not believe me. Likewise, if I had said they were needed for the engagement ceremonies, they would be set up for a panic when they arrived and saw you. Forgive my deception, but it was calculated to cause them the least distress.¡±
¡°I do not buy that excuse at all; I, for one know how much you like messing with people.¡±
Translation, never try anything like that with my family again.
¡°¡That aside, mother, father, there is something else you have not been told.¡±
My father nodded, ¡°Something else, that is too important to relay, and would be more shocking than you becoming queen, growing up, and Felicity gaining a second toy for Rosin?¡±
Ignoring his attempt at levity, I nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll just come out and say it; Rosial is still alive, and waiting in the next room.¡±
A silence descended on the room as they processed my words. My mother seemed to stop breathing entirely, but closer inspection revealed that she was taking rapid shallow breaths. My father froze on his feet before lowering his head, ¡°So, she had been taken.¡±
So, you did know. Or at least you suspected.
¡°Yes, Rosial was collected by the Order of Shadows. It took a while, but I was able to recover her... She is a bit worse for wear mentally, but I am working on that.¡±
¡°His Highness Prince Rupert, assisted you with that no doubt.¡± My father¡¯s words were a bit hollow, but he was probably in a state of shock at the moment. My mother was utterly silent and simply looked defeated.
¡°Yes, one of the terms of our engagement contract was the disbanding of the Order of Shadows, along with the recovery and return of Rosial into my custody. ¡I do not regret my actions.¡±
¡°¡Even while I was doing my best to make sure you did not have to risk your life, you were still fighting.¡±
My father bowed his head, which was something that could not be allowed. In order to bring him back, I moved things along hurriedly, ¡°Sasha, can you please have the two of them come in?¡±
My maid nodded and went to the door. A moment later, Felicity crept in. Her ears were pressed flat against her head, and her tails were subdued. Once she was a few steps inside, she froze and scanned the assembled family. Seeing the bitter expressions on our father and mother¡¯s faces, she seemed to shrink back somewhat. It was Rosin who came to the rescue.
While he had been rather tired from the journey, seeing his fluffy big sister seemed to breath a fresh burt of energy into his tired frame, ¡°Felisity!¡±
Rousing from his stupor he began to run at her, only to remember the many warnings he had been given during our last visit. Slowing his pace to a rapid walk, he approached and then circled around her to get a better look at the addition. Smiling broadly and mischievously, any thought of said previous warnings seemed to fly from his head as he lunged at her two tails.
Felicity came back to herself just in time to jerk the tails out of reach, or maybe it had been Claire. Either way, Rosin caught nothing but air. To her credit, Felicity did turn around and help break his fall by half catching him and lowering him to the ground. This display seemed to break my parents out of their stupor, as when she next faced them, my mother was smiling warmly and invited her to come for a hug. An offer that was quickly accepted; she even let out a soft purr as our mother tickled her ears.
That left Rosial. She had hung back in the doorway, and it seemed that watching the family embrace Felicity had caused some of her earlier apprehension to return. Once again, it was Rosin who noticed first, and he looked between the two of us in confusion.
¡°Two Stalis!?¡±
Ah, since he can¡¯t see through the illusion yet, I look twelve to him. Rosial being eight, we would be fairly similar in appearance.
Our poor brother was blinking and rubbing his eyes, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. As he did so, Rosial began to breathe in a rhythm that I recognized from Jacqueline¡¯s teachings. It would help to focus her mind and block out unnecessary thoughts.
I really hope that she¡¯s using an assassination technique here consciously, even if I know that probably isn¡¯t the case.
It seemed that she had decided to mimic Felicity, as she first approached Rosin. Forcibly tearing my eyes away, I checked my parents. Father had set his jaw and was not moving, his facial expression grim. Mother was likewise frozen but in her case, it was shock, not from strong emotions.
Looking back to Rosial and Rosin, I was just in time to see her reach out a hand towards him.
¡°You¡¯re weak, but with a bit of practice, you could be strong. The trick to catching those is to be silent; our sister has good ears, so you have to really work hard.¡±
Wait, has Rosial been chasing Felicity¡¯s tails as well when I wasn¡¯t looking?
A quick glance at my feline sister revealed that this was likely the case, if her grimacing expression was anything to go by.
I¡¯ll have to give her the tail talk as well then. Also, what kind of an introduction is that!? ¡®You¡¯re weak¡¯ I mean, at least she offered to teach him, instead of suggesting that he be thrown away¡ that¡¯s progress, right?
Of course, most of what Rosial was saying went right over Rosin¡¯s head; he was simply too young to comprehend it. My father was perfectly aware, and coupled with my warning about her mental state, his own expression became mournful.
After helping Rosin up, she advanced toward our parents. Her gait was dignified, like a proper young noble girl. But then, she had been trained on how to act so her being able to do this much was no surprise. Coming to a halt a few paces back from them, she curtsied.
¡°Stahlia tells me that you are her family, since she is my sister in blood that means we are family as well. I hope we can get along.¡±
My father screwed his eyes shut, but I couldn¡¯t help but notice the tears beginning to form at the corners of his eyes. Mother, on the other hand, was making no attempt to keep up her fa?ade and was openly crying. Of course, they would; Rosial had just told them to their faces that she did not know who they were, and was only acting because I told her to.
We have a lot of work to do before we can become a real family again¡
It was then that Lord Ferdinand waved me aside. I wanted to ignore him, and continue to spend time with my parents, brother, and sisters, but I knew better. He would not have interrupted this moment if it was unimportant. Nodding to Sasha, I stepped out of the room.
¡°My apologies, but there is a pressing matter that concerns you; it regards your family¡¯s safety.¡±
Well, that certainly is important. I guess this is something I can¡¯t wait on¡
Sparing one longing look at the door, I steeled myself and nodded, ¡°Very well, what is it.¡±
¡°Thank you, you see, there was an attempt on them while they traveled; a rather sizable one. If not for us receiving forewarning, it very well might have succeeded.¡±
¡°Forewarning? A mole in the first prince¡¯s faction?¡±
¡°You could say that¡ The son of Duke Febligi, Ferris von Febligi. He claims to be honoring his debt to you and surrendered himself with intelligence regarding the raid on your family¡¯s carriages. At present, he is being held under guard and is demanding to speak to you personally.¡±
¡°¡Are you sure this is safe?¡±
It was a stalling question; I knew that if Ferdinand thought there was any danger, he probably would not have informed me at all, and simply dealt with things himself¡ probably by disposing of Ferris.
¡°Yes, he claims to owe you his life, and in lieu of events with the late Lord Dominic, I am inclined to believe him; his family holds one¡¯s honor above even their loyalty to kin. It is why Duke Febligi sided with Prince Antonio¡ and why Ferris also bore a letter with his father¡¯s seal. A letter officially disowning him and placing his life in your hands. Duke Febligi has cut of his own son, to preserve both their honor.¡±
Extra Chapter: Legends
Every world has stories and legends of its past, and some accounts are more accurate than others. In the world of NewLife, this is one such tale.
A Hero, Forty-Five Years Old, Eleventh Month of 0004
His blade slipped cleanly through the monster¡¯s neck. Of course it would. He was the chosen champion of Summer after all; no mere Griffon could hope to stand up to him when he stood toe to toe with Hell Kings. But he was not here to slay a mere Griffon, after all, why would a champion go out after something a medium dispatch of knights could handle?
No, He was after stronger prey. Rumors had circulated, that a Chimera had appeared here. Legendary monsters in their own right, every single one was different. Nobody knew what caused a Chimera to be born but whenever one appeared, it would cause untold destruction until its weaknesses were ascertained and a team formed to dispatch it. Or, if one of the champions was still around, you could just throw one of them at it.
Then again, the strongest Chimeras were said to rival an Original Sin in power. It was a commonly held belief that Dragons stood at the top of the monster pecking order, but that was incorrect. After all, if you took the base of a Dragon, and added a Cockatrice or Medusa¡¯s petrifying gaze to it, the resulting organism could only be stronger than the original.
That was why, even as one of the four strongest of the races, he was being careful; his foe, should he be unlucky, could be strong enough to mortally wound him. That was why he was being careful. The Griffon spotting him had been unlucky, as the battle had not been silent. After shacking his blade clean of its blood, he touched one hand to the Griffon and mumbled the incantation to a spell. It was rather long, but one of his abilities allowed him to shorten any chant substantially, a few times a day.
A soft orange light enveloped the Griffon¡¯s body and a moment later, it seemed to fold in on itself before vanishing with a soft ¡°pop¡±. The spell used was [Far Jump], which he used for traveling, or in this case sending the spoils of a quick skirmish back to his men for processing. As one of the spatial spells, it was restricted to those who had the ability to use Divine Element. As a champion, he met that requirement.
Though, an Item Box or Pocket Storage would have been far more convenient, but that damn gamemaster says those are balance breaking.
The man did not particularly like the god who had sent him to this world. Sure, being able to live a second time had been great at first¡ until he learned that he was a puppet meant to dance a particular tune. But there was nothing he could do about that, his own ¡°cheat¡± abilities were rather lacking, as he was simply this rounds otherworlder champion. After studying some old documents, he had come to the conclusion that every ¡°round¡± had at least one otherworlder take on the role of champion. He wasn¡¯t special.
¡°That¡¯s far enough human, what do you want?¡±
The man froze. His meandering thoughts had gotten in the way of his concentration and he had missed this person¡¯s appearance. Granted, this was certainly not a human; no human could make it this far into the mountains and be so nonchalant, other than himself. Drawing his sword once again, he took a ready stance.
¡°You will not fool me with that disguise; what manner of monster are you?¡±
The figure before him stood nonchalant, completely average in every way. Had he encountered him in a village or town, he would not have given the figure a second glance.
¡°No dice huh? Well, I guess I¡¯ll have to kill you then.¡±
That being said, the figure began to morph. His limbs bulked up and grew fur or scales. His fingers became large talons, while dragon wings sprouted from his back. Sharp spines of some beast grew from his neck, while fangs of a serpent sprouted out of his mouth. By the time the transformation had finished, the man had been replaced with an amalgamation of at least fifteen monsters the man could recognize, and several he could not.
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¡°Before we fight, I would give you my name. I am Yuongi, the first Chimera.¡±
The lone warrior stiffened and prepared himself. The words spoken by his opponent held little meaning for him, but the power radiating out was terrifying to behold.
Forget being an Original Sin, this is comparable to a Hell King.
The trick to beating one of the kings, was to exploit their weaknesses as a team. Wrath favored Blackflame Fire Magic, Lust favored Charms and Water Magic, while Sloth favored avoiding combat entirely. With a Chimera, their very nature precluded this strategy.
There¡¯s little chance I can beat a foe this strong. The best I can do is send a warning to the others, and hopefully hold on long enough for them to arrive.
¡°[Limit Break]!¡±
Verbally speaking the name of his Champion¡¯s intrinsic skill was not strictly required, but he felt that it was better that way. At once, his power surged and his status bulged. Of course that wasn¡¯t free. Winter had the reputation of being the cursed champion, [Cold Hearted] had made Luis von Despita quite inhuman in how he approached things. This man was of a different opinion though; sure, winter¡¯s blessing had its downsides. But it didn¡¯t kill you for using it.
The first law of magic was clear; mana could not spring forth from nothing. So what powered [Limit Break]? It was his soul. His own lifeforce would be spent to power up his stats, and the longer he stayed in this state, the greater the strain would be.
Forty-Five years old now, I¡¯ll be in my prime for another five or so before my abilities begin to diminish. That means I can fight at full strength for about a day¡ Assuming those three leave right after receiving my message¡ It will take them a week at most.
¡°Haaa¡ Well, shall we start this, Yuongi?¡±
The two monsters, for that was what the man was in his boosted state, closed on each other. Blade locked with talon while adamantine mail deflected spines. Their clash was a flurry of blows before the two leapt back from each other. The man had several small cuts and scrapes dotting his person, but the Chimera was unharmed. Any small injuries were quickly healed by the regeneration of one of his component monsters.
¡°So it¡¯s like that then after all.¡± He adopted a defensive stance; the man would buy the time needed, even if it killed him.
The Chimera wanted to end things quickly and reared up on its hind legs. Sucking in air, it prepared to unleash its dragon¡¯s fire. Squaring his jaw but unmoving, Intent to take the attack head-on. The flames leaped from the maw of the beast, and washed around him. Thinking the battle over Yuongi closed his mouth, only to find the man was there, unharmed.
¡°I never introduced myself, did I?¡±
Somewhat taken aback, Yuongi watched him warily.
¡°My name is Ris. No fancy titles or peerage, just Ris. But, I do have one thing going for me; as the Champion of Summer, your flames mean nothing to me. Now, let¡¯s go again.¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough. Yuongi, you should not be here, go home.¡±
At the sound of the second voice, one which clearly knew Ris¡¯ opponent, the champion spun around and sliced at the figure, only to have his sword blocked by a bare hand.
¡°My apologies for my child¡¯s actions. I will punish him later¡ For now,¡± The newcomer, a man in his twenties of average height and build, looked Ris up and down, ¡°For now, Damien Gonzales, we should have a talk about the future. I¡¯d like you to found a village for me.¡±
Ris narrowed his eyes at the man, ¡°Nobody knows that name in this world, who are you?¡±
The man bowed his head, ¡°My apologies, I have several names depending on who you ask; Fallen Divine, Traitor God, Thirteenth Prodigal, God of Monsters¡ You can call me Aaron.¡±
¡°The blasphemer who fights against the cycle¡ Very well, let¡¯s hear what you have to say.¡± Releasing his [Limit Break], Ris took a seat. While he did not trust this figure completely, he knew that should they come to blows he would without fail, die.
¡°I am glad you are amenable; at the foot of these mountains is a pass, I want you to found a village there. Life will be hard, and I do not expect it will grow very much at all, but it will prove important for the next cycle.¡±
5-7 Betrayer
After hearing about what had happened with Ferris, it was immediately obvious why Ferdinand had decided it was a pressing enough concern to interrupt my family¡¯s reunion. To be honest, the fact that he had waited as long as he did before pulling me away was already a gift. That didn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t frustrated though. After letting out a sigh and gazing back at the door he had brought me through, I did my best to shrug it off.
¡°¡Alright, take me to him¡¡±
¡°My apologies, but determining the specifics of this case really is important, once we are finished here, someone will take you to where your family is staying.¡±
¡°¡Can we just go already?¡± My tone was getting a bit snippy and I was starting to sound like a spoiled brat, but the way he was seeming to drag things on only served to exacerbate my tense feelings on the matter.
¡°Of course, this way.¡±
Holding out his arm, he ushered me through the next door and we moved through the palace in the direction of the dungeons.
Considering all my guards left with me, the population in that room shrank quite a bit. If nothing else, this will let my parents cut a bit loose without having to worry about keeping the bare minimum of dignity¡
The fact that this was something they weren¡¯t able to do in my presence was a thought best ignored.
When we arrived at the palace dungeons, Ferdinand motioned for my guards to wait outside; astonishingly enough it was an order they obeyed. Though, perhaps that should have been expected; Rupert, Ferdinand, and Gustav, as far as I was aware, were the three highest-ranking men in the castle after the king himself.
In that pecking order, I¡¯m above Gustav and theoretically only under Rupert, but the knights don¡¯t listen to me. When I try and send them away for a moment unless I¡¯m alone in my own chambers, they come up with some excuse or another. Does that place Ferdinand above me? Or is it only in matters of security, given his background?
In any case, Ferdinand brought me into a rather fancy room. My eyes blinked curiously at the sight; a dungeon would normally be a square and metal room, dimly lit, with few amenities. This room was about as well furnished as the one given to me at the Francois Estate. A far cry from my current accommodations, but far from the classical image of the palace dungeons.
Though, given the occupant of the cell, perhaps that made sense. Even disowned, Ferris was still the son of a duke. Of course, he was kneeling.
Damnit.
¡°Haaa¡ Lord Ferris, according to Lord Ferdinand, you wanted to speak with me?¡±
Without raising his head he replied, ¡°Your words honor me, but please; I am no longer of my father¡¯s house. My name is simply Ferris. That said, I did indeed wish to speak with you.¡±
¡°Raise your head and say your peace; I am grateful that your actions apparently helped to lead to the safety of my family, and will do what I can.¡±
¡°If that is what you say.¡± Ferris raised his head and after hesitating, he looked me in the eyes.
¡°Thank you for saving my life.¡± His tone was calm and resolved, a far cry from what would be expected from a eleven-year-old boy who was just kicked out of his family.
¡°And then you went on to save my family, or at least assist in doing that. I will do what I can about your status, but restoring you to your previous station will likely be impossible.¡± As much as having a Duke owe me a favor would be a benefit to me it was not needed, and none of the other nobles would agree to it.
¡°You misunderstand, I do not wish to be restored to status. My honor as a Febligi demands that I hand you my life.¡±
¡°But you are no longer a Febligi; your father disowned you. As such, that honor no longer applies to you.¡±
¡°I may have lost the honor of my house, but I still have my honor as a man of this kingdom.¡±
¡°¡Then, what if I say I do not want your life?¡±
Ferris shrugged, ¡°Then I will attempt to serve your interests as best I can.¡±
Is he implying he would act on his own, in order to help me? At least he didn¡¯t go ¡®Very well, I understand. I¡¯ll take care of it for you!¡¯ and try to kill himself¡ Letting him run free obviously not going to be allowed. That would cause problems almost immediately, and it could royally screw up our plans. Then, the options are to keep him locked up, or let him serve me. Is there actually any reason to not take him in?
I looked at Ferdinand.
¡°He would not be a negative asset, and as a former Febligi, his martial ability is quite advanced for his age.¡±
¡®Quite advanced¡¯ for his age, is a bit of an understatement from what I remember. Granted, his dad is a traitor, so even if I do accept him we¡¯ll need counter-measures. That would mean a limited slave contract.
¡°I see. Ferris, you understand that I cannot take you at your word?¡±
¡°Of course I understand that.¡±
¡°Then, will you accept a contract?¡±
Thankfully he did not give an immediate ¡®Yes, absolutely!¡¯ Instead, he stopped and deeply considered the implications. Even if he claimed that his life was mine, becoming a pseudo slave was a big step to take.
¡°¡Very well. I will.¡±
Ferdinand seemed a bit surprised, and shockingly, did not actually have the items we would need on hand.
¡°My apologies, I assumed you would have him remain here under guard. That would be safer for him, given what we will be fighting.¡±
With a start, I realized that Ferdinand was correct, we would inevitably end up fighting demons. I knew first-hand what their apex was like, and the rank and file were nothing to laugh at either. Before that though, we would be facing his family. Probably some of his friends. If he was under contract with me, he would not be able to go against my word. That would most likely put him in a position where he had to fight someone he knew and was potentially close to.
I should have considered something like that. I would have considered something like that¡ Why didn¡¯t I?
¡°¡Ferris, those are your options. You can remain here, and I will ensure that nothing happens to you,¡± I shot Ferdinand a stern look, ¡°Or you can enter into a contract with me.¡±
Ferris nodded, ¡°I already considered the ramifications, and I accept the second option.¡±
Ferdinand studied him for a moment before nodding, ¡°I see, I will make arrangements immediately.¡±
He had the knights come inside so that Sasha and I would not be alone with Ferris, then departed. In the interim, I opted to ask Ferris about what things had been like on his side.
¡°Ferris, what exactly went on with your father? I have recently learned that my name is being used as a driving force behind this¡ rebellion? Coup. Behind this coup.¡±
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¡°My lady, you didn¡¯t know?¡± A genuine surprise was written on his face now.
I nodded, ¡°Until just a few weeks ago, I was in a coma from the injuries I sustained during the capital incident; I was being kept deliberately away from matters regarding the ongoing hostilities.¡±
¡°Then, what about your engagement? Is it truly a farce as my father¡¯s lord says?¡±
Ah, he¡¯s wondering if it was set up without my input, and without my own father¡¯s. But it also sounds like he thought it was legitimate until a moment ago.
¡°Yes, I did the negotiations myself¡ The night of the school social actually.¡±
Ferris fell back into his seat as the pieces all clicked into place; the way I had been acting around Dominic, coupled with the prince calling me away to discuss Ris, and then me coming back and seeming to make nice with Dominic. Granted the prince had made every effort to conceal the fact that he had called me from the event, but as a duke, it would not be surprising if Ferris had somehow learned about that meeting.
¡°I see. Since then, so you did conspire against Count Francois?¡±
¡°Yes. Though, that is not his true identity; he is a demon, one of the Hell Kings.¡±
¡°What about the other one? Sitri?¡±
Like a bolt of lightning, I sat up in my chair. Rupert had said it was probable that Antonio and his dissident faction were responsible for the disappearance of the countsicle, but Ferris¡¯ admission just now all but confirmed that. I had been planning to ask after he was under contract, but if he was just going to tell me, it would certainly save time.
¡°Ferris, Sitri is with your father¡¯s faction?¡±
He nodded slowly, ¡°Yes, both her and Count Francois, though he departed for the east to try and gather troops.¡±
I shot a look at Sasha. While by Jacqueline¡¯s standards she was obtuse and had a stick firmly lodged in her bum, she was not stupid. Interpreting my look my maid produced a parchment and writing implement and began to take notes. Ferris saw what she was doing and paused long enough for her to be set up.
Even with the service contract, it would be foolish to take anything he says at face value. He¡¯ll probably be made to confirm this information after he¡¯s under contract, but taking it now saves time. Besides, I¡¯m curious.
¡°Sitri was the one who helped my father locate Count Francois. She insisted he had damning evidence against you and his highness. Of course, it did take some time for Count Francois to break free though given his proclivity with fire magic, he wasn¡¯t going to stay trapped forever.¡±
Yea, no he should have. If Adroni didn¡¯t already warn me he was going to let the bastard go, I¡¯d be livid right now. As it is, I¡¯m still quite upset. Also, no ordinary man would be able to survive for months on ice like that. Sitri could have made Antonio and Duke Febligi stupid with charm magic, but I sealed that. She¡¯s just a lump of stats as far as I¡¯m aware¡ Ferris would also be charmed if she had regained her abilities¡ It¡¯s possible other demons are involved.
Unaware of my internal dilemmas, Ferris continued, ¡°Once he broke free, him and my father spent a while talking about a lot of things. Count Francois pretty much immediately tried to leave, but Prince Antonio and my dad managed to talk him into hanging around for a bit¡ I¡¯m not sure the specifics, but he really, and I mean, really hates you.¡±
No shit, I locked him away for basically eternity, until the bastards in charge got involved¡ But, if he hates me so much, why try and leave right away? Anger should lead to a thirst for revenge. Then again, he did spend a really long time planning things in this kingdom, maybe this is more like the anger you stew in? Nah, he would have to know that I can¡¯t pull a move like that so frequently. The most likely answer, is he doesn¡¯t have a choice.
As much as I loathed the notion, my newest divine overlord was pretty clear about not liking spoilers. They had also said that my questions could largely be answered by Five. It wasn¡¯t much of a leap to think that Adroni had made arrangements with their brother to force Five to leave my general vicinity, at least for now.
¡°¡Fucking bastard¡¡±
¡°My lady?¡±
¡°Ah¡ Please excuse me, I just realized something is all. I apologize for the language.¡± Apparently, my feelings on the matter had slipped out in a quiet mumble.
¡°¡Indeed. In any case, Count Francois eventually departed over the border in order to attempt to gather support. He left Sitri behind to liaise with, as well as provide intelligence to Antonio. It was through her efforts that Antonio learned of the plans for your family to move, and hastily put together a subjugation force.¡±
More bad news; those plans were made after I woke up. And we kept the cards close to our chest; I didn¡¯t even know the details. There¡¯s a mole in our ranks, and someone high up as well¡ I¡¯ll need to warn Rupert. There¡¯s also the question of how Sitri is meant to Liaise¡ probably more demons, hopefully not anything too dangerous, we would be so lucky.
¡°Though, I feel like something is different about her¡ You said that Count Francois was one of the Hell Kings, then Sitri is as well¡?¡±
¡°No, she is a demon, and rather strong, but not quite that. Please continue.¡±
Thankfully he did not press me and resumed, ¡°Well, there isn¡¯t much else to say. When I learned of the plan, I approached my father and raised my objections. We went back and forth for a day, and then he disowned me. In retrospect, I believe he may have allowed me to learn the plans intentionally so that I would not be put in a situation where my loyalties would conflict. This way, I can give my entire loyalty to your highnesses.¡±
That¡¯s the first time someone has called me and Rupert collectively like that¡ In his mind, Ferris is treating the wedding as having already occurred, isn¡¯t he? Despite having been rather aggressively courting me himself half a year ago.
¡°Ferris¡¡± A rather horrid thought crossed my mind as I was preparing to ask my next question. Falling silent, I fed mana into my eyes and enabled my mana sight. Studying Ferris closely, I checked for any spot where his mana faltered. After nearly a minute, I was satisfied that he was not carrying a larval demon.
I should have done that first things first! What was I thinking!?
No use crying over spilled milk, at the very least my mistake had not been costly. Though the intense stare seemed to have made Ferris grow rather uncomfortable.
¡°My Lady¡? Is there something wrong?¡±
I shook my head, ¡°No, sorry for that; I was checking something that I neglected. We will have to wait until after the contract before I can explain though.¡±
Granted, he was not likely to be able to tell anyone in the few minutes remaining, but after my mistake a moment ago I was taking no chances.
¡°Then, Ferris. The plan to have my parents come to the capital was finalized a week and a half ago. I do understand that Ris is somewhat near to your father¡¯s domains and those of the First Prince¡¯s faction, but how did you manage to learn of it, and pass us warning in such a short time?¡±
¡°I can answer that Lady Stahlia.¡±
Ferris fell silent and adopted an at ease pose.
¡°Ferdinand, thank you for rejoining us.¡±
The returning Lord Ferdinand began setting out the materials for establishing the contract on a nearby table, while doing so he quickly summarized how Ferris had managed to perform this little feat, ¡°Ferris was dropped off near the border of the territories by a lone knight on horseback, some last favor from his father no doubt. From there, he moved to the nearest town, where we have a garrison. Of course, the garrison commander contacted me immediately when one of our foremost foe¡¯s sons walked through the door seeking asylum. Finished.¡±
Ferdinand had finished setting out the things we would need, a roll of parchment infused with magic, and two quills of the same variety I had used when signing with Rupert. He also seemed to have finished his explanation, as he had stopped talking.
Though from what I know the rest is easy to figure out. After Ferdinand was contacted, he probably made arrangements for Ferris to be brought to the capital separately. Though taking reports over magic communication tools would be a security risk, all Ferris has to say is ¡°My dad and the prince know about the plan to move Baron Ris.¡± From there, Ferdinand would change the plan completely, or at least drastically alter it. The rest of what he knew, he probably learned rather recently himself, when Ferris arrived.
Looking at Ferdinand now, I had a lot more respect for how he had handled things, my earlier irritation about the interrupted reunion had gone. Mostly. Ferris leaned forward and look at the parchment, based on his mannerisms, he was a bit nervous.
¡°Are you sure you want to do this Ferris? I can keep you under hou-¡± Before I could finish, he had picked up his quill and written his name, thus opening the contract.
¡°Please my lady, do not question my honor.¡±
Knowing that any other action on my part would be viewed as an insult I picked up my quill and opened the contract. Unlike my contract with Rupert, this one was rather straightforward with only three terms outlined.
¡°The Individual Ferris will, under threat of paralysis, obey any lawful order given to him by the individual Stahlia. The Individual Ferris will, under threat of paralysis, not allow the individual Stahlia or any of her allies to come to harm unless to prevent such would violate the previous. The Individual Ferris will, under threat of paralysis, seek to preserve his own safety, unless doing so conflicts with the first two terms.¡±
Otherwise, a few terms were defined for clarity; individual meaning it was the person who signed, regardless of how their name might change. Name changes were registered in the soul, and as I had learned recently, contracts of this nature were rather pedantic. Idly, I also noted how this was basically the three laws of robotics, with a few semantic tweaks and a changed order.
Ferris confirmed the terms once, then signed his name. After doing it three times myself, I gripped my quill and signed just below his. That was how I gained my second ever slave.
5-8 "Wedding"
After the contract was signed Ferdinand excused himself, saying that he would inform the relevant parties that Ferris was no longer restricted to the dungeons. After telling Sasha to have a room made up near enough to my own that Ferris would be useful without being so close as to cause a scandal, it was time to determine what that use was actually going to be. Though, since I did not as yet know what my own task would be, there wasn¡¯t much I could do on that front.
¡°Before anything else, according to our contract, do not reveal what you are about to learn to anyone.¡± It was possible that the particular secret in mind would fall under the ¡°not allow harm to befall me¡± clause, but I was not going to take a chance.
After another glance around the room to verify that my knights and maid were the only other ones present, I consciously halted the flow of mana into my ring. A moment later, the illusion it created faded. After confirming by the rather startled expression on his face that Ferris had seen my real body, my mana was allowed to resume its normal flow.
¡°In the past six months, I have aged four years. For all intents and purposes, I am now sixteen years old.¡±
It took a little while for Ferris to respond but after doing some weird stretching motion wherein he opened and closed his mouth a few times while wiggling his jaw, he managed to restore his previous expression, ¡°I see. This is a side effect of what happened between you and Count Francois?¡±
I merely nodded, ¡°The only people who know outside of this room, are Rupert, Gustav, Ferdinand, Edith, Sarala, and my family.¡±
¡°I understand, I shall keep it as such unless otherwise instructed.¡±
Standing up from my chair, I made my way toward the exit. Ferris had stood up on his own at some point prior and he fell into step behind me while Sasha actually opened the door. I didn¡¯t have any other plans for the day, so I figured that we may as well introduce Ferris to my family. As we walked, I decided to make one thing clear.
¡°Ferris, in your own opinion, what should I do with you? How best could you use your talents in my service?¡±
I might be a bit reluctant to the idea of using people, especially through contracts like this, but I would be a fool to not utilize the tools laid out before me. Doing that is in part what led to most of my issues, I won¡¯t make that mistake again.
¡°The only thing I am much good at is swinging a sword, my lady.¡±
Yea, I suspected as much¡ He¡¯s only eleven though. He might have been able to hold his own against the boys in the sword fighting class with skill, but they were only a little ways ahead of him. He wouldn¡¯t be able to beat an adult knight in combat. That rules out guard duty or wet works¡ Actually, how strong is he?
¡°And what level is your purpose?¡±
¡°The last time it was checked, I was level ten.¡±
So, a bit advanced for his age then. Well, now I have a method with which to test my hypothesis from earlier, that doesn¡¯t involve asking Rupert.
¡°Hold a moment.¡± Bringing my party to a brief halt, I once again trained my Divine Eyes on Rupert.
Sure enough, now that he was soul-bound to me, the divine eyes showed me his status.
Name: Ferris
Age: 11
Species: Human(Pureblood)
Class/Level: Knight Apprentice, 13
Social Strata:
Ability Values:
- Strength: B: 154 (+52)
- Endurance: C: 110 (+52)
- Dexterity: D: 66
- Intelligence: D: 66
- Charisma: D: 66
- Mana: D: 66
Talents: Sword Fighting VI*, Bladed Weapon Mastery V*, Mighty IV*, Athlete IV*
Skills: Sword Arm*, Blue Blooded*, Flow*,
Level 13 at only eleven years old. What on earth was his father doing? And Knight Apprentice¡ That¡¯s a rather rare martial class from what I know. Not the rarest, but certainly one of the nicer ones. Also, that talent list seems a bit short.
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, the list expanded to what I was used to.
So I was filtering out the useless talents that pretty much everyone has? Go back to that please.
The long list of random talents vanished, now all that was left to do was to quickly go over the skills I did not recognize. It would behoove me to know my servant¡¯s own abilities, and it was always possible that one of them could end up being worth grabbing for myself when I got the chance to. [Mighty] and [Athlete] did the same thing as my own [Flexible] accept for Strength and Endurance. Good talents for a knight to have.
[Blue Blooded] was a Skill I personally already had, though this was the first time someone else had it that I knew of. [Sword Arm] was intriguing and definitely something worth considering; it caused any sword the wielder picked up to fill with their mana. Essentially, it turned the weapon into a literal extension of the user¡¯s arm. It might synergize nicely with my Blood Magic Enhancements.
Actually, couldn¡¯t I do something similar quite easily¡? I already know that my Blood Magic can mimic the effects of different skills with the correct applications. This seems like it would be similar to appraising an object or enhancing it¡ Something to practice for sure, it would also help me regain full control of my mana so that touch-appraisal stops exploding stuff.
Lastly, his [Flow]. This one looked nice on paper but after a moment of thought, I decided it would not work for me. [Flow] caused the user to enter a combat rhythm with their chosen style. It increased reflexes while assisting in recovery and slowing the rate of stamina loss. It was a powerful skill, but it only worked for melee; it would not adapt well to my own mixed style.
And it¡¯s something he has at level 13, so it is probably a rather weak effect at the end of the day. I think the really powerful skill from [Knight Apprentice] is definitely [Sword Arm]. So, knowing this, what¡¯s the best course of action for him.
¡°Ferris, I can¡¯t use you presently; you are too weak.¡±
He set his jaw but did not question my statement.
¡°So, I will arrange for you to train with the knights here. According to Prince Rupert, they are among some of the most experienced in the kingdom. Your purpose is Apprentice Knight, fulfill it by practicing. When you achieve level twenty and derive a new purpose, then I will make proper use of you.¡±
After looking around, particularly at the captain of my guard knights in order to ensure my point got across, we resumed walking.
When we got to the guest rooms my family would be using I briefly introduced Ferris while taking pains to make sure not to reveal any state secrets. My family was responsive towards him if a bit confused but after everything else that had happened to them today, they took the news in stride.
Two days later, I found myself in a small room, just big enough for the people who were present.
This¡ this happened rather quickly though, and well¡ Yea.
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Obviously, I was at my own wedding. Rupert and I were standing next to each other along with my father in front of a table on which there lay a contract. This, once signed, would amend the engagement contract into a marriage contract. Once it was signed, we would be legally married and thus have upheld the terms in the engagement contract. We weren¡¯t alone of course; my parents and the witnesses were present as well.
Edith was here acting on behalf of her father. Jacqueline had been brought in using her wheelchair. Lastly, Sieg had been brought from my home village as well, though he had been absent from the family reunion. From Rupert¡¯s side, he was using Gustav, Ferdinand, and my Guard Knight captain. That last one was a bit strange at first, though it made sense when I considered that he was trying to keep the secret from spreading to as few people as possible.
Sieg, once told why he had been brought, agreed readily. I hoped it was due to our old friendship, and not out of fear. Unfortunately, he really was one of my only options, if not my only option. Using Gustav might have been a possibility, but since he was already in Rupert¡¯s service that would be a bit counterproductive. On the bright side, this brought Sieg to the capital so I could ask about the request I had made last time we met.
Fortunately, he hasn¡¯t been forced to sign a magic contract or anything; after all, who would believe him if he did say anything?
When I had asked Rupert why that was, he explained he also wanted to try and minimize the use of contracts for singular issues. The more incidental ¡°simple¡± contracts signed, the greater the risk of something going wrong or overlapping in unexpected ways. So, unless the contract was for something major like Ferris¡¯ loyalty, going to the effort of a contract was more trouble than it would be worth. There was also the fact that Sieg was a simple alchemist at the end of the day. He could disappear, but I would rather not think about that.
I really messed up, there¡¯s no way Sieg doesn¡¯t hate me for getting him involved in this¡ Damnit!
¡°Stahlia, are you sure you are ready?¡±
My father seemed to have picked up on my distress as he looked down at me, face filled with concern.
¡°Yes. I should think some nerves are only natural, but it is nothing I cannot handle.¡±
I¡¯ll need to apologize to Sieg later¡ Right after waking up and determining to be more careful, my lack of forethought went and messed something up!
The last person in the room was a Cardinal of the church. This one was the same old man that had been there when I went to see Sana and learned about the prophecy. The church already held many secrets on behalf of the kingdom, as such the cardinal was not considered much of a risk. He and Sieg had both been vetted and confirmed to not be under any demonic influences, nor did they have ties to the First Prince.
He began to speak in his capacity as our officiant, starting with a reading of our contract, though it was nothing complicated, ¡°¡Thus concludes the reading of the contract. Your Highness Rupert von Drakas, do you accept these terms, and as such seek to take Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas as your queen?¡±
¡°I do so accept and intend.¡±
¡°Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas, do you accept the terms as written? Do you concede to forgo your own titles, and become Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, queen and wife to Rupert von Drakas?¡±
¡°¡I do so accept and concede.¡±
With that exchange complete, it was time for us to sign the contract. Rupert held out his hand towards me while gripping a pen. We had not had a rehearsal or anything, for a secret ceremony with no onlookers such a thing would have been a waste of time. In lieu of that, Sasha had given me an itinerary of events. Unlike with a normal contract, it was tradition for us to sign our names using the same pen while holding it together.
Reaching my hand out towards the pen, I suddenly felt sick. Swallowing repeatedly, I gripped the pen over Rupert¡¯s hand and allowed him to guide it towards the paper; he would write his own name and then it would be my turn to guide us as I wrote mine. When the pen touched the paper and my mana began to flow out through it and mix with his own, my vision started to go blurry.
What the hell is this? Am I really that nervous? No, that shouldn¡¯t be the case¡ Am I crying?
Blinking rapidly a few times confirmed that my eyes were not watering.
What in the world is going on with me?
¡°Stahlia.¡±
Rupert¡¯s voice pulled me back. Looking down at the paper, he had finished his own signature, and it was time for mine. I tried to move our hands but found things to be sluggish. The pen slipped inadvertently, marking the paper.
¡°¡Sorry¡ I¡¯m not, I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s going on.¡±
My hand was shaking now, but through sheer force of will, I was able to write my name. The paper glowed as the magic took hold, and I felt the now-familiar sensation of something binding my soul.
¡°Please, seal the contract.¡±
The cardinal¡¯s words prompted me to turn to face Rupert, who was looking down at me. The last part of the ceremony drew almost directly on Blood Magic¡¯s own contract technique, and once we finished it we would be inseparably bound. This was the reason the contract normally required a one-year trial period for the one who would marry into the royal family; divorce was exceedingly difficult. The marriage contract activated magic that would directly mix our mana and link us together.
In short, much like weddings back on Earth, we would end the ¡°ceremony¡± with a kiss. Skilled application of Blood Magic could probably bypass that, but in my present state where I too attempt manipulating our linked mana it would be uncertain what the outcome would be. Even if I was in a position to do so, letting the contract invoked magic handle things would likely be faster anyway.
My mind was racing a mile a minute going over all the reasons I was supposed to kiss him, even while he was waiting for me to tilt my head up. Something was stopping me from going through with it. A moment later, a light touch. Rupert had put his hand under my chin. Such an action might normally be viewed as romantic, but it had the opposite effect. It caused me to freeze up.
¡°Stahlia?¡±
¡°Y-yes, sorry.¡±
It took a great amount of effort on my part, but I was able to lift my head such that Rupert could kiss me. He leaned forward and our lips touched. My mana was drawn out into him, even as his own entered me. IT brought back some rather uncomfortable memories, memories of when I had made a contract with Sitri in the past. That had been a true Blood Magic contract, and the method of mana exchange had been the same.
A moment passed, then another, then Rupert pulled back. The next moment, as I looked at how close his face was, I tasted copper in my mouth. My breath was coming out in short ragged gasps.
I¡¯m hyperventilating now? Why now?
Then, I remembered.
Sitri wasn¡¯t the last person to kiss me, it was him. Dominic, when he¡
Suddenly overcome with a strong sense of revulsion, I took a large step back from Rupert.
¡°¡Are we finished here?¡±
Rupert gave me a look, but I couldn¡¯t meet his gaze.
¡°Yes, things are finished here.¡±
¡°¡Thank you.¡±
Turning, I hurried from the room. After a moment, Edith followed after me. My guard knights closed in but I paid them no mind as I hurried along. Rounding the corner and ducking into a hidden washroom, I hurried to a stall and threw the door shut behind me. My knees seemed to come up on their own as I folded myself into a ball.
¡°Sta-, Lady Stahlia? Are you alright?¡±
Edith¡¯s concerned voice called out to me. My voice cracked a bit with my answer, ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m really not. I, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong.¡±
¡°¡I¡¯m coming in.¡± She hesitated a small bit, but in the end, our friendship won out over my new status and she disturbed my peace or rather lack thereof.
Looking up at her, my face was painted with distress.
¡°Well, what¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°¡I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±
Edith narrowed her eyes at me.
Great, Edith is back to being assertive. I mean it¡¯s great that she¡¯s back to normal, but couldn¡¯t she have waited another day or two? Why now, when I just want to be left alone?
Then again, what was I doing? Not like I didn¡¯t know. I knew exactly what was going on right now. Why this was happening, and based on Edith now crossing her arms, she was not going to leave me alone until I said it outloud.
¡°¡It isn¡¯t anything important. I just remembered some things, or rather, some things were brought back to the front of my mind¡ Things that I had been trying not to think about.¡±
My friend nodded once, but apparently that admission was not going to be enough since she had yet to move.
¡°¡When I was in Ang, things that happened with Sitri¡ Then, what¡ What Dominic-¡±
Jumping up and spinning around, it was a good thing that we were already in the bathroom. Likewise, it was a good thing that I had not eaten much today. As I was wiping away the corners of my mouth, I felt a small hand on my back.
¡°Rupert reminded you of what Dominic tried.¡±
It wasn¡¯t a question so much as a plain statement of a fact.
That¡¯s right, Edith blames herself for setting that up! Damnit, now she¡¯ll blame herself for this too!
¡°No, it was just a bit similar, I¡¯m fine now!¡±
My hurried reassurances did not have the desired effect.
¡°No, you are not. I am not going to leave this be; you forced your way on me when I was charmed. Now it is my turn to force you.¡±
That was when something dawned on me. Edith and I were looking each other in the eye. Even though I had sat down on the toilet at some point.
She was always the tallest out of the three of us, and in time I imagine she¡¯ll grow past me again. But for now, this must be really odd¡ A twelve-year-old is trying to comfort a sixteen-year-old. Except I¡¯m not that either.
¡°Edith, I appreciate what you are trying to do, but you really don¡¯t understand¡ No, don¡¯t protest; just listen. This will sound rather unbelievable, but I am not lying.¡±
Obviously, I had been hurt by what happened. I had been able to distract myself and repress these feelings up until now, but the events of the wedding had dragged them back out. Now, if Edith was going to help me, to understand the full picture, she needed to know.
Honestly, I should have told her a long time ago.
5-9 Confiding
By the time we had finished talking, or rather I had finished talking, an hour had passed. Edith had simply listened. At first, she behaved as though she had several questions to ask, but as my story progressed she fell further into disbelief until finally arriving at acceptance.
¡°Well, there you have it. This isn¡¯t my first life, in actuality I¡¯m technically the oldest person in our friend group. Both physically, and mentally.¡±
She was quiet for a little while longer before nodding once in resolution, ¡°I see. Does Sarala know?¡±
¡°No, though she probably suspects I have secrets, given her own circumstances. I will need to tell her the first chance I get though; please let me be the one?¡±
¡°¡Right, yea something like this¡ Just do not wait too long; I do not want to carry a secret this big on my own. Not from her¡¡±
¡°Thank you, Edith. As for other people; Prince Rupert and Gustav know. Jacqueline and Felicity as well, though I doubt Felicity really understands the full ramifications of it. My parents are non the wiser, and I intend to keep it that way. Rather than burden them with more shenanigans, I would prefer to continue being just their gifted daughter.¡±
My friend pursed her lips but did not say anything. She did not have to, I knew already that it was rather selfish of me to keep such a thing from my parents. Hell, given how they had reacted to me suddenly becoming sixteen and Felicity growing a second tail they would probably have pretty much no issues with this. I did not want to change things. Perhaps one day my parents would learn the whole truth but for now, I simply did not want them to.
¡°Well, we should probably get out of here before anyone questions things¡ spending an hour in a bathroom is already pushing it.¡±
A look of realization flashed over Edith¡¯s face and she nodded vigorously, ¡°Yes, we should¡ What are you planning to do now?¡±
¡°Find either Prince Rupert or Gustav and convey my apologies, as well as offer an explanation for my behavior. You?¡±
¡°I shall be writing a letter to my father informing him that the wedding went off without any major issues¡ Since you left after it was over, I can say that without worry.¡±
She gave me a mischievous smile and a wink before bowing and taking her leave.
Right, time to find Gustav or Rupert. Then, I still need to arrange a meeting with Sieg¡ I could just summon him, but I would rather not. There¡¯s also what Adroni said in that email¡ About heading to the peak of the mountain after my wedding. I wasn¡¯t expecting it to happen so soon, but I may as well look into that. I should have a few days longer before making my public return anyways.
Thankfully, Gustav had instructed Sasha to bring me to him once I was recovered, so it did not take very long for me to find him.
¡°My apologies regarding that display, I will attempt to prevent something similar happening again.¡±
Gustav narrowed his eyes at me and shook his head.
¡°Princess, do you take me for a fool?¡±
¡°I do not?¡± My eyebrow raised questioningly at this statement.
¡°Lady Stahlia, even his highness recognized that something was very wrong; that display was completely unlike you.¡±
¡®Even his highness¡¯? Just because he doesn¡¯t feel emotion himself doesn¡¯t mean he can¡¯t recognize it¡ Of course he would be able to tell something was wrong.
¡°What do you mean? Say it clearly.¡±
¡°¡Very well. His highness has more or less determined the root of your breakdown; the incident with the late Lord Dominic. He has instructed Ferdinand and myself to assist you in dealing with it as best we can, but to remind you that he cannot delay things any longer than they already have been.¡±
The way Gustav was still dancing around with his words was really starting to piss me off.
¡°Gustav, the ¡®incident¡¯ was Dominic trying to rape me. My ¡®breakdown¡¯ was the events at the ¡®wedding¡¯ bringing back some memories of that. And Prince Rupert wants you to tell me that I am still expected to produce an heir, so I need to come to terms with things. Does that sum it up?¡±
¡°¡Yes, that is more or less all accurate.¡±
¡°Good. In regards to that last point, he does not need to worry; I will be capable of fulfilling my duties when the time comes. Though, I wish he would say some things himself, using you as a messenger is not fair to either of us.¡±
¡°With all due respect, you know why he sends me; it is not just because of how busy he is.¡±
Yea, because he¡¯s worried that his lack of empathy will lead to a lack of tact. He doesn¡¯t have any issues being tactful with politics though!
¡°¡Moving on. Now that the wedding is over with, I would know what I will be doing. I take it that I am still to be kept away from the battlefield?¡±
¡°¡Are you truly alright?¡±
Gustav¡¯s voice betrayed concern for me, and not the kind of concern over an integral component malfunctioning. Rather, it was genuine concern as a teacher or perhaps a friend. He could very well be acting, but somehow I doubted that. In any case, his tone of actual care took away a lot of the anger that had built up.
¡°¡No, I am not. Even now, if I think about it, my stomach twists up in knots. I had been using everything as a distraction, but the wedding dragged things back into the front. I am not alright, but, I will be.¡±
Clenching my fists, my words were as much for myself as they were for Gustav and by extension Rupert.
¡°I have people I can talk to. Edith knows about my past now, and she intends to help me overcome.¡±
If not for the peanut gallery of guard knights and servants, my statement could be more specific. Gustav was smart though, he should be able to figure out what I meant by ¡®Edith knows about my past.¡¯
¡°Very well. I will let his highness know that we should trust you in this. Now, as for your immediate task; his highness would like you to rebuild what you destroyed. Lord Ferdinand has been instructed to assist.¡±
What I destroyed¡? Rupert wants me to rebuild the Order of Shadows!?
¡°To keep an eye on me? Or to advise?¡±
Gustav grinned, ¡°No, he is being given to you as a subordinate in this. I am quite excited to see how things turn out.
Placing Ferdinand on this project makes sense, as the former ¡®One¡¯ he is one of the few people qualified for it. But why make me the ¡®spymaster¡¯? No, I know why. It¡¯s Rupert attempting to forestall future problems again. The kingdom needs an intelligence organization, but if they went and rebuilt the order without telling me and I found out later I would probably be quite cross.
¡°Please convey my gratitude, as well as my desire to have more of these meetings in person. Not that you make a bad messenger Gustav, but this really is rather silly.¡±
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Gustav chuckled lightly, ¡°I will tell him, but do not get your hopes up.¡±
My eyes rolled, but I did not pursue the topic; I had other issues to discuss.
¡°Thank you. Now, regarding Sieg; I would like to speak with him, but I do not want to make it sound like I am ordering his presence.¡±
Gustav frowned, ¡°That would be rather difficult¡ Given your position, pretty much anything you do indicating that you wish to meet with him, would be interpreted as an order, vague or not.¡±
¡°Difficult, but not impossible? I want to apologize for dragging him into this, as well as discuss a business inquiry I made some time ago.¡±
¡°About the ingredient for a Goddess¡¯ Draught? I would recommend that you simply summon him, but if you are dead set against doing so then the best method would be to approach him through a proxy and handle the correspondence with a letter. Even if you attempt to convey a wish to meet through the letter, there is a strong chance he would view it as an order.¡±
Yea, as much as I want to say that he knows me, he really doesn¡¯t. I was never as close to Sieg as I was to Sven, and I left the village over a year ago.
¡°Thank you for the advice¡ I suppose I will proceed along those lines.¡±
Gustav gave me a somewhat pitying look, ¡°I wish I could tell you this will get easier, but I am afraid you will only find the distance continues to grow.¡±
Thanks¡ After what we just talked about, that¡¯s exactly what I wanted to hear¡ Are we sure Rupert is the only one here who lacks empathy? Haa¡ Whatever. Let¡¯s see, I need to know when my meeting with Ferdinand is, I¡¯m sure it has already been scheduled. Then, I should ask about visiting the peak.
¡°When will I meet with Ferdinand? I will need to discuss things before coming up with a preliminary plan for the new intelligence agency.¡±
¡°Lord Ferdinand is going to be visiting Duke Claurence along our defense line; he will not return until after your return to public society. That being said, there are several documents and a few resources he has already prepared that I will arrange to be sent to you.¡±
Right, well that¡¯s something. The biggest question is where to get agents from though¡ I won¡¯t let them use the same method, and even if I was alright with that, we don¡¯t have the time for it anyways¡ I¡¯ll think about it after I review those documents.
¡°Then, would it be possible for me to visit the mountain peak?¡±
Gustav¡¯s expression became guarded, but his tone wasn¡¯t all that wary, ¡°Why?¡±
Hmm, if I didn¡¯t already know you, I don¡¯t think I would have noticed that you became a bit defensive just now. Interesting¡
There was no point in beating around the bush, so I decided to simply be honest about it.
¡°God told me to go there after my wedding.¡±
Gustav blinked in surprise at my candor, ¡°God told you? Which one?¡±
¡°¡The same one who let me come back?¡±
¡°The so called sibling of the Goddess of Light and God of Darkness¡ Interesting, very interesting.¡±
Gustav¡¯s eyes flashed and he got that grin that I knew meant he was intrigued and fighting off the urge to go mad scientist or crazed researcher.
¡°There is nothing preventing you from going up there, now that you are married in to the royal family; I was simply a bit surprised you would ask about it so suddenly. I will let Rupert know, and he will take you up himself.¡±
¡°Really? After seemingly having no desire to meet me in person, always sending messengers, this is enough?¡±
Gustav grinned like a schoolboy whose prank had been found out, ¡°Not at all; you can go by yourself, but I though I might use this as an opportunity to force his hand somewhat.¡±
Well, I have no idea what it is that I¡¯m supposed to do up there¡ It could very well be that Rupert coming with is what Adroni was getting at¡ Well, it wouldn¡¯t hurt anything to have him come along. ¡Though it might trigger another episode of anxiety for me¡ Well, I won¡¯t get anywhere if I don¡¯t face my trauma.
¡°Very well, if you think you can get him to come along, then by all means; I would be ever so grateful.¡±
¡°I shall do so with pleasure.¡±
Based on the somewhat evil grin he now had, it was plainly obvious that Gustav was getting a bit fed up playing messenger for us.
He probably means to try and force Rupert to interact with me more himself. Though, I¡¯m not sure what he hopes to accomplish; we are both fully aware that love played no part in this marriage, Rupert and I are simply using each other.
¡°Well, I have ascertained the reason for your incident, so my purpose for this meeting is resolved. Is there anything else you wish to discuss or ask?¡±
My future, Sieg, the mountain top¡ I don¡¯t think I have any pressing issues, at least none that Gustav could help with¡ Not using [Eidetic Memory] really is troublesome. I was already trying not to depend on it too much, but to think it was still that bad.
¡°No¡ Not at this time. It is getting late¡± If this room had any windows, we would be able to see the sun setting.
Felicity and Rosial would be waiting for me to come back, and I also needed to apologise to my mother and father for fleeing my own wedding like that.
They don¡¯t know about D-Dominic. My back shivered as though something gross was crawling on me, but I did my best to ignore it. From their point of view, it probably looks like I ran off because of nerves¡ Do I tell them the truth? ¡This is difficult.
Obviously telling my parents the truth was the correct choice, but if they knew then they would certainly blame themselves. My father had already apologized about the engagement with that guy, and even gone so far as to offer to take a rather treasonous course of action to make amends. If I told him what had happened, he would definitally feel responsible.
Actually, I don¡¯t really know how he¡¯s feeling about my marriage¡ We sort of just treated it as a thing that was already established, because it was, but I didn¡¯t ask him specifically. Hell, his friend is his son-in-law now, he must have at least some thoughts on the matter. Mother as well, she was always kind of big on noble etiquette, now her daughter is ascending to the throne¡ This is a really big deal, and I¡¯ve kind of just rolled with it.
I would need to see about having some quality time with my family, at the very least we needed to have some long conversations.
By the time my entourage made it back to my bedroom, it was already dark. While I had hoped to be able to say goodnight to Felicity and Rosial, they were surely asleep by now.
¡°Stahlia.¡±
Well, Felicity is asleep at least.
Once the knights had left me alone in my chambers, Claire had opened her eyes and said my name.
¡°¡You nearly gave me a heart attack!¡± My voice came out in a hoarse whisper; Claire¡¯s existence was not common knowledge to my guards, and it would be preferable for it to stay that way.
¡°¡How are they?¡± Rosial was fast asleep, hugging Clairicity like some kind of large teddy bear. The fact that she was able to sleep like this had to be a good sign. The sight put a stupid grin on my face, though her nightgown was askew. Bending over to adjust it, my hand brushed over a pale white scar on her neck from where her own parasite had been removed.
¡Gustav won¡¯t say anything about it, and Rosial doesn¡¯t want to talk either¡ I can only imagine that removing it while it was still alive must have been painful¡ I understand why they had to move quickly and not wait for me to wake up¡ but if only I had been able to help¡
Such things were best not dwelt on; shaking my head to clear the bad thoughts, I pulled her nightshirt up to hide the scar. Apparently, it did not matter what spells were tried, no amount of healing magic seemed to work to remove it.
¡°The two of them are doing fine. They missed you, but after spending the whole day running around with Rosin, were exhausted. Rosial asked me to say goodnight for her.¡±
¡°Wait, Rosial knows about you?¡±
Clairicity seemed to shrug in the darkness, ¡°She has her own imaginary friend, Felicity spilled the news about me almost immediately after learning about ¡®Stali.¡¯¡±
¡°Well, I suppose that¡¯s fine then. It gives the two of them something to bond over.¡±
¡°My thoughts exactly. I couldn¡¯t help but overhear that you ran out from your wedding?¡±
My heart skipped a beat.
¡°No, I am properly married. There was¡ were, is. There is another reason why I left.¡±
¡°Dominic?¡±
¡°¡Yes.¡±
¡°Stahlia, what happened?¡±
I turned my head away from her. Telling Claire and getting her counsel would definitely help me get over the incident, or at least move past it. But that would risk involving Felicity. Did I really want to involve my six-year-old sister in this? Even if it was only a chance? No, the answer was no.
¡°Jacqueline didn¡¯t tell you?¡±
¡°I did not ask her. Based on the way she looked at your unconscious body, I could tell it was something terrible. Something that I should hear directly from you.¡±
Man, she really wants to help¡ But no. I won¡¯t risk Felicity finding out.
¡°Caire, if I told you, you would have to promise me not to let Felicity find out. Given that you live in each other¡¯s head, you two shouldn¡¯t be keeping secrets from each other¡ As much as I would love to talk about it, to get your input and hear you tell me everything is fine¡ No, Edith is already there for me in this. She will have to be enough.¡±
After a moment, Clairicty nodded her head.
¡°Well, I can¡¯t force you to tell me. As long as you have someone to talk to¡ I think I know what happened, but I won¡¯t make that guess.¡±
We sat in silence for a bit. It was late, but I did not want to go back to my own bed just yet; it had been a while since I spoke with Claire so openly.
¡°Well, what was it like?¡± Her voice broke the silence.
¡°Hmm? What was what like?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t play dumb, the wedding! You¡¯re a married woman now.¡±
She had a bit of a twinkle in her eye, but I couldn¡¯t figure out what was so amusing, ¡°Honestly? It was not what I was expecting¡ I thought a royal wedding would be a bit more¡ special? I get that it was a small secret thing, and I know we¡¯ll have a proper ceremony in a few years¡ I just wish it had been less methodical. We essentially just did exactly what was required and no more, like a courtroom wedding almost.¡±
By the time I had finished talking, my voice had gone from unsure, to a bit frigid.
Jeez, I didn¡¯t realize how much I cared.
¡°Huh¡ You really grew up didn¡¯t you, George?¡±
What does she mean by that¡? I thought I told her not to use that name anymore?
Though I tried to get Claire to explain herself she refused adamantly, claiming it was something that should be obvious to me. When I woke up, it was to discover that I had never actually gone back to my own bed.
5-10 Mountain
Surprisingly, the arrangements Gustav promised came rather quickly. Only a couple of days after our meeting, I received a summons from Rupert asking for my presence. That was fortuitous since the matter with Sieg was making no progress. Sasha was proving to be rather inept at veiled communications; she outright refused my order on the matter.
¡°If you wish to speak with that man, simply summon him; you are the wife of the crown prince now. Do not debase yourself.¡±
¡°And you are refusing to carry out my orders? Does that not ¡®debase me¡¯?¡±
¡°In this case, I am; as a maid of the royal family, it is my duty to ensure that it does not lose face. You are a new member of this family, I can respect that the leap in station will be jarring. But that is only all the more reason for me to guide you firmly along the proper path.¡±
In short, Sasha seemed to think it was her duty to make me act a certain way. It would be extremely easy to have her removed from my service; one word to my guard knights, or really anyone would probably accomplish that. However, doing so would set a dangerous precedent. Sure, her refusing here was extremely frustrating, but she could have a good reason. It was doubtful but possible.
Before I do anything myself, I should ask Rupert¡ Sasha is such a stickler for the rules of society, that I really don¡¯t think she would refuse a direct order like that. If I had to guess, Rupert might have told her to help me learn what is required and expected of me. Then, she just took it too far.
In the short term, Ferris would make a good messenger boy while he wasn¡¯t training with my knights. Though sending a former duke¡¯s son to ferry communications between myself and a lowly commoner alchemist probably seemed like a waste. The fact that my future involved repairing the kingdom¡¯s spy ring meant that Ferris was going to have to get used to stuff like that if he was going to be in my service. Though his honor was a potential source of worry there; it may cause him to object to certain orders.
That was all for later though. For now, I was actually alone with Rupert. Well, there were two guards, so we were not technically alone but the lack of servants and such meant we were extremely isolated. It was¡ actually a bit disconcerting and made me feel exposed; I had grown used to having everyone around me at all times.
Then again, we were in some sort of large room, with a pair of ornate doors. This part of the palace was extremely old by comparison to the rest of the structure. Opening the doors would reveal the outside, and the pathway which wound up the side of the mountain. At the peak¡ was whatever Adroni wanted me to find so badly that he would offer a spoiler.
Actually, does Adroni really care that much? Since I met them, I¡¯ve been given nothing but a string of spoilers. Hell, I was literally shown what was happening right after my death.
¡°Prince Rupert, what exactly is up on the mountain peak? Clearly something of great importance.¡±
He raised an eyebrow, ¡°You do not know? After what Gustav said, I had assumed that your benefactor told you.¡±
¡°They did not. It was simply suggested that I should come here after the wedding, though at the time I did not realize how soon it would happen¡¡±
¡°That is unlike you, I would not expect you to take such a vague suggestion at face value. Especially not from a god.¡±
He had me there. In my efforts at transparency, I had disclosed my feelings regarding the gods here.
Actually, it is rather strange¡ Is Adroni influencing me to act this way? They said they wouldn¡¯t¡ But they had no problems confusing Sana to keep things interesting and pull me away from the Goddess of Light¡
As concerning as it was, it was a real possibility that even now my thoughts were being influenced. All there was to assure me that was not happening, was the accord we had made.
But at the same time, there really is no reason not to go and check this place out. From Gustav¡¯s words, I know that I would be taken up there eventually. The fact that Rupert is being so accommodating as well indicates that this isn¡¯t really a big deal from his perspective, secrecy aside.
¡°Perhaps, but even still, I would like to follow through; that god did send me back after all. If all they want now is for me to go and visit the mountain peak earlier than I would have originally, then it is not much to ask.¡±
¡°True, and indeed, you would have been brought there soon in any case; the source of the royal family¡¯s magic is what resides on the peak of the mountain. You need to present yourself to it in order to fully take on the duties of the queen. Obviously, this is a rather large secret.¡±
Yea, no kidding. I knew that the Voice of the King and those eyes Rupert used when I got shown his perspective existed outside the system of the majority of the world. I thought they were something inherent though, like Gustav¡¯s and my own Blood Magic.
The source of blood magic was one¡¯s own mana and will. This revelation implied that the magic used by the royal family had a different source entirely.
I also already have used the voice once, without visiting this source¡ So, what¡¯s the difference there?
Asking the question now would simply delay things; there was a good chance it would be answered by this visit to the source.
¡°Then, let us go.¡±
At my words, Rupert nodded and turned to the knights.
¡°The door.¡±
Right, and those aren¡¯t either of our guard knights. They were already in this room when we got here¡
The two of them bowed briefly to Rupert before turning and walking up to the door. Once they were standing next to it, I gulped. It hadn¡¯t been easy to tell until they were right next to the monolithic wooden slab; each of the guards was around ten centimeters taller than Rupert, who was around that same amount taller than me. The door was easily twice the height of the knights.
It was heavy as well and made a dull groaning sound as they opened it. The two of them moved slowly, and their muscles bulged visibly under the strain of the weight. Whatever wood it was made from, it was nearly a meter thick and opened outwards.
That being said, as slow as the door opening was it ended quickly. Rupert held his hand out toward me wordlessly. I felt my stomach lurch as all those memories came back again.
Seriously? He¡¯s just offering me a hand!
Maybe it was because my mind had already created an association between Rupert and that trauma after what happened at our so-called wedding. Whatever the case, it wasn¡¯t like there was a reason to worry over it now.
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Rupert and Dominic¡ Those two are not the same person. Eventually, stuff will happen but it won¡¯t be like that¡
¡°I understand why you might be reluctant, given what happened. But there is a barrier in place; you will not be able to cross without taking my hand.¡±
Blinking rapidly, I realized that I had been staring at Rupert¡¯s hand wide-eyed.
Right, he wouldn¡¯t offer his hand unless there was a reason for it¡
I sucked in a breath and bit down hard to force myself past that, then took his hand. Rupert nodded once again, then led the way through the doorway. True to his word, there was resistance as we passed through the doorway. It felt like trying to force two rather weak magnets to touch their north poles.
Once through, we emerged out onto the upper slopes of the mountain. The walls of the palace wrapped around, vanishing as they matched the curvature of the monolith. It was cold and the air was thin enough that it caused my breath to come out in short gasps.
A massive door wasn¡¯t enough, there was also a barrier. Just what is so important that it takes something like this¡? Also, I needed to hold his hand to be allowed through? What kind of shit is that? If the contract was enough for me to use the voice, should I not already be recognized as a member of the royal family?
A quick glance at Rupert revealed something rather concerning; he was looking around somewhat in awe.
¡°Prince Rupert, have you not seen this before?¡±
¡°Only once; I was six. We do not make a habit of visiting here if we can help it¡ it is suffocating.¡±
I bobbed my head in understanding ¡°The altitude would be a bit much, and if it is kept only for the royal family then coming here would be inconvenient.¡±
¡°No, not the air though that is an issue. The mana; if you can not feel it now, you soon will. Come.¡±
Without wasting time on any further explanation, Rupert began walking up the path. It had been a minor concern that this outing would involve actual mountaineering. Not that it would be difficult with my abilities, it would however have been inconvenient. The only reason I had not brought it up, was because this was a place the royal family visited if not regularly, at least every few years or so. Thankfully, such a worry proved to be baseless; though the path was ill-maintained it was still a path. Hurrying my steps, I caught up so as to be walking just behind Rupert.
Evidently, there was still a little ways to go, however, my husband was content to continue in silence. After a little while of this I could wait no longer, ¡°¡I have a lot of questions.¡±
There was a pause before he answered, ¡°I am sure. Most of them should be answered once you meet him; for now though, in his eyes, you are only a provisional member of the royal family.¡±
¡°I see, thank you.¡±
It was subtle, but the way Rupert spoke made it sound like he wasn¡¯t supposed to talk about certain things. I doubted that he was actually incapable; he would not have allowed a clause of total honesty to go into our engagement-now-marriage contract if there were things he could not say no matter what.
Still, he has given me enough room when it comes to secrets that I can wait here. At the end of the day, I do trust him. He also answered my biggest question, though I suppose that figuring out what that was isn¡¯t exactly an achievement since it was pretty obvious.
If whoever this ¡°him¡± was only viewed me as a provisional member of the royal family, then it made a certain degree of sense if a few areas directly related to this ¡°him¡± did not recognize my status. Presumably, Adroni had wanted me to have this audience as soon as possible and thus pushed me in this direction. There was also the fact that I was going to meet someone. Someone who presumably lived on the mountain and held some modicum of power over the royal family.
That being said, the silence was still awkward.
Well, I had that random thought earlier that Gustav was thinking for this outing to bring the two of us closer together. I said it then, and it looks like I was right; there was no way that was going to happen.
In a way, I almost felt bad for Gustav, but had that really been his intention he should have known better. Especially given that he had been present when we did our negotiation in the first place. He had also known Rupert for a long time, he should know best that Rupert wouldn¡¯t ever feel any closer to me than was required.
Actually, all the men in my life are kind of¡ strange, aren¡¯t they? Gustav is nearly bi-polar with how he flips back and forth between being eccentric and being utterly professional. Rupert has his issues with emotion and attachment, Ferdinand isn¡¯t really involved directly with me but I know he will be in the near future. He¡¯s far too cold and calculating with everything he does. Ferris is so wrapped around the idea of honor he threw his family away¡ It¡¯s a damn good thing this is just a fairly standard fantasy world and not one of those Otome settings Claire mentioned.
¡°¡Stahlia, how are you holding up?¡±
Pulled out of my idle, and frankly embarrassing, contemplations I realized that while I was off in my own world Rupert had pulled decently ahead of me.
¡°My apologies, I was lost in thought and it slowed my pace.¡±
¡°I see, if you begin to feel ill, speak up immediately; I would find it difficult to carry you.¡±
Did you really need to add the last part?
¡°I will keep that in mind.¡±
¡°Good, I imagine it would be a difficult experience for you at the moment.¡±
Without elaborating, he went back to walking up the winding path.
At this rate we should make it to the peak in ten minutes¡ The mana coming down of the peak is quite heavy, though the presence doesn¡¯t really compare to Androni.
I could see why Rupert would describe this as ¡°suffocating¡± but in my case, it was like moving from a large city to a medium one. Sure both of them had smog, but compared to the large city the medium one would feel practically clean.
Though, it isn¡¯t like I really noticed the presence Adroni exuded in the moment¡ I wonder if being just a soul had something to do with that? Whatever the source, it will be revealed soon enough.
A few minutes later, the path we had been following made one final hairpin turn and crested the mountain¡¯s peak. The view that was revealed was breathtaking: the palace and city spread out below us like a cone wrapped around the mountain¡¯s slopes. Beyond that, past the outer wall and slums lay the massive plains, and off in the distance on the horizon I could even see the Ris mountains, tinted blue. Though I could not see my home village, it really did put in perspective just how high this peak was.
You really don¡¯t notice the thin air in the noble quarter so I never thought about it before, but it should be really hard to breathe there and, in the palace. I wonder if it has something to do with that barrier?
¡°It¡¯s gorgeous¡¡± And those were my honest thoughts.
Rupert fell back a few steps to my side and looked out over the same scenery before commenting, ¡°I suppose it is.¡±
That was when I felt it. A powerful gaze bearing down on me. It was overbearing and suffocating, more so than the mana in the air at least. My spine tingle and out of the corner of my eye Rupert stiffened.
¡°He¡¯s here.¡±
Turning around, I saw the figure of a man. In terms of height, he was between Rupert and me. Handsome, but not astoundingly so, he was dressed in a Roman-style toga and wearing a laurel on his head. Like the majority of the kingdom, he had fair hair and blue eyes. What stood out the most though was his pupils; they were slit-like, and reptilian in nature.
Again I shivered, after all the first thing I had done was look at him with my divine eyes. Though not as strong as Five had been, his mana was bright. It was also moving incredibly swiftly; if the flow of mana really did match the flow of blood as I thought it did, then this man¡¯s heart was beating over three hundred times a minute. Furthermore, his stance had no openings.
¡°Sire, this is my wife, Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris; in accordance with the first law, I have brought her before you that we might receive your blessing. Stahlia, this is Drakas; the first king.¡±
His eyes met my own and narrowed. When he spoke, his voice was deep and guttural, ¡°Rupert, you have married an undead? And one bearing that thing¡¯s taint?¡±
Before giving Rupert a chance to respond, he addressed me, ¡°Well? Speak your piece before I send you back to your god.¡±
I should by all rights have been terrified out of my mind. Perhaps my mind had left me though because all I could do was laugh at the absurdity of it all.
¡°Ha! I have no gods; maybe I made a deal with Adroni, but they do not own me or my allegiance. You, of all beings, should be able to tell that.¡±
The man looked down at me sternly, and I felt the force he was exuding multiply several-fold.
¡°Go ahead and dispel the illusion; I can see through it anyway.¡± His voice was a lot more mellow than it had been the last time he spoke. Considering it a wise move to do as he said, I forcibly stopped the mana from flowing to my ring.
¡°Then, will you dispel yours as well?¡±
His eyes widened, ¡°Well Rupert, this is indeed interesting. Not since Denal has anyone seen through this shape. Very well girl, we shall see how you do.¡±
The shape of a man faded before my eyes like a mirage coming undone. At the same time, another shape faded in. The true form of the first king of Drakas. Though my eyes had already spotted the faint silhouette of his mana, seeing the real thing was something else entirely; where there was once a man, now stood a nearly eight-meter tall dragon with silvery-white scales that gleamed in the sunlight and refracted into all the colors of the rainbow. It turned its head and fixed one massive eye upon me.
5-11 Dragon
¡°Well, you certainly have the bravery to stand by the side of the king. Or is this simply foolishness?¡±
The voice boomed into my head, echoing around and causing a mild headache.
¡°Perhaps both, but that is not for you to judge; my motives are my own. I needed power, so I obtained it.¡±
What, what on earth am I saying!?
I was being snide, with the first king and a literal dragon.
What exactly is going on with me?
¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough of that. You have good compatibility with power. [Judgement End].¡±
Following the first king¡¯s proclamation, the oppressive aura seemed to vanish. All at once, I was suddenly terrified and collapsed to my knees while shaking. The dragon followed this all with its singular unblinking eye, before slowly reverting back to the form of a man it had first been in.
¡°This should make it easier to talk¡ Rupert, once she recovers, bring her to the source and I will bless your marriage.¡±
That said, the man turned and walked off. Idly, I noted that the ground around did not react like one would expect from such a creature. Unlike my own illusion which would not change the size of my footprints, whatever the first king had done seemed to properly disguise him.
Some sort of polymorph or shapeshifting, then.
Rupert stood impassively a short distance away from me. He made no moves to help, nor did he seem to be in a hurry. It was infuriatingly as though he had predicted this outcome and was content to wait it out. Eventually, my heart rate slowed and the shaking stopped. It was a small blessing, but I had managed not to soil myself. Sitting up onto my knees, I paid no mind to the fact that my dress was getting dirtied.
¡°W-what was that?¡±
Rupert had a distant look in his eyes, as though he was reminiscing about some long past event, ¡°The King¡¯s Judgement. One of the magics of the royal family, and arguably the harshest. It only targets members of the royal family and forces your true nature to the surface so that your worth can be judged... You are quite strong-willed, to think your true self would talk back to that.¡±
It sounds nice, but was that really me? I would say that I am rather timid. Certainly not that arrogant.
If that really was my true self¡ It was scary that I did not recognize it. There was silence, save for the wind whistling around the rocks and ice.
¡°¡Maybe, though after whatever it was, look what happened to me. If that really is me¡ I have a long way to go before I am anything like that.¡±
¡°Ha.¡± Rupert let out a short, dry laugh.
¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡±
¡°Nothing. It is just that, I had a rather similar reaction when I was judged by my father.¡±
¡°¡I see.¡±
Rupert¡¯s ¡®true self¡¯ huh? I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t curious¡ and I feel like it would only be fair for me to know, since he just saw mine¡
He fixed me with a stern look before shaking his head begrudgingly, ¡°I was eight. Your uncle had just been found guilty of treason, and I had beseeched my father to spare yours. We were alone, and my father asked me if that was what I really wanted, before using the spell on me. With my true self dragged out, I withdrew my request and apologized for my impertinence¡ My father pronounced me unworthy of being king then and there.¡±
¡°But in the end, he granted your request.¡±
¡°He did. He also named me the crown prince.¡± Again, we fell into silence.
So Rupert¡¯s true self is pragmatic and calculating. I¡¯m sure there are details he left out, but I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t have to actually ask to get him to tell me.
I did not fault him for changing his stance on my parents; after experiencing the same spell on myself just now how could I? Besides, it did not matter in the end as they had been spared anyway. It did raise the question of what was going on in the king¡¯s head. The current king, not the first one. The few times I had met him, he had seemed rather set in his ways. Certainly not the type of person to bend the law at the request of a son he had deemed unworthy. Likewise, there was the fact that in the end, he had proclaimed that same son to be the next king over his eldest.
¡°¡A king must be true to themselves?¡±
In response to my muttered comment, Rupert raised an eyebrow.
I shook my head, ¡°Nothing. I can go on now if you are ready.¡±
After a moment of hesitation, I reached up with one hand. Rupert looked at it with mild surprise then grasped it and hauled me up. Though it was regrettable it couldn¡¯t be said that he helped me up, to do so would be a lie. That was fine though, if my theory was right everything would make some degree of sense.
It¡¯s backwards as hell, but it makes sense on a fundamental level. The first king is a dragon, and the current king rules with a philosophy that strength is all-important. But that¡¯s just the current king. The first king didn¡¯t seem to respect my own strength, despite the fact that he has to know what happens down in the capital. He tested my personality.
In short, what mattered was not the strength of the ruler, but the strength of their character. The king needed to be true to themselves in order to rule. Rupert had been pronounced unworthy when he demonstrated that he was going against his nature by feigning compassion¡ Then, when he embraced his cold and calculating side he began to plot and scheme so the king changed his evaluation.
Of course, that theory fell through with my own nature. I did not see how my actions followed after the arrogance and pride that the dragon had said I had. It would be worth asking him when we met again, as long as it looked like I¡¯d get away with it. Angering a literal dragon would be a stupid idea. Even if he was weaker than Five, he was stronger than Sitri, just judging by his mana.
While my own mana could eclipse his it would require me to disconnect from the system again, which was probably not possible without [Cold Hearted]. Emotional control might be one of my strengths, but good control was far removed from outright disabling. Not to mention the fact that doing that would probably kill me again, and as far as I was aware, there were no more green mushrooms available.
There was also the fear that the first king had been somehow masking his true mana; he had spoken of Adroni as though he knew who that was. That meant this dragon was rather old, though being a dragon that was hardly surprising. But if he knew Adroni, that would mean that he probably predated the system. The fact that he used magic outside of it lent credence to the theory as well.
Well, if I think I can get away with it, I have a lot of questions. At this point, it¡¯s pretty obvious why that jerk wanted me to come here so soon; so that they could see my reaction to the dragon.
Given everything I knew about Adroni, the only reason they would conceivably have for giving me that little nudge was just to make my reaction happen sooner. It was going to happen within the next few months anyway since this first king evidently had to judge me. Adroni was probably simply too excited to wait.
In the future, I will be ignoring any further communications from that asshole.
Together, Rupert and I crested the absolute peak where the first king was waiting. His human form was sitting cross-legged in a meditation pose of sorts. Before him lay a single gleaming silvery-white scale. It was pretty obviously one of his own, and yet it was somehow even more dazzling than the ones still attached.
Without opening his eyes, he spoke as we approached, ¡°My heart scale, and the reason why I despise the third child so much. Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, place your hand on the scale.¡±
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Well, that just adds more questions.
Still, it would not be a good idea to anger him by refusing. Stretching out my hand to touch the heart scale, I felt resistance similar to the barrier that surrounded the mountain summit. There was an electrifying sensation that I recognized as mana that passed through my arm, and then words appeared in my vision.
¡°Obtained Title: [Princess of the Silver Dragon]¡±
¡°I recognize you as kin. That makes you the second in a thousand years, be honored.¡±
It took a moment for things to sink in but when they did, I realized that Rupert was showing a very rare smirk.
Ignoring him for just a moment, I tried very hard to keep my voice level and asked the first king, ¡°The second?¡±
¡°Your mate has the cunning and pragmatic outlook of a dragon. You have our pride and our greed. It has been a thousand years since I last recognized the rulers of this kingdom as kin.¡±
I shot a glare at Rupert, ¡°You could have told me. Actually, why didn¡¯t you?¡±
It was the first king that answered by interjecting, ¡°Because I forbid him. For the test to be wholly accurate, you could not be expecting it. You should be proud of him; given the provisions of your contract not telling you was rather difficult.¡±
No wonder he looks smug, when did Rupert set this up¡? A while ago. This would explain why most of my interactions have been through Gustav or some other proxy. So, he wasn¡¯t giving me the opportunity to lie or not tell the truth. He was giving it to himself. Cunning, I guess.
Before anything else, I took a moment to quickly check the title¡¯s effects;
[Princess of the Silver Dragon]: Awarded to those women recognized as honorary kin by the Silver Dragon. Effects: Cloaks the holder in the aura of a silver dragon; laces the words spoken to those beneath the holder with a compelling effect.
It was about what one would expect.
Well, I probably won¡¯t use this one. Unless the ¡®aura of a silver dragon¡¯ has an effect besides making my words compel people. I can already use the voice of the king if I really need to force my will on someone, and after everything, I¡¯ve been through¡ Yea, I don¡¯t really want to use the ability to do something like that.
¡°Thanks, I guess.¡±
The first king opened his eyes and fixed them on me, ¡°You are welcome. With the two of you in power, the kingdom should be secure for another few hundred years.¡±
He shut his eyes again, as though to say we were done talking. Rupert turned to depart, but I decided to try and ask at least some of my questions.
¡°Excuse me, but why do all this?¡±
Rupert gave a start and reached his arm towards me, ¡°Stahlia,¡±
Inadvertently stepping out of his reach, I felt my pulse quicken as my hands shook slightly.
Knock it off, just breathe.
After forcing myself to calm down, I fixed the first king with a look awaiting an answer. When he did not immediately show ire, Rupert relaxed. Evidently, he had been curious as well.
¡°Do what?¡± The man¡¯s voice was calm, but I knew all too well that it could merely be an act; anger could hide behind the calmest of facades. Still, it should be safe to push on at least for a little while; I doubted very much that he would explode at me right after naming me honorary kin¡ Though the jury was still out on exactly how big of a deal that was; titles were only as useful as the people who respected them.
¡°Rule through a proxy, allow a Hell King to run rampant in the kingdom you founded, stay up on this mountain for so long instead of interacting with the world.¡± There was a lot more rolled into my ¡°this¡± but those three were the key points.
¡°I see. It appears that there is a fundamental misconception, no doubt in part due to how Rupert introduced us¡ I do not want to rule this kingdom, nor did I found it. Something so trite would be beneath me. The kingdom was founded around the mountain where I lived already. I merely allowed it.¡±
So he isn¡¯t the founder, then first king would be...
¡°First King was a title bestowed on me by the founder of Drakas, but I was never the king of this kingdom.¡±
¡°I am sure. But why let someone like Five run around freely? You clearly care about the kingdom all the same.¡± I pressed on; this was what I really wanted to know. If something like a dragon was living in the capital, then how come I had to do everything I did?
He opened his eyes again before speaking further, his voice now rising a bit, ¡°What makes you think that I care? I existed before this country and will exist long after.¡±
He was clearly getting a bit angry, but as long as I picked my words carefully it should be fine, ¡°Well, you granted the royal family magic in your name from what I know, and you mentioned how you approved of the ruler a thousand years ago. The same way you approved of Rupert and myself.¡±
¡°Do not play games with my words.¡± He was staring at me hard now while beginning to exert some of the pressure from before.
Then, all at once, the pressure vanished, ¡°Even if I did care, there is nothing I could have done; I am bound to this place through my heart scale.¡±
Yea, ok, isn¡¯t that what you call Tsundere? ¡°Even if I did care.¡± Whatever, the point is, he¡¯s stuck on the mountain? Because of his heart scale? As much as I want to know more, I feel like that would be a very touchy subject¡ I also kind of already have a pretty good idea what happened based on context.
Adroni is the third sibling of the three gods, and even if it was a test, the hatred he held in his words about Adroni¡¯s divine oath I have was real. So, the jerk did something to him, which resulted in him being stuck here. Well, I could be off base, but I doubt it.
¡°So you were stuck up here, forced to watch as the fifth seat ran rampant¡ That must have been awful, I¡¯m sorry.¡± My sorrow was real, I knew all to well what it was like to feel powerless and be forced to watch the world run around you.
¡°Well, it does not matter; you dealt with it easily enough on your own¡ That man was right.¡±
The way he spoke, reminded me of an old person reminiscing about the past.
Looking at him now, it is kind of easy to see him as a broken, lonely, old man. It would not be hard to forget his true form if I wasn¡¯t careful. But what¡¯s this about a man being right about something?
I wanted to ask, but it seemed like the timing would be wrong if I did now. Taking a step closer to Rupert, my voice lowered to a whisper, ¡°Is there anything that would prevent me from coming back later now?¡±
Subtly, he shook his head, ¡°No, but I would prefer if you did not; you do not seem to realize the line you are treading right now.¡±
There was a retort that could be made, but I held my tongue. Starting an argument here would be pointless, and if I could come back later that was all that mattered.
I¡¯ll just need to be careful and judge how hard I push for answers. Rupert obviously doesn¡¯t think that the risks outweigh the potential benefits, but that¡¯s just bias given the relationship between the dragon and the kingdom. With my own outside context, this dragon is basically just a giant info dump. As long as I watch myself, I could learn a lot of incredibly useful information from a being that¡¯s live more than a thousand years.
My feet carried me away from Rupert, until I was only a few meters away from the man, ¡°One last question, if I may?¡±
He shook his head, rousing himself from the memories he was no doubt lost in, ¡°Oh? You two are still here? I had expected you would be long dead by now. What question?¡±
¡°Right¡ What is your name? Prince Rupert introduced you as the first king and my titles refer to you as the Silver Dragon, but what should I actually call you?¡±
The man blinked, ¡°My name? As much as I would like to tell it, you do not have a decade. I have named you as kin, call me as you wish.¡±
Ok¡ Well shit. If I choose wrong here, he¡¯ll definitely get angry. Pride in names and all that¡
I glanced at Rupert for assistance; he might actually know what the man used to be called back when the kingdom was founded. Unfortunately, it would seem as though he did not. I spent several minutes thinking on the matter, coming up with several names but throwing them all out for one reason or another.
Names that had the benefit of remarking on his appearance were the first things thought of, but I rejected them because they were too basic. Next, various well-known dragons from Earth mythology. But each of those had a problem of its own; the most well-known were all evil, and the ones that were not tended to be named after a specific personality trait. I would be screwed if he asked me how I came up with the name.
Well, I could be cheap and just say that I can¡¯t think of anything worthy. That would be safest, but it wouldn¡¯t earn me any favors¡ Alright, lets go with¡
¡°Drakas. I will call you after the kingdom that, whether or not you care about it, owes its existence to you.¡±
Please like it, or at least don¡¯t be angry!
¡°¡Ha! Hahaha! ¡®Drakas¡¯ she says! Very well, you may call me such.¡±
Ok¡ humor is not what I was expecting¡ This is good though?
Rupert had turned pale and was staring at me with his mouth open in blatant surprise.
It did not look like Drakas was going to stop his mirth any time soon, so I excused myself with an awkward smile and a word before making my way back down the path with Rupert.
¡°Stahlia, do you have any idea how lucky you are?¡± He sounded rather tired.
¡°I agree that the name was not the most creative, but it did not anger him.¡±
¡°¡You gave him our name. Rupert von Drakas, Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris. He could have taken that as a grave insult.¡±
My feet slowed to a stop. That little tidbit had eluded me in my deliberations. I could feel the blood drain out from my face as I turned pale, ¡°You could have said something!¡±
¡°Had I spoken up, there is a good chance he would have gotten upset by the interruption.¡±
After a moment we resumed walking, though my steps were a bit shaky now.
Talk about missing the forest for the trees! I thought that was a decently safe suggestion!
5-12 Poison
When we got back inside the palace proper Rupert addressed the guards,
¡°My fianc¨¦ is not to be allowed back out for at least a month¡ Any more than that, and she will find some other way.¡± Turning to me he frowned, ¡°Before you say anything else, please¡ think it through carefully.¡±
¡°¡Right, I will make certain to.¡±
It was a bit irritating that he was basically punishing me, but given the potential gravity of my mistake his stance was understandable. A month was not really a big deal either; building a new spy order was going to be occupying the vast majority of my time going forward anyway. It would honestly be surprising if I had the chance to visit Drakas before the spring came.
Actually, I really picked a screwy name. King Drakas sits on the throne of Drakas in the city of Drakas below the mountain whereupon lives the dragon Drakas¡ No wonder he fell into a giggle fit, that name is generic as hell¡
Together we left the inner gateway room and, after being rejoined by our respective entourages, began to walk back towards the main part of the palace. We still had a short distance over which we would be travelling together, and I planned to make use of it to go over the few remaining things for which Rupert was needed. ¡°Prince Rupert, before we part ways¡ have you given Sasha any special instructions?¡±
He sunk into thought for a moment, ¡°Sasha¡? Ah, your maid. I have not, why do you ask?¡±
¡°Ah, well she seems to have decided that she needs to educate me on a few things¡ To the point where she is refusing some orders, deeming them beneath me.¡±
¡°I see, well it is true that there are some actions you should no longer take, it is not her place to lecture you¡ Since you likely would not have her punished, simply send one of your other attendants.¡±
¡°Thank you for clarifying, I had thought to use Ferris already, but wanted to know if she was acting of her own accord or not.¡±
Rupert nodded, ¡°She is not. If you wish for something to be done, tell Gustav or Ferdinand as the latter will be under your purview following his return to the palace. Whatever you decide, do keep in mind the secrets we hold.¡±
Right, that is a concern since anyone sufficiently close to me would eventually learn about my body. Speaking of which¡
¡°May I have Lady Elienor?¡±
Rupert had already been handed a sheaf of papers by one of his manservants and was beginning to read it. He paused and glanced at me over the top of them, ¡°Explain.¡±
¡°Even if she is granted a stay of execution, she cannot go free given what her family has done. Though eccentric, she does have talent¡ Besides this, she is my friend. I would like to offer her the same deal that Ferris has. It strikes me that Sasha is quite overworked, being the only female member of my staff.¡±
The woman in question looked surprised at my spoken concern for her, understandable given that I had just finished putting her on blast for refusing to deliver a letter to Sieg.
Obviously she¡¯s overworked though, Lucy and Frieda were barely able to do what Jacqueline managed on her own between the two of them. Sasha has only met me a few weeks ago, and is on her own.
¡°On that subject, if it is possible, I would also like to employ Lucy and Frieda; my maids from when I was living with the Francois¡ I know that you do not want to stack up too many small contracts, but if we keep the terms between these three identical to what Ferris has, there should be no conflict.¡±
Rupert was shaking his head.
I see, I guess it isn¡¯t going to be possible then.
¡°A basic service contract will suffice; please, do not go about talking about assembling a legion of slave servants as though you were buying pets¡¡±
Ah, apparently that was a touchy subject, duly noted.
Looking around, it was pretty obvious that my talk had made those assembled somewhat uncomfortable.
I had Felicity for almost two years, yet I know almost nothing about how slavery works¡ It¡¯s not like I was avoiding learning about it, just that nobody really talks about it among my friends and acquaintances¡ Apparently, it isn¡¯t a socially acceptable topic. Thinking about it, I only know of a few other nobles who even had slaves in the first place.
It looked like it was possible that it wasn¡¯t as widely utilized as I had originally thought.
Well, I can look into that at my leisure; especially if I ever decide to try and introduce abolition, I¡¯ll need to confirm exactly how widespread the matter is. For now, anything else I needed to ask Rupert? Ah, the plan I was toying with for the spies.
¡°I will take that under advisement¡ It looks like this is where we will be parting ways,¡± Ahead of us was the branch in the hallways where Rupert would continue straight, towards his offices, while I would turn off towards my own lodgings, ¡°Before we go, about the plan we discussed-¡±
¡°You already have some ideas I take it. I will inform my father and await your report.¡±
While cutting me off, he waved a hand in a motion that looked like he was using it to saw through his throat. The message was clear ¡°be quiet.¡± He then tapped his ear, signaling that we had people listening to us. Since he was using signs, I could intuit that we were not being watched.
Who and where?
Closing my mouth without complaint, I activated my divine eyes and glanced around to see if anything stood out. Nothing did, however; all of our entourage looked normal, and I could not see any other light sources in the vicinity. Though, it wasn¡¯t like I had eyes of true sight. My divine eyes could not see spells, or mana not tied to a living thing. I could always cast [Silence], but without using Eidetic memory for the magic language, the spell would not be modified and thus would be hardly effective against a determined eavesdropper.
I need to fix my skills and talents as a priority¡ Adroni said that it would just take time, but there is no telling how much time they meant¡ and I¡¯m not really sure if I trust them or not anyway. For now, I¡¯ll get Ferdinand to look into this when he gets back; people eavesdropping on the crown prince and his wife is definitely in my purview as the new Spy Master¡ though I haven¡¯t actually been appointed as such yet.
The fact that Rupert made no further moves after shushing me meant that it was probably only a possibility that we were being listened to. In all fairness, it was a possibility that should have been on my mind as well; the fact that he had to point it out to me was negligent on my part.
Not really a mistake I would have made normally¡ I imagine I am quite shaken from meeting a real live dragon though¡ I¡¯ll double-check everything I want to say before speaking for the next little while.
My head bobbed sharply by way of acknowledgment to Rupert¡¯s impromptu game of charades, then curtsied, ¡°Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to cater to my request; the view from the peak was as gorgeous as I had thought it might be. Until next time, Prince Rupert.¡±
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Rupert bowed, ¡°Indeed, thank you for accompanying me, until next time Lady Stahlia.¡±
With our close-but-not too close goodbyes said, Rupert and I separated and my own entourage made our way towards my quarters.
¡°Sasha, when we return prepare the drawing-room for guests and send summons to Sieg, I would like to speak to him.¡±
Though my vision was focused forward, my ears caught the sound of my maid missing a step.
¡°My lady, are you certain?¡±
The corners of my mouth twitched towards a frown but I suppressed the impulse, ¡°Yes, I am certain I will not enjoy this however I have come to realize that I cannot continue to cater to everyone else¡¯s schedule and feelings. As difficult as it will no doubt be, I have to rise to meet the challenges of my position.¡±
Sorry Sieg, but I can¡¯t afford to play some weird cat and mouse game betting on the slim chance that you don¡¯t perceive anything I say as an order. Hopefully, whatever friendship we had before this will last, or at the very least you won¡¯t come to despise me.
Two hours later, Sieg was ushered into the drawing-room where he then promptly knelt.
Of course it would start with this, damnit¡
¡°Sieg, I have not been coronated yet so please do not kneel¡ Sasha, please prepare tea for the two of us.¡±
¡°My lady?¡± Sasha raised a questioning eyebrow, no doubt she was thinking something along the lines of ¡®Why don¡¯t you just say what you want to say and dismiss him?¡¯
Well, you want me to act like my station, so here goes.
¡°Sasha, I believe I have given you an instruction.¡± There was a bit more of a bite to my voice than I had wanted.
Sasha performed a half curtsy and set about carrying out my orders after a quick apology, ¡°Please forgive the delay.¡±
Those leaves, that¡¯s one of the herbal blends I helped Sana make in Sieg¡¯s store¡ That¡¯s a nice touch, but when did you ever have a chance to learn that?
Apparently Sasha had been doing her best behind the scenes for my benefit.
I¡¯ll need to apologize for getting short with her just now, and for snubbing her in front of Rupert and the other servants earlier today¡ Or would she be upset if I did? ¡®A proper royal should never apologize to a servant.¡¯ She¡¯s hard to read¡ Whatever, I¡¯ll apologize, and if she says anything in protest, I¡¯ll just tell her it was my decision to do so and to stop complaining.
Hopefully, things would get easier in a few days once she got help but for now, in the immediate future, there was the matter with Sieg.
¡°Firstly, Sieg, I want to apologize,¡± Though my ears were tuned behind me, Sasha gave no indication that she had any opinions on what words had just come from my mouth, ¡°It seems that Ferdinand made an ass of himself when he had you come along with my parents; I have spoken to him regarding that; it was not my intention to spring the matter of you being a witness like that.¡±
Pausing for a moment to gauge his reaction, I then continued, ¡°Due to the specific nature of my relationship with Prince Rupert, there were very few who could serve as one of my witnesses. I,¡±
¡°My lady, if I may?¡±
He interrupted me, that¡¯s a good sign for our friendship, I hope. Though, I wish he wouldn¡¯t ¡®my lady¡¯ me like that.
¡°Please.¡±
After receiving my permission, Sieg continued, ¡°I am not daft, I know better than most what kind of crazy events you get yourself involved with; I also have a feeling I know where this is coming from. Be assured, I will keep the secrets expected of me, not out of any fear, but as a favor to our friendship.¡±
He spoke words that I had dared not hope to hear. Despite everything that had gone on, he was still willing to call himself my friend. Then, he kept talking.
¡°That being said, please understand that things have changed a great deal. The little girl who grew up making a mess of my brother¡¯s shop had a tendency to get overly attached to things and people. While I will always look back on those memories fondly, out of respect for your new station; I cannot permit you to continue calling me a friend.¡±
My heart lurched, but his response was more or less what I originally expected. That did not make things any easier, just a bit less shocking.
¡°I suppose I could order you otherwise, but what would be the point in that?¡± Shutting my eyes tightly, I took a deep breath. When they opened, Sieg the alchemist was sitting where my friend Sieg had been a moment ago, ¡°Regarding our previous arrangement, have you made any progress?¡±
He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, probably wondering if it was really that easy.
Of course it isn¡¯t, but if this is your decision, I¡¯ll respect it. I can easily see what sort of trouble would arise from me calling a commoner alchemist a friend. Better for both of us if you become a footnote in my autobiography as the owner of the shop I learned alchemy at.
When he saw no reaction to his suspicious look, Sieg swallowed, ¡°No, unfortunately, I have not been able. My sources within the kingdom have been exhausted over the past year; none have been able to come through.¡±
My head bowed in real, not acted sorrow, ¡°¡Thank you for your efforts¡ Am I to understand then, that if you were permitted to reach outside the kingdom you might yet be able to find something?¡±
Sieg nodded, ¡°Yes, if I were permitted to publicize the request amongst foreign suppliers, I may be able to find something.¡±
True to my original stipulations about being discreet, Sieg had not reached outside of his shop¡¯s regular suppliers. What he was asking for now then, was my permission to make the request public. Unfortunately, that was something that could not be allowed.
If word got out that the ¡®fianc¨¦e¡¯ of Drakas¡¯ next king was seeking an ingredient for a Goddess Draught, especially with the past and present turmoil in the kingdom¡ No, that can¡¯t happen. Even if I tell him not to use my name, people would be able to make the connection between his shop and me, the prodigious and inventive alchemist.
¡°Unfortunately, I cannot allow that; this is a personal request not a matter of state¡ I am sure you understand.¡±
¡°Of course, I will let my contacts know that the request is still open, however there is not much left I can do beyond that.¡± His tone was apologetic, and not in a way that suggested a businessman missing out on a lucrative deal; he was genuine.
Of course you wouldn¡¯t be able to just cut off everything like he did; I¡¯m sure he still has some lingering thoughts on the matter.
When I left Ris the first time, Sieg was a reminder of his older brother and a close friend in his own right. Upon my return to Ris after what happened in Ang we had agreed that since I was growing up, it would be best if we took a more professional approach to our friendship. Now, he was breaking things off completely.
The more I think about it, the worse it feels. Yet another connection to my past being severed¡ I¡¯d at least like to hang onto this connection, even if we won¡¯t be able to call each other friends anymore.
There was one way I could go about it, but it was a longshot whether or not Sieg would accept or not. Odds are, he would consider it more trouble than it was worth.
And there¡¯s the potential that he will interpret it as an order, even if I say it isn¡¯t¡ You know what? My true self is supposedly prideful and selfish. If Drakas, an actual dragon recognized me, what have I got to lose by embracing it just a little?
¡°Sieg, thank you for your efforts¡ I do have another business opportunity that you may be interested in, if you would hear it?¡±
Obviously, my honeyed words put him immediately on guard; it was pretty blatant that I was endeavoring to hold onto the connection he was attempting to sever. Unfortunately for him, given the difference in our stations me asking if he wanted to hear something was the same as me telling him to pay attention. He gave a noncommittal guarded nod in the affirmative, effectively ¡°giving me permission¡± to continue.
¡°One of my upcoming duties will require a rather skilled alchemist. Of course, I personally meet the requirements, but I will be too busy with other matters to attend to it myself¡ Out of respect for our previous friendship, I would like to offer you first refusal on the post.¡±
Obviously, I was referring to my work rebuilding the Order of Shadows. Someone would need to attend to the procurement and manufacturing of the new Order¡¯s potions and poisons. Truth be told, Sieg had been my first pick even before he brought up ending our friendship. Now, I could use the offer framed as a business deal to prevent him from severing that bond. Bringing it up ¡°out of respect for our previous friendship¡± was the best I could do to avoid making it a direct order.
Sieg frowned, mulling over my words. After a moment he glanced at Sasha, who was standing impassively in the corner. Likely, he was looking to see if there was any sign that she knew about this, or if it was something I had just made up to keep him connected to me. Whatever information he gleaned from my maid was irrelevant though.
¡°As you may recall the injuries of my previous maid, Prince Rupert has taken note of my feelings regarding her treatment; he has asked me to put together an order in the kingdom to take care of people like her. Obviously, such work would require a steady supply of potions made by skilled hands.¡±
Sieg¡¯s eyes turned as large as dinner saucers. After all, both he and his brother Sven knew about the Order of Shadows, at least in rumors. They also knew or suspected Jacqueline to have been a member. By mentioning her and talking about forming a kingdom-wide order, I had made it pretty obvious what job Sieg was being offered.
5-13 Debut
Stahlia, Sixteen Years Old, Eleventh Month of 948
Following my meeting with Sieg, it was nearly time for me to make my return to public life. As far as the business proposal, Sieg had requested some time to think about it and Sasha had made arrangements for him to stay in the palace¡¯s servant¡¯s quarters while he did so. If he perceived this as me pressuring him to take the offer then that was fine; he would be more or less correct. Not that there would be any repercussions if he did say no, there was no way that I would let anything happen to him because of me.
I do feel a bit bad about it, but whatever.
¡°My lady, I need you to focus.¡± Sasha had become a lot more docile and accommodating recently, though she was still strict.
¡°My apologies, what were you saying?¡± We were currently going over the plans for my engagement ceremony.
Though I fail to see the point in planning out every minute detail like this; the chances that things proceed perfectly according to such a complicated plan are effectively null.
In short, the engagement ceremony that was to double as my return to public life was a sort of gala. There would be tables for each attending noble family, a space for an orchestra, and an area for dancing. Owing to the length of time that had been wasted by my coma, the ceremony announcing the engagement, as well as the party welcoming me into the royal family was being held at once.
I was meant to enter with Rupert escorting me, where the king would then make an appearance to announce his endorsement of our engagement. He would then denounce the first prince thereby bringing the few remaining neutral nobles to our side.
Rupert would give a speech, followed by a few words from me. During these was when I was meant to plead for Elienor¡¯s life. Rupert would grant my request, and we would then lead the assembled younger nobles in a dance. At that point, I was more or less free. Though not really; Edith would be bringing me around and introducing me to the key players among the nobility.
I just hope I can remember their names and faces without [Eidetic Memory]¡
At this point, my talents and skills had yet to actually make any sort of recovery and were still showing up in that strange, garbled text. Fortunately, I did have Edith to help me, but this was really something I needed to do on my own.
¡°¡My lady, are you listening?¡±
Oh shit.
¡°Yes, I just need to do my best to follow that plan then, correct?¡±
Sasha looked like she was developing a headache, but she nodded all the same, ¡°Yes, just stick to the plan. Lady Edith and Lord Gustav will deal with anything unexpected that might crop up.¡±
Somehow, I feel like I¡¯m being sidelined at my own debut¡ Then again, it is true that I am woefully inexperienced with politics. I might be able to fight and scheme, but that¡¯s hardly what I¡¯ll need to do as queen¡ Hopefully, I can pick it up quickly.
Of course, I knew the theory. After all, I had been aware that I would have to learn politics ever since signing the contract with Rupert. But I had no real practical experience; other than breaking up with Dominic I had not had any major interactions with the nobility. It certainly did not help that I had been largely ignored and avoided by my peers in the few weeks between leaving the Francois and going into my third coma.
¡°Please¡ just follow their lead.¡±
¡°I fully intend to; I am well aware that I am utterly lacking when it comes to being diplomatic. I could probably dispose of any of the attendees in a week and leave no trace, but when it comes to placating them and exchanging favors¡ I must defer to my betters.¡±
My rather improper words had the desired effect of causing Sasha to fall into a stunned silence. Before she had a chance to recover, a knock sounded at the door.
I smiled sweetly, ¡°I do believe that is likely a messenger from Prince Rupert, we should not keep him waiting.¡±
At my words, Sasha gave a sharp nod and quickly moved towards the door. It was a good thing that she moved quickly since as it turned out rather than a messenger, Rupert had come himself. Which I suppose made sense since he was meant to be my escort.
Hurriedly standing, I performed a half curtsy, ¡°Prince Rupert, I was not expecting you to come yourself. My apologies for the lacking reception.¡±
He waved his hand somewhat dismissively, ¡°Your rooms are closer to the venue than my own; it makes more sense to come from here.¡±
Well, he isn¡¯t wrong.
¡°More importantly, you have been told the plan?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yes, Sasha has gone over it with me¡ I only hope that things will go so smooth.¡±
¡°Indeed, while I respect your ability in other areas, you lack tact¡ As evidenced by recent events, you tend to overthink things and miss the obvious. Leave as much of the talking as you can to Edith and myself, and make no promises.¡±
¡Really? I might have that tendency, sure. But I¡¯m not stupid, I know that my words carry weight now, I don¡¯t need you to remind me as though I¡¯m a child.
¡°¡And remember to try and avoid close contact with anyone; the story is that you are not fully recovered from events yet.¡±
His last warning was easier to stomach than his first. After all, if someone touched me it would dispel the illusion my ring projected. Even if being reminded about it was a bit irritating I could at least understand why he was so concerned about it. Not so much his other warnings.
¡°Of course, My intention following our dance is to state that I am feeling faint. That excuse would permit me to spend the rest of the night sitting, while Edith can pre-screen anyone who wants to speak to me directly. If I could borrow Gustav for the night as well, then I believe there will be little to worry about.¡±
Rupert nodded, ¡°You can borrow him then, Gustav officially you will be acting as my own representative at whatever audiences Stahlia ends up with.¡±
Gustav bowed in brief acknowledgment but didn¡¯t speak. Rupert extended a hand to me, ¡°Shall we go?¡±
Right. Just remember that this isn¡¯t like that.
I grit my teeth and pasted the best fake smile I could manage, then took his hand. Fortunately, my illusionary self was a bit too short to link arms with him, so holding his forearm was the most I had to do. Still, that would not last forever and eventually, I wouldn¡¯t have an excuse anymore. Even with just this, I could already feel my pulse beginning to quicken as my adrenaline spiked. I wanted to throw his arm away but forced myself to hold back.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Rupert looked down with a raised eyebrow; he had probably felt me stiffen slightly. I shrugged and shook my head, doing my best to ignore my heart beating in my throat.
¡°I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s go.¡±
Rupert narrowed his eyes, but whatever he was thinking was irrelevant; we did not have time to go over how I was feeling. He nodded, ¡°Then, let us depart.¡±
I really hope I can move past this all soon¡ I just need to be strong for now.
We arrived outside the large entrance doors. This was the same venue that the wake for the second prince had been held, so I was at least slightly familiar with it. In a few moments, a knight serving as a herald would announce us and we would go in. The two other loyal dukes besides Edith¡¯s father were waiting just ahead of us; being the highest-ranked they would be announced and make their entrance just before Rupert and I. Edith was present as well, once again representing her father, while all of the counts and barons were already in the room.
Duke Lawrence and Duke Lester, their wives, then Edith representing her father¡ I see she has things pretty hard as well.
Looking at it objectively, the amount of work Edith was doing was insane. Quite possibly more than I was, and yet I had never heard her complain. Even now, she was making small talk with two grown men on behalf of her father so that he could tend to the defensive lines.
If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would suspect she had reincarnated herself. But, if that was the case she would have told me after I shared my past with her¡ No, Edith is genuinely gifted, if not for my circumstances I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up at all.
Sensing our arrival Edith, the two dukes, and their wives turned to greet us. The dukes and their wives both bowed to Rupert, but towards me, they merely looked. Their gaze was harsh, appraising, as though they were trying to find any fault or weakness. Though, given my position and dubious origins, their attitude made sense. After all, how often does someone¡¯s family become a barony, then have their daughter engaged to the next king in a span of a few years?
The wives were one thing, I could somewhat handle their stern yet curious looks. The dukes were something else though; their gazes felt much harsher, more critical. I felt a shiver run down my spine and though I did my best to hide how I was feeling behind my mask, Edith knew better and I caught her eyes narrow.
I¡¯m fine. You don¡¯t need to worry about me right now.
Obviously, there was no way for me to really pass her that message, other than smiling faintly and hoping she figured it out. I did so, and though she narrowed her eyes suspiciously, she held her tongue.
¡°Announcing Lady Edith, representing her father Duke Claurence.¡±
Since Edith was technically lower ranked than anyone else in the waiting room, the herald announced her first and she fixed a smile on her face. Curtsying to those present, she turned and entered the hall with her guard.
Dukes Lawrence and Lester have their wives with them, but Edith was alone¡ Considering she was originally meant to marry Rupert, I wonder what¡¯s going on with that? Hopefully she doesn¡¯t end up single¡ Though in this case, since she is representing her father she couldn¡¯t be escorted by anyone from another house.
The Herald¡¯s voice called out again, disrupting that train of thought, ¡°Duke Lawrence and Duke Lester, together with their wives.¡±
The four of them bowed and curtsied as required then passed through the doorway with their own guards. This left Rupert and I ¡°alone¡± once more.
¡°How are you feeling?¡± His question was rather unexpected, causing me to jump slightly.
There was no point in explaining exactly what tumultuous thoughts were passing through my mind at the moment, so I contented myself with a vague shrug, ¡°I will be fine¡ Their intense appraisal just made me a bit anxious.¡±
¡°I see.¡±
Before anything else could be said, the herald announced us, ¡°His Highness Rupert von Drakas, together with his fianc¨¦e, Stahlia von Ris.¡±
A knot formed in the pit of my stomach, but I did my best to ignore it and shifted my hand so that instead of daintily holding Rupert¡¯s, I was now gripping his forearm. After a moment of hesitation, I moved my other arm around in front of me so as to be holding his arm with both hands. It was a more intimate display, and would hopefully go some ways towards dispelling any rumors spread by the first prince and his rebels.
On the downside, this position meant that I was basically clinging to Rupert¡¯s side, which did wonders for my nerves.
The best way to get over my mental issues is to just force my way through. That¡¯s basically what I did with Asten and my remorse, and it worked then.
Rupert looked mildly surprised but that expression quickly vanished, ¡°Then, let us go.¡±
I nodded and allowed him to lead me through the doors. Immediately upon entering the brightly lit venue, I felt sick. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were fixated on my body, my hands holding Rupert¡¯s arm, my face, everything. All of them seemed to be staring at me in a manner similar to the dukes as well, which was not good.
Will I even be able to move?
That would be a disaster. If I could barely walk forward down the carpet, then the plan would fall apart before it even had a chance to begin.
And I¡¯m supposed to give a speech, and beg for Elienor¡¯s life!? What the hell was I thinking!
¡°¡Stahlia, walk.¡±
Rupert¡¯s voice sounded in my ear; he was whispering without moving his lips. Looking up at him out of the corner of my eyes I saw that, though he was smiling for the crowd, his eyes were harsh. Even he seemed to be critical of me right now.
¡°I¡ I can¡¯t.¡±
My own whisper reached him, and I saw the corner of his smile twitch.
Damnit! I¡¯m sorry! I shouldn¡¯t have any issues with something like this; I¡¯ve constantly been drawing attention to myself, I don¡¯t know why this is only happening now, but it is!
Suddenly, I was no longer standing. I hadn¡¯t fallen though. Blinking rapidly both to take stock of what had happened and to clear my eyes of the tears that had started to form, I realized that Rupert had picked me up. He was now holding me in a princess carry and walking on his own. I felt my cheeks flush instantly in one moment, and then invariably screwed myself as I began contemplating.
This isn¡¯t good. The plan would have me appear strong but empathetic, a good foil to Rupert¡¯s own personality. This is going to make me look weak in the eyes of the noblemen, and while some of the women might like the image the majority of them will view me as simply a child. I mean, I am technically a child, but that image was something we needed to break.
I really went and messed this up¡ Will we even be able to salvage the plan at this point? Maybe it would be better for me to excuse myself early. We could say that my illness has returned¡ No, that would imply that the next queen is physiologically weak. Being absent for half a year was already bad enough, but could be explained away by saying I was heavily injured. If I say I was feeling ill and excuse myself, even if it made sense, it would start rumors.
Then, should I play the part of a little girl and say that being the center of attention made me nervous? No, that wouldn¡¯t work given my past actions; I was never afraid of attention before-
¡°Stahlia, stop thinking; you will just further complicate things.¡±
Rupert¡¯s muttered instruction was harsh, but it hit the nail on the head.
He¡¯s right. At this point, I should just go with the flow. Edith and Gustav are here, and both of them are much more capable of social games than I am. Trusting them to play things to our advantage would be the best action I can take now.
Looking at the crowd, I could already see Edith whispering to a few noble girls her own age. Two of them I recognized as being somewhat more heavily charmed; the ones Dominic had been dancing with to spite me.
She¡¯s already starting convenient rumors and laying the groundwork¡ Sorry for the extra trouble.
Still, seeing her moving on my behalf like that had a calming effect, and I was able to focus on calming myself. After a few more feet of being carried, I whispered back to Rupert, ¡°¡I should be fine now. I am sure I am quite heavy seeing as I am not actually twelve.¡±
¡°¡It would look more awkward to put you down now, than were I to bring you all the way to our seats.¡±
That much was obvious, even if being carried was more awkward for me. I wanted to ask him how I should play things off, but even lipless whispers posed a danger of being eavesdropped on. Unless I could figure out a way to phrase things innocuously, it would give away that we had a scheme in the works.
I won¡¯t try. I probably could, but I already decided to trust my allies with this. They¡¯ll come up with something and find a way to let me know what I need to do. If they don¡¯t, then I¡¯ll just do what we originally planned and trust that they can manage with that.
Me trying to salvage the situation on my own would just create more work for the people cleaning up after me. As I came to that conclusion, we arrived at our seats and Rupert let me down before pulling out the chair for me to sit. As I took my seat, I risked a quick look around the room. It was honestly rather remarkable; whatever Edith and Gustav had done in the shadows, I was no longer being stared at in a harsh or appraising manner. People were now looking on warmly.
I really am lucky to have friends and allies like those.
Extra Chapter: Mothers Intuition
Rosalie von Ris, Twenty-Eight Years Old, Tenth Month of 948
¡°No fair! You shouldn¡¯t flicker when we¡¯re just playing!¡± Felicity¡¯s ears gave an angry twitch as she accosted Rosial.
Rosial stuck her tongue out as she retorted, ¡°You¡¯re just mad that you can¡¯t catch me!¡±
¡°¡Wait!¡±
The voices of my three children called out as they played energetically around the rooms we had been given, under the watchful supervision of myself and Jacqueline, though the latter was only here because in her own words ¡°my room is rather dull without anything to focus on.¡± When first arrived, I had been concerned that the noise produced would prove a bother and tried to calm them. It was my other daughter, who was presently absent, that had assured me there were no problems.
¡°Come now you two, think how Rosin feels! The two of you are running circles around him.¡±
Felcity¡¯s ears twitched the way I was beginning to realize they did when she knew she was doing something wrong. Frankly, I could only be impressed at how expressive those things were.
I can¡¯t believe that some people would have them removed.
¡°Well, then he should learn to speed up!¡±
Contrary to Felicity¡¯s guilty attitude, Rosial was as blas¨¦ as ever. Not that I really knew what she was normally like, we had only just been reunited.
She used to be so kind and cheerful¡ always running after Stahlia¡
¡°Come now Rosial, Rosin is your little brother; you need to be nice¡ what would Stahlia say?¡±
For better or worse, Rosial seemed to have at least retained her infatuation with her elder sister; merely invoking my first daughter¡¯s name was often enough to get her to calm down¡ though it made my mother¡¯s heart weep that I had to rely on my child like that.
To be honest with myself, I think that the notion that Rosial had come back to me, had been returned, had yet to fully set in. My husband and I had some inkling of what might have happened; that Rosial had been taken. All of the high nobles did, and as the former spare to a duke my Fynn had knowledge well above his present station.
It was easier then. When Rosial was just dead, any suspicions to the contrary were just that; suspicions. Now¡ confronted with the reality that it was the very kingdom I was so proud to be a part of¡ And Stahlia¡ She¡¯s involved with the very people that took my other daughter from me.
It made my heart ache just thinking about it. Any other mother would be beside herself with joy to be the parent of the next queen. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to be happy.
Fynn says that everything is fine, but can it really be? I doubt that things are so simple.
¡°Lady Ris, you are doing that thing again; you will get wrinkles.¡± Jacqueline¡¯s chiding voice cut in, ¡°What would your daughter say if she saw how you are right now?¡±
¡°And you? What would Stahlia say if she knew you were still running yourself like this? I do believe that she all but ordered you to take things easy.¡±
Jacqueline¡¯s face twitched but she ignored my comment, ¡°My lady made her choice, and she does not regret it¡ If she knew how you were fretting now she would be upset.¡±
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I wanted to retort, but before the words left my mouth, Rosial began to tug at my arm.
This is new, she¡¯s shied away from my touch the past days¡
¡°Yes dear, what is it? Can mommy help you with something?¡±
Rosial¡¯s face crimped up; despite knowing she did not like it, my voice had invariably gone back to the doting-mother speech I had used before she was taken. Still, she did not pull away.
¡°Rosin can¡¯t keep up; carry him.¡±
I blinked.
This is, she is asking me to join them in their game, right?
I smiled, ¡°I would love to! Just tell mommy the rules please, I am not sure I understand what it is you are playing.¡±
My daughter frowned at me, ¡°We¡¯re playing ¡®Botched Job!¡¯ the assassin messed up and now the target is running away!¡±
So¡ They are playing tag.
By this point, after spending a week with her, I had grown somewhat desensitized to the¡ unique mannerisms that Rosial had picked up. It was troubling, but I had to tell myself it could be so much worse.
¡°Alright, who is¡ the assassin?¡±
Rosial smiled, ¡°Rosin is this time!¡±
Ah, no wonder he can¡¯t keep up¡ Should I just be glad that the two are letting him join in? Or should I be worried that it will be a bad influence on my son¡?
Despite my misgivings, I got up from my chair and made my way over to Rosin. Rather than be upset that he couldn¡¯t catch either of his sisters, he just seemed happy to be included at all. Picking him up, I turned to face the two girls, ¡°Are you ready Rosin?¡±
¡°Aya Aya Mommy!¡±
¡°Aya aya¡?¡± Before I could ask, I noticed Felicity looking away pointedly.
Ah, some demi-human term. As long as he does not say it in public there should not be a problem¡
¡°Well, then let us get your sisters!¡±
The game started immediately after the words had left my mouth, both Felicity and Rosial took off and began to keep a distance from me.
They¡¯re fast!
Felicity I understood somewhat, being a demi-human, she was naturally stronger. Though how she was this fast despite being a child was a mystery. Rosial was the more surprising, and the more worrying. Unless my eyes deceived me, she was actually a bit faster than Felicity. Not that I would have any trouble catching them if I really wanted to. Though, doing so would not be very motherly of me; letting the children run around until they got tired was best.
¡°Hurry mommy! They¡¯re escape!¡± Of course my son did not see it that way; in his mind, me and him were on a team and we had to catch the girls.
¡°Alright, make sure to hold though, alright sweety?¡±
¡°Ya!¡±
Rosin clung excitedly to me, and I picked up the pace a bit. Still, the two of them were quite fast and had evidently been holding back. When I accelerated, they did as well until the three of us were almost sprinting.
¡°Alright! That is quite enough, slow down before you break something.¡±
My husband¡¯s call brought me back to my senses.
What was I doing!? What if a servant, or worse, some member of the nobility came to call!
¡°I am glad to see you were bonding with our daughters, but we need to get ready for tonight¡¯s event. Fynn¡¯s apologetic tone reminded me of why we were here in the first place, and I did my best to calm myself down.
¡°Felicity, can you get my chair please?¡± Jacqueline, timely as she had ever been, provided an excuse for the three to leave my husband and I before the whining about why they couldn¡¯t come as well started. Fynn and I retired to separate changing rooms to dress for tonight¡¯s big event, before reconvening to make our way to the venue.
¡°That really was terrible of me¡ Our daughter must be going through so much, and here I am acting a fool.¡± My mutter was really only meant for myself, but my husband was close enough to hear.
¡°True, but you know what? I think Stahlia would be beside herself with happiness if she had seen you just then; do you remember how you used to go after her when she would run around with Rosial?¡±
¡°Perhaps, I just wish that things could have worked out differently¡ If only I had done this or that, then maybe our family wouldn¡¯t have been torn apart like it was.¡±
My husband grimaced, ¡°Rosalie, stop it; the past is the past, and you can not change it now.¡±
¡°¡Perhaps you are right, though seeing her tonight is going to be hard.¡±
Fynn laughed dryly, ¡°Do not mistake my words, it will be hard for myself as well. But you know what? It will be even harder for her. Everyone seems to think that our daughter is special, some miracle. But do you remember when she came home? After the disastrous mission? She cried just like any other girl her age should. We cannot change the past, what is important now is that we be there for her in the present.¡±
My husband¡¯s words rang in my ears even as we went to the table provided and took our seats.
I wish it was that easy for me Fynn, but I cannot help but worry. Somewhere down the line, I forgot, but she is my little girl all the same.
5-14 Speeches
Turning my attention away from the crowd before it caused me to have a nervous breakdown again, I focused on the other people sitting at the table with me; namely, my parents. Rosial was still officially dead, so she could not attend. Felicity was in an awkward place owing to her status as a demihuman and the fact that she had never been legally adopted by my parents.
I need to figure out the best way to handle her situation¡ The easiest thing to do would be to just make a new slave contract, but I would rather not; as far as Claire and I can tell, she doesn¡¯t need a connection to me anymore now that Envious has activated fully¡ Ack! I¡¯m rambling again.
The short of it was that Felicity was not able to attend either. Stil and Jacqueline were also not in attendance, for obvious reasons. Actually, even my parents being here had caused some organizational problems. This was owing to their status being as low as it was.
In the end it had been decided to compromise; my parents were seated some distance away from Rupert and myself, rather than on my left side as was traditionally the case. Even with them being as distant as they were, their presence still served as a steadying force for me.
A pair of knights stamped their sabatons to produce a rather loud bang that resounded throughout the room, likely aided by some Wind Magic. The whispers that had begun to pick up died down as the assembled guests turned to face the entrance at the opposite side of the hall from where Rupert and I had just come from. Everyone knew that the king was going to make an appearance, so it wasn¡¯t as if they were all confused about what was about to happen.
¡°Announcing His Highness, King Edward von Drakas the Fifth.¡± With the herald¡¯s announcement, the pair of knights again stomped their sabatons before swinging open the double doors. The king entered, and upon seeing him, those assembled stood as one before dropping to their knees. Rupert was the lone exception; being the king¡¯s son, he stood but did not kneel.
I did my best not to stare, satisfying myself with only what could be gleaned from the peripherals of my vision. Who could blame me for being curious? This was my father-in-law, and I had only actually ever seen him thrice before today.
And one of those times, he dropped a bombshell that forced us to alter our plans pretty drastically. Granted, it worked out in the end but¡ Chances are, things would not have gotten so bad for me in particular, had the king not gotten impatient and forced us to move quicker.
It was not that I blamed him specifically. Rather, he was an enigma; I could clearly see the benefits of moving as quickly as we had. But that was only with hindsight. In the moment, I would have loved nothing more than to slow down.
I have to wonder when I will get a chance to meet him properly, instead of from a distance like this. I have to imagine I will at some point, being that I literally married his son.
Frankly, in my mind, it was odd that I had yet to meet him since the wedding. Especially given that I had met the god damned dragon face to face and even shared words with him. The king completed his entrance and, standing on a small raised platform placed specifically for the purposes of his and Rupert¡¯s speeches.
The last time he gave a speech, he was not all that verbose.
I glanced at Rupert from out of the corner of my eye; I already knew that he did not know what the king actually intended to say outside of the same barebones basics I knew. He had fixed his father with a cold stare, though his face otherwise remained passive. If I did not know any better, I would probably consider the stare treasonous.
So, he¡¯s also concerned that dad is going to through us another stick to go fetch¡ I really hope he doesn¡¯t.
¡°Rupert, you have chosen your queen.¡± His voice was rather quiet, in stark contrast to the tone he had when giving the speeches at the school. He also did not employ the voice this time either. Yet, something about the way he was talking was still rather compelling.
When he did not continue, I realized that he was in fact waiting for a response from Rupert.
¡°I have.¡±
¡°And you believe she will be able to rise to the station?¡±
¡°I do.¡±
He was quiet then, for some time. Long enough to where I began to worry he was about to throw our plans out of whack again.
¡°Then, Stahlia von Ris.¡± Everyone¡¯s gaze snapped to me at those words, and I felt my pulse quicken again.
Right, this is the part where I raise my head.
I looked up and met the king¡¯s stare with my own. Despite my nerves beginning to feel raw once again I somehow managed to hold myself steady.
¡°I will honor my son¡¯s decision. I hereby permit the use of our name as your own; Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas. Furthermore, I grant you the title crown princess. Support my son in the years to come.¡±
A notification popped into my head, informing me that I had received a new title
And now I am supposed to curtsy once to the king, then once to Rupert.
Against all odds, my knees did not give out and I was able to fulfill that task. Throughout everything he had said so far, he had maintained that same quiet yet piercing tone. Now, he changed to the more commanding presence I was familiar with from the previous times I had seen him.
¡°With my blessing, this is the next king and queen of our country. Are there any here who would go against my decree?¡±
After a short pause that was more for effect than anything else, the king continued, ¡°As it should be. Still, there are others who are not present. My own son who goes against the words of his father, his king.¡±
The king raised his hand as a quiet murmur ran through the gathered ensemble; the first part of his speech was fairly traditional, but what he was saying now was not. Though people had probably been expecting him to say something about Antonio and his followers, the king was being pretty obvious about his stance. He was calling them traitors with little room for interpretation.
¡°Bring the registry.¡± His voice had changed again. Instead of the powerful commanding tone or the quiet yet piercing one, it was now soft. Barely audible, and yet everyone heard it. There was something else there that I could not quite identify either. Something final. Besides me, I saw Rupert stiffen; he was no longer making an effort to hide his feelings but was staring at his father with naked surprise¡ and shock?
¡°¡Rupert?¡± In my anxiousness, I neglected his title. Fortunately, I still had the presence of mind to whisper.
¡°¡Not now. Watch carefully and do not forget a moment of what you witness¡ My father is about to make history, the bastard. He should have told me he was going to do this.¡± Though he managed to prevent his voice from carrying, there was genuine anger and frustration behind his words.
A pair of women wearing robes arrived bearing between them a scroll upon which was stamped the seal of the royal family.
The so-called registry I take it. A registry of what? Based on Rupert¡¯s reaction, something significant. The other nobles look somewhat stunned as well.
Indeed, though none were talking, they were all glancing at each other rather excitedly. Not in a good way, like they were excited about what was about to happen. More so that they could not believe what they were seeing.
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The king reach towards the scroll, and the two bearers unfurled it. I was too far away to read what was written in it, but I could feel a rather powerful connection between myself and the words on the page. As if something were tugging at my soul.
A family registry then. Of all the members of the royal family, a magic tool that records the names of the rulers and their kin. But, what is he going to do with¡ that¡ No way, he wouldn¡¯t, would he?
¡°Antonio von Drakas, mine first son. I denounce you. In the presence of those assembled, and by my right as king, may your name be stricken.¡±
The scroll seemed to glow, and I felt something snap, as though a string had been pulled taut and then cut. The scroll was then reverently rewound and borne from the room. A moment later, the king himself left. All the while, nobody present said a word. The atmosphere was heavy, and I felt cold.
Forget denouncing him, he stripped him of his status and titles. The king effectively disowned his own first son. Even for him, that¡¯s extreme¡ No, perhaps not; the war starts in a year and a month. We don¡¯t have time for a petty rebellion, and Antonio should know that. The king is taking the most expedient course of action that would best serve the kingdom. With this, even many of the nobles still following him will recuse themselves.
Rupert looked like he was going to be sick, surprisingly enough.
¡°¡Prince Rupert, are you well?¡± I would be lying if I said that this brief reversal of roles did not feel amazing.
Any minute now, he¡¯ll¡ Yep, there it is.
Rupert tensed his jaw, shook his head, and wiped his cheeks with both hands. Once he had finished, his expression had returned to neutrality. He looked down at me, ¡°I am doing well, Stahlia. Are you ready for the next part?¡±
I rolled my eyes but nodded, ¡°Yes, your own speech correct?¡±
¡°Correct, though I will now need to give it off the cuff¡ My father is genuinely a troubling man.¡±
All I could do was shrug and nod. Rupert grimaced briefly before once again forcing a neutral expression and standing. The crowd had been stunned speechless by the king¡¯s actions; the majority of them lacked the context for why the king had been so harsh in his judgment against Antonio. When Rupert began walking towards the small raised platform, a number of them began whispering to each other.
Normally, Rupert would take the time to introduce me to the other nobles. That was the tradition, but given his own admission that he would need to ad-lib his speech I didn¡¯t know if this would still be the case.
A pain in the ass indeed. Fully half of the times I¡¯ve met father dearest, he has thoroughly torn our plans apart.
Though saying we had met was a stretch; I had seen him twice at academy ceremonies, and once at the second prince¡¯s funeral procession. Four times in total.
¡°I am grateful to my father, for affording my fianc¨¦ and I his blessing. This past year has seen great tragedy and turmoil befall our fine kingdom.¡±
This was the first time I had actually heard Rupert¡¯s ¡°speech voice¡± and I had to say, it wasn¡¯t bad. He lacked the impact of his father, but he was still articulate and easy to understand. If I had to put a finger on it, I would say that where his father had impact, Rupert had earnestness. His father might command respect, but Rupert made you want to give it. Between the two, I couldn¡¯t tell which was more effective.
¡°My brother the second prince, assassinated in his own land. The turmoil caused by terrorists in the capital. Antonio and his separatists¡ It gladdens me that we could come together to celebrate my wife-to-be.¡±
Pretty sure that you¡¯re responsible for the first one, I¡¯m sort of the reason for the second, and we are jointly the reason for the third¡
Oblivious to my internal thoughts and conniptions, Rupert continued.
¡°Normally, I would take this opportunity to introduce my fianc¨¦. We would lead a dance with other young couples, you all would have the chance to say a few words to her, and the night would end.¡±
So this is where things go to improvisation, I need to be careful and watch for a good moment to jump in about Elienor.
¡°But as my father demonstrated, to do so now, while there are forces that threaten our peace¡ I could not in good conscious do so. Not until my former brother has answered for the strife he causes. Until all the threats that stalk our lands have been dealt with.¡±
Rupert was reading the room rather skillfully and playing the crowd. His father¡¯s actions had created an air of unease that he was now capitalizing on. The nobles, at least the barons and less influential counts, had been knocked off balance by Antonio being disowned. Rupert was tossing them a life ring, something to hold onto. Even I, as inept at playing politics as I was, could see that.
After pausing to let his proclamation sink in, Rupert continued, ¡°Too long have I allowed my brother¡¯s actions to go unpunished.¡±
Because you wanted to wait until after they had been exhausted by the winter.
¡°No more. We will spend the remaining months until spring gathering an army. Then, when the first snow melts, I will crush my late brother¡¯s forces. The traitors will be expunged.¡±
So exactly what the plan was originally, but now with public fervor on our side.
A small smattering of applause broke out then, as Rupert paused. If I had to guess, I would say it had been started by one or more of his supporters. Whatever the case, it very quickly spread throughout the room as more and more nobles joined in. That was when I caught his stare, and ever so slightly a nod.
Ah, ¡®all the traitors¡¯ that would include Elienor. So this is when I should jump in¡ Right when everyone is calling for blood¡ Damnit Rupert!
Still, if I gave in to my newfound fear of crowds, it would mean death or permanent imprisonment for Elienor.
I took a deep breath and then stepped toward Rupert, ¡°Ah¡ Excuse me, Prince Rupert.¡±
It was strange, the nobles immediately nearby fell quiet first. Then, as though a ripple in a pond, the silence spread out from there. Until they were all staring at me. The looks were fortuitously not all that harsh, though once I started to voice my request I was sure that would change. Rather, they were presently curious; after all, this event was originally supposed to have been more or less for me.
¡°I¡ I do not think we should put down all of the traitors¡¡±
True to my expectations, the stares quickly became hostile and I could feel them boring into my from all angles.
Focus.
My head was starting to swim a bit, and I paused. Searching the crowd of faces, I picked out Edith¡¯s and latched onto it.
¡°E-everyone here knows that my father¡ that my family are merely barons. We would not necessarily have the luxury to go against those above us¡ While I am grateful to you for negotiating with my father in good faith,¡±
A blatant lie¡ It¡¯s scary how easy that was to say¡
¡°¡Not all people would be as generous as you¡ Count Francois certainly was not.¡±
When in doubt, blame the count.
The stares were still bearing down on me, but as of yet, nobody had moved to contradict what I was saying, ¡°I would ask that you consider the positions of each of the traitor nobles¡ Some of them may be deserving of clemency¡¡±
My voice failed under the pressure and I fell silent.
I wasn¡¯t able to get to the part about Elienor¡
Rupert fell into a contemplative posture, stroking his chin. I knew that he wasn¡¯t really thinking right now; if he was serious he would be speaking out loud and seemingly at random in a stream of consciousness. The act was convincing though; it appeared as though he were considering my words with care.
¡°I see, this is about the Francois¡¯ daughter, your friend Elienor, is it?¡±
To Rupert¡¯s assertation, I nodded. I couldn¡¯t trust my voice at the moment. It was liable to crack should I try to say anything.
¡°I see. You raise a good point. With respect to your own experiences with higher nobles, I shall take your words to heart; before declaring the purge, I shall issue a proclamation to the traitors. Though Antonio¡¯s life is forfeit, and that of his close aides. As far as the Francois girl¡ You will be responsible for her going forward, do you accept that?¡±
Again, I nodded.
I look pathetic right now. Like some lost little girl floundering around in a world she doesn¡¯t understand at all¡ If not for Rupert being so understanding, I wouldn¡¯t be able to handle things at all.
Even though I realized my shortcoming, I wasn¡¯t able to help myself. It was as though my confidence had been utterly destroyed. Until I could figure out how to get it back, I would be nothing but a burden to my friends. That notion only served to make me feel worse about things.
Finding Edith¡¯s face again, I saw that she was giving me a concerned look. I tried to smile, to signal that everything was alright. But all that I accomplished was a sort of cramped crooked partial grin. To any onlookers, it would appear that I was embarrassed at being the center of attention. To people who knew about my present circumstances and condition, it would be obvious that I was faking hard.
Edith¡¯s expression turned pained and she began to pick her way through the crowd towards me. Rupert might have spared me from having to lead the dance, but that didn¡¯t mean the night was over. There was still the socializing to attend to.
I¡¯m going to be sick.
Extra Chapter: My name is Sasha
Sasha von Strauss, Thirty-Four Years Old, 948
Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas. A name that will end up in the history books I am sure.
Such was the fate of a baron¡¯s daughter rising to the position of queen.
They will not share the specifics, not that it matters for my job¡ But still, just what is going on with you?
My current charge, as well as my charge for the past several months, was to look after the sleeping girl presently lying on the bed in the room with me. Though, it might be more proper to call her the sleeping young lady now. Somehow, in these past several months she had visibly grown several years. If my eyes were accurate, four or five years total. Obviously, I had known there was something special about her as soon as I was informed who she was; no normal baron¡¯s child would catch the eye of the prince.
But still, the third was always the shrewd one. He would not let some idle curiosity sway his intentions to this degree. Nor would he assign me to care for you unless he was completely serious.
The third prince was what one might charitably call, unique. That said, while his mannerisms and demeanor could be considered lacking, he was intelligent and calculating to a fault.
¡°Mhm¡¡± The sound emanating from the bed nearby actually made my spine tingle.
She¡¯s waking up!
As soon as I confirmed that Stahlia was beginning to stir, I hurried to send word to the prince.
I suppose I should let her sister and¡ the cat¡ know that she will wake up soon.
Those two were¡ complicated. On one hand, the human sister had been kidnapped at some point. The little pieces I had been able to gather through conversation and a maid¡¯s prerogative of eavesdropping painted a bleak picture. If my conjecture was correct, that kidnapping had been on behalf of the kingdom itself and was more or less directly led to her being installed as Rupert¡¯s fianc¨¦e.
Then there was the demi-human. At least, that is what Lord Gustav¡¯s briefing had led me to believe. When the knights actually brought her in the presence of a second tail rather quickly became the topic of gossip in among the palace staff. Nobody seemed to know of a subspecies that had more than one tail, and yet here she was. Of course, this was not the reason that Rupert had picked this girl. Rather, it was just another mystery to throw on top of the pile.
But the fact that she keeps one of those around is¡ and she apparently considers it family¡
Far be it from me to judge my charge¡¯s tastes, questionable as they were. I was a professional and could separate my personal feelings from my job enough to be able to interact with this¡ ¡®Felicity¡¯ when I had to.
As luck would have it, it was Felicity that was present the exact moment that Stahlia woke up. Though, it did not take long for everyone else to meet her, as the girl wasted no time in making the rounds to introduce herself to those of her acquaintances that were staying in the palace. I suppose I should have expected it, given her rapid growth, but there was very little in the way of atrophy.
Though, watching her move around methodically working her way through the list of names, there was something¡ unsettling about it. Something with the air around her, the way she carried herself. Though I could not put a finger on it, something about this girl was disturbing.
She was a bit crude, but there was a method to her actions and it was plain as day that she meant well¡ Just that feeling that I could not shake.
¡°Those are my thoughts, such as they are.¡± It had now been a few days since Stahlia woke up, and Rupert had asked me my opinion on how she was doing, ¡°Though, if I might make a suggestion?¡±
He tapped his fingers together from where he was sitting, ¡°You may.¡±
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¡°Rupert, you obviously care. At least as much as you are able; ask her yourself. Speaking as a woman, I can assure you that she would appreciate the gesture.¡±
Lord Gustav lightly covered his mouth to hide the smile he was no doubt making. As far as I was aware, I was probably the only person who could get away with calling Rupert without a title. That said, I only did it when there was a point to be made. In this case, he was being far to distant for his own good.
¡°You would not have tasked me with looking after her if you did not care, at least a little.¡±
The man in question waved his hand somewhat dismissively, ¡°You are mistaken, I only picked you because circumstances demanded discretion and you are someone I can trust¡ Is there anything you can expand upon regarding her being, as you said, ¡®crude¡¯?¡±
¡°Fine, have it your way; she has manners and the effort she is putting in is clear. However, she is not up to the standard that will be demanded of her. From what I have been able to glean these past few days, she has developed a bit of a habit of expressing her intentions bluntly. Especially when interacting with Gustav, who is far too soft on her.¡±
¡°Tch.¡± Both Rupert and I ignored Gustav¡¯s tongue click at being called out.
¡°In short, she shows promise, and I can see several things that might contribute to why you chose her, but I cannot for the life of me put it all together¡ If you would be more descriptive, I might be able to offer more insight.¡±
¡°Give it a rest Sasha. You should know better than to waste time asking¡ Let¡¯s see, now that she is awake, Stahlia will need a new full-time attendant¡ I was thinking of placing you in this position; as my own former nursemaid, there are few I trust more than you.¡±
I could tell by his tone that he was far past thinking, and I was being informed of my new post. The subtle implications were clear as well; he wanted me to help her acclimate to her new station.
¡°Are you up to that task?¡±
¡°Yes yes, I¡¯ll take the job. We both know you would give it to me anyway, besides; this gives me an excuse to see more of her sister. She is quite adorable.¡±
So began a multiple weeks-long miscommunication. As it turned out, Rupert had not meant for me to educate Stahlia to her new station. Rather, he really had meant that he trusted me to look after her in the most literal sense. Though I wish that she had not been so blunt when asking about it, and she turned right around and began to speak of classified information out in the hallway where any wandering noble might overhear. Fortunately, we were on our way back from her visit to the summit so the odds of that happening were rather slim, and Rupert managed to stop her before she said anything truly damning.
Even if he did not intend for me to be an educator, I do believe that it would be a good idea for me to offer a guiding hand here and there.
¡°May I have Lady Elienor?¡±
Rupert and everyone else froze for a moment before the former voiced what all of us were thinking.
¡°Explain.¡±
¡°Even if she is granted a stay of execution, she cannot go free given what her family has done. Though eccentric, she does have talent¡ Besides this, she is my friend. I would like to offer her the same deal that Ferris has. It strikes me that Sasha is quite overworked, being the only female member of my staff.¡±
Oh? What¡¯s this now?
Too late, I realized that I had allowed my mask to slip and hurriedly moved to fix it. Though not before Stahlia noticed and displayed a small, satisfied grin.
It was not that I was overworked per se, though caring for a princess was a lot of work so having extra hands would not be unwelcome.
¡°On that subject, if it is possible, I would also like to employ Lucy and Frieda; my maids from when I was living with the Francois¡ I know that you do not want to stack up too many small contracts, but if we keep the terms between these three identical to what Ferris has, there should be no conflict.¡±
Lucy and Frieda¡? Those would be the maids the Francois gave her. Having someone decently trained would be nice, assuming they can be properly vetted and secured¡ But a limited contract!? This is what I meant when I told Rupert you could be crude at times!
Fortunately for the sanity of everyone involved, she did drop the idea of the contracts after Rupert hinted that, socially, they would not be a good idea. Then a short while later, she went and changed my opinion yet again.
¡°Sasha, please summon Sieg for me.¡±
¡°My lady? Are you sure?¡± Of course I was a bit surprised; up until now, she had been insisting on trying to dance around the man in question. While I understood her desire to avoid what she perceived as an abuse of power towards an acquaintance, such actions would not work in her favor.
¡°¡Yes, I am certain. In the future as well, please do not dance around the topic as you did with this. I have much that I will need to learn if I am to cope with my new responsibilities. If you believe I should do something differently, say so straightly. Though, in the end whether or not to take your advice will remain my decision. Is that clear?¡±
Whatever Rupert had said or shown her earlier today, it had clearly had some effect. For the briefest moment, I caught a glimpse of a genuine ruler¡¯s demeanor.
I can work with this, you might be a bit rough around the edges, but I¡¯ll turn you into one of this kingdom¡¯s jewels.
5-15 Audiences
Edith picked her way to me through the crowd. In another few minutes, we would begin with the impromptu audiences. Though I wasn¡¯t looking forward to it, this part was key to building up my reputation and establishing the basics of connections. The latter being something that I had failed rather miserably at during my time at the Academy, Edith aside.
Thankfully, this is just going to be a meet-and-greet sort of thing, since other than my connection to the Francois not many of the adult nobles took any interest in me¡ My parents probably have things worse, considering their standing.
I chanced a look at my father, who was still at the table we had been sitting at prior to me moving to the middle of the room. Very few people were approaching him, contrary to my expectations. It was likely that the capital nobles were not entirely sure of how to approach father; in principle they largely outranked him. But I outranked him as well as all of them. It was a rather unique set of circumstances, and the careful scheming nobility were loathe to be the one to make the first move.
¡°Lady Stahlia, are you holding up alright? You look unwell.¡± Edith¡¯s voice caused me to turn around.
Ah right, I was supposed to excuse myself to a slightly more isolated part of the venue.
¡°I am feeling a bit ill, I think it would be a good idea to sit down for a bit.¡± Taking her cue, I made a quick excuse before falling back towards an ornate bench at the side of the room that had been placed here with my retreat in mind. Edith followed after a moment¡¯s delay.
Ordinarily, it would be the two present duke¡¯s right to introduce themselves first, but they had already recused themselves per Rupert¡¯s request. I would be introduced to them formally at a later time though, so it was not like I had managed to escape. Edith was next in line by status, so we had a few moments before others would begin to approach.
Facing me so that her voice would be harder to pick up by the crowd, Edith did something rather unexpected.
¡°You¡¯re holding up well, all things considered. Just a bit longer before you can excuse yourself completely.¡±
The odds that she was overheard were slim, but it was not nonexistent. If her words just now had been overheard, it would cause a small scandal or at least stir some minor rumors. No matter what, the tone used was improper considering our relevant positions.
I must be a lot worse than I thought I was if she¡¯s willing to take a risk like that to try and calm me down¡ Sorry Edith.
Instead of forcing her into greater risk with a vague or even direct response, I forced a faint smile onto my face and nodded lightly. If anyone happened to be watching, it would simply look like she had said or asked something that I took in good humor. Given our established friendship, that much should go over just fine.
For some reason though, Edith gave me a rather cross look before sighing, ¡°In any case, I will do what I can to blunt this next part.¡±
Considering the circumstances, she was being a bit too curt. But with what I was putting her through, that much was understandable, ¡°Then, who is first?¡±
Edith turned so she could see the small crowd of people forming a few meters away from us, ¡°Count Garrus, formerly one of the neutral nobles. He will likely seek simply to greet you¡¡±
She trailed off as Count Garrus stepped closer out of the crowd. Stepping towards me, Edith greeted him first with a respectful half curtsy. He returned the greeting with a bow of his own, then a full bow towards me.
¡°Lady Stahlia, Count Garrus together with his wife, Lady Garrus.¡± Edith deftly inserted her as my pseudo herald, while skillfully ignoring the mildly annoyed look she received from a few of those in the crowd.
Those are faces I should remember; they are probably the ones that would try to manipulate and play word games with me to get favors.
Fortunately, I still had the presence of mind to recognize such an obvious fact even with my shot nerves.
Thank you Edith, for managing to give me some degree of forewarning about which ones to look out for, even with my general ineptitude tonight.
As it turned out, my friend and aide had been correct about the current Count and Countess; they really were just here to greet me.
¡°Well, we will not take up any more of your time your highness, my wife simply wished to see you up close while she had the chance.¡±
To his frank statement, I gave a half bow. Hopefully the relief I was feeling at the first audience being over would not show through, ¡°Lady Garrus, it was a pleasure to meet you as well.¡±
Short and to the point, if I don¡¯t say much of anything I can¡¯t accidentally say too much.
With the pleasantries concluded the first assailants stepped aside, clearing the field for the next contender. The next to approach were among those who I had marked as dangerous; a middle-aged man and his¡ well, I hopped it was his daughter.
Edith took a short step to the side, as though she was shifting her weight slightly, effectively cutting the man off from coming too close to me, ¡°Lady Stahlia, Count Ofnir together with his daughter. Formerly of the Second Prince¡¯s faction.¡±
The count gave Edith a scathing look masked as a pleasant smile, ¡°Well, what helpful friends you have, my lady.¡±
Something about the way he was speaking triggered all of my red flags, but he was not being outwardly disrespectful so there was little I could do without appearing to be a tyrant.
Ack! He¡¯s waiting for me to respond¡ I can¡¯t agree with him, or it would seem as though I was giving favors to the Claurence house. I also can¡¯t disagree with him, since that would put to question why Edith is even here at all. Hrm¡
After a small amount of internal deliberation, I decided to do as Earth politicians tended to do, and ignore the question, ¡°The second prince? My apologies for your loss.¡±
It was a bit awkward of delivery but on the spot, it was the best I could come up with. Apparently and thankfully, it was enough. Count Ofnir stuck his hand on his daughter¡¯s shoulder and gave her a light shove forward, ¡°This is Hilda, my fourth daughter. It has come to my attention that you presently lack staff; she is knowledgeable enough to serve as an attendant.¡±
So he wants me to take his daughter as an attendant¡ Yea, that¡¯s obviously not going to happen, but how to get out of it?
¡°Thank you for the offer Count Ofnir, but I fear I must decline; my staffing is a personal matter.¡±
He narrowed his eyes but did not press the issue further. When Edith cleared her throat and fixed him with a rather stern glare, he even stepped back before excusing himself.
What in the world? He seemed so sure of himself, but he totally just fled an actual twelve-year-old¡¯s angry face? Was it something with what I said¡?
There was no time to deliberate further, however, as the next contenders had entered the ring. Surprisingly, these ones were a boy and a girl my own apparent age.
¡°¡Lord Gildeon and Lady Therisha, the first son and second daughter of Count Locke. They are in our year at the Royal Academy.¡± By her tone, even Edith seemed rather confused by what these two were doing here. She played it off like a light cough while the two of them bowed and curtsied as was appropriate.
Our year, but I don¡¯t recall their faces¡
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Without my [Eidetic Memory] functioning, unless the memory was particularly standout much of the detail was lost. Like an idiot, I had been using the skill to record a lot of annoying things like the noble families and members. Only people I spent a lot of time with were properly remembered, otherwise Edith would not have to help me by acting as a herald.
After introducing themselves, it was Therisha who spoke first, and quite excitedly at that, ¡°My lady, I am sorry!¡±
¡°¡What¡?¡± the fervor with which she apologized threw me for a loop and I let out a puzzled statement before I could stop myself.
Therisha looked around in a panic at my words, as though she couldn¡¯t believe I did not remember¡ whatever it was she was apologizing about.
Now I¡¯ve gone and done it. This is exactly what we were worried was going to happen¡ combined with my previous issues, I must look totally inept right now¡
Still, it would not do to simply leave things as they were. Edith, whom I had checked from the corner of my eye, was showing no signs of having any idea what this was about.
So it happened while Edith wasn¡¯t present; she would signal me somehow if she knew what this was. That means it happened while Edith was confined under house arrest¡ so Therisha is probably apologizing about being a bitch while I was having the fight with Dominic.
Obviously it was not her fault; Dominic¡¯s charm had been influencing all the girls who shunned me. Likewise, I had not particularly minded being shunned at the time, my schedule was totally filled up with other matters leaving no room for feeling lonely.
But I can¡¯t just leave it at that, can I?
¡°¡Therisa, are you referring to the incident with my late ex-fianc¨¦?¡±
A sharp nod and quivering lip.
She¡¯s either very good at acting, or deathly terrified I¡¯ll hold a grudge. In any case, I shouldn¡¯t just forgive her¡ ¡®something freely offered¡¯ and all that, she wouldn¡¯t trust me.
¡°I see. Well, the actions of you and our fellow girls were extremely hurtful. I am grateful you would take the opportunity to apologize, but I cannot bring myself to forgiveness¡¡±
Her head sunk lower as a murmur rippled through the onlookers; though our voices were low, her body language made it obvious that something bad was happening.
I raised my voice enough that it would carry, a direct contradiction to how I had been asked to behave, ¡°That said, while I cannot forgive you or our peers I also cannot in good faith condemn an entire generation. So, I will forget. In the future, please remember yourself, and seek to accept your fellow students rather than shun them.¡±
It took a few seconds, but an expression of relief washed over Therisha¡¯s face. Even if I had not forgiven her, I basically had. She was finding it hard to speak, so her brother hurriedly said the requisite goodbyes for both of them and they made way for the next contenders. The next pair were more formerly neutral faction nobles, and as I would discover this category actually made up the majority of those who wanted to see me.
Evidently, Edith not recusing herself had the effect of opening up the doors to her own faction to come to say hello. The next large group consisted of the ones who wanted to play games and were largely from the second prince¡¯s faction. That made sense in a way; they were bitter over losing their bet when Rupert killed their liege so they were grasping at straws to glean some small favor. Thanks in no small part to Edith¡¯s deft assistance in maneuvering people around, I was able to dodge all such requests.
Though, if these lasted any longer than a few sentences, I would be totally trapped and make a massive mess of things.
If it weren¡¯t for my nerves being completely fried, I might have been able to deal with one, two, or even three of the grifters. But running a gauntlet like this was utterly exhausting. It was fortunate that the two main subgroups were mixed up so that I could get a break from the latter. Though there was also a smattering of odd groups like Therisha and her brother as well, but they were by far in the minority.
The instant that Edith signaled to me that I could politely excuse myself without stirring any trouble, I stood and glanced at Sasha where she stood to the side of the venue. At my nod, she moved swiftly and invisibly through the crowd of guests in a manner only a servant could. When she arrived at my side she motioned that she had a message and, at my prompting leaned to my ear to whisper it.
There was no actual message though; this was a simple tactic that was an open secret. As long as I did not abuse it, having a servant ¡®inform their master of a pressing issue¡¯ was viewed as a polite way to leave social events slightly early. In my case, since the event was in my honor it would usually be in poor taste to do things this way. Usually; given how new my position was, Gustav predicted that the guests would assume I had become overwhelmed and taken leave before making a mistake.
Though, I already made far too many of those tonight.
Moving through the hallways of the palace towards my rooms, I felt my senses beginning to go numb. Tonight had been too much for me, and yet it was just the beginning. Going forward, I would have to deal with stuff like this all the time. Sure, perhaps it would not be so bad every time. But the people needing me to do things, wanting to get the most they could out of me, that was never going to go away again.
Something I¡¯ll have to get used to. I can¡¯t afford not to. What else can I do?
It wasn¡¯t always this way. Sure, I might not have cared for going through all that but I would have been able to. Without feeling like I was constantly on the verge of messing everything up terribly.
When did I get like this¡? Why do I suddenly feel so self-conscious about everything?
I¡¯ve been more conscious about the consequences of my actions since the engagement with Rupert, but even then¡ No, that wasn¡¯t when this all started. This all started when the events of the wedding reminded me¡ reminded me of Dominic¡ When he tried to¡
Even now, alone in my room that line of thought caused me to shiver. My heart rate increased and my eyes darted around, searching for an escape from nothing.
I¡¯m supposed to have the pride of a dragon¡ or something. Yet, I feel like everything I¡¯m doing is inadequate. I wonder if there would be a way to get that judgment spell cast on me permanently? My ¡®true self¡¯ would certainly be more beneficial to everyone than the wreck I am right now.
At this point, I wasn¡¯t even sure why Rupert had honored our engagement contract to the point of marrying me. There was a clause in place for annulling the whole thing, and he had only agreed because I was Winter¡¯s Champion. There were no lies between us, so he was fully aware that I no longer held that title.
A connection to Rosial, Autumn¡¯s Champion? He obviously, hopefully, wouldn¡¯t be able to marry her. There¡¯s no way I would allow it if he dared try. So is that why he¡¯s gone ahead with everything, even though I¡¯m such a failure?
¡°Stahlia, you did pretty well all things considered.¡±
It was Edith, she had evidently excused herself from the ceremonies, though given my own absence things were likely winding down as it was.
¡°Ha! Don¡¯t patronize me, I know I screwed up our plan. I came across like a scared kid.¡±
She was silent, which was all I needed to hear to know that my assertation was correct.
¡°All the nobles now, they¡¯re probably thinking of all the ways they can bend things to their advantage. ¡®Oh the next queen is just a little girl, she¡¯ll be so easy to bribe if we just say nice things and send her sweets!¡¯ It will be you and Rupert and Gustav who have to pick up the pieces, for now, and forever!¡±
There was a lot more I wanted to say, but her continued silence was bearing down like the weight of an ocean. It was suffocating.
¡°Just leave me alone, please¡ I need to rest.¡±
Edith looked upset, probably because she realized that I was right; she was stuck cleaning up after me now. Still, even if she wanted to protest, she had technically been given a direct order to leave.
¡°No, I don¡¯t think I will.¡±
She was glaring at me now, much angrier than she had earlier tonight.
¡°Is that really what you think you looked like? That isn¡¯t what everyone else saw. Sure, you looked like a kid; by the gods you¡¯re, we¡¯re, twelve! But, you still managed to get up in front of everyone and petition the crown prince for a favor! Nobody but our group knows that was set up ahead of time!¡±
She took a step towards me, pushing past the doorway and entering my room proper.
¡°You, who was nothing more than a rather gifted frontier baron¡¯s kid, are now engaged to the next king! Nobles might be asses, but they aren¡¯t dumb! None of them expected anything from you, except to sit there quivering and terrified. Then there were all the people petitioning you for petty favors. Do you have any idea how terrified I was!? How scared I am all the time!?¡±
I glared back at her, ¡°So what!? I should be able to do better! Sure, I might be twelve on my passport! But I¡¯m pushing forty! You know that! Rupert knows that! The way I fell apart, there¡¯s no excuse!¡±
¡°YOU HANDLED THINGS FINE!¡± The force of her shout nearly made the room shake, or perhaps it actually shook the room. I couldn¡¯t tell. Then, she continued in a quieter voice.
¡°¡You¡¯re right, you weren¡¯t perfect. But you were a hundred times better than anyone expected you to be. That includes his highness, and me.¡±
At that, she seemed to realize what she had just done and turned bright red.
¡°My apologies! I should not have acted like that¡ I hope you can rest well, good night.¡± With one final curtsy, my friend made to leave while I scrambled to regather my wits.
¡°Edith¡ Wait.¡± She paused, or more accurately she froze, ¡°I¡¯m¡ sorry I snapped. You didn¡¯t deserve that¡ Thank you, for yelling at me.¡±
Once it was apparent that I had nothing else to say, she unfroze as if time had resumed.
¡°¡I told you, I would help you get through all this because that¡¯s what friends do right? Good night.¡±
¡°Good night.¡±
With that, I was left alone again, though now my heart was much calmer.
5-16 Father
Though it probably sounds clich¨¦, a good night¡¯s sleep did wonders for my mental outlook. When I woke up the next morning, all the stress from the gala felt like a somewhat distant memory. Edith¡¯s admission and crass pep talk probably did wonders as well, though I was a bit worried now that she would double or triple back her words out of some worry over status.
I¡¯ll just need to thank her again and do my best to show that I¡¯m fine now. Though, I also need to make it clear that I¡¯ll be relying on her in the future. As much as I would love to, this is not going to be something I can just force my way through¡
Still, now that the worst was behind me, I would have some time to ease into things; I would not be able to hide from people anymore. At the same time, the number of people coming at me all at once would be a lot lower than at the gala. My hope was that it would be much more manageable, and I would be able to overcome my newfound social anxiety before the next massive gathering that was to be my public wedding.
It would be something I would have to work on as I had time though, gradually. There was no way that things would wait for me to move gradually anymore.
I also have no idea how to even begin the process. With [Cold Hearted], I sort of just bashed my head against the wall and eventually managed to figure out the solution. That was a skill though, it had clearly defined rules. This though, the root cause of that anxiety was definitely lingering trauma from what happened with Dominic. It¡¯s psychological, and there is a distinct lack of professional therapists in this world.
The best I could come up with was to continue to stress myself in moderation, mainly by not intentionally avoiding situations that would make me uncomfortable. Situations like the one I presently found myself heading toward. Sasha had given me a scant few hours to prepare for the day before informing me that my plans for today had been unilaterally amended; my father-in-law had deigned to summon me.
As my entourage walked toward the palace¡¯s ancillary audience chamber, the now-familiar knot had situated itself firmly in my stomach. The one saving grace was that we were going to the ancillary chamber and not the main one; the audience would be fairly limited in scope. Ideally, it would be just Rupert, myself, and the king but there was no way that things would work out that perfectly.
Really though! I wish I could say this was a social visit, a case of ¡®well you married my son so we should meet.¡¯ But the time for that has long passed. This is definitely a business summons. How the hell does he expect me to be able to get anything done if I don¡¯t have any forewarning?
That last line of reasoning caused me to believe that this was probably also some kind of competency test, a way to confirm that I could produce results. Probably a case of overthinking but given the way his previous two proclamations had unilaterally altered Rupert¡¯s plans it was a distinct possibility. On one hand, I could kind of respect his attitude, and it made sense if one were to assume that Drakan kings sought to act like actual dragons. On the other hand, it was damn irritating to be on the receiving end of his proclamations.
¡°¡Sasha, I know I have asked already, but you really have no idea what this is about?¡±
¡°Indeed, and I have answered already; I do not. If I may add, it does not behoove you to repeat yourself.¡±
¡°¡Thank you.¡±
¡°It was my pleasure.¡±
I still wasn¡¯t quite sure where I stood with her, but it didn¡¯t seem as though we had a bad working relationship. Certainly, the fact that she was willing to be a bit snarky meant that she did not fear for her life should I be offended.
¡°That may be so, but I cannot help myself for fear of messing up somehow. This is a rather important meeting after all.¡±
¡°I imagine there will be several of those in your future, so it would be best to develop a routine.¡±
Easy enough to just say, but not so easy to actually do¡ Well, I did ask you to be frank while I learn what is expected of me. If I take that back now because of something like this, I¡¯m sure that I¡¯ll hear something along the lines of ¡°You should not take back what you say, always accept the consequences of your actions.¡± Besides, having someone willing to express themselves honestly is a good idea; I don¡¯t want to be surrounded by a council of yes men.
It was possible that Rupert had made a mistake when he selected Sasha, but after the confrontation in the hallway I had decided to trust his judgment; he had seemed genuinely surprised that she had taken it upon herself to try and educate me. At the end of the day, I did need to learn and she was willing to teach me. Giving her permission to do so simply had the effect of enabling her to say what she meant, instead of the vague indirect lessons like how she had handled my request with Sieg.
¡And I¡¯m distracting myself again, we¡¯re here.
My time would probably have been better spent theorizing about what the king wanted so that I could prepare for it, but I was too nervous so my mind had latched onto what was right in front of me.
¡°Well, no use keeping his majesty waiting.¡± After clenching my fists to try and force away a little bit of my trepidation I nodded to Sasha. She stepped forward and knocked thrice on the door, each impact reverberating through the space with an air of finality.
A firm deep voice called out from within, ¡°Enter.¡±
After a quick glance in my direction to confirm I was ready, Sasha turned the handle and swung open the door. The king was there, obviously, then as I had expected Rupert was present as well. Unexpected was the sole other attendee, Ferdinand, who was supposed to be on the front right now. There was no time to dwell on it, though, and I stepped promptly through the door while noting that my knights had remained outside.
My head bowed, I bent my knees while lifting the hem of my skirt in a manner that had been done dozens, if not hundreds of times before. Yet, in this one instance, I was beyond terrified that my curtsy would somehow be found lacking, ¡°Your highness, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance directly at last. I am Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, by birth your subject and now by law your daughter. May your reign be,¡±
¡°Enough. Sasha, do not teach her useless things.¡±
¡°My apologies your highness, that was not my intention.¡±
Wait, she followed me in? None of the others present have servants! And she just spoke directly to the king? I mean, he spoke to her first, so she¡¯d be able to answer without violating her station but still! And he totally knew it was her who told me how I should greet him, like he knew she was the one furthering my social education.
So was it the king that told her to educate me in the first place? No, if he had then she wouldn¡¯t have needed to beat around the bush; she could have been open about her intentions. Then, is he spying on me? Sasha was the one who reminded me to introduce myself¡ I¡¯m overthinking too much.
It was enough to know that Sasha had some sort of connection to the royal family. In retrospect, my special circumstances all but guaranteed no normal person could be trusted as my head maid.
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I¡¯ll question her later, and if she doesn¡¯t give a satisfactory answer then I¡¯ll ask Gustav and Rupert¡ No, forget Gustav, I¡¯ll just ask Rupert. We can¡¯t have a working relationship if he keeps using a messenger for everything.
Still, the king¡¯s actions had effectively killed any sort of momentum on my end, leaving me floundering. I had only spoken first because introductions were supposed to begin with the lower-ranked party. Now it would be improper to speak unless spoken to. Fortunately, I did not have long to wait.
He gave me a visual once over before speaking, in a tone I had not heard before. Previously he had been commanding, calm, and forceful. Now, he sounded almost¡ fuzzy, ¡°You can relax; this room is well fortified. I must say that your demeanor is rather unexpected¡ Not at all how I had thought a woman capable of so completely altering Rupert¡¯s plans and slaying an army single-handedly to behave when confronted with a few petty stares. Still, it does make sense given your abrupt change in circumstances.¡±
Unfortunately, the way he spoke was so completely outside the realm of anything I could have predicted. To make matters worse, it was apparently outside of what Rupert had predicted as well; out of the corner of my eye, I had seen him go bug-eyed as his father spoke.
¡°At least in private, you may treat me as you would your father, as long as doing so does not impact your duties and responsibilities. Publicly, of course, take care to maintain the proper etiquette.¡±
Oh boy, that¡¯s a lot to unpack. It¡¯s probable that he means well, but I can¡¯t just go ahead with what he¡¯s saying, there¡¯s no way. ¡°Treat you as I would my father¡± well, my father probably wouldn¡¯t be just dandy if I killed Rosin for political gain, and he certainly wouldn¡¯t disown Rosial for questioning him. A viper, or perhaps a tiger that¡¯s what you are. That¡¯s how I¡¯ll have to go about this.
In short, the king was effectively ordering me to treat him like a father. One of those orders pretending to be a permission or request. At the same time, he did not have a great track record with family as far as I was aware. Rupert¡¯s general demeanor of surprise followed by strict stoicism basically confirmed that this was yet another case of the king acting unilaterally.
Truly, the most troubling type of individual. Just what I need with my nerves, a minefield.
¡°As you wish¡ father.¡±
The look of warmth and genuine happiness the king expressed when I said that confirmed that he did in fact mean well at least.
Then, is this a case of the parent really, really wanted a daughter but never got one?
In any case but especially in that case it was bad news for me. When I married into the royal family I was expecting to have to deal with the king, even somewhat expecting it to be a massive pain in the ass. But this was not how I had envisioned it.
¡°Well then, I am certain you will get over these hang-ups in time, but time is in rather short supply. You will have to abide as best you can; I know you can do it.¡±
Again with the telling me I can do it if I try. It just isn¡¯t that simple¡ Whatever, I¡¯ll deal with it as best I can, I don¡¯t have the leeway to wallow in self-pity anymore.
¡°I shall do my best¡ speaking of which, is this audience about the future of the Order of Shadows?¡± that was about the only reason I could think of for Ferdinand being here when he should be on the front.
The king¡¯s face turned solemn at once, ¡°Indeed. Rupert informed me that you have some ideas already.¡±
Me and my big mouth, I should have waited until after I had a chance to speak with Ferdinand¡ Though it¡¯s a relief that the king is not going to continue acting like that the whole audience¡
The moment I had the thought, my mind went white as I realized the flag I had just raised. Some small mercy it was that it went unfulfilled.
"So, I would hear what you have come up with.¡±
I glanced at Rupert and Ferdinand; the former affected a sympathetic look while the later remained stoic.
Well, at least he¡¯s sympathetic. That makes throwing me to the wolves totally ok, yep no problems here. Well, here goes.
I pulled myself up to my full height while forcibly uncrossing my arms; I knew enough about psychology to understand that crossing one¡¯s arms was a defensive posture. Something I would not allow myself.
¡°First and foremost, kidnapping children is right out. To say nothing of the morality of the practice, without demonic magic I doubt we would be able to maintain the same level of brainwashing needed to create loyalty. That said, the type of purposes that were normally collected should not be neglected. The abilities lend themselves to crime and subterfuge, so I would still have the church announce those children as purposeless. To publicly announce them as having such a purpose would invite their persecution.¡±
Rupert nodded once, as did the king. The fact that I would be against kidnapping kids after everything I had been through was pretty damn obvious so I was only stating it as a formality. Of course it also raised a question which the king then voiced by way of a glance at Ferdinand who did the actual asking.
¡°Then if not these children, where do you propose we source operatives from?¡±
This was something that I had actually given a great deal of thought; ultimately the choice of wether or not to continue the previous practices was not mine. Even as the spy master, I could be overruled by the king, either the current one or in the future Rupert. While Rupert would most likely allow me a rather large degree of freedom, the current was an unknown.
And the way he switched right to business mode indicates that he won¡¯t give in to ¡®the daughter he always wanted¡¯, assuming I¡¯m even right with that assumption, he¡¯s too able to separate personal matters from the affairs of state.
¡°Even if we did continue the previous methods, it would not be nearly expedient enough. The agents trained by Five are a lost cause; those who still survive are in hiding and pose a clear risk. They must be hunted down and eliminated before they have a chance to stab our back while we are focused on other threats. Training new children from scratch would take too much time; as all of us are aware, the next demon war will be starting before such individuals would be ready.¡±
Ferdinand glanced at the king then gave a satisfied nod, at least for now it would seem my excuse had been bought. Emboldened, I continued, ¡°What I propose as an alternative source is fairly straightforward; instead of forming an organization of dedicated spies and assassins, we departmentalize. For the information gathering we need not train anyone specifically.¡±
¡°Instead, we should utilize a system of sleeper agents. This would be rather similar to the original infiltration model used by the Shadows, but the agents would not need as much combat training. Then, by keeping them somewhat in the dark they can be cut off if needed.¡±
The last part had been a bit difficult for me personally to add, but I had done so in the end. At the end of the day, there was not a snowball¡¯s chance in hell that my hands would stay clean going forward. What I should focus on instead was an attempt to limit the quality of dirt and blood, for example by nixing the practice of kidnapping and indoctrinating children.
¡°As for the other departments, the only one I have truly given much thought to would be the enforcers. The assassins. These would be the hardest to find at the moment, but should also be less needed than the spies¡¡± I paused to take a deep breath before continuing; this next bit would probably be a hard sell.
¡°¡for the near future, Ferdinand and I would need to take on an active role in the field. At least until new agents can be recruited and trained, to that end I would like to bring Jacqueline in as a consultant; despite her physical condition she still possesses valuable knowledge in the field of killing.¡±
The idea of the next queen going out to kill people deemed enemies of the state was ludicrous, but unless a bunch of suitable assassins could be found overnight there was a chance I would have to do it. There was also the question of whether or not I could go through with it in the end.
No, I will go through with it, because if I don¡¯t there is another girl who is fully trained and physically able. I will NOT let them involve Rosial in this.
The king, after waiting a moment to see if I would continue, nodded, ¡°I see. Ferdinand, work with her to refine this outline; it does show promise. Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, by my right as king I name you Spy Master. Publically, Ferdinand will hold the title but he will answer to you and you to whomsoever sits on the throne. What say you?¡±
There was no system notification about me receiving a new title, but that probably had something to do with Ferdinand holding the ¡®official¡¯ titles. As far as I was concerned, the arrangement was acceptable so there was only one way I could answer.
Then again, there¡¯s only one answer allowed in the first place, regardless of if I¡¯m ok with this or not.
¡°Humbly, I accept your highness¡¯ assignment.¡± I punctuated my statement with a curtsy like how I had begun the audience and this time the king did not interrupt.
5-17 Father Part 2
¡°Excellent. Now, shall we eat?¡± The king¡¯s words hit me like a truck, or perhaps a train. It was a good thing that my head was still lowered from accepting the posting officially, else the way my smile twitched as my face cramped would have given me away.
After taking a moment to compose myself, I managed to ask a question, ¡°Eat, your highne- father?¡±
The way the air seemed to chill when I nearly called the king by his title made my spine shiver. Fortunately, I was able to correct myself in time and the instant tension abated. Still, eating with him was the last thing I wanted to do. Though he would most likely not say anything one way or another, it was a sure thing that I would be silently judged and measured both by him and by whoever waited the meal. For me, it would be hell.
Not like there was any way to get out of this. None that I could think of in the span of the next several seconds. Better to use that time to regain composure and fix my expression. Once a suitable look was fastened firmly in place, I looked up. Everything had taken only a couple of moments, but the large doors along the side wall had already been opened and servants were bringing in a small ornate round table.
¡°I, it would be my pleasure.¡±
The king smiled warmly, in a manner that did nothing except ring alarm bells in my head, ¡°Excellent. Sasha, please show her to her place.¡±
As it turned out, this impromptu meal was to be a sort of family gathering. Ferdinand excused himself, while Rupert sat to the king¡¯s right. Sasha placed me on Rupert¡¯s right and the king¡¯s left such that we were all facing each other. It should go without saying how this arrangement was making me feel and, though I had not spent enough time with him to be able to properly read his body language, Rupert seemed rather uncomfortable as well.
Food was brought in and placed before us and the servants then departed, leaving just the four of us in the room. The silence was such that I was intimately aware of the clack of silverware on the plates, and could even hear the sound of meat being cut. I wanted to say something, anything to break the silence but couldn¡¯t find my voice. The whole ¡°nice¡± thing the king was doing was really putting me off, it would actually be preferable if he was cold and calculated.
¡°Is the food not to your liking? Would you prefer something else?¡±
Like that, that sounds like he¡¯s genuinely concerned I don¡¯t like the food! Knowing what I know about him and the politics of the kingdom, that¡¯s really scary.
¡°No, ah, I am simply a bit overwhelmed by everything.¡±
¡Shit!
¡°I see, yes that is understandable given how quickly everything is going. Regretfully we cannot slow down now.¡±
And he took it in stride¡ I have no idea how to approach this at all.
A quick glance at Rupert showed that he was somewhat ignoring his father and focusing on eating slowly and methodically. As though sensing my gaze, he looked up from his plate and shook his head slightly. Or it could have just been an involuntary movement, I could not tell. Though, after getting over his initial surprise he was acting as though he did not think things were such a big deal.
So would it be ok to not worry quite so much? I certainly can¡¯t go and be completely open about everything.
Hesitatingly, I picked up my fork and speared a bit of the salad before putting it in my mouth and beginning to chew.
It is good, but compared to everything else I¡¯ve eaten, I don¡¯t know. I can tell that it¡¯s expensive and the quality is high, but it just tastes like a salad. Perhaps I¡¯ve become desensitized to luxury.
Whatever the case, after I actually started to eat my stomach was able to unwind itself somewhat and let me know that I was in fact rather hungry. The silence was allowed to persist, though it was no longer quite as awkward as it was before.
This¡ this isn¡¯t so bad. I can¡¯t completely drop my guard; he totally just disowned his first son less than a day ago, and he more or less signed off on Rupert killing his second son. Still, he¡¯s trying to welcome me so would it really hurt to let myself unwind just a bit?
Putting it that way really highlighted how screwed up my life was.
Having finished the salad, I nudged the small plate aside and reached for the main plate on which rested a cut of meat with a tan sauce drizzled over it. It was just a tiny bit on the heavy side for the current time of day, but it should be fine. As I cut into it, the juices washed over the plate and made my mouth water. When I actually put a bit in my mouth, it seemed to fall apart on its own.
¡°See? It tastes much better if you relax.¡± Again it was the king speaking, Rupert seemed content to remain silent.
¡I actually managed to forget where I was for a second. That was¡ kind of pleasant.
¡°An important skill you will want to learn; the ability to relax when you can.¡± As though satisfied with that, the king returned to his own meal and let the silence fall again.
Is he actually offering me advice on how to cope with my new station?
It sounded obvious, and telling someone to relax was a lot easier than actually doing it. Yet it was also true that I would be a fool not to listen; all the signs pointed to this being a side the man rarely exhibited. If he was being genuine with me, then I should just accept it instead of constantly worrying over appearances.
After letting the pause extend for several seconds longer I nodded, ¡°It does indeed.¡±
After the three of us had finished eating the main course there was a brief lull while the servants prepared the dessert course. By the king¡¯s judgement it was now the best time to have a brief conversation, so he began to ask some rather normal questions. Now that my heart was calmer, I was more able to fully appreciate just how completely surreal this situation was, a realization that actually helped further soothe my nerves.
¡°Now then, while we wait, how are things in the palace? Is there anything lacking?¡± Going only by his tone and mannerisms, I would have assumed that he was just a concerned host. Far from the ideal king that he had portrayed when I previously saw him from a distance.
¡°There haven¡¯t been any problems, no. It was a bit awkward being followed everywhere by the knights at first, but I understand why it is necessary and have grown used to it.¡±
The king nodded, ¡°Glad to hear it. You worked out the issues with Sasha then?¡±
Ok¡ so he caught wind of that, or did Rupert tell him?
¡°Yes, I have dealt with that situation and she has become a great help in acclimating though I still have a long way to go.¡±
¡°Excellent, I was quite pleased when I was informed that Rupert had selected her; she has done good work for our family for quite some time, and I can honestly think of none better to help you adjust.¡±
I was unable to stop my eyes from widening at that, just who was Sasha? According to the statement just now, she had a rather long history with the royal family. That she was a bit older than a lot of the other maids I had direct experience with was something I had noticed, but it was not something I paid any mind to. After all, even maids would eventually get old, and there had never been a large number of them working for me so them all being young women was a plausible coincidence.
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¡°I see, you were not told then.¡± The king shot a rather scathing look at Rupert, ¡°She was originally brought on to be my son¡¯s nursemaid. Once he outgrew her, she remained on as one of our more trusted retainers.¡±
Rupert spoke for the first time then, ¡°It was not relevant information, though if you had asked why I picked Sasha I would have told you.¡±
Ah, so it¡¯s my fault. Got it.
Turning my attention to Rupert, I chose to express my opinion rather than sitting on it, ¡°I cannot help but think that it would have been worth mentioning. Even if it is irrelevant to her service, the fact that you elected to assign me someone so close to you speaks volumes.¡±
Rupert shook his head, ¡°All it signifies is that I trust her; something also signified by the fact that I picked her. Ergo, mentioning it serves no purpose.¡±
Before I could respond again, the king interrupted us, ¡°No Rupert, there is significance; think of all the stories Sasha can share with your wife.¡±
His delivery was deadpan. Clearly, the king was taking pleasure in this exchange.
And why wouldn¡¯t he? Now that I¡¯m able to sort this out in my head properly, he probably doesn¡¯t get many opportunities to relax; that was less advice and more of a lamentation. This is probably even better for him than it is for me.
With that realization, I felt even more of my tension drain away. Rupert showed a look of displeasure, but he seemed to have realized that protesting would get him nowhere so he remained silent on the matter.
Actually, he seemed rather surprised earlier when the king first acted this way. He¡¯s either adapted really fast, or this is a way the king has acted before and he was only surprised the king was already showing me that side of himself¡ I don¡¯t know enough about their relationship to be able to say, and my impression of the king is admittedly biased¡
Hopefully, things would begin to make sense as I got to know them more. As long as it was remembered not to let myself get too close to the king, since he would definitely separate his personal life from public duty and sacrifice me to the altar of progress should the benefits of doing so be deemed worth it. On that sobering note, the servants arrived with the dessert course.
It appeared to be a kind of custard jelly and was glowing faintly. It was the first time that I had such a dish, which meant that it was probably exceedingly expensive. The realization made me gulp. Seeing my reaction and confusion, the king chuckled, ¡°The core of a Light Jelly. It is a small thing but is a tradition going back a few generations now.¡±
Never mind, not rare. Sure, Light attuned Jellies aren¡¯t the most common, and there aren¡¯t any Jellies native to this region but in some places, they fulfill the role of goblins. Then, why was the dessert course delayed if they weren¡¯t preparing anything fancy? To give a chance for conversation, duh.
Rupert spoke up for the second time, ¡°Not the fanciest dish, granted; it is served at the first meal a new member of the family takes as such. As far as I am aware, the purpose is to remind the rulers not to forget the common people.¡±
¡°¡Do not forget the common folk, by bringing in a non-native dish? Would not something procured locally be more fitting?¡±
To my retort, Rupert actually grinned, ¡°I agree. However, my father is actually rather fond of it.¡±
So, if he can banter like that, then this is how the king is when not being the king. I hope I don¡¯t make a mistake and confuse the two settings¡ Put mildly, that would be a disaster. This is nice in its own way though, now that I¡¯ve had a bit to get used to it I can say I prefer this to the king being a dominant force at all times.
Confirming my new theory about the King¡¯s true self being rather kind despite everything, he merely shrugged at Rupert¡¯s targeted statement, ¡°When you have my chair, you may have whatever meal you wish for your own daughter-in-law.¡±
Despite having never had the opportunity to eat a Jelly Core before, I found that I actually quite liked it. It was sort of sweet, with a hint of citrus. Almost like lemon custard, though it was not cold. After the servants had cleared the places of their settings the king grew somber, and I stiffened.
¡°It should go without saying, but in public, I am ¡®your highness¡¯.¡±
¡°Yes, I understand father.¡±
He nodded once, ¡°Good, then thank you for today; I believe I have been able to get a good read on your personality. With effort, you will make an excellent ruler and a good foil for my son. Do take care not to lose yourself.¡±
I performed an abbreviated version of the standard goodbye, one that was more appropriate for a family member rather than the king of a country. He seemed pleased by the gesture and bid his own farewells. With that finished, I departed with Sasha and was rejoined by my entourage.
So it was a test after all! I got suckered in god damnit!
Even as I got upset with myself over letting the king bait me, I knew it was not the end of the world. He had decided to pass me on whatever test was being carried out. It just served to demonstrate that I could not get completely comfortable with anyone who was not in my immediate circle. A lesson better learned in an environment such as this, instead of out in the wild.
For that, I should be grateful. Was that his intention? No I doubt that, I honestly think he meant well and the test was something he had to do whether or not he wanted to. Even if he disposed of his other sons, there is not a queen at the moment. He placed everything for the future with Rupert and by extension me.
With that, it should be alright to trust him a little bit. Not completely, but it wasn¡¯t like he was going to have a bad day and decide it would be best to have me or Rupert killed. In hindsight, it had been a bit silly of me to be so completely on guard. There was a lot that I had learned here today, and even though it wasn¡¯t going to be easy, I was definitely going to implement it.
Rupert was walking part of the way back with me, though it would not be for as far as when we returned from the peak, ¡°You seem rather pleased.¡±
It was true, my mood was rather high at the moment. So much so in fact, that I decided to tease him a bit, even if I knew it wouldn¡¯t accomplish anything. Pausing my walking, I spun to face him in a mildly dramatic faction, ¡°Of course I am, your father decided he liked me; what fianc¨¦e would not be over the moon at such a revelation?¡±
Rupert ignored my little skit though he did deign to continue the conversation, ¡°I feel that I should at least apologize; in the future, I will try to inform you properly of the reasons for any decisions I make regarding you specifically.¡±
Wait, really? I was expecting I would have to bring that up myself, and perhaps jump through hoops with Gustav, but he¡¯s just going to come out and say it?
¡°T-thank you, I was not expecting that.¡±
Rupert nodded, ¡°Of course. Until next time¡ And, I do not know if you noticed yourself, but you did quite well when you were focused on the goal in front of you at the start of the meeting. Once you got a bit of momentum, there were no traces of the nervousness you have been dealing with¡ Farewell.¡±
With a quick bow of his own, and without waiting for a reply, Rupert departed. His delivery had been rather awkward, but the fact of the matter was that he had gone out of his way to try and give me some encouragement. I was not sure how to feel about that, the whole thing just felt odd.
I should be happy he¡¯s pretending to care, but I¡¯m not. It just feels fake, like he¡¯s going through the motions to maintain an investment... He isn¡¯t wrong though, I did do rather well once I got going¡ Then again, presenting an idea to only a few listeners has always been simple. It really doesn¡¯t compare to having hundreds of eyes on me at once¡ Then again, I was actually able to relax after a point.
Thinking about it now, relaxing had been the greatest accomplishment of all. Especially given that I had managed it while the king was present.
Sure, he was being pretty easygoing at the time himself, but he¡¯s still the king. Compared to that, I should be able to handle the two dukes just fine.
After all, that was what I had originally been planning to do today; have the private introductions with Duke Lawrence, Duke Lester, and their wives. Edith would be there to represent her father, but the assistance she could lend me during the introductions themselves would be limited. Even if she spoke with her father¡¯s authority, she was still lower ranked than the two of them. Technically, I was supposed to be higher, but my age and plumbing would be set against me.
Thinking about all of this now, I felt my stomach twisting up again. This time though, it was not nearly as bad and after a moment I was able to force it to unwind.
I¡¯m sure it will suck, but now I know I can do it for sure. Even if things go tits up, Edith will be able to help me a little bit, and I can vent to her privately once the dukes leave.
I fixed as graceful a smile as I could on my face and nodded to Sasha, ¡°Please send word to Lord Lawrence, Lord Lester, and Lady Claurence; my business with the king has concluded and I would be pleased to meet them properly at their earliest convenience.¡±
It was true that in politics, words were what mattered the most and I was going to do my best. Translating my message, I had given myself as best a start as I possibly could.
¡°Sorry I missed the meeting; as you know the king called me personally. If you hurry, I can probably still meet with you today.¡± And stated as politely as possible.
I could only hope that my present resolve would last long enough to see me through.
5-18 Epilogue
Sitri, 346 Years Old, Second Month of 949
Idiots.
That was my honest to Asmodea impression of these absolute morons. Rupert had sent an ultimatum to Antonio, ¡°Surrender and the majority will be spared, or resist and all shall be purged.¡± That was a summary of course, the real one had been full of noble bullshit and double meanings.
Antonio¡¯s fate was sealed, he would be put to death regardless. The same would happen to Duke Febligi, whose honor required that he remain till the bitter end. But this ultimatum provided clemency for the lesser nobles. Sure, some restrictions would be placed on them. You couldn¡¯t have former traitors running free after all.
This is probably Stali¡¯s doing. No way would that stick Rupert be this merciful, not with the great war looming.
It went without saying that Antonio had declined the offer. He wasn¡¯t an idiot though, far from it. If it was not for me whispering in his ear, he might possibly have accepted. After all, anyone could see that the cause was hopeless. Rupert had been smart and waited until after winter. With our food stores now depleted and the men weary from spending the winter in a state of alert, the odds of being able to hold out were null.
Duke Febligi knew that, but his honor kept him bound to Antonio. He also knew about me, somewhat, but was not making any moves to try and save his lord.
Idiots.
Then, that begged the question, why was I still here? At this point, it was obvious that my so-called allies were doomed. In short, after beating me half to death Five¡ no, Ten had ordered me to remain here and ensure that Drakas wasted as much time as possible while he left to further goals elsewhere. That said, I had no intentions of actually dying.
Sealing my skills might have been what got me into this mess, but it¡¯s also going to get me out.
The fact that I had lost most of my power meant that I was pretty much expendable. I was under no illusions that the reason I had been left behind was due to being viewed as basically useless now. But it was also a blessing in disguise.
-Opening my eyes and looking around. This isn¡¯t the classroom anymore¡? Where is this?-
Stumbling to the side of the passage I was walking down, I clutched at my forehead, suppressing the headache. Ever since my skills were sealed, shit like this had started happening. Memories that were thousands of years old, things that I hadn¡¯t thought about for such an extreme length of time.
With great effort on my part, I pushed the memories away. They were too painful.
Even with all the grief your shit caused me, you did give me a chance.
The Nine Kings¡¯ authority over their kin was absolute. Funnily enough, the closer you were to one of them, the stronger that influence was. As an Original Sin, there was no way I could go against Ryuko¡
-¡°Come on, if you guys follow me, my skill will give us the power we need to survive and get home.¡±-
¡°FUCK!¡±
A passing rebel knight gave me a concerned glance at my outburst but didn¡¯t say anything about it. People here knew that I was consorting with Antonio, and it gave me a measure of untouchability. After plastering an unconcerned expression on my face, I continued on my way while pretending nothing had happened.
As an Original Sin, I would never have been able to go against Asmodea, or someone she told me to follow the orders of. But that was only the case because of my skills interacting with hers. Stali had disabled my skills, and freed me from that control.
Antonio called out to me as I arrived at his chambers, ¡°Sitri, has there been any word from Count Francois? Has he managed to secure us aid from the League?¡±
¡°¡No¡ there has been no word, but I am certain that he is doing all that he can.¡± Just had to make sure that my voice was troubled, then add a bit of confidence at the end.
Antonio¡¯s own face clouded over, and he stared grimly out the window, ¡°Without aid¡ Perhaps I should simply surrender¡¡±
Nope. If you surrender, I¡¯ll be screwed. I need you lot to hold out long enough that it looks like I did my job. If you surrender, even if I manage to get away I¡¯ll be hunted down by the other demons.
I moved up behind Antonio and put my arms around him in a hug. Leaning up so as to be close enough, I whispered in his ear, ¡°Come on, just a little bit longer and Count Francois will bring the reinforcements. You know what Rupert did, how he¡¯s schemed and plotted. You love this country, you could never give up on saving it¡¡±
My words and touch was infused with mana. Just because my skills were sealed, did not mean that I had lost all of my abilities. I could still use Blood Magic to charm and sway people. Though the close contact required was irritating in the extreme. Something as complicated as twisting a person¡¯s mind just couldn¡¯t be done from a distance.
Which begs the question of how the hell she froze Five like that,
-¡°We should take his offer, the system is a lot easier to use than,¡±-
¡°Urk!¡± This most recent headache happened while I was still clinging to Antonio, meaning that my involuntary exclamation was right into his ear.
He did not push me away or seem startled by this however, ¡°Is it your head again?¡±
After all, I¡¯ve been filling you with my mana for so long and in such quantities that it¡¯s literally impossible for you to think anything ill of me.
The best part was three months ago when it had suddenly become much easier to do so. Antonio had confided in me privately that his father had struck him from the family registry. Of course this meant that there was actually no way for him to assume the throne anymore, and he could no longer use any of the royal family¡¯s bestowed magic. Good news for me, since he lost most of the lingering resistance to further charming influences.
In any case, he was so far under my thumb at this point that something like screaming in his ear did not even register as a nuisance.
¡°¡Yes, ever since I was chased out of the kingdom by your little brother.¡±
A look of anguish manifested itself beautifully on his face, ¡°I am sorry, if only I had seen things for what they were sooner¡ My late brother, Dominic and the rest of Count Francois¡¯ family, you and Stahlia¡ how many more lives will Rupert ruin before he is satisfied?¡±
Just a bit more mana should be good for today, if I¡¯m not careful I¡¯ll fry him completely.
¡°Anto-, your highness there was nothing you could do, you know that. Rupert is conspiring with the demons. It is only obvious that he would be quite adept at hiding his intentions.¡±
Screwing his eyes shut, Antonio nodded though it seemed forced. It was possible to remove that as well, but doing so would make him little more than a puppet; I needed him to have some agency and merely follow my suggestions, ¡°You are right, though I cannot help but worry about it all the same.¡±
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
¡°That is why you will make an excellent king.¡±
Antonio shook his head, ¡°No, but I will do my best.¡±
Yea, you¡¯d be a rather shit king. You¡¯d have the people¡¯s support just from charisma. But you¡¯re too kind. Honestly, even if I do nothing it¡¯s a fifty-fifty shot that Drakas succumbs to rebellion under Rupert¡¯s rule¡ Though marrying Stali would tip the odds a bit,
-¡°Come on Aki you¡¯re cute; you¡¯d fit Ryuko¡¯s family the best.¡±-
Luckily, I was able to avoid exclaiming this time, and Antonio had shifted to look out the window so had not seen my face contort in a brief moment of agony.
Stali, if you weren¡¯t my best bet at living, I¡¯d torture you to death for inflicting this curse on me¡ Hells, I might still do it if this shit keeps up!
¡°Sitri, you do not need to force yourself¡ You could call me Antonio if you wish.¡±
This was not the first time he had made such an offer. In fact, he made the offer quite frequently, ever since my act had integrated occasionally stumbling over his name and title. It helped my Blood Magic take hold if I flirted a bit, and after so long I honestly found being a tease rather fun beyond the influence of my skills.
--¡°Aki! Calm down, are you sure!?¡± Hajime¡¯s flustered voice was really cute, it made me want to tease him more, ¡°Of course I¡¯m sure. Ever since I joined Ryuko¡¯s family, I¡¯ve been feeling so¡ frustrated¡ Won¡¯t you help me Hajime?¡±-
¡°FUCK!¡± This one was bad. Of course, it wasn¡¯t really a secret or a mystery what was going on; these were my memories. That one in particular had been really damn strong. It was the first time I had done anything like that with a guy. Soon after was when we realized that the skills were twisting our personalities.
The more pressing concern was the fact that I had just sworn and clawed at my head in pain while Antonio was looking me straight in the eyes like some kind of begging puppy. I really didn¡¯t want to deal with him right now, but it wasn¡¯t like I had a choice.
¡°¡Don¡¯t worry about me¡ I¡¯ll be fine, I think.¡± One thing was for sure, having an actual source of excruciating pain made it quite easy to act the part of a hurting woman.
¡°¡Alright, you should try and get some sleep though.¡± Antonio¡¯s sounded concerned, as expected.
Nodding, I released my arms but left one hand to linger just a moment longer, ¡°Alright, I will¡ Thank you.¡±
I departed from his presence and slipped off towards my own quarters. The lodging I had been provided were spartan, but that was fine. I did not need much, and it was extremely temporary. Though I did pass several walking corpses on my way, I chose not to engage with any of them.
I need to figure out how to ingratiate myself to Rupert and his faction. Stali is probably the best choice in that regard¡ I just have to hope that she¡¯s got her [Cold Hearted] turned off, she definitely had to turn it on to handle Five the way she did... If it¡¯s on now, nothing I say will get through to her. But if it¡¯s off, I should be able to manipulate her empathy a bit and strike a deal.
As long as the kingdom secured my safety that was fine. I would take living another day over any amount of luxury. Though it would be nice if I was able to secure something of a working relationship, that was a pipe dream. Any tactical intel I did have would be horribly outdated; the best I could hope for would be to tell them the story of the Hell Kings, as well as the specifics behind everyone¡¯s powers.
Sorry guys, but I¡¯m going to prioritize my own safety here. You left me out to dry anyway, so all¡¯s fair yea?
Strangely, there was no flash of lightning pain and no long-buried memories making an unwelcome reappearance this time. I dared not to hope that they had finished for good, but it was a welcome reprieve. I lay down on the cot that stood against one wall of my room. Before Stali had fucked me, I hadn¡¯t needed to sleep. Now, I could barely last twenty hours between rest.
Maybe I could get Antonio to surrender to Rupert at the critical hour. If I then revealed that I had charmed him and told him to surrender¡ No, that would never work. There¡¯s no way Stali would accept a plan that involved using charms, and Rupert isn¡¯t a complete moron so he¡¯d recognize that if Antonio was really charmed by me then I could easily have ended all this earlier.
I shut my eyes and did my best to tune out any more thoughts. Even if sleep was cutting into my time, it did at least bring a brief reprieve from the headache flashes. Even after waking up, there would be a few hours of blessed peace before they resumed again. After some minutes my breathing steadied out and I drifted off, into the land of dreams.
¡°So, you mean to say that you think those skills are affecting us all?¡± Percy¡¯s voice sounded disbelieving, but there was a flash of worry hidden behind the fa?ade.
Hajime nodded, ¡°Yes. What else can it be? Aki wouldn¡¯t even consider sleeping with someone before, but she¡¯s gone through half the guys since joining Ryuko¡¯s family. I really think that Adroni guy is just screwing with us. At the very least there is more to what¡¯s going on than we were told.¡±
Percy shook his head, ¡°I mean yea of course there¡¯s more going on. Have you ever heard of a setting with eleven demon lords before? That number is kinda strange don¡¯t you think? But why would they be setting us up to fail?¡±
This is going nowhere. Stepping out of my hiding spot, I revealed myself to the two of them, ¡°Percy, Hajime, what are the two of you doing?¡±
Hajime whirled around and stared at me bug eyed, ¡°Ah¡ Aki, what are you doing here?¡±
My eyes narrowed at him, ¡°Come on, Just cause the number is a bit weird doesn¡¯t mean that there¡¯s anything strange going on.¡±
¡°But, Aki¡ Hajime has a point. Look at you!¡± Percy was doing his best impression of an anime protagonist, glancing every where but in my direction while still sneaking brief peeks.
¡°Oh? I was rather fond of this myself.¡± I did a little twirl to show off my new clothes; I had spent quite some time working on them after all.
¡°Aki¡ I mean, something is definitely going on... Maybe you should reject the skills before its too late?¡±
My eyes narrowed, ¡°Reject the gift? No way! This is the best I¡¯ve felt in a long time¡ You two just haven¡¯t picked a family yet, so you wouldn¡¯t understand. I know, how about you join Asmodea?¡±
¡°Asmo, who now?¡±
¡°Asmodea, she¡¯d love to have you join her family.¡±
Percy spoke over Hajime who simply seemed confused, ¡°Aki, who the hell is Asmodea? She leads your family now? What happened to Ryuko?¡±
¡°Ah, I see. You haven¡¯t heard yet; Ryuko decided to change her name. It¡¯s Asmodea now¡ I know, [How about you two come meet Asmodea face to face? I¡¯m sure it will be interesting!] While speaking, I took a few steps towards the pair of boys, licking my lips and-
My eyes snapped open and I shot straight upright. My breath was coming in ragged gasps while a cold sweat poured out of my back and chest. This was new; I had not dreamed of the past before. At most, all that happened was the headaches and brief snippets. Was this what the next stage of¡ whatever was going on was to be? My sole refuge, newfound sleep, was being taken away?
And what happened after that¡
I didn¡¯t need the memory to remember what had happened next. I had charmed two of my friends. Enslaved them to my will with sex, and brought them before my mistress. Another former friend.
Percy, Hajime¡ Even now¡
The two of them were roughly around the level of Demon Counts the last time I was in the Nine Hells. Even if they had been among the first, the fact that they hadn¡¯t willingly accepted the gifts had limited their growth. Even now, they were still bound with Charm Magic. They worshiped Asmodea as their only god, and would do anything for her with a smile. Even me, as far gone as I had been, had been capable of disliking an order if it wasn¡¯t something I wanted to do on my own.
At some point, my legs had come up so as to rest my knees on my chin, the classic fetal position. Rocking on my bum back and forth, I realized something else horrifying.
My nails¡ They¡¯re shorter?
It was a small thing but, ever since my evolution, my nails had been stagnant. Sure, if one was chipped or damaged then it would regrow or repair itself. I could even alter them somewhat if I willed for it to happen. But now they were shorter. Testingly, I tried to lengthen them. Even if I knew it wouldn¡¯t work due to my skills being sealed away still.
As I had predicted, they remained unaltered. It was when I stood up though, that the real fright made itself known. My whole appearance was different. Not by much, and really the nails had been the biggest change so far. But my hair was a tiny bit shorter. My chest was smaller, my ears slightly more rounded¡
I¡¯m¡ devolving?
That was the only answer I could come up with. Whatever Stali had done to me, it had caused my evolution into a demon to begin undoing. Clearly, my body was still not human, but now I looked more like a half-elf than a full elf. It would require some extra time in the morning to cover up properly, but it should be manageable¡ for now. If it kept going and I reverted fully to a human body, then things would get a lot more complicated.
That was only if my stats didn¡¯t start changing as well. Unfortunately, my appraisal had come from a skill. I didn¡¯t have any idea how I could replicate that with Blood Magic since I had never had to before. It was yet one more concern.
I¡ Stali, are you not yet content!? Must you keep fucking me over!?
The worst part was that part of me, an ever-so-small part of me, felt just a tiny bit glad to see a facsimile of my original face again.
6-1 Faction Politics
Edith arrived first when I sent out the summons. Though I didn¡¯t have any proof and she didn¡¯t say anything, I suspected that she might have been waiting for me to call for her after finishing up with the king. When Sasha let her in, she fixed me with a critical studying gaze then nodded sharply after a few moments.
¡°You look like you figured some stuff out; I was afraid you would be a mess after meeting his highness.¡±
My eyes blinked rapidly while my mind made sense of her words. Apparently, after last night she had decided to be a bit less reserved when giving her opinions. It was a welcome change, though I caught Sasha stiffen slightly.
Nope, not stopping her, and you can¡¯t say anything either, since I let you do pretty much the same thing.
Just to be sure Sasha knew my intentions, I put a smile on and greeted Edith, ¡°Thank you for your concern. I have indeed¡ It was a rather productive event.¡±
¡°I am glad to hear it¡ hopefully Duke Lawrence and Duke Lester will be manageable¡¡± Her expression turned grim, ¡°Stahlia, you do know what Duke Lawrence is most likely to bring up, right?¡±
¡°Yes, since he took over from my uncle, the late Duke Despita, and is the newest of the four dukes¡ Well, I imagine my family history will be a matter of some contention.¡±
Edith nodded grimly, ¡°Yes if my information is correct, he seems to believe that he has something to prove.¡±
He¡¯ll be difficult for the sake of getting a win then. It should be manageable if I give him something then, the only question being what? There isn¡¯t much I can give without consulting with Rupert¡ The best I can do for now is stall and make sure not to agree to anything.
¡°My lady, please forgive the interruption, but Duke Lester and his wife have arrived.¡±
So it begins.
After quickly checking over my dress, I moved to take a seat facing the door they would enter through. Then, after some small consideration, I widened my eyes a bit. Edith caught on to my intention and nodded, thereby giving her assent to my scheme. If it works the way I intend, then my general demeanor should be giving off the atmosphere of being slightly overwhelmed by everything. Hopefully, it would remain an act, and my newfound confidence would stay with me.
¡°Thank you, Sasha. Please, show them in.¡±
A moment later saw myself being studied by Duke Lester and his wife. Unlike the brief interaction right before the debut gala, my nervousness was not causing me any issues, and I was able to study them back. Duke Lester was of medium height, build, and appeared to be middle-aged. Unlike the vast, vast majority of nobles I had seen both from afar and interacted with, he was utterly average in terms of appearance.
Lady Lester on the other hand was drop-dead gorgeous. Despite being quite visibly older, she had a refined quality that stood in utter contrast to that of her husband¡¯s blandness. If I were to walk into the room none the wiser, I would have easily assumed she was the queen of the country and greeted her as ¡°mother.¡± She smiled bashfully in a manner that I knew was fake and yet somehow, did not cause me to think any less of her.
¡°My lady, have I perhaps caught your eye?¡±
Whoops, I was staring. Not a good start, but it¡¯s a lot easier to deal with people one on one.
I shook my head to clear it, ¡°Yes indeed, I hope that I will look at least half as well as you do when I finish growing¡ A pleasure to make your acquaintances, Duke Lester, Lady Lester.¡±
Owning my misstep and giving a compliment is probably the best play here.
The two of them gave their own introductions, and I bade Sasha to seat them. Lady Lester¡¯s smile widened, ¡°I am sure you will put me to shame if you grow to look anything like your mother. I daresay, I can already see some resemblance, so I am certain you have little to worry about.¡± You wouldn¡¯t be able to tell it from her tone, but the way she spoke had victory bells ringing.
Damn, she took the compliment and turned it around perfectly.
This light verbal sparring was overall harmless in the grand scheme of things, though it did establish a momentum that would carry over into the rest of this.
I don¡¯t really want to play that game if I can help it; I¡¯d be rather certain to lose. Oh, to hell with it.
I dropped my smile and spoke with a stony tone, ¡°Pleasantries aside, what can I do for you, Lord Lester?¡±
Lady Lester¡¯s own smile deepened; she gave a satisfied nod before sitting back and ceding the floor to her husband. For his part, Duke Lester gave a satisfied nod, ¡°It gladdens me to see that the next queen is capable of cutting through the fa?ade of society when she needs to; you would not have been able to lead my wife.¡±
¡°I will say that my wife and I were already inclined to support you due to our loyalty to his highness, Prince Rupert. As long as you demonstrated at least some competency, along with the capacity to learn.¡±
His opinions were clearly stated and were like a breath of fresh air. Other than Edith and Gustav, none of the other nobles I met had ever been completely honest with their thoughts. That was assuming he was being honest of course.
¡°Make no mistake, there is an amateurish quality to your behavior; if you were the fianc¨¦e of prince Antonio and not Rupert, we would stand against you.¡±
¡°In other words, I have barely met your standard?¡±
He nodded, ¡°Correct. For someone of your previous station, that is rather impressive in its own right.¡±
¡°Thank you for being honest; I do have much to learn¡ On that note, what is the general impression that I have made?¡±
Duke Lester nodded, ¡°Among his highness¡¯ faction there is very little dissent. Some find you a bit na?ve but there are none questioning your potential. Of course, your martial ability is well established, what people worry about is your political aptitude.¡±
Nice of him to answer that question preemptively. That¡¯s about what I thought the answer would be; people invested in Rupert¡¯s faction will be disinclined to question his decision when getting engaged.
¡°Lady Edith can tell you about her own faction¡¯s thoughts, I imagine they mirror our own. The real problem will be Duke Lawrence¡ The lords will be easy to deal with and I doubt you will face much resistance from them; a few grants and titles to ease the pain of losing their liege, but nothing you would be involved in directly.¡±
Right, I won¡¯t be dealing directly with them outside of high-level things such as this meeting. Even here, I¡¯m meeting the dukes and their wives together. I¡¯ll have to deal with the women, is what he¡¯s going to say next.
¡°The same does not hold true for their wives; you have very little social experience, and the little time which you have been at the Academy has been severely compromised. Ordinarily, there would be some degree of mercy, some level of understanding granted to your age.¡±
And here comes the but.
¡°These are not ordinary times. It is my belief that the majority of women in the second prince¡¯s faction will treat you as an adult and hold you to those standards. This is because of the circumstances surrounding your own ascension, as well as the king¡¯s actions. Rupert¡¯s post has been secured by becoming the only heir. As his wife-to-be, you will be held to a similar standard.¡±
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Ah, I see what¡¯s happening. This is actually a long-winded proposal; he¡¯s going to suggest I shelter under his wife¡¯s wing.
I didn¡¯t figure that out entirely on my own; Edith was sitting next to them, a little distance away. She was becoming visibly agitated, though it was something only her close friends would notice. Likewise, the display was meant to tell me to be careful; Edith was fully capable of hiding all but the most extreme agitation from me if she wanted to. The fact that I could pick up on it here was solely due to her letting me.
Then, so much for him being honest and simply supporting me¡ If I take that offer, it would be equivalent to allying myself firmly with Rupert¡¯s faction¡ Even I can see how that would have a negative effect on the faction politics. Yet my friendship with Edith probably has a similar effect, it isn¡¯t a secret and especially after she gave so much help in redirecting people at the gala¡ But that was established prior to the engagement, so it should be less problematic.
I was beginning to thought-spiral again, reading too much into the situation. Or perhaps I was not reading enough into it? I did not know.
¡°¡Lady Stahlia?¡±
And now I missed what Duke Lester had said.
Hopefully, it would merely look like I had been deep in thought, contemplating my response. The problem though, I did not know how to answer since I did not know the question. Though unlikely, speaking the wrong thing here would cause an issue. Before my mind was made up whether to ask him to repeat the question or to go with my hypothesis about his wife, Sasha interrupted.
¡°My lady, Lord Lester, my apologies. Duke Lawrence and Lady Lawrence have arrived.¡±
Perfect! I can use this as an excuse to not answer, and ask Sasha or Edith what he asked later.
¡°My apologies, Lord Lester. We shall have to revisit that at a later time¡ Sasha, please do not keep the Lawrences waiting.¡±
Sasha curtsied and departed briefly, while Lester bowed his head politely. Edith shot me a scathing look for just an instant, though I was not quite sure what I had done to earn it.
Probably because falling into a trance like that was rude¡ No, god damnit!
By telling Lester I would revisit the topic at a later time, I had expressed that I found the idea worth pursuing.
God damnit! I¡¯ll need to figure out a way to smooth things over without joining the faction officially¡
¡°Lady Stahlia, it is my pleasure to officially make your acquaintance. As you know, I am Duke Cresden von Lawrence. This is my wife, Lady Eifi von Lawrence.¡±
¡°It is my pleasure, Lady Stahlia.¡±
Duke Lawrence bowed the respectful amount, while Lady Lawrence curtsied.
¡°The pleasure is mine, Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas. I am glad we could finally meet. Sasha.¡±
Hearing her name called, Sasha moved to seat the newcomers. They ended up on the opposite side of Edith from the Lesters, with all five of them facing me. Having ten eyes all fixated on me now, I could feel my pulse quickening. That two of them were Edith¡¯s was a small comfort, but it was overshadowed by the reminder that I could not trust anything said at face value.
While they were still being seated, I took the opportunity to quickly try and get a read on them. Duke Lawrence was a bit overweight but did not look too unhealthy. For all I knew, it was just his clothes puffing out a bit as some sort of fashion statement. His wife was, though not as stunning as Lady Lester, quite good-looking. If she had one blemish it was that she was also a bit on the plump side. Though, given that their region of the kingdom was second to the central district in terms of food production, perhaps they¡¯re being a tad heavy was to be expected.
My throat cleared with a cough, ¡°Ahem. Now then, is there anything you wish to discuss? Going forward, as the de facto leaders of your factions, I will be relying on your support.¡±
After a glance at the others to confirm that they had no intentions of speaking first, Duke Lawrence broached the silence first, ¡°My lady, it would seem that fate has conspired in certain ways¡ While the sadness at the loss of my liege still burns fresh, any further conflict would only serve to harm this country. May I ask, what your father¡¯s intentions are?¡±
The expected question then, will my dad try and leverage my engagement to regain the title of Duke for our house.
¡°That would be a question best asked to Lord Ris; though I am von Ris, I am also und zu Drakas.¡±
Even if I am his daughter, I am separated. Thanks for that answer, Edith.
On the spur of the moment, I also glanced at Lady Lester. Hopefully, that would carry the implication that I meant to put the country ahead of any faction or family politics; a ¡°no¡± to her offer.
Duke Lawrence seemed somewhat disgruntled by my answer, he had likely been hoping for a clear yes or no. Instead, I had more or less said that I did not know my father¡¯s intentions but, if it came to it, would abide by whatever the king¡¯s decision was.
¡°I see. You have a younger brother, Rosin von Ris?¡±
It was impossible for me to keep my voice from becoming just a tiny bit cold when my family was brought up, but I had to answer, ¡°Yes¡ I do, what of it?¡±
¡°He is four years of age now, perhaps there would be interest in a marriage with one of my daughters?¡±
When he asked the question, I felt a wave of pressure for a moment though it quickly abated. In its place, the air in the room seemed to chill. Or perhaps it was merely my imagination.
No, not my imagination. The Lawrences are both watching me like hawks now, and Edith definitely reacted to that¡ but really try and be a little less transparent will you?
In any other case, the aura in the room and the attention I was receiving would have probably triggered my insecurity and I would have devolved into a fit of nervousness. Unfortunately for Duke Lawrence, he had brought my family into this. Far from being overcome, I was now rather intensely focused.
¡°Duke Lawrence, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and believe you approached me in good faith. After all, my father¡¯s own titles would lead to any proposal received directly from yourself being seen as an order.¡±
To his credit, Duke Lawrence did not back down in the face of my glare. Rather, he seemed to get a bit fired up and become more attentive; sitting up straight in his chair and meeting my gaze with a level one of his own.
¡°To show my gratitude, I will inform my father of your offer¡ Just to be clear, you wish for your daughter to become von Ris?¡±
¡°Surely you jest? You would suggest my child join your former house?¡± His voice was calm, but cold, ¡°Rosin would of course be marrying into my own house.¡±
Before I had a chance to say anything further, Duke Lester spoke, ¡°Do not forget yourself, Lord Cresden. You are stroking the dragon¡¯s whiskers¡¡±
¡°Why, you-¡±
Things were about to spiral out of control in a rather beautiful manner.
¡°Enough. Duke Lester, this matter concerns my family, not yours. Duke Lawrence, I will not play the messenger for you. Make the offer to my father yourself but do keep in mind who it was that spared him the fate of the Despita.¡±
The only winning move is not to play. He might have been trying to set me up, but Duke Lester is right, I should leave dealing with the lords to Rupert and Gustav¡ As irritating as that might be to admit.
¡°Sasha, the meeting with his highness proved more tiring than I expected.¡± My maid curtsied, then quietly informed my guests that it was time for them to leave. Obviously, they took the hint with grace and departed without fuss. Once I was alone, Sasha walked up to me with her arms crossed and a stern expression.
Time for a lecture I guess.
¡°Ugh¡ how badly did I mess things up?¡±
To my surprise, she shook her head, ¡°Honestly the only thing you should have done differently was to dismiss Duke Lawrence the moment he proposed that idiotic scheme; baiting him as you did was petty but I doubt aught will come of it.¡±
I sunk into thought, mulling over her words, ¡°I see¡¡±
¡°As for you not paying attention to Duke Lester, he proposed you form a public friendship with his wife¡ I would recommend you do so.¡±
The contents of his proposal were no surprise and matched my prediction more or less perfectly. What I found surprising was the recommendation to follow along. I raised an eyebrow, ¡°And why do you recommend such a course?¡±
¡°This meeting was publicly unpublic knowledge. Even if we did not announce you were having it, everyone knows. Likewise, everyone will know you ended things early. By making a public showing of camaraderie with Lady Lester, people will naturally assume that Lord Lawrence or his wife have in some way offended you; which I daresay is the truth.¡±
¡°They will be unable to reach prince Antonio in time, nor would them reaching him greatly alter the outcome of the war; they would be foolish to try. Rather, it is far more likely that you will shake their faction¡¯s confidence in them. The lesser nobles would then come to our side, and if he is even a halfwit Duke Lawrence will cease his opines and come crawling back.¡±
When she finished speaking, Sasha had a rather dark angry glint in her eye. It was, frankly, a bit terrifying.
¡°But¡ would that not risk starting a blood feud or something of the sort? Given my family¡¯s past, would people not be equally likely to assume that I am scheming to restore house Despita?¡±
Sasha nodded, ¡°That is a risk, but a rather small one; confer with Rupert if you like. I dare say that he will advise you to do as I have just recommended. If Lawrence does start anything, then he is an imbecile who poses an immediate threat to the kingdom.¡±
The implication of what she was saying sunk in, ¡°Sasha, do you know? You can be even scarier than Jacqueline, and she was a fully trained assassin.¡±
¡°Thank you, my lady.¡± She curtsied and began preparing things for me to rest.
Extra Chapter: A Case For Pragmatism
Prince Rupert von Drakas, Seven Years Old, 935
¡°But why?¡± Sasha shook her head at my question. To be fair, this was far from the first time it had been asked.
¡°Because your own life is more important.¡± This was far from the first time she had answered it thusly.
I frowned, ¡°That is not a good enough reason to do nothing. I am going to see them myself.¡±
Sasha looked displeased, but she was in no position to stop me once my mind was made up, ¡°Fynn, accompany me.¡±
Though still in training, Fynn von Despita had entered my service just a short while ago. The second son of his own house, his elder brother had already inherited the family name. Since he could now only inherit the house if something happened to his brother, he had requested to serve the royal family directly.
¡°As you wish, my lord.¡±
Sasha, strictly speaking, was no longer under me now that I had turned seven, but with no other young princes, she stuck around. It was getting exceptionally irritating, what with her constant nagging but my father liked her so there was not much I could do. This incident being only the most recent.
There had been a bit of a plague outbreak among the palace staff¡¯s children. So far, no attempts to heal them with magic had worked. Instead, they continued to deteriorate, growing sicker by the day.
¡°Your highness, I do not believe going to see them yourself is a good idea.¡± Sasha had tagged along behind Fynn because of course she had.
¡°But why?¡± She fell silent.
If you cannot answer even a simple question, then what right do you have to advise me?
¡°I will see them for myself, then convince my father to continue searching for a cure.¡±
¡°Lord Fynn, will you say nothing?¡± Having given up herself, Sasha was now trying to bring Fynn to her side. He was far more loyal though and merely shrugged. At this, Sasha silenced herself and fell into step at the back.
Finally. Now I just have to find my way down there.
The palace was gigantic, since it wrapped all the way around the upper part of the mountain, and my legs were still quite small. It did not take to long before I began to feel short of breath, ¡°Should I carry your highness?¡±
Grimacing at Fynn¡¯s question, I shook my head, ¡°I am seven now, I am able to walk on my own.¡±
He bowed his head lightly and did not pursue the issue, though the way he was shortening his stride to match my own was rather aggravating. Finally, after what felt like an age of walking, we arrived at the sick quarters only to see one of the servants desperately clinging to one of the palace knights. It looked like she was begging him for something, but I was still too far to hear.
When he went to draw his sword though, I knew something was wrong, ¡°Fynn!¡±
He wasted little time in scooping me up and heading towards the scene, ¡°Halt! In the name of my father, unhand that woman!¡±
As it turned out, it was in fact the knight who had been holding onto the maid. Sasha immediately went to comfort the distraught woman, while Fynn began questioning the knight, ¡°Explain your actions.¡±
The knight, upon recognizing who we were, sprang to attention, ¡°Your highness, my lord, My squad and I are preparing to fulfill our duty when this woman attempted to stop us.¡±
Turning to the lady I asked her, ¡°And who are you?¡±
From her clothes, I could tell she was without title; one of many commoners working among the bottom rungs of the palace. Considering the vast gulf between us, she was rather hesitant to speak but also unable to remain silent, ¡°I-if it pleases your highness, I-I am B-bethany. M-my s-son is sick, a-and these m-men have-¡±
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¡°That is enough.¡± Sasha cut the woman off, ¡°Your highness, she is distressed; if you have any sympathy do not force her to talk further.¡±
I wanted to tell her off for interrupting the woman, but she had a point. Besides, I could just question the knight instead, ¡°Knight, what duty would require you to lay hands on one of the palace maids?¡±
The knight glanced to Sasha, who returned a look of resignation, ¡°Your highness, your father has ordered the sick to be disposed of and their bodies burned.¡±
The blood drained from my face.
My father ordered what?
¡°Why would he do that? They are just sick. All they need is medicine!¡± At my outburst, the knight shook his head, ¡°Forgive me your highness, but your father¡¯s reasons are his own, and his orders greater than yours.¡±
¡°I am going in.¡± If I could get inside the room, then I would probably get sick. That would force my father to try harder to find a cure. A step, then another one. My hand was on the door, when I felt a weight on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Fynn had placed his hand on my shoulder.
¡°Unhand me!¡± I tried to jerk away, but his grip was too strong for me.
¡°Your highness, you should not enter that room.¡±
¡°Let me go! If I get in there now, then father will have to find a cure for them! Because I¡¯ll be sick too!¡±
Fynn shook his head, ¡°They have already been cured; the young woman said as much. ¡®These men.¡¯ But here there is only one knight. The others have already carried out their orders inside.¡±
What¡? No, that isn¡¯t right¡
The words he was speaking sunk in slowly, but eventually the strength to resist left my body and Fynn was able to pull me away from the door.
¡°No! You have to stop them!¡± With a shriek, the distraught maid flung herself at me. One of the knights always following me around reacted immediately and without any hesitation took the woman¡¯s head from her shoulders. Some of the blood splashed across my face, and Sasha immediately moved to wipe it off and shield my eyes.
¡°Get away from me.¡± The coldness of my voice surprised me, as it clearly did Sasha. She stopped abruptly and stood aside.
Even in death, the maid¡¯s eyes still seemed desperate to save her child, even if all the world knew it was too late for either of them. Reaching up a hand, I traced the blood splattered on my cheek.
If I hadn¡¯t let Sasha slow me down this morning, then maybe I could have gotten here sooner. I could have stopped all this!
¡°No.¡±
What?
¡°It was a cure.¡±
That¡¯s¡ death isn¡¯t a cure!
¡°Is it not?¡±
Behind me, I heard Fynn whisper to Sasha, ¡°What is his highness doing¡? Talking to himself?¡±
¡°Not important, ignore it.¡±
But death is not a cure!¡±
¡°No, death is a cure.¡±
¡!
¡°Sasha, how many of them had already died. You know.¡±
She looked at the decapitated head on the floor, ¡°Of this group, six had already died. Including this one¡¯s son.¡±
¡°Why did you not say anything earlier?¡±
She shook her head, ¡°Because you should not have to see this.¡±
Fynn glared at her, ¡°His highness is halfway to his adulthood; you cannot shelter him from all the dirt in the world.¡±
If I had gone in, then would it have really changed things?
Without saying anything, I began to walk back to my rooms. Sasha and Fynn both noticed and hurried to catch up, continuing their argument as they went.
¡°But he needs to be sheltered. If he were to be confronted with how ugly the world really is, without any sort of force to hold him in check¡¡± Sasha shook her head.
¡°What do you mean?¡± Fynn¡¯s question hung in the air for some moments.
Would you too just. Shut. Up.
If I had gone in, I would have most likely gotten sick. Then what would father have done?
¡°I mean, compare his highness to his older brothers. Prince Antonio is kind, but craves power and affirmation.¡±
Father¡ does not make decisions lightly. He must have had a reason for what he did.
¡°Prince Percival is a caring man, but dull-witted.¡±
Fynn shook his head, ¡°Lady Sasha, I do believe you should hold your tongue.¡±
If¡ If I had gotten sick, then I would have been disposed of as well.
¡°Lord Fynn, I raised those boys. If anyone is qualified to judge their shortcomings, it is I.¡±
¡°¡What about his highness¡¡±
Sasha nodded gravelly, ¡°He is empathetic to a fault; look at how he behaved here. But¡¡±
¡°Sasha, Fynn, thank you for stopping me. If I had gone into the room and become ill, then father would have no choice but to continue with his plans.¡±
Fynn glanced at Sasha, who smiled sadly, ¡°That empathy is like a curse; it helps his highness understand the reasons behind people¡¯s actions. It lets his highness rationalize the ugliness. What do you think would happen if he was forced to confront it before he was ready?¡±
Fynn did not respond.
6-2 Planning
Stahlia, Sixteen Years Old, Eleventh Month of 948
Sasha had given me a lot to think about, and it had been nagging at me for nearly a week now. Certainly, embracing Lady Lester while distancing myself from Duke Lawrence would solve the immediate issues. But the potential consequences of those actions were scary. It was doubtful that they would go so far as to rebel against Rupert, the wind was clearly blowing in an unfavorable direction. No, it was the little ways they could hamper things.
With what was coming, we would need as many people on board as possible and completely alienating one faction of the nobility was not a risk I could afford to take. Ideally, I could find a solution to accomplish that but it was probably impossible.
Even if I was alright with having my parents marry Rosin out of the family, doing that would just make me look weak in the long run. It would signal Duke Lester that I¡¯m open to manipulations.
¡°My lady, you need to come to a decision soon.¡±
My pacing slowed and then stopped, ¡°I know. I¡¯m just¡¡±
Sasha cut me off, ¡°If I may?¡± At my nod, she continued, ¡°You want a solution where everyone will be happy. That does not exist, or if it does, it would be impossible to find in time.¡±
I bit my lip, what she was telling me made sense and I knew that it was just, ¡°¡And if I make the wrong decision?¡±
¡°You do not.¡±
Right, in an autocracy, there is no leeway for screwing up.
With a sigh, I made my way over to a seat, ¡°Rupert agreed with you, like you said he would¡ That I should align with Lady Lester and pressure the second prince¡¯s faction. Edith is against me joining either one, but agrees that Lady Lester is the better option. Why then, why am I so conflicted still?¡±
Sasha shook her head in a slightly defeated manner, ¡°That, I cannot answer. But was it not you who decided to trust your friends and allies? It sounds as though we are all telling you the same thing.¡±
¡°¡You are right¡ I cannot keep being so indecisive.¡± I took a deep breath, ¡°Summon Lady Lester and Lady Edith.¡± Sasha gave a slight nod and moved to a small desk to draft the letter.
I mostly want Edith there for support, but her presence will also further distance me from the Lewis family. Hopefully, it doesn¡¯t backfire on me.
¡°What setting will we use?¡± Sasha¡¯s inquiry caught me slightly off guard; I did not have much experience socializing with other noble ladies, beyond visiting Edith for tea and such. Fortunately, I had someone who was something of an expert on hand.
¡°What do you recommend? I imagine something public would be best?¡±
Sasha placed her hand on her chin in thought and nodded, ¡°Indeed, a venue where you would be seen with them would facilitate the spreading of rumors. But throwing another gala or a ball would be a bit extreme.¡±
Wait, that¡¯s an option? Seriously, a ball?
Paying no mind to the momentary surprise on my face, my maid continued on, ¡°Perhaps a concert or play? What do you think?¡±
Shaking my head quickly to reset the surprise, I gave her my agreement, ¡°That would work. Something light would be best, to make it easier to speak.¡±
Sasha gave a quick nod, ¡°Then I shall find an appropriate company and summon them.¡±
I shouldn¡¯t even be surprised that me going to a concert involves calling it to me. Then again, that makes sense from a security standpoint. Speaking of,
¡°Then, I will leave the arrangements to you. Have Elienor and the others arrived yet?¡±
Sasha actually looked a bit relieved and nodded, ¡°Yes, I was actually about to bring this up; Lady Elienor, Miss Lucy, and Miss Frieda have all been transferred into your care. Shall I send for them?¡±
¡°Yes, as soon as everything is sorted out it will make life much easier for you. I need the people helping me to be as capable as possible, since helping me is such a task.¡±
She actually let out a soft laugh at that before excusing herself to go and get the people in question.
Good, they arrived on time.
It was honestly impressive how quickly arrangements had been made in regards to my friend and former attendants. According to Gustav, everything had been in place to transfer them into my direct custody once the order was given.
In that respect, maybe it¡¯s proper to say that it¡¯s surprising it took so long? No, we had to make it look organic; about a week is the minimum amount of time that would be believable. Any faster, and people would perhaps assume the truth; that Rupert and I staged the whole thing.
A few minutes later, Elienor was led into my room along with Lucy and Frieda. As they entered the room, I fed mana into my eyes. Though I trusted Rupert¡¯s conclusion that they were in the clear, there was no harm in double-checking for myself. Certainly, they would not notice.
Frieda seemed to be a bit reserved and cautious which was understandable. Lucy was similar to Frieda but instead of being totally calm her eyes were darting around while her ears twitched nervously. All three of them were clean of demonic mana and did not have any voids in their own mana flow that would have indicated a parasite¡¯s presence.
It¡¯s kind of like Felicity¡¯s ears. I wonder if there are any similarities between elves and beastkin? Nah, there¡¯s no way.
Though I could see her mana just fine, Elienor was being somewhat shielded from my view by the other two, but she looked tired; she had bags under her eyes, her hair was a bit unkempt, and her general demeanor seemed simply depressed. Given what she had been going through the past half a year, her change in demeanor was rather understandable. It would be on me now to try and help her as much as I could.
After all, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that I am directly responsible for what happened. Granted, Count Francois brought this on himself but my own hand can¡¯t be understated. If she came to hate me, it would be completely justified.
Elienor looked up at me from behind the other two. Her immediate reaction was complicated and she did indeed express hatred in one of her facial expressions. Finally, she settled back to simply depression before mumbling, ¡°Hey, Stali¡¡±
That much broke my heart when I thought back to the happy energetic girl she had been before everything in her world fell apart, ¡°Elienor, I¡¯m¡¡±
¡°Sorry?¡± Her tone was rough and her face bitter. After a moment though, that faded away, ¡°Why? You seem to be just fine.¡±
Well, this is going to shit.
She continued, ¡°You broke my brother. You destroyed my family! And after all of that, you left me alone for nine months! Every day, I thought they were finally going to have me killed! Ye¡¯ don¡¯t get to be sorry!¡± By the end of the tirade, she was screaming her words. When she was finally finished, she collapsed to her knees defeated.
It was easy for me to forget at times, considering how exceptional all of my friends were, that they were in fact still children. Of course Elienor would have been completely destroyed by what happened. What was I going to do? Install her as a maid? From her perspective, it would simply look like I was keeping her around to gloat, whatever my actual intentions were.
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Defeated, all I could think to do was press on, ¡°Yes. I am sorry. I should have moved to help you a lot sooner, back when Dominic first started getting violent. For that, I am sorry.¡± Turning from Elienor to address Lucy and Frieda, I briefly caught Lucy looking at me with utter contempt before she rapidly adjusted her face.
Yea, I deserve that.
¡°I have made arrangements with Rupert to secure the three of you your lives. If you sign these, I can even grant a degree of freedom; they are general servant contracts. Regardless of what you decide, I cannot let you leave my care.¡± I gestured to Sasha and she presented the three slips to Frieda, who took them gracefully enough. Even if her movements were a bit stiff.
At this point, I would have liked to leave them alone in the room, but my station prevented that. Instead, I had Sasha guide them to one of the drawing rooms along with one of my knights to keep an eye on them lest they try anything. In my mind a cruel measure, but one I knew was not debatable.
¡°Sasha, did you know it would end up like that?¡± My voice was rather brittle when she returned from the other room, and I collapsed back into my seat.
She nodded once, ¡°Yes, I suspected it would. Frankly, that you did not is rather concerning; I had thought you intended some scheme to work through the girl¡¯s feelings so said nothing.¡±
Well, there goes any faith she had in me.
¡°I am a fool.¡± To my quip, She said nothing.
¡°I was so caught up in everything, that I neglected to consider the full ramifications. Something I keep doing. What if the alliance with the Lester family turns out like this? Or the coming clean-up? No matter what I do, someone is going to suffer.¡±
It was something I had thought I had acknowledged long ago. There were even a few times when I had been confronted with the consequences, and been able to get through them without too much issue. But this was the first time it had been so direct and in my face.
No, not the first time. Jacqueline is a textbook case of me fucking up and being slapped in the face with the fallout. But she forgave me and continued to serve; preserving our existing dynamic. Elienor hates me completely.
¡°My Lady?¡± With a start, I looked up at Sasha.
¡°Yes?¡±
¡°If I may, I believe you are missing a rather critical piece of information. Or rather, overlooking it.¡±
Like a light in the darkness, I latched on to my attendant¡¯s words, ¡°What would that be?¡±
The enthusiasm carried by my response seemed a bit disconcerting for her, but she was able to answer me nonetheless, ¡°Elienor is eleven, and had just entered the Academy. From your perspective, all this happened only a month ago. For her, it has been nearly a year. She was ten when her family fell from the king¡¯s grace.¡±
Ah¡
Sasha was correct. I had indeed been overlooking that little bit of information. Another apology would not suffice; I had made a conscious decision to delay contacting her. In all honesty, that should have been one of the first things I had done upon waking up. Instead, she had become my political pawn.
¡°I believe you made the right decision; the amount of sympathy you garnered was worth the delay.¡± I knew she was right, and I hated that.
¡°Perhaps, but if I could do it differently then I would.¡±
Sasha shrugged, ¡°Perhaps, but the past is the past; you cannot allow yourself to live there.¡±
She of course meant her words along the lines of a monarch being unable to let the past hold them back or something. That didn¡¯t mean she was wrong. Whether or not I liked it, from moment to moment, my life went far beyond myself now. With a sigh, I began the process of pushing down the feelings that were boiling up inside me regarding Elienor¡¯s rejection. It was ok for me to be hurt, but dwelling on it was not acceptable in my capacity as the pseudo queen. Nor was it fair to Elienor, who was the one most wronged.
¡°¡Alright. Looking to the future then, I believe it would be better for us to leave the palace rather than call the performers here.¡±
Sasha paused her idle tasks, and I saw her ears perk up. Encouraged thusly, I began to explain my thought process, ¡°There are three reasons. Firstly, I am not publicly known to be Rupert¡¯s wife; if I called performers here so soon after my debut it might harm my established image by making me seem selfish.¡±
She nodded, ¡°That is a possibility, though likely rather slim.¡±
¡°Yes, but a possibility nonetheless. Second, the goal is for me to be seen engaging with Edith and Lady Lester. If we travel through the noble quarter and attend a play or concert in the upper city many, many more people will see us. That will increase the speed at which news of my apparent faction inclinations spreads.¡±
¡°That is true¡? What about the risks?¡±
I smiled, ¡°Even better. Me going out will help calm the people. Sure, there are risks. But it isn¡¯t like we will go out without guards, and if it comes down to it I myself am far from helpless¡ Though in that case, my merciful image would be damaged.¡±
Sasha frowned, but she did not say anything against my points. After a moment she shook her head, ¡°Your idea has merit, though I don¡¯t like it; we went through this with that alchemist, you should summon people to you.¡±
My hand cut through the air in a dismissive wave, ¡°This and that are different. In this case, me going to them makes more sense. Will you make the arrangements, or do I have to make it an order?¡±
¡°I will abide. How many guards will you bring?¡±
Right, obviously I can¡¯t have Lady Lester and Edith bringing their own guards. Both for my own safety against any ill advised actions, as well as the fact that security is the host¡¯s responsibility.
¡°My primary guards will accompany us, of course. Then as for a supplement, half as many each for both Lady Lester and Edith should suffice?¡±
Sasha gave me her assent, and began making the plan; once I had given the basics it fell to her to do the nitty gritty.
Just another reason why I wanted to get you some help¡ If things don¡¯t work out with Lucy and Frieda, I should speak with Rupert about getting at least another couple maids. Sasha just has too much work on her own like this. Elienor is¡ No, even if she does sign her contract through some miracle, I can¡¯t use her as a maid; it would destroy whatever sliver of friendship we have left¡
Thinking about it, it wasn¡¯t like we had been particularly close with each other. Really, she was kind of irritating at best, and a nuisance most times. But out of all the Francois, she was the only one I could genuinely say I felt guilty about. Even if it was just to satisfy my conscience, I wanted to make sure at least she was safe.
¡°Thump-thump-thump.¡±
There was a knock at the door. My guard, signaling that the trio had finished their deliberations. Sasha put down her work and made her way over to bring them back before me.
Right, well there¡¯s nothing for it, may as well see how badly things went.
I nodded to her, and Sasha opened the door. To my surprise, Elienor entered first. She briefly made eye contact with me before breaking it off by dropping her gaze to the floor. Frieda was next, followed by Lucy. Frieda seemed rather calm all things considered, but Lucy had a bit of fire in her eyes.
¡°Here.¡± Curtly, the dark elf passed the three contracts to Sasha who unfurled them to review.
After a moment she announced, ¡°All three have been signed.¡±
Wait, all three? Then even Elienor¡?
That was surprising, and I couldn¡¯t help but stare at her while letting the surprise show on my face. It had been a certainty that she would decline.
¡°With all do respect, my lady, Miss Elienor is rather tired. It has been a tumultuous ordeal for her.¡± Lucy made no effort to hide the disdain she felt, paying the absolute bear minimum of respect all the while lacing her words with venom. I could see Sasha pursing her lips, so hurriedly preempted her.
¡°I am sure it has, and it was in no small part my fault. For that, I can only apologize.¡± It looked like Lucy was going to say something, but my words weren¡¯t for her so much as myself at this point. I held up a hand to forestall whatever she was going to say, ¡°I will never apologize for what happened to Dominic and Count Francois.¡±
Elienor flinched at the sound of her brother¡¯s and father¡¯s names, but I kept going nonetheless, ¡°They posed a very real threat to this kingdom and her people. More than that, they posed a threat to people I cared about. So no, I will not apologize for that. I am sorry that you got involved, that you lost everything as a result of my actions. I am sorry that in the final days I was not there to help you. I am sorry that you were left alone and confused for so long. I will do everything reasonably within my power to make amends, because that is all I can do.¡±
The room had gone quiet by the time I was done speaking. Sasha looked conflicted, very likely planning a lecture about how a monarch must never lower themselves to a servant or commoner. In this case, if she tried I would tell her to get bent. Lucy seemed a bit deflated, but still clearly angry. Frieda was¡ taciturn.
As for Elienor, it looked like she was doing her very best not to start crying.
Well, that¡¯s about what I would expect her reaction to be.
Then, she either stopped trying not to cry or failed, because the tears did indeed begin to flow. But, the tears shed were confused. There was sadness, pain, and loss present. But there was also joy and happiness, then she ran at me. If I had been a moment slower to react, one of the knights might have cut her down; as it was their swords were half unsheathed before I stepped forward to intercept her fervent hug.
¡°Hic, Stali! Stali don¡¯t Hic leave me alone again! Hic.¡±
6-3 Headaches
With the immediate situation surrounding Elienor resolved, for the most part, I needed to start working on my assigned duties. Frieda could probably be trusted but Lucy¡¯s attitude had carried a lot of red flags, so she would need to be restricted a bit. Regarding that, Sasha had wanted to punish her for her attitude, though I declined to authorize that for now. If she continued, then and only then I would do something. However, given that she deflated in the wake of Elienor breaking down and then recovering, I did not want to put the cart before the horse.
Regarding that breakdown, even after having broken my illusion, Elienor had not actually said anything about my body that I was aware of. Though I hoped that was because she had the sense not to, I feared that she was afraid I might get mad if she did. It was a topic to address with her, but I wasn¡¯t sure how to approach it so had decided to put it off and break the news to the other two first. As for when that would be¡ the sooner the better in all likelihood, though Sasha would likely protest.
The odds are that Lucy was simply mad on Elienor¡¯s behalf. The general contracts will prevent them from doing anything to directly harm me, but it otherwise leaves them completely free. Likewise, we know they didn¡¯t have any special contracts with Count Francois; Rupert assured me of that¡ Still, until things come to fruition Sasha will be stuck attending to me directly, but that doesn¡¯t mean the others can¡¯t help in other ways.
In any case, the three of them had been subjected to an appraisal as part of Rupert¡¯s checks; none of them would have the ability to overcome my knight detail, so I could quite easily restrict their movements until they proved trustworthy. I had some plans regarding that and hopefully, things would work out sooner rather than later; I did not enjoy keeping people locked up, but I would do what I had to.
As for what I had to do, at the moment that was to meet with one of the church¡¯s Cardinals. Or, more specifically, listen in on Ferdinand¡¯s meeting with him. Then there would be a debriefing regarding some intelligence gleaned from the first prince¡¯s rebel group. Meetings with Ferdinand to begin ironing out the details of the new spy order. At some point, the trip into the city with Lady Lester and Edith. Sven would soon be returning to Ris, and I had summoned him to receive an answer about our business proposal.
All of this while still making sure to see Rosial, Felicity, and Rosin as often as possible. Keeping up with my parents. Dodging whatever the Lawrence¡¯s retaliation would be. Overseeing the rooting out of the remaining shadows still nominally under Five¡¯s control¡ My head was already swimming and I hadn¡¯t even listed half the things I was meant to do.
And I¡¯m not even in the ¡®trial period¡¯ as Queen yet. In another three years, my schedule is going to get even busier¡ Hell, that will probably start a year in, from all honesty, considering that the demon war should be kicking off¡ Ugh.
¡°My lady, Ferdinand has arrived.¡±
¡°Thank you, Sasha.¡±
She nodded and presented me with a magic communicator tool. Ferdinand had the other half, and it would feed audio and visual information back to me. Since I had never learned or bothered to research how magic tools were made, I had no idea how this one worked but, according to his explanation, it would be able to cut through the church¡¯s wards against snooping. Not that I particularly minded giving the gods the middle finger, but I had to question if this was actually a good idea.
Well, even if I¡¯m the Rule Breaker now, I was their champion at one point so it should be fine¡ I hope. Adroni probably wouldn¡¯t permit them to just smite me, right? Yea, that¡¯d be funny but only for a moment¡
Even with my status still screwed to hell, I could still use Blood Magic. By exploiting that, I could feed mana into magic tools in order to operate them.
And add that to my growing list of tasks; figure out why the hell my stats, skills, and talents aren¡¯t returning!
Upon the tool¡¯s activation, my vision briefly went blurry. What followed when it cleared made my head spin; Ferdinand¡¯s vision fed directly into my mind, giving me two completely separate points of view. Well, it wasn¡¯t exactly his point of view, so much as the tool¡¯s. Fortunately this much had been predicted so I was already sitting, and as a way to help limit the effects of it, I shut my own eyes.
I wonder if this is similar to what Five experienced when using the parasites? Dealing with just the one added perspective is bad enough, I can¡¯t imagine what it would be like with several.
Ferdinand nodded to one of the lower-ranking priests, who in turn opened a large ornate door. This was, oddly enough, the same room I had once been taken to when the church summoned me.
Don¡¯t tell me that cardinal was the one responsible for liaising with the shadows¡?
The doors swung open to reveal the room¡¯s sole occupant. It was not anyone I recognized. Since the one cardinal I had met was responsible for Sana, that was a small load off my mind and a relief to my momentary panic. Looking closely at him, or at least as closely as I could given the oddity of how this sub-vision worked, the cardinal appeared to be rather nervous.
Ferdinand went ahead and greeted him, his voice completely and utterly dry, ¡°Cardinal, it is a pleasure to speak with you again.¡±
The cardinal responded nervously, not unlike a spring being held under high tension, ¡°L-lord Ferdinand, it is indeed a pleasure¡ I heard that you,¡±
¡°That I was dead? That was a lie.¡±
¡°I-¡±
¡°Do not speak further. The fact of the matter is that a demon, one of the kings, rose to power under your nose. Disposed of all of his opponents within and without the order¡ Yet you were not cut off¡ curious, is it not?¡± Ferdinand cut off whatever the cardinal was going to say next. This had been his own suggestion, and one I readily agreed with; put much of the blame onto the church. If we made it clear that they were being blamed for letting Five take power within the shadows, then it would give us some degree of leverage over them.
¡°Of course you didn¡¯t know, he simply tricked you, did he not?¡±
The cardinal gulped, but did not say anything further, which was the wrong choice of action.
¡°Well? Answer me!¡±
¡°Y-yes! We were tricked! No, I was deceived!¡±
Ferdinand crossed his arms and I could hear the sound of his foot tapping rhythmically against the stone floor. A few moments later, just long enough for the cardinal to increase the intensity of his sweating, Ferdinand broke the silence again, ¡°Well, it is fortunate that in your incompetence, the gods themselves have seen fit to send salvation.¡±
The cardinal gave a small start at that proclamation, since what Ferdinand was saying essentially amounted to ¡°the gods bypassed the church.¡± In any other circumstances, it could be taken as outright heretical.
¡°One of their champions has been named, and she has rooted out the source of the corruption. Be thankful, that you were not caught up in it.¡±
The cardinal¡¯s gears were visibly turning as he digested Ferdinand¡¯s words, ¡°You speak the truth?¡±
¡°[##### #####], The Champion of Winter acted where you failed and cast out the corruption.¡±
All good so far, hopefully he¡¯ll figure out what Ferdinand is saying. We made it pretty damn obvious though.
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The cardinal sat back into his chair, a look of relief coming upon his face, ¡°Then, I suppose as the new head of the kingdom¡¯s espionage unit, you have some changes in mind?¡±
Good, he figured it out.
For the most part, having Ferdinand be the one publicly in charge was beneficial and would be the status quo. Specifically with the church though, it would be better to lead them to the conclusion that I was the one really in charge. Ferdinand had agreed with my thoughts and suggested we also drop the bit about Winter¡¯s Champion in there to further set them off balance.
¡°Yes, there will be a few changes. For the time being, all members of the original order are being hunted down as traitors. We will need new agents.¡±
The cardinal raised an eyebrow, ¡°Then you are here for the list of candidates? I should think that would be unacceptable¡¡±
He was fishing for more information, a good sign all things considered.
¡°No, you are correct; the former methods are no longer acceptable. Continue to pronounce the children purposeless and record their names, but they will not be collected. Instead, have the priests and priestesses reach out to them and serve as mentors.¡±
The cardinal nodded, ¡°Of course, but you are aware showing such favoritism will cause some strife in the smaller villages and towns?¡±
¡°That has been accounted for. You will find that the next year¡¯s royal donation has increased; It will come with a stipulation that the additional money be used to expand the temple schooling system. On your end, implement a rigged lottery; mixing in the purposeless from the list with a few truly purposeless children should serve as sufficient cover.¡±
The man nodded, ¡°A smart plan, that will help prevent much of the jealousy and fallout; we can keep an eye on the children with problematic purposes while building up additional manpower to replace casualties from the coming war. Of course it will not prevent all of the jealousy from those who do not ¡®win¡¯ the lottery¡¡±
My viewpoint bobbed up and down, and I realized it was due to Ferdinand shrugging his shoulders, ¡°It is impossible to please everyone. For the time being, until proper agents can be trained, the priests will serve as information gatherers. Consider that the church¡¯s punishment for allowing one of the nine to run rampant.¡±
The cardinal¡¯s eye twitched but he said nothing. In this situation, there wasn¡¯t anything he really could say, other than arguing that the gods superseded the kingdom and it wasn¡¯t our right to punish the church. But Ferdinand had already established that it was a champion of the gods who went in and fixed the mess. Ferdinand had predicted, and I agreed, that the church would probably push back against being used as spies. We would then concede that point, and they would implement our plans for the children without much in the way of resistance.
Our real plan for information gathering was the adventurers. To that end, I was planning to cash in on an offer extended from what felt like an eternity ago. Ferdinand and the cardinal were now going through the motions of fine-tuning details, so my direct observation was no longer required. Disconnecting from the magic spy camera, I sighed, ¡°¡Someone needs to fine-tune that thing. Using it is such a headache¡ Sasha, next for today is meeting with the capital¡¯s guild master. How are preparations with that?¡±
As I spoke I got up and moved from the soundproofed private room and back into my drawing room, where the other three girls were assembled, along with Stil and my guard knights. As we walked, Sasha glanced at a bit of paper she carried around for keeping notes, ¡°Everything is in order, we can leave as soon as you would like¡ Who will be coming with us?¡±
I pointed out the people as I named them, ¡°Two of the knights, Stil, and¡¡± Hearing me hesitate, Elienor¡¯s ears perked up. Unfortunately, there was no way I was bringing her, ¡°¡Lucy will come to assist you.¡±
The elf in question looked momentarily surprised, but that quickly turned into suspicion. Sasha as well, looked like she had a few choice words, but I was not going to give her a chance to voice them.
¡°Elienor, Felicity¡ That is Pet¡¯s real name, will be coming by later today¡¡± At the mention of the catkin¡¯s name, Elienor¡¯s face changed from a mild pout to a more pleased one, ¡°¡And she will be bringing with her Rosial, my little sister.¡±
¡°Yer little sister, Stali? I thought Rosi had died?¡± Frieda shook her own head and brought her hand down on the crown of Elienor¡¯s head in a chopping motion.
¡°Miss Elienor, that is not the correct way to address your lady.¡±
Indeed, I had been doing my best to ignore it, but Elienor was in fact wearing a miniaturized maid outfit to match the ones worn by Lucy, Frieda, and Sasha. I had tried to avoid doing that, but Sasha had expressed disapproval, and the girl herself had even proclaimed the desire to have her own. In the end, I had relented; it wasn¡¯t like she was wearing one of those fetish ¡°maid¡± uniforms.
It was actually rather conservative. Mainly, I had wanted to avoid putting her in something she might have found demeaning, being the former daughter of a count as well as my friend. It was for that latter reason that I found seeing her dressed like my servant a bit disturbing.
¡°Frieda, please do not be so harsh on her; it has only been a couple of days¡¡±
Besides, having Elienor call me anything other than ¡®Stali¡¯ would just feel wrong, let me hear it a few more times.
¡°As you wish, my lady.¡± Frieda backed off, and allowed Elienor to say her piece. Unfortunately, she seemed to have taken Freida¡¯s reprimand in stride.
¡°Your little sister? I thought Rosial had passed on?¡±
¡°Mh, no she did not. She was taken away¡ But we were able to recover her recently.¡±
That was close, I almost said who she was taken away by¡ It might not be the best idea for her and Rosial to meet, if Rosial realizes who her dad is¡ But I won¡¯t be able to keep Elienor and Felicity separate, or rather I won¡¯t. And Rosial and Felicity have become somewhat inseparable themselves. Well, whatever comes of this, I¡¯ll make it work somehow, what¡¯s one more task?
If Elienor did find out it was her father who had taken my sister¡ well, if she was going to be staying with me, it would happen eventually.
¡°Then, shall we depart?¡± At Sasha¡¯s question, I nodded.
Two of the knights, Lucy, and Stil joined us and we made our way out of my rooms and eventually down to the stable area. The whole time we were walking was spent in awkward silence. The cause of which was obviously Lucy¡¯s presence. Both she and Sasha were likely questioning why she had been brought along. After all, she was ostensibly a liability.
When we were securely in a carriage, unmarked of course, I glanced at Sasha before cutting the mana feed to my ring. This of course caused the projected illusion to drop, ¡°Well Lucy, this is what happened to me after the fight with Count Francois.¡±
Her crimson eyes flew open wide in a manner that I could tell wasn¡¯t an act, ¡°Stahlia¡?¡±
So Elienor really didn¡¯t say anything. At least not to you.
¡°Yes, it is me. No Sasha, I will not hear it.¡± My head maid looked like she was about to say something in accordance with my instructions to inform me when I was making a mistake, ¡°Lucy, while I was in the care of Count Francois, you took great care of me. I somewhat understand your hostility in the wake of everything that has happened since then, and I hate the way I have to treat the three of you. So, I am going to take a risk; I am going to trust you without any reason to, in the hopes that by doing so, I can earn yours.¡±
This was a move that would definitely not have been approved of if I had run it by Sasha and Rupert ahead of time.
¡°Lucy will not be harmed, that is an order in my name.¡± I looked to each of the knights and then to Sasha. Though I doubted it actually needed to be said; the fact that I had willingly revealed the secret meant that her knowing it was my will. By saying it out loud, the only person now who could order for Lucy to be silenced was Rupert or the king himself. Something she would recognize.
¡°So, Lucy. I am going to trust you implicitly. I learned the hard way that keeping secrets only leads to suffering.¡±
The carriage was silent for some moments; the knights never really said anything while on duty unless asked, and Sasha was clearly waiting to hear Lucy¡¯s response much as I was.
¡°¡How could I ever trust that? Even if I keep your secrets, just by knowing them, I¡ You¡ How can I trust anything you say after something like this? After what you¡¯ve done?¡±
Something was telling me that this went a bit beyond how I had abandoned Elienor.
¡°Lucy, what exactly did I do? From my perspective, other than abandoning Elienor, I have done nothing wrong.¡±
¡°You! Did you not arrange for Count Francois¡¯ downfall? The destruction of his family!?¡±
I definitely did that, but what¡¯s it to her? I know for a fact they were told about the Count being a hell king; I was very clear about that with Ferdinand after what happened with Sieg.
¡°Yes, I will not deny I was responsible for that, but he was a demon, one of the hell kings. While what happened was regrettable, it was,¡±
¡°HE SAVED MY LIFE!¡±
Ah. That would explain your reaction then. Ah¡ stop looking at me like that Sasha, this was going to happen eventually.
Fortunately, we had some time before we arrived at the capital¡¯s adventurer¡¯s guild branch, ¡°Lucy¡ Will you tell me what you mean by that?¡±
6-4 Past
¡°Lucy, calm yourself.¡± The elf glared at me, but that faded slowly before she ultimately looked away.
¡°No matter what else he did, he saved my life; I owe him that.¡±
So this is a lot more complicated than just her being angered on behalf of Elienor. It also means I need to play things very, very carefully.
¡°I am sorry, Lucy. Please restrain her.¡± She was smart enough not to put up a fight against my knights as they moved to tie her securely.
Now, what to do? Sasha would suggest we kill her now, not happening¡ At least not yet. Rupert¡¯s questioning and investigations would have used truth magic, so we should have known about this relationship.
¡°Sasha, when we return to the palace, please obtain a transcript of Lucy¡¯s interrogation. I would like to know how this was missed.¡± At my order, she nodded once but did not break eye contact with our new prisoner, ¡°Lucy, would you tell me what happened?¡±
I really would like to know how it is that a hell king saved the life of a dark elf, and didn¡¯t just kill you for fun.
Just when I thought that she would decline to speak, she slowly began to explain how the Count had purportedly saved her life, ¡°¡It was just after I turned thirty and left home¡ after I was kicked out. I did not have anything other than my limited magic and a few levels of sword fighting.¡±
That checks out with the appraisal Rupert¡¯s people conducted. At the moment, she has [Sword Fighting III] and a few levels each in Wind, Earth, and Water Magic talents. Considering she doesn¡¯t have a class, that¡¯s pretty respectable. But she left home at thirty? For an elf that¡¯s like, ten? And they threw her out for being albino if what she told me a few years ago was true.
¡°Of course, an elf, and especially one with a unique appearance such as mine would draw attention.¡± As she talked, she began to pick up steam, speaking more and more easily. Though there remained a slightly dispassionate detached tone to her words, ¡°It didn¡¯t take long before some men grabbed me off the road.¡±
¡°And Count Francois rescued you from them?¡±
She shook her head, ¡°No, no¡ those men sold me off to a band of illegal slavers passing through the Trade League. They were a nasty bunch.¡± Her face turned dark for a moment, and I feared what she might say next, ¡°Though they did not violate me; they had something against elves in general from what I was able to gather. Keeping me around and miserable was merely their way to vent anger. A way to escape from whatever demons haunted them.¡±
Right, the Trade League. The elves¡¯ own country is on the far north of the continent, so if she was grabbed just after being exiled it would have taken some time for her to make it to Drakas. With his cover being that of a count, Five wouldn¡¯t have been able to leave the kingdom and travel that far.
¡°And those men, did they bring you into Drakas?¡±
Lucy nodded bitterly, ¡°Yes. I spent around a year with them in all. Then they left me chained to a tree in the middle of winter. Crossing the border with a clearly imprisoned elf would not have worked out well for them. Their solution to that problem was to thank me for being so entertaining, and then chain me up to die.¡±
I¡¯m really glad Claire isn¡¯t hearing any of this.
Lucy had fallen silent, so I prompted her to continue, ¡°How long were you trapped like that?¡±
¡°¡A day. I was very nearly dead when another human found me. I would later learn that it was Count Francois. I owe him my life, so I can never forgive what you did to him.¡± Some of the fire returned to her eyes and she fixed me with another glare, but did not otherwise move.
Count Francois just happened to be passing through the border forest, found a half dead elfling tied to a tree, and rescued her? No, I don¡¯t believe that for a second. I don¡¯t have any proof other than my gut, but I¡¯d wager he had her collected and delivered to him. As for what he would want with an albino elf child, I have no idea, but there¡¯s definitely something more to this. Before that though¡
¡°Another question, Lucy. Why did¡¯t you try and kill me? The general contract prevents that now, but you could have when you first saw me. If you owe the count your life, then should you have tried to avenge him even at the cost of that life?¡±
It was a foregone conclusion that had she tried anything, she would have been taken down in an instant by my knights. But that should have been a price she was willing to pay, if my understanding was correct, and I was curious what had stayed her hand.
¡°¡Because my actions may have caused more harm to Lady Elienor. Whether or not I liked it, your grace was her best and only chance at escaping the fate of her father.¡±
¡°I see.¡±
So the life debt extends to Five¡¯s kin.
¡°Then, was that why you signed the general contract? Because you thought it would incline me to be merciful¡?¡±
She did not answer yes or no, but the silence was enough to confirm my suspicions.
¡°May I ask another question, Lucy?¡± Beside her, I saw Sasha¡¯s eye twitch.
I need to be careful as well, that I don¡¯t alienate Sasha when trying to win the loyalty of others. But this situation would be best served by kindness over orders.
¡°What¡¯s stopping you?¡±
¡°Nothing. But if I demanded an answer, then there are people who would ensure that I got one. I¡ I don¡¯t really want to go that route.¡±
¡°¡Go ahead.¡±
With Lucy¡¯s permission, I proceeded to make what was in all honesty a completely pointless inquiry, ¡°Do you not owe me a life debt the same way you owe Five one?¡±
¡°No. You are only sparing me from the results of your own actions.¡±
Well, that much was obvious, I just thought it was worth a shot.
¡°¡Well, I appreciate you being honest. But I do not really have many options left now; you understand, right?¡±
¡°¡¡± Lucy mumbled something that I could not quite catch.
¡°Sorry?¡±
She spoke again, louder this time. She was determined this time, ¡°¡Whatever you do to me, don¡¯t hurt Lady Elienor any more than you have.¡±
Of course not. That¡¯s the last thing I want to do.
¡°Good, then this is what is going to happen.¡± I fixed Sasha with a look to gauge her reaction, ¡°When we arrive, Sasha, contact Ferdinand. He will come and collect Lucy personally. She will not be disposed of or harmed in any way.¡±
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Sasha¡¯s eyes narrowed at that, but she didn¡¯t retort since it was me speaking, ¡°Tell him to repeat the same interviews and checks performed previously; I want to know how such a glaring oversight occurred. Following that, she will be placed under strict arrest and confined to a room in my chambers where you will offload simple duties that pose no risks.¡±
Once Sasha had briefly bowed her head in acknowledgment, I added one more line for good measure, ¡°This is far from the most efficient course of action. I know that. Ferdinand could quite easily get the information and then remove any potential threat,¡±
Ah, Lucy flinched there. So she does fear death still, or maybe it¡¯s the implication of torture that caused that reaction¡ I might want to put her on suicide watch or something just to be sure.
¡°However, this is what I have decided. This is how I want to do things. Do any of the three of you present have any issues with that? Speak freely.¡±
The two knights did not say anything, merely shaking their heads in turn. Sasha took a deep breath before speaking, ¡°On the contrary, I believe this is for the best; to cast aside a possible source of information would be foolish. If I could offer a suggestion, could you agree to have Miss Elienor and Miss Frieda reevaluated as well?¡±
I really don¡¯t want to do that, but she¡¯s right. Elienor is safe, but there¡¯s no knowing with Frieda¡ And if I have Frieda reevaluated but not Elienor it would set a bad example and show me playing favorites. Damnit, fine.
¡°Agreed, but there. Will. Be. No. Torture.¡± Perhaps it was giving my allies too little credit, but I really did not trust Ferdinand to follow my will unless my intentions were precisely stated. He just seemed the type that would take the easiest path to accomplish a task; even Rupert could occasionally opt for the more complicated one if the benefits were good enough.
Lucy simply accepted her new predicament silently, there was little else for her to say as her own thoughts were already known. Not long after, a thump sounded from the front of the carriage; the driver, signaling that we had arrived. Speaking first to Sasha, ¡°Please contact Ferdinand.¡±
Then, I addressed the guards, ¡°The two of you will wait here and make sure Lucy does not attempt anything.¡±
It was somewhat fortunate that Lucy had spoken up when she did, as it gave me an excuse to ditch my protectors. Though their service was welcome, something was telling me that it would be best to leave them behind. Besides, even if I still looked like myself I was clearly too old to be me, and if worse came to worst I could always defend myself for a few minutes while the knights stormed the place.
To my surprise, both of them assented to the orders without any argument. There was no, ¡°But my lady, our duty is to protect you!¡± shenanigans. They simply performed a small salute and then turned their attention to Lucy, who retreated somewhat under the pressure of their stare.
¡Is that really ok? I mean, I ordered it but still. They¡¯d be held responsible if my order led to my death or simply being hurt¡ Well, in any case, sorry about that Lucy!
Having mentally apologized to the distressed elf, I exited the carriage. Knowing what I planned to do today, Sasha had dressed me accordingly. To any onlooker, it should appear that a young noble lady was trying very hard to appear as a wealthy commoner. This was much the same type of disguise as the last time I snuck out to the adventurers guild, and there was no point in fixing what wasn¡¯t broken.
Though I wish I could pass as an actual commoner, it just wouldn¡¯t work out. I¡¯ve spent too long as a noble. If there was some time to practice, I might be able to get to a point where I can pass it off as being from out of town¡ I honestly should look into it. As the spymaster, it could be a useful ability, though it¡¯s doubtful I have any time right now.
Departing from where we left the carriage, I ducked out onto the main street and headed for the adventurers guild. There were a few curious looks but nobody stared for too long, and before I knew it the door to the guild was in front of me.
Right, here I go.
Pushing the door open, I stepped inside. The room was empty and as shabby as ever, the only other occupant being a lone employee.
Good, it¡¯s lucky that there aren¡¯t that many people in today. I¡¯m not sure if I could handle a bunch of curious stares¡ and knowing the type of people that hang out here a few of them would probably have ill thoughts given that I don¡¯t look like a kid anymore.
The thought made me shiver, but it was easy enough to ignore and suppress. The receptionist adopted a business smile at my approach, ¡°And what can I do for you today?¡±
¡°Excuse me, is the guildmaster in? I have a meeting scheduled regarding this letter.¡± As I spoke, I passed the woman the letter I had received from Aaron.
Receiving the letter, she moved to open it when a voice called out, ¡°Leave it, Miriam. I¡¯ll see her upstairs.¡±
He sounds young for a guildmaster.
I turned to face the source of the voice. Instead of an aging weathered man, there stood Aaron himself.
Ok, red flag. What is he doing here personally? The last time I saw you was two years ago and even then only briefly.
Immediately feeding mana into my eyes, I beheld Aaron¡¯s mana. It was odd. Instead of flowing throughout his body, it sort of hung in place. Unlike the thick sludge of a demon, it was more like glass. As if his mana were a still water surface. At the same time, it was colorless.
¡°Oh? Do you like what you see? I wouldn¡¯t advise looking too close though.¡±
Yea, major red flag. Every time somebody recognizes me using the Divine Element, a disaster happens.
¡°Look, don¡¯t just stand there looking at me like some kind of monster, that really hurts ya¡¯know? Come upstairs, I swear by Adroni I won¡¯t hurt you.¡±
That oath wasn¡¯t exactly the most reassuring, but it wasn¡¯t like I¡¯d get any answers just standing around in the lobby, ¡°¡You had better explain yourself.¡±
I curtsied briefly towards the receptionist and then followed Aaron up the stairs towards the offices. It was certainly a risky play on my part, but Aaron¡¯s oath was intriguing. The fact that Aaron knew both me and Adroni held a connection to each other was worth something, especially given that the God of being a Dick wasn¡¯t common knowledge.
Once we were behind the closed door of Aaron¡¯s office, he turned around and looked me over, ¡°Well, I am rather surprised. I was not expecting you to go that far before responding to my letter. Still, you got here in the end; good job!¡±
¡°¡I do not recall ever being tasked with coming to see you.¡±
Aaron shrugged, ¡°No, the congratulations were for how much effort you put in on your own. Now then, what brings you to see me on this fine day?¡±
So it will be like that, will it?
"I take it you are already familiar with all the events that transpired since you sent me this," I indicated the letter I¡¯d received just before returning hom to Ris, "I want to utilize the adventurers in the kingdom as information gatherers."
Aaron nodded, "Indeed, congratulations on the wedding by the way. As for your goals¡ to what end? The adventurers are outcasts, social pariahs. Hardly the best spies."
Yea, thanks. As I thought, you do know a lot. How exactly though?
I shook my head, "No, they will be perfect. I do not want them to infiltrate anywhere or specifically gather information. Simply writing up reports of what they notice in the course of their usual activities would suffice. Although, if some groups did wish to become full-time agents, I would not be opposed to it."
"And what about Team Red Iron, hmm¡? Are they still in your employ¡? I haven''t seen them recently after all." His voice was flat, making it blindingly obvious he knew what happened.
"Those were¡ extenuating circumstances. Had I been in control of the situation, I likely would not have allowed it; but, at the time, Ferdinand was the one making those decisions."
"You ''likely'' wouldn¡¯t have had them silenced?" Rather than being judgemental, Aaron seemed to merely be attempting to determine my reasoning.
That did not mean it was an easy question to answer, "...At the time, I probably would not have been able to give that order. Now? If I believe it necessary; there is too much at stake."
He fell silent for some moments, then grew extremely serious and abruptly changed the subject, "Tell me, Miss Drakas, how many factions are there?"
He''s not talking about the nobles, no way in hell. He''s talking about the upcoming war.
Knowing that, the question became harder to answer. Common sense said two factions; the twelve gods and the nine hell kings, each led by one of the god siblings. I knew there were three, with the third being Adroni''s. Though, as far as I knew, I was the only member.
"...Four. The demons, the gods, Adroni, and whatever faction you are."
He smiled and nodded, "An Excellent answer. Very well, I will have the adventurers help you as part of a mutual alliance between the Rulebreaker and myself; I am the thirteenth and fallen god. Aaron, Progenitor of Monsters. My kin are legion."
Extra Chapter: The Arrival of Lust
Second Seat Queen of Lust Asmodea, EC0947.
¡°Out.¡± The voice that echoed around the room was devoid of emotion and laced with venom. Its cold indifference would cause any mortal to shrivel up in death at the mere sound. For the listener, however, this was a nigh everyday occurrence.
¡°Oh come on Asma, don¡¯t be like that. Aren¡¯t we old friends?¡± The one who spoke was a short man with greasy brown hair wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Far out of place compared to the surroundings that resembled a tropical garden.
¡°And how many times have I told you not to call me that? What are you even doing here?¡±
The man shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s the problem with you sex demons, nothing between the ears but lewd thoughts.¡±
His taunt had the desired reaction, as Asmodea snapped at him, ¡°Damnit! Lust isn¡¯t just sex you fucking penny pincher!¡±
Mammon, for that¡¯s who the man was, ignored the indignant outburst and continued, ¡°One of my family told me something interesting and I thought that I¡¯d come investigate is all, no pun intended.¡±
¡°¡If I entertain this, will you take your slimy otaku hair somewhere else?¡± Asmodea gazed wearily at her colleague, who merely shrugged.
¡°Probably.¡±
¡°Ugh! Fine! What do you want? We both know I will not sleep with you.¡±
Mammon grinned, ¡°Always sex with you lot, why is that the default¡? I just want a sample of the new dish your chefs came up with.¡±
¡°¡That¡¯s it?¡±
¡°That¡¯s it.¡±
Asmodea¡¯s shoulders slumped, ¡°Fine. But if you actually make it, be sure the chef knows what they¡¯re doing. Forneus, fetch him a copy.¡±
A rather attractive man dressed as a butler stepped out of the shadows and bowed in the European style before turning and departing.
¡°You know, if you didn¡¯t employ exclusively succubi and incubi, you might be able to get rid of that stereotype you hate so much.¡±
¡°Shut it. You don¡¯t understand at all.¡±
Mammon shrugged, ¡°I do, I just don¡¯t care; you want to be surrounded by the most beautiful people, eat the best food, and hear the best music. If it isn¡¯t top class then you wouldn¡¯t lust after it. Me? I¡¯m just happy if they¡¯re unique.¡± The way he pronounced that last word caused Asmodea to shudder, she had been persuaded to visit the Palace of Greed, Vergas only once and sworn never to revisit. Both in reality and in memory.
Sitri should be almost done with preparations on the central continent, so she would soon be able to get away from her annoying little brother. Though, big brother Beelzebub was already in the human¡¯s territories so she¡¯d not be able to escape from her family for long.
¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange?¡± Mammon¡¯s question disturbed the silence, hanging in the air. When she did not answer he took it as a sign to continue, ¡°Four of us, including brother Beel, are already over there. Your slut is just about ready to call you, and I¡¯ve got my lawyers working on a contract to let me come over. Bossman has never let so many of us out to play at once.¡±
When he puts it like that, it is strange. Sitri told me a bit about Satan¡¯s pet champion. Her and his son, two reincarnations in one cycle¡ Something big is happening.
Of course, admitting that her little brother was right was impossible, ¡°You¡¯re imagining things. When you do make it over, stay the fuck away from me. Go collect more figures or whatever it is you do. Creep.¡±
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Mammon shrugged nonchalantly and said no more, content to merely wait for Forneus to return with the recipe his sister had so graciously provided. Upon receiving it, he flashed her a peace sign and disappeared in a swirling cloud of black smoke.
Peace at last.
¡°Forneus, how are things?¡±
The butler so addressed bowed, ¡°Things in the lower hells proceed as they should, are you ready for your departure?¡±
¡°Yes. I am quite looking forward to it.¡± It would after all, provide a break from the tedium of existence in the Garden of Lust, Aeden. Categorically immortal, Demons were cursed with an existence gripped by desire. Only by crossing to the mortal world could some relief be granted, as donning a shell body allowed them some degree of resistance.
Within the hells, there was a constant drive to fulfill one¡¯s desires. At least, that was how it was for the three siblings of vice. Other demons, of less tangible sin had things slightly easier but it was a small difference. Asmodea moved slowly through the room, pausing to inhale the scent of the flowers as she passed them by. Each was a specimen selected from the best possible source then further refined and selectively bred until they were as perfect as possible.
Exiting through a gap in the foliage she walked down a marbled path towards a small pavilion. Sitri should be contacted soon, and this was the location she would need to be in when the spell activated. Perhaps a normal ruler might be worried about leaving their holdings alone, but Amodea was far from normal. The Hell of Lust would be fine without her; for better or worse, the denizen¡¯s vice ensured that they would be unified in their pursuits.
Even now, the voices of a dozen nymphs rang out in a chorus as they cavorted about the garden just out of sight. Each of these had spent millennia pursuing the art of song, attempting to become the very best. Handsome warriors trained and competed, visible briefly through gaps in trees along the pathway. Their camaraderie and unified formations were a work of art in their own right, and Asmodea could not help but pause to admire their glistening bodies in motion.
It''s times like this, when I consider that Mephi might have a point, Lust really is a Prideful sin in our own right¡ but at least we put in the effort for our pursuits.
Coming up to her destination, she reached out and caressed the stonework. This intricately carved gateway had been a gift from a mortal. The best craftsmen of the dwarves seven cycles ago, offered as a bribe to spare his village the horrors of the war. The man had labored for seven days without rest and in the end, collapsed at her feet. Still, the work had been perfect, devoid of any flaw. As thanks she had her followers throw a party, and the dwarves had not been allowed to feel pain or regret when they were exterminated.
Even now, the craftsman¡¯s body stood as a feature in her garden, visible from where she stood. Despite the many imperfections, the skill which he had acquired and demonstrated earned him her love and adoration.
I wonder, if there will be anyone as interesting this cycle? It has been a while since I had a chance to poke around¡
The pavilion began to glow then, the signal that Sitri was making the connection, ¡°Well then Forneus, I leave things in your care.¡±
The butler said nothing, merely bowing. There was a flash of pink smoke, and Asmodea vanished from his sight. Her own vision changed, revealing a ghastly and surreal sight. It was a cellar of some sort, the main feature being the pile of three nude men, each of them identical in appearance. Their blood was flowing out and forming into a pattern of intricate symbols on the ground. She was standing in the center of that pattern, and there was a nude girl kneeling at the edge.
¡°Sitri. Get dressed.¡± Dealing with succubi was always a headache, and if she could then Asmodea preferred literally any other type of demon. But of all her followers, succubi had the easiest time manifesting themselves and persisting in the mortal world.
At least she¡¯s obedient.
¡°As you wish.¡± Sitri stood and moved aside to where a heap of clothes was haphazardly piled. Like all demons of Asmodea¡¯s family, her features were perfect and would have normally compelled Asmodea to stare lasciviously. But this was the mortal world now, and the individual in question took great pleasure in the ability to resist that urge and look elsewhere.
A moment later Sitri returned, ¡°What is your command, mother?¡±
I wish she wouldn¡¯t call me that, even if it is technically true in the demonic sense.
For whatever reason, nearly all of the Original Sins refused to use any other name for her, and she had long since given up attempting to change that, ¡°Continue working with Satan for now. Once things kick off, come and join me on Rhodias. I¡¯ll be playing with the Raja this cycle.¡±
Sitri grimaced at that order, but she wasn¡¯t going to refuse even were she capable, ¡°As you wish¡ Be careful mother, there¡¯s something about the champions this time¡ it¡¯s different somehow.¡±
¡°Do not concern yourself with me, now be gone.¡± With a quick curtsy, Sitri departed up the stairs and out of the cellar.
Funny, Mammon said much the same thing. I think I¡¯ll set some things in motion to test that girl in the event that Satan¡¯s plans somehow fall through¡
Glancing over at the three corpses, Asmodea grinned, ¡°Wakey-wakey...¡±
6-5 Alliance
Aaron smiled and nodded, "Excellent answer. Very well, I will have the adventurers help you as part of a mutual alliance between the Rulebreaker and myself; I am the thirteenth and fallen god. Aaron, Progenitor of Monsters. My kin are legion."
Is he in middle school?
¡°That was¡ really lame, was the pose even necessary? We¡¯re the only ones here.¡± Perhaps telling off someone who had just announced that they were a long-lost deity was not the smartest idea. But something about the way he acted made me retort reflexively.
Seriously? This guy promised that I could turn to him when I was completely out of options¡? Maybe if I really was out of options, he might be acting more seriously.
Whatever the motivations behind his antics, Aaron completely ignored my reaction and continued speaking as though nothing was wrong, ¡°Of course, not without benefits for myself.¡±
That was far from unreasonable, so I nodded, ¡°Naturally. What are you after?¡±
¡°Well, first and foremost, do you have any idea why the creator of all monsters would be so deeply ingrained in the adventurer¡¯s guild? All of them answer to me you know, and outside of this kingdom one of our primary functions is the extermination of monsters.¡±
No, not really.
It was a fairly easy jump to make, as the reasoning lined up almost perfectly, ¡°You aim to control the extermination of monsters, limiting it and guiding the hand that holds the knife away from intelligent monster societies. Following that logic, you want Drakan Knights to refrain from their extermination hunts, or at least avoid certain areas?¡±
Aaron¡¯s hands met each other in a loud clap, ¡°Exactly! Glad to hear we are on the same page in this. Now, are will you to go that far?¡±
As much as I would have liked to take him up on the offer; having the various monster species as allies would prove beneficial in the coming war. But this would most certainly not be my decision. Most likely, Rupert would also see the value in the alliance and agree. Then, his father would approve of his proposal.
¡°...I can only promise to advocate it; such a decision is not mine to make. I will need details as well; having the knights cease the extermination missions entirely is out of the question; just look what happened to my home village¡¡±
My voice trailed off as I was beset with a certain realization.
That was him. The goblin outbreak always seemed odd and out of place, but we weren¡¯t able to find anything¡ It was him pulling the strings, as the god of monsters.
¡°Based on the glare you are giving me, I imagine you just realized the hand I played in that. I did not mean anything evil by it¡ You could even consider it a gift if you like.¡± He waved his hand dismissively to emphasize how little he actually thought of it.
That, of course, pissed me off, but his wording intrigued me, ¡°...A gift? You can¡¯t be serious.¡±
¡°Oh, but I am. I knew you weren¡¯t leveling up much at all, and if things had kept going like that you would have been screwed. There was no way you would have been able to escape your engagement to that half-demon. The goblins were likewise beginning to overpopulate; they would have come down on their own in a few more years. All I did was give them a little push¡ How bad would things have been if you were absent..?¡±
When my glare did not immediately abate, he continued on and said one more line, ¡°Well, in the end only a few of the guards died, you got your levels, and the village won¡¯t be overrun five years or so from now. So, I¡¯d call that a gift, yes.¡±
I hate that I actually agree when he says it like that¡ Damnit, fine.
I forced myself to set aside the still lingering anger as it would not serve my purposes in the securing of an alliance, ¡°That aside, you claim you were watching me. How.¡±
This was my primary concern once my anger cooled. If the spymaster herself had a mole, then she could hardly do her job.
¡°Through Stil of course, at least at first. Stil is a monster, and I share a link with all monsters. It is similar to the link a demon has its larva; something you are already familiar with, I am sure. Rest assured that it is not quite as convenient as that; at most I understand Stil¡¯s general opinion and mood. I cannot share his senses or read his thoughts¡ He was quite worried about you back then.¡±
His answer was both rather straightforward and deeply concerning, to the point where I wished I had not asked. The idea that my tamed monster had been a liability had never crossed my mind. But if Aaron had a link like that with every monster, then he definitely had to be tuning some of them out. Or rather, almost all of them. Even for a god, that was a lot of minds to be in loose contact with, ¡°And you first singled him out when we met two years ago in Fess, didn¡¯t you?¡±
Aaron nodded, ¡°Yes... Now, are you going to ask the nextr question?¡±
The one about how that was only how you did it ¡®at first¡¯? Yea, I suppose I need to ask that.
¡°...How are you doing it now?¡±
He bobbed his head, ¡°Do consider this information as a gift in good faith; this alliance will be more beneficial to me and mine than you can possibly fathom. In short, I now have such a connection as with Stil, with you.¡±
His words sent a tingle of fear down the nape of my neck. Some instinctual understanding that he was not lying. Or perhaps that tingle had been sent by him, a sort of feedback along whatever connection we shared meant to assure me of the truth to his words. Regardless of my feelings, there was another immediate question.
Making little effort to hide the general disgust at the thought and with my voice laden in sarcasm, I asked, ¡°If you are in such a giving mood, would you care to tell me how? I swear to you that I will not immediately cut it off.¡±
Aaron shrugged, ¡°It should be obvious, or is it not? I had thought you would have figured out what was going on by now. With both you, and the world in general.¡±
His nonchalance caused me to snap, something that I had not done towards someone in quite a while. His general attitude and demeanor were just so grating to me, ¡°You¡¯re the one reading my mind, you tell me if I¡¯ve figured it out!¡±
¡°...No, I cannot read your mind. Ours is the same as any of my kin; I know your general feelings at any given moment, that is all. If I may be so bold, you¡¯ve been a real piece of work ever since you woke up.¡±
Haaa¡. Something going on with me and the world, something that changed when I woke up from my most recent coma. ¡And he¡¯s calling me his kin now but I¡¯ll pretend not to have heard it.
¡°...My skills¡ [Mana Crystallization]? You know what¡¯s wrong with me!?¡±
Aaron flashed me a grin and applauded lightly, ¡°Bingo! Your skills are broken, right? Considering what you did, that isn¡¯t that surprising¡ But no, I honestly do not know. I have a theory, but it¡¯s a bit far-fetched. Then again, something like this has never happened before.¡±
My face contorted into a grimace, ¡°And you are not going to share that theory, are you? It will be held back, used as an incentive to get me to argue in your favor?¡±
Aaron shook his head, ¡°No, all it is, is a theory. Besides, you will argue in my favor regardless; I can sense your general opinion and mental state, remember? You already decided to present my case to His Highness, Prince Rupert.¡±
A god using Rupert¡¯s full title is a bit¡ and he knows we¡¯re married, but isn¡¯t using my title! In fact, he¡¯s been taking the piss with me this whole time.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
¡°As far as I can tell, disconnecting from the system really messed you up. Compounding that with the injuries you sustained, and Adroni forcing your soul back into your body¡ Well, do you know how the system works?¡±
When I shook my head ¡®no¡¯ he shrugged, ¡°In short, skills and talents are based on reality. [Mana Crystallization], for example, is based on the organ possessed by most monsters. Adroni took what already existed, my creation, and codified it.¡±
Things were beginning to fall into place and starting to make sense, ¡°Your creation?¡±
¡°Not important, what made you think that a system made up of programs just came into existence naturally? Or that it was a coincidence that some of the skills and talents mimic the natural abilities of one species or another?¡±
And here we go with the mind games again.
I shook my head, ¡°I do not have time for this, Aaron. Either tell me your theory plainly or hold your peace.¡±
Aaron held his hands up in mock surrender, ¡°Fine, fine, spoil the fun, why don¡¯t you? I¡¯ll get to the point, but humor me with one last question; why is it that your body ages as you use your authority? Do you know? Have you ever even thought about it?¡±
¡I sort of just assumed that was because I was a mortal using too much divinity? That¡¯s what the notifications make it sound like¡
¡°Haaa¡ That was three questions, but, it is because my body is too weak to handle the divine element, so my lifespan is burned up to provide a counterforce.¡±
Aaron shook his head, ¡°No, not quite. Another question then, what is mana? What is the Divine Element?¡±
At this point, it was beginning to become difficult to keep from snapping again as the blatant irritation started creeping back into my voice, ¡°That was two questions, you really struggle with basic math, don¡¯t you? Neither of those questions are difficult at all; mana is an energy source used to power spells and magic tools. Divine Element is one aspect that can be attached to Mana.¡±
He shook his head, ¡°Wrong on both accounts, though given where you learned spellcraft I can see where you got that idea.¡± Before I had a chance to retort he, thankfully, went on to explain, ¡°To a god, there is no such thing as an aspect. Mana is mana. The so-called ¡°Divine Element¡± does not exist. The system Adroni put in place dilutes mana, filtering out much of its energy in the form of aspects. When a mage applies one to their mana, they are simply re-adding something that was removed.¡±
¡°...So it isn¡¯t that I was using too much divine element, but that the sheer quantity of mana I had was insufficient?¡±
He grinned, ¡°Not quite, but close enough. Now, consider your vessel, that is to say, your body, like a muscle for manipulating and containing mana. What happens when you work out?¡±
Ah. Everything makes sense now. Damnit! What did that fuck go and do to me!?
Biting back my anger towards Adroni, I answered the question posed by the god in front of me, ¡°When you work out, you tear up the muscle. So when I exercise my authority, I¡¯m tearing up my vessel. The coma and the aging repair it and, like a muscle, I get stronger.¡±
¡°Exactly. That¡¯s how it works, or is supposed to. But the system was never designed for someone to forcibly disconnect as you did. In a way, it would not be incorrect to say you gave yourself cancer. Now, what do you think is happening to you?¡±
Cancer? But the corrupted skills aren¡¯t killing me, they¡¯re just rather inconvenient¡ They still do what they¡¯re supposed to only now those instructions are corrupted¡ like a tumor¡
¡°...Something happened when Adroni put my soul back. When my body repaired itself, it ran into a glitch and tried to realize the skills? So instead of having the skill [Mana Crystallization], I have an actual mana crystal? The only skills that aren¡¯t affected are the ones I got after I died¡¡±
¡°Correct, that is indeed my theory. Though, I only have a minimal understanding of that guy¡¯s machinations so I could be wrong.¡±
No, I don¡¯t think you are. At the very least, this is the first plausible theory about what¡¯s happening. Now, the question is whether or not there¡¯s a way to fix it¡
In theory, I could probably use my authority on myself to seal or outright remove skills and talents. If it was like cancer, then operating to remove the tumor might be the best option.
But that¡¯s not a good idea until I know for sure¡ Besides, it would really hurt.
Just the memory of the pain Sitri had felt when I sealed her skills, which we shared through Adroni sticking me in her head, was enough to make me wince.
No, I need to keep that in mind as an option, but wait a little bit longer. At the very least, leveling up might help. I haven¡¯t gained any experience since this happened, and there¡¯s also the seedling that¡¯s still at zero percent. I still don¡¯t know what that is, but given what it took for it to even get that far, I don¡¯t want to risk screwing it up. Yea, those are the reasons I¡¯m going to wait. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to go through the process of removing them¡ blegh.
¡°Stahlia? Are you alright? You¡¯ve gone a bit pale.¡± Aaron¡¯s voice pulled me back to the present. While there was no mirror present, it would not surprise me if I had indeed gone pale.
¡°I will be fine. Now, before I carry this request to Rupert, I have a few more questions for you. Are you still in a forthcoming mood?¡±
He shrugged and sat back in his chair, ¡°I don¡¯t have any other plans for today.¡±
Pursing my lips, I cut straight to the chase, ¡°How, exactly, do you know all of what happened to me? The number that knows the details you used to form your theory could be counted on one hand.¡±
His own face turned grim, and for the first time in this meeting, his tone was solemn, ¡°Don¡¯t go there. Just trust that I have my methods.¡±
Unfortunately, I really can¡¯t do that.
¡°You, of all people, should understand that is an impossible request.¡±
He met my stare with a flat glare, ¡°I have my sources, that is all I will say.¡±
So these sources are probably something that he fears would jeopardize the alliance. In that case, it would mean he got the information from someone I regard wholly as an enemy. The gods are out since I can be reasonably sure they do not know the full story. But then so are the demons, since Five and Sitri are the only demons that actually saw me and neither of them really knew what was happening¡ There isn¡¯t anyone else I really hate unconditionally.
¡°...Just on the way here, I gave my unconditional trust to one of my servants and it immediately bit me in the ass. The stakes involved with this alliance are far greater than anything she could possibly do. If you will not tell me where the hole in my security is, then this alliance is off. Rather, I will tell Rupert that the adventurers guild is being run by monsters, and have you all thrown out of the kingdom in the name of operational security for the coming war.¡±
¡°And what makes you think that you¡¯d be allowed to leave if this ends on anything less than favorable terms?¡± His voice had gone steely and he began to emit an ominous aura. Likewise, his hair was starting to stand up in short spikes, and it looked like his nails had grown pointier.
That being said, I did not actually find him to be that threatening, ¡°Nothing. Do you really think things would work out well for you if I don¡¯t leave? At the very least the adventurer¡¯s guild would be expelled from the kingdom. Most likely, without me, Rupert would reach out to the demons again.¡±
The air remained tense, but I kept pushing, ¡°You clearly have plans that involve both me and this kingdom, do you really want to risk them for this? Just tell me where the leak is.¡±
Aaron¡¯s body slowly returned back to its human shape. When he spoke, his voice was dry and unamused, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll let you call my bluff. No, my source is not the demons, nor is it the gods.¡±
So he predicted my line of thought. Then again he apparently knows my general state now¡ Which is actually kind of creepy. But if it¡¯s not the gods or the demons, what then?
¡°Well, that isn¡¯t exactly true. Technically my source is both of them. I might be ¡®fallen¡¯ but I was, at one point at least considered among the thirteen; we do still talk from time to time. I¡¯m also still a god under the system.¡±
Ah¡ I was totally off base with my assumptions then.
¡°Your Authority.¡±
Aaron nodded, ¡°Correct, your own Authority has something to do with manipulating the system itself. As for me, well I was once regarded as the God of Nature.¡± His tone lightened somewhat, but remained firm, ¡°Forgive me, but a god¡¯s powers and weaknesses are rolled into their authority; I will not fully detail the effects of mine.¡±
I remained firm myself, ¡°You have to give me something, telling me what you were the god of doesn¡¯t do much to alleviate my concerns.¡±
He paused for a moment, his face betrayed that this issue was something he felt genuinely conflicted about doing.
Is knowing the full details of an authority that big of a deal? I don¡¯t see any major weaknesses in mine¡
Finally, he nodded, ¡°As a symbol of trust. My authority is over nature. One application of that, allows me to communicate with natural forces quite easily. Over the years, I have become very good at filtering information and drawing conclusions.¡±
Communicate with natural forces¡? So ¡®A little bird told him¡¯ or he ¡®heard it on the wind.¡¯ In that case, there¡¯s nothing I can really do to hide is there?
Concerns aside, telling me that much was giving up quite the card. It was unlikely pushing further would get me anything so I bowed my head, ¡°Thank you. I can tell that was far from easy¡ I will carry your request to Rupert and put my full support behind it, for whatever that is worth.¡±
Aaron stood abruptly, watching me with a rather conflicted expression, ¡°Thanks for that, I have some things to take care of now, but whenever you have a response feel free to call for me¡ here.¡± He held out his hand, holding something between his finger and thumb.
My hand reached out to receive whatever it was, and Aaron dropped a small sliver of crystal into my palm, ¡°Break this, and it will briefly strengthen our connection through your mana crystal; enough to allow for two-way communication.¡±
I placed the crystal into one of my outfit¡¯s secure hidden pockets. By the time I looked up, Aaron was gone.
What the hell!? I thought you didn¡¯t have any other plans today?
6-6 The Other Two
With Aaron vanishing, there was nothing left for me to do save awkwardly leaving the room.
What the hell? He even said he had nothing going on today! Damn gods, the fact that I¡¯m going to have to be dealing with him in the future as well¡ Ugh.
A quick inspection of the room revealed nothing amiss; everything was exactly where it should be with the sole exception of Aaron. With a sigh, I turned and headed for the door then went down the stairs. Back in the lobby, the receptionist was still standing in the same place, ¡°Excuse me, did Aaron come through here a moment ago?¡±
She started at my voice since it was coming from behind her, ¡°Ah! No, he did not¡ Is he not in the meeting room still?¡±
No, that¡¯s why I¡¯m asking if you saw him¡
¡°I see, you must have missed him, my apologies, and take care.¡± The fact that she had not seen him was not surprising in the least, and I had only really asked so as to cover all of my bases. Without giving her a chance to reply, I made my way out of the building and back towards the carriage.
The conversation had felt rather short but in reality, a little over an hour had passed. I caught a brief look of relief on Sasha¡¯s face when one of the knights opened the door for me, though she quickly hid it.
When she greeted me, her tone was calm and collected to the point where I began to doubt I had seen anything at all, ¡°Welcome back, my lady.¡±
Briefly tilting my head in acknowledgment that her greeting had been heard, I addressed one of the knights, ¡°Have the driver make haste back to the palace. Sasha.¡±
¡°Yes?¡±
¡°Please contact Ferdinand again, and inform him that upon my return I wish to speak to both him and Rupert. The sooner the better, as I cannot proceed without approval.¡±
¡°And what of Lucy?¡±
Her question caught me off guard, as I had thought that issue was handled, ¡°What of her?¡±
¡°Does this new meeting take precedence over Ferdinand¡¯s investigation?¡±
Ahh¡ I had already given him that task, and we weren¡¯t going to discuss the details of this meeting until the report later. Do I really need to bring it up now¡? No, just a quick summary will probably suffice. If I start calling meetings over every little thing, I¡¯ll quickly make a nuisance of myself.
¡°¡No, it does not. Thank you for reminding me.¡±
Sasha bowed her head as I began to consider my next moves. First and foremost, Sven was leaving tomorrow and I had summoned him to see me this afternoon regarding his role in the new spy network. That was to occur shortly after we returned to the palace, so we had to make haste. Even if he would wait for me, by choice or otherwise, I was loath to make him do so.
Fortunately, that would not be the case as we were able to arrive back at the palace on time and with no issues. In fact, the timing of our arrival was more or less perfect; it gave me exactly half an hour to change and for Sasha to prep things.
¡°Please, do not delay; we have little time unless you wish to keep that man waiting.¡±
Or not. I suppose getting me dressed and then prepping for a guest, even if he is a commoner, is a bit much.
¡°...No, you deal with preparing the room. I will have Frieda and Elienor dress me.¡±
¡°My lady, I must insist-¡±
¡°I will have Frieda and Elienor dress me; Elienor already knows and it was my intention to tell Frieda at some point. Or, do you mean to question me?¡±
¡°...May I speak freely?¡±
¡°You may not.¡± I fixed Sasha with as stern a look as I could manage, though speaking to her like this was actually surprisingly hard. She was several years, decades even, my senior and had been nothing but helpful even if a bit annoying.
On this subject though, I would tolerate no dissent. Sure, telling Lucy hadn¡¯t exactly worked out the way I¡¯d wanted it to, but that did not change my plans regarding informing Frieda and properly explaining things to Elienor. The whole point of having the three of them come onboard had been to get Sasha some relief in her own duties.
The secondary point. The main reason was to protect them from any further suffering from my actions.
When told so bluntly, all Sasha could do was curtsy and depart to prepare the meeting room. She didn¡¯t look angry or upset and I knew she wouldn¡¯t do anything rash over this, but it was yet another reminder of how things had changed.
She¡¯s been trying to guide me to be more assertive and decisive in my actions. So, for better or worse, that¡¯s what I¡¯m doing.
I gave Sasha¡¯s retreating back one last unnoticed pained look before taking a moment to put it out of my mind. Once composed, I picked up a small bell and rang it. Yet another new thing for me; my previous suite, at the Francois¡¯ estate, had been small enough and the staff skilled enough to render such a tool unnecessary. Now, that was not the case.
A moment later, Frieda arrived with Elienor trailing behind her. I could not be certain, but the latter seemed rather nervous about something.
Frieda spoke first, her voice level and emotionless in a manner that I immediately knew was forced, ¡°My lady, may I ask where Lucy is? She did not return with you and Miss Sasha.¡±
Is that what¡¯s got Elienor so nervous? No, she didn¡¯t react at all when Frieda mentioned Lucy, and she won¡¯t make eye contact with me.
¡°You may. There is¡ was, an issue; Lucy turned out to have lingering ties¡ Lucy¡¯s precise loyalties came into question. I have placed her under house arrest; you may go to visit later if you would like.¡± It would be difficult to arrange that; Ferdinand would certainly protest the obvious security risk. But as long as they were supervised, allowing contact was the best way to ensure they trusted she was safe.
That answer got a flinch out of Elienor, twice in fact. Once when she heard Lucy was under house arrest, and once again when I said that she could go visit if she wanted to. Frieda remained rather impassive throughout it all, her stoicism was actually rather impressive at this point.
It would have been nice to reassure Elienor, but there was not any time at the moment. With a sigh, I cut right to the chase, ¡°Frieda, Elienor has already seen this¡ in fact, she can see it right now. Likewise, this is what revealed Lucy¡¯s inadvertent duplicity.¡± With that said, I cut the mana flow to my ring.
Best to just get over the surprise as quickly as possible, then answer their questions after the meeting with Sven. If we can¡¯t get over it quickly, he¡¯ll just have to wait a bit.
However, at Frieda¡¯s words, it was I who was the most surprised, ¡°The fact that you are around sixteen? Perhaps fifteen at the youngest.¡±
After my initial shock at Frieda¡¯s words wore off, I looked at Elienor. She was now attempting to count the number of flowers embroidered on my couch if the intensity of her stare was anything to go by. My own must have been rather intense, as Frieda moved to block Elienor from my line of sight.
I closed my eyes and exhaled again, ¡°...I have a rather important meeting to attend shortly, and since the individual is a commoner, my attire need not be perfect. You may ask questions as you work.¡±
It was a gamble, but one that paid off; for all her lack of emotional response, Frieda was not unintelligent, ¡°Elienor, this will be a good opportunity for you to get a bit of practice.¡±
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Coaxed by the older woman, Elienor shuffled over and began working at the many ribbons holding my ensemble together. For the first few minutes, she did not say much and didn¡¯t make any progress either. I held still and, eventually, she managed to get one of the hidden fastenings undone. From there, she began to make slow but steady progress.
Not fast enough though, at this rate, I¡¯ll be late¡ I don¡¯t want to rush her though, sorry Sven.
Saying that, Frieda stepped in and began helping Elienor so the pace picked up substantially. When it became apparent that neither of them was going to actually ask any questions, I posed one of my own, ¡°Frieda, how long did you know? Or are you simply that good at masking your feelings?¡±
¡°Since the first day.¡±
¡How!?
Her answer caused me to start briefly, which caused Elienor¡¯s hand to jerk backwards as she exclaimed an earnest apology, ¡°Sorry!¡±
¡°You are fine Elienor, Frieda merely startled me is all.¡±
Perhaps sensing the bitterness in my voice that I wasn¡¯t quite able to mask, Frieda decided to briefly explain herself a bit further, ¡°My lady, since you have chosen to trust me, it is only fair that I do the same, though I doubt you will believe me; I can see mana.¡±
Then, as though that explained everything perfectly, she fell silent again. Fortunately for her, I was probably one of the only people in the world for whom that did actually explain¡ anything, ¡°So you could see the illusion¡¯s mana wraping around me. At that point, you knew I was hiding something. Then, Elienor said something that made you realize I had gotten a lot older. That would have caused this particular illusion to lose its effectiveness on you.¡±
For the first time, she paused ever so briefly. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was a reaction. Her facade had briefly faltered. I smiled at her, ¡°In Ang, I met an old crone who claimed she could see lights in everyone. I later developed a similar ability through Blood Magic¡¡±
I wanted to ask if all of Five¡¯s staff were unique or special in some way. It certainly seemed that way between Lucy, the outcast albino elf, and Frieda¡¯s fairly unique ability. With Elienor in the room, there was no way I would ask. Not now, not so soon.
Actually, this helps explain what occurred with Lucy in the forest, if I assume that he was something of a collector of rare¡ people. Hell, his son was reincarnated, as was I. Even if I know there was another motive behind our engagement, it fits the profile.
There was still the current issue to address though. I stepped out of the dress that had finally been fully unfastened, ¡°Elienor, I am not mad nor am I particularly upset; you did me a favor actually.¡±
She perked up just a little bit at that so I continued, ¡°I had been trying to decide the best time to tell Lucy and Frieda¡ though it did not work out with Lucy. Since Frieda already knows, it saved me the trouble of having to fully explain. Though¡ Please don¡¯t tell anyone else, alright? I can¡¯t afford to have this become so widely known.¡±
Once she noticed that I really, truly, was not angry sunk in, she smiled faintly and nodded, ¡°...alright¡¡±
Where did the bundle of tomboyish energy go¡ God damnit!
The two of them began the process of securing the new dress while I debated on what to say.
I want to bring her back if I can if that¡¯s even possible¡ Maybe having her call me by my old name would work? Not Stahlia, but Stali. Well, it¡¯s worth a shot, and I¡¯ve already decided to do what I want, may as well keep the streak going.
¡°Elienor¡¡±
At the sound of my voice directly calling out her name she flinched but I ignored that and persevered, ¡°Elienor, how was Felicity..?¡±
It wasn¡¯t what I had originally been intending to say, but something that popped into my head the moment I opened my mouth. There was a short delay before she answered, but when she did so she had a brief faint smile, ¡°It was nice. She wouldn¡¯t let me brush her tails though¡ I¡¯d have liked to do that.¡±
When she finished speaking, the smile fell off her face. It was enough though, enough to give me reassurance that the original Elienor was still in there somewhere. Dragging it out would probably be a massive pain, but worth it.
Alright, then for now let¡¯s go with my original plan.
The two of them were just about finished with my dress when there came a knock at the door. Frieda stepped away to check, and when she came back she informed me that Sasha was holding Sven until I was ready.
¡°Thank you, Frieda. We are almost done here so please let her know that I will be in the meeting room shortly.¡±
Once she had left, I turned to Elienor.
Now or never. Well, I could do it later, but there''s no sense in putting it off.
¡°Elienor¡ can you do something to help me?¡±
It would be best if I frame it as being for my sake, even if that is a bit manipulative.
True to my intention, she did perk up a bit at the phrase ¡°help me.¡±
¡°...Yes, I can¡¡± Then in a hurry, like she was afraid of being scolded, she added on, ¡°...m¡¯lady¡±
¡Ignoring that.
¡°That¡¯s the thing, Elienor¡ everyone has started being so polite¡ I hate it. Even Edith is being careful around me now¡¡± That last part was only half true; Edith was being far less careful than she had originally been right when I woke up, but I¡¯d be lying if I thought she wasn¡¯t being more guarded than before my most recent coma.
¡°Could you¡ When it¡¯s just the two of us, call me what you want to call me instead of what status says you should?¡±
Elienor looked startled, and truth be told so was I; my voice had been tinged with a bit of genuine pleading at the end. Partly to cover for that, I quickly added on, ¡°I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea to talk like you used to¡ it would be too easy to mess up; we can¡¯t let Sasha find out.¡±
As expected, the idea that this was going behind Sasha back seemed to tickle Elienor¡¯s old rebellious nature just enough for it to peek its head out, ¡°...What I want to call you?¡±
A sense of relief washed over me, that even this small amount of progress had been made, ¡°Yes, what you want.¡±
A knock sounded again at the door as Frieda returned, ¡°Elienor was able to finish on her own; that is good. My lady, could you please let me check once?¡±
At Frieda¡¯s prompting, I did a small spin so she could review Elienor¡¯s handiwork, ¡°Everything seems to be in order.¡±
I¡¯m glad that Frieda at least doesn¡¯t seem to have any potential loyalty issues as Lucy did.
¡°Very well, thank you both for your assistance.¡± Though it wasn¡¯t particularly proper, I was presently in the business of winning trust so I gave the two of them a half curtsy, ¡°When this meeting is over, I will see if Lucy is ready to receive visitors, at the worst I believe you will have to wait until tomorrow.¡±
Frieda bowed her head slightly to acknowledge what I had said, then raised an eyebrow at Elienor who had set her jaw in a look of determination.
Well, this is-
¡°You said I could call you what I wanted to, so I will! Good luck, big sis!¡±
Frieda showed her third reaction by visibly widening her eyes. Apparently, a bit of the rebelliousness had come back; I was fairly certain that the stipulation had been ¡°when it¡¯s just the two of us.¡±
¡Though I doubt Frieda would say anything¡ Just to be sure though,
Looking over at the older maid, I shook my head, ¡°Not a word.¡± She said nothing and nodded a quick affirmative, her face becoming unreadable once more.
As I left the room Elienor collapsed back into herself, reverting to melancholy. Although now there was a very faint smile, and her general demeanor was a bit more energetic.
¡Pretty sure I just gained a third little sister. Oh well, I was hoping for ¡°Stali¡± but this is good¡ in its own way.
After conquering that hurdle and with my newfound sense of decisiveness, the meeting with Sven was trivial. So trivial, and utterly boring. He agreed to join me in the proposed business venture on the condition that Ris village be left out of it; as I had already been intending that, it was easy to agree to. Surprisingly, Sasha did not say anything or even react when he placed a condition on the deal. She simply watched me, and when I promptly made the decision to acquiesce, she smiled.
Following the meeting I returned to my dressing room with Sasha in tow. At the sound of the door Elienor looked up from whatever it was she had been doing but, seeing Sasha behind me, didn¡¯t say anything. She did smile faintly though, which was a good sign.
The meeting with Sven had been dull enough that it gave me time to mull over everything that had just happened with the two of them, Elienr and Frieda. The number one question was what I had done to warrant receiving the sister label this time.
Felicity was one thing, we bonded over a rather lengthy period of time. Rosin and Rosial are both my actual siblings, so them calling me that is understandable. With Elienor though¡ Well, I basically destroyed her family.
The only thing I had been able to think of, was that Elienor had regarded me as a Sister-in-Law the whole time much the same way as Lady Francois had taken to making me call her ¡°mother.¡± If that was the case, then even if I was responsible for destroying her family, I was also the only family she had left¡ It had been a sobering realization, but one that I would try my best to accept.
¡°Elienor, once we finish with Lucy, we should properly introduce you to Rosial and Felicity¡ I don¡¯t think telling my parents they¡¯ve adopted another little girl is a good idea at the moment though, so that will have to wait.¡±
Elienor spun around in her seat to stare in shock, while Frieda paused and looked over with a self-satisfied smirk. I could also feel Sasha¡¯s eyes boring a hole in the back of my head, but the atmosphere didn¡¯t feel angry, just¡ surprised. Evidently, she was not entirely against the idea.
Splendidly ignoring all of their reactions, I pushed through with my own agenda, ¡°How does that sound?¡±
Elienor smiled fully.
6-7 Attack
¡°Thank you for such a swift response, Lady Lester.¡± It had been swift as well; only a day after Sasha informed me that she had sent the letters, we had received a response.
Lady Lester smiled, as radiant as the first time I had seen her, ¡°But of course, it is only natural after all.¡±
Nope, not doing that again.
Fixing the woman with a level stare, I opted to ignore the political niceties, ¡°Enough of this; we both know I cannot beat you in a verbal battle. I invited you because I have decided your assistance would be a great benefit for me. That is all.¡±
To her credit, she only reacted briefly before putting a smile back on her face, ¡°I see. Yes, I can see why Rupert likes you as much as he does; very efficient.¡±
And she¡¯s already resorted back to verbal trickery. Damnit, Edith better get here soon.
My friend declared she would arrive a few minutes late, so as to give me and Lady Lester some time to ourselves. While personally, I thought this was a horrible idea, there was merit to it. Though it was rather doubtful if Edith¡¯s intentions were for me to dive straight in as I had done.
I crossed my arms, a defensive posture, but one that could also show discontent, ¡°Lady Carla, I will not engage you in a verbal bout when I know I would lose. I am offering you a deaul; help me learn how to deal with my social obligations, and use your faction connections to protect me while I learn. In return, I¡¯ll owe you a favor.¡±
When it became clear that I was not going to engage, her own mask fell off. In its place, was the look of a shark that smelled blood in the water, ¡°A favor? That¡¯s a dangerous offer.¡±
Scary. She even went to more casual speech. Granted, I did drop the pretense when I addressed her by her name and not her family...
¡°Unless you have something you want right this instant that is within my power to fulfill, then yes. A favor. I am well aware of how potentially dangerous an offer that is. A favor within reason, of course.¡±
After considering my blatant offer, her mask came back on, ¡°Of course, I would like nothing more than to assist you. As a noble of this kingdom, helping the next queen in her time of need is my duty¡ If you would like, I could start now before Lady Claurence arrives¡?¡±
My own mask is good at hiding emotion, but I just look impassive; I can¡¯t fake things like happiness or anger like she can.
At the moment, Carla von Lester was the picture of demure if not slightly curious. Simply reading her body language, it would appear for all the world that she was earnestly intent on fulfilling her so-called duty. If she was able to teach me even a tenth of her ability I would consider it a massive victory. The only question was, how much of her ability came from the system, and how much was acquired through effort.
Even if she is reliant on talents and skills, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll gain nothing. In the worst-case scenario, I could also buy them myself after leveling up¡ Though I would rather not.
¡°I would not be opposed.¡± There was probably a short bit of time left before Edith arrived, so I may as well hear her out.
Lady Lester bowed her head before continuing, ¡°When making such a request in the future, you would do well to leave the compensation unsaid; by offering a favor I can now claim a favor. It would have been better had you made only a request and cited my relationship with his highness.¡±
Yea, I¡¯m aware of that, but then I would still owe you. I¡¯d rather be on the same page in this case.
¡°Thank you for that, but in this case, it would be better to have everything out in the open¡ I imagine we will be working together for some time.¡±
She smiled faintly and nodded, ¡°That is also true, though still a risk on your part. Much like this outing¡ Was it your idea?¡±
Before I could answer, Frieda announced Edith¡¯s arrival and showed her into the room. To my surprise, Sarala was with her, wearing a maid¡¯s uniform; the invitation had specified that each of them could bring a servant along and Edith evidently used the opportunity to bring our mutual friend. That aside, greetings between Edith and Lady Lester were a bit tense; the two of them didn¡¯t like each other very much, but as Edith was representing her family there was no overt aggressiveness.
I¡¯d like it if they could be less frosty towards each other, but there¡¯s probably no way for me to arrange that. Edith doesn¡¯t like me siding with the Lesters, even if she knows it¡¯s necessary. In a perfect world, I¡¯d be able to side with the Claurences fully, but Edith doesn¡¯t have the means to give me the protection I¡¯d need. If only her mother was still around, then it might have been possible.
¡°Shall we go then?¡± At my idle question, the two of them hurriedly agreed and prepared to leave.
Really, I get that the two of them are in nominally rival factions, but both are behind Rupert now. Also, Lady Lester is old enough to be either of our grandmothers¡ by the standards of Earth. Edith is only just barely thirteen, so their little schtick just makes Lady Lester look bad.
Letting such a thing bother me would not accomplish anything though; the fact was I needed her help, so I was going to obtain it. From her earlier question, I could intuit that Lady Lester knew this outing was a front to denounce the Lawrences without actually saying anything. That was good for me, as having everyone on the same page as much as possible would lead to fewer headaches.
As we boarded, the guard knights that Lady Lester and Edith had been permitted to bring merged with my own and began to mount their horses. The carriage itself had a single unarmored guard knight, one of mine, who was only there for formality¡¯s sake; in the exceedingly unlikely event that Lady Lester or Edith were to try something against me. Otherwise, it was occupied only by Edith, Sarala, myself, Sasha, Lady Lester, and a maid I neither knew nor cared about belonging to the duchess. It was rather large for what I had wanted, but the increased size would help it to stand out.
Unfortunately for my nerves, we were heading out in a procession with the intent of drawing attention to ourselves. This would serve the purpose of getting the desired rumors about the Lawrences started, but it also meant lots of people staring at me. That said, I should be able to handle it since I had not just Edith but also Sarala present with me to provide support.
The difficult part is going to be at the performance itself since all the wealthy commoner merchants in attendance will know that a high-profile group is coming. Edith and Lady Lawrence are both known quantities. I¡¯m a political nobody by my face, but my name will have some weight in merchant circles from all the alchemical stuff I did. And now my knights have the crest of the Royal Family.
The engagement entitled me to use the crest, so there was no risk of anyone learning about the wedding from that alone. That being said, outside the nobility, the engagement had not been publicized. This outing would technically be doubling as my debut to the commoners. The official debut was scheduled for my fifteenth birthday, where I would also be made the Queen Regent in preparation for the wedding.
I¡¯ve got to make a decent impression, since other than what rumors they might have heard from their noble patrons and sources, this is the first time they¡¯ll see me.
It had been something I generally overlooked when planning the excursion, but I really could not afford to alienate the wealthy non-nobles. The sole saving grace was that I wouldn¡¯t have to hold any audiences with them; one of the benefits of being so far above them.
There are the shadows to consider as well¡ Ferdinand should have that under control though.
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¡°Lady Ris, I must say you have excellent taste; this orchestra is comparatively avant-garde, but it is one of my favorites.¡±
Evidently the silence had begun to weigh on Lady Lester. Truth be told, it was weighing on me as well, so the distraction was welcome.
Though, I¡¯ve never even heard of them before¡ But I¡¯m not socially na?ve enough to admit that this is thanks to Sasha¡¯s efforts. Something like ¡®the achievements and the failures of the underlings belong to the master.¡¯
¡°It makes me happy that you think so, I am glad we have similar tastes.¡± As both of them were sitting across from me, a measure against Lady Lester accidentally seeing through my illusion, I was able to see Edith wince at my reply.
¡°Indeed! I am most curious though; what is your favorite piece by them? I myself prefer the Song of Caina.¡±
¡°¡¡± As soon as she asked the question, I knew why Edith had reacted that way; it would be stupidly easy for Lady Lester to call my bluff. All she had to do was ask questions that there was no way for me to answer.
My silence was answer enough for her, and she went on to elaborate, ¡°Lady Ris, while taking the credit for one¡¯s subordinates is both commonplace and acceptable, it is also acceptable to give the credit to the subordinate, then take credit for having someone so effective in your employ.¡±
So this is how she¡¯s going to go about teaching me social skills then. Regular doses of social embarrassment in a contained setting. Well, if nothing else, the constant threat will be an effective motivator.
I did my best to keep my cheeks from flushing at how easily my ignorance had been found out and adopted her suggestion, ¡°Though it gladdens me to hear you say that, I cannot claim to be familiar with them myself; Sasha suggested you might be pleased by the arrangement. She is quite adept at her job.¡±
Lady Lester nodded in satisfaction, while beside me I noted that Sasha had shifted ever so slightly and affected a smug expression. Whether she was playing into the act or was genuinely pleased was anyone¡¯s guess.
Well, embarrassment aside, things are going well so far. Edith is being quiet, but that¡¯s probably a good idea on her part. This outing is meant to convey that I am close to their two factions; her presence is all that is required. If she were to interject, then Lady Lester would probably shut her down and run her out. I¡¯ll need to set aside some time to spend with just Edith and Sarala later, but if that¡¯s the worst thing to happen today I¡¯ll call it a resounding success.
The bracelet I was wearing began to heat up.
Me and my big mouth. Shit.
It was a small but useful magic tool. It was linked to another, worn by my on duty knight captain and mine would heat up in response to mana he fed into his own. We used it as a means of silently conveying possible danger. That it was beginning to heat up now meant that there was a potential threat in the surrounding area. Claire would probably chide me, saying something about how I¡¯d ¡°raised a flag.¡±
Well, this was a possibility, but I didn¡¯t think it would actually happen.
¡°Sasha, make room for a knight.¡± At my words, Edith and Lady Lester both stiffened and glanced at the knight already in the carriage; meanwhile, he became much more alert. My maid sprung into action, unlatching the door and sliding closer to me. A moment later the door opened and my knight commander slipped inside, taking the seat Sasha had just vacated before latching the door.
¡°Report.¡±
He glanced at the other two nobles likely wondering if making a report in front of them was alright, but it wasn¡¯t like he would go against me when given a direct order, ¡°Sir Gessel spotted three figures moving along the rooftops, it is highly likely they allowed him to see them.¡±
Great.
¡°Any ideas as to who they might be?¡±
After a meaningful look towards Edith and Lady Lester, he shook his head, ¡°None, one of Lady Lester¡¯s knights suggested they may have been sent by Duke Lawrence.¡±
¡°Preposterous! My guard knights would never be so daft.¡± My knight captain¡¯s pronouncement drew the ire of Lady Lester, but that was as predicted.
So, he thinks they¡¯re remnants of the shadows then. I¡¯m inclined to agree.
Before leaving, my retinue had worked out a set of simple codes and actions in case something might happen. In the event that former shadows did show up, the idea was to blame Duke Lawrence and name one of Lady Lester¡¯s knights as the information source. It was rather roundabout, but would hopefully prevent her from thinking too hard about it.
¡°My apologies, Lady Lester. That said, my own captain would not make a report unless he was certain there was a potential threat; Duke Lawrence or not, please remain calm. Captain, your priority is to ensure the safety of me and my guests.¡± That had always been his priority, but saying it out loud would probably work to keep Edith and Sarala calm. Lady Lester¡ would be fine, in all likelihood.
¡°As you command.¡± He performed a seated salute and then unlatched the door and exited back onto his horse. Sasha promptly relatched the door.
¡°Sasha.¡± My maid made a rueful face, but my intentions were pretty obvious; I wanted my weapon. Though there was a dagger tucked into the folds of my dress, it was on the smaller end. Sasha reached under the seat, and passed me a short sword which I promptly began inspecting.
The surprisingly nervous voice of Lady Lester pulled me away from that, ¡°Lady Ris¡?¡±
When I looked up, to my surprise Edith and Sarala were the ones who seemed rather nonplussed. Lady Lester was barely holding herself together if the way her hands were shaking was anything to go by. Perhaps this was a case of someone who could spar verbally but began to unravel when the steel flashed.
¡°Yes?¡±
¡°The way you are acting, makes me think you might have known this was going to happen.¡±
I paused.
Ah, that shaking isn¡¯t fear. Well, it might be partly fear, but it¡¯s also anger.
¡°I knew it was a possibility. But then again, assassins are always a possibility.¡±
¡°¡Then, why are you being so calm?¡± Her own shaking had begun to slow so it would seem her immediate anger was beginning to fade, or perhaps she was becoming less scared.
In response to the question though, I had to stop and think.
I am being rather calm, aren¡¯t I? I struggle to face a room of people just looking at me, but if people are coming to kill me, my response is ¡°I¡¯d like a weapon please.¡± Yea, no way would that be normal. No wonder Carla got suspicious.
¡°Someone in your position should be relatively informed regarding my circumstances. Is it any wonder that I would be calm under threat? Frankly, if all the nobles could just try and kill me instead of seeking favors, that¡¯d be great.¡± Intentionally letting my speech slip at the end, I effected a sad grin.
¡°¡Lady Ris, you really are awful at putting up a social front, but I suppose you do have a point.¡±
Now that Lady Lester was no longer on the verge of doing or saying something rash, I could look elsewhere, ¡°Miss Sarala, I am still not able to fully use my magic after what happened last summer, would you please be ready to put up a barrier?¡±
Getting into the carriage should in theory be rather difficult, but the remnants were nothing if not resourceful. They would not waste resources on an attack unless they were truly desperate or had a chance of succeeding. There was a lurch, and the carriage accelerated. Something must be happening outside, but the question was, what? Sarala waited a moment, long enough for Edith to give a sharp nod, then bowed her head to me. She was, after all, nominally Edith¡¯s servant at the moment.
Ferdinand should already be aware of what¡¯s happening, and since we¡¯re over halfway there, the plan is to rendezvous with additional guards at the gate.
If the shadows had been only a few minutes faster, then we would have gone back towards the palace instead. It indicated that they had some level of intel, a source within the palace ranks.
Dammit, who though?
Suddenly, the carriage jerked to the left and tilted up to a forty-five-degree angle, throwing all of us against the right wall. It was rather fortunate that I had left the blade sheathed after finishing the inspection. Belatedly, I also realized why the onboard knight hadn¡¯t been wearing his armor.
What the hell!? We¡¯re going that fast!?
A combination of springs and some magic made the palace¡¯s carriages remarkably stable, so though I had known we were accelerating, the degree to which we were moving had been something of a shock. As soon as the carriage landed back on its wheels, Sasha leaped off of me, ¡°My lady, my apologies!¡±
I waved her off; it had obviously not been her fault, and I was more concerned about Edith, Sarala, and Lady Lester. And Lady Lester¡¯s maid. The four of them seemed to be fine and were disentangling themselves, but that only shifted my mind to other worries.
This isn¡¯t good. We shouldn¡¯t be moving that fast, something is really, really wrong.
I would have liked to get a look outside, but that wasn¡¯t going to happen as the carriage was one of the more secure ones; the windows were both small and positioned near to the roof. To look outside I would have to open the door or stick my head out, something I could not do for obvious reasons. The uncertainty bred worry, and a cold sweat began to form on the back of my neck. I hadn¡¯t felt this helpless since¡ I put the thought out of my mind.
¡°Any word?¡±
Sasha shook her head, ¡°No, my lady.¡±
Before I could say anything further, the carriage lurched to an angle again, then continued tilting. With a deafening crash, it began to tumble. Inside, we were all tossed about like coins in a dryer. Gritting my teeth, I fed mana into my body, reinforcing it.
Shit! What the hell happened!?
6-8 Assassins
The carriage tumbled end over end before tumbling to a stop on its side.
Fuck! Is everyone ok!?
My own injuries were few, and all of them were of the cut and scrape variety; no broken bones or serious lacerations. That being said, I had been using body reinforcement Blood Magic enhancements. The very fact that I did sustain injuries went to demonstrate just how bad of an accident that had been. A frenzied look around the interior of the carriage revealed the bodies of my traveling companions.
¡°Nononono!¡± Extricating myself from the awkward position I¡¯d landed in, it took a minute to crawl up to Edith who was being tightly clung to by Sarala.
A moment later, Edith¡¯s chest visibly rose and fell as she breathed in and out. It would appear that she was safe and not in immediate danger. Sarala was a different story; one of her legs was bent at the knee in an angle it had absolutely no business with. Biting my lip, I reached towards where she was holding onto Edith with the intention of unhooking her arms. To my surprise, my hand stopped in midair about an inch away from her skin.
A barrier? It was not a spell I was familiar with, though Sarala did have some talents at a higher level than my own. This was more likely something she was doing outside of her skills and talents. A few seconds later, the resistance faded as the barrier fell and I was able to make contact with her arm. My touch caused her eyes to flutter open, and she sucked air into her lungs through clenched teeth.
¡°Thh.., Stahlia, I can¡¯t feel my leg.¡±
Well, at least she¡¯s quick on the uptake. Most people would have gone straight into shock.
¡°It¡¯s broken, do you want me to set it?¡±
¡°Haaa, quickly. Please.¡± Had Sasha been conscious, Sarala¡¯s tone probably would¡¯ve gotten a sharp retort. The fact that we were the only ones currently moving around was a double boon though.
¡°Right, grit your teeth.¡± Grasping her leg, I forced it straight while pulling it. There was a sickening popping sound as the cartilage and ligaments pinched each other. A moment later, Sarala¡¯s leg began to glow faintly; the fact that her body was made from a skill she possessed as a spirit made for rather easy healing, as long as the pieces were in the right place.
¡°How¡¯s Edith?¡±
My friend looked to my other friend, who was still unconscious, ¡°She should be fine. I was able to deploy an [Ice Wall] around her in time.¡±
So it was a spell. I¡¯ve never seen an [Ice Wall] quite like that though, you were always good at manipulating talent-based magic.
There would be time for more admiration later. For now, there were other problems to address. Crawling over an upturned seat, I made my way to Lady Lester. She was surprisingly unharmed, the only injuries being a moderately sized lump in her right arm and a broken nose. In my opinion, that was a minor miracle. Her injuries were light enough that it was within my capabilities with White Magic to heal, but there were other more pressing concerns.
¡°Sarla, can you splint her arm? I¡¯d rather not use the mana on a healing spell until we know what the hell is going on.¡± Though she appeared loath to leave Edith¡¯s side, she still made her way over to me.
Next is¡
Sasha was more severely injured. None of her limbs looked hurt, but her rapid and shallow breathing was not a good sign. Most likely, she had one or more broken ribs. That would make moving her risky; a sharp edge might puncture something. So, after checking her airway, I moved on.
My knight was slumped over and very clearly dead, his head and neck at entirely the wrong angle. Of all the misfortune and bad luck, it seemed like he was the only casualty; Lady Lester¡¯s maid was still breathing. Her arm had acquired an extra joint in the wrist, and one of her legs had become like a flamingo¡¯s, but both she and her lady were allive. That presented a dilemma.
With all that tumbling around, there¡¯s no way she and Lady Lester didn¡¯t see through my illusion. What am I going to do about it though?
It was highly likely that Ferdinand and Rupert would decide to have them disappear. But could we get away with doing that to a duchess? Probably not. In that case, I would be expected to have dealt with it myself; if I killed them now, they¡¯d not feel any pain or even know what had happened. Then, we could simply say they died in the crash.
It won¡¯t be the first time I¡¯m responsible for people dying, not even the first time I¡¯ve killed anyone myself; I killed Rosial even if she got better. She¡¯s going to be killed anyway, hell I¡¯m probably going to end up killing people with my own hands; that¡¯s literally the plan until we can train new assassins¡ How did my life get so screwed up¡?
Reaching inside of one of the folds of my dress, I felt the blade of my hidden dagger. It was warm, heated by proximity to my skin.
¡°Are you going to kill her?¡± Edith¡¯s voice pulled me out of whatever funk I was in.
Withdrawing my hand from the knife, I shook my head, ¡°Maybe, but there¡¯s no way I can do it¡ Not yet.¡±
There was no response and when I looked over, Edith was still unconscious.
So now I¡¯m hearing voices. Great. But at least it stopped me from being a complete dumbass.
The killing in and of itself wasn¡¯t beyond my ability, if it was a matter of my life or someone else¡¯s then I¡¯d be able to go through with it. Even if it was an assassination, to prevent Rosial from being involved I would do whatever I had to. But this wasn¡¯t one of those cases; killing her would have been the single worst thing I could have done.
There¡¯s going to be a better way of handling this, I¡¯m just too distracted and high-strung to think of it now.
With the status of everyone confirmed, my focus shifted. It was imperative that I knew when rescue was coming; it certainly was coming, the only question being when it would arrive, and if it would arrive in time. I crawled back over to Sasha and began carefully feeling around her skirt until I located the communication tool she carried.
Pushing some mana to it, there was an odd sensation. For a brief moment, there was something static-like in my mind. That was then promptly replaced by a dull weight accompanied by Ferdinand¡¯s voice. Irritatingly, he did not sound at all panicked ¡°Sasha. Report.¡±
¡°She¡¯s unconscious. It¡¯s me, what the hell is going on!?¡±
¡°¡My apologies. I have several teams of knights attempting to reach you, but they are being obstructed.¡±
That wasn¡¯t good. Within the capital, there shouldn¡¯t be anything capable of obstructing a full deployment of knights. Even in our most liberal estimations, there should not be enough shadows remaining to accomplish that.
¡°Exactly how many shadows are we dealing with?¡±
¡°As far as I can tell? Only three. Your carriage has been surrounded by undead coming up from the sewer system, and your knights are working their way around to you.¡±
¡°Undead!? What about the civilians!?¡±
¡°Calm yourself. Everything is under contro-¡±
The connection suddenly went to static, and the last thing I heard was Ferdinand being an ass. The only reason the connection would drop like that was if it had been cut off from either end, or if a particularly strong obstruction spell had been cast.
So the shadow remnants are closing in. Shit, this isn¡¯t good.
My heartbeat was beginning to quicken. Not in a helpful way either, but in the manner where you knew something horrible was about to happen. Forcibly, I began taking long deep breaths, an exercise to help control my nerves.
Ok, the shadows are working with the undead, or have simply pointed them at the capital. The fact that they are actively surrounding my carriage indicates the former. That means there¡¯s either a mage able to control them, or these are intelligent undead¡ Probably the former again.
My brain was working overtime, and all conclusions were grim. Some people would probably say that the prudent thing to do was trust in the carriage¡¯s warding and wait for rescue. I discarded that; if they could cut off the communication magic tool and knock us off the road, then they could get inside. This was going to come down to whether or not Sarala and myself could win a one-versus-many engagement, or at least hold off long enough for rescuers.
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Apparently, my conclusion showed on my face because Sarala¡¯s normally shy demeanor had completely vanished, ¡°How long are we going to have to fight?¡±
My head shook grimly, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
I stood and stretched, confirming what I already knew regarding my condition. Gingerly making my way around the overturned cabin, I found my shortsword and pulled it out. My dagger was one thing, but for this reach would be required.
And my talents are still fucked, so no benefit from [Sword Fighting], no talent casting, and only the chanted spells I can remember. My only real asset is going to be Blood Magic then. In that case, should I disconnect¡? No. That¡¯d go badly. I¡¯ll only do that as a last resort.
¡No, I have one other tool I can use.
My [Revenant] title carried the passive effect of making undead passive to me, and titles were one of the few parts of my status that still seemed to work properly. After switching titles I addressed Sarala, ¡°How do you want to play it? Put a barrier around the carriage? I can feed you extra mana.¡±
Sarala shook her head, ¡°No, if they can get through the carriage¡¯s existing protections then any barrier I erect will quickly fall. What about you? Can you face them alone?¡±
If I had my [Eidetic Memory] to use customized chants.
¡°No. I guess that leaves me playing a vanguard and you as a rearguard.¡±
Sarala nodded grimly, ¡°Should we go out, or wait here?¡±
Worst case scenario, they were just going to somehow destroy the carriage. Now that I was a princess, I would rather end up like Elizabeth instead of Diane.
¡°It would be better to go out, carefully.¡±
Sarala nodded, then stood up, ¡°When you¡¯re ready.¡±
What with the carriage being on its side, getting out was going to be much easier said than done. One door was now the floor, while the other occupied the ceiling.
If we make it through this, I¡¯m going to introduce emergency exits.
Stretching up to my full height, I was able to reach the door above our heads and carefully unlatch it. From there, a Blood Magic enhanced jump was able to give enough force to get the door to open fully and come to a rest against the wall of the carriage. It may have been more prudent to open it slowly, but I couldn¡¯t think of a good way to go about doing that in a short enough time.
Then, I fed mana into my brain, carefully slowing down my perception of time. Nodding at Sarala, I adopted a ready stance and jumped again. She would find her own way out behind me. Landing on the carriage¡¯s side, a quick look around revealed that we had tumbled about thirty feet down the mountain from one road to the next, smashing through one of the buildings as it did so.
I really hope nobody was in that¡ It¡¯s a good thing the main roads are built to encircle the mountainside, or we would have possibly gone all the way down.
The next thing I picked up on was the undead; they were surrounding the carriage at a short distance but not approaching. The ones that saw me directly didn¡¯t make a move to attack, confirming that the title was working as it should be. They had closed off any pathway I could have used to escape, and were attempting to claw their way up the sheer slope to where two of my knights were waving at me frantically.
Yea, I see you, but I can¡¯t exactly sit in the carriage and wait to be killed. Shoot some arrows at the undead if it makes you feel better¡ They aren¡¯t behaving like normal undead though¡ To organized. That means they probably have a shadow present controlling them, where though? They should be nearby if they cut off the communication tool. It¡¯s also a bit concerning that I can¡¯t even hear fighting yet Ferdinand said the undead were holding the knights off¡ Is he¡ is he the mole?
It was a sobering thought, and if that was the case, then we were totally screwed.
But it does make sense¡ Woah!
Even with time slowed down and my heightened reflexes, I barely managed to deflect the incoming arrow. The fact that I was able to at all was a testament to how I¡¯d been holding a sword for literally my entire life. Even without Talents and Skills to provide corrections I was not helpless. The fact that it had almost hit me though, was concerning.
¡°They¡¯re here!¡± After calling Sarala, I scanned in the direction the shot had come from. There did not seem to be anyone there, even after only the scant few seconds since the shot.
They¡¯re taking things extremely carefully.
I wasn¡¯t sure if I should be flattered or annoyed. Granted, they had no way of knowing that my status was all screwed up right now.
Ting!
Another arrow had come from my blind spot.
They¡¯re either testing me right now, or there¡¯s only one archer.
It was fortunate that Sarala was smart enough to realize that there was a sniper, and had not stuck her head out. Once again the archer had seemingly vanished in the moments it took me to look in that direction.
This is pointless and frustrating.
¡°Come out already! Or at least stop shooting one at a time!¡± It may be a bit unwise to taunt them like that, but this was just dumb. My mana capacity would let me keep this up for several minutes as it was, and if I disconnected, indefinitely.
To be honest, I was not expecting a response. So when I was suddenly charged from the left and the right by two men, it took me a bit by surprise. Fortunately, my slowed perceptions were enough to react just in time. Ducking to the left, the first attack missed me by a few inches and my own blade was able to turn away the second.
Not good. I meant to dodge that by a much greater margin.
To make matters worse, another arrow was flying right toward me. Fired while my attention was preoccupied, I would not be able to dodge in time.
Shit! I hope they aren¡¯t using Grave Oil, but who am I kidding?
Stepping off to the right, I hoped to minimize the damage.
¡°[###### ####] Icicle Wall!¡± At Sarala¡¯s shouted spell a thin wall of ice formed between me and the arrow. How she had been able to keep up with the speed of those few seconds was beyond me, but I¡¯d have to thank her later.
¡°Yah!¡± Accompanying my shout with a quick thrust, I was able to just barely catch the left-most attacker in his arm. Not by any skill on my own part, he had simply been momentarily surprised by my backup.
That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll work with this.
Pivoting away from the man I¡¯d just cut, I kicked at the second melee attacker. Two versus one would be just barely doable, so Sarala would have to block the arrows for me.
Above, block. No, he¡¯s feinting; ignore.
The blade swung and sailed past me within a few inches as I pressed the attack on the one in front of me. There was only a brief window before the other would recover from me calling his bluff. My main target was rather skilled and knew this fact just as well as me. Instead of blocking or attempting to counter, he spent all of his effort dodging; bobbing up, down, and around my flurry of attacks.
Out of time, pivot.
Spinning just in time, I was able to deflect the incoming attack away.
Alright, let¡¯s go faster.
The mana flow to my arms and legs increased, proportionally multiplying my speed. Within my slowed world, I was now having some difficulty with control.
¡°Sarala, distraction!¡± Trusting in my friend¡¯s judgment, I ignored the man behind me and focused all of my attention on the one in front.
¡°Ah! [#####!]¡± In her panic at being suddenly told to do something, she defaulted to an elementary Fire Magic spell, Flash. It did exactly as advertised and produced a bright, instantaneous flash. Something that was extremely effective for its simplicity as long as you could land it.
The man in front of me crumpled as my strikes suddenly began landing. Highly skilled assassins were not going to be caught off guard by Flash, but to avoid it they¡¯d have to briefly close their eyes or look away; something I could capitalize on.
One down, pivot.
The man in front of me had fallen. Without the leeway to consider taking prisoners, all of my strikes had gone for his center of mass; if he wasn¡¯t dead already, he soon would be.
¡°Mind the Archer!¡±
¡°[###### ####!] Icicle Wall!¡± Just in time, she repaired the wall even as an arrow finally shattered it.
Without his boyfriend to occupy my back and create openings, the second assailant quickly fell under my onslaught of repeated attacks. Again, I was aiming for his vital areas; I could try and capture the archer, but I wouldn¡¯t leave a shadow near my companions even if injured.
Even as the second body fell, I dropped off the carriage¡¯s side and closed my eyes.
Focus.
Moving some of the mana out of my limbs, it refocused into my ears.
¡°Twang!¡±
There.
The tell-tale sign of a bow firing informed me of the archer¡¯s position and I kicked off the ground towards it. Sarala would get the arrow.
¡°Damnit! What are you!?¡± The voice that called out when I finally laid eyes on the archer was higher pitched than I had expected, and the fact that they had spoken at all was surprising in and of itself; shadows didn¡¯t do that. The momentary surprise caused me to slow my approach. Something that, a moment later, proved to be a mistake.
¡°Damnit!¡±
¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± My cry was as pointless as it was futile; the shadow, determining that she¡¯d never hit me and wouldn¡¯t be able to escape, had killed herself by stabbing one of her arrows into her eye.
They were using grave oil after all¡
I pressed my lips back together and turned away from the gruesome sight. If she killed herself then there probably weren¡¯t any more than the three, so it would be safe to sit tight in the carriage. My muscles were starting to ache now, a protest against how hard they¡¯d been pushed.
¡I need to fix my status. Even if it¡¯s a risk to try the nuclear option, it¡¯s better than nothing.
¡°Stahlia¡¡± Sarala looked down at me, her face wrought with concern, ¡°Stahlia, they¡ These two, they¡¯re just kids our¡ Edith¡¯s age.¡±
Ah¡ No wonder I was able to keep up¡
¡°Stahlia! Stahlia, can you hear me?!¡±
It was Ferdinand¡¯s voice sounding off inside my head. With the three assailants deceased, whatever had been blocking the connection abated. That said, my mood was beginning to sour.
¡°I can hear you just fine. The three ¡®shadows¡¯ are dead and we¡¯re all safe.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡±
Was that genuine relief in his tone? How out of character. In any case, I didn¡¯t care.
¡°I¡¯m sure you are. I¡¯ll be waiting in the carriage for you to do your damn job and come get me!¡±
I cut the connection off, then threw the communicator as hard as I could. The sight of it shattering on the wall was only a tiny bit comforting.
6-9 Picking Up Pieces
By the time the knights finally broke through the undead, I had managed to calm down a great deal. The kids¡ no, the shadows were a threat to me, coming after my life. Killing them had been justified, at least that¡¯s what I told myself. It was still the first time I had killed someone without being under the effects of the emotionally dampening [Cold Hearted]. It was¡ difficult how easy it had been in the moment.
As the knight squad moved to surround the carriage and mop up any remaining undead, Ferdinand strode towards me, ¡°Lady Stahlia-¡±
I held up a hand, stalling him, ¡°My apologies, Lord Ferdinand. It seems I allowed my nerves to best me¡ Please, have these men move out and secure the surroundings.¡±
He gave a short bow and waved his hand. Since all the men had heard me give the order repeating it seemed to be unnecessary and they departed, ¡°Everyone is alive then?¡±
That¡¯s what I said in my message, isn¡¯t it?
¡°Other than my knight, yes. I left them in the carriage¡ For the sake of the record, I would hear your recommendation.¡±
¡°That was why you sent the knights away. Lady Edith and Miss Sarala already know of course, that leaves Lady Lester and Miss Suzane.¡±
So that¡¯s her name then.
He must have read my expression; I wasn¡¯t trying to hide it or anything, ¡°You suspect I think they should be disposed of.¡±
You usually aren¡¯t this wordy. Probably calculated that it would be a good idea to play nice after how I snapped at you.
¡°You think we should kill them. Please do not mince words around me.¡±
¡°¡As you wish. Yes, if it were up to me, I would say that both she and Lady Lester died in the attack. Probably Miss Sasha and Miss Sarala as well to avoid suspicion. It is not up to me though, and I am well aware that plan is off the table. But yes, I do believe that Suzane and Lady Lester should be, as you said, killed.¡±
¡Yea, NO SHIT that plan is off the table, what the hell!?
¡breathe¡
His confession made my anger flair right back up, and it was a struggle not to explode again. But the worst part of it all, was that his plan sounded logical. Effective even. Certainly, there would be less loose ends this way, I could follow along with the reasoning he must have used to come to the conclusion.
¡°Lord Ferdinand, I despise you on a fundamental level.¡± He did not react to my statement, it was probably also something he¡¯d expected to hear, ¡°That said, I cannot agree to either plan; there is no world where killing them benefits us. All it would do is risk antagonizing the other nobles, and were we to kill only Suzzane and attempt to blackmail Lady Lester¡ Well, I shouldn¡¯t need to explain what that plan sucks.¡±
I can¡¯t believe antagonizing Lady Lester is my biggest concern here.
Ferdinand nodded, ¡°I agree.¡±
That pissed me off, ¡°Then why in the nine hells did you just recommend killing them!?¡±
Ferdinand shrugged, as though he was doing it intentionally, ¡°Because you wanted me to advocate for her death, so I played my role.¡±
I blinked, the anger suddenly taken from my sails only to flare back up almost immediately.
Give me a break!
¡°You played your role, to what? Get me to kill someone? Is that all you¡¯ve been doing this whole time? Playing your role!?¡±
He actually crossed his arms as he looked down at me. It was as though every single motion he performed was calculated specifically to piss me off more and more, ¡°Well, I don¡¯t need that! Don¡¯t play a role and tell me what I expect to hear, I¡¯m not a fucking demon!¡±
I did not need someone telling me what they thought I wanted them to say, that was only one step above having a yes-man. Only above it since that¡¯s what he thought I wanted him to say, not what I wanted to hear.
Sarala¡¯s head peeked over the side of the carriage; she was still on top of it keeping an eye on the undead and the knights, ¡°St- Lady Stahlia, my mistress expresses her concern.¡±
Haaa¡ Damn it all.
Forcibly calming myself again, I addressed Ferdinand, ¡°¡In the future, share your opinions plainly. Do not play any role you think I might be expecting. Really, why in the name of everything do I have to ask something like that¡¡±
He did not say anything outright, merely staring down at me from behind his crossed arms. His face was inscrutable, so I deigned not to try and merely turned away, ¡°One of you! Please help Lady Lester and Lady Edith get out of the carriage, then the maids.¡±
One of the knights broke away from the expanding clean-up operation and made his way over to the carriage. It was of course possible for me to get them all out myself, but there was no immediate danger and I still had enough sense to understand it would not be a good image. After taking a minute to appraise the situation, the knight began to move to extricate the remaining passengers. It would not be proper for me to detail everyone¡¯s injuries to him, as much as I wanted to ensure proper treatment. Sarala was there, and the knight was a knight; he would be familiar with handling the injured.
¡°Stahlia.¡± Ferdinand called out to me while that was ongoing, and I noted the lack of any title, ¡°Stahlia, I believe I owe you an apology. It would seem my life in the dark has skewed my judgment, it was my assumption that you needed an adversary to play against. Someone arguing for the extreme, so that you could properly consider every angle. I was mistaken. In the future, I will counsel you as I see fit, and only as such.¡±
He had uncrossed his arms, and for the first time since I had met him, there was some actual light in his eyes. Though my anger was still a bit much for me to forgive him outright, I could at least accept the sentiment for what it was. Admitting he had made a mistake was probably rather difficult, especially considering my background and our relative ages, ¡°See that you do.¡±
¡°I will. Now then, Lady Stahlia, I believe we should move to a more secure location.¡±
Yea, that makes sense.
¡°I will, as soon as they are out.¡± I waved at the carriage, where Lady Lester was being helped gingerly down. Considering her injuries, the fact that she was keeping composure was quite remarkable.
¡°In my opinion that is an idiotic notion. Your own safety is paramount.¡±
¡I won¡¯t get angry, he¡¯s only doing what I literally just told him to do.
¡°I understand, but have decided to ignore your opinion. I will go once my guests are safe.¡±
Fortunately, his interpretation of his new orders did not seem to extend to after I had made a decision on a matter. That did not mean we couldn¡¯t move on though, ¡°What do we know about all of this? My primary concern is where so many undead came from.¡±
I couldn¡¯t see him, but he sounded thoughtful as he answered me, ¡°We are still figuring that out. The operators seem to have been the three you fought. There could be more, but if there were then you would be dead.¡± I grimaced, not that he would have been able to see it from where he stood behind me, ¡°As far as the undead are concerned¡ Well, I can tell you where they came from, but we will not know if there are any left without doing a rather thorough investigation.¡±
Something we lack the resources to do¡ Or, we would.
¡°The undead came from the slums, I would guess. That would be the best way to gather a large number of people without raising suspicions. Do not concern yourself with the investigation; I will have Aaron do it.¡±
For safety¡¯s sake, I kept the crystal bit he had given me on my person. After fishing it out, I enhanced my fingers and crushed it in my palm, the degree I needed to boost my strength to do so was actually kind of ridiculous. At once, I felt a sudden feeling of vertigo, not unlike when Adroni had merged my consciousness with various people while I was dead. It was a bit less intense, and faded quickly.
¡°Hello?¡±
¡°Ah, Stahlia. I thought I might be hearing from you soon. Be quick, this will only last a few seconds.¡±
¡°I want a quest posted for all of the adventurers in the city and the surrounding areas; investigate for signs of undead activity. Pay special attention to the poor areas and sewers of major settlements¡ A day¡¯s wages if they take part, and a month¡¯s for any leads that pan out.¡±
¡°Wasting no time, good. What about our agreement?¡±
¡°You know I have not spoken with Rupert yet; I will do so as soon as I return to the palace.¡±
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¡°Then, I will take your word for it. This is, after all, a rather outrageous event; you are aware the demons are involved?¡±
I wanted to question what he meant, or more specifically what he knew, but the connection was already starting to fade out.
¡°I am, thank you.¡±
There was another flash of vertigo, and an empty feeling in my head. As if something had gone missing. After a moment when both of those had passed, I turned to face Ferdinand, ¡°I need to see Prince Rupert as soon as we return. If possible, the King as well; it would make things go faster.¡±
¡°Indeed, will Aaron do his part?¡±
I nodded sharply, then turned again to watch Suzane being brought down from the carriage. Contrary to her mistress, her face was white and pale with suppressed pain.
Well, here goes.
Lady Lester saw me striding towards their group and stiffened slightly. For someone of her social acumen, that was enough to let me know that she was shaken. Pausing a few meters away from the group I held my arms out and did a small spin, ¡°Well, what do you think?¡±
It only took her a moment to answer, and though shaky she managed to come up with a halfway decent quip, ¡°You look remarkably lady-like for a twelve-year-old.¡±
¡°I take after my mother. This is not the time or the place for word games or lessons about word games; my retainer,¡± A quick pause and glance over my shoulder let her know it was Ferdinand, ¡°Believes that I should report the two of you as casualties in this.¡±
Their reactions were different, and spoke to their personalities; Suzane shrank back and then winced from the pain, while Lady Lester¡¯s face shifted to one of grave severity, ¡°¡However, I do not believe I will need to do that; all of my close friends are already aware of my secret. We are friends, are we not?¡±
The duchess paused, and looked to Edith and then Sarala. When Edith gave a subtle nod confirming my words as true, her face morphed into a smile, ¡°Indeed, I do believe we are friends.¡±
There was no guarantee of course, and I barely knew her. The fact was though, that the kingdom really could not afford to lose one of its leading nobles at the moment. For better or worse, my hands were tied and all I could do was trust in her discretion and intelligence; the kingdom would not always be in this position after all.
¡°Excellent. I feel I must apologize to you then, Lady Lester, for how our outing turned out. I will endeavor to make it up to you at a future date, for now though I am needed back at the palace. These knights will escort you wherever you wish to go, and ensure your safety.¡±
When I turned to leave, she called after me, ¡°You claim social ignorance, but you are quite good when threats of violence are involved. Lady Stahlia von Drakas.¡±
That¡ That scheming¡ I basically just threatened to have you killed, and your reaction is to dig for information and confirm a hunch? Lady Lester has quite the courage.
She was, unbelievably, even more dangerous than I had given her credit for.
I think I might need a spy embedded in the ranks of the noble ladies. I¡¯ll bring it up with Rupert and Ferdinand after we deal with all of this.
I was, unfortunately, not able to totally stop myself from showing a small reaction so I opted to play into it by pausing for a full second. Then, I continued on my way.
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
An hour later I found myself sitting in a meeting with Rupert, Gustav, and Ferdinand. The king had declined to join, and merely informed Rupert that whatever decision we came to was approved. A maid I had never met before attended to me by refilling my empty cup. Sasha had been whisked away for treatment, and my attempt to bring Frieda had been vetoed. This was someone Ferdinand had produced, claiming that she had the trust needed to attend the meeting. I made him drink the first cup, and had been randomly giving him every third or so since.
Call me petty, and I don¡¯t really think he¡¯d try to have me poisoned, but doing this makes me feel good. Although, I do kind of feel bad about how many dishes this is generating, but I¡¯m not about to drink after or before him either.
My actions were even worse in light of what Ferdinand was recounting at the moment; the immediate aftermath and the sequence of events leading up to the attack, but I wasn¡¯t going to stop. I did care about what had happened and was listening attentitivelly, but I felt like if I did nothing to break my own tension, I might go insane. Nobody was giving me any disparaging looks and Rupert hadn¡¯t told me to knock it off, so I was going to continue.
¡°And that concludes the preliminary report; atleast three dozen among the commoners dead, five knights including your own,¡± He nodded towards me before continuing, ¡°And we know without a doubt that these undead are the products of demon magic; based on my own observations, they are Husk.¡±
Ah¡ That explains why they were acting weird.
Husk were a type of undead in name only. Strictly speaking; they were still alive. Twisted by a succcubus¡¯ magic, Husk formed a sort of eusocial colony and moved as one unit. The individuals would drain vitality from new victims, which resulted in the hollowed undead appearance, funneling it back to their creator and growing their colony. That would explain how Aaron had known the demons were directly involved as well.
Having finished his piece, Ferdinand glanced at me and I began to reccount events from my perspective. Starting with a summary of my and Aaron¡¯s meeting, ¡°That is why I need the knights retasked; using the coup as an excuse, we can reduce the monster patrols while contracting the adventurers to pick up the slack.¡±
Rupert stroked his chin in thought and began mumbling to himself as his mind processed everything I had said; a full account of my meeting with Aaron, the attack, and my actions immediately thereafter. As he processed, Gustav chimed in his thoughts, ¡°Well, what are you going to do about your stats?¡±
Not what I thought you would bring up, but with Rupert in thought this makes a decent way to pass the time. Besides, you might have an insight I missed.
¡°First, I intend to level up. I am¡ close, now.¡± Killing the two shadows had netted me a confusing amount of experience; each had seemingly only been worth a thousand. Considering that the Rosial impersonators had been nearly four times that, it was odd. Of course, it could just be that humans weren¡¯t worth much; those doppelgangers had been monsters. This had left me five hundred experience, or five goblins¡¯ worth, away from leveling up for the first time in almost a year.
Though, I suspect some experience may have been diverted¡ My seed increased a bit as well. I don¡¯t want to consider how many people I¡¯d have to kill to finish it. And this is only the ¡°Seedling.¡± There are possibly other stages¡ I¡¯m not going to become like that one Hungarian monarch, killing hundreds of innocents for my own personal gain. No way in hell.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 115
Name/Age: Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, 16
Gender: Female
Class/Level: ?????C???u?s???t?????o???m??? ?????C???l????a??s?????s?????,???? ?2???0????? ???|?? ?????C???u??s?????t???o???m?? ??C????l????a?s????s????,? ??3????? Experience: 35500/36000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant])
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Implanted Seed: Progress 0.01%
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: [Browse Talents] P?r?o?di?gy ?I?II*,? ?Ei?deti?c? ?Me?mo?ry? ?II?*, S?tea?lt?h? ?V,? Ch?a?r?m? Resi?stan?ce? I?I*?, Fle?x?i?b?le? ?I?I*?,? ||? Mo?n?ste?r ?Ha?ndli?ng ?I?II*?, ?D?a?g?g?er ?F?i?g?ht?i?ng ?V?*,? ?S?wo?rd ?F?ight?i?ng I?I?*?,? U?na?r?me?d Fight?i?ng? IV*?, Al?c?h?emy? Corre?c?ti?o?n? ?I?V?*, T?ea?chi?ng? II*,? ?M?a?na? ?E?f?f?i?c?i?en?cy? III?*, ?F?ir?e ?Ma?g?ic? ?II?I*?,? ?W?a?ter? ?M?ag?i?c II*?,? ?Ear?t?h M?agic I?I?*?,? Wi?n?d M?agic ?I?I*?, ?I?ce? ?Mag?ic VI?*?, Wi?n?te?r? Magi?c ?I,?
Skills 5/5: [Browse Skills] D?iv?i?ne? ?Aut?ho?r?it?y[?C?la?s?s F?ea?ture?s?]*?,? ?F?in?es?s?e Figh?ti?ng?*, ?B?lu?e ?B?l?oo?de?d*,? ?K?inet?ic ?P?e?r?ce?p?t?io?n*?,? ?Ma?n?a ?C?r?y?s?t?a?ll?iz?atio?n*, |?|? L?a?ng?u?ag?e P?r?ofi?cien?c?y?[?Ce?n?tr?al Huma?n?]*?,? ?F?ig?ht?ing S?ty?le?[S?h?ad?o?w? Bla?d?e]*?, ?Fi?g?h?t?i?ng S?t?yle?[?Drak?a?n? ?S?t?y?l?e]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*,
Talents Experience: [+]
¡°And if that does not work?¡± There was the long absent glint of a mad scientist visible in his eye, but it was hard to begrudge him for that. This was, after all, a wholly unique situation, a new discovery.
¡°Then, if that does nothing, I would like to speak with another ancient personality about it. If I can find someone who has lived a long while.¡± I of course already had somebody in mind, a certain tsundere exposition device, I mean, a dragon. But neither Gustav nor Ferdinand knew about his existence, ¡°Though, I expect that short of the gods or a demon, I would not be so lucky. If I can not find anyone in the next¡ three months, then I will remove the offending skills.¡±
That caused a reaction. Ferdinand glanced at me sidelong, while Gustav briefly crossed and uncrossed his arms. Even Rupert paused for a moment to look at me, demonstrating that he was still listening passively.
¡°Three months from now, because you are concerned you will be put out of commission?¡± It was unlikely Gustav was asking a serious question, more that he was stating the obvious and seeking confirmation.
¡°I have fallen into a coma every other time I used my authority. I see no reason why this would be any different.¡±
Rupert finished the thought for me, ¡°And you hope to leave enough time to wake up before the start of the Demon War, hence why you would try in three months, and not delay longer.¡±
I inclined my head in his direction, ¡°Exactly. I¡ I would rather not go that far, but I can¡¯t do anything in what is to come without my skills.¡± That was hyperbole, it was very likely that I would be able to do something. But it would be extremely heavily restricted if I had to rely on Blood Magic entirely.
My best bet is to get a bunch of ¡°auto¡± skills and talents, then supplement that with Blood Magic enhancements. Eventually, my Blood Magic will get to the point where I can fight without skills, but until then I can only do what I can.
Rupert nodded, ¡°Proceed along that line of thought. I will see if I can find anyone for you to talk with as well,¡± So he¡¯s going to approve me going to see Drakas then, good. ¡°Sitri comes to mind as well; she is rather old and you have already crippled her. If we can capture her, we might be able to have a nice, pleasant conversation about your situation.¡±
For once, I did not mind the idea of torturing someone. In her case, I was actually sort of looking forward to the prospect, ¡°Then how will we proceed with Aaron?¡±
¡°You made the correct call with that; I will have the armies begin mobilizing slightly earlier than planned after blaming my brother for the undead attack. Regarding Lady Lester, approach her through Ferdinand. It would be wise to keep her within arm¡¯s reach, as we cannot get rid of her for the time being. Any questions?¡±
None of us had any, so Rupert adjourned the meeting. We all had our tasks, and Ferdinand departed first. Just as I was preparing to do the same, Rupert called after me, ¡°Stahlia, Gustav has informed me that you quite possibly already arrived at this conclusion yourself.¡±
I paused and turned around again, ¡°Yes?¡±
¡°¡When the war starts, my father will ask us to amend our contract to publicly marry early. He insinuated that this morning.¡±
Well, I thought that I¡¯d be starting the queen-in-trial thing early, not redrafting our contract and becoming the actual legal queen. ¡At least he kept me informed instead of just springing it on me this time. I should make my own suggestion then.
I started with a curtsy, ¡°I am against that plan.¡±
¡°What would you suggest I tell my father?¡±
¡°We cannot expect to hide my age from the people and nobility forever, especially not with a war looming. I suggest we go public with it; I would like to fake a miracle.¡±
6-10 Fixing Status
Stahlia, Seventeen Years Old, Twelfth Month of 948
In the end, it took a few weeks before I was actually able to go see Drakas. Not that it mattered much; in the grand scheme of things it was a longshot that he¡¯d know anything helpful to me. In order to avoid drawing his ire after my last audience, Rupert suggested that I exhaust all my other options. Even if the only one that really came to mind, other than forcibly removing the offending skills, was leveling up.
That had taken some time to do, as after the attack on the capital people were understandably frazzled. There was the option of simply executing some prisoners, but after the close call with Lady Lester¡¯s maid, I didn¡¯t want to go there. Political assassinations, self-defense, and matters of national security were one thing. Reducing people to experience points was another, and a line I really didn¡¯t want to cross. That meant I needed monsters.
Living monsters and not undead; the latter lacked souls and as such did not provide experience when killed. Having just survived an assassination attempt, there was no way in hell I¡¯d be allowed to go hunting, and bringing monsters through the capital wasn¡¯t an option until things calmed down, thus my dilemma. In the end though, my knights were able to capture a few orcs from the plains near the capital and bring them to the palace dungeons.
Killing them was enough to push me over the remaining hurdle and level up once, but it didn¡¯t actually do anything for my glitchy status. It did give me something though; I knew from prior experience that Orcs were worth three hundred experience points. Killing these ones granted me only a hundred, less than half, and my ¡°Implanted Seedling¡± went up a whopping zero point zero one percent. The thing was siphoning off my experience points and was going to need a lot of them.
As though leveling up wasn¡¯t already going to be a pain in the ass.
There was one other result, or more accurately a lack of result. Leveling up had not given me any Life Points. There were two possibilities I could think of, but each of them was rather concerning. Firstly, the ¡°Implanted Seed¡± was siphoning those as well. That was the worst-case scenario, as those were my only reliable method of acquiring skills and talents. The second, slightly more optimistic theory, was that my glitched status had caused some sort of error resulting in me being robbed. Whatever the case, leveling up had not fixed the crux of the issue.
¡°So, that is what I am dealing with. My hope is that you, in all of your ancient wisdom, might be able to offer some insight into the root of my problem.¡±
Drakas, presently in his human form, appeared thoughtful as he considered everything that he¡¯d just heard. After a pregnant pause, he shook his head, ¡°No. What the Monster-God says is my conclusion as well. If you can break the curse of Chaos, you would be wise to do so.¡±
I crossed my arms and fixed him with an unamused stare; I might be leery of upsetting him, but this and that were different. In any case, my expression had the desired effect. Drakas rolled his eyes and explained himself using plain language, ¡°¡If your Authority will let you remove the offending skills, do that.¡±
It wasn¡¯t like I¡¯d not been able to understand him; the ¡°Curse of Chaos¡± was very clearly the System. Adroni was the self-proclaimed Evil God of Chaos, and they had created the System. I had simply had it up to my ears with immortal beings being coy and talking in roundabout riddles.
And not just immortal beings either, the politics of noble speech as well.
¡°So, you think that as well¡ I suppose there is nothing else I can do. Thank you for tolerating me.¡±
The dragon in human form shrugged, ¡°It is not a particularly big favor to tell you what you already knew. Do you have any other burning questions? Or are you finally going to leave me in peace?¡±
As irritating as he was, there was actually something else he could possibly tell me, ¡°Well, I do not want to inconvenience you; I will hold my peace and leave you to yours.¡± I curtsied elegantly and turned to make my way back to where Rupert was waiting; he had refused to allow me to come alone, and was presently staring at me with a resigned expression.
¡°Wait. ¡I will entertain one more question.¡±
I really wish I could bring Felicity here, Claire would love you.
Turning to face the dragon again, I bowed my head, ¡°Then, if you could please tell me, what exactly am I?¡±
Other than my status, this was my biggest question to come out of recent events. Namely, what exactly I was becoming. If Aaron were to be believed, I now had a monster¡¯s mana crystal, and according to my status I was half undead, and by this dragon¡¯s own admission I held the qualities of a dragon. Drakas licked his lips and actually went still for a moment, signaling that this was a real question as well.
¡°That is a dangerous thing to ask.¡± His eventual answer was in as many ways frustrating as it was telling. Granted, we had not known each other all that long and we only had one other interaction but considering everything I did know about him, the fact that he answered like that was telling.
¡°Will you not answer?¡±
There was another pause before he shook his head, ¡°No, that I will not. That question is something you will have to find for yourself, only¡ consider how many groups have a vested interest in you.¡±
I wanted to retort; he definitely knew something, that much was clear. But there was also clearly a reason he had clammed up. In the end, I only sighed, ¡°¡Well, thank you for the reminder at least.¡±
Not like I need anyone to tell me that I¡¯ve got too many people trying to pull me around. Antenora started out the train of bullshit, then Five had his plans, Mortis, Adroni, I willingly joined forces with Rupert, now Aaron¡ And honestly, Drakas as well. It would be extremely surprising if he didn¡¯t. Besides that, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s even more I¡¯m forgetting.
Turning, I began to trudge back to Rupert, ¡°Princess auf Drakas¡ Do not run away from yourself.¡±
The way he pronounced my given title sent a shiver down my spine, but when I turned back to face the man-dragon it was only to find that he had reverted back into his true form and was flying up to the highest point of the summit. Our conversation was clearly over.
Don¡¯t run from myself, huh? No shit, I¡¯ve been trying not to do that this whole time¡
Together, Rupert and I began to descend the mountain.
¡°Did you really see the need to push your luck with him again? This was exactly the reason I did not want you to go alone.¡±
Ah, yea. I did get a bit carried away there¡
I frowned, but at the end of the day, he had a point, ¡°My apologies. I find that being spoken to in riddles has become rather frustrating of late and allowed it to go to my head.¡±
We continued on in silence for a few dozen meters before he spoke again, ¡°So then, will you wait until spring? Or do you want to try immediately?¡±
That was a bit of a conundrum since we didn¡¯t know if using my authority to remove my own skills would put me into a coma. Certainly, using it to add skills never had, but seemingly everything else did, ¡°Which would work better for your plans?¡±
¡°¡That is not what I asked.¡±
Well, if he¡¯s letting me choose, I¡¯d rather do it sooner than later. But it would feel wrong to leave everyone now of all times¡ ¡°Don¡¯t run from myself¡¡±
Drakas¡¯ words echoed around in my head, ¡°Well, if it is up to me, I would prefer to begin immediately¡ Probably, try with just one for the start and go from there.¡±
¡°Then, wait a few days; I would like you to make one more public appearance before the nobility. After that, I will be able to excuse your absence for as long as I have to¡ Though, try and wake up in less than a month?¡±
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I grimaced, ¡°Ha. I will do my best.¡±
That¡¯s going to be a pain, but fine.
After the terrorist attack, I had been subjected to no less than six social functions. The reason for them was as obvious as it was important; expressing the fact that the attack had not shaken me. Each one of them was nerve-wracking, but Lady Lester had proven a valuable ally and helped to guide things from behind the shadows. Even though she never claimed credit, Edith had kept me apprised that the duchess was actively working to undermine the Lawrence family as well, which certainly helped to keep things going as smoothly as they had been.
Well, I¡¯ve done six, a seventh won¡¯t kill me. I¡¯ll want it to, but it won¡¯t.
Contrary to my expectations, the seventh social wasn¡¯t even nearly as bad as the others. By this point, so long removed from the actual event, people had seemed to calm down a fair amount. There was a brief moment where Duke Lawrence attempted to approach my father, the first time he had actually done so, but a prompt warning from Edith and then a follow-up from myself was able to head it off. Still, it did reiterate that there was an issue brewing there.
And yet, I¡¯m about to risk removing myself from the board for several months.
It wasn¡¯t like we didn¡¯t have a plan; Rupert was planning to bring all of the dukes to the front in short order, and my father would be going back to Ris soon. After only another week, he would be well and truly out of reach to the Lawrences. Still, I could not help but worry.
¡°Stahlia, they will be fine. This is a case where you need to trust your friends and allies.¡± Edith¡¯s words did help a bit as well.
¡°Indeed; you trust us with your own safety, allow us to look after your family as well.¡± Sasha chimed in, and despite the actual lack of power she had against a duke¡¯s schemes, I did find some small comfort there.
We were in the process of getting me ready in case the worst came to pass; Frieda, Elienor, and Sasha were dressing me for sleep while Edith had brought Sarala with her to be here for the moment itself. Unlike the last time, we all knew what to expect. Felicity and Rosial would be coming by with my parents and Rosin later on as well. As stated previously, Elienor was already here since, even after welcoming her as I had, she remained in my service.
Lucy was still being kept under house arrest; even if the attack had delayed it, Ferdinand¡¯s direct investigations revealed nothing had been missed. For all intents and purposes, she did not seem to have a malicious agenda but we couldn¡¯t take any risks when Five was still at large. I would have liked to be more lenient there, but it simply wasn¡¯t possible.
Out of all the people in my immediate circle other than Lucy, the only ones who weren¡¯t going to be here to see me off were Ferris, Sana, and Rupert. Ferris was in training and absent from the palace at the moment; having begged to go hunting with the knights after feeling helpless upon hearing of the attack. Rupert was busy deflecting political bullshit, though not having my literal husband at least poke his head in was a bit irritating. With Sana, there was no real way to get her here short of summoning her, and that had its own host of problems since we¡¯d have to do it through the Cardinal as her guardian.
I feel like I¡¯ve forgotten someone¡ Oh yea, Aaron¡¯s spy and my loyal companion.
The Stawri in question, Stil, was sitting to the side of the room watching everyone. It was a bit upsetting that I¡¯d not really been interacting with him recently, but he was always there, even if not directly by my side like he¡¯d used to be. My circle might be small, but it was infinitely bigger than it had been even just a few years ago.
Case in point, there was a knock at my door. Sasha finished setting my clothes in place before answering it, and soon returned with my family. Felicity was subdued, her tail twitching about in a somewhat irritable fashion. Rosial looked calm, for the most part, but there was something tucked away just out of sight that made me think she was putting on a face.
Felicity I can understand, but Rosial? I didn¡¯t think we had gotten that close. Hell, I¡¯ve only been awake for a couple of months. Not like she¡¯s had time to really get to know me¡
Rosin was still a bit young, but old enough now to pick up on the subtext and deduce that something was wrong. He wasn¡¯t padding after either Felicity or Rosial and instead stuck very close to our mother the whole time. As for our parents, neither of them knew the exact specifics of what was going on, but both of them knew about my propensity to fall unconscious for long periods of time.
¡°Rosial, Felicity, it is clear that neither of you is exactly pleased right now¡¡±
¡°But you¡¯re still going away again, right?¡± Predictably, it was Felicity who asked, ¡°That¡¯s¡ fine. We¡¯ll be fine.¡±
Oof.
The way she was talking was incredibly snippy, but I could understand where she was coming from. That said, it wasn¡¯t clear which was worse; this, or begging me not to do it. Either way wouldn¡¯t have been able to change my plans, but both of them cut in a different manner. Biting my lip, I turned to look at Rosial. She simply looked back, impassively.
Right. Well, here goes.
¡°¡Dad, you and mother have been made aware of what is happening. I do not really know how this is going to work out; I might be gone for a week, half a year, or not at all. Don¡¯t change the plans on account of me though¡ Our family will be safer back in Ris than in the capital. Once the snow melts, go home, ok?¡±
I had already mentioned the issue with Duke Lawrence in private, so declined to bring it up here. My siblings did not need to have that hanging over their heads. He looked a bit pained, an expression he wore more often than not when looking at me now, though I pretended not to notice. But, if I wanted them to be safe, getting them away from the capital was best.
There was a lot he wanted to say, that much was clear as day. This was not the time or place though, surrounded by all the people we were. Even if everyone here was someone that I would either outright or tentatively consider family, some lines couldn¡¯t be crossed so easily. Both of us knew that, and my life had taken a path that would force a certain distance at nearly all times.
He tipped his head, replacing the pained expression with a faint smile, ¡°When everything is finished, come and visit the village again, alright?¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
My mother didn¡¯t say anything, if I had to guess, she was afraid of breaking down should she try. Instead, she settled for a wordless tight hug. In a way though, that said more than words ever could have. Still, I didn¡¯t like the fact that everyone was acting like this was my funeral, but I didn¡¯t really know how to change the mood. There was also the thought of how much this was going to hurt hanging over my head.
In the end, I had to settle for some awkward small talk. After a while, my parents quietly departed with the girls and Rosin, the former had become visibly tired, and the latter had actually fallen asleep and needed to be carried.
¡°Edith, Sarala, I¡¯d like it if¡ if the two of you would stay. I have a feeling this is going to hurt. A lot.¡± They had been silent while I interacted with my family but now shared a look.
Edith nodded, ¡°Alright if that is how you want it.¡±
I nodded, then turned my attention inward and pulled up my status. It was still as buggy as the last time I had seen it.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 115
Name/Age: Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, 16
Gender: Female
Class/Level: ?????C???u?s???t?????o???m??? ?????C???l????a??s?????s?????,???? ?2???0????? ???|?? ?????C???u??s?????t???o???m?? ??C????l????a?s????s????,? ??4 Experience: 0/38000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant])
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Implanted Seed: Progress 0.02%
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
- Strength E: 129
- Endurance C: 229
- Dexterity S: 430 +48
- Intelligence S: 495
- Charisma C: 229
- Mana A: 291
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: [Browse Talents] P?r?o?di?gy ?I?II*,? ?Ei?deti?c? ?Me?mo?ry? ?II?*, S?tea?lt?h? ?V,? Ch?a?r?m? Resi?stan?ce? I?I*?, Fle?x?i?b?le? ?I?I*?,? ||? Mo?n?ste?r ?Ha?ndli?ng ?I?II*?, ?D?a?g?g?er ?F?i?g?ht?i?ng ?V?*,? ?S?wo?rd ?F?ight?i?ng I?I?*?,? U?na?r?me?d Fight?i?ng? IV*?, Al?c?h?emy? Corre?c?ti?o?n? ?I?V?*, T?ea?chi?ng? II*,? ?M?a?na? ?E?f?f?i?c?i?en?cy? III?*, ?F?ir?e ?Ma?g?ic? ?II?I*?,? ?W?a?ter? ?M?ag?i?c II*?,? ?Ear?t?h M?agic I?I?*?,? Wi?n?d M?agic ?I?I*?, ?I?ce? ?Mag?ic VI?*?, Wi?n?te?r? Magi?c ?I,?
Skills 5/5: [Browse Skills] D?iv?i?ne? ?Aut?ho?r?it?y[?C?la?s?s F?ea?ture?s?]*?,? ?F?in?es?s?e Figh?ti?ng?*, ?B?lu?e ?B?l?oo?de?d*,? ?K?inet?ic ?P?e?r?ce?p?t?io?n*?,? ?Ma?n?a ?C?r?y?s?t?a?ll?iz?atio?n*, |?|? L?a?ng?u?ag?e P?r?ofi?cien?c?y?[?Ce?n?tr?al Huma?n?]*?,? ?F?ig?ht?ing S?ty?le?[S?h?ad?o?w? Bla?d?e]*?, ?Fi?g?h?t?i?ng S?t?yle?[?Drak?a?n? ?S?t?y?l?e]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*,
Talents Experience: [+]
¡And the one thing I haven¡¯t told anyone, even the people who know almost the whole story, is that my Authority is bugged too. I don¡¯t even know if it will work properly.
The fact that I had been able to skirt around Rupert¡¯s various questions in such a way as to not reveal that was a minor miracle in and of itself.
But there isn¡¯t any point in waiting any longer. The test run will be with [Eidetic Memory II], since that skill is the one most likely to actively get me killed if I try and use it.
Adroni had told me that things would eventually fix themselves, but it had been months now, and not even a single entry had been fixed by just waiting. At this point, I was simply delaying the inevitable.
Right¡ Invoke Divine Authority?
At my thought, nothing seemed to happen.
I hoped it would respond in some way before giving the full command, no such luck, huh? Invoke Divine Authority, Remove [Eidetic Memory II]
There was a twinge, then a stabbing pain in my skull as a flood of information passed through in an instant.
vALiD ERroR: {diVinE AUtHoRIty[CLasS fEATUreS]} CoNfiRMED.
tArGETeRRoRACTioN [[staHlIA vON DRakas uNd Zu rIS], hUMaN[hB(ERror)], 16Y]
SubTarGeT: ERRor taLeNt[Ei?deti?C? ?mE?Mo?RY? ?ii?*]
eRror.unhANDLeDdAtaovERflow
ERror.obsTRUcteDACtIOn
REdIRECtinG¡
erRORtArGEt iDEntifIED[ErrOR SeEDlIng]
PRocEeD? y/ERrOr
taleNt[ei?DetI?c? ?ME?mO?rY? ?ii?*] eRrOr
PROCess ComPLEtE.
I screamed.
6-11 Recovery
With a gasp, air filled my lungs and I shot upright.
That¡ That was the most painful thing I¡¯ve ever experienced.
Forget the forced guilt and remorse from when I¡¯d been attempting to overcome [Cold Hearted]. Forget degloving my hand and then rupturing every muscle in my body while fighting Five. That experience had been like being flayed alive while replacing those muscles with red-hot irons.
I knew from being in her head, but this was even worse¡ What did I put Sitri through¡?
What I had just experienced was almost enough to make me feel bad for her. Almost. Slowly, I stretched out my limbs. Strangely enough, they didn¡¯t feel sore at all. Despite what I¡¯d just been through.
That makes sense I guess, if we assume that the pain came from my soul instead of my body¡ Then, the question is how long I was out?
Somebody would probably have been posted by my side to help when I came to, so I looked up and around the room. My eyes beheld the faces of Sasha, Frieda, Edith, Sarala, and Stil. All of the people who had been in my room when I started the process.
Edith was the first to speak and her voice gave sound to the expressions everyone was making, ¡°S-Stahlia?¡±
They were all looking at me with faces that conveyed nothing but horror. Considering what my experience had been like, I could only imagine what they must have seen. It was a really good thing that Rosial, Felicity, and Rosin had been absent, then.
And there wasn¡¯t a coma. From a certain point of view, in exchange for the worst pain imaginable I get to not lose years of my life¡ But was it worth it?
I could ask what their experience had been in a minute. For now, I wanted to know if my newest trauma had been worth it. I called up my status.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 115
Name/Age: Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, 16
Gender: Female
Class/Level: ?????C???u?s???t?????o???m??? ?????C???l????a??s?????s?????,???? ?2???0????? ???|?? ?????C???u??s?????t???o???m?? ??C????l????a?s????s????,? ??4 Experience: 0/38000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant])
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Implanted Seed: Progress 11.32%
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
- Strength E: 129
- Endurance C: 229
- Dexterity S: 430 +48
- Intelligence S: 495
- Charisma C: 229
- Mana A: 291
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: [Browse Talents] P?r?o?di?gy ?I?II*, [ ], S?tea?lt?h? ?V,? Ch?a?r?m? Resi?stan?ce? I?I*?, Fle?x?i?b?le? ?I?I*?,? ||? Mo?n?ste?r ?Ha?ndli?ng ?I?II*?, ?D?a?g?g?er ?F?i?g?ht?i?ng ?V?*,? ?S?wo?rd ?F?ight?i?ng I?I?*?,? U?na?r?me?d Fight?i?ng? IV*?, Al?c?h?emy? Corre?c?ti?o?n? ?I?V?*, T?ea?chi?ng? II*,? ?M?a?na? ?E?f?f?i?c?i?en?cy? III?*, ?F?ir?e ?Ma?g?ic? ?II?I*?,? ?W?a?ter? ?M?ag?i?c II*?,? ?Ear?t?h M?agic I?I?*?,? Wi?n?d M?agic ?I?I*?, ?I?ce? ?Mag?ic VI?*?, Wi?n?te?r? Magi?c ?I,?
Skills 5/5: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features], F?in?es?s?e Figh?ti?ng?*, ?B?lu?e ?B?l?oo?de?d*,? ?K?inet?ic ?P?e?r?ce?p?t?io?n*?,? ?Ma?n?a ?C?r?y?s?t?a?ll?iz?atio?n*, |?|? L?a?ng?u?ag?e P?r?ofi?cien?c?y?[?Ce?n?tr?al Huma?n?]*?,? ?F?ig?ht?ing S?ty?le?[S?h?ad?o?w? Bla?d?e]*?, ?Fi?g?h?t?i?ng S?t?yle?[?Drak?a?n? ?S?t?y?l?e]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*,
Talents Experience: [+]
Auto Repair In Progress: Halted[+]
Bile rose up in my throat, causing me to fiercely swallow several times. After what had just happened, the indignity of vomiting might not seem like a lot but I¡¯d rather not.
At first glance, it doesn¡¯t look like anything happened, but no. There¡¯s some stuff.
[Eidetic Memory] was gone, in its place was a blank space. It didn¡¯t look like the slot had been refunded which sucked, but I could live with it. More importantly, my Divine Authority no longer seemed to be corrupted, and a new line had appeared; ¡°Auto Repair In Progress.¡± Very likely that was what Adroni had meant when they said that my status would fix itself in time.
But it wasn¡¯t there before, so did that cunt not know it wasn¡¯t working? Or did they know and not tell me? No, it¡¯s worse than not telling me. If they did know, then I was deliberately misled.
Whatever the case, the process claimed to have been halted. Similar to my Talents Experience, there was an option to expand and see more details but that could wait until after I¡¯d addressed the currently horrified onlookers. As a final note, my Implanted Seedling thing had suddenly gotten a lot of experience. Something else to consider later on.
¡°S-sorry, dith I worry-¡± My voice was severely hoarse, and just a few words in, I was overtaken by a coughing fit, ¡°Ackahem!...Kuhoogh!...Kehkah!¡±
When I pulled my hands down from my mouth, they were coated in a concerningly thick layer of blood. That was when I noticed the metallic taste. Sasha and Frieda responded first, flying into a flurry of action. First, I was guided onto my side, then had my head rotated around so that it was resting on my hand. Next, one of them, I couldn¡¯t tell which, began thumping on my back. I let them work, cognizant of the fact that there was blood either in my lungs or throat. Probably the former by the feeling of it.
Another coughing fit assaulted me and I felt my legs curling up, ¡°Relax, try and breathe as best you can; Edith has gone with Sarala to get the doctor back here.¡±
Why didn¡¯t we have him on hand!?
The answer to that question was easy; I¡¯d decided not to. I had expected that this would hurt, but also expected to simply fall into a coma. There had seen no reason to have the doctor present; there hadn¡¯t been one the first few times and it had been fine.
Actually, why was I allowed to get away with that?
There was a lot that I was able to get away with. More than should have been possible, even given my station. It almost seemed like Rupert was either tip-toeing around me, or giving me far too much credit. My thoughts were abruptly interrupted by another fit of coughing, and this one lasted long enough that it felt like I might actually pass out. In the end, I was able to breathe and so escaped the mercy of unconsciousness.
The door was thrown open sometime later and I heard a voice that was vaguely familiar, ¡°Let me see her.¡±
In the interim time had been hard to judge, so there was no telling how long my body had been spent attempting to eject my lungs through my throat. The hand that had been patting my back stopped and was replaced by a sharp prodding sensation. Then, something cold and acrid smelling was pushed into my mouth. By the taste, some sort of medicinal compound.
Ah, the doctor then.
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Said Doctor continued to poke and prod at me for a short while as my coughing fit slowly subsided. Once he was satisfied, he stepped back, ¡°Miss Sasha, I¡¯ve given her a syrup to soothe the throat and lungs. Since the bleeding seems to have abated please help her sit up.¡±
My maid did as instructed and then helped me turn so that I could face the room. As I¡¯d thought, it was indeed the royal family¡¯s doctor who¡¯d been poking me so painfully. Edith and Sarala were both still here as well, which made sense since they¡¯d been the ones to get the doctor. Frieda and Elienor were gone, I hadn¡¯t seen when they slipped out but given-
Oh god! Elienor saw all that! After everything she¡¯s been through, I accepted her as part of my family, and then she saw me like that! What the HELL was I thinking!?
My horror showed itself to the onlookers in the form of a contorted grimace. Sasha stepped forward and began dabbing at the corners of my mouth with a cloth, there must still have been some blood in my mouth as it came away red. There wasn¡¯t any time for that though, ¡°Werg, Whwew¡¡±
Frowning, I shook my head and cleared my throat while doing my best to ignore the pained protestations that action elicited. Even with whatever the doctor had given me, it still hurt.
How loudly was I screaming? And for how long?
¡°Mh-hmm. Where is, Elienor?¡±
Sasha shook her head in exasperation while Edith and Sarala shared a knowing glance, ¡°My Lady, I had Miss Frieda escort her out.¡±
Yea, that makes sense. Probably the smart move, since I imagine it looked like I was dying.
¡°Please haf,¡± I frowned and winced as my voice caught again.
¡°I will have her informed that you are well and recovering, then bring her to see you in the morning. For now, the doctor has requested that you rest.¡±
I stared at Sasha blankly. Sure, I hadn¡¯t actually ordered her to bring Elienor back; my voice had caught again. The way she neatly finished my sentence made her thoughts on the matter rather clear. ¡®I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea.¡¯ That said, she had a point; I definitely did need to rest. As much as I wanted to see Elienor, that was it. I wanted to see her. She could be told that the worst had passed and I was now resting. Then she could stick her head in if she wanted to.
Fine. I¡¯ll yield this time.
¡°Thank, you.¡±
Sasha nodded amicably, ¡°Of course.¡±
Catching my look, Edith leaned over and whispered something to Sarala, who then stood and departed with a curtsy. That would ensure that Elienor did not have to wait too long to hear that I was alright.
The doctor then cleared his throat, seeing as we¡¯d fallen silent, ¡°Ahem. If I might be so bold, Lady Drakas, I have no idea what specifically occurred though I suspect it might be related to what happened to you in the early part of this year? In any case, whatever it is, I suggest you avoid doing so again until you have fully recovered. And even then, consider not doing so.¡±
Having said his piece, he shook his head ruefully, ¡°Though I doubt you will listen; at least have me informed ahead of time, please.¡±
I barely even know him, and he¡¯s already formed such a low opinion of me? I mean, he¡¯s right, but come on!
Even if he hadn¡¯t requested it, I was definitely going to have him standing by just in case. Not wanting to talk, I only nodded before gingerly lowering myself back onto the bedding.
¡°In any case, I will prepare more of the syrup; Your lady¡¯s throat will be rather sore for a while based on how loudly she was screaming. If you need anything further, you know where to find me.¡± Even though he had been speaking to Sasha, his voice carried such that I was able to hear it.
That¡¯s how he got here so quickly? Exactly how loud was I¡?
The knowledge that I¡¯d been heard from outside my own suite was mortifying and caused my eyes to go wide. Once the doctor had departed, Edith finally broke her silence, ¡°I never want to see that again.¡±
Yea? You think I want to experience it again?
¡°Do you have any idea what it is like to watch someone close their eyes peacefully, then suddenly start convulsing while screaming loud enough that the doctor was halfway here already when we finally found him!?¡±
Her voice was beginning to take on the edge that meant she was well and truly pissed, and though that was understandable, all I could get from what she¡¯d said was that the doctor had been here for quite a while already.
Really, that makes sense. He did get here pretty quickly after I started coughing.
¡°Oh no you don¡¯t! This is not something you should be smiling about!¡± She was starting to shout now, ¡°Do you know how long the only thing you were doing was screaming!? Hours. Multiple. Hours.¡±
Her proclamation wiped the smile right off my face.
Holy shit¡
¡°I¡¯m glad that got through to you. The best part of all of this though? I know. We all know you¡¯re planning to do it again. This was only a test run; that¡¯s what you told us. Even if the specifics don¡¯t make a lick of sense, we know enough to know that this was supposed to be the easy version.¡±
Even if I could talk, there wasn¡¯t anything I could say to that.
¡°¡I might be your friend, but I¡¯m not going to be here next time. I can¡¯t watch that again.¡± Edith screwed her eyes shut and shook her head, ¡°¡And if you care about us at all, you¡¯ll reconsider.¡±
She didn¡¯t wait for me to respond before turning and leaving my room. Sasha didn¡¯t even click her tongue or shake her head at the apparent disrespect, which said more than anything else that Edith¡¯s sentiment was shared. But as much as I agreed, as much as I didn¡¯t want to ever experience that again, it wasn¡¯t something I could just not do.
¡I need my status back in working order¡
If it was just that they didn¡¯t work, then I could have dealt with my skills and talents being broken. After all, leveling up still worked, I could still get stronger. It was the fact that attempting to use them was actively detrimental that sealed my fate on the matter.
My Blood Magic can compensate for a lack of skills, but I need Mana, and the only way I know to get more mana is by leveling up. Or disconnecting, but that¡¯d kill me again, and there¡¯s no way I could control that much mana without getting rid of my emotions.
That being said, depending on what was causing this new auto repair thing to be halted, I might not actually have to do all that again, ¡°Sasha, I¡¯m going, to try, to, sleep.¡±
¡°I will be here if you need anything.¡±
I closed my eyes, and pulled up my status again, then focused on the auto repair line.
:Auto Repair Stalled:
Error.AttributesError.List(Skills[Finesse Fighting, Mana Crystallization] & Talents[Prodigy III, Flexible II])
Remove Incompatible Attributes? Y/N
I paused. If this worked the way it sounded like, then simply removing these listed skills would let the rest of my status repair itself.
But why these ones?
Flexible and Finesse Fighting were whatever; it didn¡¯t really hurt me to remove it. Other than the fact that removing it would really hurt. But the other two, Prodigy and Mana Crystallization, those ones were more directly beneficial.
I mean, losing the effect of Eidetic Memory sucks and I got rid of that; I¡¯m just making excuses to not do it. But what I want to know is, why these ones? What¡¯s different about them?
There was, of course, no way for me to learn what the difference was. But that didn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t guess. Based on Aaron¡¯s theory, which I agreed with, my problem was being caused by my body having attempted to incorporate my Skills and Talents into my biology. The error message was telling me that these attributes were incompatible now because of that.
Mana Crystallization and Flexible make sense. Both of those changed how my body worked, so if my regular body now includes those effects I can see how there might be an issue. But Prodigy¡ unless, unless it¡¯s the attribute improvement?
The reason I had first taken Prodigy back before knowing this wasn¡¯t a game, the reason had been to acquire the broken bonuses to my attribute scores.
Is that what it is? No. The attributes are layered on top of my base abilities, they don¡¯t quantify them; I¡¯ve known that for a while.
Whatever the case, I was going to say yes. Just not now; the doctor had a point about me needing to rest. To say nothing of the fact that Edith would be absolutely livid if I turned around and did it again right after she told me what she did.
Then, the Implanted Seedling thing. Where in the hell did that 10% come from¡?
I thought about the issue for some time and eventually arrived at the conclusion that it was from [Eidetic Memory]. Though thinking about it was painful, there had been a stream of information the instant I opted to remove the skill, and the pain whited out everything else. Part of that had seemed to imply that the talent hadn¡¯t been removed and instead repurposed. Retargeted? The point was it had not been removed.
It stood to reason then, that the talent might have been dissolved back into energy or raw data, and that then fed into the seedling as though it were experience. Once I removed the remaining three roadblocks. From there, my status would hopefully be able to auto repair.
It¡¯s the twelfth month now, so we have around five weeks left until the snow begins to melt. Now that I know I probably won¡¯t go into a coma, I can remove my remaining skills at any point between now and then¡ though, I really don¡¯t want to¡ If I ever see Sitri then, I think I might actually apologize for doing that to her¡
With a very loose plan in mind, I decided it was high time to actually do what Sasha thought I was doing. Readjusting my position slightly, I fell into a fitful sleep.
6-12 A Blade In The Dark
Stahlia Seventeen Years Old, Third Month of 949
Looking at my status screen, I sighed.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 115
Name/Age: Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, 16
Gender: Female
Class/Level:Custom Class, 20 | C???u??s?????t???o???m?? ??C????l????a?s????s????,? ??4 Experience: 2180/38000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant])
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Implanted Seed: Progress 66.89%
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
Fighting Style: Shadow Blade* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/5: [Browse Talents] [], [], Stealth V*, Charm Resistance III*, [], || Monster Handling III*, ?Dagger Fighting V*, ?Sword Fighting II*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemy Correction IV*, Teaching II*,?Mana Efficiency III*, Fire Magic III*, Water Magic II*, Ear?t?h M?agic I?I?*?,? Wi?n?d M?agic ?I?I*, I?ce? ?Mag?ic VI?*?, Wi?n?te?r? Magi?c ?I,?
Skills 5/5: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features], []. Blue Blooded*, Kinetic Perception*, [], || Language Proficiency[Central(human)]*,Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*,
Talents Experience: [+]
Auto Repair In Progress: [85%]
I had hoped that it would have finished repairing by now; a week after the first session, I¡¯d tried again with the intention of removing the remaining offending skills and talents. The second time had been far less painful than the first, so much so that it was actually kind of anti-climactic. Though following that, Edith refused to talk to me for a week unless I ordered it. She had come around in the interim, but at that moment I had thought I might have lost my friend and been really upset and irritable.
The only assumption I could make in that regard was that it had something to do with how my Divine Authority was no longer corrupted. That didn¡¯t mean it didn¡¯t hurt like hell, but it was a lot closer to what I remembered from when I was in Sitri¡¯s head. Once that had been taken care of, the auto-repair thing had kicked off. Though, the rate at which it was making progress was quite slow.
I¡¯d really like to know if Adroni knew the auto repair wasn¡¯t going to work, or if they didn¡¯t realize there was a problem¡ There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll ever get an answer to that though.
Otherwise, very little headway had been made. The deal with Aaron was working out, and we now received regular reports from the adventurers. But there was as of yet no information regarding how the undead had been created. Other than Aaron and Ferdinand¡¯s shared opinion that the demons were responsible, but that much was obvious given that they¡¯d been working with the Shadows.
And so here I am.
My hand closed tightly around the blade strapped to my waist; I was actually not wearing a dress for once. Instead, I was wearing clothes similar to what I had worn when working with Jacqueline - what felt like so many years ago. It was, after all, time to put my money where my mouth was; Rupert had determined that Duke Lawrence should be removed from the board. In keeping with our plan, it fell to either me or Ferdinand to carry that out. I had chosen to do it myself.
The plan as it were, was for Duke Lawrence to be assassinated in his battlefield camp. Each of the dukes loyal to Rupert had been tasked with taking a specific city from Prince Antonio¡¯s faction, and the troops had spent the better part of the last month maneuvering themselves into position following the delivery of Rupert¡¯s ultimatum of surrender to Prince Antonio. That Ultimatum that had gone unanswered.
The Lawrence duchy was not going to be destroyed; the family name and holdings would be passed to Lady Lawrence and then inherited by one of her children. blame for the assassination would fall on Antonio¡¯s shoulders and be used to rally the remaining holdouts among the late second prince¡¯s faction. If everything went to plan. What scared me and caused hesitation was not the thought that it might not go to plan, but rather the knowledge that I thought this was a good plan.
It would solve the issues I was having with the man; having lost the head, the family would not be able to afford to marry their daughter down to my own family. After all, despite my own status, we were only a barony. His death though, would unite the faction under Rupert¡¯s banner and remove a potential threat in the upcoming war. A harsh plan to be sure, but one that did make some degree of sense.
Though if I could still cast Anti-Army magic we could simply end this now¡
That was probably the biggest loss out of all my skills and talents. Without Eidetic memory, I had not been able to remember the translations of all the words to the magic chanting language. Now that I had removed the talent, that information was seemingly lost forever; it felt like I¡¯d removed a hard drive. All the relevant files were gone. Not even in the recycle bin, just gone.
That being what it was, things weren¡¯t a total loss. I did still know a few words, the more common ones like the names of the various magic elements, and had even figured out a couple more; that proved that I could still translate the language. But it would be a lot harder than the first time around.
After considering what I¡¯d just thought for a moment, I shook my head. I was actually lamenting the fact that I wasn¡¯t able to kill hundreds of people to distract myself from the fact that I was about to kill one person.
¡°You can still back out.¡± Ferdinand¡¯s voice cut in and I turned to face him.
¡°No, I will do it myself; the fact remains that no matter how minuscule, my own issues with the man fed into Rupert¡¯s decision-making process. I am modestly responsible for the conclusion he reached.¡±
Ferdinand would be slipping into the city to plant evidence that could then be ¡°discovered¡± when our forces took the city, while I dealt with the assassination itself. Like he pointed out, he was more than capable of doing everything himself, but that did not matter to me. In a sense, my insistence on doing it myself was psychological.
Even after telling myself that I can do it if I have to, I¡¯m still hesitant. I need to put myself in a place where I have to commit, or I¡¯m worried that I would eventually get Rosial involved.
¡°Then, move when you are ready. For what it is worth, I do agree that you should draw the first blood yourself.¡± Having said his piece, Ferdinand departed from the hilltop we were occupying. A few moments later, he seemingly melted away into the dim twilight. My own ¡°adventure¡± wouldn¡¯t start for a few more hours. Not until the sun was fully set.
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Not that I doubted my own ability, but the fact of the matter was that I was low leveled. Though my stealth talent was rather high compared to what it should be for someone my level. But I had never actually snuck through a camp filled with people who would wonder what the hell I was doing, and possibly even kill me on sight.
No, anyone who saw me here would actually have to die. There wouldn¡¯t be any easy ways out of it like with Lady Lester and her maid. It would be me who had to do it as well. Before they had a chance to tell anyone I had been seen.
Once we fabricate the miracle in another few months, I won¡¯t be able to do this type of work so easily¡ I¡¯ll need to get some more assassins before then¡
My bad habit was kicking in again; I was overthinking things. Trying to psyche myself up, to talk myself through the logic and the reasoning behind what was going to happen tonight.
And it is going to happen. Even if I don¡¯t do it, Ferdinand will. There¡¯s no situation where this doesn¡¯t happen. Logically, I know it¡¯s the right play. Morally, no way in hell. That¡¯s why I need to do it myself, right?
It was a question that would never have a satisfying answer, but one that I would probably torture myself with for the foreseeable future. Even knowing that was completely unproductive.
God, I sound like a classic protagonist type. That¡¯s good though, I think. I¡¯ve always told myself that killing should never become easy.
The sun was dipping below the horizon now, meaning that it was finally time to go. I took one last look at the camp arrayed below me and then set off towards it. It was within sight of the city, but specifically not set up in such a way as to be a siege; the idea was to allow the citizens the chance to evacuate before hostilities commenced. What with the demon war coming next year, we could not afford to have our own citizens against us.
Though we won¡¯t be able to help but have some resentment after conducting several sieges that will assuredly disturb those living in the cities and towns, we can minimize it. At least, that¡¯s what Rupert is hoping.
Personally, I had my doubts about how effective the gesture would be, though I wouldn¡¯t go about sharing them as such. I didn¡¯t know the first thing about managing a population, having not received any training in regards to the subject. Besides that, despite what my status might lead someone to believe, charisma was my dump stat.
I don¡¯t mind following his lead in matters of governance, especially now that he¡¯s finally explaining his reasoning to me fully.
Once the demon war started, I¡¯d be able to stop pretending to be totally innocent and compassionate. Though if public perception of me swung too far in the other direction, towards violent and powerful, that would present its own issues. The fact of the matter was, Rupert had married me for my capabilities. Those capabilities were not in politics.
Haaa¡ The matter at hand then. Duke Cresden von Lawrence. Last time he was appraised was a little over a decade ago, at which time he was around level forty. His class is nothing special, just twenty levels in Librarian, ten levels in Researcher, and ten levels in Alchemist.
Finding out that last one had actually made me laugh out loud. If he had been less antagonistic, we might have actually gotten along. Though, were that the case then killing him would be a lot harder.
Though, it¡¯s possible that Rupert would have picked a different method of uniting the nobles if that was the case. Hell, me being on good terms with their leader might have gone a long way to blunting a lot of the edge the remaining holdouts have.
Fretting over what-ifs and alternate timelines wouldn¡¯t do me any good, so I returned to my mental review. It was possible that Duke Lawrence had received a combat class in the past decade, but we didn¡¯t have any intel on that. If he had, it would be some time of magic caster based on the classes he already had. Regardless, if things went to plan it wouldn¡¯t be an issue; he would die in his sleep.
Getting past the perimeter was shockingly easy. Between the effects of [Shadow Blade Style] and my [Stealth V], the perimeter guards didn¡¯t even blink as I slipped through a gap in their watch. It almost felt like my armor was overkill. True invisibility was apparently nearly impossible to achieve with a magic tool, but simple illusions were doable.
For example, my ring caused anyone who saw me to perceive a younger version instead. The assassin armor I now wore had a similar effect, where anyone who saw me would see a diffuse shadow in the vague shape of a human instead. Both effects would be broken by anyone who knew what they were really seeing, but if that happened here then I would have bigger concerns. Not that I was actually wearing the ring at the moment.
Just through the entrance area of the camp, I froze still. The shadow of a tent being cast by a flickering fire on the opposite side concealed me in deeper darkness than the surrounding night. As for what had halted my advance through the camp, that would be the pair of knights doing a patrol. Neither of them saw me, but their appearance was curious.
They aren¡¯t Duke Lawrence¡¯s knights. Those crests belong to the royal family; They¡¯re Rupert¡¯s knights.
Each of the three loyalist armies had been given a small detachment of knights directly loyal to the royal family. The real question was what this pair was doing on patrol; it was my understanding that these were supposed to be arrayed as an advance force in the event that any Febligi knights tried something. That was the one advantage that Antonio had for which our side lacked any real answer.
The Febligi Duchy was the most martially inclined of the four, and their knights stood above the ones loyal to the other three. They might even be more skilled than the royal knights, but they were the best answer we had all the same.
I¡¯ll need to report that to Rupert and Henrake so they can determine if it means anything.
It was highly likely that I was making a big deal out of nothing, but I wasn¡¯t about to take any chances given the stakes involved. Thankfully for my nerves, slipping through the rest of the camp proved completely uneventful; the combination of my now-fixed talent and fighting style combined with the armor I¡¯d been given was extremely potent, to say the least. Still, I imagine that someone like Jacqueline wouldn¡¯t have had any issues at all. She¡¯d probably have been able to walk right up to the duke¡¯s tent in broad daylight.
Pausing behind the tent, my eyes darted around to confirm that I was in fact alone and well concealed. Once assured of that, I removed a small scroll and began to read what was written on it in a low voice. This was a rather high-tier spell, one specialized in detecting barriers and alarms. None of my talents would allow me to skip the chant for it, and I hadn¡¯t been able to remember the totality without my [Eidetic Memory]. I was close, but still worried that my nerves would make me forget or skip a key phrase and botch it. The solution had been to simply write it down; it wasn¡¯t like I¡¯d be using it in combat or anything.
¡°¡And ##### me #######. [Pass ####### A #####]¡± After almost a full five minutes of whispered recitation, there was a very faint glow that enveloped my body for an instant before fading. A few tense seconds passed in which I confirmed that nobody had seen it before I felt confident enough to proceed.
Enveloped in the layer of magic as I was, it should be possible to enter the tent without triggering any of its alarms. Of course, the fact that this spell existed meant that there were countermeasures to it, so nothing could be that simple. But like all countermeasures, there were countermeasures to the countermeasures. For most people, they would now use a magic tool or another spell to slip past those enchantments.
That was not what I did. Most countermeasures beyond this point relied on detecting the flow of a person¡¯s mana. They were incredibly precise, but there was a way they could be fooled that took advantage of that precision. Focusing inwards, I grabbed hold of my own mana and activated my divine eyes. This revealed the remaining countermeasure; a barrier that would trigger an alarm if it was cut.
Drawing my dagger, I made a small incision in the back of the tent. The cut was rather meandering and awkward on account of having to weave around the barrier¡¯s pattern, but that just meant it took a bit longer to make. Slipping inside the tent, I took a few steps forward and released my mana flow. Freed, it began to course around my body once more and I felt the sensation as though I¡¯d just emerged from being deep underwater to take a breath.
Haa¡ Well, only one thing left to do.
I had emerged into the common room of the tent, which was divided into two segments; the common area which held a large table, as well as the sleeping area that was off to one side and opposite the front entrance. I¡¯d have liked to enter directly into the sleeping area, but the barrier¡¯s positioning had precluded that option. That said, it was a quick walk from here to there.
Passing into the room, my eyes beheld the rather impressively large bed with the lump that was Duke Lawrence sleeping in the middle. Between the table and now this, if it wasn¡¯t for the cloth walls then I would have thought we were in a noble¡¯s manor instead of a military camp.
And I¡¯ll have to get to the middle of the bed somehow, without waking him up.
Quickly confirming the room was still undisturbed, I began chanting. This spell was much shorter than the last one I¡¯d used, and one I had memorized the chant to, ¡°Oh Wind, #### me in your ###### #####, with your #### ##### my ##### #### ##### who ###### ###### ##### afar. [Silence]¡±
The spell was incredibly rudimentary, but could be confidently used here because it was commonly used by nobles for exactly that simplicity; the security barriers that detected spells should be set up to ignore this one. Or so we had thought. The spell did take effect but at the same time an alarm began to blare. If I had been more cold-hearted, more committed, I might have been able to prevent what happened next. With a jump, Duke Lawrence shot upright in bed. Following a furtive look around the room, he managed to spot me; like the novice I was, I had let the sudden alarm startle me. My stealth talent had momentarily lapsed.
His eyes went wide briefly, then, to my surprise, he began to laugh, ¡°Ha. So, he actually sent you to do his dirty work, the damn coward.¡±
6-13 Murder at Midnight
Duke Lawrence got up, or more accurately, he jumped out of the bed. After a quick look around the room, he saw me. There was a brief expression of bewildered confusion and he blinked several times before shaking his head, ¡°Ha. So, he actually sent you to do his dirty work, the damn coward.¡±
After saying his piece, he did nothing more. He made no move to defend himself. He did not attempt to call the guards outside his tent nor any of the knights. As the seconds dragged on, it became increasingly obvious that he had no intention of doing more.
But why can¡¯t I move?
There wasn¡¯t any pressure or anything. Duke Lawrence¡¯s stare wasn¡¯t even particularly uncomfortable. Rather than feeling appraising or disparaging as it had before, it simply felt¡ pitying. As soon as that emotion registered I felt my gut twist in anger.
¡°No. I chose to be here.¡± There was little use in maintaining any pretense about my identity; he had clearly figured it out and it wasn¡¯t like he was going to live much longer in any case.
¡°Did you really? Well, it would appear that I have misjudged you.¡±
He did not sound particularly upset or surprised, but he was a duke. It was very likely that whatever emotion he may actually be feeling at this moment was well buried.
I should just kill him and get out of here. This is definitely some kind of act to buy time or something along those lines.
While I had said that, I could not bring myself to move. This whole situation was just weird and, combined with my slight misgivings and hesitations, paralyzing.
¡°Well? I assume you are here to kill me and foist the blame to those in the city. Or have I misjudged his highness as well?¡± The way Duke Lawrence¡¯s eyes narrowed at the mention of Rupert¡¯s title, something about it was curious.
He wasn¡¯t angry, more¡ resigned?
¡°¡I¡¯ll bite. How have you come to those conclusions, and what do you mean about misjudging me?¡± This really was not a good idea. I was going to kill him. Now that I¡¯d come this far, there was no variation of this meeting where Duke Lawrence did not die tonight. Talking to him now would only cause the action to weigh heavier on me later. It was not without some degree of hesitation that I relaxed my stance.
Hesitation that my would-be victim did not miss, ¡°I see. So you are not yet committed? Then, why did you come here tonight?¡±
Ah. This is just like with Lady Lester. I¡¯ve gone and let him start running verbal circles around me.
This was simply confirmation that he had no way to beat me. If he tried to call for help, I would obviously be more than able to finish him off before they arrived. If he tried to fight me then he would lose. In absence of any other option, he had turned to words.
And like an idiot, I fell right in.
A mistake that was easily rectifiable. Almost preternaturally, I fell back into my ready stance. This man¡¯s death was something that would help with Rupert¡¯s goals and by extension my own. He was no fool though, and managed to pick up on the shift in my demeanor instantly.
¡°I see. Well, sadly, I am happily married, so I would not have you enter my bed.¡± Half grinning at his own joke, Duke Lawrence made for the edge and then adjusted himself into a seated position with his hands folded peacefully.
That was the first time anyone had made a joke like that at my expense and, considering the circumstance, it was something I was wholly unprepared for.
¡°E-excuse you!?¡±
¡°Ah, that was inappropriate of me, you are an engaged woman after all. My apologies, Princess Ris.¡±
Right, of course, he figured out that me and Rupert already married.
The way he¡¯d emphasized certain words left little doubt in my mind at least. At this point, it wasn¡¯t all that surprising. Pretty much everyone who had seen me without the illusion active had figured out that Rupert and I were already married. Not that going out of my way to confirm or deny his assumptions would do me any good in this instance.
He continued in a manner that indicated he didn¡¯t actually care if I confirmed it or not.
¡°It would seem that my imminent death has loosed my lips a bit more than would normally be acceptable¡ I would have liked to see my children grow up and start their own families¡¡± His voice trailed off wistfully before picking up with a shrug, ¡°But, in the end, it is simply not in the cards. Do use my death well.¡±
¡°¡For what it is worth, your family will be spared. In fact, they will be rather well compensated for your loss.¡± He was still playing word games with me. I knew that. But bringing up his own family just wasn¡¯t fair. Given my own motivations, how could I not answer him after he brought up something like that?
For the briefest of moments, his mask flickered and a small glint of genuine relief showed through, ¡°I see. It feels odd to profess my thanks to the person who is going to kill me, but you have my gratitude.¡±
He stood then, and moved towards a small cabinet. The thought that he might be making some desperate gamble for his life did not occur to me. Nor did the notion that I should simply stab him and be done with all this. For better or worse, and likely worse, he had managed to get me curious.
¡°Alright. Lord Lawrence, why are you willing to die?¡±
Everything about this just didn¡¯t make sense to me. Despite the risk in getting to know him, at this point I couldn¡¯t do anything else.
¡°I am not.¡± His answer was immediate, straightforward, and completely at odds with his actions thus far. After a short pause, in which he removed a bottle of wine from the cabinet, he continued, ¡°I am sure, that any criminal sentenced to death is unwilling to die. I have simply accepted that I am going to. I have accepted that fact since His Highness assigned me to this post. The only question, then, was in whose hand would be the blade. I had not expected yours.¡±
¡°That was why there was an alarm set to trigger on the [Silence] spell, then.¡± It made sense now that he said outright that he had known, or at least suspected, that an assassin was coming. Nobles used the [Silence] spell far too frequently and so specifically excluded it from the alarms their quarters invariably had. Besides the fact that once it was cast the alarm would not easily be able to alert their guards or knights.
¡°Yes. I was curious; would Lord Ferdinand be the one? Or had a new crop of assassins been raised already? I wanted to know who His Highness would send if only to satisfy my own curiosity. But his wife? That was, truly, unexpected.¡±
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I see we¡¯re dropping the pretense then. Or maybe he¡¯s being more direct since I didn¡¯t react the last time he referenced my marriage.
There was also the little matter of him basically saying he knew about the old Order of Shadows, but that could easily be attributed to his station as a duke. Not that either matter was something I had any inclination to respond to. Duke Lawrence uncorked the bottle and poured a single glass.
¡°Please do not take me for a rude host, but I doubt you would trust anything I offered. Besides, this is a rather sentimental bottle for me.¡± After swirling the glass for a few moments, he took a sip, ¡°May I ask you a question this time?¡±
At this point, I had become fully invested and so indicated that he may, ¡°Go ahead.¡±
¡°It is clear to me that I angered you with my proposal. Why?¡±
That¡¯s what he wants to know? Why I was angry that he was trying to make my brother into a political pawn? Or is this a test? Trying to figure out where I stand on the matter of killing him.
¡°Why was I upset by that? Are you serious? Why would I not have been upset? My brother is not even six years old yet; he does not need a betrothal, especially one where he would be little more than a hostage or tool.¡± One might expect that getting something like that off my chest would cause me to start shouting, but I was instead strangely calm. In fact, saying it out loud like that almost made me question why I had become so angry in the first place. Almost.
My somewhat cold response did not seem to upset Duke Lawrence, who merely nodded, ¡°I see. Yes, I might have guessed at that given how you were not raised a noble but became one later. I gambled that you might have a more high-minded opinion seeing your relation to my predecessor but was clearly mistaken. In the end, it was but one last gambit that fell through.¡±
He¡¯s baiting me by dragging out my family¡¯s past status, but I might as well bite. If this was a gambit, he might have other plans in store.
That was my excuse at least but, in reality, it was mostly curiosity that drove me, ¡°What do you mean ¡®one last gambit¡¯?¡±
He took a sip of his wine and rolled it around his tongue before responding, ¡°Well, seeing as I am already going to die, I may as well tell you. Perhaps the knowledge will prove useful¡ From the moment my liege, His Highness, Percival von Drakas was killed, I knew that my days were likely numbered. His Highness the third prince would not suffer a potential political threat like myself.¡±
¡That explains the marriage proposal, I think. If he tied his family to mine, then Rupert might have hesitated¡?
¡°As you might have guessed, the politics of this country are a sort of game played amongst the royal children. It simply happens that my own bet lost.¡±
¡°Then why move to Ru, Prince Rupert¡¯s side? You could have sided with Prince Antonio and Duke Febligi.¡±
He grimaced and shook his head, ¡°No, His Highness the first prince is not an option and I suspect even Lord Febligi knows this. That man¡¯s duty to his liege has eclipsed his duty to his kingdom. His high¡ Oh to hell with it. Rupert¡¯s nature is that of a snake, nearly a demon himself. He will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. A drawn-out civil war is the last thing this country needs. Not now.¡±
Silence reigned. There had been a lot of bitterness wrapped up in that, but also conviction. Duke Lawrence really did believe that what he was saying was the truth.
But he doesn¡¯t know everything. Rupert is, we¡¯re doing all of this because it¡¯s what we need to do. Because we have more information than you, we¡¯ve arrived at a different conclusion¡
¡°Lord Lawrence, there is one thing you¡¯ve mistaken still.¡±
He had finished his wine while the silence still filled the room, and moved to sit at the edge of the bed. Now, he turned to look me in the eye, ¡°And what is that?¡±
¡°You mean to plant a seed of doubt, to try and bring me to question my own allegiance. You are mistaken in the assumption that I am not already aware of Rupert¡¯s nature, and my own. Make no mistake; I chose to be the one to come tonight. I was not ordered.¡±
¡°Then, this as well is my loss. May the gods protect my kingdom.¡±
There wasn¡¯t really anything I could say in response to that. He had seemingly come to his own conclusions and no matter what might be said by me, those were not likely to change. It would not matter either, since I was supposed to kill him. My hand palmed the knife. It lacked the coating of Grave Oil the previous assassins of the kingdoms had used.
Ferdinand had offered to provide me some, but if I really had wanted it then I was more than capable of making it for myself. That stuff was¡ After what had happened to Jacqueline, the thought of using it again made my stomach churn. A knife could kill well enough on its own, without such a terrible poison. Not that the advantages of such a potent toxin could be denied. It was nothing if not effective.
There isn¡¯t much point in me waiting any longer¡ I need to get this over with, before I really begin to question myself¡ I don¡¯t regret hearing him out, but I can¡¯t let his words get to me. I can¡¯t afford that.
I drew the dagger and took a step towards where he was sitting, ¡°Well, for whatever it is worth; I am sorry. If things had gone a bit differently then we might have been allies.¡±
Gods, I sound so cliche, but I do mean it. We might have gotten off on the wrong foot, but assuming I can take his words at face value¡
That was a really big if though. Still, it bore mentioning how similar he was to both Rupert and myself. At the end of the day, both he and Rupert only wanted what each thought was best for the kingdom. The only difference was the information they had, and the methods. Then upon his loss, Duke Lawrence¡¯s first thought had been how he had lead his family to destruction.
There had been genuine relief when I¡¯d informed him that his family was going to be spared. That much had not been an act. Like me, he genuinely cared for them. The only difference was the degree to which that was the case. He was right too; if I had been raised a noble, then my opinions might have been different.
I had taken several steps towards him while thinking, but as of yet he had not moved nor had he responded, ¡°Duke Lawrence, do you have any last words?¡±
Such a courtesy was the least I could afford him now. But there was no response.
¡°Duke Lawrence?¡±
His head rolled to the side, and his body slumped forward. With a start, I realized he was not breathing. A quick look around the room quickly revealed the most likely culprit; the bottle of wine from earlier sitting on the small end table.
He¡ poisoned himself? Why? To save me the trouble? Fat chance.
A moment later, it hit me, ¡°Ah¡¡±
Rupert had killed the Second Prince using poisoned wine. If I had to guess, this bottle was probably the same label. During the whole conversation as well, Duke Lawrence had not bothered to hide the fact that he knew Rupert was responsible. Sure, he hadn¡¯t gone out of his way to directly say it, but the way he had been talking it was pretty clear that he knew.
Then, why not go public with the information..? He could have ruined us.
I shut my eyes and shook my head. That wasn¡¯t important now. I would bring it up with Rupert and Ferdinand later. For now, my mission was still incomplete. His being dead was all well and good, but it couldn¡¯t be from poison. Getting to work, a quick stab from my dagger pierced through his chest and punctured his heart. Even if he was already dead, the sensation of rending flesh was still present.
Not that it was foreign to me, but this was the first time I had felt it from someone who was both a human and not actively trying to harm me. Something about that somehow made it feel¡ different. But once again, I was distracting myself; there were more important things to deal with. Anyone with any rudimentary knowledge would be able to tell the wound was post-mortem, but there were ways of obfuscating that.
Enhancing myself, I moved him quickly back into a sleeping position near the side of the bed. It would look a bit awkward, but moving him back to the middle would take too much time. Already I had been here far longer than was wise.
Stepping back, I took a moment to verify my various stealth effects, then stretched out my hands, ¡°[Immolate]¡±
The spell I talent cast was one afforded to me by my now repaired level three fire magic talent. It was also the first spell in that talent that was actually useful. Gouts of white-hot flame jumped from my hands in a sort of flame thrower, catching and igniting whatever they hit. Not that they hit much; the range of this spell was absolutely horrible, and it burned through mana like nothing else.
But it was enough. The body, the tent, and the wine would not survive intact and any evidence of poisoning would be hidden. Of course some blood tests might reveal the truth, but I, through Ferdinand would be the one in charge of the investigation. It would now be trivial to hide the truth. Silence did not block light, so the fact that something had gone wrong was now abundantly obvious to the patrolling knights and soldiers. Before any of them had a chance to barge in, I stole away.
The city would get one more day while our side sorted out this mess. Then it would fall.
6-14 Eve of Battle
My belief that it would take only a day for the investigation to be completed had been in error, and the forces assigned to Duke Lawrence wound up stalling for almost a week. Of course, there wasn¡¯t much risk of the truth coming out in this interim; I controlled the narrative after all. Or at least people working for me did.
That said, it was causing a bit of a hold-up with the advance. Duke Claurence, Duke Lester, and Commander Henrake¡¯s armies had each taken their assigned areas and were converging on Duke Febligi¡¯s own. That had been mildly surprising to me, as I had expected city sieges to take a lot more time.
¡°Yes, but Duke Febligi is no fool; it appears that knowing the difference in the scale of our forces, each location had only a token defense force. Even then, each surrendered far more quickly than they could have held out for. We expect there will be much more resistance at the rebel¡¯s capital, where the bulk of their troops should be gathered.¡±
Commander Henrake was presently answering my questions about the ongoing situation, though his answers were largely derived from reports I¡¯d already seen. Not that he knew that of course. That said, this was actually rather useful; even with access to all of the reports and numbers, I did not understand much of the strategic decisions. Being able to ask the army¡¯s command staff directly was one of the perks of my position.
As for what I was doing here in the first place, Rupert had made arrangements for me to visit the front as part of Operation Sacrilegious. That was what we had termed our ploy to fake a miracle. Though, given my own questionable and tenuous relationship with the gods, Gustav had pointed out that it might not be much of a fake. Regardless, I didn¡¯t care much for the semantics.
¡°Though, if we were permitted to use your own abilities, things would go much easier.¡±
A grimace flashed briefly across my face and I shook my head, ¡°I am sorry, Commander, but I will not.¡±
That had not been the first time he had hinted that I should directly take part in the siege, nor was it likely to be the last. It had been the most direct though.
¡°My lady, with all due respect, if you would¡¡±
¡°I said I will not. If I got involved, then the kingdom¡¯s people living in the city¡ No. I will not cast that spell or any like it. Please, stop asking me.¡±
He bowed his head, ¡°My apologies, I simply worry about how many of the kingdom¡¯s loyal knights will die in the initial assault and while fighting in the streets. We might outnumber them, but the rebel¡¯s own knights are Febligi. They have us beat in quality by a wide margin.¡±
¡Yea, I know. And if it was within my ability still, I might actually consider casting Anti-Army magic; I could probably have tweaked the spell to selectively target only the enemy soldiers and knights, or restricted its range to only the Febligi estate. But it isn¡¯t within my ability anymore, and even if it was, doing it would completely shatter my public image as a merciful if slightly na?ve girl.
Everyone knew generally how powerful I was, the people in charge to a greater degree. I had gone toe to toe with Count Francois, and rumors of how I¡¯d dealt with the goblins had spread. It made sense that Henrake would seek to use me as an asset to mitigate our side¡¯s casualties in the upcoming battle. But something that both Rupert and Ferdinand had stressed to me was that I could not take part in any big way.
Using my power against an external enemy was one thing. But using it against rebels would send completely the wrong message to our own loyal nobles; ¡°Fall in line, or be eradicated.¡± It would be better if they continued to view me as overall compassionate. Rupert could carry a big stick while I walked softly. The analogy didn¡¯t quite work, but it was close enough. Likewise, things were not as dire as Henrake was making out.
Though it was true that the Febligi¡¯s knights and soldiers were more capable than our own, it was down to personal combat experience. Within the confines of the System, the opposing force and our own were rather similar on an overall level. To that end, we had other areas of expertise to leverage. Duke Claurence¡¯s army tended to be more resilient, with an above-average number of healers, and would head the assault on the walls. Duke Lester¡¯s army had a rather large number of Earth Mages and was already constructing tunnels that inched towards the enemy¡¯s sewer system. The late Duke Lawrence¡¯s army was not particularly specialized but would make for an excellent reinforcement once one of the others created a breach.
I shook my head, ¡°Then, should we not simply have the late Duke Lawrence¡¯s forces advance and force that surrender? The ongoing investigation seems a waste of time; who else would benefit from the assassination of one of our generals, if not Prince Antonio?¡±
Even I, with my lack of strategic knowledge, could tell that having another duchy¡¯s worth of troops would be beneficial to help offset the imbalance. But Duke Lawrence¡¯s forces had been permitted to sit idle while investigating my handiwork. Nominally, Henrake outranked the dukes when it came to matters of strategy; it was within his authority¡¯s purview to force the late duke¡¯s forces to move.
¡°My lady, with all due respect, the political fallout of that course of action would be¡¡±
He trailed off and turned away from me to bow to Rupert who had just arrived. A moment later, I performed my own greeting, using language that indicated it had been some time since we last saw each other. Another farce, as I had seen him less than three days prior while making my initial report on the outcome of the assassination.
¡°No, Henrake.¡± Rupert waved off the greetings midway through, ¡°Order the army to take the city. If they have not found any traces of the culprit after a week, then they are unlikely to. There is no point in spending any more time on this¡ I will deal with the nobles myself if they protest. Stahlia, my apologies for the delay, I trust that everything has gone well?¡±
Sensing that he had been dismissed Henrake bowed quickly before departing, leaving me with the newly arrived Rupert. Gustav had remained behind to tend to his duties as an instructor marking this as one of the rather rare instances of me and Rupert being alone with each other.
¡°That is quite all right, and things have been going rather well¡ all things considered.¡±
¡°How have things been with that?¡±
He was being deliberately vague as a measure against anyone listening in; casting Silence in this situation was not an option. Context though, made it easy to figure out what he was getting at.
¡°There are no immediate problems.¡±
Best to keep my own answer vague. Just let him know that there is a potential future problem.
That problem being the damn wine bottle. I had somewhat brashly assumed it would be destroyed by the fire. While the label had burned off, the bottle itself had survived. In and of itself not an issue, but for one rather dedicated investigator who had noted that Duke Lawrence did not drink wine. Something I had completely overlooked at the moment. That said, the situation was quite easily containable, and Ferdinand agreed that it was unlikely to present an immediate issue.
Rupert¡¯s eyes narrowed for a moment, signaling that he had picked up on my subtext, ¡°I see. What about the other matter?¡±
¡°Henrake has agreed to my request, I will make my prayer in three days.¡±
¡°Excellent¡ Are you nervous* at all? Considering the number of people.¡±
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Eh? Is that some actual concern there? Don¡¯t worry, I wouldn¡¯t have suggested doing something like this if I couldn¡¯t handle it.
Our latest plan required me to put on a bit of a show before a large number of witnesses, and we had chosen to use the eve of battle for the stage. Fortunately, I had gotten fairly good at controlling my nerves; it would not be comfortable, but neither would it be debilitating. The only question remaining for both of us was if we would get away with it. Fooling the onlookers should be fairly easy, fooling the church presented more of a problem.
That was why I had no intention of trying.
¡°Did the church agree?¡±
Rupert shook his head, ¡°No. I presented your plan to our mutual acquaintance. He did agree to abstain, but they will not be complicit.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Thank you. I know more than anyone how big of a risk this will be. Probably, the biggest risk we have taken so far.¡±
It made sense that the Cardinal did not want to go along with what he had been asked; to make a false oracle. That being said, the fact that he had agreed to abstain would be more than enough. It meant that, even if the church would not acknowledge me, they also would not go out of their way to declare me a heretic or some other rash course of action.
Even though what I¡¯m doing is basically the definition of heretical.
In short, our plan was for me to cast a miracle and then say the gods did it. Leveraging my public reputation as an alleged bleeding heart, I was going to condemn the rebels within the city for the terrorist attack in the capital. Following that, I would say a few things about how much it hurt, especially after my previous appeal to Rupert for them to be shown leniency. Then, while shedding false tears, I would pray to the gods for strength.
Strength to do what needed to be done and secure the future of the kingdom. There would be a light show, and I would disable my illusion in front of everyone. The ideal outcome came in several parts. Firstly and also guaranteed, would be that I no longer needed to worry about the illusion being seen through. Secondly, and also guaranteed, this would avoid Rupert and myself needing to jump through hoops when the demon war started; I would be old enough to act the part of Queen.
Lastly, though this one was only my personal hope, the defenders would perceive that the gods themselves were on our side. If they could be persuaded to surrender now then, even at this late hour, we could avoid losing more manpower than was necessary. It was admittedly a big if though since Sitri had who knows how long to poison their minds. Not to mention the fact that there might be even more demons.
¡°Then, there should not be any problems. All of the pieces are in place.¡±
The church staying out of things solves that issue; the gods probably won¡¯t get involved with me just yet. My actions here are in their favor, and against the demons. Plus, my rulebreaker skill protects me from any direct influences.
The most they would be able to do was sic their pawns after me. Unlike the demon¡¯s Hell Kings, the gods could not so easily influence the mortal world. According to Aaron, he was the extreme exception; one of the rules dictated that the gods could not simply use their authorities to interfere in events. Though that didn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t try and cheat if they thought they could get away with it. I had already seen some of that behavior from them when Mortis tried to make me kill myself going against Sitri the first time.
Sitri¡ you¡¯re here as well, as far as I¡¯m aware¡ At least you were back when Ferris defected.
¡°Stahlia?¡±
I shook my head, ¡°My apologies; I was beginning to let my thoughts run away again.¡±
Rupert frowned, ¡°Based on your expression, I think I could guess what direction they were heading. We have intelligence placing Count Francois across the border; he is not anywhere near here.¡±
¡°No, not quite. I was thinking about his accomplice. We don¡¯t know nearly enough.¡±
¡°I could have the spies look into it if it would set your mind at ease?¡±
¡! You!
He was grinning at me now, in a way that indicated that he was genuinely pleased with himself for that.
Fine, I¡¯ll admit it, that was sort of clever. I¡¯ll take you up on that offer I think.
¡°Thank you, that would be most appreciated.¡±
¡°Then, I need to meet properly with Lord Henrake, will you be well on your own?¡±
¡°Yes, I should be. Thank you for your concern, but the camp is not dissimilar to the atmosphere of Ris. At least, it is closer to there than to the palace.¡±
Following my assurance, Rupert bowed lightly and departed the pavilion.
Frieda took the opportunity to speak up, ¡°Seeing you now, my lady, I cannot help but think how horrible a match Dominic was for you.¡±
I shot her a slightly annoyed look then shrugged, ¡°[Silence]. It is not a question of how well we match, Rupert and I have a similar goal, that is all.¡±
Although I have to admit that getting along with him has been a lot easier recently.
That was far from developing any sort of romantic attachment; the way he had approached me and shown apparent concern just now was an act. Designed to sell the idea to those around us that we liked each other beyond being colleagues and accomplices. Any benefit to my own psyche was merely tangential to that. The fact that Frieda had been fooled was simply proof of how good an actor he was; Sasha certainly would have seen straight through it had she been here.
Speaking of Sasha, my quarters are probably set up by now. I should get something to eat and wait for Ferdinand¡¯s report.
Three days later saw me standing with Rupert, several royal knights, and a contingent of army mages. We were on a raised dais a safe distance away from and overlooking the city of Febli. Geographically, the city was built in such a way so as to only be really assaultable from one side, though this also meant that they lacked an escape route. The walls gleamed silver in the morning light indicating that, like the capital, they were reinforced and coated in Mythril as a defense against magic.
Between us and the city¡¯s outer defenses were our own knights and soldiers, each of them split according to which faction they came from with lines of the royal forces between them. Though the numbers varied somewhat each of the loyal dukes had provided around a thousand men, plus those of the lower ranking nobles of their respective factions.
All told, our own side¡¯s forces numbered somewhere in the realm of seven thousand five hundred, or nine thousand when the Royal Knights were counted. Over ten if we included beasts and monsters. The numbers continued to run through my head in a stream as a way to help me stay calm; there were a lot of eyes on me right now after all.
Breathe. It won¡¯t matter if my voice catches a bit since I¡¯ve already established myself as a bit nervous around crowds. The important thing is to not lose control of my mana.
I was standing in a very specific spot; as it turned out, faking the divine light of a miracle was rather hard. Considering that children got blessed semi-frequently at their dedications, people knew what that light looked like. This meant that we had to be exact in how we feigned it lest anyone catch on. There were a few things planned to help cover any slight mistakes, but at the end of the day, it was on me to control the trigger.
After all, I am the only person we have who can use Divine Element, so no pressure or anything.
I felt something hovering over my shoulder, ¡°Breathe.¡±
Ah, it¡¯s his hand.
Rupert was standing nearby to my left and was hovering his hand just over my shoulder; a wise decision, since if he had actually touched me I probably would have jumped from fright, or frozen again.
¡°It¡¯s nearly time to start; I would ask if you are ready, but we do not have a choice this time. Just remember, this was your idea.¡± Though he sounded more than a bit harsh, he was right. It had been my idea to do things this way.
¡°Right, I¡¯ll be fine¡ Just a bit difficult to shape the mana, is all.¡±
It was obviously an excuse but he didn¡¯t call me out, and I stepped forward to begin speaking. This was only possible because of where we had set up. The instant I had added the Divine Element to my mana, I was channeling it into a hidden magic tool built into the dais. It was a sort of battery designed to store mana and preserve its aspect outside of the body. Gustav had built it and Rupert had brought it with him.
It would discharge the mana into a light show when it was time for the¡
Ok, enough. I need to get a grip and stop letting my head get all wrapped up in tangents like that. I know what the plan is, and continuing to go over it in my head isn¡¯t going to help me at all.
One of the army¡¯s mages gave me a questioning look. I nodded at him, and he began to chant out a spell together with several of his fellows, ¡°O Wind, carry ### ###### on your ####, ###### ###### our words to ##### in distant #####, #### us the #### of ##### who ##### #####. [Sound Throw]¡±
As soon as he finished, I felt the wind shift subtly. This spell was the exact opposite of the oft-used [Silence]. Instead of muting and containing sound, it made sounds travel through the air far easier. My voice would carry out to the entire allied army and through the city beyond. Everyone who was not magically shielding themselves would be able to hear my words as though I was only a few feet from them.
I took a deep breath, switched my title to [Princess Of The Silver Dragon], and began to speak.
6-15 Miracle and Assault
I took a deep breath, switched my title to [Princess Of The Silver Dragon], and began to speak, ¡°Please¡ hear me.¡±
There had not been much noise among our troops; they were all trained soldiers preparing for a major offensive. I could not see them, but in my imagination, the interior of the city was equally as silent. In their case from the tension and fear of the impending attack. Either way, my words were carried to many various ears through the spell.
At the sound of my voice, a visible ripple ran through our assembled forces; this speech had not been publicized, and for many of them my identity was unknown. There were certainly rumors circulating the camp, but other than the fact that I was a noble, nothing official had been said. It was a certainty that my voice was causing a similar stir within the walls of the city.
Not that it¡¯s the speech that¡¯s particularly surprising for the residents of the city. Just that my voice sounds young and feminine.
With magic that could so easily carry one¡¯s voice, it was little surprise that speeches often prelude the opening of major military engagements. The morale boost for allied troops and the damage dealt to the enemy¡¯s by a good speech could not be understated. But having a nominal child do it was rather unheard of, though for reasons I could not fathom. Getting a kid to plead your case was typically rather effective.
That¡¯s far from the only oddity I¡¯ve ever come across though, nor will it be the strangest thing about this particular speech. I need to get on with it.
¡°My name is Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas, the fianc¨¦e of His Highness Rupert von Drakas, and your future Queen.¡± A brief pause to let the news of my identity sink in, then I continued, ¡°I have come before you now to ask once more; please, surrender. Antonio has been denounced by his father, his name struck from the registry. He is no longer your prince, you owe him no allegiance.¡±
Even with the effects of my equipped title, it was likely that my words would be ineffective. Despite the description stating that it ¡°laced my words with a compelling force,¡± it seemed that it lost effectiveness the further removed I was from the listener. When testing it out, we had learned that it did not actually compel a subject. Instead, it seemed to give them a strong inclination towards doing what I told them. But even that would be weakened by a few factors, such as not being able to see me.
Rather than lacing my words, it was more like I personally projected an aura. At this distance, we would be lucky if the common people in the city were even slightly affected, to say nothing of the veteran soldiers and knights.
¡°I have pled your case with his highness, and an offer of amnesty was extended to the rebel forces now occupying your city¡ An offer that was rejected. Now I speak directly to the soldiers and the knights; please, do not forget your oaths. Not to those lords who have betrayed our kingdom, but to the kingdom we all love, lay down your arms and surrender¡ Even now, if you do not impede us in carrying out justice to the traitors, you will be spared.¡±
¡°To the innocents who have merely been caught between two forces¡ Please, stay in your homes.¡± I tried to put as much emotion and pleading into my voice as possible, ¡°¡But if any of you, be you commoner, soldier, or knight¡ If you resist¡ If you would threaten the peace of our kingdom¡ I¡¡±
At this point, most of the soldiers and knights had turned to face away from the city and were watching me. It was a bit unbecoming of them to ignore their duties. Due to their proximity to me, my title was having a greater effect on them. It was a gross feeling, knowing that my words were influencing their perceptions like that, but one that I could see the necessity of.
I clasped my hands, ¡°Then, even if it pains me, I cannot defend your actions.¡± I turned my eyes towards the sky, ¡°I pray now, to all the gods, that they grant you mercy in the next life. That they¡¡± Quietly releasing my hold on the mana pool building up below me, ¡°That they find it in their hearts to grant us forgiveness for what we must do, and the strength to do it.¡±
With the tool beginning to activate, piercing rays of divine light began to project around me. It started slowly at first, before building in intensity until I was being bathed in a glow from the heavens not unlike what had occurred during my dedication. The sight of it caused a wave of expressed wonder to run through the troops, and I let my voice break.
Gustav really outdid himself with this. Honestly, if I had the time, I¡¯d like to learn how the hell he actually managed to assemble something like this.
There was still my performance to conclude though, as my voice was still being broadcast, ¡°Rupert! What¡¯s happening!?¡±
¡°Stahlia!¡± He reached out his hand towards me, only for it to be repelled by a barrier of light. It wasn¡¯t a particularly strong barrier, and even without enhancements, it was something that I¡¯d be able to break right through. It merely existed as a means to help sell the lie we were telling.
¡°I¡ I don¡¯t feel right!¡± Despite cringing a bit at my own line, it seemed to be effective; a few of the closest soldiers seemed to be in a state of unrest, and a few of them had even begun to try and make their way to our dais. The light built up in intensity then, and I could no longer see anyone.
Right, and now I just cut the mana flow to my ring.
That done, it was only a few seconds until the light faded revealing my real appearance to all of those assembled. Before that moment, I¡¯d thought that the notion of silence instantly descending over a crowd was a myth. Some fanciful way of describing an audience reaction to sell the idea that an event was unexpected. But that was exactly what happened. As soon as the light of the fake miracle faded away, the crowd fell silent and grew still.
I made a show of looking over my body. First what could be seen easily; my arms, hands, chest. Then I touched my face and felt my hair before turning slightly to face Rupert and putting on a visibly concerned expression, ¡°I-¡±
As planned, he cut me off, ¡°You have seen it with your own eyes; not just my father, but the gods themselves are on our side!¡±
Confused mumblings turned into a frantic hum of anticipation, while in the city I could only imagine that people were beginning to panic, ¡°My fianc¨¦e asked for the strength to do what must be done, and the gods have heard her prayer; see how they have given her that strength? See how they have blessed her!¡±
He continued speaking for a few more moments until the mages terminated the spell; they were out of mana. I did not hear his words though, as I was distracted by two notifications. The first ones I had seen in some time, and one of them was rather concerning.
¡°Experience threshold reached, obtained Talent: [Acting I]¡±
¡°Received Title: [Divine Usurper]¡±
[Acting I] did basically what it said on the tin; provide a positive correction to my ability to¡ act. As for why I had been given this, and not [Deception I] or one of the other lying related Talents that I knew existed I could not say. It probably had something to do with how this lie had been more performative in nature. My new title on the other hand¡
¡°[Divine Usurper]: Awarded to those who would usurp the gods. Passive Effect: Provides a negative charisma bonus towards the faithful. Effect: Provides a slight correction towards manipulating Divine Element Mana.¡±
Like my revenant title, this one also had a passive effect and one that could prove quite problematic.
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I¡¯m really going to need to see how bad that is¡
¡°Experience threshold reached, obtained Talent: [Acting II]¡±
¡Yea, that makes sense, I have an especially large audience¡
It would seem that the system was eager to assert its presence now that it was in working order again. But, back to the topic at hand. The active effect and acquisition criteria for [Divine Usurper], not to mention the name, painted a very specific picture. It would seem that the system had a very different opinion of my actions than I did. Going into this, I had accepted that my actions would be seen as heretical if they ever came to light, and acknowledged the risk that the gods might get a bit peevish regardless. But I had no intention of actually trying to usurp them.
It was just supposed to be a tiny, well admittedly rather large lie. I do not intend to be making fake miracles a habit.
The only thing I could think of that might have led to meeting that unlock condition, was the fact that I had used Divine Element in the process of faking the miracle. In a sense, the implementation of that sort of made my fake miracle a very real one. When put in that way, the general frivolity with which I used Divine Power made me wonder why I¡¯d never obtained this title before now.
It¡¯s got to be a thing with the number of peo-
¡°Experience threshold reached, obtained Talent: [Acting III]¡±
¡Mute notifications.
Rupert finished his own bit just then, his final words being the order for our forces to commence the attack. The first army under the command of Duke Claurence turned and began to do just that. The second, under the command of Duke Lester departed for their tunnel entrances; they would soon begin attempting to breach the city through the sewer system. The third and final army, under command of Duke Lawrence¡¯s Knight-Captain, maneuvered to cover the other two. The moment either called for reinforcements, they would move to join them.
¡°Stahlia, you look like you are genuinely troubled, not acting.¡± Rupert¡¯s sudden question startled me.
¡! What the hell is he- Oh, right. The mages have already cut off the spell¡
I shook my head, ¡°I am, somewhat, but we cannot talk here.¡±
Rupert would need to undergo a full appraisal to ascertain whether or not he had acquired any problematic titles of his own. I would have liked to do it myself to preserve the secrecy, but at the moment my own appraisal still destroyed whatever I tried to use it on. Obviously, that was a no-go for Rupert. Likewise, the visual appraisal seemed to only work on Felicity and Ferris, despite Rupert and various others being soul-linked to me through contract, my divine eyes didn¡¯t show me anything.
The latter had signed a modified slave contract, but Felicity was no longer directly linked to me. Something about her was different, and none of the three involved parties had any ideas.
Though Claire thinks it has something to do with her sharing Felicity¡¯s body, I don¡¯t see how that could possibly be related¡
¡°Understood, then we will speak privately as soon as possible. For now, we should observe the assault¡ Do you still plan on moving in yourself?¡±
He had said the last part without moving his lips again, for obvious reasons; the army mages were still present, their depleted mana rendering them unable to join in the assault.
¡°I do. Or do you think anyone among our forces would be able to handle Sitri? As soon as she¡¯s sighted, I plan to sortie and personally clean up after myself.¡±
¡°Commander Henrake, and possibly Duke Claurence, but you are correct. Even without her skills, I cannot picture the average knight being able to overcome her status. Maybe with wave tactics, but the casualties would be extreme¡ I agree with the need for you to go as an independent force, but I want your word that you will be careful and take no risks. You have a habit of overextending yourself.¡±
His words struck me as a bit odd, but I quickly shook that feeling off, ¡°Of course. I know firsthand how much of a bitch she can be. I may have a score to settle, but I will not let her get the best of me again.¡±
Producing a mana potion from a hidden pocket, I sipped it and turned my attention back to the city and the ongoing assault. As we had been speaking, the first contingent of knights and soldiers from Duke Claurence¡¯s army were nearing their target. The force was advancing slowly over the distance, with their mages and magic-capable knights intercepting spells launched by the defenders while shield bearers attempted to cover arrows. Of course, their pace was only slow according to the standards of this world.
Area of effect enhancement spells meant that even the basic soldiers were moving at a speed approaching that of mechanized infantry. The knights, several of whom could buff themselves through one method or another, were even faster. Commander Henrake had said they would be taking a slow approach to focus on defense and minimizing losses, but this looked to me like they were charging full speed ahead.
The supposed caution did not mean there were no casualties though. Even as I watched, an arrow slipped past one of the shield knights, skipped off a magic barrier, and buried itself in the neck of one of the picket soldiers whose own protections had failed. A fireball came down and shattered the anti-spell barriers of a platoon before exploding amongst them. The barrier had absorbed much of the strength, so the men would live but they were out of the fight for now and in great pain all the same.
Our own forces had limited options to retaliate; the Mythril coating on the walls meant any magic our side launched would be rather ineffective. Instead, they simply advanced while firing off arrows and bolts when the opportunity arose. Once they got up to the wall, the plan was for them to begin making attempts to scale it with ladders while a break-off unit assaulted the gates. Focusing barriers around the troops doing those particular actions meant they would be comparatively less lethal than one might expect.
If it were me¡ I¡¯d probably try to scale the wall freehand, or simply jump over it. Fifteen meters should be doable with my enhancements. I¡¯d have to avoid physically touching the walls though, or my enhancements would dispel. That would make climbing difficult so jumping would be the better option.
I really had to hand it to the Army¡¯s Barrier Mages. The way they deployed their spells around the walls to protect the ladder crews was a work of art. But even without the barriers directly touching, simply being close to so much Mythril would slowly drain them. As I watched, one of the barriers failed and the enemy was able to send a lightning spell down the men climbing the ladder.
It arced from soldier to soldier, conducting off their metal armor before grounding itself. The wall itself proved a double edge sword¡ shield? It hurt the enemy as well; the lightning spell seemed to have been a bit reduced, and only the first man hit was clearly dead based on the way he fell. The next two down, I couldn¡¯t tell for sure, but the impact with the ground was possibly lethal. The rest of the men began to pick themselves up or crawled out of the way depending on the severity of their injuries. All in an effort to reach the limited number of Healers. It was a grim sight, and I could see it repeating itself across the battleground.
Healing magic as well, that really adds a whole new dynamic to war. Injuries that would probably be fatal can just be ignored or recovered¡ It makes things a lot more brutal.
As if to punctuate my point, I watched as one of our knights fell, pierced through by several arrows. Only for his body to become a pincushion on the ground as the enemy sought to ensure he stayed down. That was one of the biggest advantages the wall granted them; our side could not finish off a downed opponent before a healer got to them.
And even with the scale of what I¡¯m watching now, this is a fairly small engagement. The Demon War is going to be a lot worse¡
¡°Your Highness, Sir! Duke Lester informs you, the tunnel team has penetrated the perimeter!¡± A messenger had run up to make a report to Rupert.
Rupert nodded to the messenger, ¡°Excellent news. Please relay my congratulations to Lord Lawrence.¡±
The messenger saluted and began to run back the way he had come. I followed him with my eyes and saw the openings of several tunnels. Certainly, the fighting would be intense underground now that we had a clear path through the walls. Subterranean fighting had been hell back on Earth, I could only imagine what it was like here, what with how much more brutal regular conflict was.
This gives meaning to the phrase ¡®Target the healer¡¯ huh?
¡°Sir!¡± Another messenger had arrived, this one looking rather panicked.
His crest puts him with Duke Lester¡ he would have had to have been dispatched within minutes of the first¡ This doesn¡¯t bode well.
Rupert picked up on this as well and ignored the man¡¯s breach of etiquette, ¡°Report.¡±
¡°Sir! We¡¯ve, we¡¯ve encountered undead, in the sewers; they look just like descriptions of the ones that attacked the capital¡¡±
The messenger trailed off and I felt my heart lurch. Rupert turned to face the fortress visible near the center of the city and spoke, to no one in particular, ¡°Antonio¡ Why couldn¡¯t you just surrender¡¡±
He sounded for all the world like a man shaken by what his subordinate was telling him.
¡°Rupert, those demons were created and controlled by a Demon of Lust.¡±
He nodded, ¡°Yes, but not Sitri; unless her skills have been unsealed.¡±
¡°Even if she didn¡¯t create them, she might still be controlling them with some form of Blood Magic. I¡¯m going now; we can¡¯t wait for the armies to find her.¡±
He nodded, ¡°Be cautious.¡±
6-16 City Inflitration
After receiving permission from Rupert to move, I fell back to the camp. It was not that far, but ever-present was the notion and knowledge that people were constantly dying behind me. When I arrived at my pavilion, Sasha immediately set about removing parts of my costume.
I had planned to simply go as I was; the dress I had given the speech in was designed such that it could be fought in, and in a worst-case scenario, the skirt could have been simply cut off and discarded. A pair of pants underneath, made of the same material as my assassin uniform, would then preserve my modesty. But that was in the event that Sitri was found.
Now that I was going to hunt for her, it would behoove me to bring my full kit. Not for dealing with Sitri; I had everything needed for that already on my person. But rather for moving through the battlefield and responding to unexpected circumstances.
And if she¡¯s not the only demon there, I¡¯ll have to fall back and find Henrake, Duke Claurence, or call Ferdinand to help me.
The fact of the matter was, Sitri should not have the ability to create and control Husk. With her skills and talents sealed, she should only have her Blood Magic and attributes. Though we didn¡¯t know exactly how they were created, it could be reasonably assumed to be something that was beyond her current ability. In a sense, my outing was more for scouting than anything else.
But I¡¯m going to do it myself. Nobody else would be able to do it safely.
Sasha had finished changing out my outfit by this point, and I took a moment to look in the mirror. The crimson dress I had been wearing had been replaced with a much shorter skirt that terminated at my knees. Not just possible to fight in; this one was outright designed for combat and made of a much stiffer fabric than was normal for a lady¡¯s clothing. The black leggings underneath it had not changed; they were made of the same material as my assassin outfit, though forwent the stealth-related effects for durability and a mobility boost.
My top was largely unchanged; the flared wrists had been removed, and something like a bodice had been added over it. It was a darker red than the dress itself, and I knew it was lined with a very small amount of Orichalcum. The opposite effect of Mythril, Orichalcum would enhance any magic I cast. Or was hit by. For that reason it was seldom used for combat armor, being relegated to a material component of high-end magic tools or ceremonial sets like the kingdom¡¯s Golden Knights. My hair had been swiftly braided and then fixed behind my head. It might make more sense to have cut it, but I had actually grown rather fond of having longer hair.
There was a small chime signaling that someone was requesting entry. Sasha, seeing as I had already finished changing, went to check who it was and promptly returned with Rupert.
As far as I could tell, there was no reason for him to be here right now, we both had our roles to play, ¡°Should you not be overseeing the battle?¡±
¡°Yes, but with Gustav remaining in the capital, there was no one I could trust enough to send. Here.¡± He held out a small item in his hand, ¡°To replace the illusion.¡±
It was a ring box, and upon opening it I saw a ring that perfectly matched the one already on my finger, ¡°¡And this is?¡±
¡°Unenchanted. Gustav will affix something to it at your own discretion, but it has the same capacity as the one I¡¯ve already given you.¡±
So it¡¯s ridiculously expensive. But why give it to me now? If it has no effect, then what¡¯s the point?
¡°Thank you, though I do not see why this could not have waited.¡±
¡°You need to focus to prevent your mana from feeding into the illusion ring. That creates a risk, however slight, of you being distracted. This will remove that.¡±
¡°Yes, but I could likewise have simply removed the old ring when in a battle. Still, thank you for the thought.¡±
Rupert grimaced a bit then shook his head, ¡°You are correct, it would seem my brother¡¯s actions have thrown me off balance to some extent.¡±
Well, at the very least, it does let me avoid having to make any excuses if people see me without the ring.
I took the old ring off my finger and replaced it with the identical counterpart, placing the old one into the box and offering it back to Rupert, ¡°Here.¡±
He made no move to receive it instead addressing Sasha, ¡°Sasha, keep ahold of that ring for your lady, it might prove useful at some point.¡±
I shrugged and handed the box off to Sasha instead. My thought had been that he might be able to recoup some of the extreme cost, but I suppose even that much money was a pittance when looking at the resources he, or rather we, had access to. The fact that I could tap into those same resources was a thought that threatened to leave my head spinning.
¡°I need to return to the general staff and assist Henrake.¡± Rupert stated abruptly before turning and exiting. My eyes followed his back for a moment before I directed my attention to Sasha.
¡°Well, I¡¯ll be off. With any luck, I¡¯ll be able to put a stop to some of this.¡±
¡°My lady¡¡± Sasha¡¯s voice called after me, hinting at something she was unsure wether or not to leave unsaid.
I paused in my tracks and turned. It wasn¡¯t like her to speak up after I¡¯d made a decision, and her tone indicated that she was not entirely at ease with what she was about to say.
¡°Yes?¡± When she still hesitated, I added on, ¡°Speak freely, though you will not change my mind in this.¡±
Sasha took a deep breath, ¡°Of course not, but¡ I have been informed of what happened the last time you met this demon. Both times¡ Please, be careful.¡±
I paused momentarily then nodded, ¡°I plan on it. I won¡¯t make the same mistakes again. Not this time.¡±
Turning once more, I left and made my way toward the battlefield.
The city¡¯s geography made it impossible to attack from more than one side, though that likewise made escape difficult for the defenders. Those same restrictions did not apply to me though; an army might struggle to cross the wide river that formed a natural barrier around the North, East, and South walls. But a lone agent would face no such restrictions. Especially not when the bulk of the defense was focused on the West.
Getting caught up in the tunnel fighting was not something I was eager to do, and since the ground assault had yet to get the gates opened there were few options left. Not that it would be easy. Just because it was difficult did not mean an attack from the river was impossible; there were certain to be guards about to watch for something like that.
My main advantage is that I¡¯m only one person¡ There might also not be very many actual defenders, depending on how far the undead play has gone¡
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Though grim, the last thought was unlikely to be the case; if the undead were really out in force, the army assaulting the wall would have reported them before the tunnelers. If I had to guess, they were probably a fall-back plan, a sort of countermeasure desperation play to help cope with how outnumbered Duke Febligi¡¯s men were. Another thought struck me as I came up to the riverbank on the North side.
Or, this is the opening act. We know Asmodea advented. Sitri is one of her followers. These Husk may have been provided as a force with which to start the attack on Drakas itself. If that¡¯s the case, things are going a lot faster than they should.
Rupert and I had really thrown the demons for a trick, so it was possible that this was a scramble to regain at least part of their original plan.
If I hadn¡¯t gotten involved, Rupert was going to hand Drakas to Five and side with the demons for the upcoming war. They would have started the war in possession of the single largest power on this continent¡ The wrath king Satan and the sloth king Belphegor were the only ones to survive the last war, and the former devoted all of his attention to taking Drakas¡
¡°I really messed things up for them, didn¡¯t I?¡± There was nobody around to hear the surprise in my voice.
I felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner, but obviously they were going to scramble to try and regain at least some of their investment. As for the other kings, we knew were here, Asmodea was too new to have done much, while Leviathan and Beelzebub had seemingly kept a low profile. Though it was entirely possible they weren¡¯t even on this continent.
Either way, it remains the case that we can¡¯t fail here, so this doesn¡¯t change anything.
My thoughts had carried me around the periphery and I was now looking over the river to the city¡¯s wall. Too small for a warship to sail down, and too large to be easily forded. Crossing it was going to be a bit of a chore. Especially given that my mana needed to be conserved for the fight with Sitri, or the flight from any additional demons she might have with her.
Ok¡ I don¡¯t see any lookouts, but I can¡¯t be hasty.
My trip around the city had taken nearly an hour, even moving far quicker than should have been possible through applied enhancements. Waiting a bit longer was not going to hurt anyone; in all likelihood, it would in fact kill a good number. But without disrupting the Husk at their source, a much larger number of people would die. So, to be completely certain it was safe for me to cross the river, I waited.
While outright invisibility through magic wasn¡¯t possible, I could change the color of something using a Black Magic. This would hide the red of my clothes, which stood out a great deal in the various greens of the forest. While waiting, I used the minimum amount of mana possible to activate my divine eyes. I hoped that seeing their mana would make it easier to spot any patrolling watchmen quickly.
I briefly considered testing out my new [Divine Usurper] title and its purported effect of making Divine Element easier to handle. But the battlefield was no place to run experiments, so I decided not to.
Especially given that my mana control is still a bit off as-is. Making myself even more efficient might cause some rather unforeseen problems.
In part to pass the time, I plucked a blade of grass and attempted to appraise it. Doing this wouldn¡¯t consume much mana, and I would fully recoup it in just a few minutes. Predictably, the blade of grass glowed for a moment before crumbling to fine-powdered snow.
¡°Crystalized Ice Element ¨C Organic¡±
No matter what I tried, I could not seem to prevent my mana from fully permeating and then destroying an object whenever I attempted to appraise it. The annoying thing was that my enhancements still worked; I could even improve the durability of a sword just fine. But if I tried to appraise the sword, it would briefly coat in flame, then disintegrate into a snow-like powder. If I made no attempt to control the mana flow and just appraised, it would be more like an ice sculpture.
Still no changes¡ Ah, there¡¯s the guard.
Sure enough, a small swirling light had crossed the wall some distance away from me; the mana of the patrolling watchman. Despite the distance between the two of us, I still held my breath instinctively. He paused and looked out over the forest, his eyes passing right over me. Of course he was looking for medium and large groups, not a single woman. A moment later, he continued his rounds. Now I had to wait just a bit longer; I wanted to know the timing of the guard patrol.
This time, I did my best to prevent my mind from wandering off; I needed to be ready to move immediately, and it would be best if I were as clear-headed as possible. The downside of trying not to let myself become distracted was that I could hear the distant sounds of battle from the other side of the city. Distance might have muted them, but that was all; they were still distinct. It was all I could do to remind myself that this was all necessary.
About two and a half minutes after I first saw him, the same watchman made another pass. Part of me, the rational part, wanted to wait for one more rotation and make sure the timing was consistent. But the greater part was tired of waiting and wanted to go immediately, to reduce the casualties as much as possible.
What will I do when killing Sitri doesn¡¯t stop all of this? Kill Antonio as well? Duke Febligi?
It didn¡¯t matter. For the time being, I had my job to do. As always, my head was doing its best to distract me. I squeezed my eyes shut, and took a deep breath. Exhale.
All right, let¡¯s go.
The river was wider at this point but narrowed a bit at a bend just downstream. Breaking from cover, I sprinted towards that spot while pumping my enhancements up to their safe maximum Then, I jumped. Even with my abilities stacked like they were, a roughly twenty-meter gap was a bit much. I would fall short, and land in the water.
That was fine though, hitting the shore would probably injure me at this speed. I tucked my body in a way to prevent myself from skipping like a stone and prepared for splashdown.
Oww!
Hitting the water hurt a lot, but at least nothing had broken. There was still a couple of meters from dry land, and I was up to my waist in the water. Not that it took very long for me to swim the distance, and I was out of the water in less than half a second. There was of course a risk that the watchman had heard my splashing, but there wasn¡¯t a convenient way across the river on such short notice.
If only things had gone to plan, I could have just gone through the gates with an escort, or used the tunnels¡
Scaling the wall would be much harder, given that any contact with it would instantly drain the mana from my limbs and undo the enhancements. Blood Magic would last only a scant moment longer than a chanted spell, so there wasn¡¯t much time for me to work with. But it would be enough.
I set up a short sprint from the wall at a slight angle and began bouncing on the balls of my feet while preparing. After taking a few moments to size up my target, I took off running towards the wall. Jumping to clear the wall this time, the height would be hampered by gravity directly. There was no way I would be able to fully clear it in one go.
After making it about three-quarters of the way up, I grabbed a slightly askew brick in the wall with both hands and, in the fraction of a second before my enhancements failed, pulled myself upwards. The added height allowed me to clear the remaining distance, and I landed on the battlements. Right in front of a very startled watchman.
¡°H-hello?¡±
Time seemed to slow down as my [Kinetic Perception] kicked in. I didn¡¯t want to kill him, but I couldn¡¯t afford him to sound the alarm.
If I knock him out, there¡¯s the risk he¡¯ll wake up¡
I lunged at him, bringing the both of us down onto the wall¡¯s walkway, ¡°Where is the demon?¡±
¡°T-the w-what!?¡±
Right, of course he wouldn¡¯t know that¡ Damnit! He can¡¯t be more than fifteen or sixteen, no wonder he¡¯s on guard duty and not part of the defense.
¡°I¡¯m looking for a young woman, she would be friendly with the traitor Antonio.¡±
The man froze up and shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know! The duke¡¯s castle maybe!?¡±
No fucking shit¡ But it isn¡¯t like I could expect a random soldier to be familiar with Antonio¡¯s company. Shit, he looks barely fifteen, only just an adult¡ I might come to regret this, but I¡¯m not going to kill him.
¡°I see. Sorry about this.¡±
¡°About wha-¡± My enhanced fist cut him off before he could finish the question, and he slumped forward.
His unconscious body slumped over and then fell to the ground in an unceremonious heap. He¡¯d probably have a few broken ribs from that, seeing as I¡¯d delivered an enhanced strike right to his solar plexus with enough force to get an instant KO. But it was a lot better than dying, and he couldn¡¯t very well be left to his own devices after seeing me.
Of course, I am on a time now, though that would also be true if I¡¯d killed him. Yea, this way is better.
I turned and set off toward the ¡°duke¡¯s castle¡± near the center of the city.
Sitri¡ I¡¯m coming.
6-17 End of the Coup
Getting through the city to the ¡°Duke¡¯s Castle¡± was going to be nearly impossible. Not if I was going to avoid killing anyone.
But not him.
I was fully aware that I was just making excuses at this point, that the watchman was an enemy. The smartest choice would be to just quickly stab him and keep moving, but something was telling me that if I did that it would prove to be a mistake.
Just because he¡¯s my enemy, doesn¡¯t mean I have to kill him. He¡¯s only been caught up in all this.
That was enough thinking. If this was allowed to continue on I would only end up entrapping myself in a loop. Putting it out of my head, I dropped off from the wall.
The wall and the first set of buildings within the city had been constructed in such a way so as to reinforce each other. This meant that the roof of the building was only a few meters below the top of the wall. Landing on that roof, I immediately took off running and jumping from roof to roof. Febligi was built as one might expect from the home city of the most martial duchy.
Streets wound around in a maze-like pattern designed to hinder any attacking force¡¯s progress. Of course it also hindered the defenders, but they would probably have a system of shortcuts and hidden passages to slip through more quickly. My rooftop route bypassed all of this, though it did leave me exposed and it would be only a matter of time before someone spotted me and sounded the alarm.
Therefore, killing or not killing the watchman didn¡¯t matter, the alarm would be sounded anyway. No, stop it.
Those same streets were expectedly devoid of people, though I did spot the occasional dog and stawri about.
Though how many of the people are simply staying inside like I asked, versus how many have been turned¡ I want to check, but then I would need to go into a building. I¡¯d be slowing down and also risking someone making a report¡
If I wasn¡¯t going to kill an enemy soldier, then I certainly wasn¡¯t going to kill a commoner who was simply keeping their head down. So I kept moving. Clearing whole streets while running at my maximum speed. That could only last so long though, and before long I heard the sound of a horn blaring out from somewhere below and behind me.
That would be the alarm, someone spotted me.
There were two options at this point. One, I continued along the rooftops and hoped to outrun any response. Two, I dropped to the ground and hoped to avoid them. Both options had their own pros and cons, mostly obvious. In the end, I opted for option one; getting to the manor in the most expeditious manner was more important than avoiding anyone tracking my movements. In any case, it should be rather obvious where I was heading.
This did mean that I¡¯d be a target for enemy archers and mages so I activated my kinetic perception to better respond to any incoming fire, and kept moving. It didn¡¯t take long before a volley of arrows came my way, likely testing the waters before escalating things by firing spells off inside their own city. My slowed perception of time allowed me to somewhat predict their individual flight paths, so I simply adjusted my course slightly and they all missed.
A second volley followed shortly after, and once again it proved rather easy to avoid. Seeing that their second attempt had failed, the third one included a couple of spells. Less than I had thought they might use, though considering the ongoing fight at the gate perhaps this was to be expected.
Most of the mages are probably up at the wall, so these will be just the token force left behind, the weaker and least skilled.
That was good news for me, but spells were still harder to dodge than arrows. By this point, I was less than a hundred meters from the perimeter fence of the estate. I took a moment to quickly study the way the next few streets wound and connected, then dropped off the rooftops. Making myself less of a target in the process. An indistinct shout came from behind me
Probably, it was a call out that I had gone down to the ground. That meant that the pursuing soldiers would be moving to catch me soon. Not having much time to waste, I quickly moved through the route I¡¯d pre-scouted from the rooftop. It only took me about ten seconds, but due to my [Kinetic Perception], it felt closer to a minute. As I rounded a corner, a man wearing the armor of a watchman lunged out in front of me.
Time seemed to slow even more as I responded, dodging under his swing and kicking out at his knee. My foot connected with his knee, and he collapsed with a cry of pain. I did not give myself any time to think and drew my sword before stabbing downwards. There was a sensation of a blade cutting through flesh. Then, I kept running.
Breaking out of an alley and onto the main street, the gate of the manor grounds was directly ahead of me. Between me and there was a small number of soldiers.
One, two, three¡ five total. Six, counting the one I¡¯ve already killed, That¡¯s a small number, all things considered. Three with bows, and two without. Possibly the mages from earlier.
You would think that the estate of Duke Febligi would have more guards. Or maybe not. Knowing the personality of that family, the duke was definitely on the wall or nearby it. His wife might be in the manor, but she was also possibly with her husband. Antonio¡ was probably near the front. Duke Febligi knew this was a lost cause, I could only imagine he would have forced or manipulated Antonio to face it with him. So the home being lightly guarded made sense; the soldiers were all away with only the bare minimum left behind.
One of them, probably the captain, shouted, ¡°There she is! Fire!¡±
The three archers loosed arrows while one of them fell back and began to quickly chant a spell.
¡°[Whiteout]!¡± I beat him to the punch using my own talent cast and immediately felt a headache pierce through the front of my head. My [Ice Magic] was one of only a few talents not yet fully repaired. While I could use it, doing so was not without consequence. But in this case, it was worth it.
Whiteout was a spell I had used before, and just like then it filled the air with a swirling mass of snow. It would gradually freeze anyone within it while obscuring vision. Of course, my [Rule Breaker] skill gave me immunity to Ice damage, so I was immune to the first effect.
Not that it meant I could see, my own senses were just as blinded as my adversaries. My one advantage was that I had been expecting the localized snowstorm and noted the guards¡¯ positions prior to casting it. I kicked off the ground and moved to where the first one had been. For the briefest moment, I had thought about avoiding them and entering the mansion.
That wouldn¡¯t work though, they would just follow me and potentially interrupt my face-off with Sitri. Knocking them out also wasn¡¯t a great option. There was no telling when they would wake up, besides they were clearly aiming to kill me earlier. No, the best recourse was to fully remove them as threats. The first would be the mage.
Stepping up, I was able to catch him mid-chant. There was nothing for it, I needed to silence him. A quick slash across the throat accomplished that. Next would be the commander-looking guy. He hadn¡¯t had a bow, and being a commander was also a potential magic user. I fell back to roughly where he had been to find that he was indeed hurriedly chanting a wind spell. The words were mostly unknown to me, but from what I could pick up, it was probably meant to disperse my [Whiteout].
I can¡¯t allow that.
My sword arced through the air, only for him to block it. A shame.
¡°[Immolate]¡±
Cross-training into opposing elements wasn¡¯t the most common thing a mage would do. Since I had done it, it gave me the option of surprise. The captain went down screaming, and I swiftly stabbed him through the neck. Killing him was already bad enough, burning to death would be just too much.
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At this point, mopping up the other three was fairly easy. The first of the remaining three went down quickly, but by the time I got to the second and third they had already died, frozen by my spell. The whiteout dissipated and I surveyed my handiwork with grim eyes.
I¡¯ll be adding their deaths to Sitri¡¯s laundry list of crimes. I might have been the one to do it, but I¡¯d not be here without her bullshit.
The thought did little to assuage my conscience.
The manor itself was unlocked, and getting inside was fairly straightforward. Once I was inside though, things took a turn, ¡°G-greetings M-M-Miss S-Stahlia.¡±
There was a very nervous maid who had come to greet me. I raised an eyebrow, ¡°Hello?¡±
¡°M-my L-lady A-as-¡± I waved my hand to cut her off.
¡°Sitri sent you to come to bring me to her. Yea, that sounds like something she would do. Which way?¡± The maid squeaked in fright, then did an awkward curtsey before dashing off. After a moment, I followed her. She brought me to a large door that was on the second floor and down a hallway.
¡°H-here.¡±
¡°Thank you. I suggest you leave now.¡± She was all too happy to heed my advice and promptly vanished. It was little wonder that my presence had terrified her; she had probably seen the fight out in front of the manor.
Just another thing for that whore of a demon to answer for, causing that maid such distress¡
As I opened the door, I saw the bitch in question directly ahead. She was standing, looking out of a large window towards the city gates. Immediately, a violent impulse welled up within me. I wanted to kill her, a thought that very briefly gave me pause, but was quickly discarded. As soon as she heard the sound, Sitri turned to face me. Her eyes briefly widened in surprise before she swiftly replaced the look with one of relief. If not for my heightened nerves, I probably would have missed it.
¡°Stali! You¡¯re here!¡± Her voice made me sick, but the fact that her ruse was to display relief of all things was concerning and I immediately raised my guard.
I raised my sword defensively but otherwise did nothing. Her relieved smile faltered, ¡°Stali, you have to get me out of here!¡±
Ok. What?
I was not looking to be caught unawares, and so kept my sword raised, ¡°Or, and bear with me, I kill you, and the Husk lose cohesion.¡±
She shook her head, ¡°Really? That¡¯s your plan? You really think I¡¯m the one controlling them?¡±
¡°No, not particularly; you¡¯re nothing but a lump of stats after all. But killing you would make me feel good.¡±
¡°But I could be so useful to you! Think about it, I¡¯m one of the Original Sins, one of Asmodea¡¯s first pawns! Think about what I know!¡±
She had a point but something about this was just¡ Why? Then, it hit me.
¡°You got hung out to dry. Left with this mess, a final little stop-gap; without your skills, you¡¯re useless to Asmodea. All you¡¯re good for is providing a bit of a speed bump to me, and you know it.¡± Much to my own surprise, I was actually able to keep the sheer glee out of my voice.
Finding Sitri in this state was simply amazing. She slumped back against the wall, and there was a distant explosion. Out along the wall, I could see a pillar of smoke; the forces attempting to breach the gate had seemingly been successful.
¡°Tell me, Sitri, what good are you really? Asmodea is a Hell King. She wouldn¡¯t give you a chance to turn sides like this if she thought you had any valuable information to leak. Besides, my current goal is not to bring you in alive.¡± I hefted my sword and took a step toward her.
Contrary to my expectation, she did not make a move to resist. Instead, her relieved expression vanished, replaced with a blank stare, ¡°Stali, I could still get rid of you pretty easily, if I wanted. My base stats are higher than yours, and I can still use Blood Magic.¡±
¡°¡I already overwhelmed you once.¡±
¡°Yes, and I have no idea what you did. But something tells me it had rather dire consequences; you look nice by the way.¡± She actually liked her lips, I wanted nothing more than to stab her and be done with it, ¡°Look, relying on you is really not what I¡¯d like to do, but I don¡¯t have a choice¡ Stali, I¡¯m scared.¡±
Again with this? What now?
¡°See, whatever you did to me; it changed something. Normally when one of us demons die, our spirit is simply sent back to whichever of the nine hells we originated from¡ I¡¯m not connected to them anymore.¡±
¡°So if I kill you, you would die for real? Do you actually expect me to believe that?¡±
She tossed her hands up, ¡°Do what you want, it¡¯s the truth. Whatever you do, I¡¯m not going to resist.¡±
As if to say that the conversation was finished, she turned and faced out the window again.
Damnit! She¡¯s really got me there.
There was no telling how much of her little routine just now had been an act versus how much had been real. Knowing her, it was probably mostly an act. An act meant to manipulate me, to exploit my indecisions she had witnessed for herself. She was just saying what she needed to say to convince me not to kill her.
It was a good play, just one that overlooked something rather important, ¡°You forgot how much I hate you, how much you¡¯ve hurt me.¡±
True to her words, she didn¡¯t say anything back to me. She just stood there, watching out the window. I took a step closer to her back and readied my sword, ¡°Are you really not going to resist? At all?¡±
Still, she made no move to defend herself. Even without her skills, she had a lot of personal experience in combat and in reading people. She had to know what I was doing behind her.
The moment I actually strike, she¡¯s going to do something stupid, like catch the blade without turning around. But if I don¡¯t do anything, we¡¯ll just be stuck here until I agree to bring her in alive¡ I just need to commit. I¡¯ve already committed.
Really, why was I fretting over Sitri of all people? Before I could talk myself out of it, I thrust my sword forward. When she caught, deflected, or avoided my strike, I would know that she¡¯d been bluffing. We would fight, and then I would either fall back or beat her. Either way, this would be over.
None of that happened.
I felt the sensation that was becoming uncomfortably familiar; that of a blade slicing through flesh. Then there was a sudden weight as her legs gave out and she collapsed into a heap on the floor; my attack had passed through her lower back and severed her spine. Failing to let go of my sword and with the angle preventing it from pulling out, I was dragged down with her. She wasn¡¯t dead, but in all likelihood very soon would be.
She was smiling, ¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t sure if you would actually do it¡¡± Then she grimaced in apparent pain and spat blood.
For my part, I was experiencing a bit of inner turmoil, ¡°You¡ you really didn¡¯t resist!?¡±
Sitri shrugged, ¡°Whatever you did, it ended up,¡± She coughed, and it sounded wet, ¡°Ack! It ended up helping me more than you realize¡ It took a while, and I hated it at first¡ But in the end¡¡±
My sword had been jostled around when we fell, so it was not properly blocking the blood flow as one might expect, and her skin was turning pale, ¡°¡In the end, we demons aren¡¯t evil¡ Not like you would think¡ I, I am sorry about what I did to you, to everyone¡ Stali, for whatever it¡¯s worth, try¡ try using my blood. For¡ for that woman¡¯s arm¡ I am an Original Sin, after all¡¡±
That woman? Jacqueline?
This whole situation felt surreal to me, almost like I was the one drifting off. ¡°Your blood? What do you mean!?¡±
Sitri¡¯s eyes glazed over, and it seemed she was no longer looking at anything in the room with us, ¡°¡Ryuko? Hajime¡? Percy! I¡¯m so glad to¡ see¡ you¡¡±
Her head lolled to the side, and her breathing slowed before stopping. I had very mixed feelings about what had just transpired, but there wasn¡¯t time for me to sort them out now. I extracted my sword and, after some hesitation, produced a couple of my potions and dumped out their contents. The empty bottles were filled with some of Sitri¡¯s blood. Even if she was blocked off from her skills, she was still a powerful demon. Even if her words were a trap, some last-ditch effort to mess with my psyche, her offer merited some testing at the very least.
Still, taking feels¡ wrong, somehow.
Blood in hand, I left her body and fled the scene. At first, I was simply running before any soldiers or knights could arrive and impede my process. Hopefully, the rebel soldiers and knights would begin to surrender now that the gates were breached. After that, we¡¯d just have to mop up the Husk and apprehend Antonio, then things would be done.
As I exited the manor I slid to a halt. In the street, visible through the gate ahead of me were the bodies of the men I¡¯d killed. There was also a woman, alive, clutching one of their heads, her hands stained red in blood. It was clear that she held some connection to him. My feet took a step back of their own accord as it suddenly hit me; despite any excuses about them having been coming for me, I¡¯d still killed them. Then came a small voice in my head.
And Sitri? She wasn¡¯t coming after you at all. Not this time. This time, she let you kill her.
I realized then that my hands were shaking. Turning away from the spectacle, I took a detour around and exited the manor grounds through the back, avoiding the woman and the sight of my massacre entirely. As I ran through the city, I began to pass by more and more people; a face in a window quickly ducking behind curtains, Footsteps not my own echoing down seemingly empty alleyways, people clearly in fear.
Justifiably so; I¡¯m part of the invading force after all.
Perhaps killing them was justified. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t. But in the middle of a city under siege was not the time to consider it. Such a time would come later, once I was secure.
Breathe. I can sort this out later.
I ran.
6-18 Epilogue
Epilogue One: Aftermath Reports
Rupert von Drakas, Twenty Years Old, Third Month of 949
¡°Give me the short version.¡± The man in front of me, Commander Henrake, bowed and began to go over statistics and metrics about the siege of Febli.
¡°As Your Highness wishes. The first army led by Duke Claurence was unsuccessful in breaching the walls until very late in the operation. The second army led by Duke Lester was able to breach the walls quite swiftly through their use of tunnels but ran into heavy Husk resistance. The third army, led by Duke Lawrence¡¯s vassal availed themselves greatly; without their timely reinforcement the second may very well have been wiped out.¡±
I groaned internally. Those Husk had once been the citizens we had been hoping to secure; valuable resources and production capacity for the coming war. Even if we hadn¡¯t lost the entire city, enough of the population had been turned to make a noticeable dent in production.
¡°How many, exactly?¡±
Henrake nodded, ¡°Of the thirty-five thousand citizens residing in the city, fully a third of them were made into Husk.¡±
Twelve thousand. We should consider ourselves lucky that they did not set them loose in the city itself and turn the entire population¡ No, not lucky...
I could feel my focus slipping away from me as it often did when I became lost in thought. As always, it was a disconcerting experience. Fortunately, Henrake knew about this little quirk of mine, and he fell silent while waiting for me to resolve my tangent.
Lucky? No no, not. Twelve thousand minus thirty-five. Fifteen kilometers to the next village, then fourteen. Three thousand more. Slip-slip up, mistaken? Lost direction? Not not true, also not true. Sitri, too weak, not able to control. Loss of skills? Fear of uncontrollable spiral. Likely case. Need more information, bigger picture. Plans inside of plans within millennium.
Outbreak would overrun containment within a year. Early action. Yes yes no, can¡¯t act. Too soon. Stahlia spoke of rule, schedule, dates. Too too soon.
¡°They had no choice but to. If they had let them out, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to contain the outbreak; it would have constituted an attack. Somehow, in a way that I don¡¯t understand, what they did here was ¡®legal¡¯.¡±
Henrake frowned; he understood even less than I did. But then, he had not been told about the game. Only Stahlia, Gustav, and I knew about that. Ferdinand probably knew as well but hadn¡¯t said anything. If the outbreak had spread, it would have constituted an attack before the official start. So we had been spared. Nine more months, and the husks would have been set loose in force¡ Nine more months¡
¡°Henrake.¡±
¡°Your Highness!¡± He snapped to attention; the urgency in my voice having caught him by surprise.
¡°Never mind that; when you finish the report, divide our armies into task forces. Inspect every sewer of every major city. Task the adventurer¡¯s guild to check towns and villages. We must be certain that we do not have any hiding kraken.¡±
¡°Sir. That will take time¡¡±
¡°You have a month.¡±
One month, then we need to ramp up production and consolidate our force strength¡ That¡¯s what they want, to drain our morale and manpower by having us run around searching for traps¡ I¡¯d like to call their bluff, but we can¡¯t risk it. We need to be certain.
¡°Sir¡¡± Henrake of course had objections, the timeframe I¡¯d given him was pitifully short. But there wasn¡¯t much I could do about that, we didn¡¯t have the time.
¡°Two. Two months is the most I can give you. Then we need to prepare for a long, defensive war.¡±
He grimaced but nodded; even if he did not know about the game, he knew about the cyclical nature of the demon war. He knew that we were due for another within our lifetime.
¡°The demon war. So it is true then, Her Highness fought a demon during the siege?¡±
I nodded, ¡°It is true. Though a rather weak one, the fact that a demon was involved at all indicates that they are making their preparations.¡±
Already calling Stahlia ¡®Her Highness¡¯¡ Not that she is undeserving, but she hasn¡¯t officially been given that title. Perhaps the faux miracle was more effective than we thought it was¡ Lady Ris no more it seems.
Henrake sighed, ¡°I would have liked to have more time, to let the men rest and prepare. But we don¡¯t have that, do we? That being the case, if Her Highness really defeated a demon¡ That would make her one of the Champions, no? She was granted a miracle, so she is clearly one of the gods¡¯ favored.¡±
His question was predictable, and we had prepared a lie to answer it.
¡°This information is not yet public knowledge,¡± I let my words hang in the air for a moment, the threat in them implicit, ¡°Stahlia is the Champion of the Autumn Sect, and is the only currently known champion.¡±
With Rosial being the true Champion of Autumn, it had hardly come as a surprise when Stahlia approached me regarding the issue. Predictably, she had requested to be given that title herself, to keep her sister as far from the war as possible. Naming her as such came with its own issues, not the least of which was once again lying about the words of the gods.
It also meant she would need to play an active role in the war, hardly a position befitting of a Queen. But to worry about that was an exercise in futility. For one, she would not be dissuaded and I already knew it would be foolish to try. Secondly, any worries about her early death were placing the cart before the horse. If she were to die before giving birth to an heir, I could always re-marry.
Furthermore, having her fight is logical. If she does nothing then the kingdom will be all the more likely to fall to the demons. As it is, we¡¯ve already painted a rather large target on our nation¡
Still, there was a feeling of discontent I could not quite shake. Nor could I figure out its source. It was¡ uncomfortable, to say the least.
¡°Back to the task at hand, what were our casualties?¡±
Henrake shifted gears immediately and re-commenced his report, ¡°The second army took the most losses, of their 1,251 men they lost roughly four hundred; seventy knights and the rest common soldiers. The first army lost around two hundred out of their original number. The third army lost only one hundred and sixty; their knights, in particular, availed themselves with aplomb when fending off the Husk.¡±
Indeed, the Husk aren¡¯t hard to fight, if not for having been caught off guard and by such a numerically larger force the second army would not have suffered so many casualties.
¡°In the end, once we broke through the sewers and past the wall, the enemy forces surrendered almost immediately thereafter; Her Highness¡¯s speech was most effective it would seem. By the time we made it to his high, to Antonio the majority of the rebels had turned themselves in.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Have Antonio moved discreetly back to the palace dungeons; no parades, no celebrations. This will be a somber affair.¡±
It¡¯s too risky to parade my victory, I need to transition the momentum from the civil war, and channel it into a fervor to meet the demons. It¡¯s a good thing we were able to do things with as much ease as we did¡ Stahlia was far more instrumental in that than she will ever know. As for Antonio, I¡¯ll need him to simply disappear, quietly. I can¡¯t take any risks, even for family.
Epilogue Two: F3: My Isekai Life
Franklin, Twenty Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
¡°Franklin, this is super important. Don¡¯t tell anyone you¡¯re from another world. If they ask you to fight a demon lord say no. If there¡¯s an adventurers guild, sign up for it; you can usually make good money that way. Try and find me if you can, I¡¯ll do my best to find you. If you meet a god or goddess on the way over be careful and watch out fo-¡± Professor Claire¡¯s voice was cut off by an explosion, and my vision went white.
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The world around my changed in a flash, and I found myself in an endless white void space. There was nothing whatsoever, except for the figure of a woman wreathed in light. Perhaps it had to do with the utter lack of anything else, but I found myself transfixed by her beauty. She was loosely clothed in something resembling a greek peplos, and the way the fabric draped over her body highlighted every curve.
¡°Ahem, Franklin dear, please do not stare¡¡±
In a hurry, I averted my eyes. My cheeks grew warm and I could only assume they were now a bright scarlet, ¡°Ah¡ Sorry¡¡±
What the hell is this? I¡¯ve never been this bashful before.
¡°Well¡ don¡¯t worry about it; I have that effect on mortals.¡±
Mortals? Then, this is a goddess? Claire was about to say something about them, right before she got cut off¡
¡°See Franklin, I am sure you are very confused¡ in truth, I need your help.¡± Her face turned a bit to the side, and her lip was quivering. It was¡ a rather captivating sight.
My own voice caught in my throat, ¡°My, my help?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± She nodded, ¡°You see, there is a world I am responsible for; it is very soon to come under threat¡ My brother, the god of Darkness is going to set his minions against my believers¡ I need heroes to represent my interests and match the champions of darkness.¡±
¡°¡And you want me, a random college student, to be one of those heroes?¡±
She nodded, ¡°I would like for one of my heroes to be from another world; it is my belief that your unique perspective could benefit the team¡¡±
She was making puppy dog eyes again, but something she had just said had jogged my mind. It was like a fog had cleared, ¡°¡From another world¡ The game, NewLife.¡±
The pleading expression fell off from her face, ¡°What of it?¡±
¡°My friend, George, and my professor, Mrs. Claire. What happened to them?¡±
A brief look of naked hostility flashed across the goddess¡¯s face, but she quickly brought it under control, ¡°George rejected my offer, though he is still working for my interests of his own accord¡ Claire was taken accidentally, caught up with you. She has been given a body and placed in a safe place. All I could do for her, out of guilt.¡±
Yea, guilt. Sure.
It was pretty damn obvious what Claire had been trying to warn me about now; be careful of them manipulating you. Still, if George was now living in this world and working for the goddess, then perhaps joining forces with her would be in my best interest. If I could find George then together we could find Claire, and then try and find a way home. It was a longshot, but it was something. The beginnings of a plan.
Better than nothing.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll do it.¡±
Like clockwork, the goddess¡¯s face adopted a look of relief, ¡°Excellent! Then, please. Accept my blessing.¡±
Her hand stretched towards me, and a stream of warm reddish-yellow light streamed out of it and washed over me. It took everything I could muster not to jerk out of it.
This will be the isekai-cheat ability bestowment then.
Though I lacked interest in the genre, I was at least somewhat familiar with a few of the most common tropes. The goddess was likely giving me some special power or skill as befitting of the hero.
Sorry Claire, looks like I said ¡®yes¡¯ after all.
¡°Excellent, I have given you the [Blessing of Summer]. Please do your best to develop your strengths¡¡± The white void was beginning to fade away, like a scene transition a new environment was imposing itself around me, ¡°We won¡¯t be able to talk much after I send you through, do your best to find the other three champions! You¡¯ll definitely need their help!¡±
And just like that, she¡¯s gone.
I now found myself standing on the side of a dirt rode with a town visible in the distance.
I can¡¯t know for sure, but if Claire was with me, she¡¯d probably say this was such a clich¨¦ episode one¡
¡°Kleth!¡± In response to my shout, nothing happened. But besides that, the words which left my mouth surprised me.
That wasn¡¯t English¡ Well, I know what I said, and hearing the words I knew what it meant¡ ¡°Status!¡±
Again, nothing happened.
So, I¡¯ve been given stats and abilities, one of which is called the [Blessing of Sumer], and another is the ability to speak and understand what it likely the local language. But I don¡¯t have the isekai trope status window¡
I fell silent, contemplative. I needed a plan, a series of immediate and long-term goals. A quick pat down of my person revealed that I¡¯d been re-clothed in some sort of leather armor, and had a sword and shield strapped to my back. Hopefully, one of my skills would be able to help me with those, otherwise I¡¯d be fucked.
Ok, immediate goal; try out the sword on that tree.
Short-term goal; get into that settlement and begin gathering information.
Medium-long-term goal; find George and the other three champions.
Long-term goal; find Claire and together with George figure out what to do next.
I unclasped the sword and gripped it firmly, taking a moment to check my reflection in the polished blade before setting off toward the tree.
Yea, the character I made looked a lot like me while it was just rendered on the screen. Now that it¡¯s¡ I¡¯m real, I can¡¯t tell the difference at all.
I had always been rather unflappable and capable of taking things in stride, but I had a feeling that all of this was going to test even my George-trained patience before long.
Epilogue Three: Cursed Champion
???, Sixteen Years Old, Third Month of 950
¡°And, your point? Simply put them to the sword; they are infected.¡±
¡°My Lady.¡± The warrior before me bowed but protested no further before setting out to commence the execution of everyone in the village. My home village.
But well, it can¡¯t be helped. The Husk have infested this area and we need to contain them. Such is my burden.
In a way, the fact that I had been chosen as the Cursed Champion of Winter was a blessing. Without the heart-of-stone granted by the goddess of winter¡¯s blessing, it was doubtful that I would be able to carry out my task. Beyond the doors of my hut, I could hear the general cries of the villagers, and my former friends, as they were cut down.
A necessary sacrifice, to show the Hell King of Lust that such tactics would not be effective on us. Being granted this title had been a boon indeed. The fact that the goddess of winter herself had seen fit to bestow it upon me¡ I was beyond lucky.
¡°You have been chosen as the Champion of Winter. Rise, and claim your title.¡±
Her words still rang in my ears. To think that I, a simple shrine maiden should have been selected, it made my ears twitch. Almost by reflex, I forced them flat against my head until they stilled. It might not be as irritating as it had been before, but it was still unbecoming.
Though I alone am blessed with this curse, the warriors will soon need to be replaced again, lest they refuse to carry out my orders.
Really, that was the only thing that still worried me; the warrior caste could be rather finicky with their honor. They could be persuaded that certain measures were necessary, but when it became clear that this was routine, they tended to become disinclined towards me. Such actions had already caused one breach of containment, with the Husk managing to slip out and spread further.
Truly, if not for Asmodea, we would have this handled by now.
Husk were, at their core, undead. As such, they were mostly mindless; pursuing any source of life essence they could sense with dogged determination. They would then drain it to be funneled back to the demon that created them, or if that wasn¡¯t possible they would simply kill anything in front of them. But give them a commanding force, and they were fully capable of drawing on their former memories and utilizing advanced tactics. But dealing with her was out of the question. Supposedly, I was capable of doing it. But how was beyond me.
There isn¡¯t anything for it. I¡¯ll just have to keep buying time and wait for the Drakan delegation to arrive.
Stahlia. Stahlia von Drakas. The previous Champion of Winter. My predecessor. Betrayer of the goddess of winter, the mistress of betrayal. Still alive, despite her heresy.
We¡¯d just as soon received the official notice of her and the Drakan third prince¡¯s coronation and wedding when I had been given my own divine oracle. It was little wonder that I would find her fascinating. From a professional perspective, she had been given the same blessing and task as me but rejected them. From a religious perspective, she had managed to pull off a plot against the goddess of plotting. From a political perspective, she had announced her intentions to travel to our kingdom.
The queen of Drakas, a nation that had long looked down on us Beastkin as sub-humans, to be exterminated or enslaved, was coming on a diplomatic mission. There had not been a Drakan monarch present in Sinion for nearly five hundred years, and that one had been executed. Whatever the Raj did with her in the end, I very much wanted to speak with her. If possible, to gain her aid in defeating Asmodea, that is, if she would help.
¡°Lady Nikita, your tails.¡± Lata, my attendant¡¯s softly chiding voice rang out and drew my attention to the rhythmic thumping sound of my tails excitedly beating on the floor. I stilled them through sheer force of will; they really were quite troublesome the way they behaved as if they were their own creature.
Ever since becoming the Champion of Winter, my own feelings had vanished completely. Yet my ears and tail still behaved as though I could feel. It made it very difficult to keep up my appearance and command respect. Then again, the very fact that I had tails was usually enough to command respect in and of itself. Yet another boon from my goddess¡¯s cursed blessing.
¡°Lata, any word from the Raj?¡±
I had asked her this question once daily for the past month, and the answer had always been the same; there was no news.
¡°Yes, I was planning to wait until after the¡ until after dealing with this village; Her Majesty Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris arrived this morning.¡±
My tails immediately began thumping excitedly again, but for once I ignored them despite being fully aware of their misbehavior.
7-1 Wedding
Stahlia, 17 Years Old, Fifth Month of 949
The next couple of months were a whirlwind. As soon as news of the ¡°miracle¡± spread, my staff began to be petitioned for audiences by seemingly every count in the kingdom and half the barons. I say my staff because, truth be told, I honestly did not remember all of their names anymore. Sure, there was the core group; Sasha, Frieda, Elienor, and Lucy. The last of whom was still under house arrest, but following the public revealing of my growth, there was no longer any reason to keep a secret.
In a way, news and happenings around me had completely overshadowed Antonio. Rupert had offered for him to receive poisoned wine while he was imprisoned, and he had accepted that. As he was legally disowned, he was not entitled to the same extravagant funeral as the late second prince, Percival. It was a rather sad end to a man who had simply been manipulated.
Not that I can do anything about that, but at least it looks like he isn¡¯t being remembered poorly. I can try and manipulate reports so he will go down in history as a tragic victim instead of a villain. I might not have known him at all, but it¡¯s the least I can do and I¡¯d definitely regret it if I didn¡¯t try.
As a more immediately tangible result of my actions and reputation, the number of my attendants had ballooned seemingly overnight. It was good news for Sasha, but I couldn''t be sure which ones were trustworthy. My life just had too many secrets for its own good, even with so much of it now out in the open. After all, I was still the spymaster. ¡There was also the whole heresy thing.
As long as I have my trusted core I¡¯ll be able to manage. Especially with Jacqueline rejoining soon.
Although I hadn¡¯t asked her yet, nor had I told her that there was a potential solution for her injuries. The reason for this was simple; I didn¡¯t want to get her hopes up. That said, there was little doubt in my mind that she would seek to re-join my service. Sitri¡¯s blood had proved to have immense restorative properties, but refining it was a massive undertaking. There was also the fact that my method was more or less a shot in the dark; there were no notes or recipes that detailed how to actually produce Goddess¡¯ Draught.
Not helping things were the aforementioned endless petitions, leading to endless audiences leading up to the public faux wedding. Which brought me to where I was now; being used like a living doll and making the final adjustments to the dress; it was a rather billowy white thing, not unlike a western wedding dress from Earth. Even though this was my second time, my stomach was still a bit tense.
At the time, I griped about how small the ceremony was, but given the choice now, I think I would prefer something more like that.
Since this was an ¡°official¡± ceremony, my original witnesses would no longer work. Instead of Edith, her father was going to be standing behind me. Sven would be replaced by Lady Lester, whom I was publicly friends with. Privately, her efforts to improve my social abilities were ongoing, though recent progress in that area had been quite impressive.
Thanks to the [Acting] Talent I acquired no doubt.
Lastly, Sasha would serve as a replacement for Jacqueline. I had my own thoughts about having the maid provided to me by the royal family serve as a witness to public marriage into said family, but her own background and qualifications were sound; as long as she swore before the gods that she was acting as a noblewoman, not as my maid, then everything would be fine.
The church was officiating the wedding, with the usual corrupt cardinal carrying out the task. Frankly, his own wellbeing was an item of curiosity for me; with his hands as dirty as they were, it was a wonder he hadn¡¯t been smitten. If Antenora or any of the other puppeted puppet masters ever deigned to speak to lowly me again, it was something I intended to ask about. That being as it was, even if the church wasn¡¯t going to publicly announce the miracle, the fact that they would officiate the wedding was basically the same thing.
Antenora did say that the gods didn¡¯t really care much for the minutia of the church¡ Though it¡¯s not like this wedding really means anything anyway, it¡¯s just a political stunt to blunt the news.
The news, in this case, was Rupert¡¯s recent proclamation that the demons had been involved with the attempted coup. He had then announced Drakas¡¯s stance for the upcoming conflict; that of a bulwark for the lesser nations. The public wedding would serve to give the people a morale boost and would be followed with King Drakas abdicating to facilitate Rupert¡¯s coronation.
My own coronation would follow shortly after, about a week from now; there was a minor legal hiccup involving the fact that the Queen had already passed on which required the ceremony to be done separately. Gustav had tried explaining it until I waved him off; when and where I was meant to be a set piece was of little concern to me. I would much rather work on Jacqueline¡¯s medicine than listen to legalese that in the grand scheme of things had little actual bearing on how things would play out.
Speaking of the treatment, it should probably be ready by the end of the month.
¡°My lady, please turn.¡± The seamstress¡¯s soft voice broke me out of my thoughts for a moment, and I robotically rotated ninety degrees for her. This would be the last part of this, then I would be on to my next task. Then I would be able to get back to my workshop.
Without any guide to work from, I had decided the best thing to do was to simply super-concentrate a healing potion using the blood as the active ingredient. To do that, I had first brewed a standard healing potion, then run it through a distillery modified with Mythril. Obviously I first tried the process with a lesser potion to make sure that the Mythril would contain the mana instead of dispersing it. It had worked so far, and if my math was correct then what I had now was something like an eighty-proof healing potion. A single drop had managed to restructure a smooshed-but-still-alive mouse, however, it had as of yet not managed to regrow any missing body parts.
The primary drawback was tha I needed to be directly involved; following my theory that Goddess¡¯ Draught required divine mana, I would feed mana into the distillery throughout the whole process and had done so for each distillation step.
Constantly increasing it, always being careful, watching out lest I do to much and spoil it, or to little and spoil it. It was mentally exhausting, time-consuming work. It was a small mercy that the potion itself was rather stable and did not seem to degrade the same way normal potions did. If it did, then there was no way I would have been able to finish this.
¡°My lady, that is everything finished.¡± The Seamstress stood and curtsied before stepping back.
Sasha stepped up and gently turned me to face a mirror, ¡°There, I do understand that you are anxious, but try to smile?¡±
Smile, yea, I do need to do that.
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Trusting in my talent, I pasted a pleasant-yet-bashful faint smile on my face and looked in the mirror. Only for it to fall off into a grimace.
Fuck me! Again!?
The face that looked back at me wasn¡¯t mine. It was Sitri¡¯s. Pale and devoid of blood. This mirage had been haunting me ever since I killed her, showing up occasionally when I was nervous or on edge. It wasn¡¯t even that I felt particularly bad or guilty about it. Sure, at first I had been a bit upset, but of all people, I had a lot of practice in dealing with such negative emotions. It had been easy to get over. Except for the face. That still popped up whenever it was least expected; like a cheap jump scare.
Like that bitch is giving me one last ¡®fuck you!¡¯ from beyond death. Damnit, you¡¯re dead, just go away!
Sasha nodded knowingly, ¡°I thought you might be a bit too stressed, so I arranged assistance.¡±
That¡¯s not why¡ But now you¡¯ve got me curious.
For whatever reason, I hadn¡¯t told her about the face. Several times I''d almost done so, but always stopped short. It might have been possible if it was Jacqueline, but there was just a bit of a gap between me and Sasha. As much as we got along and understood each other, something told me she would be of little help with this particular demon. We did understand each other though, or at least she understood me; the ¡®help¡¯ she had recruited happened to have two tails, six arms and legs, four regular ears, and two pointed feline ones. It also had three bodies.
The lot of them came piling in before skidding to a stop a respectful distance away, then the exclamations started,
¡°Woah!~¡±
¡°So pretty!¡±
¡°¡You look lovely, my lady.¡±
It was, as Claire had recently started to call it, my ¡°Imouto no Harem.¡±
Sometimes I wonder if she¡¯s even trying anymore¡ Putting a phrase like that in Felicity¡¯s head, honestly!
Not that it wasn¡¯t accurate, as long as you looked at it platonically instead of using the weeb understanding. Regardless, Sasha was right about one thing, this was definitely going to make me smile, ¡°Rosial, Felicity, Elienor, I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you until later!¡±
The four of us enjoyed each other¡¯s company for a few minutes, though it was saddening that we weren¡¯t actually able to hug or in any way touch each other. If this had been a normal day and dress then perhaps, but it wasn¡¯t and I¡¯d just spent the better part of three hours being fussed over. There was no way I was willing to risk ruining any of the seamstress¡¯s work. Finally, it came time for me to depart.
Before I left, I paused.
Yea, I may as well tell them now, I was going to tell them later anyway.
¡°Felicity, Elienor, Rosial, before I head out, I¡¯d like to tell you all something.¡±
Felicity¡¯s ears twitched, and she grimaced. Rosial¡¯s smile dropped off, replaced with a business-like expression. Even Elienor reacted somewhat negatively, sucking in her breath sharply and briefly screwing her eyes shut.
¡°¡You act like it¡¯s automatically bad¡¡± Before any of them had a chance to retort, I moved along, ¡°Well¡ It sort of is; in about a month, I¡¯ll be leaving on a trip. It will, in all likelihood, last a year or more, and,¡±
¡°And you aren¡¯t bringing Felicity or Rosy-chan with you. It¡¯s fine.¡± Felicity¡¯s words cut a bit deep, that would be her assumption given everything that had happened.
Oof.
¡°No, actually. I have made arrangements for the two of you to come with.¡± I nodded towards Felicity and Rosial, ¡°As Elienor is technically one of my maids, her coming along was more or less guaranteed.¡±
That proclamation elicited a round of surprised and excited squealing from all parties, and I departed from the dressing room. My stomach was considerably unclenched, and I overall felt a lot lighter, ¡°Thank you, Sasha. I needed that.¡±
She did a sort of half curtsy as we walked then pointedly addressed the orc in the room, ¡°Of course. Now then, shall I make the arrangements you spoke of?¡±
I felt my face flush red just a tiny bit, ¡°Yes, please do so. I will handle my parents though.¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
The doors swung open, causing my to squint slightly as the sun struck my eyes. There was no red carpet, though there was an orchestra. Instead, the doors opened directly to a raised stone section in one of the palace¡¯s gardens. This was a rather unique architectural arrangement. On my right as I stepped out were the nobility, slightly below myself and scattered about the grounds. The king was near the back of the nobles, sitting in a raised box with my father looking rather frazzled just to the left, though at ground level.
To my left, there was a rather ornate carved stone railing overlooking a small cliff. Below that was the noble¡¯s quarter, and for today only a part of it was filled with commoners. For the public wedding, the gates had been opened to allow the public a position to spectate the ceremony, and royal mages would use magic to ensure that the voices of all involved were carried.
And straight ahead of me stood Rupert, the cardinal, and an unfurled scroll. The scroll was a copy of our marriage contract; even if the ceremony wasn¡¯t a sham, having the real thing publicly accessible like this was considered too big a risk. The normal process would have been to sign the contract privately immediately before or after the main ceremony where a replica was used.
From a certain point of view, we actually followed protocol in a way, just had a bit longer between the official signing and the fake one.
All this I took in as the dazzling effect of the sun faded. A moment later the orchestra kicked off, playing something that was almost like the wedding march from Earth. Maybe a bit faster? I had never really paid attention to that one. After taking a deep breath, it was time to start walking forward and a few moments later I was standing next to Rupert in front of the cardinal.
The sheer mass of people in the streets below guaranteed that the low hum of their converged voices was audible. But at this distance, their stares didn¡¯t bother me much; it was rather easy to simply pretend they weren¡¯t there. Somewhat more difficult to ignore were the many nobles, but the majority of these I had already dealt with privately. That, combined with the numerous functions I¡¯d been forced to attend recently had somewhat numbed me to them, making it rather easy to trust [Acting] with my smile and simply ignore them all.
The cardinal began to speak, reading through the contract. Some parts were tweaked slightly from the actual wording or omitted entirely for privacy¡¯s sake; even if the voice was not yet amplified, the nobles might still read his lips. Surprisingly, now that I was standing here I was more bored than anything else. We had done all of this already, and this public display wasn¡¯t going to change any of it. One of the Royal Mages mumbled the incantation for the same sound-boosting spell that had been used at the siege then nodded to our officiant.
Now that the terms had been read there was no longer a concern about privacy, and the cardinal spoke, ¡°Thus concludes the reading of the contract. Your Highness Rupert von Drakas, do you accept these terms, and as such seek to take Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas as your wife?¡±
It was exactly the same as before. We both agreed, then signed our names.
¡°Please, seal the contract.¡± The cardinal¡¯s voice intoned again.
This of course was done with a kiss, just like last time. To my own mild surprise, it was rather easy. There was nothing really for it, we simply kissed and concluded our portion of the ceremony. Well, my portion of the ceremony. From here it would transition to Rupert¡¯s coronation.
At the conclusion of the coup, the king had, thankfully, announced his intention to abdicate so this was not another one of his surprises. Something told me, however, that it was not going to be quite that simple. The king stood and advanced towards us and, as decided ahead of time, I fell back slightly to give the stage to him and Rupert.
¡°Rupert.¡± His voice came out low, but as powerful as ever.
Rupert¡¯s back straightened immediately, involuntarily, ¡°Your Majesty.¡±
¡°You have done great things in a short amount of time. We know that we made the correct choice when naming you our successor. Now, will you accept our position and all the burdens it carries?¡±
Rupert bowed his head, ¡°If that is your will, then I shall.¡±
¡°It is. Cardinal, on behalf of the church; bear witness to this, the coronation of my third son. He will lead our kingdom in the war to come, while I will personally lead our armies.¡±
Ah, there it is.
It was very subtle, and I probably only caught it because of where I was standing, but Rupert had winced slightly. From the witnesses in the front row, Gustav groaned softly. Even Ferdinand, whose stoic unfeeling visage generally challenged even Rupert¡¯s lack of emotional expression, even he showed a reaction in the form of one of his eyes twitching.
It was very clear that the King had not informed anyone that his last act as monarch was going to be to take command of the army. Having said his piece, the king removed the gold circlet that served as his crown and passed it to Rupert. There would be an actual ceremony later and he would not wear it until then. But for all legal intents and purposes, those few words had handed my husband the largest country on the continent.
7-2 Growth and Panacea
¡°Then, with the powers vested in me by my station as monarch and by my name, Rupert von Drakas, I bestow upon you the title of Queen. Rise, and stand at my side, Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris.¡± Rupert¡¯s words solidified my posting, further emphasized by two system notifications I promptly dismissed.
¡°Received Title: [Queen von Drakas]¡±
¡°Title Revoked: [Crown Princess]¡±
A quick inspection of my status revealed that [Queen von Drakas] was essentially useless; it was just a renamed copy of [Crown Princess].
¡°[Queen von Drakas]: Awarded to those who have ascended the throne as queen, through marriage or by birth. Effects: This title bears no effects.¡±
Almost involuntarily, my hand ascended and touched the cool metal circlet that had been put on my head. It was nearly identical to Rupert¡¯s, save for being made of white gold instead of yellow. The weight was, surprisingly, imperceptible. The only thing filling my thoughts these past few days was how heavy the crown might be, both figuratively and literally.
At Rupert¡¯s command, I ascended the steps to where he was standing. This room had been used for his coronation several days ago. We were rushing things a bit, and strictly speaking, we didn¡¯t need the ceremony; the former king¡¯s words had granted Rupert all the authority and power of the king. Following that, Rupert need only say the words himself, and I would be given mine.
No, the ceremony had been purely symbolic, a show. Like the faux wedding, meant to give the people some sense of security. I stepped back to the side, where a short ornate staircase awaited me, and climbed up to his level.
Just a little bit longer.
Really, I didn¡¯t want to be here. The only reason I was owed to my duty. If it had been my decision, we would have skipped all of this and focused on making the preparations. But it had not been up to me. Rupert and Gustav, the latter now holding a minister position, had decided we wouldn¡¯t skip the coronations. The fact that mine had been accelerated beyond what the law dictated initially was the most they would allow.
Almost time for me to do my part, then I can return to my lab.
Rupert trailed off as his part finished, ¡°¡Together, we will do everything it takes to blunt the effects of the coming calamity.¡±
I stepped forward from just behind him and gripped his arm lightly in a move to show unity, ¡°This, we swear. And, I swear that I will not waste the gifts granted to me by the gods themselves. I will do my utmost to ensure the continued prosperity of our country against all that may threaten her, be they man or demon. I will not falter.¡±
There was a smattering of applause from the nobles and a dull roar from the streets below. My short speech, assisted by my Talents and Titles, had seemingly moved the people. That meant that my purpose here had been fulfilled. After a few moments of waving to the crowd, Rupert escorted me out of the garden and back into the palace proper.
As soon as the doors shut, cutting us off from the noble onlookers, the mask fell off, ¡°Is there anything else that needs to be done immediately?¡±
Rupert frowned as a servant assisted him in doffing his overcoat, ¡°Not immediately pressing; it would work best to delay your move until after the upcoming diplomatic trip, and speaking of that, we need to make the arrangements for your entourage¡ But that can wait. Please, let me know how things go.¡±
¡°I will. Sasha, Frieda, let¡¯s go.¡± I knew I wasn¡¯t being strictly proper. The way I was acting was hardly appropriate, nobles aside, there were still servants around, and they would gossip. Even knowing all that, I was practically jumping out of my skin to return to my lab. If my assumptions were correct, then the Goddess¡¯ Draught only needed another cycle through the distiller before it would be ready to use. The most recent experiment had managed to regrow one of the palace Stawri¡¯s missing legs, lost in a hunting accident. Usually, the monster would have been put down, but it had been covertly treated at my request.
It would probably be able to regrow her limb as-is. But for making something like a Goddess¡¯ Draught, I feel like that would warrant a title or a notification. My [Alchemy Correction] Talent hasn¡¯t even gone up.
That talent was currently at level four and needed about two hundred more experience to hit level five. I had gotten some experience when I first started the potion distilling and Divine Element Infusion, but that stopped after the third time. No doubt it was the repeated action penalty thing again.
I don¡¯t want to give Jacqueline a super healing potion. No, I want to leave her better than when I first met her; it¡¯s the least she deserves after everything she¡¯s done for me.
It was fortunate that I had as much leeway as I did, though considering the rarity of the main ingredient, Sitri¡¯s blood, that was perhaps inevitable. It wasn¡¯t like this super-potion could be so easily mass-produced. Though the concentration through distillation method had some promise for regular potions, it was rather delicate to do. That was the only real reason it wasn¡¯t done already; distilled liquor was a thing, and it wasn¡¯t much of a leap to apply that process to potion-making.
Simply put, I had discovered that without feeding mana into the potion as it vaporized, it would destabilize. Technically possible through clever use of mana crystals, but inefficient and time-consuming. My abilities with Blood Magic were the only reason it was possible for me.
And there was that side-discovery.
My focus turned to the ring I was wearing, and I felt a small smile grace my face. It was the replacement ring Rupert had given me; I¡¯d had Gustav affix a mana vacuum to it. An enchantment that would siphon off excess mana and store it without doing anything else. As long as the material¡¯s threshold wasn¡¯t exceeded, the mana could be safely stored and used as a power source for magic tools. Or, if there was no other way to drain it, I could simply have it dissipate into the air.
With this, I had regained my former abilities with fine mana control; so long as the ring still could absorb more, any excess would go into it rather than my target. Meaning my appraisal worked again. Of course, over-taxing the ring would make it crystalize and shatter like any other object. But considering the materials it was made of, that shouldn¡¯t pose a risk unless I went seriously overboard.
Arriving at my lab, I addressed my head maid, ¡°Sasha, the same as usual, please.¡±
This process was one oft-repeated, and she knew what she was expected to do by this point. Her reply, though, carried a bit of an unexpected edge, ¡°Of course, I will ensure that nobody disturbs you¡ This is the last time, correct?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yes, after this¡ the draught should be ready¡ Frieda, will you please send word to Jacqueline?¡±
Frieda glanced at Sasha before departing with a curtsy, but the former was not finished, ¡°My lady, may I speak my mind?¡±
My eyes lingered longingly on my apparatus before switching back to my maid, ¡°¡Yes, you may.¡±
She only ever asks to speak freely when she¡¯s serious about something¡ As much as I would like to blow her off and get to work, She wouldn¡¯t bring something up unless it were serious¡
Sasha took a deep breath and briefly shut her eyes before speaking, ¡°...My lady, I have so far held my tongue knowing what Jacqueline means to you, but how you behaved with his highness just now was completely beyond the pale.¡± Her tone wasn¡¯t accusatory, nor was it a simple reprimand; She spoke to me as though she was simply stating a fact.
She was right as well, as much as I didn¡¯t want to admit it. I spared another glance at my distilling equipment before nodding, ¡°I was-¡±
Sasha shook her head, ¡°Please, no excuses; just listen.¡±
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I shut my mouth and clenched my teeth to bite back a retort in mild shock as she continued, ¡°It isn¡¯t all bad; I can appreciate that you have so far minded yourself when in the company of nobility, but the way you act in private has long crossed the line. The fact that His Majesty tolerates such behavior does not excuse it; these past few months, you have demonstrated a general immaturity that I had thought beneath you.¡±
Ok, but when I finish my work here, it will still benefit the kingdom; I am doing my job.
¡°Especially now that you¡¯ve become Queen. Despite circumstances, you have a duty to this country to support His Majesty.¡±
¡°Enough, Sasha.¡± Something about what she was saying was seriously getting on my nerves, and I needed her to stop before I became heated and snapped, ¡°I know that. I know that the Queen¡¯s job is primarily to support the King and country in¡ a variety of ways. But Rupert and I are far from a traditional pair. It is equally my job to act independently and to advise him. How many Drakan Queens can claim to be both a champion of the gods and an apostate?¡±
She crossed her arms sternly, ¡°To my knowledge, at least two, including yourself. I will not deny that you are far from a traditional monarch. In fact, I find it doubtful that you will ever be my image of a Queen. But that does not change the fact that you are my Queen; I will always support you until such a time as you or his highness sees fit to dismiss me or until I face the gods.¡±
She spoke with more force than I¡¯d ever heard from her, and it was enough to steal the wind out of my sails. She simply didn¡¯t talk to me like this. Even during past instances of correcting or seeking to educate me, she was always relatively gentle about it.
And always backed down when I told her to stop¡
I bit my lip, ¡°¡Then what is this? If you claim you will always support me-¡±
¡°I am supporting you. I am advising you; in the proper forum. In private. It is up to you whether or not to heed my advice; now that I have given it, I will say no more.¡± To punctuate her statement, Sasha uncrossed her arms and stepped back.
¡°You¡ you make a good point. Thank you, Sasha.¡± In a way, she had completely missed the point, in a way that I didn¡¯t quite understand. It wasn¡¯t that Rupert and I disagreed on how my time was being spent recently unless he did disapprove and simply hadn¡¯t said anything.
No, I doubt that very much. But Sasha is right. I can¡¯t let myself get caught up like this. Even before officially being crowned today, I¡¯ve more or less been effectively the Queen for a while now. So as much as I want to help Jacqueline, I can¡¯t let it distract me from those duties.
I nodded, ¡°Since we are already here, I will finish the Goddess¡¯ Draught today¡ No matter how it turns out after this session, I will not delay any longer¡ And I will apologize to Rupert in view of the servants who witnessed my actions earlier today.¡±
That will be humiliating, but it should correct any perceptions and halt rumors if I do it early.
¡°No, that would be going much too far.¡± Her reply was immediate, and she shook her head, ¡°You should apologize, yes. But do so privately in the absence of servants. Then, following that, have forbearance with your actions in the future.¡±
That sort of made sense; I already knew it would look bad to lower myself like that. There was also a concern that servants of noble birth would carry reports back to their families. On the other hand, information about my previous indiscretion would be making its way back as we spoke. The advantage of apologizing privately instead of publicly was lost on me, so it would be best to simply follow Sasha¡¯s advice.
¡°Very well, thank you.¡±
She curtsied, ¡°Now, I believe you must reprimand me in some way; I violated a direct order and continued to scold you after being told ¡®enough.¡¯¡±
Do I really have to do that¡? No, this is another lesson she¡¯s trying to teach me, so I¡¯ve got to do something.
I considered it for a few minutes, trying to come up with a solution that would satisfy her while at the same time not being hugely inconvenient. Being instructed to discipline someone significantly older than myself was¡ awkward. Finally, a solution came to me, ¡°Very well. Then, should Jacqueline choose to re-enter my service, she will replace you as my head maid. People will view it as me being ecstatic at regaining an old and cherished employee while naming you as her second will preserve your own dignity. This conversation occurred in private, so it would not do if the repercussions were publicly identified.¡±
Sasha nodded, ¡°Very well, and if she chooses not to do so?¡±
For once, I had actually considered the other possibilities and accounted for them, ¡°In that case, you will be placed on temporary leave and attend to Jacqueline¡¯s rehabilitation such as is necessary. It will look like I am offering a favor to someone who was gravely injured in my service. Of course, it will require Jacqueline to travel with us, but that will be fine; we can drop her off in a place she chooses along the route.¡±
¡°Then, by your will.¡±
It would seem that my planned punishment had met with her approval. That was a bit of a relief, and I felt pleased, almost like a schoolgirl receiving praise from the teacher after doing well on an assignment. Although considering what that assignment had been, the feeling was slightly confusing. Regardless, that had been finished, and I could finally finish my potion.
I took great care not to literally skip my way over to the still; doing so would be sure to sour Sasha¡¯s mood. Taking the nearly finished potion out of the magic cold storage box, I carefully poured the contents into the heating chamber. Then double-checked that I was wearing my ring before feeding a tiny bit of mana into a primer. Predictably, the amount of mana that left me was more than I¡¯d intended to send. The ring absorbed the excess, demonstrating that it was, in fact, working.
Ok, here we go.
This part was always rather tense. First, I used [Ignite] through my [Fire Magic] Talent to start the oil burner, then carefully watched the temperature rise while tweaking the fuel valve. If possible, I would prefer to directly heat the chamber with Blood Magic, but it wasn¡¯t. Simply put, the process was already taxing enough without adding an additional element to the mix.
My hands needed to be wrapped in a layer of Ice Element mana lest I burn myself on the surface of the heating chamber. Then, I needed to continuously pour Divine Element mana into it, replacing what was being boiled off. The fact that I could now do a second element on top of Divine was thanks only to my [Divine Usurper] Title¡¯s effect of making Divine Element easier to manipulate. Even if Ice wasn¡¯t directly opposed to Fire, there wasn¡¯t any leeway to heat it myself.
With everything in place, I began to slowly increase the temperature. Soon, the potion began to boil away, the non-divine mana leaving it. The next hour and a half consisted of me raising and lowering the temperature while feeding mana into the still. Unfortunately, the constant expenditure exceeded my natural recovery rate, and I lacked the leeway to drink a potion.
Even if I could have done so, the mental strain was enough to preclude me from pressing on for more than a couple of hours per session. Incidentally, that was also about how long my mana reserves lasted anyway. A limit that was fast approaching.
Come on, do something!
It was coming up on the forty-five-minute mark of the second hour, and I was beginning to suspect that I¡¯d failed. The potion would restore Jacqueline to total bodily health, but it was not a Goddess¡¯ Draught.
¡°Received Title: [Creator of Panacea]¡±
¡°Experience threshold reached, obtained Talent: [Alchemical Correction V(MAX)] Talent Evolution in progress, complete. Obtained Talent: [Alchemy Meister]¡±
¡°Criteria met, received Skill: [Alchemical Heresy]¡±
My focus had been so deep that the notifications sounding off genuinely scared me. Falling and landing on my back, I clawed desperately at the air, trying to turn the heat off. Sasha, bless her, saw fit to quickly turn the fuel knob into the off position before seeing if I was all right.
¡°My Lady!?¡±
I couldn¡¯t answer; I was too busy feeling superbly pleased with myself as I read my latest system acquisitions. They were far, far, more meaningful to me personally than [Queen von whatever].
¡°[Creator of Panacea]: Awarded to those who have created an ultimate healing potion. Effect: Provides the user with an increased healing factor. Short of death or loss of limb, most injuries will recover within a few days.¡±
¡°[Alchemical Heresy]: Skill bestowed to those who have used alchemy to challenge the domain of the gods and successfully created a Goddess¡¯ Draught. Created potions and alchemical compounds can be imbued with Divine Element to improve their effectiveness by one tier.¡±
On the other hand, [Alchemy Meister] was simply an upgraded [Alchemy Correction] and had been replaced in my status. Granted, it did say that it would ¡°Allow the user to automatically perform certain actions related to the alchemical process,¡± but whatever!
I ignored Sasha and jumped up; I had only fallen, after all, hardly enough to injure me. My hands refused to stop shaking for several seconds, forcing me to wait. There was no way that I could allow myself to risk damaging the potion. Finally, they stilled, and I gingerly extracted the finished article.
Checking my ring four times to ensure it was still well below its capacity, I dipped my finger into the brew and appraised it.
¡°[Goddess Draught] - Healing Potion (Divine Tier). - ¡°Functions as a full restorative. Legends say that it can even flaunt the Authority of Mortis; the god of death.¡± - Unique Item - Created by The Divine Usurper Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris in the Year 0949 - Estimated Value: Priceless.¡±
I did it¡
7-3 Healing
My sense of relief and euphoria only lasted a moment before dissipating, replaced by an odd sense of foreboding. I took a second look at my new title, [Creator of Panacea].
It would¡ be very useful in faking the Champion of Autumn¡¯s blessing.
It was still a thematically relevant effect, but it seemed incredibly convenient. Perhaps it was my paranoia, but I could not shake the feeling that the title had been tailor-made for me. It would certainly make my planned deception easier to sell. The Autumn Champion¡¯s abilities meant they were effectively unkillable, though a cost was definitely associated with it.
I had planned to do my best to avoid being injured in the first place. Then manufacture some super concentrated healing potions to ¡°fake it¡± if I did get injured. Having this ability would make it a lot easier, considering how difficult and fragile the distillation process had turned out to be. With this title taking over the role of healing me, it would free up a lot of effort and prep time on my end, thus letting me do other things. No matter what, it would certainly make things interesting.
¡Yea, this has Adroni¡¯s fingerprints all over it. Didn¡¯t they say they weren¡¯t going to interfere, though..? The Autumn Champion¡¯s ability to recover from any injuries simply by sleeping, even death itself, that was never going to be easy to fake.
The idea that a god was meddling in my life again put me on edge. Granted, I willingly became that particular deity¡¯s champion, but having something forced on me like that was just¡ it reminded me of what Antenora had done.
I could remove it, probably. I¡¯ve not tried removing a title yet, but it¡¯s part of the class system, so it should fall under the purview of my authority. ¡But I could also just as easily not use it. Doesn¡¯t really make sense to go out of my way to get rid of it one way or another.
This particular title wouldn¡¯t do anything unless I selected it, and it would make for a very convenient fallback plan, assuming that things went to crap.
¡°My lady¡?¡± Sasha¡¯s worried trailing voice pulled me back to my senses.
Shit!
¡°Ah! My apologies; I was enraptured by this,¡± I highlighted the finished potion, ¡°It worked. As you can see, I am not injured. There was¡ a bit of a mana pulse, and it startled me.¡± I put on a smile to reassure her. though internally, I felt bad about the lie.
Sasha gave me a look that said she knew I was lying about the mana pulse but that she wouldn¡¯t pursue the topic; she knew about my rather unique skills and relation to Adroni, but we didn¡¯t speak about that stuff publicly. Especially with my new staff. Even if they weren¡¯t with me at this exact moment, it was best to avoid having a habit of talking about it. We would be less likely to make mistakes that way.
¡°Please, help me get things ready?¡± Frieda had gone to get Jacqueline ready and bring her here, and they would be back within the hour; I had planned to have her arrive shortly after finishing.
My head maid nodded, then proceeded to busy herself with tidying things around the room. As for the still itself, I handled it personally. Despite my station and Sasha¡¯s objections, and she had indeed objected, I wanted to handle the delicate contraption personally. A few minutes later, things were tidied up. Just in time; Frieda stuck her head in to announce her and Jacqueline¡¯s arrival.
Suddenly, I was beset by a feeling of trepidation.
I haven¡¯t seen her in a while¡ I mean, I¡¯ve ensured she¡¯s been taken care of, but I haven¡¯t personally seen her in months. What if she¡ No, we¡¯ll go through with it. No use fretting over every little detail and possibility.
Frieda wheeled her into the room. She looked¡ tired but at the same time, content. It was more like she had a rather busy day, and not so much a case of long-term stress. Felicity and Rosial¡¯s doing, no doubt. I greeted her, ¡°Jacqueline, I¡¯ve got something for you.¡±
Gesturing towards the vial of Goddess¡¯ Draught, I took a deep breath before continuing, ¡°¡It should be able to restore your arm and repair your back.¡±
Her eyes widened in surprise, and she opened and closed her mouth several times before finally answering, ¡°Is¡ Is that really possible? I know you said you were looking for a way, but something like that¡ For me? That kind of potion is like something out of the myths and legends. If it is the truth, I am not important enough to use it; you would be best to save it for yourself, or his highness.¡±
The fact that she had more or less accepted what I told her about the abilities of the potion was gratifying; it meant that at the end of the day, despite everything, I still had her trust.
¡°No,¡± I shook my head, ¡°No, I will not save it for myself; I made it for you, and I want you to use it.¡±
Jacqueline fell silent with her mouth hanging open before sinking back into her chair, ¡°¡Why?¡±
She mumbled something that I barely caught, ¡°...Why do this for me?¡±
I paused; there was a good chance that my answer to that question would influence whether or not she was willing to take it.
Well, why indeed? Because I feel bad about what happened. Because I want her to be whole again. Because I know that with what¡¯s to come, I¡¯ll like her help.
Things would be fine without her. Ultimately, Jacqueline was just one woman with a particular set of skills. She was useful but could be replaced; her presence was not necessary like the champions¡¯ was. But I wanted her to stay with me. I would be lying if I said it was purely for her sake. It was a purely selfish notion.
¡°Why you? Because you have been with me since the beginning. You¡¯ve always been there to help me, and I want you to continue on in the future. Especially with what¡¯s to come, I wouldn¡¯t want it any other way.¡± It was best, to be honest. Of course, I wouldn¡¯t order her to come with me. But honesty would get me what I wanted far more easily than lying to her. At least with Jacqueline, it was the best policy.
Her tired eyes lifted up and met mine, ¡°You are offering me this¡ miracle because you want me to serve you again. Not because you feel guilt over what happened?¡±
I nodded. It was true that I did still feel a bit guilty, and probably always would. But this wasn¡¯t really about that, not anymore.
Jacqueline exhaled softly, then smiled, ¡°So you finally stopped blaming yourself¡ when did that happen, I wonder? Give me the potion, then.¡±
Wait, really? Just like that?
I blinked in confusion but stepped over to the table. Carefully, gingerly, I lifted the small flask in both hands, then walked back to Jacqueline, ¡°My apologies, Sasha, but this is something else that I will handle personally.¡±
Jacqueline received the draught from me; her grip shook a small amount. When I went to steady it, Sasha stepped in and held Jacqueline¡¯s arm and hand. Obediently, despite not wholly wanting to, I stepped back. From the point of view of any onlooker, the literally-just-coronated Queen was attempting to hand-feed a crippled commoner maid. Handing her the potion was already borderline of what was acceptable.
Besides, there really isn¡¯t all that much risk of Sasha breaking the flask, and even if she does, it should work just as fine if it simply splashes on her skin. Maybe a bit slower at the very worst¡ Yea, there really isn¡¯t any need for me to do it¡
With the older woman¡¯s help, Jacqueline raised the flask to her lips and drank the contents. Sasha then removed the empty container and stepped back. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, Jacqueline let out a gasp and slumped over.
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¡°Stop! Don¡¯t touch her.¡± My order was swiftly heeded, and both Sasha and Freida stepped back, ¡°Thank you for reacting so promptly, but she is¡ fine. I think that it is similar to what happened to me.¡±
The explanation caused a candle to light in Sasha¡¯s head, and she nodded, ¡°Of course. Should we bring her to her quarters?¡±
Frieda had never witnessed one of my comas first-hand, so she had no real understanding of the situation, but took her cue from her senior and moved to take the wheelchair away until I again waved her off, ¡°No, I do not believe it will be so long this time.¡±
I was using my divine eyes and watching a most curious sight; Jacqueline¡¯s mana, long absent from her arm, was beginning to pool at the shoulder, ¡°Loosen her shirt around the damaged shoulder, then get back from her¡ Avoid touching her skin as much as possible.¡±
Why didn¡¯t we do that first!?
The two of them did as they were told, and we all watched as her skin began to bubble and froth until the surface had clearly liquified. It bore an uncanny resemblance to the injury that had first caused the loss of her arm, causing an involuntary shiver to run down my spine. Then, Frieda gasped before turning slightly aside, not that I could blame her.
The sight of bones growing out of a skin soup was, in a word, revolting. My own sensibilities were rather skewed such that I personally found it more fascinating, but the real question was why Sasha seemed unfazed. I regarded her out of the side of my vision as muscle tissue and veins began to follow the bony growths. She wasn¡¯t looking on with anything approaching interest, more so boredom.
The skin soup began to drip and run down the limb, appearing as though a slime was attempting to eat it. A few seconds longer and the skin started to harden. Though we couldn¡¯t see it, her back had probably undergone a similar process. A cursory visual inspection confirmed that everything seemed to be in order, but I dared not touch her just yet.
Before much more time had passed, she stirred once, then her eyes fluttered open. Sitting up, Jacqueline peered frantically around the room before exclaiming, ¡°Where, where am I!?¡± Her eyes seemed to settle on me, ¡°¡Alisha¡?¡±
My heart sank; I had been afraid this would happen. Clenching my hands shut, I shook my head, ¡°No, I am not Alisha. My name is Stahlia, do you remember me?¡±
Goddess Draught was a full restore. A complete heal. A panacea. It would fix not only the body but also the mind. Giving it to someone like Jacqueline, someone with a shattered psyche had borne the risk of¡ a reversion. If she didn¡¯t remember me, then¡
¡°Stahlia¡ No, not Alisha, Stahlia. Right. Stahlia Ris, von Ris? Now¡¡±
Hope, hope dared flair up within my heart at those words. She was hesitating, puzzling out each word, but it sounded like she did remember me.
Please.
¡°Now¡ von Drakas. Forgive me, there¡¯s so much¡ Things are, confusing. Who, who¡¯s Tanya?¡±
I nodded, ¡°I believe that might be your name. Before¡ before you were Jacqueline.¡±
The light was beginning to come back to her eyes as though a fog was lifting off from in front of her vision. From those few lines we had shared, I could reasonably assume that whatever lingering mental blocks she still had were gone now; she remembered everything. What that would do to her was anyone¡¯s guess, but surely it would be better than before.
¡°Relax, and take your time to recover and sort through everything. I will ensure that you are given everything you need.¡± Jacqueline nodded somewhat distractedly and seemed to retreat into herself, ¡°Sasha, as we discussed before, go with her. Keep me informed of her progress. Frieda, when I have returned to my chambers, please call for my parents¡ Address my father as such and not by his title; this is a personal matter.¡±
Hopefully, Jacqueline will have recovered enough to accompany me. Even if not as my head maid, a friend and advisor. Regardless, I need to address the promises made to my sisters¡ And do it so that my father doesn¡¯t feel forced to agree with me owing to status.
Sasha curtsied, then fixed Jacqueline¡¯s top before grasping the wheelchair¡¯s handles. Presumably, the full recovery included her muscle atrophy, but I had just told her to relax and, after so long in a wheelchair, one more trip wouldn¡¯t hurt anything. Once they had left, Frieda returned with me to my chambers in the adjacent rooms.
Moving is going to be a pain, though it won¡¯t be until after I come back, so I¡¯ve got a bit of time.
Rupert had briefly mentioned that before I blew him off; now that I was coronated, I should be moving into the Royal Chambers with him, but doing it now would be troublesome for both of us. We had decided to wait until after my return from the next major event on my schedule; a diplomatic mission. Now that I had been announced as the Champion of Autumn, it was planned for me to take a battalion of soldiers and a company of royal knights and embark on locating the remaining champions.
And also now my sisters. Why couldn¡¯t I have just said no to them?
Almost immediately upon my return, one of the new maids began preparing tea, in case I should ask for it, and two more busied themselves with tidying things once Frieda informed them we would be having guests.
Count Arrant¡¯s fifth daughter, Count Lardoc¡¯s third, and Count Gremel¡¯s second¡? Or is she Count Streichen¡¯s first?
For better or worse, none of the newcomers had made enough of an impression for me to remember their names. Without [Eidetic Memory] to fall back on, things had become a lot harder in that regard.
Which makes me wonder how the hell Sasha remembers them all. Without her informing me ahead of time or whispering in my ear who I was seeing, I wouldn¡¯t have had any clue. And I can¡¯t just keep notes about it so easily if one of these found them and reported back to her parents¡
Hopefully, I could purchase the Talent back or at least get [Memorization] again the next time I leveled up. It wasn¡¯t that my memory was particularly bad; it was actually much improved since my resurrection. Aaron¡¯s theory about the problem skills and talents having been incorporated into my body seemed correct. Now that the conflicting Talent had been removed, I was finding it much easier to recall various details and was even beginning to make some progress in re-translating the language used for chanting.
But for whatever reason, names don¡¯t seem to stick in my head. It probably has something to do with the fact that, even if I know it¡¯s important, I don¡¯t care about them enough... For whatever that says about me.
A short time later, while I was idly flipping through a novel without really reading anything, Frieda announced my parent¡¯s arrival, ¡°My lady, Lord Fynn von Ris, and Lady Rosalie von Ris have arrived.¡±
One of the other maids went to pour three cups of tea, ¡°Thank you, but as this is a personal visit with my parents, I will be taking only Sasha and one knight as escorts.¡±
To their credit, none of the trio showed any signs of being disgruntled by the admittedly curt dismissal as they filed out of the room. The knights didn¡¯t even blink and simply left one of their number behind. Once I was sure they were gone, I nodded to Frieda, who left to let my parents in. I took a final quick glance at a mirror along the wall to confirm my appearance was in order, only to wince inwardly at the demon¡¯s face that stared back.
Damnit!
There was no time to dwell on it, though, as my parents trailed into the room behind my maid. As soon as the doors were closed, I chanted out the [Silence] spell, then activated a magic tool in the table for good measure. My parents were seated, and Frieda busied herself pouring tea for the three of us while I launched into the purpose of the visit.
¡°Father, mother, I need to ask permission for something; please, do not let my new station turn this into an order.¡± Pausing just a moment to let my words sink in, I continued, ¡°I may have misspoken toward Rosial and Felicity; I invited them to accompany me on the upcoming diplomatic mission. Now, I wish to ask your permission to bring them with me¡ if it is possible.¡±
The two of them shared a look with each other; it was a strange mix of exasperation and pride. Then my father turned back to me and said, his tone serious, ¡°And are you ordering us to treat this as a request, not an order?¡±
He actually might have fooled me for a moment if it wasn¡¯t for the smile he was trying his damndest not to allow to spread across his face. The corners of his mouth were twitching fiercely, threatening to reject any attempt at stoicism and rise in mirth.
My mother lightly struck his shoulder, exasperation writ on her face, ¡°By the gods, Fynn, do you not think she has enough to deal with without your antics? Stahlia, as long as you continue to call us mother and father, then regardless of station, you will remain our daughter. No matter how many titles you might acquire.¡±
Her words struck me a lot harder than I might have expected them to. I fell back in my seat, stunned. Ignoring my state, my now-abashed father spoke, ¡°As far as those two are concerned, I do not believe bringing them out of the country is a good idea. While I appreciate your sentiment, I do not believe it is safe during such unstable times as these.¡±
My father¡¯s reasoning was sound, though it presented the issue of how to go about appeasing the two of them. Then my mother hit me with a follow-up finisher, ¡°The two of them were ecstatic, you know; they would not stop talking about how excited they were to travel with you. Fynn and I had just finished explaining to them when Miss Frieda¡¯s summons arrived; I think you owe them an apology, but both girls understand that you got ahead of yourself. Now, shall we visit as a family for a time? We shall need to put the masks back on so painfully soon.¡±
All I could do by way of response was bite my lip and nod while gripping my cup. The fact that my parents had told me no was in and of itself more proof than anything that I was still their daughter. Even if it sucked that I would have to deal with having disappointed Rosial and Felicity, at the very least, it sounded like my parents had properly explained to them why it was a bad idea to accompany me.
I have to remember that they¡¯re both getting older themselves, they might still be kids, but they aren¡¯t children.
What followed was by far and away easily the best hour I¡¯d had in months, perhaps years. We didn¡¯t even do all that much; talk about old times, how Ris villagers were doing, how the new defenses were coming along, how they¡¯d gotten a new Stawri and were looking forward to seeing how he faired with Stil, nothing of any real substance. And I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
7-4 Departure
The end of the week saw me preparing to board a carriage in the middle of a sea of men. The "entourage" provided to me for this outing. Nearly a thousand people total; I had been afforded a battalion of soldiers and a company of the Royal Knights. Granted, both were on the smaller side of things, but still.
This is nominally supposed to be a diplomatic mission to the neighboring kingdoms. Is it a good idea for me to be so heavily armed?
Drakan diplomacy had always favored a robust approach, but with what I had here¡
No, I can always send them back if it causes trouble. But, for now, best to trust the experts.
It was a fact that my diplomatic knowledge was lacking. If it weren''t for the fact that I was both the Queen and champion-in-name, we would have been better served to send a count or one of the dukes. As things were, I was too far involved to just stay back and assist our local forces.
And even if this is a drastic departure from the norm, that should hopefully win a few favors.
It was decidedly uncharacteristic of Drakan politics to send the champion abroad rather than keep them close to defend the homefront. Our neighbors should be caught off guard when I announced myself. As we approached the time for departure, I was more anxious about this whole affair than anything I had done previously.
It would not be inaccurate to say that the weight of the entire country and, to an extent, the rest of the world was presently resting with the success of my mission. Without the champions, defeating the hell kings would be nigh on impossible. I could probably manage one or two of them independently, but I would have to level up a lot more first. Even disconnecting from the system, a suicide play, I likely couldn''t do more than one on one.
I should have been giving more thought to this these past few months, but I was so caught up with Jacqueline and all¡
"Frieda, how much longer?" Frieda had fallen into the role of my head maid these past few days.
"Just another minute; once the music starts." Sasha was still with Jacqueline, and while they were both coming along, I was in Frieda''s hands for now.
They should be in one of the carriages following mine. My family as well¡ I hope everyone is going to be alright¡
In particular, I was concerned about Rosial and Felicity. Rosin would probably be fine, but those two both had reasons to dislike large crowds. Hopefully, they would be able to stay out of sight until¡
The music started, meaning it was time for me to depart. I roused myself and took my position near the door leading out into the palace''s grand entrance. Very gingerly, to avoid disturbing the maid''s efforts earlier today, I felt my face to verify I was smiling. This was just another ceremony, was what I kept telling myself. A pair of knights in ceremonial armor waited for a specific lul in the arrangement before they swung the large doors open for me, revealing Rupert and a large number of nobles.
As the music kicked off, I made my way toward the carriage. Pausing just long enough to lock arms with Rupert, I made my way down the walkway. He had just given a speech to those assembled, announcing and publicly detailing my trip''s purpose: finding the other champions. A mere formality as knowledge about my departure had already been disseminated through the rumor mill. The true event was not with the onlooking nobles but to follow with the commoners of the upper, middle, and lower cities.
¡°I heard what happened with Sasha.¡± He spoke in a low voice, lest he be overheard, ¡°Should I arrange a new head maid for you? One a bit closer to your own age?¡±
What? No, her age has nothing to do with that¡ But I can sort of see why he might think that, maybe?
I answered equally as low, ¡°No¡ things are fine; her assignment is temporary. A favor for Jacqueline, who has done so much for me. Also, a minor punishment for Sasha, who spoke out of turn¡ It was her request.¡±
Rupert tensed his arm slightly, acknowledging that he had both heard and understood me.
My entourage would pass through several cities and large towns on my way to the border. For many, this would be the only chance they had to see the queen. Consequently, we expected people to turn out in somewhat obscene numbers as villagers filtered in from the surrounding regions.
"Stahlia." Rupert''s whisper again reached me just as we came to the carriage.
Turning to face him, I stepped closer and tilted my head slightly to indicate that I had heard him.
He too stepped closer, and we met in a chaste embrace; a performance for the watching nobles, "Stahlia¡ I will ensure that you have a country to return to, so¡ make sure you return."
Having said that, we separated. Rupert held out his hand and helped me board the carriage, leaving me perplexed as I went to take my place in the parade caravan.
What, what was that? The way he whispered it, there''s no way anyone could hear or read his lips¡ those words were just between us! Make sure I come back? What the hell is he on about!? Surely it isn''t anything like that¡ It would be a huge morale blow if I were to die or otherwise fail to return. That''s it; plus, the Royal Line isn''t secure. Though he doesn''t need me for that, if something happened, he could simply marry Edith in another two years. Yea, it''s just that I''ve gotten myself entangled in various things. Spymaster, liaison with the monsters, Autumn Champion, figurehead of a sub-faction of noblewoman¡ not all of those shoes could so easily be fill-
Sasha''s voice interrupted my runaway thoughts, "My lady. You seem perturbed."
"Ah! Sasha? I was not expecting to see you yet. ¡When and how did you get here?"
She bowed her head lightly, "A moment before we departed, Miss Frieda informed me that something seemed amiss with you. She wasn''t sure how to proceed, so I thought it wise to switch with her for a bit; she is surprisingly capable given her dubious origins, but at times like this¡ My apologies if I have overstepped at all."
Yes, but when did you switch¡ Whatever. Did something seem amiss with me? So it was showing on my face after all.
I carefully checked the other two maids in the carriage with me. Both of them were giving me a sideways look and carrying on a furtively whispered conversation while taking care to never let their mouths face toward me. I enhanced my ears with Blood Magic.
"Yes, ever since my lady boarded. She''s been smiling, but it isn''t like her normal one."
"I saw what you mean. My lady was smiling sort of, only halfway. Maybe she was uncomfortable?"
"And my lady''s hands! They were a bit unsettled as well. The way she grasped the cup, clearly distracted¡."
"Whatever it is, the head seems to have sorted it out."
"Still, considering everything that has happened to my lady¡ she has always managed to bear it."
"Then, is there something about this mission? Did you see my lady embrace his Highness? Maybe he said something?"
"Hush, mere words would never elicit that sort of reaction."
Terminating my enhancements, I shook my head to clear it. Sasha gave me a questioning look of her own; I hadn''t made any honest attempt to hide what I''d been focusing on. The fact that neither of the two spies had caught on was somewhat impressive in its own right; I had been pretty blatantly staring at them for almost twenty seconds.
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I probably don''t need to do anything with them being that incompetent. Whatever they report to their families will be rife with errors and assumptions¡
"It''s nothing. Forgive me, Sasha. Rupert simply said something exceptionally sweet, and it gave me pause." It would be a lie if I said seeing the two maids stiffen suddenly didn''t give me some sense of satisfaction.
It shouldn''t do any harm if their families hear that. Better than them jumping to their own wrong conclusions and triggering some new form of unrest.
Before anyone could press the issue, I employed the favored tactic of diplomats and politicians everywhere; ignore and then change the subject, "How much longer until we exit the Noble Quarter?"
Seeing an opportunity, Sasha directed a poignant gaze to one of the other two, who shrank back under the weight of her superior''s stare before rattling off the answer.
"Ah! Uhm, forgive me, my lady, we have, ahem, we have just passed the Gilgan Arch, so we should be in view of the gates within a minute."
Though she fumbled a bit, the answer seemed to satisfy Sasha as she gave a satisfied nod. I raised a falsely bemused eyebrow toward Sasha before announcing, "Then, I should go up to the roof. Sasha, since you are not supposed to be here¡."
Trailing off, I let my gaze wander over to the two gossip stones. Sasha caught on and placed her hand on her chin in a show of thoughtful consideration. Both of her juniors realized what was being discussed roughly simultaneously, shared a look, and blanched white.
"My lady, I believe Miss Beatrice would be the best to accompany you. Miss Peoni is somewhat afraid of heights."
Beatrice''s shoulders slumped, to her credit, nearly imperceptibly. Peoni, on the other hand, was much more overt in her relieved sigh, a fact Sasha immediately noted if her subtle frown was anything to go by.
You can''t go running away from crowds forever. Not if you''re going to serve a Queen. Nice touch, Sasha. Stressing the miss to drive home the point that their own noble status means nothing in my presence. I wonder if Frieda was being ignored while I was spaced out.
Whatever the case, disciplining the maids was only my job when Sasha said it was. While I enjoyed having a bit of fun at their expense, the time for that had now passed.
"Then, Beatrice, I shall have you accompany me." The bespoke maid gave a short curtsy and a slightly dejected "Yes, my lady" before moving to one of the carriage walls.
This carriage was a bit special in a few ways. For starters, it had three interior rooms. Though they were all small, there was a bedroom for me, the sitting area we were in now, and a space for the maids to rest and prepare simple items. It was also enchanted in a few ways other than the standard, and nonstandard, fortifications. Two standouts were the axle, which had some sort of variable friction mechanism, and a full-length mirror that doubled as a magic communicator. The axle made pulling easier; we only needed eight horses despite the size. The mirror enabled visual and audio communication over long distances, though the mana usage was exorbitant, so it was more of a luxury than anything else. What could be said of the carriage as a whole was that it was an excessive indulgence.
Though this is the diplomatic carriage, so it makes sense. We want it to leave an impression on our host nations and serve as a testament to Drakan might. Plus, I''ll be living in it off and on for the near future, so I really can''t complain.
The other way the carriage was unique was the roof. From the central sitting room, a ladder was hidden behind a door disguised as carved paneling. That led to a roof access hatch. The top of the carriage had a waist-high barrier around it and another set of benches. It was, in short, a functional parade float. This was the ladder Beatrice opened for me, then scaled. After following her up, I first greeted the two knights riding there, then took my seat; the Noble''s Gate was visible directly ahead of us. Beyond it, incalculable faces and bodies all blurred together into one massive blob of people.
"Well, look lively, Beatrice; you have the easy job, just stand behind me and look pretty. Consider; they will pay no more than a glance to you. I''ll be attracting all of that attention." Hopefully, that would do a little to lessen my maid''s tension.
Her eyes widened in momentary surprise, and she stuttered, but it seemed like she was able to calm down slightly, "T-thank you, m''lady."
Good. It would be a poor look if my attendants appeared terrified. And, like it or not, they''ll have to deal with these situations time and time again. I''m not the only one who didn''t get a learning period; it''s sink or swim.
At least in my case, I had experience dealing with crowds. Not that it was ever easy. I took a deep breath and stood up from my seat just as the carriage passed through the gates to the upper city. Pasting a smile on my face and waving to nobody in particular, if I let my eyes sort of gloss over people, their perception would fool them into thinking that I was looking at them specifically. That was the method I had developed for dealing with crowds; avoid looking at anyone while appearing to be looking at everyone.
The trip through the city proceeded in that way and was largely uneventful. Some people shouted and cheered, and I directed waves toward the sources of those noises. Other people seemed hesitant, the ones that had yet to form an opinion of me or didn''t care; most of the lower city fell into this category. I carried my head high for these people, hoping to inspire some confidence. Though I had no idea if it would work or not. The vast majority of people were reserved but receptive; they did not make much noise, but they waved back more often than not.
There''s just so much happening all at once; people don''t know what to think. From what I witnessed today and the reports being funneled through the Adventurers'' Guild, Rupert and I have the majority''s support. I''ll content myself knowing that there were no attacks, or if they were, they were thwarted before I knew about them.
Once my carriage had cleared the city perimeter, Beatrice made to go back inside until I stopped her, "We aren''t done yet; there are the slums still to go."
She couldn''t prevent her face from scrunched up in disgust or retorting, "Truly? You mean to look at that?"
I nodded, "I do, and you will be here with me. I had wanted to walk for this part, but Rupert rejected the idea in light of the ongoing threats. So that is now two things you should be grateful for."
"Two things¡? My lady, I do not,"
"The second is that Sasha did not hear you nor witness your actions just now. Therefore, I will refrain from mentioning them, but I suggest you mind your tone in the future."
I really don''t need to lose any of my personnel when traveling. Sasha would probably want to dismiss her outright, or at least restrict her duties¡ I need to ask after Jacqueline¡¯s recovery. That she was well enough to travel was in itself a miracle. Go figure.
My maid was mollified and perhaps a little frightened by the subtext of my words. She ducked her head and murmured an apology which I graciously accepted.
Eventually, we cleared the slums, and I could finally go inside. Upon entering the sitting room, Beatrice immediately excused herself to the maid''s resting room. The sounds that followed suggested that the smell of the slums had bothered her greatly. Or it was the prolonged exposure to the combined stares of more people than she had seen in her entire life. Regardless, it was impressive that she had lasted as long as she had, considering that the noises were still continuing.
I pointed my finger at the wall and cast a silence spell, "Sasha, don''t reprimand her for that¡ It was rather intense for someone of her background, I would know. Did Frieda give you my diary when you two switched?"
She nodded, "As you wish, m''lady, I will ignore the fact that she excused herself just now. As for your diary, I have it here."
"Ignore all of it. Unless she does such a thing again." She curtsied lightly and passed me the diary.
After undoing the lock, which required a bit of Blood Magic mana trickery, I wrote out an account of the departure, then signed and dated it before passing the book back to Sasha. Except that it wasn''t actually a diary. Instead, this was a tool quite similar to the one used by the old Order of Shadows. A two-way communicator using written text. Keyed to my mana, it would only function if I were the user. Ferdinand held the other half and would edit my entry later to convey his reply. It was a crude method but was effectively totally secure.
"Now," I announced, "I would like to visit my family. ¡Peoni, please signal for a knight."
She looked a little startled to have been called over Sasha but quickly went to fulfill my request.
When my father elected to accompany my procession as far as Ris, He was provided a large carriage to transport my whole family. In light of that, it was a fact that I would be visiting my family''s carriage often as we traveled the scenic route back toward Ris. I could easily have stopped everything if I wished to, disembarked, then walked to my parents'' and embarked before we resumed the journey. However, I did not want to do that.
After discussing things with Lord Aldriss, the commander of the knights, we came to a satisfactory alternative; a knight would simply ferry me on a horse led alongside his own. My security wasn''t a concern while within Drakas; a procession this size made of trained men would not be hit by bandits, and every single one of them was well vetted before being given the assignment. Furthermore, we were going slow enough that I could quickly and safely make the switch with the use of my enhancements.
Doing this would also have the effect of helping to bolster morale; it would make me visible to the soldiers, especially if I used the system for other things, such as to meet with Lord Aldriss or to simply get some air. Regardless, for the time being, it meant that I could go and see my family a bit more before parting ways in a few weeks once we reached Ris.
7-5 Queens Homecoming
Stahlia, 17 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
After being on the road traveling through various cities and towns of the Kingdom for the better part of two months, I finally arrived home. Back to Ris, the village where I had been reborn into this world in the first place. Except, it wasn¡¯t really home. Not anymore. The welcome I had received here was¡ subdued. People looked on in silence as my carriage rolled to a stop near the entrance to the village proper. It was not the largest crowd of onlookers we had seen, but it was by far the quietest.
¡°This is¡ certainly different.¡± One of my maids, Peoni, mumbled behind me.
Or it could have been Beatrice. But, unfortunately, even after months on the road and in their care, I couldn¡¯t remember their names half the time. They were correct, though; things were different.
At all the other stops, there had been parades and banquets. Each time, it had been a multiple-days-long affair before we could get back to the relative tranquility of the road. But even at the most minor locations, it differed from this.
I wanted to believe that people would be excited to see me back, but I can understand where all of this is coming from.
The last time I was home, I looked more or less ordinary. There was an invasion from a goblin army. Since then, I had leapt nearly every social rank to the highest possible. I looked four years older than I should have. Then, there was the small army that accompanied me.
¡Like it or not; I don¡¯t think I can continue to call Ris home anymore. My home is in the capital now¡
Since we were sitting on the roof of the carriage, thus in view of the people, I held my head high. But that realization was like a weight trying to drag it down, ¡°Frieda, we are going to change our plans. Please, send for Lord Alriss.¡±
I¡¯ll do the bare minimum here, then depart.
We had initially planned to spend a few days in Ris before heading toward the border. But it was abundantly clear that my presence was making the villagers uncomfortable. It would be best to say my goodbyes to my family, then leave before I became too much of a strain on the locale. Of course, as Queen, I could simply force my way, but of all places, this was the last I wanted to do so with.
Lord Alriss arrived rather quickly to my summon. He had been expecting them since, by me not immediately exiting my carriage, we were already off-script. He bowed, ¡°My Lady?¡±
¡°Thank you for such an expedited answer¡ Have your second take the men and fall back half the distance from the village to the fort. It is clear that both their and my presence is distressing to the local population.¡±
He didn¡¯t argue against the sudden change of plan, simply giving a quick nod before asking a clarifying question, ¡°And your security?¡±
I nodded, ¡°I do not expect any issues, but I would like you to bring one squad of knights and accompany me into the village. We will spend only a single night, then depart for the border¡ Traveling at an easy pace, we should not arrive there ahead of schedule.¡±
¡°By your word.¡± He bowed once more and then departed.
I¡¯ll give him a minute or two to make arrangements.
¡°My lady, are you certain?¡± Frieda gave me a questioning glance.
¡°Yes, things are better this way, I think.¡±
Our voices had not carried, but it was evident to the people that something had happened when the assembled soldiers and most of the knights turned about and departed. Not that the whole number was visible from here, as the road was too narrow for that; a not insignificant number of them were very likely closer to the proposed camp than the village.
Once the visible men made an about-face and began marching in the other direction, a low murmur carried through the assembled villagers. That was my cue to stand and make my way down from the roof of my carriage. My father was waiting near the door to escort me down. When I took his arm, he glanced at Frieda before smiling sadly.
¡°For whatever it might be worth, I am glad you are back again.¡± With that said, he nodded, and Frieda opened the door for us.
Fortunately, I had a fair bit of practice at masking my emotions by this point, so I could hide that my father¡¯s statement was almost enough to make me cry. If my emotions were a bucket, seeing everyone acting so distant had been filling it up, and his reassurance just now had been the few drops to make it overflow.
Together, we walked down the street that ran through the middle of the village. My knights fell into step behind us, led by Alriss. My mother, siblings, and Jacqueline were already at my father¡¯s house, having traveled there ahead of me to be part of the welcoming reception.
Ah¡ I will have to tell them that I¡¯m not staying as long as I had initially planned¡ Shoot.
As we walked, the crowd followed with their eyes, then filled in behind us, trailing all the to the gate of my father¡¯s house. Even if they were a bit uncertain and uncomfortable, none of them were willing to miss what was likely a once-in-a-millennia occurrence, that being the queen of a nation being escorted through one of its smallest villages.
Even without the many soldiers and knights, there was still quite the entourage by the time we covered the short distance to the home. It would have been heartwarming if they had been happy to see me, but instead, it was just eerie. The fact that my knights seemed a bit on edge only exacerbated my feelings, and I quickened my pace slightly while subtly gesturing at Alriss to back down.
I¡¯m not letting anything happen here, of all places. Gods no.
¡°Stahlia!¡± A woman¡¯s voice pierced through the general silence, one that was familiar to me from a relatively long time ago.
Turning around, I saw her pushing through the crowd; it was Crystil, Giogi¡¯s mother. One of the knights moved to intercept her, but I waved him away.
¡And how to deal with this? I can¡¯t very well go and punish her for disrespect, not without losing the respect of the villagers, whatever little I have left. But, on the other hand, I also can¡¯t just ignore it¡
Fortunately, as she saw the knight approach only to be called back, it seemed she realized what she had done, ¡°Ah! M-my lady, no, your majesty, p-please forgive me.¡±
It sucked, but it was a reaction I could use. Affecting a faint, sad smile, I nodded, ¡°Crystil, was it? Please, pay it no mind. You¡ you were anxious about Giogi, correct?¡±
Though he had slipped my immediate focus in the wake of everything that had transpired, it wasn¡¯t as though I had hung him out to dry. He was on track to be elevated into a full knight once he came of age and finished a period as a squire. Someone of his birth and skill level couldn''t be posted as one of my knights, given my own station. Crystil bit her lip and nodded, probably a bit uncertain of how to speak and nervous, owing to my armored knights seemingly staring at her through their helmet slits.
I shot Alriss a side look, and he ever so slightly tilted his head in response before approaching the woman. He next removed his helm before speaking, ¡°Miss, my apologies for my men frightening you; I can see that you are merely worried for your son.¡±
Ah, that¡¯s clever.
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Though not strictly prohibited, removing his helmet for a commoner woman while on duty was a rather large sign of respect towards her. Especially given that the crowd was only a short distance away. The way he was speaking then wasn¡¯t simply for Crystil but for that same crowd; his voice was intentionally loud enough to carry the short distance between us.
He was genuinely concerned some of them might try something and is trying to defuse the situation in a way he thinks I¡¯ll appreciate.
While I had my objections regarding his assumptions, even if they were nervous, I didn¡¯t think anyone from my own village was so far gone as to attempt to harm me. Far more likely, one of them would do something rash as Crystil had done. That said, I appreciated his sentiment and the dedication such worries indicated.
It took her a moment to answer, but when she finally did, she nodded emphatically, ¡°Y-yes, I haven¡¯t heard anything from him¡ Not since¡¡±
Her voice trailed off, and she shot a worried glance in my direction. It was likely that the last time she had heard anything from Giogi was when I had been back to Ris before the fallout with Count Francois and my ascension.
Lord Alriss nodded, ¡°Yes, I imagine that the boy is gripped by youth and has neglected to attend to his mother¡¯s worry. However, he is alive and doing quite well in his studies and training. The fact that he has caught my eye is a rather impressive feat for one of his station. You should be proud of yourself to have raised a fine son.¡±
Pff! Giogi, a fine son? I suppose anything is possible¡ Still, that¡¯s actually something. If one of the commanders of the Royal Knights is watching him, he must be doing well.
There was a possibility that Alriss had only said that to assuage Crystil¡¯s worries, but if it were a lie, it would have been told in my presence. The odds were that he had spoken the truth, and Giogi was making more progress than I had been aware of.
I won¡¯t meddle, but it might be worth looking at his progress more closely than I have been once I return to the Kingdom.
Alriss held up his fist and waved a quick gesture. Following that, all of the knights in my current retinue doffed their helmets. The tension in the air broke, and the people began to smile, and a low hum of many whispered conversations suffused the air. Though they were not completely ok, it seemed that much of the previous apprehension had dissipated. Crystil was silent, but it looked like she was trying very hard to hold back relieved tears when she melted into the larger crowd as we resumed our walk.
Alriss took a half step closer to me, anticipating I might have something to say. He was correct, and once he was within range, I tilted my head to carry on a short, whispered conversation, ¡°Thank you for handling things the way you did. It must not have been easy removing your helmet before someone of such low birth.¡±
¡°Not at all; far easier to remove my helmet than draw my sword.¡±
¡°Do you really believe it would have come to that?¡±
There was a pause before he answered, though the angle of my gaze prevented me from discerning his face, ¡°Perhaps. Though, as your majesty suspects, I do not think it would be from malice. Rather, one of the villagers acting rash or forgetting their station¡ But, if I may, I believe it would still be best to depart on the morrow.¡±
My father¡¯s arm stiffened in my grip; I had yet to inform him of that change of plans.
And he¡¯s right¡ Actually, things might be a bit more dangerous now than they were. We¡¯ve personalized ourselves now. It would be terrible if someone forgot or overstepped their boundaries, forcing my knights or me to act.
¡°¡Yes, I am inclined to agree. But, father, as Lord Alriss indicated, given the general attitude in the village, I believe I shouldn''t linger; we now plan to depart tomorrow.¡±
He didn¡¯t respond but brought his free hand up to rest on mine, gently squeezing it. His face betrayed his emotions, however. Not as good as my [Acting] Talent, he was only partially able to prevent the sadness from his expression. My father was intelligent, though; it would not be the first time he set aside personal feelings because he needed to do so. He might be sad now, but he would stand by my decision. Not because he didn¡¯t have a choice but because he chose to support it.
I can only hope that the others will be even half as understanding. Mother¡ Will be upset but probably understand. Regardless, she¡¯ll ultimately go with whatever my father decides. Rosial, Felicity, and Rosin¡ Yea, no way. There¡¯s going to be grief there.
Rosial and Felicity were eight and nine, respectively, so they wouldn¡¯t throw a tantrum. Probably. Despite having an excellent brother-sister relationship as far as I was concerned, Rosin and I could not be said to be particularly close.
Felicity will probably be hit the hardest, though Claire will hopefully be able to blunt the worst of it¡ Rosial will understand better than the other two, but I hope it doesn¡¯t have any lasting adverse effects on her, given everything that¡¯s already happened to her.
Stop. I need to stop.
I was spiraling again, worrying about things that I couldn¡¯t really control. Me leaving early was something that would have to happen, and it would upset people. It would bother me, but it still had to happen. Best to break the news and then enjoy the time I did have. As I came out of my thought spiral, I saw that we had arrived at the house, and the crowd was dispersing. My mother and siblings were outside in the garden to greet me. Stil was also present, lounging in the grass next to a Stawri I didn¡¯t recognize.
Probably the one father was saying he had recently acquired. Well, it seems that they are getting along.
The home was different from how I remembered it. There had been some additions built on. For one, the garden was more prominent, and there seemed to be another slope to the roof jutting out from the back. Evidently, an extension had been put in at some point. The home overall now approached the size of one of the smaller Baron¡¯s estates of the capital.
A servant boy came running up to open the gate for us, and with a start, I realized it was Sark, one of Giogi¡¯s friends, who had been a member of the original ¡°Stahlia¡¯s Knights.¡± His class was Scholar, and my father had apparently hired him at some point. The typical greetings were exchanged, even though we had only separated yesterday. My mother invited me inside, and once we made it through the doorway, I dismissed everyone I could; even if it was a bit larger, the building was still small.
I would love to let my mask off, but not everyone here is a part of my inner circle¡
Once tea had been served, and we had all had a few minutes to relax, it was time to break the news about the schedule change. Looking around the room, I first confirmed that everyone important was present; better to rip the bandage off all at once than do it repeatedly. First, Sasha was attending to Jacqueline, who was attending to my mother. Next were Felicity and Rosial, both sitting docilely on one side of our mother. Finally, my father, who was sitting on my mother¡¯s other side. Everyone else was a member of my immediate party.
First, I cleared my throat lightly and addressed Jacqueline, ¡°Ahem, Jacqueline.¡± She straightened and turned her full attention to me, ¡°Jacqueline, now that we are back in Ris, you have a choice to make; whether you wish to re-enter my service yourself. When I leave, I intend to take Sasha with me. This trip will be too long to leave everything to Frieda. If¡ If you choose not to then,¡±
She made a small gesture, not cutting me off but indicating that she wanted to speak. I paused and nodded, prompting her to say what she will, ¡°If I may, your majesty, I have spent a great deal of thought on the matter¡ And I am conflicted. Miss Sasha is excellent as an attendant, in many ways superior to me. However, I do not believe that I have anything to offer.¡±
There was a brief pause wherein she fixed a steady gaze on me, one loaded with many conflicted emotions and feelings. As she stared, they slowly subsided, and her expression took on a subtle hardness. One that would not be recognizable to any who did not know her well, ¡°¡That said, if your majesty still has use for my abilities, then I would be honored to re-enter your service.¡±
¡But not as a maid. After everything, she¡¯s offering her sword.
I took a long moment to consider the importance of her words and the meaning behind what she was saying before I nodded firmly, ¡°I do. Sasha, going forward, you are to resume your role as my head maid; Frieda will be your second. Please integrate Jacqueline into the duty roster in a manner best fitting her ability.¡±
Sasha bowed her head; the meaning was clear. Jacqueline would re-enter my service, but not as a maid. Thought that was to be her cover; she was first and foremost to be my blade. I could personally attest to how effective she was at the role.
I only hope I don¡¯t have to wield her that often. I won¡¯t even attempt to fool myself and say I¡¯ll never use her. Now, for the challenging part.
I took a deep breath, ¡°Then, with that settled, I must announce a change of plans; Mother, Rosin, Rosial, and Felicity, I will be departing tomorrow morning and heading for the border¡ I do not believe that it is wise for me to linger lest a villager does something unwise.¡±
My mother blinked, then nodded slowly as though to indicate she had thought this might be what would happen. Further, contrary to my expectations, none of the younger ones seemed to be overly upset. Rosin shrugged and tried to appear tough, though he only looked cute. Rosial glanced at Felicity, then nodded. Lastly, Felicity merely grimaced and clenched her fists, not expressing disappointment beyond a simple question.
¡°¡And, when exactly do you plan to leave?¡±
¡°Tomorrow at dawn, I¡¯ve already made arrangements with my men.¡±
She nodded, and a dull silence hung heavy in the air for a short while until my mother clapped her hands, ¡°Then, we do not have much time. Let us have one more meal together, and perhaps you three can stay up a bit later tonight.¡±
The proclamation of a relaxed bedtime did much to lift the mood, and Sasha trailed after Jacqueline to prepare the dining room, Sark hurrying to catch up to the two older women.
This is for the best. Things would be a lot worse if I stayed.
7-6 F4: Merchant Guard
Franklin, 20 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
Stepping back from the tree, I replaced the sword on my back and put it into its sheath. Not a complete scabbard; it was more or less a clip. It made me worry whether or not any sudden movements would make it slip and cut me. Then again, my armor seemed relatively durable at a glance.
It should be fine¡ More importantly, holy shit! What even was that!?
I had always been fit, not that I worked out, but I could make it up several flights of stairs without getting winded. Yet, that had been an experience. Not only was my body just all around better, but my muscles were also harder, my reflexes were faster, and I was all around stronger. So, initially, I planned to swing the sword and get a feel for it. It shouldn¡¯t have been more than a few minutes of messing around, but it had been hours. The sun was high in the sky when I first started, and after stopping, it was now approaching evening.
And those moves as well!
I lacked knowledge of swordsmanship, so I could not have known any forms or maneuvers. Yet, as soon as I drew the blade, it was as if I suddenly acquired a decade¡¯s worth of practice; flowing fluidly from one form to the next in a patterned sequence, the tree¡¯s scarred and mangled trunk was a testament to my ability. Bringing a hand up, I touched the hilt of the sword behind my head once more.
The blade as well; what¡¯s it made out of? Several hours of beating on wood, and it¡¯s not dented or dulled at all.
It was a conundrum I couldn¡¯t even begin to answer.
Well, there¡¯s no use standing around on the side of the road like an idiot; this is a fantasy world, probably. That means there are probably monsters and bandits or some such; I should head for the city I saw before it gets too dark.
Setting off along the road toward the distant settlement, I began to ponder my situation. Earlier, I had come up with something of a brief plan:
Get into the settlement, which was the direction I was now heading. Following that, find George and the other three champions besides myself. Lastly, we would locate Claire, and then the three of us would figure out a way home. Along the way, I would probably end up helping the goddess with her demon problem or whatever, but that wasn¡¯t one of my immediate personal goals.
That said, I am doing rather well, all things considered¡ However, it wouldn¡¯t be unreasonable for me to panic in a situation like this¡
I had always been reasonably level-headed, but at the same time, I had also always taken the time to properly consider my choices before acting. Yet, here I was, jumping the gun. On the one hand, the whole series of events had felt like they were very much ¡°do or die,¡± but on the other¡
Did the goddess mess with my head?
Claire¡¯s parting words rang in my ears, ¡°If you meet a god or goddess on the way over, be careful and watch out fo-¡± She had been cut off at the last line but given the context of her other warnings¡
I¡¯ll need to be careful how I proceed from here on out¡ Going to that city is still the right play; I need information. But beyond that¡ Well, I have Claire¡¯s warnings and a bit of my own knowledge, so I won¡¯t be an idiot.
Telling someone that I was an otherworlder was off the table outright. Likewise, claiming to be a champion of the gods was a no-go. Only when I knew more about them, especially how they factored into the political situation. There would also be the question of money; food and lodging aside, what if the city had an entry tax? A quick pat down of my clothes revealed a small pouch containing a handful of coins with a design I did not recognize.
¡Four and five. Five coins total¡ Is that a lot? Probably not. I¡¯d wager it¡¯s only enough to get into the city and rent a room at an inn.
¡°Haaa¡.¡± I breathed a sigh and put the various worries and concerns out of my mind; there would be plenty of time to consider them later. For now, I just wanted to take in the sights as I walked; this was, after all, a whole different world. That said, there wasn¡¯t much to look at. To my left, an open plain stretched rather far toward a mountain range. To my right, more open plains but with some sparse trees that eventually grew thicker until turning into a forest. At my feet was the unpaved and dusty road, with my destination city at one end. At the other end, the road eventually vanished over the horizon.
¡And I don¡¯t even know enough about trees to be able to tell the difference between those and something from Earth. For all I know, there isn¡¯t any, and these are just some random species of deciduous foliage.
The view was amazing, even breathtaking, but it was just a view. The most striking feature of the landscape was the lack of people. This was an established road leading towards a walled settlement that looked, from this distance, to be of considerable size. Logic dictated that the road should have been relatively well traveled, yet it was seemingly empty.
¡°Is it just the time? The gates could close at dusk, so anyone traveling would have been sure to arrive by now¡.¡± But, looking at the sun, it looked like it would slip below the mountains in another few hours.
¡Assuming that¡¯s the case, I should probably hurry. I wouldn¡¯t want to be stuck outside.
Taking a moment to collect myself, I broke into a sprint. Surprisingly, despite not having been much of a runner previously, my body could maintain quite the speed for a relatively long time. And even without measuring my pace, I was sure I was moving faster than I had originally been capable of. The plains were a blur as they flew by me, and the wind slapping against my face stung a bit. Yet, the city wasn¡¯t actually getting any closer. Maybe it was a tiny bit larger, but it was impossible to tell.
I can, probably, keep this, pace for, a while, but it won¡¯t, matter if, the gates close, by the time I, get there.
A feminine voice called out to me from off the side of the road, ¡°HAIL!¡±
¡°Leana! Get back here!¡± Followed by a furtive masculine voice.
I skidded to a stop and turned back to where the voices had come from while my hand drifted up and gripped my sword hilt.
¡°Who goes there!¡± My cringe-worthy retort was answered by a stroke of silence before the female voice called out again.
¡°Over here!¡±
The male¡¯s voice did not say anything more, so I tentatively left the road and approached where the two calls had come from. A short distance away, I discovered a strange dip in the ground. A minor quirk of the terrain had made it invisible from the path, but just to the side, it opened up into a rather deep space. At the bottom of the area was a cluster of covered wagons and a circle of people gripping their weapons.
Bandits!? Wait, no. They¡¯re dressed too well. Well, maybe not. I don¡¯t really know how bandits would really dress¡ And I don¡¯t see that girl anywhere.
After a few seconds of a tense staring contest, I took my hand off my sword. The assembled people slowly reciprocated, and the tension began to wind down.
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¡°See? I told you; he doesn¡¯t look like a threat.¡± A girl poked her head out from one of the wagons. She had long black hair tied into a single braid and light brown skin. Appearance-wise, she was probably about fifteen or sixteen, though this being nominally a fantasy world, there was no way to know for sure.
¡°Leana! Get back inside! We don¡¯t know that for sure yet!¡± The man who spoke was the same as the voice I¡¯d heard previously.
He looked the oldest of the group and was a bit round but in a sort of stocky way. Clearly, he was relatively strong under that layer of fat. The girl sighed but did what she was told, vanishing back into the wagon.
I held my hands up in a hopefully placating manner, ¡°I swear, I don¡¯t mean any harm to you and yours.¡±
The various other men murmured amongst themselves but turned to the speaker. Evidently, he was their leader, so I decided to focus my efforts on him. In theory, I could walk away, but that would mean I wasted this opportunity. At the very least, these people could answer some questions for me.
¡°Then, what are you doing? Forgive me if I don¡¯t believe you.¡± The leader¡¯s sardonic question was understandable; thinking about things from his point of view, I was rather strange.
Traveling alone was undoubtedly a risky prospect, and add to that the fact that I had been sprinting like a bat out of hell¡ yea, his disbelief was understandable. And I had no answer; the truth was certainly out of the question.
¡°¡It¡¯s¡ complicated. To tell you god¡¯s honest truth, I don¡¯t know where I am and was trying to get to the city.¡± My explanation caused something of a stir to run through the group.
Yea, I wouldn¡¯t believe me either; such a textbook excuse. Wait, what?
The leader seemed to have let his guard down somewhat, contrary to any reasonable expectation, ¡°God¡¯s? You must be from pretty far away. Still, how did you end up in this gods forsaken stretch of the country? And now, of all times?¡±
That¡¯s what you seized on? Not the fact that I have no idea where this is or how I got here, but ¡°god¡± instead of ¡°the gods¡?¡± ¡Polytheism, then. Need to keep that in mind. That said¡ it sounds like this isn¡¯t the most fantastic place to be.
¡°Now? Is something happening?¡±
The man blinked incredulously before shaking his head, ¡°Confound it, fine! If you meant to do anything ill to me and mine, you¡¯d have done it already. Doubt we could stop someone as strong as you, anyway; Leana, bring the man something to eat!¡±
¡°Finally!¡± The girl, Leana, poked her head out of the wagon and then hopped out entirely.
The man ignored her and turned to me, ¡°Come, sit by the warming stone; I¡¯ll fill you in on what¡¯s happening.¡±
Warming stone¡?
Following the man over to a circle of benches and chairs all arrayed around a large rock, I soon had my answer. Rather than a fire, whatever this thing was, it emitted a fair amount of heat. What¡¯s more, if the black handles were anything to go by, it was portable.
Curious, but this isn¡¯t something quickly asked about. Not knowing the area is already bad enough, but asking about it would be a mistake if this is super common. So I can assume it¡¯s probably something like a magic space heater and go with it.
Taking a seat, I turned to face the man, ¡°Then, please forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is going on?¡±
He chuckled dryly, ¡°What isn¡¯t? Drakas only just got over their succession war, and now they¡¯re making noise about demons coming back. As if that wasn¡¯t already bad enough, they¡¯ve been so gracious as to inform the Alliance that their new Queen is coming to pay a¡¯ visit.¡± He glowered at the rock for a moment before continuing, ¡°And she¡¯ll be coming to Zensten first, so any merchant with half a brain is staying well away.¡±
Zensten is probably the city up ahead of us, then. It sounds like this ¡°Drakas¡± is a monarchy, and they have a poor reputation. Going for context, that makes this a merchant caravan led by a merchant lacking half a brain.
¡°Then, I take it you don¡¯t have half a brain?¡± The man nodded grimly, confirming at least a portion of my theory.
¡°Aye, I¡¯m taking my caravan into Zensten; that¡¯s the only reason we¡¯re here. Really unlucky for them; first, the disappearances, then Drakas sending that ultimatum. Someone will have to keep trade going; there¡¯s undoubtedly profit in it; as long as you don¡¯t stick your head out, so I figured it might as well be me.¡±
Not that I had any context, but what he was saying barely seemed to make sense. Surely merchants should be clamoring to seek it out if there was profit. Nevertheless, it was something that bothered me enough to risk asking, ¡°And nobody else is going to?¡±
He snorted, ¡°Humph! The big companies can afford to cut off one or two cities while they wait to see which way things swing. It¡¯s independents like myself that have to take risks!¡±
¡°I see¡ Then, you aren¡¯t afraid of those disappearances? Or of Drakas trying to pull anything?¡± Somehow, the conversation worked out in my favor; the man was slowly revealing bits of information that let me form a picture of what was happening in the area.
The demons are definitely coming back; the goddess told me as much. But it sounds like Drakas might be the only place actively preparing¡ I don¡¯t know enough to say for sure, but the Queen might be coming out to try and form a military coalition or something. She¡¯s probably someone I¡¯ll want to meet, but I need to be careful; the way this guy is talking and the expressions he¡¯s making... Their reputation probably can¡¯t be much lower.
¡°The disappearances don¡¯t concern me, no, but Drakas is plotting something. Snakes and hegemonists, the lot of them. Hell, the Free Cities Alliance only exists to keep the border secured.¡± Then, after a moment of contemplation, he shook his head, ¡°Times are certainly changing if Drakas is actually moving. ¡®Won¡¯t know ¡®til it¡¯s over, what way things¡¯ll shake out.¡±
I gave him a moment¡¯s pause before pressing further, ¡°I can¡¯t say why¡ but I need to get to Zesten.¡±
Things so far were moving in my favor unnaturally. Given that, then ideally, pressing a little more would pay off.
¡°Ha! Of course you do; running down the road like that. But you won¡¯t make it for another day¡ The wind¡¯s a real killer at night on these plains,¡± Leana interrupted him and handed me a bowl of soup.
¡°Dad, why don¡¯t you just hire him; he¡¯s clearly an adventurer. And one with a rather powerful purpose, too, based on his speed.¡±
The merchant gave me a sidelong look before nodding, ¡°Well, that could work; I can¡¯t pay you much, but I¡¯ll feed you and let you use one of the tents tonight. Then, in the morning, you¡¯ll be able to enter the city as one of my guards. What do ya say?¡±
Well, that¡¯s almost too good to be true¡
Still, it was a good deal, assuming it worked out like that.
¡°¡That¡¯s all well and good, sir, but I don¡¯t understand; why me?¡±
He shrugged, ¡°As out of the ordinary as our meeting was, Leana seems to think you¡¯re a good sort. There¡¯s also no arguing that you¡¯re pretty strong, running at such a speed. Plus, the more we talked, the more I get a good feeling about you; I think that, whatever it is, you¡¯re not up to no good.¡±
Really? Just like that?
¡°I don¡¯t mean to argue, sir, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m all that strong¡ Well, I don¡¯t really have any point of comparison.¡±
¡°¡And stop calling me that; I¡¯m no knight. Name¡¯s Hugo. If you can¡¯t find anything to compare yourself to, then you¡¯re already stronger than most in these parts. Besides, that sword on your back; it¡¯s simple, clean, and efficient. Not something a pretender would carry. Will you take me up on that offer?
That¡¯s not really what I meant when I said I had no point of reference¡ But he really got all that from looking at my sword, huh?
For better or worse, there was little reason to refuse the deal, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll take you up on that then, Master Hugo.¡±
He wrinkled his nose and shook his head, ¡°No, just Hugo. Call me Hugo, and that alone. Unless you want to court Leana.¡±
I laughed a bit awkwardly, ¡°Hahaha¡ All right. Hugo it is.¡±
He wasn¡¯t, like, serious, was he?
Leana, for her part, showed no reaction to her father¡¯s rude comment, despite having been well within earshot.
¡I¡¯ll keep in mind that this is a different world and assume that was something of a joke.
¡°Then, as the newbie, should I take first watch?¡± Raising my head, I addressed one of the men from earlier. He was probably in charge of the guard detail based on his attire and stature. He was big and broad-shouldered and the only one wearing metal armor. Additionally, his cloak had an embroidered pattern matching the canvas covering the wagons.
His stern face broke into s grin, ¡°Well, ain¡¯t that something; a pup that knows his place¡ That said, don¡¯t kiss too much arse, or we¡¯ll take advantage of you. No, the watch order is already set for tonight. But if you stick around for the next trip, I¡¯ll work you into it. For now, wake up and help out if the alarm is sounded¡ Though this close to the city, that won¡¯t be a problem.¡±
Dipping my head, I grinned ruefully to myself.
Yea, I need to be assertive. I am the champion of summer or whatever, I should probably try and act the part.
7-7 Boarder Trouble
Stahlia, 17 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
After departing Ris, it would typically take a day to get to the kingdom¡¯s border. But instead, I had us make a slow and detoured approach. Leaving the supply train on the main road with the minimal guard, an advance force proceeded through the forests and foothills.
In actuality, we were only killing time. Departing Ris earlier than anticipated, while the correct decision given the circumstances, meant that we would have arrived at the border far earlier than scheduled ¨Dnot a good idea, given that this was a diplomatic envoy.
¡°We have met no resistance besides a few scattered Goblins and Stawri.¡± Commander Alriss finished his report.
Good. Looks like Aaron is holding up his end and keeping things under control near the settlements.
¡°What about the men? What seems to be the general attitude as far as you can tell?¡± I was worried that the men would view this whole affair as a waste of time, thus lowering morale and making things more difficult.
Alriss glanced down at the paper in his hand, ¡°The men maintain high morale; it helps that you accompanied them on this diversion. While there might have been issues among ordinary troops, these men were hand selected by His Majesty and myself for their loyalty. Most of them were there to witness you speak.¡±
¡°I see.¡±
That¡¯s something of a relief, then. I¡¯m glad.
¡°Then, at our current pace, when will we arrive?¡± I could quickly figure that out for myself, but since Alriss was here, it would be better to ask; he would have the answer ready.
¡°It will take another two days to arrive at the border, and we will arrive one day ahead of schedule. Should I slow our pace further?¡±
¡°No, one day ahead of schedule will be fine; we will spend a day camped waiting on the border before approaching.¡±
Alriss bowed, ¡°Then, there is one other thing.¡±
¡°And that is?¡±
¡°There was¡ something of an incident with the supply caravan we left behind.¡± His tone was a bit cagey, as though he were uncharacteristically unsure of how to proceed.
I narrowed my eyes, ¡°And that is?¡±
¡°Well, one of the Supply Officers informed me there have been signs of missing things. Nothing major; a crate of rations was broken into, a spare blanket vanished, and some supplies are in different places than they should be.¡±
¡°¡And you bring this to my attention; why?¡± It didn¡¯t make any sense; there had to have been a reason for him to bring it up. Something as petty as that would have nothing to do with me. Hell, it should have nothing to do with Alriss.
This sounds like an issue the supply officers should solve, so why did it make its way up the chain of command¡?
¡°That is because they caught the culprit, and it wasn¡¯t one of our men.¡±
¡°Enough. What is going on, Lord Alriss?¡± I was getting extremely tired of him beating around the bush like this, and things would be a lot better if he just came out and said what he intended.
¡°Of course.¡± Perhaps sensing my budding irritation, Alriss nodded, ¡°They caught Miss Felicity attempting to hide in one of the grain carts. She then promptly eluded the guards assigned to that part of the line and has not been seen since.¡±
I blinked slowly, taking in what he said, ¡°¡And you are sure it was her?¡±
Alriss nodded affirmatively before dryly adding, ¡°How many other eight-year-old girls do you know that have two cat tails?¡±
In light of the specific issue, I¡¯ll excuse that bit of lip.
¡°I see. Well, considering that she has once before eluded the palace knights for nearly a month while I was indisposed, not to mention she has been getting along well with Rosial¡ No, I don¡¯t imagine the men will find her again. Especially not if¡.¡±
¡Not if Claire is helping her. I don¡¯t think Claire would let her do anything she deemed dangerous, so why did she let her come along?
Despite disliking it, Claire could assume control of their shared body without Felicity¡¯s consent. Typically, my former professor opted to act the part of conscience or an advisor, only directly controlling the body when Felicity was asleep. And only then to do the absolute minimum, such as have a short conversation with me, or walk themselves to a proper bed. But, if they were in danger and Felicity refused to listen to reason, Claire could directly interfere, like when she ran them away from me during the incident with Dominic and Five.
¡°Lord Alriss, I will be going back to the supply train ahead of schedule. Please arrange my escort.¡±
There¡¯s no way the soldiers and knights can find her on their own. Hell, I might not be able to. At least, it won¡¯t be easy. But there¡¯s a chance she might just come out if I ask nicely¡ assuming she isn¡¯t mad about being left behind.
Considering that she had stowed away, her being mad was a distinct possibility.
In light of that, I gave Alriss additional instructions, ¡°¡I will like as not fail to rejoin the advance force before we rendezvous at the border, so make plans with that in mind.¡±
Alriss performed a quick salute in lieu of a noble¡¯s bow, then departed to fulfill his given tasks.
Damnit! What is that stupid girl thinking!?
There was no way I could make it back to the supply convoy in a timely fashion; it would be at least half a day. Given that the current time was just after noon, my party wouldn¡¯t be back before after dusk at the earliest. However, fortune was on our side, as a full moon provided enough light to continue traveling. Sasha and Frieda did not complain.
Really though, why am I bothering to rush back? She¡¯ll be tucked away asleep somewhere by the time we get there, so I won¡¯t have a chance to get anything done until the morning at the earliest.
It was something I could only chalk up to how uneasy the whole idea made me feel. Felicity was attached to me but wasn¡¯t as dependent as she had once been. Me leaving early was something she did not like. But she should have been able to rationalize it, especially if Claire had stepped in. The only explanation was that Claire supported this course of action. That was the only conclusion that I could draw. And it scared me.
The following day, I awoke in my bed at the main camp feeling tired and anxious; considering the amount of worry I¡¯d been experiencing the day before, that was unsurprising.
No matter the reason, I first need to find her.
It went without saying that doing that would be remarkably difficult¡
It will be even more challenging if she¡¯s copied any of Rosial¡¯s Talents.
Felicity¡¯s [Envy] Skill allowed her to copy other people''s Talents. It was extremely taxing, though; without Claire¡¯s presence, it might have ended up killing her. But then, she somehow managed to grow a second tail during my Coma. Because of that, she gained another skill, [Talent Void], that helped organize the lethal side effects. Or perhaps the second tail was actually because of [Talent Void]; I didn¡¯t know.
It could be a highly potent set of abilities were she to train them, but I had not brought up the possibility with her; she deserved to have as normal a childhood as she could in light of her past. Once she turned ten, we might approach the subject, but for the time being, I had left her well enough alone as far as that was concerned.
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And, if she has been copying Rosial¡¯s abilities, I wouldn¡¯t know.
Appraising Felicity was something well within my ability to do, but doing so seemed like it would have violated her privacy; I had stopped doing it once I was reasonably sure her evolution posed no risks. Likewise, I only remembered a little of her Talents that she had already acquired as of the last time I appraised her. It had been a long list.
The standout ones were the various magic talents, most of which she got from me. But, then, she definitely had [Sneak] and [Sword Fighting]. She probably has many ¡°fighting¡± Talents, given the company we¡¯ve kept. So, Yea, it makes sense that she hasn¡¯t been seen since they first caught her. And that was probably sheer luck on their part.
As much as I wanted to skip eating and go straight to searching, that would set a bad image for everyone around me. What¡¯s more, the search wouldn¡¯t even be handled by me. Mostly, I would have to content myself with being visible and accessible while otherwise directing the soldiers and the knights to look. Ideally, she would approach me herself.
She did not. The first and second days passed by without seeing even a whisker of her. The men searched as we traveled but could not even find any sign of where she might have been sleeping. The man who had initially spotted and apprehended her was leading those efforts with manic energy; it was like he thought that if we didn¡¯t find her, I would blame him.
I probably would, but it isn¡¯t something I¡¯d act on.
We finally found a sign that she was still with us on the third day. Since we had arrived at the border, I ordered that each wagon be unloaded and thoroughly searched as we made camp. A rather large task, but the advance force had rendezvoused with us by now, so there were plenty of hands.
¡°Your majesty, are you sure she is still here? Might she not have returned to Ris after being caught the first time?¡± Alriss was now assisting me in running the search, and I got the feeling he was trying to tactfully inform me that I had gone a bit overboard.
¡°Perhaps, but we will not know until this evening when the messenger I sent yesterday returns.¡±
It looked like there was something he wanted to bring up but was hesitating. Fortunately for him, I had a pretty good idea of what it was, ¡°I will not delay crossing the border over this¡ As much as I would like to. Frankly, I expect that is when she will turn up.¡±
Because once we¡¯re across the border, sending her back to Ris would become more complicated, something Claire would be well aware of. So at this point, it¡¯s safe to say that they are one hundred percent in cahoots with each other over this.
¡°Sir!¡± One of the soldiers, not a knight, had approached Alriss and me and saluted.
The commander nodded toward the man and began to rattle off a report, ¡°Sir, we have found the missing blanket balled up in one of the materials carts. It was-¡±
¡°Which?¡± I cut him off, not meaning to be rude, but the various concerns and worries that had been gradually calming over the past couple of days without news, his report caused them all to flair back into prominence.
Alriss interceded on my behalf, much to the soldier¡¯s relief, ¡°Please, show us to the wagon.¡±
The man saluted and began to lead us through the camp. Granted, we had quite a ways to go owing to the size of the camp. While we walked, he continued to explain how they had found the blanket, ¡°There was a small hollow between two crates of nails; for anyone with a normal size and frame, getting back there would have been impossible. Even for a child. But, once you squeezed through, it opened into a small cavity where the blanket was used as bedding.¡±
[Flexible]. She probably got that one from me before I removed it.
With that Talent, fitting into a tight space like that would have been easy.
And she got abandoned it once we started unloading all of the wagons, and is now hiding somewhere else. So that¡¯s that.
Another man, this one a knight, caught sight of Alriss and me heading through the camp. He was heading in the opposite direction as us, towards my carriage, when he changed his course to join us. He saluted to Lord Alriss and bowed to me before stepping alongside the commander.
¡°Sir, Zensten sends a messenger to meet with Her Majesty.¡±
Zensten, the city a day¡¯s march across the border. So they were watching for our arrival.
Alriss looked over at me, where I had stopped walking, ¡°Your Majesty?
¡°Lord Alriss, call off the search. We aren¡¯t going to find her until she wants to be.¡± Now that I had confirmation that Felicity was probably still traveling with us, there was little point in continuing to look for her. Especially not when there was a foreign dignitary to contend with.
¡°Delay the messenger for half an hour, then show him to my carriage¡ Give him a tour of the camp; that should disarm him that we are not keeping any secrets. Then,¡± I turned to the soldier that had initially brought the word of Felicity, ¡°Run ahead and inform Sasha that she must prepare to receive a foreign delegation.¡±
Like this, I can probably avoid worrying about her, and simply trust that she can look out for herself... But when she does show up, we¡¯re going to have words¡
Half an hour later, I was sitting across from a man wearing something similar to a business suit, except instead of buttoning, the front was folded in on itself like how one might fold a bath towel when coming out of the shower. His skin was darker than a Drakan¡¯s typically was, closer to a bronze or a brown, and he had shaved his head bald. Combined with a pair of spectacles and a sturdy frame, his appearance was striking in an off-putting way.
¡°My name is Emmanuel, heir to the chair of Zesten¡ That makes me roughly the equivalent of a Count, to use your country¡¯s terms.¡±
At his sides stood two rather tall men wearing armor made from leather and metal plating sections. It was, by technical definition, armor. However, compared to the full plate of my knights, or the standard uniform of my regular soldiers, it could have looked more impressive.
Only at first glance. But it¡¯s actually rather ingenious. Metal over the vital organs, with leather over the places that would be crippling instead of lethal. Everything else is left unarmored; you keep the weight down and preserve the ease of movement. It wouldn¡¯t work for everybody, but that¡¯s pretty effective for people who know what they¡¯re doing.
It was a similar method to my own, for lack of a better word, combat dresses, which only had armor plating over the vital areas. Otherwise, they relied on defensive enchantments supplemented by my own defensive abilities. I had Lord Alriss serving as a Drakan noble in addition to his role as expedition commander at my side. Behind me were two members of my personal guard and the knight who had escorted the man earlier. Employing the full scope of my [Acting], I answered my opposite.
¡°Truly? I would say it places you closer to a prince''s title.¡± The Free Cities Alliance was a conglomerate of loosely connected city-states that were only allied with each far enough to ensure common law and mutual defense. Beyond that, they were entirely independent; if Emmanuel was the son of Zesten¡¯s Chair, he was essentially a prince of that city.
He shrugged, ¡°But in terms of influence, I am hardly one to claim such a title. Thank you for having your men show us around the camp.¡±
I already don¡¯t like him. Not sure what it is, but something about him is just¡ It makes my skin crawl. Drakan nobles are easier to deal with than whatever he¡¯s doing.
¡°But of course, and please, have a seat. After all, this visit is meant to discuss mutual cooperation in the face of the coming threat. Why would I seek to hide anything from our future allies?¡± After we were seated, Sasha poured out three glasses of tea, and Emmanuel took a moment to appreciate the aroma.
He nodded and answered without taking a sip, ¡°Though I must say, I find it interesting; how you are setting up camp¡ Would it not be more efficient to leave things packed? If I am not mistaken, you intend to cross the border tomorrow.¡±
There was no way I could admit that we had been searching for my not-legally-adopted little sister, as that would also mean acknowledging that an eight-year-old was eluding capture.
After pausing a moment, I shook my head, ¡°I thought it prudent to conduct a thorough inventory; once we cross, we would be at the mercy of your markets to procure anything we needed; this is not a mission that can afford undue complication.¡±
It seemed he bought my excuse; it was plausible enough that questioning it would be an error, even if it was flimsy, ¡°True. Though I must wonder at the timing of it all¡ Did you not only just secure your own power?¡±
Picking up my own cup, I took a sip of it myself to both demonstrate the lack of poison and to buy myself time to consider my response, ¡°It was not as difficult as you make it sound; the country stands united between His Majesty and myself. But, as much as we would prefer to further consolidate things, the times do not afford us that opportunity.¡±
¡°Yes, we read the letter you sent earlier this year; Drakas believes that the Demons are returning. However, my father and I have considered the evidence; we have dismissed those claims.¡±
Oh, you bastard.
¡°Then, are you here to refuse our entry? It was my understanding that the cities were free to conduct business as they saw fit and may not obstruct others from doing so.¡±
Emmanuel narrowed his eyes, ¡°You claim that you mean to conduct business now?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yes, even if Zesten will not stand with us, my husband and I believe it is in Drakas¡¯ best interest to forgo the policies of our predecessors. Instead, forming a more stable relationship would benefit us all; if some cities decide to join our coalition, so be it.¡±
Really, we hadn¡¯t expected much from the Alliance. Except for the previous king, who had maintained a somewhat uneasy peace with our eastern neighbor, all those prior to him had sought to expand without any sort of check. As far as Zesten and the other cities were concerned, our sudden change of heart was similar to a wolf handing a lamb a knife while saying, ¡°Actually, bears are scary.¡±
Besides, my primary objective isn¡¯t so much to get a handful of contributions from minuscule cities; we have our own economy that trounces theirs, even if only in quantity. No, I need to locate the champions, and it would certainly be ¡°interesting¡± if one of them were in the bordering country to me.
That was my only reason for choosing to start things in the Free Cities Alliance; slight as it was, something was telling me to trust my gut.
Emmanuel eventually conceded, ¡°No, we will not deny you entry. But we will limit the number of your men who can enter Zesten, though I must first confer with my father.¡±
I dipped my head, ¡°Thank you for your understanding of my own position. Please, set up the details with Lord Alriss.¡±
Instead of handing them a knife and claiming bears are scary, it¡¯s much easier to offer to sell them knives.
7-8 F5: My Playing Detective
Franklin, 20 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
Zesten, as it turned out, was quite lively. Despite what I had seen the previous evening, Hugo¡¯s words about the disappearances, and the impending visit from the Drakan Queen, there was still a great deal of traffic passing through the gates.
I must not have seen anyone because, at that time, the wind was killer.
Reaching a hand up to rub the sleep from my eyes, I recalled the night prior. Essentially as soon as the sun had set, I discovered Hugo had not been kidding when he described how bad the wind would be. If not for the recessed ground of the camp, there was no doubt in my mind that we were at risk of being blown away. My life had been relatively unaffected as far as extreme weather events were concerned, so I couldn¡¯t sleep much. Then, we had been marching from dawn, hoping to reach the gates without having to spend the night outside again.
Along the way, we met several other caravans and travelers coming out of recesses along the road. Evidently, it was standard practice to use one overnight in this area.
If Leana hadn¡¯t called out to me, I probably would have died once that wind picked up.
Now though, it was almost our time to enter the city. From there, my deal with Hugo would be completed, and I would be on my own. He had offered me a more permanent contract and had been hinting at it rather excessively as we traveled, but so far, I had just smiled or given a noncommittal answer.
While it would be a good idea and something to keep in mind as an option, I can¡¯t depend on him¡ So I want to spend at least a little bit of time on my own.
Most likely, I would be taking him up on the offer, but only after I had shopped around a bit. Better to seem like a clueless weirdo to people I would never see again than to my boss.
¡°Franklin, if any of the guards question you, pretend you do not understand them; I will tell them you are from Riodhas.¡± Hugo¡¯s repeated warning came just a few moments before a guard approached us.
¡°Hugo! Good to see your company again!¡±
Looking at him, he¡¯s probably not even eighteen, and he still knows Hugo. So, either my patron is famous, or he comes here often.
¡°Of course, someone has to make the trip after all!¡± Hugo shot the boy a grin and tossed him a coin, ¡°Any news?¡±
Smiling back, the guard boy nodded, ¡°Aye, that Queen is coming up to the border now, but it looks like she¡¯s slowed her pace not to arrive early.¡±
Appearing thoughtful, Hugo stroked his chin, ¡°I see. What about the other incidents?¡±
The boy¡¯s smile vanished, and he narrowed his eyes, ¡°Look around for yourself; people are scared.¡±
Taking his advice, I let my eyes wander around the others not from our party. As far as I could tell, everything was normal. A pair of travelers not from a caravan was in the process of being interviewed by another guard. The Caravan behind us was approached by another guard who had just finished with the one ahead of us. A few guards were idling around, keeping an eye over everything, and it felt more or less like visiting the TSA at an airport. Nobody was happy, but nobody really seemed that scared either.
¡°There¡¯s no city folk. Only guards, and how many other women do you see? Also, you would benefit by learning to hide your thoughts. Another merchant than my father would easily take advantage of you.¡± Leana stuck her head out of the wagon and whispered to me.
Did I really make it that easy to see what I was thinking? She¡¯s right; I need to work on that.
Still, once she told me what to look for, it was pretty clear that there was a degree of tension in the air. There weren¡¯t any women visible or any other girls like Leana. And everyone else, except for the guards, were travelers or caravan members. Of course, everyone was armed as well, and though that was likely standard for this world, the way everyone fiddled with their weapons from time to time probably was not.
Taking care to mask my thoughts, I whispered back, ¡°And what about the disappearances? Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t get a chance to ask much while we were traveling.¡±
She muttered something I didn¡¯t catch, but it sounded like, ¡°And don¡¯t make it obvious that you¡¯re hiding something either.¡± Then, she answered my question, ¡°People have been disappearing for a while. Men, woman, children, there doesn¡¯t really seem to be a pattern, and despite turning to the adventurer¡¯s guild, there hasn¡¯t been any progress tracking down the culprit.¡±
Adventurer¡¯s Guild? I¡¯ll look into that... But I wonder if that¡¯s why I was dropped here. Like that goddess decided to put me in this place so I would encounter the flag¡ It makes sense; Hugo and Leana were in the perfect place to help me get into the city...
Solving the disappearances would be an excellent way of announcing myself as a hero, and by getting some deeds to my name, I could potentially get the other heroes to come and seek me out. It would be nice if they did, instead of me having to spend all that time looking for them.
Hell, if I get famous as a hero, George and Claire might even hear my name and decide to look into it. Assuming they have the means to do so. Yea, this sounds like a plan. Granted, it¡¯s probably precisely what the goddess wants me to do, but as long as it serves our interests, that¡¯s fine.
Leana looked at me, ¡°Looks like you¡¯re planning something. Going to go after the kidnapper?¡±
¡°What makes you say it¡¯s a kidnapper? It could be a good old-fashioned murderer.¡±
She shrugged, ¡°Nothing much; I don¡¯t think this many people would be dying without any sign of it.¡±
That was a good point; murder was pretty messy, even in my world with all of the advanced technology and sciences. Counterpoint: keeping people hostage was also a task, and this world¡¯s seeming lack of advanced technology could have caused the lack of evidence. Not a case of no evidence, just that no evidence was found.
Really, without being able to look at any of the sites of the disappearances myself, I won¡¯t know which is which¡ And I¡¯m an outsider. Hugo might get me into the city, but I won¡¯t be able to ask around about that. Not without making people think I might be the one responsible.
¡°Shh, it looks like they¡¯re letting us in.¡± Leana harumphed when I shushed her, but this wasn¡¯t a conversation I wanted the guards to overhear.
In the end, the guards did not question me. Either Hugo was just that trusted, or the tiny coin purse he passed over was. Regardless, I was to be let in. Walking through the gates and into Zensten was like walking into another world¡ again. The inclement night weather aside, I at least had a frame of reference for the vast open plains the city was set on. Unfortunately, I had no experience with the medieval city that now stretched before me.
It looked like something one might expect to see in an artist¡¯s work or a Hollywood movie; white walls with brown or black crosses and supports, thatched roofs, and the clatter of horse hooves on narrow cobbled streets. But, contrary to my initial expectations, it did not smell foul. Whether or not the lack of odor was due to the presence of plumbing or some other mechanism, I could not tell. Regardless, I was grateful for it.
The second thing I noticed was the type of people out and about; unlike the road leading to the gate, there were citizens. Like the road, however, there were few women and children. Those that were present moved quickly with their heads down. Even the men, who were still behaving seemingly normally, appeared ill at ease. It was much easier to tell that there was a blanket of fear smothering everyone.
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¡And where do I even go?
It hit me suddenly; I was a stranger in a strange land. If I were to separate from Hugo now, I would be lost entirely. To say nothing of what I already owed him, if I kept mooching, it would definitely end up with me entering his employ more permanently. That was something I wanted to avoid.
¡°Franklin, I believe this is where we part ways.¡±
Speak of the devil¡
Hugo addressed me with a grin, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the bribe; that money was your pay for the day¡¯s escort. Now, I will be staying at an Inn in the merchant¡¯s quarter. Should you wish to discuss my offer, you may ask for me at the Merchant¡¯s Guild Office. As for you, I have already promised not to pry, but you would probably be best served to keep a low profile¡ As clich¨¦ as it is, I recommend you seek temporary work with the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Leana, say your goodbyes.¡±
Leana shrugged and performed a curtsy, ¡°I¡¯ll see you later; good luck finding the villain!¡±
With that said, she ducked back into the wagon, and before long, the convoy departed. Now alone on the side of the road in a city I had no experience with, I very nearly followed after them on impulse. But, my sense of reason stilled my feet; if I went now, it would effectively amount to giving Hugo precisely what he wanted. Sure, he had been amicable to me, but he was a merchant at the end of the day. Merchants were classically only in things for their own benefit; even if that were not the case here, it could only help me be cautious.
Still, his last advice was sound; find the adventurer¡¯s guild. That had already been my plan, but the question remained; how and where to look? Simply asking was out of the question. Wandering around, hoping to get lucky, was also right out.
Sod it. I¡¯ve always done best when I take my time and plan things out; I¡¯ve been flying by the seat of my pants since first arriving. So I¡¯m going to find a quiet place to sit and think.
A quick look around revealed a small alleyway between two buildings, and I began moving in that direction, keeping Leana¡¯s words in mind and making sure to try and appear as normal as possible. A feat which was accomplished by paying no attention to her advice; I had no experience in that area, so any amateurish efforts on my part would make me appear more conspicuous than an outsider did.
Following that, there was the uncanny idea of how well everything was going. I had thought of it before but always put it off ¨Cit seemed that my actions were working out no matter what I did. It was unnatural and made me worry that something was guiding me, or at the very least, that I was being driven toward a specific outcome.
¡°¡last place?¡±
¡°Yea, after¡ she ¡ come out.¡±
I froze. Two voices ahead of me, one masculine and one feminine were discussing something. Unfortunately, the distant drawl of the city, combined with the distance still between us, made it quite difficult to hear exactly what was being said.
But why in an alley? Probably up to no good, I should keep my distance.
Having said that, I was still moving toward them, partially out of curiosity and necessity. On the one hand, if these were two individuals up to no good, I could manage something. According to Leana and Hugo, I was relatively strong. But if the two speakers were law-abiding, then eavesdropping could garner something worthwhile. That was my hope, at least, even if it was foolish.
Drawing closer, I could finally clearly pick up what was being said.
¡°Then, after that¡ It was like she had just disappeared. I tried to find her, but it was dark and cold. I¡¯ve got [Fear Resistance], but even still, something just wasn¡¯t right.¡±
It was the male voice speaking, and if what I was hearing was accurate, this alley was the site of a recent disappearance.
This is precisely what I meant when I said things were working out for me no matter what!
¡°Then, you didn¡¯t find any traces of her?¡± The female voice asked.
¡°None. Sorry, Taya.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it; the last time somebody stuck around, he wound up being taken. You did enough just telling me.¡±
My breath caught in my throat; this Taya chick was probably related to the victim. And here I was, a completely unknown outsider, eavesdropping on their conversation.
Yea, I should leave. There¡¯s no way it goes well if they discover me.
¡°What are you going to do now?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll head back to the guild and make another listing¡ it¡¯s about all I can do.¡±
I froze. By the sounds of it, the woman was a member of the illusive adventurer¡¯s guild. On the one hand, that probably wasn¡¯t so uncommon. But, on the other hand, everything that had been happening to me so far seemed highly suspect.
Am I, am I meant to follow her?
I took a deep breath, then moved closer. Until I was just around the corner, pressed against the wall to listen for when Taya moved.
This is undoubtedly the stupidest decision I have ever made.
Indeed, if I were caught now, there would be nothing to say for myself. Yet, everything had worked out so far, so I was sure this would as well. A scant few moments later, it sounded like they were leaving. After waiting a few moments, I peeked around the corner to check. Seeing that they were indeed gone, I hurried around the corner and began following the path the only way it went.
I need to catch up just enough to see what she looks like; otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to tail her once she leaves the alley.
As it turned out, that last worry was over a non-issue; when I caught sight of the woman ducking into the street, it was obvious who she was. She was a bit taller than many of the men and clothed in what looked to be armor of some type. A pair of short-bladed swords hung from her waist, and a bow was slung across her back. Completing the ensemble, a bandolier holding several knives was strapped over her chest. She looked incredibly dangerous and stood out to an impressive degree.
Then, she turned around and glared at me. Before I could think to run, I felt something sharp poking my back.
¡°There now, no sudden movements, ya get me?¡± A familiar masculine voice stated matter-of-factly, ¡°We¡¯re going to back up now; Taya will catch you if you try and run, so don¡¯t. We just want to ask you a few questions.¡±
A glance around showed that, while people were clearly aware of what was happening, it was being surreptitiously ignored. With no real choice, I raised my hands slightly and began to walk backward. Internally, I was sweating bullets and kicking myself.
There¡¯s no way I would be near stealthy enough to get away with that. So, of course, they would have made me. Probably, right from the very beginning.
Before long, we were right back where Taya and the man had been just a minute ago. The woman in question soon joined him and me, looking decidedly unamused.
"Well, let¡¯s start with your name, where you¡¯re from, and why you were eavesdropping; and don¡¯t try and say you¡¯re from around here; I know all the local adventurers, and you aren¡¯t one of them.¡±
Well, at least I¡¯m not being blamed for the disappearances right off the bat; that¡¯s something at least¡
¡°Ah, well, my name is Franklin. As for where I¡¯m from¡ that¡¯s a long story. I just got into town earlier today with Hugo, the merchant. I was wandering around trying to find the adventurer¡¯s guild when I saw you and thought I might be able to ask¡ Then I overheard your conversation¡ Well, as embarrassing as it is, I got cold feet. See, being an outsider, I worried I might¡ somehow get blamed.¡±
The stream of bullshit and half-truths flowing out of my mouth was a complete surprise; I hadn¡¯t ever been very good at lying. Yet, even if it was a bit of a stretch, my farce sounded potentially believable. At least to my ears. To Taya¡¯s ears as well, if the way she fell silent and began to mull things over was anything to go by.
¡°¡Hugo, you said? Dylan, was Hugo going to arrive today?¡±
The man, Dylan, apparently, shut his eyes in thought, ¡°Yea¡ Hugo was supposed to arrive this morning.¡±
Taya nodded slowly, ¡°I see. Well, you¡¯re clearly an idiot, but not a harmful one¡ Despite clearly having some skill¡.¡± She paused and looked me over, ¡°At least C Rank¡ Say, you wouldn¡¯t happen to be available right now? Assuming you¡¯re working freelance for Hugo¡.¡±
Dylan looked at her, surprised, ¡°Taya, you¡¯re not thinking of trying to snipe him from Hugo, are you? You know how merchants get, even if they like you.¡±
Taya scowled, ¡°Well, there aren¡¯t many genuinely skilled adventurers in this blasted city, and I¡¯ve got to find Milli before that¡.¡± But, then, she suddenly caught herself, ¡°I¡¯ve got to find her soon. You know that, Dylan.¡±
Tentatively, I raised my hand, ¡°Uhm, I¡¯m not contracted with Hugo. We met on the road¡.¡±
Idiot, why am I telling them that?
Still, something kept my mouth moving, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not an adventurer either¡ But, like I said, my life is a long story.¡±
Dylan met my sheepish grin with a look of incredulity, ¡°Damn, Taya, you were right. He is an idiot. Franklin, why would you tell us any of that?¡±
Well, what¡¯s done is done.
¡°Well, if you brought me to the guild, you¡¯d find out anyway; it¡¯s best to be upfront about it. Especially since it seems like we¡¯ll be working together, I was already planning to look into the disappearances before running into the two of you.¡±
Taya grinned, ¡°Well, at least you¡¯re honest. Come on, Dylan, don¡¯t be such an ogre. He might be a bit na?ve, but having an extra set of hands won¡¯t hurt.¡±
¡°Aye, that it won¡¯t. Though, I¡¯m a bit curious as to why an outsider cares a lick about the disappearances when the local guard won¡¯t do a thing. First thing¡¯s first, gotta get you registered, Franklin. My word won¡¯t mean much, but if you ask nicely, Taya might sponsor you.¡±
With the somewhat nonstandard introductions out of the way, the two began to show me the way to the adventurer¡¯s guild. Once again, everything seemed to work out in my favor.
7-9 Planning the Visit
Stahlia, 17 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
And so, with the ¡°blessing¡± of Emmanuel, my entourage was allowed to enter the Free Cities Alliance''s territory and make camp within a day¡¯s march of the border city Zesten. Currently, the men were busy constructing windbreaks for our base; according to Alriss, the plains around Zesten were rather dangerous at night. From how he had described men and horses being picked up and carried away, it sounded like a hurricane blew through each and every night.
For this reason, we had opted to wait a reasonable distance from the edge of the plains and then get as close to the city as we could before making a semi-permanent camp. While there were natural and artificial berms, they were far too few for a group of our number. So instead, we applied some light military engineering, much to Emmanuel¡¯s chagrin. Evidently, he and his father had assumed that the plains were an impassible natural barrier securing their city against invasion. Seeing how easily my soldiers and knights circumvented their threat went a good way toward mollifying him and proving my assertions that our intentions were peaceful.
I would like to know what the source of the winds is; something like that can¡¯t be natural. But that¡¯s not important right now, nor is it my purpose here... And Felicity still hasn¡¯t shown up... Even though we¡¯re well across the border now¡
Forcibly, I put the worries for that one out of my mind; she had been fine alone on the streets of Drakas while I was in my coma, and she would be fine now. Of more immediate importance was how I would get anything done in Zesten, though I did have the beginnings of a plan.
¡°No. I can¡¯t allow that.¡± However, Lord Alriss did not seem to like my idea.
¡°¡And I say, I must agree with Ser Knight. I cannot allow a foreign dignitary, no less a monarch, to wander Zesten without an escort.¡± And Emmanuel seemed to be taking his side in the matter.
I sighed, ¡°I understand and appreciate your concerns, Lord Alriss; you are concerned with both my safety and the image a monarch presented on her own. Lord Emmanuel, I also understand your own concerns, both of them. Your city would lose face if they allowed me to go about without an honor guard. Likewise, you cannot have me moving about without supervision. After all, Zesten and The Free Cities Alliance have their own matters of state secrets just as we have ours.¡±
¡°I am glad Your Majesty understands.¡± ¡°Thank you for being reasonable.¡± The two of them were quick to thank me for accepting their rebuke. Perhaps a little bit too quick, considering I was not yet done.
¡°However, I would like to see things from a different perspective. My apologies, Emmanuel, but I cannot allow you to curate my experience in your city. Lord Alriss, we are both well aware that I am more than capable of defending myself. That said, I believe there is a way we can all be satisfied.¡± I nodded, and Sasha stepped forward.
After receiving a small box from her, I paused, ¡°Peoni, Beatrice, the two of you are dismissed.¡±
My spare maids both knew better than to question such an order, especially when a high-ranking noble and a foreign dignitary were present. To say nothing of Sasha, whom they feared. Without complaint, they both stood and moved to exit the carriage. This left Lord Alriss, Emmanuel, Sasha, myself, and two knights serving as guards. I locked eyes with Lord Alriss. A moment later, he gave in and ordered the knights to leave us.
¡°Thank you, Lord Alriss. I will keep this as brief as possible; it should now go without saying that this box''s contents are one such state secret of Drakas. I am exercising my authority to reveal it to you, Lord Alriss, and to you, Lord Emmanuel.¡± From the box, I removed a ring identical in every way to the one I was currently wearing.
Then, I removed the ring I was wearing and placed the one from the box on my finger. As the nostalgic feeling of the illusion wrapped around me, I nodded. Something about this was more comfortable, despite the weight and texture of the two being the same.
¡°¡Was, was something supposed to happen?¡± Emmanuel¡¯s question was fair and perhaps to be expected. After all, the way this illusion worked, it would not affect him since he had witnessed the activation.
Lord Alriss, on the other hand, widened his eyes, ¡°Your majesty, for just a moment, did you get younger?¡±
Oh, now that¡¯s interesting; it seems he saw the illusion activate, and his perception was able to observe it for a split second before his subconscious dispelled it.
¡°Lord Alriss is correct; this is a magic tool that changes my appearance to what it was before I received the gods¡¯ favor.¡± Before I aged myself. ¡°Their favor, which I had received quite some time before we publicly announced it during the succession war''s final days.¡± Pausing, I gave my words some time to sink in.
Emmanuel had a subdued reaction. For him, the revelation was relatively minor. For Alriss, it was more substantial. While Emmanuel heard that Drakas had a fairly high-tier magic tool, Alriss heard that Rupert and I had deceived the entire kingdom. A deception that was still ongoing. I was not concerned that he would suddenly change loyalties in favor of Antonio, the late first prince, but there was a possibility the realization would shake him.
¡°How long?¡± After a pause, that was his only question. How long had I been using this ring? Then, he guessed correctly, ¡°Since the incident with Count Francois?¡±
It says volumes about his current state that he forgot Emmanuel is still present.
Opting to ignore his slight misstep, I answered his question briefly before continuing to move my scheme along, ¡°Yes, since then. Though things are more complicated than that.¡± I glanced at Emmanuel, hinting to Alriss that this was as far as I was going to go in present company, ¡°That said, I once removed the ring to travel incognito; the world then knew me by my younger appearance. It should be impossible to suddenly age four years. Likewise, it is generally impossible to grow four years younger. If Emmanuel permits, I intend to enter the city as the daughter of a merchant who accompanied Her Majesty¡¯s dispatch.¡±
This was a gamble on my part; I could have easily done this without informing Emmanuel, and he would have been none the wiser. However, it was my hope that he would recognize that fact and that I was aiming for a compromise.
¡°¡While this is certainly impressive, I need to know if it works. You claim that the tool changes your appearance, but I do not see it.¡± His tone had become stiffer, causing Alriss to straighten his back. Paying him no mind, Emmanuel continued, ¡°However, I can appreciate what you are trying to do¡ I will speak with my father, but I believe he will permit you to utilize this plan, provided you still allow an escort of the city¡¯s soldiers to accompany you. That is if this illusion is as effective as you claim it is.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Then, please call for one of your guards; the simplest way to demonstrate the efficacy would be to have it work, would it not?¡±
Emmanuel agreed and rose to his feet. Despite having guards and holding a position of authority himself, he had not brought a servant with him to this meeting. Shortly after that, we were joined by one of his men. Upon seeing me, the man looked surprised and carefully examined his surroundings. He looked back at me a moment later, and his eyes widened.
¡°Emmanuel, assuming the tool you wanted me to appraise was meant to disguise her majesty as a little girl, it worked. At least until I realized that her majesty must have been that girl, after which the spell failed.¡±
This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Oh, that¡¯s good to know.
I had already known that the illusion would fail if the person came into physical contact with my body or if they somehow witnessed something that would give it away. However, up to this point, I had assumed that something physical, an observation, was the only method of dispelling it. This was the first instance of someone logically reasoning the illusion to dispel it.
Though that said, interesting is all it is. There isn¡¯t a risk of this becoming a regular occurrence unless in deliberately engineered circumstances, such as the ones from just now.
¡°Very well. Your majesty, with Leon¡¯s testimony, I will accept that your tool works as you say it does, and I will carry your request to my father. Unfortunately, with the night winds, I will have to depart soon. Unless, of course, you wish to delay his response?¡±
¡°No, that will be fine. I have nothing else of importance to bring up just yet.¡± Sasha responded to the fact that our meeting was nearing its conclusion and presented Emmanuel¡¯s guard with a bundle of documents.
¡°In lieu of his grace¡¯s servant, please accept these papers, Sir Leon; they are documents legitimizing the Alriss Caravan and its authority to conduct trade and do business in the name of the Drakan Crown.¡±
¡°You may give those to me; I prefer conducting my business personally.¡± The fact that she had attempted to hand something to one of his guards was ignored, and Emmanuel moved to receive the documents himself. Though small, it did provide some insight into the internal politics of our opposition¡¯s court.
¡°Of course, by your grace.¡± Sasha curtsied and stepped aside.
Emmanuel tucked the papers into his coat and stood to leave. Once he and his guard departed the carriage, Sasha secured the door, and I motioned for Alriss to express his thoughts.
¡°With all due respect, Your Majesty, I wish you had informed me of the ¡®Alriss Caravan¡¯ ahead of time. That said, the meeting went rather well from where I was sitting. Though I would not have revealed the existence of a magic tool like that¡ Lord Gustav¡¯s work is always impressive.¡±
¡°Thank you for your honesty, but that is not what I was asking your thoughts on.¡± My statement hung heavy in the air between us. It went without saying, but I had wanted his thoughts on mine and Rupert¡¯s deception. But, like as not, Sasha was my only confidant in that, and now that someone else was aware of it, I found that I desired another perspective.
Lord Alriss chose his words very carefully, ¡°I think, that, at the end of the day, it does not matter. In the short term, many might not have died if you had not played a farce. But I do not have the same information you and His Majesty do. Therefore, if His Majesty chose this route, I believe it was the best action.¡±
Well, that was a very diplomatic way of saying you have reservations but won¡¯t let them affect your judgment.
¡°Then, regarding the merchant charter, it is not strictly for this outing. It is, in fact, an entirely legal document authorizing your house to conduct business within the Free Cities Alliance on behalf of the crown. Rupert authorized it before our departure to be given to you as a boon. While I am using it in a scheme and have neglected the ceremony, please accept it with our blessings.¡±
Sasha produced another document and presented it to Lord Alriss. He regarded it with a rare surprised expression, then received the papers with grace, ¡°Thank you for placing your trust in me, and my gratitude to his majesty as well.¡±
Considering the scale of what he had just been given, the speed with which he recovered his surprise was commendable. Until recently, Drakas had been a largely closed economy. We did have some limited trade, but it was all handled by foreign parties. This would be the first license and the officially recognized writ issued and the potential status and monetary gains the Alriss house could make were ludicrous. His composure upon receiving it meant that he was either an idiot or the absolute correct person for the role. Given our interactions up to this point, and despite my new reservations, I thought it was likely the latter.
Emmanuel returned the next day bringing with him a writ of his own, this one recognizing the Alriss Caravan. Additionally, he had two extra guards, ¡°These two will accompany you while you are in Zesten; that is non-negotiable. And, be forewarned that they are both under contract to my father; you will not be able to influence or coopt them.¡±
He was much franker than he had been yesterday, a change I appreciated. Though, Lord Alriss did seem miffed about it. He did not raise any objections, though, as this was not one of our citizens, and I had not visibly reacted.
Everything is more or less how I assumed it would be. Though being handed a pair of guards is unexpected, I thought we would be given an escort when we arrived.
I looked the two of them over. They were more or less the same in arms and armor as Emmanuel¡¯s own guards; a single short sword with a slightly curved blade and light armor covering only the vital organs. The only notable difference was that these were visibly older. Probably, somewhere around their fifties, they were likely veterans with a long service record.
They¡¯re taking me quite seriously, then. Good.
¡°Thank you for your consideration; I will keep that in mind.¡± I did not intend to turn the guards or leave them; my trip would be rather long, and we would probably spend a lot of time in the Free Cities Alliance. It would not be a good idea to stir the pot and create diplomatic tension. Besides this, this was only the first stop; the odds of gaining any leads here were extremely slim.
¡°Regarding my visits to Zesten, I would like to go in disguise tomorrow, then make a public appearance as myself the day after. I understand having such a large force so close by is likely going to be causing some degree of angst among the populace; the faster I move, the better for you and your father, no?¡± My first visit needed to be incognito; there were some things to do and others to watch for that could only be done before the Drakan Queen¡¯s visit. That visit was, undoubtedly, going to alter the settlement''s atmosphere significantly.
¡°That would be a great help, yes. Though we would prefer you make an official appearance first, we are willing to compromise; it will give us an extra day to ensure everything is in order.¡± He was most likely referring to the reception.
¡°Thank you for the accommodation. Then, on my end, I would like to bring Lord Alriss as the head of the merchant company and the father of my cover. Then, for our protection, two knights each. That is the minimum Drakan law allows for and is already disregarding my true status.¡±
Emmanuel reacted in a visibly negative manner but did not move to push the issue, ¡°That is acceptable to my side as well.¡±
With permission secured, it came time to plan the parade for my second visit to the city. After all, this was going to be a historic occasion. As such, it was a task best not delegated, and so I handled it personally. Even if my involvement was strictly limited to okaying or denying other people¡¯s plans. Lord Alriss would occasionally chime in when a matter or question of security came up. Still, for the most part, he said very little. By the time Emmanuel left to return to the city, we had an operational plan.
I was to go undercover with Lord Alriss, four of our knights, and the two babysitters from Zesten. Emmanuel had provided us with the name of a hotel in the more affluent part of the city and promised to make arrangements for us. The following day, we would slip out of the walls as soon as the winds died down, then meet up with a parade column. They were allowing two hundred of my soldiers and knights to participate, and we would form up with the city guard and members of Chair Zesten¡¯s personal forces.
¡°Then, I have much to do. But, if I might say, cooperating with your grace was far more straightforward than I had expected when my father first gave me this task. I shall see you on the morrow of tomorrow, by the gods¡¯ grace.¡± Emmanuel said to me by way of farewell.
Once he had departed, I returned inside my carriage and collapsed into one of the seats, ¡°That was exhausting.¡±
Dealing with Drakan nobles is terrible enough, but foreigners are entirely different.
Messing something up at home would be easy enough to spin a story, spread some rumors, and lean on supporters. In a word, I had options. Messing up abroad though¡ there was far less recourse. If not for my [Acting], there was little doubt that something would have-
¡°Let Felicity go!¡± A familiar shout from outside my carriage ripped me from my thoughts, and I spun back into action mode.
While Peoni and Beatrice seemed a bit caught off guard, Sasha and Frieda adapted quickly to the change, and in only a few seconds, the former was outside dealing with the problem. When I exited myself, I saw Felicity being gripped firmly by her arm, held by one of the knights who had been tasked with watching the carriage. It was a testament to my patience that I did not launch into an angered tirade at him; he was, after all, only doing his job.
¡°You may release her.¡± At the sound of my voice, the knight immediately snapped to attention and complied.
Felicity ignored the surroundings and ran toward me before stopping just short of a collision, ¡°Stahlia Nee-chan, Claire-chan says, ¡®Franklin is-¡¯ Eeep!¡±
I cut her off by catching her arm myself and dragging her into the carriage, leaving the bewildered knight for Sasha to handle. Felicity was obviously distressed by something and had apparently found Franklin, but that didn¡¯t mean she could begin talking about Claire in front of random people. Likewise, my thoughts were in turmoil of their own; seeing her had re-awoken the anger and fear I had felt previously, but they were both overshadowed by relief. Relief that she was safe and sound.
Just what in the world happened to her¡?
7-10 F6: My Making a Friend
Franklin, 20 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
¡°Well, that accomplished less than a Goblin¡¯s dick!¡± Taya groused angrily at the door of the building we had just exited.
¡°Language!¡± My other, and entirely self-inserted, companion, Leana chided Taya.
We had just exited Zesten¡¯s adventurer¡¯s guild, after making the rounds for any reports about new disappearances. Much like yesterday and the day before that, we had accomplished nothing. Taya and myself, that is; Leana was a relatively new addition.
¡®Less than a Goblin¡¯s dick?¡¯ I would have thought goblins were rather prolific with those¡ unless it¡¯s in reference to the size? But then the comparison wouldn¡¯t really work¡
Taya shot a scornful look at Leana; for a reason that was entirely lost to me, these two did not get along at all. Before things escalated further, I stepped in to redirect their attention, ¡°Come on, Taya, you know what they say, ¡®no news is good news.¡¯ Sure, we might not have a lead, but that also means nobody else has been taken. And, Leana, if you¡¯re going to tag along, the least you could do is respect your elders.¡±
I really would have liked if Leana stopped tagging along, but she was fairly adamant about it. As long as she didn¡¯t get hurt, there was no harm with her tagging along while we did the investigative footwork, but I would be certain to get rid of her before we did anything truly dangerous like confronting the culprit.
Taya grimaced and nodded while Leana pursed her lips poutingly, but neither of them protested further.
¡°Now,¡± I said, ¡°I believe we¡¯re meant to meet up with Dylan near the square?¡±
While we had checked in at the guild, Dylan, Taya¡¯s acquaintance, had been doing his own legwork and it was about time for us to compare notes.
¡°You two do that; I¡¯ve got to help pops with some stuff.¡± Leana suddenly excused herself at the mention of Dylan; for whatever reason, she didn¡¯t seem to like him either. But, while she was able to tolerate and largely ignore Taya, she refused to be anywhere near the man. So much the better, since the places he had been scouting were not exactly the most savory, and I didn¡¯t think it would be such a good idea for her to hear his recollections and report.
¡°We will, run along now; you wouldn¡¯t want to keep ¡®pops¡¯ waiting.¡±
¡°Thank you for your help, Leana, and be careful on the way back.¡± In stark contrast to Taya, my own farewell was much more measured.
Leana smiled briefly at me. Then to Taya, she performed a gesture with her pinky touching her thumb and the middle three fingers splayed out to resemble spikes or thorns; this world¡¯s equivalent of the universal gesture from Earth. Thankfully, the latter did not respond to it; my sanity with these two was already wearing thing, even with all the rigorous practice I had thanks to George.
Once she was finally gone, my remaining companion began walking in the opposite direction, ¡°Really though. You would think the guild would be doing more, yet we¡¯re the only members looking into things at all! And they won¡¯t even speak with us about it!¡±
¡°¡Well, I¡¯m only a new member, and you¡¯ve got your own reputation. Besides that, isn¡¯t this more of a civil matter than a guild one? If the city chair hasn¡¯t posted a notice about it, what¡¯s the guild to do? We¡¯re freelancers, not philanthropists.¡± There was a short lull in conversation, during which we proceeded through the city at a brisk pace before Taya finally responded.
¡°I know all that. I know that not hearing anything is better than hearing that they found her body, it¡¯s just that¡ Fuck, Franklin, I told her I would protect her.¡±
This was a rare moment of openness for Taya, and I dared not break it by offering any advice or affirmation. Usually level-headed, she had a bit of a brash streak when it came to matters of ¡°her.¡± Whenever asked, she would talk at length about the investigations but always clammed up whenever this mystery girl was concerned. That she was now openly broaching the subject herself was new.
¡°I can¡¯t help but think; that nobody has ever been found, dead or alive. So, if I can¡¯t find her, odds are she won¡¯t ever turn up.¡± Following that, Taya fell silent, and we continued our trip in silence, save for the sounds of the midday city. The clattering of horse hooves, the laughter of children, the squawking of these weird bird-dog hybrid things, and the loud shout of an adolescent girl, ¡°F-! Stop him!¡±
Having thought I heard my name, I spun around in time to see a rather cute girl in her early teens staring at me bug-eyed. Almost immediately after, I was surrounded by two men wearing suits of armor and two of the chair guards I had occasionally seen patrolling the city. Two more fully armored men remained at her side, along with an extremely handsome middle-aged man in half-plate.
Knights¡? Then, is she with the Drakan delegation? But what does she want with me¡?
Regardless of what she wanted, the situation was a bit absurd; the knights had even prepared themselves to draw their swords. Fortunately, the girl seemed to realize this as well, as her bug-eyed expression was replaced with one of momentary embarrassment before she wiped that too away. Now keeping a serious face, she reached out a hand and gripped the forearm of the middle-aged man, ¡°Father, I believe that man may be the one Felicity spoke of¡¡±
The man appeared momentarily startled by this turn of events, but he very quickly hid it, ¡°I see. Men, fall off and give the lad some space. My apologies for my¡ daughter¡¯s¡ actions.¡±
Ok¡ That¡¯s weird.
It was apparent that something about their relationship was fishy; it appeared to me that it was actually the daughter who held the most influence here. At the very least, the man she had called father was taking a rather subservient role. Not that I knew much about nobility, let alone foreign nobility, but something made me think it was usually the opposite. Taya seemed a bit put off as well if nothing else.
That being said, it was probably best to avoid prying; assuming these were members of the Drakan force camped nearby, it would be best to avoid an altercation or scene, especially if the chair guards had responded to her order so readily, even though they should not be under her command and I was not a Drakan citizen.
¡°Think nothing of it; you are far from home, being a bit ill at ease is to be expected, and I was not hurt at all. That aside, is there something I can help you with?¡± My response was calculated to be disarming, but I lacked experience with proper etiquette, so my delivery must have been a bit stiff, because both the man and the girl recoiled slightly.
He looked down at her questioningly. After a moment of apparent thought, the girl nodded to herself, ¡°Actually, to apologize, might I hire you? We are trying to find the local adventurer¡¯s guild, and could use a guide.¡±
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
My eyes flipped toward her two chair guard companions. Neither of them reacted in any way whatsoever to that remark, which made it evident that they were not there to show her around. Her request was fairly straightforward but came at a rather awkward time for me, owing to my previous commitment with Dylan.
Though, refusing her would be rude as well, and if she¡¯s with the Drakan group, and has this many guards, she¡¯s definitely one of their nobles¡
¡°I dipped my head in what I hoped was a respectful gesture, ¡°Aye, I can show you the way there, though please excuse my companion. We have our own business, though she can take care of it herself.¡±
Taya had enough social sense to pick up on what I was doing and promptly moved to play along, ¡°¡I suppose I can handle it myself; Dylan and I¡¯ll wait for you at the inn.¡±
The girl glanced up at the man and subtly nodded, whereupon he accepted my amendment to her offer, ¡°That will be most helpful. You have my thanks, Sir¡?¡±
¡°Just Franklin, if it pleases your lordship; I have no title nor lands.¡± My admittedly cheesy reply caused the young lady to snort a laugh, though she quickly recovered.
I said a quick goodbye to Taya, then began to retrace my steps with the Drakans in tow. The girl seemed somewhat keen to stay close to me, though she wasn¡¯t pushing things to the point of inconveniencing the knights who were, understandably, making sure to stay between us. The man, in contrast, moved up from her side to walk beside me.
¡°Then, Franklin, do you know this city well?¡± He asked me.
I see, so it¡¯s the ¡®ply for intel¡¯ stage. She¡¯s still suspicious of me for whatever reason, but they¡¯re trying to avoid making a bigger scene.
Well, two could play at that game, ¡°Not especially; I know my way around, but I arrived only a week or so before your party, Milord.¡±
¡°Alriss, Lord Alriss of the Alriss Caravan. As you have surmised, I am a Count of Drakas. You are not one of my subjects, so please, do not debase yourself. By extension, this is, my daughter, Stahlia¡ von Alriss.¡± Lord Alriss¡¯ self-introduction was slightly marred by his hesitation over the girl, Stahlia¡¯s, relationship with himself. That said, she had no such issues doing her part in what was most definitely a routine greeting.
She paused walking for just long enough to curtsy, and then introduced herself, ¡°As my father said, I am Stahlia von R, Alriss.¡±
Maybe not perfect, there was a bit of a hiccup there with her own name. So, they aren¡¯t related then; he¡¯s acting the part of her father, and she¡¯s probably got the higher status overall. That would at least explain why he¡¯s more than a bit deferential.
That would mean Stahlia was either a young duchess or the daughter of a duke. Hell, she might even be a member of their royal family, but that was more doubtful; it wouldn¡¯t make sense to send such a young princess on a diplomatic mission. Even if the cultural and legal age of adulthood was slightly lower than I was used to, she was certainly a few years shy.
For now, it would be best if I played along with their farce while trying to avoid getting caught up in it. Even if meeting the Drakan Queen is on my to-do list, this chance encounter is a bit too lucky. With how everything has been going so far, it¡¯s pretty damn clear that circumstances are being manipulated behind the scenes.
If that was the case, then it meant that the goddess wanted me to meet the Drakans, for whatever reason.
I can¡¯t just keep following the path laid out for me; that¡¯s a great way to get used up and thrown out. Keeping Claire¡¯s warning and my own bits of knowledge in mind, my trip so far has been rather textbook.
I probably would end up meeting their Queen, but I would ensure it happened on my own terms, ¡°Then, Lord Alriss, if I might be so bold, what business do you have with the guild? Surely you don¡¯t mean to have them ferry communications across the border for you.¡±
The count chuckled amicably, ¡°Ha, no. We have our own methods for that. No, my daughter has something of a soft spot for adventurers and requested to visit a foreign guild branch while we were here. Oh, to be young and with a head full of fancy again, eh?¡±
¡°At least I still have my entire future ahead of me, father.¡± Stahlia¡¯s reply was delivered lightheartedly, but it caused Lord Alriss to stiffen slightly. After all, if my theory was correct, he had just made light of his Lady. She continued, now addressing me directly, ¡°Actually, perhaps you might be able to answer my questions¡ I am rather curious about the disappearances that have been occurring and intended to inquire about them with the guild.¡±
¡°¡I am afraid that I know very little about that, Lady Stahlia; the guild is not officially looking into the matter.¡±
And how convenient that the conveniently met Drakan is looking into the same thing I am. Everything points me to cooperation, yet that¡¯s making me want to run the other way¡
¡°Ah, but they are investigating, just not ¡®officially¡¡¯ No, not the guild, it¡¯s you who is investigating, and that woman you were with. I see.¡± Stahlia fell into silent, pensive thought.
Fuck, she¡¯s clever. I only made one mistake when saying the investigation wasn¡¯t official¡ Or, was she really able to read that much from my reaction? That shouldn¡¯t be possible unless she has more information.
Too late, I realized that, despite all appearances, she was a remarkably dangerous opponent.
No doubt, even the way we met, her calling out like that and causing a small scene, was that also calculated? No, there¡¯s no way. That reaction had to be natural.
Regardless of my internal distress, we arrived at the guild hall. Upon seeing it, Stahlia displayed a reaction of mild surprise, ¡°Oh? Now, this is interesting; the building is quite well-maintained for an adventurer¡¯s guild. At least when compared to the ones in Drakas¡.¡±
She trailed off, making it evident that she was talking to herself, not that I could have offered any answer or further context to that observation myself. Nobody else from her party offered any comment, and we went inside. The interior was much the same as I remembered it from half an hour ago; a tidy, sparsely populated, and decently well-lit bar-cum-diner, with a small counter and a notice board closer to the entrance. Though, the receptionist had undergone a shift change.
¡°Franklin, please introduce me to the receptionist? These things tend to work easier with an introduction.¡± Stahlia asked me a question plainly, but the request came out of seemingly nowhere. Surely, for someone of her status, it would be more proper for a servant to introduce her, but there wasn¡¯t any present.
A knight then? No, knights don¡¯t do servant work¡ I guess. Or, is she implicitly giving me a task to see if I will obey? Would doing this imply I am one of her servants? No, even if she does try and leverage that, I could say that I was only fulfilling the rest of my contract. Technically, I am one of her staff at the moment, since I accepted the job to guide her here.
I approached the counter, and Stahlia stepped out from behind her knights for the first time, keeping step just behind me. Upon making our entrance, the receptionist followed our progress with her eyes. When we arrived at her station, she greeted me and turned a questioning look at my new tail.
¡°Franklin, Ulna said you had already stepped by this morning, yet here you are¡ And this is?¡±
¡°Miss Betty, this is Lady Stahlia von Alriss; I happened upon her party by chance, and she requested I guide them to the guild hall. Lady Stahlia, this is Betty; a receptionist of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Zesten Branch.¡±
¡°I see¡¡± Betty seemed unimpressed and gave the party of fully armed and armored knights a suspicious appraisal. Her courage in showing such a blatant disregard for their status was commendable, though given that she was a receptionist at the guild, perhaps understandable given the relative immunity to politics she enjoyed.
Stahlia curtsied and flashed Betty with a smile, ¡°Betty, was it? Is the guild master in? I would like to speak with him regarding the disappearances.¡±
Betty¡¯s suspicious yet affable smile turned stony, and she glared at me with fairly naked hostility, ¡°Franklin, we have told you and Taya numerous times; the guild is not-¡±
¡°Aaron asked me to deal with it on my way through.¡± Stahlia cut the receptionist off, her own genial expression and fa?ade nowhere to be seen. In their place, she bore the cold expression of a noble looking at an insect that had landed on her pastry.
Still, Betty was a hardened member of the adventurer¡¯s guild and had their diplomatic immunity; Stahlia would find that noble bluster wouldn¡¯t get her very far outside of her own demesne-
¡°The Guildmaster¡¯s office is on the second floor; I will let him know you are on your way up.¡± Betty¡¯s sudden change of attitude shocked and frightened me. With one name, Stahlia had seemingly blown through the problem facing both Taya and me for the better part of a week.
She curtsied to the receptionist, ¡°Thank you very much, and I will bring Franklin along with me as an involved party. Lord Alriss, please accompany me, and have the knights stand guard at the foot of the stairs and outside the door.¡±
With that expression of gratitude and an obvious command, she seemed to drop the pretense that she was Lord Alriss¡¯ daughter and headed up the stairs that, so far, had been entirely off-limits to a newbie like myself.
7-11: C3: Dear Diary, I stowed away
Felicity, 8 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
Stali Nee-chan grabbed Felicity¡¯s arm and dragged her toward the big carriage door.
¡°Eeep!¡±
Felicity is so dead!
¡°¡¡±
As had become more and more common since the start of this year, Claire Nee-san did not respond to Felicity. It wasn¡¯t like she was gone; Felicity could still feel her somewhere deep inside, but her voice no longer spoke as frequently. And the few times that Claire Nee-san did speak were very deliberate.
¡°Now, where the hells have you been!?¡± Stahlia Nee-chan questioned in an almost frantic voice before suddenly pulling Felicity into a tight hug.
¡°Tell her.¡± Claire Oneesan¡¯s voice echoed through Felicity¡¯s head, startling her.
Tell her, what? What happened?
As had become the norm, there was no response. Her two tails flicked back and forth uneasily. Stali Nee-chan misinterpreted that as distress, and quickly released her before falling back onto one of the big-soft cushions, ¡°What, just what were you thinking?¡±
Her voice shook, and judging by her face, she looked about to cry. Whether that was sadness, or anger, or happiness was hard to tell.
-Sniff-sniff-
Felicity tested the air.
Sadness and relief. ¡Stali Nee-chan was super-duper worried about Felicity¡
Now Felicity felt terrible about hiding for so long. But, if she hadn¡¯t hidden, then¡ then, what? She had only hidden because Claire Nee-san told her that she had to hide until they got across ¡°the border,¡± whatever that was. Claire Nee-san had refused to tell her and just insisted that they hide.
¡°¡Tell her.¡±
Felicity will!
She snapped back angrily at the stubborn older-older head sister.
¡°Satli Nee-chan¡ Felicity is sorry.¡± Felicity dipped her head like how Rosin Otouto-kun did. Then, she raised it up so she could meet Stali Nee-chan¡¯s eyes, ¡°But, Felicity would not have done anything differently.¡±
Felicity made the sternest, most resolved expression she could while taking great care to suppress her nervousness from betraying itself via errant tail and ear twitches. Stali Nee-chan sat back and, sinking into thought, bit her lower lip.
Finally, having arrived at some conclusion lost to Felicity, she nodded, ¡°Then, why?¡±
Felicity¡¯s ears twitched, happy that Stali Nee-chan seemed to understand, finally. That said, it was time to do what Stubborn-Claire wanted, and explain, ¡°Felicity had a bad dream. Stali Nee-chan goes away, far far away. You promise Felicity that you will come back, but you never do. Slowly, everyone else goes away too; Rosy Imouto-chan, Rosin Otouto-kun, Tou-san, Kaa-san, everyone. Felicity is all alone.¡±
¡°That¡¯s why, Felicity decided that she should go away with Stali Nee-chan, and make sure you come back.¡±
Stali Nee-chan appeared to take her words with some degree of skepticism; a fact which annoyed Felicity a great deal, prompting her tails to flick discontentedly, ¡°Stali Nee-chan doesn¡¯t believe Felicity. But, Felicity had this dream lots of times. The whole trip to Rosin Otouto-kun¡¯s house, every night. Then, Stali Nee-chan announced she was leaving early, just like mom said you would.¡±
Stali Nee-chan¡¯s eyes snapped open in surprise, ¡°¡®Mom?¡¯ not ¡®Kaa-san?¡¯¡±
Oops!
Felicity clapped her hand over her mouth; she was not supposed to mention her. Even Claire Onee-san did not know about that woman. The person who had appeared in Felicity¡¯s nightmares claimed to be her mom. That woman had told her that Stali Nee-chan would go away, and that Stali Nee-chan would die. Then, she had told her that Stali Nee-chan would leave early.
¡°¡Mom told Felicity that Stali Nee-chan would leave early because nobody liked you, and that if Felicity wanted you to be safe, Felicity had to go with you.¡±
Perhaps surprisingly, after a few seconds of hesitation, Stali Nee-chan seemingly accepted this new piece of information without questioning it, ¡°Felicity, can you describe this ¡®mom¡¯ to me?¡±
Felicity hesitated; Levi-chan had told her not to talk about herself to anybody.
But, Stali Nee-chan isn¡¯t just anybody. Claire¡?
Felicity¡¯s silent question hung out in the empty silence of her head. Just when she thought Claire Onee-san would again ignore her, the latter spoke.
¡°Tell her, and me. The fact that you¡ No, you wouldn¡¯t have known. Dammit~! This is why I¡¯ve been trying to stay silent!¡±
That was more words than Felicity had heard from Claire Onee-san in a very long time. And she sounded very upset about something. But, if Claire Onee-san felt this strongly about the issue, then there was no reason to listen to dad¡¯s desire to be kept a secret.
Slowly, still uneasy, Felicity opened her mouth, ¡°The last time Felicity had that dream, and after she was all alone, there was a voice. A woman came out. She called Felicity her newest daughter, and asked Felicity what she wanted most.¡±
Stali Nee-chan waited patiently, even though Felicity wasn¡¯t really answering the question of what ¡°mom¡± looked like.
¡°Felicity told her, ¡®to not be alone, and for Stali Nee-chan to be safe.¡¯ Mom told me that if that¡¯s what I wanted, the only way was to follow after you, whether or not you wanted me to¡ ¡Sorry.¡±
¡°¡It¡¯s ok. I mean, it really isn¡¯t ok, but I should have taken your own feelings on the matter into account¡ Sasha, can you get something for us to drink?¡±
The older not-Jacqueline dipped her head to Stali Nee-chan and busied herself preparing drinks. Stali continued, ¡°But, what did mom look like? And do you know her name?¡±
Felicity shook her head, ¡°Felicity doesn¡¯t¡ doesn¡¯t quite remember? She was pretty¡ but, she looked¡¡±
Felicity trailed off; she honestly could not remember mom¡¯s face, despite at the time feeling like this woman really was her mother. It was¡ even scarier than the dreams about being alone. A shiver wracked her spine, and her ears pressed flat.
¡°Felicity doesn¡¯t remember what mom looked like¡ But, she said to call her Levi-chan.¡± That much, Felicity was certain of. She remembered how she had thought it was a rather strange name.
¡°¡®Levi-chan,¡¯ or, ¡®Leviathan.¡¯ Felicity, you should have told us¡¡±
Leviathan¡? Like the scary-man, Satan? One of the people Claire Oneesan said Felicity should never-ever talk to?
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
¡°Especially in your case, given your specific [Envy] skill. Sorry Felicity, I should never have abandoned you¡ I¡¯ll make it right but, now, I need you to go to sleep.¡±
Claire, 8 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
Felicity fell into a state of forced unconsciousness. Doing things this way made me feel incredibly filthy, but I needed to speak with Stahlia; there were a lot of things happening all at once, and the revelation that one of the Hell Kings had been in contact with Felicity meant she was now a potential liability¡
I raised my head and experimentally twitched Felicity¡¯s ears and tail. It had been a long time since I had last controlled any aspect of her body.
Stahlia picked up on the sudden behavior shift, ¡°Claire? Then I guess my assumption was right? This ¡®Levi-chan¡¯ is the Queen of Envy?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Felicity has the [Envy] skill after all¡ I¡¯m sorry, Stahlia, a lot of this is my fault; I realized that Felicity was starting to depend on me way too much. Whenever she didn¡¯t understand anything, she just asked me instead of trying to figure it out. Instead of thinking for herself, she would just ask me. Her general attitude was becoming something like, ¡®Claire knows everything.¡¯ I¡ I don¡¯t want her to turn into my puppet, so I¡¯ve been avoiding helping her at all, and she wound up doing all of this¡¡±
It had not been my intention to come clean and apologize like that, but once I started speaking, everything just poured out like some sort of flood.
Stahlia even recoiled slightly, ¡°¡Ok, I can see where you¡¯re coming from, but why didn¡¯t you intervene when she stowed away? In fact, according to Felicity, you told her to hide until we crossed the border.¡±
¡°¡Sorry.¡± I felt my ears droop involuntarily, ¡°I was hiding from Felicity. In a sense, I was hibernating. With the civil war resolved, I thought it would be safe for her to be left alone, to grow, at least for a time. By the time I checked again, she had already stowed away. That said, I told her to hide until you crossed the border, because she acted without my input; she made the decision to stow away on her own. Or so I had thought at the time.¡±
¡°So,¡± Stahlia crossed her arms irritatedly, ¡°You told her to hide to reward her behavior in being independent. Despite the incredibly negative way that independence manifested. I think I need to rethink the way I have been considering a lot of things where Felicity is concerned¡¡±
¡°Yeah, maybe I didn¡¯t use the best judgement, but there is a bigger issue at the moment; Franklin is in Zesten.¡±
¡°Haaa¡ You¡¯re right, unfortunately. And I can understand why you¡¯ve taken over, but, ¡no, forget it.¡±
Somehow, I can¡¯t help but feel like I lost much respect in the past few minutes. ¡That¡¯s fine; I deserve at least that much.
The truth was, despite being a teacher, I was pretty bad with kids. I was, after all, a university professor. The kind of formative teaching that Felicity needed was far from my area of expertise. While I would continue to do my best, it seemed that my best was wholly inadequate.
¡°So, Franklin is in Zesten, and something else other than that, otherwise Felicity wouldn¡¯t have been so spooked.¡±
Stahlia seemed intent on moving past whatever quandary I had given her, so I obliged, ¡°First things first, the way Felicity got into Zesten; she managed to copy one of Rosial¡¯s Talents, [Shadow Walk]. That¡¯s also where she was hiding after your men found her nest. She just slipped into one of the men¡¯s shadows, and latter into Emmanuel¡¯s.¡±
Stahlia frowned, ¡°All right, I follow so far, but what does Emmanuel¡¯s shadow have to do with anything? Why would she even consider hitching a ride into Zesten?¡±
¡°...Because I told her to.¡±
Stahlia facepalmed.
Felicity, 20 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
Today, Stali Nee-chan had met with the strange-man again. She treated him with more respect than most people, so he must have been important. That said, Felicity did not like him; he smelled suspicious. That was why she had decided to follow him while he was in the camp; Claire Onee-san hadn¡¯t told her anything about the man, so it was up to her to figure him out for herself.
That was why, when Emmy-kun revealed he was keeping secrets from Stali Nee-chan, Felicity couldn¡¯t help but feel a tiny bit vindicated.
¡°And what about the ongoing disappearance crisis? Shouldn¡¯t the Drakan monarch be informed?¡± Emmy-kun was speaking with his guard.
¡°No, I think not; she will not encounter any difficulty from it, and I do not believe we should go out of our way to involve her. It would not do to owe that country any favors, nor should we go out of our way to expose a potential weakness.¡± The guard answered Emmy-kun back, expressing far more authority than any of Stali Neechan¡¯s guards ever did.
¡°Very well, then I won¡¯t mention them. What about the adventurers, Taya and Franklin? Her majesty will undoubtedly draw their attention if they see her disguise tomorrow; she looks an awful lot like many of the victims.¡±
¡°!¡±
The sudden feeling of surprise from Claire took Felicity by surprise of her own.
¡°Not an issue; why would the Queen of a country pay any heed to two adventurers? Besides, the guild will be instructed not to offer her any assistance should she show an interest. Talking about the disappearances on the streets is already a social taboo; we have nothing to fear.¡±
Emmy-kun still didn¡¯t look wholly convinced, but he didn¡¯t press the issue any further.
¡°Felicity, you need to go with them; hide in Emmanuel¡¯s shadow.¡±
It had been a long time since Claire last gave Felicity such an explicit instruction, so she did not hesitate to follow through. Darting out from her hiding place as soon as it was safe, Felicity ran silently from cover to cover, then dove into Emmanuel¡¯s shadow just as the man turned around.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Did you sense something?¡± Emmy-kun¡¯s guard asked, placing his hand on his weapon.
After surveying the surroundings for a long time, Emmy-kun shook his head, ¡°No, nothing. We need to depart if we are to beat the winds.¡±
Emmy-kun, his talkative guard, and his silent guard departed from Stali Nee-chan¡¯s camp and walked in silence. Felicity, for her part, held as perfectly still as she could; Emmy-kun¡¯s shadow would carry her as long as she had mana, so she couldn¡¯t waste any by moving around unnecessarily. This version of the talent was much better than Jacqueline Oneesama¡¯s version, though Felicity wasn¡¯t sure why Rosy-chan had it.
Still, holding still for so long was very, very boring. To help pass the time, Felicity would ordinarily have had a conversation with Claire Onee-san, but she was back to being annoyingly-stubbornly quiet. So instead, Felicity watched the three men walking. It was strange, she realized; the silent guard seemed almost more wary of the talkative guard. He was regarding him the same way Rosy-chan regarded Felicity when they played Assassin-and-Guard. Then there was the way Emmy-kun had been speaking. It was different from how Stali Nee-chan spoke to her guards.
It doesn¡¯t make sense. Claire?
¡°No, it doesn¡¯t.¡±
Felicity was surprised that Claire had answered her, though the actual answer being a non-answer itself didn¡¯t enthuse her. Unfortunately, Claire was entirely uninterested in any further conversation and, before long, the three men arrived in the city.
Ok. Now what?
Unable to keep the discontent from creeping into her voice, Felicity questioned Claire Onee-san.
¡°¡Follow an adventurer to the guild.¡±
Why?
¡°Please, just do it.¡±
Claire¡¯s voice had a hint of pleading in it, so Felicity swallowed her mounting anger and did what had been asked of her. Taking the first opportunity, she slipped from Emmy-kun¡¯s shadow and into the shadow of a building. Then, once the coast was clear, she jumped out of that and took up a position where she could watch for any incoming adventurers.
¡°Follow the Target¡± was a game she was very familiar with ever since Claire Onee-san had first introduced it to her, so it didn¡¯t take a very long time for her to find someone. With her target in sight, all Felicity had to do was follow him until they got to the guild. That was super easy as the man didn¡¯t even check his surroundings once, allowing Felicity to stay much closer than she usually could.
The whole time Felicity was behind him, she could feel a mounting desperation from Claire Onee-san, though she didn¡¯t explain why. Then, all at once, everything went wrong.
First, the man met a woman.
¡°Franklin! Any luck on your end?¡±
The man shook his head sadly, ¡°No. No luck.¡±
¡°I see, I was hoping that you would be able to get some answers since you¡¯re a new face, but it was admittedly a long shot¡¡±
¡°Franklin! It is him! Felicity, stay with-¡±
Claire was suddenly cut off by a tremendous pressure bearing down on Felicity¡¯s head. A pressure that held her in place, utterly incapable of moving even as her target walked away with the woman he had met.
¡°Well well well, I thought I felt something familiar, but I don¡¯t recognize you¡ You must be new.¡±
With a great deal of effort Felicity turned her head around, as she thought she should, and saw¡ a woman behind her. An utterly unremarkable woman. So completely average, even while looking at her directly, Felicity found that she forgot the woman¡¯s appearance.
¡°Mom said you would be coming and asked me to ensure you stayed safe. I must say though, I am rather jealous; unlike me, you actually stand out.¡±
Felicity¡¯s teeth began to chatter, and both of her tails stood up completely straight; something about this woman was setting off all of her warning bells.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Cat got your tongue? Don¡¯t worry, and I¡¯m not going to hurt you; mom doesn¡¯t like it when we fight each other. My name¡¯s Eris, the Seventh of Envy. One of Lady Leviathan¡¯s original companions.¡±
7-12 Sudden Development
Stahlia 17 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
¡°¡Honestly, I thought I had really messed up, and that this demon was going to, at the very least, catnap Felicity. If not worse.¡±
Claire, speaking through Felicity, shivered. It was clear that the experience had been traumatic for her. It was also highly concerning. Especially Eris¡¯s claim at being one of Leviathan¡¯s original companions.
That probably means she¡¯s one of the Original Sins, like Sitri was for lust.
Sitri had been strong. Incredibly strong. If there was a demon of that power level in Zesten¡ Well, it was a fight that I could win, but the cost would be extreme considering what I had to do in order to beat Sitri. But there was an orc in the room. Namely, the fact that Felicity was here in front of me, two tails and pointy ears fully intact. Somehow, she had gotten away.
¡°And your next words will be-¡±
I cut Claire off with a glare that was perhaps a bit more hostile than I had intended, ¡°None of that. Just tell me how you got away.¡±
¡°Right, sorry.¡± Abashed, her ears flattened against her head, and the tails, which had been softly twirling about the air behind her head, stilled, ¡°Well, Eris suddenly blanched white, then tried to grab Felicity. Something else grabbed her first, though, and pulled her back. Then, Eris ran. When Felicity looked behind her, there was a rather old-looking man wearing all black. He gave us a long look, then told us to ¡®hurry back, and tell her to come find me.¡¯ It didn¡¯t take much to realize that he was referring to you.¡±
And the plot thickens. Felicity mentioned some disappearances that Emmanuel was hiding from me. Probably, Eris is responsible for those. This old man is hunting her then. And he knows about me, and that Felicity is connected to me, and also knows that I would be able to help? Or maybe he means to warn me to stay away.
Regardless, the old man could only be one person. Well, he could be any number of things, but he certainly wasn¡¯t human. Most likely, he was a monster of some type, and knew about me through Aaron. Then, if he asked me to seek him out, I would need to visit the Zesten Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Not a big deal since I had been planning to stop by anyway; even if Aaron could check on me through my damn mana crystal, it would be better to be an active ally instead of being passive toward him.
¡°All right, well, if anything else, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re both safe. Though, the fact that one of the Hell Kings is able to speak into Felicity¡¯s dreams is rather concerning¡ Especially if I consider the possibility that Leviathan can track her, or worse, pull information from her mind.¡±
I had transitioned to speaking more or less to myself, but Claire interjected, ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a real possibility, actually.¡±
Curious, but let¡¯s hear what you have to say in your defense.
Even if I was happy that they were back safe, that didn¡¯t mean that I wasn¡¯t upset still. And, Claire bore far more blame for my ire than Felicity did. Even if I assumed that the story they told me was accurate, Claire should have known better.
But at the same time, I have been rather absent myself; it isn¡¯t like I¡¯m entirely blameless when it was me relying on Claire so heavily to begin with. ¡I want to keep Felicity and Rosial away from everything, but with their abilities¡
No, that was not something I could ever allow myself to consider. That said, even if I was not going to make them full participants, it might be better to let them in. Once they were older. At the very least, Felicity had already demonstrated her own skill.
But, with their abilities, they could only ever be spies and assassins. Neither job is particularly safe. So, no. I¡¯ll be preserving the status quo for the time being.
¡°Sorry, Claire. Why do you think there isn¡¯t anything to worry about with Leviathan?¡±
She shrugged, ¡°Well, think about it, who¡¯s the biggest threat to the kings in the upcoming war? As far as I¡¯m aware, it¡¯s you, ¡®nee-chan.¡¯¡± I narrowed my eyes at her, but she ignored me, ¡°If Felicity was a good spy, then why would Eris have been ordered to catnap her? I can see why Levichan would goad her into following you, but that second part doesn¡¯t make sense to me.¡±
She had a point; if the goal was to keep tabs on my movements, then having Felicity along with me would suffice. Hell, it wasn¡¯t exactly hard to keep tabs on my movements even without an embedded spy, not when my cohort was so large.
No, there¡¯s also the fact that the hell kings act a bit irrationally. At least Count Francois was somewhat controlled by anger. This could be a case of Leviathan being envious of me; wanting to get Felicity for herself¡ but that¡¯s a stretch.
¡°I see. You do make a good point, Claire. Sasha, please have someone fetch Lord Alriss for me; we will need to adjust tomorrow¡¯s plans. Claire, against my better judgment, I am going to trust you to keep Felicity out of harm¡¯s way while I get this figured out. Not that I have much of a choice in regard to that. That said, you need to check your attitude.¡±
Sasha nodded and stepped outside of the carriage, leaving Claire and me alone. The former bristled at my words. Considering our previous relationship, that reaction was somewhat reasonable. Only the fact that Claire had been in her current position for more than a year now. For me, it had been a decade; we were not the same people that used to be teacher and pupil.
I continued to speak over her upset reaction, ¡°Your desire not to mire Felicity¡¯s development is admirable, and I would wholly support it¡ If you would like me to find a way to kill you, then I will reluctantly begin to do so. But, that would probably make Felicity rather sad; short of your own death, you are an inseparable part of that girl; I do not believe there is a way to separate you two.¡±
Perhaps it was due to how dark my words were, but Claire shut her mouth without saying whatever retort she had been about to.
¡°So, please, don¡¯t leave her all alone again¡ I don¡¯t really know if its right or wrong, but having you present is probably better than not¡¡± At this point, I was rambling. I was trying to express something to Claire with my words, but it wasn¡¯t coming out correctly.
Still, she seemed to have figured it out, ¡°¡I understand what you mean, I think. Instead of trying to let Felicity live a normal life and keeping my own influence to a minimum, I should accept the fact that she never will and make the most of it. For both our sakes.¡±
That was, more or less, my point. But she wasn¡¯t finished, ¡°You need to do the same, you know. You can¡¯t keep treating Felicity like a normal child. Rosial as well; neither of your sisters are normal.¡±
I glared at her. Claire was correct, and I had even been thinking something similar just a few seconds ago. But having it slammed into my face like this was just¡
¡°No, I know that. But this and that are different.¡± I shut my eyes and tilted my head back before exhaling slowly, ¡°I know that. I know that the two of you aren¡¯t like other kids. But it doesn¡¯t change anything. Everything I¡¯ve done since leaving Ris was to get Rosial back and protect Felicity. I am not going to place either of you in a position where I might lose you.¡±
I opened my eyes and brought my head back; Claire looked like she was going to say something. Not wanting to hear it, I waved her off, ¡°I¡¯m not open to discussing this further. While I cannot force you not to follow me, I can make it much harder. I do not want to go down that path though, so please, do not force me to.¡±
The hidden option C. Use my Authority and seal Felicity¡¯s Skills and Talents. Just thinking about it made me feel a bit ill; the pain I had experienced when shoved into Sitri¡¯s head¡ it was something I would never willingly subject either of my sisters to. But Claire didn¡¯t need to know that, all she needed to know was that I could.
¡°Wow. I see how it is then, noted.¡± Obviously, she wasn¡¯t exactly pleased, but I did not particularly care about that as long as it kept her form doing anything stupid in the future.
With Claire, I need to be a lot harsher; she should have known better. With Felicity, I¡¯ll try and be more conscious of her in the future; just up and leaving like I did was a mistake. I also need to be more approachable in the future, so that she¡¯ll tell me about any more weird dreams she has.
Then, the door to my carriage opened again, and Sasha re-entered before announcing Lord Alriss.
¡°Then, what should I be doing, your majesty?¡± Claire¡¯s rather dry retort earned her a confused stare from the newly entered knight, a tongue click from Sasha, and an unamused stare from me.
¡°I will not send you back to Ris, as long as you do not cause any further issues¡ Sasha, please prepare a place for her to sleep.¡±
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To my great relief, Sasha read the atmosphere, ¡°Miss Felicity is rather small¡ I can fit a small bed in your partition if my lady does not mind sharing¡?¡±
Still controlled by Claire, Felicity scowled but was quick to hide her expression behind a rather poor fake smile.
How did it end up like this¡? Whatever. She¡¯ll get over it eventually. The important thing is that they¡¯re safe.
¡°Thank you, Sasha, that will do nicely. Now, Lord Alriss, in light of some new information, we will need to amend our plans for tomorrow¡¯s visit.¡±
Claire sighed and slipped away through the partition into what was my bedroom. Of course, Sasha had not yet had an opportunity to set anything up, but it wouldn¡¯t be a problem if she used my bed for now.
The next day found me and Lord Alriss in the city of Zesten proper. I was disguised, of course, wearing my original ring. As discussed with my ¡®father¡¯ the night before, we were presently making our way toward the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Instead of our last stop, it was now our first.
The two babysitters Emmanuel had given me presented a small problem, but if I really needed to, they could be dealt with easily enough. Though that was an absolute last resort, only to be employed if I truly needed to. As it was, it should be fairly easy to work around them, and they had so far proven to be surprisingly useful; one was even serving as something of a tour guide.
Though I need to remember not to take anything he says at face value.
As it were, the most egregious thing he had done was subtly guide me around a particular part of the city. By the few glimpses I had gotten down the avoided streets, that part of the city could have been better compared to the route we were taking. The people had been less well dressed, more clutter along the edges of the road, and a faint smell of refuse. In contrast, conditions along our sanctioned route were much better. The air was clean, the roads tidy, and the people were all comparable to the wealthiest of Drakan commoners. Some of them looked about as well off as a knight or baron¡¯s family.
Well, Barons, other than my real father, he¡¯s a special case.
Ideally, I would be able to name-drop myself to get an audience with the local guild master. From there, locating Franklin using the Adventurer¡¯s Guild information network should be fairly straightforward. After that, I would inquire after Felicity¡¯s savior and find out what Aaron wanted from me. Though our standing arrangement did not require me to help him, if it wasn¡¯t going incredibly out of my way I would do so in the interest of building up rapport.
A favor for a favor and all that; he helps me find Franklin, I help out with the local demon infestation¡ As long as there¡¯s only one, I should be able to deal with an Original Sin¡ As long as I keep the fight short.
That was the precise moment that my ears perked up at the sound of a familiar name, ¡°¡ Franklin, I told her I would protect her.¡±
My head whipped around, down one of the off-route streets, and there he was. My memory was foggy, but there was no doubt in my mind; Franklin was standing there, wearing some extremely cheap armor and with a shitty sword talking to some adventurer woman. Without paying me any mind, the pair began to walk away from my party, heading down the street toward the edge of the city. There were only a few moments for me to act before they were out of sight; was it better to meet him now, or to continue with my plan as it was and meet him later?
It will save time to go and do it now. Plus, I won¡¯t owe Aaron any favors.
¡°F-!¡± I arrested my shout before I made a huge mistake; there was no reason for me actually to know his name. While I could decline to give Lord Alriss or my two knights an answer, with my two babysitters here, I could not make such a blunder, ¡°Stop him!¡±
Idiot!
Giving such a vague order was never going to go well in this situation, and all at once, things spiraled out of control. Two of my knights adopted a defensive stance around me and Lord Alriss, while the other two took off toward Franklin and his companion. Surprisingly, my babysitters joined the away team, and Franklin soon found himself surrounded.
Damnit! Why did it end up like this!?
Seeing Franklin again really shouldn¡¯t have caused me to make mistakes like these; I had more than enough experience with operating on the fly and under pressure. Probably, it was a combination of the suddenness, unrealized stress at the idea of meeting someone else from my past, and realized stress from Claire and Felicity. Whatever the cause, I needed to fix things as soon as possible, and there was a quick and dirty way to do that: to make Lord Alriss do it.
After all, he is currently playing the role of my dear father; a noble girl should not act out in public.
¡°Ahem. Father, I believe that man may be the one Felicity spoke of¡.¡± Allowing my voice to trail off, I caught his eye, and very slightly frowned before resetting my expression.
Of course, he was not as well-versed as me, so did not react perfectly to the sudden call. However, any observer would only believe that his brief look of surprise and delayed response were due to his daughter suddenly calling out and sending their knights at some commoner.
¡°I see. Men, fall off and give the lad some space. My apologies for my¡ daughter¡¯s¡ actions.¡±
His eventual response was passable, though only just. The knights and babysitters fell back immediately, though in a way that naturally pulled Franklin and the woman closer to myself and Lord Alriss. As they came closer, I made a mental note of how the woman was moving; she definitely had some skill. and was on guard toward not the knights or Lord Alriss, but toward myself.
So she¡¯s practiced enough to subconsciously pick up on various things, or she¡¯s just uneasy, given my earlier shout. Whatever, she¡¯s only as important as her connection to Franklin. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s aware she¡¯s focusing her stance on me.
¡°Think nothing of it; you are far from home, being a bit ill at ease is to be expected, and I was not hurt at all. That aside, is there something I can help you with?¡± Franklin¡¯s words made me choke back a laugh; he sounded nothing like my vague recollections. Far too stiff, he was completely out of his depth when it came to verbal warfare.
Pff! I could probably pick up on his openings and exploit them even before getting lessons from Lady Lester. Asking a noble if you can help them is akin to offering to help.
It would be rude of me to reject such a generous offer, especially since it answered the question of how to get him to come with us. Lord Alriss was waiting for a cue from me before he proceeded, but there wasn¡¯t any easy way to convey what I wanted. Nodding briefly, I decided to do it myself while keeping the interaction brief, ¡°Actually, to apologize, might I hire you? We are trying to find the local adventurer¡¯s guild, and could use a guide.¡±
Franklin¡¯s expression betrayed his thoughts; he really didn¡¯t want to, and was trying to figure out a way to refuse. After a few moments he gave up and bowed his head, ¡°Aye, I can show you the way there, though please excuse my companion; we have our own business, though she can take care of herself.¡±
Yea, she definitely can, and better than you most likely. That was surprisingly well done though.
The way he had prepared a way for the woman to make her departure was exceptionally well executed in stark contrast to his earlier display of verbal incompetence. In other words, it was a fortunate accident on his part. Though her leaving was also to my benefit, so there were no objections from my side. Therefore, when the girl chimed in to say farewell, I made no moves to stop her.
¡°¡I suppose I can handle it myself; Dylan and I¡¯ll wait for you at the inn.¡±
After receiving a short nod from me, Lord Alriss once again took charge of the situation and thanked Franklin, ¡°That will be most helpful. You have my thanks, Sir¡?¡±
¡°Just Franklin, if it pleases your lordship; I have no title nor lands.¡±
¡°Pff!¡± This time I could not fully suppress my laugh at how funny he sounded. It reminded me of myself when I first learned polite speech from my mother many years ago. Hearing it out of the mouth of an adult, and one with whom I had a past, was something else entirely. We began to walk, with Franklin now leading us, and fell into step perhaps a bit closer than was proper; there was an underlying current of excitement but also unease. It was causing me to outwardly hover, while internally, things were beginning to come apart.
For one, where the hell do I even begin¡? Meeting him as Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris would have been one thing, but now the first time I meet him is as Stahlia von Alriss. I¡¯m disguised as a twelve-year-old girl. ¡°Hey Franklin, it¡¯s me; I¡¯m George!¡± Shit, he¡¯d have a field day with that if I looked like my usual self. But with the knowledge that I can do this¡?
At least my status means he won¡¯t be able to crack any jokes or tease me, but I know what he¡¯ll be thinking¡ Ugh. Maybe I should have just waited to meet him until I could do it as myself.
Lord Alriss and Franklin were conversing about something, but it wasn¡¯t until I heard my name that I started paying attention, ¡°¡ Stahlia¡ von Alriss.¡±
It was rather fortunate that I had perked up since, based on Lord Alriss¡¯s current demeanor, that had been an introduction. Pausing in the middle of the walkway, I gave a very brief curtsy to Franklin, ¡°As my father said, I am Stahlia von R, Alriss.¡±
Way to go; I even managed to mess up my own name. Spymaster, my ass; I should be able to do at least this much.
We continued to walk, while I ran through a half dozen possible outcomes to revealing my identity to Franklin. Though now I was keeping one ear open and monitoring the progressing conversation between Franklin and Lord Alriss, lest my participation become necessary again.
¡°Ha, no. We have our own methods for that. No, my daughter has something of a soft spot for adventurers and requested to visit a foreign guild branch while we were here. Oh, to be young and with a head full of fancy again, eh?¡± Though I had missed the triggering question, Lord Alriss¡¯s answer went a bit too far. It seemed that he was becoming quite close to Franklin, even to the point where he was close to overstepping.
Right¡
¡°At least I still have my entire future ahead of me, father.¡± At my sudden interjection, the wayward count stiffened and swallowed before furrowing his brow in mild confusion.
Exactly. You would not normally have made a mistake like that.
I looked at the back of Franklin¡¯s head; he was doing something, though it was doubtful that he knew he was.
It¡¯s a long shot, but¡
My attempt to appraise him using my divine eyes failed; unlike Felicity, we didn¡¯t have any special connection. That meant that the only way to check his status would be to use Blood Magic, which would require physical contact, which would break my illusion. There was also the minor issue: I would probably accidentally kill him if I did that without first putting my other ring on.
For now, it¡¯s probably better to be more active and see if I can¡¯t figure out what¡¯s happening. I can decide when, where, and how to reveal myself later.
To that end, ¡°Actually, perhaps you might be able to answer my questions¡ I am rather curious about the disappearances that have been occurring and intended to inquire about them with the guild.¡±
Franklin¡¯s smile cracked, ¡°¡I am afraid that I know very little about that, Lady Stahlia; the guild is not officially looking into the matter.¡±
Well, that¡¯s something. So the rank and file aren¡¯t in the know about anything. Not that I would have expected anything different.
¡°Ah, but they are investigating, just not ¡®officially¡¡¯ No, not the guild, it¡¯s you who is investigating, and that woman you were with. I see.¡±
Franklin realized his mistake in word choice and stopped short of saying anything else. That was fine; one of my babysitters indicated that we were almost at the guild building. It was rather well-kept compared to the Drakan ones, a sign of how they were held with higher regard in this country.
¡°Oh? Now, this is interesting; the building is quite well-maintained for an adventurer¡¯s guild. At least when compared to the ones in Drakas¡.¡± I trailed off, and once Franklin opened the door for me, I stepped inside.
7-13 Vampire and Demon
Stahlia 17 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
The inside of the guild was clean and tidy, though devoid of any people save for the singular receptionist.
¡°Franklin, please introduce me to the receptionist? These things tend to work easier with an introduction.¡±
Considering I have him here, I may as well have him handle that¡ I still need to figure out how to go about this¡ I mean, Franklin will discover that Stahlia is Stahlia von Drakas sooner or later. But¡ I¡¯m a bit reluctant to tell him that I¡¯m also George¡
It was incredibly clich¨¦, and Claire would probably lose her shit, but Franklin had been one of George¡¯s only friends. Something that made me reticent actually to tell him the truth.
And then that would also be akin to telling him that I¡¯ve gotten married as well¡ As clich¨¦ as it is, I¡¯m not going to tell him. I¡¯ll introduce Claire and let her tell him.
Doing things that way would absolve me of responsibility, hopefully making it an easier pill to swallow. Franklin didn¡¯t say anything, but he still approached the receptionist. Since I was the party to be introduced, I stepped out from behind my knights and adopted a neutral stance; not too haughty, but also a bit unapproachable.
She spoke first, and curiously, she seemed a bit irritated by his presence, ¡°Franklin, Ulna said you had already stepped by this morning, yet here you are¡ And this is?¡±
Frankly beautifully ignored her mannerisms, but from behind me, I felt the atmosphere grow a bit tense. Unless I did something, my knights wouldn¡¯t act, but the babysitters might have been under orders to make sure nobody mistreated me¡ Though this woman did have certain immunities while on duty, they did not extend to after she left work.
¡°Miss Betty, this is Lady Stahlia von Alriss; I happened upon her party by chance, and she requested I guide them to the guild hall. Lady Stahlia, this is Betty, a receptionist of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Zesten Branch.¡±
¡°I see¡¡± She seemed a bit uncertain now; it was likely that the realization that the rest of us were foreign nobles was clashing with whatever animosity Franklin had garnered for himself.
It would be good to interject here and take control of the conversation. There¡¯s no need for me to repeat the introduction, so be satisfied with a curtsy.
I smiled at her, ¡°Betty, was it? Is the guild master in? I would like to speak with him regarding the disappearances.¡±
When I curtsied, she had adopted a smile, but at the mention of the disappearances, that vanished, ¡°Franklin, we have told you and Taya numerous times; the guild is not-¡±
Yea, no.
¡°Aaron asked me to deal with it on my way through.¡± Whatever feelings of affability I had towards her had seemingly vanished. Instead, her ill-informed manner of disregarding me was simply irritating. At my sudden shift, the receptionist likewise changed; her eyes widened, and her face turned a bit pale.
Yea, that¡¯s right; you didn¡¯t know who you were dealing with. Now get out of my way.
¡°The Guildmaster¡¯s office is on the second floor; I will let him know you are on your way up.¡± She performed a professional business bow and then indicated an open staircase to the right of the counter.
I returned her bow with a fairly deep curtsy, such that it could be taken as slightly condescending, ¡°Thank you very much, and I will bring Franklin along with me as an involved party.¡± I looked back over my shoulder, ¡°Lord Alriss, please accompany me, and have the knights stand guard at the foot of the stairs and outside the door.¡±
As for the babysitters, I did not really care what they did. Lord Alriss quickly made the necessary arrangements, then waited by the foot of the stairs.
Ah, Franklin probably doesn¡¯t realize.
¡°After you, Franklin.¡± I fixed him with a deadpan stare; Lord Alriss would not let this nominal outsider walk up the stairs between us and would certainly not let him bring up the rear. It took him a moment, but Franklin soon realized the issue and bowed before practically dashing to the stairs. Fortunately, he slowed down once he arrived and began to climb them naturally.
¡That was an impressive degree of speed just then.
Lord Alriss hesitated for a brief moment, then began to climb the stairs after Franklin. For my part, I brought up the rear a moment later and heard the knights take up a post behind me. The second floor of the guild was surprisingly small. At least, the portion accessible from this staircase was; as far as I could tell, the building was split into two disconnected second floors. The one we were on was probably for the staff or official business only, while the other half was for more general use.
There were only three doors at the top of the stairs, each clearly labeled. There was the ¡®Staffroom,¡¯ ¡®Records,¡¯ and ¡®Office.¡¯ Franklin and Lord Alriss, the former appearing surprisingly nervous, were waiting for me at the third door. I gave Lord Alriss a nod, and he knocked on the door. It might have been more appropriate for Franklin to do that, as he was the lowest ranking. However, Lord Alriss¡¯s job was to protect me in this instance. Not that I had any suspicions the guild master would try and harm me.
¡°Come in.¡± A deep, rather refined voice came from inside the room.
When the door swung open without anyone touching it to reveal a man sitting behind a wooden desk. His appearance sent a chill down my back; he was withered and emaciated. His eyes were sunken and obscured by shadow, while his nose was flat against his head. Without being able to help it, I flinched backward.
¡°My lady?¡± Alriss questioned me.
Wait, can you not see that?
¡°Your majesty, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I trust that the odd kitten delivered my message?¡± His voice was now somewhat raspy to my ear, though with a few traces of the earlier dignity. And like his appearance, neither of my companions showed any indication that anything was awry.
¡And well, I guess the cat is out of the bag; he instantly recognized who I was.
¡°Lord Alriss, hold Franklin.¡± With that order given, I cut off the mana flow to my ring, thereby undoing my disguise; obviously, the guild master was aware of my identity. Given his own appearance, he was probably one of the higher monsters Aaron had mentioned, and it would therefore be rude to keep up my charade just because of Franklin, ¡°There. Please allow me to introduce myself; I am the Champion of Autumn, Queen Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris. This is Count Alriss, and the wide-eyed boy is Franklin; I suspect one of the other three.¡±
The guild master stood from behind his desk and bowed in a style I was not familiar with, ¡°Then, I shall return thy favor. I am Palde von Strauf, a Vampire Lord and the loyal servant of the thirteenth; a thousand years ago, I was also in the party of your namesake¡ Do I forget anything¡? Oh yes, for dinner last night, I had Miss Betty.¡±
He punctuated his last quip with a wink. Contrary to what one might assume, the revelation that he was a Vampire did not really scare me. After all, he was working for the adventurer¡¯s guild, which meant that Aaron trusted him. It also explained his appearance and why neither Franklin nor Lord Alriss noticed; he was most likely using a sort of illusion similar to mine. As for why I could see through it, there were many possibilities, but the most likely was my mana crystal and how it made me part monster myself. Or it could be my [Rulebreaker] Skill or something with my Authority. The only thing it certainly wasn¡¯t was my divine eyes since I wasn¡¯t using them at the moment.
I¡¯m¡ not sure why that last part is relevant. Maybe he¡¯s trying to tell me that he doesn¡¯t kill people? If he¡¯s working for Aaron directly, that much would already have been obvious, though¡ That aside, his name is Drakan. Though that house no longer exists¡ Or I don¡¯t remember it. Damnit! I should have found a way to bring Sasha.
¡°¡Then, I suppose that makes you something like my very, very distant Uncle. Please, call me by name.¡± His general demeanor was rather friendly, and if he was connected to one of the champions of the last war, then we did share a superficial connection. The Champion Ris, who had founded Ris village, and whose name was now held by my father. There was also our more direct connection, that is to say, our mana crystals.
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¡°Lady Stahlia, then. Forgive my insistence; I shan¡¯t think to drop all formalities from such a flimsy connection as that.¡±
To his credit, Franklin seemed to be taken everything rather well. Or it might be the weight of Lord Alriss''s hand gripping his shoulder holding him in check. At my nod, he was released and immediately dropped to his knees, ¡°Ah, Uhm, my apologies, your majesty¡ I-¡±
¡°Stop that. You are not at fault for not realizing my identity. There you have it, Lord Palde, two of the champions to help deal with your demon problem. I trust that us moving now will not be viewed as cheating? After all, they moved first.¡±
Franklin shut his mouth and swallowed dryly.
Ugh. Having him groveling like that¡ No, just no. Especially¡
Especially not when he was bound to learn about me being his old friend. At Palde¡¯s behest, everyone took a seat, though Lord Alriss elected to remain standing near the door.
Our host began, ¡°If that is true, then it is most excellent. That said, pray tell; how do you know this lad is one of the chosen heroes?¡± His question slapped me in the forehead like a bucket of ice water.
The only reason I thought that was that it made sense, given everything I knew. Adroni would most definitely find it amusing, and tying my old friend into the war provided even more insurance that I would be sure to take part in. It was only lucky, in my mind, that he would show up as a human and not as a member of the demon¡¯s side. Having my friends and family split like that¡ Doubt crept suddenly into my mind; he was a champion, right?
I could easily appraise him and learn the truth; even if the Champion skills had an effect hiding them from appraisal, my Authority could override and display them anyway.
¡But that¡¯s still only answering the question after the fact. I need a legitimate reason for why I know it already.
Then, someone¡¯s familiar voice chimed, ¡°Because I know who he is, and I told her.¡±
There was Felicity, sitting on the couch to my left. Against my instructions. As for how she had gotten here, that much was obvious; she had been hiding in my shadow. She fixed me with a rather contemptuous look, demonstrating that it was Claire in full control and not Felicity, ¡°After all, I recognize him from my own past life.¡±
You little!
Claire had been in my shadow the whole day. The fact that I had not realized she was in it was one thing. But the primary issue was something else; she knew I had not told Franklin about me being George and had just used a line that precluded that knowledge. She might have only done that due to the present company, but I didn¡¯t think that was the case. Especially not given her expression, and that being here was her blatantly calling my bluff.
¡We need to have another chat about all this. There¡¯s also the fact that she¡¯s currently controlling Felicity, and probably hasn¡¯t stopped since she started yesterday, but more importantly, she¡¯s gone right back to where the fucking demon tried to kidnap her! She might be safe if she¡¯s with me, but still! If she¡¯s going to do that, then she doesn¡¯t have any ground to stand on.
I was fuming, but the sudden appearance of the two-tails caused Lord Alriss to grab his sword, though he promptly released it upon realizing who the intruder was. Even still, he continued to watch her very closely and could not fully hide how unsettled he was. Franklin, on the other hand, nearly leaped out of his seat. Palde¡ Seemed to have already known she was here, which caused me to elevate my own level of wariness toward him.
A moment of tense inaction passed, during which Franklin recovered from his surprise, ¡°Who are you? ¡George?¡±
And he immediately assumes that Felicity is me!?
¡°Ha. No. I¡¯m Claire, sort of. How long has it been for you?¡±
So she really isn¡¯t going to tell him. Fine.
Franklin paused, inhaled deeply, pinched the bridge of his nose, and exhaled, ¡°About ten days. And, I am the Champion of Summer, supposedly.¡±
Claire nodded and flicked her tails, ¡°I thought so; it seems like some timey whimmy stuff might be involved. For me, it¡¯s been nearly ten years; I grew up in this body, more or less.¡±
¡Alright. Being angry gets me nothing and nowhere. I¡¯ll address all of this later.
Lord Alriss was right there, not to mention Lord Palde, so I first moved to shush Felicity before she started saying things that they shouldn¡¯t hear, ¡°We can handle the reunion later. For now, Palde, what can you tell us about this Eris?¡±
The Vampire fell silent, staring at Felicity¡¯s tails rather intently, ¡°¡Are you not yourself a champion? Your kind does not normally develop such abnormalities¡ No matter. Eris is one of Leviathan¡¯s closest companions and an Original Sin of Envy. Dealing with her is not the issue; finding her will pose the biggest challenge.¡±
Oh? I thought those tails resulted from her class and skill changes triggering a physical evolution, like with Stil; a Nekomata is a cat demon, after all.
Whatever he was alluding to about Felicity would have to wait. I wanted to question it, but dealing with Eris was a far bigger and more immediate issue. As it turned out, Eris was actually something of a pushover. Unlike Felicity, she could not copy skills. According to Palde, Eris represented a different flavor of Envy; her skill made her essentially invisible.
¡°You would notice her and be able to talk and interact, but the moment you take your eyes off her, all memories of her appearance, mannerisms, and even existence would be gone. That we can even have this conversation now is only due to our unique natures interfering with the effect of her skill. But that protection is not absolute.¡± Sitting back, he produced a glass filled with what I hoped was wine and sipped it slowly.
¡°So you see, Franklin, it is not that the guild has ignored the disappearances, nor is it that there are no witnesses or evidence. Rather, it is a fact that, to my knowledge, I was the only one capable of fathoming what was going on. Had I been aware of thine own nature as the fool, I would have approached you.¡±
There was a lull wherein we digested what we had just been told. From the sounds of it, Felicity probably remembered her own encounter by virtue of being a Demon of Envy herself. Franklin¡¯s champion status was partially shielding him, and any of my abilities could be serving to protect me. Lord Alriss, though, had no such protections.
¡°Lord Alriss, what have we been discussing the past half hour?¡± I asked him, earning myself a satisfied nod from Palde.
¡°The Demon of Envy, Eris. Rest assured, your majesty, I do recall what we have been told¡ Though perhaps I do not recall the entirety?¡±
¡°No, I believe that you do. Since you were told about her but did not meet her directly. A certain degree of separation. That said, thou shant be useful in hunting her down.¡± At Palde¡¯s assurance and retort, Alriss grimaced but did not argue the point.
So Franklin doesn¡¯t need anything to help him in this instance, or myself for that matter. But, by the sound of it, we¡¯re both going to remember her like Felicity and Claire could.
¡°¡The fool?¡± Franklin, it seemed, had a different item of focus as he spoke up for the first time since Claire revealed herself.
I was a bit curious about that as well¡
Palde fixed him with a long, hard stare, his eyes seeming to pierce through Franklin to his core, ¡°Yes, the fool; that is what you are. Your ladyship is well aware of the so-called ¡®cursed champion?¡¯¡± After receiving a short nod from me, he continued, ¡°Then, as someone who knows the truth, it should be no surprise that Winter is not the only one. Actually, one could argue that in their own way, all of you are ¡®cursed.¡¯¡±
Well, thanks for answering me, but I wasn¡¯t the one with the question¡ He¡¯s probably pushing me any of Franklin¡¯s future questions by implying that I have the same knowledge¡ asshole.
¡°Winter is cursed to become inhuman. Summer is typically cursed by its very nature, an otherworlder pulled into the cycle to act as a wild card. Their head filled with delusions and false promises. Ergo, they are the fool.¡±
Franklin, somewhat surprisingly, did not protest this assertion. Instead, he balled his fists and grimaced, ¡°Yea, that makes sense.¡±
After giving everyone a moment, I tentatively asked a question that had suddenly become extremely front and center in my mind, ¡°And what am I?¡±
What is Rosial?
Palde gave me a similarly intense stare as he had Franklin; near the door, Alriss shifted uncomfortably. Finally, he answered, ¡°The Champion of Autumn can never die. Wither, age, and rot away, but they are forever bound to life. Congratulations, like an undead, thou art immortal.¡±
That¡ That is not what I wanted to hear.
¡°Now, shall we discuss how to cast the net to catch an invisible fish?¡± Unlike Franklin, Palde did not give me even a moment to fully process before moving on. But while he spoke, he kept his eyes locked with my own. He knew I had lied about being the Champion of Autumn by way of Aaron. So he likewise probably knew about Rosial and was not going to give me a chance to stew in my newfound internal conflict.
¡°¡Yes, let us.¡±
And so, over the next half an hour, the beginning of a plan was made, the first stage of which would occur tomorrow when Stahlia von Drakas entered Zesten in the parade. Though doing so did not improve my mood. Still newly angered, I redonned my ring and exited the adventurer¡¯s guild with my entourage, plus Franklin and a disobedient kitten.
¡°Franklin¡ We plan on staying the night at an inn,¡± I shot a look at one of the babysitters, who promptly informed me of the name, ¡°¡Please fetch this Taya and whomever you were intending to meet, then join us there. I think that you and Claire would like to chat. ¡And there are some things that I need to tell you as well.¡±
¡°The Starling!? That place is-¡±
¡°Expensive, I am sure. Now, go, please.¡±
Cutting him off, I fell back into my own head. My thoughts were rather tumultuous, to say the least.
¡Taking away Rosial¡¯s champion skill would be the easiest way to fix that problem. ¡But I don¡¯t know the consequences, so I can¡¯t risk it; what if the gods strike her down or something? Not to mention how much it would hurt her. No, using my Authority like that isn¡¯t an option¡ Then, Claire. I need to apologize to her, especially now that she¡¯s called my bluff¡ But I don¡¯t want to give her any leverage over me¡ And Franklin¡ Where do I even begin with that one? He doesn¡¯t know about George. Claire definitely isn¡¯t going to tell him for me, meaning I¡¯ll have to do it myself.
¡°Yo!¡± I looked up at the sudden voice and saw a woman whose appearance was utterly average and unassuming in every way, ¡°My name¡¯s Eris. Mind if we talk for a bit?¡±
She grinned at me.
7-14 Declaration
¡°Yo!¡± The sudden voice caused me to look up, at which point I saw an utterly average young woman, ¡°My name¡¯s Eris.¡± She said, ¡°Mind if we talk for a bit?¡± She grinned.
¡°Yes, I do, in fact.¡± But, unfortunately, my retort fell on deaf ears as the woman launched into a spiel.
¡°See, I think we got off on the wrong- WOAH! What did I ever do to you!?¡±
Despite what she was saying, her dodge had been perfectly executed. I retracted my sword arm and flicked the blade back into the sleeve of my dress. Then, fixing her with a cold stare, I scanned the surroundings with my peripheral vision.
Nobody reacted to that, even though I attacked someone in broad daylight. And even my guards and babysitters seem to be none the wiser¡ Scary. That¡¯s a seriously frightening ability.
Palde had described how Eris could drop off people¡¯s perception and out of their minds, but seeing it in action¡ It was apparent why he was so wary of her. We could, in all likelihood, have a whole fight in the middle of all these people, and nobody would recognize what was going on. She put Drakas¡¯s Shadows to shame.
¡®Every demon embodies some aspect of their sin. For Envy, it¡¯s the envy of ability, appearance, or status. But Original Sins are special.¡¯
Eris didn¡¯t just ¡°envy¡± people¡¯s appearance; she envied their existence.
¡°What do you want to talk about? I have nothing to say to you.¡±
¡°See? It isn¡¯t that hard.¡± She groused, but all the while, she was maintaining distance from me, enough to react to just about any attack.
She could probably waltz up to the city¡¯s chairman and stab him. So, there¡¯s a reason why she hasn¡¯t. And then the disappearances¡ I can¡¯t really see a motive for that, to be honest.
¡°Say your piece, I have things to do, and I¡¯m still deciding whether or not to try and kill you again.¡±
¡°Oowah! Scary!~ Look, don¡¯t kid yourself, and I won¡¯t kid myself; I can¡¯t beat you, and you can¡¯t beat me without cheating.¡± Her flippant demeanor shifted, and she smiled grimly.
¡Right, so how much does she know?
¡°¡What do you want?¡±
I could do nothing more than hear her out because she was right. Even if she wasn¡¯t as openly strong as Sitri had been, she was still stronger than me and had several thousand years of experience. So the only way I could say with certainty of beating her would be to disconnect from the system and overwhelm her with the weight of my unburdened mana. And it was pretty apparent that she knew I could do something if not what that something was.
¡°Thanks. You have no idea how annoying you champion types can be. Come on; your pawns are getting restless; let¡¯s walk together a bit. The Starling, right?¡±
It wasn¡¯t surprising that she knew what inn we were using, and she was right about Lord Alriss and the others; they were all starting to fidget slightly.
¡They might not be ¡°aware¡± of her, but they are ¡°aware¡± of something. They know we¡¯ve stopped¡
¡°Lord Alriss, stop blinking.¡± Then, on a sudden hunch, I gave a nonsensical order.
¡°¡your maje- Ah. This is the demon, then?¡± His reaction confirmed my suspicion, and I was rewarded for it by Eris¡¯s smile morphing into a sour look.
So as long as he doesn¡¯t look away, he can remember her¡ Though I¡¯m not sure how effective ¡°not blinking¡± will be as a strategy.
¡°Yes. Go ahead and forget her; I do not believe she intends me any harm.¡±
He narrowed his eyes, and his hand drifted to his sword. Even as his eyes were starting to water a bit.
¡°Lord Alriss, that was an order.¡±
Reluctantly, he withdrew his hand and shut his eyes. Commanding him like this was a slight abuse of my authority, but he wouldn¡¯t remember the interaction. More importantly, it highlighted an important facet of how Eris¡¯s ability worked. I wasn¡¯t sure how the information would be helpful, but it definitely would be in time. With all of my retinue now blissfully ignorant of the knife at their throats, I began to move again.
Based on that, I can also assume that whatever skill she has extends to also include interactions in her presence? It¡¯s a bit unclear, though; talking about her back with Palde posed no issues, and my escorts were aware that I stopped just now. But, they didn¡¯t seem to follow along with the conversation or even to realize that I was talking¡ I¡¯m missing something.
¡°You won¡¯t figure it out¡ I would say, but that little experiment of yours threw me for a loop; defeating [Envy] by just not blinking¡ Levi-chan was right to be so scared of you.¡± Eris was nonchalant once again, her earlier demeanor having fallen back in place after the initial surprise.
¡°Sure,¡± I griped, ¡°Now, why are you here? I did not get along well with the last Sin I met.¡±
Eris wagged her finger at me, ¡°Original Sin, and, no shit; Sitri was a bitch. Most Succubi are.¡±
I wanted to tell her I didn¡¯t care about her title, but that would be needlessly antagonistic. Her opinion regarding Sitri was also a rather curious discovery, if not particularly useful, beyond giving me a vindictive sense of self-satisfaction.
Ha! Even your fellow demons didn¡¯t like you!
My feelings aside, if anyone could see us right now, Eris and I probably looked like a pair of rich friends out for a midday walk with their bodyguards. A realization that made me stop again for a brief moment before I quickly continued walking.
¡I can¡¯t let myself get caught up in the atmosphere.
If she did it intentionally, she was very good at manipulating people. That was also a distinct possibility; I knew a lot about demons, both what the Ris Village Priest had told me what felt like so long ago and also from my research. Joining the Royal Family had its perks, one of which was unlimited access to information. Though, neither of my sources were exhaustive. Hells, they weren¡¯t even extensive. So it was very likely that, no, I was missing pieces.
¡°¡Eris, can you please just get to the point? Why call out to me instead of stabbing me?¡±
She nodded once, and it might be my eyes playing tricks on me, but, at that moment, she genuinely looked a bit forlorn, or it could have been another ruse; I didn¡¯t know.
¡°Well, because I was told to; that¡¯s the short answer. Really; I was told to sound out the possibility of forging an alliance with you against the gods.¡±
Excuse you, but WHAT?
¡°Not happening. I might not like the gods, but¡.¡±
¡But I¡¯m not going to put my sister at risk!
I trailed off; her bombshell was so massive that it almost caused me to inadvertently betray information. Information about the fact that Rosial was technically in the service of the gods as one of those champions. Luckily, I caught myself just in time, and the last part was said only in my thoughts. As it turned out, though, that didn¡¯t matter.
¡°You¡¯re worried about your sister, Rosial, of course. We understand that, and we¡¯re willing to ignore that she exists as long as you manage the issue.¡±
All right, how? Count Francois didn¡¯t know; if he did, he probably would have locked her up and thrown away the key. Within Drakas, precisely three people know about Rosial¡¯s status. Me, Rupert, and Gustav. So, there can¡¯t be a spy. That means they were told by someone outside the kingdom¡ Probably Adroni or the demon¡¯s patron.
Stolen novel; please report.
I needed to stall for time while I calculated my next move. Therefore, a barrage of questions, ¡°Let¡¯s say I believe you; what then? Why me? Why now? And, what¡¯s the deal with the disappearances?¡±
And, even if I can¡¯t take her answers at face value, I should still be able to glean something.
Eris shrugged and began walking backwards down the street so she could face me. This led to the uncanny sight of people seemingly parting around her like water around a rock.
And I¡¯ve already learned something else; even if they don¡¯t remember her, people are acting like she¡¯s there. So her presence and influence are only erased from the conscious mind.
¡°Well, you killed an Original Sin, even if it was Sitri. Likewise, you killed one of the Hell Kings. Nobody, not a champion, not a demon, has done that alone before.¡±
¡°Wait, I did not kill Satan. I know that for a fact.¡±
Eris waved me off, ¡°The King of Wrath is dead; that much is a fact. Now, that answers the ¡®why you.¡¯ As for the ¡®why now¡¡¯ Simply put, you got on our radar in a big way¡ Satan had his schemes with Mephistopheles and Faust, but the others were ambivalent. Not so much anymore.¡±
From what I knew, she had name-dropped the seventh and eighth kings. Mephistopheles was the King of Pride, while Faust¡¯s sin was¡
That explains what Count Francois was getting at, why he was so confident that I would become the tenth Hell King.
Faust was the King of Prophecy.
And he¡¯s probably how they know about Rosial as well.
I affected a relatively dry tone, ¡°Then, you want me to succumb to hatred? Count Francois tried that; it didn¡¯t work.¡±
¡°No. While Fa-kun and Mephy-kun might want something like that, most of us, including the Ninth King, would prefer you to continue along your current path. Only that you, and Drakas, align with us instead of the gods.¡± As far as I could tell, she was uncommonly serious about that. At the very least, her demeanor and tone, if not her words, changed entirely as she insisted on the terms of the arrangement.
As it stands, there really aren¡¯t any downsides for me¡
The offer, as Eris described it, was enticing. On the one hand, I personally loathed the gods and goddesses. On the other hand, there was also little risk of Adroni protesting; as long as they were entertained, my patron was not likely to interfere.
The only downside is that Aaron would turn into my enemy. ¡Drakas the dragon might as well.
Two rather significant downsides considering that one of those was a literal god, and the other lived right above the capital. There was also the old adage, ¡°if something is too good to be true, then it isn¡¯t true.¡± While it was possible that most of the Hell Kings didn¡¯t intend me or mine any harm, that wasn¡¯t a guarantee.
¡°You still haven¡¯t answered my first or last question, and while I¡¯m at it, I¡¯ll add a fifth in honor of the apparently deceased; why are you using Japanese honorifics?¡±
¡®Levi-chan,¡¯ ¡®Mephy-kun,¡¯ and ¡®Fa-kun.¡¯ Yea, that¡¯s definitely something. And Sitri said some Japanese-sounding names right before she died as well, though I sort of just glossed over it at the time.
My jab at five was well received, earning a grin and a chuckle, ¡°Ha, I do appreciate that sense of humor. Fine; as for the first question, contact his majesty and convince him to side with the demons as he would have originally. Then, continue your current mission, but lead the three champions astray.¡±
¡°As for number three, the disappearances are an attempt to spread discord and terror, nothing more. Zesten is the border city with Drakas; a Drakan noble will be framed and apprehended once the war starts. But, of course, if you side with us, we won¡¯t take that action.¡±
When she trailed off, I prompted her to continue by reiterating the fifth question, ¡°And the Japanese?¡±
Odds are, I won¡¯t be taking this deal; there are too many unknowns versus sticking with my current plans. But it doesn¡¯t hurt to act like I¡¯m considering it. I can probably assume that the plan to spread discord is more or less the proper explanation; I can¡¯t think of any other reason that makes any sense. Though the part about framing a Drakan sounds contrived, she¡¯s probably just trying to make the deal look better, even if only marginally.
¡°¡The Japanese is a memory.¡± Eris¡¯s act dropped completely for the first time, and I was sure she was telling me the truth without holding anything back, ¡°Haaa¡ All right, Stahlia-sama, from one otherworlder to another. Please, help us kill the Gods.¡±
Eris bowed. Not a Drakan noble¡¯s bow, not a military bow, and not her head. She performed a perfect Japanese bow. At least as far as I knew.
¡°The demons of Envy are unique. See, we all remember our pasts. So that we can be envious of what we lost. All of the higher demons used to be otherworlders. Either transferees or reincarnations. We were, by and large, tricked into becoming what we are now. That is why we are fighting; we want revenge.¡±
She fixed me with a look that was both sad and, at the same time, pleading. If it was meant to make me feel for her, to want to take her side¡ Then she miscalculated. At least the part about making me want to take her side. Of course, it made me sad on her behalf; I wasn¡¯t a monster, metaphorically. But I was not in a position where I could afford to be bought with tears. There was also a new anger in me.
¡°¡And after failing to inflict me with the same fate, you have the gall to ask me to fight with you? Sure, the gods screwed with me as well, but I am quite happy despite it. I see no reason to join a crusade that would make enemies of them when my would-be allies won¡¯t do me the favor of coming to negotiate themselves.¡±
Eris¡¯s eyes flashed, banishing the tears. I still didn¡¯t think they had been crocodilian; instead, it was more likely that she had grown used to the pain after thousands of years and could put it away when she needed to. That made the fact that she had taken it out in front of me even more notable. In place of the tears, she now had a smile, and her words made me think it was genuine.
¡°Then, if Levi-chan talks to you herself, you might consider it? I¡¯ll pass that along. Oh, and apologize to the kitty for me!¡± Before I could move to stop her, Eris vanished. Not off my perception, but into the crowd. She was remarkably good at hiding in plain sight for someone who was used to not having to worry about people seeing her.
¡That wasn¡¯t what I meant. It isn¡¯t a matter of who approaches me; I¡¯m not going to side with the demons when the gods have carved their mark on Rosial¡¯s soul.
It was a rather obvious drawback now that it occurred, making me question why it hadn¡¯t before. Equally as obvious was the farce with Felicity; with one hand, they offered me an olive branch. With the other, they tried to steal my adopted sister. Many of my citizens were going to die in the war fighting against the demons. But how many would die if we were swarmed with monsters after the capital was razed in dragonfire? Both personally and professionally, a change of alliance was entirely off the table.
Not that it¡¯s likely to do any good, but once Franklin brings that woman and the mysterious third party, I¡¯m going to change inns¡ Actually,
I turned abruptly, stepping off the main road and onto a deserted side street. The babysitters were caught off guard and were slow to react.
¡°Plan C.¡±
At my spoken command, my knights immediately moved in and subdued them.
¡°Your majesty?¡± Lord Alriss queried, no doubt wondering why I had suddenly chosen the aggressive approach when, up until now, the host country had shown us nothing but goodwill.
¡°You don¡¯t remember her, but I just had a long conversation with a certain demon.¡± His eyes widened, ¡°It is my belief that she has infiltrated the military personnel of this city; hold them still.¡±
The knights holding the babysitters straightened themselves and presented the two before me. Divine Mana flowed into my eyes, and the world turned bright with the light of life. Except for two spots on the men, where their mana was slow and sluggish.
There they are.
In retrospect, it made sense. When Claire described how Emmanuel had been somewhat deferential to his own guard, I thought it was a case of the prince hiding as a servant while the servant played the lord. But Eris¡¯s appearance had changed my outlook; it was far too well-timed, and she knew quite a bit more than she should.
Well, there¡¯s admittedly a certain degree of paranoia on my part as well¡
¡°Claire, you can come out now.¡± I wanted her visible for this next part, and once she tentatively climbed out of my shadow, I addressed the captured spies, ¡°Now then, ¡®Levi-chan,¡¯ I¡¯m sure you are watching this right now. Do you see this beastkin? You tried to kidnap her. Maybe you knew she was my sister, maybe not. But that doesn¡¯t change the fact that you offended me personally. I will never side with you.¡±
Following that, I stabbed them both in two unceremonious quick motions.
¡°You, go ahead to the original inn, wait for Franklin, and then bring him to the camp. Bring him somewhere safe and lay low if there isn¡¯t enough time before dusk.¡± One of my knights saluted, ¡°The two of you, bring these to the Chair of the city and show him the worms; they are attached to the spine near their hearts.¡± Two more of my knights saluted as they received their orders, ¡°Lord Alriss, I have just declared a personal vendetta against a Queen of Hell, and she is seemingly in league with this city. Order the men to advance and surround the walls; I will deal with the winds. If Lord Zesten wishes to remain neutral in the war, he cannot harbor demons.¡±
Though likely, he¡¯s not doing it willingly, I can¡¯t ignore this either. A show of force and power will make getting them to agree to an inspection easier. The sight of a thousand knights and soldiers surrounding a city thought unassailable, as my Anti-Army Magic seals the oh-so-deadly winds should prove enough of a threat. If not, my shadow appearing beside the Chair will do the trick.
¡°Lastly, the men are not permitted to draw their weapons, nor may they cast any magic. These two will be the only casualties. Is that clear?¡±
I received a round of salutes, and the men departed. Claire was watching me with her ears flat, ¡°It isn¡¯t lost on me that half of that was for me. But do you think declaring war was the right way to handle this?¡±
Of course, she wouldn¡¯t accept that, but then again, she was wrong; I wasn¡¯t doing this for her in the first place, ¡°It won¡¯t turn into a war. I¡¯ll give Zesten whatever concessions they want after the fact, but I¡¯m not backing down until I¡¯ve confirmed the soldiers and leadership are free of the worms.¡±
7-15 Revelation
Ordering my men to advance and surround the city was one thing; them going through with that was another entirely. In short, it would be suicidal to have them set out now; preparations needed to be made before departing what was initially meant to be a more permanent camp. It was also late in the day, meaning that the night winds were soon to pick up in earnest. Without me present, it was decidedly unlikely they would be able to march.
Therefore, the earliest we could carry out the encirclement was tomorrow, and it would be late morning before we came to the city. Such a course would also necessitate the men to go all night breaking camp and preparing to move out, leaving them exhausted by the end of the forced march. Another suicidally stupid idea. As an alternative, Lord Alriss advised me to delay the departure by two days; the men would break down the camp on the first day and prepare to advance. That night, we would have only the minimum necessities and would finally move on the morning of the second day after my declaration to Leviathan.
That meant I had made a significant error, a massive blunder, in killing the two babysitters. That action would allow Zesten to prepare a response, predict our moves, and muster their defenses. Granted, they probably couldn¡¯t envision my host would march up to the very gates of the city; the aforementioned winds had historically made such action nigh impossible. There simply hadn¡¯t been a spell capable of protecting a large-scale force from the hostile environment until now.
It also paints me as somewhat emotionally driven, that I would act without first considering the long-term ramifications¡
¡°You look troubled, my lady,¡± Jacqueline stated in a low voice from behind me. For the first time in a very long while, she was attending me in place of Sasha. It had been at the former¡¯s insistence, with her citing that ¡°We are now in a state of war, so our lady should project two shadows.¡±
¡°I am. Sasha would disagree, but I believe I made an error.¡±
She tilted her head, ¡°Perhaps, though I disagree. Politics is not my strongest area, but may I speak freely?¡±
It couldn¡¯t hurt to hear her out, especially since nobody else was present. Unless Claire was in my shadow again, though she was probably with Franklin. I gave her permission.
¡°You are concerned about the fallout from killing those two, but is it really a problem? From what I have gathered, you were alone at the time, with only yourself, a handful of knights, and Lord Alriss. Could you not simply state that the two attacked you? Claim that the parasites controlled them.¡±
She was correct, in theory, but that presented another issue; it reeked of a flimsy attempt at manufacturing casus belli. Any scrutiny would determine that this was a he-said-she-said at the state level, with only the she-said half; the he-said was dead, after all.
The choice I have to make now is between my short-term personal reputation and the reputation of Drakas, which also reflects on me.
In a democracy or republic, the choice is simple; the politician should put the country before themselves. The fact that Drakas was a monarchy muddied the waters. To an extent, my own reputation was the reputation of the country. In the long term, either option would end up placing all of the blame on the demons, so in effect, it was really a matter of minimizing the short-term problems¡
Alright, I¡¯ll use the American method.
Zesten didn¡¯t have any weapons of mass destruction I knew of, but I would go the route of claiming the two had tried to kill me. In the end, my country was bigger, and on the international stage, that mattered most. Might might not make right, but it did make things easier.
¡°Thank you, Jacqueline. I had already considered that but was undecided on whether or not to go through with it. Now, I need to determine precisely what the two knights said about the bodies so that I can work on framing it in a way that works¡.¡± I trailed off, already coming up with various possible scenarios and wordings.
¡°I will assume that my permission has not yet expired. My lady, Lord Alriss can do that; you should attend to Miss Claire and Sir Franklin without delaying much longer¡ I know that you have things that must be discussed.¡±
Her words froze me. I had been putting that off, but it hadn¡¯t occurred to me to leave Zesten to Lord Alriss.
¡Am I delaying that subconsciously¡?
It was true that I was trepidatious about telling Franklin who I used to be, but that was, in a sense, also my duty. This mission was a crusade to locate and recruit the other Champions first and a diplomatic envoy second. Rupert had been very explicit in that instruction, even going so far as to give me carte blanche to act if I felt an action would further that goal.
¡°All right. You are correct. As much as I am anxious over it¡ Please, send for them. And, instruct Lord Alriss on my behalf.¡±
Franklin and that woman (apparently named Taya) arrived at the camp an hour and a half after Lord Alriss and myself. According to reports, a man had been with them when they arrived at the inn. But he had declined to come to the camp, and, as the escort knight was under orders to avoid creating a scene, he did not press the issue. That was fine, as the fewer outsiders were involved, the better.
Speaking of outsiders, Taya can stay for the first part, but I¡¯ll need her to leave before I start discussing my past life.
There came a knock on my carriage door, and Jacqueline opened it to admit Franklin, Claire, and Taya. Sasha was bringing up the rear; with the number of people now here, she probably intended to help Jacqueline.
¡That¡¯s fine. All things considered, I should probably tell Sasha as well at this point, and doing this only once is better for my mental health.
Lord Alriss was also here, along with two knights; their intention was to guard me now that two outsiders were present.
¡°Lord Alriss, as awkward as this will be for you, I cannot permit you to guard me. Please, begin working on our justification.¡±
¡°Your majesty, it is my duty-¡± His voice betrayed his anxiousness, a very rare slip of the mask for a member of Drakan Nobility.
I cut him off; as much as I appreciated the commitment, apparently even higher than I initially perceived, this was one thing I could not budge on.
¡°Lord Alriss, I do not wish to invoke the voice of the king; Sir Franklin is one of the Champions, and Miss Taya is a member of a Champions party. You are well aware of my own abilities and capability to defend myself. Not to mention my shadows. Please, do not force my hand.¡±
At the mention of ¡®my shadows,¡¯ Lord Alriss briefly flicked his eyes to look at Jacqueline. After all, she was a new addition to my staff as far as he was concerned. And, as a member of Drakan High Nobility, he certainly knew the rumors even if he didn¡¯t have definitive knowledge. On the other hand, Taya looked at Claire with an openly mortified expression.
Ok, that¡¯s going to need to be cleared up asap.
¡°Very well, your majesty. But, please permit these to stand vigil from the outside.¡± His tone had become stiffer, meaning he wasn¡¯t happy, but would abide. The fact that even after being ordered, he had still persisted. Then, after being told no, he still continued. Even now, he was still pushing for a compromise¡ Combined, it demonstrated his commitment and made me regret having a few reservations.
Even if he knew the whole truth about the deception of the miracle, he would remain loyal.
¡°I will permit it; thank you for your understanding.¡± At this point, any further denial on my part would only serve to make me feel and look even worse.
This meant that our party inside the carriage consisted of six people. Granted, Claire was tiny, and Jacqueline was standing together with Sasha. So of those seated, there were only three. Add to that the size of this monstrous carriage, and it made things feel distant. Or perhaps that was because of how Taya and Franklin were acting; they were both apprehensive and quiet.
Of course they are; it isn¡¯t every day that you get escorted by a knight to the camp of a foreign military to meet their queen. I also left them hanging for quite a while too, and there¡¯s the fact that the men are clearly breaking camp¡ Yea, ok, this was another blunder.
To start with, I bowed my head toward Claire. This action produced predictable results from everyone else, with Sasha failing to completely hide her disapproval, Jacqueline nodding in open approval, and the Taya Franklin duo expressing shock and surprise. Claire herself seemed mildly surprised; the swishing of her tail slowed, and her ears couldn¡¯t seem to decide if they wanted to stand straight up or go flat.
¡°I am sorry for how I spoke toward you the past few days. Especially the threat to remove Felicity¡¯s [Envy] skill. I would never ever inflict such pain on a friend, much less my sister in all that blood. The fact that I attempted to use it as a threat to control you was completely inappropriate.¡±
Once more, the reactions of everyone followed along predictable lines and were much the same as they had been previously. However, that was likely to change with what I would say next.
¡°We cannot afford strife between us, not only because of the stake in the coming war but also because of the position that would force Franklin into.¡±
Claire was still trying to figure out how she felt about all of this. Meanwhile, Franklin had a more immediate reaction to everything.
¡°Me¡? Why would I-¡±
¡°Exactly,¡± The Taya woman cut him off, ¡°What has Franklin got to do with your relationship with that¡.¡± She glanced at Felicity¡¯s tails, ¡°...Odd beastkin child?¡±
Ah, you know what? I¡¯ve only realized she¡¯s been avoiding looking at Felicity this time; I thought it was because of the misunderstanding about my shadow, but it''s way more likely to just be the tails.
Still, she needed to be addressed. I fixed her with an icy, practiced stare, ¡°Miss Taya, while you may not be one of my subjects, I am the monarch of this continent¡¯s greatest power. Your relationship with Franklin grants you certain liberties, but consider your tone when my people are present. That is to say, whenever you are in my presence.¡±
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
At the last moment, I realized she might not have picked up on the subtext of ¡°whenever my people are present.¡± As the Queen, there would not be a meeting between me and her where at least one of my maids was not in attendance. Usually, there would be a lot more people than that. As such, I opted to forgo the riddles and tell her plainly; don¡¯t speak out of turn. She didn¡¯t seem that happy about the sudden turn of events, but neither did she protest. Franklin, likewise, appeared dissatisfied, but he also did not oppose my words.
Alright, now, let¡¯s break the ice and lighten the mood before I tell him the truth.
¡°Now, Franklin, I have already stated my thought that you are one of the champions, and you have yourself confirmed it. Therefore, I would like to appraise you if you are willing?¡±
His eyes widened, ¡°...You would do that? The guild told me that the tools required were scarce, and mages who knew the proper spells even rarer¡ So I figured it was something like diamonds back on Earth, sorry, back where I come from; a very common gem, but the people providing it restrict the supply to inflate the price.¡±
The comparison seemed apt and was in line with what I had expected to hear. It was interesting, though, considering that Ris, a small village, had an appraisal tool in its church. Almost every settlement in Drakas was furnished with at least one.
Though that¡¯s probably something arranged by Count Francois as a way to find recruits, and for whatever other purpose, like how Frieda can see mana.
I don¡¯t know how it is outside of my own country, but the ability isn¡¯t quite that rare. Besides, I am the Queen... Why wouldn¡¯t I have a few diamonds? Here, lend me your hand.¡±
It was better to get one of the two appraisal mages in the company to do this, but Franklin was a champion and would thus be working closely with me. Taya as well for the latter by connection to the former. So, they would learn about this before long, and I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t curious.
Plus, this way, I can override the appraisal block of his champion skill.
Franklin glanced at Taya, who shrugged, ¡°If her highness claims to be able to do it herself, I don¡¯t doubt her. You should feel honored that someone so important is going out of her way.¡± Behind her, even Jacqueline, who was far more understanding than Sasha, twitched. But she held her tongue and was actually grinning faintly. After all, she knew that my method of appraisal was rather unique.
Following Taya¡¯s affirmation, Franklin held out his hand. I was already wearing the mana drain wedding ring, so there was nothing else to do but to do it. So, daintily, I took his hand and began to pour mana into it.
Good. I was a bit worried that touching his hand would trigger something, but it seems that won¡¯t be an issue.
While my previous trauma was now largely behind me, a few things still caused it to flare up in my face. One such was more intimate contact with a member of the opposite sex, stuff like hand holding, which this was. My mana flowed through his hand and then around his body before returning to me, information about his status coming with it.
Name: Franklin
Age: 22
Species: Human(Pureblood)
Class/Level: Knifefighter 20 | Swordsman 10 | [----] 1 Experience: 1378/68000
Social Strata: Commoner
Ability Values:
Talents [Page 1 of 8]: Knife Fighting V, Sword Fighting V, Bladed Weapons Master I, Heroic Presence I, Charming III, Rapid Recovery II, Devil¡¯s Luck V, Goddess¡¯ Favor V, Giant Strength I,
Skills: Overturn, Resolve, Final Stand
Mhm, everything looks normal¡ Except for that hidden class and his missing champion skill.
I paused for a moment to check on people¡¯s reactions; the theatrics were mostly for my own entertainment, which meant that how people reacted was important to me. Franklin was disappointingly unfazed, but that was to be expected; he didn¡¯t know how appraisal was usually done. Claire was waiting patiently, though based on her ears, she was eager to hear the results. Sasha and Jacqueline¡ Taya was looking on.
Catching my eye, she eventually gave in to the silent pressure, ¡°Is your highness going to start? Any halfway decent chant will take a minute or so.¡±
I grinned, ¡°Franklin, you¡¯re level 31. Your highest stat is Endurance, of which you have 240 points. Your Charisma has a compelling improvement value of SS; it should outpace endurance within a dozen levels, give or take. As for skills and talents, most of what you have is fairly predictable¡ except for two, both of which improve your odds regarding entropic effects¡ Basically, you¡¯re very lucky.¡±
¡I¡¯ll privately tell him later that those two are called [Devil¡¯s Luck] and [Goddess Favor]... And that he has both of them at level five.
Worrisome talent namings aside, the look on Taya¡¯s face was naked disbelief, shock, and incredulity. I found it deeply satisfying.
This is a lot better than just having her thrown out for disrespect. And I haven¡¯t even come to the best part yet.
¡°That said, there are a couple things that I can¡¯t see¡ yet. Invoke Authority; override appraisal.¡±
As my intentions fueled my words, mana was imbued into my voice, and the air seemed to shudder. The familiar feed of computer-like output flowed into my head as the system checked my permission level. Then, Franklin¡¯s appraisal results seemed to glitch before quickly correcting themselves in my head. The previously obfuscated class was a cliche ¡°Hero,¡± and the skill [Champion of Summer] had been added to the list.
Well, here¡¯s hoping that doesn¡¯t come back to bite me in the ass.
Invoking my authority with so many witnesses was possibly a considerable risk. However, of those present, only Jacqueline and Claire had any ideas about the full scope of what they had seen. Franklin didn¡¯t know this world, and Taya would likely just assume it was an ability hidden by Drakan royalty or something. There was no way she could conceivably make the leap to realize that I had just used the same power wielded by this world¡¯s gods.
Besides, even if information about this did get out, it still worked in my favor. The demons knew I could do something, just not what; Eris had claimed I cheated, and there was the whole thing with Count Francois escaping. If they learned I held an authority, it would make them far warier, which could only work out in my favor.
Hero¡ ¡°A class granted to those who cross the boundary between worlds to answer the call of the gods¡.¡± Well, that¡¯s a load of bullshit. Looks like it boosted all of his stats by one letter grade and Charisma by one additional.
His Champion skill was very similar to my previous [Champion of Winter]; it gave him three things: the ability to utilize divine mana, the effects of a skill, and immunity to a single element. In his case, the skill was [Limit Break], and the immunity was to Fire. The former was rather self-explanatory, while the latter was complete bullshit.
Fire!? I mean, yea, my Ice Immunity was useful, but FIRE!? How common is ice¡?
My eyes must have been bugging out of my skull because Franklin drew back slightly, enough to break our connection. As the results vanished, I blinked to clear my vision and recompose myself.
¡°Ah¡ My apologies; you are indeed the Champion of Summer; I can also tell you exactly what your abilities are, but later. For now, I have¡ something else to divulge, that is, well¡.¡±
And now a cat¡¯s got my tongue.
I shot Claire a glare, but she merely flicked her tail as though to say, ¡°Go and get it over with already.¡±
Right, but, Taya is still here¡ Damnit, this is really throwing me off. Alright, focus.
¡°Before all that, Taya, will you please excuse us? This matter concerns only the three of us¡.¡± To drive the point home and to signal to Franklin what ¡°this matter¡± was, I flicked my eyes meaningfully toward Claire.
His own expression turned mildly grim, and he nodded slowly, ¡°Taya, please do what she says¡ While I might have told you some things, and you were there when the professor reintroduced herself¡ Well, there are some aspects of my life that¡¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. I can take a hint, you know.¡± Following her brusque interruption, Taya stood and moved stiffly to the door, ¡°Just, don¡¯t let her sell you on anything; I found you first.¡±
Wow, ok. No.
From how she moved and, in retrospect, had been acting, it was abundantly clear that she seemed to have the hots for him. And for whatever reason, now viewed me as a rival. I mean, I was pretty, but there was no way¡ Hells, I was already married. Franklin was my previous life¡¯s best friend¡ Even considering that now¡ Suddenly, I was a lot more concerned about telling him the truth.
Yea, I need to get this over with ASAP, before he gets the wrong ideas.
The moment she was out and the door was shut, I cast a silence spell and addressed Franklin, ¡°I am aware that you and Claire both met your end searching for someone, and you presumably still want to find them...Well, there isn¡¯t really any easy way to say this. Franklin, it¡¯s me; I¡¯m George.¡±
There was dead silence in the carriage. Jacqueline nodded, Sasha looked as though a great mystery had finally been solved, and Claire looked on. Franklin took nearly a full minute before slowly beginning to put the pieces together. The gears beginning to turn. Then, he burst out into a crazed laugh. It was¡ not the reaction I had been expecting.
¡°...Ha¡. Haaha¡. HAAHAA! Really? YOU¡¯RE George?¡± He looked at Claire, ¡°Proffessor, this isn¡¯t some sick joke, right?¡±
¡After accepting that your teacher is a catgirl, your friend being a girlgirl shouldn¡¯t be so hard.
¡°Are you done?¡± My tone was a bit biting despite everything, ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t laugh; I might have changed teams, but I am a Queen now. I¡¯ve done the best I could with what I had.¡±
Considering I literally designed myself, that isn¡¯t saying much, but I don¡¯t need to bring that up here.
Claire spoke up in support of my claims as well. Thankfully, as I had been somewhat concerned she would continue giving me the silent treatment.
¡°Haahaahaa¡¡± His laughter abated slowly, as the realization that we were not simply messing with him dawned.
¡°You know, maybe I shouldn¡¯t be surprised; there was a character creator, after all. Just because I skipped it doesn¡¯t mean you did...¡± Taking a moment, he stared at me rather intensely, to the point that it was a bit uncomfortable. Finally, he nodded as though satisfied, ¡°Yea, looking at you now, you really match your tastes.¡±
¡°Excuse me? I what?¡±
To my annoyed interjection, Franklin shrugged, ¡°No use trying to hide it, especially not after going out of your way to tell me that. Sorry for laughing...¡±
¡°Nonono, you do not get to dodge this question. What do you mean, ¡®my tastes?¡¯¡±
Franklin adopted an amicable expression that I was all too familiar with, ¡°I mean you look pretty damn cute. Gorgeous, even. Perhaps even approaching the beauty of a first-rate model, an actress fit for the biggest of silver screens¡.¡±
I forcibly released the tension from my shoulders; he was fucking with me now, and it was best to simply ignore it, lest it become an irksome (for me) habit. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s alright. That¡¯s alright. I would say it¡¯s good to see you, but the fact that you¡¯re here means you died¡ According to Claire, you two died trying to figure out what happened to me, so¡ sorry.¡±
Franklin pocked at his as-of-yet undrunk tea, ¡°Yea, well, when you put it like that¡ Well, no matter. Dead or not, I still plan on returning¡ Though, seeing Claire and you¡ I¡¯m assuming that you guys don¡¯t share those intentions?¡±
Claire answered in my stead, speaking up for the first time this meeting, ¡°...Could you have said a more cliche line? ¡®Let¡¯s find a way home guys! together!¡¯ ¡Besides, Stali Nee-chan has her kingdom and loving husband to think of, and well, I could never do that to Felicity.¡±
I stared at her, mortified. She winked at me, then ducked into my shadow.
You¡!
It was too late, though, as Franklin turned his head back toward me with an audible creak, ¡°¡®Stali Nee-chan?¡¯ Your loving what?¡±
Claire, it would seem, had seen an opportunity to enact her righteous vengeance for my recent transgressions and seized it gleefully.
Just kill me.
7-16 Friendly Banter
¡°...My husband, yes, I have one of those. And, thanks to Professor Claire, Felicity, the catgirl¡¯s name, calls me in Japanese. And she is essentially my adopted little sister at this point. Though, sometimes it feels more like I¡¯m her mom.¡±
There was no sense in dragging this out; I may as well just get everything out of the way now. Franklin stared at me bug-eyed before seeming to remember that we weren¡¯t alone in the room; Sasha and Jacqueline were still with us. Nominally Claire as well, but if she knew what was good for her, she would continue hiding in my shadow until a bit of time had passed.
I should find a way to force her out¡ I¡¯ll add it to my to-do list.
To make things a bit less awkward for him, I gave them each an instruction.
¡°Sasha, Jacqueline, I will not ask you to leave. But, for just this once, please sit. Franklin has not had ten years to get used to the cultural differences like I have.¡±
Jacqueline complied almost immediately, though Sasha was more hesitant. Even still, she eventually gave in and took a seat as far away from me as possible while trying her best to take up as little space as possible. In a word, she was sitting on the edge of her seat and very clearly uncomfortable.
¡°If it bothers you that much, then please forget I said anything.¡± There was nothing for it if she couldn¡¯t bring herself to sit; I wasn¡¯t about to force her just to make Franklin more comfortable. He would just have to deal with it.
¡°No, my lady, I understand what you mean to do. It is simply discomforting; I will manage.¡±
Well, this backfired horribly.
What had started as a genuine effort on my part immediately crashed and burned up in my face. Now, instead of looking like I was trying to be kind and thoughtful, I looked like I was somewhat sadistically manipulating my staff¡ Best to hurriedly change the subject.
¡°Well, Franklin, we don¡¯t have long, but we do have time. I will try and answer what questions I can, but once we leave this room, I cannot allow you to call me George or even be particularly friendly toward me¡ Things would get complicated.¡±
He nodded once and put on a solemn air, ¡°Questions over the line of succession?¡±
That took me a moment to realize what he was implying, and when I did, I turned tomato red, ¡°Yes, among other things, that might come up¡. None of the soldiers and knights with me would even consider the possibility. Rupert and I have a rather pristine public image, after all.¡±
My old friend balled his hand into a fist and struck his open palm, ¡°I see, so his name is Rupert¡ And what is this Rupert like?¡±
¡So it¡¯s going to be like that¡ Great. No, just perfect.
Still, I had said I would answer any questions he asked the best I could; if he meant to use that in a vain effort to unsettle me, so be it. All I had to do was not give in and behave normally in the face of whatever taunts he cooked up.
To that end¡
I nodded and equipped the most serious face I could manifest, ¡°Yes, His Majesty Rupert von Drakas. For the record, my own full name and title is ¡®Her Majesty Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, Rulebreaker and Princess of the Silver Dragon.¡¯¡±
I could swear that I heard a snicker from my shadow, but I beautifully and skillfully ignored it by taking a dainty sip of my tea.
¡°Ris, not ¡®Alriss?¡¯¡± Franklin¡¯s next question was more serious, and he did an outstanding job hiding his thoughts on my proclamation.
¡°Yes, Ris instead of Alriss, though Lord Alriss is that man¡¯s name; I borrowed it for my infiltration¡ My real father is a Baron and is currently overseeing his demesne.¡±
The expected reply was for Franklin to ask how a Baron¡¯s daughter wound up the queen of a country, and I planned to give him the abridged version of events while downplaying the amount of luck involved and instead emphasizing my political maneuverings. He did not ask that question. Instead, he made an observation. One that I had not even remotely considered.
¡°I see¡ The way you say that¡ ¡®my father¡¡¯ Do you remember your old parents at all? They called about you, you know. Right after it happened.¡±
Not just Franklin, but I could see Sasha and Jacqueline had both perked up at that and were waiting to hear my answer. The former had only just found out that I was from another world and was taking things rather well, all considered. Jacqueline, on the other hand, had already known about that. Though she had just discovered that I was originally a guy, so she was also taking things rather well.
Sasha is handling everything remarkably well, actually. Actually, I¡¯ll deflect this with that.
¡°...No¡. I have not thought much about them. Even right after being reborn, I very quickly adapted to most things. This,¡± I cupped my chest to emphasize my gender, ¡°Took some getting used to, but at this point, I don¡¯t think about the past much at all, other than where Claire is concerned. But, Sasha, are you sure you¡¯re alright? This is a rather heavy subject¡.¡±
Sasha glanced at Jacqueline and raised an eyebrow; no doubt that she noticed the subtext of me not asking if Jacqueline was alright meant that Jacqueline was already privy to the information, ¡°No, I am not. But like my lady says, this is a weighty subject; it will take time for me to figure out how I feel. Rest assured, though, that I am a professional; my feelings will not disrupt my duties.¡±
That really isn¡¯t what I¡¯m concerned about, but getting a better answer out of her will be an exercise in futility.
¡°...That said, it does make some things clear if my lady wishes to know them.¡± Sasha was not done and asked after a moment¡¯s hesitation.
As this would further distance the conversation from my previous life¡¯s family, I nodded. Sasha began to enumerate, ¡°Well, I had always assumed your odd behaviors were a product of your family¡¯s recent ascendancy. But both of your parents were once high nobles, so, while sufficient, that explanation did not quite make sense. Now that I know you were brought here by the gods, such discrepancies are more explainable. To say nothing of your once being a man explains numerous matters as well.¡±
Her perspective and current thoughts were very clinical, but perhaps that was to be expected of someone who had been in her position for so long. Franklin had pursed his lips when I thanked Sasha and returned my attention to him.
He¡¯s not going to let the subject lie. Damn.
Before he could bring it back up, I decided to just be straight about it, ¡°Franklin, I once told Claire that George was dead; I am not that person anymore. Unlike you, I grew up in this world. Even if I did still remember George¡¯s parent¡¯s faces, I do not consider them my parents.¡± Softly, I added, ¡°I also know that for you, it has been at most a month. For me, it has been over twelve years.¡±
So, please don¡¯t keep bringing it up.
I didn¡¯t mind if he wanted to talk about our past, but I didn¡¯t want to think about my own. It was a fact that my relationship with my original parents had been rocky at best. Hell, all of my relationships had been a bit iffy, except with Franklin. I was in a better place now, and with no intentions of returning, I had no desire to revisit the past.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
¡°Fine, I won¡¯t bring it up again; just thought you would want to know, is all. Then, what exactly is going on with the professor?¡± He was tactful enough not to press the issue at least.
I seized the offered alternate subject, ¡°With Claire and Felicity, you mean? I am not sure of the specifics, but as far as I can tell, they have two souls sharing what was originally Felicity¡¯s body¡ A prank of sorts from a certain deity. And before you ask, no, I cannot think of a way to separate them. ¡Also, Claire isn¡¯t usually so vocal; she generally lets Felicity live her own life. There are extenuating circumstances with the current situation that caused her to take more direct control.¡±
¡°Meaning me?¡± He sounded a bit upset, which, considering the implication that he was responsible for a little girl being in a coma, was probably understandable, ¡°I mean, I¡¯m grateful for the chance to talk with the Professor, but if it means that¡¡±
I cut him off hurriedly; it wouldn¡¯t be good for him to go down that line of thought all the way to its conclusion, ¡°No, not you. The demon in the city, a certain Eris, she¡¯s a demon of Envy, the same as Felicity. It is a thought shared by both Claire and myself that we should avoid Felicity coming into contact with her.¡±
¡°Felicity is a demon¡?¡± He raised an eyebrow, and only then did it hit me; Franklin knew nothing.
Of course, he wouldn¡¯t know anything about stuff like that; he hasn¡¯t had any chances to learn. I had all my teachers, but I grew up. Damnit, of all the things to overlook¡
¡°Right, sorry. She¡¯s not exactly a demon; she¡¯s a Nekomatta. Her class is ¡°Demon Aspirant,¡± though, and she has the [Envy] Skill, which is demonic in origin. Eris is an actual Demon of the Envy family. I¡¯ll see that you are given a thorough background on all of this but, for now, the basics: Demons are split into nine families. Sloth, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath, Greed, Pride, and Prophecy. The ninth one is not really known according to history; they¡¯ve never been active in any of the wars before now, and we only know they exist because of the demon lords¡¯ titles as ¡°The Nine Hell Kings¡ Though if the obvious comparison goes all the way, I suspect that the ninth species will be something with betrayal or treason. Also, there¡¯s technically ten of them now, as I recently learned one of the kings evolved; from wrath to hatred.¡±
I paused to take a breath, and Franklin gave me an incredulous look, ¡°If I hadn¡¯t met a goddess face to face, I wouldn¡¯t believe any of that, you know.¡±
¡°Why, thank you.¡± I winked at him. I couldn¡¯t help myself. This earned me a disapproving look from Sasha, which was ignored. It wasn¡¯t really flirting if I didn¡¯t intend it that way, and if Franklin took it that way, I would stop. Really, I just wanted to poke him a bit.
He grimaced and shook his head emphatically in denial, ¡°No, not you. A literal goddess.¡±
And he took me completely seriously. What the hell?
¡°...I know you didn¡¯t mean me, sorry. I just wanted to try that line once with someone who would get the joke; sorry. But, you met one of them face to face? Did you get her name? Or her appearance?¡± Considering he was the Champion of Summer, it was Bellyes, the only goddess in the Summer Faction, but it didn¡¯t hurt anything to double-check with him first.
¡°She was gorgeous, blonde, wearing a dress that emphasized her figure¡ Really, I don¡¯t think I can see women the same way again after seeing her¡¡±
¡Well, I suppose I can¡¯t rule out her changing her appearance, but that¡¯s not Bellyes. Good thing I checked and didn¡¯t just assume¡
Based on his description, it sounded like, ¡°The Goddess of Light? Is that what she called herself?¡±
Franklin nodded absentmindedly, probably still enthralled by the memory of divine beauty he was now reliving. It looked kind of gross, in all honesty. But the knowledge that he had met her was important. After all, he had gotten a face-to-face with one of the big three, the gods who oversaw and orchestrated both sides in this cycle. To my knowledge, only a handful of people, including myself, could claim that. It was no small trivia and was yet another mark pointing out how this iteration was different.
Evolving Hell Kings, a Rulebreaker, a Champion meeting the head of their side, and a beastkin growing a second tail. Not to mention that all nine kings are taking part instead of only a couple, one of the champions has already been replaced before the start of it all¡ Winter. I need to make finding the new Winter Champion my next priority.
Something told me that doing so would be the key to unlocking some bigger mystery. In the meantime, Franklin seemed to be coming out of his stupor and looked around hesitantly.
¡°Uhm, I¡¯m sorry about that¡ I¡¯m not quite sure what came over me there.¡± He was self-aware, at least, ¡°Based on your reaction, though, I take it that goddess is bad news?¡±
Lightly, I touched my face, only to discover that I was grimacing sourly. I promptly erased that expression before answering in the affirmative, ¡°Yea. Well, it is certainly not good news¡ Look, I could go on and on about the gods and demons, but let¡¯s not. There will be plenty of time to get you up to speed later, but not so much for us to be so open.¡±
¡°Yea, I was going to suggest that. As helpful as the information is, I can always ask you as the junior champion.¡±
Even saying that neither of us proceeded with the conversation. It was as though there was a certain invisible barrier between us. Very likely, despite how he seemed not to care, Franklin was intimately aware of my new (to him) body, and it was making it hard for him to speak. After all, this wasn¡¯t one of Claire¡¯s manga or a video game where people could just move past something so jarring.
¡°Is there really nothing you want to know? This is pretty awkward.¡±
Sasha leaned out and refilled Franklin¡¯s teacup; I hadn¡¯t realized, but he had been rather obsessively drinking it; a sure sign that he likewise found the situation unique.
¡°Yea,¡± he began, ¡°It is, but I can¡¯t get past a certain thought, and it¡¯s sort of distracting me.¡±
I had an awful feeling about this, but if he didn¡¯t get past whatever this was, the conversation would go nowhere. As that was the case, ¡°Well, you will not have an opportunity to ask for some time after today; I cannot make a habit of being alone with you.¡±
He nodded, ¡°And, that¡¯s the crux of the issue really. I mean, I can¡¯t help but think about it, you know?¡±
My feeling of trepidation was getting worse, ¡°And what is ¡®it?¡¯¡±
¡°Sex, damnit. You¡¯re married, and a queen. So that means you¡¯re supposed to make an heir, right?¡±
Even though I had my suspicions that this was what he was on about, I still turned tomato red again. We hadn¡¯t fully resolved this question the last time it came up, and his fixation on it was somewhat understandable; at least, were I in his shoes, I thought I might be as interested. Obviously, the answer to his question was ¡®no.¡¯ Rupert and I had not done anything yet. But that didn¡¯t make it any less awkward a topic.
But I did promise to answer anything¡
¡°...Not yet, though yes, I will eventually. What about you and Taya? She seems rather fond of you.¡± I answered his question but also deflected back to him.
And, now it was Franklin''s turn to turn red, ¡°No, we haven¡¯t. I mean, really? Do you think she is? I suspected Leana might have a crush on me, but she¡¯s way too young¡ But Taya? There¡¯s the thing with her younger sister to consider; I don¡¯t think romance is even on her radar now.¡±
His babbling was somewhat amusing, but it would be cruel to make fun of him knowing how awkward I felt when on the receiving end of this subject, ¡°I didn¡¯t say romance, but what¡¯s this about her sister?¡±
I¡¯ll ignore the fact that there¡¯s a ¡®Leana¡¯ as well, probably those two luck talents and his high charisma stat¡ I¡¯ll also keep Rosial away from him. Claire can handle Felicity¡ And my maids are all adults, but I think I¡¯ll also make a point of forbidding contact.
¡°...Right, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s my place to say anything, but you¡¯d find out pretty easily on your own. One of the disappearance victims was Taya¡¯s sister. That¡¯s sort of how I met her; she was out looking for any traces of the perpetrator, and I wound up getting caught tailing her.¡±
Wow, your luck carried you hard.
The fact that Franklin hadn¡¯t gotten killed and instead added +1 to his harem was¡
Nope, not going there.
¡°Well, call it woman¡¯s intuition, but I think she likes you; she was pretty clearly acting jealous toward me at least. As far as her sister is concerned, I¡¯ll make a point of asking Eris before I kill her, but I think it''s safe to say that none of the victims survived.¡±
Franklin nodded, ¡°Aye, I thought it might be that way. But, ¡®before I kill her?¡¯ Just like that?¡±
His modern sensibilities seemed to be kicking in, and with them, a sudden worry sparked in my mind.
Wait a minute. His stated goal was to find a way home. He¡¯s already building a harem. And his skills are based on having extremely good luck¡ Now, he sounds opposed to killing enemies¡ Oh god.
Fortunately, it seemed I was jumping the gun a little bit, as his next words forestalled my knee-jerk reaction, ¡°I mean, this is war, and from the sounds of everything I¡¯ve gathered, an existential war at that. Plus, it¡¯s not like the rules of war apply, right?¡±
I shook my head, ¡°I do my best to mitigate bystander casualties, like how I am approaching the upcoming siege. But, at the end of the day, sacrificing the few to save the many, prioritizing Drakan lives over those of other nations¡ I¡¯m a monarchal leader; the least I can do is be an ideal monarch. Even if my hands get dirty in the process.¡±
Franklin nodded, ¡°War is hell, but what do you mean by ¡°Siege of Zesten¡?¡±
Oh shit. I guess he didn¡¯t realize what the men packing up meant¡ Actually, wait, Taya realized, right?
As it turned out, I had a lot more explaining to do before the day was through.
Siege 7-17 Siege
Things with Franklin were largely smoothed over, which brought me to the next major issue; Felicity. Or, more specifically, Claire. These past several days, Claire had, to my knowledge, not once relinquished control of their shared body. This despite her professed desire to not force herself on the girl. Though I was unsure on the specifics, Claire seemed to be under the impression that her more mature mind was what allowed her to be the dominant force when she wanted to, and she had sworn not to abuse that.
Hells, I even had to force her to swear an oath to me that she would take control if it was a matter of life and death, in order to protect Felicity. Now, she¡¯s not only in control, but shows no signs of relinquishing it.
There wasn¡¯t a way for me to really force her to stop, the situation being so far outside the realm of normalcy; I had no precedent to work with. Even if I had the desire to, there was no way that I was willing to go and experiment on my little sister like that. As such, it was a problem with no answer.
¡°And you really won¡¯t even tell me why?¡± Which was why I was now trying to interview the involved party.
But Claire was being strangely obstinate about the whole thing, ¡°No, I won¡¯t. Or, more specifically; I can¡¯t tell you. Please, stop asking.¡±
At least she¡¯s giving me that much.
I wanted to help in what ways I could, in part to pay her back for my faux pas regarding messing with Felicity¡¯s skills, but without being told what was going on, there was nothing I could do. Likewise, there was little in the way of time; once again, my official duties were interfering with my desire to help. And, once again, it was Felicity who was the recipient of that obstruction. After all, it was nearly time for the advance to start and without my presence, it would be a fruitless endeavor.
¡°Then, I will see you when this is finished. Hopefully, once Eris is gone, you can be more open; I want to help you, both of you.¡±
Claire did not answer me, nor did she go back into my shadow; seemingly her new favorite hiding place. In light of the coming fight, I had expressly forbidden her from hiding there. Giving Sasha a nod, I stood up and held my arms out so that I could be changed into my battle attire. It went without saying, but Franklin was not currently present.
Though, and against Lord Alriss¡¯ wishes, Taya was, ¡°You know how much I¡¯m trusting you, right?¡±
I nodded affirmatively, but otherwise made no attempt to answer her. She was here, because once the misunderstanding about why my men were breaking camp was cleared up, both she and Franklin had been incredibly distraught. Taya¡¯s case was understandable, but Franklin had surprised me. He had only known these people for a few weeks at most, but he was behaving as though they were good friends.
I had explained my reasoning and the threat posed by Eris, but it had fallen on largely deaf ears; it wasn¡¯t until I swore that none would be harmed that Taya had begun to calm down. And it wasn¡¯t until Franklin told her to trust me that she finally relented. But only on the condition that she be allowed to monitor my actions.
She probably has the delusion that, if I betray my word, she¡¯ll be able to either defeat or kill me. No matter; I have nothing to hide, at least as far as the operation goes.
At this point, things had progressed to the point that, even if I had second thoughts, it would be very difficult to call off. Without results, explaining my actions to the Alliance at large would be all but impossible. To say nothing of Zesten itself. My declaration had been delivered; two dead bodies, cut open to expose the demonic parasite and the demand that Eris be turned over to me, or that I will be allowed to search the city for her. The first part of my demand was unfulfillable, leaving only the second.
Regardless, it wasn¡¯t worth answering her; as long as she was only this rude, and no further, I could ignore it as a favor to Franklin. My extra maids, Beatrice and Peoni, finished their assigned tasks, and Frieda came up to affix a small tiara-like crown to my head. It was a replica of the one used for the coronation, and this would be the first time I actually wore such an ornament. There was a saying on earth, that the original purpose of a crown was for the monarch to feel the weight of his duties and ensure he never got too comfortable on the thrown. But if that was the case, I didn¡¯t feel anything from this one; it was purely ornamental.
I gave Taya a look meant to remind her to mind her tongue, then moved to the carriage door where Jacqueline was waiting.
Well, let¡¯s start this then.
Jacqueline opened the carriage door and I stepped out into the sunlight. The sudden change made me squint, and I shielded my eyes while checking the sun''s position. It was just after noon and that great ball of fire had begun its decent into the horizon; we would arrive at the city gates just before the evening winds picked up. Franklin was standing with Lord Alriss, sporting a new armor set. Armor bearing the crest of Drakas.
Behind the two of them, all of those soldiers who had been dispatched under me stood in formation at parade rest. Seeing all of them assembled like this really put in perspective the scale of the power I weilded; twelve hundred soldiers and knights. By no means a large force, but it was significant when one accounted for the training and equipment. Ours was the greatest country on this continent, and that was reflected in the might of our military.
And if everything goes correctly, there will be no cause to demonstrate that fact.
¡°Thank you, all of you, for joining me on this divine mission. It may have been lucky to complete part of our objective so early, but I disagree.¡± This was the time for me to address the men before formally declaring hostilities. All of them knew what we were going to do next, but there was a certain order to things that required me to address them in this way.
¡°I am sure that you have heard the rumors; that Franklin is the chosen Champion of Summer, ordained by Dorian, Andre, and Bellyes. Let me now be the one to tell you; he is that man. That means that our crusade has already located the second of the four champions. Both Autumn and Summer now stand before you.¡± At his cue, Franklin stepped forward to stand next to me, ¡°Was that luck? Or was it divine intervention?¡±
A hush would have fallen over the crowd were it made up of civilians, but these were disciplined, loyal men; they were already silent and listening intently. Still, I paused a moment for effect, even going so far as to close my eyes and look down whilst taking a deep breath; a show of gathering my resolve.
¡°I believe it to be the latter. I believe, that Franklin was placed in our path by the gods, so that we might avert a crisis before it begins. There is a demon in Zesten. A foul creature, in direct service to Leviathan, the Queen of Envy. Yes, that means exactly what it sounds like; we are dealing with a higher demon, an Original Sin.¡± Now there was a murmur running its way through the assembled force. The men here were all more or less aware of how dangerous that type was.
¡°Franklin and I will deal with the demon; we will ensure she does not escape, and we will not suffer her to harm any more of the civilian population¡ Both directly, and indirectly. That is why, I must ask something of all of you. Something perilous and risky, but something neccessary all the same; do not draw your blades. Should you come under fire, fall back and shield yourself. Should someone come at you, deflect them. Do everything you can to protect yourselves, short of taking lives. If it comes down to it, I am asking you to die.¡±
The lingering disquiet from the mention of the Original Sin vanished; everyone was now listening incredibly intently. Lord Alriss in particular, was staring at me with naked incredulity. Which was understandable, as at this point I had gone off script. My original intent had been to take things only as far as Zesten did; if they fought back, then we would roll them over until the stopped. We would push as far as them, and no further. That was the plan in so far as Lord Alriss understood it and was the plan I had cited to Franklin and Taya. Now, I had changed my mind. I wasn¡¯t against killing, but at the last moment, I had decided to seize a moral victory of sorts. Literally the last moment; I had gone off script as I was talking.
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With Eris¡¯ stated goal being to sow discord, my best bet would be to go out of my way to avoid causing any distress of my own. Escalating would only make everything worse.
Especially with Franklin siding with me so fully as to don the armor of my country. The only reason for that was due to our past relationship, which was a fairly flimsy reason.
Then again, it has only been so long for me and Claire. I do need to remember that for him, only a few days have passed.
Essentially, I was making a massive gamble. A gamble, that after my display, Zesten would quickly come around to my demands. If they called my bluff¡ Well, then I would have to go from there.
¡°Every single one of you was given the option to remain in Drakas and protect our country in the coming war, or to come with me and form the vanguard. Those that would defend the people from the demons, cannot themselves do war with those same people. There is a time for force, but it is not now, not here. Now, we ride.¡±
There was silence as I concluded the impromptu portion of my speech. Then, Franklin did something. Stamping his right foot down twice such that it produced a carrying sound, he slammed his right fist into his breastplate. He then repeated this same action to a rhythm only he could hear. A moment later, the phenomenon began to spread throughout the assembled soldiers. It took me a moment, but I eventually realized he was performing the intro to a certain rock piece from Earth, Considering the name of that group, it was all I could do to avoid turning pink as I stared daggers at the back of his head.
The worst part, was that I couldn¡¯t tell if he was doing it to tease me, to mock me, or if he was being genuine. And there was no way in hell that I was going to ask him which it was.
¡°Lord Alriss, the men, and myself, are at your command.¡± So, I would just ignore it and if asked, I would claim it was some curiosity from his homeland.
With the order given, Lord Alriss now officially outranked me, at least when it came to direct military matters. Personally, I was a lot of things. Some people might even call me a bit bullshit, but at the end of the day while I could be a scalpel, or a hammer, or any other manner of tool, I was not suited for the role of commander. Much like with the goblins back in Ris, it was far better for me to relinquish that role to someone else, and apply my own talents where they would best serve.
¡°...As you command. Sound the march.¡± Lord Alriss in turn, accepted the transfer, and then ordered a runner to pass along the order to depart.
A few moments later, the order had propagated the entire force, and as one the rhythm stopped. The columns then turned, and began to march the road toward Zesten. I myself returned to my carriage, then made my way up to its roof. Personally, I would have preferred to ride, but Lord Alriss¡¯ plan had put me here instead. It made sense; the crux of our plan was for my spell to scare Zesten into compliance. For that, I needed to be highly visible while casting it, and the size of my carriage would draw attention. There was also the possibility that he simply wanted me somewhere contained as a safety precaution; no matter where I was when casting the spell, I would draw the required attention.
There was another reason for this though, and that reason was sitting on the roof of my carriage, in broad sunlight, despite being a vampire.
¡°Lord Strauf, I have been waiting for you.¡± I performed a small curtsy, while Lord Alriss swore something under his breath, and released his grip on his sword hilt.
Palde Strauff was, in a word, unamused. Though, it was difficult to tell given his withered appearance.
¡°Stahlia, what are your intentions with this move?¡± He was straight and to the point. If only all Drakan nobility could behave like this ancient example, things would be so much simpler.
¡°Leviathan challenged me personally and insinuated that I should ally the demons while betraying my comrades. I am making a point; that is my sole intention.¡±
¡°...And you believe this is the best way to do that? The war officially begins in four months, we do not have time for humans to be fighting humans.¡±
I pursed my lips; the notion that ¡®the war will begin¡¯ was getting tiresome, ¡°With all due respect, the war has already begun. I grow exceedingly tired of everyone involved saying that it has not. What Leviathan and Eris are doing amounts to an attack on Zesten, an act of war. What Satan and Sitri did in Drakas, another act of war. The war has begun; simply nobody acknowledges that. Well, I¡¯ll do it myself, starting by cleansing Zesten of their influence.¡±
It was probably a culmination of the past few days'' events, but Palde¡¯s question had triggered a deep-seated, visceral reaction. Palde fell silent and did not immediately respond to my tirade. When he did speak, it was with some degree of disdain.
¡°That is¡ A unique perspective. I suppose that is why you were offered the position of Rulebreaker. There is an order to these things, Stahlia, one that has persisted for many years, and will continue to persist; you simply lack the experience to see it.¡±
¡°Enough.¡± I cut him off, ¡°Despite your position as both my elder and one of our allies, I will not suffer you to lecture me. At the end of the day, I will act as I see fit. Will you obstruct me?¡±
There followed a tense moment, during which I readied my mana for a potential altercation. But Palde stood down, ¡°No, I will not. I have been instructed to simply observe; it matters not to Aaron if you fail; he will simply wait for another opportunity.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Then, you are welcome to do that.¡±
I turned my attention away from him, and out towards the direction of our travel. We would be arriving on time, assuming no interruptions. Then, I would have a few minutes with which to cast the spell. Anywhere from ten minutes to a full hour.
¡°Here, my lady.¡± Sasha passed me a small vile, which I regarded with revulsion before taking and quickly drinking.
It was foul but also wholly necessary. To my credit, the flavor was improved over the standard version.
¡°A single one of those would have cost nearly a million Alliance Marks. And I saw ten in that case.¡± Taya¡¯s observation was a bit surprising, both in that she spoke, and that she even recognized what the vile vial was.
¡°Is that so? The ingredients were not quite so expensive.¡±
She¡¯s probably talking because she¡¯s anxious, and the mana concentrate was as good an icebreaker as anything.
¡°I will need to drink all of them by the time we arrive, so I cannot speak much; I must focus on controlling the mana.¡±
¡°You¡¯re serious then? You actually intend to wrap the entire force in a spell?¡± She asked, ignoring my own request to not speak.
I nodded. Then, it was Franklin to ask another question, ¡°But, is that even possible? Forgive my ignorance, but if such spells were so convenient, wouldn¡¯t Zesten have been invaded by now? The wind being their primary defense and all¡¡±
¡°Because the spell does not exist, and there is only one caster capable of performing it.¡± I wanted to keep things short and simple, but such an answer would not be sufficient to sate the two¡¯s curiosity. Though they could be ignored, my goal was to earn their trust.
Well, I¡¯ll try and keep it short¡
With even just the first potion, I was already feeling a bit sick as I channeled the mana into my crystal, so I really couldn¡¯t afford to have things get complicated.
¡°Spell incantations are overly long and overly complex. If you know which parts are necessary, you can omit them. With a Talent, you omit the entire chant. I trust you are familiar, Taya?¡± She nodded, and I continued, ¡°What I am doing is taking parts from dozens of different chants and incanting them as a new spell. It is complicated and dangerous, and the odds are I am the only one who can do it. Therefore, the cost of the spell must be paid by me alone. At the very least, I will not teach this spell to any others; thus, the mana concentrate.¡±
Taya¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°You plan to drink all of that? Won¡¯t it kill you?¡±
And she hadn¡¯t realized that until just now¡?
¡°Yes, I do. No, it will not. But controlling that much mana makes everything else, including talking, much more difficult. Please, let me focus, and I will answer your questions when I am able.¡± The carriage fell silent as Taya and Franklin digested my words, and I turned my attention back to the road and to the manipulation of my mana.
Of course, I only need this much since I¡¯m faking it. If it was for real¡
I would need a lot more mana. My spell would actually be two spells. One of them would be invisible and would be described in detail; this would erect a barrier around our camp, protecting us from the wind. The second would be more abstract, and would only describe a visual effect. That one would produce an illusion. Layered together, it should look like I pulled off something impressive while being far cheaper for me, to the point of being actually possible.
An I can only cross my fingers that they fall for my bluff sooner rather than later. Casting this repeatedly is going to take a toll¡
My upper limit was seven days. After that, I would be utterly exhausted, and in serious danger of the heightened mana levels doing serious damage. Not unlike when I had disconnected from the system. I shut my eyes, and focused on Franklin¡¯s conversation with Taya. He was telling her stories about his past life, and I found it calming.
Really, the fact that he doesn¡¯t see the hearts in her eyes¡ She¡¯s got all of the bad luck to compensate for his good.
Anyone looking in on us, probably wouldn¡¯t have even the faintest clue of what we were traveling to. The calm before the storm.
7-18 Siege Beginning
We arrived at Zesten right in the middle of my predicted time window; the nightly winds should be starting in the next few minutes. Meaning, it was just about time to offload the excess of mana currently straining my body and cast the spell. Having consumed a full box of concentrated mana potions over the past six hours, I was in a lot of pain and quite nauseous.
Still, I knew from experience that the symptoms were very fleeting, and would vanish as soon as the energy had been discharged. That made it somewhat more bearable. Now, all that was left was to wait for Lord Alriss¡¯ signal, and it would be time to begin. There was no way in all nine hells that I would be able to make any decrees or proclamations in my current state, so he was delivering them for me. That was still within the realms of expectancy; he was my diplomatic second, as well as the military commander.
Not that I was really paying much attention to what he was saying; holding back the torrent of magic, cramming it into my crystal lest it explode. That task was taking up all of my concentration. Nothing was lost though; he would simply be recounting the casus beli; our lie about the actions of those two dead babysitters, and proclaiming that our cause was just in the eyes of the god.
Franklin stood and made his way to the roof of my carriage. Lord Alriss would now be announcing that the Champion of Summer had chosen to ally with the Champion of Autumn. Though that wasn¡¯t going to mean very much, as Franklin had been rather adamant that nobody in the city had been informed, not even Taya and harem member number two. A rather smart move on his part, even if it was now causing me problems.
A hand alighted on my shoulder; Jacqueline, letting me know it was time to move. Considering the distance, it would be impossible to observe me from the city walls in any great detail. Especially so long as I remained on my carriage, which would warp various scrying techniques as one of the defensive features. This was good, since keeping a straight face and walking steady was about all I could do at the moment; putting on airs was well beyond me.
If I was the real Champion of Autumn, this would be a lot easier.
Among the various benefits of being the Champion of Winter, had been an affinity with Ice Magic. That was a major contributor to my previous Anti-Army spell casting; without it, the mana cost would have been well beyond me. Now, I was attempting to fake that same capability with wind. If not for my progress at re-translating the incantation language, it would be absolutely impossible. Instead, it was simply absurdly difficult.
There was one benefit though; through using my own mind, rather than the Eidetic Memory skill, I had actually noticed something which had previously escaped me. The incantation language was needlessly verbose. Without giving specific examples, nearly eighty percent of any given incantation was pointless. The flowing speech invoking fire to form a ball, and instructing it to fly from your hand sounded fancy, but only a few words were relevant to the function of the spell. And more importantly, cutting the chaff made the spell cheaper.
¡°O Wind, create a barrier to shield the area around me, let no wind enter. May the barrier measure two kilometers across, stand twenty feet, and last twelve hours. [Custom Wall]¡±
Nearly three-quarters of the mana stored in my mana crystal flowed out all at once, and my head instantly cleared. Enough that I noticed Franklin¡¯s eyebrow twitch. Of course it had; my spell¡¯s name had been in English. To anyone listening in from this world, it would be indistinguishable from the actual magic language. But to an otherworlder, it would be a subtle clue.
That was the second thing I learned once I stopped relying on skills; the spell¡¯s activation phrase didn¡¯t matter. Anything would work, as long as it served as a mental trigger to activate the spell. Of course, when I had finished, nothing seemed to happen. That was because this barrier was completely invisible. It was functional, but it wasn¡¯t flashy enough to serve our purposes. I needed the Zestenians to know I had done something. More importantly, I needed Eris to know.
¡°O Earth, grow six pillars even spaced around me, with a delay of three minutes fifty seconds. O Light, draw lines connecting six pillars of earth each the same distance to the other one kilometer away from me, with a delay of three minutes fifty-five seconds. O fire, blaze a path marking a circle measuring two kilometers, with a delay of four minutes. [Flashy Lights Jutsu]¡± The remaining mana flowed out from me, and my head became foggy again; this time with fatigue.
I began to sway on my feet, but there wasn¡¯t time to rest just yet. Following my incantation, I began to ramble in the incantation language, spouting complete bullshit until the four minutes specified had passed. Then I clapped my hands for effect.
All at once, six spikes of earth sprouted from the ground, along the perimeter of my barrier each was exactly one kilometer away from me, and completely unadorned. Then, beams of light shot out from their tips, drawing straight lines to connect the pillars so as to form a six-pointed star. Finally, a blazing inferno erupted along the ground, drawing a circle completely around me and my soldiers. The whole display lasted for a total of fifteen seconds, then the light vanished, and the pillars crumbled. The fire continued to blaze where it had caught grass, but in other places, it too extinguished.
There was complete silence from both sides. Somewhere, distantly, I had been aware of some jeering coming from the wall, but it had barely registered previously and was now gone, My own men seemed a bit uncomfortable from being in the center of that, while those among them who were casters in their own right were looking up at me with both awe and some level of new-found fear.
Despite my pervious actions, this is the first time I¡¯ve made such a public display of my ability, so that reaction makes sense¡
From their perspective, I had just cast an Anti-Army level spell by myself. A feat that normally took the combined efforts of several mages. No wonder they were scared.
As long as they don¡¯t start calling me something idiotic like ¡®the Witch Queen¡¯ behind my back. Now, time to kick everyone out of my carriage, and go to sleep.
I was exceptionally tired. This whole thing was only possible because of the way I had spiked myself, but doing that was not without repercussion. Not unlike when I overused my Authority, I was now on the verge of falling asleep where I stood. Though, it was not going to be for quite as long. Probably, around twelve hours, maybe fourteen.
¡°Franklin, Lord Alriss, please take Taya and leave me be; I desperately need to lie down after that¡ Lord alriss, if and when Zesten sends a reply, keep them waiting until I wake up. Letting them sweat for a bit can only help us. Sasha,¡± I called down the ladder to my ever-present helper, ¡°Please lend me your assistance; I do not think I can make it down myself.¡±
Lord Alriss
We arrived in the vicinity of the city with only tens of minutes to spare, and it would be a falsehood to say that I was without doubt. Her majesty had claimed she would be able to stop the wind, but such a claim¡ Being of my station, I was aware of the rumors and even some of the facts surrounding that incident in her home village; the claims that she could cast such high-level magics.
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But the spell attributed to her there was Ice, and had been cast in winter. Here, she had neither advantage. That said, it was not my position to question a direct order; I may have been granted command of this campaign, but her majesty¡¯s words still shaped the overall scope of our objectives. As commander, it was my job to establish a strategy that would bring to fruition her designs.
If only ¡®Lay siege to the city¡¯ were said of any other.
There was the fact that, now, I was also not allowed to take any meaningful military action whatsoever. Her majesty¡¯s order to ¡®Die if you must¡¯ was likely meant in kindness. No doubt she was stuck in the difficult position of having realized she had done too much but was unable to retract her words and actions without appearing weak. A weakness that would reflect badly upon the kingdom behind her.
Well, her majesty is incredibly powerful in her own right; no doubt, she will manage to at least somewhat deflect the winds. From their, the company casters have orders to fill in any holes in her efforts. We can last for one night, and spend the morrow entrenching. That in and of itself might be enough to scare Zesten into compliance. More importantly, it gives me time to come up with a plan to fight a war without killing the enemy.
I stood, and ascended to the roof of her Majesty¡¯s carriage. The jeering of the defenders became at once audible; a distant murmur that blended together into a nondescript buzz. Easily ignorable. They would be singing a different tune in the morning when we were still here.
A company mage nodded to me, indicating that the projection spell was cast. I began to speak, my words being carried toward the city¡¯s walls, ¡°Zesten, we came to you in good faith. You responded with daggers in the dark; the two soldiers tasked with guarding her majesty as she visited your fair city, attempted to slit her throat. For this, there is but one course of action, one response we can muster.¡±
¡°That is, we offer forgiveness. Those soldiers were not themselves; they were possessed by the very same foul creatures our company seeks to thwart. They were agents of the demons! Her majesty has dealt with their kind before, rooting out the corruption from within our own fair country. Instead of demanding recompense for her life, she instead wishes to offer a hand of solidarity.¡±
¡°Please, let us into your city; we will find those possessed, we will excise the demonic taint from those meant to protect you as members of the three chosen races! If you do not accept her majesty¡¯s grace then know this: The Champion of Summer stands with her. From your own people, Sir Franklin has chosen to join hands with us in this holiest endeavor.¡±
Franklin came up onto the roof of the carriage. He was nervous and bumbling in mannerisms, but there was something about him that inspired confidence in the soldiers. Likely, it was his high Charisma as uncovered by her majesty. Personally, I saw some level of promise in the lad, but he was not experienced. At the moment, he relied far too much on the ability granted by his talents and skills and was utterly lacking in the skills granted by time.
There was also the fact that his Charisma seemed to be affecting her majesty to some extent; even as a champion herself, she was far too trusting of someone she had only just met. Well, in any case having one of the other champions already was a great boon.
Her Majesty came out then, and though she was trying to hide it for those as close to her as I, it was clear as day. No doubt, it was the extreme amount of potions she had consumed during the journey here in an effort to ¡°spike her mana,¡± as she put it. She began to incant the spell shortly thereafter. It was an extremely long incantation, nearly five minutes, as befitting a spell of such magnitude.
Then, her spell took effect. Six spikes erupted from the earth, jutting up violently into the sky like the claws of a dragon. From the tips of each spike, bright beams of light shone forth, linking each of them into a simple yet intricate pattern that shown as though with the Goddess of Light¡¯s very own splendor. Then, as though it was not enough, the ground erupted into flames and carved a circular path around us as though to say ¡°you are safe.¡±
I will never again allow myself to question her Majesty¡¯s claims. If she says she can do something, then she can.
It was a sentiment that was seemingly shared by many of the men, as they gazed up at her with newly renewed admiration.
Stahlia
When I woke up, both Sasha and Jacqueline were waiting for me. I took a moment, then once my thoughts were collected, asked the question, ¡°How long?¡±
Sasha responded, ¡°Thirteen hours, right on time.¡±
Jacqueline answered my blank stare with an explanation, ¡°Franklin predicted it would take thirteen hours; something about you telling him he was lucky.¡±
I see. Well, that¡¯s a surprisingly useful application of those skills, but I¡¯ll need to instill caution in him; who knows when the gods might think it would be interesting for luck to fail¡
I stretched, then climbed out of bed. Unsurprisingly, I was still clothed in the same attire as the day before. Both my maid and my shadow began going through the motions of fixing that, as well as a sponge bath. Even as the Queen, there were not many luxuries on the battlefield.
As they worked, I began to ask about the events that had transpired while I slept.
Sasha interrupted me, ¡°Lord Alriss should best answer questions such as these; we have not been informed of the minutia.¡±
It was only half a day this time, after all.
¡°Very well. Then, what of Franklin, Claire, and Felicity?¡± I changed lanes, and asked instead about the more immediate personal issues. Even if it had been a short time, there was still a chance for things to have changed regarding my adopted sister¡¯s absence. Likewise, Franklin had just witnessed something rather extreme from me.
¡°Miss Felicity has not returned, and Miss Claire has been entirely absent. Sir Franklin has been helping the soldiers to establish more permanent fortifications. Now, if there are no other pressing concerns, please stand still.¡±
Once she pointed it out, I realized that I had been fidgeting and promptly moved to restrain myself. Soon, the preparations were complete, and I was ready to emerge from my carriage. For a brief moment, I regarded the next case of concentrated mana where it sat; there were a few hours yet before I would need to spike again, and the thought was not a pleasant one. Upon exiting, I was immediately beset both by the glaring sunlight and Lord Alriss.
He bowed his head, ¡°Good morning, Your Majesty.¡±
I regarded him for a moment before opting not to react to the fact that it was closer to midday than to morning, ¡°Likewise, Lord Alriss. How have things proceeded?¡±
¡°A third of the men worked through the night, and we have finished establishing a permanent camp; I recommend your majesty inspect it, and determine adjustments to your spell before tonight¡¯s casting. The city¡¯s defenders made no moves to interfere or impede us; I believe that your actions truly frightened them¡ And, I must apologize for some doubts that I had harbored. Please be assured, that I will no longer do so.¡±
No longer do so? As in, no longer doubt me?
That was a bad mentality, especially from someone I was trusting with command, ¡°Lord Alriss, doubt can be healthy, and I am an exception to the rules of existence; I would prefer if you continue to hold doubts you may have. Other than that, has there been no reaction at all?¡±
He thought for a moment, then nodded, ¡°Very well, if you believe that my thoughts can be of use, I will endeavor to abide. As for the latter, a man claiming to be ¡®the true Lord Emmanuel¡¯ arrived this morning, without guards. He professed a desire to speak with you regarding your declaration.¡±
¡°And where is he now?¡±
Alriss indicated a direction, ¡°This way, we are holding him in one of the disused hospital wagons for the time being.¡±
Now, this ought to be interesting. I expected messengers, but not the young lord himself, and certainly not alone. Let¡¯s see what he has to say. Then there¡¯s the bit about him claiming¡
¡°He claims?¡±
¡°Yes, he looks nothing like the Emmanuel we met previously. In fact, he looks quite like one of that Emmanuel¡¯s guards.¡±
Claire¡¯s recollection about Emmanuel having asked one of his guards what to do, and received instructions from him came back to me. It appeared as though this had been a case of hiding in plain sight.
He¡¯s a bit smarter than I thought he was.
¡°Bring him to my carriage, as a state guest, I will receive him properly.¡±
7-19 Siege Middle
¡°You can not be serious.¡± I was sitting, once more, in my carriage. Across from me sat the (presumably) real Emmanuel, who had a proposition for me. One which had taken me completely out of the left field and left me incredulous as to both its intentions and its sanity.
¡°I am completely serious; I want you to kill my father. He will never give in to your demands, the demons have fully infiltrated our high society.¡± He paused to sip the tea Jacqueline had provided him. A pointed gesture on his part meant to convey complete trust; I had yet to sip any of my own, ¡°My Father had been allied with the demons since before he became the chair of Zesten. He owes that position to their assistance and is the reason nothing was originally done to handle the disappearances.¡±
I regarded him carefully, doing my best to read his micro-expressions, his posture, even analyzing his word choice.
Sure, laying siege to the city was already a bit extreme. Ordering it to be bloodless, insane. But assasinating the head of the city¡
One might think that this was a no-brainer. An easy play that would accomplish my goals in one fell swoop. Far from it. On the international stage, our trumped-up casus beli was sufficient for a bloodless siege. Hells, if a few Zesten commoners and soldiers died, it would probably still be sufficient for Drakas to pay the Alliance some reparations. But aiding in an assassination was entirely beyond that. If we were caught, well the only logical conclusion would be war. The Alliance, likely backed by the Hell Kings, against Drakas.
Hells, there¡¯s not even any way to tell if he¡¯s being wholly truthful¡
I needed time. To that end, I stalled, ¡°Let us say, for a moment, that I believe your sincerity. What are you offering in return for our assistance?¡±
Emmanuel grinned, ¡°Interesting. So you imply that it is not an impossible task, merely an expensive one.¡±
That he would glean that much from my statement was expected, and in a way relieving; if I were to enter into a dark pact with someone, I should want them to have their head screwed on straight. That said, I didn¡¯t actually know if it was possible or not. Jacqueline was standing against the back wall with Sasha and Frieda. With them also, were a couple of knights to guard me.
So even if he catches this, he won¡¯t know who it¡¯s directed at.
Ever so subtly, I made brief eye contact with Jacqueline. In return, she nodded slightly. It was possible.
Returning my attention to Emmanuel, I drew my mouth taunt and maintained a level stare, ¡°It is possible but expensive.¡±
¡°Name your price.¡±
I caught myself from recoiling in surprise. That was not what I had expected to hear from the son of a man who purportedly rose to power through shrewd business dealings. It was so beyond my immediate predictions and thoughts, that it gave me pause.
He probably isn¡¯t acting as an agent of the demons¡ I did check him earlier, and his mana is normal. As well, there wasn¡¯t aunty signs of a parasite.
Just to be sure, I activated my divine eyes once more and fixed them on him. His mana was normal, and despite scrutinizing him up and down, I could not spot any gaps in the flow; there were no parasites. I was thorough enough that he was able to tell he was being studied. He spread his arms out a bit and tilted his head.
¡°Does your majesty like what she sees?¡±
I cut off the mana flow to my eyes and grimaced, ¡°No. Your physique is far too bulky, and you have too many openings.¡±
He was tall for this world, at just under two meters, and very broad-shouldered. In terms of muscle mass, he was probably in the realm of one hundred and thirty kilograms. He was well groomed though, and contrary to his appearance seemed to be quite intelligent and calculated. If we were to get into an actual fight, I would probably win, but if he caught me once¡ Well, I hadn¡¯t appraised his stats, but assuming his Strength multiplier was not trash, it would be over.
Not that it would come to that; I had a lot of people that he would have to get through first, and even if he lunged me at this exact moment, Jacqueline was right behind him. There was one thing that would go a long way toward proving the veracity of his claims, but it was a bit extreme¡
Oh, to hell with it. I need to stop beating around the bush, and act decisively.
¡°Give me your hand.¡± I made it an order, since I was attempting to position myself in a spot of authority, ¡°And do not resist my mana.¡±
Emmanuel raised an eyebrow and offered me his hand without resistance. I pulled off one of the gloves I was wearing and placed my own hand over his before letting my mana flow into him. He winced slightly but did not resist it. Though his eyes did widen at my display of mana control.
¡°Invoke Authority: Bypass any and all restrictions on appraisal results.¡± I invoked my authority; at this point, it mattered little if my secrets got out. It wasn¡¯t like any common person could figure out what my abilities were from a display like this. Besides that, now that I knew Five had survived, combined with what Sitri might have reported¡ The demons were probably more or less aware of what I could do.
His appraisal results flowed into my mind, and they were more or less what I had expected, with one distinct surprise; Emmanuel had no class. Maybe that shouldn¡¯t have been so shocking; most people did not have one. But, at least in Drakas, anyone of importance had a class. All of the nobility, and the majority of the knights. Definitely, everyone who was in a position to control a city.
¡Besides that, Strength is his highest stat, probably because of that [Herculean III] Talent. And, he is fully human, pure blood even. ¡Then, I can trust him to a point.
¡°This is most interesting. Tell me, is this an ability of all the champions?¡± He spared a glance at Franklin, who was sitting next to Lord Alriss to my right and around the corner of our small table, ¡°Or is this your own power?¡±
¡°It is my own power, irrespective of my status as a champion.¡± Considering I wasn¡¯t really a champion anymore, the weight of that statement could not be understated. Emmanuel did not need to know that part.
I paused for a moment, making a show of thinking over a matter I was already decided on, ¡°I will assist you, provided you enter into a magic contract with me using the following terms: First, you may take no actions designed to directly or indirectly harm Drakas, without first receiving permission from myself, Rupert, or whoever follows after us as monarchs. Secondly, under your leadership, Zesten will side with Drakas militarily and economically in the upcoming war against the demons; regardless of the stance the rest of the Alliance takes. And Finally, you will do everything within your power and ability to excise the demons from Zesten and her allies, short of declarations of war. All three points must also apply to any whom you would put in a position of power within your own government, and you will be responsible for the enforcement thereof.¡±
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Emmanuel froze, considering my stated offer. While he did so, I endeavored to show no signs in my own face or manner; this was a poker game I could not afford to lose. After some moments, Emmanuel finally spoke, ¡°If I may request one amendment, please specify that my allegiance need not be open; the other member cities would not take kindly to Zesten becoming subordinate to Drakas.¡±
Wait, he accepted all of that with only one minor protest¡? Alright then.
¡°Very well. Lord Alriss, if you will?¡± Lord Alriss gave his affirmative and moved to prepare the materials for the contract.
Rupert had cautioned me against signing too many of these, and to keep them simple when I did so. However, a completely one-sided list of conditions shouldn¡¯t cause any issues in that regard. Lord Alriss returned, and spread a piece of enchanted paper out over the table. Technically, it may have been more proper for Sasha to do this, but given the stakes involved, it should be fine for him to do it instead. I dipped a quill into the magically imbued ink and began to write out the terms, taking care to allow Emmanuel ample room to view my progress. Lastly, I added his addendum as a fourth point superseding the other three.
It was possible that this would open the contract to loopholes; I wasn¡¯t the most experienced negotiator, but there were no points that applied to Drakas or me, only points binding Emmanuel. Even the fourth point was a pittance; I had no intentions of publicly proclaiming that Emmanuel and Zesten were in my pocket. Lastly, I signed my name with a flourish and offered the quill to Emmanuel.
¡°...I had thought your majesty would have Lord Alriss sign in your stead. I am honored.¡± Emmanuel spoke as he took the quill from me, then promptly signed his name.
¡And now I feel like I missed something major in the wording.
It was possible that I was merely being overly cautious, that he was expressing genuine gratitude. In fact, that was probably more likely than the idea that he was taunting me. Regardless, there was no time to consider it at the moment; I could go over the wording later. Perhaps one of the witnesses had caught something, and not spoken up for fear of appearing insubordinate in front of a foreign dignitary.
¡°Jacqueline,¡± I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t a tiny bit looking forward to Emmanuel¡¯s reaction, ¡°I have need of your unique services.¡±
It was possible Jacqueline was also looking forward to this because she put on a bit of theatrical display by stepping forward and kneeling in front of me. Silently. I cringed a little bit inside and was rather conscious of the fact that Claire was likely stuffed into my shadow.
¡°...Jacqueline, please remove Emmanuel¡¯s father from the board.¡± The thought crossed my mind that, besides the handful of murders I had committed, I was now rather dryly ordering a man¡¯s death.
Jacqueline bowed her head, ¡°As you command.¡±
She then disappeared into a nearby shadow. For an assassin specializing in infiltration and deception, she had quite the flair for the dramatic. Emmanuel watched the whole performance impassively, though I did catch a small bead of sweat wind its way down his brow; after all, my named assassin had been standing right behind him this entire interview.
Once things had calmed down, it was time to prepare our next steps. I motioned Sasha, and she handed me a vial of the concentrated mana essence; it was time for me to start spiking again. Having signed the contract, Emmanuel was now a coconspirator, so I saw little reason to hide this from him; as far as secrets go, it was relatively small, and he had already been shown a demonstration of my authority. After regarding the vial with derision, I quickly downed it with a choking grimace.
¡°Jacqueline is excellent, but she will need time. In all likelihood, at least two days to scout, then another to actually carry out the job. That is, assuming she goes straight there, but I believe she will follow you back and slip in the same way you do; though you will never see her.¡±
My words were intended less as an explanation for Emmanuel and more as instructions to Jacqueline, who was likely still in the vicinity. A timetable and a signal.
¡°So, I will be casting that spell twice more. My men are under orders notto shed Zesten blood, and I would appreciate if you attempt to mitigate calls for retaliation on your end; cite concerns over escalating, and argue in favor of my demands without committing fully to them. In short, establish yourself as an opposition party to your father, which will allow you to better fall into place as his successor, and will lessen to the impact of sudden policy changes following your ascent. Also, you need to get the people on your side, as best you can, before everything goes down. I would start making public shows of solidarity, and calls to investigate the disappearances while condemning your father¡¯s inactions as leading to the current events.¡±
Everyone, Lord Alriss included, was now looking at me in mild bewilderment.
I must have said something weird. Well, I also shouldn¡¯t make his plans for him.
¡°...That said, I am not completely familiar with Zesten¡¯s culture, so please use your own judgment.¡±
Emmanuel grinned and cracked his knuckles, ¡°Well, I will take your words under advisement, seeing as they come from a place of experience when it comes to ascension through drastic measures. That being the case, I need to get back soon; your schedule leaves me with little time.¡±
There were any number of ways he could have found out about the general methods Rupert and I had ascended, and I could hardly fault him for it. Despite Drakas¡¯ network of foreign spies having been crippled in the wake of Count Francois¡¯ exile, that didn¡¯t mean we had nothing. And Ferdinand was busy rebuilding it back home even as we spoke. More important was how much he knew, as that would indicate how deep the infiltration went. And even more importantly, was how much tangible proof he had.
Actually, none of that matters. Thinking about it, Zesten is in league with the demons at the moment. And Rupert first started the path of bloodshed under orders from Count Francois, a demon. So this knowledge could easily have been gleaned from overheard conversations or simply outright told to them.
The beauty of him letting that slip now was not to be understated either. It was a subtle warning to me; don¡¯t betray me. In short, it was blackmail.
When all is said and done, it might be best to eliminate him as well. I¡¯ll have to consult with Ferdinand and Rupert about it.
With that, Emmanuel stood and departed, leaving me with Lord Alriss and Franklin. The former also stood, ¡°By your leave, your majesty, I will see him out of the camp, then organize the men for tonight.¡±
I gave my permission, and Lord Alriss too departed. It was an interesting thing to note, but he no longer seemed to question Franklin¡¯s presence, leaving him alone with me and my maids. Granted, there were still the other knights on guard, but he had to know I was about to order them out as well. It wasn¡¯t a big deal considering it was Franklin, but it did make me wonder when and where this shift in attitude had occurred.
Regardless, once the guards had departed, Franklin turned to face me, ¡°When you claimed to have changed and been influenced by this world, I didn¡¯t believe you. But seeing that¡¡±
¡°Do not start up with the ¡®how could you order someone¡¯s death¡¯ shit.¡± I cut him off.
¡°...No, I think you made the right decision, given the context and the resources at your disposal. Even if it might be morally black. I¡¯m trying to keep an open mind to the stakes and way of life here, and after seeing how much you held back already¡ Tell me. Could you have 1945¡¯d Zesten?¡±
That¡¯s¡ That¡¯s an incredibly crass way of asking me if I can use magic to drop a nuke. ¡And, I hadn¡¯t ever really considered it, but I probably could.
¡°...Yes. I could probably have obliterated the city if I came up with the right incantation. Maybe not in such a showy way as you are imagining though.¡±
Franklin nodded, ¡°But you took the harder method all the same.¡±
¡Is, is he serious?
¡°Yes, I took the method that would not create an international incident leading to me being labeled a despot and a mad queen, as well as solidifying Alliance support for the demons in the face of what they rightly perceived as Drakan terrorism.¡±
¡°Not what I meant; there¡¯s a middle ground between destroying the city, and going out of your way to ensure a bloodless siege. You went to the extreme, despite the difficulty you created for yourself. I think, more than anything, that¡¯s what got Emmanuel to throw his hat in with you, with us.¡±
When he put it like that, I didn¡¯t really have an answer. Sure, at the time, the bloodless clause had been a spur-of-the-moment addendum meant to satisfy my own ego while sending a message to Leviathan. But from the outside perspective, it certainly looked like I had been going out of my way for no other reason than to spare their lives. At a loss for words, I decided to change the subject.
¡°Have you spoken with Claire recently? This long absence of hers is starting to concern me, even if I know where she¡¯s hiding now.¡±
Franklin frowned, but did not press the issue, instead opting to go along with my topic change, ¡°No, I haven¡¯t. Not since the last time we were all alone in this carriage.¡±
That¡¯s what I thought. Everything is seeming to work out, but this matter is getting extremely worrying.
7-20: J3: An Unassuming Maid, Once More
Jacqueline, Eighth Month of 949
Easier said than done.
My Lady had finally given me an order that required my specific set of skills, and what an order it was. Two days. I had two days before her forces would engineer a distraction for me. Two days to scout a foreign city, infiltrate the lord''s estate, and come up with a plan of attack.
And the time crunch was not even the hard part. Demons. Our primary enemy was also present in the city, having infiltrated it much like they once had done to Drakas. And the particular fiend in this case, Eris of Envy, presented the most trouble of all; I could not perceive her. That meant she could be anywhere, and ruin everything, and there was nothing I could do about it.
My line of work was not one to take such risks lightly, but I had my orders and so would find a way.
Though methinks she has an exceptional opinion of me, perhaps unwarranted.
The girl I had watched grow up and Wound up going further than anyone might have thought possible. Yet, in many ways she was still the same girl. That undo attachment to family, her overly trusting nature, and her reluctance to rely on others over herself.
I shook my head and focused forward. Even with her flaws, she was doing better than most anyone in her position could hope. It was not my place to be critical; rather I should focus only on my mission, for that was my purpose and my oath.
Emmanuel would serve as my entry vector into Zesten. Though not as able with the technique as the curious Miss Felicity, my own shadow-walking was nothing to laugh at. Without the curse-cum-blessing of being half-demon, I was about as skilled as I had any right to hope to be.
I wonder, if I asked her, would my lady see fit to refine my- no. I shouldn''t burden her, I am already capable enough, to seek more would be the height of folly.
If my lady had the leeway, then surely she would have already offered. But if she made a mistake and fell into another coma at such a critical juncture as this, it would prove catastrophic.
Emmanuel was finally moving. Like a ghost, I stole forward. Weaving through the soldiers and knights with a practiced gait that minimized my impact on their senses, my various stealth and sneak-related talents further reduced my presence. A couple of the more highly skilled knights did notice me, but even they quickly lost track. Not that it mattered; they knew me as one of my lady''s maids. My presence would not be suspicious to them.
It did not take long to reach the edge of the encampment, and from there it was only a few dozen minutes to reach the outer wall. Instead of making for the main gate, Lord Emmanuel headed in the opposite direction, away from the city. It made sense and was rather predictable, but he had likely used a secret escape tunnel of some type. Given my utter lack of operational and geographical knowledge, I made careful mental notes of our progress.
Sure enough, it was a tunnel cut into the plain, the door built to blend in seamlessly with the grass and dirt around it. A rather remarkable forethought to have built such a thing when the city¡¯s stance on invasion had been that it was impossible. Emmanuel opened the door wider than was necessary and held it awkwardly.
He¡¯s waiting for me¡? Well, talk about the sheep inviting the wolf.
Still, this could prove rather interesting, and my lady would likely enjoy reading his reaction from my report. I suppressed my various talents and skills, metaphorically stepping out of thin air in front of him.
¡°I thank you, Lord Emmanuel.¡± My statement was punctuated with a simple curtsy.
As I had predicted, he jumped in surprise, ¡°Miss, no, Lady Jacqueline. This¡ Please, forgive my rudeness.¡±
¡°I have no titles; miss will suffice. Now, I suggest you make haste to wherever you need to be.¡±
Considering his station and appearance, he was rather awkward. Though to be fair that was at least partially my own fault for having scared him as I did. Regardless, his part in my mission was finished; I vanished once more and moved past the man into the passage proper. Behind me, I saw him make some sort of gesture with his hand drawing a circle around his heart while muttering under his breath.
¡°Your message is understood clearly. Just who have I signed a bargain with¡?¡±
It would seem that he misinterpreted my mild prank as a calculated message on behalf of our lady. One that meant she could reach him at any time. Not my intention necessarily, but not an unwelcome result. My lady would be sure to find some way to extract more value from the man with this.
The escape tunnel become entrance stretched out ahead of me, with a rather sharp curve to it. That posed little risk to my infiltration, but it would make it rather difficult for an invading force to use the route; they would be liable to run straight into an ambush set by defenders. Geographically speaking, the curvature was also necessary for the tunnel to come out under the city chair¡¯s manor.
For that was surely where it was headed toward. Not ideal, but I could work with it. Despite that building being my eventual destination, I also needed to scout the city itself. This was not a mission I wished to undertake without knowing fully any possible escape routes. Though I would die for Lady Stahlia if needs must, such an event would greatly weigh on her and so was best avoided. I also needed a secure place to sleep.
After several tens of minutes I made it out. The tunnel opened up into a library through a rather cliche fireplace entrance. The room, while elegant, had nothing on the Drakan palace. Though considering the difference in scale between a single city-state and a kingdom spanning a third of the continent, perhaps this room was the more impressive. That is to say, it was far grander than I had expected it to be.
Admiring the scenery wasn¡¯t the purpose of my visit, though, and I should merely count myself lucky that there was nobody cleaning or guarding this room. I gave the room a quick once over, and spotted nothing relevant to my mission other than a few candlesticks that would make for halfway decent blunt weapons. That said, I had my daggers, shortsword, knives, and a healthy quantity of Grave Oil. There was no need for me to murder a man in the library with a candlestick.
I stole out, and into the manor proper. Despite the different cultures, it was very similar to a Drakan high noble¡¯s estate. The only major differences were the clothing of the various staff I passed and the direction of the decor being far more varied. While Drakans prided themselves on certain attributes and displayed wealth and power through their lens, Zesten was first and foremost a trade city. Instead of one uniform style, the decor of the chair¡¯s home was an eclectic representation of this fact, with pieces in a dozen different styles from all across this continent. Likely, beyond it as well.
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Fortunately, nobody seemed to be quite at the level of the knights in my lady¡¯s company, and I was able to escape the manor entirely undetected. Unless Eris herself had seen me, but there was no point in worrying over what I had absolutely no way of controlling. If she had seen me, I would be at her mercy; there wasn¡¯t really a way to combat her abilities with what powers I had available to me.
Perhaps, if nothing else, I should have asked my lady if she has a way to grant me the power to remember someone with Eris¡¯ ability set. That much might have been worth the extra pressure.
Not that I had any intention of falling back for this; I did not have the leeway. Already, I could feel myself starting to slip up.
I need to find a safe place, now.
Ever since my parasite had been removed, things had been quite different. Aside from long-suppressed memories suddenly returning, I was physically weaker. With the worm, I had only needed to sleep four hours in every forty-eight. Now, I needed about as much rest as a normal person of my age, sex, and physical fitness. Perhaps slightly less. And it was taking its toll.
Pushing myself could only get me so far, but to properly perform my duties, I needed to stay awake as long as possible. It was beyond me how the others serving our lady could do all of their work while sleeping six to eight hours every day. They were far more efficient than I to be sure. This was why I had requested to be relieved of my maid duties even though that was a failure on my part; there was no way I would be able to keep up with my work as her majesty¡¯s shadow while also serving as her head maid. It was too much, and I had to admit defeat lest I fail completely.
After getting out of the estate, I loitered until just before sunset when the staff change occurred. I picked one of the maids, singled out earlier, and followed her. I had picked this one because she gave off an aura of distance; she did not talk to the other staff apart from when directly addressed. Maids gossiped a lot. It was a tool that I had used many times in my life and that was why I could tell that this one could be exploited. She was a loner.
While waiting, I had soiled my own clothes with dirt and grime, while intentionally ripping and cutting at it. My appearance was already haggard from built up exhaustion, but I further rubbed dirt into my face and around my eyes. The end goal was to look as pitiable as possible. Then, it was only a manner of getting ahead of the woman on her route home, and sticking my arm out of an alley while lying in a puddle.
As she passed, I called out feebly, ¡°Miss, please¡¡±
My target stopped, and peered into the deepening shadows of the alley. When she caught site of my hand, her eyes widened, and she took half a step toward me before faltering.
I was right, you are compassionate despite being so distant. That¡¯s why you don¡¯t like the gossip and cliquish inter-staff politics; the narcissistic nihilism doesn¡¯t sit right. Well, I¡¯m not going to hurt you, so you don¡¯t have anything to worry about.
¡°Please, I can¡¯t move¡ I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t know when he¡¯ll come back¡¡±
The woman snapped out of her haze and stepped into the alley boldly; having been presented with the chance to help someone clearly in need, her reaction was a forgone conclusion.
¡°Quickly then, here, my shoulder.¡± She helped me stand, and I leaned half my weight onto her offered limb. Only half an act, ¡°Come on, you can spend the night with my mother and brothers.¡±
¡°...Thank you¡¡± It was unwise to say too much just yet, as the wrong word could disrupt the image I was attempting to project.
Still, there was one piece of information that was both important, and would also help further my goals, ¡°What, what¡¯s your name¡?¡±
¡°Dollany. Shush now; save your strength.¡±
Dollany escorted me through several side streets and back alleys before we arrived at a larger building. A tenant house, with several families all living together. Of course, we attracted attention, but nobody made any attempts to stop us or said anything. This was because I was being accompanied by a local, and was one of the two major reasons I had gone with this approach. The other was because I would be able to interrogate Dollany to learn about the estate through innocuous questions.
¡°Dolly! By the gods, what is this!?¡± An elderly woman exclaimed loudly from the doorway after Dollany had presented us. From behind her, a young boy of about twelve peered out. He was extremely pale and frail looking for his age, and I mentally congratulated myself over how fortunate I had been with my selection.
I can play into that; invent a deceased sibling of my own, and ellicit more sympathy. Actually, I can appropriate parts of my lady¡¯s life story.
Particularly the parts about Lady Rosial being stolen away. It was best to base lies on truth, after all. Even if the party lied to had no way of investigating, it was easier for the liar to remain consistent.
¡°Mom, let us in; I found her on my way back from the manor. I think she was assaulted.¡±
Her mom gave a sharp nod, ¡°Well, get inside. I¡¯ll add more broth to the soup. Emmet, go make a nest in the storeroom.¡± The boy nodded and darted off. Despite his appearance, he still had a decent amount of energy, ¡°Now, while the boy¡¯s gone, let¡¯s get you out of those clothes and into something warm.¡±
¡°Mom¡± moved to untie the back of my dress, but I twisted slightly and blocked her; under my newly minted rags, I still had all of my weapons and my Shadow Suit. That was why I had planted the idea that I had been assaulted; it would make it more easily accepted when I refused to be disrobed. ¡°Mom¡± shared a look with Dollany, and both of them turned grim. That said, the attempts to undress me ceased.
¡°I¡¯ll get a sponge bath ready; you should at least clean your face before eating.¡± ¡°Mom¡± said, and busied herself.
Dollany put her hand on my back and rubbed it in what was intended to be a reassuring manner, but was mostly just a bit awkward; lack of personal interaction would do that. Still, I made a point of leaning into it slightly, the idea being to make her think it was comforting to me.
Just like that, my infiltration was successful, though exhausting. The ¡°nest¡± Emmet had prepared for me seemed to be constructed out of sacks filled with straw, though a sneaky glance into the home¡¯s single shared bedroom revealed that this was identical to the bedding used by the family. My minor complaints aside, it was comfortable enough for my exhausted body to fall asleep. That night, I had the same dream as I always did.
¡°Jacqueline, wake up!¡± A woman older than me called out, and a hand shook my shoulder, ¡°Stali has been up for a while, and is helping mother with breakfast. What kind of older sister are you?¡±
My eyes drifted open lazily in the warm morning light, ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure she has it well in hand.¡±
The face of our older sister peered down at me, framed by the light, ¡°So? You¡¯re her older sister, you shouldn¡¯t be sleeping longer than her; it¡¯s you¡¯re job to be the one she leans on you know.¡±
I moved to the kitchen, where Stahlia was making flat cake with our mother. Seeing them, I froze; our mother had a terrifying appearance. Her whole outline was distorted and hazy, as though made of mist. Her face was formless and blank, with only two black orbs floating where her eyes should be and a thin slit-like mouth spread in a grin.
In a panic, I reached out to grab Stahlia, to get her away from the monster, but I couldn¡¯t reach her. My hand passed through empty space, grasping vainly at the receding visage. I whirled around, intent on calling to our older sister for help.
¡°-!¡± Only to realize that I couldn¡¯t recall her name. I knew she was our sister, but I couldn¡¯t remember what to call her¡
Then, everything was gone, and I was stuck in a black void of nothing, alone with my own senses, and nothing but a mind of swirling confused thoughts to keep me company.
My eyes snapped open to see a dark unfamiliar ceiling. I sat up, and felt my back creak from the unfamiliar bedding. A few scraps of straw clinging to the sweat that lay thick on my back and neck, quickly drying in the cool morning air.
Every time.
That was the worst part about having to sleep so often now; that dream. Or more accurately, that nightmare. It always came without fail. Though in this particular instance, it would help my cover story. That didn¡¯t make it any more welcome.
7-21: J4: An Unassuming Maid, Again II
I woke up with a jolt; sleeping so long and deeply was still very uncomfortable. More uncomfortable, though, was the hand that had jolted me awake. Sleep dulled my senses, and I was slow to respond. Fortunate for the hand since that torpor saved the girl¡¯s life.
¡°Are you alright?¡±
Right, she isn¡¯t a threat to me.
I pulled my hand back and away from the knife that I had hidden the night before. Had Dollany seen it? My brain was slowly coming back to full functionality. In reality, it only took a few minutes to wake up fully, far better than most people. But those few minutes were agony as all I could do during that time was wait.
¡°...Yea, is something wrong?¡± Talking when my brain wasn¡¯t fully operational was risky; it would be effortless to say something that I should not. To betray information or to somehow alert to my ruse. But not talking would only engender suspicion of a different variety.
Dollany needed to believe that I was still functional. Damaged, but still able to work. Carrying baggage, but not so heavy as to make life impossible.
¡°You were whimpering in your sleep.¡± She fixed me with a look. Not accusing, but sympathetic.
That nine times damned dream.
Even after waking up, I could remember it, at least for a few hours. By the time I went to bed again, the details would invariably be faded, but it was always the same. Of that, I was sure.
¡°Was I¡? I don¡¯t remember much.¡± For now, it was best to deflect while alluding to something bigger.
Dollany bought my lie hook, line, and sinker, ¡°Well, if you ever want to talk about it¡¡±
Now would be the time to create some distance, and force her to cross the gap.
¡°Sorry, but, who are you exactly? I mean like, I am extremely grateful for everything, but I don¡¯t really¡¡±
She looked hurt for a moment, but that quickly faded into a rueful smirk, ¡°Right, we didn¡¯t meet under the best circumstances, huh?¡± Dollany extended her hand in an exaggerated mockery of what a noblewoman might, then tilted her head to look down her nose at me in a mockery of the same, ¡°I am Dollany, daughter of Hilgan. I am honored to make your acquaintance.¡±
Pretending to be swayed by her insulting mannerisms, I adopted a false grin and grasped the offered hand, ¡°My name is Delilah, I¡¯m¡ well, I don¡¯t really know who my mother was, which is loosely connected to how you found me¡ I don¡¯t really want to talk about it.¡± Then, before she had a chance to pressure me, or to drive the conversation in a way I didn¡¯t want it to go, I took charge, ¡°But, that¡¯s just me; an unfortunate existence with no luck, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why were you there? Not that I¡¯m ungrateful, just, you don¡¯t seem the kind of person to go to a place like that.¡±
Dollany nodded, ¡°Yea, that part of the city is pretty bad, though it''s not awful if you avoid going off the main thoroughfare and don¡¯t go near after dark. For me, it''s the only way to get home within any reasonable timeframe. ¡And, people know better than to mess with me anyway.¡±
Because your work clothes mark you as someone from the chair¡¯s estate.
But it wasn¡¯t enough for me to know that; I needed Dollany to tell me, to open the door to further questions.
She¡¯s been pretty easy to lead and manipulate so far, just a bit more guidance should get me what I need.
¡°Oh? You must be pretty strong then. Must be nice, to be able to defend yourself.¡±
She shook her head and waved her hands in an emphatic ¡°no,¡± ¡°No, not like that! Gods, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d even know which end of a sword to hold! No, I work for Chair Zesten as one of his estate¡¯s maid staff. Money, dirty or not, can get you a lot in this city, but everyone knows not to cross the chair.¡±
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¡And she just went and said it. Well, I suppose that is common knowledge based on her clothes, so no reason for her to hide it. Still, that was too easy.
¡°Wait, you work for the chair!?¡± I feigned surprise.
Dollany pulled back slightly, the vigor of my response seeming to have made her withdraw, ¡°...Yea, I do. It isn¡¯t all that glamorous though, just another job.¡±
¡°But, you just told me it wasn¡¯t? Like, you can go out in the city and be safe¡¡±
¡°Really, it isn¡¯t all that, I mean, yea, there are perks, but at the end of the day, I¡¯m just a servant. If someone does decide they don¡¯t care about crossing the chair, I don¡¯t actually have anything protecting me. I have no real authority, and they don¡¯t provide me any magic tools or combat training; only the soldiers get that stuff.¡±
I suppressed a grin; that last bit had been the first bit of real intel Dollany had given me.
So I only really need to worry about the soldiers and guards; there shouldn¡¯t be any surprises coming from the serving staff.
Zesten could always have a secret order like Drakas¡¯ Shadows, with agents hidden among the servants, but I thought that rather doubtful.
¡°Well, at least you can generally feel safe walking home at night.¡± Pulling up my knees to my chin, I wrapped my arms around my legs.
Dollany realized what she had been implying just now, who she was saying what to, and quickly began to backpedal, stumbling over herself as she went, ¡°Well that''s¡ I mean, in your situation, I didn¡¯t¡ No, it isn¡¯t like that, just that¡¡±
I grinned, a rare genuine one. I didn¡¯t derive any enjoyment from manipulating people like this, but her pure innocent reaction was infectiously sweet. Besides, it was time to throw her a bit of a bone and let up the pressure.
¡°It¡¯s fine; I know what you meant; I¡¯m just a bit bitter after everything. Besides, it isn¡¯t like anyone is particularly safe at the moment, what with the Drakans on our doorstep¡ Is, is the chair going to do anything?¡±
Dollany trailed off from her sputtering, ¡°...I wouldn¡¯t know; I don¡¯t serve him directly, just clean things and occasionally bring the soldiers their food rations.¡±
¡°Well, that¡¯s something. Did the soldiers seem at all concerned?¡±
¡°Ha!¡± She laughed dryly, ¡°After seeing a spell like that? Of course they¡¯re concerned! Was it true? That the Queen was the only one casting?¡±
¡°...I don¡¯t know, I only saw the lights shining over the wall.¡±
Was that a spark of hope I saw just now?
Two significant bits of information had been gleaned just now, though neither was relevant to my mission at hand. The first was about the culture of the city; the establishment had failed to control the narrative. It would be very easy to deny that a single mage had cast such a massive spell; simply say that all the mages in our force had pooled their mana. That would be far more believable to even a layperson, and would naturally quash rumors that my lady had been the only one. The fact that the truth had made it off the wall and into the public consciousness, even as a rumor, and was even being entertained as a possibility¡ It indicated a fairly deep distrust of the chair.
The second thing had been about Dollany herself; she hadn¡¯t seemed afraid or surprised, or really anything else that one might expect. Instead, when asking about the casting, she had seemed¡ excited. It was possible she might have a few grudges of her own, or perhaps an interest in magic theory, or she might fancy tales of adventure. Regardless, if I could put a finger on it, I could leverage it.
Regarding the first, it was possible that the rumor was only circulating the Estate, but my lady had told Emmanuel to win over the people. Spreading the truth would be a great way to go about that, especially if the truth made the establishment look bad.
But none of that falls within the scope of my mission. For now, I need to continue gathering information.
Grrrr! my stomach announced itself, interjecting into my plans.
Dollany looked down at it and grinned, ¡°You did sleep for a while, come on and get up; it''s almost mid-morning.
I lost so much time!
I climbed quickly out of bed, taking care to keep various things hidden. Regardless of my ongoing struggles with sleep, I did need to eat something. Dollany led me into the kitchen, which was devoid of anyone else, and began setting out a table spread for two.
¡°Mom is going to market before this war drives prices up too high, and Emmet has his apprenticeship still, so it¡¯s just the two of us.¡±
I nodded absentmindedly and took a seat. Dollanyh finished her preparations, then sat down opposite of me, ¡°Nothing fancy, but it will give you some energy back.¡±
After taking a moment to thank her, I started to eat the flat cakes without pretending to hold back. I needed the food, and appearing hungry would help things along.
Now I need to learn where things are in the manor house, and what the chair¡¯s schedule is. How to lead the conversation there though?
After a moment¡¯s consideration, I decided to start prodding at Dollany¡¯s earlier revelation, ¡°Do you like magic?¡±
7-21: J4: An Unassuming Maid, Again II, II
Two nights later, the day of assassins.
As it turned out, Dollany did not have any particular interest nor inclination toward magic. Nor was she secretly sympathetic to the Drakan cause. Further still, none of my other theories proved to be the case; she was simply wondering at what was presently the current thing. Perhaps my perceptions had become a bit skewed by all of the fantastical people who worked for my lady, to say nothing of my lady herself.
At the very least, I should make sure to avoid causing Dollany undue harm or hardship, it would make my lady quite sad. What¡¯s more, her innocence seems to be affecting me a bit.
Earnest. That was the best word for Dollany. Earnest, like a puppy. Or perhaps a small spider, alone in its web.
Though, in this analogy, is it better to call her the grasshopper, unwittingly flying into a trap? other than loneliness, I certainly am the more spider-like.
Certainly, she could not be trusted and definitely, not brought with us. But after everything she had done for me the past two days, wittingly or not, I did not think she deserved to be silenced. That already was a great departure from how I might have thought only a year ago and was not entirely comfortable for me. Especially given what I was about to do.
That is to say, I was about to murder Dollany¡¯s boss. My lady was currently creating a distraction, though what that was I did not know. What I did know was that the personnel of the estate was currently running around frantically, with seemingly very little guidance. Even without my skill and talent-bolstered stealth, I would likely have been able to find my way back into the manor easily.
I shouldn¡¯t be surprised that whatever plan she came up with worked this well. Hells, she¡¯ll probably also manage to do it without anyone dying either.
It was not lost on me that the only reason two days and nights had been specified was to give Emmanuel a chance to win the people''s hearts and to foment some public sentiment in support of overthrowing the current leader. My mission would have been far easier if I had simply killed Chair Zesten immediately upon spiriting myself into the estate instead of first bonding with Dollany.
I slipped out of my alcove and began power-walking through the rooms toward the chair¡¯s study; with all of the chaos, there was no need for me to actually go through the motions of sneaking. My skills and Talents would suffice. Dollany had, with some light guidance, described the location of my target in detail. Of course, in her mind, she had only been waxing breathlessly about how beautiful she thought the entrance was. Regardless of her intentions, she had been most helpful.
Now then, it should be just through here¡
I walked boldly past a soldier going in the opposite direction and passed over one more threshold. This brought me into a bedroom with a large canopy bed whose silk sheets lay in disheveled heaps on the floor. There were no other personnel present, but neither was my target. That being said, he should be in the next room; his study, which was adjoined to the bedroom.
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Though his being in the study was only a guess on my part, based partially on stories extracted from my unwitting informant. Given the ongoing activities, it was possible that Chair Zesten had scampered off into some other hole somewhere. The entrance which Dollany had described in so much detail was located in the large decorative fireplace on the far side from the bed. What kind of eccentric would use a hidden door for something so commonly used as a study was beyond me, but it was also beyond my concern.
I should also thank whatever maid was showing Dollany around places she herself wasn¡¯t supposed to go.
So resolved, I cast about the emplacement in search of the mechanism. Familiar with constructions like this, it did not take me too long to find it. The fireplace itself was large; just the burn chamber was big enough that I could walk through it without crouching or bending over. That was my first clue, as it made the location of the door itself rather obvious.
The second clue came in the form of the engravings adorning the frame. What at first glance had seemed to be errant linework and eclectic patterns of flowing water resolved themselves to be a number of nude female figures in various poses. Despite the remarkable flexibility, there was not much else of note to them. Their presence did shed some light on why my target might have favored placing this in his quarters, though not why it was being used as a door.
Regardless, it was these women that keyed me in as to the location of the switch; they were all looking in the same direction, at the same corner of the structure. I hovered my hand over the corner and took a deep breath to clear my mind; once this door opened, my presence would be immediately given away. Unfortunately, I was unaware of any alternative routes into the study proper, despite having spent a bit of time probing the subject.
I exhaled, and pressed the button. A moment later, the door swung open with a soft click. From inside the room, a man¡¯s voice called out in a resigned manner, ¡°Yes, what now? I thought I told you not to come back without news, and it hasn¡¯t been that long.¡±
He must think I¡¯m that soldier from a moment ago.
¡°...Hello?¡± He called out again, a bit unsure after not receiving an immediate answer.
Just because he knew I was here didn¡¯t mean he could see me. In a way, it was kind of similar to Eris¡¯ ability, an observation I found sickening. Not that I was going to dwell on it, or give him any time to realize the danger he was in. In three bold strides, the distance weas closed, and my blade was buried in Chair Zesten¡¯s neck. Unlike his son, he was a small man with a few small rolls; he died quickly, and without making any sounds. For the sake of Emmanuel and my lady¡¯s alliance, I did my best in that regard.
No Grave Oil, and a single clean strike. His death was painless.
With my mission accomplished, it was time to withdraw and rejoin my lady¡¯s side.
It was only by chance that I noticed it. As I was turning to leave, an inkwell rolling across the table and onto the floor made a sound, and I spun around. There was nobody there of course, but that didn¡¯t mean I was alone.
Eris.
There was, after all, no way I had disturbed that inkwell in my strike. Then I saw what it had come to rest on; a small sheaf of papers. Warily, I picked it up, and read the single line on the first one.
¡°To Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris. From Fourth Seat, Queen of Envy Leviathan. Via Eris and with the assistance of ¡®Delilah¡¯ and Dollany.¡±
That one line informed me that, contrary to getting lucky, Eris had been watching my every move since I arrived. And I had been allowed to carry them out, acting as I pleased.
We played right into their hands.
My lady would need to see this letter, even if that was clearly what our enemy wanted. I clutched it close to my chest, and made my way back to my lady¡¯s side.
7-22 Siege Final
Stahlia, 17 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
The past two days and nights had been my own personal hell. Casting such a massive spell after hyper dosing my mana, only to fall into a pseudo-coma just to wake up and do it again was the main reason. The second reason was Eris. Or more specifically, her nature as a sword of damocles hanging over me at all times. It was the truth that she could walk right into the camp and kill me while I was sleeping. None of the knights or other soldiers would even remember her passing.
But that wasn¡¯t what concerned me; were she that capable, it was quite possible she would have done it already. I had Franklin to thank for that; he had been watching over my quarters while I was resting, by virtue of being the only one in our party who could contend with her ability. Likewise, he took his own rest during the day while I returned the favor in between dosing myself.
No, the reason Eris weighed so heavy in my mind, was because Jacqueline was presently in the palm of her hand. There was no world where Eris did not know Jacqueline had entered the city. That she would do nothing was my gamble.
I gambled Jacqueline¡¯s life on a hunch, and it¡¯s about to pay off. Even if she dies, it will still work out, I¡¯ll just kill Chair Zesten myself when we get to the estate grounds. What does that say about me?
Jacqueline had been willing to go. She had already known about Eris¡¯ abilities when she told me that the mission was possible. But that did not change the fact that I had given the order. In terms off chess, I had left my bishop exposed. Bishop, because compared to my own abilities, Jacqueline was not the Queen¡
No, that analogy sort of breaks down given the pieces in play...
Gods, now I was considering people as pieces.
No matter. For good or for ill, this ends today.
¡°And you are certain there will be no resistance?¡± I asked Emmanuel, who had slipped out of the city once more. Considering his enormous size, the fact that he was getting in and out so easily was rather impressive in its own right.
His eyes darted away, not unlike a child who had been caught in a lie. I narrowed my own, and locked them on him while stretching to my full height. He still loomed over me.
¡°Explain.¡± I demanded.
¡°Well, in my defence, such a request is impossible. My father will always have loyalists. The fact that I¡¯ve managed as much as I have in just two days, while still keeping you informed personally is already-¡±
¡°Enough.¡± I cut him off, ¡°I do not recall asking you to personally make a daily report to me. In fact, I believe I did not so much as request that you do anything more than spread stories and drum up public support. Yet now you appear before me, and inform me that you have arranged for the gates to open this evening and for a military coup d¡¯etat? Frankly, you are absurd.¡±
Emmanuel hung his head. Considering the difference in our stature, the sight must have been rather surreal; an apparent giant being cowed by a halfling almost. I turned my probing eyes to Lord Alriss, ¡°Lord Alriss, how difficult will it be to capitalize on this? I would not be so bold as to suggest we continue to strive for bloodless victory.¡±
Lord Alriss was looking off into the distance, his own face betraying signs of exhaustion. No doubt, keeping things running without anyone to help him was tiring, but there was little I could do to help that; if I neglected casting that spell, we would all die. Well, I could manage, as would anybody close enough to me. But the vast majority of my pocket army would perish.
At the sound of my voice calling his name, he shook his head, ¡°My apologies, your majesty. I was lost in thought¡.¡± He glanced musingly at Emmanuel, then continued, ¡°As to how difficult it would be, it would be extremely straightforward. Merely a case of informing the men to their new orders, then drawing up the formations and a plan of how to advance through the city. All things considered, it would be textbook warfare. Compared to¡ No, forgive me. It is doable.¡±
¡°Then, those are your orders. Sasha.¡± My maid stepped forward, waiting to hear whatever my instruction would be, ¡°There will be no spell casting tonight. Please prepare remedies in place of the mana essence; I will need to get over my fatigue as quickly as possible.¡±
Lord Alriss and Sasha both bowed and curtsied respectively, then departed.
¡°Your majesty, if I may be so bold as to ask a question?¡± Emmanuel tentatively asked.
¡°You may, but be quick; you have your own preparations to attend to, no doubt.¡±
¡°Thank you, I have two. Firstly, what was your original plan? You gave your blade two days. No doubt, you were going to do something tonight regardless of my own accomplishments. Then, why are you granting me this favor of trust? I could easily not open the gates, and consign your men to the wind.¡±
¡°You mean, why do I not prepare to cast the spell again regardless? Because I dislike it, and if you betray me I will still survive. From there, I will simply enter the city and exterminate the demons and all of their allies personally. To the first question, I was going to break your wall, leaving the city exposed. Now, leave me to my work, and see to your own.¡±
Emmanuel, to his credit, was smart enough not to question me.
Well, I would cast the spell again if you betrayed me; though it would cause me a lot more harm to spike that quickly, I could still do it. If I fall into a proper coma as a result, the men can always fall back. But what I told him sounds better, and after what he¡¯s seen me do, he should think I¡¯m more than capable of it.
Evening of the Final Siege
That evening found me standing on top of my carriage, just outside of the effective range of any would-be archery heroes. Of course, larger projectiles, such as stones or ballistae, could still strike me here, but we would be able to see them preparing to fire.
Besides, I could always block a few of those myself or simply dodge them. Now then, it should be any moment.
The city¡¯s defenders were rather slow to respond but were now beginning to spill out onto the wall. In their defense, we had been camped outside for three days now without actually trying anything; it was believable that they might have become a bit complacent. That said, if Emmanuel did not act soon, things could become rather sticky.
¡°Lord Alriss?¡± I queried my general, who was standing to my immediate left, my carriage providing the best vantage point from which to overlook the assembled forces.
¡°The men grow restless, but their hearts are brave.¡±
¡°I see.¡±
I did not see. Regardless of what he meant in that cryptic statement, it was clear that he did not think there was any issue. A moment later, a horn sounded from the city, cutting off my retort to Lord Alriss.
Pandemonium. That was the best way to describe what I beheld. Upon the ramparts, entire groups of men turned on their commanders. Or in some cases, a majority overwhelmed a minority. Regardless, it was clear that Emmanuel had made his move. What¡¯s more, it seemed that my wishes were being honored to an extent; from what I could tell at distance, the rebels were favoring incapacitating their officers rather than killing them outright.
That was not to say no blood was shed; in several areas, the officer broke away and was cut down. In others, where Emmanuel did not have the total loyalty of the squad, the infighting was causing injuries and, in rare cases, deaths. Still, it was a remarkable degree of restraint on the part of his forces. In only a matter of minutes, the wall had fallen to rebel control, and the forces there began to open the gate.
¡°Steady men!¡± Alriss shouted an order, ¡°Your majesty, how does it look?¡±
Lord Alriss did not have any similar ability to my divine eyes, so I answered him without fuss; intelligence was the winner of wars, ¡°They have secured the wall. I cannot see past that, but it does not appear like the defenders have realized just yet.¡±
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¡°Then we have some time¡¡± He waited until the gate was fully open and then gave the order, ¡°Forward march!¡±
The magically projected voice reverberated across the impromptu assembly field, and our men began to move as one. They did not cheer, chant, or vocalize in any way, other than the officers reiterating the order to advance. We were not here to sack the city, and such shouts would only serve to intimidate the population. Better to be the model of order.
Still, he really managed all of this? In three days? I was expecting a small group of elite soldiers to take and hold the gate mechanism. Not for the entire wall to fall¡
Something wasn¡¯t right, but for some reason, it did not feel like a trap.
¡°Lord Alriss, a small change of plans; once through the gates, Franklin and I are going ahead.¡±
This would be only a small departure, and my presence was not strictly required with the soldiers.
¡°Your majesty with all due respect, I would request that you not.¡± Lord Alriss seemed to disagree, and enough to where he was willing to directly inform me of the fact.
¡°And why is that? What purpose does my presence serve here?¡±
Fundamentally, I already knew this; it was extremely obvious after all. I was meant to be visible, plain and simple. The citizens would see the foreign queen coming through their city confidently, and the aura I was projecting would help to defuse any situations before they might arise. It was a pitiful use of my abilities.
¡°Other than the impact you have over the men, your presence is integral to keep things from devolving into naked resistance; by seeing your majesty escorted through their city by their own soldiers, the commoners will assume the city has been surrendered. It will add legitimacy to the coup faction, and aid in Lord Emmanuel¡¯s takeover. If your majesty departs now, we will have a greatly increased likelihood of encountering domestic resistance.¡±
Though he kept himself polite and respectful, there was something underlying to his tone; it sounded as though he was a bit¡ upset? Perhaps tired, at the notion of explaining this to me. It was quite unlike the Lord Alriss I had grown accustomed to.
Ah, no. It makes perfect sense, I¡¯m acting like one of those people.
After all, I had given him military control, but this marked the third time one of my whims resulted in the plan changing. After the ¡°nobody can die¡± and then the ¡°we side with Emmanuel,¡± I was once again planning to go off on my own, for my own reasons. Even if the reasons were good ones, it was not the way a good monarch should act. At the very least, good was not the same as good enough in this case.
¡°My apologies, Lord Alriss. It seems I have overlooked myself and put you out of place; Franklin and I will remain here, and keep to the plan as you have constructed.¡±
He bowed his head, ¡°Thank you.¡±
I settled in; it was going to be a long day. On the brightside, Jacqueline should be coming back at some point during it. That in and of itself would go a long way to easing the tension I was feeling.
Why do I do this to myself? Three days of messing with my mana, sending Jacqueline into such a dangerous place, the ongoing silence of Felicity¡ I¡¯ve been piling on stress like I have a death wish. At this rate, my hair will be gray by the time I get back to Drakas.
The city itself was¡ surprising. When I infiltrated it in my disguise some days ago, people had been tense and wary. But there had still been people going about their lives and business. Now, the streets were quiet. There were no people about and not even the cliche barking of dogs to disturb the silence. Considering the time was just after sunset now, there should have been someone about.
¡°Mind the buildings; keep a watch on your backs.¡± Lord Alriss whispered an order to one of the nearby runners, and said words quickly disseminated through the ranks.
He feels it too. Something is wrong here.
My carriage began rolling forward once more, and we worked our way up the main thoroughfare toward the Chair¡¯s estate. Like previously, we continued to meet no resistance whatsoever.
¡°Lord Alriss, please inquire as to Emmanuel¡¯s location; he is either the most successful infiltrant, or there is something very wrong here.¡±
Instead of attempting to dissuade me this time, Lord Alriss merely dipped his head, ¡°I have men looking for him already; his own say he is with his father¡ Your majesty, I would like to breach the houses ahead before we pass.¡±
It took me a moment, but I realized why he was asking permission before giving the order; breaching the residences ran the risk of escalating things into a full-scale conflict with the people. It was entirely possible that they were simply laying low; Emmanuel could have instructed them not to interfere but were that the case, he would have told us before the attack.
¡°I trust your judgment.¡± If Lord Alriss believed it to be necessary, then in matters of military strategy, I would default to him.
We halted, and several small groups of men separated to move through the structures. Evidently, Emmanuel¡¯s men had at some point fallen under Lord Alriss¡¯ command, as each of our squads was accompanied by one of theirs. This left the wall rather undefended, but considering the attackers were already inside that was not likely to become an issue.
The buildings themselves were tall. Lord Alriss had called them ¡°houses,¡± but ¡°apartments¡± might have been a more accurate description. At five stories, they were the second largest structures I had actually seen in this world, behind only the Royal Palace. The first floors looked to be comprised of various shops and businesses, whilst the second and up were clearly residences; they had clothes-lines and such running across the street, affixed to windows, and a few flower displays at the higher levels.
¡°Then, are you fearing an ambush?¡± It was the only reason Lord Alriss would have taken this course of action, at least as far as I could fathom.
He nodded solemnly, ¡°Yes; it is too quiet. If Lord Emmanuel had actually succeeded in wholly winning over the people, they would have joined our procession. Since that hasn¡¯t happened¡¡±
A deafening crash interrupted him, and my head jerked around, focusing on the source. One of the buildings ahead had seemingly imploded on itself leaving behind a column of smoke and dust. A moment later, a dull rumble resonated down the street, and a gout of fire erupted from all of the windows of another. Even from this distance, I Could feel the heat slightly on my skin.
Those men are dead¡
¡°Your Majesty!¡± At Lord Alriss¡¯ shout, I snapped back to the present. Just in time, as I felt my mana drain slightly; my barriers had blocked something.
Locating the source, I saw yet another one of the buildings, this one closer to us. There were archers on the roof. Archers wearing the strange not-armor of the city¡¯s elite guards. I smiled grimly.
An ambush. That armor¡ So these would be the ones who have parasites. Jacqueline¡ No, there¡¯s not time.
¡°Lord Alriss, it seems we have our answer. Your orders?¡±
He gave me a blank look for half a second, before grimacing, ¡°Your majesty¡ please, cover the men while we regroup.¡±
I nodded and fixed my eyes on the rooftop.
There might be civilians up there.
That would complicate things; knocking the attackers off the roof would be easy, but I needed to avoid harming any innocents as much as possible. Going up personally was not an option; it would take me time to clear each roof. Time that would leave my own men exposed.
I really was a fool, demanding that they not kill anyone.
When confronted by the problem first hand I became intimately aware of the scale of the headache I had given my commander. There was one difference though; while a normal person might find the task impossible, I wasn¡¯t normal. Rather than impossible, to me it was merely irritatingly inconvenient.
¡°Sasha, please prepare a recovery potion.¡± That order given, I closed my eyes and dropped into myself.
Entering my own little inner world was the best way to think quickly, though I hadn¡¯t actually gone anywhere; I was just ignoring everything going on around me, trusting in the combination of my barrier, Franklin, and Lord Alriss to keep my body safe. The fastest way to clear that roof would be to drop a giant fireball on it. The problem with that, was the possibility of civilian casualties, and the risk of burning the building down after. Both of those could be deemed ¡°acceptable,¡± but I was not willing to compromise with myself.
I need a new spell, or a permutation of the existing ones I know. The later will be faster, but messier. ¡I was hoping to avoid chugging mana pots today, but I guess I¡¯ll have to deal with it. That aside, I can also continue to refine the grammar as I go¡
For the spell, I selected the basic Fireball and began to incant it while carefully changing words as I went, adjusting things to fit the task at hand.
¡°O Fire, form a giant ball above my hand, five meters across. Fly up, explode, rain your cleansing heat upon my enemies. Burn not the wood nor stone, but rend flesh from bone, those that bear the symbol of this place. [Conflagarating Fireball]¡±
I finished the chant, and a massive golden fireball formed above my head loosely centered over my outstretched hand. Immediately, I felt my mana decrease by an absurd amount. Considering the degree of specificity¡ I was a bit surprised that it was so little.
I can probably do that three more times. The expensive part is most likely excluding the building and targeting only the people who ¡®bear the mark of this city,¡¯ the former is too specific, and the latter is too vague.
Targeting only my enemies was a possibility, but that would potentially risk harming civillians who harbored ill feeling toward me, and was possibly even more expensive. At the very least, it would need Divine Element as well as Fire, or possibly Light Element; something to enable the spell to read people¡¯s emotional state¡
I shook my head sadly; even in the middle of this, magic theory was still causing me to become distracted.
I¡¯m about to kill a lot of people, huh?
I tossed my hand, which caused the ball to begin moving skyward. A moment later, it exploded over the roof with the accompanying symphony of panicked shouting, then screams as hell rained down. Then, there was silence, at least from that rooftop. I poured mana into my ears, heightening that sense while trying to drown out the surrounding noise. Thankfully, the sound of sobbing floated down to me from that same building, near the roof. There had been people up there, and my spell had spared their bodies.
I¡¯ll have to arrange some form of mental care for them though¡ Emmanuel can do that, as penance for not warning us about this.
I turned my attention to the next building, ¡°O Fire, form a giant ball above my hand¡¡±
7-23 Take the City
Sasha passed me yet another mana potion, and I accepted it gratefully. How many was this now? Six? Seven? Too many. In small quantities, they were a useful aid and could bridge the gap between periods of rest. But combined with my dosing the days prior, I was beginning to hurt. It was like I had consumed too many energy drinks without eating; my knees were starting to feel funny, and my stomach was churning.
¡°...Thank you.¡± It was important to hide that fact, though; the men with me, and Sasha as well, they could not be allowed to see that I was beginning to falter.
¡°Your majesty, the far building. The one with the pagoda structure on its roof.¡± Lord Alris gave me my next target, his voice was stony and a bit cold.
He had to know what was going on with me of all people. He had far too much experience not to know about the side effects of mana potions.
For that part, Sasha definitely knows as well.
And yet, neither of them was saying anything to me. Neither of them was attempting to stop what I was doing.
I took a long, hard look at the specified rooftop, then at the back of Emmanuel¡¯s head. This wasn¡¯t a trap, of that I was certain. If it was, then it had been horribly ineffective. There was also the fact that his men were fighting hand in hand with Drakan soldiers and knights as we made our slow crawl up the city¡¯s many winding streets. My carriage had been long abandoned at this point, its defensive charms and implements now replaced by a cadre of mages from the knight core. It had been too big of a target, and the constant assault upon us had threatened death by a thousand cuts.
No, we were bogged down in urban warfare, moving from building to building. Any civilians unlucky enough to cross our path beat a hasty retreat, or fell in behind us; none were resisting, and most seemed glad to see Emmanuel. It begged the question of what he had said in these past few days, what had gone on to elicit such a response. The only resistance came from the numerous personal guards who worked directly for Emmanuel¡¯s father, the Chair of the city.
In other words, we were only fighting the people who were most likely to have a demonic parasite. Regardless of the case, I didn¡¯t have time to waste; the more I delayed, the longer it would take to reach the Estate. As it was, we had already lost more time than I would have liked to.
Well, let¡¯s do this then.
I took sight of the building. Like many others before it, there were a number of enemies using it as cover. Like the others, there were probably civilians there being used as human shields. That said, my foe was not so cooperative. While effective, my magic was flashy, and that meant it was easily seen from other structures. The fireball had only worked thrice before our foes stopped lingering on the roofs. Instead, they had begun taking shots from windows and moving after only a couple. That meant I had to change spells.
My advantages over the average mage were many, but versatility was the greatest of these. While I still memorized incantations and even used the rote norm from time to time, in battle my ability to modify chants or even make new ones was paramount to my performance. At least in this battle.
¡°O wind, this pillar of wood and stone conceals those who bear the mark of my foe, collapse and gust around them. For three minutes, shift around and deprive them of your life-giving splendor. If any should seek to harm another, erect a sturdy wall of safety. [Wind spell number two].¡±
I had defaulted to naming my impromptu spells in English, and had ceased putting any effort at all into it. Over the past two hours, I had come up with nine progressively more creative ways of clearing a building of hostels. Naming each and every one of them was liable to make my head explode, especially with how drawn out I was. The most recent spell was one I was actually quite pleased with, and one I could hopefully use for a bit longer then the others.
Since it used Wind Element magic, it was largely invisible. It defined the whole building as a target, which meant it was a bit more expensive, but the actual effect was rather subtle. That combination caused the mana cost to balance out to be more reasonably achievable. As to that effect, the spell had two components. First, it drew the air away from my defined targets, thus suffocating them. Second, if my targets sought to lash out, a barrier would form around them to deflect the attack and shield their target.
¡°Your Majesty¡?¡± Of course, Lord Alriss could not see the effect of the spell either.
Casting about my gaze, I selected a suitable spot on the side of a wall and collapsed into a small heap, ¡°Give it a minute or two, then have men sweep the building. The aggressors should all be dead.¡±
I noted Sasha¡¯s disapproval of my actions, and she was correct. But only those mages charged with my protection, Lord Alriss, Franklin, Taya, and herself, were here at the moment. Nobody who was untrustworthy; the story would not spread, and I needed a moment to recuperate. Lord Alriss made a point of not looking directly at me.
¡°As you command, Sir Franklin, please make the arrangements.¡±
Over the course of this campaign, my opinion of Franklin changed considerably. For the first couple of exterminations, he had been lukewarm and had balked at the scale of the destruction I wrought. Now, he had grown accustomed and was even going into battle. Though he had yet to personally wet his blade, what was most important was that the proclaimed Champion of Summer was seen aiding the Drakans. Lord Alriss¡¯ opinion as well, it seemed; the two had grown quickly close, but it was to the point where he was now delegating missions to my old friend.
Sasha reached into one of her pockets and produced a small cooking set. It was something I had never noticed before, but it did explain a lot; her uniform was actually an enchanted magic tool in its own right, with space-warping properties. Nothing like a bag of holding, and really nothing super expansive in any definition. But her pockets were ever so slightly bigger on the inside, and the weight of their contents reduced. It was an advantageous property for a maid, but I suspected that it likely cost a fortune.
If I was less exhausted, I would make a mental note to look into it if I ever happen to find the time; I could stand to put that on my combat dresses, to carry more daggers and other things¡
Of course for me, it was a moot point; my Blood MAgic enhancements meant that I could already carry a lot of extra weight. It would probably be more practical to simply hide the extra weapons on my person than put them in a big pocket. That would leave enchantment potential for the various other things I had grown accustomed to¡
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¡°...Your majesty¡¡± A voice I¡¯d not expected to hear addressing me directly spoke from right above me; Taya.
My head jolted up, and I winced as the light from a nearby window illuminated her in a halo-like silhouette. It was night by this point after all, and my eyes had grown adjusted to the dim brightness of the city, so looking directly at a light source was a tiny bit painful. Or maybe that was just another symptom of my exhaustion.
¡°My apologies,¡± I quickly straightened myself out, ¡°What can I do for you, a member of the Champion of Summer¡¯s party?¡±
Taya grimaced, ¡°For starters, you could just call me Taya, or commoner, or whatever. Anything but that long title. But, that aside, I wanted to apologize; I was definitely wrong.¡±
I blinked, ¡°...Miss Taya, then. I am afraid that I must apologize as well; I do not follow you at all.¡±
¡°Haaa¡ Look, I know a bit about magic, not a lot, but it¡¯s pretty damn obvious that you¡¯re taking great care to hold back, and you¡¯re not doing it on account of what you told me you would. More like, you told me you would try to avoid casualties because you were already planning to do that. So, thanks, and sorry for doubting.¡± With that said, she backed off and moved out into the street proper; it was likely her intention to participate in the clearing with Franklin.
Well¡ That¡¯s nice.
Taya¡¯s opinions carried very little weight in my mind, and she was quite wrong about my intentions and reasoning; I was only holding back because I couldn¡¯t afford a war with the Alliance at this point, and things had already spiraled nearly out of control from my earlier actions. I could not afford to let events continue. The second reason was Franklin; I didn¡¯t want him to think of me as some bloodthirsty monster after only one battle. Especially when there would be many, many more; I needed him to be willing to work with me. If anything, my own conscience was only the smallest of factors, if it was a factor at all.
After a moment longer, I leaned forward and stood up. Or, rather, I tried to stand only to find my legs and balance weren¡¯t working properly. So as to avoid falling on my face I quickly through my weight behind me. My back against the wall, my lungs strained to catch air and, for the briefest moment, I considered that my spell might be targeting me for some reason. The errant thoughts of an exhausted mind were quickly dismissed.
The wall provided my salvation, as I was able to use it to support myself and drag my body up to my feet.
¡°Here, my lady, eat this please.¡± Sasha pressed a small bowl filled with a watery soup into my hands.
Without questioning it too much, I brought the bowl to my lips and took a sip of the broth. It lacked flavor, but the distinct warmth briefly spread through my limbs before fading back into that cool atrophy that accompanied extreme exhaustion.
¡°Slowly, mind.¡± I nodded to her warning and continued to sip the energizing liquid.
Eating will only forestall the effects in the end. We need to end this soon. I need to rest, find Jacqueline, deal with any remaining parasites, deal with Eris¡ Felicity, find the remaining champions there¡¯s just too much to do, and the war starts in just a handful of months.
Minutes passed, and before long, Franklin came back, together with Taya and a messenger. By now, I was sufficiently recovered to put on my act again, and so straightened my back. My mind was still frayed, but there wasn¡¯t anything I could do about that at this moment. Instead, I needed to remain strong.
¡°Report.¡± Lord Alriss commanded.
Franklin gave me a sidelong glance, then shook his head, ¡°The building is clear of enemies. Some very frightened civilians, but no collateral casualties.¡±
Thinking about it, maybe that spell isn¡¯t the best; watching someone suffocate to death is definitely traumatizing. Though, watching someone die in general is probably traumatizing as-is¡
¡°Then we advance.¡±
The command was given, and it quickly disseminated into the ranks before long, we were moving again. Miraculously, we made it two hundred meters before needing to once again halt. This time, it was a sort of squat building; a series of firebolts and ice spears had stormed out of the doorways and windows. It was far broader than the others so far and, at only two stories, far shorter.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps the enemy was hoping the extra floorspace would help to protect them. It would not.
¡°Sasha.¡± Sasha grimaced, but reached into one of her pockets nonetheless.
Lord Alriss held up his hand, ¡°Stand down. Your Majesty has pushed herself far enough; you need to rest for longer than you have, leave this one to the knights.¡±
¡°I will not. If I stop now, then the men will realize something is wrong. Worse, the demons. I cannot show weakness, not here¡¡± A sudden, sharp pain in my neck made my body and legs go all tingly, like I was being pricked by a thousand needles all over.
¡°No, Stahlia, you will rest; the demons have already given up the city, and Eris is gone.¡±
It was Jacqueline, and she had announced her return by delivering a disabling chop to the spot where my shoulder met my neck. Half in relief, and half from my now sluggish limbs, I collapsed once again. Only, this time, I was caught and gently lowered to the ground.
¡°Jacqueline. Then, your mission was a success?¡± As relieved as I was, I had to know.
She nodded, ¡°Yes. And I have more to report, but it can wait. I swear, you are most reckless when left unsupervised.¡±
Out of concern for her head, I surreptitiously looked at the others. Lord Arliss had turned completely away from me, and was making a show of studying a map of the city. Taya had blanched white and was tugging at Franklin¡¯s sleeve, trying to get him to leave with her. For his part, Franklin seemed to realize the implications and was shifting back and forth, trying to decide what to do, wether to stay or let Taya pull him away.
The real kicker was Sasha. As strict as she was, I might have expected her to try and enact justice herself. But even she had turned slightly to the side, and was not looking at me or Jacqueline.
Everyone is pretending not to see a thing¡
It spoke volumes to two things; their trust in Jacqueline to do me no harm, and the fact that my acting and ruses had not been nearly as effective as I¡¯d thought. Even with my [Acting V] Talent, I had not been able to hide my dwindling stamina. Then again, towards the end, I hadn¡¯t been really trying either.
¡°...If Chair Zestent is dead, then we can proceed into phase two. Lord Alriss, I will retire to a secure position and rest.¡±
¡°As you command.¡± Even now, he was not able to hide the relief that I was finally standing down.
Even after resolving to avoid causing him headaches, I still managed. Well, sorry about that.
¡°Jacqueline, while I know you are tired, I must impose on you for a bit longer; it is largely your own fault, but I cannot quite move my legs properly. Please, support me.¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
She helped me stand, but that caused its own problems. Probably, the realization that things were finally over had compounded with the building exhaustion and stress; I could feel the blood rushing from my headd, and my vision briefly turned black. That itself would normally have been fine, my sight would have returned soon enough and we could proceed. But after several seconds, I was still lightheaded and blind. Worse still, I could feel a familiar cold seeping into my bones.
I had really pushed things too far.
¡Not much¡time¡
¡°Jacqueline, Satha, I belief I¡¯m about to faint.¡±
No sooner had the words left my mouth, my lights went out. As it turned out, four days of non-stop mana potion usage was my hard limit. It would be nearly two days before I finally woke up again, finding myself in an unfamiliar room in the newly conquered estate.
7-24 Epilogue
7-E1: Felicity: Dreaming, Shortly after the Siege of Zesten.
The strange fox lady waved at Felicity again, both of her tails flitting to and fro curiously. Felicity had never seen another of her kind having two tails beside herself, and had even been a bit worried about it. But she would never say as much to Claire Oneesama or Stali Neechan; they would both be very concerned. But this fox lady had been appearing in her dreams ever since she ran to follow Stali Neechan.
And Stali Neechan was so mad at Felicity for that.
It had been kind of scary; Stali had never seemed quite that cross before, even if Claire Oneesama assured her that Felicity had done nothing wrong. But now, now Claire Oneesama was doing her best to keep Felicity safe, keep her asleep. That was fine; it gave Felicity more time to chase the Nibii fox.
As always, the fox lady moved away from Felicity, always dancing at arm''s reach. But eventually, Felicity would catch her, and force her to tell Felicity why she was appearing in Felicity¡¯s dreams. Rosial Imoutochan had taught Felicity lots of fun games for getting people to talk like the tickle game or the finger-pulling game.
¡°Hahaha! Can¡¯t catch me!¡±
That was strange; the fox lady never talked before, but now she was speaking to Felicity, taunting her in a melodic chanting tone. It made Felicity a tiny bit angry.
¡°Just you watch! Felicity will get you, and then you¡¯ll tell Felicity everything!¡±
Ok, perhaps she was furious. But, she did not understand quite why that was.
The fox lady leered at her for a moment, but she must have imagined that; a second later, the malevolent grin was replaced back with a pleasant, if taunting, smile.
¡°Well, I doubt both of those things, but come on, let¡¯s do this chase.¡± That said, the fox-lady turned and began to sprint, the moonlight reflecting off of her tails, giving them a silvery sheen. Always she ran first toward the forest and then cut left to go over the mountains.
Felicity snarled and gave chase, herself dropping onto all fours to run a bit faster. Rosial called it cheating, but Felicity figured since her adversary this time was also like her, it was fair. They continued to run, with Felicity never managing to gain ground except when she thought she might give up; then the fox lady would slow down, and let Felicity almost catch her. The scenery passed by at a speed only possible in a dream, though Felicity imagined that, were she to try very hard and become as good at magic as Stali Neechan, then maybe she could run this fast in the real world as well.
Up the mountains now, around a winding trail, dodging sheets of snow and ice; careful not to slip as had happened the first few times. Proof that if nothing else, the dream was something a bit more than a figment, if the recurrence night after night was not enough. Even if Felicity was not convinced that this was important, Claire Oneesama had thought it was.
As they neared the peak, the sun rose to meet them, its light forcing Felicity to squint from the dancing rays, reflecting off a massive body of water spread out as far as the eye could see. This was where Felicity had lost the fox lady the last few times; her quarry having jumped from the peak without hesitation while Felicity lingered, afeared as she was of the great height.
But not this time. This is a dream, so if Felicity wants, she can do it.
It had taken a few repetitions and much coaxing from Claire, but in the end Felicity knew she would make it. She had to make it. Sure enough, after cresting the peak of the mountain, the fox lady leaped off it and plunged toward the waters below. This time, after just a moment, Felicity followed her.
¡°AAAAAHHHHHH!¡±
Not that it wasn¡¯t still scary. The fall took nearly as long as the climb, but in the end it was broken by a giant splash and the embrace of the cold water. Cold water and the bitter taste of salt.
¡°Pituh! Pituh! Gah, Felicity has to keep going¡!¡±
Felicity strained her arms, and legs, attempting to follow the fox lady, but try as she might, the distance between them began to grow. It didn¡¯t help that Felicity didn¡¯t really know how to swim and was relying wholly on instinct. In fact, the fact that she was not panicking was already a very good show of herself Felicity thought.
But guts and determination would only get her so far; the fox lady was a magic fox lady and seemed to be able to run on the water as if it was land. Compared to Felicity¡¯s own method of moving, the fox lady¡¯s escape was a forgone conclusion.
¡°Well,¡± the now-distant fox lady stopped and turned, ¡°This should be enough to get the message across, please tell your ¡®sister¡¯ all about what I¡¯ve shown you.¡±
Her voice was nothing like what Felicity had imagined it would be; it had lost the melody from earlier, and was now dull and lifeless.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll see me soon, looking forward to it.¡±
Then, the dream faded.
¡°Well?¡± Claire¡¯s voice echoed in Felicity¡¯s head.
¡°Ugh. Felicity doesn¡¯t know! The lady was scary, and the water was too much! Felicity got farther though; Felicity jumped down into the icky water.¡±
There was a pause before Claire responded, ¡°All right. I¡¯m going to guess you were shown the ocean then, but ¡®scary?¡¯ Earlier it was ¡®beautiful¡¯ and ¡®mysterious.¡¯¡±
Felicity wanted to nod, but Claire was the one controlling her body right now so Felicity had to settle for only talking.
¡°Nods. Scary. She sounded like the scary lady in the city.¡±
¡°Did you just¡? No, no time for that. She sounded like Eris¡? Alright, I think it¡¯s about time to put a stop to this; Stahlia¡¯s already mad enough as is¡¡±
¡°OH! Felicity is supposed to tell Stali Neechan about the dream!¡±
¡°Huh? I mean, I was already going to, but she¡¯s sleeping right now.¡±
Felicity didn¡¯t quite realize what Claire Oneesama meant, until it suddenly dawned on her, ¡°Oh. How long this time?¡±
Felicity was unamused.
7-E2: Aaron: The Art of War, Shortly after the Siege of Zeston.
Two people sat across from each other in a small plain room. Not that the room wasn''t decorated, simply that it was bland. Every piece of furniture, every decoration, even the plant in the corner, all were flat and bland. Each on their own might be fancy or at the very least pleasant to look at. Instead, all together they amounted to a false image.
Their combined aesthetic was fake, tacky, and gray. Not that it mattered to the two individuals within the room proper. One of them, a man of average build and appearance, was staring intently at the other; a demi-human woman with silver-white hair and sporting a pair of fox tails. Likewise, two ears sat on her head, immobile. Her eyes were closed but she was not sleeping. Rather, her face was contorted into an expression of intense focus.
Suddenly, those same eyes snapped open and the woman exhaled a breath she had been holding for a long time.
"Haaaaaa¡ That was a lot harder than it had any right to be, that girl is barely connected to me anymore."
The man shrugged, "Well, it is what it is. But, you were successful then, Leviathan?"
The woman gave him a pouting look, but answered the question nonetheless, "Yes, I was successful; Felicity should give the Rulebreaker the push she needs. Aaron, I have to ask, you are certain this will push her to our side?"
Aaron did not answer, instead he stood and moved to one of the room''s walls. Staring intently at something beyond vision, he asked another question, "And Zesten?"
"...I''ve ordered Eris to withdraw while giving a false resistance, and I''ve abstained from executing the Champion of Summer."
"Good¡ yes, this will push events in the right direction. As long as I can locate spring before the Rulebreaker, and control the flow of the war."
"And what does that child have to do with anything?" Leviathan reacted to the mention at the mention of the sole remaining champion.
"That child? Then, have the demons located them?"
"Haaa¡ if only; spring has always ever been a child, the damned champion. Then, assuming we''re done, what do you and Faust need next?"
Aaron turned back toward Leviathan, away from the wall, "Tell me," he said, "for a queen of hell you''re being awfully accommodating to me in this. Why?"
Leviathan snapped her fingers, and a cup of tea appeared out of the ether. She took a sip, then sighed. It was not a contented sigh, however. No, it was a sigh of resignation.
"Boredom, desire for revenge, the answer varies. Me? I''m tired. Oh so very tired. I have near unlimited power to create whatever I want, do whatever I want. But it''s always a copy, a fake. It lacks the spark of the original."
As she spoke, she began to morph and change. Her ears retracted into her head, the silver-white hair began to turn brown. The tails shrank and retracted, and her clothes changed to a drab brown top and skirt. This was her true form; utterly forgettable and unassuming in every way.
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"I''m envious, and yes, the joke makes itself. I want to regain what was taken from me, and I believe that the Rulebreaker can grant that to me."
"I take it the others have their own reasons? Well, in the end, it matters very little." Aaron shrugged, and walked to the opposite wall, behind Leviathan, "What about the newbie, Baal?"
"He''s¡ we''ll deal with him." Leviathan hesitated before answering, her tone betraying her unease.
"Well, I suppose it would be too much to ask Hate to put aside his¡ this changes things, but not drastically. Thank you, Leviathan." Aaron nodded his head in acknowledgment of his own point.
"Then, what do you-" Leviathan was about to ask what else was needed from her, but was cut off by the sudden appearance of Aaron''s fist, protruding from her chest, clutching her still-beating heart.
"It''s a bit clich¨¦, but I need you to die." He clenched his fist, crushing her heart, "And, I mean for you to truly die, not return to the Nine Hells."
Leviathan''s body crumpled to the ground, and a translucent double lacking the freshly created hole sat up out of it, "W-what, what is this? I''m¡ why am I still here!?"
The whole situation was anathema to her. Leviathan was old, and this was not the first time she had died. Normally, she would have arisen from the bed chambers of her palace in the Hell of Envy. This was new, and new was scary.
"I''m sorry, really, but I need your seed to reenter the game. And for that, I need to break the rules myself¡ Invoke Authority."
Leviathan''s ghostly eyes widened, "You can''t use a god''s Authority in the war!"
Aaron nodded, "I know." He raised his head, "But the war hasn''t started yet, now has it?"
A Hell King may indeed be strong, but against a God''s Authority, even they could not refuse. Not without forsaking the System that granted them their strength. Omnipotence within. Aaron gripped at the essence of Leviathan, and wrung it out. The death was incredibly painful for her, but there was little he could do to blunt that. Truly, if he could, he would have made the death painless. At least he could make it quick.
From the true corpse, Aaron straightened and then doubled over, coughing blood. Authorities were strong, but using them with a mortal form bore severe consequences. Consequences which even he was not immune to. But it was not the time to rest. Now, now was the most critical of juncture.
Aaron opened a telepathic channel to the greatest of his progeny.
Leviathan is deceased. Execute the Originals; they cannot be allowed ascension.
7-E3: Emmanuel: A New Day Dawns, Immediately after the Siege of Zesten.
¡°Sir Emmanuel¡?¡± The estate maid knocked tentatively on the office door, rousing me from an uneasy sleep.
How long¡? No, I don¡¯t have time to be sleeping now. Not until her highness wakes up.
It was strange, that I was more concerned about the well being of a foreign royal than my own father who had so recently predeceased me. In fact, he had died in this very room not forty-eight hours ago. But, that may have something to do with the gravity of that royal, or the power she had demonstrated, or the loyalty of her subordinates, or¡
¡°Come in.¡± I needed a distraction before lack of sleep drove me insane.
The maid entered, bearing a tray of light biscuits and a beverage acquired from across the eastern sea called ¡®coffee.¡¯ She had been one of the few staff that I had kept without any hesitation, if not completely by choice; the rest had been put on leave until their loyalties could be ascertained. I could not risk being poisoned by my caretakers, not when there was so much left to do. Whatever her previous duties, this one had now fallen into the role of my personal assistant by necessity.
Now, what was her name¡? Oh, right.
¡°Dollany, thank you. Please send in the esteemed Lord Alriss when he arrives.¡±
Her majesty¡¯s shadow had seemed quite keen on this particular maid and in no uncertain terms had informed me that I was to do no wrong by her. Her flat delivery, as though simply informing a child of one of the facts of the world, had been enough to make even my own resolved heart waver. The notion that this was the same woman who had, just the days prior, infiltrated this same estate and executed its former master played a role in that as well, no doubt.
¡°The Lord Alriss has already come and left; he instructed us not to wake you. Now, eat.¡±
I stared blankly at the rather impudent woman. Even from my seated position, my above-average height caused me to be nearly looking down at her still. Where had she gotten such a tongue? Perhaps she was a plant, someone placed to manage me. That would certainly go a long ways to explain why the shadow had been so inncescant. In that case, I could assume that instructions from her were instructions from my new liege.
¡°...Very well, please, open the windows and let some air in; it grows humid.¡±
She curtsied awkwardly, and moved to fulfill my request without comment, then stood to the side awaiting further instruction. For my part, I began to eat slowly, and reached for a stack of papers; casualty reports.
¡°Choo!¡± The sound of a sneeze.
My eyes darted to the source of the noise; Dollany, now embarrassedly covering her mouth with a handkerchief. The message was delivered though; ¡°don¡¯t work, eat.¡± I set aside the papers and focused on my meal. There was still much left for me to do, but it would take Her Majesty some time to wake up according to her aids. Considering the feats accomplished, that was understandable.
I wanted to present her a city reformed, but it would be a great disservice were I to kill myself in the process.
Hosting the Drakan delegation, rooting out my father¡¯s remaining ardent supporters, sending my own delegations to the neighboring cities, replacing the deceased palace guards¡ I have much to do, but for now, these aren¡¯t half bad.
The future was heavy with work yet undone, but that was the future. For now, the present called.
¡°Thank you, Dollany. I should think I will be relying on you for some time yet.¡±
¡°Y-y-yes, As you say, Sir Emmanuel.¡±
7-E4: Franklin: The Witch Queen, Shortly after the Siege of Zesten.
George, er, Stahlia was still sleeping. It had now been nearly three days, but her close confidants in Miss Sasha and Miss Jacqueline both seemed to think she would be awake soon. As such, this would be the last real opportunity I had to question Lord Alriss.
Of course, Lord Alriss wasn¡¯t really giving me any room to talk, ¡°You have good form, but you lack ingenuity!¡±
His blunt training sword swung down from the right, only to seemingly melt in mid-air and reappear on my left. There was no way for me to adjust my guard in time.
SMACK!
That would be the newest in a long string of very painful welts.
¡°Again.¡± His command echoed hollow in my ears, and I dully re-took my stance.
As a pretext to get him alone, I had asked to spar. That had turned out to be a fool¡¯s request. Lord Alriss had been all too pleased by the request, remarking that he dared not ask me himself on account of my status but had been curious to see how things went.
As it turned out, things went poorly, and our sparring session quickly turned into a very painful series of lessons on the finer points of swordplay. My gifted Talents and Skills made me downright lethal when facing a normal opponent, but my lack of experience in battle left me vulnerable. All I could do was blindly flow through series and movements, I had no instinct for battle. Faced with the master that was Lord Alriss, I was at a complete loss.
SMACK!
SMACK!
SMACK!
Three more welts along my ribs began to take shape, and I finally through away the sword, ¡°Enough! At this rate, even this dull thing will kill me!¡±
¡°Hahaha, Agreed, no offense. You have talent, and you know the basics, but you¡¯ll never beat me like that, let alone Her Majesty.¡±
Lord Alriss made a rather dangerous proposition there, and I quickly moved to deny, ¡°I don¡¯t intend¡¡±
He waved his hand, ¡°Of course not, I name her only as a point of comparison; she is the best swordswoman, and swordsman, in this company. But even she would be hard-pressed to face one of our greatest enemies.¡±
That was rather curious; I hadn¡¯t yet seen George, er, Stahlia, fight with a sword, but her magic had been impressive to a layperson like myself. According to the classic convention, she shouldn¡¯t be all that with a sword though, not when she could use a few words to level a city. It would seem that Lord Alriss had given me the perfect segway to get back onto my original plan.
¡°Forgive my ignorance, but my understanding is poor; exactly how impressive is her magic, compared to the average. And, for that matter, how skilled is my blade?¡±
¡°And your speech as well; Sir Franklin, none of us expect you to use the words of a high noble. But, to answer that¡ Will you swear on your life, no the life of miss Taya, that you will speak of this to nobody?¡±
What does Taya have to do with¡? Nevermind.
Keeping in mind his observation about my speech, I nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll swear.¡±
Lord Alriss beckoned me to follow, and walked off in the direction of the command tent. Upon entering, a single glare and jerk of the head from him sent the adjutants and knights scurrying to leave. We were alone.
¡°[#######]¡± Lord Alriss said something in the magic tongue, and I recognized the diffusion of magic into the air. My surprise was written plainly on my face, because he chuckled, ¡°Ha, yes, I can use simple spells; most high nobles can. But do not be fooled into thinking I hold even the dimmest candle compared to a true and studied mage.¡±
After casting about, he picked up a waterskin discarded by one of the fleeing soldiers and took a long drought before passing it to me, ¡°Hydrate; after working up a sweat like that you must be thirsty. Now, as to your questions¡ This company is made up of some of the best knights and Soldiers Drakas has to offer. Among their ranks, you presently stand at about the level of the officers and could give challenge to the unranked knights.¡±
I signaled my understanding and waited patiently for my other question.
Lord Alriss paused for a moment and took a sip from his own water skin before proceeding, ¡°Her Majesty, on the other hand, that display drove two of the company¡¯s more skilled spellcasters to insanity. They could not comprehend anything of what they were seeing and knew enough magic of their own to recognize the insanity of what she was. I do not plan on informing her of this; it would cause her a great deal of needless worry.¡±
¡°The men,¡± He continued, ¡°Have begun calling her foolish names behind my back, ¡®Witch Queen,¡¯ ¡®All-Element,¡¯ and others. It would be futile to stave off, so I am ignoring it, though I suspect she won¡¯t like it when she finds out.¡±
I couldn¡¯t contain my laugh; knowing George and Claire, those nicknames were bound to cause the former a headache while the latter would find them hilarious.
Lord Alriss shrugged, ¡°Most people do not truly know what they saw, and the spell casters are under orders to hold their own council. Franklin,¡± He turned deathly serious, ¡°I do not know her level, skills, or talents, such is not my place. But, if a master spellcaster were to have attempted to replicate her feat, forget sleeping for a weekend, they would be dead thrice over. If the average, ten times. The mana potions alone would have killed her from Mana Overload. Of course, she¡¯s not normal.¡±
The event to which Lord Alriss was referring came back to me; that vampire guild master in Zesten had called her his niece. At the time, I hadn¡¯t quite realized the significance of that, chalking it up to some quirk of the world I didn¡¯t yet understand, but now, after several more days and learning all I could at all times¡
¡°Her mana crystal.¡±
Lord Alriss nodded, ¡°Yes, that. There is another name that I¡¯ve heard in whispers, and one that I am trying to quash.¡±
Something about this, be it the setting, his sudden shift, or just the knowledge that this was now about a dangerous knowledge, something made my mouth run dry. I took a deep draught of the water skin given to me earlier, and coughed.
¡°Careful. Well, among the high nobles, there is a rumor spoken behind closed doors, in whispers, and under cover of the silence spell. A rumor that says Her Majesty did not survive her encounter with the traitorous Count Francois. A rumor that says she died there, and then came back. Some of the knights, those with connections to high nobles, have taken to calling her the ¡®Revenant.¡¯ From legends, an entity once human who has returned from across the veil, gaining great power in the process.¡±
A shiver down my spine caused my arms and legs to jerk slightly, and out of the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw a flash of white frills, like the hem of a maid¡¯s apron.
Best not to linger on a subject like this. Especially since I know that¡¯s exactly what happened to her.
¡°Lord Alriss, not to change the subject, but would it be possible for you to set up a proper training regime for me? I need to get far stronger than I am if I hope to stand alongside Her Majesty.¡±
8-1 Go West to go East
Stahlia, 17 Years Old, Eighth Month of 949
When I woke up from my most recent self-inflicted bout of being in a coma, the siege had been resolved. Of my retinue and attendants, the only one who seemed even remotely worried for me was Franklin; the rest of my staff had an air of normalcy that suggested they had grown entirely two comfortable with my frequent long-term naps.
I mean, I get that it¡¯s happened more than a few times now, but still, you could at least pretend to be worried¡
Regardless, I was awake, alert, and feeling much better than before I had slept. That was good since, apparently, I had missed a few things while I was asleep. First and foremost, Emmanuel had fully taken control of the city and, with Lord Alriss¡¯ assistance, rooted out the remaining soldiers that had not been annihilated during our assault. Second, Franklin was now taking training seriously; evidently, he¡¯d lost a duel with Lord Alriss, and that event had lit a fire under his ass. Thirdly, the new Winter Champion had been located by Felicity, of all people.
¡°Claire, I won¡¯t tell you how reckless having Felicity continue interacting with a dream like that was, but I am not going to fault you over it either.¡± I informed my former teacher vicariously; Felicity was now fully in control of their shared body once again.
Really, I can see where she was coming from, what with Eris and all. But then there¡¯s the fact that the dream turned out to be a message directly from Leviathan herself¡
Felicity nodded, ¡°Claire Oneechan still wants Felicity to tell you she¡¯s sorry.¡±
She could at least do me the courtesy of telling me in person if she really was.
Errant professors aside, I turned to address the next person, the Elder Vampire Palde, ¡°And you, you are certain that this foxkin is the new Winter Champion?¡±
He bowed graciously, ¡°For certain; mine god hath confirmed it.¡±
If Aaron was willing to go out of his way to confirm the veracity of Felicity¡¯s vision, then it was probably legitimate¡ Though that bore the question of why Leviathan, one of the Hell Kings, my enemy, would go so far as to tell me where to go next. Eris¡¯ message to me a week ago had mentioned that the kings wanted me to switch sides, and then there were the papers Jacqueline had brought me¡
I regarded them where they were sitting on my loaned desk; Emmanuel had given over the use of his Estate to my party until our departure. If what was written within them was to be believed, the demons had willingly given up on the city, while arranging for their agents to be found and purged. It was basically a giant middle finger toward my declaration while at the same time making one of their own; ¡°We won¡¯t give up so easily.¡±
But why me? There¡¯s no way Count Francois would give up our grudge so easily, and they have to know I won¡¯t forgive him¡
¡°How does Aaron know for sure?¡± I needed some time to think, so I queried Palde while feigning incredulity.
He shrugged, and pointed at Felicity¡¯s tails, both of which were darting around nervously, ¡°Because of those. A beastkin with multiple tails is half a demon, but to trigger the evolution, the magic of the gods is needed. This one had its growth triggered through thine soul-link.¡±
Wow. Well, I wasn¡¯t expecting that mystery to be solved today.
Felicity followed his finger back behind her to look at the twin objects of attention, and her ears went flat against her head, ¡°Felicity is half of one of those things?¡±
The trickle of fear on her voice gave me pause; a Nekomata was a type of cat demon from Earth mythology, and so I had my assumptions for some time now yet had not voiced them.
¡°Half a demon, a full demon, Felicity is Felicity.¡± She was still only eight; it would be better to wave aside whatever misgivings she had, ¡°Lord Palde, that might explain Felicity¡¯s case, but how can we be sure that this Foxkin is truly the Winter Champion, and not a figment of Leviathan¡¯s creation?¡±
Palde frowned, ¡°Because mine god assures it is so. But, that truth doth not satisfy thine curiosity. The Queen of Envy is not divine; her powers have limits, and she cannot assume the shape of one she hath not seen.¡±
Alright, that¡¯s enough for me then.
Aaron was old enough to remember the original creation of the nine hell kings, so he would know best in this case. He would also know of any white-haired two-tailed foxkin that Leviathan would have seen. If he was saying that this vision was of the Champion of Winter, then there must not have been anyone like her before.
¡°Lord Alriss, we will move on this; our new objective is to locate the Champion of Winter in accordance with Felicity¡¯s vision. Plan accordingly.¡±
He bowed, ¡°As you command.¡±
It did bother me that the demons were now telling me where to go next; I would be playing into their hands. But, without any other leads to go on, and an entire world to search, I may as well act on the little intelligence I did have. Hopefully, this would not turn out to be a false trail meant to push me in the wrong direction. But, even if it was, I could cut my losses at any time and change course.
They also want me to locate the rest of the champions, and lead them astray, so helping me find one of them furthers their own agenda as well if we assume that I turncoat at the end after all.
¡°Emmanuel.¡± I next called on the new city chair.
He had remained standing this whole time, having refused to sit in my presence. Instead, he had occupied a place along the wall, by one of his maids. Now, he stepped forward and performed a low bow in the Drakan style, the kind of gesture I might have expected from a manservant. Something about his massive frame contorting over itself was¡ unsettling.
¡°...¡± He also wasn¡¯t saying anything, and was holding the bow. For lack of anywhere else to look, my eyes met with the maid¡¯s, causing her to fidget uncomfortably.
Right, enough of this.
¡°Rise. In light of your assistance to our cause, and as a reward for your loyalty, I bestow upon you the title of Count; Count Emmanuel von Zesten, you are hereby granted title within Drakas and all the rights therein. Though, I suggest you keep such a thing secret from your peers in the Alliance.¡±
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, something I had told myself I would stop doing, but I really did not need him behaving the way he was currently. Besides that, he had proven himself highly adept at manipulating commoners. Should something happen, I did not want to lose access to his ability; a noble title would enable him to flee across the border if the need arose.
At the very least, my sudden proclamation caused him to right himself and stare at me in shock, an improvement over the back of his head.
I¡¯ll just have to include that I¡¯ve enobled him when I write my next report, that way Rupert and Gustav can make the necessary arrangements. Otherwise, the title is meaningless.
¡°Now that you have been properly rewarded, I require your council. According to my sister¡¯s vision, my next destination lies across the sea. If I remember my geography, and based on the Champion¡¯s race, she is likely operating within Sinion. In light of recent actions, how likely is the possibility of my party arranging transport from an Alliance port?¡±
Sinion, the largest beastkin country in the world, lay on the far side of the descriptively named East Seas. Reaching it would require a trip by ship, and would take us roughly two months¡ Assuming we could depart from the Alliance. If we couldn¡¯t do that¡
¡°My apologies, but¡¡± Emmanuel made nervous eye contact with his maid, causing me to raise a surprised eyebrow, ¡°My apologies, but I do not think it will be possible. I have yet to ascertain the full scope of the Alliance¡¯s reaction, but your majesty won no favors.¡±
I might have expected as much. Well, as long as it doesn¡¯t lead to war, and it shouldn¡¯t, then we¡¯re fine.
¡°I see. Then, we will withdraw to Drakas and depart from our own ports. Lord Alriss, begin preparing the men; I do not want to antagonize our host country further.¡± With that, I signaled that the meeting was adjourned, and Emmanuel practically fell over himself to leave. His maid offered a brief courtesy and a mumbled apology before hurrying to catch up to her lord.
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They have a cute dynamic, if not a bit weird. Well, doing some quick math, leaving from Drakas is going to add about another month to the trip, not including the land travel back, since we need to sail around the Central Continent¡ There¡¯s a few islands in the area, so we can do some quick stops, but it looks like the war will be underway by the time we make it to Sinion, assuming that¡¯s where the new Champion is at all.
¡°Pardon me, but thine face betrays thine worry.¡± Palde spoke, interrupting my thoughts, ¡°If thine permits, this one will accompany thy quest; my god would use this one to carry words.¡±
¡Right, I don¡¯t technically need to go all the way to Sinion myself; Aaron can search it for me. The thing is¡
¡°I will not permit it. We may be allies, but I cannot knowingly allow a Vampire entry into Drakas. Besides, I would prefer you remain here and oversee my investment.¡± At my frank denial, Palde acquiesced surprisingly easily. In fact, all he did was bow lightly.
¡°This one understands thine misgivings and does not fault you; my god will send his words through the Adventurer¡¯s Guild.¡±
So Aaron was listening in on that meeting. Good to know, especially since he can¡¯t use me anymore, I hope.
Really, I had no way of knowing if he could or not; my Rulebreaker supposedly protected me from other¡¯s Authorities, so he shouldn¡¯t be able to invoke his own against me. That meant that the stunt he had done with reading my surface thoughts to keep tabs on me had been solely through my nature as a part-monster. To that end, I had collected a new skill specifically to counter it, courtesy of the many dead enemy soldiers:
¡°Psychic Shield(500LP): Prevents the user¡¯s mind from being read, and blocks telepathy unless a specific exception is made.¡±
Outright immunity to mind reading. Expensive, but it was my hope that this would prevent Aaron from getting in my head, but unless he mentioned it, I had no way of knowing if it worked or not. And, given recent events, I had my doubts as to whether or not I could really trust him at all.
Frankly, I¡¯m already generally more than strong enough as it is, so going forward, I should look at skills and talents as a way to tech against a specific threat, instead of going for any builds. Not that I can afford anymore after getting that¡
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 5
Name/Age: Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, 17
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 20 | Custom Class, 8 Experience: 27840/47000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant])
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Budding Seed
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/6: [Browse Talents] [ ], [ ], Stealth V*, Charm Resistance III*, [], || Monster Handling III*, ?Dagger Fighting V*, Sword Fighting II*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemical Meister IV*, Teaching II*, Mana Efficiency III*, Fire Magic V*, Water Magic III*, Earth Magic IV*,? Wind Magic III*, Ice Magic VI*, Winter Magic IV, Acting IV*, Light Magic II
Skills 6/6: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features], [ ]. Blue Blooded*, Kinetic Perception*, [], Psychic Shield, || Language Proficiency[Central(human)]*,Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*, Alchemical Heresy*,
Talents Experience: [+]
Four levels. By my count, the lives of roughly two hundred enemy soldiers had been converted into a meager two levels. There had been very little gained from that, though I had probably hit the experience limiter thing at some point. Other than the skill slot, I had progressed my ¡°Implanted Seed.¡± It had lost the progress bar, and was now apparently ¡®budding.¡¯ Whatever that meant. Beyond that, there had been a title as well. I was now the ¡®proud¡¯ owner of Human Exterminator.
I really am living up to my part-monster side.
Truthfully, Palde¡¯s race was not the reason I had denied him accompaniment. In fact, it would likely have been a great benefit to have him so close at hand; as an Elder Vampire, Palde was strong. Strong enough to contend with an Original Sin, at least. There was the added benefit of having a line to Aaron that didn¡¯t require me to do anything weird myself. The only problem was the fourth and final thing I had missed while sleeping. bringing up his nature and the random bit about my investments had been my best effort at quickly shutting him down to protect that.
¡°That¡± being Eris, the Original Sin of Envy. She had shown herself to Franklin, begging for asylum the day before I woke up. Realizing that he probably could not contend with her on his own, Franklin had chosen to grant her request temporarily. When I subsequently woke up, my first thought had been to stab her quickly. Then she told me that Leviathan had died, and my plans changed. Though even now, I wasn¡¯t wholly sure what to do with her.
¡°If there is nothing else, I have matters to attend to for our departure.¡± I said to Palde, hinting at my desire to leave while also prompting him for more.
¡°Then, this one bidst thou farewell and safe travels; we should not cross paths for some time.¡± With his farewells said, Palde too departed.
And that settles it; I can¡¯t trust Aaron.
According to Eris, she had suddenly lost contact with Leviathan. Ultimately, Palde had shown up and attempted to kill her, or so she claimed. If Aaron had made such a major move, then it didn¡¯t make sense for him not to tell me unless there was a reason for him to keep the secret. Sadly, I was no longer so naive as to give him the benefit of the doubt; the far safer and more realistic assumption was that he was playing to his own tune, serving his own agenda. The only question was what that agenda was.
The Rulebreaker isn¡¯t officially on anyone¡¯s side. As much as I hate to admit it, it¡¯s in my best interest to bear that in mind and act as such¡ Even if it means letting a demon live.
My official agenda was the benefit of my kingdom. My personal agenda was the safety of my family and loved ones. The two were intrinsically linked and could be served conveniently. Going forward, it would be far better to take whatever allies I could, temporary or otherwise, as long as my actions served me; Aaron was a convenient tool, but preparations should be made so that we could be ready to break our arrangement at any time. Gather the remaining champions, not for the sake of the world and the god¡¯s whims, but for the sake of Drakas and the preservation of my home. Beyond preservation, elevation.
I hope you find this ¡®interesting,¡¯ you bastard.
Regardless, with Palde having left, Franklin and I were now alone, save for Felicity, Sasha, and Jacqueline, ¡°Then, let us attend to that matter.¡±
At my words, Franklin nodded while Sasha cocked her head confusedly, though she fell into step behind me nonetheless. One other benefit of everything that had happened was the absence of my accompanying guard knights. Since I had woken up, Lord Alriss had not mentioned guards to me, nor had I been saddled with any; I had been ¡®allowed,¡¯ for lack of a better word, to move around un-fettered. Granted, I had not left Emmanuel¡¯s estate so there was much less risk but it was still nice to breathe a bit easier.
We arrived at our destination in short order; a small out-of-the-way room tucked into a corner under a flight of stairs. I paused, and a moment later, Franklin stepped forward to open the door with an odd look on his face. Inside was none other than Eris. She was sitting on a small cot-bed, and appeared to be extremely anxious though it could easily be an act.
Upon seeing her, Felicity¡¯s tails and ears stood straight up. If she had fur on the back of her neck, it would likely be standing as well. As for why I had brought her, well, if Eris was going to do anything, she¡¯d have done it while I was sleeping, and after waking up, I had lamely promised Felicity that I wouldn¡¯t leave her alone. Regardless, should anything happen, I would be able to protect her.
¡°All right, I¡¯m awake now; what do you want?¡±
Eris regarded me through narrowed eyes, ¡°Do you have any idea how that sounds? You don¡¯t, do you?¡±
I ignored her beautifully, ¡°State your business and your reasons, or I will inform Palde where we are holding you.¡±
Eris exhaled, ¡°You really are no fun¡ I¡¯m guessing the boy told you Levichan kicked it? Well, that¡¯s not all; I can¡¯t reach any of the other Originals either.¡±
I frowned; this was going nowhere, ¡°Well that sounds terrible, but I fail to see how it has anything to do with me; I was planning to kill them all myself by the time this was over.¡±
Eris shook her head, ¡°I doubt that. And really, it has everything to do with you, I think, though I can¡¯t quite put my finger on the why¡¡±
This is going nowhere.
I had a personal vendetta against demon kind, and even if it was a different type that had wronged me, I still found this conversation deeply unsettling. Not that I could just kill her with my two companions present; Franklin would never trust me again, and it would set a very bad example for the impressionable Felicity.
¡°Eris, you have to know there is not a snowball¡¯s chance in hell that I will allow you to remain here, so state your true intentions; I am growing increasingly agitated the longer I have to look at you.¡±
¡°Well, that certainly makes me feel welcome, and if it was in the eighth hell then-¡±
¡°Enough.¡± I cut her off and turned to Sasha, ¡°Sasha, I am sure you are very confused as to why we are standing in this cupboard. Please go and- please take Franklin and fetch Guildmaster Palde; he should be nearby still.¡±
I can¡¯t send Sasha away and stay here with Franklin; as far as she¡¯s aware, we¡¯re alone in here. That¡ that really wouldn¡¯t look good.
¡°Wait!¡± Eris had paled and jumped up frantically, ¡°I, Stahlia, I don¡¯t want to die! You don¡¯t get it; they¡¯re gone for real. Not banished, gone! As far as I can tell, I¡¯m the last of Envy!¡±
What are you on about now? Felicity is half-demon, and she¡¯s from your family as well.
¡°Sasha, wait a moment.¡± My very confused head maid stopped just short of the door and I looked back at Eris, who was actually groveling on her knees at this point, ¡°You get one more chance; what is it you want from me?¡±
There was no way she would expect that I would simply take her, a demon, into my retinue. Even if she herself had not done anything, particularly against me, aside from scaring Felicity. Therefore she must have a plan, something that would turn the act of sheltering her into a benefit for me, and a way to gain some modicum of my trust. That was the only reason I was even willing to entertain the meeting in the first place. Alternatively, she really might just be that desperate and at her wit¡¯s end. In which case, tossing a bone to Aaron¡¯s duplicitous faction would gain me more benefit for the time being.
Eris squared her shoulders and nodded; taking a deep breath, she said the one thing I was absolutely not expecting to hear, ¡°Seal me. Whatever you did to that bitch, Sitri, do it to me. I want to be human again.¡±
8-2 Allies of Convenience
Following Eris¡¯ declaration, I was taken aback. Of all the things she might have said, asking me to turn her human again was just about the last one I would have expected. It was also the stickiest. Immediately, two thoughts entered my mind.
I could use her; she knows things none of my so-called allies and contacts do. But this is definitely going to result in putting me into a coma, can I afford that at this time?
¡°...You want me to turn you human?¡± Dumbly, I repeated her words back at her.
¡°Yes!¡± Eris exclaimed, then took a step back out of my personal space, ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s difficult to maintain composure, you know¡ You remember when I told you that the Envy family all remember what we lost?¡±
I did remember but said nothing.
Strictly speaking, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what happened to Sitri¡ More like, whatever compulsions and overrides the System was applying to her were stopped.
As I wracked my brain, I kept circling back around to a single point; using my Authority tended to cause me to fall asleep for long periods of time. If that happened now¡
Franklin injected, ¡°I¡¯m not going to pretend that I know half of what¡¯s going on¡ But, you are able to help her, right? What¡¯s the catch?¡±
¡°The last time I did what she is asking from me, I fell asleep for several months; mortal bodies straying into the domain of gods and all that.¡±
¡°I see.¡± Franklin fell silent, whatever his thoughts on the matter, he knew better than to share them.
Probably, he believed that I should help Eris; he didn¡¯t have any history with demons screwing him over and playing games with his family members. Likewise, he was a third party, detached from the cost.
And yet, I was hesitating. There was no reason, nothing preventing me from just waving her off. In fact, it would, strictly speaking, be far easier to just get rid of her. And something was telling me it was not entirely the rational acknowledgment that her information would be useful. Somewhere, I was wanting to help her, and I was running in circles to convince myself to do it.
The fact that I was waffling was not lost on Eris, ¡°...If you decide not to, I get it. Just please, don¡¯t hand me over to that vampire.¡±
So if I don¡¯t help you, then kill you myself. It¡¯s cliche. But, accurate in this case, I guess. At this rate, I may as well admit it; I¡¯m going to end up helping her.
¡°...Sasha, please inform Lord Emmanuel that I will be moving out of his estate and back to the Drakan camp; a domestic matter has arisen that demands my full attention.¡±
My maid, still utterly confused by what was occurring in this tiny room under a flight of stairs, curtsied, ¡°As you say, My Lady.¡±
The last time I had done this, to Sitri, there had been some highly extenuating circumstances. Firstly, my body was done for; I had actually died from my injuries and been brought back. Secondly, I had fully disconnected from the system at the time. It was a fair bet that quite a bit of my extended coma had been the result of that. Thirdly, Sitri hadn¡¯t exactly been a willing participant, and I didn¡¯t have the time to be surgical. It was a fair bet that I could do a lot better with more time, and a lack of resistance from the patient would mean I didn¡¯t have to spend mana overcoming their resistance.
Plus, I have my [Divine Usurper] title now, which should help things along.
If I was lucky, the resulting coma would top out at a week. If I was unlucky, a month. Regardless, all I would be missing was travel, and I would be back before the start of the war proper. With those ideas in mind, I addressed Eris.
¡°I will grant your request, if only because of the potential it provides me. But, I will not abide your past crimes against humanity. Are we agreed?¡±
Eris nodded enthusiastically, ¡°Of course! Honestly, I thought you were just going to kill me anyway, so if all I¡¯m getting is a lifetime of punishment, that¡¯s fine with me.¡±
I shrugged, ¡°Well, as long as you understand. Now, I will not be able actually to do anything until we get back into Drakas proper; until then, you will be kept within sight of either myself or Franklin at all hours. Now, let¡¯s go.¡±
I say all that, but it¡¯s not like I can really hold her properly accountable; that would require either death, or an inhuman amount of torture. The former would defeat the purpose of saving her, and the latter would prove unpalatable¡ I¡¯ll think of something, but it will never be sufficient.
At the end of the day, Eris was an Original Sin. One of the worst of all demonkind, second only to their Hell King masters in terms of atrocities committed. Finding a suitable punishment was an actual impossibility and, frankly, even approaching the issue was causing me a small headache. The least she could do was take the role of an encyclopedia, and we could proceed from there.
Strangely, nobody made any attempt to hinder my departure back to the Drakan camp. In fact, Emmanuel went so far as to organize a small impromptu procession; that made me feel a tiny bit bad, as though I was causing problems again. Regardless, I soon found myself back in my carriage, with a now-familiar journal lying open on a tiny, if not ornate, desk in front of me. This was the magic tool I had been using to send reports back to Rupert, Lord Gustav, and Lord Ferdinand; it was paired with another book, and anything written in one would appear in the other.
Granted the mana cost was a bit high, but it wasn¡¯t anything I couldn¡¯t afford. The benefit of having two-way private communication far outweighed the cost, and since the book appeared to be a journal or diary, there was little chance of anyone attempting to read it over my shoulder. That alone was a great boon, as it meant I could be frank and not have to fret over codes and ciphers.
As I considered how best to make this particular report, I rolled the quill between my thumb and forefingers. Out of the corner of my eye, Eris was sitting on a chair, fidgeting uneasily.
Right, well, I should just go and do it.
I put pen to paper and wrote.
¡°I have successfully vassalized Zesten, without the knowledge of the Alliance. Furthermore, the puppets of Queen of Envy have been excised, bar a single exception; Eris of Envy, Original Sin has requested political asylum. It is my intention to grant the request, as well as take all available measures to seal her skills and class.¡±
¡°Additional to the above, I will be returning to Drakas post haste; we have uncovered a lead as to the location of the new Champion of Winter. I believe said lead to be worth pursuing, but require ships to transport my party across the East Seas.¡±
¡°I will need to seek the advice of Lords Ferdinand and Gustav as soon as possible.¡±
The last line was a sort of key-phrase; while still appearing to be a line in a diary entry, it would alert the recipient that I needed to speak with them immediately. I set aside my pen.
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¡°Frieda, please fetch Sir Franklin for me.¡± I had been favoring Sasha over much recently; even if she was my head maid, it wouldn¡¯t do to heap everything on her.
Upon his arrival, I dismissed everyone save for Sasha, Jacqueline, and Felicity. Despite having just acknowledged my general favoritism, it wouldn¡¯t help things if I went on to confuse my other maids as well; Eris¡¯ presence had already spoiled Sasha.
Speaking of the demon in question, I looked her over once, causing her to sit up straight and stop fidgeting. She had so far stayed true to the stipulation that she remain in either mine or Franklin¡¯s presence at all times, even if it had only been a handful of hours.
¡°Sasha, Jacqueline, Eris is here with us. It is my intention to grant her request for asylum within Drakas, as well as to exercise my Authority to return her humanity.¡±
Jacqueline, upon hearing of Eris presence, grasped at a fold of her dress where she kept a hidden dagger, and scanned the room, her eyes eventually settling on the small seat Eris was using. Even if her perception slid right off of the demon, her experience allowed her to pick up on the discrepancy of a seemingly empty seat, once she knew it was a discrepancy. Regardless, she was merely wary, and did not protest my decision.
Sasha, likewise, did not protest, but she did express some disquiet, ¡°Are you certain, My Lady?¡±
I nodded, ¡°I am. If the demons wished to assassinate me or anyone in my vicinity, they would not approach me so openly, nor would they have surrendered Zesten as they did. Besides that, I have reason to believe that the monsters have largely exterminated the demons of Envy¡ and Aaron has not informed me of such.¡±
Sasha bowed her head, ¡°I see you have given this a great deal of thought; my apologies for my impertinence.¡±
I waved her off, ¡°Say nothing of it; I appreciate the candor. Now,¡± I turned to face Eris directly, ¡°I will not do anything regarding your status before re-crossing the border. That said, I want to appraise your status.¡±
My reasoning was two-fold; I could begin to think of a way to minimize the duration of my coma while we traveled, and it would go some way towards cementing Eris¡¯ sincerity if she allowed this much.
She nodded, ¡°I understand, give me a moment to disable my defenses.¡±
Following that, she shut her eyes, and I could feel the air in the room change slightly. A fact which caused me to raise an eyebrow.
I never considered setting up passive measures with Blood Magic, the few times I encountered it. I just used brute force to force my way¡ I guess that¡¯s another reason for granting her request; Sitri was proficient with it as well as I¡¯m sure Eris is. I could learn a fair amount beyond what limited techniques Gustav has shown me.
There was something to be said for finesse, especially if it meant I could spend less mana on a given task. I would know, as my enhancements had gotten progressively more and more fine-tuned, so had the cost of maintaining them decreased. The thought of just keeping a small current of mana constantly active though¡ I shook my head; there was time to consider it more later.
Eris had leaned forward, placing the top of her head within reach of my hand. My brow furrowed; by physical appearance, she was the same age as me, so patting her head was a bit¡ I leaned forward and grabbed her wrist instead. Then, I began the process of pouring my mana into her, circulating it over her body, and then pulling it back into myself. She jerked slightly, and grit her teeth.
¡°Invoke Authority: override appraisal restrictions.¡±
As usual when invoking my Authority, my voice seemed to reverberate through the air. This much at least would at most just leave me tired; there would not be a coma from bypassing restrictions like this. At least, there had never been previously. Eris¡¯ status information flowed into my mind¡¯s eye. An immediate stab of mental pain caused me to pull back slightly and I discarded her talent list.
Name: Eris of Envy
Age: 2,999
Species: Demon(Envy)
Class/Level: Void Witch 60
Social Strata: Refugee
Ability Values:
- Strength: C: 395
- Endurance: C: 395
- Dexterity: C: 395
- Intelligence: C: 395
- Charisma: C: 395
- Mana: C: 395
Talents: Page 1/113: [Blocked]
Skills: Evy, Talent Void, Void Body, Queen¡¯s Vassal, Shadow Walk, Obfuscator, Skill Mimic, Apathy 2.0, Memory Guard, Null Mind, Jealousy, Envious, Royal Candidate
She had a surprisingly limited number of skills considering her level, and her stats were also quite low considering her species; it was likely that Franklin actually could have killed her if he used the Summer Champion¡¯s Limit break. The real deciding factor would have come down to how she applied Blood Magic in the fight.
Well, she has about what I expected¡ This is probably a special class sort of thing; that explains why sealing Sitri¡¯s caused her so much pain, it was literally all she had.
¡°Hmmm.¡± I nodded my head from behind closed eyes, ¡°This should be doable, thank you for not resisting.¡± Following that, I released her hand and she collapsed back into her seat gasping for breath.
¡°...You¡¯re welcome, but did you have to be so rough¡? You only needed to read my head, not force Divine Element through my entire body!¡±
¡°Ah.¡± Apparently, there had been a reason she had offered me her head in the first place, ¡°Well¡ Sorry; I didn¡¯t know I only needed to check your mind.¡±
I shrugged her off; I really hadn¡¯t known that, and wasn¡¯t entirely sure how I could have known that, considering I was largely self-taught. However, it did explain why everyone always reacted to my touch when I was using appraisal. Something to keep in mind for the future. Not that touching someone¡¯s head would be easy, and they would still feel my intrusion, probably, so it wasn¡¯t like this knowledge would enable stealth appraisal.
At the very least, I can use it to save mana when checking a target that¡¯s resisting me.
¡°Regardless, I think helping you will be fairly easy. I will not be able to make you human again, but I should be able to return your humanity.¡±
Her expression was difficult to read; a mixture of sadness and hopeful relief, ¡°Well, I¡¯ll take that much; I¡¯m ready whenever you are.¡±
She was certainly eager to proceed at least, ¡°Patience. I told you, I¡¯m not doing anything on this side of the border. In fact, it would be best to return fully to the capital beforehand.¡±
Eris pursed her lips, but didn¡¯t voice any objections.
I could turn her human again; the race field is within the definition of the status sheet, so my Authority might cover it. But, that¡¯s just asking to go into my longest coma yet. The fact is, I can probably just disable a few of her skills, and it would accomplish the same effect while leaving her abilities intact.
[Envy], [Jealousy], and [Envious]. The three sin skills she had were obvious; each one of them made her progressively more¡ envious. Then, [Void Body] and [Obfuscator]. Both of them had the effect of suppressing her presence, so they would need to go so as to make her visible to my allies. Then ¡°[Apathy 2.0];¡± the name pretty much screamed that it was a unique skill explicitly designed to torment the demons of envy.
¡°[Apathy 2.0]: The user¡¯s empathy and righteous emotional responses are dulled to the point where they are easily ignored.¡±
It had a similar effect to [Cold Hearted], though I had a sneaking suspicion that the description was not wholly accurate. Regardless, disabling that would effectively return her humanity. [Memory Guard] was a skill version of my old [Eidetic Memory] Talent; it was probably what was protecting her original memories. I would leave that one in place.
Lastly, [Queen¡¯s Vassal]. This one I would be removing to protect myself from betrayal. This skill seemed to be the one responsible for binding her to the orders of whoever held the title of Queen of Envy. It was likely that every demon had a version of this skill unique to their species. Well, every normal demon, or perhaps only demons above a certain stage in their evolution or above a certain rank in their hierarchy. Whatever the case, Felicity did not have it.
Those aside, she had two more skills that were of greater interest to me, and the latter worryingly so. The first, [Null Mind] had an identical description to my own recently acquired [Psychic Shield]. Most likely, it was the demon version of that skill. While it hadn¡¯t been indicated, it made me consider the possibility that [Psychic Shield] may very well have been an Undead skill; I was able to take those, after all.
Of more significant concern was [Royal Candidate].
¡°[Royal Candidate]: Following the death of the Ruler, worthy descendants are granted this skill to mark them for ascension candidacy.¡±
My eyes strayed invariably to Felicity, propelled by a nagging at the back of my mind; it had been some time since I had last appraised her, and something told me she probably met the criteria to be a worthy candidate. After all, imagine just how interesting that would be.
8-3 Slice of a day
A week and some days had passed since my success at Zesten, and I found myself temporarily returned to my rooms within the palace. Contrary to my expectations and sense of forboding, nothing had happened along the way. We were not accosted, harassed, or even inconvenienced. Even the matter with Felicity had turned out to be a false alarm; she did not have [Royal Candidate] Skill.
Not that I was going to let down my guard; after I had explained to Claire my reasoning, the three of us had decided that it would be better for me to actively monitor Felicity instead of remaining passive and respecting her privacy. That was how we came to be in the present circumstances, with Felicity perched on my lap as I sat in my study.
Though, I have my reservations about this¡ She¡¯s only eight, so can I really assume she fully grasps the scope of what we¡¯re doing every week?
¡°Did Felicity get stronger¡?¡± If her question, directed at me from behind hopefully beaming eyes, was any indication then she did not.
¡°Be patient, I have not even started yet.¡± I shushed her, then placed my hand on her head and carefully extended a tendril of mana.
If nothing else, these sessions would help me practice the finer control that Eris had brought up. As it was, I still found it difficult to keep my mana even remotely under control without using the second ring; I would never dare try this without it.
And Felicity only agreed on the grounds that I used this method, instead of just using sight.
No matter; as long as I had that ring, there was no risk of me turning Felicity the catgirl into Felicity the crystal girl. If she wanted to indulge in childish behavior, so much the better; if her present status were any indication, such behaviors were sorely lacking from her life.
Life Summary:
Name/Age: Felicity, 8
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Envy Demon 10, Shadow Walker 1 Experience: 1568/12000
Species: Demon(Envy), [Nekomata(Juvenile)]
Social Strata: Faux Noble
Ability Values:
- Strength: B: 114
- Endurance: C: 100
- Dexterity: A: 161
- Intelligence: C: 100
- Charisma: C: 100
- Mana: C: 36
Fighting Style: Shadow Blade[Swap Style]
Talents: [Page 1 of 7]: Mimicry V, Memorization V, Envious V, Drawing V, Painting III, Etiquette II, Fire Magic III, Ice Magic II, Winter Magic I, Light Magic II, Dark Magic II, Earth Magic III, Stealth V, Dagger Fighting V, Sword Fighting V, Acrobatics V, Monster Handling III, Cooking III, Mathematics III, Writing III, Pickpocket III.
Skills: Envy, Talent Void, Skill Mimic, Shadow Walk,
I tried to filter out all the talents that I don¡¯t care about, but it still lists so many¡ And where exactly has she picked up even more magic¡?
This was the second time that I had seen this list, and it still baffled me, particularly with how her soul was still stable even after acquiring so many talents. Obviously, [Talent Void] played a roll in that, but even it could only go so far.
¡°[Talent Void]: A skill which allows the user to partially bypass the strain of collecting a large number of Talents.¡±
The description was, perhaps predictably, not helpful in the slightest. In fact, it was largely responsible for my newest headache, what with its line about only partially protecting the user.
¡°...Stali Neechan¡?¡±
Felicity¡¯s questioning tone and stare pulled me back, ¡°N-, Yes, a little bit stronger!¡±
She grinned, ¡°Hurray!¡±
I had been about to tell her that she hadn¡¯t gotten any stronger; the important talents were all the same levels as last week, and her overall level hadn¡¯t gotten any higher. But something about the way her eyes were shining had made the words catch in my throat. For better or worse, in the end, I couldn¡¯t do that to her.
It isn¡¯t technically a lie; she gained a few dozen experience points over last week. Considering I know she hasn¡¯t been killing anything, the passive growth is impressive¡ I think.
Felicity¡¯s smile fell into a frown, ¡°It felt weird when Stali Neechan aprased Felicity.¡±
¡°Appraised.¡± I gently corrected her pronunciation, then prompted her to continue, ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Hmmm¡¡± She fell into thought, her ears and tails flicking about in an amusing fashion, ¡°The last time, it was like Stali Neechan was giving Felicity a big hug. This time, it was only a small one.¡±
She was probably talking about the lack of mana and how I was doing my best to keep the quantity restrained to her head as per Eris¡¯ instructions.
¡°Felicity likes the old way better.¡± She was resolute in that declaration, then climbed carefully off my lap and performed a perfectly executed curtsy before departing with Elienor, her recently assigned attendant, in tow.
Her words left me at a loss. Given the nature of her analogy, it was pretty clear where her feelings on the matter came from. Even someone who could be as thickheaded as myself could see that much.
I really didn¡¯t think something like that would have had such a big impact¡
Perhaps it would be best to consider being a tiny bit more reckless with my mana next week; it wasn¡¯t like the old method actually hurt her or anything, and I could always find other ways to practice what Eris was trying to teach me.
¡°Sasha, is Lord Ferdinand here?¡±
My maid stepped forward and curtsied, ¡°Yes; Lords Ferdinand and Gustav have arrived along with His Majesty King Rupert.¡±
The last caused a slightly sour taste to rise in the back of my throat. Not that I was sick at the thought of seeing my husband; I was annoyed that this was the first time I was seeing him since my return. Rupert having been ¡°unable to make the time.¡±
I don¡¯t blame him, and I can even understand the reasoning; planning a full-scale globe-spanning military campaign takes time, and my return wasn¡¯t supposed to be for months at best, and years at worst. Just, I wish he would at least be a bit less blunt¡
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Outwardly, I maintained a taciturn expression; my own feelings aside, it was equally clear to me that him going out of his way to come to my study was an overture. Perhaps meant as a slight apology, perhaps not. Really, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what to think as far as these issues were concerned.
¡°Then please let them in.¡±
At my words, Sasha departed while Peoni produced a small kit and began to touch up my makeup. With a glance as her signal, Frieda stepped forward and made a hurried report.
¡°Lady Elienor has fit into her new role well; I believe that both she and Miss Felicity will benefit greatly from this arrangement.¡± Having said her piece, she stepped back.
Good. I was worried that Felicity might be giving her too much trouble, but I think Frieda¡¯s judgment can be trusted here, and she hears more from Elienor than I do at this point.
¡°Thank you, please continue to keep an eye on them.¡±
Peoni put away her makeup kit and began setting out tea and some sweet pastries as Sasha knocked thrice at the door. It was hard, even at the best of times to find time to juggle everything, but now that I was temporarily back in the palace, things were even more hectic.
¡°My Lady, His Majesty attending with Lords Gustav and Ferdinand.¡± Sasha announced the newest arrivals, then stepped aside whilst holding the ornate door opened.
First Rupert, then Gustav, and finally Ferdinand filed into the room. As I stood to make my greetings, I noted that none of them had brought any of their own attendants, and Gustav was holding a small box close to his chest. It was to be one of those meetings.
¡°Lord Gustav, Lord Ferdinand. It is my pleasure to see you once again.¡± I curtsied once to each of them, deliberately leaving Rupert for last as was the proper order, ¡°Your Highness, though the days were perhaps less than anticipated, it does my heart well to have them cut short.¡±
Rupert froze for a very brief instant. So slight was the movement that I, with my [Kinetic Perception], was likely the only person who had noticed. It was just about all I could do to keep myself from cracking a smile at that. To get a reaction out of him¡ Well, it was quite an accomplishment.
Frankly, I should get a new title for it.
¡°Peoni, Beatrice, Frieda. I will keep only Sasha and Jacqueline with me for this meeting.¡±
Even Peoni, the youngest after Elienor, quickly departed without so much as a glance back. Apparently being in the presence of the king was enough to overcome her desire for gossip.
Once we were relatively alone, Gustav addressed me, ¡°Then, what of the other?¡±
He means Eris.
¡°Franklin is seeing to her today.¡±
Upon receiving my reassurance that we were well and truly alone Gustav set the object he had been clutching down on the table even as it began to glow from his mana. It was exactly as to be expected; a magic tool for suppressing sound and countering espionage and, considering it was Gustavs, a very powerful one.
No sooner had it been activated than Rupert dropped all pretense, ¡°Stahlia, such petty romantics do not suit you.¡±
¡°Perhaps not, but I enjoyed it.¡± I dropped my own mask, ¡°Now then, I believe we have much to discuss.¡±
Gustav waited a moment to see if either Rupert or myself would say anything else before he commenced the proceedings, ¡°Since my part is comparatively lesser, please allow me. Your Highness¡¯ ships have been tasked and are in the process of being outfitted. Finding trustworthy sailors, on the other hand, will take some time.¡±
I had zero experience when it came to naval matters, so I was going to have to take his word for it and leave everything to him. Not that doing such had ever presented me with a problem in the past.
¡°My thanks. Regarding the ships, I am glad that arrangements could be made on such short notice; is there anything you need from myself?¡±
He shook his head and formed his lips into a small smile, ¡°No; I am sure Your Highness is quite busy enough already. Other than that, His Majesty has determined to increase the number of your force by a factor of three.¡±
My eyes widened beyond my control, and my head snapped around to face Rupert, ¡°You¡¯re giving me another two thousand men?¡±
Can the kingdom even afford that? Are there even that many more who meet the strict requirements of loyalty?
My current force was rather special in their devotion to me, and that devotion had played no small part in their selection.
Rupert was unfazed and merely shrugged, ¡°Three thousand more, actually, for a total number of four thousand. The kingdom will somehow manage without them. It would present a far greater hardship if you did not return from the demihuman¡¯s realm. Going without troops is a small price to pay.¡±
I glanced at a stack of papers on my desk, a report on the diplomatic situation in and around the continent of Riodhas. Ferdinand had prepared it for me upon learning of my next intended destination, but I had not yet read it. My plan had been to go over the material en route, for lack of time to do so now. Evidently, that decision had caused me to miss something rather important.
I asked, ¡°Is the situation that bad?¡±
Gustav answered me, ¡°As it stated in Lord Ferdinand¡¯s report, the general sentiment toward Drakas is one of concealed hostility. Stemming from when Drakan ships actively raided their coastlines. Regardless of the fact that such practices have died off in the past hundred years, the generational memory of the demihumans does not quickly forget. The extra soldiers and knights are a necessary precaution and expense; if not against the beasts, then against the demons you will undoubtedly come against on their shores.¡±
Right, by the time I arrive, the war will have started, officially.
¡°Please do not mistake my surprise for objection; I am grateful for the added security¡±
Rupert waved a hand over his shoulder, ¡°Then, if that is settled, Lord Ferdinand.¡±
Ferdinand set down the empty glass he had been rolling between his fingers, ¡°When does Your Highness plan to seal the demon¡¯s abilities?¡±
His straight and to-the-point question caught me off guard after Gustav¡¯s rambling. My back straightened, ¡°As soon as is permissible; we all know the consequences, so I would think that getting through with it sooner rather than later should be imperative.
Ferdinand nodded, ¡°Then, tomorrow; I have made arrangements for you to fall ill. A few rumors among high society, carried by Ladies Edith and Lester. The unofficial story will be that your long travel has exhausted you.¡±
I blinked, then nodded; it was sooner than I had expected, but not undoable. Edith¡¯s involvement was a surprise though, the last time I had done something like this, she had gotten extremely upset and even gone so far as to threaten our friendship over it.
And here I go, completely disregarding that, without even apologizing to her in advance.
I could always summon her to me; her family¡¯s estate was in the capital so she wouldn¡¯t be that far. But something told me that would be the wrong play here.
¡°Tomorrow it is then, unless you have any objections?¡± I looked to Rupert and he signaled his assent, ¡°Tomorrow. And, Lord Ferdinand?¡±
Upon seeing me sweetly smiling at him from across the table he grimaced.
¡°You will be interrogating Eris, of course. But do keep in mind that I granted her asylum. There will be no torture. Not yet, at least. Besides, I should expect that having her skills sealed will already be excruciating.¡± The memory of what I had experienced while forced to possess Sitri caused a shiver to run its way involuntarily up my spine.
He smiled thinly and dryly, ¡°But of course. I will refrain from such, for now.¡±
Having gotten his word, I nodded, ¡°Then, before we adjourn, I have one request of my own; I would like a diplomatic attache to accompany me to Rodias¡ªa number of nobles and ministers as well as representatives of the church. If I show up on their shores with four thousand soldiers, it would hardly appear different from one of our country''s past visits.¡±
Rupert singled out Gustav, ¡°Lord Gustav, make the necessary arrangements.¡±
For the briefest of moments, I thought I saw Gustav grimace upon being assigned more work. I must have been imagining it though since he quickly acquiesced, ¡°Very well.¡±
With that having concluded, our time was up. I bid my current visitors farewell and began preparations for the next item on my agenda; a meeting with Duke Claurence. Though, what he wanted to discuss, I had no idea.
As it turned out; nothing. Rather than his presence, Sasha presented me a letter expressing the duke¡¯s sincerest apologies that he was unable to make our meeting. Along with the letter was a gift; a framed painting of Edith, Sarala, and myself (prior to my first coma) having tea in the duke¡¯s garden.
¡°Sasha, what would you consider the odds that he never intended to arrive in the first place?¡±
I heard her giggle softly, ¡°I would wager that he does not even know that a meeting was scheduled; the letter¡¯s writing appears to be penned by Lady Edith.¡±
That makes sense. I guess she¡¯s still looking out for me in her own way.
¡°Sasha, how long until my next appointment?¡±
¡°You have one hour, my lady.¡±
I nodded, and leaned back in my chair, ¡°I will be accepting Edith¡¯s gift; please wake me in forty minutes. That should provide enough time to fix my appearance.¡±
¡°Then, I will wake you in one hour; your next appointment can be held in the drawing room until you are ready to receive them.¡±
I nodded absentmindedly but was already on my way out.
8-4 Cure the Devil
The next day, right around mid morning, my schedule had been miraculously cleared. Sudden cancelations of important functions and meetings aside; those would only help to fuel the rumors that Edith and Lady Lester were spreading on my behalf.
It would be a cruel irony if my image changes to that of the ¡°Always-Sick-Queen¡¡±
It had reached my ears that, contrary to my wishes, many of the soldiers who had born witness to my actions in the Siege of Zesten had taken to calling me the ¡°Witch Queen¡± or some variant thereof. A title that I no doubt deserved, even if it ran contrary to the image I had hoped to cultivate.
¡°Are you sure about this? It¡¯s going to be extremely painful for you.¡± I asked the reason for all of this, Eris, who was seated across from me. Franklin was here as well, being the only other person in my retinue capable of perceiving Eris. Together, the three of us were in my laboratory along with Lord Ferdinand and a number of knights hand selected by him.
¡°Hah.¡± She scoffed dryly, ¡°You would hardly allow me to remain otherwise; it¡¯s this or be thrown to the wolves.¡±
For all her bluster, it was plain as day that she was only putting on a front. Deep down, she was very likely terrified, or at least anxious.
¡°Need I remind you that you were the one to suggest this in the first place¡ Though, you are correct that I would not allow a demon anywhere near my home.¡± Having said my peace, I reached a hand toward her head without giving her a chance to respond.
Sensing the atmosphere, Eris bit her lip and then lowered her head over the table so as to be within reach. I rested my hand on it.
For what I¡¯m doing, we really aren¡¯t making a big deal out of it¡
If this worked, which I knew it would, then Eris would become the first demon in all of history and pre-history to officially defect. There were stories about demons claiming to defect only to instead stab their would-be allies in the back, but Eris wouldn¡¯t be in the position to do that. Really, this was perhaps the single biggest thing I had ever done¡
Actually, this isn¡¯t such a big deal, is it?
At least not in the scheme of my life; I¡¯d died once, forced a Hell King to evolve, been a Champion, created a miracle¡ or two or three¡ Hells, Eris wouldn¡¯t even be the first demon I¡¯d ¡°cured¡± so to speak. That dubious honor went to Sitri. With that realization, any lingering gravitas about the moment was lost.
Whatever.
Mana traced down my arm and passed from my skin into Eris. Even though I wasn¡¯t really seeking to appraise her, I still accessed that information briefly; I wanted to verify that she still had the [Royal Candidate] Skill. This time, any and all information regarding her Talents was restricted prior to giving me a headache.
Name: Eris of Envy
Age: 2,999
Species: Demon(Envy)
Class/Level: Void Witch 60
Social Strata: Refugee
Ability Values:
- Strength: C: 395
- Endurance: C: 395
- Dexterity: C: 395
- Intelligence: C: 395
- Charisma: C: 395
- Mana: C: 395
Talents: Page 1/86:
Skills: Evy, Talent Void, Void Body, Queen¡¯s Vassal, Shadow Walk, Obfuscator, Skill Mimic, Apathy 2.0, Memory Guard, Null Mind, Jealousy, Envious, Royal Candidate
Nothing changed.
¡°Invoke Authority.¡±
The air in the room warped and cracked in cadence to my speech. Within my mind¡¯s eye, the now-familiar DOS-like interface seemed to open at the behest of my command.
Request Received.
Checking Permissions¡Success: Valid Authority[Class Features] Recognized.
ERROR: Request Not Specified.
Opening New Ticket¡Success: Administrator Level Access Over Object_Entity[Eris of Envy] Granted.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I exhaled a breath I hadn¡¯t realized had been held.
I¡¯m glad that worked.
The idea that I could perhaps invoke my authority without specifying a target had been a gamble. After all, it was hard to test this specific ability when using it resulted in me getting knocked out for extended periods of time.
Everything worked out all right. This way, I can fine-tune how much energy I expend.
There wasn¡¯t a nice way to say it; in short, I was using Eris as a guinea pig.
Still? What¡¯s a ticket in this context? Like a tech support thing or a helpdesk?
I promptly discarded the thought; even now, I could feel my mana being slowly drawn out. It wasn¡¯t nearly as bad as when actively doing things, but it was enough to bear in mind.
¡°Delete Skills from Target¡¯s Skill List.; [Envy], [Obfuscator], [Apathy 2.0], [Jealousy], [Envious], [Royal Candidate].¡±
Again, my voice rang out, and the air shook. My mana radiated out in waves as an icy rush of exhaustion flowed up my arm and toward my heart. There wasn¡¯t leeway to check my own status to get an exact amount, but it felt like my Mana had all but bottomed out.
Processing Request¡Success.
I checked Eris status and found that the specified skills were gone. Much like my own list, the removed skills were now nothing more than a blank space.
That¡¯s¡ really surprising. I¡¯m definitely going to fall asleep, but it shouldn¡¯t be all that long at all.
Targeting only specific skills instead of making blatant statements about her stats and abilities, as I had done to Sitri, was the key to using my authority. There was also my [Divine Usurper] title that was making this easier, but still.
All right, just a little bit more; I¡¯ll test that as well.
Once again, my voice shook the foundation of the world. Really, I meant to think these commands, but something about what I was doing was forcing the words to be spoken aloud. What¡¯s more; although there was a certain degree of control over what I was saying¡ It was like the fundamental meaning carried over, but the basic grammar was adapted. Almost like I was speaking through an interpreter layer¡
¡°Target Target¡¯s Skill: [Queen¡¯s Vassal]. Alter Parameter [Queen of Envy]. Change Value to [Queen auf Drakas].¡±
No sooner had I finished speaking than Eris screamed. It was not a small thing either; it was a heart-wrenching, base, and guttural shriek.
Establishing Subtarget¡Success.
Establishing Subsubtarget¡Success.
Altering Value of Subsubtarget¡ERROR.SubsubtargetWriteProtection
Attempting Administrator Bypass¡Success.
That¡¯s not good.
The realization that I had screwed up crossed my mind at the same instant as a lance of Eris¡¯ pain traveled across our link and into my own mind. My mouth fell open in a silent scream, and I hurriedly broke the connection before it could do too much damage. It was fortunate that after forgetting to exhale earlier, I had apparently forgotten to inhale again; I hadn¡¯t joined Eris in her impromptu heavy metal group.
That being said, I was suddenly acutely aware of two things. First, the painful lack of oxygen in my lungs. Second, the overwhelming exhaustion that was spreading over my body with every passing moment.
¡Not much time left.
¡°...Aaahh¡¡± With great effort on my part, I was able to get my lungs to function again.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Ferdinand was giving me a concerned look while Franklin was staring at Eris, his own expression one of abject horror. I followed the latter¡¯s gaze and immediately felt a pang of remorse at the pitiful sight that met my eyes. Eris had likewise seemingly forgotten to breathe, which caused her pained shrieks to become something of a silent whimper.
¡°...Lord Ferdinand, can you¡ see her¡?¡± Each word hung heavily off my lips before falling off like an overripe fruit. Clearly, I was more far gone than I¡¯d thought.
Ferdinand followed my line of sight and squinted. Then, his eyes widened in surprise. He quickly collected himself, though, and issued an order to the knights, ¡°Men, focus there!¡±
So it took a bit of time for the effects to wear off completely¡
¡°...Good. Franklin¡See to her. Sasha¡ Help me.¡± Having given my final orders, I allowed the darkness to swallow me.
Except it didn¡¯t. My eyes fluttered open, and an all-encompassing white void welcomed me. It was a place I was somewhat familiar with¡ªa knot formed in the pit of my stomach.
The last time I was here¡
¡°No, you aren¡¯t dead, and no, I didn¡¯t save your life at the last moment either.¡±
Equally familiar as the white void, a voice rang out from behind me. Or well, whatever constituted as behind me in this formless place.
Adroni¡
Grimacing, I turned around and found myself face-to-face with my patron deity, ¡°Ah. Then why am I here?¡±
Adroni shrugged, ¡°Good question; you really shouldn¡¯t be.¡±
Uh-huh. So that¡¯s not something they¡¯ll answer.
I crossed my arms, ¡°Well, if I¡¯m not dead, then you want something. Just spit it out and send me back.¡±
Truthfully, there was nothing more substantial at this moment than my desire to tell them to just fuck off. Nothing, except for the sinking sensation that I didn¡¯t have a choice in the matter, coupled together with the unfortunate reality that I literally owed Adroni a life debt.
¡°Hahaha, taking that tone is just¡ Man, you really are fun to watch. Well, I didn¡¯t actually pull you here this time. In fact, I¡¯ve never pulled you here. Most I¡¯ve done is let myself in¡¡± Luckily, Adroni was in a good mood, but their words bore an ominous tone of another sort.
Head cocked to the side, Adroni glanced off into empty space, ¡°That said¡ I may as well offer congratulations. For what, I can¡¯t say, but congrats!¡±
How convenient for you.
¡°Well, I¡¯d rather you don¡¯t spend the next year here, so I¡¯m going to send you back now; call it a gift for making it to the next stage.¡± With that proclamation, Adroni reached out a hand and flicked me on the forehead.
A year!?
My eyes snapped open. I shot up into a sitting position; I was in my bed, and a thick layer of sweat coated my back.
Sasha responded far more calmly than she had any right to, ¡°Ah, My Lady. Peoni, heat some water. Frieda, send word to His Majesty, Lord Ferdinand, and Sir Franklin. Miss Jacqueline, might I trouble you to asses our lady¡¯s health?¡±
Peoni and Frieda left the room immediately to carry out their assigned task while Sasha poured a glass of cold water and offered it to me. I raised my arms out to the side dutifully at Jacqueline¡¯s prompting. My oldest confidant began pinching and squeezing at my extremities, checking on my body. Everything had become routine at some point.
But what was that just now? A dream¡? Nightmare?
It had been far too real for that. No, I had really gone back to that place, but if Adroni¡¯s words were to be believed, and that was a big if, I hadn¡¯t died again. Nor had they pulled me there to chat. That much was easily provable by the fact that we hadn¡¯t had a conversation, really.
So I either got there myself, somehow, or Adroni did all of that to screw with me¡ As much as I want to blame him, I can¡¯t bring myself to do it.
It just wasn¡¯t interesting to bring me into the afterlife for half a minute of nothing. If I had to bet on it, about half of what had been said was true. Their parting words still rang in my ears.
¡®I¡¯d rather you not spend the next year here¡¡¯ Routine or not, I don¡¯t think Sasha would be so calm if I were unconscious for much longer than we planned. But, I don¡¯t think Adroni was lying there.
Something was telling me that, had they not intervened, I probably would have been in that void for a while. It wasn¡¯t possible to verify of course, but I was going to go with my gut. As much as owing Adroni again made it churn.
I finished the glass of water Sasha had given me, ¡°How long was I out?¡±
¡°One week and four days, My Lady. Once we have confirmed your condition, Hist Majesty wishes for you to verify the selected members of the diplomatic attachment.¡± Sasha answered promptly.
No rest for the wicked¡ Still, I guess I should thank them¡
I nodded and called up my status.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 5
Name/Age: Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, 17
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 20 | Custom Class, 8 Experience: 27840/47000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant])
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Queen auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Seedling (NEW)
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/6: [Browse Talents] [ ], [ ], Stealth V*, Charm Resistance III*, [], || Monster Handling III*, ?Dagger Fighting V*, Sword Fighting II*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemical Meister IV*, Teaching II*, Mana Efficiency III*, Fire Magic V*, Water Magic III*, Earth Magic IV*,? Wind Magic III*, Ice Magic VI*, Winter Magic IV, Acting IV*, Light Magic II
Skills 6/6: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features], [ ]. Blue Blooded*, Kinetic Perception*, [], Psychic Shield, || Language Proficiency[Central(human)]*,Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*, Alchemical Heresy*,
¡Nothing seems to have changed¡ No, wait.
Adroni had mentioned something about ¡°reaching the next stage,¡± so I thought there might have been something in my status. The only difference was my Starting Gift; it had gone from a ¡°Budding Seed¡± to a ¡°Seedling.¡±
Whatever the hell that means.
There wasn¡¯t any point in dwelling on it right now; I had no way of finding out. Even Drakas (the dragon) hadn¡¯t had anything to say on the subject when I¡¯d asked him about it before departing to Zesten.
¡For now, I¡¯ll just not edit the contents of skills anymore; that¡¯s the only thing I did that could possibly have made me sleep for a whole year¡ Wait a minute.
¡°Sasha, A mirror.¡± It had dawned on me that the only thing that had changed was my gift.
My age is still seventeen. Why is it still seventeen¡?
I hadn¡¯t been expecting to lose much time, a few months to a year at most. But my birthday was coming up in only another four months. That meant that my age should have gone up to eighteen.
Sasha promptly presented me with a mirror and the reflection that looked back at me told no lies; I was a little thin but not visibly aged at all. I double-checked my hands; neither bore a ring.
So I didn¡¯t age¡? Or I aged so slightly that I can¡¯t tell. That can¡¯t be right.
If my coma was meant to last a whole year in and of itself, I should have come out in my twenties. Obviously, I was grateful that wasn¡¯t the case, but to have not aged at all¡
Adroni did something besides just sending me back.
That had to be the case. The alternative, that I had somehow avoided paying the cost just wasn¡¯t possible.
And it¡¯s not like being a revenant made me unaging; my physical appearance could possibly be frozen, sure, but my status age should still have gone up.
As unsettling as this latest train of thought was, it remained true that there was very little in my power I could do about it. After dwelling on the issue for a while, I opted to shelve it for the time being.
In the end, there isn¡¯t much I can do other than check my status every day, as I¡¯ve already been doing. If my age jumps to eighteen before my birthday, I lost less than four months. If it doesn¡¯t, then Adroni must have done something; any further reaction on my part only serves to entertain that jerk.
Sasha put away the mirror when it became obvious I was done with it, ¡°My Lady, are you quite all right?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yes; I only just recalled that I might have given up some time is all. Though it appears to be less than anticipated¡ Sasha, can you please do something about my back?¡±
¡°Yes; I had noticed that as well but thought it best to wait for My Lady to broach the subject herself. As for the other, I will bathe you as soon as Miss Jacqueline has finished.¡±
I grimaced and tried to hold still against the urge to start scratching the massive itch that was resulting from the now-drying sweat. Jacqueline finished her inspection just as Peoni was returning with the heated water. Sasha efficiently removed the nightgown I was wearing and began to wipe the layer of sweat that had formed on my back. As she worked, I made idle conversation in an attempt to fill myself in on what I had missed.
¡°How is Felicity? And what is Eris¡¯ condition?¡±
Sasha worked diligently while she answered, and even managed to predict a few of my follow-up questions, ¡°Miss Felicity is proceeding well apace, though she has begun to avoid places frequented by nobles; Lady Elienor has taken to tutoring her in matters of etiquette. As for Eris, she has yet to awaken though she shows signs that she will soon do so. Sir Franklin insists on remaining close by, and has begun to butt heads with Lord Ferdinand over the manner in which she will be interrogated.¡±
¡°And his Majesty?¡±
¡°Busy making preparations for war; he visited once after the seventh day and confirmed your health but has been unable to do so since. Lord Gustav has come by once a day for an update and, if he comes again at the same time, will be here inside the hour.¡±
As she was replacing my gown, I asked after the remaining person I was immediately curious about. And nervous over, ¡°And Edith¡?¡±
Sasha smiled, ¡°She has not visited but has dispatched Miss Sarala daily.¡±
That¡¯s a relief, I was worried she¡¯d be furious with me.
¡°That being said, My Lady will be pleased to know that your plan was successful; Lady Edith has been assigned to the diplomatic attachment and is making preparations to depart with us as soon as the ships have been made ready.¡±
I felt a sense of foreboding; knowing my friend, she had seized the opportunity and maneuvered herself into a place to get what she wanted. Her joining my expedition had certainly not been a part of my plan. Really, I had just wanted to offload some of the inevitable meetings with foreign dignitaries.
I believe that I¡¯m going to be lectured about risk management.
If the last time was any indication, Edith was highly pissed about what I¡¯d done. And she could be quite scary when angered. I felt a bead of sweat forming back on my neck where Sasha had just wiped it off.
8-5 Friendship
The day after waking up from my most recent coma, I finally found myself with the time to meet Edith face to face. Considering that she was one of the few people who could genuinely be called my friend, the fact that I had been home for nearly three weeks now and had not yet done so could be considered a failure on my part. Granted, half that time had been spent asleep and recovering from curing Eris¡¯ demon hood, but Edith could hardly be expected to care.
There was also the unfortunate fact that this meeting was not a personal one. Nor were we alone save for servants. No, the cruel reality was that I was meeting her alongside the rest of the diplomatic attachment that she had joined.
I was trying to avoid giving her an order. I wanted to meet her on more or less equal terms, but it came to this¡
Being the Queen, my social status was much higher than Edith¡¯s; even if I sent an innocuous invitation, it would more or less be an order. Combine that with my general lack of experience, and I had wound up delaying and waffling about on the issue until it was too late.
Just need to deal with it now; that¡¯s all I can do¡
¡°Let them in.¡± Upon receiving my order, Sasha curtsied once, then motioned for Frieda to take care of it.
The meeting would take place not in my study or drawing room but instead in a medium dining room. This was closer to my bedroom, and the intent was to sell further the idea that I had only just recovered from an illness. That, and my study was not large enough to receive the number of people we were expecting.
When Frieda returned, she began to announce that mass of nobles, ¡°Ladies Edith and Lawrence, as well as Count Crestwell. Count Heimen, Count Dremas, Count¡¡±
After the first ten names, I began to ignore the introductions; I simply could not find it in me to care who would be joining the expedition. Ferdinand would have approved everyone, so there was no danger of any duplicity from the newcomers. Furthermore, I was the Queen; none of them would entreat me out of nowhere, and any meetings or dinners could be preempted with one of my maids reminding me whom it was I was seeing.
By that same virtue, I already knew who I needed to be mindful of. Edith, whose official reason to be here was as a representative of her father per his position as the most influential duke. And Lady Lawrence, wife of the late Duke Lawrence, a man whose death had been in no small part orchestrated and carried out by myself during the small-scale war of succession. The fact that her request to join the attachment had been approved said enough about how she had adapted to the loss of her spouse, as well as indicated her own loyalties.
It¡¯s a bit sickening. Duke Lawrence implied as much, but to see her discard him as she has for political gain¡ She¡¯ll make a powerful ally, but one who needs a firm hand.
Or so Ferdinand¡¯s briefing went. All in all, the collected nobles numbered just over twenty, and they could effectively represent all of Drakan society and our interests.
¡°Thank you all for coming on such short notice. Please, seat yourselves.¡± This would be my first time really presiding over the nobility in an official capacity.
I had been to functions, of course, but this was the first time I had been head of a committee. As such, this was one small test for them; I had intentionally neglected to provide seating arrangements ahead of time. More accurately, I had expressly forbidden Sasha from creating them. The nobles glanced around uncertainly, with Edith being the sole exception. She had known me long enough and was smart enough to realize what was going on immediately. She immediately cut through the room to the seat on my right and claimed it for herself. Lady Lawrence noted this and swiftly selected the one on my left. Following the two of them making their moves, the other nobles picked up on the game, and there was an elegant mad scramble¨Ceach of them endeavoring to be as close to me as possible.
¡Well, by rank, Edith would have been either on my right or my left regardless.
I had been curious as to how they would react; a test to gauge their comfort zones, how they would react when suddenly pushed outside the normal bounds of society. After all, according to Drakan society, demihuman beastkin were utter trash. Sub-human. They were to be enslaved or exterminated. Yet, here I was, bringing a group of high nobles into the greatest beastkin country in this world. I needed to know ahead of time which ones wouldn¡¯t be able to act outside the rigorous environment of court.
There Felicity of course; it went without saying that she would be coming with us on this expedition. Denying her the opportunity to meet her people would just be wrong. That, and she would no doubt accompany me regardless of what I said. But she couldn¡¯t be used to gauge the nobles. She was a known quantity; they knew that I was fond of her. So, knowing that they would endeavor not to be rude to her. They would mind themselves.
The last noble, a baron, seated himself. I made a mental note of that; they had subconsciously filtered themselves by rank. Despite not caring to know their names, the ranks could be judged by their general attire, and he was undoubtedly the lowest here. In fact, there was only one baron, and the fact that he had been the last to sit was no coincidence. Nor was the fact that they had all strove to be close to me, even Edith. What followed was the single most pointless meeting of both my lives.
To start, I reiterated what our goals were, which everyone already knew. Then I listed off the reasons we couldn¡¯t fail, which everyone already knew. And finally, I expressed my desire for us to work together, which everyone should hopefully already be intending to do.
Who am I kidding? This lot is no doubt going to continue playing politics and let scheming get in the way¡
As much as my pessimism was getting to me, I still thought that involving the nobles was the correct course of action. They would give me access to new resources and, at the very least, unique points of view.
Well, the meeting is over. Now, I need to get with Edith and make sure we¡¯re still friends¡
Hyperbole. We were still friends, but there was sure to be some awkwardness between us. Regardless, the pointless meeting had ended, and the lower-ranked nobles were beginning to make their farewells and see themselves out. They were filing out according to rank, but that was fine; I didn¡¯t actually want them to forgo all formality. Besides, this meant that Edith and Lady Lawrence would be the last to leave. The problem then arose from the fact that the Dutchess outranked Edith by virtue of being the elder.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Just as the last of them were leaving and I was wracking my head for a way to get Edith to stay after Lady Lawrence without arousing suspicion, the woman herself gave me an out.
¡°Then, I shall be taking my leave, your majesty; I suspect that you would like to spend a bit of time with Lady Edith, privately.¡±
I bowed my head slightly to show gratitude, ¡°My thanks. Edith, I would very much like to take the chance for us to catch up ¨Cit has been a long time.¡±
Internally, my thoughts were in turmoil.
She saw through my Acting, or was it just a lucky guess? This also means I owe her a favor now. A small one, but a debt nonetheless. Or, is she tacitly informing me that she has eyes in the palace, and knows I have been neglecting Edith? Who am I kidding? Of course she has eyes in the palace, and it isn¡¯t really a secret how busy I¡¯ve been¡ Other than the past week while I was sleeping¡
Lady Lawrence left us, and the room was now only inhabited by Edith, myself, and my maids. Edith tilted her head back to look up at me.
¡°Was there something you wished to discuss further?¡±
The difference in our stature was more than just our position in society, and I was forced to look down at her, ¡°I want to apologize for not calling you immediately after returning, and for falling asleep again.¡±
Better to just come out and say it rather than beating around the bush.
Edith frowned, ¡°I know you were busy.¡±
¡°Come; we should move somewhere more appropriate.¡± Before we continued, I wanted to move to a smaller room.
But more importantly, I wanted Edith to be sitting further away from me. As lovely as it was having her close, the fact that she had to nearly crane her neck back to look me in the eye made for a poor conversation. There wasn¡¯t anything else that I could do about that particular issue; she was smaller than me now.
We moved to my study. Then, on a whim, I kept walking past the visitor seating and opened the door behind my desk, ¡°After you.¡±
Sasha didn¡¯t say anything to me but made a gesture to Peoni and Beatrice, who promptly disappeared to accomplish some task. Edith glanced at the maids out of the corner of her eye, then approached the door more nervously than before. Who could blame her? Rather than a servant, it was being held open by the Queen of her country, her direct superior. My friend did not speak, but upon reaching the door frame, she froze.
This particular portal led to my personal quarters, my bedroom. For me to be inviting her inside was no small thing within our society. Indeed, I had received visitors and well-wishers while I was sleeping, and they had briefly visited this room. Even Edith had been in it before. The critical distinction in that case, though, was the invitation or lack thereof. For me to be inviting her was a sign of my complete trust. Especially when one factored in the fact that there had been guards present while I was sleeping, now, it was just us and the servants.
¡°You know where this door went; there is no good reason to freeze up now.¡± I softly chided Edith and prompted her to clear the passage.
My words seemed to reach her, and she shook her head. The uncharacteristic uncertainty made way for her usually calm demeanor, and she cleared the threshold. I followed and motioned her towards a cushioned nook in the window while I took up residence on the edge of my bed. This way, there was about ten feet between us. Close enough that we could speak normally but far enough that she did not have to look up at me nor I down at her.
¡°We used to spend time in your room back when we attended the academy together. Is this so different?¡± After Edith had remained silent, I opted to break the ice myself.
¡°It is. You know it is. We were kids, you-¡± She cut herself off, ¡°It¡¯s one thing for two girls to play together, but you are no longer the same¡¡±
I see I¡¯m not the only one who¡¯s become conscious of our age gap¡ Damned magic.
¡°Well, I still feel the same; I did not exactly live the extra years¡¡±
I might have my past life memories, even if the details are fading, and my body might be older, but from her perspective we should still be the same age.
I thought that, and yet we once again fell into an awkward silence. Edith was either unwilling or perhaps too nervous to speak openly. Or maybe she was just that mad at me. There was just something¡ different¡ about our relationship now.
Age? No, I¡¯ve already dismissed that. Political status? I don¡¯t think so.
Edith was too clever. Back at the academy, she had been the one who handled politics on my behalf. Whenever I misstepped, she had worked the situation to have the best possible outcome. Going all the way back to our first meeting, when she had used a few words to create a shelter for me. Even if she had just been acting then, she should be seeking to cash in on the investment now ¨Cnot awkwardly hanging around.
¡Marital status? I technically stole her position out from under her¡
Edith had been betrothed to Rupert for a handful of months, but then he had turned around and propositioned me. She had even been in the room with us when he did it. At the time, she had seemed like she found the idea of marrying him burdensome but was willing to do it for politics. Was that really the case, though? Or had she perhaps grown to resent me after time had passed?
That didn¡¯t seem right, either. Even if she did resent me now, she was clever enough to put aside her own feelings to extract value. It had to be something else.
If Sarala was here, she¡¯d say something random or uncouth, and that would break the tension.
Out of the three of us, that had always seemed to be Sarala¡¯s role. She genuinely cared for Edith, even beyond the normal scope for a familiar. Of course, Sarala wasn¡¯t here now. The various nobles had been instructed not to bring attendants to the meeting, and that extended to Edith as well.
There isn¡¯t anything that says I can¡¯t do it as well, though.
Sasha was here, and would probably protest if I went too far, but she had already remained silent when I invited Edith into my inner sanctum. Edith herself had turned to the window and was looking out over the city. One glance at the room would be enough to demonstrate how awkward things were. But what to say?
¡°You are the first, you know?¡±
Edith tore her gaze away from the window, ¡°The first what?¡±
I waved my hand in a circle to indicate the room, ¡°The first person I have invited here. Even Rupert has not been¡ yet¡¡±
I could feel my cheeks turning red; the implications of what I¡¯d just said were obvious, and I could not bring myself to finish the sentence. Edith herself went crimson, and her jaw hung open in a very un-ladylike manner. Out of the corner of my eye, Sasha facepalmed.
¡°S-stahlia! Why would you s-say something like that!?¡± Edith protested loudly.
¡°Ahem, well, I was hoping to break¡ whatever this is¡ And Sarala isn¡¯t here to say it for me, so¡¡±
Edith just stared at me, her cheeks still pink. But a combination of my own fluster and her ability rendered her thoughts unreadable. Then, she shook her head.
¡°You know, I can absolutely hear her saying that. Or rather, asking you if I was the first you had invited¡¡± She grinned then, ¡°Alright, I get it, I have been too distant, haven¡¯t I?¡±
Well, on the bright side, it worked.
I nodded sheepishly, ¡°And me too; I should have made it a point to visit as soon as I returned.¡±
¡°Yea, you should have, but the past is gone; I¡¯m glad you¡¯re back.¡±
¡°And I¡¯m glad you¡¯re going to accompany me on the next leg of this.¡± I bowed my head. Even if we had started being extremely casual with each other, the gesture still carried a lot of weight.
I¡¯m glad that I¡¯ve managed to salvage this¡ I don¡¯t have enough people I could call true friends. Even if it cost my dignity, it was well worth the price.
8-6 Departure
After patching things up with Edith, the remainder of the time until my second departure passed by without a single problem rearing its ugly head. In fact, short of problems, the only exciting thing short of problems was Eris waking up and immediately breaking into tears.
She hadn''t been in pain after the initial stages; when I sealed her [Apathy] Skill, it had the effect of allowing her to realize the full extent of everything she had done. Not like my own blowback from using [Cold Hearted]. No, she had been alive for thousands of years, so the amount of harm she had caused¡ Suffice it to say, if she had been confronted with the amplified guilt of all those crimes, she would have died.
No, Eris was simply allowed to feel again, and that much was enough to cause her to break down. In the end, she had retreated into herself for a week, and only recently come back out. In all honesty, she probably wished she could die. But I wasn''t about to allow that.
Though, I can''t shake the feeling that Adroni helped somehow.
Eris had come out of her own coma with a new skill. Not a skill new to her, but a wholly new skill. My small experiment, changing the target of [Queen''s Vassal] from Leviathan to "the Queen of Drakas" had resulted in the creation of an entirely new ability. Where Eris once had [Queen''s Vassal], she now had [Vassal of the Silver Dragon].
"[Vassal of the Silver Dragon]: A skill which binds its user into the service of the Silver Dragon''s Dynasty."
That was where I believed Adroni''s interference had been. My own statement had been too vague in its specificity, and the parameters had been tweaked. The effect was the same at the end of the day; Rupert and I were both recognized by the Silver Dragon living on the top of the palace mountain. We both had a title reflecting that. But the grandeur of it all had been massively increased.
It''s a lot more interesting this way, hence my suspicion.
"Well?" At the sound of my voice, Eris snapped out of her silence and looked down at herself again.
She was wearing a Shadow''s combat suit. After a lengthy discussion with Rupert and Ferdinand, it had been decided that Eris information and services would be best served if she was brought into my retinue. Her knowledge of the demon''s hierarchy and abilities would be valuable anywhere, but everyone agreed it would be most beneficial with my crusade.
"...I was expecting you would have made me a maid. This is assassin gear."
I nodded, "As much as I like cliches, I am not in the habit of collecting maids, and even with your main abilities removed, it is not like you are entirely helpless."
She still had her massive quantity of Talents to draw on. With her utmost loyalty ensured by [Vassal of the Silver Dragon], she would be much better utilized as something of a field agent. Besides this, Sasha had outright refused to bring her on board as a servant.
Eris bit her lip, "No¡ but I¡" She was probably going to say she was scared. After all, this whole thing had first started when she discovered that the other Envy demons had been wiped out.
"I do not care; I own your life now." I coldly silenced her objections.
Just because I had shown mercy did not mean that I was suddenly friends with a demon. If anyone around me was to be regarded as a tool, it was Eris. Not necessarily disposable; I didn''t want to lose her information. But we certainly weren''t close.
"Do not be concerned; Jacqueline will see to your general training and integration, and the most I intend to use you for is information gathering. I am not fool enough to put you near any other demons or any of Aaron''s followers."
Eris hung her head and nodded while biting her lip again. If I wasn''t tangentially aware of the atrocious acts she must have committed, it might have been sad enough to extract a bit of pity from me. Maybe.
"...Right. Well, for what it''s worth, thanks." Eris took a deep breath, bowed her head, and departed with Jacqueline.
The latter had remained entirely silent the entire meeting, having not judged her input to be necessary. This left me with a precious few minutes to myself before I was meant to leave. This time, there would be no parade, and we would not be stopping along the way. The majority of my troops, the additional three thousand men at arms, were already in the port city waiting on us to depart.
If not for Ferdinand working to extract as much intelligence from Eris as possible, we would have left already.
"Your Majesty." There was a sharp knock at the door, and Sarala''s head poked in. Upon confirming that the room was clear, she came in bodily as well, "Stahlia, Edith asked me to let you know; she wasn''t able to deal with it."
Sarala had been elevated by Edith to the position of head maid, and one of the perks she now enjoyed was the permission to show herself into my study. Her calling me by name was something else; I had asked both her and Edith to do so when we were alone.
I sighed and let my shoulders slump, "I see. Well, how many are they sending?"
"One Cardinal and three priests, as well as a number of acolytes."
''They'' in this context was, as the ranks implied, the church. Upon having heard that I planned to take my crusade overseas, the Cardinal had begun insinuating he should be invited.
But the last thing I want is for the Church faith to send their people.
After all, we were going to be visiting the realms of the beastkin, and my country''s religion was rather prejudiced on the topic of those races.
"Born from woman laying with animals," wasn''t it?
Some of the more extreme adherents even went so far as to liken the beast kind to be no different from monsters.
"Do we know who?"
Sarala reached a hand inside her sleeve to retrieve a small rolled-up scroll, "Here, positions of the Cardinal and Priests, as well as their student''s names, though Edith doesn''t know which Acolytes will be brought."
It was better than nothing, and I motioned Sasha to take it.
Damnit, I was hoping I could keep deflecting him, but that damn Cardinal has more guts than I thought.
There were still avenues left open to me; sea travel was still risky, and I had Jacqueline accompanying me. But I would at least wait until seeing how these particular servants of the gods behaved before taking such a drastic solution.
Sasha passed me the list and I briefly scanned it.
"That bastard!" I ground my teeth.
The corrupt Cardinal I was most familiar with was front and center as the head of the religious side of things. Among other things, he was Sana''s mentor and superior. Sana was one of my older friends, though we had drifted apart in recent times. But there was no doubt in my mind that she was going to be among those selected to attach themselves to my expedition.
The church knows we faked the miracle, and they know I''m not really the Champion of Autumn ¨Cis she insurance?
Considering my first thought had been the possibility of arranging an accident for them, it was highly likely.
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Even if we have grown apart, I don''t want to cause her harm¡
"Stahlia¡?" Sarala was startled by my outburst.
"My apologies, I think you noticed though?"
She nodded grimly, "Sana, she went with us to Ang, right?"
I nodded, "Yes, That''s her."
We discussed a few more things, but our meeting was largely concluded, Sarala was only giving me a bit more time to unwind with a friend before my next engagement. Following her departure, the remainder of the days leading to my departure were a hectic blur. Finally though, I found myself once more on the road. Not that there was much relief.
During the outing to Zesten, Lord Alriss and myself had been the only high nobles. Now, there was an entire gaggle of them. Whereas I had previously been able to do largely whatever I wanted (within reason), now, I had to maintain a conscientious demeanor. The only saving grace was that the number of meetings I had to attend was reduced, because the number of nobles was reduced. As it was, every lunch and dinner now had, at the very least, Edith or Lady Lawrence present. Usually, both of them and a handful of others.
By the time we reached the port and our ships, I was done. The city itself was nothing special. About half as large as the capital, but with the smell of salt in the air. It was fortified, but the large and open harbor meant that such could only go so far. Of course a large portion of the Drakan Navy was at anchor in that self-same harbor, so an invader''s mileage would still vary.
Of those ships at anchor, three of them had been given to me to facilitate the progression of my mission. At first, that number had concerned me; accounting for the additional troops, nobles, nobles'' attendants, and now the church, our number had ballooned to nearly six thousand. And that was missing the sailors that would crew the ships. But my worries abated as soon as the lord of the city showed me to the pier.
The Might of Man was the largest of the three at almost two hundred and fifty meters long. Her bulk was devoted to living quarters and storage space. While the knights and soldiers would be divided between all three ships for security, the largest third would reside on Conflagra.
The Jewel of Gaia''s Crown was "only" two hundred meters long, but was easily capable of hosting the nobles who would be traveling aboard her. She was the second newest ship in my tiny fleet, and had been specifically designed for the purpose of hosting dignitaries. Rather than military functionality, her builders had splurged on luxury. While not as bold as the palace, she would not leave her occupants wanting.
Finally, the smallest and newest of the three. Will of the Gods was a measly one hundred and forty meters from bow to stern, yet she had cost the Drakan taxpayer nearly twice as much as the other two vessels combined.
"The silver sheen of her hull comes from the Mythril plating; you can expect spells to flow off her like water over glass. And does Your Majesty see the golden glint atop her bow? That is an Orichalcum Mana Focuser. State of the art, and very effective."
And very expensive.
I let the man continue to boast; I was already well familiar with the ship¡¯s specifications from the documents given to me along with her charter. While Migght of Man and Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown had been seconded to my mission, the Will of the Gods had been given directly into my command. For all intents and purposes, I was the ship¡¯s owner now. Mostly, I was just taking in the sight.
All three of the ships were made of metal. Not wood plated in metal like an iron-clad, but proper steel ships. Will of the Gods had her aforementioned Mythril plating, but all of them were extremely sturdy looking. And fast. I had not really paid it much mind before, and all of the boats I had seen were of the style the rest of the world indicated they should be; wooden sailing ships. But the three ships here, and indeed the rest of the ships in the harbor had an almost¡ modern appearance. They seemed to lack sails and were relatively low on the water, at least when compared to their length.
According to her specification documents, Will of the Gods uses actual propellers with a mana generator.
I had been rather doubtful when I first read it, but seeing is believing as they say. And speaking of seeing, there was a particularly rotund man waiting for my party further down the pier. A man I was not looking forward to meeting again, but one whom I could not avoid.
¡°Thank you for your service, but I am in a hurry to depart; I have already spent far too much time taken with illness, and wish to make haste to fulfill my mission.¡± I gave the poor lord of this city a sorry excuse, then quickly departed from his presence before he could further fill the air with the sounds of his boasting.
He did not actually design the ship, or even finance it, so I¡¯m not exactly sure what his point with all that was.
"Your Majesty, it is my pleasure to once again make your acquaintance." In front of me stood the corrupt Cardinal. At his back, he had a number of priests and several acolytes.
I tilted my chin ever so slightly toward one of them. Sana.
Better for me to acknowledge her presence. I don''t want him to think she''s useless.
"Quite. Though I am unsure what you intend by attaching yourself to this venture; you know what lands we are bound for."
"I am, what should you say, a progressive. I am well aware of where you are intending to set foot, but that does not concern me. It is not right that one chosen by the gods would forsake their greatest servants."
I can''t make heads or tails of his motivation¡
On the one hand, this sounded like a standard power play, like he was trying to extract value from siding with me. On the other hand, he really, really didn''t seem the type to do something so risky as to embark on a cross-continental journey with me. He knew the skeletons me and Ruper had in our closet, at least to some extent.
"Sana." Before I had the chance to mull it over further, the Cardinal called over my old friend, "Your Majesty used to be friends with this Acolyte? If it pleases you, I have cleared her from lessons for the next few days. Please, use the time to catch up."
¡And now he''s handing me his insurance.
"I thank you for your kindness, Cardinal." After curtsying to him, I turned to Sana, "It has only been a few years, but it feels like so many more¡ Come, I would like to talk."
She looked up at me nervously then gave a sharp nod. We were, after all, the same legal age. It had been bad enough for Edith and Sarala, Felicity and Claire, to see me suddenly wake up in a body that was several years older. For Sana, she had both known me for a lot longer, and gone a lot longer without interacting. Rather than going to sleep ten and waking up sixteen, for Sana, it was as though I had left her for a year and come back as a totally different person. That was also forgetting the part where my other friends had seen it happen in two steps, while for Sana it was coming all at once.
Relative status as well¡
No wonder she was nervous. Lord Alriss walked ahead of me to board the Will of the Gods, and Sana fell into step at the rear of my party after a moment of hesitation and being prompted by the Cardinal. The nobles would be boarding Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown over the rest of the day, and we were set to depart in the early hours of tomorrow morning, so there was a bit of time. As for the soldiers, those that would be traveling on my ship were already aboard.
Before entering the ship¡¯s superstructure, I spared one glance back over my shoulder toward the Cardinal. He met my gaze and held it; there was no doubt, and more importantly, no fear in his eyes.
Just what is he planning?
As fate would have it, Sana presented me with an answer. No sooner were we alone (excepting my servants), than she solemnly took out a letter bearing the Cardinal¡¯s own wax seal and presented it to me. She was still nervous, and I could feel her hands shaking through the paper, but it was evident that this was the real reason the Cardinal had parted with his insurance.
¡°Thank you, Sana. I¡¯m sorry we lost contact for so long; I got very busy.¡±
She shifted on her feet, refusing to meet my gaze.
And now I¡¯m speaking to her like a child¡ Then again, maybe this is for the best. Edith and Sarala are a special case, but isn¡¯t it a bit creepy if I continue trying to be her close friend?
There was the question of our mental ages to consider; I had always been older there, but when my body was still that of a child¡¯s, I had found it easy to act the part.
¡°Uhm, Teacher said that you need to read that¡¡±
I looked away from Sana and at the letter in my hands, ¡°Right, I suppose I should. We can talk more once I¡¯ve finished.¡±
After performing a brief inspection with my mana, to confirm that there were no traps or poisons hidden within its pages, I broke the seal and opened the letter.
Dear Champion, I am going to keep this missive brief, because I do not have long to write it. There is a schism brewing within the church, and I suspect the involvement of our greater enemies. I am decided that I would best serve mine own interests and the interests of our mutual master by throwing my lot with you. Consider the child, Sana, to be an olive branch.
Sincerely, Cardinal MMLXI of the Church of Light and Dark.
May our journey prove interesting.
My hands were shaking with suppressed anger by the time I¡¯d finished, and I crumpled the paper into a small ball, ¡°[Ignition.]¡±
I spat the name of the spell, burning up any and all evidence.
A schism? My ass. You¡¯ve all but went and said it!
The Cardinal had all but declared himself as a servant of the God(dess?) of Chaos, all while subtly informing me that he knew I was under the thumb of that self-same deity. If there was truly a schism brewing, I didn¡¯t doubt for a second that it was entirely the doing of the self-same Cardinal.
8-7 Setting Sail
After cursing under my breath and incinerating the letter, it crossed my. mind that Sana was still in the room¡ And had seen everything.
"...Ah. I apologize; the Cardinal delivered some extremely upsetting news."
As far as I could tell, she looked unconvinced. Not that her expression was easy to read. It was as though there was a disconnect there between us, something that hadn''t existed a year ago. It would be easy enough to just cite the age difference, but an adult should at least be able to gauge a child''s mood. If there was any word for it, then Sana was behaving in a guarded manner.
Well, I can''t exactly fault her for it.
"I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to frighten you." In an attempt to ease my friends'' nerves, I allowed my voice to slip into a more casual tone. It felt weird, almost like the words were foreign to me.
"It''s¡OK." She answered me.
Well, progress, but she still doesn''t look OK to me.
At this point, I began to realize the truth of the matter; there was no way our friendship was going to rekindle. Previously, I had some doubts and the notion that we would have made a strange pair was not lost on me. But still, I''d hoped against hope.
I can try for ''friendly.''
There was no reason we couldn''t at least be cordial to each other, and I didn''t want her to appear useless to the Cardinal; the jury was still out on if he could be trusted.
I dismissed all of my staff except Sasha in an effort to make Sana more comfortable. By this point, my guards had grown used to being sent away when I only had one or two guests and took up a post outside the door with no complaints.
Granted in their minds, what could a twelve-year-old do? I should introduce them to Rosial, she''s nine.
Or not. I liked the ease with which I could be rid of them.
"Sana, I know I don''t look like I should, and I know that we live in two different worlds now, but can we still be friends? I''d be sad if you keep hating me."
And now I''m talking to her like she''s half her age. Damnit, how am I supposed to interact with her¡?
A consequence of skipping that stage of my second childhood, I was finding myself at a general loss for words. Instead of treating her like my peer, I had decided to treat her like a child I was fond of, or perhaps a niece. But all of the children I was close with (Edith and Sarala), were exceptional. Even the younger children who were in my care, such as Felicity and Elienor, had their own quirks making communicating to them a wholly unique experience.
Sana was normal. I had no idea how to communicate with her properly.
If I approached her the same way I would talk to Edith, she would be lost. If I approach her like Rosial, then she''ll stay scared. Elienor is the closest, but even she''s advanced for her age¡
Just as I was stumbling around, trying to figure out the correct approach, Sana answered me.
"I don''t¡ How could I hate you!? The gods have given you a great purpose! If anything, I''m not good enough to be in the same room as you, to breathe the same air, I-" She froze, "...I''m the one who should apologize¡."
I shot a look over Sana''s shoulder toward Sasha, as my maid was waving to get my attention. As soon as she had it, she made a motion as though she was applying makeup. My eyes drifted until they landed on a mirror, and I was left aghast.
My face was twisted up into a look of disgust. The kind of expression one might make upon discovering a cockroach in their shoe or a dog turd on their bed. And that look had been directed at Sana.
What the hells is wrong with me!?
Replacing the disgusted expression with one aghast, I was quick to apologize, "Sana, I''m so sorry!"
But the damage seemed to have already been done. The girl was now staring meekly at her hands, folded as the were across her lap. Based on the trembling of her lips, she was doing her very best not to start crying. Sometimes, it was best to admit defeat. To retreat, and try again another day.
"Sasha, please arrange for Sana to sleep aboard the Will of the God''s. Inform the Cardinal that she became gravelly seasick during departure. Sana, I can''t apologize enough, but it is clear that you need time; I will have someone assigned to care for you, and make time in my schedule tomorrow."
For a moment, I feared that things were going to end on that sour note but after a long, pregnant pause, Sana gave a single sharp and quick nod. With what amounted to my farewell having been said, Sasha beckoned Peoni back into the room and passed Sana off to her. Once the girl was gone, I fell back into the small couch.
"What have I done now¡?" My question was rhetorical, and my staff were keen enough to pick up on that.
That was entirely beyond me¡ Damnit! Why didn''t [Acting] kick in!? I should have been able to control my facial expressions and body language!
The disgust was real, and there was no denying that. The moment that Sana had begun verbally putting me up on a pedestal, the only thing I had felt was revulsion. It would be a great disservice to my past self and all of my coping through [Cold Hearted] if I were to pretend I had felt anything other than pure disgust. But feeling something and showing it openly were two different things.
Though the degree of my disgust was also extreme, as far as that was concerned, the only thing I could think of was that it had something to do with the source of Sana''s inferiority complex.
The church.
My thoughts were beginning to come together now, and I was turning my self-pity outward.
The degree of of my reaction was because of the source. People hold me up all the time. Prodigy. Alchemical Wizard. Genius Mage. Queen. I''ve heard the whispers, bit the most I''ve ever felt was mild discomfort, and recently not even that. It has to be the reason behind Sana''s words; her faith.
The reason Sana held me in such high regards, and viewed herself so lowly, those were one and the same; her faith in the gods. In Sana''s view, I was someone who had been both chosen, and then granted a personal miracle. I was just short of a divine being in my own right. A sort of walking avatar. No wonder she felt the way she did.
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But if That''s the case, there''s no way I''ll be able to form any sort of relationship with her. Either as friends or as her guardian. Not unless I''m willing to tear out her faith first.
I might not like the gods very much. In fact, I outright hated them all. But I knew better than to try and force my own opinion on the matter; the divine was fundamentally real here. For the masses, worshiping them had tangible benefits. Besides which, I was not foolhardy. My position as the Rulebreaker could only shield me so far. At the end of the day, if I tried to foment religious dissent, it would be trivial for the gods to remove me or simply negate my efforts.
So I had my answer as to the reason for revulsion, but not how my walls had been breached. Nor for why my mind was now running a circular track. As always, however, it was time that was my enemy.
"My lady." A gentle hand rested itself upon my shoulder, "If you continue, the ships will miss the departure window."
Sasha had allowed me to brood without comment but now she was letting me know that I had used all the time we had.
Right. I''m supposed to meet the captain.
Strangely, Drakas had no such custom requiring the captain of a vessel to greet important passengers when they boarded the ship. Rather, it was tradition for those important persons to see the captain shortly before departure. As far as I could tell, this arose from the danger of sea travel prior to the development of more "modern" technology. The idea was that, upon a ship, nobody was more important than the captain.
Granted sea travel was still dangerous, albeit far less so, and thus the tradition was simply a quirk of sea travel.
"Thank you, Sasha. I take it we have time to fix my hair?" I had been fussing enough that a touch up was likely warranted, and knowing Sasha¡
"Of course. If my Lady is recovered, then shall we move to the dressing desk?" She bowed her head graciously, and indicated a small door along the far wall.
As I had been preoccupied with Sana, I had yet to properly explore my accommodations. According to the briefing given to me, I had a five room suite. Presently, we were in a sitting area that could also double as a reception and private dining room. Attached through the door Sasha indicated lay my bedroom, attached to which was a dedicated dressing room combined with a large walk in closet space. Across from my room, there was a room for my staff though they also had their own accommodations; these were for the staff who would never leave my side, like Sasha. Lastly, a bathroom containing a small (by my royal standards) bath, and toilets. Space was at a premium on a ship, even for me.
I lightly slapped my cheeks, finalizing my mental state ¨CSasha would fix the make up. Standing, I took a moment to steady myself with the gentle rolling of the harbor then made my way to the dressing room, "Let us prepare then."
If Sasha isn''t going to reprimand me for sulking, things were terrible. I''ll do my best, but my relationship with Sana is probably beyond repair¡ as saddening as that is, I can''t let it distract me. There will be time to feel sorry for myself later.
That was the scariest aspect of all; Sasha still had her standing permission to speak freely and to chide me when my actions went beyond the pale. If she wasn''t going to Invoke it here, she viewed my previous state as justified.
After spending half an hour repairing my hair and makeup, I exited my quarters and made my way to the bridge. One of the officers (of naval rank) had arrived to show me the way. A quick glance over his physique and the way the man carried himself gave the impression that he was on par with one of my stronger knights, though not quite as strong as the ones in my direct guard. Under his guidance, we made good time through the small ship from my cabin to the bridge. Thankfully he did not attempt to play the part of tour guide, and our trip proceeded in silence save for the sailors we passed who would pause briefly to salute while offering a swift "Your Majesty."
It should go without saying, but I was traveling light. For attendants, only Sasha and Jacqueline. For protection, only two of my knights, and Jacqueline.
I''ll have to devise a way of traveling the ship without having to stop every time we pass a member of the crew. Perhaps I could instruct the captain that his men need not go out of their way?
I wanted my presence to be manageable and not burdensome within the operations of the ship. That said, I also was not going to confine myself to quarters for the entire trip; it would be a lie if I claimed not to be at least a little bit excited at the prospect of the voyage. Even if that was soured by the events of today thus far.
¡°Her Majesty has arrived.¡± Our guide announced my presence to the bridge crew upon our arrival, and they immediately snapped to salute.
As per the demands of tradition, I did not instruct them to be at ease. Instead, the man sitting in the largest chair stood and turned to face me. I performed a curtsy, lowering myself slightly in respect, ¡°Captain Benji. I will be in your care.¡±
He nodded, ¡°At ease, men. Welcome aboard, Your Highness. How have you found the Will of the Gods?¡±
¡°She is a beautiful ship,¡± I answered his question, then glanced around the room. Sensing that the atmosphere was right, I ventured, ¡°Though there is a problem with her crew; they seem easily distracted from their duties and overly fond of saluting persons passing by in the passageways. Perhaps this could be remedied?¡±
Benji laughed, ¡°Hahaha, the stories were true; you are cut from cheaper cloth. Though I can¡¯t say it¡¯s a pleasure owing Lord Alriss a drink¡ I¡¯ll see what I can do about discipline.¡±
I narrowed my eyes at that; the notion of being the subject of bets between my men was unsettling, but there was nothing to be done about it. My commanders, on the other hand, they should know better.
I¡¯ll have a word with Alriss later. I think I¡¯m going to like Benji though. Tradition helps, but it only goes so far, the fact that he¡¯s able to ignore typical social norms so readily, he¡¯s easy to get along with.
¡°Now that we have met each other, how do you find your new command?¡± Our initial greeting was over, but there were still a few steps left before we could say we had honored the demands of decorum. Besides, I was genuinely interested.
Benji shrugged, ¡°The way I see it, a command is a command. But Will of the Gods has a fine crew, and I¡¯m looking forward to the voyage; it¡¯s been fifty years since a Drakan ship crossed the Eastern Sea. I¡¯m honored that His Majesty picked me for the mission.¡±
As he spoke, he was watching me very closely. Close enough to cause the back of my neck to prickle and for Jacqueline to shift her stance. Unlike when nobles attempted to engage me in verbal warfare, I found Benji¡¯s attempt thrilling. He was hoping to learn the reason he had been chosen over every other officer of rank and, beyond that, trying to determine if the crown knew of his secret. We did, of course; there was no way the man being given command of my personal vessel had not undergone the most thorough of background checks.
As much as I would like to continue the charade and further engage with him, Sasha was indicating that time was short. After all, this was meant to be a brief greeting before our departure. I bowed my head lightly, ¡°Of course we would select you; considering all factors, you are the most suited captain in the Drakan navy.¡±
By my wording, I had announced to Benji that I knew his secret, while still obfuscating it from the bridge crew.
His eyes flashed with a knowing recognition, and he smiled, ¡°Then let it be my pleasure to announce the commencement of our voyage. Helmsen, break port!¡±
A resounding ¡°Aye sir!¡± echoed across the bridge, and I felt the ship lurch beneath my feet. Amidst the bustle of the bridge, Benji gave a nod in my direction, then turned his attention to overseeing our departure. It was a tacet acknowledgment that I knew his secret and a thanks for not allowing it to color his career. My party left the bridge after I signaled him once more; I wanted to view our departure from the deck and arrangements had already been made so as to keep me out of the way of his men.
Strange though, that he would think there was any risk of his lineage being an issue. Felicity is herself an open secret; all the nobility knows about her. I guess I should make sure she¡¯s present when I have dinner with him later.
After all, Benji was himself a halfbreed. He had been selected for the role because of his spotless record and unquestionable loyalty, but there were many with those two qualities. What had swung the odds in his favor, was the fact that his mother was a Demihuman. A Dogwoman, to be precise, who had been taken as a slave on the last Drakan ship to visit Rhodias. Now, fifty years later, her son had been selected to command the expeditionary fleet bearing a Drakan diplomatic envoy back to those same shores.
Sorry, Benji, but Rupert and I will be using you as a political tool.
8-8 Encroaching Boredom
The following week, I found myself having dinner with Captain Benji. Well, more of a late lunch. It wasn¡¯t anything important, or even really anything at all. Mostly, I was just bored. Once everything novel about being on my ship had worn off, I had little to do. It had gotten so bad that, for a time, I had even entertained the idea of taking the ferry over to Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown to involve myself with the nobles more than strictly necessary.
That idea ran the risk of upsetting the status quo, however, and as such, was quickly discarded. Sana remained distant, and any of my attempts to interact with her ended in her becoming a nervous wreck.
And I can¡¯t keep her here much longer without creating an issue on that front, either.
In fact, communications from the Cardinal had become an almost daily affair, each one asking after Sana¡¯s well-being. It was becoming increasingly challenging to delay returning her.
Except I can¡¯t really call that a challenge since the Cardinal isn¡¯t really pushing the issue at all.
Benji was sitting with a stiff nervousness that belied his lack of experience with both women and high nobility. Considering his physique and rank, both of those deficiencies were surprising. He had worn a dress uniform and coupled with his fit frame and tanned skin, he was quite the looker. Not that I had any intentions, but it was something I found myself unable to avoid noticing. That being said, he wasn¡¯t going to start any conversation on his own.
¡°Captain, I am grateful you would join me on such short notice.¡± It was a poor excuse for an icebreaker, but I really had nothing better to go with, ¡°Please, be at ease; my servants will forgive a bit of crudeness.¡±
He gave a short nod but remained tense, ¡°Thanks for that, your highness.¡±
I frowned and had a bit of soup. After swallowing, I put aside the spoon, ¡°Captain, I do not mean to make you uncomfortable; it is my intention for this to be a venue in which you may speak your mind.¡±
My real goal might have been to achieve a simple diversion, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt that if I made this actually productive. In truth, the living arrangements for the voyage had been the largest thing wearing down on me. Sure, nobles generally sucked and the constant power plays and word games were exhausting. But at least with them, there was a certain degree of¡ familiarity? At the very least, they could talk to me.
It wasn¡¯t so bad when traveling to Zesten, since there wasn¡¯t anything stopping me from moving around the camp, and most of the knights came to view me as a fellow fighter. But being stuck on this ship, surrounded by sailors of the lower classes¡
In short, I was starved for attention. At what point I had grown so fond of socializing was lost to me, but such was my issue. Granted, the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown was only a short ferry ride away, but going over to it on a whim would cause no end of trouble, not just for the nobles passing aboard her, but for the crew as well. There was also the Might of Man, but that ship was transporting soldiers and knights; I could not visit them without also visiting Jewel.
If not for my status, then I could have gone to either ship without a second thought.
Benji finally inhaled, then sharply exhaled before spooning a bit of the soup. It wasn''t clear if he had actually been able to taste it, but his shoulders did relax.
"Then, should I treat this as a casual business meeting?"
"If that suits you, then please do so."
He bowed his head and sank into thought for a few moments, "I don''t have anything to report, your highness. We¡¯re proceeding according to schedule, and have yet to face off against any threats. Assuming we continue to encounter few issues, we should arrive at Rhodias in just under two months."
Just in time for winter.
Benji raised an eyebrow, having noticed my evident dissatisfaction, but he did not say anything regarding it.
¡°And is there anything between here and there that might cause a delay?¡± As he had said, the two-month timetable was under the caveat that things proceeded without issue, ¡°Or more accurately what I am asking is, ¡®in your opinion as an experienced captain, how likely are we to encounter no issues?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t expect we will make it in less than three months, probably four.¡± His answer was quick and immediate.
Too quick, meaning that he already had some idea of what we were going to run into. I raised an eyebrow, prompting him to elaborate.
¡°Two months assumes that we will be traveling at full speed, and proceeding straight toward our destination¡ While piracy and sea monsters are of course a threat, they would not pose much of a risk to us.¡±
I would actually be rather surprised if we did encounter a sea monster.
While I knew I couldn¡¯t trust him, there was the alliance Drakas had formed with Aaron. Since Aaron was the god of monsters and knew where I was going next, it was likely that he would have instructed any of the major players along our route not to interfere. As far as pirates were concerned, it would take an astronomically stupid crew to attempt to pillage what was clearly a military convoy.
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Benji continued, ¡°But we are a Drakan convoy, traveling straight toward the home continent of the demihumans¡ I believe we will face some level of resistance as we draw closer. Unless your majesty wants to take a forceful approach, we will be required to slow down.¡±
His concerns made sense to me but, even though I had expected that to be the case, it should not have been so much of a delay.
Do we even have provisions for that? We¡¯re talking about doubling the length of the travel.
¡°Provisions shouldn¡¯t be an issue; I did my best to account for this before we left, and we can always fish or purchase supplies from the various island states once we get closer. I¡¯m more concerned with what will happen when we first make contact with one of the tribes¡¯ navies.¡±
Considering he had seemingly been willing to go without saying any of this, he was being shockingly blunt. I decided to pursue the matter; it would help me to know as much about Benji as I could, considering I was to be working with him for a quarter of a year. Besides, this conversation was doing wonders for my dulling mind.
¡°You speak as though you had struggled to provision the fleet properly? Considering the mission, Drakas should have spared no expense. And, why refrain from voicing your concerns over the potential of hostilities?¡±
Benji was beginning to warm up to me at this point, and even went as far as to shrug in my presence, ¡°Well, the crown might issue orders, and I might have received your commission, but things on the ground aren¡¯t so simple. The naval officers have our own game of politics to play. I¡¯m sure you can understand that from back before¡¡± He trailed off.
¡°Before what? Before I married Rupert? Ha.¡± I laughed a bit dryly, ¡°It isn¡¯t so simple. Sure, I can give orders, but consider this; I¡¯m residing aboard this ship and not with the nobles on Gaia¡¯s Crown. We all have our burdens. But, why would you not inform me of the possible hostilities with foreign navies?¡±
Upon seeing that I had not gotten offended by his previous insinuation, Benji¡¯s shoulders released a bit of tension, ¡°Because it¡¯s not a sure thing, just a gut feeling I have, and even if you give off a different aura than most other nobles I¡¯ve interacted with, it¡¯s still a bit¡¡± He trailed off again.
Evidently, he was still struggling to make sense of me. In a way, I could only blame myself for that. There were definitely expectations regarding how a young noblewoman would act, even more so for a queen. My initial interactions on the bridge would have gone a ways toward shattering those expectations, but they were still there in the back of his mind.
If I assume that this is a sentiment shared by the other sailors¡ There¡¯s also all of the new knights as well.
Why hadn¡¯t I considered this issue before?
¡°Sasha, please prepare a chart.¡± Sensing that our meal was on pause, Benji straightened his back and Peoni quickly cleared space on the table. I turned to Benji, ¡°How much do you know about this ship? You are her commander after all.¡±
The sudden change had caused him to become guarded, ¡°Is there anything specific you¡¯re fishing for?¡±
¡°The main weapon; the mana focusing array.¡±
¡°It¡¯s an Orichalcum magic tool designed to empower the ship¡¯s mages, amplifying their spells for naval combat.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yes, according to the design specifications, it should improve the power of spells cast through it by three to four hundred percent. But, isn¡¯t there something strange about it? You¡¯ve commanded ships with similar armaments before.¡±
Benji wasn¡¯t an idiot, and what I was getting at slowly dawned on him. After a week he would surely have overheard the crew¡¯s rumors regarding myself. Even if the sailors and army personnel weren¡¯t close, there would still be gossip. He wasn¡¯t a mage; he wouldn¡¯t know that there was no way such an enlargement of the standard Mana Focuser would be impossible for normal mages to use. At best, they would be able to benefit from maybe a quarter of it, if they were exceptional.
¡°Is your highness implying that you intend to use it?¡±
I nodded, ¡°The scale of a spell directly correlates to the mana cost. The Mana Focuser installed on Will of the Gods was designed by Lord Gustav specifically for the purpose of empowering Anti-Army class spells. It¡¯s a relatively new concept and one which bears a field test.¡±
Sasha brought out the chart and laid it across the table. This particular sea chart was rather detailed, showing a series of islands and archipelagos as well as highlighting old disused trade routes that lay between the Central Continent and Rhodias.
I indicated to Benji, ¡°Considering your experience, do you know which region sees a large amount of pirate activity?¡±
He leaned over the table and studied the chart for a minute, ¡°Here. This is a small island nation that used to function as an intermediary between the Alliance and Drakas for oceanic trade. They went silent a decade ago, and investigation of the area didn¡¯t turn anything up.¡±
It was a very diplomatic way for him to say that was a smuggler¡¯s hideout. Considering that, until recently, there had been no formal trade relations between Drakas and the Alliance.
¡°And you believe it to be the fault of pirates?¡±
Benji nodded, ¡°Pirates, or perhaps demons given more recent revelations. What is your highness¡¯ intention¡?¡±
¡°Our conversation has highlighted to me that there is a too-large degree of separation between the sailors and army. Since the trip will already be delayed by more than a month, I would like to take a brief diversion to foster a sense of camaraderie between the two groups. Crushing a pirate fleet should accomplish that, as well as get the nobles used to combat operations.¡±
Benji began stroking his chin and stared at the chart pensively, ¡°You intend for the soldiers and knights to fight alongside the sailors?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a concept I heard of at the Royal Academy; an ¡®amphibious assault.¡¯ The professor who proposed it was laughed out of the hall, but I believe the idea has merit. While the sailors man the ships, what use do the soldiers and knights have? The idea is to form them into boarding teams to assault targets of opportunity. Fighting on the deck of a ship is not quite the same as on land, but they are similar enough.¡±
At the very least, the soldiers and knights I have are elite in their own right; they should be able to make the adjustment.
If this all worked out, I might wind up founding the Drakan Marine Corps. Benji finally stopped stroking his chin, and tapped a section of the map. Based on what I know of the currents in the region, they¡¯re probably holed up here.¡±
I leaned in and looked at where he was indicating and saw nothing. Seeing my confusion, Benji grinned.
¡°Based on how the currents are weaving around this area, there should be a small island chain in the area. Considering it¡¯s not on your highness¡¯ chart, I would wager it¡¯s their perfect hiding place.¡±
I mulled over his words, then gave my assent, ¡°Very well, inform the other ships and lay a course.¡±
8-9 Ferry and Crown
The morning after making plans with Benji it was time for me to visit the other boats in our convoy. As I was living aboard the Will of the Gods with only my retinue, it was the plan for me to cross to the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown once a week to meet with the nobles. Likewise, I also planned to visit Might of Man as a means of keeping up morale with the majority of the soldiers who were aboard her.
It was also time for me to return Sana to the Cardinal, who was himself aboard Gaia¡¯s Crown. Considering that I was already intending to go there, I could no longer come up with excuses and reasons to delay. Not without potentially creating friction between the political and religious sides. Not that Sana herself was all that important in the eyes of the other nobles. However, attempting to keep her could cause the Cardinal to take action.
Together with Felicity, Sasha, Jacqueline, Eris, Sana, and my guard knights, I boarded a small vessel that had attached itself to the side of Will of the Gods. Elienor would be remaining here so as to avoid any potential drama with the nobles she used to call peers. The boat we entered was an enclosed ferry whose main purpose was to transport people ashore in the event that the larger main vessels did not have a proper berth. That said, it could also be used to jump from ship to ship.
Once aboard, I gave Felicity and Sana a quick check to make sure they were seated correctly. Once more, Sana wilted under any attention directed her way. Felicity was doing her best to behave, but I could see her tails twitching restlessly; like me, she had be growing bored once the novelty of being on a ship faded. A moment after taking my own seat, our vessel lurched forward; Will of the Gods was accelerating.
Because of its size, the ferry was slower than the convoy¡¯s cruising speed. This meant that, rather than merely hoping over, we were going to be dropped off ahead of our destination then glide back to it. If we missed, then the whole procession would either need to divert in order to pick us up again, or slow itself to allow us to catch up again.
Still tethered, we watched out the portholes of the ferry as the water zipped by. On her own, Will of the Gods was the fastest of the three main ships, so it would take her the least amount of time to get us sufficiently ahead. Apparently, we had now reached that point because a siren sounded from the ferry. It wasn¡¯t an alarm, but a signal for all hands to brace. About three seconds after sounding the alert, I felt my stomach drop as we suddenly decelerated.
¡°Ah!¡± Sana was the only one in my party to react verbally, expressing her surprise.
In the next moment, she realized she had been the only one and clapped her hands in front of her face while slumping down in her chair. In contrast, was Felicity¡¯s reaction; she didn¡¯t speak or exclaim, but twitching her tails accelerated while her ears stood up straight with excitement. Jacqueline and Sasha were both well-practiced and maintained a professional air about themselves. Eris, on the other hand, was white-knuckling the arms of her chair.
Considering what she used to be, fear is not the response I was expecting¡ Though it could have to do with being weaker now?
Not that she was particularly ¡°weak.¡± In raw strength, she was the top contender here; I had only locked or removed a few of her skills, but she still had access to all of her stats.
As for my own reaction¡ well, I was more interested in my companions than the events occurring around me.
¡°Sana¡¡± I began but trailed off without thinking of anything to say. Every time I tried to speak to her this past week, she became uncomfortable until I eventually gave up.
This is the last opportunity I¡¯m really going to have to interact with her in anything even approaching a one on one¡
¡°...Sana, I don¡¯t really know how to talk to you; I don¡¯t want to be a Queen, or a gods¡¯ chosen toward someone I used to call a friend.¡± I let my voice hang in the air.
Considering what I¡¯d said, there were a lot of witnesses. Out of the corner of my eye, Sasha was frowning, but she didn¡¯t move to block me from saying anything further.
And if word of this gets back to the Cardinal ¨Cand it will, he¡¯ll know that Sana still gives him leverage.
I was knowingly opening up a weakness here, but if I could fix things¡ If I could fix things, it would be worth it. If keeping myself totally secure meant I had to be cold to the people in my inner circles, then I didn¡¯t want to be secure. The more I thought about it, the more confidence I gained, confidence that this was the correct course of action.
Sana flinched when I said the part about not wanting to be a gods¡¯ chosen, but after I finished, she managed to raise her head and meet my eyes. It only lasted for a moment before she broke the contact and retreated back into her shell. I decided to let it go; anymore at this point would risk pushing her well outside of her comfort zone.
That was progress, so it was worth creating a potential weakness.
The rest of the ride back to Gaia¡¯s Crown was interrupted only by Felicity repeatedly bouncing out of her seat and being chided by Jacqueline. She had been even more bored than I¡¯d thought.
Granted, I haven¡¯t been spending much time with her, despite my schedule being more open than usual.
She was a smart girl, and Claire might have helped, coaxing her to let me and Sana have some space. I would have to thank her later, and perhaps do a bit of spoiling once Sana was returned to the Cardinal.
¡°Your Majesty.¡± A sailor excused himself upon entering the cabin. He regarded Felicity, who had just been about to crawl out of her seat again, ¡°...We are preparing to dock with Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown.¡±
I nodded once in his direction, ¡°Thank you for the warning. Felicity, please contain yourself; I do not want you to get hurt.¡±
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Upon being rebuked by myself instead of Jacqueline, she was subdued and crossed her hands over her lap.
I swear, this girl.
Despite telling us that we were ¡°about to dock,¡± it still took several minutes before we could see the bow of Gaia¡¯s Crown. The angle of our portholes had precluded the ability to see it by leaning at a diagonal so when it emerged suddenly and less than a meter away, it caused a ripple of surprise in the cabin. Without the sailor¡¯s warning, it likely would have been much worse. Eris was the most affected, as she had already been uncomfortable.
Still, I knew what was about to happen, ¡°Everyone, brace yourselves.¡±
Sasha, Jacqueline, and my guard knights had already realized and braced even before my warning. Sana was quick to follow through; despite my earlier progress, she still held me on a pedestal. Eris gripped her seat even tighter, and I saw a series of cracks form as the material deformed. Felicity, however, merely cocked her head to the side as though processing my warning.
A moment later, she was sprawled on the floor. Our ferry had experienced another sudden momentum change as it caught the hull of Gaia¡¯s Crown; the inertia wasted no time in launching Felicity¡¯s ill-prepared body from its chair.
It wasn¡¯t enough of an impact to greatly injure her, but that didn¡¯t mean it was entirely pain-free either, ¡°Remember to hold on next time; we are doing this two more times today.¡±
She nodded, ears flat against her head. While she picked herself up I chanted a low-level healing spell that would soothe any bumps.
¡°M-my lady m-might suggest i-installing seatbelts?¡± Eris remarked nervously as she observed the whole affair.
¡I honestly should, but without a proper mechanism for releasing tension, those might cause greater injury than falling on the floor¡ Maybe I can send a description to Gustav and see if he can come up with something.
On second thought, it was probably best not to bother him when Drakas was preparing for war. It wasn¡¯t like many modes of transportation moved fast enough where they were necessary. Things like the ships we were on were among the only exceptions, and if those were to crash, then you had bigger things to worry about.
¡°I will consider it.¡± I offered her, even though I had just decided it wasn¡¯t worth the investment, at least for now.
Once the ferry was fully secured, the same sailor came back to inform us that we were ready to disembark. I thanked him for their service, then followed my guard knights out and onto hte deck of Gaia¡¯s Crown. There, the nobles had rolled out a literal red carpet across the wood planks. Edith and Lady Lawrence were at the head of this, with the other nobles having sorted themselves out according to rank behind the two of them. I took a moment to fix my face, then walked down the carpet toward them.
¡°Lady Claurence, Lady Lawrence, than you for receiving me.¡± I made a point of greeting Edith first.
Technically, my friend was outranked by the older woman, so showing her a bit more favor would go a ways towards evening that out in the eyes of the lower-ranked nobles.
Edith didn¡¯t report anything untoward about how Lady Lawrence is behaving, but I can¡¯t be too careful here.
Since me being on a different ship had been anticipated, Edith had been furnished with a magic diary of her own; it was linked to mine, and whatever she wrote would appear on my end. Unfortunately, hers was not two-way like the ones held by me, Rupert, and Ferdinand, so we could not properly communicate.
Though I think that¡¯s for the best; we¡¯d probably wind up using all the pages.
The two of them curtsied, ¡°Of course, it is our pleasure to welcome you aboard.¡±
¡°Indeed, it is our pleasure.¡±
Following from my cue, Edith greeted me first with Lady Lawrence waiting her turn. There was no sign of animosity from this, but I knew better than to take a high noblewoman¡¯s expression at face value. Once the first greetings had finished, I turned to the side of those assembled. The religious faction was here as well, though self-segregated from the noble side.
¡°Cardinal, thank you for granting Sana leave of her studies; it was wonderful to be able to speak to someone from my past in Ris.¡± The extra information was volunteered deliberately; Sana was someone connected to Ris, therefore, to me.
That would put her on the radar of the nobility, but since she had accompanied me back she was already in their sights. By specifying exactly what connection we shared, it should dissuade them from attempting anything. With the sole exception of Lady Lawrence, I could at least be sure of the loyalty of them all; they had been allowed to accompany me, after all.
The Cardinal came forward a step and bowed his head, ¡°I am grateful that the one chosen to walk in the divine finds solace in our acolyte.¡±
His words made me want to vomit, but I held back, ¡°Now, shall we get down to business? The wind on the deck is cold.¡±
Edith and Lady Lawrence both nodded, ¡°Indeed, please, join us.¡±
¡°Business¡± as it were, was an early lunch set out in Gaia¡¯s Crown¡¯s banquet hall. Though her exterior was stark and utilitarian, the interior wouldn¡¯t lose to a cruise ship back on Earth. Especially impressive considering the reduced technology level here. There were several tables, and everyone seated themselves. To my surprise, the nobles did not seem to have seated themselves by rank.
The one exception to that was myself, Edith, and Lady Lawrence, who were sharing one table between the three of us.
Maybe it has something to do with my previous lunch meeting?
Prior to setting out, we had all met for a banquet. At that time, I had deliberately set things up so there were no assigned seats. I would need to verify if they had gotten the wrong idea or not.
¡°Your Highness,¡± Lady Lawrence was the first to speak, ¡°Would you elaborate on something that the captain told us yesterday? What is this about pirates?¡±
I nodded; this was one of the expected questions, ¡°Yes, there is a small island that used to hold a trading post. It was overrun, and I intend to-¡±
I intend to use it as a training exercise.
I was about to say, until an alarm cut me off. Different from the previous alert when we were using the ferry, this alarm signaled actual danger. Before I knew it, all eyes were on me, but I didn¡¯t know what to say.
This alarm, it¡¯s for a sea monster? But Aaron shouldn¡¯t be aware of anything, and what kind of monster attacks a three-ship convoy!?
Thankfully, someone arrived to distract everyone¡¯s attention; a man wearing the uniform of a bridge officer.
¡°Your Highness,¡± He wasted no time on pleasantries, ¡°The captain requests your presence on the bridge; Will of the Gods has come under assault. They are engaging.¡±
My mask slipped for a moment and left me staring at him with my mouth hanging open. I quickly recovered and set down my utensil, ¡°Then, brief me as we move.¡±
The man nodded and began moving toward the bridge. I followed him, and Edith followed me, with Lady Lawrence after her.
¡°Stahlia.¡± Once we were out in the hallway, answers came from a thoroughly unexpected place; Sarala.
¡°Stahlia,¡± she paid no attention to the glare she was receiving from Sasha nor the incredulous look from Lady Lester, ¡°I can feel another spirit about as strong as dad.¡±
She simply stated her information distinctly and devoid of emotion.
8-10 Of Spirits and Mana
I ignored Sasha¡¯s reproachful look and discarded the pretense of class or secrecy, ¡°As strong than your father?¡±
Sarala nodded once, then frowned, ¡°No, maybe stronger¡ It¡¯s fuzzy?¡±
So she doesn¡¯t know for sure, just that it¡¯s strong.
Sarala was a spirit, a secret that had been disclosed to me some time ago. She had developed an infatuation with Edith, even going so far as to form a contract with her. Though to my knowledge, Edith wasn¡¯t yet capable of using any of that contract¡¯s benefits. That being said, I didn¡¯t actually know the scale we were talking about here; Sarala¡¯s ¡®father¡¯ was a higher level spirit, but as to how that scaled to my own frame of reference¡
Well, this one is attacking a battleship, so it¡¯s far from weak.
Unfortunately, Sarala herself wouldn¡¯t be much help besides providing this warning; she had ¡®grown up¡¯ in human society. She also lacked a proper frame of reference. Most likely, this was the reason why she thought the new presence as fuzzy. Fortunately, there was someone else who might know.
First, I turned to the bridge officer, ¡°I think I understand the gist; bring me to the bridge.¡±
Drakan naval tradition technically meant that, in this instance, the officer outranked me. He would have to forgive my indiscretion. The captain as well. He had requested my presence on the bridge. It was well within his purview to order it, but he had chosen to request it instead. In some part, this was because Gaia¡¯s Crown was transporting nobility, so the usual traditions were a bit relaxed; mutual respect. But on the other hand, a sea monster was one thing; if a higher spirit was attacking one of the ships, then there weren¡¯t exactly a lot of people capable of dealing with a situation like that.
¡°Sasha, contact Lord Alriss and have him make ready. I don¡¯t know what his men can do, but it¡¯s better for them to be prepared.¡± I instructed Sasha and she quickly departed. Then, the other person.
¡°Eris.¡± At the sound of her name, Eris stiffened, ¡°Tell me everything you think might be relevant.¡±
The officer escorting us gave her a curious look; what would some random maid, even one of the queen, possibly know? Granted, Eris was not just an ordinary servant, but he neither knew nor needed to know that.
She paused and collected herself, ¡°I thought you were going to order me to fight it¡ Considering we¡¯re in the middle of the ocean, it would have to be a water spirit or maybe wind, but I doubt that¡ I can¡¯t sense spiritual pressure, so there¡¯s no way for me to estimate its power level, but its definitally an adult, maybe even a proto-ancient. ¡And, I would imagine it¡¯s only upset; spirits aren¡¯t usually hostile like this.¡±
Her quick explanation caused the officer to do another double-take. Meanwhile, it made me glad Felicity wasn¡¯t here; Claire would have loved hearing someone unironically use the terms ¡°Spiritual Pressure¡± and ¡°Power Level¡± in the same sentence. As for her conjecture about it being upset, one could only hope that was the case; I really would rather not get involved with yet another of the world¡¯s god-level factions.
If it comes down to it, I can probably take on something like an Ancient Spirit, if only to hold it off for a bit.
Assuming of course, that such a being would be roughly equivalent to a Hell King. But from what I knew, they were above that. At least the creation story I had heard set up spirits as the first inhabitants of the world; predating the whole cycle of hell kings and gods.
In spite of Eris distracting the officer, we arrived at the bridge in short order and without further interruption. Upon being let in by Sarala, I felt an aura of stifling stillness. Very few people were moving around; everyone was at their station waiting for orders with a certain tenseness. The second thing I noticed lay beyond the bridge and out over the waves; the Will of the Gods was hanging in the water.
At this distance, I could not make out many details, but after enhancing my eyes it was pretty clear what was going on. There was a general gurgling in the water around her hull; she was generating thrust. But there was no wake to be seen; she was not moving through the water. Gaia¡¯s Crown and Might of Man both appeared to have taken up a course that would circle Will of the Gods while maintaining distance.
¡°Captain, Her Majesty has arrived.¡± Upon hearing the announcement, all eyes on the bridge turned to me. A moment later, they went right back to their stations.
I stepped forward toward the captain, ¡°I was told that Will of the Gods had engaged in battle?¡±
He nodded, ¡°This is new; prior to your arrival, the water swelled up a dozen meters; they were lifted well above the water line.¡±
Controlling the water, definitely a water spirit, and considering the volume, probably an Ancient?
The captain continued, ¡°I called you here because Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown lacks the armaments to contend with a monster of that scale, as does the Might of Man.¡±
So basically, the captains of the two ships didn¡¯t have a way of contending with what they assumed was a giant sea monster. Knowing that I had a lot of combat power, as well as being the overall head of the expedition, they had called me to the bridge of the ship I was on.
Just one thing¡
¡°Captain, I have¡¡± I glanced at Sarala.
Well, she already outed herself to an extent. I¡¯ll do what I can to preserve her secret, though.
¡°One of Lady Edith¡¯s attendants, Miss Sarala, has a spirit contract; she has identified that we are contending with a Water Spirit, most likely an Ancient Spirit.¡± Despite everyone¡¯s focus the bridge had still been suffused with a low hum of human activity.
That ceased with my revelation, and the air became quiet enough to hear the proverbial pin drop.
¡°Contact the Might of Man.¡± The captain ordered after hesitating for a moment, ¡°Inform her captain.¡±
It sounded like they were willing to take my explanation at face value. Despite spirit users being so rare as to be nearly unheard of, it made sense that if there was one in Drakas, she would be in the service of a higher noble. No doubt my own position and reputation lent credence to my words as well. The only remaining question was what to do with our information.
And we can¡¯t communicate with the Will of the Gods at all.
Her Mythril hull-plating was a great benefit in combat, however it was not without drawback; namely, the disruption of mana was not limited to enemy spells. Incoming and outgoing signals would be jammed as well. Even my own diary, used for communicating with Drakas, could only send and receive text when I was on one of the other ships, or traveling between them.
The mana amplifier would probably work, but that¡¯s assuming the mages onboard the ship would think to use it that way¡ No, they wouldn¡¯t have the fine mana control.
In our convoy, only three people would be capable of using a mana amplifier to send or receive something like a message; myself, Eris, and Sarala. And all of us were on the wrong ship.
¡°Captain.¡± I cut off the captain of Gaia¡¯s Crown; he was presently informing the Might of Man of our new intelligence, ¡°Forgive me for breaking tradition, but I am taking command of the theatre; have the Might of Man decelerate, and prep the ferry to bring me aboard.¡±
I need to get back on the Will of the Gods.
¡°Sarala,¡± I continued, ¡°Remain here. It is unlikely that a spirit will attack this ship if it senses your presence.¡±
Beyond just the captains, I was now overriding Edith¡¯s authority over her own attendant, but this was an emergency. Without waiting to see if my orders were carried out, I left the bridge. Behind me, I could here the captain¡¯s shout, ¡°Well, do what she says!¡±
There was a hint of irritation in his voice, but I would apologize later. Lady Lawrence caught up to me, ¡°And what about me?¡±
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I don¡¯t have time for politics right now.
¡°Stay with the nobles and keep them from doing something stupid; Edith will be distracted.¡±
Lady Lawrence looked at our third wheel, and her eyes flashed in sudden realization; she really was too smart for her own good. After all, Edith looked like death itself; Sarala was the spirit, not the spirit user. No doubt, Edith was feeling the Ancient Spirit¡¯s mana through her connection to Sarala. My friend grimaced, ¡°I am sorry to leave it to you.¡±
Lady Lawrence shook her head, ¡°No, rather it is I who am sorry I cannot do more.¡±
Sasha appeared then, joining us and matching pace as if she had never left, ¡°Lord Alriss is awaiting you on the Might of Man.¡±
¡°Good, please assist Lady Edith; I am borrowing the service of her own attendant.¡±
And I won¡¯t question how you came to the conclusion that I was going to cross to the other ship.
Probably, she simply had far too much experience with my oft-hair-brained antics and reckless behavior.
¡°Eris, you and Jacqueline will be joining me.¡± When I called her name, Eris paled; she hadn¡¯t liked the last time we used the ferry, and the thought of using it while an angry ancient spirit was nearby unsettled even me.
There was a nagging suspicion that I was forgetting something until a flash of excited motion cut the corner of my vision.
Ah.
¡°Felicity, stay with Edith and Sasha¡ is what I would like to say, but¡¡±
The rogue catgirl shook her head, ¡°Felicity will stay here with Edith Oneechan; Felicity would only get in Stalineechan¡¯s way.¡±
I momentarily froze in surprise at her proclamation; I had been about to tell her to just come with me openly. That would have been preferable to her hiding in my shadow. At least I would have known she was there and been able to account for it. But she was being strangely self-aware and had elected to remain on Gaia¡¯s Crown.
¡°Very well, Edith, please indulge my sister¡¯s selfishness.¡± Saying that, I emerged out onto the deck, leaving behind a stunned-speechless catgirl and a pair of higher noblewomen with warm smiles.
I don¡¯t know what¡¯s causing her to act in such a selfless way, but it¡¯s a good turn of events-
¡°No! Felicity is coming with Stahlia Oneesama!¡± And with that, she backtracked.
Before I had a chance to respond, Felicity dove into my shadow. The last thing I saw was a pair of tails twitching fearfully as they slipped into darkness. Was it something I said¡?
The helmsmen of the Ferry glanced at me questioningly. I shook my head; there wasn¡¯t time to try and convince her to come out and remain, ¡°Very well.¡±
My group (plus one) boarded the ferry and took our seats as we waited for the siren signaling it was time for departure. It came, and that same lurching sensation assaulted my stomach as the ferry dropped into the water. The transition would take only a few minutes this time, but it would be all the more harrowing.
-BZZT!-
As the ferry made contact with the water, I winced as a staticky sound filled my head. Around me, everyone else seemed to be unaffected. Well, almost everyone; Eris had gone extremely pale. Even more so than she did the last time we changed ships.
-BZZT!-
The same buzzing, much louder this time. Like the static from an old TV.
¡°Stahlia¡¡±
-BZZT!-
Reaching my hand up, I clutched at my head; the static was getting worse by the second and it was starting to feel like my temples were going to explode.
¡°Stahlia!¡± Eris shouted at me; it¡¯s¡ it¡¯s trying to communicate, and it¡¯s getting angry that you¡¯re ignoring it¡¡±
It¡? The spirit¡?
-BZZZZT!-
It was getting hard to focus now, but I had enough presence of mind to vaguely realize what was happening. Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t really a way for me to fix the problem without somewhat tipping my hand. Though only the sailors were in the dark.
¡°Invoke Authority: Disable Skill [Psychic Shield].¡±
As usual, my voice rang out and echoed throughout the interior of the small ferry. One of the sailors tilted his head, but the lot of them otherwise continued working their stations. That being said, something else entirely more important changed then.
-Longing, entrapment, enemies, deception-
A string of consciousness, less words, and more like general ideas, concepts and images.
¡°Is this, the spirit?¡±
Across from me, Eris nodded, ¡°Yea, but it¡¯s hard to really understand what it¡¯s saying.¡±
I frowned, ¡°You can understand it?¡±
Eris tilted her head, ¡°Sort of? It¡¯s wondering why demons are traveling with humans and a nascent spirit. When it got close, it got upset because it got sick? That¡¯s the gist of it¡¡±
She trailed off, looking extremely ill.
I didn¡¯t get any of that, though.
After I rewrote her skill, it should be impossible for Eris to lie to me; her impression of what the spirit was trying to convey should be largely the truth. That really was her understanding of it.
¡°Your majesty, we¡¯re about to dock with the Might of Man.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Thank you, and I¡¯m sorry.¡± Before the man could respond, I glanced at Eris and Jacqueline, ¡°Please.¡±
The moment we were secure, my two attendants moved swiftly and knocked the sailors out. Hopefully, they would wake up with short-term memory loss. Otherwise, they would need to be fully silenced.
Lord Alriss was waiting for me on the deck, with a number of the more elite knights at his back. He peered over my shoulder at the slumped bodies but opted not to comment, instead waving a pair of the knights to secure them.
¡°Welcome aboard, Your Highness.¡±
¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll get straight to the point; I need to get on board the Will of the Gods. The captain should have informed you that we are dealing with a spirit, potentially an ancient spirit. While traveling, it attempted to make contact with us; the pressure was too much for the sailors, but fortunately, they could hold on for long enough to complete the trip.¡±
There was absolutely no way in all the nine hells that Alriss was going to buy my blatant lie; he and his men could recognize the sailor¡¯s injuries for what they were. To say nothing of the fact that two maids had apparently possessed enough fortitude to withstand the pressure that had incapacitated a trio of trained navy men. But he knew better than to question it.
¡°I will tell the captain that we need a transport crew¡ But is your highness sure this is the best course of action? You are putting yourself at extreme risk.¡±
Before I had a chance to reject his warning with an ¡°it¡¯s the only way¡± Eris spoke up, ¡°My lady, I agree, considering who you would be bringing with you¡¡±
If Sasha had been with us, Eris would have been given a punishment for speaking out of turn like that, but she was not. She also had something of a point.
Considering what the spirit apparently said, I probably should rethink¡
¡°I do not have any other ideas, but I am open to suggestions, Lord Alriss.¡±
The spirit was originally concerned about demons, apparently. Eris¡¯ species had not changed and though I had been planning to leave her on Might of Man there was still Felicity. Felicity was also technically a species of demon now. The spirit hadn¡¯t attacked us earlier, but that didn¡¯t mean it would remain passive if a demon tried to get closer to it, which would be the case if Felicity continued traveling in my shadow while I tried to return to the Will of the Gods.
Lord Alriss nodded, ¡°I do have an idea, but I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s a good one, or if will work, or is possible in the first place.¡±
After receiving my signal to continue, Lord Alriss gestured toward the Will of Gods off in the distance, ¡°Your Highness originally captured His Majesty¡¯s attention after performing a certain feat; does your highness believe she could do something similar?¡±
After a certain feat? That would be back in Ris, when I beat back the goblins using a fake Anti-Army spell¡ Oh. No way.
I went bug-eyed as what Lord Alriss was alluding to dawned on me.
Or, maybe¡?
The spell in question hadn¡¯t so much been a fake Anti-Army spell; it was very much at that power level, however, it was wholly custom. Not that anyone here needed to know that. In short, I had frozen solid the majority of the goblin¡¯s forces. Looking out at the Will of the Gods in the distance, I mulled the notion over in my head.
Probably, if we got closer. It would really hurt though, and Sasha has my best potions, so I won¡¯t be able to dope.
¡°If you are asking me to freeze the ocean, I believe I can. However, that would require the Might of Man to bring itself uncomfortably close to Will of the Gods; within twenty yards, since I do not have access to Sasha¡¯s hoard of potions.¡±
In retrospect, I probably should have brought those with me¡
Eris stiffened slightly, only for Jacqueline to (gently) push her forward, ¡°Uhm, my lady?¡± When she saw me nod she continued with a bit more confidence, ¡°There are three thousand soldiers and knights on this ship, that is; there are three thousand men worth of mana. Why not just use theirs?¡±
Leave it to a demon to say something so insane.
Lord Alriss looked more confused than anything by Eris¡¯ statement, but if she was suggesting it (and endorsed in silence by Jacqueline), then there was no doubt that it was possible.
Considering she¡¯s a demon of Envy, and a former Original Sin, she probably has a talent somewhere that at least mimics a Succubus¡¯ ability to absorb mana¡ Then, by using Blood Magic, she could in theory give it to me¡ But, with that much mana, I could probably freeze a few miles. No, a few dozen. There¡¯s no need for that.
There was just one question, ¡°Will it kill them?¡±
Eris turned a bit red, ¡°Uhm, no? I¡¯m not what you¡¯re thinking!¡±
Still, it was better to be cautious, and I really didn¡¯t need ¡°three thousand men worth¡± of mana.
¡°Lord Alriss, my newest maid is more talented in certain areas of magic than myself; ask for volunteers, no more than a hundred. She will conduct a ritual to link their mana to my spell. I should be able to freeze a quarter mile around the ships; have the captain of Gaia¡¯s Crown move to a safe distance while Might of Man moves toward Will of the Gods.¡±
Lord Alriss nodded and began to bark orders as the deck turned into a frantic hive of activity.
8-11 Freezing Water
???, Below the Waves
Slumber. Everlasting slumber. Banished by the usurper, fled from their presence, hidden. Waiting. Eons pass; this one watches. Eternally watches. Waiting. Eventually, all things end. Even gods. Even the Usurper. Small things crisscross the surface, tiny creatures buzzing in slightly larger vessels of metal and wood. They are irrelevant. The Usurper finds amusement in watching these things, best to ignore them lest this one attracts its attention.
Eons pass. This one can feel the world shaking once again; the boundaries of reality weaken; the Usurper is moving. The cycle repeats. This one will wait. This one will watch. Eons pass and the pattern repeats countless times. This is the same.
This one will wait. This one will watch. This one¡ Strange. This time is different. The Usurper¡ its presence grows more substantial. This one is confused. Confusion. This is a new sensation. Curiosity. This one will investigate. Towards the surface. Toward the tiny buzzing creatures of flesh and their slightly less tiny vessels of metal and wood.
Surprise; this one is surprised. The tiny creatures are running around in fear as this one looks above the waves. They shoot small things at this one but it matters not; they cannot harm it. The presence of the Usurper¡ it is stronger now. Present. They have established a conduit, a link. Perhaps the age is passing? This one should ask That one and the other. Perhaps this one should even proclaim a council?
Pain! This one is in Pain! This one rears itself towards the tiny creatures. One creature, surrounded by several others. That one struck this one! Like a pest or a vermin, that one tried to bite this one. Perhaps this one disregarded them too much. After all, the Usurper was interested¡ This one summons the waves.
¡°Itlami Nahui-Atl!¡±
This one watched the waters wash away the tiny pests. This one slipped beneath the waves to think; perhaps that was an overreaction. Perhaps the Usurper¡¯s movements had caused this one to become overly sensitive. Eons¡ No. Time passed, but it wasn¡¯t Eons. This one could feel the Usurper.
The Usurper seemed to be in a slightly not tiny metal vessel, with two others following behind. Along with the Usurper, there was also a Scion of Tenebris, and¡ This one was enraged. They had a Fragment! A Fragment of Chalchi and this one! Where had the Usurper¡ No. This one did not have time. This one had to act now, or the Usurper would surely do the fragment harm.
This one moved toward the Usurper, dreading the encounter that was to come. But, something was not right; as this one drew closer, this one found that its senses became dull. Something was making it difficult to feel the fragment¡ Something about the front-most metal vessel. As this one drew close, this one paled with yet another new feeling. Fear. The lead vessel was an Anathema.
¡°Itlami Nahui-Atl!¡±
Stahlia, 17 Years Old, Ninth Month of 949
It did not take long for Lord Alriss to find a number of volunteers to donate their mana. That shouldn¡¯t really be that surprising, considering my reputation and the respect I commanded with my troops. Even with the implicit risk that they might die despite Eris¡¯ assurances that they would not. And all so that I could freeze some water.
Well, not ¡°some¡± water. The plan for me to freeze a section of the ocean surrounding our ship was outright insane by any normal standards, but just about on the edge of possibility given my prowess. But would it really be effective? That doubt was stuck in my mind.
Knowing that we were dealing with an Ancient Spirit, I couldn¡¯t help myself. This thing had enough mana to lif Will of the Gods wholly up and above the water. It was only thanks to her sturdy mana-dampening Mythril hull that she hadn¡¯t been completely broken apart. In theory, a creature that was capable of moving such a large quantity of water would have to be extremely specialized toward that element. In the case of a Water Spirit, that much was an obvious feature of their physiology.
But would the same hold true for an Ancient Spirit?
It was a distinct possibility that something that powerful would be perfectly capable of controlling Ice just as much as water. Especially considering how Ice was a compound Element of Water and Wind; this would not inconvenience a water spirit nearly as much as it might an Earth or Fire spirit. It was a distinct possibility that this thing would be able to pretty much ignore my efforts.
But it wasn¡¯t like there was a better plan. I could try talking to it again, but considering how fruitless that had been the last time, I doubted it would work now. More likely, I would just become a target for trying. Eris had more success at communicating for reasons that were lost on me. But were she to try negotiating it would more than likely prove a mistake; one of the sentiments the Spirit had clearly expressed was a distaste for demons.
I need to create a shield of ice, and use that to get back to Will of the Gods. Then, I can use the spell amplifier to maybe do something with Divine Element Magic¡ With enough mana, I can drive it off, maybe.
Lord Alriss was probably thinking along similar lines, just without considering Divine Element. Killing it was out of the question, not without using my final trump card. But assuming I survived disconnecting again, I would be out of commission for a while; morale would tank, and in the worst-case scenario, I would miss the start of the war.
¡°...Is my lady ready?¡± Eris quietly asked from beside and slightly behind me.
She was clearly uncomfortable, fidgeting slightly with her hands and not quite making eye contact, but that was none of my concern; Eris would simply have to get over herself.
¡°Yes.¡± I replied curtly, then sank into my thoughts in order to give a final review of my newly composed spell.
I need to be specific, and can get around some of the cost by Invoking Wind and Water separately, instead of Ice. But it might be better to invoke Ice and eat the cost; that will make it more difficult to overcome with basic water magic.
I felt one of Eris¡¯s hands on my shoulder; it was right above the neckline of my dress. My barriers were consciously lowered so as to allow her an open path through which to feed me the mana of the volunteers.
With a hundred leveled men¡¯s worth of mana, I can probably manage an extreme max of five hundred meters¡ No, seven hundred. For safety¡¯s sake, limiting things to two hundred meters from the sides, and twenty-five from the bow and stern.
With that, the area frozen would be a rough circle, with a diameter of five hundred meters. As far as depth was concerned, that would make things complicated due to buoyancy¡ another twenty-five meters should be safe.
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¡°Then, I¡¯ll start.¡± Eris voice was punctuated by a strange sensation that caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up straight. It wasn¡¯t uncomfortable in the most literal sense. Rather, it felt like someone was pouring warm oil on my back; vaguely nice if it was from a masseuse but given the context, offputting. Despite being experienced at using my own mana to invade others¡¯ privacy, the only person who had ever done the opposite was Sitri, and the memory of that event rose to the forefront of my conscious mind.
¡°Ahh!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but gasp, and my shoulders likewise stiffened involuntarily.
¡°Please relax, and release your resistance; it will only hurt otherwise.¡± In the reverse of her earlier state, Eris had become calm, and she softly admonished me.
I know that.
My focus was forcibly diverted away from the warm-liquidy feeling on my back and neck, and instead onto my spell. At the same time, I pulled at my mental barricades, forcibly lowering them and doing my best to accept Eris¡¯s intrusion.
Then, in terms of effect, I think I can get away with omitting it here. If any of the soldiers protest, I can just say that most of them occurred underwater¡ Maybe invoke Light Element, and place¡. an illusion, to make it look like, something is, happen¡
¡°Ahh!¡± I gasped again; the sensation had changed. Less like oil, this one felt like something sticky. It was still warm, but closer to honey or syrup than anything else. If the last had been tolerable, this one was disgusting. Was the sensation going to change every time the mana¡¯s source changed? That was going to make it very hard to concentrate.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lord Alriss watching me with some amount of concern. Next to him, Franklin had finally shown up. If the state of his hair and armor (messy and only halfway donned) was anything to go by, he had been sleeping and only just arrived.
¡°That one¡¯s done, I¡¯m starting with the next.¡± Eris warned me in advance this time. Or maybe she had both times and my thoughts had caused me to overlook the previous.
To say this guy¡¯s mana was a change of pace was an understatement. Rather than feeling warm, oily, or sticky, this guy was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. It was cold enough to be outright painful, a sensation long forgotten due to my [Ice Immunity]. I clamped my jaw shut and grit my teeth, sucking in air past them.
Enough; my spell will work. I need to focus on maintaining my composure, and manipulating the foreign mana.
To say that the difficulty of the task surprised me would be an understatement. Within my body, it felt like there was a raging storm as contradicting mana tossed about. Before shifting my focus, it had taken everything to just contain the raging mass. Now, it was doable. But by the time all of the volunteers¡¯ mana had been transferred, it would definitely be impossible. Of course, that was only without using my cheats.
I kept my mouth screwed shut, and began molding my own mana; the key would be to balance the raging torrent with complementary elements. After I did that, it could be safely shunted into my mana crystal for temporary storage. If it wasn¡¯t balanced properly, then not only would the crystal¡¯s capacity fill up before I got everything, the thing was liable to shatter outright. For a normal monster, that would spell instant death. For me, I was probably strong enough to survive, but the injury would be traumatic. It would, in all likelihood, be something irrecoverable since the crystal was now part of my biology.
In a word, this was much, much harder than my previous method of doping on high-tier mana potions.
Alright. Warm-and-Oily. Looks like this guy had a disposition toward Fire and Earth elements¡ Maybe a small amount of Dark. Warm-and-Sticky, that¡¯s going to be Fire and Water, with just a pinch of Earth. Ice Water. Well, Air and Water make Ice. A bit of a stilt toward Water in this case.
My analysis wasn¡¯t just composed of guesswork, of course; there was also a healthy amount of experience with how the various elements felt. After all, the reason this was even possible was my own mana. Back when I¡¯d first started at the Royal Academy, Gustav had administered a test to determine my attribute proclivities. At the time, I had seemingly possessed every one of the basic and compound attributes, as well as Light and Dark. Upon learning how the Divine Element worked the reason had become obvious. In short, I was already able to change my own mana¡¯s element. In fact, that was the core principle of what I was attempting to do here.
Ok, these are done.
First, the storming masses needed proper mixing. Following that, I took some of my own mana and molded it into the missing elements. Then, I suffused it into the mass in order to provide a stabilizing effect. Finally, the whole lot of it was compressed and stored away inside of my mana crystal.
¡°Urk!¡± As soon as the foreign mana entered the crystal, I felt sick.
Eris paused briefly at my new reaction, but I shook my head, ¡°Keep going; I¡¯ll manage.¡±
She nodded, and released the Icy man while motioning for the next one to step forward.
It¡¯s not as bad as being punished with Empathy was. I can keep it under control. But, reactions like that happen for a reason; this is going to be a last resort method in the future.
There had already been a voice in the back of my mind telling me that this was a bad idea, but the fact that my reaction was a feeling of sickness confirmed it. At the very least, I could get away with one use of a spell, as long as I didn¡¯t hold the foreign mana for too long.
¡So, how¡¯s Eris holding up? No, she¡¯s probably fine; Sitri was able to use my mana, the various knights, Dominic¡¯s¡
Of course, Eris wasn¡¯t a succubus like Sitri had been. Sitri probably had a skill or biological component to lessen the effects of ingesting foreign mana. Along with that realization came the unbidden remembrance of Dominic, and all of the grief his life had caused me, even after his well-deserved passing. The real question was why I gave a damn?
Eris was a demon, my enemy. Now, she¡¯s just my thrall.
The procession behind me continued, and I dealt with each new mana infusion in turn. Each one was a bit harder than the one before. In large part because I was getting progressively sicker. It was a really weird physiological reaction; vomiting wasn¡¯t going to disgorge the foreign mana, I wasn¡¯t eating it. If anything it had to be a side effect of my body not originally having a mana crystal; it wasn¡¯t sure how to react to what was happening to it.
Eventually, after what felt like a small eternity, Eris removed her hand, ¡°My lady, I¡¯ve finished¡ Are you alright?¡±
Instead of answering her, I allowed my self to breath. Each infusion only lasted a few seconds, and for the last several I had refrained from breathing out of fear of doing something unladylike. The salty air hit my lungs and bile immediately rose up in my throat. Vomiting was not an option, so I fiercly swallowed it down until my stomach stilled.
¡°I¡¯ll live, but, we¡¯re, never¡ doing this again.¡± After giving her assurances, I slowly made my way to near the ship¡¯s deck railing.
Carefully raising my hands up, lest I cause myself to become sick again, I began to chant while reaching into my mana crystal, ¡°O Light, express your might from bellow the water; dazzle my allies in a cloak of your brilliance. [Submarine Solar Flare] O Water, O Wind, combine your strength; O Ice. Surround my ground with Ice, measure the distance to match my ground. Touch only Water. [Frozen World]¡±
Once again, I named both of my spells in English. There was a bright flash as the first spell resolved. By the time everyone¡¯s vision recovered, the water had become a solid mass of ice. The same could be said about the water inside the ship; my vocabulary wasn¡¯t extensive enough to quickly figure out a way of differentiating between the two. In short, the people in the mess hall and kitchen were probably very confused right now.
And it doesn¡¯t look like anyone¡¯s body was frozen, or if it did, they melted quickly enough from body heat.
Looking over the expanse of Ice, I swallowed. From somewhere behind me there were a collection of murmurs and mute exclamations. From inside my own head¡
-BZZT!-
Confusion, Astonishment! Shock-Usurper!-
A series of loose concepts and emotional outbursts, then a single, very clear and directed thought. There was a dull thud, and when I looked left, Eris had fainted where she stood.
8-12 World of Ice
Eris¡¯ body made a dull thud as it impacted the deck of the ship. One of the soldiers, not a knight, who had just been donating his mana, hurried to catch her. But his lethargy made him slow and for my part, I was too much in shock.
Usurper¡? That was the spirit, but what¡¯s it think I am?
Perhaps it was a bit conceited, but I wholly believed that last line had been directed at me. All that said, it appeared as though my plan had been successful; despite metaphorically gnashing its teeth, there was no sign of retaliation from the spirit, at least not yet.
¡°Lord Alriss! Have the captain move us closer ¨Cburn out the engines if he must, but tweak our course to collide with the Will of the Gods.¡±
Moving the mass of ice was an exercise in futility. It was too much mass. But, if enough force to guide it, even at the cost of our engines¡ I just needed to get back to my own ship. There were proper mana potions in my cabin, and the mana amplifier. If I could get there, then I could do something more.
Lord Alriss snapped out of a mental fugu at the sound of my voice and nodded quickly, ¡°As my lady commands.¡±
Rather than sending a messenger, the military commander personally departed for the bridge; it would be far easier to convince the captain himself then to trust even an officer.
Right, now I have my own problem.
Discharging the mana had helped me a bit, but I still felt sick to my stomach. My hands were tightly curled around the railing of the ship. When I had done that, I wasn¡¯t sure, but if they came loose my legs would probably give out. Using other people¡¯s mana as my own¡ was not something I could do lightly.
My lungs filled slowly as my body fought to get the urge to vomit under control; it was lucky that I had just discharged prior to the spirit¡¯s mental shout, or the shock and force of that might have caused my sick to overcome any mental blocks¡
Ah, that might work.
¡°[Fireball]¡± Without much ceremony, I fired a spell into the air.
The effect was immediate; my churning stomach quelled, and some warmth returned to my limbs. The alleviation was only slight, however, and the illness soon returned. The problem was the small quantity of mana expended; compared with freezing kilometers of ocean, a measly fireball was less than a grain of sand in a desert.
Quickly thinking, I chanted, ¡°O Ice, O Dark, wrap and hold with each other like allies; reduce the burden upon the world by a small number. [Lightening]¡±
There was no notable change around me, but I could feel my mana draining. Probably, this spell had only affected things by less than a percent of a percent¡ but it might help a bit. The idea was to lessen the effect of gravity on the ice by infusing it with the reality-denying Dark Element. Regardless of if the degree would actually help the ship tweak our course or not, it would further drain the source of my problem; lingering mana.
By taking in everyone¡¯s mana and mixing it with my own¡ It¡¯s as though I¡¯ve corrupted my own source. Like a taint or a blemish. I don¡¯t think I can actually get rid of everything, or at least, it will take a very long time to cleanse myself fully.
More tests were needed to be sure, but as a working hypothesis, my theory seemed valid. At the very least, expending mana was making me feel better.
¡°You¡¯re insane.¡± Franklin had stepped closer after Lord Alriss departed, then in a low voice, he added, ¡°You should mind your grip; the men might think you¡¯ve gotten scared.¡±
Sure enough, my white-knuckled fists had gone so far as to dent the metal railing into the shape of my fingers. But that shouldn¡¯t be enough to make the soldiers here concerned.
¡°It would be worse if I don¡¯t¡¡± I raised my voice just enough for it to carry to those nearby, ¡°Lend me your arm, Champion of Summer; that spell has left me weakened.¡±
Franklin frowned, but he didn¡¯t protest. In the weeks since his arrival, it seemed like he had done a lot of growing; he knew enough to read the atmosphere. Then again, he had always been good at playing along with me.
Before addressing the soldiers, I strained my senses; the spirit was still there. Now that I had heard it twice, I could sense the ebb and flow of its thoughts, like a current beneath the water. Was the ice acting as a barrier? Perhaps. Or it was containing itself, trying to wrap whatever constituted its eldrich mind around the notion that a mortal had just performed a feat on par with its own ability.
¡Well, it isn¡¯t like I can do anything.
¡°Men, this enemy¡¡± I frowned; most of them were still in a state of mild shock. Those that did have their wits about them were glancing out over the field of ice. In short, nobody was paying attention to me.
¡°[##### Projection], Men, my knights and soldiers, rouse yourselves.¡± A spell amplified my voice, allowing it to pierce the fog gripping my men¡¯s minds.
¡°This foe is beyond you, and it is beyond me. That,¡± My hand waved out over the ice sheet, ¡°That is only a temporary thing. This creature that has assaulted the Will of the Gods could smash the ice easily. It will break through. Did you feel it? A foreign mind crying out in confusion, in surprise? Those emotions are the only reason we have time. Time to act. Please, do not let something like this swallow your self; resist, resist as best we can, and we might pull through.¡±
I paused just long enough for my words to penetrate, ¡°I am the Champion of Autumn, and supporting me is the Champion of Summer. Ours is a diplomatic mission, but before that, a divine quest. We cannot fail here to a foe that is not even a player. This spirit is neither god nor demon. Nay, it behaves as less than a monster, a mere wild beast. Powerful, yes, but simplistic in its complexity.¡±
Change Title, [Princess of the Silver Dragon]
My title changed to the one received through gaining the recognition of the Dragon who sat upon the summit of Drakas, our nation¡¯s founder. Its effect imbued my words with a coercive force, capable of influencing any who were citizens of my kingdom.
¡°Stand with me! We are the ones chosen by the gods! We will prevail!¡±
My impromptu speech combined with the power of my title to rouse the spirits of my men. Collectively, they saluted me then began to move around the ship.
¡°Make the deck ready for impact!¡±
¡°Mages, get down to the engine, every drop of mana will help!¡±
¡°Find anyone who¡¯s still incapacitated and get the on their feet!¡±
Officers shouted orders, and the enlisted rushed to carry them out. Franklin overlooked everything and shook his head, ¡°You don¡¯t change, do you?¡±
I raised an eyebrow, ¡°My memories are faded, but I do not recall having the ability to inspire others.¡±
He shook his head, ¡°No, but you could manipulate them to an extent¡ but you¡¯re right; it was never like this.¡±
¡°Perhaps¡ but this is my job. Now, Champion of Summer, I need to get to the bridge.¡±
Below me, below the ship, below the ice, the thumbing consciousness was beginning to take on an angry shape. The spirit was preparing to act, and I could not feel the mana pulse of the engines. The Will of the Gods was growing closer as the current shifted our iceberg, but without intervention from our engines, our trajectory would not intersect. Will of the Gods herself was immobile, and when I enhanced my eyesight, a frantic movement was visible on the deck.
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Franklin sighed; the moment had passed, ¡°...Very well, if that is your wish.¡±
My legs still felt weak from the foreign mana and large-scale spell casting so his assistance was appreciated, even if the attitude was off. Ever since coming to Drakas, I hadn¡¯t been paying Franklin very much attention. It was regrettable, but there just hadn¡¯t been time. Coupled with the fact that, as Rupert¡¯s wife, it would be socially improper for me to call on him too frequently outside our capacity as champions.
Well, there isn¡¯t anything for us to discuss outside of our capacity as fellow champions, so.
Once everything was finished with the demons, I would assist Franklin in finding a way back to Earth; Adroni, bastard be his name, might even be willing to just snap their fingers and allow it. Claire as well, though I had a feeling she would probably want to stay¡ at this point, the lines between Claire and Felicity were starting to blur a bit. At the very least, it was beginning to become difficult for me to tell which one of them was speaking, if not for Felicity¡¯s third person verbal tic.
Though, it will be interesting to see if Franklin still wants to leave by the end of this¡ Taya, that merchant¡¯s daughter, even Eris, I think. He¡¯s becoming something of a protagonist in his own right.
Maybe I should pay a bit more attention to him; if I left him entirely to his own devices, his Talent and Skill enhanced Charisma might trigger a diplomatic incident. Letting my mind wander a bit had done wonders; the lingering nausea had faded to the point where it was barely noticeable, and any anxiety over the spirit¡¯s mental shout had faded. Just in time, as we had arrived at the bridge. From the other side of the portal, frazzled shouting could be heard.
¡°I should have been consulted!¡±
Lord Alriss responded calmly enough, but subtle cues in his tone let me know that this had been going on for some time, ¡°There was no time; if her majesty had not acted then the spirit may have sunk Will of the Gods.¡±
¡°And what¡¯s to say it even is a spirit? Far more likely to be a sea monster drawn to the sound of the engines!¡±
That other speaker must be the captain.
¡°If her majesty declares that the foe is a spirit, then it is a spirit. Captain, in your folly, you have eaten the remainder of your time.¡± Lord Alriss declared my arrival; no doubt, he had felt my presence making its way here.
Franklin glanced at me and I nodded once before releasing his arm. For the men, holding onto his side had shown necessary solidarity. For me, it provided the support to recover more quickly. But now I was recovered, and rather than solidarity, a show of strength was needed. Franklin opened the door.
Upon entering I took a glance around. Unlike the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown, the Might of Man¡¯s bridge crew was a mess. It was clear that the officers were frazzled and barely hanging together. Reading the air of their superiors, the regular sailors had a grim demeanor as though they expected to die any moment. I locked eyes first with Lord Alriss.
¡°My lady, forgive me but I have failed; this man refuses to give the order.¡±
My gaze shifted to the captain. Seeing he held my attention, he stretched himself up and began to preen.
¡°This is my ship. When she rides the waves, my word is law! You have no right to¡¡±
I tuned out his ramblings.
Well, it¡¯s my fault for acting without consulting him. According to maritime tradition and law, he isn¡¯t wrong. But, this level of inflexibility¡ I would expect an officer to recognize the exceptionality of our predicament.
Captain Benji of the Will of the Gods, Captain Strauss of the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown, and Captain Uriel of the Might of Man. The three of them had nearly spotless records, with Benji possessing the only red mark on account of his status as a Halfblood(Human-Beastkin).
I have two options¡
Kill, or not to kill. Time did not allow for negotiating. Truthfully, even if it did, I was short on patience at the moment.
If I kill him, then it will potentially sow dissent to the crew¡ But if I don¡¯t, there will be questions as to why I spared him after he verbally spat in my face.
The crux of the issue was the already decided factor; in the next few moments, I was going to revoke his commission. Everyone from my party could probably see that. Lord Alriss had placed his hand on his sword, and Jacqueline had slipped her hands into the waistline of her skirt. Even Franklin, though he wasn¡¯t ready to act, was drawing a sour face that said, ¡°I know where this is going.¡±
After revoking his commission, he would be but a commoner. And a commoner who had just told the Queen of his nation that she was beneath him in station.
In the long run¡
I bit my lip, as the various advises I¡¯d received came back to me.
¡°Be decisive.¡±
Why does it feel like I¡¯m standing on a precipice¡? I¡¯ve given these orders before.
My mind was made up, ¡°Captain Uriel, you forget yourself. You may be the sovereign of this ship, but this ship is Drakan; after my husband, I am the sovereign of Drakas. Yes, according to tradition, you outrank me upon the sea, but in this crisis you failed to act. Perhaps you had a plan, but it was neither evident nor communicated. If you had quietly complied, or complied while voicing your dissent, I might have found it proper to bow my head and beg forgiveness after a resolution. But you dragged your feet and cried about tradition. Because of that, you have put the lives of everyone on both the Might of Man and the Will of the Gods in jeopardy.¡±
I laced a small amount of mana into my voice, silently invoking a spell that disgusted me, ¡°I relieve your command. Protest further, and I will relieve you of your head.¡±
The Voice of the King. A spell that compelled the obedience of any Drakan citizen who heard it. It was simple to overcome if you knew how. Back in my academy days, Edith had advised me to bite my tongue hard enough to draw blood; the pain drowned out the influence of the voice. Really, anything sufficiently distracting would do the trick. Pain was just the most convenient method.
Captain Uriel was not a high noble. His family name belonged to a baron not far above the station of my own father. He wouldn¡¯t know how to avoid the command.
Uriel¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°You do not have the right, my men-¡±
¡°Lord Alriss, your sword.¡± I cut him off and accepted the blade from my knight commander, who gripped it tightly before releasing it; a sign that he knew my sin.
An order that cannot be refused. In this case, ¡°Protest further.¡±
An order, and a promise. I swung the sword after enhancing it with Ice Element mana. The least I could do for the condemned man was use my own hands to do it. If not for the need to demonstrate Lord Alriss¡¯ loyalty to the onlookers, I would have gone as far as using my own sword. Captain Uriel¡¯s body snap froze with the infusion of Ice Element. He died instantly and in a manner that would preserve his body to be returned to his family.
¡°First Officer, with my authority as the sovereign of our nation, I appoint you as the succeeding captain. Treat your predecessor¡¯s body with all honors due a man of his former station, and adjust our course ¨Ceven if it destroys the engines.¡±
The first officer regarded his former captain¡¯s statue and clenched his fists before answering, ¡°Aye. Captain Shepherd, reporting.¡±
He was subdued, but it would be too much to ask him to act happy. I nodded as graciously as I could, then used the skirt of my dress to wipe the blood from Alriss¡¯s blade before returning it. There wasn¡¯t much; the instant freeze-cauterization had seen to that, but there was enough to stain the cloth.
With that, I¡¯ve done the best I can.
Tangentially, one of my goals was the reformation of the military into a more modern system. For that, the execution of the old traditions was necessary. My plan had been to do this slowly, but the situation had backed me into a corner where the most logical course of action was to execute a pillar of that tradition¡ It was the least I could do for the man to make use of his death.
¡°Lord Alriss, with me; select ten of the strongest knights as we move. I am going down onto the ice sheet.¡±
He fell into step behind me, and together with my retinue we departed the bridge. The exception was Jacqueline, who had at some point melted into the shadows without being ordered; she would remain on the off chance that the bridge crew and their new captain sought to countermand my orders. Though with the way I¡¯d orchestrated the situation, that hopefully shouldn¡¯t be necessary.
¡°My Lady, if I may, why are you going to the ice?¡± Lord Alriss asked me, himself knowing enough not to ask about the legal murder he had just witnessed.
¡°Because I want to converse with the spirit, if I can draw its attention, pique its interest for even a few extra moments, then that is more time we will have to act. Fighting it is futile, and so is running. Our only choice is appeasement while making ourselves look as troublesome as possible.¡±
Lord Alriss gave it a thought, then nodded, ¡°Like a Spiny Bellfrog sprouting toxic spikes to dissuade predation, we cannot kill an Ancient Spirit, but we can possibly hurt it as we die.¡±
We continued to the top deck in silence save the sounds of our feet striking the floor of the passageway. Out of the corner of my eye, Franklin was possessed of a dour visage. That wasn¡¯t a good sign, but I would address him later. Likely, he would protest my actions against the late Captain Uriel, but was able to hold himself back until we got out of the current predicament. That was fine; executing Uriel could be used here as well.
Franklin was with me in Zesten; he¡¯s seen me kill enemy soldiers before, and he¡¯s personally killed a few himself. Now, he needs to come to realize my position as well; as a fellow Champion, he cannot be kept distant to the darkness of the world, and trying will only backfire.
Claire had once mentioned it to me after we returned to Drakas, and I personally had seen the trope a few times in various games. Where the noble hero discovers their kingdom¡¯s dark belly. I wouldn¡¯t allow that scenario to play out when I could move early and prevent it.
Uriel¡¯s death can be further utilized to that end.
8-13 Nature of Immortality Part 1
The surface of the ice sheet was hard and slick; unlike naturally forming ice, there was no snow. This was a solid sheet, without any fine fluffy blanket. I was fine; my stats afforded better balance, and the knights accompanying me wore boots enchanted to improve grip. That said, I didn¡¯t want to fight on this surface if it could be helped.
Along with the sensation of the ice, the presence of the spirit became much more pronounced as soon we disembarked. That said, it was muddier than before.
Then, it¡¯s like the thing¡¯s mind is conducting through the water.
That was the only explanation I could come up with. When on the ship, it was harder for the spirit to get its message through, if that was even its goal. Now that I was closer to the water, though now frozen, it was a much better connection.
Astonishment, Usurper, Brazen!
The spirit seemed to have noticed the connection strengthen as well; the build-up of energy slowed. We had bought a bit more time.
I glanced around at the knights and Lord Alriss, but none of them seemed to have noticed. They weren¡¯t strong enough, or there was some other prerequisite. Whatever the case, it seemed like I was the only one able to discern this much.
No¡
Lord Alriss was hiding it well, but he was on edge. That might be simply because of the ice sheet we were walking on, but it was more likely that he was feeling the pressure of the spirit¡¯s mind rubbing against his own. After all, he¡¯d had more than enough time to grow used to feats of magic from myself.
Lord Alriss is a higher level than me, but that¡¯s all. So strength isn¡¯t the only requirement¡ Mana then, it must be.
My mana supply was the only relevant area that I outclassed everyone else here by. That would also explain why Eris had been able to feel the presence as well.
¡°We mean you no harm¡ We¡¯re just passing through!¡±
I tried to project my thoughts outwards, though without any form of telepathy there was no way to tell if I was successful or not unless the spirit were to show a reaction. Granted, if I was some ancient force of magic, I wouldn¡¯t buy my excuse. But what was I supposed to say? As cliche as it sounded, that was the only thing I could think of to break the metaphorical ice.
¡No reaction.
¡°Please, at least hear me out?¡±
Wariness, Usurper, Plotting.
The spirit¡¯s mood began to shift. It still wasn¡¯t reacting to any of my mental shouts, and seemed to be drawing its own conclusions. This time, the vague emotions were a bit easier to make sense of, but that didn¡¯t mean it was completely clear. At the very least, there was a lingering sense that the Spirit had missed something.
¡°My lady¡¡± Lord Alriss moved to say something, but trailed off. The air had changed.
Usurper. That concept keeps coming up. Someone who¡¯s stolen a throne, or more likely, power. I mean, that does describe me, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m the Usurper the spirit is talking about.
Someone who held some form of similarity to me in a manner that a body-less spirit would be privy to. Adroni was the first one who came to mind. If Adroni was the titular Usurper, then the spirit¡¯s anger and concerns were definitely justified. But¡ that misunderstanding was going to get everyone killed!
-CREEEAAAKKKK¡-
My ice began to strain, and a great surge of mana formed in the water below it; time was up, the spirit had decided to move.
Ridicule, Vengeance, Rescue.
Another shift, this time the primary emotion was ridicule directed at me¡ No, what if I was looking at this wrong?
¡°...Not us, itself?¡± I murmured absentmindedly.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Around me, the knights had picked up on the fact that something was happening, Lord Alriss once more looked about to call me, but he stayed silent. His experience and seniority was enough for him to realize that where we went would not matter; retreating now was a choice of whether to die on the ice or in the ship. Still his sense of duty forbade he give up hope entirely.
¡°Lord Alriss, there is a strong chance that I am going to faint soon; please keep my body safe.¡±
My realization had brought me to a strange sense of calm. My mind cleared up, and became almost numb to the outside world. Along with the vanishment of my unease, my resolve began to reform.
This was an Ancient Spirit. Why, then, was I so stuck up on the idea that it was paying any attention to me? Compared to that mass of energy, I was probably no more than a substantial speck against a background of insubstantial specks. I wasn¡¯t the Usurper in question; the spirit was thinking of itself.
Every thought I had received from the spirit, every emotion and sensation translated across to me. All of it had come in threes, and all of it had been so incredibly basic.
¡°Invoke Authority,¡± My voice echoed out, amplified as it always was.
The spirit had only paused when massive surges of mana occurred; otherwise, it had only been concerned with the Will of the Gods. It was not reacting to us, it was reacting to the ship¡¯s Mythril hull, the disruption of mana.
Ridicule. The first word, not ridiculing me, but ridiculing itself for hesitating against a foe not worthy of the name.
Vengeance. The second word, not for some slight against itself, but for something else. For Sarala, the spirit. Like it or not, the spirit had noticed Sarala earlier. Sarala and Eris both. One a fellow spirit, the other a demon.
Rescue. The third word, and the final clue. After all, it was a warm sensation akin to love and duty. And it immediately caused me to think of Sarala.
The spirit wasn¡¯t trying to communicate, I was simply sensing its consciousness. Compared to that, I was miniscule. Then what could I do?
¡°Disconnect User.¡±
It was simple; I could make myself bigger. The spirit would be forced to take notice of me, a sudden surge of mana, many times greater than what froze the ocean earlier. Even if I couldn¡¯t talk, I could make it see me. From there, buy time. Perhaps even become big enough to drive it off, but I wasn¡¯t kidding myself.
¡°Stalianee!¡± A distant voice called out to me, it was familiar, but so very very far away¡
My limbs grew heavy as the Strength and Dexterity stats disengaged. I fed mana through my veins and into the muscles, my own level of control a degree more efficient than the system¡¯s. My senses dulled and the world seemed to speed up around me; Intelligence had been deactivated. Again, I compensated. My own power was beyond that granted by my levels, but even a small mistake would multiply the penalty a thousandfold.
Then¡ Why am I going this far¡?
A sudden doubt; dangerous now that the process was initiated. I shook it away as best I was able, and began to work on my Endurance. Already I could feel the strain on my bones. The human body wasn¡¯t meant to hold this much mana¡ that must be why spirits didn¡¯t have physical forms.
Without a means of control, there was little standing in the way of my second death; I had to be that control.
¡°Oh¡? Another¡? Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ll get you too.¡± There was a voice, clear and sparkling across the frozen waves.
I looked in that direction, the motion of my neck causing a small breeze to flutter the cloaks of my insignificant knights as they stood frozen. There, out on the water and walking toward me was a woman. Her hair was greenish-white, the color of sea foam. Skin a mottled soft pink akin to mother of pearl. Her form and stature would have made even my most loyal vassals hesitate. And she radiated power.
My breath caught in my throat; this creature was beyond my ability to contend with. It was only now, by reaching the pinnacle of my own strength, that I was able to perceive hers. And there was more.
Around the woman where dozens of children, boys and girls ranging from Felicity¡¯s age to my own. Each one of them had about as much mana as I did normally, but theirs was pure, untainted. These must be¡
¡°What¡¯s the matter child? Have you never seen another Young Spirit? Fret not; soon, you will be free to join them in play.¡±
Wait, has she mistaken me for a spirit¡?
¡°No, I¡ Who, are you?¡± I wanted to correct her, but that misconception might yet be something I could use. At the very least, I maintained enough presence of mind to realize that. Instead, I asked the first thing that jumped into my mind instead.
Fortunately, my question and stunned delivery seemed to please the spirit. She smiled, ¡°Ah, I suppose the youth have forgotten their origin; I am called Tlaloc, Ocean¡¯s Mother.¡±
Then her brow furrowed, ¡°...I would like to name you properly, but it seems¡ Child, pray tell, who¡¯s fragment were you?¡±
Ah¡
Tlaloc had realized something was wrong with her perception of me. As the microseconds passed by her light pink skin darkened. Rather than white, she now resembled the much more beautiful black pearls.
¡°I see; you are a quandry. Your essence is tainted with that one¡¯s¡ You are a false imitation, sent here to deceive¡ Begone.¡±
Her mana swelled even higher, if that was even possible, and she pointed a finger at me, gathering her power to its tip.
8-14 The Nature of Immortality, Part 2
Without thinking, I moved aside. Had I not, what happened next would have caused the needless death of one of my men. Tlaloc¡¯s lone extended finger tracked my position and the ice surged up into spikes; clearly, my hope that she would be hindered by the addition of Wind Element was in vain.
The fresh spikes rushed toward me and, had I not moved, they would have impaled the knights behind me. As it was, the lot of them stood frozen. Not incased in ice, but rather, the brief exchange had occurred well outside the realms of human ability. Even as I struggled to catch my footing on the slick surface I could feel my muscles tearing.
Not as bad as the first time I did this¡ But this has to end quickly.
¡°Wait! Please, at least hear me out!¡± By all the hells, I sounded like I worried Franklin one day might.
Tlaloc furrowed her brow as though angry that her foe had dared avoid an attack. She ignored my plea and once again tracked her finger toward me. Barely staying on my feet as I was, I gave up and surrendered to gravity. Lower on the ground there might be more opportunity to at least change my course. Certainly it couldn¡¯t be worse than being on my feet.
There was another surge of mana; Tlaloc was preparing to attack again. The fact that I could at least sense that much was my only saving grace.
Really, it¡¯s not just the Wind Element, but this is my mana forming the ice! She¡¯s not just manipulating foreign elements, she¡¯s seizing control of someone else¡¯s power through brute force!
Again, the building power released and the ice formed into spikes before launching at my skidding body. There wasn¡¯t time to think about where to go or to perform any fancy maneuvers. A simple mana pulse. Raw unformed energy emitted from my hand. Normally this was something impossibly wasteful. The level of force per unit cost was simply too inefficient. But while disconnected, I had the mana to spare on thoughtless action.
My trajectory amended, and once again the icy death sailed past me. Though she missed by a far lesser margin on the second shot. I grit my teeth.
As much as I hate it, I still can¡¯t fight back, but she¡¯s clearly not listening¡
I fixed my eyes on her; in my unrestrained state I might be able to glean some information. Well, it was a possibility at least; appraisal-by-sight had only ever worked on Felicity.
¡°Stalineechan!¡±
The pained outcry from only a few seconds ago echoed in my ears. I tuned it out.
I didn¡¯t think I would ever miss [Cold Hearted], but this¡ This was a lot easier with it.
That small distraction had cost me; my left hand had frozen. Why my mana was naturally inclined to that element was beyond me¡
No! Damnit!
The ice had spread to my wrist.
I need to focus on Tlaloc and controlling the mana, or the small chance I can come back will vanish altogether.
My plan bore no fruit; without a connection to her, Appraisal-by-Sight gleaned no information on the Ancient Spirit. But without knowing what I was fighting, there was no chance of beating her back. Far less of actually winning. Then, there was only one thing I could do. I spared a glance at my frozen hand, the ice climbed a bit further up my wrist.
¡°Alright, fine!¡±
If Tlaloc could wrest control of my grand magic away, there was nothing to say that I, as the original caster, could not similarly re-shape the spell. Diving into my consciousness, I sent feelers of mana away from my body. Of course, this course was costing me; the numbing pain of frostburn and bite crawling ever further up my limb. Why it was focused in my arm¡
No. Focus.
The mana leaking from my body mingled with the mana in the ice sheet, and I began molding it, coaxing a new shape. Even now, I was still gaining distance from where we¡¯d started. That was good for my men, but bad for what I needed to do. The ice began to slope ahead of me, gravity and lack of friction kept me moving with the new topography. A crevice, then up again. Sloping into a wall. Arrest my momentum with physics.
Then, back to Tlaloc.
The wall kept curving, back over itself into a halfpipe. The curvature translated my momentum and reversed the direction; I launched myself back toward the spirit, frozen arm outstretched.
¡°If you won¡¯t talk, I¡¯ll make you listen!¡±
I wasn¡¯t sure why I yelled; truthfully there was no way for me to truly force her to do anything.
I¡¯ll take away something small, just to prove I can. That will at least get her attention.
Perhaps my gambit had actually caught her off guard; Tlaloc hesitated. It was only a moment, but given the speeds we were moving at a moment was all I needed.
¡°Got you! Invoke Authority!¡±
Then, the world shattered.
Received Request from Recognized Super User. Validating Credentials¡.Success.
Retrieving Relevant Data on Subject[NULL]....Error.
Subject[NULL] Does not Possess a Class.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Querying Skills Database¡.Success.
Subject[NULL] Does not Possess any Skills.
Querying Talents Database¡.Success.
Subject[NULL] Does not Possess any Talents.
Subject[NULL] Does not Exist Within the System: Activating Failsafe¡Success.
My vision fractured into a kaleidoscope of random colors and images. My ears heard a thousand voices and screams even while the surroundings were as silent as a graveyard. I could smell the sea, and also the forest back in Ris, a fresh roast bird in the palace, the sweaty stench of the training fields, and a dozen things besides. My tongue was a blaze with a mixture of every spice and seasoning known to mankind, and my body felt every sensation from the fluffy softness of a newborn to the spiny arse of a porcupine. I was everywhere, and I was nowhere.
I wanted to scream out, to add my own voice to the cacophony in my ears. Simply fade away and forget the overwhelming sensations around me¡
¡°Stali¡.han!¡±
No¡ This is fine, isn¡¯t it? I¡¯ve done my best.
¡°Stalineechan!¡±
A distant voice, distinct from the rest. Was it memory? No, perhaps something more¡
¡°STAHLIA ONEESAN!¡±
A shout, and a stabbing pain in my chest and stomach.
ERROR¡.Reconnecting User to Support System.
¡°Wake up!¡± My eyes fluttered open to the sight of a very distraught girl, with little black cat ears on her head. Her face was a strange mix of anger and grief. As I watched her, the girl formed her hands into claw-like shapes. Dark Element mana projected out of the tips creating tiny, but no doubt incredibly sharp, claws. I reflexively moved to cover myself defensively.
¡°Felicity!¡± For that¡¯s who the cat-eared girl was, ¡°I¡¯m awake!¡±
She froze and looked at me through tear-soaked eyes. Then, her tears were replaced with an angry snarl, ¡°Never! Do! That! Again!¡±
Each word was punctuated with an impact on my ribs; she had at least put the claws away though.
That¡¯s¡ I thought I was blocking¡?
I looked to my left; my arm was laying uselessly on the ice sheet, the skin turned a soft blue.
¡Huh?
My memories came flooding back all at once, from the moment I had disconnected up until now. Based on Lord Alriss and my Knights only just now rousing themselves and beginning to run to my side only a few seconds had passed.
¡°I¡¯m¡ awake?¡±
Felicity had started tearing up again after expending her anger in three not-quite-gentle punches, ¡°Yea, Felicity thought Stalineechan was going to die¡ Claire Oneesama said that you raised a- Eeep!¡±
My right arm was still functional, if a bit sore and stiff. I wrapped it around Felicity¡¯s head and pulled her into a tight squeeze, ¡°Sorry¡ I did not want to frighten you.¡±
She was stiff for a moment, then allowed herself to relax as her hair was gently stroked. My ¡°guards¡± were a good distance away, so there was a bit of time for me to order my thoughts.
Ok, my arm is probably useless, and I doubt an injury like that will recover¡ Goddess Drought probably won¡¯t work either, given the cause. If I get some, I¡¯ll try it, but I won¡¯t hold my breath. I didn¡¯t fall into a coma this time, on the contrary my body is stiff but I feel strangely invigorated¡
Piecing together the evidence around me painted a picture of the fight from an outsider¡¯s perspective. Namely, Felicity. Residing in my shadow as she had been, she had probably felt the instant I disconnected. That had been her calling out to me then. My promise to her that I would come back had apparently been taken as a death flag of sorts, thanks to Claire. Combined with the recent visions from Leviathan, and Felicity¡¯s developing psyche had come to the worst conclusion.
She hadn¡¯t been able to get out of my shadow during the fight, though considering how short that had been (a matter of moments) she might not have even realized I was fighting. From her perspective and that of the knights, I had probably teleported. The moment she could, Felicity leaped out of my shadow and began trying to resuscitate me. Based on the claw marks on my chest and stomach, she had been far from in control of her emotions.
And most likely, Claire was trying to guide her through compressions based on where the scratches are specifically.
¡°My Lady!¡± Lord Alriss slid to a halt on the ice, then pointedly looked to the side, ¡°I am not sure what exactly happened, but please, take this.¡±
He unfastened his cape, and held it out. That was when I realized the state of my wardrobe. After all, I had just been moving at near the speed of sound across the surface of a frozen ocean. It wasn¡¯t exactly perfectly smooth. My cheeks flushed red, and I quickly accepted the cloak.
Well, I can hear Claire snickering about cliches already, but I should count myself lucky in that respect¡
Lucky, in that I was still dressed. Just, not modestly. But nothing that absolutely had to be hidden was revealed. Almost, but not quite.
¡°Thank you.¡± Far be it from me to be ungrateful.
¡°Of course.¡± He waited long enough for me to wrap the cape around myself before allowing himself to make eye contact again. At the same time the other knights resumed closing the distance and came within the invisible perimeter they had established.
They stopped short until¡ So they were aware of it¡
In spite of the noble intentions, my stomach churned uneasily as specific memories came back. Memories about my last meeting with my former Fiance, and what he had tried to do. It had been a while since I had allowed such things to bother me, but the knowledge these men had seen me that way¡ it brought everything back in an uncomfortable way.
¡°My Lady, we need to get back to the ship, Miss Jacqueline and Miss Sasha will wish to see your injuries, and we will send for a representative from the church; we are fortunate a Cardinal chose to come with us¡¡± He trailed off, ¡°Your Majesty, is there a problem?¡±
¡°Lord Alriss, why are we on the Ice right now?¡±
He frowned, ¡°Your Majesty was performing a test of the Mana Enhancer; you tried to freeze the ocean around the ships but it backfired. The spell launched you here¡¡± As he spoke, his eyes widened.
¡°I see you have begun to realize, ¡®the Mana Enhancer is on the Will of the Gods, but the ship in the center of the ice, it the Might of Man.¡¯¡± I stared intently at a seemingly empty patch of ice, ¡°Stop whatever farce this is, and come out Tlaloc; this is not like you.¡±
A veil of mist and snow swirled up around the point I was looking at. When it faded, an impossibly beautiful woman was standing there. There were no children playfully dancing around her, and her body was made of flesh and bone instead of mana, but it was most definitely Tlaloc, Ocean¡¯s Mother.
¡°So you could still see me after all¡ We were only joined for a moment, and yet you gleaned that much¡ Congratulations, Usurper; one of this world¡¯s fundaments has by your hand, descended.¡± She bowed her head gracefully, not in submission or respect, but merely because it was good manners.
I failed to stop a groan from escaping my lips.
Tlaloc raised an eyebrow, ¡°Prithee, is there a matter?¡±
My gaze turned skyward, toward the metaphorical heavens, or more like the white void that existed somewhere and nowhere, ¡°Lady Tlaloc, between the twelve gods, nine Hell Kings, Monster God, Last Silver Dragon, and now the Ancient Spirits, are there any of this world¡¯s fundaments with which I am not acquainted¡?¡±
She tilted her head, ¡°The last Silver Dragon¡? He¡¯s still alive?¡±
The next time I see Adroni, I¡¯m going to box their self-damned head in.
8-15 Eternity Part 1
Conversely to how I¡¯d felt only seconds ago, once my gripes with Tlaloc¡¯s rather blaise attitude were aired, muscle pain began to set in. Whatever adrenaline high had been dulling the aching was quickly fading, and my body was beginning to make its protests known. There were still no signs of an extended bout of unconsciousness, but odds were I was still going to find myself unable to move for a few days.
All things considered, a much better trade-off. Though, I¡¯m unsure if making progress with wielding my Authority is a good thing¡
Knowing what I did about the nature of the System and Authority, as well as the personality of its creator, I couldn¡¯t help but worry. Worry that getting good at controlling my abilities without any of the worse repercussions was, in actuality, only a forestallment. Like putting a loan into deferment, there was a looming dread that I would eventually be hit with a much greater consequence.
This time its just my arm, but what if my whole body ends up like that?
I gently let go of Felicity, and brought my still-good limb around. My damaged limb was cold to the touch, as though it were still frozen. Despite that, there was no pain or any other sensation emmenating from it. Still using my good hand, I held the deadened limb to where I could visually inspect it. Even a movement as large as that failed to produce any feedback.
That being said, the appearance of my arm was concerning and caused me to grimace; the skin had turned bone white, while my veins were now highlighted in light bluish-purple. What¡¯s more, there was a pronounced ebb of mana pulsing through them, causing the vessels to emit a dull light. Nothing that couldn¡¯t be hidden with a long glove or a sleeve, but it looked like I¡¯d¡
¡°Stali Neechan, Claire Oneesama wants Felicity to ask ¡®Does the spirit in your arm seek to escape?¡¯¡± Felicity cocked her head to the side as though she didn¡¯t understand the question.
I formed a fist and gently bopped her forehead, ¡°Don¡¯t act like Claire was the only one who thought of that.¡±
Felicity has seen enough of Earth¡¯s Otaku culture through Claire¡¯s memories, she honestly might have thought of that herself.
I let the dead arm fall, ¡°Lord Alriss, I can feel my body starting to seize up, we must return to the ship before that happens. Lady Tlaloc is to be allowed onboard and given temporary quarters; she will be accompanying us until she chooses to depart.¡±
After Zesten, Lord Alriss knew better than to question things when I made a strange statement like that. Even if it flew in the face of common sense; Tlaloc had been trying to kill us literally a minute ago.
¡°I thank thee kindly child, come now.¡± Without waiting for the knights, Tlaloc stepped forward and moved to pick me up.
Thankfully, I had enough energy still to avoid that fate, and step-stumbled out of her reach, ¡°Felicity, it pains me as your older sister, but please help me to the ship.¡±
Dealing with her is going to be an exercise in frustration.
After all, Tlaloc had come to determine that she was, in fact, my mother. Though what logic she¡¯d used was utterly lost on me. After all, she knew I was both human and an otherworlder.
And then there¡¯s this.
Sitting prettily in my status were two new items, and an update.
¡°[Spirit Touched I]: Talent awarded to those whom have had close contact with a wild Spirit. Enables the formation of contracts with Spirits. Provides a small boost to Mana control and enables sharing Mana with Contracted Spirits.¡± This was a familiar Talent; Edith had it, and she had received it upon meeting Sarala. Though the former had been unaware of this until rather recently.
¡°[Daughter of Ocean¡¯s Mother]: Title granted to one whom the Ancient Spirit of the Ocean has claimed as her own. While Equipped: Provides a small bonus to manipulation of Water Element and its pairs.¡± This one was concerning, but there wasn¡¯t anything I could do about it. Besides, it would at least serve as an assurance that Tlaloc wasn¡¯t going to suddenly try to kill me again. The only thing I didn¡¯t understand was the lack of a contract between us, though that might just be how it was with Ancient Spirits. At the very least, I could somewhat feel her presence though not share mana; I had already tried.
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Lastly, my starting gift had changed again. Formerly ¡°Budding Seed,¡± it was now a ¡°Sprouted Seed of Potential,¡± whatever that was. At this point, it was clearly tied to my Authority. Even if I was inclined to deny it, there wasn¡¯t any good reason to.
If only I could inspect it for more details¡
As always, attempting to inspect it yielded no valuable results.
After confirming those three were the only things different about my status, I dismissed the window. We were about halfway back to the ship, Felicity doing her best to support me. Tlaloc was glaring at my knights whenever one of them drew closer than a few steps, though she herself seemed to possess enough sense to stay back where her presence would not make my men nervous. Due to this, it meant that our progress was only so fast as Felicity and I could hobble ¨Cit was slow.
Still, I found myself feeling a bit grateful toward the spirit; even if her intentions were misplaced, her keeping the knights away was helping me. With the memories of Dominic and his attempted crime having been freshly dug up, if one of my knights were to try and support me now, then no matter his intentions, it was sure to cause me anxiety at the very least. In the worst case, I might end up striking him reflexively.
Things should be better once I get back to the ship and get changed, but for now please stay away¡
As soon as we were aboard the ship, Jacqueline appeared at my side. She took one look at my attire (severely damaged dress and knight commander¡¯s cape) then ushered me into the ship¡¯s interior and towards a storeroom. How she knew where the closest empty room was¡ Well, she was Jacqueline. My knights and Lord Alriss followed as far as the door, but they were all nobles, and knew why JAcqueline had brought us here; they did not attempt to follow us.
Even when Tlaloc made no indication of stopping and passed through the door just as it was closing, none of them made to follow.
¡°So you are the ¡®Jacqueline¡¯ who has taken such good care of my child¡ This one is pleased to make your acquaintance. And you, the beastkin-demonkin¡ Your aura is repulsive, but my child seems fond of you, so your existence is secure.¡± As if she had been waiting for the knights to be gone, Tlaloc quit her silence by greeting my two oldest companions.
Felicity glared at her in spite of the difference in power, but at the same time she shrank back closer to Jacqueline. Upset at being called ¡°repulsive,¡± yet knowing there was nothing she could do about it and that saying anything would only accomplish nothing or worse, antagonize, my younger sister had gravitated towards whom she regarded as the safest person in the room. Considering that I was Tlaloc¡¯s main target, it made sense for her to choose Jacqueline over me. Or at least that¡¯s what I chose to think.
¡°My lady, this is¡?¡± Jacqueline opted not to address the Ancient Spirit directly, instead opting to ask for more information.
¡°Right. Jacqueline, this is Lady Tlaloc. Until recently, she was the cause of this whole mess. After fighting her, or more accurately, barely surviving her attack, I accidentally fused our minds. After that, we came to a bit of an¡ agreement¡ of sorts.¡±
Half an hour previously, Stahlia and Tlaloc''s Perspective
My vision fractured into a kaleidoscope of random colors and images. My ears heard a thousand voices and screams even while the surroundings were as silent as a graveyard. I could smell the sea, and also the forest back in Ris, a fresh roast bird in the palace, the sweaty stench of the training fields, and a dozen things besides. My tongue was a blaze with a mixture of every spice and seasoning known to mankind, and my body felt every sensation from the fluffy softness of a newborn to the spiny arse of a porcupine. I was everywhere, and I was nowhere.
My eyes fluttered open. I was back in that place, the all-encompassing white expanse.
I failed¡
The only reason for me to come here was that Tlaloc had killed me, or more accurately, that I¡¯d burned out. Granted, the most recent time I had come here I hadn¡¯t died, but considering the circumstances, there was no way I had survived.
¡°No, you aren¡¯t dead. Somehow.¡± A familiar voice caused a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Sure enough, when I turned around, there stood Adroni, ¡°Congratulations on once again breaking things in the most interesting way¡ Though I suppose I owe an apology this time.¡±
Adroni cast their eyes towards a figure lying on the ground, still unconscious; Tlaloc. I jumped up in surprise; out of the handful of times I¡¯d visited this place (twice), I had always been alone with Adroni. She shouldn¡¯t be a threat though, on account of being unconscious.
My ¡°benefactor¡± paid no attention to my shock, instead continuing, ¡°Well, I¡¯m sorry; that creature wouldn¡¯t have been so upset if it wasn¡¯t for our connection, and honestly, she shouldn¡¯t be awake in this era; that¡¯s also my fault in a way¡ Well, I¡¯ll take care of it for you so you can go back now.¡±
Adroni had a dark look in his eyes; it was clear that he harbored no good intentions for the unconscious fundament.
¡°Wait.¡± In spite of myself, I spoke. Adroni froze in the middle of opening a door that had appeared out of nowhere. Taking that as my cue, I continued, ¡°That¡¯s all good, but instead of ¡®disposing¡¯ of her, could you instead just, hold us here? You can do that, can¡¯t you?¡±
Adroni nodded slowly, ¡°I can, but what for? Wait, no don¡¯t tell me.¡± A disgusting too-wide smile drew itself on their face, ¡°I hate spoilers, and this is becoming even more interesting.¡±
The bastard shut the partially opened door, then snapped their fingers before opening a new one in the same place as the first, ¡°Well, good luck; I¡¯ll adjust the time flow for you since you¡¯re not able, do your best and keep me entertained!¡±
Saying their final bit, the door shut and I found myself alone with Tlaloc.
8-16 Eternity Part 2
When Tlaloc opened her eyes, the first thing I saw was Stahlia looking down at me. It seems as though she had been rendered unconscious by the moment of contact when I tried overriding the appraisal block with my Authority.
¡°¡°Wait, what didst though do? What, what is this?¡±¡±
Tlaloc reached a hand up and touched her forehead then her cheek. My own hand traced a similar action with Stahlia¡¯s face. It was only then that I realized; we had both spoken the same words at the same time.
¡°What, what did you do!?¡± Tlaloc and I shouted.
We both tilted our head, the mirrored action striking eerie against the white void background.
¡°You, your thoughts and memories. Such a long life, far longer than you look¡ I see, this is the work of the Usurper.¡± I asked myself, or Tlaloc asked me.
¡°Are you, are we ready to listen? Do we even have to ask? I will.¡±
¡°No, do not think that you can control me with some cheap trick.¡±
Tlaloc¡¯s eyes widened; her intended words, a retort against me, had come from Stahlia¡¯s mouth.
Despite her incredulity I pressed on, ¡°I only wanted to talk¡ going into it, as soon as she realized, Stahlia knew she couldn¡¯t beat me. But you insisted on fighting.¡±
¡°Child, you must-¡±
¡°No. Adroni is a bastard, but they¡¯re atleast good for their word. We¡¯ll stay right here, until I listen to you.¡±
Stahlia¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Do you hear me, us? You will break before long.¡±
A kaleidoscopic display of color seemed to radiate out from Tlaloc, seeking to seize the white expanse and overwrite it.
¡°Child, I can feel you now, this one can seee¡ but Stahlia will not last much longer.¡±
¡°She will last as long as it takes until Tlaloc bends.¡±
¡°No. Water does not bend.¡±
The white void began to recede, in its place an expanse of seawater. The salt in the air stung at my skin as I felt a new sun beating down on my brow. Deep within the waves, I could feel the small fish darting about in search of food. This was Tlaloc¡¯s mind, it was biting at me, drawing Stahlia in¡
¡°Stali¡.han!¡±
The greenish blue water paused. Centered around our two bodies, the water began to slow. Crystals of solidified dihydrogen monoxide began to form. As though the heat of Tlaloc¡¯s being were being drawn out.
¡°I¡¯ll not pass on¡ so easily.¡± There was more now, some small thing was amplifying Stahlia¡¯s mind.
¡°This¡¡± Tlaloc¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°What are you doing child!? You lack the gravitas, do you know what you¡¯re doing right now!?¡±
Stahlia shook her head, ¡°No. I¡¯ve only been to this expanse a handful of times, and this is only the second time I got here myself.¡±
The colors spilling out from Tlaloc coalesced and shifted once more, now into a slideshow. Small snippets of memory. Stahlia¡¯s memories. From the moment she was born until she fought me. I reviewed them, seeking confirmation.
¡°...It¡¯s the truth¡¡± Again the colors shifted, things I had begun to forget. The memories of another time, another life; George¡¯s psyche.
¡I really was an ass.
With the movie-like replaying of my first life, Stahlia could see things more objective now. George had lambasted his lack of influence, but it had been his own narcissistic tendencies driving away those around him. Only Franklin seemed to stick around through it all.
¡°And here, you were tricked¡¡± Tlaloc paused the reply just as George was falling to his death, moments before being struck by the subway, a shadowed figure of ambiguous stature behind me, grinning ruefully, ¡°I was murdered, yea. By Adroni most likely, or one of their pawns.¡±
¡°Yet you serve him, no; I know better.¡±
The ocean began to recede, the white and empty expanse was allowed to reoccupy the lost territory.
¡°Child, do you know what designs the Usurper has on you? What they seek from you?¡±
¡°Only as far as I¡¯ve been told.¡±
Tlaloc nodded, ¡°And what designs have thou?¡±
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Stahlia shook her head, ¡°I just want to live, and protect my new family.¡±
She raised an eyebrow, ¡°What about the Usurper? They will keep creating new stages for you to act upon.¡±
I nodded, ¡°I know.¡±
Tlaloc glanced back to the receding colors once more. Already, the display of memories was growing blurry, like paints mixing or separating out into pigment and oil.
¡°Then, come here child. Let this one watch thine performance for a time as well. Perhaps I should deign to traverse the stage once more.¡±
¡°If it means you won¡¯t try and kill us, I gladly accept.¡±
Tlaloc¡¯s body began to shine, before growing suddenly dimmer. Perhaps it was an illusion, but I felt as though a small amount of her beauty had faded. Like she had lost a quality of etherealness.
¡°Stalineechan!¡±
Again, Felicity¡¯s voice was calling out from beyond this space.
¡°That bastard said he would manipulate the time flow for me, but it doesn¡¯t sound like he did a very good job¡¡±
Tlaloc tilted her head and stared off in the direction the sound had come from, ¡°...This child does not know what she says. I have contained my essence into a body of flesh; I name thee as my daughter until this one¡¯s death, for I refuse to call thee mother. Now, child, you should alight afore my presence corrupts thee further.¡±
Well, I guess she¡¯s trying to tell me that manipulating time isn¡¯t that easy, and Adroni is doing their best. Still I do need to wake up soon, just¡ how?
¡°...I would love to take you up on that, but first, what the hells do you mean, ¡®mother¡¯ and ¡®daughter!?¡¯ ¡And, I don¡¯t know how to wake up¡ Last time, Adroni opened the door for me¡¡±
Tlaloc crossed her arms, ¡°This vessel of flesh was formed after thine own, afore being twisted to match this one¡¯s own self. I shall not call you ¡®mother¡¯ for thou lack the knowledge to raise. Instead, I shall seek a nurturing role. Now, open a door and step through; that will let thee free.¡±
¡So she¡¯s using a copy of my body, but changed the appearance sliders. Got it.
The prospect made me a bit uncomfortable truth be told, but I wasn¡¯t about to try and force her to change. I wouldn¡¯t be able to in any case, and so long as she continued to not threaten me and mine, then she was welcome to whatever else.
¡°...Fine, I won¡¯t protest. Just¡ don¡¯t go around calling yourself that publicly, please? It would cause a lot of trouble with the nobility.¡±
Tlaloc smiled widely, ¡°Of course, this one is aware of your situation; thou shared thine mind. Now, hurry and open the door.¡±
Telling me that is all good, but do cna I really trust you? Status.
For all I knew, Tlaloc had determined she was trapped here, and was attempting to trick me into letting her out.
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 5
Name/Age: Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, 17
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 20 | Custom Class, 8 Experience: 27840/47000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant])
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Queen auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Budding Seed
Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]
Ability Values:
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/6: [Browse Talents] [ ], [ ], Stealth V*, Charm Resistance III*, [], || Monster Handling III*, ?Dagger Fighting V*, Sword Fighting II*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemical Meister IV*, Teaching II*, Mana Efficiency III*, Fire Magic V*, Water Magic III*, Earth Magic IV*,? Wind Magic III*, Ice Magic VI*, Winter Magic IV, Acting IV*, Light Magic II, Spirit Touched I*,
Skills 6/6: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features], [ ]. Blue Blooded*, Kinetic Perception*, [], Psychic Shield, || Language Proficiency[Central(human)]*,Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*, Alchemical Heresy*,
My status opened easily enough, though the entire thing was greyed out to indicate it was presently inactive; after all, I was still disconnected. That said, I found what I was looking for; proof of Tlaloc¡¯s trustworthiness. Namely, I had a new title waiting for me upon reconnection, ¡°Daughter of the Ocean Mother.¡± If nothing else, it proved she was serious about how she intended to maintain our working relationship.
¡°Alright, so I just need to focus on the image of a door and open it? Should I use mana?¡±
My new ¡®mother¡¯ frowned and scratched her head, ¡°Just create the door and open it? Yes, you will use mana¡¡±
So she¡¯s an instinctive type¡
That didn¡¯t bode well for gleaning much information or technique from her, but just having an ancient spirit nearby would already be more than I could rightfully ask for.
Well, here goes.
I pictured a door in my mind, large and intricately carved in the same manner as my chamber¡¯s door back at the palace; it was the first thing to come to mind, despite how little time I spent there. Perhaps I was a tiny bit homesick. Regardless, as soon as I made the physical motion of turning the handle, a matching door appeared in space front of me. As it swung open, I could see a sort of out of body perspective.
We were hovering over a still scene. My body lay on the ice sheet, Felicity perched on its stomach. She was evidently in distress but hadn¡¯t quite grasped the full extent of the situation yet. All in all, only a few seconds seemed to have passed. Off to the side, I could see a snow drift beginning to gather, some of the snow was tinged red with blood. My blood.
I eyed Tlaloc, but opted not to comment; that was probably her own newly physical body, being formed from my blood and the snow formed of my mana.
Well, I should go before Felicity gets any more traumatized.
¡°Invoke Authority, Reconnect.¡±
I intoned a simple command and stepped through the door.
Reconnecting User¡.Success.
System Notice to all Users of SuperUser Status or Higher:
New SuperUser: Tlaloc has Registered a System Profile.
8-17 Allegiances
Three days after Tlaloc
My hand shook slightly as it ferried a spoon up to my mouth. My left hand, meaning the otherwise dead arm. A few days after Tlaloc decided to join my expedition, I made a small discovery. Well, credit where it¡¯s due, Eris had made a suggestion. Following through with that had led to this.
Namely, while I still lacked any and all feeling in my left arm, not to mention fine motor control, I could still move mana around it. Though, it wasn¡¯t easy.
¡°Damnit.¡± The spoon had slipped out of my hand again.
Benji raised an eyebrow at my rather bland curse whilst Sasha leaned over my side and efficiently removed the small stain of my soup.
¡°All things considered, I don¡¯t think many people could even move their arm like that in the first place, but what do I know? I¡¯m not a mage.¡± Benji quipped at me in a tone that demonstrated a degree of irreverence for my station, but as we were unaccompanied save for my guards, it was¡ tolerable, in this case.
¡°Yes; not many. In Drakas, perhaps five people, and only two of them human. But I need to be better; I can hide the injury if I grow skilled enough to eat at least. Though, fighting will be out of the question.¡±
Benji shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t see the point, an injury like that shows you¡¯re a fighter; wear it with pride.¡±
In response, I raised one eyebrow and tilted my head pointedly while directing a little bit of mana at him; it should cause him to feel some pressure from me, ¡°Perhaps if I were one of your men, but do not let yourself forget whose point it is that you fail to see.¡±
The captain froze briefly, then tensed before nodding sharply, ¡°Aye, point made, your grace.¡±
His tone still had a bit of bite to it but as he said, I had made my point, again.
Considering I executed his colleague less than a week ago, he¡¯s become remarkably lippy. I suppose it might have something to do with me saving his ship from Tlaloc, but then wouldn¡¯t he be even more respectful¡?
I released the mana directed at Benji and watched him suppress a sigh of relief. Ruling through fear was not the point; I really, truly didn¡¯t want to resort to such methods. But over the past few days I¡¯d found it impossible to control this man without resorting to light intimidation.
He¡¯s fine in public, but in private he¡¯s started treating me more like an equal¡ I did tell him not to stand on ceremony when we first met, but he¡¯s pushing things a bit far. ¡Or maybe I¡¯m just reading too much into it.
Putting that aside for now, my main concern was with control. Moving the arm was easy enough, but when I split down to the wrist and fingers, things got complicated. Once again, moving them was easy. The problem came from my lack of feeling; use too much force and I would break something. It looked like the arm would still heal, at least the small cut I¡¯d made was healing up nicely. But it would be extremely awkward if I broke my wrist at a ball and didn¡¯t realize until a guard or, gods forbid, a guest, pointed it out.
I shot the spoon a glare before picking it up with my fully functional dominant arm, ¡°That aside, how goes our course?¡±
Benji finished chewing then swallowed, ¡°Excellent. Especially with Lady Tlaloc manipulating the currents for us¡¡± He looked like he had something else to add, but was trying to hold back.
He¡¯s worried I¡¯ll snap at him again¡ Damnit, this isn¡¯t what I wanted.
¡°Captain, if you have anything else to say regarding the mission then say it, just choose your words; and refrain from commenting on my own affairs.¡± I gave him a nudge; if he had input on the overall mission or upcoming operations than I would hear it.
He hesitated a moment longer then spoke, ¡°...Only that some of the sailors remain hostile toward her. Someone leaked her identity as our attacker. So far, nothing has happened but¡¡±
He trailed off again. His effort to avoid crossing the line and commenting on my personal affairs (in this case, Tlaloc¡¯s role) was commendable. If only he wasn¡¯t so unsure of himself about it.
¡°Right, well there¡¯s a quick solution to that. At least so far as preventing any serious damage. Frieda, please bring Lady Tlaloc here¡ She¡¯ll assume I¡¯ve asked for her, but¡ Just say whatever you must.¡± I grimaced as I gave Frieda her instructions.
After drinking some water (and spilling a bit on my neck), I returned my attention to Benji, ¡°By ¡®nothing has happened¡¯ I assume you mean that some people tried something, and you had them detained? If that is the case, have them released. Then, make it clear to the crew that Lady Tlaloc operates under my authority, she has a general directive not to cause problems, but that she likewise has my permission to act in self defense. After that, wait a few days and the issue will solve itself.¡±
Benji winced, but before he could say anything, the doors swung open. Tlaloc barely waited for enough space and even turned sideways to get through sooner. Shortly behind her and more refined, if not a bit frazzled, was Frieda.
¡°My child, this one doth tell me that thou hath requested mine counsel?¡± She was grinning ear to ear as she proclaimed her case. Behind her, I could see Frieda signing her apologies.
¡°My lady, I encountered Lady Tlaloc in the passage just outside¡ It seems she was heading back to her chambers.¡±
Bullshit. She probably overheard the conversation and started coming this way in advance.
As far as spirits were concerned, you could never be certain of anything, but this one was as powerful as she was difficult.
Unaware of my inward cursing, Tlaloc jumped into the conversation, ¡°Yes, this one was on my way back to my domicile when that one approached mine self; ¡®Thy daughter hath requested thou grant her council.¡¯ Of course, this one dropped everything to help at once.¡±
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Frieda blanching white while vigorously shaking her head to deny having said that. I believed her; though Tlaloc had probably played deaf until our ¡°relationship¡± was mentioned.
¡°That¡¯s nice of you.¡± I cut her off, ¡°But it is not your ¡®advice¡¯ I need right now, instead, I have a favor to ask.¡±
Tlaloc tilted her head but did not reply to my unspoken question. Instead, she was eyeing one of the dessert cakes curiously, ¡°My, this article has a most delectable aroma, does it not? Pray tell, what doth it contain?¡±
I could already feel a headache forming behind my eyes, and my arm was starting to throb.
I know exactly what she wants, and it¡¯s easy enough, just¡ Ugh.
¡°Sasha, please give¡ mother¡ One of the shortbreads, and something to drink.¡± To my credit, I didn¡¯t choke on the words even if I did hesitate.
Tlaloc seemed not to mind, ¡°This one thanks thee, now child, what is it that thou needst?¡±
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¡°In a few days, some of the sailors may try and do something to you. I did say that you should defend yourself, but please do not kill them; a bit of rough housing should suffice. Then, when I order their execution I would like for you to speak up and ask me not to.¡±
Benji had by this point caught on; crass as he was, he wasn¡¯t a fool, ¡°Hmm, but does Lady Tlaloc know how to control herself? She might go to far and kill my men by accident.¡±
Tlaloc glaired at him before swiftly erasing any and all expression from her face, ¡°This one most certainly can measure her own strength. If anything, this one fears going too easy.¡±
Right, I¡¯m not the only one struggling.
While I had lost my arm, Tlaloc had entered a corporeal body; she had confided that she wasn¡¯t capable of wielding ¡®nearly as much mana as in my true form.¡¯ Granted, she was still stronger than me without using any of my hacks, but for someone who may as well have been omnipotent she had definitally experienced a rather rude awakening.
¡°Be that as it may, if you just target the extremities, they should survive; humans can take a lot of punishment so long as their internal organs are spared.¡±
Benji gave me an odd look, but everyone else save Tlaloc knew me well enough that my declaration raised no eyebrows. In the aforementioned spirit¡¯s case, she took my words in stride, ¡°This one will defer the subject; thou have far more experience in this subject.¡±
¡°Good,¡± I bowed slightly, ¡°That was everything. Will you return to your cabin now, or would you prefer to sit-in for the remainder of my lunch?¡±
Tlaloc waved her hand and the air became dryer as the moisture left it; she had used it to form a chair of ice for herself. She would be joining us, then. A quick wave of my hand later, and Sasha had prepared another setting and changed her position slightly. Ordinarily, I would have assigned someone to serve her exclusively; she was technically my guest. But the irksome woman had rejected the offer wholesale.
¡°Now, Captain, please continue your report.¡±
Benji glanced at his cup of juice, then at a cabinet on the far wall. After mulling it over for half a second, he shook his head and slapped his cheeks, ¡°Right, well we¡¯re making good progress, thanks to m¡¯Lady Tlaloc as I said. Your grace has already addressed the issue with her and the crew¡ Then that just leaves the issue of morale; from what I can tell, the sailors are starting to whisper about mutiny.¡±
¡°And in your assessment, what are the odds of them actually trying anything?¡±
Benji leaned back in his chair and produced a pipe, though he refrained from loading or lighting up. Instead, he opted to fidget by twirling his fingers around the body.
And the cabinet earlier was where he keeps liquor. Well, sorry I guess.
He exhaled, ¡°How likely are they to try? Fifty-fifty. At least on the Might of Man. This ship? No way, I know better.¡±
¡°Well, how smart of you.¡± I replied dryly, but my mind was racing through calculations.
We need to hurry then. I trust his judgement; if he says fifty-fifty, then the man I installed on the Might of Man has probably already broached the subject with him. That¡¯s faster than I expected.
If we took too long before reaching the diversionary pirates then things would probably escalate. Hells, if it was already that bad then they might try something in the midst of engaging the enemy; back on earth, a lot of pirates were in reality defected naval vessels of various sovereign states.
I can¡¯t afford to remove the new captain, that would just escalate this. No, I¡¯ve already demonstrated the stick, and based on how Benji is acting now I may have demonstrated it all too well. What I need now is a carrot¡
¡°I have my faith in you, Benji, do your best to contain the situation. In the meantime¡ Tlaloc, could you do me another favor?¡± When she frowned, I rephrased myself, ¡°...Mother, would you help me?¡±
That got the desired reaction, ¡°Of course child, anything~¡±
¡°Good, thank you. The pirates are still in the same general area, yes? I would like for you to move ahead of the fleet and try to slow them. Don¡¯t engage, but manipulate the ocean around them; hold them in place or, better, push them this way.¡± Even without her full strength, Tlaloc was still unmatched upon the waves. Ideally, by having her go ahead we would be able to meet them sooner. This idea stemmed from the assumption that the pirates were aware of our presence and the pursuit. As such, they were moving away.
Our ships are better; we¡¯d catch them in a few more days, but this should shave some time off.
Of course, doing things this way meant that the amount of drilling my soldiers and knights could do would be reduced; there would be more casualties than the plan originally called for.
¡°...Yes, they are still ahead, in the same place as the last time I found them.¡± Tlaloc¡¯s speech had changed, and she had a glazed over expression. Evidently, she had used her connection with the sea in order to look ahead and confirm things for me, ¡°I should be able to push them this way¡¡± She frowned, then shook herself, ¡°This one would inform thee, there are no humans on the ships, and there art more of them now than the last time.¡±
Benji and I shared a look but it fell on me to ask. I chose my words carefully to avoid playing games and get an answer the first time, ¡°...Mother, what race helms the enemy ships? Demons? And, how many reinforcements?¡±
Tlaloc shook her head, then reach her hand out towards me. It came to rest on my shadow, and a moment later one of Felicity¡¯s tails flicked out and batted it away. Ever since Tlaloc had joined us, or more accurately, ever since I messed up and scared her, Felicity had been practically living in my shadow at all times. On one hand, it seemed like very little had changed. On the other, it had gotten to the point where she left only to eat, care for her hygiene, and allow her mana to replenish. Claire would say that she had become a Hikikomori.
Tlaloc seemed to find the action amusing, and if it weren¡¯t for my concerns over her mental health, I would have found it extremely adorable, ¡°The vessels this one saw are helmed by the family of thine sister¡ They are of the beastkin races. As to the reinforcements, they have increased from four to seven ships. And this one has seen three more on a course to engage.¡±
I grimaced, ¡°Are any of them larger than the Will of the Gods?¡±
The ship we were on was the smallest of the three in our convoy; it made a decent reference point for Tlaloc as the spirit lacked the technical knowledge to properly discern a ship¡¯s class.
¡°No; none are larger than this cursed vessel; the largest of thine foe is roughly half and half as long.¡±
Benji had set his jaw tight; we had both come to the same conclusion. I cast my gaze to my shadow before muttering it outloud so that it might sink in.
¡°Then, they are either the descendants of escaped slaves, or sympathetic to the plight of them. This¡ complicates things.¡±
If they were just pirates, I could just destroy them. But these might have backing from the beastkin nations¡ Privateers or some such. And god forbid they¡¯re actual commissioned naval vessels.
If that was the case, then I was screwed; we couldn¡¯t sink them for fear of declaring a war. And I couldn¡¯t afford to negotiate, it would take to much time. Likewise, surrender wasn¡¯t an option either. Of all people, it was Benji who came to my rescue.
¡°Your grace¡ This makes it simpler.¡± He was chewing his cheek as he spoke.
As amusing as it was, the fact that I was part of the reason for his nervousness was getting to me. In the end I wound up snapping at him, ¡°Just light it, and then explain!¡±
Benji started with surprise, then hurriedly stuff some dried tobacco leaves into the pipe, lit it, and took a deep breath of smoke, ¡°...Sorry about this.¡±
After a few more puffs, he had calmed down a bit, ¡°Well, the way I see it; we just sink the lot of them unless they surrender. If they do surrender, we take them with us after disarming and garrisoning the ships. That spreads our sailors out into smaller groups. Be that as it may, they¡¯re beastkin. Our lot appreciate are stubborn, but if we respect someone, we¡¯re loyal to a fault¡ as long as our liege is worth the service.¡±
That last line was a bit more heartfelt then the rest. So, which side of the line does Benji, half beastkin fall on?
My gut told me that he was still loyal. Stubborn and infuriating as he was, he was honest. In the short time that I¡¯d known him, that much had been made clear. Even the way he kept trying to offer his input on things like the state of my arm; he was just being upfront.
¡°So, in your professional opinion, we don¡¯t alter our operational objectives?¡±
Benji nodded, ¡°Aye. Offer them a chance to surrender. When they refuse, blast the fleet with magic and swarm the remaining ships. If we change anything, perhaps more focus on prisoner taking after we board.¡±
I gave my assent, ¡°Then I will advise Lord Alriss of this. I entrust the naval matters to yourself.¡±
This time, instead of nodding, Benji stood up abruptly, ¡°Then, by your leave.¡±
He saluted me and then left without waiting for dismissal. Benji¡¯s reception room was left with only my people in it.
¡I think that a lot more just happened than I recognized.
¡°Sasha, please send word for Lord Alriss and Franklin to transfer to the Will of the Gods; we should plan in person.¡± My maid nodded, and stepped away from the table clearing.
Benji was probably more conflicted than he thought, and for better or worse this meeting led to him making up his mind.
I could only hope he had decided to be loyal to me. But, considering his intelligence, he would not have left like that if he planned to betray me.
8-18 Escalation
We made good time.
That was all I could think as the sight of several many-masted sailing ships greeted me over the horizon. It had only been three days since Tlaloc departed on her assignment. Now, enhancing my eyesight precluded the need for a spotting telescope, though Benji was using one just to my right. He offered it to me, and I declined.
¡°No, I can see well enough through my own methods; they¡¯re weak.¡±
My observation garnered a strange look from our audience; both the captain of the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown and the former First Mate of the Might of Man had been ¡°asked¡± to attend the battle from the bridge of the Will of the Gods. A purely political maneuver, fully intended to inform them that I knew of their mutinous sentiments. In their place, the ranking bridge officer would hold command. Not that any of our three ships would be engaging at close range.
Captain Shepherd, formerly Commander Shepherd (no relation), of the Might of Man was my chief concern; he was the ringleader of the officers aligning themselves against me, according to Benji¡¯s warning. Likewise, it was Captain Shepherd who was giving me the hardest look. Next was Franklin, surprisingly, followed by the captain of the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown whom I had refrained from meeting personally until now.
¡°Captain,¡± I turned, and the three men all stiffened, ¡°...Captain Shepherd. If you have something to say, then you may do so; among other things, you were asked here to facilitate giving your input.¡±
At this juncture, I see no reason to beat around the bush, but I can¡¯t just accuse him of mutiny; Lord Alriss would be duty bound to summarily execute him.
Therefore, my words ¡°among other things¡± were as close to an accusation as I could give. Shepherd flinched; the meaning had not been lost on him.
That being said, he wasn¡¯t a coward, ¡°Forgive my impertinence, but your majesty might have forgotten; we are outnumbered. The enemy¡¯s ships may be obsolete, but they could easily surround us.¡±
¡°A fair point; I lack experience with conventional engagement tactics. In fact, I have never participated in one, and generally prefer to eschew command to the experts. As long as the general objective can be carried out. First Captain Benji; as we discussed.¡± I named Benji as my first captain, reiterating his position as the head of our naval forces.
That was the signal for our operation to go into motion. Benji bowed, then laid his hand on a black outline inlaid to his command chair¡¯s armrest. It was a magic tool, and as long as he was in contact with it, his voice would be relayed to all decks. A nearby officer engaged a pair of small crystals; these would broadcast to the other two vessels.
¡°All hands, this is First Captain Benji. Prepare for battle. Might of Man, follow ahead and shield Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown. Let¡¯s give these spectators a show!¡± Following his broadcast, Benji removed his hand from the broadcast and eyed Captain Shepherd, ¡°Your second is intelligent; I looked over his file.¡±
¡Well, nobody¡¯s perfect.
What followed was a tense few moments as I waited to see if the Might of Man would follow through on her orders. To my surprise, she did. And not only that, she moved into a covering position that would properly shield Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown and support my own Will of the Gods. A position that put her well inside our own firing envelope.
Benji grinned to himself and I realized I had misjudged his comment to Captain Shepherd. He hadn¡¯t been questioning the man¡¯s own intelligence. In his mind, his colleague was obviously an idiot. Rather, Benji had been commenting to the effect of ¡°You¡¯re more alone than you think you are.¡±
It would seem that Benji did something after our meeting; he knew in advance that the Might of Man would present her belly.
He was loyal, but he just wasn¡¯t clever enough by my reckoning; he wouldn¡¯t have been able to predict this. It was possible he¡¯d made a gamble, but not likely. If my idea of his character was accurate, he wouldn¡¯t have risked losing face like that unless he knew what was going to happen¡
I subtly grasped the collar of my dress and made a motion as if to fan myself; ¡°Look into this.¡± From the side of the room, Jacqueline tilted her head in affirmation.
And I¡¯ll need to have a long chat with him when this is done¡ But if I¡¯m right this time, I might have just found my new chief of naval affairs.
Captain Shepherd seemed to agree with me as well; he had blanched white and seemed to have shrunk a bit. At the very least, there was no longer an air of defiance around him.
Instead, it was Franklin who stepped up to assume the role, ¡°...Lady Stahlia?¡±
I raised an eyebrow, ¡°Of all those here, you and I are equals in the eyes of the gods; speak freely.¡±
It¡¯s about time, though I wish you¡¯d waited a bit longer, or done this earlier¡ Really, the worst timing!
Ever since I¡¯d executed a man right in front of him, I had been waiting for Franklin to confront me about it. But he¡¯d so far been holding back for reasons unknown.
¡°...Right. Well, this all seems like it¡¯s working out, but the problem is the same; Captain Shepherd was right about the numbers. I don¡¯t know a lot about magic, but it seems like your men think this is a bad idea. Just too afraid to say it¡¡± He trailed off, but what he said made things click into place.
Ah¡ This hurts. This hurts a lot.
He¡¯d confronted me when I least expected him to, while his words and tone had made one thing very clear; he was the one who was afraid. Franklin was afraid of me. It made sense; he¡¯d only been here a few months while I¡¯d grown up again. I was much more accustomed to this world and its values had become my own. More than that, he had come looking for George and instead found Stahlia. I was a lot colder and far more calculating than George.
A testament to the final point; despite being emotionally hurt by the realization, I didn¡¯t show it. At least, not in a way that just anyone would notice.
¡°I am aware, and you are wrong about one thing; my men are not afraid of me. They know better. Franklin, I have killed people and will continue to do so, but I am not insane. I would never order someone to die without a reason, and I have sworn to myself never to forget the lives I¡¯ve taken.¡±
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Here I go again. I was worried that Franklin would be the bleeding heart hero character, but just listen to me. Ugh. Claire¡¯s going to love that one.
Despite the fact that I¡¯d remained calm the entire time, Franklin had shrunk back as I addressed him. An extremely vexing notion. Perhaps it would do to ask Lord Alriss if the difficulty of Franklin¡¯s combat training could be increased. For now, I merely pursed my lips and addressed Benji.
¡°First Captain, the enemy numbers exceed our expectations; how many ships do I need to target?¡±
He studied a chart surrounded by some of the bridge officers, ¡°We were expecting a small flotilla of ten to fifteen, and they have twenty-seven. If your majesty could manage seven, we will somehow deal with the rest.¡±
He was in commander mode now, and it was incredibly refreshing not to deal with his crude manner, ¡°Then I shall endeavor for thirteen. Sasha, Frieda, Jacqueline, Eris, I believe I will become incapacitated; please look after me as you always do.¡±
With that much said, I left the bridge; there was no desire to witness anyone¡¯s reaction. My destination was at the front of the ship; the mana amplifier. By the time I arrived out on the bow, the enemy ships had arrayed themselves in formation. If not for the circumstances, the sight of all their sails closing at full billow may have impressed me. As it was, I could feel my heart¡¯s turmoil. As always, my emotional responses were maladjusted, and I had been set off by the slightest stimuli.
To think that just the knowledge Franklin finds me frightening would cause me to shake with rage and guilt¡
Metaphorical shaking, of course. The sailors and soldiers around me, and especially the mages who would be assisting me, they could not be allowed to see how I really felt.
If I¡¯m not careful, I¡¯ll mess up the calibration of the spell.
I placed a hand on the Orichalcum frame of the mana amplifier as I drew closer to it. This would be my first time using something of this scale, and there hadn¡¯t been time to practice. Nothing out of the ordinary then; I just had to stay in control for a little longer, and then I could let myself pass out from using too much mana. That should be the final nail in the mutiny, and it would conclude my part to play in this exercise.
The mage¡¯s commander approached me and saluted, ¡°Your majesty, my men and I are ready to assist.¡±
I nodded and held out my arms for Sasha to remove my coat. Unlike Franklin, this man held no fear in his eyes. If anything, his were filled with awe.
¡°Do I know you, perchance¡?¡± I asked him out of mild curiosity.
The officer¡¯s expression lit up, ¡°It honors me that you would think so! We have never been properly introduced, but I was there at the scorching of Zesten. It was my privilege to witness her majesty¡¯s magic firsthand!¡±
Ah¡ That¡¯s a bit¡
Creepy. This guy was creepy. It had once occurred to me that I didn¡¯t really know many mages other than myself and Lord Gustav, but there had never been enough time to meet more. If they were all like this though, I didn¡¯t really want to.
Gustav was bad enough, and I¡¯m not entirely sane either. But are all magic users this¡ eccentric? I thought it was just the powerful ones¡
Suddenly, I felt a bit anxious over the notion of allowing myself to faint in the presence of this man. I had my guard knights and Jacqueline but¡
I¡¯ll just have to make sure to wring them out as well.
I slapped my fist into my hand, ¡°Alright, let us proceed.¡±
The mage unit¡¯s commander saluted again, biting off a sentence in the process, ¡°Right away! Men, assume formation for ritual support!¡±
Including the commander there were six of them in total; one for each of the major elements. As soon as the order was given, each of them filed into position within the Orichalcum Mana Amplifier¡¯s frame. Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Light, and Dark. I stepped to the center of it all and began filling my own mana into the metal.
The amplifier itself took the shape of a wire-frame six-faced pyramid, with each corner playing host to a small circle of expensive metal, engraved with the rune for that element. Each circle was connected to the center by a further line of Orichalcum running along the deck, and it was at their conjunction that I positioned myself. The effect was immediately noticeable, at least for anyone capable of using Blood Magic. Eris and I stiffened as the hair on our arms stood on end as though charged with static.
Personally, I could also feel the pulse of each of the mage unit¡¯s men. The commander¡¯s was the most erratic, followed by each of his men. One by one, a tendril of my own mana reached out and grasped theirs. Rather than drawing it into me as Eris had done, their mana was drawn out and circulated within the amplifier itself.
Perfect.
With this much done, I began to chant while maintaining focus on controlling the roiling lump of energy. Orichalcum was not a battery. It would amplify any spell cast through it, but it could not itself store them. Without my direct control, this mass of energy would simply release onto the deck of the ship.
¡°O Fire, O Earth, O Water, O Wind, O Light, O Dark, This one calls you.¡± I screwed my eyes shut and began invoking the elements one by one. It came as no surprise; indeed, I had been expecting it, but by the time I named the sixth one, my voice began projecting as though I was invoking my authority.
After all, Divine Element is a mixture of the other six. Or, would it be more accurate to call them a dilution of Divine itself?
¡°Grow together, mix, and rejoin.¡±
What happened next, however, did surprise me; the spell began to take shape before I finished chanting. Following my instructions, the mass of mana began to mix thoroughly; it was starting to look an awful lot like Divine Element. Outside the circle, Eris shrank back as if by instinct, and everybody¡¯s clothes and hair where whipping around. They were also drenched with water, and steam was coalescing into mist around their bodies.
Shit!
As evidenced by the storm growing out around the amplifier, I¡¯d not been controlling things as well as I¡¯d thought. In fact, it seemed as though I was about to lose what little control I did have; the raw elemental mana was causing a small-scale storm of pure energy as each type manifested itself. Water was being whipped up by Wind, while both were heating and becoming steam through the influence of Fire. Earth, Light, and Dark were not immediately evident, but considering the absence of Earth in the middle of the ocean¡
And both Light and Dark are more mental and spiritual¡ This is bad!
I had to think fast with my still-limited vocabulary, but by applying the fact that the spell was already executing, I should be able to manage something.
¡°Uh, calm the rampant chaos of the world!¡±
At my order, the mass of Divine Element began to spread out from the amplifier. The roiling mana storm abated nigh instantly, and the surroundings took on an eerily still quality. But this much wouldn¡¯t be enough; I couldn¡¯t just release the spell now. Not only would it fail to sink any ships, let alone thirteen, but it would leave behind a mass of Divine Element enforcing order on this region of the world. And that was¡ bad, I thought. Certainly, it wouldn¡¯t be interesting.
¡°Draw the peaceful energy back, rise up, and crash down.¡±
The mana storm was consumed, and drawn into the amplifier. Several soldiers around it let out a gasp, and a few fainted; I would not learn until later how badly I¡¯d screwed up in my hurry.
¡°In the name of all the gods: Thirteen Executions, [Divine Smite.]¡±
I finalized the spell that had already been executed. Upon granting it a name, I felt my energy wane for the second time in a week. The world seemed to quake, and thirteen pillars of light tore loose from the heavens. As I swooned, I beheld the wrath of heaven crashing down upon the waves.
8-19-1 Sixty Seconds
Giogi, twelve years old.
Thirteen pillars of brilliant light cut down from the sky. Where they came from was a mystery; it was above the clouds, since the ones passed through vanished as though burned up. But it wasn¡¯t a mystery who had called these destructive powers into existence. If anyone were to tell me that the tomboy who used to beat the snot out of me and the boys would eventually turn into the Gods¡¯ chosen Witch Queen, I¡¯d have never believed it.
¡°Is that the signal?¡±
¡°No way¡¡±
¡°Are there even debris left?¡±
Around me the soldiers and even knights were struck in disbelief. At least these ones were; we were all the new additions. Here and there were some individuals who took a different reaction.
¡°Well, I¡¯ll be.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t be seen letting her do everything!¡±
¡°All right men, brace yourselves!¡±
These were the same corps who had followed our liege to Zesten. They¡¯d told us to expect something absurd when we first got our orders. Now, I realized exactly what they were talking about.
¡°Boy, you sure you want to come?¡±
With a start, I realized I¡¯d been clenching my hands too tightly; my palms weren¡¯t bleeding but they were decorated with two rows of red indents. After unclenching my hands I nodded.
¡°Aye sir!¡±
Lord Justin nodded once, ¡°Then prepare; we launch in three minutes.¡±
I hefted my pack and fell in line to board the fast attack ship.
How did I even get here¡?
I was a villager. Sure, every boy my age would probably say they wanted to be a knight, but for me it was actually happening, and it was nothing like my imagination would have suggested!
¡°All hands, brace! Brace! Brace!¡± The helmsman gave the signal and the small boat lurched.
My stomach rose up in my chest, threatening to spill out my lunch. With a forced swallowing motion, I fought to keep that down, only to choke and bite my tongue as the tiny wooden coffin impacted the water.
¡°Ackth!¡± I called out, but of course nobody was there to listen; I was in the army now.
My knight, Sir Justin, gave me a glance at least, but it wasn¡¯t like he had the time nor the inclination to do anything. Then, before I really had the chance to recover, I was thrown back into my seat as our craft accelerated.
The mechanism powering this was well and truly beyond my understanding, except that it was magic. Perhaps Stahlia would know how it worked; she¡¯d always been clever. Regardless, the drills we had run did very little to prepare me for the actual act. Something about hurtling toward an enemy ship at speeds well beyond what a horse was capable of was causing me to become rather philosophical.
As our slim protection skid through the waves, I began to ponder. My early life was a foggy haze at best. Pretty sure it was like that for everyone. The only thing that really stood out starkly was the first time that tomboy had kicked my ass. Back then, I think I liked her. But as kids do, I hadn¡¯t exactly been able to communicate my feelings proper.
No, what I had done could generously be called ¡°harassment.¡± Me and the guys had taken every opportunity to bully her, most commonely on account of how she talked and acted. Of course I knew now that her mom mum was simply preparing her for noble society and all that. Hells, I was even finding out now just how useful those manners were in my own life; a knight was a low noble after all.
Everything had finally come to a head one day, when Stahlia had finally had enough. The exact details were hazy, but for a different reason than age; she¡¯d kicked my ass. Mine, and the two others with me. It hadn¡¯t even seemed like she tried all that hard. Well, that woke me up right quick, and I¡¯d wound up making a fool of myself. Right after apologizing, asking her to teach me to fight.
¡°Brace! Brace! Brace!¡± The sailor¡¯s sudden warning broke me out of my stupor.
Was this that? My life flashing before my eyes because I was about to die? Maybe. With a sudden jolt and a lurch I was thrown to the side; the small ship to our right was burning. Probably, an attack from our enemies. The fact that they could manage to mount something so soon after seeing the might of the gods was against them was commendable. Or they were just insane.
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Behind us, another wave launched. ¡°Amphibious Fast Attack Craft.¡± That¡¯s what they were called, and apparently, it was Stahlia who named them that. The Might of Man could launch ten waves of ten, five from each side. Each one held twenty men, and they could be used for either going ashore or, as we were doing, boarding actions. Of course, we were the first wave.
¡°Brace! Helm, bank port!¡± The sailor shouted again, and I grit my teeth as we jerked to the left. On our right, the water exploded as something struck there.
¡°Twenty seconds! May the gods favor us today!¡±
Twenty seconds. I shouldn¡¯t have to do anything, but still¡
I gripped my pack tightly. Sir Justin seemed to take note of this, ¡°Here, boy.¡±
Looking up, I saw the hilt of a short sword being offered to me. Based on the crest, this was Sir Justin¡¯s spare. Tentatively I accepted it, as it would be rude not to.
¡°You shouldn¡¯t need it, but the level of resistance is¡ Well, you know how to use it.¡±
That was when I realized. In the moments before we reached our destination. I wasn¡¯t the only one who was tense and nervous. All of us were. How could we not be? This was the first time an action like this had ever been executed by our forces. The sailors were intensely focused, not unlike Old Gregory; the smith back in Ris. Meanwhile, the knights and soldiers were all gripping their weapons tightly. Even the ones who had stories of Zesten, who had experience. The eve of battle was something like a great equalizer.
Maybe it was my nerves making me all philosophical.
¡°Brace for impact!¡±
I shut my mouth loosely; shutting it tightly would run the risk of breaking my teeth. The iron taste of my blood from when I¡¯d earlier bit my tongue filled my mouth. Our ship hit a wave that was maybe a bit bigger than the others, and we momentarily went airborne. Time seemed to stand still, and then second passed.
Another sharp impact and sudden deceleration heralded the transport arriving at the lead ship in the enemy formation. Some other spell burned a hole in her hull, allowing us to disembark into the guts of the ship. The crew were stunned of course; who would expect to be attacked this way? Perhaps if it was from range, but never with boarders. Boarding implied a desire to seize the ship; why then would you willingly poke holes in it.
That shock played to our advantage though, as we hurriedly disgorge ourselves into the midst of the enemy. It didn¡¯t last of course, but it was enough to swing the first engagement.
¡°Argh!¡±
¡°Take this!¡±
¡°Fall back!¡±
I was surrounded by the cries of dying men and clashing steel. In all, it only took another minute for the enemy to sound the retreat. But even that was enough; we had a foothold in their hold. With a start, I released my hand from the hilt of the sword Sir Justin had given me. Though unused, the blade had taken on a somehow sinister appearance in my eyes.
¡°Well, her majesty¡¯s intel was correct; they¡¯re all demihumans.¡± One of the knights said as he cleaned the innards of one enemy off his sword.
¡°Beastkin. They¡¯re called beastkin.¡± Sir Justin corrected the man while kneeling to check one of the bodies, ¡°This one¡¯s a dog¡ And a cat over there.¡±
Another knight chimed in, ¡°So the tribes are working together?¡±
¡°Who¡¯s to say?¡± Sir Justin stood, ¡°Everyone, report!¡±
the chatter died, and everyone filtered into three groups. With a start, I realized this ship had been hit by three of our boarding craft. Truly, the occupants of this hold had stood no chance. I moved through the battlefield to my own group where Justin was counting heads.
He exhaled, ¡°Three casualties, no fatalities. Mark, Anthony, Eustice, return to the boarding craft and treat those injuries; the healers will conserve their mana for now.¡±
The commanders of the other two groups called out their own reports.
¡°Two casualties, both fatalities.¡±
¡°No casualties.¡±
In total, we had lost two men, and a further three had been rendered temporarily unfit for battle. Considering the tens of dead demihumans littering the floor, we had gotten off amazingly well. Somehow, the knowledge of how one-sided it had been made me queasy.
¡°They¡¯ll be launching a counterattack soon; they know we can¡¯t be allowed to stay here.¡±
¡°Is there no chance they¡¯ll surrender?¡±
To his contemporary¡¯s question, sir Justin shook his head, ¡°No. Would you surrender to your enemy if they have a history of enslaving your people? Besides, we just butchered thirty-eight of them.¡±
When exactly he had counted, I didn¡¯t see.
¡°Take positions near the hatch and stairs. Group two, watch the passage to the bow. Group three, you have the stern.¡±
After a round of nods the knights moved to take up positions as they¡¯d been ordered. Counting myself, there were nine squires though I was the youngest. We didn¡¯t have a specific combat role. Rather, it fell to us to collect the bodies after our knights had cleared the room. It was sickening work, but served as a right of passage of sorts so I couldn¡¯t complain.
Once they move to the next rooms, we¡¯ll start with that.
It had been impressed on me by the sailors the need to efficiently dispose of the bodies. I knew why from Ris; corpses bread disease. Whenever an animal died, it had to be removed from the barns as soon as possible lest the whole flock fall victim to the rot. That didn¡¯t mean it would be enjoyable.
¡°Remember, check your corners.¡± Sir Justin offered his men a meaningless reminder; they were all experienced enough to already know that much, ¡°Move.¡±
Sir Justin fired a blast of magic from his hand. The hatch above the ladder exploded into a shower of splinters. At the same time, his second destroyed the doors at the base of the stairs. Eight men went down, while the remaining nine went up with Sir Justin. In total, they had spent only sixty seconds in this room.
8-19-2 Sixty Seconds II
Giogi cont.
All of the knights had left us squires behind with the dead, and we shared a dubious look at the bodies. Well, most of us did this was not the first battle for the two oldest, both were fifteen -three years older than me.
¡°Well, stop staring at them; it¡¯s gross, but they won¡¯t bite.¡± One of them, Peter, issued an order. After glancing at each other the seven of us got to work while the two oldest looked on.
A second later, they joined us. There weren¡¯t many bodies, but we were still short of being called men so it took two of us to properly move each one. That meant it would take a bit of time, a couple of minutes. That said, there were only nine of us; an odd number, and the other squires all left me alone.
Figures.
Among my lot, I was the lowest born, a mere villager. Peter and Damuel, the two oldest, were both sons of knights themselves, well the others were at least the sons of wealthy commoners. And of course none of them knew about my past history with our queen, not that I¡¯d told them. They wouldn¡¯t believe it even if I did.
¡°Urgh!¡± I strained at the body, they at least had the courtesy to leave the lithe catkin for me.
I know moving unconscious bodies is hard but¡
Something wasn¡¯t right. This was the same cat Sir Justin had checked, but something was¡
¡°Fuck!¡± I exclaimed and jumped away from the body; she wasn¡¯t dead!
My reaction saved my life, as her dagger swung harmlessly past my face. She sprang up, and her black tail twitched behind her in an irritated manner. I could feel a bead of sweat dripping down my back. I¡¯d known¡ when Sir Justin had offered me his spare sword, I might have to use it, but¡
¡°...Like¡¡±
Felicity.
She cocked her head, ¡°You¡¯re quick, I¡¯ll give you that. But aren¡¯t you a bit young¡?¡± Despite her words she did not lower her weapon. Looking at her stance¡ There were no openings. The other squires finally reacted, by falling back and away from her warily. But nobody ran; we were training to be knights after all.
Peter kept his eyes on her while dropping down low and scooping up a cudgel from one of the deceased, ¡°You should have kept playing dead, cat.¡±
She shrugged, ¡°Why? At least this way I can take a few of you humans with me.¡±
The way she practically spat the word¡ No, we¡¯d all known this going in. There was definitely bad blood here. Following Peter¡¯s lead all the rest began arming themselves. Nobody went for the smaller knives and daggers, instead opting for the larger and cruder weaponry. More cudgels, axes, a short spear. My peers were taking the situation seriously despite the numbers advantage; they would have the advantage of reach.
Then, why are my hands shaking?
I alone had a proper weapon but it remained strapped at my back, the sheath hidden under my shirt. It had yet to enter my hands; I hadn¡¯t drawn it.
I¡¯m¡ A knight, or training, but¡
The catkin shrugged and tossed the dagger up in the air, deftly catching it in a reverse grip. She fixed her eyes on Peter, ¡°You¡¯re the only one who¡¯s had time for your fur to dry. Well, do your best.¡±
In one motion, she dropped to all fours, then sprang at him. Going airborne in battle would normally be a death sentence; you sacrifice all maunoverability in favor of direct speed. But for her, it was different. As Peter swung his cudgel the catgirl twisted and contorted her body. She tucked out of the path of his swing, then popped open like a Combustion Fruit. Bearing her dagger at Peter, she flicked it back around to stab at him, then placed her free hand on the hilt.
Peter tried to block the attack, but her momentum was too much. His cudgel shattered, and the dagger slipped between his fourth and fifth ribs. He died instantly.
¡°Fucking animal!¡± One of the other squires cried out and charged.
¡°I should say the same to you. Or maybe, monster?¡± Her tone had changed. It was no longer the engaging manner of her opening. No, now she was cold and dry.
A single step, and a quick slash, and a fountain of red liquid poured from the charging boy. He died less instantly, but it was still quick.
¡°At least be grateful I¡¯ve more a heart than your kind.¡± She looked around and sighed, ¡°And just like that, you¡¯ve all given up¡ Well, I suppose if you can stay away until the knights come back, you might survive.¡±
She darted forward then, and killed Damuel just as quickly as the two before. He didn¡¯t even have time to react.
¡Why?...
Why were none of my¡ Well, they weren¡¯t my friends. Why were none of my peers reacting? Only Peter had really tried to stop her. For Damuel and Greer, it was almost as if.
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As if they can¡¯t see her¡?
That was dumb; of course they could see her. Even now, the remaining five of them were all watching her every movement, backing away from her. But then she attacked one of them, leaping forward at him and going for his throat. After she was already nearly there, he finally started to dodge, but she merely adjusted the angle of her swing. I winced, as another fountain of red erupted.
They can¡¯t follow her attacks.
How long had it been, since the knights had left? A minute? Two? Not long enough. At this rate, she would kill all of them, and then probably manage to stab a knight in the back.
Kill all of them¡?
Why did I exclude myself? My hands stopped shaking, and I felt the soft touch of a girl¡¯s hand on my wrist, guiding my arm. I reached up and gripped the hilt of the sword Sir Justin had offered me, and drew it with a ¡°Shing!¡±
The catkin looked over her shoulder at the sound and her eyes narrowed, ¡°Well, I was going to save you for last, but if you insist¡¡± She turned to face me.
I looked at the blade, seeing my face reflected in the polished metal. Stahlia¡¯s words echoed in my head, spoken years ago but still fresh.
¡°Alright. I said I would teach you all to fight, but I don¡¯t know how myself.¡±
Sir Justin had maintained the blade well. If I touched it, I¡¯d probably cut myself from only the slightest pressure.
¡°Sword fighting¡ Is something knights do. I only know how to kill. If I teach you, you have to promise, swear on your lives that you will never tell a soul the name of my style. I¡ I learned it from someone special, and it is a very big secret.¡±
I dropped the sword. It spun thrice in the air before landing point first and sinking into the wooden deck of the ship. Calmly, as my hands were no longer shaking, I walked over to one of the dead bodies and picked up a knife.
Facing the catgirl, I nodded to reassure myself, ¡°I swear. My name is Giogi, I¡¯m just a village boy from a tiny village¡ I don¡¯t really have anything against you or your people¡ In fact, I actually know a black-tailed catkin quiet well; her name is Felicity; our Queen thinks of her as something like a sister¡ But, you won¡¯t believe me, and I¡¯m not going to die here.¡±
The catgirl was watching me cautiously, measuring me as I fell into the opening stance of the [Shadowblade Style].
¡°...I was wrong. That first boy, he had barely started to dry his tail¡¡± She eyed my colleagues, ¡°I suppose the rest of you will live.¡±
With that admission of defeat, she leapt at me. For my part, I waited for the last possible moment before ducking under her and stepping forward. Unlike with Peter, she wasn¡¯t able to adjust her strike and hit me. Without looking, I stabbed backward at an upward angle; I was rewarded with the feeling of a blade slicing flesh.
It¡¯s like cutting an orc or a goblin¡
I grit my teeth; the fact that hurting a person felt the same as hurting a monster¡ Was unsettling. There wasn¡¯t time though; I had made a blind strike and she surely wasn¡¯t dead.
¡°When you¡¯re fighting a stronger opponent, it would be best to compensate with magic¡ but I do not think I can teach that well, so instead, never stop moving. Seek any advantage, always press the attack. If you go on the defensive, you lose.¡±
I followed the lessons Stahlia had literally beat into my child body and rolled. Behind me, there was a dull thud. When I sprang to my feet and spun around, I saw the catgirl had jammed her own dagger into the deck of the ship, becoming stuck.
My kidneys were there a moment ago¡!
She was bleeding heavily from her thigh; my blind strike had hit an artery. Already, she was growing pale. I raised my blade one last time, but didn¡¯t strike. She was dead regardless of what I did.
¡°...Your name? I, I don¡¯t want to forget it.¡± The knowledge that the battle was won had caused my calm demeanor to regress, and I was once again shaking from fear.
Sorry, Stahlia, I¡¯m not strong enough.
The catgirl¡¯s eyes widened briefly and she let her hand fall limply off the dagger¡¯s hilt, ¡°...Boy, don¡¯t get cocky; I could still take you with me.¡±
¡°I¡¯m aware of the possibility.¡±
Her eyes were starting to lose their light, ¡°..Shanti¡ My name is Shanti, Giogi¡ You have an excellent master, you fight well.¡±
I bowed my head, ¡°Her Majesty Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris taught me how to kill, not fight. But, yea she is excellent.¡±
Shanti¡¯s eyes widened almost imperceptibly, ¡°...Then, I pray you tell the truth, about this Felicity.¡±
Before I could respond, her head rolled back. A sudden infusion of energy and strength heralded that this victory had increased my purpose, but it felt hollow.
¡.Shanti. If it wasn¡¯t for the sins of our fathers, you might not have felt the need to resort to this life. I won¡¯t forget your name.
¡°I will kill people. I have killed people. But, I will always have a reason, and I will never forget.¡±
I wasn¡¯t sure Stahlia had even realized I¡¯d been in the room when she said that; we had been growing more and more distant since arriving in the capital. By the time her engagement to His Highness was announced, my own feelings had cooled. Now, instead of romance, my feelings toward Stahlia were those of admiration. She was an impossible standard, but one I would constantly strive to live up to.
I raised my head and clenched my fists.
I need to become stronger.
Looking down at Shanti¡¯s body, I made that vow. Except, it wasn¡¯t just Shanti. Standing over her was a tall figure in a dark cloak. He regarded her for a moment, then stared at the bulkhead of the ship. No, through the bulkhead, toward our own ships.
¡°So much death. Rulebreaker, if it were up to me¡¡± He stopped speaking, and slowly turned his head to face me before tilting it.
I gulped; his face was horrible. Empty eye sockets, a long beak-like protrusion, and skin the color of bone. It was a visage I was well aware of.
¡°...Boy, you can see me? What¡¡± He frowned, and I got the impression that I was being closely studied, ¡°Ah. That makes sense then. Well, I suppose the announcement has not yet been made. I wonder, how will that horrid child react when she finds out¡? Maybe she¡¯ll kill herself for me, wouldn¡¯t that be nice?¡±
I got the distinct impression that he was pleased by whatever it was he¡¯d seen within me.
¡°Well, the future will be as it may. Thanks to that petulant child, I have too much work for the reapers to handle on their own; au revoir Giogi, Champion of Spring.¡± Chuckling unsettlingly to himself, Mortis departed the hull of the ship by walking right through the bulkhead.
I fell to my knees, grateful to the stale salty air of the hold for masking the smell of my piss. Raising my hands to my face, I clenched and unclenched them.
What, what in all the hells was that!? Why was the eleventh god here, why did he know my name!?
No, I knew why; he had said it. A cold chill crept down my spine.
Champion, of Spring¡?
8-20-1 Epilogue
The One Left Behind
Felicity, Shortly before engaging the pirates.
The shadow-space had grown recently; Claire-Oneesama said it was because Felicity¡¯s Talent had leveled up after how much it was getting used. That was nice; it made things less cramped since Stahlia Neechan could not be trusted. Every time Felicity looked away, she almost died.
¡°You know that isn¡¯t true.¡±
Felicity doesn¡¯t agree.
Claire-Oneesama and Felicity were at odds with each other. For the first time since Felicity could remember, Felicity did not agree with Claire-Oneesama. And also for the first time, Claire-Oneesama was not forcing things; she was letting Felicity do as she pleased. That was why Felicity did not mind when Claire-Oneesama questioned her.
¡°Stahlia is¡ in a difficult position right now, but she is reckless.¡±
Yes. Stahlia Oneechan almost died, again. Everytime Felicity looks away, Stahlia Oneechan does her best to get hurt!
Just because she was letting her do as she pleased didn¡¯t mean that Felicity wasn¡¯t upset that Claire-Oneesama wasn¡¯t able to see what she saw. Or maybe the older sister was just being stupid on purpose.
And this time there¡¯s that woman pretending to be mother, and Stahlia Neechan is letting her do it!
¡°...I don¡¯t think Stahlia has a choice. Remember, it was that woman who caused Stahlia to get hurt this time.¡±
See! Claire-Oneesama just said it; Stahlia Neechan got hurt again!
¡°Felicity, I¡¯m not denying she¡¯s reckless, but I think¡ This isn¡¯t exactly healthy. What are we even going to do from here, if someone¡¯s strong enough to beat Stahlia, what could we possibly do? Jump out of her shadow to what? Die with her?¡±
Felicity was at a loss for words. She hadn¡¯t really thought that far ahead, but when Claire put it like that suddenly she could only wonder: what would Felicity do?
¡I, Felicity would die. But Felicity wouldn''t be left behind again!
"Did you just¡? No matter. Yea, you would die. But have you considered the repercussions of that? I would die too, since we share your body. And Rosial would never see you again ¨Cyou would leave her all alone, just like you did by chasing after Stahlia."
Claire-Oneesama had been making sense until that last part. But at that point, Felicity got very angry.
¡°No! Claire-Oneesama told me to!¡± Felicity shouted out into the shadows that surrounded her. Nobody would hear because of them and Felicity was just too upset to keep talking mentally.
¡°I¡ I did tell you to, once. But that was when we were going to Zesten. Stahlia just sort of let you come this time; if she really wanted to, I¡¯m sure she¡¯d find a way to drag you out of her shadow. My old student was always clever.¡±
¡°Felicity doesn¡¯t care. Felicity is going to make sure Stahlia Neechan comes back. For Rosial Imoutochan.¡±
¡°But, at least¡ Stop hiding! Stahlia is clearly willing to let you come with her! You¡¯re only hurting yourself like this.¡±
¡°...Fine¡ After this next fight, Felicity will stop.¡± Claire-Oneesama could be so tiring when she became incessant like this.
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But, it was nice to hear her voice again. For a time, there had only been silence and the few times they did talk¡ It had been difficult for Felicity to tell which of them was the one speaking. She didn¡¯t know why, but Felicity was certain Claire-Oneesama had been very close to disappearing, to leaving her alone¡ That was scary. For as long as she could remember, Claire-Oneesama had been there with her.
But now things were different. Claire-Oneesama was back, and she was completely distinct. The return to normalcy was comforting for Felicity.
After Stahlia Neechan deals with those pirates, Felicity will stop hiding. Instead, Felicity will learn how to fight, so she can protect Stahlia Neechan!
¡°...I think you¡¯ve missed my point, but fine; that¡¯s still less risky than being in her shadow and getting carried straight to the biggest threats.¡±
Felicity felt a smile spreading across her face, and her tails swished back and forth excitedly in the tight space. Things were finally starting to look up.
Loyalty
Benji, during the engagement with the pirates.
Her majesty left the bridge to prepare her attack and I gave one more look to my contemporary before disregarding his presence. It had been a long week, but in the end, his burgeoning mutiny had been crushed even as it left the womb. According to his officers and even the second in command, Captain Shepherd was entirely alone within his own ship¡¯s command structure.
It made sense; that¡¯s why he had approached me, and from what I¡¯d heard, the captain of the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown as well. If the three officers agreed to mutiny out of fear for our own positions, it would become much easier to convince his remaining officers. He¡¯d just made one miscalculation. The man chosen to command the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown was a noble appointee, well entrenched into His Majesty the King¡¯s own faction. And I myself had my loyalty purchased by Her Majesty at our very first meeting.
From the moment Stahlia had revealed her knowledge of my lineage without denouncing it, I had made my choice. That choice was only reaffirmed later on when she became aware of the burgeoning mutiny.
¡°Helm, bring us ahead; move into a position to cover the Might of Man while taking them out of our weapon¡¯s range. A weapon pointed at an ally is a weapon not aimed at the enemy.¡±
¡°Aye sir.¡±
If I were to list my flaws, I would mark my brash personality as one of the most glaring ¨Cthe fact that Stahlia was able to look past that was just another point in her favor.
Maybe it¡¯s how she grew up in a small village, then climbed to the top.
But when it came down to it, my command style was for the best. Unlike on the bridge of any other ship, my bridge was silent. Eerily silent. Every man at their station, awaiting orders. It was a stark contrast to how I normally carried myself. There was the smell of blood on the water and, I was focused. Those who served under me were likewise paying all their attention as cheaply as possible.
¡°Close into range and prepare to brace.¡±
¡°Aye sir.¡±
Stahlia said she would deal with thirteen of them, and she claimed she would do it from a kilometer away. Well, give us a show then.
The air was heavy as the to fleets closed toward each other. Then, all at once, the air caught fire. It was disappointing in a way; I had been expecting there to be more of a show. Instead, one moment everything was fine. The next, a brilliant flash of light temporarily blinded anyone looking toward the enemy. Once my vision returned, I beheld thirteen pillars of divine majesty had descended upon the enemy.
I was dumbstruck for a moment before remembering to speak. Without any of the nobility present, there was not any reasons to continue playing pretend, ¡°And there you have my answer, Captain Shepherd. The gods stand with our Queen, and I will not oppose them.¡±
Shepherd looked around the bridge before bowing his head in resignation, ¡°That¡¯s that then. Well, do what you will until she becomes angry with you as well.¡±
It wasn¡¯t worth responding to his barb, ¡°Captain Shepherd, I hereby place you under arrest for treason and conspiracy to mutiny. Lieutenant, provide Shepherd with arms and armor and place him on a deployment in the third wave. Let the record show that Formerly captain Shepherd died fighting with honor.¡±
¡°Aye sir.¡±
Of course, he won¡¯t get the chance.
This was all part of my arrangements, and the crew of his boarding ship were handpicked for loyalty. They were going to be struck by an enemy lightning bolt during approach. Miraculously, nearly all hands would survive. Only one, a disgraced former captain of the navy, would be knocked into the sea clad in heavy armor. Truly, a tragic fate.
¡°All hands, this is First Captain Benji. The first wave is a go. I repeat the first wave is a go!¡±
My ship shuddered as the first wave of boats jettisoned themselves into the sea.
8-20-2 Epilogue 2
Report
Jacqueline shortly after the battle
Once again Stahlia had gone and fallen into a comma. At this point, I was no longer surprised, nor did I fear after her health. Perhaps that marked me as a poor made, but I was no longer a mere maid. It was my cover, so of course I feigned the proper degree of emotion, but inside I was content.
Well, maybe that says a lot about me in its own right.
Regardless, after providing Miss Sasha with the necessary potions for maintaining our lady¡¯s health I retired to the servant¡¯s room attached to Stahlia¡¯s own chamber. Once there, I confirmed I was alone.
¡°[#######.], [##### ## ########]¡± My spells took effect, and I was cut off from the surrounding space. Though it wasn¡¯t truly space magic, merely a twisting of light and shadow.
Once secured, I opened my trunk and removed the false bottom. There, under a thin cover of dust was a small magic tool I¡¯d not touched in a long while; my Shadow¡¯s Orb. Once, the other half had been held by Fiv-, by Count Francois. Now, it was in the possession of Lord Ferdinand, the former One.
I feel like I¡¯m violating my lady¡¯s trust somehow, but someone has to make these reports¡
There was too much that had happened all at once, and since Stahlia was once again in a coma, it fell to me to inform our home country; those were my orders. With no small amount of trepidation, I activated the tool and sent my report.
¡°Operative ¡®Jacqueline¡¯ reporting to control. Occurrence Code: ¡®Commonplace.¡¯ Primary is in fair health.¡±
¡°The fight resolved in a resounding victory, Primary personally disposed of thirteen enemy ships before Commonplace. Following that, the combined forces of the navy and knightly order under the command of Knight and Dog disposed of a further ten vessels and their crews. The remaining vessels surrendered, and survivors of all enemy ships are collected upon them. Our casualties amounted to thirty-three, with eighteen fatalities; it was a resounding success.¡±
¡°Pending permission, I have further reports and proposals.¡±
I would not have to wait long; Lord Ferdinand was keeping the other end on his person as I was only to use mine in the case of Lady Stahlia being incapacitated. In other words, if there was something very important happening. A moment later, my tool flashed green, and words appeared in my head.
Acknowledged. Proceed with proposals.
There was nothing preventing me from doing so, and I quickly composed the messages. Though, as it was earlier, I had a strange sensation of guilt. Was it really my place to share this information? Surely, Lord Ferdinand was Lady Stahlia¡¯s confidant. Perhaps, not to the same degree, but she did heed his council, and there was a degree of trust between them¡
¡°Regarding the targets of special interest. ¡®Dog¡¯ performed admirably. Rather, they exceeded their assessment; with almost no support from Primary, Dog was able to preempt a planned mutiny, and skillfully disposed of the perpetrator. It is my belief that Primary intends to reward Dog with a favorable position upon conclusion of this mission; I believe that Dog should be approached as a potential agent, or at the very least a resource.¡±
¡°¡®Squire¡¯ purportedly fought and defeated a member of the Black-Tail Clan, who had hidden herself in the crew of the ship he was on. While this particular member was not especially remarkable, it is still a feat that should have been beyond Squire¡¯s ability. Witnesses to the event recounted that Squire displayed an unusual degree of cunning, and fought using an unfamiliar style- I suspect he was using Shadow Blade Style, taught by Primary in their youth. I have already begun steps to contain the situation, but believe ¡°Squire¡± should be approached as a candidate for recruitment.¡±
¡°Lastly, ¡®Demon¡¯ was behaving strangely throughout the second half of the battle. She claims that one of the twelve had personally descended during the fight. While Primary¡¯s spell was impressive, Demon claimed it had nothing to do with it, and insisted that ¡°we are all lucky to be alive.¡± She is refusing to say anything further until Primary reawakens.¡±
I sent the three reports, then sat back on my cot.
I did the right thing, I know I did.
A few minutes passed, then my tool once again flashed green.
¡°Acknowledged. Leave Dog be for the time being; assuming his loyalty remains intact after visiting the clans, we will consider approaching him upon Primary¡¯s return home. Jacqueline is authorized to approach Squire, considering your prior affiliation and familiarity; success code is ¡®Acolyte.¡¯ While we cannot do anything regarding Demon from the homeland, your report is appreciated¡ please request Primary keep us in the loop regarding events.¡±
My tool fell silent and I reflected on my orders before a wave of fatigue washed over me; projecting communications as far as Drakas took a great deal of mana. It was remarkable Lady Stahlia did this nearly every day, though hers were often far shorter.
Birth of a Champion
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Nikita, 16 Years Old, Fourth Month of 948
Where am I?
Just a few minutes ago, I¡¯d been curled up in my bed with Meera, Uma, Aashvi, and all the other apprentice shrine maidens. Now, I rubbed my eyes and stared in awe at myt snow-covered surroundings. Despite being of the White Fox Clan, I¡¯d never seen snow before. It just didn¡¯t come where the temple was situated. So finding myself standing alone in a snow-covered forest of unfamiliar trees was quite disconcerting.
This¡ It¡¯s not cold.
I was still wearing my nightshirt, suggesting that I might have teleported in an instant. Despite that, I was¡ calm. Something about this place just felt right to me. Seeing as nobody came out of the trees to accost me, there wasn¡¯t any reason to stick around. After mulling it over, I selected a direction that felt the most ¡°right¡± and started walking.
Beneath my feet, the snow made satisfying crunching noises as it compacted, and the trees filled my nose with the crisp scent of sap. This place was¡ perfect.
With a start, I spun around and looked back the way I¡¯d come; my footprints made a fine trail back to where my eyes had first opened but that was it. There was no trail showing how I¡¯d been first deposited there, and there was no wider indentation from my body curled up on the ground. It was like I had simply appeared, standing. I shivered, but it wasn¡¯t from the snow. In fact, it didn¡¯t feel cold at all.
Isn¡¯t this supposed to be cold¡?
As perfect as the forest was, an uneasy feeling that something wasn¡¯t right was beginning to mount.
¡°Nikita, come to me; don¡¯t be afraid.¡±
A soothing voice echoed words in my head and I found myself transfixed. The allure, the desire to follow the voice was overwhelming. Without realizing it, my feet began to carry me in a vague direction once more. Though you couldn¡¯t ascertain the direction a mental voice was coming from, somehow this felt like the right way. Before too much time had passed, it proved correct.
Rising up out of the snow ahead of me sat a small cottage, and in the door of that cottage was a woman, a female White Fox like myself, but something about her hair was¡ The woman fanned out her tails. All nine of them.
It can¡¯t, no, A Silver Fox!?
I dropped to my knees immediately, hoping that my standing had not caused offense. After all, this was a bona fide goddess. Lady Antenora of the Frozen World, the goddess of cunning and family.
If that¡¯s truly Lady Antenora, than this¡
¡°Hmm, welcome to the Frozen World, my demesne. Nikita, I¡¯ve a favor to ask.¡± My goddess crossed her arms; clearly, she could read my thoughts. But, what was that about a favor?
¡°All in good time; after all, the fact that you are here means you have already accepted. Now, would you care for a drink?¡±
Hesitatingly, I stood and approached the goddess¡¯ table. She snapped her fingers and a steaming cup of something appeared, though my nose didn¡¯t recognize the scent.
¡°Oh come now; you¡¯ve been brought into my realm; I already favor you. Just sit.¡± Her words bore a finality of command. Make no mistake, they were an order for me to accept her hospitality.
I sat, and carefully grasped the cup while sniffing at the contents, ¡°This¡ smells good?¡±
I took a tentative sip; the snow hadn¡¯t truly been cold, so it was likely that despite the steam this beverage wouldn¡¯t feel hot. I was right; it was pleasantly warm but not scalding. That said¡ I gagged, and spat it out on reflex before turning worried eyes to my goddess.
¡°Fufufu, it¡¯s called ¡®Cofee,¡¯ and it isn¡¯t suitable for all pallets, though I¡¯m quite fond of it¡ Well, enough of this. Nikita, I find myself in a rather awkward position where I must admit I have been bested at my own game.¡±
My tale swished about behind me, betraying my trepidation.
Did someone outwit the goddess of cunning?
She answered me as though I¡¯d asked the question outloud, ¡°Indeed; a young human noble girl. I had offered her power to rescue her sister, in exchange she would bear the weight that is a Champion¡¯s title¡ Well, to cut a long story short, Stahlia saved her sister, then she killed herself.¡±
¡According to the legends, that much makes sense, I think? The only way to stop serving the gods is to die¡ But where do I come in? Wait, could it really be!?
Lady Antenorra grinned, and pointed her tails at me, ¡°You catch on quick for my second pick. Yes, I¡¯ve chosen you to take up the mantle in Stahlia¡¯s place. Nikita, will you become Winter¡¯s Champion? Will you bear this curse?¡±
I bowed my head in reverence, ¡°Far from a curse, it would be an honor to serve the gods as one of the chosen¡ But, you claim Stahlia had beat the game, yet suicide is a banal way to escape her duties. Hardly a victory?¡± I could feel my tail twitching expectantly. Surely my goddess would not have brought it up if it was that simple.
Antenora grinned, ¡°But of course. You see, she did not stay dead. And what¡¯s more, she is now claiming the title of Champion of Autumn, despite that role having fallen on her rescued sister¡ I would very much like to learn why.¡±
Her diction made it clear; that was my task. There would be the demon¡¯s war of course; champions were only claimed when it was imminent, but there was always something else. Something special tasked to each champion by their respective gods and goddesses. For me, it would be to learn of Stahlia¡¯s plans, and take vengeance for my own goddess.
¡°I see you have accepted everything; good. Now, I need to go about creating an oracle to herald your new life. Feel free to rest in this place and wake when you desire; you shall find only a night has passed.¡±
Antenora bowed her head once in gratitude, then a wave of light ran down her tails before she vanished. The light washed over me, and my own hair began to change; white became silver as it took on a metallic sheen. Then, an itching sensation above my posterior, as I felt a new tail growing out of me to join the second. I fell prostrate; not only had I been made a Champion, but Lady Antenora had also even seen fit to allow me to ascend.
Praise the gods!
9-1-1 Clean Up
Stahlia, 13 days after the battle
The first thing to grace my mind as it began to wind up into activity was a ticklish sensation like a tiny fly brushing at my face. It took a few attempts, during which the continuous sensation grew more and more aggravating, but eventually, I had enough energy and control to move my arm. My good arm, as it turned out my groggy mind had been attempting to move my dead limb at first.
My hand swatted at the offending object, and my efforts were rewarded with a yelp and a sudden tightness about my shoulders.
¡°Stali-Neechan!¡±
With a start, I cranked my eyes open and sat up in what turned out to be my bed aboard the Will of the Gods. Eris was in attendance, and I saw her first; off to the side and snickering at me, ¡°I will inform Miss Sasha and Miss Frieda, then return.¡±
Looking down from the former demon, I found Felicity to be the culprit behind that irritating tickling from before. Or, more specifically, it had been her tails brushing at my face as she slept.
She should have been sleeping, going by the nightgown.
Now, she was tightly hugging me around the shoulders, and considering how I¡¯d gone off and fallen asleep again, I couldn¡¯t begrudge her that. Looking around my room my eyes landed on Elienor, whom I¡¯d assigned to care for Felicity. She was acting fretful, and had unconsciously half reached a hand out towards myself and her own young mistress.
I sighed, ¡°...Come on then. Just tell me how long it has been this time.¡±
Eleanor was startled by the sound of my voice; I had been ignoring her between everything else that had happened recently. But at the end of the day, she was only in her predicament because of me, and she had admitted that she considered the two of us family. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to let her act like it when Sasha wasn¡¯t looking.
After weighing her options for a moment, Eleanor shot a look back toward the door before staunchly lifting her chin and shaking her head, ¡°No; Miss will be he soon¡ My Lady has been asleep for thirteen days.¡±
If she regretted her decision, she didn¡¯t let it show, and Felicity was too preoccupied with rubbing her face on my shoulder to notice her servant¡¯s consternation.
Thirteen days though¡ Longer than last time, though not as long as it could have been. ¡°Status.¡±
Life Summary Screen:
Life Point Balance: 125
Name/Age: Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris, 17
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Custom Class, 20 | Custom Class, 11 Experience: 56840/58000
Species: Human (Halfblood[Revenant])
Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Queen auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)
Starting Gift: Sprouted Seed[Selection Available]*
Title: Daughter of Ocean¡¯s Mother*[Swap Title(NEW)]
Ability Values:
Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]
Talents 5/6: [Browse Talents] [-], [-], Stealth V*, Charm Resistance III*, [], [] || Monster Handling III*, ?Dagger Fighting V*, Sword Fighting II*, Unarmed Fighting IV*, Alchemical Meister IV*, Teaching II*, Mana Efficiency III*, Fire Magic VI*, Water Magic III*, Earth Magic IV*,? Wind Magic III*, Ice Magic VI*, Winter Magic IV, Summer Magic I*, Divine Magic I*, Acting IV*, Light Magic II, Spirit Touched I*,
Skills 6/7: [Browse Skills] Divine Authority[Class Features], [-]. Blue Blooded*, Kinetic Perception*, [-], Psychic Shield, [],|| Language Proficiency[Central(human)]*,Fighting Style[Shadow Blade]*, Fighting Style[Drakan]*, Rule Breaker*, Revenant Physique*, Alchemical Heresy*,
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Talents Experience: [+]
My status information splayed into my mind''s eye as I began removing Felicity from my shoulders. At this point, she¡¯d definitely gotten her fill and was now trying to see how far she could push it. At least, that¡¯s the impression I got from the glimpse I¡¯d gotten of her expression a moment ago.
In total, I¡¯d received almost two hundred thousand experience points for the utter destruction of thirteen enemy ships¡ Just enough for three levels, almost four. The thought of how much death that was, how many people I must have killed, was rather sickening. After all, I¡¯d done enough to garner the Beastkin Exterminator and Slayer titles in one fell swoop; that¡¯s what the ¡°new¡± labeling for my titles revealed when I checked it out.
The experience throttle must have kicked in after a point, as it did with the goblin army back in Ris¡ I refuse to believe that many lives only amounted to three levels.
Along with those three levels, I also had a new skill slot, though I didn¡¯t have any pressing need for it right at this moment. Beyond that, the only other instantly notable item, and indeed the biggest change, was my Starting Gift. That had been steadily progressing for some time and had once again transitioned. Unlike all the times before, however, it was now telling me there was a choice available.
¡°No¡ five more minutes¡¡± Felicity was now offering a verbal protest, and outright clinging to me like¡ a cat.
¡I¡¯ll look at those in a minute.
¡°Felicity, you aren¡¯t sleeping, so stop pretending.¡± I frowned at her while trying to leverage my one arm under hers in order to pry them loose.
Her head lolled to the side, but I could tell her eyes weren¡¯t fully shut, ¡°Why are you being like this anyway? You are being a lot clingier than usual.¡±
I¡¯d meant it as something of an exasperated but still light-hearted joke, but Felicity froze up before quickly letting go of me, ¡°Sorry¡¡±
¡°...Felicity, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Now I was openly concerned and fully shelved my thoughts of my status for now.
¡°Sorry. Felicity doesn¡¯t want to be a nuisance.¡±
Her statement left me speechless in the metaphorical sense, ¡°What in the world are you talking about? You might be a handful, but I would never consider you a nuisance¡¡±
She smiled, but it was a bit too small for my liking. This time, I grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her in tight. It was a bit awkward and clumsy on account of my condition, but it seemed to help as she nestled into the crook of my shoulder. A shuffling sound near the side of the room attracted my attention.
Eyeing Elienor, I shook my head, ¡°Come here already, or stop biting your lip like that.¡± When she hesitated, I added, ¡°If Sasha gives you any trouble, I will scold her.¡±
That proved to be the final push required as she tentatively climbed onto the edge of my bed and then scoot carefully until she was near Felicity. However, that was as far as she went, and she then settled for just resting a hand on the small of the cat girl¡¯s back.
Before I could try and press her further, Eris returned alongside Sasha, Frieda, and Jacqueline. Elienor retreated her hand and slipped back off the bed while the four new arrivals began preparing things for me to get ready to make the grand return to my life and duties.
Sasha cast the (in her eyes) wayward maid a look but merely tightened her lips before turning away. It was obvious that Elienor would not have been where she was if not for me having given my permission in the first place. Instead, she began to talk and fill me in on what had happened in the interim.
¡°The nobles aboard the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown are eagerly awaiting your return, but I believe we can forestall that for another handful of days, to give My Lady time to come up to speed¡¡± She glanced at Felicity, ¡°As for the results of the battle, we had some casualties; fifteen wounded and eighteen dead ¨CCaptain Shepherd was among those who fell in battle. All in all, it was a resounding success. The survivors have been split up, and are incarcerated on the three vessels that remained seaworthy.¡±
I nodded along, she knew well enough by now not to feed me pointless events; I only cared about the outcomes and the current state of things.
¡°As for My Lady¡¯s acquaintances, Miss Felicity is as you see her. Lady Tlaloc has been and is currently patrolling the ocean in our vicinity; I suspect she will return by this evening. Lord Alriss has supplied a few additional men to the Will of the Gods in the meantime, Squire Giogi among them. I am told the boy distinguished himself beyond his station.¡±
Her remark about Giogi caught my ear, and I glanced sidelong at my informant. Jacqueline returned a subtle nod; she knew what had happened and would tell me later.
¡°Finally, Captain Benji has granted Ladies Edith and Lawrence a cabin aboard the Will of the Gods.¡±
I took in everything she had said, then gently pat Felicity once more, ¡°Felicity, I need to get up and get dressed¡ Will you join me when I go to see Edith?¡±
She was sniffling a bit but nodded silently.
Good. I¡¯m not quite sure what¡¯s gotten into her head, but it looks like she¡¯s coming around.
Standing, I spread my arms out so the maids could begin their routine; Eris and Jacqueline had disappeared, and I could hear the sounds of a bath being drawn, but before that, I needed to have my hair straightened and my nightgown removed.
¡°What of the enemy officers? Are any of them among the prisoners?¡± This was the one thing I was actually curious about that Sasha had left out.
She nodded, ¡°A single captain and another ship¡¯s first officer. Captain Benji has kept them onboard the Will of the Gods.¡±
¡°Some good news then. Once we have finished here, please prepare them to see me, and inform Benji to be in attendance for the meeting. After checking in with Edith and Lady Lawrence, I will go to them, then visit the other Nobles in two days'' time.¡± Having decreed my schedule, I gave myself over to the tendings of Jacqueline¡¯s hairbrush while calling up my status once more.
Now, let¡¯s have a look at this gift.
9-1-2 Clean Up II
At my mental command, a stream of new information filled my head. These where the purported options for my Starting Gift, though at this point I was beginning to wonder at the accuracy of that name. It had, after all, been a decade since I¡¯d actually ¡°started,¡± as it were.
¡°[Seed of Authority]: A seed of Authority. No prerequisites.¡±
¡°[Seed of the Dragon Tree]: A seed of the Dragon Tree. Requires one be recognized by a living Dragon.¡±
¡°[Seed of the World Tree]: A seed of the World Tree. Requires one with memories of another world.¡±
¡°[Seed of a Spirit]: A seed of Spirit. Requires one be recognized by an Original Spirit.¡±
¡°[Seed of Sin]: A seed of Sin. Requires one to bear a burning hatred of the divine.¡±
¡°[Seed of Divinity]: A seed of Divinity. Requirements Hidden.¡±
Six choices¡ And none of the descriptions are helpful in the least.
None of them actually described what making that choice would do for me, though the name gave some hints. After all, I already knew what Authority was, and presumably, the seed of Authority would develop into a second one for me. As powerful as that might sound, it wasn¡¯t worth the risk; my existing Authority already had enough risks and limitations.
Whatever a ¡°Dragon Tree¡± was, that one was clearly tied with Drakas. It might be good, but the lack of any description meant I couldn¡¯t be sure of its effects; I didn¡¯t know enough about Dragons. The same could be said about the [Seed of a Spirit], except it was tied to Tlaloc instead of Drakas.
That leaves three.
The only three real options then, were the [Seed of the World Tree], [Seed of Sin], and [Seed of Divinity]. The first was exclusive to otherworlders like myself, the second was obviously something related to the Hell Kings or demons in general, and the final was¡ Well, it existed. One might think that the lack of knowledge there was the same as the ones I¡¯d discounted already, but that would be wrong.
Because I actually have a fair degree of context for it, and something is telling me not to pick it¡
Divinity. The Divine Element. One facet if the magic I had been using nearly my entire second life. Yet something was pushing me towards it. Not literally; every time I considered making this choice, a sense of disgust welled up from inside me. It was driving me away, and that made me want to pick it all the more. Logically speaking, I had no reason to feel disgusted toward a menu entry.
Granted, it was named after the divine and therefore had ties to gods. And as recognized by the world itself, my hatred towards the gods was extreme. But this was something else, something other.
Seed of Sin is out. Even if an alliance with the demon faction might be on the table in a hundred years or so, I wouldn¡¯t want to turn into one.
One look at the demons I knew was enough to inform me of what a lousy idea willingly jumping into that particular pool was. Sitri and Eris had both been ruled by their skills, their free will eroded away by the nature of their sin. No, the [Seed of Sin] could not be an option, simply because of that risk. That left two.
Between the [World Tree] and [Divinity], the former seemed to be the better option. It was exclusive, meaning it would probably turn into something of a unique ability, and just considering it wasn¡¯t making me metaphorically sick. But there was a nagging train of thought that was holding me back. A single, logical assumption that had no proof other than sound reasoning and happenstance.
It¡¯s not going to be enough. It might not even do anything at all.
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What I meant, was that I ¡°already had it.¡± I couldn¡¯t shake the possibility once I realized that this [Seed of the World Tree] was simply the name of whatever special treatment an otherworlder received. In my case, it was my [Custom Class] and my own original Authority. In Dominic¡¯s case, it had been his [Demon Aspirant] Class and his Charming eyes¡ A recollection that made me slightly ill to think about.
I had no proof that this is what it was, but once I¡¯d made the theory, I found myself unable to shake the notion. Then there was the last option. On the surface, innocent if not uninformative. I would regret taking it. It wasn¡¯t something good. Unlike in the previous case, these assumptions were utterly baseless. Even if blindly trusting my theory was a fallacy, the [Seed of the World Tree] Hypothesis at least had a trackable chain of logic and reason leading to the conclusion.
These feelings feel¡ artificial.
That was the best way to describe it. It felt like I was being gently pushed away from choosing the last one. As soon as the words crossed my mind, the sensation of distrust toward that final option faded away. In its place, there was a momentary wash of satisfaction, but that too soon vanished. Had that been from outside as well? I couldn¡¯t exactly tell, but probably.
For someone who claimed they would be hands-off and simply watch, you¡¯ve been getting more and more intrusive lately¡
My lament toward my patron went unheard or, at the very least, unanswered. There was nothing I could do about it anyway. The only lingering question now was whether or not Adroni had been genuinely trying to dissuade me from picking the last option or trying to reverse psychology. After all, it was now clear that despite being offered six choices, I really only had two: Pick the sixth or pick none of them.
¡I¡¯ll take it. Even if Adroni was trying to lead me here, I need more power; I can¡¯t yet face a Hell King with any certainty.
If power was what I wanted, then I probably could have picked any one of the others¡ But no. From the moment I¡¯d first seen the options, the end result was obvious. Fighting against that was just me being petty for no good reason. After hesitating a few seconds to confirm that these were in fact my own feelings, I locked in my choice.
I felt a wave of lethargy wash over my body, which caused my hand to drop into the water and produce a splash.
¡°Stali Neechan?¡±
¡°My Lady?¡±
Felicity and Sasha both took note of this fact and raised voices of concern.
¡°Is the water too hot?¡± Sasha further added.
¡°No¡ Sorry to have worried you both.¡±
Sasha bowed her head, but Felicity crossed her arms and stared at me for a fair few seconds before deciding that I was being truthful with her. She crossed her arms and sank down in the chair, still upset that her attempt to join me in the bath had been rejected. This wasn¡¯t meant to be a social affair; I didn¡¯t have time for that.
I need to figure out what¡¯s gotten into her.
Add that to the long list of things I needed to accomplish. Not that Felicity being more assertive and less shy was a bad thing. It was just¡ very sudden. As I contemplated this, I allowed my body to sink lower in the water, until exhaling produced tiny bubbles.
Well, at least that¡¯s not going to be an issue.
I¡¯d had a slight worry that picking my flavor of seed would reset the progress of my starting gift back to that of an unsprouted seed. That stage had taken an obscene degree of experience to grow out of. That proved to be unfounded. When I now checked my status, my starting gift was now displayed as ¡°Sprout of Divinity.¡±
Furthermore, the lethargy was slowly working its way out of my limbs and I was beginning to feel more alive. Not by any special degree mind, more like a return to form, to the level of energy I¡¯d had before sleeping thirteen days.
Well, I suppose it¡¯s going to take some more work. Next up will probably be a ¡°Bush of Divinity¡± or, keeping the theme, ¡°Sappling of Divinity: 0.00%.¡± Whatever.
There were a lot of things I had to do in the near future, and for once, I would have the time; sea travel took a lot of that, after all. But, for now¡ I eyed Felicity and activated my [Stealth V] Talent, further hiding my actions with a small spell to increase the amount of steam coming off the water. My hands formed a specific shape just below the surface, like I was gripping the hilt of a sword.
In one swift motion, I contracted them while at the same time spending a bit of mana to lower the temperature of the water I was squeezing; it wouldn¡¯t do to burn the girl. My impromptu water jet sailed through the air in a perfect arc, and landed squarely on the top of my little sister¡¯s head.
Bullseye!
Sasha shook her head ruefully while Felicity yelped and jumped up baring her shadow claws at a perceived threat. Once she realized it had been me, she put away the claws but retained the glare. A moment later, she attacked by performing what amounted to a cannonball. By the time she surfaced the glare was gone, replaced with a victorious smirk.
I merely shrugged and sent another splash at her while erecting a small wall of Ice to serve as a shield between us.
I¡¯ve got a lot to do, but I¡¯m done sacrificing family to do it.
9-2-1 Two Tails
Nikita, 17 years old, 4th month of 948
The most pleasant dream of my life came to an end, and I slowly opened my eyes. I slowly blinked before raising a hand up to rub at my eyes. Based on the light trickling through the tall windows, the sun had just peaked above the eastern horizon. To my left and right, Meera and Uma were still fast asleep, while Aashvi had managed to roll off the bedding and was curled up on the floor.
What was all of that¡? Oof.
Alongside my returning consciousness came another sensation, one of discomfort. Discomfort that was coming from around my tail. I sat up with a start, now wide awake, and reached around to my backside. Responding to the mental command, both of my tails curled around either side of my torso. And my fur was silver.
It¡ It wasn¡¯t a dream¡
Antenora really had called out to me. I had gone from just another shrine maiden, albeit of a slightly rare subspecies, to one of the gods¡¯ chosen four. To say I was euphoric would be understating to a sinful degree.
¡°Mmmh. Niki¡?¡± Meera sat up slowly, my restlessness having roused her, ¡°What¡¯s¡¡±
As her own sleep veil lifted and her eyes came into focus, she trailed off. Then those selfsame eyes widened at the sight of me; we all knew the stories. Beastkin were the closest race to the gods, so much so that our bodies underwent a physiological reaction to their presence: the growth of additional tails through evolution. Despite being extremely rare, it was a well-documented fact.
So well-documented that I already knew what my new subspecies was likely to be, even without undergoing an appraisal ceremony.
¡°Kitsune¡¡± Meera exhaled, then reached behind her and pinched Aashvi¡¯s cheek.
¡°Hrm¡ Five more-¡±
Meera pinched her again, ¡°No, wake up! How could you be sleeping at a time like this!?¡±
Aashvi roused herself angrily, ¡°Meera, what was that for?¡±
Instead of responding, Meera merely pointed at me. Smugly, I flared my tails out behind me. Ashvi froze, then muttered to herself, ¡°...Still sleeping?¡±
She pinched her arm, then rubbed her eyes and looked on speechlessly, glancing between both myself and Meera.
Poor Uma.
I leaned over and gently shook my other nestmate; as impressive as this was, Lady Antenora had said she would produce an oracle. Assuming she¡¯d done that straight away, then it was only a matter of time before the temple elders descended on our sleeping room. Even if she hadn¡¯t, as soon as anyone else saw me, I would be brought straight to them; it wasn¡¯t hard to spot the evidence of my divine interaction.
After Uma had been brought up to speed (and her own reaction was much the same as the other two), I set about telling the story of my meeting with Antenora. Starting from when I¡¯d first woken up in the forrest, through how I¡¯d found my way to her house. How the goddess had invited me in for a drink called ¡°Coffee,¡± and how I had been chosen to be the Champion of Winter. All that being said¡
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I can¡¯t say her name.
I shut my mouth a bit awkwardly; any attempt to mention my second mission was being blocked. Clearly, Lady Antenora did not want it to be discussed openly. It was a bit irritating; if she wanted me to keep that a secret then she¡¯d need only to have told me. There was no reason to restrict my ability to talk.
No, she must have her reasons¡ With these measures in place, I can¡¯t talk about Stahlia even under duress.
It made sense; the goddess of cunning was leery after being bested at her own game. I took a deep breath to discharge the negative thoughts about my patron, ¡°Sorry, my words ran away from me. Well, that¡¯s what happened.¡±
Meera and Uma had a near-identical reaction; both of them clasped hands to their chests and were on the verge of hyperventilating from excitement. Of the four of us, they were the youngest; Meera the Mousekin and Uma the Bearkin were thirteen to mine and Aashva¡¯s seventeen. As such, they were having trouble wrapping their heads around the magnitude of the occurrence. Fortunately Aashva was here for me to confide in more seriously.
Even now, she was regarding me with a solemn expression, ¡°So the Oracle has already been given? Then we should prepare.¡±
I nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll get breakfast ready, if you could calm them?¡±
Aashva bit her lip, then placed a hand on the two younger girls¡¯ shoulders, ¡°Come on, you two; we¡¯re all awake now; let¡¯s get ready for the day.¡±
The three of them began moving around our room as I looked on. Both of them were pretty easily distracted, but Aashva was great with kids. As a dogkin, she was probably going to be placed in the orphanage next year, training further as a vaunted Motherhound. Then Uma and Meera would be given their own younger siblings to look after, just like we had been given them.
I think Uma might be good in the kitchen when that time comes.
Not that we had a kitchen. It was really just a pot and a firepit, with a mounting point for skewers to the side. Barebones, but such was life in the temple. Even still, I was going to miss it. For today, we were going to have a treat.
¡°[######].¡± I muttered a spell and lit the fire, then began filling the pot from the well water that circulated the temple and all its satellite shrines. After setting it to boil, I began preparing grain for a porridge. This in and of itself wasn¡¯t anything special, but I had a secret.
I pried a small stone off the floor in the corner and withdrew a jar. This was my secret stash, where I kept a few things in private and away from my three siblings. Aashva saw me open it from the corner where she was combing out Uma¡¯s hair, but that was fine. After today, it wouldn¡¯t matter.
The jar contained a pittance of sugar, a gift from the Temple¡¯s Father during the New Year¡¯s festival. Uma and Meera had eaten theirs right away, while Aashva had been carefully tending her own over the months. For my part, I didn¡¯t particularly have a sweet tooth and had been saving it for a special occasion. Now, I mixed it into the water along with the prepared grains to make a sweet gruel. It wasn¡¯t much, but there wouldn¡¯t be time for more.
Before long, Uma joined me by the pot. She was much calmer and no longer hyperventilating, but she still couldn¡¯t keep herself from stealing glances at my tails. Not that I could blame her; they were beautiful.
¡°Here.¡± I held out my hand, offering Uma a brush, ¡°I need to tend the food.¡±
She went wide-eyed, then accepted the well-worn hairbrush with shaking hands. Among the three of us, formerly being a Foxkin, I was the only one who had ever really needed to meticulously tend to my tail or ears due to the long fur; the brush Uma now held had been mine since I first entered the temple, a final gift from my mother before I left home. Until now, it had only ever been used by me. Together the two of us passed the time in silence until Aashva and Meera joined us, the latter looking on at Uma¡¯s actions with unashamed jealousy.
¡°Come on, sit; we probably don¡¯t have much time¡¡± Aashva gently pulled Meera down by her shoulder, but her words caught the attention of both the younger girls.
¡°What do you mean?¡± Meera cocked her head and asked, ¡°The sun¡¯s barely up.¡±
Aashva bit her lip and looked at me. I sighed, ¡°...This is probably the last time we can share a meal.¡±
It took a few seconds to sink in, but when it did, both of our younger siblings were aghast.
¡°What!?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a lie!¡±
Aashva began laying out our wooden bowls and spoons with a heavy hand, ¡°No, I¡¯m sure of it. Think; the Templefather will want to send Nikita to the head temple, and¡ She won¡¯t be able to refuse.¡±
9-2-2 Two Tails II
¡°So, just eat and try to enjoy it.¡± I followed up Aashva¡¯s dire pronunciation.
Slowly, both Uma then Meera began to eat the porridge. What had once been an excited and happy atmosphere had regressed into something far more dour. I ate a bit of my own then set the bowl aside. Everything was finally beginning to sink in and it was causing my stomach to knot up. Seeing this, Uma put aside her own bowl as well and tentatively began brushing my tails again.
I should reprimand her, she needs to eat¡
But no words left my lips. If this really was going to be our last morning together¡ Was it? Who decided that? I didn¡¯t want to leave my siblings behind. Nothing about what Antenora had ordered seemed to indicate I had to¡ Couldn¡¯t I leverage my position a bit? Surely the Templefather would allow a small degree of selfishness all things considered.
I looked around the room, at these three whom I¡®d spent so much of my life with. In Aashva¡¯s case seven years. Uma and Meera for only three, but the time spent was no less important. Indeed, they were my closest bonds in the world, even more so than my original clan who were something of a distant memory.
Alright. I¡¯ll try.
My resolution helped calm my nerves, and I became able to eat again. A good thing too, as there came a knock on our door just as we were finishing. Aashva and I shared a look; there wasn¡¯t a need to guess or check who it was. Nobody ever came to our room unless we missed the morning assembly.
Rising to my feet, I walked over to the door and took a deep breath to steel myself. Then, I opened it. On the other side there stood two temple guards, both dogkin men. They saw my tails and momentarily froze.
¡°So it is.¡± An older voice called out from behind the two.
Hearing that voice, I froze. Only my own surprise stopped me from dropping to my knees. Behind me there was a clattering of bowls and spoons as my siblings all tripped over themselves to be the first to bow.
The Templefather stepped forward into the room. A foxkin like myself, he was ancient enough to be covered in wrinkles, and his once gold fur had turned silver-grey. He looked over my siblings and then waved a hand dismissively, ¡°Rise. You did not bow to Nikita before me?¡±
Then, he lowered his head, ¡°Do forgive my intrusion, but these old knees cannot bend like they used too.¡±
He¡¯s bowing to me?
¡°A-ah, you¡¯re f-forgiven?¡± I managed to squeak out a reply.
He in turn raised his head, ¡°I see that you have eaten, and by your reaction, I was expected¡¡± The Templefather paused for a moment and regarded my tails with trepidation, ¡°Then, you met face-to-face¡¡±
He wasn¡¯t talking to me, more so that he was thinking out loud. Finally, he seemed to grow bored of my appearance and instead looked around the room at each of my siblings, ¡°The three of you are excused from today¡¯s lessons; the teachers have already been informed you will not be coming. I would like for you to remain in your room, though I will not be so crass as to force the issue. Chosen Nikita, if you could come with me we must determine how to best proceed.¡±
He¡¯s not told me to say goodbye, so it¡¯s safe to assume I¡¯m not going to be asked to leave right away.
I looked to Aashva and she nodded; Uma and Meera would be fine. I turned back to the Templefather and flicked my tails in ascent, ¡°I will be in your care.¡±
He bowed again, ¡°Then, we should move quickly.¡±
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The reason for his desire to be speedy was immediately apparent, and it also answered why he¡¯d had only two templeguard with him. The others were each standing at the doors to all the other rooms on this level; he¡¯d placed the dorm into lockdown. Seeing me pause in apprehension, he elaborated.
¡°Rather than an Oracle, Our Goddess Antenora chose to Advent.¡± Subtly moving his robe aside, he revealed his backside and the small tuft of golden hair now protruding above his silver tail, ¡°I have been in her presence, but you¡ Our Goddess told me she had revealed herself to you already. You walked in her realm.¡±
An Advent¡? Isn¡¯t that overkill?
I said a prayer in my heart for the Oracle. They would be cared for of course, but their service had ended.
¡°Regardless, I thought it best to keep this under wraps until we have determined a course. Forgive me, but I believe some rumors may start about your group; I will quell them as soon as possible.¡±
Considering the dormitory was on lockdown and my siblings would be absent from class, a few rumors were unavoidable. Rather, my own necessary absence would probably start its own rumor that I¡¯d sinned in some way. And if anyone saw me then it would be a whole other issue, but one no less intimidating for my siblings. No, the Templefather was acting the best he possibly could under the circumstances.
¡°There is no forgiveness to be given, Templefather.¡±
¡°It gladdens me that you see my reasoning, and more so that you find it agreeable. Then, my name was once Shivansh, it would be my honor if you used it.¡±
¡°...Father Shivansh then.¡± I hesitated, using his name felt wrong considering where we¡¯d been just a few hours ago.
Something I¡¯ll have to get used to though.
As a two-tails now, the degree of influence I had in society had increased greatly. Not to mention, there was also the matter of me being the Champion of Winter. It therefore was not much of a surprise that the Templefather would ask me to forgo his title; thinking about it, the only person I was technically outranked by now was the Highfather and the Raj.
¡°Please, after you.¡± The Templefather, no, Father Shivansh beckoned me into this floor¡¯s prayer room. It was shielded against eavesdropping so that only the gods might hear the words of the supplicant. As a side effect, it made a good place to have an impromptu secret meeting.
I crossed my arms once in prayer, then selected a cushion and seated myself. Father Shivansh did the same before raising the topic of our discussion.
¡°Then, I will assume you have already predicted a great deal of what I am about to say; you were chosen by Our Goddess for a reason. Therefore out of respect, I shall dispense with the pleasantries?¡±
It took me a moment, but I realized he was in fact seeking my permission to continue in this manner. Father Shivansh was yielding the floor of our meeting to me.
Well, if he¡¯s going to go so far as that, I may as well seize the opportunity.
¡°You would like for me to transfer to the main temple; it will be less disruptive if I am not in the halls here, and this territory lacks the personal I will need to learn my new role.¡±
Father Shivansh bowed his head, ¡°As much as it irks me to admit it, yes. The Gods¡¯ gift would be wasted here.¡±
I nodded, ¡°Then, I want Aashva Meera and Uma to be transferred with me.¡±
Father Shivansh waved his hand, ¡°Of course; they are your siblings. As The Earth Mother teaches, one should always look after their family.¡±
When he put it like that, I was unsure why I¡¯d expected it to cause any problems for me to bring them with me. Perhaps it had to do with meeting Lady Antenora face to face; I¡¯d neglected the teachings of the others due to her own presence being so overwhelmingly close.
¡°You would also prefer if we leave sooner rather than later?¡±
Father Shivansh merely nodded, ¡°Ours is a small temple. I would like to hold the Ceremony of Recognition to celebrate the Advent and your being chosen, but soon after that, it would be best for you to depart.¡±
I bowed my head, ¡°I will miss it here, but I understand. Now, what else do you have to tell me? This much could have been said in my room.¡±
Father Shivansh bowed his head low, and I could smell his sadness hanging heavy in the air, ¡°It falls to me to share the secret stories, to reveal the scope of your purpose and the legends of your fate. Nikita, have you heard any human legends from over the seas?¡±
Human legends? Does this have something to do with Stahlia?
Seeing my expression Father Shivansh sighed, ¡°I thought not. The clans and humans both venerate the gods in their own ways, but the champions¡ While they honor them, the humans are far more familiar with the particulars, as their ancestors are more represented¡¡±
It was through pained words that Father Shivansh told me the stories and legends the humans held. About the different names for the four champions. The ¡°Dead¡± Spring Champion. The ¡°Destroyed¡± Summer Champion. The ¡°Lonely¡± Fall Champion. And lastly, The ¡°Cursed¡± Winter Champion.
9-3-1 Culture Shock
Stahlia, 17 years old, 10th month of 949
After the bath, it was soon time for me to meet with Edith and Sarala. Sasha tried to make me rest longer, citing that they had waited this long already and could wait another day. I vetoed that. In reality she was trying to tell me to give them time to prepare, keeping in mind the difference in stations.
It could never be rude for me to call on them suddenly, but it would surely be an inconvenience to have to entertain the Queen on such short notice. If it had been anybody else, Sasha would have a point. But Edith would surely expect me to show up soon after being given news of my revival. She had all but told me to keep her involved and informed the last time, threatening the only thing she could; our friendship.
¡°Keep the guard detail to a minimum and determine a route I can move through the ship unimpeded then.¡± I instructed Sasha.
She acquiesced and curtsied, ¡°Then I shall inform Lady Edith of your intentions.¡±
With that taken care of, I addressed Frieda, "Make the arrangements with Captain Benji; I want to meet these two captives today."
She also curtsied, and I next addressed Jacquiline, "I want a copy of your report."
There was no doubt that she had made one in my absence; Ferdinand had kept me up to date on the standing orders. It was better to keep those at home fully in the loop than for my own reports to stop without warning for an extended period of time, and it wasn''t like I had been keeping any secrets out of my own missives.
Jacqueline gave me a curt bow and a smile before producing a paper and passing it to me.
Prompt as usual.
I gave it a quick scan before freezing on one of the entries, ¡°...Giogi is assigned to this expedition¡?¡±
Truth be told, I¡¯d completely forgotten him. I knew he was a squire, but somehow I¡¯d missed the fact that he was included in my forces, and had not been paying attention to his accomplishments.
¡And Jacqueline thinks he¡¯d be better suited as a Shadow? The idea has some merit; he was a Knife Fighter or something similar if memory serves, and I trained him to use Shadow Blade Style.
Awkwardly manipulating mana, I lifted my dead arm and tapped a finger on the entry about my childhood friend, ¡°This is approved if you believe he has the aptitude¡ And it sounds like he performed a heroic deed of his own. Using that as an excuse, arrange for him to present to me; I¡¯ll give him a medal or something.¡±
The specifics were secondary. I just wanted to verify Giogi¡¯s condition personally. It was the least I could do after having neglected him for so long. Besides, he really had done something remarkable and it would help morale if I publicly recognized that.
Jacqueline looked pleased and¡ relieved. She looked relieved at my decision and dipped her head again, ¡°As you wish, my lady.¡±
This left me in a rather curious position that I only just realized. Normally, Sasha would delegate any command I gave to her to one of her underlings. This time, she had instead gone to carry it out herself. Likewise, Frieda had also left me alone and departed to inform Captain Benji of my wishes. This left me with Jacqueline and the two Junior maids, Peony and Beatrice. Not that the three were incapable; it was just¡ out of the ordinary.
Is it because I¡¯m being more assertive?
That was the only thing I could think of, though I couldn¡¯t tell the difference in my own actions. Regardless of the reason, all that remained was to decide whether or not I would bring Felicity with me, and the answer was ¡®obviously.¡¯
We left my quarters some minutes later upon Sasha¡¯s return. My excellent head maid guided us down a side passageway and toward the quarters Edith was using. Another handful of minutes passed, and we emerged out into the main passageway directly across from Edith¡¯s door. The bulkhead swung shut behind us and I regarded it with some degree of curiosity; I¡¯d no idea that it was there before today. How many other detours might there be? Considering that I owned this ship, it might be a good idea to look into that.
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Felicity might enjoy exploring; she¡¯s always had a tomboy streak. I¡¯ll get Benji to give her permission.
Edith¡¯s own maid answered the door and stepped aside to allow us entry. Her quarters were sparser than mine, naturally, as they were only meant for guests to stay in short-term. That didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t still excellent; these rooms were meant for state guests to reside in.
¡°Excuse me.¡± I excused myself as I passed through the entrance.
Edith stood from where she was sitting, a small reading nook, ¡°Your majesty, your presence-¡±
¡°Please, just Stahlia; this is a private call.¡±
My friend froze, then quickly recovered, ¡°Stahlia, then, it is good to see you are well.¡±
She indicated a place for me to sit, and Sarala began serving refreshments. Notably absent, however, was the tea to which I¡¯d grown so accustomed. In its place, there was a bitter-smelling drink that I¡¯d once enjoyed in my previous life.
¡°Coffee?¡±
Edith smiled, ¡°So you know it. The seized ships had some provisioned; I requested a small amount after observing Sir Franklin¡¯s reaction.¡±
After she served us, I pointed at Sarala, ¡°Sit. You were my friend before you were Edith¡¯s maid; my own will take care of things from here.¡±
She did not hesitate. Merely shrugged and selected a seat into which she sat down without any assumed grace, ¡°Thanks, my feet were starting to hurt.¡±
Her lack of manners made Edith¡¯s eye twitch, but she didn¡¯t say anything. Behind me, I could hear Sasha giving her a look, but pretended not too.
A moment later, we all heard a gasp; Felicity had apparently decided that Elienor would be joining us as well. From the looks of it, she¡¯d tried to protest but the catgirl was having none of it; she¡¯d bodily grabbed her attendant¡¯s arms and forced her into an armchair. Neither of them were particularly large considering their age, so they were sharing it handily.
¡Well, she¡¯s stronger than Elienor. I should probably say something about this. Later.
If Felicity was going to start using strength to get her way, I would have to do something about it sooner rather than later. Though, in this case, she was probably just overreacting, I didn¡¯t want to establish a precedent through inaction. Or perhaps I was overreacting myself; Eleinor¡¯s eyes were swimming nervously.
My adopted sister regarded her before reaching a hand up her dress¡¯s sleeve and further into her own shadow. When it came back out, she was holding a small hairbrush. Felicity had an [Inventory] type skill! It must be another subset of her acquired Shadow Magic, one she had only figured out recently since I had never seen it before.
I¡¯ll have to make sure to appraise her again soon.
I could do it right now, but I didn¡¯t want to violate her privacy like that.
¡°Here.¡± Felicity put the brush in Elienor¡¯s hand, saying only that one word, then turned slightly, presenting her tails to the still sweating former young lady.
It was clearly her intention to help Elienor feel more at ease, and Felicity remembered how much the girl had used to like brushing her tail. It had the desired effect, and before long everyone was all smiles once more. Sasha stepped in, despite her definite misgivings, and poured out extra cups for everyone. Elienor and Sarala both received a far plainer cup than what was given to Felicity, but that wouldn¡¯t hurt anything.
Though, of all the things to keep in an [Inventory] type skill, a Hairbrush? Still, I¡¯ll need to look into that. If I can somehow replicate it, that would definitely prove useful.
There were no records of such a skill existing that I was aware of, though Jacqueline had not reacted, and I didn¡¯t think anyone else had noticed where she¡¯d gotten it from. Then again, just about everything surrounding Felicity¡¯s existence was abnormal already.
She¡¯s always managing to surprise me, if only mildly.
Irregardless of the method, Felicity¡¯s actions had the desired effects, and we were all once again smiling and chatting like good friends. It had been quite some time since Edith and I had last been alone enough to put aside status, and I was planning to enjoy every moment of it.
At least as much as I can.
Despite the mood, there was still something hanging in the air between us. If I had to guess, it was the fact that I had once again broken the promise sworn on our friendship, that being that I would refrain from acting in a manner harmful to myself. In this case there hadn¡¯t been a choice, but it wasn¡¯t like that really mattered to my friend.
¡°Edith¡ I owe you an apology.¡± I¡¯d best deal with this right away before allowing it to fester as the past me might have.
9-3-2 Culture Shock II
My friend froze, ¡°An apology? You jest.¡±
¡°No, I am being serious; I broke the promise I made, about not taking risks¡ And, I am most definitely going to continue to do so in the future. So, I am sorry, for not taking things into consideration when I made a vow I cannot keep.¡±
Edith was silent. When I first started, it was clear that she thought I was making light of my words. Not just her own verbal reaction, but the way she¡¯d crossed her arms and sat back in the chair. Everything about her body language indicated that she was uncomfortable with how I was talking. Of course she was.
Like it or not, we had completely different upbringings. While I¡¯d only become a noble later in life and been raised a pseudo-commoner, Edith had started near the top of society. It was something I was aware of but overlooked more often than not. Even coming here today and asking her to call me by name sans titles¡ The fact that she did do that when I asked, was well outside of her own comfort zone; it wasn¡¯t a product of the world she was raised in.
Despite that, as my apology had progressed, she¡¯d grown more and more serious. Eventually, she shifted to a position leaning toward me, giving her full attention. That was good to see, as I only intended to do this once. This was a lesson I should have learned a long time ago. A lesson I¡¯d thought I had learned. But something I kept regressing on.
¡°So, I am taking back that promise now. I will not be beholden to it, I cannot. If that means that you will cease being my friend¡ So be it. At the very least, I know I will have your loyalty.¡±
The room had gone quiet. Even Felicity had stilled, either realizing that something big was happening or having been told to stay still by Claire. Jacqueline likely knew me the best, and from the corner of my eye, I caught her regarding me pensively.
Well, that sounded a lot better in my head.
It would be unfortunate if things went badly, but I couldn¡¯t keep going without addressing this. Was it the best time? Probably not. But would there be another opportunity in the future? Not one that was any less awkward. Edith remained pensive, taking in my words with the care I would expect from her. At last, she sat back. A conclusion had been reached.
¡°...Not fair¡¡± Edith shook her head no, ¡°That isn¡¯t fair.¡±
I nodded my head yes without breaking eye contact, ¡°I know.¡±
Sarala reached over and rested her hand on Edith¡¯s back. At some point she had stood up again.
Feeling the touch, Edith exhaled tiredly. Far more tired than someone her age had any right to be, but this was her birthright, ¡°...Then, let this be the last time¡ I use your name, Stahlia.¡±
I bit my lip and sat back; this was about how I expected things to go. Edith wasn¡¯t going to maintain our friendship because she couldn¡¯t do so in good conscience. That was what I¡¯d meant when I said I would ¡®still have her loyalty.¡¯ She knew that if she absolved me of that promise now, while still claiming to be my friend, it would set a precedent. The promise had been originally made on a threat to our friendship, to break it now necessitated the threat be honored.
Edith would also know that she could easily lie. She could forgive me, she could say it didn¡¯t matter, but that would irreparable damage our relationship more so than it already had been. There would always be a doubt that she¡¯d never truly forgiven me, that she was merely seeking to use her position as my friend to the benefit of her house. Even if she would never consider it.
¡°I will not.¡± I spoke.
If there had been onlookers, then perhaps they would have been murmuring now, already working to decide what rumors should spread. If they had been, then my statement would have quieted them instantly.
I continued, ¡°I will not allow that. I selfishly demand that you forgive me, and I will get what I want even if I must wield my political authority to do it.¡± I continued to maintain eye contact with the younger-looking girl, my first and only friend after leaving Ris.
Edith tried to break eye contact; I could see that her noble facade was beginning to crack, a few small tears starting to ball in the corners of her eyes. That would be my cue to leave, to save her the embarrassment of breaking down in front of me.
I stood, ¡°Consider this my second and final apology: I am sorry for being the way that I am. I often confidence, wholly lack experience, and have a number of other flaws the least of which is my inability to avoid making the same mistakes. But I am also selfish. When it comes to the people I care about, my Greed is not to be underestimated.¡±
If I were to pick a sin that best described me, I would have to say Greed. Sure, I held a great degree of Hatred as well. Hatred for the gods, for Adroni, for the Hell Kings. Mostly for the gods and Adroni. But after considering all the recent events, especially with my Starting Gift, I didn¡¯t think Hatred was the aspect most suited to me. Greed and Pride. If anything, those were the two sins I had the most affinity with. I refused to accept that my [Seed of Sin] was Hatred.
I¡¯ll allow myself to take what I want because that¡¯s who I am.
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That was the notion I¡¯d allowed into my head in the past day, the conclusion I¡¯d arrived at as I washed Felicity¡¯s hair. Edith was still struggling not to cry but I could see her lip quivering; she was almost at the breaking point. I didn¡¯t want to push her over the edge, truly.
¡°I¡¯ll take my leave now; Captain Benji is waiting for me. Please, accept my feelings.¡± With my piece said, I turned and left.
¡That was a disaster.
As the door shut behind the last of my party, my enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of tears coming through it. I diverted the mana away from my ears, silencing the noises to give Edith her privacy.
Time will tell if those are happy tears, distressed, or something else entirely.
We moved through the ship in complete silence, heading toward my next appointment. My staff didn¡¯t usually speak much unless spoken two, though Sasha and Jacqueline both had my permission to speak freely when they thought I¡¯d overstepped. Their continued silence meant one of two things; they either agreed with me, or were waiting for us to be back in my own chambers.
¡°Felicity, I will need your help at the next stop.¡± Partly to break up the awkwardness, I began a conversation.
The girl started, then tilted her head to the side, ¡°Felicity¡¯s help?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Captain Benji has two prisoners I plan to interview. Like yourself, they are beastkin.¡±
Felicity went serious, ¡°You want Felicity to explain that Stali Neechan is nice.¡±
Well, you could put it that way I guess.
¡°I want you to wait outside, then come in when I call for you. I want to make it clear that I am not planning to sell them into slavery.¡±
Felicity nodded as her eyes darkened, my words drawing up certain memories, ¡°Felicity will help.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡±
We soon arrived, as we were no longer taking side routes to avoid meeting anyone on the way. After all, unlike with Edith, this was an official meeting. Benji was waiting for me near the entrance to the brig and upon seeing me he promptly waved off one of the sailors before bowing.
¡°Your Majesty. The two captured officers are inside.¡±
I performed a polite curtsy of my own, ¡°And these are the only two¡?¡±
The man nodded grimly, ¡°The rest refused to surrender and either took their own lives, or died fighting.¡±
¡°I see. Show me in, then.¡±
That¡¯s unfortunate, but given the history, I can¡¯t exactly blame them¡
Benji lead the way past a number of empty cells and to a larger room. He knocked twice on the door, paused, and then knocked a third time. It swung upon and revealed a dimly lit space with a single large table in the middle. Facing away from the door, I saw two individuals seated at the table. One of them I immediately recognized as a Rabbitman by the ears, but the other had no discernable features.
Benji entered first and returned the guards¡¯ salutes, ¡°You are dismissed.¡± Then, he pulled out a chair opposite the two prisoners, ¡°If the two of you would be so polite as to stand, Her Majesty Queen Stahlia von Drakas und zu Ris has deigned to speak with you as the highest representatives among your armada.¡±
To my surprise, both officers looked at each other and stood. Neither of them were in bonds, thankfully; that would help the story I had to sell. Taking Benji¡¯s nod as my cue I entered, then seated myself. Considering the positions, I did not bow, nor did I curtsy or so much as incline my head.
This is going to be delicate.
The Rabbitman looked from me to Benji, and then slowly seated himself. His companion, whose species I still could not discern, soon followed his example.
¡°I had wanted to speak with the captured officers sooner, but casting that spell left me bedridden for some time¡ I overdid it for fear of my own men¡¯s safety.¡±
Unlike with Edith, I can¡¯t apologize, but offering them an explanation should be enough. Bonus points since it reveals me as the caster who instantly sank thirteen of their ships.
Revealing I had been bedridden could be bad; it revealed a moment of weakness. But on the other hand, it could also be taken as me saying ¡°I sank thirteen ships in a handful of minutes, by myself, and it only cost me a week of rest.¡±
By their faces, I¡¯d achieved the desired effect.
¡°Gods above¡¡± The one I couldn¡¯t recognize spoke first, and her voice revealed her to be a woman.
The rabbitman silenced her by kicking her leg, ¡°Be quiet, Chesa! You¡¯re being rude.¡±
Needless to say, I was somewhat confused by the differing reactions.
Benji leaned over and whispered in my ear, ¡°The woman is First Officer Chesa, she¡¯s a Mousekin who suffered an injury that amputated her ears; we are not responsible. The Rabbitman is Captain Enel. Their crews were mostly made up of the more passive species, and they had the fewest casualties between them.¡±
I probably should have read a report before demanding to see them.
Turning to the two of them, I waved a hand, ¡°After today the two of you will be free to roam most of the ship; I¡¯ll ask that you refrain from entering certain areas and assign people to watch you¡ Both for our security and your safety. If you wish to visit your crews, arrangements can be made for that as well. Once we arrive at Rhodias, I will negotiate your release with whichever country, tribe, or city-state presents itself. We are not slavers, and despite how thoroughly we conduct war, we are not conquerors. Not anymore. I know you won¡¯t believe me at my word, our people have far too much bad blood for that. Instead, I¡¯d like you to meet your guide and ambassador; Felicity.¡±
Hearing her name, the catgirl entered the room and curtsied to both of the prisoners. She was clearly nervous but was doing a remarkable job of comporting herself nonetheless. Both of them stared at her with wide eyes.
¡°I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I consider Felicity to be my younger sister, though the law precludes adopting her properly into the royal¡ family¡¡± I trailed off; they weren¡¯t staring at Felicity.
They were staring past her, at the pair of tails that were even now dancing back and forth nervously. It was Chesa who spoke first, breathily and in awe, ¡°Two tails¡ Then, she¡¯s met one of the gods! The humans have a divine beast!¡±
Enel gulped, and though he was able to maintain more composure it was clear he was just as shocked. I glanced at Benji, and he shook his head while subtly raising his hands to indicate he had no idea. This was something I really should have thought of before introducing them. To me, Felicity was normal, but evidently having two tails was not so widespread.
¡This complicates things.
AN
TL/DR: I¡¯m going on a one-month hiatus to deal with some personal problems.
I don¡¯t really feel comfortable spending too much time talking about myself and what I consider to be ¡°personal issues.¡± Especially not with a bunch of people who are (thought I appreciate all of you) largely strangers. However, my therapist has been telling me I should try being more open. And I do mean that literally, not the meme ¡°my therapist/lawyer/doctor tells me ¡¡±
Obviously, I missed this week¡¯s chapter release. Prior to this, about a month ago I deleted Demon Queen with no real heads up or warning, then when someone asked about it I gave a roundabout non-answer. There have been a few allusions to what¡¯s going on in the past, but at the end of the day I always somehow managed to pull through and make my deadline. Except for that one time last year, but that¡¯s largely unrelated to this.
The truth is, I have been struggling with depression right now. I have been for a while, but things really came to a head a couple of weeks back, when I delayed the chapter release by a day because ¡°something happened that was making me really angry and that was affecting the tone of the chapter.¡±
I don¡¯t have a lot of close friends, probably, two or three people tops that I would really consider in that category, and all of them are online only on account of geography. Two weeks ago, we were all hanging out in a discord call with some of our mutuals, and one of them proudly announced that he was ¡°on some dope shit.¡± Now, I don¡¯t have a problem with drugs, as long as you aren¡¯t hurting anyone. The thing is, he was driving at the time and the drug in question was a psychedelic.
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I¡ also have a history with that. In middle school and again in high school, I lost a friend to someone being an asshole and DUI. Well, middle school was a DWI, but it''s the same. Needless to say, I lost it in the voice call, and things devolved from there. Now, I am no longer on speaking terms with that incredibly small friend group. Parting ways with them was the only real outcome in my mind, but it did exacerbate the underlying issues I¡¯ve had in the back of my mind for some time now.
Over the next weeks and up until today, I¡¯ve been slowly unraveling and losing motivation¡ Everything just feels numb and colorless at the moment. If not for the therapist telling me I should write this out¡ I honestly probably wouldn¡¯t bother. Now, I don¡¯t want you all to get the wrong idea; I¡¯m NOT suicidally depressed. I¡¯m still able to rationalize why that¡¯s not an answer. Case in point, getting the therapist was a decision I made all on my own.
I¡¯m just¡ not feeling anything. If I didn¡¯t know that eating was a necessity, I¡¯d probably stop. As it is, the only times I¡¯ve managed to force myself out of the house in the past week were to go to my two appointments. With all that said, I¡¯m going to take at least a month off from writing and start trying to find motivation elsewhere. My brother is flying in, and we¡¯re going to take a roadtrip around our state, maybe do a coast2coast we don¡¯t know.
Anyway, sorry for disappearing without leaving a note, and doubly sorry for dropping all of this on your heads at once. Here¡¯s to all you beautiful people.
Update - Hiatus Ends 01/12/2024
Three months ago, I posted an update saying that I was planning to take a month off for various reasons. One month became two, and then three. By the time I do return, it¡¯s going to be four. Compared to what¡¯s happened in the interim, my original woes now seem like trivialities. So, what¡¯s been going on?
A whole lot, starting with car trouble in Nebraska that left me and my brother stranded for a week, then slowly escalating until my dad was diagnosed with Leukemia in mid-October. It was originally CML, and very much treatable. In early December that changed, and he¡¯s now fighting one of the AML flavors of Big C.
In the face of that, everything else seems incredibly small by comparison. It isn¡¯t all bad though; in the face of tragedy, my whole family has come back together. Even if I suspect a couple of the worse ones are only hoping to ingratiate themselves for the purpose of inheritance, I¡¯m not letting that get in the way of taking solace in the moment.
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As far as writing is concerned, I must confess that I have been writing under a different name for the past month, mainly flexing the creative muscles that have been dormant for a season. That project, though, is finished now and I¡¯ve started getting back into Tricked. I¡¯m not going to link the other handle since it¡¯s served its purpose now and I strangely feel rather guilty admitting I¡¯ve done that. That being writing something else when I know a few people are still hoping to see my main work return.
A couple of people did recognize my style, and that was incredibly heartwarming to see; you know who you are<3. I intend to wait just another handful of weeks and develop a backlog of chapters. I¡¯ll be back full-time with Tricked on Friday, January 12th 2024, with a daily release through the weekend. The normal schedule (twice weekly) will resume the following week (the week of the 14th).
9-3 Spring
Stahlia
After bidding my farewells to Benji and the two captured beastkin, I returned to my chambers. According to Jacqueline, Tlaloc should be returning soon. It would fall to me to keep the errant grand spirit entertained by playing along with the farce that she was somehow my mother. It was worth it in the long run; she was powerful, and had been integral to the initial plan in concentrating the pirate¡¯s fleet in one place.
Even now, she¡¯s run- swimming around to keep a lookout. Although, if anyone comes after us after seeing my anti-army spell, I suppose having someone like her to deal with them would be good.
That she would be useful did not mean that I enjoyed what I had to do to keep her and I sent my real mother a silent apology in my heart.
¡°Now then, I feel sufficiently recovered and have accomplished everything I wanted to. Jacqueline, Frieda, who needs what from me?¡± It was a small lie; I still wanted to look into Felicity¡¯s situation more, but appraising her hadn¡¯t revealed anything I didn¡¯t already know. A few of her stats had gone up, and her Talents had all risen at the usual Demon-of-Envy-Enhanced rate, but nothing that struck me as concerning.
And, of course, neither of the captives knew anything useful.
As it turned out, the only officers who had surrendered to us were on their admiral¡¯s shit list. As such, they had been quick to capitulate, but in turn, knew nothing strategically valuable. That trend continued with what they were able to tell me about the culture and people of the beast tribes. As far as I could tell, they were relative nobodies on the mainland and had only acquired their status in the fleet because someone needed to be handed all of the recruits from less warlike tribes.
There wasn¡¯t anything concrete about Felicity¡¯s condition either. Just something about how those chosen or in contact with the gods would undergo a transformation and grow an extra tail. Rumors, myths. The only really useful thing had been the anecdote that the Winter Champion was a member of the fox tribe named Nikita, and she was the only two-tailed beastkin currently alive in the Beast Country of Sinion.
All in all, it had been an exercise in frustrating futility. Like walking up to a random Englishman and asking him all the ways his culture was different from America¡¯s. We both knew the propaganda and the stereotypes, but nobody was familiar with the minutia nor the reason behind those things.
Jacqueline shared a rapid-fire nonverbal conversation with Frieda before skipping a step and letting the latter move ahead of her in our procession. Frieda bowed her head slightly, then answered my question.
¡°Sir Franklin would like to see you, if possible. Some of the mages who regained consciousness a day ago have been pestering for an audience as well. Then, there is the matter of your former squire.¡±
I felt my face blanche and instinctively tried to touch a cheek, only for my arm not to respond.
Damn thing.
Scowling slightly, I threaded a sliver of mana through the limb and completed the action. However, the cursed flesh didn¡¯t accomplish the goal of checking my complexion. Instead, I had the disconcerting experience of a cold, clammy thing brushing against my cheek while my brain was certain I should be feeling my face through my hand. It was like being under a local anesthetic, except without the ability to feel pressure in the sleeping limb. I shivered, and this time not at the memory of the overly pushy mage captain.
¡°Send a runner to Franklin and invite him to dinner¡ No, Tlaloc will have returned by then. Schedule something for tomorrow; we will probably need a lot of time. The Mages are¡ denied. In fact, assign them extra training with someone who can teach them proper etiquette. As for my squire, you mean Giogi?¡±
I noted one of the minor maids, Beatrice, fade out of sight as she broke from the group. Frieda curtsied, ¡°Yes, Squire Giogi. He has not personally requested to see you, however there are¡ rumors.¡±
I eyed Jacqueline, ¡°Rumors¡ relating to Jacqueline¡¯s proposal?¡±
Jacqueline had, shortly after I woke up, inferred that Giogi might make a better assassin than a knight. She had suggested that he should be recruited into the rebuilt Order of Shadows.
Frieda nodded, ¡°Of a sort. It is known that My Lady taught Sir Giogi Swordplay in Ris.¡±
And so people are beginning to wonder if that¡¯s all I taught him. After all, he did fare quite well on his own.
However, there was one immediate problem with Frieda¡¯s proposal: meeting Giogi could easily further the rumors. That was probably why Jacqueline hadn¡¯t suggested it herself. I questioned Frieda about that, but she was of the opinion that it would be worse if I ignored him. Taking everything into account¡ As much as I liked Jacqueline, I felt that Frieda¡¯s thought process held more merit in this case.
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¡°Then have somebody fetch him. He is only a squire, so be careful not to summon him brashly.¡±
If we weren¡¯t careful, it might appear as though I was too concerned. It wouldn¡¯t do for Giogi to be pulled away from some other task while surrounded by witnesses. I needed to look like I simply wanted to congratulate him on a job well done, perhaps play into the master-student dynamic.
Meeting him now should be a good time. It¡¯s not the first thing I¡¯ve done after waking up, but I¡¯m also not putting it off¡ Hmm.
In theory, I should have met with the high nobility first, but they were on the Jewel of Gaia¡¯s Crown, and we were giving me a few more days before making the crossing. Since Giogi was here now and wasn¡¯t my first priority, it should avoid any needless political issues.
An hour later, I had the boy in my sitting room whereupon, seeing me, he had immediately dropped to one knee and bowed low. It was the proper social action for him to take, and I didn¡¯t have the right to feel slighted, seeing as how I had literally forgotten he existed on more than one occasion. I raised a hand,
¡°Enough. You may stand.¡±
¡°Thank you, Your Highness.¡± Giogi stood, and stood into a stiff parade rest.
He was smaller than me now after overusing my Authority had caused me to skip a few years of physical aging, but he would probably be taller soon enough. As it was, I was still able to look down at him. Like Edith. I shook my head wryly.
¡°Sit. Or stand, I don¡¯t care.¡± I let my voice slip back into the backwater drawl of our village, then seated myself, ¡°I¡¯ve been given a report of how you comported yourself from Sir Justin; now I want to hear the account from you.¡±
To his credit, Giogi didn¡¯t seem taken aback by the sudden shift, though he eyed Frieda and Sasha warily. When neither woman seemed put out, he gingerly lifted his shoulders from parade rest but opted to remain standing. That was fine; it meant I could look him in the eye.
¡°Then, does Your Highness want to know about¡?¡± He trailed off, suddenly uneasy.
He¡¯s hiding something?
Suddenly, things were going a lot different than I thought they would. This was meant to be a simple visit to pass the time until Tlaloc returned. An excuse to forestall other things I found less pleasant to deal with. A method to start a beneficial rumor and raise morale, ¡°Look, the Queen is concerned one of her first men fought a powerful foe!¡± Now, it was becoming an interrogation.
Too much intrigue, too many suspicious circumstances, had turned me cynical. I was always at the center of the plotting and scheming of those beyond my own understanding, and it had come to necessitate a particular outlook. And all of those raw nerves and sixth senses were screaming out that something about Giogi was important, that he knew something.
My eyes narrowed. Giogi flinched.
¡°What happened on that ship?¡± My question was simple, my voice harder than I¡¯d have liked.
¡°M-Mortis was there!¡± Giogi squeaked, then peered at me. His arms had come up half defensively, half emphatically.
I fell back into my chair, stunned. That was both easier, and more complicated than expected. Giogi had volunteered the secret without needing prodding. But the nature of that secret¡
A moment later I¡¯d recovered enough to give orders to my staff, ¡°Everyone out. Sasha, Jacqueline, and Frieda stay. Jacqueline, secure the room.¡±
Why was one of the gods here?
The last time Mortis had been in my vicinity was when I¡¯d first encountered the Demon of Lust, Sitri. We¡¯d spoken briefly then, and he¡¯d been the one to tell me it was a demon we were after. Once all of my people save the three named had departed, and only after Jacqueline had assured me that the room was secure, I again addressed Giogi. He was shivering, and his teeth were softly chattering with a fear quite unlike his old personality. Quite unlike someone who¡¯d survived a battle not five days before.
¡°I am so very sorry about scaring you, but it seems you have become involved in something quite troublesome. Please, calm yourself, and then I need to know exactly what the God of Death was doing on my battlefield.¡±
I sat back and waited. Sasha began preparing refreshments, while Frieda hovered over Giogi in a motherly fashion so as to help calm him. After a few minutes, he finally managed to speak again.
¡°S-sorry, your highness¡ I though you were about to order my execution.¡±
That raised an eyebrow. What could have made him think I would punish him for something so far beyond his control? Maybe for hiding information, but even then, could I? Probably, if I needed to, but it wouldn¡¯t be an easy order to give.
¡°Perish the thought. But, I need to know everything now. Rest assured, you are not in trouble.¡±
And how did you even see him to know it was him? I had to have my mana rearranged before I could perceive divine beings.
¡°R-right. Well, f-from what he said, he was there because someone created a lot of work. H-He was complaining before he realized I had seen him.¡±
And then the damn broke, and Giogi began to speak in a stream of consciousness. He¡¯d been keeping all of this to himself out of fear he would be chastised. And when you thought about it, who could blame him? Did a god appear and give him an oracle? To anyone other than me, my inner circle, and the priesthood, it would sound like the ravings of man whose mind had shattered. Soldiers were all appraised regularly to track their growth; Giogi¡¯s lack of the [Oracle] Skill would be documented.
¡°He was bemoaning the actions of this girl; he called her the ¡®Rulebreaker.¡¯ Apparently, she caused a lot of problems for him. But then after I saw him, he got interested, he looked at me really close, then grinned and got kind of happy. He said something about an announcement, then was wondering if she, that is, the rulebreaker I think, would get upset when she found out. Then he, he called me by name, and he said¡¡±
I missed Giogi¡¯s last words for the words echoing in my minds eye. But he was probably saying that Mortis had named him,
¡°The Champions of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter have been named. The Primordial Tlaloc has invoked the Writ of Names and joined with Chaos. The Monarchs of Lust, Hate, Sloth, Pride, Envy, Gluttony, and Prophecy have successfully Advented. This is a notice to all players: the board is set, let the games begin.¡±
Giogi had been pulled into something troublesome indeed.
9-4: Feast
Nikita, 17 Years Old, 4th Month of 948
The atmosphere in the main hall was awkward in the extreme. I had my dream where her holiness, the Goddess Antenora, appointed me her new champion. Afterward, our shrine¡¯s head, Father Shivash, declared me a saint and made plans for my departure to the capital and the main shrine therein. It was a harrowing future, made only slightly less daunting by the knowledge that my den (Sisters Aashva, Uma, and Meera) would be joining.
From my seat up at the head of the table, I had an unobstructed view of the celebration. At my right hand, Father Shivansh was doing his best not to appear smug. But he was failing; even he could not prevent his tails from moving ever so slightly. In comparison, I was doing much better. My tails were both standing at attention and hardly moving at all. But that wasn¡¯t because I had better control. No, that was because the pressure of having all eyes on me was making it impossible to think straight.
Even the venerated mothers are acting like I¡¯m so much more now¡ Hells! I was just a mere apprentice the other day¡
If it wasn¡¯t for Uma and Meera not minding anything despite being at the head table with me, I might have started shaking. And what a display from the newly anointed champion of the goddess that would be! Indeed, Uma, Meera, and Aashva were seated at the head of the table with me. The announcement of my position had been made alongside the proclamation of the feast.
Alongside that proclamation had been another: that I would be going with my den to the capital city for more specialized training. According to Father Shivansh, I would need attendants now that I was the newly appointed Champion of Winter. That had been the set of strings he pulled to allow my sister and junior sisters to accompany me.
Father Aashva stood and tapped his wine glass to draw everyone¡¯s attention. For a blessed moment, those assembled focused away from me and instead looked to the source of that chime. Then he turned them back my way.
¡°Friends, under the watchful eye of the gods, we have once again found our people favored! One of our own, from this very shrine, has heard the words¡ Nay! She has met one of the divine in a vision! Nikita the Apprentice has been tasked with saving our people from the demons.¡±
The words thus spoken caused all the attention to shift back to me. I tentatively raised a hand, which garnered a wave of murmured conversation through the crowd. Behind me, one of my tails twitched.
What¡¯s this¡?
The collective stares and furtive whispers, which had been uncomfortable a moment ago, now began to feel¡ Well, not good. But it was warmer, more welcoming. My ears perked up, and my stomach began to settle down. I smiled, and the conversation grew more fervid. People were looking up to me now. People who used to be my friends and colleagues within the shrine, now I was an emissary of one of the gods we¡¯d all served.
I glanced at Father Shivansh, trying to determine if I should act now. Before we entered the hall, he¡¯d mentioned me saying a few words. For many of these former brothers and sisters of mine, this would be the last time we saw each other. Ours was not the largest of shrines, but it was big enough that, combined with me leaving tomorrow, most would not have the opportunity to wish a personal farewell.
Or at least not an intimate one. There would be time to mingle during the feast after everyone had eaten a bit. Father Shivansh¡¯s words faded into the background and I began to focus more on each individual. I knew all of them. But some of them were closer to me than others.
Sisters Mina and Shashi. They were to Aashva and me what we were to Uma and Meera. They had been directly responsible for raising us for three years before graduating from the den. Now, both of them were looking up at me with something like reverence.
Father Lal. He had been the one who first taught me the names of the gods and goddesses, what they looked like and what aspects each one embodied. It wouldn¡¯t be incorrect to state that I wouldn¡¯t have realized who Antenora was without him.
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No, someone else would have had that role instead.
The role of teacher, that is. With my new title, I could probably get away with giving him an order if I wanted.
Then there was Mother Chaya. She was one of the oldest members of our shrine; her own tail¡¯s fur was a silver whiter than my own. Though the wrinkles around her eyes were enough evidence that her own was from age and not a divine encounter. Something about those wrinkles drew my attention and y eyes lingered on her. it took a moment before I realized. Unlike the rest, her stare wasn¡¯t filled with wonder or amazement. Instead, her eyes held pity? Contempt? Sadness perhaps? She wasn¡¯t looking over these events with joy in her heart; that much was certain.
If it was just for me that was fair. Father Shivansh had told me about the Winter Champion¡¯s curse in broad strokes. Nothing concrete. No details, but I knew my fate wouldn¡¯t be the most kind. But¡ I wasn¡¯t close with Mother Chaya. Of course, I knew who she was but we didn¡¯t interact much. Me, a senior apprentice with my lessons and den, her; a senior mother in charge of the archives.
Then, she probably knows about the hidden lore Father Shivansh told me. Maybe she knows more than him.
It would be smart for me to try to speak with her if my limited time allowed. At the very least, I should tell her that I was content and did not harbor ill-will to the goddess for granting me this burden. Rather, that I considered it a blessing. Even if I was only the runner-up¡
Really, what kind of Champion goes so far as killing themselves to get out of the role?
Those dark thoughts put a damper on my previous mood. Whether that mood had itself been a good one was up in the air, but it certainly wasn¡¯t now. However, chewing on the idea of this mystery woman did take my mind off the atmosphere of wonder, so¡ Good thing. Probably. At the very least, I had been told in no uncertain terms to investigate my predecessor and mete out divine justice. That meant that she was, somehow, alive.
Somewhere else, Father Shivansh finished his speech about me. I only realized when my side received a sharp jab and Sister Aashva quietly hissed, ¡°Stop daydreaming!¡±
Looking up, my eyes met with Father Shivansh¡¯s. He was grinning down at me, though his smile did not entirely extend into his eyes. I swallowed nervously and stood as we had rehearsed. Looking out over the room, my ears realized the silence as everyone¡¯s attention fixated back to my own small face. Behind me, two tails flicked around excitedly, and their silver fur poofed out as an unconscious warning, an attempt to make the body attached to them look bigger. If only I had been born to one of the cat tribes, at least then it would only look like I was excited and not terrified.
Then again, they would probably be standing straight up in that case, and I would still look scared¡
Fortunately, Father Shivansh had only said that I could say a few words if I wanted. He hadn¡¯t said anything indicating I was expected to. That was a small mercy now, as I smiled nervously. My mouth was dry, so very dry¡ And¡ A calm washed over me, and suddenly the world seemed so much smaller. Like I was viewing it from some distant place.
My body felt cold, but there was comfort in that, like I was back in the presence of the Goddess. The feeling washed over me and brought clarity to my mind. My tails were not dissuaded, but that no longer bothered me. In time, I would be able to master myself.
I bowed my head towards Father Shivansh, then sat down again. I wasn¡¯t expected to say anything here, and most of these people I would never see again, so there was little reason to put in the extra effort. Shavansh seemed to have frozen himself because it took a moment before he had recovered enough to speak.
¡°R-right, then, let us partake in the blessings the gods have allowed.¡± With Shivansh¡¯s final words spoken, everyone began digging into the food and drink.
The chill that had come over me collected and narrowed at a point on my arm whereupon it began to warm, ¡°Nikita, what was that?¡±
Aashva was grasping my arm at the point of warmth, her eyes filled with concern and¡ fear. The heat from her hand then spread out across the rest of my body and a range of twisting emotions assailed me, fogging my mind.
¡°...I don¡¯t know¡ It was, it was like all of a sudden, nothing mattered anymore. No¡ That¡¯s not quite right. It was like, like¡ I don¡¯t know.¡±
Worried that everyone else had perceived whatever came over me, I shot a furtive look over the crowd at large. Most of them were now preoccupied with eating, either not having noticed, or not caring when there was food in front of them. Only one person really seemed to even care about me anymore. My eyes met those of Mother Chaya. Her wrinkles creased as she half closed her eyelids. A shiver wracked her body, and she looked away, staring off into space.
Before tonight, I hadn¡¯t really paid her much attention, but it was increasingly clear that I would be making the time to visit her no matter what. Something told me that I would deeply regret not doing so.
9-5 Beginning
Stahlia
¡°... let the games begin.¡±
The words echoed in my head, and based on Giogi¡¯s own incredulous expression, he heard them as well.
¡Seven of the Hell Kings, versus three champions, an annoying Ancient Spirit, and me. And Envy was listed, despite Aaron claiming he killed her. So he either lied or got his information wrong. Speaking of Aaron, his faction wasn¡¯t listed. Only the Champions, Hell Kings, and Chaos were specifically named. And what the hell is the Writ of Names? I¡¯ll have to question Tlaloc when she returns.
¡°Did you hear that?¡± I asked Giogi, just to confirm he had indeed.
He went wide-eyed, ¡°I did; it said, ¡®To those chosen by the gods to defend this world, the war is now.¡¯ Sta, Your Highness, what does it mean?¡±
It means I was given a lot more information than you. Because I¡¯m the rulebreaker?
¡°It means,¡± I began, ¡°That I need Franklin here now. Lord Alriss and Captain Benji as well, but Franklin first.¡± Jacqueline had already left the room by the time I¡¯d finished giving the order.
¡°As you wish my lady, may I ask what has occurred?¡± Sasha inquired.
So it was only me and Giogi, and probably Franklin as well, who heard anything. I could have assumed but having confirmation is good.
¡°Giogi and I have just received a message from the ones claiming to be gods; we are officially entering the next stage.¡± I answered her in brief. She would get more details by eavesdropping the conversation to follow. Sasha¡¯s face tightened in seriousness.
Franklin must have been making his way to my chambers already because it did not take him long to arrive. When he entered, he spared Giogi a glance, then refocused on me, ¡°Your Highness, I take it you also¡?¡±
I nodded, ¡°Yes. Shortly after establishing that Giogi here is our Champion of Spring. That places three of us in the middle of the ocean at the start.¡± Both of them nodded, and I continued, ¡°Now, just to ensure we three are on the same page; ¡®To those chosen by the gods to defend this world, the war is now.¡¯ That is what you heard?¡±
Franklin shook his head, ¡°Mostly. I was addressed as ¡®The warrior from another realm¡¯ in mine. Everything else is what you said.¡±
¡°Alright then. Mine was nothing of the sort.¡±
Both of them looked at me with surprise. It would have been easy just not to tell them the differences, but I wanted their trust, and I knew I was already on thin ice with Franklin. There were areas I couldn¡¯t bend, things I could not compromise upon, on which we would never agree. But that only meant I should do what I could. If it came down to it, a battle between me and Franklin would result in my victory. But that wasn¡¯t a desirable outcome. He would be far better as an ally.
After the war¡ Well, I would help him find a way home if he still wanted that. If not, I would offer him a place in the courts or kingdom reflective of his contributions to the war effort. If he acted against us at that point¡ I would do as was necessary. But now, now, telling him the truth was the best choice.
¡°The short message was the same, but I got a lot of additional information.¡± Franklin crossed his arms, while Giogi merely looked confused and overwhelmed. He was only a squire until maybe three days ago. I told them what information had been contained in my message: that Tlaloc was a full player and the list of Hell Kings who were fully manifested. The only thing I left out, was that Tlaloc wasn¡¯t the ally of the Champion faction, but was an ally of Chaos.
That I myself wasn¡¯t a champion was not part of what I was willing to share. My sister, Rosial, was the current Champion of Autumn and my own status was ¡°The Rulebreaker.¡± I was a fifth-column force, serving the God of Chaos to keep my family safe. Working with them was one thing, but Rosial¡¯s safety was my top priority, and if I could fulfill all the duties of the Champion of Autumn without revealing I was not, then I would do just that.
Franklin took it all in, then shook his head ruefully. He pointed at Giogi and raised an eyebrow, ¡°Does he know?¡±
I frowned. Franklin meant my status as a reincarnation. The people who did know could be counted on two hands, and Giogi wasn¡¯t on the list. Truth be told, I didn¡¯t want him to. Not even because of the security risk, though that was a factor. I didn¡¯t want him to know.
¡°Sir Franklin, Squire Giogi Sutvenson¡¯s status as a Champion was established only in the recent battle. There is much he does not know.¡± I beamed a smile at my old friend, then turned to Giogi, ¡°That being said, I do not wish to overburden you, but I must ask; where do your loyalties lie?¡±
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Franklin looked put out by my response, but I would deal with him later. Giogi looked offended.
¡°My loyalty is to Drakas, to His Majesty King Rupert, and to Your Highness Queen Stahlia.¡±
He looked for all the world like a boy attempting to appear mature. But he was still a child, and one raised in a rural village. I shook my head, ¡°You did, but that was before the gods chose you as their champion. Please consider carefully; do you still wish to place your new duties and your honor in my hands? If you do, then I will wield you well, but you must know the import of such action before deciding. Leave us and spend a few days thinking; it is not as though we will do battle any time soon, confined as we are to these vessels. Whatever your choice, I swear on my name and my title to honor that.¡±
Before he or Franklin could add their own opinions, I waved Frieda over, ¡°Inform Champion Giogi¡¯s duty officer that he is to be removed from the roster and given one of the guest quarters and a guard detail of his own. Pick one of your subordinates and assign her to ensure he is taken care of such that he does not need to roam the ship. Expect these to be the circumstances for the foreseeable future.¡±
I know the men are loyal, but I won¡¯t take any risks.
Giogi was escorted out, his body language betraying the inner turmoil at the whirlwind his life had become. Franklin crossed his arms in his seat, ¡°So we¡¯re going to leave it at that?¡±
I nodded, ¡°I said it before, but I am who I am now, and that isn¡¯t George. Giogi doesn¡¯t need to know about that, and all the people who do need to know, know already.¡±
He didn¡¯t respond verbally, but his demeanor softened slightly. At the very least, Franklin wasn¡¯t going to circumvent my wishes on the matter out of some misplaced sense of justice. I let the silence stand for a few moments longer before broaching the next subject.
¡°So, we are at war. We were before, but it¡¯s official now. Where do we stand?¡±
His arms stayed crossed, ¡°What do you mean?¡±
I frowned and leaned forward, ¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about. We don¡¯t see eye to eye; I know you think my actions as of late are amoral. You¡¯ve killed people too now; I need to know if you can live with me, and with yourself. If you have a breakdown in the middle of the war, it will cause a lot of problems. If you decide to act against me, even more so.¡±
Franklin frowned, then made what was clearly a conscious effort to uncross his arms. That was good; it meant he was aware it was a defensive gesture, ¡°I¡¯ve killed people, yes, because I agreed that the pirates were a threat. I wasn¡¯t aware of the history between Drakas and their species though. You didn¡¯t tell me.¡±
I waited, sure he would continue now that he had started. Sure enough, he did, ¡°You though? You¡¯ve done a lot more than that. When does it stop being about murder and turn into a statistic? When you wipe out a fleet singlehandedly? A city? Or what about the demons? Are you going to stop at defending this world?¡±
He was wrong, but I could understand where he was coming from. When he paused for breath I raised a hand, ¡°Kill a man and you¡¯re a murderer. Kill a dozen, a killer. Kill a hundred, and you become a statistic. Is that where you¡¯re coming from? Because I am already that. Before you met me, I killed enough Goblins to earn a title, ¡®[Goblin Calamity].¡¯ I¡¯m pretty certain it doesn¡¯t go any higher. If I handed, they would have wiped out my home town. I have another one, ¡®[Human Exterminator].¡¯ I do not have recognition for my efforts with the beastkin. I am eminently aware of how many people, as a general term, I have killed personally. This isn¡¯t Earth, and I¡¯m not a member of modern society as you know it.¡±
If we were going to judge me by earth standards, then I would be ranked in the top hundred in terms of deaths I was responsible for. Possibly first if you only counted deaths I was personally responsible for. And by the end of this, I would probably be pushing the top ten. Only Ghengis Khan, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong would still be ahead of me. I didn¡¯t want to be compared to people like that, but I would be damned if I was going to allow my personal gripes to get in my way. As I had emphasized to Franklin, this wasn¡¯t Earth.
Franklin shook his head, ¡°And most of the pirates would have died regardless, be it by your hand or the soldiers and knights under you. But great power and all that; I don¡¯t know much about the fundamentals of magic, but you could have destroyed all of their ships if you were less showy about it. It¡¯s well within your power to devastate a major city. And if you go to far, who the hell will stop you? Anyone strong enough would be a far worse tyrant.¡±
And there it is. ¡®A far worse tyrant.¡¯ It¡¯s implicit in the phrasing, he already considers me a tyrant, and he knows he can¡¯t do anything to stop me.
I sighed and looked away. At this point, I knew where we stood and I knew that nothing I said would change his mind. Only my actions could do that, and that would depend on Franklin being open to having his mind changed. Probably, it wasn¡¯t. But he wasn¡¯t going to get in my way. The most he might do would be to refuse orders.
¡°I do not hate you, Franklin. But, I think it will be best for both of us to consider our friendship to have ended when George died. I will help you how I can in his memory, but unless you live ten years in this world, I do not see a way we can ever truly reconcile. As the Champion of Summer, you are not under my authority as a monarch. The same as I just relieved Giogi. But I hope you will continue to work with me. We¡¯re facing what amounts to seven gods with an army of personal demigods. If the four champions do not work together, we¡¯re fucked.¡±
He stood abruptly, and I caught a glimpse of tears in the corners of his eyes, ¡°The fact you can say all of that is proof enough that the words are true.¡±
Franklin turned for the door, ¡°But, so long as you are the lesser of all the evils, I¡¯ll work with you.¡±
At that, he departed and left me alone with Frieda and Sasha. Shortly after, Jacqueline ushered in Lord Alriss and Captain Benji. I fixed my face and prepared to move on.
I never thought I would miss [Cold Hearted].
¡°Captain, Sir Alriss. Thank you for coming. There has been a development.¡±