《A Broken World [Dropped Pending Rewrite]》


 Chapter One - A New World

    ***Year 0, 4th era, day one of the First Quarter***


    -The city of Uri-


    "We can''t hold out much longer!" A knight shouts over the din of steel clashing with claw and fang, "We must-!"


    His words becomes shrieks as a Firgue Demon heaves and pukes a sticky substance over him that ignites when the monster snaps its mouth shut to create a spark.


    The Knight Captain grits his teeth as the knight screams, rolling and flailing on the floor until the captain puts a sword through the dying man''s helmet to end his misery.


    "Hold until the ritual is complete!" The captain shouts, "This battle determines the fate of humanity!"


    These knights are elites from all the remaining human countries on the continent, as the third era was coming to a close, they were gathered along with priests, paladins, sorcerors, and mages to perform a daring raid. To breakthrough the frontlines of the Demon War and escort the high level cardinals from the church to perform "The Millenial Summoning" in the Grand Hall in the lost city of Uri.


    No human had been within one hundred miles, much less set foot in, the city since it was lost too The Demon King in the 12th year of the third era. The knights were exhausted, fighting in the ruins of a once mighty city, grander than anything humans could create in this age. The priests had withdrawn to help perform the ritual, and the magic users had spent all their mana and could no longer cast spells.


    Nevertheless, they had to hold on. The knights and paladins on the front line would go down fighting, praying for success.


    "Hold the line!" The Captain shouted, "We must hold this place to the last breath, and beyond!"


    "For humanity." he whispered, stepping up to the front line himself to bolster his flagging soldiers.


    -Grand Hall, former Headquarters of the Church, Uri-


    The Cardinals chant had continued for hours, the magic circle, carved into the marble was glowing. That glow has grown steadily since the ritual had begun at midnight and as noon approached it was almost difficult to look at.


    At the four compass points stood a young man or woman, who with trembling hands would cut their hands every hour and add their blood to the circle. All of them were royalty descended from the four children of the Dawn Kingdom who performed this ritual with the Heroes at the begining of history.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    In the middle of the circle knelt a man, his arms and legs bound, shackled to the ground with a hood tied over his head.


    An unfortunate, but neccesary sacrafice, is what they told themselves in an attempt to ease their own consciouses.


    The hall was large, nearly 40 square meters in area with a soaring, vaulted ceiling all made out of pristine white marble. Even though Uri, and indeed, most of the headquarters lay in ruins, the magic of this room endured through time and the obvious attempts of the demons to destroy it. Even now demons pressed against the stained glass windows, which portrayed scenes from the Hero''s journies and the history of humanity, scratching and screeching, trying to claw their way in.


    As noon arrived, the chant reached its crescendo, and the hall was flooded with light.


    -somewhere in the modern world-


    Lucas was in a cold sweat as he waited for the banker to make a decision, he tried to hide it to the best of his abillity, but he knew he wasn''t fooling anyone with his shity acting. Then again, a part of his mind said that surely anyone would be anxious in this situation, he had spent two decades, three if you counted the time when as a child of eight, he decided to grow up and be a scientist, working towards this goal.


    Working a full time job, while attending school full time, they said it couldnt be done. And if he was honest, they were right, Lucas had suffered from poor health for years. Even a naturally gifted physique is nothing compared to the ravages of fourteen to twenty hour days and minimal sleep for years.


    But Lucas had the knowledge and the degrees to persue his dream, commercial gene therapy.


    Love dogs, but happen to be allergic to the breed you like? No problem, a bit of a splice, a shot and presto, a hypoallergenic golden retriever.


    Blue roses? Done, and as an added service they produce their own insectside so you never have to worry about pests.


    Corn that produces butter and salt inside the kernel to allow for buttered popcorn, without actually adding butter? If you can pay for it, we will make it.


    Or that is the goal anyway, then Lucas could use the funds from the commercial side to persue more serious scientific development.


    He shook his head lightly to clear it, he didnt want to get ahead of himself and have his hopes dashed by reality. Fortunately for him, the banker seemed on board.


    "I admit," the banker said as he leaned backward, having finished the documents in front of him. "I was very skeptical when I heard I first heard about this. I didn''t think technology had progressed so far as to let this be possible, but your application was thorough and you certainly have the qualifications to back up your claims."


    He sighed, and Lucas silently prayed to whatever god would listen to an agnostic such as himself.


    "Alright," the banker moved forward and took a pen, signing the document in front of him. "Honestly, I dont know if you will make it, but if you do the bank stands to make a killing off this. And my suspiscion is that you will find a market for this somewhere."


    "Thank you sir," A wide smile was on Lucas face as he shook the bankers hand, "You wont regret this!"


    He was practically humming as he took the elevator down and headed through the automatic doors out to the parking lot, the plan for his life crystalizing before his eyes.


    And then everything went white.

 Chapter Two - A Frightful World

    It was dark. But, through the darkness were pinpricks of light... No, it was a hood over his head, light poking through the coarse fibers that scratched his face. Lucas tried to pull it off, but found he could hardly move. Where these... Shackles?


    "Wh- what the hell?" Lucas cried out, struggling against his restraints. They wouldnt budge, and through the hood he saw shadows... People? Moving about, talking in a language he couldnt understand. Strong hands grabbed his arms, and he thrashed wildly in a panic, absolutely terrified and confused.


    The hood was pulled off, and he squinted in surprise at the sudden brightness. In front of him was a beautiful young woman, dressed like old medival Europe nobility, with red hair and green eyes. What the hell kind of abductors were these? He guessed they were after the money he had just been loaned, but what the hell was a girl like this doing here? She couldnt have been older than seventeen, and why was she dressed like that?


    "Who are you people?" Lucas demanded, trying to speak forcefully. Perhaps a risky move in his posistion, but underneath his terror was anger, and faced with some young girl cosplayer, his pride would never let him back down. "What the hell do you want? The way the loan is set up, I couldnt give you the money even if I wanted to!"


    The girl ignored him, studying his face for a second before speaking to someone behind his in a different language. It sounded vaugely latin, but he couldn''t pick out any latin roots, and frankly Lucas''s language skills were limited to a very basic level. Lucas did not have the time or money to study them, much as he might have wished too.


    "Can you understand me?" Lucas shouted, "What do you want from me?"


    The unseen voice behind him, an older man by the sound of it, handed the girl some kind of collar. Rather than answering Lucas''s question, she lightly snapped it around his neck. At the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his right ear as something sharp was stabbed into the earlobe. Both his ear and neck felt suddenly hot, then the collar... And whatever the hell they had stabbed him with seemed to turn ice cold for a momment, before the sensation faded.


    "Ahh, what the fuck?" Lucas yelled, the pain wasn''t bad, but the surprise would have caused him to jump had he not been held so securely.


    "Greetings Lord Hero," The girl in front of Lucas spoke, and although he could still hear the Latin-esque language, he somehow understood it.


    "I am Terrasin deVon Almistraus," she continued speaking in a musical voice. "The fourth princess of Almistis, and it is the tradition of my family to welcome you to our world."


    "Wait, what are you talking about?" Lucas said, before realizing that they couldnt understand him anyway. However...


    "Unfortunately, this is not the place to explain." Terrasin glanced to the side, anxiety clearly written in her young face, "And so I beg your forgiveness for now, for we must flee."


    Lucas became aware of the sounds of screams and what sounded like steel hitting steel. Additionally, he noticed he was in a beautiful marble room, with a stunningly intricate pattern carved on the floor and beautiful stained glass win- His eyes widened with shock.


    "What the hell is that thing!"


    There was a shadow on the other side of the window, clearly trying to claw its way in. A shadow that didnt corespond to any living creature he knew of, and as a biologist and gentecist, Lucas prided himself on his knowledge of the species of the world. But the silhouette was large, a five legged monster with two wings... No... probably four legs and a specialised prehensile tail of some kind...


    He must be going into shock, Lucas couldnt keep focus even as the two people who had been restraining him began to undo his bindings. Like the girl... princess... Whatever she was, they were dressed like they came straight out of medival Europe, in light armor of leather and chain mail, with leather caps studded with iron, and broad swords at their waist.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Lucas barely registered that his arms were still bound behind his back as he was pulled up and away through the crowd of robed priest-like people, leather and chain armored soldiers, and plate armored knights. At this point, his mind has pretty much given up and Lucas was fairly convinced he was hallucinating.


    "The ritual is complete!" Shouted one of the knights, he was distinguished from the rest by his ornate silver armor. Which was resplendent with gold accents and beautifully crafted, in his dazed state Lucas wrote off the fact that the armor seemed to glow from within as part of his mental breakdown. "Reform the lines and prepare to breakthrough the center!"


    As he was pulled from the beautiful room by the two soldiers, Lucas revised his opinion. He hadnt been kidnapped, clearly he had died, and this was Hell.


    Outside the hall he had awoken in, everything was in ruins. Through holes in the scorched and scarred walls, Lucas could see the ruins of a majestic city, or once majestic city. The ruins showed less the effects of age, but more the results of pillaging and defilement. Blasted manors, castles, and residences stretched out through the gaps... All of which were covered in layers of filth and dirt, shattered beyond hope of repair.


    The floor was slick with blood, and as he was pulled forward behind the soldiers, Lucas nearly tripped over the fallen bodies that littered the corridor. Their armor had been rent to pieces, and a few were little more than charcoal and ash. The smell was horrendous, and only years of dealing with the fluids used to preserve specimens for dissection prevented Lucas from throwing up then and there.


    Suddenly, the guard on his left screamed as a tentacle wrapped around his leg from a hole in the floor, bruttaly pulling him into it. The hole was small, and the guard too large to pass through. But whatever was on the other side had inhuman strength, and as he guards screams turned to shrieks he fell back from the hole, not so much released from the tentacle as released from his leg. His limb had been pulled apart at the join and he lay on the ground writhing as the remaining guard pulled Lucas forward.


    "Yeah," Lucas breathed, "this is hell." His mind could handle no more, and he passed out.


    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    "My lady," Cardinal Gorra was out of breath, but fear and duty keep the old man moving as the guards pushed forward. "The Hero seems to have lost consciousness, we must regroup with the main force and have a healer attend him."


    She frowned, "The traditions passed down by my familiy say that the summoning weakens the Hero for a while, so long as we keep him from injury he should recover."


    Terrasin cursed those traditions in her head as her long skirts caught on the jagged edge of broken armor and she nearly tripped. She envied the soldiers who could wear pants and boots, though she did admit to herself she thought of such things as a way to distract from the horror around her.


    She had been born for this duty after all, the Almistrauses were not just one of the four families that held the blood of the ritual, but they led and guided them. Which was why even though Terrasin deVon Almistraus was a woman, Cadinal Gorra showed respect to her.


    Finally they left the old palace and made it to the courtyard, its paving stones cracked with evil and unhealthy looking weeds poking through the gaps. Terrasin said a silent prayer of thanks to the Gods that the detachment of soldiers and paladins here had held out. From the back, a sorceror cast a spell, throwing a fireball into the teeming mass of demons that battled against the soldiers at the front.


    Over the screeches and calls of the monsters, the rythmic chanting of the Paladins, who called unceasingly to their Gods for aid, could be heard. Their swords wreathed in brilliant white flames carving the horde to pieces, used the gap caused by the exsplosion too push further forward, slaughtering the demons with near contemptous ease.


    As the Princess hurried to the waiting carriage, specially armored and enchanted for this purpose, with knights and paladins mounted on horses nearby to escort it out, she could not help the tears that fell from her eyes.


    Terrasin knew, no matter how valiantly those men fought, no matter how they slaughtered the demons, they would face wave after wave until they were dead, and that there role now was nothing but to be bait and die to allow the Cardinals and the scions of the Four Families, to escape with the Hero.


    The Hero was very nearly thrown into the carriage by the guard who had carried him, who then slammed the door and joined the knights serving as bait. Terrasin and Lady Amelia (another one of the scions) layed the Hero gently on the seats of the carriage.


    As the carriage began to move, pulled by a team of warhorses in enchanted armor, she could only pray looking down at the unconsciouss Hero.


    "Lord Hero, please be worth this sacrafice."

 Chapter Three - A Suspect World

    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    Terrasin and Lady Versi entered the carriage and the guard laid the unconscious hero on the seats  on the other side.  Surrounded by heavy cavalry, armored, enchanted, and drawn by a train of warhorses, the carriage had been built specifically for this task.  Had Lucas been awake it likely would have reminded him of a tank, albeit a much more gaudy and luxurious one.


    Lady Versi, along with Lord Aln and Lord Jont were also scions of their bloodlines, the two lords eschewed the carriage to join the cavalry guarding it.  Terrasin personally couldn¡¯t understand how they could risk it, it took all of her will to maintain the decorum of a princess during this whole dangerous adventure.  If she had to fight as well¡­  Terrasin shuddered.


    Despite the thunder of hooves the occasional scream of man and horse, or the shrieks of trampled demons, could be heard through the reinforced walls of the carriage.  Versi flinched, as the carriage bounced, clearly running over some fallen body.  It was impossible to say whether it was human or demon, and the knights would not stop for whoever fell.


    ¡°Your Highness,¡± Lady Archi deVon Versi was from the kingdom of Adelade, which often competed with the kingdom of Almistraus, but addressed Terrasin with respect regardless.  Were it any other situation, the princess would have been quite taken with her manners, but currently it was all she could do to respond in kind.  So long as Versi spoke with decorum, as a representative of her kingdom Terrasin had to do the same.  No matter that she would just as soon throw all of it away until they were safely home.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Considering the trials we went through to reach the city, perhaps we should discuss a change in our route.¡±


    Terrasin almost frowned, but prevented her lips from pulling downwards as she kept up the mask of the court.  ¡°There is no place safer than past the wall.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, but if we fail to reach it¡­¡± Versi was trying to get them to divert from their current path, which would lead them through the demon controlled lands to the Amaranthine Line and to instead journey to her Father¡¯s territory, a Duchy belonging to the kingdom of Francinea.  During the journey outward they had been plagued by large forces of demons harassing them, constantly eating away at their numbers and morale, including the loss of multiple carts of foodstuffs.


    While the Duchy was closer, it lacked the protection of Almistraus, which was guarded by the Amaranthine Line, a great Wallcity that stretched from the Iron Mountains to the Frosted Mountains, preventing the demons from encroaching into the territory.  The wall itself was massive, and was called a Wallcity because the cities and towns along its length had been incorporated into its structure during construction.  Now, the wall truly was one large and long city, as well as the first line of defense of the kingdom.


    On the other hand, the Duchy could only rely upon its patrols and the front line strongholds to defend its land.  Demons would slip in and cause chaos for a time until they were hunted down, and not a year went by that many people did not die from such raids.


    Further, Terrasin suspected this to be a political move.  Despite the importance of the Versi Familiy, unlike the Almistrauses, they were merely a Ducal line and despite her etiquette, Versi likely had an eye to put one of her elder brothers on the throne.


    Fortunately, Terrasin was saved from an immediate response when the Hero stirred on the seat across from her.

 Chapter Four - An Illusive World

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    He was moving,was he in a car?  Every time there was a bump Lucas¡¯s head would be knocked against the seat he was on, there must have been a larger jolt earlier if the pain on the side of his head was anything to go by. Groaning,he tried to sit up.


    Lucas soon found that he was still bound, and as he became more aware of his surroundings, he realized that he had not simply been dreaming.


    A woman, across from him helped him sit up.  ¡°Lord Hero, you are awake.  How are you feeling?¡±  Beside her was the red haired cosplayer he had seen earlier, but what caught Lucas¡¯s attention was that the words she said did not match the movement of her lips.


    ¡°How¡­¡± he began, but swallowed his curiosity and asked the more pertinent question, ¡°Where am I and who are you?¡±


    ¡°I am Archi deVon Versi, daughter of Duke Versi from the kingdom of Francea.¡±  She spoke in an extremely refined and proper fashion, but the disconnect between her words and lips was starting to scare Lucas to some degree, she continued her introduction, either ignoring or not noticing his unease.


    Gesturing to the red-haired girl beside her, ¡°This is Her Highness, Princess Terrasin deVon Almistraus, fourth princess of Almistis.  We are currently leaving the ruins of Von Polisa, might I inquire into your name, Lord Hero?¡±


    Lucas was taken aback by this platinum haired woman in front of him, despite being quite pretty in a slim sort of way, the way her mouth moved was so odd he could think of little else.  It almost did not seem real¡­


    ¡°...Lucas.¡±  He answered hesitantly, as he realized that this probably isnt real at all.  Looking around he appeared to be in a carriage, something he only recognized from movies and history books talking to two women who identified themselves as royalty of countries he was fairly sure never existed.  This could not be happening, ergo, it wasn¡¯t.


    With that logic, Lucas decided he must be hallucinating.  Except that this level of vivid detail, encompassing every one of his senses and obviously replacing the entire world around him would be quite rare.  Perhaps he had been kidnapped and drugged?  But to what purpose¡­ In this state he wouldn¡¯t be capable of handing over the loan money even if the loan allowed him to.


    It had been silent for a while, the two women seemed to be expecting more, but Lucas had no reason to care if this wasn¡¯t real.  That said, he couldn¡¯t be sure that it wasn¡¯t¡­  As Descartes said, ¡°cogito ergo sum.¡±  Which leads to the natural conclusion that the world exists only as we observe it.  What Lucas sees as red may look completely different to someone else if he could step into their mind, but that was a moot point.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°...Well Lord Lucas,¡± Princess Terrasin broke the silence, ¡°Please let me welcome you and thank you for coming to our world.¡±  She inclined her head in a slight bow.


    ¡°You said ¡®our world,¡¯ no nevermind that.¡±  Lucas shook his head to clear it, one thing at a time.  ¡°Why is it that your words do not match how your lips move?¡±


    ¡°The Earing of Word is translating our words for you of course,¡±  She replied without hesitation, ¡°And the Band of Speaking on your neck is translating your words for us.  In the past it took years for the Heroes to communicate with the people of this world, these relics were created to save us that time.¡±


    Lucas stared at her for a moment.  ¡°So let me get this straight,¡± he began taking a deep breath.  ¡°You appear to be claiming that this is a different world than my own, that it has magic, and given the language you are using, that you believe I am some type of hero?¡±


    The two women glanced between each other, a bit taken aback by his lack of manners and sudden calm attitude.  ¡°Well, yes.  We have performed The Millennial Summoning to bring you, Lord Lucas, our hero to this wor-¡±


    Not bothering to let her finish Lucas laughed, ¡°Well at least it''s good to know that I am definitely hallucinating!  I knew I had a decent imagination, but honestly this surprises even me.¡±


    ¡°Hallucinating?¡±  Terrasin was surprised, ¡°This is very real Lord Lucas, we are in desperate need of your help.¡±


    Lucas just laughed again, judging by his surroundings and the fact he couldnt move his arms, he was betting he was restrained in some kind of vehicle.  Probably he had been knocked out as he exited the bank packed into a van somewhere and drugged up.


    ...Come to think of it, the fact he was laughing thinking about that proved that his mental state was abnormal.  Aside from certain perverts, would anyone react so calmly to realizing they were tied up in the back of a van somewhere drugged out of their minds?


    The girl opened her mouth to continue speaking, but Lucas interrupted her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother, I have no reason to continue talking to a figment of my imagination.¡±  Lucas sighed, honestly considering his situation, he debated just going along with it for a while.  After all, he probably was going to end up in a shallow ditch somewhere right?  Might as well enjoy the drugs while they lasted, but in the end he could not abandon his mind and reason.  Lucas had pride, perhaps even hubris, if he was honest with himself.  He was not going to spend his final moments talking to imaginar-


    Suddenly, the carriage jerked wildly, and the driver screamed at the top of his lungs.  Seemingly out of nowhere, a massive spike tore through the top of the carriage and struck Lucas in the arm.


    Lucas screamed in pain, having lived a life in a modern world in a developed country, pain was a rarity for him.  And all of a sudden he saw his blood spray out from his shoulder and felt the burning pain as the spike¡­ No, its some type of claw, he realized blurly, his mind somewhat disconnected from his screaming body.  Pinned him to the wall of the carriage.  But this wealth of sensations¡­  Lucas doubted any drug could induce something so vivid¡­


    ¡°This is real¡­¡± He breathed, and then he screamed again as the claw was brutally pulled back, dropping his body to the floor.

 Chapter Five - A Bloody World

    As the claw was yanked back it also took the roof of the carriage off with it, the two ladies across from Lucas screamed and fear and covered their heads as bits of wood and metal flew through the air.  Surprisingly, the carriage wobbled but neither stopped nor collapsed.


    Without the roof, Lucas caught a glimpse of a horrible monster standing nearly six meters (20ft) tall.  It appeared to him as some kind of horrible cross between a praying mantis and a shark, with two appendages ending in spikes like a mantis but the head and rows of teeth like a shark.  The carriage sped away, leaving the ferocious monster behind them.


    Lucas blood was now forming a puddle on the floor, and judging by the pain the claw had shattered a bone or two in his shoulder. But he couldn¡¯t do anything about it with his hands bound behind him.


    ¡°One of you get something to cover this!¡±  He shouted, even as he tried to remind himself to calm down.  The more scared he became, the more his heart would beat and the faster he would bleed out.  In many respects, Lucas felt it was happening to someone else, as if he was separated from his body and just watching it from the side.  What a curious phenomena, he thought to himself, it certainly made it easier to control himself but probably also meant he had been so badly injured he was approaching a state of shock.


    ¡°But we don¡¯t have any-¡±  The one called Versi began to stutter, clearly terrified by the scene in front of her.


    ¡°For fucks sake,¡± Lucas had never really been the most polite person, and right now there wasn¡¯t time.  ¡°Tear the hem off your dress and press it into the wound firmly.  Do it now!¡±


    His sudden order broke through her hesitation, and Versi stumbled towards him and managed to rip a piece off the bottom of her dress.  Realizing that Lucas had two holes in his body, Terrasin helped lift him up to do the same for his back.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°Shit.¡±  Lucas swore as he felt the sting.  He wasn¡¯t a medical expert, but as a geneticist and biologist he had a broad understanding of how living organisms functioned.  Properly treated, he could probably survive this, but if Lucas accepted this world as real it would mean he had somehow been transported to a world with pre-industrial technology.  Granted that could mean anything from villages with mud huts and grass roofs to something like the Roman Empire, but it was doubtful they had any real medical care.


    ¡°Milady, are you alright?¡±  It seemed the carriage driver was shouting back to them.


    ¡°The Hero has been injured,¡±  Terrasin shouted back over the wind, ¡°How long until we reach the camp?¡±


    ¡°I can see the banners,¡± the reply was tinged with relief.  ¡°We should be there soon!¡±


    ¡°We have a surgeon back at camp,¡± Versi said reassuringly.  ¡°Just please hold on, Lord Hero.¡±


    Frankly, Lucas would not trust a surgeon from a world with this level of technology even if they were trying to save his life, he¡¯d probably just end up dying an in even more horrible way from infection. But he ignored that for now, Lucas would just direct his treatment himself.  He was a certified first responder, or at least he was for several years until he decided not to keep up the training for it¡­  Too late for regret, he supposed.


    ¡°Why do you keep calling me ¡®Hero?¡¯¡± He asked instead.  ¡°And how did I even get here?¡±


    Where this was could wait until after he wasn¡¯t bleeding out, but Lucas felt he had to have the answer to those two questions.


    Terrasin answered immediately, clearly wanting to answer these two questions.


    ¡°We summoned you to this world with the Millennial Summoning ritual,¡± she spoke earnestly, and the expression made her already pretty face seem to shine.  ¡°As you are the Summoned Hero who will save this world from demons.¡±


    Lucas just started laughing, not a good thing to do with broken bones and blood soaking into the expensive pieces of fabric the two ladies were using to staunch his bleeding.  But really, how else could he respond to something so ludicrous?

 Chapter Six - A Rude World

    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    Terrasin could feel the Hero¡¯s blood on her hands, soaking through the torn cloth of her dress.  This sticky warmth, combined with the Heroes sudden laughter, unnerved her greatly.  Thankfully, they had finally reached the camp, Lady Versi was ordering the driver to call for a surgeon as soon as they arrived.


    Few people trusted surgeons, and the church considered their profession to be borderline blasphemy.  To defy the call of death was heresy they claimed, and the proof was that so many died anyway as God of Death exerted his will.  But there was no choice, and so Terrasin prepared to lift the Hero and carry him to the surgery tent, but she was interrupted.


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother,¡± The Hero had stopped laughing finally, ¡°Your ¡°surgeon¡± may as well treat me here.¡±


    ¡°We need to move you to the surgeons te-¡±


    The Hero interrupted her immediately, despite the circumstances, she could not help thinking he was terribly rude!


    ¡°I will lose more blood being moved, and frankly I don¡¯t trust any ¡®surgeon¡¯ of yours.  Can¡¯t you use magic or something?¡±


    ¡°Healing magic is just a fairytale,¡± Lady Versi scolded, annoyed at the sarcasm she heard in the Hero¡¯s voice.  ¡°Any adult should know that our body is a blessing from the Gods, beyond mortal comprehension.¡±


    ¡°Oi, driver!¡±  The Hero didn¡¯t even bother to respond, and addressed the driver instead!  Was this rude, almost barbaric man the Hero Terrasin had spent her life preparing for?


    ¡°Lord Hero?¡± The driver was nervous suddenly being addressed, ¡°How can I-¡±


    ¡°I really don¡¯t have time for this, you have alcohol in this camp right?¡±


    ¡°Lord Hero?¡±  The driver was confused by the sudden request.


    ¡°Just bring a fucking bottle over, the higher the alcohol content the better!¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Terrasin frowned, but didn¡¯t judge.  Many surgeons had their patients drink to reduce the pain, after all.


    The surgeon rushed to the carriage with his bag and attendants in tow.


    ¡°This is him?¡±  The surgeon asked, pulling open his bag to get his needles and thread, calling for the attendants to prepare bandages.


    ¡°You, don¡¯t move another step.¡±  Terrasin was surprised by the sudden sharpness in the Hero¡¯s tone.  She saw that the surgeon also was taken aback.


    ¡°You are the Lord Hero, yes?¡±  The surgeon replied, ¡°Just from what I can see here, that wound is dangerous.  Without my help, you will die.¡±


    ¡°Ha!¡±


    The Hero barked a laugh and then gritted his teeth in pain, ¡°With your help I will probably die anyway!¡±


    ¡°Lord Hero,¡± The driver returned, barely able to speak as he was out of breath from running.  ¡°I brought wine for you.¡±


    ¡°Lord Hero, I must stitch your wou-¡±  The surgeon began again, but the Hero paid no attention.


    ¡°First, my name is Lucas, saying ¡®Lord Hero¡¯ is tiresome and stupid.¡±  Lucas said, again giving Terrasin reason to remind herself that he was wounded, and to excuse his terribly barbaric manners.  ¡°Second, I don¡¯t want an infection.  Did you sterilize your tools?¡±


    ¡°Sterilize?¡±  The word wasn¡¯t translated by the enchanted items, which would only occur if there wasn¡¯t a word for it in their language.  Terrasin knew of this property but had never seen it before.


    ¡°I¡¯ll explain later when I¡¯m not bleeding out,¡± Lucas waved his other hand dismissively and gestured to the surgeons tools.  ¡°Splash the wine over your tools, including the bandages and your hands.  Don¡¯t argue, just fucking do it.  Then take the remainder and pour it on the wound, and driver.¡±  He yelled at the driver who had brought the wine, ¡°get me something like a horsebit, but wash it with the wine before you give it to me.¡±


    ¡°Lord Lucas,¡± Lady Versi said cautiously, ¡°What is the purpose of all this?¡±


    Terrasin could not understand it either, but then, no one understood either of the two other Heroes when they were summoned either, but then, they displayed their powers soon after.


    ¡°It would take too long to explain, and I don¡¯t have the time.¡±


    ¡°Milord, I brought the bit that you requested¡­¡±


    ¡°Perfect,¡± He took the bit and gestured the flustered surgeon over.  ¡°After I bite into this rinse the wound with the wine then stitch it up.¡±


    The surgeon nodded and Terrasin watched as Lord Lucas bit on the piece of wood and leather and wine was splashed onto the wound as she and Lady Versi withdrew.


    The noise Lucas made when the wine touched the wound was less a grunt and more of a scream muffled by the bit, but he didn¡¯t move his arm an inch and let the surgeon begin to stitch up the wound.  Given the sounds he was making, Terrasin guessed he was cursing even with the bit in his mouth.


    Oh Gods, she prayed, what kind of Hero is this?

 Chapter Seven - A Permanent World

    *Sir Carsin Forus*


    Sir Carsin Forus pushed through the crowd that surrounded the mangled carriage.  He had heard that the summoning was a success, but as one of the two Knight Captains, no¡­  As the only remaining Knight Captain now that his colleague has sacrificed his life, he could not help but wonder if this Hero could possibly be worth it.


    Barely any of the soldiers in the vanguard returned, a force twice the size of what remained in camp had been wiped out all for one man.  Carsin could only think of it as a waste when the front lines were already pressured so heavily.  In fact, as a Knight Captain of Francea and a servant of the Versi family, he knew that in many regards the line was broken in his kingdom.  Outside of the walled strongholds anyone who traveled without a strong convoy was asking for death.


    Finally pushing to the front of the crowd his heart nearly stopped when he saw Lady Versi covered in blood and he rushed towards her.


    ¡°Milady!¡±  Carsin literally threw one of the surgeons attendants out of the way, demonstrating the sheer power of his enchanted plate armor as he ran towards his liege¡¯s side.  ¡°Why have you not been attended?¡±


    Lady Almistraus was also covered in blood, but if she died he would not shed any tears.  It would likely be a boon to the Versi¡¯s, if a small one since she was merely the fourth princess.


    ¡°Calm yourself Sir Forus,¡± His ladies voice was clear and steady.  ¡°I am uninjured, this is not my blood.¡±


    He let out the breath he hadn¡¯t realized he had been holding as he ordered a squire to fetch the ladies attendants and prepare a bath.  Even in the midst of enemy territory the noble families could not let their appearances falter after all.


    With Lady Versi, (and Lady Almistraus, even though he had hoped she was actually injured) being taken away by squires and servants to change their ruined clothes and be cleaned, he spared a glance for the so called ¡°Hero¡± that the surgeon was working on.


    Why is there wine here?  Sir Forus wondered, but did not question it much.  After all, a swig of alcohol could help reduce pain even if Sir Forus himself considered it to be something for the weaker willed.  As a Knight Captain he had sworn to abstain from drinking until he retired, even for medicinal purposes.  He had to be alert for any danger.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    However, a quick glance at the Hero proved that he was unlikely to be any real danger, at least physically.  Although he was stunningly tall, nearly two meters (a little taller than six foot) he was thin, almost scrawny when compared to a trained knight.  The Hero¡¯s black hair was incredibly well-kept, hinting that he was perhaps a member of the nobility as no peasant could afford the tools required for hair to be that smooth.  (when you consider the fact that the most basic three in one bath product would be considered a miracle in the medieval era.)  Another indication of status was his bright grey eyes, not nearly as dull as the common folks.


    That said, even with the bit in his mouth, Sir Forus was mostly impressed by the variety and intensity of his swearing.  A Knight Captain was still a soldier, and he had to admit he had never heard such colorful descriptions before, he would have to remember a few of these.


    As the surgeon finished and the Hero spit out the bit, Carsin approached the Hero to introduce himself.


    ¡°Lord Hero, I-¡±


    ¡°Oh for fuck¡¯s sake,¡± the Hero interrupted, still panting from the pain of the stitching.  ¡°My name is Lucas, why the hell is everyone calling me hero?¡±


    ¡°My apologies, Lord Lucas.¡±  Carsin made a slight bow thinking that Lucas had to be from the nobility, as no one else would be so rude to a knight.  ¡°I am Knight Captain Carsin Forus of the Kingdom of Francea, and I welcome your aid against the demonic hordes.¡±


    Personally, Carsin did not put any real faith in a thousand year old magic ritual, but his duty was more important than his personal thoughts.  To his surprise, however, Lucas laughed.


    ¡°Those things I saw were demons, yes?  How precisely do you expect me to help you?¡±


    Carsin shifted uncomfortably, unsure how to answer.  He chose his words carefully, ¡°According to legend, the ritual has brought forth a Hero every thousand years who has given us power to fight the demons.  The power of the Gods and the knowledge of Magic are said to have been brought over by Heros from long ago.¡±


    Lord Lucas just stared at him like he was crazy, then shook his head, appearing to try and clear his thoughts.


    ¡°Nevermind, forget I asked.  More importantly, what do I need to do for you to send me back?¡±


    ¡°Milord, that is impossible.¡±


    Lucas¡¯s glare was ferocious enough that even the battle hardened Knight Captain took a step back.


    ¡°What do you mean by impossible?¡±


    ¡°All the legends agree, once a Hero has been summoned there is no way for the Hero to return.  No matter how the Gods are prayed to, and no matter what magic is used, the Hero cannot return.¡±

 Chapter Eight - A Useless World

    *Lucas*


    Lucas heard what the knight said, but he could barely process it.  Having been abducted into another world, rushed through a battlefield, stabbed by a monster, and then stitched back together by a ¡°surgeon¡± who didn¡¯t understand the necessity of clean tools, honestly it was understandable that he would be confused.  But this latest blow was almost too much.


    ¡°So ¡®sir¡¯ Forus,¡± Lucas grimaced as the surgeon bound his broken shoulder and put his arm in a sling to prevent him from moving too much.  ¡°I cannot return to my world?¡±


    ¡°That is correct Lord.¡±


    ¡°And therefore I am stuck in this forsaken wasteland?¡±


    The Knight, Carsin Forus, or whatever his name was frowned.  ¡°No Milord, soon we will break camp and be heading towards the kingdom of Almistis, though I would advise the Lord Commander to head to Francea instead¡­¡±


    Lucas ignored the implied politics for now, leaning back and closing his eyes.  His life had finally been coming together, and now he was here, wherever ¡°here¡± was.  There were monsters, magic, and humans and apparently the humans had used the magic to summon him to fight monsters.  He tried to control his breathing and fight down the rising panic, working through the situation logically.


    Physics wasn¡¯t his specialty, but realistically speaking if you move something from point A to point B then there must be a medium by which it transfers.  Presumably, if this medium functions as a separation between worlds then it is likely a so called ¡°fourth dimension,¡± and the world has at least seven.  Three for the physical world that he was born in, three for this world, and one that connects the two.


    Or he could just be completely wrong and he was spouting bullshit, he was a biologist damn it not a physicist.


    Opening his eyes, he looked at the knight in front of him, who had been standing there rather uncomfortably waiting for Lucas to continue speaking.  The armor he wore was quite ornate, in fact one could call it beautiful, or from a more practical perspective it could be called wasteful.  Every piece of ornamentation would only serve to add to the already heavy armors weight after all.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°And what, precisely, do you people want from me?¡±  Lucas had a general idea, and frankly it would terrify him if he was not so angry for these people ruining his life.  Still, he needed to confirm it.


    ¡°Your aid against the demons,¡± Sir Forus replied without hesitation.  ¡°The summoning is supposed to bring a Hero with great power into the world.  In the past, the power of the Gods and Magic were brought here by Heroes summoned through ritual.¡±


    Lucas just started laughing, and then gritted his teeth as the laughter caused his broken bones to hurt.  He could not help himself, really, it was too much.


    The sudden laughter startled the knight, who seemed even more uncomfortable and nervous.


    ¡°Well then,¡± Lucas said, still chuckling and wincing.  ¡°Given what you consider a ¡°surgeon¡± I can probably teach you people some things, but I cannot fight worth a damn.  I am a scientist, not a soldier.¡±


    ¡°Scientist?¡±  Sir Forus was confused, apparently he had never heard the term before.


    ¡°A biologist, to be precise.¡±  Lucas explained, ¡°A person who studies life and tries to understand it.  And while it might be a stereotype of scientists, in general, its a person who has about as much combat ability as a kitten.¡±


    The knight seemed perturbed by that statement, and asked, ¡°Then what use are you?¡±


    ¡°Why are you asking me?¡± Lucas replied, his mirth turning into anger.  ¡°You people abducted me, even if I could help you, why would I?¡±


    The knight lost his temper at this question, ¡°The fate of humanity depends on it!  Everyone who can contribute, must!¡±


    Lucas just laughed, ¡°I hate to break this to you, but humanity will do just fine regardless.  After all, I the world I came from is populated by humans.  Your survival or death means little to my world.¡±


    ¡°The demons will consume your world next!  They are like locusts feeding on all that is!¡±  The knight was flat out shouting now, and the surgeon had quietly snuck away to get out of the crossfire.  Lucas briefly considered that provoking a heavily armed and armored knight when he himself had lost a lot of blood and had a broke bones was likely not a good idea, but he was too angry to care.


    ¡°Ha!  Given your level of technology I don¡¯t think any country in my world would care if they invaded.  If you can fight them, my world could crush them.¡±


    ¡°Cease this bickering,¡± A young man dressed in fine clothes rode up to the scene.  He had a silver and gold circlet resting on top of his wavy brown hair.  ¡°Sir Forus, I expected better behavior from you.¡±


    ¡°My apologies, Lord Moru.¡±  Sir Forus bowed as deeply as his armor would allow to the newcomer.

 Chapter Nine - A Decimated World

    Lucas was vaguely aware that this ¡°Lord Moru,¡± had been one of the ones who had been part of the ¡°Summoning Ritual,¡± which didn¡¯t leave him with the best impression to begin with. Nevertheless, Lucas was starting to calm down slightly, and realizing that he had probably left a bad impression himself. If he held his breath for an apology from these people he would probably faint. After all, they seemed like they had technology and government of medieval Europe, a time when the idea of ¡°equality¡± or ¡°the value of human life,¡± did not exist.


    ¡°Well Mr. Moru,¡± Lucas deliberately left out Moru¡¯s title, as he gritted his teeth and got to his feet. He would be polite, but he would be damned if he would bow to these glorified kidnappers. ¡°Lead on to where or whomever I am supposed to be talking to.¡±


    Lord Moru frowned, but nodded his head and led Lucas to the command tent. Ladies Versi and Almistraus were there, in new clothes since their dresses were used to staunch Lucas¡¯s bleeding earlier. The Knight Captain Forus followed him in as well, and they were joined by an older man dressed up in gaudy robes with intricate designs sewed in gold thread over every square inch. This man was introduced as the ArchCardinal Simon, one of the two that served beneath the Pope.


    It was plain to Lucas that this tent had once been much more full, obviously many people had died to bring him here. It was a sobering thought, and as he considered it, his anger faded further. What kind of desperation would push people to this extreme? Lucas was not sure he wanted to know, but he doubted he would get a choice.


    Lord Moru cleared his throat, ¡°ArchCardinal, this is the Lord Hero, Lucas. We have succeeded in the summoning.¡±


    ¡°Those sacrifices will be honored in their next life,¡± Simon intoned grimly. ¡°They have brought us a chance of victory against the demonic forces, glory is theirs forever.¡±


    Lucas decided to interject here, ¡°I am not sure what you are expecting from me.¡± He should nip this in the bud early, ¡°I am a biologist, a scientist. I know nothing about demons, and less about magic. Frankly, I doubt I can help you in the way you think.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°Scientist? That word isn¡¯t translated, so we don¡¯t have a word for it¡­¡± Lady Almistraus questioned.


    ¡°The short answer is that I study life in an attempt to understand it,¡± Lucas replied. ¡°The long answer is that you don¡¯t have the education to actually understand what my job entails.¡± It sounded rude, but how the hell was he supposed to explain using viruses to change the genetic code within living organisms? You would need a high school level of biology to understand half the words Lucas used, and to actually roughly get what they meant put together would require several years of higher education. Real understanding of it was still an open frontier that Lucas had finally reached the bleeding edge of.


    ¡°So you are useless then,¡± Knight Captain Forus sneered, clearly he was not on board with the summoning to begin with. Coupled with Lucas¡¯s rudeness earlier, and Lucas realized he had probably made himself an enemy.


    ¡°Not necessarily.¡± Lucas sighed, until he could figure out a way back to his world he was stuck here. So he had to keep enough value to live a comfortable life and gain the resources to find a way to return. ¡°Given what I have seen there are many things I can do for you, how you use it is up to you.¡±


    Lady Versi gestured to keep the Knight Captain quiet, ¡°any aid you can give us is welcome, but if you cannot fight we are still stuck with how and where to go.¡±


    Lady Almistraus sighed, ¡°I believe that we should head towards Francea.¡±


    This announcement caused quite a bit of surprise among the gathered people. For a noble of Almistraus, an Almistraus in fact, to suggest such a thing¡­


    Lord Moru cleared his throat, ¡°Milady, are you certain?¡±


    Although Lucas did not know, the Ladies Versi and Almistraus and Lord Moru had also been accompanied by Lord Eric, who died in the flight from the city. With the death of most of the cardinals, two Knight Captains, and Lord Eric from the kingdom of Adelade, despite women being often considered lesser in society, Lady Almistraus had such a greater status than everyone around her that in the end it became her responsibility.


    Fortunately, even for a princess she was well liked, intelligent, and displayed humility and grace that made people not mind following her. Just that she let herself be addressed as ¡°lady¡± instead of ¡°princess,¡± or ¡°your highness,¡± was an example of how she refused to flaunt her status and title.


    And now she had suggested traveling to the land of her most bitter rivals.

 Chapter Ten - A Mapped World

    The land was generally referred to as ¡°Ulian,¡± to a person from the modern world, the best way to describe how it looked was that someone had taken Greece and Italy and mashed them into the bottom of Australia and then doubled the size of the resulting landmass.


    The northern part of the island was covered in dense rainforest, which gave way to grasslands and plains as you went south.  Towards the southern end of Ulian, temperate forests and snow would occur, though nowhere on the continent could be said to have a harsh winter.


    Furthermore, most of the land was fairly flat, with some notable exceptions.  There were two mountain ranges, and while they were short in length, they were breathtakingly high.  They formed in the southwest of Ulian, running in nearly parallel lines of each other.  A good way to think about them is to imagine the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains in the United States were brought close together and rotated ninety degrees.  Between these two ranges lay the land of Almistraus, and the people there named the northern range ¡°Heaven¡¯s wall¡± and the southern range ¡°Mortal¡¯s Wall.¡±


    The names were, as names go, fairly obvious.  ¡°Heaven¡¯s Wall¡± protected them from demonic invasion from the north and the ¡°Mortal¡¯s Wall¡± range protected them from human invasion from the south.  At the end of these ranges, Almistraus built a giant wall to connect the two and seal themselves off from the risk of invasion altogether, known as the Amaranthine Line.  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    South of the Mortal¡¯s Wall range was the kingdom of Adelade, a mostly nondescript country, but a remarkably stable one.  Adelade did not have a border exposed to the threat of demonic invasion, as it was bordered by Almistraus and the Mortal Wall to the north and the kingdom of Francinea to the east.  Francinea was situated in a vast plain that made it nearly impossible for it to keep its borders secure against demons totally, thus each and every city in Francinea was ringed in walls, the furthest of which would contain the farmland that supported the city inside the second wall.


    The two countries two on the southern peninsulas (the parts that looked like Italy and Greece) as well as the kingdom of Adelade all sent soldiers to Francinea to help guard the border and the cities within Francinea.  As a result, there had been many intermarriages between the kingdoms, and some were proposing doing away with their borders altogether and becoming one country.


    East of Francinea was the largest and most powerful country remaining in the world, which still claimed the name Ulian.  It was true that it did continue the Ulian royal line, but it was a tenuous line at best.  The king crowned nearly nine hundred years ago did have royal blood, but he was several times removed from the main family.  More importantly however, its new capital Haven, was both the headquarters of the Church and the Mage¡¯s College.  With a large amount of Paladins and Sorcerers, New Ulian was able to hold its borders secure, and even occasionally push back against the demonic invasions.  Though such pushes never lasted for long.


    As to what was north of these kingdoms that formed the human realm, not much was known anymore.  The plains were mapped all the way up to the Lost City of Uri, but beyond that was lost in the millenia of wars with demons.


    This was the new world Lucas found himself in.

 Chapter Eleven - A Deadly World

    *Terrasin deVon Alimistraus*


    Terrasin turned to Lucas, ¡°Are you capable of riding with your injury?¡±


    The Hero laughed, ¡°I cannot ride a horse at all, healthy or not.¡±


    The Knight Captain sneered, but Lady Versi kept him in line.  This was an unfortunate turn, if Lucas could ride they would have sent him ahead with the cavalry.  If he can¡¯t then the only solution is to have him ride in the last remaining carriage, which was faster than walking, but far slower than by horseback.  Terrasin was honestly starting to doubt whether or not this ¡°Hero¡± would be able to help at all, though the thought was close to blasphemy.


    Morale was a constant headache on the frontlines, humans could only face monsters for so long before their wills simply snapped.  But with the news of the summoning time coming closer, morale had been steadily increasing and the soldiers had been markedly more effective.  If the ¡°Hero¡± was useless, morale would likely plunge below where it was before.  Their greatest hope might end up destroying their spirits altogether.


    ¡°While it is not generally considered polite for a man to be in a ladies carriage,¡± Lord Moru was calm, despite this unpleasant discovery.  ¡°We do not particularly have a choice, so please ride with Ladies Almistraus and Versi, Lord Lucas.¡±


    ¡°I am not a Lord, but I suppose it beats walking.¡±


    Terrasin felt that Lucas had calmed slightly, and was less rude than before.  Having said that, the man was still unbelievably rude, to the point she considered that he was almost barbaric.


    Pushing her thoughts aside, Terrasin told the Knight Captain to prepare the forces to leave and led Lucas to the carriage they had arrived in.  While far more comfortable than the one that had made the escape from Uri, it lacked the armor and magical protections of the former.  Honestly, Terrasin wondered why anyone would worry about anything besides protections from demons on this trip, but noble culture would not bend far enough to let a Princess of Almistis ride in anything less than decadence.


    ¡°A few questions for you, Lady Terrasin.¡±  Lucas spoke calmly, and far more polite than Terrasin was expecting.  Lord Moru had whispered when they were leaving the tent that the Hero had not used his title, clearly mocking it in fact.  So it was even more of a surprise to hear him use her own.


    ¡°Please go ahead, Lord Lucas.  If it is within my knowledge to answer, I will.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°What are the survival rates for wounded soldiers on the battlefield?  How are they treated?¡±


    An odd question, but she supposed that he was worried about his own wound, which was understandable, if a little selfish.


    ¡°Once we reach Francinea, Lord Lucas, you will receive the best care available.  Even should fever overtake you, we will provide you treatment equivalent to the royal families.¡±


    He frowned at her response, ¡°I am not worried about myself, if its only this much I can perform the treatments myself from this point on.¡±  A knight opened the door to the carriage and they climbed in, waiting for Lady Versi to catch up.  ¡°Now if you would please answer the question.¡±


    ¡°Most court ladies would not know such information, as a daughter of the Four Families, I do have some idea.¡±  The education of the Four Families was not biased by gender as much as the rest of the nobility.  Each member had to be able to perform their duties no matter what their circumstances.  ¡°It varies greatly from battle to battle.  In the few fights amongst humans, the winner generally losses five out of every hundred, and the loser maybe sixteen out of every hundred.  But that is a merely an average, it can vary wildly.¡±


    ¡°Not much different than medieval Europe then¡­¡±  The Hero muttered, ¡°And against demons?¡±


    ¡°The war against demons is not made up of specific battles so much as it is a constant siege, so the casualties are not measured by battle but by year.  And it varies greatly from country to country.¡±


    Her own territory of Almistis, given the protection of the Amaranthine Line, had by far the least casualties.  Often times less than ten per hundred per year.  Ulian was slightly higher, maybe thirteen or fourteen per hundred, but with their paladins and mages they still held the line magnificently.


    On the other hand, Francinea lost nearly forty out of every hundred soldiers.  Where it not for the fact that the forces fighting there were backed by three other kingdoms, the sheer amount of deaths would have consumed the population already.  As it was, being conscripted to serve on the Francinea line was considered a death sentence.  In fact, Adelade sent criminals to the line with a promise that if they could survive for six years they would be freed.  In the five hundred years that policy had been in place, only one person had ever been freed out of the thousands of criminals sent to fight.


    The Hero listened to this carefully, ¡°And the main cause of death?¡±


    ¡°Disease.¡±  It was Lady Versi who answered as she climbed into the carriage, she must have caught the tail end of the conversation.  ¡°So long as a soldier does not receive a wound to their gut, our surgeons are capable of staunching the bleeding.  But many survive only to develop a fever and die later.  To be honest, we lose many of our soldiers to disease even before they enter combat.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±  The Hero was silent for a moment, ¡°What about civilians, how many children survive past the age of five?¡±


    ¡°I am not sure,¡±  Terrasin was confused and slightly uncomfortable with these questions, ¡°Most do, I think.  Maybe two in every three?¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±  The hero leaned back, then hissed as he accidentally put pressure on his wound.


    ¡°Why are you asking questions like these?¡±  Lady Versi asked curiously.  Terrasin too, wanted to know how the Hero would answer.

 Chapter Twelve - A Starving World

    *Lucas*


    Resisting the urge to grab his shoulder, Lucas ignored the two ladies confused looks as the carriage pulled forward.  He had a rough grasp of the situation he was in, even though it was ridiculous to the point of insanity.  These people summoned him with the expectation of getting a warrior of some sort, and they expected him to work miracles.  A fucking tall order to begin with, and the fact that he couldn¡¯t fight was the least of the reasons.


    Lucas was not particularly afraid of fighting, but he mostly viewed it as pointless.  Why bother to learn martial arts in a world that had guns?  Not that he had ever even held a gun, a diagnosis of depression meant that getting a gun license was completely impossible for him.


    So he asked questions about their agriculture, disease rates, and nutrition.  Did they rotate their crops, what kind of crops did they rotate, how did they fertilize, where did they get their water, how much would a peasant eat in a day.  The ladies became increasingly confused, but Lucas became more and more confident that he could carve out a position for himself here.


    How would he meet their expectations and gain their support to find a way home? Lucas had a hero of his own to look up to for an example.


    In the modern world, Lucas got his degrees at the University of Minnesota in the United States.  He chose that school because it was the alma mater of  a man named Norman Borlaug, who, as far as Lucas was concerned, was the greatest human to have ever lived.


    When he died in 2009 he was credited for having saved over one billion lives due to his work in the field of agriculture and genetics.  And that was only the tip of the iceberg.  His work combatted starvation and malnutrition throughout the world and championed causes to prevent deforestation and environmental degradation.


    While working on his doctorate, Lucas could not help but try to follow in this brilliant man¡¯s footsteps.  While he could not honestly compare himself to this great man, after all, he was creating his own business rather than saving the world, Lucas spent years travelling to the most desperate places on earth.  There he applied the lessons that Doctor Borlaug had spent his life uncovering and also learned a great deal about agriculture in general.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    In a modernized country farming benefited from the most advanced machinery and fertilizers, as well as teams of scientists of every field from chemistry to zoology.  But the places he visited, mostly Pakistan and certain areas of Africa, did not have the stability nor infrastructure to support such technology.  But people needed to eat, and as wars and violence pushed people from their homes, their were more mouths to feed than ever before.


    If he was honest with himself, the work had terrified Lucas.  He had been full of zeal to pursue the path of his ¡°hero,¡± but had not realized just how terrifying it was.  Even worse than threats of violence towards himself had simply been seeing starving people, children, knowing that back at his research camp he would have a full meal waiting for him.


    Lucas had decided then to use the profits from his company to fund research for places like this, to eliminate hunger from humanity altogether.  Frankly, he had to promise himself that or he would not be able to sleep at night remembering those gaunt faces and malnourished bodies.


    Regardless, his line of work required a knowledge of farming, much more so than someone would expect when asking.  And in his time in some of the poorest places on earth, he had found that often the first thing to do was to teach the locals about the basics of what was called the Agricultural revolution, and then moving from that to start working on multiline crops and selective breeding in crops.


    The ladies answered his questions and he sat back to think about the answers.  Disease, starvation, and malnutrition were rampant problems in this world.  Or at least Lucas thought so, from what he could see the Ladies were almost boasting about how low the rates were.  It was fascinating how they could find such an incredible mortality rate to not only be acceptable, but impressive.


    Lucas smiled as he began to form a plan.  Sure he couldn¡¯t fight worth a damn, but he wouldn¡¯t need to.  He would lower mortality rates across the board and improve nutrition and health throughout the human kingdoms.  The spike in population would mean larger armies, and the larger armies would push back the demons without any need for him to put himself in danger.


    It was a rough plan, sure, but it would suffice for now.  As he settled in and gained influence he would likely be able to introduce other types of reforms from his own world.  With the right push, he could accelerate this world towards the next stage of civilized development.


    As to how to get home, Lucas hadn¡¯t a clue.  Yet.  But he would continue questioning and investigating, and when he got the chance to leave he would jump at it.

 Chapter Thirteen - A Powerless World

    Lucas was brought back to reality by the sound of a horn and shouting outside, then he was slammed into the wall as the carriage suddenly changed direction.


    ¡°I have not done anything but been tossed around and injured since I arrived here,¡± Lucas muttered, cradling his bound shoulder. ¡°What is going on now?¡±


    The person called ¡°Lady Versi¡± had opened the panel between the cabin and the driver and whatever she was told drained the blood from her face. If he was honest, Lucas was less concerned about her and what was going on, then he was concerned about why he wasn¡¯t concerned. He generally thought of himself as a polite, safety and civil minded person, relatively anyway. For whatever reason though, he had less fear than anger and less interest in his own welfare than was normal.


    ...And he keeps drifting off into his own thoughts, Lucas shook his head to clear it. ¡°What is going on?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a demonic War Group.¡± Lady Versi replied through clenched teeth. Hearing this Terrasin paled as well making them look like a pair of ghosts, though admittedly quite pretty ones.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°...Which is?¡± Lucas asked when no further information was forthcoming.


    ¡°Demons are,¡± Terrasin spoke hesitantly, appearing to choose her words carefully. ¡°Mostly unintelligent, little more than beasts.¡±


    ¡°But not all of them are, correct?¡± Lucas understood the implication of her phrasing immediately.


    ¡°Correct, but the more intelligent demons generally do not work with others of their kind.¡± Terrasin appeared more terrified than when that other monster had ripped off the carriages roof. ¡°War Group¡¯s are different. Our first records of them are from nine hundred years ago, groups of highly intelligent demons working together and controlling lesser demons to fight for them.¡±


    ¡°They have been becoming more common over the years, but I never would have foreseen¡­¡± Lady Versi muttered.


    A massive explosion sounded from behind them and the carriage rocked slightly.


    ¡°The driver has said that the majority of our escort had diverted to delay the Group.¡± Versi had apparently steeled her resolve, ¡°The last few mages transferred their stamina to the carriages horses, we will have no choice but to run without stopping.¡±


    Lucas read between the lines, their escort could apparently do little more than die when facing such a foe. Of course, all Lucas could do was run. The uneasy feeling of powerlessness was new to Lucas, and gritting his teeth in the back of the speeding carriage, he decided it was the worst feeling of all.

 Chapter fourteen - A Fanciful World

    ***Year 0, 4th era, day four of the First Quarter***


    -Shield-City Lyus, Are-Versi Duchy, Kingdom of Francea-


    Lucas had never been so thankful to see a bed in his life. He had thought pulling all nighters to complete the workload his double doctorate had dumped on him was difficult, but riding in the back of a speeding carriage (whose horses had been magically infused with stamina) while fleeing for his life from demons had shown Lucas another side of things.


    And then there was the massive crowds that had formed to see the ¡°Hero¡± pass through, even though he was in the back of a carriage and would not be visible to them at all. Lucas was not even sure how they knew he was there honestly. Later, he would learn that the sentries on the outer wall had sent messages via pigeon to the inner wall and that the news had leaked from there.


    When he first saw the outer wall of Lyus Lucas thought he had vastly underestimated the people of this world. It stretched a ways into the distance before curving out of sight, implying that the city was absolutely massive. Passing through the outer, or Third Wall as it was known, he learned the truth.


    The kingdom of Francea was constantly in danger from demon attacks. They lacked the terrain to wall off their lands completely like Almistis and the elite personnel required to hold a defensive line to perfection like Ulian. Instead, each city had three walls.


    The area between the Outer Wall and the City Wall was all farmland, protected from demons by the sentries on the Outer Wall and constant patrols throughout the area. The area between the City Wall and the Inner Wall contained the bulk of the city. Everything from housing, to shops, to the various guilds and industries could be found in this section. Unfortunately, with the constant threat of demon attacks, there were very few guards stationed throughout and so crime was rampant.


    The Inner Wall contained the nobility and the administrative functions of the city. It was here, in the mansion of Viscount Are, that Lucas was enjoying the feeling of sinking into bed.Stolen novel; please report.


    As far as Lucas could gather through his exhaustion and stress, Lady Versi was the Viscount¡¯s niece-in-law. Though the actual understanding of the relationship between their families escaped him. As he considered the similarities between this world and medieval Europe, Lucas was not even sure he wanted to know. The complexities of nobility would likely become a headache for him in the near future.


    Unfortunately, Lucas could not laze about in bed all day. He had managed to skip introducing himself to the local nobility last night, but as several maids entered the room he could only sigh.


    ...Which soon gave way to mortification as the maids attempted to dress him! ¡°I didn¡¯t think maids actually did things like this!¡± Lucas thought as he hastily dissuaded the maids. Of course, if he were to attempt to wear the fashions of the nobility, he probably would need their help. With the frills, lace, random puffy parts, and strangely patterned tight areas, Lucas was not even sure what article of clothing he was looking at. Probably pants of some kind, maybe?


    After a fair bit of argument with the housekeeper, Lucas was finally able to dress himself in clothing closer to that of a knight, with a fine tunic and pants. Near as Lucas could tell, it was not precisely ¡°knight¡¯s clothing.¡± But given the stubborn look on the housekeepers face, he highly doubted he could get anything of lower quality than what he was wearing. Still, he avoided being stripped by fourteen year old girls and dressed like an idiot, so he could call the morning a win, he supposed.


    Afterwards, one of the maids guided him to the dining hall, informing him that the nobles were quite excited to meet him. Lucas merely nodded and followed, taking the chance now that he had rested to observe his surroundings.


    One would think that the lord of a border town would live in a castle. Well, one would expect lords and nobles to live in castles generally no matter what. This place would more accurately be described as a manor, and most noble residences in the Inner City would be described as such as well. The closest thing to a castle was the fortified Inner Wall and its gate, which was massive in size and contained the facilities to house and train the armed forces of the city.


    The mansion was quite beautiful, built of stone and fine wood and exquisitely decorated with tasteful carpets, paintings and tapestries. All of which were illuminated by candles set into mirrored holders and large glass windows, both of which screamed of wealth in this world.


    The dining hall was no exception, as the maid showed him the door and bowed, Lucas got to see the massive space and the gigantic table that dominated it. It was laden with steaming plates of food and glittering crystal goblets filled with wine. The nobles at the table dressed in all their finery, attended by manservants who waited behind the chairs to attend to their every need.


    Lucas took a deep breath and stepped into the room.

 Chapter Fifteen - A Party World

    It truly was a massive hall, and designed in such a way that the entrance was visible from wherever one might be standing, the actual seating was in a slightly lowered area to allow for that. What that means for Lucas is that everyone in the room stared at him and quieted down to speak in hushed whispers.


    It would have been terribly nerve wracking, but all the nobles looked like they had dressed from the props of a parody based on Versaille, and Lucas ended up being more worried about restraining his laughter.


    Of course, this worked both ways. Though he was shielded to some extent by the fact he was the ¡°Hero,¡± he too was judged on his clothes and did not make the best impression.


    The noble ladies that had traveled with Lucas seemed unsurprised by his manner of dress, having come to expect such behavior from him. Lucas had never been very aware of social cues and responsibilities, and that fact was readily apparent in a society dominated by the subtleties of both.


    A manservant directed Lucas towards the head of the table to sit by Duke Are, who was a relative of Lady Versi and the ruler of this duchy. Lady Almistraus was also there and so was a pompous overdressed man who was introduced as Lord General Tyr Are. Tyr was Duke Are¡¯s second son and it was apparently tradition for second sons in Francinea to command the military forces of the duchies. Lucas thought that seemed like a recipe for fratricide, but with the demonic threat to the north it seemed the system was stable enough.


    What Lucas noted most, however, was that despite the Lord General wearing simpler clothes overall, he had so many medals pinned to his chest that he sounded like a box of metal rolling down a staircase every time he so much as shifted.


    Duke Are stood up and greeted Lucas warmly, offering him a glass of wine. The room quiet as Are held his own drink up, ¡°A toast to the Hero,¡± He said loudly. ¡°And to victory!¡±


    The nobility shouted and drank, and Lucas had just enough self awareness to pretend to do the same. As things settled down, he asked the manservant who was hovering behind him to bring him wine that was heavily watered down. He couldn¡¯t trust the water after all, but he had no desire to get drunk when he barely had gotten used to the idea he was no longer on earth!


    ¡°Now, I hate to discuss business at the table,¡± Duke Are said as he cut into the steaming meat on the plate in front of him. ¡°So we shall have a meeting after dinner, once we have our fill of wine and food!¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Unlike the svelt Lady Versi that Duke Are was related to, the Duke was a portly man. At least, that is what a polite person would say. Lucas, on the other hand, was thinking that it was impressive for a man to be obese in this era. Without processed sugars and fats, Duke Are had reached a width that required a larger chair than anyone else at the table. For that matter, some of the nobles were also quite large, but none so much as the Duke.


    Pushing those thoughts aside, Lucas interrupted Tyr as he was agreeing with his father.


    ¡°With all due respect Duke.¡± Lucas did not like using the title, but he had not learned the man¡¯s first name when he was introduced and their were two people with the surname ¡°Tyr¡± so he made do. ¡°We should either have the discussion now, or we should water the wine quite a bit.¡±


    The manservant had returned with his own drink at this time, he took a sip and grimaced. The wine had been bitter to start with by modern standards, and watering it down removed any other taste it might have had, leaving him with just a goblet of bitter water.


    ¡°Bah,¡± The Duke waved away Lucas¡¯s concerns. ¡°Wine grants us courage to think of and to pull off daring plans, to take away a Francinea¡¯s man¡¯s drink is lunacy.¡±


    Lucas was stunned, ¡°This is common? Even for soldiers in the field?¡±


    Lord General Tyr was the one who answered the question, as he sipped his own wine. ¡°But of course, between the cold of the nights and winters and the need for courage against the demons, we often send out extra rations of wine to the frontline.¡±


    Lucas sighed, but gave up and took another sip of his own drink. It was not his specialty, but as he had considered a future where human genetic therapy for commercial uses might be possible, he had a degree of knowledge about dangerous mental issues. Obviously, you wouldn¡¯t want a person of unstable mind to be able to alter their own genetic code without seeing a therapist first, which left Lucas wondering if this was not a form of self-medication. Probably every person sent to the front line ended up with an anxiety disorder or PTSD, but he could not be sure.


    Lady Almistraus brought him out of his thoughts by asking about the meal in front of him.


    ¡°It is very nice,¡± Lucas¡¯s reply was rather bland, but even he knew better than to tell them that he had had far better. In all likelihood, spices and seasonings were a commodity that even nobles would have a hard time acquiring in this world.


    Terrasin quirked her eyebrows at the response, likely divining Lucas¡¯s thoughts from the middling reply, but said nothing about it.


    Lucas spent the majority of the meal making small talk with Lady Almistraus and Lady Versi, who only sipped at their wine, as the nobles and the Tyr family became more and more rowdy, celebrating Lucas¡¯s arrival.

 Chapter Sixteen - A Sobering World

    After the meal, the nobility retired to their various pursuits and Lucas met with the Duke in his study.  Also present was the Lord General Tyr, the Ladies Almistraus and Versi, as well as Cardinal Simon who had not attended the feat earlier.  Apparently, two of the Duke¡¯s Knight Captains were supposed to be here as well, but servants informed them that they had been carried unconscious back to their rooms after overindulging.


    The Duke had laughed it off and said he would inform them of the meetings contents in the morning.  He then poured himself another glass of wine from a liquor cabinet set into the wall.


    ¡°Now then, Lord Hero Lucas.¡±  Duke Are was slurring slightly, but still was capable of walking.  ¡°Please, tell me about the powers you will unleash upon the demons!  Any aid we can give will also, of course, be yours!¡±


    Lucas let out a sigh. ¡°First, just call me Lucas.  That ¡®Lord Hero¡¯ business is a pain to deal with.  Second, I have no powers whatsoever, nor anything I can give you to directly fight those things.  Frankly, I tried to tell you this before but you did not seem interested in listening.¡±


    The Duke was momentarily stunned, and his son came to his rescue.  ¡°Wait a minute, then what can you do?¡±  Tyr was much more clear headed then his father, though still obviously showing the effects of too much to drink.  ¡°Was the whole expedition a waste?  Lives thrown away for nothing?¡±


    He was shouting towards the end of his questions, and Lucas had to step back to be out of range of the spittle that flew.  Disgusted, Lucas scowled at Tyr.


    ¡°I did not say that I can do nothing, merely that the improvements won¡¯t directly help you kill demons.¡±  Lucas honestly considered waiting until everyone was sober, and for that matter present, before explaining, but he supposed the Ladies deserve an explanation.  Even if he had been essentially kidnapped, dozens had staked their lives on the expedition, and far fewer came home than left.


    ¡°Chiefly, I will be introducing several methods to reduce and prevent disease, as well as help reduce deaths related to infection.  While this won''t be direct, as I said, having more soldiers to send to battle, and more return after being wounded will increase your overall forces.¡±


    The Duke seemed confused, but the Ladies and Cardinal seemed thoughtful, Lucas decided to push forward.


    ¡°In the same vein, I can help improve the output of your farms and reduce child mortality.  Again, the end result is a growth in population, and therefore a growth in your forces.  While this seems modest, my own world shows just how much of a difference these changes make to population.  Human growth is exponential, in two hundred years the sheer weight of numbers will shove the demons back.¡±


    ¡°Two hundred years?¡±  Tyr sputtered.  ¡°The legends say that the other heros were able to push the demons back in a few months, and had nearly eliminated them altogether in a few decades!¡±


    ¡°That was what, two thousand years ago?  I doubt those legends are even remotely accurate to begin with, and even if they were that changes nothing about the current situation.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Lucas glared at the Duke, who hid his discomfort with another drink of wine.  ¡°What I am offering is essentially an unlimited army.  No matter how many people are killed, the population will grow.  A little over a hundred years ago in my world, the population was one point six billion, and at the time of my abduction the population was around six billion.  Between those two points were massive wars that covered the entire globe, so many died that all we can do is estimate the casualties, but somewhere around seventy seven million to a hundred million people were killed, not even counting the epidemics and famine after the war.¡±


    ¡°I can see your point,¡± Cardinal Simon intervened to stop Lucas¡¯s near rant.  ¡°However, you can imagine that this is very different from what we expected.  If you were able to offer us something in that area, the rest would likely go through much more smoothly.¡±


    Lucas scowled even more as he thought, ¡°I suppose I know enough basic chemistry to teach you some things.  But I am not an engineer, all I can really do is point you in the right direction and teach you certain basics.  Biology and genetics should never be used for weapons.¡±


    Lady Versi seemed to notice his peculiar phrasing, ¡°Should not be?  That implies that they can be.¡±


    Lucas cursed himself for letting that slip, he had to keep in mind that while they lacked science these people were experts at reading others and seeing through clever words.


    Still, as understanding of his teachings spread, someone would have the creativity to use it for war, so perhaps  it was best to nip it in the bud.


    ¡°In my world, there are three kinds of weapons feared above all others.¡±  He said, trying to fully impress the seriousness of his words.  ¡°These weapons are termed ¡®weapons of mass destruction,¡¯ and are so powerful that humanity as a whole has recoiled from them.  Early, as they were developed, each of the three types that belong to this category were used.  And even victory was not sweet enough to erase the horror of it.¡±


    Lucas had grown up in the United States, a country which had nuked Japan twice without real understanding of the power of the weapons they used at the time.  To make matters worse, the reasons for using the weapons were sound.  The Japanese fought ferociously, with a level of dedication to their country that inspired terror among U.S. soldiers and officers.  The brass realized that a land invasion of Japan would cost an ocean of blood, and opted to use the atomic bomb instead.


    It is difficult to say which would have been worse, but the end result of those early weapons changed the face of war.  Two weapons killed hundreds of thousands, and many more later on from radiation poisoning.  It was a weapon that was too powerful to be used, and perhaps should never have been made.  The Cold War sprung up from this decision, with decades of fear ruling many countries as the world braced for the possibility of a nuclear armageddon caused by the U.S. and Russia clashing.


    ¡°The three weapons that fall into that category are radiological, chemical, and biological weapons.  And yes, I could produce a biological weapon, but I will not.¡±


    It was Lady Almistraus who asked him why not, though she only seemed merely curious about the reason and not accusatory because he was refusing.


    ¡°Because it is uncontrollable.¡±  Lucas explained, ¡°Nature is powerful by itself.  There are pathogens that can slaughter human communities quickly and with ease, when a person takes those pathogens and weaponises them¡­  You end up with something that when used will not only slaughter indiscriminately, but may mutate and evolve beyond the creators expectations.  In theory, you could kill every living thing in the world with such a weapon.¡±


    The faces around him had turned deathly pale, and even the Duke and his son seemed to have been sobered by his words.


    ¡°So no, I will not build you a weapon.  I will teach your people a bit about chemistry and physics, and spend my time helping people live instead of causing them to die.¡±

 Chapter Seventeen - A Profitable world

    Lucas felt he had gotten the overall point across regarding what he could for them, now he wanted to know what they could do for him.  After all, the efforts he will have to go through to produce things like vaccinations and antibiotics will require considerable work.  Improving agriculture will also be labor intensive at first, the key to lasting change is some system to educate people on correct practices, and developing that system will likely be a pain.


    In short, he should be paid for his work, and of course, he wanted to go home as well.  For that matter, Lucas did not plan to go home empty handed.  If he went back to his own world without something to show for it, all he¡¯d be left with is the shattered remains of his life after likely being declared dead.


    ¡°So then,¡± Lucas broke the silence that had formed after his last statement.  ¡°Let¡¯s discuss payment.¡±


    ¡°Payment?¡±  Tyr seemed shocked, ¡°Why would a hero demand payment?¡±


    ¡°Because I am not a hero?  I am simply an educated man that you abducted from his own world.¡±  This whole hero business was incredibly tiring, it gave people way to many expectations about what he could or would do.  ¡°And frankly, I am not planning to live as a pauper.¡±


    ¡°Greed is a very unattractive emotion,¡± Cardinal Simon admonished, probably less because he didn¡¯t think that Lucas shouldn¡¯t be paid, and more that the way Lucas phrased things was his rather blunt.  ¡°It is better to be generous, the Gods shower the generous with blessings.¡±


    ¡°At the risk of being insulting,¡± even Lucas was aware his next words were rough, but despite that he planned to say them anyways.  ¡°I am not sure the God that many religons in my world say exists, exists.  As for what or who you worship, I am even less sure.  Even if they do exist, why worship Gods that let their faithful be besieged by demonic beasts?  They don¡¯t seem particularly useful.¡±


    Cardinal Simon seemed prepared to respond but the Duke interrupted him, ¡°It is better to talk about remuneration with the King and his court.  That said, I will be happy to provide a generous salary if you can deliver what you claim.¡±


    ¡°I would be pretty bad at my job if I couldn¡¯t do these things,¡± Lucas answered.  ¡°The other thing I want is a way back to my world.¡±


    ¡°That simply isn¡¯t possible.¡±  Lady Versi answered, ¡°The summoning is not even a human creation.  We know that it works, but not how or why.¡±


    ¡°Additionally, even if we talk about magic theory,¡± Lady Almistraus spoke as well, Lucas figured that it makes sense that the two of them were knowledgeable about the topic considering their families.  ¡°We don¡¯t know what world you came from.  There may be an infinite amount of worlds, without that knowledge even if you could leave this world, you might never make it home.¡±


    Lucas frowned, then sighed.  ¡°Well, what is, is.  If it is impossible, than that is the way the world works.  However, I refuse to take that for granted.  I will give you the numbers and supplies to push back against your enemy, and you will have your mages or whatever research a way to send me home.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    ¡°If you insist, I will arrange it¡­¡±  Lady Almistraus clearly thought it was a waste, but Lucas did not particularly care.


    ¡°Perfect, then I shall begin in the morning.¡±  Lucas said, heading for the door.  ¡°If you would be so kind as to have someone ready to guide me out to the farms, I would appreciate it.¡±


    He left the room in a somewhat stunned silent, and made his way back to his room.  Lucas was rather proud that he was able to find his way, but was somewhat disgusted by the room itself.  He was granted a chamber that befit a member of nobility, so by the standards of a modern person, it was barbaric.  Pretty, but barbaric.


    No heating or air conditioning, no electric lights, no music, no machine laundered sheets, no comfortable mattress and pillow.  Instead of plumbing, there was a chamber pot.  Instead of an intercom, there was a pull bell.  Luxuries that Lucas took for granted, now gone.  Honestly, he wondered how he would even be able to sleep without being able to brush his teeth and get rid of the terrible taste in his mouth.


    A soft knock at his door took Lucas out of his disappointed musing, to his surprise, it was Lady Almistraus.


    ¡°Lady Almistraus.¡±  Lucas invited her in, using her title by accident.  He sighed internally, he had a weakness for pretty women, and frankly she seemed somewhat deserving of her title, irregardless his distaste for feudal societies.  ¡°What can I do for you?¡±


    ¡°I wanted to apologise to you.¡±  Lady Almistrause said quietly, ¡°You must hate us for summoning you here.¡±


    This time Lucas sighed out loud, ¡°I don¡¯t hate you.¡±


    ¡°I doubt that, and it would be reasonable.¡±


    ¡°Ugh,¡± Lucas was slightly ashamed to admit this but¡­  ¡°Given the state of your society I highly doubt you have the concept of gender politics, but essentially it is impossible for me to truly hate you.  Despite the inherent sexism this statement involves, the way I was raised I would feel ashamed to have that kind of feeling towards a woman.  It is an unfortunate part of my personality that I would like to change, though for you it is rather fortunate I guess.¡±


    Lucas really did not want to talk any more about the subject.  Being aware of his own biases was something he prided himself on, but the biases still existed.  And despite the fact that some would argue that he has a social obligation to work against those biases, Lucas really had to admit that he was not interested.  He was not a psychologist or a sociologist, and he did not think taking action without science behind it was a good idea.


    Lady Almistraus, thankfully, did not ask about the topic further.  ¡°Still, I need to apologize.  I would do it again if I had to, because as a noble I have a duty to the people I rule, and if I have to destroy one man''s life to save my kingdom, I will.  That does not mean that I do not regret having to do so.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± Lucas did understand, but it didn¡¯t make him feel any better.  ¡°I would do the same in your position, and even though I am still angry, I will accept your apology.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for that,¡± Lady Almistraus walked towards the door, then turned before leaving.  ¡°Would you mind me accompanying you on your trip to the fields tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°That is no trouble at all, but you will likely find it quite boring.¡± A lot of biology is fieldwork, and it can be a slog.  Lucas doubted that Lady Almistraus would really be interested in it.


    ¡°Still, I think I will be fine.  Goodnight Lucas.¡±


    ¡°Goodnight, Lady Almistraus.¡±


    With that, she left.  Leaving Lucas to return to his annoyance about the state of his room.

 Chapter Eighteen - A Waking World

    Lucas did not have a pleasant morning.  Probably because he did not sleep well the night before, as he expected, high-class bedding in this world was less than ideal.  But it could not be helped, and complaining would not improve anything.  Considering the possibility that this might be his life from now on, Lucas briefly regretted his education in biology instead of ergonomics or whatever it is that people who design mattress went to school for.


    Due to this, Lucas woke up earlier than expected and spent a few hours by himself in the castle.  Well, not by himself really.  For one, he had guards with him at all times, and for another he seemed to attract nobles like flies.  Realistically, he supposed that given his situation it would make sense to befriend him for political purposes, but Lucas could only listen to these sycophants so much before having to fight a desire to strangle them.


    Of course, to make matters more awkward, many noble ladies approached him in a different way, but for the same reason.  Admittedly, it was slightly more tempting, Lucas could not precisely make a claim to being immune to the kind of things they suggested, but Lucas had no desire to become involved in politics.  And further, as a visitor from another world, and one who is educated in biology, Lucas was concerned about falling sick from some disease unique to this world.  Without research and protection he was just as likely to end up dead as anything else.


    Overall, it was a terrible morning.


    When Lady Almistraus came to inform him that they were ready to travel to the farms, Lucas could have hugged her for saving him.  Joining the two was the Duke¡¯s steward, a portly man with a rather magnificent mustache named Volen.  Lucas idly wondered why he failed so terribly at trying to grow a beard or mustache, well, he didn¡¯t really wonder.  Lucas chuckled to himself, the answer is genetics, but he didn¡¯t think allocating a budget to helping him grow a mustache would be something he would have done.  Probably.


    ¡°Is there something amusing Lucas?¡±  Volen was very good about not calling him ¡®lord hero¡¯ or other such nonsense, Lucas honestly appreciated that quite a bit and honestly had quite a good first impression of Volen overall.  In fact, he was willing to bet that Volen did all of the real work while the Duke sat back and played court.


    ¡°Just some thoughts,¡± Lucas replied.  ¡°It was not important.¡±


    ¡°As you say,¡± Volen coughed and changed the subject to the plan for the day.  ¡°The Duke informed me of the general plan you have, but any details would be appreciated.¡±


    But Lucas had not really told the Duke of his plans¡­  He was about to say as much, when Almistraus gave him a bit of a nudge.  Well, he wasn¡¯t good with social things really, so he might as well follow her cue.  Anyway, he might as well explain the basic plan going forward.


    ¡°The plan is to examine your farms and the methods that farmers are using, and then to improve them where I can.¡±  Lucas explained, ¡°the overall concept is simple, but some of the more complicated solutions, like multiline crop strains, will probably need explanation.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Lucas considered that he would likely have to lean on his status as ¡®hero¡¯ to get the farmers to believe in microorganisms at all.  Hell, even the concept of the cell is relatively modern in human development.  Even with the collar around his neck, it can¡¯t translate things they don¡¯t have words for¡­


    Better nip this in the bud now, ¡°My world is far beyond yours, and I do not think you really wish to take the time it would require for me to prove everything I am going to do.  I will leave instructions for how to do it to whomever you wish later, but I would appreciate it if you simply accepted everything I say regarding the nature of life.¡±


    ¡°What was your world like?¡±  Lady Almistraus asked.


    Lucas thought about it for a moment, how would one explain modern technology to someone from the medival ages?


    ¡°Fast.¡±  Lucas spoke slowly as he considered his words.  ¡°People and materials can be moved thousands of miles in mere hours, and information travels instantly.  Our science and technology has grown rapidly due to this, to the point where it is impossible to keep on top of every concept in every field.  Year to year our capacity grows, and that is wonderful, but also terrifying.  I come from a world where medicine can bring people back from the brink of death and weapons can destroy cities.  And, as I am learning as I settle into this world, I took all of its luxuries for granted.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can even imagine it.¡±  Lady Almistraus said, ¡°When you talk about ¡®science,¡¯ from what you have said it sounds like something anyone can use, unlike magic or blessings.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡±  He nodded.  ¡°Obviously, there are those who are smarter and more talented that do better, but a lot of science comes from hard work and effort.  A person of average intelligence, but above average diligence, can contribute greatly to the pursuit of science.  And as education is expanded, so do the amount of people who follow that path, further increasing the speed of growth.¡±


    ¡°Is that something we could replicate here?¡±  Lady Almistraus seemed excited by the idea.


    ¡°Probably?¡±  Lucas watched the city pass by as the carriage went down the streets, passing through the first gate and leaving the Inner City.  ¡°You likely had a decent idea what my personality is like, so you should understand that I am not suited for teaching.  Knowing that about myself I have never bothered to learn how to teach, or indeed, much about how education works.  So I cannot help you here beyond pointing you in the right direction.¡±


    Volen asked his own question, ¡°Is knowledge in your world very restricted?  You speak with confidence when you talk of your field, but lose that regarding anything else.¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t restricted, there is just too much of it.  To become an expert in anything requires dedicating your life to it, and I only have one life to spend.¡±


    ¡°Even if all you can do is give us a direction to work towards, that is more than we have now.¡±  Lady Almistraus looked to the bright side, ¡°if you can truly give us what you promised last night and can give us some directions to go in, we may be able to stand on our own.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good, self reliance is an important trait.  After all, relying on people from another world will always be a gamble, the person might be a rude asshole.¡±  Lucas said jokingly, referring to himself.


    Passing the second gate, the carriage rolled out into the farm lands.

 Chapter Nineteen - A Backward World

    Honestly, it was worse than Lucas had expected. It is easily to know, academically, what life was like in the ages of knights and castles, and compared to his volunteer time he thought he was prepared. Half an hour into the third farm Lucas realized just how far society had come as he was examining a hand scythe that would commonly be used for harvesting wheat.


    The edge was dull, the pig iron blade was rusted and pitted and it was not even well secured to the handle, which itself was little more than a rough wooden rod. After Lucas set it down again, the first thing he had to do was pull the splinters it left out of his hand. As he did so, he checked over the plow set off to the side and sighed. It¡¯s condition was much the same, and for that matter it was a wheeled plough. A device famous in the history of agriculture for just how incredibly useless it was. Just as the Dutch had imported the swing plough, a far more efficient version of the plough that greatly reduced the amount of labor required to use it, from China, he would have to do the same here.


    ¡°I dun¡¯n why yah ¡®re so interested in my pigs,¡± A farmer at another farm had scratched his head in confusion as Lucas examined the conditions of both livestock and their enclosures. Idly, Lucas wondered how the earing worked to translate the farmers rather atrocious diction, but he let it slide.


    ¡°Because you don¡¯t seem very familiar with the concept of selective breeding,¡± Lucas said offhandedly, fairly certain the man wouldn¡¯t fully get it without a lengthy explanation. ¡°Considering horses exist in this world, I would have thought that concept would exist as well. But I suppose it probably isn¡¯t taught to everyone¡­¡±


    A slave brought a tray with cups of water for Lucas and the farmer, Almistraus having declined to step into the manure that filled this barn. This farmer had quite a bit more land, and had turned to slaves to fit the demands for labor. Despite his unfortunate manor of speaking, he was a rather wealthy and successful farmer.


    Lucas himself was unsure what to think about the practice. Obviously, slavery was wrong by modern standards, but reality is that if he freed every slave right now, nothing about their situation would change. They would flee their harsh conditions, but those conditions were products of the era more than products of the practice. He supposed he would have to support emancipation while improving farm capacity, but then he would have the same problem as the cotton gin¡­


    Another slave with a pitchfork had come in as well, and the farmer frowned for a moment.


    ¡°Oi,¡± He shouted, his voice tinged with cruelty. ¡°I was ¡®ere thinkin¡¯ that I had sent yah to the field.¡±


    The farmer took a step forward, and Lucas put a hand on his shoulder to restrain him. He had enough moral problems with the system he had found without having to deal with a slave being beaten in front of him!


    ¡°Deal with it later,¡± Lucas said, slightly distracted by the thought this might just worsen the slaves treatment, but he would have to deal with that later. He was not good with people to start with, so convincing people to give up that whole system was far beyond his leauge. ¡°I still need to take a look at your fields. You use the three field rotation method, with one lying fallow, correct?¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    The farmer turned to reply and then jerked and coughed up blood, the slave had stabbed him with the pitchfork! The other slave who had brought the water grabbed for Lucas, but Lucas jumped back out of his reach.


    ¡°What the hell?¡± Had he arrived just in time for a slave uprising? He didn¡¯t particularly mind, or rather, he wouldn¡¯t if he wasn¡¯t front and center in it!


    ¡°You scum.¡± The slave with the pitchfork spat, yanking the pitchfork out of his former master and leaving him to drown in his own blood. ¡°This world does not belong to you, but to the High Ones! Your unclean steps tarnish the very earth you walk on!¡±


    That manner of speaking was far clearer than his former master¡¯s, and the subject matter was odd as well. Lucas would leave that for another time however, as right now he had to simply survive. Lucas did not particular care about manly pride with his life on the line, so the first thing he did was scream for help, hoping the guards would hear him.


    The unarmed slave made to tackle him again, and the one with the pitchfork got ready to thrust at Lucas this time. Obviously, the plan was for one to grab him and the other to stab him, a rather decent tactic. Unfortunately, Lucas was an adult from a modern society. While he could in no way compete with a knight, who was trained to fight and had the wealth to eat well, malnourished slaves who barely ever had protein in their diets simply lacked his level of health. Even without exercise, that difference made itself known.


    Lucas grabbed the first slave and swung him around to be stabbed by the slaves own ally, then knocked his feet out from under him so that the weight of the body would pull the pitchfork down. Lucas then stepped forward seeking to end the fight quickly and was greeted with a punch to the face, and he stumbled back tasting blood.


    The ¡®slave¡¯ pulled out a dagger, something a slave would never have, and made to stab Lucas. The momentum dropped Lucas to the floor as he struggle to keep the dagger from his throat, the the man was strong, as strong as Lucas and clearly nearly insane with passion and rage.


    Lucas saw a flash, and the pressure disappeared, along with the slaves head as a guard severed his neck. Lucas got up, taking some deep breaths to calm himself. The farmer was dead, and the other slave was dying in the same way. Lucas could not save him, and frankly, would not have cared to anyway. Slave or not, Lucas had no mercy for someone who would commit murder.


    ¡°Are you alright, my Lord?¡± The guard was anxious, Lucas had been lost in his own thoughts and had not replied at first.


    ¡°Physically, yes. Mentally¡­ Well I am unsure how to react to being called unclean and then having people try to kill me.¡±


    ¡°Well, considering what you are covered in¡­¡± Lady Almistraus was surrounded by guards as well, all with weapons out. But she sounded relieved more than anything.


    ¡°Very funny,¡± She was right though, a biologist might be used to dealing with the various products of life, but that did not mean he had wanted to have his back covered in shit. ¡°What happened to Volen?¡±


    ¡°He is hiding back at the carriage,¡± Lady Almistraus said. ¡°I decided to come with the guards to make sure you were safe.¡±


    ¡°Ah, well¡­ Thank you for that.¡± Lucas said a bit awkwardly, considering his behavior it rather surprised him that she would care that much.


    Before they left, Lucas had the guards ransack the place for some clothes he could wear and changed. Though he had to admit to himself, seeing Volen¡¯s face as he dealt with the smell would have been funny.


    Regardless, it was clear that this whole thing was going to become even more complicated, as if being pulled into another world was not enough of a problem.


    ¡°If it can go wrong, it will.¡± Lucas muttered to himself, ¡°Fuck you Murphy...¡±

 Chapter Twenty - A Angry World

    It turned out that Lucas consideration of Lady Almistraus¡¯s nose was a bad idea. Lucas considered that having the guards back around him had given him a sense of security that had made him behave idiotically. What kind of stupid fool would stay in an unsecured location where people had tried to kill him because of a bit of a smell?


    The answer, apparently, was Lucas.


    It looked like the slaves were revolting, except that it was clearly not motivated by a desire for freedom. Groups of rag wearing slaves, armed only with low quality farm tools, charged at the carriage and the guards around it, screaming at the top of their lungs.


    ¡°What on earth is going on?¡± Lucas had no idea what he had wandered into. He also supposed he wasn¡¯t on earth, so that phrase really couldn¡¯t be used¡­


    ¡°I have no idea!¡± Volen was panicking, covering his head in his hands and curling up on the coach bench. ¡°The slaves must be revolting, but I cannot believe that they would! The guards will slaughter them!¡±


    ¡°Sometimes people are willing to die for ideals,¡± Lucas noted. ¡°In fact, they often make the most fearsome opponent of all.¡±


    ¡°I do not think this is a revolt.¡± Lady Almistraus was calm as they heard the guards cut down another group of slaves. ¡°Do you hear what they are yelling? Calling us filth and unclean, I did not think the Cult of the Land would have such a hold here.¡±


    ¡°Cult of the Land?¡± Lucas asked, he had a bad feeling that he didn¡¯t actually want the answer.


    ¡°They believe that the demons are the true rulers of the land, and that humanity is not fit to live here.¡± Terrasin explained, ¡°Further, they believe that when the demons defeat humanity, they will be rewarded by being sent to a paradise. It is utter nonsense.¡±


    There was a thump on the top of the carriage and suddenly a guard shouted out, ¡°Lady Almistraus, please get out of the carriage!¡±


    Lucas could smell smoke, and was that sound crackling? The guards did not wait for an answer, but pulled the three out of the carriage, where Lucas saw that the roof was on fire. Someone had thrown a torch on top of it.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Slaves were everywhere, and the guards put them down ruthlessly. But some of them did not go down so easily, they moved faster than the others and fought with skill and strength beyond what a slave would possess. Some were even armed.


    ¡°Watch out!¡±


    A small group of slaves broke past the guards and headed for the trio, without thinking about it Lucas picked up a sword from a fallen guard and stepped in front of Terrasin.


    He cut down the first slave, but Lucas had no skill with the blade and it became lodged in the bones of the slaves spine. He did not bother to try and pull it out, but simply let go. A female slave swung a hand scythe at him and Lucas had no choice but to block it with his arm, he hissed in pain, but was thankful that the scythe was to dull to severely hurt him.


    Prefering not to kill a woman, he simply punched her and threw her away, taking the scythe away from her. If she stayed down, Lucas would not kill her. If she continued to try and kill him, well, he would regret it for a bit, but he had no intention of dying because something made him uncomfortable.


    The last slave did not last long before Lucas used the scythe to cut his throat, leaving a panting Lucas covered in blood, both his own and the slave cultists. The woman on the ground growled and grabbed a rock, struggling to rise. With regret, Lucas stomped on her neck, killing her.


    The fight felt like it had taken far longer than it really had, and the guards had cleared up the rest of the attackers. If they could use this opportunity to make it back to the city walls, they would be safe with reinforcements from the military. Overall, the entire fight had been less than fifteen minutes, with Lucas¡¯s personal fight being only a minute or two of that.


    ¡°Lor- I am sorry, I mean, Lucas.¡± Terrasin grabbed his bleeding arm to examine it. ¡°Thank you for protecting me, but please take care of yourself. Your life is more important than mine.¡±


    ¡°My actions are a product of my society,¡± Lucas replied, distracting himself from the pain with rationalism. ¡°A man who wouldn¡¯t step in front of a woman in danger is not much of a man. For that matter, you should value your own life more. I have no intention of dying, and neither should you.¡±


    They made it back to the wall without further incident, but Lucas would likely always worry that he might be attacked from here on out. Fortunately, these ¡®cultists¡¯ were idiots. Perhaps everyone in this world was, focusing so much on the concept of a ¡®hero.¡¯ Had they no concept of self reliance? All the cultists had needed to do to ensure the demons victory was torch all the fields, the armies would collapse as soon as the food ran out.


    Still, Lucas supposed that a modern person simply thought differently than they did. Like a puzzle, answers are always easier to see when you know them already. Given that humans had not likely had all that many internal wars with an external enemy, they probably lacked the concept of how war with humans worked. Well, perhaps that is for the best.

 Chapter Twenty-One - A Rebellious World

    At the wall, Lucas learned that his relief would be short lived.  The anxious guards at the gate told them that there appeared to be rioting breaking out in the city, or a slave revolt perhaps.  They were not getting much news coming in, but fires had been started and Lucas could now see smoke rising into the sky.


    ¡°You said that you were surprised that this ¡°Cult of the Land¡± would have such a hold,¡± Lucas said, looking out over the city from the top of the city wall.  ¡°From what I am seeing they are probably a good fraction of the population.¡±


    Terrasin shook her head, ¡°Impossible.  I would wager that the Cult is behind all of this, but I would not believe that so many people would actually listen to their nonsense seriously.¡±


    ¡°What makes you say that?¡± Lucas doubted Lady Almistraus had any real contact with the lower classes, especially serfs and slaves.  ¡°Do you have some form of census that records religious beliefs?¡±


    ¡°No, there is nothing like that.  I don¡¯t even think it would be possible,¡± Terrasin turned her gaze back towards the fields, a fair few of which where now on fire as well.  Lucas thought that was the logical thing for them to do anyway, though it was a pain in the ass overall.  ¡°Almost everyone here would have had family on the front lines, and as a border city, there are probably even cases of smaller demons getting inside and killing people.  The Cult flourishes in the south, where demons are a far off thing, as opposed to here in Francinea, where they are a hard reality.¡±


    Decent logic and good thinking, Lucas would agree with her assessment generally, but he could also think of dozens of examples where religion and rationality did not mix.  However, he did not have the background to dispute what she was saying, and her theory that the Cult had fanned other flames in the city was probably correct.


    Down below, the gate¡¯s garrison was clashing with an unruly mob that had approached.  As one might expect from this era¡¯s thinking, they cut down the people without much hesitation.  Lucas frowned, as unpleasant as it was, like slavery, he couldn¡¯t judge and act on his world¡¯s morality.  Without non lethal ranged options like water hoses, rubber bullets, or pepper spray, engaging with an angry mob would be deadly for the guards.  For that matter, staying here would likely be a mistake as well.  The gate bordered a residential section of the city, where serfs would live and go out to work on the farms, which currently meant that they could face far more rioters than they could deal with.


    Having volunteered in conditions where civil unrest was more than just a slight possibility, Lucas was aware that the current forces here were nowhere near enough.  At the same time, he noted that he was avoiding thinking about this world more than he had to.  Watching his mind avoid the issues around him and dodge away from anything that might elicit a strong emotional reaction was fascinating to him, though he knew even that fascination was a dodge!


    ¡°Fuck, I can¡¯t let myself fall into that loop.¡±  Lucas muttered shaking his head.  Decades ago he had suffered from depression and as an avoidance mechanism he would become sucked into a infinite loop of observing his own reaction to things, or lack thereof in most cases at the time.  ¡°We should gather the garrison and leave towards the outer wall.¡±


    Terrasin was surprised, ¡°That would be quite dangerous, who knows what we would run into?¡±


    ¡°I agree with the Princess,¡± Volen immediately chimed in.  ¡°With the garrison door barred, we are safe here.  They cannot tear down the stone with their bare hands after all.¡±


    ¡°But they can overwhelm the door.¡±  Lucas was firm on this.  ¡°Swords and crossbows are effective, but the people using them are only men.  Inside the garrison, they will eventually be crushed.  Each soldier might take two or three with him, but there are far less soldiers than rioters.  We would be far better served by linking up with the larger garrisons at the outer walls, where there are far more soldiers and far less people.¡±


    Rather than wait and listen to their arguments, Lucas simply grabbed Terrasn and dragged her down the stairs, calling for the guard captain.  He would have their fastest guards bar the doors behind them, then sprint to the next door and do the same, while they broke out of the gates interior door.  If they were lucky, everyone would survive.  If not, well, they did sign up to be a guard¡­


    The gate had two portcullis, and a gap in between them.  One of the garrisons doors opened into that gap, and with the portcullis on the city side closed, there was little the mob could do to stop the garrison from fleeing towards the outer wall.


    Lucas eventually had to be partially supported by some of the guards, exhausted from both his wounds and just the general events that had occured since he had arrived in this world.


    When they finally arrived at the outer wall garrison, Lucas collapsed on a bed in the barracks.  Sure, biologists spent more time trekking in the field than many scientists, but even they were not used to being stabbed and slashed at!  Well¡­ Unless they were studying Australian wildlife, but if you were crazy enough to study that deathtrap you probably didn¡¯t care at that point.


    Terrasin sat down next to him on the bed, ¡°Thank you again for stepping in front of me earlier.¡±


    Lucas laughed slightly, ¡°what I said before still holds true you know.  Though admittedly the hypocrisy within the statement was laughable.¡±


    ¡°I disagree, it was a noble thing to do.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°I killed a woman earlier, you know.¡±  Lucas was not sure how he felt about that, but he did not want to die.  ¡°For that matter, the very phrase itself is sexist in a number of ways¡­  But I am not a sociologist, and frankly, this world has bigger problems at the moment.¡±


    Lucas sighed, ¡°Well, whatever.  I would prefer to have sat down and had a conversation discussing what their issues were, so really once we reached the point of fighting the time had long passed for a good solution.¡±


    Looking up at Terrasin, Lucas frowned.  ¡°Irregardless, this is a problem.  I originally planned to start my own company in my world, so I have a degree of confidence in my management skills.  But I am not a politician, and clearly this city has problems.  I saw many things I could do to help your farms produce food, and that is before we even start talking about medicine, but all of this will fall apart without a somewhat stable platform for me to work in.¡±


    Terrasin chewed her lip, she seemed to be a bit more relaxed than she had been before.  More the young woman she was and less the high class princess she was supposed to be.  ¡°I don¡¯t know how much I can do.  After the riots are put down, I can speak to Lady Versi, as she is related to the Duke, but overall everything lies in his hands.¡±


    ¡°Great.  So I have to deal with that idiot again.¡±


    Terrasin sighed, but did not correct him.  They were quiet for a moment as she seemed to think.


    ¡°You know,¡± She finally broke the silence.  ¡°You are not what we expected, nothing like the Heroes from legends.¡±


    ¡°You did abduct me, you know.¡±  Lucas was very clear on this point, ¡°I had and have no obligation to do anything or be anything for you.  I have decided to do what I can because I want to go home and I want to live in comfort and safety until I do, to a certain extent, you have probably ruined my plans for my life.¡±


    ¡°I did not mean to offend you,¡± Terrasin was quick to say.  ¡°I only meant to say that I am surprised.  I do not think it is a bad thing, but I almost feel as if we were not ready for you.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±  Lucas had no idea what she was talking about, hadn¡¯t they been preparing to summon him for something like a thousand years?


    ¡°Before the third ritual, mankind was on the brink of victory.¡±  Terrasin said as she looked off into space.  ¡°Had that ritual succeeded, what kind of world would be here now?¡±


    ¡°The very idea that you would still summon people after your ¡®victory¡¯ is borderline evil, you realize.¡±  Lucas pointed this out, ¡°Every person who has been summoned to this world likely had lives and families and dreams of their own.  And every time that ritual is performed you have taken all that away from them.¡±


    ¡°I know.  But you know as well as I that even at peace, the nations of this world would have done it regardless.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough,¡± Lucas admitted.  ¡°Please, continue.¡±


    ¡°If we had won, and finally achieved peace.  That thousand years of growth might have left us in a position where your knowledge could be used to its fullest.  Instead of getting only the barest crumbs of your wisdom, we would have had a feast.  So it seems the failure of our ancestors has come back to haunt us.¡±


    Terrasin seemed depressed, and despite his own state and general unpleasant attitude given the situation, Lucas sat up to comfort her.  ¡°If it is any consolation, given the level of technology and society I am seeing now, if that had occured I would likely be even more useless.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±  Now it was Terrasin¡¯s turn to wonder what Lucas was talking about.


    ¡°Although it is hard to say exactly, this world seems somewhere between six hundred to nine hundred years behind my own.¡±  That was a very rough estimate considering his lack of knowledge about history, but he was fairly sure it was a decent guess.  He had given himself three centuries of wiggle room after all¡­  ¡°If that is the case, a thousand years of peace might have placed you hundreds of years ahead of my knowledge, and I would be absolutely useless.¡±


    Actually, that raised many questions about this worlds development, but considering he was still wondering how humans evolved on two separate worlds it was really a minor detail.  Come to think about it, the sheer amount of shared flora and fauna between this world and his own was astounding, and highly confusing.  But that would be a question for later as well.


    The guard captain of this garrison came to inform Lucas that his private room was available for his use, the only private room in the barracks apparently, but Lucas told Terrasin to take it instead.  It would probably be for the best if he could talk to the soldiers without having a noble hovering over his shoulder.


    As night began to fall, the shuttered holes that served as windows displayed a dull orange glow in the fields where fires still burned.  According to messenger pigeons that had been received, the riots had mostly been suppressed, but the fires were a much more dangerous concern.  They were advised to stay where they were for now, which suited the injured and exhausted Lucas just fine.


    Asking around, he found the soldiers to be stiff and formal around him until he ended up swearing at them until they stopped referring to him as ¡°Lord Hero.¡±  Apparently, the collar¡¯s translation of swear words was quite entertaining, and Lucas had probably introduced a few new words into the worlds vocabulary with his last tirade, but at the very least, he was able to get some answers.


    Apparently, Duke Are was not as popular or as effective as he would like Lucas to believe.  Given his behavior earlier, Lucas was not very surprised.  High taxes, brutal conscription practices, and magistrates that colluded with underworld loan sharks forced much of the population to various forms of slavery, from indentured servitude to serfdom.  While the Duke and his court feasted, the populace starved, even though they could see and often worked in the fields filled with food that they could not touch.


    While the outer guards were part of the army, and the guards of the second wall were drawn from the cities population, the inner wall guards and the patrolling guards were all from the Duke¡¯s personal forces, and tales of their corruption were infamous.


    In short, this entire city had been a powderkeg from the start, and Lucas¡¯s arrival had been the steel that the flint of the Cult had struck against to set it off.  The only question was what he could do about it, given that the Duke was in power, probably not much.


    The next thought through his head made him groan, but he supposed he really did not have a choice.  To make the best use of what Lucas was going to do, he not only needed the support of the population, but he needed the results of the efforts to be spread to the population.  If it only flowed to the top the mortality rate would not decrease, nor would the birth rate increase.  In other words, Duke Are had to go along with his entire untrustworthy court.


    What the hell had Lucas done to deserve this mess?

 Chapter Twenty-two - A Meeting World

    It was two days before the riots were put under control. Parts of the city were still volatile, but the overwhelming military force that was available to the Duke on the demon border eventually broke the mobs back.


    And it was a good thing to, or the city might have burned down altogether. As it was, large sections of the city were little more than ashes, along with a good chunk of the fields outside. Winter was a ways off, but not too far. Honestly speaking, this was an absolute disaster that would make the task of feeding and sheltering the population impossible.


    Well, that was not quite true, but the solution Lucas had in mind would definitely not be accepted by the Duke. As the carriage rolled down the road past the burnt out and demolished buildings, Lucas went back and forth about his decision to unseat the Duke. He was not a people person, and frankly, this whole thing might end up with a sword in his gut, which Lucas wanted to avoid at any cost. On the other hand, he had already come close to death and the reality was that the situation was the Duke¡¯s fault, and Lucas did not give a damn if that line of reasoning was not quite ¡°fair.¡±


    ¡°Would you be able to bring me to Lady Versi?¡± Lucas asked Terrasin, ¡°There are a few things I need to talk to her about.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps I can help,¡± Terrasin said. ¡°What do you need to know?¡±


    Volen was still with them so Lucas could not actually say, the little man would undoubtedly scurry back to his master to report as soon as the coach door opened.


    ¡°It is a few minor things,¡± Lucas tried to act casual. ¡°Really not worth troubling you over.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± Lady Almistraus frowned slightly before returning to her normal noble demeanor. Volen was less able to contain his suspicion and was occasionally stealing glances at Lucas now.


    Lucas sighed, well that was a failure. Probably wouldn¡¯t even make it to evening before everyone and their mother knew that he was doing something and it involved the Lady Versi. Maybe they would mistake it for something sexual, that was still bad, but not as bad as losing his head for treason.


    He was not even sure if he really needed to worry at all. Lucas had spent so long denying that he was a hero and pushing the title away that he had no idea what status it gave him. The fact that Lady Almistraus, who was apparently a princess, was more or less serving as an attendant to him implied that he might have more sway than he realized. Still, he doubted that sway would allow him to walk up to the Duke and tell him to get his drunk ass out of his throne.


    Which was why he needed Lady Versi. She was related to the Duke after all, and while him seizing power would likely not work, especially because he would have no clue what to do with a city, he figured he could pass it off as giving Lady Versi temporary rulership that would be returned to the Duke after he left.


    It sounded good in his head, but it probably would not work for some reason or another that he hadn¡¯t thought of. Still, he had nothing better, so that really limited his choices down to this or deal with that alcoholic idiot. And since his arrival in this world had involved him being injured repeatedly, his already surly personality would simply not be able to handle dealing with the Duke again without strangling him.


    ¡°Ahem,¡± Volen coughed quietly to get Lucas¡¯s attention. ¡°We have arrived.¡±


    ¡°Ah, sorry.¡± Lucas apologized, ¡°I was lost in my thoughts.¡±


    Two hours later Lady Versi, Lady Almistraus, and Lucas were sitting in rather comfortable chairs in one of the many rooms of the estate. Lucas had explained the whole situation to the two women and now was waiting to hear what they thought of it.


    ¡°You told me you were a hypocrite, but I really didn¡¯t believe it before now.¡±


    Lucas nearly choked on the tea he was drinking, and had a small coughing fit before he could reply. ¡°That is the first thing you say? I mean, you are not wrong in general I suppose, but what was it this time?¡±


    ¡°You told us not to call you hero and yet here you are, using the title.¡±


    Well fair enough, he had thought the same thing¡­ But still, she didn¡¯t need to point it out¡­ Well, that is him being hypocritical again, as he probably would have. Fuck, he would have to work on this or it would probably keep coming back to bite him.


    ¡°And what do you think about the actual plan?¡±


    ¡°As sad as it is to say,¡± Lady Versi frowned. ¡°I have little doubt it would work. The rioters burned down several mansions and even managed to kill a group of nobles who had been out of the inner city at the time. The court is looking for a head to place the blame on, and were you to confront the Duke and try to put me forward as a provisional governor, you could probably do it.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°But¡­?¡± Lucas could tell there was more to it.


    ¡°Lucas, I don¡¯t know much about the world you are from,¡± Versi looked him over before meeting his eyes. ¡°But some of the things you have said makes me think that women and men have a more equal relationship than here.¡±


    ¡°That does not really say much though,¡± Lucas did not want to get into this topic, he had enough on his mind and had already had his head dragged through enough sensitive subjects already! ¡°I would not even call it remotely equal, but it certainly is moreso than here.¡±


    ¡°Do you really want me to be the provisional governor, is what I am trying to ask.¡± Versi frowned, ¡°The Duke¡¯s eldest son might be a better choice, and he certainly has no love for his father. Despite what the Duke said, he is absent more because he tried to kill his father several times. Not that anyone could prove that it was really him, but still.¡±


    ¡°Well for one thing I like you.¡± Lucas said casually and Versi blushed. ¡°Not like that! I meant that you are a good person with a solid head for thinking.¡± He was not so depraved as to want to be with a sixteen year old, there society probably had different standards, but on this point he would not compromise from his own. He was not a ephebophile.


    Lucas sighed, and continued. ¡°Anyway, I need someone who will listen to me because almost nothing I say will fit in with your world¡¯s common sense. If I have to stop and explain everything immediately, well, it would take years just to teach it. I will tell you what works, and some later person can come along and figure out why. Hell, if I am still here and things calm down I will explain it myself, but for now we need to move forward.¡±


    ¡°Sometimes I feel that you think of us as barbarians.¡± Terrasin frowned.


    ¡°Well, you are used to me being rude so I suppose this reply could be expected,¡± Lucas was not a very tactful person, after all. ¡°But essentially, yes, you are.¡±


    Terrasin watched him for a moment then seemed to give up and blew out a sigh, ¡°Lady Versi, you should definitely take the provisional seat, Lucas certainly can¡¯t be trusted with it.¡±


    ¡°I am a pretty decent manager you know,¡± Lucas retorted. ¡°I just have a deep loathing for politics and sycophants.¡±


    ¡°And, unfortunately, you never hold back your words.¡± Terrasin did not seem mad, just matter of fact. ¡°Too some extent, I have to admit I like that about you. It is refreshing and occasionally rather funny as well.¡±


    ¡°Always happy to entertain My Lady.¡± Lucas muttered sarcastically into his tea.


    ¡°But that feature would make you a terrible choice to rule and honestly, I doubt you could even meet successfully with most of the factions in this city much less over the whole of the duchy.¡±


    Lady Versi chimed in as well, ¡°I rather have to agree. Some of the soldiers we travelled with have started to use the curses you do, even among that rough bunch, your words are like sandpaper.¡±


    Lucas got distracted for a second, ¡°Wait, you have sandpaper?¡±


    Terrasin blinked in surprise that that had caught Lucas¡¯s attention, ¡°Yes, it exists. It is used to produce the smooth finish on the woodworks you see around you. Is it important for something?¡±


    ¡°Not really, I just wouldn¡¯t have expected it to exist in this world.¡± Well, it isn¡¯t like Lucas knew when sandpaper was invented, nor had ever really thought about it. But now that it came up he guessed he had assumed it was a modern creation, maybe they replicated it with magic or maybe it was an older product than he thought.


    ¡°Leaving sandpaper aside,¡± Lady Versi brought the conversation back on track. ¡°The truth simply is that I am really the only choice for this and if we can gather the right support, this is a time where the Duke¡¯s seat is vulnerable.¡±


    ¡°So the ¡®hero¡¯ title isn¡¯t enough¡­¡± Lucas mused, well it certainly wouldn¡¯t be enough for him if he was in the Duke¡¯s shoes. ¡°What kind of support do we need?¡±


    ¡°Though they are not strictly nobility, I think the best support we can get is from the mages and the Church.¡± Versi put those two groups forward, causing Lucas to frown.


    Magic and religion, two things that fascinated him in this world and that he also wanted to stay the hell away from. Lucas wanted to distract himself with his work, hell, even now he was thinking about how to present the idea of selective breeding to farmers properly. Just so long as he didn¡¯t think about being brought to a world with demons out to kill him, he felt he could make it through the next few weeks fine enough. But magic threw a wrench in that plan.


    On one hand, magic seemed amazing to him. He supposed that this worlds magicians and sorcerers were like his own world¡¯s scientists, men and women who were experts in their fields and understood their work. A part of him was really excited to see what could happen when biology and magic mixed!


    But on the other hand, he wondered just how much he could take. Lucas had given up dreams of magic before he had hit ten years old and had chosen to pursue being a scientist at around the same time. He did not want to raise his hopes only to have them dashed, and he did not want to unsettle himself when he hardly had a chance to settle into this world in the first place!


    The Church was not much better. Lucas was an agnostic, but it would probably be more accurate to describe him as constantly sliding back and forth between various versions of Christianity and Atheism, he could never really make up his mind. The idea that their Gods actually answered their prayers made the whole conversation even more confusing, for a whole host of reasons and Lucas wanted nothing to do with it.


    But it didn¡¯t seem like he had any choice.


    ¡°Well, if that is how it has to be that is how it is.¡± Lucas steeled himself and decided to move forward. ¡°Let¡¯s go meet with the mages.¡±

 Chapter twenty-three - A Curious World

    Honestly, the first time Lucas met with Knight Enchanter, who led the mages in the army, he had a very good first impression.  His world¡¯s stereotype of the robbed, bearded, old man with a funny hat was nowhere to be seen in the crisp military presentation that the twenty something year old man put forth.  In the dress uniform and sporting a rather awesome goatee and short dark hair, the only thing that stood out as strange were his eyes, which were glowing red.


    That part was distracting though, however when Lucas asked about it he was told that it was had to do with the amount of magic the man was holding.  Honestly, as a biologist, Lucas could not resist making his first question how well he could see with light actually coming out of his eyes.  Apparently, the man could see just fine, which made no sense from either a biologists or a physicists point of view, but he would leave that for now.


    ¡°Now that I have answered that,¡± the mage laughed, quite amused by Lucas¡¯s sudden question.  ¡°Let me introduce myself, I am the Knight Enchanter Julian, it is my pleasure to meet you hero.¡±


    Julian bowed smartly, and Lucas returned the greeting, swallowing his distaste for the ¡®hero¡¯ title.  He would just have to get used to that part¡­


    ¡°Well, allow me to be honest with you Lord Julian,¡± Lucas said to the mage as he, Lady Versi, Lady Almistraus, and Lucas sat down in one of the castles many rooms.


    ¡°Please, I am of common birth,¡± Julian lifted his hand to pause the conversation.  ¡°I would prefer you don¡¯t use my title at all, but if you must, ¡®sir¡¯ will be sufficient for a knight.¡±


    ¡°Sir Julian then,¡± figures that when Lucas especially tried to be respectful, even if he had failed at the start, the other person would be fine with casual talk.  ¡°As I said, allow me to be honest, I know absolutely nothing about magic or your organisation.¡±


    Julian laughed, ¡°Well to be fair, most people do not.  Though, to satisfy my own curiosity, do you not know because you never studied it, or does magic not exist in your world?¡±


    ¡°The latter, probably.¡±  Lucas hedged his bets a little, for all he knew magic existed and just simply not interacted with.


    ¡°Ah, well then allow me a basic explanation.¡±  Julian calmly described a rough idea of how magic worked.  ¡°This is simplifying greatly, but the human soul and the human body are not quite put together as a complete whole.  The interaction between the body and soul generate magic that can be directed by the mind.¡±


    Well, I understood the words he was using¡­  Lucas thought to himself, and asked, ¡°what, precisely, is magic?¡±


    ¡°That is hard to say, easily.¡±  Julian thought for a moment, ¡°It isn¡¯t an energy so much as a physical thing, but that physical thing isn¡¯t totally here in this world but it isn¡¯t out of this world either.  It is both at once, by moving the part of magic that exists ¡®elsewhere¡¯ we are able to affect changes ¡®here.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Fascinating¡­¡±  Lucas murmured, that explanation made him wish he had studied physics more, because he was willing to bet such a thing would be revolutionary to anyone who could understand it in the modern world.


    ¡°Well,¡± Julian smiled ruefully.  ¡°It isn¡¯t as great as it sounds.  While everyone can learn magic, most people cannot really use it to any significant degree, and on the flip side there are those who use it as naturally as breathing.¡±


    ¡°That is fairly normal for all talents.¡±


    ¡°True, but with magic those at the higher end have interesting problems.¡±  Julian¡¯s smile turned bitter, ¡°as an example, I know that you are not here to talk about magic at all.¡±


    ¡°How the hell did you know that?¡±  Lucas exclaimed, then immediately berated himself as an idiot.  This is why he could not do politics, he was more interested in the ¡°how¡± than the fact that he was probably about to get his head chopped off!


    ¡°Let¡¯s say that I heard some whispers.¡±


    Lucas looked questioningly at Lady Almistraus who explained, ¡°rumors say that the ¡®elsewhere¡¯ he mentioned contains ¡®others¡¯ that no one knows much about, except that they sometimes whisper to magic users about events either in the present, past, or future.  Honestly, I never really believed it, so this surprises me quite a bit¡­¡±


    ¡°It is just as she said,¡± Julian agreed.  ¡°But you do not need to worry, frankly, I don¡¯t care much either way.  The Duke has nothing to do with the day to day workings of the military, even his son does not command as much as he would have you think.¡±


    Julians eyes glittered as he leaned forward suddenly, his noble bearing replaced with that of a rapacious look.  ¡°But since I don¡¯t care, I want to be paid for my risk.¡±


    ¡°You do realize,¡± Lucas drawled sarcastically.  ¡°That as someone who was stolen from a different world, I am essentially penniless right?¡±


    That was greeted with a scoff, ¡°I am sure the two beautiful Ladies at your side would support you, but I do not want money anyway.¡±


    ¡°Then what do you want?¡± Lucas growled, tired of the run around.


    ¡°Knowledge.¡±  Julian answered, ¡°The magic of life is the most difficult of all magics, trying to make things grow or heal or perhaps even die by stopping life, all of those are nearly impossible.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°What, do you expect me to be your private tutor?  For the record, it took me decades to learn the knowledge I have, and many of my teachers were professionals in both biology and in teaching itself.¡±  Lucas paused for a second thinking, then continued poking holes in the request.  ¡°Let¡¯s say that I did agree, and I could teach efficiently, you lack the technology to observe many of things I would discuss, unless you can replicate the effect through magic.¡±


    ¡°A compromise, perhaps.¡±  Lady Versi interjected, ¡°One day a week, split between you teaching him this ¡®biology¡¯ and him teaching you magic?¡±


    ¡°If that is all I can get, I guess I have no choice.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what the hell is this about teaching me magic?¡±


    The two talked over each other, and Lucas looked to Lady Versi.  This was not something that had come up in their previous discussions!  On the other hand...   He had to admit that not only was he curious, but if the magic description had been accurate and meant what he thought it did¡­  It might be the only way he could get home.


    ¡°I suppose I should not complain,¡± Lucas sighed, even if his feelings were not quite agreeing with his words.  ¡°I can agree with that, but I may not even be able to use magic at all.¡±


    ¡°Well that won''t bother me,¡± Julian laughed.  ¡°Gets me out of having to teach you after all.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough, then you will support my plan?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡±  Julian straightened his coat and regained his composure.  ¡°To be honest, you probably won¡¯t even have to put Lady Versi on the throne, have you noticed the rather conspicuous lack of the Duke¡¯s first son?¡±


    ¡°I suppose, but I did not think much of it.¡±  Lucas was not very socially aware after all¡­


    ¡°Indeed,¡± Lady Almistraus chimed in.  ¡°Considering that he is set to inherit, I would expect him to be at his father¡¯s hand, to learn from him, that would be tradition at least.¡±


    ¡°As I recall the Heidall made a rather good impression on my side of the family.¡±  Lady Versi said as she thought.


    ¡°I presume that this ¡®Heidall¡¯ is the first son?¡±  Lucas asked to confirm, not liking being the only one in the dark.


    ¡°Indeed,¡± Julian nodded.  ¡°He would likely be a better choice than Lady Versi, as wonderful as she is.¡±  Julian bowed slightly towards Versi and Lucas noted that bowing was probably a more difficult maneuver sitting down.


    ¡°Why would he listen to me though?¡±  Lucas thought it unlikely that the man¡¯s son would be happy with his father being unseated, even if it did give him the duchy.  Well, he wouldn¡¯t know much about it, but even if Heidall would listen to him, Lady Versi still seemed the better choice to Lucas.


    ¡°Because there is no other way for him to take the throne having being banished to a monastery by his father for disobedience.¡±


    Versi seemed shocked, ¡°When did this occur?  I have heard nothing about it!¡±


    ¡°Last year sometime?¡±  Julian estimated, ¡°as I am often on the front line, I could not say for sure.¡±


    ¡°And why would he be a better choice than Lady Versi?¡±  Lucas ignored the banishment for now, first he had to know why he should bother.


    ¡°Lady Versi is related to the Duke, but she is not native to this kingdom.¡±  Julian explained, ¡°Some nobles will use that as an excuse to rebel, or at the very least to make your life difficult.  The more that we keep to the line of succession, the more stable this transition will be.¡±


    Terrasin nodded, ¡°the last thing the city needs is more instability.¡±


    Lucas sighed, he was not quite comfortable with this plan but he did not know the politics of the situation and had no confidence in his ability to figure it out.  Management was so much more simple, you told someone to do something, they did it, and it either worked or didn¡¯t.  Politics was a minefield of friends and enemies and backstabs and deals and who the hell knew what else.


    ¡°Well, I had to meet with the priests anyway,¡± Lucas ended up agreeing.  ¡°So I have an excuse to go and meet him anyway.¡±


    ¡°Before you go,¡± Julian eyes went wild again, and with the shining red glow it looked positively demonic to Lucas.  Though apparently actual demons rarely had red eyes, so that was one stereotype down¡­  ¡°I have some questions that I beg you to answer!¡±


    ¡°Sure, I suppose.¡±  Lucas shrugged, ¡°but why do you think I can answer them?¡±


    ¡°Once long ago I asked the whispers these questions and they told me that I would learn the answers at the dawn of the next era.  In other words, the summoned hero would answer them!¡±


    ¡°That seems a bit of a stretch¡­  But go ahead.¡±


    ¡°First, how are babies formed?¡±


    Lucas blinked, he had certainly not expected that.  He had really, really not expected that¡­  Wait, why was he asking this question in the first place?  Science progressed by humanity having problems and looking for solutions, there was little reason to think this question did not have a root somewhere.


    Lucas said as much and Julian answered, ¡°Magic is produced from the interplay of the body and soul, and those are created in this period.  This answer may give me the ultimate understanding of how we use it!¡±


    Lucas smiled, this fervor for discovery¡­  He and Julian might get along well, anyone with the desire to learn and grow was a worthwhile person in Lucas¡¯s book.  Though he did worry about his ability to teach¡­


    ¡°Well I think we can skip over the first part, as I am guessing I don¡¯t need to explain that part to you.¡±


    Julian laughed and nodded, Lady Versi blushed, but Terrasin just rolled her eyes.


    And Lucas found himself describing the process of fertilization and development, including some sidetracks to the idea of chromosomes and cell structure, and the faces of everyone around simply became more and more lost as he talked.  ¡°Regardless, it isn¡¯t until¡­ Hmm, haven¡¯t thought about human development for a while¡­  I would like to say the fifth week?  Maybe it was six, whatever, the exact point doesn¡¯t matter, but that is roughly the time that the fetus begins to have activity in the brain they have been developing.¡±


    Julian held up a hand, to stop Lucas in his rambling lecture.  He seemed slightly grim, ¡°Apparently, I did not know what I was asking.  That collar is an artifact of legendary proportions, and even with it, many of your words cannot be translated.  I think I am starting to understand why no one has ever been very successful with life magic, but having listened to you¡­  I think it can work, there are points you have mentioned that I can understand, and they give me some interesting ideas¡­¡±


    Julian sighed, ¡°But as much as I would love to have you explain it all to me, I think I should accompany you to the monastery.  This deal is going to be incredibly profitable for me, so I should uphold my end of the bargain.¡±

 Chapter Twenty-Four - A Praying World

    The monastery was out in the fields, and Lucas could not help but sigh.  It felt like he was moving back and forth along the same line over and over again, it made him wonder if he could figure out enough about how the telegraph worked to build one.  Probably not enough for his first try, but he knew the basic principles to figure it out eventually¡­  Maybe¡­


    Regardless, this trip was more annoying that the previous ones as Julian kept pepering him with questions the whole way.  Somehow the conversation had ended up about the nervous system this time, and Julian apparently was eager to test some ideas he had thought of based on the information Lucas gave him.  Supposedly, Julian thought he could use it to increase the power of mages on the front lines, while Lucas idly wondered if he had just given Julian the information he needed to kill people even more easily.  He really did need to have a working understanding of magic, there were certain parts of science that these people should not know, and if he didn¡¯t understand the capabilities of magic¡­  Well, he might accidentally tell people to much and cause disaster.


    Still, Lucas liked the guy.  If someone had come to his world with knowledge beyond his own, he probably would react the same way.  Also, he was apparently providing Terrasin and to some extent Versi with quite a bit of entertainment as they watched the animated discussion.


    So at the very least, the time passed quickly for the four as they approached the monastery, which looked like a small castle surrounded by the fields around it.  Unlike Lucas¡¯s view of a monastery though, instead of men in robes working and praying, there were actually quite a few heavily armored soldiers patrolling the area.  These men were Paladins, the military order within the Church.  They were housed in the monastery instead of the castle barracks, and it certainly made an impact on Lucas.


    Still, it was older men in robes, including Cardinal Simon, that came to greet Lucas as he arrived.


    ¡°Ah, welcome Lucas.¡±  Cardinal Simon bowed slightly, ¡°To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?  Have you come to learn the words of the Church?¡±


    ¡°Though I know that I probably should,¡± Lucas said more politely than he usually would, he had enough fanatics trying to kill him already after all.  ¡°Unfortunately, I have come for a different reason today.  Would I be able to meet with Heidall Are?¡±


    Simon frowned slightly, then smiled again.  ¡°Indeed you can, however he is in meditations at the moment.  Would you be able to wait for him to finish?  It is an important ritual in the life of the monks here, and it shouldn¡¯t be more than a few hours.¡±


    A few hours?  He would have thought that his status would be able to cut through things like this, but Lucas decided not to push.  He needed Heidall on his side after all, and he could tell that Simon was hoping to use this time to educate him.  Well, he needed to know about this Church anyway¡­


    ¡°I think I can wait,¡± Lucas agreed.  ¡°And perhaps you would be able to explain the beliefs of your church while I wait?¡±


    Simon smiled broadly as Julian sighed slightly, ¡°I would be delighted to, and don¡¯t worry Knight Enchanter, hearing the Message once more won¡¯t hurt you.¡±


    Julian had suggested this, but it turns out he wasn¡¯t heavily religious himself.  Most mages were not as they followed the teachings of their founder, which focused on personal strength and accomplishment over accepting the help of the Gods.  According to Julian, the two different groups did not conflict however.  They respected the teachings of the heros who brought both into the world, and stayed out of each others way and came together to fight the demons together.


    ¡°Cardinal¡­¡±  One of the armored Paladins spoke up, ¡°Is it not wrong to address the Lord Saint in such a casual tone?¡±


    ¡°I have accompanied him for a while now,¡± Cardinal Simon laughed.  ¡°And honestly I have come to the opinion that Lucas here finds being called by a title more uncomfortable than being stabbed!¡±


    ¡°Well I wouldn¡¯t go that far,¡± Lucas laughed.  ¡°But on the whole you are not wrong.  But Saint is a new one for me, I am hazarding a guess that the Church views summoned people as Saints then?¡±


    ¡°That is correct,¡± Simon had them follow him into a receiving chamber nearby.  It was much more humble and practical than the nobles decorations and furnishing, honestly Lucas prefered it quite a bit.  Or he would, if the simplicity had not also extended to the padding.  But hey, it was better than flying coach on an airplane so he wouldn¡¯t complain.


    ¡°I would have thought that the title of ¡®saint¡¯ would be used instead of ¡®lord¡¯ if both were available.¡±


    ¡°Well, the title of Saint is not very accepted outside of the Church.¡±  Simon said casually, ¡°After all, giving the title of ¡®Saint¡¯ to the Demon King was a very contentious decision.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Lucas raised his eyebrows in astonishment, ¡°This Church gave that title to a demon?¡±


    ¡°History often brushes it aside, but the Saints were not all good people all the time.¡±  Simon accepted some tea from a servant, took a sip and continued.  ¡°Our founder was a reformed criminal in his own world, he commited murder and robbery before he found his way to the Word of the Gods.  The First Sorceress was known for her own foibles as well.¡±


    ¡°That is a kind way to say she is legendary for sleeping with most of the people she met and had a tendency to experiment on them in their sleep afterwards.¡±  Julian chuckled, ¡°I remember one story passed around regarding her and some ancient queen, let¡¯s just say that it isn¡¯t exactly something the Church would put into the sermons for common folk.¡±


    ¡°Yes, well¡­¡±  Simon coughed into his hand and moved on.  ¡°In short, no Saint is fully good or bad and there are some factions of the church that believe that the Demon King may have good features much as the heroes have had bad.¡±


    ¡°I would appreciate if I could get a grasp on what the Church believes first,¡± Lucas tasted the tea as well, bitter, but overall not bad as it could be.  Kind of like the furniture¡­  ¡°To be honest, there are many religions and beliefs in the world I come from, and there has never been any concrete proof that any of them have any truth to them at all.  So that you have Gods and that they answer your prayers¡­  Well, I am a mix of skeptical, awed, and scared.¡±


    ¡°That is interesting¡­¡±  The Cardinal looked at Lucas with interest, ¡°The First Sorceress came from a different world than our founder, but they also worshipped the same Gods.  True, she had little to do with the Church because of her¡­ Proclivities¡­  But still, with perhaps the exception of the Demon King the Saints have all followed the Church of the Spoken Word.¡±


    ¡°Well, although I think it unlikely, perhaps your religion does exist in my world with a different name.¡±  Lucas replied, though he really did doubt it highly.  If any Gods had answered prayers with any degree of predictability that religion would have easily dominated the world.


    ¡°The basic tenet of our beliefs is that of the Word¡¯s of Ascension,¡±  The Cardinal¡¯s eyes sparkled and Julian sat back with another sigh.  Lady Almistraus and Lady Versi were still attentive, although they clearly would already know this.  ¡°That by human effort we can reach a higher plane of existence.¡±


    ¡°There are a few religions with beliefs like that in my world,¡± Lucas nodded, understanding the concept.


    ¡°The Gods we worship are divided into two groups,¡± Simon continued.  ¡°The Ascended, who were mortals who followed the teachings to reach a new plane of existence, and the Three Perfect Builders, who Spoke the Words that brought us into existence.¡±


    Lucas was fairly sure that this religion did not exist in his world at this point, but he did see elements of other religions within it.


    ¡°We cannot communicate with the Three directly,¡± Simon seemed sad as he considered this.  ¡°We are too far beneath them for them to notice, and before the Ascended made contact with them we were beneath their notice.  The Ascended channel our prayers to the Three and the power of the Three to us and our worshipped for their glory and the great aid they have given to us.¡±


    ¡°What sort of power?¡±  Lucas leaned forward, curiosity getting the better of him.  Would it be like fantasy games in his world?  Or perhaps something different altogether?


    ¡°There are many, but all come at a cost.¡±  Simon turned more serious.  ¡°The Ascended were once human, but they are beyond us now, and only someone with great faith and mental fortitude can handle contact with them.  But even then, it slowly wears away our Paladins and eventually they must retire to a monastery.  However, they gain the ability to shield themselves in holy light and imbue their arms with that same light.  Demons cannot abide the light, which burns away their impurities.¡±


    ¡°Older Paladins, who had the strength to survive years of contact with the Gods, can call upon their miracles to heal wounds, strike out at enemies from a distance, or even create things from thin air.  But there are almost none who last that long before retirement.¡±


    ¡°I hesitate to ask,¡± Lucas took a breath and forged ahead.  ¡°But how do you know these powers come from ¡®gods?¡¯  What proof do you have that the Ascended exist?  Or even that they are what they claim to be?¡±


    ¡°Relatively few answer that question when shown the miracles of the priests and Paladins,¡± Simon smiled.  ¡°And there is an answer that we give to the people at our sermons, but for you, as a Saint, there is something else.¡±


    ¡°Some sort of hidden scripture?¡±  Lucas guessed, familiar with the cuts that churches and mosques had made to their own holy book over the years.  Though he had to admit those edits had rarely been to hide things and were more often an attempt by the religious leaders to provide the message they thought their flocks needed.


    ¡°Not quite, it would be more accurate to say that there are some people that you should meet before you see Heidall.¡±


    ¡°Who, precisely, should I meet and what will they be telling me?¡±  Lucas frowned, starting to feel like he was being stalled.  He wondered if Heidall was even meditating or whatever at all, perhaps they had said that just to get him here for some reason.¡±


    Simon looked at the three others with him and told Lucas that he could say nothing further unless they were alone, but Lucas was suspicious and simply refused.  Last time he had been separated from people he knew he had been stabbed, and Simon was clearly hiding something.


    Eventually, Simon sighed.  ¡°At least send the Knight Enchanter out.  The Ladies here are believers from families I can trust, and as much as Julian is respected as a colleague¡­¡±


    ¡°I am not precisely devout.¡±  Julian laughed and got up, ¡°Fine then, but don¡¯t take too long.¡±


    After Julian left, the Cardinal¡¯s next words surprised Lucas and stunned the two ladies with him.


    ¡°I would like to arrange a meeting between you and the two previous Saints, Lucas.¡±

 Chapter Twenty-Five - A Reasoning World

    ¡°I presume that the title of Saint does not come with immortality?¡± Lucas asked dryly, though if he was honest he was a little hopeful. But the Cardinal just laughed.


    ¡°No, no.¡± Simon smiles, ¡°However, in preparation for your arrival the Church sent Paladins to bring over one of our most sacred artifacts.¡±


    Cardinal Simon got up and beckoned the group to follow him deeper into the monastery as he explained. ¡°The Orb is a gift from the Gods, and was further refined by The Lady Sorceress when she arrived here two thousand years ago. We were entrusted to with it by The Speaker to connect him to those who came after, and he was joined by The First Sorceress when she died. Cardinals, during our inauguration, are given the chance to meet them¡­ It is¡­ A special experience.¡±


    What, precisely, does this entail?¡± This was beyond Lucas¡¯s ability to understand, and that made him nervous¡­ Though it couldn¡¯t be that bad if the Cardinal had gone through it and came out fine¡­


    ¡°There is no need to worry,¡± Simon brought them passed a series of guards, there were at least two dozen between where they had started and the room they stopped in. A pedestal in the center held a smokey white orb roughly the size of a human head, it seemed to glow faintly with an inner light. ¡°All you need to do is put your hand on the Orb and your mind¡¯s eye will be transported to a meeting place between the worlds.¡±


    ¡°Why do I feel like there is something you are not telling me?¡± Lucas was hesitant to touch the artifact, anything that could affect his mind should be treated with care after all.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± The Cardinal sighed sadly as he looked at the Orb, ¡°A person can only use the Orb once, and after that it will never respond to them again.¡±


    ¡°Normally I would be curious why that kind of restriction exists,¡± Lucas sighed. ¡°But frankly there is only so much I can take at any one time. The very fact that Julian is going to be teaching me magic will be enough of a headache¡­ I suppose I might as well get this over with.¡±


    The two ladies had looks of concern, awe and disbelief mixed together as Lucas walked to the center of the room and put his hand on the orb. It was a very¡­ Disconcerting, feeling. Like he had just had a sudden drop on a roller coaster that he wasn¡¯t quite prepared for.


    ¡°Welcome to-¡±


    ¡°Oh my, its been a while since there has been anyone but stuffy old men. You are actually pretty cute.¡±


    This ¡®meeting place¡¯ was little more than a patch stone floor surrounded by absolute darkness. Ahead of him was an old man in white robes and a twenty something girl in robes.


    The man was scowling at the girl, who had interrupted him as he introduced himself. The only way to describe the man was¡­ Pale¡­ White hair, paper like skin, and white robes¡­ He almost looked like a ghost instead of a man, though Lucas supposed he was in many ways.


    The girl was had dark black hair and wore colorful robes that seemed to shimmer and change as he watched. The only thing the two held in common was their stark white skin, perhaps a side effect of being dead?


    ¡°I presume you two are the ¡°Heroes¡± before me?¡± Lucas looked back and forth between them. ¡°You look pretty much like I expected,¡± he nodded towards the man. ¡°But you are nothing like I expected.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± She seemed shocked, ¡°Did they stop telling those stories about me finally?¡±


    ¡°You say that like those stories weren¡¯t true¡­¡± The man grumbled.


    ¡°Enough of the comedy, I really don¡¯t care.¡± Lucas supposed that being stuck together for several thousand years might have driven them crazy and prayed to whatever god would listen that he didn¡¯t end up here. ¡°All I want to know is this, how do I get home.¡±


    The two stopped quarreling and turned to him sadly, he got his answer from their faces.


    ¡°I see.¡± Lucas sighed, ¡°Well then, I presume you want to talk to me for some reason?¡±


    ¡°My name is Valencia,¡± The woman introduced herself, suddenly incredibly serious. ¡°And we wanted to warn you about the Demon King.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Not really,¡± Lucas waved it away. ¡°I have no intention of setting foot on a battlefield if I can help it. Though I grant you that with my luck there will probably be a war within the next week.¡±


    ¡°We were going to tell you that he was still alive,¡± the priest who introduced himself as Gorn said. ¡°But you seem rather unsurprised.¡±


    ¡°Hmmmm, that is a good point.¡± Lucas mused, ¡°I was basing that assumption of the lore of my world, which would suggest that demons are immortal. Well, to steal a word from a book I like, it would be more accurate to call them immorbid. Which is to say that I wouldn¡¯t expect him to die unless killed.¡±


    ¡°You are very nonchalant about that.¡± Valencia said with a smile.


    ¡°Well it really isn¡¯t my problem,¡± Lucas shrugged. ¡°I am not dumb enough to go out and fight something called ¡®The Demon King.¡¯ I¡¯d rather not die if I can help it.¡±


    ¡°You are the hero this world will depend on,¡± Gorn frowned. ¡°It is up to you to-¡±


    Lucas held up a hand to stop him mid sentence, ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t view it like that. You wouldn¡¯t kidnap someone and say that they had a moral obligation to help you, and that is essentially what this is. I will help, because now I have to live here too, but if you expect me to fight you have another thing coming.¡±


    Valencia was just amused and laughed, ¡°By all means, if you think you can survive without fighting, be my guest. But you already have fought, haven¡¯t you? It will only get worse you know.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Lucas acknowledged that she was possibly correct, ¡°I will defend myself, and I don¡¯t really have a problem attacking. But I will not risk myself if I can help it.¡±


    Valencia laughed again as she walked up and ran her hand down his chest, it was a rather surreal experience since he could see her doing it but could not feel it. ¡°Cute, smart, and determined¡­ If you were not a bit of an ass I might wish to have a body again just to have some fun with you.¡±


    ¡°Valencia¡­¡± Gorn sighed in exasperation, ¡°Well, there is one other thing I can give you. It isn¡¯t much of a hope, but it serves both our needs.¡±


    ¡°Which is?¡± Lucas asked, he had admittedly been thinking this was a waste of his time.


    ¡°I came to this world just after the theft of the ritual, it was not history for me but merely the week before.¡± Gorn¡¯s eyes defocused as he thought back to his past. ¡°Far to the north, where the Demons reign and even have cities, there are libraries holding their forbidden knowledge.¡±


    ¡°This is where the knowledge of the summoning comes from.¡±


    ¡°Therefore,¡± Lucas inferred, ¡°if there is any way for me to head back to my world, it would be found there.¡±


    ¡°Why the hell did you not tell me this?¡± Valencia glared at him, ¡°I died before it would have been useful, but it is just rude not to say anything!¡±


    ¡°The knowledge found in those libraries should not be known by anyone at all,¡± Gorn said firmly. ¡°I did not tell you because I had already instructed the Paladins to burn them as soon as they reached them.¡±


    ¡°If you weren¡¯t dead I would kill you for that.¡± Valencia made a rude gesture towards Gorn. ¡°Well, if he is going to give you that I should give you something before you go as well. Maybe a little help with magic?¡±


    Suddenly, she wrapped around Lucas and kissed him hard. Or at least, that is what it looked like. He still could feel nothing, however it was slightly different this time¡­ He felt like an electric shock had gone through his head and he stumbled back.


    His hand came off the Orb and he was back in the monastery again. He was shaking, sweating, and panting¡­ It had not seemed very difficult when he had been there, but apparently using the Orb had stressed his body quite a bit.


    ¡°Did you receive their counsel?¡± Cardinal Simon asked hopefully and Lady Versi and Lady Almistraus seemed especially concerned about him now.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call it counsel, precisely¡­¡± Lucas gathered his senses and calmed his breathing. ¡°But I did find out that the only way I am ever likely to get home is to kill the Demon King and plunder his libraries.¡±


    The Cardinal frowned, ¡°That you even know about them is surprising, but the Church received orders to burn those thousands of years ago. Should we ever have the opportunity, we shall do so.¡±


    ¡°Then I will make sure you never get the opportunity,¡± Lucas growled. ¡°This whole world is a shithole, and about the only thing I am willing to fight for is to get out of here. If I have to wipe the demons off the continent to do that, I guess I had better get started doing so.¡±


    ¡°That is your destiny after all,¡± the Cardinal nodded. ¡°But the knowledge in those libraries should not ever be sought.¡±


    ¡°By that logic, your church wouldn¡¯t exist, humans would not be able to use magic, and I would be starting my own business right now. The very magic that brought me here is stolen from the demons, correct?¡±


    ¡°And it also brought forth the Demon King.¡± The Cardinal frowned, ¡°Even though the Church recognizes that there could be good in the Demon King, he still is what he is. If he had never been summoned¡­¡±


    ¡°From what I understand,¡± Lucas was getting tired of arguing or even caring. Everything in this world seemed to be a pain in the ass. ¡°Humanity was close to defeat before Gorn arrived, so presumably if you want this world to have humans than it seems it was better to use the ritual than not to.¡±


    Before Simon could speak again, Lucas made himself perfectly clear. ¡°I am going home Cardinal. And you should be happy for this, because it gives me a reason to actually care about your war. Let me show you precisely what I can do.¡±

 Side Story - Valencia and the Queen - Part One

    ***Year 2, 2nd era, day two of the Third Quarter (approximately two thousand years ago)***


    -The city of Uri-


    *Valencia deVon Cindy*


    You would think after all the victories it would be easy to gain support from the kingdoms of this world. And you, being a reasonable human being, would expect that on the verge of total victory against an implacable demonic foe, that humanity would be united in purpose and will.


    I won¡¯t call you an idiot, but¡­ Well, you are. My name is Valencia Cindy, the ¡°deVon¡± in my name was added by the nobles of this world and essentially is a sign of nobility. Personally, I don¡¯t care too much, but I have to admit it was useful.


    See, I was not the most successful sorceress in my world, to be honest I had just graduated from the academy. True, I graduated on the young side, but my ever-so-perfect sister graduated even earlier. When you have a sibling that is that amazing, it is hard to stand out. And the thing was, I didn¡¯t want to stand out, I didn¡¯t want to follow in the family''s footsteps and join the Magical Association, I wanted to explore the world and see all that there was! And then, two years ago, I was summoned to a different world that had no magic whatsoever!


    I was free from my family and their expectations, free from the shadow of my sister, free to explore this new world stretched out before me! Free to flirt with some of the finer looking men and women this world had to offer¡­ Really, what was up with that? Sure not everyone was high quality, but some of them¡­ Wow¡­


    There was tiny little catch, which was the Demonic War, and that brings me back to the present where instead of being on the front lines, where I should be, I am smiling at sycophants in a ballroom in Uri. There is something particularly slimy about those smiling toadies who would sidle up to me for political reasons. Even people who would come up to flirt with me at least valued her, and not just whatever value they could wring from me for their own personal power.


    ¡°Valencia,¡± a cool voice called out, my good friend Captain Jurr from the eastern countries. ¡°Enjoying the party?¡±


    Jurr was particularly skilled with sarcasm, and knew damn well I would damn well rather be anywhere else, but I could return the favor.


    ¡°It is almost as boring as you were in bed.¡± I said with a sly smile as I sipped my drink.


    ¡°Don¡¯t say things that can be misinterpreted!¡± Jurr sputtered, nearly dropping his own drink. ¡°You have been tormenting me with that for months, when are you going to stop making me explain to everyone who overhears your comments?¡±


    ¡°When your reaction stops being so hilarious.¡±


    We had shared a bed, in an army hospital, after a particularly violent battle that had left the hospital without room for people to have their own beds. If both of us had not been so high ranking, we may have ended up laying on a thin sheet spread on the ground. Neither of us had been in any condition to fool around, and Jurr was married and quite loyal to his wife anyway. Unfortunately for him, his wife found his reaction quite amusing as well and she and I would often work together to torment him.


    Despite that slight bit of amusement, I was still stuck here for the time being, and that thought caused me to sigh. We were winning, the demons had been shoved back to the very north of the continent, but now some countries considered the battle all but won and had turned to petty infighting and political intrigue.


    I knew better though, Demons were not like humans, did not function like them and from what I had observed they may be fighting nothing but the demons equivalent of livestock. They sent their dogs to fight human armies while the masters stayed hidden in the back.


    No matter how many of their forces they lose, they can always breed more. And I knew that if the Demons ever got back on their feet, and if humanity grew any more fractured, they would sweep back through all the gains they had made in the past couple years and probably further.


    ¡°Lady Valencia,¡± well this was one sycophant that could not be ignored, Karina, the queen of a small country to the northeast. She and her husband had approached me before in an attempt to increase their own standings, but as heads of state I could not brush them off. ¡°What a surprise to see you here.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    You knew damn well I would be here I thought, but I smiled blandly and replied, ¡°I am surprised to see you as well, I have to admit I was hoping that you were organizing your troops to send to the front.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes.¡± Queen Karina nodded sagely, ¡°Unfortunately, we need those soldiers for our own political interest, we are a small country and the time we spent under the constant siege of demons has left us weak compared to our neighbors.¡±


    I would have thought that having fought the demons for so long would have given you some empathy, but again, that was something I could not say. ¡°I have it on good authority your southern neighbors are sending their troops to the front as well, so perhaps you are secure enough to do the same?¡±


    ¡°My husband disagrees, and I am undecided.¡± Queen Karina smiled at me, why did someone so annoying have to be so pretty? ¡°There just doesn¡¯t seem to be anything in it for us.¡±


    I saw Lord Almistraus behind Karina, and used greeting him as an excuse to leave the conversation. The Almistraus¡¯s had been very strong supporters of the war effort, despite being so far from the front lines. Why couldn¡¯t others be like them?


    ¡°You have no idea how thankful I am to see you,¡± I could have hugged him, which wasn¡¯t a bad idea actually¡­ Wouldn¡¯t be the first time, and that first time was not bad, but Lord Almistraus was too noble for his own good, and for my tastes to be sure. He worried about my reputation, but my world had a very different view of propriety than this one. I wasn¡¯t married, so couldn¡¯t I do what I wanted? I didn¡¯t owe anybody anything, and no one owned me.


    ¡°Oh, I saw your conversation partner.¡± Lord Almistraus bowed crisply as I approached. ¡°And if she follows you over here, Lady Valencia, I will abandon you to your trials.¡±


    He flashed a smile and Jurr also came over, having left her when the Queen had showed up! I shot a glare at him and received a smirk in return, so I turned his wine bitter. His next sip had him sputtering and me laughing.


    ¡°You know,¡± Lord Almistraus commented as he looked on at the amusing scene. ¡°You have yet to teach us medical or transfigurative magic, when this war is over your teachings will still remain invaluable.¡±


    ¡°I keep telling you guys,¡± I sigh. ¡°I am terrible at medical magic. Do you honestly think I would sleep besides Jurr if I could?¡±


    ¡°If it weren¡¯t for his wife? Yes.¡±


    Well¡­ Probably. As long as I was in this world, I was going to enjoy every second of it if I could. And frankly, the front lines were more or less hell. After you¡¯ve seen sixteen year old conscripts torn in half and eaten by a pack of demonic creatures, well, you relax however you can.


    I taught magic as well as I could, but I am not an instructor and there are neither the materials nor time to give anyone a proper education. I did what I could, and fought as hard as I could, but War Magic was outlawed centuries ago. Reconstructing what little I could was difficult, but no one wanted magic for growing crops or catching lightening. I never mentioned this, but my actual specialty was in art. I got into it after my sister took first place in everything else, and it was perhaps the one thing I had over her.


    I would craft statues and pieces out of crystal and glass using magic, enchanting it with all kinds of effects. And it was something I wanted to go back to when this war was over. And to that point¡­


    ¡°Thanks for the rescue,¡± I sighed. ¡°But I need to dive back in and deal with these idiots. If they don¡¯t send troops to the front, I am worried that the western area might collapse¡­¡±


    I spent the rest of the night smiling and making small talk with people who deserved a fireball down their smug throats. It really put things in perspective, I had been so excited for adventure, action, fame, riches, and as many fine partners as I could get my hands on. And reality was injury, politics, and unpleasant company.


    The night was nearly over and I had nothing to show for it when Karina came up to me again. Great. Perfect, just what I needed. Keeping my smile up was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life, but on the bright side the hall was nearly empty now and the idiots she had to deal with had mostly gone back to their manors. Generally, that meant their servants taking their drunken bodies to their carriages and driving them back to their manors.


    ¡°Lady Valencia, I am glad to be able to speak to you again.¡± Karina smiled again, her teeth bright and straight. Really, what were the chances of having perfect teeth without any dental magic? I have no idea, but I am quite jealous of that, dental magic is painful¡­


    ¡°Likewise, Queen Karina.¡± Unless you came to tell me you had changed your mind, you are wasting my time. More things I could not say but thought¡­


    ¡°I told you that I was undecided on the troop issue before,¡± Maybe I was wrong, perhaps this wouldn¡¯t be a waste of my time after all. ¡°My husband is not that against the prospect to be honest, but there is one thing¡­¡±


    Greedy fucks, I knew where this was going. ¡°How can I help?¡± It took all my effort not to grind my teeth to dust and light her too-perfect hair on fire.


    ¡°Well, I was hoping we would be able to discuss that¡­ In private¡­¡±


    Oh. Well, that was a surprise. However, pretty as Karina was, she disgusted me. Was she really going to hold her troops back for that? People were dying on the front as they spoke here now.


    ¡°Then perhaps we should retire to my rooms? They are far closer.¡± I felt like puking when I said that. I hate myself and I hate her because if that was what it took to finally send her soldiers north¡­ I had friends there now, friends I worried about whenever they were out of my sight. Too many people had said goodbye and never came back for me not to.


    Sometimes I could trick myself into thinking this world was a party, but this was reality. Making disgusting choices forced on you by disgusting individuals to make the best of a disgusting situation...

 Side Story - Valencia and the Queen - Part Two

    The guards looked at each other knowingly as I passed them.  The urge to set them on fire was a hard one to resist, but I managed it, barely.  Queen Karina was worse than I thought, not in bed, but as a human being.  Actually, she was damn good in bed, the only problem was that I hated her guts.


    I did not understand politics very well it turns out.  I thought I had a decent grasp on it, and I thought wrong, because Queen Karina turned out to be the key to holding the alliance together, and she knew it.  Every time I needed to make the various countries play nice and continue to support the front, she asked for the same payment in return.


    Honestly, I wondered how her husband had not noticed this, because at this point everyone in noble society was aware that I had basically become Karina¡¯s plaything.  In fact, I had a meeting with him tomorrow regarding troop deployments, a meeting that would no doubt fall apart if I didn¡¯t show up to the Queen¡¯s room tonight.


    ¡°Fancy meeting you here,¡± Karina smiled coyly.


    ¡°You can drop the act you know,¡± I scowled.  ¡°I am the only other person here, and you were the one who ¡®requested¡¯ I come here.¡±


    Karina laughed and pulled me towards the bed where I spent another night focusing on not blowing the entire castle up around me out of sheer rage.


    The next morning, the meeting with the King was not much better.  A nice person might describe Karina as ravenous, I would call her a slut, but the result was the same.  I had barely got any sleep that night, and was barely awake.


    The King, a polite person even if we did not particularly get along, was kind enough to pour me a cup of tea, made from an herb whose name I could never quite remember, but was popular with nobles as it helped them wake up in the morning.


    ¡°I have arranged transport for you and the weapons for this afternoon.¡±  The King¡¯s words surprised me, I had expected to have to argue to get them sent today.  ¡°My wife was recently imploring me to take better care of our troops on the front, and she usually gets her way.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± I nodded sympathetically, the bitch got her way far too often if you asked me.  ¡°I know that you do not particularly like sending your resources north, but it is greatly appreciated.¡±


    I gave a seated half bow as a way to show my thanks and the conversation continued for a little while longer before it was time for me to leave.  On the way out, I thought that some of the guards looked familiar¡­  Well, considering how often I had been forced to come here, that was not surprising.


    The trip north was an uneventful one, so I took the opportunity to catch up on my sleep.  It was either that or stew in anger over my situation.  I wanted to have fun in this world, not be blackmailed into servicing someone I hated!  And for that matter, it was not fair that she was pretty and good in bed as well, that just made the whole situation more shameful and degrading.


    I woke up to screams and fighting, I was bleary for a second then opened the door to my carriage and stumbled out.  I must be more tired than I realized¡­  But wait¡­  Why?


    ¡°Mantis Demons!¡±  A guard screamed, before he was cut in half by the barbed claws and gobbled up by the monsters.


    ¡°Watch out for the scythes!¡±  I shouted as I threw one of them off the cliff with a blast of air, we must have entered the mountains while I was asleep.  ¡°And don¡¯t forget their jaws!  Those rows of teeth are poisoned!¡±


    What the hell were they doing this far south?  The front line should be impermeable!  My head pounded, I had barely gotten any rest, but I growled and pushed through.


    There were a large number of Mantis Demons, so named because they reminded one of the insect, and the caravan guards were not well equipped to deal with them.  To make matters worse, they were accompanied by Crawlers.  If Mantis Demons reminded someone of the mantis insect, Crawlers reminded one of centipedes, only they were about the same size as a carriage with a team of six horses and armored more heavily than a knight was.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    And I even saw a Titan, a giant, humanoid demon that looked like it was carved from rock.  That definitely should not be here, I thought.  Mantis and Crawlers were at least fast, but Titans lumbered around slowly and were extremely easy to spot because of their massive size.


    A nearby Crawler tried to bite me, but I created a shield just in time.  I was far too distracted, I cursed Karina from the depths of my heart for putting me in this situation with a headache and only a couple hours of sleep.


    The Crawler was not discouraged by the shield, but instead began to wrap itself around me in an attempt to crush me.  Against others, that might work, but not against me.  I shifted my shield to form spikes and sharp edges and the Crawler came apart in pieces around me.  Then, I broke my shield down into blades and sent it flying through the enemies nearby.


    I really needed to teach my students how to do this kind of thing, but there was never time.  And for fucks sake my head pounded!  I nearly lost my balance for a second, but managed to right myself.


    I continued to fight, but the demons just kept coming.  To make matters worse, I was now convinced that something was wrong with me.  The world was spinning, and I could barely fire off my magic.  The guards around me noticed something was wrong as well and their morale collapsed, many ran off screaming only to be devoured by Crawlers coming around behind the caravan.


    I didn¡¯t remember falling, but I was on my hands and knees puking.  This¡­  Someone planned this¡­  I was not sick, I was poisoned¡­  Someone must have let the demons through the lines¡­  In my hazy mind, one face rose to the top.


    The King had poured my drink himself.  He must have found out about his wife¡¯s affair with me and decided to kill me for it!  Kill me instead of his blackmailing whore of a wife!


    The soldiers were all dead, and I was surrounded by demons, but I would be damned if I died without a fight.  No, if I am going, I will take you all with me!


    I screamed at the top of my lungs and drew all the power I could inside me and compressed it down.  As the demons approached I smiled blearly at them, ¡°I will see all of you in hell!¡±


    Next thing I knew  I was standing on a small stone floor, surrounded by absolute darkness.  This place looked familiar to me¡­


    ¡°So I see you have passed on,¡± a dry voice behind me drawled.  Oh fuck me, I knew where this was!


    ¡°Why the hell am I here Gorn?¡±  I snarled, there was no way I would be stuck for eternity with him of all people!  Our one meeting two years had been a confusing waste of time until I had poured my magic into the orb, and all that had done was take the confusion away and leave it as a waste of my time.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that!¡±  He held his hands up as if to say, don¡¯t blame me!  But I did, and if he wasn¡¯t dead I would kill him right now.  ¡°It was not my choice to come here, or bring you here.¡±


    ¡°You made that orb!¡±  I countered, the orb brought those who touched it here in spirit, so he had to know where he would end up.


    ¡°Yes, because I thought that this might happen.¡±  Gorn sighed, ¡°We cannot truly die in this world, because it isn¡¯t our own.¡±


    ¡°Explain, because I just blew myself up along with probably a good chunk of a mountain range, and that would make me dead.¡±  I crossed my arms and glared at him.


    ¡°Your body is dead, but you are not.¡± Gorn replied, ¡°Souls flow from the spirit, to the world, to the aether and back to the spirit.  It is more complicated than that, but I don¡¯t think you care.¡±


    ¡°You are right, I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°A soul must go through the aether to the spirit, but it must go through the aether of the world it was born into.¡±  Gorn, gestured to the darkness around them.  ¡°To us, the aether of this world is an impenetrable darkness.  Our bodies may perish, but our souls cannot continue on.¡±


    ¡°So I am stuck here, with you, for eternity.¡± What did I do to end up in this hell?


    ¡°Perhaps.  That I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Well I sincerely hope it is a no, or I will be a gibbering madwoman by the time the next hero comes around!¡±  I shriek, losing my temper.


    ¡°How is that different from how you are now?¡± Gorn muttered.


    ¡°Oh fuck you.¡±

 Side Story - Gorn and the Paladin - Part One

    ***Year 20, 1st era, day twenty-five of the First Quarter (approximately three thousand years ago)***


    -Hamlet of Castel-


    *Speaker Gorn*


    Gorn had just finished his impassioned sermon to these folks and he stepped down from the pulpit. He would never admit this, but his back and feet ached from standing for so long. He guessed he was getting old¡­ However, a young man from the hamlet had come to greet him. Old or not, he had his duties to fulfill.


    ¡°Greetings my son,¡± Gorn smiled gently at the nervous youth. ¡°No need to be nervous, I don¡¯t bite.¡±


    Gorn had been praying in the chapel of a village around this size twenty years ago, praying that he could have a chance to redeem himself for the life he had led. Then he had found himself in this world, where the Words of the Gods have not been heard and where monsters were clawing at the borders of humanity. He may have aged since then, he had not even been young at the time, but his life still belonged to the Gods and not to him. That was the price he paid for redemption.


    ¡°Speaker,¡± the youth was anxious and had a guilty look about him, but Gorn was not judgemental. He had no right to be, after all. ¡°Can any sin really be forgiven?¡±


    ¡°Yes and no child,¡± Gorn smiled gently. ¡°Forgiveness is the province of the victim, redemption is the province of the sinner. A person may never be forgiven, but they can always be redeemed.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    Gorn thought for a moment, a young man of his age probably had a sin that really was not important¡­ Stealing from his parents, lying, or something like that¡­ But then he paused, he heard the whispers from the Gods. Gorn looked back at the young man and felt sorrow, this was no small sin, and the Gods had already chosen his path for redemption.


    ¡°Speaker?¡± The young man shifted uncomfortably under Gorn¡¯s gaze.


    ¡°On behalf of the Gods,¡± these words were ritualistic in his world, a mark of a High Priest, and to his shame he could never suppress a swell of pride when he spoke them. ¡°I speak, you are to accompany me and follow the path of a Paladin.¡±


    These words, spoken with the consent of the Gods, were undeniable. A glow suffused those who channeled their will, and the young man had fallen on hit butt and scrambled away scared, his eyes nearly falling out of his face.


    At the pronouncement, the Paladins who accompanied Gorn came to take the young man away. This was the will of the Gods, and with the victories against the demons brought about by Their will, the word of the Gods was law.


    ¡°Wait!¡± A woman yelled out and pushed through the crowd of gawkers, nearly falling over as she finally broke through. ¡°Please, don¡¯t take my son!¡±


    ¡°The Gods have spoken,¡± Gorn would not reveal the man¡¯s sin if he did not have to, the hamlet did not know the youth was involved, and he did not need forgiveness from them. ¡°Your son is destined for a great duty, a glorious duty.¡±


    ¡°You mean destined to die on the front lines against the demons!¡± She fell to her knees and clutched at Gorn¡¯s robes, he waved away the Paladins who had come to remove her and instead knelt down to her level.


    Putting a hand on her shoulder, he spoke quietly so as not to be overheard, ¡°Your son approached me asking about forgiveness from sin and the Gods spoke. Your husband¡­ I know about what he did to you and your son, and he felt that he had to stand up to protect you, but he hates himself for it. By coming with me, he can earn his redemption and take pride in his actions.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The woman gaped at him as he stood and smiled down, ¡°Do not worry, I will make certain he comes back to see you as he can in his training.¡±


    They left the hamlet on horses, Gorn felt stiff and aching when he rode, but he did not complain. He would be damned before he rode in a carriage, and the Gods can hold him to that. The young man rode on the horse behind him as he did not know how to ride himself.


    ¡°Do¡­ Do you actually know?¡± He whispered to Gorn.


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Gorn thought for a moment. ¡°The real question is if you know, or if you even understand the nature of sin?¡±


    ¡°Of course I know.¡± The young man snarled, ¡°you cannot fool me into telling you¡­ You don¡¯t really know, do you?¡±


    ¡°Steven,¡± Gorn sighed. ¡°Do you really think defending your mother and sister was a sin?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± The anger disappeared from his voice, replaced with sadness, uncertainty, and shame. ¡°My father is¡­ He is¡­¡±


    ¡°Dead, yes.¡± Gorn twisted in the saddle to look at Steven, ¡°And you are responsible for that, but not for the reasons you think. Your journey to become a Paladin will provide you the answer and give you relief from the shame and sadness. You will live a life with dignity, nobility, and justice and be proud of doing so.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever could¡­¡±


    ¡°The Gods believe in you Steven,¡± Gorn laughed. ¡°Who are you then, to not believe in yourself?¡±


    ¡°Wait¡­¡± Steven paused, ¡°How do you know my name?¡±


    ¡°Is knowing your name really more surprising than knowing the sin you came to talk about?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ I guess not.¡± Steven sighed, looking back towards the hamlet.


    ¡°You will go back there one day,¡± Gorn knew what the young man was thinking. ¡°Do not think that you are leaving forever, it may have seemed unbearable to be there with those around you unaware, but when you come to understand sin, you will be able to go back with pride.¡±


    ¡°Then¡­ Can you help me now?¡± Steven was near to tears, ¡°I feel¡­ So terrible, I hate myself so much, and I feel that I should not even be alive.¡±


    ¡°I can,¡± Gorn smiled. ¡°And I will personally oversee your training myself later, but for now listen well.¡±


    Steven leaned forward and focused all his attention on the old man before him as he began to speak.


    ¡°Sin is not a single moment, nor is sin necessarily the action we feel it is.¡± Gorn spoke one of the basic teachings of the Paladins, ¡°when faced with a situation where there is no good solution, the sin happened before the choice. It is not a sin to have be backed into a corner and to choose the better of many bad ends, but what landed you in the corner was a sin.¡±


    ¡°This was a punishment for something I did?¡± Steven choked out.


    ¡°No, no.¡± Gorn shook his head, ¡°Sin is not what you think it is, and right now you only know part of it. You were not punished for your actions, nor was it the will of the Gods that any of this occured. As you go through training you will understand this truth, you lived in sin but committed none. Know that everything I have said now are parts of a future epiphany that will bring your soul to the light of the Words. Rejoice and feel relief, because I have the answers you seek, and I will teach them to you.¡±


    Steven had been his mother¡¯s first child, he had grown up under a surly and abusive father who would beat them at a moments notice. His father had been a soldier on the front line, a lone survivor of his troop, and it had broken him. He had grown to hate all of those who did not understand, who lived in peace bought for them with the oceans of blood spilled to the north. But Steven did not know that, nor did he know that his father had been abandoned by his Lord when he was injured. Relieved from duty and made to fend for himself, alone and angry, until he made his way to this village and tried to start his life over. Steven did not know that the ghosts of old battles never left his father, and haunted him for Steven¡¯s entire life and long before that.


    Steven had poisoned his father¡¯s ale two years ago, six years after Steven¡¯s sister was born. Steven had no longer been a small child, and he could not bare letting his sister go through the same fear and pain that he had gone through. He killed his father and the town put it down to alcohol poisoning, he saved his mother, his sister, and himself and hated himself for it. He loved and hated his father, and so felt both relief and shame for what he had done.


    To murder is a sin, but this was self-defense. Abuse was a sin, but the man was sick and haunted by memories that were as real to him as the ground around him. To abandon those in need was a sin, but what Lord would understand how to help a man in that situation?


    A chain of sin and shame and pain, and to assign full blame to any party would be lacking understanding of the nature of man. All of these men were victims and sinners, and Steven would be the God¡¯s tool to cleanse this sin and to hold back its darkness in the future.

 Side Story - Gorn and the Paladin - Part Two

    ***Year 27, 1st era, day thirty of the Third Quarter (seven years later)***


    -City of Uri-


    *Speaker Gorn*


    Gorn felt his age more than ever before, it had not crept on him so much as suddenly struck him a few years back.  A squire from the Paladin order had to accompany him wherever he went now, helping him walk and move as he tried to go about his duties.  Many times, the Paladins, even nobles and citizens, had expressed concern for his health and suggested that he retire.  Gorn did not have the heart to explain that the oaths he had taken would not allow him to do that.


    He thought back to his own world¡­  Gorn had been a criminal, the worst of the worst for years and decades¡­  If there was a crime he had not committed, he had not heard of it yet.  He was caught and slated for execution when the Grace of the Words fell on him, those Words gave him a revelation and as was traditional for when the Gods directly interfered in the world, he was pardoned for his crimes and brought into the Church.


    But that pardon did not mean he was free from his sins.


    ¡°Speaker Gorn,¡± there was a knock at the doorway of his small apartment in Uri, he had refused larger quarters on principle.  ¡°May I come in?¡±


    Gorn recognized the voice and smiled as he invited the Paladin in, ¡°Steven, my son!  I am so sorry that I could not make it to your raising ceremony¡­  Age has made me frail.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense, you are healthy as ever!¡± Steven laughed, and Gorn smiled, appreciating the sentiment in those words.  Steven had come to be a good friend of Gorn, and as far as he was concerned, a true ally of justice and peace.


    ¡°What brings you here today?¡±  His squire attendant helped Gorn shuffle over to a chair and carefully sat him down.


    ¡°I was thinking¡­¡±  Steven hesitated, well, he was still so young.  ¡°I never really thanked you for what you did for me.¡±


    ¡°You never needed to,¡± Gorn smiled gently.  ¡°It was the Gods who brought you to my attention, and your own strength that brought your opportunity to fruition.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t brush me off this time,¡± Steven laughed.  ¡°Do me one more favor and let me give you a proper thanks!¡±


    ¡°Haha!¡±  The laughter caused Gorn to have a coughing fit, and his squire went to bring him a glass of water.  After he had a drink to clear his throat and thanked the squire, he bade Steven to continue.  Gorn could not deny him the opportunity when he asked like that.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°When you spoke to me all those years ago,¡± Steven said quietly.  ¡°I did not understand what those words meant.  I thought that sin and crime and punishment could only land on one party, that my crime was more punishment than my father¡¯s crime was worth.¡±


    Gorn remembered that time, remembered the scarred and unhappy young man consumed by his own guilt while at the same time knowing there was nothing else he could have done.  It was a paradox that few people could easily escape.


    ¡°You told me that I had lived in sin, yet committed none, it was not something I could believe at the time¡­¡±  Steven¡¯s eyes unfocused as he thought back to that time, but they did not have the darkness someone would expect from a man thinking on such painful memories.  ¡°I learned that sin feeds on those who are weak, and that everyone is.  It feeds and it spreads from person to person, society to society, and system to system.  The one who commited sin is the one who began it all, and all others are living in the sin that person birthed.  It is in some ways just as corrupting as committing sin yourself, and in some ways worse, because you are caught in darkness and lose the ability to see where it went wrong.¡±


    Gorn nodded, ¡°darkness and sin can conceal and obfuscate the correct path, it is not a sin to be unable to see in that darkness.  We are only human, and no human can see through that alone.¡±


    ¡°You guided me through that, and allowed me to see the way to redemption.¡±  Steven said seriously, ¡°You gave me the strength to break that cycle of sin and darkness, and to break that cycle for others.  I was able to spread virtue and heal the wounds and scars that sin leave.  You took me from hating myself to having a duty I am proud to fulfill.  Thank you, Speaker Gorn, for all you have done for me and others.¡±


    ¡°Steven,¡±  Gorn said slowly.  ¡°I was once the originator of sins.  A man who was not touched by sin, but turned himself over to it and sowwed it about me as a farmer sows seeds.  The Gods spoke to me, and their Words changed my life.  The Gods themselves intervened in my life, and I cannot help think it was because they knew I would be summoned here.  I deserve no thanks, because everything I have done is my punishment and my redemption.¡±


    *Church Historian in ¡°Origins of the Church,¡± found in the Church¡¯s secret archives*


    The last member of the order to meet with the Speaker before he passed on was the soon-to-be Cardinal Steven.  He personally tested the Orb and confirmed that the guidance of the Speaker will be with the Church forever.  However, that guidance was to be kept a secret from the masses after the incident that happened later.


    Thinking that the Orb could be used to achieve immortality, some of the priests in Uri¡¯s chapel conspired with certain nobles and underworld figures that culminated in an assault on the chapel by a mixed group of noble soldiers, mercenaries, and a few of the squires from the Paladin order.


    With most of the Paladins on the front lines against the demons, the Church¡¯s forces were overwhelmed and for the first time in the Church¡¯s history, the Cardinals themselves fought in battle.  Six out of the seven Cardinals fell that day, including Cardinal Steven whose last heroic stand before the Orb has survived to this day as an example of justice, duty, and sacrifice.


    However, what happened to those who made it to the relic¡¯s chamber remains a mystery.  The Orb was untouched, and the invaders were never found.  Cardinals later asked the Speaker what occurred that day, but were refused an answer.  The only conclusion this scribe can reach is that the Speaker is not without the ability to touch this world if he must.


    Praise be to the Words, for we shall never be without our founders guidance.

 Chapter Twenty-Six - A Busy World

    Lucas met Heidall soon after, he and Julian were talking just outside the room Lucas had first met Cardinal Simon in.  He looked a lot like his father, but slimmer and fitter, with a hard light in his eyes, a much better first impression than the Duke to be sure.  Heidall Are was talking casually to Julian, as Lucas might have suspected, they seemed to be close friends¡­


    ¡°Heidall,¡± Julian stepped in to facilitate the introduction.  ¡°This is the man I was telling you about, Lucas.¡±


    ¡°A pleasure to meet you, Saint.¡±  Heidall bowed to Lucas, ¡°it is good that you have come here, the Church is the true heart of this battle.¡±


    ¡°It is my pleasure to meet you,¡± Lucas have never thought his years of regarding etiquette as a waste of time would be so damaging to him¡­  This was harder than he thought it would be¡­  ¡°As for the Church being the heart of the battle¡­  I am trying not to be rude, but frankly, from my perspective you are not doing well.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps that is true,¡± Heidall agreed.  ¡°The leaders of nations have drifted away from the Church over the millennia¡­  We may be the heart, but it is the mind that directs the body and a sick mind can only make the heart ache.¡±


    A little overly poetic for Lucas¡¯s tastes, but a perfect segue for the subject, so he¡¯d take it.


    ¡°Not so much sick as inept,¡± Or perhaps just too drunk¡­  ¡°Which actually brings me to why I am here.¡±


    ¡°Lucas tends to run headlong into his main point,¡± Lady Versi sighed.  ¡°I hope you can ignore his rudeness¡­¡±


    ¡°Run?  It is more of a breakneck sprint¡­¡±  Lady Almistraus muttered under her breath and laughed quietly.


    ¡°Why beat around the bush?¡±  Lucas asked, ¡°imagine it this way, while we chat about the weather people die on your front line.  Now, personally, that does not really bother me, or would not if they weren¡¯t part of the plan to get me home.  In other words, every peasantry I exchange delays me going home.¡±


    ¡°You are the first Saint that has wished to go home¡­¡±  Heidall said curiously, ¡°each of them had their own goals and desires in this world.¡±


    ¡°That is them,¡± Lucas waved it away.  ¡°Your next Cardinal should thank Gorn, because if he had given me a chance to get home I would not be that interested in doing more than I need to live.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±  Heidall paused, ¡°So what can I do for you?¡±


    ¡°Become the Duke.¡±


    Heidall sighed, ¡°you know, I don¡¯t actually want to be the Duke.  My exile here is more my decision than my father¡¯s, despite what he might think.¡±


    ¡°Look, Heidall¡­¡±  Of course Lucas would hit a roadblock here, why wouldn¡¯t he?  ¡°I have no talent, skill, or patience with politics, I am not even that good at dealing with people, but your ¡®church¡¯ took my life away from me, so I should think the least you could do for me is take the throne.¡±


    ¡°I do not-¡± Heidall began, but was interrupted by Lucas.


    ¡°You are taking the throne, Heidall.¡±  Lucas said firmly, ¡°The shock of this world is wearing thin, and my anger is only getting worse.  You said that the Church was the heart of the battle and that the mind was sick, here is your chance to put your money where your mouth is.¡±


    ¡°You would force me into this?¡±  Heidall¡¯s eyebrows raised and he looked to Lady Versi, ¡°and you approve of this?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡±  Lady Versi sighed, ¡°but he is the hero, and from what I understand of what he wants to do, he cannot show his strength without help from the nobles.  He is not like the other heroes¡­¡±


    ¡°And how do you expect me to do this?¡±  Heidall frowned, ¡°neither you nor I have armies or allies of note here, and my Father would not leave his throne for anything.¡±


    ¡°With support from the mages, the Church, Lady Versi, and myself,¡± it was Lady Terrasin Alimistraus who answered.  ¡°We will co-opt his own forces and allies, we might not have specific power here, that much outside influence combined with Lucas¡¯s own presence as the hero¡­¡±


    ¡°Why though?¡±  Heidall asked in exasperation, ¡°why is this even necessary?  We should not be fighting amongst ourselves!¡±


    ¡°The rough answer is that I need someone to nod and say yes,¡± Lucas said.  ¡°I need to turn this city into a model that can be replicated elsewhere, and design a set of tools that people can use to modify that model to handle regional variations.  That way, I can avoid wasting my time having to go everywhere and re-introduce this system a million times and instead focus on the front line and the demons.¡±


    ¡°I¡­  I understand¡­¡±  Heidall sighed and gave in, ¡°if this is what I must do¡­¡±


    ¡°Wonderful,¡± Lucas was glad this was done, convincing people was a headache.  ¡°I suppose you will all need time to get this put together, correct?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Lady Versi nodded.  ¡°Unfortunately, it may be a week or two before we can put this into motion¡­¡±


    ¡°That works out in my favor anyway,¡± Lucas was happy enough to hear that.  ¡°I will start designing the procedures that this duchy will be adopting.  Ideally, all people will need to do is follow the instructions, though the ideal rarely happens in biology¡­¡±


    ¡°So then should we all meet again in a week to check on our progress?¡±  Julian suggested.


    ¡°Works for me,¡± Lucas shrugged.  To be honest, he would leave this to Lady Versi and Almistraus¡­  This whole damned event had been one reminder after another that Lucas was inept in political situations¡­  Instead, he would focus on what he could do, which unfortunately did not include writing in this world¡¯s language¡­  Whatever, he would have to learn later, he would find someone to dictate to.


    Later, when they returned to the Inner city, he sent for a scribe having thought carefully about the most important points.  The two ladies were used to Lucas¡¯s rudeness, but Julian was a little surprised that Lucas more or less ignored him for the ride back.  He would deal with Julian¡¯s questions later¡­


    ¡°I am here as you requested, Lord Hero.¡±  The scribe said nervously, ¡°Lord Volen said you would be needing my services for the next week¡­?¡±


    ¡°Or thereabouts,¡± Lucas replied.  ¡°I cannot write in your world¡¯s language, and it would take too long for me to learn and then give you this information, so this is the compromise.¡±


    ¡°I see my Lord,¡± the scribe sat down at a desk provided for the purpose and prepared parchment, ink and a quill.  ¡°I am ready whenever you are my Lord.¡±


    Unsurprisingly, dictation was not as simple as people thought.  Offhand thoughts and comments became part of the manuscript before Lucas even realized that he had made a mistake or had been unclear¡­  This document would have to be edited, and he would probably have to be there for it to answer questions¡­  Nothing was as easy as it seemed, a corollary to Murphy¡¯s law was that if nothing was wrong, you must have missed something.


    ¡°Firstly,¡± Lucas spoke to the air, composing his thoughts.  ¡°We need to discuss four field crop rotation and how it relates to animal husbandry.¡±


    Currently, they used the three field crop rotation system, where two fields would be sowed with crops and one would lie fallow as a way to recover from the soil degradation that farming caused.  The four field system eliminated the fallow land by introducing clovers as nitrogen fixing agents and also allowed livestock to be grazed and bred year round.  In other words, it would increase production by a third easily, and more as the practice of selective breeding took hold.


    Choosing animals for their health and other desirable qualities to breed, and controlling breeding so that those desirable traits are passed on while undesirable traits are eliminated.  Even people in Lucas¡¯s world did not realize how modern the concept was.  While it had been in practice in some form of another perhaps all the way back to neolithic times, it had been Robert Bakewell in the 18th century to codify the idea.


    Lucas moved on to the tools of farming, describing, and drawing, them as he spoke.  The swing plough and the seed drill had been introduced to Europe from China, and now Lucas introduced it to this world to make the planting season far easier and efficient.  Mechanical reapers, animal drawn of course, would vastly increase the speed of the harvest, and threshing machines would dramatically and substantially reduce the labour needed for grains.  Idly, Lucas wondered if this would cause another riot¡­  Threshers caused a riot in England at one point, and all of the participants were either hanged or shipped to Australia.  Which, as far as Lucas was concerned, was execution by poisonous animal.


    Further, by introducing the concept of fertilization and preservation, there would be far more food for far less labor.  Starvation and malnutrition would essentially cease to exist, presuming that Lucas could deal with distribution issues that would undoubtedly crop up.  He also hated himself for the unintentional pun¡­


    During this week, he also met with Julian for his first magic lesson.


    ¡°The first part of learning magic is actually fairly simple,¡± Julian lectured Lucas.  ¡°But although it is simple in concept, it is hard to grasp at first.  You need to feel magic, I will guide you through it.¡±


    Lucas would describe the feeling as¡­  Electric.  Actually, it was quite uncomfortable, almost as if he was wearing a fleece jacket over another one and every move was giving him minor static shocks all over his body.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Well, this is unpleasant.¡±  Lucas frowned and Julian laughed.


    ¡°I know right?  It does not get better, let me warn you¡­¡±


    ¡°Fucking wonderful,¡± Lucas muttered¡­  ¡°So this is magic?¡±


    ¡°Indeed it is, and you should feel something beyond it, creating it.¡±


    Lucas focused on the feeling and did get the vague idea it was coming from somewhere, and he idly wondered what he was feeling it with¡­  Feeling was a function of the nervous system after all, which was a mechanism that took place in a practical form¡­  So if he could feel something, it implied that it existed in a way that caused his nerves to fire, and therefore if Julian was correct about the origin of magic¡­  Souls must be physical things¡­


    ¡°You are losing focus!¡± Julian laughed, ¡°distracted by a pretty face in your memories?¡±


    Lucas scowled back, ¡°No, I am not going to torture myself like that.  Rather, a thought occurred to me¡­  Souls are physical things.¡±


    ¡°Most studied mages and the Church agree that they are not,¡± Julian said curiously.  ¡°What about this would make you think it is physical?¡±


    Lucas explained his logic and Julian thought for a second.  ¡°I can see your logic, but it is the soul¡­¡±


    ¡°Is a soul all that special?¡±  Lucas asked a question that clearly shocked Julian, and he had to clarify and explain the question.  ¡°Studies indicate that who we are is dependent on our genetics and our experiences, which one takes precedence is up for debate, but that those are the factors are not.  Further, studies with people involved in various injuries or strokes that your personality are strongly affected by damage to our brains.  In short, we are our brains, which are our genetics influenced by our environments.¡±


    ¡°So to explain my question,¡± Lucas concluded.  ¡°What precise purpose does the soul serve?  And why would that elevate the soul beyond the physical body?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t actually know,¡± Julian admitted.  ¡°I would ask Heidall about that to be honest.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±  Lucas put that question away for now, ¡°well then, please continue.¡±


    ¡°You need to focus on that source, and imagine pulling that power into you¡­¡±


    Lucas did as Julian asked, and focused on that ¡®somewhere¡¯ and tried to imagine pulling this static feeling from it¡­  Though he had no idea if he was succeeding¡­


    ¡°You are doing well,¡± Julian encouraged him.  ¡°With this much I will be able to see what your potential is¡­  It is¡­  Well, to be honest, it isn¡¯t much.  Just barely enough for you to be useful trained, but you¡¯d be among the weakest of mages¡­¡±


    ¡°Enough to be useful is all I need.¡± Lucas said, ¡°if I can understand this I might be able to use it with my own science.  Without the tools and machinery of my world, much of what I can do is limited¡­  I will admit, I don¡¯t have any good reason to hope that magic will replace those things, but I might as well find out.¡±


    What Lucas did not mention was that he also needed to know what not to tell these mages¡­  For all he knew he would casually give information that would allow Julian to produce some sort of magical plague without understanding the consequences of his actions.  Lucas doubted that was possible, but his ignorance left him feeling vulnerable and worried.


    Before he knew it, the second meeting was at hand.  Lucas felt a bit of anticipation and anxiety as he considered what he had gotten himself into.  On his way there, he considered what he had to do next.  The dictations were done, and with Heidall on the throne it could be spread to all the farms in the duchy.  After that, he needed to focus on medical improvements and do something similar¡­  That would be more difficult, but more immediately noticeable rewarding to the people around him¡­


    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±  Lucas stopped as he felt a blade against his throat.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Lucas asked, standing perfectly still.


    ¡°Not asking who I am, oh great Hero?¡±  The voice was cool and amused.


    ¡°Perhaps it is a stereotype, but I would not expect someone who would appear from nowhere and hold a knife to my throat to answer that.¡±  Lucas¡¯s heart was beating wildly¡­  He did indeed want to know who the hell this was, but what they wanted was more important¡­  If they wanted him dead, he was already fucked, but then if they had wanted him dead they could have slit his throat and been gone already.


    ¡°Fair enough¡­¡±  The voice was still amused, ¡°what do I want then?  I want in.¡±


    ¡°This may not be a good time for me to ask,¡± Lucas skipped bothering to ask how the person knew or pretending not to know what the person was talking about¡­  ¡°but why would you expect me to honor that kind of deal when there isn¡¯t a knife to my throat anymore?¡±


    ¡°My associates and I can offer certain services that won¡¯t be found in allies who only consider honest means¡­¡±  The knife pressed slightly closer to Lucas¡¯s throat, giving Lucas a clear example of what kind of ¡®services¡¯ they provided.  ¡°And of course, I have associates who would be happy to avenge me¡­¡±


    ¡°And thereby doom the human race,¡± Lucas countered.  ¡°Killing me would fuck you all over, so presumably if I just started walking you would relent.¡±


    ¡°Want to test that?¡±


    Lucas sighed, careful not to move his head too much with the action.  ¡°Damn you, no I don¡¯t.  So what precisely does this entail?¡±


    ¡°First would be me joining this meeting¡­¡±


    ¡°First implies there is more,¡± Lucas growled.  ¡°If you expect me to join in a contract where what I owe is completely open ended¡­¡±


    ¡°We will discuss that later,¡± the voice chuckled.  ¡°Don¡¯t forget your situation.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and I am quite aware that there are worse things than dying from a slit throat.¡±  Not much, but some, and dealing with these people might expose him to it.  The Greek golden bull was something he specifically wanted to avoid.


    ¡°True, but that would leave us at an impasse¡­¡±


    ¡°Fine¡­¡±  Lucas agreed grudgingly, ¡°but don¡¯t expect your threats to hold much weight for long.¡±


    ¡°All they need to do is last long enough.¡±  The knife pulled back from Lucas¡¯s throat and he turned to see his assailant.  Except he saw nothing under the full body robe with the hood up.


    ¡°Wonderful, a literal cloak and dagger act.¡±  Lucas sighed, ¡°just save me the trouble of having to find out and show your face.¡±


    ¡°That is a rather blunt request.¡±  The person was still quite amused.


    ¡°Look, we both know how this is supposed to go,¡± Lucas countered.  ¡°I don¡¯t have time for it, you probably don¡¯t have time for it either.¡±


    The man laughed and pulled back his hood to reveal¡­


    ¡°A mask?¡±  Lucas laughed, ¡°why double up with a hood and mask?  Essentially this changes nothing.¡±


    ¡°You really must be from a different world,¡± the man laughed again.  ¡°Because this mask would tell you all you need to know about me.¡±


    ¡°Well I guess the people I am meeting will explain then.¡±  Lucas also added a note in the back of his mind to find out who this person was and all his associates, and have them all killed at some point.  It was self-defense essentially, people who would hold a knife to a throat would do it again when they felt they wanted something, and eventually they would pull the knife across.  The reactions of the people he was meeting told Lucas a lot.  The ladies screamed and Julian and Heidall were on their feet preparing to fight.


    ¡°So I met this fine gentlemen in the corridor,¡± Lucas¡¯s voice was dripping with sarcasm.  ¡°He made a very persuasive argument for why I should ¡®acquire¡¯ his services and so he will be joining us.¡±


    ¡°That is a member of the Demon Adders!¡± Lady Versi shrieked, ¡°He isn¡¯t even human!¡±


    The masked man just laughed, ¡°Because humans are so great, right?¡±


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t look like a demon to me,¡± Lucas¡¯s experiences with them led him to believe demons were more monstrous.


    ¡°Well,¡± the masked man clarified.  ¡°I am actually a half-demon, so i mostly appear human.¡±


    ¡°We cannot trust him,¡± Heidall growled, flexing his hands.  Lucas wondered if the monks learned martial arts like monks in some countries from his world¡­  ¡°He is tainted and evil¡­¡±


    ¡°Demons hate us too you know,¡± the man answered seriously.  ¡°We prefer that humanity win by a long shot.¡±


    ¡°To be honest,¡± Lucas mused.  ¡°This raises a lot more questions than anything else I have heard in this world¡­  You wouldn¡¯t realize what this means, not at your level of biological understanding¡­  However, if he had wanted me dead, I would be dead right now.  So at the very least he isn¡¯t absolutely our enemy, well minus threatening my life with a knife, of course.¡±


    ¡°You would trust this¡­  Thing?¡±  Heidall spat.


    ¡°Well, no.¡±  Lucas thought that was a silly question, the guy had held a knife to his throat for fucks sake.  ¡°But I don¡¯t mind using him.¡±


    Lucas wanted to keep them near¡­ If some demons could breed with humans that would essentially mean that they were closely enough related to people to create viable offspring, or perhaps that demons had a very strange form of reproduction¡­  But the first was more likely, and that raised a lot of questions.


    Actually, he would probably need to find out how closely related demons were to each other.  It was possible they were simply monstrous in appearance and little more than animals that a more intelligent creature domesticated and used as weapons, in which case there would be nothing stopping humans from doing the same¡­


    ¡°What is your name, anyway?¡± Lucas asked, so that he could stop referring to him as ¡®man¡¯ and stop his co-conspirators from referring to him as ¡®thing.¡¯


    ¡°You can call me Blade,¡± the man said with a slight bow.


    ¡°Because that isn¡¯t cliche at all,¡± Lucas sighed.  ¡°Can¡¯t you drop the act and give me an actual name.¡±


    ¡°Why would I ever do that?¡±  Blade laughed again, he seemed to find Lucas quite amusing.


    ¡°Well if you need to wear a mask to hide your face then presumably you have visible demonic features,¡± Lucas thought aloud.  ¡°Therefore, your name would be useless in finding you because anywhere your name and face would be associated together would be a place where people knew and trusted you¡­¡±


    ¡°And I neither know or trust people here,¡± Blade replied smoothly.  ¡°And you neither know or trust me.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough¡­¡±  Lucas sighed, ¡°Blade it is then.¡±


    ¡°Saint Lucas¡­¡±  Heidall seemed very against this and everyone else seemed uncomfortable, well Lucas could not blame them really.  He did not feel comfortable about this either, but then he did not feel comfortable about much in this world, so what was a little more discomfort at this point¡­?


    ¡°Look, bluntly, Blade here claims that if we just killed him now and refused his offer that his friends would kill me.¡±  Lucas revealed, ¡°so in short, we can either let him be here and quietly investigate in the background and hopefully find an out, or we can kill him now and risk them fucking with our plans and killing all of us at some point.¡±


    Blade raised his eyebrows at the ¡®investigate¡¯ part of Lucas¡¯s comment but said nothing as the others had that sink in.


    ¡°I see.¡±  Lady Almistraus took a deep breath and sat down again, ¡°well then we don¡¯t have much of a choice, do we?¡±


    ¡°For now, anyway.¡±  Julian growled, also returning to his seat.


    In the end, everyone sat down, and the meeting began.

 Chapter Twenty-Seven - World of Pain

    ¡°In a few hours, as the guards change shift for the evening, our allies will move to suppress the Duke¡¯s forces and loyalists.¡± Lady Versi spoke softly, not entirely comfortable discussing such a matter in the castle itself. It did seem odd to be planning this when the Duke was in the same building¡­


    ¡°Officially,¡± Julian spoke next. ¡°The mages are uninvolved, but they will be, shall we say, suggestively placed to impose pressure and if push comes to shove that ¡®officially¡¯ can be shoved out the window.


    ¡°Politically, the Duke was isolated to begin with.¡± Lady Almistraus smiled with mischievous cunning, ¡°With the current situation as it is, it was not hard to swing his political allies to our side.¡±


    Lucas looked to Heidall next, who sighed. ¡°I will do my part, and the Church will announce its support for our cause.¡±


    ¡°Wonderful,¡± Lucas then turned to Blade. ¡°And what do you bring to the table?¡±


    Blade snorted, ¡°I literally just joined and you are already asking for things?¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡± Lucas didn¡¯t back down, ¡°You said you could offer services that we would not have, but if you came with nothing to bring to the table besides threatening my life¡­¡±


    Blade held up his hands in surrender, ¡°you know for someone who had their life threatened you are remarkably unafraid, but as it happens the Demon Adders did not come to the table empty handed.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for wasting our time by pretending otherwise,¡± Lucas¡¯s voice dripped with sarcasm. ¡°It is not like this is an important meeting at an important time on the cusp of an important event. Surely not.¡±


    Julian sniggered and Lady Alimistraus only managed to main decorum by turning her own laugh into a cough and sipping tea to pretend she was soothing her throat. Lady Versi and Heidall simply frowned, and Blade seemed lost at how to respond.


    In the end, he appeared to simply ignore Lucas¡¯s remark. ¡°Our acolytes can¡­ ¡®remove¡­¡¯ Their officers when the time comes. Without leadership, your victory will be assured.¡±


    ¡°If you can remove them without killing them,¡± Lucas had no intention to hand Heidall a duchy with a decimated command structure after all. Some losses were acceptable, but losing enough officers to make a difference in this battle would have effects elsewhere as well.


    ¡°It is not our preference, but it can be done if you insist¡­¡± Blade did seem a bit disappointed.


    ¡°Well aren¡¯t you bloodthirsty,¡± Lucas considered that it might be unwise to use so much sarcasm with an assassin, but that is a benefit to being perceived essential. ¡°Just to be clear, killing people is the exact opposite of my goals here.¡±


    Well, technically he did not actually need men to survive. I mean, it would raise all kinds of ethical questions, but realistically human population growth is determined by the amount of women in a society and not the amount of men¡­ Actually, Lucas was quite glad that this world did have gender inequality to some extent. In this type of scenario the very last thing you would want to do is commit women to the fight, they are simply too valuable. But explaining that makes him sound like a sexist asshole, honestly he will have to find a way to have female mages withdrawn from the lines¡­ But now he is just distracting himself from the anxiety of his current situation.


    ¡°Your goal is to defeat the demons,¡± Blade replied. ¡°If a person is in the way of that, why not eliminate them?¡±


    ¡°Because if I cannot directly influence the battle I will win this war through attrition.¡± Lucas gave a quick rundown of his general strategy to Blade, it was very basic, but he only needed a working outline right now. ¡°With food and medicine the population will boom due to a combination of increased life expectancy and infant survival. The demons will be consumed in a wave of flesh.¡±


    ¡°That is¡­¡± Blade sounded slightly disgusted, ¡°you would simply create numbers to throw away? The other heroes helped people survive and you are sending them to their deaths.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°I am going to help them survive their regular lives,¡± Lucas corrected. ¡°That many of them will be sent to the front lines is not any different than it is now. I am not sending anyone anywhere, much less to their deaths. However, that is not particularly important at the moment.¡±


    ¡°Much as I might disagree with some of the things Saint Lucas is saying,¡± Heidall commented. ¡°He is right in that much, we should move him and the ladies to the safe area and get started¡­¡±


    It hurt Lucas¡¯s pride a little that he really had no ability to take part, but he quickly smothered the emotion under his logic. Simply put, his knowledge was too valuable to risk, so realistically even if he could hold his own he would still be protected as much as possible.


    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Lady Alimistraus broke the silence of the room, it was only Lucas, Lady Versi, and her in the room. Their were mage guards outside the door of course, but no one had spoke for the past hour in the room.


    ¡°Haha,¡± Lucas laughed, and admitted. ¡°Honestly? I was having the wonderfully arrogant and asshole thought that I was too valuable to risk in combat. It is true, but I find it interesting that it feels so wrong to think and say.¡±


    ¡°Why would that be an arrogant thought?¡± Lady Versi asked in confusion, ¡°A general is more valuable than his troops, a noble more than his peasants, and so on¡­¡±


    ¡°My world does not really think like that¡­¡±


    ¡°What was your world like?¡± Terrasin asked, and Lucas supposed that telling them stories of Earth would help pass the time. If he was not doing something, he would likely go mad.


    ¡°Though it can vary greatly depending on where you live,¡± Lucas thought back longingly. ¡°Overall, even the poor can afford a higher quality of life than the nobles here have.¡±


    ¡°How would that even be possible?¡± Lady Versi frowned, ¡°surely there must be someone doing work, some lower class.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Lucas chuckled. ¡°But that does not mean much. When I was getting my education, there were times where I was legally below the poverty line. However, the quality of life and the affordability of technology were such that I had a home with air conditioning and heating. I had machines that brought fresh water straight into my house, machines that could make ice for me on demand, the ability to turn on lights without smoke and with the ability to light up the night for hundreds of hours.¡±


    The two were looking at him with a bit of an awed expression, but Lucas did not really notice.


    ¡°Though the things I truly miss are my computer and phone,¡± Lucas sighed. ¡°Even trying to explain the internet to you is probably a waste of time, but it could be accessed with certain types of technology and more or less contains the sum total of my world¡¯s knowledge and culture.¡±


    ¡°That sounds¡­¡±


    Terrasin never finished the thought as there was yelling from outside the door. Lucas frowned, this was supposed to be a safe area! He gestured for the two women to go further back into the room and looked around to consider what he might use as an impromptu weapon.


    The door burst open to reveal the enraged face of the Duke¡¯s second son, and several soldiers filed in behind him.


    ¡°Tyr, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Lucas said calmly, even if he felt like panicking and screaming. He shoved the feeling down as well, he had to think his way out of this and emotions were not going to help. ¡°I must confess, I did not expect to see you here.¡±


    ¡°You fucking asshole,¡± Lord General Tyr Are swore as he brandished a sword. ¡°To have taken our hospitality and spat on it, have you no shame?¡±


    ¡°To be honest Tyr, I really don¡¯t,¡± Lucas shrugged. ¡°Your father is not very good at his job, and that makes my job harder. For that matter, I don¡¯t feel gratitude for your hospitality because it was owed to me from the beginning.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so arrogant,¡± Tyr spat. ¡°You might be the ¡®hero¡¯ but you are before the Duchy of Are! Show some respect!¡±


    ¡°See, if you had gotten a person from a different culture, that might have happened.¡± Lucas mused, ¡°but my country has no respect for the concept of nobility, I don¡¯t think of you as much different from the soldiers behind you. If anything, the fact that you were born into power instead of that power being awarded to the most meritorious of it is actually fairly despicable to me.¡±


    ¡°Brave words for you to say considering your situation.¡± Tyr growled and the soldiers behind him chuckled at that.


    ¡°Well, considering that if you kill me you will anger every other human nation and possibly doom the human race to extinction, I wouldn¡¯t call it brave¡­¡± Lucas shrugged, ¡°You really can¡¯t oppose me, just give up and you might even retain your position if you are competent.¡±


    ¡°Or I capture you and torture the information you have out of you before executing you like the dog you are!¡± Tyr advanced towards Lucas, who was swearing under his breath when his bluff had failed.


    There was nothing he could use as a weapon, even the furniture was too sturdy to break apart for a club¡­ Lucas¡¯s mind raced to try and figure a way out.

 Chapter Twenty-Eight - World of Dust

    ¡°How did you know?¡±  Lucas thought he could stall for time, and honestly he was surprised by this.  How did Tyr know that he was involved, where he was, and then how did he get past the guards?  Lucas would suspect a traitor, but it would not make sense for any of them to do so¡­


    ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t have my own sources?¡±  Tyr sneered, ¡°did you really think I was as foolish as my father?¡±


    ¡°Honestly?  Yes, so this is quite a surprise¡­¡±  Lucas had to admit that he seemed to had misjudged Tyr, a pity since if he had reached out to him things might have been able to be settled differently.


    ¡°I cannot blame you, in fact, let me tell you a little secret.¡±  Tyr stopped moving forward and his face went from anger to cunning cruelty, Lucas had cold sweat down his back as he realized he had deeply underestimated the man.  ¡°With your death I will be honored above all others when I return this land to its rightful owners!¡±


    ¡°Cousin,¡± Lady Versi exclaimed in shock.  ¡°You joined the Cult?¡±


    ¡°You would not understand ¡®cousin,¡¯¡± Tyr spat.  ¡°But worry not, because you do not need to.¡±


    Tyr advanced on Lucas, suddenly rushing forward and swinging his sword, which Lucas just barely dodged.  Lucas had immense regret that he had not learned martial arts, he could imagine that Gorn or Valencia could have done something in this situation¡­  But he himself¡­


    ¡°Are you just going to keep running?¡±  Tyr roared as he yanked his sword from the table.  Unlike the slaves who had attacked Lucas earlier, Tyr had the benefits of a noble lifestyle, training, and equipment, he was not someone Lucas could deal with and the two soldiers that had entered with Tyr were simply laughing at the spectacle.


    Lucas stumbled over a thick carpet and fell back, Tyr raised the sword with a smile on his face, Lady Versi and Almistraus screamed and the soldiers laughed.  For Lucas time seemed to move at a crawl¡­  Which it shouldn¡¯t have.  Researchers had shown strong evidence that humans perception of time does not change when they are in danger, rather due to how memories are made when they look back on that memory they believe it took longer than it did.  So the fact Lucas was able to have that entire thought in this moment was impossible, but here it was.


    If he had time to think, he needed to use it¡­  The only thing Lucas could use was the few lessons he had with Julian and he pulled at his magic, feeling the uncomfortable static feeling crawling over his skin.  As he did, Lucas felt something else, something around Tyr¡­  He instinctively knew that magic could not penetrate¡­  Whatever it was, which left him panicking except¡­  Lucas did not need to touch Tyr directly, rather he reached into the air itself.


    Air is not a sterile thing, thousands of microbes live in every breath of air, not to mention fungal spores and pollen.  But Lucas did not have the skill with magic or the time to truly do much with them, but he did not need to do much.  He used magic to forcibly attach foreign particles to the microbes and spores as Tyr was inhaling, which caused¡­Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Tyr stumbled back, his free hand going to his chest as he gasped for air, his eyes widening with sudden fear.


    ¡°Right now,¡± Lucas stood up and brushed himself off as Tyr dropped his sword and grasped at his throat and chest while falling to his knees, absolute terror.  ¡°You should be experiencing a feeling like being submerged in water, unable to catch your breath.  Others had described it like having something heavy on your chest or perhaps like a pillow is being held over your face, my world would call this an asthma attack.¡±


    Lucas wasted no time in putting his own hand around Tyr¡¯s neck, preferring not to leave it to chance.  Without medical treatment it was still possible to survive an asthma attack, but doing so while being strangled?  Tyr would die here without a doubt.  The two soldiers with Tyr started to advance, but Lucas merely gave them the same treatment.  Although he had to admit he was still unsure how he was doing this.


    Strangling someone takes a while, so Lucas had time to think about it.  That might seem like something a sociopath would do, but really, Lucas did not want to focus on the fact he was killing another person with his own hands.  Killing like this¡­  It felt wrong, but if it was that or die he¡¯d do it a million times over¡­


    The only thing he could imagine was when Valencia claimed she would give him something, perhaps it wasn¡¯t just the kiss?  The electric shock he had felt was similar to how using magic feels after all¡­  The only question was what had she done to him¡­


    When Tyr finally stopped struggling Lucas held on for another minute and then checked his pulse, he was dead.  The other two soldiers were still struggling on the floor, but Lucas just gave them a kick in their throats to make certain they would die.  He took their weapons for himself, and that allowed him to feel a little better, at least he had a way to defend himself that he understood.


    ¡°They had some kind of¡­  Shield?¡±  Lucas was not quite sure what to call it since he had obviously never experienced it before and had not been told of any such thing.  ¡°Around them, it seemed to prevent magic from touching them¡­¡±


    ¡°Some demons have shields like that apparently,¡± Terrasin commented.  ¡°But as I am not mage I do not know much about it.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps they obtained it from their demon allies then,¡± Lucas frowned.  ¡°No wonder they were able to get through our guards so easily.¡±


    ¡°How did you kill them?¡±  Lady Versi said nervously, ¡°I have never seen anything quite like that¡­¡±


    ¡°Whatever that shield was, it protected them from magic.¡±  Lucas explained as he removed the sword belt and scabbard from Tyr.  ¡°So instead of targeting Tyr, I targeted the air he was breathing.  You probably were not aware, but the air is full of living creatures.  By altering them slightly, I was able to make his body have a severe allergic reaction to the microbes it now recognized as dangerous foreign matter.  His body believed he was under attack and in its rush to defend him closed his airways and killed him.¡±


    ¡°That is¡­¡±  Terrasin shivered at the description.


    ¡°Terrible?¡±  Lucas supplied, ¡°because what I just did would be considered illegal in my world.  It is proof that I need to be careful of what I teach in this world, because it is far too easy to use magic to produce biological weapons.¡±


    Admittedly, as those weapons go this was quite simple.  But honestly, that just made it worse.  An easy to produce bioweapon that induces asthma is far more dangerous than a hard to produce weaponized version of ebola. simply because of its ease of production.


    ¡°Regardless,¡± Lucas continued.  ¡°It is clear we are not safe here, we should abandon our original plan and meet up with Julian and the others.¡±

 Chapter Twenty-Nine - World of Battle

    Lucas stepped over the bodies of the guards who Tyr had cut down to get into the room.  It was unfortunate they had died, that barrier, which is what Lucas supposed it was, that surrounded Tyr and his minions had rendered the mages useless.  This was probably some new development of some kind, otherwise he would have expected Julian to be aware of the danger.


    Out of the room, hurrying through the corridors with Lady Versi and Lady Terrasin behind him, it became quite clear that their relatively well-planned and bloodless coup had devolved into a three way battle between Lucas¡¯s allies, the Duke¡¯s men, and a third group that was composed of traitors from the other two.


    ¡°This cult is getting on my damned nerves,¡± Lucas growled.  ¡°I would not have thought that people would be so foolish, but i suppose there is precedent in my own world.¡±


    Suicide cults, crazy groups that try and go against government forces thousands of times stronger than them, terrorists who kill themselves for their cause¡­  Humans are very bad at using reason to solve problems, which is especially funny to Lucas considering that is essentially what differentiates the species from animals.


    This also explained how Tyr had found them so quickly, they had been compromised from near the beginning.


    A group of armored soldiers came rushing around a corner and upon seeing the group, charged at them, only to end up gasping on the floor as Lucas gave them the same treatment as Tyr.  Watching them die, Lucas thought that he would need to find a more humane way to kill people.  They had tried to take his life, so he didn¡¯t really mind killing them, but he didn¡¯t think he was enough of a sadist to want to torture them to death.


    ¡°What kind of magic is that?¡±  Lady Versi watched in horror as the soldiers died slowly, suffocation was not a quick death.


    ¡°Magic that is an example of why I am so reluctant to teach Julian about weaponizing biology.¡±  Lucas replied, if he had to kill people horribly he might as well use it as a lesson to explain why it shouldn¡¯t spread.  Humans were the kind of creature that had trouble assessing danger unless they actually saw what it could unleash, and they were also the kind of creature that would indiscriminately use weapons until they realised that danger.


    ¡°Perhaps the easiest way to explain would be to say that I made the air they breathe poisonous,¡± Lucas continued, making certain to crush the soldiers windpipes just in case.  ¡°However that would be entirely inaccurate on a technical level, despite being useful for helping you understand a rough idea of what I did.¡±


    That said, when this was over, Lucas would have to study the implications that this had for him overall.  His alterations to the various microbes, spores, and pollen that were in the air was quite crude.  After all, he only needed to make them foreign enough that the body attacked itself, however, the fact that he could make alterations to the cell membrane of microbes meant that if he had enough practice he might be able to do far more intensive work in the future.


    For now though, they hurried on their way to the throne room.  Lucas rather hoped the Duke was there and had not escaped, but more importantly, since Duke Are was Julian and the other¡¯s target it was a place where Lucas knew he would meet up with them eventually.


    Well, presuming they weren¡¯t dead.


    Lucas¡¯s newfound magic was incredibly lethal, more so than he expected it to be if he was honest.  As another group of soldiers and cultists, who had been fighting each other when Lucas had used his magic on the room¡¯s air, died, Lucas idly wondered if the pollutants in modern air had granted people some tolerance to foreign material.


    There was one problem though¡­


    ¡°I¡­  Need to stop for a second,¡± Lucas was leaning against a wall and panting.  He had felt relatively fine up until now, but he was starting to crash.  Using magic was a tiring experience, and Lucas had no experience and barely any training, so he was quickly running out of stamina.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Don¡¯t over do it,¡± Terrasin put a hand to his forehead in a concerned manner, apparently excessive magic use can raise body temperature, even to the point of killing the user.  ¡°I don¡¯t want you to do their job for them.¡±


    This out of the way corridor seemed relatively safe, for the moment anyway.  So Lucas sat down on the floor to catch his breath, and decided to ask a question that had been bothering him.


    ¡°The cult claims that the demons were the lands original owners,¡± Lucas had heard it from several of them now, usually choked off by his magic, but he heard enough fragments to get the gist and he had heard it before during the slave uprising.  ¡°Are they right?¡±


    ¡°Of course not,¡± Terrasin answered immediately.  ¡°This land has belonged to humans since time immemorial.  Those claims are beyond ludicrous.¡±


    ¡°I am less sure of that,¡± Lucas tried to recall what he knew about this world¡¯s geography.  ¡°You, humans, should not exist here, or at the very least this specific continent was not your origin.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±  Lady Versi frowned at Lucas, ¡°This is our home.¡±


    ¡°I am not arguing whether its your home or not,¡± Lucas didn¡¯t really care actually.  That issue would have occurred at least three thousand years ago, probably much more than that.  In short, it was not Lucas¡¯s problem, or wouldn¡¯t be if it wasn¡¯t for the damned cult.  ¡°Your facial features look European, and while you wouldn¡¯t know what that means, it does have some interesting implications about your genetic history.¡±


    As one species becomes separated and adapts to different environments, it can evolve through natural selection into two different species.  However, because of the nature of evolution and the weakness of the scientific definition of species, it is not always impossible for these species to breed with each other.  Homo Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens were clearly different species, but research suggests that children were still viable between the two.


    The end result is that certain demographics have features passed down in their genetic code from the Neanderthals, and that this demographic is primarily, at least to Lucas¡¯s knowledge, focused in Europeans.  In short, this world needed to have both Homo Sapiens and Homo Neanderthal evolve and interbreed to produce the woman in front of him.


    Lucas stood up and brushed himself off, ¡°Probability and chance are tricky things, and I don¡¯t really have any data to back this up, but I think it is far more likely that you are descended from people in my own world than that humans arose here independently.  That is, however, neither here nor there.  Whatever happened in the distant past, the present is what it is and those cultists are delusional.¡±


    He really wasn¡¯t certain though.  After all, maybe these people were not Homo Sapiens but rather another hominid species that evolved separately and the similarities between them and him were due to convergent evolution.


    ¡°Regardless,¡±  Lucas still felt a little tired, but he was ready to continue.  ¡°We should keep moving before the situation devolves any more.¡±


    As they were moving, Terrasin spoke with a serious face and tone.  ¡°Lucas, please never tell anyone else what you just said.¡±


    ¡°I suppose it would be rather destabilising, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Coming from the Hero¡­  Those words could doom us all¡­¡±  Terrasin seemed quite shaken by what Lucas had said, he was not particularly surprised.  Non-scientists were generally not very good in dealing with science, no matter how much it was boiled down for them.  To make matters worse, when something becomes political and religious the actual science is often ignored or twisted to try and support one side or the other.


    Lucas¡¯s thoughts on the existence of humans in this world was not even to the level of science, it was merely a conjecture.  But it was not likely that people could simply go about their daily lives if that kind of theory was floating around.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it was just idle thought.¡±  Lucas replied, ¡°as I said, it is the present that counts.¡±


    Terrasin frowned at this, apparently Lucas had not said the right thing to calm her down.  He was reconsidering his words when she suddenly yelled at him to duck and he just barely missed being beheaded by a halberd.


    ¡°Oh fuck me!¡±  Lucas swore, serves him right being distracted in the middle of a coup!  The soldier was not unskilled either, using the momentum of the swing to bring the pole end of the weapon into Lucas¡¯s side and slam him against the wall.


    Lucas had the wind knocked out of him and had lost control of his magic, struggling just to stand up again as the soldier prepared to attack him again.


    However, before the man could attack a sword point emerged from his chest and he fell over dead, revealing Lucas¡¯s savior¡­  Lady Versi.

 Chapter Thirty - World of Blood

    *Archi deVon Versi*


    Archi had learned how to fight from a young age, her father having foreseen her eventual joining of the ritual expedition had wanted to give her the best chances possible.  However, he also wanted her to play the perfect lady, and learning how to swing a sword was about as far from that as possible.


    She had brought up to her father the impossibility of fighting well in the dresses that were in fashion, had even had quite a heated argument when they were packed in her wardrobe for traveling.  What kind of idiot would enforce noble dress code on a ride through demon territory?  Archi¡¯s father apparently, and for the sake of appearances, she also had gone unarmed, with strict orders to do nothing unless it was absolutely necessary.


    Now she was standing with a sword she had pulled off a corpse, blood soaking into her dresses sleeve as a soldier coughed up blood and died.


    ¡°Ah, thank you for that.¡±  The Hero had caught his breath and did not seem particularly bothered by the fact I was holding a sword¡­  But then he glared at it suddenly.


    ¡°Wait a minute,¡± Lucas sounded more exasperated than angry, which Archi took as a good sign.  ¡°You mean that I stepped in front of you for nothing?  You should have told me you could fight, you are probably better at it than I am!¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t very¡­  Lady-like¡­¡±  Archi responds, a little surprised by his reaction.


    ¡°As if I care about your backwards culture,¡± Archi had hoped he would become less rude as time went on, and Lucas had¡­  But it was not by much.  ¡°If only we could find some kind of ranged weapon and then we could fight together¡­  Well in halls like this the magic I am using is basically impossible to counter, so the only threats are people that get close¡­¡±


    ¡°Compared to that magic, a sword seems like nothing.¡±  This was the first time Archi had killed anyone, she had ended a life, taken all of his years and ended them.  It was¡­  A heavy feeling, she felt like she was going to puke.  Lucas¡¯s magic made her feel the same way, the way he dispassionately slaughtered groups and causally confirmed each kill by stepping on their necks¡­  Occasionally, he would sigh and mutter about the waste, but Archi doubted he actually cared about them on an emotional level.  At least, not very much.


    ¡°Yes, well¡­¡±  Lucas continues onwards, limping slightly.  It must have been quite the painful hit, he did not seem like a strong man, and by all accounts Lucas wasn¡¯t, but Archi had to admit that he could take a beating.  He had been injured several times since she saw him summoned, and eventually had shrugged them all off, generally cursing the whole time.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°It might seem like nothing to you, Lady Versi.¡±  He rarely addressed Archi by her first name as he did Terrasen, but it didn¡¯t seem that it had anything do with familiarity with either of the women.  When asked, he had said that Terrasen was easier to pronounce than Almistraus, and that Archi reminded him of a character from a comic in his world and so preferred to call Archi something else.  ¡°However, this magic is not so strong as it seems.  In a room or corridor, where the air hardly moves and there is little interference, it can be rather effective.  But if we were outside, especially if the wind was blowing, this particular application of magic would be useless.¡±


    He had hardly been learning magic for a week, and now he was massacring an army.  Restrictions on use or not, Archi simply didn¡¯t think Lucas realised just how terrifying he was.  She could only imagine what it would be like when he gained full control over his power.  The worst part was, no one really understood half the things Lucas said.  Julian had been pestering him with questions since they met, and when Archi asked about it Julian had admitted that much of it was simply beyond his understanding, even when Lucas tried to break it down for him.


    ¡°Regardless, now I don¡¯t have to watch so closely over you both.¡±  Lucas laughed slightly, then winced and coughed.  His ribs might be more hurt that Archi had thought.  ¡°Terrasen, you won¡¯t be pulling out your own skill now would you?  This would be the time.¡±


    ¡°Regrettably,¡±  Terrasen replied smoothly, ¡°I am only skilled with a bow, and is not quite an accessory that goes with my dress.¡±


    Lucas paused and turned to look at the two ladies, a strange look on his face.  ¡°You mean to tell me that both of you had skills with weapons and failed to arm yourself before a coup d''etat because of fashion?¡±


    Lucas did not understand how important noble fashion was.  Each dress, ornament, and jewel could speak volumes in the noble world.  In a game of subtlety and intrigue, being armed with a sword was tantamount to flipping the game board and jumping on the table.  The political damage of two ladies from high ranked families being armed might do more damage than being killed flat out, at least their families could gain some political pull with the deaths as leverage.


    Lucas did not give Archi time to explain however and started moving again, shaking his head.


    If Archi was honest, she didn¡¯t know if she could have helped Lucas against her cousin even if she was armed.  The relation might be relatively distant, but Tyr had been family.  This whole affair had left a bad feeling in her stomach, though she tried not to let it show in her words or on her face.


    Archi did not have to fight again on their way to the throne room, but she kept the sword anyways.  She should throw it away, but now that it was in her hands she felt more concerned for her own safety than etiquette.  It was far easier not to pick up a sword, knowing you would have to fight if you did, than it was to drop a sword when you knew they would cut you down regardless.


    Lucas used his magic on two other groups along the way, Archi would never, as long as she lived forget the horrid look on the faces of the dead soldiers.  She would never forget the sound of them gasping for air and clawing at their throats and the stones around them.  Archi had felt shaken killing one person, how did Lucas so calmly end s many?

 Chapter Thirty-One - World of Blades

    *Blade*


    Blade sighed, he hated the cultists with a passion, why couldn¡¯t they all just wander off into demon lands and get eaten?  With a demon parent, Blade felt he was more qualified to say whether or not it was a good idea to try and let the demons take this land.  It was not.


    To make matters worse, what with the cultists, Duke Are¡¯s men, Julian¡¯s men, and Blade¡¯s associates this battle could only be described as a clusterfuck.  To make matters worse, regardless of the group, most of them were dressed in Duke Are¡¯s uniform¡­  He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if more than a few of the bodies throughout the castle had lost their lives to their own allies who killed them out of fear.


    But that was not his problem¡­  Is what he would like to say, the reality is that he had a few key targets to go after and this would not make it easier.  On the bright side, Blade watched as the cultists did his job for him, chasing down a brutally dismembering a wailing fat noble that was on his list.  That lord had been the owner of much of the farmland in the area, without heirs or any family related to him that did not belong to a foreign power, the land would end up under control of the Crown.


    His back itched, but he suppressed it.  Now was not the time or place¡­  Instead, Blade slipped through a window and moved stealthily through the shadows.  His father had given him quite a few gifts, and some inconvenient things, but the ability to slip into the shadows was one thing Blade was grateful for.  The soldiers running to and fro never saw him as he snuck by, his next target should have been here when the chaos started¡­


    In this kind of situation, the question would become where would the target go.  Blade was after one of Heidall¡¯s uncles, technically not in line for succession, but you could not go halfway in a coup d''etat.  Anything less than total victory would come back to bite you in the ass, so even those who were innocent had to go.


    Lucas had not been happy with this, Blade felt he had a good grasp on the ¡®hero.¡¯  He could be a dangerous man, but he wasn¡¯t yet.  He was curious to see if the man would develop into a sociopath, the hero wasn¡¯t yet¡­  But the way things seemed to be going¡­


    But that was for later, he had reached the quarters of his target, there were no guards at the door which meant his target probably was not there either.  Still, he might get a clue from investigating¡­


    Blade slipped under the door, he wasn¡¯t sure how he did it, but he did and examined the room.  As always for these humans, it was decadent in the extreme.  You would think that with a war raging for several millenium they would have devoted more resources to their troops instead of to their bedrooms, but in general they weren¡¯t that smart.


    The room was messy, not quite enough to suggest it was ransacked by an opportunistic sort and more like someone gathering some items before quickly leaving.  So the target had likely been here, probably grabbed a weapon of some kind and perhaps documents judging by the condition of the desk by the window.  This man was not like Duke Are, he had a spine and balls to boot.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    However there wasn¡¯t enough evidence for Blade to deduce where the target went¡­  He felt like sighing, but his training stopped the reflex, involuntary noises were not good for an assassin.  Blade simply had not had enough time to study his target and he was not sure about his habits or what he might do if he felt in danger.  Targets could do everything from running to the hills, to attempting to gather forces, or even try to turn the tables and ambush Blade.


    ¡°Fucking asshole¡­¡±  Blade somewhat lost his cool, if he wanted to find the target he would have to do something he hated.  His back itched and the shirt on his back seemed to undulate, soon anyone watching would realise that it not just seemed to, something was clearly trying to get out¡­


    Through cleverly concealed sleeves that looked like pockets of various kinds had something strange slip through them¡­  If anyone could have seen Blade as more than a slight shivering shadow they likely would have screamed in horror as four spider legs emerged from his back.


    Blade rolled his shoulders, stretching.  He hated these legs, but he had to admit that it felt good to let them out after so long.  However, they had another purpose besides allowing Blade to relax for a moment.  Most of his kind were the children of minor demons, but he was something different.  Blade wasn¡¯t sure what a High Demon had been doing in the village Blade would be born in, well aside from raping and murdering, but the fact that such a powerful creature had been so far from the front lines was strange to begin with.  Blade had been born in the southern region of Francea, many miles away from where a demon should ever be seen.


    As he grew up, he questioned the survivors about that time, few had answered, but the ones that did¡­  A High Demon like a spider, who could spin webs like steel and slip through the shadows and find you wherever you ran.


    When his demonic heritage started to show and he was forced to run, those stories gave Blade a guideline to understand what he might get from his dad if he was lucky.  He could not spin webs, but he could slip through shadows and as for finding people¡­


    Blade closed his eyes and focused, the hairs on the spider legs were special, combining several senses into one.  Smell, hearing, touch and taste¡­  The smell, touch, and taste allowed him to understand who he was searching for and the sound helped him to create a mental map to where his target was.


    As long as his legs were out, he did not bother to walk on the ground and carefully avoid guards.  Instead he was a shadow crawling quickly across the ceiling, hunting down his target who had managed to find some loyal guards and maintain a protected position¡­


    Until Blade dropped down on his head.


    The targets throat was slit in a second and Blade struck out at the guards before they could react.  His dagger found the chinks in their armor, and soldiers fell to his blade.  But more were killed by the powerful demon appendages he had, some by the sheer power of their blows and others from the poison that coated them.


    All in all, from the time he dropped to the time the last body hit the blood stained floor, merely thirty seconds had passed.


    ¡°Roughly two seconds per person¡­¡±  Blade sighed, ¡°either I am getting rusty or the Duchy has better soldiers than I thought.¡±


    And then he disappeared into the shadows to go after his next target.

 Chapter Thirty-Two - World of War

    *Julian Gandr*


    ¡°Some of these ones have those barriers too!¡± Julian shouted angrily, thinking about how fast this day had gone to hell. ¡°This should not even be possible!¡±


    ¡°Well, evidently it is.¡± Heidall struck out with the side of his hand, hitting the soldier who had been giving Julian trouble in the side of the head. Heidall did not show it often, but his physical strength was incredible, the soldier died instantly from the strike. ¡°Still, it only raises them to the level of a nuisance.¡±


    ¡°That is not the point¡­¡± Julian grumbled, he would have to switch up the way he was fighting. Normally he fought with fire and lightning from a distance, but perhaps it was time to remind the people around him why he was Knight Enchanter. Though if he was honest with himself, he hated fighting like this.


    But there was no time, Julian¡¯s subordinates would not have the knowledge or experience to deal with barriers, far less multiple individuals with barriers. He worried that Lucas and the Ladies were in danger, but changing their target now would only prolong and worsen the fighting. To that end, Julian drew his sword.


    To those nearby, it looked like a sheath for a dagger, though the hilt that sat in it seemed comically large and ornate for such a small blade¡­ Except that when Julian drew the blade it was far longer than the sheath it was in. A clear and beautiful note filled the air.


    The Singing Sword, Julian¡¯s proof of mastery and his shame. Everyone laughed at the idea of a sword that sang, and Julian had long since given up explaining that it did not sing at all. It vibrated.


    The cultists rushed him, as for most mages drawing a sword is the last resort and they were generally poor fighters. The keywords being ¡®most¡¯ and ¡®generally.¡¯


    ¡°Now I have not seen you use that in a long time,¡± Heidall laughed as he dealt with his own enemies in his usual practiced and efficient manner. ¡°Honestly, I always thought you¡¯d melt it down to rid yourself of the cognomen it gave you.¡±


    One cultists made to block Julian¡¯s swing while the other prepared to take advantage of the opening it would leave¡­ Except the swing was not blocked, it sliced through the opposing sword, the cultists armor, through his body and bones, and through the other side. The second cultist was surprised and that small opening cost him his head.


    Sir Julian ¡°Singingsteel¡± Gandr might have hated the blade and the jokes at his expense, but it was undeniably effective. It also was a reminder of his own hubris, because the truth was that the sword was a failed experiment.


    ¡°Lord Lucas will help me forge a new sword eventually,¡± Julian muttered, his eyes shining despite the bloody battle around him. After so long on the front against demons, this much bloodshed was nothing to Julian. ¡°Then I can ditch this thing somewhere.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ¡°The Hero seemed quite opposed to making weapons though¡­¡± Heidall was also incredibly calm in battle, though Julian knew it to be a ruse. Heidall would likely spend days if not weeks in prayer and meditation asking forgiveness from the Three and seeking a way to prevent this in the future. However, in addition to the soul of a priest, Heidall had the will of a Paladin and the vision of a lord. His own emotions and regrets would not stop him from acting. ¡°And after a talk with Archi I can see why. Some of the weapons he has described in passing¡­¡±


    ¡°Our war against demons has gone on for millenia,¡± Julian casually fried some of Duke Are¡¯s soldiers, who did not have barriers of any kind and thus could be easily dealt with from a distant. ¡°I don¡¯t see how any weapon could be so deadly that it would matter at this point.¡±


    ¡°Sir!¡± A soldier came running, panting and wheezing. ¡°I have a report from the soldiers you sent to reinforce the Hero¡¯s quarters!¡±


    Julian¡¯s heart sank, if the Hero had died¡­


    ¡°They found the bodies of Lord General Tyr and two of his soldiers, as well as the mages you assigned as guards, but neither the Hero nor the Ladies were anywhere to be found!¡±


    Julian let out a breath he did not realize he had been holding. He could not be sure of their safety, but the lack of bodies was a very good sign.


    ¡°Well, then let us continue.¡±


    *Heidall deVon Are*


    Heidall was quite relieved to hear that there was a decent chance the three were alive. Lucas might have been an ass but he liked Lady Almistraus and his cousin Archi. He had mixed feelings about his younger brother being dead, but now was not the time for that. This was beyond his own personal feelings and no matter how it might hurt, he would do his duty.


    The Singing Sword drew enemies to them like flies to a carcass, and they created more than a few of those as they carved their way through the soldiers and cultists.


    Heidall fought without a weapon, or it might be more accurate to call him a weapon. Imbued with Holy Power and utilizing a well trained, honed body and mind, his fists and feet struck with the force of a warhammer, but far more quickly and accurately.


    ¡°I just wish there was a peaceful way to do this¡­¡± Heidall sighed, ¡°I know that my father would have refused, but we never did try to negotiate with him¡­¡±


    ¡°The issue is that we all knew he would refuse, Heidall.¡± Julian grunted, ¡°why waste time asking questions that you already know the answer to?¡±


    Heidall would always feel that today was his failure¡­ If he had been better, smarter, more skilled¡­ Perhaps he could have convinced his father to be a better ruler before his own exile¡­ Or have found a solution that did not involve committing patricide.


    ¡°Heidall,¡± Julian¡¯s sharp tone brought his mind back to the fight. Heidall didn¡¯t need to focus on fighting really, his bodies instincts were faster and more trustworthy than thinking about each move. The thinking had happened long before, when he chose to train and hone his instincts to this level. ¡°I know what you are thinking about, and you need to stop. We both know that nothing short of an Ascended dropping down from heaven could have convinced your father of anything, and he would take his time being convinced anyway!¡±


    ¡°Julian,¡± Heidall appreciated his friend¡¯s intention, but¡­ ¡°If I did not have regrets and doubts about this I would be worse than the demons themselves. They may have been bastards, but they were my family.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Julian sighed even as he smoothly cut down three more soldiers. The Singing Sword might seem silly at first, but it had an edge so fine that it would sink to its hilt in stone if dropped. ¡°You know I will always be around if you need to talk after this.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± Julian really was a good friend, despite his idiosyncrasies. ¡°But let us leave that for later, for now we should get to the throne room and get this done.¡±

 Chapter Thirty-Three - World of Succesion

    *Duke Are*


    ¡°Volen!¡±  The Duke screamed, then cursed and tried to make his voice deeper and less shameful.  ¡°Volen, what the hell is going on?¡±


    ¡°My Lord,¡± Volen was already cowering behind the throne, he had no backbone whatsoever¡­  ¡°We are under attack!¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Duke Are¡¯s voice was thick with sarcasm.  ¡°I thought it was a fucking party, of course we are under attack you incompetent fool!  Who, where and how many?¡±


    ¡°I- I don¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡°By the Three,¡± Duke Are cursed at the useless Volen.  ¡°Captain!  Give me some kind of report!¡±


    Duke Are was terrified, there was fighting incredibly close to him and no one seemed to have any idea what the hell was going on.  The captain of his personal guard had taken a few soldiers to try and recover his son, but was now returning without Tyr and missing more than a few of the soldiers he left with.


    ¡°Where the hell is my son!¡±  Duke Are roared, rage threatening to overcome his fear.


    ¡°My Lord Duke,¡± the captain bowed, ignoring normal etiquette which would have demanded he kneel.  Are didn¡¯t care, it was not the time for that.  ¡°Soldiers claim the Lord General took several soldiers to go and secure the Lord Hero, the entirety of the Palace is in chaos.¡±


    ¡°Who is attacking?¡±  The Duke sat back down, now that he finally had a subordinate competent enough to do their gods damn job!


    ¡°It is a three way battle out there my Lord,¡± the captain shook his head in dismay.  ¡°There were cultist traitors among our soldiers and it seems like a third party composed of mages from the front line and some of the minor nobles forces are fighting both our soldiers and the cultists as well.¡±


    ¡°A third party?¡±  The Duke was bewildered, ¡°What could they poss-  Oh, I see.  The cultists struck at the same time traitors struck, a rebellion and a coup d''etat at the same time!¡±


    ¡°My Lord, we should withdraw.¡±  The captain stepped forward, ¡°They likely have some influence at the garrisons, but we could likely convince the generals to let us leave for the capitol and we could complain directly to the Crown.¡±


    ¡°You are talking like we have already lost!¡±  Duke Are was sweating now, his voice trembling.  The captain wouldn¡¯t know, but the Duke was not welcome in the King¡¯s city.  He had gotten drunk at a party and gropped a woman who had turned out to be the second princess¡­  Are was lucky to have escaped execution, but now that the prince had formally become the Crown Prince¡­  He didn¡¯t think he would be so lucky.  Still, he was terrified to stay here, he was caught in a trap¡­  He wanted to run, but there was no place to run to!


    ¡°With respect, Lord Duke.¡±  The captain¡¯s voice had no respect in it whatsoever, but the Duke could hardly care at this point.  ¡°The soldiers still loyal to you represent a minority of the forces fighting out there, with mages on their side the nobles will likely suppress both the cultists and our forces in short order.¡±


    The Duke ground his teeth, well if his death here was certain¡­


    ¡°Damnit!¡±  The Duke growled, ¡°We will retreat to the garrisons and throw ourselves before the mercy of the Crown.¡±  He could only hope that they would prefer him over these traitors!


    The guards began to gather in formation to leave, but before they could the door to the hall opened revealing¡­


    *Lucas Jaeger*Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Greetings Duke,¡± Lucas stepped into the hall which was filled with what remained of the Duke¡¯s personal guards.  To Lucas¡¯s surprise, they had been quite excellently picked.  The Duke¡¯s personal guards had no traitors from either the cultists or Lucas¡¯s group in their midst.  ¡°I was hoping we could have a bit of a conversation.¡±


    ¡°Now is not the time for that Hero!¡±  The Duke snarled, ¡°Are you blind to what is going- Heidall?  What are you doing here?¡±


    The Duke was stunned to see his first son step in with Julian, the Ladies, and a small group of soldiers from assorted nobles.  What he didn¡¯t see was Blade slip into the room, though in fairness, no one else did either.  However, Lucas knew he had and was moving through the shadows even as they spoke.


    ¡°I am here because I think it is about time for you to retire Father.¡±  Heidall¡¯s voice was firm and his stance steady, a contrast to the trembling uncontrolled mess that was his father.  ¡°To be honest, it is well past time.  Stand down and we can end this here.¡±


    ¡°You traitorous scum?¡±  The Duke spat on the floor, ¡°You would betray your own family?  It is meaningless, I will never give up my seat to the likes of you!¡±


    ¡°Please consider your position,¡± Lucas raised his eyebrows.  ¡°I mean, they told me that you would refuse to stand down unless you were pulled down, but I never really believed that you would actually refuse when we reached this point.¡±


    ¡°Ha!¡±  The Duke laughed, but he was trembling so much it did not have the desired effect. ¡°My soldiers outnumber you three to one here!  Why should I do anything?¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t like our side has incredibly skilled and powerful mages after all,¡± Julian replied with sarcasm.  Indeed, Julian alone could likely handle the soldiers in the room, for that matter even Lucas could with his new found ability.


    ¡°I am the Duke!¡±  Are roared, ¡°This city, this Duchy, is mine!  I will not hand it over to traitors no matter what you do!¡±


    ¡°This does not seem like you to be honest,¡± Lucas sighed as he considered that he might as well use his magic and massacre them now.  Well, he would if it wasn¡¯t for Blade¡¯s presence somewhere.  ¡°I would have expected you to be kneeling at my feet begging for your life.¡±


    ¡°You bastard!¡±  The Duke¡¯s face turned red with rage, ¡°Guards!  Kill the- erk!¡±


    Blade appeared next to the throne and smoothly cut the Duke¡¯s throat before fading away again into nothingness.


    ¡°With my father and brother dead,¡± Heidall announced.  ¡°The Duchy falls to me, you are all to stand down!¡±


    ¡°As if we would allow a patricide like you to take the throne!¡±  Most of the guards had similar feelings and attacked, only a few stood back and laid down their weapons.  They were slaughtered in short order and Heidall ascended the bloodstained throne, taking the crown from his father¡¯s body and placing it upon his own head.


    ¡°The coup is over,¡±  Heidall¡¯s voice was, to Lucas¡¯s surprise, filled with command that he would not have expected from the monk.  ¡°But the cultists still stalk my halls, wipe them out to the last.¡±


    *Cultist*


    They had failed.  Messengers, risking life and limb in the chaos, had spread the word throughout the castle.  The Duke and his second son were dead, and the first son had taken the throne.  The Cleansed fought with vigor and faith, but the unclean had the advantage.  The castle soldiers had stopped fighting the rebels and had joined with them, by orders of the new Duke and everyone was focused on eliminating the true faithful.


    ¡°Oh Purified One,¡± a cleansed soldier ran up to him to give a report.  ¡°Our escape is cut off, we are surrounded on all sides.¡±


    ¡°Then we show them the strength of our faith and go down as martyrs to the cause.¡±  The Purified Cultist answered calmly.  Death was always a possibility, but humanities mistakes would be rolled back even if it cost the blood of every one of the faithful to do so.


    It was frustrating though.  To have gone to such lengths to give barriers to so many of their number¡­  The Lords would not be pleased, he could only hope that their rage would be mollified by his death here.  He raised his blade and charged into the fray.


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    It was several hours before the fighting ended, and soldiers were still sweeping the shadow, with the help of Blade, to find any hidden cultists that might have slipped away in the chaos.  It would be weeks before the castle could truly be determined as safe.


    However, Duke Heidall Are would be much better for the Duchy as a whole, and had thrown his support behind Lucas¡¯s teachings.  The books he had dictated would be copied and published and used to improve the agriculture of the Duchy far beyond its current limits, and the way was clear for Lucas to begin examining this world¡¯s medicine.


    The past two weeks had been full of painful surprises for Lucas, and a few good ones to, but he looked forward to a more productive future from here on out.  It was time to begin transforming this world.

 Chapter Thirty-Four - World of Treatment

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lucas sighed in exasperation as he explained the current topic once again. ¡°I will be taking samples from sick people while categorizing what kind of illness they are suffering from, and then I will be using some of those samples to make you resistant or immune to actually becoming infected.¡±


    ¡°Lord Hero,¡± Volen was frowning, granted he had rarely stopped since his liege was killed in front of him, but today it was even more pronounced. ¡°This does not sound safe, or even like a good idea.¡±


    ¡°It is similar to the process of inoculation,¡± Lucas sighed again. He had been doing that a lot lately. ¡°Given your level of science I would imagine that concept is floating around somewhere right? The difference is that I won¡¯t need to spend time identifying different strains of viruses and will instead be damaging the actual virus to produce results.¡±


    ¡°But if you fell sick¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that will probably happen.¡± Lucas admitted, of course he would if he went around visiting a ton of sick people and swabbing them right? Eventually he would catch something. ¡°But I already gave you a list of things to do in that case, so just follow the script and I should recover.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think¡­¡±


    ¡°Good, let me do that for you.¡± Lucas had been met with incredible resistance as he laid out his plans for introducing vaccination to the Duchy. This world apparently did not have the idiom ¡°hair of the dog that bit you¡± and so he was not even able to use that to explain how the process worked. For fucks sake, artificial immunization had been recorded as early as the sixteenth century in China, with some records claiming that it had been going on centuries before that. But Lucas supposed there were still idiots in his own, modern world who believed vaccines to be dangerous, so perhaps he shouldn¡¯t be so harsh.


    And to be fair, what he was doing was dangerous for both him and the patients. The first vaccinations that did not involve using similar, but weaker, diseases to stimulate the immune system involved damaging the infectious material to weaken it considerably. If Lucas fucked up he could end up causing a pandemic instead of granting immunity to it. However, he had a double doctorate in genetics and virology. Lucas had decades of specialized education in this field compared to Louis Pasteur who had to discover it all for himself.


    Attenuating viruses, weakening bacteria, the methods to produce and replicate vaccines¡­ This was all ancient history to Lucas, part of the basis of modern virology. Lucas had tried to explain some of this, but only Julian really seemed to have an idea what he was talking about. Terrasin might have as well, but she seemed to enjoy tormenting Lucas in conversations sometimes¡­


    ¡°Do you have the gloves and mask I asked for?¡± Lucas turned to Volen, who produced a set of cloth masks and gloves. It as perfect as what he would have in a hospital setting, but it would do for now. They had also prepared soap and a stove to heat water. Just because Lucas accepted that there was a strong chance of him getting sick did not mean that he wouldn¡¯t take every method to prevent it. In particular, pneumonia was a concern. Until he discovered a suitable antibiotic it would be quite dangerous for him to develop that infection.


    They were set up in a abandoned house in the slums that had been cleaned up for this purpose. Announcements had been made that anyone who showed up here would receive free treatment, at least up to a point. For now, it mostly involved correcting superstitions and making certain that people rested correctly.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    The amount of sick people who showed up was stunning, Lucas had not expected this many patients and had to start dealing with them as groups. It soon became apparent that the number was somewhat inflated by family members who had carried the actual sick person to the house, but it was still a staggering number.


    The other unexpected arrivals were the local ¡®physicians,¡¯ who had been a headache for Lucas until he had the soldiers round them up. They were still recommending animal dung as treatment and protesting when Lucas had the stopped entirely. They also argued against his prohibitions against bloodletting, mercury, fumigation, aromatherapy, trepanning, and the use of most herbal remedies. Though Lucas threw them for a curveball when he heartily recommended the use of clove oil for a whole variety of illnesses.


    While not particularly effective compared to many other substances, clove oil did have antibacterial and antifungal properties. So the realizing that the plant was found in this world was a major discovery for Lucas. He made sure to send a note to Heidall to make certain cloves were farmed as much as possible.


    All the rest of the treatments were tossed out the window. Much to the chagrin of the ¡®physicians.¡¯


    ¡°No, there is not a demon spirit in the ladies head,¡± Lucas argued with one of them about a lady who seemed to have some form of epilepsy. Lucas had no idea how to treat it, but at the very least he could stop these idiots from cutting her head open. ¡°It is a neurological condition, and frankly treating it is mostly impossible currently. If you give me some time I can make a few conjectures about reducing symptoms, but it will be guesswork at best. It isn¡¯t my field of expertise, and last I recall hearing about advancements in its treatment we had yet to fully eliminate symptoms.¡±


    ¡°Then at least let us draw her blood,¡± the old, white bearded physician argued. ¡°Even if you don¡¯t believe the spirit is there, we should at least weaken it and draw out the illness.¡±


    ¡°Guards, quiet the crowd.¡± Lucas ignored the man, ¡°I need to make an announcement.¡±


    ¡°What are you-¡±


    Lucas held up his hand to silence the old man, he didn¡¯t have time for this bullshit. It took some time to quiet the crowd, but Lucas was able to address the crowd from the top of the house.


    ¡°Listen and listen well!¡± Lucas shouted, ¡°Bloodletting cures almost nothing and is more likely to contribute to your death than health! As of this point, bloodletting is illegal. Anyone caught performing the practice will be imprisoned. Further, all of the practices listed below will carry the same penalty! I am not going to let you idiots die for your superstitions.¡±


    Dropping down Volen asked, ¡°My Lord, do you have the authority to make do that?¡±


    ¡°I will have Heidall make it official when I see him next.¡± That was the reason for replacing the Duke after all. But Heidall was not just a yes-man blindly agreeing to everything Lucas said. He always asked why, and did his best to understand the explanations, often with Julian¡¯s help. He was, in Lucas¡¯s opinion, going to be an excellent ruler.


    ¡°Today¡¯s chaos is getting to me,¡± Lucas muttered. ¡°I can barely keep track of this mess. I never appreciated hospital administration until today, how the hell do they deal with this?¡±


    ¡°Administration is underappreciated in general, Lord Hero.¡± Volen said from the side, clearly it was something that he understood quite well.


    ¡°I guess I will have to be more cognizant of that in the future.¡± Lucas replied, ¡°The food and water is being distributed?¡±


    ¡°Yes My Lord, and your ¡®samples¡¯ are being collected.¡± Volen had a distasteful look on his face. Well, Lucas supposed that most people here wouldn¡¯t be comfortable with what he was doing.


    ¡°Wonderful.¡± Lucas sat back in a chair, exhausted. ¡°Today was too fucking long¡­¡±


    Unfortunately, Lucas did not have time to rest. He had to get the samples incubating before long. Honestly, he had already thrown good practice out the window along with the witch-doctor treatments of the physicians. But he did not have the equipment to properly care for things, so he would just have to make do.


    He had samples of many diseases and had even discovered the presence of an antibiotic in this world, with this, his work was just begining.

 Chapter Thirty-Five - World of Magic

    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    ¡°I am a fucking idiot.¡±


    Terrasin was watching Lucas groan with his head in his hands.  It was actually quite amusing.


    She had read through his book regarding agriculture- and frankly it seemed to be the product of genius.  When she said as much, Lucas had laughed and muttered something about the ¡®shoulders of giants,¡¯ and said that the smallest advances are the biggest hurdles.  That made it all the more hilarious that he had been this distressed for the past twenty minutes.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I forgot to develop a fucking syringe before I did all of this¡­¡±  He was grabbing his hair, not quite tearing at it, but obviously beside himself with frustration.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just make one now?¡±  That seemed the obvious answer to the problem.


    ¡°The samples have already been mishandled,¡± Lucas sat up and stared at the egg and blood in front of him.  ¡°I am skipping so many fucking steps that it isn¡¯t funny.  It should still work¡­  Probably¡­  Maybe¡­  I don¡¯t have time to fucking reinvent a microscope and redo the whole process.¡±


    Then Lucas started muttering under his breath to find alchemists and metallurgists and give them the notes to make it themselves.  Terrasin, however, had to ask, ¡°I am still not sure why time is so important, while as fast as possible would be nice, the front line has held for millennia, it can wait a year or two-  For that matter, what are you even trying to do?¡±


    ¡°I need to inject these,¡± Lucas gestured a hand towards the samples.  ¡°Into these eggs, without killing the eggs.¡±


    ¡°Inject?¡±  Terrasin understood the word that his collar translated, but the only time she had heard it used was in cooking.  What does it have to do with medicine?  ¡°And why do they need to be alive?¡±


    Lucas had specifically asked for fertilized eggs and demanded they be treated with absolute care.  He had even had some people put together a box that he claimed was to ¡®incubate¡¯ the eggs.  The word was translated, but Lucas still had to explain it, meaning that it existed in Terrasin¡¯s language but she had never heard it used.


    ¡°In order to treat the a large number of people,¡±  Lucas sighed, leaning back.  ¡°I need a large amount of the disease.  I can grow the pathogen in these eggs and then use those to multiply it with other eggs, until I have enough to actually vaccinate the population.¡±


    Lucas had had Heidall institute a ban on eating chicken eggs, and had Julian claim that it was for a magical ritual to prevent disease.  Lucas had also said that the reality was that they likely did not have enough eggs to actually vaccinate the entire population and had set out an order of priority for who would actually receive them.


    ¡°As for the time constraint¡­¡±  Lucas sighed again, he had been doing that quite a bit over the past couple days.  ¡°If all mitigating factors are removed, population growth is essentially exponential-  except that there are mitigating factors, and more importantly, I cannot implement my changes across the entirety of humanity at once.  In your world, information is slow to spread, it could be years before it reaches the majority of human ears and perhaps decades to actually convince people to change to them.  And after all of that, the effects of this will start to show maybe thirty years later.  Therefore, I must handle this before I turn to improving combat potential and making weapons, it will be a slow boil that will reinforce everything else I do and ensure a lasting effect.¡±


    Lucas had interesting thoughts, he often seemed to have no real plan for what he is doing, while at the same time keeping in mind a series of larger goals.  He was not very disciplined in many respects, and he was not even that good at making plans- but he did have a knack for digging his teeth into that larger goal and never letting go of it.


    Then, he sat straight up, his eyes focusing strongly on the egg in front of him.  Terrasin nearly had heart attack from his sudden movements and his intensity.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of this before?¡±  Lucas seemed to be talking to himself, he had probably forgotten she was even there.  ¡°I could just do this-¡±


    The egg exploded, covering Lucas in fluid and shell fragments.  Lucas stumbled back, knocking over his chair and swearing impressively.  Terrasin had been shielded from the miniature explosion, but Lucas was a mess.


    ¡°What did you do?¡±  Terrasin was trying not to laugh, but she couldn¡¯t help herself from giggling.


    ¡°Fucking shit!¡±  Lucas continued to swore as he started to wipe himself off, ¡°I will have to ask for Julian¡¯s help with this probably-  I tried to put a small hole in two place in the egg using magic, and then I was planning to use magic to inject the infected material.¡±


    ¡°As you can see,¡± Lucas gestured down at himself.  ¡°I used a bit too much force.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Just a bit,¡± Terrasin did not hold back any more and started laughing, ¡°I will send for Julian for you.¡±


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Well Lucas was glad that at least someone was amused by his mistakes, he however was lamenting his own naivety.  He took so much for granted until he had taken up this project.  Even something as simple as washing hands with soap in hot water as a complicated affair in this world, nevermind things like latex gloves, syringes, or a even a drill capable of putting the holes he needed into the egg itself!


    What a headache-  But did he even need to go through with it?  If he could modify random things in the air to provoke asthma attacks, why couldn¡¯t he just make the pathogens from scratch?  Potentially dangerous, but he supposed that the least of these samples was just the common cold, hardly an issue if it was not contained.


    Because that was a professional and responsible thought, Lucas berated himself. If, and it was a big if, he could do it, it wasn¡¯t something Lucas could teach others.  Even if people were responsible with the knowledge now, it would only be a matter of time.  So he still needed to develop, however barbaric and archaic his methods may be, a system that even non-magical people can use to create vaccines and save lives.


    Still, as long as he was here if he could do this he may actually be able to get a dose to everyone¡­


    Well, he might as well try, but how to get the accuracy he would need?  No, first how would he turn energy into matter?  Sure they are different forms of the same thing, but that didn¡¯t mean that lightning could be turned into a rabbit.  Well, in theory it could be- and with magic, Lucas may be able to turn that wildly fantastical hypothesis into a reality.


    Or maybe he should simply get the material from elsewhere and rearrange it?  Lucas picked up an chicken egg and considered it.  Inside that shell was all the materials needed to birth a chick, and life was all made of the same things.  He would kill for the machinery to properly perform a polymerase chain reaction, but despite that wonderful discoveries utility, it would still be inadequate for what he was considering.


    Using Taq polymerase, primers, and heat you could replicate fragments of dna exponentially- a simple, yet brilliant, concept that still fell short of replicating the complete genetic code of an organism.  But that was far too complex to start with.  He had to work backwards, break it down into its component parts and reconstruct a facsimile with magic.


    Did he have the skill with magic to do this?  No, not really¡­  However, the history of humanity was making tools to make better tools to make better tools to actually do something- so he would replicate the process of development to build the tools he needed.


    No, he didn¡¯t even have the power to do this- unless.


    *Julian Gandr*


    ¡°So he needs to drill holes in eggs?¡±  Julian had a better understanding of what Lucas was doing than most of the people in the castle, but he had to admit this seemed a bit strange.  Lucas had not entirely explained everything considering how little time he had to talk to Julian, and half of that was Julian teaching him magic!


    ¡°So he says,¡± Terrasin was walking beside him as they headed towards what Lucas called the ¡®lab.¡¯  ¡°He also needs to inject those ¡®samples¡¯ of his into them.¡±


    That sounded like a pain, considering that he would apparently need to keep the egg alive the whole time.  At the very least he would be able to tease more knowledge out of Lucas during this.  Julian opened the door and stopped dead- if felt like he had hit a wall of magic, and at the center of it was Lucas.


    ¡°What the hell is this?¡±  Julian shouted, unable to believe what was in front of him.  Terrasin looked at him in confusion, unable to sense the magic that was occuring.  Julian did not have time to explain, what the hell had Lucas done.  ¡°Lucas- what is going on?¡±


    The storm of magic collapsed instantly, folding in on itself and Julian could see it forming a complex structure, more complex than anything he had seen before.  Then it was over, and Lucas was standing there, simply looking confused.


    ¡°I would think that would have worked¡­¡±  He muttered, Julian coughed to get his attention and Lucas jumped.


    ¡°What the hell was that Lucas?¡±  Julian asked seriously, looking him dead int the eye. ¡°You don¡¯t even have the magic potential to produce something like that, whether it worked or not.¡±


    ¡°Hmmmm,¡± Lucas thought for a second, as if weighing whether or not to answer.  ¡°I guess it is fine to explain¡­  Based on our discussions I concluded that this ¡®soul¡¯ you speak of works much like a generator would, and from Heidall¡¯s description of priestly powers in their case it is acting like a motor.  Now, I am not an engineer, but if it is that basic it will be easy enough, the key point is that there would be something driving the ¡®souls¡¯ to produce this energy.  So I thought that instead of using my own power I would simply tap into whatever that was by working backwards from my own magic.¡±


    Julian was slack jawed.  What the hell was this man talking about?  A power driving the souls of mages?  But-


    ¡°Did you succeed?¡±  Julian managed to ask, despite his confusion.


    ¡°Ah, no.¡± Lucas frowned, ¡°The construct took more energy to run than it generated, though I have no idea why¡­  I must be missing something, well for now we will have to do it the hard way.¡±


    ¡°But... You shouldn¡¯t have¡­¡±  Julian sputtered, ¡°it isn¡¯t possible.¡±


    ¡°What wasn¡¯t possible?¡±  Lucas seemed mildly confused.


    ¡°That construct¡­¡±


    ¡°That was far to complex of a construct,¡± Julian finally was able to be decently coherent.  ¡°You have barely started learning!¡±


    Lucas looked at Julian like he was crazy, ¡°complex?  It was more or less a dc generator, albeit one that I had attempted to rig to produce magic.  It is not my are of study, but the basics of generators and motors are easily understood.  The coiling structure was standing in for something like copper wire- or in this case the body.  The interior section is similar to a magnet, and I suppose you would have to call it an artificial ¡®soul.¡¯¡±


    Julian heard something thump on the floor behind him, and turned to see that Terrasin had fainted.

 Chapter Thirty-Six - World of Chaos

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Lucas rushed over to check on Terrasin, and thankfully she was already waking up. She didn¡¯t seem hurt, but clearly she had received a great shock from what Lucas had said. He had to admit, he had been distracted by his own thoughts and his attempt to generate magical energy artificially without actually thinking about how others would react to it.


    Lucas had called himself an idiot not too long ago, but this was more confirmation than he would like to have seen. Obviously, this would be a massive undertaking for the people of this world, perhaps even a blasphemous one. It was a pity it had not worked though, and Lucas had no idea why it had not. It did generate energy, but not as much as was required to maintain the construct, so he must have missed something.


    ¡°My apologies,¡± Lucas said as Terrasin woke up. ¡°I was lost in my own thoughts and had not considered the effect my words would have.¡±


    ¡°Lucas¡­¡± Julian was shaking slightly, perhaps Lucas was still underestimating the importance of what he had done. ¡°What you were doing belongs to the realm of the gods- No human could possibly even attempt it.¡±


    Lucas frowned, ¡°Clearly humans can do it, because I got that far and I am human.¡±


    ¡°No, you are the Hero.¡± Julian shook his head, and Lucas saw something like awe in his eyes. He had really fucked this one up¡­ ¡°I had never put much stock in it before, but this¡­¡±


    ¡°No, no!¡± Lucas felt he needed to correct this hurriedly, ¡°it is quite simple in principle, don¡¯t you dare start worshiping me!¡±


    ¡°Lucas,¡± Terrasin spoke, managing to get up with Lucas¡¯s help. ¡°You said¡­ You said you created a soul.¡±


    ¡°Well, yes.¡± Lucas could see where their misconception had started, ¡°but not quite what you are thinking.¡±


    ¡°Explain.¡± Julian was still shaking, ¡°please.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t so much create a soul as create a shell of one?¡± Lucas scratched his head, ¡°I am still not sure what a ¡®soul¡¯ is in this world, but I still doubt it is what you think it is. Regardless, I was able to touch my own ¡®soul¡¯ by extending magic into myself and then I merely replicated the, well I guess you would call it exterior, of it and used it as part of the construct.¡±


    ¡°But- Th- that is¡­ Impossible!¡± Julian was stuttering and hyperventilating, and now Lucas was worried about him fainting.


    ¡°Near as I can tell,¡± Lucas replied. ¡°Your ¡®magic¡¯ has no actual limits. If you had brought a physicist over instead of a biologist, he or she would likely have been able to do so much more.¡±


    This, well he would charitably call it an experiment, had led Lucas to some interesting observations. First, that the energy of magic was converted from its original form to magic by the interaction of the body and soul, and that this action was terribly inefficient. Second, that there was far more energy that could be tapped than what was. And third, that there was essentially no limits to what could be affected by magic if you had the knowledge and power to do so.


    In other words, this world''s magic was beyond miraculous. Someone who could fully understand both magic and the laws of the world would be a god for all intents and purposes.


    That was neither here nor there though, because the knowledge that would require was far beyond what Lucas could imagine. Still, now that he knew this much he would try and push it further himself¡­ The sheer potential of it¡­


    ¡°Lucas¡­¡± Terrasin looked at him imploringly, he always was weak to this kind of thing¡­ ¡°Please don¡¯t try that again. It is blasphemous and probably dangerous.¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°It is definitely dangerous,¡± Julian agreed. ¡°I could imagine it running wild and destroying the city!¡±


    Well¡­ Lucas figured that he could probably induce cold fusion with magic if he actually understood physics better, so yeah, there was a potential of that¡­


    ¡°I will certainly leave it for now,¡± Lucas could agree to that for a time. ¡°I often try to run before I can walk, and I think I will need many more lessons before I attempt that again. However, I don¡¯t think I can really turn away from the potential I saw there.¡±


    ¡°The danger¡­¡± Julian began, but Lucas interrupted him.


    ¡°The potential is so far beyond me Julian,¡± Lucas sighed in exasperation. ¡°That you really would have done better with a doctorate in quantum physics. If I am able to even unlock a fraction of that potential¡­ Well, for one thing I might be able to go home with it, and I would definitely be able to wipe the demons off the planet. More importantly, we have work to do.¡±


    Lucas managed to push Julian to doing what he needed, drilling the holes in the eggs and injecting the samples. They would need more eggs in two days when Lucas harvested the pathogens from the eggs and used the new eggs to multiply the samples again.


    With that taken care of, Terrasin left to get some rest. She was still shaken from the words that came out of Lucas¡¯s mouth, and Lucas thought it was best that she rested regardless.


    Julian, on the other hand, began to pester Lucas for details.


    ¡°Look, Julian.¡± Lucas sighed, ¡°my world has a set of concepts called the Laws of Thermodynamics. On the whole, it isn¡¯t important for you to understand that, and I wouldn¡¯t be a good person to teach you about it because I only know what I need to for my job, plus a bit that I learned from curiosity.¡±


    ¡°The important part is that a consequence of the first law is that you cannot create a perpetual motion machine, in other words, you cannot create energy from nothing. This taps into another law, the law of conservation of energy, which states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. The summary of that means that ¡®magic¡¯ is not something spontaneously created by ¡®souls¡¯ and bodies, but is converted from other energy into magic by that interaction, which implies that that energy could be tapped by something else artificially.¡±


    ¡°I think I understand parts¡­¡± Julian muttered, ¡°But I don¡¯t think I fully understand it¡­¡±


    Lucas sighed, this was not his area of expertise! He knew jack shit about this kind of thing.


    ¡°Regardless, wasn¡¯t there some important message? You mentioned it briefly earlier¡­¡± Or at least Lucas thought Julian had, but it had been in between the barrage of questions and warnings, and he was not quite sure.


    Julian¡¯s face darkened, ¡°Though the kingdom is staying out of it, the Duchies to the south and the ones to the west have condemned our actions and may be gathering their soldiers.¡±


    Lucas groaned, ¡°Well it would be too easy otherwise, right? Fuck me¡­ Can¡¯t we negotiate?¡±


    ¡°Probably not,¡± Julian did have a bit of a smile as he brought up the next point. ¡°They believe that Lady Versi has¡­ Ummm, ¡®convinced¡¯ you to help her grab power in Francinea.¡±


    ¡°Well, I suppose rumors like that were bound to occur.¡± Lucas was not surprised at all by that much. If anything was surprising, actually, it was that it had taken so long. ¡°The question is whether or not they believe that or are just using it as an excuse to attack.¡±


    ¡°Both, probably.¡± Julian shrugged, ¡°but your main issue is that most of the forces here are supporting the front line.¡±


    ¡°Let me guess,¡± Lucas had a bad idea of where this was going¡­ ¡°They won¡¯t help in this kind of struggle.¡±


    ¡°That''s right,¡± Julian confirmed. ¡°and that includes me. There was a bit of a grey area in the actions I took for you before, having to do with your opposition to the Duke, but the way they wrote their condemnation makes it clear that they are not opposing you, but Lady Versi.¡±


    ¡°So I suppose I am stuck with the personal soldiers of the nobility and whatever I can scrounge up.¡± Lucas scowled, ¡°Fine, if that is how they want to play it.¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± Julian hesitated and then continued on. ¡°I don¡¯t think we really have a chance against the forces that will be arrayed against us. Undoubtedly, they will have connections with the border troops and be able to exploit that to open our gates or obtain information.¡±


    ¡°I promised to build you guys weapons, right?¡± Lucas¡¯s grin was practically evil as he thought of all the things he could do. ¡°Perhaps it is time to show you some of the possibilities, sometimes people in my world forget that biologists must be chemists too. And everyone knows that you go into chemistry to blow stuff up!¡±


    Lucas found it funny that the same thing that was used in fertilizer could be used to make improvised explosive devices, and Lucas was very familiar with the process of producing Ammonium Nitrate. Going from that to a bomb was as easy as falling off a log, and Julian had just demonstrated his versatility in production by helping with the vaccines.


    ¡°I am going to have to borrow you and your subordinates for a while.¡± Lucas almost felt bad for the people coming against him, they had no clue what they were marching in to.

 Chapter Thirty-Seven - World of Fire and Steel

    *Julian Gandr*


    Lucas was giving a massive list of warnings and cautions, but Julian was too tired to listen.  When Lucas had said that he would be ¡®borrowing¡¯ him and his subordinates, what he apparently meant was that he would work them like slaves.  Half the words that he had said while he was explaining what he was having them do were not translated by the collar either, so no one had any clue what they had produced after all that effort.


    It was just a white powder, perhaps a poison?  Lucas had specifically said it was not dangerous currently, but considering he had been making them take different chemicals through all sorts of reactions that changed them greatly it could be a single step away for all Julian knew.


    ¡°Now having said all that,¡± Lucas seemed to be wrapping up and Julian refocused his wandering mind back to the hero.  ¡°I would much prefer to be using this for fertilizer, but life sucks and right now I will have to win a fight against a force that vastly outnumbered my forces, so fuck it.¡±


    He grunted as he lifted up a large package, it seemed decently heavy.


    ¡°In my world, we would call this an improvised explosive device.¡±  Lucas sat it down on the table that had been set up for him, and the table bent a bit under the weight.  ¡°It also happens to be illegal, well technically anyway- it is covered under a series of laws designed to allow law enforcement to arrest people for things that might not be specifically covered by a law.¡±


    It was essentially a small barrel, the inside was packed with bits of metal and had a core of the white powder that they had been so busy making.  And Lucas claimed it would revolutionize warfare, they only had a couple of the things right now and one was set out in the field far away that Lucas planned to use as an example.


    It was so far away though, and Lucas had even insisted that wooden barriers be set up between the barrel and them and had a small ditch dug as well.  This was more defenses than you would need against a mage attacking¡­


    ¡°So if you would be so kind as to ignite the one out there and then everyone will jump into the ditch and cover your heads.¡±


    One mage scrambled up to do as Lucas asked as Lucas himself jumped down into the ditch and curled up into a ball.  It looked rather pathetic, Julian would go down there but he wouldn¡¯t do that and neither were the other mages. At least this would be over so-


    By the gods that was loud!  Julian brought his hands to his ears and swore that the ground had shaken slightly underneath him.  Looking backward, he saw a pillar of smoke and dust raising up into the sky.


    ¡°What the hell was that!¡±  He shouted, but he could hardly hear himself.


    ¡°I already told you,¡± Lucas seemed really quiet, so Julian must have lost some of his hearing after that loud noise.  ¡°You really should have listened.¡±


    Lucas climbed out of the ditch and walked over to the wooden barricade and gestured for Julian to come over and take a look.


    ¡°You know, I tried to measure out roughly two thousand feet, which was a little more than I should have needed according to the Department of National Security¡¯s charts for a fifty pound bomb, especially since a pound of ANFO is about eighty two percent as effective as a pound of TNT.¡±  Julian could barely make out what he was saying, but couldn¡¯t make heads or tales of it. ¡°But those charts did note that it was the range in which life threatening injury was unlikely to occur, which isn¡¯t a zero chance.¡±


    Julian walked around the barricade to see that there were several bits of metal pushed deep into the wood.  Wait¡­ They had flown this far and had enough power to go three inches into the wood?


    ¡°Come on Julian,¡± Lucas waved to him.  ¡°Let''s go take a look at the blast zone.¡±


    At first, there wasn¡¯t much damage done, but as they approached the site Julian could see that the ground was shredded and there was a crater where the barrel had been.  Julian had been at war against the demons for most of his adult life, and a good chunk of his childhood- but when he thought about what this would do to marching soldiers¡­


    ¡°I can see why you refused to make weapons for us at first,¡± Julian said, feeling sick.  ¡°I don¡¯t think a mage could do something like this¡­¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Sure you could,¡± Lucas laughed.  ¡°You just don¡¯t use magic very well, and this hardly qualifies as a weapon to be honest.  The material to make this is available for purchase to little kids and can be cheaper than dirt.¡±


    ¡°That is¡­  Terrible¡­¡± What kind of world had Lucas come from?


    Lucas glanced back at him in confusion, then his face relaxed.  ¡°Ah, well you would think that if you weren¡¯t aware of what a real weapon is I suppose.  Anyway, even though it is available for purchase the sellers and law enforcement are not stupid.  Just searching for the information is enough to warrant the police looking into your actions, and the people selling it are quite happy to pass your name along if they are worried.¡±


    ¡°If that wasn¡¯t a ¡®real¡¯ weapon,¡± one of his subordinates asked.  ¡°What is a real one like?¡±


    ¡°Depends on what you are trying to do I suppose?¡±  Lucas mused offhandedly, ¡°A sniper rifle would not do nearly as much damage as this, but then again a good sniper could pick off a target from miles away.  Alternatively, artillery could send shells that pack a stronger punch than this flying farther than the human eye can see, and powerful countries have weapons called ICBMs that have ranges that measure in the thousandsof miles and can wipe a city off a map.¡±


    Julian vomited.


    ¡°Woah man,¡± Lucas noticed Julian¡¯s condition and came over in concern.  ¡°You ok there? Get some sleep, all that work I had you guys doing would have weakened your immune system a bit- but it should bounce back pretty soon.¡±


    ¡°I- I¡¯m not sick.¡±  Julian managed to get out as he wiped his mouth, ¡°just a little¡­ surprised.¡±


    ¡°Oh.  Oh!¡± Lucas seemed to realize what Julian meant- and he laughed!  Julian had not expected that kind of reaction. ¡°Yeah, war is pretty shitty.  But overall I would say my world is fairly peaceful, barring a few regions. This isn¡¯t the kind of thing most people need to worry about.¡±


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Julian heaved again, but he seemed to have an empty stomach so he just retched a bit.  Perhaps Lucas should have expected this? The only reason Lucas could be so blais¨¦ about the whole thing was that he had not really experienced war himself, in other words, he was free to ignore the results of his actions.  And to be honest, he planned to keep it that way. Lucas was not a sociopath, though honestly he wasn¡¯t very far from it, but if he was also aware enough to know that if he actually saw this go off in a crowd and had to see the results of it- he would be horrified.


    Still, he had not expected this result from Julian.  Lucas would not have thought he would be able to conceptualize what this thing could do.  Well, it is what it is.


    ¡°This will take a mage to set off,¡± Lucas continued.  ¡°It would take more than some person with a torch to do it, so it can be safely moved.  I will be relying on the input of the military to know where to place them- it will need to be within range of mages and along the path they will be marching.¡±


    Julian was looking at him as if he was evil, what the hell did these people expect?  They had wanted weapons from him, and now they thought that they were too powerful? That is more than a bit hypocritical, but then they might have been simply unaware of what they were asking for.


    ¡°After the detonations, we will send our soldiers forward to take advantage of the confusion.¡±  Lucas rather hoped Julian would get his shit together, he had no experience with any of the stuff he was talking about, it was just the kind of stuff that would sound good in an RTS game.  ¡°Once they get their act together, we fall back to the wall and let the archers pick them off as they try and regroup and then set off a second wave of explosions once they have reorganized.  I can¡¯t be sure, but I would expect the second charge would break them.¡±


    It would certainly have me running, Lucas thought to himself.  Hell, he¡¯d be fleeing after the first one.


    ¡°After that, I would prefer to negotiate rather than try and force them into compliance.¡±  Though if they wouldn¡¯t negotiate, Lucas was not going to just leave them be. For that matter, he doubted that they would all decide to talk- so he supposed some of these nobles would need to be put down.  ¡°On that note, if it should come to that I will need absolute control over the soldiers. I don¡¯t want them killing civilians, looting, raping, or pillaging. I actually need those people after all.¡±


    ¡°There is¡­  Something wrong with you.¡±  Julian managed to stand up straight and those were his first words?


    ¡°How so?¡±  Lucas sighed in frustration, ¡°and did you simply not notice my attitude until now?  To quote the general, Robert E. Lee, ¡®It is good that war is so terrible, otherwise we might grow too fond of it.¡¯  I don¡¯t enjoy doing this you know, but losing is not an option and I don¡¯t know a nicer way to do this.¡±


    ¡°For that matter, the way I was fighting earlier was far more cruel than this.¡±  Lucas had to point this out, as no one seemed to really care a huge amount about how he had used magic that day.  ¡°If one was to compare the two by the laws of my world, detonating this bomb would be a fairly large crime, but still one that would be handled by a regular court.  The way I killed people in the palace would have been a war crime violating multiple treaties and international laws, as well as quite a few national ones as well.¡±


    Lucas walked away shaking his head.  A bomb couldn¡¯t do more than what a person with a sword could do, it was just far more efficient at it.  A bioweapon could wipe out a country and leave any survivors wishing they were dead.


    No, he should calm down.  How can Lucas blame them for a lack of perspective when they had no way to understand the difference between the weapons?  Regardless, he did not want to deal with explaining it.


    And he had a meeting with the commanders of the few soldiers he had now anyways.

 Chapter Thirty-Eight - World of Range and Vertigo

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    ¡°As I was saying,¡± the commander delivered the bad news to Lucas with a sigh.  ¡°The issue with your plan, and those weapons, is that the nature of this city makes it impossible to defend without full support from the army on the front.¡±


    ¡°In the event that the army is unavailable, the outer walls are meant to buy time for the people to flee inward.¡±  Another officer chimed in, ¡°given the area that the wall covers, it can¡¯t do anything else.¡±


    Lucas had not really thought about it originally, but the layout of the city made it virtually impossible to defend.  The plan to plant fertilizer bombs in the path of soldiers and ambush them was far more useless than he had realized. Since the city was divided by three walls, and the  outer wall was designed to protect the farms that fed the city, it was a gargantuan construct.


    Gargantuan to the point of being unmanageable.  They had enough people to watch the whole thing, but not enough to defend it against a besieging foe.  There was no reason for the enemy to pick a specific point to attack from, and ergo, no way to predict where to plant the bombs.  Even if they got lucky, the army could simply walk around the bombs after the first few went off.


    Lucas rubbed his head in a futile attempt to assuage the growing headache, his mind briefly distracted by the thought that he would probably kill for coffee at this point.  How the hell does anyone manage anything without caffeine?


    ¡°Ok,¡± he said, thinking out loud.  ¡°They have to come from somewhere, right?  I do not know much about military matters, but I would presume they would gather at a point and then march here, as opposed to all hoping to arrive here at the same time if they came alone?¡±


    ¡°It depends on the situation,¡± the commander replied.  ¡°However, in this situation I would say that is quite likely, yes.¡±


    ¡°Then our only real chance is to ambush them outside the walls.¡±  Lucas said firmly, but saw that everyone around him blanched as the words came out of his mouth.


    ¡°Lord Hero,¡± the commander- whose name Lucas did know at one point, and then promptly forgot, spoke up.  ¡°With the difference in our numbers, what you are saying is tantamount to suicide! We should retreat to the second wall and utilize your plan there, where we have the ability to do so!¡±


    Sound advice- from a military perspective.  From Lucas¡¯s point of view, surrender was a better option than that though.  Having an army march across the farmlands Lucas had only just begun to improve would not just send that whole area back to square one, but likely make it far more work to even get it back to this world¡¯s version of ¡®normal¡¯ production.  True, he would only lose the portions that the armies moved through at first, but any extended occupation would burn through supplies and damage the city on a scale that Lucas did not want to deal with.


    In other words, he had to stop them from breaching the outer wall, the outer wall could not be defended, and thus he had to stop them from reaching the outer wall altogether.  To do accomplish this he had a miniscule amount of soldiers, some of which likely hated him for killing their friends during the coup not long ago, and a few improvised explosives that were honestly more scary than damaging to the forces that would be coming against him.


    Complicating this was the fact that the city was situated on a plain, there was nothing like a convenient valley or choke point that Lucas could use as a force multiplier.  It was just open space as far as the eye could see. Briefly, he considered setting the plain on fire, but he doubted that would really work all that well. Plains could be burned, sure, but these plains lacked the long grasses and shrubs that would actually make that effective.  For that matter, the plain made ambush essentially impossible, so the plan he had conceived just a few seconds ago was useless too.


    Well then, the only thing left to do was to be an ass, he certainly had time to prepare.


    *Lord Charles deVon Antoine*


    Charles sighed, wishing he was anywhere else but here.  It wasn¡¯t that being in the vanguard of this conflict was dangerous- at least, not for him, but that he had to come to the ass end of nowhere and bother with this border town at all.  It was beneath him, and would be beneath his caring if not for orders direct from the royal family. That the city was even called a duchy was laughable, he would be unsurprised if the vanguard alone was able to take the ¡®duchy¡¯ before the main force even arrived.


    However, Charles mission was not to attack or lay siege, but a simple recon-in-force.  He and his fifty men on horseback would simply menace the wall a bit- while staying out of the range of archers, and ride along the wall to see the distribution of soldiers and their reaction.  Charles could only chuckle at the new ¡®Duke Are¡¯s¡¯ foolishness, most of the forces Charles would see today would be from the main army, and take no part in a political dispute. Well, at least not without an order from even higher up in the royal family, but that was not going to happen- couldn¡¯t in fact, unless they had sent the messengers and convinced the family before their ¡®coup¡¯ even began!


    ¡°My Lord,¡± and aide rode up to Charles side.  ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we move faster? Surely we are in view of the sentries by now, the men are nervous moving at this pace.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    No, you are nervous, Charles thought to himself and instead said what should have been obvious.  ¡°We need to be cautious with our horse¡¯s stamina in case they send their own forces to chase us away.  Moving faster than a trot at this point would simply be dangerous.¡±


    Not to mention he was saddle sore.  Charles was comfortable on a horse, but weeks of riding for someone more accustomed to a dueling ground was bound to hurt.  He kept that to himself though, he was not like the pathetic sycophants that most nobles had devolved into, no he was a warrior and a knight.  A few weeks of riding were not going to-


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Lucas watched as the lead horseman essentially vanished- unfortunately, the human eye is not that well designed for seeing great distances, and while the point of impact was visible, actually making out the results were somewhat difficult.  Around him, the soldiers were once again in awe- though less so than the first time they had seen this demonstrated a week ago.


    On the other hand, Lucas felt only bitter relief that his idea had actually worked as intended.  He wasn¡¯t a physicist, so working out how to deliver the explosive to the enemy had been a pain in his ass, he had literally torn some of his hair out in frustration!  The idea had seemed so simple too!


    As a bit of a nerd regarding Greek and Roman history, Lucas was familiar with some of the more interesting applications siege weapons had been used for, and to his delight, the ballista had been invented in this world as well!  Thinking of it as a large crossbow would not be entirely wrong, except that some of the larger versions could fire projectiles around twenty six kilograms nearly fifteen hundred feet. And, after a few days of trial and error, plus a little elementary level physics knowledge, Lucas had tripled that.


    -At the cost of basically knocking himself out using it.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡±  A concerned soldier rushed up as Lucas doubled over, managing not to puke on this shot having learned the hard way not to eat before firing.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Lucas said, panting and occasionally retching and dry heaving.  ¡°It just takes more out of me than I have¡­¡±


    The principle was simple, in theory anyway.  Though it was a struggle, Lucas was able to remember most of the math regarding projectiles, gravity, and flight- probably, actually he was sure he had missed a few things.  But fuck it, how the hell would he have known that it would be life or death someday?


    Regardless, math is beautiful tyranny.  With those equations, one can always arrive at an answer with enough data- but that answer does not care about what you want it to be, it is what it is.  Or it was in his world, this world had magic. While Lucas barely understood magic, he did understand science, and so far that seemed to be more relevant to using magic than Julian¡¯s lessons were.


    In this case, Lucas had played around with air resistance and lift, allowing the projectile- a barrel of ANFO packed with metal bits, fired from a modified ballista, to fly a whopping four thousand five hundred feet and surprise the force that had thought itself safe.  Even now, the survivors were fleeing into the distance- hopefully bringing tales of terror with them.


    How had he achieved this?  Probably the most inefficent way possible, if Lucas was honest.  Actually, he suspected that what he was doing could probably wipe out a city somehow, but he had nothing to back that suspicion up other than it essentially broke physics and that should allow someone to find a way to blow something up.


    Lucas had ¡®moved¡¯ force.


    Newton¡¯s third law, ¡®for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.¡¯  An inviolable rule, but one that can apparently be bent and stretched in this world.  Essentially, Lucas had changed where the ¡®force¡¯ of the air in front of the projectile and part of the ¡®force¡¯ on the air traveling above the projectile was going.  Magic allowed connections through another dimension, so Lucas had allowed the forward and upward ¡®forces¡¯ to remain, while intercepting the others and redirecting them through magic.  At least, he was fairly sure that was what he did- if he was honest, he was basically giving a hand wave explanation for what was probably beyond his ability to understand the full import of.


    However, Newton had the last laugh, because his law truly was inviolable.  The force had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was the other end of the magical connection- Lucas.  At first glance, he was curious why he had not killed himself. When he had first tried this experiment, the unexpected force on himself took him off guard, and he had to admit that he wasn¡¯t entirely sure why the force didn¡¯t kill him.  After all, being hit by the barrel would, but that was probably him missing something basic. The real problem was his projectile vomiting from the sudden vertigo that had come with it.


    And fortunately, he actually knew why that was occuring!


    Unfortunately, he had to wave away help every time- because he couldn¡¯t do shit about it.


    The forces were redirected on to him as a downwards force, as if a heavy weight had fallen on his shoulders, or rather, everywhere on his body at once.  Lucas didn¡¯t actually have trouble with the feeling of weight, humans were well designed for handling downward force- no, the issue was the removal of the weight, or more accurately described, pressure, afterwards.


    Lucas was suffering from decompression sickness, or the ¡®bends¡¯ as it would be known to deep sea divers.  Decompression sickness normally arises from breathing air from a tank deep underwater, where it is more highly compressed than air on the surface.  As the diver then ascends, if they go too quickly, the pressure will drop dramatically and the gases will ¡®outgas,¡¯ causing bubbles to form in- well, everywhere.  There are ways around this, using decompression chambers and such, and accidents with those have sometimes resulted in explosive decompression- which in the worst case, literally involves a human being exploding.


    However, in this case, Lucas was fairly sure it was arising from ¡®isobaric counterdiffusion.¡¯  Or, as he had tried to explain to the people around him, the pressure was not just on himself, but the air he was breathing.  This likely affected the gas mixture, somehow, resulting in his vestibular system being shoved over a barrel and fucked.


    When that met with confusion and blank stares, Lucas had simplified it too, ¡®it makes me dizzy and throw up.¡¯  To be fair, almost no one would have known what he was talking about in his world either.


    However, it worked well enough for him to bluff his way into suing for peace, and that was all he needed for the moment.  If he made it through this, he wouldn¡¯t need to bluff again.

 Chapter Thirty-Nine - World of Loss and Preperation

    *Baron Jean deVon Antoine*


    ¡°What¡­ Did you just say?¡± Jean must have misheard, that was simply too absurd to be an actual report.


    ¡°The vanguard has¡­ Returned, Baron.¡± A nervous messenger kept his eyes to the ground as he relayed the message, not keen to be the one delivering it, ¡°Your son is not with them.¡±


    ¡°And where did you say he was?¡±


    ¡°Dead, Baron.¡± The messenger replied quietly, ¡°My deepest sorrow for your loss.¡±


    He did not know whether to rage in anger or cry out in sorrow, Jean had sent his son with the vanguard to bring honor to their family, but he was never actually supposed to be in danger! Far enough out from the wall that they would be unable to hit them, on horseback, in a situation where the other side could do naught but surrender and hope for the best. Were they looking for war? Did they want the forces gathered here to break down the wall and carve out a path to that fools throne and take his head?


    Jean couldn¡¯t think clearly, he didn¡¯t remember dismissing the servant, but he had gone. The Baron had been standing a moment ago and now was seated in a chair painstakingly transported along with the army itself, a goblet of wine in his hand. By the three, how was he going to explain this to his wife? No, he couldn¡¯t think of that now- Jean set the goblet aside without taking a drink. He would not sink into grief, but he would burn with anger. If they wanted a war, they would get one. He swore an oath to the three that he would take revenge on them for this.


    Another messenger entered the tent, hesitant- likely from Baron Antoine¡¯s fierce demeanor.


    ¡°Speak,¡± Jean¡¯s voice was gruff, if it were not for decades of habits and mannerisms instilled into him by noble society he would hardly have been able to function at all. As it was, he would allow etiquette and formality to help contain himself until he vented his rage.


    ¡°Prince Treslux has called a meeting, Lord Baron,¡± the messenger paused, then continued. ¡°He asked that you attend.¡±


    ¡°Tell him I shall be along presently,¡± Jean gave a terse reply. Did that bastard seek to use his son¡¯s death as a rallying cry? No, Treslux probably did not even know, and if he did he certainly wouldn¡¯t care.


    Prince Treslux was an ass, but a smart and cunning ass. The Baron hated dealing with him on the best of days, but now¡­ Right now, he would only put up with the Prince as a means to killing every single person in that rotten city!


    He left his tent and made his way to the Prince¡¯s pavilion, or rather, to the pavilion that would be used as a meeting place. The prince, even a fourth prince, could do little else but travel in style, so he had multiple pavilions set up for his use, including one for meetings. Dukes and barons, as well as some of the more notable lords and most notable knights were present as well, representing the most powerful and influential group of people in Francinea baring the Church and the rest of the Royals.


    He was not late for the meeting, but it seemed the discussion had commenced early.


    ¡°-quasi-magical attack?¡± The Prince spoke in disbelief, ¡°the only thing I remember my tutors discussing about them was how useless they were.¡±


    ¡°As you say my Prince,¡± one of the knights was saying. As a knight, his presence indicated an incredible level of acheivment, as he had been invited when many lower lords had not, but still Jean did not know his name. So he was not invited based on heroic acheivments at any rate. ¡°However, this was not the case in the attack. The magic user was injurred in the ¡®blast¡¯ but managed to relay that the exsplosion was non-magical, however the ignition- and likely the launch, was.¡±


    The Prince noticed Baron Antoine enter and raised a hand to halt the knight. ¡°My condolences on the loss of you son, Baron.¡± The Prince spoke, but Jean knew he did not mean it, irregardless he relayed his thanks to the royal.


    ¡°Thank you for your consideration, your Highness.¡± Jean deVon Antoine bowed smoothly, ¡°I promise you that I, and my troops, will fight hard and show you our worth so as to avenge him in the field.¡±


    The Prince nodded and continued, ¡°be wary not to let your anger blind you, the weapons they used are like nothing we have seen before.¡±


    ¡°With respect, your Highness,¡± Duke Casil from the south commented snidely, with the bare minimum ettiquette to ensure he was not punished for his impudence in front of the royal family. ¡°An exsplosion like that, albeit rare from all but the most powerful of mages, is hardly unique. More polished, perhaps- the inclusion of the metal was particularly inspired, but hardly worth this meeting.¡±


    ¡°Lord Duke,¡± to Jean¡¯s, and many others, surprise it was the knight who responded, speaking well above his station. ¡°It is less the exsplosion itself, than the range at which it occured. The scouting vanguard was well out of range when struck, and even though it is the lesser note when compared to the range, the damage was nothing to scoff at.¡±


    ¡°You dare-¡± The Duke was silenced by the Prince, who stunningly, bade the knight to continue.


    ¡°As I am sure this esteemed group is aware,¡± the knight spoke with ease, despite the daggers being thrown by the eyes of many surrounding him. A Duke being silenced for a mere knight? Unthinkable. ¡°Quasi-magical attacks are where magic is only a single part of a weapon or strike. I think the most notable of those were the magic crossbows that recently debuted in the east to great effect.¡±


    ¡°What you may not be aware of, however, is that they are incredibly difficult for mages to interfere with. Mages are almost completely incapable of stopping the magical component of a quasi-magical attack, though as to why you would have to ask them. The point is that we will have to advance under sheilds from that distance out, all the way to the wall. Sheilds designed to halt the projectile itself.¡±


    Jean frowned at this, magical sheilds against projectiles were nothing new, but they were rarely kept up for long periods of time. Espcially over a large area under bombardment, it was next to impossible for the barrier to be maintained for a long time. If the range was as far as the knight seemed to be implying¡­


    ¡°Any advance on the walls will likely have many casualties, and considering this is a northern duchy, they will likely simply retreat to the next set and make us do it again.¡± The knight finished the thought.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    But Jean would be damned if he let his vengence be stalled by this.


    ¡°Well then, the answer is simple.¡± He spoke firmly, holding his anger on a tight leash. ¡°Have our mages set the weapons off before they strike us. If we can not stop them from setting them off, they likewise can not do so either.¡±


    This was met with mutters of approval from around the tent, and relaxed faces. No one wanted to have heavy casualties after all, their forces were part of their power. If they could negate this new weapon, then this attack would sink back to the level they had intially expected- one that was not very dangerous for any of them.


    Jean had a grim smile, so long as his idea worked there was no way the enemy could be prepared for them.


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    ¡°And so, rather than detonate it remotely, the ¡®shells-¡¯ as I have decided to call them, will have tips of compressed magic.¡± Lucas was explaining, to an increasingly pale Julian. Between the ridiculous hours Lucas was forcing the mage to work, and the shocks to his mind the result of that work was producing, Lucas was surprised the man had not fallen sick yet. Though the current situation might push the man to it!


    ¡°You want to place unstable, compressed, magic on the top of those things?¡± Julian was incredulous. ¡°Have you lost your mind?¡±


    ¡°Julian,¡± Lucas laughed, though he had to admit it was rather forced. There was nothing funny about an arms race. ¡°The nature of war is such that when a weapon is made, someone makes something to render it obsolete. One man hits another with a rock, so to beat the rock another man ties a rock to a stick to make a club- and so on, and so forth. However, I have the advantage in this game, because I got a good look at what is ahead. Undoubtly, someone will figure out how I am doing this- though hopefully not now- and figure out a way to counter it. Their method will likely be to either stop me from detonating it by interfering with my magic, or to detonate it before me and prevent it from hitting.¡±


    He supposed anyways, he was a biologist not a military engineer! He knew that things like electronic countermeasures (ECM) existed, but had no knowledge beyond that. Knowing that the sun exists, and how the sun works and what effects it has are vastly different things. Fortunately, magic in this world had not progressed to a level comparable to his world¡¯s technology- so no one else had any fucking idea either.


    In the land of the blind, the one eyed man could be king.


    ¡°So with a small tweak to the composition of the explosive material, and the addition of this part of the shell, they will be unable to detonate it prematurely and it will explode on impact without need for a mage to have actually fired the shot!¡±


    And woe to anyone who accidentally drops a hammer on the thing. Lucas had no idea how to add safety measures to what amounted to an oversize slingshot lobbing a barrel turned into a half-assed fertilizer bomb. Well, he supposed at the very least it would speed the process of natural selection along. If you were dumb enough to fuck around with an explosive Lucas was not going to be too sad about removing you from the breeding population.


    This world¡¯s magic was truly fascinating, Lucas had decided. He would not compare it to cheating in a game, it was far more like exploiting one. Any idiot could look up a cheat code, to actually understand a game well enough to just bend a few rules to get a result took understanding. Similarly, magic here was heavily connected to understanding. The more you understood the mechanics of what you wanted to do, the easier it was. It was not that magic replicated those mechanics so much as that it allowed someone to put their thumb on the scale and bend them.


    If anything, the biggest issue was that it had too much potential- beyond what Lucas had the intellectual capacity to understand. Or rather, more than he had the capacity to understand at once.


    Understanding the whole of a system is an incredibly difficult thing. Something like a lever can be reduced to an equation that shows the whole of its function, but a even a blade of grass is infinitely more complex than that. The individual parts of the blade can be understood, but to then step back and clearly understand the whole is far more difficult. Possible for grass, but difficult.


    To do so with a human is impossible. We hardly even understand the individual parts, much less what those all add up to. We can see the whole, but struggle- and fail- to understand it. Not necessarily for lack of intelligence, but the sheer magnitude of things that demand a person''s attention at once when looking at it.


    If Lucas could reach that level of understanding¡­ Well, by most standards he would basically become a god.


    Which is as good a reason as any to drop his fantasizing and return to the present. Lucas sighed, having to acknowledge to himself that he had let his mind run wild there for a bit. It was an attractive concept admittedly. Still, he would not let that unlimited potential out of his hands, he just needed a little more time.


    *Baron Jean deVon Antoine*


    ¡°A messenger from that Are brat?¡± The baron frowned, ¡°unless he is surrendering, there is no reason to pay it any heed.¡±


    Gods send that he was not- surrendering was the right thing to do, but Jean wanted to avenge his son with his own hands. A surrender would only leave him the option of striking from the shadows sometime later, and that was not nearly as satisfying.


    ¡°I cannot say for certain Baron,¡± the scout he had watching the Prince for such messages replied. ¡°However, the impression I gained was that it was more of a threat.¡±


    Jean scoffed, ¡°We already have seen through their weapons. Undoubtedly, he means to try and make us think that the victory is too costly with the weapons he has, I cannot wait to show him how wrong he is.¡±


    Soon after, a messenger again called Jean to the Prince¡¯s tent, though it seemed this time he was only one of a few invited. On the table was an open letter, addressed to the Prince, who bade Jean to read it.


    ¡°What is this drivel?¡± Jean spat, caught between sheer rage and disbelief as he read the document. ¡°And who the hell is this ¡®Lucas¡¯ fellow, I do not believe for a momment he is the hero!¡±


    ¡°According to my sources, he is indeed.¡± Prince Treslux spoke, ¡°and according to those same sources, this letter fits his personality perfectly.¡±


    ¡°Look here it says, ¡®I had the previous Duke replaced because he was both incompetent and an obstruction, Archi had nothing to do with it- though she didn¡¯t like the man either, I suppose.¡¯ What the hell is that?¡±


    Jean could appreciate frank and matter-of-fact speech, but this letter went so far beyond that it was insulting on more levels that Jean had ever even thought of before. However, the real issue was-


    ¡°He must have eyes inside our camp,¡± Prince Treslux confirmed what the nobles who had read the letter must be thinking. ¡°He claims to have already countered your plan to detonate them prematurely, and adds an aside that can be summarized as saying that outhinking him is impossible, and trying is a waste of time.¡±


    ¡°That arrogant bastard!¡± Jean roared, slamming his fist into the table. It was good fortune that he had set the message down or he would have undoubtedly shredded it. ¡°Who the hell does he think he is? He is no hero, just a piece of shit that needs to be tossed into the gutter!¡±


    The letter was especially disgusting to Jean, because in it the ¡®Hero¡¯ admitted to developing, firing, and detonating the shot that had killed his son. The one person Jean could absolutely not kill was the one person he wanted to kill beyond anything else. He was trembling- nearly blinded by rage, and barely able to hear his Prince¡¯s next words.


    ¡°At the very least,¡± the Prince was saying. ¡°I know that none of the people I have called have been slipping the other side information, so the question falls to you all and I to decide what to do about this ¡®meeting¡¯ the Hero proposes.¡±

 Chapter Forty - World of Concepts

    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    Lucas seemed far more relaxed regarding this meeting than anyone else under the hastily erected¡­  Well, awning would probably be the best choice of words. Lucas had not wanted to have an obstructed view, so the meeting place was little more than a cloth spread between four polls.  Still, even with that as a precaution, he seemed awfully relaxed as the figures of the horses and riders coming to meet us grew larger.


    Terrasin had not expected Prince Treslux, who she had met on a few occasions, to actually accept the meeting.  And to be honest, considering how Lucas could use magic, as soon as they stepped within the shade of the awning they were basically hostages.  Though Lucas claimed the wind would render his magic nearly useless, and possibly fatal to his own allies. Still, at this proximity, he could likely pull it off.


    Although she would never say it out loud, personally, she thought the best choice would be to simply abandon the duchy and leave for the Amaranthine Line and her homeland.  However, it seemed a waste to leave the projects that had been started here, and if this situation was not resolved it would cause political issues down the line. So for now, she would do her best to mediate this discussion- and hopefully prevent Lucas from digging his own grave.  If such a thing was possible.


    She prayed to the Three that it was, and that she would be able to do just that!


    ¡°Are you certain that you will not tell me your plan for this meeting?¡±  She sighed, considering him especially foolish in this since Lucas had the political sense of a drunken child- at the very least, worrying and unpleasant, and at the most, offensive and disruptive!


    ¡°It is not so much that I will not,¡± Lucas replied offhandedly.  ¡°Rather, I do not have one to share.¡±


    Deep breaths, Terrasin thought to herself.  Deep breaths and calm. How could this man be so amusing during some parts of the day and so infuriating in others?


    ¡°I wish we had discussed this before we left,¡± Terrasin sighed again.  ¡°Or perhaps before you had sent the invitation.¡±


    ¡°Would that really be necessary?  I would think an explanation of what I am doing and why should suffice.¡±


    Deep.  Breaths.  Do not hit the Hero.  The desire to break the composure and poise of a lady and beat Lucas over the head with something was a feeling that both Terrasin and Lady Versi shared on occasion, and every time it became a little harder to resist.


    ¡°After coming all this way, turning around and retreating would be shameful for all involved.¡±  Terrasin found herself explaining, ¡°They will not do so without a powerful incentive, being broken by their attack, or succeeding in conquering the city.¡±


    ¡°If push comes to shove I have a few things I can offer.¡±  Lucas smiled, the smile was cruel- almost as if he was laughing at the very idea of whatever he was offering, while knowing that it would not be refused.


    Terrasin shivered, ¡°what could you possibly-¡±


    ¡°Hey Terra,¡±  Lucas interrupted.  Wait, Terra? When did he decide to give her a nickname?  ¡°What would you do for immortality?¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Terrasin opened her mouth to comment on the nickname and then choked on her words at the next sentence that came out of Lucas¡¯s mouth.


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Terrasin¡¯s face was quite amusing.  If Lucas was a brilliant cassanova, and had chocolate on him, he would have popped one in her mouth right now.  Hell, he might have done it if he just had chocolate to watch her reaction, that would be hilarious too!


    ¡°Im- Immortality?¡±  She stuttered, finally gaining enough wherewithal to respond.  ¡°That is the realm of the gods, and they would never grant it to anyone!¡±


    ¡°Well that just seems silly,¡± Lucas could not help but laughing.  ¡°A few immortals and you wouldn¡¯t even need a ¡®hero¡¯ at all! But I digress, immortality is the best word for what I am talking about, since my language lacks a word that accurately described what I mean.  To steal a word from a book from my world, it would be better called ¡®immorbid.¡¯ The difference between the two is that an immortal is unable to be killed and exists forever, whereas an immorbid person would exist forever unless killed.¡±


    ¡°The word didn¡¯t translate, we don¡¯t have a word for that either¡­¡±  Terrasin shook her head suddenly, ¡°No! Are you saying you could grant someone eternal life?¡±


    ¡°Yes, eventually.¡±  Lucas replied, adding a silent ¡®probably¡¯ in his thoughts.  There were some bacteria who fit the definition of immorbid, and bacteria were cells.  People were made of cells, therefore if bacteria can be immorbid, so can people. In theory.


    Science alone would take centuries to reach that point in Lucas¡¯s world, but with magic¡­  Well, as a young child Lucas had fallen in love with stories of space and science fiction, and learned to his sorrow that he would never live to see the day those stories became reality.  But instead of giving up, the young Lucas had decided to find a way to live to see it.


    That spurred his interest in genetics and biology, an interest that survived the realisation that he would not live long enough to reach the level of genetics that would allow him to live long enough to see the age of space travel he wanted!  But as he became more acclimated to this world, some of Lucas¡¯s childhood fantasies were returning.


    ¡°Regardless,¡± Lucas chuckled as he returned from his reverie.  ¡°I should think that the temptation of such an offer will be hard to resist.¡±


    Once things settled down, Lucas was going to have a lab built for himself and he was going to have a field day exploring the possibilities that he was starting to sense in magic.  The longer he was in this world, the more he learned, the more his anger faded. The opportunities this world offered were¡­ Vast.


    ¡°Lucas¡­¡±  Terrasin seemed more apprehensive now that she had calmed down some, more so than Lucas would have thought.  ¡°That comes close to stepping into the realm of the gods, it is close to blasphemy.¡±


    ¡°Says who?¡±  Lucas retorted, ¡°All your knowledge of your ¡®gods¡¯ comes from a person like me- and he was definitely a person.  From what I have learned about him, he learned from others in his own world. Has anyone directly heard your ¡®gods¡¯ speak?  I won¡¯t deny their is some entity granting power, but I have better things to do than be restrained by the church¡¯s misinformed rules that may have come from man more than ¡®god.¡¯¡±


    Actually, that was a bit of a strong response.  Lucas stopped Terrasin before she could respond and apologised.


    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± Lucas let out a breath.  ¡°Oftentimes, religion in my world impeded progress- though considering that it appears that ¡®souls¡¯ may exist, they might have been right in some cases- and that has left me a little sensitive to arguments from faith.  Immorbid is not immortal, there are living things that are immorbid, but none that are immortal. I would assume that it would not be blasphemy to do what nature already is, but I will consult with Heidall before going too far with that thought.  It is one for the distant future after all.¡±


    This was somewhat a lie, having considered the possibility, Lucas was going to research the idea and make himself immorbid.  He wasn¡¯t going to end up a ghost sitting with those other two for eternity!

 Chapter Forty-One - World of Mistakes

    *Prince Treslux*


    The Hero was nothing like Treslux imagined he would be, though upon reflection he was not sure why he was so surprised.  The Heroine Valencia in legends was also dismissive of propriety and etiquette, but it was different to see it up close. The man, who introduced himself as Lucas, had not bothered to rise in his greeting and had just waved for Treslux to take a seat.  The woman who was with him, one of the strikingly beautiful Almistraus princesses Treslux noted, smiled apologetically but in a resigned way. This was apparently just the Hero¡¯s nature, well, he could work with that.


    ¡°Lord Hero,¡± Treslux gave his best court smile.  ¡°It is an honor to make your acquaintance, though I wish it was under better circumstances.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it would be nice if you were not trying to ruin my work for political gain,¡± the Hero, Lucas, said affably- even if his tone and words did not match in the slightest.  ¡°You do know that you could have tried talking before gathering an army right?¡±


    ¡°With respect,¡± Treslux actually didn¡¯t give a damn, but he had to keep up his own appearances.  Honestly, he thought the ¡®Heroes¡¯ to be a waste of time and resources, but he could not simply say that.  ¡°You are new to this world, and especially new to the politics of this kingdom. Heidall Are¡¯s actions must be answered- that is simply the way of things.  Similarly, I am here to take you to the capital, and away from the manipulations of petty lords.¡±


    ¡°Because the manipulations of important lords is so much better,¡± Treslux blinked at the intense sarcasm that met him- he rather wished that refreshments had been offered so that he could hide his reaction, but meetings like this would never have such things.  Too much opportunity to poison someone.


    ¡°Look, I will be blunt, because I have no talent for politics whatsoever,¡± Lucas continued.  ¡°While Heidall was not originally the person I planned to take the throne, and it is possible that I was manipulated into it for reasons that I was not aware of, he serves my purposes.  I am busy, and this bullshit has made me have to look away from my important work and build weapons to ensure what I do have isn¡¯t lost.¡±


    ¡°Then it was you who built that weapon?¡±  Baron Antoine spoke suddenly from behind the prince, and before he could be reprimanded¡­


    ¡°And fired it, yes.¡±


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    ¡°You killed my son, you bastard!¡±  Lucas had not expected the man accompanying the prince to try and leap over the table at him- but considering his words it was understandable.  It was not, however, acceptable- and killing him would likely not be acceptable as well, even if Lucas could in an open space like this.


    Luckily, for Lucas and the yelling man, the experience of firing the explosive barrels had given Lucas some ideas into nonlethal suppression.  Which was a pretty way of saying Lucas fucked with the man¡¯s inner ear and he fell to the ground, unable to stand up, and vomited. Unfortunately, the man had gotten closer than Lucas would have liked, and that vomit was on his shoes- but biologists didn¡¯t get to where they were by being squeamish, even if Lucas was more squeamish than most¡­


    Lucas wiped his shoes off on the man¡¯s coat, somewhat annoyed considering that his shoes were from his own world and far better than anything available to him now.  Again, his own dependence on the comforts of his old life came back to bite him, this world was a pain in the ass sometimes.


    ¡°And this man is..?¡±  Lucas asked as he finished, then picked his chair up and sat down again, leaving the groaning man where he lay.


    ¡°Baron Jean deVon Antoine,¡± the prince, who was the spitting image of the blonde haired prince charming that was stereotypically imagined by little girls, said with a raised eyebrow to the scene he had just witnessed.  ¡°I was going to demand, on his behalf, the shooter be remanded to our custody- but that seems to be impossible now.¡±


    ¡°Why on earth would anyone have done it to begin with?¡±  If it had not been Lucas, and simply some random mage guarding the wall, to have fired that shot- they would have only been doing their job, as they were ordered to do it.  For that matter, how would they have known that the random person they were shooting at was a noble? And why should they care?Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Lucas looked down at the man, who was trying to get to his feet, but failing horribly and said, ¡°If you didn¡¯t want your son to die, you probably should not have sent him into a warzone.  It isn¡¯t my fault you lack common sense, or any sense for that matter.¡±


    ¡°I will avenge my son one day, mark my words!¡±  The Baron managed to cough out the statement between retches, and Lucas just sighed- and kicked the man in the throat.


    ¡°What the hell are you doing!¡±  The prince stood up in a flash, but was shocked when Lucas simply chuckled.


    ¡°You know, I am not a nice person- but I never was cruel or sociopathic,¡± Lucas commented as he made sure the baron was suffocating due to vomit and his collapsed windpipe.  ¡°Rather, I care far more about what is the ¡®correct¡¯ response to the situation as viewed from a mindset that many would call utilitarian- that is, the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.  It is deeply unfortunate that in this world that seems to overlap heavily with cruel and sociopathic, ah but my thoughts are wondering- allow me to digress.¡±


    ¡°The man threatened my life, and I am the man who killed his son.¡±  Lucas was actually surprised this needed explaining, if he was honest.  ¡°If I let him go, he would strike at me later, and I am not naive enough to let go a powerful man who wants me dead when I could eliminate him now.¡±


    ¡°This is a negotiation, how dare you do something like this?¡±  The prince shouted, and Lucas sighed. The man had attacked him because Lucas had killed is son in what amounted to self defense and then proceeded to threaten him with death at some point in the future- is there even a proper moral response to this situation, and he wasn¡¯t negotiating with this ¡®Jean¡¯ anyway.


    ¡°No, I understand.¡±  The prince calmed down quickly, almost too quickly, but Lucas had no idea why.  ¡°It is my own fault for not anticipating this possibility, but in the end, nothing has changed.¡±


    ¡°Correct,¡± Lucas was actually quite pleased with this change of heart.  Perhaps Prince Treslux would actually be reasonable if he didn¡¯t fly off the handle during that event, and that would mean Lucas might be able to end this charade peacefully.  ¡°Allow me to explain what I am doing here, and how that will benefit humanity as a whole.¡±


    Perhaps an hour later, Treslux had a thoughtful expression on his face- likely considering the information Lucas had dumped on his head with aplomb.  Then, he sighed.


    ¡°Much as I wish otherwise- because I agree with your reasoning- backing off is impossible.¡±  Treslux said in an almost sad voice, ¡°There is more to this than you realize- conflict between the Royal Family, the Dukes, and the Church.  Retreating puts the Royal faction in a difficult spot, the Ducal faction as well, but mostly the Royals. Regardless of how you see it, as the Hero you represent the Church and Heidall was, and likely is, part of the Church to some degree.  The balance of power is quite clearly broken, and it will not settle naturally.¡±


    Lucas could somewhat see what the man was saying, but his talent with politics was nonexistent and turned to Terrasin for help.


    ¡°Although I had not initially considered it, given the chaos that has been going on, the Prince is correct.¡±  She confirmed, speaking slowly as she mulled over the situation and compared it to her own knowledge. ¡°Pulling back here could end up resulting in the Church seizing power in Francinea- no, it would result in that, and likely from the Royal family.¡±


    ¡°Explain,¡±  Lucas frowned, this could complicate things.  ¡°Please.¡±


    ¡°Regardless of your personal thoughts, you are essentially affiliated with the Church,¡± Terrasin explained.  ¡°However, traditionally Heroes have broad secular powers as well. Many would argue that people, regardless of rank, have a duty to obey you to some extent- not because of your Church affiliation, but because of what you are summoned to do and the efficacy of the past Heroes.¡±


    ¡°In theory, many would argue that you have the right to overturn a Duchy and put a new leader on the throne- enough people to actually give you a legitimate case outside of the theoretical rights you may or may not have.  In itself, this is not as much of an issue as it may initially seem, but you put a noble who had joined the Church on the throne. Heidall is more tied to the Church than to his family, not just in terms of how he feels, but legally.  Your action could pave the way for many nobles in the Church to inherit, or to contest people currently in power with the argument that they should have inherited.¡±


    ¡°And overall, that would lead to¡­¡±  Terrasin¡¯s eyes seemed to widen with a sudden realization, ¡°That would lead to, because these claims would require backing,- the backing of the Church to succeed- nobility and titles being something that is essentially granted from the Church, and not from the Crown and the Royal¡¯s would no longer truly rule Francinea!¡±


    God, or perhaps Gods, damn it!  He might have no talent for this kind of shit, but Lucas could understand it when it was laid out before him, this was an extremely bad situation for him to be in¡­  A peaceful resolution might be absolutely impossible, and if he was honest with himself, it was his own fault.


    Lucas¡¯s rush to push everyone and everything around him to go faster had led to the people he chose to advise him being unable to keep up.  And even if they had, Lucas had to admit he did not listen well, there is a strong chance he would have shrugged their advise off and gone forward regardless.


    So how the hell would he fix this?

 Chapter Forty-Two - World of Debate

    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    Terrasin could not believe she had missed this, though to be fair, things had gone wrong since the very start, and that was before summoning Lucas!  Afterwards, she had barely had a chance to catch her breath, or really understand the man in front of her. She should have seen this coming, and now Terrasin felt she had a responsibility to think of a way out.  Clearly, Prince Treslux did not actually want to attack, which was something, but Terrasin was wary of him regardless. The Prince was rumored to be cunning, with a personality bordering on cruel- at least some of the rumors said that anyway, many others attested to him being compassionate and naive, but Terrasin never believed rumors like that.


    This was not a situation that could be resolved easily, the perception of power was often power in and of itself.  It did not matter that Lucas barely cared about the existence of nobility or the Church, only that it appeared that he supported the Church.  The people would side with the Church, not that it mattered much where they sided, but more importantly, lesser nobles would see this as a chance to climb the social ladder- even if doing so put the Church at the top of that ladder instead of nobles.


    Obviously, not everyone would go along with this, many would resist this change and it would likely result in a civil war.  A civil war where nobles who were true believers, or at least wished to appear that way, would be forced to join on the side of the Church- even if they were not Francinea nobles at all.  In that way, other countries would be dragged in, possibly costing troops from the front lines.


    This one Duchy could trigger the total collapse of the human forces!


    In a flash, an idea came to her- an idea Terrasin didn¡¯t like for her own reasons, but then that was the nature of politics.


    Interrupting Lucas¡¯s and the Prince¡¯s discussion, Terrasin said, ¡°Lucas, you need to marry Lady Versi.¡±


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Lucas took great pride in his mind.  Decades of education and intellectual stimulation of all sorts, coupled with good genetics no doubt, left him in the top five percent of his world¡¯s population.  And that was the modest estimate, he might be in the top one percent, or even a fraction of a percent, but he did not really care to find out. He was proud of his mind, but he was wary of hubris, his pride did not need to be validated to such a degree- he would rather just prove it by his works.


    This mind, a product of modern education and good genetics, that was thinking at its top capacity- even if he had no talent for politics, Lucas still gave this his all- ground to a halt like a truck hitting a cement barrier.  He opened his mouth to speak, but he had no idea how to respond to this- it was simply ridiculous, and for that matter he was not sure how it would even solve the issue!


    Terrasin clearly knew that he needed an additional explanation, and provided one.  ¡°The issue is not so much that Lucas has ties to the Church, but rather that he has no ties anywhere else.  The Are family is related to Lady Archi deVon Versi, and their authority comes from their blood, not the Church.  This would become an internal issue to the family and not one related to the Church itself.¡±


    To Lucas¡¯s horror, Prince Treslux latched onto the idea immediately.  ¡°That would work, I had not even considered that route, but it would work.  I would still need to placate the nobles somehow, but if the things you are developing are as you say, the benefit to our crops alone will be enough to silence them.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Now hold on here,¡± Lucas needed to shut this down now.  ¡°I will not marry Archi, I absolutely refuse!¡±


    He was over twenty years older than that slip of a girl- who wasn¡¯t even here to take part in this discussion- he had no feelings for her, and though he had never bothered to precisely do the math and convert this world¡¯s years to his own, he was willing to be she was not even eighteen!  Lucas had some issues regarding occasional sociopathic tendencies and was also a bit of a rude bastard, but there were lines he was not willing to cross. And this was not so much a line as a wall topped with barbed wire behind a moat filled with carnivorous fish that came after a minefield- not happening.


    ¡°Why not?¡±  Treslux frowned, ¡°This solves all of our problems, and from what I recall she is not bad too look at- quite decent in politics as well, and from a very good family.¡±


    ¡°I do not want to get married, I do not know her or her family well enough even if I did, I do not like her enough- though she is a fine enough person, that isn¡¯t enough to tie my life to her- and above all, she is far too young!¡±  Lucas ticked off his issues on his fingers and ended with, ¡°This is non-negotiable, I would let this war happen first and let the consequences be damned!¡±


    The other two were taken aback by Lucas¡¯s strong words, probably because between their stage of civilization and the constant threat of death from demons, marriageable age was probably pretty damn low.  Lucas, however, had a different point of view. Humans were, as far as Lucas had seen in his years of work and study, some of the slowest developing creatures on the planet, if not the slowest. His country said that the age of consent was eighteen years old, the same age someone could smoke and join the military.  Three years later, at the age of twenty-one, you could legally drink.


    If Lucas had the power to do so, he would change all of those age requirements to twenty-five, and that was him being generous.


    The human brain did not really finish developing until around that age, although admittedly the exact amount of time was a bit iffy, but that isn¡¯t the point.  The point is, as far as Lucas was concerned, Archi was nearly a decade too young to even understand consent- and the fact would be that consent would not matter, because the marriage would essentially be forced on her.


    For that matter, as a noble, Lucas suspected that Archi would be expected to have kids, and considering his status, the family would probably put a lot of pressure on her.  Consent, age, morality and all that aside- Lucas did not want a child. Nothing, not even the demons he had seen on his way to the duchy, scared him more than a baby crying.  And honestly, he doubted he could raise a kid well anyway with his personality.


    In short, as far as Lucas was concerned, this was not an option.  And no, as he thought about it to himself, he did not feel bad ordering thousands to their deaths so that he could avoid marrying some kid.  He might be a utilitarian when it came to ethics, but his understanding of development allowed him to argue that this was the best answer, even if thousands died as a result of it.


    ¡°Lucas,¡± Terrasin seemed to be trying to calm him down.  ¡°This really is the best solution, it would not stop you marrying for love later down the line- as the hero you are above that kind of thing.¡±


    ¡°Having multiple wives does not make this better, Terra.¡±  Lucas sighed, ¡°In fact it makes it worse. Treslux, Terrasin, I rarely speak like this, but allow me to say something as the Hero for this moment- you do not, and can not, understand the problems with what you are suggesting.  As I try to educate you, you will get a better grasp on why I refuse this, but even that is only part of the reason. Besides biology, sociology would likewise have a multitude of reasons why this is a bad idea, though I cannot explain those as well.  Finally, although she is a nice person, and maybe one day I will call her a friend, Versi is merely an acquaintance at this point- and a kid at that. Speaking now, and for the record, any marriage before eighteen years of age- nevermind, that is my world¡¯s years, not yours.  I will do the math later- is wrong ethically, and inadvisable scientifically.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± Treslux sighed and sat back in defeat.  ¡°I won¡¯t push further, but that leaves us without a solution- again.  And the day is running short.¡±

 Chapter Forty-Three - World of Sociopaths

    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    Terrasin honestly thought that Lucas¡¯s protests were a bit much.  Archi was a bit on the young side, but not by much. Many noble ladies were married around her age- though admittedly it was more common for them to be engaged and then married a year or two later.  Still, to prefer a civil war to a marriage seemed¡­ Well, selfish.


    ¡°Actually, the more I think about this,¡± Lucas had calmed down enough to begin speaking again it seemed.  ¡°I have to ask why you do not simply codify a separation of church and state- no, nevermind. I can already see why that would not work¡­¡±


    Then Lucas smiled, though Terrasin knew enough about his personality to realize that did not necessarily mean anything good.


    ¡°The issue is that I am seen as a representative of the Church, putting a servant of the Church in a position of power right?  And the ¡®solution¡¯ you proposed was to marry me to Lady Versi to give me ties to nobility and thereby even out the influence on me- why not simply use the opportunity of a ¡®hero¡¯ to simply create a new post above the Dukes?  One that could only be held by a ¡®hero,¡¯ a title that allows me to work without opposition and work without interference.¡±


    ¡°Lucas,¡± Terrasin sighed.  ¡°It does not work like that.  Titles are traditional to begin with, and leaving that aside, the disruption caused by such a titles existence¡­  It would be seen as a power grab by the Royal Family¡­¡±


    ¡°But who would argue too loudly?¡±  Prince Treslux seemed to be thinking about the suggestion, ¡°If the post was simply for a Hero- it is already implied that the Hero should be treated with respect and obeyed, this simply gives it the support of the Royal Family.¡±


    Terrasin narrowed her eyes¡­  She could see where this was going, Treslux thought they could weather the backlash of creating the post and thus, put the Hero under the authority of the Royal Family.  Not that Lucas would care, or probably even pay attention, but again- perception is everything. This might even have repercussions in the balance of power between human countries, because Francinea could claim that authority!


    ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± Lucas said easily, and Terrasin sighed internally.  Why couldn¡¯t he wait and think for a second? ¡°That can only expedite my work- presuming you don¡¯t get in my way as well.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t, and I can make sure that my Lord Father and brothers understand the situation as well.¡±  Prince Treslux smiled, ¡°though we do need to find a way to placate the lords who have been brought out.¡±


    ¡°If I might ask for this to slow down for a moment,¡± Terrasin interjected.  ¡°Lucas, this puts you under the authority of the Francinea Crown- this is not necessarily a better solution, it just falls on the side he prefers.¡±


    Lucas seemed to think for a second and Treslux just laughed as Lucas nodded and said, ¡°It seems that way, but is that really an issue?  I can just ignore them if it comes down to it, honestly, I don¡¯t much care at this point beyond stopping this battle and wasting my time.  This title would give me the authority to force my changes on the Dukes and in a few years they will see the evidence of my assertions and my authority will shift from the title to the perception of my own wisdom.¡±


    ¡°You know Lucas,¡± Prince Treslux said as his chuckles died down.  ¡°I like you a lot. Kill a noble during a negotiation, and then accept a proposal while announcing how after a few years the proposal will be useless- and that is after rejecting what would likely be the easiest possible course for a solution!¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Ok, maybe there was something wrong with Lucas- he had honestly forgot about the man he had killed.  No, there was something wrong with him, he had to step back from his perceptions and compare himself to societal norms based on logic and averages.  Unlike the popular saying, it is possible for someone who is insane to know they are insane. That said, from what Lucas understood, going from sociopathic tendencies to full on sociopathy at his age was unlikely in the extreme- nigh impossible barring a traumatic brain injury.


    Or perhaps this is a result of how he regards the people of this world?  A sociopath is someone who does not care about others or the rules of society- well, there is more, but that would be a working definition for him as he considered this.  The rules of this society were archaic by modern standards, is it odd that he would not care for them? Likely, he had been condescending towards those who did follow them- which was everyone in this world- and had unconsciously lowered his opinions of them as people as a result.


    Lucas sighed, ¡°unfortunately, I lack the education to understand the mental issues that seem to be arising from me coming to this world.  I will take some precautions for the future, but for now we need to address the current problem- and I think they can be tied up in one solution.¡±


    It had come to him while speaking, and Lucas was actually quite proud of his new idea- even if Terra gave him a dubious look.  One he deserved, admittedly.


    ¡°In addition to my title, grant Terra a title as well,¡± Lucas laid out his idea.  ¡°With her sole authority being to tell me to stop. In short, she would act as a check on my power similar to the Royal Family of Francinea- but without any power to affect change in your kingdom.  This would placate the other countries, because you don¡¯t have the lone hold on me, and allow me to do what I need to get done.¡±


    ¡°Also,¡± Lucas added grudgingly.  ¡°It is quite clear to me that I need some sort of moral leash.  It appears that the transition to your world is affecting my moral reasoning- likely it was shaky to begin with- and I will likely have to spend the time to fully consider my ethical system.¡±


    That he even needed to say that proved there was something wrong with him¡­  Normal people barely needed to be aware of ethics to act somewhat decently, Lucas would have to go back over his memories of various philosophy books and ethics classes he had had over his life and then apply them to his current situation.  Adhering to the ethical system not because he actually felt that it was good, but because he had apparently devolved to the point where only rule based morality would work for him.


    *Prince Treslux*


    The Hero seemed to be lost in thought, but his solution had merit.  Lady Almistraus seemed to agree with it as well- which Treslux found even more funny- but he could not let himself laugh at this point.  Lucas was intelligent, and Terrasin clearly had some talent for politics that would develop as she aged, but they both failed to realize that this adjustment had not changed much.


    The balance of power between Francinea and Almistis would not change as a result of adding Princess Terrasin into the deal- but what about the other countries?  Almistis would not gain any power, they would simply avoid losing it. On the other hand, Francinea would gain an upper hand in its dealing with other countries.


    ¡°I think this is workable,¡± Treslux nodded, keeping his face straight.  ¡°It would be easiest to send most of these forces north to the front lines for a while.  If our reports about the cult are correct, I can spin this to the army that are initial reports are mistaken and praise you all for your accomplishments.  And I can use that to announce your titles, though it will take time to gain my father¡¯s approval, I am certain that it will go smoothly.¡±


    His father would jump at the chance to gain leverage over the neighboring countries.  If that leverage can be used to gain more support for the battle against the demons it could cut a large amount of Francinea¡¯s expenditures.  Though he would have to wait to talk to his father about all the ramifications- for all his pride in his own intelligence and cunning, he had learned from the best- his father was far superior in terms of those qualities than him.

 Chapter Forty-Four - World of Disgust

    *Archi deVon Versi*


    The only word that could describe the end of this situation was ¡®anticlimactic.¡¯ A few people had died, and a few more were injured, but overall nothing happened. Well, nothing aside from Lucas becoming a ¡®high duke,¡¯ whatever that was, and Terrasin gaining a title of ¡®Lady Observer¡¯ in Francinea. Again, whatever that was. Obviously she could figure it out, but it was so abrupt it gave the ducal court whiplash.


    Terrasin had filled Archi in on the meeting that took place, and Archi was glad she had avoided that marriage. Her father would have approved, and Lucas was decently handsome as well as the Hero¡­ But his personality was almost dangerous, and definitely unpredictable.


    She was a little insulted that Lucas had essentially called her a child, but she was not about to argue it- she did not want him to reconsider.


    Regardless, Lucas, Terrasin and Archi herself were leaving the city for a time. Part of the fallout from the meeting was redirecting the force to the front line, and to help keep the nobles- who would have grumbled about being mustered for one thing and doing another- in line, Lucas, as the Hero, was accompanying the army to the front lines.


    ¡°So explain to me this, given the open plains, why is there a ¡®front line¡¯ at all?¡± Lucas asked a little earlier, and Julian, who was with them in the carriage as well, was explaining.


    ¡°Well, partly it is because this area is roughly equidistant to the furthest points of the border- and so it can respond to either as fast as possible.¡± Julian was saying, ¡°but that is mostly rationalization on our part. The real answer is, the highest concentration of demons attack there- and we don¡¯t know why.¡±


    ¡°Demons have varying level of intelligence,¡± Terrasin chimed in. ¡°But even the more intelligent varieties follow the same pattern. We see similar behavior on the Amaranthine Line- one gate is attacked far more than the others.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps they don¡¯t have a reason,¡± Archi shrugged. ¡°Not all demons are intelligent, and not all intelligent demons can control the lesser ones- if there goal is to kill, it is easier to incite demons that are already there then to coax them to go around.¡±


    ¡°Animal behavior is fairly predictable though,¡± Lucas muttered. ¡°I would not expect the non-sentient demons to behave far differently from animals, and this kind of behavior does not make much sense.¡±


    ¡°They are unnatural and evil creatures,¡± Julian shrugged and Terrasin nodded in agreement. ¡°You cannot apply normal logic to them.¡±


    ¡°I doubt that,¡± Lucas replied. ¡°Their behavior must have a reason, even if they are not aware of it. There is either something drawing them to that area, or pushing them towards it. For that matter, we are probably only seeing a small fraction of the total that exist. They have to be breeding somewhere after all, have you ever found a pregnant demon?¡±


    Archi wished she had stayed back now- but it was too late to turn around. At the very least she had never thought that she would be in a conversation like this, but here she was. Such an odd and uncomfortable subject.


    ¡°No, we have not.¡± Julian replied easily though, honestly Archi found it odd that he knew that information off the top of his head. ¡°Not all of them appear to have sexual organs even, though many do.¡±


    ¡°Interesting,¡± Lucas thought for a second then laughed. ¡°Well, that is neither here nor there for now- though it is definitely something I will have to look into later, probably with Blade around to ask questions to. More importantly, I probably should tell all of you what my current hope for this journey is.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Lucas smiled, ¡°That way we can get the accusations of me being nuts out of the way before we reach camp.¡±


    Archi sighed, ¡°Do we even want to know?¡± Lucas had a way of removing propriety and etiquette from a conversation, like sandpaper smoothing all of the niceties away¡­ And he was just smiling wider now¡­


    ¡°I plan to domesticate a few of them.¡±


    Archi would not have been more stunned if he had detonated one of his ¡®bombs¡¯ inside the carriage, and from the looks on the faces around her, they felt the same way.


    ¡°Lucas, that goes beyond ¡®nuts,¡¯¡± Archi said slowly. ¡°That is lunacy. Pure lunacy.¡±


    ¡°Not to mention incredibly dangerous,¡± Julian added. ¡°People have tried this in the past- it never ended without at least a few deaths.¡±


    ¡°They weren¡¯t me,¡± Lucas just shrugged it off. ¡°I will also be dissecting quite a few of them- I am quite interested in what I will find inside.¡±


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    If Lucas¡¯s guesses were right, the demons would be pretty normal inside. Although he had dealt enough with the magical side of this world enough now to not be surprised if the demons were like nothing he had ever seen before, currently he doubted they were all that far away from animals.


    While the people around him viewed the control over the non-intelligent demons by the intelligent ones as magical, Lucas himself had a different theory. While it could indeed be magical, Lucas wondered if they simply were feral populations of a normally domesticated species.


    Studies indicate that domestication instills certain behaviors in animals- they will begin to behave and act, after generations of breeding, in ways that no wild animal would, even if they were a feral population of a domesticated species. For the most part, this was still in the hypothesis stage before Lucas was brought to this world, but Lucas considered it fairly credible, and it was not like he could actually wait for the studies to be completed at this point. And that meant working with what he had.


    His theory was that intelligent demons selectively bred the others to be used as ¡®war dogs.¡¯ And after breeding in those behaviors, some had managed to be released into the wild and spread. Or perhaps were placed to provide opposition to human forces.


    The point is that the triggers bred into them would still be present, and could be exploited to various degrees. Not enough that you could call it true control, but perhaps enough to get them to attack something.


    Granted, this hypothesis was so flimsy that it would collapse if Lucas looked at it wrong- but that was what experimentation was for. He would develop a better hypothesis as he gathered data.


    Of course, first he would have to deal with the fact that everyone was looking at him in horror.


    ¡°Why, by the Gods, would you ever want to do that?¡± Archi seemed particularly disturbed by his announcement.


    ¡°A few reasons,¡± there was quite a bit you could learn from how a creature was put together after all. ¡°Though my current interest is to try and understand how different the species of demons are. The fact that Blade exists at all has certain implications that I would find difficult to explain to you, and taking a look inside the demons could help answer the questions I have.¡±


    Of course, he would need to find an intelligent demon to prove his suspicions- and the dissection of it would be a morally grey area, but that was definitely a necessity line to cross. The long and the short of all of this was that calling this whole group of creatures ¡®demons¡¯ was problematic. They were clearly many different species, and probably not all that closely related, but the generalization of them group made it hard to gather specific data. So Lucas¡¯s work would start straying into taxonomy as he tried to figure out just what everything was.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about capturing live ones,¡± Julian frowned, probably thinking of the logistics involved. ¡°But dead ones will be easy enough.¡±


    ¡°Good, though I would prefer them in the best condition possible.¡± After all, a creature that had been stabbed to death would be harder to deal with in terms of figuring out where everything went and what it was.


    ¡°If everything goes well,¡± Lucas threw out a little bit of a treat for the others, who were all looking uncomfortable. ¡°I might be able to use the information I gain to help you kill them easier.¡±


    At the very least, Julian perked up at that.

 Chapter Forty-Five - World of Cutting

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Biology is not a pretty science.


    Oh sure, when you sell it to kids it is all pictures of pretty flowers and cute kittens and maybe some majestic eagles, but the actual reality of the science is a lot more shitty.  Sometimes quite literally, though dirt and blood were more common and in this case, the mixture of the two.


    The specimens were about as excellent as Lucas could expect, killed by single shots through the eye by some excellent archer.  Though admittedly he would need additional specimens killed in other ways so that he could examine the brain structure. Half a dozen specimens, from four distinct species, were hanging upside down in a tent having their blood drained.


    Their arrival had been¡­  Interesting, Lucas supposed.  It seemed every soldier who hadn¡¯t been on duty was there to cheer for his arrival, overjoyed that the ¡®Hero¡¯ was on the front line.  Lucas had been able to skip most of the introductions- by unashamedly pushing them onto Terrasin and Versi- and had gotten Julian to help him get straight to work.  Which in this case means find someone to get him bodies and then wait for them to get him bodies.


    It did give him a chance to have a tour of the camp though, and Lucas thought the word ¡®camp¡¯ was quite stretched in this case.  Military base would seem more accurate to Lucas, it was far more permanent than what springs to mind when one thinks of a camp. Sure, there were a lot of tents and temporary structures, but they had been dug in so long that buildings of stone and wood had popped up- along with watchtowers, fortifications, and even entertainments like pubs and what Lucas suspected were brothels.


    He made a mental note to see about shutting those down- a place like this was at a conflux of risk factors that would make it easy for communicable diseases, including STDs, to spread.  And because Francinea drew the soldiers from all over the kingdom, and even contributions from other kingdoms, an outbreak here would have a good chance of spreading throughout multiple kingdoms quite quickly.  At least they didn¡¯t have vehicular travel, with luck sick soldiers would die before they made it home and spread their disease. Well, STDs were rarely immediately dangerous, so those were almost definitely spreading- but it was not as likely that there would be one massive plague that would wipe out humanity.


    Lucas did not approach the front lines, but was able to view them from a watchtower relatively close- and it was a nightmare.  The battle was not quite constant, or even really a battle how you would normally think of it, rather groups of demons would attack at seeming random and at seemingly random locations.


    From his observations on the tower, Lucas could not see any discernable pattern to their movements- though he had to admit that made it feel more natural than not.  If they were being commanded to do something, Lucas would expect more coordination- or at least gathering the disparate groups into waves to attack at once. However, none of that was evident as of yet, but he would have to spend much more time observing.  More time than he had given the projects he had left unfinished behind him, but he had to play his part in the political side of things.


    And he was quite excited to start cutting.


    Less excited was the poor sap he had recruited- which is to say ordered to work for him with his new authority- to do drawings for Lucas has he cut it up.  Lucas imagined that the soldier had wanted to be an artist before recruitment, and probably dreamed of leaving the army to pursue art. To instead twist that into drawings of organs and bones, it almost made Lucas laugh.  He did not, more because he was worried about what that said about him mentally than anything else, but there it was.


    With the blood drained and a few repurposed torture devices- this army did not treat deserters very kindly- Lucas was making his first incision.


    ¡°Now lets see what you are hiding under there,¡± Lucas started to open the chest cavity of the first subject.


    Commonly, this was called a Demon Dog, or sometimes a Hellhound- but that name was used for a large variety of vaguely canine like creatures, and so was useless for gathering any information.  Lacking the information to really start categorizing, he had the drawings and notes for this dissection labeled as ¡®subject A1¡¯ or this world¡¯s equivalent designation of ¡®A1¡¯ anyway.


    Personally, Lucas thought it looked more like a hammerhead shark with legs than a dog- but he kept that to himself, though as an aside he did vow to never step on a boat in this world.  If these were the kind of things that lived on land, Lucas had no desire to find out what populated this world¡¯s oceans. But he shook his head and returned to his observations.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The head as shaped like an obtuse triangle, with the obtuse angle being where the snout was- though unlike the hammerhead shark, the eyes were not placed at the ends of the skull but towards the center.  The jaw was quite small, again relative to the head and a cursory examination before the dissection began revealed powerful neck muscles and powerful claws on the front legs- which themselves had quite a range of motion- that was more like a felid than a canine.


    At a guess, Lucas would say that it likely hunted like a great cat- tending to leap onto its prey and attempt to bite through the spinal column or bite out a throat- but also engaged in territorial fights with its own kind, which resulted in the strange shape of its skull.  He would have more information about that when he got around to the head.


    The body was quite similar to a cat or dog, though the tail was noticeably thicker and more heavily muscled.  All in all, quite a scary predator, but nothing that seemed too abnormal or unnatural.


    As Lucas started the dissection, the first thing he noticed was the toughness of the creatures hide.  Obviously, he wasn¡¯t working with the best equipment- he had more or less stolen knives from a butcher- but the hide was tough enough to make cutting difficult.  Lucas hadn¡¯t made sawing motions in a dissection for over a decade, but making a clean cut was simply impossible.


    As Lucas explored, he had drawings made of every step.  The organs and structures in the body, then those organs and structures removed and by themselves from multiple angles, along with dictations of his own observations.  Overall, there was very little odd about what he was looking at- well, aside from the discovery that the creature was oviparous and a hermaphrodite, and likely capable of parthenogenesis.


    Opening up the stomach was unpleasant, as it always is, but revealed an omnivorous diet- and a tendency to eat the bones of its prey.  This was not too odd, but the level of digestion that they had gone through even at that stage was quite impressive- implying a particularly powerful mix of gastric juices, probably sped along by chewing its food.


    Another interesting discovery was that the ¡®tail¡¯ was actually a fused set of legs- like what you would see in a whale.  That explained why it had a lesser range of motion than Lucas had expected, but honestly he had no idea what purpose the structure served.  Even whales had kept their mostly vestigial pelvic bones for a reason, and for that matter, the forces that led to them developing tails as they did were not present in this case.


    Finally, the most perplexing discovery was an organ he could not identify- but whatever it was it had required a lot of the creatures energy to function.  The bundles of nerves and blood vessels were so dense that they were visible to the naked eye. Upon dissecting the organ itself Lucas had trouble figuring out what it was.  He suspected it was an electroplaques- and the organ itself was similar to what you would find in an electric eel- but that was even more confusing, because he could not figure out what it was used for.  Hell, even the location was odd- he had found it below the vestigial hip structure.


    Not precisely unnatural, but quite odd.


    After a few hours of work, Lucas took a short break- more for his now extremely pale assistant than himself- and returned to work on ¡®subject B1,¡¯ known as a Firgue Demon.  He had originally wanted to do this one first, but it took time to assemble a bucket brigade and a large amount of water and sand- because Firgue Demons were known for spitting fire.  Or rather, they spat a liquid and then lit it with a spark when they shut their mouths.


    It had a far more interesting physiology too- looking like the result of crossing a human and a frog in a laboratory and then adding anything that would make it look like it came straight out of a nightmare.  Well, more an ape and a frog- but it was hairless, unlike the course brown hair of A1. It had an extremely thin haunch and a very thick chest. It was a knuckle walker, like an ape, but Lucas doubted it could support itself with only its back legs.  Likely, it could only use one of its hands at a time, requiring the other for support.


    As dissection commenced, Lucas found plenty of things strange about the subject- but not when taken individually.  Yes, the flame spitting adaptation was interesting, but many creatures can spit poison and this was not far different when Lucas examined it.  The biggest difference was the size of the organs involved, and where that spark came from- but he viewed that as separate from the flame spitting and with good reason.


    The problem was that it shared many of the same things as the first subject.  Vestigial hip bone and a fused set of additional back legs for a total of six limbs, hermaphroditic with a good chance of being capable of parthenogenesis, and that same electrical organ, though located beneath the spine in the neck region this time.  That organ provided the spark that ignited the liquid, but taking all of that together both these subjects had a recent- speaking on the scale of evolution, so recent could mean millions of years- common ancestor.


    Sadly for his poor assistant, Lucas did not take a break before starting C1- which was going to be quite the project, because it was the same creature that had stabbed him when he had first arrived in this world.  A six meter tall nightmare, the unholy combination of a shark and a praying mantis, C1 had the exact same features as the other two- internally anyway. C1 was extremely strange as it possessed both an exoskeleton and an endoskeleton, though the endoskeleton seemed somewhat vestigial.  Also, it had cancer. In fact, Lucas was fairly sure it would have died soon even without the arrow- but more importantly it helped him put a few facts together. He did not really have enough information to say for certain, but Lucas knew what he was looking at.


    These creatures had been designed in a lab.

 Chapter Forty-Six - World of Mutants

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    ¡°Well, if it is any consolation, they are not well designed.¡±  Lucas had been trying to explain his findings to the assembled group.  Julian, Terra, and Archi were there of course, as well as Treslux and a group of nobles and military commanders- all of them had an extremely serious expression on their faces.


    ¡°We knew the demons were unnatural,¡± one of them muttered, Lucas didn¡¯t see who.  ¡°But we never thought they were made- just that they came from elsewhere, and did not belong here.¡±


    ¡°Well, aside from the modifications I would guess they did come from here.¡±  Lucas shrugged, ¡°It is hard to say, but there is nothing ¡®otherworldly¡¯ about them.  Conceptually, they are basically the same as a common dog- it is just that whoever modified them went about it in a different way than selective breeding.¡±


    ¡°For that matter, although I cannot say for certain with only this sample size, I would wager that the cancer found in C1 is indicative of problems with their modification process.¡±  Lucas pointed to a picture pinned up to the wall depicting the tumors throughout C1, ¡°though there are many other possibilities. The fact they are capable of parthenogenesis- sorry, that probably did not translate, it means that they can have children with themselves and without the need for a mate- could result in extreme inbreeding and lead to a higher cancer rate by itself.¡±


    ¡°As an aside, that ¡®hero summoning¡¯ ritual of yours is quite something,¡± Lucas mused offhandedly.  ¡°Although it may be due to some sort of psychological bias, I cannot imagine that I was not chosen on purpose- few others would have the background necessary to understand the ramifications of this.¡±


    Near as Lucas could tell, he was essentially dealing with an amature here.  Not that what was on display here was not impressive, but it was crude work.  He highly suspected that there were more effects from those modifications than what he had seen on this first pass- he had stopped to brief the group on his initial findings after all- he was willing to bet there was some sort of modification to allow behavioral control via pheromones or something like that.  Admittedly, he had no evidence of this, but why would you create something you could not reliably control? And anecdotal evidence implied the intelligent demons were capable of controlling them, so if the pieces fit together¡­


    The point was, the being who had affected these changes was unable to isolate the traits they wanted from the ones they didn¡¯t.  The vestigial hip, the fact that the electrical organ was superfluous in two out of the three specimens he had examine, the tumors throughout C1¡­  What made Lucas feel like he could start his own business was that he could separate desirable traits from undesirable ones, it was literally what he had spent his life working towards.  Actually¡­


    ¡°Now that I think about it,¡±  a thought had occurred to Lucas.  ¡°Haven¡¯t you been fighting these things for millenia?  That implies that whoever or whatever did this is long dead, and clearly their work was never improved upon.¡±


    Though, from that perspective the being that had done this was an unparalleled genius.  Lucas could do better than this, but if he had been from human society three millennia ago it would be a completely different story.  At that time his world was just getting used to the idea of using metal instead of pointy sticks to kill each other!


    ¡°Or they could simply be working on something else,¡± Treslux said darkly, and Lucas had to agree that it was a possibility.  Why spend resources on something that was doing its job just fine after all?The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Perhaps, but the timeframe is so vast one has to wonder what that could be,¡± Lucas tried to soothe them.  ¡°If they were at this level three thousand years ago, presuming they never stopped advancing, they would be so far beyond humanity that destroying us would be easy.  If I had three thousand years I would probably be able to rediscover every science from my world and improve upon them. That much time, with my knowledge base, it would not be all that hard even.  So I sincerely doubt that it is anything we have to worry about.¡±


    ¡°Instead, I want to turn this conversation to a way to kill all of them.¡±


    *Julian Gandr*


    Julian was stunned by this revelation- this was not something that could be let out into the general population, morale would plummet.  No one wanted to imagine that there enemy could produce monsters the way a blacksmith might make a sword. Despite Lucas¡¯s assurances that they were definitely not doing that- or rather, that he hoped they were because it would be an incredible waste of resources- that would be what people would think.


    However, Julian would deal with that later.  If he could, he might need a drink or two. Now though, Lucas had everyone¡¯s attention with the implication that he could kill all of these demons.  Knowing more about Lucas¡¯s world and science than others, Julian had to raise the question-


    ¡°You told me your world¡¯s bioweapons were simply too dangerous to be used.¡±  Julian said, and although he didn¡¯t add that he agreed, he most certainly did!  Lucas¡¯s descriptions of their capabilities were terrifying, and his warnings about how they could backfire were chilling.


    ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t a bioweapon, though someone could argue that it is in a way.¡±  Lucas seemed to be thinking about it, more hung up on the semantics of the definition than actually telling them all what he meant!  ¡°The thing is, these creatures might have been designed in a lab- but they were released into the wild and are now part of the ecosystem.  At your level of development, you probably have yet to understand how fragile an ecosystem can be.¡±


    Lucas was condescending, but Julian overlooked the slight- everyone in the room did.  It was more than worth it if this conversation went in useful direction.


    ¡°It will take me a bit to figure out precisely how to do this,¡± Lucas continued.  ¡°Especially because I cannot observe the ecosystems I am talking about personally, but based on a couple of a hypothesis introducing certain invasive species into northern ecosystems may end up leading to these ¡®demons¡¯ to prey on each other more commonly- or perhaps lead to widespread starvation.  I mean, it isn¡¯t elegant, but if you break something in an ecosystem hard enough the whole system suffers. Normally, I would be against this, but everything in these ecosystems want me dead so I will make an exception.¡±


    Lucas seemed to think for another second, and then hit the group with another surprise.  ¡°As an aside, I might be able to control the demons myself.¡±


    This caused an uproar at meeting and just about stopped Julian¡¯s heart, when everyone managed to calm down Lucas clarified.


    ¡°It is not controlling them like you are thinking,¡± Lucas sighed loudly.  ¡°More like telling them not to attack me and probably not much else. If I had the tools and the time, I might be able to do more, but it isn¡¯t as impressive as you think.  To put it in terms you would understand, they basically react to smell- and that is probably the reason so many attack here, though why they are attracted to here precisely is still confusing.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Lucas leaned back in his chair, showing an appalling lack of etiquette.  ¡°The real point I want to drive home is that these creatures are not so much ¡®demons¡¯ as ¡®mutant animals.¡¯  Though it does make me wonder what the intelligent demons are like¡­¡±


    Julian had been slightly distracted as he listened to a messenger, and wondered if this was the Gods interfering in the world- the coincidence was too great almost.


    ¡°Well you are in luck Lucas,¡± Julian interupted.  ¡°One was just killed by a patrol, and they brought the body back.¡±


    This whole time, Lucas had been seemingly unaware of the dried blood that stuck to him in various places- and now that he smiled the combined appearance made him look ghastly.  Julian could not help but shiver.

 Chapter Forty-Seven - World of Discovery

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    So Lucas pulled the poor soldier-cum-artist out of bed, he could sleep after they finished this up- Lucas was approaching twenty hours awake and still going strong on pure excitement.  He did briefly consider that maybe a sleep deprived person should not be playing around with sharp objects but anyone who thought that was clearly not a biologist. Nature did not follow a human timeframe after all, sometimes you had to go with when it wanted to do things.


    Subject D1 was missing its head, and much more beat up than the other subjects.  Unfortunate, but perhaps to be expected. A sentient creature was not dumb enough to let an archer put a clean shot through them after all, but even in this condition, the body was already far more interesting than the others.


    To start with, it was a bipedal digitigrade- the term didn¡¯t translate so he had to explain it to the person who was taking notes for him as he spoke.


    ¡°Digitigrade locomotion means that the creature walks on its toes essentially,¡± Lucas was quite excited just speaking about it.  ¡°It will become evident when I open it up to show you the bone structure, but while it looks like the legs bend backwards, they are actually more similar to our own then they first appear.  The thigh and shin are both far more condensed than our own, while their tarsals- the set of bones in the foot- are extremely elongated which gives the appearance of an extra part of the leg.¡±


    This dissection was far more bloody, given the damage to the body draining it properly might not be the best idea.  There was not much of a risk of anything occurring, but why risk it? Or that could all be Lucas rationalizing the fact that he was too impatient to wait but he was not going to question his motives!


    Overall, the creature was roughly the same size as Lucas himself- though far more muscular.  Its hands were clawed, to the point where Lucas wondered how the creature used tools, but he quickly realized that the creatures tail was- like the others- not a tail, but fused limbs, the difference was that the digits were functional.  Upon examination, it was clear that the ¡®tail¡¯ was quite capable of delicate work in addition to its probably function to help the creature balance while running


    Opening it up-


    ¡°What the fuck is this?¡±  Lucas exclaimed.


    About the only thing that made sense was the skeleton- and Lucas would bet his soul that it was simply a case of convergent evolution and nothing more, because this was not something he had ever seen before.


    ¡°It does not have organs¡­¡±  A complex organism with organs?  Lucas could not believe it. Off the top of his head the only creature he could think of without specialized structures was a sponge- and some of those could be forced through a sieve and would simply reform on the other side because they were too damn simple to kill!


    No, he was looking at this wrong.  Lack of organs did not mean a lack of tissues that fulfills those purposes- but at this point he would really need a microscope.  He would have to figure out how to get one after this, to be in this situation without the ability to investigate as he would like- it was tragic!This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°No, wait-¡±  Cutting through an organism without finding anything was incredibly strange, but here was something- the electric organ found in the others!  ¡°Interesting, in this position- can it electrocute other creatures on touch?¡±


    It seemed like a defensive adaptation of some kind, and it was the only organ Lucas found in the creature.  However, in his professional opinion, it was not an artificial addition. Lucas¡¯s reasoning was that if they could have done better with the other creatures, they would have, and since they did not, they could not.  Thus, the streamlined nature of this subject was not the product of a lab- but the product of natural selection.


    He could not speak for the other varieties of intelligent demon, but this creature seemed a likely source for the genetic material used to create the other, less intelligent demons.


    ¡°Lord Hero?¡±  A messenger entered the tent with a box, ¡°This was presented as a trophy to my Lord, and he ordered me to bring it to you.¡±


    The head.  Wonderful. Why was everyone looking at him like he was crazy?  This was normal behavior! Well, for a biologist anyways.


    The head was a bit messed up, but Lucas was able to tell some interesting things.  For one thing, this creature was nearly blind and probably saw through smell and electroreception.  It had ocular organs, but they were extremely underdeveloped. Interestingly, it had an auditory system with three auditory organs- it had ear holes on either side of its head and one more at the back of its head, and they were asymmetric like an owls.


    There were so many implications from these discoveries!  Even ignoring odd brain structures that Lucas had no clue about- and probably never would.  Brain function was not well understood, so trying to understand the workings of an new species with a fundamentally different physiology was a waste of time.  However, it did hint that the creature need an abnormal amount of brain matter to use its body properly- more than Lucas would have thought- which itself implied that the tissue that made up the creatures body might not just serve the functions of the organs it didn¡¯t have, but possibly have more functions that Lucas could only guess at.


    Julian had shown up at some point, Lucas had not even come in- but now Lucas was just glad to have someone to jabber at in his joy.


    ¡°Based on what I am looking at here, this creature is not from any environment I have ever seen.¡±  Lucas considered the features of D1 individually and as a whole, and tried to figure out what kind of place it had evolved to live in.  But he did know one thing¡­


    ¡°Wherever it was, it was not a pleasant place.¡±  Lucas waved his hands towards the cartilage plates that lay in the corner, having been broken when the creature was killed.  ¡°Endoskeleton, but cartilage plates to serve as natural armor, electrical organs clearly evolved as a defensive measure, digitigrade locomotion implying a need for speed and quiet, and a whole suite of powerful sensory organs- except sight.  So wherever they evolved, it was probably pretty dark- sight would be mostly useless there. To sum it up, this is a predator from a very dangerous environment- but not the apex predator of that environment, and this species is the source of the genetic material for the others.¡±


    Julian frowned, ¡°That is just an Imp.  The lowest of the intelligent demons we know of, hardly above fodder.¡±


    ¡°Changes nothing about what I said,¡± Lucas said happily as he examined a sample of the tissue closely.  Maybe he was thinking about it wrong, it was not that the creature was missing organs, but that it was mostly one big organ.


    ¡°The others are nothing like this though.¡±  Julian did not seem to get it, Lucas could only sigh.


    ¡°So?  Does that matter?  It is the one in front of us that matters for this point.¡±


    Julian sighed and left Lucas to his work.  Lucas was wondering why Julian had bothered to show up at all though.

 Chapter Forty-Eight - World of Bleeding

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    A key feature of a presentation was explaining things in a way that your audience could understand or, alternatively, burying them in things they can not understand so they feel too embarrassed from ignorance to question you.  That last part was the escape a lesser presenter might take when confronted with a daunting task like trying to explain biology centuries ahead of their audiences understanding. Lucas, on the other hand, came from a school of thought that believed that without laypeople being able to understand at least some parts of science they would eventually resist science altogether.  He could think of a few examples from his home world, but he would rather not- even a world away, just thinking about those people caused his blood to boil.


    Still, giving his limitations, and the level of science in this world, this meeting was not the easiest.  He was explaining the results of his findings to a mixed group of military commanders and nobles, and the implications those findings might have.


    ¡°Despite their humanoid shape,¡± Lucas was saying. ¡°They have essentially nothing in common with our anatomy.  Even their skeletal structure seems odd at first glance, until you consider their lack of organs at least.¡±


    ¡°The easiest example of this is in their chest.  Their rib cage really is not only dissimilar in terms of its basic form, but is far different in function, existing more to connect its tissue than to protect any part of its body.¡±


    ¡°With respect,¡± one of the commanders interjected.  ¡°How does this help us fight them?¡±


    Lucas was actually rather stunned for a second- wasn¡¯t it obvious?


    ¡°The weapons you are using are designed to kill people,¡± Lucas said with a raised eyebrow.  ¡°To kill a demon, you considered how you would kill one another- but the tool used to kill something depends on what you are trying to kill.  In short, with some changes to equipment you will kill them better.¡±


    ¡°Look at it this way,¡± Lucas thought the simplest example would be best for now.  ¡°Humans have a lot of weak points- so do most animals- and all you need to do is damage one of those to kill something.  A spear to the chest is effective because if you make it past the rib cage basically everything past it is necessary for a person to keep living.  In a similar fashion, a knife to the gut is dangerous because of the nature of the organs there- having stomach acid leak into your body is a ticket to a slow and painful death.¡±


    ¡°Aside from their head, subject D1- an ¡®imp¡¯- has no points in the body vital for its survival.  They appear to have an advanced form of tracheal breathing that utilizes both spiracles- which is to say, small holes around the body through which air can enter- and the ability to inhale with their mouths when they need a greater amount of oxygen, but the nature of the system means that damaging it does not stop it- it is too decentralized.  Their digestive system is similar, but I have no clue how it works other than the food is liquified and moved around the body and digested in many different areas. Frankly, that is mostly guesswork on my part. But the point is, essentially, stabbing this things body is mostly useless.¡±


    ¡°So how would you kill it then?¡±  Another person asked, but Lucas did not catch which one.


    ¡°Well, my knowledge of war is a bit limited, but your best bet is probably to use something like an axe.¡±  Lucas was aware that they used stabbing weapons because the cartilage plates that the demon had formed a natural armor and that it was far easier to put a spear through a gap that it was to cut it with a sword.  ¡°I am guessing that your normal swords are less effective giving its defenses, so take an axe to them.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    That was met with frowns and scowls from around the table, apparently axes were not very popular.  Well, Lucas was not an expert on ancient battles, so how would he know?


    ¡°Lucas,¡± it was Julian who addressed him this time.  ¡°Axes are difficult to wield in formation, and their top heavy nature makes it easy for soldiers to overextend with them.  Many demons have the advantage of being nimble and able to take advantage of openings. So despite the efficacy against imps, axes are not something we can really use.¡±


    Lucas shrugged, ¡°then a flanged mace then would be my other suggestion.  Their natural armor is less useful against crushing blows than stabbing ones- after all, it disperses force into the skeletal structure and they do have bones you can break.¡±


    ¡°What kind of mace did you say?¡±  Julian frowned and Lucas raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°A flanged mace- please do not tell me you have not invented those, even if most people do not know the name they could recognize one on sight, and that is in a world where it has not seen use for centuries!¡±


    In the end, Lucas had to draw the weapon out for them, much to his dismay.  Lucas had, reasonably in his opinion, thought that his half assed knowledge of medieval weapons would be useless here, but apparently not.


    ¡°Okay, enough.¡±  Lucas said after he had explained how and why the flanged mace was so effective, to the excitement of the people listening.  Maces, after all, were relatively easy to use and if it was effective as Lucas claimed it could be a strong advantage against the intelligent demons- hell, even the lesser ones.  ¡°I have to ask, what the fuck have you people been doing for the past three thousand plus years? By all accounts, you were at roughly the same level of technology then as you are now, where is your development?¡±


    ¡°Killed and consumed by demons, no doubt.¡±  It was Prince Treslux who answered that. ¡°Even in the years where we were doing well and had retaken most of the continent a massive amount of people were sent to fight, and die, against the demons.  Oftentimes, if the historical records are accurate, it would take the vast majority of humanities resources just to hold those lines- it was a fragile balance and you can see the result of when that balance faltered.¡±


    Lucas sighed, ¡°well, that is not something I can argue with, I apologize for my outburst.  But something needs to change, your technology needs to grow, and I can not be the only one to do it.  By that I do not mean that I could not sit here and eventually figure out how to make you better armor and weapons, but that my education and background give me a far better headstart elsewhere, and I am better used there.  Therefore, the only option is to create teams of researchers to accomplish goals and to see what they come up with- I will get back to you on that later, but I do expect your cooperation.¡±


    ¡°Researchers?  Teams? What kind of goals are you talking about here?¡±


    ¡°Well a simple example would be putting together a group of people and telling them to find a way to kill demons better.¡±  Lucas had always been a fan of practical research, it was always so much easier to get funding for! ¡°Their goal is not precisely to kill demons, but to find a better way to do so than currently.  Making that someone¡¯s job will eventually lead to growth in that field which can then be applied to society as a whole. While I would not have time to personally overlook every group I would like to set up, I can certainly give them a few pointers on where to start.¡±


    Prince Treslux gave his approval, not that Lucas particularly cared about that, and so the matter was settled.  For all Lucas knew about biology in general, and what he had learned specifically about the demons, turning that into practical warfare was something else.  His mace design was useful, but honestly he only knew about it from its presence in video games that he had played- he had little to know practical information about it aside from what he could logically intuit.


    Therefore, it would be better to hand off his findings to another group- preferably one made of veteran soldiers with some education- and tell them to kill the demons better.  With some education reform, in a couple of decades this could become far easier to do- simply because there were more educated and intelligent people to do the work, but that was getting ahead of himself.


    For now, he was heading back to see what Heidall had been up to in his absence.  A good night''s sleep and he would leave in the morning.

 Chapter Forty-Nine - World of Abduction

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    It was not morning when Lucas awoke to shouting and the clash of metal- and the light that came through the window of his room was not caused by the rising sun. No, even just barely awake Lucas could tell that the flickering shadows and orange light were caused by fire. The camp was ablaze.


    Coming to his senses, Lucas quickly scrambled to get up- surprised that no one had come to wake him- but then the door banged open and a demon, an imp like D1, stalked into the room. Lucas was stunned for a second, especially when the creature looked at him and hissed- with its mouth closed, the noise was coming from the insects spiracles, making Lucas wonder with some fragment of his mind if that creature could ¡®talk¡¯ by modulating the tone by flexing its outer cartilage. However, this was neither the time nor the place for such thoughts as the imp was moving quickly towards him.


    Whereupon it keeled over dead.


    ¡°Well that was even more effective than I thought it would be,¡± Lucas muttered as he breathed a sigh of relief- well, after he opened the window to aerate the room anyway. ¡°But what the fuck is going on?¡±


    Creatures that respirated like imps were actually fairly easy to kill chemically- if you did not mind exposing yourself to a bit of unpleasant chemicals. Lucas did mind, but he would mind being gutted more, so he did what he had to. Frankly, he was lucky that his practice had paid off enough for him to actually use his magic in such a way, and he was also lucky no one was around to see him use such magic.


    He had been talking about weapons for use against the creatures yesterday, and the truth was that against imps it would be pathetically easy to develop a delivery system for the chemical he had just used. Organophosphates are the active ingredient in about half of all insecticides and are quite effective, even if they are declining in popularity as substitutes become available. The only issue is that organophosphates are also the main components of some of the most insidious chemical weapons known to mankind. The infamous sarin gas, often considered a weapon of mass destruction by itself, is an organophosphate- part of the infamous ¡®g-series¡¯ developed by the Nazis. Too make a long story short, these chemicals fucked up nervous systems in most creatures, especially those with the kind of respiration as insects, hard.


    Thinking such thoughts, Lucas left his room only to blackout and fall on the floor in the hall.


    Lucas did not feel that any time had passed from when he had fallen unconscious, but as he woke up- with an absolutely killer headache- the sky was brighter than it had been. The fact he was seeing sky when he had been indoors, in addition to the light, was proof that he had fallen unconscious for a much longer time than he perceived. He tried to sit up but found himself securely bound- well, shit.


    ¡°It is starting to wake up,¡± that voice and language did not sound human, but the earing seemed to translate it regardless. ¡°I thought that was supposed to keep them out longer.¡±


    ¡°It is one of their so called ¡®heroes,¡¯ perhaps that is the reason for its resistance.¡± Another voice answered.


    Based on the language and manner of speaking, these were not humans. Which left either demons or more of those half breeds like Blade. Considering the content of their discussion, Lucas had been drugged and was not supposed to be waking up yet. At the very least they had not killed him, but that could also mean being tortured until he wished he was dead, so not any real reason for hope as of yet.


    Well, might as well bite the bullet and get this over with.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°Now that I am awake,¡± Lucas spoke cautiously. ¡°You might as well tell me who you are, where I am, and why you are taking me. As an aside, since I cannot seem to look down, what the hell is carrying me anyway?¡±


    Lucas was not just bound, as he became more aware he realized it would be more accurate to describe himself as cocooned. Like a gigantic spider had come along and wra- oh fuck, Blade was some sort of half demon spider wasn¡¯t he? Lucas was thinking that, and was also thinking that as a biologist he had been relatively alright with spiders- but when you knew that a Huntsman Spider could grow to be around thirty to thirty-one centimeters long, even as a biologist Lucas just wanted the thing to die.


    ¡°How is it¡­? This must be the magic item they told us about,¡± the first voice spoke. ¡°Interesting that it can speak with us¡­¡±


    ¡°You will have your answers soon enough human,¡± the other voice sounded like it was spitting- though whether that was from disgust towards Lucas or the creatures physiology, Lucas had no clue. ¡°Soon enough.¡±


    Well that is not ominous at all, Lucas thought sarcastically to himself as he considered using magic to try and kill whomever was around him- the only problem being that he would still be wrapped up in the middle of nowhere. If this was similar to spider silk produced by the non-demonic variety, then actually getting out of this would be basically impossible through physical effort. Spider silk being, while quite flexible, stronger and tougher than steel.


    Of course, it was also made from proteins- so Lucas might be able to synthesize a base and simply dissolve his way out, if he wanted to risk burning off parts of his flesh with the web. And, if he was honest, he might have passed out after creating the organophosphates earlier- drug or no drug- simply from exhaustion. He could do it, but he doubted he could do it twice.


    Which left trying to talk his way out. Lucas could only biterlly think as a high school student when he declared that the most important feature for a scientist was not communication skills, but the ability to do their job. If karma ended up being a real thing whatever oversaw it must be laughing its head off right now.


    Lucas was not on a wagon, there was no roof and the motion felt too organic- adding to that the voices location, and Lucas would guess he was being carried by some gigantic spider demon. Lucas also hated the world that had made him have to think that thought, and he thought the problems his world had were bad¡­


    ¡°I might indeed know ¡®soon enough,¡¯¡± Lucas replied, trying to maintain his composure as much as possible while fighting off images of how spiders eat their prey. ¡°But it could be convenient for whoever has to explain for you to tell me what you can, it is not like there is much else to do on a plain but talk.¡±


    ¡°Trying to sound calm?¡± The second voice replied, and now Lucas was fairly certain the spitting sound was normal for its physiology. ¡°There is no use, we can hear your heartbeat and smell your fear.¡±


    ¡°Interesting, is it very distracting?¡± Lucas asked curiously.


    ¡°Your show of bra- what?¡± The voice seemed a little confused, apparently Lucas had gone off-script. Which meant they had kidnapped people before if they had an idea of how this conversation would go, Lucas would file that tidbit away for later.


    ¡°Is it distracting, my smell and heartbeat?¡± Lucas explained, ¡°Powerful senses often require a large amount of energy usage and brain structure, humans lack powerful senses so I am curious how it works with a sentient creature who has them.¡±


    ¡°...Are you an idiot?¡±


    Well, Lucas was rather hoping he could learn whether or not sound or smell could be used as weapons against them, but he was not about to say that.


    ¡°Merely curious,¡± Lucas said instead. ¡°Biology is my area of study, after all.¡±


    Lucas also very much wanted to cut up whatever was carrying him and see what was inside, and on reflection, that did not seem a totally sane desire. But then, on the whole biologists were not a sane bunch. Knowing too much about ducks will do that to a person.


    An idea did occur to him though.


    ¡°I am guessing then that you found me from the smell of subject D1¡¯s- what the others call an imp- blood?¡± It was either that or that damn cult.


    Just dose it again,¡± the voice carrying him said. ¡°It is too much of a risk awake.¡±


    A second later, Lucas felt a sting in his side and the world blurred almost immediately. That was one fast acting drug...

 Chapter Fifty - World of Rescue

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Lucas woke up, opened his eyes, and¡­


    ¡°Sweet Jesus fucking Christ!¡± His shout was so shrill it might better be described as a scream, but anyone who had woken up to what he had would do the same. There were fantasy works where there were half human, half spider, creatures- and Lucas always thought of a beautiful woman¡¯s torso on top of a spider¡¯s body- the disparity between the top and bottom would make it interesting.


    And interesting is far more better than terrifying. The creature in front of Lucas was best described as the love child of a spider and one of Lovecraft¡¯s nightmares- and then taking that child and just grabbing random parts of its body and stretching it horrifyingly.


    The giant spiders abdomen was relatively normal, aside from the fact it was nearly two meters in circumference, but where the cephalothorax should have been was a twisted version of a human torso. Which, if you know anything about spider anatomy, makes no sense- Lucas first instinct was to kill the horror in front of him, than cut it up to figure out how it worked.


    It had eight legs, with four sets erupting from the creatures back and another two sets from where its shoulders should be. Legs that were absolutely massive- this creature was the size of a couple of trucks! It had a relatively normal head, if you ignored the mandibles that were dripping venom that it had instead of cheeks. And if you ignored the fact that it had eight human looking eyes in various places.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Lucas¡¯s magic item translated the words, but he could still hear the hisses and screeches that made up the creatures language- the creature also slammed one of its legs down next to Lucas¡¯s head with more than enough force to have killed him if it had connected. ¡°Keep your silence as I bring you to the Lady.¡±


    Lucas was then picked up by two of the creatures legs- which had three finger like claws on the ends- and was carried from where he had been laying. He appeared to be in some kind of camp, though it was hard to tell. It was built nothing like any camp Lucas had seen, but then, these creatures anatomy would necessitate that. A single tent for one of these things would be the size of a three car garage!


    There camp was just a series of very tall polls with cloth stretched between them. The cloth was not like anything Lucas had seen before, but he suspected it was partially made from these demon spider¡¯s silk and as a result was probably nearly impervious to arrows or the elements. Lucas was brought to one of these, canopies? He supposed that was the correct word and dumped on the floor in front of a strange object.


    As another demon spider, clearly female, came in and settled itself on top of it, Lucas realized it was these creatures equivalent of a chair, or considering he was being brought to a ¡®Lady¡¯ perhaps it was a throne.


    ¡°Awake so soon?¡± Her voice was no different sounding than the others, as much as Lucas might have hoped for something softer to hear. ¡°To think it would be so resistant to our venom¡­ Regardless, hello ¡®hero¡¯ I am Lady *series of noises for her name* of the *series of noises* people.¡±


    ¡°Uh, hi.¡± Lucas had no idea if it was even possible for him to pronounce her name, ¡°To be frank, I doubt I could possibly pronounce your name or that of your race.¡±


    ¡°It is immaterial,¡± the Lady studied Lucas, who shivered under the scrutiny of her eight eyes. ¡°You are far less impressive than our King, to think we would even consider you a threat.¡±


    ¡°Well to be blunt,¡± Lucas decided to take a gamble. ¡°I simply want to go home to my world, so if you know of a way I can do that I will be on my way.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    He had to admit he felt extremely guilty about the idea of abandoning the people here, but Lucas rather doubted he would be living much longer if he did not convince these creatures he was not an enemy.


    ¡°I neither know, nor care, about that.¡± Well that was an unfortunate answer. ¡°If our King did not want you alive, I would have killed you already.¡±


    So he would live for now, but that did not mean he would be happy. For all Lucas knew, they wanted him alive so that they could torture him to death.


    ¡°The only thing I am curious about, how did you resist our venom?¡±


    Lucas shrugged, or tried to from within the silk. ¡°Without knowing what your venom is made of, I would not be able to tell. If you tell me a bit about your venom, I might be able to make a conjecture.¡±


    Which is to say, please keep talking and do not drag me off to a torture den please. Lucas had his mind going in overdrive as he tried to figure out what he could do to get out of this- and unfortunately, he could not think of anything.


    For once, Lucas could read the tone of the spider monster¡¯s voice, pride. ¡°Our venom accelerates our victims minds to the point they bleed and die- or in low doses, they simply fall unconscious for a time. No creature, except you, apparently, can resist it.¡±


    Ok, so they have neurotoxic venom, of the stimulant variety. In other words, they cause their victims nervous system to go wild- they do not shut down as much as overload them. Which means that Lucas¡¯s resistance is due to-


    Lucas started laughing, ¡°well now this is hilarious. I am not even sure why, but I just find this incredibly funny.¡±


    ¡°You dare mock us?¡± The Lady spider rose dangerously, and Lucas swallowed his laughter and tried to explain.


    ¡°I had, or rather still have but no longer display symptoms of, an illness that is called ADHD in my world.¡± Lucas explained. ¡°It was only recently that I actually stopped being medicated for it, and the medicated I took was actually a powerful stimulant. In short, I am resistant to your venom because I have been exposed to something similar for most of my life!¡±


    Then Lucas felt himself yanked into the air and heard shouts of alarm from the ¡®Lady¡¯ and his guard- and then felt fangs puncture his leg as he was hauled up through a slit in the canopy.


    ¡°Fucking shit!¡± Lucas hissed as he felt the pain of the puncture- and the burn of the venom. Around him, there were sounds of battle, and Lucas was feeling incredibly relieved- almost joyful- that people had come for him! No! Fuck, that is euphoria, and his heart was not beating from fear but was racing from the venom! Lucas was not unconscious, but he might not be for long. Shit, shit, shit¡­ No, he had to calm down- Lucas was aware that the medication he had taken for ADHD was a form of methamphetamine, albeit strictly overseen by a doctor, and further that it has a lot of cross-tolerance with all other dopaminergic stimulants. He was unsure why he was not unconscious now, but he would use the fact he was awake as best as possible. Deep breathing, force himself to be calm, ignore all the shit that was going on around him.


    *Blade*


    The hero was muttering to himself and appeared to almost be attempting some kind of meditative breathing technique, and Blade had to curse his own ineptitude. The Demon Adders had been following Lucas the whole time of course, but to think they had not been able to intercept the High Spiders¡­ And the fact that Blade had messed up and allowed Lucas to get bitten, it was almost certain that Lucas would die- but Blade had overheard that Lucas was resistant, so there was some hope.


    Blade skittered along the canopies with the demon legs that were his inheritance from whichever one of these spider demons was his father. High Spiders were far too heavy to reach him up here, and they were terrible at using weapons of any kind- however, those screeches were orders to the imps that were attending them and they had come up to give chase.


    Some of them raised bows, only to be cut down by Blade¡¯s companions who were covering his escape. A lot of them were going to die here today, most of the forces on the ground had already been overwhelmed. High Spiders were fast, strong, and were clearly enraged. Any halfbloods that did not have High Demons as one of their parents were already being dragged off and consumed.


    Blade gave a signal and the surviving Demon Adders started to break off- or tried to. Most of them were not going to be making it back.


    An imp leaped up at Blade from the side and he swatted it aside but more were already coming at him as he jumped down into the plains. Blade gritted his teeth and disappeared into the shadows, leaving the imps behind him.

 Chapter Fifty-One - World of Whispers

    *One day ago, just south of the front line*


    *Blade*


    The Demon Adders were a group that lived and died by their information. In theory, they were a mercenary group- in practice, the kind of people who would work with them were not the kind of people they wanted to work with. In reality, the majority of their income came from various fronts- none of which realized that they were working for the Demon Adders. The human-passing halfs were quite capable individuals after all.


    They had many bases throughout human controlled territory, and a few in demon controlled territory as well, but the base Blade was at now was just a little south of the front line in Francinea. It was underground, beneath the plains themselves, and Blade was sure that not a single person suspected its existence. After all, you cannot hide on plains right?


    Having said all of that, the base was not a very comfortable or pleasant place. There were no fires allowed, smoke would immediately give away their position and fire consumed air to the point it became hard to breath in the deeper sections if a fire was burning. Even candles were kept to a minimum, but that was hardly an issue for most of the residents here. Blade himself did not need light, just found it more comfortable to use his eyes instead of using his demonic senses.


    As he walked down the halls other people he met would step aside and bow out of respect- Blade was nigh-legendary, not that anyone outside of the Demon Adders knew that he existed, or that those events he had taken part in actually had anything to do with him. Personally, Blade did not feel he deserved the respect he was given. His success had far less to do with his personal skill, considerable as that was, and more to do with his inheritance.


    If a noble from above had come down here and counted their numbers, they probably would have died of shock. In numbers and in variety there were more in this base than the nobles above estimated there were in the entirety of the Demon Adders. Most of them were the children of imps or gobs, but a few were from rarer breeds. There was a woman who clearly had Vinayakas heritage as her nose was instead a long trunk and another that was likely a child of the High Demons known as Wrathbringers, she had limbs in the same place Blade did, but they were human arms instead of spider legs. The trade off being that she could not retract them.


    Blade stepped into the office of the man he had come to meet and, as always, was unnerved by this beings appearance. The commander of this garrison, like almost all of the commanders of every garrison, was a child of the Shayatin and they had a specific name for their kind- a Nephilim. He appeared like a man, but he wavered in Blade¡¯s vision. Blade could hide in the shadows, but Nephilim were altogether different beings- they were not entirely part of this world. Physically, they were not actually much stronger than normal humans, maybe twice the strength of what man could achieve. Compared to Blade, they were weak- but they were hard to hit, they did not quite take damage like other beings. Instead, they achieved their high positions in the organisation due to their impressive intelligence and organisational skills- and their ability to convince other people to their will. Oh, and the fact that they were immortal. Even if you killed one, they would just come back at some point. If their parents were not almost entirely incorporeal humanity would have been wiped out by the Shayatin alone- though that did raise the question of how they actually had children¡­


    ¡°Commander Whisper,¡± Blade bowed slightly, code names were almost exclusively used by the Demon Adders- some even forgot their original names, Blade remembered though. ¡°It is my pleasure to meet you.¡±


    ¡°The legendary Blade,¡± Whisper spoke, and Blade heard his voice in his ears and in his mind- a disconcerting effect. ¡°I know what has brought you here, tell me, what is this ¡®Hero¡¯ like?¡±


    Whisper was ancient, older than this iteration of the Demon Adders. The Demon Adders was roughly six hundred years old, reformed from an older organization that had been wiped out in the past. Whisper was, by most estimates, nearly twenty-three hundred years old. He had even met both Valencia and the Demon King- and had been promptly killed by both.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    ¡°Bluntly?¡± Blade thought for a second, and could not really find a better way to say it. ¡°Lucas is an arrogant ass- but a useful one. The breadth and depth of his knowledge is incredible, and while he is weak in conventional magic he is capable of killing by finesse.¡±


    ¡°There is something else, isn¡¯t there?¡±


    And this is why Blade hated Nephilim. They could not read minds, but they knew when you were not telling all you knew or lying. Their perception was annoyingly high.


    ¡°I think he would work with us openly if we gave him the chance.¡± Blade said those words knowing how dangerous they were, ¡°I do not think he cares about what we are, just about what we can and will do, and how that helps him get back to his own world.¡±


    ¡°His allies would object at the very least.¡± Whisper noted, seemingly more out of curiosity in how Blade would respond than anything else.


    ¡°Lucas would almost undoubtedly run his desires right over them.¡± Blade chuckled at the thought, ¡°he does not have a lot of patience and has the self confidence and pride to believe that he is right when everyone else thinks he is wrong. If he were not so intelligent, Lucas would be the world¡¯s greatest fool.¡±


    Both of them tensed, they heard running in the hallway behind him- though it was actually some distance away. A little later, the door burst open and the half blood shouted, ¡°Demons attacked the camp, the Hero was kidnapped!¡±


    The next moment, Blade and Whisper seemingly faded from the world, leaving the messenger standing in the doorway. Wind and shadow swept past the messenger and into the hall and separated in different directions. Blade was unsure what Whisper¡¯s plan was, but he himself had been given the responsibility of keeping an eye on the Hero from the Leader herself. He moved with inhuman speed as he left the base and made his way to the human¡¯s front line camp- which was in chaos, partly aflame.


    Lucas¡¯s room exited into a hallway with a window- and that window was broken. Perching on the wall for a moment, Blade saw a dead imp lying half in and half out of Lucas¡¯s room and, to his horror, he noticed webbing around the window. A High Spider had been here.


    To get here, the creature had almost undoubtedly travelled through the shadows- but High Spiders were not as adept as Blade was at that. No, it was not they were less adept, but that there massive size made it require far more energy than it took Blade- especially if they were carrying something in and out. That meant that Lucas was probably not far, but he would be getting further away every second. Outside of their shadows, their massive legs became less a hindrance and more of a boon- High Spiders could chase down horses.


    However, they would have their own base that they came from and that base probably would not be moved for a couple of days- assuming they acted as they had in the past.


    Blade slipped back out of the camp and made his way to the base to share what he knew and the decision was made to rescue him. Whisper in particular thought this was a great chance to gain Lucas¡¯s favor and show off their potential- but Blade knew that many of the Demon Adders joining in the assault would die. Half blood children of imps were stronger than normal people, but they were weaker than their imp parents and when compared to the spiders¡­ They were little more than fodder.


    Blade himself was ashamed, because none of the High Demon¡¯s progeny told the lesser demon half bloods that they probably would not be coming back. The simple fact was that people would not want to rush to their death- and that was exactly what was going on here. Their deaths would cover Blade¡¯s retreat with Lucas.


    They left the base and rushed north, led by trackers who had been given shreds of Lucas¡¯s clothes. Humans would not have been able to cover such distances without mounts, and even with mounts they would have needed to stop and rest. All demons, and the children of them, required far less rest than humans. Blade himself slept roughly four hours in every seventy-two hour period, and even that was often broken up into chunks as small as fifteen minutes so that was nearly always awake and aware.


    A little after noon, they found the demon¡¯s base. Blade and Whisper slipped into the camp. When they found Lucas, Blade would rescue him and Whisper would return to signal the attack. The High Spiders were arrogant, they did not feel the need to defend against their own powers- and so they were able to move quickly and with ease and found Lucas almost comically tied up in front of¡­


    By the Gods, a Widow! One of the leaders of the High Spiders- outwardly looking the same, the creature was hardly the same species! Her strength would be far above anything they could handle, far above what the entirety of their forces could handle if she fought them alone!


    There was nothing for it then, he would have to grab Lucas and disappear into the shadows and simply hope that as many of his brethren survived as was possible.

 Chapter Fifty-Two - Taking a Trip

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Fuck, fuck, fuck¡­ Lucas¡¯s heart was beating out of his chest and he was trying to breath deeply and calm himself but it was hard when it felt like fucking bugs under his skin and the fucking world is flowing! Lucas was trying to relax his muscles, but as soon as he focused on one group another would tense. This was clearly a chemical like meth though, because Lucas¡¯s thoughts were not completely screwed- so long as he kept his focus.


    If he let go for a second- the stimulant euphoria would overwhelm him, and he would be more likely to lose control have a heart attack. If he was not from the modern era, and someone who had taken concerta for most of his life on top of that, he would undoubtedly died already. Lucas was just lucky, but the problem was that the rocks on the plain were alive- no! That is object activation, fuck he must be starting to exhibit psychosis. Which explains why the shadows they had escaped from were following them and as people.


    Fuck. Psychosis includes delusions and hallucinations, Lucas at this point realized he had no way to tell what was real and what was not. Well if this was like other stimulants he could probably trust his logic to a degree, though how far logic will get him in a world of magic- and fuck, he was losing focus again!


    Blade- well, Lucas was fairly sure it was Blade- was moving him and talking to someone. He would be able to hear them clearly if the shadows were not so loud, but the shadows did not exist so he could not tell them to be quiet! Where the hell was he even? It had only been a few minutes, the sun should not have changed position- unless that was a hallucination, or his sense of time was distorted. Lucas so thirsty and his pants felt wet- oh for fucks sake, this was embarrassing. At least most of the people around him did not actually exist. Blade- or probably Blade- was giving him water, had he asked for it? But his hands were shaking to bad to grasp it and he had to scratch the fucking bugs that would just not leave his skin alone what the fuck!


    Why were his thoughts disorganized? Was more than a stimulant maybe, possibly a hallucinogen in there as well? No- this could all just be stimulant induced psychosis, maybe. Lucas felt like there were multiple types of psychosis or was that visual distortion? Both?


    Lucas was unsure how long he had been in that state- but as he regained control of his thoughts and, to some extent, his body he realized that was only the start.


    ¡°Fucking hell¡­¡± Lucas breathed out, feeling all of his muscles aching. Why had he been brought to this world? Was it just to torment him, he might as well just kill himself- no, he¡¯d just end up stuck in that orb with those other assholes. Fuck this shit- he must have moved into the offset. Depression and irritability, check. With a little bit of suicidal ideation on the side, fucking wonderful.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    And the fucking shadow people were still there! Maybe they would kill Lucas¡­ He would not mind so much, but he wished they would get on with it. Wait, was psychosis also an offset affect? Thinking was so hard now Lucas just could not be bothered to do it when nothing really mattered.


    Again, time was hard for him to discern, but Lucas eventually fell asleep and woke up with an absolutely pounding headache. As he groaned and sat up, he heard shouting around him- he was back at camp?


    ¡°Well, at least I am not dead.¡± Lucas muttered to himself as he heard people rushing towards his room. He was surprised when Terrasin just about tackled him and was bawling at the top of her lungs- how did he end up comforting a girl after he had been kidnapped and drugged and almost died?


    ¡°We thought you were dead!¡± She said- probably, drugs or no drugs, Terrasin was hard to understand in this state.


    ¡°How did you survive that?¡± One of the generals asked Lucas anxiously, ¡°High Spider venom kills at half the amount you were given?


    ¡°I am glad you are alive,¡± Versi spoke up from the group. ¡°I guess I have to be grateful to Blade after all.¡±


    ¡°I mean, I got pissed on for this.¡± Blade grumbled, much to Lucas¡¯s dismay.


    ¡°All of you, please shut up.¡± Lucas raised a hand to his head, even though he knew the action was useless against the headache. ¡°And if someone could get me some water, actually, make that a lot of water. My head feels like its about to split¡­¡±


    Lucas groaned, trying to figure out how long he would be feeling the after effects but giving up before long. He knew more on these subjects than most laymen- or rather, laymen that were not recreational drug users- but he was not a pharmacologist, and for that matter one of the after effects of stimulants involved a mental slowdown¡­


    ¡°You should be more grateful Lucas,¡± Terrasin admonished, but she did not really put much heat into it.


    ¡°I am grateful,¡± Lucas replied. ¡°But this is not over yet, probably. I will have to go through the after effects for some time before my system clears. For that matter, why are you even here Blade? Ack- sorry, that sounded rude especially since you rescued me. So long as it is in my system, it will hard for me even to be my normal self. I bet none of you would have ever thought you would be calling my usual self the polite version of me, huh?¡±


    After a drink of water, Lucas did answer the generals question, however. He would wait to get an accounting of just what the hell had been going on after the drugs had run their course.


    ¡°I survived because compounds similar to what was injected into me can be used for medicines in my world.¡± Lucas simplified his explanation a lot, cross tolerance was an oddly hard subject for some people to grasp even in his own world. ¡°Like my vaccines, because I was exposed to the substance before I was more resistant to it now.¡±


    Technically true, but realistically a complete lie. Tolerance was very little like vaccination, but better to give vaccination some publicity now and have to deal with less shit later, Lucas thought.


    ¡°I used that medicine for decades, and combined with my height and weight, the dose they put in me was just barely below what was needed to kill me.¡±


    And Lucas did mean ¡®just barely below,¡¯ a little more and he would not have been able to keep himself focused on relaxing his heart and breathing- and Lucas felt he would have died.

 Chapter Fifty-Three - World of Turns

    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    Terrasin had coming running when the announcement that the Hero had returned, and was surprised by the fact that Blade had brought him back.  He was not displaying his demonic heritage, but Terrasin had not expected to see the man here and was suspicious of what the Demon Adders would be doing here.  But there was no time for that now, Lucas was thrashing around in Blade¡¯s arms, yelling and shouting.


    ¡°Lucas!?¡±  She followed as Blade shouted for someone to help hold Lucas down.  ¡°Lucas!¡±


    His eyes were open, he was talking, and moving- but he was absolutely unaware of his surroundings.  Lucas was brought to his bed, and soldiers came in to help Blade hold him. His arms were covered in scratches, and sometimes he would thrash and other times his muscles would stiffen and he would scream in pain.


    ¡°Blade,¡± Terrasin asked desperately.  ¡°What is going on? What has happened to Lucas?¡±


    ¡°High Spider venom!¡±  Blade growled, ¡°he is resisting far better than I had hoped, but there is nothing we can do but wait for him to come out of it!¡±


    That had been a few days ago- Terrasin had felt more stress in that time then even when she was summoning Lucas to this world.  The whole camp was on high alert too. Surrounding Lucas, Versi, and Terrasin were increased guards- to the point where when they were meeting together it was like a small army in itself.


    Lucas had told the story of what happened and Blade has stuck around to corroborate parts of it and the news was not good.  Powerful demons rarely came this far south- to the point where some people believed that they could not. That was obviously wishful thinking or even straight denial, but it was true that they were not often seen.  For High Spiders to come in such force¡­


    Terrasin had sent to messages back to her family, telling them to prepare.  An organized push by the demons may take a while to reach the front line from their fortresses in the north- but she had studied history enough to question if this was simply the calm before the storm.  And- for all her confidence in him- Terrasin had to admit that Lucas was very nearly useless in a fight. He had a few tricks, which could be quite deadly in the proper conditions, but he was the wrong Hero to have.


    She had sent her message and was now at her desk with her head in her hands- an extremely unladylike pose that she would never let anyone see.  She felt bitter, and felt like cursing her ancestors right now. The first hero brought the power of the Gods and the second brought magic and between the two the demons had been driven to the brink.


    A thousand years ago, if her ancestors had not failed, they would have summoned a hero and won this war- and Lucas would have been summoned into a world of peace, where his teachings would have time to grow and spread and show their efficacy.  Lucas¡¯s weapons were powerful- but where they as drastic as the power of the templars and mages? No. No, they were not.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    There was only one thing to do, one possible chance- and she did not have much hope of her capabilities.  Terrasin stood up and gathered her determination to go and talk to Lucas, who was still recovering. At his door she knocked softly, and Lucas invited her in.


    ¡°Ah, Terra.¡±  Lucas smiled lightly, though he looked terrible- even if he did look better than before, ¡°As I said before, it is probably not the best time- the after effects of this includes irritability, and I am not exactly the nicest to begin with¡­¡±


    ¡°Lucas¡­¡±  Terrasin sighed, and sat down in a chair by the bed and watched as Lucas¡¯s expression became serious as he examined her face.


    ¡°You are looking serious there,¡± Lucas¡¯s tone was also serious.  ¡°As I said before- unless it is urgent, this is a very bad time.¡±


    ¡°I need to ask you a favor, on behalf of this entire world.¡±  Terrasin bowed at the waist towards Lucas, who looked surprised and even more uncomfortable.


    ¡°Whatever it is,¡± Lucas quickly answered.  ¡°Raise your head, I am uncomfortable with all of that to begin with- and I especially do not want to see that kind of behavior from you.¡±


    After what I am about to ask¡­  Terrasin thought to herself, but she said.  ¡°I- I would like you to rethink your position regarding your worlds weapons.¡±


    Lucas¡¯s eyes narrowed immediately as he saw through to Terrasin¡¯s meaning.


    ¡°You really do not know what you are asking¡­¡±  He spoke softly, less angry than seemingly concerned for her.  ¡°Yeah, some bad things happened- but there is no need to overreact.  I am alive, after all.¡±


    ¡°Lucas, the records of the wars¡­¡±  Terrasin shook her head lightly, ¡°we have been being bleed and held back by merely the remnants of our enemies forces- for hundreds of years we have begun to be pushed back slightly by just that.  The appearance of High Demons this far south- they are aware, and they are moving.¡±


    Lucas studied Terrasin¡¯s face intensely for a moment, and Terrasin willed herself not to blush and break his gaze.  After a few seconds, he sighed and sat back in the bed.


    ¡°I am guessing the issue is that my original plan will take too long, huh.¡±


    Terrasin said nothing, but it would be unreasonable to assume that if the enemy had reached this point- not just aware that the hero was here, but aware of Lucas specifically- it was likely the clash would come sooner rather than later.  Terrasin had been drilled by her father and grandfather that her purpose in life was to bring the hero to this world, because if they failed humanity would be wiped out. There was nowhere left to go, humanity had its backs against the sea.  Lucas¡¯s forbidden weapons may end up backfiring on humanity, but who cares when your dead anyways?


    She said as much to Lucas and Lucas, reluctantly, ended up agreeing.


    ¡°I cannot fault your logic,¡± Lucas spoke unhappily.  ¡°But I must also hate it. Especially when I am starting to doubt myself.¡±


    ¡°I read your books, there is no reason to doubt yourself and your abilities.¡±  Terrasin hastened to say, having read and eventually understood the reasons behind what Lucas had begun to spread in his books about farming and medicine- there was no way she could doubt his wisdom regarding those subjects.


    ¡°No, Terrasin.  I mean my personality.¡±

 Chapter Fifty-Four - World of Acceleration

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Someone from Lucas¡¯s world would look at him and think that he was meditating.  Upon having that thought, Lucas considered adding meditation to his daily activities- studies showed that it did have some benefits, especially regarding emotional control.  However, that was not what Lucas was doing, he was working. Terrasin was clearly correct, Lucas would have to simply disseminate the books he had written and hope for the best.  So long as the instructions were followed, it should be fine- though his vaccination plans would have to be placed on a near permanent hold.


    However, Lucas was uncomfortable truly unleashing what Terra wanted, she simply did not understand what she was asking for.  For that matter, Lucas did not understand the creatures she wanted him to kill. Those ¡®High Spiders¡¯ had some human features and could have children with humans, and according to Blade Imps could have children as well despite lacking human features altogether.


    They were far more closely related to humans than they appear- far more.  So any biological weapon used against them would have a strong chance of coming back around to humans.  Well, any infectious ones- there were other options, and Lucas was attempting to create what would be referred to as a ¡®mid-spectrum agent.¡¯  For something that sounds so non-threatening, a mid-spectrum agent is especially unpleasant- it is a term that refers to something that has features of both chemical weapons and biological weapons.


    Because clearly, a weapon that incorporates only one weapon of mass destruction is not enough.


    Though in this case, it would be less dangerous than unleashing a virus or something like that.  Lucas was attempting to modify a small shrub in front of him, when it matured it would have flowers but the modifications Lucas was performing had to be done before that point.  This shrub reproduced both through anemophily and entomophily, which is a fancy way of saying that it had both wind borne pollination and insect based pollination. Lucas would have prefered a shrub that only reproduced by anemophily, but beggars could not be choosers.


    Lucas¡¯s most effective magic involved modifying particles in the air to make them less recognizable by living creatures- and thus causing those creatures to have severe immune reactions towards the air they are breathing, in essence, an asthma attack.  What Lucas was doing now was an extension of that- modifying a plant to produce pollen that would cause severe allergic reactions. Though the example in front of him was immature, as this plant grew up it would spread pollen year round as the winters were quite mild.  Beyond him, there was dozens of these plants waiting for his attention and scouts were bringing in more plants every hour.


    The modified plants were to be planted in specific areas to create natural barriers against invasion.  Where groups of these plants were, the land could not be crossed- at least until they were somehow removed.  It was a temporary measure, to be sure, but Lucas would use it to buy time. Despite his claims about what he ¡®could¡¯ do, realistically he lacked the magical ability to actually utilize his knowledge.


    So Lucas needed time- time to talk to Julian and understand more about magic.  It had not been that long ago that he had attempted to create what could only be described as a ¡®magic generator,¡¯ but it had failed.  To go further, he had to make that workable and begin to use magic to replace the technology he missed.


    Finishing up, Lucas spoke.  ¡°This batch is ready, take a look at the map and go plant them.¡±


    A group of scouts acknowledged his words and took the plant in front of him, and the plants behind him that he had finished.  Lucas sighed and reached for the next one, this was going to be a long day.


    *???*


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°You let him escape, and even tried to kill him- our King will not be pleased.¡±


    The Widow, a Lady of the High Spiders, an incredibly powerful demon that alone was more than a human battalion could handle- was shivering at those words as she maintained the awkward pose that was their species equivalent of a bow.  The creature in front of her was on a completely different level, and being called before it was reason enough to fear. Despite the chains and seals holding it back, it was more than capable of crushing her- even if she had not approached it.  Distance did not mean much to this creature, nor did restraint.


    ¡°You should be thankful that the Hero survived, and even more thankful that I am not inclined to destroy you for your failures.  There were plans in the event of your failure- and those plans are now in motion.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your mercy, your Grace.¡±  The Widow deepened her bow, quite thankful that she would be leaving this pit alive- it was far more than what she was expecting when she had been summoned here.


    ¡°These bindings will not hold us much longer- they were not nearly as permanent as that damned priest thought.  Of course, he did not understand our nature- nor the nature of the power he used, so it is of no consequence. The hordes are gathering, and the first of our forces are sallying forth, and our rise shall be the end of this millenium long farce.¡±


    The creature laughed, a sound so terrifying and unpleasant that even the High Spider before the being shivered in fear.


    ¡°Which brings me to the task I am assigning you and this time, know that your options are to succeed or die trying.  If you fail and return, I will make certain that you will envy the dead.¡±


    ¡°Your will shall be done, your Grace.¡±  The High Spider intoned and the creature before her shifted in the darkness of the pit, the chains that held it creaking as it examined her and smiled.


    Afterwards, she traveled through the shadows back to her forces- the Widow had her orders and was given forces to make it happen.  This time, her clan¡¯s existence hung in the balance of her success and she made sure they knew that. The human city would fall before her and she would force the Hero to respond.


    *Julian Gandr*


    ¡°I do not know if I can help you Lucas,¡± Julian understood what Lucas was asking, but the question was beyond current magical theory.  ¡°I am not sure that you could find an answer in Ulian even¡­¡±


    ¡°Regardless, I need you to answer as best you are able.¡±  Lucas looked at Julian and gave him no room to avoid giving some answer- but what a question.


    ¡°As far as I am aware, no one has ever attempted to take magic from others- though there has been some attempt to share magic between mages, I do not think that is what you are asking.¡±  For that matter, none of those attempts had really worked¡­


    ¡°No, I am asking if there is a way to use the mana pool of the army- despite being unable to use magic, they must have some mana.  Individually, it would not be much- but all together¡­¡±


    ¡°I hate to say this Lucas,¡± Julian sighed.  ¡°But all of the questions you have been asking have either no good answer or no answer at all.  Hell, even asking about what mana is to begin with is poking at a mystery we barely understand¡­ For that matter, when you were asking about the power of priests I would not even be able to understand what is understood.  As for using others mana, I have no idea.¡±


    Lucas sat back, and Julian could only marvel that the man was standing.  He had survived High Spider venom and had even recovered and began using magic in a way Julian had never seen before.  Modifying prairie bushes to unleash the same poison that Lucas used with his magic, that by itself is amazing and here he is asking for more.


    ¡°While not quite what I was looking for, this might be enough¡­¡±  Lucas was muttering and seemed deep in thought, and Julian was unsure what to say.  Lucas had not told him what his plans were, but all of his questions had been particularly difficult to answer.  The nature of magic was beyond most people¡¯s understanding, and his questions had been all on that subject. What and how was magic?  Where most mages were wondering about how to use it¡­


    ¡°Julian, do you remember when the I attempted to generate magic?¡±


    ¡°How could I forget?¡±  Julian laughed in surprise at the sudden comment, ¡°I have never seen anything like it- I do not think that anyone has even thought about something like that before.¡±


    ¡°Well, then I hope you will watch my next attempt.¡±

 Chapter Fifty-Five - World of Souls

    *Julian Gandr*


    ¡°Lucas¡­¡±  Julian was aghast at the preparations that Lucas was making, ¡°you are setting up ritual magic?  When did you even learn about the subject?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± Lucas replied as he drew runes on the floor in chalk.  ¡°This is not really ritual magic, it has nothing to do with priestly magic at all.  Actually, I would not be remotely surprised if this was blasphemous in the end.¡±


    Julian frowned, which he felt was a natural reaction when someone said that their actions were likely blasphemy¡­  However, Lucas had carte blanche from the Church, so it should be fine. Still, he had been shocked when Lucas had asked for criminals waiting for execution- even among ritual magic, very few required sacrifices and none that Julian could think of required multiple.


    ¡°And you will not explain what you are doing?¡±  Julian asked again, not really able to accept the answer.


    ¡°Julian,¡± Lucas sighed in exasperation and looked up from his work.  ¡°If there is one thing I know, it is that if it is possible to exploit, someone will.  The best result for this world is if I fail.¡±


    ¡°That does not make me feel better¡­¡±  Julian muttered.


    ¡°Well we are just about done,¡± Lucas replied.  ¡°So would you mind putting them in their positions?¡±


    Julian sighed and did as he was asked, thinking that Lucas had grown to understand magic far faster than Julian had begun to understand ¡®science.¡¯  Despite not having a large mana pool, Lucas seemed to be a prodigy in terms of learning. Though when he said this to Lucas the man just laughed. Julian still remembered what he had said at that time.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t that I am especially talented in magic Julian,¡± Lucas had said.  ¡°But that learning begets learning. The more you are educated and the more you learn the easier it is for you to learn other things and incorporate them into your knowledge.  While I am light on the specifics, it has a lot to do with the structure of the human brain. In short, I am not a prodigy, I just have the benefit of growing up in an educated country.¡±


    Along the same lines, Lucas was often quite critical of the society around him.  He claimed that it impeded progress to a large degree, and seeing the runes in front of him, Julian was inclined to agree.  It was hard to tell what the circle Lucas had drawn was even for, and according to Lucas only part of the magic was inscribed and the rest was reliant on him constructing it.


    At four points in the circle where criminals destined for the gallows.  They had been bound and beaten until they could no longer move, and while Lucas had not said as much, Julian was certain that they would not be surviving this ritual.


    ¡°Well then,¡± Lucas straightened up.  ¡°Let us begin.¡±


    Julian watched with rapt attention as Lucas began to assemble the construct he had seen weeks ago.  It was an incredible piece of magic by itself, but when it began to interact with the runes¡­ Suddenly, the four criminals began to cry out and writhe and the power in the construct began glow brightly.  Based on the gasps of Lady Almistraus, the glow was even visible to non-mages, incredible¡­


    The four criminals stopped moving, but the radiance of the construct only increased- and then it began to compress.  Lucas almost seemed to be¡­ Absorbing it¡­


    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Evil.  It is a funny word.  Throughout the history of Lucas¡¯s world, there had been many different interpretations of the concept.  If Lucas were to go to a wise person from each culture and ask them to appraise the morality of his current actions, the answer would likely be unanimous condemnation.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Lucas would have scoffed at them though, he knew enough about the cultures of the world to realize that they were hypocrites more often than not.  He was secure in his ethics, at least on the theoretical side of things- in practice, he was far from perfect. However, Lucas could not think of a reason to care about what he was doing to these four criminals.  They were already dead, Lucas was just letting them be useful in death.


    Lucas had attempted to create a magical generator before, and it did not work.  The magical construct he used to substitute for a soul simply did not work well, and unfortunately, Lucas still was unsure what was wrong with it.  Well, if that was how things had to be, Lucas would just skip the substitute and use the original.


    The generator functioned- which meant that aside from the problems with the soul substitute, the other parts of it were working as designed.  And the ¡®shell¡¯ of the generator was designed to contain a soul.


    So Lucas would take these criminals souls and use them to drive the generator!


    The first step had already been completed, the criminals were dead and their souls had entered the magical construct.  The second step was for Lucas to ¡®absorb¡¯ the whole thing- to make it part of him.


    After all, it would be useless if he had to take all of this effort just to maintain the structure.  Lucas would not be able to do anything else! So it had to become part of his own system, and the process was¡­  Painful.


    Lucas grit his teeth and continued regardless, wishing he had a better understanding of the system than he did.  The best way to describe his current action was like grafting a plant, scraping away part of both him and the system and then tying them together so that they functioned as one.


    It took a few minutes, but the glowing structure was subsumed into Lucas- and Lucas felt an incredible burst of power.


    ¡°It is finished,¡± Lucas sat down suddenly.  He had not realised how exhausted he was¡­ ¡°It worked just as planned.¡±


    Lucas wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered, ¡°though I did not expect it to be so difficult.¡±


    ¡°Lucas¡­¡±  Almistraus who had been watching with wide eyes found her voice, ¡°what did you do!?¡±


    ¡°He stole their souls¡­¡±  It was Julian who replied.  ¡°He stole their fucking souls!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡±  Lucas did not deny it, ¡°why do you think I said they absolutely had to be prisoners that were going to be executed?  They were murderers correct? Who cares what happens to them?¡±


    Lucas certainly did not care.  He found it quite amusing actually, which did worry him a bit.  Amusement is not a very good emotion to have when consuming human souls, even if they do deserve it.  Well, regardless, he still had to test it- there was a reason for all of this after all.


    Lucas stood up, took a deep breath, and focused.  Lucas¡¯s knowledge of computer engineering was minimal, and he was regretting that now because he was having to reinvent the wheel.  The goal was simple, to create replacements for the technological tools of his world in magic. After some experimentation, Lucas found the limitations of his magic- or rather, the limitations of his intellect, or perhaps education.


    He could replicate the machines he desired, but most of the work had to be done in his head.  Well, at least it was possible to do now, he thought. Speaking of a thought, Lucas realized there were certain things that magic could do that the tools could not¡­  At this point, Lucas could understand how the demons had modified other species- if they had power like this, it would not be difficult at all. In fact, Lucas could do a better job.


    It would be fairly easy to just make a few changes in a couple of places.  Normally, genetic modification on adult organism is difficult bordering on impossible.  The reasons for this are numerous, and each reasons is enough by itself to shut down the attempt generally.  But many of those problems were eliminated by magic- he could modify every cell he needed to individually and make those changes with one hundred percent accuracy!


    Lucas could not help but laugh, to think that this world had magic and had accomplished so little.  From this point Lucas could see the summit of what magic could do, it was the same destination that could be reached by the apex of science.  A point no mortal could ever hope to reach in their lifetime, but that society as a whole might reach through the combined efforts of humankind over millenia.


    ¡°I do not know what else to say but this,¡± Lucas laughed.  ¡°Thank you for bringing me to this world! I owe you one for that, and I plan to pay that debt back in full!¡±


    Meanwhile, Terrasin and Julian were looking on with worried expressions as Lucas continued to laugh hysterically.

 Chapter Fifty-Six - World of a Dark Hero

    *The Widow*


    ¡°The scouts report the same ¡®bad air¡¯ can be found to the west as well,¡± one of the Widow¡¯s officer spiders reported.  ¡°We were able to spot the same plants at those locations too, much as you suggested we would.¡±


    The Widow hissed and clicked her mandibles.  Having returned to fulfil her orders only to find that she could no longer move her soldiers along the lines she wanted frustrated her.  The humans were planting small bushes that put some sort of poison into the air, and removing them would take time- but she ordered them to do so anyways.  Perhaps, before she had come, these plants would have driven the wild demons into kill zones, but under her leadership she would turn the human¡¯s defenses against them.  She would strike from where they felt the most secure and send the rest of her forces on.


    Traveling through the shadows briefly, she went to a hill above the shallow valley where the forces were gathering.  Tens of thousands of demons were waiting here, of all sorts of races. The actual numbers were hard to say, some of them were less sociable than others and would eat their own allies if provoked, but overall they were the tip of the spear that would strike at humanity.


    From what her scouts had told her, The Widow knew humanity was woefully unprepared.


    A day and a half later, The Widow had further proof of this- her soldiers had managed to force a hole through the plants large enough for her troops to move, and so the order was given.  She herself would lead the forces that would pin down the human forces while her second in command took the rest to take the human city.


    When the humans marched in force to retake their lost territory, the first of the hordes would strike everywhere else and overwhelm the undermanned forts!  True, aside from the High Spiders who could slip through the shadows, all the demons here would die- but with the low class of demons that made up this force it was of little consequence.  Still, the success of this plan hinged on their ability to hold back the main human force until they took the city, which is why she had to take care of it herself.


    While it was impossible to hide the assault from the human¡¯s scouts, the panic in the camp let The Widow know she was right in her assumption.  The foolish humans had really thought those plants had made them safe! The imps made it to the humans before they had even managed to form a battle line, and the results were quite satisfying.


    Horns were blowing in the camp, but with what she was seeing, her forces might be able to do more than simply hold the humans back- at this rate they might route them entirely!  The only issue was that her messengers reported none of those half-bloods had show so far, and The Widow desperately wanted to slaughter those disgusting fools for the shame they had caused her!  More importantly, they were stronger than the humans, and if they were not accounted for¡­


    Then, suddenly, there was a bright flare towards the front lines.  It almost looked like the entire front line had burst into flames! What was going on?


    *Imp on the front line, Temez*


    Temez had been happy, even eager, to join in the attack against the humans.  They were disgusting worms, but they had delicious meat and sweet blood and he would drink his fill tonight!  The humans were scrambling in front of him, crawling out of their tents without arms or armour, and in one case without clothes.  There had been two people in that bedroll, and was twice the blood for Temez.


    He wanted to stop to drink, but he did not want to disobey the Lady High Spider- and there would be plenty of blood left later anyways.  This nest of humans was practically a feast!


    He was near the stone dwelling now, and Temez thought it was the height of hubris for humans to build structures like the Greater Demons.  Despite being pathetic worms, they were arrogant creatures. As if to prove that thought, one human stepped out from the building showing its teeth with its lips curled upwards.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    There were other humans coming out behind the first, and one of them drew a blade that filled the air with a beautiful sound.  Next to him, another imp, Rikkat, leaped at the new arrivals only to be sliced vertically in half by that noisy blade. However, Temez was smarter than other imps, and so he hung back as his other fellows charged forwards to avenge Rikkat, even followed by one of the gigantic Rippers, and it seemed that they would overwhelm and shred the humans- but they never made it.


    Instead, the leading human showed more teeth- an expression a demon more familiar with humans would recognize as a widening smile- and where he looked the demons exploded and burst into flames!  Rikkat was gone in a second, and the human was leisurely walking towards Temez, who had fallen down and was scrambling to get away.


    ¡°Now, now don¡¯t be shy.¡±  The human could speak the demon language!  ¡°I just have a few questions for you, it does not have to hurt.¡±


    ¡°Temez will tell you nothing human!¡±  Temez spat, and he would say nothing because he did not plan to stick around.  This was not a human an imp could fight!


    ¡°Haha, well I think you might change your mind.¡±


    The human did not actually question Temez for long, but it felt much longer to Temez who was thankful for his eventual death.


    *The Widow*


    ¡°Impossible!¡±  The Widow nearly beheaded the messenger who spoke to her, ¡°you are telling me that the Hero, who could not escape without the help of the half-bloods, is pushing back our forces?  Are all of you that worthless!?¡±


    The bursts of light and fire had not stopped since they started, and they were slowly drawing closer.  From her position, she could see her forces flow towards the fire and do little more than feed it. If this was truly caused by the hero, it was overwhelming strength¡­


    ¡°You two,¡± The Widow snapped at her High Spider guards.  ¡°Go! Take care of this, but be careful not to kill him- reclaim him and restrain him!¡±


    They acknowledged her orders, and then¡­  Did nothing.


    ¡°What are you waiting for?¡±  The Widow hissed, her rage nearly boiling over.  ¡°Go!¡±


    ¡°Pardon us, Lady.¡±  Her guards were in a panic, ¡°But we cannot enter the shadows!¡±


    The Widow was stunned for a second, and then focused on her own powers.  That well of power was there, but when she felt towards the shadows, she could not reach them!


    ¡°What is this?¡±  For the first time away from the greater beings, The Widow felt fear.  What could possibly be happening to stop her from going through the shadows?  Her- a Widow!


    ¡°I thought I felt a reaction from over here,¡± a voice suddenly called out.  ¡°Fancy seeing you here, creepy spider woman.¡±


    The Widow whirled around and saw the hero standing behind her with a seeming causal stance.  In the distance, the fires began to die down, did he move through the shadows to get here? Impossible¡­  But there is no other way¡­


    ¡°You know,¡± the hero continued.  ¡°After our little meeting, I felt I had to get a bit more serious- cross some lines, you know?  What good are morals if you are dead, right? So I decided to let go a bit, and I have to say this is pretty damn refreshing.¡±


    ¡°Restrain him!¡±  The Widow ordered her guards, her own fear growing the more she heard the man speak.  The order had hardly left her mouth when her guards exploded into fire and gore.


    ¡°You might not know this,¡± the hero said with a chuckle.  ¡°But a lot of the chemicals that make up a living creature are pretty volatile in certain situations.  None of those situations would really arise naturally, but with magic there is no reason I cannot separate Sodium Chloride to its base elements among others, and the reaction is quite funny to watch.


    Though the more I think about it, the more I wonder why I cannot simply break all the bonds in a creature?  Could I just disintegrate a being if I wanted too? I am already capable of interfering with space itself and can prevent you from using your ¡®shadows¡¯ so maybe with more power I could simply walk home.  But that is neither here nor there.¡±


    The Widow turned to run, but the hero was still just talking casually.


    ¡°Well, I had thought to question you, but does it really matter?  When one has unassailable power, is information even worth anything?  Well, that is for me to figure out, to you I simply bid, good day.¡±


    And that was the last thing The Widow heard or knew in this life.

 Chapter Fifty-Seven - World of Overwhelming Power

    *Lucas Jaeger*


    Lucas could only compare this feeling to when he had been stung by the High Spider- it was a rush, a high.  Once, decades ago, the child Lucas had desired magic. He researched all that he could find and tested them out one by one, and was disappointed.  From there, Lucas had turned to science. If he could not have magic, than he would create it himself!


    But now, that old wish came true and more.  This was not just magic, it was overwhelming power and strength that could bend the very laws of the universe themselves!  And this was barely past the threshold of what was possible, now that he had this much he could feel the next peak and understood the heights beyond it.  Eventually, what would be the difference between Lucas and a god? The difference would be that Lucas interacted with the world, that is what!


    ¡°Lucas,¡± Julian was frowning as he watched Lucas.  ¡°A lot of people are getting¡­ Concerned.¡±


    Lucas just laughed, ¡°isn¡¯t this what you want?  A hero capable of fighting on the front line and annihilating the demons wherever he goes?  That last battle was an easy victory, and that was the least of what I can do with this power!¡±


    ¡°Lucas¡­¡±  Julian was almost nervous, ¡°You ripped out souls, human souls!¡±


    ¡°Murderers and rapists,¡± Lucas chuckled and waved his hand dismissively.  ¡°Do they qualify as human? Do they have any redeeming qualities that would make them worth letting live?¡±


    ¡°Even with scum like them, a soul is sacred.  It should be left to the gods to judge.¡±


    ¡°I had not thought you were that pious Julian,¡± Lucas sighed.  ¡°Fighting the demons will cost human lives. It is the duty of generals and nobles to choose who will pay that cost, it seems to me that shifting that cost to the dregs of the human race is preferable to letting good people die.  And such power! Try it for yourself, it is nearly impossible to describe.¡±


    Julian just shook his head, and Lucas could not help but be annoyed.  Terrasin would not even talk to him, and most of the people were avoiding him as well.  His actions were clearly horrendous taboo, but it did not matter.


    ¡°Three of the major religions in my world are based on mostly the same basis,¡±  Lucas spoke lightly. ¡°Though there are variations, they tell a story about the first humans who ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and thus became like God and knew of good and evil.¡±


    Lucas stretched his hand out and focused his power through the complicated mechanisms he had designed.  On the ground, a sprout suddenly pushed up from the soil and grew rapidly as Lucas continued to talk.


    ¡°The garden where that tree grew contained another fruit bearing tree of note, the Tree of Life.  Humans were cast out of the garden so that they could not eat of that tree and become as God fully.  That story comes to my mind when I consider this magic, because it this must be what it would be like to have eaten that other fruit.¡±


    The sprout flowered, with bright red and yellow petals opening up having grown from seed to flower in mere seconds.


    ¡°Let us say that what I am doing is blasphemy against the gods,¡± Lucas laughed.  ¡°Who cares? That story I spoke of, from a certain point of view, paints God as the evil villian.  They are sent away from paradise for commiting a crime that they could not have conceived of until they commited it- and why even have those trees there in the first place?  Actually, why have those trees exist at all? Your gods are more active, to be sure, but the extent of power they are claimed to have and what they actually do have a wide divide between them.  As demons push humanity to extinction, where are your gods? Are they worth worshipping and obeying? With power like this, I can supplant your gods. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Where they are silent, I will answer.  Where prayers for help go unheeded, I will be there to help.  Where society falters, I will impose justice. With power like this, your ¡®gods¡¯ are unnecessary.¡±


    ¡°And what happens when they pray for relief from you Lucas!?¡±  Julian shouted in frustration, ¡°do you even remember what you did three nights ago in that battle?  I cannot deny you pushed back the demons with almost nothing but your own power, but you struck your allies without care too!¡±


    It is true, Lucas had not had full control- still did not, in fact.  The magic he used to kill them was actually a lot less accurate than Lucas would have had his enemy know.  True, the actual mechanism was quite involved- Lucas actually copied parts from cell membranes, though they were used mostly for identification and not deciding what actually passed through as the magic passed through everything.  But when the correct substance was identified, the magic interacted with it- and in this case, split it.


    In particular, Lucas used the magic to split salt (NaCl) into its components sodium and chlorine, which were both highly reactive.  It also interacted with a few other things to create the dramatic effect, but the majority of it was caused by the split in the salt.  However, the magic itself was essentially ¡®area of effect¡¯ and not targeted, it was more like casting a deadly invisible cloud at an enemy than anything else.


    And Lucas had caught a few friendly soldiers in his magic and killed them.  But really, they would have died from the demons anyways- and they had held the demons in place for him to kill them.


    ¡°Oh I cared,¡± Lucas answered.  ¡°Though I do admit not as much as you.  They were soldiers, and their actions led to the deaths of our enemies.  Hopefully, I will not have to sacrifice as much next time, but even if I do, the trade is worth it.¡±


    ¡°Listen to yourself for fuck¡¯s sake!¡±  Julian was starting to annoy Lucas, he did understand what the man was saying but this was a war.  ¡°Lucas, as long as I have known you your personality has been sliding- and Terrasin says the same thing.  You risk becoming the very thing we are fighting!¡±


    ¡°The very thing you are fighting,¡± Lucas shot back sharply.  ¡°Let us not forget you people dragged me to this world to fight your battle for you, and you did it at the cost of a human life as well!  You spent a life to ruin mine and now have the gall to lecture me on the sanctity and value of human life? You dare talk about problems with my personality?  Well no shit Sherlock, look at the situation!¡±


    Lucas was angry, and Julian was backing away slowly- and for good reason.  With his emotions running out of control, he released his mana into the atmosphere uncontrolled- and the air around Lucas started to shimmer and crackle from the influx of energy.  The flower wilted and withered along with the grass around Lucas and he struggled to get his emotions back under his control.


    ¡°Enough,¡± Lucas spat as he pulled the power back inside himself.  ¡°Get out of here Julian, I have work to do- and I do not want to see or deal with you now.¡±


    Lucas turned on his heel and walked away, not checking to see if Julian obeyed.  If Julian was foolish enough to stick around, Lucas would throw him out on his ass.  Lucas was not waiting around after all, with this power there were so many things he could do, and will do.


    Entering his room, having informed the soldiers to not disturb him, Lucas sat down in a comfortable pose and turned his magic in on himself.  His magic may be powerful, but his body was still frail and human- for now. By tomorrow, he will have corrected that and show the demons what real genetic manipulation was!

 Chapter Fifty-Eight - Worlds End (Part I)

    *Terrasin deVon Almistraus*


    There was a different atmosphere among the soldiers on the front line. Not a simple one either, it was quite complex as one would expect given recent events. On one hand, despite the strong push that the demon¡¯s had suddenly made, human lands had never been more secure. But on the other hand, the actions, and rumors of actions, of the Hero had terrified everyone.


    Even she had been frightened, Terrasin had to admit, though she did not like to do so. Lucas has always had a somewhat strange and aggressive personality, but on the whole she had thought he was a good person. Sir Forus had suggested that perhaps she had just hoped as much, but had not gone as far as to suggest that Terrasin was being delusional. She certainly did not think she was, rather, she sometimes had the creeping feeling that this was all her own fault.


    She had been raised for the sole purpose of summoning and guiding Lucas as the Hero, after all. But more often than not, she felt like things were moving too fast- that she could not get a hold of each situation as it developed. Lady Versi was the only person who seemed to really understand, because she felt much the same apparently. However, Archi had no way to address the feeling, or grasp the events that now seemed to be spiraling out of control.


    Every battle, Lucas revealed a new power, each one more horrible than the last. She had observed a battle, from a distance, where Lucas had not even shown enough mercy to kill his foes. No, instead all of the demons had- no, she did no want to remember that sight! Seeing those things emerge afterwards and tear the remaining demons to shreds was just nightmarish.


    Terrasin had to shake her head to clear it. Rather than think about such things, she should instead think about how emissaries from all the border nations had flocked to obtain the seedling trees that Lucas had made. Several tweaks later, these new plants were not remotely dangerous to humans but would form an impenetrable wall to the demon hordes. In a few decades, there would be a forest on these plains and in a hundred years- according to Lucas- the trees will have reached maturity and his changes will have made them nigh impossible to remove. According to him, after a century of growth, the body and root system of the trees should be able to resist even siege weapons- so long as they were not as strong as the weapons he had designed himself.


    In other words, while he had not retaken the northern human lands, Lucas had freed the southern lands from the fear of demonic creatures. There were only a few spots left where the hordes fought to keep humanity away and prevent the planting, but Lucas was visiting those pockets of resistance and breaking them with ease.


    Terrasin was on her way to meet with Heidall now, and she did not think it was coincidence that he had asked to meet her when Lucas was away dealing with one of those pockets. Carsin Forus would also be at the meeting and so would Julian, they were all meeting behind Lucas¡¯s back, and no matter how much she hoped otherwise she doubted that this meeting was about how to help Lucas.


    She was certain that they wanted to stop him. The only question was how far they were willing to go to do so. No, there was another question- how far would they have to go to actually stop him?


    Terrasin stepped into the pavillion where the meeting was taking place and found that she was the last one to arrive. She was probably the most reluctant to take part in this discussion, and had the most reservations about the possible results, so it only made sense that she would arrive later than those who were more eager. It seemed that they had started without her, but the conversation had stopped when Terrasin entered and took a seat. She could almost see them calculating how far they could trust her.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°I hope you can forgive me for my late arrival,¡± Terrasin spoke to fill the uncomfortable silence. ¡°And I hope you will also forgive me for being candid when I say that I had an apprehensive feeling when I received the invitation. I know why I received it, and why we are all here, but I do not think I will be able to see eye to eye with the rest of you.¡±


    There it was, out in the open. After another second of silence, Heidall let out a sigh.


    ¡°I- we- understand, Lady Almistraus,¡± he said, including the others at the table in his statement, but no one contradicted that inclusion. ¡°But even you must admit that something has to be done before chaos erupts.¡±


    Sir Forus leaned forward with a sneer, ¡°I think most of us had misgiving when we first met him on the way back from the ruins of Uri, but the way Lucas is acting now is beyond the pale!¡±


    ¡°Sir Forus, your dislike of the Hero is well known.¡± It was Lady Versi that replied in an exasperated tone, ¡°you did not like him when you met him, and your opinion has never wavered even now when Lucas is giving us the tools to push the demons back for good! The fact is that until recently, despite his bad attitude, Lucas has been a great help. The books he dictated might very well eliminate most of the hunger and sickness that plagues humanity as surely as the demons do, and those trees he made will save so many lives and resources that they are beyond counting.¡±


    ¡°But is that enough to excuse his actions?¡± It was Julian who asked this, a miserable expression on his face. He had learned a lot from Lucas, but he knew he was just scratching the surface. Lucas was mediocre at magic, yet was likely the most powerful human mage right now. It was because his knowledge of his world¡¯s ¡®science¡¯ allowed him to perform feats that Julian would never before imagined, but those feats included¡­


    ¡°Criminals they might have been, but he stole souls! I have never been particularly devout, but even in my eyes this is blasphemy.¡±


    ¡°Blasphemy or not,¡± Sir Forus had regained his composure and joined the conversation again. ¡°There is precedent for using criminals for magic, the Hero¡¯s summoning is a perfect example of that- the real issue is his tendency to wipe out our own soldiers along with the demons!¡±


    ¡°If you check- I did- you will find it clear that Lucas is not going out of his way to attack them,¡± Terrasin had investigated herself. She had not really wanted to find an answer, but her thoughts and worries would not stop until she did. The result of questioning officers and soldiers who had been in the battles made it clear that Lucas was not killing his allies out of malice, but out of practicality. Whenever he judged that the damage he would deal to the demons would be worth the sacrifice of the soldiers that would be killed by his strike, he struck. He would never strike when it was not worth it, and everyone had agreed that Lucas had worked hard to save as many lives as he could whenever he could.


    Terrasin told the others around the table as much, but she left out the part where the officers had confided in her their fear. Rationally, they understood Lucas¡¯s actions, but in their hearts it was hard to shut out the screams of their subordinates who died horribly in the throes of Lucas¡¯s magic. The soldiers saw Lucas not as a Hero or even a person, but as a calamity. A calamity that mostly struck their foes, but was still a force of nature that would obliterate any who stood in its way.


    Unfortunately for Terrasin, Sir Forus knew as much and added those details to Terrasin¡¯s report after she finished speaking.


    ¡°That is only to be expected, is it not?¡± Heidall sighed again, ¡°but what I am going to say next must not leave this tent and is the reason I called this meeting. To be honest, I have been working up the courage to even speak about the issue.¡±


    Terrasin frowned, that abrupt sentence was ominous- especially because it dismissed all the other concerns as secondary in comparison. Terrasin thought she knew about all the various issues that would come up, but since it was not about Lucas¡¯s usage of souls, she really had no idea what could elicit this kind of reaction from Heidall.


    Heidall took a deep breath and said a single sentence that stunned everyone in the room, his expression utterly serious and intense.


    ¡°The gods want Lucas dead.¡±

 [Dropped + Rewrite]

    So I disapeared for a while.  It turns out that being so depressed you try to kill yourself is a bad thing, and I had to get some help for a while.  However, I have returned and am picking up the pieces I dropped when I collapsed all those months ago.


    Which brings me to this announcement:  A Broken World is going to be rewritten from the start and everything I have written so far is being scrapped.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    I know it is kind of an "Ouch," moment- espcially for those of you who came to enjoy this world.  But looking over what I wrote, I can do better.  A lot better.  And that is why you shouldn''t worry about seeing this world or story disappear, but look forward to the new and improved version coming very soon.


    I hope to see you all in the new, A Broken World, and I thank you all for the incredible paitience you''ve had with me.


    -Vladerag

 [Rewrite now up + announcements]

    So the first chapter of the rewrite has passed Royal Roads submission process, and you can find the fiction page here:  https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/24374/a-broken-world-rewrite</a>


    As I said before, its basically this same story that you chose to follow, only moreso.  You can essentially look at this version as the first and the new one as the second, perhaps final, draft.


    The other announcements hinted at by the title are a little more complicated, and to a certain extent, still being worked out.  The basic rundown is that very little will be changing for readers here on Royal Road from what my original vision was.  All of the stories I have published will be receiving weekly updates, each on their own day, at noon.


    Stories like "Mystic Ink" and "A Dungeon Core" will be resuming sometime before next Monday (probably tomorrow for Mystic Ink and the day after for A Dungeon Core) with stories like "The 212 Crisis," "RADE," "Pathos," and "The Illuminating Heroes," arriving together this Sunday.  The later four will quite possibly also be undergoing rewrites, but due to their limited popularity and rather short current length they will not be resubmitted to Royal Road, but the chapters will be deleted, rewritten, and reuploaded.


    Patrons, however, will be seeing much more of a change- at least by volume.  My health issues have left me essentially jobless for the current and forseeable future- the consequence of which is that I will be doing a lot more writing and will be able to reward those incredibly gracious folk with a lot more value.


    Originially, my Patrons were able to read chapters early- but still essentially received the same number of chapters as anyone else per week.  Now, without anything else to do but write, I will be giving my Patrons two chapters per week instead of one at the least, with some weeks hitting three or four depending on how I feel and how well the writing goes.


    This is, to a certain extent, because I wish to show my appreciation and thanks for the people who were supporting me even when I had no content to release and to whom I feel extreme gratitude.  Even if the contribution was small in the grand scheme of things, my personal situation, both in terms of health and finances meant that it was greatly appreciated.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    And while that was the main catalyst for this growth in the chapters they will be receiving, there is another factor.  Overall, I want to increase the value of becoming my Patron- something I have always worried about from the start.  Many, if not most, of the other novels I have investigated allow Patrons to read chapters early at the five dollar mark as opposed to my one dollar tier.  Being able to read chapters early as a one dollar Patron is absolutely NOT changing!  As I feel that even at that rate, when compared to a novel bought off a shelf, the value of my work is hardly sufficient.  That feeling is also a part of the reason Patrons will be seeing an increase in the amount of chapters they can read a week by two to four times.


    However, as a direct result I will likely struggle to earn nearly as much as other Web Novels do on their Patreon pages- which is why I am revisiting what my $5 Patrons will be receiving as rewards.  Originally, it was mostly extra content- a lot of which never really materialized as I became more and more depressed.


    While the extra art, writing notes, and odd ideas and drafts that never made it into the actual chapters will still be part of the reward for five dollar Patrons, the rewards for that tier will be expanding.  While that is something I am still thinking about, monthly AMA''s and looks at other stories I have started (but am not writing regularly, more as breaks between other works) are definite additions that are coming and any other suggestions- from Patrons or otherwise- are welcome.


    This is, quite probably, the last notification you will be receiving from this particular work.  All other announcements will be on my Patreon page or in the Author''s notes of other stories chapters.  While I am a little sad to say that, (and not entirely sure why I am sad) the rewrite is something I look forward to immensely and I hope to see all of you there.


    Patron or Reader, I thank all of you for your support and your incredibly understanding natures.  In particular, for their continued support and faith in me even when I had neither faith in, nor will to support, myself, I would like to thank and acknowledge the following:


    Hroar Jordan


    Tyraelll


    Krakatal


    Mia


    Antoine-Ali Zarrouk


    And with a special mention to those who ended their support after waiting far longer than they needed to for a screw up like me to get his act together.


    Seijax


    Ventches


    Romen Martin


    Patarn


    I have no idea how, but I will find a way to reward all of you for your support.  Thank you very much.