Qing's Quest book 2, Chapter 29: My friend's enemy

Qing shook his head at Princess Ghida’s question, feeling Knut, Morgana, and Jorik’s eyes on him. 

“No. Mana isn’t currently my bottleneck.” 

Her sculpted eyebrows shot up. “Is your regen so high?”

“No. What stops me is the cooldown of my spells. That, and Wazir…his power. It was overwhelming. The combat didn’t last long enough for me to use my spells multiple times. But, what do you know of magic?” Qing asked her. 

“I am an elementalist,” she said. 

“Really?” 

“Yes, really. Why? Does it surprise you a princess can cast spells?” 

Qing sputtered. “An alien plucked me from my world, sent me to another planet, and given a quest to defeat the literal Devil. I’ve seen demons rise from the earth, souls melded like clay, and had my name written across the sky. A princess casting magic spells? Doesn’t even break top twenty for me this week.”

“Well…” She shifted in her seat. “In that case. I hope you can help. Wazir is siphoning magic from the land, gathering it in the pyramid. With it he plans to raise an army of the dead that will let him conquer our three neighbouring kingdoms.” 

“An army of the dead,” Morgana said, looking to Knut, “how original.”

Jorik picked up the story. “Zylphadia faces an alliance of Pearlhaven, Thulenore, and Torildheim. After King Sharyar forged Zylphadia into one kingdom, it was his strength of will, and frankly, the economy, that held them at bay.”

“Gold, dug by slaves, flowed to the kingdoms, with goods flowing back,” Knut said to Qing. “In essence, he paid them to stay away and fight amongst themselves instead. Trade with Zylphadia became too profitable to disrupt.”

“True,” Jorik said. “But Wazir has put a halt to it all. The flow of gold stopped and goods were seized. He even killed ambassadors. He’s baiting them into attacking. To send their armies onto Zylphadian soil. And when they do, he will unleash an army of the ancients. Their mortal warriors won’t stand a chance. And with their armies dead, none may oppose him. Zylphadia will grow until it’s taken over every realm known to us.”

“I might sound like an asshole, but isn’t this general politics?” Qing said. “Not exactly end of the world stuff, but more like the beginning of a shit period in your history. We’ve had plenty of those periods where I’m from, and while it would be good to stop, there won’t even by any kingdoms for Zylphadia to conquer unless we stop the Devil’s return.”

“Don’t you want to make sure there is a world left that is worth saving?” Ghida asked, leaning forward, tapping a delicate finger on the table.

Qing leaned back and crossed his arms, looking at the four people surrounding the table. Knut was his friend and ally. Jenny wasn’t here, but he would save her, no matter what happened. Morgana…she was still a question mark. The others were strangers. One frightening oddball with loose hands, and the other a beautiful princess. He thought back on the movies and the books he had consumed.

He shook his head. “Don’t overestimate a person’s ability to take over the world. If Wazir succeeds, it might be horrible, but it is doubtful to be the end of everything. You and everyone you know and care for might be in deep shit, but eventually, his reign would end. Wazir would grow old and die, or someone would kill him. Humanity would rise again. But if hell spills over onto earth, you would be left with a bare remnant of humanity from which to rebuild. If the Devil so chooses. But considering they locked him up and threw away the key, he might not show any restraint this time around.”

“But—” the princess started saying, but Qing held up a hand. 

“Despite this, we have a saying, which is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Too often, that means you work with assholes. In this case, the enemy of my friend is my enemy, and we can both benefit from helping each other out. Also, our enemies seem to be friends.”

Ghida chuckled. “The friend of my enemy is my enemy?” 

“Let’s make this easy,” Morgana said. “You help us stop Rufus and get Cleo back alive, and we will help you take down Wazir.” 

“We could use a princess and a former court jester with knowledge and allies in the court,” Knut said. 

“And you need raw power and the sharp edge of a stick,” Qing said, cracking his knuckles. 

Morgana grinned at the princess. “You hear that, Knut? You get to be her sharp stick.”

A look of disgust passed across the princess’ face. “Jorik, will you come with me for a minute?” She rose gracefully and elegantly strode into the kitchen. Jorik followed.

Morgana waggled her body, fingers walking in the air. “Look how she traipses around, as if she’s born to walk on air. Ridiculous.”

“Is this the time to take on another challenge?” Knut asked, ignoring Morgana.

“Something tells me our goals are more closely aligned than we think,” Qing said, leaning in. “You were both right. We lack information, and if anyone can provide it, it’s them. With Wazir protecting Rufus, we need the allies.” 

“But dragging a spoiled princess along?” Morgana asked. “How is that not going to get us all killed? She’s not exactly…anonymous.”

Qing looked up at the ceiling.

Wonder what meimei thinks of me running around with a literal princess. If only this was a video game and she’d be in the chat…

Qing sighed.

A few minutes later, the princess and Jorik returned. “Agreed,” she said. “We will help you with Rufus, and in return, you help us dispose of Wazir.”

“Excellent,” Knut said, clapping his hands together with a smile. “And to start off our newfound friendship, would you please explain to me why we are here? It sounds nearly like a joke. When does a princess call a jester, uncle?”

Ghida’s dark eyes turned to Jorik, and for the first time since Qing had seen her, she beamed a smile. “He was always there for me growing up, protecting and caring for me, like an uncle from the stories, those who put you ahead of themselves. He defended me from the more unpleasant sides of the court, like my real uncles. They only ever wanted something for themselves.” Her face darkened, and she took a deep breath. “Every single one of them support Wazir. But when they forced Jorik out of the court, he gave me the scroll of astral teleportation. It was my get-out-of-palace-free card. One I did not expect or intend to use so soon, nor in such poor circumstances.”

“With your close connection, will they come searching?” 

Ghida and Jorik exchanged a glance. 

“They will,” she said.

“But they will not find you,” Jorik added. 

“What is your plan for stopping Rufus?” Ghida asked. 

Qing scratched the back of his neck and looked at Knut, who shrugged. “Well…”

“Please, tell us.” 

“I was going to chop his head off,” Qing said. 

“That’s your entire plan!?” 

“Well, so far, we’ve focused on finding him,” Qing said, shifting in his seat. “We got pretty close, getting into your court, but then…” He trailed off.

“That’s not a plan. It’s a wish!” she said, looking shocked. “Not only that, but from your aura, I can tell that your elements are imbalanced.” She leaned forward, and Qing forced himself not to glance down. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re showing early signs of thaumaturgic thrombosis. How you can have both, I have no idea. But you’ve also managed to get the entire kingdom after you.” She sighed and turned to Jorik. “Did we gain allies or an anchor?”

“I didn’t bring them here, little sister,” Jorik said. “You did.”

“Yes. I did, didn’t I?” she said, slowly nodding. 

Silence spread as they all looked at each other.

“We need information,” Ghida said, pursing her full lips. “If we can find out what Rufus is trying to do, then we can anticipate their actions.”

“How can we—” Qing trailed off as a window appeared in front of his eyes. He balled his hands into fists and punched the air. “Yes!”

Quest: [Find the book of the Ashen Witch]

To learn about the Devil’s prison, find the book of the Ashen Witch. 

-Objective: Find the book of the Ashen Witch (0/1)

-Reward: [A level two skill-book]

-Reward: 1 skill-point

His shout filled the room, and he jumped up. The others scrambled to their feet, looking around. Qing grabbed Morgana by the shoulders and shook her in excitement. 

“I got a new quest!”

Thank you, GG. Finally, some guidance.

The others settled, seeing no threats. 

“Does this happen often?” the princess asked.

“Yes,” Morgana said, fixing her hair. “He’s something unique alright.”

As Qing sat down and re-read the text, sharing the details with the group, Morgana trailed her hand up his neck. He waved a hand at her, not really paying attention. “We need to find something called the book of the Ashen Witch,” he said after Knut had explained to them that Qing sometimes got premonitions from the Gods. “But it doesn’t say where we can find the book, only that it can teach us off—”

“Boss!” A skinny kid sprinted into the room, shouting for Jorik. He skidded to a halt, hands on knees, gasping. “Soldiers…running…killing…searching,” he bit out each word, fighting for breath. “Bad company!”

“This way,” Jorik said, leaping to his feet and rushing towards the bar. On the way, he flicked a coin to the boy, who snapped it out of the air before disappearing back out.

The group scrambled over, and Jorik placed his hands on the shimmering glass orb that sat on the bar desk, and it started humming. Then, with a shake of his shoulder, he pulled his arm back, but it now ended in a stump, the hand having stayed attached to the orb. He pushed the stump inside his clothes, and when it reappeared, another hand was attached. He placed his hand next to the other two, and the hum deepened to a thrum. With a rumble, a section of the floor lowered, settling into a ramp. 

“Get down and be quiet,” he said. “And…don’t touch anything!”

Morgana stared wide-eyed at the three hands. Bones, flesh, and blood vessels, everything in the wrist could be seen clear cut as if sealed within a glass pane. Ghida was the first to descend, skirt held high. 

“Be smart,” Jorik said as Knut passed him. “Just stay quiet and wait for me.”

“Where is the jester?” they heard from outside. 

Qing grabbed Morgana’s arm and pushed her down the ramp. Beads of sweat ran down Jorik’s face, and he gritted his teeth as if in great pain. 

“Thank you,” Qing said, walking down.

Jorik winced in pain and removed his hands.

The stairs ascended, and Qing dove forward, pulling his feet in, narrowly avoiding being crushed.