M.D.Syl

M.D.Syl posts

This chapter is dedicated to Counter of Kills for reaching a hundred kills and adding another lightsaber to his collection… um… I mean… for helping me with various questions, giving me a few good reads, and some really useful advice and edit suggestions for my work. Thank you! <3

Chapter 100 Confrontation.

The past is set.
The future is ever-changing.
But the present is when you live.
Or die.

Tiyadi, the Silver Lord of Time.

Myrsha <Pull> I attract a wooden shield from the dead archer at my side. “Kalidor!” <Circle!> The shield settles between me and Janara's projectiles, shielding my head and upper body from the hail of pebbles. “Myrsha kalfit.” <Gravity lightweight.> I run up the stairs, trying not to trip on the pebbles hitting my legs as my weight is gradually reduced.

As the pebbles and bricks come flying, multiple vines grow out of the wooden stairs and wall.

“Latsa ni!” <Lift me!> using the 'Jump' spell I jump off the side of the wooden stairs into the city, avoiding the vines that are growing out of the wall. The jump carries my lighter body to a nearby thatch rooftop. I pass above a small field of flailing vines on the ground below the stair case. Janara anticipated that I’d be forced off the stairs, but not my wide jump.

I take out a bronze arrowhead with my mind, lift it above my floating wooden shield and aim at Janara’s head: “Ritsa!” <Repulse!>

I wince when she ducks under my shot, her lips moving.

I am very low on mana, I’ve drained all of my necklace… I have half a pool left in air and water, full pool of wood, and barely anything left in light and fire... gravity got emptied before the battle even started... playing a catapult was a waste of mana…

Focus! I still got my gems left, I’ll drain them… but I have to be careful, I’m nearing my limit here, I have to finish this fast… If push comes to shove I can try drinking both my mana potion and lightning body potion and hope for the best… I’ll most likely die… I shouldn’t be so stupid…

I can’t stay grounded, she controls the earth with these vines!

As if she’s reading my thoughts, the wooden walls holding the touch roof sprout vines. I sigh and drain mana from my gems. “Latsa ni!” <Lift me!> I jump to the next rooftop.

“Anfero!” <Ignite!> Janra calls out from the street below. A spark floats upward and the thatch I land on is set alight the hems of my skirt catching fire.

“Latsa ni!” <Lift me!> I jump to the next rooftop. My skirts fluttering in the wind, and the bit of fire snuffs out with my violent movement. 'Ignite' is only a spark, if I don’t let the fire build up it won’t have to worry about burning.

Most of this roof is missing, a boulder collapsed into the half destroyed house below.

“Kushgari yefa!” <Metal fly!> Janara screams, using my own spell. Unlike my use of it—shooting one or two arrow heads—she looses at least eight of them at once. My orbiting shield jumps into place, blocking the incoming hail.

A copper bolt punctures my shin. It exists halfway from the other side, and slides down against the back of my leg, leaving a warm trail of blood. Burning pain blooms all the way to my knee and forces me to drop to one knee. Another bolt whistles near my ear. The rest of the bolts knock on the shield like rain on window shutters, one of them even penetrates the wooden board, but loses its momentum and falls off my chest without hurting me.

I let myself fall into the hole in the roof, collapsing on my wounded leg. The wooden walls hide me from the angry woman outside. I know I'm gaining very little time with my temporary cover.

A young man is stuck under the boulder that crashed into this house. His legs are flattened under the heavy rock. A middle aged woman who I assume to be his mother is holding his hand in tears. She snaps toward me in alarm, holding a frying pan in my direction. “D-don’t come any closer!”

I ignore the two and gulp a potion of pain tolerance followed by a healing potion. With my broken hand, it’s the only thing I can do for now, a lesser healing potion does nothing for bones. I can't cast 1st level spells anyway with my broken hand, I don't need a lot of focus for cantrips. Maybe I should try anyway, if I could just fly...

The pain fades. I drain the mana of my gems, and move my hands in the gestures. It’s near impossible to cast with a broken hand, but I don’t have time for pain, that’s what the potion is for. I grit my teeth and do my best to cast my flying spell, forcing my broken hand to move in the correct gesture with my ‘Minor Telekinesis’.

Despite the pain tolerance potion, my vision turns dark for a brief moment. I wobble in place as the numb pain assails my wounded arm. With the odd numbness in my head, it’s impossible to weave this many mana patterns, much less concentrate on the correct chant.

I open my eyes to see roots sprouting from the broken section of the wall, flailing and growing in my direction. The middle aged woman snaps at the roots, screaming and hitting them with her frying pan, mindless rage etched on her face.

“Get out of here!” I call out to the woman. “Out!” she ignores me.

I raise my voice to a scream. “Janara! There are bystanders in here!”

The ground beneath the house rambles. Great… I just gave her my position like an idiot… If this stupid woman doesn’t want to save herself, it’s not my problem anymore!

I press my healthy hand on the wall behind me. “Myrsha ritsa!” <Gravity repulse!> Wooden shrapnels fly everywhere. I climb through the hole in the wall, and collapse on the ground outside.

A rocky pillar rises from the ground below the house I just left, crumbling the fragile wooden structure entirely. I can hear the woman scream underneath the rubble as I limp away to hide behind another house.

The pillar disappears into the ground and raises again with Janara on top of it, her green eyes searching for me in the destroyed house. Her pillar is only growing taller and taller.

Janara can’t see me. The pillar grows vines, and they wrap themselves around Janara’s waist and legs, anchoring her in place. “Inara, you coward! Stop hiding like a boggart!”

As you wish. Felul felik! <Wind airblade!> I aim a surgical windblade at her throat from my hiding place. A group of vines snap into place, getting partially cut instead of her throat.

“Rod’ena!” She screams and points at me. Vines wraps tightly around my legs and pull me down like ropes. Along with the pressure on my still wounded leg, I find myself kneeling before I know it.

My last chance! Nim <water> Ri rinim <stop to ice> I create a small blob of water, turn it to ice and float it to my mouth, cooling it.

“There you are, you little cunt! Think you can get away again?!” The vines wrap themselves around my waist.

I struggle, but to no avail. Felul <wind> I control the breeze, pretending to be defeated. Only when the vines tie up my hands, does Janara leaves her pillar and gets closer.

“You fucking half-blood cunt! If you think I’ll just forgive…”

Janara shouts in Toml'a. I shut her voice out, waiting for her to draw closer. Once she stands right in front of me, I form the patterns with my mana for the cantrip. Shanim rial <Vapor cold> I breathe out the cloud of vapors, making sure they head her way with my wind.

“Myrsha samir!” <Gravity protects!> Janara shouts in a panic.

A ring on Janara’s hand flashes purple, and a solid blue bubble forms around her. This is the fifth rank version of “Kinetic Defense” spell, it’s three colors higher of what I can cast. A spell that's capable of stopping objects entirely and should last for a minute unless canceled, a first level spell. This rank is even capable of stopping temperature.

Frost gathers up on the blue bubble, Janara watches it with hateful eyes. I keep breathing the vapors, hoping that her shield will drop. The blue of the shield flickers and the bubble turn green, Janara shivers and steps back, patches of ice forms on her green dress, but the shield doesn’t disappear.

Only once I’m out of breath, Janara removes the shield. “You think you can just…”

I take a deep breath, draining more gems through my neck-pool. “Tans fiuak!” <Loud badsound!> I scream at her. A shrill scream amplified by magic.

Janara winces and covers her ears. Blood trails on her wrist out of her ears, and a little trickle down her nostril.

A vine enters my mouth, cutting my scream. I gurgle and bite the vines, struggling to eject the invasive bitter greenery that twists in my throat and pins my tongue down.

Another vine strangles me as I choke for another desperate breath. The vines pull me backward to the ground, forcing me to lay down on my back with my legs bent under me awkwardly.

“Done? Fuck!” Janara kicks my ribs violently. “This is for Purson!” I cough without a voice, it feels like the vine in my throat is reaching all the way down to my very lungs. I’m going to die!

She stomps my chest. “This is for Oshi!” I can’t breathe! I CAN’T BREATHE!

She knees my head and my mask cracks against my forehead. “And this is for me!” The vine around my neck tightens up, and the one inside my throat pushes even deeper. My vision darkens, I can barely see through the blood that fills the eyeholes of the mask. NO! I’M NOT DYING HERE! I CAN’T!

With a cold breeze, Janara’s body freezes solid. Turning her into an icy statue.

Zoe… phew…

The vines gets pulled out of my mouth by a pair of hands I can't see.

*Cough cough* “Thanks, Zoe…” I don’t finish that sentence, I violently puke my guts out on the muddy ground. My body and ribs cramp with each torrent of puke. At least there's no pain...

*Clack* something clicks around my neck. “Gatchya!” A metallic collar strains against my nape, a strong hand pulls it upward, pulling me up to my knees.

“I’m sure you missed me terribly, ladies.” A tanned man in blue regal robe circles me. He’s followed by a group of soldiers in blue. His mocking grin is something I can never forget. King Luard, the man who took Lezere from me. No… he’s not having me as his prisoner! He’s…

“Snake it, Luard. Tiara is still alive and my army is still out there,” Janara says hatefully. Only now do I notice that her head is unfrozen, and she has a similar iron collar around her neck.

“Look around you, Phoebe, your army is destroyed. As for that Tiara girl, we both know she’s no match for me. You’ve lost, both of you! And I’ve won!” He wears a mad smile on his face.

My teeth are chattering, I don’t know if it was due to fear of what Luard is going to do to me, or the cold air coming from Janara’s frozen body. No! Where is Sharla? And Jerro?! Wasn’t Berthold supposed to notify me before this guy comes back?! What the hell happened to them?!

I glance around, I count at least ten soldiers in blue near us, forming a circle that keeps most of the melee away from our spot. There are more of them pouring into the city, fighting my orcs and Janara soldiers alike. A three way chaotic melee ensues around us, men scream and curse, metal clings against metal, and blood pours across the muddy ground. I gasp as a large female orc grabs a human soldier by the helmet and removes his head with a quick swing. I'm not dying like that!

“What about you, Inara? You must be wondering what happened to your little spy girl.” He laughs, almost dancing with glee. “You sent me such an excellent wife. I enjoyed nailing her so much that I nailed her to a road stone. She screamed, begged, called out for you. She was such a delicate thing. I really enjoy spies, they have a little spice, don’t you think? Ah yes, you were asking what happened to her... She died, horribly, lost too much blood, and I’m going to do the same with you soon. I’ll nail you, I’ll brand you, and then kill you, slowly…”

I’ll not scream! I’ll not struggle! I’ll not give you the satisfaction… Apathy… this is just a nightmare… none of it is real… I do my best to keep my apathetic expression, it’s rather easy with a mask on.

“No screaming? No begging? This can’t do!” He tugs my hair and punches my face violently, shattering my mask to sharp bits that pierce my skin.

Yet, I don’t make any noise, I don’t even feel the full extent of the pain, only a ghostly numbed version of the pain. My pain tolerance potion is still in effect of course. This weird fact sneaks into my head at such an odd time.

He drives a broken piece of my mask and scars my already mutilated face. He pushes the sharp piece deeper, the corners of his mouth rise in a sickening smile.

He grabs my face forcefully and leans closer, his eyes glow blue a centimeter from mine. “You took away everything I had. EVERYTHING!!!" He yells, spittle hitting my face. "I want you to suffer!" he says through gritted teeth. "And believe me, you’re going to suffer. I’ll be playing with you for days. I’ll nail you! Get used to hot branding metal on your skin. I want you to know that. And I want you to know that there’s nothing you can do about it.” He lets my face go, and the world turns white for a brief moment when he punches me again.

I clench my teeth, trying not to make any noise. Even with my potion it hurts, it’s bearable, but it hurts. He keeps punching me, over and over. Blood pours out of my painful nose, and I swallow a tooth before he finally stops. I’m going to kill you the moment I get the chance!

If I ever get the chance… I’m all alone now… Sharla, Berthold, and Jerro are probably dead or this wouldn’t have happened… Kolag is either dead or imprisoned, or Janara wouldn’t be attacking… Zoe, Salik and Ryon are the only ones left… I hope they’re alive at least…

Enough… I need apathy if I’m going to survive this madman…

The world turns dull, and none of it seems real anymore.

*~*~*

Interlude 100.1

Zoe.

Zoe wipes the vomit from the edge of her mouth. She pants heavily, gasping for air. She watches the men in green, frozen in place. She did this. She had never killed before today, cockroaches maybe, but never humans. She did this. She shouldn’t have entered the city, she should’ve waited for the orcs to do the killing.

But she has to know, she has to know if they’re ok.

Two more streets, only two more streets and she’ll know.

The streets are littered with corpses, men with arrows and crossbow bolts sprouting out of them. Men with their guts spilled on the mud. Men without their heads or missing limbs. Someone crawl on the ground, it’s a man wearing green, this is one of the men who brought war and madness to her home.

Both of his legs are missing, he’s leaving a bloody trail in the mud. “Water…” he gasps at her.

She takes a deep breath. Nothing justifies this, but the man is dying, she’ll give him his dying wish. She is a good sorceress after all. “Nim.” <Water.> She summons a few blobs of water, she still have some mana left for this at least.

She kneels near the man, floating the blobs of water to his mouth, he gulps down with a sigh. “Thank you…” he passes out, head resting in the bloodied mud.

Two streets and she’ll know. Only two streets. Two streets of corpses and madness. She’ll have nightmares about this for sure.

Only two streets, only one street. She’s home. Her heart stops beating.

Grandma is on the floor, her guts form a long bloody snake across the living room. Eler is impaled to the wall. And Sima took her own life, bloodied knife still in her hand. Two men in green are mutilated besides them. The world stops, nothing matters anymore. Zoe heads for the nearest seat, her legs can’t carry her anymore.

“Mina?” Her sister sits on the couch, breastfeeding her baby as if the bloody scene isn’t there. She doesn’t react to her name. “Mina!” Zoe shakes her.

The brown dead eyes of her sister focus on her for the briefest moment, then roll back as Mina faints. Zoe reaches for little Olsan, catching him just in time.

She cradles the baby. Everything matters! Zoe will do everything she can to protect her sister and her baby! She will make sure they make it! She has to! For everyone’s sake!

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 17 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1665 Magic Gems. 136 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
1 potions of Lesser Healing.
4 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100

Present Companions:
Luard the King.
Janara of Winemaker Village.

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Bruises. Cuts on the face. Broken ribs.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children ?. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,243 orcs. 294 orc children. 164 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: ?

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-07-25 16:27:56 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 100 in color

2023-07-25 16:27:20 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 99 colorless

Chapter 99 War Wounds.

I’m blood crimson and red.
Scarlet thick, the color of dread.
I bring life, I show pain, from toes to head.
Yet, everyone lusts for me, without consent.

Mayan, the Ocean Fairy.

I wake up with a thumping headache. There’s something wet on my face and upper body.

“You’re injured, Your Majesty.” I see Lepp’s face. “Try not to touch the arrows. We need a healer.”

“Snok hider.” <Snake healer.> I say, but my mouth doesn’t function properly with an arrow stuck in it.

I whimper, the pain is too much.

I can’t even drink a healing potion or a pain tolerance potion with my mouth being torn like that… Just bear through this pain… I can’t… I have to! I’ve done worse! I’ve chopped my own hand! Just pull the damn thing out!

Screaming, I pull the arrow out of my cheek. Blood pours out in volumes, filling my mouth. I cough, trying to swallow instead of breathing it into my lungs. I look at the piece of my own flesh stuck around the barbed head. I pant heavily, covered in sweat. My heart beats loudly in my ears. I drink one of my healing potions but it doesn’t work. What’s wrong?! Heal! Maybe I can’t heal with an arrow stuck inside my back…

I look at the arrow I pulled out. It’s steel. Of course I can’t heal. That’s what cancels the magic from the healing potion.

The iron in the steel can’t stop a spell that is already actively working, not efficiently anyway. But as long as it maintains contact with my body, it would cancel the activation of a new magical effect. Such as the healing potion, which is essentially a healing spell trapped in liquid.

I probably crashed because the spell ran out of time… I couldn’t add any prolonging patterns… Or the pain was too much to keep my patterns in place…

“Poll de arrow.” I order Lepp, gesturing at the arrow in my back.

“Your Grace, you shouldn’t…”

“Poll de arrow!” I scream at him. “I con heal fhen is out!”

He nods and tugs the arrow in my back.

It feels like my shrill screams belongs to a stranger, as if someone else gets their guts torn open right now. Something numbs in my own brain, the pain is too much, it feels like I’m going to lose my conscious again. I bite my tongue, but I can barely feel it. I only note it, detached.

Lepp stops pulling the arrow. I can tell it’s still stuck in my back.

I gasp, traitorous tears rolling down my bloodied cheek. I cough and vomit blood, bathing in my own sweat, unable to move a muscle. I need a healing potion! Fast!!! “Poll de snoking arrow!!!” I screech at him again.

He pushes me down, and makes me lay face down on the muddied ground. He bends the arrow to the side, twisting it in my guts, before yanking it out. “There! Out!” he declares angrily.

I find myself hyperventilating. Still unable to move. “Potion…” I form the pattern for ‘Minor Telekinesis’ and pulls a healing potion from my belt bag.

He spills it on my back. I let out a relieved sigh when the pain alleviates. I takes some of the potion from my back and rub some of my cheek. The wound on my cheek closes too.

I stand up and cough a little blood. But I feel much better than I did a minute ago. The soothing effect now removed the pain entirely. I touch my cheek and lower back making sure I’m fully healed. That guy fires like Berthold, he’s dangerous! I’m going to find that archer and kill him!

“Thank you Lepp.” I should also take a 'Pain Tolerance' potion... just in case... No. Bad idea... It's numbing, it makes focusing harder, and I won't be able to cast as many patterns. There's also a danger of having no pain, I wouldn't know I was hit if I never felt it.

“It was an honor, Your Grace.”

An honor huh? “Here. For saving my life.” I hand him ten magical gems.

“Myrsha, nia tsaf lah, lah shitol ni latsa lah, fel ka’am J’an nia kent.” <Gravity, I command you, you will give me to defy you, and move as I want.> I cast ‘Lesser Flight’ again and take off, using my necklace as my mana source. The purple speck of light circling and darting around me.

As I pass above the enemy army, I no longer fly in a predicted pattern. “Nimuwal!” <water unlimited!> I cast my ‘Water Jet’ cantrip again, moving the torrent of water above the remnant of enemy soldiers.

The arrows come flying again. I make sure to actively dodge this time, not flying in the same half circle above the enemy, and definitely not stopping midair to observe the situation. I jerk back and forth in the air without any set pattern. An arrow misses my leg by mere centimeters, it’s enough to give me a general direction of the archer.

I abandon my distracting water jet, and bolt toward the spot in the wall where the accurate arrow came from. I dodge and weave to avoid getting hit. Another arrow misses my head.

This time I spot the archer on the wall. A middle-aged man in a green bloodied cloak, aiming a tall longbow at me. He releases another arrow, and I roll in the air, letting the arrow fly slightly above me. You bastard! He drops the bow and turns to run, going down the stairs that leads into the city.

Oh, you won’t be getting away! I fly above the wall and float less than a meter above of him. “Reviss, kas!” <Energy, feed!> He’s halfway of drawing his swords when my invisible electricity causes him to spasm in place. I float down to face him, let the spell go, and aim my finger at his exposed neck. “Felul felik!” <Wind cut!>

I watch with satisfaction as a thin cut appears on his throat. The blood gushes out and he holds his throat, trying to stop it.

I soar back up, but something holds my legs. Three vines are wrapped around my legs, anchoring me to the wooden stairs halfway up the wall, they crank against my ‘Lesser Flight’ spell.

I spot a hated face from the city’s street below. Oshi Darkheart. She wears a padded green outfit, sticks her tongue out at me, and wink with a maniacal grin. A pair of stony wall pieces slowly floats behind her. These have clearly been torn off one of the nearby houses.

She gives me a curtsy, and point at me. “Kushrif yefa!” <____ fly!> The stony pieces of walls around her shoot out hundreds of small bricks, rocks, and pebbles at an extreme speed.

“Myrsha samir!” <gravity protects!> My “kinetic defense” shows up around me. The barrage thuds on the orange bubble and gets thrown away like it hit a wall.

The archer to my right who was still standing—although gurgling and trying to staunch the flow of his blood—gets stoned against the wooden wall to my right. A pebble leaves a bloody mark on his temple, and a broken brick tears through his abdomen. He collapses trying to hold his guts in.

I shudder. I really shouldn't let her hit me with that... I’m forced to cancel my flying spell if I want to have more patterns to cast.

“Felul felik!” <Wind aircut!> I attempt to cut the vines holding my legs, but only one out of three gets cut. "Rod'ena." <Vines.> I grow my own vines to tug Oshi's vines off my legs.

*Fwooop* with a weird sound, my defensive bubble collapses before its duration. A large catapult boulder hits my defenses.

“Ritsa!” <Repulse!> I call out in a desperate attempt to stop the boulder from hitting me, I weave amplified patterns into it. The boulder slows from the cantrip's shockwave, but it’s too heavy for 'Repulse' even an amplified one. My amplified cantrip isn’t strong enough to even halt it in place. The boulder crashes into my left hand, the crack is loud enough to tell me I broke it. My back is pressed against the wooden wall and the boulder presses me against the wall. I gasp, it hurts, but compared to before it's not as bad.

I can hear Oshi laughing in delight behind the boulder. “Kumral,” she says, and the boulder that's crushing me begins to roll, pushing and grinding me into the wooden wall. She’s toying with me!

Myrsha kalfit <gravity lightweight> I cast silently as I put my healthy right hand against the boulder at an angle. I drain away its weight slowly. I can’t reach my rose pouch for a spell, nor can I cast it with my throbbing arm.

I start screaming, to keep the pretense of being crushed and tortured. I don’t have to actually pretend, my arm throbs with immense pain, my inner organs are squeezed, and my breasts scream being tugged by the rolling rock. My spine and ribs feels like they’ll crack under the pressure, and I can barely keep my chin above the rolling surface of the round boulder. I barely just recovered from the arrow, this is not helping!

I can hear Oshi laughing behind the boulder. She enjoys my screams. “Oshi! Please!” I shout. Her laughter intensifies, the boulder spins even faster, and now her purplish gas spreads around the boulder. The gas obscure and burns my exposed skin, luckily my face is covered by a mask, and it doesn’t hinder my sight too much.

“Nalfit is no longer here to protect you, precious. Any final words?” she mocks.

The weight crushing me slowly disappears, and after half a minute, the boulder feels like a large coarse sack of potatoes that rolls against me.

I let out another shriek. Thanks for toying with me Oshi. Lezere was right, torturing and toying with an enemy that might kill you is a bad idea… I’m going to kill you now…

Oshi continues her smug monologue. “Or you could scream. I really enjoy your screams precious. Yes you are dying. Yes, this is the…”

Ritsa! <Repulse!> The boulder is sent flying.

Oshi is standing two stairs below me, the boulder misses her by a small margin. Her amber ringed eyes open like a pair of spotted oranges, her mouth agape.

I close my eyes. “Revissor ak!” <Light strong!>

The stunned woman barely regains her wits, she breathes another cloud of gas in my general direction. Felul! <Wind!> “Hod myrsha.” <Ground pull.> I cast the two cantrips simultaneously, weaving wind and gravity mana separately. Since I’m not influencing the same object, the patterns don’t conflict.

The gas disperses, and Oshi stumbles back on the wooden staircase as the pull of gravity triples for her.

I pounce toward her, pressing my healthy right hand against her collar bones and: “Myrsha ritsa!” <Gravity repulse!>

*THOOOOMP*

I am all too familiar with the sickening gory blast by now, but this time, it’s followed by a cloud of black gas. I dart up the stairs in a panic. “Felul!” <wind!> I call out, dispersing the gas.

The gas disappears with my breeze, exposing Oshi who lay on the ground, her amber eyes open, void of life. I can see her black blood trickling down the wooden stairs through the gaping hole in her upper chest. She doesn’t make a sound, just lay there, lifeless. Is she dead? What was that gas?

Maybe I hit the spot her body stores her acidic breath? It did burn my hand a little… Must be it… good riddance to that bitch… I should finish her off… just to be sure…

“Maaaaaaaaahh!!!” Janara screams as she runs toward me down in corpse littered ground below the wall.

I look at her from my elevated position on the wooden staircase, halfway up to the wall.

Her partially mutilated face is distorted by hate and anger, but I notice that her jawbone is healed now. “I’ll kill you for this!” The ground shakes and shoots pebbles at me by the hundreds. She didn’t even cast, this is sheer anger!

*~*~*

Interlude 99.1

Salik.

Salik hates fighting inside a city. Fighting in the streets is always messy, but the walls are no longer good enough, he has to resort to some good old guerilla tactics. He and his soldiers know this city, the enemy doesn’t, and he’ll take every advantage he can get.

Salik holds his breath. He watches ten of his soldiers in red running away through the muddy alleyway, chased by a group of nearly a hundred men in green.

“Now!” he bellows.

Crossbows click, bolts rain from the windows all around, pinning the clueless soldiers to the ground. Their general isn’t the brightest apple in the pile, easy to deal with. If only Salik had enough men to actually put up a solid fight.

The soldiers in green attempt to retreat, covering themselves with their shields. His old unit would have a shield tortoise by now. His old unit isn’t here, he has to do with what he does have on hand. Adapt to your hand of cards. “Two more volleys and retreat to Koshavi Temple Street,” Salik orders.

Jarik, the man besides him nods. He puts his fingers in his mouth and let out a pair of deafening whistles. This is followed by another volley of crossbow bolts, and a cheer from the houses all around. The last volley hits when the soldiers in green are almost out of the alley.

Salik and his small party rushes through the streets, passing by a terrified woman hugging a child. Fighting in a city is always messy.

His soldiers know the way and Salik follows them. They circle around a large unit in green, using the houses themselves as shortcuts.

This house is bloody. A woman in her fifties, died crawling on the ground, leaving a trail of guts and blood. They were left here to die. She seem to have crawled toward a dead twelve years old boy. The kid is impaled against the wall by a spear, the knife he held dropped on the ground nearby. A young woman in her twenties slit her own throat, she knew all too well what’ll happen if she stays alive.

Salik shakes his head as he passes by a murdered family. Fighting in a city is always messy, he had seen these sights too many times, it never gets easier. One day it’ll be his turn to die in an alleyway, at least he lived a good life. He did some bad with it, true, but a whole lot of good might make up for it. And he had fun. It seems like his death is near. He can tell.

The sound of flesh striking flesh from one of the inner rooms reaches Salik. He raises a fist for his men to hold and opens the door to one of the inner rooms. There are confused noises inside, along with the whimpering of a young woman.

“Yraaaaaa!!”

Salik blinks. As a giant ginger man charges from within the room.

Salik pulls his hand back, but not fast enough to avoid the axe swing. Salik's hand falls off in a torrent of blood. Despite the blood sprouting out, it doesn’t hurt. Adrenaline.

Salik jumps back from the mountain of a man that exits the inner room, the ginger beard on his face marred by blood. “I told you to kill her, Ruphus!” The man in green shouts back. “The reds are here!” The ginger man charges at Salik, Salik steps back, letting his adversary expose himself.

*Twang twang twang.*

The man falls, a dozen of crossbow bolts sprout out of him like a pin cushion.

Another man without a pair of pants comes out of the room while raising a shield. Salik tugs the shield aside with the beard of his axe, dances away from the man’s blade, and slice off the man’s fingers around the handle.

The man falls to his knee, a bolt pinning his shin to the ground, and Salik hacks the man's head, the axe splitting his face in the middle. War make good men into rotten animals, himself included. It’s why he left it behind, it’s why he decided to work small jobs slaying monsters and escorting merchants.

“Sir?” Jarik lifts the detached hand for Salik.

Salik stares at his lost hand, almost curious. He had never lost a limb before. He knew plenty of people who did, he knew plenty of people who died, but none of it ever happened to him before. He’ll probably die today, this is the day. He wraps a piece of cloth tightly around his wrist to stop the bleeding, grabs his detached hand, and tugs it under his arm using the armpit to hold it. “Let’s go!”

“But sir!”

“They won’t wait for us, fix my bandage on the way. Let’s go!”

They leave the house, leaving a shaken woman holding blanket to her chest. War is a terrible business, twice as terrible when the fighting happens inside a city with women and children within the reach of the war animals. He had left it all behind, but it finally came back for him, it finally came back to claim its due.

*~*~*

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 17 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1738 Magic Gems. 63 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
2 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100

Present Companions:

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Bruises. Light acid burns.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,243 orcs. 294 orc children. 164 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,243 Orc Warriors. 800 Levy militia. 900 Footmen. 26 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-07-22 17:34:48 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 99 in color

2023-07-22 17:31:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 98 colorless

Chapter 98 March to War.

March to war, slay your enemies.
Burn their cities to the ground.
Enslave the weak and the unworthy.
Those who do not obey the strong, shall perish.

Nuriss the Bone Chieftess.

Sluka’a no krek! Krek nh’i krekolak! ~~ March to hunt! Slay your prey!
Sra’apo ti-a’arj lorka’ak ~~ Burn dogs’ dens!
Kashla a’ari! Kashla yoma’ari! ~~ Bind weak! Bind sheep!
Ti-a’ari ler korpa’a, boa’ari! ~~ The weak who do not serve, is food!
Grushka’a ti-a’ark kotpo! ~~ Sacrifice we wolves bring!
No nh’i sakra’a la’aoko! ~~ To (shall-our) bone cheiftess!

Marching with an army at my back is a new experience for me, and having an orc tribe backing me up is even weirder. Their language carries on the air, which sounds like a mix of canine growls and guttural human speech.

Occasionally they sing war marches that I don’t understand. I do ask Jolla to translate one of these war marches for me when I grow curious. She obliges with disdain smeared on her face.

Ignoring her disdain, I have her teaching me the orcs’ language. Although at times, it feels like I have to pry out the knowledge from her. Soon enough I find a different alternative with Balgrum as my linguistic teacher, the orc is more than happy to teach me his language.

The orcs takes their housing with them. Since their houses are nothing more than wooden poles holding sewn hides between them, they’re very mobile. The orcs also take their children with them, domestic animals which mainly consists of actual sheep, and of course their slaves.

Aside from the walls and the bonfire in the middle, the orcs take everything from the stronghold.

On the way, I go back to my routine of meditation, training Zoe, and practicing my flying spell until I get used to it.

The march takes longer than I anticipate. Our way to find the orc tribe was rushed on horseback, but we don’t exactly have horses for over a thousand orcs. Not to mention the slaves and the orcish children who are slowing us down. At least these people are used to long marches. They construct their leathery houses each dusk and disassemble them each dawn. And after twelve days of walking, we finally arrive back at Red Cedar City.

{28} Lokamesh (May) the 7th

“My queen, the siege had already begun.” It’s afternoon when Lepp gives his report on one knee. Earlier, I sent him ahead to scout. “The enemy is assaulting the walls from the north and south, the city is about to fall!”

I smooth my purple skirts and turn to the orc at my side. “We’re just in time then. Balgrum! I’m leaving the battle to you. I want to save my city, and destroy the army laying siege to it.”

“Graa’a!” the orc turns to the crowd behind and shouts in their language. “Krekolak Goa’ar! Krek Goa’ar! la’aoko wuala’ak! Ti-a’ark!” <Prey ____! Hunt ____! Grand (bone) Chieftess ____! We wolves!>

“Ti-a’ark! A’ark! A’ark! A’ark! A’ark!” <We wolves! Wolves! Wolves!> The orcs’ loud barking covers me with goosebumps. They charge ahead, war drums beat loud over their battle cries. No plans, no strategy, not even a march, just a simple charge.

They rush forward, screaming war cries from the tops of their lungs. The orcs run between the trees toward the direction of my city. We can’t even see the city from here, and they are already charging.

I press my heels against my horse’s rib and ride with their charge. The horse snorts and shies from the charging orcs, making me regret that I’m not riding Loyal right now, he wouldn’t be bothered by a bunch of orcs.

The forest opens up, showing the destroyed plantations north of the city, now replaced by tents and war machines. Chaos has taken over the wooden walls. Men fighting, screaming, and cursing. I spot ladders all across the walls, which don’t seem all that high at the moment. There are also multiple gaping holes in them. The city gates are open wide with my men slowly being pushed deeper into the city.

I estimate at least two thousand men in green, a color I assume belongs to Janara's soldiers, mine wear red coats. Two thousands. That’s just outside the walls, and from this side. Who knows how many men we’re fighting?

The orcs charge ahead, right through the enemy camp and siege machines at the back. They strike like a black tidal wave into the backside of Janara’s green-cloaked army.

Orcs are much taller than humans. The shortest orc is two meters tall, while some of them reach two and a half. They also have wider shoulders than the average human, they’re natural brutes. The back of the human army falls under their axes like wheat under scythe.

I advance behind them due to my horse being afraid of the orcs. I pass by the corpses the orcs left behind. These corpses lay near piles of round boulders that are used for the catapults. Each of these boulders is at the size of a man, I can’t imagine how the soldiers even carried them to the catapults. I can see the marks these boulders have left on my walls, the places where the wooden walls broke and fell. I could probably lift these boulders… I just have to make them lighter… Yes… I’ve been looking for a way to fight an army, how about throwing rocks at them?

I get off my horse, and tie it up to an abandoned tent pole. I touch the boulder at the top of the pile. “Myrsha kalfit.” <Gravity lightweight> I take nearly half a minute and drain the weight from the boulder, making it lighter and lighter. It’s odd, lifting a massive boulder with my thin hands, but it no longer weighs as much. I aim it upward toward the enemy army and. “Ritsa!” <Repulse!>

The boulder bolts forward, and I cut off my mana while it’s in the air, returning the original weight to the rock while letting it keep the initial momentum it gained from my ‘Repulse’ cantrip. I can’t see the drop, but I can only imagine what it does to the enemy soldiers.

Serving as a human catapult is empowering. Much better than throwing needles like Drusilla… But it costs way too much mana… I’ve just spent above fifteen gems of my gravity mana over a single boulder… I bet earth mages can do this for half the mana…

My ten soldiers take over another catapult and load it. They are more efficient than me, and the next boulder is thrown faster using the catapult. I can do so much more, all I need to do is join that fight. I can throw fire at them, or ice… a frozen water jet will do better than throwing stones.

I pick some rose petal and make the hand gestures. “Myrsha, nia tsaf lah, lah shitol ni latsa lah, fel ka’am J’an nia kent” <Gravity, I command you, you will give me to defy you, and move as I want>

With a small cloud of purple smoke, and a speck of amethyst light from the elemental that circles around me, I soar toward the sky. The battle seems different from a bird’s eye view. The black mass of orcs breaks into the massive green army and pushes them against the wall like a tidal wave. But I also note that my walls have already fallen. There are still a few soldiers in red on them, mainly on the left side of the wall, but they are being pushed back. A small group of soldiers in green already forms up on my streets, prepared to march further into my city.

I fly fast, above the left side of the enemy army. Throwing a boulder was dumb… I’m already out of gravity mana… with that and the ‘Lesser Flight’ spell… I shouldn’t be that wasteful and I should use other elements to conserve mana… I pat my gem pouch. If my necklace run out, I can still drain them…

“Kushjak!” <Oil!> thick black oil spews of my hand. I fly in a half circle, leaving a trail of oil on the soldiers and the ground below. I keep going, draining mana from my necklace until I can no longer channel earth magic, and then: “Fotyr folo” <Fire fly> I aim my ‘firefly’ at a soldier covered in oil.

I miss the soldier who jumps aside in a panic and pushes another, the two fall in a heap. The 'Firefly' hits the oily ground and the flames erupt with a hiss. The fire spreads rapidly. Those who are caught in the oil burn alive, thrashing violently on the ground in vein attempts to douse the flames. The screams of agony pierce the sky.

I’ve created a wide half circle of fire, and the soldiers in green who are stuck in the middle are trapped. It blocks their retreat and forces them to face my orcs, all while isolating them from their friends. It allows the orcs to push in the left flank. Even my soldiers on the left side of the wall manage to gain some ground with my makeshift wall of flames, mainly since the smoke blinds the enemy soldiers on the wall.

The fire spreads and stops at the foot of the wooden walls. Salik probably covered them with water...

The odor of charred flesh from below makes me wince. Brief memories of other times surface, times I still feared Adir and his fire magic.

Some of the enemy soldiers below, point up at me, and a second later arrows are flying my way. Instead of casting my defensive spell, I move. My flight speed is incredibly fast, and I am a very small target. As long as I keep moving, It’s near impossible to hit me with an arrow in this chaos.

I laugh, adrenaline flooding my veins, dodging arrows with ease feels good. So much better than serving as a human catapult… I fly toward the middle of the enemy army. “Nimuwal!” <water unlimited!> This time it’s a jet of water coming out of my hand. I keep flying in circles covering the soldiers below in water, creating puddles and wet soldiers.

I fly lower. Right above the wet soldiers’ heads. “Revis kas!” <energy feed!> The invisible electricity crackles from my hand and attach itself to a soldier. I expected it’d move to the puddles and other wet soldiers like the instruction book on electricity says, but it just sticks to one soldier who collapses. The cantrip probably doesn’t have enough electricity in it.

Doesn’t matter. I fly lower, almost landing near the soldier who died to my electricity. Most of the men in green run, while two of them charges directly at me with their spears. “Rial aluwe ri!” <Cold surface stop!>

A wave of cold freezes the water around me in a radius of five meters. Puddles turns to ice, and the drenched men are now covered in frost. I’m disappointed when they don’t turn into frozen statues like with the worgs' breath, but the sheer cold is enough to stop them. The pair charging me collapse, holding onto their spears. One of them gets up, determination in his brown eyes.

I soar, leaving a frozen chaos behind me. The orcs use the chaos to break the lines. I watch as the soldiers get mowed down by the violent orcs with grim satisfaction. The one who tried to kill me, loses his head to an orcish axe.

I eye the right side of the battle. I doubt the orcs would need my help there, it’s already collapsing, it can’t hold without the middle and the left. The soldiers in green retreat toward the fields, some of them circle the walls, shields held high for arrows.

The orcs who give chase are quickly recalled by Balgrum’s bellowing voice.

“Aaaaah!” Sharp pain pierces my face like a heated metal. I taste warm metallic blood that floods my mouth, I cough, struggling to keep the flowing blood out of my windpipe. Even flying feels different, slower. I fly back north, toward the forest, retreating from the battlefield.

I can feel a wooden shaft in my mouth. I touch my mask to confirm what I already know. An arrow is nailing my mask to my cheek. Someone managed to hit me despite my speed. I am lucky the arrow didn’t hit my brain. Let’s get the out of here! I need to go low, low! I lower my attitude carefully, my flight spell acts weirdly, it doesn’t fully respond to my mental commands. Probably because of the pain, focus! I need to focus!

I pass the orcs’ lines, and fly low in order to land near the siege machines.

I gasp when pure agony blooms on my lower back. My flying spell winks out of existence, and the world turns upside down all over. Then everything turns black.

*~*~*

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 17 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1738 Magic Gems. 63 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 10g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100

Present Companions:

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Arrow wound in the cheek. Lower back? Unconscious.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,243 orcs. 294 orc children. 164 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,243 Orc Warriors. 800 Levy militia. 900 Footmen. 26 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-07-18 16:57:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 98 in color

2023-07-18 16:57:20 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 97 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to Lunadrift for supporting me on patreon.

Thank you very much for your patronship!

Chapter 97 Orcs II.

The stronger are better.
The powerful can take whatever they want.
Laws are made by the strong to protect the weak.
Because the strong have a use for the weak.

Nuriss, the Bone Chieftess.

Balgrum leads me into the stronghold. The orcs’ housings are no more than wooden poles holding sewn hides as walls and roofs, each one of these makeshift shelters is big enough to house a small family, they sprawl all over the camp with no apparent order. There are a few bigger pavilions of hides that seem to be containing more than one room inside. I also notice a few of them serve as workshops that are meant to produce tools or curing leather.

Aside from these, a large bonfire in an open circle stand in the middle of the camp. It draws most of the attention since it's tall enough to be seen from anywhere in the camp, above the leathery housing. The circle in the middle is twice as wide as the height of the bonfire itself.

Balgrum leads me toward the circle in the middle. The orcs gather there in the large space, exchanging guttural words and barks in their language. They cheer when pairs of orcs carry impaled wolves from beyond the walls, and howl again when a few human women and a male gnome bring out clay jars. The alcohol pours down, and the meat is grilled over the fire in the middle. The orcs’ music is basically banging on drums and shields, and their loud low pitched songs are loud enough to drown any other voice.

Ti-a’ark! Ti krek!
Ti-a’ark! Ti krekolak yomh’ak!
Ti-a’ark! Ti nh’i yoma’ari yomla’!
Ti-a’ark! Ja’al po no kolh’ak!
la’aoko wuala’ak! Ti-a’ark!

Balgrum and I sit in the only chairs in this entire camp. These are simple wooden chairs, not thrones. But with the rest of the orcs sitting on the ground, they feel like thrones. What’s Balgrum’s status in this tribe, is he the chief? If he is, why will they follow me? What’s the difference between a chief and a shaman? How does the hierarchy work in here?

Orcs get up from the ground. They take off most of their hide clothing, staying in their loincloths. They fight against each other in pairs, practicing their aggressive martial arts. I raise my eyebrows when some of the female orcs leave their breasts exposed, while others tie them up. It’s not hard to come to the conclusion that those who tie them up do so for practical reasons, not modesty.

I notice the half-naked Ryon fighting against a female orc who doesn’t cover her ample chest, despite the fact it slightly gets in her way. I am pretty sure he asked her the same thing he asked Lezere… Lezere… I wish you could be here with me…

Humans, gnomes and a colorful scaly race move around the orcs. I recognize the scaly race as silioes, I’ve seen a few of them in Axero, but nowhere else. One of my supposed 'Brothers' apprentice to the hag is also a silio. Their scales keep shifting patterns and colors at a rapid speed.

There are mainly female slaves, but there are some males too, it’s hard to tell for the scaly race which is male or female though, they all look the same to me. Some of them hold orc children, others serve drinks, and some even flirts with the orcs themselves. It seems peaceful, but I have no illusion, these are slaves.

If this was nine years ago, I wouldn’t be so bothered by the sight of slaves. Even Nurio, my home town, had a small slave market. But after my past experience, I want to make sure they’re at least treated well.

“How are those slaves treated?” I ask Balgrum, trying to be heard over the loud singing.

“We hafe no slavfes, they are sheep, those that make themselfes useful are treated well,” he replies. His gaze focused on the large fire in the middle. “Those who do not, serfe other purposes.”

“Such as?”

“Relief for the weaker wolfes, labor, or meat for the jaws.” He accepts a mug of alcohol from a young freckled human girl in her teens, with her ginger hair she could easily come from my hometown.

“Relief for the weaker wolves? Your warriors force themselves on these women?” I eye the freckled girl. Her face doesn’t indicate any stress, but she could be a good actress.

“These women? No. The sheep here are well behavfed, my wolfes don’t need to force them to do anything. We don't hafe bad sheep now. My wolfes will force themselfes on bad sheep who don’t behafe, sheep who think they are more than sheep. After a while, they’ll behafe like sheep. If they don’t, they’ll become meat for the jaws.” He empties his mug in a swift motion and hands it back to the freckled girl. She looks at me with questioning eyes, I shake my head to indicate that I don’t want to drink.

They rape these women until they behave themselves?! I need to do something! Like what?! I have my own problems, and the last time I helped women in such a state I’ve lost Lezere… If I do anything this time, I’ll lose my city and potentially my friends…

I can’t solve everyone’s problems, I need to care about myself first… I need these orcs to fight for me, I can’t come here and demand that they’ll change their customs… Instead, I should learn their customs, and try to do as much good as I can within these customs. Maybe I can help these women somehow?

“What does meat for the jaws mean? Do you eat them?”

Balgrum looks at me as if I’ve insulted him personally. “We don’t eat sheep, we don’t prey on the weak, that’s the twisted ways of the human shamans. They serfe as…” he struggled to find the word. “krek-no-kreoak, meat for jaws, food for prey. They serfe as food for prey to make our prey come to us. We tie the troublesome ones in the forest, and when a prey comes to eat them, we hunt it. Most sheep will become obedient if they surfife.”

Right… they serve as bait… he treats them as nothing but livestock… “Lezere’s mother was human… was she one of your troublesome sheep?” What the hell am I doing?

I need to know…

He clacks his teeth in annoyance. “No, she was obedient, she died.”

Right, he loved her… “I’m sorry…”

His face twists with a snarl. “Grrrr… don’t do that!”

“Don’t do what?”

“Don’t use your human sympathy on me, it makes my skin crawl!”

“Alright. Can you show me where you keep the troublesome sheep?” I’ll do what I can for them… but I’m not going to do anything that’ll turn the orcs against me…

“I told you, we don’t hafe any troublesome sheep at the moment. All of our sheep are right here.” He stops for a long moment then add. “Don’t try to change our ways, Shaman, we won’t take kindly to it. Cruelty is a tool to orcs, not a pleasure. Humans take pleasure in cruelty. Humans treat their sheep worse than we treat ours. Humans are cruel to their sheep, efen their obedient sheep. We orcs only cruel to disobedient sheep, we make them obedient and treat them with kindness. We protect them. Strong subjugate the weak to protect the weak. We wolfs hafe honor.”

I nod. I can remember the cages I was kept in a couple of years back, the way I was treated back then. What the human slavers did to me was way worse compared to the women around the campfire who seem somewhat happy with the orcs. Less like slaves, and more like second-class citizens. It’s not perfect, but I am not here to correct every wrong in the world, I’m not Kolag…

I hope he’s ok… “You’re right, but I do have to learn your ways if I am to act as your shaman.”

Balgrum growls in agreement.

“Can you explain your hierarchy to me? What’s my role compare to yours? You’re the Chieftain, right? Where does my authority begin and end? And where does yours?”

He turns his chair to face me and leans forward. “Authority, hierarchy.” He mouths these words slowly with a sneer on his face, his ebony skin shimmering from the light from our side. “If you want to learn our ways, then stop thinking like a human. You talk to the spirits. You say where the clan goes, who you want the clan to fight, and I’ll make sure it’s done.”

“So let me get this clear. I decide the direction of the clan, where to fight, and who. While you take care of all the logistics, and lead the warriors in the field, correct?”

He gives another agreeing growl. “You are blessed by the spirits, you know the direction for the clan best.”

“And how do you choose a shaman?” I raise an eyebrow.

“First orc to talk to spirits is shaman. If other orc wants to be shaman he has to convince the spirits to kill the first shaman in honorable battle to death. A duel between shamans to decide shaman.”

“So… another orc can challenge for the spot of shaman as long as he uses magic?”

Balgrum growls in agreement.

Good… I doubt an orc who just got exposed to magic will prove a challenge.

Balgrum ponders for a moment, licking and chewing on the tips of his fingers. “There’s another test you hafe to pass shaman. All shamans have to pass.”

“Didn’t you say that…”

He doesn’t let me finish the sentence. “As long as I’m the chief of this clan, we will follow you regardless of whether you take the test or not, you hafe my word. But my position as a chief may not last for long, younger wolfes may kill me and become chief… If you want the rest of the clan to acknowledge you as shaman, you best go through the test tonight.”

I raise an eyebrow. “What kind of test are we talking about?”

He cracks his neck and opens his mouth, exposing his sharp teeth before he speaks again. “We will place your body in danger, and you hafe to safe yourself. There’s a danger of death, and I’m aware that humans don’t take kindly to those who endanger their lifes. That is why it has to be your choice.”

“How long do you think you’re going to stay the chief?”

“Grrrrrrr… Hard to tell, could be a day, could be a year. Until another wolf wins an honorable battle to the death against me.”

I nod. “I’ll take your test then.”

Balgrum gets up from his seat and goes to the edge of the merry circle, growling lowly with an elderly orc. That old man seems to be at least a hundred years old. He’s hunched over a walking stick, and his face is strewn with deep wrinkles. I bet he’s around fifty… if orcs’ lifespan is half that of a human…

After a short exchange, Balgrum goes back to his seat. The old man gets closer to me, bows slightly and put his hand on the side of my neck for a split second.

The crowd instantly turns silent, the fights around the fire stops, the drinking contests and the open flirting cease. Orcs or slaves, everyone are watching me with an intense focus that makes me feel uncomfortable. I fiddle with my mask to make sure it’s there.

Is my mask alright? Am I supposed to say something now? Some sort of bug crawls down on my neck. I gasp. Before I can react, the creature bites me. The intense piercing pain in my neck causes an involuntary sharp shriek to escape my lips.

The elderly orc takes back what looks like a large brown spider. What the?! “Latsa!” <Lift!> I pick the spider with my magic and press it against the elder’s wrinkled cheek with my mind.

He lets out a groan, but it doesn’t seem like the spider bites him. I hold the spider against his cheek, trying to ignore the pain and swelling in my neck. I’m drenched in cold sweat, my heart beats loudly in my ears, and I have difficulty breathing. This creature is venomous. Bite him you damn spider!

“That spider’s bite is deadly. You hafe an hour to livfe, can you safe yourself?” Balgrum asks from the side. “A shaman needs to know how to heal. The way we teach our shamans to heal is to have them bit by a poisonous creature, they either heal themselfes, or die.”

“Would’ve been nice if you told me that first,” I say sarcastically.

He clacks his teeth. “I did say you’ll be placing your life in danger.”

“Oh fine!” I drop the spider, who crawls into the elder’s robe. I take out my dagger, cut my wrist, and place my hands on my heart in the correct motions. Struggling to breathe, I have to repeat the chant and the hand gestures multiple times before I get it right. Having a painful spider bite on my neck and a crowd of people watching me isn’t exactly helping.

Again! “Sefius, rod’e. Mo’ento sho rod’eshil xsi si to sha sus mo’ento xsias! Sals si to xalias!”
<Life, wood. Focus all poison in this one’s body and force it out! Heed this one’s plea!>

Damn I hate the rod’e <wood> language… I hope I pronounced it well this time…

“Shixar! Xanati xa si to!” <____! ____ water this one!> I let out a sigh of relief when the green wood elemental with the scorpion tail shows up. I only recited it like a hundred times when I learned it trying to save Sharla back then… why can’t I just repeat it correctly, damn it!

The red life elemental shows up as well. A tiny fairy covered in blood, drinks the blood from my wrist. “Revtik tak Revluat takoar tonoto,” she says in an excited tone. I recognize her language as Reviss <energy> the language of light elementals, but I have no clue what she just said.

I can hear the murmurs from the crowd. I can’t tell if the orcs are upset or excited, but the sight of the elementals clearly affects them in some way.

The elemental pair circle my hand, draining my mana. It feels as if the side of my neck is on fire. Shortly after, the pain dissipates, along with the elementals who disappears in clouds of red and green smoke. I gulp down a healing potion for the bite mark, and touch the skin on my neck to make sure it’s fully healed. “There, all healed, any other tests you want to throw at me?”

The elderly orc leans on his walking stick, he pats the hairy spider that stands on the back of his hand. The elder barks something I don’t understand at Balgrum.

“Elder Gorlor says you should cut your hair, it’s no good.” Balgrum translates, “you should cut it if you want to become our shaman.”

Excuse me?! There are plenty of orcs with long hair here! “Why? What does it have to do with anything?! Actually, why won’t you talk to me yourself, Gorlor?” I focus on the elderly orc who just tried to kill me. “Unless you give me a valid reason as to why I should cut my hair, I’m not doing anything for you. You should be thankful I am even letting you live after what you just did.”

Balgrum translates what I've said to orcish, but Gorlor ignores him as if he doesn't care, and keeps on grumbling. Balgrum soon translates his words. “Elder Gorlor says you have to wear hides as wolves do, and you have to take a wolf husband.”

Like rot I would, I wouldn’t mind cutting my hair if it had some cultural meaning… even clothes… but marry one of them?! What the snake?! “Balgrum, that was not a part of our deal.”

Balgrum’s face remains passive. Gorlor keeps barking fast in their language, too fast to make individual words, it’s simply long and angry growls. “Elder Gorlor says you have to take off your mask and paint your skin for the spirits. He says that…”

That old orc can probably understand me just fine! He didn't even listen to Balgrum's translation, I bet it's just for show. “Don’t pretend that you don’t understand me, Gorlor! Actually whatever, I don’t care.” I lean back in my chair and cross my legs. I’m not letting some snowy old orc get to me like that. “Balgrum, tell your Elder Gorlor I said that he’s lucky I’m letting him keep his damn life, and if he keeps ignoring me, I’ll simply kill him. As for your tests, I really don’t care about them anymore.” I say coldly. This is a culture that respects strength. I’ll turn him weightless and toss him around with the wind. He’ll behave after that, just like their so called ‘sheep’.

The elderly orc opens his mouth in a grin, half of his sharp teeth are missing. “Good!” he says. “You are shaman! You only abide by words of the spirts. Don’t take orders from anyone, not even me or Balgrum.”

The crowd cheers, then chug down their alcohol. The freckled girl brings me a horn filled with brown viscous liquid.

Right… that was a confidence test… I might’ve done some of what he asked if I wasn’t so angry… “Anything else you want to test me with?” I take the horn from the girl’s hand, she bows and retreat.

The elder shakes his head. “You will be tested further, but not by me. You call upon spirits, we all witnessed. You’fve profen your strength by slaying a Fargar king. You’fve profen your ability to heal, and you’fve profen your willpower. Now, we’ll see whether you can lead a tribe or not. You will now address tribe as shaman. Tell us where spirits lead you, tell us where we find prey.”

I gesture sharply for the elderly orc to close his mouth, I had enough of him and his pet spider. A speech, uh? I need to appeal to their sense of moral… “Balgrum, what is it that orcs want? What do they get out of this? Why do they fight?”

“Wolves live and fight to defeat a greater prey, to prove themselves to the bone chieftess, the goddess whom humans call Nuriss.”

Goddess of war… makes sense… “And does a large army of humans count as a greater prey?”

“A pack of mad dogs, grrrrr, yes.”

Good… I stand up and raise the horn in my hand.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!”

The orcish crowd roar and howl in cheers, I am surprised to see some of the human and scaled slaves cheering too. Goosebumps tingles across my skin as I take a deep breath. I could get used to this… this is power… Cheer for me my little pawns... Serve me... ahhhh.

I breathe out and shake my head. What is wrong with me? Why do I enjoy that so much?

This isn’t power. This is authority, the real power is my magic, and they wouldn’t cheer for me without it… Focus. I need to inspire them to fight for me… appeal to their cultural sense in the best way I can…

Easy! It's like brushing a horse... I wait for the cheers to die out before I opened my mouth. “We feast tonight, and we march in the morning! We march to fight a pack of wild dogs, the biggest pack you’ve ever seen! You will hunt them down! And the dogs who survive shall become your sheep!”

Balgrum stands with me and translates my words to orcish, his loud bellowing voice drowns my pitched one. “Ti-a’ark kra’a gushasha, ti-a’ark sluka’a graker! Ti-a’ark sluka’a no krek a’ak tusla’ak a’arj, krishta a’ak ti-a’ark sigal! Ti-a’ark nh’ik krek ga’ar arik! No a’arj komarai, nh’i kashla yoma’ari!”

The orcs howl and bark madly, raising their bone-like weapons up in the air. The biggest pack you’ve ever seen? Really? I’m just saying what they want to hear of course! It’s fun! Next! Most of their weapons are made out of bones… Balgrum has a bronze axe… but…

The cheers slowly die out, and I open my mouth again. I observe their bone weaponry, the hides they wear and use as housing, or the various skulls of many different types around the camp. The words sink into place like a foot into a comfortable shoe. “Their weapons shall become your fangs! Their hides shall be yours! Their skulls will decorate your homes! And their shaman… their shaman is mine to hunt!”

Balgrum translates my words again, his voice is so loud that it makes me wince. “Ti-a’arj kratu, nh’i kashla ti-a’ark kratu! Ti-a’arj noa’ak, nh’i kashla sua’akla pa’ar! No ti-a’arj abla’a ar, nh’i kashla grosta uka’a! No ti-a’arj potasi—ti-a’arj potasi ko an krek!”

The crowd breaks into wilder round of howls and cheers that sends a wave of ecstasy through my skin. This is just so fun! Cheer for me, my pawns, serve me... I shudder with delight, these cheers are like a mad rush of mana and souls in my veins. I chug down the alcohol, enjoying myself.

The spicy liquid burns my throat, it’s unbearable. I cough, desperately trying to keep it inside. Before I know it, it’s already in my nose and I find myself vomiting all of the brown liquid onto the ground. Great show… so much for my speech… The tribe barks in laughter and even wilder cheers.

I feel my cheeks burning. Great… now they’re laughing at me…

“Shaman know not how drink flame-water. Shaman young. Agilla show shaman how drink flame-water!” A topless female orc, the same one who asked if I hunted the wolf by myself, comes over and pats my back in a friendly manner. I notice that her eyes are in a deep shade of amber, like an actual wolf’s eyes.

*Cough cough* “Please do…”

“Sheep! More flame-water for shaman!” she orders the freckled girl.

Agilla is persistent. I drink that horrible thing slowly, in small sips. All while she laughs at me and chugging more, daring me to drink a larger amount. She’s also over two meters tall and probably three times my weight. I heard weight helps with alcohol tolerance, and maybe their tongues taste things differently?

The world gets blurry and now I’m flying above their camp singing something. Orcs and elementals dancing in a funny way below, and then the world turns dark.

*~*~*

Ti-a’ark! Ti krek!
Ti-a’ark! Ti krekolak yomh’ak!
Ti-a’ark! Ti nh’i yoma’ari yomla’!
Ti-a’ark! Ja’al po no kolh’ak!
la’aoko wuala’ak! Ti-a’ark!

We wolves! We hunt!
We wolves! Honorless death to our prey!
We wolves! Our sheep shall fear!
We wolves! Through fire and honorable death!
Chieftess watches! We wolves!

*~*~*

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb. Imari’s Lesser Flightb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 16 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1738 Magic Gems. 63 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 14g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100

Present Companions:
Zoe
Ryon
Jolla Silverquill

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,243 orcs. 294 orc children. 164 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,243 Orc Warriors. 800 Levy militia. 900 Footmen. 26 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-07-15 17:44:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 97 in color

2023-07-15 17:43:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 96 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to Aehs for supporting me on Patreon.

Thank you so much for your support!

Chapter 96 Orcs I.

There are mistakes you cannot go back from.
A single moment, a lapse of judgement.
A single moment that’ll bring your life to the brink.
A single moment that’ll doom your soul for eternity.
Take heed my children, less you’ll be judged guilty.

Amaret, the Great Sinner.

{28} Noxi (April) the 25th

After a five day journey, we finally reach the orc’s stronghold.

The place is surrounded by a wooden wall that seems tougher and thicker than Red Cedar City’s walls. Although, their stronghold itself is much smaller in terms of scale, at the size of a large village at best. I can fly now, walls are no longer a concern to me.

It is late noon when my party approaches their gate. Before we can hail the guards on top of the wall, their gate opens, and a group of no less than fifty armed orcs rush outside. They create a half-moon of shields and spears around us, blocking our way to the gate.

I can hear the bowstrings behind me. They have archers on the trees behind us, they’ve probably followed us for a kilometer or two now. I don’t feel threatened. If they wanted us dead they would’ve attempted to harm us a while ago. This is simply putting on a show of military might in front of their guests.

And I do like what I see… I could put them to good use protecting my city. Not to mention it’s another group of people who serve under me, closer to the ten thousand mark…

Jolla steps forward. “Bah by Tukado’s beard! Why you people have to be so bloodthirsty all the time? We’re here to see…”

“Grrrrr, shut up, fangless cat! One more step and we wolfes skewer you!” The voice comes from behind the shield wall, but I can’t see the speaker.

“We’re here to see Balgrum, he gave me his word,” I call out. If orcs take such pride in their word, might as well use it to skip this show. I’ve seen enough, and I know I liked it.

They don’t answer, but instead talk amongst themselves in what sounds like a series of barks, growls, and snarls. After a long couple of minutes, a hole opens in the shield wall and the tall orc steps out with his hand resting on the head of his axe. “Greetings, Shaman Inara,” he says in a formal tone.

“Balgrum. I have to say, I’m quite impressed with your people. Lezere had offered to train my human soldiers in the past, could you do so as well?”

“I deeply apologize, but I’m afraid that’s no longer possible, Shaman Inara.”

So much for your word… “And why is that?”

“We hafe a new shaman, shaman Ladrouk. I apologize, but we can no longer follow you.” The orcs behind their shield wall translate our conversation to their language in a series of growls.

“You gave me your word.”

“Yes, that why I help you with our ways.” He clacks his teeth and bows slightly. “If you want Twin Moon Tribe to follow your word, you hafe to challenge our shaman.”

“What kind of challenge are we talking about?”

Balgrum looks back toward the orcish shield wall as my question is being translated.

Another hole opens in the shield wall. “Kreka’ak! No Kolh’ak!” A teenage orc declares as he steps out. He wears a white skinned wolf’s head as a hat and an oversized white wolf pelt as a clock.

“A battle to the death.” Balgrum translates. The young orc gives me a look that sends a chill down my spine. He sees me as a challenging enemy to defeat. No, not even an enemy, a mere obstacle on his path to glory… We’ll see who the mere obstacle to who is…

“A’ak krishta gushasha! asia’ar no a’ark potasi! la-a’ark Kra’a no ri-a’arj krek, kra’a pati asi!” The young shaman declares, and the orcs behind him cheer madly.

Balgrum translates. “Tribe gather tonight. Witness who better shaman. Winner feast on loser’s flesh, consume their power.”

Ohhh, he sees me as food, that’s why I get this odd feeling. “And if I don’t want to eat you?” I ask, masking my annoyance with a fake smile. He can see my smile even with the mask covering the upper part of my face.

Balgrum translates my question. The young shaman opens his palm, letting a pair of flames flicker above it. “Ik shu al gah’ ti-asi no ik kra’a?”

Balgrum translates, shaking his head. “You think I’m not powerful enough for you to eat?”

Does everyone eat everyone in this damn world?! “No, I simply don’t like you, you’re too skinny, and I like some fat on my meat. Don’t you?” I grin at him, gesturing at my own petite figure. You’re standing between me and my orc army, you bet I’m going to take jabs at your confidence! I know all too well how it feels to command people while looking too young to do it…

There are snickers in the orcs’ ranks before Balgrum translates my words and the snickers turn into roars of laughter once he does. The orcs knock their spears against their shields, and howl loudly, creating a cacophony of mad noise.

Unlike the human soldiers back in my city, this group consists of both men and women. Maybe I should recruit the women in my city? Double my soldiers? It won’t work, human psychology is too different. The women in red cedar city wouldn’t want to fight for me. I know I wouldn’t… And I definitely can’t induce such a change within a few days. Janara’s army is due within a week…

The young shaman raises his chin in an attempt to stand taller. He raises the flames in his hand toward me. “Al gah’ kra’a krek no bor, al kra’a krek no asi! Al krekolaka fargar alpati asi no pot! pot gruh’lar! Al kra’a! al tlupati tlukrek no asi! Al nh’i tlupati tlu no asi, al nh’i tal talkrek alpati sakshu!”

That sounds like a list of ugly threats to me, but Balgrum soon translates. “I don’t eat meat for fat, I eat meat for power. I slew Fargar by my power of flames. Flame spirits. I ate it. I wear skin for power. I shall wear your skin for power, I shall put your hair in my helmet.”

He’s a fire magic user, my 'Flowing Shield' can take care of his fire… I can also try and fly around, I doubt he’ll be able to keep up with me.

“Oh please, you’ve killed a monster, big deal! I’ve been hunting monsters for a year now. Even on the way here, I’ve killed and chased away a whole pack of Worgs.” Let’s keep attacking his confidence, maybe I can avoid this fight. I really wouldn’t like to eat him, but I think they’ll expect me to do so if I kill him… how do I avoid that?

“Don’t claim with no proof! Why you not wearing skin?” A female orc in the crowd demands to know, her accent is heavy.

“So you don’t take my word for it? Weren’t you orcs putting a lot of weight into someone’s words?”

“Grrr…” The young shaman snarls, angry he’s being ignored. There’s a hint of youth in his snarl, like a human boy in his teens, having his voice turning high in a middle of a sentence.

“Not from a fangless human bitch!” The female orc spits.

“Grrrrr…” I mimic the shaman. I smile when I see it offends him. “So how come the tribe will follow a fangless human as their shaman? How does that work exactly?” I direct my question at Balgrum.

“A shaman is a shaman, as long as they aren’t twisted,” Balgrum provides the explanation from the side. “If you have proof of your kill, then please show us. This is important to your claim as a shaman.”

Glad I kept it around to make a coat… “Lepp? Would you please take out the pelts from our packs?” The man do as I asked.

Balgrum snatches the largest pelt from Lepp’s hands and spreads it on the muddy ground like a massive carpet.

The young snarling shaman turns silent. The orcs observe at the pelt with interest and excitement in their eyes, they exchange rapid barks in their guttural language. “Oh great! They like you now,” Jolla comments sarcastically. “May Nuriss watch over you, girl, you’re going to need it!”

“You understand what they’re saying?”

“Who do you think you’re talking to, girl?”

“So how many languages do you speak?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Eight. A'arkalu - or orcish included,” she explains.

I nod. Less than Sharla… “Good to know. I’ll have you teaching me their dialect in your spare time. If you’re open to the idea of course.”

She snorts. “I’m not open to the idea, but by my god's decree I have to share my knowledge, so I’ll share it. Pha! The things you do for your god…”

“You hunt Fargarchief yourself?” the female orc asks the question. “No help from dogs behind you?”

So the orcs call Worgs Fargar, and I guess Fargar-chief is their alpha. Good to know… “Do you see any holes in the pelt? If the soldiers helped me with their spears, there’d be stab holes in there, don’t you think?” I gesture at the spears my soldiers carry. I doubt they could penetrate this pelt anyway…

She nods as if the thought had never occurred to her. But it doesn’t make sense to me, these people are no strangers to hunting.

“Is this proof enough to support my claims, Balgrum?” I ask.

“It is.” He turns to the group of orcs “Tonight, shaman Inara will battle shaman Ladrouk for the right to lead this clan to spiritual and physical gain!” I can tell that the only reason he’s speaking Sinteo and not their language, is a courtesy to me. The orcs however, don’t seem to mind. The few who speak Sinteo translates for their friends in low growls.

“Yarrraaaahhh!!” The young shaman charges at me angrily, flames roaring out of his hands.

Before I can even respond, Zoe gets in between us. “Shanim rial!” <Vapor cold!> Her breath is the same dense white particles as the worgs' ice breath. I’m surprised she’s capable of casting it despite the mild temperature, this spell needs freezing temperature just for casting it. Then again… I can cast ‘Kinetic Burst’ without harming myself… Maybe the first cantrip we awaken is stronger…

The fire is snuffed out in an instant. The young orc’s hands are frozen solid, while his face and upper body are covered in a layer of frost. He stumbles forward and falls, his hands shatters into thousands of bloody shards.

“I’m sorry!” Zoe calls out nervously, her hands are also encased in ice.

Why raise your hands if you’re breathing the spell? I shake my head. I also blew my own finger when I started… “Rinim riss nim” <ice flow water> I pat on her hands to melt the ice safely. “Nothing to apologize for, you did well.”

I really need to learn to use her cantrip properly, it’s as deadly as kinetic burst if I combine it with 'Breeze'…

At least now I won’t have to eat this orc… I crouch near the young orc who has a dumbfounded look on his face, he looks down at his shoulder stabs. “You can’t even win against my apprentice, you can’t maintain self-control, and I’m pretty sure you just lost your honor, if that’s something you even abide by. Will you forfeit? Or should I kill you here and now?”

He doesn't wait for translation. With a snarl, he takes a deep breath. I see the flames form in his throat when he opens his mouth. “Nimuwal” <water-endless> I place my hand on his gaping mouth, letting the torrent of water fill him up and kill the fire.

He gurgles, trying to crawl away. I let him go, and he starts coughing water. The orcs around stand in silence, I can see the shock in their eyes. “What now, Balgrum?” I ask the orc chieftain.

“Shaman Ladrouk had shamed himself, let the animals feast on his corpse!” Balgrum calls out, follows by low grumbles of agreement and translations. “Kill him, or exile him. It is your choice, Shaman Inara,” he says.

“Shaman Inara may want to feast to his meat, it’s her right,” the same female orc from before suggests.

The young orc shaman is crying now, banging his head against the dirt. He’s just a kid! Leaving an enemy alive is dangerous. But he’s a teenager, we all make mistakes. I could take him as my apprentice and train him and… And regrow his hands too? Care about him? Then he'll stab me in the back for humiliating and taking his position?! He’s a potential future threat to be eliminated.

Am I supposed to just kill a kid now?!

If I don’t, he won’t survive, not without hands… killing him would be a mercy…

I should ask him, let him make this choice. I can’t choose for him.

I kneel near the orc. “Jolla? Translate for me.” I order the blond gnome who steps closer. “Would you rather live in exile, or die?”

“Pha! By Tukado’s beard, you know he’ll ask to die, right?”

“Just translate.”

The gnome shakes her head and obliges. “ik jul yoma’a? No yomh’ak?”

The orc on the ground growls. “Kolh’ak!”

“He wants to die.” Jolla shakes her head.

I raise an eyebrow. “But these were different words you used.”

She rolls her white eyes. “Yeah, so what? Orcs have multiple words for death. ‘Yomh’ak’ means honorless death. Kolh’ak means honorable death. He wants an honorable death, but he missed that chance. I offered him a choice between honorless life and honorless death. He’s in denial.”

“Tell him he can go. If he survives he might still have a chance to find his honorable death.”

“It’s more cruel to let him live,” Jolla notes instead of translating my words.

I cross my hands. “He’s a child. I can’t just kill a child. How old is he? Thirteen?”

The gnome adjust her glasses with a sneer. “You’re a child yourself, girl. And no, orcs age faster than humans. I estimate that he’s six years old.”

“Exactly. I can’t kill a six years old… I’d take him and train him if I didn’t fear that he’d turn against me and try to eat me one day.”

“But he’ll die if he’s out there alone. Pha! You just want your conscience clean, don’t you? You’re a hypocrite. But at least you’re better than Luard. Fine. I’ll tell him.” She turns to the orc. “Slu. Yoma’a. No ik kola’a, ik kolh’ak.”

The orc gets up from the ground and runs toward the forest. The rest of the orcs watch silently. I just hope they don’t consider this a weakness… Who am I kidding? Of course they do. Jolla is right, I should've just killed him, kid or not.

“Come.” Balgrum pats my back. “Tonight we feast! We march in the morning!” The orcs howl and cheer, only now I notice that there are a lot more of them than when we first got here.

*~*~*

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb. Imari’s Lesser Flightb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 16 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1738 Magic Gems. 63 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 14g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100

Present Companions:
Zoe
Ryon
Jolla Silverquill

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 800 levy militia. 900 footmen. 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-07-11 15:30:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 96 in color

2023-07-11 15:29:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 95 colorless

Chapter 95 Wolves.

I’m ice, beautiful and cold.
Majestic, I stand tall.
Unmoving, unchanging I remember all.
Yet, when the sun’s gaze passes me, I shall fall.

Mayan, the Ocean Fairy.

The screams coming from the camp turns into shouts and curses followed by wolf howls. I decide to spend ten gems worth of mana to weave an alteration pattern and prolong my flying spell for one more minute. I soar above the treetops, and fly toward the camp as swiftly as possible.

The situation is apparent from above. A pack of large wolves is assaulting our camp. Strangely enough, they aren’t afraid of fire.

When I arrive I see the last moving guard throw a torch at a wolf. In response, the wolf opens his mouth and breathes out a wave of dense white particles. The wooden torch turns into an icicle, and the guard turns into a live-like ice statue. I can spot similar icy statues around the camp, along with four corpses of wolves who died to the guards’ spears.

I can’t spot Zoe or Jolla anywhere. The only one who is actively fighting the wolves is Ryon. His side of the camp is covered with smoke, and whining wolves run out of there. One is rolling on the ground covering its nose. I catch a whiff of an awful smell.

“Ahooooooooooo!” A massive white wolf pounces into the stinking smoke cloud.

I should really stop gawking and kill those things! “Felul felik!” <wind aircut> I cast wind blades at the wolves, one after the other. But the cuts don’t seem to do more than light wounds, their fur is too thick for that.

I pull out my copper bolts. “Kushgari yefa!” <metal fly!> The 'Lesser Flight' spell takes most of my patterns capacity, I can only loose one of these at a time. At least It's easy to aim them from above.

A wolf drops when my first copper bolt penetrate its back. Another soon follow, coughing blood on the snowy ground. Why is it snowing?! It’s spring!

The wolves now notice me, they dodge around in erratic patterns. The wolves scatter, using their icy breaths on themselves and each other to neutralize and freeze their wounds.

I huff in the sky above them. Earth magic isn’t easy for me to perform. Even though the mana comes from my necklace, something within me objects to the constant channeling of earth mana. After five bolts, I get a sharp headache and I have to stop with the 'Copper Bolt' spell. I aim an arrow head at the next wolf and "Ritsa!" <Repulse!> The sharp bronze hits the wolf directly, but it doesn't penetrate its thick fur. I can only assume that the 'Copper Bolt' spell has more force to it than 'Repulse' does.

“Ahooooooooooo!” the smoke slowly thins. The large white wolf stands over Ryon’s frozen figure. The pack forms itself around him, snarling upward in my direction.

The white wolf stares at me with a pair of intelligent blue eyes. I look back into his eyes, my heart beats violently in my chest. I can tell this creature isn’t weak. I guess the only reason I am not running for my life is the fact that I am way out of his reach. He can’t touch me, he has to wait until I come closer to him.

As if to dispel my early assumption, the white wolf opens his mouth, and a white projectile flies toward me.

I dodge with ease, and wince when my alteration pattern sucks more mana from my necklace to maintain my ‘Lesser Flight’ spell. The only way I can kill them for sure is to get closer, close enough for these icy breaths to turn me into solid ice sculpture.

Ice… what about attacking them with ice? My water affinity is second only to gravity. But they clearly have high affinity with water and ice, they even use ice to cover their wounds. Doesn’t hurt to try! It's pointless. Not if I use their habits against them, it's not. I fly directly above the white wolf. “Nimuwal!” <boundless water!> A violent jet of water comes out of my hands, slowly emptying my water mana pool.

The large wolf reacts just as I expect. He breathes frost upward and counters my water torrent with his freezing breath. The water freezes solid but maintains its downward trajectory. It turns into a rod of ice that shatters when it strikes the wolf directly on the head.

The wolf is knocked down to the ground, whining in pain. The pack scatters wide with whiny hisses. I eye the pack carefully and float downward, closer to the ground. I’m ready to bolt upward at a moment’s notice.

To my relief, the pack doesn’t intervene in this battle. I focus on the alpha wolf again and channel my water, splashing at his face. This time he’s careful with its frosty breath. Instead, he lets himself soak in my water and slowly gets up to his feet, shaking his head.

The moment he gets up to face me, I land, canceling my flight spell. “Reviss, kas.” <Energy, feed.> I cast ‘Energy Hand’ into the torrent of water. Blue sparks of electricity come out of my hands but don't reach the white wolf in a visible manner. Yet the wolf is electrocuted, unable to move or react, he spasms on the spot. I keep both water and lightning cantrips up.

I eye the wolf pack around me, ready to defend myself against the rest of them with the 'Flowing Shield' spell. Yes, it'd turn into an icy dome due to their breaths, but it'll probably protect me. Yet the wolves remain rooted in their spot. I slowly walk forward toward the spasming alpha, cranking my neck wildly around to ensure they aren't going to jump at me from behind.

Reaching the alpha wolf, I cut the mana off from my patterns, and place my hand on the wet canine neck. My hair stands on my nape with a zap and the wet fur stabs my palm. The wolf shakes under my hand. “Myrsha ritsa!” <Gravity repulse!> *Thooomb* It drops to the ground, lifeless and headless, torrents of blood splashing all over me.

I expect the rest of the pack to attack me now, yet the wolves run away, scattering into the woods. The snow stops falling. The spell is broken.

I take out my glassy bottles from the scaled wrapping, and channel my mana into the diamond stopper. Slowly, I drain the alpha wolf’s soul into the ectoplasm bottles. I fill four and half bottles with white bluish ectoplasm. Now, all I have to do is eat this creature’s meat with the consumption of its soul.

I wonder why do we have to eat the meat, why consuming the soul alone isn’t enough? If I only had to consume human souls in a form of ectoplasm, would it disgust me the same way as consuming their meat? And if not, what's the difference? As long as those humans are evil I don’t think I’d have a problem with that…

I shake my head, driving away the treacherous thoughts. It doesn’t matter! I can’t eat the meat, and I have to help my people!

The camp looks like a blizzard passed through it. The tents and ground are covered in snow and white frost particles. Multiple white wolves’ corpses litter the ground, their flowing blood creates black and red spots around the white clearing.

Most of my guards along with Ryon are frozen solid. I approach one of the guards first. “Rinim riss nim” <ice flow water>. The ice melts, draining more water mana out of me.

Lepp drops to the ground, covered in frost, shaking and hugging himself. His teeth chatter with the extreme cold. “Th-th-thank you yo-yo-Your Majesty!”

“You’re welcome. Make a fire!”

“Y-yes! Your Majesty!”

I move from soldier to soldier, draining my necklace dry to unfreeze them. When my necklace is out of mana, I start spending magical gems. Yes, this is wasteful, but I can’t know whether they’ll live or die frozen within the ice for too long. Magical gems, as useful as they are, are only objects, they can’t compare to lives.

“I like da’ new tricks! Old boss lady give da’ good stuff!” Ryon exclaims when I unfreeze him. “Thanks for savin ma skinny hide! Ya sure you don’t wanna snake? I’ma gentleman.”

I shake my head both in negative and amusement. I’m glad he’s so unfazed by all of this… By the time I unfreeze Ryon, all the guards are seated around the fires. They take off their clothes and are now huddled around the fires wrapped in dry blankets. Ryon joins them, and the scent of vegetable stew enters my nostrils.

“Have anyone seen Zoe or Jolla?” I ask.

“That way!” Ryon points out while accepting a bowl of stew from Lepp.

I rush in the direction he pointed at, my heart pounding in my chest. Without Jolla’s knowledge of the terrain, we won’t find the orcs. And Zoe. It’s true the girl hadn’t shown any magical potential yet, and I even find her annoying at times, but I got used to her presence somehow. Having her as my personal maid is pleasant, if not on my ears.

I don’t have to go very far. I find them both frozen solid with their backs to a large tree, along with two frozen wolves. The two women and the two wolves creates a singular connected ice sculpture. Within the sculpture, Zoe’s hands are held forward, as if to push the wolves away from her.

How did they get themselves frozen up with wolves… how did the wolves freeze up for that matter? I saw them breathing on each other earlier, it didn’t have the same effect.

“Rinim riss nim” <ice flow water>. I melt only the side with Zoe and Jolla. The icy statues turn to water, the shaking women drop to the ground. "Are you two alright?"

"Pha. Alright? By Tukado's beard we're freezing to death! Get us to a fire." Jolla demands hugging herself.

"Sorry, it took me a minute to find you. What happened? Why are the wolves frozen?"

"I-I think I froze them?" Zoe says hesitantly. "I th-think I do have m-magic? I don't know..."

That would make more sense... but how would anyone freeze those things? They seemed to be healing from the cold... not freezing... Unless the ice is already solid and hits them...

"Congratulation for awaken your magic, Zoe!” I declare with a smile.

“Ye-e-eah…” the shaking girl hugs herself letting out a nervous laugh.

“Magic, pha! So important. By Tukado's snake, if I lose a toe because of your magic talk, I'll rip your tongues out!” Jolla interrupts angrily. She looks weird without her glasses. She doesn’t sound like she's freezing to death, more like she’s annoyed that I ignored her plea for a fire.

I smile at her. “Come on you two, there’s fire and hot soup back in camp.”

“You stink, get yourself a bath first, woman.” Jolla rolls her eyes and step around. “By Tukado’s beard! Where are my glasses? Pha! Worgs, of all the dumb ways to die out here.”

I ignore her rumbling and lead the shivering Zoe back to camp.

Later that night, I teach Zoe the meditation method for opening her water mana-pool and ask her to tell me when she gets it done.

I also order my soldiers to skin the alpha worg, take its fur, and grill some of its meat. I spent the rest of that night in deep meditation, strengthening my gravity mana pool and absorbing the Worg’s soul. I use every break we have to meditate and absorb the wolf’s soul. I begin connecting the gravity pool, I’m going to need it.

{28} Noxi (April) the 24th

“Master! Will you tell that stinking soot licker that I don’t want to be with him?! He won’t stop pestering me!” Zoe comes to me with a complaint on the next day. We’re camping in the woods, and the a few orange sunrays sneak between the trees. The soldiers share a meal, and I focus on studying.

“Who, Ryon? Tell him yourself.” I shrug with a sigh.

“But I don’t want to be too mean, you know? He loves me for some reason, but I don’t share his feelings. I don’t want to hurt him…”

I can’t help but laugh. “Love you?! Ryon?! You’re aware he wants to snake anything with a big chest, right? Actually forget that, any woman in sight will probably get his attention eventually. Be as mean as you want to be.”

She wrinkles her nose. “I told him I don’t want to, but he won’t stop pestering me!”

“Hey, Ryon!” I call out. He’s fiddling with his gadget on the other side.

“Wha?” He approaches with a smirk.

“Can you stop pestering Zoe? She doesn’t want to snake you.”

“Ah that. Ye sure. I’m a gentleman. Here have a flower!” He takes a beautiful white hibiscus out of his ear of all places and offers it to the dumbfounded Zoe. “Neat trick, huh?” he says when we both stare at him.

“You see?!” Zoe goes away with a stomp, enters her tent, and closes the flaps violently.

I sigh and shake my head. “Ryon… can you please not talk to her at all? No flowers, no words, just don’t talk to her. She doesn’t like you.”

“Ah. She like to snake da fingers of other women. Ok!” He turns to leave.

“Ryon. Sit down!”

He stops and sits on the boulder in front of me. His green upturned eyes are focused on me, and his dark obsidian skin reflects the light of the campfire flames. “Ya?”

How do I talk to him about tact? By not talking about tact… He likes his so called ‘tricks’, let’s start with them…

“Ryon. What did you do to the wolves inside the smoke, can you show me your tricks?”

He grins. “Ah. That a nasty one. Right here and now?”

“Yeah, but not on me obviously, do it on the tree.”

“I do it on da tree it hit everyone.” He gives me a hopeful smile.

“Then don’t do it, just explain.”

“Bah 'splain 'splain. It’s da smoke with da’ nasty! Here!” He throws a small pouch at the tree near the guards’ campfire.

The moment it explodes, I feel like throwing up my dinner. It smells like feces mixed with rotten eggs and twenty years old dirty socks.

The men around the other campfire cough and run away, covering their noses. Zoe comes out of her tent in tears, then runs toward the men in the forest covering her nose with her arm. Only Jolla remains seated, writing her parchment on a flat rock. “By Tukado’s beard…” she mumbles.

“I see…” I hold my breath. “Any other new tricks?”

“Ya say neat trick now! Ya don’t say neat trick and I don’t show ya!”

“It’s a neat trick Ryon. Very useful against animals that have a good sense of smell, like wolves. You’re smart, more than I give you credit for sometimes. Did you come up with that yourself?”

“Nah. The old boss lady taught me how ta’do it. She neat, but her jugs are all wrinkly and she laughs like this! Gigigigigigigi…” he mimicks the hag’s cackle. “Said if I stick ta you, she show me more neat tricks. I have da gold dust now, it make big fire and go kaboom. But hard ta’make. An’ silver dust ta’make people blind! I know that one, but the old boss lady have better silver dust, and I didn’t have da’ gold dust…”

“Felul” <Wind> I cast while listening to him talking. My wind disperses the smelly cloud and makes it drift away. The guards return to their small bonfire.

Zoe stomps over to us. “Will you make this soot-licker go already?!”

“No. He’s my friend. And I like his neat tricks,” I reply with a smile.

Ryon laughs. “See? Boss lady like ma neat tricks! Oh. Not talking to you. Boss lady says not to, an’ I’ma gentleman.” He turns his back to Zoe.

“Argh!!!” Zoe stomps away to her tent.

“Can you show me the gold dust?” I ask.

“Da’ one that go kaboom? Nah. Save for good times! Hard ta’make!”

“Does the boom creates fire?”

“Ya! Big fire!”

“Ok good. Kushjak” <Oil> I aim my hand and spray oil at the nearby tree. “If you see me do that black thing on enemies, you throw the gold dust at them, ok? It’ll make a bigger fire.”

He nods, green eyes glittering with excitement.

“Actually. Bring me a few waterskins, I’ll fill them for you with this stuff, that way you can make more fires yourself. But be careful not to hurt people, only enemies.”

“Ya! Of course. Only da’ enemy gangs! I’m a gentleman, I don’t hurt pesies.” He hands a bunch of bladder bottles to fill.

“Pesies?”

“Normal peeps. Pesies. Only marks an’ enemy gangs are fair game, ya? I’m a gentleman.”

Maybe it's a slang for peasants? I cast my spell and summon oil into the containers. “Why do you call yourself a gentleman?”

“'Cuz I am.” He makes sure the bottles are closed tight before he makes them disappear in his array of bandoliers.

I raise a brow at him. “What does it mean to be a gentleman?”

“Snake the pretty ladies, eat da good food, and steal from rich peeps. I also wanna fart on rich peeps faces, always fun. Why you askin'?”

“A gentleman means a gentle man, a nice man. It means being a good person. Ryon, are you a good person?”

“Ya, I am a good person, I live da’ good life.”

“But…”

Zoe interrupts and sits near me, giving Ryon the evil eye. “Master? The spell I used to freeze the wolves yesterday. Do you know it?”

She has a point. I wonder what that spell is? I get my grimoire and open it in an empty page. I channel my mana. I need a spell that works like those wolves’ breath and freezes people solid!

Ayla’s Freezing Vapors
Names: Ayla’s Freezing Vapors, Freezing vapors, Lesser frost breath, Vargar’s breath, Worg’s breath.
Element: water
Sub element: vapor
Level: 0
Words: shanim rial
Translation: Vapor cold
Quicken: X
Patterns: 4
Gestures: exhale
Offering: X
Requirement: Temperature below -1c degrees near the caster’s mouth.
Range: varies
Target: breath.
Duration: as long as the caster exhales.
Effect: The spell will turn a single exhaling from the caster into freezing vapors to be carried by the wind. Anything the vapors touch will be frozen solid and covered in ice. It'll consume the vapors in the process. The vapors will snuff out fires, and it can be cast as long as the temperature of the caster’s lips is below -1c degrees.
It is highly advised to gain wind superiority before usage. If the wind carries the vapors toward the caster, the caster or a body parts of them will be frozen.
The freezing is only a few degrees below 0 and the ice will crack or melt shortly after. Ayla considered this to be a faulty and a dangerous spell. It was inspired by the Worg’s breath.
Cost: 8 water gems
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: 5 water gems per pattern.

Let’s see… oh wow this spell is faulty… no wonder she froze herself over there. I’ll have to cool my mouth to cast it… shouldn’t be too hard, I can just make a small piece of ice and put in my mouth… “Here, take a look, learn the patterns if you want, you have to create them out of your water mana to get an effect.” I hand her the grimoire. “Be very careful with my grimoire and don’t test your spell anywhere near it.

*~*~*

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb. Imari’s Lesser Flightb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 16 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1738 Magic Gems. 63 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 14g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100

Present Companions:
Zoe
Ryon
Jolla Silverquill

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 800 levy militia. 900 footmen. 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-07-08 17:40:11 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 95 in color

2023-07-08 17:39:25 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 94 colorless

Chapter 94 Let’s Fly.

The truth is a powerful thing.
It can change fates and bring death.
It can bring justice and save lives.
Only when a person own up to their truth.
Can they call themselves just.

Noxi, Guardian of Light.

The pull on my hand only gets stronger and another rubbery limb wraps around my elbow, tugging me further into the helmet. My hand sinks all the way to my right elbow. My mana get sucked in and in a matter of five seconds I'm devoid of mana.

Kolag's hand push me off violently. I scream. With the demon's tugging me toward the helmet and Kolag pushing me away from him, it feels as if my arm would come out of its socket. My vision blurs and turns red. I push Kolag's armor, trying to free my hand.

The odd demon shrieks as if something scared him and lets my hand go.

I find myself on the floor, heaving and panting. I wipe the tears off my face and find blood instead. The demon drained all of my mana to the point of mana dehydration, and the expected headache comes like pounding hammers.

Kolag bolts toward my door, holding his helmet. "I'm sorry!" he calls out with an echo.

No! He's not at fault here!

I get up and run after him. I manage to catch him as he opens the door to leave my chambers and hug him tightly from behind. "You're not going!"

"But..."

I pull him back as hard as I can, my sore arm screaming in protest. "No but! You're not going."

"The demon might come out again." Despite his word, he doesn't struggle against my hold. He could easily remove my hands and leave. He wants to stay, but he hates himself for it...

"And you'll stop it if it does. Don't worry, I won't ever repeat that mistake," I promise.

"What if I can't stop it? What if it kills you next time? I know how close it was to draining all of your mana, you'd be dead if it finished, it'd drain away your soul and..."

"But it didn't happen because you stopped it. You won't blame yourself for this. I was the stupid one here. I'm the one to blame. Now sit! We'll talk about it. We might die in a few days anyway... I want to be with you for as long as I can, even if I can't touch you."

Hugging him so close from behind, I can feel him trembling "I can't. It might..."

"Please? For me?"

He stands there silently for a long moment before he relents. "Alright."

I take a deep breath before getting on his lap again. My right hand still throbbing in pain. I'll be damned if I let that demon ruin what we have! It won't have its way! It won't win! I'll see that demon banished or destroyed one day, I swear! "Maybe I can't touch you, but you can touch me. I know you want to. Maybe now it's the wrong time for it, but we may not have any other time if one of us dies... we've both seen death enough times to know it doesn't wait for anyone. So if you want to..."

"Inara..." he says with a quivering echo.

"Yes?"

"I... the demon... the demon wants to drain you of your soul... of your mana. It wants your soul as we speak. My lust for you and the demon's lust for your mana and soul is something I can't always distinguish... As much as I want to touch you, I believe it is prudent to wait until we get rid of this monster first. Once we do, I promise you that I won't ever stop touching you!"

Good! He has hope. That's all that matters! He isn't going to kill himself on some self sacrificial instinct. "I'll keep you on to that promise then..."

{28} Noxi (April) the 20th

The next day Kolag leaves on a ship heading south while I head north on a horseback, along with my small entourage.

My party includes Zoe who comes as my personal maid. Jolla Silverquill the gnome knows the way to the orc tribe. Ryon whom I take as my personal bodyguard, mainly so he won’t cause any trouble for Salik. Along with ten soldiers that both Salik and Jolla insisted on. The only one I’m missing is Loyal, but Jerro took him when he went chasing after Berthold and Sharla.

For the sake of speed, I don’t want to use a carriage, and I carry Jolla with me on the same horse. The dignified gnome is against the idea at first, but gives in later since there isn't any other practical choice.

I take plenty of spell materials with me. I want to learn new spells on the way, mainly the ‘Lesser Flight’ spell. Since Janara and Oshi can easily counter my weightless spell, I need a better way to maintain myself in the air.

Imari’s Lesser Flight
Names: Imari’s Lesser Flight, Lesser Flight, Fly.
Element: gravity
Sub element: motion
Level: 1
Words: Myrsha, nia tsaf lah, lah shitol ni latsa lah, fel ka’am J’an nia kent
Translation: Gravity, I command you, you will give me to defy you, and move as I want
Quicken: Myrsha, nia latsa lah. (gravity, I defy you)
Patterns: 11
Gestures: Offer the petals with both hands, once they disappear.> attach right index finger to left ring finger and left index finger to right ring finger. > attach both thumbs between the four attached fingers.> Touch caster’s chest with both thumbs.
Offering: 5 rose petals
Requirement: Weight above 10 kg and below 200 kg.
Range: self
Target: self
Duration: 1 minute.
Effect: Allows the caster to fly at the average speed of 50 KP/H, the speed may be influenced by caster’s weight, aerodynamics, and gravity affinity. Speed recorded with the spell (without alteration patterns) is: Highest: 77 KP/H Lowest: 39 KP/H. The spell is considered ‘lesser’ because A. the speed. B. It does not protect the caster from air resistance and currents, nor from the shockwaves of abrupt stops.
Cost: 50 gravity gems.
Bound cost: 35 gravity gems.
Altered cost: 5 gems per alteration patterns.

Unlike my ‘Weightless Body’ and ‘Breeze’ combination, ‘Lesser Flight’ doesn’t eliminate the caster’s weight. Instead, it moves the caster via swift telekinesis. In fact, if I had tried to combine ‘Weightless Body’ and ‘Lesser Flight’, the latter would lose all its effect since telekinesis cannot move objects without weight to them.

‘Lesser Flight’ is more costly in terms of gravity mana, but now I have a magical necklace that gives me extra general mana, along with plenty of gems to use. Yes, it’d burn money. But I can no longer afford to think about my magical gems as money. Instead, they become potential mana to burn.

The speed of ‘Lesser Flight’ is nothing to sneeze at either. This is enough to let me dodge spells or projectiles at ease. I’ll be flying around, casting ‘Firebolts’ from the air, not to mention ‘Copper Bolts’. I made sure to restock on actual bronze arrowheads before leaving.

The only drawback is mana. With the initial cost of fifty gems, I can only make three attempts at casting this spell each time. Thanks to connecting my crown pool, I can now regenerate a gem of mana per minute. That gives me an ability to try each hour. Although, I sometimes forget to try during the journey, and riding a horse in a hurry isn't the most accommodating for spellcasting. That being said, at night before going to bed I can make three attempts and let my necklace recharge during the night.

It’s been three days, I wasted quite a bit of rose petals, and my mana keeps getting drained. Elementals show up, and help me fly, but not a single elemental agrees to let me bind it. I order them, beg them, threaten them, tempt them with extra flowers, but it just doesn’t work.

{23} Noxi (April) the 23rd

“Myrsha, nia tsaf lah, lah shitol ni latsa lah, fel ka’am J’an nia kent” <Gravity, I command you, you will give me to defy you, and move as I want> I chant in what feels like the millionth time. I holde roses and move my hands the right gestures for the spell once the petals are gone.

Purple smoke engulfs my hands and chest, and an elemental shows himself from the small fog. This elemental is different from any other gravity elemental I’ve seen so far.

For starters, he’s bigger. Every elemental I’ve met before was a little humanoid at the size of a finger or smaller. This elemental is at the size of my wrist, or even a little baby. Except, unlike a baby, he’s graceful and looks like a miniature adult with slender limbs. The buzzing dragonfly wings on his back flap faster than the eye can see.

The most notable difference about this elemental is the fact that he wears clothes. His short toga robe is sewn from rose petals. It only covers half of his purple chest and hips, but he looks much more humane than all the other naked, featureless elementals I’ve dealt with before.

“Shitol horban zarpyam le lahai-myrsha-zor, manus!” <Offer sacrifice flowers to your king, mortal!>

He commands in a dignified bass. He even has a small tiara made out of green thorny stem.

“Nia sherill shill lah hafy shurara!” <I wish to you come again!>

I demand in a commanding tone that wouldn’t shame his. By now, I know that these creatures respond to regal commands, and I am pretty good at those.

He stops and observes me. His three purple eyes stare directly into mine. He won’t move and I don’t dare to break eye contact with him. From what I know, the size of an elemental determines their power, and this is the biggest elemental I’ve encountered so far. If he’s willing to let me bind him then it’ll be a big win.

“Shitol horban auzaton lahai, le myrsha-lahi-zor manus! Shitol horban ni dortsal ai myrsh-yatsliar-zor di bach talihakteon, fel nia ti-shivera ai-myrsha-nik.”

He wants me to offer him some sort of sacrifice within a year. I am not sure what a “dortsal of a ruler beast male” means, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, I can probably get it if I have a year to do so. I know all too well how impatient these elementals can get. So I can’t go look for the meaning of the word in my dictionary right now… I have to agree.

“Niam ti yas atifem!” <We have a deal!> I declare before he can change his mind.

“Niam ti yas atifem!” <We have a deal!> he says in a deep bass and a stern look on his face. He touches my forehead through my mask, drains the rest of the mana for my spell, and turns into a speck of purplish light, circling around me.

A moment later I soar above the camp, I can direct my movement with a simple distracted thought. It’s like walking or running. Wherever I look and want to go, my body simply floats in that direction. I have a single minute before the spell would start draining more mana and I’ll have to weave extending patterns to keep myself a float. I decide to test the speed of the spell as I fly between the trees.

The strong wind on my face nearly blinds me, I flinch as I try my best not to hit the trees and branches on my way. I panic and stop when I am about to hit a tree. The sharp halt knocks the air out of my lungs, and I slam directly into the canopy of leaves, breaking small branches at the top.

Ramming the tree top does not break my flying spell. I'm still floating a little above the tree. I laugh and take a few twigs out of my hair. This speed! None of the elementals gave me this speed before! How fast was I going?

My hair and my white traveling cloak float around me as I hover down. This is power, real power, I couldn’t care less about ruling a city, or having people look up to me. This is what I’ve always wanted, the ability and power to do whatever I please, not having to fear anyone, true freedom.

As I calm down from my laughter and sigh in content, I hear the screams from the camp behind me.

*~*~*

Interlude 94.1

Kolag

Kolag gets off the boat and follows the guide toward the large palace. Unlike Red Cedar city, it seems like Janara doesn’t care much for her people, she leaves them to their own devices. Which isn’t bad per se, but not good either.

This war is nonsense, Kolag has to prevent it. Janara had lost her mind when Purson died. He can’t blame her, he’d also lose his mind if Inara died.

He can’t help but think about Inara, the way the sun shines through her hair, the deep frown she has on her face when she's absorbed in a book. He can't get enough of that. And Janara took that away! Now Inara wears a mask. Janara has to pay for what she did to the woman he loves… but if that’s true, he has to pay for what he did to Purson. Justice is justice, and the death of Purson is on his hands.

It’s clear Janara lied about killing Inara back on that fateful day. Or, at the very least, it’s clear she had a death wish back then. He let his demon take over back then, he cannot let it happen again, not again. He will do what he can to mend these bridges, Janara is a friend.

And now there’s going to be a war. Janara keeps blaming Inara for Purson, and Kolag needs Inara to be happy and safe at any cost.

The marble palace is looming overhead, it’s about five stories tall. Kolag looks at it with distaste, such an impressive structure should be dedicated to the gods, not men. There no less than twenty guards around the entrance. Kolag hand glides on the handle of his claymore

A trembling guard steps forward at the palace entrance. “Sir, you have to hand over your weapon.”

You’d think that the guard wouldn’t be so scared with twenty of them out here.

Kolag looms over him.

This human is a weakling! The demon within stirs. Take off the helmet! Tear this human to shreds! Revel in his blood! Findhisintestine, they’refilledwithsweetWETjuice!

Kolag grits his teeth and hands his claymore over. He’ll be damned if he ever let this monster do as it pleases. Noxi will keep him safe, Noxi will make sure this demon is gone one day. That he can finally be happy with Inara. Until then, Kolag will just have to bear with it and hold on.

Kolag passes through the green-carpeted corridors. It is time to see Janara, he owes her an explanation for what happened that day. Inara wasn’t at fault, Purson’s blood is on his hands, his and this maddening demon. Kolag can still remember Purson’s face when the demon held him in his abyssal limbs, the horror in his blue eyes, Kolag can never forget that.

Just like how Inara faced him with the truth, he now has to face Janara with the truth. Noxi is the God of Truth. He always knew he can’t keep running from the truth, it’ll catch up, just like how it did now. But Kolag is a coward.

Kolag can hear his own breaths as he stands in front of the golden double doors leading to Janara’s throne room.

The doors open, and a soldier steps forward, announcing his name to Janara. Kolag finds it ridiculous, Janara knows all too well who he is.

The green throne room is decorated with gold silver and gems, statues, urns, weapons, and torn flags. There’s a large green flag with an oat on it. Nobles never chose an oat as their symbol, this has to be Janara’s own idea.

Kolag frowns at the golden jeweled statue of a man resembling Purson, there’s another done in silver, and a third in marble. Janara is grieving, he should not judge her too harshly. Yet, so much gold thrown at such a fruitless endeavor when this money could benefit the masses. This is simply wrong.

Janara sits on an extravagant throne placed multiple stairs above the rest of the room. It's as large as a bed and coated in gold. Kolag can’t help but count the emeralds above her head, he stops at ten.

A silver mask adorns Janara’s face, like Inara, she hides her features. The silver tiara on her head and the silky green dress makes her look majestic, and overbearing. It’s impossible to believe she used to be a commoner once.

Kolag can’t help but wonder how many poor commoners the jewelry in this place could feed. Inara had never insisted on such wasteful behavior despite being a noblewoman, the perks of power were never something she abused. Yet, Janara is a former commoner, she shouldn’t be this wasteful.

Kolag shakes his head. He is not here to judge, he is here to atone.

Two women sit beside Janara. He recognize Oshi the half-dragon, but not the other one.

“Kolag, welcome!” Janara exclaims from her high throne.

“Did Inara send you here to beg?” Oshi asks in a mocking tone.

Janara waves her hand. “Hush! Kolag is a friend!”

Kolag gathers his courage and speak up. “I’m here to tell you the truth about Purson!”

“We already know the truth, I was there, remember?” Oshi says with a large smile on her face.

Kolag fumes with anger. Take off the helmet! Tear this moist little muddy dragon to shreds! Take out her intestines and suck the sweetwetjuice, yes!

Control!

“With all due respect, Lady Oshi, you ran away at the first sign of trouble. You pushed Purson into a spell that was aimed for you, and you did not witness Purson’s final fate, nor his death. The spell had only paralyzed him.”

“It’s really your word against mine, isn’t it?” Oshi says with a smug smile.

Janara frowns. “Go on, Kolag.”

Kolag recounts the entire event. The ambush Inara had planned for the bandits, the bandits’ surrender. The monstrous mage who showed up right after, Inara’s failed attempt at killing the mage. The way Oshi pushed Purson at the paralytic spell aimed at her, how she turned tail and ran.

The way Kolag, Purson, Lezere, and Nalfit attacked the mage. How Purson and Nalfit dropped almost instantly, to the paralytic rays and petrification. And how he held the mage back and secured Lezere’s escape.

He then continues to the moment he woke up and the demon broke out. Exactly when Inara managed to hurt the mage with her magic. How the demon was let loose, eliminated the mage, and attacked everyone in sight. Kolag confesses how he killed Nalfit, how the demon tore off all the bandits and villagers, and finally how the demon found Purson tied up in the barn.

How Kolag had struggled with the demon and managed to stop him from tearing Purson apart. Instead, Kolag took control over the demon’s body and threw Purson away toward the fields, out of the village, out of reach. Later, Kolag found out that the fall had killed Purson, broke his neck. Hence, Purson’s death is Kolag’s fault, no one else’s!

“…I’m here to atone” Kolag says as he kneels. “Please leave Inara alone, she has nothing to do with it. We all went on this mission because of me, and I killed Purson. The responsibility is with me. If you seek vengeance for Purson’s death, Milady, then take me! Hurt me, kill me. Do as you please. Just promise me one thing. This demon doesn’t get loose once I’m dead.” Kolag lowers his head, he is done speaking. He did the right thing and faced his truth. Now it’s up to Janara to decide what to do with him, but the woman he loves will be safe.

*~*~*

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb. Imari’s Lesser Flightb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 16 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1761 Magic Gems. 40 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 14g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 25/100

Present Companions:
Zoe
Ryon
Jolla Silverquill

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 800 levy militia. 900 footmen. 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-07-04 12:59:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 94 in color

2023-07-04 12:59:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 93 colorless

Chapter 93 Mask Off.

To find peace you need to let go.
Let go of the past, you can’t change it.
Let go of the future, you can’t control it.
Focus on the joyful moment.

Lokamesh, Father of Mortal Kind.

“Come in, Kolag.” My armored boyfriend stands at the doorway, hesitating to enter my quarters. I just realized… he had never set foot in here before… I really am a poor girlfriend, aren’t I?

We were both busy… he was too busy helping people and fixing widows’ ceilings, and I had to manage a city and learn some new magic… I guess there’s a good side to Janara’s attack, Kolag and I might get a chance to bridge this gap in our relationship…

He enters. The sound of his armored boots is muffled by the carpets. “When you said you wanted to spend a night together, did you mean it? Or you have something else to ask of me?”

Am I that insincere with you that you have to ask?

Yes I am… even now I’m hiding things from you… I’m sorry…

I should probably tell you more truths… even if you hate me for it… oh you’re going to hate me for it…

If he does hate me for it, then I deserve it. I have to face it, or I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t… “I do have something else to ask of you.”

He lets out an annoyed grunt. “I’m listening…”

“Hug me? Cuddle with me?” I can’t see his face behind the visor, but I can tell he’s blushing. It brings an uncontrollable smile to my face. My twisted face… more like melted cheese now… even smiling feels wrong in my cheeks…

Stop doing this! I bet he’s blushing… “Kolag Befar, are you blushing behind that helmet?”

He chuckles and embraces me in a tight hug. His metal-covered chest against my head is cold, but his leather-covered arms around me are warm, it's the warmth I crave. He sits down and helps me onto his lap.

See? He still loves me. I let out a relieved sigh. “I thought you wouldn’t want me anymore…”

“Why?”

I take off my mask in response.

“Who am I to berate you for the damage done to your face…” He pats on his helmet with a metallic ting from his gauntlet. “This is my fault. If only I had been there on time. I ignored your messenger because I finally got someone to help out there…”

“It’s not. You couldn’t have known… I shouldn’t have shouted at you like that. You’re taking too much on yourself, Kolag… You’re mortal, you make mistakes. I am the same as you there. We all make mistakes, there’s no reason to feel so guilty about it all the time. Keep living, keep trying to do good, and stop worrying about what you can’t change.”

“What about the demon?”

“What about it?”

His arms squeeze tightly around me. “You saw my demon form. I can understand why you’d be scared, I’d be scared too if I were you.”

“I was never scared of you, just really busy and frustrated. And you were busy and frustrated too…”

“You’re not scared of me?” I can hear the surprise in his voice.

“Kolag, I already saw your demon a long time ago, back at the village where Purson and Nalfit died. True, I didn’t get a clear look at it back then, but I knew very well what your demon can do. I love you regardless.”

“I love you too, but you can love and fear someone at the same time.” He heaves a heavy sigh that echoes across the room. “Are you sure you’re not also afraid of me?”

This has to stop! “I’m not scared of you. You’re scared of yourself, and you think I share the same fears you do, but I don’t. I’ll knock this understanding into your bucket head with a hammer if I have to.”

“I think you should be scared of me, my love, for your own good…” His fingers glide across my wrist.

Not this again… can’t the guy let go of all that guilty nonsense?! Part of who he is, I suppose… It’s much better than if he didn’t care about it and wasn’t careful where he takes off that helmet… If he never cared Rushmia wouldn’t put the demon in him in the first place… Nor would I fall in love with him…

I place my hand on his metal covered jaw and force him to look at me. “And what would that achieve, huh? You’re you, the demon is the demon. I’m scared of the demon, but I’m not scared of you. And no, the demon will not keep you away from me! I’ll find a way to get rid of it, and have you all to myself!”

He looks back, I spot a glint of his eyes through the slit of his helmet. “If you’re scared of the demon as you say, why did you ask me to let it out on the battlefield?”

Is that self-conflict? Is he considering using the demon for me? Of course he’s considering it… he loves me and he’s willing to cross lines for me. But I’m not going to manipulate him into doing that… I’m not the hag. It has to be his choice.

I avert my eyes and focus on the dark smooth metal of his armor. “I don’t know. I’m desperate. Janara and her army scare me more than the demon does. It already worked once, right? I’m sorry, I know I can’t ask that of you… I just don’t want to lose what I have here.”

He lets out a grunt, and shifts me in his arms to look into his eyes again. “Why is it so important to you? This city? Weren’t you planning to leave after we killed that terrible king?”

“I wasn’t.” I focus on the glimmer of his eyes behind the cold metallic helmet.

“You want to rule over this place?” The shock is apparent behind his echoing voice.

“I guess I do. Someone has to, right?”

“Why?! I thought power and ruling over people doesn’t interest you. Back at the Sapphire Tower, you gave it all away in a heartbeat, can’t you do the same here?” A hint of pain and frustration sneaks into his echo.

“Oh, ruling over people doesn’t interest me. Frankly, managing a city is a headache. I’d much rather sit with my books somewhere private and learn more magic, or better yet, be on my way home. The reason I wanted to rule back in the tower was to ensure my survival. If you took over the position back then, I wouldn’t have to worry about that. But the reason I’m ruling over the city now is different.”

I get up and out of his arms, go to my desk, and hand him the book containing the letter I received from the hag. “Revisor.” <Light.> my energy mana creates a floating ball of light above his head, shedding light on the dim lit room.

If you’re reading this my child, it means you’re already on the gray islands.

There is much to do, but it has nothing to do with you. However, it does not mean you are allowed to slack off.

The gray islands is a cursed land, mages who had ascended to the first rank are unable to walk its grounds, and the strongest entities in there are the peak level of mortal apprentices.

In the gray islands, anyone who wields even the feeblest of magic is treated as a ‘sorcerer’. These islands are barbaric and isolated, the various gem towers do a lot to ensure it stays that way.

As for the apprentices who inhabit this place, there are three kinds. Those who seek refuge from the world of magic. Those who are sent there by their masters as a trial. And those who were born on these islands and discovered their magical talent.

These islands are contain many small mortal kingdoms that vie for power over one another. Some of them are ruled by these so-called ‘sorcerers’, and others by mortal religious orders. More often than not the local fae, and orc tribes will take control over one of these so-called 'kingdoms'.

While you’re away on this trial, I want you to practice and master authority.
To satisfy me, you’ll need to have ten thousand mortals or fae who respond to your every command within a year. The age, gender, and occupation of these souls are irrelevant, only that they’ll obey your command.

The way you choose to achieve this goal is irrelevant. Slavery, intimidation, blackmail, money, trust, honor, patriotism, vassalage, faith. The method does not matter to me, only that they obey your word, or that their leaders obey your word.

If you manage to get it done within a year, I’ll grant you a gift. Since our circumstance have changed, I’m calling our bet off. I will gift you with a grand birthday gift on your next birthday. Since I know you’d win our bet under normal circumstance.

Since you've failed your trails as my assassin, if you cannot get ten thousand people to serve you within a year, I will not let you have an ascendance ritual for ten years, and you will have to wait longer before you can become a full mage while going your assassin trials again. One needs some power in society, if you cannot use the shadows in your advantage, I shall test your power of authority.

I do not want you to neglect your path of magic. The book you’re holding contains instructions on your path. Training methods, answers to your questions, and guidelines on how to reach the pinnacle of the apprentice rank. Some of it is hidden, do not scribe anything on the empty pages, instructions will appear on those should you need them. Check page 6 about the Nugl’e-Kar I sent with you.

The second book contains knowledge about alchemy. No child of mine is allowed to be ignorant on the subject. I shall test your knowledge when you are back.

As for the grimoire, the instructions for that are on its very front page.

With the capabilities of your mind and your passion for magic, I reckon you’d benefit from these gifts.

Good luck Inara my child, may you find your path to power.

The Maven of Mysteries.

Kolag goes through the letter, his breaths echo and break the silence of the room.

He lifts his head from the parchment. “I see… ten years. I cannot judge you. No one would want to wait that long to achieve their goals in life. But if I were you, I’d wait the ten years if it’d…”

Really?! “I can’t! You don’t understand what ten years mean. It’s ten more years of feeling helpless, ten years of being away from my family, and my family could die in the meantime! I’m aware that there’s nothing I can do right now, but the sooner I get back home, the better. I want magic so much because I want to go home and I don’t want to be so helpless all the time. I want to be able to survive and defend myself, not to mention those I care for.”

I stomp my foot, pointing my finger at him. “These ten years mean ten years of servitude to that hag. Ten years as her personal assassin, and I have no say in the matter. The last target she asked me to kill was a mother to a newborn babe. I found my target breastfeeding her baby, exhausted from lack of sleep. The hag only had that poor woman killed, to get at her damned father, nothing more. I can’t go back to that life, I won’t!”

“I’m sorry.”

I cross my hands on my chest. “For what? It’s the hag who should be sorry, not you. But she… she thinks she’s doing the right thing, crazy as it sounds… She thinks she’s doing right by me, she even wants me to treat her as my mother…”

He pulls me back to his embrace. It’s nice to have someone warm who just hug me and care about me. It’s nice to know that he feels like this no matter how my face looks like or what I've done to survive, it’s not even an issue for him. I just wish he’d stop blaming himself… We sit like that quietly, enjoying the moment.

I shouldn’t tell him about Lezere’s body, or we’ll have another fight…

What if he dies, won’t I carry this regret with me?

What if he finds out by himself? What if…

Enough! No more lies! I owe him that much.

“There’s something I need to tell you about Lezere.” I break the silence. My heart pounds loudly in my ears. “You’ll probably get angry at me when you hear it.”

“I don’t think I can be angry at you right now, Inara.” I can tell he’s smiling behind his helmet, and it brings an uncontrollable smile to twist my distorted face.

I take a deep breath, my heart bursting out of my chest. What if we have another fight? What if he leaves and joins Janara side after this? He clearly hated the idea…

No! I won’t hide who I am and the choices I make, he has the right to know who he’s loving… and if that changes what he thinks of me, then he has a right to leave… Taking off my mask didn’t scare him off! This won’t either! “I gave her body to Balgrum after you’ve left.”

“You did not!” He turns me to look at him.

I look into his visor, I can see the light reflecting from his eyes behind it. “I did.”

He gets up, metal creaking. I’m forced to stand as he takes an angry step toward my desk. “How could you?! Why?!”

I block his way and look into his eyes. “I have two reasons. The first is simple and selfish, I want the orcs to fight for me. The second is righteous, Balgrum is Lezere’s father. We may not like what orcs are doing with their dead, but I couldn’t ignore a father who begged me to have his dead daughter’s body.”

Kolag lets out a grunt but doesn’t say a word, he places his hands on my arms, squeezing them silently.

“You’re angry.”

“Yes, but I have to condone what you did. If he truly was her father, and he did not deceive you about that fact, then you did the right thing.”

Phew… this is better than I thought it’d be… “I don’t think he deceived me… orcs aren’t exactly deceitful…”

“Oh, you’ll be surprised. Maybe he pretended to be her father so he can claim her body,” he says with another grunt.

“I identified him as her father when Lezere was still alive… she confirmed, we talked back at the inn…”

“I see… I apologize for doubting you.” He lets my arms go, still looking me in the eyes. “Would you have given away my body in the same manner?”

No pretense! No more hiding! If he doesn’t like it he can leave! I trust him to be honest with me because of how righteous he is, but he clearly can’t trust me with the same and for a good reason! So no more lying to him! “I'd probably cry about it later, but yes, I would.”

“Why would you do such a thing?” I try not to think about the pain in his echoing voice.

“Because trading a single body’s religious burial rights—even yours—for an army, for the possibility to save hundreds, is a good deal. Hate me if you like, but I’d do it again, even if he wasn’t her father. I’d do it with your body too, despite knowing your wish on the subject. And as you can tell, now we need an army, so my choice was a correct one.”

He clenches his fists. “Are you trying to anger me on purpose?”

“No, I’m simply tired of keeping secrets from you. I want to trust you with who I am, and these are my beliefs and choices. I won’t apologize for them, and I will no longer hide them from you because I’m worried about what you’d think of me.”

“Appreciate the honesty.” The sarcasm is apparent in his voice. He inserts a straw into the wooden cup on my table, drinking some of my wine.

Great… he hates me… I don’t blame him… “I’m sorry, you’re right. I shouldn’t have done it behind your back. I don’t regret my choice to give away the body, but I do regret hiding it from you…”

He sighs heavily and shakes his head, his shoulders slumping. “I was too hard on you that day, Lezere’s death wasn’t easy for me either. You’re not entitled to my religious beliefs, and I can’t force you to share them, nor make your choices based on my religion. You did good with this city, this place is turning better and better with each passing day, and it’s natural that you want to protect it.”

“Thank you.”

He puts the wine down and pulls me into a hug. “For what?”

“For understanding. For not stomping out of here shouting how you’re going to bring justice upon my head in the name of Noxi…” I whisper into his armor.

“Do I really sound like that?”

“Sometimes…”

He chuckles. “Only to monsters, you’re no monster Inara, you’re the woman I love.”

“I love you too… I’m glad we have this night. If you went away and died at Janra’s… I’d much rather we remember each other like this, over the silly argument we had downstairs…”

“Agreed.”

We spend another long period of happy silence.

I wish we could get married and live back in Mansel'a, it'd be nice... Only... I'd also have to tell him I can't have children... So much for my honesty... I could be wrong about it, it might be something that's late for me than it is for the average human, I do have some lust, I don't think I'd have any if I wasn't meant to do these things... there's no point in destroying his hope of getting out of that armor either. I wish he could get out of that armor for at least an hour a day so we could... we can still touch one another... even with the armor, I bet I can insert my hands under it and...

"Touch me."

"Ahem... what?"

"Touch me. We might die in a few days, and yes, you can't take your armor off, but you can still touch me. I can probably do this." I lift his helmet a little bit and slide my hand in the gap between his helmet and armor. I manage to touch his jaw for a single blissful moment.

He gasps. A rubbery substance wraps around my hand and tugs it violently into the helmet, into Kolag's head and a bigger space that shouldn't exist in that small helmet. I scream as my hand gets pulled all the way to my elbow.

"̴̦̉͊Ņ̸̡̡̲̲͔͉͕̮̈́̿̋̈́̃̀͛̍̈́͋̕͜͝Ộ̵̾̽̈́͆̃O̴͉̜̱̤͓̦̟̱̘̥̟̐̋̽̔̓̓̚͘Ǒ̴̧͚̮̥͉̦̟̯͖̰͍͖́ͅO̶͔͎̖̭̯̦͇̹͕͒̈́̈́̐̇̾͊̒̅̆͑́͐͝Ȯ̶̢̤͕̿̚͠͝O̶̗̒͗̎̈́̐́͂̋̑̓̉̍͐̑Ơ̷̲͓̖̺̿̈́̈́̇̋̇́͌̄ͅͅS̵̨̬͉̠̯̏͒T̶̡̨̗̞̣̝͙͓̘͈̥̻̻͑́͂̍̾̎́̈̍́͛̂͝!̵̛͓̱̲̫͇̟̼̋̄͂̔́̓"̶̜̜͕̱̗̜̪͆͒̋͌͝ ̶̛̻̹͈̳͎̣͓̔̈́̎̓̽͋̓͆͐̆͐̅̓͘ͅ

*~*~*

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 15 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1761 Magic Gems. 40 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 39g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 24/100

Present Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Salik
Zoe
Ryon

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 800 levy militia. 900 footmen. 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-07-01 17:44:35 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 93 in color

2023-07-01 17:43:44 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 92 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to T3iain for supporting me on Patreon.

Thank you very much for your support! <3

Chapter 92 Problems.

There are too many people, creating too many problems.
But not enough people creating solutions.
This is what I love about money.
It’s the solution to so many problems.

Kilako, the Golden Prince of Gains.

{28} Noxi (April) the 18th

My sleep is disturbed by the agony on my face. It itches and burns. The healing potions clearly don’t help. I already took two more of these just so I could sleep in peace, but now I have unbearable nausea in addition to burns.

I sit up and hesitantly glance toward the silver mirror in the corner of my room. I don’t dare to take a look at my face. The acid had probably damaged my face beyond recognition. I’ve seen what ‘Kusharisa’ can do to someone’s face… it isn’t pretty… Why do I always get hit by acid? Snakes! The sooner I face this, the sooner I get over this. I don’t have time to wallow in self-pity and hate my new looks… get up! Go to that mirror, and look!

I can’t… What will Kolag think? He already saw me… he didn’t say a thing… I saw the look on his face... or not his face, but I saw how he looked away... what was I expecting him to say? Bloody! Rotten snakes! I’m getting a healing potion and going back to bed…

Focus! Get up! Go to that mirror! And look!

Fiiine!

I hold my breath and approach the mirror. One glance is enough to send me running back to bed. It’s hard to believe it’s me. Aside from my red hair maybe... I never really believed I’m a great beauty… but at least my face never looked like melted cheese before… The queen with the melted face… people are going to love me… all hail the melted cheese! Yeah!

I can’t help but let out a horrified snicker and go back to the mirror. Staring at my gray eyes behind the melted cheese of a face. Some of my hair had fallen too, but at least most of that is intact. It still burns and itches, the healing potion only numbs the pain for a little bit.

I can’t go out looking like that! I have to fix this!

How?

I eye the thick grimoire on my table with a sigh. I open an empty page. I need a spell that heals skin damage and restores skin to its healthy state. I think worriedly, channeling my mana into the page.

The page hungrily consumes all of my light and water mana, then automatically convert some of my other elements to the right elements as the spell forms on the thick sheet.

To my relief, words appear on the thick sheet.

Brigit’s Skin Restoration.
Names: Brigit’s Skin Restoration. Skin Restoration. Wrinkles Smoother.
Element: Life
Sub element: Skin (water) – restoration (light).
Level: 1
Language: nim <water>
Words: Fai. Nim. Oue-rissu nirissu asuli fenu, oue nimfai rialuwe, fainim. Nimakee ni/niyu/niar rilaluwe, akeloki si ril. Asano si aluwe nufilata.
Translation: Life. Water. Here’s a flect bending flower. Here’s a fish scale, blood. Caress my/his/her broken skin, smooth the edge. May the skin flourish.
Quicken: Fai. Nim. Nimakee ni/niyu/niar rilaluwe. <life. Water. Caress my/his/her broken skin.>
Patterns: 18
Gestures: holding hand above the target at close range.
Offering: Blood from the caster, 5 Belladonna/cyclamen petals/5 fish scales.
Requirement: temperature above 15c and below 30c.
Range: near touch.
Target: damaged skin tissue.
Duration: channel spell
Effect: The spell will heal damaged skin tissue at a slow rate. The spell will fully restore the damaged skin from any natural damage such as: fire burns, frost bites, acid burns, cuts, flaying (can grow new skin), wrinkles, etc. The spell cannot dispel skin related curses such as petrifaction, nor heal skin that still has toxins embedded in it. In case of contaminated skin, it is advised to cut out the damaged tissue and regrow new skin using this spell.
Cost: 50 light gems, 30 water gems for initial cast. 5 light gems and 3 water gems per second to maintain.
Bound cost: 30 light gems, 20 water gems.
Altered cost: 10 light gem, 5 water gem. Per pattern.

This chant is quite familiar. I’ve heard it before. Oh! It's the same spell the hag used to heal my skin after she regrew my hands.

I go over the spell, letting out a relieved chuckle until I reach the patterns section and the world feels like hell again.

18 patterns?! 18 snaking patterns?! Venom!!! How am I going to cast this?! Janara you are so dead the next time we meet! You bitch!

Ok. Calm down. Focus… I can fix this. I form patterns one after the other, trying to hold them separately. With full focus, I manage to reach 15 patterns. I'm not that far from 18… Let’s practice…

I spend a few hours merging opposite patterns that don’t fit, just like how the hag had taught me. I push myself further and further, despairing, but at the end of the day, I’m still stuck at the limit of barely 15 patterns.

I've had enough… I can’t do this… I’ll heal myself when I can cast 18 patterns… if I even live until I reach that point... I'm going back to bed...

The only problem now is that I can't rest. The constant burning and itching won't allow me to sleep. Frustrated I leave my bad and turn to the alchemy book in search of a potion that deals with pain. This potion is only slightly more complex than a healing potion, and the materials required also include more herbs. Sending my maids to collect all the materials takes a few hours, but by the end of it, I practice making the: 'Pain Tolerance' potion.

After a whole day of practice, I can finally sleep peacefully using that potion.

{28} Noxi (April) the 19th

"She won't see anyone." I hear Zoe at my door.

"Yeah yeah, I heard you the first time, Tulips. Now move aside, or I'll move you aside," Salik's voice is casual despite the implied threat.

"But she's indecent!" Zoe tries.

"Nothing I haven't seen, and I couldn't care less." Salik barges into my chambers, ignoring Zoe's protests.

"She's the Queen!" Zoe trails behind him.

"She's a kid who got hurt, Tulips. Now shush, let the adults speak, please."

"Excuse me! You can't just..."

"You're excused, Tulips."

I sigh, sit up in my bed, and move my blue bed curtain. "Zoe let him in."

Salik enters my vast room, wearing his brigandine armor. An axe in his belt, and a helmet under his arm. There's no sign of his awful straw hat. "Hey, kid."

"Hey..."

He stands there, bushy brows forming a frown. He looks into my eyes despite the sorry state of my face. "I know you got your face melted and all, but we really need you. The city is preparing for a war. A city in crisis without a ruler is like a goblin den without its brood mother. Not sure if you ever seen one, but goblins will start eating each other... not pretty."

"Yeah... I know... I just..."

"Can't show your melted face around?"

The guy never heard of tact... I'm too tired to even get mad at him... "When you put it like that..."

"Thought so. Here. Got this prepared for you." He throws an object toward me.

"Latsa." <Lift.> I catch a mask with my magic.

The mask is beautiful, forming a pattern of a red and orange butterfly with the eyeholes becoming a part of the patterns on the butterfly's wings and the nose being the butterfly's body.

The mask would cover all of the upper part of my face, leaving my mouth visible between the lower parts of the butterfly wings.

I put the mask on and rush to the mirror.

With my red hair flows all around it, I actually look rather attractive, and the area around my lips and chin isn’t as damaged. The acid didn't touch my mouth and chin much.

The only problem is the constant burning and itching, but I just drink another pain tolerance potion for that.

Salik chuckles behind me. "We hold a council meeting within the hour, kid."

I turn to face him. "Thank you! I'll be there."

He gives me his sarcastic smirk and leaves my rooms.

"Zoe, get me something red to wear!"

“So tell us what we’re dealing with, Tasiya,” I ask my Keyholder. In addition to her job as a keyholder, she is now the official spymaster of my court. She agreed to take the fake job and develop her own network of spies. But for now, the one who provides the information is still Marasi who prefers to keep his identity a secret. How he gives her his information, I don’t know and I don’t need to know.

The middle-aged woman reads from her parchments. “Your majesty, Queen Phoebe rules over five cities along the river south of here. From what my sources tell me, her army has ten thousand abled men. She owns a small fleet, and they can be here within two weeks. On another note, King Luard had a vassalage relationship with Queen Phoebe. King Lurad would pay her a yearly tax of two thousand sorcerer stones or their worth in gold each year.”

Now it makes perfect sense why Luard squeezed his citizens for taxes, he simply wanted to survive. And I have to face both him and Janara now…

“Why are you assuming she’ll be marching these armies north?” Jolla intervenes.

“She blames me for the death of her lover. She wants me dead. That’s the easiest way to do it,” I reply curtly.

“The men won’t like this. On both sides. Mages are supposed to fight their own battles and duel each other. Not march armies against one another. The armies are to be fielded against the crusaders of Noxi,” Jolla chides.

“But they’ll march against me if she commands it.”

“Yes,” Jolla admits, reluctantly.

“Then she will command them. Salik…”

Kolag interrupts me. “The crusaders of Noxi? What do the crusaders of Noxi have to do with this?”

Jolla glances at him from behind her glasses. “Pha. By Tukado's beard, aren’t you a paladin of Noxi? You tell me…”

“I’m not a paladin yet, milady Jolla.”

She sighs. “The church of Noxi deemed all sorcerers and worshipers of Jalier as corrupt, in other words, deserving of death. Did you see a church of Noxi anywhere in this city? Haven't got some rotten tomatoes thrown at you for preaching the word of your god? Noxi is hated in these parts, more than Rakisha…”

“But why?!”

“The church of Noxi sends crusades up here to ‘cleanse’ the sorcerers and the worshipers of Jalier… the majority of these cities worship Jalier. Although a minor demi-god, he advocates that all sorcerers should be worshiped and obeyed, no matter how good or bad they are to their people. It is…”

“Why would anyone worship a god like that?!” Kolag shouts, abhorrent.

“Why would anyone worship any god? Why do you worship Noxi? Noxi encourages a lot of deaths of anyone who isn’t from the intelligent mortal races… even some of the intelligent mortal races are marked for death as well.”

“Noxi is the god of justice!”

“And that justice includes the slaughtering of goblins, orcs, kobolds, and according to some interpretations of the texts, elflings, gnomes, and dwarves too. Not to mention the fae.”

“I’d never! Goblins and Kobolds have to be cleansed since they bring death and destruction. Savage orc tribes should be put down to the sword, and not all orcs are savages. But the rest?!”

“What about Elflings? A single Elfling can kill a whole city just by being there. They wreak havoc by living. But most elflings are peaceful, and even the ones who cause damage don't mean to. Point is. Every god has a reason why you shouldn’t worship them. I worship Tukado. God of knowledge. I’m a gnome. We do not like sharing our knowledge, it’s against our nature. Yet, my god advocates for sharing knowledge and innovations with all the mortal races. Including orcs and elflings. Sharing any knowledge, no matter how dangerous it is, with everyone. Do you have any idea how much damage this could cause? If orcs knew how to operate a dwarven golem or a gnomish war machine for example? Every god has their fault.” Jolla finishes her lecture with a shrug.

“And what’s wrong with worshiping someone like Brigit Goddess of Life for example?” Kolag questions.

“A goddess who advocates that killing is wrong? Plenty. Did you know that an acolyte of Brigit can’t kill anyone?! Not even in self-def…”

“That’s enough!” I interrupt. As much as I enjoy seeing Kolag’s beliefs shaken, this isn’t the time for it. “Discuss theology later. Salik. Janara or Phoebe whatever her name is, has ten thousand soldiers. What are we going to do about it?”

“We’ll be facing between five thousand to seven thousand men in the field. She’ll need to leave some garrison behind.” Salik pauses to take a sip from his flask. “You don’t need me to tell you this, but we don’t stand a chance. Even with a forced levy, we'd have below two thousand men…”

“What if we add a thousand orcs to that?” I ask Salik. Balgrum said he could bring his clan to fight for me, now I’m really glad I gave him Lezere’s body…

“The savage made it very clear, he will not fight for you,” Kolag states with his echoing voice.

“I may be able to work around it. I’ll go visit his clan, I might be able to convince them to fight for us.” You don’t need to know everything... “Does anyone know the location of the nearby orc clan?”

“They’re north of here, about a five days ride,” Jolla replies, fixing her glasses.

“Hmmm… that does give us a small chance for survival, but we still need more men.” Salik doesn’t seem too worried. “Unless you can challenge their queen to a duel and solve it with magic as Miss Jolla suggests.” He looks at me with a mocking grin.

Of course he isn’t worried. He wants to die in battle, this is a snaking glorious battle to die in…why would he even care to get me to this meeting... we're all going to die... Maybe because if he wins he has an even better story to tell. “Ideas anyone?”

The deathly silence only fans the raging flames inside me. If only Kolag would’ve been there on time! Rot and venom! Stop it! It’s not his fault…

“Armies don’t grow on trees, Your Majesty.” Jolla’s apathetic voice tells me she doesn’t care about this either. Why would she? She doesn’t care who gets to be the Queen as long as she has her library.

She’ll start caring if I threaten to burn her library to the ground!

Stop being petty… besides, I need her loyalty, not ire or fear

“What about you, Kolag?” I ask. We haven’t really talked since the fight we had after the battle with Janara. And now, both of our faces are covered by some form of a mask. Some couple we are…

“I’m willing to lead men into battle.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

“Then what are you asking,” he asks angrily. Then, in a lower voice he adds, “My Queen…”

This is a mistake, I should’ve talked to him in private before all of this… “How many can you take by yourself with the demon’s help?”

He jolts up angrily. “Do you honestly think I’d repeat that?! Did you not see how many people died?! The only reason I did that was to save you!”

“I guess I need saving again…”

“No, you’re not! You’re using me as a damn weapon! I’m out of here!” He stomps his metallic boots toward the door.

“Do you know what will happen if we’ll lose?” I ask dryly.

“I don’t care!”

“Oh you do. Let me tell you what happens when an army conquers a city. I should know, I experienced it first-hand."

I look directly into his visor as he turns to face me, not bothering to hide the bitterness in my voice. "All these people you wanted to help for the past few weeks? They die horribly. The widow you fixed the roof for? She gets raped along with all the other women, then gets sold into slavery. Her children get tossed around like broken toys, if not killed outright." This is manipulation… I’m no better than the hag…

"Everything burns, while a group of violent thugs has drinks and a party on the ashes with their new whores in chains. But even they are simply happy to be alive and survive the damn day! All I ask from you is to make sure those thugs are dead before they do all of that!” Manipulation to save women and children, I’m way better than the hag!

So now I even believe my own lies uh? It’s the truth, whether it serves my purpose or not is irrelevant…

He punches the wall behind him and the room shakes. “Then we could leave this city, Janara won’t attack if you aren’t here. Let’s leave this place, recall Jerro and Berthold, find someplace quiet in the woods to live in. We don’t need any of this.” He gestures wildly around the room.

“Nah ah! If we leave, King Luard will come back, and I’m not letting that bastard take over this place. Not after the way he treated the people living here. Not after what he did to Lezere!”

“Send me to speak to Janara then! I’ll convince her not to attack." His fist strikes the armored plate on his chest. "You were right, it’s my fault I wasn’t there. So let me fix this! Send me as an envoy to Janara, she won’t kill me, we both know that.”

“That’s… that’s actually a good idea. If you can get her to hold off the attack, we don’t have to worry about anything.” Something tells me it won’t be that easy… but doesn’t hurt to try, does it? It’ll hurt if she kills him… or imprison him… it’ll hurt me a lot…

I also need his demon to hold off a part of her army… I doubt it can deal with all of her army… especially if they have iron weaponry… but a demon ambush to a part of her army in the streets, after they break through the walls… that’ll deal a lot of damage…

It’s his choice, I can’t force him to do that for me…

Yes I can. I can trick him into the right place and time, then take off his helmet, simple!

No! Never! I’ll never ever do that to him! Don’t even think about it!

He’ll never forgive me for that… He’ll never want to put innocents in danger, so an ambush on the streets is a bad idea to begin with…

Letting him go see Janara and convince him is a better option. If she somehow turns hostile to him and corners him, he'll have to use the demon to kill her...

But he might die... Janara might just kill him somehow?

How? I'm not sure how I'd kill him myself, not with that demon.... demons eat magic, so it's like he's made out of iron regarding magic... I saw him take a spear to the face and it didn't even hurt him, just made him revert back to his human form. I don't think she can kill him.

Jerro said he could die back at the spider nest.

Maybe to a bunch of monster spiders with a spider queen that is much larger than the demon and can fight that thing physically. I doubt Janara can fight it.

“Very well, you’ll leave tomorrow,” I finish my contemplation.

He strides towards the door. “I’ll leave right now!”

“Kolag? Tomorrow!” I still need to talk to you… I’d rather we make up before you leave… before you may die on me… I don’t want our last moment together to be one that we hate each other…

“Every minute is a waste of time! Lives are at stake!” he declares stubbornly.

Oh for the love of… “Is it a waste of time that I want to spend one more night with you before you leave?! Before you might die on me and I may never see you again?! Is it too much to ask?”

He turns with a grunt and sits down in his chair again.

“So how will this work Salik, in terms of strategy?” I pretend not to care about the looks I get from the rest of my advisors. It’s easier when my face is behind a beautiful mask of a butterfly. So what if I love him?! It’s none of your rotten business!

“Ahem… well. They’ll arrive by the river, we need to sink a couple of ships to block the docks. We could also try attacking them at night with fireboats, which is a gamble, and we’ll need to place eyes to tell us before they get there. Other than that, we need to construct some siege war machines as soon as possible, we have the wood for it at least. I doubt they’ll lay siege for long, they’ll try and break through the walls with their numbers. I’d much rather lure them into guerilla warfare in the streets than fight them over the wall. Unless you get me those orcs in time, then, we may be able to hold the walls for a little while…”

The meeting goes on, but we just repeat the same decisions we’ve already made. The council goes on to their business, and I gesture for Kolag to follow me back to my room.

*~*~*

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 15 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1761 Magic Gems. 40 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 39g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 24/100

Present Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Salik
Zoe
Ryon

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 800 levy militia. 900 footmen. 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-06-27 14:04:32 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 92 in color

2023-06-27 14:03:37 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 91 colorless

Chapter 91 Queen Phoebe.

Be very careful with the people you love.
They may become your greatest enemies one day.

Koshavi, the Princess of Dreams.

An hour and a good bath later, I don my blue dress. After a moment of hesitation, I decide not to drink a healing potion, I don't want my training to go to waste, and the potion won't remove my fatigue anyway. I get presentable and hurry to the docks.

As I get closer to the docks, I move my hands on my belt pouch and on Drusilla's bronze needles. I’ll need to replace these with actual arrowheads… I keep repeating all of my newly acquired cantrips and spells in my head, preparing for a potential battle.

“Is your Queen Inara afraid of me? What’s taking her so long? Stop making up nonsense or I’ll bury you alive. It’s Drusilla taking a new name, isn’t it? She finally got the spine to get rid of that pervert Luard?” I hear a familiar voice with an unfamiliar haughty tone when I draw closer to the docks.

I pass the corner and spot the person talking to Salik.

Janara.

It’s Janara of all people.

She matured since I last saw her, and became more beautiful in ways that incite my jealousy. She grew taller, and her pale flawless skin lost its blemishes. She developed graceful curves, and her face lost the little childish fat she used to have. The silver jeweled Tiara on her head holds her long black hair in a complex haircut. The emeralds in her tiara match the green velvet dress she wears like a second skin.

I wonder how strong she got... I can't help but prod her with my crown pool. To my surprise, I get a whole lot more information than an estimate of her strength. I can tell she has all of her ten mana pools formed. Furthermore, both her earth pool and wood pool are connected. For a brief moment I even see an odd fluid energy flow through her body, and I can see the large pools in her abdomen and left thigh. This is the first time I use my crown pool to prod someone after connecting it fully, and it’s so much more than what I expected it to be.

She obviously feels my presence, and her eyes open like a pair of green saucers when she turns to face me. “You!” she shouts in Toml’a.

“Yes, me,” I answer sarcastically, trying to ignore the comparison between us. I have no idea what to say. On one hand, I am happy to see an old friend, especially after Lezere died. On the other hand, I know she means trouble, and that she outright hates me. Or maybe… “Have you finally found the truth about Purson?”

“Don’t you dare say his name!” she ignores Salik and steps toward me, fists clenched. Salik uses this opportunity to slip away.

I guess not… I’ll have to treat her as an enemy… I hate it… I hate it so much! One more try… I’m not giving up on her this fast! “I’m sorry, I should’ve been more tactful about this question…”

She lets out a mirthless laugh. “You always had issues with tact.”

“Yeah, and I’m just... tired… Lezere died a month ago, I could use a good old friend right about now.” I let her feel the pain in my voice. This is the best I can do to pull her to my side… if it doesn’t work…

“Oh? You got Lezere killed too?” her voice is full of glee and acid. “You’re a poison Ma…. M… ……. Argh!! Why in the five hells can’t I say your name?! What the fuck was your name again?”

I shrug. Seems like I have another enemy in addition to the king… “You can call me Inara if you want. Kolag said you were dead.”

Her hand jumps to her heart for a moment, she then crosses her hands on her chest as if to hide the motion. “Why, because he stabbed me through the heart?! Yeah, that didn’t work. You don’t deserve someone like him.”

“I agree, but he chose me anyway. You aren’t here for me, you clearly didn’t know I’m here. What are you here for, Janara?”

“It’s Phoebe now!” she exclaims with a sneer.

“Phoebe... Fine. You still haven’t answered my question.”

She moves her hands to her hips. “Luard owes me two thousand gems. I know he left what he owes me in his treasury, so why won’t you be a good girl and hand it over?” Her posture, and her mannerism suggests that she's talking to a child. The fact I look scrawnier and younger is even worse.

Excuse me?! “If Luard owes you, take it up with him. The guy escaped. He emptied most of the treasury before he did. I don’t owe you anything, and I’m not in the habit of paying the debts of my enemies. He killed Lezere right in front of me. I want him dead! If it helps, I’ll send you his head when I do find him.”

“No, you killed Lezere! You and your poisonous tongue!” Her body shakes. She raises her voice as she steps forward. She has changed a lot since I last saw her, she wasn’t this mentally unstable before... Or maybe she always was and I simply never noticed... Someone who would sleep with her own brother screams mental instability... “I don’t care whether Luard lives or dies. I just want my money," she utters through gritted teeth.

If you think you're going to intimidate me with your height, you've got another thing coming. I don’t take a single step back, which almost bring her neck and upper chest into my face. I hate being so short! I hate having to look up to people! “The money’s gone, shouting at me won’t bring it back,” I say icily, forcing my feet to stay rooted in place and my eyes fixated on her neck. “I don’t have that kind of money right now, nor am I planning to pay a debt for my enemy. Now, you can calm down and accept my hospitality for old-time sake, or leave. The choice is yours.”

She moves a step back and tucks her hair from her face, looking down at me. “I don’t live in the past, you half-blood cunt! I keep forgetting that your innocent childish looks are nothing but a fucking show! And you…”

“You’re saying you don’t live in the past, but you clearly do,” I cut her off, and look back into her green eyes. “If you weren’t living in the past you wouldn’t hate me so much. So I’m asking you to go back further into the past, to the times we were friends. Please? Just for a single night? Come to my palace, eat something, see Kolag, and let’s just talk, the three of us. After that, you can hate me, curse me, and try to kill me, whatever you want.” Why do I keep trying? She clearly wants to hate me…

She takes another step back. I can see the hesitation in her green orbs; I finally got through to her.

Let’s hammer this in while it’s still hot! “You said Kolag is honorable, and that you’ll believe what he says. You can talk to him and ask what really happened that day. Or you can stand there, scream and blame me for things I didn’t do, things I'd do differently if I knew, things I had no control over, things that neither of us can change. The choice is yours, Phoebe.”

“Do you take me for a fool?!” She narrows her eyes at me. “You took your sweet time getting here. Do you think I don’t know you’re planning a trap for me somewhere in that city of yours?!”

Looks like you’ve also earned some healthy amount of paranoia while we were apart. “Very well, I’ll bring Kol…”

A scream escapes my throat when a stream of burning acid hits my face and chest. She doesn’t let me finish the sentence, she doesn’t let me say that I’ll bring Kolag to her in the docks so we can dine on her ship. She just cast a silent ‘Acid Spray’ cantrip at my face.

I shut my eyes instinctively and feel the burning liquid sizzling on my eyelids. “Myrsha samir!” <gravity protect!> I scream in an instinctual desperation. The liquid stream from her hands gets repealed back to her and now she's the one to scream. I stumble back with my eyes closed, whimpering. It feels like someone spilled liquid fire on my upper body; it flows down, burning my skin wherever it touches.

“Folo fotyr!” <flying fire> Janara’s voice is closer than I expect. I can feel the flames on the lower part of my dress. My skirt and legs are set a light. Involuntary screams escape my lips.

IT BURNS!

She aimed that cantrip at my legs, she wants to torture me! “Nimuwal!” <water unlimited!> I cry desperately, barely staying on my feet. I add a few amplification patterns, and a powerful water torrent shoots out from my hands. I aim it at my body with my eyes still closed, washing myself clean of fire and acid.

Janara laughs joyfully, already chanting her next spell. “Reviss! Kas shoarr oarofisia!” <energy! Feed her with your might!>

Lightning! I recognize her ‘Sparks’ spell as she chants it and counter before she finishes. Nu nimuwal aloki. <Unlimited water cover me> I weave my patterns, silently screaming in my head. The water around my body flies away, joining my water jet to form a dome of flowing water around me. I just feel the rush of water, I cannot see a thing with my eyes closed.

Even after washing myself, the sheer pain is overwhelming. My heart beats rapidly in my chest. My hair stands up on my nape with the violent electric current discharged into the spinning water around me. But since I’m no longer touching the water, and there’s a buffer of air between me and the watery wall, the electricity is absorbed into the ground.

I use the brief moment to gulp down a healing potion. The soothing feeling courses through my face and upper body.

I can finally open my eyes just in time to see the ground sprouting four long vines around me, they creep toward my legs and waist.

“Rod’ena!” <vines!> I summon my own three vines, to block them before they reach me. I cut the mana to my water shield, and the dome collapses, drenching me in water again. “Myrsha! Lu myrsha ni!” <Gravity! Don’t pull me!> after casting my swift ‘Weightless Body’ spell I kick the ground violently, splashing the water puddle with my charred boot.

Ok. Focus. Being airborne should be better. Janara’s high affinities are earth and wood… and being high in the air also renders her lightning attacks ineffective…

In a blink, I am already three meters up in the air. A violet speck of light circles me rapidly as I gain altitude quickly. The second lightning attack coming out of Janara’s hands does not reach me, instead, it’s attracted to the watery puddle on the ground.

She looks up and our eyes meet. I can see the surprise in her green eyes. She was sure she already won, and she doesn’t like how things turned out.

We both act at the same time. “Revisor ak!” <Light strong!> I cast the ‘Blinding Light’ cantrip, and close my eyes so I won’t blind myself.

“Felul!” <wind!> she calls out, exposing the weakness of my weightless spell. The gust of wind knocks me upward toward the sky. If I gain too much altitude, the violent winds high up will throw my weightless body around. I’ve already experienced it near the Emrisor tree back in Axero.

I dismiss my ‘Weightless Body’ spell, falling down against the screaming wind. Myrsha Kalfit. Latsa. <Gravity Lightweight. Lift> Drawing on the mana from my necklace, I cast a silent ‘Lightweight Body’ and a silent ‘Minor Telekinesis’ cantrips. Not to just slow my fall, but also to influence the direction of my fall. Instead of falling toward the spot I stood before, I fall toward Janara’s position. Facing down, I aim my hand at her face.

The clarity returns to her eyes, and I can tell she regains her vision when her contracted pupils dilate. But it’s already too late, my hand is two centimeters from her face. “Myrsha ritsa!” <Gravity repulse!>

“Ritsa!” <Repulse!> her reaction is swift, and her ‘Repulse’ cantrip knocks me backward. I get tossed away like a giant slapped me away, the air gets knocked out of my lungs when my back hits the hard stone wall. I drop to the ground with a painful moan.

Ignore the damn pain! I don’t have the luxury of lying down! My spells fizzle. I stumble up to my feet, dizzy, panting.

Although my vision is still blurry, I can tell that Janara doesn’t look so good now. Her nose is missing, and her face is a hideous mass of torn flesh. One of her jawbones hangs out in the open, dyeing her green dress with dark scarlet stains. She looks at me, her green eyes burning with hatred under the gory mask.

We stand there for a long moment, glaring at each other. Then, she turns and runs toward the large docking ship at the harbor.

I give a chase. "Latsa." <Lift.> I take out a handful of my bronze needles from my belt with a silent ‘Minor Telekinesis’ cantrip. In the heat of battle I forgot all about them. “Kushgari yefa!” <Metal fly!> I send two flying in her direction. She shrieks when my pair of needles hit her back and shoulder, but it doesn’t kill her.

Fences of vines grow out of the muddy ground, obscuring my path. My next needles get blocked by vines.

“Myrsha! Lu myrsha ni!” <Gravity! Don’t pull me!> Drawing half of the remaining mana from my necklace, I use my make-shift flying spell to go above the obstacles, draining a small batch of my rose petals. “Kushgari yefa!” <Metal fly!> I send another pair of needles her way.

This time I manage to hit her leg. Janara drops to the ground half a meter from her ship. She lets out a wordless scream of frustration.

A woman wearing a long black skirt steps off the ship. Her upper body is mostly exposed save for a fur binding that holds her chest together. Her dark scales and skin glimmering in the sunset and her dark hair still set in the multiple braids she wore when I first met her.

Oshi.

Snakes! My necklace is nearly out of mana!!!

“Felul!” <Wind!> Both me and Oshi use the same cantrip. The wind blows away the needles floating around me, and I am crushed between two opposing wind currents. The violent wind spins me around, leaving me no choice but to cancel my weightless spell. “Latsa ni.” <Lift me.> I land with a jump spell. My necklace is down to around twenty gems! I can’t run! I reach for the small bag of gems I’m carrying. I hope this will be enough to fight Oshi…

Oshi helps Janara back to her ship, giving me one of her weird smiles. She then sticks her tongue out and pulls down her left eyelid. The ship’s plank is pulled and the sails are raised, Oshi’s ‘Breeze’ cantrip now puffs up the sails.

Oh no! You’re not leaving without my farewell gift! “Fotyr folo!” <Firefly!> I duplicate my firebolts, firing two of them at the ship’s sails. With the wind in those sails, my fire intensifies.

“Pisfero.” Oshi calls out. As I rejoice, the fires get sucked into the sails and die out, I run toward the dock in a desperate attempt to stop the sailing ship. “Rial aluwe ri!” <Cold surface stop!> I draw the remaining mana from my necklace. The water turns to ice. I aim to hold this ship in place. But the ship simply breaks through my thin icy layer, leaving the harbor at a rapid pace as it sails downriver.

Oshi stands on the back of the ship. She waves at me, then arches her body, sticks her butt out and pats it in my direction. “Good bye precious!” She shouts. I don’t deem it worthy of a reply.

They’ll be back, with an army next time.

The setting sun turns the ship sailing down the river into a beautiful sight, a beautiful sight that may spell my death in the nearest future.

Once the adrenaline rush is over, I find myself panting and gasping for air. The burning sensation on my skin makes me realize that my torn dress still contains a remnant of the acid, despite the water jet I put myself under.

“Or shakat.” <True cloth.> I draw on my magical gems to cast the laundry spell. The acid clears out from my torn clothing, but not from my skin under it.

Snakes! What a waste of gems!

I take off my belt and every source of pain. My shoes, dress, and corset. I wince when I try to take off my magical necklace, a part of the chain had melted into my skin. I scream and rip it off forcefully. Pieces of my skin are stuck to the necklace. After a short horrified look, I jump into the shallow water of the riverbank.

After the quick wash, I climb out and sit on the edge of the dock in my breechcloth, gulping down another healing potion. I sigh in relief when the pain finally alleviates. I touch my face and upper chest, getting a sense for the damage. The skin is more sensitive and too warm. When I move my hand around on my face, some of it sticks to my hand and rips off with numbed pain. Snakes!!!

“You look like venom.” Salik’s voice startles me, I jump and cover my breasts with my hands.

I look down, examining my blistered red skin. I spot the long thin mark the melted chain had branded on my skin. My bare feet are covered in soot, and the constant itch on my face and eyelids doesn’t go away. I gulp another healing potion, hoping it’d help somehow. “I feel like venom, where on rot is Kolag?! All this snow could be avoided if he was simply here.”

“I’m here! What’s going on?!” I turn as I hear Kolag’s echoing voice. He takes a step away and averts his gaze when he sees me. Can't even look at me now, can you?! Snakes!!!

I switch to Toml’a. “Janara was here! Still thinking I killed her dear brother! She’d listen to you if you were here! So where the hell were you?” Calm down! It’s not his fault! He couldn’t have known!

Fuck calming down! I’m so pissed! This could all be avoided if he was simply here! But he wasn’t. And he couldn’t have known.

“Her brother?! That was her husband!” he protests

“He was also her fucking brother! Who cares! Where the hell were you?!”

“Helping Alina the widow fix her...” his echoing voice dies down and he doesn't finish his sentence.

“Helping who?!” Chasing after widows now?!

“You told me to give them time, and finally someone asked me for help… a woman named Alina… I killed her husband in that battle… I left widows behind Inara… Children, orphans. I’m making sure they have a roof that doesn’t leak over their heads. Is that a bad thing?”

“So important! If you were here on time like I asked, you could’ve prevented a fucking war! Now hundreds are going to die only because you weren’t here on time! At least you can calm down about Janara, she’s very much alive. One less guilty deed on your fucking list!”

Janara mentioned she had armies behind her when she threatened king Luard, and now she’ll bring these armies on our heads. Exactly why I need to keep Kolag on my side! He’s the only one here who can stop armies on his own!

“I’m sorry I’ve misled you, my love, but I truly thought I’d killed her,” he apologizes, his echoing words crisp.

My voice breaks despite my best attempt to keep it steady. “I tried to make her stay, I tried talking sense into her. I tried telling her to hear you out… But she wouldn’t listen! She thought I’m laying a trap for her, that I want to kill her. So she attacked and escaped. She’ll be back with an army…”

Kolag just stands there, staring at me. His face hidden behind that damn helmet. “I’m only human Inara, I can’t be everywhere at once, nor know everything. Is there anything I can do now?”

This fight is pointless, it’s not his fault, he’s right, he couldn’t have known… “No…” I sigh. “I just… needed you here for once. I’m sorry… I’m frustrated. I almost died today… I’m sorry for pinning this on you, it’s not your fault, it’s Janara’s. And I’m tired… I’m going back to get some rest…” Yeah... some rest...

The world turns dull. I find my way back to the palace. To my bed. I fall into sleepy dark bliss.

*~*~*

Interlude 91.1

Kolag

Kolag trembles in anger, fist clenched around the handle of his claymore.

Her face had melted. The woman he loves had her face melted! All because he wasn’t here to protect her! Because he had to fix a roof!

“Are you ok, kid?” Salik asks.

“I’m fine.” Kolag holds back his anger. Salik should’ve done something to prevent this! He should’ve… done what? Get in the middle of a fight between mages? He'd die.

“She did not mean what she said, kid. Women get emotional sometimes… actually snake that. Anyone would get emotional after a battle like that...”

“I know.” Kolag doesn’t blame his love for that. She had every right to be angry at him, he should’ve been here when she needed him! Not fixing a roof!

“She’ll come around… or at least she’ll come around once she figures how to fix her face with some fancy magic…” the man chuckles.

That man is laughing?! The woman he loves got her face melted and that man finds it funny?! He should die! What a weakling! The demon within stirs. Flapping that wet mouth with no meaning, laughing when he should be screaming for help. Drainhiswetswetjuice draindrain DRAIN!!! “Stop talking.” Kolag grunts. Both to Salik, and the demon.

“I’m sorry, kid. Just trying to make you feel better.”

Weakling, coward, devour his tasty wet guts, drink them all, drink them wet. All wetwetwet WET JUICE. “STOP TALKING!!!”

“Ok…”

Kolag walks away from the docks. Janara will pay for that! Justice will be served!

Oh yes, more wet guts to suck! More sweet nourishing souls to consume. He can’t wait for this mortal war to happen!

“SHUT UP!”

*~*~*

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 15 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1761 Magic Gems. 40 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 39g
Fresh lavender petals, 13g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 23/100

Present Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Salik
Zoe
Ryon

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars: melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar.

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 900 footmen, 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-06-24 17:44:29 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 91 in color

Since the link seems to work as usual I'll stop putting it here too.

If anyone has any issues with it, please let me know.

Enjoy ^;^

2023-06-24 17:43:46 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 90 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to Hjalte Tromborg for supporting me on Patreon.

Thank you very much for your support! <3

Last peaceful chapter for a while. Enjoy it while it lasts… kikikiki…

Chapter 90 Palace Days V.

Survival isn’t about being ready.
It’s about adapting to new situations.
It’s about accepting new realities.
It’s about changing oneself to fit a harsh world.

Tonisha, the Lady of Ventures.

{28} Noxi (April) the 17th, 5780, the year of the harpy wing.

“Ya see? He has weak points. Ya hit them. It’s easy!” Ryon points at the knees, groin, and joints of Lepp Strongarm, the guard we currently use as a training dummy. We’re at the garden. The roses and lavenders are still immature, but I deeply enjoy the blooming scent.

After dedicating hours every day to meditations, I finally manage to fully connect my crown-knot mana pool. My mana regeneration rate grows to a gem per minute. The surprise comes in form of mana growth to all of my other pools. Not a big growth, but enough to be notable.

With my defensive spells covered, I feel somewhat secure about my magical abilities. Today, I find the time for some physical training. Things have calmed down, and there are no longer issues or fools that require my immediate attention. Especially since Lord Gemhand had indeed supplied all of our food for the next three years. With my stores full and well guarded, and recruitment on the way, there’s nothing I should worry about.

I should sit down and experiment with more potions. Yes, I no longer mess up the Healing Potions, but I should try and brew others. Pain Tolerance Potion looks like it might be useful... Or maybe learn more spells like a few weeks ago. Maybe I can find out more spells, or come up with ideas.

There should be a way to mix ‘Copper Bolt’ with ‘Repulse’, I know it. The hag said something about a bridging patterns, but there’s nothing in her damn guidance book about it! I’ve been trying for weeks… it just doesn’t work. I should give it up.

Training my body is also important. Sooner or later I’ll find myself in a situation where I can’t use magic. The knowledge and training can’t hurt, so I should focus on it, I set the time for it, I should focus.

“Ya small, you dodge! Then hit d’a weak point!” Ryon gestures at the guard. “Hit me!”

When Lepp responds with a punch. Ryon steps back, avoiding him. Ryon repeats this multiple times, avoiding the man’s punches and kicks by moving and jumping backward.

When Lepp gains some confidence and commits to his strikes, Ryon kicks the man’s crotch.

Lepp stumbles back with agony etched on his face. Ryon grabs Lepp’s shoulders and jumps, hitting the man’s chin with his knee. He kicks Lepp’s chest, spins backward in a summersault, and lands on his feet.

The poor guard is knocked back on his ass. Ryon twirls and kick Lepp’s temple when the man is about to get up to his feet. Knocking the guy unconscious.

“See? Easy!”

Oh yeah! Easy! Like everyone can just make those jumps, twirls, and summersaults you do! If I try, I’m going to fall right on my face, or worse, injure myself… But I can try using the principles… hit the weak points.

This is pointless, I just need to know enough so I can touch my opponent with a kinetic burst. It can’t hurt… It’s a waste of time!

No, it’s not. A right dodge at the right time might save my life. And I can find myself without mana or gems to rely on one day, not to mention bound by iron. This is important!

“Don’t knock him out next time, people won’t train with us at this rate,” I say dryly.

Ryon shrugs. “Ye, ok. ah can be a gentleman.”

We call in the next guard.

“Your name?” I ask.

The dark haired guard flinches. “Gesin, Your Majesty, Gesin son of Yaor.”

“Alright, Gesin. Let’s spar.”

A pair of brown eyes focus on Ryon, assessing him.

“Not with him, with me." I step between the two. "Hit me, I need to learn how to deal with something like that.”

“I can’t hit you, Your Majesty… that’s… I…” The young man shifts uncomfortably.

I sigh. “But I ordered you to. Don’t worry, I won’t harm you. I simply need the training.”

“But... your majesty… It’s blasphemy!”

Blasphemy?! I seriously hate this religious babble! “Isn’t it blasphemy to refuse my order?” I raise an eyebrow.

“I… I…”

“Oh by Nuriss’ bloody jugs, I can’t watch this anymore. Get Lepp to the infirmary and go back to your post!” Salik ceases his idle observation and steps in. The tanned guard nods in relief and carries Lepp away from the garden.

Salik turns to me. He cracks his neck and takes off his shirt. “You want to train, ask me next time.”

“Thanks,” I smile, trying not to get distracted by his well-built body. “I thought of threatening the guard with execution if he doesn’t…” A tug to my legs and the world turns white. When the ringing in my ear stops, I find myself on my back down on the grass, looking up at Salik.

“First lesson! The enemy won’t wait for you to finish your sentence or spell. He won’t wait for you to be ready. He will hit you whenever he can, and it’ll hurt!” He offers his hand to help me get up.

Rage and adrenaline pump in my veins, pulsing in rhythm with the pain in the back of my head. This was unnecessary! I’ve been through enough life and death situations to know this lesson by heart.

I ignore his offered hand, knowing too well that it’s another trick. I send a sweeping kick to his knee, turning on my side in the process. I hit him, but he is unfazed. He kicks my legs to the side, steps in, and knees my waist.

A yelp escapes my lips with the sharp pain. Salik kicks my back, he turns me on my stomach, and presses his knee on my back.

“Second lesson! A strike without any force behind it should only be used as a feint or a jab. If you can’t put enough force into…”

Enough!!! “Rod’ena!” <vines!> Vines grow from the ground and respond to my mental control, forming a thick braid. I direct the vines to wrap themselves around his legs and hang him upside down.

I stand, retie up my hair, and wipe the sweat from my face. Mana drains from my necklace in order to maintain my ‘Vines’ spell.

“Finally!” Salik calls out. He crosses his hands while still hanging upside down in the air, it’s as if he’s still standing with his legs on the ground. “The real lesson. You have magic, you have powers no ordinary human being has. While your body doesn’t fit this kind of physical exercise.” His awful straw hat drifts down to the ground, but he doesn’t react to it.

“But Ryon can do it!” I point out angrily. “You can give me harsh training if you wish, I want to learn. But don’t try and stop me from learning. It may save my life, and I could put this set of skills to good use by combining it with my magic. Besides, dodging a spell from an enemy caster is better than blocking it with my magic.” I let go of the vines, dropping him on his head. He deserves it.

To my surprise, he manages to react in time by dropping into a roll and getting back to his feet.

“See? This is exactly what I need! These battle instincts,” I point out.

He shakes his head. “You can’t master everything.”

“I’m not trying to master it. Just to learn the basics, enough to help me respond better in a hand to hand fight and keep myself alive. Enough to be able to surprise someone even while having iron on my person.”

He heaves a sigh. “Fine. I understand. You want to better yourself for combat, better your instincts, and you want to strengthen your body. You think this is the way to do it, and maybe it is. You aren’t entirely wrong, but you’re skipping an important step.”

“What step?”

He dusts his pants and points at a stack of grain sacks at the edge of the garden, some of Gemhand’s shipment that hadn’t been carried into the storage yet. “Ryon, can you lift one of these for me?”

The lithe boy shrugs and hugs a sack, lifting it from the pile. “When do we eat? Inara promised me food after ah teach her, ah wanna eat that meat with…”

“How long can you hold it?” Salik cuts Ryon’s questions short.

“As long as I want, no prob, but it’s boring! Do I have to hold it long? Ah’m hungry! There’s this blondie lady with…”

Salik gestures sharply, shutting Ryon up. “Now let Inara lift that.” Ryon hands me the sack. I nearly fall when he lets it go. It’s heavy, a lot heavier than I thought it’d be. “How long can you hold it, Inara?”

“I’m not sure…” Not even a minute…

Salik circles me with his hands behind his back. “That’s the step you’re skipping. To be able to fight like the kid, you need to have a stronger body. Stronger arms, stronger legs. Endurance. I doubt you can even support the weight of your body with the twigs you call hands. You’re too soft, you didn’t experience a single day of true manual labor in your entire life. You’re also a woman and that doesn’t work in your favor for this particular field. The kid lived on the streets his entire life, over fifty years if I’m not mistaken. If you truly want to mimic the kid’s fighting style, you need to strengthen your body first.”

A fifty years old kid… Doesn’t matter, Salik makes a good point. “How do I strengthen my body then?” I ask, putting the sack of grain down.

“Let’s start easy.” Salik hands me a spear. “Stab the training dummy a thousand times. I’ll be counting them. Manage to do that, and I promise I’ll train you. Fail, and it’s best if you give up.”

“You call that easy?”

He gives me a mocking grin. “Can’t do it, My Queen?” He adds a theatrical bow.

Aww… so sweet, playing the wise old mentor from the bard’s tales are we? Want me to prove my determination? You’re nothing compared to the hag! A thousand spear stabs coming right up o’ my old stupid mentor! I snatch the spear and proceed to stab the dummy.

It’s only a hundred stabs, but my arms are sore, and my back cracks with every movement. I am covered in sweat from head to toe. After years of malnourished teenage growth, all I did with my body was sitting with books and magical ingredients all day long. Needless to say, my body isn’t used to this kind of exercise. But I need to get used to things like this. In the future I’ll have to fight for my life, having a fit body and knowing how to use weapons can only be beneficial. Especially if I can augment myself with spells…

Two hundred stabs. I desperately need to sit down, no, lay down. But I keep on standing. The air coming in and out of my lungs burns in my chest, and the sweat on my face enters my eyes, blurring my vision. I just close them and keep on stabbing. This is good training, and I’ll have to do this sooner or later. Better to do it sooner while I am still young enough for this. And my body should still be growing.

Three hundred stabs. The sun above isn’t helping. My hair sticks to my face, my clothes stick to my body, and every movement is uncomfortable. My throat is dry, I need water desperately. But I have to keep going. I have to do this in order to get the physical ability I want. And nothing will stop me, especially not my own body!

Four hundred stabs. I experiment for a solution. How do I get to a thousand stabs when I am about to collapse? I didn’t even do a half! After a little bit, I manage to enter a semi meditative state while stabbing the dummy. However, I have to stop counting the stabs in order to do it. I have to let my mind drift into fantasy.

Salik sits in his low chair, his head half covered by his straw hat. I wonder where he got that horrible hat… I know he’s watching. The number of stabs doesn’t really matter to him, he only wants to see that I am committed enough.

I slip into the semi meditative state, my body is performing the stabs and my mind is elsewhere. Dreaming about my future power and vengeance on the Sapphire Tower. Dreaming about going home and seeing my family again. Dreaming about finding my mother.

It lasts for a while, my body screams for a break, but I ignore it all. This is just another form of meditation, one that strengthens my body instead of my magic, and it has to be done.

A warm callused hand holds my sore shoulder. “How many stabs was it now?” Salik asks.

I knew he wasn’t counting! I open my eyes and wince when burning sweat enters them. It’s already afternoon. I am not sure how long I was stabbing the dummy, but it’s nearly falling apart by now. My body is sore, my palms are burning, and I lost the feeling in my feet. “I lost count around four hundred, I figured you’ll tell me to stop when it’s time.”

He chuckles. “Never took you for the stubborn type, thought you are too intelligent for that. You were supposed to give up, and you ruined my plans, kid. What can I say, a promise is a promise. If you want me to train you, I’ll be happy to do it. But you have to promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“As long as it comes to your physical training, you do everything I say, exactly as I say.”

I nod, deadpan. “So what are we doing next?”

I grin when I see the dumbfounded look on his face. “Rest! At least for three days, no, a week. Your body will be sore for a while, but bear with it. Don’t drink one of your healing potions. Muscles develop by slightly damaging and restructuring themselves, a healing potion will undermine your work.”

I wipe the sweat from my face. “Very well. You have my word. I’ll follow everything you say exactly as you say. I know you have seventy years of experience in this field, I’ll count on your wisdom for that.”

“Stubborn and smart, a dangerous combination…”

“You forgot beautiful!” I add with a grin.

He pats my back, causing me to grimace. “Don’t be greedy, kid. No one has everything. I still think you’re a pathetic, skinny, youngling who’s way in over her head. But at least you’re not dumb enough to think you know everything… Now go get some rest.”

I nod. I need a warm bath and sleep. Tomorrow, I can study some spells, use my physical resting time to learn some more alchemical recipes, and train my mind. Then alter between the two… I will only get stronger!

A guard comes from outside the garden we used for the training. “Your majesty!” He shouts, dropping to his right knee. “Queen Phoebe arrived at the docks! She demands to see the k…” The guard hesitates for a moment. “She demands to see king Luard, My Queen. She said…” He gulps. “She said to tell the king in these words: ‘drag your sorry ass to the docks right now! Or you’ll be meeting my armies in the field, and I won’t spare you this time.”

It’s been a little over a month… Of course she still thinks Luard is in charge here…

This is bad… I assume her armies aren’t something to laugh at if she uses them as a threat. And I’m not in a condition to meet her right now…

“Zoe, prepare a good dress and a bath for me. Salik, see if you can stall this queen, invite her to the palace maybe. Don’t get on her nerves, she might kill you if you annoy her too much. Ryon, find a way to watch that new queen. I want to know everything she does, and please don’t get too distracted. Somebody notify Kolag about this. I need him at the docks as soon as possible.”

*~*~*

Interlude 90.1

Kolag

Kolag hates himself.

How many had he killed on that fateful day?! How many had to die?! How many orphans and widows did he leave behind?

He had to protect Inara, there was no other choice to make. But the price… what a terrible price.

Widows. Orphans. Cripples. People who starve and ask for coppers out on the streets! And no matter how much helps he offers them, they refuse to accept it. They’d rather starve and curse him than accept his help… what madness?!

“Sir Knight?” The feminine voice stops Kolag mid stomp.

“Yes? How may I help you, my good lady?” This is the first person to approach him, he can’t rot this up!

“Do you truly offer aid like the Queen’s criers say? Is it truly free?” she sounds desperate.

“Yes. I offer help, and it is free. The Queen wants to do good with the people of this city. How may I help you?” he responds patiently. Is it really that hard to believe that he’s offering free help?! How stubborn can these people be?!

“I… Sir… my husband died… my son ran away… we depended on him for food, but he ran… I’m working, but it’s not enough, Sir… if there’s anything…”

“Fret not milady! Come! Let’s buy everything you need for the next month, then see what else I can do for you.”

“Just until next week, Sir! I know my son will come back he’s…”

“What’s your name, my good lady?”

“Alina…”

“How many children do you have at home, Alina?”

“F-five…”

“Dale. Harris. Go to the market and buy a month’s worth of food for a family of six. Yalvin will show you where to bring it later. Lead me to your home, my good lady, I’d like to take a look at it.”

The woman bows, and almost runs away. Kolag truly can’t understand these people. Why is she trying to run away now? It’s not hard to keep up with her. They soon enter a crumbling shack in the slums.

The house is rotting wooden walls, two dirty rooms, and a broken roof. Two of the five children are fighting each other on the filthy floor, the other three are playing as if the fight has nothing to do with them. A small fire in a stone oven at the corner, and something resembling soup in the bent copper pot.

“Sharr, Martin. You’re helping me fix the roof. Yalvin, Simor, draw water. You’re washing these children. On the double people!” Kolag doesn’t hesitate.

“But sir. This is the roots district, they’ll be dirty again within a day.” Simor protests.

“And so will you. You still take a bath, don’t you?”

“He does bathe sir… Once a week.” Yalvin lets out an exaggerated sniff and gets punched in the arm by his friend.

“Get to work!” Kolag has no time for the foolishness of soldiers. Inara was right, Noxi bless that woman. It was simply a matter of time, and now people are finally done testing the wind with him. Soon, more people will request his help.

Kolag should get more men from Salik. Something will have to be done about that, they can’t keep fighting over their manpower like this…

But it doesn’t matter. Kolag can finally help these people! He can finally make some amends for the terror he had brought into their lives. He will help this woman get back on her feet, he will make sure she secures a good paying job to keep herself going, she can’t depend on him forever. But for now, he just have to help with the basics. Let’s fix this crumbling roof!

*~*~*

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 14 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1801 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 45g
Fresh lavender petals, 13g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 23/100

Present Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Salik
Zoe
Ryon

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars:

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 900 footmen, 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-06-20 12:56:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 90 in color

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0b38qml4isu53p6ac4jqy/Chapter-90-Palace-days-V.docx?dl=0&rlkey=nr3in2pmurxp37b34kvna4sbn

2023-06-20 12:55:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 89 colorless

Author notes:

Seems like I thought my list ended too soon since there are new patreon supporters.

Thank you!

This chapter is dedicated to Michael B for supporting me on patreon.

Thank you so much for your support! <3

I normally treat interludes as bonus content. In this chapter, the 2ndinterlude serves as a cliffhanger. If you normally skip interludes you might want to read that one. xD

Chapter 89 Palace Days IV

When you study the forces of creation,
you should be at awe.
When you study yourself,
You should be open to anything.

Jalier, Master of the Elements.

"Your Majesty, Lord Gemhand is still waiting for you at the meetings room," Tasiya points out as I make my way back in the blue carpeted halls.

"I'm aware. Let him wait. I'm not done with my studies yet." I enter my vast chambers with a fast step. I ignore the roaming maids or the nice murals, and reach for what's really important, the empty page in my open grimoire.

I need a gravity spell that defends from energy attacks.

A spell forms on the page as my gravity mana is drained from my pool.

Alino’s Orbiter
Names: Alino’s Orbiter, Orbiter.
Element: Gravity
Sub element: Orbit
Level: 0
Words: kalidor
Translation: circle
Quicken: X
Patterns: 4
Gestures: X
Offering: X
Requirement: a physical object.
Range: 5 meters
Target: any physical object within range at the weight of 10 kilograms or below.
Duration: 1 minute
Effect: the spell will attract an object of choice to the caster, and make the object circle them. The object will jump in harm’s way for the caster, anything the gets too fast to the caster the object will block. If the object has a pointy or sharp end, it’ll automatically aim those ends at the approaching object or creature. If the object has a wider surface of more than half a meter, it’ll automatically aim the wider surface at the approaching object or creature. if it has both, the caster will set the priority.
Objects that are flying fast toward the caster can be pulled into orbit by casting this spell on time.
Cost: 9 gravity gems
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: 6 gravity gems for each pattern.

Definitely useful… but not foolproof. What about a different element?

I place my hand on a new empty page. I need the best defensive 1st level spell… actually no… I’m guessing the best spell will probably be earth, and probably way too many patterns…

I need the cheapest water cantrip that will allow me to block energy attacks. Mana drains from my topped water mana pool.

Ayla’s Flowing Shield
Names: Ayla’s Flowing Shield, Flowing Shield, Water Bubble.
Element: Water
Sub element: Water
Level: 0
Words: nu nim uwal aloki
Translation: me water unlimited cover (unlimited water cover me)
Quicken: X
Patterns: 5/3*
Gestures: aimed hand
Offering: X
Requirement: temperature above -1c or below 100c. /*25 liters of existing water.
Range: self 2 meter round diameter.
Target: self
Duration: channel
Effect: The spell will summon a torrent of water and turn it into a bubble that continuously flows around the caster. The visual through the bubble is murky, but possible. The water is capable of disrupting light physical objects, dousing flames, and attracting electricity (the water does not touch the caster while the shield is active and will not lead the electricity to the caster.) The water does not move with the caster, requires the caster to be stationary./*existing water in the vicinity will lower the cost and the patterns required to cast this spell.
Cost: 10/6* water gems for the initial cast, 2 gems per second to maintain.
Bound cost: X

A cantrip? A five pattern cantrip… peak cantrip… but a cantrip! I can learn this easily! It takes the water jet and turns it into a dome. Yeah, it won’t block something from below, it won’t even block something heavy thrown at me… but it’ll block fire and lightning. I got my red bubble for anything physical, I can combine the two... I wonder if there’s a stronger version of that red shield I use…

I place my hand on a new page. I want the stronger version of Tukado’s defense.

The book drains up all of my gravity mana and even takes half of the remaining mana from my necklace too. Spells form on five different pages. This has never happened before.

Tukado’s Lesser Shield II
Names: Tukado’s Lesser Shield, Lesser Shield, Standard Barrier, Blocking Barrier.
Element: Gravity
Sub element: Repulsion.
Level: 0
Words: Myrsha samir
Translation: gravity protects
Quicken: X
Patterns: 5
Gestures: Thumbs, index, middle finger raised.
Offering: X
Range: 1 meter diameter around the caster.
Target: self
Duration: 5 seconds after cast.
Effect: creates a repulsive kinetic bubble around the caster that lasts for 5 seconds. The barrier will block any physical objects or creatures that approaches the barrier up to total of 100 kilograms, the speed of the projectile has no influence, only the weight. If the total weight exceeds 100 kilograms the barrier will break and slow the object instead, objects above 250 kilograms will break the barrier instantly.
Cost: 10 gravity gems.
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: 6 gems per each added pattern.

Tukado’s Defense III Yellow
Names: Tukado’s Defense
Element: Gravity
Sub element: Repulsion
Level: 1*
Words: Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Rasefi ni risif fel samir!
Translation: Gravity, I command you! Wrap yourself around me and protect!
Quicken: Myrsha ni risif fel samir! <Gravity surround me and protect!>
Patterns: 12
Gestures: attach thumbs, indexes, and ringfingers to one another.
Offering: 5 rose petals
Requirement: X
Range: self
Target: self
Duration: 1 minute
Effect: creates a yellow kinetic bubble around the caster. The bubble will block kinetic force attempting to breach it. 500 kilograms of kinetic force will degrade the bubble to orange and will lower the duration to 5 seconds. The bubble prevents the movement of the caster. However, the bubble will not stop a fall, and will fall with the caster. The bubble will absorb the kinetic shock of the fall.
Cost: 50 gravity gems.
Bound cost: 35 gravity gems.
Altered cost: 5 gems per alteration patterns.

Tukado’s Defense IV Green
Names: Tukado’s Defense
Element: Gravity
Sub element: Repulsion
Level: 1*
Words: Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Rasefi ni risif fel samir!
Translation: Gravity, I command you! Wrap yourself around me and protect!
Quicken: Myrsha ni risif fel samir! <Gravity surround me and protect!>
Patterns: 16
Gestures: attach thumbs, indexes, and ringfingers to one another.
Offering: 10 rose petals
Requirement: X
Range: self
Target: self
Duration: 1 minute
Effect: Creates a green kinetic bubble around the caster. The green bubble will block a higher amount of kinetic force attempting to breach it. 1 ton of kinetic force will degrade the bubble to yellow and lower. The bubble prevents the movement of the caster. However, the bubble will not stop a fall, and will fall with the caster. The bubble will absorb the kinetic shock of the fall. In addition, the green bubble will also block gas and wind. Wind will degrade the bubble to yellow faster than kinetic force will. Air within the bubble is limited to 20 minutes in case of prolonging alteration patterns
Cost: 65 gravity gems 5 wind gems
Bound cost: 40 gravity gems 5 wind gems
Altered cost: 5 gravity gems per pattern. 1 wind gem per pattern.

Tukado’s Defense V Blue
Names: Tukado’s defense
Element: gravity
Sub element: repulsion
Level: 1*
Words: Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Rasefi ni risif fel samir!
Translation: Gravity, I command you! Wrap yourself around me and protect!
Quicken: Myrsha ni risif fel samir! <Gravity surround me and protect!>
Patterns: 20
Gestures: attach thumbs, indexes, and ringfingers to one another.
Offering: 15 rose petals/lion’s claw.
Requirement: X
Range: self
Target: self
Duration: 1 minute
Effect: Creates a blue kinetic bubble around the caster. The blue bubble will block a higher amount of kinetic force attempting to breach it. 2 tons of kinetic force will degrade the bubble to green and lower. The bubble prevents the movement of the caster. However, the bubble will not stop a fall, and will fall with the caster. The bubble will absorb the kinetic shock of the fall. In addition, the blue bubble will also block the influence of temperatures, fire or cold will not pass. High or low temperature will degrade the bubble to green faster than wind or kinetic forces. The temperature within the bubble remain the same as the temperature before the cast.
Cost: 85 gravity gems. 5 fire gems. 5 water gems. 5 wind gems.
Bound cost: 55 gravity gems. 5 fire gems. 5 water gems. 5 wind gems.
Altered cost: 7 gravity gems. 2 fire gems. 2 water gems. 2 wind gems. Per pattern.

Tukado’s Defense VI Purple
Names: Tukado’s defense
Element: Gravity
Sub element: Repulsion
Level: 1*
Words: Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Rasefi ni risif fel samir!
Translation: Gravity, I command you! Wrap yourself around me and protect!
Quicken: Myrsha ni risif fel samir! <Gravity surround me and protect!>
Patterns: 25
Gestures: attach thumbs, indexes, and ringfingers to one another.
Offering: 15 rose petals/lion’s claw.
Requirement: X
Range: self
Target: self
Duration: 1 minute
Effect: Creates a purple kinetic bubble around the caster. The purple bubble will block an enormous amount of kinetic force attempting to breach it. 5 tons of kinetic force will degrade the bubble to blue and lower. The bubble prevents the movement of the caster. However, the bubble will not stop a fall, and will fall with the caster. The bubble will absorb the kinetic shock of the fall.
In addition, the purple bubble will also block the influence of energy, sound, electricity, plasma, and radiation. Energy in all its forms will degrade the bubble faster than temperature, gas or kinetic energy. The bubble cannot block light, and in return, it is translucent purple allowing the caster to see but not hear what’s going on outside of the bubble.
Cost: 130 gravity gems. 5 wind gems. 5 fire gems. 5 light gems. 5 water gems.
Bound cost: 80 gravity gems. 5 wind gems. 5 fire gems. 5 light gems. 5 water gems.
Altered cost: 10 gravity gems. 3 wind gems. 3 fire gems. 3 light gems. 3 water gems.
Note: This is one of the strongest 1st level defensive spells in existence. Its notable weaknesses are the immobilization of the caster, and light.

Now there’s an interesting spell… let’s see… depends on how many patterns I put in it, it’ll block more things… the lesser shield I’m already using as a cantrip is the red version… this is a rainbow…

The upgraded version is a cantrip of five patterns… only orange and it will blocks physical objects entirely for the five seconds duration… it has a pressure limit though… I can cast this easily enough… good to learn it, even the chant is the same.

The yellow version is the 1st level spell… it’s the same as the orange version, only it lasts for a minute and can hold more pressure… it also requires 12 patterns… Useless at the moment… not if it won’t let me cast anything else…

The green version is the same spell with 16 patterns… but it’ll also block gas and air particles… so it’ll stop wind blades or gas based magic as additional to physical attacks… it seems useful but I can’t maintain 16 patterns yet…

I wonder if I have to bind an elemental for each of them, or binding an elemental to one binds all of these together?

The blue version needs twenty patterns… this will block temperature too… even fire! But it doesn’t block light or lightning…

The purple version needs twenty five patterns… this literally blocks anything except light… and also doesn’t weaken faster at energy attacks… Best part about this spell is that it won’t block my vision while casting it… it’s a defensive bubble… in turn, it won’t block light attacks though… so there’s a downside to that…

There should be a white version… but why doesn’t the grimoire specify more on that? Maybe it’s considered to be a 2nd level spell?

Doesn’t matter… as much as I love the idea of a shield that blocks anything, I need something I can use right now… This may be a gravity spell to blocks lightning and energy attacks… but the amount of energy it needs tells me that gravity is the wrong element to block energy… The orbit cantrip is better… but I’ll need to carry something metallic to use it… Or a large shield… I don’t like the idea of carrying a large shield everywhere.

Let’s focus on the water cantrip, one step at a time.

Fifteen minutes later I have a flowing water dome above and around me. I dismiss the cantrip and my room is flooded with water.

“Well done, Your Majesty!” Tasiya claps.

Why is she still here? Is she trying to make herself a nuisances today? “Was that sarcasm?” I raise an eyebrow at her.

She clears her throat. “It may have been. I do not appreciate having my girls clean the water, Your Majesty. I do not think you’ll take my head for that.”

Right... she's testing how humane I am? What my boundaries are? Comparing me to Luard? I fake a chuckle. “No. I won’t. Nim uriss shanim.” <water shift cloud> I channel my cantrip and the water slowly evaporate from the room. “I clean after myself, don’t worry.” I won't chop your head off for that, have fun testing me...

Wait, I also wanted a cleaning spell… other than Nimuwal… Salik is right about that, there should be a cleaning spell, I won’t always have maids around…

Is it really a priority? Is it worth wasting a page from this grimoire? I only have a hundred of them...

I want to try… A hundred is a lot, I won't learn anything about magic if I just save these pages... I place my hand on an empty page. I need a cleaning spell

Nothing from the page.

I need a cleaning spell that cleans cloth.

Oniga’s Cloth Cleaner.
Names: Oniga’s cloth cleaner, Oniga’s cleanser, Oniga’s laundry.
Element: Transmutation.
Sub element: Cleanse
Level: 0
Language: Revis
Words: Or shakat
Translation: one/true cloth
Quicken: X
Patterns: 6
Gestures: X
Offering: Sheep wool/goat wool*
Requirement: X
Range: touch.
Target: Dirty cloth within range.
Duration: instant.
Effect: The spell will instantly cleanse fabrics and tailored clothes from all foreign elements. This includes drying the cloth from water.
Cost: 30 earth gems, 10 light gems.
Bound cost: 17 earth gems, 7 light gems.
Altered cost: 10 earth, 5 light for each pattern.
Note: *The offering is only required for binding elementals.

A warning from the Maven of Mysteries.

Oniga’s Cloth Cleaner is a cantrip of the advanced Transmutation Element.
Should you bind a cantrip of the Transmutation Element, you shall be unable to cast Shapeshifting spells of the Morphing Element.
The elementals of Transmutation and the Shifters are at war, they reject casters who deal with the other side.

Casting the cantrip without a bound elemental is safe.

Transmutation Magic has an association to the Earth Element, and Earth Affinity may influence it.
Shifting Magic has an association to the Water Element, and Water Affinity may influence it.

I shall recommend that you chose the Shifting Element due to your poor Earth Affinity.
But.
The choice between Transmutation or Shapeshifting is yours to make.

Huh… Transmutation element… that’s an advanced element, but it’s a cantrip, so it’s safe to learn. I won’t be blocking another element… interesting… this cantrip can be bound like a 1st level spell… but then it’ll block the shapeshifting element… It’s rather costly though…

Why is a spell that blows up a limb is 4 patterns and 8 gems worth of mana, while a spell that just cleans a piece of clothing is six patterns and costs forty gems? It doesn't make any sense...

What about spell that cleans the body itself?

I channel my thought into a new empty page, but nothing appears on the page.

Huh… I wonder if there’s a spell for soap at least… if I want to take an actual bath somewhere…

Oniga Soap Creation
Names: Oniga Soap Creation
Element: fire
Sub element: ash
Level: 0
Words: Nogri sapo
Translation: cleaning ash
Quicken: X
Patterns: 4
Gestures: open hand
Offering: X
Requirement: temperature above 1c
Range: touch
Target: X
Duration: instant
Effect: Forms a small piece of soap in the caster’s hand.
Cost: 8 fire gems.
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: X

Huh… fire cantrip? Why is it a fire spell? Ash subelement? Interesting…

Enough! I’m literally wasting pages on this nonsense!

I’ll test my last idea then go meet with Gemhand. I’m low on mana anyway…

I look at the large bronze needles Drusilla left behind in her chambers, I had them brought to me and now they're on my desk.

I draw mana from my necklace, lift a few with my mind and: “Ritsa!” <Repulse!> I lunch six of them at the wall, they clatter to the ground. Yeah that works… but I wonder how far repulse can throw it let’s see if there’s a way to optimize it…

I flip to the next empty page. I need a spell that launches sharp metallic objects at a faraway target.

Alf’s Copper Bolt.
Names: Alf’s Copper Bolt, Copper Bolt, Arrowhead.
Element: Earth
Sub element: Metal
Level: 0
Words: Kushgari yefa
Translation: metal fly
Quicken: X
Patterns: 5/2*
Gestures: Open hand> point at the target.
Offering: X
Requirement: *a piece of copper/bronze.
Range: 50 meters**
Target: aimed spell
Duration: instant
Effect: the spell will form a copper arrow head above the caster hand, then fire it at a target with the strength of an arrow.
*Using an existing arrowhead or dagger will lower the patterns and cost.
**A hit to an unprotected surface within range should penetrate. The range can be increased with a ballistic aim but its strength weakened. The projectile’s aim can be influenced by outside factors such as wind.
Cost: 9/3* earth gems.
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: 6/1* per pattern.
Note: original cost only apply if the caster conjure the arrow head.
A duplication pattern will work at its cheapest 2 pattern form with prepared arrow heads.

Why does it have to be an earth spell?! Oh wait… it’s only 2 patterns if I already have prepared arrowheads… shouldn’t be too harsh…

If I combine this with ‘Repulse’ it might be deadly… let’s try…

I cast them both simultaneously, stacking the patterns of Repulse and a silent alteration pattern to the earth patterns of copper bolt, similar to the training the hag gave me for increasing my foci.

And here I run into a problem. The spells cancel each other, it’s either Repulse, or Copper Bolt. The mana patterns of different elements seize the bronze needles and try to cancel each other’s effects.

I end up trying to mix them into a single spellweave, but to no avail. There’s no real way to mix patterns of different elements, and even the attempt requires an insane amount of concentration.

“Your Majesty? You are bleeding again,” Tasiya notes at the blood that trails down my nose.

Ugh… this is maddening… I wish this headache would just go away so I can test things…

“Let’s see Lord Gemhand…” I’m out of mana for experiments anyway…

I enter the cozy meeting room, stepping on the soft blue carpets. The azure drapes are pulled apart to make sure the spring breeze enters through the open window.

Jolla Silverquill is already at her seat, jotting down her notes, and Tasiya takes her place near the door.

The old Lord Gemhand sits at the edge of the small table. He’s alone, no entourage or guards. What is he playing at? I know he has a small private army… Not like his army would help if it comes to blows, and he knows it…

“How may I help you, Mister Gemhand?” I take the opposite seat.

He moves his hand in his thick mustache. “I have brought you a gift, My Queen.” He pushes a chest with his legs from underneath the table.

Latsa <lift> I open the chest with a silent weave of ‘Minor Telekinesis’. A decapitated head of a red bearded man rests on blue velvets that pads the chest. The head is drained of blood, since there isn’t a single drop.

I raise an eyebrow toward the old man. Is this supposed to shock me? I’m no stranger to death. What is he playing at?

“Arigald Redbeard, My Queen. The last man behind the criminal organizations at the slums. Your assassin missed him. Yours truly has taken upon himself to be rid of him, at your leisure, Your Majesty.”

Ah… Ryon missed one of them… this is a gift, meant to earn my trust. But to what ends? I could ask… question is, do I give him what he wants? Or do I gift him with what I want… and what will I do about his private force?

“Is there any reward I could offer for my loyal subject?” I smirk. Let’s see what he’s after first… then decide.

“I require no reward, Your Majesty. Only to prove that I am indeed a loyal subject.”

Right… he wants my trust. And probably for me to lift my threat on his family… Let’s give him what he wants, but take what I want… I do not need to be subtle, there’s not much he can do. “Your family will be allowed to leave, on one condition.”

“Anything, Your Majesty.”

“You will disband your private force, and your men will join my army. We are in a need of soldiers.” Salik will make sure they’re no longer loyal to Gemhand… he did wonders with the corrupted soldiers already…

“And my family will be allowed to leave Red Cedar at any time I wish?” Gemhand’s white brows crease into a deep frown.

“That is the deal I'm offering, yes.”

“My soldiers will become yours. I do not wish to move my family anywhere, Your Majesty, but I’m sure my daughter would love to hear she can go on her vacation down in Sajarev again. However, I do have something I wish for in return for my soldiers.”

I cross my hands. “Go on.”

“An exclusive contract with the crown. The Gemhand family imports a lot of goods here. Gold, gems, velvets.” He sneers and glances around the room. “Half of the décor in this room has been imported by my family. We also deal in food and weapons. Need weapons for your new army? Supplies? You’ll buy it from me at a fixed market rate. Do we have a deal?”

He wants to control my supply line… he’s shrewd… But then again, he won’t have his private army… He won’t need one, he can just cut off my supplies… Then let’s buy enough for 2 years right now and store it all… He won’t be able to cut me off. “And in return you’ll disband your army?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Very well. Jolla? Got it all written down?” I ask the gnome.

The gnome fixes her glasses. “Yes, Your Majesty. I would advise against such a deal.”

“Oh. I know. Please add a segment to it. Lord Gemhand will sell me today enough grain for the next 3 years. Enough to last for ten thousand souls. Call Talbot to run the numbers for this. We will pay his fixed market rate as accordance with our deal, of course. I’m sure the Lord Gemhand won’t say no to such a lucrative deal. Our storage can hold such an amount, correct?”

The gnome snorts. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Good. Write down that the Lord Gemhand has to supply it all within two months or we do not have to hold our part of the deal. Call Salik and ask him how many weapons he’s going to need for the army and add the same condition. Is that acceptable, Lord Gemhand?”

The old man coughs into his hand then nods with a frown. “Yes, Your Majesty. You have my respect.”

“Good. Let’s sign this deal then. A pleasure doing business with you, Lord Gemhand.”

The old man signs the parchment, with a cordial fake smile. I love this! He must be fuming inside!

Salik joins us soon and lists the weapons he’s going to need, the general quickly catches on that he should order more than he actually needs and does so. I leave when Talbot gets there and starts running the numbers.

Numbers give me a headache. Let’s see if Tiom got anything good in his garden… I could use some fresh air and flowers right now...

*~*~*

Interlude 89.1

Yalvin.

“People of Red Cedar City! I offer you free help. Anything you need, anything at all. Just say the word, and I’ll do everything in my power to help you!” The Lord Sir Kolag shouts at the city square, his voice carry over the bustling market.

The people ignore him, a few sneer, and an old man even spit in his direction. Yalvin shakes his head and fiddles with his bronze armor. The Lord Sir Kolag has good intentions for sure, but he does not understand the people of this city.

“Lord Sir Kolag?” Yalvin, approaches him hesitantly.

Kolag regards the middle aged man with clear irritation in his voice. “Yes?”

Yalvin clears his throat. “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea, Sir. Noxi isn’t liked in these parts.”

“Yes. But why?!” Kolag can’t fathom this.

“Sir. Most of us common folk worship Jalier, sir. Jalier is the God of Magic. Noxi and his worshipers wish to eradicate magic from this world. The city of Sajarev to the south holds a grand temple to Noxi, once in a few years, they send a crusade up north. Sorcerers recruit us common folk to fight the crusaders… no one likes Noxi in these parts, he’s the enemy…”

“But why?! Why would you fight for corrupt sorcerers?!”

Like the paladin of Noxi aren’t cruel? People in power are cruel, the gods are cruel. Better to follow the evil you know. “Corrupt, sir? Corruption is a term those who worship Noxi use. Every sorcerer is an emissary of Jalier. They are to be obeyed, no matter their deeds.”

“Even if they kill your family?”

Yalvin winces, he had lost a daughter to Luard’s mad search for a wife. “No, sir. We do not have to like sorcerers or their deeds. We do not have to forgive them. But we’ll obey them because this is the word of Jalier. They wield the forces of creation, and deserve respect. Even the bad apples amongst them. And they’re far better than the Noxites. If the Noxite crusaders had their way they’d force everyone here to convert to their religion at sword point.”

“No one can force you to worship Noxi. I’m not trying to do that, I’m just trying to help!”

The boy is naïve, a true believer and an ideologist. “I understand that, sir. But our experience with the followers of Noxi isn’t a pleasant one. Those who do not convert, die.” Yalvin winces again, unpleasant memories surface. “Some people here still remember the last crusade, how the Noxite crusaders rounded everyone up. If you didn’t renounce Jalier and convert to their faith, they chopped off your head. I… I renounced Jalier that day and converted, but once they left I got back to my god and he accepted me. Not everyone was this lucky.” Yalvin lost his wife that day, as well as his father. But Yalvin survived, and by Jalier’s grace, his next life he’ll be reborn as a sorcerer. This is the promise Jalier gives for following his tenets. Yalvin had always followed the tenets.

“But why would you worship a god that orders you to follow every order from a corrupt sorcerer who would kill your family?!”

Yalvin shakes his head with a sigh. “Why would you worship a god that orders you to kill everyone who disagrees with you?”

“But he doesn’t!”

Yalvin keeps his boiling emotions from exploding. He shouldn’t have approached the boy, but it is too late now. “With all due respect, sir. Say that to my dead wife. Tell that to my dead father, sir.”

“I… I’m sorry.”

Yalvin sighs. The boy means well, and maybe, just maybe, the boy can change the church of Noxi with his ideals, possibly halt the next crusade? “I do not know what value you were raised upon, Sir. But these aren’t the values the worshipers of Noxi in Sajarev are raised upon.” At the end, it’s all about virtues and sins that were taught during childhood, Yalvin wonders if he’d hate sorcerers too if he was born in Sajarev.

Kolag grunts. “Clearly.”

Good. Yalvin opened the boy’s eyes, with luck, he’ll do some actual good.

*~*~*

Interlude 89.2

Olfgram Gemhand.

Nuriss (March) the 25th

Olfgram sits in his luxurious living room, reading the letter of King Luard.

To my dear friend Olfgram Gemhand.

I will need you to send this letter to my liege Queen Phoebe, inform her that her tribute will be ready earlier this year.
Please send your man to the northern groveyard on the day Queen Phoebe visits.
Thank you for having my back in this time of crisis. You are a true friend. You will be rewarded handsomely.

Yours truly, King Luard Tidal Wave.

Olfgram inspects the second letter, the one addressed for Queen Phoebe in the south. The one who rules over five cities and receives tribute from three more.

He grins under his mustache, he’ll finally get back at this smug Queen Inara. Luard is the most competent one after all.

“Amaros? Make sure this letter gets on a ship to Grapevine City, not one of ours. It should reach Queen Phoebe’s court. There’s no haste, make sure there are no eyes on you though.”

“It’ll be done, sir.” Olfgram’s loyal servant picks the letter and leaves the luxurious hall.

Olfgram sips his tea and lets the warmth spread through his body. It’s time for war. He made a good deal with that smug Queen, now he can make a new deal with Queen Phoebe, she’ll sure need his supply shipments… His family will leave Red Cedar City within a week, and Queen Inara won't suspect a thing, she allowed this after all.

It's time for war.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 13/14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 4 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 13 patterns

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Wealth: 1496 Magic Gems. 1421 Golden Peas, 5 Silver Scales, 12 Copper Bits.

Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 45g
Fresh lavender petals, 13g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 23/100

Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Salik
Zoe
Ryon

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 7/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars:

Kingdom’s treasury: 305 gems. 41,682 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 700 footmen, 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-06-17 17:51:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 89 in color

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d19tp8sx577rm72340k9e/Chapter-89-Palace-Days-IV.docx?dl=0&rlkey=hqf90fw2arw18h61a8g41wju0

2023-06-17 17:49:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 88 colorless

Author notes:

No. I didn’t forget a dedication. I’m at the end of my list again.

Thank you all for your support. <3 Before this experience I didn’t actually believe that my work would be appreciated like this, you all have been a huge change on my life.

If anyone can think I can improve anything about my books, patreon, discord, or anything in general, please don’t hesitate to talk to me and talk about the issue directly. I’ll be more than happy to address it to the best of my ability.

Chapter 88 Palace Days III.

Too many mortals place their life at needless risks.
Too many believe they’re invincible.
Death is harsh enough, there’s no need to court it.
A cautious approach will prolong a life.

Brigit the Keeper of Life.

Contrary to my predictions, there are no riots. Only a deathly silence. I spend the whole night by Salik’s side, waiting to hear from his men where I might be needed to fight. I tense up and relax each time someone reports, but the report is always the same.

No one is rioting. Even the normal criminals that who are usually out at night spend this night in their beds.

I walk my gardens, waiting for a report, waiting for it all to start. In the darkness I cannot appreciate Tiom's work with the colorful flowers.

I shift, walking back and forth near the lavender shrubs. “What are they up to?”

“No clue, kid,” Salik replies, fiddling with his hat in his hands. “I expected the next guy in charge to take over and start killing. It’s too silent. Something is happening behind the scenes that we don’t know about. I’ll ask around.”

“You think they killed Ryon?” Did I send him to his death?

“Anything can happen, kid, they might…”

“Nah, ahm here.” My heart leaps to my throat with Ryon’s voice right behind me.

“How long were you standing there?”

He shrugs. “Long. Yah worry ‘bout me, aintchya?”

“I was. So what happened?”

“Schnee woman lead me to gang bosses like you say. Two of ‘em. Ah killed them. No gang fight, no one knows they dead. They underground hiding like rats. Do ah get da good food now?”

I let out a relieved sigh. “Yes! All the good food that you want. Get the kitchen stuff to cook for you.”

He nods. “Ye, good. You wanna snake later?”

Again?! Don’t you only like big jugs or something? “No.”

He frowns, green eyes roaming over me. “But yah worry ‘bout me.”

Right… he’s confused… he’s following patterns of women behavior to determine which one would be willing to sleep with him. It’s kind of creepy… but I get it. “Yes. But I don’t like you that way. I worry about you as a friend…”

“Friends? Nah friends stab ya in da back. You mah boss lady, and ah like this gang!” he exclaims and heads into my palace.

“So what now?” I roll my eyes and turn to Salik.

Salik eyes the closed door Ryon disappears into. “I was sure he'd snow this. He’s way more competent than I thought… How old did you say he is?"

I shrug. “No idea… he grew up in the streets of Axero, his mother was a whore, and he never met his father.”

“He… never mind.”

“What?”

“There’s no way to prove my theory. Let’s just say that if I’m right, he might’ve inherited some abilities unique to the drow. Would explain his survival. Namely to literally fade into a shadow of objects.”

“Drow? I thought he was a half elf.”

“Drow is a type of elves.” Salik shrugs with a snort. "There are actually a few types of humans and every other race, elves are just better at categorizing themselves."

“Ever met elves?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Of course. There are a few elven settlements at the Last Oak Forest. It’s north of Axero. North of Numila too and the Kresh kingdom. Beyond the Mountain State of Quagamil. If you ever meet with them, make sure you’re looking all pretty. They judge you by their beauty standards and these standards are quite high.”

“Last Oak Forest. That’s where Sharla is from. I’ll have to ask her when I see her. I’m looking for elves, I hope they’ll help me find my mother. But that’s a long time from now. We have to focus on this city for the time being.”

“Indeed. But let’s call it a night, kid, we should both get some rest.”

{28} Nuriss (March) the 20th

“My Queen,” Tasiya interrupts my studies. “Lord Olfgram Gemhand is here to see you. He’s waiting in the meeting room?”

Oh not again! I was finally done with all those annoying state matters! I want to study new spells, rotten venom! Not take care of another matter! ugh! “Let him wait a little while, I’m just finishing here.”

Let’s see… I still need to go over the spells on my list.

I wonder how the clones Prince Reynold used work…

Lako’s Light Clones.
Names: Shadow Clones, Light Clones, Mirror Image.
Element: Light
Sub element: Light
Level: 1
Words: Revatol revisoroar, revatol revisarisoroar, volni to atarisor ni orafoarni! Revatol revisoroar, Atudanar revisor at revangni!
Translation: Spirits of light, spirits of truth, split and multiply to show each of your sides! Spirits of light, become light and colors!
Quicken: Revisor, volni to atarisor! Soriler! < Light, split and multiply! Distort!>
Patterns: 16
Gestures: attach: thumbs, index, ring, fingers to one another.> Put index and ring fingers of both hands on the caster’s chest.
Offering: 10 lavender petals.
Requirement: X
Range: 100 meter.
Target: self.
Duration: 5 minutes.
Effect: Produce a clone of the caster (numbers can increased with alteration patterns). The clone/s will carry the caster’s mental orders. The clone/s are made of light, and cannot effect anything physical. The clones cannot go out of the caster’s range. Otherwise, they are the exact visual copy of the caster, they’ll cast shadows, and the caster can speak through the clone/s.
Cost: 50 light gems, 5 wind gems.
Bound cost: 30 light gems, 5 wind gems.
Altered cost: 5 light gem, 1 wind gem.

Yeah… I can’t handle that many patterns yet. Not to mention it’s a light spell that’ll drain me entirely. I’m wasting pages on this…

But I have lavenders, and it’d be a waste to just let them sit there without any usage… I’ll learn the clone spell when I can use that many patterns, it’s useful in any combat situation… but it won’t be any time soon…

One more try with a light based spell, then I give it up.

The lightning he used seemed rather powerful, I need to see how it works. With luck I’ll be able to cast it… and if it’s too much for me, then at least I’ll learn it later like the clones…

Rika’s Electric Channel
Names: Rika’s Electric Channel, Electric Channel, Sparks.
Element: Light
Sub element: Electricity
Level: 1
Words: Reviss. Rit atrevika/atrevisha kas tak. Kas koarr/shoarr oarofisia!
Translation: Energy. This man/woman needs you. feed him/her with your might.
Quicken: Reviss. Kas shoarr/koaar oarofisia. (Energy. Feed her/him with your might.)
Patterns: 8
Gestures: attach both thumbs and index fingers in both hands to one another to create a triangle. > Point finger tips at the desired target.
Offering: 5 lavender petals.
Requirement: X
Range: 15* meters, the closer the caster is to the target the stronger the effect.
Target: a creature within range.
Duration: channel spell.
Effect: Channel pure electricity from the caster’s hands, the electricity will attach to the closest easiest target, (despite the gender specification in the chant) If the electricity has to choose between two targets within the same range, it'll go toward the target of the caster's intentions.
Cost: 20 light gems for initial cast, 3 light gems per second to maintain.
Bound cost: 12 gems for initial cast, 2 light gems per second to maintain.
Altered cost: 5 light gems per alteration pattern, 1 light gem per second to maintain.
Notes: *If the target is directly below the caster, the range is doubled. If the target is directly above the caster, the range is halved.

Huh… I can probably cast it now.

8 patterns… it’s the lightning that Reynold used to electrocute me back at the inn… not the deadliest… but I don’t mind being able to shoot lightning from my fingertips like the bard’s tales… Let’s hope it works with my low light affinity…

Let’s see… I pick a handful of immature lavender petals, and weave the mana patterns while looking at my grimoire. I attach my thumbs and fingers, and point at my bathtub in the correct gestures. “Reviss. Rit atrevika kas tak. Kas koarr oarofisia!” <Energy. This man needs you. feed him with your might!>

Nothing happens, only my mana get drained.

I guess a bathtub isn’t a man? What’s the word for object in Reviss? I look up the translation, and repeat the spell. “Reviss. Rit at kas tak. Kas at oarofisia!” <Energy. This thing needs you. feed thing with your might!>

Blinding electricity surges from my hands, latching onto the wooden bathtub and the floor. Tasiya winces and backs off near the door.

“Your Majesty…”

“I’m not done yet. Gemhand will wait a few minutes.” I shout above the crackling energy in my room, wincing at the flashing lights.

I’m surprised by how fast it worked! Even gravity needed more tries than this! I keep channeling the electricity, letting the mana drain from my necklace. After a few more seconds my head pounds along with my heart.

I cut my mana from the spell, massaging my temples. Maybe casting a first level spell from an element I have low affinity to isn’t such a good idea after all. Only now the petals disappear with yellowish smoke, and additional twenty gems of light mana are drained from my necklace.

“Your Majesty. Experimenting in your room may result in an injury,” Tasiya chides.

“I know what I’m doing.” Do I? What if that headache is dangerous? What if I’m not supposed to cast spells from elements I have low affinity for?

A speck of yellow light circles my wrists for a brief moment, then appears as a tiny yellow man with buzzing dragonfly wings. “Takisha revisarisor. Rofisia revisarisor. Rofisia tonrevang.”

Argh… I bet he wants more flowers… I hate Reviss. This language is so complicated… I open my dictionary to translate. To my surprise, the elemental floats in the air, waiting for me to finish. At least light elementals are nicer than gravity… or more patient… weird, light is faster than gravity… I'd figure they'd have less patience?

It takes me at least fifteen minutes to fully translate the simple sentence.

Is he referring to specifying an object instead of person? Or something else? Do I really want to bind this spell? According to the hag's guide, binding a spell can only be undone by paying a large amount of mana. The smallest amount is 100 gems... and It’s not like I can cast this spell for too long anyway. I can’t deny the power and range this spell has, and it can’t hurt if the elemental is patient enough to wait for me to translate… I wonder if I just got lucky with a patient elemental or light elementals are more patient… let’s try to bind this. I could use some experience with binding elementals on my own, and he's tiny, so he'll probably require 100 gems to unbind... something I have in my necklace.

I hand him a handful of lavender petals. The petals disappear in the yellow smoke instantly.

“Takisha quiri shin?” <you (female) ___ ____?> it asks, hovering in the air.

Again, it waits for me to translate, this time it’s faster.

“Vask,” <Yes,> I reply.

The elemental fly to the light mana pool in my chest, and places its hand between my breasts. Then it’s gone in a cloud of yellow smoke.

I grin, feeling the slight drop of light mana from the pool located in my chest. I repeat the gestures and chant. Pointing at my bathtub. Electricity surges from my hands. I already have quite a few cantrips to my arsenal, but a first level spell is something else.

“Your Majesty!” Tasiya calls out.

“What?!” I ask above the crackling lightning. Will she leave me be already?! I’m trying to work here!

“You’re bleeding!”

I blink, the combination of flashing electricity and the pounding headache isn’t good for me. Touching my nose I trace a trail of blood. I drop the mana weave and take a deep breathe. Tears flow down my cheeks. Why tears? I'm not crying? I wipe my cheeks, only to find out that my tears are actually blood. I really hope I didn't do any permanent damage to myself... I quickly drink a healing potion, but it does not help with my headache. At least the bleeding stops.

“King Luard often experimented in the same manner,” Tasiya notes. “He was wounded more often than not. Go to Jolla. She’ll take good care of you.”

“I’m fine. Just a little headache. I’m pretty sure I can handle other types of mana just fine.”

Ok. Enough with the light spells… I’m surprised at how easy this was… But the headache should be a warning enough not to push it. According to the hag's guidance book I should be fine casting other elements when I get a headache from one, so I should be ok with gravity, my gravity pool is still full...

Ok. What spells do I need to deal with the next hurdle… I need a defensive spell that blocks energy like fire or lightning… and it should be a gravity spell… easier to cast…

I place my hand on an empty page in my grimoire.

"Your Majesty... I would ask that you stop for now and wait for Jolla to take a look at you." Tasiya insists, holding my wrist. "It won't help your experiments if you pass out."

"I know what I'm doing."

"I'm sure you do, Your Majesty. But it won't hurt if an expert take a look at you. It won't do you any good to pass out."

I sigh. "Fine. I'll go see Jolla."

I open my eyes wide and stare into the bright light from the gnome's odd lantern. "Hmpf." The short woman fixes her glasses and goes back to her desk. "Young mages pushing themselves, what else is new."

"So I'm fine?"

She doesn't even glance at me. "Oh yes. What element were you using?"

"Light."

The gnome jots down in her notes. "You must have a low affinity for light. You can manage a spell or a few without an issue. But if you start having a headache that means your crown can't handle the translation between the elements, and the reaction is similar to mana dehydration, because your soul draws more mana than it should need."

"And if I continue casting spells past the headache?"

"Any other element? Pha. Nothing will happen. Feel free to do so," she answers with a shrug.

Just like the hag's book... I give Tasiya a victorious glance.

"Of course, if you keep casting light spells and overdo it," the gnome continues. "You'd lose your eyesight and pass out, it may even lead to death. Just like mana dehydration lets you draw mana directly from your soul, but it will kill you. Bleeding eyes is just a step before losing your eyesight. By Tukado's beard, do be careful."

Tasiya's mouth form a tiny smile.

Fine. Whatever. I know what to watch out for. "Oh Jolla, before I go back to my spells. I've been meaning to ask: do you have anything about demons in here?” I ask the white eyed gnome.

“Demons? Pha, no. Books about demonology are forbidden by the church of Jalier. It’ll be hard to find such books on the gray islands. You may find some in the temple of Tukado, up north in Tolste’s Bay.”

“What about exorcism?”

“That’s demonology.” The blond gnome states as a matter of fact.

“Do you know of a way to remove a demon from a person’s body?”

The gnome's looks at me for a long moment. “Like Kolag?”

“Yes.”

Jolla scans me with her white eyes, glasses gleaming reflecting the light from the candles on her table. After a very long pause, she finally says. “I don’t.”

She’s lying… “Please! I need to do something to free him from that curse.”

“But I cannot help you. You may find what you need in the Temple of Tukado at Tolste’s Bay,” the reply is swift this time.

“I see… thank you.” I guess it’ll have to wait until I have access to more knowledge… Or until I convince Jolla to share her secrets somehow…

*~*~*

Interlude 88.1

Olfgram Gemhand

Arigald Redbeard enters Olfgram’s dining hall. The shifty bald man casting nervous glances at the chandelier and the décor. Olfgram knows that the man normally wouldn’t be able to keep his hands to himself, the only reason he’s not picking the mansion clean is Olfgram’s identity.

“So you’ve survived…” Olfgram remarks.

“You… you knew?” The red bearded man retreats, blue eyes opening wide.

Olfgram shakes his head. “Not before it was too late to stop things. Are you the only one to survive?”

“Dana may have made it? I’m not sure, I only found the corpses of Strongjaw and Terroraxe.”

Strongjaw, Terroraxe. Names each of these individuals were proud of, names with deeds to back them up, how swift they have fallen. “I doubt Dana made it. They probably got rid of her earlier or later.”

Redbeard sits down hesitantly, eyes darting everywhere. “I… I’ve received a missive from King Luard, it’s addressed to you, Sir.”

So Luard made contact. This is dangerous. But Olfgram has to know his options. Compared to this Queen, Luard was a better ruler. Olfgram gestures for his surviving underling to hand over the letter.

To my dear friend Olfgram Gemhand.

I have taken refuge in another city, in time, I shall return with my army.
If you stand with me, send your man to the northern groveyard at dusk of Nuriss (March) the 25th for further instructions.
If I do not see your man at the meeting location by midnight, I’ll assume you stand with Queen Inara in this conflict.

Yours truly, King Luard Tidal Wave.

“What now, Sir?” Redbeard asks.

Olfgram moves a hand in his mustache, deep in thoughts. Is this another test? Is the letter faked?

No. He recognizes Luard's handwriting. If Inara can even fake something like that, he's dead anyway.

Which horse should he bet on? Luard? Or Inara?

Inara is more competent than Luard, he’ll prosper under her with some adjustments. But he’ll have to give up most of his liberties under someone like her.

On the other hand. Luard will be grateful for helping him retake the city, and Luard rewards his allies. Not to mention that under Luard’s rule he has more freedom.

Olfgram snorts. The answer is obvious. He’ll put his money on both of them.

“Amaros? Bring the man some wine, the vintage from Nulas Thorn 5754, please.”

“Ah. Some good wine,” Redbeard sighs. “I could use a good drink, thank you, Sir.”

Olfgram nods with a kind smile as Amaros pours the wine into the goblets. “Don’t mention it. First. You’re going to head to the northern groveyard on the 25th for me, make contact with Luard.”

“Of course, Sir!” Redbeard gives Olfgram a hesitant look.

Olfgram nods lightly, giving him permission to drink, and Redbeard empties the goblet. “Next. I want you to gather all the intel you can on this Inara. Who is she, where is she coming from, what’s her goal in here. Everything.”

“But Sir!” Redbeard protests. “We already did that when she first showed up.”

“And it wasn’t good enough,” Olfgram points out, waiting for the poisoned wine to take its effect.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Sir. I have no more sources to ask.”

“That’s alright. You won’t be the one doing the asking. You’re going to be my gift.”

“Gift, Sir?”

“Yes. Gift. For Queen Inara…” Olfgram smile turns predatory as Redbeard’s mouth fills up with foam. The man collapses in the couch, spasming.

“Cut off his head, Amaros. We’ll present it to the Queen tomorrow. Earn her trust so to speak. You’ll be meeting with Luard’s emissary on the 25th, we’ll support both sides and remain on top when one of them wins.”

“Yes, Sir.” Amaros bows silently. Unlike so many others, he had never let Olfgram down before.

*~*~*

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray.
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric channelb
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 13 patterns

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Wealth: 1496 Magic Gems. 1421 Golden Peas, 5 Silver Scales, 12 Copper Bits.

Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Salik
Zoe
Ryon

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 7/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars:

Kingdom’s treasury: 305 gems. 41,682 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 700 footmen, 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-06-13 16:09:40 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 88 in color

The link doesn't show an image for me for some reason, but still works when I click on it.

If it doesn't work for anyone, please let me know. Regardless I'm including the link here so you don't have to wait.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vsyquj3qjy76wi06mnyiy/Chapter-88-Palace-Days-III.docx?dl=0&rlkey=eofvxx2vtkt69f2xobeh4u7hr

2023-06-13 16:08:53 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 87 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to Lilli Samson for rooting out so many grammar errors in the early part of my work.

Thank you very much for your help! <3

On another note. This chapter has 3 interludes. I rarely do that, but it may happen on occasion.

Chapter 87 Palace Days II.

There are two elements to win a battle.
Luck, and skill.
The more skilled and smart you are,
the more your luck can improve upon.
Yet, if you are truly unlucky.
Your skill won’t matter.

Nuriss, the Maiden of War.

In fifteen minutes I’m already at the gates with a small retinue. The evening breeze lifts my hair. I got rid of my tiara, it’s too impractical for venturing outside.

The manor is almost as large as my palace. Featuring multiple wings and gardens. Servants strut about and there are even a few private guards in place. I’ll need to make a law about them… I eye the men with bronze weapons in their belts. Can’t let someone own a private military force to strike at my back…

“Announcing: Her Majesty, Queen Inara!” Tasiya declares as the manservant who opens the gates moves out of my way.

“Lead me to the head of the family,” I order the man who gulps but bows and nods professionally. He paces into the house, politely gesturing for us to follow.

I break into the dinner of quite a large family.

This place is glittering with gold and gemstones, from the decorations on the wooden chairs to the chandeliers above our heads. The floor is reflective marble and the tableware is delicate silver. The night’s gust enters through the wooden windows. That’s a lot of money… if I’m ever pressed for funds, I can always rob this guy in the name of the law… Kolag will be delighted...

The family consists of a dozen adults and a small army of children. I spot my former Lawmaker, Garion near the edge of the table, his eyes bulge out in reaction to my presence.

But Garion isn't the man I'm here for. At the head of the table sits a man in his late sixties. A chalk white mustache adorns his face, hiding a pair of sharp brown eyes, and traces of a potbelly appear under his clean laced shirt.

The head of the Gemhand family gets up to his feet in alarm. “Wh…” His sharp eyes glint and I can tell he gathers his wits rather fast. “Queen Inara? It’s an honor, Your Grace.” He bows deeply. The family stirs, they all get up and kneel down, and some of the women even make their children kneel.

“Everyone out. Mister Gemhand, I believe we have matters to discuss.”

“Of course Your Majesty. Of course.” He’s shoulders relax and his eyes follow his family members on their way out of the dinner hall. Happy I'm letting them go, huh? I can sure use that... "Did my foolish son offend you in any way?” he asks.

“No. You offended me by sending him. But I’ll forgive it. Sit. Let’s talk business.” I take a seat near the head of the table, and gesture to sit with my chin.

“I… y-yes Your Majesty. I… you are wise Your Majesty.” He wipes his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief.

“Empty flattery will not get you anywhere, nor will sending proxies. As we speak, my man is tracking Miss Zephyr. He will kill the leader or leaders of the gangs in this city within the hour. That's what proxies will gain to the gangs. But I believe a man of your position can benefit from such knowledge?” I raise an eyebrow.

He gapes, brown eyes bulge out.

I love it when I surprise them… they see a teenager… just like back home! I giggle and push his chin up. “You’ll swallow a fly, Lord Gemhand.” Now add some charm and he’s in my pocket. “I do not care what business you formerly had with the men and women who used to rule the gangs, they’re dead. That’s the end of that. I’m sure you will adjust.”

He swallows. “Y-your Majesty. What do you want in return for such information?”

“Your support. Keep your people in line. No undercutting the craftsmen of this city, buy at reasonable prices, not half prices. I know you have been exempt from taxes before, and now you have to pay 10% of your earnings, but that is no reason to drain all the gold in this city. You’re going to have some outside competition soon enough, it’d be better to establish yourself right now.”

He moves his hand slowly in his thick mustache. “Did my foolish son not present our gift?”

“Oh he did. I’m not interested in gold you see.” I wave my hand in dismissal. “I’m much more interested in stability and prosperity. A man like you who can prosper under someone like Luard… well, I’d value your support, and you’d have mine. Assuming you keep your friends in line?”

“I can do that.”

“Good. As for how you intend to abuse the new state of the slums… Let’s just say, I intend to build them some new housings, and there’ll be a lot of new job openings soon. It’s time for you to invest in new businesses. So what will it be? Following me and the changes I bring? Or ending like the thugs in the slums?”

His looks me in the eyes. “I… I will follow you, Your Majesty.”

I narrow my eyes at him. A man who prospered under King Luard must be corrupt. I will use him. Because if I kill him, there’ll be chaos… I’ll have to remove him if he causes trouble... and his gold can be put to good use instead of décor… Let's give him an excuse to trip over my laws later... “You and your family are not allowed to leave the city during this year. Not by boat nor land. Are we clear?” Of course, now he'll try and have them leave to save them... he'll take a while, but once we catch him in the act it'll be over... One thing at a time, the slums first.

Now he lowers his gaze, shoulders deflating. “Y-yes, Your Majesty!”

“Good, this is only for a year, I promise. General Salik will come tomorrow to take their description. You’ll find that I’m a more forgiving master than Luard. But unlike Luard, I intend to make this city into a booming business. Play your cards right, and you’ll double your riches.” I leave the threat unsaid as I exit the mansion.

“Was it really necessary to threaten the lives of his family?” Kolag echoes when we leave the mansion.

“Yes.”

“I did not challenge your authority back then. But enlighten me. Why?” He blocks my way crossing his hands.

Treating me like Rushmia now? “What kind of man prospers under a King like Luard?”

“Evil. Corrupt. But his family is innocent!”

I shake my head. “Not necessarily evil. Cunning, deceitful, resourceful. Someone who’s overly cautious and knows when to play his hand. He’s competent. Corrupt? Undoubtedly, yes. But competent. Killing him right now, will create chaos, and it’ll result in more lives lost in the end. Keeping him in line, and having him keep his social class in line by making a single threat? I’ve gained a pawn. He won’t act too soon, and…” In case one of his servants is listening… “…If he makes any sudden moves, I’ll hear about it from you know who, and it’ll be too late for him…”

“So you would kill his grandchildren?!”

Oh Kolag… you silly bucket head of course I wouldn’t! I can’t say it here though, there are ears everywhere. “If he makes a choice that leads to it, it means he killed his children on his own. He clearly cares about his family, he won’t risk it.” I switch to Toml’a while maintaining the same arrogant tone. “Be angry at me Kolag. We have ears.”

He pauses, dumbfounded for a moment. Then stomps angrily. “Will you truly kill children?!” He asks in Sinteo.

I grin. “Is that so hard to believe? Like I just said, I’ll do it swiftly. Now let’s go. You haven’t told me why you haven’t executed that former lawmaker…”

“Because he wasn’t guilty, just a coward. I’ve put him to work. Someone needs to help the widows who lost their husbands in that battle, and they won’t accept any help from me… I can't understand how anyone can think worshiping the God of Justice is the wrong thing to do.” Kolag shakes his head with a sigh. “I won’t let you kill children, Inara. I mean it!”

“If Mister Gemhand is smart, it won’t have to come to that.”

Kolag switches to Toml’a. “We give them paying jobs, we give them stability, security, and freedom from an evil king, and they spit on us!” He shouts angrily, it’s something that’s been bothering him for days. “These people don’t want to work Inara, they want to complain! They want to pray and grovel to their twisted god, how they should be slaves to mages. They’re not looking to actually improve their lives!” His voice echoes with each shout.

I raise an eyebrow. “You’ve tried preaching to them again, didn’t you?”

“People are scared of me. They won’t let me help them. They won’t even let me talk to them!” I can hear the frustration in his voice, this has been going on for the last two weeks.

I can’t lose my temper… another fight with him won’t bring us anywhere! It’s bad enough that he thought I considered killing children… I’d never! Oh really? Wasn't I about to kill my own half brother a few years back? He's right to consider it... I was in a different place back then, I was all too consumed in survival, and I had just lost my own father to that damn bitch... I'm not in that place anymore. It's all about time.

“People need time," I tell Kolag. "Time to grieve, time to get over their fears, time to lower their guard. You haven’t been arbitrary, and other than one proven murderer, you haven’t executed anyone. They’re testing the winds, unsure of what’s going to happen to them. They’re unsure how I am as a queen. It’s why I use this time to pull the rag from under them and place it in the way I want. You need to give them time and keep trying to help, ok? They’ll come around.”

He grunts. “You’re far more patient than I.”

“It’s not about patience, it’s about understanding the minds of the people.”

“You should not trust that Elfling in your kitchen,” he starts again.

I raise an eyebrow. “We've been over this already. I told you I'm trusting him until he proves me otherwise."

“You don’t understand! He doesn’t…”

“That’s final, Kolag. Don’t bring up the subject until you have a proof of his misconduct.”

He stomps angrily. “Why do you have to be so stubborn?!”

I cross my hands. “It’s called being fair, I thought you of all people should understand that. Anyway, I heard there was a letter from Jerro?”

“I believe Salik has it,” Kolag answers with a grunt and stomps down the streets.

I shake my head. These fights are becoming frequent, how long before he actually turns on me?
He won’t, he loves me…
Don’t be a fool, he has his code of honor. If I make him break it, he’ll turn on me.

A few minutes later, I find Salik in the gardens, talking to Tiom and Tasiya. My general wears a loose tainted tunic and that awful straw hat of his. He waves as I approach, and the three of them cease their conversation abruptly, Tiom and Tasiya bowing lightly in my direction.

“Tasiya, have you ordered dandelion seeds like Tiom asked?

She bows. “Yes, Your Majesty, it may take a little time to acquire."

“That’s fine, as long as they're planted. Salik.” I turn to my general who's bending down to smell the roses. “Give me the missive from Jerro.”

Salik turns from the roses and fixes his straw hat. He hands me the letter with a sarcastic smirk on his face.

I waste no time opening the letter.

The king has discovered Sharalfyn’s involvement with you and attempted to execute her.
She’s alive but wounded.
We will think of another way, we have to hide for now.
Loyal sends his love and hatred.

Jerro

I sigh and massage the bridge of my nose, a headache begins to form. There goes another plan… I need that king dead! Not away plotting his revenge! Focus... getting mad won't get me anywhere... I wonder what he means by Loyal sends his love and hatred… Is this some kind of code? “Send Jerro a batch of my newly brewed potions, I’ll write a reply in a minute. What’s the situation with our army?” I’ll have to be prepared, just in case…

“We have seven hundred able-bodied men ready to serve. I’ve been trying to recruit more, but as far as volunteers go, this is all we’re going to get. There’s no word from your orcs yet. We’ve been talking about taking the trip to Tolste’s bay up north and hire a few mercenary companies, we’ll have to wait until things stabilize here though.”

“Ryon is hitting the slums bosses tonight. What about the corrupted guards?”

Salik shrugs with a smirk that reaches his brown eyes. “Fixed their shifts. They all patrol the richer quarters tonight. The ones I can trust are ready to put down the riots.”

“Good. Have them kill the rioters. We crack down hard on them tonight, then offer a dove wing to the strongest gang that emerges from the chaos. I’ll be ready to hit wherever you want me placed.”

“It’s not going to be pretty. People will die,” he says solemnly.

“More people will die if we don’t break the current ruling gang. I don’t want anything of Luard’s old contacts left. Especially not if Sharla lost track of him.”

“Agreed.”

*~*~*

Interlude 87.1

Dana

Schnee the Zephyr is a mask like any other for Dana. A mask for her true occupation. Assassinations and subterfuge. Dana is the head of the Assassin’s Guild in Red Cedar city, a fact known to a select few. Most know her as Schnee the Zephyr.

Fortunately, there is no need for her true occupation today. Dana has never killed a sorcerer before, and she wasn’t sure of her odds to do so now. That being said, sorcerers are like any other people, everyone needs to eat and sleep at some point.

Dana is headed for the safe house, a hut like any other in this slum. She passes by the old woman who lives in this hut and opens the hatch leading underground into the tunnels.

She has a feeling that someone has been following her from the palace. Dana hadn’t seen anyone this good before. There are no tells, this is an instinct honed by years of doing this job. Dana will have to report fast and leave the hut. They’ll seal the hatch here; there are other hatches to use across the slums.

She climbs down the wooden ladder and tugs the hems of her dress in annoyance. Dresses, she hates wearing these limiting clothes, she can’t wait to get back into her comfortable pants.

She takes the few correct turns in the tunnels and knocks on the large iron door. This door is worth a small fortune, and even sorcerers will have a hard time bypassing this thing.

A small slot opens, and a pair of eyes scan her before the door swings on the oiled hinges.

“Ah Dana, it’s good to see you!” Two of the five fingers of Red Cedar city are already seated around the table, waiting for her report. Regihold Strongjaw, and Mori Terroraxe. With such good news, they’re all going to have a party tonight.

Maybe Olfgram will take Dana to his bed tonight after such good news, and if he doesn't, Dana will take Regihold to her bed, it’s been a while since she knifed someone in bed. Olfgram will surely forgive her with such good news. Should she wait for Olfgram and Arigald to show themselves?

“There won’t be a problem,” she declares, shrugging the thought away, she could just report again later. “The new queen agreed to the same terms we had with Luard.”

“Ha! See? I told you. No one turns down some good ol’ gold!” Regihold pats the back of Mori to his side, and the dark skinned man grunts in annoyance.

*Cling* *cling* *clang* Dana stares at the small ball of metal rolling on the ground. Her heart drops and she turns toward the door she came from. *paff*

No!

She manages to see a shadowy figure right before the world turns dark.

How did he follow her?

How?

Dana wakes up with ringing in her ears, she must’ve hit her head pretty hard. Where is she, what’s going on?

“Nice jugs, wanna snake?” A short masked orc is crouching on a nearby table. “I’m a gentleman, I tip.” He doesn't sound like an orc, his light hearted tone is something she'd associate with a young human in his teens, not an orc. He's too slender and short to be an orc, but clearly an adult of whatever dark skinned race he belongs to.

“What?” Dana sits up and shakes her head, looking around the chaotic room. There’s blood everywhere. The two of her comrades are dead, throats slit efficiently. Even now, Dana can appreciate the clean work. Blood pools on the wooden floorboards, sipping through the cracks. Why was Dana spared?

“Wanna snake or not?” The masked man asks impatiently. Will he kill her too if she says no? Was this why he spared her?

“How?” she asks. Unable to hold back her puzzlement.

“How ya snake? Ha! ah don’ snake women who don’ know how ya snake, bye now!” The dark skinned man covers his head with his hood and leaves the cellar, disappearing into the dark tunnel.

Is she even still alive? Dana touches her cheek, pinches it, just to make sure she isn't dreaming. No. This is very real. Why did he leave her alive? Did he underestimate her? Is this a challenge? Is he looking down on her because she is a woman? Or he truly didn't think she's dangerous?

It’s probably time to move to another city, silently. Maybe to the far south. Dana has never seen assassins of this level before. This isn't something she can compete with.

*~*~*

Interlude 87.2

Olfgram Gemhand.

"That's everything she said, sir." Olfgram's man finishes the report of everything the girl said after she left, including the things she said in Toml'a, which she obviously accounted for Olfgram's man to understand the language and know that she knows she's being followed and overheard. All while using it to fool her gullible Lawkeeper.

What did Olfgram say? Testing her intelligence and ambitions?

"Haahahahahahahaha!"

Olfgram's adrenaline and stress turns into a maniacal laughter, unable to resist the irony anymore. His man stands ready to obey orders that'll never come. It's too late for his four fingers, they're done for. This is it for them.

"Ahhhh..."

She knew exactly who he is, she knew all along! She was the one testing him, not the other way around. And he failed her tests, he failed miserably.

He still has a hard time believing that this little sixteen years old girl has such an acute sense of politics, but he can't deny what's right in front of his very eyes.

What a devil!

She must be a devout follower of Rakisha, nothing else will explain her grasp for politics.

He will not underestimate her again. He won't fail to recognize her next game. He may have lost this one, she abused her misleading appearance to fool him this one time, but he will not make the same mistake again.

With someone like her on the throne, it's better if old Luard was back. Contacting Luard is going to be tricky, and one mistake may lead to the death of his family. Should he play along? Become one of the talents in her collection? Olfgram is so used to gathering talent that he never thought he'd be the one spotted and gathered by another.

Weaknesses. What does he have on her? Her weakness for that gullible knight of Noxi? Not something he can abuse. The boy wears a magical armor, and according to the reports he holds a demonic being from the abyss under that helmet. Is it something she inserted into him to tie him to her? Olfgram wouldn't put something like that past a follower of the Mother of all Demons.

Her general? The man is competent. Not someone he can catch off guard. But he visits the brothels, Dana's girls can eliminate him if they wanted to. Then again, nothing says the girl wouldn't trace this back to him and eliminate his family. She made a clear point about that.

This little girl holds him by the peas, if he's going to break free, he has to do it gently.

"Sir?" A maid enters the dining hall. "Lord Redbeard is here to see you?"

Redbeard survived the Queen's assassin?

Maybe her assassin isn't as good as she thought. Or maybe this is another test, is she leaving Olfgram a rope to hang himself?

"Send him in."

*~*~*

Interlude 87.3

Kolag

Kolag is not sure he can recognize Inara anymore. Threatening children?! Even as an empty threat, this should not be done! He leaves the palace, leaves the rich quarter of this city. He needs some air. He needs think clearly. He needs to see the people of the city and not their ruler, even if their ruler happens to be the woman he loves.

“A copper for an old soldier?” An old wrinkly man on the side of the road attracts Kolag’s attention. The bald brown eyed man sits on a low chair. Kolag notices the empty pants of the man, the man is missing both of his legs.

Kolag approaches the war veteran. He’s here to help, yes, he’ll focus on helping people. “Here, five gold coins my good man. Do you have everything you need?” Kolag puts five large golden peas in the man’s wooden cup.

The wrinkled man spits through a pair of missing teeth. “You that paladin of Noxi people been talkin’ ‘bout?”

“I am not a paladin yet. Merely an acolyte in service to the Lord of Light.” Kolag replies, humbled.

The old veteran picks the five golden coins from his cup, look at them for a moment, then throws them at Kolag. The coins cling against his adamantine breastplate. “Don’t need yo’ money. Tell Noxi to eat a snake and choke on his gold!”

“But…”

“See these legs?!” The old man cuts him off. “See me begging here? You got your damned god to thank for that! Lost me legs in one of your crusades I did. You’re not welcome here!”

“But I’m here to help!” Kolag insists.

Something thuds on his shoulder. Kolag tries to brush it off, and find his gauntlet is covered in rotten tomato juice.

Kolag takes a deep breath, fists clenched. Give them time Inara said, time to get used to him. He needs patience. Yes. Patience. He breathes out, unclenching his fists. Time. Yes.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 4 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray.
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.

Spells known:
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 13 patterns

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Wealth: 1496 Magic Gems. 1421 Golden Peas, 5 Silver Scales, 12 Copper Bits.

Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 45g
Fresh lavender petals, 20g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 11/100

Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Salik
Zoe
Ryon

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 7/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars:

Kingdom’s treasury: 305 gems. 41,682 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Kingdom's army: 700 footmen, 26 peacekeeper knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-06-10 17:47:49 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 87 in colors

2023-06-10 17:47:10 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 86 colorless

Author notes:

(With a very straight face) This chapter is dedicated to “lol” for supporting me on patreon. <3

Thank you for your support, and thank you for picking a name I can’t stop typing when chatting for some reason… lol!

Chapter 86 Palace Days I.

When someone accepts a deal too fast,
They’re either desperate or got more than what they expected.
In both cases, you should ask more of them.
But do not ask for more money, just add some small favors to the mix.

Kilako, the Golden Prince of Gains.

{28} Nuriss (March) the 18th

Over the next two weeks, I dedicate my time to alchemy and mastering the ‘Lesser Healing Potion.’ These days I rarely mess up my potion, and only get a single failed potion in twenty attempts.

I brew a small supply of these potions, and I spread them around to Kolag, Salik, Ryon, and Zoe. In a case of an emergency.

Other than my studies, I also have to manage this city. It’s a headache to say the least, but I fall into the old routine I had back when I managed my father’s fief.

Today is the day I meet with the three people the population have elected to represent themselves. Now, I am accepting them in my throne room. This system had worked well with my father’s fief, it should work well here.

I lean on the blue pillow on my right and place my chin on my hand. I do my best not to shift or fix my purple dress. Projecting confidence is something I’ve done for years, I’m not new to this.

My throne room is still the same as Luard left it. I only replaced the stiff throne Luard had with a comfortable one.

A royal blue carpet stretches from the doors to my throne. To its sides, marble pillars hold the high ceiling. Delicate carvings featuring small men and women using magic decorate the pillars. Lit braziers sit at the far corners of the room, and armored men act as my personal guards.

Not that I need them, mainly since Kolag stands loyally to my left. Tasiya and Jolla are at my right, and lastly, Ryon sits behind the throne as a last line of defense. I’m pretty sure he’s actually asleep.

I observe the three nervous people who are kneeling in front of my throne.

“This is Amaril Gemhand. The elected of the merchants, Your Majesty.” Jolla gestures at the representative of the rich. He is an overweight bald man in his twenties, wearing golden yellow robes. He bows shortly and his narrow brown eyes scan me shortly before jumping to the other representatives.

A typical rich merchant's kid. I assume his daddy sent him to practice the art of negotiations... We'll see how competent he is. I wonder how much his dad or patron had to pay for this spot... I'm betting on a rich aunt... it's always a rich aunt...

“Roland Sureaxe. The elected of the craftsmen guilds.” The craftsmen’s representative is a wrinkled old man with a trimmed beard. His white tunic is clean with small silvery decorations on the hems.

He's old, which means experienced, competent, and probably charismatic if he was chosen by his peers. But I doubt I'll see the charismatic part since we're not on the same social standing.

“Schnee the Zephyr. The elected of the slums.” The slums’ representative is a middle aged woman wearing a luxurious green dress. Her brown eyes reflect the blazers' fire, and her long dark hair is combed to her right, falling on her pale exposed shoulder.

Of all things that are meant to represent the poor, this is what she goes with? Calm down, these people don't have double meaning in every action and choice of clothing like the barons and knights in father's court. She's a Zephyr… a priestess of Koshavi, a harlot… I assume she wears her trade then... And I shouldn't judge her for it. A few years back I was in that place.

Regardless, a woman who gained control of the slums… that is rare but not unheard of…
Or they just thought that sending a woman to meet a female queen will be more convincing? If so, who’s pulling her strings?

If she’s strong willed and talks business, she’s in charge… Man or woman, you can’t take control over the rough parts of a city without a certain degree of assertiveness.

If she aims to appease… then she’s used to be a subordinate. I’ll have to double check who’s really in charge.

“You have a chance to represent your cases and problems to Her Majesty Queen Inara. Don’t squander it,” Jolla says with another bow, and retreats to her notes on a small desk at the right side of my throne.

“Rise. Mister Sureaxe. Step forward and state the issues of your people,” I say, looking down at the three. It’s always good to rattle them… they’d expect me to either favor the rich, or the poor like some stupid noble who reads too much books with silly ideals, or one that wants to curry favor. But it’s the middle class who usually make up most of the population… And this will confuse the other two…

The old man frowns. He gives a hesitant look to the other two and steps forward. “Your Majesty, the tax rate.” He takes a deep breath, steeling himself.

“I lowered your taxes,” I point out dryly. Do they complain about lowering the taxes now?

He nods and bows. “We are thankful for lowering our taxes, but the merchants expect to buy our product cheaply now. It’d be more convenient if there was another solution to ease our b…”

“You still earn more and pay less,” the young man in the golden robes cuts him off with a sneer. “You should be thankful that we…”

“You will speak when spoken to,” I say, but the merchant just talks over me.

“…buy your product at all. We are not…”

Oh no… not again. I have idiots speaking over me, feels like home already! At least I don’t need the knights to enforce my word this time. Hod myrsha. <ground pull.> I cast a silent ‘Grounding’ cantrip. “You will speak when spoken to Mister Gemhand.”

The overweight man topples over and falls on his face. He reaches forward to halt his fall and I can hear the loud snap of his hand breaking. I wince. Could’ve handled it better…

He wails in pain, nursing his broken wrist. I float a potion in his direction. “This should help with the pain. Apologies. I did not mean to break your hand, just to stop you from speaking,” I explain, keeping my voice cold.

He drinks the potion with a gulp and eyes me wearily.

“This is not enough for a broken bone, it will only help you with the pain for a while. You’ll need to get that treated. Speak when spoken to. And do not speak over me. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The man bows, nursing his hand.

“Mister Sureaxe. Continue.”

“Y-yes, Your Majesty.” He glances in the obese man’s direction, obviously anxious. The man in the golden robes refuses to acknowledge the other two’s presence.

“To be clear.” I lean forward in my throne. “If one of you dies, I’ll hold the other two responsible first. You are not to kill each other.”

The overweight man steps back, giving me a wide eyed look. Oh thinking I can read your mind, huh? Good. “Continue Mister Sureaxe.” It’s just about reading the room…

“Y-Your Majesty. The tax and merchant prices. They now expect half the price for all of our products, because we don’t have to pay 50% taxes for our sales anymore.”

I roll my eyes. “Yes. And that’s a good thing. Lower prices will attract more merchants. More merchants will attract more people. More people is what I want. Yet. It seems like the merchants pushed a little too far. You will sell your products cheaper than you used to, but not at half the price. A 25% decrease in price is an acceptable middle ground. With my 10% tax, consider it to be a 35% tax instead of the 50% you used to have. It also leaves some haggling room. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes, Your Grace M-Majesty.” The old man beams at me, his bright smile bending his thin white mustache.

“Gemhand. You will convey this to your friends.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. But we want to be exempt from taxes, we have prepa…”

“Wait for your turn.” I raise my hand and the man with the broken arm shuts his mouth. “Mister Sureaxe. Anything else?”

“N-no Your Majesty. That… that is more than I’ve expected. You are a kind ruler.” The wrinkled man bows deeply with a hand on his chest. He's not used to this kind of bow. He most likely practiced it before this very meeting...

I put leg over leg and lean back on my soft throne. “Good. There’s something you can do for me. Expand your operations. Woodcutting. Groveyard work. Docks. I want everything bigger and better. Build up. I’ll give you some fundings. Hire as many men as you need.”

He looks up startled. It's clear he was about to retreat and be satisfied with what I've already given him. “H-hire? F-from where?”

The slums… but that’s for later… “You’ll find people. Moving on. Miss Zephyr? State your case and plea. Any aid I can render to the poor?”

The rich man is seething with rage. The woman in the luxurious green dress steps forward and bows deeply, exposing her deep cleavage. I roll my eyes. Save it for someone with a snake…

“Thank you, Your Majesty. We… I had an agreement with King Luard. The guards keep a blind eye in our parts. I’m hoping for the same agreement.” Her tone is hesitant, she gives a quick glance to the man with the broken hand behind her, gulps, and continues. “Guards do not patrol in our parts. In return, we give you 50% of our profits?”

Someone is definitely pulling her strings… she said we and she acts too meek… Or she got nervous when I displayed my magic, she could be a tricky one...

Let's assume there's someone behind her for now. Considering I planned to execute the first leader from the slums, let's assume they aren’t foolish… Let’s just hope whoever is behind her, is foolish enough to meet her right after. And if no one is behind her, then this will be much easier. “That’s acceptable Mrs. Zephyr.” I’ll have Ryon track her after this meeting. He'll eliminate her, or whoever she reports to… “Anything else?”

“What?!” Kolag booms behind me.

“Stand down Kolag!”

“I will not let criminals have their…”

“Stand down. Right. Now.”

He takes a deep breath and retreats. “This isn’t over, we’re going to have a good talk about this.”

This stupid bucket head! Challenging my authority in front of these people?! How dumb are you?! You're supposed to stand there and look menacing, not challenge me! I take a deep breath and keep my voice leveled. "You cannot remove the poor part of a city, Kolag, it’ll be there. It’s either in your pocket, or your sworn enemy. I’d rather have it in my pocket,” I give out a fake explanation. I shouldn’t have to explain myself, especially not in front of them... but this woman will see a weak queen, one she can fool... I need her to underestimate me for just a little longer.

“I’m glad to see Your Majesty is so reasonable,” the woman says with a deep curtsy. “Nothing else from me but praise.”

Nothing from you but empty flattery. “I will expect my income, Miss Zephyr.” I nod and shift to the man in the golden robes. “Mister Gemhand. State your case.”

A loud fart comes out from behind me. I can hear Ryon snickering from behind my throne. Are they all going to make me look like I can't control my subordinates today?!

The obese man takes it as a direct insult. He shakes with rage as he makes his case. “We wish to be exempt from your taxes, Your Majesty. We have prepared a gift…” He gestures at the chest behind him with his healthy hand, and a pair of guards open it. It’s brimming with gold and gemstones.

I raise my hand. “No. I will refuse your gift.”

“But this gift is much more than ten percent of our…”

I lean forward in my throne. “Why do you wish to be exempt from taxes, Mister Gemhand?”

He steps back hesitantly. “It will make for easier trade. Your Majesty said she wishes to increase trade and…”

I cut him off again. “Yet, a complete exemption from taxes will create a new social cast. It’ll create inner conflicts and I have enough conflicts on hand. The answer is no. The taxes have been lowered. It’ll be enough to attract merchants. Foreign merchants too, not only the local ones. Choose another boon that will benefit your class.”

“I-I- King Luard was…”

I can't take this anymore! I get up from my throne. “King Luard is not here. King Luard never cared for the people living in this city. I do.” I take a deep breath. He’s not very smart is he? Another pawn most likely… “Tasiya, take Mister Gemhand to the private meeting room. I’ll see him later. Everyone is dismissed.”

They bow and turn to leave. I wait for the door to close up. “Ryon?”

“Wah?” the half elf asks from behind my throne.

“Can you not fart during important meetings?”

“Nah, you rich peeps need mah music!”

I sigh. Why do I even bother? “Follow Miss Zephyr. I want to know who she’s reporting to.”

“Who?”

“The woman with the big jugs and the nice green dress, she just left. Follow her, see who the boss of her gang is, and kill him. If there are multiple bosses, kill all of them. If there are no bosses and she's the boss of her gang, kill her.”

“Yes, boss lady. Gimme food when ah’m back.” Ryon heads for the window.

“Inara?” Kolag asks with a worried echo.

I switch to Toml’a. “Do not challenge my authority in front of the subjects of my rules. It's bad for the both of us."

"I... I apologize. I did not realize what you've planned. If you had informed me beforehand... No. You're right. The fault lies with me, my love."

I sigh. "No... I should've informed you. I informed Salik, but you were busy with your knights and I didn't have the time. We'll work on that. For now we have to cut the heads of that hydra before we can grow a tame one to control the slums. I’ll deal with Gemhand now, this is another beast to tame.” I leave the throne room and walk the blue carpeted halls to a smaller meeting room.

“How do you know that the madam was not the one who controls the criminals?” Kolag asks.

“I don't. She could be a good actor, but a woman that takes control over a rough place tends to be more assertive, even in the face of someone who’s more powerful than her. She also said we. I assume the real person in control of the slums rather play it smart and careful… well, he never played with me. I sat with him at this table of chess and loosed an arrow under the table. Now, let’s go and pay Gemhand a visit.”

The meeting room is rather cozy. Blue carpets on the floor, blue drapes over the single large window, and a fireplace in the corner. The small table in the middle completes the room that’s meant for private meetings.

“Your Majesty.” Tasiya and Gemhand bow in unison when I enter. The former in her simple gray uniform stand in stark contrast to the gaudy gold the latter wears.

I take my seat and gesture for them to sit down with my chin. “Mister Gemhand, with all due respect, you’re incompetent. I believe your friends have elected you because they do not believe you will walk out of these halls alive.”

The man turns bright red. “What are you talking about?” he asks, still standing.

I count on my hand. “Talking out of turn, talking over me, mentioning King Luard in front of me, and not being able to come up with any suitable counteroffer. A competent man wouldn’t do any of those things. Sureaxe was the only competent person in that room.”

“But lady Zephyr got what she wanted… that was…”

“A competent man wouldn’t question me either. Sit down before you piss yourself. I’m not going to hurt you. I do apologize for the hand. That was truly unintentional.”

He nods, gulps, and takes a seat quietly. “I- I was the emissary to King Luard. We gave him a gift to be exempt from taxes. I don’t know anything! My father sent me, he said to make the same deal. I… he didn’t give me any other instructions. Just that I have to make the same deal with you, and that I should tell him who interferes with our business so he knows who to kill.”

So not a rich aunt after all... “I figured as much. If you'd be so kind Tasiya, where does the Gemhand family estate is located?”

“Near the palace, Your Majesty.”

“Y-you’re not going to kill my father, are you?” The young fat man jolts up in alarm.

“That depends on how reasonable he is. Let’s go. Kolag, gather up some of your knights.”

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 4 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray.
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.

Spells known:
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 13 patterns

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Wealth: 1496 Magic Gems. 1421 Golden Peas, 5 Silver Scales, 12 Copper Bits.

Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 45g
Fresh lavender petals, 20g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 11/100

Companions:
Kolag of house Befar
Salik
Zoe
Ryon

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 7/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10

Injuries and scars:

Kingdom’s treasury: 305 gems. 41,682 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

2023-06-06 16:25:49 +0000 UTC View Post

M.D.Syl

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Chapter 101 in color

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