《Journey of a Scholar》
chap 0: Turning shit to biggest booms. [Rewritten 05/07]
[This is a prologue, giving a glimpse as to where this story is headed. It spoils a bit of the story and I''d advise people to start with chap 1 instead. This chap 0 is only here to give an idea as to where this story is heading to.
If you don''t want any spoil, jump straight to chap1, 2 if you don''t care about Earth ^^ ]
I need more explosives.
A lot. And stable enough. I don''t want to blow myself up or have my lab blown up -again- by a careless worker.
I peruse the numbers on my textbook, crossing out my previous overestimations. The niter beds in the farmlands won''t start producing an ounce of saltpeter for a while. This is a huge setback and will slow down the factory operations for a while. The lack of supplies is what hinders me the most.
I''m on my way back from the southern herding grounds, sailing upstream the river on one of the Shieldlord''s two-masted boat. My goal there was to assess the potential for expanding my niter production as well as improving the agricultural process so as to increase the food supply to the city.
The saltpeter processing in itself isn''t that problematic: dungs and piss are easy to handle, my main disappointment was in the size of the herds: they weren''t big enough for me to expect a substantial amount of manure in the near future. That and the time needed for the ammonium and potassium to crystallize and precipitate. It will be a year before this farmland becomes a steady supplier.
Monsters'' raids on the cattle are disrupting the growth of the number of heads. Farmers can''t work the land as well as they''d like to because of the constant threat of roaming monsters.
The Shieldlord doesn''t have enough manpower to secure the farmhands and neither are his blades strong enough to enforce security around such a huge area.
They are thus reduced to work only on a small perimeter around the small forts they call nighthavens.
If I was able to procure more black powder and rifles, that would make the standard guards significantly more impactful, not everyone has Chi enough to fight against monsters and magic users are even rarer.
A small squad of guards with firearms could repel most roaming monsters, allowing for the exploitation of more land and thus more grazing grounds for more cattle, in turn giving me more manure for niter increasing the amount of gunpowder I can manufacture... A virtuous circle, if I can upstart the process. Plus more food thanks to more fertilizers.
I''m at a stalemate until I can provide this initial amount of firepower.
The trip wasn''t a total failure though, at least for the crops I had some positive inputs to bring: irrigation can be improved with some water wheels. If I manage to smelt enough steel for them to be sturdy and long-lasting, this could be a huge boost to the yields even at constant surface worked. The additional food will always be a relief for the hungriest in the city.
The soil is also in need of some good liming, that''s something I can arrange for easily: milling some chalk shouldn''t pose any issue. Fertilizers should also be an option since there are some phosphorite veins in the mine under the city and with enough sulphuric acid I will turn it into an agricultural revolution. The acid is still a work in progress, I was able to make some samples but don''t have the lab to produce it in the amount needed for fertilizers.
I had surprisingly little to teach to the herders, they know their job well. I could only improve their caretaking on mastitis and other local inflammations but won''t dare try more surgery without antibiotics. I am still working with the priests of Charavatkeh on selecting proficient strains of penicillium, so it will have to wait.
My other option would be to convince the temple to garrison a Fursaad''s priest, tasked with curing infections, but that is unlikely: these priests are most sought after for their ability to help in food conservation and to prevent and cure infections on the citizens.
Whatever advocacy I could make for my project, convincing the Temple to let one of them leave the city and expose them to monsters'' raids will be quite the ordeal.
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While I was lost in my reflections, our boat got rocked by something huge bumping our quill. I can hear some shouts on deck, heavy stomps of armoured soldiers walking around, followed by some cheers. Whatever monster tried to go after our sailboat was promptly disposed of.
A light knock at my door diverts my attention from my desk, in the door frame appear the whiskers of my friend Melodi. The catgirl was appointed as my aide and bodyguard for the trip. It was also her first expedition outside the city.
¡°Any trouble on deck ?¡± I ask her without much worry in the voice.
She walks in with the natural poise of felines, her tail wagging nonchalantly in her wake:
¡°No, that was just some bigger than usual chogsu, nothing worth noting, Tel,¡± She waves the incident. ¡°Although it is rare to get annoyed so close to the city. In fact, I came to inform you that we are going to pass under the southern Arch, wanna come on deck to have a look?¡± Her pupils are shrinking down to two slim slits as her excitement piles up. She''s alway''s been the most energetic out of us all.
The arch is the southern pass of the river through the city''s wall. It is a 30 m tall hole in the black wall upon a natural chokepoint on the river. There is a customs office sitting at this bottleneck, the toll on every merchants'' boats passing through the city is a huge source of income.
Traders coming from either the southern portcities or from the Beastkins empire have no other choice than to pass through here. The undersea or the landroads are far too dangerous to transport goods and only the boldest or the most desperates would risk those.
As we are sailing on one of the lord''s boats, we aren''t subjected to the taxing and won''t be stopped, but the sight of the arch is always worth it.
Melodi knows that the view of the arch always amazes me: there is nothing like having your boat passing under a huge tunnel made of one block of obsidian. Well, maybe the underground river is even more impressive, far under the northern mountains chain, but mostly Beastkins will sail down there.
Our captain is using flags to exchange some greetings with the river guards in coded moves. They let us pass through without bothering us, the lord''s crest on our sails deters them from seeking any trouble with us.
Melodi stretches her arms lazily, her light grey fur gently waving in the wind:
¡°I''m kind of happy to be back home. Can''t wait to go back to the castle and finally grab a good meal for ourselves.¡± she licks her canines.
I''m forced to disappoint her: ¡°That will have to wait a bit longer, don''t become like Balout. We are going to dock on the eastern pier first. I want to go to the kilns to see where the construction is at, and after that, I''ll need to go to the compost farms in silver bottom.¡±
She scowls, her flattened nose frowns in displeasure at the idea. Not that she can''t wait to eat. In fact, I could also enjoy something better than our travel rations but the ¡°compost farms¡± are my niter beds in the city.
They are supplied with the feces from the servs, since there aren''t enough cattle in the city to provide me with manure, I had to resort to collecting human wastes.
The place is stinky and has a bad reputation because we had to buy slaves to work there. It also brought me all kinds of nicknames: Sir shit, Mr dung, professor stink, little turd, and other scat references more or less inspired, targeting either my age, social standing, or bodily hygiene.
I try to not care much: haters gonna hate.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
It is only expected that a young commoner''s child rising to such responsibilities will attract some irk from blades and other scholars who are less successful. The nicknames are more an annoyance than a threat, although I know my friends don''t like them going around.
I just find it petty but do not have the time to care about it.
The grey kitten retorts ¡°Do I really have to go with you Tel ? I mean, my nose is more sensitive than most.¡± she points at her flattened snout.
¡°You''re the one who insisted to be my bodyguard on this trip. Now you have to assume for better and for worse.¡± I tease her. Yet I''m not entirely joking, I need some protection at all times since I can only defend myself to some extent. I can''t make use of Chi yet and that makes me far more vulnerable than her. If heretics or even simple muggers wanted to have their way with me, I would be done for. Not even talking about an assassination attempt made by professional fighters.
I''ve got quite the bad reputation among some people and facing either violent mobs or straight out assassins isn''t out of consideration.
A lot of people still don''t get why I''m collecting the chamber pots of all servs in the district to hoard the disgusting material, stirring it in open basins. I''ve been working on the project for 10 months now and my first batch of salpeter should be harvested soon. I do not hope for a huge volume out of it, not as much as a real niter plant running on constant supplies of manure.
But that will have to make do: a little bit of almost pure niter after some processing is better than none.
There will be room for optimization of the yields, as I''m uncertain of the best ratio of ashes and quicklime to speed up the process. This will be one of my long term experiments running in the background.
With higher grade salpeter, I''ll be able to make perfect black powder with far less impurities. Only then will I risk using mercury fulminate to switch from flintlocks to percussion locks and maybe some encased shells for a limited amount.
Shells will have to wait for more manpower, I doubt I''ll have enough smiths to supply more than a handful of ¡°artisan crafted¡± bullets, grapeshot will stay the standard for a while.
As of now, the state of the art is my personal gun.
I say ¡°gun¡± but it looks more like a double barrelled sawed off shotgun. It is a flintlock muzzle-charged gun, the double barrel allows me to have two shots stored, each barrel has its own flint hammer.
The gun hangs, muzzle up, on my right side. It is always charged and ready to fire: you never know when danger can arise. The sheer weight of the thing imbalances me when I walk but I''ll get used to it.
The arm long muzzle isn''t rifled. I decided to stick with a smooth bored one and still use more grapeshot than real bullets. Making it a close range weapon more than anything else.
Most threats will have to come in close quarter anyway since this world is still relying on bladed warriors, so in the end, it works for me.
I know for sure that my gun''s destructive power in close range is enough to defeat Chi users up to the middle stages, even if they are enclosed in magic imbued armours.
I also already had to blow up the head of a shelled monster once, so I know first hand what it can do. The only real downside being the two shots before having to refill and the latency before firing. All those problems make it a last ditch trump card rather than a main weapon but I''m not a fighter nor supposed to be in the heart of battle. If I have to fight it is already a last ditch situation.
Still better than nothing.
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On the east deck there is a pair of Jalea''s Thorns awaiting us. They are clad in silver armour and with their iconic sasumatas in hand: polearms with a U shaped fork on top. They have taken their helmets off, at least they aren''t openly hostile.
I''m not surprised the Temple already knows of our return, flying patrols must have spotted us from far away. A blue figure blurs onto the deck as we are still more than 5 meters away from the shore.
When it settles down I can make out my most trusted friend. Gelcaria''s purple eyes are shining with thrill, we''ve never been apart for such a long period of time and she didn''t take well the fact that the catgirl was to be my bodyguard instead of her on this trip.
Before I can react, her small figure is already hugging me, her chestnut braid trailing behind her.
She became yet faster, I wonder if her Chi rose again during this week. She must have been in closed door training the whole time.
¡°Any problem during your trip, Tel?¡± she asks me before turning to Mel while patting my body from shoulders to hips. ¡°He seems unarmed,¡± she states, as if making the inventory on one of her goods.
Mel scoffs at the comment : ¡°How could he? I''m a better fighter than you are, of course I would keep him pristine,¡± she retorts with her nose up in the air, full of herself.
I don''t dig the choice of words nor the overprotection but can''t openly complain: if they were to league against me I won''t be able to win an argument. I''d rather have them haggle with one another.
After parting ways with the captain, we meet up with the Jaleites sisters waiting ashore.
They obviously are displeased with our group: a Beastkin, a scholar of Shinpilo: one of the god they despise, and a purple-eyed girl sporting the castle''s uniform...
The oldest comes forward, a blond haired woman, her braided hair is an uncommon colour around here: only the northern kingdoms have blondes.
¡°I''m spear Otocha and this is spear Koje.¡± she points at her black haired younger colleague. ¡° We are tasked by the temple to escort you back to the grand Temple.¡± Her statement clearly suffers no rebuke, yet I''m going to have to :
¡°I''m thankful for the escort, may Jalea bring justice on us.¡± She almost sneers in contempt at my prayer. ¡°But I won''t be able to go to the grand temple immediately. I am to first go to the eastern workshops, then to the southern compost farms,¡± at that I can almost see her silently enunciate ¡°dung lord¡±. I do not pick up on it and instead I gently step in front of Gelcaria who is trying to burn a hole in the Jaleite with her ultraviolet laser-eyes and I go on:
¡°and after that, I am to report to the elder lord. Only after will I be able to go to the grand temple.¡± I stay as monotonous and contrite as I can sound.
This wasn''t enough to convince my warden:
¡°You dare refuse an order from the pope? Who do you think you are child? Playing with poop can wait for after obeying the Temple.¡± Her tone gets a little bit more forbidding.
In the corner of my eyes, I can see Gel taking her steel tonfas in hand. I raise an arm to stop her before things escalate out of control. I do not fear for my friends, they are more than able to dispose of the pair in front of us but I don''t want to deal with the aftermath:
¡°I obey the city''s Shield first and foremost. This mission was under his patronage. If you disagree, you are to protest my orders with him directly.¡± I take a sheet of paper out of my sleeve: white paper. The sight of the luxuriant item is enough to calm down the amazons.
I''m lucky they can''t read my alphabet, this was just a page from my textbook, discussing what I remember of the production of sulfuric acid.
The pair insists to follow me until I report to the Temple. I can''t refuse and more escorts can''t hurt, plus they provide mounts for all of us.
Gelcaria fills us in on the events of last week at the castle. Her breakthrough to fourth chi rank and the last rumours. Melodi and I both heartily congratulate her. Fourth rank is a major bottleneck, I can see a hint of jealousy in the kitten''s eyes. Melodi will train even harder in the days to come; their sparring sessions will be worth the sight.
The kilns are almost ready. The eastern district already had some kilns to make what quicklime they needed for construction purposes but I changed the design: enclosed with refractory bricks to better exploit the heat and even bake some bricks or ceramics for my later needs.
On the far side, I even asked for a prototype shaft kiln, which might also become the first step for a blast furnace. The chimney is almost ready. If I can demonstrate the superiority of the design, reducing wood and coal consumption as well as increasing the quicklime output, it will make it easier to request the funds for a blast furnace.
Ores are one of the sources of the city''s wealth. The mine is providing them generously with raw ores, crystals and gems. The processing of the ore on the other side leaves much to desire and there is room for improvements. They can only make bronze and some pig iron now, so the road to steel is still a long one.
After congratulating the manager and making an appointment for the first burning, we leave on to our next destination.
We ride on tojas: big fanged ostriches looking like chocobos but less cute and more intent to take a bite on the unwary rider. We cross the river on the second emperor''s bridge.
Our next stop is less pleasant: the salpeter beds can be smelled from a block away. The latest and freshest batch is still smelling of sewer sludge or like a huge clogged public bathroom left in the heat of the summer for a month...
No matter how much hay or lime is added, it stinks. I don''t dare add too much either, fearing it will interfere with the salpeter deposit, only adding more impurities to wash out later.
The two Jaleite soldiers can''t hide their displeasure, frowning their noses as the pungent smell saturates our olfactory receptors with its stink.
They should have expected as much when they insisted on escorting the ? poop lord ? though, serves them well.
The plant''s manager is a former slave named Murshid, a brown skinned man from afar. Although a slave, he is a scholar even more well-learned than I am.
He bows in front of us retaining the ingrained habit, even if he is as much a commoner as we are, now.
¡°Welcome back young master Telerios. I was expecting you soon. We finally harvested the pools one to three for almost 9 great bags of niter crystal,¡± he claims proudly.
The weighing unit is a mess.
I can''t ell precisely how much this makes. I would say almost 400 Kg. Reforming the weight units (as well as length) is still a work in progress, most of the scholars don''t understand why I insist that much on a standardized and unified unit system.
Taking into account the impurities I should end up with 380 to 390 kilos of purified niter. Which can be turned in half a ton of gun powder.
It took a year of development but this much could be game changing for the Shieldom.
Sulphur isn''t a problem, there are veins deep in the mine and charcoal is easy to make. If my supply of quality salpeter is steady enough, so will be the supply of quality gunpowder.
After reminding Murshid the purification process so that he has all at the ready: glue, blood and enough water and heating wood, I congratulate him before warning him to wait for me to start the process. I want to be on-site to check every step for our first batch.
After another deep bow from him, we ride towards our next stop: the castle. My four escorts are happy to leave the smelly plant. As a proper sir dung, I try to look unaffected by the stench.
As I contemplate the castle, lording over the city atop its mountain, I ponder on how I will leverage the most resources out of the lord''s coffers. I need to have access to steel in large quantity if I am to make rifles for a decent number of soldiers.
Steel in this world is costlier than gold.
Only the Nereians (fishlike merfolks) have a decent amount of it. I believe they collect polymetallic nodules from the seabed around underwater volcanoes to get it.
They should contain some steel mixed with enough nickel and chrome to make it naturally stainless steel. They sell it sparsely and ask for a hefty price out of it.
I''ll need to convince the lord that I can make steel out of iron ore. With the funding for a smelter, I''m sure I could reproduce the most basic steel making.
I''ve read enough on it in my former life to be able to reproduce it after a few essays, as long as I keep a clear log of each experiment I should be able to meet some success. How hard can it be if even smiths in the middle age were able to make some? If I''m successful the Alchemists Association will hate me for good. Or revere me, both are possible now that more and more alchemists are working for me.
To that end I intend to make good use of the gunpowder: I''m thinking about making a bomb.
Some gunpowder with enough mercury fulminate at the bottom to trigger the explosion on shock, kept in a clay pot. If dropped from high enough by an aerial knight, it should explode on landing.
With some shrapnel inside, the area of effect and destructive power should be no less than what a medium rank fire mage can muster with his fireballs.
Which is a lot when one knows how rare mages are. If I can equip common soldiers (ok, air knights riding flying beast are not ¡°that¡± common) with as much destructive power and for an affordable price, this would change the warfare against monsters.
And hostile kingdoms.
On our way to the castle, we pass in front of my local temple. The one from my childhood, where I celebrated my naming day and later got accepted as a scholar.
I can''t help but take a trip down memory lane.
ch 1 Departure and arrival (rewritten 05/11)
Today is my naming day.
I''m about to cross my first hurdle in this world: child mortality... I''m 3 years and 8 months old and am on my way to get the blessings of the Gods at the Temple. Time in this world flows a bit strangely: years are longer yet people age slower.
This isn''t Earth this is Erendia, as it is called around here. I don''t really know how or why I got here.
I died on Earth, of that I''m sure. My third line of chemo was a failure and cancer got me for good. I was reborn while strangely preserving the memories of my former life and spirited away to this other world.
A reward for my good karma? That remains to be seen. I believe I was part of ? the good guys ?. I''ve never harmed anyone and tried my best to be of help wherever I could, yet I was no saint either.
And this new world looks nothing like a reward.
Erendia is harsh, as one can guess from the child mortality being high enough to warrant a celebration for surviving 3 winters... Underdeveloped, they seem to be at an early middle-age stage. I''ve seen some iron and mostly bronze tools but no steel, nor high-end technology.
I''m born a commoner in a quite poor family. My parents are common workers, life is tough but we make do better than some.
Last but not least it is dangerous: there are monsters roaming the wilderness outside of the city walls.
So definitively not a nice, welcoming, cosy world. Though I firmly believe I''ve never been evil enough to deserve purgatory. This rebirth feels like neither a reward nor punishment, it''s very confusing.
On the plus side: there seems to be some magic going around.
I haven''t seen much of it yet but its existence is commonly accepted. The city is protected from monsters by powerful mages that we are to revere.
There is also a thing called Chi that allows for enhanced physical performances. My grandfather has some and my father a little bit too, so maybe I''ll get that too. I hope there is some heredity going for it and that I''ll get some superpowers as I grow up.
The gods are a real thing in this world.
Just like in all the mythological stories I''ve read back on Earth, they meddle with mortals'' daily life. Their priests are bestowed some holy powers by the god they worship. It is different from magic though, as it is more borrowing someone else''s power, with his permission, rather than genuine magic. The effects are impressive nonetheless and the few ? miracles ? I''ve spectated till now made a huge impression on me.
Finally, Humans aren''t the only sapients around.
There are other sapient races, supported by the gods. Some can be seen in this very city. I''ve already met a few Elves. They aren''t as beautiful as one could expect : they are the slender androgynous type, with long ears, lean noses, delicates features, and all, but they aren''t the pale archetype. They range from suntanned to dark-skinned and their faces are too angular and awkwardly stretched to be considered beautiful by Earth''s standards. They look more like sunburnt aliens than the beautiful blond and pale models any fantasy aficionados would expect.
There are also some Beastkins. One of the girls in my house block is a catgirl. Again she was quite the let down as she looks like a mix between a human and a Persian cat: with a chubby round flattened face and nose. Her ears, whiskers, and tail are nice though but no sexy catgirl in sight for now.
The last race I''ve happened to meet till now is also the strangest: Trollkins.
They are quite fun: 1,5m tall piles of rocks, round short limbs, gravel-like skin, and 6 drill-like fingers that can crush rock like soft butter. They mostly work as miners and since mining is one of the big activities in this city there are a few of them to be seen around.
There are many others races. Grandma''s stories talk about the 8 god chosen races but I have yet to encounter them.
My journey isn''t as ideal as those transmigrations stories in which the hero magically appears out of nowhere and is 16 to 18 years old from the get-go, filled to the brim with skills and cheatlike powers and tasked with a holy mission.
I''m facing a true rebirth, starting from scratch and with no shortcut to success in sight. What''s worse is that my condition as a commoner makes even my survivability questionable. We fare better than the servs who are living in slave-like conditions but life isn''t easy either.
I sigh as I remember the hardships of my early days in this world.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Hearing me sigh, Mom asks me if I''m anxious about the ceremony. I shake my head in denial and tell her I''m just tired because it''s late, which is true: nightbell rang just earlier meaning it''s already past my usual bedtime and my young body is still short on stamina.
I''m also cold. We are in early spring, nights are still crisp enough to make our breath condense. My cloak isn''t lined with fur or anything fancy and barely helps to stay warm.
At least it''s not raining, my feet are only wrapped in simple leather and cloth strips, so walking in cold puddles would be the worst.
In the summer I''m barefoot most of the time, shoes aren''t an item for commoner''s children. I just stand closer to mom to warm up a little. She puts her arm upon my shoulders, covering my back with her own cloak to shield me from the cold bite of the northern winds.
Tonight it is easy to walk the streets: it is ¡°daynight¡±. On the 24th of each month, the twin moons are both full in the night sky.
They cast an eerie pink light on the streets: the white radiance of Jalea''s moon mixes with the red-ish glow of Arteus''s moon to make for a permanent sunset setting. It will last until dawn.
On these Daynights it is customary to celebrate one of the 15 Gods of the Pantheon. This month is Tupu''s celebration. She is the goddess of time, growth, change, and ageing and is thus used as the marker for one''s civil age. Since it''s my fourth spring and Tupu''s fest, it is time for me to thank the gods for surviving till now and pledge myself to them.
But first, let''s start this story from the beginning, the transmigration:
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Back on Earth, I was a veterinarian.
I''ve always felt a deep connection with animals be it dogs or birds, sheep or ferrets, tarantulas or dolphins. I must admit snakes weren''t on my ? to pet ? list but otherwise, I was drawn to every animal.
From my earliest age, I was surrounded by them and this only grew as I aged. I was quick-witted, curious about everything, and had a knack for biology. Naturally, I decided to dedicate my life to caring for them and choose to become a veterinarian.
Things were going smoothly for me until I got diagnosed with ¡°Non Hodgkin''s Lymphoma¡± at age 28, just as I was finishing my training.
At first, the doctors were reassuring, it was a ¡°regional¡± disease and I was young, the odds were in my favour. I''ve played XCOM, I should have known better.
My family took the news well and was a great support, it was just a hardship to overcome. Treatment went fine and soon, I was in remission.
It was a wake-up call for me. It made me realise I had to do something with my life. I joined animal protection associations, trying to make the most out of this second chance.
As a vet I was traveling across the world, tending to animals on almost every continent, fighting to save their living habitats, and protecting their rights. I''ve sailed to protest against whale-hunting, cared for gorillas and lions, but also helped sheperds and herders learn to take better care of their herd and even helped in a free clinic, healing pets of poor people and taking care of stray dogs and cats.
It was fulfiling in its own way, I was as busy as I could.
Three years later I was in relapse and this time it was harsher.
The dissident cells were spreading like wildflowers, blooming everywhere on the CT scan, this weed was taking root in every inch of my body.
Mom was in despair, my brother was my light in the darkness: one of the few who could still make jokes on me dying (and they were funny).
At the end of treatment, although successful, my doctors were far more warier this time. Less smiles and walking on eggs when talking about remission.
So I decided to enjoy my life a bit more. When I wasn''t tending to our four-legged friends, I was a party animal. I indulged myself in parties, alcohols, women and a few drugs (all legal, I swear), binging on everything life had to offer.
I was right to do so. As spring came back, it brought with it deadly flowers blooming again inside of me. ¡°Third time is a charm,¡± they say; not for me. Treatments failed, bone marrow transplant failed (sorry bro, you tried), my body was failing.
I was a husk of myself: thinned, drained of life and energy. The cancer was a tick slowly draining me from my essence and I could feel that I wouldn''t last for much longer.
As I was in isolation when my blood was running thin on white cells, my last good action was to hook-up my brother with one of the nurses. She was a sunny smiled Colombian and was a great fit for my joker of a brother. If they became an item to last, I''ll deserve a toast at their wedding. I was enjoying this spooky prospect: playing the matchmaker-from-beyond-the-grave.
I could sense the end coming: the doctors'' frowns were getting deeper and deeper and they were talking less and less during visitation, so I made peace with my life.
Although not as long as I could have wished for, it was a happy one nonetheless, with a loving family, good friends, a fulfilling job.
I wish it lasted longer but all good parties must come to an end and then comes the time for the clean-up.
Mom was the saddest. I was spending more time comforting her than the other way around. Seeing her cry was more painful than what the disease itself could do to my body. I''d rather suffer more and be able to bring her solace than have her cry because of me.
Pneumonia was the culprit, with multiple organ failures, in the intensive care unit.
Per my request there was no invasive respiratory assistance, it wouldn''t have changed the final outcome. My agony was a fine one: painless, a bit short on breath but bearable and my family was close by.
It was the first time in my life I saw my dad cry. I told my goodbyes, I had left them some letters too, some things are just too hard to tell and I hoped it would help them grieve and my eyes closed, holding the hands of my kins.
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My world went black.
Not just black but total void: silence, the absence of feel, touch, or smell.
The strangest thing with complete silence is that you''ve never experienced it. Normally you end up hearing your heartbeat, the rush of blood in your arteries, or the creaking of your joints but here I was, senselessly floating in nothingness.
At some point the silence would become so unbearable that you''d want to scream, just to hear something. Yet no sound was ever coming out. Worse, your very thoughts end up being loud. So loud that it is maddening.
I don''t know how long it lasted: in the void, you cant keep track of time. The only thing I can clearly remember was thinking ¡°I think, therefore I am.¡± Thank you, Descartes, at least I was ¡°something¡±.
Yet I would rather be a ghost or a poltergeist than live in the void, it would be less boring. At worst, bring me heaven''s judgment and throw me in hell or something. I''ll welcome the torments of flames and succubi, anything but the deafening silence and howling of your own thoughts echoing in the void of your mind.
Things brutally changed when out of nowhere, a scorching light burned my retinae (lucky for me I had no eyes).
I felt a hook take a grasp on my soul, followed by a strong pull dragging me towards the light.
As I was getting closer to this searing sun, my senses were coming back: sounds like a thousand roaring jetplanes that would have shaken my bones to the breakpoint (if I had bones), pain like a million red-hot needles piercing every inch of my soul, every kind of tastes running on my tongue (ever ate a plate of shit with fudge and spices on it?)...
All my senses were overwhelmed by the brutal assault coming from all directions. If I could, I would have passed out but without a body, I had to live through it. My torment brutally came to an end as I felt compressed to the point of popping, then squeezed in a tiny shell.
A waft of ice-cold air hit my face and I opened my eyes. I was a newborn and after a slap on the butt to make me wail, I was put in my mother''s embrace.
And thus my new life began.
Ch 2 Crawling my way up (rewritten 05/21)
don''t want to remember (and let''s be honest, the milk does not taste good).
was conscious and wish I wasn''t. Thankfully, my sight and hearing were bad so nothing got imprinted too strongly in my juvenile mind.
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chap 3 : The girl with the amethysts (edited 05/22)
Houses along the way are mostly like ours: one-story tall, simple blocks of stone, thatched roof, wooden shutters at the windows, simple wooden doors. There are a few flowerbeds, though they still lack flowers this early in the year. The set reminds me of some old villages in southern France, crude buildings but that are giving off a charming picturesque vibe.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
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The pudgy lady seems amused by the girl''s attitude, ¡°A shy thing you are. Well, you''ll learn to get along with us, we are a nice bunch,¡± she overly confidently states. A few snickers sound alongside her affirmation, leaving her unfazed but I can feel my young neighbour trembling behind me. She isn''t used to the attention and doesn''t like to be in the spotlight.
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Chap 4: Please, insert training montage (edit 27/05)
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¡°The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
I smile at her, I got myself a sparring partner now. Only problem being that she is stronger than me and intends to get even more.
Puberty wont come to my rescue in the foreseeable future; I really do need that Chi thing or I guess my training arc will be full of scenes of me getting beaten up by a little girl... I shrug the thought away, I''ll manage somehow, I have the high ground in strength, coordination, and experience.
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Chap 5 : New kids
The days went more or less the same afterwards. Mom takes Gel and I with her to her workplace seven days in a row. Every 8th day is a kind of ¡°sunday¡±, usually my grandparents come to visit us at our home, grandpa less often as he seems to work outside the city for long periods of time, he is a kind of hunter if I understood correctly what my father explained to me. Talking about jobs, I figured out that dad works at a blacksmith, smelting metals. Big bro Barasti is often accompanying him, doing odd jobs over there (distributing water and meals; carrying messages and such, helping refill coal storage etc..)
On these day off and since I am now older we all go to the bathing house in the morning.
It''s a one story tall building with whitewashed walls, a bit larger than our house. The inside is split in two pools of fresh water, large enough to fit a dozen persons.
Every block must have it''s own as there aren''t that many people in. I get washed and rinsed in lukewarm water before entering the bath itself.
They seem to have an aqueduct and basic plumbing running around at least for clean water supply, I know the main river is a few streets away from here. Or they might be using magic for it, but I doubt it: magicians are not a daily occurrence and I don''t think filling bathtubs would be the best use of their abilities.
As a small child I get to go with mom in the women''s pool.
As enticing as that might sound, reality leaves me in the lurch once more. Most of the other people bathing are: children like me, old ladies burning my eyes and soul with unwanted memories and finally not-good-looking young ones.
There are a few that are worth the sight (including a voluptuous cat lady called Pilli, her existence alone is blissful for my heart, sight and sanity: sexy catgirls are a thing in this world, hope is still alive).
But the scales are tipping the wrong side overall.
I went with dad in the men''s bath once and dearly regretted my foolishness, seeing a forest of shrivelling dongs was even worse.
After bath time we go back home for the only big lunch of the week.
On most days, lunch is just a light meal break with tea and crackers or bread.
¡°Sunday¡± (all 8th day have a different name so there are no ¡°sundays¡± per se) is usually better, with ¡°eggs¡± (grey, with a darker yolk, leaves a flour-and-nuts aftertaste, but overall quite good), and if grandpa is back from hunting we even get some meat (tastes like chicken) and a bunch of strange vegetables, leaves and roots.
The local staple food is called bunta, it''s a verdigris dense bread that doesn''t taste much, reminds me of ryebread. This bread is the base of our other meals during the week, accompanying a soup of vegetables and, rarely, a piece of quail like meat.
Fruits are a treat and I have yet to taste candy or cakes. (I''ve seen biscuits and crackers, but they just aren''t cake).
Drinking is tea for us kids, with some occasional fruit juices, the adults drink a watery beer called barok, it''s a brew made of bunta and spiced up with various herbs.
On ¡°sunday¡± afternoons, Dad takes Barasti somewhere outside, he says I''m still too young for whatever they are doing, which grants me a teasing smirk from my big brother.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
I usually end up being the play doll of my sister, then listen to one of grandma''s stories. On snack time I get a dried fruit or some kind of jam-honey on a slice of bunta bread.
Most stories are like the tales of my earth-life: princes and kings fighting monsters, just with more magic and gods interventions and occasional princesses fighting too.
As I''m now older, I allow myself to interrupt grandma more often when she uses words I don''t yet understand. In the end, I learn that the stories are epics: tales of this world''s past just as the gods appeared and helped the chosen races to survive the monsters onslaught, told in old speech, thus the unusual words. GrandMa can''t even translate some of them, she just learned the tales by heart like one learns to recite a poem.
For the whole Spring, Gel and I keep our training regimen going: cardio, stretching, muscles coordination. Our ball, gifted by Miss Tarina (the boss lady) his heavier than I though once filled with sand, it makes a good medicine ball. I was fearing sand would leak out, but mom and her co-workers did a great job on the stitching, flawlessly sealing the ball.
We usually train/play for an hour or two and then I busy myself with teaching Gel. I help her improve her speech, she is a better student than I expected, her progress is noticeable.
She becomes more serene around me as she gets to know me and gets used to have our gazes cross one another. I take it upon me to not lose myself in her purple lights, as I know it would fluster her.
She rarely graces me with a smile, they are as rare as rain in a drought, making each one of them all the more valuables. If I am deemed a serious child, she is a too stern one.
In the afternoon grandMa often tell us stories or sings us something, ¡°the angry toja¡± and ¡°Bebo the little meeko¡± being Gel''s favourites lullabies.
The both aren''t the best singers, but I don''t get much of a choice, and my comrade is enjoying the show.
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Temperatures are getting warmer, in our courtyard we now often relax under the patio in the welcomed shade. Bright flowers have bloomed around and the air is buzzing with the activity of various flying pests, but also some green coloured butterflies, which, I learned it the hard way, can bite. Exceptionally, our sunny day may get ruined by a flash storm, dousing us in warm water.
In this Summer, Gel and I are joined by 2 newcomers in our kindergarten.
The first new playmate is a bulky straw haired boy, with healthy looking rosy cheeks called Balout. He is clumsy and not the smartest of the bunch, I sometimes can barely understand his babbles. ¡°I Balout, Balou sleep, Balou hungy,¡±
He spends most of his time with us napping, the boy must have one hell of a nightlife.
The other newcomer is a beastkin cat girl named Melodi, her dusk skin has long grey fur on her upper body and arms, she''s got cat ears on the top of her head which twiddle cutely when she focuses her earring. Her malachite green eyes have vertical pupils giving her gaze a hint of cat''s mystery, making you wonder if they are plotting your demise or asking to be petted. Whiskers pops out on top of her lip like a moustache. When I ruffle them, she emits the cutest sneeze ever.
Her lower body is furless as far as I can see, except for a tail sprouting from her aptly named tail-bone.
This flawless description of cuteness is ruined by her flat face and nose, like someone slammed a door at her face. She is a ¡°persian¡± catgirl.
Nonetheless, she''s playful and nice and gladly plays ball with Gel and I, whereas Balout''s clumsiness makes him not as good a playmate. At least since he spends most of his time sleeping, he isn''t much of a bother, especially for Gel who is ill at ease around people and isn''t pleased by the arrival of new kids in what became ¡°our¡± courtyard.
Melodi has a strange accent, or it might be due to her physionomy, but her words are stretched and wheezed. Her vocabulary is still a work in progress, but she can form sentences that have a meaning.
The poor Balout is left confused between Tel, Gel and Mel, still trying to figure who''s who when we use shortened versions of our respective names. To him I am ¡°boy¡± and the others are ¡°girl¡± and ¡°kitty¡±, which usually grants him some hissing from said kitten.
Melodi, despite her feline assets, isn''t as deft as Gel and I. Our daily regimen has made us far more agile than other 3 years old around here and our team leaves Melodi and Balout''s one in the dust when we play not-dodgeball. Well to be honest, whoever was teamed with Balout would have lost too.
Our sandball leaves some impressive bruises all over Balout and we get scolded by mom and miss Tarina on the next day.
This Summer is agreeable, new playmates, temperatures are more amiable for the barefooted lightly dressed me and we get to eat lots of various fruits.
chap 6 : The growth sister.
On one sweaty and stormy end of the summer afternoon, as we are crowded under the patio to take cover and enjoy the show of squalls and lightning, Melodi''s hair dressing up with each thunder roll, Ms Tarina brings us an austere looking woman, veiled in a leaf green shawl :
¡°Hello children, I am sister Sunyeo, Temple officiant and priestess of Tupu¡± she introduces herself in a gentle voice, yet still managing to cover the rumbling sky in the background.
She points her hand at the tumultuous clouds ¡°may Oreo soon comes back to us.¡±
Melodi, is the one to take the bait shaken in front of our noses: ¡°Who''s Oreo ?¡±
A sly smile on her face, the priestess goes on: ¡°Oreo is the Sun, but also the fire in your hearth, as well as the light that keeps monsters at bay. The golden dragon fighting the evernight.¡±
Pleased with the dumbfounded look on the kids, she comes forward and takes a sit on one of the rough mats laying around our small tea table.
¡°That''s why I''m here: as you may know, next spring you will be named at the Temple, but before that, I would like you all to know a bit more about the gods. Oreo isn''t the only one you''ll have to worship if you want their protection.¡± as to emphasize her says, thunder rumbles nearby.
She fiddles with a chain around her neck, to show us the pendant that was resting on her bosom : It''s a strange polyhedra, like two 8 faced pyramids put base to base, reminds me of a D16 die used by some roleplayers. Each face bares a different colour and symbol.
¡°Nice¡± gasps Balout, his hand going for the trinket. The sister gently yet firmly deflects his grasp.
¡°You''ll get one too, but only if you learn to worships all of the pantheon.¡± She ends with a gentle smile, welcoming him in her church.
She is obviously used at dealing with children, maintaining a perfect balance between gentleness and authority. Her brown eyes carry an amiable gaze, that wins the heart of Balout and the girls. If glasses were a thing in this world, she would look like the perfect strict teacher.
I''m a bit wary of her. I''m not too fond of religions in general and even less about their zealots. I''ve seen first hand what it can lead to on Earth and can only imagine what it is around here, where gods seems to interact more with their believers.
I''m still unsure if they or something else brought me to this world. Seeing how the Temple seems unaware of my existence I would say the last one, leaving the questions of if it is an ally or an enemy of the pantheon, or just plain randomness; and how the gods would react to my existence.
Not wanting to learn it the hard way, I intend to keep a low profile, until I can figure out more about what the pantheon is, how I got brought here and what kind of reaction can be expected if I start to show off some of my knowledge.
The sister is going on with her proselytizing :
¡°The pantheon is the shield that protects the humanoids sapients. Eia (15) gods, chosen because of their exemplar deeds and innate qualities, tasked with protecting us from the monster and their mastermind¡± She turns her pendant to show us a fully dark face of the die ¡°The monster god, the one that is the enemy of all sapient life. No humanoids should pronounce his name nor worship him. Lest he gets branded as heretic by the rest of the pantheon.¡± She emphazises the threat sounding menacing enough that the kids are slightly frightened, although I doubt they understand what an heretic is. Which Gelcaria confirms :
¡°what''s an heretic ? Is It bad ?¡± she asks candidly, yet with a hint of fear troubling her eyes.
Sister Sunyeo wears a pained face, perfectly displaying sadness and sorrow, she''s a fine actress, her play isn''t too showy, just enough to convey what she wants.
¡°An heretic is a damned soul. One that has forsaken the gods and turned to our enemies. The price for such treason is harsh, they are forsaken by all: Oreo wont shine his light upon their path, nor will Amidea quench their thirst, only pain awaits them.¡± she ends menacingly, Gelcaria turning her purple gems away from the threatening stare.
A worried Melodi asks ¡°are the gods going to punish us ?¡±
The sister eases her expression, emitting a playful light laugh, petting Mel''s head and ears ¡°No dear, not you, not unless you broke their precepts.¡± Perfectly leading the gullible kids exactly where she wants.
She then goes on, both explaining theses precepts and clarifying some of the rules.
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Gods in this world are real and seem to interfere in the life of mortals in various ways. They are observing and judging humanoids constantly, those who behave too badly (rape, senseless murder or pain inflicted needlessly to other sapients, are the most shunned upon crimes), can get forsaken by some or all of the pantheon. The worst offence being conspiring with monsters against the sapient races, this will brand you as an heretic, hunted mercilessly in every city, kingdoms or empires.
Some gods have their own preferences and additional rules (Jalea, the goddess of Justice, despises lies and unfairness for ex. Her worshippers are often tasked with law enforcement), some even conflicting with one another.
Losing a god''s protection can lead to dire situations : for example Oreo the golden dragon is the god of Heat, fire and light, infuriating him can burden you with a fever, turn you blind, quench your firepit when it''s freezing or turn out your torch when you are surrounded by monsters in the dead of night...
I''m not sure how much the gods do actually pay attention to our actions, as mom still warned me about ¡°not following strangers or accepting treats from unknown grown ups¡±. Implying the god''s watch isn''t that perfect and the threat of losing the protection of the gods isn''t enough to deter all wrongdoers. But better safe than sorry (and it''s not like I plan to torture or rape anyone in the foreseeable future).
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The pantheon is composed of 16 gods subdivided in 3 ¡°penteons¡± :
There are the 5 ¡°gentles¡± Gods who protects us from monsters the most, Oreo is one of them. Alongside, Husnd the protector of family, Amidea goddess of water, Jalea for justice and Arteus, the god of all crafts.
The 5 ¡°wavering¡± gods who embodies more neutral concepts : for example there is Fortan, the god of randomness, madness and luck, both good and back. He can neither be said to be in favour of humanoids nor monster as his powers are double edged blades. (RNGjesus is real here)
But also Tupu Ae''tur, the patron of sister Sunyeo, Tamayoku the goddess of Riches, Akolai the god of love and Shinpilo: god of knowledge.
And there are the 5 ¡°rampaging¡± gods : that usually lord over more negative notions, while still mostly acting in favour of humanoids. Fusaad the god of rot and disease is one of them, but he is also the god of rebirth (that''s my MVP) and food, as it is on the manure that grows our food. He can both bring plague, but also cure one, bring abundance or dearth. Seeking his attention is always a risky bet, but his priests are trained do it often to ask for cures on the sick, blessings for the crops or help to preserve the food.
I was indeed surprised at how little of our food rotted away in the pantry, or at how I''ve never seen rats or mice taking their toll on our reserve, despite the lack of cats around the city. I''ve seen more catkins than real cats.
Finally there is the last god, the lone god, who no humanoids should ever worship: the monster god.
According to the sister''s belief he is the source of all monsters around and the one enticing them to attack us. His sole purpose is to eradicate all sapients from the world. He is the main bad guy. She doesn''t have much to add about it and none of the children dares to ask questions. A scarred Balout found refuge on her lap, the sister gently caressing his rosy cheek and whispering a prayer to Husnd, god of protection and family to appease him.
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Sister Sunyeo is a priestess of Tupu Ae''tur, one of the ¡°waverings¡± neutral gods. Her domain is time, growth, ageing and entropy. Tupu''s festival in early spring celebrates the return of growing life and is also used as a marker for age assessment.
At snack time, after sharing a cup of ¡°lemon¡± water, she leaves us, seeing that my comrades are still processing the load of information she dumped on them. ¡°I''ll come back soon to share more stories about the gods with you kids, may Tupu grow you strong.¡±
She must have access to some weather forecast (or is lurking in wait at the corner of the street), because whenever the first drops of rain start falling, she appears in our courtyard, ready to share her holy stories.
Most are short fables about the mythos of the gods life. According to her, they were normal beings before ascending to godhood. There is no description of the selection process that deemed them worthy, just that ¡°they were the embodiment of the quality needed for their ascension.¡±
Not only sapient humanoids could become gods, but even monsters like Oreo could, as long as they opposed the monster god. ( so was the monster guy the first one ?)
If the sun comes back from behind the clouds, she just stays and watch us play/train, mumbling some prayers while looking at us with both devotion and what could be affection.
Her prayers do trigger something, the flowers themselves grow towards her, like drawn in by something, even the damp air feels more fresh and our stiff muscles find their second wind. This is my first contact with both magic and the divine.
I don''t know if it is an after effect of her prayers, natural progression or the simple observer effect bias, but my comrades are improving at an alarming rate.
Especially Balout, who''s language and physical abilities catch up with ours.
Melodi is the second greatest beneficiary, her body awareness and dexterity get a sudden surge in potency. She''s now competing toe to toe with Gel during the various activities I can set for us.
Or it might just be due to her beastkin origins, as they are rumoured to be physically stronger than humans.
I shouldn''t assume that everything unusual is due to magic, no matter how eager I might be to see some magic.
On her sixth visit Sister Sunyeo explains us our incoming naming day. Next spring, on the 24th of Budior (the second month of the year) it will be Tupu Ae''tur''s celebration day.
All children in their fourth spring are to pledge their allegiance to her (and the other gods), to both be acknowledged by the gods, receive the gods protection and have their name added to the Temple''s ledger. It is also a memorial for all the children who didn''t make it this far. A sadly common occurrence.
I know that Gel has 2 dead brothers, I heard mom and her coworkers talk about it when they were gossiping about her dad''s drinking habits, the loss of 2 sons took its toll on him and he is indulging himself on stronger spirits than barok.
Child mortality rate must be quite high, not that it surprises me, seeing how dire our living conditions are. Any disease can be deadly, priest treatments aren''t enough to make a difference in heart malformations, septicaemia or accidents, provided that you managed to get access to a temple.
And healing magic is out of the reach of commoners.
Maybe there is room for me opening a local practice clinic one day. After all I bet I can take care of most trauma on humans as good as doctors can, and who knows, beastkin''s physiology might be closer to animals than men ?
Food for thought for later.
Chap 7 : Maths are a hex and time is relative.
Days are getting shorter, nights are growing colder and wind sweeps away the falling leaves, Autumn is upon me for the third time.
Balout isn''t coming any more, he joined an other ¡°kindergarden¡± after the sister of the temple finished our catechism. Leaving me with Melodi and Gel.
On cloudy days the 3 of us are playing outside. The girls are pushing me to my physical limits, Melodi is stronger than us thanks to her beastkin heritage and Gel , despite getting leaner and floating inside her tunic, is more deft than ever. I''m trying my best to keep up with them. When we play not-dodgeball, only my technique and poise gives me the upper hand now, but how long will it last ?
I blame it on my father for not inheriting his chi yet, just you wait when I awaken my potential, girls.
On rainy days, that are getting more and more frequent, we are to stay indoors on the first floor in a room that is used as storage for various bolts of fabric, tools, completed dresses and such. There is no light crystal here, only a few candles to cast an uncertain light, casting moving shadows from the cobwebs on the ceiling.
Sister Sunyeo stopped coming, saying that she had plenty of other children to teach to before the next naming ceremony.
Miss Tarina takes it upon herself to take care of us. I manage to cox her into teaching us how to count.
She is a free citizen, the only one I met so far, and probably the most well learned person around me. I''m eager to learn as much as I can from her. My motivation must have reached her (or my cute puppy eyes, warm hugs and constant pestering).
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The numeral system of this world is a conundrum to me: it''s an hexadecimal count system. Ms Tarina uses the joints and tips of the fingers of one hand to count to 16, excluding her thumb, marking a decimal on the joints of the other hand every 16 full count.
All numbers from 1 to 16 have their own name. A full 16 is a hex, our equivalent of 10. So for example seventeen is a hex and one.
I''m only familiar with a decimal count system, so it''ll take some time for me to fully get used to this new one.
I do understand the merits of their choice : in a world where only a few knows how to write, being able to count 16 times 16 (so 256, also call a hexex) on one''s hands, is superior to being able to count up to only 10. Allowing commoners to grasp quite big numbers in their everyday life.
I can quickly remember the name of the new numbers, it''s no big deal to recite 16 names. Melodi comes next and for once Gel is the slowest of us.
¡°My oh my, little Telerios, arent you in a hurry, is it that boring here that you are all that willing to learn how to count?¡± probes our teacher.
I cant decently answer ¡°yes¡±, so I decide instead to suck up to her a little ¡°it''s only because you are so clear and such a patient teacher.¡± I try to make it sound less sucky than it is. But Melodi''s contemptuous stare tells me i failed to.
I feel that Ms Tarina is challenging me, testing my limits when she moves forward to additions and subtractions on the following days (if only she knew just how much maths I can really do, probably more than her, i''m just a bit sped down by the need to make some conversion between the 2 systems).
Although she''s asking for simple problems, I take my time to solve them, both to not show too much uncanny wits and to allow my comrades to keep up with the pace. Melodi is left a bit behind, understanding additions but struggling with subtractions :
¡°but if the pebbles are behind your back, they haven''t disappeared, why shouldn''t I count them ?¡± she explodes then pouts, ears low behind.
Gel surprises me the most, being almost as good as I am except on the trickiest subtractions. (I say trickiest, but it''s still simple problems... still tricky as mental calculation for a 4 years old)
Ms Tarina is both delighted by our progresses and intoxicated by her own teaching talents. I praised her a lot, playing the brown noser as much as I can, I need to squeeze as much knowledge as I can out of my plump tutor later on. And flattery is a good way to do so, it''s not me that is too good at maths for my age, it''s her that is ¡°just too good of a mentor. Miss Tarina.¡± I can feel on my neck the glares of the two girls, I know, I also despise myself, but this is needed right now. A man should know when to leave his pride at the door.
As a reward for all of our efforts she gifts us a rare treat: one candy each. It''s a soft brown ball of sticky fudge tasting like honey. We thank her with a syrupy kiss on her cheek, delighting her even more. ¡°Thanks Ms, you are the best, I wish we can stay with you forever¡± says Mel.
Now who''s a sucker ?
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As rainy days keeps coming one after another Ms Tarina is on tutor duty again. I say duty, but I can tell she enjoys taking care of us even if just for a short while.
Today I push my luck asking ¡°can you teach us how to draw numbers ?¡±
I want to be able to write my arithmetic down without inciting suspicions and it is a good way to get my hands on some paper and pen. Sadly she says she has nothing for us to write on. (even Gel''s puppy eye didn''t manage to compel her, so it must be true, maybe paper is that rare of a commodity around here)Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Subdued by our sad looks, well mostly mine, I''m kind of the teacher''s pet now: it comes with its ups and downs.
She has another proposal for us ¡°Do you kids know which month we''re in ?¡±
¡°Fall ¡° answers a candid Gel, causing some giggle on my side and Ms Tarina. This earns me a kick from my purple eyed companion, not taking the mocking well.
¡°No, we are currently in Fall season indead, but there are 4 months inside of it, and this one is Piscost, when the fish comes upstream back from the sea. Attracted by the rain.¡±
Melodi seems instantly captivated, drooling at the thought, fish are one of her object of interest, a bit clich¨¦, but good to know.
She spends the day teaching us about time.
This world''s calendar is stranger than I though. There are 16 months divided in 4 seasons of 4 months. Each month is dedicated to one of the gods, except the last month of the year that is a pantheon celebration instead of being dedicated to the loathsome monster god.
A month is 4 weeks of 8 days (so 32 days or two hexes). The first week is the rising moon of Amidea, the blue one (also the goddess of water). Second week is her descending moon. Third week is rising of the twin moons : Jalea the white and Arteus the red, culminating with daynight on the 24th when both are full. 32th day is the last one of the month, there are no moons and it''s called darkest night, it is infamous for monster attacks but also thefts, murders and sneak attacks between kingdoms at war.
Each day is 16 hours long (two hexes),and made of four quarters of 4 hours each, marked by the Temple''s 4 different bells. ¡°I''m sure you''ve heard at least 3 of them¡±
Morning bell is the first one and has a clear and powerful ring to wake up everyone. It lightly rings once at what would be around 4 AM on earth. Then twice for second morning at something like 6AM, this is when most people wakes up, (those waking up on third bell are viewed as lazy) and then four times at the end of morning.
Then comes day bell, ringing once at around 10 AM. Then same pattern, two rings marking snack time for most workers, then three and finally four daybell''s rings at what would be 4PM. The start of the evening.
Then comes the aptly named evening bell, a more light ringing one. The two chime of evening bell is dinner time ( around 7PM I guess). At around 10PM night bell, the most discreet one will ring once, announcing bedtime for most. (although children are put to bed more on the 4th ring of evening bell: something like 8:30PM).
Conversions are taking a toll on me as I must make most calculation without writing them, while being amazed by how long a year is in this world: There is a huge difference in the number of days in a year, 16 months of 32 days is 512 days, so around 45% more than on earth.
Days doesn''t feel shorter than Earthly ones to me, but I have no tool to confirm this sensation.
I stop listening to miss Tarina as she names the months and seasons for the girls and I lay the maths in my head : if a year is 45% longer, and I''m currently 3 years something old (I think I was born in fall, I shall ask mom later), it would make me more than 4 years old on Earth. I''m no expert in child development, yet I still think I look more like a 3 years old than a 4 years old. I would need someone older to confirm my hunch, but I am wise enough not to ask Ms Tarina''s age, it''d be rude I believe and I want to stay in her good favours. I''ll have to ask Grand ma later. (it might also be rude to her, but I know she will forgive me, sorry grandma)
Our plump teacher stops here, feeling satisfied by our progression for the day. The three of us were hoping for another candy but today is just simple bunta crackers for snack and a refreshing mint-like tea.
As I''m seated on Ms Tarina''s lap (comfiest cushions around), I ask her ¡°what a free citizen is ¡±, since she''s the only one I know.
¡°Telerios, a free citizen is one that is able to defend himself from the monsters, not relying on a protector. Either because he is strong enough, or has enough money to pay for protection.¡± she says, proud of her condition. ¡°I was born a shielded one, just like you. I worked hard to build this shop and could later buy my family name.¡±
¡°What''s a family name ? Do I have one too ? What''s yours¡± the little kitty throws a barrage of questions
Ms Tarina smiles and goes on ¡° A family name is a second name, added to show your importance in the eyes of the gods and for the city. As customary, I took the name of our city and became Tarina Nakunaui in the Temple''s ledger.¡±
I make myself comfortable and lie my head on her generous bosom before wearing my most na?ve impression to ask : ¡°what''s the difference with me ?¡±
¡°You and your parents are shielded ones. Citizens that depends on a blade¡± It sounds like a noble''s title. ¡°Blades are in charge of protecting citizens in all the kingdom, risking their lives to fight monsters. In return, the commoners under their protection must pay them a yearly tax, usually commoners also lives in houses belonging to blades, your family does, and also pays a rent to your blade in charge.¡± I can feel a hint of bitterness in her tone, understanding that this protection must cost an arm and a leg, thus explaining why my family is so poor.
She keeps going on : ¡° under the commoners there are the servs, those who cant afford the protection yet need it. So they pay their lord with their time and workforce. You''ve probably met some, but most are living on east cheek (?) or outside the city, tending to the farms.¡±
Melodi chimes in and ask ¡°can I become a free citizen too ? Or even a blade ?¡± her tail is standing straight up and her whiskers are trembling in excitation at the prospect.
Ms Tarina gently laugh, her trembling body gently shaking me : ¡°of course you can my dear, just keep working hard like today, worship the gods and be a good citizen and opportunity to become a free citizen will arise.¡±
She pause for a short time to let the catgirl swallow her excitement ¡°But becoming a blade is on an other level. You would need either great chi to be a martial hero or magical powers to be bestowed with such responsibilities. Blades must be strong enough to protect those under them. They also must wages war, protecting our borders, both from monsters and intruders.¡±
Melodi is a bit disappointed, but still high on the hope of becoming a free citizen.
The usually low profile Gel, dares a question : ¡°is the lord of the city a blade ?¡±
Our teacher scoffs lightly, amused by her ingenuity ¡°No the city lord is a Shield. We are in a capital city, only the most powerful ones can rule over it and the kingdom around. Shield Iroto is blessed by the gods, he is a strong and brave warrior, protecting all of us with his sword an shield, may Husnd keep his arm strong¡± she prays.
*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*
When going home this evening, and while talking about our day with mom and grandma, I ask grand ma her age. She emits a wavery laugh, stops to count on her finger joints and says ¡°ooh sweetheart I''m far older than you, I am 3 hexes and seven springs old, may Dard keep me going¡± she says with a edentated smile at me.
She wasn''t angered by my question, maybe the women in this world don''t care about telling their age. Or that living this long is kind of a worthy feat, something to be proud of.
After dinner (today was the usual bunta bread and vegetable soup, but with a fish that Barasti caught added in the soup, giving it a far better taste than usual and making it more satiating).
I lay in my futon and wait for my brother to start snoring.
I do the maths: If grandma is 3hexes and seven, that make her 55 years old in this world. She does indeed look like a 55 years old commoner with a harsh life. She is wrinkled and grey haired, but still alert and sprightly. Her 55 years would translate in (doing some maths) : 80 years old on Earth. She definitively isn''t that old (I bet commoners dies before reaching that old).
So there is something wrong here : either days are shorter than I think, or something is slowing the physiological ageing in this world, be it the gods, magic, different entropy laws or the food, pick your best guess.
Althought it might means I will live longer/more in this world, it also means growing up will take more time. I wonder if it is unusual for kids in this world to grow wise beyond their years because they live more days, or if the physiology ends up being more influent? Looking at my brother I think the later, but still hope for the former, as it wouldn''t force me to act like a kid that long.
I fall asleep on this befuddlement, wondering if this night''s sleep will be as long as my nights on Earth.
Chap 8 The Akola?te 1/2
The following days are windy and chillier but not rainy, so we are left to play in the courtyard. Part of it is now a muddy puddle, limiting our playfield.
Balout joins us back, he says he was with his father in the meanwhile, helping at the man''s bakery. With so little space we can just make some basic exercises with the medicine ball and a few push ups followed with stretching. While Balout is taking a nap, exhausted by what is our daily regimen, the girls and I go over our numbers again.
I make sure they memorized them in the right order, know how to use their finger joints to count and I also make them do some basic additions and subtractions using pebbles. They are more willing than one could expect. Maths can look boring for children. Either I''m a captivating tutor or the possibility of another candy is motivation enough.
I''m a pragmatic man, I bet on the candy.
On the morrow it is a rainy day. That means we''ll get cooped inside, but that also means I may cox Ms Tarina into teaching me how to write the numbers and maybe even some words.
At the workshop, two surprises are awaiting us. First: Balout got switched with a new kid, second: there is a new kid.
Name''s Anfers, a black haired, tall kid for our age, He seems better fed than us. His haughty smile is missing some teeth, he brags he lost them fighting while training to be a guard like his father ¡°the stick was unavoidable, but I rolled under it and my face hit a rock¡±, and he ¡°didn''t even cry about it¡± (yay, whatever floats your boat mate).
His mother is one of the seamstresses downstairs.
All around he seems an enjoyable fellow, A bit reckless, pretentious and full of shit, but that isn''t unexpected in kids our age. He must be uneasy around strangers, in an unknown environment and is overcompensating to manage anxiety, trying to impress both the girls and me.
He is much interested in Melodi: she is the first beast kin around his age he met and is eager to compare their physical prowesses. Beastkins are well known for being stronger than humans and are often found in the town guard.
I know better than him and wouldn''t try confronting Melodi, but wont stop him either: the show will be a welcomed distraction, a nice way to gauge the fruits of our training and a lesson of humility for the boy.
But it will have to wait: it''s still raining cats and dogs outside and another surprise awaits us.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
It is a gift from Ms Tarina: she bought four wooden plates with a small border edge, they are covered in the finest sand. Now I get some much wanted slates to write on.
We all thank her the way she likes best: a hug and a smooch on her plump cheeks. Ms Tarina purrs in happiness, satisfied with her return on invest, smothered under her students.
The day is spent learning how to write the numbers, Anfers is paired with me and is at a loss, he didn''t learn counting yet and gets bored by our meaningless activity (to him).
Their numeral system is quite a mess. There are no zero, 16 signs for the 16 numbers, but a ¡°hexhex¡± (16 times 16) is its own sign too (a hex is an hexagone and a hexhex is like two hexagones one in another). It reminds me of Roman numerals: simple signs, easy enough to learn but not good to write big numbers nor to make calculations.
Anders is bothering me a lot, erasing my sand drawings to peeve me and it takes all my patience to not kick one more tooth out of his mouth. I''m the adult in the room and endure, even taking the time to teach him the first numbers, to give him something to occupy himself.
Ms Tarina is delighted with our progress and calls it a day when the sun takes a peek through the clouds in the afternoon.
We are to snack in the courtyard and are left to our games after that.
We start with a simple training like yesterday as most of the courtyard is still too muddy to run on. Anfers keeps up with us, at least he may not have lied about training at his father''s place.
On our break Anfers grab the opportunity to measure himself with Melodi, while I make sure Gel memorized all the numerals and knows how to write them, using mud for ink and our fingers as pen on the cobblestones, these are dire times.
Anfers gets thoroughly beaten up by Melody, his stance is quite bad, even I can tell, and she sweeps his feet with a low kick three times in a row, making him fall into the mud head first on her last win.
We all laugh our fill at the sight of the boy covered in mud.
I see his eyes burn with anger and frustration, I can feel a crisis approaching, but before I can act, Gel''s lets out the drop of water that breaks the camel''s back:
She is laughing as I''ve never seen her before, from ear to ear and says ¡°so much for the guard if you cant even stay on your feet, does earth and rocks taste that good ?¡± she mocks in a clumsy taunt (seriously that was bad, we''ll have to work on that).
I can precog the incoming storm as Anfers rises up and I interpose myself between them.
¡°Get out of my way, you sissy lady''s pet !¡± he growls at me.
I cross my arms in front of him, I cant deny the insult, I''m even assuming it (not with pride, i''m not that shameless)
I cross my arms in front of him. Melodi seems at a lost, not knowing if she should help me or not, her tail swinging nervously.
I hear Gel''s annoyed voice coming from behind me:
¡°what does that make you ? If he is a sissy, what about you who just crawls in the mud at his feet ?¡±
I facepalm on the inside, before remembering they are both just children, easy to provoke. Her taunting strikes the bull''s eyes on Anfers (and you don''t want to make a bull angry).
He roars and charges at me trying to punch me in the face, his move is so awaited that I see it coming from miles away.
I just half step closer to him, his guard is wide open, and trip him while avoiding his arm, using his own momentum to throw him down. He wasn''t expecting me to close the distance and falls butt-first into the mud after a full tumble in the air. (apparently they don''t teach ukemi around here)
Melodi snickers and Gelcaria laugh like a drain. This seems to push Anfers past his limits, his eyes are all watery both from humiliation and pain.
He shouts at Gel ¡°Stop making fun of me you... you.. akola?te¡±
I''ve never heard the word before, but I can infer it is an insult. Melodi is as lost as I am, but Gel stops laughing at once, her amethysts eyes are now bright with fury and her smile turns into a full of threat snarl.
Anfers managed to poke the dragon and dragons are way scarier than bulls.
I catch Gel as she pounces irately on the kid, push her down and lock her arms in her back.
¡°let me go, I''m going to hurt him ! Kick his teeth off!¡± she struggles in my grip. She might be stronger than I am, but now that I grappled her arms in a painful lock she cant do much.
One of the seamstresses comes out, probably attracted by the shouts. We are usually a calm bunch, we may laugh (especially the girls giggle) but never do we shout like this.
¡°what is going on here ?!¡± Her shout in turn attracting Ms Tarina and mom outside.
We are so fucked.
Chap 8 The Akola?te 2/2
Seeing me holding Gel down, Mom comes towards me and just slaps me numb (first time in this life), she didn''t hold her arm back at all, sending a shock wave through my skull.
¡°Telerios, what do you think you are doing, hurting a girl ? Let Gelcaria go right now !¡± she orders me.
I''m stunned by her misunderstanding and the powerful hit she landed on my face and let Gel go free. My mom didn''t even try to assert what''s going on before assuming I''m the culprit, even if the tableau was indeed pointing at me, her lack of trust in her son is making me really vexed.
The arrival of the grown up cooled Gel down and although she looks angry, her eyes still two purple swirling storms, she stays by my side and doesn''t go after Anfers anymore.
Good for him, I was expecting her to kick his balls back inside. As satisfying as it might have been, It would also have been a painful sight for any man. (I''m a compassionate man.)
Ms Tarina stands angrily in front of me hands resting on her large hips, cheeks quivering in anger :
¡°That is not what I was expecting from you Telerios, you are grounded !¡± she points at the furthest corner of the courtyard.
¡°but !¡± I interfere
¡°No discussion !!¡± she beams with authority, shutting me up.
My mom''s glare clearly tells me that if I dare open my mouth again, another handprint will appear on my other cheek. In front of the unspoken threat I decide to cave in, the truth will emerge soon enough.
Melodi is my best winggirl and comes to the rescue:
¡°It was Anfers: he wanted to fight and insulted Gelcaria, telling something about acolyte !¡± she accuses, a clawed finger pointed at the real culprit. Objection !
The jury of women turns towards Anfers, still sitting in his muddy puddle. I can see that they are all flustered, whatever an Akola?te is, it is not a good insult to throw around casually. They eagerly await for an explanation.
¡°Is this true An ?¡± a blonde middle aged seamstress asks the boy, probably his mother.
Anfers just turns his eyes down, not daring to answer. This is as good as a confession, it raises my opinion of him a bit: at least the boy isn''t a lying coward.
¡°Is this what you are learning with your father? Bad mouthing the other kids and blaspheming the gods ?¡± she walks in front of him, shadowing over him:
¡°Answer ! Now !¡± The woman must be used to disciplining rowdy ones at home.
Having lost all of his earlier boastfulness, a timid Anfers mumbles:
¡°yes... the girl was making fun of me.¡± he pauses, but sees that his mother is asking for more details.
¡°Everyone knows how she got her eyes, so I just told the truth: she''s an akola?te.¡± he mutters with a sulky look.
He knows he said something he shouldn''t have, because he starts sobbing. Or maybe his mother is even heavier handed than mine and he just knows what''s coming next for him...
And indeed his mother comes forward for a resounding slap, making him fall in the mud once more. This time he stays down, crying his fill on the ground.
Neither Gel, Melodi nor I are laughing this time. Even if part of me feels satisfied, I''m not fond of such violence, even less on children. This slap was a bit unnecessary in my opinion.
The predatory satisfaction I can briefly glimpse in Mel''s eye doesn''t please me either.
Ms Tarina comes forward. ¡°I can''t tolerate blasphemy in this house, Haihana, you must discipline him better, same goes for your husband, he shouldn''t teach kids to speak like that.¡±she states, infuriated. The sorry mom apologizes in her son''s stead ¡°Yes Ms Tarina, I will.¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
¡°Until he learns his lesson, don''t bring him back here.¡± she slowly states.
Before the blonde seamstress can comply, she continues in a softer voice towards the main victim (not me, as much as I feel wronged here, I know I''m not the target of his slander) :
¡°Gelcaria come with me, love¡± She grabs Gel''s hand and takes her inside without a glance for the rest of us.
A muddy and still crying Anfers is dragged by the ear out by his mom, probably to get thrown in the nearest fountain for a good wash, or drowned in the worst case.
Mom towers in front of me arms crossed in front of her, she still looks angrily at me:
¡°tell me what happened here.¡± her voice is threatening enough to make it clear I shouldn''t lie (not that I intended to, I know mothers have a lie detector implanted as a standard option.)
I relate what happened and how I tried stopping the fight. Melodi confirms my story. Mom eases her brows, before covering my still red hot cheek with her cool hand ¡°You did well, Tel,¡±
She doesn''t apologize for the hit. As much as it was unjust I can only approve of her: an adult should never doubt his actions in front of a child less he''ll loose authority.
I expect her to make it up to me later in some other way.
Melodi is the one to ask about the elephant in the room:
¡°what is an Akola?te? Is it that bad ?¡±
Mom looks ill at ease, not knowing what she should tell us or not. Grand ma comes to her rescue ¡°Did your memorize what sister Sunyeo taught you ? Can you tell us who Akola? is ?¡± she questions back with her soothing voice.
I let Melodi answer, I don''t feel like talking much with my cheek still hurting badly.
¡°Yes, Akola? is the half beast, god of love and ambition, he protects lovers, spreads love, fuels ambition and brings children in the houses of the faithful ones ¡± she recites.
Ooooh, now I connect the dots: Akola? must be more than what we''ve been told.
Probably something along the lines of the god of sex or desire or the like. So an Akola?te must be something like someone of little virtue, laying around with whomever.
I doubt Anfers really knew what he was talking about, probably just repeating the swearing he heard one boorish guard or another say.
I''m more surprised Gel knew what he meant and reacted so strongly to the taunt.
Grand ma nods in approval ¡°Yes. He is in charge of spreading love¡± she stress the expression ¡°and for that he is helped by some of his...¡± she stops to search for the best wording ¡°mmmh... followers. They are not priests nor priestesses, but are still under his patronage. Although they spread love and are under the god''s endorsement, some people tend to think badly of them, disapproving of their behaviour.¡± She pauses, still trying to figure what to tell us or not.
¡°Akola?tes are usually associated with his colour: purple. Thus why some will look askance at little Gel''s unusual eye''s colour. Making wrong assumptions and blaming her for things she hasn''t done.¡±
I can read between the line that akola?tes must be some kind of god sanctioned prostitutes. And either this world disapprove of prostitution or some other gods do (and so does their followers). This world didn''t strike me as prude till now, nudity is far more common than on Earth, be it in the bathhouse or even the streets: some people walk bare chested in the streets when the weather is nice, including some woman too.
So I bet it is more about a chasm between gods of opposing values. Probably with either Amidea (the drowned virgin, goddess of water, cold, suffocation and purity), or Jalea (the maiden of Justice, goddess of justice, revenge, spite and maidens).
Those two are known as the sister goddesses and each are tied to one of the moons. And I can definitively picture them opposing a lusty Akola?.
I just nod at grandma. Melodi looks sad, her ears and tail limping down ¡°it is unfair¡± she states simply sympathizing with her friend''s trial. Mom and grand ma hug her. (hey, I''m the one who got slapped here, I could use a hug too !)
Things settle down, Mel and I are left alone. We see neither Gel or Anfers back. We mostly badmouth about Anfers to pass the rest of our time.
As evening bell rings once it''s time to make our way back home.
We pick up a red eyed Gel, I don''t know what she talked about with Ms Tarina. I''m holding her hand as we walk and try to catch her gaze, but she''s avoiding my eyes. Still, her hand is clasping tighter around mine today.
Back home while Gel and I are waiting in front of my house, my mom talks for some time with Gel''s one. I can see that Gel''s mom is flustered, looking with bitterness and frustration at Gel, yet without surprise. Mom seems uneasy too, there must be something more to this, but I''m not sure I really want to know.
I turn towards Gel ¡°If Anfers ever bad mouths you again, I''ll be the one to kick him silly and I won''t be as nice as Melodi, he''ll eat his fill of dirt and go back home as toothless as a baby¡± I mimic a high kick, faking to lose my balance.
I reach my goal as Gel chuckles (for an instant I wonder if she is just making fun of me, since she''s stronger than me, she is more than able to kick him herself).
Our eyes finally meet and I can see genuine gratitude in her now appeased lavender eyes. I might not have know it till now, but this must not have been her first time getting shunned upon for her eyes, explaining why she knew what Anfers was insinuating and why she is so shy around strangers, avoiding eye contact.
Our mothers end their conversation and a worried looking Ovidee carries Gelcaria back home in her arms.
I''d like to ask mom more, but know that it wouldn''t befit a kid my age, so I just ask her:
¡°Will Gel be okay ? Did she do something bad ?¡±
Mom sighs ¡°No Telerios, she didn''t do anything bad, nor did her mother. But sometimes, even if you didn''t do anything bad, bad things happens to you.¡± she says with fatalism.
I place a hand on my cheek and my mother catches my drift as she blushes slightly. Ah, that''s guilt, something I''ll be able to leverage later on.
She goes on ¡°She will face more shunning in the future and will have to get strong enough to endure it. Kids can be rough and cruel, and it grows worse in some adults.¡± she sadly but wisely adds.
She pats my head (I''m not fond of the gesture, it really makes me feel like a powerless kid, reminding me of my current condition, but I don''t evade her show of affection)
¡°You did well today Tel; keep being a good friend to her, she will need some around her. May she want it or not, she bears the mark of one of the gods. Helping her is helping the mandate of the pantheon.¡± There is some firm belief and determination shining in her gaze.
My mom never struck me as someone faithful, we''ve barely been at our Temple. So I don''t know if it is her faith in the pantheon talking or pity for the girl; maybe a bit of both. (Wait, is my mom worshipping Akola? ?)
I''ll fulfil her wish either way.
chap 9 : The Typhoon
Today Gel warmly salutes mom and I, her smile being the only ray of sunshine on this gloomy fall day. If yesterday''s events shook her, she is hiding it well. I know children are more resilient than adults, but I''m still impressed.
When arriving at the workshop, we meet up with Melodi. As the three of us are heading for our courtyard as usual, Ms Tarina intercepts us, her meaty arm baring the embrasure.
¡°It''s getting a bit cold to stay outside, you''ll come upstairs with me today¡± she dictates.
We are in no position to discuss and I''d rather by in a warmer room, seated on a chair, studying than outside in the cold on a simple mat. Melodi sighs ears dropping a bit, she is the most outdoorsy of us, but follows anyway.
Our new sand plates are put to good use, Ms Tarina firstly check that we aptly memorized our numbers, asking us one after another to draw the random number she announces us.
Our performances are satisfactory and she follows with some basic maths exercises. This time the girls fare better than before, using both their hands and a slate, their juvenile minds are now able to process more complex informations.
Ms Tarina is greatly pleased with our achievements and with midday approaching, I''m tempted to ask her about writing. But before I can make the query, she announces that today''s session is over. Before adding with a suspicious smile :
¡°enough maths for today. How would you like to go out for a stroll ?¡±
Melodi comes back to life and wiggles on her chair, tail up in the air.
Our stout preceptor continues ¡°I have to meet one of my supplier in the trade southern area. I''d like to take the three of you with me.¡±
She looks at us sternly : ¡°BUT, I expect you to be on your best behaviour, this is no game and I will not tolerate any shenanigans¡± She focuses her gaze on each of us, but a little bit longer on Melodi. We all nod in agreement and as she awaits for more we voice a cacophonic consent ¡°Yes Ms Tarina, we will behave/be nice/obey¡±.
She is satisfied by the show of submission, she is definitively a woman of power. I suspect she don''t really expect any mischief from us, we''ve been around her for half a year now and have proven to be well behaved ones. Well except maybe for yesterday where we ended up fightint in a mud pit... Fine she''s got a point.
We go downstairs and as the bosslady informs my mother of her intentions, I can see my mother''s disapproval, but she cant voice it to her superior. Her eyes are sending bolts of threats to Gel and I (but mostly me) clearly meaning : you better not misbehave or there will be consequences...
I nod my understanding.
We are taken outside to a small roofless carriage, drawn by a single giant ostrich thing (they are tajos the common beast of burden in the city, these beasts are as strong as a workhorse, despite being smaller and leaner, I wonder if animals also have some chi ?).
The 3 of us kids are seated on the left side of the cart, Ms Tarina is sitting by herself in front of us. There is one of the seamstresses coming alongside us : a brown skinned, green eyed woman; an unusual skin tone, I''ve not seen it much around here. She''s discreet and of few words, her name is Mangu.
Finally there is a coachman in front, an old grim looking bearded man, he doesn''t speak, only nodding when miss Tarina gives him directions.
The southern district is as the name implies in the southern part of the city (thanks captain obvious), and is delimited by the main river (the Awanui, the great serpent) on one side and the second smaller stream flowing down the western part of the city (the Hoyirin, the silver stream).
At the southernmost part of the district there is the exterior wall, centred by swordhill.
The hill is a natural defensive point, crowned by a small fort and the walls extends from it on both sides. The external slope of the hill has been steeped to make it look like a huge wall to the outsiders and potentials besiegers. This is an impressive defensive structure, far bigger than any castles or walls I''ve seen on earth.
The southern gate, the spices gate, is right next to the fort at the foot of the hill.
The city walls are peculiarly tall, if I take the nearby houses as reference, the walls are about 50 meters tall and 20 meters wide at the top, larger at their base. They are made out of a black stone, making them look like a storm''s rain curtain in the distance.
To have the walls cross over the river, there is a monumental stone arch, supported by 3 huge pillars rising from the waters where the river is narrowed. I say narrowed, but this is still more than a 100 m wide. Boats can sail freely under the tall arch, but I suspect the path can be closed anytime. Otherwise such a blatant hole in the defences would be exploited by any invader.
*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*
The southern district is heavily trade oriented, there is a commercial dock, a bazaar and a caravanserai near the south gate. Streets are filled with stalls, shops, the shrieks of gulls and exotic smells (spices, some cinnamon and pepper like, I even catch a waft of coffee coming from a purple leaves stack).
I can see more non humans than ever around here: a few beastkin of various type (foxes, weasels, deer and bulls, but also a parrot looking one), some elves with their dark skin, silvery hair and lean silhouettes.
Dark skinned and brown skinned humans are also a common sight here. They are dressed with long coloured robes, wear wide straw hats and speak in a different language among them.
The city guards are patrolling ostensibly around, in their blue chain mails with spears at hand : This district is obviously wealthier and under better watch than our neighbourhood.
Our destination is a walled villa contiguous to a warehouse, midway between the spices gate and the river. The villa is quite luxurious, made out of bricks and white stones, there is a huge mosaic atop the main door representing a sailboat riding a wave of gold coins, pushed by a whirlwind.
Two burly onyx skinned men, armed with well whetted halberds, open the gates as they recognize our coachman. They exchange a stern salute.
Inside the walls is a decent sized garden with extravagant flowers still blooming in bright colors despite being late fall and a small fountain. Gel and Melodi are wide agape, their eyes fluttering around at a loss to choose where to land their attention. I''m getting self aware of our outfits, with our brown linen rough tunics, we really stick out of place.
We are to stand down our ride in front of a couple stairs leading inside the villa. A brown skinned servant comes forward to greet our teacher with a slight bow.
Before following him, Ms Tarina turns towards us, clasping her hands to catch the attention of Gel and Melodi. ¡°A last warning : do not touch anything, do not speak unless asked to, stay by my side. You can stare as much as you want though.¡± she adds with a smile, the kids attention already scattering around.
The three of us hold hands, with Melodi in the middle and follow behind our mentor. Mangu rhe seamstress follows another servant, towards the warehouse.
The inside is less ostentatious, there are a few tapestries hung over the walls depicting exotic animals (a giant turtle with a flaming shell, a seadog (literally) baring shark like teeth and a snowflake bird melting above the turtle), the floor is covered in carpets with the colours grey and orange predominating, but little canvas or geometric patterns.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
We are led to a spacious room, lighted with a few crystals hanging from the ceiling casting a bright white light like LEDs, better than the yellowish one i''ve seen till now; but also having large glass windows (my first time seeing some).
There is a leather couch in the middle of the room, facing an armchair where the houseowner is sitting:
A bronze skinned gentleman with golden teeth beaming at each of his smiles. He is tall, fit, bare chested exposing some decent muscles and a scar on his left pectoral, and wears a coat made of bright green and red giant feathers. His manners are elegant, yet carries the assurance of true strength with each move, the man is an apex predator, a jaguar reigning supreme in this jungle: both enticing but also able to cut your head with a wag of his paw.
He stands up to welcome his guest, his coat opening like a peacock''s tail flashy feathers making a rainbow fan behind him :
¡° Miss Nakunaui¡± he says in a singing accent before adding things in a different language.
Our leader makes a curtsey of her own, but she looks bland and clumsy in comparison :¡°Typhoon Taonga¡± before speaking the same foreign tongue.
As they exchange a few words we can''t understand in the chanting foreign speech, I take a look around.
The armchair the man was seating in is surrounded by two dog sized scarabs sporting beautiful iridescent shells, changing colour with every moves, when they rub their elytras it emits a fine tune, like someone playing frenetically on a xylophone. A sepia skinned servant is kneeled beside the chair, after a short order from our host he hurries in the adjacent room.
Miss Tarina leads us to the couch, she sits first and takes Gel on her lap, Melodi and I are to sit on both sides.
The merchant''s gaze immediately focuses on the exposed Gel. He comes forward without a soun, his silky pants barely making a swish, his beryl eyes glistening with interest. As he gets closer and Gel gets more anxious, our mentor raises her hand::
¡°do not frighten her please, they are kids, easily startled.¡± this time in our mother tongue. She then lays a reassuring hand on Gel''s shoulder, shielding her from the man''s greed.
Our host stopsa feet away from his prey, assimilating the information, rubbing his chin, but still watching Gel with much envy. He then puts a knee down to the floor to lower himself at eye level with Gel before softly speaking with his chanting intonation
¡°Fear not, touched one. Never would Taonga dares to hurt a god marked one. Please allow this faithful one to touch your head¡± He smiles and gold gleams from his mouth.
Gel is uneasy, but trapped on the plump tights of our boss. Miss Tarina tightens her grasp on the girl''s shoulder to comfort her and restrain her from running away. This must have been some kind of signal because Gel nods.
The man extends a big hand and gives three gentle pats on Gel''s head. He then stands back, staring into her eyes, Gel raises her head to stare back at him with curiosity and wariness.
He erupts in a raucous laughter. ¡°Oh Oh Oh ! Thank you Ms Nakunaui, may Akola?''s unending vigor be imparted to me¡±, he says with a carnal smile and the hand he patted Gel with rubbing his crotch in a suggestive way.
Gel blushes at the vulgarity, which is both cute and worrying: she is a bit young to understand the man''s meaning, what did Ms Tarina taught her yesterday ?
He goes back to his seat as the servant comes back with a trail carrying a fragrant tea and a plate full of cakes and fruits. He makes a gesture towards us and we are all served a cup of a red tea smelling like vanilla and a slice of cake (cake, my first cake in this world, the cake wasn''t a lie).
After taking a sip of tea the man goes on ¡°Why did you bring so many young ones today ? The gifted girl I understand, but what about the other two ? Don''t tell me you have 3 blessed ones ?¡± he inquires, a brow arched up.
Our teacher laugh elegantly, sending a small tremor down her meaty frame. A shaken Gel almost spills some tea. ¡°I wouldn''t dare make such a claim. The boy has a talent in calculus, I though he would distract you, the cat girl is deft and also already knows basic maths. I guess I just wanted to show off a bit.¡± she says with tease.
I do not really dig being called ¡°the boy¡± but I understand that I ''m not of enough importance to be named here.
Our host turns his interest towards Mel and I. ¡°How old are you little ones ?¡±
¡°three springs¡± we both answer at the same time. This seems to surprise the man quite a bit.
¡°not yet named but already counting, rare indeed for commoners. You are raising them well Miss Tarina, may Dard keep them till naming day¡± he pats the scar on his chest. Our guardian nods to that, taking a sip of tea as cheer.
So that''s why we are just ¡°the boy¡± or ¡°the girl¡±, to strangers we are still ¡°unnamed children¡±,
He then starts asking Melodi some simple problems. My comrade fares well on additions, but substraction are her demise (as always, I really need to find a way for her to grasp the concept), she could have answered with the help of pebbles or our slates, but mental calculation when stressed out and confronted by a stranger in such an exotic entourage was too overwhelming for her young mind.
Next comes my turn. I catch the full of hope gaze of my tutor, silently cheering me to do my best on.
Typhoon Taonga starts with simple problems again, mostly trade themed. Simple additions and subtractions are plain sailing for me. The difficulty increase as he starts to include some multiplications with more operations (I sell 4 crates valuing 8 iron each, but must pay a 2 iron taxe, how much do I have left ? The answer is quite easy : 30 irons, but I have to then convert it in hexadecimal to answer)
¡°a hex and eia (14)¡± I finally answers without using any joints or other support, surprising him greatly. When he starts asking me for divisions I just give up after the easiest ones, I do not have enough training in this hexadecimal system and conversions are just too tiresome, if I had a slate I would comply. So I just say ¡°I need some writing tools for that¡±
My answer fazes him a little: I did not say I wasn''t able to do the maths, just that I needed some support.
He then says something to Ms Tarina in his foreigner tongue.
¡°He is not for sale !¡± she answers with annoyance ¡°he is a shielded one, not a serf, nor a slave of Ururu !¡±
The housemaster raises his hand in apology and flashes a golden smile, his face showing some disappointment ¡°fine, fine. Don''t blame me for asking, you come exposing your treasures, it''s only expected that I would ask for the price tag.¡± his chanting accent is far less enticing to me now... I don''t want to become a slave.
He adds something I cant understand, yet my mentor''s answer enlighten me on his inquiry ¡°No, I doubt his parents would sell him, Ururian''s slavers don''t have a good reputation around here¡±
He asks something else and this time my teacher takes some time before answering
¡°No, I doubt you could hire him either. As I said, the reputation your fellows precedes you. His parents aren''t in as dire straits as to trust him with your kind for a few coins.¡± She almost apologizes (huh, we are talking about selling me to a slaver, don''t apologize for my parents not complying with that).
He reluctantly let go :
¡°So you just get to flaunt your pupils in front of me, but I can''t profit from it, what a tease you are. Fine let''s get down to our trade. The kids can go to the garden in the meanwhile, unless you want them to check our sum total ?¡± he jokes, with a sly smile on his face.
Miss Tarina nods at us. ¡°you can go outside¡±, ¡°you did well¡± she adds in a hushed tone with a wink.
The servant (or slave?) takes us to a low table lying in the grass, we are seated on lavish cushions before getting served another round of vanilla tea and fruits.
¡°it was worth the trip, I never had cake before¡± says Melodi while lazily stretching. She is lightly purring while sipping tea and enjoying our surroundings : a nice garden, with palm like trees covering us. There is a warm breeze around here, conflicting with the city''s colder temperature. Maybe this is my first sight of mundane magic applied to daily life: air conditioning.
¡°were you aware of what was going to happen ?¡± I ask Gel. Seeing her behaviour I am suspecting she had been warned beforehand about what might happen here. Otherwise she would have been more scarred, I know how shy she can be.
¡°Kind of. Teacher said she would show me that some people value my eyes highly¡± she answers while looking at me. Some pride glistening amongst her amethysts eyes.
I pat her head ¡°may Akola?''s vigor be imparted to me¡± I say, imitating the bronze trader''s prayer.
I do not rub my crotch afterward though. It is still enough to make her blush and try to slap my hand, I manage to avoid the retaliation, she now pouts at me.
The servant then brings us one of the dog-beetle to play with. The creature is smart enough to play ball and respond to some simple orders in the foreigner''s tongue. At the servant''s behest, it rolls over, jumps or turns on itself, it''s shell casting brilliant colours all around. On demand it can also produce the xylophone tune again and almost some coherent melody.
The three of us are enchanted, the girls spend the rest of their time playing with it while I sip on my tea, trying to learn the words used by the servant.
When Ms Tarina comes pick us up she has a satisfied smile on her face. We do not get to meet our host on our way out. We ride the coach to the nearby warehouse to load a few bolts of silk, mostly blue and green ones. And ride back to Tarina''s workshop.
I''ve never seen silk in this world before, I carefully touch the fabric before asking the bosslady ¡°what is this ? Was it the reason you took us with you ?¡±
She is smiling at me, yet I can infer a hint of guilt behind her gaze. ¡°This is silk, a rare good from afar. As naming day approaches, I must be ready for the upcoming orders. Free citizens and blades will want a special outfit for their child''s ceremony. I mostly deal with citizens thought, blades rarely comes to my tailor shop.¡± she''s a bit sour at the thought.
I understand that she doesn''t want us to expect getting something made out of silk for ourselves. Which I somewhat wanted, a change from the itchy linen would be welcome.
¡°Typhoon Taonga is one the few traders from Ururu that is allowed to trade silk in this city. He is a blade level magician, but choose to remain a merchant.¡± her eyes strays around.
¡°As you saw he is quite fond of rare and unusual things. He is a traveller at heart and has the power to live his dream¡± she sounds both envious and frightened.
¡°Thank you for taking us with you, we ate some tasty things today¡± says Melodi patting her belly, her eyes turned in half moons of satisfaction.
Ms Tarina chuckles at her before petting the cat''s ears ¡°It was my pleasure. The three of you were a great help today. Taonga was in a really good mood and I got myself a nice discount. I''ll have to think about a reward later.¡±
We all paw the ground in excitement.
¡°Especially you little Gel. As you''ve seen, some will welcome you with open arms. The pantheon has many worshippers, each with their own way to follow the gods.¡± she caress the girl''s face before playing with her hair. ¡°But be careful: unwanted attention can also bring harm. Do not despise your gifts, but do not flaunt them needlessly either.¡± she lectures.
A wise advice, I concur.
Gel nods with newfound determination in her eyes.
I''m glad Miss Tarina was here for Gel. I don''t mind if she used us along the way for her own benefit, in the end she helps us more than often and is always kind to us.
I just hope the magician wont enslave any of us on a whim.
Chap 10 : Winters night
Winter fell on us fast. Temperatures plummeted quickly as soon as we entered the month of Rainire. The northern winds brought a chilling drizzle down upon us straight from the mountains.
The shutters of our windows got closed. I was happy to spend time at the crystal lighted workshop, instead of the darkness of our house and its flickering candles.
Balout is back and seems happy to find us back. The four of us kids are cooped upstairs in what seems to be Ms Tarina''s office. The storing room is currently full to the brim with bolts of fabrics and the tailor shop is busy like never: preparing for the end of the year feast and the naming day to follow on next spring. Commoners and citizens flock inside to order their outfit, get their sizes measured, draft the available fabrics and colours, discuss the latest trends as if we are at the Paris'' fashion week.
More than often we are left to tend to ourselves, this kind of negligence doesn''t even surprise me anymore. Melodi and Gelcaria play together or just chat and giggles while I bring Balout up to date on counting and writing numbers.
I also take it upon myself to further the studies of the girls putting our slates to good use, to teach them subtractions and multiplications. I even dare some fractions to see how much they understand about a half or a quarter before an attempt at divisions. Balout surprises me the most: he has some talent with numbers easily grasping the notions that took days to my other students.
When the sun manages to push back the cold a bit in the afternoon, we are allowed to limber up outside while Balout takes his customary nap. He is more than welcome to join us but our running, stretching and tumbling doesn''t appeal to him as much.
Melodi is a natural acrobat, already able to walk upside down on her hands. I guess having a tail to help with balance is part of her talent.(or I''m just jealous and trying to find excuses)
I feel clumsy in comparison the girls make fun of me whenever I fail and fall when doing a simple headstand. I gain their esteem back when I juggle with some small stones. They try their skill at it but their coordination is not on the same level as mine. They might have more talents, but I still have an edge on them.
Once a week Sister Sunyeo visits us back. Her shawl is now a warmer wool one, still leaf green: colour of her patron. She spends her time telling us more about the gods in her gentle tone. The four of us now know enough about the gods and the unfolding of the naming ceremony. So she spends her time telling us more about the mythos of the birth of the gods and how they ascended to godhood.
They were humanoids and mortal at first but because each of them embodied one the humanoids ¡°virtue¡± (I''m still unsure about labelling some of them as such, but it might be my earth morale interfering) they got ¡°elevated¡±. How or by whom, is left unanswered.
There are some interesting stories like the moons'' one. Originally there were only 2 moons: the blue and white one, floating together. They later got ¡°claimed¡± by the sister goddesses: Jalea (justice) and Amidea (water). The Sun was already the lair of Oreo (the fire dragon).
Not accepting his light to be deflected for free, Oreo demanded Amidea''s hand as compensation. Amidea refused, leading Oreo to shut his light off, leading to what was called the age of night.
Great turmoil followed, monsters ruled over the night and darkened days, razing cities and whole kingdoms.
The pleas and weeping of mortals reached Amidea softening her resolve, while the rise in power of the monster god worried Oreo enough for him to make some concessions. The both came to an agreement : Oreo would provide light for the day and the moon sisters will be allowed to light the nights as much as they want with it, but in exchange Amidea was to join Oreo''s house.
The blue moon accepted on the condition to remain pristine and untouched, she would spend her nights in the sky and alone.
To push back the monsters, Jalea had to separate from her sister so that they could brighten the nights for a hex each.
Sensing Jalea''s misery and loneliness, her suitor: Arteus, god of crafters, but also lightning and tempests, built a moon so that he could keep her company every nights and ease her solitude. (that''s some god-class simping)
Thus the second hex of each month had twin moons since then.
Under the renewed light in both days and nights, the humanoids were able to push back the creatures of darkness and murk. We settled back on some of the lost lands but not all could be reclaimed.
Since then the eternal war is still raging on: as humanoids progress monsters evolve, keeping the fights at a standstill overall.
As we make a break for our middle day snack: black tea with some softer crackers (when the sister comes she brings her owns which are better than our usual tough as steel ones)
I ask a question that''s been prickling at me for a while : ¡°Is Gel blessed by a god ? What does her eyes means for her?¡±
My question catches Gel and Mel''s attention. Gelcaria is clearly uneasy with my question, I''m probing at one of her taboos.
Sister Sunyeo doesn''t answers me directly, Instead turning towards Gel : ¡°have you ever spoke with one of the gods ?¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Surprised Gel shakes her head in deny.
¡°To be blessed is a contract between a god and you¡± says the nun while focusing on both me and Gel. ¡°it requires the god to speak to you and clearly state his conditions, only then can you get the acknowledgement of the pantheon and eventually some of the god''s powers.¡±
I interrupt her: ¡°what''s the use in being acknowledged ? I''d rather have powers.¡±
She laugh, a rare occurrence for the serious priestess. ¡°There is nothing more powerful than being in the gods sight. Getting acknowledged by one of them is a strong declaration to all humanoids: [this one is under our protection and is a valued person in the war against monsters. Acting against him is acting against the gods themselves.]¡± She pauses dramatically to let her sentence sink in.
¡°That alone makes it easier for the blessed one to fulfil his side of the contract. At the same time it will also brand them as targets for the monster god and sometime even from some of the other gods, in dissent with one another.¡±
She takes a sip of tea before following up.
¡°Some powers are also double edged: the classical example being Fortan''s luck. Although useful it comes and go at will and is out of control. More than once his champions got overconfident relying too much on the blessing and found a gruesome end when Fortan''s whim left them without his helping hand.¡±
That reminds me that some of grand ma stories did include that. I always though it was just some morals of the stories, not that it was real life events. Now these sound more like a warning than a moral.
Gel chimes in ¡°So what''s the deal with my eyes? If they aren''t a blessing why should I get despised for it ? I didn''t ask for it nor made any contract!¡± she is obviously flustered and I get her.
The sister gently takes Gel''s hand in hers. ¡°Your eyes are just a sign of the attention from one of the gods.¡± she has the tact to not name Akola? ¡° Either because he took some liking to you, responded to the query of your parents, or just on a whim. Who knows what a god''s will is ?¡±
There is some obvious anger rising in Gel''s lavender eyes, the sister goes on :
¡°this attention isn''t a blessing, though it can become one if you pray enough or live up to the god principles. But this attention alone is worthy in itself as it usually brings the protection of the pantheon upon you and your close ones.¡± This last assertion calms Gel''s anger a bit, she sometimes has a hard time, but if it protects her loved ones, she can come up to term with it.
The nun then dives in the heart of the issue at hand :
¡°I know that bearing Akola?''s mark can be mocked or even loathed by some, especially followers of Jalea or Amidea. But don''t think that''s the only reaction. Akola? might not be a member of the protectors penteon, but his domain is powerful: love is one of the strongest emotions around, it can shake empires and shape kingdoms that is also why Akola? governs upon ambition. His followers often rising above their initial condition¡±
I suspect the nun is sugar coating it a bit: I doubt the prostitutes ever rise in the social ladder. Though I can understand how his blessed ones could fare well and rise, seduction being a powerful tool.
Melodi breaks the pause by asking what an Akola?te is, remembering the vague answers my grandmother made back then.
Ensues some uneasy explanation from Sunyeo as she tries to explain while not explaining, trying to mislead the catgirl and duck the issue, attracting in turn even more unwanted questions from Mel and Balout.
I laugh on the inside being the only one to understand the sister''s dilemma. Gel still looks a bit underwhelmed. I try to cheer her up: ¡°If you are to rise as a blade, please remember to protect me¡± I plea to tease her.
I get some mixed success: she has a bitter smile for a kid her age and it pains me that she has to deal with discrimination this early in her life. But there isn''t much more i can do for her right now.
A beet red Sister leaves us for today, letting a perplexed Balout and Melodi behind her, not connecting the dots between the bees, the flowers, babies and Akola?. This was fun, I wish I had popcorn.
*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*
Tonight''s dinner is roots platter with some sweet red mushrooms (those look poisonous) and cockles that my brother Barasti gathered at the riverside.
After dinner I try to teach Jocalie how to count. Although she is older than me, she was not in the custody of the seamstresses and spends her time with one of our other neighbours, a washerwoman. She thus is better at chores than I am (not that I get much to do, I''m still small and weak), but beneath me in counting (expected, I had a Ph.D back on earth) but also behind Mel an Gel.
I try to teach her to at least be able to count on her joints, under the approving watch of mom and the scoffing of our elder brother.
Jocalie is sighing as I ask her once more to recite her numbers before making her do some basic additions. As useless as she think it is, it will come by handy one day. Maths are always useful.
Her retribution comes next and I have to be her plaything for a while, my hair getting braided and tied, still under the mocking of Barasti.
Our playtime is interrupted by a banging at the door. Dad opens to find a crying Gel at our doorstep.
¡°please¡± she sobs ¡°Dad is getting upset, mom needs help.¡±
My dad rushes outside. Mom takes the time to check on Gel before handing her to Jocalie. She then follow Dad to the house of our neighbours.
Brother closes the door back and i''m surprised to see his grim look. Although young (he is ten springs old, making him more than 14 years old in earth time) he''s getting what''s going on.
And so does I: Gel''s father, Danik, must be on one of his drinking feat and must have gotten violent with his wife. A sadly too common story, on Earth like on Erenda.
I follow Jocalie and just hugs Gel, the poor girl is weeping her heart out, breaking mine at the same time.
After some time, the silence only broke by Gel''s wailing, mom comes back. She says a few words to Barasti and then comes near us. She gently pats the head of a tear-stained Gel.
¡°Gel, you''ll stay here tonight and sleep with Joc. I''ll go back to your mother, don''t worry she is fine.¡±
Gel weakly nods at the news but her eyes are less clouded by tears now.
Mom instructs Joc on where to get an extra blanket for Gel before sending them to bed and going back out.
My brother brings me to our room, not commenting the current events.
While I''m waiting fruitlessly to fall asleep my brother is already snoring, the boy is tough, must have already seen his fair share of crap or he is just as sensitive as a log.
I tend the ears, trying to listen to anything coming from the neighbours house. But I get nothing, Dad managed to one way or another handle Danik.
Later in the night I hear the door of our house open and close, but no other sound to tell me who it is nor what happened outside.
As the second night bell rings (midnight) I hear someone walk to my bedroom. In the pitch black darkness I can still figure out the purple gleam of Gel''s eyes, even without light to reflect they seem to shine on their own giving her an enlightened look.
I lift my blanket and squeeze myself on one side of my futon to make some space. I don''t know if she has some nightvision coming with her eyes but she somehow catches my drift, joining me to lay in the relative warmness of my thin blanket. The wintery nights are cold and our bedroom isn''t heated, so better a thin blanket than none.
As she snuggles besides me, bringing some welcome warmth with her, I turn around to face her. Her eyes are still shining in the darkness, like two distant stars casting their faint light in a moonless night, allowing me to almost read her expression. Mostly one of despair, sadness and tiredness.
I embrace her to bring her head upon my shoulder and whisper in her ear: ¡°Don''t worry it is fine. I''ll protect you for now, and when you become a blade, you''ll shield me back.¡± She half sobs, half laughs, choking on my shoulder. I can feel one of her tears dripping on my cheek. She''s worried for her mother and so am I.
We fall asleep hugging one another, rocked by my brother''s snoring.
Chap 11: The Tutor and the glyphs
I wake up at the clear chime of morning''s first bell. Which should be something around 5AM on Earth.
My neck is frosted with Gel''s tears and snot. The room is frozen my breath congealing in the air as my head peaks out of the futon.
Gel is still asleep entangled in the blanket. I carefully leave her side managing to not wake her up and go downstairs to put some water to boil and rekindle the fire in our hearth.
As I make a quick towel wash with the lukewarm water Mom wakes up before 2nd bell and joins me in the kitchen. She is slightly taken aback finding me here this early but doesn''t voice any question.
¡°Gel came to sleep in our room¡± I say in an informative tone ¡°Cold woke me earlier but she is still asleep.¡±
She isn''t surprised. I guess it was within her expectations: Gel barely knows Jocalie after all.
¡°Is Gel''s mom fine ?¡± I ask warily.
My mom frowns unsure what she should tell a young child or not.
¡°As fine as she can be. Danik can be... out of control¡± she says measuring her words ¡°but he isn''t mean inside, mostly.¡± her frowning brows are at a disagreement with her words. ¡°Dad took him to the fountain for a midnight bath to clear his drunk-ass head¡±.
I''m quite startled: it''s the first time I hear my mom swearing in front of me.
¡°Ovidee will be fine, except a shiner and some bruises. She stayed with Danor, I don''t know if Danik went back home.¡± She''s standing sadly in front of our fire warming her hands up from the cold ambience creeping around her.
Danor is Gel''s older brother, he is 8 springs old. I don''t envy him for having to deal with the aftermaths of yesterday''s events at his place.
Mom let''s herself get hypnotized by the dancing flames for a short while before taking at deep breath of warmed air before getting back on track with the daily necessities :
¡°Since you are awake go fetch some water and prepare the tea, Oreo knows we need something to warm up the mood.¡±
I grab a small pail and go to the fountain, three houses further away.
It''s still night outside, days shrunk as winter crept upon us. The first rays of light are just starting to appear in the east (strangely enough sun here also travels from east to west). The ground is whitened with hoarfrost, trying to take a bite at my toes through the thin clothes strips I wrapped around my feet.
Once back home and a full kettle on the stove, I go wake Gel up and sends her back to my sister, before my brother can wake up. She is still sleepy, eyes puffy from tiredness and having cried her fill yesterday.
The rest of the house wakes up and everyone meets at the table for tea and a slice of bunta with a cup of warmed soup. No one utters a word while eating.
After my Dad empties his plate, he turns towards Gel:
¡°If it were to happen again just come here. I said the same to your mother. We can''t do much, just know our door is always open. May Husnd shield us all.¡± He makes a sign in the air.
Gel nods and thanks him shyly.
He then leave for work taking Barasti with him. Jocalie leaves to join her own group (I don''t envy her, washing anything in this weather will be harsh work).
Mom takes Gel to see her mother before coming back to pick me up and take the both of us to the workshop.
The mood is grim in our room. Melodi and Balout aren''t sure why, suspecting we had a fight or something. Day is spent without a hitch, almost like usual : numbers, some maths, light exercise in the sunny afternoon. Ms Tarina came at the end of the day to check on Gel, she didnt say much to her just giving her a hug.
It''s really pissing me off. I know I''m not expected to do something, but just being impotent, not being able to do a single thing even if I want to help her is tearing me from the inside out. I hate being trapped in the body of a child, having to act like one for now.
When we get back home and I wave at Gel, I can see the fear lurking in the corner of her purple eyes. She fears the same thing will happen again and so do I. And I can only clench my fists in frustration at my own powerlessness.
Luckily nothing happens for the days to follow. When I ask Gel about her parents she just tells me her Dad is drinking less these days and that her mother is fine. Far from ideal, but probably the best we can hope for.
*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*??*
Weeks pass by and we are now in the heart of winter. There is some unmelted snow accumulating in the streets. A surprises awaits us at the workshop: in Ms Tarina''s office there is a small bronze skinned man. He must be in his thirties, his head is shaved bald except for a long braid flowing down from the top of his neck. His black almond shaped eyes are full of sagacity as he is peering at us.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Ms Tarina introduces him ¡°This is Murshid. He is one of Typhoon Taonga''s servants and has been sent here as a... gift¡± There is a large leather collar around his neck making me suspect the man is more a slave than a servant. Slavery is tolerated in our kingdom, yet unusual. It is looked upon as barbarous and is mostly for foreigners.
The man bows at us, hands cupped, looking down at his feet.
¡°Please raise your head¡± our schoolmistress says ¡°they are just commoners kids you are embarrassing them and me too, no need to be so polite.¡± she waves at him.
¡°Murshid has been sent as thanks for Mr Taonga''s recently newfound... vigor¡± She smiles like a fox and looks at Gel. ¡°He''ll stay with us for a week and is to share his to tutor you. The Typhoon was impressed by how well learned you all are and wants to help further your potentials. Do not bully him, and you Murshid do not spoil them too much. I''ll bear responsibility.¡± she leaves this last sentence to the free interpretation of both sides.
¡°Thank you mistress.¡± he says in a nosy voice, slightly bowing again. He has a lighter accent than his owner but his tone is still singing about far away lands.
Our usual mentor leaves us with our new on lease one.
He gestures for us to sit down before taking a sit himself. His thin lips stretch in an uneasy smile. His tongue nervously wetting his lips. He clearly is unsure about how to act around us: Ms Tarina gave him a white check but his master must have told him to treat us with care. He can''t handle the contradiction and is at a stalemate.
I brake the standstill by asking him ¡°What can you teach us Murshid ?¡±
¡°Many things young master, I can teach you arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, geography, history of the old and new empire and of the south kingdoms, botanic, a bit of alchemy, classic and modern Tangana or Ururuan common tongue.¡± He lists with pride and swiftness back in his comfort zone.
The girls giggles probably lost by his listing full of awkwards words and amused by the ¡°young master¡±. Balout is straight up laughing to my face...
¡°No need for young masters or mistresses.¡± I point at each of us clockwise ¡°I am Telerios, you can just call me Tel, this fat lump of stupidity is Balout¡± I gently kick my still mocking comrade ¡°The charming kitten here is Melodi¡± she hisses at me, meaning : I am no kitten! ¡°and this is Gelcaria but I''m sure your master have already told you about her.¡± He lightly nods at each of us not denying my last affirmation.
¡°We will call you teacher if it is fine with you ?¡± I propose.
¡°Of course young mas... young Tel¡± The man has been through some strict training.
¡°We will need to start with basics, we aren''t blade''s children so forget about the fancy study subjects. But maybe you can teach us to write and read.¡± I try to hide my eagerness but finally I get the occasion I waited for so long: more than 3 years without reading a line, I miss reading so much.
The man is taken a bit aback, I''m surprised he expected to teach alchemy or astronomy to a bunch of shielded 3 years something old commoners. I doubt even children of the noblesse would be able to go for such advanced topics. Are the child of Nobles so precocious or is the man just not used to deal with students that young ?
He quickly takes in my demand. ¡°Forgive me for wrongly presuming about your situation. I am not used to interact with children of commoners, with all due respect¡± He bows to each of us, this is going to get old real quick. ¡°I can of course share with you my knowledge of modern Tangana scriptures.¡±
¡°Is this the writing used around here ?¡± I ask with interest.
His brows rise in surprise reaching the top of his bald head. He quickly controls his facial composure but i manage to catch a hint of fear, I imagine such disrespectful faux pas would earn him some sort of punishment in his usual context.
¡° Yes young Telerios, again pardon me for overstepping my boundaries.¡± He keeps his head down.
¡°No worries, no offence taken. Instead, let''s stop with the bowing for now. Take it as an order if you need to.¡± I can see him flustered, but he knows how to take orders and adapts quickly.
¡°Then where should I start ?¡±
The man is clearly a well learned scholar, but not that good a teacher. He lacks the authority to keep the attention of Balout and Mel and despite his foreign accent his tone is too monotonous. I can see Gel''s eyes wander astray sometimes.
The bad news is that writing is going to be a pain in the ass to learn.
They use a mixed system: halfway between hieroglyphs and half ideograms. Only a few of them are to make basic sounds mostly for foreign words. Otherwise it is only ideograms. Meaning every single word is its own drawing.
No alphabet, no phonetics.
If you come across a word you don''t know: you need to find someone that does. If you want to write a word you don''t know: same punishment...
this is so unpracticable.
Even our own names are going to be their own ideograms. And I say going to be because we wont have a written name before naming day.
This is just hell. The torment of Tantalus custom-tailor made for me: the gods are putting writing in my reach while making it unreachable the minute after.
After digesting the news I make him use the sand slates to show us how to write some basic words: water, fire earth, wind, bunta, city, flower, sun, man, woman etc... The ideograms are far too complexes. So many strokes, turns, point, with the sightliest difference making it into another word.
Just learning five words took us the day.
Murshid seems pleased with our progresses but I am not. If he is to stay for just a week that means I''ll learn about 35 words only, supposing I don''t forget a single one.
I understand why there are no books laying around or no written signs outside. No one has the time to learn this unpracticable system thus only a few specialized workers (temple priests, scribes, scholars and blades) have the luxury to learn to read and write.
On tea break (a fragrant thyme like tea) I probe him about other writing techniques. Old Tangana is like cuneiform: ideograms but with basic lines, very primitive, very few words. Ururuan is also ideograms but with far more circles, loops and curves. I''m amazed they manage to write books with this: I can only imagine scribes wasting pages when their sleeves will smother fresh ink all over...
Only the beastkin tongue has something approaching alphabet. Using a hexhex (256) signs corresponding to sounds so they can write phonetically. He heard of it and knows the elves of the southern archipelagos use this system too but he never saw any scriptures of it.
To change my mind from these depressing news I ask him a few questions about astronomy. There isn''t much to say: the moons are uncannily regular and they just mapped the stars, mostly for navigation purposes but don''t have the faintest idea of what moons and stars truly are.
According to him, the equivalent of our milky way (called the jewel road) is the remnant of a competition between Oreo and Arteus to decide who had the best gifts for their paramour. It was a stalemate as both goddesses target of their affection got annoyed, fearing the stars would end up outshining their moons. The story still made Melodi and Gelcaria''s eyes shine with envy. Balout got almost asleep from our story time.
The day ends on this story as Mom comes to take us back home. We wave goodbye to our new tutor.
On our way home Gel tries to lift my mood up seeing that I am at a let down after today''s lesson. I smile at her na?ve attempts, more to put her mind at rest as I believe she has enough on her own plate without worrying about me than because I feel comforted. Although it does always feel nice to have someone care about you.
Dinner is a leafy soup with some coddled grey eggs. They are ¡°fish¡± eggs but everyone is evasive about what kind of fish. So I suspect it''s more some kind of moray eel or sea slug eggs. They taste fine nonetheless, like if you just put some nori in your eggs.
After dinner as Jocalie is brushing my hair, Gel knocks at our door again. This time she isn''t crying although I can see fear flashing through her lilac eyes.
Dad goes to simmer Danik down. Gel stays to sleep with Joc.
Later that night she silently comes, I can only make out her purple eyes blinking in the darkness of the room as if they had their own inner light.
I was expecting her and before second night bell (midnight) she is fast asleep beside me. Her breath is calm yet her brows are more furrowed than what they should be on any child.
Chap 12 : The river
Our time with Murshid flies by quickly. Less for my comrades who aren''t as much involved as I am into learning how to read and write. Only now can I realize how starved I was for reading. And the idea of ending with so few words available is pure torture.
When I see my comrades getting too bored to keep drawing the same signs on and on, I relent and half of our tutor''s time is dedicated to history and geography. Kids always love a good story even when the raconteur is a mediocre one.
We learn quite a bit about the recent history of the Muniwi Empire. The Badai shieldom we are living in is some sort of satrapies of the empire. The local lord has some liberty in the management of his domain yet must pay some taxes to the emperor, both in money and troops.
The Empire was founded about a millennium ago when the emperor back then conquered most of the western part of the continent. Erecting fortresses and strongholds to secure the borders.
We are in the southern part of the empire bordered by the white fangs mountains chain on the east and the plains of stumps in the west. Even farther west is the sea of trees: the musango. An unreclaimed area teeming with monsters and one of the threats to our shieldom.
Behind the mountains is the kingdom of the beastkins in the empire of mist.
The Awanui rivers flows through the mountain chain in an underground channel making it the favoured communication and commercial passage between both kingdoms. Murshid wasn''t able to provide me with a satisfying explanation as to how the river could flow towards the mountains on one side then underground before a resurgence on this side of the mountains before flowing southward. This makes no physical sense: water should naturally flow following a slope. This doesn''t faze my teacher and he brushes the anomaly away as if it was a given that gods or magic can interfere on such large scale with the land, breaking physical laws as if nothing.
North of us is the Rauen Shieldom famous for their woodworking and beast tamers.
South is the Ilhmol independent Republic a shieldom made of 3 coastal cities. It is the main trade route with the elven''s archipelagos and other continents.
By the end of the week I only learned about 40 words making me able to barely write a few simple sentences: I eat food, girl drink water, and other useless things. As much as it awes my tutor I feel depressed, I do not know when I will get another opportunity to learn some scriptures and I''ve kind of lost my drive to: this hieroglyph system just feels so wrong. I''m starting to think that it is on purpose to control who gets access or not to higher education, some form of fixed caste system.
With Murshid gone we are left idle: Ms Tarina is still busy with end of the year orders and our courtyard in under a blanket of snow. It got too cold to spend much time outside.
We did have one snowball fight but got scolded after for risking catching a cold. When thinking back on it I didn''t really assessed the danger correctly: pneumonia is deadly for children our age in this world. I''m quite ashamed at my own recklessness I should be the one keeping the other kids away from harm as the wisest.
We end up cooped inside listless and idle. My comrades are now able enough in basic arithmetic, I tried teaching them some geometry but they don''t get the point: knowing how to deduce the length of the side of a triangle doesn''t strike them as useful knowledge... Writing is even more boring with so few words available.
After some pondering I decided to introduce the alphabet to them. I took the decision after being sure no adults were bothering with what I was teaching the children. If someone was to ask question I''ll just say I invented the system out of boredom. Not the best lie but probably enough to get by, I doubt anyone around will bother asking.
This is going to be an experiment: these kids are going to be the first ones to be able to read and write fluently in our block, even if it will not be in the local scripture.
I have to make a few adjustment and add some new letters, mostly for accentuation of a few consonant but also to make it a 32 letters alphabet, more fitting with their obsession with the number 16.
Our Earthly alphabet is so easy to learn in comparison: in a few strokes in the sand I can teach my young students the capital letters and the sounds they stand for.
I even use one the most popular lullabies to make our very own remix of the ABC.
In a hex cycle (2 weeks) they know their alphabet, the basic sounds (B+A=BA) and can even write Ms Tarina''s name. I didn''t teach us to write our names I''m still wary of it being a sacrilege to do it before naming day. I don''t want to risk heaven''s retribution if I''m overstepping the boundaries, there are many other words than our names to write so I won''t risk triggering tribulation or lightning strikes. I believe I am already taking enough risk exposing some of my knowledge.
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During winter most of the game in the forest is hibernating even monsters are less numerous, retreating in the heart of the mountains or deep underground. Although some monsters become more aggressive during winter and are a threat to the lesser fortified positions: mostly smaller towns and nighthavens for farmhands.
Having not much hunting to do grand pa Barasten is more often at home leisurely recounting a hunting story, an old tale or taking Barasti to train him in the use of a bow. My brother already has quite the arm pull thanks to his various jobs at Dad''s smithery.
I asked Mom for permission to follow them she gladly gave her stamp of approval the tailor shop being more busy than ever, having less kids to worry about was a blessing. With a little more negotiation Gel was to tag along, I''ll have to apologize to Mel later on: leaving her to the boredom of Balout''s company wasn''t the friendliest move. She''ll just have to laze around and nap alongside him.
The four us: grand Pa, big bro, Gel and I make our way towards the Awanui river east from our neighbourhood, there is an archery range there.
As we get closer white gulls and blue cormorants are sighted and heard, bringing the damp smell of flowing water under their wings. The river itself is impressive: about 300m wide of murky waters. I can only remember the amazon to be larger than that. The flow is quite strong for such a large river making me wonder how many metric cubes are flowing down in front of us every minute ?
As we get near the shore gusts of chilly wind carry some dampness around, allowing the cold to pierce through my thin tunic and cape. As I''m shivering with every blow Gelcaria gets closer so that we can share some heat.
There are a few boats sailing atop the wide river: local fishers for the most part but also some bigger flat-bottomed river barges making the connection between both shores and larger trade boats with green sails and bronze plated railing. They stem from the beastkin empire their crew made out of various foxes, deer or bull types beastkins and are coming from the under mountain river. If I could i''d really like to ask them how this much water rose from underground with them sailing upon it.
Grand pa says the current is stronger in winter and that there are less boats going upstream from the coastal cities at the moment.
The archery is just a fenced long range with some targets at the end of it. At least the fence blocks the wind and there is a stone brasero in a corner with a weak fire going on.
There are a few other practitioners: A towns-guard in his blue surcoat teaching what looks like his daughter how to shoot. A foxkin hunter who gives a nod to my grandpa, as they are in the same trade they must know each other. And a small troll from our block who I don''t remember the name: a 1,5m tall pile of brown mud-rock like, his eyes are two round black gems and his mouth a simple crack at the bottom of his head.
There is a small community of trolls in this town working in the mine with their unique talent for rock crushing. This troll is one of the oldest kids in our block nearly 14 springs old and already an apprentice miner. This makes him something like 20 years old in earth time equivalent, i''m still unsure about the hiatus between physiology and elapsed time in this world.
Grand pa goes to salute him:
¡°Hey kid, how are you doing ? Need any advice from a seasoned archer ?¡± He points at himself his grey moustache puffing with pride.
The teenager''s voice is a crushing and grinding of rocks and pebbles:
¡°Thanks sir I don''t intend to become a great hunter, I''m just getting used to my bow in case of conscription.¡± he shows his six fingers awkwardly holding the reinforced bow frame. If the city is under attack commoners and servs may get enlisted starting age 14 by their blade to form a militia and it is compulsory for any shielded citizen to be proficient in one of the weapons either blade, spear or bow.
That''s probably why grand Pa is training Barasti to shoot: being an archer is the safest choice in a militia as you don''t want to end up in the frontline fighting in melee when you are a civilian.
Gel and I nestle around the brasero to watch the archers as Gran pa focuses on my brother.
The foxkin is obviously the best around here. His composite longbow is made out of bone and a white wood piece in the middle. His strength must be formidable probably thanks to Chi because his arrows are flying as fast as bullets to pierce through the log he uses as target, more than 150 meters away. Not a single shot is a miss.
The little troll is just barely hitting the target 50m away from him. His bow is made of smooth red crystal and emits a vibrant and crystalline sound with each loose arrow, like clinging a crystal glass.
Although younger my brother is performing better than the young rock-man. He uses a short bow made of pear wood. It is more a toy than a weapon but still fit for training purpose.
His pull is strong enough but his aiming can use some improvements. Grandpa corrects his stance and gives him advice, teaching him to read the wind and circulate his chi. I''m a bit jealous of my brother: like dad and grandpa he''s got Chi enhancing his physical abilities.
I asked grand pa about it once but he said I am to wait my 8th spring before being tested. Seems like forever, I could use any boost in strength right now plus I know chi can be used to fight against cold and warm one''s body.
When my elder brother gets tired grand pa makes a show of himself in a friendly competition with his foxy colleague. The fox guy is obviously stronger: his arrows rushing to their target and piercing through the thickest logs but grandpa has the benefits of experience: his precision is better he is able to read the wind, balance his shot and use a hint of chi to precisely throw each arrow: he was even able to impale one arrow upon the other one. The fox hunters laugh before shaking his hand yielding graciously at his senior.
As we are about to leave I get on with my main purpose for the day:
¡°Can I also try shooting ?¡± I candidly ask.
I can see my Grand pa unwillingness, his moustache wavering around his nose as he try to find the words to rebuke me :
¡°You are still a bit young for that. We don''t have a bow that you''ll be able to draw.¡± he ends up opposing kindly as both my brother and Gelcaria laugh at me.
That was part of my expectations after this refusal I follow up :
¡°Then just teach me something else. I''m sure there are things hunters do that don''t require strength.¡±
My real goal is to learn anything: be it trapping skills or tracking or just some basic botanic.
This is the door in the face technique: modern neuro psychology teamed with puppy eyes pleading from both Gel and I makes for a request my grandfather can''t turn down.
Rest of the day becomes trapping 101. We even get some pointers from the foxkin adding his expertise on top of my grandpa''s one. We learns to make dead-fall traps and various collet knots and nooses for snares using a bit of rope and arrows for sticks. We also get a lecture in baits and where and when to put traps.
I''m getting tired of vegetables soups and will need to eat more when growing up. Gel and I are already lean enough: borderline malnourished. So my purpose today was to get some tools to maybe get some more food. Now that I have some basic know-how I hope to coax my grandfather into taking me with him outside the city. I can''t believe there isn''t some safe enough woods around the city where I''ll be able to find some meat. I''m quite small so even the smallest game will make do. It will also be a way to both get out of the tailor shop where there isn''t much more for me to expect and get a glimpse at the outside world.
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for a life. Now I get it.
Chap 13: The Temple festival
Last month of the year: Festire the 16th day.
This is a moonless night: a dark night. Not as infamous as the 32th yet almost as dark.
Darkest nights at the end of the month are not simple moonless nights there is something more in the air like something is magically obscuring the stars and disturbing the atmosphere filling it with spook and angst as if some impending danger is lurking around in the murk. It feels more magical than natural maybe something to do with the gods whereas 16th new moon days are more plain and mundane moonless nights.
But this 16th is different at least for me. All the kids that are to attend next year naming day are summoned at the Temple. Not our local neighbourhood temple but THE Temple.
The great Temple is located in the north-west part of the city near the second stream flowing through it: the hoyirin. This stream stems from the nearby mountains and is smaller than the great Awanui river but its waters are regarded as purer. Thus the western district built around it became the living place for the riches and nobles. Blades and free citizens live in this part of the city and I''ve never been there before.
The tailor shop is still bustling with activity the orders for the incoming pantheon daynight and end of the year festivities are almost completed but there are still the dresses for naming day to work on.
Mom is too busy to lead us to the great Temple thus it is Gel''s and Melodi''s mom that are in charge.
They are tasked with 8 children of our neighbourhood, the usual suspects: Melodi, Gelcaria, Balout and I but also four other ones: the unsavoury Anfers and 3 newcomers.
A small trollkin called Berik, he is a walking pile of soapstone pebbles with 2 beryls for eyes. I still wonder if there is flesh under their rocky skin or if they are purely made of minerals ? How does they work ? Are they classified as mammals or are they something else entirely ?
Alongside them comes 2 girls : Chari a cute and energetic black haired girl with twin tailed braids. She is running and jumping around us obviously unable to control her excitement at going to some place new AND meeting new kids. Taller than Gel and even leaner than us her wrists are so bony I can see her arteries pulsating under her skin like worms making their way beneath her skin.
Her fellow is called Linata and is her polar opposite: more reserved and shy, reminding me of Gelcaria at our first meeting. She''s a pale skinned ginger lassie, her short air stands atop her head as if blowed in every directions. Along with her freckled face she looks like she stood near an explosion at birth and some sparks remained on her face.
Gel''s mom: Ovidee, is in charge of Gel, me, Balout and Berik the gravel mound. She seems on edge and tired. I can''t spot any bruises on her but I know Gelcaria is coming at my place once every other month...
Melodi is with her mom a beast kin rabbit named Calido. She has the iconic two soft rabbit ears atop her head flapping to her sides. Her light brown skin looks as smooth as milk coffee and is covered with patches of short brown fur on her, looking soft and fluffy. She is a waitress at one of the inn near the docks yet is a soft spoken one. Her gentle voice is soothing but can convey orders without raising volume, she is a cute bunny but with the natural authority of a lioness.
The four under her watch are kept on a tight leash and even the over-peppy Chari keeps the rank without any burst or scream from Calido''s part.
I don''t yet understand how heredity works for beastkins. Melodi is a catkin yet her mother is rabbitkin so is her father catkin too ? What about her siblings ? Can beastkins get any animals traits or is there a genetic rule governing the phenotype ? Does children inherits their mother''s or father''s traits, is it a recessive or dominant transmission ? Many questions with no answers.
Whatever, I cant google it or search Wikipedia and thanks to their strange writing I can''t even read a single damned book around here. I haven''t even seen a single book till now.
The great temple is on the other side of the city. It would be too far a walk for us kids so our two custodians brought a wheelbarrow with them. It''s got a 2m tall wheel in the middle and planks resting on the axis on each side. We are seated four on each side to equalize our load evenly and keep the balance. Berik is the heaviest of us and is put with the lightweights: Gel, Linata and Chari. I sit on the other side of the wheel with the rest of us. I''m next to Anfers who dares not look at Gelcaria. Melodi growls and hisses lowly at him on his other side separating him from Gelcaria. The kid looks ill at ease yet didn''t apologize to Gel which I wish he did. I calm down Melodi, the kid already got punished enough so there is no use to stir more trouble for any of us. Gelcaria glares at him a few times but the blond haired bad mouther don''t dare cross her eyes.
Calido is pushing our wheelbarrow ride while Ovidee is in front pulling and steering. Our journey is bumpy because of the cobblestone pavement but otherwise surprisingly smooth. We are either lighter than I thought or Calido is stronger than she looks, she is a beastkin after all. We are travelling at a decent pace and Ovidee is driving us safely without abrupt turns or stops.
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We pass through the northern district: the ¡°industrial district¡±. It is divided in two hills with a tall mountainous solitary peak in the middle. The northern city wall has no gate as there are no roads up north. There is nothing in that direction, nothing but the mountains and its lairs of monsters...
The solitary peak is called ¡°the shaft¡± it might have an other more official name but I''ve never heard it. It is a true mountain 500 m tall at least, on its top there is a fortified tower adorned with the biggest light crystal there is, bigger than the ones on the lord''s castle itself making it ¡°the lighthouse¡±. Not that there are boats in need of direction but because it can illuminate an area on the ground or in the air in case of monster attack by night.
A patrol walkway snakes it''s way around the peak, reinforced with parapets and platforms with ballistas.
At the bottom of ¡°the shaft¡± lies the entrance to the city''s mines called ¡°the crack¡± that is one of the main sources of Nakunaui''s city prosperity. The underground around here is rich with magic crystals and metals galore. Mining brings raw resources that are then processed on east hill. My father''s smithery is there and so is the stonemason where Gel''s dad is working. On the other side, west hill is more filled with artisans and workshops mostly meant for blades and other wealthy citizens of the western district. There you can find ceramists, jewellers, needleworkers and leather crafters, sculptors and fine wood workers. The hills are nicknamed ¡°the balls¡± (ok we get it, people around here are soooo inventive with naming...). Both areas are dedicated to Arteus and Tamayoku respectively god of craft and goddess of riches and many workshops around have some mosaics on their front wall celebrating one or the other, or both.
There is a lot of traffic in the northern part of the city with carts fully loaded with goods, riders atop their tojas hurrying to wherever and workers running around. This is the belly of the city where the resources absorbed by the city are processed and where most of the work is done. Streets are filled with the smell of smoke, stone powder, sweat and the stink of freshly tanned leather. Luckily the tanneries are far south of the city, downstream so as to not pollute the river inside of the city.
There are foodstalls at each corners calling for their customers: the nearby peckish workers, adding the scents of oil, baked bunta and roasted sausages to the already saturated air.
South of us at the center of the city the lord''s Mount is towering above us with it''s castle.
If we are in the belly of the city there lies the Head.
Our drivers are stopped at the entrance of the western district for a check point.
There are more patrols around here not only of city guards in their blue mails but also a couple of Jalea''s thorns: young maidens trained in combat clad in white armours with juttes at their waist and Sasumatas in hand. The pole arms with an U shaped fork atop are their emblematic sign. They are an elite corp of peacekeepers. Jalea is the goddess of Justice so protecting the city''s order is their way of praying.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Nothing is more dreadful for a criminal than a zealot armoured Shaolin monk police officer.
There are even some private guards patrolling near the domains of blades and manors of the wealthiest but we shouldn''t have to go this deep in the western district.
The guard let us through seeing that we are obviously kids meant to go at the main temple for the end of the year sermon: all kids our age should be there today nobles and servs alike.
The great temple is resting in front of a giant paved plaza with mosaics on the ground representing a few gods. I can see depictions of Tamayoku, Arteus, Amidea and Oreo along our way. In the middle of the plaza there is a massive marble obelisk covered with writings. I can decipher only a few of the signs: sun, fire, father but can''t make sense of the story carved on it.
We stand off of our ride to join the gathered crowd covering the plaza today. Our chaperons divide us as planned : Ovidee is holding Gel and Balout by the hand, I''m to hold Gel''s hand and Berik is holding an ill at ease Balout''s one. Troll fingers are famous for their unnatural strength, and with his six fingers (3 opposing 3) holding hands with a troll must be weird.
I teasingly wink at Melodi as she is to hold hands with Anfers. She snarls back at me. Her claws are unsheathed and discretely drawing some blood from the poor kid who is clenching his remaining teeth to not look like a wimp not daring to complain.
Catkin anatomy is a strange one: her hands and fingers are humanlike clearly not paws yet she can at will pop sharp claws from under her nails. She says it is a bit painful though and usually avoid using them.
In front of the temple there are fifteen wide panels each depicting one of the gods and bearing its colours adorned with corresponding jewels and precious metals. In the middle there is a simple but immaculately white panel.
Ovidee takes us to the west part of the plaza where the other kids look as much as commoners as we do some are even leaner and dirtier than us. At our right there are what I believe to be servs kids. They look pitiful, obviously malnourished and ill clothed in this cold winter, shivering in the frigid air. Reminding me of the adds campaign of NGOs fighting against hunger. Some have kwashiorkor their belly tense with oedema rather than food... I wonder how many aren''t here because they died of hunger in the previous years and how many of them will make it through the two remaining months before naming day.
In contrast on the opposite side of the plaza are the children of blades. Few in number but making up for it with a display of wealth. Full of energy and with plump faces beaming with health and obvious opulence. Clad in silk, adorned leather and rabbits furs to protect them from the cold. Some even have some magical outfits. There is a kid that is literally wearing flames dancing upon his skin without burning him. That must ward off the cold... They are the generation groomed to lead and protect mine. They might not die of hunger but battles against monsters awaits them later on.
In the end Otik, the god of death, will greet all of us.
In between are the free citizens. Children of the ¡°middle class¡±. They are what one could expect from healthy kids. Their appearance is more variegated and there are more coloured ones and other races, elves and beastkins mostly. Their outfits are also more mismatched some almost as luxuriant as the blades and some barely better dressed than me. At least they have real sandals at their feet and that alone makes me jealous. I wish I was reborn in a rich or noble family.
The additive chatters of a few hundreds children makes for a deafening noise. I cant count how many we are, I would say at least two hundreds. So more than a hex of hex.
The temple itself is a majestic three story building made of a mix of marble and white granite. Each story is about 6 meter high and at its top there is a 15 stories pagoda tower, it''s height probably reaching more than 40 meters high. There are four smaller towers at each corner of the building carrying one of the time bells each.
As daybell chimes (10:30 AM approx) a group of priests comes out dressed in a flurry of colours. They take place in group of three before their corresponding panels. As far as I can tell there seems to be 2 priests and one ¡°cardinal¡± dressed more opulently and in the colour of his patron god.
In front of the white panel stands a lone old man his long white beard almost reaching the ground. His attire is immaculate without ornaments yet he is the obvious ¡°pope¡± here. I don''t know if there is a centralized hierarchy for the temple on the continents or if the title even exist but he is clearly the head of the Temple at least in our shieldom.
The guards scattered around the plaza hush everyone up. Silence ensues and as the white priest raises his hands the four bell towers rings four times each.
In the aftermath the ¡°cardinal¡± clad in green and wearing emerald bracelets steps forward. From afar I can only tell she is a woman in her forties and infer she is Tupu Ae''Tur''s priestess as she stands before her icon.
She speaks and her voice can magically be audible all around the plaza. I cant tell if it''s magic, chi enhancing her vocal chords or a divine intervention at play but it is impressive nonetheless even more so for the servs.
¡°On this holy day let me welcome you in the name of Tupu Ae''tur. Today you are to be introduced to the gods in preparation for your incoming naming day, may you grow till then.¡± She declare with emphasis.
She then briefly expose the domain of her goddess: growth, time, change and what worshipping Tupu means.
This ceremony is mostly targeted at the servs I guess. My comrades and I got our own catechism already done by sister Sunyeo. If even we got some catechism I can only guess that so did the blades and citizens. And indeed the offspring of blades and citizens are already starting to chatter among them out of boredom and disinterest.
The ¡°cardinals¡± go on of after another, introducing their god to the servs. Sometime with a bit of special effects to impress: the priest of Oreo shot a golden flame over the plaza creating a small panic among the servs and commoners.
The protector gods are introduced first: Jalea the maiden of justice, Amidea the drowned virgin, Arteus the crafter and Husnd the armed patriarch: god of family but also war and fighters. He is represented by a fierce looking warrior with a leonine beard and side whiskers clad in bronze armour and wearing two blood stained shields instead of weapons.
Oreo and his fireworks comes last but brings a welcomed warm breeze upon the plaza.
Then comes the five wavering gods : Fortan the god of luck making fun of both your miseries and fortunes. His cardinal is a smiling gnome (or at least a very small human) laughing madly while jolting around throwing fruits at the crowd, some are perfectly edible and some are rotten.
Tamayoku''s priest is the most ostentatious of all: covered in gold, diamonds, silk and bright coloured feathers. She is the goddess of riches but also the guardian of both merchants, thieves and miners, valuing the thirst for gold above anything else. If some were expecting a money shower they are disappointed.
When Akola?''s priestess comes forward I cast a sideglance at Gel who looks both annoyed and curious at the ¡°cardinal¡±. The priestess is a seductive young lass no older than 20 wearing a revealing silky see-through bikini. I can only hope she gets some protection from her god because we are in the depth of winter and showing so much skin in the freezing temperature is a real display of her devotion. We learn nothing new from her but she confirms my guess: sex is definitively part of Akola?''s rule.
After her comes a strange one completely covered in night blue turbans only letting one of their eye visible. They is shrouded in a light fog and is Shinpilo''s cardinal: god of knowledges, secrets, plotters, liars and spies. I''ll have to one day pay them a visit. I believe there is much we can do for one another.
Finally Tupu''s priestess comes forward again but doesn''t have much to add.
We''ve already been standing here for an hour and I''m starting to feel my legs go stiff. On the servs side many have had their legs give up under them and are now squatting or sitting on the stone cold floor. I''d like to do the same but I would be the only one around my group and don''t feel like standing out. So I endure.
Speaking of which now the 5 rampaging gods are introduced and the first one is Dard: god of endurance, resilience but also pain and sufferings. His priest has scars on every inch of visible skin. Small and thin ones but also a large gash on his face taking one of his eyes. He looks like a grizzled veteran, unmoveable and unrelenting that went through the fire of many battles.
He cast his blessing upon the servs promising them the strength to survive through this winter.
Next is Fusaad god of rot, disease, but also food and rebirth. His cardinal get acclaimed as she throws food at the servs. The verdigris staple bunta bread is given aplenty. I''m not sure I would eat something coming from a priestess of disease but an empty stomachs knows no bounds. If I was starving I would eat it too.
An exotic bunch then steps forward spinning on themselves with strangely shaped blades dancing around: chakrams, sabres, rapiers, scythes and sais. They remind me of dervishes just with more cutting involved. They are worshipping Nasibor, the goddess of violence but also any motion be it action or travel. She is the one moving the world around mostly in a brutal fashion.
They are followed by a trio of cultists wearing a dress with multiples tentacles around them. Those are eerily swirling around obviously animated by either magic or divine will. These Cthulhu looking priests are dedicated to Charavatkeh, god of beasts and pets, wildness and tameness. He is the all-herder taking care of all animals around even the dangerous ones.
He should be one I would like working with too, he is kind of the god of veterinarians.
Finally a silent bunch steps forward half dressed in black and half in pure white. Their leader is of few words as he introduces Otik: god of Death, spirits, rest and respite. His presence is already well known from the servs. Too often do they meet his priests. He gains some favour when he extends his hand toward the servs washing their fatigue away so that they can stand on their feet again.
As I thought it was over the white pope stands forward. Reminding every one that the gods are to be worshipped because they are our strongest wall against the monster threat. He warns us all that the last god is lurking outside stirring his armies to go after us. And that even the rampaging five are to be respected for the strength they lend us is much needed in our never ending war.
After that some of the youngest, probably priests in training, walk among the blades and free citizens collecting alms in small baskets while commoners and servs are exempted.
Day bell rings thrice meaning we are already past noon. This ceremony lasted a bit longer than a lengthy movie I would say something like 3 hours.
As Ovidee pulls our hands my legs refuses to move. I curse at this weak juvenile body. Despite my training regimen, I''m still so weak. I''m not the only one, Chari, Linata and Balout are also asking for a break. Our chaperons have no choice but to allow us to sit on the ground for a little time. I wish we also got some of Otik''s benediction.
This ceremony was obviously catered to the servs and those without catechism to make sure there would be no one without basic knowledge of the pantheon before naming day. It might also be a yearly tool to survey the child population, gathering all children of the same age to have an estimation at how many made it this old and plan the city management ahead.
The plaza is slowly emptying itself. Carriages and pedestrians dispersing like leaves in the wind. After a short breather we are taken back to our ride and our two mother-in-charge power it up.
As Berik''s and Balout''s stomachs growl loudly when passing near the food stalls in the northern district our drivers take a break.
They buy a snack for us: a piece of fried tripe sausage and a slice of warm grilled bunta bread. The hot meal is more than welcome. There is no tea but our drivers get themselves a cup of hot wine like smelling like heated barok with spices.
One shouldn''t drink and drive especially when transporting children but I''m in no position to lecture them.
In fact I could use a warm cup too.
Chap 14: End of the year and dinosaurs.
From the 17th to the 24th I''m spiritless.
The weather is keeping us inside, it''s snowing and the icy winds rolling down from the mountains are cruelly biting every inch of exposed skin. With my thin mantle for only protection I tend to avoid the outsides as much as I can.
I feel like a beast in a cage, turning restlessly in my small containment cell without means to progress towards freedom.
Everyone that could teach me something (quite the short list: either Ms Tarina for maybe some history or grand pa for some more practical skills) is either unavailable or not around.
I''m once more left in the position of the teacher instead. My students already know their alphabet and basic maths. Geometry is out of their grasp, not conceptually but because they lack motivation to learn it. I spent some time explaining them the Pythagorean theorem, square root was the first hurdle, the second being that they just didn''t understood why they couldn''t simply measure the unknown side length instead of having to do complex calculations to find it out...
Physics and chemistry are out of question for now. Both because it would be too complex for them but also because it would raise questions about the origin of my knowledge. I''m still convinced that it would be a bad idea to attract more attention. I don''t know how people, especially the temple would react. Or if some crazy collector like the Typhoon wouldn''t just simply abduct me to satisfy a thirst for the mystery.
The unsought after spare time is used to make some adjustments to my custom alphabet, as I undercover some difficulties with some words as my disciples progress. They are now able to read out loud a word without even understanding the meaning beforehand, which was my end goal. They will one day be able to read anything i write, even if it''s new words.
I will have to figure out the grammatical rules to translate Tangana in a fully functional modern looking written language. Setting some ground rules for tenses and basic sentences construction was suprisingly harder than I expected: i''m not a linguist and our language has some discrepancies in the plurals managements or grammatical structures compared to English.
So as to not exhaust my young test subjects I also leave them lots of recreation time, filling them with tales from my former childhood, slightly adapted to match the context of this world.
For example, the notion of evil witches doesn''t exist here. Females magicians are naturally expected to become blades protecting everyone from the monsters. From what I understood from my grandmother''s tales having magic powers is considered a blessing from the gods, which is also taken as a godly command to put your powers in the service of sentients beings against the eternal monstrous enemy. Instead I have to replace them with monsters or heretics which sometime doesn''t fit the narrative well: try telling Snow White without a mean stepmother sorceress and switching dwarves with trollkins...
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A welcomed distraction comes on ¡°Sunday¡± the 24th as I am tasked with a pet. It''s a gift from my grand pa.
¡°Time to give you some responsabilities as you seemed interested in hunting, taking care of an animal is the first step.¡± wisely said my elder.
Grand pa bought me a koati: it''s a sheep-sized lizard with bronze scales and six long limbs, its dorsal ridges forming complex fractal patterns and its bronze skin reflects the sunlight making it flare with brown-red light whenever it moves. It looks like a metal statue made by some dinosaurs enthusiast that is also a cubist or surrealist artist.
Koatis are herded because they are the source of the goat like milk. How does a reptile laying eggs ends up producing milk would one ask? Well, it''s not ¡°milk¡± per se. Through careful selection be it magic or Charavatkeh''s intervention, the saliva of those lizards is rich in lactose and fat... to be honest I had feared even worse origins for our ¡°milk¡±.
The animal is quite gentle and steady letting itself get led easily despite its size compared with mine. This is obviously the fruit of centuries of selection to only keep the most gentles beasts.
To take care of it I am to feed it fodder twice a day, make sure its water drinker is always full and let it bask in the sun as often as possible. When dozing off in the sun it cranes its neck towards the sky, mouth wide open like it''s sucking up something out from the air itself. Despite the coldness of the outside the beast is able to somehow gather some heat from this exposition, getting noticeably warmer to the touch at the end of the day, its brass scales reminding me of the warm copper from heated water pipes.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
The koati can hiss and make some clicking noises with its tongue it can even almost purr when enjoying a sun bath.
My father made a stockpile of trefoil in our courtyard and also built it a small kennel with a symbol of Charavatkeh carved on it: a squid head with a dozen tentacles scattered around it. Legends are that Charavatkeh uses his multiple tentacles to tend after every beasts in the world
I''m tasked with ¡°milking¡± it twice a day. The milking involves massaging the tongue of the beast to collect the saliva it expels like an udder, in a pail. I''m not afraid of its teeth are they obviously are ones of an herbivore but its lips are hardened and sharp like a turtle''s beak. A single bite could easily sever a few of my small fingers.
¡°Telerios, stay wary and keep looking at its eyes.¡± calmly advises my Grand pa.
The oblong topazes with a vertical slit are behind two-layered eyelids, giving the koati a mean and eerie stare full of threatening mystery. I can''t help but reminisce one of the meanest cat I ever took care of : a grumpy and angry feral alley cat, not wanting me to bandage his wounds, ready to claw at you at the first inadvertence.
¡°And don''t be afraid to strike its head if it misbehave and bites you.¡± he adds mischievously, with a faint smile under his grey mustache.
Thanks grandpa, great advice, that will definitively make my fingers grow back...
As a vet I''ve always had a great feeling with animals be it the gentlest dogs or the scariest gorillas. But reptiles were not on my list of favourites. Our koati might reconcile me with its genus or definitively make me actively hate them if it chews on my fingers...
I first need to name it.
I do not hesitate long before deciding for Godzilla. What other name should I take for my personal pet lizard ? To be honest charmander was a close second given its fiery appearance, but it can''t spew fire.
Although scaled Godzilla is actually pretty nice to pet. Its scales are surprisingly soft to the touch especially under its belly and by the end of the day she (since i''m going to milk it I decided it is a she) is so filled with sun-warmth that she becomes a welcomed heater for my numb hands.
To milk her I have to use one hand to pet her throat, making her reflexively open her mouth and I just have to milk her tongue like a cow udder. I did milk cows, goats and even a jenny-ass as an intern before, so I''m swimming in familiar waters here. It''s a bit unusual but I quickly get skilled in the task, which grants me some compliments from an impressed grandpa.
With every milking I can fill a small pail worth 3-4 glasses. Not a bad trade. She doesn''t eat that much fodder so I infer that most of her energy comes from either the sun and some form of photo-synthesis equivalent or magic. But I believe magic to be the lazy answer here, my role as a biology graduate is to understand physiology, not pin it all on magical shenanigans. As if feeling my wish to vivisect her, Godzilla gets gentler and her gaze is now more wary than mean. Don''t worry I won''t hurt you, you are under my care. (but I won''t vouch for the fate of your congeners...)
After a few days without a hitch I even let Gel milk her one evening, now that I''m sure that Godzilla is a kid-friendly pet lizard that knows how to behave. Seeing the girl stroking the reptile''s tongue to collect its milky secretions was a disturbingly lewd sight, making me reassess my kid-friendly rating. Godzilla is a naughty girl, I saw it in her eyes.
The milk is a welcomed additional source of food during winter. Root vegetables soups, bunta and ¡°potatoes¡±were getting boring. I wonder if there will be a way to make some cheese later. Does our butter come from koati milk ?
Grand pa isn''t hunting currently as most beast are hibernating, so our meat supply is reduced. I'' really like to accompany him next year, just to find some way to provide us with more food.
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I''m eagerly awaiting the end of the year celebration, just for the feast and the change in meal composition.
And the feast day comes soon enough. 32th of Festire, last day of the year and darkest night of all in the dead of winter. To fight back the unsettling blackness of this night, humanoids assemble in their homes to light all candles, hang all light crystals and feast till the rise of the sun, celebrating its victory over the shadows and the end of the winter solstice.
Mom, grandMa and Joc are busy all day in the kitchen. Dad and grandpa went in town to have drinks (talk about sexism).
I''m left with my big brother Barasti: he is five years older than me so there aren''t much games we can play together. He keeps watch over me as I''m milking Godzilla, trying to frighten me by recounting gruesome stories of children who got their arms bitten off by koatis and how it made the milk taste better. To his disappointment I am unfazed by the teasing and my girl Godzilla behave so well that his story sounds ridiculous even to his own ears.
For this year''s feast grand pa provided us with a 3 m long eel. Mom and Jocalie are roasting it over our fire, coiled around a bake. Some spices and herbs are sprinkled upon it while underneath there are onions-like grilling in the sizzling fat dropping from above. The smell is absolutely mouth watering, every waft coming from our heart draws my saliva out, I bet I could be milked like Godzilla right now. Grand ma is making some pudding with bunta, koati milk and dried fruits from last summer.
When night bell rings the city gets illuminated like never before: every houses have all their candles lighted , the lighthouse''s beacon atop mount shaft becomes a small surrogate sun and the lord''s castle is ablaze with multiple coloured fires : oranges, reds, greens and blues burning on every roofs of the mansion.
Dad and grandpa came back home slightly inebriated but with their return we finally start stuffing ourselves. The eel is perfect, the roast gives it a smokey aftertaste while the spices makes it chili just like I like and the not-onions are bringing it a sweet flavour. Despite my small build I manage to engulf a sizeable portion of it and yet still find some room for pudding afterwards.
It is even more enjoyable that it''s been like forever since I''ve eaten as much and so well. Our daily diet is so lacking in comparison.
After gorging ourselves the adults share a drink, even Barasti gets some of what looks like a strong fruity liquor. After that they start singing, now really drunk. Grandma tells Joc and I a story about the long night thousands of years ago (hex of hexes) but I fall asleep before long.
A new year dawns upon us and my naming day is finally approaching.
Chap 15: Naming day
On the first day of the new year the residents of our block meet up on the market place past noon. The night was short and everyone''s faces bear the signs of sleep deprivation. Some have a hangover headache, of course Danik is among those but even my Dad and brother are suffering the backlash of the abuse of spirits.
Everyone congratulates one another and makes wishes for the new year to come, asking for the gods protection for another year.
An official in sky blue long robe also came to make a short speech, saying how the blades will protect us one more year, may the gods bless them. There are a few claps to salute his declaration, or his departure.
After that the adults share another round of drinks this time with more genuine enthusiasm. Us kids get a treat: a small ball of what I think to be bunta rolled in honey like jam and sprinkled with crunchy seeds. It is sweet and leaves a roasted almond aftertaste. I spend the rest of the day with Gel, Mel, Balout Chari and Linata; having a short snowball fight then listening as they recount their respectives eve.
The rest of the month passes by in a blur. I dedicate my time to make sure my students are now able to write a full sentence using my alphabet. I''m still working on fine tuning grammar to adapt it to the vernacular.
I also made them learn multiplications. I did not make them learn by heart any tables as I still intend to switch at some point to decimal count and didn''t want them to be too engrossed in the hexadecimal system. I want them to understand the operations they use not make them dependant on something they just learned to repeat without understanding. This went smoother than I expected. Balout even revealed some uncanny talent with numbers, I''m almost the one taking more time than him as i have to constantly juggle between hexadecimal and decimal systems in my head.
Budior, the 2nd month of the year, finally arrived and with it the air started warming up. Snow melted everywhere making the streets a dirty mess of bogged down carts and tojas splashing the unwary passer-by when stomping in muddy puddles.
Sister Sunyeo came for a last visit to ensure we all know our vows. In fact we had so much free time on our hands that I even took the initiative to teach them more elaborate vows.
Usually commoner''s children make a pledge only to a couple gods. I intend for us to do more and I will make a full one and expect as much from Gel too. In the end it''s a simple recitation of a prayer, so quite easy to learn. Just that not many would take the time to teach it to simple children.
As naming day approaches the shop gets less busy, orders being completed and the usual activity resuming. Ms Tarina had a surprise for us just a few days before our naming ceremony. We all got some outfits made for the occasion.
Balout and I got sand coloured pants made of a better linen than usual and a shirt made of a blue fabric with strips of silk added in a canvas on it. The clothes are far more comfortable and less rough to the skin.
The girls got a long skirt of the same fabric and a long sleeved top fully made out of silk. Our bosslady used the remaining scraps of her shop to have them tailored for us but it is still a worthy gift.
Especially Gel''s one, her silky top is in a deep purple colour with indigo embroideries matching her eyes.
We all thanked our benefactor as she deserve: we know her Achilles heel and smothered her under hugs and kisses. When she was satisfied with our show of appreciation we were to wear our outfits for some last minute retouching.
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The 24th of Budior is upon us.
Today is naming day and i''m going to celebrate my four years old.
Well technically I''m not that old since my birthday is still more than half a year later in Piscost.
But still, tonight is the daynight celebrating Tupu Ae''Tur the goddess of Time, change and growth. All children turning 4 during the year are to be named on this festival and registered by the Temple, before the vigilant eyes of the gods.
The twin moons are casting an eerie pink light on the city, Jalea''s moon white glow mixes with Arteus''s red-ish one to make for a permanent sunset setting. It will last until dawn.
I walk steadily on my short limbs toward the Temple of our neighbourhood, surrounded by my family. I''m holding Dad''s hand and my older sister Jocalie is on his other side.
Grandpa and grandma are with big brother keeping him for any mischief against me. We don''t want my nice outfit to get dirtied before the ceremony starts.
The rest of our block is also gathering towards the temple with their respective child to be named.
I spot Gel a few steps aside, our eyes meet and I smile to encourage her, she nods back with a shy smile resolution sparkling in her purple eyes.
Her tiny figure shines among the crowd, her silky dress fluttering around her with every gust of the still chilly winds; attracting the envious stares of both children and adults. As malnourished as she is (I''m not faring that much better: end of winter was tough and provisions got scarcer) she is beaming in the surrounding pink light, as if the scenery itself was made to emphasize her outfit.
Our training regimen from last year made her fit and toned and her natural skills made her more deft than any other kids. Except Melodi who is inhumanly agile, which is explained by her catkin nature.
Gelcaria''s and Mel''s hair are braided with green snowdrops-like we plucked earlier in the morning adding a cute pastoral touch to the both of them.
Our troop arrive on the market place our local Temple is just on the other side. It''s a small square building made out of grey sandstone blocks coming straight out of the city''s mountain, with 8 meters tall towers at every corner, each sporting one of the time bells : morning bell is on the nearest left corner and then clockwise it''s day bell, evening bell and night bell.
As we arrive night bell chimes once. Announcing what would be 10:30PM on earth.
At the door of the temple awaits one of the acolytes: a young boy who looks to be no more than 14 years old. He''ll most likely be in charge of our ceremony. As young as he may looks a quick calculation reminds me that he would have lived for as long as a 20 years old one on Earth. Making it less abnormal for him to be at work.
Although he looks like a teenager, on the inside he is older and should be wiser than his earthling counterpart.
We all enter the Temple and spread around the benches. The young priest puts on a leaf green cloak before standing before the shrine and starts the ceremony. Behind him are the 15 small icones depicting each one of the gods and a smaller fully black one.
He is speaking clearly but fast with the unpleant voice of teenagers. He seems eager to end this, I guess he undertook the job to pleases one of his superiors and considers ( not without reason) that a commoner''s blessing day isn''t an exciting endeavour. To him it is more a chore than a sacred ceremony.
¡°Today, on Budior''s daynight, we celebrate Tupu Ae''Tur and ask her to welcome the children who made it past the hurdles of early age, to rise as family members and humanoids believers of the pantheon.¡±
Some of the present citizens wear a sad frown as they remember their child who didn''t make it this far. I can see the face of Danik turn black with gloom and sorrow, probably remembering his two lost sons.
¡°We thank Dard for giving them the strength to grow and Husnd who kept them safe¡± he continues.
¡°Now it is time for them to join the Temple''s ledger and have their name added to their family, may they bring happiness for many years to come,¡± Wow that''s some expeditiously rushed job... No one seems to really notice, probably not expecting anything more.
¡°Now, come forth with your offerings, blessed children¡±. He finish with a hint of emphasis to make it seem like he tried to care...
Berik is the first to come forth. He is one head taller than the other kid thanks to his trollkin ancestry, trolls don''t grow that tall once adult but can enjoy a heads up early on.
He start his pledge :
¡°I stand before the gods of the pantheon, ready to bear my name¡± he says with much hesitation and uncertainty before stopping, either because he forgot the rest of the sermon or because he froze in stress. And that is why I made my comrades rehearse many times: I know full well that when facing a stage it gets harder to recite an that practice makes perfect.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
His father, Bonkor, mutters something in troll tongue sounding like 2 rocks scrapping against one another. The kid is startled and his gravel like skin turns red like glowing lava. I guess that''s what an embarrassed troll look like. His mother ¡°whispers¡± him the rest of the pledge in a screech of rocks and he eventually goes on :
¡°I thank Dard for giving me the strength to endure, Husnd for looking after me and Arteus for my legacy. From today I am Berik, son of Bonkor and Padetik. May the gods smile at me for the years to come.¡±
After the sermon the priest inscribe his name in the ledger, now Berik is a full fledged commoner.
The troll kid goes in front of Tupu''s shrine and make the traditional offering: a loaf of bunta bread.
Since his mother is working at the bakery his loaf is twice the usual size. His parents make offerings of pastries to Husnd and Arteus shrines, they then join back their seats as the rest of us claps in approval and congratulation.
The next in line, Anfers, gets so nervous that he has to hurry outside to barf... So it is now my turn while his parents goes after him.
I step forward with confidence, this isn''t my first speech in public although in this world it is, so I am kind of cheating. I look straight to the shrines and starts :
¡° I stand before the gods of the pantheon, ready to bear my name¡± my voice ringing clear and calm as I enunciate every word with care.
¡°I thank Dard for giving me the strength to endure, Husnd for looking after me, Jalea for giving me a just life, Oreo for lighting my path, Amidea for quenching my thirst, Arteus for building my future, Tamayoku for granting me riches.¡± some of the spectators scoff at this since my family is far from wealthy, but then neither are they.
¡°Fortan for the luck of being here, Akolai for the love of my parents, Shinpilo for the knowledge he''ll grant me, Charavatkeh for keeping the beasts away from me, Nasibor for supporting my acts.¡± I pause to catch my breath.
¡°I thank Otik for protecting the spirits of my family and Fusaad for sparing me from disease. From today I am Telerios, son of Melcas and Jocriss, may the Pantheon watch over me ¡°
I made a full pantheon pledge. There are some curious stares and light chatters among the crowd, the priest is astonished as he didn''t expect that from a commoner. Only blades or free citizens usually take the time to teach their children a full pledge.
My parents are also taken aback as they thought I was only taught the basic triple pledge by Sister Sunyeo. My mother frowns as she doesn''t like surprises and gives a side glance at my father, suspecting him to be behind this stunt. My grandfather who is the one I asked for help training for a full pledge, looks proudly at me. I didn''t really needed him but he''ll make a good scapegoat for mom''s wrath and make me less conspicuous. It also made him happy so it''s a win-win, at least for me.
I also get a small round of applause from the audience.
As the priest adds my name in his massive ledger, I take a look at the page. Our names are usually 2 ideograms long, mine is made from my mother''s second ideogram and my father''s first one with slight alterations to both.
My name looks like a sun within a circle and a house drawn by a drunk toddler. Well whatever, I intend to write my name in alphabet in the future.
I bring my offering of bread to Tupu Ae''Tur''s shrine. My father brings a bottle of spirits at the shrine of Arteus and my mother a bundle of linen clothes to the same shrine. They both choose Arteus since he is their patron god of crafters. My grandfather lays down his own offerings: a quiver full of arrows and the impressive pelt of a puma-like beast in front of Husnd shrine.
The priest is now quite disappointed with our alms, although it is a more than decent gift for a commoner it is still far from the level of a free citizen or a noble. I look him in the eyes and shrug: sorry for the let down.
He doesn''t give it much afterthought and keeps the ceremony going, calling upon the next child.
Anfers finally takes his turn after his mom washed him off.
I feel a pull on my neck blocking my breath as my mother grabs me by the collar and drags me to the back rows:
¡°What was this about ? Who taught you this ? What if you messed it up and the gods turned an angry eye at you ? This is serious business, you cant risk blasphemy for a little stunt¡± she quietly yells at me.
Before I can answer, my grandfather catches her arm and interrupts ¡°Calm down Jo, I did it. The kid asked me to teach him. After just a couple tries he was getting it right every times. Tel has a good memory and his head on his shoulders. I knew he wasn''t going to mess it up and allowed him to go for it.¡± He tells her calmly in his deep voice. She eases her grasp on my collar.
¡°And lets be honest¡± my grandpa goes on while stroking his mustache ¡°I don''t think the gods care that much if us commoners stutters out during a naming ceremony. Lighten it up and just be proud of your son.¡±
I estimate this to be the right time to use the puppy eyes card:
¡°Sorry mom, I wanted to surprise you and make you proud¡± I''m mustering all the cuteness I''m able too.
She stares with a bit too much anger at the both of us before relenting:
¡°I know very well that my son is smarter than average.¡± she states with pride ¡°Yet I still don''t like being kept in the dark when it is an official ceremony in front of the gods. Don''t expect a reward of any kind.¡± she adds for me and grants my grandfather with another scowl.
As I look down in feint penitence I see my father giving me the thumbs up behind her, at least someone gets me among my parents.
My brother Barasti punches my shoulder with enough strength to push me back, that hurts
¡°You had to make a show of yourself, couldn''t keep a low profile Mr blade ?¡± he jokingly snarls at me.
I know that I stand out too much here. But also too often the rest of the time, no wonder my elder is a bit jealous of the attention.
I smirk at him while massaging my shoulder : ¡°Wait for it, it''s still not over and there might be more surprises to come.¡± I hint at him. He wants to ask more but our mother shush us as we stand back in the crowd.
The remaining boys are now done with their naming ceremony, I missed Balout''s one. I''m sure he fared well, he intended to pledge to 10 gods and was doing okay at the workshop.
It''s now the turn of the girls.
Linata and Chari go first and there isn''t much to say about their performances or offerings. Then comes Gel''s turn, she cast me one last glance before going in front of everyone and I give her a comforting smile.
The lean girl stands in front of the shrines. She really stands out in her silky outfit looking both wealthier than most around yet her petite skinny figure makes a hard contrast with this display of wealth.
She starts her pledge to the gods: ¡° I thank Dard for giving me the strength to endure, Husnd for looking after me¡± her voice is light yet crystal clear, her posture unsteady but her expression determined. Her small fists are clenched as if ready to fight the gods ¡°Jalea for giving me a just life, Oreo for lighting my path¡± I watch her parents as they are startled: that is not what they were expecting ¡° Amidea for quenching my thirst, Arteus for building my future, Tamayoku for granting me riches.¡±
She pauses as this affirmation is even more ironic for her than it was for me. At least no one around is laughing as it would be rude.
¡°Fortan for the luck of being here, Akolai for the love of my parents¡± another pause, this time more because there are some comments thrown around the crowd, mostly about her purple eyes. Her parents share an uneasy look with one another.
¡°Shinpilo for the knowledge he''ll grant me, Charavatkeh for keeping the beasts away from me, Nasibor for supporting my acts, Otik for protecting the spirits of my family.¡±
On this last pledge she gives a glance at her parents, the memory of her two dead brothers is still fresh. ¡°And Fusaad for sparing me from disease.¡± At this point her mother lets a discreet sob out and her father''s jawline tenses up. They lost two of their sons to disease so they have some quarrels with Fusaad.
Gel moves on to the end of her pledge:
¡°From today I am Gelcaria, daughter of Danik and Ovidee, may the pantheon watch over me.¡±
If the crowd and priest were surprised by my pledge they are dumbfounded by Gel''s one. At least I had some reputation of being on the smart side and my stunt wasn''t that unexpected. Gel on the other hand is one of the poorest child of the block, she is shunned upon by some because of her uncommon lilac eyes and because of her parents.
Danik is a drunkard that started drinking after the loss of his second son and the drinking got worse when Gel''s youngest brother died from pneumonia . I''m sure there are also some rumours running around about his violent behaviour against his wife.
And Gel''s mother: Ovidee, despite being a nice and polite woman also has some nasty gossips of her own. Some say she cheated on her husband with a traveller thus Gel''s unusual eyes, other say she got forsaken by the gods thus the loss of her sons and finally there are the rumours about her selling her body to make some coin, which would make her an akola?te and a convenient explanation for Gel''s eyes despite the failing chronology.
She is indeed a beautiful enough women to attract the jealousy of the other wives in the neighbourhood. And that last rumour might be true: Danik''s drinking habits should cost a lot to their household, inciting his wife to find other revenues to feed Gel and her brother.
Gel might be young but I know she is smart enough to grasp the situation, I believe Ms Tarina and sister Sunyeo also talked it through with her.
Having her make a full pledge is a nice proclamation of piety to the pantheon. It also allows her to seek both good fortune for her future, closure for her lost brothers, as well as spit in the face of Anfers and others bad-mouthers.
The priest records her name in his thick book. She gives it a glance before nodding with satisfaction.
She steps to the shrine, her offering is even more disappointing for the priest than mine. Her bread loaf is smaller than average. The young apprentice sighs, not from the downer of having a small alms after a pantheon pledge but from pity for Gel''s quandary, her talents might be wasted by her circumstances.
Gel then strikes everyone with awe as she goes in front of Akola?''s shrine to leave a bundle of purple silk at its feet. The icone is quite the explicit one: Akola? is depicted as an hermaphrodite chimera with the head of a colourful bird, the bare chested upper half of a woman and its lower half is one of a furred beast with hooves for feet. Its genitals are dual and its own penis is inserted in its vagina, symbolizing lust, desire and egocentricity.
I suspect she got the gift for this very purpose from either Ms Tarina or from Typhoon Taonga. She didn''t warn me beforehand. Not that I would disapprove of her choice: she has to make do with the cards she''s been dealt. Seeking the attention of a god who already laid down his mark on her is the best move.
There now are a lot of chatters in the crowd, so much that our priest has to ostensibly clear his throat to remind everyone that this is a temple and that a ceremony is underway.
Gel''s father goes to Arteus''s shrine to offer a small sculpted stone he made himself. This is one of the lowest contribution displayed today. Danik himself blushes in shame. I just hope he won''t turn it into violence against Ovidee later this night.
The one that shocks the most is Gel''s mother who goes for Akola?''s shrine and makes an offering of perfume. The gift in itself is fine, even better than average, which is quite surprising knowing the issues of Gel''s household. But the meanings behind will be an unending source of gossiping in the neighbourhood for a while.
Ovidee''s gift while being a worthy offering is also a message to the neighbours: she is indeed ¡°worshipping¡± Akola?. A handful of the men have an ominous and full of lust glow in their eyes, and their wives an even sinister one...
After this shameful display Gelcaria is quite mortified despite her earlier boldness. On the inside she is still the usual shy girl I met a year ago. Instead of joining back with her kins she comes by my side. Her pleading amethysts eyes asking for comfort. I gladly relent and extend my hand which she gratefully grabs.
Father gives me a reproving look. I''m unsure if it is because he doesn''t want us to be associated with Ovidee, because he fears Danik''s possible tantrum or just because he doesn''t like the idea of me getting close with potential Akola?''s believers.
Mother is more lenient. For one she is a more fervent believer than Dad, then she had more interactions with Gel: she knows Gel is a nice girl and she pities her. An finally I believe her motherly instinct pushes her to have us shield the girl as much as we can.
Grandma comes behind us and hugs Gel. I hear Gel whimper and see a few tears rolling down her cheeks. I squeeze her hand harder and whisper to her ¡°You did well, I''m proud of you. The gods saw you and they will take care of you now.¡± My approval means enough to her that she musters all her courage, dries her eyes and manages to nod at me.
This is supposed to be a celebrating day yet I''m a bit dispirited now.
Melodi is the last in line. Her parents are beside her. I notice that her father is human, answering a few of my former interrogations : humans can reproduce with humanoids, the phenotype of beastkin has some randomness, mixed couples aren''t shunned upon.
She looks cute in her silky dress and with flowers crowning her cat ears. If only her face wasn''t that flattened. Her tail sways in anxiety as she recite her pledge. She makes a full one without a hitch, just as we rehearsed. I''m kind of proud of her and Gelcaria and I clap with enthusiasm as she make her offerings.
Now that we all have our names. It is time for me to plan things forward.
Chap 16: The crossroads and the stork
I''m now officially 4 Springs old and standing at a crossroad.
For today I''ll still be going to the tailor shop with mom but this can''t keep going on. I''m still more than welcomed of course but I believe this is not the best use of my abilities and knowledge.
Now that the workshop had resumed with it''s usual work pace, Ms Tarina had some time to spare for us. After congratulating us once more, emphasizing how much we should be grateful to Dard and Husnd for making it up till now and getting a round of hugging and smooching for herself which i believe was her true endgame; she took a look at our names and asked us to draw them for her.
The four of us were now familiar enough with writing to do so: 2 ideograms weren''t that much to remember after all. It was also the occasion for me to discover the name of the others.
When we were left without supervision, I taught each of them how to write their name with my alphabet. They grasped how it works and except for a ¡°Jelkaria¡± and a ¡°Baloot¡±, I hadn''t much to correct. Although the spelling of their names are mostly my whim. I can''t really say their written forms were right or wrong: I''m the one fixing arbitrarily the rules here. The four of us were finally all able to write our names with modern alphabet, it wasn''t much but it still felt like a significant step stone.
I believe my time with them is running short, I know that the path ahead of me will drift me apart from them. This might very well be my last lesson for them.
I''ve thought a lot during winter about what to do next and there are four roads that I can see ahead of me.
The first one is staying here at the tailor shop. Worst case scenario I would end up as a tailor. Best case I can maybe become some kind of accountant for Ms Tarina and then other businesses around and through my mastery of maths raise my condition. I believe it to be the safest road but also the less rewarding. It will be a while before anyone trust me with a job that matters and I don''t really dig the idea of becoming an accountant. The probability of becoming a free citizen through this path is small...
The second path is a risky one: going back to Typhoon Taonga to get hired by him. I''m sure my capacities will be exploited at their fullest and that I will have access to as many tutors and books I could wish for. The downside being that there is a non negligible chance that I might end up a slave... which doesn''t sit well with me.
Third road is to go public: go knock at the door of whatever science group there is around here. I''m sure there is an alchemist guild and there must be an astronomers society or an academy of sort, the children of blades must go to school somewhere? If I can make a show of my knowledges I could have them take care of me, get a scholarship or something and become a teacher, biologist or whatever better position than basic commoner.
This is high risk high reward: I don''t know how they can react. If they see me as an heretic thing breaking the teachings of the gods, things can get ugly fast. There is also the possibility of being ignored, labelled as crazy or simply exploited and then discarded.
As eager as I am to be able to study the physiology of all the strange animals around, to advance their knowledge in chemistry or their understanding of physics and study how magic interferes with the laws around here, I also value my life: I don''t want to end burned at a stake and nothing tells me that I''ll get another reincarnation.
Lastly there is the temple road. Especially Shinpilo''s one. He is the god of knowledge so I''m sure we can both find interest in one another. Being employed by the temple will ensure me that I won''t be branded a heretic or an abnormality when I''ll reveal my knowledges. Honestly it is my favourite option right now, except I don''t know how to enlist in the Temple or get in touch with Shinpilo''s priests.
I grab the opportunity during break time to ask Ms Tarina about it.
¡°How does one join the Temple ?¡± I simply ask when there is a gap in the conversation.
She considers me with an inquisitive look : ¡°Did one of the gods catch your attention during naming day ?¡± She raise an eyebrow and gives a quick glance at Gelcaria, misinterpreting my query.
I try to brush her suspicions away by sounding nonchalant:
¡°Maybe. But I mean: our attending priest was quite young, I was wondering how one joins the Temple to work for them.¡±
¡°hmmm¡± she hums as she collects her thoughts ¡°They mostly take acolytes starting 8 Springs old. Mostly children stemming from the free citizens and a few blades for the higher ranks. Priesthood is a valued position.¡±
Giant pile of Jota''s guano! That''s what I feared. Is there really anything that a poor man can do?
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¡°To join the temple usually requires for the family of the candidate to make enough donations to be granted the honour of integrating the ranks of the Temple.¡± She douses the last sparks of hope I could have left.
¡°There are still some exceptions.¡± she teasingly add, having read the desperation on my face.
¡°Those with a god''s mark our a god''s favour are obviously more easily welcomed...¡±She pats Gel''s head affectionately.
So Gel can join but I cant ? Great.
I can still think of one way: if I were to catch Shinpilo''s attention there might be a path forward for me too.
¡°How does one gets the attention of the gods ?¡± I bluntly ask.
She laugh at my na?ve question her jowls trembling in amusement:
¡°If I knew I would be drowned in Tamayoku''s riches Tel.¡± Yet seeing my seriousness she answers more thoroughly:
¡°You don''t want the gods attention, believe me. It mostly comes in a bad fashion: when one commits crimes, attracting the ire of the pantheon. And it doesn''t end well.¡±
¡°I do not intend to look for that kind of attention¡± I retort. I''m not dumb.
She smiles and pats my head with satisfaction:
¡°I know you don''t, Tel. To gain their attention in a positive fashion there isn''t many way: just perform well in their respective fields. This may entice them to make you their champion and get a blessing. Otherwise you can just make prayers and gift offerings, the priest will tell you that the gods are always listening to the ones that bares their sincerity forth. Even more when it comes with enough coins.¡± She ends with a hint of distrust. She might be a believer but not a gullible one.
I pause to gather my thoughts. So if I want to thread on the temple''s path, I''ll have to gain Shinpilo''s attention. That''s something I should be able to do with my knowledge. The only problem being to get him to look at it.
Guess I might have to think this through a little more.
¡°Do you intend to become a priest ?¡± Melodi probes at me, her whiskers quivering with curiosity. I can see my plump teacher and Gel eagerly awaiting my answer too.
¡°Maybe.¡± I evasively say ¡°I don''t think I would make a good blacksmith like dad.¡± This gets greeted with a round of laughs.
¡°Yeah, you are far too weak for that.¡± Dejectedly says Melodi, making fun of me. Even if she meant no harm, that still wounds my pride a bit. I''m training the most I can, excuse me for not having the cheat body strenght of a beastkin.
*????*????*????*????*????*????*
Later that day as I''m milking Godzilla, I ponder on how to catch the attention of the gods. My best bet would be to write down some of my knowledge and present it as an offering. I ¡°just¡± have to get my hand on some paper and think of something both useful, unknown in this world, yet universally understandable by a supra-human level of consciousness.
Easy peasy...
Maybe I should dissect Godzilla and write an extended essay on lactation physiology applied to the optimization of production in farming use?
I gently stroke the warm brass scales of the lizard. I could swear she read my mind as I can catch a glimpse of wariness in her reptilian gaze. I carefully take my fingers away from her beak while she calms down in the setting sunligh.
No, that would be dumb.
First I don''t want to hurt my pet, second I doubt this world hasn''t already done this much. There are some scholars, there must be some herders who raised and sampled koatis to enhance the process. I doubt I could bring anything groundbreaking on this matter. At best I would teach them a bit about cells and hormones but can''t see how I could find some practical application without an pharmacological industry to support me.
I join back for diner and add the milk to the soup. My grandparents are also there this evening, which pleases me because it means grandpa also brought some dried meat. And I also like my grand parents and enjoy their company, I''m not only thinking with my stomach here.
The evening is bringing me another quandary as mom drops an unexpected bomb on us: She is pregnant. Again.
She proudly stands in front of all of us, her left hand on dad''s shoulder while her right one caresses her belly. We all cheer her. My grand parents warmly congratulating the both of them.
As happy as I am there are also two worries growing on me. The first one is the question of food (ok, maybe I am thinking with my stomach too much). Adding another kid to the table will make our supplies even more precarious. That might be something I have to work on instead of wondering how to catch a god''s attention.
The second is regrets for not knowing since when mom is pregnant. It would be a perfect occasion to figure out the flow of time vs physiology.
Does a pregnancy last 9 months? Like 9 months here or the shorter Earth months? Will it be proportional, becoming a 12 months gestation? Etc...
But I can''t casually ask my mother about her last menses... Sometime, science has to come after basic decency.
As we are all celebrating Akola?''s gift his presence is made more real as Gelcaria knocks at our door, escaping the turmoil in her household. This brings down the mood a bit and my father has to make sure Danik isn''t getting too far out of control. I wish he would just kick his ass once and for all one day. I know violence is rarely the answer but sometimes a good kick in the butt is still welcomed.
As mom tries to divert Gel from her worries and announces her that she''s bearing child, I can almost see a flash of purple light in Gel''s eye. Like something inside her reacted and reached out, either a girl''s natural instinct or something else?
At night she silently joins me again. Exceptionally she is the one that breaks the silence with her whisper (¡°silence¡± is a bit of an overstatement when the room is filled with my brother''s snoring).
¡°Why do you want to join the temple ?¡± she asks warily. In the darkness of our room, her eyes are more ostentatious then ever, shining with their own inner light.
¡°Where do you imagine me to be in 10 years? ¡° I counter with a question of my own. ¡°Smelting iron on east hill ? Threading dresses at Ms Tarina''s workshop ? Or enslaved by Taonga?¡± My last option sends shivers down both our spines, I bet she also shared the same fear for her fate at least once.
Before she can answer me I go on : ¡°I am not a warrior to be; nor will I make a good worker. I though the Temple would be a good way out of...¡± failing to find a suitable expression, I just wave my hand in the dark, unsure if she can see the motion ¡°this...¡± I wave at our room.
After pondering for a while she asks me back:
¡°Do you think I could join too ?¡±
I snigger at her doubt: ¡°I believe you have even more chances than I do.¡± I can see her eyes in the night focusing on mine. I clarify ¡°You already have a god''s attention, something close to a blessing almost. Do you believe my mom got pregnant again without some intervention of Akola? ?¡±
She isnt surprised by my statement, she had her own suspicions on the subject. And we both remember the Typhoon''s renewed ¡°vigour¡±.
¡°I bet that if you went to see the Akola?''s cardinal she would welcome you with open arms.¡± Despite the distance I can feel the heat crawling up her cheeks as she blushes, remembering the lasciviously dancing cardinal.
¡°No, I don''t want that.¡± she pouts and I get her. She didn''t talked about her mother and what happened during naming day, but I can tell it weights on her.
¡°I know. It was just a tease.¡± I pat her head lightly. ¡°But I''m still figuring out how to join the Temple. I think that''s the best thing to do for me. But you should find your own goal. Maybe stick to Ms Tarina, she has a soft spot for you and will make sure to find you a decent occupation.¡± I try to both comfort her, reassure her and point her at her own future instead of worrying about mine.
She remains silent, eyes closed. I can''t see her face so I cant tell if she is pondering on the idea or flat out rejecting it.
Just when I thought she fell asleep as her breathing got steadier, she finally mutters ¡°Fine, I''ll let you join the temple.¡±
I don''t remember asking for your permission, but okay.
Chap 17: The mariner
I didn''t get much sleep last night. I was drafting a plan to solve all my problems in one go.
Today at the tailor shop we got put to work. It wasn''t unexpected. From 4 to 8 springs old, children (at least us commoners) are to earn their keep and it is common to have them do menial tasks for the place looking after them.
From 8 to 12 children can become apprentices in various trades to find their calling, usually they end up at one of their parents workplace but can also go for other paths as long as they find a senior willing to teach them. Starting 12 they have to choose a definitive path and are trained in companionshi till 16 springs old, that is this world''s adulthood threshold. In fact in Earth time this would be 23 years old, so quite the late bloomers.
The four of us were to help in the great spring cleaning of the shop. In the aftermath of winter''s seclusion and the recent burst in activity there was much to dust, organize, sort out, wash and move around. We were the water supply chain for the most part: carrying pails after pails from the nearby fountain that is still two blocks away, back to the workshop.
By break time, I was broken. Despite our daily training I could feel my legs trembling under me and begging for a break, my shoulders were burning and aching with sore muscles and I got some blisters on my hand.
Balout was surprisingly sturdy, even carrying two pails at a time. Melodi''s endurance wasn''t surprising any more, her powerful body is just a disgusting cheat. I think she could already be on par strenght-wise with the average adult back on Earth.
*????*????*????*????*????*????*????*????*
After caring for Godzilla back at home, I wait for dinner time to voice my opinion when both my parents are gathered.
After some careful consideration I''ve narrowed down my options to conform with the new requisites: First it has to be an activity that doesn''t tire me out too much, not that I''m lazy but I have a good grasp of my physical condition.
Second it must allow me to earn some food for me and my family, the arrival of a new sibling needs to be addressed.
Third it has to net me some money so I can afford some paper, enough to compile a textbook of knowledges valuable enough to garner Shinpilo''s attention.
This leaves me with little options as far as I can think of: Hunting, gathering, herding, fishing are the only occupations filling most conditions.
Herding would be ideal. I could put into use my knowledge to enhance the selection process, take optimal care of the health of the cattle and improve production by implementing modern management. Sole problem being that the cattle herds are outside the city walls, far away in the plain of stumps. I doubt my parents would accept me leaving town and I tend to agree with them. I heard much about the dangers lurking outside and the scar on my grandfather''s face reminds me that they aren''t just legends and hearsay.
Hunting with grandfather would be the ideal second. Except I already know he deems me too young for this occupation. I might still try my luck: Fortan favors the bolds, but shouldn''t expect much of it.
Gathering would be a nice alternative: I could lay some traps along the way, though I would need to find someone to teach me the local botanic and convince my parents to let me follow them into the nearby forest.
Finally there is fishing. It is a tiresome job, yet with long breaks. The river should be less dangerous than sea and fishy enough to make it a worthy occupation. There should be room for improvements using my modern knowledges. I wasn''t much of a fisherman but I saw some documentaries on TV, so maybe there is room for something? All I would need would be to find a fisherman that accepts very young apprentices.
That''s where I''ll need my parents approval and assistance.
At the first break in the conversation I jump in:
¡°I don''t want to keep going to the tailor shop !¡± This is direct enough to astound my mother, leaving her wordless and catch the attention of the rest.
Dad is the first to react, his panda eyes curious ¡°Is there a problem at the shop? Something with the other kids or the owner? I thought you said she liked him Jo ?¡±
Mom manages to make it pass her initial stupor ¡°Was it because of today ? Don''t worry Tel, such great cleaning work won''t occur often. Tomorrow will be less tiresome.¡± she takes a look at the blisters on my hands.
I shake my head and take a deep breath ¡°No that''s not the problem. I don''t think I am meant to be a tailor, that''s it.¡± I hope I don''t sound rude to her.
¡°Did you have a fight with Gelcaria or Mel today?¡± she asks, perplexed.
I shiver at the idea... ¡°No we are doing fine. I just think that it is time for me to bring something back home. I was thinking of accompanying grand pa on his shorter hunting trips.¡±
My parents answer of one andd the same voice: ¡°No way, Telerios!¡± At least this is clearly out of question.
¡°But, I''m sure he would be glad to.¡± I object without much hope.
My dad gets dead serious ¡°No. You have no idea how much the forest is dangerous. You just aren''t old enough to qualify. Plus you would burden him and put all of them in danger. So just no.¡± I can see in his eyes that there is no room for negotiation left. If a strong man like my father, one that has some chi, is scarred of the forest maybe I was still underestimating the danger.
Not relenting I play down my second card. ¡°What about fishing? I''m sure I could do it, the river shore shouldn''t be that dangerous. Don''t you know a fisherman looking for an apprentice? We could always use the food.¡± I know that food is a critical subject especially with my mother''s pregnancy, so I''m betting it all on this lure.
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As mom is voicing her disapproval, pointing out that Ms Tarina is quite fond of me, Dad interrupts her ¡°Isn''t Pete a fisherman? He could take Tel over, at least for a few days to try out. After all, you are watching after his daughter.¡± he argues.
Mom rebukes ¡°Melodi is in the care of Ms Tarina, not mine. Plus I don''t like the idea of Tel going on the river, you know well that it is dangerous on a boat.¡± she warns the both of us.
My brother sniggers at me, calling me a wuss. My limbs are too short to kick him under the table but I mentally do it nonetheless, conveying my meaning through glare. He isn''t much impressed.
The juicy info here is that Mel''s dad is the guy I need. Had I known earlier I would have prepared the field with Mel''s help.
Much to my surprise dad is siding with me here ¡°It is still worth asking. It would be a nice change of pace for Tel and we could always use the food. You are going to have to eat more in the months to come.¡± he affectionately pats her belly "And Tel is a serious kid. He''ll listen to Pete. I remember he took his daughter once, if she could why couldn''t our son?¡± This wins the heart of mom and she finally relents:
¡°Fine. We could go discuss it with him tomorrow. We''ll walk Melodi back and talk about it with Peterell. He will be the one to have the last say in this. I''m still wary about letting our little Tel take so much risks.¡± My brother kicks me lightly from under the table, my sister caught the motion and giggles at our bickering.
I''m pleased with the outcome. I need to get out of the tailor shop and start earning some coins.
Goal for tomorrow : cox Melodi into taking my side and help me convince her father.
*????*????*????*????*????*????*????*????*
During what might very well be my last day at the tailorshop we have to clean the courtyard: weeding it out and scratching the moss from the cobblestone floor. After which the spring sun allows us to have one round of training.
I take care to be especially nice to Melodi. Not that I am usually rude but I''ll need her later, rubbing her the right way can''t hurt and praises are free. Gelcaria''s purple eyes are beaming with jealousy reminding me that I''m treading on a dangerous path here.
When it''s time to leave we wait for Melodi''s mother: Calido. The rabbit kin and my own mother exchange a few words so my mother can explain my situation. Calido enjoins us to follow them back to her home, her long fluffy ears cutely pricking up in curiosity.
Melodi''s house is in every way similar to ours. The builders around our block follow the same pattern. Since Gel couldn''t walk back on her own she had to stick along. At least now she starts to understand why I was currying favours with Melodi and her gaze grows more friendlier.
While waiting for Peterell''s return mom and Calido share simple talks around a cup of lemon balm like tea talking about clothing, Mel''s behaviour at the tailorshop and the latests gossips going around at Calido''s Inn: rumours about the blades, skirmishes with monsters and the return of traders as the river got easier to sail upward with Spring settling down.
I spend my time with the girls explaining them my wish. Mel seems pleased at the idea of me working with her father. She holds him in high expectation still in her full Oedipus period. On the other side Gel is disapprovingly gazing at me with her amethysts, no shyness or jealousy is to be found in her stare, only the dissatisfaction about being kept in the dark and the sorrow of betrayal as she feels left behind.
I do feel guilty about it but I can only hope she will understand later that this needs to be done. I can''t stay forever at the workshop and it''s not like I''m abandoning her. We are neighbours and she can come see me whenever she wants.
Peterell comes back at first evening bell. He doesn''t look much like the idea I had of a mariner.
He is suntanned but his long dark hair is tied in a neat bun atop his head, kept still by a nicely crafted bronze needle. He is clean shaved and his face shows very few wrinkles. It is the face of an honest hard worker but not tanned by salt and winds. Which makes sense for a river sailor...
His hands are covered in scars, cuts from lines, wounds from hooks or fish bites ? Are there fish that can make these marks in our river?
He greets us warmly in a gentle voice, miles away from what I was expecting. I remember mariners on Earth to be known for their rowdy songs and the noisy fish auctions.
The man is unfazed as if he isn''t surprised by our presence. He puts down a basket full of cockles and small fish-to-fry: tonight''s dinner for Melodi.
He takes a sit at the table while his wife pours him a cup of warm tea and casts a glance our way, his eyes flashing with warmth when sighting Melodi, curiosity when crossing mine and some uneasiness when crossing Gel''s.
I bet he worships Amidea, the goddess of water, often at strife with Akola?: the virgin girl vs the lusty chimera.
¡°Jocriss, to what do we owe the pleasure? Was there a problem with Melodi ?¡± he says gently. His phrasing is carrying a strange accent. Slow and putting the tonic intonation at the end of his sentences. He is definitively not from the neighbourhood but his looks don''t differ much from ours. Maybe this is the accent of the southern free cities?
¡°No, Mel is a real sweetheart¡± She smiles at the catgirl that is puffing with pride, pleased to be complimented in front of her daddy. ¡°In fact it is my son: Telerios, who is the reason for our venue. Whatever wind Fortan blew his direction makes him want to learn fishing. So we were wondering if you would be open to take him as an apprentice.¡±
The man looks at me obviously gauging me. ¡°How old are you boy?¡± he slowly question, sounding a bit ominous.
¡°4 springs, same as Melodi. My name is Telerios¡± I do not like him calling me boy, in this world only the youngest can''t claim a name for themselves. I must enforce my maturity.
He nods. ¡°So Telerios, why would you want to learn to fish?¡± A blunt but simple question, I like him.
¡°Because I want to eat fish¡± Best responses for his kind are the simplest and honest ones.
It amuses him and he laughs quietly. Before frowning to a more serious face: ¡°Fishing is tough and dangerous. We start early on, before first bell. It requires patience, stubbornness and concentration, do you have those?¡± He leans towards me.
If he''s trying to impress me, this much isn''t going to be enough. I''ve bandaged wounds on tigers and lions, sutured vessels on rhinoceroses and made casts on gorillas, I''m not that easy to startle. To be honest they were under anaesthetics while I was doing so, but still, I have some pride.
Before I can answer, Melodi comes to my support ¡°He does daddy. He''s the one that taught me how to count.¡± I''m not sure that''s the best point to make in my favour but thank you for trying.
This earns me immediate approval. I can see it in the man''s green gaze. He nods to his girl and pats her head, caressing her ears as she smiles contentedly. ¡°Fine. If she vouches for you, you can come starting tomorrow, fourth night bell at the eastern moray dock.¡± Wow, that''s some influence Mel''s got on him.
My mother is just stunned silly, she was expecting some way to steer me out of the idea, ready to relent at the first refusal. ¡°What ? But ? He is just four. Isn''t it a bit too dangerous ? ¡± she stutters.
Peterell shrugs before pointing at his daughter: ¡°Mel comes with me on her free days. Fish don''t discriminate us by our age, they bite whatever line they can.¡± He stretches the words like fudge.
Before mom can find an angle of counter attack, Gel chimes in: ¡°I''m coming, too.¡±
The fisherman locks eyes with her, there is a brief staring contest: amehtyst vs peridot, before he abruptly says: ¡°No.¡±.
Gelcaria is about to add something so I kick her lightly under the table, distracting her and shutting her up with a glare. Melodi takes up her question anyway: ¡°Why not, daddy? Gel is my friend too.¡± Her ears are flickering in curiousity. Melodi is just so cute when her dad is around, this is so heart warming.
The man calmly answers ¡°I''m already taking the boy, I wont take any more on my boat until I''m sure he knows how to behave.¡± Pragmatism at its utmost.
Mom finally gets a hold of herself, digesting the idea that I will start tomorrow. She asks the practical questions: where is the meeting point , what must I bring, when and how will I get home etc...
Mel''s dad is concise and precise: The moray dock is not far from the archery range, I can easily find it on my own. I just need to bring a coat. He''ll take care of my meals ¡°If he can fish it himself.¡± he adds, his strange accent making me unable to tell if he is joking or not. And he''ll drop me on the way back since our house is on his way to the marketplace.
They then exchange some more common talk before we are to make our way home. I wave at Mel and make a slight bow towards Calido and my next tutor: Peterell.
On our way home Gelcaria is sulking at me, refusing to hold hands. I''m kind of glad she was turned down. I believe Ms Tarina will take good care of her and fishing might be awkward in the beginning. Not having her around to make fun of me is for the better. And again it is not like I''m abandoning her either: she will be with Ms Tarina, Melodi and Balout. I make to myself a promise to keep caring for her anyway.
I go to bed early on and my sleep is a light one, reminding me of when I was on emergency duty, always on the alert for a call back in the days at the clinic.
This time I''m on the watch for the chimes of bells, waiting for fourth night bell.
Chap 18: The first dip.
Another short and restless night for me. I didn''t sleep well, vigilantly waiting for fourth nightbell. I woke up on time, did a quick face wash before tending to Godzilla. She was not happy to see me this early and even tried to bite me for the first time while I was trying to milk her. I did not insist. After I drank my share of milk there wasn''t much more left. Jocalie will have to milk her herself if she wants some.
Everyone is still asleep in the house. Mom left an additional coat neatly folded near the door, a long sleeved one made of rough and used fabric that formerly belonged to Barasti. It is a bit too long for me but better than nothing.
Outside it is still night, the sun is still hidden behind the mountains in the distance. The twin moons are on their way down still casting some pink on the city making it feel like an early daybreak nonetheless.
As I made my way in our still asleep street, a faint light flickered in the corner of my field of vision. When I turned toward the disturbance, I was greeted by Gel''s shiny lavender eyes.
I was expecting this kind of plot so I immediately raised a hand: ¡°You can''t come with me,¡±.
Anger flashed briefly in her gaze but in the end she nodded sadly: ¡° Can I meet you this evening at least?¡± she pleaded.
I''m feeling like I was the mean guy here ¡°Of course, you are always welcome home. Just follow mom. I should be back home earlier than you all.¡±.
She nodded again before whispering me a prayer ¡°May Amidea keep your head out of her waters.¡±. And she hurriedly went back from whence she came.
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The streets are almost empty. There are a few early risers going their own way. The bakeries are the only open shops, their chimney already at work. Spring air is still frosty this early and there is some dew condensing on the tree leaves and cobwebs.
(fun otherworldly fact: spiders are mostly the same here: 8 eyes and legs. This also means that there are some common grounds in biological evolution and species phylogeny between worlds. They are considered a good omen and welcomed in houses as they are supposed to ward from bad luck and kill the other pesky insects.)
When make it to the docks there is a heavy mist dampening the air coming from the river. The first rays of the sun are warming the scenery and should disperse it soon enough.
A few clouds are lazily making their way high up in the sky, leaving space for a few seagulls already singing high above, on the watch for any discarded fish around the dock. They are pointing me to my destination: where there are seagulls, fishermen are near.
The river is a magnificent sight. The waters look dark and deep in the dim morning light and I can''t see the opposite bank clouded in the mist.
There are a dozen fishermen on the dock tending to their nets, boats and lines. Peterell is among them minding his own business. I go by his side to greet him with a slight bow: ¡°Hello Mr Peterell, forgive me if i''m late¡±.
He slowly turns towards me, looks at the sky, before finally laughing leaving me dumbfounded. ¡°You are on time, good. And I''m just Peterell, I''m no free citizen or whatever fancy status.¡± he says in his accent, his every word coated in syrup.
¡°You can call him seven tails captain¡± adds one of the other nearby sailor, laughing like a hyena at his own pun. The sailors in ear reach all laugh at the private joke, even Peterell himself does. Leaving me to wonder what this is all about.
¡°Stay focused lads: he is new and fresh out of naming. Don''t tease him too much or get your own apprentices for that.¡± shields my new boss. I notice that there aren''t many young ones around. Only a couple bulky teenagers.
¡°You can call me Peterell, captain when on boat, or just sir, I don''t really mind.¡± he adds for me. ¡°What I do expect from you is total obedience. If I say: jump in the water, you jump in the water. If I say : stop, you stop and if I say shut up, you shut it up. Understood ?¡± His tone is both brimming with authority yet undermined by his lazy way to phrase his sentences.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
¡°Yes sir¡±. My short answer grants me an approving look from his colleagues.
¡°Do you know how to swim ?¡± he asks me.
¡°Yes.¡± I nod with seriousness. This surprises him and he is right to be: no one taught me yet in this world.
¡°Then jump in the water and show me.¡± He says while plainly pointing at the river.
For a second I think he is joking but the serious gazes of the sailors around us tell me he isn''t. I just take a second to drop my coat before jumping head first from the dock.
The murky waters greet me with a splash and a wave of cold cutting my breath and making me tremble in shivers. I emerge to take a gulp of cold air and start to move forward with a few breaststrokes, keeping my head out of the water.
The sailors are all looking at me and Peterell yells: ¡°Swim to the nearest pole and back !¡± Pointing at a log sticking out of the flowing waters more than a dozen meters away.
I switch to an energetic crawl to not get dragged astray by the current and speed up a bit. I keep my head underwater, the cold biting at my lips like an angry lover every time I emerge to take a breath.
I kept my pants and shirt on and they are now soaked and heavy, pulling me down and draining me of my stamina at a faster pace than I expected.
As I finally reach the pole, I use it to propulse myself on the way back with a kick, gliding underwater for a bit before ending the last meters with a sidestroke to preserve the remnants of my energy.
As I reach the dock, Peterell catches my wrist and pulls me up to the planks as if I''m weightless. I''m trickling with freezing water, my trembling hands turned blue from the ordeal.
The fishermen are watching me with both approval and caution. One of them lends me a flask adding in a rowdy tone fit for a mariner: ¡°Amidea''s hairy cunt chokes me, have a go at this. Ye earned it, lad.¡±
I''m not fond of drinking even less this early in the day but I''m freezing right now so it is more than welcome.
I take a sip: it isn''t alcohol, it is liquid fire. The sailor takes his flask back while laughing and patting my back vigorously as I cough. I could swear flames are coming out along with each coughs. Whatever it is the thing burns my insides, boring a melting hole in my stomach before sending warmth all over my body. I can see the water pearling on my reddening skin evaporate as the waves of heat spread inside of me.
¡°This is Telerios and he is now my apprentice!¡± proclaims my captain in his sluggish accent, patting my shoulder. ¡°Take off your clothes and put your coat on before you catch a cold.¡± he adds for me.
I abide and take my soaking cold pants and shirt off. Once i''m wrapped up in my mantle, he inquires: ¡°Where did you learn to swim ?¡± I can see suspicion on his face as well as on some of the nearby fishermen.
¡°My grand pa taught me.¡± I lie without hesitation.
¡°And where did he learn? Those were some strange moves, kid¡± says the one that gave me the liquid fire: an old fisherman with a grizzled beard.
I shrug ¡°He was in the army for a while, so maybe there?¡± He had been a scout indeed, so I hope they teach their soldiers how to swim.
Peterell is still doubtful but decides that he doesn''t really care in the end. ¡°mmh, whatever. Those were some good moves, you were able to swim with clothes on. Good, you wont join Amidea''s palace on your first dip. I''ll have you ask your grandfather to teach that to Mel too if you don''t mind.¡±
Shit, I can''t let that happen if I don''t want my lie exposed: ¡°I can teach her if you want.¡± I hurriedly add. ¡°I''m already used to teaching her new things.¡±
My last sentence causes some mocking laughs to erupt from around. The sailors making some lewd comments on my precocity around pussies. Her dad doesn''t bother answering me or the banterer, apparently accustomed to the rumpus. Sailors are sailors after all.
The liquid fire slowly turns to embers then dies inside and the cold comes kicking back harsher. I can''t feel any dizziness nor drunkenness though, confirming it wasn''t alcohol. Maybe some kind of magic potion? That would be a first and I''ve never heard of those till now. I can''t ask the old sailor as he went to take care of his own business.
The sun is now completely risen from behind the white fangs mountains. First daybell rings and the men goes on their skiffs and barks. Aiming for the middle of the wide river, where there are no sail boats travelling for now.
¡°Do you have a knife ?¡± asks Peterell. I shake in denial. ¡°I was expecting that. I forgot to mention it yesterday, here have this one.¡± He gives me an old rusty blade, 10 cm long with jagged edges and a simple wooden handle. ¡°In the middle of the river, if you fall in the water and feel something dragging you by your feet, do not hesitate: strike and slash at it. The blood and pain should make the chogsu let you free. Come back on board as quick as you can, the smell of blood can attract many more things.¡± His draggy accent make his sentences sound even more threatening.
What have I gotten myself into? What in Charavatkeh''s bestiary is a chogsu? I''m not sure I want to find out. I shiver as I think that I was defenceless in these waters just minutes ago.
¡°Keep the blade strapped where you can easily grab it whenever needed.¡± He taps at his own arm where there is his own blade strapped on: a massive copper dagger with a finely carved ivory handle. Quite the fancy item for a commoner.
¡°Thank you sir.¡± I put my still damp clothes on, shivering lightly in the wind that is both freezing and drying me up.
With a bit of rope I craft a makeshift strap for my rusty blade. Making sure it is well fixed and easy to access, the blade is stuck between two loose knots, both keeping it well in place while making it easy to grab if needed. Please Amidea, make that never.
My mentor nods in approval when seeing my knots before clasping my wet shoulders: ¡°Telerios, we are going to make a fisherman out of you.¡±
Chap 19: Catches and tentacles.
Petrell''s ¡°boat¡± is a one mast sloop with 2 sails.
It is bigger than most other fishermen''s dinghy, rafts and other canoe. Our ride is about 7 meters long for 2 wide and has a flat bottom fit for river sailing.
It is an old but well maintained embarkation: the wood is polished by use on some parts yet shiny with a recent coating of polish. Onboard there are a diverse array of nets, lines, and poles but also some impressive harpoons laying at the prow, ready for use.
I voice my concern: ¡°What are we supposed to catch with these?¡± pointing warily at the harpoons.
My captain answers sternly ¡°They are not for today, don''t worry. Namasus won''t come in these waters until Fall.¡±
He pushes the boat afloat and joins me aboard. He keeps the sails down and instead takes a pair of rows to lead us 30 m away from the riverbank. The mist was dispersed by the sun and I can now contemplate the full extent of the river.
Around here the Awanui river is almost 200 meters wide with a calm flow. The waters are dark and murky, rich with silt brought back from under the mountain. This is what makes the river so fishy: there is much nutrients in the waters right now, perfect for algae and krills in turn attracting fish and other predators.
Far down the river in the south, I can make out the giant bridge crossing over to reach the eastern farmlands and orchards. The bridge is officially named ¡°the red emperor''s bridge¡± but since it''s the only bridge on the Awanui river, people just wisely call it the big bridge. Upstream here if one wants to cross over, large flat barges are the way to do it.
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Despite our boat being bulkier than the small rafts of other fishermen, my captain still stops at the same distance from the shore as them.
Sensing my surprise he simply says: ¡°Let''s start easy, you don''t want to go in the middle of the river yet. Trust me. Charavatkeh keeps some big nasty ones there.¡± Yeah I''ll trust your word for it, I''m not in a hurry to see them for myself.
¡°For today I want you to learn how to cast a line, watch it and reel it back. With fish if possible.¡± He orders me, each words coming out slowly as if he''s speaking to a dumb person or a foreigner. Well, as a young kid I must look like a bit of both to him.
He brings me on starboard and casts 10 lines in a row. He then goes on the other side to repeat the action. ¡°Now we wait and watch. Stay focus.¡± He is a man of few words.
As I open my mouth to ask a question he just raises his scars covered hand in front of his lips, his index finger calling for silence.
I am left to watch my lines, the flowing waters and the surrounding scenery. Gulls are gathering up overhead the fishermen, crying their hunger out loud, diving to catch the fish guts that are thrown at them as fishermen clean their fish on the get go.
Upstream the first merchants boats are appearing, sailing towards the mercantile docks of the southern district. They have heavy railings reinforced with spikes and blades and the sailors all look more like soldiers than simple crew mates, some of them are even wearing armour despite the drowning risk if they were to fall overboard. Piracy must be a serious threat for them to be so geared up.
I can spot a few fish fins, silver flashes cutting the water surface. I also see a few more worrying sights in the middle of the river: a rosy tentacle that rises from the water to catch a gull and pull it underneath the water, leaving only a few feathers floating... And a big spray of water caused by whatever surfaced to breath in.
Maybe piracy wasn''t their sole worry...
After some patient watch two of my lines finally caught something. I gently reeled them up. There was some resistance but nothing that steadiness and a good arm lock couldn''t beat. I ended up with 2 fishes onboard: a catfish looking thing with 4 long antennas. The thing was almost half a meter long. And also a smaller rainbow coloured trout: literally looking like a parrot fish going to carnival, not just a fancy name.
¡°Nicely done, you didn''t break a line. Tamayoku favours you.¡± Compliments my captain before grabbing the fishes and throwing them in a pail full of clear water.
On his side he''d already caught four. Two nice shad looking things with a distinctive vermilion dorsal fin, a fat eel thingy still wriggling on the deck and another rainbow trout.
¡°Put the mogoi into the pool.¡± he points at the wriggly eel thing and then at another bigger pail.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
It is slimier than anything I''ve ever touched. Whenever I start to grab a hold of it, some of it scales hardens and cuts at my fingers. After a few more wounds bloodying my hands, i just leave the thing on the floor and stomp on its head, killing or at least stunning it.
Peterell just laughs slowly when it happens, sounding like a mischievous pirate ¡°Harr, harr, Nice one kid. It took me five more cuts before doing the same when I was in your shoes. Mogois are tasty but are a pain to handle. Killing it was the right decision, now I''ll show you how to clean it.¡± He shows his hands full of scars as proof of his experience.
He grabs the limp body with a clothe and guts it with his knife, showing me how to not hurt myself on the sharp scales. He then removes the guts and organs without tainting the flesh and finally skins it from top to bottom. The stripped snake thing is then put in a jar with brine and herbs to both preserve it and start seasoning it.
¡°Mogois are a delicacy, it will fetch for a good price on the west market.¡± he happily says in his lazy style, while throwing the guts around the boat, mumbling a small prayer to either Amidea, Otik or Fortan ¡°This will attract more, be ready to reel.¡± he warns me.
And he is right, as soon as he says so my lines are tugging one after the other.
In the end I broke 5 lines but brought 20 more fishes up. The captain did fare even better and the pool, pails and jars aboard are soon filled to the brim with our prizes.
Fourth morning bell rings and he steers us back ashore. Most other boats do the same.
¡°No one fishes for the rest of the day?¡± I''m surprised that work ends so early.
¡°Now there will be more merchants sailing up and down and the barges crossing the river. They''ll trouble the fishes and the tridents will be swimming around, scarying our preys too.¡± he explains with his unique accent.
¡°The tridents ?¡± I retort. What are those now?
He points at 2 men standing on one of the decks a bit further ahead of us. I say men but they are far from it.
They have an aquamarine scaly skin that reflects light and gills on their necks. Their heads are a bit smaller than humans but with eyes that are rounder and bigger, deep blue in colour and with many folds eyelids.
They are wearing some chain-mail and both carry a huge trident, holding it with their webbed hands.
Before I can ask more Peterell completes his explanation: ¡°They are Nereians, merfolks. The city houses a unit of about fifty of them, tasked with securing the waters. They hunt underwater monsters and other dangerous threats. They also make sure the merchants boats are travelling safely. Show them respect whenever you talk to them, they are your lifeline on these waters.¡± He adds with heartfelt admiration.
¡°I''ve never seen any before,¡± I respond with wonder.
¡°No surprise, they don''t like being ashore. Water is their domain, not the ground.¡± he states.
They must be one of the 8 humanoids races. I''ve already seen 5 of them now (Trolls, Beastkins, Humans, Elves and now Nereids, only 3 more to meet, gotta catch them all).
The 2 waterguards dive without a splash in the water despite their mail and weapon, going on patrol.
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He docks the boat and shows me how to fix it to the pontoon. The knot is complex yet easy to reproduce, I learned a bit about knots from surgery. One of the sailor, the one with the liquid fire, comes to check my knot before nodding in approval. ¡°A good lad ye found for yourself Pet''. How''as your catch ?¡±
My new boss looks at me then at his pools on board before answering with satisfaction ¡°Not bad. A hex catfishs, a few trouts, ara (10) vermilions, enough small fry, two full guddus and a mogoi.¡± he lists with pride.
The guddus are big brown sea-slugs that smells like rotten meat, they are the source of the grey eggs I ate before.
The old sailor comically raises one eyebrow and whistles in appreciation ¡°Nice catch. The kid is bringing Fortan and Tamayoku in his underwear or what?¡± making an obscene gesture towards his crotch.
¡°He broke five lines in total.¡± answers Peterell, looking at me with exaggerated disappointment. Are 5 lines that big of a deal?
¡°Still worth it,¡± rebukes the sailor. He then turns toward me ¡°If you ever get bored of Pet''s sullenness, come join me: old Aroku and bring some of that luck with you.¡± he points at himself. ¡°I''ll even let you have some more Drata.¡± he shows the flask he gave me a sip from earlier when I came out of the cold waters.
I just nod, not wanting to offend either of them.
After that all that was left was to unload the boat and carry most of the catches, still alive in their bassin, to a wheelbarrow. Once done, Peterell took the vermilions out and we gutted them. I say we but it was mostly him as he had to correct my numerous mistakes while I''m learning the technique.
When we were done I was tasked with cleaning the deck, pails and our gruesome mess ashore. Then I was to repair some of the nets although we didn''t cast any today. This felt more like the seamstress job I tried to escape from.
When second daybell rang, he taped on my shoulder and brought me to a nearby food-stall.
A middle aged blond lady was serving food to the fishermen around, cooking their fish with a sidedish of soup and blue potatoes.
Peterells gave her 5 small bronze coins and 5 of the smallest vermilions. She grilled them and sprinkled salt and herbs atop, while we drank some warm soup. We then got our plates with fish and potatoes. This is a far better meal than anything i got at the tailor shop. It''s not just a snack.
I''ll need to eventually teach her deep frying and breadcrumbs. Can bunta make breadcrumbs? I wonder. She will make a killing with fish n chips.
Peterell barely talks with the other fishermen who don''t seem to be annoyed by his attitude. They must be accustomed to it. The group jokes and laughs around idly until third daybell.
We then start making our way home. I''m surprised there isn''t more work to do. Peterell pushes the wheelbarrow loaded with our fresh catches.
When we arrive in front of my door, he leaves me, giving me 5 eggs he fetched out of one of the gutted guddus, 2 medium sized catfish (almost 3kg of fish) and 10 small bronze coins.
¡°Next time be careful with the lines, they are made of spider-silk thread and are quite costly.¡± he lectures me.
I''m happily surprised by the amount of today''s bounty. ¡°Isn''t this a bit too much? How comes there aren''t more fishermen when one can win so much in a day?¡± I ask with a hint of greed.
He laughs at my naivety ¡°Wise men value their lives highly.¡± His face turns stern again ¡°Today was uneventful and a great harvest. The mogoi especially will fetch for a good price.¡± he turns his gaze towards the sky ¡°but not everyday is that smooth. When it gets too windy or rainy, the river can be dangerous as the tridents are busy around. Even with the patrols, boats can get attacked and capsized.¡± I tremble at the idea: I don''t want to fall in the murky waters and discover what a chogsu is. ¡°And sometimes there is just no luck, Amidea keeps the hoard to herself.¡± he shrugs. ¡°With risk comes rewards, same hour tomorrow. Rest well Telerios.¡± he takes his wheelbarrow towards market place. Leaving me with my spoil of the day. I give him a polite bow in thanks.
I wait for Gel''s return so that we can go milk Godzilla together while recounting our respective days to each other.
Mom was happily surprised with my bountiful loot. And we have catfish pot for dinner.
But I pocketed the coins for myself, storing them for my long term project: buying paper.
Chap 20: First blood.
Just like Peterell prophetized the following weeks are less productive.
Spring is full of rainy days and the northern wind is still blowing frequently. I still managed to bring some fish back home and earned a few more coppers for my stash.
After carefully reflecting about it and studying their techniques I doubt there is much I can bring to their fishing industry. Their tools are crude but effective and the men know their jobs: placing themselves on the optimal spots or caring for their gear. I was stupidly presumptuous and pretentious to believe I could do better. At least not until I can learn more about the local ecology. There might be some room for fish herding, especially for the eggs if we can catch enough guddus. The way they have to gut the slugs to grab the eggs looks crude. I believe that I can do better.
More often than not we stay either ashore either tending to the boat and gear or harvesting cockles, mussels, small prawns and various comestibles seaweeds (Is it still seaweed if it is in a river, or does that make it river weed?). Some look familiar, some are overly exotic and taste weird. For example there is that orange weed that has a mustard aftertaste. They dry it and grind it into a powder to sprinkle it on food as a spice.
When weather conditions are mild enough we go out to the 30m range. I''ve only been further once, so we could finally use the nets. It brought back aboard a lot of fish, including a chogsu ¡°hatchling¡±: the thing was a mass of wriggling, barbed, dark green to bright pink tentacles, already a meter big. In the middle of the tangled mess of dangerous tentacles there was a sharp looking beak, eagerly clasping at the air around in hope of biting some flesh out, the sinister clacking sound leaving no doubt at what would happen to my fingers if they ever got near this orifice.
Peterell quickly stabbed it with a harpoon through the mouth staining the floor with a green ooze blood.
Now for sure: no bathing in deep waters for me. The monstrous thing was hacked to pieces and thrown overboard in an offering to Charavatkeh, begging him to keep the congeners of this child of his away from us.
These beasts are also why nets get damaged so fast despite the thick cords. Between them, the mogoi''s sharp scales and whatever else lies underwater with bladed fins or other fangs, our net gets cut full of holes in a single use.
But nets are worth it. That day netted me a large bronze coin. It is an oval shaped coin about twice the size of samller coppers, with a square hole in the middle. It is worth a hex small bronzes.
As far as I''ve seen about money, people use bronze coins small and large in their daily transactions. I know that a hex of large bronze is worth an iron coin, but I haven''t seen any yet.
A half loaf of bunta is 3 bronzes, a meal at a stall is usually 8 small bronzes. In everyday talk the terms bronze and copper are used indifferently to design the smallest coins.
If my parent''s salaries are higher than mine (which they should be, I''m barely an apprentice) they should be able to hoard many large bronzes each month. The fact that we are not points me to taxes.
I perfectly understand that the city needs garrisons and an army. I can see everyday how much the tridents are needed here by the river but I also saw the lavishness of the blades.
The gini index around here must be so high that I believe it to be one of the causes of the slow development. Magic being the other cause: why search to understand the underlying laws of nature when you can circumvent them with magical shenanigans ?
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In the first cycle of leafior (3rd month of spring), I saw my first death.
It was a windy day and Peterell kept us in the 50 meters zone. We were casting lines around us, bringing back some small fry. One of the dinghy with a duo of sailors aboard: a father and his son, the young one looking no more than 10, went ahead of us in the 80 meters range in the middle of the river.
All was going as usual: gulls were avidly gliding above us, voicing their hunger in sonorous trumpeting. The river was lightly rocking our boat almost like a gentle mother. The catches were decent and I was going to have eggs for dinner seeing how plump the guddus were.
Coming from the north a strong gust of wind rolled down the mountains, bringing a series of medium waves with it. Peterell had kept our boat in the current so our sails were free and just went stale, following the winds direction like a weathercock.
But as the waves were hitting most boats, the young sailor was shook enough to fall overboard.
Immediately his father dexterously threw a rope at him and in a well-trained fashion started to quickly reel him up aboard.
That''s when the screaming started.
A desperate horrible cry coming from the boy, filled with gurgles when his head was getting hit by a wave. The water around him was turning cherry red. The scream kept going during the whole reeling. It was sending pain and fear down to my bones, whatever was going on was worse than anything I ever saw. I have heard more than one animal cry in pain, screaming to death when hurting. But nothing hits you like the cry for help coming from a fellow suffering human.
When the sailor finally managed to pull the teenager aboard, the lower half of his body was missing... He quickly expired on the spot, his father frozen in shock.
Peterell immediately steered our boat towards theirs, we couldn''t do much but mariner''s ethic still compelled him to go at least to secure and comfort a colleague.
Once back on shore, the dockmaster: a middle aged free citizen with flashy curly redhair wearing a blue jacket with many yellow medals looking embroidery, took the man to his office while other sailors took care of the remains of the deceased. As the youngest, I was tasked with cleaning duty and had to brush the boards full of blood, gore and shit.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
I''ve seen my fair share of gore in my former life. Wounded animals, trapped ones, sick ones, hunted ones even, rotting carcasses. But never before did I have to wash so much human blood. I got dizzied by the induced nausea but still refrained myself from vomiting. I didn''t want to have to wash my own retch afterwards.
Once done Peterell gave me a tap on the shoulder ¡°You are a tough one, Tel. I''ve seen sailors puking over less.¡± there was no praise in his tone, just a factual observation. ¡°Now don''t get complacent. Take this as a reminder that Fortan is always waiting to fuck you over on this river. One day he brings you enough mogois to entice you to go further away from the shore and the next day, one of his pranks pushes you in the water to become the prey.¡± The way his slow accent stretched the words emphasized his bitterness; the man must have seen similar tragedies more than once.
I now get why my mother wasn''t too fond of the idea of me going fishing. It is a risky endeavour. What must hunting be like for it to be even more out of question? What does grand pa faces outside our walls?
I didn''t recount the event of the day to either my parents nor Gel. They wouldn''t be able to bring me solace and I would just add to their worries. Godzilla is my sole confident, agreeing with me that the gods are cruel, be it in this world or the former.
Or maybe she just doesn''t care. Lizards are cold hearted (and blooded).
*????????*????????*????????*????????*
On the morrow of the tragedy despite the advantageous weather: light breeze with few lazy clouds far up; no anglers dares to go far. Peterell takes the boat a bit downstream and close to the shore. There we use some ¡°shovels¡± to dig at the silt, then search it for scampis.
At second morning bell we go in the 30m range to cast a few lines. Despite having some good catches: vermillons and a big silvery pike like, he steers us back to the deck way before fourth morning bell.
I dare a question at my stern captain: ¡°Will we ever go further in the middle of the river?¡± Not that I''m eager to but I still want to know.
¡°In the summer maybe. More tridents patrol then, less bad things lurking in the waters. Yesterday Arrik got too greedy. Or desperate.¡± He sullenly says. His eyes wanders towards the shore where the dinghy is still docked. Unsurprisingly, the mourning fisherman didn''t show up today.
When we dock ashore there are some people waiting for us. My usual crew: Gelcaria, Melodi and Balout, led here by Mangu the brown skinned seamtress.
The catgirl rushes and makes an impressive jump to climb aboard before pouncing on her father in a seemless chain of movements. Gel is also able to jump aboard but doesn''t pounce on me. Balout wisely awaits for us on dock.
¡°What are you all here for?¡± I ask with puzzlement.
They all turn towards Peterell who laconically answers while patting his daughter''s head: ¡°Only Mel was supposed to be here.¡± He looks slightly annoyed.
Gel completes ¡°When Mel told us she was coming to have a swimming lesson with you, I decided to come too.¡± Her jealousy is barely hidden. She is still but a kid and her emotions are sometimes just too easy to read.
I look at Balout who seems indifferent: ¡°I was just dragged along, I don''t want to take a dip in cold waters.¡± his shoulders rising in powerlessness.
Peterell looks a bit guilty and uneasily scratches at the bun behind his head: ¡°I though we could take a break today with all the commotion yesterday.¡± His intonation hints at me that he didn''t disclose what happened to his daughter and that my discretion would be appreciated. ¡°And since the tridents will be a little bit more active in the coming days it would be a nice occasion for you to teach Mel your moves.¡± He looks almost embarrassed to ask me after pushing me against the wall. This is almost cute coming from my serious captain.
But wait a minute. Does that mean that the first time you told me to jump in the waters it wasn''t safely patrolled? I shiver inside as I remember the mangled corpse of the teenager. I''ll have to get to the bottom of this later.
¡°Yay, show us the secret swimming technique!¡± Mel pounces on me, sending the both of us tumbling in the nets.
I was expecting this to happen sooner or later and I''d rather teach them my swimming moves than have Peterell discuss it with my grandpa. Seeing that the kids are taken care of, Mangu leaves us, her duty done.
We all get down to our underpants, this time I''d like to find some dry clothes when coming out. Spring might be ending but the air can still be crisp and the waters fresh.
The first flowers are blooming and the trees are getting greener but catching a cold when drenched is still well within the temperatures.
When i drop on the ground the rusted blade Peterell gave me I have some newfound appreciation for the crude weapon, it might make the difference between life and death one day.
We go to a nearby natural recess of the river making a small basin in which water gets up to the waist of an adult but this much is deep enough for us kids to barely have foot. They''ll be able to keep their heads out of the water by kicking at the sludgy riverbank if needed.
Melodi is the first to go. She already knows how to swim so she''ll be the fastest to train and will then be able to help me monitor the others. She just dive bomb next to me, obviously aiming at splashing me. For a kitten, she isn''t afraid to get wet. She emerges with a wicked smile showing off her canines happy with her mischief.
With her fur trickling down with water she must feel as heavy as me when I was fully clothed. I now understand why her father would want me to teach her my technique: he saw how it helped me spare my strength despite the added weight. Endurance is primordial to not drown. If he plans to have her sail with him later my technique will be a nice buff to her survivability.
¡°Show me how you swim first.¡± I order her.
She starts a standard breaststrokes swim and can switch to a crawl-like when I ask her to go faster.
I show her how to do a half stroke, keeping one arm and leg as axis for gliding, sparing one''s stamina and switching side if needed. She quickly masters the moves. They are easier than coordinating for a crawl. She swims back and forth up to the 12m pole and is barely tired by the ordeal. Her beastkin physical prowesses are also helping her.
Now that she is a true cat-fish it is the turn for the other two.
They both carefully enter the water up until their waists, shivering with every breeze.
Melodi and I decide on a simple shared gaze to speed up the process: splashing them till they are fully wetted. When we are done and after most shrieks, protestations and promises of retaliation, Balout and Gel are more willing to completely dip in.
I first show them how buoyancy works and how they can easily keep their heads out of water. Just being able to breath and know you aren''t going to drown is the first step to being undeterred in water. Panic being the worst enemy.
Once they are confident enough, Mel and I ¡°gently entice¡± them to get their head underwater, so they can learn how to keep their breath and not panic if it ever was to happen. After much drinking, gasping, choking and some surprising heavy swearing from Gel''s part -I don''t want to know what an Ikati''s cock looks like or why she would know about it or intend to shove one down my throat- they are comfortable enough to completely immerse underwater.
Mel is in charge of Gel, the later grants me with a crestfallen stare. I notice that in the water her eyes take a deeper colouration, making them almost dark violet like some over ripe prunes.
I take care of Balout.
We teach them to do the back plank, the easiest way to stay afloat and the basic scissors legs moves.
Second day bell rings that we are only starting with breaststrokes. Much to my surprise the placid Balout is a natural swimmer, being freed from the grasp of gravity fits him like a glove.
While Gel is still struggling with the coordination to keep her head out of the water and breath without inhaling as much water as air, I even take the time to teach crawl to my stout friend.
When we deem them ready Mel and I show them the half stroke. It is easier as it require less coordination, you only have to focus on one half of your body after all. Under the bay watch of Peterell and the escort of Mel and I we have them swim back and forth to the 12m pole mark.
Although Gelcaria''s moves are clumsy and she switches to a backplanck in the end, I deem it a success. In just a day Gel an Balout went from knowing nothing to being able to maintain themselves afloat.
Now all of us know some basic swimming techniques. We''ll never compete with the nereians - although maybe Balout could if he invested himself in it, he could pass for a decent were-whale - but at least none of us will drown stupidly, provided there are no chogsu to drag us down. I shiver again when thinking about yesterday''s events.
My students are spent and so am I. We get out of the river and wait for the fresh wind to dry us up a bit, turning us into blue quivering vibrators in the process. I wish I could have a sip of that drata liquid fire drink right now.
Instead we get a warm meal, courtesy of Peterell. The hot soup is welcomed to bring some heat back to the tips of my fingers and the grilled fish to fill our emptied stomachs. Swimming is a tiresome activity.
A softened Peterell (he turns into a real doting father when Melodi is around him) even buys us some dessert in the form of seaweed cookies, surprisingly sweet and spicy.
As I''m seated next to Gel, enjoying our cookies and thinking that this should be what everyday by the river should be like, all bells in the city start ringing in a chaotic concert of discording tunes, seeding alarm and panic in the gaze of all the adults around us.
Chap 21: The monstrous Tide
As the chimes of the bells resound all together, covering the cries of the alarmed nearby gulls, everyone is stupefied, tensing up.
Peterell is the first to recover, shouting to the cooklady: ¡°Yoli! Take the kids to the dockhouse, now!¡± He points at a small shed near the docks, that doesn''t look like much. ¡°And barricade yourself down in the cellar.¡± He orders her. He then turns towards Mel to hand her his own knife: ¡°Mel you take care of yourself and your friends. Obey Yoli, stay calm and don''t make noises. Daddy will take charge of everything outside.¡± He gives her a last pat on the head.
¡°What is going on? Are we under attack ?¡± I ask in puzzlement as more and more people are running around the docks shouting orders to one another.
¡°It must be a monster tide.¡± announces Peterell, ¡°I can''t go with you. Telerios, hide with Yoli and your friends, make sure everyone stays quiet. I have to join the militia, Yoli, take them, NOW!¡± he musters all his authority and urgency in this last command. I can see the fear and anxiety lurking behind his collected facade. Things must be even worse than what he makes it sound like.
He shoves us towards the cooking lady, who grabs Melodi and Gelcaria''s hands before rushing towards the unassuming house. While I follow them I can see the sailors gathering on the dock. Most have harpoons in hand and they flock towards the Dockmaster that is yelling at them: ¡°As a free citizen, I''ll be the acting blade until one shows up. You are hereby all drafted. Take a shield in the armoury and form a spear wall. Any archer can go stand on the roof of the customs house!¡±
I can''t hear much more as Yoli is pulling us with her, hurrying us to our hiding spot. Before entering the house I cast one last glance behind me. Peterell is already in a makeshift formation with the other fishermen. There are a dozen Mermen tridents on the dock watching to the south.
There, rising above the river, I can see three incredibly massive tentacles waving in the sky. On the river itself there are unnatural waves coming towards the dock, with spiky fins emerging from them...
I can''t see anything more as Yoli pulls me in and then downstairs to the cellar before locking the door behind us. She then gather us in the furthest part of the cellar.
Mel is holding her dad''s knife, her hands in an uneasy grasp around the ivory handle. The shiny blade is almost as long as her forearm and must feel heavy for her despite her natural strenght. She is terrified, her fur is standing straight atop her making her look three time fatter than she actually is. The sight could be funny if the panic wasn''t weighing so much down on us.
Gel is faring better. Her alarmed eyes are actively searching our surroundings. The sight of the familiar purple stars somehow helps me to control my own anxiety.
Balout is whimpering yet still holding it to not cry, the boy has enough pride.
Yoli is fiddling with a flint stone and finally manages to light a lantern''s wick that casts a dim light in the cellar.
Our ¡°saferoom¡± is quite barren. There are a few empty boxes with old nets and bits of ragged sails. Piles of rubbles made of broken planks and rusted nails. I don''t see how our thin wooden door is going to shield us much.
¡°What is happening outside?¡± Finally asks Gelcaria, breaking the silence.
¡°Is dad going to be ok?¡± adds a worried Melodi.
I can see the worry and fear in Yoli''s grey-blue eyes yet being the one in charge she manages to keep her voice firm ¡°Don''t worry children, we are safe here. It must be a monster tide.¡± Melodi gasps at that. But Gelcaria, Balout and me don''t react. None of us know what she is talking about. ¡°The lordshield and the blades will take care of it soon.¡± Yoli encourages us. I don''t know if she is trying to convince us as much as convincing herself. ¡°Your dad will be fine, he is with the dockmaster and the tridentsa and he is a strong man. They will all protect us. May Husnd guide their arm.¡± She gestures for a prayer, drawing Husnd''s shield sign in the air.
I can hear Balout and Mel mechanically repeat the prayer after her. As for myself I hope Shinpilo hides us, voicing my own prayer in my mind and promising to share my knowledge with him in exchange for shelter from the eyes of the threat.
From afar we can feel the ground tremble and hear a gigantic roar that makes even the walls of our underground cellar shake. Following the roar two massive explosions are heard, causing the five of us to yelp in surprise and angst.
¡°What exactly is a monster tide?¡± I''m surprised by the trembling in my own voice.
Yoli takes some time to recover from the outside troubles before answering me in a whisper ¡°Tel, a monster tide is what it sounds like. A wave of monsters led by a bigger, stronger one. Normally it is the duty of the blades to patrol their domain to make sure no monster can grow big enough to generate a tide. But clearly one of the lords in the south failed us. May Jalea''s just wrath strike him,¡± she swears, fist tightly shut. She then puts a finger in front of her mouth, ¡°Now you all stay quiet, not a sound unless you want to attract the attention of the monsters.¡± she whispers us.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
She is hugging Balout who is sobbing in silence. Mel''s two hands are gripping Petrell''s knife until her knuckles turn white. Her cats eyes are fixated on the cellar''s door pupils wide open, her ears focusing on any sound filtering from the outside.
I have my own rusty blade in my right hand, not really knowing what I would be able to do with it if push comes to shove. I''ve never trained in knife handling, even less for combat purpose.
Feeling my dismay, Gelcaria, takes my left hand in hers, silently nodding at me as if to say ¡°it''s gonna be alright.¡± Her unnatural calmness somehow is even more unsettling: how can I let a kid be more composed than I am?
It''s never going to be alright and soon enough we can hear fighting sounds coming from above, probably from the nearby street. Men yelling, monsters shrilling and screaming, bronze weapons clinking on chitin or scales. Occasionally someone roars in pain, it is hard to say if it comes from a human or a river creature. An explosion shakes us again. This time the deflagration was close by, Ballouts and Yoli both emits a small cry. It''s my turn to be the one shushing them, Balout puts both his hands in front of his mouth, his eyes still terrified.
Gel leaves my side to go pick up a broken plank, an improvised staff is better than nothing.
We all stand on alert when we hear some skittering sounds coming from the floor above us.
Everyone is holding their breath up.
I sigh in relief as the crawling sound goes away only to get tensed up again when it comes from the wooden staircase this time. Something heavy is making the steps creak and is coming towards our barred door.
We are all statued not daring to even breath but our thumping hearts are making so much sound that we can''t be discreet, at least mine is bursting through my ears and I can feel Gel''s fleeting pulse in her thin wrist.
Then something starts banging at the door.
Yoli, Balout and Mel end up whimpering. The thing outside heard them and redoubles the banging and slashing at our door, planks creaking and trembling in their hinges.
Soon enough, one of the planks explodes in splinters and a bluish pincer the size of an adult''s arm appears through it. Yoli shrieks yet finds the courage to stand in front of us in a protective stance. Just like Gel, she grabs whatever makeshift weapon she can and steels herself for what''s to come.
The creature''s efforts grows frantic as it smells us, the breach growing bigger until the hinges break and the whole door falls.
In front of us is standing a lobster-crab thing, as big as a lion, with 4 pincers on top of it waving and clasping around and walking on four legs. Its four beady dark eyes are locked on us and it shrills in frenzy, charging towards us.
Yoli hits it with her plank, that is deviated by one of the pincers. The thing then clasp one pincer around the cook lady''s left thigh and another pinches her thorax, before holding the screaming woman above its monstrous head like in a victory pose.
The flickering light of our lantern reflects on the oily shell of the monster making it look on fire with its every move. The eldritch creature starts to tear the cook apart, the woman wails in pain, her shout getting more and more in the trebles as her body gets forcefully stretched, sending both shivers and drills through my spine and eardrums. We are all petrified by the horrific sight.
Her wailing stops as cracking sounds are heard coming from her back and she goes limp in the grasp of the beastly claws.
The sudden silence breaks me out of my stupor but Gelcaria is the first to react: with her stick in hand she rushes toward the thing, calling for assistance: ¡°Telerios, strike it, now or never!¡±
I can''t help but follow after her as she strikes at the arthropod. Her makeshift weapon gets caught by one of the remaining pincers. She dances around the inhuman limb to end up kicking the mouth of the beast. This is the most reckless thing I''ve ever seen.
On my side I manage to avoid the last pincer, the distraction provided by Gel allowing me to shove my blade through the biggest eye in front of me.
The thing roars in pain and anger, one sweep of its arm throws Gel flying in a pile of wooden crates while the last pincer clasps itself around the right side of my upper waist, trying to crush my liver and cutting my breath by forcefully emptying my lungs.
I''m lifted in the air, the pressure of the pincer growing, the pain is barely bearable. I can almost feel some ribs cracking. I know a child''s bones are somewhat flexible but there must still be a limit.
In the corner of my eyes I see a flurry of grey fur as Melodi passes on the left side of the beast and manages to pierce another eye with her own blade before getting sent flying away.
I catch one of the beast''s antennas atop its head and pull on it with the energy of despair. The lobster thing roars in pain and vigorously shakes me, pulling on its own appendix even more.
When I believe the thing is going to finally pop me like one of those bubbles in bubbles wrap, holding me high in the air and increasing the pressure, Gel grabs one of my feet and uses it to swing herself toward the head of beast, using her heel to hammer my knife deeper inside.
This is the literal last nail on the coffin for the beast, it crumbles and dies before us in a last gurgle.
I fall to the ground yet am still clasped tightly in the irremovable pincer. Purple ichor and black brain matter ooze out of the wound of the beast, bringing out a coppery smell to permeate our cramped cellar.
I can hear someone vomiting in the back, probably Balout''s lunch coming out.
As we all catch our breath thinking things are now over, a growl attracts our attention. In the gaping doorframe of our cellar stands another beast: smaller but meaner looking. A green blue dog sized hyena covered in seaweeds and shells like some degenerate seal.
It starts rushing towards me while bellowing.
I''m shackled in the pincer and unable to avoid it. The thing''s maw opens to reveal two rows of triangular shaped teeth, reminding me of sharks.
As I feel my last moments are upon me, a tempest of claws and hissing rage intercepts the sea monster, sending it astray and leaving clear cuts on its belly.
But it was able to strike back with it''s own claws at Mel too: there is a gash bloodying the fur of the angry kitten''s left arm.
The thing grunts and almost barks before a thumping Balout falls on it, pounding it''s head with a wooden hammer he found Arteus knows where. The boy is red in anger, not emitting a sound yet clearly enraged. In a few strikes the skull of the beast cracks and breaks. The blond berserker keeps pummelling until he tires out, leaving only a pulpy mush behind him of the same purple and black consistency as the lobster''s ichor.
Now we are all out of breath and more or less lightly hurt. I''m still stuck in the unwavering hold of the pincer, Gel is bruised but trying to pry it open to free me. Mel is checking her wound and Balout is still stunned by his own furor, not realising what happened. When I raise the head I can cross the dead stare of Yoli forever fixed in absolute terror. Her corpse is still grotesquely hold up in the air atop the monster''s head.
Melodi tries to calm down Balout, dragging him away from the door. But as she does so a chanting shrills resound in the staircase, like a dolphin''s whistles and cackling. We all freeze in fear.
Something else is coming.
Chap 22: the aftermath
Gelcaria is the first to come up to her senses.
She quickly goes to the monster''s corpse to extract Peterell''s blade from the right eye of the beast, mine being too far sunk in its skull. She then stands beside me and readies herself for whatever is coming for us next.
We can see shadows cast on the ground coming from behind the doorframe before the squealing sound stops.
A strange voice is heard, like an overlapping echo, talking to us: ¡°Is anyone in there?¡± It probes with care.
We are too stunned and relieved to answer and soon after the wary face of a Nereian appears, trident pointing forward. He stops when he sees Yoli''s dead body hanging above the monster''s remains, still held in the pincers. His big fish eyes cover themselves with a layer of trans lucid eyelids, probably helping him to better see in the dim light of the cellar. His gaze finally falls on Gel and the rest of us.
His face grimaces in a parody of a smile showing rows of small pointy teeth, not unlike our last adversary. ¡°Don''t worry girl, I''m with the Tridents. We are going to keep you safe, we are her to help.¡± He states with his eerie voice.
Gel doesn''t relax much, it must be her first time seeing a nereian up close or at all. Melodi is the first to answer : ¡°Please help Tel, he''s hurt.¡± She says pointing at me with her unharmed arm.
Her solicitude is truly touching when she herself is wounded.
The closest Nereian approaches me, his yellow eyes reflecting my face like a mirror. He has long curly green hair tied in a warrior''s braid. He carries the smell of fresh water with him but nothing fishy or smelly. His webbed moist hand touches mine to check for my pulse or something because he turns towards his companion to squeal something in their dolphin-like language, emitting a series of high pitched sounds and whistles.
The both of them manage to pry open the pincer using one of their trident as lever. When the lock binding me finally eases I slip down. My legs flinch under me but the river guard catches me before I can fall. I have just enough time to take a look at my right side, rolling my shirt up: there is an impressive bruise and a small haematoma forming under it but no cut nor slices and no blood sipping out. Each breath is painfully burning my right side and lung but I don''t feel the need to cough up blood. At least I have no perforated lung nor pneumothorax. If I have some broken ribs I luckily evaded the worst outcomes.
The Merman takes a quick look at the wound and deems it light enough to move me around. He carries me outside while his colleague takes care of my comrades.
They escort us back to the docks and to the ¡°admiralty¡±, which became a field hospital.
Outside, the wide river is now unnaturally bright blue like a cleaned toilet sink, tainted by the ichor of hundreds of monsters. The fishermen are now at ease but keep their harpoons nearby and there are others, who I assume to be the local blades with them. Well equipped men and women in shiny armours and showing signs of wielding magic. I can see a woman with purple flames dancing around her left arm while another has a shiny halo of flying crystals, dazzingly circling around him at high speed and there is a last one carrying a maul that is the size of a small car probably using Chi to manage the feat of lifting the thing.
Far away to the west in the sky above the lord''s castle I can make out the shapes of some flying cavalry. Squads flying in tight formations, although they are too far for me to tell on what they are flying.
In the south there is a pillar of black smoke rising from the river were the biggest tentacled monster was.
Only now after the adrenaline wears off and my brain resumes its normal functioning, do I get hit by the full brunt of what happened.
I''ve seen some terrible sights in my life. I remember a dolphin slaughter in Japan where the sea was reddened by the sheer amount of fresh blood. The coppery smell, the unnatural red sea, the cries of the panicked cetaceans and the stern faces of the butcherers there made me puke back then.
But right now I''m not disgusted by the pile of monsters. Those aren''t animals, they are unnatural vermins that mercilessly murdered Yoli.
The many corpses of fighters and civilians laying around are a harsh reminder that I too just almost died down there. I''ve never been this close to dying. I mean, I''ve already died once but it wasn''t anything like this, I wasn''t risking my life in front of a monster showing a disturbing will to kill me at all cost, nor witnessing the brutal death of anyone else.
This is a brutal reminder that this is not Earth. My life here is most precarious. I''m trembling in fear at the sudden realisation: I can die almost anytime, be it an unlucky dip in the river, a bad flu or now a surprise monster attack.
This has to change somehow, I don''t want to go on like that nor do I wish this kind of life for my loved ones!A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Inside the field hospital there are Fusaad''s acolytes taking care of the wounded, cleaning gashes and cuts before applying some balms and wrapping them in bandages. There is even a priestess of Fusaad in her dark green robe, mumbling healing prayers beside the most heavily wounded ones to ward off infections.
The air is heavy with the smell of blood, medicinals herbs and retch. And with the occasional wails of the wounded it makes for an unsettling mood.
As I am examined by a Temple''s sister Peterell appears, his left arm at 90 degrees bound in a sling. His face is still covered by a crust of purple dried blood spots and his black hair is now loose and dishevelled. He is unable to carry his daughter who rushes at him but pats her head, relieved to see all of us alive even if harmed.
Mel almost purrs under his petting, also relieved to feel safe back again after our underground ordeal.
After a look at his daughter''s blood covered fur comes the sad question: ¡°Where is Yoli? What happened to you lot?¡±
I wasn''t feeling the energy to answer him. Instead Gelcaria was the one to talk, stating bluntly ¡°She''s dead. We got attacked by two monsters.¡±
If Peterell was shocked by the news he doesn''t show it. I''m amazed by their stoicism. Peterell I can understand, the man looks like he has seen a lot. But Melodi and Gelcaria? Where did they find the strength to not panic earlier and how did they take this so well? Even Balout who was terrified down there is now looking better after his mad display of brutality.
Still puzzled by their resilience I find the will to add about the poor Yoli, ¡°She went ahead and sacrificed herself to shield us.¡± The least I can do to thank her is to praise her memory.
Peterell makes a prayer to Otik, god of death and wandering souls, asking him to bring our saviour a well earned respite.
In the end I get plastered with a smelly ointment that prickles at my skin a little, wrapped in a bandage around my chest and fed a disgusting ¡°herbal pill¡±. I know the best remedies are supposed to taste bitter but this is really too much. I hope it is as efficient as the sour aftertaste it leaves on my tongueis strong.
My ribs aren''t broken according to the young acolyte''s diagnose after a quick examination. I don''t know how she can tell but I don''t feel like arguing. I too believe nothing is broken.
The others get the same light tending to their cuts and wounds before we are allowed to leave under the care of Peterell. Gelcaria and Balout only had minor bruises and small cuts.
Only Melodi had a deeper wound where the sea hyena thing clawed at her arm. She''s been bandaged and also got a medication. Her flat face frowning at the sourness with her cute tiny nose wrinkling in disgust till it turned white. ¡°Bleh.¡± was her thanks to our medic.
Outside, back on the docks, there are guards in mails and groups of soldiers patrolling all around weapons at the ready despite there being no threat left. Not too far there is pile of humanoids corpses: soldiers and civilians less lucky than we were. A priestess of Otik dressed in black and white is praying for their souls to find rest.
Peterell goes to exchange a few words with the dockmaster probably to inform him about the death of Yoli and where to recover her body in case the tridents didn''t carry the info back at him.
The bodies of monsters are piled in multiples mounds. Some are already put afire by mage blades or Oreo''s priests. The smell of burnt flesh gets added to the mix. For a second I feel like eating some fish grillades, which reminds me that Yoli is now dead and that she will never be at her cooking stall again. Now the smell makes me slightly nauseous.
The bells aren''t chiming in alarm any longer and evening bell rings once reminding us of how late it got.
The sailor escorts us back to our homes. Balout is the first to leave us, his bakery being on our way back. His family is unharmed and both glad to see the boy safe and worried by his bruises and gory tale.
Having turned a monster''s head to mulch seems to have given him his wits back. As terrified as he was in the cellar, he now seems to have recovered. Or maybe he is still in the daze of the shock? Time will tell.
Gel and my place are our next stop. No one got hurt in Gel''s home. At my home I''m the last one coming back. Mom hugs me and frowns at the sight of Peterell''s wounded arm and even more when I whimper in pain as she hugs my chest. With a face turning sourer and sourer she lift my shirt to find the bandages wrapped around my chest. Under her gaze full of reprimands the fisherman recounts the events of today.
The monstrous tide was mostly of waterborn monsters. They managed to infiltrate the city by surprise, staying unnoticed underwater. Only when the biggest of them got spotted did they close the southern river gate but it was already to late to impede most of the tide. What''s even stranger is how the horde got unnoticed through the southern territories.
The south merchant district endured most of the attack. The leviathan (probably the big tentacles we saw from afar) managed to enter before the closing of the gate and was fought back there by the shieldlord and his retinue.
The area around the south docks got thrashed, many buildings got destroyed and one of two bridges got partially destroyed. It''s a massive stone edifice that will take some time to repair. This will hurt the city''s trade badly. But the few living and working on the other river bank will make the business of barges thrive in the near future.
The fishermen at our dock also faced a large attack. They were taken by surprise and overwhelmed by the sheer number of mokuris (the sea-hyenas things) and pushed back by the armoured zarigans (the arthropod lobster monster) until the garrison was able to reinforce them.
Those on the river and the boats that were sailing at the moment got whipped out, their boats capsized and sunken.
During the ensuing chaos a few monsters were able to pass through and charge deeper in the city. Our ordeal in the cellar wasn''t an exception. If nothing, we even fared better than most, at least some of us made it out.
Again the sight of the mangled body of Yoli imposes itself in my mind.
I thank Melodi once more before she leaves. When she kicked that sea-hyena monster she saved my life. She waves it off like it''s nothing but still blushes in pride a little bit. She''s probably not fully understanding the scope of her act, it was both reckless but also my life saver. I''ll owe her, and Gel, and Balout''s berserker fury.
At home Dad has a small bandaged cut on his right arm. He got drafted in the east hill militia and they got assaulted by a couple of flying fish monsters, some kind of angry exocets from what he describes. My mother and sister were safe, far enough from the river to not be faced with any attack.
Because they keep pressing me on, especially my brother Barasti who was sheltered away from the danger. I briefly recount what happened on my side, keeping the most gruesome details undercover. I don''t want to ever remember Yoli''s last wails but I fear I''ll have nightmares for a while.
My family is awkwardly calm about all this. I get that this must not be the first disaster they have to face but shouldn''t they be more unsettled that monsters managed to attack the city and kill so many? How can they still feel safe? I feel like I''m the only sane one around here, which is usually a sign of madness...
My sister wants to have a look at my wound but mom refrains her from unwrapping it. Big Bro tries to elbow me in the ribs to test how much that would hurt. I manage to avoid most of his attempts but have to concede a few whimpers when he gets a few good hits at my bruises.
In the backyard Godzilla is lazying in the last rays of the sun as if nothing peculiar happened today.
Our respite is quenched as grandma appears, eyes reddened and puffy, informing us that grandpa died.
Chap 23: The trial
Me and my siblings are wearing pure white outfits.
I''m being extra careful not to get any stain or filth on my garb to look my best for the ceremony. The adults are wearing mixed dark and white outfits while the few elderly present are clad in full black clothes. Grandma is wearing a black veil covering her face.
Three days have now passed since her loss but she is still crying underneath her veil.
There is a small crowd at our local temple: some of my grandparents neighbours, a few of ours, the bulk of the attending are hunters and people who worked with grandpa. There also are a few old veterans that served with him in the army and even an official of the shieldom, wearing a blue cape above his mourning outfit.
After a short eulogy by a priest of Otik we burned down a few of my grandfather''s possessions before dropping the ashes down Otik''s well.
His corpse couldn''t be reclaimed. His group of hunters were outside the city during the monstrous tide and they got caught in a skirmish with the rear guard of the monsters. The hunters were quickly overrun, outnumbered. Only one hunter and his apprentice managed to escape the slaughter, the both of them are present at the funerals.
When soldiers got wind of the attack and went on site there was only blood, some body parts and a bit of gear left behind but no retrievable corpses.
Jocalie is crying besides me and Barasti is holding back some tears of his own.
It''s not my first time burying a grandparent. I did it twice on Earth. But it doesn''t make it any easier, this grandpa was a nice guy. Always caring for us, wanting to teach us and proud of his grand kids. I wish I had more time to spend with him, at least to get to know the story behind his scar or learn a bit more about archery and hunting.
As the priest of Otik voices a last prayer for the soul of my corpse-less kin to find eternal respite, we start to make our way out of the temple, faces full of grim.
People start queuing to present their condolences at the widow. Some even brought some gifts or memento. The official hands a purse to grandma: the price of blood. Grandpa''s death is pinned down on the failures of the blade in charge of the southern region that allowed the monstrous threat to grow unchecked. Thus compensation must be paid, not much, never enough but still a symbol.
In this world bodies are usually burned and the ashes either planted under a sapling kept in an urn or dispersed in Otik''s well, depending on one''s favourite god or death circumstances. In our case it is believed that offering the ashes of the deceased''s belongings to Otik is the best way to guide his soul to rest.
After the ceremony there is a light lunch at a nearby Inn. The hunters provided lots of food for the occasion and the official and the army took charge of the drinks. I''m allowed a small glass of what I think is mead for the occasion. Some of his colleagues share anecdotes and hunting stories with dad and Barasti.
There is no other family than us. Grandpa''s siblings were long dead. My father has a dead brother and a sister that went to live in the southern republic, whom we got no news for more than five years.
Back at home we all cheer grandma as best as we can. She gifts each of us one of his belongings as a keepsake. My brother gets one of the bows, a nice composite bow made of slightly pink bones and a white wood at its core. My brother''s archery skills being the best heritage grand pa imparted him.
My sister Jocalie gets a small bronze bracelet. A gift from one of the military officers intended for grandma but she decided her grand daughter should wear it, as she was the pride of her husband.
As for me I am gifted a blade. Grand ma heard about our encounter with monsters in the cellar and decided that I needed something to defend myself with. This hunting knife belonged to grandpa, it''s a 30cm long blade made out of a silvery alloy. This is uncommon, most tools around are made out of bronze or pig iron at best. The knife''s handle is made of polished wood and it comes with a leather sheath made to be strapped around a thigh, but my tailor of a grand ma customized it so I could strap it to my arm.
Our lodging accommodations also had to change. Grandma wont be able to keep her house on her own, the rent requested by the blade being too hefty for a single lady. Barasti and I got moved to the attic and grandma and my sister will share our former room.
My brother wont stay long with me. Dad already planned to entrust him to one of his coworker. Barasti is at an age where it isn''t unusual to choose a profession so he became an instay apprentice for one of the blacksmith: an old widowed man that could use some help with chores at his place in exchange for providing roof and meals to his apprentice.
My brother will learn a trade and be taken charge of. This is some relief for my dad, with the arrival of grandMa and the incoming baby of my pregnant mother, our need for food is ever growing but our supply got greatly diminished by the loss of our hunter of a grandfather.
This is somewhat worrying me too. Fishing is good but not enough and dangerous too. The river was already dangerous on its own but now I know that even worse may always come unnoticed.
I need to speed up things and find a way to enter the temple.
I tried praying at Shinpilo''s shrine, offering to share my knowledges but either the god doesn''t care about my mundane science or my prayer didn''t got heard without an offering. I asked to talk to a priest of Shinpilo but was laughed at. These are either scholars or spies, not people easily met by a 4 years old commoner.
During what''s left of Spring and early summer I redoubled efforts at work. Not that it earned me much more.
Peterell was hurt and couldn''t use his arm for a month, stranding us either ashore or in the 15m zone. With his arm crippled he didn''t dare go in more dangerous waters deeming the risk not worth it for either of us. I trust his judgement. Our fishing became scarcer and so did my salary although we still brought enough fish for me to provide my home with some.
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I had to burn some of my savings to make an offering at Yoli''s nearest of kin: her son. A boy who just turned 16. He is a laughing lad who loves swearing and singing. I''m amazed at how positive he can stay after his loss. His name''s Kukku, he took back the food stall. His cooking is still lacking compared to his mother''s, but he is getting better by the day and is diligent.
The stall got overrun by the tide so every little help was welcomed. Most of his compensation came from the officials for blood money but Peterell also made a substantial gift, as thank for his daughter and adding mine, Gel''s (I helped her round up a decent offering) and Balout''s thanks. It helped the boy rebuild a functional stall.
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The faulty blade got judged a month after the attack.
Blade Kosho was the culprit, his trial was announced all around the city by city criers and was open for all inhabitants of the city to attend to. I took a day off work to go there, Peterell was still convalescent so it didn''t hinder much our work.
Trial was presided by both the ¡°pope¡±, called the pantheon''s head but I find ¡°pope¡± to be more fit, and the shield lord of the Kingdom and city: lord Kirinavati.
Our Lord is a fierce looking 40 something years old. Lavishly dressed in crimson silk and gold embroideries with matching golden pauldrons. His crest is a circle with three waves inside and two horns growing out of it.
The blade was interrogated in presence of a Jalea''s blessed one. Those are scary beings: because of their unyielding faith in justice and untainted honesty, Jalea grants them the power to tell truth from lies. There are only a couple of them in the city but they make the perfect judges, detectives and heads of security. They could also be used for counter spying, diplomacy and trade but such activities are looked down upon by Jaleites.
I hope I never have to face one: who knows what they would be able to find out about me and my former life?
The interrogator was an old woman clad in white armour and wearing the silver on black circle of Jalea''s moon sigil: she who casts light in the night.
The trial took place on the great Temple''s plaza. There was a small wooden stage hastily built for the occasion. The pope and lord were the judges while the Jalea''s blessed one was the prosecutor. Finally there was a jury made out of other blades. Free citizens and commoners were just allowed to witness the trial.
The plaza was crowded like never. I went with Mel and Gel and we managed to slip through the legs of the adults to find some place not too far where we could see part of the stage. Many of the spectators were wearing a black and white piece of cloth on them or simply a strip of fabric tied around an arm, meaning they had lost someone in the battle and were coming to ask for justice.
The voices of all present on stage were magically enhanced or they were using chi to make themselves heard from all.
The pope was the one to open the trial: ¡°Lord Kosho, you are in front of the gods and us believers to decide your fate and make known to the world how you took part in last month monstrous tide.¡±
The lord Shield followed with a voice as deep as the mines of the city: ¡°The damages were great: 62 soldiers died, 351 civilians lost their lives and the southern merchants dock got wiped out.¡± He stopped while the crowd was buzzing with comments on the toll. ¡°You will have to answer in front of the gods. In the name of Jalea, do you swear to say the truth?¡±
¡°Yes, I swear on Jalea to tell all I know,¡± Answers blade Kosho with a undeserved calmness. I couldn''t help but notice his choice of words: granting him some room for what was truly his responsibility. The blade is a 50 years old looking man with salt and pepper hair. Still more pepper than salt though but his long moustache is already fully white. He is dressed luxuriantly in a bright yellow robe adorned with citrine jewels all over: on his dress, rings and collar. I can''t clearly see his crest: a white beard on blue background, an eagle or a cormorant ?
¡°Were you aware of the spread of monsters in your territory?¡± directly asked the pope, cutting to the chase.
¡°Not to the extent of a tide your highness.¡± Foxily answers the blade.
Both judges turned toward the prosecutor who waved her hand meaning something on the like of : there is both truth and lie in his answer. She looked positively infuriated by the man''s attempt to conceal the truth in a mix of lie. To her this was blasphemy.
She took on the lead: ¡°Did you receive any report of increase in monster activity in recent months?¡±
The blade accused the blow, the question is harder to evade. ¡°There had been some worrying news indeed.¡± He carefully stated.
There was some swearing among the crowd. The lord shield yelped once, his voice booming to every corner of the plaza and everyone settled down at once.
The Jalea''s blessed one continued ¡°Did you implement appropriate counter measures to take charge of this matter?¡±
¡°Obviously not enough.¡± dodged the man.
¡°Answer !¡± rumbled the shield lord making echo to the disgruntle in the crowd.
¡°I did not have more available troops to handle the matter.¡± The blade defended himself.
¡°Lie !¡± objected the prosecutor. Her ability to detect lies got triggered. ¡°Did you spend as much effort as needed on this threat?¡± she continues.
¡°As much as I could afford.¡± the blade got sweaty and his yellow outfit gave him an unhealthy complexion.
¡°Lie !¡± she hammered again. This time the crowd erupte, insulting the blade. Considering the death toll there must be lots of people who lost a kin, friend, or coworker, present today. They did not take kindly to the man''s nonchalance and attempts to evade his responsibilities.
¡°When did you learn of the apparition of a monstrous leviathan?¡± asked the pope with a stern tone.
The blade took some time to answer, trying to find some clever roundabout around the question but finding none he had to answer: ¡°Two weeks before the tide.¡±
Again there was some tumult among the crowd. I could see anger flashing on Mel''s and Gel''s faces, reflecting my own indignation.
This time the shield lord waited for the tumult to calm on his own, letting us vent our wrath.
The jury of blades now looked at their peer with contempt. A failing blade is a dishonour to them all, casting shame on their caste and slurring their status. There is no doubt that there will be no mercy to expect from them.
¡°Did you neglect your duty, indulging yourself in luxury instead of being worthy of your title?¡± Attacked the Jaleite, now really angered with the man. Not only was he lying but he was also trying to cover his deeds.
¡°No !'' exclaimed bladde Kosho. As he was about to add more, he got interrupted ¡°Lie !¡± Clamoured the prosecutor once more with a vicious smile on her face.
Again: screams, insults and more rotten bunta and duggu''s eggs came from the crowd until the shield lord shouted with his supernatural voice to calm things. His low toned bellowing made my bones tremble as if I was in front of the bass speakers at a concert.
¡°Did you conspire with the monster god in any way?¡± lord Kirinavati''s question brought a huge silence on the stage and crowd. This was a major accusation.
A white faced trembling Kosho answere ¡°No! I may be a failure and unworthy of my rank but I didn''t betray the pantheon. Jalea bares me witness !¡± There is deep fear clearly palpable on him.
Everyone turns toward the Jalea''s chosen, she nods ¡°True.¡±
The judges and jury took a quick recess to debate during which the crowd was actively discussing the outcome. Death being the most common expectation. I could see killing intent in my comrades eyes, Gel''s amethysts burning with purple flames and Melodi having an almost feral look in her feline eyes. This send a shiver own my spine.
I too wanted justice, for Yoli, her son, my grandfather and all the citizens wronged by an indolent lord and mourning because of his failures.
The pope was the one to announce the verdict: ¡°Mazus Kosho, you have been judged guilty of failing your duty as a blade. Your negligence being the culprit for hundreds of deaths. As such you are sentenced to death penalty.¡± Bloodthirsty cheers erupted in the crowd, avid for revenge.
¡°You are dismissed of your blade''s rank and so goes for all your kins. None of your family will inherit any title. Your domain and possessions will fall under the shield lord''s supervision to compensate the victims. Charge will incur on him to find a fitting replacement to secure the area and perform as new blade. In the meantime he will be in charge of the security in the area.¡±
Again some cheers erupted but this time in joy and there were some shouting the shield lord''s praises, I could notice that most were city guards probably planted in the crowd to this end.
¡°Because you aren''t guilty of conspiring with the monster god, you wont be branded heretic and your family won''t be executed. May Otik accept you in his mercy. The pantheon has watched over this trial and blessed our ruling,¡± he finished.
A livid Kosho was escorted by city guards inside the grand temple. After some more clamours the crowd started dispersing and the shield lord left the stage, riding majestic on a winged bear. Now that was an animal I would like to examine closer. The beast looks like it weight over a ton yet flies with wings. There is magic there, aerodynamic can''t explain that otherwise.
The execution took place 5 days after the trial, in public again.
Kosho, now a simple citizen, was beheaded by priests of Husnd and Nasibor. Both of them using a big poleaxe, swinging it in sync to cleave the man''s neck.
The corpse was then burned on a pyre of golden flames lit by an Oreo priestess, for all to see before the ashes were returned to his family. The yellow wearing group looked ashamed and miserable but also relieved, a stain was washed away from their names.
Now they were simple free citizens.
Chap 24: Paper money
My summer was quite busy.
Firstly the girls were now tagging along twice a week. Peterell deemed the river safer after the tide: the monsters killed most predators and the tridents were patrolling more often than usual according to him.
Secondly there were less dangers during summer still according to him. Monsters shouldn''t be sighted anytime soon and the most dangerous predators were driven away to the underground river by the ¡°searing light of Oreo".
Now that his arm recovered he brings us in the middle of the river. We have to maneuver between the bigger trade boats but it is worth it.
The four of us are now fishing all together aboard the small boat and our catch got uncannily abundant. Even if we now have to split in four shares, Gel and I usually could walk home with a large copper each AND food for our families.
On each seventh days Balout would join us and the four of us kids would take our afternoon to just enjoy our time: swimming in the refreshing lukewarm waters when the heat of the sun was hammering down at us, then lazily dry on a nearby stone like a knot of lizards.
Balout reminds me of Godzilla when he naps in the sun, mouth wide open toward the sky. These simple joyful moments help me forget the sight of Yoli''s dead stare a bit.
The others seem to have already recovered but I know that Gel still has some nightmares, waking up the both of us with her cries in the dead of the night when she comes to sleep in my attic. I don''t really know how to bring up the topic with the other two so as long as they seem to cope with it I''d rather not force them to reminisce about it.
I finally had the occasion to implement my first experiment on extraworldly knowledge transplant.
One of the fishermen got maimed during the fight, his right leg amputated and he now has a wooden peg leg. It doesn''t sound that bad until you understand that it means he won''t go on a boat any more. Too risky if one were to fall overboard. Not working is almost a death sentence around here.
If a worker becomes unable to earn enough to pay his blade''s protection fees he usually ends up becoming a serv and no one needs a crippled serv. This in turn often means minimal care and dangerous jobs, leading to an early grave.
This explains why I''ve seen so few elderly or disabled around: if one doesn''t have the full support of a family they are as good as dead.
The maimed fisherman is the one that gave me the liquid fire on my first day: Aroku. He is a simple and a bit rough around the edges but an honest guy. I was feeling bad seeing him desperate for odd jobs around: fixing nets, scrapping board floors, harvesting cockles in shallow water. It was a perfect occasion to try implementing the first fish farm around here.
I had set my mind on duggus.
They were low threat, caught often and producing the valuables eggs. After operating on a few specimens I found a way to cut open their cloacae and put it in communication with their egg pouch without killing them in the process. This allows a not disgusted fisherman to use a finger to go fetch an egg in the insides of the big slimy slug every other day.
Until now they just eviscerated the duggus and collect whatever eggs there were in its egg pouch.
After showing how it was possible to keep the specimen alive, I explained my idea of enclosing one of the natural basin on the shore with a fence to herd duggus for reliable long term egg production.
Most where sceptics which is only natural: who in their right mind would follow the rambling of a kid about something so whimsical?
Yet Aruko was either avant-garde enough or desperate enough to try his luck.
We used his compensation blood money to build a fence, allowing water and nutrients to freely circulate while predators couldn''t pass through it.
It took us a few days of fishing to collect enough live females duggus and I had to operate on all of them but after a while the man was herding a flock of fifty or so duggus. This herd was providing him 20 something eggs a day for little maintenance.
On its own this activity wasn''t enough to make a living but combined with his odd jobs it would allow him to afford the blade''s taxes.
The feeding issue was solved by Balout. He thought it would be an excellent use of the stale bunta bread waste from his father''s bakery. For a cheap fee Aruko was able to feed his duggus, turning any food waste from the surrounding inns and bakeries into fresh grey eggs.
This earned me the gratitude of the man and a supply of as much eggs as I could want but even more, it brought me some respect. Recognition from all the other fishermen but also from the whole dockyard: washerwomen, cooks, sailors and even the dockmaster.
Helping one of them was helping them all and they were already imagining how to expand the operation. I warned them that expanding too fast could lead to the danger of epidemics, attracting predators or feeding issues, dousing some of their greed.
The dockmaster still called for one of the temple''s priest: a Charavatkeh herder with his tentacled robe. The priest gave his approval and wrote down my process, intending to make a report to his cardinal.
This was a bit flustering, that might have been a good thing for my Shinpilo''s offering that got stolen right under my nose.
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Gel is still facing some troubles at her place. Her father is throwing a fit every once in a while. Her brother is now old enough to ensure their mother doesn''t get hurt but the girl still comes at our home, less frightened maybe but still unsettled by the events.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
After talking it through with her and since I have the attic to myself now that Barasti is in internship, we came up with an arrangement of our own.
Whenever she wants to escape her home she is to throw pebbles at our roof. I will then let down a knotted rope through the attic''s small window. The girl is deft enough to climb the few meters to join my safe haven and lean enough to fit through the small entrance. I think she might be abusing our arrangement a little bit, joining me up at least once a week.
I know she is at an age where she is looking for a surrogate fatherly figure to compensate for what life has given her but I don''t know if I am up to the task.
Yet I can''t find the will to drive her away.
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Fall was like summer less the sun and fruits and with my mother''s belly growing bigger.
She finally gave birth on the 8th of Piscost under Amidea''s full moon, making the night''s sky blue.
She gave birth at home. One of the priestess of Akola? came when labour started. She wasn''t dressed in a silky bikini thought but instead in a purple long dress. I guess midwives are also under Akola?''s domain.
My new sibling is a girl. My father considered calling her Amidea to honour her birthing moon but Mom got the final say and was the voice of reason. Thus little Ederia joined our family.
From what I can tell she took after the name of my mother''s own mother.
Mom doesn''t talk much about her family. I know she was born a serv in a travelling caravan, merchants going from city to city, travelling dangerous roads.
When they stopped in one of the caravanserails of our city of Nakunaui, my grand pa just bought her off from the merchant, almost like a slave. She was to become a bride for my father.
As gruesome as this might sound she was happy to become a commoner and there seems to be real affection between them. Just that when the caravan left my mother never saw her family again, not knowing what fate befell them. It''s a bittersweet kind of story.
Her pregnancy lasted for almost eleven, cul in the hexadecimal system, months. Making it longer than an Earthtime pregnancy but not 45% longer. I lack precision in the exact time elapsed so I cant make any conclusion. Maybe the time flow gets slower as one grows up? I can only figure out more if I get access to some tools to measure time, and some books about both calendars and human physiology. This will have to wait for when I have access to a library or something alike.
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By the end of fall, as the first white days were starting, I managed to pocket up enough money for my long term project: buying an offering decent enough to attract the attention of a god.
Easier said than done. When I finally had more than 3 iron coins in my pocket I went to the southern bazaar on one of my free ¡°sundays¡±. An iron is worth 16 large coppers so each iron is worth 256 small coppers.
I dragged Gel with me and the other usual duo ended up sticking with us too.
The bazaar isn''t as lively as the last time we went through it. The ravaged merchant''s dock is still under repair and can afford only a small amount of boats per day. Some of the flow of goods was even diverted upstream towards our fishing docks. Most of the workforce was geared towards fixing the bridge. So they only recently started to be worked on and with winter approaching it should slow down the work even more.
We got to see the boats of the southern traders: leaner and with domed hulls, clearly made for sea travels too. Most of their crew were humans but with also a lot of the dark skinned elves, with their pointy ears, silver white hair and strange angular faces. The dangers at sea must be even higher than on the river since most boats were heavily armoured, hulls reinforced with copper plates. A few of them even had a ballista at the bow, not unlike the harpoons launchers use to hunt whales.
Although the way to the trading district was long and tiresome, Melodi is leaping in excitation all around us making me almost as dizzy as the smell of various spices and foreign herbs around us is.
¡°Where in Dard do you find so much energy?¡± rumbles Balout ¡°If you aren''t able to walk back don''t expect me to give you a piggy ride,¡± He warns her without meaning it. If he had to he would help her.
Melodi half hisses, half laughs ¡°Like I would count on you? I know my girl will give me a ride.¡± She tries to jump on Gel''s back but the deft girl manages to avoid her, letting Melodi crumble on the pavement ¡°Hey! Not nice! You were my chosen one!¡± she complains in feigned indignation. Gelcaria just shrugs, her purple eyes can''t hide a glint of amusement flashing in them.
My goal today is to find paper. A pen would also be nice but I can always make do with a piece of charcoal if needed.
I know that the amount of money I managed to save up is quite ample and substantiate, enough to feed my whole house for three months provided I don''t have to pay the blade''s protection fee.
According to what I heard from Ms Tarina, books are a luxury and so is paper. Parchment is even costlier so out of the question. I could carve something on a stone but it would be a bit conspicuous an offering. My last option being making something perhaps explosives or electricity, but I don''t see how I would be able to demonstrate it to a god?
Paper is my go to, easy to write something worth noticing on it and books should be common alms for Shinpilo.
¡°Hey guys, wanna eat something? It''s on me.¡± My offer is greeted with cheers and a heavy pat on the shoulder from Balout. They deserve it. After all most of my gains were made when Gel and Mel came fishing with me and I didn''t forgot how both Melodi and Balout jumped in front of the danger for my sake.
They settle for a ¡°honeyed fruit¡± something like an apricot dipped in the jam honey goo. A treat originating from the Beastkin empire on the other side of the mountains.
It drains me from 1 large copper each... but was worth it. It''s been a long time since I ate so much sugar and the rush feels good, making my head slightly dizzy. I can see that the other kids are also feeling it, eyes in complete midriasis of contentment.
After indulging ourselves in the powdery white drug (sugar), I led them to a nearby ¡°drug store¡±. There are exotics and unusual baubles from the southern free cities and farther away, including some books kept under a jailed showcase.
The shop owner is a black skinned old woman with golden teeth making her salesmile as bright as Oreo''s. This seems to be some kind of fashion for southerners merchants. I remember Typhoon Taonga''s extravagance.
I can feel her gaze following us in her shop, ready for any mischief from our side. When I stop in front of a stack of paper she comes forward, arm raised between us and the raw paper.
¡°What do you street urchins want here? This shop is under watch so don''t try anything funny unless you''re looking for a good beating.¡± She threatens us, her golden smile far less appealing now.
Before my comrades can complain, I pull out my iron coins: ¡°I''m not here to play around. My master needs some good quality paper so don''t waste my time with this rubbish. If you don''t have better to offer, we''ll just leave.¡± I don''t even wait for her answer and pulls Gelcaria with me towards the exit, I don''t want my companions to blow my bluff out.
¡°Wait, wait, wait, dear customer. My bad for misinterpreting, this lowly Alcuza asks for forgiveness.¡± She bows slightly to enforce her contrition.
As always: money talks. She is a merchant at heart and won''t rebuke good coins coming her way.
¡°Show me your wares!¡± I order with as much authority an almost 5 years old can muster. So not much, but my purse makes authority enough.
The paper is disappointing. The sheets are brown and irregular reminding me more of papyrus. She does have some better goods but they are so overpriced. When I enquire about why the prices are so high for just paper she answers ¡°JUST paper?! This is premium goods coming directly from the heart of the misty forest. Transporting paper on the river is risky and time consuming. A lot can get spoiled during transport.¡± She''s clearly annoyed both at my obliviousness and from my demeaning of her goods.
Now I get why paper is so costly: monopoly.
Only the Beastkin empire seems to produce it. I''m curious as to why our empire doesn''t? Paper making isn''t that hard. Maybe one day I can make a fortune in this industry?
After some haggling, the merchant trying to scam the young kid in front of her, I manage to buy for myself 3 sheets of not too bad paper for almost my 3 iron coins, this is just ridiculous.
The pages are midway between recycled paper and newspaper and are a bit bigger than our A4 format, rolled like parchments.
I hope this will be worth it.
On our way back we make a stop by Typhoon Taongua''s Villa. I''m secretly hoping for a snack and working my connection with him as a plan C in case of failure in both plan A (getting a blessing) and plan B (joining the temple by showing off my knowledge) and maybe letting Gel earn something for herself from her talent for ¡°invigorating¡±.
But one of the onyx skinned guards at the entrance signifies us that the Typhoon left the city after the attack and sailed south for business. Tough luck.
I don''t feel like walking back home, so I burn what change money I have left to hire a wheelbarrow pusher to drive us back. The man accepts, transporting 4 kids is an easy load for him.
I''m now in the attic with a three quarter consumed candle casting a dim light on my paper and a piece of charcoal in hand. I chipped it to a pencil like edge with my silvery knife. Gel just arrived after climbing up the rope curious about what I intend to do with my exorbitantly priced paper. Her eyes are reflecting the candle''s flame with avid curiosity, shining like some distant yet bright violets quasars.
Chap 25: How to catch a gods attention.
I''ve been thinking about it for months now. How to convey foreign knowledge to a god like entity?
Sister Sunyeo insisted that the gods were once mortals before ascending to their current status. Although it happened 4 millennium ago or a hex of hexexes (16X16X16 yeah their system is pretty bad to talk about big numbers. I wonder how they juggle with millions or billions?), the priests claim that there are still traces of the mortal lives of the gods.
Jalea''s house is supposed to be in the Empire''s capital. The biggest garrison has been built around it and houses a legion of brave women fighters dedicated to the goddess and trained to fight monsters, protect the emperor and enforce justice.
Some of the gods were monsters before their ascension: Oreo the golden dragon and Charavatkeh of the thousand arms. Not much is know about them and I''m still unclear as to how monsters managed to become gods tasked with protecting humans, aren''t they supposed to be under the ruling of the monster god, our nemesis?
Does it mean the monster god was already a god before the rest of the pantheon came around?
Not much is known about Shinpilo either, which is not out of expectation for the god of secrets. There seems to be a consensus that he wasn''t human and was both a spy and a scholar. Not much grain for my mill though.
I only have 3 sheets of paper so I intend to use them to their fullest.
I''ve classified my ideas by priorities and expected efficiency in conveying my knowledge. In the end, my first sheet is dedicated to maths.
Maths are universal, anyone can understand them, especially geometry. I doubt this is new. This world has big buildings meaning at least there are some architects with knowledge in physics and geometry. So I expect Pi, Thales and the Pythagorean''s theorems to be know in some way or the other.
What I can offer is more subtle: my numerals, decimal system and the zero.
So I start writing on my sheet : numbers in hex and arabic, followed by the zero and greater numbers. I also write down some basic functions: exp, log, geometric, a bit of trigonometry and as much decimals of Pi and square root of 2 that I can remember or figure out.
During this whole time Gel was quietly looking over my shoulder. She was waiting for me to finish my recto before interrupting: ¡°What are those signs?¡± She points at the numbers.
I tried teaching them some geometry before but to no avail. They never got interested in it so she stays away from the circles and strange curbs.
¡°Those are an alternative way to write numbers. A bit like alphabet, I think it will be easier to use than the usual way.¡± I patiently explained.
If she was surprised or impressed she hid it well. This was somewhat vexing but she is not my target audience.
¡°Will I have to learn them too?¡± she asked with a distinct lack of motivation. Learning numbers again did not entice her much.
I sighed ¡°Not if you don''t want to. I still believe it would be useful but you are free to do as you want.¡±
¡°Fine, I will.¡± she relented before mumbling some complaints.
Didn''t I just say you aren''t compelled to?
On the verso of the sheet I chose to go for basic geometry in case it turns out useful. As soon as she sees the triangles Gel knew better and took her distances, geometry is not her cup of tea.
For my second sheet I decided to go for writing.
The alphabet is clearly superior to the hieroglyphs/ideograms-like system. It is also knowledge per se.
I wrote down my modified alphabet on half the recto, followed by the drawings of the few words I know and their translation in alphabet.
It ends up eating the whole space left.
While I was drawing words Gel came back behind my shoulder, reading the words aloud to show me she learned them too. Even spelling them in my alphabet before I wrote them down.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I was proud of my student, she earned a pat on the head that made her flash a tooth achingly sweet smile.
Second night bell rang lowly meaning it''s midnight. Gel rubbed her lilac eyes ¡°Can we go to sleep now?¡±
We? Are we an old married couple or what?
Before I can object a cold gust of air passing through the shutters killed our candle, cutting whatever smart comeback I could have had. The gods agreed with Gel that it was time to go to sleep.
As we laid in the futon I was glad she was here: winter nights in the attic are getting colder than I though possible. Isolation is bad and the room is filled with chilly air flows coming from the outside. Having someone else''s body heat is welcomed.
*????????*????????*????????*????????*????????*
I have to wait till the end of the week to be able to fill my last blank page. I could have done it sooner but I think Gel would have resented me for doing it without her.
In the meantime I though well of what I intended to do with what little space remaining. I was also able to replenish my purse a little bit. Fishing in the winter is harder: less fish, direr conditions, bad weather more often and there are dangerous ice chunks that fell from the mountains drifting along the current. But it is also a time where some unusual fishes appear.
Unusual and valuables.
One of the strangest catch is a leech. Quite easy to lure: just drop some blood and with the hound nose of a shark it will come flocking towards your boat. Just dip your arm in the freezing water, the harshest part, and wait for it to come latch on you. One can easily bring 5 back on board with one arm.
Then you must peel them off your arm: a nasty ordeal, although the cold dims the pain. You end up with a disgusting pile of leeches that for some reason or another blades consider a delicacy.
I believe it''s because they like the taste of commoners blood but customer is always right and they are ready to pay a hefty price for it, so who bleeds who in the end?
We do not sail in the middle of the river though. Peterell says there are really dangerous things lurking there during winter. The man isn''t afraid of chogsus, I don''t want to find out what''s able to scare him.
Back in my cold attic I''m joined by Gelcaria. Her chestnut hair tied in a single braid today, ready to finish my offering.
For my last page I''ve decided to go for the universal language.
What would a god like entity from another world understand of modern science for sure ?
Chemistry
Matter is the same everywhere, at least from what I can tell. I''ve only seen two worlds and not all the matter in this one. But still, atoms and molecules should be universal.
Talking about the essential brick of world building will definitively catch the god''s attention.
I start writing the ideogram for [water], followed by an equal sign: a pointing arrow in this world. I then sign: 2H + O with my alphabet but their numerals.
I then use the [air] ideogram which is the same word as [wind] and the signs: 2O, 2N, C+2O, Ar.
With these simple elements identified I can then make some basic chemistry formulae; explaining oxidation, reduction, nitrites and nitrates.
Not understanding what''s going on,Gel decided to peruse over my numbers instead. She''s laying beside me, cutely squinting her lavender eyes to read through the uncertain light cast by our candle.
When the recto is filled with a few formulas including a full Krebs cycle. One of the thing I learned by heart back in the days. I go for the verso that will be the master piece:
The periodic table of elements.
The ultimate explanation of the world, showing understanding of chemistry, physics, atoms, radioactivity and all. Mendeleev was a genius to have figured it out.
I can almost fill half of it.
There are holes in the metals, gaps in my transition metals and full ravines in the actinides and lanthanides.
I really thought I could remember it by heart, I was so happy to learn it back then.
Guess I was overestimating myself.
I can still fill in the atomic masses, properties and all but leaves the names blank. I don''t want to invent the names I would feel a bit like an impostor, appropriating for myself someone else''s discovery.
¡°What''s that supposed to be?¡± asks a piqued by curiosity Gel, taking a peek from over my shoulder.
¡°This is the world.¡± I say with emphasis, dramatically exposing the sheet. Her blank stare back at me asks me if I''m either dumb or went mad? ¡°This explains every thing that compose the world.¡± I try to explain.
She frowns in distrust, her purple eyes looking for signs that I''m trying to prank her, ¡°Everything? Like what?¡± she doubts me. She points at the water ideogram ¡°Like what water is?¡±
¡°Water is here and here¡± I point at hydrogen and oxygen.
¡°Those aren''t how you wrote water. Those are the letter H and O. Are you trying to make fun of me?¡± she gets a bit frustrated.
¡°Water is not water.¡± I clumsily start explaining. Now she looks at me with eyes full of worry.¡°Water is made of two other components, like how tea is made of water and leaves.¡± I make the first analogy that comes to my mind.
¡°And what is water made of then, letters?¡± She is getting more and more suspicious, still waiting for the moment I won''t be able to hold my laugh back and tell her it was just a (bad) prank.
¡°Hydrogen, the most common element¡± the word doesn''t exist in this world, so I really do say hydrogen. This doesn''t ring any bell for her nor any semantic root. ¡°And oxygen, which is what we breath in the air. Or what the fire uses to keep this flame alive.¡± I point at our flickering candle.
¡°Yeeeeah... so water is made out of fire?¡± she inquires clearly getting tired of the long joke. I fear I''ll get kicked soon. How do I explain her that burning hydrogen will make water?
¡°No, these are both...err... other basic building elements that have multiple uses and different properties when mixed together. A bit like dyes.¡± We did see some at Ms Tarina''s shop, so she should be able to understand what I mean.
¡°hmmm. Let''s say I believe you, how would you know any of that?¡± She inquires.
Touch¨¦. In my excitement and while I was lost in the memories of my former life, trying to recall as much as I could, I totally forgot about how to explain my knowledge... Caught without preparation I just stammer ¡°I euh, dreamt of it.¡± I sound like I''m questioning myself and my sanity here,
She just huffles and shrugs before rolling her violet eyes at the sky in a silent prayer to Fortan to not make me (or her) go mad. She makes it look like this kind of antics were usual with me and are not worth inquiring more. She just kicks my thigh before going back to her reading.
I''m both vexed and relieved that she didn''t dig more into it.
She''s now back to my first sheet on mathematics, still avoiding the geometry part but trying ti understand what the strange curves I''ve drew mean.
I finish my periodic table, trying to make it look as understandable as possible for any god like entity taking a look at it.
Now I''m as ready as I can be to meet with a god.
Chap 26: The big eye in the sky.
As eager as I may be to meet a god I still have to find the right time to do so.
To be fair I''m not that much eager in the end. This is still quite scary after all and the more I think about it, the more I second guess myself: showing my knowledge will raise questions, leading to the gods knowing I''m a reincarnated. And I''m still unsure about the reaction it will bring.
But then I remember Yoli''s body, the monsters attack and the young fisherman that got eaten by the chogsu. Danger is everywhere anyway, so this is worth it.
It just so happens that Shinpilo''s celebration is next month,on the 24th of Mistire. Leaving me a bit less than a month to wait and gather up my courage.
My time is filled with fishing.
Since the waters are now colder than ever, none of us are swimming in it any longer but the chilling dizzle can still freeze us to the core. As soon as we get on shore we hurry to Kukku''s stall for a warm cup of tea or heated beet-like juice. It sounds disgusting but the red liquid is in fact a little sweet and has a quite pleasant earthy taste. There are also a fire to warm our hands and a little something to nibble on. Kukku''s fishcakes are becoming quite good, he loves adding unusual spices into the mix.
This current month 24th is Amidea''s daynight celebration. Although Amidea''s full moon was a hex days ago, she still gets celebrated under the other two moons. Since she is the goddess of all watery domains the fishermen and everyone at the dock arrange for a party in her honour.
We gift a lot of variegated seafood at the Temple but also directly to the river. Followed by a moment of silence to honour all those that drowned this year. We ask that they may rest in Amidea''s palace and that we get spared to join them for years to come. Then there is a meal with all dockers, sailors, fishermen, washerwomen, bath workers, water carriers, tridents etc...
For the occasion I made some mayonnaise with duggu eggs and using the orange seaweed as mustard replacement.
The result is mixed. The taste is a little bit more earthy and spicy, colour is ochre and consistence is a bit too liquid. I lacked enough oil I think but oil is a costly commodity.
Anyhow, it had great success with fried blue not-potatoes. The tridents are especially fond of the thing, one of them threw a few iron coins at Kukku for the rest of the bowl.
Kukku asked me for a recipe, eyes shining with gold fever but when he saw the volume of oil needed he understood that this was far too luxurious. One can''t expect Nereians to come throw a month''s worth of salary casually every other day. It should still make for a great event food if he can improve a bit on the recipe.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*??????????*
As the day for Shinpilo''s celebration approaches, I''m getting the cold feet. well, I literally am in my cloth wraps, but not only. What if this is a mistake? What if the pantheon gets afraid of me? Or considers my very existence an heresy?
I try calming myself down when remembering this is my best option to get some prospect for the future. If I just keep things as they are and don''t take that risk I''ll end up a fisherman for the rest of my life, possibly shortened when a chogsu will one day wrap a tentacle aroun my ankle and have me for its dinner.
I review my other options to restore some conviction: I don''t want to become a tailor or an accountant, I can''t expect to enter the Temple easily, it might take me years to accumulate enough money, years of dangerous job. Taonga''s option might look at bit more enticing but there is still the caveat of becoming a slave or simply having to explain how I came up with my knowledge. My stunt with Gel reminded me that I need to find a decent explanation for it and a god''s blessing would make it up perfectly for that.
There''s no one I can discuss my anxiety with.
As close as I am with Gel, I don''t think explaining I''m a reincarnate from an other world would be smart.
She can still feel my angst and comes more often in the evenings to cheer me up, asking me to teach her geometry to distract me from my restlessness. When asked about it I just tell her I''m worried the god wont notice my offer. She knows the hefty price I paid for the paper and it seems enough to convince her.
*????????*??????????*??????????*??????????*
Finally here I was: on the 24th of Mistire.
Gel wanted to escort me to the temple but I turned her down. I am anxious, but not to the point that as a grown up I would require the support of a little girl.
She reluctantly let me go on my own, pouting at me yet still wishing me Fortan''s benevolence.
I decided to go at our local temple at the end of daytime for more discretion. It was quite the unnecessary precaution, the streets were empty with the cold pushing people to stay indoor. There was no snow piling up yet but the few puddles were frozen and so were the gutters.
I wondered for a second how our waste water got drained right now?
Shinpilo isn''t a popular god.
His worshippers are either scholars, few would live in our neighbourhood, spies that wont be as dumb as to reveal themselves by openly praying him or plotters who all the same won''t openly worship him either.
There is a more attended to celebration at the Grand Temple where various scholars in search of mysterious knowledges and nobles in need of hiding secrets will flock to seek the god''s approval. But at our local temple I should in all likelihood be the only one.
And indeed there is only what I believe to be a young priestess wearing a night blue robe and whose shawl is covering her face: An apprentice of Shinpilo. She is seated at a desk, transcribing or copying documents under the clear light of a small crystal.
She doesn''t even lift her gaze as I enter the temple, probably not even noticing me, absorbed in her own work. But I notice her feminine hands still delicates and full of youth running a quill on some decent quality paper.
The temple always stays open during any daynight so that all humanoids can come pay their respect to the gods whenever they want to.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Some daynights attract more flock than others: Tupu''s naming day of course, but also Husnd: whole families coming to ask for his protection, or Arteus: where it is common for artisans to make a display of their abilities in his name.
Despite being one of the ¡°bad¡± gods, Fusaad has some success too: farmers asking for better crops and fertile land or sick people coming in hope of a miraculous recovery.
Akola? has its own specific audience: young couples in love or ones looking to charm someone in particular and older people, mostly men, asking for renewed ¡°vigour¡±.
But Shinpilo is not one of those popular gods, when I walk up to his shrine there are almost no offerings. The few scrolls of paper are probably gifts from the local priests themselves.
Shinpilo''s icone depicts a giant eye fogged in a dark cloud, quite ominous. I wonder what sort of humanoid he (she?) was before ascending to godhood?
Now is not the time to turn on my heels: I kneel in front of the shrine, taking my three precious sheets of paper out of their cloth wrap.
I''m not sure how to proceed exactly so I devised a plan of my own.
I put the sheet with the alphabet and words first: it is the less understandable one I believe, and mutters a short prayer I came up with :
¡°O Shinpilo, I stand before you asking for your protection, I come bearing gifts, knowledge and tools to lift humanoids and help them in their struggles. I beg of you to accept this small alms and
to grant me your protection in return.¡± I pause, waiting for any sign of a reaction.
Nothing.
Even the young priestess doesn''t seem to have heard me, she is still copying at her desk without a pause or change of pace indicating she noticed me.
Unfazed, I follow up. It was within my expectations to not succeed on the first try. After all garnering the attention of a god should not be taken for granted nor easy to obtain.
I lay down the page covered in numbers and geometry theorems. This time I make my prayer in English, whispering to not be heard by the priestess. Maybe an unknown language will attract the god''s curiosity ?
Again no reaction.
I''m left with my last sheet, that is also my ace and best (and last) hope. As I present my offering I change my prayer slightly, going back to tanguana:
¡°I bring forth the knowledge of matter and what makes the world. How humanoids can use the fabric of the world itself to help them against the monsters.¡±
As I''m catching my breath, full of expectation, nothing happens.
I sigh in slight despair, my shoulders dripping down as the weight of failure falls on them.
This was an uncertain bet, so failure was well within the awaited outcome. I''ve already planned my next step: having the priests notice my ideas, convince them they are my own creations and hope for an apprenticeship at the temple. If this was to fail too I can still fall back on the Typhoon or try my luck with the scholar''s association but both of these are riskier and uncertain.
As I''m brooding on what''s to come and on the waste of money it was, a low rumble surrounds me and fog starts creeping out of the icone. The priestess in the back yelps as the sound startles her, turning in astonishment towards me .
¡°What did you do? What''s going on? Who are you?¡± She manages to ask with a somewhat manly voice.
I don''t have the time to answer her, I''m surrounded by the dark clouds cutting me out from the rest of the world, the voice of the young acolyte fading away before getting completely muffled down.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*??????????*
This is nothing like the void of death.
There are rolling clouds, dark and grey, and bubbling blue fog swirling around me.
I can''t feel any wind but there is a distinct rumble coming from the clouds, like a far away thunder. The mist right in front of me tears apart to let a giant eye appear.
The globe is a meter wide, it''s blue iris constantly shifting colour going from ice blue to navy blue, then sapphire, azure and cobalt before turning as deep as night and back to clear turquoise.
The eye is rolling on itself before focusing on me, its pupil contracting as its gaze fixes on me: now I managed to get a god''s attention.
Contrarily to my prediction I don''t feel any weight from this gaze or crushing suffocation, just avidity and unnatural curiosity that seeps out of it, almost palpable.
Voices comes from all around, out of the fog. There are dozens of them although a few are clearer than other: one sounds like a well learned scholar, perusing a book in front of a bookcase full of dusty tomes, in his voice I can almost smell the scent of old paper.
Another is the voice of what I imagine to be a lusty librarian: whispering suggestive titles of books in my ears in a lascivious voice that sends shivers down my spine.
The last most audible voice is one of an old professor, sounding annoyed and tired of having to explain for the thousandth time the same basic concept to another stupid student.
The other are more whispers than voices, barely heard, covered by the surrounding thunder.
¡°My oh mY, wHat dO wE hAve heRe?¡± says the voice in its three different tones. ¡°iNteREstinG, Very iNteREstinG, what is this hAfniuM? Is wAter rEalY maDe of TwO thIngs? HOw uNiquE a vIEw.¡±
The eye locks stare with mine, the voices are getting clearer and less overlapping.
¡°How do you know such things? Where did a young child learned things even I don''t know yet?¡± The question sounds inquisitive in the scholar tone, curious in the librarian one and suspicious for the professor''s one.
I had steeled my resolve beforehand for this, here goes nothing:
¡°I''m no child, I''m a soul coming from another world, willing to share his knowledge in exchange for your protection.¡± My voice is more shaky than I''d like and almost covered by the thunder. The words are trembling out of my mouth, the blood rushing through my carotids makes my throat shiver out of my control.
Maybe to better hear me, the swirling maelstrom surrounding us calms down and the rumbles fades in the distance. Now I feel more like I''m lost in a sheet of inky fog. The eye''s iris also stabilizes a bit, still switching colour but settling more around a deep blue.
This time only the scholar''s voice is heard: ¡°So you are one of those, they brought some more. But this time at least you are an interesting one, even of some use maybe?¡±
Wait a minute [one of those]? So I''m not the only one? There are others coming from earth? And who is/are ¡°they¡± that brought me here?
Before I can voice any question the god goes on. This time it''s the lusty librarian''s voice that dominates: ¡°I''m interested in your chemistry thing, would you be interested in becoming one of mine? A blessed one in my service?¡± alluring me to accept her offer. Her arousing voice promising me of the benefits to expect if I associate with her.
But I''m not that weak willed.
Although a blessing is my end game, I also know that when dealing with a god, especially the god of lies and plots, you better be ready to haggle and discuss terms carefully.
I also had planned for this during the last month, anticipating the loopholes and traps that I''ll have to avoid.
¡°This would be my honour, o revered Shinpilo, but I''d like to know more about the terms before accepting.¡± I try to sound as conciliate as possible to not upset my godly interlocutor.
A thundering rumble and change in the swirling clouds greats my objection. The big eye turns up to the sky before laughing. The globe shakes like a pinata and the thunderclaps rhythm the occular vibration.
Again it''s the voice of the lusty librarian that dominates the others with a playful giggle:
¡°A wise choice. One should always be careful when dealing with the gods. I like you.¡± If a wink could be made sound it would be her voice right now.
The god doesn''t seem angry, good for me.
The eye goes on in the old professor''s tone: ¡°And what would your conditions be?¡± he asks with a hint of exasperation.
After some discussion, terms definition, clauses clarification and a lot of haggling, we finally came to an understanding:
I will share my knowledge at the pace I want to,with all friendly humanoids; am allowed to keep my origins a secret and can impute the origin of some of my knowledge on Shinpilo.
In return, I am also constrained by some conditions: I cant seek the blessing of any other god, can''t keep any knowledge out limit and must provide the priests of Shinpilo with written accounts of my knowledges as I go on.
Since the conditions I request are quite harsh and limiting (at least according to the soft spoken scholar voice), my blessing wont impart me with much powers in return either. Which I don''t really mind much, my real objective being getting a blessing to use as leverage to join the Temple.
Before we seal the deal I try adding a clause: getting answers about who ¡°they¡± are and how, why and how many more were brought too in this world?
This clause was dismissed by the old professor in a hoarse laugh: ¡°You are not the first, that much I can tell. How? Even I don''t know. As for if there are more coming from your world, I don''t really care.¡±
The voice switches to the lusty librarian''s sultry tone: ¡°But if you want to know more about [them], you''ll have to make a more befitting offering.¡± she lets the words float seductively, ¡°This much was decent enough to gain my blessing,¡± my three sheets of paper float in front of us ¡°but what you are asking for will be far more costlier.¡± she derides me a little. ¡°If you intend to learn more on this mater, come meet me in my Temple with an adequate gift and it will be my pleasure to dissipate that mystery but until then, we''ll stick to our current business.¡±
The calm scholar takes the lead ¡°Are you ready to seal our deal?¡±
As I nod I can feel the god''s attention entirely focused on me. From his pupil comes out a beam of blue light, engulfing me entirely. Despite being surrounded by the laser like beam, I only feel a slight burn around my right eye.
As the light fades out the old professor speaks again. ¡°Fine, we are done. You are now under my blessing and protection as long as you keep your end of the deal. Now go, you have a lot of mess to clean up in that small temple...¡±
The tempest and fog around me dissipate as if powerful winds are scattering it apart.
As I look around, I can see five silhouettes: four followers of Shinpilo with their blue robes and covered faces and one senior priest with a white beard, not showing any particular obedience.
All are looking at me with apprehension and suspicion. As I try to stand up I feel completely drained and fall back, my consciousness fading as I hear their alarmed shouts.
Chap 27: The cardinal
When I open my eyes only darkness greats me.
I can feel that I''m laying on something soft, a mattress I guess. Even more, there is a thick blanket covering me. I haven''t felt this comfortable and warm for years.
I close my eyes back and bask for a moment in this rare treat. I haven''t slept on a bed since forever. At the same time I pay attention to my surroundings: the room is heavy with the smell of incense, I guess I''m still somewhere in the temple.
In the overall silence I can hear the calm breathing of someone somewhere on my right.
I open my eyes again. This time among the surrounding darkness I can see a faint ray of light coming from under a door far to the right. As my eyes accommodate to the shadows I start to make out my surroundings. I''m in a quite small room. I can''t see much furnitures, only that there is a chair with a figure sitting on it near my right side.
My body reminds me about my needs. I''m both thirsty and my bladder is screaming for a relief, ideally I would like a solution to both problems that doesn''t imply solving the former with the later.
As I''m standing up I must have made enough noise to alarm the figure as its breathing changes.
The dizzy voice of a calm young man comes out from it:
¡°You''re awake? How do you do?¡± He gently asks. I can hear him stretch then fiddle with his clothes and a few seconds later he flashes a light crystal out. The sudden light painfully blinds me for a while. I moan as my eyes accommodates again.
¡°Yeah, I''m fine. Warn me next time you want to blind me.¡± I''m feeling a bit grumpy and my parched throat make my voice sound even coarser.
The man in front of me just laughs.
Now that there is light I can see that he is a young teenager, looking no more than 14. He wears the blue robe of a follower of Shinpilo, an acolyte probably. His round youthful face sports a mocking smile. He would look younger than a teenager if it wasn''t for the short stubble on his chin.
¡°Well you''ve slept for a while, a bright light is the best to start a bright day.¡± he blurts with mischief. That sounds more like an Oreo''s saying than a Shinpilo''s one.
As the blinding recess I can now have a clear look at the room. It is as small as I expected, probably a chamber for an acolyte with only enough space for a bed, a chair, a small desk and a pail of water.
¡°Where are we ? How long was I unconscious for?¡± I start to panic a bit, if night fell my parents and Gel must be worrying about my whereabouts.
¡°We are still in the temple, you are currently in my room, on my bed.¡± he begrudgingly points at his bed. ¡°While I had to watch over you, sitting on a stool.¡± His face tells that he is more teasing me than harbouring a real grudge here.
I play along his game: ¡°Thanks for your care, this was much comfortable. Would you be so kind as to find me something to drink?¡± I sarcasticly sound over apologetic. I force a dry cough to make my point.
The boy seems amused enough. ¡°Fair point. Wait here, I''ll go fetch some tea.¡± He taps on a light crystal on his way out to light the room.
Once alone I explore the small chamber and manage to find a chamberpot under the bed. Once relieved there isn''t much more to do in the room. There is a small stack of paper on the desk, but nothing I can decipher.
I make a body check up: everything seems in order. I carefully touch around my right eye where I felt a burn during the blessing but can''t notice anything out of the ordinary. The boy didn''t seem to stare either, so I doubt something got imprinted on my face. I''m not much into tattoos.
My warden comes back with some tea and crackers. When I take a look at his hands holding the platter, I can''t help but remember the young acolyte at the entry of the temple. Guess I was wrong and it wasn''t a girl, just a lean scholarly teenager taking good care of his manicure.
After a sip of cinnamon scented tea I query about my fate. He tells me that I just fell unconscious after the fog dissipated. I was brought here by the Shinpiloites and a few bells rung since then. We are almost at morning bell. He eases my worries when I learn that a priest was sent to my house. I''m still wary about what they told my parents but at least they won''t have searched for me during the whole night.
He introduces himself as Mekas, an acolyte of the temple aiming to become a scribe. After that comes the real question:
¡°What happened to you? Did you get Shinpilo''s blessing? What is he like?¡± I can tell his curiosity is real. Although he is a follower of Shinpilo I''m not sure what I should answer him, so I stay vague.
¡°Maybe, I''m not really sure about that. I should talk with a priest.¡± He doesn''t seems convinced and pouts a little.
Shortly after that he leaves me, saying that the senior priests will come to check on me in the morning. He seems hurt that I wouldn''t share my experience with him.
I don''t try to fall asleep again, morning bell should arrive shortly and I want to be sharp minded when the priests will be there.
I don''t have to wait much, after a while I can hear the voices of two elderly arguing in the corridor behind the door.
There is the dry voice of an old lady peremptory asserting: ¡°He belongs to the hall of Shinpilo, I''ll take care of the rest from now on.¡± Her tone is brimming with authority.
Not in the least suppressed an older man retorts to her ¡°Nutusi, this is MY temple, he is one of MY attendees, from MY block. So your god can go share secrets with the monster God for all I care. The child is under my jurisdiction: wherever he goes, I''ll go!¡± Despite being the shaky voice of an elderly this old man sounds firm and steady.
The bickering between the two goes on before the door to my chamber opens. In the door frame there is a follower of Shinpilo in blue robe and with the face covered in a night blue shawl. And the old priest in a simple brown robe. His white beard is especially impressive and reaches his chest. He strokes it with pride.
¡°Good, you are awake.¡± says the hidden priestess from under her robe. ¡°Please follow me, we are going to the grand Temple immediately.¡± So long for introductions or explanations.
¡°WE are going.¡± insists the old man ¡°Don''t worry young Telerios I won''t let you alone with the hag.¡± He gently taps my shoulder.
I don''t remember ever meeting the man and don''t know how they knew who I was. Nor how they found my parents yesterday now that I think about it.
I know that I don''t have much room to discuss my fate with them so I simply nod in acknowledgement and stands up to follow them. This seems to please the old priestess as she sighs in approval. The bearded priest frowns a little at that and takes my hand to keep me close to him.
The old lady complains ¡°It''s no use to try to snatch him Patiyar, in the end he''ll join my order.¡±
At this the old man puts himself between her and me. ¡°We''ll see about that.¡± he simply states before turning back towards me to explain: ¡°I''m the high priest in charge of our neighbourhood temple, you can call me senior Patiyar.¡± He smiles at me like a caring grandfather and sounds genuinely nice. ¡°And this old lady that has to hide her wrinkled face under rags is sister Nutusi.¡± his voice got harsher.
¡°High priestess Nutusi !¡± she corrects, ¡°And to you boy I''ll be Majores Nutusi. Don''t listen to this senile fool, he isn''t trustworthy and hates all followers of Shinpilo.¡±
¡°Because they aren''t to be trusted! How could one have trust a high priestess of lies and plots?¡± He waves her fist at her.
As the two are bickering, the young Mekas appears to separate them and guide me towards the exit. He whispers to me ¡°Do not mind them too much, they are always like that and have some story with one another.¡± He smiles mischievously. ¡°Senior Patiyar was once a follower of Jalea, they do not fare well with us Shinpiloites.¡±
I''m taken in a carriage with both the elderly, Mekas sadly didn''t came with us. The ride was especially uncomfortable with the two old priests glaring at each other during the whole travel.
By looking through the window of our ride I was able to make out that we were going to the grand Temple in the western district. Our carriage must''ve been wearing some temple''s insignias because no guards stopped us at any checkpoint unlike last time I went to the western district.
When we arrived at the Temple''s plaza the coach took us to a side alley behind the grand temple where we stood down our ride. We entered the temple''s garden through a back door.
It''s still early morning in the depth of winter and the garden is plain dead under a blanket of frost. Between the branches of low trees, crystal spiderwebs are catching the first rays of sunlight and shining like the brightest jewels.
Cutting my contemplation, my two elderly wardens put me between them and drag me inside. I follow them through long paved corridors, our steps clacking in the still asleep temple. There are a lot of paintings hanged around. Depictions of the gods mostly but also portraits of what I believe to be former popes and ¡°popesses¡± watching sternly on my group, apparently women can also lead the church.
After a long walk we arrived in a carpeted area and our steps got toned down to a rustling. Despite being carpeted it looks less pompous around here: the carpets are dull in colour and there are no paintings nor statues around any more. Just a plain corridor with a fluffy carpet muffling the sound.
We stop in front of a black wooden door. Majores Nutusi raises her hand to knock but before she can make any sound a neutral voice comes from inside: ¡°Enter¡±.
Inside there is almost no light, nor windows. Just a simple wooden desk with four chairs around. On the biggest chair behind the desk sits a hairless androgynous man. His face is barely lighted by a small crystal on the desk.
He looks neutral, there is no distinctive sign on him. A bit like those mannequin doll used in fashion stores. No wrinkle, no expression, his face is heavily covered under a thick layer of white cosmetic making him look like a big white egg. His eyes are heavily contoured with black khol but are otherwise expressionless.
¡°Nutusi, Patiyar, Telerios.¡± He machinely salutes the three of us.
Majores Nutusi''s covered head bows: ¡°Cardinal Fortmo, I brought the kid and another baggage.¡±
The other baggage, Patiyar, frowns at her before saluting the cardinal: ¡°Your excellency, the kid is under my jurisdiction so I took the liberty to follow. If you want to complain we can call for a council?¡± He doesn''t hide his displeasure in his voice.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
The cardinal doesn''t seem annoyed in the slightest and just points at the three free chairs in front of him ¡°No problem, this was expected, sit. All.¡± his voice reminds me of the early artificial voices of automated translator or other virtual applications.
After we are all seated, me in a pincer between the two elders, the eggman turns towards me:
¡°What blessing did you get? How? What are your intentions?¡± His blank eyes are drilling their way though mine, yet aren''t carrying any hostility, friendliness or even curiosity. It feels more like he is just looking at the scenery without interest.
But I shouldn''t fool myself: the man is important and most likely powerful. His blue robe infers that he must be the cardinal of Shinpilo, which would also make the most sense. I shouldn''t try hiding much to him, he might also be a blessed one of Shinpilo.
¡°I got a blessing of knowledge. I offered some paper and a promise to share my knowledge. I have no plans as of now other than making sense of the informations I earned from Shinpilo.¡± I try to sound as neutral as possible and to be concise, bending the truth to not reveal too much of myself.
I can still hear a gasp of surprise coming from under Nutusi''s shawl.
The cardinal sto?caly looks at me for a long time before nodding with his big egg head. ¡°Correct. I can''t detect any lie in your statement. Yet can''t exclude that you got a liar''s blessing.¡± he states neutrally, yet I can feel some pressure and threat coming from this simple statement. ¡°Your blessing is highly unusual. You will work for the Shinpilo''s Hall and prove your statement by sharing knowledge as per your deal with our patron God.¡± He concludes.
The bearded priest at my right voices his objection: ¡°I disagree. Although blessed by Shinpilo the kid didn''t get a blessing related to any spying activity. Considering his young age, I ask that he remains under my authority until the council can decide of his further assignment.¡±
¡°Preposterous!¡± erupts the old lady from under her blue cape. ¡°He will join the hall of whispers, as our god decided. This is not for a temple head priest to decide.¡± she protests.
The old man''s beard trembles in anger and his wrinkles get whiter as his face reddens: ¡°Fine, then let us all let the council decide! I won''t abide by your decision alone. This isn''t a matter only for the hall of whispers. The kid isn''t meant to become a spy and does not belong to any faction, so I believe a knowledge blessing falls more under the general management of the Temple.¡±
As the granny is about to retort too, the cardinal raises a hand to silence her before turning towards the bearded priest.
¡°Objection received. Indeed he shall fall under general management. But the hall of whispers request first hand on any knowledge he provides.¡± He then turns towards me ¡°Does that suits you?¡± his neutral tone makes it a guess to know if he is asking or telling.
I sound hesitant as I answer: ¡°Sorry, I do not understand what any of you are implying here. I''m fine with sharing my knowledge as it is part of my deal anyway but I know nothing of your temple''s rules.¡±
The egg nods ¡°True. We forgot to take your situation in consideration. Too young to understand and commoner''s origin. Your parents interrogation also raised the same issue.¡± he robotically states.
What? My parents got interrogated? When? What happened to them?
As i''m flabbergasted by the bomb he dropped on me, the baldy goes on still as unfazed as ever ¡°I will first confirm your blessing. Then we''ll discuss your later accommodations.¡±
He takes a blue marble out of his sleeve and drops it on the desk before gesturing for me to grab it. The stone is polished till it''s perfectly round, with a strand of deeper blue at its core
I''m still worried about my parents but follows the instructions, opposing him won''t ease my parents situation right now.
When I hold the nut-sized marble in my tiny hand I can feel something calling from inside it. A bursts of power surges from it and rushes through my veins like a sonar pulse, heading straight for the burn around my right eye. In response I can feel heat around my eye before something makes its way back to the marble. The stone starts to warm up before casting an aura of cyan light around my hand.
The eggman looks satisfied, showing some expression for the first time as the shadow of a smile can be found on his face. ¡°Blessing confirmed. Congratulations.¡± But there is no warmness to be found in his voice. ¡°Your case will be discussed at the yearly council of cardinals. In the meanwhile, you will fall under general management and the authority of head priest Patiyar.¡±
The old man straightens his chest in pride and casts a contemptuous stare at the Shinpilo''s priestess.
His joy is short lived as the cardinal follows up ¡°Majores Nutusi will act as liaison with the hall of whispers and will check on you regularly to report your progresses.¡± The hooded figure nods in approval. ¡°Since you are too young to enter the Temple, you will be hired as apprentice in senior Patiyar''s temple. When you reach 8 springs, we will discuss again your path.¡± he turns towards the priestess, ¡°I''ll leave the paperwork and the rest of the organisation to you.¡±
I interject ¡°What about my parents? What did you do to them?¡± I try to not sound too worried.
The cardinal blanks for a second before stating ¡°Their interrogation was uneventful. Do not worry. Your mother''s background is still under examination but she didn''t lie to me.¡± Shit. As I feared the man has some way to detect lies. I was right to be careful when speaking with him. ¡°They will be joining you back at the exit of the Temple.¡± He gives a short look to all of us before standing up silently: ¡°This will be all then. May Shinpilo hide your secrets in the darkness and enlighten your mind.¡± Without awaiting for a response he walks out of the room without making a sound. On my left I can hear Nutusi whisper the same prayer while the old man on my right just humphs in displeasure yet still nods and his hands reaches for the 16 faced pendant that must lie under his mantle.
The two elders escorted me back the same way we came in. Outside, I was finally reunited with my parents. Both looked safe and unharmed.
My mother dashed to hug me before scolding me: ¡°Telerios, what did you do? Why were we all dragged here?¡± she then turns towards my two wardens ¡°Please wise one, be kind to him, he is just a child. I''ll take responsibility for his misconduct and make sure to punish him accordingly.¡± She pleads towards the two priests. My father stood beside her and nodded in acknowledgment also ready to endure the blame.
Their lack of faith in me is somewhat disturbing. Before I could complain the veiled granny rebuked them and asked that we first all head back to our temple as ¡°This is not a place to discuss the matter.¡±
On our way back I was stuck between my parents with my mother whispering at me to figure out what I did wrong to incur the wrath of such high ranking priests. I just kept answering that I did nothing wrong and that thing were going to be fine. At least I hope so.
Back at our temple we are all seated in a room that I guess to be senior Patiyar''s study. He leads the conversation seated behind his mahogany looking desk while the rest of us, including Nutusi are on the other side. At least Mekas was tasked with bringing us tea, so we have some warm drinks to enjoy and it eases my parents a bit and my thirst. If this was a reunion to punish me, they wouldn''t be treated that well.
The old man is the first to speak up after carefully resting his beard on his desk: ¡°Telerios displayed some abilities to us yesterday.¡± He carefully states, ¡°We came to the conclusion that it would be a waste to not have him undergo a training at the temple.¡± He speaks calmly, clearly aware of the distress of my parents. ¡°My fellow here, Majores Nutusi, though that a background check was necessary considering that we didn''t know much about you.¡± He blames the old women for the ordeal, shamelessly acting as the good cop here.
Sister Nutusi coughs to interrupt him: ¡°We apologize for our rushed behaviour. High priest Patiyar pushed us to act so quickly and his record were so messy that we had to end up conducting a rushed interrogation.¡± she briefly nods in what could be taken as an apology at my parents. It is hard to tell what she''s thinking hidden under her shawl but to me it is obvious that the two elders are just bickering again.
I don''t know when they will talk about the blessing though.
Looking displeased the old priest goes on: ¡°Yes, I also apologize for her lack of judgement. None of this should have happened.¡± he takes a sip of tea to hide his smile targeted at the priestess.
My father finally speaks up. ¡°Could someone explain why we were dragged out of our home at night? To be interrogated for hours just because one of you took some fancy to my son? Couldn''t you at least have told us that he did nothing wrong? You had us dead worried there. Not including that we both missed our work today, what are we going to say to our employers?¡±
I''m quite proud of him although a simple commoner, he has enough pride to at least feel aggrieved.
A tired Nutusi briskly answers ¡°Yes, yes. I''ll take responsibility for that. And we will compensate you for your loss.¡± She brushes the matter away and cunningly points at the old priest for the monetary compensation. ¡°But this is not what''s important here. What matters is that we want young Telerios to join the temple as a student starting today.¡±
My parents are dazed by her impatience. I can also hear the gears turning in their heads. Having me become an acolyte is good news. It means good prospects for my future. Yet they both know they can''t afford any tuition nor even just doing without the food I provide daily.
¡°Sorry but I don''t think we can pay for Telerios to join the temple.¡± My father humbly says, ¡°We are just commoners and can''t afford the tuition.¡± I can feel his shame in his voice. He doesn''t like having me miss such an opportunity.
The old priest raises a hand to silence my dad. ¡°This is fine. As I said we are the one interested in your son. So of course there will be no tuition fees. As long as he becomes a student in my temple, I''ll also take care of his meals and needs here.¡± He looks satisfied at both my parents and at the Shinpilo''s sister, happy to snatch me from right under her nose.
My mother is the one to douse his satisfaction ¡°That''s not the only problem here. As much as it shames us to admit it, we also rely on our son''s work for part of our household needs. He is currently an apprentice fisher and right now we can''t afford to cut the supplies he''s bringing back home.¡± She blushes in shame. But I can understand her.
I knew that food was getting scarcer, that is one of the reasons why I chose to become Peterell''s apprentice. I might be young but always acted older and naturally my parents started leaning on me earlier than they should normally have. Yet I understand that it is embarrassing to admit in front of strangers, especially such important figures as our local temple''s head priest.
Nutusi must have grown tired of our commoner''s rambling, probably not understanding our ordeal, she sounds clearly annoyed. ¡°Fine, the temple will compensate you.¡± she turns to point at the head priest ¡°As long as Telerios is doing some menial jobs around, the head priest will pay him one iron coin per month. This should be enough.¡± She arbitrates.
The head priest spits his tea in his beard an chokes at the sum requested. Before he can catch up his breath the shawled granny follows up: ¡°The hall of whispers will take charge of half the sum. This should be enough to please all parties present?¡± her tone wouldn''t suffer any contradiction, so none occurs. ¡°Fine then this is settled, starting tomorrow the kid will work at the temple.¡± She turns towards my parents to order them: ¡°You can now go wait outside, we still have more to discuss with your son but that doesn''t require your presence any more.¡± She points at the door.
She''s clearly acting impolitely but my parents can''t really protest here, she is many ranks above them and sounds upset. So they both meekly bow before leaving the room, casting me a last confused glance.
Once they left the granny lift her shawl off her eyes and sighs: ¡°I hate dealing with commoners and servs, always so petty. Trying to beg for one more piece of bunta.¡± I scowl at her, obviously she lived in opulence and doesn''t know shit about our daily life. When our eyes finally meet i''m flabbergasted. Hers look sick with terminal cataract: both milky and clouded. I can''t believe she is able to see a thing, let alone walk seamlessly around.
Before I can wonder more about her abilities the old man rebukes her: ¡°It''s because you are an ignorant. If like me you had worked with them for years, you would know how precarious their lives can be.¡± he lectures her. ¡°You''ve always been a heartless hag, so I don''t expect you to understand. At least I know they will make good use of that small iron coin.¡± He turns towards me: ¡°This is a great opportunity for your family, so work diligently. They seem like decent people.¡± In my heart the man won a lot of favour. He may not like Shinpilo but he is the down to earth type, aware of how the city works.
The wrinkled lady brushes the attack off as if used to it. ¡°Whatever you say.¡± She then turns towards me, her white eyes are quite the unsettling sight: ¡°Now let''s talk about your blessing. Like the cardinal said, you''ll first learn to read and write here. And then you''ll keep your end of the blessing and provide us with Shinpilo''s knowledge.¡± She sounds eager, ¡°You should also keep your blessing a secret, even to your own parents.¡± At that I can see the head priest nod in approval, his beard fluttering on his desk.
Nutusi goes on ¡°It isn''t unusual for blessed one to be young although it usually happens more during naming day than after. But Shinpilo''s blessed one are few and far between. Especially when it concerns knowledge. As far as I can tell there are only two blessed scholars currently in the empire, both at the imperial capital and in their old days.¡± She pauses to let the revelation sink in. ¡°In this city itself there is only the cardinal that is a Shinpilo''s blessed one. Cardinal Fortmo is also the head of the Shieldlord''s intelligence network.¡±
I expected Shinpilo to have few blessed ones. He isn''t a popular god, so likewise it wasn''t unexpected for him to have few followers and blessed ones. But I''d never have guessed that it was that few. I was fine with standing out now that I got the pantheon''s protection but maybe I stuck my neck a bit too much out this time.
Patiyar opens a huge book on his desk: ¡°I''ve also checked some of our annals and haven''t found any Shinpilo''s blessed one as young as you, ever.¡± I can feel his inquisitive gaze on me and avoids crossing his grey eyes, instead fixing my eyes on the book he just opened. ¡°A blessing also makes you a target. Both from monsters but also from heretics. Killing a blessed one is often their way to seek the monster god''s attention.¡± he warns me.
Shit I knew for the monsters but didn''t take the heretics in consideration. Although I doubt it to be that important seeing how they are repressed. I should be fine, shouldn''t I?
As I see that both elders await an answer from me I nod ¡°I will keep it a secret.¡± I must sound serious and sincere enough that both look relieved. ¡°I''ll make sure Mekas keeps his lips sealed.¡± says the old lady with a hint of ominous threat. I hope he doesn''t end up killed because of me.
After a few more warnings and them explaining to me what''s expected of me, I managed to negotiate for a week before going at the temple. I would feel bad leaving Peterell without a forewarning or an excuse. The man took good care of me and my family for almost a year. And kept me alive (although I''m still unsure he tried hard to). So I owe him this much.
I stayed at the temple for the rest of the day. An apprentice of Arteus took my measurement to sew a fitting robe for me, I can''t work for the temple dressed like a street urchin.
Before I leave, the old priestess even gave me my first iron coin. ¡°Work well for Shinpilo''s glory and many more will come. Do not listen too much to the senile man, he doesn''t understand Shinpilo. Be smarter, just stay diligent and gather as much knowledge as you can.¡± That was her farewell.
She will check on me every other months. I can tell she still has her doubts about me and what I did to receive my blessing. But she has enough faith in her patron god to brush her doubts away. Shinpilo is also the god of secrets and she respects that I''m keeping mine.
Once back home I''m alone for a while. I enjoy the free time to care for Godzilla and rest for a bit. Last night didn''t feel refreshing at all.
During dinner I explain to my parents what''s going to happen in the following day. They are obviously happy that i''m joining the Temple and will be able to provide a nice income for the family yet they are still suspicious as to how I managed that feat. If they suspect anything about a blessing or something else, they do not voice it and just make sure that I''m okay with what is happening. They do not expand much on what happened to them during interrogation. The rest of the family was quite upset by the events and my sister Jocalie even cries a bit at the end of the discussion, still processing the traumatizing experience.
When I go upstairs after fourth evening bell to get some sleep, I''m remembered I forgot someone: Gelcaria. There is a pile of gravel in front of the open window. When I go take a look outside I can make out her purple eyes gleaming in the darkness down there.
I hurriedly throw her our rope so that she can climb up, we have much to discuss. As I give her a hand to cross the embrasure of the window, I''m greeted back with a sucker punch to the guts, so powerful that I''m lifted from the ground. I fall down bent in two and trying not to puke my dinner.
Gelcaria towers over me, her lavender eyes casting lasers on me, her face full of anger, anxiety and a hint of sorrow: ¡°By all cocksucking Akola?''s cunts an Fusaad''s rotting puddles of pus, where the fucking fuck have you been!¡± she growls, eyes moistening with tears.
As I catch my breath while lying on the floor and hugging my bruised stomach. I''m flabbergasted by her language: where did she learn to swear like that?
I''ll have to address this issue later but I think it would be unwise to upset her more right now...
Chap 28: Desillusions
Working for my local temple is great.
First I get to wake up later than when fishing. I can now laze in my futon till first morning bell. I can take my time having breakfast, taking care of Godzilla and leisurely walk to the temple. Not only is the temple requiring me to show up late but it is also not that far from our house.
An other great perk of the job are the meals. Acolytes get quite the nice food. Not as good as full fledged priests but still far better than what commoners can have. The temple has its own cook, a strange old lizardkin woman that is constantly blabbering. If you ever get in the kitchen be ready to hear the same story about some random event that happened years ago. I didn''t dare ask her age or question her sanity but in some of her anecdotes she refers to Patiyar as a ¡°young priessst¡±...
I also got a nice acolyte robe. The fabric is denser than my old tunic but still a bit rough. The colour is a dull brown but the sleeves have a nice deep blue satin edging. The front is crossed like a judo kimono and a large waist belt helps keeps the whole thing together. Definitively an outfit made for someone sitting at a desk, not working in the fields or sailing upon the river.
With the memory of the monster tide still deeply imprinted in my mind, I decided to keep my dagger with me. To hide it I modified its scabbard so it can be fixed like a holster on my left side, under my robe. It doesn''t hinder my movements and is still easy enough to grab in a hurry. I doubt I''ll need it anytime soon but just knowing I''ll have a weapon with me if another tide ever comes helps.
Some nights I''m still awoken by the sight of Yoli getting quartered by the monster lobster thing. And I''m not the only one: when Gel stays over for the night I can see she wakes up at night from the same kind of nightmares I have. When this happens we just silently share our fears, shouldering the bad memories together lightens the weight of it a bit.
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The bad side of work is that until now I got very little time dedicated to learning.
I was expecting that with my blessing they would focus on teaching me as many things as possible and then have me write all my ¡°gifted¡± knowledge.
But instead I got to perform menial tasks. Acolytes are used as servants for the temple. Since I''m the youngest and by far, I''m burdened with most of the chores: emptying chamber pots, cleaning rooms, dusting, going for groceries or serving tea. Far from what I expected when joining the temple as a scholar apprentice.
There aren''t that many people in our small temple. Patiyar is the oldest and the head priest. From what I''ve heard he was a follower of Jalea in his early years. Quite unusual for a young man to worship her, unless you are a true believer in justice.
There is a handful of senior priests working under his lead. A retired army veteran is the priest of Dard and tasked with the temple''s security, there is a young priestess of Fusaad always busy outside with either curing the sick or preserving food. She is the busiest around here. And finally there is a senior priest of Otik tasked with funerals and, if I am to believe what he says, exorcising ghosts and spirits.
This triumvirat has in turn around ten priests under them, covering almost the whole pantheon. Then comes the acolytes. Those are surprisingly few. Mekas is the oldest of us, there are two other acolyte older than 12 and on their definitive path. If Mekas is going for Shinpilo, one teenager girl is going for Fusaad and a young athletic foreigner is worshipping Husnd in a strange mix of family counselling and martial training. Husnd is the god of war after all.
There are then 5 younger acolytes ranging from 11 to 8 springs old and me, the youngest, with my almost 5 springs old...
Aside from my cleaning duties, I spend most of my time sticking with Mekas. Since he intends to dedicate himself to Shinpilo he is both the one that shares the closest mindset with me and the one happiest to teach me things. W make quite the odd pairing, the youngest an the oldest acolyte together, but whatever works...
He is also one of the few who knows about my blessing. I''ve never confirmed it with him but he is smart enough to connect the dots and had the elegance to not pry further. I suspect he got some instructions about secrecy on the matter from both High priest Patiyar and Majores Nutusi.
The main job of Mekas is to take care of all copying and daily scribes activities of our temple. For a trivial amount of money he is tasked with writing short letters in stead of the illiterate masses. Another Shinpilo follower will be tasked with the reading on the receiving end if needed. This is a basic postal service but more than welcome for those waiting for news of kins from afar. My grandparents got news from my aunt this way.
When doing his scribe duty the teenagers likes to wear a Shinpiloite shawl hiding his face. He takes a more manly voice and tries to act older than he is, impressing the gullible commoners that request his services.
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Books are made of quite mediocre paper. Not unlike the paper sheets I bought for my offering. Even so those books would be worth their weight in iron coins on the market. The low quality of the paper and of the ink requires for the books to be copied regularly, every hex years or so.
Only the most important books get to be copied: Religious liturgy books of course but also those on specific branch of knowledges used by some of the priests in their daily work like code of laws or clinical records on diseases.
The temple''s ledger don''t get this kind of treatment, meaning the civil management is quite lacking. Only blades will have enough money to keep up to date a family tree.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
I can now understand how the lack of good material weakens the passing of knowledge even more. Many minor information are lost to the deterioration of time. Although some might look minor at the time in the long run it adds up to slow down the rate of progress. I''ll have to see how the scholar''s association or the astronomers keep their knowledges in the long term. Maybe things gets better with good paper?
All this is coming down to the monopoly on paper that the Beastkin empire has. They have large forests on the other side of the mountain and are keeping the technique secret. There are trade agreements asserting their monopoly and both them and the rulers are making a lot of money out of this trade.
Harvesting wood is a dangerous business. One has to have lumberjacks go into monster infested forests. No one knows how the Beastkins manage to make it profitable.
When I''m done with my duties I always try to find Mekas before the other acolytes can find me and bully me by dumping their chores on me.
He doesn''t asks me to perform his duties and I get to watch him writing. He doesn''t mind when I ask him to teach me the words he is drawing.
I''m not sure if it is a side effect of the blessing but I believe my memory got better. This is the only thing that feels different for now. I didn''t feel the burn around my right eye any more and when I watched my reflection in water I could confirm there was no noticeable mark left.
Now, even without writing down the words he is teaching me, I usually am able to memorize them by the third time they show up. Because he gets to copy texts on various subjects my vocabulary expanded drastically: I''m starting to be able to read common scrolls.
This is still far from what I was expecting. Probably because I still seem too young in the eyes of my superiors. I can abide with that and lay low for some time as long as I can keep learning to read and write. But if Mekas was to get assigned elsewhere things could stall quickly for me so I have to make the most of it right now.
Peterell took my leave quite stoically. When I announced him that I would go work for the temple by the end of the week he just congratulated me and did not try to know how I managed to get in. It is hard to read him so I don''t know if he just doesn''t care or respects my secrets?
He didn''t lack for workforce for long as my position was quickly taken over by someone else. Melodi and Gelcaria took my stead, both were already familiarized with the job, knew how to swim and had a strange knack for attracting preys into their nets.
I even suspect Peterell to be happier to work with his daughter than with me. I''m more surprised that he came to term with working alongside Gelcaria.
I did not forget that as a follower of Amidea he was quite upset with her initially. Between his daughter''s plea and the bountiful catches, money talked and was stronger than religious bias in the end.
Of course Balout and Melodi were surprised as to how I managed to afford entry in the temple''s ranks. I had to make a lie about hoarding money from work, blood money from grandpa''s death and the fact that I was smart. Gelcaria is the only one to truly know what happened but is smart enough to keep her lips sealed. This is our little secret.
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I''ve managed to put up some weight and height in a growth spur since I joined the temple. The better food is the source of it. Our lizard cook, Sansho, took a liking to me.
She is quite easy to read as her scales change colour with her mood.
Her physiology is really different from ours. She is poikilothermic. Meaning she depends on room temperature for her metabolism. Whenever it is cold outside she gets confined in her kitchen, near the oven to stay active. Only when the air is warm enough and the sun hitting on us would she go out. So she has to rely on the acolytes for groceries and so far I''ve been both diligent and honest with money handling which is what earned me her favours.
¡°Ssso sssmal, come here and eat thisss you ssscrawny sssthing.¡± Would she often say, grabbing me to shove some fried bunta down my throat. Her cooking is heavy with foreign spices and the honey-jam thing. When I asked her where she hailed from her scales turned a bright yellow before she muttered something about the southern archipelagos and how she was bought by the temple hexes ago.
When the end of the year festival arrived I couldn''t feast with my family. I was instead busy at the temple helping around before each ceremony and with more chores than ever to do because the older acolytes were requested by the senior priests to help them in their ceremonies.
I tried praying at Shinpilo''s shrine on daynight. I was eager to learn more about them or get some precisions about what was expected of me. But my prayers weren''t answered.
I was a bit sad to not be able to share the end of the year celebration with my family but Sansho made sure to make it up to me by outdoing herself in the kitchen. I do not have a clear understanding of the depth of the temple''s coffers but at least I know she has access to more than one delicacy and all the spices one can dream off.
The wealth of the temple got even more concrete when Nutusi gave me a textbook on her first monthly check. So much paper was worth a lot. I was to give it back once filled with ¡°Shinpilo''s knowledge¡± but still, entrusting a kid with so much money was surprising. I wasn''t given any deadline. Which sits well by me but is also a bit disappointing, it means they still see me as a child and do not expect much from me yet.
I ripped a few pages out of it. Some were sold back at the bazaar to refill my hoard and the rest I gave them to my squad. They are free to either sell it or use it for writing.
I managed to keep in touch with the three of them. On each 8th day of the week we will find a way to meet up. There I can share whatever I learned during the week. I try to focus on the most useful ideograms to not overload them, plus I believe that at some point my alphabet will prevail. The rest of the time I share what I can about history, geography and sciences. Balout is slowly becoming my best student, especially now that we can dive into physics.
This is both numbers in which he excels AND understanding the world surrounding us. Being able to understand buoyancy or the trajectory of a thrown arrow delighted him more than what a healthy kid his age should be but I''m glad I found someone that can appreciate my knowledge for what it''s worth.
During spring I tried to introduce Mekas to the decimal system and the notion of zero.
He didn''t get it. ¡°What''s the use of writing nothing? It is a waste of good paper?¡± he blurted.
I tried to explain how in the long run it helps to manipulate great numbers more easily and write them on less space.
I hit the wall of religious belief here. Despite being a worshipper of knowledge he was stumbling on the need to have the ¡°holy hexadecimal numbers¡±. I could see the fear of heresy in his eyes and only the fact that I am a blessed one from the god he worships saved me from a report.
In the end he brushed away the idea as a kid''s nonsense.
I didn''t insist, there is no need to antagonize him. I introduced him to alphabet instead.
This was more warmly welcomed. Although he understood the utility of diffusing and reading new words without the need of someone to teach them, he didn''t grasp the fact that it was simple to the point that we could teach more people how to read and write.
¡°What use would a farmer or a smith have for reading? It would just take away our scribing activity.¡± He rebuked me while mechanically stroking his chin and stubble with his lanky hands.It was quite disturbing to see such feminines hands brushing against his teenager''s shadow of a beard. ¡°Plus commoners won''t have the time to learn this, nor the money. Who would teach them? Us? At the temple? This makes no sense. I write, they grow crops or smith or whatever, that''s how the world is supposed to be.¡± He concluded.
I tried to introduce the notion of school or at least classes but was laughed at. Those were exclusively for blades and higher up only, who could afford a preceptor not for commoners.
This left me in low spirits. If even a young scholar like him was hermetic to the idea, how would I be able to introduce it to older scholars? Would I be able to leverage my blessing to brute force the notion of universal education in this rigid society? I start to fear the height of the resistance I''ll have to face. And this was just for writing and counting. What will it be if I want to implement the metric system or electricity? Or change how they consider stars and such?
But when I meet back with Gel and the others it restores my faith: they are the examples in the flesh that even commoners can grasp my modern notions, ready to break through new horizons.
If the higher ups aren''t ready for the change, I''ll just have to start from the bottom. The young generation growing around me will prove that our way to do things is just better.
Chap 29: Sparring partners.
At the end of spring I turned officially 5.
Albeit too slowly to my liking, time was moving on. Tupu was generous with me and granted me growth. With the strict morning routine I''ve kept going on during my early years I was now quite the fit kid. What''s even more enjoyable was the flexibility I have with this body. Never in my previous life was I able to make a front split ¨¤ la Van Damme.
There are no mirrors around, be it at the temple or at home but from what I can tell when looking at my reflection in the water (quite the narcissist) I like to think I look a bit older. Maybe it''s just because I''m more serious looking than the other kids my age?
I also inherited my father''s sunken eyes: I always look like a student before his exams, sleep deprived and exhausted. Sadly, I haven''t found any coffee substitute in this world.
When I''m comparing myself to the other kids I can meet it''s still hard to gauge the passing of time in this world. My friends also look older than their civil age but it might be due to my influence on them or the fact that they undergone the same training I did. Buffing up makes you look more grown up. The younger acolytes at the temple do look their age until puberty kicks up. I noticed that it may be starting earlier in this world. Mekas isn''t 16 but he already has a light shadow of a beard and some of the acolytes start showing the premises of a moustache starting 12 springs old.
I haven''t seen enough girls in their teenage years to compare. Girls should start their puberty earlier so it would be more informative.
Gelcaria, Melodi and Balout also grew up in the past year. Melodi is the tallest of us by a head, not including her cat ears, while Balout is the smallest but makes up for it with sheer weight.
Now that they took the opportunity to work for Peterell both girls have more to eat: their ribs are showing less and they are putting some meat around those bony wrists. Maybe the malnutrition was holding their growth back?
Balout was already sturdy I guess bakers earn more than seamstresses or smelters.
To get more information on the matter of growth I''ve started keeping track of my youngest sister''s growth and drawn her growth curve. I have no tools so I had to make up a measuring board by myself. I doubt my ¡°meter¡± is right but at least it will stay the same. Weight is a bit more complicated to gauge. We have no scales at home, nor standardized counterweight. So I use an array of small sandbags that I''ve labelled myself and a makeshift scale. Again this is not scientific but it allows me to get a rough idea of what her growth curve looks like.
This world units are even more of a mess than writing or counting. There are feet, thumbs, hands, fingers everywhere, with no one being sure they use the same length for the same body part. The feet of a tall man isn''t the same as the feet of a small girl. Yet both will use their feet to count....
Weight is even worse. Every shop use their own counterweight. Some shops are know to be more generous or clients friendly than other in their deals.
Bringing the metric system could be the work of a lifetime but I have no idea where to start. This will have to wait.
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With Spring settling in for good and the warming of the air Sansho required less help with the groceries, she can now shoulder the outside temperature long enough to manage on her own.
This left me with more free time on my hands which also means that the other acolytes tried to dump more of their chores on me.
They got caught by Sansho and she shooed them away, her scales took a nice carmine tint before lecturing me: ¡°You ssssmall and weak. Need to be careful.¡± she grabbed my wrist and dragged me to her with the strength only Beastkins can possess ¡°Sssmall beassst with no clawsss nor fangsss are weak. You need fight. Learn use what you have.¡± During her lecture she turned back to her usual deep green colour.
Her hand went to fondle under my shirt to fetch my dagger out. ¡°Good metal, bad user. You train with Orsssov or clean all latrinesss for ever.¡± With this last threat I was dragged to the temple''s courtyard where the priests and acolytes of the more martial gods have their training ground.
The court is wider than my house, there are a few trees growing on the border wall maintaining the temperature all year long. In winter they stop the cold northern winds and in the summer they provide shade to cool the yard and right now they just provide a beautiful blooming array of colours.
In the middle of the court there is a simple sanded area for the wrestlers and fighters with a few wooden poles to the side.
Currently there are only three people here. The senior priest of Dard: Gupta, training with a young man. And a priest of Tupu tending to the flowerbeds.
Despite not being older than 30 springs Gupta got honourably discharged after a grave wound, he was an officer in the Shield lord''s army before becoming a priest.
Sansho told me he lost his left foot to the jaws of some monster. He got a wooden prosthetic replacement but nothing fancy or really functional.
Despite having left the army he keeps his martial looks: his clothes always without wrinkles, dark hair with a buzz cut and neatly shaved expect for a moustache that looks minutely trimmed, not a single hair going astray.
Despite his crippling injury he only shows a light limping, barely noticeable under his long martial robe. One must know it is there to notice it.
He is currently training Orzhov using his weapon of choice: a long pole arm that reminds of a halberd but is in fact more like an axe with a longer shaft. The reach helps to make up for his lost nimbleness.
Orzhov is one of the acolytes that is on his confirmation path. He chose to worship Husnd, god of family and protectors but also the god of war.
The young man is of foreign origins: his pale blonde hair almost white in bright light labelling him as a northerner of the far away tribal kingdoms of Stamm.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
They do not have a good reputation around here. They are now under the jurisdiction of the Empire just like we are but for years they fought against it, pillaging and plundering the Empire.
Our Shieldom''s troop was levied many time to fight them back in the previous century thus the bad blood between us. Even if there''s been no fights between us for decades, bad reputation sticks for a long time.
I don''t think Orzhov was born or grew up in the Stamm tribes though: he has no accent. My best guess would be that he is the kid of a prisoner of war or an exile and got raised in the temple.
To face Gupta he''s using the iconic weapons of Husnd: the dual shields. A small buckler shield in his right, used to punch at the enemy and a massive teardrop shield with sharpened edges in the left.
His movements are nimble and his footwork is dazzling, he keeps changing footing like a boxer despite the weight of his weapons.
And indeed boxing is his fighting style, he has to get close to punch at the enemy and here the long reach of Gupta''s axe is problematic. Even when he manages to deflect a hit of the dulled training axe with his buckler, Gupta uses the shaft of his weapon as a fighting rod whenever the teenager tries to get closer.
There are few clashes of blunted wooden weapons between them, they spend most of their time turning around each other, waiting for an opening. A sign that both are trained fighters and not amateurs.
They aren''t wearing any armour on but the weapons are still heavy and they aren''t showing any panting of tiredness, this can only mean that they are using some Chi or other enhancement and not just pure strength.
Sansho''s scales turn to a deep blue as she interrupt the both of them. ¡°Now kidsss, take a break. You Orsssov, come here. I have a favour to asssk.¡± Much to my surprise both of them stops and even if Gupta raised an eyebrow at being called a kid he didn''t dare correct her.
Sansho shoves me in front of Orzhov ¡°Thisss isss young acolyte, Teleriosss. Weak and feeble, much hazing. You train him. Make not weak.¡± Her tone isn''t domineering enough to be an order but still leave little room for refusal.
The young man looks dejectedly at me, unhappy with the chore. ¡°He is too young, I can''t be bothered with him. Can''t you ask for Voldig to do it?¡±
Voldig is another young acolyte in his 11th spring and he intends to follow Nasibor to become one of her wandering blades, priest-soldiers that roams the land to free them of monsters. They do not have that good a reputation despite their noble mission, often resorting to banditry and extortion to feed themselves on the road. They are often accused of senseless murder.
And Vol fits the description: he is brutal and impulsive. I don''t want him to wield a weapon anywhere near me, even a blunted one.
My lizard matriarch takes a nice orange tint ¡°No. Little Voldig hasss lesss brain than even Sansho.¡± She points at herself with inopportune pride, ¡°You tasssked with protection. You teach or no more meat for you!¡± She uses her trump card: she is in charge of our meals. That is where her true power resides.
Despite the obvious displeasure the threat of reduced meals is enough for Orzhov to yield. ¡°Fine. But only twice a week, I can''t be bothered with little kids too often, I have a strict training to follow as my ceremony is soon to come.¡± He excuses himself.
He is referring at his 16th spring where he''ll get tested to check if he is worthy of becoming a priest of Husnd. This is a weak excuse, he still got two more years in front of him.
Sansho turns back to her usual green ¡°Good. You nicsse kid. Teach well, fed well.¡± She tosses me at him like I''m a sack of potatoes. ¡°Now I go back to kitchen. Here not warm.¡± she leaves us just like she came.
Orzhov sighs and helps me to get back on my feet. Gupta joins us mumbling in a deep voice ¡°How did you earn yourself the protection of our chef, kiddo? I''ve never heard of her favouring some acolytes. I should ask Patiyar about it.¡± His moustache is quivering in an interrogative dance.
I do not have an answer for him. I''ve only been here for a couple months and just helped her with the groceries, so I can only shrug at him. ¡°Sorry sir, I have no idea either.¡±
The crippled veteran looks pensively at the trees surrounding the courtyard. There are some peaches like budding with early bright pink flowers. ¡°Anyway, enjoy your luck and be sure to thank her later on. I''m taking a rest and a shower, take care of him Orzhov. You better not let the lizard down, our meals are at stack here.¡± He leaves on this last warning that was also a light joke. His meals shouln''t be at risk here.
The pale blond teen makes a martial salute before turning towards me with a grumpy look: ¡°What are you good at?¡± he inquires.
I show him my knife ¡°I only have this weapon. I''m not that strong but I think I''m quite fleet footed.¡±
I''m being humble here but I think I''ve never been this deft in my previous life. I should manage whatever low expectations he has for me.
He puts his teardrop shield down on the ground to take a better look at me. His grey eyes are calm and serene, unlike most boys his age. His nose is a bit crooked but it gives him an aquiline look that adds to his charisma despite not making him good looking. ¡°How did you become an acolyte so young? If you have that much money you should have hired a sword master to train you or just bribed the other acolytes.¡±
I can''t really explain my circumstances so I have no snarly comeback for him. I just make a small lie and shrugs. ¡°I''m not rich. I was just hired by the head priest because I''ve showed some talent in reading.¡±
He sighs again both annoyed and tired. ¡°Fine, let''s see what you can do but you better put a good word for me at Sansho, I want the best meat there is.¡± he warns me.
For the next hour he taught me the right posture to use with a short blade then we spar. I''ve switched my dagger for one of the training wooden swords.
I tried running around him but with the help of Chi and since he''s only using his buckler, his stamina lasted longer than mine. Only once was I able to hit him with a light kick since he got dizzy from me turning around him and lost his footing for an instant.
¡°Not bad, kid. You won''t be able to use that in a real fight thought. Running around me isn''t a viable tactic, now come at me for real!¡± he taunts.
I get punched by his buckler a few times, earning some big bruises and a nosebleed in the process. On his last parry I got the full brunt of his buckler in my face as he blocked me when I was diving towards him.
A bloody nose ends up today''s lesson.
¡°Sansho''s right. You are too weak. You lack endurance and peak strength. Mostly because you are too young and have no Chi yet.¡± he diagnoses as I pinch my nostril to quench the red stream. ¡°Your footing is fine though, could use some more training in fast direction switch but you have some foundation. My best advice is for you to keep training.¡± Great advice, couldn''t have thought of this one on my own...
I am now to train with him twice a week, mostly to run laps around the courtyard while carrying a bag of sand. Then he would humiliate me with a quick sparring that always ends when I get knocked off by a buckler punch.
My progresses are slow but steady. The boy knows his martial training and gives good advices on my posture and how to best use my blade. He also took it on him to protect me from the hazing, making it clear that each acolyte should take care of his own chores.
I made sure to thank Sansho and have her put extra rations for Orzhov. With the time freed from doing the chores of others I could spend a bit more time helping her in the kitchen.
I still don''t get why she sided with me and what her real deal is but she seems happy, her scales turning a light green, like young leaves when I help her around the kitchen. ¡°Young hatchlingsss mussst be protected. Good kidsss help in return. Godsss and Sansho are happy.¡± was the best explanation I could get from her.
On the scholar field I started making some progress with Mekas. He took a bit of interest in geometry. Oddly enough this is considered a complex subject only studied by architects and the astronomers association. Even a scholar like him didn''t got taught much about it.
He is quite fascinated by the rules I can show him and the regularity with which he can find unknown factors. But to him it is more a puzzle solving game than something with practical use. He has the mindset of a scribe not of a mathematician.
More than often I leave the temple late at dusk. We are still in spring and although days are growing longer the sun still sets down quite early, before second evening bell.
Now that she works for Peterell Gelcaria ends her day far earlier than I do. She sometimes waits for me at the temple''s entry or I will find her already in the attic when I come back home.
During the afternoons she spends with Melodi they wander around or just play. There is some sort of light rivalry growing between the both of them. A good kind of rivalry where they push one another to better themselves.
She tries to pass on some of the things I taught her or they have some mock fights, both striving to become stronger than the other.
When Gel stays for the night, which still happens almost half of the time, I teach her as much as I can. Ideograms I recently learned of course but also more about history, geography and even some biology. Some of this world, some of mine, slowly bringing in more understanding of our surroundings. Now that she has to admit my strange knowledge got me the benediction of a god, she is far more ready to believe anything I say no matter how unlikely it might sounds on the first approach.
She must now be the smartest fisherwoman ever.
Chap 30: The essence of Chi
The weather of this year''s Summer was exceptionally bad.
It rained for weeks which was unusual. The winds came from the south carrying the moisture of the ocean and when they got blocked by the White fangs mountain chain it fell on us in a downpour.
Our unpaved streets turned to muddy quicksands bogging down carriage and merchandises, there was a rise in dysentery cases as the drainage system overflowed and the fluvial trade was disrupted. The town was drowning, the rivers were at their highest and there was a moist fog floating above us making the temperature unbearable. With the diseases, overflowing water and puddles of stagnant water there was a sickening stench permeating the east district and the constant buzzing of insects were driving me mad. The only good thing was that there were no mosquitos in this world, so at least I wasn''t dealing with bites and itches.
The excess rains made it harder to sail upstream against the flow plus there were rumours of monster activity in the southern province. The shieldlord sent a task force to secure the river and roads to the south but it was too late: rumours can do more harm than the alleged threat itself and few traders were bold enough to make the travel to Nakunaui.
This cut the city from the commerce with the southern republics and the southern continent. Only the ships coming from the under-path and the Beastkins Empire were still making it to us along with the lan trade route with the Empire in the west.
Both Gel and Melodi were complaining that the river got more dangerous and that fish got scarcer. The tridents were doing their best but there wasn''t much they could do against nature itself. This year there were more predators teeming in the waters and even a few monsters that were spotted right outside the walls. I was secretly glad that Peterell was stranding ashore, the idea of a flock of Chogsu waiting to grab one of the girls was a tentacle nightmare.
Despite all these gloomy news my life at the temple was quite comfortable. Sure the air was heavy with hot damp winds but the temple had many well ventilated rooms and a large underground where we could find some coolness.
Sansho was brimming with energy the heat was making her go almost maniac. Her green scales had a healthy lustre and she was buzzing everywhere, humming and fast talking to anyone she met on her stormy path. Once she woul get a hold of a patient listener she would have her scales turn to happy yellow shine while she was recounting whatever passed her disordered mind, mixing old memories with her recent doings or tales and real events.
Usually when it gets so hot one tends to eat less and more fruits and veggies. We didn''t get that choice. She was frantically cooking all day long, force feeding us with stews and fried foods heavily spiced.
The disruption in the southern trade route came at our rescue when she ran out of spices. Starting then she had to spend more time skimming through the city in search of supplies, saving us from her cooking frenzy.
Since the courtyard was turned into a muddy arena by the rain, the martial training was done in one of the underground rooms.
Orzhov was a diligent teacher and made sure to keep me on a tight schedule. I was still unable to simply graze him but at least now he was also less often punching me in the nose.
Seeing me train with dagger in hand the other acolytes put a stop to the hazing. You never know when a young kid with a blade can loose it and stab you, so they chose not to push me in a corner. I also suspect Sansho had a word with them too. She was just everywhere nowadays.
More than often the veteran officer: Gupta, came to impart some of his experience on us, correcting our stance or commenting on Orzhov''s use of Chi.
On one of our breaks I took the opportunity to learn more about Chi. ¡°What is Chi exactly? Am I also able to use it?¡± I asked while catching my breath after sparring with the blonde Orzhov.
The young acolyte of Husnd laughed at me, knowing full well that I intended to gain some means to beat him.
Gupta answered me seriously though: ¡°Chi is the essence of life. It imbues all of us and the world around us, everywhere. So of course you have it too and can to some extent use it.¡± he paused to think of a pertinent analogy, ¡°It''s a bit like water for fish. They all swim in it but some can make a better use of it than others. Yet even the smallest shrimp can also use it a bit too.¡± He stroked his moustache, satisfied with his metaphor.
¡°So how do I learn to use it?¡± I eagerly inquired. I couldn''t wait to be able to become as strong as my grandfather or Peterell, if I was to face monsters again I wanted to be ready. And I knew it would happen now that I had a blessing it was like wearing a target inciting monsters to go against me.
Orzhov was the one to enlighten me. ¡° For now, you wait. Only when you will be able to sense the surrounding Chi and distinguish it from your own will you be able to train in directing its flow.¡± He was reciting a lesson here. It wasn''t clear what I was to do? When would I know I was feeling Chi?
The veteran of Dard followed up: ¡°Most of the time it happens at the start of puberty, around cul springs old (12). A bit earlier for girls, a bit later for some boys. But it can largely vary depending on your sensibility. Some can feel it starting 8 springs old and blades even use some external tools to help induce it earlier in their children.¡± his gaze got blurry as he lost himself in his memories, ¡°In the beginning it will barely be a tingle. But it will grow as you work your concentration and focus. Once you learned to feel the Chi you can start absorbing some. We all naturally have Chi flowing through us but the key is to learn how to keep it inside and store it.¡± He patted me heavily on the shoulder, ¡°It is easier if you are the kid of someone with large Chi, there is some heredity for talent. My father was a great warrior and because he taught me Chi early on I was able to become an officer in the army. What does your father do?¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
This was a tricky question. My father has some Chi but not much. The real conundrum here is that if I reveal his job they might ask some questions as to how I entered the temple.
I could feel their curious gaze hanging upon me, ¡°He is more a scholar than a martial user,¡± I lied. Maybe Shinpilo''s blessing is helping me to lie better because none of them seemed to doubt me, ¡°But my grand pa had more Chi. So maybe I''ll take more after him?¡± I said with a hint of hope.
They both smiled at my candid hope, they knew I was destined to be more a scholar than a fighter like them.
¡°May Dard give you patience and focus then.¡± Gupta blessed me. This was a common prayer coming from a priest of Dard.
¡°What''s it like to use Chi?¡± I questioned to put them back on track.
This time it was Orzhov that shed some light for me ¡°To me it feels like I''m a big sponge absorbing water, feeling full and heavy after replenishing. When I exert myself it''s like I''m drying up, so when I squeeze the sponge I can rehydrate and keep going for a longer time at full force.¡±
Gupta nodded in approval. ¡°You already are quite good for your age.¡± he complimented Orzhov, ¡°Later on, when your mastery of Chi gets better, you will not only learn to store more but also to use it in subtler ways. I''m in the second quarter of Chi mastery.¡± he stated proudly, ¡°At this level you can use Chi to form a thin shell around your body. By moving this coating you can move the rest of your limb too. That''s how I can keep fighting with my leg.¡± He lifted his martial robe to reveal the wooden foot. ¡°It means I can''t use much Chi for other means like I used to but it''s enough for me to keep kicking Orz''s ass.¡± He jokingly taunted the teenager.
It''s the first time someone spoke of Chi levels in front of me so I grabbed the occasion to learn more: ¡°How does one know his level in Chi?¡±
Gupta took a rare scholarly look, happy to talk about a theoretical subject he had mastery of: ¡°There are two schools for that. The Empire tends to rank Chi users on the maximum amount of Chi they can store at once. You can measure it by having them pour Chi in crystals and measure how many they can fill in a set time.¡± He fished a stone out of his sleeve, ¡°This is a spent light crystal but I can refill it with Chi,¡± He squinted his eyes for a brief moment and the stone held between his fingers turned into a common light crystal.
So that''s why we don''t use them at home we would need someone with enough Chi to refill them.
¡°But I believe this is a crude way to measure ones mastery of Chi.¡± He went on after hiding the crystal back to whence it came from, ¡°With enough time and training, one can end up soaking a lot of Chi up but it doesn''t mean anything if you can''t put it to good use in a fight.¡± This time it was Orzhov shoulder that got smashed, ¡°Like Orz said, when you store Chi you''ll feel like a sponge full of water. It''s not a pleasant sensation and it enhances your senses, making you irritable but also a bit dizzy. Most of the time warriors avoid storing too much Chi at once, except when training in a secure area just like here.¡± Orzhov approved the affirmation with a knowing look.
Gupta kept up with his lesson: ¡°That''s why I think the Beastkin Empire way of grading Chi users is better. They focus more on what you can do with it: how well you can use it. They have many scales, ranging from the weight you can lift to the max speed at which you can run, for how long you can hold your breath or how far away you can push your Chi.¡±
I could feel the man wanted to brag about something here, he was easy to read and I was happy to oblige: ¡°What''s your rank in both scales?¡±
He had a satisfied smile at the corner of his lips, this was his time to show off some more: ¡°In the Empire''s ranking ladder I''m just a class five, barely making it to second quarter. It''s even a bit low for an officer,¡± He confessed with a crafty look, ¡°But in the Empire of Mist''s ladder I am a rank seven user, so in the upper half of second quarter. I''m quite good at using chi to move my body.¡± His eyes lost their focus again as he reminisced his military days, ¡°Before the damned monster mangled my foot.¡± he spat on the flooring, I''ll be the one cleaning the room... ¡°Before that, I was famous in my regiment for my speed and unexpected moves in battles. With my Chi I could change position to dodge anything or bend my weapon''s trajectory at the last moment to catch the unaware enemy, this made the difference in fights more than once.¡±
¡°You''ll have to teach me that.¡± blurted an excited Orzhov.
Gupta smiled in satisfaction, proud of his martial achievements and happy to pass them on. ¡°Yes, that and many more. Chi can be quite malleable when one understands it. I''ve seen warrior growing phantasmal blades out of their skin, some even solidifying the chi to expel it like an arrow out of their hands or just to become strong enough to tear an armour with their bare hands.¡± He was enjoying the stunned look on our faces, happy with his effect.
When I got over the myriad of possibilities he just listed, I managed to ask ¡°So what''s the difference with magic then? How is a Chi fighter different from a magician or a priest?¡±
His face got sullen and serious. ¡°Be respectful of the gods, kid. Priests can have their own power, like I do, but when they perform prayers it is not our power that is at play. We are merely a channel through which the gods perform their own miracles, far stronger than anything I could do by myself.¡± He made a small gesture with his left fingers, a prayer to Dard I suppose. ¡°Magic is another way of using Chi but only a magician could explain it to you, they all have their own way to manipulate it. All I know is that they are able to change the nature of Chi and enhance its powers. They can do much more with it than us fighters and are considered a bit stronger.¡± he had to reluctantly admit. ¡°Plus it''s not unusual for magician to also use Chi like us warriors do. Making them even more harder to fight against. If you are not aware of who is a magician, you might get lured into thinking that it''s just another warrior until a ball of fire engulfs you.¡± He warned us.
Orzhov looked worried at the prospect. Gupta sunk the teenager''s shoulder even deeper as he drummed on it, ¡°Ha! Don''t fuss too much over it. Magicians are quite rare and often blades, so you''ll know who you are dealing with most of the time. But caution brings durability and resilience.¡± His last sentence is a common Dardish aphorism.
After that I had to resume my chores today I was helping Mekas with some public writting. There weren''t many customers, the disruption of the trade routes also meant that the postal service was disrupted too.
Back home as I was listening to the rain falling on the roof of my attic I was daydreaming about what powers I could one day have. Right now things were dire, the rain was leaking through the roof and my futon was damp but it would be worth the wait one day. The temple life was already making it easier to bear with this world and it would only get better.
My night was filled with dreams of the powers I could yield later on. When my Chi will awake not only will I become one of those superhuman warriors but I will have access to magic too.
This was the best part of this world. It would make up for the loss of modern amenities. Maybe with Chi I would be able to ward the cold away during the winter? And then I''ll carve my way up.
Chap 31: Second blood.
Fall came earlier this year.
Following the disastrous rainy Summer came cold winds from the north, ruining harvests and crops.
Shortage in food was the next thing to come. The Nightday festival dedicated to Tamayoku, goddess of Fortune and wealth was a sad one. It is held on the 24th of Harvost right after the bunta harvest and is usually a great feast, all about binge eating and gorging oneself in the sweetest fruits before winter comes. But this year it was less sumptuous and looked more like a soup kitchen.
The Temple used it to make some food relief distribution for the poor. Winter was going to be tough and the naming day of the following years will have a shorter list.
On our side I knew my parents tried to stock up our pantry earlier on but with the bad crops and the rainfalls that disrupted trade, food prices rose up sharply. There wasn''t much they could put aside except some pickled duggus eggs, some bunta flour and what little dried fruits they could.
The limping Aroku was still keeping his promise and giving us a fair number of eggs. With the surge in the prices he even made more money this year, turning the activity into his full time one.
I was smuggling away some of the temple''s food to relieve the pression on my parents and because I was starting to worry for my youngest sister.
Back at the temple a gloomy Sansho was cooped up in her kitchen mumbling various curses at the cold winds and venting her anger on the dishes. ¡°Sansho will one day burn the whole mountainsss and warm herssself thisss way. No more bad windsss only nice sssun of Oreo-king.¡± She was muttering to herself while her scales were darkening to the point that she was hard to discern as she was fading in the shadows of the dimly lit room.
I tried to lift her mood as best as I could even gifting her a small flask of Drata, curtsey of Aroku. The liquid fire did please her a lot and turned her back to her ¡°hyperactive Summer mode¡± for a few days, with her scales now turned to a crimson red.
Patiyar advised me to never give her more of that after he had to eat 4 whole cakes in a row. ¡°Our pantry won''t be able to hold through the winter if she goes on like that.¡± he complained with a face full of worries but with less wrinkles: fat people looks younger.
My martial training was progressing slowly but steadily. Both Orzhov and Gupta were fine teachers. The first because he wishes to protect and the second because patience is his mantra and he was already used to training draftees for the army.
Under their tutelage I became able to hold my ground in a skirmish. I won''t kick neither of their asses but I can endure their assault for some commendable time for a child. With dagger in hand I''m now a reasonable threat, at least I won''t be completely powerless if I ever get cornered by a monster again.
Mekas is now letting me help more with the copying work. This earns me a bit of money and lets me learn more ideograms. I''m still trying to convince him that alphabet is the better option but he is a stubborn one or just too lazy to bother with learning a whole new method.
Nutusi comes once a month to check on my progresses. On our last meeting I asked her if I could use some of Shinpilo''s power, after all I am one of his blessed one, shouldn''t I get access to some of the powers priests can manifest?
She now takes her shawl off during our meetings so her milky eyes are somehow starring at me through the fog that must be her world: ¡°This and that are different things,¡± she harshly responds in her coarse voice, ¡°Using a god''s power can only be done through prayer with the intent of serving his will and requires to be able to handle the flow of power.¡± Her voice is filled with her passion for her god.
I can understand her fervour for our mutual patron god: she should be almost blind with her terminal cataracts, so I believe her ability to ¡°see¡± is in fact a permanent intervention of Shinpilo to disperse the ¡°secrets¡± of the world surrounding her. I asked her directly about it once but she dismissed my question with a mysterious smug smile. I shouldn''t be that far from the truth.
¡°Telerios, you are still just a child. Being a blessed one doesn''t mean you can endure the power of a god flowing through your body. In your stead I wouldn''t try it until you manifest some Chi or grow out of childhood.¡± She advised me. ¡°The power of a god is different than Chi. It is both more mild and easier to direct because the god is helping you steer it but it is also on a density that very few practitioners can reach on their own.¡±
Patiyar gave me the same advice so I guess they are right about it. Both are priests with access to strong powers they must know what they are talking about. For now I''ll focus on feeling the Chi and later I''ll get godly powers.
If she can see through her blindness what could I ask for? A permanent lie detector? Or the ability to become invisible?
Other than that she is pushing me to write down the knowledges I promised. I started by introducing her to the alphabet. She was the most interested of the scholar I met so far despite her age.
I didn''t dare ask her how old she actually is but I would really like to know. With her blemished eyes, whitened hair and face as wrinkled as a dried up raisin, she must be quite old. This mean that in Earth-time she is even more wise than one could fathom.
If she is 80 Springs old in this world, that would makes her 120 something years old on Earth.
She may look frail but she walks without a cane, is alert and gives off a strange feeling of sharpness, like an old sheathed sword: you know it is old and obsolete yet wouldn''t dare take a strike from it head on.
¡°That''s most interesting. You said you made the thing up yourself when you were four springs old?¡± She was doubting my story and her dead white fish eyes were looking straight into mine, trying to pry out the truth.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Since I modified the alphabet to add a few more letters it isn''t a lie to say I made it myself, so I don''t fear whatever lie detecting ability she might have thanks to her connection with Shinpilo. ¡°Yes. Since we didn''t get taught much of the ideograms I decided to make my own system up.¡± I lied brazenly.
¡°This is truly splendid. I understand what Shinpilo saw in you and why he linked with you despite your age. You say this could be taught to most commoners?¡± She''s starting to see the possibilities. I can almost hear the gears clunking behind the opaque glass of her eyes.
¡°Yes. With enough time and some simple tools like a slate board and some chalk I believe I could do wonders. In fact I already tested it on three of my friends.¡± I try to sound as convincing as I can, this could very well be a turning point in the history of the Shieldom or even more. Having real experience to show off is better than any speech.
¡°Mmmh I see.¡± She is squinting her blind eyes which makes her statement ironic, ¡°I''ll ask you to refrain from teaching this to more people unless we ask you to. This could be of a great help for our intelligence network. Having people able to communicate in an unknown coded system, easy to teach to even commoners could secure many informants.¡± She makes a good point but I''d rather have my alphabet used more widely than confined to a spy network.
So I retort: ¡°You can easily code it in fact. I think it would be best to spread it widely and use some simple cyphers rather than limiting the whole method to a few selected individuals. Depending on the code used you can even hide the message in seemingly casual writings.¡±
I briefly expose her the concept of Caesar''s cypher of displacing the letters of a set amount of pace in the alphabet or how to only use the first letters of each words to hide an other meaning in an otherwise unremarkable sentence.
¡°Worthy of Shinpilo indeed: hiding the tree in a forest.¡± She exults with a toothless smile.
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This becomes my task for the next months: to write down cyphers and make plans for a way to teach a few test subjects, loyal followers of Shinpilo used in covert actions for either the Temple or the Shieldom.
All these new activities meant that I''m often leaving late from the Temple. With the fall days quickly wilting down it can even be after nightfall.
My father is supposed to come pick me up in such cases but more than often he overlooks it and I am to go back on my own. Not that it bothers me, I know my way around our neighbourhood and way past the age to be afraid of the night.
I also take some work back home, I now carry my text book in a satchel along some more blank pages and some pencils. I can use some of this material to teach more things to Gelcaria, Melodi and Balout when he manages to free himself and join us.
The girls are now on par with grade schoolers: they can write, read and count both in my alphabet and with a few ideograms. This should put them at the level of children of free citizens or even blades.
They won''t live as commoners, having to struggle in misery for their whole life, of that I''ll make sure.
Balout has to help in his father''s bakery so he has less time to spend with us. Thus his mastery of ideograms is inferior to the other two but he makes up for it with his higher grasp of mathematics. I am often amazed by his gift with numbers: the kid can already understand the concept of first degree equations.
I wish I had more paper to write down more maths exercises for him or even a textbook for his self study. I absolutely have to find a way to get him hired in either the Temple, the city officials or the Astronomers Association. If he was to become a baker it would be a waste of his gifts.
This night was like most nights in this Fall: cold winds coming from the north and bringing a light drizzle with them that would freeze you to the core.
Following the rainy summer most bare-earth streets were now muddy pools or even streams in the making. I now had to take some detour through smaller side streets that weren''t as damp as the ones on my usual way back home.
Some stepping stones were put in some streets to make walking easier. I was looking like an energetic goat or frog, jumping from one step stone to the other. The game was ¡°the floor is lava¡± except the goal was to keep my legs dry or at least not too soaked.
I didn''t see the man hidden in the darkness under a door''s porch.
He grabbed my wrist mid air during one of my jumps and dragged me under the porch. I couldn''t see his face in the dark and he quickly locked me in his embrace and stuck his other hand on my mouth to silence me.
¡°Wha'' a nice fat froggy I caugh'' me here.¡± His voice was deep and full of threat, ¡°Ya little boy stay nice and quiet and we all part happy and witho'' getting badly hurt.¡± he whispered in my ear.
I could smell his breath: fried food, barok and a hint of tobacco-like smoke but with a minty after smell, like a smoker that would chew on gums to hide the smell. ¡°But if ya try to struggle, this friend will turn mean, ya understand?¡± He chokes me a little to make his meaning more concrete and a short curved knife appears in front of me. His accent is clearly from around here but the way he speaks means he is clearly from the slums.
I slowly nod. I am both panicking and not panicking.
Obviously I am scarred, I''ve never been mugged before. My heart is racing and I can feel the cold sweat mixing with the rain under my shirt.
The only goo point is that he at least didn''t try to harm me first then rob me, so there is room for negotiation here.
He also didn''t notice that I carry a weapon probably not expecting it on a child, even less on a scholar.
Seeing me cooperative and not fighting back, the choke-lock eases down a bit. ¡°Ma boss said that ye carry a lot of hefty thingy. Is tha'' right? Maybe cou''d need a hand to lighten it?¡± He asks me in a cruel mockery. He is like a cat playing with his prey rather than hunting by need.
Who could have told him I had paper on me?
Again I slowly nod in approval.
¡°Good lad. Now ye gonna follow me like a nice froggy and I won'' go stabby stab'' on ye. Got it?¡± His threat sound convincing, the man is used to bullying and dangerous.
I nod once more. But I know I can''t follow him. This would be a recipe for disaster. I don''t want to end up in an even more remote place with this kind of guy.
He eases his grasp and pushes me forward in the small ally.
As soon as I stand on one of the stepping stones I grab the occasion to free myself: I concomitantly bite the hand covering my mouth and send a kick behind me, aiming for his crotch.
He stifles a cry in pain at the bite but clearly squeals when my heel crushes his balls. This is the best way for smaller fighter to incapacitate bigger ones, Gupta taught me well.
The sudden pain makes him let me go and the push back made him slip in the mud, I can tell he fell backward.
I can''t ignore the possibility that the man can use Chi. Running away is the natural thing to do but would be the worse here. Orzhov was clear during our training ¡°You are small and weak and powerless. So always use a weapon to even the things.¡± I heed the teaching and plunge my right hand under my shirt to grab my dagger. When I turn around I''m now armed and facing a man struggling to stand up in the mud.
The fact that he recovered so fast from my kick can only mean one thing: he uses Chi.
I''ve seen the same on Gupta more than once. At first I was reluctant to kick him in the balls like he asked during our training but after seeing him painlessly endure it like the Dard priest he is, I learned to not hesitate.
And I do not hesitate: I plunge forward, dagger hold with both hand in the piercing spear stance. I hit the man head on before feeling my dagger sink in his belly.
It is my first time harming a human being.
The man grunts in pain and falls back in the mud dragging me with him. I hold on to my dagger like my life depends on it, which it does and grab the occasion to stab him once more while getting up myself, pushing on the dagger to get away from him. I can''t see much in the darkness of the alley but I can feel a spray of hot blood gushing on my hand: I got an artery, the epigastric probably.
Not looking to find out more I turn around and run away. With such a bleeding wound he shouldn''t be able to run after me. If he can it means that he is a high level Chi user on par with Gupta. In this case I am dead.
As soon as I get out of the side alley I start calling for help while still running away towards my house. Be it because of the sound of rain, my shortness of breath or the lack of patrols in our neighbourhood, no one answers my distress.
Before I knew it I am in my street. I can see the light of my house. I take a look over my shoulder: no one. I catch my breath on our porch and sheathe my dagger back. My trembling hands make this simple move quite the ordeal. I must have smeared blood all over my robe in the process but the adrenaline makes me unable to control the shivering.
I think I killed a man.
Chap 32: The end of innocence.
The rest of the evening felt like a dream or a more like a nightmare.
When I barged inside of the house with my clothes smeared with blood, I could see the face of mother yelling and screaming yet can''t remember a thing she said.
They vigorously shook me to check if I had any wound and only when they were sure it wasn''t my blood on me did the commotion calm down enough for me to speak up.
I don''t know how my dad managed to understand me, I must have sounded so confused and nonsensical. Yet he took me to the city garrison to report the event. I somehow managed to bring a patrol of doubtful guards back to the alleyway where the murder took place.
Great was my surprise to find it empty. No body, no blood either, the rain washed everything. The guards were starting to doubt my story and were threatening to punish me. They only calmed down when my father proposed we all go to the temple so they can vouch for my probity.
I can still remember the shock on the face of Orzhov who was on guard duty at the entrance, I''ll have to thank him later: his teachings might well have saved my life.
Patiyar vouched for me, the city guards did not dare discuss further. If the head priest was backing me they wouldn''t dare doubt my story in front of him.
I was taken by Sansho to the kitchen. There she babbled for a long time. She was the one doing most of the talking as I was in no condition to recount much, still dazed by the events of the evening.
I only vaguely remember her talking about the firebirds of the southern archipelagos, yet when I got to Patiyar''s office I was somehow dressed in a new, clean, robe.
The old man sat me in front of his desk and poured me some hot tea. This was not the usual brew but one made of the purple coffee smelling leaves. I''d never had a taste of it before but it did have some of the bitterness of coffee but lacked the burnt taste left by the roasting of coffee beans.
¡°This will help you calm down, Kawa has nerve soothing properties.¡± gently said the old priest.
Indeed, after drinking the herbal tea I felt oddly relaxed, almost floating out of my body. I could still hear the furious thumping of my heart but it was now a distant drumming. Same for the blood rushing through my veins, now sounding like a distant calm stream gently flowing in its bed.
Only now did I manage to start getting a hold on my thoughts. ¡°I think I killed someone.¡± I confessed to the old man. My voice was sounding coarse and gooey as if I was slightly drunk or drugged.
His wrinkled face grew even more wrinkled when he smiled at me. ¡°I''m sure you had no choice. Don''t worry no one blames you. If what your father understood is correct you were attacked?¡± he was carefully probing at the events.
Only now did I realize that my father wasn''t around. I nodded to the old man an the motion brought a wave of vertigo at me. I struggled to add more details ¡°They ambushed me. Somehow, I knew that I couldn''t let him take me, he was going to hurt me, I had to defend myself. I didn''t want to kill anyone.¡± I defended myself.
¡°It is fine. No body was found. So you might very well have killed no one. Even if you did, I believe that you didn''t want to.¡± He stood up from his chair to join my side and pat my head. ¡°And I''d rather have you defend yourself than learn something bad happened to you. The only one at fault here is the one that attacked you, Jalea vouches for you.¡± He soothingly said in a low tone. Did his goddess of Justice really absolve me? How did it work for gods to brand someone as heretic after a murder?
I somehow felt like crying. This may be childish but it was either the effect of the tea or just the aftershock. Still I struggled to keep the tears inside, I didn''t want to cry in front of Patiyar.
Sensing my distress the old man surprised me with a hug. It came out of nowhere, the head priest was always kind but never informal.
¡°I''ve killed a lot. I know this is never easy. Even more so when unprepared and unwilling to.¡± He confessed, his voice almost breaking in emotion. His beard was trembling and somehow itching at my cheek. ¡°Just rest for now, we will discuss this matter tomorrow. You''ll stay at the temple for tonight, Orzhov and Sansho will keep a watch nearby.¡± he stated.
I wanted to protest but as I started to I felt my head go light and dizzy and when I tried to stand up my body failed me. I was caught in Patiyar''s embrace just before tripping. ¡°Easy there, kid. Now you will sleep, let the kawa take you.¡± he soothed me.
My night was dreamless.
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When I woke up I was on a bed in what looked like one of the acolyte''s chambers in the temple. Not unlike when I got my blessing.
I reflexively touched the area around my right eye. If Shinpilo didn''t punish me I guess I was fine in regard of the divine law.
Since the blessing I had tried speak with the god again. I tried to pray, offer a page of textbook to catch his attention but got no answer back. I wanted to know more about [them] and what powers he could bestow me as part of our deal. But silence was the only answer, right now I was prefering that to a condemnation,
Beside the door sat a cross legged Sansho curled around a kettle. She must have felt cold leaving her kitchen to stand watch by my side. The coldness of the night had thrown her in a torpor and she didn''t wake up when I gently nudged her. I covered her in a blanket and took her kettle, I would need to reheat the water if she was to wake up in time to prepare breakfast for everyone.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I don''t know what time it is. There is are no windows here and I didn''t hear any of the bells.
Outside the room Orzhov is sitting on a stool, shields in hand. He rose his head to look at me with sunken sleepy eyes,. ¡°How are you feeling,were you hurt?¡± he asked while shaking away the sluggishness.
¡°No. Thanks to your teachings I knew what to do. I''m not the one who got hurt yesterday.¡± I try to sound more confident than I am. I''m really grateful for his teachings though, without the training I don''t know how things might have turned out. I could be kidnapped, raped, murdered or worse.
He nods in satisfaction ¡°Do you know who your assailant was?¡± he inquires.
I shrug ¡°No. Never met him as far as I can tell. It was dark, rainy and he was in my back,¡± I apologize, ¡°But I don''t think he had as much Chi as Gupta. His grip was strong but not extraordinary and I managed to kick him down. So he can''t be trained.¡±
My tutor smiled with pride: ¡°Fine analysis. I agree. You aren''t that good a fighter. So if you won, your foe wasn''t that strong.¡± he harshly but justly states.Seeing the disappointment on my face he follows up, ¡°Yet no body was found. So what does that mean?¡± he questions.
I can only think of one reason and it makes me shudder: ¡°He wasn''t alone.¡± Accomplices took the man or the body. Which also means I could have been in more troubles if I hadn''t run for my life.
¡°Correct. You were ambushed and not by one man alone.¡± Seeing my trouble the boy remembers he is currently frightening a kid. ¡°But that''s for a later talk. Come, you need to eat something, a meal worthy of a fighter. And if you saw Sansho on your way out, you know we''ll have to cook ourselves.¡± he jokingly add.
I wasn''t feeling like I had much of an appetite after remembering that I killed someone and that things could have gone wrong in many ways. But when I finally stood in front of a nice slice of bunta bread covered with dried berries the rumbling coming from my stomach made it clear that I needed this.
After finally grabbing a meal we brought a warm kettle to wake Sansho up. The heat quickly brought her back to her senses and she even complained about how we messed in her kitchen in her absence.
As she was brewing more tea I got called in Patiyar''s office by one of the acolytes.
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Patiyar is seating at his desk, looking tired. The old man had a short night probably busied by the troubles I caused. In front of his desk there is also Nutusi waiting for me. This time wearing her blue shawl hiding her face.
¡°Come, sit and join us, Telerios¡± says Patiyar with a gentle smile while pointing at the empty chair next to Nutusi. ¡°Did you manage to get some sleep? Kawa is of help in such moments.¡±
The old priestess interrupts him harshly, her coarse voice infers that she didn''t get much sleep either. ¡°Enough with the chit chat. Telerios, sit. We have to talk.¡± I quickly obey. The grumpy granny goes on ¡°I had my men screen the area around the alley and ask the clinics and priests of Fusaad. No one was treated during the night.¡±
As I am about to protest she raises a hand with surprisingly quick reflexes for a woman her age. ¡°Don''t worry I believe you. But this means your aggressor wasn''t alone and either his accomplices disposed of the body,¡± I shrug once more, reminded of my deed. Even if I was in the right it still annoys me to have killed someone, ¡°Or it means that they have their own healer. Which means trouble.¡± She pauses. ¡°Or it can also mean that the man had enough chi to control his blood flow and mend his wounds on his own. But I doubt you would have made it out if that was the case.¡± She mercilessly concludes.
Patiyar tries to sweeten her words a bit: ¡°What sister Nutusi tried to say is that...¡±
¡°Majores Nutusi, you old senile man. I did not work tirelessly for years to still be a simple sister.¡± she interrupts him.
Patiyar is annoyed but refuses to play her game, allowing her a cheap victory for once. ¡°Majores Nutusi,¡± he insists, ¡°Happy now? You said no useless chit chat.¡± he points out and Nutusi can only snort when her own words backfire at her. ¡°What she means is that we are all glad you are fine but this attack worries us.¡± He takes some time to watch out for my reactions. I don''t understand where they want to lead the conversation.
Nutusi picks up. ¡°My men did find a blood trail but lost it. Whoever they are, they aren''t simple muggers and have some basic reflexes. This is what worries us. At least two men ambushed you and they can''t be simple cut-throats.¡± I can''t see her eyes from under her shawl but I can still feel the full weight of her peculiar gaze, blind but that can see it all, screening my mind for the truth.
¡°I can''t tell you much. I only saw one men and barely. He was behind me for the most part and it was dark and rainy. I didn''t stop to have a clear look for clues or ask for his name.¡± This last part sounds a bit more cheeky than I wanted to but I''m also a bit tired and on edge.
Before Nutusi can reprimand me Patiyar steps in to calm everyone down. ¡°Of course, no one is blaming anyone here.¡± he says while looking with meaningful eyes at the Shinpilo''s priestess. ¡°But is there anything more you can remember? I know you might not want to recall the events but trust me now is better than later.¡± he wisely adds.
I comply and lose myself in the memory of yesterday''s events, trying to recall as much as I can.
Since my blessing I believe my memory got better but it can''t perform miracles either.
After carefully skimming through everything I could remember only two things stick out: ¡°I can say he was from around here, probably the slums, according to his accent and speech. And I remember his breath had a distinctive smell, something like burned or smoked mint maybe. But nothing else much.¡± I clearly remembered the strange smell of his breath and that was also on his hand when he covered my mouth to silence me.
I can see Patiyar frown and share an understanding gaze with the veiled Nutusi. Can he even see her eyes to share such a stare, crosses my mind for a second.
¡°Naena.¡± he states with a worried face. Seeing the question on my face before I can voice it he explains ¡°It is a stimulant used by soldiers and mercenaries. Although it enhances one''s senses and reflexes the downside is that it has long lasting side effects. Those who use it too often tend to end up slow witted and it dims the senses. This is often a death sentence for those who live by the sword. Short burst of glory for a long term hindering.¡± His face is quite sorrowful.
I''ve never heard of any drug other than alcohol and some smoked leaves until now.
Nutusi adds ¡°Use in the army is strictly regulated. So as to not have our men suffer from the long term effects. Only fools and sell-swords would risk using it often. This means your assailant was probably one of those junkies. Luckily for you he must have been under withdrawal, thus why you were able to escape a chi user.¡± She makes a point. I knew that despite my training it felt weird that I could overpower an adult. If he was crippled that makes more sense. ¡°In despair for money to buy his next dose he must have tried mugging anyone. Still feels strange that he went for a kid. Children don''t carry much money.¡± Her smarts are spot on again.
I suddenly remember what the robber said: ¡°He said that someone tipped him that I carried a book with me. He was after it specifically.¡± Patiyar eyes widen at that statement. I can''t see Nutusi''s face but her voice is full of urgency ¡°Why didn''t you tell us this sooner ?! This is
bad. An addict warrior and someone who leaked informations.¡± She turns towards the old priest who looks anxious, face full of dark wrinkles of worry. ¡°Patiyar, we have a mole. One of the acolytes most probably.¡± says the Shinpilo''s priestess.
The bearded priest gather his resolve ¡°I fear it too. We will immediately conduct interrogations. Can I leave this task up to you?¡± He requests at Nutusi, unusually polite with her.
¡°At once. You can trust me for it.¡± She answers the same, without her usual taunting tone at him.
For them to agree this must be bad but I can''t really say how. A kid might have leaked that I took a book, big deal?
¡°Is it that serious?¡± I probe.
Nutusi takes her shawl off to let me have a look at her dead serious face. Her milky eyes are probing directly at my soul to imprint her will: ¡°It is. Even young acolytes should know that it is dangerous to leak out who is carrying valuables around. But that is the best case scenario: a simple mishap. Worse case it was a plot to steal from the temple and worst case they figured you are a blessed one and you were a target of heretics.¡±
It sounds highly unlikely to me that an assassination attempt would rely on one or two junkies but she truly seems worried. If even a master plotter like herself is, I''ll trust her word that I should be too.
Chap 33: Pay your taxes!
I''m now to have an escort whenever I leave after dark.
Most of the time it will be Orzhov that will be on duty. The young man stands out like a sore thumb with his pale blonde hair, tall stature for his age and the shields he carries around. He attracts stares of the passer-by like a pot of honey does with bees. Thankfully most onlookers are paying more attention to him than me.
During daytime I only take the bigger, wider streets now to make sure there are people around and only occasionally will I bring back my textbook with me. Most of time I leave it at the temple: no riches, no mugging is my motto from now on.
The interrogation of the acolytes was fruitful. One of the acolytes was indeed the source of the leak. A young adonis, acolyte of Akola?. The boy talked about it casually with one of his ¡°suitors¡±. He saw me with Mekas and noticed that I took a book with me.
Was he stupid of malevolent? Hard to tell.
The ¡°suitor¡± couldn''t be found so the trail went cold.
He was punished and sent to some remote place. The rest of the workers at the temple were reminded the basic security rules and strict confidence required, especially when it could put at risk one of us.
Since I''m the youngest around most of the other acolytes don''t hold me in high esteem. They believe I''m just a rich kid who took a fancy of joining the temple at an early age.
I can''t explain my circumstances so I had to let them pick up this tale. Most have a look of dejection knowing that I got mugged , meaning: ¡°he deserved it, rich kid flaunting his wealth around¡±. If only they knew how far off the mark they were.
Nutusi still believe there might be more to this and continues to investigate the possibility of an heretic cabal.
I''m not sure about this. Since I''ve arrived in this world the only time heresy was really suspected was during the trial of blade Kosho. Otherwise I''ve never heard of any trial nor execution of anyone for heresy.
Sister Sunyeo had told us how heretics were supposed to be punished by the gods when becoming one. So maybe they all get killed by divine retribution?
This also seems a bit too far fetched. If heretics were really punished by gods then it would be long since it wouldn''t occur anymore due to the risks involved.
And how about the opposite? Oreo was a monster before becoming a god, how come the monster god didn''t punish him when he turned away from his obedience?
Or what about crime? The pantheon is supposed to punish those that commit them, especially murder or rape. Yet crime still exists. Aren''t people afraid of the gods? What about my mugger? Was he desperate enough for his fix to not fear the consequences?
I inquired about it with Patiyar: how was heresy still a thing? His answer was quite disturbing. ¡°Never should you doubt the power of the monster god. It pains me to admit it but he is far stronger than any other god of the pantheon. People desperate enough will seek his powers. Be it because they need it for revenge, save their life or just because they thirst for power.¡± He was looking genuinely afraid. ¡°They can become incredibly dangerous. The thorns of Jalea are an order of elite fighters dedicated to hunt them down and we know full well how terrifying they can be.¡±
¡°But if they are hunted by everyone, how come they can be a threat in a city? Shouldn''t the gods warn us?¡± I wondered.
¡°Just like Shinpilo can hide things, so can the monster god. Though it is true that heretics tends to flee the civilized continents. It is told that on the wild lands of the Sharira continent, far to the west, there are cities of heretics where they can dwell alongside monsters and plot against us all. But this might be only legends and stories. The bulk of the sapients working for the monster gods are those who want to become heretics and gain his attention and powers. Thus they are still among us even if they are already preparing to do his bidding.¡± This made a bit more sense as to how so many could lie in wait among our cities. ¡°And this is what makes you an easy target for them: a blessed one yet a weak child. Easy to kill yet a worthy offering to the monster god.¡± He was rubing salt on my wounds, I understood how weak i was and how lucky I got. Not only with the mugger but also during the monster tide.
I still think they are overthinking it. I understand that the risk is real. But clearly the Akola?te didn''t knew I was a blessed one. One or two junkies trying to mug me still seems more plausible than a cabal of heretic-to-be.
At least I hope I''m right.
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Gupta and Orzhov focused their training on close quarter and grappling, to teach me how to escape from a lock and better self defend myself.
The physical activity was welcomed. Only when I''m exhausted can I find a dreamless night, without nightmares of monsters, Yoli''s corpses or me stabbing a hobo.
Gelcaria also helps in a way. Whenever she comes to stay over for the night I noticed that my sleep is sounder. Hers too.
When I talked about it with her, praising her soothing on me, she confessed that she too was still having nightmares of the monster tide from more than a year ago. Only here with me did she sleep a little bit better.
I can indeed barely imagine what this was like for a kid her age. Even for me it was a traumatic event. I didn''t tell her about the mugging attempt. I don''t want to burden her with more tragedies. Luckily none of my parents nor my sister blabbered about it with her either.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
My lessons with her are slowly moving on to more complex subjects. I''m trying to explain her gravity, the laws of movements, reciprocity etc.. It is both complex and easier. The matters aren''t simple and there are things that even I myself can''t answer: I''m no physicist.
But at the same time there are real life example making it easier to illustrate the questions. Geometry and maths are far more theoretical than a falling apple or arrow or how a thrown rock has a curved trajectory. This she can see and she grasps that calculating can be useful for more than peddling.
She recently asked for me to help her join the temple.
She said she had put aside a small sum thanks to her work with Peterell. With the food disruption, prices rose up. Peterell being still somewhat productive thanks to her ability to attract fish they must have made quite some profit indeed.
After I saw what the young acolyte of Akola? was doing for a work, I hardly advised her not to join. She knows about her mother''s other job so I didn''t fear talking seriously with her.
If she was to join the temple she would for sure end up assigned to the Akola?''s priests. I can fear what they might try to have her do.
I don''t know if she fully understood the implications but she trusts me enough to back down on the idea for now.
I''ll have to talk with Ms Tarina about what she could do to help Gel find a suitable workplace. I believe she would be safer away from the river but can''t help her much on my own.
*??????????*??????????*????????????*????????????*
The winter that followed was the harshest I ever had.
Not only was food scarce now that the poor harvest were done but even firewood was on low supply.
The food issue was barely contained: my salary, Godzilla''s milk and the duggu''s egg from the river farm were just enough for us to not starve and provide my young sister with enough to have her survive this winter. This year will be terrible for many infants.
The disruption of the trade only got worse during winter. Instead of the usual gentle snow there were some blizzards in the south, tearing the boats sails to pieces. The cold pushed monsters out of the mountains in greater droves than usual and many reports of skirmishes were recounted by the town criers, emphasizing the strength of our army and the diligence of our Shieldlord to address the matters.
Despite our Shield''s best efforts the wood from the southern burning-jungle never arrived. Both roads and river were too dangerous to travel on in large groups.
What little wood that arrived came from the Empire of mist: the Beastkin''s empire on the other side of the mountains. It was mostly precious wood intended for woodworking, burning it was a shame but I heard that some blades did not hesitate to afford the comfort.
The charcoal was used in priority by the local industry: smelting, smithies, but also any business needing an oven be it bakers, potters or ceramists.
Citizens had to face the creeping cold this year.
With my decent earnings we had just enough to resupply with quilts and warmer clothes right before the first snow.
The attic is still at freezing temperature but at least I can bundle under multiple layers of quilts. And more than often Gel will come. Her house is also cold but she has less quilts than I do, so my (ours now) futon is more comfortable for both of us.
I know that Grandma spotted us, I once saw her head picking through the ladder hole. She must have heard me talking late at night and went to check what I was up to. I don''t know if she talked about it with anyone else but neither my parents nor her made any comments. Which sits well with me. I don''t want to have a unpleasant discussion if they were to ask me not to let Gelcaria stay at our place.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*??????????*
At the temple both Gupta an Orzhov got assigned to patrols around the city to cull the monsters that were coming down from the mountains. So I often don''t have trainers. Sansho is almost hibernating in her kitchen. She suffer more than any of us from the lack of firewood. The temple has more money than the average but still can''t afford to use as much combustible as she would require.
This leaves me more time to study with Mekas. Any writing activity became harder since we often wear mittens to stay warm and the ink can freeze if we aren''t careful. So most of the time we are debating. I''m trying to convince him to learn my alphabet, explaining how it will prove useful for him in the future. Even if he doesn''t believe in education for commoners as a future priest of Shinpilo he might be assigned to some intelligence work. If my alphabet is to become one of the main tool to convey informations he''ll have to learn it at some point anyway.
Despite his reluctance he finally relented. There wasn''t much else to do. He is a good enough student and learned it after a couple weeks. After two months and much bickering from him and other nasty comments, he finally mastered the writing and through practice understood its usefulness. Writing words on sounds without the need for someone to teach you the ideogram finally made sense to him.
Convincing him was a small victory but a victory nonetheless.
During the month of Mistire as we were preparing for the incoming Shinpilo''s festival on the next nightday, more troubles came to find me.
As I was coming home a bit earlier than usual, I now try to avoid coming back home after dusk which is quite early in the winter, I was surprised to find a commotion in front of our house.
There were four city guards in their blue mails but also two other guards in full armour. Despite a common brown for colour their armours were clearly of good facture and even had a crest carved on: a stylized fox head with two tails behind.
The two guards were escorting an official-looking. A young man almost disappearing under a thick fur coat, head covered by a chapka falling down to his nose and covering his eyes. The sight could have been funny but the tone of his voice wasn''t.
He was arguing with my father in front of our door. ¡°I''m not the one making the rules, I''m just here to enforce them. I presented you your blade''s decision. If you want to refuse you can leave the town within the next three days or make appeal of the decision at the city court.¡± He was untactfully explaining to my father, his disdain barely hidden, ¡°If you are unable to afford the requested amount by virtue of the fourth law your blade in charge will be allowed to recover your family as servs to pay for his loss.¡± his nosey voice quickly grew unpleasant to my ears.
¡°But I''m just a smith, where do you want me to find this kind of money? Who ever heard of commoners paying this much? This is a scam!¡± My father was heating up and replied in indignation.
He looked even more upset when his gaze fell on me. Following my father''s stare the official also found me. ¡°This must be the child in question. Nice to meet you, boy. I am Khun Surtal, representing first blade Duarch. But I suppose we''ll meet again soon enough.¡± He then turned back to my father ¡°I guess you all have much to discuss, so I''ll leave you for today. Do not forget your due before the hex and delo (29th).¡± Despite the firm tone, he gave my father a short nod before turning and walking away his guards following in his trail.
My father''s forehead was wrinkled with worries as he watched the official depart. He then took me inside our home to hide us from the prying eyes of our puzzled neighbours attracted by the commotion.
He sat me at the table before exposing the problem at hand of his own initiative. This man was the delegate of our blade. He came because they somehow learned that I joined the temple.
Because of that they believe we have more money than we declared since we were able to afford my enlisting in the temple and they decided to raise our taxes. Just that the price they were asking for was ridiculously high: 8 large iron coins each month. 128 iron coins... It took me months just to put aside 3 iron coins. How were my parents supposed to gather such riches?
¡°I don''t know what is going on with them. Something is definitively wrong.¡± said my father with worry while throwing an inquiring gaze at me.
Of course I was the bone of contention once more so I understand his suspicion. Plus neither I nor the Temple have been clear with my parents about why they agreed to enlist me and even pay for me joining them.
¡°I don''t know what this is about,¡± I clarify trying to look convincing, ¡°but do a blade even have the right to ask for so much?¡±
My father snorts with cynical despair ¡°They have all the rights.¡± He sounds bitter. ¡°We could complain to the city hall but most officials are from families of blades, so very little hope there.¡± he sighs.
¡°Then I''ll ask the temple to help us. This can''t be the first time this happens, they''ll know what to do.¡± I state, not convinced by my own words.
Worst case scenario, I''ll have to leave the temple.
Chap 34: Caught in the crossfire.
My father came alongside me at our temple to request an audience with the head priest.
Patiyar welcomed us in his office acting polite with my commoner of a father. This is one of the things that earned him my respect, Patiyar was of common origins himself and didn''t discriminate lower citizens by flaunting or abusing his power on them. He was one of the few that knew the hardships we faced.
He even asked for some tea to be served and only after everyone was poured a cup of peppery warming tea did he get to the point. ¡°What did you want to meet me for? Are there any problem with Telerios? Or his escorts?¡± he patiently asked with a gentle smile. He could see the embarrassed look of my father and could guess there was more to it than just that.
My father briefly exposed the problem: our blade is asking for way more money than we can afford for my protection. Has the temple ever been faced with such problem?
¡°By all of Shinpilo''s shenanigans, what scheme is this again?¡± He exploded as his fist fell on his desk making all out teacups tremble. He took a breather to calm down a bit. ¡°It happens that blades ask for more money for member of the clergy. After all monsters do target us more often.¡± He said with an ominous glare at me reminding me of the dangers my benediction was bringing alongside it, ¡°But this much for a child that barely became an acolyte is preposterous. Except if he somehow found out...¡± He stood up and went at the door and caught the nearest acolyte on duty ¡°Go fetch for this old hag of Nutusi, tell her that we need to urgently discuss. And keep pestering her until she is on her way here. Don''t even try coming back without her.¡± He ordered the acolyte that quickly went to query for the majores.
¡°Did Telerios cause any trouble?¡± asked my father as shy as a mouse when facing the old man. This was quite the funny sight: my burly panda dad with arms as large as the elders thighs, acting all meek in front of him.
Patiyar just smoothed his beard before grumbling ¡°hmmph, he always do,¡± that hurt, ¡°Not that he looks for it but troubles are looking for him.¡± he added while looking at my right eye like he could see my blessing.
We waited for quite some time before Nutusi arrived, sipping on tea and munching bunta crackers. Patiyar was trying to keep some idle chat going, about weather, work or the food problem. He was genuinely worried about what was going to befell the commoners this winter.
This time the ol priestess wasn''t wearing her shawl. My father shivered at her cloudy eyes, clearly disturbed by the woman ability to see despite her affliction. This was her way to show off the power the gods were bestowing her.
¡°What was so urgent that you had to stick this tick on me?¡± she asked pointing at the acolyte but this one had already vanished, not waiting to face the commotion.
Unlike their usual comedy Patiyar kept calm and pointed at a chair ¡°Telerios has some troubles with a blade.¡± he simply said.
This was a bit of an overstatement on my involvement but it caught the Shinpiloite attention. She forgot about her scene and sat before accusing me ¡°What did you do this time?¡± she sounded exhausted, like I was the cause for all her white hair.
Patiyar came to rescue dispersing his own misunderstanding. ¡°He actually didn''t do much. His blade is the one causing trouble. He is asking for an exuberant amount of protection fee for him.¡± he explained.
Nutusi was about to say something when she stopped herself and turned towards my father ¡°I''m sorry to ask you but could you wait outside? This is a delicate matter.¡± Not waiting for his answer she stood up and lead him outside, showing some surprising strength for a woman her age.
She closed the door at the nose of my bewildered father, he had a dumb look on him with his sunken eyes wide open in surprise at what just happened.
After that she mumbled a prayer and from her hands came out a blue mist that coated the whole room. Patiyar looked displeased with the act but didn''t voice his discontent.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
¡°Sorry about this but I don''t want more prying ears.¡± she half-heartedly apologized, ¡°You mean someone already found out about his blessing?¡± she was pointing at me.
Patiyar snorted in discontent ¡°I''m not sure about that. His blade is asking for an unreasonable amount of protection money: 8 large iron coins for a commoner''s child. But I can''t tell for sure why.¡± he explained her.
The old woman was actively thinking about something, her blurry eyes looking at somewhere far from here. After some time her coarse voice broke the silence: ¡°Your blade in charge is first blade Duarch isn''t it?¡± she asked me.
I nodded in approval even if I''ve only heard the man''s name for the first time yesterday.
She looked relieved. ¡°Then I doubt he figured anything out.¡± She then turned towards me ¡°I''m sorry kid but I think you just got caught in a crossfire.¡± She cracked an ominous smile of apology, ¡°The first blade is currently in conflict with the temple. You must be the latest small bother he is throwing at us. I bet he''ll try to have us pay for your taxes. If we pay he extorts us money and pride and if we don''t he earns himself a serv that was an acolyte of the temple, humiliating us for not taking care of our own.¡± She was now frowning threateningly clearly infuriated by the man''s use of Shinpilo''s plots.
This also angered Patiyar. ¡°This is not befitting of a first blade, I''ll go have a talk with cardinal Alead. She will stop him at once.¡± he blurted, beard trembling with rightful wrath.
¡°No you won''t.¡± Said Nutusi with a chilling tone that calmed the old man at once, ¡°She will not be able to bend the man, not for such a small matter. Blade Duarch is a minister not a simple member of the first circle. Let the Shinpiloites deal with it. We are his target after all and Telerios is one of ours.¡± She put her bony hand on my shoulder to ascertain her property.
Patiyar creased his eyes in mistrust, looking more wrinkled than ever ¡°Fine. But I''ll keep a watch on this and if anything turns wrong you''ll take the blame.¡± he concluded.
¡°As always.¡± answered Nutusi following up with a cackling laugh.
Now it was maybe time to explain me what was going on. I asked her about it politely but firmly, my family''s savings were on the line here.
She focused back on me, pondering what she should reveal me or not. ¡°Duarch is like a curse from Dard testing our patience. He is a powerful blade, decent magician, good manager, a fine politician but ambitious and too short sighed.¡± She both praised and blamed him, ¡°For a while now he''s been opposing our cardinal, Fortmo, at the Shield''s council.¡± She is referring to the egg-headed cardinal of Shinpilo that is the head of the intelligence for our country. ¡°They are often hindering one another to annoy the other. He somehow found you out. That we will have to investigate. Making you his serv is just his last plot.¡± She shrugged as if she wasn''t sorry for the fate I''m currently facing, ¡°It''s a win-win for him in his eyes: if you pay he gets money, if we pay for you he''ll take our money and if you don''t pay he gets a smart serv at his service.¡± Her hands were raised like tipping scales at a perfect balance.
I for one do not see this as a win-win. The fate of my whole family is at play in their childish fight. Even if I became a serv for the man he shouldn''t expect me to cooperate after almost enslaving my kins...
Patiyar interceded ¡°Do not worry Tel, you are now part of the temple. Even if the Shinpiloites can''t protect you, I will. It is my duty as head priest so do not fear to ask for help.¡± As sincere as he looked I also knew that this was one of his ways to mess up with Nutusi. But I won''t shun off any good willed help.
¡°He will become a member of our order,¡± objected the Shinpilo''s priestess, ¡°So naturally we will take care of it. I''ll make sure we help you before the next instalment.¡± She assured me.
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Turns out I had to worry. The old priestess somehow had a hard time convincing Fortmo to help my family.
In the end my parents had to scrounge the sum up however they could. Patiyar was a man of his word and gave us a few large iron coins.
The surprised face on the young official was worth the trouble. Or maybe it wasn''t, that was a lot of money. The secretary of blade Duarch didn''t expect us to manage to collect this much. In the end he just shrugged and took the money without a word, time was on their side.
We were safe but only for a month. In 32 days the tax collector will come again...
There few things that were the same in both worlds: the sun was white, water made you wet and the tax collector will always find you.
My parents and grand mother were working longer shifts, looking for any side job they could take, asking for any additional task available. Even my sister was put to work, having to look after our youngest sister in stead of my mother so that she could go back to Ms Tarina''s workshop sooner than she did after my birth.
After that we also had to cut on our expenses. In this colder winter than usual this meant even less fuel than ever and less food. I could see my grand Ma get skinnier by the day, her wrinkly skin sadly flapping around her emaciated face.
I stopped eating at home and instead gorged myself at the temple. Sansho was happy to feed me and was even smuggling some food out of her kitchen to help my family. As nice as this was it meant very little if we couldn''t pay the next ransom at the end of the month.
I pestered both Nutusi and Patiyar for help. Somehow the cardinal decided that helping us wasn''t worth it. He would rather ¡°Give money directly to Jalea than let the blade be a better plotter than him.¡±
When the end of Mistire approached Patiyar and Nutusi had to help us on their own personal savings.
My parents were reluctant to accept the gift of such hefty sums. To them a large iron coin was a fortune, so accepting that many indebted them for a long time.
We managed to convince them, explaining how this was all the fault of the Temple''s management. My mother was afraid enough to become a serv again that she was the one to cox my father to accept the help.
When this month''s nightday arrived I couldn''t make the offering to Shinpilo that I had planed. I had to sell the paper instead to gather a few small iron coins to help.
I was looking forward to talking with the god again, I had so much to ask. But right now I had other matters to attend to.
Secretary Khun was once more surprised by our wealth. He didn''t see the price we had to pay to gather the sum nor my emaciated grand mother or how we were freezing in our home.
We were ¡°safe¡± for one more month but what about the next one? This was a ¡°death by a thousand cut¡± curse. Vulnerant omnes, ultima necat.
[nfa: each of them hurts, the last one kills; talking about time]
Chap 35: Gather the team.
Things could always get worse. And so they did.
At the beginning of the second week of Frostire my grand mother fell ill. She was struck with a fever and a bad cough.
Our parents forbade us to go near her, fearing we might get sick too.
The house was freezing, we had little food for the diseased and since she wasn''t able to work any longer things were going to degenerate as fast as her precarious health.
Affording a priest or a healer was outside our wildest dreams, even an herbalist or mender were above what we could afford.
This had to stop right now.
I barged into Patiyar''s office, beaming with rightful wrath. The man was kind and nice but this wasn''t going to be enough. ¡°My grandmother is sick! Please, we need an intervention from Shifa.¡± Shifa was our local Fusaad priestess. Her powers would help my grandmother, she could cure her infection. I would grovel in front of her if need be but the Temple had to save my kin.
The bearded man was frowning at my request. I knew I was in no position to make any more demand but this was a matter of life and death.
¡°I''m sorry Telerios but Shifa isn''t here at the moment. She''s been sent to the western district to help there. They also have many ills and she couldn''t refuse the assignment.¡± He apologized.
I understood what he meant. With the dearth and shortage in wood many were falling ill everywhere in the city. The western district was wealthier and could afford to hire our priestess. The Temple was doing some charity work but in time of crisis the wealthier had priority. I fell into despair this was as good as a death sentence for my grandmother.
¡°Let me accompany you. I''m no healer but I have some knowledge in simples and medicinal herbs. Just let me gather my things.¡± Gently proposed Patiyar. His compliance took me by surprise.
I bowed in apology for my earlier rudeness when I barged in and thanked him profusely, not every man of his status would take the time to look after a simple commoner. He was fond of justice and about doing the right thing but this was going further than what common Jaleites would do.
His diagnosis was dreadful: Crimson lungs.
A disease in which the infection slowly consumes the lungs, making patients cough clots of blood before killing them by drowning them from the inside in their own blood...
This reminded me a bit of tuberculosis but it was described as much more aggressive. Tuberculosis could take years to kill someone but this crimson lungs disease also euphemistically called widow''s poppies, looked far more aggressive.
In folk''s tales Otik would come during the winter (actually this month is his celebration month) and gift red poppies to the widows mourning their recently lost husbands. These poppies would guide their souls to his realm where they could reunite again with their lost lovers.
As usual the legend is probably born out of real facts: widowed losing their living standard and falling ill in the following winter. Only to die quickly after their lost husband. Far less romantic.
Patiyar didn''t fear the disease either because he was a fool or because he was confident in his Chi or Jalea''s protection. He spent some time alongside my grandmother and I don''t know what they talked about. In the end he gave her some expectorant balm and an hibiscus looking tea supposed to help replenish one''s blood.
I knew some herbs can be effective, even more so in a world with magic, so who knows what these plants are capable of? But this didn''t look enough for me. Even if the plants worked, how long until she falls sick again? Or my little sister? Or even me or my parents? We couldn''t take this much longer.
On the morrow I met with Nutusi to clarify things.
¡°This can''t keep going on. If cardinal Fortmo isn''t willing to help us,¡± I despised the egg man now, ¡°I''ll have to take things in my own hands. I''m going to surrender to blade Duarch.¡± I confessed. ¡°I''ll negotiate with him. I''ll be the only one to end up a serv and this will spare my family.¡±
I had time to mull this over. It was the only way to save my grandmother and spare the rest of my family from servitude. My mother especially was frightened to lose her commoner''s rights and fall back in servitude.
Giving myself away couldn''t be that bad. If I explained to the first blade what I had in mind, alphabet, calculus and even chemistry it could even take a good turn. The man was powerful and could help me implement some things. At least it would be better than becoming a slave for the Typhoon, I would get to stay in the city where my family lived and servs could buy their freedom if they worked enough.
But the old priestess was disagreeing, her white eyes were burning with indignation. ¡°No, no, no. You can''t do that. Not after all our efforts. Just give me some more time to find a solution or convince Fortmo.¡± she ordered more than she asked me.
¡°You already had two months to solve the issue. I can''t wait any longer. My family can''t afford to wait any longer.¡± I decisively cut her. ¡°My grandmother is dying because of this. I had enough of your childish play. I don''t care about Fortmo''s honour or self esteem or whatever scheme he may have against Duarch. The lives of my family matter more.¡± This last argument struck a chord in her. I could see the anger in her cloudy eyes recess. She was an elderly herself and maybe sympathized with my grand mother''s condition.
Her face was now gentler, very much unlike her steel cold usual self. Even under the hiding of her shawl we could always sense her harshness. Yet right now her tone was as gentle as Patiyar''s: ¡°I understand but I still plead for 3 more days. I''ll definitely have a long term solution by then. If not I will also turn myself as a serv to accompany you. That, I will swear it on our god. Is that enough of a promise?¡± She looked sincere. I know Shinpiloites are rumoured for being good liars but I wanted to give her a chance. The last nudge was the slight burn around my right eye. Shinpilo was somehow telling me that he took her pledge in consideration. She'' better not lie to me nor to our god.
¡°Fine. In three days either you have a solution to offer or we will both become servs.¡± I sternly concluded.
* ??????????*??????????*??????????*
Three days passed quickly.
My grand mother started coughing blood. I could see the stained sheets and hand cloths my mother was washing.
I tore some of the remaining pages of my textbook. What little money I could make out of it was just enough to buy some fuel for a small brasero in her chamber. It wasn''t warm but at least the cold should be less cruel on her damaged lungs.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
She kept saying she was fine but her face was clearly one of someone in pain. The cold and the lack of oxygen turned her lips blue as well as the tip of her fingers. Emaciated and blue like that she was looking as if already dead.
During these nights I often dreamt of having oxygen to help her, antibiotics or even just painkillers. Those were vanishing as I was trying to put an IV on her. When I''d woke in disarray, I would find the calming stare of the purple gems of Gelcaria. She knew how bad things were for my family and was coming more often despite the risk of getting sick herself. Her warmth was welcomed but I felt guilty, her house must have been warmer than our attic and she was taking risks just by being here.
On the third day Nutusi had, she finally exposed her solution.
¡°The first blade is a powerful man. Few in the city can oppose him and coerce him to stop this, not even the city council or the Temple. At least not in the time available.¡± she exposed. Apparently she wasn''t going to try to find the money but instead will have us work around the problem: finding the adult in the room to come silence the unruly children that he and Fortmo were. ¡°Of those who could oppose Duarch, only a few are reachable in the short term. In this city only the head alchemist, the president of the league of merchants and the Shieldlord should be able to impose their will on him or convince him to back down.¡± she listed.
I had heard about some of them. Our lord of course. Who never heard of our ruler living in the castle atop the mountain in the middle of the city?
I knew little about the alchemists. They have a headquarter in the western district, I though of paying them a visit one day when I would have managed to put my hands on some chemicals to have some interesting enough reactions to expose them.
The merchant league I only knew they existed, nothing more.
¡°The head alchemist is married with a cousin of Duarch, so we shouldn''t have much hope on this side. The president of the merchant league is from a minor house, so he could be open to negotiations if we had enough money to offer.¡± We had none left. I already gave everything I could to my parents and Patiyar and Nutusi already put their savings on the line, I doubt they had enough juice left to bribe a rich citizen.
¡°That leaves us with the Lord is suppose? It should be easy.¡± I cheekily said with my eyebrow raised in doubt.
¡°Yes¡± calmly answered the old woman, not reacting to my sarcasm, ¡°But discussing it directly with the lord will be even more difficult.¡± She confessed.
You don''t say... we might as well go turn ourselves to Duarch''s foreman right now.
¡°What about Fortmo? Can''t anyone convince him to back down on this. I don''t care about his honour, I just want Duarch to leave us alone.¡± I voiced what looked like the simplest solution, the cardinal knew both of us, couldn''t he just land us a hand?
She scoffed bitterly at that. ¡°Even less likely. He is quite stubborn and too proud to accept a loss when it comes to scheming. The people that could have influence on him are more or less the same and would be less likely to want to help us, Fortmo is scarier than you might think.¡±
Not scary enough for Duarch to back away thought.
¡°But.¡± she kept the suspense going ¡°There might be a workaround for Duarch.¡± She was teasing me. ¡°Have you ever heard of the old shieldlord?¡±
I hadn''t. What was an old shieldlord? Wasn''t the position hereditarily inherited after the former lord died? ¡°No I haven''t. Who is this and how can he help us?¡±
She was wearing a victorious smile making her look like some mischievous witch. She could look like some random old lady when calm but this smile was definitively nightmare''s material. ¡°Hehe, I supposed so. The former Shieldlord is the father-in-law of our current Shield. He retired to let his son-in-law take rule and avoid any conflict of power.¡± she was giving me a short lecture on the political situation. ¡°He is now famous for roaming idly in the castle. There are rumours going around about his drinking habits, laziness and eccentricities but I''m old enough to know better.¡± she stated with pride, ¡°In my younger days I worked as scribe and informant in the castle. The old lord is eccentric but I also know that he is smart, diligent and well learned. And he has a soft spot for new and exotics things.¡± She finished with a victorious tone like all was good in the end.
I didn''t see how this would help us? Was I to expose my work to him? How?
¡°So what? I am to ask for a meeting, get an appointment in the next days and expose him my alphabet system?¡± I briskly countered.
She had a mocking laugh sounding like a rusty hinge in need of a good oiling. ¡°Something like that. If you become a serv Duarch will have access to your alphabet but also all your ¡°cypher¡± things. So I''d rather have the old lord learn about it than Duarch.¡± She spat on the carpet, which I found quite a nasty habit and unlike her, ¡°If you can expose your work to the old lord that will definitively catch his attention. Then he''ll petition for us to the Shieldlord and calm down Duarch on the taxes. Do not repeat this to Patiyar, but Jalea will be on our side on this one.¡± She even made a prayer gesture to Jalea. I would really have liked to see the look on the old priest if he saw her right now.
¡°And how are we supposed to meet an old lord lazying in his castle?¡± I asked with incredulity, ¡°We knock at the gates until he deign meet with an old priestess and a kid?¡±
¡°We could if I had some fine spirits on hand but we don''t have enough time for that road.¡± Her smile came back more crooked than ever. ¡°So it wont be we but You!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°I know a way in the castle but not fit for an old lady like me. If possible you should bring some of your friends to use as decoys and diversions too.¡± she added.
This stunned me: what was she expecting a bunch of kids to do? ¡°You have someone in mind?¡± I probed.
Her milky eyes were mocking me: ¡°Yes. That purple eyed lass for one. But your two other friends will be more than welcomed too.¡±
I don''t know how she knows about them but I am not that surprised. She is a spy after all. It is not unexpected that the temple kept a close watch on a blessed one and might even made some backgrounds check on my friends. They had made a thorough search on my family''s background after all.
¡°Will it be dangerous for them?¡± I worriedly inquired.
¡°No¡± she immediately answered. ¡°The fact that you are all kids, commoners even more will help. They''ll get caught but it can be blamed as child prank. At most they''ll risk a few latches before being released. I checked their backgrounds in the files. Even your purple eyed girlfriend has a clean sheet.¡±
Two infos: they have files on us, what kind of dystopian city is that? And ¡°a few lashes¡± aren''t an issue? We are talking about using a whip on children, on my friends.
¡°I can''t accept this. Too risky. They are just children.¡± And I didn''t knew how much I could trust her here but that I didn''t tell her.
¡°And so are you.¡± she retorted. ¡°Yet you are about to become a serv to save your family. Ask them for help, let them make their choice for Nasibor''s sake. At least the Akolai touched one should have enough ambition to follow you wherever.¡± she exclaimed. ¡°The cat girl looks brave enough too and I heard reports that the fat boy killed a monster barehanded already. A few latches shouldn''t scare him.¡± She stated.
I''m surprised by the depth of her intel on us. Even knowing things from before I became a blessed one. I don''t know how she knows about Balout''s feat in the cellar? Did the tridents somehow find out and made a report about such a minor detail?
She has a point when she says they should decide for themselves. I still consider them like kids, mostly because of my Earthling prism of vision. But in the past year both Melodi and Gelcaria grew and Balout is far stronger than I am. In this world kids shoulder responsibilities earlier and have to make their own decisions earlier. I don''t like the idea of abusing their goodwill though nor of putting them in needless danger.
¡°What would you have them do. Aren''t there anyone more fit for the task? Shinpilo''s priests or acolytes should be trained for this kind of things.¡±
¡°Impossible. If they were to get caught you can only imagine the diplomatic headache to explain why our spies are creating a ruckus in the castle?¡± she complains, ¡°Whereas you children won''t risk much nor will bring political commotion with you. I''m even willing to compensate them. After all if you fail, I''ll also end up a serv for Duarch.¡± again she spits on the floor.
¡°Fine I''ll ask them. How do you intend to have us enter the castle?¡± I query.
She wave a bony finger in front of her, ¡°tsk, tsk tsk, I''ll explain it to you all at once. Gather your friends, the more the better and come back here tomorrow. We''ll act immediately.¡± I do not dig the secrecies but we are strained for time and I do not have much options available.
Worst case my friends will get a couple lashes, they''ll resent me but I''ll let them choose after honestly presenting them the risks.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*??????????*
I first asked Gelcaria, to probe their reactions. She agreed to help even before I could expose the purpose, the risks or explain what she was going to be tasked with. She just accepted it all with zealous fervour burning in her lilac eyes. This isn''t a gallant comparison but the loyalty she was showing was on par with a dog''s one: not asking any question and ready to unquestioningly follow you through hell and beyond.
Melodi didn''t hesitate much. If anything I''m the one that had to calm her down and ask her to lower her voice. She was leaping around me while chanting ¡°I am on a secret mission.¡± which was defeating the purpose of ¡°secret¡±. When I explained that she was risking a good whipping it brought her back on earth. This time she wore a more serious face, looking like one of those enigmatic cat judging your soul from above. After pondering it for a short while and silently conversing with Gel through stares she renewed her will to help me.
Balout hesitated. Clearly the idea of getting punished, first by the lord himself and then by his parents was scaring him. And I approve of this: he is the only one thinking long term and considering the consequences of his decisions, clearly the most mature of all.
After pondering for a while what made the balance tip was Melodi''s teasing: calling him a coward. This hit the nail and he accepted, just to shut the catgirl up. He regretted it I think when he saw Melodi''s smug winning smile. The girl knew how to ruffle him up and was more sly than her childish taunt let think.
Now that my team was gathered I just had to find an excuse for them accompanying me tomorrow. I had to lie to their families which I do not like doing, especially to Peterell.
I said there was a special ceremony at the temple, that sister Sunyeo requested our presence and that there would be food for all attending. I''m working for the temple and they know it, the temple is held in high esteem and food is scarce for all, so they didn''t question further. They were glad to give their respective children a day off and a good warm meal.
A-team was ready to go.
Chap 36: The stinky road.
Nutusi can look scary.
With her blind eyes, bony hands and her grim smile she looks more like some heretic witches of the stories than a lawful priestess. I believe she does that by design and revels in the fright she causes to others.
It was the first time that my comrades met with the old priestess and I was awaiting their reaction. After introducing herself only as a simple priestess instead of a majores, she took off her shawl.
They were all a bit startled by her milky eyes: Balout gasped, Melodi waved a paw in front of the pale eyes to check just how blind she was and there was a strange staring contest between the purple nebulas of Gel and the milky way of Nutusi.
In the end lilacs and lilies reached a tacit understanding after gauging each other. There was some strange chemistry going on between the young girl and the old one.
¡°Nice to meet you all.¡± Started Nutusi starting to sound less scary than usual, I appreciated the effort. ¡°As you all know, you are reunited here to help Telerios deal with a problem. This will require you to infiltrate the Shield''s castle.¡± She paused to take a good look at each of them with her ghostly eyes and sense the fear this was seeding in the kids. She must have been satisfied because she kept going on and finally explained how she intended for us to create a miracle.
We were to take advantage of our small stature.
We were only nearing 6 springs old. Balout who is the sturdiest of us all could pass for an 8 years old on earth but as for the rest of us we are still small kids.
Not that this fools me, I know very well that Mel and Gel can already pack a punch heavier than most teenagers on Earth.
Nutusi would have us hide in one of the supplies convoys restocking the castle.
There were two way up the palace atop the mountain: the serpent road that was circling around the top of the mountain. This was the longest and slowest route with many hurdles along the way: checkpoints and fortified garrisons aplenty along the road to check cargo and identities. Not anyone was allowed up there even less with weapons or suspicious materials.
The place was heavily fortified and not only against monster attacks but also human led sieges with Chi warriors.
The other way in for goods was an elevator like some kind of simple crane at the southern side of the castle. There was only the wall and the steep mountain almost like a cliff. The serpentine road was going under rock on this face.
On top of the thick south wall was a docking bay with a huge crane that could lift goods or selected people to reach the castle faster.
It was a faster way in but less often used, only influential officials or perishable goods were allowed this entrance. There was a delivery scheduled for tomorrow and with goods that would ¡°help hide us¡±.
Nutusi knew the castle very well since she worked there for years. She made a rough sketch of the castle starting from the cellar where the crates we will hide in were going to be stored. It would be inside of the second inner court, already near the Shield''s personal quarters.
She then exposed the task she envisioned for each of us and only now did I understood why she needed so many kids.
Balout was to go to the left towards the inner kitchen of the court. This kitchen was cooking for officials and blades. He was to create a disturbance that would attract as many guards and servants as possible there.
¡°Just start eating as much as you can.¡± advised Nutusi with a wink at him. Her blind gaze made him shiver but the idea to just have to eat, furthermore some delicacies, comforted him in his ability to do well with his assigned task. This was well within his abilities and would make a few lashes worth it.
I voiced my concern: ¡°Won''t he get punished for that? When servants catch him and find out that he isn''t from the palace won''t they try to interrogate him.¡±
Nutusi''s wrinkled face looked annoyed. ¡°They will. But this will only cause even more trouble inside and attract more guards his way, opening the road for you and the rest.¡± She explained before turning her fogged eyes back on Balout: ¡°You will get a few kisses from the whip for that. Unless Telerios manages to reach the old lord before you get punished and can beg for your safety.¡± Balout was looking at me full of hope, I was his way to gorge himself AND get away untouched...
The rest of the plan was more or less following the same pattern: wreak chaos everywhere.
Once Balout''s commotion started Gel was to go towards the Lord''s court to attract the attention. ¡°Just claim that blade Duarch tried to rape you or something. With your Akolai''s gift it would make for a plausible story and the officials should gather around you like vultures above a juicy rotting carcass.[She actually said noriks but I can only guess they are some kind of vultures,]¡± Not the most engaging metaphor but quite on spot.
Gelcaria nodded in acceptance, ready to do anything needed from her. She just had to find her way to the court and attract attention. She might not like it but she was good at attracting unwanted attention anyway.
¡°Won''t she risk anything? Slandering a high blade can''t be without consequences?¡± I worried again.
Nutusi waved annoyingly. ¡°Not more than the others. Duarch has as many foes as friends and many will be ready to protect the girl. If her claims are true the better but even if it was just slandering, every rumours leaves its stain.¡± Concluded the mistress of deception.
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Finally Melodi had the most difficult task of all. She was going to have to reach the stables, the furthest destination from our starting location. There she would have to free a few of the flying beasts. Catching them back would busy some guards, opening the way for me even more. Melodi was confident in her stealth maybe a bit too much if I am to say.
And I was to reach the inner court where the shield''s family was residing. There she pointed me at the old lord''s courtyard.
One of the biggest with many rooms on multiple levels and with a whole personal garden atop of it. ¡°You should find the old lord there. From what I gathered he spends most of his time there, drinking, reading or training but mostly drinking.¡± she was judging him harshly. ¡°I don''t know what he looks like now. Back in the days he was a fine looking lord with a noble gaze and a straight nose. But who knows what years of drinking and sorrow did to him...¡± she bitterly concluded. ¡°He should still have those green eyes of his but other than that I can''t really say.¡± This was a bare-bone description but I believe I should recognise him at his attire. Lords don''t dress like the rest of us.
We were to go unarmed of course. The goal was to have us pass for children making a prank not for spies or armed infiltrators in an assassination attempt. Seeing how young we were the officials should be lenient. And if my mission was a success the old lord might even pardon us all.
¡°Won''t all the disturbance put them on edge? The security would just get more tight for me to pass through?¡± I asked in concern.
¡°Yes. This is why your window of operation will be very small. The three disturbances,¡± she pointed at my three friends, ¡°will create enough chaos for a short while. Only the praetorian guard will be left in the innermost court. The lords are powerful enough to look after themselves so there shouldn''t be much security left if you time it well.¡± Then she added forebodingly, ¡°But don''t waste that small window of opportunity. Afterwards they will tighten the net and it will become impossible for you to wander through the corridors.¡±
After that she had us rehearse her plan and memorize the castle''s map. This what somewhat trickier for the other kids, except Melodi. They had never seen a real map and only roughly understood the concept. Melodi naturally had better proprioception and kinaesthesia giving her a better spatial awareness than the others. She immediately grasped what a map was and was able to memorize it at an alarming speed.
Once Nutusi was sure we all knew our task and how to go where we needed to, we were allowed to go have a meal in the kitchen. Sansho was delighted to meet my friends, she had a soft spot for children and Melodi particularly charmed her. The lizard kept trying to pat, cuddle and touch her fluffy warm fur. Both were Beastkins but there was a harsh contrast between the lizard and the cat.
Melodi''s compliance with Sansho''s assault was rewarded with the best dishes. Sansho used all her array of spices to cook us some throat burning dishes that made us feel as warm as in the Summer.
We were dismissed after taking a nap to digest our feast. Meeting point was fixed for the morrow''s early morning.
Gel stayed with me for the night. Whenever nightmares woke me up, either Yoli''s body or the mugger''s assault I was met by Gelcaria''s shinning purple stars.
Downstairs I could hear my grandmother cough for the whole night, seeding blooming poppies all over her sheets.
Tomorrow, failure wasn''t an option.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*??????????*
My night was restless.
Gelcaria managed to sleep after 3rd nightbell. Her calm breathing was soothing but I couldn''t manage to fall sound asleep. I woke her up at first morning bell and we discreetly went downstairs before eloping to the temple. I was hoping to grab a bite there.
Although she slept more than I did, Gel was rubbing her reddened eyes like she was the one that kept awake for the whole night.
She might be stronger than I am but right now I''m the most enduring. Is it a turning point? Has Chi started to kick in for me?
Sansho gladly welcomed us in her domain around the oven. A warm cup of koati milk and crispy fresh bunta bread made for the best breakfast.
Sansho preferred Melodi but Gelcaria''s eyes still had an attracting power on her too. The lizard woman''s scales turned to a slightly purple colour I never saw her have before. She looked mesmerized.
The other joined us soon after and Melodi took hold of the reptilian cook''s attention again, breaking her entrancement.
Nutusi then drafted us and took us all in a side alley where a cart filled with crates, jars and amphoras was waiting. Two mighty looking Tojas ready to pull it. These two specimens looked stronger than the usual breed with their fiercely red plumage and long fangs making them different than the common beasts of burden I met till now.
¡°This will be your hiding spot.¡± Said the old woman when patting the amphoras. Today she wore a commoners garb: a brow robe made out of rough fabric. A shawl covered her head but just enough to hide her eyes instead of her whole face like her Shinpilo''s robe does.
She opened one of the lids and a disgusting smell wafted out of it. Something like a pile of garbage left in the summer heat for a week mixed with the stench of urine and ammonia. The stinky vapors assaulted our nostrils and the bunta bread in my stomach was trying to find its way out.
Nutusi frowned her nose but told us: ¡°This is kemcha, fermented fish bowels from the southern archipelagos with spices and herbs. Some nobles somehow find it to be a delicious condiment. Blades.¡± She added with exasperation as if this was an explanation. ¡°This is where you''ll hide in. The guards do not open it often and probe it even less often.
Melodi flat nose was wrinkled to the point that it was trying to hide inside her skull ¡°No way I''m submerging myself in this stink, even the bowels of a Chogsu smells better. I''d rather eat Koati shit than bath in whatever Fusaad''s pus this is.¡± she firmly opposed our hiding accommodations.
¡°Fine. Then you can''t help us any further. Gelcaria will be the bravest girl around then.¡± Calmly stated Nutusi in a teasing tone. Gelcaria was only half reluctant to approach the mixture and was also startled by the old priestess''s comment.
The provocation was enough for Melodi to switch horses in a second, now going straight for the nearest amphora, ready to bathe herself in the oily broth.
¡°Hold on a second.¡± stopped Nutusi. ¡°Once inside you''ll all have to immerse yourselves completely. You''ll use this to breath,¡± she handed us small tubes looking like hollowed bamboo sticks. ¡°There are spares of clean clothes under the crate of dried berries, you''ll have to change once in the cellar. You''ll still stink though, so try to wash it off however you can but know that it will last for a while, nothing much can be done about it.¡± She concluded with a smile as she was enjoying the disguted face we were making. At least Nutusi ha her fun.
The idea of stinking of rotten garbage wasn''t a pleasing one. Not only would we smell but it will also make our infiltration more difficult afterwards. How will the old lord react when a stinking hobo commoner child appears to beg him for money?
¡°I also advise you to go to the toilets now. It could be a while before you finally have some peace in the cellar to get out. Not that I would complain if you added some flavour to the blade''s kemcha.¡± she jokingly added.
While the others were emptying their bladders she handed a leather satchel ¡°Use this to put your textbook in, you might need some proof to convince the old lord. It will stay dry inside this, it is oiled leather with a ward against moisture.¡± The pouch was indeed slightly shinning like recently polished shoes and it felt strangely rubbery to the touch. ¡°If the old lord wants to check your blessing, agree to it. The Shield is already aware of your existence so no use hiding it from the former lord. Instead use it as a show of goodwill.¡± She advised me. I wasn''t surprised the Shield knew about me. The city lord was tasked with protecting us from monsters and blessed ones were main targets. It was only natural that the Temple would somehow collaborate on this matter.
Now was the time to hide ourselves. The amphoras were just large enough for us kids to hide in. Some kemcha flew out when we dunked ourselves in. Her plan could only be executed by kids. I don''t know if there were dwarf warriors somewhere? Could this have been a security breach for other threats?
I gagged when my face went near the disgusting liquid. I would only submerge myself when I''ll hear the guards checking the goods. Gelcaria was the bravest: she gave me one last firm gaze before hiding in the mixture without complaints. Balout was gagging as much as I was and Melodi was whimpering like a wounded kitten, her grey fur getting sticky with the mephitic condiment.
The ride was smooth except for the smell. The liquid was oily and sticky but cushioned any jolt. When we got near the castle we could tell the roads were now paved.
When they started moving our amphoras I submerged in the kemcha, using my bamboo stick to breath and trying no to think about the stinky liquid that was attacking my nostrils directly.
They didn''t even opened my lid. I could hear the guard or an official open a nearby amphora before complaining ¡°What in Fusaad''s vomit do they like about this thing? Pwah! Fine, load the amphoras and take the stink away from me as fast as you can.¡±
I took my head out to take a quiet breath.
A jolt signified us that the lifting had begun. Up we go.
Chap 37: The old lord.
Our ride up was smooth and quicker than i thought. The palace was far up the mountain yet our climb lasted only a few minutes, though the stench made them look longer.
There was a more thorough check up on the castle''s loading ground. An official opened every crate and amphora but they didn''t search the kemcha much, allowing us to stay hidden.
We then had to wait for what seemed like forever before someone finally lifted our hideouts and transported us on some wheeled apparatus. My best guess was that we were on a wheelbarrow like the ones in town. The bumps and jolts along the way told me we were going down some stairs.
We were finally stored somewhere. I could hear first daybell ring from somewhere close by, probably one of the castle''s fancy towers.
I was waiting for things to be still for a while before coming out from hidding but Melodi''s patience was at an end and she broke out of her amphora first before whispering at us: ¡°I was about to pass out. Never again will I do something like this.¡± she accusingly warned me: ¡°This better be fun and worth it.¡±
¡°Shh, keep your tone down.¡± I shushed her in annoyance, this was no game and she was putting all of us at risk. ¡°We''re in the middle of the day, who knows who might come near?¡± I reminded her before she could retort.
¡°Don''t worry, no one will come near our stink.¡± Jokingly replied Balout while brushing the oily mixture away from his body. He was right, I think my olfactive receptors got burnt forever and that my sense of smell will be crippled for life.
I took a look around. We were in a dimly lit cellar. There were many crates and jars around us, mostly containing food but there was also a pile of wood logs for firewood (a luxury with the current trade disruption) and some materials like fabric or bags of feathers. The walls were tiled in some place and made of rough rocks in others. My best guess was that we were in a cellar dug uner the lord''s mountain. We''ll have to find our way up.
Gelcaria was the most methodic one: she looked out for the clean change of clothes. After finding them near a crate full of yellow berries, she grabbed some fabric laying in a corner for us all to use to take away as much kemcha as possible from our bodies.
The oily paste might be taken away but the smell was lasting on us, annoyingly clinging to our skin like a gum ever glued under your sole.
We all got naked and started wiping ourselves out. We had to help Melodi because her fur was covered in the liquid and she wasn''t able to wring it all out on her own. We even resorted to shower her with an amphora of barok beer that was in the cellar we were in. Better to smell of alcohol than rotten fish. She was happy with the change of perfume. I wish there were some barrels of water to wash up a bit more but the palace must have a source of running water.
Once cleaned as best as we could we donned our spare clothes on, simple brown tunics and pants for my friends. The fabric was of good quality though and they could pass for servants. My outfit was a little bit better, a yellow tunic that was cut like the top of a scholar''s robe and a light sand pants to go with it. I even had a small black cap to put on. I could pass for a bellboy or errand runner of a blade or any other official of the palace.
There was nothing much we could do about our hairs thought. This was fine for the short haired me and Balout but Gelcaria''s long chestnut hair was now dyed with a brown and smelly tinge.
Melodi who had her hair washed in beer searched for another amphora and Gelcaria got some fruit wine to wash hers. The alcohol vapors alone were enough to make me slightly dizzied from standing around the intoxicating girls.
But this wasn''t a party and time wasn''t on our side, who knows when a servant will barge in the cellar? Without further ado we started our plan.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*
We found a stairway leading to another storing room. A big wooden door was opening on a corridor that looked like what Nutusi''s plan was describing. There were two intersections leading to the various places we needed to go, just like she had planned for us.
Balout went out first after some last minute advices and encouragements. After Mel gave him the thumbs up he went through the only corridor leading upstairs then towards the kitchen. The stench of kemcha had somehow awoken his appetite.
He must have succeeded in his mission because after a while the three of us heard some running in the hallway going towards where the kitchens should be.
Gelcaria and Mel left me at the same time each going to their respective objective. I whispered a last word of caution to both of them, mostly at Melodi since she was the one most likely to find trouble, while they wished me Fortan''s best.
I silently prayed Shinpilo to hide them from the eyes of those meaning them harm. Maybe it was the irritating remnants of the alcohol vapors but I almost felt a burn around my right eye in response.
After giving them a bit of an advance I also got out of the cellar. The hallway was empty.
Walls were made of clean smoothened white stone and there were light crystals hung regularly to keep darkness at bay because there were no windows to be seen.
I calmly walked the path I had memorized, going along the kitchens that were still brimming with the commotion Balout was causing then going even more upstairs for the innermost courtyard.
There were no guards at what should be the entrance of the inner court. Either Gel or Mel managed to lure them away.
I met a few servants walking to their own task, some cast a glare on me but most were focusing on their jobs instead of a random kid. I just hope the smell wasn''t going to attract their attention.
Since I could pass for one of the youngest aides of the retinue of a blade, I was left undisturbed.
In the inner court there was a change of scenery. The hallways got larger, there were mosaics on most walls depicting either the current lor or his ancestors fighting against a varied bestiary of monsters. Complex carpets were laid on the ground and luxurious furnitures were everywhere.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
There were more people too. Guards for one: patrolling in pairs, either in armour or in uniform but always wearing a short lance in hands and an array of servants and other official looking.
All servants were wearing the light blue colour of the Shieldlord and had his crest embroidered on: the three waves in the circle. I was trying my best to not walk past them, stay hidden behind the furnitures or hide my lack of crest behind the satchel with my textbook inside.
This went smoothly until I was nearing what should be the library if I didn''t get lost.
There, an old servant came out from the library. He was looking like some old official: plump, bald and with a short grey beard. The fat man was wearing a blue robe with the crest of the ruler on his back.
He glanced at me before walking his way. I sighed in relief and that might be what attracted his attention because he turned back and pointed at me: ¡°Who are you boy? I''ve never seen you around before.¡± he said in a strict tone but without raising his voice.
I tried to stay as composed as I could to not betray the fright that was growing inside of me and meekly responded. ¡°Apology respected elder. I am one of first blade Duarch''s servant. I was tasked with bringing this package to the old lord.¡± I was bowing to hide my shirt and the lack of crest on it and just showed my pouch in front of me, not even daring to meet his gaze.
I was praying that he wouldn''t come near and start smelling me which would in turn attract more questions.
The old official beamed. ¡°Oh, such a young servant. Quite meritorious. Which family do you stem from to already start working?¡± He probed me.
Shitty scribe, can''t you let me go? I needed to find some way to deter him. ¡°I''m from the Kosho family.¡± I tried sounding as shameful as I could. Passing for the blade''s family that got demoted last year should deter him from probing more and was a fitting explanation for my current condition.
¡°Oh is see. Regretful, what happened. But it is nice to see hard working young ones.¡± he said in a gentler tone, somehow sympathizing with the Kosho family that got so many citizens killed. ¡°I though most of them went to the imperial city though?¡± He added yet another trouble for me.
I tried to not falter ¡°Most did, respected elder but I was left behind and had to find an occupation, thus my current condition. Would you be so kind as to point me to the old lord''s quarters? I''m tasked with handing him this book and he must be waiting for it. I wouldn''t dare make our lord wait.¡± I subserviently said acting like a perfect servant.
¡°Oh the former lord requested a book. How unusual, I thought he stopped reading for years now.¡± he responded in surprise. ¡°It''s been a long time since I saw that, let me accompany you.¡± He added with joy.
Damn it old man , can''t you care for your own business? Don''t you have books to transcribe or a library to tiddy up? You''re going to blow this operation up. I needed to find a way to get rid of this persistent mosquito: ¡°Thank you very much respected one but I wouldn''t dare abuse more of your valuable time, just point me the way.¡± I was boiling inside but kept it low profile.
He gently laughed ¡°Do not worry poor child you aren''t abusing this old one''s time. It would be my pleasure to guide you there, come, follow me.¡± He ordered in a firmer tone indicating that I couldn''t refuse his help any longer.
I was in no position to refuse without looking more suspicious. At best I could keep this masquerade going on until I met the old lord. From there it wouldn''t matter much. Who knows the old man could even deter others from prying about me?
And indeed the man must have been some official of substantial importance, maybe a librarian instead of a scribe? Servants were slightly bowing at him on our way and letting him pass.
We were now in the heart of the inner court, he was short breathed after we climbed a few more steps to reach the top of the palace. The walls were tended with luxurious tapestries and the floor was made of wooden flooring of various types of wood.
The drawings on the walls and embroidered carpets and tapestries were mostly depicting Kirins, the Shield''s family''s patron beast or portraits of notorious members of the family. The Kirin was a water dragon that looked like a horse with horns. They were considered as beasts and not as monsters and were the pets of Arteus, god of all crafts. Although water born they were gifted to him by Amidea as a return of favour. Under the god''s influence they became avatars of tempests rather than water. Cyclones and other hurricanes were their deeds.
I tried to not stare too much to not look like a country bumpkin. I''m supposed to be a member of a fallen noble family, not some commoner awed by a few carpets.
When we crossed a guarded door the guards saluted us on our way, like it was fit for an official. They were clad in armour with the kirin''s crest carved on and wore halberds. They also had blade strapped on their side, more fit for indoors fights.
The fact that they were guards here meant that either Gel''s or Mel''s commotions were already dealt with or that these guards had to stay on duty whatever happened.
¡°Have you ever been to the jade garden?¡± asked my guide without turning back to look at me, since he started leading the way I kept my distances from him to not let him smell my stench, I could only see his back.
¡°I never had this honour, respected elder. Thus why I got lost on my way.¡± I explained, praying Shinpilo to help make the man gullible and my lie sound plausible.
¡°Such a shame. But at this time of the year it has lost most of its splendour.¡± he sadly added before losing himself in what I can only think was the memories of what the garden looked like in the summer.
The decoration was getting both more luxurious but also more discreet. I could tell that the area was carefully worked on by the artisans. Light crystals were seamlessly embed in the walls, alongside heat crystals that were keeping the inside agreeable even in this harsh winter.
There were less portraits hanged around but more nature pictures be it silk drawings or paintings. And lots of potted plants, flowers and small trees bigger than bonza?s that somehow were still green at this time of the year. They weren''t coniferous so I suppose that there is some of Tupu''s or Fusaad''s magic at play here.
We crossed path with yet another official clad in blue silky robe that bowed to my guide before stepping aside to let us pass. My guide gave him a slight nod of acknowledgement.
That''s when I realised I was being fooled.
I should have guessed it earlier.
All the signs were there: an old man, with a beer-belly, a scholar''s attitude and who was greeted by everyone: guards, servants and officials alike.
¡°I''m sorry for not realizing earlier my lord.¡± I stopped and got on my knees, head facing the ground.
The man knew I must have lied, how could a blade''s child not have recognized the former lord? Especially when supposed to be tasked to find him.
This eluded a heartily laugh from the old man. ¡°What gave me out?¡± he asked with curiosity.
Since he was really waiting for an answer and not rhetorically asking I had to explain. ¡°The official that bowed at you. It could only mean you are from a noble rank and not another colleague. And since both servants and guards were also saluting you it could only mean you were their superior too. I bet not even the head librarian would be greeted by everyone.¡±
¡°Smart kid and keen observer. Who are you really little Kosho?¡± his tone got less friendly in an instant. I dared not raise my head but I could feel his gaze weighing on me with all the menace a powerful Chi user could muster.
We were still in the middle of an alley and the guards were now looking at us. I was done for and had to convince him to hear me out. ¡°I am just a commoner in need of your help my lord.¡± I bowed till my forehead hit the paved ground ¡°Please listen to my plea.¡± I begged him.
I kept prostrated like this, bearing the weigh of his aura until he finally spoke. ¡°Were the other troublemakers your doing too?¡± he must have been referring to my friends.
¡°Yes they are. They are my friends and I asked them to help me meet you.¡± I meekly said. ¡°Please don''t harm them, they are just children helping a friend.¡± I kept begging.
I could hear him fiddle with his robe. ¡°Child''s play? Huh? Is that really it? Three kids that somehow managed to get inside the inner castle and caused trouble? Or are you an assassin perhaps?¡± He was sounding fierce and threatening.
I raised my face to show him my honesty ¡°Please believe me, we meant no harm. I really needed to meet you. Shinpilo bears me witness and Jalea strikes me if I lie.¡±
He was calmly stroking his bearded chin. Hearing about assassins the guards were now surrounding me with swords drawn.
The old lord was playing with a small white crystal, he tossed it to me ¡°Catch!¡± he ordered.
I managed to catch it at the last moment. The stone was just a translucent crystal like some quartz.
I could feel his pressure ease a bit on me: ¡°At least you are not a threat. Show me what''s in your pouch.¡± he ordered.
I hastily opened the leather satchel showing my textbook and flipping through the pages to show that it was just a plain book. ¡°I swear it is just a book.¡± I pleaded.
The lord nodded his head and one of the guards somehow understood the order and took the book from my hand, skimmed through it to check for traps or any dangerous content before handing it over to the lord.
The old man sat the book on his prominent belly before reading some pages at random. Most were in my alphabet so it made him raise an eyebrow in befuddlement. ¡°What does this mean? Who wrote that?¡±
¡°I did my lord. Consider this a gift before requesting for your help.¡± I didn''t want to say more with so many people around us.
¡°What scripture is this? I''ve never seen anything like it. Is it Beastkin? No it isn''t. Maybe from the old elven scriptures?¡± Curiosity was taking the lead.
I hesitantly answered ¡°Maybe we could have this talk somewhere else my lord. I''ll explain everything then.¡±
This brought him back to our current situation: me kneeling on the ground with guards pointing their blades at me. He relented and spoke to the guards. ¡°Let him be, he is powerless and I might be old but still stronger than any of you. I can handle a kid.¡±
The guards didn''t dare discuss the lord''s command, they sheathed their swords and went back to their stand but not without throwing me black stares on their way back.
¡°Get up and follow.¡± ordered my warden.
Chap 38: Tea party in the garden.
The gardens were my jail.
I can''t complain, it is the most beautiful gaol I''ve ever seen. Not that I''ve been in many gaols though.
We had to climb three flights of steps before reaching the top level of the mountain. I was out of puff but the old man barely slowed down and wasn''t showing any sign of strain. Clearly it would be a mistake to treat him as a simple old man. He was a former Shield, a Chi user of high level for sure and maybe even a magician.
Not once did he turn to look back and check if I was following him. Either his senses were telling him I was or he was confident he could find me if I was brazen enough to try to run away from him. I wouldn''t do it: first I wasn''t that stupid, second: meeting him was my goal.
The garden was at the top of the mountain. There were walls surrounding us and even a building at the northern face with its towers rising high above us. It was quite large for an inner garden, at least two football fields wide.
It was a strange mix of carefully nurtured ¡°unkempt¡± nature to look both wild and harmonious, a bit like English gardens but with some more rigorously worked on parts, more alike French gardens or Korean gardens. Trees and hedges were planted to naturally hide most walls but since it was the heart of winter they couldn''t fulfil their job.
A small semi lunar pond with its summer gazebo were at the northern part. The pond was covered in water-lilies that will bloom in a few months.
Despite being winter the temperature was surprisingly mild here, obviously the work of magic. When I lifte my eyes to take a look at the sky I could make out a strange shimmering disturbance, some kind of magic barrier?
The trees were barren and only a few plants were blooming: some white magnolias bushes were still in bloom and there were some sunny edelweiss looking sprouting in a field of rocks and gravels. Although few, they were enough to permeate the air with a light perfume of jasmine.
In the opposite corner of the pond there was a desk with a small open-air working area: a low table, some cushioned stools, an armchair and a small tea stove. That''s where we were heading to.
No servants were in sight. Neither did I see guards on watch at the entry of the garden.
The former lord brought me to the working area, he sat in the armchair behind the dark mahogany desk. I didn''t dare take a sit until offered to. I could finally meet his eyes. Nutusi had told me he ha green eyes but her description was lacking. This wasn''t just simple green eyes, it was as if the forest itself was gazing at you. Not a gentle grove like this garden but a luxuriant and filled with danger jungle.
Just his gaze was enough to make me tremble, I was feeling as threatened and scared as I was when the monster had me in its pincers during the monster tide, one wrong word and my head could roll. This man wasn''t a kind grand pa, he was a veteran fighter and his killing intent was seeping out like crazy no matter how calm he looked like.
He opened one of the drawers and took a small bottle and a cup before pouring himself a cup of translucent liquid. The smell reminded me of the fruit wine from the cellar but with a richer scent than the one we used to wash off the kemcha.
¡°Better stuff than what you are drenched in.¡± he said while smiling like he almost saw right through my thoughts.
His senses weren''t dulled by age but rather Chi enhanced.
While taking a sip he skimmed through the first pages of my textbook, those with ideograms exposing my ideas.
His green eyes were burning with a ferocious curiosity, he was like a cat focusing on a mice, totally immersed in his reading but with an aura of deathly danger clinging around.
¡°Where did you learn about this?¡± he finally asked me, ¡°I''ve travelled the four continents and never saw anything alike.¡± He confessed in disbelief.
¡°I''m the one who devised it my lord.¡± I meekly said while watching my feet, meeting his gaze was a bit too intense for me.
This surprised him. I could sense the doubt growing in his tone: ¡°How old are you? You look no more than eight. Where do you come from, kid?¡±
I gathered my wits to lift my gaze and meet his. The emeralds were a bit hazy with alcohol but were casting a mix of eagerness and wariness, full of untold threat: I better not lie to him.
I decided there wasn''t much to hide from him. We had discussed it beforehand with Nutusi. I could reveal my blessing, the lords of the city were already aware of all blessed ones in the city anyway.
¡°I''m young indeed. But I''m also a Shinpilo blessed one.¡± For a brief instant I savoured the bomb I just dropped on him. That was enough to crack his aura for a second and relieve me from the pressure.
His eyes grew to two big balls before quickly closing down to a knowing stare. He whispered to the air near us: ¡°Shizu. Go bring me the report from last year on the blessed residents. He might tell the truth.¡± Of course I was.
From the thin air came an answer: the distant voice of an obedient woman ¡°At once my lord.¡±
I could only feel a gust of wind to my side as something moved away from us.
¡°We''ll check your story.¡± said the plump lord while tapping on my textbook. This was fine with me: the sooner my identity was checked, the sooner I would be believed. ¡°In the meantime explain what was your purpose here today.¡± he ordered.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*??????????*
I recounted how blade Duarch was extorting my family to push us to servitude to fulfil his quarrel with cardinal Fortmo.
I explained how my grandmother got sick with the current hardships and this brought a hint of sorrow in his jade eyes, the man was sympathizing somehow with my troubles.
Finally I told the truth: me and some friends managed to enter the castle in order to meet with him and have me close a deal with him to have the first blade back off.
He sighed in somewhat admiration. ¡°How brazen of you. Stupid and courageous!¡± he laughed heartily and drank a cup to celebrate that, his smile was warm but his eyes were still coldly gauging me, ¡°I like you kid. You also have two good friends to risk so much to help you.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Wait? Only two?
¡°Euh, my lord. There were three of my comrades with me. May I ask who was found yet? I''d rather not have any of my friends get needlessly hurt.¡± I worriedly voiced my concern for my allies.
He shrugged. ¡°I don''t know much. I know that some kid made trouble in the kitchen and I know that guards were moving around but we''ll have to wait for Shizu for more ample informations.¡±
he drank yet another cup. ¡°In the meantime, explain me what is this alphabet useful for?¡±
I barely started explaining my idea of writing down sounds instead of words that Shizu was back. I felt a move of air like a gentle breeze before a woman appeared out of thin air next to the Lord.
She was down to one knee next to him, handing him a small book. She had short bob cut black hair and grey eyes. She was looking no more than forty and could have been a beauty if it wasn''t for the burn scar on the left side of her face. It wasn''t a simple burn but looked more like a chemical burn, white and with circular patterns on it. She didn''t even spare a look at me and just stood obediently near her lord.
The old man opened the hefty book and went to the last pages while humming some light tune. ¡°Ah, there,¡± he said with his finger pointing at the info he was looking for ¡°Yes, I remember the report. A young kid of four springs that got a blessing of Shinpilo last year.¡± He raised his mossy eyes to ask me ¡°What''s your name?¡±
¡°I am Telerios, my lord. Son of Jocriss and Melcas. I live in the eastern disctrict and work for the temple as an acolyte.¡± He was checking the report on me at the same time and nodded in approval. ¡°Yes, this looks true. Still, Shizu, go fetch a divine crystal so that we can check his claim.¡± he gently asked his aid.
¡°Here, I thought you might ask for one my lord.¡± She handed him a small marble like the one Fortmo used on me.
The old man laughed, his belly shaking and getting wine stains on his robe. ¡°Always on point, Shizu. Very good.¡± He complimented her. ¡°You, prove your claim.¡± He tossed the marble at me.
To my embarrassment I missed it and had to grab it from the grass. I felt the same jolt as the last time. Something called for my blessing and the blessing answered, sending something back that lighted the marble up with a deep blue light.
Seeing the signature of the blessing of Shinpilo the old man nodded while his aide was stunned silly.
¡°You are who you claim to be. So this knowledge came from the god? How did you manage to get his blessing exactly?¡± he further enquired while the nearby Shizu was still trying to process the information.
¡°In fact I got the blessing precisely because of this alphabet that I created but more knowledge came with the blessing. I''m still struggling to figure it out for the most part thought.¡± I lied to the former lord, hoping his green gaze won''t see through my thoughts.
He was skimming through the first pages of my textbook again for a while before something struck him. ¡°Shizu. Tea please.¡± He lifted his head to look at me, pondering on something, ¡°The green leaves with mota should do.¡± Shizu silently vanished in the air like dust dispersing in the wind. ¡°Come, take a sit.¡± he pointed at the tea table nearby and at one of the cushioned stools.
He joined me on the other side of the low table. I must admit the crafting was excellent, the black wood was finely carved with kirins flying amidst clouds.
I was still worried about my comrades and felt this was a good moment to care about their whereabouts: ¡°My lord. Forgive me for asking but could you please make sure my friends aren''t too roughly treated? I would feel guilty if something was to happen to them when they just volunteered to help me.¡±
Instead of answering me he took a long stare at me, his emerald eyes carrying guilt and sorrow but also a cruel resolution. ¡°You should have thought of that before bringing them into danger. Any leader is always responsible for his men.¡± he was pointing an accusative finger while lecturing me. He then took a gentler tone ¡°But you are just a kid. Mistakes are bound to happen. Just remember that lesson for the next time. Your two friends should be in detention now, we''ll ask Shizu, she should know about it.¡±
¡°Euh... The problem is that there were three of them that came with me...¡± I hesitantly blurted.
¡°WHAT?! Just how did so many kids got into the castle? You''ll have to reveal how you broke through our security.¡± He looked really annoyed ¡°Shizu! Shizu!¡± he called.
The woman appeared beside him, with a platter carrying a teapot and snacks. She bowed ¡°My lord?¡±
¡°The kid says there were three others that were with him, what can you tell us about that?¡± he inquired.
¡°Well. There is a boy and a girl that got caught and are in custody in the western guard post.¡± She said.
¡°Did anything happen to them?¡± I anxiously asked.
The woman in leather armour turned to the lord, waiting for his approval before answering. ¡°They aren''t harmed yet. The boy did puke after binge eating and will be punished though. The girl also made grave accusations that are under investigation.¡±
The lord decided to rule about this: ¡°Find the third one then bring them all here. I want to question them too.¡± He then faced me ¡°Do you know where your third friend could be?¡± He asked with concern.
I didn''t hesitate to answer. Their part was done so no need to take any more risk. ¡°She should be near the stables of the western courtyard, trying to free the flying beasts.¡± Both of them gasped in surprise.
¡°You''ll really need to tell me how you planned this. This is a major break of our security. Anything else that could help Shizu find her before a guard might hurt her?¡± He threatened me.
¡°She''s a catkin, grey fur, flat face. My age. Not much more. Ah, she might smell of fruit wine.¡±
The old man looked taken aback, opened his mouth to query more details but renounced in the end, he''ll get to know soon enough. ¡°Go Shizu, find her!¡±
¡°At once my Lord¡± said the air around us as she vanished before the old man could finish his order.
The former lord rose from his chair to brew the tea. A flame came out of his hand to light up the small nearby stove, there was a nice fruity smell coming from his kettle ¡°While this is brewing tell me more about your writing thing.¡±
I spent a good half an hour explaining the alphabet, the syllables and how anyone could learn it easily. Meaning literacy could be widely spread and used for various improvements in daily management of the Shieldom. I could see that he took the bait. The old man was really infatuated with the technique and understood how it could be used.
¡°Are you sure anyone can learn it? Is it really that simple? People need years to learn to read and write a sufficient amount of ideograms.¡± He was still voicing some concerns.
¡°Yes I am. My three friends are commoners yet they can already read and write using this system.¡± I asserted with pride in my comrades prowess.
¡°You mean that if I have you write something now they''ll be able to read it when they arrive?¡± He dared me.
I nodded. The old man got to his desk to fetch some paper and a pen. The paper was real paper: white, smooth and delicate to the touch. A real luxury, one page could pay for Duarch''s monthly taxes.
He then read out something in a foreign tongue I''ve never heard before while I had to write it down. I somehow managed to write it in syllabic after making him repeat a few time. Maybe my alphabet wasn''t enough for all the strange guttural sounds he made but my students should be able to roughly read it well enough.
We then had a cup of the peach-like perfumed tea while he was probing what other use my writing system could have in the future. I was explaining about school, diffusion of knowledge among artisans and civil management but kept quiet about cyphers and other pertaining things. This was for Nutusi to decide what I could reveal or not.
Shizu came back, this time by walking through the garden''s gate followed by my friends in shackles, Melodi was even tied up with a rope. Otherwise they all looked unarmed.
¡°What took you so long Shizu?¡± Asked the old man ¡°The tea is almost lukewarm now.¡± He jokingly complained.
Shizu looked a bit strained and ashamed while answering ¡°The cat girl was a bit hard to find.¡± she admitted ¡°It''s been a while since someone hid so well from me.¡± she shamefully confessed. ¡°And she wasn''t cooperative.¡± she showed a claw mark on her hand.
This elicited a good laugh from the old man. ¡°Shizu, the fierce Shizu wounded by a six springs old girl. Ah ah, now I can say I''m old enough to have seen it all.¡± He facetiously added before his gaze turned harsh again: ¡°Kid, have your friends read our prose.¡±
I chose to have Gel read it first. She was my best student and the one I spend the most time with. She knew me best and ha read the most, she should be able to understand what I wrote the best.
She read it slowly and with a raised eyebrow: this meant nothing. Sometimes she was hesitating on how to pronounce the foreign words, some sounds weren''t correct but we got 80% of it I would say.
The fat lord was definitively impressed, he even started clapping. ¡°Very impressive. Shizu, untie them so that they can join us. I think I''ll have an interesting story to hear from them.¡±
The bodyguard untied them all. There was a spark of tension when she released Melodi but both knew better than to start a fight.
We quickly whispered to one another, making sure everyone was fine. When all were poured a cup of steaming tea, the old lord looked hard at all of them. To the point that it was disturbing for my comrades, his green eyes were full of trained authority and self confidence and could upset children easily.
Gel was trying to avoid meeting eyes with him, Balout was blushing and Mel was staring back in defiance though I could tell she was still scared by our situation, her fur was slightly bristling in anguish.
The smile on the old man''s face grew wider and wider. His wrinkly head then started to shake in silent laughter, his fat cheeks were waving like undulating Jello. "This is getting better and better. Where did you find this bunch? A fatty, a kitty and even a young Akola? touched one?" he asked with amused disbelief.
I can''t confess him much. They are simply my neighbours and none of them is that out of the ordinary except for Gelcaria and her eyes. So I simply shrugged without explanations to provide. At least the [kitty] did prove a worthy recruit against his aid and all my other companions did fulfill their assignements.
¡°Now let''s talk seriously.¡± he said with his eyes sobering up in an instant.
Chap 39: A new student
The interrogation was thorough.
Not only did we have to explain how we got in the castle, what we did, how we knew where to go etc... but also we had to reveal all we could about Nutusi. The others knew very little so it was left to my discretion. I didn''t fear revealing her status as a priestess of Shinpilo, she knew it was bound to happen and her status as a senior priestess of the Temple should protect her.
The former lord took the time to have Shizu check our revelations, they had a list of Temple''s members. The fact that a Shinpilo priestess knew how to get us in the castle annoyed him greatly, ¡°Damned plotters, I only like them when they work for me,¡± he mumbled.
He then tried to learn as much as he could about us. Who we were, what our parents were doing, where we grew and when I taught them etc... My comrades didn''t dare lie to him and I understand them, the man''s eyes could strike fear at will. Whenever they were unsure they would turn at me to call for help and I would just incite them to keep telling the truth. Something was telling me that lying to this man was a bad idea, it wasn''t a warning from Shinpilo but more a gut feeling, his eyes were wary and dead serious: this was somehow of prime importance to him.
Once he felt satisfied with our background and convinced that there was very little chance that we were hired assassins or other troublemakers, he finally satisfied his curiosity.
He had the kids read and write various texts in different tongues to test the limits of alphabet and had to admit that it was really good at transcribing even unknown tongues. The strength of phonetic, you don''t need to understand what you are saying, you just need to recognise the sounds.
All of my students were able to more or less read aloud whatever he had another one write down, even when not understanding a single word.
After all this testing the day was already getting late and second evening bell rang nearby. Meaning we should have been home since long. But when I asked about a release:
¡°You are all staying in custody here for now.¡± declared the old lord. ¡°I still want to discuss some things but I''m getting too tipsy for that now.¡± He did end up emptying more than three bottles during the course of our interrogation.
¡°Our parents will worry. Please let my friends go at least. I''m the only one who needs to be punished here.¡± I pleaded.
This didn''t reach the old man''s heart and he lectured me again. ¡°I already told you that this was the risk when involving friends. My saying is final but I''ll allow Shizu to send a message to your families.¡± He turned to her ¡°Tell them they committed a crime against the Shieldlord and are under his custody for now.¡± He mercilessly decreed.
This was going to bring a lot of troubles for my friends, alongside a night full of worries for their parents.
Melodi was the one that got infuriated the most, she didn''t want her daddy to be worried about her. ¡°We didn''t do anything wrong. We helped a friend because one of your friends was starving him and his family!¡± she objected while pointing an angry finger with her claws drawn out. Shizu pulled a dagger out of thin air, ready to stop the cat girl at the first sign of aggression. Seeing the threat Gel was the quickest to grab Melodi''s arm to make sure she won''t o anything she might regret.
This somehow reminded the old man of the purpose of our break-in: the troubles with Duarch.
¡°True. Well spoken little kitty.¡± He teased my friend. I had to pull her by my side to refrain her from leaping on the old man. ¡°And courage and loyalty will be rewarded in due time. But they do not excuse everything,¡± he concluded with a more lenient tone. He then spoke to Shizu ¡°Have them stay in the aquamarine servants courtyard. Light guard.¡± This probably meant something clear enough because his bodyguard was a bit surprised. She still bowed to accept his orders.
Without another word the old lord went back to sipping his drink while skimming through the stacks of paper on the desk.
Shizu guided us through the palace and to another courtyard still in the innermost part of the castle. We were assigned two small servants'' bedrooms. Before Shizu vanished she appointed an armoured guard to look after us and one of the servants was tasked to see to our needs.
The servant was a young lady with twin braids and wearing an aquamarine robe with the lord''s crest on it.
She only spoke to us if needed to, clearly keeping her distance once she saw that we were under custody and that a guard was assigned to us too.
We still managed to get some water to wash ourselves from the remaining stink of the kemcha and a light dinner made of bunta bread and some cheese-like brown paste.
We recounted our respective experiences while dining, keeping our voices low to not be overheard, although I doubt this would hinder a Chi enhanced guard to pry on our conversation.
Balout had the funniest one, he barged like a mad man in the kitchen and managed to eat a whole roasted lizard before the cooks finally reacted. He then barfed on them when they tried to restrain him, which caused a greater commotion.
Gel also did well and was treated more like a victim than a troublemaker. Duarch must have quite the number of enemies seeing how quickly Gel was able to attract the attention of many officials looking for ways to hinder the first blade.
Melodi was mostly in hiding the whole time. Only carefully advancing towards the stables. She got found by Shizu before she could cause troubles. She explained how she felt someone was watching for her even without seeing the female lord''s aide. She had her fur stand on end and knew someone was looking for her. My best guess is that her other Beastkin''s senses caught Shizu somehow, be it smell or movement of the air.
The guard finally ordered us to go to sleep, tired to have to listen to our stories. Gel had to sleep with an excited Melodi who was going to talk to her all night long while I would share a room with the serene Balout. I just hope he does not snore.
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On the next morning, we saw many servants passing through our courtyard, going to fare to their occupations. The twin-tailed girl from yesterday came back to bring a platter of bunta and dried vegetables that were quite rubbery to chew on. We then had to wait without purpose.
I took the time to have us all do the gym routine we hadn''t done all together since more than a year ago. After that Melodi and Gelcaria took a nap, their night was restless, while Balout asked me about geometry and we spent our time talking about mathematics. Without anything to write on it was somehow a limitation to what we could do, the paved ground couldn''t even help drawing simple forms so the lesson got shortened. I was quite glad because he was asking me how to calculate Pi and I had no idea as to how this was to be done. I just learned a few decimals but never cared about how it was precisely calculated.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Shizu walked inside our courtyard a bit before noon. She was wearing the same light leather armour as yesterday. She looked less annoyed when meeting us than yesterday. ¡°The elder lord is requesting your presence. All of you, follow me please.¡± Her tone wasn''t friendly, just professional but it was still better than yesterday''s defiance.
She led us to the same garden as yesterday. The fat old man was seated at the low table, already having a drink.
He smiled when we approached him ¡°Oh, the fun can start again. Great, thanks Shizu.¡± he gestured for us to sit around the table. ¡°ah. You''ll be happy to know that the lord had a talk with first blade Duarch this morning.¡± That was faster than I expected. ¡°Your family should be given their money back shortly and if he ever troubles you again just tell an official to pass on the message and we''ll deal with it accordingly.¡± He tossed me a small metallic seal wearing the waves and horns symbol of his family. ¡°Now that I took care of my end of the deal, time to talk about how you are going to pay me back.¡± He foxily added.
We didn''t come to any agreement yesterday but I would wait to hear his request before complaining. Taking my silence for acceptance he followed up ¡°I want you to teach your reading method to someone, starting today.¡± This was quite easier than I expected. ¡°Your student is somewhat difficult to deal with,¡± he was looking a bit embarrassed, ¡°Some even say she is a slow learner but I know she is smarter than they think.¡± he looked annoyed and waved his old fist at an invisible foe.
He took a sip of what looked like barok, his breath was already smelling of alcohol this early. ¡°Anyway she won''t be easy to deal with since she has quite the temper, it runs in her blood I think.¡±
I was now starting to feel that this was going to be more trouble than I thought at first ¡°And who is it that I have to teach?¡± I carefully asked.
He looked a bit embarrassed, his green eyes were avoiding mine, nothing like yesterday''s dominating aura he had. ¡°It''s my granddaughter. My little treasure, the second princess of the Shieldom. You''ll have to call her my lady, princess or lady Moatimu thought.¡± This was quite unexpected but I had steeled myself as he was hinting that it was going to be someone important.
¡°Will she be fine with being taught by a kid?¡± I wondered.
He almost spat his beer out before heartily laughing. ¡°That will prove complicated indeed but have fun trying to have her call you [teacher], I''ll gladly watch.¡± he mocked me. ¡°My little princess can be quite picky when it comes to her teachings but you''ll see that soon enough. Just do your best to prove me that your writing can be taught to anyone.¡± he pointed at behind me with his bearded chin.
The princess and her guard were passing through the garden''s gate.
I guessed she was the aforementioned princess because the girl had the eyes of her grandfather and the look of a royal.
She was beautiful. Not just cute like Gelcaria or Melodi can be. She was already showing the promises of becoming a beautiful woman.
Her face could only be the product of generations of selection. Her nose and chin were finely chiselled like a delicate porcelain statue. She was looking no older than ten yet she had the presence and poise that only absolute confidence in oneself can grant.
Her ink-black hair that was tied in two buns and adorned with two golden hairpins, was making a sharp contrast with her pale skin, yin and yang meeting on her head.
If her grandfather''s eyes were the green of an ominous jungle, deep, dangerous, full of hidden dangers. Hers were the light green of a young sapling, full of growth, brimming with energy and shining with the clear green of a healthy leaf bud.
Seeing her walk hurriedly yet with restraint made me feel like she was a kettle, the lid of her poise hiding the burning energy in her, looking to be funnelled out through the steam jet that were her eyes.
She was wearing a strange mixed attire both practical and ostentatious. A dusk red-orange silk martial robe split on the side with a light golden scale armour on the top half covering her chest and shoulders.
Even the neophyte that I was could tell that those weren''t mundane scales, there was something unsettling about how her outfit was supple and tight-fitting.
There were two silvery sais strapped in the large green silk belt tied around her hips, needle-like daggers with curved side-prongs, every rose has its thorns.
Her pace was quick yet her back was straight and her movements were seamless, the hurriedness not altering her aura of mastery. She passed beside me without sparing a look at me, not even to look down at me with scorn; the contempt was somewhat even harsher.
She stood in front of her grandfather with her arms crossed in front of her and a scowl: ¡°What was so urgent that I had to interrupt my training grandfather? You know how important my morning training sessions are to me.¡± She was complaining at the elder but still with enough respect in her voice. Her words were harsh but she showed some restraint in front of the former lord.
The old man laughed. ¡°I was eager to see my lovely little princess of course.¡± he teased her with a smile while pointing at a cushion next to him.
The princess didn''t respond to the invitation and instead chose to keep standing. ¡°Of course that is a heart-warming reason. But couldn''t that have waited for after my training?¡± She was pouting cutely acting more like a child her age for an instant.
The old lord laughed ¡°You''re right. I also have an ulterior motive. I found a new tutor for you. An exceptional one, blessed by Shinpilo himself. I''m sure he''ll be able to teach you a lot with his unique technique. And this time you''ll learn the art of writing once and for all.¡± I could sense some irony in his statement.
The girl was displeased, her nose frowning in discontentment and she even slightly blushed in shame, her pale cheeks turning to a slight pinkish complexion ¡°Not again, please. I don''t want to spend my time in dusty books with old men again. You scholars all smell mouldy and of dust.¡± Well, she should have come yesterday: I was smelling of alcohol and rotten fish that would have been quite the new experience.
She kept complaining with annoyance while shaking her two tiny fists: ¡°I''m not that kind of princess, you know it well. I''m not like elder sister, I''m a fighter.¡± She proclaimed with defiance, resting her hands on her sais to emphasize her point. The two silvery needles were her weapons of choice.
The old man sighed in lassitude before downing another cup of beer, this obviously wasn''t his first time arguing on the matter with her: ¡°Even the strongest fighter can learn much from books. I was taught this lesson too late. I don''t want you to make the same mistakes I did. Won''t you please give this tutor a chance? For me? For your old, venerable, loved grandpa''?¡± He was begging her with puppy eyes. Although those puppy eyes were still full of authority and power, not the kind of pleading eyes anyone could ignore.
The precious lady pondered for a minute, probably looking for a way to dismiss the demand without making an issue out of it. She must have given up on the prospect as she relented: ¡°Fine. But only for this afternoon. Blessed or not, if his teachings aren''t up to par I''ll just ditch him out and you''ll owe me a gift.¡± She was trying to make the best out of this unavoidable task.
The old man found this to be a satisfying outcome. He raised a hand to pat her two ink-black buns. She tried to evade the attempt with some quick as lightening footsteps but the man was a trained veteran and before I could see him move he was standing beside her, his hand patting her precious head anyway. She smiled but a bit bitterly as she had to acknowledge the man''s strength. ¡°So, where is this famous teacher? I would like to end this as quickly as possible.¡± she haughtily said.
The old lord laughed once more before pointing at me: ¡°Perfect. He was right here from the beginning.¡±
The beautiful princess finally deigned to take a look at me when her green eyes followed the direction her grandfather was pointing at.
She was at least dumbstruck enough to not react with contempt immediately. After shaking herself out of her daze she even looked behind me to make sure she wasn''t mistaken. ¡°Are you drunk?¡± She asked her elder with an eyebrow raised in suspicion, ¡°Is this another prank of yours?¡±
This made the old man laugh even more. ¡°Yes, I am a bit tipsy,¡± he shamelessly confessed ¡°We are having a nice afternoon in the garden and my precious princess is visiting me, so of course I celebrated with a drink.¡± To make sure everyone got his point he emptied another cup of barok before clapping his tongue in satisfaction in a very un-noble-like manner.
¡°I''m sorry grandfather I don''t have time for your jokes right now. I''ll take my leave then.¡± Despite the harsh tone she still bowed slightly before turning to leave. But before she could walk a step further the old lord''s emerald eyes flashed with an eerie green light and she froze mid step.
¡°My dear Momo. This is no joke though. The kid is a genius blessed by Shinpilo. It would please me greatly if you gave him a chance.¡± Whatever power he was exerting completely restrained her and his voice was carrying a subtle threat coated under the affectionate overall tone.
The strange aura in his eyes dissipated and the princess regained mastery on her body again and she stumbled as she lost her balance for a second.
There was respect and a hint of fear in her own leafy green eyes. ¡°Fine. Of course venerable grandfather,¡± She meekly accepted, ¡°But he is just a kid. And he only looks like a free citizen.¡± she complained in disbelief while frowning her cute nose. I was quite sure I wasn''t smelly but it could be that my olfactive receptors got burnt for good yesterday.
¡°He is just a commoner in fact.¡± stated the lord. She was left speechless.¡°But it doesn''t matter much. You''ll stay here this afternoon and listen to his teachings.¡± He then turned at me: ¡°Treat her well, I will not tolerate any misbehaviour from any of you.¡± The warning was for both me and her, but also extended to my friends and her bodyguards for sure. ¡°There is paper and pens in the left drawer of my desk. You are allowed to use it at your own convenience, teacher.¡± He insisted on this last word to make it clear for his granddaughter that this wasn''t to be taken lightly. ¡°I''ll be taking a stroll near the west gate and will come back later. I expect for great progress.¡± He left us on this last wish that sounded like a threat aimed at me.
When my eyes met the jade stare of the princess we had a mutual understanding for a second, she was also under threat here.
Chap 40: Cat fight
We were now in a strange stand-off.
On the one side a princess of the Shieldom and her bodyguard, on the other a bunch of street urchins.
Both sides were gauging the other. The princess was still looking at us with disbelief when Melodi Gel and Balout were looking at her with awe and curiosity.
The remaining bodyguard was a woman with so little facial expression that I couldn''t tell what she was thinking right now. At least she didn''t look with any form of hostility at us.
Other than the six of us there was no one else in the garden, no servants, no guards, no officials. At least as far as I can see, who knows how many invisible stalkers like Shizu there might be? I''ll have to ask Melodi to warn us if she ever feels some around.
The princess was the one to take the initiative and broke the eerie status quo: ¡°This is ridiculous. What is he expecting me to learn from a bunch of street urchins?¡± she finally concluded. The contempt had won the inner battle in her mind. I couldn''t blame her, most commoners shouldn''t know how to read so what could they teach a princess that has had the best tutors around her since her earliest days?
It was only logical that she would be wary of a bunch of kids younger than her.
In any case, I still had to fulfil my end of the bargain since the lord helped my family out of our misery.
I wasn''t aware of what the etiquette should be. I was reverent with the old lord and he looked like my attitude was proper enough but this princess was a bit more haughty.
I''m supposed to be the teacher here so I decided not to belittle myself too much when addressing her. ¡°Good day princess. I am Telerios, blessed one of Shinpilo.¡±
This statement seemed to only now struck my friends and I could see Melodi''s and Balout''s dumbfounded look. Gelcaria already knew about it and the reactions of the others made it clear that she was worth confiding secrets to.
¡°Forgive me for asking but your grandfather wasn''t specific on what I am to teach you. Could you clarify this for me? He hinted at writing and reading...¡± I tried to sound not too friendly nor too meek, just respectable. At least as respectable as a 6 something springs old could look.
She was still blinking in surprise. Her guard was a bit more unfazed and had to tap her shoulder to wake her out of her daze. ¡°Uh? Yeah, sorry. I''m still trying to process this.¡± For a second the ¡°princess mask¡± almost vanished and she answered us like a normal girl before turning back to her regal self: ¡°Are you really a blessed one?¡± She probed, still suspicious of us.
¡°Your grandfather checked it himself yesterday. His word should be enough proof for all of us. I''ll still ask you all to keep this a secret though.¡± My request was mostly aimed at my own friends. Gelcaria nodded at that, her eyes telling me ¡°I''ll make sure Balout and Melodi will keep quiet.¡±
The princess giggled stupidly, half stunned, half contemptuous. She then took a moment to check out my friends. Her gaze paused on Gelcaria for the longest when their eyes met in a clash of purple Vs green, not unlike yesterday''s competition with Nutusi but in a more beautiful fashion.
This didn''t last long the princess decided to cut to the chase: ¡°Fine. Whatever fancy trick of my grandfather this is, let''s end it quickly. I guess he told you?¡± she asked with annoyance in her voice ¡°I''m not as good as my oh-so-smart elder sister. I can''t read well. Because I don''t care. I''m a fighter, not a bookworm.¡± She drew a sai and made it spin around her right hand, trying to divert our attention from her weak explanation, ¡°I''ll become a powerful blade that protects commoners like you lot.¡± Her silvery needle was waved to point at all of us, ¡°And for that, I won''t need to know how to read the [blooming of tigayas on mount Tai] poem or whatever old book on farming passed on by a weak scholar.¡± She said with obvious ridicule for the matter.
I was not far from agreeing with her. Her grandfather warned me that she was a hot-headed one. No need to waste time teaching her poetry, she was probably just a brute born with higher Chi than most thanks to her ascendency. I went to the desk to grab the paper, the pens, a quill as well as an inkpot and sat at the low table. It was my first time using a quill but I''ll improvise on the get-go, how hard can it be?
I gestured to invite her to come to join me ¡°Please. May you show me what you already learned?¡±
She laughed in disdain at my invitation, ¡°Hold it on kid. I''m not going to join you or write anything for you. Just make whatever show you made to my grandfather and let us part our way on this.¡±
Instead of arguing with her, I called for my friends ¡°Gel, Mel, Balout. Come sit please.¡±
My friends were better students and took a cushion each. I distributed the paper and charcoal pens among them ¡°Please write your names, parents'' names and,¡± I was looking for a longer phrase to write, ¡°and that [blooming of tigayas on mount Tai] is a useless poem.¡± I ordered them with a neutral tone. They all looked at me as if I went mad. ¡°Come on, write.¡± I repeated with a more pressing tone.
Gelcaria was the first to obey and soon enough the other two were mimicking her.
I just wanted to show that my friends already knew how to write and shame her enough to coax her into joining us. The princess was stunned by the fact that those young commoners were able to write, now was my time for the final push. ¡°These commoners are already able to read and write fluently thanks to my technique, imparted by Shinpilo himself. That''s what I am to teach you too.¡±
I thought this was a good nudge, showing we weren''t joking around and poking at her competitiveness. Yet for simple bulls like her waving a red flag in front of them was enough to have them go mad. ¡°Are you trying to make fun of me, you lowly kids?¡± she angrily asked.
This wasn''t playing exactly as I thought it would and I was starting to get annoyed with her useless pride.¡°We might be of low birth but all of us already know how to read and write.¡± I grabbed Gel''s copy to flaunt it in front of the princess in hope of putting the discussion back on its trails and dispel any misunderstanding.
Seeing her lofty look down at us I felt the urge to add ¡°If even lowly commoners are able to do that much what does that make you?¡± At the same instant the words flew out of my mouth, I knew they were a stupid provocation and that I shouldn''t have let them out. But it was too late and the princess was going in full berserk mode.
¡°Who do you think you are? What do you take me for you serv?!¡±, her green eyes were burning with wrath and in a blur she rushed in front of me and sucker punched me in the stomach faster than what I could react to. I was sent flying on a few meters. A nearby flowery bush cushioned my landing. I had it coming for me but the pain in my lower half was a bit more than what I was expecting, she must have strengthened herself with Chi and more than what Gupta and Orzhov were using in our training sessions.
When I managed to get up while still half bending in pain and clutching at my aching stomach, a dreadful show was going on.
Gelcaria and Mel were trading blows with the princess.
The princess was still using chi to enhance herself, making moves that couldn''t be explained by physics and changing her momentum even mid-air.
That wasn''t enough to beat my two friends though. Gelcaria was getting brushed by some hits but Melodi was deftly evading by a hair''s breadth all of the attacks the princess threw at her.
This only infuriated the princess even more. She roared in frustration and took both sais in hands. This was getting overly dangerous and needed to be stopped. Punching was fine but using weapons was just too dangerous. The girls were too angry to keep their common sense but I wasn''t worth dying for, not for a simple punch or lack of respect. I wanted to yell at them to stop but my hurting stomach kept my voice at a ridiculously low level.
Not afraid in the slightest, Melodi drew her own claws out and the first blood in the next instant as she clawed at the porcelain white hand of the princess. The haughty girl yelped in pain and surprise. She let her weapon go under the painful surprise.
Before Melodi could pounce on the princess, the bodyguard slid at lightning-fast speed and caught the Catkin by the neck, lifting her in the air before throwing her in the nearby pond.
Not pausing for an instant the princess unfairly kept attacking the unarmed and now single Gel.
My friend wasn''t one to let herself be bullied though. Her own eyes shone in a purple hue and the princess got staggered for a second, blushing as blood rushed to her pale cheeks. Taking advantage of the momentum Gelcaria threw a low kick at her knee that the princess couldn''t avoid and she fell down while painfully screaming.
Again, before Gelcaria could follow up the bodyguard appeared to stop my friend, blocking a punch aiming at the face of the princess and then waving an index in front of her meaning ¡°no passing here.¡±
I stumbled to Gelcaria and called for her to stop. At the same time Shizu appeared out of thin air and ordered ¡°Enough! Stand down, all of you!¡± she added for the princess who was trying to get up with fury burning in her eyes. ¡°What was that?¡± asked the Lord''s aide. ¡°This is not what this lesson should look like.¡± She pointed at Gelcaria and at a dripping Melodi who was coming out of the pond ¡°You and You. Where did you learn to fight? who taught you?¡± she questioned with alarm in her voice.
Both girls couldn''t answer and were looking at me in befuddlement as if I could answer for them.
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¡°No one taught us anything. We are just commoners, not fighters. Let''s not make too much out of a children''s squabble.¡± I tried to lower the stakes.
¡°A squabble?!¡±, boomed the princess while getting up, ¡°You wounded a royal!¡± she showed the four small scratches on her right hand that were oozing a little bit of red blood on her otherwise snow-white hand. ¡°I''ll have you rabid dogs punished! Hamy, catch them¡± she ordered her guard.
But the woman didn''t move and instead looked at Shizu to ask what she should do.
The lord''s assistant decided ¡°I don''t think it would be a smart idea, princess.¡± she said in a mocking tone. ¡°Making it known that you got beaten by two little commoner girls would be shameful for your family. Please reconsider.¡± She was both teasing but also making a sound argument. She then turned her focus back on us commoners: ¡°I''ll get to the bottom of this.¡± She warned us, believing we were hiding something from her, ¡°And the elder lord will hear about this incident.¡±
¡°Please don''t!¡± pleaded the princess looking alarmed ¡°You know this will just pain him. Can''t you just keep quiet Shizu, I promise I''ll behave.¡± She looked to mean it for real. I tend to think it was more to hide her defeat than because she was worried her behaviour would bring her trouble.
Shizu didn''t seem touched by the act ¡°Sorry third princess, there are things I can''t keep from the master. If you want to please him then study like he asked you to and show some results!¡± On that last harsh advice she vanished again. I really want to know how she does that.
The bodyguard came forward to bandage the wound on the hand of the princess and tried to comfort her ¡°You got caught by surprise. You don''t train enough against multiple foes and were surprised by Beastkin''s physic.¡± She soothed the princess''s wounded pride. ¡°Study hard princess, I''m sure that your grandfather won''t make much out of this incident if you show him pleasant results.¡± This somewhat reassured the princess enough and helped her calm down a bit. Clearly, this bodyguard of her was more used to manipulating the girl than I was.
She came to face us all. Gel had some cuts on her dress, Melodi was still dripping wet and I knew a bruise was colouring my stomach. The wise Balout was the only unharmed and was helping Melodi to take off her wet clothes and dry them near the small tea stove.
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The princess had lost a bit of her superb. She was both angry and ashamed that the girls managed to wound her warrior''s pride but in the end, she was even more scared to displease her elder.
She didn''t know what to do so I took the initiative. ¡°We started on the wrong foot here. Maybe we could put that aside and start from the beginning again?¡± I discreetly kicked Gel as she was about to complain.
The princess didn''t answer, she was still processing the fight and trying to recompose her persona of a well behaved princess.
¡°Let me introduce my friends then. This here is Gelcaria. She''s also my neighbour and the first one I taught how to read and write with my method.¡± I could see that the princess was still looking suspiciously at Gelcaria but at least neither side tried to taunt the other. ¡°The fierce catgirl is Melodi, please do not try to fight her again.¡± I was trying to make little of the incident and keep my tone light ¡°She''s the daughter of a fisherman, yet she can also read and write fluently.¡±
This remark irked the princess a bit but I didn''t let her the time to mull over it, ¡°And this sturdy fellow is Balout. Do not look down on him, he might very well be better in mathematics and geometry than many of your tutors.¡± The princess seemed about to protest my claim then closed her mouth, deciding that we proved to be a surprising bunch enough till now and that my statement might very well be true. Balout was beaming with pride, a smug smile on his face. Not often was he praised in front of royalty.
¡°And I already introduced myself. Let me just say that the writing method I devised is simple enough for all these kids to have learned it and for a god to acknowledge it. I have no doubt that you can learn it too, princess.¡± I tried to encourage her and rebuild some good faith between us.
To my surprise, the princess imperceptibly nods her head at me ¡°I''m third princess Moatimu Kirinavati. I apologize for my earlier behaviour. I might have misjudged you all and was taught a lesson. Please do teach me well, as grandfather ordered us.¡± She then made a curtsey at my three friends.
Her apology was half-hearted at best. The words were nice but her tone was too cold to convey goodwill. But this would have to make do, I didn''t want to antagonize her any more and I doubt this haughty princess was able of more for simple commoners.
¡°Apology accepted.¡± I said while looking mostly at my own companions to signify that this matter was over. I could see they were reluctant to leave it at that but the wise Balout put a calming hand on both girls and drew them to the stove before another incident could occur.
This seemed to offence the princess a bit as she scowled or maybe she was remembering her defeat. I stopped her rumination. ¡°Don''t worry. These kids learned to read and write two years ago when I barely knew what I was doing. I believe that in just an afternoon the princess can make great progress if she puts her heart to it.¡± I didn''t like that but a bit of flattering to soft soap things can''t harm.
It wasn''t the princess but her bodyguard that answered, Hamy if I remember her name correctly: ¡°Thanks for your cooperation, teacher. The princess will study hard.¡± she affirmed with conviction. It was like she pinched the princess to remind her what she had to do. The black-haired beauty went to sit on a cushion and looked at me with a hint of exasperation as if to mean I was the one slowing us down now.
Balout was taking care of the girls, a servant even brought them a change of clothes for Melodi and some medicine and they were busying themselves. I joined the princess and winced in pain when sitting, she got me good in the stomach. When she saw that I caught a hint of guilt flickering in the corner of her eyes. This was leverage.
I took a sheet of paper and quickly wrote down my alphabet before showing the short 32 signs list to the princess. ¡°I can deduce that you do not like having to remember a thousand ideograms. Well, neither do I. This is all you''ll have to learn to be able to read and write using my method.¡± I declared.
She looked dumbfounded again, her green eyes bulging in incredulity before eyeing me with suspicion. ¡°Is that really all? This seems like awfully little? Are you trying to come back at me in some smart way?¡± She voiced her concern.
I chuckled at the idea. ¡°No smart plot, I promise. My best interest is also to please your grandfather and making a fool out of you won''t end well for me.¡± I raised both hands in powerlessness.
I grabbed the sheets on which my friends wrote earlier: ¡°See, with this little signs we can arrange them together so that they transcribe sounds instead of words. That''s how it works. It will also make you able to read anything written in this system even if you''ve never met the word before or even if you don''t understand the tongue it is written in.¡± This was the last push to break the mask of self constraint of the princess, she blurted like any girl her age: ¡°Are you kidding me? And you created that at your age?¡± She grabbed the alphabet sheet and was contemplating it. She then compared it with the short sentences written by my friends. ¡°How does this work? Explain.¡± The fish took the bait.
Once committed to the task, the princess proved to be a decent student. Like her grandfather said she is hot headed, stubborn and lacks concentration. Gelcaria and the others were better than her.
But she was making some progress.
She memorized the alphabet quickly enough. Having learned some ideograms before made my simple signs far easier to learn in comparison and I now had the experience of teaching the other three. At least her memory wasn''t as bad as I feared, her will to learn and attention were the real problems she had.
Once done I taught her the sounds they made and how the combinations worked. The others came to help when she was a bit at a loss, explaining her in their own way how to use my system. It was a strange scene to see the kids I taught teach another one, what''s more an older one.
After having the other spend some time with her, the last of her animosity was dispelled, she accepted that although commoners they knew more than she did on this matter. Kids forgive easily, both sides were already leaving their fights behind.
The afternoon was spent studying. I was reminded we were watched when servants brought us tea and snacks just when the princess'' concentration was reaching its limits.
The break was a bit awkward, what can four commoners discuss with a princess?
The conversation was drifting to their fight. Melodi had found someone as battle hungry as she was.
The two warrior girls were praising each other, I even had to show my bruised stomach for Melodi to praise the strength of the princess. The sight of the consequences of her outburst drew a guilty smile on the princess'' beautiful face. She whispered something to her bodyguard. Later Hamy gave me a small pot of balm that I was to use on the bruise..
When second evening bell rang the princess was able to recopy every letter. This was just stunning progress for a single day. To be honest I thought she would just barely be able to remember the alphabet yet in a single day she was able to copy every sign and I even had her write her name in the end. She wasn''t able to read it and I was the one who came up with the way to write it but it was still a great milestone.
This lesson would need to be repeated, I doubt she would be able to write it on her own tomorrow but at the speed at which she was learning it should take less than a week before she is able to write a few words.
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Her grandfather made his entrance followed by Shizu in his shadow.
The man looked more inebriated than earlier or even yesterday. Guess some rumours are true.
¡°So, I heard you all got along well.¡± He was hinting he heard about the earlier commotion.
The princess threw him a diversion ¡°Look grandfather, I can already write.¡± She was flaunting a page with her name written on it, ¡°You were right, this is something I can easily master.¡± She was fluttering her eyes in an overacted cuteness.
The old man wasn''t fooled but took the bait nonetheless. ¡°Oh... Very good. I''m happy that my little princess is so smart.¡± He praised her much to her delight.
After both of them sweet talked one another a bit more, he dismissed the princess. She gave me a slight nod and a curtsey to my friends before leaving with her bodyguard. Her last stare at me was pleading ¡°Do not let me down.¡±
The old man was perusing the sheets of paper on the table, looking at the lines of letters that I made her copy. ¡°I''m surprised at how well this went.¡± He finally said, ¡°Sorry for the way she abused her power, even hurting you quite a bit.¡± He pointed at my stomach before ordering ¡°Show me.¡±
Once more I lifted the blue shirt the palace gave us this morning to show my bruised stomach.
The old lord snorted and put a hand near my stomach without touching it. ¡°She went a bit overboard. Pardon her. She was born with more Chi than most and became obsessed with becoming a fighter. From early on she''s only been around people with enough Chi to endure her hits.¡± His deep green eyes shone before I felt some warmth on my bruise. ¡°This will help you recover quicker.¡±
Before I could thank him he had already turned his attention on my friends.
¡°I''m more surprised by the fact that your friends were able to keep up with her...¡± He was sounding suspicious, ¡°This is quite the feat for untrained commoners to be able to keep up with a third rank Chi user trained by some of the best masters around.¡± He was looking at them with wariness, ¡°You''re not lying when you say they never received any training?¡±
I shrugged ¡°Not as far as I know. I''ve been with them since we were three springs old and no one around us is a fighter. Melodi''s father has some chi but I believe the other two''s parents should have little to none.¡± I didn''t insist on our age either, we were too young to have any Chi, unless we were born with really powerful innate talent for it. Only blades would have kids this talented.
The fat lord was stroking his beard pensively. ¡°Hmmm. No Chi training then. What about martial training?¡±
I raised my eyebrows, refraining from rolling my eyes up. ¡°I''m the son of a smith, Gelcaria is the daughter of a stonecutter, Balout of a baker. The closest thing we have with someone with fighting experience is Melodi''s father who is a fisherman.¡± I exclaimed.
The lord nodded ¡°I know, that also what''s in the report.¡± I''m still amazed by the amount of data they have on us. The intelligence service is doing a thorough job in keeping tabs. ¡°Yet they managed to have the upper hand on my little princess.¡± He sighed ¡°She''s not the smartest one, that I agree. But she has some talent in the martial field. So I''m a bit surprised.¡± He was looking at me questioningly.
Again I shrugged. ¡°We did some swimming and gymnastics, so their body awareness must be above average and they were at two against one. Or maybe your granddaughter was just rattled because she was angry or because they were fighting without a form. Who knows? In the end, it was just a squabble between kids, no need to fuss about it.¡± To be honest I didn''t really understand why he was that troubled by a small fight. Were Mel and Gelcaria that outstanding? The most logical explanation was that the princess lacked battle awareness, her trainers must be afraid to hurt her and are going too easy on her.
After considering it some more the old man shook his big head ¡°You might be right. Anyway, I''m glad things are going well with the princess. Consider yourself hired as palace tutor.¡± He announced merrily.
I was expecting him to ask me to come back. The title was a bit too much but I had another demand first ¡°Can my friends and I go home? Our parents must be worrying.¡±
The old lord brushed this ¡°Don''t worry, Shizu took care of everything.¡± The silent woman didn''t bat an eye, that was what''s worrying me.
¡°Then how long are we to be kept here?¡± I asked.
¡°Don''t make it sound like you''re our prisoner. Food is good, rooms are warm, can you dare say we are bullying you?¡± he asked in disbelief. His tipsy gaze then fell on my stomach. ¡°Well, sometimes things are harsher than expected.¡± he granted me with a shrug.
¡°My grandmother his really sick. I would like to go home to check on her anyway.¡± I begged.
This made him consider my request, his eyes were full of sorrow. ¡°Fine.¡± he relented. ¡°But it''s a bit late. Shizu will bring you all home first thing in the morning tomorrow.¡± he waved at his silent aide. ¡°But do not forget you are now working for me. Shizu will arrange for the rest. Now leave, I need a drink.¡± He didn''t take a cup and instead drank directly from a flask he retrieved from Shinpilo''s knows where it was hidden.
Before I could say another word, Shizu was already dragging me away while servants were taking my friends.
We were taken to the same servant''s rooms as yesterday. After a light dinner Shizu made it back: ¡°You''ll be all brought back to your homes tomorrow.¡± This was welcomed with cheers from my friends.
¡°But,¡± silenced Shizu, ¡°To repay for the troubles you all created in the palace and as punishment, you''ll all have to work for the elder lord for a year.¡± she sentenced us.
Chap 41: Punishments
There were more than one punishment though.
When I came back home my grandmother had passed away. The former lord had Shizu gift me some medicines to bring back home but I came back too late.
The feud between the First Blade and the cardinal made at least one victim.
The punishments for my friends were thankfully lighter.
We all got a good scolding from our families but Balout and Melodi the most.
Balout''s family was horrified that their son trespassed in the innermost part of the palace and what''s more, he could now no longer help at the family''s shop. Melodi got scolded by her dad, which was rare enough for her to feel remorseful.
Gelcaria and I fared better. My family was mourning the death of grandma and they understood what I did when I was able to explain that the Shieldlord made our blade lower our taxes back. The relief came too late for my grandmother but it would help my sisters through this dire winter.
The Temple was more mixed in its reaction. Patiyar knew that I had little choice there and didn''t scold me much, instead almost apologizing for the lack of support the Temple provided me with. Inner politics of the Temple was more complex than I would have imagined.
Nutusi was only partly satisfied with the outcome: her plan worked but my new assignment was taking me away from the hall of whispers. She reminded me of my obligations towards Shinpilo. I hadn''t forgotten my deal with the god and wouldn''t, those are the kind of dealers you can''t cross.
Instead, it was the other member of our temple who admonished me the most. Gupta was offended that I infiltrated the castle. It somehow hurt his pride as a former army officer even if it wasn''t his job to guard the palace... Orzhov understood I did it to protect my family which is a core value of Husnd but reprimanded me nonetheless.
Sansho turned red in anger, disliking that I took risks without asking for her help first. I doubt she would have been able to help us much once outside in the cold and had to spend much time calming her down. I had to open a shutter to let the cold gusts cool her down.
Gelcaria fared the best of us all. Her father didn''t care much about her. I believe it is some kind of guilt that drove him away from her, her eyes were reminders of the ordeals his weakness had pushed his family and wife into.
She would never talk about it but I knew this troubled Gelcaria, she woke up in anguish more often during the following nights. I didn''t feel up to the task but still had to comfort her. I was the closest thing she had to a fatherly figure to look up to.
Her mother did blame her but she understood why she did it. She knew how close we were and to be honest: the old lord was going to pay us during the next year and the salary of castle''s servants was hard to look down on, especially with this winter''s economic conjuncture.
My Grandmother''s funerals took place on Otik''s celebration daynight since it was the month of Frostire. Her body was burned down to ashes and they were put in an urn to be kept in a memorial room at our local temple.
Fewer people were attending her funerals than for my grandfather''s one, mostly her co-workers from Ms Tarina''s workshop and her former neighbours plus a few others like Gelcaria or Nutusi.
Patiyar was kind enough to preside the ceremony himself. Much to my surprise, it was my mom that cried over our loss more than my father. She was close to her mother-in-law, working with her, relying on her, and grew to like her as much as her own mother.
After the ceremony, we held a small reunion at the temple. When I discussed with Ms Tarina I had to inform her about how Gel and I were assigned to work at the castle. She didn''t scold me. Instead, she looked almost impressed by our guts and even complimented Gelcaria for ¡°making the right choices.¡± My former tutor even made a small offering to Fortan and Tamayoku in our stead to have us thank them for their benevolence. I''m not sure it was the best thing to do during the funerals, there wasn''t much benevolence from the gods there.
I''m glad that at least someone understands how this could be a boon, especially a free citizen. She is more educated and has a better understanding of politics than the rest of my entourage, her approval means a lot to me.
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Although the drunk lord told us we were to come back on the morrow, Shizu planned otherwise. She learned about my loss and thus gave us all a week to tidy up our things, say our farewell to the places we were currently going to and give her the time to provide us with all the necessities.
The old lord had work attires made for us. From the look of them, we weren''t going to be ¡°simple¡± servants.
Mine and Balout were more scholars outfits: long-sleeved and with the tunic almost reaching our knees, made of light blue silk and with the crest of the Shield''s ruling family embroidered on the front. It was the three waves in the horned circle but with the old lord''s personal variation: our crest was embroidered in green and had twin bolts of lightning coiling around the horns.
We only lacked one of the strange black pointy hats that officials sometimes wore and we would look like kids disguising themselves as officials rather than servants.
The girls'' outfit was even more different from what one could expect for servants-to-be. They were provided with short martial robes of green fabric and with the old lord''s crest in a deeper shade of green on it.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
The skirts were a bit short if I might say, especially for winter, stopping at knee length and split to each side. They also had leather bracers and forelegs coming with it. There was little doubt that he intended to have the girls join the guards rather than pour him tea.
We all met at the bottom of the lord''s mountain on the morning of our first day there. The girls were babbling about their new outfits. I understood how Melodi could endure the cold since her short grey fur must have insulated her legs a bit but how Gelcaria was managing to not shiver and turn blue in the freezing winds was a mystery to me.
This time we had to walk our way up along the road circling the mountain. This was far more tiresome and time consuming than the crane''s lift. It took us at least an hour and I was exhausted when we finally made it to the main entrance. It was already third morning bell.
On our way up we were stopped at no less than six checkpoints with guards searching us for weapons, vials, containers, or any other suspect items.
Our identities were asked and they checked in their ledger to make sure we were allowed in the castle. Kids claiming to work there were suspicious even if we had the old lord''s crest under our mantles and I even had his token.
Luckily for us, Shizu did her job well and our names were already on the guards listing.
Once arrived at the castle we had to wait more which gave me time to catch my breath.
There was only one main gate to the castle. An entrance large enough to let a plane through. Two carriages could go in or out at the same time. The thick stone doors could only be operated by strong Chi users and there was a metal portcullis. This was a luxury as iron was rarely seen and even less often in this amount. It was on par with decorating the walls with gold leaves, a show of wealth rather than a practical one: any strong magician should be able to blast the iron portcullis.
A servant checked on us and led us to the innermost part of the castle: the palace. We had to cross through the administration wings and had a glimpse of some of the many small courtyards around. Some were training grounds but others were gardens, either for pleasure or for market gardening. One was even a barnyard.
The total acreage of the castle was more than I could fathom. The mountain had its top cut and the area was larger than I thought. I also knew that the castle extended in the mountain too, meaning it was an anthill: like icebergs, there was more than the tip on the surface to be seen.
Once we reached the entrance of the inner palace Shizu appeared out of thin air to take over and lead us to the garden we knew. Her presence was enough to have us pass the guards on duty without more checks.
The old lord was already far immersed in his drinking even though fourth morning bell hadn''t rung yet. He welcomed us with a gloomy and foggy gaze.
¡°I heard about your grandmother.¡± he presented his condolences. ¡°Otik''s red poppies...¡± he sighed. ¡°I also lost someone this way.¡± This surprised me, who among the people he knew couldn''t afford to have a priest or healer tend to them? He shook his sorrow away, ¡°Anyway, I''m sorry the medicine couldn''t work. Talking about work it is time I decided on your assignments.¡± His green eyes gained a bit of lustre back, he was enjoying this more than sorrowful memories, ¡°You girls will follow Shizu. Obey her as if it were me.¡± He first dismissed our two friends. Gelcaria parted from me with a reluctant but decided look, she will do what must be done.
¡°Now, for the two of you.¡± Balout and I were left alone with the old lord. ¡°I must say that I''m quite happy you came back.¡± Like I had room to say no... ¡°The princess was quite enthusiastic about your writing technique. As you might have noticed she isn''t that fond of studying. She''d rather spend her whole day sparing with our masters-at-arms. Even then this wasn''t enough against your two friends.¡± He added with suspicion.
I didn''t know what to tell him, I was as surprised as he was.
¡°Shizu will take care of that. What I want you to do is make sure the princess can read and write. When you are not teaching her, I''ll have the both of you copy some books I''ve selected in your writing system for her to read later on.¡± This was his true goal: have the princess learn more.
This was fine with me, it wasn''t much different from when I was helping Mekas at the temple. I''ll just have to help Balout when he''ll stumble across an ideogram he doesn''t know.
¡°Once you''ve demonstrated that the princess can read fluently we''ll see about your next assignment.¡± His tone was carefree and lazy but his green eyes shone with a foxy sparkle of mischievousness meaning he already had plans for us.
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Our days at the palace were busy.
The girls were having some martial training with Shizu in the morning while Balout and I were copying books. The bunch of books selected by the old lord were covering a surprisingly diverse array of themes: ranging from poetry to treatise on history, followed by botanic''s compendium or martial epic stories. There were more unusual books like an economy textbook on taxes or a romantic novel on a love story between a dark Elf of the southern archipelagos and a Beastkin noble from the empire.
On the more technical books, there were many words I couldn''t decipher. We had to wait for the old lord to be there and sober enough to have him read those words to us.
The girls were tested by Shizu. This confirmed what I knew, none of them had training in Chi but she suspected both of them had potential in it. And a good one. This delighted us all.
Even if it meant they were going to tread on the dangerous path of a fighter, it also meant they would become strong ones.
What surprised Shizu and the fat lord the most was how the girls managed to defeat the princess without Chi? The princess was training a lot and had some talent in the martial field. She was already at the third level of chi mastery in the empire''s measurement scale. This put her in the second half of the first quarter, which was impressive for her age. She would turn ten springs old in a couple of months and was already stronger than most footsoldiers.
In the end, it was pinned on the element of surprise and how she didn''t know how to face multiple foes and Beastkins.
Shizu also praised Gelcaria and Melodi for their body awareness and agility. This I could take some credit for. I imparted their daily training regimen on them from our earliest day together and insisted on their balance a lot.
The girls were training with the princess in the morning, they were her sparring partners. In the afternoons the princess was to study under me and Balout.
Most of the time I would have Balout take care of Gel and Mel, either by smothering them with maths and geometry, he had a heads up on the matter, or by telling them about the books we copied earlier in the morning.
In the meantime, I was making good progress with the princess.
She was hot-headed and lacked the ability to focus on a task for a long time. I often had to change her exercises and keep her on trail when she was starting to daydream or get impatient.
The fact that the girls already knew more than she did also drove her to work harder.
She accepted them as rivals and was slowly forgetting the difference in status. Fists were talking more than birthright and for her martial prowess were more important than anything else.
After these few days with us her attitude shifted greatly. She wouldn''t wear her ¡°princess'' mask¡± around us and act more like a girl her age, giggling and playful. But only when there was just her grandfather, her bodyguard: Hamy, and Shizu probably hidden somewhere. As soon as a servant or any other official or guard would come to visit her grandfather she would don her princess'' persona back on. I must admit her ability to switch composures at lightning speed made me re-assess her smarts. She just didn''t like studying but was far from slow up in her head.
After three weeks of this regimen, she was able to read on her own the simple texts we translated with Balout. She was a slower learner than Gel and the others but it was still a commendable feat. Especially if I were to compare with how long it took for kids on earth to learn reading. She was older and had some teaching from scholars since her youngest days so it was more like learning a foreign tongue but it was still not an easy thing to master in such a short time.
Festire was somewhat milder than the previous months. The weather got nicer and the blizzard recessed and roiled back to the mountains from whence it came. Not that it mattered much when we were at the castle. The whole palace was warmed with heat crystals or small fires everywhere and the magic barrier atop the garden made it as warm as a roofed room even in the gardens.
The old lord was generous with us. Although this was supposed to be our punishment he still paid us a salary. And quite a good one. I received a large iron coin: a hex of small iron coins... This was more money than I ever handled. It was also a game-changer for my family: never would we face hunger again and my sisters would have access to better clothes or even better working places or training positions.
My three companions only received half this sum: eight small iron coins each. This was still a huge sum. It definitely silenced the complaints Balout''s parents could still have. Gelcaria was the proudest of all, with this sum she was able to support her mother. I just hope her father won''t drink it all.
So far our ¡°punishment¡± looked like a reward.
Chap 42: Entourage
Our morning daily climb of the lord''s mountain was getting easier.
First, I had put on a bit more muscles by getting sore feet every day, practice makes perfect.
Second, the guards were starting to recognize us. We had met most of them so whatever turn-over they had at least one of them knew us. This sped up the checking process quite a bit and with six checkpoints it made a huge difference in time.
Finally, some of the peddlers and castle''s suppliers started to know our faces too. Sometimes we could catch a ride and be allowed on the back of a supply convoy, sparring our feet for part of the climbing.
The princess was making commendable progress. She was bad with ideograms. She didn''t feel like learning a thousand and more signs and now that she had learned my alphabet, she would never bother with the ideograms ever again. Instead, she would have me or Balout transcribe the wanted texts for her.
This included not only the books the old lord wanted her to study but also her mail.
Young princesses were receiving a surprisingly large amount of letters. She had some messages from the inner palace, be it to exchange a few words with her family or kins; but also for her social life. She was invited left and right: blades of course but also free citizens, young and old, boys and girls, were requesting to meet her for a tea party, a play or diner.
Most were to socialize and get closer to the ruling family through her, some were merchants looking to have her peruse their shop and wear their silks. She was the best advertising they could dream of.
A few were suitors. It took me some time to understand it but some foreigners and powerful blades were openly trying to have her marry them or their son.
Rarest of all were the few friends she had, who were genuinely inviting her to spend time with them.
Since our work was done with teaching her how to read, we spent a bit more time teaching her to write. It went smoothly, once she was committed she was a smart enough student.
The old lord then gave us more technical books to translate in alphabet. Books about etiquette, geography, diplomacy, but also about farming techniques, logistics or even astronomy. His library was an unending trove of knowledge.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so he was intending to ride the wave of the princess'' enthusiasm and cram as much knowledge as he could in her. To give her some relief and reignite her will to read, he would insert some great warriors biographies or some novels about monster hunters.
Most of my days were spent in the old lord''s garden.
There Balout and I were to copy in the morning and tutor the princess in the afternoon. Gel and Mel were sparring with the princess or with Shizu when the princess had other matters to tend to.
The garden was a lovely place.
Never cold thanks to the magic taking care of the temperature. According to the princess, there should be pets and animals roaming around once winter is over but for now, I only saw a swimming lizard and a few fishes in the pond.
The old lord was enjoying his time with Balout and me.
We were only kids but we were putting up with his eccentricities and were quite good walls against which he could bounce ideas. We even got allowed to address him by name instead of the constant ¡°revered lord¡±, ¡°respected elder¡± or ¡°Old Shield¡±. Thus ¡°sir¡± or, ¡°lord¡± or sir Iroto were fine with him.
He would join us near noon in the garden, more or less drunk depending on how early he had started his libations and how late he finished yesterday''s.
Despite his drunkenness he still had a sharp mind. To the point that I started suspecting him to sometimes fake his state of intoxication. I checked his cup and by the smell, I could tell that there was indeed alcohol in it and not in small amount. The man''s liver must be Chi strengthened if Chi can be used to that end ?
When he wasn''t drinking, explaining to us an unknown ideogram, or debating about the subject of the book we were currently transcribing; he would receive visitors.
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Not everyone was happy with our presence.
First was the ¡°head maid¡±. I don''t know what her real title was, nor what status she held. She was a severe looking middle-aged woman that dressed more like a fancy noble blade than a maid yet she was bossing all the servants. Not that there were many coming to the old lord''s wing.
She held a lot of power because almost all servants were free citizens. So I was quite sure she was at least a blade or of equal status and she didn''t like that we commoners got to drink tea with the lord and princess instead of acting as servants.
She especially looked down on Gelcaria and Melodi.
For Gelcaria I was used to it: her eyes brought her troubles often. Here, I don''t know what kind of paedophile tale she was imagining about the old lord and I''d rather not know. I was more surprised by the way she looked at Melodi: with the utmost contempt like some filthy beast was sitting at the table. Sure, Melodi''s table manners left much to desire but not that much.
It was my first time facing racism in this world. Interspecies racism to be more straightforward. I had hints that some people despised other species but I also saw more often than not productive interactions like with the tridents or the trolls miners and even interspecies deep relations like Peterell and Calido. So this was quite new, maybe something that was specific to the higher classes?
The head maid didn''t hold any real nuisance power against us though. We were under the direct authority of Lord Iroto and bore his emblem, putting us out of her direct reach. That didn''t mean we were safe from everything she could throw at us.
There were some petty moves, like impeding the supplies of our writing materials or serving us waste food. We cared little about her pettiness: we grew up eating far worse, the wastes of the Lord''s table were delicacies to us.
Shizu was kind enough to warn us that she was spreading nasty rumours about us. It was part of her job to be aware of anything that could harm her master and with her ability to turn incorporeal I bet she was a good spy.
Without evidence of the misdeed there wasn''t much I could do. I just made sure we kept good relations with the few servants we met. Being nice and sharing sweets made the trick for most. Only those that were part of whatever faction the head maid was in kept giving us the cold shoulder.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The other troublesome fellow was harder to deal with.
He came a morning where only Balout and I were in the jade garden. The old lord was probably drinking somewhere else or still sleeping off his wine.
We were copying books, me about alchemy, which was a very rudimentary approach to chemistry. I would roll my eyes often when reading the nonsense written in it. Balout was transcribing a book about the possession laws in the empire, quite boring.
Our guest came unannounced. The old lord was receiving three kinds of guests.
The ones he liked the most were old people like him, friends that looked like nobles,scholars and soldiers for the most parts. They were his drinking buddies and would often get wasted while talking about their former days of glory or singing the praises of their grandchildren.
The second type were the courtiers and petitioners. Either lower rank blades, free citizens or rich traders who needed his help directly or to gain the ears of the Shieldlord, a bit like I did.
They were coming bearing gifts, either a fine bottle of the bubbly fruit wine from the Beastkins empire, or the strong alcohol brewed in the northern Shieldoms or one of the last bottles of the legendary millesime of barok beer from twenty years ago that was rumoured to be the best vintage ever.
The last kind was the fewest but the strangest bunch. It was hard to put a label on the diverse array: commoners, footsoldiers, wandering knights of Nasibor but also travellers from afar. Shady looking smugglers but also scholars in exile. All were coming to discuss with the old lord, sell him something or buy something. The conversations were kept low so it was hard to overhear them.
Our current visitor was belonging to the second type: a blade or noble petitioner coming to ask something from the old lord. He was ostentatiously rich, his clothes were of the finest silk and he had silver jewels that matched his pale skin. His eyes were reddish-brown, like embers or cherrywood.
He had his own suite following him: two guards in light leather and a beautiful maid in a short skirt that was showing her thighs. Their outfits were also first rate material: this leather was made out of some monster''s skin and was highly durable and pricey and the cute maid was dressed in scarlet velvet. I bet she was more a bed warmer than a maid.
The petitioner was a teenager, which was unusual. He was looking like a 14 years old pampered kid. After a look around to make sure that no one else was here, he calmly walked our way with his company following suit.
We stopped our copying work to salute him. Balout and I were still servants and the kid was a noble, we had to bow to him. His red stare studied us for a while before he spoke to us haughtily ¡°You must be that smart kid that is teaching the third princess?¡± He asked with a hint of despise. ¡°I was curious as to what you looked like for her to accept a commoner''s teachings.¡± He eyed me from head to toes. ¡°Just a child.¡± he concluded.
On that he was right, just a kid I was and in no position to retort. I just bowed my head, inviting Balout to do the same. This teenager was the kind that meant trouble and I didn''t want any.
¡°At least you know your place.¡± He was pleased. ¡°I heard disturbing rumours about your behaviour with the Lord. Especially about a young whore you brought with you.¡±
This was a bit too much coming from a teen that had a bed-warmer by his side. I was fine dealing with the despise, it was expected coming from a blade or noble, but badmouthing my friends was an other story.¡°Smart people shouldn''t pay heed to rumours but see the truth with their own eyes. Only the gullible falls for Shinpilo''s weakest plot.¡± I replied with a wise beyond my age tone.
This made him laugh heartily. ¡°True. That''s why I''m here. I also know my grandfather can have quite the unsavoury company around him. So better to check the hearsays myself,¡± he replied playfully yet without any amusement in his eyes. His iris were ember yet they only carried cold calculation and mistrust against us.
He said ¡°his grandfather¡± which meant he was a member of the Shield''s family too.
The teen saw the gears move under my head and laughed again. ¡°Yes. I''m the second prince. You''d better remember it and learn to know who the masters of this castle are,¡± he warned and teased me, flaunting his birthright. ¡°So what is my grandfather''s latest toy capable of?¡± He asked without curiosity.
He wasn''t someone I could offend or dismiss so I bowed my head and truthfully answered. ¡°I''m just a commoner''s kid, my lord. I can just read and write.¡± I showed the low table that was covered with books and papers.
He approached the table and took a look at the books on it. ¡°[Discussion about the Central legislation on land property]. You mean to tell me you can read this?¡± He asked with surprise raising an eyebrow in questioning contempt. ¡°How old are you? Five? Six?¡± he looked more and more surprised.
¡°Almost six springs old my lord.¡± I answered, happy to exceed his expectations.
¡°And how come a six springs old can read such books?¡± he was befuddled.
¡°That''s a long story and the reason why Lord Iroto hired us. I''m not sure I''m allowed to speak about my condition without his authorisation.¡± I reminded him who our boss was.
This answer displeased him. He kept rummaging through the books on the table, messing with our weak arrangement. He finally caught sight of one of the translated books and skimmed through it. ¡°What is this written in? Is this what my sister is so proud of? That new writing technique?¡± he was more in disbelief than disdain now.
¡°It is just a simple coding I came up with. Nothing too fancy.¡± I belittled my achievement. I didn''t want the boy to dig deeper into this. I wasn''t sure what Nutusi or the old lord would allow me to reveal.
He still kept looking at it, trying to decipher something. ¡°How strange.¡± he stated, ¡°The same patterns keep repeating themselves but do not make a single ideograms. Where does this come from?¡±
¡°I just told you, young lord. I came up with it.¡± I was a bit passive-aggressive here, I must admit my tone wasn''t as polite as it should be.
The young lord didn''t care about it but raised a suspicious eyebrow ¡°You''re trying to make fun of me? Where would a commoner find the time at six springs old to come up with a writing system? Are you trying to make a fool of me?¡± He was starting to get upset.
Just as I was feeling this was going to go south because I couldn''t provide him the answers he wanted I was saved by the gong.
¡°What are you doing here, dear brother?¡± the third princess appeared at the entrance of the garden.
She was flanked by her bodyguard and followed by two sweaty and bruised Gelcaria and Melodi.
The prince didn''t answer the greeting, he overlooked his sister and instead paid attention to my friends in her back.
His eyes were full of scorn when seeing Melodi and burned with indignation when he saw Gelcaria''s amethysts eyes.
¡°Dear sister,¡± he finally acknowledged her existence, ¡°what strange company you have here,¡± he said with disdain. ¡°So it was true that you failed to find opponents at your level and had to rely on beasts and harlots?¡± he sounded amused. His guards snickered but were the only ones to.
The princess didn''t frown, she had donned her ¡°princess'' mask¡± on but the girls behind her were throwing murderous gazes at him. I wanted to calm the both of them, I knew how dauntless they could be but this wasn''t the right foe.
¡°Please brother. Do not joke so unpleasantly about my training partners,¡± the princess graciously replied. ¡°Since when does the prince have time to come make fun of little girls?¡±
This was a subtle retort. Maybe a bit too subtle because the catgirl and the purple eyed girl looked at her as if betrayed. At least the prince got how he was made fun of. ¡°You''re right little sister. I shouldn''t bother with such petty concerns but I heard disturbing rumours and was worried about you.¡± he falsely claimed.
The princess was still in full princess-mode and had the cutest smile ever, looking like the most beautiful and happy little sister one could wish to have. ¡°Thank you kind brother. I will tell grandfather about your concern with the people he entrusts me to.¡± She presented the threat with a joyful tone, looking genuinely thankful.
This shook the prince a bit. Making fun of commoners or his younger sister was one thing. Facing his elder was another. It took him a second too long to look confident before replying ¡°Dearest sister, you know how I am concerned about our family. My suspicions were only natural when one knows our grandfather''s... peculiarities.¡± he finally blurted.
This made the princess happy, she looked like a patient hunter who caught her prey in her trap. ¡°I''ll also pass on to him your concerns about his judgements.¡± She kindly replied with a cruel glare of mischievousness.
The prince was caught now. He looked for a smart reply but found none that would help him out of the corner he was in. ¡°Don''t be like that little sister. I was just worried.¡± He uneasily replied, ¡°It was nice meeting the people you spend so much time with, quite the company one might say.¡± He pointed at me and my friends with amusement. ¡°And I was curious about how you finally learned to read. You''ve always been more brawns than brain.¡± he was making fun of her now, ¡°What an exotic way of writing. I can''t wait to recount that to elder sister and father.¡±
If this was his last card it didn''t seem to work on the princess. ¡°I''ve already told them about it but feel free to share any concern you could have with them. Father supported grandfather''s decisions.¡±
This was the final blow for the prince. He decided it was time to retreat: ¡°I will then. Until then I wish you to entertain yourself with your commoners.¡± He meant it as an insult but it was quite the petty one, why should we be blamed for our birth status? Without waiting for an answer he left under the angry glares of my friends. For a second I feared Melodi would hiss at him and create an incident but she was spent after the morning training and just conveyed her anger through stare and a slight snarl. I doubt this impressed either the prince or his guards but it was better than her leaping on him.
I waited for him and his suite to have left for a while before warning my friends not to try anything against him in retaliation. This was far above our league and we should just shoulder his puny attitude. The girls were unhappy with the idea but Balout and the princess supported it.
Princess Moatimu apologised for her brother. ¡°He isn''t that bad. I believe he genuinely cares about me but he can be quite over protective sometimes. In his defence, I must admit that you all are quite the unusual bunch to have around. Only our grandfather would bring commoners around here¡± she was pointing at us: ¡°A baker''s son, a Beastkin, an Akola? touched one,¡± this made Gelcaria shudder with uneasiness, she disliked to be reduced to her eyes, ¡°and a Shinpilo''s blessed one.¡± She ended with me. ¡°You must all understand that as members of the ruling family we were taught to be wary of Shinpilo''s plots and how those aiming to hurt us from the shadows would pray for his help. Thus his concerns.¡±
It was a weak point to make but since she took the time to defend her brother he couldn''t be that bad.
At least I hope so. A prince with a sister complex wasn''t the kind of opponent any of us would want to face.
Chap 43: Alphabetization.
Spring was coming earlier as if to erase the memories of this year''s terrible weather. As the end of the year approached a warm breeze from the south brought thawning.
The end of the year celebration was simple but agreeable. I got some days off from palace duties to go help at the temple for the pantheon''s daynight on the 24th of Festire.
It was nice to get to see them again. Sansho fed me and Gupta and Orzhov had a sparing session with me. The bruised they gave me were a harsh reminder that I wasn''t training enough these days. Climbing a mountain wasn''t the same as sparring.
I also reported my recent actions to Patiyar and Nutusi. They weren''t happy with how things unfolded but couldn''t make any reproach. If they had been able to help, I wouldn''t have been snatched by the lord. Nutusi was showing some interest in my teaching of the princess. This could be a way to spread the alphabet in higher circles.
It was both good and bad for her. Bad because it meant more people would be able to decipher her spies'' messages, she would need to train them in cyphers. Good because it would allow her agents to read the messages that blades and free citizens were exchanging. In time, the hall of whispers will benefit from the alphabet diffusing in the higher circles.
The last night of the year was spent at home. Without either of my grandparents, the house felt a bit empty. My youngest sister, Ederia, wasn''t old enough to participate and was put to sleep early.
Gelcaria joined us for this last meal of the year.
With my salary and the recently lifted blade''s taxes, we managed to buy some foods for a decent meal. It wasn''t a feast as food prices were still higher than usual, even more so during this period: celebration and dearth weren''t a good match.
Since my grandmother wasn''t here to cook or help my mother I decided to help in the kitchen with Gelcaria. Thanks to our contacts at the fishing pier, I was able to get eggs, buy enough fish and oil to make something close to breaded fish with fries. Oil was the hardest thing and costliest item to find.
It turned out quite nicely. The taste was still a bit different from what I aimed for but everyone loved it. Fish and chips were a new recipe for celebratory days.
That night, Gel and I watched the Lightworks of the palace together from my attic. Just like last year, the Shieldlord''s castle''s sky was set ablaze with lights of every colours, green, blue, and red flames joining yellow beams of light to push away the darkness of this moonless sky.
I took the opportunity to probe Gel''s feelings about becoming a palace servant. She was quite happy with her new life.
Sure many were looking at her badly: a young commoner, with purple eyes, joining the princess'' entourage was ruffling a few feathers. But she was used to the scorn and more resilient than even I might think.
The sparing sessions with the princess were great. They had trainers and Hamy to give them pointers and the princess was quite fun to be around according to her. I''ve yet to meet the ¡°fun princess¡±, during our tutoring session on the contrary I try to keep the ¡°serious princess¡± rather than the fun one.
On duels, she would wipe them. Princess Moatimu could already use chi thanks to her status, which gave her the edge. Only when Melodi tagged with Gelcaria would the girls manage to get the upper hand on the princess.
I was relieved she was fine with our ¡°punishment¡±, I was the one who dragged her along. In time, I''ll find a way for her to not just end up as another soldier sent to the front line.
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Now that the princess knew how to read and write, I was turning more and more into a real tutor. I was to make sure she understood what she was reading.
Her grandfather was capitalizing on the fine relationship I had with the princess. I was younger and it came with both pros and cons. She was less likely to obey me but at the same time, I wasn''t a figure of authority or one of those ¡°dusty scholars¡± she despised. This made her more likely to listen to me and learn what she had to in all these books. I was more a not-so-fun friend than a teacher in her eyes.
Now that we had copied quite the amount of books and that the inflow was dying up, Balout and I had more free time in the mornings. With lord Iroto''s authorisation we joined the girls in their sparring sessions every other day.
We were outmatched.
Balout could sometimes overpower his opponent in a burst of raw strength but I couldn''t. I was made fun of as ¡°dodge boy¡± because I was evading more than I was retaliating. At least my footwork and agility were worth the praise.
My strategy would work on Melodi, the girl would lose patience and pounce on me at some point, leaving some openings for my blunt sword to reach her.
This didn''t work against Gel or princess Moatimu. Gel knew me too well, she could predict my movements and intentions. Whenever her lilac eyes locked with mine it was over for me, she would find her way to put her sparing sword right under my throat.
The princess had a harder time but could wear me down. When I was getting slower as my stamina was running low she would just tap in her Chi to overpower me.
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The fencing in this world was a bit different than what little I knew about fencing on earth.
They relied on Chi to have more stamina. It meant they could make quicker and stronger moves for a longer time or use heavier weapons. It wasn''t unusual for the princess to wield a club or a maul, very different from the delicate sais she had on our first meeting.
They also had some frenzied footwork, always moving around in large strides. This was to avoid magic users. Magic attacks were deadly and had to be avoided at all costs. Being on the move constantly was the first counter-measure and thanks to chi they could make strange moves like Gupta was able to. Seeing someone drifting direction mid-air and violating all the Newtonian movement laws was a strange experience.
In the mornings we weren''t training, I was doing maths with Balout in the garden. The boy was naturally gifted with numbers and I was getting a bit jealous. Juggling between hexadecimal and decimal was quite bothersome and at some point I had him migrate to decimal when teaching him equations. If he wanted to convert those to hexadecimal I would let him do it on his own. I was getting tired of the hexadecimal system anyway.
This finally caught the attention of the old lord and I was able to introduce him to the decimal system. It didn''t interest him as much as I expected.
Instead of asking me to teach maths to the princess, he came up with a strange request for me.
He had received many demands from various people to learn my writing technique. He had spoken highly about it, plus the fact that the princess who was famous for her hard time learning ideograms had mastered it in a short time caught the eyes of many.
There were demands from a bunch of blades to have their kids taught but also free citizens and even foreigners, merchants, and scholars from afar. The old lord had quite the varied network.
Even if this was like a dream come true, the changes I wished for would get implemented faster than I could have dreamed about, I knew Nutusi would push me to accept.
This impression grew even stronger when Lord Iroto told me that cardinal Fortmo gave his approval.
This also meant that there was probably a bunch of future spies among my students.
My first class was made of a hex of young adults. It was quite strange to have them listen to me, a child barely six springs old. Yet they were briefed beforehand. They knew the teacher was going to be young but was supported by the old lord and my students were hand-picked by him. So they made no trouble for me.
Among them were four priests of Shinpilo that shared a look of connivance with me, two scholars from the southern free cities, a Beastkin turtle from the Beastkin empire, and a merchant from the empire''s capital city. The rests were officials and scholars from our city.
They were studious but teaching them took more time than with the princess. Older people learn new tricks more slowly. The turtle-kin was the fastest. The Beastkin writing system was based on a similar syllabic system after all. They had more than a hexhex (256) of signs to make all sounds but he got the hang of my alphabet quite quickly.
It took a bit more than a month for all of them to be able to read and write fluently enough to be able to exchange messages between them.
I was appointed for some ¡°night classes¡± to teach some cyphers to the four Shinpiloites next. They weren''t meant to become scribes.
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After my first graduates, a next batch was immediately provided. Lord Iroto had a group of twenty or so kids and teenagers rounded up for me. Those were children of blades, local rich free citizens and even the second prince was among them...
Smelling trouble from afar I requested for either the old lord himself or Shizu to be there. Otherwise, I could already see how things could turn badly for a young commoner having to enforce authority on a class of young nobles full of despise for a street urchin. Not ignoring a siscon prince among them.
With Shizu sitting sternly in a corner of the ¡°classroom¡± (I was teaching in the Jade garden), everyone kept in check.
This was a bit different from my previous teachings. Gelcaria and the rest were my age and younger and accepted my teachings naturally, they were blank pages. The scholars from my first class were briefed and mature enough to accept knowledge wherever it was coming from but those children were a harder nut to crack.
They wouldn''t openly face me with Shizu being around but I could feel the reluctance. They weren''t fond of studying and having to learn yet another thing that would impair their earlier learnings furthermore displeased them.
Having to follow a commoner was even more a problem for them, especially since I was younger than any of them. The youngest was looking as old as the princess, so either 9 or 10 springs old and the oldest was almost an adult of hex springs old.
I had the Lord provide me with a big enough slate blackboard and some chalk which brought back some memories. At the end of one of the sessions, as I was tidying up the place, one of my ¡°students¡± came to talk to me.
This was quite rare, they would usually ask their questions during class, trying to have me make a fool of myself or uncover a loop in my writing system. If only they knew how many books Balout and I had transcribed in many different languages, they would know we had already proof-checked it.
The teen was one of the older students, a teenager of more than 14 springs, probably on his blade training to become one of the local lordlings judging from his martial robe and the shortsword hanging at his waist. Only blades of the higher ranks would be allowed to carry weapons in the palace.
He was tall for his age, at least double of my current size and quite handsome with his grey eyes full of confidence and his square chin.
¡°Sorry to bother you but I thought I ought to introduce myself.¡± he started. He was towering over me, I''d have to stand on a chair to look him in the eyes. I nodded to invite him to go on.
¡°I am Khinra, son of Luatotsi, head of House Duarch.¡± this brought a cold grasp around my heart.
He was the son of the man who killed my grandmother for his little feud. Sensing my cold stare back, the teenager kept going uneasily: ¡°I know there were some troubles brought on you by my father''s actions. I just wanted to explain in his stead that this wasn''t against you personally and I hope you won''t hold any grudge against us. We are the blades protecting your family after all so let''s get along well.¡± he offered.
This filled me with a wave of freezing anger. Not the furious outburst of wrath but rather the meticulous call for vengeance. They were protecting us? Where were they when we faced the monstrous tide in the cellar? Where were they when Yoli got dismembered? Where were they when my grandmother was spitting blood?
¡°I understand. I''ll let you know that your ¡°protection¡± and your father''s little ¡°trouble¡± cost us the life of my grandmother.¡± I coldly replied. I was tasked to teach them, not become friends with them. It was high time blades learned that their decisions had real consequences on us commoners.
This caught him by surprise. At least the young man was either honest or a really good actor and he was stumbling to find his words. ¡°I, euh? What? I didn''t know, I''m sorry...¡± he babbled.
I waved a hand in front of him to silence him up, it must have looked quite the funny sight for out-lookers: the tiny child silencing the big one. ¡°I don''t want your excuses. They are coming too late. They won''t bring the dead back. I do not want to hold a grudge against you but would you get along with the one that caused the death of one of yours?¡± I followed up, as cold as the blizzard from last winter. It was a bit petty from my side, the boy wasn''t to blame for his father''s deeds but it was allowing me to vent some steam out.
¡°I, hum. I''m sincerely sorry for your loss. I''m sure this wasn''t what he wanted.¡±
Seeing the young man struggling to find his footing back finally decided me to let it go. He had nothing to do with it and blaming him won''t bring my grandmother back from Otik''s gardens. ¡°It is fine. I understand you had nothing to do with it. Just know that I hold your father responsible for that.¡±
It took him some time to process the information. He finally was relieved ¡°You are far wiser than a kid your age should be. I don''t know how I''d react in your shoes?¡± He surprised me by bowing at 90 degrees in apology. This attracted some curious stares from his blades friends waiting for him.
¡°Please rise. You''re embarrassing yourself by bowing to a commoner.¡± I reprimanded him.
¡°My family failed yours as blades. This was the least I should do. I''ll have to talk to my father. Again, I hope we''ll get along well.¡± He hurriedly said before leaving.
I felt slightly remorseful after seeing how honest he acted but if excuses could make amend for everything, there wouldn''t be the need for tribunals or police.
Chap 44: Blood money
Class was going well.
Not only was the presence of Shizu dissuasive enough to keep the most troublesome of the young blades at bay, but the prince was also surprisingly cooperative.
Our first interaction had left me with a sour aftertaste. Let''s be honest here, I didn''t like that he was prejudiced against Gelcaria and Melodi. He even belittled my alphabet, that fool. Yet he must have been smart enough in some way, not only did he accept to attend my teachings but in class he behaved well, and since he is a role model for the others they fell in line too.
This made it easier for the kid that I am to teach a bunch of rowdy teenagers, where most of said teenagers are also warriors and magicians trained to kill.
After two months, around 80% of them were able to read and write using my alphabet. The 20% remaining were a group of five that were just too dumb. I doubt they could even write their own names in ideograms.
I don''t know how they ended up attending my class, their parents must have had quite the influence but sometimes, talent skips a generation.
If they have enough brawns they''ll still be able to make good blades nevertheless. Their goal was to kill monsters, not read books.
After I got the old lord''s permission to end their teaching and have this class ¡°graduate¡±, I was surprised by two visitors.
The first was the second prince. The handsome teen was wearing a serious face, worthy of an heir on some official business. He had even dressed more formally, his garb was less fancy than usual and he had toned it down with the jewellery, making him look like a proper heir to the throne. ¡°I think I owe you some thanks, ¡° he started.
This wasn''t as good as an apology but I shouldn''t be picky. I doubt the boy ever apologized to a commoner in his whole life and this was the best I could ever hope for.
I let him go on. ¡°Grandfather told me about your blessing.¡± No one was around, his followers and his cute maid were standing far enough that they couldn''t hear us, except if they had some enhanced senses. ¡°I can''t help but accept the gods'' teachings.¡± He waved at the blackboard I was so proud of, where my alphabet was still written on. ¡°Our family has always been and will always be the shield that protects the gods'' chosen ones. Let''s get along well,¡± he concluded.
I''d rather not antagonize him, I''m convinced it isn''t a sincere offer. The old lord must be the one who pushed him to ¡°apologize¡± and I''ll accept it. ¡°I''ve never doubted the commitment of the Shield''s family to the pantheon. I can''t blame you if you weren''t aware of my personal situation.¡± I was trying to sound conciliate here, ¡°but I think you should reconsider the way you look at my friends. Not only were they approved of by the elder lord, but they were also the ones who saved my life during the monster tide.¡± If protecting the blessed ones was so important in his eyes, this wasn''t something he could easily dismiss.
He clenched his perfect square jaw in uneasiness. ¡°It shames me to admit it but you speak like grandfather: you shouldn''t judge a book on its title, he often says. Now I understand a bit more what he meant.¡± His ember eyes were burning their way through mine, ¡°I''ll give your friends the benefit of the doubt if a blessed one vouch for them. This, I can do,¡± he finally conceded me. It wasn''t much but it diverted a powerful foe from my friends, so it was a great victory.
The rest of our conversation was more business like. We talked a lot about his sister. She was right to say he cared about her, damn siscon. He looked genuinely happy that she was finally getting in touch with studying.
I must admit he was quite knowledgeable and a good student. He had been groomed to be the heir and future shield of the Shieldom. The Shield''s tutors did a good job with him. What''s more, he was a magician and a talented one, if I was to believe his sister''s praises.
Other than his sister he led the discussion towards his other siblings. He held his older sister, the first princess, in even higher regard than his little sister. Not only was she smart and a beauty, but she was also a powerful magician, even by Shield''s standards.
She was sent to the Empire''s capital to study at their Imperial magic Academy, the local Hogwarts. From what I understood, studying magic was very hard. Devising new spells was even harder. Most families were secretive about their spells and didn''t want to share what they were able to with others.
The academy was an exception. To attend class, a tribute in magical knowledge was to be paid. In return, the student would get access to the many spells donated by others. It was a way to spread magic, incite to develop new spells, and have the imperial city gather as much magical knowledge as possible. It was also a good way to scout the best magicians and rising stars and grab them in the imperial army early on.
The Shield also had two other children. A fourth prince and a fifth princess. Both were too young to be seen around and I was still to meet them.
Our discussion slowly drifted to my relatives and my friends. He then ha me talk about my life as an acolyte.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
It must have felt strange for him to have to discuss with a kid, what''s more, a commoner. I could tell he was probing at my relationship with the Temple, the hall of whispers, cardinal Fortmo, and even house Duarch. It was done with tact, Nutusi would praise his oratory talents.
I had nothing much to hide from him. As the prince and heir, he should have access to the same intel his father and grandfather did, if not today then tomorrow. It was no secret that I was an acolyte at the temple and still in touch with Nutusi.
Our conversation then drifted on my writing system. He was trying to understand what my end goal was here and what I was envisioning for the future.
I tried to explain the need for the spread of knowledge and how he, as a Shieldlord, could later take advantage of it. More people that could read and write meant more informations, more people that could become officials, thus giving him more freedom to pick the best candidates, but also more smart people rising everywhere in the city, bringing innovations and progress. Sure, it would take time and resources to school so many people but the tree of patience always bore sweet fruits.
Feeling he was somewhat interested in my vision I also told him about the egg farm at the docks. Agricultural development was one of the first things I wanted our lord to care about. Having felt hunger for quite some time, I didn''t forget what it was and knew the servs were having it even worse.
Growing more food would always be one of my main goals. Not only would it ease the lives of everyone in the city but it would also bring stability, growth and more people to work on other tasks in the city.
Our discussion was interrupted when his beautiful ¡°maid¡± came to grab his hand and whisper in his ear to remind him that he was to attend some meeting somewhere else.
¡°It was quite enlightening. I will read the report that the Charavtkeh''s priest made on this fish farm. Tupu knows we need all the food we can after such a year,¡± he said with a worried face not befitting of a teen. Was he caring about his subjects? He then flashed me a princy smile ¡°Let us meet again later to discuss about it.¡±
I was hoping for a handshake but none came. Instead, he was awaiting for me to bow to him. I decided to nod politely, he was still my student and not my master, nor the current Shield. If his maid frowned at me, he didn''t show any reaction, he also had his own ¡°prince''s mask¡±.
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My second visitor was the heir of house Duarch, Khinra.
After our first discussion he was a quiet student, not even daring to cross eyes with me, but a diligent one. His writing was especially beautiful, his letters had nice curves and elegant lines. More than mine would ever be. This was quite rare here, this world''s ideograms were more about strokes and brisk lines.
If our relation wasn''t that complicated and his birth not that high, I would have found a way to have him study more under me, he was smart and a fast learner. I''m a Shinpilo''s blessed one and I felt it was a shame to have him become some simple fighter.
He was wearing a simple martial robe and had his sword at his waist. He might be from one of the richest families around but he wasn''t one to flaunt it around. Other than the first rate quality of the fabric his robe was made out from, there were few hints as to his origins, not even the crest of his family.
He came to offer me blood money for my grandmother.
For a second I hesitated to accept it. It felt like accepting a bribe or hush money. Copper coins wouldn''t bring her back and accepting the money was like forgiving them.
But I also knew my family could make good use of the sum. Now that my grandmother wasn''t around to help us, my mother would have to hire a wet-nurse for my youngest sister if she wanted to go back to Ms Tarina''s workshop, or my older sister would have to stop her job. In both cases it meant less money coming in and our house could always use more money.
In the end, I took the bag without opening it. It was heavy enough to infer quite the hefty sum. To blades, this much money was nothing more than spare coins but for my family, it would make the difference between having one of us die or survive a disease.
¡°I hope that with this, some of your grievances are alleviated.¡± wished the young blade.
¡°I will not keep feud with you or your family but be aware that I still hold your father responsible for my loss.¡± I decided to blow cold and hot at the same time. Keeping him on his toes would also be a valuable lesson for the future leader he would become: his actions will have dire consequences and money can''t solve everything, although it can do plenty.
After that, we had a nicer conversation. Mostly about how my writing system could be used. He was honest enough to ask for my permission to pass it on to his younger siblings. It wasn''t like I could say no: I would never have the power to stop him from doing so, even the Temple or the old lord would have a hard time doing so. Secretly, I was even approving of him, the more the alphabet was spread around, the better.
Our conversation then drifted to paper. His family was part of the trade business dealing with exclusive goods. His kins that weren''t fit to become mages or warriors would end up in the branch family that was tasked with money making. This gave me some insight into the paper trade.
It would be unwise of me to develop a paper industry without the consent of the emperor himself. Too many powerful families were dabbling in the prebend for me to come disrupt it. When everyone has a finger in the jam''s jar, everyone has sticky hands and will protest if the jar is taken away.
Paper could be one of the hard limits to the expansion of writing. People will need paper to write on. The other alternatives were just inferior. Parchment needed valued leather and writing directly on stone or wood was cumbersome and time consuming. Fabric could be an alternative if I found a way to mass produce some linen but it should still be costlier than paper.
The best way to provide the city with enough paper was to increase the value of goods produced in the city so that we could buy more paper from the Beastkin empire and later cut a deal with them or the emperor to have our own paper industry.
Long term dreams.
I was feeling like some powerful lordling, having so many high-ranking guests for tea.
Yet some part of me reminded me that I shouldn''t let it go to my head.
On the one hand, I knew this was more a show of respect towards the old lord and the Temple. Many knew I was affiliated with both and being on good terms with me was building good relations with my patrons too.
And on the other hand, it meant I was exposing myself. More and more people were aware of my blessing. I believe it was used to convince the blades to have their children study under a commoner. This also meant that I was becoming a target for heretics.
I wasn''t that worried about it right now. I doubt there were that many heretics among the blades and I knew both the Temple and the lord were having me under watch.
On multiples occasions, Melodi had spotted a few shadows following us on our way back home and when I reported the matter to the old lord, Shizu acknowledged that they were her men patrolling around us.
I wasn''t going to get mugged again anytime soon. Even if it was to happen, if my three friends were around they would be able to take care of it. Especially the girls, Melodi and Gelcaria weren''t sitting idly while Balout and I were teaching and working as scribes.
They were training, learning to handle weapons and honing their skills. They had great stamina and balance before this training and now they were getting sharper.
They were still little girls but they had some muscle to show, their abs were getting defined and under the child''s fat on their arms and thighs, I could already see the bulge of their muscles slithering with their every movement.
I wouldn''t dare compete with them in arm-wrestling or take one of Gel''s punches straight on. At least not until I awake my Chi to even the odds a bit.
Chap 45: The power of nothing
As Spring was kicking in I was tasked with my third batch of students.
I was in no position to refuse the old lord''s requests. Even if on the inside I was dying to move on to something more.
This batch was both more numerous, almost fifty people, and even more disparate than the last one.
There were some adults, officials, and scholars working for the Shieldlord; children from lower-ranked blades, army officers, or less rich people who still held some influence: free citizens, major traders, astronomers, etc...
There were noticeably more girls in this batch.
The previous one was made out of the heirs to great houses, mostly boys. There wasn''t that much discrimination against women being part of the army or even fighting, but the power was patriarchal nonetheless. Rulers were often men and ruling positions were passed down to the most suitable heir, but if it was a boy it was all the better. There were female generals and blades, but not many were becoming queens or leaders.
I knew that because of the third princess. Her second brother was the heir-to-be even if the first princess was deemed as a more talented one. While the second prince was groomed to take his father''s stead, the first and third princess were to be used either as political pawns to secure alliances through marriage or to take care of strategic positions. The third princess was intending to become a powerful blade and maybe even hold a high position in the army for example.
Now that I had taught the heirs, I had to teach the less valued daughters of the blades.
This class was more numerous yet easier to teach. The scholars and officials were briefed by the old lord and would act politely around me even if I was only a kid in their eyes. The young ladies were just less unruly than boys. Plus they knew the princess was my pupil before them and many around her age were more or less part of her entourage and eager to learn the same thing she did.
The Shield family was held in high esteem.
Only now that I was faced with more people did it occur to me that most blades were humans.
There were only two Beastkins among them and one dark-skinned Elve.
I was quite happy that this batch was comprised of a lot of cute girls but I was expecting to meet a lot more of the other races.
On an evening I asked the old lord about it to make sure there was no discrimination to access my class and he gave me an unsuspected answer.
Each race had their respective empire or main settlements and were making sure to keep their powerful ones to their own. Magic was strictly controlled and the passing down of ¡°spells¡± was harshly restricted.
It was fine to have commoners mix in cosmopolitan cities but when a powerful one would emerge from them they would receive tempting offers from their native lands.
For example: if Melodi was to show great magical abilities, she would be scouted by the Beastkins'' Empire and would receive a hard-to-refuse offer for her and her family. The same was true for a human mage living in the Elven kingdom etc... There was a tacit agreement between rulers to not poach on the other''s gifted ones.
There were exceptions: rebels on the run, in exile or just wandering adventurers who settled wherever they wanted. So there were a few non-human blades here. If their children were to show talent in magic, they would get approached by their native land though. Knowing that, these first-generation blades weren''t given a lot of power since it was expected that their most talented heirs would have to leave.
Martial prowess was regarded as inferior to magic so it was more common to meet other races in the army. High-level Chi users were as powerful as magicians and able of destruction on large scale but magicians were able to do so since the lowest levels. This made Chi users simple soldiers at low levels of mastery when even a low level magician was already a war machine on its own.
I was glad to learn that this batch was probably one of the last that I would have to teach myself. The officials I was training now were the ones who would take over afterwards.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
I never intended to become a simple school teacher so this was welcomed, I wouldn''t be the one who would have to spread my teachings on his own. I have far more important things to do to help better this Shieldom.
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The first thing on my list was convincing the old lord to change the numerals writing system.
I''ve spent a week waiting for an afternoon where he would be sober enough to discuss the matter with me.
The right occasion appeared on an evening when he was drinking with Fortmo. The egg-headed cardinal was one of his regular night visitors. This made me rethink how much my current situation was due to randomness. Me being hired by the old lord was maybe one of the cardinal''s long term plot to hinder blade Duarch.
As they were enjoying some fruit wine in the sunset, I envied their leisure. The jade garden was coming to life with spring and not only were there flowers blooming left and right: huge purple daisies were spreading a fresh flowery scent around while the green leaves fresh out of their buds were a dedication to Tupu''s powers.
There were also more animals frolicking around. The fish in the pond were joined by winged frogs that were croaking in a melodious harmony. Birds of all colours were chirping around, some were even showing some attunement to magic, be it a fire breath or lightning speed.
I waited for Fortmo to leave. I was still blaming him for what happened to my family. Duarch wasn''t the only guilty there.
Once the old lord was on his own I exposed my idea about switching to a decimal system. Just like Mekas he wasn''t interested in foregoing the hexadecimal system. Guess I''ll have to put up with it for a while longer. It is hard to accept that sometimes this world has to change me instead of the other way around.
This didn''t change the fact that Arabian numbers were easier to use to write down big numbers and the zero was a breakthrough. Even if I had to stick a while longer with the hexadecimal system, I had to at least reform the writing of numbers. Right now they were using something like Romans numerals, all numbers had their own sign.
Not only were there 16 base numbers but the number of signs was only growing, as two hexes wasn''t 2+16 but rather its own sign. This inflation was limiting the manipulation of big numbers.
Sure, an abacus was helpful, but it wouldn''t be useful when manipulating hundreds of thousands or millions (or in their case hexes of twexes and hexes.)
¡°What use would I have in writing nothing? Is this some kind of Elven riddle? The rich need me, the poor have plenty of me, add me to something and all is the same, eat it and you die?¡± Lord Iroto was eyeing me with suspicion. The pressure his deep jungle eyes were pushing onto me was nothing to scoff at. His gaze might look blurred by alcohol but the sharpness of the mind behind them was no joke.
¡°This is to make it easier to manipulate big numbers,¡± I answered blankly, I wasn''t here to play riddles.
¡°Like what number would be so big that writing it down would be too fastidious?¡± He laughed at me, his green eyes flashing with mockery.
I had thought about it beforehand and had the fitting case ready for him: ¡°How many soldiers would an expedition to cull the nests of monsters have?¡± I replied with a question of my own.
¡°Foot soldiers? About four hexexes. With at least three hex of knights, a few blades and a few hexes followers to keep the camp running outside.¡± He easily answered. Planning such expeditions had been his bread and butter for years.
That meant: 4X16X16 soldiers: so 1024 soldiers, 48 knights, let''s say 8 blades, and 64 more people for running the camp: 1144 people. Quite the expeditionary corp but I had seen what monsters were able to. Going to face them in great number, on their turf, required this many to have a chance to make it out alive and succeed at the task.
To write down that number in their system I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down the hex sign then another hex to make a hexhex then a four in front of it but I also had to add another ¡°7¡± in front of a hex sign and an ¡°8¡± to reach the final tally. So no less than six signs to write what I could write in four. And much harder to decipher.
The old man nodded to confirm my count was right as well as the writing down of it. His eyes cleared the fogginess of alcohol in an instant. I was believing more and more that he was faking his drunkenness most of the time. I''ll have to taste his wine one day.
Then I asked. ¡°How many bunta would a soldier eat each day?¡±
The man was a former general of the army so he knew what I meant ¡°Hmmm, two breads per day on a normal walk pace. More if you want to force them to cover longer distances or in the winter.¡±
¡°So I''d have to add another four multiplier in front of that number considering two meals a day and if I wanted to calculate the amount of bread for a hex day expedition how would I write it down?¡±
He shrugged ¡°Just write enough bread for a hex days of march.¡± He answered me.
¡°That won''t do. You''d have to rely on the officials to make sure there are enough supplies and wouldn''t be able to control how much was actually provided or even how much you had to pay for.¡± Money was always a winning argument when talking about government management.
¡°It won''t make much difference, the price of bread isn''t that high,¡± he stated.
I could feel he wasn''t that confident in his answer. ¡°How much?¡± I countered.
He scratched his grey hair in uneasiness, trying to remember the price. He wasn''t buying food often.
¡°I''d say four or eight small coppers per bread depending on the season and market supplies. Right now should be more around eight.¡±
This was quite accurate. For commoners it was even a bit more. Currently bunta bread was up to ten small coppers a loaf. The next harvest was still far ahead and the granaries were emptied even if trade had resumed.
With a few more lines I was able to show him that since he didn''t know exactly how much supplies he needed, it was easy to frame him for 10% of the total cost. In our case, it amounted to:
Considering four small copper per bread it made a sum of 292 864 small coppers or 1 144 small irons. Or 71 large irons and 8 small irons.
So four hexes and seven large irons and 8 small irons.
A 10% embezzlement was easy to hide among so many numbers: 7 large irons per expeditions, or eia (14) if the bread was worth 8 coppers.
This could sound like not that large a sum: my family was able to scrounge up that much when needed. A lord who was handling sums many times larger than this wouldn''t be fazed. Yet, if at least 7 large iron coins were taken away on each expedition just on basic food, it was enough to get him thinking. How many expeditions were there?
Considering the number of patrols, the amount of other supplies and such it could quickly grow to hexes and hexes of large irons and silvers lost every year. Just because the numerals were hard to check when they had to fiddle with bigger numbers so they wouldn''t bother.
¡°And what do you propose? Your zero thing can help?¡± He finally asked.
That''s when I could show the power of my maths. I had to make a lot of conversions to keep it in the hexadecimal system but in the end, in just a few signs I could show him how to check the expenses for our example expedition. Having all your big numbers easy to read and handle meant they were easy to check. You wouldn''t have to rely on an armada of quartermasters and accountants, you alone could check the maths.
I immediately regretted my decision when I was assigned to check the army''s ledgers of last year''s expenditures.
Chap 46: The leak.
Balout was hating me.
Instead of enjoying tea and small cakes in the jade garden with the girls, we were cooped in the military wing: the granite hall, in the northern part of the castle.
Lord Iroto entrusted us to one of his drinking buddies: general Suji. An old veteran who was missing his left eye. Rather than hiding it under an eyepatch, he was instead exposing the empty orbit with pride: it was proof that he was battle-tempered and had survived an encounter with a deadly monster. He wasn''t wearing any flashy armour, just the simple blue and red tunic of the military and his scar for sole medal.
The old lord considered his one-eyed friend trustworthy enough and he was tasked to watch over us as we perused through ledgers and ledgers of military expenses. The general knew what we were looking for but it was hard to tell how he felt about it.
His weathered face was unwelcoming and not once did he smile at us. I don''t know if his wariness was due to his belief that the army was comprised only of honest officers or just because he felt weirded out at the idea that a pair of kids were going to check the work of an armada of quartermasters, or maybe because Lord Iroto told him I was a Shinpilo''s blessed one.
We had a small stony room with a tiny desk to share and a wary intendant for sole assistance. The woman was not hiding her displeasure. Having small kids here to check her numbers was debasing for her. Luckily for us, general Suji was in the next room so the grumpy intendant couldn''t voice her discontentment or refuse to provide the documents we needed.
Instead, she buried us under the sheer amount of information. She was hoping this would be enough to scare a bunch of children, not everyone was cut out for accounting work.
I decided on a simple method. We would first focus on one item for one expedition and follow the expense of that troop during the last year.
Quite logically, I chose food expenses. It was the most important in volume, so the easiest to cheat on. I chose a patrol at random, the ninth corp of the fourth army, and what was left for Balout and me was to track all the food expenses of the last year for this patrol.
It took us a day just to get familiar with the ledgers and the classification, or rather the lack of any.
On the following days, we tracked down every food expense made by this patrol and then converted it into Arabian numerals to keep track of the records. Balout was also trying to keep track with the traditional numbers on his side but soon enough he had to give up, we were using too much paper this way.
We also noted when, how long, and where were the expeditions off to.
I also took the casualties into consideration. The death rate wasn''t that high usually but there was one terrible patrol in last year''s fall where about a third of the group was wiped out by an aerial assault at night.
Being in the army wasn''t an easy job. They were hiring a lot of commoners who had a bit of Chi to fill the ranks of footsoldiers. The wages were interesting but the risks were great.
At a moment''s notice, a simple patrol in the forest could turn into a nightmare. If the blades leading the patrol weren''t powerful enough, an encounter with a large pack of monsters could mean a complete wipe-out.
Once we collected all expenses, I checked with the general to see if they fell in line with what a normal expedition would cost. Things looked normal to him.
Only then did we calculate what it should have costed, comparing the price of food at the time and the amount needed in regard to the number of soldiers.
And there it was: an 8% inconsistency. And it wasn''t fees related to management or the share of the dealers and intermediaries. It was a flat 8% overpricing that didn''t get turned to actual food for the expedition.
I asked Balout to stay silent about this and for another week we checked the expense of the same patrol on other supplies: armours, weapons, firewood, linens, etc... There was again a discrepancy with the firewood but not with the armours and others. Those were easier numbers to track down, less often used expenses and for higher sums, the controls should be stricter on these expenses and harder to cheat on. Small items purchased in bulk were an easier target. A small difference in base price was hard to notice but would snowball with time and volume of purchase.
Balout was cursing at me for keeping him here longer rather than enjoying the gardens with the girls, spending our afternoons with the princess or just reading books while lazily laying in the grass. Instead, we had the old accountant for sole company, no windows or greenery and food was composed of rough salty crackers that smelled like onions.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
This was quite the tiring job. We still had to take care of morning reading class for the latest batch of students and only then would I spend the day with Balout in the military ward, lining up piles and piles of financial receipts and bills.
I never liked doing the accounts. I somehow always felt afraid of missing a line and was losing a lot of time, backtracking and double-checking every line. I was constantly juggling from hexadecimal to decimal too. Balout was trustworthy with using both systems but I felt more confident transposing all my numbers in decimal system. I was slowly getting familiar using the abacus as a substitute for a calculator. I must admit it also made my conversions between both system easier. Just that I wasn''t imagining myself carrying one of those around me at all time.
Balout was leaving before evening. His parents were quite rigid about him having to come back home but mine were more lax. I was granted back the servant''s room in the jade quarters.
This meant I could work longer and stay the evening to compile more ledgers. It also meant I was able to enjoy a meal at the palace. The old lord was providing us with better food than what I would have back home and it was relieving a bit of the pressure on my family. First spring harvests would only arrive in a few weeks.
Gelcaria somehow got permission from the princess to also stay some nights. She would join the entourage of the princess for the evening or come help me. She wasn''t as good with numbers as Balout but just the company, having someone to help tidy up the piles of scrolls, fetch some tea, or double check on my numbers was welcomed.
Truth is, I believe the girl wasn''t looking forward to sleep alone at her place. Even when we slept side by side, be it at the palace or my place, we were both tormented by nightmares; so I can''t imagine what she was going through when alone at her place.
I was getting accustomed to waking up in the middle of the night after seeing either Yoli''s dismantled body or the mugger''s blood all over my hands. This doesn''t mean I was fine waking up drenched in cold sweat, just that I was slowly getting used to the discomfort. At least the palace was warmer than my place so it was easier to get back to sleep and the soft sheets were helping too.
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We had to spend a whole month with Balout to check on the other patrols'' expenses. He was now beyond hating me.
I had to buy him cakes on my salary to bribe him and keep him helping me. I couldn''t afford to lose him now. The best pastries in town were really not something I should afford, even with my now better salary but I also knew his belly was his soft spot. I splurged on the blood money the young Duarch gave me. Balout was literally eating through my savings.
I limited the scope of our probing to one patrol per army. I didn''t want to spend the rest of my life in our tiny stony room being an accountant. Had I wanted this career, I would have stayed at Ms Tarina''s workshop.
The results were more or less the same. 5 to 15% embezzlement on food expenses. The worse leakage of money was in the second army, where food was 15% overpriced and even the gear like armours and weapons were subject to a small embezzlement.
It took us two full months to skim through the dusty paper trail to pin down a few problematic expenses. And we were only brushing at the tip of the iceberg.
I had the old lord and general Suji gather together to expose the results of our investigation. This took place late in an afternoon of late spring in the jade garden of lord Iroto.
It might be late in the day but the old man was sober and there was no alcohol on the low table.
The garden was more beautiful than ever, the cherry trees were budding, the bushes were sporting some large camelia-looking bright orange flowers and there were some kind of early tulips blooming all around ranging from bright yellow to deep red.
I took a moment to think that I had never seen a gardener take care of the place but had no time to dig deeper into this mystery.
Balout and I had brought the evidences we needed, the general gave us permission to bring some ledgers under his supervision.
¡°There is a problem in the finances,¡± I started without beating around the flowery bushes. ¡°Just from what we''ve investigated, at least hexhexes of silver were embezzled.¡± This was a massive amount of large irons coins.
Even I was stunned by the total amount and Balout was just unable to conceive what one could buy with so much money. This was thousands of iron coins, enough to buy a small estate every year or field another army.
¡°How much!?¡± Blurted the general while choking on his tea.
The old lord was looking more intently than ever at me with his deep green eyes, ¡°This is no matter for uncertainty, did you double-check what you are claiming?¡± He probed.
The one-eyed general was also staring at us intently with his remaining eye, still trying to digest the sum we were talking about. He was also maybe slightly afraid his neck might be at play.
I sighed ¡°We did. Balout double-checked my numbers and we even verified the amounts with the general.¡± The old general had answered our questions about the expenditures but never did we reveal the amount of the discrepancies to him.
¡°Old friend, I swear I have nothing to do with this. I just can''t believe someone is stealing so much from you.¡± was panicking the general.
The old lord laughed and patted the general''s back. ¡°I know dumb geezer, you are too much of a fool to even imagine trying to swindle me.¡± He smiled at his old drinking buddy, waiting for his remaining eye to light up when he finally understood how he was belittled.
The general hissed, ¡°Tsssk, old kirin. Even a beheaded toja could fool an old drunkard,¡± he retorted, happy that his friend wasn''t holding him guilty and relieved that his head would stay on his shoulders a bit longer.
I had to put them back on track: ¡°There is no big theft here but just the addition of many small abuses. There are some armies where this is more prevalent than others, though. The second army is having a major bleed-out here.¡±
I then exposed what our investigation found out: where the money was flowing out, at which rate, and who would be benefiting the most out of it.
For the most part, it seemed that the army suppliers were the ones making a win here but I was no fool. I knew that there must have been some officers that were closing their eyes and receiving their share of the cake. I was even suspecting some higher-ups and even blades to dabble in the scheme, I can''t have been the only one to ever find out.
It didn''t seem like there was an overarching master plot either but rather a lot of greedy intermediaries trying to grab a few more coins whenever they could. Tamayoku was both the protector of merchants and thieves after all, each were a bit of both.
This was a huge problem nonetheless. It meant the loss of a lot of money, which in turn wasn''t used to field more troops and secure the Shieldom. More importantly, it also meant that many officers and officials that were supposed to check the ledgers were either doing a poor job at it or abusing the Shieldlord.
I was able to read the mood well enough to decide that this wasn''t the right moment to push further for Arabian numerals. My demonstration was done and in time we will talk about it again. Then I could try to slowly steer them away from the hexadecimal system. Just like with the alphabet, I would bring them to adopt my system.
We were dismissed as the two elders had to discuss their further plans in secret.
Chap 47: Testing for Chi.
In the aftermath, heads rolled, literally.
The amount of money lost on the embezzlement wasn''t something that could be overlooked and there was paper-trail evidence.
Some quartermasters and finances'' officials had a bad time.
A few were demoted and publicly shamed, more were just straight-up executed to send a message to the whole. But for the most part, they made it out with just a warning. The evidence was kept as leverage to curry some favours later on.
Most culprits were free citizens, some among the richest ones, or members of powerful blades'' families.
I hope my role in this purge will remain unknown, it could earn me a flock of enemies among blades.
The good side is that it convinced the old lord and the Shieldlord to reform the numeral system. Not to swap for decimal but at least to use Arabian numbers to have more easy-to-read reports.
I say "Arabian numbers" but they won''t be my numbers. The lords are so locked in their hexadecimal system that it is non-negotiable.
I can understand why: because of a mix of religion, tradition, and simple conservatism, they would be reluctant to accept so many changes at once.
It was bothersome but I didn''t have the power to enforce my reforms. Yet.
This forced me to look for a whole new way to write down numerals. I couldn''t write a hex ¡°16¡±, it would make no sense in a base 16 to write numbers in a base 10.
With Balout''s help, I had to come up with a new way to write numbers in a base 16 and my placid friend had some insightful propositions to make.
He wanted the numbers'' divisors to be seen at a glance. For ex: his 2 was looking like a half crescent moon, 4 was a circle with a dot inside, 8 the same circle with two dots and 16 (fra) was two concentric circles with 4 dots inside.
He did the same for base 3 numbers: 3 was looking like n, 6 like nn, 9 like a pyramid of n and 12 like four n forming a four-leaf clover.
5 was more like a comma, 10 like an S, and 15 was looking like a Celtic triskele. 7 was still 7 but 14 was two 7 put back-to-back. 1,11 and 13 had unique signs, prime numbers were in a bag of their own.
The system was both complex and simple. It felt strange to see all those weird new signs but at the same time, they made it easy to see at a glance what your number was and would be divided in.
A 20 looked like a ¡°16¡± double concentric circle + a ¡°4¡± circle, making no doubt that it was 5 ¡°4¡± circles.
There were some debates as to how to write 30 for ex. Should it be a ¡°16¡± and a ¡°14¡± or two ¡°15¡±?
In the end, we agreed that the base 16 should be the pillar and backbone around which all our system should organise, so ¡°16¡±+¡°14¡± became the accepted transcription.
It took us a week to fiddle with our signs and come up with a new easy-to-read-and-write system.
We could be proud of ourselves, this was far more unique than what I did with the alphabet. My only regret was that it would take me some time to get accustomed to this new writing, I''ll have to design some kind of abacus/conversion time-tables to help me juggle between both systems for a while. Or I''ll just ask Balout, he was my human calculator.
Once we were done with this, we were tasked to train a handful of trustworthy young officials and military officers to use it. They would be the ones tasked with rewriting all the numbers in all the ledgers and demonstrate how this would make it easier to check the finances at a glance.
I had to work for two months with Balout to barely skim through the surface of the problem. If they had easier to manipulate and read numbers, this same job could have been done in a week or so.
Once the military will start using it, the next step would be the finances ministry and from there it should spread like wildfire. On its own, it would take a generation to change but with a bit of help it should be possible in less than a hex years to make it the next standard. Merchants and traders dealing with the lords will adopt it because of business and I would make sure all the children of the ruling classes would be taught this system.
Centralized school will become a thing. Having preceptors was nice because it meant adaptation to the needs of each student. But centralized teaching meant normalization of the system.
Our ¡°trusted-ones¡± students were stemming from families with close ties to the Shieldlord or with General Suji but they weren''t the smartest of the bunch.
Teaching them how to write the numbers, understanding what the zero was or how to change lines when changing hexcimal was a pain. They were just so slow and dumb.
A reminder that teaching old dogs new tricks was hard. I was lucky with my three friends, they were young minds and I was able to shape their way of thinking from early on.
I then had to teach them how to keep a follow-up ledger. Something easy enough to read that even the lord could at a glance have an idea of all expenditures. Nothing like the happy ignorance that led to their huge loss of money. In short, I was teaching them to make excel tables and annual balance sheets.
This also meant I had to teach the prince and princess.
It was quite strange after the big classroom to spend time with just the two royals.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Balout, Melodi and Gel were also sticking around but only Balout was interested in the numbers. He wasn''t as patient as I was, he was already better than the two royal kids and losing time on such simple maths bored him.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*??????????*
All this hard work wasn''t for naught.
Lord Iroto wished to thank me. Of course, there was some money as part of the reward. Not a lot compared to the sums I made them earn back but still a lot for a commoner.
I split it evenly with Balout, he earned it and then gave part of my share to Gelcaria too. Both where there to help and it was only natural for them to enjoy the fruits of our labour too.
But the old lord also wished to offer me a more personal reward. Once the training of his grandchildren was over and they were able to read the numbers fluently enough, he waited for an afternoon where there was only the princess, Hamy: her bodyguard, and my friends (and probably Shizu lurking somewhere) before offering: ¡°You can ask for anything you want.¡±
The offer might have been a bit rushed due to the excitation and a lack of judgement due to alcohol. Yet there was genuine curiosity in his mossy eyes, he was looking forward as to what I was going to ask from him and hoping for a surprise.
I was happy to oblige, this wasn''t the kind of offer you could pass up.
My wish was simple yet caused quite the commotion. I wanted for him to have me and my friends tested for Chi and magic.
It wasn''t unusual for blades to be tested this early in their life but it was almost unheard of for commoners. From what I knew, testing kids early on was costlier than testing them once they reached puberty. The amount of Chi to detect was often smaller, so it needed rare and high-sensitivity tools. Only the rich could afford it and asking for that kind of treatment was akin to asking to be treated like nobles.
It was bold but I believe it to be the right decision. I was a god-chosen one, brought from another world by some mysterious powerful people; of course, I was meant to have powers.
And I was quite sure my friends would have some too. The training they''ve been through since their youngest age made them nothing like commoners and closer to blades. I knew how physically strong they were and had little doubt that it was early signs of their Chi awakening. Testing them now would help speed up their training.
Not able to come back on his word, the old man agreed to my request. This caused wide eyes on the princess and Hamy and a wave of cheers from my friends. Melodi and Gel were especially eager to finally become able to compete on equal terms with the princess.
Testing us for Chi was a simple procedure.
We just had to all be provided with a super sensitive crystal. The best were unused ¡°raw¡± crystals, that never received any tainted outside chi.
They were rare. They could only grow in places where Chi balance was perfect, with no element stronger than another and with almost no life around to come and pollute the flow of Chi.
This meant they were found in very secluded and hostile places: undersea volcanoes, magma outcrops in the far north, subterranean caverns, desert oasis etc...
They were hard to reach, hard to bring back untainted, and hard to process. Once the raw crystal was harvested it had to be shielded from any unbalanced influence. We''re talking specific storage, careful manipulation etc...
I was gallant and let the girls go first. They were the ones undergoing martial training and I had little doubt they would have the foundation for Chi.
Shizu had appeared out of thin air with a small lead-box. Inside were a few translucent crystals.
Melodi was the first to go. She took one in her paw and held it. There wasn''t much more to do, just try to feel the Chi flow in and around her, which was easier said than done.
After a minute that felt like an hour, Melodi started to tremble. Her eyes were close as she was focused on sensing her surroundings. Her whiskers quivered and her cat ears were trying to focus on some imaginary sound, they had found something and the crystal clenched in her paw started to shine. It wasn''t a pure white light but rather a dark blue one that was reminiscing me Shinpilo''s fog. The catgirl must have sensed the change because she opened her eyes and had a victorious snarl on her face.
She had Chi.
No big surprise there: everyone had Chi. Gupta the Dard''s priest had already explained this to me. Every living being has Chi and is a vessel interacting with the Chi flowing around them. But only a few would be able to store enough of it and control it. Some plants and animals could do it too but it was mostly sapients and monsters who were using their Chi to enhance themselves.
The gasps from the adults around us told me that she was above the average.
This pleased the catgirl greatly, she was leaping around, tumbling or cartwheeling in the grass in celebration before ending in Gel''s embrace.
¡°That''s quite the potential. Even more so for a Beastkin,¡± acknowledged the old lord. He shared a knowing stare with Shizu and his trusty aide disappeared after giving Hamy the lead box.
Princess Moatimu and Gel were congratulating the leaping flea and trying to calm her down.
Melodi finally got focused again when Gelcaria''s turn came. Although friends, they were also some kind of rivals in their physical prowess, she was eager to compare their outcomes.
Gelcaria quietly stood before Hamy. The bodyguard opened the lead box once more and Gel fished her own blank crystal out of it. She closed her purple eyes and sat in the grass, almost like she was trying to meditate. She was fast, as soon as she sat, her hand started shining with a bright pink colour.
The radiance was a bit dimmer than Melodi''s sparkle but the colour was more vivid.
People seemed less surprised this time. She had Chi and it was a special one for the colour to be so unusual but everyone knew about her eyes and how it meant a god was doting on her. Her Chi manifestation was less of a surprise.
Melodi was smirking in victory, her fangs showing out in a smug smirk of disdain: her light was brighter than Gel''s.
She shouldn''t be too hasty, I remember Gupta''s teachings: Chi isn''t everything. The way you use it was more important. Gel might smack that smug smile back sooner than the kitten thinks. A tool was only as good as his wielder was.
We all huddled around her to congratulate her. She blushed in happiness and her cheeks turned to the same pink as her crystal. Her lilac eyes were more bright than ever.
The princess was the happiest of all and was clapping her hands in excitation in a very not-princessy-like fashion. Her two sparring partners will become even more worthy opponents and the battle-craving fighter she was, was taking over.
Then came my turn.
Finally. I''ve waited years for this. I''ve always wondered why I was sent to this world. After seeing the magic, the blessing of a god and the threat of monsters, I knew I was chosen and nurtured for a reason.
Since the day I saw there was magic and other fantastic rule breaking powers, I wanted to dab in it. Who wouldn''t dream of becoming a powerful magician, bending the reality to his will?
My father and grandfather had Chi, even my brother was starting to use it at his workplace. The newfound energy that I felt in me was probably it. I was also suspecting that my blessing thing was just a Chi manifestation too? When I had to prove my blessing it was all about lighting a crystal too.
I snatched a crystal from the box with confidence and started to meditate.
As soon as I felt some warmth in the crystal I knew this was it and I held my fist high in the air, basking in the glow radiating from it.
Except there was none.
I opened my fist and the crystal was still as blank and inert as when I took it.
The old lord was stunned and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. His verdant eyes were looking for what trick I was playing on them. ¡°Is something the matter?¡± he asked.
I shook my head in denial and tried to focus on my Chi again.
Minutes passed. After a while, the princess was the first to voice her concern: ¡°There might be a problem with your crystal,¡± she proposed, ¡°it happens sometimes when one is tainted, the sensibility goes down. Take another one.¡± she encouraged me.
The old lord approved and Hamy presented the box once more at me.
I grabbed another crystal and tried to circulate my Chi again. I was trying to recall the sensation of my blessing circulating through me and towards the crystal.
Still no light coming out.
The old lord was looking worriedly at me. ¡°Can you sit down, I''d like to examine you, there might be something interfering with the crystal''s resonance. I could help you circulate your Chi,¡± he stated in a knowing tone. The man was a scholar, a warrior with good Chi and a magician, I can trust his know-how on the matter.
I sat beside him and he took my right wrist, feeling my pulse with three fingers. His eyes started to shine with their own inner light, like sunlight passing through the leaves of a tree. I felt something warm seeping out of his index finger and probing inside of me.
It wasn''t painful but it felt like some foreign body was squirming its way inside of me. I focused on not resisting it and tried to put my unease aside, this examination was needed.
The more seconds were passing the more the old man''s face was creasing with wrinkles. He was now frowning deeply. He turned to Hamy since Shizu was away: ¡°Go fetch a doctor, quick.¡±
Chap 48: Be water, my friend.
The doctor arrived shortly after.
We were in the inner court so it was expected that healers would be close by.
The old man didn''t answer me when I asked him what was wrong. He kept waffling an ¡°I need confirmation, this is beyond my expertise, wait for the doctor.¡± It was even more worrisome. I hated being kept out of my condition. I hadn''t forgotten the look of the doctors when they were beating around the bush about my relapse and the old man had the exact same look.
¡°Doctors¡± were a rare breed in this world. There were magicians who could heal some diseases and the priests of Fusaad who were called to cure infections. So there was little room left for physicians, people who would study physiology to understand how the body works and help cure illness when magic wasn''t an option.
Doctors were often low-rank magicians with some healing ability that were making up for the lack of power by relying on knowledge of disease and medicinal herbs. They were able to take care of things even powerful magicians couldn''t cure: birth defects, chronic diseases, or common diseases on people who couldn''t afford better healers.
I''ve only translated one book about medicine so far and let''s just say their understanding of biology is limited. They do have a rational approach to disease and are trying to understand physiology and pathology but they just lack the tools to really make any breakthrough.
I was pleasantly amazed at their understanding of microbial life. Despite the lack of the microscope, they knew that small entities existed and were able to harm us or have a great effect on the world. They understood fermentation was the work of those microorganisms for example. Whereas Fusaad''s priests relied purely on their faith and healer-magicians on their powers to solve diseases.
The court physician that entered the garden was quite young for the position he held. His black eyes were beaming with clarity and focus: this one didn''t end up here through bribing or nepotisms.
He was looking around 30 years old and was the first person I ever saw wearing glasses in this world. Those were more like old spectacles than modern glasses, though. His black hair was tied in a long braid and he had one of those round strange hats officials sometimes wore.
¡°Who''s the patient?¡± He asked with the poise of a professional ready for anything. Hamy, the old man, and the third princess pointed at me in answer.
¡°What''s the matter with you kid? You seem fine.¡± He was a bit surprised that his patient wasn''t on his deathbed nor looking sick. Not waiting for my answer, he was already sitting beside me and taking my pulse.
¡°Please, have a look at his Chi flow, there seems to be something... different... about it,¡± said the old lord with precautions.
Just like Lord Iroto did before, the court physician was taking my pulse with three fingers and he waited for a minute before wearing the same flabbergasted expression as the old man. The old lord was looking at the doctor and sharing a knowing stare that meant: See? There is a big problem here.
The physician finally uttered: ¡°How are you still alive?¡± I hope it was more of a rhetorical question than his full diagnose. He was sounding more curious than worried, which was better than the fearful concern the lord had.
¡°Am I in that bad a shape?¡± I replied with a meek smile, ¡°I don''t feel sick or unwell. In fact, I''m feeling quite good today.¡± And it was true: I had a good night''s sleep and a solid meal today.
The physician shook his astonishment away: ¡°I don''t know how to say this? You shouldn''t be well.¡± Even muttering to himself ¡°Or alive at all.¡±
The old lord intervened ¡°We can''t feel any Chi in you. You should either be dead or at death''s door. This is highly unusual. Ever read anything about this doctor Nune?¡±
The physician shook his head in denial, his hat almost falling due to the motion, ¡°Not with a breathing patient. Even less a kid with such a healthy complexion.¡± He was having a look at my eyes'' sclera and pinching my cheeks to make sure I was really alive.
This triggered something in the old lord, he turned toward Shizu who just came back with a stack of papers and gave her a medallion: ¡°Please go call the Marshall for me, tell him it is urgent.¡±
The Marshall was the head of the military in the Shieldom.
He was rumoured to be the strongest warrior around here. Gupta and Orzhov didn''t lack praises and compliments about him, almost worshipping the man as much as their respective gods. I believe most of their stories are over-exaggerated: can a man really chop off a mountain bare-handed?
While waiting for the man, the doctor kept examining me, listening to my breathing, heartbeats, even checking how my breath smelled... Spoilers, I had some of those onions crackers today.
After getting sure I was alive and kicking, he had me perform some gymnastic movements and was simply amazed: ¡°How can someone be that well with no Chi at all? This defies all of Pexr Nhi''s theories on life''s sustainability.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The marshall arrived while I was taking a breather after a round of squats. The man wasn''t looking anything like the martial hero I imagined. He was fit but not overly muscular, even my father had stronger looking arms than this guy.
He was a middle aged man, maybe in his late forties, quite short and lean compared to the average. He was dressed in a martial outfit with a scale armour on but no weapon to be seen hanging at his waist. He had a severe look and his only noticeable feature was a small black moustache that was frizzed in thin curls, a bit like a less-flashy Salvador Dali.
¡°What was so urgent, Iroto? I hope this is not one of your pranks to make me drink with you in the middle of the day?! You know how busy I am right now?¡± He was in a sour mood and his tone carried no respect for the old lord.
The old lord snickered and took a sip from his flask in provocation. ¡°When did an old man ever fool you?¡± Before the Marshall could get angry at him, he pointed at me: ¡°This is serious.¡±
The Marshall took a look in the direction and his stare fell on the princess and then the court physician. ¡°What''s going on here? Did someone get hurt?¡± He asked with concern.
¡°No one is hurt. Rest assured.¡± calmed lord Iroto before coming by my side to put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°This kid is Telerios, he is my disciple.¡± Excuse me, since when ?! ¡°He has a very unique... condition... Could you please take a look at his Chi circulation?¡± He invited the Marshall to come examine me.
¡°I hope this isn''t one of your tricks. What''s your problem kid?¡± He was still wary of a trick going on but took my wrist to feel my pulse before dropping it as if it was searing embers ¡°By Husnd broken shield! Shave my moustache like Amidea''s cunt! What kind of heresy is this? Is the kid even alive?!¡± He blurted.
Not backing from me he instead put both hands on my bare chest like some gropper. ¡°Hmmm, no. You''re not dead.¡± Thanks for the good news. ¡°But this is so bizarre. What did you do to his Chi?¡± He inquired at the old lord.
The old drunkard shrugged: ¡°Nothing. That is the problem. He was like this from the start. To be honest it was the first time his Chi got tested today and we are all as surprised as you are that he has none at all.¡± He was looking uneasily at me.
The Marshall silenced him with a frown and moved his hand along my chest. I could feel the warmth of what I can only suspect to be his Chi pouring inside of me. ¡°It''s not that he has no Chi at all. It''s just that his Chi is so... strange...¡±
Everyone was both relieved and worried. I had Chi but something was wrong with it. ¡°I can''t tell why but his Chi feels just neutral. I''m having a very hard time just sensing it.¡± He squinted his eyes and moved his hands, one on my forehead and the other on my navel. ¡°And there is so little of it.¡± He was now sweeping his hands along my arms and legs, trying to get a better feel of my Chi.
¡°You mean neutral like raw wild chi?¡± Asked the princess with curiosity and fervour. Chi was one of the subjects that interested her the most and the Marshall must be her role-model.
¡°No, not primal Chi. This Chi is a bit like... hum, flavourless water?¡± He was trying to find the words to express his impression of my Chi. ¡°It isn''t raw, just turned in... something barely interacting, flowing out of your grasp as you try to take hold of it.¡± He looked back at me; ¡°Where do you come from? Who trained you?¡±
Before I could answer the elder lord calmed the Marshall down. ¡°He was born in this city and is a commoner. He had no prior training and his family has a little bit of normal chi. Have you ever heard of anything like this?¡± he probed for my stead.
The Marshall finally let me off and was fiddling with his moustache while searching his memories. ¡°No. I''ve never heard of a Chi that neutral. Even I have a hard time sensing it. No wonder you were worried for his health.¡±
The Marshall was one of the strongest warriors in the Empire. He was rumoured to be at the gate of the fourth quarter, almost a demi god. People that became this strong did not rely on brawns only. Chi was more about understanding and mastery than raw force. He was one of the top experts on the matter in the Empire but: ¡°I have no idea what this is,¡± he concluded.
The old lord asked the question that I was burning to ask: ¡°Can he be trained?¡±
The Marshall choked on that ¡°Trained? I wouldn''t know where to start? No one can sense his chi or help him get familiar with it. He can''t feel it and it can''t interact with the rest of the flowing Chi with how neutral it is. I''m already amazed at how healthy he looks with so little, strange, Chi. I honestly don''t think it can be trained, sorry kid.¡± He was looking sorry for both me and my self-proclaimed ¡°master¡±.
This was quite the shock.
I unconsciously always took it for granted that I would have Chi. I came in a world of fantasy, my new family had Chi, I got acknowledged by the gods but I can''t even have access to basic things? What is the point to get reborn in a world filled with magic?
Magic! That''s the answer. If I can''t become an immortal fighter, at least I can become a wise mage or wizard. This would also fit me more than a brawler. If my Chi was tasteless water, then let me become a water-bender.
¡°Then what about magic?¡± I asked full of hope.
The faces of the Marshall, the old lord, and the princess looked grim.
This was enough of an answer but seeing that no one was explaining, the princess took the lead and explained: ¡°Magic is just another form of Chi use. While martialists gather chi inside and absorb it, magicians gather Chi outside and change its colour to turn it into something else,¡± she was giving me a quick explanation of what magic was. ¡°With your neutral Chi... I have no idea how it can be used to interact with the flow of chi around us to cast spells?¡± She turned at the old lord, hoping for more information.
The old lord was a magician of a higher level than she was. ¡°I don''t know either,¡± he concluded with a worried shrug. ¡°We can try, but magic requires the user to steer his own Chi to gather and interact with the Chi of the rest of the world. I don''t know what can be done with yours since I can''t even feel it,¡± he confessed.
¡°There is no harm trying,¡± interjected the princess before explaining what I was to do. ¡°The easiest way to change Chi is to turn it into warmth. Try to feel the Chi surrounding us while holding the crystal and gently coax it into becoming warmth.¡±
I could see that the old lord, Shizu, and the Marshall were a bit unsettled that she was explaining magic to me but they didn''t stop her. Instead, I was presented the lead box again to pick out another crystal.
From what I got out of her short explanation, Chi was some kind of force. Entropy should be the reason why degrading it to warmth was the easiest.
So crystal in hand I was trying to ¡°feel the force, Luke,¡± and gently have it turn to infrared radiation.
I''ve tried for an hour before giving up. The crystal was getting warmer just because I was holding it but there were no signs of magic at play.
The princess was looking pitifully at me: ¡°It is fine, not everyone is meant to become a magician. You are already doing great for a commoner.¡± That hurt more than it helped.
What was worse was that everyone else was getting it. Gel and Mel even had access to a special kind of Chi without asking for it, their crystal had changed colour.
Even Balout had it. He was tested while the Marshall was examining me and his Chi was almost as potent as Melodi''s. Just that his crystal shone with a white light that wasn''t inferring to any special predisposition.
I was the only one left with nothing.
The Marshall put a heavy hand on my shoulder, sinking me even more into the pit I was in. ¡°Maybe it will come with time, boy. You''re healthy and maybe with time and training you''ll find a way.¡± I was not a Jalea''s blessed one but I could tell he was lying and just trying to comfort a child. ¡°Be happy for your friends, instead.¡± He even sprinkled a bit of salt on my wound.
I could tell my friends were happy and I was glad for them too. Their aptitude meant they would not become some poor workers bullied around by the blades.
Yet the stares they were giving me were hard to take on. It was a mix of guilt, joy, concern, and a hint of shame.
It was the look a football captain would have when trying to avoid picking his clumsy friend in his team. They were pitying me...
I was feeling depressed.
Chap 49: Depression
Depression was an old friend.
We''ve met when I was diagnosed with my first relapse in my previous life. After that, we stuck together for a while. In the end, I went through all phases of mourning and accepted my fate and that''s when we parted ways for good.
Or so I thought. Back she was. Yes, I like to see her as a snuggly, clingy, girlfriend, trying to stick close to you at all times, weighing you down but not in a bad way. It feels like she belongs at your side.
I don''t know how I came back home. Did Gel carry me using her newfound powers or did I walk home on my own two legs? Who cares?
I was thrown in a world of fantasy by [them]. I was allowed to have a look at magic, I could admire martial heroes, even almost get a taste of Chi, how ironic. Only to have it taken away from me. Like a starving kid taken to an ice cream vendor only to watch the others have a bite. The never-ending torment of Tantalus.
I was angry with [them], whoever they were. [They] were just toying with me. Was it fun? Did you laugh at my face when my crystal stayed blank? Did you enjoy the show? Seeing my growing hope before crushing it!
My anger dispersed quickly. There was no one to vent it on. [They] were too cowardly to answer me.
I was left with this shitty life.
I was stuck in a kid''s body, in a medieval backwater, and with no powers. Even the blessing I''ve worked so hard to get was shit. It brought me no power other than flaunting the pantheon''s name in front of the others. It was good enough to impress a bunch of religious peasants but nothing more.
I was able to put up with the cold, the hunger, the life-threatening monsters, the need to piss and shit in a chamber pot, having to watch the deaths around me, or even the itchy clothes...
I''ve endured a lot. Just because there was the promise of a heroic tale, powers making it worth it, facing the monster god one day or whatever grand scheme could be at play. There had to be a reason for my rebirth.
But there was nothing. Just meaningless sufferings and hardships. What was the point? Why drag me from another world, make me grieve for loved ones once more, just to leave me powerless?
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The next day, I told my mother that I was feeling unwell so I could skip going to the palace. I also had her keep Gelcaria away, pretexting I was ill and somewhat contagious.
Truth is, I didn''t want to see them. Didn''t want to see the pity in their eyes.
I wasn''t some crippled boy they could look down on. I had a doctorate in science, was a vet and had a much deeper understanding of the world than any of those barbarians. Who said they could look down on me just because I couldn''t use magic?
Well, I said it.
What use was there to know how to prescribe antibiotics when there were none around and when a priest of a god of pestilence could cure your infection with magic?
What was the use to know the laws of gravity when there were no rockets around and people still believed the stars were shiny jewels in the sky?
What was the use for the law of electricity when there was no power plant nor lightbulb to light?
What was I supposed to do with their sticks and stones? They barely knew how to make pig iron and most of their tools were bronze. They were ignorant and archaic, cavemen living under the threat of beasts, cowering in their cold, damp caves. Their world confined to the shadows cast on the walls.
I spent the whole day laying on my futon. I was feeling exhausted. The last of my energy was somehow sapped out. The simplest move required more energy than I currently had. Maybe it was everyone''s worry about my lack of Chi that made me realize how weak I actually was.
Now that I was thinking about it, my body was feeling so heavy. Like it was filled with lead, yet it still felt like an empty husk.
And I was cold. The attic was full of currents and I was tired to always feel cold in this world. The chill was seeping in my limbs, dulling my senses and making it uncomfortable.
I somehow found the strength to go downstairs and drag myself to our backyard, to just lay on the grass near Godzilla.
She had stored a bit of sun-warmth and was radiating it back, the feel of her warm bronze scales eased my mood a bit.
Even she was looking at me with ridicule, hissing at me to ask: ¡°What are you doing here, Human? Stealing my heat? Not learning magic? You are just good enough to stay with the pets.¡± She was right. At least it was a bit warmer near her.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
I didn''t have much of an appetite this evening. I still drank some beet-like, red-as-blood, soup to reassure my parents. I wasn''t gravely sick, just tired. It was a plausible explanation. I was still a kid yet I''ve been working day and night for the palace. It was expected for me to have some kind of backfire and they agreed that I deserved a day off.
I went back to the attic early, wanting to just stay under my futon for the rest of time.
But Gelcaria had other plans.
I couldn''t stop her from climbing up. Had I tried that she would just have blown up the shutters.
Her purple eyes were gleaming in the darkness of my room. ¡°Are you fine there? Your mother said you were sick. Please tell me that in all of Fusaad''s leakings you didn''t catch anything bad.¡± She sounded genuinely worried.
For once I wasn''t in the mood to have her stick around. I needed some time alone. ¡°Don''t worry, I''m fine. But you''d better not stay, lest you catch my cold too.¡± I lied to have her leave me alone. Yesterday''s sting was still sharp and I couldn''t stand the constant reminder of what I missed on. She was like my phantom limb pain.
She scoffed at my warnings: ¡°Don''t worry I''ve always been tougher than you were. I won''t get sick.¡± She was rubbing salt on my wounds.
I couldn''t refrain from replying, ¡°Yeah, yeah, we all know how strong you are, good for you. I''m just tired, leave me alone please.¡± I sounded a bit angrier than I wanted to.
She was stunned for a moment, looking at me with wariness. ¡°Is it because of yesterday?¡± She finally inquired, ¡°Does it matter this much if you can''t use Chi? According to the princess, it is very rare for commoners to be able to, so don''t feel too bad about it.¡± Somehow her condescension and childish attempt at consoling me felt even worse.
Now I was getting really annoyed with her, ¡°Great, that makes it all better,¡± I snarled back at her, ¡°It''s easy for you to say. You''ve got everything. Magic, Chi, the attention of a god. You didn''t even have to try to. It all came to you. Well, guess what? Not everyone had it that easy!¡± I let my frustration out.
She frowned, I went overboard and poked the dragon. ¡°You think it is easy.¡± She pointed at her amethysts eyes burning with fury, ¡°You think I asked for any of this? You think I liked it? You think it is easy?¡± She was punctuating every questions by shoving me in the shoulders with her index. This was getting annoying. I didn''t want to argue with a kid tonight.
¡°Yeah that''s what I think and if you are not happy with it, just leave me alone. I don''t feel like arguing with you. I''m sick and tired, just let me rest.¡± I tried to push her back but I could have kicked a stonewall for the same result.
She raised her hand in front of her: ¡°I''m going to hurt you if you keep going on.¡± She warned me.
This was too much. She was coming to my place to annoy me and now she was abusing her powers and flaunting them in front of me. ¡°Do that and I''ll hate you. GO away NOW!¡± I finally exploded.
This finally reached her. I think she never saw me get angry at her. She was shocked for a moment and I thought she was going to beat the crap out of me. Her face was a mix of anger, shock and puzzlement. She was at a loss and on blue-screen mode. I was about to wave my hand in front of her to see if she was still there when she turned around and left in a hurry without a last retort.
I was feeling bad after venting on her like this. Sure it was unfair, she had nothing to do with my condition, but I wasn''t in need of her pity.
Right now I just wanted to sleep.
But the arms of Morpheus weren''t coming to hug me. My heart was pounding with anger and a mix of guilt and adrenaline that made it hard to fall asleep.
That night, I had feverish dreams. Remembrance of the monster tide. Except I was alone, powerless, and without any mean to protect myself when the lobster-thing caught me in its pincers. This time is was quartered in an explosion of gore as my spine was shredded. I felt the pain, as sharp as the torture in the void. I watched my guts spreading on the floor as I felt myself dying once more.
I woke up drenched in cold sweat. Trembling in fear and cold.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*
I must have had one hell of a look in the morning. My mother got worried when she saw me on the morrow. I was sleep-deprived so I can imagine how my eyes must have sunken a lot more. I didn''t inherit my father''s Chi, just his shitty sunken eyes.
I lied to her that I would stop by the temple later today for a check up. She wanted to come along but I managed to talk her out of it. I wasn''t a baby and didn''t need my mother to take care of me.
After making sure for the fifth time that I was not sick, they finally left me alone in the house.
Instead of going to the temple, I spent my day lazying around, trying to find some rest. Again, I ended up near Godzilla to look for some warmth but the reptile was unhappy that I was using her as a stove. She even tried to bite my hand away.
This evening no one came to bother me.
The next day too, I was left to the rehashing of my failures. I bet the others were already learning to wield magic or reach superhuman speed. I could only swear at Shinpilo and the other gods he was covering for. If [They] were the one who were fucking with me, then I wasn''t going to play their game any longer.
For three days I was left to swallow my spite, licking my wounded pride.
On the afternoon of the fourth day I was brought out of my torpor. Someone was banging at the door of the house so strongly that the whole building was shaking. Luckily everyone else was busy working outside.
When I finally arrived at the main door, the wood was almost cracking under the ramming.
¡°Open Telerios! This is a command from your princess!¡± Was yelling Moatimu from the other side.
Tch, yet another pain in the arse. After Gel, now it was the princess that came to flaunt her power in front of the poor-Chi-less kid me.
I opened anyway, I didn''t want her to break the door. ¡°What do you want? A princess shouldn''t be here in the commoners'' quarter.¡± I welcomed her with an unpleasant tone.
She paused for a second to look at me, not trying to hide her disgust for the powerless commoner I was: ¡°You look like shit, Tel!¡± She finally uttered. No more respectful ¡°teacher¡±. How quickly things turn around. The moment you are without power, people start showing their true faces.
I didn''t like her tone, nor the fact that she would come just to belittle me. Just a few months ago the girl was just some dumb illiterate. Her birth shouldn''t give her the right to come insult me in my home. If I was born in her shoes, who knows what thing I could be able to do?
I replied out of spite, ¡°And you look like a sassy brat, that makes us even. Now leave me alone.¡± I wanted to slam the door at her but she was faster than I was and blocked it with her hand. I knew I wouldn''t win against her in a contest of strength. What she lacked in brain she made up for in brawns and, of course, Chi.
¡°What do you want?¡± I asked a bit dispirited. I was tired and just wanted her to leave me alone as quickly as possible.
She looked haughtily at me, ¡°In case you forgot, you are working for me! And you are slacking from duty. I came to check on you.¡± Her tone was harsh but softened a bit in the end.
¡°Well I''m fine. Consider me leaving my position. There isn''t much I was teaching you anymore anyway.¡± Again I tried to close the door, to no avail.
¡°I''m the one who decides when you leave my suite,¡± she proclaimed. ¡°And right now my grandfather summoned you. You are to present yourself immediately at the jade garden,¡± her tone wouldn''t suffer a refusal, yet I felt like rebuking the little girl.
She was just 8 springs old and I wasn''t going to let her command me around. ¡°Tell him I''ll come when I get the time. I have things to deal with at the temple for now,¡± I lied.
She didn''t try negotiating, she''s always been quite hot-headed: ¡°Seize him!¡± She ordered and Hamy, her bodyguard, fell on me like a hawk. Before I could react I was carried on the guard''s back, fists and feet tied up.
This was too much. What was she taken me for? Some kin of slave she could toy with at her every whim? ¡°You bitch! Let me go! I''m a blessed one from the temple, what do you think you are doing? This is an abuse of power.¡± I was yelling at her. Luckily for her, the neighbourhood was empty during the day as most people were at work.
¡°Gel, gag him,¡± ordered Moatimu.
Only now did I realize that Gel and Melodi were among the princess'' escorts. I warned Gel: ¡°If you do that I''ll bite you.¡± She didn''t care much. She was barely looking at me before thrusting a piece of cloth into my mouth and binding it around my head.
My following insults toward them were lost in an incomprehensible mooing.
Chap 50: The essence of magic.
Hamy was jostling me around like a barman with his shaker.
While all the girls rode a cart, I was carried like a sack of beans on Hamy''s shoulder. As expected from the bodyguard of a royal, she was a strong Chi user and my light body was barely a hindrance for her. She was running beside the carriage with ease.
I was carried in this humiliating fashion till the jade garden. Hamy threw me at the feet of lord Iroto without care, happy to discard her luggage. The grass didn''t cushion much of the impact but my complaint was silenced by the gag.
The old drunkard sniggered: ¡°Well, I guess things didn''t go easy.¡± I tried to roar a complaint but it ended up as an inarticulate grunt.
The lord''s eyes were already fogged by the wine he had drunk during the whole day. The last thing I wanted today was for an old alcoholic to lecture me.
He squatted beside me, which was quite the impressive move for a man his age, and his face got close enough that I could smell the alcohol in his breath: ¡°Don''t be like that, kid. We need to talk. You can all leave,¡± he added for the others. The princess looked with worry at him. ¡°Don''t worry, he can''t harm me,¡± stated the old man with smiling eyes, mocking my impotence.
If I could I would puncture your green eyes right now. I despised how everyone was laughing at my weakness. Just because they had magic powers didn''t mean they were allowed to look down at me.
The company left us alone and the old lord made his diagnose: ¡°You look like shit, kid,¡± he teased me while brushing his beard. ¡°And I''ve seen a lot of shitty looking people,¡± he added.
He even had the gall to take a sip of whatever alcohol was in his cup before freeing me. He cut my bindings but warned me: ¡°Try to run away and I won''t be as nice as my little princess.¡±
In the blink of an eye his aura changed, there was a cold threat emanating from his gaze that made my spine tingle with fear. His green eyes turned from the usual mossy green into a menacing jungle in an instant.
He wasn''t joking any longer and his tone made it clear that he had followed through his threats in the past. I nodded meekly, the man was both a powerful magician and a martial master. I wasn''t dumb, I knew I couldn''t outrun him. Where would I even go? In the wilderness to end up eaten by some monster? Why not? That would maybe amuse [them]?
¡°Come, let''s have a drink,¡± invited the old man as his murderous aura recessed. It was very like him to drink in the afternoon. To drink at any time, in fact.
We sat under the gazebo near the pond and he poured himself a cup before pouring one for me too. I sniffed the thing, it was some kind of fruit brandy, stronger than wine.
He laughed at my motion, ¡°Don''t worry, it isn''t poison,¡± before adding: ¡°at least just a poison one would gladly take in. But yes, it can still kill in the long run,¡± he somehow acknowledged with a reflective face. For an instant, he got lost in his own demons.
I downed the cup in one go. This body may be weak and small but it wasn''t my first binge drinking contest. I''ve been a college student before. It was milder than I thought, maybe 20-25¡ã but still made me cough, this childish body couldn''t even handle this little.
This made the old lord laugh heartily, ¡°No need to be so eager. It is a poison that takes years to
take effect,¡± he half-jokingly, half-sadly added before emptying his cup.
I was enjoying the burn down my throat and the flush of blood to my cheeks. A slight dizziness was already taking hold of me and washing away my sorrows with welcomed warmth.
I had quite the happy drunkenness and it''s been a while since I could drink good alcohol. I had a taste during a few events. In this world, adults were a bit more lax with kids and letting them drink some barok beer on festivities wasn''t unusual. But this brandy was stronger and better than anything I had till now. It reminded me a bit of the commodities from my past life.
¡°So,¡± finally interrupted the bearded elder, ¡°was becoming a magician that important to you?¡±
I didn''t really know how to answer. What should I tell him? That I was an old soul, brought from another world by some unknown god? That I believed myself to be some god-chosen one, meant to fulfil some prophecy or defeat the monster god?
Now that I was left as powerless as a newborn it was just laughable. Not even speaking of debasing the pantheon. This would be foolish, the only good thing I had going for me right now was the blessing.
So I left an uneasy silence settle down between us. The only sound was Iroto sipping his cup and humming in appreciation as he was enjoying his drink while contemplating the fire-birds spewing flames in the sunset. Spring was bringing its trail of love parades. A very bold flying frog landed near us, her eyes were asking for a taste of my cup. I wasn''t about to share such good alcohol, shoo, go ask the old man, he drinks more than his share every day.
Seeing that I wasn''t answering, he probed again. ¡°You should know that commoners are almost never screened. This isn''t because us blades are trying to hoard all the power to ourselves. It is because it wouldn''t be worth the cost. Chi potency at a high enough level for fighting is already rare. Magic proficiency is even rarer,¡± he patiently explained. ¡°This just makes it even more surprising that two of your friends had natural dispositions for it. The odds are off the charts here and I don''t know how or why it happened. ¡° He was looking at me suspiciously. ¡°I believe it might have something to do with your own strange condition. A priestess of Tupu confirmed that you had quite the influence on these kids since early.¡±
I wasn''t surprised anymore at how much they knew about my life. Either the temple or his men must have interrogated most people who knew me.
The old man threw a stream of air at the frog to make her fly away as she was getting close to his cup, he wasn''t going to share his beverage. He poured me another cup before stating: ¡°Anyway, you shouldn''t blame your friends for Fortan''s graces and instead be happy. You have strong and loyal friends,¡± he lectured me.
I knew my recent behaviour wasn''t my usual self. It was somehow more a fit thrown by a child than what I''ve accustomed them to. It was more like my age in this world but less like the person they learned to know and trust.
I imagine Gelcaria must have told him about our last quarrel. I wasn''t proud of how I reacted. Sure I was angry and disappointed, I still am, but I shouldn''t have rebuked her like that.
Could this have something to do with a child''s physiology? Hormones and neural activity making me more prone to such outbursts? Or was it just the spite talking and I was looking for any excuses for my behaviour? Did I think too highly by imagining myself as some main protagonist of an epic story? When in the end I was just a ¡°normal¡± kid.
I took another taste at the wine, it reminded me of something halfway between pear and plum. I took a deep breath to let the alcohol spread in my limbs before answering: ¡°I don''t blame them. I''m just jealous. And disappointed,¡± I dejectedly confessed. The alcohol was helping me to open up a bit more, ¡°I''ve always believed I was meant for more than just a commoner''s life. Maybe I was delusional. I thought I would be a magician or at least a fighter. A blade, even.¡± I sneered at my own megalomania. ¡°Instead, I''m just a dead weight carried around.¡± I was brooding.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
The old man chuckled and took another sip of wine. In the setting sun, his eyes were shining like emeralds, the alcohol was giving them a feverish glistening. ¡°Then nine out of ara (10)sapients are dead weight according to you. Yet all are needed in this war.¡± He was throwing aphorisms at me, that wouldn''t be enough to convince me. ¡°Why did you want so much to have powers?¡± he was sounding a bit more serious like he was getting at the core of the problem.
I thought for a while about my answer. What did I want power for? Fame? Self satisfaction? Fulfilment of a prophecy? I sipped another gulp of too and enjoyed the light breeze of the evening before answering: ¡°I am tired of being scared.¡± This was the most honest response I found, one that I didn''t see coming myself. ¡°I was so powerless during the monster tide or when I got mugged. I only got by through sheer luck. This isn''t reliable. Only the fools put their trust in Fortan. I wanted the strength to take care of myself.¡± I sounded both wise beyond my years and also a bit surprised by my own wisdom.
The old man nodded in appreciation, ¡°A decent aspiration,¡± he approved. ¡°Although a bit vexatious for me. It is my job as shield to take care of that worry for you. Are you trying to imply I''m doing a bad job?¡± He half-jokingly analysed.
¡°Well, I did see someone die in front of me during the monster tide. That wasn''t a good job for her,¡± I honestly replied. Yoli''s torment was coming back too often in my nightmares for me to easily brush it away.
The old man whimpered like a wounded beast. ¡°True, that hurt. Do you at least believe me when I say I feel the failure every time someone under my protection dies?¡± His green eyes were intently staring at me. Somehow my opinion mattered right now.
¡°I believe you.¡± I relieved him. ¡°But you are just one man and you can''t always be around. I can''t rely on you for all my life and expect you to be there at all times,¡± I added.
He took it with philosophy ¡°True. My days are counted. Soon enough, Otik will lead me back to my loved ones,¡± he emptied his cup in a silent toast with his ghosts, ¡°but I hope to have groomed good successors. The second prince will do a fine job, I believe,¡± he concluded with a soothed look in his verdant eyes.
I didn''t dare shrug at that. I wasn''t in the mood to praise his grandson. I still had mixed feeling about this second prince. My first impression was that of a haughty pampered siscon. But I must admit he proved to be a decent student and didn''t flaunt his rank in front of me later on. I don''t know how able he is on the battlefield but he could make an okay-ish lord.
Sensing that my troubles were still unsolved he probed again. ¡°Do you know what magic is?¡± He asked with a mischievous smile.
I shrugged, I wasn''t in the mood to play riddles. If he was trying to rub salt on my wound, I wouldn''t let him. The alcohol was dulling my sadness but I still had remnants of pride, I''d rather take a beating than another humiliation. ¡°The way of using Chi to cast spells?¡± I answered.
He nodded meekly, tilting his head and pondering on my answer. ¡°Yes, in the end, that''s what it looks like most of the time, but it''s a bit more than just that. Magic is the way to use Chi to influence the Chi around you. An art to use your willpower to shape the world around you,¡± he was explaining with passion. He opened his left hand and a small tornado started to form atop his palm, ¡°Magic is the ability one has to use his mind to shape the Chi, the very fabric of the world, into whatever you want it to be. The power to change the world.¡± The tornado was now having some small lightning bolts in it as static electricity was charging up. He marvelled at his creation for a while before concluding: ¡°Magic is the closest thing to your soul merging with the Chi of the world. I believe it is a small spark of divinity the gods granted us.¡±
He was showing me a faithful side that I didn''t suspect in him. But his views didn''t make much sense, it didn''t explain how the gods were once mortals who wielded magic themselves.
Breaking from his trance, his eyes left the small hurricane to meet mine: ¡°What do you think the scope of my power is?¡± He inquired with curiosity as the small thunderstorm was dancing in his palm.
I shrugged once more, this was becoming my signature move. I had no real idea of his power. I knew it was great because both the general and the Marshall were speaking at him as an equal. Not because of his birth rank or status but because there was some acknowledgment of his abilities.
But I''ve never seen him use much magic before. Nor did I ever see the princess or any blade train his magic in front of us. It looked like magic was a very sensitive matter, shrouded in secrecy. ¡°I don''t know. I''d say you are quite powerful,¡± I vaguely replied.
He reflected pensively at my statement before rumbling: ¡°Mmmh quite powerful. Yes. Maybe. Yet I wasn''t powerful enough when I needed to,¡± he sadly confessed. He emptied the cup in his right hand, not letting go of the tornado in his other hand. ¡°I''m a mage of the ara(10)th rank and a martial user of the ninth or arath depending on the day,¡± he confessed. ¡°Quite powerful, yes?¡± He was smiling with childish pride, it was hard to tell how serious he was right now.
I could only nod at him. I knew 10th level of martial Chi was really powerful but I had no idea of how mages'' scales worked. I just knew mages were usually considered more powerful than warriors because of the bigger scope of their powers.
The old lord went on: ¡°Now, what do you think my strongest spell can do?¡± he asked with beaming eyes as if he was playing a trick on me.
¡°I don''t know, raze the Shieldom?¡± I replied at the get-go.
He heartily laughed, almost losing control of the tornado, the small tempest got dangerously close to me and made me back away from him a bit. ¡°Certainly not.¡± When his laughter finally eased, he took another sip of wine directly from the bottle since his other hand was busy with the tornado. ¡°At best I can cast a spell on the whole palace. Maybe part of the city if the conditions are in my favour,¡± he explained with no traces of his former pride. ¡°Maybe the whole city if I''m ready to put my life on the line,¡± he was dead serious there. ¡°Powerful. Yet not powerful at the same time,¡± he concluded.
¡°Still more than me.¡± I bitterly said. At least he was able to protect himself and those he cared about. No monster would tear him apart.
I could catch a glimpse of victory in his eyes, it was the look of a patient hunter rewarded for his night of wait in ambush. ¡°Yet think a bit more about it. I can affect the palace, change the world, mostly destroy it, on such a tiny space. What did you do?¡± He was tapping at my shoulder with the hand carrying the tornado in a worrying fashion, if he lost control of it I could lose my arm here. Small lightning bolts were harmlessly reaching for me, like one of those tesla balls.
I was a bit drunk but not to the point of losing all notions of safety, drinking and using magic wasn''t a safe mix.
He kept lecturing me: ¡°You already changed the world on a far larger scope. Your writing, your numbers, they are already affecting the whole city. You''ve changed the fate of your friends and people around you but also of people you don''t even know. Soon, it will spread in the Shieldom then out of our borders and affect the world in a profound way,¡± he exclaimed with elation.
He took a breather to look me in the eyes, the intensity of his gaze was making me uneasy: ¡°I can see what you are aiming for. When I saw how quickly you taught the princess, I understood what Fortmo and his god saw in you. If magic is about changing the world, you are already doing it on a far larger scope than I could ever do.¡±
I wasn''t na?ve enough to gulp at the sugar-coated words he was throwing at me like a famished ant, but there was some truth in that. He was going full Arthur C. Clarke on me: ¡°Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic¡± was it?
Well, what I brought till now is far from ¡°sufficiently advanced¡± but I get his point. I have my own kind of magic.
The fog in my brain was slowly dispersing as my resolve was coming back. The gods wished to fuck with me? Then let me fuck them back. I don''t need their magic, I''ll throw science at them. Enough to overturn the world, enough to make them obsolete. My power was to empower the mass, the Chi-less and the magic-less. Who needs a blade when you can have a rocket launcher?
If i can''t be a wizard, so be it. I''ll become a technomage.
The old man must have sensed my resolve, he let the tornado drift away in the sky and disperse in the wind and poured me another cup. We silently shared a toast and emptied another one. I was starting to get hammered here, the garden was spinning around me.
¡°I think you had enough,¡± said the elder as I was tottering. ¡°I forgot how feeble you are,¡± he added with a wink, he knew he was poking at a fresh wound here. ¡°You can sleep here for tonight, no one will come to disturb you in my garden. I''ll take my leave now,¡± he claimed at the air, probably meant for Shizu lying in wait somewhere and he left me like that.
I sprawled on the grass to be in contact with as much ground as possible to counteract the spinning motion the alcohol was forcing on my surroundings. I doubt I could have gone far anyway so sleeping here was fine. Last thing I wanted was to throw up in the palace in front of people.
While I was trying to focus on Amidea''s blue moon far up in the sky, to have a distant referential to ease the dizziness, two purple stars appeared to my right.
Gel was looking worriedly at me. ¡°Are you better now?¡± She candidly asked. Her pure worry was tooth-achingly sweet.
I nodded, trying to not get nauseous in the motion. Her face was spinning in front of me too, her features were hard to make out, blurred, only her amethysts eyes were sticking out of the dizzy haze of alcohol.
It took me a while to gather enough of my still functional neurons to respond. ¡°I''m sorry. I didn''t mean it.¡± I didn''t make it clear what I was talking about but she understood and I could see the relief in her eyes, followed up by more worry.
She pointed at the cup beside me: ¡°Did it help?¡± She asked with worry.
Well, I guess it did. ¡°A bit, yes,¡± I answered. In vino veritas, it maybe helped me to see the truth, face my real issues.
I didn''t expect her reaction, she started sobbing out, tears flushing her lilac eyes. I didn''t see her cry like that since years ago, the first night she came to find sanctuary at my home.
¡°Please do not become like my father.¡± She begged while she was hugging my face and drenching me in warm tears.
It only now hit me. I was so conceited in my own petty sorrow that I lost sight of her ordeal. I was just so bitter that I didn''t get some powers I didn''t need, that I forgot I had people around me. Real people, with their own worries, fears and hopes.
Gel was genuinely worried about me, she cared for me, and right now, I, her surrogate fatherly figure, was treading the same path that her drunkard father did. Depression followed by drowning in drinking.
The girl must be mortified inside.
I tried to pat her head but my movements were sluggish and clumsy due to the intoxication of the wine. Even my voice sounded coarse and pasty now that I was thinking about it: ¡°I won''t. Please don''t cry.¡± I tried to comfort her.
After a few more sobs she finally got away. Her eyes were tearing through the night as she required my attention ¡°Promise!¡± she ordered, ¡°Swear it on the gods.¡±
She should know better, a drunkard''s promises are only worth their weight in Toja''s shit, but I still compelled with her demand. Very slowly, trying to sound as sober and dignified as I could. ¡°I promise, on Shinpilo''s blessing, that never will I become a drunkard. I swear to you.¡±
She shook her head ¡°No, not on Shinpilo. He isn''t trustworthy.¡± Again that shit with the god of plotters. I''m a knowledge blessed one, can''t people give me a bit more credit?
¡°Fine. Then I swear on Akola?. If I ever deceive you or disappoint you, may he take away my vigour forever.¡± This somehow made her laugh. She remembered the Typhoon''s eagerness and this seemed like a more valid stake.
Maybe it was just the glow of the tears in her now smiling eyes, but for a second the lavender eyes shone brighter than ever.
Chap 51: Future and past dreams.
Resolve is one thing, execution is another one.
I woke up with a pounding headache and cursed at the old man for intoxicating a child.
I pushed Gel aside, she was still lost in sleep and I bet she could use the rest. I was in need of a good wash to help me clear both the toxins and my mind.
The inner palace had the luxury of having great baths. With heated water. From what I understood out of the servant''s explanation the water was coming from deep underground and sent up the mountain with crystals that were pushing it upwards. This was a costly method requiring many chi-able people to refill the crystals every day. It seemed worth it, I was enjoying a pool of heated bubbly water for myself, almost a jacuzzi. Magic has its uses.
I took the time to sober up while soaking and ponder on how to bring technology to this world.
I wasn''t an engineer. I was a veterinarian and had a master in pharmacology. This wouldn''t help me much if I couldn''t find the chemical precursors I needed.
I knew how to synthesize paracetamol but not how to achieve the same result without para amino-phenol ready for use. Acetic anhydride and sulphuric acid, those I could make on my own given enough time and resources: Vinegar and sulphur should be something I can find easily. But some other things were just beyond the reach of this world''s technological know-how. Is there even oil to refine in this world?
I had to first make an inventory of my knowledge and then skim through what was impossible to use or definitively out of reach, what was maybe usable someday and what was ready to use with their current resources.
When I came back to the jade garden, the princess was there with my friends. Guess they skipped their morning training today.
¡°You look less like shit now,¡± she greeted me with a pawky smile.
I nodded a greeting back, ¡°So do you, princess,¡± I brazenly retorted. I hadn''t forgotten how she didn''t hesitate to have me seized and restrained. I should remember this lesson in the future, I''m still just a commoner, maybe not disposable thanks to my blessing but clearly in no position of power.
She snorted at my reply. Before she could go on with the joust, I had demands of my own: ¡°I need paper, a lot. And free time. I won''t be teaching you or others anymore. Balout will take my stead for the time being,¡± I announced and enjoyed Balout''s panicky face. I was a bit guilty to drop my load of work on him but trials build character, he''ll manage.
The princess raised an eyebrow suspiciously ¡°Still not over?¡± she inquired.
I sighed. I was over my powerlessness. Or rather, I was trying to find a workaround for it. ¡°I''m fine, but I have an idea and need time to work on it.¡± Before she could ask more I raised a hand to silence her, this was very unwelcome from a commoner to a royal but I was still her teacher too ¡°I can''t tell more till I''ve done some research. Thus why I need time and paper.¡± I''d rather deal with her grandfather than her but this early, the man must still be nursing the aftermath of yesterday''s libations.
She was unsure as to how to handle me and Gelcaria chimed in to give her a little nudge ¡°Please let him do, I''ll vouch for him,¡± she stated with confidence.
Since when did I need a little girl to vouch for me?
¡°Fine. You''ll get what you need,¡± relented Moatimu with a cute pout. Since when was she listening to Gel?
Anyway, I got paper and time so I won''t complain. I was assigned a small room near the classroom where Balout will take care of the latest batch. If he ever needed help I would be nearby but I believe he''ll manage on his own. He is far smarter than most of his students.
He was still training a batch of officials in numbers so they could make better financial reports. Reading classes were now taken care of by a fraction of the scholars we had trained before. I must admit the old drunkard was quite a good planner and had anticipated the scope of the change from early on.
Balout and I would still be required for the fanciest students, mostly blades or their children or officials on diplomatic missions. This was done as a display of goodwill for those wishing to learn directly from ¡°the genius master¡±. They would usually quickly grow disillusioned when they ended up with two children teaching them and I can only imagine how sour they would be if they learned we were just commoners.
Only the smartest would understand what our young age meant for the future of this Shieldom. They were few but I made sure to remember them and build good relations with each of them. Smart people were a rare breed and the more I could gather around me, the better. I was going to need a lot of smart people if I wanted to lift this country.
Now I had to find out what I could do.
*??????????*??????????*??????????*
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Things were rougher than I thought. I had narrowed down a list of ideas:
Gliders, paragliding were one of the first things that came to my mind.
They had few tamed beasts that could fly compared to the number of Chi users who could benefit from a flying device. If I could build a reliable way for scouts or even whole squads to have access to flight it could change their tactical approach, be it against monsters or other factions. A troop of strong Chi soldiers gliding behind enemy lines was a fearsome weapon.
Close second was the printing press. The tech was not a problem. If lead wasn''t available, I could always use wood to carve letters. The rest was easy to make or find. The main problem was securing enough paper, followed by having enough readers.
Currently, the number of people able to read the alphabet was less than a hundred. It would be hard to justify the investment in a printing press now but I will definitively come up with it again later. In the meantime, I''ll have to enquire about ways to get my hands on more paper. We would need it in bulk and this will draw the attention of many people. I''ll need lord Iroto''s support to manage this.
The next biggest thing I wanted was water wheels. I''ve seen no big ones around, just very small ones to draw out some water. This would be an easy way to pump water for the whole city, expand irrigation and have access to a mechanical force for grinding or later drilling and such. Plus if I am to one day bring electricity, I''ll need them to have building and maintenance knowledge of water wheels. The river was so wide and with so much current that the power right under their nose had to be exploited.
To build durable wheels I would need steel, not bronze or brittle iron, stainless steel. And for steel I would need a furnace, with refractory bricks. For that, I needed kilns for brick making and cement.
It was an endless chain of needs and pre-requirements.
One of the only paths of thought that showed some promises was also one of the least interesting. I believe I can make antibiotics with the help of Charavatkeh''s priests.
If they can help me select the right strains of penicillium, actinomycetes and other yeasts, I could produce a broad spectrum of antibiotics, ranging from penicillin to aminosides and tetracyclines.
I knew this was how the first antibiotics were produced: by growing yeasts in bulk. I had the advantage of having magical genetic engineers in the form of Charavatkeh''s priests. Purification of the product would be an issue but I had some ideas as to how to manage the feat.
The only issue was that the output will be limited, both in volume and utility. Who will fund the development of antibiotics when a priest of the god of rot can magically cure you? Only the poorest would be interested and in return weren''t solvable customers or investors.
Chemistry was both one of my forte and a dead end. Sure, I could remember a few processes from A to Z but without the industrial precursors, it was useless knowledge. The list of pre-requirements was even longer and there were many cases where I just didn''t know how to make some of them.
The headache and the depression were coming back.
To distract myself from this depressing list of to-do, I went back to basic science. I was trying to fill up the gaps in the table of elements that I had drafted for Shinpilo.
A few more came back to mind. The fact that I focused for so long on my previous knowledge
in chemistry must have helped awakening some old memories.
I called it a day early in the afternoon, I was still spent after yesterday''s events and needed to rest at home. Gel and Melodi walked me back, they were done with their morning practice.
On the night that followed, instead of the usual nightmares, I had a dream of my past life.
I was back to school and Miss Ogerthy was presenting us the different groups in the table of elements.
It was strange, the dream was so vivid that it was almost as if I was taken back on Earth. Not only could I smell the detergent used to clean the classroom but even the faces of my classmates were clear like photography. My teacher was explaining in detail every family on the table of elements, before listing them. I can remember how this was an important moment for me, discovering the order in the world''s fabric always fascinated me. The only thing that bothered me was how clear this dream was, even when I tried remembering the table of elements two years ago, I wasn''t able to find this memory.
Not mulling too much over it, as soon as I woke up I rushed to my desk to write it all down while it was still fresh in my mind. I was glad that when I put my mind to it, my brain was at least a bit helpful. Finally my table was full. This was something I''ll have to share with Shinpilo, it was huge.
Back home my parents weren''t surprised by my return, nor did they comment on my ¡°abduction¡±. Either they received messages from Shizu or the neighbours didn''t see a thing.
They never really knew how to behave with me and I can''t blame them. I was a strange kid to say the least.
Since I''ve become a blessed one, I''ve considered telling them about my situation: that I wasn''t really a kid. I would brush the idea aside as soon as it came, it was inviting more trouble. Not mentioning that I wasn''t sure how I came to this world: did I take the place of their kid? Was my soul transferred in an empty husk? Was I meant to be stillborn? Did we switch places and now their child is roaming the void in my stead? The thought alone was making me shiver.
I feared that I would become an impostor in their eyes. Like those strange stories of swapped babies. Even after years of raising them, finding that your kid wasn''t really yours would not be simple to take in.
There was less harm in a lie.
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Shinpilo was up to something with me.
My memory has been better since the blessing, that''s was one thing. Now I''m starting to suspect that even my past life is under his spell. My dreams of past memories are coming back more and more often. Some about important moments, for those I can believe they were just coming on their own, but also dreams of memories I barely remember or of things I should have forgotten.
Often my nights would be filled with dreams of classes and lectures. Some I even forgot I attended to. There were some strange fuzzy moments in them where either the sound got mushy or where faces were blurred, probably when my attention wasn''t strong enough for me to remember anything of what happened back then.
It was both scary and exciting.
Exciting to have access to all the memories of my past life, especially all the lectures and books I''ve ever read, but also scary to feel how much power Shinpilo had on me. Sure, he was a god so I shouldn''t be that surprised. Imagining the extent of a god''s ability and facing them first hand is a different story though. Could he read my mind?
I wish I could meet him once more but all my prayers remained dead letters.
There were some good finds among the trove of my memories:
One of the most decisive dreams I made was when I went back to the history lessons of Mr Turner. The man was a Napoleonian history fanatic. He even came in class dressed as a grenadier once.
The most important part of the dream wasn''t the retelling of the Berezina''s retreat during the disastrous Russian campaign but rather the short explanation he gave us about gunpowder and how scientists under the Empire struggled to produce enough of it to fuel the conquest of Europe.
This gave me the rough recipe for black powder.
He just told us the ingredients, I''d still have to find the process and right proportions by myself but this was so huge.
If I could find a reliable source of gunpowder, any commoners could become as strong as a low-rank fire mage! This was my magic: turning this world upside down.
For that miracle to happen I needed three things: Charcoal, Niter, and sulphur.
Charcoal was easy. There were woods outside the city. Lumberjack was a dangerous activity due to beasts and monsters. They were under military protection on every expedition but it was doable.
For the other two, I needed to know what the mine under the city could provide and what the alchemists were able to. It was time to move things forward and delve deeper.
Chap 52: Stocktake.
I had to request the old lord to play matchmaker.
I needed to meet the court alchemist first and with a miner second. I didn''t want to meet the head of the mining ministry but rather someone who went underground and could tell me what there was to be found under there.
I also wanted the old lord to be present, both because I needed his approval for later, because he was also curious about what I was up to, and because it would make it easier to get honest answers from wary adults facing a kid.
It was a warm summer now and the jade garden was in full blooming. Lilacs were pervading the air with a pleasant but heady perfume and the best place to stand was under the shade of the cherry trees or the gazebo near the pond.
One of the strangest things about the magic barrier above the garden was that it stopped birds from the outside from coming in but not insects. There were swarms of butterflies twirling in the garden. I learned that the blue ones were the honey-making ones. They would bring back to their hive nectar and pollen, and would later mix it with whatever ripe fruit they would find to make the honey-jam paste I''ve eaten before. This was sounding better than the lizard-saliva milk, for a long time I had feared worst origins for our honey but this was almost like bees.
The only animals in the garden were thus those brought inside: some chunky scarabs that were all shells and horns were taking care of the excess insects.
The girls'' favourites were furry, fluffy, small hares that were fast as lightning. You could bait them with food but good luck touching or catching one of those speedy cotton balls.
Only three people were able to touch them: the old lord who could imprison them in a cage of solid wind, Shizu who could appear right atop them, and Gel who could tame them. The fluffy balls were approaching her without fear and this was making the princess and Melodi go crazy as they wanted to pet one too. Running after them was their favourite game, they were competing on who would catch the most.
Finally, there were a few selected colourful breeds of birds, chosen for their feathers or singing. They were either flamboyant phoenix-peacock looking or small robin-like with musical tweets.
My favourites were the firetongue of the archipelagos and the silvery tinnitus of our land.
The silvery tinnitus was known as the ¡°late riser¡±, their singing was reminding of the morning bell''s clear chime, and because they would start singing at noon only, long after the last morning bell, they were associated with lazy peoples.
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Both of our guests were non-humans.
The chief miner was of course a Trollkin. His kins were the best for the job in a world without drilling machines, crushers, or dynamite.
The court alchemist was another story.
She was an Elve from the southern continent. Not the southern archipelagos but the continent beneath them, where the Typhoon was coming from. Thus she was quite different from the black-skinned Elves I''ve met so far.
She was pale to the point that her skin looked almost translucent, letting the network of veins under her skin appear like the grid of veins on a leaf. She only shared the white hair of her black-skinned cousins.
I know nothing about Elven physiology, so I can''t gauge her age. She looks like a mature woman but could be older than my grandmother for all I know.
She has a strange charm going around her. She can''t be called beautiful because her bony joints and angular chin don''t fit the standard of beauty of humans. Her jawline looks so sharp that it could cut you if you were to kiss her cheeks.
She''s lean but well proportioned and her eyes are mesmerizing: they have a strange yellow complexion like clear amber and no pupils, just a pure yellow iris, like balls of molten gold.
The troll at her side looks even more rough when standing next to such a fragile looking Elve. He is a granite pile of rocks but there are some details showing that he is of higher ranks compared to those I met till now. There are gems embedded here and there, directly in his stony skin and gold nuggets growing on parts of his body. This gold is raw and doesn''t shine like purified and smelted gold but still adds a glow of prestige to the rock pile.
The court alchemist introduced herself as Raiya Kakaya. She had her own last name, which means she is a free citizen and from the sound of it she''s not from around here, which isn''t a surprise.
The troll miner introduced himself in a low grumble as ¡°just Onder¡±.
The old lord introduced me as his pupil. I''m still guessing what he is supposed to teach me? To become a sommelier?Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
In the presence of the old lord, I started inquiring with the court alchemist first about what she was able to do.
¡°Alchemist¡± might be a wrong translation for the job she is doing.
Alchemists are covering a larger array of activities than I thought. This includes what one would expect of alchemists: working to understand matter, purifying metals, testing their composition, looking for new and better alloys, searching for new materials, making what little glass there is around, and supervising ceramic and porcelain production. For all those activities they were also researching how to use monster remains to enhance the products. Bones, scales, tendons but also the blood of some monsters were helping them make their bronze more durable than it should be. This could partially explain why this world never really transitioned to steel, there was less incentive and they were pushing in another direction.
Apart from this standard alchemy, they were also the ones tasked with pharmacology. Raiya was one of those, she was to make medicinal pills by extracting products from plants, animals, and monsters. She was also a researcher as she was trying to find new recipes and cures by experimenting with the materials she had available. This pharmacology activity also included poisons and cosmetics but also dyes, inks, and other chemicals used in leather tanning or wood treatment.
She earned her title of court alchemist because of her talent for making perfumes. I was sitting too far from her to get a waft of whatever she was wearing but now that I looked more closely at her face I noted that she had a discreet make up: a bit of mascara underlining her eyes, lips redder than they should be with her pale complexion and a rosy tint on her cheeks to make her look healthier. That might be why she looked so charming, strange eyes and just the right touch of make-up to smoothen her non-humans traits.
Finally, one of the most important tasks of alchemists was brewing.
They weren''t directly making wine but they were the ones in charge of cultivating yeast, selecting, nurturing, and keeping track of the best strains for each duty, be it wine-making, alcohol, cheese, or kimchi and lacto-fermented dishes. This was closely supervised by Charavatkeh''s priests too and there was both cooperation and competition between them in this field.
I was surprised at how much they understood about microbian life without even the most rudimentary of microscopes. I''ll have to check their glass making and see what I can make for them on that note.
My conversation with her lasted for more than a bell ring. I could see the troll was getting annoyed to have to stick around us but Lord Iroto came to the rescue with a nice bottle of cherry-like wine. He was toasting with the troll while I was learning more about alchemy, I just hope Onder will still be able to answer me later on.
Raiya was surprisingly cooperative. I could see in her eyes that she wasn''t looking down on me for being a kid. Instead, there was a strange mix of respect, curiosity with a hint of wariness.
I suspect she knew about my blessing or heard about the reading classes and knew better than to treat me like any kid.
She invited me to come to have a look at her laboratory one day and I will gladly oblige. I was curious about what they knew about distillation, extraction, esterification, and the chemical properties of their plants. One day, I''ll need them to produce many acids and other chemicals in bulk.
There were also some disappointments: they knew nothing about gunpowder or explosives. Even naphtha or greek fire were beyond them. What use was there to research them when a fire mage could do a better job? The only thing they knew was how to make coloured flames by using different powder, this meant they knew how to refine things like borax or potassium chloride, at least.
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Next, I had a talk with the troll. This time I was happy the old lord was near because Onder wasn''t as cooperative. He clearly didn''t like it that some kid was prying into the mine''s activity so much.
¡°Pebbles should keep gathering dust before aiming to rock around,¡± he lectured me in a low rumble.
In the end, I learned only little about the mine itself. Just that they had two major problems.
First was the flooding. With the underground river not that far, there were side streams that would often flood a tunnel they were working on. Monsters were the second issue. There were a lot of them in the underground alongside dangerous beasts.
Only now did I learn that there was a full legion of veterans tasked with securing the underground and making sure no monster tide will swarm the city from there. The though was scary and bringing back terrible memories. A wave of monsters popping out of the mine right into the city could be even more nightmarish than the one from the river.
Underground fighting was tougher: bad vision, cramped environment and they couldn''t use explosions or too much fire lest they would end up asphyxiated by the smoke or buried under a collapsed tunnel. The Subterranean legion was only comprised of the best fighters and magicians and were highly regarded. The Marshall himself was their leader.
The mine was worth the risk though. Not only were the monsters'' remains useful material but there were also moss, fungi, and other strange plants growing in the underworld that were sought after by alchemists.
Most of all, there were rich veins of plenty of ores. Copper, silver, iron, tin, gold, you name it. That and gems were the reason why our city was rich and powerful. The ores were refined and turned into tools and weapons and that was the main source of income of the city. Other traders were flocking here for that bounty. There weren''t that many mines since it was a very dangerous business.
He didn''t bring ore samples with him so I couldn''t get an inventory of what was available. What was clear was that the quantity wasn''t much. Trolls were good miners but between the flooding and fights there wasn''t much time to ¡°Crush a crust and finger the earth.¡±. That and carrying the ores back outside was a troublesome matter. They were using lizard pack beasts but it was slow and attracting predators.
I then asked about the materials I was looking for: Sulphur and niter.
¡°Hmmph Yeah I''ve seen your yellow stuff,¡± he grumbled in a milling of rocks, ¡°It grows around the chimneys of the monster god. That''s how we call them. Their fumes are toxic and they burn with the heat of Oreo. Monsters love nesting near them.¡± He shuddered, the pile of rock looked like under a small earthquake, ¡°But some people want it for their stuff..¡± He was referring to Ms Kakaya right beside us. She just graciously smiled at him which made the Trollkin blush like heating metal. ¡°It is dangerous but we can find some when needed,¡± he concluded.
Niter was harder to describe. Be it Niter or saltpeter I knew no words to name it in Tanguana. When I described it, I''m not sure if he understood what I was describing. He could tell me they had earth-salt. That was most of the salt used in the city with little sea salt brought by the southern traders but no Niter.
This wasn''t that surprising, niter was mostly found in arid environments since it was easily washed away by water. Flooded tunnels weren''t a great place to find deposits.
But in the end, there might be some around the fuming chimneys since there was a hotter and dryer air and he had seen some ¡°white brittle shiny rock that wasn''t salt.¡± This could be the deposits I am looking for.
The old lord tasked him with bringing some of it back from their next expedition.
This was both good and bad news. I might put my hands on some niter, enough for my experimentations with black powder, but it would never be enough for mass production. I had to find another way to get some. Maybe I should speak with the merchants'' guild or with Typhoon Taonga?
At the end of the day, I was exhausted.
Talking so much and trying to make sense out of so much information was straining my mind. I stayed at the palace for the night instead of going home. I now had my own chamber in the servant''s wing of the inner palace. Gelcaria joined me, she was also staying often here and seldom going back to her place.
She was a good listener and I could bounce a lot of my thoughts on her and see what came back.
Most of the time she was just looking at me like a crazy Fortan''s blessed one rather than a Shinpilo''s blessed one.
Chap 53: Tales from the underground.
I was definitively a Shinpilo''s blessed one.
I fell asleep while worrying about niter and Shinpilo answered me.
That night my dreams to me back on Earth. It was a strange experience. Not only was I seeing my parents or my brother, but Shinpilo was bringing back all the feelings too. I was both missing them and at the same time, I was feeling guilty to consider them as my ¡°true¡± family. It was like I was ¡°cheating¡± on my new family.
I was back in Mr Turner''s history class once more, in high school. I was sitting next to my best friend, Franck. Just seeing him reminded me how much I missed him, we parted ways after high school and life drifted us apart.
The point of my dream was that Mr Turner had us watch a documentary about the Napoleonian army and there was a specific moment where they were talking about the logistic of the imperial army.
My memory was specifically about the moment the whole class laughed as they were explaining how the French were using great factories to process faecal sludge into niter and then use it to fire on their enemies. Sadly I didn''t pay much attention to the further commenting as I was entranced by Suzy''s smile, two rows in front of me, she was my crush from back then. I only had a blurry vision of the screen where a man was stirring a mixture in a big pool, like those sea salt sun basins. Damn you Suzy and your smile.
I woke up immediately. In my rush, I also woke up Gel who was sleeping in her own futon next to me. She went back to sleep almost instantly after I whispered to her that everything was fine.
I needed to write this down, every detail I could. Finding light and paper in the middle of the night was harder than I thought.
In the end, I got arrested by a patrol. I had no pass to roam the inner palace so late at night and finished the night at the guard post waiting for someone to attest of my identity. They were not joking with curfew.
Shizu was my saviour but it was already fourth night bell when she freed me. After letting her lecture me on responsibilities and how I should carry lord Iroto''s sigil on me at all times, I was finally free to find some paper.
I''d given anything for a good cup of coffee right now but will settle for the mint-like tea of this world.
There wasn''t much to write down but I made a quick sketch of the pools to be sure to remember it. I was done before first morning bell and came back to my room right before Gel woke up.
Except for my sunken eyes, she wouldn''t suspect a thing.
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There was one thing I forgot to ask the troll: was there coal under the city?
Charcoal made from wood was better for gunpowder making, that I knew, but I would need coal at some point if I expected the city to start making steel or just any reaction needing heating in bulk.
While the girls were having their morning practice with the princess, I dragged Balout outside, we were going to the mines.
I didn''t need an authorization to go out of the castle. It was getting inside that was troublesome thus why I was sleeping there more and more often.
We ambled through the industrial district and took a breakfast on the way. It was my treat and my way to coax Balout to follow me. It was a warm summer day so we settled for a light breakfast with a freshly squeezed juice and a ¡°calamari¡± sushi. I don''t know what beast had this kind of green tentacle, nothing I ever saw in the river. There was of course no rice, it was instead some kind of semolina made out of bunta that was coming as a side dish.
It was pretty good, fresh salty and a bit tangy but the tentacle had the flavour of something between tomato and chicken.
Once Balout deemed his belly was full enough and my purse empty enough to compensate for whatever I was dragging him into, we made the rest of our way to the Crack.
It was my first time going there. It was right at the bottom of the tallest mountain in the city. Its official name was Mt Roroa which meant ¡°tall¡± in old Tanguana but everyone just called it the Shaft or Mt Shaft.
Atop of it was the lighthouse that diligently observed the skies and the mountain chains in the north, looking for any sign of monstrous activities.
Our main goal today wasn''t the top of the mountain but instead its roots. The entrance to the mine was a small fortress. But one designed to stop things from going outside rather than inside. It looked more like a prison at a second look.
I asked one of the guards on duty at the entry to call for Onder and tell him Telerios wanted to meet him. He was dumbfounded when I flashed the Lord''s sigil in front of him, Shizu was right, I should always keep this with me.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Onder wasn''t happy to be summoned like that without prior notice by not one child but two now... ¡°What do you pebbles want? To humiliate me in front of my men?¡± He grumbled. We weren''t welcomed.
I sympathized with the pile of stones, he was facing a whimsy child and had to put on with it. I bowed my head in apology. ¡°Sorry for the unannounced visit, it was rude of me. It''s just that I realized there were so much more I needed to learn from you and your experience with the mine that my eagerness took the lead and here I am.¡± A bit of belly patting never hurts although I wouldn''t pat for real his rocky belly, that would hurt.
I sounded right enough for him to take the bait. He raised his voice to be heard from the onlookers, ¡°It is always my pleasure to have the lord''s disciple come hear my teachings,¡± he was bragging around.
I rolled my eyes internally but I was happy to let him brag a bit, better this than having to argue for hours. ¡°What was so pressing that you came at once?¡± he inquired in a milder tone.
¡°I wanted to know if you could give me a tour of your supplies? I''d like to see for myself what you have in stock and if you have sulphur and niter I''d like to take some too.¡± This was all property of the Shieldlord so I didn''t need to pay for anything, the old lord''s sigil would be enough warranty. I could splurge however I wanted.
He ground the two stone chunks that were making his jaw together. ¡°Hrrrmph, I am quite busy right now. We are going to go on an expedition tomorrow and there is still much to prepare. Can I entrust you to my own apprentice? Mermer knows all about the ores we bring back and has already delved tens of times in the mine.¡± I agreed with his demand.
His apprentice was a troll that was a bit smaller than him, white as marble and with silvery nuggets growing like curly hair atop his head. Mermer was quite amiable and happy to take care of two guests from the ¡°high castle¡±.
He took us to a storeroom. It was smaller than I imagined. I understood that the amount of ore extracted was scarce because mining was dangerous but I didn''t think it would be that scarce.
There was a large amount of coppery ores, tin and zinc. Those were what our bronze alloy was made of. They even had quite the number of copper ingots. That at least, was enough if one day I wanted to pull cables for electricity. This was for a later date.
Iron ore was in sufficient stock but they knew only how to make bad pig iron and it wasn''t sought after. The metal had a bad reputation, it rusted easily and could be more brittle than their bronze alloy. It was also less attractive compared to how shiny copper can be made to be.
Then the quantities available shrunk noticeably. A few gold ingots, gold was valuable in all worlds, and what looked like rarer metals. I am no geologist so I''m not sure but I think there might be manganese, lead, nickel, a bit of silver, and cinnabar?
Sadly there was no aluminium. This was expected because it isn''t found as is in our world so why would it be different here? The problem was that I was far from mastering the electrolysis to produce any.
Finally, he presented us the non-metallic goods. There was some sulphur and a tiny pouch of saltpetre. I tasted the white powder like it was cocaine to make sure it wasn''t just rocksalt. It was saltpetre.
There were also other earths and salts I didn''t know of, I''ll need to remember everything I could about my chemistry class before I could find a way to assess what those were made out of.
The gems and crystals attuned with Chi were locked in a vault and Mermer didn''t have the key. Only Ondur or the Marshall could access it. It didn''t matter, I wasn''t interested in gems.
I took a pouch of sulphur and another bigger one of saltpetre, almost all they had in fact.
We were invited for some tea while the paperwork was done. My requisition of goods needed to be recorded.
While Mermer was pouring us some peach-like tea we discussed a bit more of what it was like in the mine. ¡°Dangerous. Very dangerous. I''m a seventh rank Chi user but I feel like a helpless kid down there,¡± confessed the moving rock pile.
Being with younger kids made him more likely to speak his mind, ¡°The underground is my people''s turf but the monsters are disagreeing. When the light goes out in a narrow tunnel, the fight can quickly become gruesome. Even with Chi enhancing your senses, complete darkness is a terrible experience.¡± The pile of rock was faintly trembling, his way to shiver. ¡°I once had to collapse a tunnel on a wounded soldier to stop a pack of drillers from shredding us all.¡± Reading Troll''s faces is hard but I think he was expressing guilt.
I didn''t know what a driller was but if it was able to shred a troll, I wasn''t in a hurry to meet one. ¡°We''re lucky the legion is here, they are the best men in the city, strong and reliable,¡± he praised the men under the command of the Marshall. He was probably right to, they were among the best in our army.
There were even more dangers and hardships. ¡°If you collapse the wrong wall, you can get flooded.¡± Again a terrible fate. ¡°And then you still have to bring back all the rocks. There are only a few beasts who are small yet sturdy enough for the job, so most of it has to rely on strong Chi users.¡± That explains why it costs so much. Strong Chi users were bound to be rarer and costlier than commoners or servs. I had a few ideas as to how to help them: steam machines or waterwheels pumps to both pump water out and drag heavy weight, but also rails and carts to smoothen operations. I would need a lot of metal to make this real though and I knew nothing about steam machines, so it would take me a lot of time to engineer one. Gunpowder was easier and more urgent. Just having guns down there would help too, the rest could follow after.
What I was really interested in wasn''t gruesome stories about mining, it was coal. ¡°Did you ever find some charcoal like stone underground?¡±
¡°Fire spirit you mean?¡± he replied with curiosity, at least I think it was curiosity, the two white stones that were atop his beady eyes were rising like a surprised human''s eyebrows would.¡°Black, brittle and that can explode?¡± he further defined.
I nodded, this was the stuff I was after.
Happy to have guessed right the young Troll explained, ¡°Yes. We always collapse those tunnels. This thing can catch fire and then explode on us, more than one miner died in such explosions.¡±
He could either refer to dust explosions or to gas blast. ¡°Do you use torches down there? Why not use light crystals?¡± Fire was a worse source of light and it was dangerous to use down there.
¡°We use both. Light crystals can get snuffed out by the suckers.¡± Seeing that I was looking confused he explained further, ¡°Those are monsters that feed on the light. The damned leeches can suck all your light crystals from afar and you''ll end up in total darkness before you can call Jalea for help. That''s when we rely on Oreo''s fire. Torches and lanterns are troublesome indeed but at least the suckers won''t dare eat fire,¡± he paused dramatically before going on, ¡°Those are for fire eaters. The magma larvae will eat our torches and that''s when crystals are useful.¡±
¡°What happens if you meet both monsters?¡± asked a shivering Balout hiding behind his cup of tea.
¡°You die.¡± answered the troll with a waving motion that must be his way to shrug. ¡°Luckily the two fight one another, so it is unlikely to happen but if you do meet one after the other, may Husnd have your back and Nasibor guide your steps home.¡± He made a triple prayer gesture to Husnd and Nasibor but also Arteus.
When there is no leader to guide them, it is not rare for different breeds of monsters to fight each other for food. When a leviathan appears it turns to a whole other story. Leviathans are kind of the equivalent of our blessed ones, only for the monster god instead. I wouldn''t like to be working in the mine the day a leviathan will appear underground.
On this gruesome last note we took our leave with our bounty in hand.
I had a sack of niter and a pouch of sulphur. With a bit of charcoal, I was ready to rock their world.
At least, if I could make gunpowder, things were bound to change and monsters could be pushed back. If I was to succeed, any commoner could become as strong as a fire mage.
Chap 54: Garden party.
I was tired of being treated like a child. The old lord disapproved of me making use of his name for my own convenience. Not only was I grounded,but I also had to supervise a class for another batch of students instead of experimenting on gun powder. They took the sulphur and niter away from me as I, ¡°had no ground to make such a requisition.¡±
I tried to explain what I was making and how it was going to change the world but my resistance almost prompted Shizu to spank me and I didn''t insist further. For the time being, I''ll just play it cool, look repentant and wait for them to give me back my raw materials. Worst case scenario, I''ll just have to buy some. I had been putting money aside for quite some time now and should have enough for a demonstration.
I tried to explain the concept of explosives a thousand times but they brushed it off as nonsense. Charcoal burned, on that they would agree, but making it explode was beyond their imagination, it was the realm of ¡°magic¡±. I thought by now they would''ve gotten used to me bringing up strange new things but I was wrong. They would only believe it once they saw it.
Only Gelcaria believed me. She often looked at me like some crazy nonsense spiller but at least, right now, she wasn''t doubting me.
There was a meagre consolation: the latest batch of students was an interesting one. There were no more blades or free citizens, only commoners. This is the end game I had in mind from the beginning and I was glad it was happening faster than I ever thought it would.
There were a lot of sailors, beast grooms, and other peddlers among them. My guess was that they were meant to be spies sent away and writing back reports.
None of them received much education, a few know little ideograms.
It pained me to say that they were not very smart, to keep polite. They were older than the average in the other batch and they weren''t used to studying.
Only good point was that they thought I was some kind of fancy rich kid and are respectful to me.
I believed only two thirds of them would be able to write; all should be able to read enough. This wasn''t as good as I could have wished but it was a beginning. The officials we trained were currently teaching younger commoners and those should be more successful.
Fortan and Tupu were with us this year. The Summer was dry and warm as it should be and the first harvests were good. The Shieldlord threw a small celebration to thank the gods for their protection.
There was a fair in town, which was a good way to invigorate trade and the shops that suffered last year. Town criers announced it in town for days. Apart from the feast, at the expense of the blades; there were small competitions organized by blocks. Most were competitions with a martial background, running, lifting weights and throwing them, archery competition, and wrestling.
Winners would get rewards: food, money or prizes. It was both used to bolster the morale of the citizens but also to scout talents to recruit in the army. The winter expeditions had taken their toll and fresh recruits were in demand to fill the ranks.
In the palace, there was a ball, a gathering of blades and important denizens in the outer palace''s reception wing.
For a week servants were swarming all around like ants, decorating the whole wing in Fortan''s colours: sky blue and mud brown, for he could drag you to both. The outer palace garden was also transformed to accommodate the guests.
I was ¡°invited¡± with the rest of my friends. We were to be part of the princess''s entourage. Although we were young, each of us was exceptional in some way and we were going to be used by Moatimu to make a show of her influence.
Melodi and Gelcaria were both Chi users and had promises of talent in the magical field too. Gel was also a god touched one and Mel was a Beastkin and both were truly rare finds. I was the ¡°genius kid¡± who taught a new way of writing to the next generation of the high society and Balout was, well, Balout. I was harsh with him, in fact he got as much attention as I do since he was ¡°teacher¡± Balout.
There is no real respectful word to address a teacher in this world. Some will call you mentor or master, only a few would call me senior with how weird it was considering our age. Sadly there won''t be any Telerios-sensei for me.
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The party took place on Fortan''s celebration, nightday on the 24th of Cropist, the third month of Summer.
For the occasion, the princess had party outfits made for us. Balout and I got a shirt and pants set, made of green and blue silk with silver embroideries near the joints. Those were the princess colours.
Of course, her crest was also stitched on our outfits, we were to be flaunted as her property and our belonging was to be clear for all to see.
Her sigil was the Kirinavati''s three waves and horned circle with a slight variation: four lilies were blooming at the cardinal points of the crest. It was the symbol of her late mother.
The girls also had their own fancy dresses. Melodi was looking fierce in a sleeveless shirt with a short silvery skirt. Both were letting her grey furry body show at her advantage while her hair was braided like short dreadlocks, it was the traditional headdress of Beastkin fighters. She was also provided with a golden necklace that was matching her cat''s eyes.
Gelcaria was cute in a purple silky long dress. Two bracelets with amethysts were adorning her wrists.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
I can tell the princess must have had a lot of fun playing dolls with the girls.
The princess was the most dazzling of all. She was young but was showing promises of becoming a beautiful woman and whenever she wanted, she could become serious enough to look more like a late teenager than a kid.
She opted for a quite martial outfit: a short sleeveless top matching Melodi''s, a long skirt split on the side to show off her muscular thighs, and a fancy feathered tiara that made it look like she had two kirin horns. As royalty, she was allowed to wear weapons and had her silvery sais strapped in the large belt wrapped around her waist.
Hamy was the only one to wear armour and weapon on, she was her official bodyguard and in such a crowd she will have a lot of work to do.
Apart from a few guards of the Shield''s family and the highest blades, no one else was allowed weapons. My dagger was taken away since long and I haven''t even tried to bring it back in the palace since It would be snatched away at the first body search. The rules about weapons in the inner palace were stricts.
For the first time, I saw the weapons the girls were using. Gelcaria had two sais, just like the princess, she was training to fight like her. Melodi had some scaly hands and forearms protections. She was meant to use her claws and the forearms protections had bladed edges. Both would let them aside for the party but it gave me mixed feeling to see their weapons.
On the one hand, it was worrying me that my friends were armed at such a young age and were trained in close-quarter combat. On the other hand, I was relieved they were armed and trained: no one could tell when the next monster tide would hit us and I''d rather have my friends able to face the unexpected.
I just wish I could provide them with better weapons, like firearms. That would keep most dangers at bay.
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The party was less fun for us than I expected.
Sure, there was a flock of pampered ladies, strong looking officers and richly garbed merchants. I even think I saw the typhoon from afar but he was too busy discussing with a blade that he didn''t notice us. A few performers were on a stage, showing off with light-bending magic or having a firebird do tricks at a simple whistle.
My friends were eager to go watch the show but as followers of the princess, we were to stick with her at all times and she wasn''t having much fun. No binge eating the delicacies around or dancing for her.
Instead, she had to greet everyone and show she remembered them, have a nice word for each and everyone. She was part of the Shield''s diplomatic staff in some way.
For a girl who couldn''t remember a few ideograms she was doing amazingly well with faces. Rarely did Hamy have to whisper a reminder at her.
She was having either idle discussion with some, sharing gossips and discussing the latest trends in the Empire, I didn''t knew this side of hers. With others it was technical debates about trade, military positions, or the taxes on the next batch of shovels. Only now did I understand why her grandfather wanted me to translate so many books for her.
She was constantly gauged by each interlocutor. I don''t know if it is an effect of my blessing or just my wisdom of my past life but I could see that few were honest with her. Their eyes were betraying either contempt, jealousy or avidity, they all wanted something from her and she knew it.
Only when we were having a break in the gardens could we have a glimpse of how demanding this was for her. When she dropped her ¡°princess'' mask¡± for a second to take a breath she looked strained. Nothing like the carefree and battle-hungry princess we knew of.
On this field of battle she had to watch her every word to make sure she wasn''t saying too much, or not enough, not irking or flattering the wrong people.
I now understand why she wants to become a strong warrior this much, it will provide her with both freedom, security and respect. She will only be able to escape the intrigues by getting stronger and out of reach of most.
I didn''t envy her.
In the middle of the party, the Shieldlord took the centre of the stage for a speech. Nothing really worth hearing. It was my first time meeting him up close. I saw him from afar at Kosho''s trial after the mess of the monstrous tide.
He was looking as regal as he did back then with his long black braided hair and short black beard. He wasn''t in armour today but his red garb was almost looking like a military officer''s outfit and was outlining his muscular body. The golden embroideries, diamonds and gems adorning him were his ranking insignias and the collar made of monster teeth was his medals. There were teeth of every sizes and colours, showing that the man was the bane of monsters.
His crest was a bit different, he had the horned circle of the Kirivanatis but instead of the waves, his had a flame inside. The current Shieldlord, Moatimu''s father, was the son-in-law of the old lord.
The former shield, Lord Iroto, had quite the tragedy with his children. He had three sons and a daughter. His firstborn died during his first military expedition. It was against the roving tribes of the far west. The young lord was overconfident and got overwhelmed by the fierce warriors in the plains of stumps.
His second son died while fighting monsters. He was decapitated by a claw swipe and none of the magical healers on the field could do anything against that, powerful healers could regrow a limb but not a head.
His youngest son died of disease. Moatimu was unclear about what kind of disease could take the life of someone who had access to priests of Fusaad and the best healers of the Shieldom. I suspect he was poisoned but that is my pure guess here.
That left the old lord with only a daughter, Moatimu''s mother. To avoid successions issues he scouted for a suitable husband: our current lord.
Lord Katou was a general in the free cities, a highblade and famous fire magician. He agreed to be adopted into the family and change his family name.
Alas for lord Iroto, his last surviving daughter died after giving birth to her fifth child: the fifth princess, three years ago.
To avoid conflict, the mourning lord Iroto stepped down from power to let his son-in-law become the sole Shieldlord. The two men were in good terms and the old lord still had a lot of influence but he was also happy to fade away from the power play and nurse his wounds.
The second half of the party was both funnier and unsettling.
The third princess had to face suitors and rebuke about a dozen marriage demands, including the young lord of House Duarch: Luatotsi. Not heartbroken in the slightest the young man even came smilingly to converse with me a bit. He was the most good looking of the princess'' suitors. With his straight chin and tight outfit outlining his iron butt, he could turn the heart of any lady, except our princess.
He was praising my writing and how easy it had been to teach to his siblings and cousins.
I was still on cold terms with his house but the money and his forward attitude made it hard to blame him for his father''s misdoings.
He was a smooth-talker too, always had a smart pun or a nice compliment to make to either me or my comrades. Maybe I should consider getting on good terms with him? He was going to become the next blade in charge of protecting my family and he had enough money to finance my researches. He also had ties with the paper dealing around here. If I had to think long term, at some point I''ll want to produce paper here, both because I was planning for printing and mass literacy, but also because I knew of guncotton and would require an industrial supply of cellulose for it.
Then came the dancing part.
Most guests were quite inebriated by then, making the dance floor a mess. You could have as much Chi as you want to have fast and precise reactions, it wouldn''t help if you were drunk. At least for most. The strongest blades could move without problem, including the old lord who was dancing with a middle-aged free citizen who reminded me of Ms. Tarina. Maybe strong blades gets the power to purify toxins?
I''ve never been a good dancer. So dancing a foreign dance on exotic tunes was out of my league. There was a small troop of musicians, flute players, drummers, someone pinching strings on what looked like a bastard of a piano and a zither; harpists making crystal like sounds with an instrument made out of translucent bones and a strange spinning apparatus that was humming like howling winds.
The princess only danced with her brother, the second prince. Leaving her suitors in the dust.
The girls wanted us to follow suit but I firmly refused. I had to look like a serious kid to enforce my public image of a genius scholar, not make a fool of myself in public.
In the end, Melodi convinced Balout to come join her. I must admit my colleague is far defter than one could imagine at first look. He was even able to keep up with the frenzied polka-like that the Catkin dragged him in.
They were both laughing and giggling, having a lot of fun. Gelcaria was beside me, also smiling and enjoying the peaceful summer night.
Among all the horrors of this world, I was glad to find these brief happy times that were making the rest worthwhile.
Chap 55: Old faces
I had to postpone my work on gun powder.
The teaching class went as well as I expected: two-thirds of the commoners were able to master reading and writing. Mostly the youngest of the group.
This result was still enough to amaze the old lord an with reasons, teachings unlearned adults was a challenge, even more in such a short time.
With this many readers he would get eyes and ears everywhere in the Shieldom and even further outside. Be it the farms, the trade roads, or the ports from afar, we could get reports from everywhere and from people less likely to be watched by counter-spy agents. Who would be wary of a simple sailor or an uneducated beast groom?
This also granted me my second meeting with cardinal Fortmo. He barely apologized for the loss of my grandmother and was probably reminded to do so by Nutusi. To him, I was just another piece on the board of his power game. I might be a knight or a rook but still an expendable one. I''ll make him apologize one day when I rise as a queen. Yeah, this sounded weird.
Alongside the Cardinal, I made another offering to Shinpilo, my textbook. It was a teaching manual for reading and writing with the alphabet and also had a chapter about maths, redacted with Balout''s numbers.
I was hoping for a meeting with the god of knowledge, I had a lot of questions to ask him. I wanted to know more about [them], know how much my blessing was really able to do, or what he knew about my strange Chi condition? He didn''t deign to meet me. I still felt the familiar burn around my right eye, signalling me that he noted my alms. It was still something. Maybe when I''ll offer gunpowder or chemistry he will grant me an audience? For now I had to chomp at the bit and keep going on.
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As fall was starting to settle in, rains started to fall more often. Harvests were still undergoing and were promising a better winter than the last one for everyone. With the moisture rising quickly I wanted to speed up my work on the gunpowder, I didn''t know if I could work on it during winter.
I was harassing the old lord so that he would give me back the materials. Shizu even ended up banning me from the jade garden for a whole week. I reported my pleas on the princess and then the second prince hopping they would be able to lift their grandfather''s punishment.
The princess didn''t care much. She was busy training with Melodi, Balout and Gel. Only raw strength mattered to her and my ¡°tricks¡± weren''t her cup of tea.
The prince was more open-minded than anyone else. The idea that I could give the power of a low-rank magician to commoners didn''t repulse him. He wasn''t afraid to share the power. Instead, he was afraid of the recent encroachments from monsters'' attacks and how they were hammering at our defences and whittling down the army with each expedition.
The loss of a few soldiers was acceptable, Chi users weren''t that rare. Losing them in bulk was another problem and losing a blade, even more so a magician, was a huge loss for our manpower.
It took years to train one and the number of magically attuned citizens was few.
In recent years, between the tide and last year''s harsh weather that drove monsters in a frenzy, the Shieldom had lost quite a number of valuable Chi martial practitioners and magicians. It was getting worryingly harder to keep a hold on the farmlands in the western and southern areas.
Farming had always been a challenge, supervising large tracts of lands required a lot of soldiers and the infrastructures to support such deployment.
He explained how the destruction of one of the nighthaven in the south had cut us from a huge swath of arable lands.
On a map, he pointed at an area south of the Shieldom around a meander of the Awanui river. The west bank was full of fields just a year ago. The east bank was on the side of the mountains and forest and was a swarming ground for monsters. The river was a natural barrier and even if some monsters could fly and others were amphibians, with a small fort to support the troops, they could drive back most hordes and keep the farmers safe.
He wished to rebuild the nighthaven: a small military fortified outpost where servs and other farm workers would found refuge for the night or during monsters'' raids, but didn''t have enough magicians to spare on the task.
To build their thick-walled fortresses they used earth mages and strong chi users to move around huge blocks of stone to make sturdy walls. The problem was that those same strong users were also required to fend off monsters on every borders, even more when there was no nighthaven to protect the servs and survey the area.
When I asked him why they didn''t use the commoners to build it back with bricks, cement, or concrete I was met with a wary-looking prince. ¡°What in the trove of Arteus is [konkrete]?¡± he inquired.
I''ve talked too fast. I had to come up with a lie on the spot. ¡°A mud that can turn hard as steel when drying. I''ve read it is used in construction in the Underempire of the Trollkins.¡± They were known for their strange constructions far in the deep underground and famous for the impregnable fortress they built there to fend off the never ending tides of underground threats coming for them.
He was still a bit wary. ¡°Strange that I''ve never heard of it before. Where did you read this? Do you have the book somewhere? Show it to me.¡± He ordered in a very princely manner. He was groomed to lord over the Shieldom so it was normal for him to be accustomed to order everyone around but his tone still irked me a bit. It was childish of me but I guess it was a harsh reminder of our difference in status.
¡°Sadly no. I just transcribed it for a travelling peddler when I was working for the temple. I should still be able to reminisce the recipe, though.¡± I proposed a bait to distract him and soothe his suspicions.
His eyebrow raised in even more surprise: ¡°You would be able to remind a whole book about construction?¡± he asked, doubtful of my abilities.
I smirked and pridefully patted my chest, ¡°I am a Shinpilo''s blessed one. Memory might be my sole strength but I am very good at it.¡± It was my time to brag a bit.
He was still gauging me cautiously. ¡°Hmmm, maybe. Even so, we don''t have a crew of trained Trolls. The only ones around are miners.¡±
I reassured him ¡°No need for specialised workers. Or even Trollkins. I believe the process can be used even by commoners, it is just about handling the materials in the correct way.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
He raised an eyebrow ¡°Again? An other feat that commoners can perform? What''s next? They''ll be able to light up crystals without Chi?¡± He was amused and lightly mocking me, bordering sarcasm.
I mirrored his smile back at him with electricity that should one day be possible. Just wait and see.
I had no idea on how to get my hands on tungsten, or a glass bulb, or find noble gas or vacuum the bulb, though. ¡°I''m still working on that matter, so no promises, but for your construction problem I can come up with something. Give me a crew of a handful of workers, authorisation to use the kilns by the river and a small budget and I''ll show you what I can do.¡± I dared him.
He wasn''t used to that level of rebuking from his followers, few counsellors dared to challenge their future boss. ¡°How much budget are we talking about?¡± he anquired while stroking his chin. He was steeling himself for the huge sum I was going to ask, he was familiar with beggars and other petitioners going after his purse or the state''s coffers.
To be honest I had no idea of how much I needed. I wasn''t even sure of what I was going to actually use. Cement? I could make it by either using volcanic ashes or by calcining lime. There was no volcano around as far as I know, maybe underground? As for lime, we had shells from the river beasts that would make do. There were charcoal kilns on the east bank of the great river, I had seen the fumes back when I was sailing on it, they should be enough for calcination.
¡°I don''t know, maybe a couple silvers?¡± A silver was a hex of large iron coins. It was a lot for a commoner like me to ask for but also very little for a lord like him.
¡°You''re telling me you are going to get it done with so little? What kind of Fortan''s miracle maker do you believe yourself to be?¡± he was laughing at my expectations.
Boy, you wait for me to show you guncotton and antibiotics and you''ll see exactly what kind of miracles I''m able of. ¡°Then just give me two silvers and a week''s worth of time (eight days). If I manage to do it with only one silver, the remaining coin is mine.¡± I made a bet with him.
¡°And what if you don''t manage with one silver coin?¡± he retorted, amused by my brazenness.
¡°Then you''ll have lost two silvers. No biggie for you. Consider it forward payment for my fire powder.¡± I almost slapped his shoulder before reminding myself who was in front of me.
¡°Mmmh the other miracle that is yet to be seen.¡± He was stroking the beard he didn''t have in an unconscious imitation of his grandfather or maybe of his father, I don''t know if the current Shield has the same tic. ¡°If you weren''t a Shinpilo''s blessed one, I would lock you down for madness. Sometimes, I still think you got blessed by Fortan rather than Shinpilo. Fine, you will get your two silvers and a week,¡± he granted me.
I handed my hand to seal the deal. This made him scoff, how brazen of a commoner to dare ask the prince to shake hands. He still shook it, not without using a hint of Chi to make me regret the move as he was painfully clutching my small hand.
There was no more need to harass the old lord, I had another mission for now: make concrete an fast. I was on the clock here with only eight days to manage. First, I needed cement and a good night of sleep to gather everything I could remember thanks to Shinpilo.
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We had studied calcination in high school, so getting my hands on how to make cement was easy. I knew how to make concrete: sand, gravels, water, and cement, I had helped build a few things things like wells when I was working in an NGO. It was one of the perks of the job, we were doing a bit of everything.
To make cement I needed a source of calcium carbonate, either shells or limestone.
As far as I knew, there was no lime around. Maybe in the mine or the mountains but who would be able to extract a lot of it under the constant threat of monsters?
Shells, on the other hand, we had a lot of them. Be it the oyster-like that grew on the shallow stones near the river or shelled beasts: beaks and spikes were probably calcium carbonate and silicates too. Even monster shells should be able to make do.
Some monster parts had an use to them. Highly resistant scales and leather were of course used for armour, but also as insulators to handle hot materials in smitheries and foundries like my dad''s. They were rumoured to have magical properties too and to help interact with Chi. The only example I''ve seen so far was the princess'' scale armour, which had magical enhancements making it more resilient by dispelling the strength of incoming blows.
Some bones were so resistant that they found use in construction, the tall and massive city walls were able to stand and not crumble under their own weight only because they had such bone pillars at their core.
I can''t imagine what monster could have such big bones, Leviathans or dragons? The fights against them must have wreaked havoc over the city. Our walls were built on bloody sacrifices.
Finally, the alchemists were extracting a lot of products from other various body parts, either used as medicine, reagents, or poisons.
Shells were often discarded: not easy to use for armour making except for pauldrons and some shields, not easy to use to reinforce walls or buildings. Some shipbuilders were using the biggest shells as plating for boats meant to sail on the high sea but there were few of those around our river.
I took Melodi and Gelcaria with me for the day, I also knew that some of Shizu''s men would be watching us from the shadows while I''m strolling through the city, so they weren''t my only escort. They had to skip their daily practice with the third princess but were glad to take a day of with me. I had three key people to meet today and they would like to say hi to some.
We went to the city docks in the morning. The air was damp as the fog was only starting to dissipate, fall was kicking in. The familiar shrieks of river birds came and brought some nostalgia. A splash on the river reminded me of the lurking dangers and dissipate any remaining regrets for the place.
The first one I needed to meet with was the old Aruko. If someone could put me in touch with the charcoal kilns user, it was him. I was ready to bet my two silvers that he had shared a drink with some of them at least once.
And I would have won that bet. ¡°Ahoy Tel! What brings Mr. priest around the dock no''adays? Came to say hello to Aruko and have a sip? Or in need of a fresh eg''?¡± The limping sailor was happy to see me.
¡°No Mr. and I''m not a priest and might never be one.¡± I retorted playfully.
¡°Aye, heard about that too. Now ya''re a fancy servant at the palace.¡± He whistled in both admiration and mocking, gauging my dress. ¡°A long way from the time ye were fishing with us, but glad you didn''t forget us and still come to say hello whenever Amidea''s pushes you to.¡± He took a second to fiddle with his peg leg, tightening it back to his stump.
¡°I need your help with something in fact, palace job even. So in a way, you too are working for the Shieldlord now. How fancy is that?¡± I foxily surprised the old sailor.
He was looking interested, egg farming was a good activity but helping the Shield was even better. ¡°What can an ol'' limping fisherman do for ya, boy?¡± I had his attention.
¡°Do you know any of the workers of the charcoal kilns on the other side of the river?¡± I pointed at the far away opposite bank where a fume was coming up from.
He roared like an old pirate. ¡°Arrarrar!! Course I do. Me own brother is working there with ma cousin. In need of good coal?¡± he inquired.
¡°Yes and more. Could you take a day off to arrange a meeting with them?¡±
He was only hesitant for a moment. Taking a day off meant no income for the day but he also owed me his current job. He was grateful enough that he quickly answered. ¡°My old bones could always use a break and I''m thirsty.¡± He always was, ¡°But drinks will be on you Mr priest.¡± He winked at me. I was fine with that, booze was cheap and I was loaded right now.
¡°Fine, wait for me then. I first need to speak with Peterell.¡±
¡°He is on the river right now, but he should come back as fast as a maiden running away from a chogsu when he''ll see this little kitten.¡± He pointed at Melodi who blushed instead of getting angry at being called a kitten. She was such a daddy''s girl.
Actually, my former captain was too far to see Melodi. So while waiting for him we made a stop by Kukku''s stall to have an early meal. The young man was doing better now, last year was rough with the trade disruption and food shortage. He got good at cooking eggs and shrimps though.
We came unannounced so he couldn''t make us any of the things I taught him, no mayo or deep-fried fish but we still got a nice clam and calamari stew that was left to simmer since yesterday. It was the same green tentacle thing but this time cooked and seasoned skilfully with spices. A really good chowder, the man was slowly becoming a chef with seafood. I would really have liked to taste his grilled fish but the fishermen were still on the river so he had no fish to grill for us.
Peterell finally came back onshore at fourth morning bell. He was happy to see his daughter.
He smiled at me but it was a cold smile. Ever since I had his precious daughter infiltrate the palace he got a bit awkward with me. I knew I made her took risks but in the end it turned out well for her, didn''t it?
He now had another apprentice, far older than me or the girls, a young teenager that was probably on his confirmation path to become a fisherman.
After letting my former captain pet his daughter to his heart content (to both content in fact), I asked for his help. ¡°I''m on a mission for the Shieldlord, would you know trusty men looking for a job in construction? It''s only for a week now but will last longer. I''ll pay well.¡±
I didn''t know what the salary was going to be but with two silvers as budget, I should manage.
He calmly nodded ¡°Hmm yes, I can help with that. The dock leader can also help you too.¡± He pointed at the commandery after slowly answering me.
¡°Another thing. I''m in need of shells. A lot of them. And any other hard parts of beasts or monsters, be it beaks, shells, barbs or spikes.¡± I announced.
He did seem a little curious about what I was up to. ¡°I''m paying money for it.¡± This made him even more surprised. Those were trash, if I was going to buy trash it should be easy to manage.
His slow accent answered back ¡°That should be easy. We usually toss them back in the river but if you pay for it, everyone around will gladly bring you all of it. Just have the dock leader make an announcement,¡± he explained in his syrupy accent.
The dock leader was happy to oblige. It was to help me and the Shieldlord and there was good money to be made for all the dockers, only good sides.
Now I only had to get my hands on a kiln. Back to Aruko.
Chap 56: Calcinations
The limping sailor had us take a barge to cross the river.
The emperor''s bridge had since long been rebuilt after the damage the leviathan made on it but it was still far away and would make quite the detour.
The barge was a large flat bottomed boat, ideal for manoeuvring on steady waters and transport as many goods as possible per travel. Currently on board with us were only goods, fish for the worker''s meals, and tools they needed for their work. Except for the few sailors, Gel, Melodi, Aruko, and I were the only passengers.
This also meant we had dropped our bodyguards. I asked Melodi if she could tell if they were following us. She sniffed at the air and felt the wind through her whiskers for a long time before concluding, ¡°they are following us, don''t worry,¡± she almost patted my shoulder with her small paws, she sounded like she was reassuring a scared child.
This left me to reflect on what methods our invisible guards were using? Were they becoming fog? Were they using Chi to walk on the water Naruto-style? Or were they running so fast that they were like common basilisks?
The crossing was event-less but slow. I had the time to enjoy the calm river and a soothing breeze. Days will become colder soon enough but this was one of the last warm days of fall. The river was more secure than ever, this year there were more tridents patrolling and we could spot a lot of them when either a fin or a trident were surfacing.
Gel was training her Chi during the crossing, using it to create ripples on the water surface without touching it directly. Melodi soon started imitating her, but with much fewer ripples and that annoyed her.
The sight was still a bit painful for me. I had tried to meditate more than once, hoping that I would finally feel my Chi. A few times, I could feel something. I knew how Chi ¡°felt¡±because the old lord and the Marshall had used some on me, but it was different. If their Chi felt warm, what I was feeling when focusing on me was cold. Not ¡°cold¡± like fresh, but rather ¡°still¡±. Instead of something flowing it was like there was a massive chunk of granit inside of me, pushing against it was like trying to move a mountain and I still couldn''t say I could feel the world''s Chi.
To distract me away from this sad rehash, I talked with Aruko about life in the palace and how the egg farm was doing. He had an epidemic last month. Because his experiment was still under the watch of Charavatkeh''s priest they had a Fusaad priest take care of the infection but this wouldn''t be the case forever. At some point, I would have to start the production of antibiotics.
I also wanted to study more about this world''s animals, especially the monsters but I just couldn''t find either the occasion or the time. For now, I had to rely on books before going to sleep when I wasn''t just working till exhaustion. This childish body''s stamina was still on the low side and more than once I just blacked out at my desk. If I had Chi, I could just draw in my reserves to work longer... but enough about this.
When we reached the kilns it was already past noon, third daybell was about to ring. Aruko limped his way to the workers, calling for his kins. He came back flanked by two men that were looking like younger versions of him, less the peg leg and plus soot all over them.
¡°This one is ma younger brother, Kanko and her'' is my cousin, Siroz,¡± he introduced the two black faced men covered in coal dust before introducing me ¡°And this here his the genius kid blessed by Charavatkeh that found meh work. Mr, Telerios, mandated by the Shieldlord himself!¡±
Both men were looking at me with a mix of apprehensive respect and disbelief. I was a child but Aruko just introduced me as a free citizen, that he was working for me AND that I was a pantheon''s blessed one. That sounded a bit too much for them to take in.
¡°Don''t believe everything the old man says. I''m just Telerios, a commoner from the east district and Charavatkeh didn''t bless me for saving this old drunkard''s ass,¡± I laughed and both men looked relieved, I wasn''t some scary blade child or whatever, just a kid from the east block like they were probably too. ¡°But I am indeed working for the Shield right now.¡± This brought them back on their toes again. ¡°I want to see you kilns and know a bit more about your work, is that fine with you?¡±
They both nodded. Arukko was satisfied and dragged all of us to the nearest stall where we could have a drink. He hadn''t forgotten that I was his happy-hour all-you-can-drink ticket.
The three men had a round of barok while we kids opted for a simple lemonbalm-like tea.
If the two charcoal burners weren''t the sharpest tools in the shed, they were at least proficient in their job.
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Quickly it appeared to me that their kilns wouldn''t be of much help. They had great knowledge of temperature and combustion control, so as to not burn the wood but just keep the right fragile state that would turn it into coal. The problem was that it was a low temperature process.
After a few drinks that made them more comfortable around me, they showed me the kilns: round, large ovens with a protruding entrance that made them look like snails with fume coming up their shells.
They had multiple vents to precisely control the air output at any given time and thus the combustion and temperature so they could adapt to the weather, humidity and quality of the wood. This was at most a 500¡ãC combustion, perhaps lower. Far from the thousand degrees needed for the calcination of lime.
¡°Could you guys be able to reach a higher temperature?¡± I inquired with them.
Siroz was the most quick-witted and answered me ¡°Maybe. ''f we burned coal ''stead of wood it should be doable. Whata you planning, if I may ask?¡± He corrected himself at the last minute.
¡°I have an experiment to make about the shells of monsters and animals. I''d like to burn some and observe the combustion,¡± I lied. I wasn''t sure about those two and didn''t intend to explain my main goal to them.
They both looked a bit surprised but then shrugged it like it was the whim of a kid but if there was money to make out of it, why not?
Again Siroz was the one to talk. ¡°Fo'' the right fee we can manage that.¡±
¡°How much are we talking about?¡± I could see a glimpse of greed in his eyes, the man was about to try to scam me, I didn''t need Tamayoku''s or Shinpilo''s warning.
¡°Depends on how long it takes. We won''t be able to make charcoal while using the kiln for you, so it has to cover our losses. I''d say a large iron coin for a day on one kiln, plus the wages of the workers.¡± He was trying to hold a greedy smile.
This was preposterous. The coal burners should make no more than a few coppers per day. Maybe a large copper at most. ¡°Too costly. I''m no rich noble and I''m on a tight budget here,¡± I doused his greed immediately, ¡°I can offer you 8 small irons per day, wages included, at most.¡±
This seemed to be more than he was hoping for because he smiled happily, his white teeth standing out on his blackened face. I was still squeezed from more than I should have.
¡°Oy! You shouldn''t try scammin'' my Tel here.¡± Interjected a slightly drunk Aruko. ¡°Ye make ara(10) coppers a day. Stop trying to abuse him just becau'' he''s young.¡±
With their real worth exposed they had to lower the price. In the end we settled for half that price. Same sum but for 2 days of work instead of one. They would still be making double their usual wages.
Calcination test was set up two days from now to give me time to gather enough shells, I''ll also have to grind them down to dust.
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The fishermen at the dock were more efficient than I thought. I don''t know if they dragged the river in search of old discarded shells or were just making this much every day but three big bags full of shells, beaks, and cockles were waiting for me.
I paid the dockmaster 5 large coppers for it. He would be the one to then compensate every fisherman.
It wasn''t a hefty sum but it was still a lot for what would otherwise be valueless trash.
I still had to grind the thing and this was yet another problem. Not only was I alone today, Gel and Mel had their training with the princess, I couldn''t just bring them with me two days in a row, but I also had no tools nor access to a mill.
There were mills in the city. There were at least two small mills on the east bank side to process what little grain and bunta the in-wall farms were producing and the goods brought by the boats. They were powered by pack beasts, bulky koati lizards that were temperature dependant, a bit like Sansho. So not much work to be done with them in the winter.
I would have to transport the shells there, then pay for the mill. Since it wasn''t food I would probably have to pay a fee for cleaning the mill afterwards etc.. too much.
Aruko was my man again. He managed to round up a handful of shady but sturdy looking guys. I''m not the kind that judges a book on its cover but they really looked more like goons rather than honest workers.
They still did a good job. In a few bell''s time I had a rough powder of a mix of calcium carbonates and silicates. The fee they asked for was an honest one, a few coppers each.
I had them come back the next day for the second batch. I now had four sacks of powder to calcinate.
The reaction''s goal was to reduce the CaCO3 to CaO plus the release of the CO2 along the way. The addition of a bit of clay would also provide some calcium aluminate and the silicates were already in the shells of fire resistant creatures, alongside a lot of other biological impurities that I was hoping would burn without jeopardizing the final product.
It wasn''t ideal. Ideally I would want minerals, either pure or that can be purified to be sure of the composition of what I would work with. My main issue was how to procure said minerals in such a short time. Not only I wasn''t sure the mine had some or if an expedition would bring some back in the time frame I was given but I also didn''t know what I was looking for.
My memories of my chemistry textbook told me that I would need limestone, that I could describe. Things were different for ¡°kieselkalk¡± or ¡°authigenic quartz¡±... what are those supposed to look like? What should I ask the miners for? My blessing was powerful but not a magical trove of knowledge, it wasn''t a personal wikipedia and couldn''t help me figure out things I''ve never read about. This was trash knowledge, there was information but it wasn''t workable.
So shells will have to make do for now. When I hit a limit in the resource, I''ll then task alchemists to look for a mineral substitute, by then the process would have proven worth the effort and research.
I''ve separated my calcination experiments in a lot of different batches. I''ve separated my shell powder so that the composition is more or less the same among three different colours and I''m varying the proportion of clay, to find out how much of an impact this will have.
Each calcination took more than a bell. With only one kiln, it will take a long time to get a great numberof samples but this will have to make do. There is only five days remaining till my deadline with the prince and only so much money. The two charcoalers had to vent the kiln to have it reach its higher temperatures. I''m not even sure we managed to reach a thousand degrees. I''m sure we didn''t reach 1400¡ãC because there were no aggregates formed by the melting of the mixture, only powder more or less grey.
I had about a dozen pots of varied cement composition after calcination, ranging from whitish to dark grey. There must have been a various amount of wooden ashes contaminating my samples too. We''ll see if it impairs the results.
Kanko and Siroz were panting and sweaty. They were counting their hard earned coins, they deserved it and if I can afford it later, I''ll throw in a bonus.
Now I had to test the thing and think about how to best use it to make a sturdy wall.
I had no steel rods available, no steel at all in fact, so reinforced concrete was out of reach.
Instead ,I was thinking of either a gravel/stone mix or pouring cement around a brick wall. They used brick for house building in some parts of the city so there was already an infrastructure that could produce enough bricks. Last test was concrete alone, just sand, cement and some gravels.
It was time to draft an experimental timetable.
Chap 57: Were gonna build a wall
The prince was stunned. In front of him was standing a two-meter tall grey wall that could pack a punch.
His lightning bolt had no effect on it and he had to use Chi to chip at it with a strengthened punch. His bodyguard was the only one able to punch a hole through it but he had to go at it three times while putting more and more Chi in his strike. He said it would be sturdy enough to hold off most monsters, those that could brute force their way through this wall would also not be hindered by the usual stone walls.
I had spent three days erecting dozens of low walls with my three options: sand-gravel-stone, brick core, pure concrete, multiplied by the number of samples of cement I had.
I had requested the archery range to have a place where to perform my experiments. I had a nice timetable with numbers and labels for each of my samples. It felt good to use the scientific method once again, it was both reassuring and nostalgic. I might be in another world but rationality was still a powerful tool.
Though I was sure some of my samples had a part of silicates, it wasn''t enough for my cement to be hydraulic. My cement was hardening when drying, it wasn''t the best outcome because it was taking far more time and couldn''t be used to build bridges or harbours but it would make do for now.
I had one of the sturdy friends of Aruko stir the thing as I poured it with various mixes, using planks to shape the wall before waiting for more than a day for the reaction with the air to harden the mix. Luckily, the weather was on my side and it was dry and windy enough to help my experimentations. It was a crude work compared to what one could do with modern hydraulic cement but it was a good enough proxy.
A lot of my mixes were just bad. Either I put too much water or not enough but the end result was quite friable. Sample delo(13) had the best results, it was easy to mix with water and hardened after a day of exposition to the air to become hard as rock and smooth looking. One of the workers made a prayer sign to Arteus, praising the god''s power.
It was no miracle, just the power of chemistry.
Sample delo had a few percent of clay added and contained more beaks of chogsus, bringing a bit more silicates into the mix. In time, I''ll have to find a mineral source but hunting the tentacled manhunters wasn''t making me sad for the time being.
The sturdiest wall was a mix of a core pillar of bricks drowned in cement with sand and gravels. Once hardened the thing was both rough looking like stone, resistant, and must have had some porosity inside. Those air bubbles were helping it disperse kinetic energy, making it both sturdy and ¡°supple¡± enough to not crack at the first blow.
The real hard part was building a 2m tall portion of wall. This is where my employee shone.
Kirli was a thirty years old sturdy fellow. He was a former serv that had bought his ¡°freedom¡± to become a commoner in our city. He had an unusual tanned skin that was not just the product of working outdoors but also the sign that he was stemming from mixed parenthood which often meant coming from the southern free cities. Which was indeed his case.
He had the biggest nose I''d ever seen, the fat bud was growing on his face, eating a third of it and he was desperately trying to hide it under the bushiest moustache a human could grow. It was like he was wearing one of those comical masks with a big nose and moustache made for carnivals.
Despite his rough looks and sturdy muscles, the man was resourceful and of a calm disposition. He would take a minute to consider what he had to do rather than blindly rush after my orders.
In fact, I wasn''t ordering him much, he had dabbled in many occupations while trying to make whatever coin he could and had some experience in construction. Although not with cement, it still helped a lot when we had to lay bricks and find a way to build the 2m tall wall.
We build it by layers, going up as the cement was hardening and adding more on top right before it was becoming solid.
This required the two of us to stay near our wall at all times, watching out the state of hardening we were reaching and lay more bricks as soon as the liquid was becoming half solidified. We even worked overnight on the last day of the bet.
Of course, he was in for the money but he also was genuinely interested in the process and was a good wall to bounce ideas on. He was putting up with being led by a kid and had enough experience in construction to provide me with insightful returns.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
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¡°How long a wall can you make in a day''s worth of work?¡± asked the prince.
I had no idea. I wasn''t even sure of how much cement I could produce. ¡°I''m not sure. With enough cement and workforce and if the bricks are already on site I would say as long as this archery range.¡±
This was about 200 meters. I still had a hard time with this world''s measurements and was reluctant to speak in feet or arm-length. Would I be speaking of my arm or an adult arm? Would a Trollkin speak in troll arms and an Elve in elven arms? Who was to make sure an ¡°arm¡± was of standardized length?
This sent the prince in a daze as he was figuring out what to do next. ¡°If you can manage that in a day, we could rise a small nighthaven in a week,¡± he calculated, ¡°I should be able to afford an expedition to protect the crew for the time doing. Are you sure this requires no magic at all or no Chi users of the second rank?¡± he inquired in disbelief once more.
¡°Yes, I''m sure,¡± I confirmed with confidence, ¡°I''ve built this alone with commoners and none of us used magic nor Chi,¡± I bitterly explained.
It wasn''t entirely true, Kirli was a second level Chi user, so in the lower part of the first quarter, according to him. That would put him on the same level as my dad, giving him a bit of extra workforce when needed but nothing herculean. What the prince was referring to were Chi users of the second rank: those that were level 5 to 8. This was the level of higher-ranking officers and quite strong Chi users. It was what was usually required to manipulate the huge rocks weighing tons that they would use for the construction of nighthavens.
With a whole crew of men like Kirli or perhaps a bit stronger, things could go really fast. They would just have to be wary around the cement to not get chemically burnt but otherwise, they should be able to lay the foundation fast. Even more so because the Nighthaven was a wrecked fort to fix up rather than a new one to build out of the ground.
¡°The real limit will be how much bricks and cement I can procure. I don''t know much on the brick situation but for cement, I am limited in the number of kilns I can use and the amount of shells I can collect.¡± I explained to the lost-in-thoughts prince.
¡°I''ll provide with what is needed and the military will support this,¡± he decided. ¡°I need to talk with the Shieldlord,¡± he announced before leaving us in the archery range.
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In the end, I was commissioned to build a wall.
Not only did I win my bet and earned myself a silver but I was ¡°hired¡± to manage the production of cement.
I had more money available than I could spend, part of it was turned into bonuses for all the workers who helped, be it construction, kiln''s crew, or fishermen. This ate half of my reward in a flash.
A court official was appointed to supervise me and help me with management. It would look bad for a kid to handle Shieldom business on his own.
My supervisor was one of my former students so it made things easier to get along with her. She was a young woman in her twenties. A free citizen who had the black hair of the Empire and always braid it in a crown around her head. She was chosen because she was smart, young, and the daughter of one of the military providers that didn''t cheat on their prices.
Akili Mohio was her name. She was nice with me, respectful even but knew when to crack a joke to ease the mood going around our mismatching pair. She was cute with her delicate nose and had eyes as dark as onyx beads. I suspect the prince had a thing going for her and was doing her a favour here.
With her help, we made a huge turnaround in the fishing industry. Now that shells were worth something and asked in large amounts, fishermen and tridents were actively hunting chogsus and other beaked beasts. I was fearing that our supply will run out when they exterminated the population but won''t regret the existence of the chogsus. I didn''t forget the half-eaten body of the fisher''s apprentice. Sure, removing an apex predator will imbalance the flora and fauna. We will have to monitor the situation with the help of Charavatkeh''s priests to make sure the fish population was under control. Worst case scenario, we will have to fish more, which means more food. There would be other predators to fill in for the chogsus, but without hunting men.
The kilns were more of a bottleneck. I now had enough shells and even the miners were tasked to look out for limestone and gypsum. The problem was to process it.
The kilns were needed to provide coal to the denizens before winter, we couldn''t impair this work. Once loaded with wood a charcoal kiln would slowly burn for a half hex. So the amount of free kilns we could ask for was limited.
Building more kilns would take time and we wanted the nighthaven to be ready before winter, we had to secure the area to stop monsters from settling in the plains during the winter and make nests that would impair farming in the next Spring.
With the help of Akili, I managed to secure four kilns for calcination. I had Siroz appointed as the foreman. I knew him, he was part of Aruko''s family, was quick-witted enough and deserved the promotion. He was far from smart but he knew his job and looked diligent. If he ever slacked off, I would ask Aruko to beat some sense into him.
He put up a team of a hex men that were working around the clock to calcinate as much as they could. The pay was better than coal making and this allowed him to rope in the best workers around.
I''ve let Akili handle the bricks part, she simply had to negotiate with the traders in stead of the army and would do a better job than me. She knew the prices, the costs of manpower at this time of the year, and wouldn''t be subject to scam attempts like the na?ve-looking kid I was.
We were in Piscost, month of Charavatkeh, and had to hurry things up if we wanted the fort to be operational before winter.
While Akili was dealing with the logistic, perusing the costs and drafting the budget for me, I was training the workers with the help of Kirli.
We were using what little cement was left to train a makeshift crew of builders. A good chunk were servs belonging to the prince himself and the rest were commoners like Kirli that were trying to make a coin where they could. Only a few of them had knowledge about construction.
I think the prince was still testing my claim that I would only need commoners to manage the feat and was making things difficult for me. He was kind of a sore loser for just one silver.
The only help he would provide was the military escort to protect the construction crew.
With all this, I was still unable to work on gunpowder but hadn''t forgotten about it. Thanks to my recent success and proof of the promises that my ¡°chemistry¡± held, the old lord gave me back the niter and sulphur. For now they were stored in the room I was sleeping in at the palace''s servant''s wing. I also got his sigil back, mostly to make sure no one would dare abuse the kid I was while working on the project for the city.
The prince gave me his too but it just didn''t hold as much power as the former lord''s one even if he was the current heir to the Shieldom.
The workers'' crew was making good enough progress under the supervision of Kirli. We were gonna build a wall.
Chap 58: The right ratio.
Back at the castle, my friends were busy on their own.
The three of them were finally enjoying the fruits of their training. Balout, Gel and Melodi were now not only able to feebly sense the Chi in the air but also to use it to replenish their stamina. This officially made them first rank Chi users.
They were very young for such a feat, even more so for commoners. It amazed Hamy who was the one supervising their training and seeded mixed feelings in the princess'' heart. She was proud of her ability to gather such brilliants followers around her but was also a bit jealous at how quickly they were making progress.
She was stronger than them and was already a rank 3 user, standing at the peak of the first quarter at age 9. It was a commendable performance but deep down, she knew her results were thanks to the nurturing of her family and the use of a few external helpers.
My friends only had their raw natural talent and a bit of pointers to reach in a few months what took her a year. She was younger than they are, this thought was bringing her some solace but she was worrying that one day her new sparring partners might out shadow her.
Now that the three of them were able to find a second wind whenever needed, far gone was my dream to ever beat them again in a race or a contest of strength. I was still accompanying them on some morning training just to stay fit but it wasn''t the same now that there was no competition anymore or even the slightest hope of keeping up with them.
On the other hand, the competition between them was fierce, especially between Gelcaria and Mel. Even Balout who wasn''t the kin to exert oneself was outranking me now.
This left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth, deep down I was still not completely over with accepting that I wouldn''t have any kind of magical power. It was hard to swallow when you were in a world filled with magic. It was like being the helpful nerd that was supporting the main heroes, or to be left in front of a bakery to watch all the nice cakes only to have bread to eat. It wasn''t that bad, just a bit underwhelming.
It was easy to tell when they were training to hold on as much Chi as possible inside of them. Balout was looking like he was having a stomach ache after binge eating, Gelcaria''s eyes were flashing purple angry beams of annoyance and she was complaining about headaches while Melodi was grumpy and had her fur standing straight up all over her body, making her look like an unhappy plushy hedgehog.
Chi overstretch was famous for being uncomfortable. It was a needed step to improve one''s ability to sense, steer, and feel Chi, but the side-effects were unpleasant.
When they were in that state of overdosing on Chi I was able to beat them. Even if they had a second wind they were like drunk on power and their moves were clumsily large and predictable. I had to enjoy it while it lasted because soon enough, this too will become an impossible feat.
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Right before the end of Piscost the building crew was ready. They would have a week to rebuild the fort and it would leave three more weeks to reinforce and garrison it before winter.
I wasn''t allowed to go out alongside them. Despite the military protection, it was deemed too dangerous for a powerless little kid. This made me rant against my lack of Chi once more. I''ve never seen the world outside. The city was nice but I was also wishing that I could go explore the world, see its fauna and flora, and how it was differing from what I knew. Who knows what I could think of when seeing more of this world?
Instead, Akili and Kirli were my deputies. They were an odd pairing: the rough-looking Cyrano and the delicate rose of the rich neighbourhood, but this was my crew of mismatched talents.
They would make sure the construction would go well in my stead. Kirli was as knowledgeable as I was on construction if not more and I had taught him as much as I could on cement.
Akili was a competent supervisor, she would be there more for the logistics and to provide me feedback later on rather than because she was needed. What surprised me the most was that she was a fourth rank Chi user, as good as a veteran soldier in the army.
I''ve never asked about her martial abilities and now that I knew that she was able to crush a monster barehanded it gave another flavour to all the light jokes she was making around me about how fragile looking I was. She was more fearsome than I thought, a rose had its thorns.
Now that the crew had left the city I took a week of respite.
I could spend some time with my family. The recent amount of money I made had changed our daily living. My mother had hired Mango to help her at home with my youngest sister. The help was more than welcome and this was earning the black-skinned seamstress more than what she was when working for Ms. Tarina. I hope my former mentor doesn''t blame us for poaching her employees.
We made it up to the workshop in two ways. First, my eldest sister enlisted there as an apprentice. It was a better path than washerwoman if I had to give my opinion. If I could, I would have her enlist with the alchemists or work in the palace. Secondly, I bought everyone better clothes.
Finally, we all had shoes and not just wrappings around our feet. It was simple wooden sabots filled with hay and warm cloth but it was still an upgrade. Leather shoes were custom made for free citizens and were just too costly yet. I had shoes made out of fabric and a thick leather sole but those were for when I worked for the Palace, either in the castle or as a representative outside, not for my personal use at home.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
I also splurged a bit on clothes: warm furs for the winter, thick blankets, and new futons for everyone. Now my kins were looking less like struggling commoners and closer to the best earners in our neighbourhood. Still far from free citizens but improvements were coming slowly.
I''ve considered teaching my brother and sister how to read and write. I tried on ¡°sundays¡± to teach them a bit but they were just too slow learners. Maybe because they were already too old and had never learned any ideograms or maybe because they were just too dumb. The later explanation was clearly the one for my brother.
He was walking the same path as my father and was bulking up to become a smelter or smith too. He was already able to sense Chi and when growing up, he''ll learn to use it to strengthen his arms when hammering or lifting heavy duties.
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When I resumed my duties at the castle, I started working on black powder.
I had everything I needed on hands: charcoal from Siroz, niter from the mines and a small amount of sulphur. Luckily not much was needed.
I had scrounged the corners of my memory with the help of Shinpilo but couldn''t find a clear recipe. I knew the ingredients but having a list of ingredients and baking a cake were two different stories.
I enquired with the court alchemist: Ms Kakaya, if there were reports of flaming or explosives devices but the court alchemist only knew about powders to make coloured flames, nothing about explosions, those were magicians'' monopoly.
I could only experiment on my own then.
I asked the old lord for a place to fiddle with burning materials and maybe explosives. I was given the authorization to do my experiments in a secluded corner of the princess''s training yard. It was where she sparred with the girls and Balout.
It was a big partly roofed room with stony pavement. So no fire risk, no risk of choking on fumes and I could still protect my gear from the autumn rains. Explosions sounds wouldn''t be too unexpected coming from the training place of Chi users and mages, and it was only natural that I worked under the direct watch of my boss. Princess Moatimu was still our boss officially since we were all part of her retinue. Our palace uniforms were now bearing the crest of the princess with the four lilies rather than the old lord''s one.
This was fitting well with me. In the early morning, I could run a lap with them, stretch, and share
tea and snacks with them all. When they started sparring with mock wooden sais or training to use Chi, I would be in my corner, working on my powder.
Whenever I would lift my eyes, I would be greeted with the fierce exchanges of blows between them. Now I understood why Gel and the other were covered in bruises, Hamy was a merciless trainer, far harsher than what Gupta and Orzhov were with me.
The kids were flying around the room and the wooden weapons were still able to leave a blackening bruise when it struck a clean hit.
When using Chi, the princess was clearly a rank above the rest of them, I''m still amazed Gel and Mel managed to push her back to a corner during their first meeting.
On my side, I had prepared my ingredients as far as I could tell: all were ground to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle. My arms were aching but I had all I needed, now was the real grindy part: figuring out the right proportions.
I prepared a lot of small pouches, fabric was cheaper than paper and I would try to make firecrackers.
I had a list of the most probable proportions I knew it would be mostly saltpetre, that''s why it was such a crucial resource at some point in history: around 70 to 90%, then coal from 20 to 10%, and the rest of sulphur for a few percent.
I had a scales balance with a stone as weight. At least the stone would be my golden etalon to look for the correct ratio.
For a week, I only met failures.
My black mixture was igniting but the pouches were burning rather than exploding. I tried to shift to small clay pots to increase the gas pressure but even so, it was smoking and burning rather than exploding.
There was something wrong. Either I wrongly remembered or I was lacking a key component.
I tried more irregular compositions: half coal/half niter and others.
Until I finally got a small firecracker. Sulphur was more important than I remembered. After making even more new proportions I found a satisfying mix: a little bit more than 7 parts niter and the remaining three parts were half niter half sulphur with just a tad more niter.
If I had precise measuring tools it should be around 75% niter, 15% coal and 10% sulphur. With this rough recipe, I was managing to get a small bang each time. More or less, depending probably on my lack of precision, the composition of the coal, purity of my niter, and other factors I didn''t control yet.
The first bang surprised everyone, me included. The kids and Hamy all gathered around.
¡°Is this your explosion thing? Not that impressive.¡± noted princess Moatimu with a pawky smile.
¡°It is but the beginning.¡± I retorted.
¡°How does that work?¡± asked Balout who was looking interested, he was probably the only one who genuinely tried to understand the chemical reaction.
¡°The combustion of the mix occurs so fast that hot gases get compressed in a tiny space creating an explosion as it expands,¡± I explained.
He wore an understanding look when the others were just looking dumbly at me, not understanding a shred of my explanation.
¡°Gas that what in what?¡± asked the princess in disbelief.
I knew she should know about the states of matter, I had taught them to her myself. She may not understand the concept of expansion but she shouldn''t be at a loss that much.
¡°So if I were to compress air using chi and releasing it in one go, I could also create the same bang?¡± Smartly asked Gelcaria. That''s my girl.
I almost wanted to pat her on the head but it would be a bit demeaning in front of the princess. ¡°Yes, that could do to but you would have to compress it like a lot and release it all at once. It shouldn''t be easy. Having a chemical reaction is far more doable.¡± I explained to her. I could see that Balout was getting my meaning and even Melodi seemed enlightened.
Only Moatimu was still doubtful: ¡°So it would be hard for a Chi user but with your coal, you would be able to launch a fireball like a fire mage?¡± She was almost laughing at how stupid the idea was. Burnt wood could do magic? What next?
¡°Yes. I should be able to, with the right amount. Right now, I must work more on the precision of my tools to get a more reliable result before wasting more powder to get a true explosion,¡± I explained.
She scoffed at it like I was trying to evade acknowledging the inferiority of my product. In time, she will see.
And indeed it needed more fine-tuning. I wasn''t getting a regular result. Be it because of my wrong proportions, the changes in the air humidity, or the clay pots, bangs weren''t ascertained every time.
For the next few days, I requested the help of Ms. Kakaya. I needed her assets to be more precise. This wasn''t a sexual innuendo about her chest, I really needed her precision scales, vials, and other grinding tools.
I was working for the Shield''s family and she was curious about my work so the charming Elve was happy to oblige. When she had the time, she would even come herself to teach me how to better use the tools.
Now that she was closer to me I could get lost in her eerie yellow eyes that were ever-shifting, a bit like the sun''s surface, there were constant changes in them.
Her smell was also intoxicating. In a world with little good soap, she was by far the nicest smelling person I''ve met. She was always wafting the scent of fresh flowers with her every move. Had I not controlled the urge, I would have buried my head in her hair to take a good smell of her shampoo. I missed shampoo, hair conditioner, deodorant, and perfume. It might sound trivial, but her smell was reminding me of lost commodities.
I''ll have to order some from her when I get enough money, for me, my family and Gelcaria.
She also brought some interesting inputs. For example, she had me wet the mix of coal and niter then dry it back to a powder so that both could mix and link together more closely. Never would I have thought on my own to pour water on gunpowder in the making, that just sounded so illogical and counter intuitive.
The effects were real though and now I was getting consistent and better bangs. I just had to scale up the volume.
Chap 59: The sixth Race.
I was so engrossed in my work that I would often just stay till late at night in the training yard.
With the palace''s strict curfew in place, it meant that I would end up sleeping there on the ground. Even going back to the room that I got assigned to in the servants'' wing would risk me needless troubles with the guards. I knew some would recognise me and just let me go if I flashed the lord''s token, but even more would just be happy to enforce regulation on a child.
Two people were greatly annoyed by my stay. First was Gelcaria. She was unhappy to have to look for me in the evening and then spend the night on her own while worrying about my whereabouts.
Soon enough she started roaming around the training yard too after her training sessions. She would either sit cross-legged and silently train her Chi-sensing ability, training her moves on the wooden dummy, or just watching over my shoulder what I was up to, rarely asking a question. She could tell when I was focused and didn''t want to be disturbed.
I must say the dummies weren''t lasting long under her assault, the power of her punch was scaring me, I better not ever give her a reason to sucker punch me once again. There was something unsettling to see such a frail girl be able to pack enough power to split wood with her bare hands. Chi was so world breaking, again, I was swearing at the cruel fate that was keeping me out of it.
Second was the head maid. Having a boy sleep in the wing of the princess was deemed: ¡°indecorous and improper.¡± it could ¡°bring shame to her maidenhood.¡±... In her dreams.
Sure the princess was cute, beautiful even by Earth''s standards, but she was a 9 years old, not even a teenager and I was an almost 7 springs old. Seeing something suspicious in me sleeping in a training yard was a bit too far-fetched.
The princess thought so too. She laughed at the idea and had her grandfather brush it away. Instead, I even got a futon to sleep on spot and even a windscreen. The old lord was fathoming how important my work was. I had put my god''s blessing on the line when I promised him that this could change the stalemate with monsters and he wasn''t worried that the boy I was was going to prey on his granddaughter''s virtue.
Now that my powder was good enough and before producing it in greater quantity I needed to make a gun.
Not a real gun, not even a rifle. Calling it a musket would even be too flattering, I just needed a metal tube that could be used as a rudimentary gun barrel.
Going for a cannon would be even better but would cost more, this would come in a second time, for now, I needed to prove that was I was working on was worth the investment.
I knew making grenades wasn''t going to impress them enough and would be too wasteful of what little gunpowder I could make for now. If I could only make a few grenades, the low volume would hinder my claim. Whereas a gun needed less gunpowder to prove effective against a single target.
So what I needed was a hand cannon. I wasn''t going to build a big one from the get go but just a small thing as proof of concept.
When they would acknowledge the veracity of my claim, I could have them fund the real thing. At first, a rough iron bombard would do but soon enough I would have them make steel, it was a good way to coax them into steel-making.
This was something that has been creeping in the back of my mind for a while: they mostly used bronze but they clearly had access to iron and there was coal down there in the mine.
There should be a way to extract enough of both to make a small supply of steel. They had bricks so I should be able to have them build a refractory brick furnace. I was contemplating why no one ever found a way to make steel. Was the amount brought back from the mines not enough for experimentations? Or maybe were there no lucky alchemist?
All of this will be a heavy investment. I first needed to present something worth justifying the silver they were gonna have to shower me with.
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The construction crew came back successfully after ara (10)days out there.
The renovation of the busted nighthaven went better than they thought. Not only could they fix the breached walls but they were also able to reinforce and expend them a bit.
This meant that by next week a garrison will winter there, securing the area, scouring it from monsters and the land would be ready for farmers to settle back by spring.
The cement was a great success and already the prince was planning on other uses. Not for construction in the city but rather for outside where it was troublesome to bring squads of mages. Having commoners be able to quickly repair their own fortifications was a boon but the second prince was also planning on expanding the defences of the Shieldom: building more nighthavens to secure more arable land and also some smaller watchtowers, as relays for travellers and to set small safe havens for patrols to rest in.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
This would help secure the routes and enhance our scouting and reconnaissance abilities. The monstrous tide from two years ago could only reach the city because there just weren''t enough patrols in the wild to spot it in time.
I had to call him back to Earth by reminding him that there wasn''t going to be enough cement as is. We needed more lime and our exploitation of the river had limits. Already, there were fewer predators in it because of how much we were hunting chogsus and other shelled or beaked beasts down.
If we wanted more, we would have to either import shells from the sea or look for limestone in the mine or surroundings.
Operating a quarry wasn''t a viable operation, it would require military protection from beasts and monsters and the stone wouldn''t be worth the cost. It would be a heavy investment at least. In my opinion, it would be worth it in the long term, giving us better defences, more land to grow crops on, and securing our trade lines.
The other limit was the need for more kilns, more fuel for said kilns, more competent crew, etc... We couldn''t cut down the whole forest just to make enough charcoal and even if we wanted to, monsters would make that a hard endeavour.
What we needed was coal from the mine and to build new kilns, more efficient in the use of fuel, we needed to make the most of what little we had and prioritise what buildings were going to benefit from cement first.
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Our plans with the prince were disrupted as this month''s daynight slowly approached. It was Fallost, last month of Fall and we were going to celebrate Arteus. This was even more important for the palace since Arteus was the patron god of this city AND the patron god of the Kirinavati family.
Our city was known for its metal-working and craftsmanship, both were under the domain of Arteus.
The Shield''s family were all lightning-based magic users. The current Shield was a fire user but he wasn''t born in the family. Be it the old lord, the prince, the third princess, or her older sister, all were using either lightning or tempest as their magic core style and the legend was that it was taught to their family directly by a Kirin that denied the monster god.
In my wildest dreams, I would use the princess as a battery to either electrolyse water or produce aluminium. Those were just mad thoughts, at best I would get the help of low-level mages, which also meant they wouldn''t be of much use.
I knew nothing about the younger two siblings of the Kirinavatis, I just knew there were a fourth prince and a fifth princess and that they couldn''t be old enough to already wield magic. They must reside in the Lord''s quarters in the innermost parts of the palace.
The celebration of Arteus was a big deal for the palace. Not only was there going to be a party, even more important than the one for Fortan, but also there were going to be delegations from other countries and diplomats attending the event.
Of course, the Empire''s representatives would be there but also deputies from the southern free cities, scyllas of the Nereians, Beastkins sages of the Empire of mist, Trollkins pillars, diplomats from the elven court but also more scarcely seen people: shamans of the western tribes, Agarics from the Fungi clusters on the other side of the ocean, far to the west, Sultans from the southernmost continent etc...
Among all these people were some of the representatives of one of the races I''ve never met so far: the Fungi. They were dryad-like beings, attuned to nature and known for their connection to both Fusaad and Tupu. Although called Fungi, they were in fact plant-based and a lot were even living off of photosynthesis if I am to believe the ¡°travel reports of Master Herck¡± describing how some of them just won''t eat.
Was there a distant relationship with how Godzilla was also able to harness the Sun''s energy? This world knew nothing about the evolution theory or phylogeny, one of the things I''d like to do once this world is safer, is to travel the world as a zoologist studying all their beasts and animals, figuring out how they are linked with one another and maybe how much strange abilities they have.
Melodi was the most enthusiastic of all. She always had been a curious one. ¡°We are going to see mermaids, ¡° she was singing as she was springing around us.
¡°Stop it, you''re making me dizzy,¡± complained the princess, though she was smiling at the young kitten''s enthusiasm.
The princess was far less thrilled than her sparring partner. She had seen these people before and it only meant more political shenanigans for her. ¡°I don''t want that fat count from the Empire to propose once more,¡± she complained. The thought just gave her even more energy for training, only strength would let her choose her path. She lightly punched Gel in the shoulder, ¡°back to training you lazy bunch, the delegates aren''t there for a hex, you''ll have more than enough time to get excited about them.¡±
While the girls were bruising one another without restrain, Balout was smart enough to avoid the storm and came to ask me more about the Fungi. I had read about them a bit more than he did since I had translated far more books than him. I gave him a brief summary of Master Heck''s works, my memory of it was almost perfect.
The Fungi were living mostly on a continent far away from here, in the southern hemisphere but there were some settlements a bit everywhere. They were sought out for their knowledge in farming, diseases, and their woodworking. They were fighting back monsters, just like the rest of us sapients were, but they weren''t actively fighting them back and were rather opting for a more defensive stance. According to the travelling scholar, their cities were impregnable. This was something I''d like to see. I always thought ours were, until the tide proved to me that our thick walls weren''t enough against all leviathans.
Balout was also eager to catch a glimpse of all these strange visitors, sadly, this was just too high-level an event for simple commoners like us to attend to. Even as a member of the princess'' entourage we just weren''t worth attending the party.
This event was highly secured and participants were limited in number and even in the power level of each of their followers. Gathering so many important people would always bring risk. It was a great opportunity for some to strike at their enemies or for brazen heretics to score high.
I would only be able to watch the delegations from afar as they arrive in town. Not much, but that will have to quench our curiosity. Ideally, I would find an occasion after the party to discuss with each delegation. I expect the old lord to talk about the alphabet and numbers with them and this should give me the opportunity to ask more about their resources.
Who knows? Maybe the Empire has huge quarries of limestone, or the elves know about steel, or someone in the free cities can help supply us with saltpetre, etc...
There must be smart people out there and I needed to use alphabet and numbers to lure them in and have them help me. Even with my now perfect memory, I couldn''t figure everything out on my own, there were holes in so many subjects. I blamed myself for not reading enough back then, even if I had just nonchalantly glanced at a history book about gun making, it would come in handy now.
No such luck, I could tell the number of ventricles in a alligator''s heart though, or all about the nervous system of cows and enteric fermentation and methane emissions.
But when it came to engineering, there were huge holes in my knowledge. When I was lucky enough to have parcels of informations, I would still lack some requirements or just the technical precisions to directly apply the knowledge.
That''s why I was ready to risk the diffusion of my secrets, with just me they were mostly useless, but with enough smart people, who knows how high we could reach?
When you are the smartest one in the room, it means you are in the wrong room.
Chap 60: Gun barrel
The palace was even more in Turmoil than for the previous garden party.
Every speck of dust was cleaned, any weed rooted out, any guard''s armour polished till it was a bronze mirror and all decorations were taken out. Crystals were hung everywhere to shed light and heat in all the castle. They even had to put some braziers when they ran out of crystals.
The training yard of the princess was not deemed important enough to keep its crystals and I know had to make do with candles and braziers, which was worrying me a lot when working with explosive powder nearby... Putting a flame near my workbench wasn''t the best idea ever.
To me, all this was mostly distractions from my work. Since it wasn''t safe to work with gunpowder, I moved on to gun-barrel making. I couldn''t attend the event so I''d rather not agonize about it like Melodi and Balout were. They really wanted to have a peek at all the strange peoples and a bite at all the delicacies that were going to be eaten there. Gelcaria was trying to console them, they would see from afar and would have a taste at the leftovers, the princess would make sure we all got something nice to enjoy after the party.
Transports in this world were time-consuming and I don''t know how all the delegations will make it here. There is no convenient teleportation magic to make long-distance travels easy. The most common way to travel fast and safely is by boat. Land roads are both slower and more dangerous.
For high-ranking people like our expected guests, they might come by riding flying beasts. There were few and they were costly to maintain and unsuited to carry goods but were the best for ¡°fast¡± travelling. A flying beast could cover many kilometers per day. You would still need to find places to rest and feed it, leaving you vulnerable but flying beast riders were often strong Chi users.
Finally, the high-level Chi users could just run for days and faster than a train but that was possible only for very few people. Even maintaining a fast communication line this way would be out of reach, who would ask the Marshall to act as a postman?
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To have my first gun barrel crafted, I went to my father''s smithery. This way I was more confident that no one would try to scam me and my father would know who the best smith was.
I went with Balout there since the girls were training with the princess and not interested in my shopping.
We walked through the industrial district of easthill and took a snack like we did when visiting the mines. It waas something like a corn-dog with a side of grapefruit-like salad and a cup of warm spiced peppery tea. Such was the price to pay to have Balout come along.
My father''s smithery was a small one. They weren''t dealing with precious metals, only processing the common bronze but had quite a good reputation for the quality of their products.
I gave money to my father and had him deal with one of the smiths, the best around here he told me.
This was official palace business so I used this to avoid most questions. People were curious about my strange order but wouldn''t dare refuse a commission from the castle.
I had them mould a bronze plate and then the smith rolled it to form a tube. A rough welding sealed the tube on the side and bottom. I then had them pierce a small hole at the bottom so that I could either insert a fuse or later think of some way to make a flintlock or hammerlock.
This was very crude work and a rudimentary gun barrel. I wasn''t even sure how much strain their bronze could handle before breaking apart. The welding was a source of concern too. Small explosions should do but I''ll carefully stand a few feet away for the first tries.
I''ll have to figure out something for steel barrels. Moulding needed to be made out of one piece or I''ll need to find out some way to bore or drill the cannon in a steel rod. Just even more to-do to add on the unending list.
I spent the rest of the day with my father, observing the smiths at work to get a better idea of what they were able to do. Knowing what I''ll have to make do with was the first step.
My father was quite proud to both show me his workplace and to flaunt his son ''working for the Shieldlord'' in front of his co-workers.
Back at the palace, I made my first gunshot in the evening.
After loading the cannon with a bit of powder and some gravels as grapeshot, I used a long fuse made of a thin rope coated in a mix of oil and resin that the alchemist provided me with.
This gave me enough time to walk away from the thing when it fired.
The sound was a bit louder since the explosion was more contained, there was a small flame followed by a cloud of smoke. The tube did hold on.
The wooden panel I used as a target was just 3 meters away but only got a few dents. I might need to put more powder.
The sound attracted a few guards, the princess, and Gelcaria. With the help of Moatimu, we disposed of the guards. This was still some kind of secret project. The princess harshly commented on the flimsy looks of my rod.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
I made three other trials with an increasing amount of powder before the tube exploded. This last time, the panel was shredded on multiple locations but so was my gun.
The girls weren''t convinced by the concept but seeing the gun barrel explode made them change their minds a bit. It was inconvenient but might have some use. Tomorrow I''ll have to go back to the smithery and commission a thicker one.
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The Palace was as teeming as my mind was.
Servants were busy everywhere with the last-minute preparations and I was pestering the smiths.
Money was starting to become a problem. I received a ¡°stipend¡± from the Prince but it was already running out. Metalworking wasn''t cheap, even with my father negotiating for my sake.
After wasting another gun barrel, I wanted my third one to be moulded from one piece instead of folded and welded.
To that end, the smith used the red bone of a beast as mould. The thing was part of a ¡°fiery¡± quadruped that should look like a horse according to his description: ponyta is that you?
The bone was highly heat-resistant yet easy to carve, so it was often used as material to mould metals. The only downside was that it was pricey.
I asked for more resistant alloys but despite adding some things, powders and crystals, to his bronze mix, I doubt it made it any better. This is more a show of goodwill than a real upgrade, I bet that the real good stuff is too pricey for me. I need to get them working on steel soon.
I now had a thicker bronze gun. It was as thick as my arm which made it heavy for me but Balout could swing it around like it was a light stick. I had it made shorter so that it will get light enough for me to manipulate. I''ll lose in precision and firepower but my goal was to make a prototype and proof of concept rather than a functional hand-cannon. The thing was now between a gun and a musket in length, more like a shotgun.
I also commissioned a satchel of lead balls to make my own ¡°grapeshot¡± with a wooden sabot and some sawdust. Bullets would require more work and would thus be costlier. I''ll ask for iron bullets once I get more budget.
I''ve scoured through my memory of chemistry classes for things to boost my gun powder with. I should be able to somehow make either mercury or silver fulminate. Those were explosives of their own but also igniters that would allow me to skip directly to percussion hammerlocks.
I have no idea how much this will cost to research though. So I need to present interesting results first.
My experiments were put to a halt by the arrival of the first delegations.
The ones coming from the farthest were also the first to arrive. They had to factor in the possible delays so it wasn''t surprising that they would arrive early if their journey went smoothly.
Melodi bothered us to go stand on the walls to have a better look. I was curious myself so I was happy to oblige.
The view from the top of the eastern wall was breathtaking. The clouds were high up enough in the sky that we had a clear vision of all of the eastern part of the city. I could see our neighbourhood, the river, and the pier; but also the fuming kilns on the other side of the river and even the in-wall farmlands. The wind was howling around us, we were outside of the strongest barriers and at such height, the strength of the winds had nothing in common with what it was at the foot of the lord''s mountain.
If I turned my head to the right, I could follow the river till the horizon. Only plains and groves were to be seen but farther away to the south were the farmlands. If I looked to my left I would see the shaft and its lighthouse and far to the north the white wall of the northern mountain range blocking the view.
The envoys of the Elven court were the first guests to arrive. They rode on a ship coming from the north, the Awanui river''s upstream. This was surprising because the Elven continent was far to the south. I would have expected them to arrive from downstream after passing through the coastal free cities.
The third princess was the one to solve this riddle for me, ¡°They sailed the undersea, at least for the end of their journey.¡± The wind was waving her black hair like an inky sheet and messing it all. Dishevelled like that she looked more like a beautiful girl out of a fashion magazine rather than an uptight princess. I liked her more like that, as a friendly girl acting her age rather than when she was forcing herself to act like the adult she wasn''t yet. Those were the moment where I knew she dropped the mask and was the real Moatimu.
¡°The undersea is what the name implies,¡± she explained to Melodi loudly enough for the rest of us to hear her, ¡°a sea in the underground world. It is dangerous and full of monsters but so is the sea above ground. The main difference is the weather, no tempests or cyclones underground.
Winds in the huge natural caves are more steadily blowing in the same directions.¡± I was prou of my former student, all those translated books weren''t for naught.
Since Melodi was greedily looking at her for more information the princess lightly giggled before giving her another treat, ¡°If you have a sturdy ship, strong warriors, and the means to propel your ship, it is a safer way to travel quickly. They must have followed a stream until they reached the emergence of the Awanui River.¡± She was elegantly pointing at the north.
There, the underground river was magically rising back to the surface and not far from our city, just at the bottom of the northern mountain range.
I''m really curious as to how this is possible. From what I''ve read there are two main explanations favoured by the alchemist association. The first is a theory that stipulates that an earthquake brought a vein of wind crystals in contact with the bed of the river, pushing the water upwards. The second is more complex. Beastkin alchemists have a strange conception of the elements of the world and they believe that when two conflicting elements meet they tend to repulse one another. So they believe some fire stones are at the bottom of the river and are acting a bit like two magnets of the same polarity repulsing one another. No one ever dived to check those theories. The waters are teeming with strange beasts and monsters.
The third explanation came from the Temple. Amidea made a resurgence as a show of power and to help the crossing of the mountains. This was during a great war with the monsters thousands of years ago. When she saw that sapients were losing and with the mountains roads cut, Amidea made this new way of travel to allow the Beastkins to come to the help on the frontline of the west.
Surprisingly, I tend to favour the temple''s explanation as it also explains how a river can flow towards mountains... Unless there is some very unique topography explaining this bizarre behaviour.
These elves were more diverse in their looks than the ones I met in the city. There were the usual dark-skinned, silver-haired ones but also ¡°golden¡± elves with skin like brass and hair shining like gold. The leader standing at the bow of the ship was a regal-looking elve with pale white skin and snowy hair as white as an elderly. Was he an underground Elve or just a very old one?
The second delegation to arrive was the Trollkins. They emerged from the mine, riding on pack lizards that were looking like my koati pet: Godzilla, just that they were five times bigger, almost the size of a small house each. They must have also travelled underground and faced many dangers. Not only were their mounts caparisoned in plate armours but even the Trolls were wearing shiny metal on them. Not armour per se, but more like they had been dipped in liquid metal. I wonder if it becomes part of them or if this is some kind of magical mercury alloy?
The leading diplomat was a silver golem. All the stones making his body were shining and silvery and there were lapis lazuli growing on parts of his body. Every time a ray of sunlight fell on him he flashed in blue and silver.
Then came the Fungi representatives. Just like the Elves they went with the undersea route and sailed on a giant nenuphar-like ¡°boat¡±. Despite looking vegetal in nature, their boat was swimming!
Its fin-like leaves were slowly undulating underwater and propelling it.
When it came in contact with sunlight it bloomed and opened up while the leaves were becoming greener. Was this thing powered by sunlight? How was it working underground? I couldn''t wait to talk with one of them.
Not that I should get my hopes up, we had received instructions not to bother the ambassadors and the crew should be under surveillance. Each delegation was only authorized an ambassador and a handful of servants and said servants were not allowed to be powerful ones. This was to prevent assassinations and other trojan horse tactics.
No other delegations arrived today. When the sun was finally setting down and the col winds of fall were becoming too chilly to endure, we left our observation point.
Melodi wanted to stay a bit longer, her fur was helping her fight back the cold but the rest of us convinced her to come back tomorrow to watch the next delegations.
Chap 61: Straining training
Balout and Melodi left us with reluctance. They had to go back home because their parents wouldn''t want them to stay overnight at the castle. This also meant we wouldn''t see them for the coming days. The castle was going to be under lockdown while the ambassadors were here. This was to avoid any incident, be it assassinations attempts, troublemakers, or brazen thieves attracted by all the rich guests.
The in-and-outs were reduced to the bare minimum and we weren''t seen as essential.
Melodi was grim because it meant she wouldn''t see the next visitors'' arrivals with us and Balout was in the same mood but because it meant he would miss on a few good meals.
I tasked them to take care of one another during the next days. The catgirl was to make sure Balout would exercise his Chi, while Balout will have to squeeze some useful knowledge in her head. Now that he knew far more than both girls, thanks to all our scribing duties, it was time for him to pass some of it down on her. If I was to bet, I''d say he''ll teach her a bit of geography and history to stay on the topic of the incoming delegations.
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The following day saw the rest of the guests. Since they were travelling from closer and with less risk on the road, their delegations were smaller, except for one.
The Empire''s delegation made a hard-to-miss arrival. A troop of about fifty skybeasts flying in formation darkened the sky.
Most of the riders were in golden armours and flying on the back of what I recognised as badasi. They were sky-manatees: cow-sized mounts that looked like fat hippos with two pairs of bat-like wings. On their forehead shone an air-attuned crystal that they used to be able to fly.
These beasts were a bit like Earth''s ostriches or dodos: they had vestigial wings and couldn''t fly on their own. They could be found, grazing and swimming in the plains and lakes near the Empire''s capital city. Only with the external intervention of a sapient would they become able to fly. This meant they would require the implantation of a costly crystal but in exchange, they were known to be docile, enduring, and resilient rides. Their thick skin also made them quite good to fend off most blows too.
Having so many of them come at once was a display of wealth.
The Empire''s ambassador was flying on the back of what could only be described as a dragon. The thing was like a giant anaconda with dozens of wings spanning all the way down his spine from head to tail.
It was large, larger than two elephants side by side and on its back was a small tent. It was under this tent that we could see the Empire''s envoy. Princess Moatimu identified him as count Rangatira, one of the members of a lesser dynasty with blood ties with the Emperor.
They were numerous because he wasn''t the only envoy in his group. Alongside him came a less savory visitor: the ambassador of the Mujri Shieldom.
It was another Satrapie of the Empire. This Shieldom was neighbouring our northernmost border and the relations between us were... tense.
There''d been many wars and skirmishes between us, running back hexes ago. A bit less since the Empire started its rule on both Shieldoms but still some skirmishes and even a couple open wars.
They were contesting our claim on the large forest, north-west of the city.
These woods were a good source of the precious rubiswood. A tree with a fire-essence and a bright red colour that made it both valuable for builders, shipyards, and alchemists but also as a decoration.
The feud could sound petty but there must have been a lot of money at play for both Shieldoms to fight over the area for hexes.
The flying troops started to hover in circles above the castle but only the dragon came to land in one of the biggest courtyards: a training drill in the military wing.
The count of the empire and the Mujri envoy were welcomed by the Shieldlord himself. We were the underlings of the Empire and since the count was the Emperor''s representative, our Shield had to greet and bow in front of him. The count was nice enough to not have him kneel in front of us all.
While they were all taken to their accommodations, another delegation of less welcomed people was making its way up here. A group of five were running down the streets. Three women and two males, all suntanned and skimpily dressed in bits of furs. Nomadic tribals of the west.
They were the people living far to the west, bordering the sea of trees.
They were both the first shield against the monster threat and a threat themselves. They were known to ransack merchants and pressure settlements into paying ¡°protection fees¡±.
They were famous for their endurance and were often related to both Dard and Nasibor. The strongest among them would shame any marathon runner, they were able to run as fast as Usain Bolt but for hours, or even days.
People of the Empire often looked down on them, they were savage from the west, with no land or city of their own, mercenaries and sell-swords hired to either face monsters or raid a foe.
Their leader was a tall lady in her late sixties. She was wrinkled and had greyed hair, yet she was running faster than me while sprinting. She was sun tanned to the point that her skin was a deep brown, almost the colour of milk chocolate. The rest were ranging from brown sugar to olive. The outdoors life meant none of them had the fair skin of the Empire''s representatives.
Her dress was light, mostly a leather skirt made of one piece of some shimmering reptile''s skin with bits of fur here and there. Her old arms were left bare and were gnarly wood branches but the muscles playing under her brown skin were nothing to look down at. Even from afar, I could tell she could crush me in her embrace. They were sporting numerous scars, not only scars from battles against both men and monsters but also some that looked like ritual scarifications. She was one of the Shamans of the west.
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Although they were far from our Shieldom, having them come and offering them ¡°gifts¡± was a way to ensure the security of our traders and citizens venturing to the west.
The last guests invited to the palace''s party already had a permanent embassy in town. Beastkins, delegate from the southern free cities, and scyllas of the Nereians; all had permanent representatives living in the city.
Gelcaria and I wouldn''t get to see them though. For the rest of the celebration, we would be confined to the princess'' courtyard. This was fine by me, I had a lot of work to do. Not only on fine tunning my gunpowder but also on planning for the future. I still had to work on gliders, waterwheels, how to make steel or sulphuric acid and all kind of technical issues like gears and drills. All those would need time to be worked on.
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The festivities were going full-on.
Gel and I were staying in the princess''s courtyard while she had to get the ball rolling there. I didn''t envy her, she must have to deal with even more suitors and other phonies. I know for sure she would rather be here with Gel, punching at a wooden dummy rather than acting like a princess there.
I''ve spent my day with Gel and no one came to disturb us. Most servants were busy with the festivities, most guards were drafted to secure the event, and visitors were limited.
In the morning, I tried to follow Gel''s routine but her Chi enhancement made it impossible for me to keep up with her now. She had a lofty smile while looking at me smugly from over her shoulder.
It was the pride of a student surpassing her master. I felt like an old man on the inside, watching his daughter surpass him. Well, I am an old man inside, I just felt older than usual.
After that, I watched her train her Chi. She was punching at a wooden dummy after enhancing both her strength and resilience. She would end up breaking the logs after a few punches.
I was refining my latest batch of blackpowder, I was trying to use other solvents than water to enhance the binding between the ingredients. A first bath in water followed by a second one in alcohol was showing good results, enhancing the overall explosive power by at least 10 to 20%. The powder was catching fire more easily and faster.
Gel came to sit near me. Strands of hair were sticking to her sweaty face and she was huffing a bit, manipulating Chi was tiresome both for body and mind.
¡°Are you ok? Take care to not over push yourself,¡± I warned her in a fatherly tone.
She flashed me a smile and lightly punched my shoulder. ¡°Don''t worry you wimp. I know my limits.¡± She wiped away her sweat with a towel. ¡°It''s just that I''m currently training to improve my Chi and it just feels... bloated.¡± She was at a loss for words to describe her training.
¡°What do you mean?¡± I probed. Gupta had told me that overcharging one''s Chi reserves was an unpleasant feeling.
She slowly put down the towel before facing me, ¡°It''s just that everything feels so... loud. It almost gives me a headache.¡± She was gently massaging her temp. ¡°Mo'' warned me that it wasn''t a nice experience. She also said it was necessary if I wanted to get stronger. I have to expand my Chi pool.¡±
I guess ¡°Mo''¡± is the princess. I''ll have to lecture her about etiquette, being friendly with the princess was fine but she shouldn''t forget her place like I did. I might have set a bad example for her.
¡°What is it like? To have Chi flow inside of you?¡± I carefully probed. I was still mourning my lack of ability. Getting used to discuss my friends'' progress was a good way to get over it and who knows? I might learn some clues and someday it might help me with my weird Chi.
She sat closer to me and rested her sweaty head on my shoulder. ¡°It''s like everything is... more. Right now, I can feel the thumping and hear the beating of your heart. As loud as a fat Toja galloping right next to us.¡± She had closed her eyes to rest for an instant. ¡°Every movement of the air brings tingling on my skin, the light hurts my eyes and I feel like I''m fat and bloated.¡± She had a slight wince.
I started to want to pat her head and refrained at the last moment, if her sense of touch was that sensitive, would it hurt her?
¡°It''s fine, you can do it. It''s uncomfortable but I''ll give you a pass,¡± she pressed me without opening her eyes. Was her hearing so good that she could do some echo-location now?
Instead of patting her, I started to untangle her hair instead. It should be less painful for her. She softly whimpered and I couldn''t decide if it was from satisfaction or pain, so I stopped the motion.
Without opening her eyes she grabbed my hand and put it back in motion. It wasn''t painful.
After enjoying the care for a while she went on, ¡°Sure, it''s not the best feeling ever but it has some good sides too. I''ve never felt this strong, this powerful. It''s like nothing can stop me. If I''m tired, I just have to draw in my Chi and I''m back to full. And the strength just feels so good.¡± She was drowning in her newfound power.
I tried to reason her, overconfidence was a slow and insidious killer. ¡°Stay careful. You''re not that powerful yet. Do not be rash, there are people far stronger than you are out there,¡± I lectured her.
She sighed. ¡°I know. Don''t be such a downer. Praise me more instead,¡± she pleaded.
I smiled at her simple needs. ¡°You are the strongest girl our age I know.¡± I let a second pass before adding, ¡°except maybe Melodi.¡±
This was on point. ¡°Hey! I''m stronger than she is,¡± she protested, ¡°Ok, she can beat me sometimes but that''s only thanks to her Beastkin''s advantages. It''s unfair that her tail makes her balance so much better.¡± She was pouting lightly, Melodi was both her best friend but also her best rival.
¡°What about magic?¡± I asked, ¡°The old man told us you had some talent for it too.¡±
She kept silent and I could see unease creep on her face and it wasn''t because I was brushing her hair too strongly.
¡°I''m sorry Tel, I''m not allowed to talk about it,¡± she started before rushing to excuse herself, ¡°Not that I don''t want to. Just that they made me swear secrecy, even with you.¡± She was sounding genuinely sad that she wasn''t allowed to share any of this with me.
I knew there was a lot of secrecy around magic. The old man has explained how it was about keeping your spells for yourself. My best guess was that there was a fragile balance of power and that each family, each country, were keeping their magical knowledge under embargo. It was their strongest weapon and was treated like State secrets.
The downfall to that was that it hindered the development of magic; not to mention the loss when a family might get wiped out. The imperial academy was a way to try and make up for this but it was also a poaching ground for the Empire to hunt talented people.
¡°It''s fine. You''re right to not break your oath. Especially with the lords or the gods. I''ll ask princess Moatimu or the old lord later.¡± I relented.
After an uneasy silence, she started the conversation again. ¡°What about you? Is your Chi any better?¡± she asked with precautions.
I shrugged. ¡°Same, I can''t feel a thing. At least nothing bad is happening and I''m not on my deathbed,¡± I sourly acknowledged. I had tried to feel my Chi more than once. Tried to feel the Chi of the world. Nothing. It was like I couldn''t interact with either.
Feeling my sourness Gel tried to distract me ¡°What about your explosive powder? The booms have been getting louder recently or are my ears just getting better?¡± she teased me.
That was something I could be proud of and show off a bit. ¡°Yes. This latest batch is just what I want. If this barrel holds up.¡± I pointed at the latest bronze gun on the nearby workbench, ¡°I''ll be able to face warriors even stronger than you are.¡± I proudly stated while taking a playful threatening tone.
She just laughed at my claim. ¡°Oh yeah? And how? The sound is going to deafen me or scare me? Or is the smoke supposed to choke me?¡± she playfully nagged me, ¡°provided you can fire the thing before I seize you,¡± she jokingly added while looking at me mockingly.
¡°You have no idea. You''ll see when I demonstrate the full extent of my powers.¡± I warned her.
After letting her laugh her fill, we went to grab whatever food we could from the kitchen. Most of the cooks were busy with the delicacies that were meant for the party. None of that was for us. We had to settle for simple slices of bunta bread and some dried sausages and fresh fruits. Nothing fancy but a healthy meal nonetheless. Plus we grew up eating far worse, so this was a fine meal by our standards.
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During the afternoon I tested my latest batch while Gel was meditating nearby. She was trying to get better at Chi sensing and manipulation. Or maybe was she training magic and she couldn''t tell me?
I knew I can''t feel Chi, yet I could swear I was sensing something changing in her aura, just like what the old lord could do. Yet it was so vague that I couldn''t pinpoint what weirded me out.
I just hope the noise of the explosions wasn''t disturbing her too much.
My gunshots weren''t precise but at least the power was consistent and now it fired at every try. Precision will get better with a longer muzzle, and bullets, and with rifled barrels. For now, I would just have to treat it as a close to short-range weapon. It would make up for the lack of precision with sheer firepower. If Gel could break wooden dummies, my weapon could blast holes in stone ones at point-blank.
I didn''t know how strong great Chi users like the old lord, the general or even the Marshall were but I bet that a shot at close range wouldn''t leave them unscathed.
In the evening the party got livelier. Official business must have been dealt with and now we could hear music, laughter, and playful shouts coming from the main palace. When the sun settled down there was even a short lights play.
To honour Arteus, the old lord, the princess or any other lightning user, threw bolts of lightning up in the air like some sort of firework. The show reached its peak with a lightning column that lit the sky for a whole minute. It reminded me of a bengal light with how white and sparkly it was.
One day I would make bengal lights available to all. And why not even play with some weaponized thermite? There were so many things to develop.
With the curfew enforced on the castle it was gonna be complicated to go back to our room. We decided to just sleep on spot in the courtyard. I had done it more than once and now that there was a blanket and a windscreen it was as homely as my attic.
Chap 62: Trespassers
This night it wasn''t the nightmares or the dreams that kept waking me up.
First, I was awoken when I heard a group of people passing through the courtyard. When I raised my head to check what was going on I met Gelcaria''s eyes, the nearest brazier''s dying embers were making her lilacs eyes glow slightly in the dark.
She just calmly whispered: ¡°It''s just the princess and Hamy,¡± she yawned cutely, ¡°They must be going back to her apartments. Let''s go back to sleep,¡± she mumbled before tucking the whole blanket to herself.
Her senses were sharper than mine and were even more enhanced by her Chi overcharge training. The princess'' living rooms and chamber were adjoining her training yard, so it wasn''t surprising that she had to walk through here. The sky was pitch black since the moons were hidden behind heavy clouds, the celebrations must have gone on till late. I''ll ask her to retell us all about it tomorrow or next morning, depending on what time it is.
I quickly fell back asleep. I just hope I won''t snore because Gel''s enhanced earring would trouble her a lot and I don''t know how patient she can be in her Chi-intoxicated state. The wooden dummies'' fates were deeply ingrained in my memory.
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My fear came to reality when I''m woken up once more. This time Gel''s hand is covering my mouth and she''s pushing on my chest with the other. Her two purple stars are staring intently at me. She slowly leans down and for a second I think she''s going to kiss me on the forehead but she changes direction at the last moment and brushes past my cheeks to whisper as slowly as possible directly into my ear: ¡°Stay quiet. We are not alone, there are some trespassers here.¡±
She slowly lifts her head and listens intently to our surroundings. On my side, I can''t hear a thing but my senses aren''t as good as someone brimming with Chi. I gently tap on her hand to have her free my mouth. Instead of freeing me she whispers once more: ¡°Shhh. Don''t make a sound. There''re two people walking towards the princess''s apartments,¡± she hushes me. ¡°They have weapons,¡± she adds after listening a bit more to what''s happening behind our windscreen.
Our brazier is now on his last fuel and the few embers left barely cast light around us. I pray Shinpilo that we stay hidden in the darkness and do not attract attention. I just hope whoever is outside has duller senses than Gel.
The trespassers must have gone farther away because she frees my mouth and I can finally voice my opinion. ¡°We need to go fetch the guards, now,¡± I advise sternly.
Not even a second after I finish my sentence, the fire bell of the northern wing starts to chime. It is followed by the howls of beasts and three more bells starting to ring furiously, sending the whole palace into a commotion.
¡°Shit, this must be a distraction, the princess is in danger, we won''t have time to go seek for help, the guards must be rushing to the troubles zone.¡± I bitterly conclude. Our trespassers aren''t alone and they have accomplices and are well coordinated. If we are to get out to fetch some help, chances are that by the time we come back in this commotion their deed will be dealt with.
¡°Then we need to support Hamy, now,¡± decides Gel without a second thought. I can barely catch her hand before she rushes to the rescue. I try to lecture her in a hushed tone, ¡°Wait, are you crazy? These guys must be assassins. Do you even have a weapon?¡± I query and try to bring her back to reality, what can a little girl do against two trained fighters? If Hamy and the princess can''t deal with them it is likely we won''t be able to either.
I can see doubt and anger cross Gel''s lavender eyes, this conclusion doesn''t sit well with her. ¡°I don''t have a weapon yet, I''m not allowed to keep one for myself inside of the castle. I can''t stay put either, we need to do something!¡± She urges me angrily.
I shake the grogginess of sleepiness away and try to think as fast as I can.
My barrel gun is nearby. I can get one shot for sure. There are two clay ¡°grenades¡± too. There is a big stone pestle near my mortar, the one I use to crush all my powders. This is something Gel can use as a small club, better than being empty handed. I''m trying to think of anything more we could do but I''m interrupted by Gel''s restlessness.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
¡°Quick, I can hear struggle inside, they are fighting with Hamy.¡± she presses me on with urgency. I can tell she wants to jump to the rescue. I''m still convinced it is utterly crazy but if we don''t act now or if we leave the courtyard who knows how things will unfold inside.
¡°Take this.¡± I pass the pestle on to her and start charging my gun. I''m strangely rushed yet my hands are as steady as during an operation. Time feels like it''s stretching to allow me to keep my poise and the adrenaline isn''t kicking in enough to make me tremble yet.
Once my gun is loaded with lead bullets, I ask Gel: ¡°Can you tell us what''s going on inside?¡±
She squints her eyes and tilts her head, trying to grasp any sound coming from the direction of the princess''s chamber. ¡°The fighting is over. I think the intruders won. I can hear them coming back our way,¡± she warns me. ¡°I think one of them is limping or carrying something heavy.
There is little time to decide what to do. If we don''t act right now, they''ll just sneak away. Either we ambush them or we stay in hiding. As I''m pondering what to do, Gel cuts my reflections ¡°I think they are kidnapping the princess.¡±
This leaves me very little choice, we need to intervene. I still think it is madness but I doubt Gelcaria would accept to lay low and if we don''t act together, we are both dead. ¡°Can you distract them for a few breaths? It is the time needed for my gun to fire. Then we''ll have to deal with the last one somehow. I hope the sound will attract whatever guard is nearby.¡± I pray Husnd that we aren''t facing high-ranking warriors or we are as good as dead.
Gel nods confidently, ¡°leave it to me.¡± Before rushing towards the courtyard''s entrance to hide behind a decorative bush. The lack of light should hide her well enough but we have no idea of the level of these trespassers. I believe they shouldn''t be that keen because they didn''t spot us the first time while we weren''t even hiding.
I take position beside the brazier. I''ll light my fuse at the last moment. I chose a long fuse and I should have around 3 sec to aim and hopefully hit something. I curse at the fuses I''ve got. I have yet to test them enough to have reliable timers. I just postponed it till now and now regret the procrastination.
I''ll need to get as close as possible to make this shot a sure-kill, I can''t afford to miss. I tug the grenades in my shirt, I''ll use them as a last resort.
When the intruders come through the door, I can barely make them out in the darkness. They are fully dressed in black and with a shawl covering their faces, like ninjas of old. One of them is limping and carrying something on his back, probably the princess that they are taking to another castle. The other one is opening the way and the glint of metal in his hands tells me he has two knives or short swords.
I can tell Gel is about to jump in and I light my fuse right as she leaps out of her hiding spot to whack the limping man with her pestle-mace.
To distract the second intruder, I just charge at him while yelling ¡°Feel the wrath of my gunpowder!!¡± I feel dumb but my goal is reached, it distracts him from Gel and gets me to close the gap between us.
The gap is closed too fast in fact. The man charges at me with unnatural speed, knives ready to dice and slice through me. As he is about to bump into me, a thunderous explosion stops him in his track and the recoil pushes me back to the point that I fall backwards. I aimed for his torso and hope I got him good.
As I struggle to get up I can hear Gel scream in pain. One of the knives of the second kidnapper is puncturing through and through her right arm, pinning her to one of the door''s jamb.
The man has already turned his attention my way, attracted by the explosion. ¡°Brother!¡± he yells when he sees his companion is lying still on the floor. His eyes meet mine and I know I''m in trouble. ¡°You bratty magician! Go meet with Otik!¡± He throws the princess on the ground and starts limping my way faster than I could run on my best day.
I have no other choice but to light one of my grenades on the nearby brazier. I can feel more than I can hear or see, that the man is almost upon me.
A flash of silver points me at his blade and I instinctively protect myself with my right hand. The blade pierces through it like butter but I can barely take notice of the pain as my whole body is now saturated with adrenaline.
Following this strike, the man''s knee meets my chest and shoves me to the ground. The shock brutally empties my lungs in a strange wail and leaves me breathless. This time, no amount of adrenaline is enough to dull the pain. This guy''s as strong as a bull. The sparks on my fuse remind me of the ticking time bomb that''s still in my left hand. I''ve held on to it as if my life depends on it, which might very well be the case.
I know time is running low and just shove it to the face of the man praying for the thing to blow.
Oreo grants my wish, an explosion shakes my left side an deafens me. Just like when you touch a very hot device and before the pain overrides all, during the brief instant when your thermal receptors are overloaded and sends you contradictory pieces of information; I feel a cold bite on my left hand followed by a burn and then the pain telling me that my hand is gone.
As the cloud of smoke slowly disperse, I can see that so is half of the man''s skull. His right half is torn to shreds, bits of brainmatter are sloshing out of his skull. I can feel small burns all across my own face, either splash of blood, bits of flesh, or just shards of the clay pot.
The cold sensation just grows stronger and keeps creeping up from both of my hands until it reaches my arms and then my chest.
I feel surprisingly clear-minded. Enough to have an instant to think of all the blood flowing from the knife''s wound and from my left stump. The alarm bells are still ringing in the back and a red light in the night sky either points to the break of day or a fire. The night is chilly but I shouldn''t feel this cold, again I think of the blood flowing out of me. I know that a child''s total blood amount is surprisingly low, I should have less than 3 liters.
I can''t stench the red rivers'' flow, no hands, no gain. I just have enough clarity left to lay down on my back and keep what''s left of my hands on my chest to avoid exsanguinating myself.
From the corner of my eyes, I can see Gel struggling to take out the knife holding her right arm pinned to the door.
The thing must have been deeply sunk in the wood for her to struggle this much.
I want to yell at her to leave it where it is lest she''ll start bleeding out too, it could have cut an artery and the humeral artery would empty her fast. Yet my body isn''t responding any longer and the night engulfs me.
Chap 63: Phantom pain.
Tingling prickles in my left hand woke me up.
I started a groan, but the pain it sent in my chest silenced me before it could leave my parched throat. The air was heavy with the smell of herbal poultices, alcohol, and blood and made me want to cough, but I knew the pain would be worse. At least pain meant I''m not dead. This isn''t the void, there are feelings here, including pain.
I could hear distorted sounds of movements by my side and then someone speaking, "Well, hello there." I think I recognised doctor Nune''s voice, "How do you feel, boy? You got us all scared for real," he confessed with an uncomfortable laugh. "You were one tough patient to monitor, not being able to read your Chi was really stressful. I couldn''t tell if you were doing well or not," he explained with annoyance.
The sound was strangely dulled on my left side, just like when you get out of the bath or pool and water still clogged one of your ears.
The tingling pain in both of my hands prompted me to make some damage assessment. The pain I got just from trying to get up was enough to pin me back on the bed. At least the mattress was fluffy. I just had the time to see that they wrapped my limbs in bandages like a mummy.
They were hiding my mangled hands from my sight.
The tingling must be the phantom pain of lost limbs. I sigh at my loss and this sends another wave of pain in my chest; I refrained from another cough in fear of more backlash.
"Here, drink this," ordered the doctor while helping me lift my head to reach for a straw. I greedily took a gulp to quench my dried throat. The sour liquid made me frown a bit before I could recognise the coffee-like taste of kawa. Shit, I''m going back to sleep...
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Next time I emerged from my slumber, I can feel a soft touch on my cheek. I opened my eyes to meet with Melodi''s cat''s eyes.
"Hey, you third-beller. Slept well?" she asked with a relieved smile. "You got us worried. Weaklings shouldn''t play the heroes on the frontline." The words clearly aren''t hers, from her tone and slow pace when repeating them I''d guess they stem from Peterell. Melodi would definitively run to the frontline and I understand why her father would teach her otherwise.
"Is Gel safe?" I managed to utter in a coarse voice. The earring distortion made my voice sound alien to me. Last thing I knew, Gelcaria was about to bleed herself to death by removing the blade that was piercing her arm.
Melodi smiled happily and nodded. "Yes, she is in the room next door. She was an actual warrior there. I wish I could have shown off too. She''ll have a bad-ass scar to flaunt later." She looked annoyed and pouted, "I want to have cool scars too." Don''t make such cursed wish, girl; the gods might listen.
This time I knew better and didn''t try to rise in my bed. Instead, I tried moving my arms to have a look at the bandages, but the slightest movement turned the tingling into a fierce burn.
"Take it slow," warned me post-haste the catgirl, "the doctor said you''ll have to stay bedridden for a few days."
I looked around for a window to figure out the time, but I could just tell it was daytime. "How long have I been out?"She laughed as if I''ve said something funny. "Just for three days. Enough time for the mages and priests to take care of you. They all said you were a pain in the arse." She giggled. I''ve always been kind of a model kid, calm and obedient, to hear bad comments about me seemed to elate her.
I wanted to brush away a strand of hair falling on my forehead, but the pain in my hands reminded me that I shouldn''t move. This is annoying. As if not having Chi wasn''t enough of a crippling, I now had to lose a hand, maybe both... Catching my intention, Melodi''s furry paw helped me to move aside the strand of hair.
"What about the princess? Is she safe? She looked unconscious." I remembered she was inert when carried by the kidnappers.
Melodi''s whiskers shivered with excitation. "Yes, the both of you were heroes. She was poisoned and paralysed. Were you not there, she would have been taken away, said the lord." A sad frown came upon her face, "But they killed Hamy. The cowards jumped on her by surprise and poisoned her. There is no way such weak fighters would win otherwise." She was waving a furious paw in front of her, cursing at an invisible foe.
They weren''t weak in my opinion. They both could move fast, thanks to Chi, were well-trained and equipped. We were just lucky my weapons surprised them. It was dumb to jump in. As much as I care about the princess, risking both of our lives against stronger foes was rash and brazen. Fortan was with us this time but only the fools will rely on him more than once.
And now they were dead. This time, I was a killer for sure. I felt no remorse, though. What could I have done differently? Running for help would have let them absconded with the princess and I was in no position to spare them. They were going to kill us. The gods must''ve agreed with me because I could still feel the blessing around my right eye. If I was guilty of needless murder the gods were supposed to punish me.
Lost in my thoughts, I didn''t see Melodi leave but she came back with Gelcaria in tow. I blame the narcotics they gave me for my lack of attention. Or maybe did I get some brain concussion damage too?
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Her amethysts light up when they meet my eyes and she rushes to the bedside. She couldn''t give me a proper hug and I must thank the slung strapping her right arm for sparing me the pain. She could just pat my head in consolation as my sister would.
I find the will to ask, "Is your arm ok?" I feel guilty for letting her run towards the danger. I should have stopped her. We were far above our heads and could have easily got ourselves killed there were it not for the surprise element.
She gave me a nod and an apologetic smile. "It barely hurts any longer. The palace healers are incredible." This was not a good thing. If she got too complacent and started thinking that the healers can do anything, she will only get even bolder.
I tried to drift to more practical matters. "What about my family? Did someone warn them?" I query with the two girls. I imagine that the palace was under lockdown after the attack but my parents should have been informed that I got crippled. Once more, I must be a source of worries and anguish for them.
Both girls shared an uneasy look at each other. Knowing that something was brewing, I pressured Melodi since she was the more likely to tell the truth, "Melodi, did you tell my family what happened to me?"
She blushed cutely and started to fiddle with her paws out of embarrassment. "Hum, yes," she hesitantly started, "but maybe I shouldn''t have." She looked at Gel with hesitation, like she was asking for permission to talk.
Gel sighed. If her arm wasn''t in a slinger, she would have facepalmed. After a last look at Melodi she took it on her to clarify the situation, "She did tell your family yesterday and your mother didn''t take it well." She hesitated for a second before explaining further, "She tried to storm in the palace and ended up arguing with the old man." She started to imitate my mother''s voice and attitude "how could you let a child fight? Aren''t you supposed to be the Shield and yet you mean to tell me heretics wounded my child? Where is he? What happened to him?" I praised my mother''s gall here. Going against the old lord couldn''t have been easy for her, just the pressure from his presence alone was something hard to face.
"And?" I ask warily. I hoped they didn''t punish her or that her rightful anger didn''t put her into trouble.
Gel relieved my worries. "Lord Iroto was quite comprehensive. She was authorized to see you while the healers were taking care of you. This was enough to calm her down. I know little more, just that she was escorted back home without trouble. You''re lucky to have a concerned mother," she added with a hint of jealousy.
I didn''t know if Gel parents even came here to check on her. Often, it was looking like they had already given up on her. She was doing fine at the palace. Her life was on good tracks, but the lack of interest from her mother always baffled me.
Right at that moment doctor Nune came in, followed by lord Iroto. Doctor Nune looked disapprovingly at my friends. "I thought we said that he needed rest and was not to be disturbed. Come on girls, out you go," he ordered firmly but with little hostility.
My friends waved at me and left without trying to protest, they understood the doctor''s orders.
The old lord''s verdant eyes smiled at me. "Glad to see you awake. The doctor here had quite the hard time with you and so did the palace''s healers." I could see the physician wanted to voice his opinion but refrained from doing so at the last moment.
The old man went on, "It was worth the effort, though. I wouldn''t pardon myself if the rescuers of my granddaughter died on my watch. Your mother wouldn''t spare me either," he added in a light tone.
"Please don''t blame her for her attitude, she was just worried," I hastily apologized in her stead. Going against the Shield was a dangerous endeavour.
"Ha, ha. No mother should apologize for worrying about their child. I should be the one making amends," he acknowledged with a laughter, "She is right. I failed you and you got hurt protecting us. I''m the one who has to thank you and apologize to her. I won''t forget what happened." he ensured me.
While the old lord was talking, the doctor was slowly unwrapping my bandages, "Time to see how well you are recovering," explained the old lord.
Once unwrapped I was surprised to see that I still ha a left hand and even more, a hand with its fingers. Sure, they looked gruesome. They had a rosy fleshy colour and were oozing plasma. It looked like severely burned to the second degree; but they existed. My right hand looked perfectly fine, there was just a fine scar in the middle of it, where the blade pierced through it.
Just the breeze of the air around my bare fingers was enough to make me wince in pain, the fresh air felt like a burn on the slimy raw flesh. Doctor Nune nodded with satisfaction, his smile looked genuine to me. I had seen enough lying doctors to know what their fake smiles looked like. "Best to cover them again. There are still some treatments to do but things took a better turn than I feared. Were it not for his strange condition it would already be over but I''ll need a bit more time," he explained to the lord.
This unsettled me, "What condition? Wasn''t my hand destroyed?" I enquired.
The old man confirmed my fears, "Yes, your hand was badly mangled. Was it your gunpowder thing? It proved effective in neutralising the assassins," he commended. "Of course, I''ve tasked our best healers to make sure your hand would recover. The thing is that your strange Chi was quite the headache for them," he was awkwardly explaining, unsure about how to describe the problem.
"They all complained about how hard it was to heal your wounds and how it required way more Chi than usual. Neither them, nor the doctor could feel your Chi, which was making things even more troublesome to monitor your condition." The physician by his side was vigorously nodding his head, almost losing his strange hat in the motion. "It was unexpected but we couldn''t let your wounds go untended, a lot of our best healers took turns to make sure your hand was restored before your aura adapted." I was a bit at a loss, aura was a new notion, same was limb regrowth. Were this world''s healers this powerful?
The doctor interrupted, "Yet the process is far from completion, this wound still needs time and care. Please, I have to ask you to leave him to rest, there will be time for more discussions later but right now my patient is in pain and needs rest."
The lord was annoyed but shrugged in the end, "Doctor''s orders. Fine, I''ll come back when I can. There is more we need to discuss. Again, thank you. Were you and Gelcaria not there, I might have lost Moatimu. I won''t forget that." He already said it but I would always welcome appreciation.
The doctor made me drink more kawa to send me back to sleep, before wrapping back my limbs in bandages and applying some balm on it while the narcotic took effect.
Chap 64: (Moatimus POV) Rewards
The Shield''s seat felt almost empty.
The impressive reception room was usually full of petitioners and others claimants. On such celebrations it should be even more packed with blades, military, and other officials. But today there were only a few hexes of people attending the event. This small number seemed even less in the large room made to accommodate hundreds of people at once for celebrations or critical auditions.
Father had to leave for the capital to prosecute our case with the emperor, leaving my grandfather to reward my saviours. Grandfather wanted to keep this ceremony''s attendance limited to not draw too much attention on the kids.
Only a handful of people knew what really happened that night, thus the small committee. My eldest brother was here, as well as the rest of the council, ministries and advisors. The only non-blades were the doctor, a handful of free citizens, and the families of the kids.
Gelcaria was accompanied by two adults who must be her parents. Her father looked like what her record described: a crude man, eaten away by grief and alcohol. I''m glad grandfather is doing better and hope he will never fall this low in his addiction.
The mother is quite eye-catching for a commoner. Her figure is well balanced, albeit leaning on the slimmer side due to the lack of food. She could be almost pretty, nice cheekbones, a thin nose and those lips would attract many. But the years had been tough on her and the wrinkles would push away any rich man. I was surprised she managed to catch the attention of a god and have him look after her daughter. Gods must have their own beauty standards.
Gel''s purple eyes were darting in all directions, she looked panicked. This was quite the twist for a girl who had fought two trained assassins head-on.
From the first day, I knew I was right to have picked her up. I don''t know if it is the god''s influence or just how she is, but I knew she was the kind that will be loyal. ¡°Trusty companions make the wealthiest blades,¡± would often say Grandpa and I get him now. Not everyone would have jumped into the fray to save me, but she did.
I''ve heard many complaints when I took her in. ¡°An Akola?te around you?¡±, ¡°Purple eyes, troubles arise.¡±, ¡°You''re into girls now?¡± But the gods always surround themselves with oddballs. My best guess is that Gel is one of those, fuelled with ambition rather than lust. She is one of Akola?''s unusual followers. She might not worship him yet but when she does one day, I''m ready to bet she will become a blessed one.
Ambition was a dangerous gift but a powerful one. The girl was way more talented than I was at her age, she didn''t get fed anburo nor drank blood elixirs starting four. Her talent for Chi was the real deal, same as the kitten. The kitten''s talent was understandable, if the intelligence reports were right, her parents should be enough of an explanation, whereas Gel''s parents were just talentless commoners.
The boy was there too. He was an even weirder oddball. For someone who should be a simple commoner, I had a hard time reading him.
The oddest of all about him was how weak he was, even by commoner''s standards.
He looked frail and anaemic. It was a miracle that he survived past naming day, he should have been among the losses. How could his body handle the lack of Chi? Grandfather says it is just that his Chi is very hard to sense but I think he has almost none.
Yet not only did he survive, but he thrived. What he lacked in body and Chi, he made up with uncanny smarts and an odd composure. He was like some old soul, behaving and speaking more like Father or Grandfather than kids his age. The only exception was that one weird time after his Chi testing where he lost it.
His existence had more than one oddity. The temple had confirmed his blessing. A four springs old blessed by Shinpilo.
Young blessed ones weren''t unheard of. There had been a few cases of children granted blessing to hide or lie, but knowledge was something else. Shinpilo only blessed old scholars and shrivelled librarians like my tutors. People who had mastered their field of study. Yet this kid came out of a common suburb and got himself a blessing, the pantheon knows how. Shinpilo gave him a ton of weird knowledge for a reason even cardinal Fortmo cannot explain us.
What kind of brain could earn a god''s attention this young? It was unnerving in its own way.
He was unsettlingly calm even in this luxurious room and surrounded by the most powerful men in the Shieldom. Even I would feel somewhat flustered to have so many powerful gazes on me, and I had been trained to be the center of attention.
He was like some anomaly in this palace, something not from this world. He was ugly, even in his nicest silky dress, the one bearing my crest. At least the scar on his left eyebrow now gave him some touch of much-needed fierceness.
When I visited him after the attack, he was in a worse condition. His hand was still mending, the flesh was rosy and all wrinkled, like it had been bathed in scalding waters for too long. His face was still pox-marked with cuts and scars from the explosion.
The young Duarch came to his rescue. He brought one of his Aunt who was a decent healer to cure the scars. The Duarch were still trying to rope in the kid, they hadn''t accepted their loss. I can''t blame them, such a talent was hard to let go, the kid was valuable and only getting more as time went by.
As soon as I heard about the visit, I barged in the room to monitor the young Duarch under the pretence of showing concern for my saviour. This was partially true though. The healer was sucked dry out of Chi just to heal the scars on the boy''s face. I knew the Duarch''s healer wasn''t a weak one, this only confirmed what all the other healers had complained about: the kid was a bottomless pit for Chi.
It was strange for me to commend the boy''s courage for saving me. I''ve always believed him to be quite the coward, always second-guessing himself, taking one step at a time, lacking fighting spirit.
What I called cravenness, Grandfather called it smarts. ¡°He is smart enough to back away from the fights he can''t win. In the end, survivors are the best warriors,¡± he told me. Sure sounds like cravenness to me.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
But I can''t deny Telerios'' intellect. A new writing system so convenient to use, new numbers that made him spot what an army of accountants missed, the construction of a nighthaven, and now this ¡°fire-powder¡± that had him kill two rank 3 Chi users.
And not your standard grunts to be found in all Shieldoms but two trained assassins, stemming probably from the Empire. They were kept low-power specifically to inconspicuously infiltrate this type of events, trained to be stealthy, nurtured to be ruthless killers. They were enhanced with drugs and had state of the art poison. How could they have bested Hamy otherwise? Poor Hamy, I''ll miss her. She''s been there for so long, taking care of my back. Now I was going to feel even more threatened without her looking after me. No one could replace her and it will take years before Gelcaria or the kitten can take her stead. I guess I''ll never get a full night of sleep for the years to come.
The assassins used a custom-made neutralizing poison, made to mess with Chi circulation and paralyse their target. Even our alchemists couldn''t reproduce it. All it took was one graze to slow down Hamy and paralyse me. This was once more telling me that this attempt was something plotted from higher than just the Mujrim. I might have ended up wed to a count in the Empire.
This had surprised my saviours when I explained them the most likely motive. ¡°Is forced marriage a thing endorsed by the gods?¡± asked Telerios. While Gelcaria was more outraged by the idea: ¡°How dare they? This isn''t right,¡± she complained.
I had to explain to them the harsh reality of my world. They only knew what fables and other stories told them. In truth, it was common for princes and princesses to be abducted and enter a forced marriage. The gods didn''t look favourably on it but didn''t condemn it either, once married there was no rape in their eyes.
Such unions were a show of strength from the Shieldom abducting someone. It was a declaration of strength superiority and could be used as a casus belli or a cause of ceasefire. The unwilling spouse becoming a valued hostage.
¡°Are we at war with someone,¡± inquired the boy. He understood what my abduction could mean.
¡°No. Not yet. But someone wants us to.¡± I responded calmly. I could see the fear creeping behind his eyes. The boy was afraid of war. ¡°Wise men flee from war and only fight monsters,¡± would commend my grandfather.
I was more in agreement with Gel''s reaction, ¡°Then let them come, we are stronger than any of them.¡± I liked her audacity. She was brimming with innocence and ignorance of the danger. I preferred war to those covert actions, but war would still be gruesome for us.
For now, I was just glad our enemy''s plan had been foiled. Their agents had me bagged in and ready to be shipped to whatever fate they held for me, yet two splinters were on their path.
Two kids, barely trained, who shouldn''t have been there. Were they sleeping together? Was this an Akola? thing after all? Who cares. Splinters could hurt pretty bad when neglected.
The assassins must have missed them, they were hidden in the dark, sleeping and low-Chi enough to not be perceived as a threat.
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The groom played his drum to ask for everyone''s attention. The room went silent after everyone took his assigned place. I was standing right behind the throne while my brother was seating at the right of it on a simple stool. The ministers were on their chairs farther to the right. In front of them, on the left side, were the officials, military officers, temple representatives, and blades that were invited, alongside a few free citizens.
My Grandfather started the ceremony with some platitudes. This let me drift my attention away. The room was only half decorated. This was a reward ceremony, but not one for blades or higher rankings. Even if it was my rescue that was celebrated, he couldn''t treat it like a major battle celebration. There were a few silk drapes to bear our colours and some of the paintings of the kirin to decorate the room. No golden statues nor jewelled chandeliers.
This was for the better. The kids'' families were startled enough by the riches displayed as is. Any more would make them faint.
The boy''s family was at a loss, his father looked like some dumb ape with his stupidly large arms for what little power he had. I guess his son took all the smarts, leaving none for the rest of them.
Both kids were now coming forward. The bold Gel was meekly looking at her feet and holding Telerios'' hand. What a turnaround! She was supposed to be the brave one.
According to their testimonies, she was the one who pushed to step in. It was reckless and brave, just like her. The boy only followed behind her, the fact that he was instrumental in my rescue was what troubled me the most. His weird product made him far stronger than he should be.
His noise-making ¡°fire-powder¡± took out two trained assassins. Sure, he almost died in the process and was badly hurt, but it was still an unfathomable outcome.
Grandfather spared no expense to heal him, even when his strange condition made it costlier and harder to do so. ¡°We need him healed, he can''t be a cripple,¡± he decisively stated.
It took three times more healers than it should have and I doubt any other commoner ever got a limb regrown. This would cost us a lot but ¡°it was an investment,¡± retorted my grandfather when Father pointed it out.
I hope Father will be safe. He''ll have to plead for justice, find a way to get an audience with the Emperor and will stay in the capital for weeks if not months. Sister will help, I guess. What will she say when she learns that a powerless commoner saved me? I can hear her mockery from here.
I couldn''t frown, the ceremony was up and I needed to look regal, worthy of a grateful princess, yet lofty enough to look like it was only normal from my followers to act like they did.
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Grandfather took charge of all the official decorum. He didn''t like these events but he was going to make an exception for my rescuers.
He raised his hands to pray the gods while his green eyes were screening the room.
¡°As you all know, the eternal enemy struck in the heart of our beloved city. Foul heretics, led astray by their impish god, intended to kill my cherished granddaughter.¡± He paused to let a few blades rant and curse at the heretics. It was so well coordinated that I suspect it was planned beforehand with said blades.
This was the official version of the story. Heretics had tried to kidnap me. No one in this room was fooled except for the commoners. The rest of us knew that no heretic could gather such a strike force and manage to infiltrate the castle. It was just a convenient story to let some leeway to the Empire. The assassins were in their delegation, they''ll have to respond about it and that was why my father went to the capital. Best case scenario, he would convince the emperor to officially blame the Mujrim Shieldom and have them pay us some compensation.
¡°The princess was captured, the fiendish heretics used lowly poison to put her down and cravenly slit her bodyguard''s throat. May we all remember Hamy Kaitiaki''s sacrifice for duty, alongside the 3 other palace guards killed during this attack.¡±
A minute of silence followed his last words. All warriors and military were paying their respect to a duty carried to the end.
I even shed a tear while standing with dignity beside the throne. All eyes were converging on me and I had to play my part. The tears were easy enough to convoke, I was really grieving after Hamy.
After we paid our respect to the dead, Lord Iroto broke the silence: ¡°Only through dire times do we sort the bunta from the chaff. True friends, loyal subjects, pious citizens, are a rare sight in most Shieldoms. When the princess was facing a mortal threat, two of our young denizens rose to rescue her. They spared no effort and put their lives on the line to save hers. Come forward, Telerios, Gelcaria.¡± He solemnly ordered them.
I had explained the ceremony''s course beforehand. Telerios was looking unfazed despite all the gazes landing on him. It was like he had already been through this kind of events. Gel was faring far worse. She wasn''t comfortable with so many gazes and she could probably feel the Chi intent of most of them. Which the boy couldn''t.
The boy took her hand in hers to make them advance up to the Lord''s stage where they went down on both knees.
¡°Loyalty shall be rewarded. The both of you no longer are commoners. From this day onward, the Shieldom will buy your freedom from House Duarch. For the next hex years, the Kirinavati family will be in charge of your protection, free of charges. You may now rise as free citizens.¡±
His declaration annoyed blade Duarch, I could catch a quick frown from annoyance on him. Now he had no chances to snatch them back.
Not taking protection money from them for such a long time was a loss for us, but the gains outweighed it by far. Just seeing Duarch''s annoyance was already worth it.
The kids'' parents were left stunned. This ¡°promotion¡± was only for the both of them. This meant they were now ranked higher than the rest of their families. Telerios'' parents took it quite well. They barely flinched when they understood what it meant. Or maybe they didn''t understand?
Danik the drunkard and poor Ovidee were more at a loss. Their daughter was suddenly on the same level as their bosses or rich merchants from the city. She now held a status they would never have dreamed of.
The kids were looking satisfied, Telerios was looking especially happy about his promotion. I''ll have to remind him that I''m still his boss. He might be my mentor, teacher, or whatever; but I''m the one he has to answer to.
I''ll just have to train thrice as much to stay ahead of his strange inventions. Gel will also be putting some pressure on me. Grandfather intended to find her a good magician to train her. This would only make her stronger and I''ll have to spend more time training my magic if I didn''t want to fall behind her.
I wasn''t that good with magic, my eldest sister took all the talent in this field.
Chap 65 (The Marshall POV): Tremors.
I hated those social events.
They were a waste of my time: too much talking, not enough doing. The only reason I came was to find out how the tasteless kid took out two brother-assassins of the red hand.
I carefully made my way through the crowd, reducing my speed to almost normal to avoid harming anyone. The bulk of those attending the event were blades but there were also some who weren''t as resilient and even a couple commoners since the kids'' families were here.
Those were more fragile and I''ll have to be extra careful around them. Husnd knows I would never forgive myself, and neither would he, if I ever harmed someone by being negligent. This was also one of the reasons I didn''t enjoy interacting with people, they were brittle.
Having to move this slowly felt like a needless drag. It reminded me of the pesky time-stretching illusions some Aumama mages would use. I''ve always despised illusionists, smokes and mirrors would only slow you down but in the end, only strength in the tangible world mattered. My fists broke more than one illusion and my hands tore more than one illusionist''s heart out of his ribcage.
The other reason I avoided these gatherings were the gossips. Even if I tried my best to lower my hearing sense, I''d still pick up almost any conversation held in the room. Having to listen to the last nocturnal escapade from blade Majari, or the latest trend in skirts and ribbons, or whatever they had to say about me or anyone else wasn''t my thing. I''d rather enjoy the silence atop the lighthouse. It was the best place to feel the tremors of the world and enjoy a taste of serenity.
Thankfully, Iroto''s speech was kept short enough. He had a tendency to love the sound of his own voice but he knew that his mere presence was startling the commoners and he was an excellent host. Frightening his guests was not a hobby of his.
It still felt too long if one was to ask me but I know it could have been worse if it was the current Shield leading the festivities, he liked speeches even more than his father-in-law.
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The kids were today''s center of attention. The unlikely saviours of the princess.
They stuck close to their parents, not because the children were afraid but rather because the poor adults weren''t accustomed to the stares of so many powerful people. I approved of this attitude and so did Husnd.
The girl''s trail was the easiest to taste in the crowd. She had Akola?''s distinctive sugariness on her, though with a slightly different aftertaste. True powerful Akola?tes were so sweet that they were almost sickening to feel. The girl had a milder sweetness, like a ripe karepe, sweet but with a hint of tanginess and a bit of astringent effect. She didn''t have the sticky feeling of Akola?''s blessed ones either; she was just doted on by the god but not contracted. At least not yet.
It would be for the best if she didn''t fall in the hands of the temple. Our Shieldom could well use her talents and she had shown loyalty. This was the best quality of all, a Husnd''s one.
That''s why I spent so much convincing the Enchantress to take her in. She could become a great asset for this country in the praetorian guard. My grandnephew will hate me for that deal but it was for the greater good, I''ll make him understand.
The boy was far harder to find. I couldn''t taste his chi at all from this far and had to rely on other means. It was the faint murky taste of his Shinpilo''s blessing that gave out his location.
His condition was still a mystery to me. I''ve asked a dozen other masters and none of them ever met this situation. He had Chi, I knew it. Just that it felt ¡°old¡±, ¡°stale¡±. Not rotten or overripe but more like ¡°dusty¡± and ¡°vapid¡±.
It was both faint and immovable, like a rock rather than a flavoursome, tantalizing dish.
Iroto told me how hard it had been to cure the boy''s wounds. The healers had to expand thrice as much regenerative Chi as they should have. I''ve checked the boy''s condition at his demand but there was no rot of Fusaad to be smelled. It wasn''t his aura that had already shrunk either; it was just his strange Chi somehow resisting the healing. We were lucky the kid had so little Chi, otherwise we would have exhausted all the healers in the palace.
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After enough talking, Iroto announced the real deal. They now made both kids free citizens and put them under his care. This was a bold move. He was basically stealing two talented commoners from their blade. I don''t know who was the blade who got robbed in plain sight but that can''t be pleasant. It was necessary though. Both kids needed to be nurtured and we couldn''t let the central Temple snatch the kid from us. Fortmo had agreed that this was for the Shieldom¡¯s best interest.
Now that the party was on, it was time to move on, I couldn''t waste more time here and wouldn''t wait for the end of the festivities.
The kids were now back with their families. Iroto, the prince and even the Duarch''s kid were there to handle the parents. Now was a good time to handle my business.
Despite my best efforts at constraining my aura and restricting my Chi''s influence, the crowd reacted at my approach, parting naturally to give me way. My senses could feel the blades tense up and the commoners freeze like hunted preys sensing their demise. Only Iroto remained unfazed, the old devil had seen far worse than me and knew no fear.
I decided to quickly handle the girl.
The Enchantress never wanted an apprentice. She had created her own magic, a feat worthy of legends, and intended to die with her knowledge. Truth was that suitable pupils were almost non-existent. The girl appeared just at the right moment, the Enchantress will never find a better apprentice.
She was naturally afraid of my mere presence. She hid it well enough but I could feel her heart thumping through the air and the sour smell of fear taint her taste. Her purple eyes were a nice oddity. They were claiming her link with Akola? in a very public manner. It must have been quite unpleasant more than once. Akola?tes had a poor reputation in the Empire, a by-product of Jalea''s influence. Husnd too was wary of marriage wreckers but would always give everyone a fair chance before judging them. ''Deeds comes above words'', ''Judge someone on his acts.'' The girl risked her life for my friend''s granddaughter, this should earn her my sympathy, Akola? or not.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
I went straight to the point, ¡°Iroto told me you have a predisposition for magic?¡± I didn''t wait for the girl to answer and tried to ignore her parent''s dumbfounded faces. If I got annoyed my aura might leak out and petrify them. ¡°Would you like to start studying what you can do with it? I think I know someone who is looking for an apprentice and you look suitable.¡±
Getting a mentor was a tremendous boon for a commoner. I don''t know if the girl can understand the extent of my offer. Wait, did she even know who I am?
I could see the boy give the girl an elbow strike in the ribs to prompt her to answer. This would spare me some time, thanks kid for getting me.
The girl was still brain-frozen but sorted out an answer. ¡°Huh? Of course. I mean, yes my lord, Sir. I would be glad to.¡± The boy had a smirk on him like some father watching over his clumsy daughter.
The girl was handled, I''d let the Enchantress deal with her from now on.
The boy looked strangely unaffected by my aura. This was quite unusual for someone with so little Chi. He should feel threatened by my aura. I won''t complain, this would make it easier to talk with him. ¡°Come with me, you, we need to talk.¡± It was an order that could suffer no rebuke.
I grabbed him by the wrist, being careful not to break his delicate bones while dragging him.
Now was the time to quench the thirst that made me come, check the boy''s ¡°magic¡±.
How did a Chi-less kid obliterate two brother-assassins with just coal? This sounded like one of those Beastkins¡¯ riddles.
Just as I was dragging him to a secluded table, the young one-eyed-Suji came to us. He was now a General of the army, I still had a hard time realizing it. I''ll let him stick with us, not only as a military representative but also because he was more a people-person than I was.
As soon as we sat around the table, I spread a bubble of Chi around us. The nasty taste of mud on my tongue told me Fortmo was in it. I sent him a Chi tremor to tell him he wasn''t as stealthy as he thought. This brought him out of his hiding illusion. ¡°A nice barrier you have there,¡± he commented without praise, ¡°Even I would have a hard time eavesdropping through it,¡± he claimed.
In his dreams only. The cardinal was way over himself if he thought he could ever spy on me. This bubble was like a second skin to me and I could instantly tell if his intent touched it. Unless his god helped him spy on me, it wasn''t a feat he could pull off and even then, he would need Husnd to not warn me either.
¡°Congratulations for your promotion,¡± started Suji, probably trying to reassure the child. Sujji had always been a diplomat, trying to talk his way out of some battles. Diplomacy was a waste of time in my opinion, in the end only strength mattered. I only talked with those I defeated, the discussions were shorter.
The boy''s poise was worthy of praise. Even after being dragged here by me and surrounded by a general and a cardinal, he was looking calm. His heart rate was giving him out but few would notice and I doubt anyone could read anxiety or fear in his Chi, I couldn''t.
¡°I suppose you want me to talk about [gun]powder,¡± he answered.
I nodded, ¡°Yes, I want a demonstration.¡± I was getting tired of talks, time for actions. Suji was brave enough to give me a disapproving glare for my lack of sensitivity. That''s why I like the young general, he was bold enough to point out some of my failings. Not that I would take heed of his criticisms, I was past the age of wasting my time on shallow conversation.
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The kid''s workplace was as small as him. A tiny desk with a few tools, a small tube of average grade bronze he called his ¡°gun¡± and what little powder he could produce.
No one had messed with his work, because the thing had proved dangerous and because it was a proof of good faith.
The second princess was waiting for us in her courtyard. ¡°Care if I join you gentlemen for this demonstration? I''m curious to see how I was saved.¡± She claimed with faked uneasiness.
I knew Iroto sent her to watch over us and report back to him. Ah, foolish Iroto, if I wanted to become Shield, I would already be sitting on that throne. My oath to Husnd was making it impossible though, but the old drunkard didn''t know the exact terms of it and I liked to keep him on the edge.
The Shinpilo-kid filled his crude bronze tube with his powder and a lead ball. I''m still surprised this flimsy-looking rod could hurt anyone. He lighted a fuse and pointed the tube at a wooden dummy, a few steps away.
I knew it was going to be noisy but the explosion still startled me a bit, my hearing making it painful. There was a small plume of smoke and the wooden dummy''s head had a hole in it.
It was both impressive and disappointing.
Sure, the thing was able to do some damage, but the requirements were harsh. It took time to settle and fire and it required to be in close range. Not ideal for commoners facing monsters or enemy fighters.
¡°Nice.¡± applauded General Suji before giving me a wink with his remaining eye. Once more, he knew how to be more diplomat than I could. ¡°Now could we see what you used to kill the second one, the thing that hurt your hand?¡± he inquired with a concerned expression, like he was feeling some empathy for the wounded.
The kid''s hand was still rosy and wrinkled like some koati had chewed on it for weeks, not fully healed despite the amount of regenerative Chi poured on him.
He showed us his ¡°grenades¡±. Simple balls of clay, the size of my fist, filled with powder and pebbles. ¡°Just light the fuse and throw it at the target. After a few heartbeats, the thing will explode like a fireball,¡± he explained to us. It was relatively simple enough, just that the time before the explosion was a bit imprecise. This would impede precise throwing.
¡°Can''t I just put it on fire when I need it to?¡± Asked Suji. This took the kid by surprise and for once he lost a bit of his composure. He must not have known that Suji was also a low-rank fire mage. ¡°Euh, yes. Sure. Just be careful that it is far enough from us,¡± he warned him.
I do not expect his clay ball to be able to harm any of us but I had seen the head of the assassin, so there might be some caution to be advised.
Suji threw the ¡°grenade¡± in a straight line towards a stone dummy. Right before it crashed on the stone, he threw a spark in it. I must admit it was an elegant move, of great precision and Chi mastery. Almost no Chi spillage and the disturbance was minimal, I could only faintly taste the spiciness of his fire Chi.
The result was impressive, an explosion and a cloud of smoke. Pebbles and clay parts were projected in all directions, strongly enough to cause damage in a close area. When the smoke dispelled, the dummy''s head was partly blown away.
The strangest part of this was that other than the spark, there was no Chi involved. No disturbance in the Chi flow. The explosion didn''t taste of fire Chi and it was like purely natural, like something that was meant to be, rather than a Chi manipulation.
¡°What level do you think this would be for a fireball?¡± asked Suji to the princess.
She pondered for an instant, trying to feel the Chi around but just like me, she must''ve sensed no fire chi. She then only focused on the damages done to make her assessment. ¡°At least a 3rd rank fireball. Maybe a fourth rank with a bit more power.¡± She concluded.
Suji nodded in approbation, he was satisfied with the princess'' evaluation. He had been one of her mentors in Chi perception.
The limit of this ¡°grenade¡± was the risk of someone else lightning it when you carried it, just like Suji did. With a little bit of Chi interference it should be fine and it only meant that it would be harder to use when facing fire mages, but not against monsters.
I agreed that it was a rank 3 fireball, but useable by anyone who had a flint or a flame nearby.
¡°How much of these can you make?¡± I pressed the kid.
He awkwardly scratched his head with his left hand, the move sent tingling in his wounded hand and I was able to catch a brief pained expression. ¡°It depends on how much niter I can get, how many helpers and how much money can be spent on the project. Given enough resources, I would say I can equip a battalion with guns and grenades,¡± he casually deduced.
A battalion was a hex of troupes. That many third rank fire mages were a huge firepower, more than what the Shieldom could muster for an expedition.
¡°You''ll get as much as needed, just get to work,¡± I ordered him.
Chap 66: Purification
Raw materials were the limit.
Now that I had the full endorsement of the military, I had access to money. Not unlimited budget but more money than I could imagine.
If alchemists were too costly I could always train commoners for the job, grinding charcoal and others into powder didn''t require a trained alchemist for the task.
Onder''s reports were mixed. The Troll chief miner said sulphur wasn''t a problem, there were a lot of accessible deposits near underground ¡°chimneys¡±, signs of volcanic or tectonic activity. Coal was a possibility too. He was reluctant because the ¡°fire spirit¡± had a bad reputation among miners but he would bring some back if tasked to (and paid to). The rock was easy to crush and there were veins not too far from the surface, they would just have to reopen tunnels that were sealed. With a few light crystals to light their way down and manpower to keep any threats at bay, they will be operational.
The main choke-point for further development was also the main ingredient: Niter.
There was none to be found in great quantities down in the mines. My best guess is that the flooding kept humidity levels too high for ammonia deposits from any source to last. No bat shit or monster shit available for me. Going to search the mountains for caves was even less of an option. Such places would be teeming grounds for monsters, the manpower and military force needed for such exploitation would undermine the idea of gunpowder. It could end up requiring more soldiers than it created.
I hadn''t forgotten the vision Shinpilo sent me, with Mr. Turner''s documentary talking about the ¡°shit-farms¡±. I was going to have to find out how to extract Niter from faecal sludge.
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Before this nasty task, I had a more urgent problem on hands: what last name was I going to take?
Gel had the same issue but her solution was easily found. ¡°I''ll just take the same name as you, we''ll be battle-siblings.¡± I couldn''t refuse her demand without her pestering me endlessly. Melodi was threatening to become a martial hero too just to take on the same name too...
This only put more weight on my decision.
Should I follow this world''s custom and take the city''s name or the Shieldom''s name? Or take my former last name from Earth?
Should I take one of our great scientists'' names as a tribute and become Telerios Einstein or Telerios Newton or Nobel? This sounded a bit pretentious and would just weird out everyone else.
Should I go for something funny like Telerios Far-sight or Superman?
I''ve pondered for a long time, between both worlds'' meanings and sonorities. In the end, I decided to take our great river''s name. I was going to be Telerios Awanui, the large river, slowly but irrepressibly carving its way to the horizon.
Gel agreed with the idea and the princess and lord Iroto also approved of my choice. It wasn''t our city''s name as they would have preferred but it was still something regarding the Shieldom.
Now I was left with the most unpleasant of task unless you are a two-years-old: experimenting with faeces.
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I really wanted Niter and I meant it.
How else would I justify spending days experimenting with faecal sludge? Unsurprisingly, no one volunteered to help me with this task...
Since I was working for the military, I managed to get assigned a few helpers. Soldiers ended up here more as part of a punishment rather than to be helpful. I guess the military still doesn''t understand how my work with faeces is crucial in gunpowder making.
Among those soldiers I grabbed the two smartest ones, or rather the two least useless, as my assistants.
The first one is a young recruit called Tajni. He comes from the eastern district just like we do and is of commoner''s origin just like we do. He could pass out for Balout''s older brother, they share the same dark blond hair. He ended up having to help me because he smuggled food rations during last year''s winter and is still being punished since then by either dangerous affectations or disgusting ones. A few fresh scars on his arms are proof that he never backed away from his punishment.
The second one is a middle-aged porcupine Beastkin. Her name is Kaota. She is clumsy and as good as the spikes on her back favours her on the battlefield, she tends to wreak havoc in the camp... Dumping her on me was a way to get rid of her for her officer in charge.
Like most clumsy people, she is shy and nervous. Her pointy nose always trembles in fear or expectation and she looks as nervous as Sansho during a heatwave. What redeems her a bit in my eyes is that she is curious and the questions she asked shown she understood a bit what I was striving to do here.
With this team of misfits, I installed a small workshop near the stables of the palace. There, we found a pack of Tojas more or less big and flamboyants and a brigade of flying beasts. They will be our source of manure.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I''m not sure about the exact process to extract ammonia from their feces but I can deduce part of it.
The potassium ammonium I''m after will be found in both feces and urine, dissolved in water. My goal is to slowly increase the concentration under controlled evaporation to have the solute crystallize. A bit like how salt is extracted from seawater.
The main difference is the amount of waste and organic mater that will contaminate the solution.
It isn''t pleasant work. It involves harvesting all dung and draining the urine of all beasts. To manage that feat I had the beasts parked on a duckboard lattice above drainage to collect the liquid when they relieved themselves.
Both excretions are mixed together with a bit of hay and my two assistants are to stir the disgusting mixture under the heat of the sun or of a heat crystal when it gets too cloudy and cold in this winter.
The military managed to secure the help of a priest of Fusaad and Charavatkeh to help me. They both sprinkled what I believe to be strains of bacteria on the pools to help with the degradation of the organic matter. They know what they are doing when it comes to composting, I just hope it won''t interfere with the ammonia concentration.
The stench around the pool was horrendous. Even the beast''s grooms didn''t dare approach our working station. It was ten times worse than kemcha and made me feel like throwing up every time I''d enter the room. I''ve smelled tons of disgusting things be it in this life or the previous, but this is among the top three worse.
I retched once.
When Kaota somehow found the way to fall into one of the pools of shit she was stirring... Even after bathing dozens of times I think some of the liquid still remains between her spikes and she now carries an awful smell around her. I felt a bit sorry for her and will buy her a bottle of perfume from the alchemists.
The process was excruciatingly long. It took two months to see the first crystals appear, a powdery white outcrop like the one naturally forming in caves where bats or others birds would defecate, mixed in the black earth resulting from the composting.
I had made niter.
Problem was that it was mixed among the black earth and still had a high amount of salt among it.
Now I had to refine it, find a way to purge it from the impurities. By harvesting only the superficial outcrop we would have a black earth fertilizer left at the bottom of the pool and a fraction of concentrated niter. I hadn''t the faintest idea of how to achieve this.
I knew common salt and niter solubility in water weren''t the same depending on temperatures, but nothing in my memories would be of help to deal with a practical way of doing it or on how to deal with other impurities.
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To further purify this niter I needed someone''s help.
¡°So, I want to know if you think you can help me in this task,¡± I asked the blonde Elve.
The Elven court alchemist, Raiya, listened to my request with care. She knew I had come up with something incredible to deserve my promotion, yet she wasn''t aware of the existence of gunpowder. The sample of niter I was presenting to her wasn''t looking impressive.
¡°Of course I''ll help you to the best of my capabilities,¡± she answered after weighing her options. She had more to gain to be aboard my train. ¡°I know of saltpetre, a rarely found salt in monsters'' dens.¡± This caught my attention, so there were some deposits out there. ¡°But I didn''t know it could be ''made'' from wastes... Is it useful?¡± she wondered.
It was hard to lie to her. She was going to help me and will probably learn of gunpowder one day or the other. I was going to need alchemists to help me at some point anyway. ¡°It is useful. I can turn it into an explosive powder and it can also be used to make some acid.¡± At least she knew about nitric acid even if they only called it ¡°yellow water¡±.
¡°Explosives? You mean like a firecrackers?¡±
So firecrackers did exist somewhere. ¡°Yeah, just bigger.¡± I tried to stay evasive on the true power of niter. She''ll get to see it with her own eyes in time, I didn''t want to spoil her reaction.
¡°Fine bring your sample and we''ll see what we can do,¡± she proposed in a comely manner. Her golden eyes weren''t beaming with interest but at least her answer was a polite one.
Her lab was far more impressive than my workstation.
It was a real lab. Not by Earth''s standards but she had a few glass vials, a decanter, an alembic, all kinds of powders and elixirs, and of course the crystals to make all of these work.
¡°So, you say your product is contaminated with salt and organic impurities?¡± she asked for conversation''s sake.
¡°Yes. I want to take out as much as possible, but have no idea on how to do it.¡± In fact I had some ideas, just that I had none of the reagents needed, nor the apparatus. What I needed was to see how she would manage to do it to get some inspiration on how to do it too.
¡°Taking away impurities shall be the easiest part,¡± she explained. My sample was put in a flask of water heated by a crystal. When the solution started to boil she added her reagents.
¡°It is common for us to extract poisons and other reagents from beasts and monsters, I know how to deal with this, look.¡± She added what looked like translucent slime, an ashy powder and... was it blood?
Her sun-ray laugh came out when she saw my face. ¡°Glue, wood ashes and blood. The fresher the better, I always have some in the lab,¡± she explained with a smug smile. ¡°They tend to react with any organic remnants and will bind them, look.¡±
At the top of the pot, a froth was coming up, red-brown and ready to be skimmed. This scum had adsorbed most of the organic impurities. ¡°If needed we just renew the operation one or two more times, but this should be enough.¡± Indeed, once the froth was taken out and the liquid poured in another glass container to cool down, there was only a slightly turbid liquid remaining, like brine. It was in fact brine, just with both salt and niter in.
Now we needed to split apart the common salt from the saltpeter. But also from magnesia, nitrate of lime and also potassium chloride.
¡°Saltpeter is known to stay in the water more than salt. It is said that though Amidea received all the salt of the world from Arteus, she''s ready to cast it away at the first occasion.¡± She said in a learned tone, like I was one of her young apprentices. Though she was only partly right, crystallisation of salt will occur at lower temperature than saltpeter in boiling water, but niter will crystallize more easily in cold water.
She was going to induce crystallisation at higher temperature to skim through the rest and only then use the remaining ley water to extract niter.
The pot she was using was a large copper bowl with a stirring wheel in it. The heat source was a fire crystal rather than a flame. This was both because fire was a source of explosions in a lab but also because the heat was easier to control with a crystal. This made the process only usable by Chi users though, not the best if I was to scale things up. I wasn''t going to have to boil a small pot, but whole pools. Fire crystals would be too costly and I didn''t want to rely on Chi users. I''ll have to work on a solution using only firewood or coal.
She started to heat the solution until it reached boiling point. Then she carefully let water evaporate to slowly increase the concentration in the solution. She must have sensed one way or another that a threshold was reached because she stopped the stirring and crystals started to appear at the bottom of the bowl. Common salt, but also potassium chloride. With a straw and a suction bulb, she took out all the crystals.
The brine we were left with should contain mostly niter. ¡°Now we just cool it down.¡± She said with the ease of an expert. This was her domain. She might not understand why I wanted niter, but she knew how to get some.
As the liquid was slowly cooling down she offered me tea and pastries. Our discussion was more about my new status as a free citizen than about the current experiments. She carefully avoided probing too much about the incident with the princess. Either because she knew the truth or because she had been advised not to question me. Or just because she knew that ignorance was bliss in such cases.
As the liquid was cooling down, the powdery white crystal would appear once more but with fewer impurities this time. It wasn''t pure niter but close enough.
¡°You can always repeat the whole process once more to separate even more the simples. They have been concentrated so it will only be easier,¡± she explained.
She was right, it was going to need multiple iterations to get purer niter. But it was doable and there was room for improvements. For one the apparatus could be more effective, especially if it was going to be a daily gig.
I will also need to find a way to make thermometers. I believe that just knowing the exact temperature will help to control the crystallisation process, just how it is done to produce sugar for example.
Thermometers were just one more thing to add to the to-do list.
I''ll still have to reflect on how to make the best large-scale laboratory for the process but at least I had a way to do things.
Now, provided enough shit was coming at me, I could supply a whole army with gunpowder.
Chap 67: Shit-looking future.
When I wasn''t dealing with shit, I was trying to distract my mind and purify my nose.
The lord''s garden was less colourful now that we were in the heart of winter. Temperature was still fine in the palace gardens thanks to the magical enchantments surrounding it but the trees had lost almost all their leaves and there were barely any animals or birds left to be seen. The pond was quiet and its surface was still as a mirror.
I was taking it upon me to give my friends a crash course on first aid and a bit of human physiology.
I didn''t know as much as a physician, but I knew human anatomy well enough. My main goal was to teach them basic field medicine, how to take care of acute bleeding, apply a tourniquet, CPR, immobilizing fractured limbs, putting someone in lateral safety position etc...
I wanted them to at least know how to not get themselves killed stupidly in a battle. I had to accept the idea that they will end up becoming fighters and will have to face monsters and even sapients humanoids willing to harm them.
The anatomy course intrigued the princess. She had been taught by her mentors before, but my understanding of organs functions and the vascular system was a bit different than theirs. Better, I might say.
After pointing at some weak spots to protect at all cost or to target on enemies (neck vessels, armpits, femoral artery, kidneys, liver, spine etc...) came the dreaded question about reproductive organs.
Some of the kids were already aware of how it worked and the use for them: the princess and Gelcaria already knew what they had to; while Balout and Melodi were candidly asking me to explain them the birds and the bees...
Both of the naughty girls were repressing their laughter and trying to push me into explaining more to the other pair.
I''ve evaded their tricks and went back to CPR and first aid. I lectured Gel, reminding her how she almost bled herself out when trying to remove that knife from her arm. Chi couldn''t renew one''s blood in a short time. It could make you stronger, faster, give you more endurance, but it wouldn''t save you from fainting if you lose two litres of blood after your humeral artery got severed.
At the end of the lecture, the princess came to me. I was expecting some more teasing or maybe a few questions about some of the strange concepts I introduced. She was surprised when I explained the liver''s function for example. Her request took me by surprise, ¡°I was wondering if you could have this taught to doctor Nune and plan a lecture for a few officers. This could save a lot of our men on the field,¡± she said with all seriousness.
I was surprised she cared about our soldiers'' well-being. She knew as well as I do the death rate of soldiers during winter. Fighting against monsters was a gruesome task and healers weren''t on most expeditions, they were too valuable to be risked out there. If we could reduce the losses even by a small percent with basic trauma care, just enough to bring home the wounded, it would still mean a lot.
It would also be a good opportunity for me to see how much they knew about trauma management, fractures reductions, how to manage a pneumothorax etc... Maybe there was room for a few improvements.
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We lacked shit.
Never thought I would say that one day, but I wanted to be in deep shit right now and I was in lack of it.
There weren''t enough beasts in the city to provide me with manure in the huge quantity I needed. If I wanted to supply a whole army''s worth of niter, I was going to need a plant with multiple large pools of shit stirring 24/7. These pools will need to be constantly drowned in piss.
Even if I equip the biggest stables in the city to collect urine and manure, it won''t be enough of a supply. There aren''t that many pack beasts parked in a single place. I could ask for the lord to enforce a law to park beasts in state''s studs to make it easier to centralize the collection but something tells me that it won''t sit well with either blades or free citizens. They were the ones possessing most of the beasts in town and forcing them to park them outside of their domains would either ruffle them or require a huge payback.
Herds of beasts for meat and dairy were far from the city in the southern plains. Building a plant there seemed unreliable for now, there were too many monster attacks to make it viable. Even with the new nighthavens to be built, there would still be more risks and the plant would require a lot of troops to be watched early on. Less once soldiers will have cannons, rifles, and grenades.
I''ve negotiated with the army for a place to build my first plant. It will be a small farm, big enough for a dozen large pools of stirring shit, access to water and just outside of the city''s walls.
The army provided lands at the feet of the western walls. Though it was outside of the city, it was on the safer side. Monsters were attacking mostly from the north and east sides. It was close enough for workers to come back to the city before nightfall and with the correct infrastructure, I could get running water from the Hoyirin. Coal or firewood would be easily supplied by land through the city.
I''d like to wait for steel before building a watermill to extract water and get it to a high enough point to naturally flow towards the plant; but steel was not for tomorrow so wood will have to make do for now.
What I wanted to strive for was public sanitations to collect human faeces. Installing plumbing in the whole city, for each house, was unrealistic. What I envisioned was more like what emperor Vespasien did in the Roman Empire: public toilets.
I wanted to have them collect and store the material and then either by plumbing or through cisterns, transport it to the niter plant. If there weren''t enough beast in the city, I''ll just have to rely on humans to provide me with enough raw matter.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The Shieldlord came back to town this month. He was drafted for the winter in the Imperial Captial''s army to push back monsters but got a leave to return to the Shieldom for the new year celebrations.
Judging by his sour look, the case against the Mujrim Shieldom wasn''t going as well as it should despite the evidences. There were political shenanigans surrounding all this.
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His return gave me the occasion to discuss the sewage issue. On the morrow of his homecoming, i was summoned in the old lord''s apartments in the evening.
The old man''s place wasn''t fancy. It was almost empty. I understand why he prefers the gardens, his place was bleak in comparison. Naked walls, only a few unornamented furniture and a rough straw mat for bed. I didn''t take him for a spartan.
The current lord was sitting beside his father-in-law in plain clothes, a simple red robe and a shoulder mantle made of some fox-looking fur. Without all the medals or golden ornaments he looked strangely common. He was still strong looking and his eyes were burning with the confidence that only comes with real power, but the martial aura usually surrounding him was a bit dimmed.
I came in and bowed to both current and former lord, and who were now my protectors.
¡°Ah, nice, I wanted to see you for a long while,¡± started the lord. ¡°First of all, I need to thank you. My daughter owes you her freedom, maybe her life. The shieldom will remember this and so will I,¡± he stated with solemnity before going for a more casual tone, ¡°We were all pleasantly surprised at how you took out two trained assassins. I guess we shouldn''t judge a book on its cover. The Marshall praised your firepowder a lot, I can''t wait to see it.¡±
He would have to wait. I had spent all the remaining niter I could get from the mines in making enough grenades for the winter expeditions. I was now left with no remaining gunpowder at all. The next batch would have to wait for either the mining expeditions to fin more saltpeter or for the plant to be constructed.
Lord Kirinavati looked at me with almost solid intent. ¡°I can''t let the rescuer of my daughter go unrewarded, it would shame me. Making you a free citizen was the least we could do, but I also want to reward you myself. You can ask me for anything,¡± he offered with open arms.
This was a tremendous offer. What could I wish for from my lord?
The first thing that came to mind was magic. Sadly it was out of his reach. If it was within their possibility, either the Temple or the old lord would have already offered it.
What else could I want? Riches? I was going to get it sooner or later. Between cement, paper, steel, or gunpowder; I was now confident that money was going to make its way to me one way or another.
I now had freedom, as much as I could. Only blades could have more but without Chi there was no way for me to ever become one.
I only had one thing coming to mind. If the richest people I knew were offering to gift me something, I had to make the most of it and what I needed right now was to secure my family''s condition.
¡°I don''t think I need anything for myself.¡± That is unless they could gift me Chi, that I would ask for. ¡°What I want is for my family to get a better future.¡± Family piety. This was a Husnd''s virtue. I could see the approval in the old man''s deep green eyes. The Shieldlord made a prayer gesture to Husnd, hitting his chest with his right fist. I went further in my demands. ¡°I''d like you to help my parents find better jobs. Nothing too fancy,¡± I reassured them. ¡° I was hoping my mother could work as a seamstress in the shop providing dress for the Shield''s family and that my father could be accepted as a smelter in the Shieldom''s foundry.¡±
This was a decent demand. Asking to make them free citizens was too much and they could never pay for the protection fee. Soon enough they''ll become commoners again. Getting them better paying jobs was a great way to enhance our living conditions and maybe let them become free citizens later on. The Shield''s foundry was the one dealing with both precious metals and strategic ones. Workers there were better paid to reduce the risks of stealing and were usually stemming from trusted backgrounds.
The access to better jobs was gated by your relations. For example only crafters who had support from a kin who was a free citizen could expect to handle gold and silver. Only seamstresses having connection with free citizens would get to work in the best shop and learn how to work with the finest silks and monster''s leathers. Extraordinary talent could help bypass this but relations were the golden road otherwise.
As the old man was about to nod in agreement in his son-in-law''s stead, I added more. ¡°I would also like for my brother to find an apprenticeship as a jeweller and for my sister to follow my mother as an apprentice.¡±
Not only would that give them better opportunities in life, but having my own brother in the jewellers'' guild would help me just as much as my father did with the smelters and smiths. Soon, I''ll need crafters able to work on delicate parts and able to craft complex tools, with minuteness and patience. Jewellers were those people I would need. I was slowly placing my pawns for later while helping them too, a win-win situation for everyone.
I wasn''t forgetting about the other main saviour either, ¡°I also think Gel deserves more. I think you already know enough about her family''s situation. I''d like you to help her afford a house for her, her mother and her other siblings if they wish so.¡± It wasn''t my place to drive Danik away from her, but I could have her drive the rest of her family away from him. With the old lord''s support and the princess'' backing, she should be able to afford it.
The old lord emptied his cup with a satisfied sigh. ¡°Thinking about others is a good quality for a leader. Don''t you think you should think about yourself first, though? Why wouldn''t you ask me for elixirs to help with your Chi?¡± He asked without sounding much surprised. Even the current lord ws looking at me with surprise now that the old man was pointing at the oddness of my demands,
I shrugged, ¡°Would it help? I don''t think it would be that easy, I have time to work on it. My family and friends come first and now is the right moment to help them. If something was to happen to me, I don''t want them to end up in dire situations once again. I have also a little sister to think about,¡± I firmly explained.
The Shieldlord''s eyes moistened with genuine emotion. ¡°Such piety. May Husnd watch over them all.¡± He patted my shoulder with enough strength for it to be painful. The man was drunk thanks to his father-in-law and his control of his Chi was getting clumsier.
Lord Iroto emptied another cup while staring at me with calculating eyes. I could feel a bit of the jungle''s pressure weighing on me as he was pondering on my demands. He finally decided, ¡°Granted. You are always surprising me. I thought you would ask for money or crystals, but I appreciate your consideration for your kins.¡± Lord Kirivanati nodded at his side.
With that taken care of, came the time of less pleasant discussion. Sewage.
¡°You what!?¡± both spat their drinks due to the shock. ¡°Your firepowder is made with human wastes?¡± interrogated the old lord.
¡°Not necessarily human. I''ve experimented on the stables first, but there isn''t enough manure to provide me with enough niter for the army. I need more faeces.¡± I tried to sound as serious as I could given the circumstances but couldn''t help laughing at myself on the inside. I was with the two most powerful and richest men in the Shieldom, discussing new laws to get as much shit as I could.
¡°And how are we supposed to achieve this? Do we just forbid personal toilets in homes?¡± The Shieldlord made a good point, enforcing this will be tough.
I shrugged helplessly ¡°Why not? I don''t see that many other ways around.¡± No shit, no booms, they''ll end up accepting it.
¡°Impossible,¡± decreed lord Iroto, ¡°We can''t pass this kind of law.¡±
This annoyed me, I don''t dig having to negotiate to get access to wastes. ¡°Then no gunpowder for you. Without niter I can''t make it and 7 out of 10 parts of the powder is niter, we''re going to need a lot of it,¡± I reminded both of them.
Lord Katou emptied his cup before suggesting ¡°Can''t you find other suppliers for your niter thing? There was some in the mine, no?¡±
He''s right, but the mine had very little and it wasn''t renewable, it would soon be depleted. I could still look for other suppliers like foreign traders, but the cost would be high. Niter weights a lot and required a dry container, so sea or river transportation was complicated. It had almost no value other than for us, so it would need to convince not only a trader but also find a source, be it mine or cave, and someone ready to exploit it for what little price we could afford.
¡°This would cost too much,¡± I concluded.
The old lord must have had the same train of thoughts as me since he nodded in approval. ¡°Yes, too complicated to find a supplier and we would become dependent on him. If our supply line got cut, no more equipment for our troops, this is too unreliable. We need to be as self-sufficient as possible,¡± he decided.
After discussing a bit more we decided to only enforce this new rule on the servs. They couldn''t object and it would only require to equip the district they live in.
It wouldn''t be as much as I would like but it would give us enough for a few pools. This will allow to equip enough soldiers to secure the south and expand the plant there once the herds'' grazing grounds are safer.
Let the shit empire begin.
Chap 68: Construction site
I had forgotten about childhood discomforts.
While we were preparing for the end of the year celebrations, I was nearing my eighth spring. Currently, the cold wasn''t a problem for me any longer. My family could afford as much firewood as we needed for a warm house and the palace where I was staying half of the time was always comfortably warm.
What kept me awake at night wasn''t the nightmares either, but the pain. Not only was my hand still tingling and painful as the nerves were slowly creeping their way back down to the tip of my fingers, but I also had all kinds of pains in my bones.
Growing pains was a long forgotten memory. Strangely enough, I felt almost none till now. Maybe a kid''s nervous system isn''t mature enough to process it at an early age? The backlash was just fiercer. Right now it felt like someone was inflating my bones every night, trying to blow them from the inside.
Same problem, other flavour, were the teeth. I was currently losing them and couldn''t take a bite of bunta without painfully losing one. I had forgotten the pain that a growing tooth was, when it was making its way through the supple flesh.
All this exquisite nightly tortures were making me quite grumpy, the constant pain and lack of sleep weren''t a pleasant combination.
I was to visit the construction site for the Niter plant this morning. No expenses were spared by the military and they were powering through the winter for the construction. The Marshall had promised an infinite budget but reality was a bit more lacklustre. General Suji and the lord were the voice of reason there and tempered the sums available for the project. Not that they didn''t believe in gunpowder, both were positively impressed with it, but because they knew the Shieldom financial situation. Coffers had been emptied by the disastrous winter from two years ago and were still recovering. It would take time for trade to fill up the losses.
After a light breakfast of ¡°oats¡±: chips of bunta in koati milk with a spoon of honey-jam and a sprinkle of dried fruits, I wrapped myself in furs and went on my way. This winter wasn''t as dire as two years ago but it was still freezing cold outside. Snow would fall every other day when the winds would come from the north.
I now had a guard assigned to me permanently and in plain sight. It was both better and worse than the shadow stalkers. It was better because you felt less spied on but it also drew a lot more attention on me. Attracting the attention of the powerful ones with all the changes I was bringing was one thing, but now I also had to deal with passer-by looking at me. I was fine with the curious gazes but deep down I also knew there could always be some heretics somewhere targeting me.
We went to the next block to meet up with Gelcaria. The Shieldlord had been generous and she now had her own house. It was a bit smaller than her previous one but it was hers. This meant no rent, only protection fee to pay and Gel''s wages were enough to cover them. The princess paid her enough and I think Moatimu liked Gel quite a lot, not only as a sparring partner but also as a trusty friend.
Gel''s mother and brother followed her and they were now living closer to the city centre in the westernmost part of the eastern district.
They were now freed from Danik''s influence and threat. I don''t know what will happen to him now that he was alone. Could he afford the taxes and house on his own? Would he become a serv? It was hard to say. The only time I brushed the topic with Gel, she made it quite clear she didn''t care. The only thing that mattered was that her mother wasn''t contrived to ¡°worship¡± Akola?.
I just hope she won''t regret the outcome later on. I''ll try to keep an eye from afar on Danik.
Gel was waiting in front of her new house when I arrived. Her purple eyes lit up when she saw me and she quickly joined my ride. Now that she had her own place, she had fewer opportunities to stick around me. She would rarely come to my house and would only occasionally stay at the palace. Her new magic mentor was training her till late almost every day and Gel had to go to her master''s mansion in the western district. I believed it was good for her growth to part from me a bit more.
Her training regimen was now different. She was still training Chi in the morning alongside the princess and the rest of the squad, but during most afternoons she would now study under a magician.
Her mentor was a mentoress, a blade from the western lands. There was little to be known about her teacher. Blade Iharo Wakam was quite mysterious and Gel wasn''t allowed to talk much about her. I knew magic was a touchy subject and she just said that she had vowed secrecy and couldn''t tell me much about her training with the elusive old blade. All she could tell was that her teacher was quite harsh but that she was willing to groom her into a magician.
At first, this worried me and I asked Nutusi about this blade but even she knew very little. It was like she had been there for a while but no one paid much attention. This felt strange for a magician who was hand-picked by the Marshall himself.
Gelcaria had a natural talent for magic. It was something rare among commoners, or at least something rarely found. I still believe there must be more people with some magic affinity. It can''t be just extraordinary luck that made so many of my friends blessed with a rare occurrence. It was statistically improbable.
I believe blades voluntarily slacked on their search for new talents, to ensure their kids will be the only ones able to take their stead. It was a classic situation where an elite was grabbing all the power for themselves and the level was slowly degrading because of this nepotism. All this at the detriment of the greater picture: the eternal war.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
It meant there should be a lot more mages in the population, maybe enough to push back monsters, but this wasn''t sitting well with the people in power. I couldn''t expose this theory to anyone unless I wanted to be labelled a traitor, seditious, or heretic; so I just kept my suspicions to myself.
If I ever get enough influence, especially on the schooling system, I''ll try to implement a broader screening for talented kids. I''m convinced I''ll find a lot more people talented in magic and this will help a lot in the war. Not only with the war but also with the productivity, more magicians would mean that I''ll be able to use some of them as workforce rather than having all of them monopolized by the military.
It will ruffle a few feathers among powerful people though. So I should wait to have enough back-up before introducing this kind of reform.
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The nitre plant was slowly building up. Chi users could dig up as much as mechanized tools and with the help of cement, laying walls was faster than it should have been with their usual methods.
The trusty and moustachy Kirli was overseeing the construction as my foreman and my young secretary, Akili, was my main ¡°architect¡±. The woman had seen the plans I had drafted and understood how much plumbing was important for this project.
We used a hefty amount of lead and copper to make the plumbing. Enough for it to look like a luxurious expense for any out-looker. It would pay back in time but for now, I knew there were some protests coming from officers and blades. I was diverting a lot of military resources and many didn''t understand why.
Gel and I were riding the same Toja. When Kirli spotted us he came to greet us, his bushy moustache was comically whitened with frost and his grotesque nose was a mountain with a snowy peak. This made me flash him a toothless smile.
¡°Welcome bosskid,¡± he greeted me, ¡°and m''lady,¡± he added for Gel.
I had tried to have him just call us by our names, but now that we were free citizens, he refused to. I found to be ''Mr. Awanui'' a bit too pompous for a kid so I accepted his proposal for ''boss'' or ''bosskid''. I was his boss after all.
He showed us the progress of the work, leading us to a dozen deep-dug holes. ¡°The pools are almost all dug, we''re just tampin'' them and we''ll lay the cement then.¡± He rubbed his hands in anticipation, cement had become his pride, he was the most knowledgeable about it.
This would be the first cement pools ever built in this world. The plumbing system was going to bring the collected urine straight to the pools. We weren''t that lower than the servs'' quarter so we''ll have to build a pool midway, near the river, and use a waterwheel to raise the liquid again.
Pumps would be more efficient but they would need way more development, joints, and testing. I just wanted this to run as quickly as possible. Further improvements could come down the line later.
After showing us around, Kirli led us to the river where the first wheel was going to be raised. It was today''s goal for my visit. This was a crucial part not only for the plant but for me to gauge this world''s knowledge about water wheels.
The Hoyirin was a far smaller river than the Awanui. It stemmed from the nearby mountains and its water was clear and pure, famed for its healing properties. The river was still about 30 meters wide and the stream was flowing more quickly than the Awanui. It was faster to sail down, but harder to sail up and there were no further cities up north apart from ours, so they barely sailed upon it except for a few anglers.
Its northern part was providing water to the richest part of the city, in the western district, where blades and free citizens were living. While the downstream part was providing water for the poorer, the servs'' district, and what little farms were outside the walls west of the city.
A small trench had been dug in which the waterwheel would soon turn. Kirli proudly patted the huge wooden wheel. ¡°This is it. Woodworkers have been at it for a week, look at this beauty,¡± he was praising. A shared axis will connect the main water wheel to another one in the urine pool. The wheel was about 6 meter in diameter and could haul water up to four meter above the ground. There were buckets on each blade, carrying water up while the current will keep pushing the wheel.
From there, the sewage and water collected will flow towards the niter plant. We''ll need a lot when purifying Niter and to keep the place clean.
The servs were usually emptying their chamber pots directly in the river but now they had to either use the pool or the few public latrines that were built in their block.
I took inspiration from the roman system. Emperor Vespasien had installed toilets everywhere in Rome on a standardized model.
We''ll need to hire people to clean the place and keep the pipes clear but it would be worth the trouble. Both for the hygiene of the servs, they weren''t getting as much attention from Fusaad priest as the rest of the citizens and epidemics would sometime happen. Mostly simple enteritis since a priest would intervene for things stronger,such as cholera-like diseases but it still killed many people every year and would represent a loss of workforce. One was less productive when he had diarrhoea.
Once all the faecal sludge will be collected in the pool, the waterwheel will rise the sludge high enough so that it will flow down across the river in a small aqueduct built for the occasion. An earth mage raised pillars to support the concrete columns that will support the aqueduct.
All this might look like a lot of investment for just nitre but it showed how important the military were believing my gunpowder to be. This was also an opportunity to test more about cement in construction. The construction site was near the city and before using it more extensively for constructions, it will be a good way to train a workforce of commoners to handle cement. Then, we''ll spread them across the Shieldom during spring to build up defences.
Most kilns were now used to make coal for the citizens, so we only had a small amount of remaining cement. Experimenting in the secured vicinity of the city patrols was the best we could do.
I sighed when I thought I was going to have to find a solution for our lime supply issues before then. I was planning to have better kilns built anyway but without lime to calcine they won''t be of much use.
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Another growing pain in my left tibia brought me out of my thoughts and back to the cold reality. Gelcaria was frowning while looking at the empty pool. She knew that soon, we would fill it with human wastes.
¡°It will be better for the general hygiene,¡± I emphasized the positive aspects. I was providing sewage facilities for the servs at the same time as collecting a valuable resource. Plus the composting would provide a lot of rich black earth for the nearby farmlands.
She shrugged and frowned even more, her purple eyes were beaming with anger. ¡°Do you know how people are calling you?¡± she called me out.
It was my turn to shrug. Was I famous enough to be called by nicknames? ¡°No. I don''t really care,¡± I answered with indifference.
She shook her fist angrily before stabbing me in the shoulder with a reproving index. ¡°You should! People are badmouthing you. My mother is worrying about all the strange rumours going around you!¡±
Now this was interesting, even commoners heard things about me?
Gel kept ranting. ¡°There are people calling you the shit-kid and saying you have a weird fascination for faeces...¡±
I almost laughed at how ridiculous this was. I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. I was bringing a lot of changes and this had already and would keep hurting the business of many people.
Just the army embezzlement case was enough to garner a few enemies.
If all they found to fluster me was some cheap name-calling, I was fine with it. What I feared the most were more brutal attempts against me or my family and friends, especially my family. I was under the protection of the lord, the old lord, the Temple, a god, and the prince, this was putting me in some safety. I also had guards watching over me.
My family had none of this.
I was fearing the day one of my sisters would get hurt because of me, that someone would use them to get to me.
Insults? I could shoulder them, I wasn''t the susceptible kid they thought me to be.
I brushed the problem aside. ¡°Let them talk. It doesn''t do harm. If you really want to shut them up, focus on your training and become strong enough to force them to shut up.¡± I gave her a goal to reach to distract her from doing anything rash.
This was enough to convince her, her anger turned into resolve in her amethyst''s eyes and I could feel the burning aura around her become a chilling vengeful mist. It was way more frightening than her anger and reminded me of the threatening aura the old lord could convoke.
May Otik have pity for my foes.
Chap 69: 8th year planning.
This year''s new year was spent with my family only.
I was once more enrolled by the Temple for the pantheon celebration on the 24th daynight but I was left free for the Darkest Night.
Idle time was a scarce resource. Between the teaching, the construction oversight, tempering with gunpowder, the re-education for my left hand, and planning for the future; I had very little left. Not mentioning the low stamina of this body, meaning I couldn''t stay up late and required a lot more sleep than an adult. I knew things would get worse with puberty and how tiresome it was but was getting eager to grow out of childhood.
A day off with my family only was welcomed. Even Gel wasn''t there since she was now busy with her own household, it would have been rude of her to leave her mother and brother alone and come to my place for this holiday.
My family was still processing the recent changes in their lives. The Shieldlord had been true to his word and promoted all of them.
My father was now going to join the Shieldom''s smithery at the start of the new year. There he would work on smelting gold and silver, as well as learning the state-of-the-art bronze alloys.
Barasti, my blockhead of a brother, had already started his apprenticeship at the Boseog jeweler''s shop. They were a branch of a Troll blade''s family with crafters working for the nobility and richest. I''ve advised him countless times to be polite and diligent, this was the opportunity of a lifetime to learn a valuable trade. I needed him to make a good impression so that it will make it easier for me to later use these crafters for my own projects. I was going to need small gears, printing letters, bullets, or just precision tools. Only precision crafters such as them would have the finesse to work on this, not common smiths.
My mother and sister were now working for the princess'' tailor''s shop. There, they would learn to work on the finest silks, costliest leathers, and just get a chance at earning their life better.
It won''t be easy for them. They were newcomers, untrained, and were associated with me; which branded them in an ambivalent fashion. I had access to the Shield''s ears, so few would dare face them openly; but there were all sort of rumours running around me. Many people who were looking for revenge about the embezzlement case, but also others who were feeling threatened by my sudden rise were putting out words about me. Mostly using the nitre farm to slander me but Nutusi reported that some were hinting at a relationship with the old lord or the princess. A good way to hit two birds with one stone.
For now, my kins were just happy with the sudden increase in their status and how bright their future was looking. They were far from all political plots and weren''t even considering they might have to deal with problems because of me. I was their benefactor, almost worshipped.
Even if my mother was still trying to act protective, she knew I was now in another world than theirs.
I was a free citizen, with a bodyguard, people working under him, and was part of our lord''s entourage. Ever since the ceremony, I could feel the gap grow wider between us. I was a strange kid but I was their brother or son initially. Now I was also this lofty free citizen, able to change their life at my whim. They might not do it on purpose but I could feel the shift in their attitude.
There''s nothing much I can do about it except act as casually as I can around them. It''s not like it''s something I can berate them for, just that it made me feel a bit lonely and homesick. The solitude of the top of the mountain as they say.
This year''s feast was the best ever. Mom splurged on the newfound riches to buy more and better. The traditional roasted eel was covered in spices from far away, the vegetables were more flavoursome and fine, and we had an array of desserts with cakes, fresh fruits coming from Tupu knows where, and even something that could taste like dark chocolate. It was a white sticky paste, bitter and sugary at the same time but the aftertaste definitively reminded of something between chocolate and coffee.
No one knew what it was exactly made out of, mom just took the most expensive things and ended up with this.
I''ll need to investigate this and see how much it costs. I wanted my cappuccino every morning.
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This was now my eighth year in this world. Last year was productive and I intended for this one to be even more.
I was at the temple, making my first visit of the year and my report to both Patiyar and Nutusi. With their approval, I offered the gunpowder recipe to the Shinpilo temple. It was a risky move but without the ingredients or the understanding of the process it wasn''t that useful in itself.
For now, only Shinpilo cared about it as part of our deal, no one else would pay attention to an alchemy recipe with hard-to-find ingredients. It will change once more people start to see the power of it, but this might take years and without access to niter or sulphur, no one will be able to steal the invention.
Patiyar was more strained and paler than usual. His beard was getting whiter and so did his face. This year took a toll on him for some reason. Even Nutusi was taking it easy on him by not teasing him. I wish there was something I could do for him, but apart from fulfilling my deeds at the temple I couldn''t do much. Once the offer to Shinpilo was done, the old priest left us to go get some rest.
Nutusi was fully garbed in the Shinpilo''s priest dress, with a blue shawl and a sapphire-like stone hanging in front of her forehead. She took me to one of the chambers to brief me on the recent events.
¡°Your mother and sister should be fine. Their new workplace is quite favourable to the Shield''s family and many are among their allies. No one has ties with people involved in the military embezzlement either.¡±
I had asked her to help me look after my family. Nutusi was a Shinpiloite, a spy-priestess. I can''t say I trusted her at one hundred percent, but something in my guts was telling me she couldn''t willingly try to harm me. Lest Shinpilo himself disowned me.
¡°Your father is going to have quite the hard life in the coming months,¡± she went on, ¡°He is among the weaker smelters and is looked down upon. Usually, Shieldom''s smelters are free citizens.¡± She didn''t need to explain more about the class struggles at work here. I trusted Dad would survive a little hostility. He would just have to show his skills.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
¡°Your brother will have it even rougher,¡± she stated with almost a hint of mockery. it was hard to tell her expression when she hid under her face,/ I had gotten used to her milky eyes, she could take off the hood when it was just us. ¡°He is too old to start an apprenticeship as a jeweller and the place is packed with people belonging to the Duarch and other families slighted by the embezzlement case. If they learn about your implication, he''ll have a hard time,¡± she concluded.
I shrugged. Barasti was a bully rather than a bullied. Anyone trying to mess with him will regret it and if push comes to shoves, I''ll just ask the young Khinra Duarch to help us out a bit.
Nutusi stood up and came to tower in front of me. ¡°But you''re the one in the most troubles,¡± she said. ¡°There''s been rumours about a kid killing two assassins reaching as far as the capital. We just hope no one has yet made the link with you. Since you are Chi-less, no one will suspect you for a while but we need to stay careful.¡±
She reminded me a bit of my grandmother on Earth, always insisting to put one more scarf around my neck to ¡°not catch your death.¡± Sometimes, there were no protections enough when going outside. The more I stuck my head out by bringing new technologies, the more likely I would attract attention.
I had time to accept the risk and just had to surround myself with powerful people as a countermeasure. The Shield''s family was part of that answer, but so were my secretary, Akili, or my friends. They were going to become strong and trusty.
I did not renounce to protect myself. My Chi training was going nowhere but I would soon have a trump card. I was planning for an easier to carry around gun, suitable to my height and strength. No one would expect a Chi-deprived kid to pack a punch like that and whoever wanted to come close to the sun would burn a few feathers.
Not that I wanted to kill more, I wasn''t a bloodthirsty one, but self-defence was fine. This wasn''t Earth. Monsters and even humans were ready to kill.
I had already unleashed a weapon of death on this world with gunpowder. I might later finish like Nobel, but right now I was only thinking of protecting myself by protecting the whole Shieldom. A strong Shieldom was the tallest walls for me and my family.
¡°Are you listening?¡± She slapped me on the head. ¡°Hey,¡± I protested, ¡°I was listening, you could have waited for my answer before getting heavy-handed.¡± She had Chi and even as an older woman she was stronger than one might think.
¡°If I was an assassin, you would be dead. Always stay vigilant, there are many eyes on you.¡± She had warned me countless times since the last incident and as more and more knew about my blessing, heretics would target me.
The temple had guards and spies around me but their vigilance could always fail. Same goes for the Palace guards, the princess'' kidnapping was the best proof that even the most secured place could be breached. I couldn''t drop my guard, not until I had found ways to defend myself.
Gupta, the maimed priest of Dard, was out with the military. Winter was always the time when monsters were the most aggressive. The young Orzhov was following him to take his confirmation path as a Husnd priest. I hoped both would come back safely. Next year''s expeditions should be safer once I can provide rifles and grenades for the expeditions.
The only remaining person I wanted to see at the temple was Sansho. She was almost hibernating right now. Despite the mild temperature in the kitchen, she was blue. Literally. Her scales were as blue as Shinpilo''s eye and took a slightly green hue when she finally reacted to my presence. ¡°Little one issss back,¡± she slowly exclaimed with a sharp grin. ¡°Haven''t ssssseen you for monthssss. Sansssssho ssssthought the great motka ate you.¡± She was even slower than Peterell when talking.
I went to make some tea to help her wake up a bit from her sluggishness. ¡°You eat well at least?¡± She asked after gauging me. What, does she think she''s my grandmother too?
I wanted to ensure her that I was eating and even more than I should. I wasn''t exercising every day with the others and was losing the fit body I had built until now. It was time for some new year''s resolutions. But before I could reassure her, she saw my left hand holding the kettle''s lid. The skin was still a bit rosier than it should, not as bad as a few weeks ago but maybe like a bad sunburn.
¡°What''ssss thisssss?¡± Her scales took an orange hue. ¡°The palasssse bulliessss you?¡± she hissed. She came at the table and gulped down the whole steamy kettle without letting the tea infuse, a waste of good leaves. The effect of hot water was instant, her scales were now a bright orange, with a reddish core and I could see the veins on her neck pulsating quickly as her heartbeat was speeding up. ¡°Sssshow them to me. Or no, even better, bring them here sssso that Sanssssho doesssn''t go outsssside in the cold.¡± She was rummaging in the drawer where her cooking knives were.
¡°Calm down, it was an accident, I did this to myself.¡± This was only partly a lie, I did indeed hurt myself with that grenade.
She went back to a milder yellow. ¡°You clumsssy this much? Bad. Teleriossss ssshould be more careful.¡± She was under the effect of overheating and rapidly snaked her way to me while waving a meat cleaver around. Her voice was getting faster and shriller. ¡°Ssstupid. You supposed to be ssssmart.¡±
And you''re supposed to not waves knives this close to people.
Her skin was slowly going back to a light green, like leaves in summer. ¡°You have very weak Chi. Chi of the white onessss. You know it and ssshould take more care. Little one issss blessssed by Shinpilo, not Dard.¡±
Wait, what? ¡°How do you know about my blessing?¡± Did she overhear Patiyar or Nutusi talk about me?
She had a strange ¡°laugh¡±. Clapping her forked tongue in the back of her throat to sound like metal bended till it broke. ¡°Sansssho knowssss. Sansho good at temperature, trained to ssssensse Chi. You have no heat, but cold mark of the blue eye I feel.¡± She was now so close to my face that her forked tongue was about to lick the place around my right eye where Shinpilo had left his mark.
She slapped me lightly with her scaly hand. ¡°Weak one needs to learn to be careful. Blessssing is dangerousss. I''ll tell Gupta. You behave or no more meals,¡± she threatened with her scale taking a darker hue.
I opened my mouth to protest but she silenced me with a glare. ¡°No dissscusionsss, weak oness don''t get to dissscuss. Sansho knowssss bessst.¡± She darted her tongue at the air before deciding. ¡°Now young Patiyar needssss me. He sssick and cold, luck is fleeing him. You sssstay put and stay away form fire. Clumssssy kidsss aren''t allowed to fan the flammessss.¡± She stormed out on this last warning.
Sansho had always been weird but never would I have thought that she was this good at Chi sensing. How did she end up in our temple''s kitchen? Did Patiyar knew about her abilities and hid them from me? I didn''t know if it was the heat or the tea but it was the first time she had opened this much. I''ll need to try that again and ask her more about my Chi or these ¡°white ones¡±. Had she met others like me? Could she help me better understand my Chi?
It will have to be for another time. Akili and my ride had arrived to bring me back to the palace where I had a meeting with the Shield before he had to leave once more for the Capital.
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This meeting was so that he could decide on most matters before his trip. His stay in the Capital could last many months until the Emperor finally arbitrated about the assassination attempt.
The entire council sat around a large white desk.
The Shield was there with the old lord at his right and the prince at his left. Next to the old lord was high-blade Duarch as his prime minister, then general Suji as the military representative. A few other people were there. The finance minister was a stern middle-aged woman with piles of ledgers in front of her. I was proud to see that most were covered with the new numbers we designed with Balout.
The egg-headed cardinal Fortmo was here too and nodded at me. Finally, there was a minister of the state, covering for a bit of everything, ranging from agriculture to trade and justice. This was a closed council and not all ministers were present.
I was standing behind the prince, far from the desk.
After they discussed most trade matters, planned the next sowing and the coming expeditions; came my turn to talk. Mostly to help the prince or the general to get some schedule about what I could provide them with.
As soon as winter would recess, the faeces collection would start for the nitre plant. By the end of spring, the gunpowder production should start on a large scale. Until then I was to produce cement for the Prince''s plan for keeps and watchtowers.
I gave Kirli plans for a new kiln. It wasn''t as good as a modern self-filling kiln but was already an improvement on the charcoal kilns. We''ll need it to upscale the cement output while saving on fuel.
The third line was the confection of rifles and cannons. I would use either bronze or brass for now.
Steel was fourth on my list but not on theirs. There was still work to convince them to invest in it and for now gunpowder was the priority.
My last intent was the printing press. What I wanted was a schooling system. Somewhere to teach children from age four till eight to read, count, and basic knowledge. It would also allow the screening of all a generation for Chi and magic.
For that I would need books, lots of them. Printing schoolbooks would be cheaper than hiring copyists and scribes for the job. Just the amount of paper would be a hole in the budget. I''ll make this the perfect demonstration of the power of printing and alphabetisation. It was time to nurture a generation of citizens who will change this world.
Once they are convinced by the printing press, I''ll petition for papermaking. It would be a useful step-stone to make money, get some crafters to learn about processing, and get a source of cellulose for later. The monopoly on paper was a huge scam, only a few were striving on it while we lacked a precious resource.
First of all, I was going to need to focus on cement before spring. The small council made the reinforcement of the inner-land a priority. More nighthavens, more watchtowers. This would help secure arable lands and control monster populations as well as building safer trade routes. The Shield was planning to move troops to our northern border in case the relations with Mujrim Shieldom worsened.
My main issue was that the river had been depleted of a lot of its shells and other barbs sources. I was going to have to find an outside supplier.
Chap 70: Deals
I needed to get supplies.
Lime would be the best but if I could find niter, seashells, or a way to get more paper; I could use all of those too. I would also need a lot of copper and tin for manufacturing, alongside whatever the smiths would need for their strange alloys.
This would be at least until I could produce steel. The mine had plenty of iron ore and coal, they just never had to turn it into steel. Their knowledge of bronze and the addition of monster parts gave them a substitute for steel. Just that it was in low supply, whereas I was going to allow them to get steel in large quantity.
If there was one person who could help me get a hold off everything I was going to need, it was the head of the mercantile alliance.
The mercantile alliance had many names: merchants'' association, trade guild, shipment sect. The name might change depending on the location but in the end it was just one big multinational corporation. It had branches on all five continents, in most Shieldoms, Empires, and countries. It was independent from states, yet often had close ties with power.
They were a financial power but also a more wordly one. They had a private army of mercenaries to protect the caravans and if they banded all their troops together, they could be as strong as a country.
The mercantile alliance was in charge of defending the best interest of merchants but also enforced legislation, making sure merchants were paying their taxes and that the goods were of quality. They had their own justice system, police, and were also somewhat protecting their own, providing apprenticeships, hospitals, and emergency relief.
To avoid collusion with local powers favouring a state''s interest, it was usual for a branch president to be a foreigner. The president was elected for a single hex mandate.
Contrarily to the state''s way of power, they didn''t care for the might of their leader. Instead, they favoured cunningness, smarts, and anticipation. A hex years was a very long time, even more in this world where years were longer, in Earth time this would be as long as a 24 years'' mandate. It gave the president a lot of power and the time to implement a long-term strategy. At the same time, it also encouraged to vote for younger candidates, able to withstand the long mandate till the end.
The current president was freshly elected last year. A foreign merchant known for his dauntlessness, smarts, and successful journeys from the far south.
It was the Typhoon Taonga.
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The Typhoon was still the same.
His golden-toothed smile was warmly welcoming us, yet behind the happy crescent of his eyebrows, I could sense him gauging me up.
His eyes only became genuinely happy when they met Gelcaria''s purple stars.
¡°What a pleasant surprise, Tamayoku blessed me today. I remember you, young girl.¡± He opened his arms and his cloak of feather widened in a peacock''s half-moon tail.
This time he wasn''t bare chested, winter was still around and we were far from his warm native lands. He was wearing a coral flannel shirt, his feathered cloak and pants made of stitched blue and yellow flowers. In the greyness of our cold season, he was a blinding glimpse of a summer rainbow.
¡°Come take a seat, my esteemed guests. I believe we have much to discuss,¡± he cordially invited us with a sly smile flashing a golden shine.
I didn''t come alone to see him. Of Course Gel was beside me, she would be instrumental in buying some goodwill with the cunning trader.
I also had a bodyguard carrying the princess'' crest and finally, there was also my assistant, Akili.
With her strict topknot and severe looking eyes, she only missed a pair of glasses to look like the perfect secretary.
Not only was she knowledgeable on all matters regarding trade and prices, but she was also doubling as a bodyguard too. I now knew her strength was nothing to scoff at.
The Typhoon received us in his office at the merchants'' guild''s headquarter. The room was a display of power, wealth, and influence. There were trophies of monsters and beasts: fangs and gigantic claws but also an impressive head of a lion-looking monster hung behind his desk.
Wealth was shown through the overuse of gold plating on each furnitures, the silky drapes, and large windows.
Influence was far more subtle, it was found in the form of an array of seals belonging to leaders from around the world. Feathers from the sultans, bone wards from the nomadic tribes, fish scales from the scyllas, or simple metal signets. They allowed to request help from far away and were warning visitors that any attempt at coercing the merchants'' guild will be met with retaliations from all over the world. These connections were the true wealth of the guild.
The Typhoon folded his cloak of feathers back before sitting in the large armchair behind the desk. He pointed at the two chairs in front of his desk.
I believed this was his first test. Who was I going to choose to sit beside me? Was I the one calling the shots, or was it Akili? The man was as sly as a fox.
Akili took the left sit as she was accustomed to be my assistant. Gel was about to stand behind the chair on the right but I pushed her to sit in. She threw me an interrogative stare but was smart enough to not contest me in front of the Typhoon.
Once both chairs were occupied, I blatantly looked around before choosing to stand in the middle.
The Typhoon had a smile that could mean anything, was he pleased, amused, or surprised? He snapped his fingers and a brass-skinned slave came to offer me a chair. The Typhoon had expected all the outcomes.
¡°I''m happy to meet you once more, Telerios,¡± started the Typhoon with his foreign and singing accent, ¡°Looks like things have changed a lot for both of us in the span of a few years.¡± He raised his eyebrows in an exaggerated surprise.
I smiled back. ¡°Tamayoku has been good to all of us. We share the same fate, a good omen,¡± I replied.
He laughed, golden teeth beaming brightly. ¡°I don''t know for this young miss,¡± he pointed at Akili, ¡°but I heard that you were an apprentice priest for Shinpilo and we both know your young friend''s protector.¡± He was now looking at Gel. I could tell his gaze was eager when looking at her. Was it Gel''s influence or his desire to get Akolai''s favours once more?
I kept my composure, the Typhoon was flaunting the merchants'' guild''s intelligence office''s thoroughness, ¡°True believers worship all eia (15) gods,¡± I claimed in faked zealousness.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
He laughed. ¡°So young yet so greedy. Wise men are faithful to one god. Gods are like women,¡± he added with a smug look at Gel, ¡°fickle and hard to please. Only the fools try to have more than one, let alone eia. Better one satisfied wife than eia angry ones.¡± He looked at both of my companions.
I was trying to find some smart comeback but was, to my relief, interrupted by a slave bringing us tea and snacks. The tea was fragrant and filled the room with a smell reminding me of strawberry. There was a platter of fresh brown cherry-like fruits too. Again, this was a display of wealth, how did he find fruits in the dead of winter?
After tea was served, Akili was the one to start the business negotiations. ¡°My employer wished to reach a trade agreement with you, that''s the reason for today''s visit,¡± she calmly stated.
The flashy merchant raised an inquiring eyebrow, ¡°And who is this employer of yours?¡±
Akili pointed at me. ¡°Mr. Telerios Awanui, envoy of the Shieldom,¡± she immediately responded. She cut any doubt about the chain of command here and I was grateful to her.
¡°Employer..¡± mumbled the southern merchant, ¡°This is getting interesting. You''ve come a long way since last time we met. If you ever have the time, that will be a story I would like to hear,¡± he bluntly told me. ¡°So, what do you want? I''ve heard lots of rumours about a nighthaven that was rebuilt in a short time. I''ve also thought you might want to see our inks and paper.¡± he clapped his hands and another slave came in, with stacks of paper and an array of inks.
The Typhoon did his homework and was well-prepared. I was happy to see he wasn''t aware of my cement''s composition. Either his intelligence network wasn''t as good as he thought, or our workers knew to keep their mouths shut.
The papers were of varying quality and prices. Though he was stemming from the south, the merchants'' association also dealt with paper, but as an intermediary. Blades already took their share, be it in taxes or by having priority in the deal of the product. Or, like the Duarch family, they had their own trading operation for paper.
I could use more paper, just that the prices were outrageously high. I intended to ask a blade to get us some inferior quality paper and start printing some books. This will earn me a bit of money, not much because my alphabet had little time to be spread yet.
It will also free up a lot of scribes. This meant they could be assigned to other tasks than just stupid copying. Meaning a rapid increase in the number of qualified administration workers, secretaries, and other librarians or teachers available. This valuable workforce would be worth using elsewhere in a world with few literates.
¡°I''m not here for paper. You know very well that your prices are above what I can get elsewhere.¡± I exposed. I wasn''t some foolish kid to squeeze for money.
He laughed brightly. ¡°Fine. Then what can Taonga do for you?¡±
I sat a bit straighter on my chair and took a sip of tea. ¡°I''m in need of shells.¡± I let him a few seconds to shake his surprise away. ¡°Oyster shells, beast shells, monster shells. Whatever shells you can get. I''ll also take their beaks and barbs.¡±
He was struck by surprise once more. ¡°May I ask why?¡± he inquired with puzzlement.
¡°Shieldom''s business.¡± I retorted. I liked to keep him on his toes and I don''t think the prince would like for me to expose all our cards this early. ¡°So, can you do it and how many?¡± I pressured him.
The Typhoon was a merchant at heart, he didn''t let his surprise slow him down for long. He had seen way stranger things in his life and customers were kings. He took out an abacus and started fiddling with it. For a second, I regretted not bringing Balout along, he could check his maths at a glance. I will have to do it in his stead.
¡°As much as I can?¡± the typhoon sought confirmation. I nodded to confirm and he went back to his abacus. ¡°How about, mmmh, let''s say a hexhex taums per month?¡±
The taum was one of the local weight units. It was the unit used in construction and deals in large quantity but also to count food. I would say it was around 120 to 150 Kg, since a taum was supposed to be enough Bunta to feed a man for a year. It is also the weight of a soldier in full armour.
This meant he was proposing 30 to 35 tons of shells per months. This was way more than I expected. ¡°Would that be sustainable?¡± I enquired. If he was depleting the resource just like we did, it was pointless. I wanted a long-term supply for enough cement for the city.
¡°The sea is as vast as Amidea''s hair,¡± he answered with a cunning smile. ¡°There are monsters aplenty and it is easy to find shells. I believe I can even double that amount easily if the trade boats go as far as Mequara, but that will cost more.¡±
I raised a hand to stop him. ¡°Maybe later. For now, I would only need half that amount. Every month, for a year.¡± I didn''t have the grinders nor the kilns to process this much, just knowing that there was room for more was a relief.
It meant that I would be able to procure enough cement for the prince''s project of fortifications. Later on I''ll even have enough cement to build houses, bridges and most importantly, roads.
Land trade was scarcer in this world. The land was more dangerous than the river, monsters and bandits or roaming nomads were a constant threat. In consequences, roads were poorly maintained, except at the heart of the Empire.
If I could provide even narrow concrete roads, this could speed up travelling times by a lot. I could probably cut a deal with the merchants for this.
The typhoon would be in charge of the contract and I will stop by another day to seal the deal.
Gel allowed him to rub her head before leaving. Akola?''s favour was sought after and only even more as men aged.
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Now that the river had been emptied of most predators, the local balance was shifting.
I was summoned at the docks by the temple. Charavatkeh''s priests wanted to discuss with me about the guddus'' egg farms.
This time I only took Melodi with me and a pair of palace guards for escort. One ha the princess''s sigil and the other one had the old lord''s crest.
The river was blanketed with a chilling fog, as we got to the docks we were in a cloud of mist. The dampness managed to find its way through my cloak and make me shiver. Melodi''s fur was soaked but thanks to her Chi, she could fight back the cold.
Aroku was awaiting us with two priests of Charavatkeh. The god of the thousand arms was the protector of all herders, grooms, or even veterinarians. I though of making him some offerings at some point but my knowledge was already ensnared in the deal with Shinpilo. It could be dangerous to break a contract with a god, so I decided against it.
The priests were an old-and-young pair. The oldest looked like Patiyar, a white-bearded sage but with a couple scars on him. Bites and claw marks were there to show that he wasn''t only dealing with koatis or guddus. His younger companion looked like his son, they shared the same protruding ears and pointy nose, and he had fewer scars on him. Either he was stronger or he''d taken fewer risks.
Aroku welcomed us by offering me a sip of fire wine after taking one for himself. I welcomed the liquid fire to heat up a bit. The maimed herder and I were the only ones with low Chi and suffering from the cold.
The Charavatkeh priests had long since monitored the egg farm. Now that the river was more secure than ever, building more was an option to provide eggs to the city and consume the nutrients to avoid the proliferation of other species.
For some reasons, they believed I had experience in large-scale husbandry. I had some indeed, but it would be hard to pin on Shinpilo knowledge that even they didn''t have.
After showing them how to extract the eggs once more, I tried to stay as vague as I could. We had room to install more farms but they would need to look for any signs of disease. Epidemics were the most common issue when herding large groups.
This world had the convenient solution of magic to deal with it. A Fusaad priest could take care of the issue, for a price.
What needed to be done was to put in common a fund for all farmers to pay for a priest in case of an epidemic. Some kind of herder''s cooperative. I''ll need to think about it a bit more, but putting it under the care of the dockmaster seemed like the best course of action.
Once both priests thought I had told them everything I could they left us with Aroku. The limping sailor took Melodi to the farm to gather some eggs while I went to see Peterell.
The angler was on shore, sewing and fixing some nets. Now that the waters were free of barbed creatures, nets were lasting a lot longer.
He nodded at me to salute me, unfazed by my two bodyguards. The fact that I was now a free citizen didn''t seem to disturb him at all. In his eyes, I was still the kid he took on his boat back then.
¡°Long time no see. Heard you''ve been quite busy at the palace,¡± he nonchalantly stated in his slow way of speaking.
Busy was an euphemism. I''m sure Melodi told him about everything.
I pointed at his nets. ¡°Are they lasting longer now?¡± I asked with interest.
He nodded ans smiled. ¡°Yes. I must say this is quite a nice consequence of your fishing demand. Now that tridents and fishermen are compelled to kill as many as they can, the water are richer than ever.¡± He pointed at a nearby crate, full with fish looking like big sardines. ¡°I''ve never caught so many mogois.¡± He pointed at a smaller crate with the eel-like fishes that were worth their weight in gold. Peterell was a rich man.
We talked a bit about the evolution of the fish population. I found him surprisingly aware of the ecology of the river for a simple fisherman. He agreed with me that they would need to fish more to keep the populations in check now that the predators were taken care of.
¡°This is all thanks to you. It should have been done since hexes, but they never wanted to pay to hunt the beasts.¡± Not until I needed those beasts. Just paying a small sum to remove them had been enough to clear the river and the water had never been less dangerous. This investment ha only been made worth it for the Shield because it brought the valuable cement in return. Just hunting the beasts was a less appealing investment.
According to Peterell there were still some bigger chogsus swimming in the middle of the river in the winter but they would go back under the mountain by spring.
When my guards got a bit farther from us, the fisherman leaned closer to my ear. ¡°I''ve heard a lot of rumours about you recently.¡±
So those rumours came all the way down to the docks. Whoever was propagating them had quite the network of influence.
¡°I know you enough to not believe them, but if I ever find out that you''ve been doing strange things to my daughter... Those two guards won''t be enough to shield you.¡± His tone was casual but the slow threat came with a wave of pressure that reminded me of the old lord. It only lasted for a second, since Melodi was coming back with an armful of guddus'' eggs.
¡°Daddy. Look, look. I want an omelette this evening. Aroku gave them all to me,¡± she humped around her father.
The man''s face was back to one of a caring father, carrying nothing of the murderous intent he shown me an instant ago. He patted his daughter''s head while talking to me. ¡°I don''t believe in hearsays and at the docks, we all know what we owe you. Just know that many are watching you,¡± he placidly warned me, like he was commenting on the weather.
The young catgirl was the one to answer him back. ¡°We know. Don''t worry, I''ll monitor the shadows.¡± She snarled and flashed her canines. ¡°It is thanks to him we get all the fish, so I''ll become strong enough to stop the bad-mouthers.¡± Her hearing was only getting better, did she heard her father threatening me?
Her wilingness to protect me was more heart-warming than Aroku''s fire wine.