Exams are finally done! And I'm glad to say I did extremely well (read books and stay in school kids!). Anyway, thanks for being patient with me and please have fun reading this chapter. Reviews are much appreciated.
Explanations for reviews:
Northern sword- I really don't understand what's so confusing about Sitamun's actions? I'm pretty sure I mentioned the reason she's in Geffen, in fact here it is.
"Pounise had made a number of threatening approaches towards Sitamun and her sisters and that was why her father had sent her off as a consort to the Geffenese Prince. He told her that the life of a servant girl in Geffen was better by far than the life of a Morrocan princess, and once she had her chance, she had to escape."
No matter how much pride she has, she'll still honor her father and pharaoh and this way she'd be less watched. Prince' consorts aren't really watched like a hawk, unlike in Morroc where Pounise makes sure that she is. So, Amenhotep told her to escape from Geffen as soon as she can.
Another thing, Phi showing a different side of him does have a discernable motive; he thinks Sitamun is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. If he develops a liking to a person, he wouldn't act hostile towards that person, wasn't it made clear to the way he acts towards the members of the Raven Elite, or to Lady Facile? I mean what kind of people has he been hostile to? Aren't they the power hungry and devious Geffenese nobles? Another reason he was being rude was because he is currently dealing with Erstoc's death: (trying to be" strong"). Maybe I just made him too merciless with killing Jaidause and threatening Namaein, but then again; he was trying to be "strong".
I better stop talking now before I say too much again. Anyway, I hope I've made this clearer for you, and btw, my story often mentions tiny details in dialogues or individual thoughts of characters. Those are, more often than not, extremely important clues foreshadowing what will happen in the future, so try catching them if you want.
Tom Valor- If you're thinking that the clues that I was referring to in Chapter 5, as the possible LiguelXBoudica pairing, then I'm telling you now that it's not. There's something else I put within that chapter that I won't reveal till the time is right.
Cifix- it's okay if it sounded weird to you, Just take it in the sense that Napalm Vulcan is a very dangerous and feared spell. So, if Phi uses it as a threat most likely the threatened person will get scared…and as it so happens Namaein did.
If anybody else needs explanations just tell me and I'll gladly answer you as best as I can in my next update.
Chapter 9: Glass Road
The Glass road, or Glass route, was an interconnected series of ancient trade routes through various regions between Geffen and Prontera, mainly connecting the two great countries. Trade on the Glass Road was a significant factor in the development of Rune-Midgard. Through it, the ancient citizens of Prontera and Geffen managed to create ties and bring together the eastern and western sides of the continent.
Numerous towns and cities began sprouting in the path of the Glass Road, with the entire merchandise of the continent passing across the route, prosperity was more than assured. But with all that, thieves were also attracted. If there was anything that surpassed the fame of the Glass Road's wealth, it was the infamy of the thief bands.
The thief holds were spread across the route like mold on a piece of week old bread. The merchants never even dared to cross the Glass Road, if they were not accompanied by competent guards. The chivalry had lead numerous raids across the routes to abolish the threat of the thieves, but even after years and years, with an entire division in the chivalry created and devoted to it, it was just too difficult to purge all of them out. The Raven army on the other hand, used fear to keep the thieves at bay. As long as nobody entered within Geffenese territory, no spells were used. Though, the arcane-wielders couldn't readily keep track of every single person that entered within the borders, especially if those people were well-hidden.
Of the many possible routes to take, Boudica, Liguel, and Cardinal Magrathaar had chosen one of the less traveled. The ground was unpaved, and they had passed around only a couple of small towns, where they could just barely restock their provisions. The reason for this, if not obvious enough, was that they wanted to attract as little attention as possible. And usually, the thieves paid no heed to those less traveled roads.
They had also changed from their regular garbs into civilian cloths before arriving at the first town. Too much attention would be drawn, if two chivalry members in full battle gear and a cardinal were to pass through little insignificant towns.
Boudica felt it unusually refreshing to be out of her heavy armor and in a simple tan-colored riding dress that ended above her knees; of course she wouldn't admit that to her mother. Her armor was stowed safely away in her saddle packs, but her sword was still tied to her waist at all times. She had grown up in the country and knew how to conduct herself convincingly as a country woman.
Cardinal Magrathaar was surprisingly doing a good job himself. He had donned off his High Priest garb and wore a flaring coat with an upturned collar. His copper-worked boots were turned down and his shirt stained and crumpled, He even had a wide-brimmed hat on his head and a little scruff on his face that seemed to complete the entire ensemble. Nobody would have been able to guess that he was a High Priest; in fact none would even think that he had ever entered the sanctuary in his life.
Liguel on the other hand was not doing so well. He was wearing cotton shirt-sleeves under a thin-leather vest and his breeches were tucked into already fading boots. His lance had been crudely disguised as a hoe, while his javelins could have been easily passed off as hunting spears. Despite all that, his proud bearing and stone-like expression just shouted Lord Knight at everybody they passed by.
"We're about halfway to Geffen by now," said Magrathaar for about the umpteenth time that day. A smile washed over his face as he spoke to the others, but it seemed that he was speaking as much to himself as to them. "If only Cecilia can see me now,"
Boudica reacted slightly to the name, Magrathaar had mentioned it a couple of times before, but he had yet to reveal who exactly this Cecilia was. She couldn't have been a lover or a family member; he was a high priest, a fellow order member perhaps? But he spoke her name in such a way that made it difficult for Boudica to accept that as a possibility.
"Cardinal Magrathaar," began Boudica, finally getting the nerve to ask "Who is this Cecilia that you always mention?"
"That's the cardinal's own private business, Boudica. Don't interfere." cautioned Liguel, keeping his eyes ahead of the road.
Boudica pouted, Liguel was intentionally trying to act cold towards her. Well if he wanted to play it like that, she was more than ready. "Let's see who can last longer shall we" she thought to herself.
Magrathaar turned towards the chivalry members with an expression that conveyed he had been only half-listening. He was always like that, his mind seemed so distant and detached from the world. Boudica even wondered at times if he knew he was a high priest already or if he still thought he was an acolyte.
"Cecilia is my older sister," answered Magrathaar in a dreamy tone with an equally dreamy smile.
"But I thought that the acolytes were supposed to sever their ties with their families once they became priests?" asked Boudica curiously and surprised that the cardinal had even bothered to answer her.
"The tie was a little difficult to sever, with her being in the order as well, and all. She's some sort of important person or something, Great Secretary or something like that."
Latent memories suddenly flooded into Boudica's head. She knew that the name Magrathaar was familiar the first time she heard it; she just couldn't put her finger on why and from who she heard it from. But now all those times that she heard the acolytes mention that name in fear, before they were tested to become priests, resurfaced- Cecilia Magrathaar, the one responsible for whoever became part of the Holy Order or not.
"Mother Cecilia Magrathaar! The Grand Secretariat of the Holy Order!" burst out Liguel, turning around so abruptly that he accidentally pulled on the reins of his pecopeco and made it veer to the side; apparently he had also remembered who the cardinal's sister was.
"That would be the one," said Magrathaar with a chuckle, "I'm really bad with titles and honorifics, that's why I usually forget that people are talking to me when they address me as cardinal."
Boudica chuckled as well; throughout the course of their journey, there were multiple times that she had to tap the cardinal on the shoulder because he wouldn't respond when she called him by title.
"Cecilia always said that if I didn't take to divine magic like a fish to water, then I had no chance to become a priest. She said that I wouldn't even last one full day outside of the city's comforts, I guess being halfway to Geffen earns me bragging rights!" this time he let out a loud laugh, but still that dreamy hint was present.
Boudica did the same; she could just imagine The Grand Secretariat constantly reprimanding her younger brother. And him languidly staring back at her face and nodding his head, while in reality all her words actually just entered one ear and exited the other.
Liguel suddenly reigned in his pecopeco and Boudica and Cardinal Magrathaar were forced to do the same.
"What's wrong, Liguel?" asked Boudica crossly.
Shhh! Interrupted Liguel bringing his finger to his lips. The pout appeared on Boudica's face again. She opened her mouth and was about to rant but Liguel turned to her and signaled her to be silent a second time.
The tension in the air was apparent now, Boudica thumbed her sword hilt from the scabbard and her fingers closed around grip of her muramasa. Liguel's eyes darted around the vicinity and he tightly gripped a javelin in each hand. Magrathaar dismounted from his pecopeco, it wasn't trained for battle, so staying mounted might be more dangerous than not, and retrieved a long thin mace built like a spear from his saddle packs.
An arrow fired from the sides of the road, Boudica unsheathed her sword in a flash and the arrow shattered against the steel.
Liguel hurled a javelin towards the direction from where the arrow shot. At first the javelin seemed to halt in midair, but then the air around the javelin began to sputter and figure of a man appeared showing that the spear had run him through the chest. He dropped to the ground heavily, and his composite bow fell from his lifeless fingers.
The man was wearing brown, in a shade that would have blended perfectly with sand, cloths that Boudica immediately recognized. She turned to Liguel and he looked back at her with eyes that said they were thinking of the same thing- Morrocan thieves. At this point all of them dismounted. Moroccan thieves were known for always targeting the mounts first, so that escape would be difficult.
"I gotta say…I didn't think those moves could've come from farmers." said a voice from nowhere; the words were spoken in an unmistakably stiff Moroccan accent. Ahead of the road the air sputtered like it did earlier, before another man wearing the cloths of Moroccan thief appeared. He had no bow on his person but he did carry a long curve-bladed dagger and was twirling it in his fingers. He wore an X-marked mask that covered his face for the most part but his black hair was worn in a high pony tail.
"You killed one of my men, so I it's only fair if we kill you as well." Continued the thief, as he stopped twirling his dagger and gripped it tightly and went to fighting stance, "I guess those moves earned you the prize of telling me your names though. I promise to let the nearest town know that you're already dead."
"I don't think you're in any position to make threats, thief" said Liguel as he pointed his javelin threateningly.
"Being brave only gets you killed, boy…" Answered the thief, "And since all my men are around you right now and are ready to shoot arrows into your head, I'm pretty sure that I am in a position to make threats. Last chance to tell me your names, I'm sure your mother would've wanted to know if her brave and handsome son was killed."
Liguel didn't reply, but pulling out a second javelin seemed to be answer enough. The thief's eyebrows arched with irritation before he spoke again.
"Too bad then, and I was really trying to be decent. I was just going to kill you three, but now I think I'll kill you both then take you're woman instead." He took a step back and as he did he faded out of sight.
Boudica's own eyebrows arched. That man actually had the audacity to threaten to take her! She closed both hands around her Muramasa and went into sword stance. She would look for him in the fight…he was hers.
"You have to admire that talent the Moroccan thieves have. Turning invisible that is, kind of makes you jealous don't it?" asked Magrathaar leisurely picking some imaginary dirt from the bludgeoning end of his long mace, "Unfortunately the mages learned how to counter it…and so did we." A smirk appeared on his face. He raised his palm over his head and an orb of shimmering blue lights appeared. The lights orbited around him for a second before it separated into smaller orbs that began seeking out all the invisible thieves.
The ruwach exploded in the chests of the thieves knocking them to the ground and out of their invisibility. There were around twenty of them sprawled on the floor afterwards, disoriented at having a supposed civilian cast a spell to reveal them.
"Fire at will, men!" shouted the head thief. The others immediately got to their feet and let loose arrows down upon the Pronteran party.
Magrathaar opened his palm in front of his face and blew on it. As he did, shimmering green mist emanated from his palm and surrounded the three of them.
Every time the arrows made contact with the mist, it vibrated violently before dropping to a ground with a heavy lead-like sound. Magrathaar maintained the protection spell until the arrows stopped firing, where he let it dissipate away.
"I thought that we wouldn't encounter any thieves in this particular route, Liguel?" he said as he flexed the fingers of his empty hand that he just used to cast the pneuma.
"I'm sorry, Cardinal. We just had an unfortunate stroke of luck." Answered Liguel
"Call me Memer," he said with a another smile before he suddenly hurled a projectile of divine magic that hit a random thief squarely on the chest, immediately rendering him unconscious.
That immediately provoked the thieves to attack; they all unsheathed their daggers and charged at once. Their movements were so acrobatic and erratic that they were near impossible to read.The Pronteran party had t defend themselves from hands, feet, and sometimes even teeth, as much as they did from dagger blades.
Liguel caught a thief's dagger with one javelin, while he drove the other one into the stomach of another thief that had been too eager. He kicked the other thief in the face before spinning around and catching a number of other attacking thieves with one fluid slash.
Memer was using his long mace like a quarter staff. Every thief that tried to get near him was met by the long mace to the face or to a crucial joint in the body. He also emitted projectiles of divine energy that exploded in the shape of a cross at anything it made contact with.
The thieves seemed to pay special attention to Boudica. Liguel and Memer were confronted by enough thieves to keep them busy but everybody else aimed for Boudica. She parried ten daggers at a time and slashed at every opening she saw. The seventh thief fell under her sword before one of them managed to get a lucky shot at her shoulder.
She winced at the pain, and staggered for a second; the extremely deep laceration made it difficult for her the hold unto her sword. A heavy boot slammed on her temple and knocked her to the ground. From the ground, she turned her head up and saw all the thieves in the air with their daggers pointed down on her, the head thief had a compressed orb of poison in his palm. She closed her eyes and flung her hands above her, more from reflex than anything else.
When she opened them, instead of seeing knives protruding from her body, she saw Liguel leaning over her, with his eyes looking down to her protectively and his teeth gritted very tightly. Sweat beaded on his forehead and a gasp escaped Boudica, as a trickle of blood came from Liguel's mouth. Tears ran down her cheeks once she noticed the daggers, which were meant for her, lodged in his back instead.
"You should be more careful," said Liguel, gritting his teeth and fighting back the pain.
"Liguel...why did…why did you do that?" asked Boudica
"I didn't want to see you get hurt," he smiled at her before he fell to his side.
"Liguel, Liguel!" scream Boudica as she desperately tried to wake him up but he didn't respond to her voice.
Memer rushed to his side. He proceeded to pull out the daggers then immediately placed his hand over the wounds. He tried to heal them but they didn't want to close.
"What's wrong?" asked Boudica, "Why can't you heal him?"
The head thief began to laugh boisterously. "The venom i injected into his blood stream, was said to be stolen from an assassin; you can't save him whatever you do."
Boudica wrapped her arms around Liguel, and began to cry. Even though the existence of assassins have never been proven, the stories that parents used to scare their kids into obedience, frightened Boudica right then and there, more so than it ever did her entire life. Memer placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly, then whispered in her ear. "I can save him, just give me time."
Boudica starred back at Memer, his face was a mask of pure determination. She wiped away her tears and nodded. Her muramasa lay beside her and she picked it up, faced the thieves, and went into fighting stance.
"What makes you think that you can kill us, after we've killed your man?" asked the head thief mockingly. He unsheathed another dagger and his men did the same.
Boudica kept silent, she let go of all her emotions, they would hinder her fighting capabilities. Nothing would distract her. She focused her energies into her blade and it began to glow red, she emptied her mind of everything else other than attacking, lastly she redirected all her anger and channeled it to the point that her body and sword felt weightless. Three techniques that were meant for Lord Knights, but Lady Lancelar had already taught her, and she already mastered.
The thieves attacked first. Boudica parried all their attacks and the added power of the aura around her sword, shattered the steel of their daggers like it was nothing more than glass. She moved too fast for them to follow with their eyes, moving from one stance to the other so fluidly that the fight was more of a dance.One by one, they were struck by her muramasa until it was only the head thief was left.
He slashed at her at such velocity that two slashes seemed to merge into one, but anger was getting the better of him and his attacks were decreasing in precision as they increased in power. Boudica turned to her side and evaded the attacks effortlessly. An opening appeared, she raised her sword over her head and prepared to slash down, but before she could, a javelin cut through the air and impaled the head thief directly through the heart.
Boudica turned to where the spear had come from, and saw Liguel standing well and alive, his arm still outstretched from hurling the spear.
"Frowning doesn't suit your face," he said with a smile. Boudica dropped her sword; completely forgetting how important it was to her then ran to Liguel, tears of joy streaming behind her.
Liguel opened his arms expecting to get a hug but instead he got a full-armed slap to the face.
"What was that for, woman!" shouted Liguel his hand massaging his now excessively red cheek.
"That was for almost getting killed!" shouted Boudica at the top of her lungs. She caught Liguel by the collar then pulled him down so that his face would be level with hers. She suddenly kissed him passionately and he didn't take more than a second to kiss back. "That was for almost getting killed," she said a second time, now softer and more caring. She smiled and so did he before they kissed again.
Memer grinned widely as he watched the two; sometimes he almost wished that he didn't become a priest so that he could experience what Boudica and Liguel had right now.
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Tips
This is sorta just a filler chapter so that people won't get lost on where exactly the party from Prontera is at this point in the story. I also took it as an advantage to write about Memer's background since not much is known about him, and also the development of the possible BoudicaXLiguel pairing. The fight scene, though seemingly unnecessary, in fact IS (lol), just wanted to show how proficient Memer is as a fighter, so that people won't think he's helpless, and it was an easy transition point to get Liguel and Boudica closer together.
Working on the next chapter ASAP
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Game-Inspired
Glass Road (Glass) (Sugar)-Aside From Lighthalzen (and possibly AldeBaran), Geffen is the only place where one can purchase Empty Bottles, Empty Test Tubes, Empty Potion Bottles…and other glass related stuff. I've constantly used glass as a motif for Geffen (The throne, the mirrors, etc). The reason behind that is that they sell it. I assumed that maybe glass was their export; Geffen is after all a watery country so sand (silicon) will be easy enough to come by, plus they have control over Morroc. The fact that the food seller in Geffen sells sweet sauce, also gave me the idea that they export sugar as well.
-I used Glass and Sugar symbolically since their properties can somewhat be compared to the Geffenese, or more specifically their polar opposite. Glass is fragile whereas Geffenese are extremely hard to penetrate emotionally and mentally (they will not break down unless it's extremely serious), glass is also easy to see through, while Geffenese have a cool air about them that allows them to hide their emotions very effectively, also they can lie through their teeth so well that, more often than not, truth seems to fade away. Sugar is sweet and Geffenese are not sweet at all, they are arrogant pretentious and have a serious superiority complex. (This is what I mean by having small details that I notice and developing it way out of proportion, but please bare with me it is relevant to the story)
Cecilia Magrathaar- does anybody have a priest? If they do then this name should be familiar since you'll encounter her in your job change quest.
Long Mace: A weapon in the game, Description: A long thin mace, built like a spear.
Composite Bow: A weapon in the game, Description: An average bow that is mostly used for small game hunting.
Dagger: A weapon in the Game, Description: Knife used for stabbing.
Hiding- A Thief skill that turns them invisible.
Ruwach- An acolyte skill that reveals hidden enemies and does a small amount of damage.
Holy Light- Long Range divine magic attack.
Pneuma- acolyte skill that protects the caster from all forms of physical long range attacks. Takes the form of shimmering green mist.
Envenom- Ability of a thief to poison an enemy
Aura Blade- Boudica's focusing of her energies into her sword
Concentration- Boudica's technique for concentrating on attack and leaving defense unchecked.
Frenzy- channeling her anger into the fight and increasing her attack speed and attack power.
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Trivia
Shirt Sleeves- Lotsa people dunno what shirt sleeves are, anyway they are just medieval time equivalents for tank tops or sandos.
The Glass road is alluded to the historical Silk Road. The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is an interconnected series of ancient trade routes through various regions of the Asian continent mainly connecting China, with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. Trade on the Silk Route was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Indian subcontinent, and Rome, and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world. That may be compared with the trade of glass and sugar from Geffen.