Hello again fellow fanfiction writers and readers. Another week another chapter, sorry this on is short but it feels like time skips should be chapter by chapter so as to not confuse the person reading. Anyway soon we will be getting to Rudeus teaching Eris but before that happens Rudeus has a few things to sort out in his home town.
To guest about your comment: I want to introduce my own bullshit characters to add some more layers to the story, most people reading this story have already read the novels so I wanted to bring something new to the table that will shake up the board so to say. Also if life was a breeze for his third life then that would become boring really quickly, life is about success and struggle, growing from it, and becoming a better person because of his failures. Also Orsted always treated Rudeus like his equal, calling him a comrade instead of a subordinate, so I don't see allot of reason for Rudeus to prove he is Orsted's equal.
To 321jaz: Yes Eris will become better at magic but nowhere close to Sylphy. I felt like the novels made Sylphy a side character in the later chapters and I was saddened by that. That being said Eris is my favorite out of all of Rudeus's women that he has been with so I want to give them a good story together. As for saving Eris's family….. well that goes into spoiler territory for how I intend the story to go but that is when I will introduce the new character so you can look forward to that.
Any day now the snow was about to fall. It was only a matter of time as the air began to grow cold and anyone could see their breath become frost in the air. Night was fast approaching as Paul went inside to be greeted by his perfect son.
His son.
Rudeus never cried, complained, or argued with Paul, and he was a genius in every sense of the word. Paul continued to feel insecure around him. Rudeus knew this, his father was seeing himself as insignificant around his own son.
'Maybe him and I should hang out together, just the two of us, maybe go fishing, or hike a mountain, just him and me. Yeah that would be nice.' Rudeus thought.
Before night fell and as they were eating dinner there was a knock on the door.
"Hey mister, it's Hollow, I've come bearing presents." The voice of a little girl called out.
Everyone froze at the table, not moving for a second. Paul was the first to get up and retrieve his sword, Lilia also had one but she wasn't much good in a fight because of her injuries. Zenith was already preparing an incantation of intermediate fire and she would release it at a moments notice.
Paul opened the door and saw Hollow sitting on several crates, it's smile never losing its creepy aura.
"What do you want monster?" Paul said, his sword raised.
"Monster? Is that how you will respond to the person that saved you and your family? Like I said I come bearing gifts, and I also have information on who sent those mercenaries after you." Hollow said, a look of pain briefly altering the shape of the smile.
"The information I appreciate but why the gifts? What is in them?"
"Winter is coming, and while there aren't any undead monsters that will come to people in the night, the cold is its own monster. I come bearing gifts of coat, fur, insolation, dried meat, and windows that will trap heat while pushing the cold out."
"We do not require gifts." Paul said stubbornly.
"Your people do mister, and while you may be prepared many are wondering how they will survive this coming winter or if they will scrape through in this valley you watch over." Hollow said sternly.
Paul hesitated but after a moment sheathed his sword. "Thank you for your kindness, now what of this information you have."
"The man who created the contract was a high ranking member of the Asura nobles, no one related to you mister but I'm narrowing down the list as I go. Most likely it is someone close to the king."
"Why?"
"I don't know mister, that's the reason why investigations exist, either way he or she hasn't made another contract. Whoever did contract Death Row noticed the band of mercenaries didn't come back and they don't know what opponent they are up against so they will bide their time and lick his or her wounds. Either way, nobles have more pressing matters to attend to so this hardly takes a priority for them."
"Why are you telling us this now? You don't yet know who sent those mercenaries even though you may have narrowed down the list. Why not wait until you have found the person and then tell us."
"Reports need to be made to ensure a feeling of progress. Also since it was starting to get cold I thought a shipment of supplies would be nice as a present."
With that Hollow flew off into the night with Rudeus making a slight grin.
The real purpose behind this visit was to anonymously give Sylphy some more gifts like actual windows and warmer clothes for the approaching weather. She could heat up the air with fire and wind magic but that magic would be cut off when she went to sleep or stopped fueling the magic with her mana. By doing this her family would be comfortable and well fed.
Rudeus knew that her and her family would refuse if it was given by Rudeus himself in person. Once a gift was given a feeling of debt was owed.
Hollow had purchased the supplies including the pigs and cows using silver inside the city of Roa, Eris's birthplace and one of the larger cities in the Asura kingdom. How Hollow obtained the silver was using chemistry, he had figured out how to make silver or in other words Ag47, the atomic symbol for silver. He shaped the silver into Asuran currency. Gold would have been far too suspicious as counterfeit currency and so Hollow forged something less suspicious.
Things that were far too complicated for Rudeus to make using chemistry like leather, medicine, and food Hollow purchased with the silver, still no one would want to purchase from a scary creature like Hollow so it wrapped itself completely in a cloak. Walking was difficult instead of floating for Hollow since its muscles hadn't been used before but it managed.
Then Hollow changed it's vocal cords to sound like a deep man. Which was too be expected from a person that stood above anyone in a crowd. Purchasing supplies had not been without suspicion, after all who wouldn't be suspicious of a seven-foot-tall cloaked figure. But things went relativity well.
Hollow placed the magical teleportation circle in the city sewage system underground, away from prying eyes. The circle wasn't just placed in any part of the sewage system. It was in one of the main sewer water distribution networks, this way Hollow have access to every corner of the city underground without much effort. The room was made was just for the teleportation circle and some storage. Rudeus would expand his room as his base of operations to prepare for the teleportation calamity when he was hired by the Boreas royal family to train their youngest daughter Eris.
"Let's see, what do I have to do next?" Hollow said walking around the marketplace, going through a shopping list.
Then its leg bumped into something.
"Why are you so tall!?" A little voice yelled at Hollow.
It looked down in shock and saw a young girl, she looked like she was six or seven, her hair was a crimson red and so were her eyes. There was a woman next to her, a tall beast woman with a skimpy outfit and well defined muscles, she however was on guard and had a hand on her sword, ready to strike the tall figure down if it made a move to attack the little girl. Hollow looked at them both in complete shock.
'Eris and Ghislaine?' Hollow thought, hesitating for a brief moment.
Eris was dressed in a medium thick winter coat, her hood pulled back as she stared up at hollow with her arms folded in her traditional stance. Ghislaine was dressed in her normal attire.
Thinking quickly the monster responded behind the cloak.
"I studied really hard and I worked with the sword even harder, I also ate healthy." Hollow said raising a finger, literally trying to make a point. A corny and untrue point, but if it inspired the young lady Eris then she would work based off that.
"Is that how you got all those bandages on your arms, from sword fighting?"
"Something like that."
"What sword rank are you?"
Even though Eris couldn't read or write at this age she had committed to memory the various sword ranks and valued people off of that ranking.
"I don't know, most of what I learned was based off of survival in the demon continent."
"WOW! That's so cool!" Eris said pumping her fists. "I've heard the demon continent is really dangerous, you must be really strong, I would love to see you fight again Ghislaine to see how strong you are."
Hollow held up its hands. "Unfortunately I have other things to attend to."
"What could be more important than fighting?" Eris said angrily, she had a very simple mind.
"Food, shelter, clothing, warmth, and security. With the cold approaching I am working on supplying a local village that Paul Greyrat watches over."
"You know him?" Ghislaine asked, her ears twitching.
"Who is this Paul Greyrat Ghislaine?" Eris asked.
"He was a fellow swordsman in our old adventuring group, I could tell you about it sometime." Ghislaine said. "Regardless, I thank you stranger for helping Paul and his village."
Ghislaine outstretched her hand and Hollow excepted it, shaking her hand. She didn't mind the boney fingers or recoil from the size of its sharp fingernails. She was a simple minded woman too so something like this she didn't care about unless she identified it as a threat.
"What is your name?" Eris said.
"Hollow." The creature said bowing to the young lady.
"No last name?"
Hollow shook its head.
"Well it was okay meeting you I suppose Hollow. My name is Eris Boreas Greyrat, if you are ever in this city again, I would like to hear about some of your adventures."
"It would be my pleasure." Hollow said waving as it walked away.
'Phew…that was close." Hollow thought breathing a sigh of relief. It still made Rudeus's heart flutter when he saw Eris knowing the woman she could become. A truly fierce warrior with an iron will.
Hollow got back to its errands. Going over inventory and then teleporting the supplies to its home in the mountain. Waiting until dark when it would approach Paul with the status report and give the supplies to be distributed.
Other than that the teleportation checkpoint in Roa was now complete. From there numerous disturb magical circles would be made as a barrier and a safeguard to protect from the teleportation event.
The next night Rudeus looked at the resting place of Hollow. He walked down the hallways into the empty storage room. A large disruption circle was placed on every side of the square room in case of disaster. There was one last thing to do.
"I hope this works." Rudeus said.
Rudeus emptied a bag filled with hundreds of gems, all of them he had made using stones by the riverbed. They fell about the floor in a clutter and Rudeus got to work. Using gravitational magic he made them spiral around each other in a spherical shape, closing the distance between each stone, heat, speed, and momentum fused together making the gem look like a geode with thousands of reflective surfaces. From there he forced a sizable portion of his mana into the gems. They grew brighter and brighter but before it could burst Rudeus sealed the geode with a metal outer layer of tungsten, one of the strongest metals known to man. It grew red hot but then, gradually, it had cooled down and it was possible for Rudeus to touch.
His work had paid off. He felt the mana inside being contained and stable. Rudeus then inlayed several copper circles infused with his blood around the ball of tungsten. It glowed, a positive response was formed. The next was his ring. He made it using tungsten as well and inlayed a single red gem. It acted as the push or pull of his mana, he could put energy into the ring that would send the mana to the battery, or it would draw mana from the battery when he desired it.
Essentially Rudeus had created a bank to safely store his mana when he needed it, by doing this he could continue to grow. The final safeguard was putting a magical detection circle inside of the battery that would warn him when the battery was reaching it's max capacity of mana. The tungsten surface would weaken and the circle would detect that change, signaling his red ring, making it blink. By doing this he wouldn't pore more mana than was needed and he wouldn't destroy the battery.
He would repeat this process dozens of times if needed to store more and more batteries. Connecting them all together so that way he would have a practically limitless pool of mana to draw from.
Putting the Ring on his right middle finger he teleported back to his home.
Later on throughout the days distribution of supplies were already going smoothly, Rudeus helped in anyway that he could. Paul and Rawls (Sylphy's father) had a good friendship develop overtime, they went as a team to take care of the monster population in the woods and enjoyed each others friendship. They were loading several wagons full of crates to give to the people.
Paul refused to take any of the goods, he and his family were already prepared for the cold. Rawls initially refused but Paul insisted.
Sylphy and Rudeus were looking at the activity while trying to help out here and there. There was only so much two tiny children could do to help in this situation but it felt wrong to stare at this from the sidelines.
Lilia and Zenith were in charge of the inventory and organization of the supplies. It was more than enough supplies for the people in the village but they wanted to make sure they distributed the goods fairly so other people wouldn't get envious if things were unfair. After that point Paul and Rawls distributed the supplies.
'Sylphy will be well fed and warm for the winter, this is good.' Rudeus thought smiling at the girl sitting with him on the house's porch.
"Rudi what are you thinking about?" Sylphy looked at the young boy curiously.
Rudeus shook his head. "Nothing, I'm just thinking about how cute you look." Sylphy turned away quickly and covered her face in embarrassment, if Rudeus pored water on her head he was sure it would evaporate instantly from the heat of her blushing.
Rudeus and Sylphy left after that, playing out in the fields. Most of the day was just comprised of the family figuring out how distribute supplies. Paul and Rawls would return after nightfall, ready to repeat the same process the next day until all the supplies were distributed.
In the meantime the two children would practice more of their magic together. Sylphy had already learned voiceless incantations to intermediate levels of magic, she could do each individual spell but using two spells at the same time was proving difficult for her.
"Stop for a second Sylphy, try patting your head with one hand and rubbing your stomach with your other hand."
Sylphy seemed puzzled for a second but complied.
"Like this?" She said, it was awkward for her at first but it quickly became a steady movement. It was incredibly adorable. "You're not trying to make fun of me Rudi are you?"
Rudeus shook his head.
"No, think of yourself patting your head as applying fire magic, and you rubbing your stomach as using wind magic, now when you infuse the two together it will let you leap off the ground with more force than using either one of them. Link the two feelings together and release the mana through your fingertips."
"Okay I will try." Sylphy said pumping her fists.
She was a fast learner. It only took a few minutes for her to learn how to do it. She cast fire and wind magic out of the same hand.
"Now what Rudi?"
"Cast it out of your feet instead of your hands, let's go onto some gravel first, I don't want to burn the ground."
"And what then?" Sylphy said sounding a little nervous.
"We are going to try jumping really high in the air. If you fall I will catch you so don't worry and trust me." Rudeus. "I will demonstrate first and then I want to see you try it."
Sylphy nodded as she waited on Rudeus's example.
Rudeus closed his eyes and focused. Compared to gravity magic using fire and wind magic to copy the attempt of flight or going up in the air really high was a crude form of flight. Still, Sylphy would have to grasp this before she could attempt Gravity magic like Rudeus could. An airplane wasn't made by controlling gravity after all, it was made with thrust, drag, and lift. Properties that Rudeus would teach Sylphy so she could fly too.
He did a slow build up of air and fire focusing on the heels of his feet. He released it in a big burst and shot himself up into the air. Sylphy gasped in amazement at the sight while she observed a safe distance away. Rudeus didn't fly but fell back down, one lesson at a time was required to keep from overwhelming Sylphy with instruction. As he fell back down he used a gradual release of wind and fire to slow his decent until he landed safely back on the ground.
Sylphy ran over to Rudeus.
"That was amazing Rudi!" She said smiling at him. Still a look of doubt covered her face as she hesitated wither or not she could replicate that move. It was like watching someone pull vault for the first time and being told you were next in line to replicate that same move.
"You seem a little nervous to do what I just did so let's practice a little. I want you to float off the ground using the magic I just showed you. Flight can be achieved when you condense the fire and wind around your feet generating thrust, so if you spread it out you won't fly but instead hover above the ground."
Sylphy nodded and practiced it. She almost landed on her face for a few times because she lost balance but Rudeus caught her every time. After a few more attempts she was able to float by herself.
"Good, do what I told you and quickly compress the air, fly up into the air with your magic."
"I'm scared Rudi!"
"I know you are scared, but I know you can do it if you put your mind to it." Rudeus said. If he let her stop now he was worried she would be too scared to try the move again. This required encouragement.
Sylphy closed her eyes and focused on the flame and wind around her feet. After taking a deep breath in and out she opened them and shot upwards.
"You did it Sylphy!" Rudeus said clapping and jumping in the air with her.
She laughed but then quickly saw the ground was fast approaching her. She reached out to Rudeus in fear and he took her in his arms as he cast the same wind and fire magic to slowly descend back to the ground. Even if she didn't do the whole thing it was still a great amount of progress.
"That was amazing Sylphy!" Rudeus said as he hugged her. She hugged him back as the both laughed together. Sylphy thanked him and then kept trying.
It didn't take any time at all for her to replicate the decent back down that Rudeus had demonstrated, Rudeus was with her the whole time incase she was in danger, going back up with her and going back down.
"Thank you Rudi for showing me!" Sylphy said.
It was getting dark now and Rudeus would have to return home otherwise Zenith would start to worry.
"Can you make it back safely Sylphy?"
She nodded and she did something incredibly unexpected of her character. She kissed Rudeus on the cheek!
He touched the spot that she had kissed as he was completely baffled by her behavior. The Sylphy that Rudeus had known would never do something so bold but he still loved that she was brave enough to do that.
Before he could respond Sylphy smiled, blushing and looking down at the ground.
"Goodnight Rudi…. I will see you later." With that Sylphy turned around and took off down the road.
"See…. You…. Later. Sylphiette." Rudeus said in a daze. He was falling in love with this Sylphy all over again.
Give comments and questions. I shall answer them in the next chapter. See you all soon!