Interlude 5 - The Lord of the Ducal House
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"My Lord," Maldon greeted his liege and made a bow with his fist to his chest.
"Have a seat," the Duke ordered. "I've heard of what happened. Thank you for saving my daughter… and I am most sorry for your loss."
"You are too kind, milord." Maldon couldn't dare to look at his liege lord in the eyes. "It wasn't us that saved her… in the end, we needed to be saved too. We don't deserve your thanks."
"You… you were wounded, and your younger brother died in my service. If you don't deserve my thanks, who does?!" Duke Ortlinde shot back. "Yes… I know about the adventurers… but powerful as they might be, none of them would have chosen to die for my Sue."
He slapped his palm down on his desk. "You did your duty, but I also have an obligation to you! So, once again, with utmost sincerity… thank you."
"As you wish, milord." Maldon nodded slowly. Of course it hurt that his brother died, but it was not in vain. Duke Ortlinde really was a worthy lord to serve, and the kingdom needed him. He raged internally against the foul wastes of air that called themselves the other nobles of Belfast.
That they dared to be so open about attacking the crown now… these were dangerous times. And in these dangerous times… one needed allies?
"So tell me about these adventurers. While they are off… bathing… I need to know how best to receive them. It is strange, they do not look like they are fully adults yet. Were they truly that powerful?"
Maldon glanced towards Reim, standing dutifully behind his lord. While the butler could testify to the efficacy of the group's ability to heal, only the guards had directly seen them fight.
"They arrived… on the wings of a windstorm. At first, it was that girl with the long silver hair. At first we were just fighting for our lives, and then she appeared out of nowhere – she just smashed her feet onto a lizardman and then tore him to shreds dragging on the ground to stop."
Maldon made helpful fingerman hand gestures to illustrate what happened. "She was moving so fast her feet sunk into its armor. She had to pull her bloody metal boots out of its body. Her punches were no less potent, sire. No unenchanted armor could possible stand up to such cruel strength."
The Duke blinked. Elze clearly did not look so vicious. He even thought she was the most matured and reasonable-looking of them.
"I… suppose that is possible. There are personal abilities or training that could do that, as we do with the Knights. Such a prodigy it is only a surprise to be undiscovered."
"We were later told they came from Refreese, my lord. Uh, the two girls with silver hair. The one with dark hair is from Eashen to the Far East," Of course. The court of Belfast was quite familiar with Eashen. One of them had even served as their blademaster instructor for quite a while. "And their leader…"
"Yes, the one with the mask and helmet…"
"He arrived from the sky. He dropped and shattered the enemy formation in a fist of wind. My Lord, you must understand. That girl… she had strength… power and speed, explosive force. But him… don't let his seeming youth fool you. I would hesitate to say that any of our ranked Knights could easily defeat anyone with such complete mastery of Wind magic."
Maldon clasped his palms together and his fingers began to shake. "Speed… such speed. Some might be more agile or more precise, like the sword of that Eashen girl later, but never have I seen speed turned into such a perfect weapon. And his wind blades…"
He looked up and spoke about the last member of the team "And that shy-looking girl? Her fire magic was hellish and she looked like she could cast them all day she wanted to. They didn't show a wide variety of spells, not like the combat magicians… but just a few spells enhanced and refined to the killing perfection.
"My lord, I beg you, do not underestimate these children. I've seen them fight. If they could ever fight with us… they are army breakers."
Duke Ortlinde leaned on one knuckle and began to tap worriedly on his desk. "And these people were just sharing a carriage with Sue. I've heard the report too. How... convenient… that the Dark Magic summoner was killed, and we have no one to interrogate as to the person responsible for this."
Killing off a troop of lizard-men would have just been delicious irony for the anti-beastkin malcontents in the court, after all. For a member of the royal family to be slain by the beastkins that they have acted far too kindly towards for so long, surrendering even Belfast's interests in order to make peace.
A betrayal to pump up the populace. They had long wanted a war with Mismede and to claim land again on the other side of the Great Gao.
The butler decided to speak, "Sire, I understand that this sounds too good to be true… but I have spoken with the young adventurer Zah for a longer amount of time. There is true kindness there, it was not for any hope of reward that they helped.
"Him and his spirit… they looked quite taken with the young miss. They shrugged off any mention of rewards, but seeing Miss Sue smile seemed to make them happy as well. Happy in a way that it was like it was a surprise to them as well. I have a strong feeling that they are adventurers not because of gain, but because of loss."
"Ah yes. That spirit. Sue wrote about that too. Is this true? This is not some sort of trick?" Duke Ortlinde asked, though he did not doubt the old servant. "Spirits are born from magically powerful places and rarely able to leave their domains. I have never before heard of a spirit bound to a person, and be so… mobile."
"I have seen and spoken to Lady Monika as well. She and Sir Zah displayed an old comfortable affection for each other."
"Hmf. A person you could offend, but never a spirit…" the Duke sighed heavily. "A person you could ask to forgive, but a spirit will never forget. What even is happening in this kingdom? I am truly deeply grateful that they saved Sue, but taken all in combination… it is far, far too convenient."
He sniffed. "And was it really necessary to subject my precious Sue to such a gruesome sight? I do not approve." He nodded towards Reim, "No offense meant."
"None taken, sire." The butler put a hand over chest, right over where the deep wound used to be.
The Duke looked off to the distance some more and mulled over what to do. Adventuring parties didn't just show up somewhere, with such training and teamwork, for no reason. Refreese? The Refreese Imperium was dirt poor, that was in no way believable that they came from there. Regulus or the Rodmere Union, the continent's two competing superpowers, that was far more believable.
Some other nation meddling with Belfast's troubles… but who really benefits from Belfast being unstable? Regulus and Rodmere had their own problems to deal with. Even Refreese wouldn't benefit because the trade disruption would destroy their own already meager economy.
Maybe to assist in re-stabilizing Belfast? Who benefits from that? Who benefits from improving the lives and livelihood of beastkin and external trade with their kingdom?
The list was short, and on top was the Adventurer's Guild.
There had always been rumors of the Guild having its own shadowy adventurer teams. And the remote, icy kingdom of Elfrau was a perfect place to carry out extreme training.
The Duke began thoughtfully tapping at his desk with such force and rapidity he could almost just punch through it with his index finger. Even so, something still felt wrong.
There was a ponderous feeling, a pressure…
A feeling that he had felt only once before, from his own father and his burning fury to purge the court and fully enforce the beastkin protection laws. Like Destiny itself, arriving, rolling and crushing all before it, woe be to the fools who dared to try and stand against it.
Just because he was nice didn't mean he was stupid. In a world with adventurers rooting around the land a convenient rescuer could be an evil mastermind attempting to steal the throne by playing the part of the legendary hero.
The problem being that he may actually be said legendary hero. You can never know in a world like this, so burning bridges would be a bad idea.
"We only have an hour or so. You two, advise me then, how do you think I should treat them? How should I conduct myself before these adventurers that I do not offend them?"
"Uh… I am sorry, my lord. I have no such advice." Maldon would be happy to fight with them again, in righteous battle, and would certainly have loved to see them in service to the Duke. There were a lot of benefits to being sworn to noble house.
However, adventurers of such ability did not like their freedoms curtailed, even he knew that.
Reim coughed into his fist. "My lord, I think the most important quality you should remember… is that SUE LIKES THEM. Please do not think of trying to pull them to your side. If they should be offended and leave, that would make Sue unhappy."
Duke Ortlinde slumped. "And none of us want that. So you're saying, only treat them with the thought of simply keeping them and Sue happy? That they should want to keep being friends with my daughter?"
He let out a long considerate 'hmmm'. "A spirit probably could detect dark, selfish intentions anyway. Like the Mystic Eyes of my niece, Her Highness Princess Yumina." He looked up, having decided to shed all thoughts of personal gain. "I see. I should just treat them as I would any of Sue's friends."
Then, after thinking about it, he suddenly clutched at his head despondently. "Sue's other friends are cute little girls too! I don't know how to deal with them at all!"
Reim coughed again. "Ahem. Just… act naturally, sire? Look at them like your own friends?"
Duke Alfred Ernes Ortlinde recalled his own circle of peers, and their monomaniacal focus on certain pursuits like swordsmanship, or magic research, or opera, or fashion. Even his own brother the King had a tendency to get sucked into whatever had his attention at the time.
He shook his head swiftly. "No, that won't do. I have terrible friends."
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Interlude 6 - The Daughter of the Ducal House
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"Ow!"
"What was that? Sue?" Duchess Ellen turned her head around, trying to hear. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, Mother," the girl replied in a pinched voice. "It's nothing, I just… bumped into something a little bit."
Ellen thought about it for a little bit and considered what her daughter could possibly be doing while her mother couldn't see it. Quickly the answer became obvious.
"You were walking around with your eyes closed, weren't you? Trying to see what it feel like now that I can at least see the difference between light and dark?"
Sue went over to sit by her mother's side and rubbed at her stinging shin, which she had knocked against a drawer. "I'm sorry. But… did we just make it worse? I think that having light shining through your eyelids… it feels uncomfortably warm for some reason."
A low whimper entered the girl's tone of voice. "I'm really sorry… every time I try to help, I just make things worse!"
Ellen pulled her daughter close and hugged her. "Now, don't say that. Those who hesitate to take the first step in the fear they are wasting their time will never reach the end." There was nothing like fearing to fail that could turn what been such a promising youth into a life of nothing but failure.
"The thought that someday I would be able to see you again… that's enough. We have real hope where we had none before, I can deal with a little inconvenience for a time," she murmured and kissed her daughter's head. "Really, your mother is a little stronger than that, you know?"
"None of the healers ever managed to do even that! I'm not just going to… um…"
"Blindly trust?" Ellen offered. "I'm not offended by that turn of phrase. Why would it hurt to be reminded of my disability when I can't ever forget it?"
"… blindly trust them anymore. Mother, I'm going to learn all I can and try to cure you myself!"
Sushie Ernea Ortlinde had an older brother, Edward Ernest Ortlinde, and he would be the one to inherit the title of Duke and his wife would become the Duchess. Sue had never begrudged him that, but she wondered at times what to do with her life. The best that she could hope for was a loving arranged marriage like her mother and father.
There were other strong female examples in Belfast, like adventurers or Charlotte the court magician, but it felt somewhat like a waste of the royal family's ability to build alliances.
She hesitantly reached out to her mother's face. The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it sounded. She had the [Light] magical affinity. It was her only magical affinity. And being a healer was a noble enough occupation, her own maternal grandfather was famous for it. Mother's own father.
Sue had never really thought about why a man who had the ability to reverse any and all harm to the body, lasting physical infirmities and poison and all, would die at physically around the fifties (46 by their calendar). Such a person would have been of immense strategic importance to the nation.
Then she pouted slightly, "But if Sir Zah and Lady Monika could do it, that would be fine too."
Duchess Ellen chuckled lightly and rubbed at her daughter's hair again. She felt a pang of regret, for in her five years of darkness she could barely even imagine how her daughter was growing up from the child she remembered. But it was a parent's joy to have a child that knew what they wanted from life and determined to get it.
The world was not a kind place for dreamers, but without dreams what was the point of being alive? To in end being forced to settle for spoiled noble children who only wanted to consume, that was the one fear she had for her daughter.
"So… your new friends. I didn't expect such great healers to sound so… young. You told me they were adventurers, that's certainly not a skill I expected for them to possess."
"… Sir Zah is blind too, you know? I think I mentioned that. And even then, the guards said that he is a powerful, powerful adventurer. I think it's… kind of inspiring. Maybe that's why… I have a lot more trust in him, even if he can't fix his own eyes, because who else would know the best?"
Sue's strongest memory of them was from sitting inside the darkened carriage, lit only by Monika's projection onto the carriage wall. Zah Playa sat in a very relaxed lounging manner on one empty carriage bench, absently swirling the glass of water in his hand as if it were fine amber wine.
His hair was a dark russet, and the thick slate on his face a matte black that faded into the shadows. His face was all sharp artificial angles, and the most she could see was only his nose and lips and his strong chin. His satisfied smile, his eager shining grins, and because much of his facial expressions were hidden behind a mask he overcompensated with sweeping gestures and body language.
He was funny. He was interesting. Sue was for a moment glad that her mother was blind, because then she would not be able to see her blush.
But Ellen could feel her daughter tense up in her arms. "Sue?"
"It's… it's nothing mother. I'm… I'm going to be a Healer. I just thought for a moment how being an adventurer, living free and on the road… it… it can't be that exciting, can it?"
Ellen laughed. "We've all been there, my dearest daughter. They have freedom like no one else, even as much as they might envy us our ease and wealth."
An adventurer could just drop everything and flee, if circumstances no longer favored them. A Duke was a pillar of the kingdom, no matter what happens they were obliged to face it all with dignity even to very worst of ends.
Sue leaned onto her mother and dropped to lie down on her lap. She stared at her mother's concerned face, and that was enough. Sir Zah already had Lady Monika and three other strong girls with him anyway. She was a daughter of the eminent Ortlinde Family, he wouldn't be waiting for her to grow up. If he were the type of man to be tempted by her station, then he wouldn't have been worthy of it.
She just hoped they would come back. After curing her mother, all she really prayed for was for someone to stay with her and tell her more stories about distant lands and their own adventures.
Tell her stories of all the things her birth meant she could never be.
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