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Lightbringer
Chapter 3
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Lucifer blinked, mouth still agape. There was simply no way this was actually happening in a game, yet the fact remained that it was. There was no denying it. Not now. He had tasted the ale. And it wasn't like some simple flavors either, the ale truly and remarkably tasted like actual beer, with the various complexities in its flavors. He was sure of it.
Not that it really mattered whether it was a simple or complex taste because being able to taste anything at all was beyond comprehension in a video game, even a Dive one.
And the more he thought about it, the more it became apparent that this world really was beyond the realm of possibility given the technology of his world. Hyper-realistic, ultra-high definition graphics, he could understand and had no issues with. Sound was the easiest of the five senses to mimic realistically, so that wasn't an issue either. Upgrades to haptic feedback programming and sensors, sure, though he definitely didn't remember getting any new gear recently that would allow for him to even feel those changes, but that didn't matter too much right now.
Smell and taste were the two senses that the Dive gear most definitely couldn't deliver to the player, at least not the equipment that he was using, and yet here he was smelling and tasting things as real as if he were actually physically present. He hadn't really paid much attention to it before when he was outside, thinking that perhaps his mind was simply playing tricks on him, but he also had faint sensations of smell when he was out there in the open world.
Including all that Svar had said so far, along with everything that Lucifer had seen, felt, touched, and experienced, there was really only one logical conclusion, as far-fetched and unbelievable as that conclusion was to him: this was not some new version of YGGDRASIL that he had been transported to. This... this was all real.
This was a genuine world, as real a world as the one he would often escape from using his Dive gear, and he was mysteriously transported here.
Adding to the growing mountain of evidence was the fact that if this was a game, he had definitely been playing for almost twenty hours now, having taken the day off at work to play for the last day that YGGDRASIL was still online. He should have collapsed from exhaustion by now, which would have automatically triggered the fail-safe shutdown of the Dive gear that would disconnect him and bring him back to his world. Yet, that hadn't happened.
In fact, other than some mental fatigue, his body didn't feel a single shred of tiredness.
Deep down, in the furthest reaches of his mind, he had known it all along. He had willfully ignored all the obvious signs that pointed to the mind-shattering truth because what he wanted was to still believe this was a game. Because a game was what he knew, that was what he expected and understood.
He couldn't bring himself to think of this as a dream anymore either, simply because it was all far too detailed and complex for his imagination to fabricate cohesively. Moreover, if this was a dream, then it was quite a marathon of one because he definitely couldn't remember the last time a dream lasted for even a fraction of the length of time that he had already spent here.
Thinking about it made his head swirl.
What baffled him though was why he was now inhabiting the body of his YGGDRASIL avatar. Furthermore, he not only had all his equipment and items, but he also had access to his skills and abilities, and they all continued to operate in this real new world as they did in the video game. It made no sense!
Somehow, the game world of YGGDRASIL and this world had been meshed together because the games systems appeared to be woven into the very fabric of this world, at least from what he had seen so far. That was the only explanation for his ability to access his inventory and to use his skills and spells, despite some differences in mechanics on how to access them. However, while he hadn't seen Svar use an alternate-dimension inventory nor did he really think the man had the ability to use one, that didn't mean that other people didn't have it.
Sure, it wasn't that much of a stretch to think that it was possible for the game to be superimposed onto a real world, given that whatever higher power made that happen also brought him here from his own world in the first place. Was this an act of some unknown god then? Why did this even happen? This was definitely not the result of some unintended side-effect or glitch of modern-day technology. No, this was something far beyond the capabilities of the world that he had left behind, as advanced as it was at the time.
The world he left behind. It struck him that now that he was here in the body of his avatar, his old body was still lying in his room back in his world, connected to the Dive gear. Was that body now... dead? Or was there another him going about his daily life and the him that he was here now in this strange new world was a separate entity? Or did that old self simply disappear into nothingness when he was transported here, as if he had never existed in that old world in the first place?
That line of thinking suddenly made him realize something. If this was now his reality, and if this was now his body, then if this body got hurt, would he feel pain? and more importantly, if he his body got destroyed, if his HP were to ever go down to zero... would he actually die?
His mind went numb. The thought of actually dying in this strange land unsettled him. Though he supposed it wasn't all that bad because it wasn't necessarily true death. Since the YGGDRASIL game mechanics seemed to be in some sort of effect in this world, that meant death wasn't necessarily permanent. And Svar had confirmed that earlier with his mention of resurrection magic existing and being practiced in this world, however rare or expensive it might be.
Understanding the implications of all of this, Lucifer decided this had to be the top priority in terms of his intelligence-gathering. He needed to find out the price and costs of resurrection. How it worked, how to find people who can cast it, and if there was any place that a player like himself could revive to that was akin to a save point. He somehow doubted that such a place existed, but didn't completely rule out the possibility.
Lucifer was of course more than capable of casting resurrection magic on his own, whether using items or his own spells, but he couldn't do it on himself. Especially not after he was already dead. There were technically some items that had a self-resurrect function in YGGDRASIL, but they were exceedingly rare and he had never been able to acquire one. He really wished he had one of those now, because then he would at least be able to operate with some small measure of peace at having that as a backup.
To further increase his chances of survival, he was going to need to make allies. Even more so, he was likely going to have to party up too. Playing solo was all well and good while this was just a game, but this was now real life and his actual life was on the line. He would have to try and find people he could trust in first though.
If the worst were to happen and he were to die, the greatest benefit of having a party was that someone should and would be able to resurrect him. If nobody in the party had that skill though, then they could at least go find someone else to cast resurrection magic. He would be at their mercy though. He only hoped that whatever allies he made, they would feel compelled to bring him back to life more than a random bystander or a stranger would.
Additionally, he technically should have a lower chance of dying in the first place if he was fighting with a group of allies.
While his normal strategy of summoning such powerful allies to fight with him was definitely useful thanks to his many levels in a few Summoner classes, they would only be temporary and would eventually fade away. Besides, summoning the strongest possible allies would take a lot of mana, which while he had a significantly large pool to take from, still reduced his direct fighting ability since most of his own damage dealing was through spellcasting.
He didn't know if mana regeneration worked the same way in this world, which was another thing he would need to test out. There were far too many things to experiment with and learn, it seemed. Regardless, he definitely needed to make some allies on this world sooner rather than later. In the meantime, he would need to be overly cautious and avoid any unnecessary conflict.
His mind was moving a thousand miles a second at this point, the gears finally churning as he formulated some rudimentary plans with the limited knowledge he had gained so far. All of this thinking had occurred in the span of a few minutes of silence, though it felt a lot longer to Lucifer.
Svar got to his feet and stepped closer to him with a look of genuine concern. So lost was Lucifer in his thoughts that he did not notice at all that Svar, with all his bulk, was now standing next to him.
"Is everythin' alright, Ser M-... uh, Lucifer?" the man said, placing a hand as gently as he could on the angel's shoulder, as if he might explode.
"AH!" Lucifer jumped, startled out of his stupor by the sudden physical contact, one arm going up defensively for a split second as the other grabbed the hilt of one of the short swords before he realized what was happening.
The sudden movement caused Svar to jump back too, furrowing his thick brow even further with worry, though he didn't let out a scream of surprise like Lucifer had. His gaze drifted down warily to the sword that Lucifer was resting a hand on.
"What's tha matter, Lucifer? Is there danger?" The big man gripped his mug like he was about to throw it at any opponent that appeared, eyes darting around the room. The motion of him bringing it up above his shoulder caused the remaining ale within to splash onto the wall behind him, but he didn't seem to care.
Blinking rapidly and regaining some measure of composure, Lucifer coughed awkwardly as he straightened out his robes and relaxed, brushing off some non-existent dirt while he was at it.
"Oh, my sincerest apologies, Svar. I... well... I... I had what's called a... a waking nightmare," he managed to make up the lie on the spot, feeling quite proud of himself for doing so. "Not a big deal, really, so no need to worry. It very rarely happens and usually only when I'm extra tired. It's quite late after all, and it has been a long day."
Though technically, what he had said wasn't entirely a lie. In a way, this was all sort of a waking nightmare for him right now. He plastered on as real of a fake smile as he could muster as he looked at Svar, who was scratching the side of his head again and looking unsure of what to make of the whole situation.
"So... yer fine now? We're not in danger?" Svar seemed confused as he slowly, if apprehensively, lowered the mug. His stout body was still tense and he continued to look about cautiously as if still looking for any signs of a threat. Perhaps the ale was making the paranoia that Lucifer stewed up in him even stronger.
"Yes, we are most definitely not in any danger at the moment." Lucifer responded as reassuringly as he could. Berating himself mentally for losing his head, he made sure to maintain his reassuring smile as he held the man's gaze.
Svar let out another long breath. "A waking nightmare, ya said? Sounds... unpleasant."
"You have no idea."
With a sigh, Svar glanced out the window and then back at Lucifer.
"Well, 'spose it is quite late, ain't it? I guess we should-"
Lucifer interrupted him before he could finish, raising a hand in front of him with his index finger outstretched towards the ceiling. "Actually, before we get some rest, I did have a few more questions if you don't mind. And I know it's late, but these questions are... quite pressing. You see, it's about those adventurers, you said they accepted a job to kill that wyvern? Who gave them that job? And other than wyverns, what other monsters do you know about?" He didn't wait for Svar to answer if he minded or not, asking the questions immediately.
Even more so now than earlier, he needed more information. He couldn't wait for the morning anymore, and Svar would probably know at least some answers to those questions.
Svar gave him an incredulous look. "Yer serious?"
"Very. Now if you haven't already guessed, I'm not from around here."
Svar snorted at that as he went to refill his mug. "Ya don't say..."
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Svar told him as much as he could of the surrounding area.
The village that they were currently in was called Woodhaven, named so because it was a very safe region next to a forest with mostly benign creatures. It was a major reason why Svar and Cheshire had moved here, after hearing about it from some traveling merchants that passed through the old town they used to live in far to the north.
The current chief of the village was a man named Thomas Sprigg, and he and his family had lived in the village for a long as there ever was a Woodhaven. The village chief also apparently owned a fairly detailed map of the region, which Lucifer certainly wanted to get a copy of if he could. Svar had promised to make introductions in the morning.
Furthermore, Woodhaven was actually located in a country called the Baharuth Empire, and was situated a little over a week's journey by horse to the northeast of the capital city Arwintar, where the Imperial Magic Academy had its main campus and where, nautrally, the Imperial Palace was located.
Svar wasn't much for politics, but all he knew was that the current Emperor's health was failing and that one of his four sons would be chosen to succeed him sometime soon. Apparently there was some conflict in the Imperial Court because of that, as was to be expected during transitions of power in a country.
After explaining that quests – or rather "jobs" – were for the most part normally given out by an organization called the Adventurer's Guild, with some exceptions being that on rare occasions there might be direct requests from private parties or even the government, Svar suggested that Lucifer actually visit a Guild branch and find out more for himself there, which was a practical suggestion and one that Lucifer had already intended to do upon first hearing about the Guild.
The closest one was apparently in the city of Oldaven, which was located only a few days journey on horseback and approximately midway between Woodhaven and Arwintar.
Flying would definitely cut the travel time significantly, and it would be near instantaneous if he used transportation spells like [Teleportation] or [Gate], but those spells required the user to either have line of sight to where they wanted to go, or to be familiar with the place they were traveling to. Besides, flying would allow him to study the surroundings in further detail and was far too enjoyable to pass up to boot.
Lucifer also learned that the reason Svar had glanced at his chest armor earlier was because he was looking for an adventurer plate. The man had thought Lucifer was an adventurer, given that he could use magic. Apparently, the Adventurer's Guild gave out metal plates to each registered adventurer to help identify them. Kind of like dog tags used by the military back in his old world. Except the type of metal used for these plates also served to indicate the rank and therefore skill of the adventurer.
There were several ranks, with Copper being the lowest and Adamantite being the highest. Svar wasn't sure how many ranks there were in between, but he was sure there were several. Promotions were regulated by the Guild, though it was fairly straightforward. Strength, skill, experience, and the level of difficulty of the jobs completed were the main criteria they looked at.
What further intrigued Lucifer was that there were apparently only a handful of Adamantite-ranked adventurer teams in this world. They were considered the best of the best, the strongest of humanity and the pinnacle of human might. He would have to seek these people out and see for himself how strong they really were.
Lucifer figured they could potentially make good allies, though he would need to act cautiously around them at first since they were supposedly the strongest in the land. He wouldn't want to upset them and end up having to fight them. Svar unfortunately didn't know any of them by name, but he did know that there was at least one, maybe two such teams here in the Empire.
Oddly enough, when Lucifer heard about Adamantite being the highest rank possible, Lucifer wondered why the Guild had stopped there. There were plenty of even harder, more valuable ores than adamantite. Prismatic ores like scarletite, for instance, which was the metal that made up one of the swords attached to his hip.
Then there was the armor that he was currently wearing that was made out of Star Silver, which was also one of the prismatic ores. It was Lucifer's most prized armor set, given how much trouble he had gone through to get it. And it had been a lot of trouble. When he broached the subject of the prismatic ores, Svar thought he was joking.
"Adamantite is tha rarest and strongest ore and metal known to man, quit jokin' around," he had said with a chuckle, and Lucifer decided not to discuss that point further.
By the time all of that was explained to Lucifer, it really was quite late and Svar was already starting to fall asleep, partially due to the alcohol finally taking its toll, but mostly due to exhaustion.
"Come on now, no more... no more questions, Lucifer. It's off ta bed... fer tha two of us," said Svar, his head drooping every now and then for a brief second as he finished washing the now empty mugs in the sink.
"I probably should sleep on the couch and you can move your daughter to her room," Lucifer suggested, glancing at the still sleeping figure of Svar's daughter on the couch in question.
Even though Lucifer didn't feel tired, there wasn't much else he thought of doing at that moment so he figured that it might not be a bad idea to at least try to get some rest. In YGGDRASIL, it was possible to rest in a bed and get some benefits such as an increase to HP and MP regeneration as well as some minor buffs. All those buffs were temporary of course, and the type, strength, and duration of the buff was dependent on the quality of the bed and any additional items that supported such functions in the vicinity.
Though none of the buffs were ever strong enough to be of significant benefit, which was why most people didn't really take advantage of this element of gameplay, as a solo player Lucifer needed all the advantages he could get, no matter how small. He wondered if the rest buffs still worked in this new world, not that he could even really see what his current status effects were anyways without a HUD or console. Would he simply feel better and stronger after resting?
"Don't ya worry, Lucifer, it'll... " he stopped to yawn, "it'll be fine. 'sides, movin' my dear little girl now would most likely wake her up, and I'd hate to do that when she's sleepin' so peaceful, ya know? 'specially after tha night she had."
Sure enough the girl had an almost blissful look on her face, far removed from the expression she had earlier when they had first met. A pang of guilt hit Lucifer once again at the thought of the terror he had unintentionally caused the pretty young girl. He would have to apologize to her again in the morning.
Seeing no point in arguing, Lucifer replied, "Well, if you insist."
Svar shrugged and said nothing as he led Lucifer to Cheshire's room, closing the thin, rickety wooden door behind him after ushering him in.
"I'll wake ya in the mornin', and I'll be goin' out ta work right after I introduce ya ta tha chief. Be gone most o' the day, but I should be back in time fer supper. Oh, and no funny business in there, ya hear?" he explained before retiring to his own room, not bothering to wait for a reply from Lucifer.
Lucifer stared after him wondering what on earth he meant about funny business, and then he realized it and cursed the half drunk oaf for putting such thoughts in his head in the first place. He hadn't even been thinking anything of the sort at all until he brought it up! Shaking his head to rid himself of such embarrassing thoughts, he glanced around the room.
Unsurprisingly, given what he had seen of the rest of the house so far, Cheshire's room was small and cramped, but he supposed that it was cozy in its own way. There wasn't much furniture and what little was there was worn and used, but clean and clearly cared for as best as they could manage. There was a wooden bed with what looked to be a straw mattress encased in thin cotton sheets, a solid wooden nightstand next to it with a few cheap trinkets on it, and an aged wooden dresser pressed up against the wall.
He didn't have to guess what was in that and he definitely didn't want to open any of the drawers to find out. A small cracked mirror hung on the wall above the dresser. There was also a sizable wooden trunk at the foot of the bed, and with this he was tempted to take a peek, wondering what the young girl could possibly be putting in a trunk of this size.
He opened it up. Books, apparently. And a lot of them too. There must have been at least thirty of them stuffed into the trunk, which was nearly at capacity due to the sheer size of some of them. Taking a closer look, he saw that they definitely didn't look like fiction novels and were more like academic books. What was she reading?
Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to reach into the trunk and grab one of the thinner ones. Opening it up, he immediately frowned upon realizing that he could not read any of the words. It was written in a language utterly alien to him, which would make sense considering he was technically an alien in this world and they were aliens to him, even though they all looked like humans.
But then, as he was studying the strange characters of their writing closely in a vain attempt at trying to decipher their meaning, his eyes went wide as he felt some of his power activate. His eyes began to glow faintly, and the gibberish on the page suddenly transformed into words he could actually understand.
He was at a loss as to why this had happened for only a few seconds before he remembered that another one of the passive abilities of his Angel class is the [Gift of Tongues], which basically allowed angels to understand any and all official languages, both written and spoken. Not only that, but it also allowed angels to communicate in those languages too. He was really glad to have it since it now meant he could read any books with ease, and books were certainly a great source of knowledge.
It occurred to him then that it was possible he was conversing in their language without even know it, and the ability was simply passively translating everything for him, but there really was no way to tell. That was one of the passive abilities that he couldn't deactivate in YGGDRASIL, so it was highly unlikely that he could deactivate it here. Not that he wanted to anyway.
He flipped through a few more of the books in the chest to confirm that the ability was working, and sure enough the translated writing appeared faster and faster the more he used the passive ability, as if the ability itself was getting used to the language of this world. He skimmed through some of the tomes before stopping and returning them to the chest.
Cheshire was apparently really into history. Most of the books in the chest were about the history of the Empire, with a few books on the history of the Kingdom of Re-Estize and something called the Dragon Kingdom. A small number of the books were on herbs and spices, including what one could make with them as well as where and how to gather materials in the wild. Several were actually written accounts of jobs and experiences by retired adventurers and travelers.
He made a mental note to read through those one of these days. Reading about the lives of some of the adventurers might shed some light into not only how they thought but also how they conducted themselves, which was surely going to be very useful information.
Lucifer sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, pinching the bridge of his nose. His mind was starting to feel overtaxed right now with the sudden influx of information, and even though his body did not feel even the slightest bit of fatigue, his mind was definitely pleading for a break.
The bed was a bit hard and uncomfortable at first, but he could get used to it easily enough. He had slept in worse places back in his old world. The orphanage he grew up in as a child was not exactly what anyone would call a five-star hotel when it came to accommodations.
Lucifer wondered if he had to take his armor off to store it in his inventory and decided to try putting it away just with his thoughts, much the same way he had thought about returning the ≪Pitcher of Endless Water≫ earlier. His armor glowed briefly before disappearing in a blink, and he once again simply knew that it had been successfully transferred to that pocket dimension almost immediately.
Smiling triumphantly, because his success with storing his armor just by thought meant it would be easier to change out equipment, especially in the middle of battle, he got as comfortable as he could underneath the covers.
It was strange having this mental connection to his inventory, as if it was a part of his very being now. It was like this constant presence in the back of his head that didn't feel burdensome or troublesome in any way, thankfully, and he really wasn't truly aware of it unless he actually consciously thought about using his inventory. It was very convenient for quickly storing and retrieving items, and was especially useful for protecting things from theft.
He kept on the white enchanted silk robes he had been wearing underneath the armor, the edges lined with golden runes. It was a Divine Class robe called ≪Robe of the Sephiroth≫, and it provided a significant boost to mana, mana regeneration, spell power, and magical defense. In addition, it had two special properties.
First, the robe held three charges of [Heal], which was Sixth Tier, that would activate to heal him whenever his HP dipped below 20%. Once activated, each charge took three days to replenish, so if he were to engage in a battle that used up all three charges, it would take nine days to fully charge it back up.
Second, if he was ever down to 3% HP, the robe would summon a Seraph Empyrean to defend him. Upon using this ability, the other effects of the robe – all the buffs and the healing charges – would be diminished by half until this ability was recharged, which would take a full ten days. Of course, the drawback here being that if he was hit by an attack that didn't make him enter that 3% threshold, it wouldn't activate.
It was one of the rarest items in his possession, and he quite liked how it looked on him too.
Feeling a bit paranoid, he cast a [Greater Alarm] spell on the house that would be triggered if anyone with hostile intent tried to enter the building. In addition to that he also cast [Dome of Protection] around the bed to defend against low-tier magic attacks and unenchanted missile projectiles. Not that it would do much good if they attacked from inside the barrier, since the dome covered an area a bit larger than the bed, but they would have to be almost on top of him to do that.
Normally, the dome covered an even larger area by default, but he found that he was able to adjust the area of effect and this was the smallest he could focus the spell into.
Despite how thin it looked, his robe was durable enough to give him some protection against physical damage too, at least the ones strong enough to overcome his nullification. If anyone tried to physically attack him while he slept, he would certainly have enough time to wake and fight off whoever it was without taking too much damage after their first attack on him.
With those defenses in place, and feeling the slight tickle in the back of his mind as he felt some of his mana used up to cast the spells, he lay down on the bed and got underneath the covers. Again, he was a bit overwhelmed not only by the realness of his sense of touch with the bed and the pillow and the blankets as well as the soft comfort of his silk robes, but also the smell that suddenly wafted into his nostrils.
He shut his eyes, taking in deep breaths. This was undoubtedly Cheshire's scent. She smelled nice, like lavender mixed with something else pleasant. It was definitely a nice aroma to be surrounded by. Embarrassingly enough, he recognized that this was the most intimate he had been with a woman in his life. And she wasn't even in the room!
He idly wondered if all girls smelled like this. As he breathed in Cheshire's scent and slowly drifted off to sleep, a question suddenly flitted into his mind.
What did he smell like?
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The morning came quickly, and with it sunlight that poured in from the small window over the bed that he was currently sleeping on. Stirring from his slumber, he slowly opened his eyes.
What a strange dream, he thought as his vision came into focus. He reached a hand out to the ceiling... and froze.
On his unblemished fingers were familiar magic rings. And the long sleeve of his robe was of the one his character wore in YGGDRASIL.
He sniffed and smelled lavender in the air.
"Good morning, mister Morningstar," said a timid voice coming from the foot of the bed.
Bolting upright, he stared in shocked silence at the redhead sitting at the foot of the bed, her emerald eyes watching him closely. She had flinched when he sat up so abruptly, but thankfully did not run away in fear nor did she yelp like she did last night.
So it wasn't a dream after all.
"Hi there, miss-?," Lucifer managed to say, suddenly blanking on the girl's name.
"Cheshire," she smiled, her voice rather quiet as if she didn't want to be overheard, even though it was only the two of them in the room. "Just call me Cheshire, please sir."
"Yes, right. Of course, Cheshire it is then. It's nice to finally meet you... again." He cringed as he unintentionally added the last part. He didn't mean to bring up the events of last night.
A brief silence followed.
"I'm sorry, by the way. About last night..."
"It's okay." Her eyes looked away sadly as the corners of lips turned into a small frown. She gripped her skirt tightly with her hands, remembering for a second how terrified she had been.
"I hope you understand that I didn't mean to frighten you like that. It was an accident and I really am truly sorry."
"It's okay," she repeated, her frown turning into a smile once again as her eyes met his gaze. "You're not scary now."
"Right," Lucifer let out a small laugh. "I suppose I'm not."
She looked much cuter up close like this, and her timid personality was somewhat endearing. He noticed her body was actually quite curvy and developing into quite a figure. She had a slim build and, besides the similarities in hair color, he wouldn't have guessed that she and Svar were related given how different the rest of their physical attributes were. He figured that she probably took after her mother.
"I'm supposed to introduce you to Chief Thomas after breakfast. My father was called to work very early and we didn't want to wake you," said Cheshire.
Lucifer had a newfound respect for Svar. Even after a very late night and some drinking, the man still managed to go to work early, regardless of the fact that his employer had asked him to. Not to mention he had apparently trusted Lucifer enough to leave him in his home with his only daughter. Was it because of the effects of the [Charm] passive? Or were they simply too trusting here?
"I understand. Then I'm all yours for today," he said with a smile that caused the young girl to blush terribly hard and look down at her hands clasped on her lap.
"Sorry to have startled you awake," she said quickly, brushing some of her curly red hair back that had gotten into her face. She glanced down at her lap, where she clasped her hands together.
"Oh, no need to apologize! I should be waking up anyways. Besides, this is your home and your room, so you shouldn't be apologizing to me when I'm the one imposing."
She giggled softly. "You're very polite."
Lucifer inclined his head, "I'm always polite to fair maidens such as yourself."
Cheshire's eyes widened and her cheeks were almost as red as her hair as she quickly glanced at him then back down at her hands.
"Well, umm... breakfast is ready now!" With that said she stood and left the room in a hurry.
He wondered if he said something to offend her as he watched her leave.
Truthfully, Lucifer didn't feel hungry at all. He wasn't even sure if he had internal organs, although the fact that he could breathe meant he did have lungs, so that was something. He may have looked human, but his YGGDRASIL avatar carried over to this world and he was in fact an angel, a heteromorphic race of beings that were immortal.
His body was not supposed to be subject to physical needs such as hunger, thirst, and even rest. Though he did incur mental fatigue, if he for whatever reason decided to run all day he should be able to physically run all day. At least, theoretically. He wasn't 100% sure of that yet. This whole situation was still new and strange to him so he would need to learn by experience and not rely solely on his knowledge of how things were supposed to work.
If he had lungs though, then that probably meant he did have a stomach somewhere. Right? Although if he did eat and drink, did that mean he would eventually have to relieve himself at some point?
There was only one way to find out.
After quickly getting into his armor since he felt a bit naked without it – thank goodness for his dimensional inventory – he joined Cheshire in the kitchen, where she had prepared a simple meal for the two of them: eggs, toast, and a few strips of bacon each with a cup of tea.
"This looks and smells delicious, Cheshire. Thank you very much," he said as he took a seat. True enough, the meal did smell pretty good and it looked to be perfectly cooked.
"Oh, it's nothing special," she replied modestly, but she definitely perked up after hearing his words.
Digging in, Lucifer found that he could definitely taste the food, the same way that he could taste that ale last night. He was no culinary expert back in his old world, and he wasn't a great cook either, so almost all of his food was either pre-made or from takeout. This home-cooked meal tasted delicious enough for him. Swallowing the food didn't seem to cause any issues with him internally either, so it was for now safe to assume that he could eat normally. Not that he really needed to of course.
"It's quite good, Cheshire. It's been a while since I've had a home-cooked meal," he told her truthfully. The tea was decent too.
She beamed at him. "I'm glad you like it!"
They ate in relative silence after that, and when they were finished she cleaned and put away the dishes and utensils and then refilled both their tea cups.
Lucifer placed a hand on his stomach. He didn't really feel much of anything down there. Not that he had eaten a massive meal or anything, but he had thought he would at least feel some semblance of fullness. It did make sense that he wouldn't though since he couldn't feel hunger either.
While he was pondering the mysteries of angelic anatomy, Cheshire caught his attention.
"Sir Lucifer?"
"Hmm?" He sipped on his tea, leaning back in his chair as he glanced at her.
"Are you human?"
The spray of tea that erupted out of Lucifer's mouth was very much unbecoming of a gentleman.
=x=x=x=x=X=x=x=x=x=
The study was big enough to comfortably hold thirty people, with a beautiful crystal chandelier that hung from the high ceiling. The walls were lined with bookshelves, each filled to the limit with books and categorized by subject. Although there was a separate library on the premises, which contained thousands of texts, the study held the rarer and more valuable ones in the collection.
The north side of the room had three floor-to-ceiling windows that allowed in a flood of sunlight from dawn to dusk, making it the perfect place to read, work, and study all day. To either side of each window were the finest red velvet curtains embroidered with gold.
Near the center of the room was a sturdy oak desk, the edges and sides intricately carved into beautiful designs and inlaid with gold and silver. A masterwork of craftsmanship that had cost a small fortune.
Normally, within such a room and sitting behind that desk, you wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to find some old, dignified lord attending to the paperwork of his domain.
This time, however, there sat someone far younger. A boy only fifteen years of age. His pale skin was unblemished and smooth. His blonde hair shone brilliantly in the sunlight, as if each strand on his head was made of actual gold. Sharp purple eyes stared out into the world, containing a look of maturity and wisdom that defied his youth. Though he was still growing, his features already resembled the handsome, regal face of his father.
He wore a fine white and gold shirt over top of which was a red robe of the finest thread with gold designs and trimmings. Suffice it to say he looked every bit as princely as he should, save for the lack of a crown on his head. And even then, with the shining of his golden hair, it was almost as if he had one anyway.
Those sharp amethyst eyes studied the book that lay open before him on the desk, a gloved hand flipping the pages every so often as he progressed through it at a measured pace. Not too fast, not too slow. Absorbing the information contained within its many pages.
Knock. Knock.
"Enter." The young prince didn't even look up from his book as he spoke, his young voice carrying a weight of authority that did not match his diminutive stature.
An old man tall and thin dressed in the black and white suit of a butler entered the room carrying a silver tray full of fruits and several crystal glasses filled with various juices. The butler stopped in front of the desk and bowed his head towards the prince, who gave the subtlest of nods to acknowledge his servant.
With permission granted, the butler approached the desk and placed the tray on a clear space in front of the book that the young prince was reading, careful not to cause too much of a disturbance as he did so.
The butler wordlessly stepped to the side and stood at attention, waiting for further orders from his master.
"Thank you, Peter." The prince reached out and grabbed one of the small forks on the tray with his gloved hands, helping himself to a few slices of fruit.
The butler bowed at the waist at his master's appreciation. "Do you need anything else, your highness?"
The prince sighed. "I need an army. Can you procure one for me?"
Peter blinked. "I... uh, your majesty... that's..."
The prince waved a hand carelessly, "It wasn't a serious request, Peter."
"O-of course, your highness."
"Still," said the prince, finally looking up from his book and straight at the dark brown eyes of his butler, who immediately looked down at the ground. "It would be nice if I had one. Things would be a tad easier that way."
Peter remained silent, unsure of what to say. The young prince was considered by many to be a genius, and he could not even begin to fathom the intricacies of the boy's thoughts. Though he reasoned that it had something to do with the impending succession.
The Emperor's health was deteriorating, and everyone in the Empire was aware of it. Though none knew the extent of it save for the Imperial Family and the Five Great Noble Houses. Even so, there was already commotion in the court over the matter of who would become the next Emperor of the Baharuth Empire.
As the youngest of the four princes, his master was the least likely, even though he was in Peter's eyes the most suited to lead even despite his obvious youth.
The eldest, Prince Jersei, was a 27-year-old well-known womanizer who lived to revel and party all day and all night. He took very little seriously and would likely gladly not take the throne if he had a choice. Very rarely did he make appearances in court, and usually only when it was required of him by order of their father. Otherwise, he was most likely drunk and in bed with two or three women at a time. It was said that he had sired many bastard children already. Their father had long given up on trying to corral him, simply letting him do his thing in his own estate far to the north and away from the public eye.
The second-born, Prince Jaque, 25, was a dangerous man who held strict disdain for anyone not of noble birth, and his disdain turned into hate for any non-humans. There were rumors that he had torture rooms in his various residences, which he used for both business and pleasure. Though of course, those were simply rumors. Publicly, he acted every bit the part of a prince and a politician. Charming, charismatic, and intelligent.
Perhaps most importantly, Prince Jaque was said to hold the most support from the nobility since he was presumed to want to uphold the status quo – for the most part – if he were to ascend to the throne. Unlike his other brothers, Jaque actually wanted to be the next Emperor and has been rather obviously building support among the nobility over the past few years with that particular goal in mind.
The third prince, Prince Jupiter, was a capable warrior but was definitely no political leader. He lacked charisma and was not well-versed in governance or academics, though what he lacked in the intelligence department he more than made up for in his martial skills. He was a fierce warrior in his own right and was considered to be one of the champions of the Imperial Army.
If Jupiter were to be ranked by the Adventurer's Guild, he was supposedly around the rank of Platinum. Some might even say he was worthy of Orichalcum. An amazing feat given that he was only 22. He had already vanquished plenty of strong monsters within the Empire's borders and has been involved in the annual engagements with the Re-Estize Kingdom for the past few years.
Then finally there was Peter's master, Prince Jircniv, who was born of a different mother than the first three princes.
After the first Empress died almost twenty years ago, the Emperor remarried to the current Empress and Jircniv's mother, Empress Alana. A dazzling brunette beauty who was the daughter of one of the Five Great Noble Houses, with a brain to match her looks.
The Flower Empress, they called her, for she pushed for flower gardens to be built in all major cities of the Empire. The Imperial Garden at the Palace was a paradise of flowers thanks to her efforts, and she was known to be kind and compassionate and a favorite of the people. She pushed for social reforms and better conditions for the people, and perhaps her most important achievement to date was helping to establish the Imperial Magic Academy.
While the Imperial Army had always trained magic casters on their own, the Empire as a government didn't have a formal education system for magic casters who didn't want to enter military service. The Academy helped to resolve that by opening its doors to any who had the talent and wanted to learn to control magic, whether they wanted to enter the military or not.
Empress Alana was, in Peter's humble opinion, a very good match for the Emperor, and a blessing for the Empire after the dark days and months that followed from the passing of the first Empress.
Due to their differing mothers, the first three brothers never quite got along with Jircniv, and the youngest prince's age and precociousness didn't help matters. Perhaps what irked the first three brothers the most – and Jaque most of all – was that despite being born well before him, it was Jircniv who was doted on by their father. And to add further salt to the wound, it was Jircniv who looked the most like him too.
The young prince was groomed personally by the Emperor, given all manner of tutelage by the wisest and most expensive teachers available. He was also protected from the machinations of the court thanks to the Emperor, for fear of the nobles corrupting the youth in some way. Or at least that's what people thought – it was not like the Emperor explained his actions, nor did anyone dare to ask.
Of all the children, it was Jircniv that the Emperor had spent the most personal time with, which was surprising given how much older his brothers were. Because of that, many in the court knew that even though it was natural to follow the line of succession, that when the day came the Emperor was more than likely going to name Jircniv to ascend to the throne.
Peter was brought back to his senses at the sound of a book slamming shut.
"How long has it been since I've stepped foot outside the estate?" the prince asked without looking at the butler as he leaned back in the ornate wooden chair that matched the desk. It was too high off the ground for him to have his feet flat on the floor, with only his toes touching it, but he didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
"Uhh," Peter thought for a while, the question catching him by surprise. "I believe it has been forty-three days, your highness."
"Forty-four, actually. That means Baron Anoch is hosting a banquet later tonight for the engagement of his eldest daughter, yes?" It was more a statement than a question.
Peter realized the prince had known all along, as was to be expected from the genius prince.
"I apologize for miscounting, your highness. And yes, you are of course correct. They are also set to have some sort of demonstration for their son, Lord Nimble, at least according to the invitation we received."
Prince Jircniv took a sip of juice, holding the crystal glass gracefully in his slender hand.
"I'd like to attend."
"Yes, your highness. I'll inform the men and prepare the carriage right away."