Eostia: Harem Quest

by EostianScribe

The Gods have given mortals the power of The Gamer as a pass time. A hobby. A means to compete and relax. One goddess, however, sees it as a means of salvation; starting with one world. As such, she rolls the dice... (Harem, Citrus and Eventual Dark Content Warning)

80. Act III-Ch VII: Poisonous Problems

[ - Author's Note - ]

Well then, it's another chapter done and while there's no action in it there is a lot happening that's here to both set up things for the future and give a little more context to everyone. Yes, this is the chapter where the secrets of the Dread Field are, to a point anyway, unraveled.

More over let's talk about the last poll; it boats ninety one votes and the trends are pretty clear. On the 'Do You Want A Questlines Chapter Of Channer Breaking In Acdotya' poll what are the results?

From the top to bottom we have...

Really want to see it at thirty five votes (38.46%).

Wouldn't mind seeing it at twenty six votes (28.57%).

No opinion on it at eighteen votes (19.78%).

Don't want to see it at a mere seven votes (7.69%).

And at the bottom with really don't want to see it at five votes only (5.49%)

So yeah; the combined yes votes are at 61 votes (67.03%), the no votes at just twelve votes (13.18%) while the neutrals...

...you never know where they stand...

Joking aside as and after I was working on this chapter I was working on the new Questlines chapter and it will be up on AO3 as this chapter is posted so go there and feel free to read it if you wish to. If you don't, yeah, no judgment.

As for this chapter... what do we have?

James pondering a seven hundred year old problem, a controversial individual reappears, a quick peek in on Olga and...

Channer fans will feel pain...

I'll leave it there; enjoy!

[ - Act III – Chapter VII: Poisonous Problems - ]

The creation of leather gambeson was something of a watershed moment in the old Imperium's armies and gave them something to fill a gap they had; proper protection for lighter infantry and cavalry. Metal armor isn't terribly cheap and has a cost to it both in ore and hours to work the metal by a trained smith, isn't known for being silent to move around in and were heavy. Yes, wearing a suit of armor spreads the weight out and makes wearing it easier then some may think but you are still hauling around forty to seventy odd pounds on your body; depending on the type and level of armor and that's not even mentioning the weight of other supplies you had to drag with you.

Standard cloth gambeson was cheap in comparison and weavers of all sorts were easier to find of the required skill; if your mother could make you a shirt she could make you some gambeson. The issue was it wasn't great armor; it resisted cutting and slashing weapons better then you'd expect but was less effective against a pointed or blunt weapon. Understand this; it's still better then no armor but it's as basic and unreliable as armor gets.

The discovery of how stiff and solid leather was once mana cured changed what armor could be; leather skull caps and breastplates were issued with standard gambeson along with forearm and shin guards greatly increasing the common soldier's ability to survive. Full leather plate armor was also made for units meant to scout, skirmish, patrol and infiltrate as well as those expected to ford several bodies of water or man naval ships. Compared to cloth armor the new leather armor handled all types of impact better and while more expensive was still reasonably priced compared to metal armor.

The impact of this armor was that the Imperium's lighter forces could over-match the comparative forces of any neighbors or enemies and even allow them the ability, to a point, go toe to toe with metal armored foes. A semi-common tactic was for leather armored Imperium infantry to engage opposing, metal clad infantry, retreat and prompt the foes to give chase before reengaging in an effort to wear down their endurance. The increase in protection without a sacrifice in weight, stealth and mobility was a boon we don't fully appreciate as much today. Even today leather gambeson is used by all that needs lighter armor and can afford it.

One small discovery can change so much... and it all began when a mage wanted his leather belt to be treated with his robes.

~Dominic James Pencraft, Sererus: A Collection of History and Powers

[-]

Blitzhaus War Camp
Northern Elddale
Afternoon

"You're having the dark elf assist you?" Truth be told, Arnold Von Blitzhaus was proud of his youngest son. It wasn't merely his choice to tackle the Dread Field problem that made him proud, although it was a hell of a problem to tackle. No, Channer had risen to the call every time he was called upon in the war with aplomb, even some of their house's more natural rivals such as Lexine Brissania was praising his impact on the battlefield... although, rather annoyingly, they were praising James Noxdecus more which was frustrating...

And now the two friends were going head to head in solving the oldest conundrum of the war. "I know she has no direct information on the field..." Channer said from the voxlux projection from the device he held in his hand. "But she might have some piece of information I can use that James won't have." Arnold frowned in thought but nodded; the new dark elf slave, Avdotya, could have known a small fact that, while insignificant to her, might lead to learning more about the field... not that he held out hope for that. Eostia's finest scholars and researchers had been stumped by the issue over the course of seven centuries and he doubted Channer could do what older, wiser men could not... still, on the off chance he could...

"Do what you must to solve the issue. I will do what I can to ensure all the needed tools and references are given to you for this purpose." Arnold told him with a soft grin. "Let's see how well you can crack this problem." On the off chance Channer could crack the problem it made sense to give him everything he'd need to solve it.

"Thanks dad... Anyway, back to work for me..." His son let off, smiling and waving to him; he could see a projection of the new dark elf slave, collared and pouting, behind him as he bit back a chuckle as she carried some dozen odd books in her arms before the image cut and he set the voxlux away. He was sure his son had a fighting chance even if that chance was minuscule... and if he could do more then Noxdecus...

"G'afternoon, M'lord." He heard as he turned his head and saw the captain of the Black Dog mercenaries walking over to him as he turned to face him; one of the few men he had met that he had to look up towards. "Mind if I steal a moment from you?"

"Vult. What brings you over?" Arnold said in a polite tone. The two had known each other in a professional level for sometime; his father had employed the Howling Hounds fairly often and he himself hired fragments of the Black Dogs for the odd task.

"Ahh, half to talk shop, half to talk." Vult said as he chuckled. "I rather recently became aware we shared the same, now late friend."

"Hmmm..? ... Oh..." Arnold let off as a frown of thought turned to a possible realization. "I see. I never got to attend his funeral, sadly. Obligations kept me. I've brought a good whiskey with me in my tent; it would be good to talk of him over a drink."

"Indeed? Well, who am I to turn down such an offer? Please, lead on." Vult replied as Arnold nodded and turned. Soon the two men would enter the lord's tent and his son's privacy seals would be activated.

No one outside of the tent would know a peep of what was said.

[-]

A fun thing to know about spell paper is when you send it off you can give it directions to take a detour to go to one place then turn to it's true destination. It was mostly added to allow someone to have a message go around a possible threat but in this case it let me send it to the Dark Citadel and back to Mungale Manor... a trip the Dread Field would prevent. As a starting point I wanted to know what happened to it along the way.

To do so the paper was being followed by a Sky Eye that was modified; it was much larger, bore a single arm with a three clawed hand and carrying a unique jar under it. The jar would isolate the mana within from the mana without; meaning once the sheet was brought back I could start to study it and compare it to an unused sheet. With luck that would tell me something about what the field did. I had planned to pilot the drone myself but Riri opted to take it over so I could carry on with other research.

There was three main theories on how the Dread Field worked; the Wave Theory with it's waves of mana converted into an unseen energy that caused negative feelings in humans, the Psionic Theory that caused a mass spell that targeted the minds of people within and the Resonance Theory which projected the feelings of a tortured human outwards. In response to this I opted... to toss all three out.

People have chased these three theories for seven hundred years; if one was correct someone would have discovered it already. More over I think the advent of these theories led to people chasing them around to find nothing new but then press harder in some sort of sunk cost fallacy and ignore other possibilities. The best thing to do, then, was to spend my time between finding a forth theory; either one someone else had made or one of my own design.

This led me to the Manor's library with over a dozen books on a table as I skimmed over one trying to find some useful nugget of knowledge detached from the three theories but it was easier said then done; there was the odd snippet and nugget of information but most was about the three theories and what information was detached from them people seemed to try and fit into them. It was a bit frustrating to say the least.

The best way I could put it was I was trying to make Germ Theory when everything was still stuck on Miasma Theory and geared to shoehorning all evidence available into that theory no matter how well it did or didn't fit; that made things a headache. That said I was chasing part of one of the theories; the Resonance Theory states the effects were transmitted through the mana in the air. Given that the Dread Field could, if one suffered it long enough, cause a total and irreparable collapse in the person's mana systems meaning they couldn't cast or manipulate mana at all... but also couldn't benefit from magic at all; healing spells or any sort of potion would fail on such a person and the overall health of the person would suffer as well. The exact limits of the effects and how it could be repaired was unknown; few such sufferers would be recovered from Garan at all so it was understudied.

Indeed, one of the issues with the books I was reading was that conditions that effect one's mana system are rare and understudied like those incredibly rare genetic defects that effects less then one in ten million; you could point to the effects and says 'this causes that' but no one could really point and say 'this is why this causes that'. That said I was still at a loss as what was going on. I had a feeling the answer was far more simple then anyone knew and if I had something specific about the human mana system and what could cause problems for it in detail I could solve this issue a lot more quickly. Then again if such a thing existed the problem would have been solved ages ago...

"Master!" I heard as Riri came in through the library's door with a foot wide, foot and a half tall jar in her hands sealed with a solid, metal cap on it. Contained inside was a paper airplane that was colored a shimmering red. "I've got it."

"Ahh, good job Riri." I said as I stood (Then stretched my back; how long was I hunched over the table?) and moved over to take the jar and look inside of it. The jar prevented me from using any of my magical senses to tell what was going on with the sheet but I'd know shortly. "Alright; let's get to the clean room and see what we have." I said with a grin.

The clean room in question was attached to the library via a short hall. Before we went in we dressed into specialized wear; pants with a tall waist, tunics with a belt fixed tight, boots in which the pants were tucked, gloves in which the tunic was tucked and a full hood with clear, spell glass visors to look out of, all white. Honestly it looked like we were beekeepers, really, but the outfits was designed to keep our mana from leaking out into the room. The room was clean of... not all mana but most mana which would help avoid contaminating our samples as it drew all the mana out of the room and prevented most from seeping back in. This also meant I'd need to use the room's instruments and not my own magical senses to scan the sheets but such is life.

We would enter through a door, shut it behind us and then open another to reach the room. Once there we moved to a table with a few instruments set up; the first being something that looked like a microscope. To begin with I examined the unused bit of spell paper we kept, looking over it's spell matrix under both magnification and the device giving me a way to see it in waves of light. The way I could define what I saw was best described as like a crosshatch of LEDs; blue, purple and gold mostly. They didn't waver much; rather the colors moved down the lines slowly but at a steady pace. As I spoke Riri would list down my observations on a sheet, of course. What I saw was what I expected.

Next was a metal plate that I set the sheet on. A series of dials started to turn like a scale but it wasn't measuring weight but how much mana was within it; it stopped at one hundred and twelve rhuls (A unit of measurement for mana; so named after Rhul'Yaholts, also known as Yaholts Rhul, an Imperium era Catalan Mage who founded a House that stands today as minor nobility... although due to marrying mostly humans over the years no Catalans have been born to the line since the end of that era).

For the record one hundred rhuls wasn't much; usually what you use for a lighting spell or other, weak utility spells. Spell paper didn't require much power; one hundred and five to one hundred and fifteen rhuls was standard. So far nothing out of the ordinary.

Finally I moved to one more device; this one was a scale with a single arm but dials on it as well. Once I set the sheet to it the device activated and some of the dials turned before stopping suddenly. Five seconds, thirty two milliseconds; the amount of time from a command to bring the paper to activation. Any combat based weapon needed to have a near instant activation time but spell paper could afford a slower one; although not too slow. Once more nothing out of the ordinary; four to seven seconds was standard.

Riri was still taking notes as I finally opened the jar and, with tongs, took out the used paper. First; back to the scope and there was a major difference here. The matrix was... for lack of a better word corrupted, although I kind of expected that. That said seeing it was interesting; the colors were the same but highly muted with the lights going at the same pace. The biggest issue was the crosshatching was waving softly. Huh.

Once I was done it was off to measure it's rhuls; one hundred and nine. In case you wondered yes I made sure to measure this sheet as well before sending it off; the measurement was... the same. The same level of rhuls, not a hint different. Huh. And then we have the scale. I set the sheet to it and...

Nothing.

The dials didn't even turn so there was a refusal to activate. That wasn't fully unexpected but even so I caught a little off guard; I expected it to activate and just not stop... Interesting.

Once done I shut the jar and brought it with us to the library. Now that I could use my magical senses (Once the suits were put away) I scanned the used sheet and... umm, how do I put this... it felt... sick. I had no better way to explain it. Once done I looked up what I had on spell paper and tried to determine what was going on; once more I was sure the answer was obvious; so obvious that it sat under everyone's nose for centuries.

What was most interesting was that the rhuls were the same before and after; that suggested that as the sheet flew across the air and expended mana it was reabsorbing mana (As it was supposed to do) and it was absorbing some form of mana from the air that was abnormal and, more importantly, interfered with the sheet's normal operations. That was proof. Of what in full I'd need to work out but I learned the Dread Field added something to the air's mana. That was proof I was right but it left some questions unanswered with one of the biggest being this; why did this strange mana harm humans, bolster Aberrant and leave elves untouched?

Once more the answer was there, but I couldn't see it. Not yet anyway; I was onto something at least.

[-]

The spell paper test gave me a starting point not in my books. More over I kept the sheet near me for observation. As it turns out the sheet was still active (Explaining why the timing scale didn't work) and started to move on it's own; absorbing standard mana in the air to try and resume it's flight as it twitched on the table. I trapped it in book for the time being; I might have use for it later. For now I was focused on finding any research regarding the Field's connection to mana... while trying to separate what I read from the three theories which was a bit annoying as, once more, everyone crammed whatever they knew into those theories.

Come the next day I was pulling bits and pieces of information out and was placing bits together; once more the exact details of what the field did was beyond me for the moment. I then reexamined the used sheet for a bit; it was good as new and trying to go back on it's way. As such I let it fly off and used the jar carrying Sky Eye to follow it, recollected it after it fell in the Dread Field and brought it back to retest; same results.

Science is repeatable, after all.

The answer, I was sure, was under my nose and I knew I'd feel like an idiot once I fully realized what it was that was going on; clearly there was an effect on the human body the Dread Field had in manipulating someone's emotional state but what was the exact mechanism..? I opted to try and call Channer up so we could trade information on what we discovered... only to be shot down nearly instantly.

'I'm fully capable of working it all out on my own, thank you. Watch, I'll be the one to get the answer first!'

I didn't refrain from telling him this wasn't a competition; we were doing this to end a war quicker. I then started to wonder how long this was going on for; we were friends and there was always a strain to it because of... the slavist verses abolitionist stances, but I wasn't aware of anything else until recently... which begged the question how deep did these feelings run within him.

Honestly I was worried about the guy; he's a good man to be sure but I just cannot understand his stance on slavery being a good thing. It's frustrating.

Either way I put it aside; there was work on the table and I'd yet to form a theory on how the Dread Field's mana worked; did it somehow block the human mana system from drawing in mana? I was sure that was a no given the spell paper test. Why did it only effect humans? That answer might lead somewhere. Was it something akin to a mass, casted spell on a wide area? Again; that might lead somewhere. Really the more and more I thought of it the more and more I came to same conclusion of what might be the cause; mana poisoning. There was an issue with this hypothesis however; it both did and didn't fit. Indeed, mana poisoning had been a fourth theory on the subject that was often dismissed.

It fit in that mana poisoning caused jitteriness, unease and fear in those impacted in what limited studies have been done and most of those have been in the use of rare techniques developed on the Savannah by the Catalan tribes. Based on what I knew it was uncommon to rare there and rarer outside of it so what references I had were few and limited.

The thing was there was an issue; mana poisoning caused a mage to be unable to cast for a time until it passed. Once more the subject was understudied so what happens due to long term mana poisoning is up in the air; the guess was a suppressed mana system at least until it could be cleared up although the idea of the mana system adjusting to it was tossed about. Once more; it was understudied. Still I opted to try and go down this route for the time being; the three theories were dead ends so I had nothing better. There was one question I had that need to be answered however; why didn't it effect elves? If the effects of mana poisoning on humans is understudied the the effects on the elven mana system is non-existent; at least in Eostia.

Given that I opted to call someone I knew was educated in elven magic to an intense degree and who should know something. Besides; she dropped this problem into my lap so she owed me something for all this trouble. It took little time before my voxlux call was answered. "Ahh, James. A pleasant surprise; can I be of any help?" Celestine said as her face appeared over my voxlux.

"I'm hoping you can be. I'm chasing a hypothesis and while it's not a great fit it's a direction." I began before explaining my spell paper test and as I did she nodded and hummed as she listened. "I need to know what you can tell me about the elven mana system and how it reacts to mana poisoning. I was hoping you knew something or could point me in the right direction." She hummed softly as she frowned in thought.

"I see. I knew of the theory and why it was abandoned. In truth I wish I can be more helpful but... what I have to offer is limited." She said as she sighed and shut her eyes for a moment.

"Limited?" I let off as I tilted my head to one side. She nodded before speaking once more.

"I can tell you that I never studied anything like mana poisoning in the United Kingdoms." She began. "In regards to the system itself it's nearly identical to the human system save that there are more layers to it's surface, as well as a thicker outer and inner layer." Mana systems are... hard to explain but it's like an... amoeba that's in your body but just out of sync with the physical world making it even harder to study then normal.

"Hmmm..." I let off as I frowned for a moment. "Let's assume for a moment that it is a form of mana poisoning for a moment... It's possible these other layers are filtering out anything unusable and unsafe or it's converting it into something usable and safe." I mused as I tapped my foot. There was silence for a moment as I mused. "It's possible that elves have strong enough filters to their mana system from anything dangerous in the air; more so then humans. Of course that still doesn't explain how the Dread Field doesn't suppress spell casting..."

"Indeed... It's the start of a hypothesis..." She mused as she gave me a soft smile. "I have confidence you'll work it out. The question to answer is why does the Dread Field not suppress mages may be worth looking into if it is correct."

"Yeah, I have to agree." I mused with a thoughtful frown. "If I can answer that question I'll have something..."

"I bit you a farewell for now; as much as I wish to talk longer I do have duties to attend to." She said as I nodded.

"Thank you for the time... Have a good day, Cele."

"And you as well."

[-]

Castle Elddale, County of Elddale
Walrien City
Castle Library

The Library was once a mere standard one until House Blitzhaus became the lords of Elddale; the first Count of their line, Alexander von Blitzhaus, dictated that it be expanded and remodeled to be more accommodating to magic casters with a new clean room and laboratory not for the family itself (Although five centuries later it benefited Channer quite well) but rather to be used by court mages he hired; believing that having such a man or woman on his staff was a benefit in both his protection and as an advisor.

The room was lined with red carpets and dark stained book shelves, tables, chairs with red padding and trim. The walls were a deep purple with hints of golden trim around the room as Channer stood at a podium, one book open set onto it as he gave a soft snort. "'It's not a competition' he says... He doesn't get it, it's always a competition..."

James had opted to call him an hour ago to talk... to collaborate. He wondered if his friend understood him in full as he recalled the conversation in full.

'Channer! Make any head way yet?'

'Why? Are you hoping to get a leg up or something?'

"Leg up? What do you... never mind... What I mean to say is I was hoping we can exchange anything we've learned. I've finished a test involving recovering a sheet of spell paper from the Field.'

'Wait, how did you recover it?'

'Modified Sky Eye.'

'Oh. Hmmm, I'll ask about use of a Cloud Rider to do my own...'

'Huh?'

'Look, I understand what you want but I don't want to work with you or take your help.'

'Channer, this is a big job, comparing notes will make solving it easier.'

'I'm fully capable of working it all out on my own, thank you. Watch, I'll be the one to get the answer first!'

'Channer..?'

'...I know it's not something you're trying to do but back in school I was always a step behind you... And then you come up with the voxlux, you've gained the attention of the High Queen herself and various tall tales of your trip around Eostia comes up. I studied for half a week for the masters test and you showed me up with a day's worth... And then you come to Elddale in a flying wagon and during the war you've slain three trolls at once, a matron and Belyy Klyk... and all I've done is just a shadow when looked at it like that...'

'...Look... I'm not going to apologize for going out and doing my best, or what needs to be done or trying to help people. I think I can understand why you'd be upset about this all, but I'm not doing this to be the best there ever was, to become a legend of legends or whatever. Honestly if it happens to me it sounds like it could be a pain in the ass... I want to do my part in ending a pointless war; one you and yours are on the front line of. I... maybe not fully but in part understand your feelings but there is a need for collaboration right now and not competition... Do you understand what I mean..?'

'...I do. But even so I'm doing this by myself. Sorry James, but this time I will be first.'

And thus ended the conversation. Honestly; he didn't think James understood it as fully as he thought he did as James forgot one thing; Houses Blitzhaus and Noxdecus were rivals.

To be fair in the case of James and Channer personally that rivalry had always been friendly and honest; there was no attempts to undermine the other, no daggers hidden away, no wants to push the other around or 'put him in his place' like his brothers would have, it was rather good, pure, sporting competition... save for one thing...

James... never really competed with him...

James never wanted to get the highest test scores to beat Channer or someone like Rahm or anyone else in class... he did it to do his best, to improve himself. He never practiced magic to beat anyone else or prove himself the strongest... he did it to become stronger and better. He didn't learn to enchant to prove himself smarter or more creative then others... he did it to make the lives of his and his better. On one hand what he did was admirable; focused on self-improvement and bettering himself and others as opposed to showing up others or engaging in competitions.

On the other hand for him, as someone who did want to compete and struggle with others to prove his worth and right to dominate it was annoying when your chosen rival wasn't interested in being your rival yet every time you face him head to head you lose. What was even worse was he was always sporting about it, always polite about it and at worst gave a few, light, harmless jabs that never stung...

He knew James wasn't dismissing him or his abilities... but at times it felt like all of his work and efforts were, by him and others; not deliberately nor maliciously but it stung all the same.

"Ugggghhhh... Too many heavy books..." Channer's newest prize, the dark elf mage Avdotya Blackwhip let off as she dropped a stack of books onto a table with one side full of stacked books. "And I thought my grandmother loved her dusty, old tomes..."

"Those 'dusty old tomes' might have what I need though." Channer let off as he hummed. As much as someone like Avdotya could sell for he opted to draft her as his personal slave. Indeed, he'd grown fond of over the last couple of days... and he'd be lying if he said that her massive, luscious and soft tits weren't part of the reason... but the other was she was a fellow mage and, thusly, could be used to bounce ideas off of... once she'd been conditioned and trained to be a little more pleasant and a little less snarky. Thankfully the collar made her speak truth to him, no matter the resistance... although her lack of knowledge of the exact mechanics of the Dread Field was disappointing it wasn't surprising; he was sure the exact workings of it was a secret to all but the Dark Queen and her inner most circle.

That she filled out the slave outfit he selected, a skimpy red bikini top and tiny loincloth with no panties and nothing over her plush backside, was another plus. She seemed to hate it but she'd become used to it; it's not like she wore that much more before he collared her anyway; one he had enchanted himself with great care just for her! "Why didn't you at least listen to the other human? I mean it sounds like you would benefit more then he did."

"That's not the point; it's a point of pride to show what I can do. Now... help me read up on the three theories and let's start coming up with an attack plan!"

"Yes, hummmmmmmaaaaaaster..." She hissed out as she tried to say other thing only for the collar to force her to adjust to another. She grit her teeth at the inability to say a simple word. She still recalled what happened a mere night ago...

[-]

Flashback
Castle Elddale

As her bare feet walked along the plush carpet of the castle, glaring forwards as wolf whistles and the commentary of the guards followed.

"Look at that drow's fat tits!"

"Lord's a lucky lil' bastard, ain't he?"

"Ha! Elven cow's boobs are bouncing like they're rubber!"

Worse she was still nude and unable to speed up her stride as she was told she would walk to the human lord's room 'at a calm pace' and as much as she tried she couldn't stop walking without pain nor speed it up without the same. She could not define her frustration in words alone and when she saw the correct door she was in relief and in dread in equal measures; her walk of humiliation was done but now she had to deal with that human.

She wasn't allowed to hesitate as she knocked on the door firmly.

"Wait." Came the call from within as she was stuck staring at the door, glaring at it really as her hands balled into fists. If it wasn't for the collar she would strangle him but she already tried that; the first attempt to do so she had made before caused so much pain she nearly passed out and she was left in a rough state for over an hour... while still being made to do as told.

Inside the door, unseen to her Channer was finishing getting ready. A few scented candles was set up and lit and the ceiling lights were dimmed mostly to ensure some comfort to the new slave; as his father said there was always a period of adjustment as a slave learned their new place. What that meant differed between Channer and the rest of his family but he did understand one thing they agreed on; it was important to establish who was the master in the situation. It was why he had her walk to him in the nude and wait at his door; to establish her new role as a servant to his whims and needs. His ultimate goal was to make her into, for lack of a better term, his own Riri.

While he very much disagreed with how she came into James' service (Even if his father couldn't prove he was the one to do it, at least in a way the Council of Lords would take note of) but he found himself somewhat envious of the relationship he had with his maid; without setting a collar to her he had made Riri into a servant who was beyond loyal and dedicated, a confidant second-to-none and a bodyguard who would gladly sacrifice herself for his sake.

Avdoyta was going to be his personal servant and, once tamed, his bodyguard and assistant; as a mage herself she would be far more useful in helping him with magical research and studies such as the Dread Field work he had in the morning. Not to mentioned she had breasts.

Big breasts!

James didn't have a dark elf maid with such large breasts!

...

Oh right, Sora was the Noxdecus' head maid.

Moving on.

He smoothed out the red, silken robe he wore over his frame and grinned as he took in a deep breath. "Come in!" He let off as he turned to the door and clasped his hands together, grinning. The door opened and a glowering Avdotya walked in as she glared at her, arm pulling back. "Don't slam the door." She flinched and seemed to struggle with herself for a moment before slowly and gentle shutting it. Really, slaves could be like children sometimes... Well then it was up to him to teach.

"Now, now, no need to glare so much." He let off as she gave him a look that would make him spontaneously combust if it was possible. He chuckled as he undid his robe and then pulled it off; he was already stiff with excitement. She glared at him for a long moment.

"Do you think you can expect me to enjoy this you arrogant, little human?"

"Ah, ah, ah." He let off, waving his finger at her for a moment. "No more addressing me as 'human'; you can call me Master or My Lord. Once you learn to behave you can even call me by name."

"I refuse you h...hu...hu..." Her eyes started to wider in horror as each time she tried to speak the collar about her neck reacted, not just causing her pain but also forcing her vocal cords to avert vocalizing the proper words as she did her best to force the word. "Huuuuuuuuummmmmmmaster!" She let off as her eyes widened as she felt the wrong word slipped out. "Huuuuuuummmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaster!" She let off eyes quivering as she felt tears start to well in her eyes. "Huuuuuuuummaaaaamaaaaamaaamaaaaaaassster Giant damn you!" She let off, falling to her hands and knees as the tears started to fall. "I... damn you..."

"Now, now... You can learn and adapt, I'm sure." After all there were five stages of training for slaves; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. She seemed to be between the stages of denial and anger and merely needed the right, guiding hand. "Now, let's get started. Come here, kneel before me and kiss my cock." He let off as she shivered hard as she looked up at him with a glare.

"I... don't do this... I've never... not with a male..." She let off as she trembled as much as her voice did.

"Oh, a virgin!?" He let off, clasping his hands together. "Well that just means a little more training is in order, that's all!"

[-]

Present

'No more addressing me as 'human'; you can call me Master or My Lord. Once you learn to behave you can even call me by name.'

That such a simple choice was stolen from her... it was infuriating. Never mind that it was a lesser being, never mind that someone might call it 'karma', her short time as a slave had convinced her that should she return to her homeland she would have nothing to do with the practice at all! Not even the humans deserved this... save maybe this family who gleefully chained her.

It made his attitude about it all the worse; he was acting like he was doing her such a kindness and was so polite and generous... At least his brothers sneers and gazes were honest about their thoughts... She hated him so much...

'If I ever get free of this collar you stupid human I will murder you by strangling you with your own COLON!'

[-]

The conversation I had with Celestine gave me a direction but also additional challenges; I needed to work out a way to poison the mana of someone under controlled conditions. Going north into the Dread Field wasn't an option; those were anything but controlled conditions with all the Aberrant and dark elves. I started to look up every known way to poison mana but they all pointed to 'rare technique' and that was that. The main issue was changing the mana in the air around you was hard. Once you converted it to your own mana within your body you could do anything with it that you wanted and convert it to any other type of mana you wanted. In theory making your mana poisonous was possible and, in theory it wouldn't hurt you but I had no idea how to do that. I took the letter back to the clean room and tried to convert my mana into something like it and just failed.

Clearly it was something tricky. That did lead me to a new theory on how the Dark Citadel would generate poisoned mana; I knew Olga powered it but I don't think it was her mana converting to a poison but rather powering the Citadel and making that draw in and convert the mana in the air (Like a person's mana system) and spread it out like a giant fog machine. Could I enchant something to the same effect? Maybe but without knowing the process to do so I could be working on that for months at best.

I spent more time studying the human mana system and comparing it to what was known of the elven, halfling, dwarven and catalan systems and worked on comparing the similarities and differences. It was interesting and informative but thus far the feeling was I was spinning my wheels. I spent another two days studying with the odd break... and watching the news...

I was not joking...

"As you can see the men and women behind me are training hard. Garanian forces have fallen back but according to our military contacts they state that this war is not over; the dark elves and their Aberrant armies are likely merely reorganizing. It's expected they will return in a matter of weeks." The woman was on the shorter end of things but without standing there for a reference I didn't know how tall exactly; five three to five five I think. She bore bubblegum pink hair with a bun on her left side and thicker bangs on the right highlighting matching colored eyes and soft, dusky skin. Her outfit was a pleated, pastel pink skirt and white, sleeveless, white, button up shirt both of which tucked into a black corset with hot pink laces with seemed to emphasize C-Cup breasts. A black tie was around her neck and pantyhose over her legs as she held in white, gloved hands a black, painted stick with a blue, glass like orb; spell stone or spell glass I didn't know. Her image was projected by a booster in a rectangular shape like a TV with the image of one of the war camps visible behind her.

As it turns out the Adventurer's Guild was expanding their enterprises a bit and learned how to make their own boosters... sorta. I had a layer of defenses in the boosters as well, of course, but one of their enchanters worked out how they received signals and made a variant that had various 'channels'. Yes, they now had a somewhat primitive television station... with fifteen channels! And a news station on channel six. They were even advertising, get this... a means to sponsor a channel by paying for commercials! Yes, really.

What the fuck happened that turned my communication system into a media format!?

In case you were wondering Kara let me study the one in the local guild and I made my own and then made a deal with the Guild as I could enchant them faster and cheaper by making a box to enchant them for me. An agreement was reached between us; they supply the materials and for a fee I'd have the the small boosters (Or as they called them 'Viewers') sold to them. I made money, they could sell them for cheaper while maintaining a higher profit and we both win.

"By all accounts there are mages now attempting to find a new way through the Dread Field but Guild experts remain doubtful a way will be found. That said a source close to Queen Celestine says she remains 'faithful' that a solution will be found. Until such can be done, however, Eostia's brave defenders will remain vigilant. This is Effmia Herz of Channel Six Guild News, signing off."

Yup. This is Eostia now. How did this happen..?

I wonder if Alfred Noble felt something like this when he learned what dynamite was being used for? "Just remember... it's all your fault."

"Oh gee, thanks Auntie..." I let off as I looked to my aunt Terra, leaning on the railing of the walkway that separated the opening foyer of the library and the sunken seating area in the middle as I sighed. She shrugged softly with a smile as she looked to the books on the table. "But in my defense I had no idea it would be used in such a way... feels weird."

"I guess... I mean I can see how shit like this can get out of hand." She replied as she stood fully only to sit on the railing and swing her legs over the other side.

'Yeah... anyway... How are you and Sora doing these days? Getting along?" I asked her as she seemed to blush for a moment.

"Ahh, yeah... we've been having some mother and daughter... well..."

[-]

Mungale Manor
Barony of Mungale
Six Days Ago, Late Evening

"Oh gods! Oh goooods! He's soooo deep in me!"

"Ahhh, he's always so viiiiiiiiigorous! Ahhh, pay more attention to Terra!"

"Sorry Sora, but I can't get enough of these tits!"

"I-it's fine mother! I'm getting-oooooooh-plenty!"

[-]

"... bonding."

I blinked as she blushed deeper. I... had an idea of what sort of 'bonding' Terra was pulled into... and I didn't want to ask. "Right... Well I'm just glad you two are patching things up. ... While I'm thinking of it; have you spoken to Aqua at all?"

For those interested in knowing; Aqua was Terra's older sister. She became a healer and a powerful one and left Mungale some twenty five years ago or so to travel the world, help others and see what there was to see. She visited some six years ago letting me finally meet her before she left once more. She did send Sora a letter now and then and Sora bought a fair amount of spell paper to send letters back and while Aqua was almost never around she was on good terms with her mother. "Not really... I got the odd letter, sent the odd one back." As for Terra... well I only know what I've heard which was they were on okay terms but Terra's relationship with their mother strained the one between the sisters. I nodded and was about to speak before my voxlux started to ping as I pulled it out, seeing Sora's face.

"M'lord, we have... guests." She began as I tilted my head. "Mokria and Miika." It took a moment to realize that by Mokria she meant Mir'Mokria... save that she didn't add the Mir... That was... curious...

"I see. Can you escort them to the library and then have some tea sent over with snacks..." I asked as I moved to stand then stretch. "I think our guests could use refreshments as well as myself."

"Of course." She said as the voxlux cut off.

"Isn't this Mokria guy Miria's old man? I mean before yours adopted her?" Terra asked me as she pushed off the railing to land on her feet. We had the chance to talk since I was back and I gave her a run down on my sister's background as well as what happened between her and Mokria at that Ungla'pul and what position he was put into it. I'll be honest I still wasn't a fan of the man but I was willing to admit that he was put into a no win situation; kill his child, abandon his child or abandon the rest of his family including a pregnant wife. No matter what choice he made he wasn't going to win... that said I think I understand why Miria was willing to forgive him; he didn't have a good choice and at least picked the one where the rest of his (And by extension her) family was taken care of while she had something resembling a fighting chance and while she suffered over three months of hell it led her to my parents and Mungale.

I'm sure if that ended up with her led to House Blitzhaus and a collar she'd be much less forgiving.

It wasn't long before the man arrived and with... a young girl who might have been seven or eight years old. Once Sora led them in she bowed and left. "Mokria... It's been awhile." I said as he walked over and I looked to the girl... and nearly did a double take; she was a near dead ringer for Miria when we first met in this library; her hair was a lighter shade of pink and was held in a tight, neck length ponytail as well as bearing a pair of cyan yes instead of one cyan and one yellow but she bore the same facial structure and facial markings. For clothing it was a simple, cotton dress that was tan in color with red and blue designs on the edges. "I imagine this is Miika, then?" I asked him. Note; her name was pronounced mee-ka and not mik-a.

(-)

Name: Miika
Title: Young Catalan Lady
Class: Girl
Level: 1
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 35
Status: Healthy, Nervous, Joyful

Romance Rating: 75
Corruption Rating: 1

Known Traits
[?]

[Squire] You have yet to be set onto the path of any class... but you have a knock for something! +2 Levels, +3 Primary Stats & +2 Secondary Stats when you choose any Melee Starting Class. Once chosen and these effects are applied replace with either [The Best Defense], [Raised to Fight], [Ironclad] or [Unmovable Object]

Youngest child of Mokria she was being groomed to be both an able hunter and future wife of a clansman. She was playing with a small lizard when she overheard a plot of her tribe to kill her father and gave him a warning and ended up needing to flee with tribe with him and out of the Savannah.

(-)

...There was a story here...

"Indeed." He began with a nod and neutral, stoic look but his eyes seemed grateful. "I offer apologies for coming to your door in such a manner. Given my... history with Miria I will understand if my presence isn't... fully welcome..."

"I imagine your arrival is due to whatever reason you're not coming here as Mir'Mokria." I strained as he winced.

"Indeed..." He said as Miika moved off to look at all the books on the table, standing up on a chair to see it. I wasn't using the book for reference anymore so I didn't mind her as she turned the pages with fascination. "Mir'Honka took the survival of Miria to the Zon'ka. I was forced to answer for why she lived and told my story. Things... went poorly. Much of the tribe understood my actions even if they disagreed with them although stated that if the spirits spared her then the matter was done. My wife was... less agreeable to the position. I still thought I could argue my position until my daughter told me she overheard Honka and a few of the Zon'ka family was planning to slay me. I had enough time to collect my weapons and supplies before they attacked. I had intended to leave Miika with the tribe but she was with me when the attack came... I had thought of leaving her for the tribe but... I couldn't bring myself to that action a second time..."

"Damn..." I let off with a wince. "That's... I can see why the tribal name is dropped now." I noticed from the corner of my eye Terra watched the kid as I spoke with Mokria.

"Indeed..." He said with a nod as he lifted a palm up for a moment. "In the event you are concerned I have no intention of abusing your hospitality nor staying overlong. My intent was to introduce Miika and Miria as they have not met before; Miika was born after she... They have not met."

"I can understand why..." I nodded once as I frowned in thought.

"Then I heard of the war... I imagine things are... not well?"

"Better then most wars with Garan, anyway." I began. "Let me get you up to speed." I gave him a brief overview of the Eostian/Garan war; the general history, the current conflict and it's changes as well as both my and my sister's current roles. "I'm sure we can have Miria recalled to the manor for awhile; with the pause in combat she's likely either training or sitting on her hands right now."

"I see... Miika, do not touch that." He said as I noticed the young girl was reaching for an ink well; pulling her hand away once called out. "I would enjoy that, if possible... I am... proud to hear Miria is contributing so much... The Mir is lesser without her..." Miika would perk up as Sora returned; a tray of cups, a teapot and small snacks on it; mostly cheese on crackers to be fair.

"So... What are your intentions afterwards?" I asked as he looked to me as Sora set the tray on the table, waving Miika over and pouring her a cup as she moved the books away from any splash zone as Terra wanted over to them, staying silent..

"To find work and pay a way for myself and my daughter, of course. Where I do not yet know." He said with a sigh. "... Although if you will have me I will loan my spear to your war. I owe Miria much; to fight for her new homeland is the least I can do."

"I can speak for House Noxdecus when I say we'd be happy to have you." I said with a nod. "And I'm sure Sora wouldn't mind helping look over Miika and keeping her safe in the manor; I'm sure Riri and the other maids would adore her."

"Indeed. I do my best to not need to owe her more and yet to repay Miria for my actions I must increase my debt to her family..." He said with a sigh. "I would help with your own efforts but I am no scholar; I cannot help." He said... as a thought came to me...

"Maybe you can..." I said as he blinked to me. "You remember that technique that Kull guy hit me with?" I asked as he nodded. "Do you know how to use it?"

"I know the Mir's version of it, yes." He said with a nod. "Why?" He asked as Miika gave a happy squeal; having bitten into a cracker and clearly enjoying it. I looked back to Mokria to carry on.

"That ability causes a condition called 'mana poisoning'. I have a theory that the Dread Field is causing the condition in non-elves within it although a few things don't line up." I began to explain. "In order to prove or disprove my theory or refine it to something that's correct I need to be able to cause it within people and experiment. If you know how it works... that's something that will give me something work with."

"I see... If that is the case I will be at your disposal until you've discovered your solution." He said as I smiled to him and nodded.

"Glad to hear it... for now... I need some tea... And food... So why don't you help me get to know your daughter a bit?"

[-]

I offered Mokria the chance to talk to Miria over the voxlux but he insisted he wanted to see her in person as he wanted her and Miika to speak face to face for the first time. I could understand that and so I called up my father (Who was with both Saxon and Miria at the time) and informed them of who had arrived and why. Miria quickly insisted on returning and while I wasn't sure what my parents would think they were quick to agree. A Cloud Rider was being sent for supplies in Cameron soon so it wasn't much of a detour to drop her off.

Once he settled in I took the time to introduce him to the Catalan Quintet, making sure to explain their origins as well. Once they learned he was from the Savannah they quickly moved to ask about what life was like there. I hoped it would be good for all of them... In addition, as I had guessed, the maids and Riri quickly came to adore Niika with my own maid giving the girl a bath; supposedly a lot of splashing and laughing was involved.

Come the next morning I wanted to put Mokria to work right away; the initial plan was for him to use the Ziia'Fe ability (Literally 'Poison Strike') on me but Sora and Riri quickly vetoed that. The reason was I was the one who needed to observe the effects from the outside and I couldn't do it if I was the subject of the test. Riri offered to take the blow instead but I vetoed that in turn; we needed someone who had felt the Dread Field before and Riri was never that far north.

That led to Sora going to the city and returning with a test subject for us; an aged old man with wrinkled skin that I recognized; well groomed, short gray hair with a trimmed mustache and goatee wearing brown pants, black boots, a green tunic and cloak with a lowered hood. I knew who he was to be sure.

(-)

Name: Robert Greenhood
Title: Deadeye Hero of Mungale
Class: Sniper
Level: 44 (-16)
Alignment: Friendly
Reputation: 44
Status: Healthy - Aged, Calm, Curious

Known Traits
[Ageing Body] Your body is ageing, like it or not. You are treated as 16 Levels lower then your actual level; all of your stats aside from Mag and Mnc are reduced by 20

[?]
[Silent But Violent] If attacking from stealth double your crit chance
[Deadeye] You are accurate at any range. Compare your Acc and Dex. Whichever is lowered is increased to the one that is higher or by ten, whichever is lower.
[?]

Originally conscripted into the Garanian war at the age of sixteen he would enlist after that campaign and work at perfecting his skills at archery; he would spend the next forty years in military service and rose to a commander of Mungale's archer divisions. He only retired due to his age starting to effect his endurance but still offers training in the bow to those who seek him out.

(-)

I was a little surprised at the choice and was a bit worried given his age but Robert told me that he still wished to serve in some capacity. Relenting I gave him a run down of what I was trying to do, asked if he could manipulate mana and if he was willing to subject himself to this. As it turns out the answers were both yes and, thusly, we went to the clean room in the beekeeper's suits save Mokria and Robert; it wouldn't work if they had dressed up.

"Alright, we're all set." I let off as I looked to Robert. "Good sir, on your word we'll begin."

"Thank you, Young Lord." The elderly archer let off with a nod as he moved one leg back and braced himself as he looked to Mokria. "Right. Let me have it." Mokria nodded once and pulled his fist back as he focused. It took several moments but his fist started to glow red before he finally punched Robert's chest; it was pulled of course and impacted with all the force of a toddler throwing a teddy bear. Even so Robert gasped and his knees nearly buckled as he frowned deeply. "Gah! Indeed... Indeed, Young Lord I can see why you might have thought this was a path to pursue..."

"Well? How does it feel when compared to the Dread Field?" I asked as I passed him a small wooden stick with a small bit of spell glass on it as he frowned.

"Like I've camped on it's outskirts for over a week." He took the stick as he furrowed his brow. I knew what he was doing; trying to channel his mana into it and make it light up... It didn't light up even a hint. "And... I can't manipulate my mana at all... This isn't the usual..."

"Mmmm..." I let off as I frowned in thought as Riri took notes. "That's not fully unexpected..." I mused. Still... "On the other hand that it has a similar feeling to the Dread Field is a sign we might be moving in the right direction... But still, it's off..."

"Hit me again." Robert let off firmly and with a surprising level of determination as he moved to brace himself once more as Mokria raised an eyebrow and I blinked. "Perhaps another dose will make things clearer to us."

"I'm... not sure about that..." I let off with a frown. "No offense, Sir Robert, but you're not a spry young man anymore; you've your health to consider." While Robert wasn't a legend by any stretch he was well known among all the conscripts, reservists and regulars of Mungale and his deeds and dedication were known and respected by all who knew of him. Him dying in a situation like this was not what anyone needed to have happen...

"My Young Lord..." He let off, smiling to me. "All I have ever wished since I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to battle the first time was for this war to end. If in doing this I can play a part in it's end, no matter how small, I shall do it, my health be damned."

I... couldn't help but be taken aback by the man's statement and dedication. Mokria looked to me and, hesitantly, I gave him a nod. He nodded back and took a stance before repeating his attack (He later told me he didn't put as much into the second as the first, just in case), the pulled punch impacting. The effect was instant...

I had to grab Robert before he could collapse to the ground and he clutched to me. "G-Goddess... I-indeed this is... I have f-felt this before although not so... intensely..."

"Right, let's get you a mana pot-"

"Not yet." He barked out, although without raising his voice. "You need... your evidence Young Lord..."

"...Fine, but you're not taking a third..." I let off as Mokria, thankfully, brought a chair from the side of the room over as I helped seat the elderly archer.

"In fairness... I'm not sure if I could..." He panted out deeply. "You know... I once had to help a scouting group save... A young Alexia Brissania who was... pulled deep into the field... Very deep... We spent almost half a month there... By the time we started to leave all we felt was fear and horror... This... This that I am feeling... My Young Lord... I know you have more questions to answer, but you're right... you must be..."

"You're sure about that?" I asked as I mulled over what he just said; unaware he suffered that much or went so far during the war. This man was a truly unsung hero...

"I guarantee it..." He let off as he shivered hard before gasping and shivering. I very quickly opened a mana potion I had at the ready and set it to his lips; he didn't fight as I poured it into his mouth and, once swallowed, he sighed as the new, fresh mana soaked into his system and displaced the poisoned mana.

"Okay... I think we're good for now... Let's get out of here and discuss the details." I let off as I looked around. There was no arguments.

[-]

Napreryvnyy City, Royal Palace
Southeast Blazecrown, Kingdom of Garan

Dmitriy Ironflame shuffled his pan over the open flame of his stove, powered by enchantments in the stove in question, as he grinned. He was the royal chef to the Dark Queen of Garan, Olga Discordia herself! Indeed; he was considered a part of her entourage that was brought from the Dark Citadel to the Royal Palace of Napreryvnyy Cty and one of the few who could even touch her food. Borne of a lowborne woman and her highborne lover his very outfit spoke of his upbringing; his pants and double buttoned up jacket were both black, trimmed with a gold color and enchanted to have anything that would stain it slide off, resist heat and burns and even repel the smells that could seep into it from his cooking.

His hair was pulled back in a tight, burgundy bun as yellow eyes looked over the meal as he set it to it's dish, referred to as Dawn Hash; cooked ground beef mixed with herbs and spices, potatoes chopped to thin, small rectangles, chopped spinach, kasseni seed (From the seeds of a sunflower-like plant from beyond the Reaches) and served in a bread bowl. A glass of pressed grape juice was already on the tray which itself was set upon a rolling cart; he merely set the meal on it's plate next to it once it was ready and set the cover over it to ensure it stayed warm as it was delivered.

Speaking of... "Hey! Bloody dirtborne!" Dmitriy let off. "The Queen's breakfast is ready! Don't trip as you bring it to her!"

"Y-yes sir..." The dirtborne in question let off dumbly as he winced and moved to the cart. He was dressed decently enough; dark red tunic and purple pants, all trimmed in gold and well fitted but he was just a lowly servant who's name he didn't care to remember. The emblem of House Discordia was set to the left breast as a means to show who he served; such simple, low end jobs as cleaning and shuffling things about were relegated to his lot as was proper. It was all the idiots were good for, after all...

Soon the cart was going down the hall, pushed by the 'dirtborne' in question; Yuri Softground. He would push the cart over to a small room and entered, shutting the door and grabbing a level, pulling it to a new position; the room was an elevator powered by a spell stone. Such a thing was rare, even among the dark elves but was useful for moving such things about. Alone in the room, the blue eyed, short haired brunette pulled a small amulet from under his shirt.

It was flat, round and made of brass in a circle with a matching inner sphere with a pair of wolf's heads carved into it. He grabbed the inner and outer segments and twisted it... and it shifted enough to let a small hole open in the bottom. He turned it upside down so the hole was straight up before turning it right side up and a small, black ball fell into his palm; as wide as the width of a grain of rice. He placed the tiny thing into the queen's juice as it started to bubbly softly within before he turned the amulet back to it's normal position and stuck it back under his shirt.

Over a year ago a fellow dark elf introduced himself to him and over time both of them talked about the pains and drudgery of serving under the assborne, the toddlerborne and an uncaring idleborne queen. It was then some months ago he came to talk to him about someone who wished to cause a storm within Garan; one that would blow the upper ranks of their society off their pedestals and into the dirt and would give them the chance, no promises and just a chance, to rise up and improve their lot. He didn't know the full details save that they had a powerful benefactor outside of the Kingdom...

He watched helplessly as his father walked off to war as a conscript with nothing more returned of him save a letter stating his death.

He watched helplessly as his crying brother was taken off to become some toddlerborne's concubine despite being in love with another.

He watched helplessly as his sister got the shit kicked out of her by assbrone for showcasing her magical talent was substantial.

He watched helplessly as his mother whored herself out for over a decade just to make ends meet when his cousin needed medicine for that decade.

He watched helplessly as said cousin was beaten into a coma for an imagined slight to an assborne who had him beaten into the ground... and died of his injuries days later.

That was his life; too weak and helpless to protect his family from the wants and greeds of those above him on the caste system they were trapped in, seeking a way to fight back but without the strength or the means... until now. All he had to do was slip tiny bits of a poison into the idleborne queen's drink once a day, everyday. A slow acting thing, he was told, and bit by bit it would would start to weaken her until the time was right... and then it was just a matter of keeping his head down and under cover as the winds of the storm came and blew Garan asunder...

The elevator arrived and he opened the door, pushing the cart out; the small bit of poison added to the Queen's drink fully dissolved within. No taste or scent would be made out by it as he wheeled the cart to the office of the Dark Queen of Garan and knocked on the door. "Enter." Olga said from inside as he opened the door. He wheeled the cart to her desk, keeping his eyes low before moving to place the tray onto her desk; the woman setting her books and papers aside. "Dismissed..." She said coolly as she set the lid aside, Yuri bowing before leaving with the cart.

Fucking idleborne bitch...

Olga ignored the servant as he did his duty and nothing more and less before starting to eat, pausing to sip at her juice (A preferred drink since she was little, shared with her own mother) as she looked over Chloe's letter once more; she had confirmed General Dreadblade's belief that the slabs of brass with spell stones attached were to communicate with... and that these 'voxluxs' were made by none other then James Noxdecus.

"This human... He is a strange one..." She mused as she ate. She had been worried, when they first met, that he might have attacked her. She wasn't afraid of him, nor did she think she couldn't defeat him; even then she would have had Chloe's assistance in the matter. No, she was worried that she would expose her failing condition to Chloe, her most loyal aide. There was no one closer to her besides her own mother and the idea of Chloe seeing her in a moment of weakness...

Instead he opted to set his weapons away and attempt to talk to her and he did so in a manner of... respectful equality. It was oddly refreshing, however short it was. Still, it didn't matter to her overmuch at the time; he was a curious human but still a human, nothing more and nothing less. And yet...

And yet she learned that he was the one to make their communication system... their flying wagons... and brought down Belyy Klyk. That was concerning... and now their scouts reported that he was removed from the front lines. Why she didn't know but she assumed that he wasn't accepting her offer to remove himself from the war which meant he was up to something; likely pressed into a project by those above him.

She could assume that there was one of two things he was up to; the creation of a new tool or weapon by which Eostia could further defend itself and make an assault from her forces more difficult or a means to bypass the Dread Field. The first worried her; by what little she knew he was creative and innovative and would likely plug holes no one noticed before or create something else that would cause her forces more pain.

The second she dismissed; after all she knew humans have tried and failed over seven centuries; nothing he would do would change a thing.

She would have a servant take the empty plate, glass and tray away later as she leaned back in her seat and thought. Regardless of anything else it was clear that the future of this war was going to change further and not in their favor...

[-]

After the experiment we stopped for breakfast and invited Robert to join us. Miika was bouncing on her father's lap as a Battle Fleet game was set up between herself and Terra. My aunt wasn't trying overly hard to win but still won a a few games but the bulk went to the adorable bundle of Catalan before her; pouting softly with a loss and giving a cheer and a clap when she won. Mokria and Robert were enjoying a conversation over the poisoning technique while Riri helped Sora in the kitchen as I was looking over our notes and considering the situation.

I frowned in thought as I tapped a finger to the table as I mulled over things in my mind. Okay... let's take Robert's opinion at face value and say the Dread Field caused mana poisoning; that fit what I thought that it had to be something in the mana and a form of 'signal towers' likely helped pull this poisoned mana where it needed to be. Olga's mana powered the thing, even at a distance through some connection, likely on the Dark Citadel's end. Whatever was doing this was then, more then likely, converting the standard mana in the air around it and spreading it out; pulling fresh mana in and then converting that, then rinse and repeat. The exact workings might be different but let's assume this is how it works for now...

What's next?

The next step, then, was to answer two questions; why had no other attempted counter-measures to the field worked and why didn't the Dread Field hinder spell casting if it caused mana poisoning?

If I could answer the first I could start to understand why nothing had worked before but if I could answer the second I could prove the true cause of the Dread Field's effects and I could adapt those failed counter-measures into something that did work. That meant answering the second question was the main priority... but where do I start on that?

Those thoughts were put off as I heard footsteps as I heard someone walk in. "I'm home!" Miria let off as she walked into the dining room with a smile. I noted her leather gambeson bore a few scuffs over the left shoulder; I had no idea what happened but it was clear that armor was a good investment.

"Welcome back." I let off with a smile as she nodded to me and looked to Mokria.

"Hey Dridra." She said as he patted Miika's side as she hopped off his lap, letting him stand up. Miria looked to the small girl for a moment then back to her birth father.

"Miria. Forgive me for winding up on your doorstep in such a manner." He said as he bowed his head for a moment. "I am sure you've been told but allow me to introduce you to Miika... your... younger sister." He said with some waver in his voice. Given the... complications of their relationship I could understand why he was nervous. Even so Miria walked closer before kneeling to the young girl.

"Miika... Heaven's Wisdom then, huh?" She said softly; honestly it almost looked like she was speaking to her own, younger self in a way... "It's good to finally meet you, Cliriu." (I would later learn that 'cliriu' was Catalan for younger sister; well one way. Cliriu bore an undertone of 'I will protect you', or so I'd be told) as the girl giggled and moved to hug her around the neck.

"Nice to meet you too, Soiria." She said as Miria wrapped her arms around her and stood, holding the young girl in her arms. (As you might have guessed 'soiria' was for an older sister but with an undertone of being guided by said sister) Miria bounced the girl up and down before looking to her father.

"Whatever the reason it's good to see you once more." Miria said before moving to sit down in her own seat, next to her father's. "That said I'm sure we can get you work in the manor once this war is over." She said as he blinked at her, sitting down as well.

"I did not come here to be a burden to you and-"

"If you're working then you're not being a burden are you?" She said with a wave of her hand before starting to pet her sister's head.

"P-perhaps, but even so-"

"Besides, Eostia is a lot different then the Savannah; it'll take a while before you fully understand it." Miria added before pulling a comb from a pouch, starting to groom her sister's hair.

"Regardless, I do not think-"

"Mokria." I let off to get his attention as he looked to me. "Stow the guilt trip, just accept she forgave you and take the well paying job for your younger daughter's sake if nothing else." I let off as I opted to look back at my notes. "Life's too short to feel sorry for yourself all day, every day." He flinched and stayed silent for a moment as the food finally arrived.

"...I will... consider your wisdom." He said as food was set out; pancakes, bacon and some hashbrowns.

A look coupled with wide begging eyes and a soft question got Miika seconds of bacon.

[-]

"I am... surprised that you would wish me to remain around." It was semi-cloudy day as Mokria spoke to Miria as they walked about slowly. James had been asked (More like forced, he'd say) into taking a break from his work and she suggested he show Miika about. It was a little surprising to be the big sister for a change and she wanted to both to get to know her sister but also have her brother bond with her as well.

"I'm not going to pretend like it's all water under the bridge, but I'm not some little girl anymore..." She said as she looked up to him. "Please... I get that you had no good choices... Miika needed you if nothing else."

"Miria..."

"Relax..." She let off, smiling up at him. "It's like James said; stow the guilt trip... I'd have to guess you've been at it for eight years..."

"I always thought the deed would feel less damning over time. It never did." Mokria said as he frowned for a moment, eyes shut. "Very well; if you wish me to stay I shall stay. I owe you too much not to; and even if I lost the title it's a father's job to spoil his daughter now and then, yes?" Miria giggled and smiled to him and while smile he gave one back of his own. "For what it is worth I am proud of what you have become. Robert boasted well of your skills in tournaments."

"Haa, he did, did he? Yeah, the old timer is something..." She let off, blushing for a moment. "I think the only reason I beat him was that old age is catching up to him; he doesn't have the endurance he used to..."

"Happens to us all..." Her father noted... and for a moment she recalled something.

James was a dragonborne... He would live for centuries if not a full millennia... While a part of her was jealous he'd be so long lived she wondered something else... would he become... lonely, growing so old alone..?

"I had hoped time and distance would make your mother regretful of what she had done in the past in regards to you." Mokria let off as he stirred her from her thoughts. "She look like she wanted to throw up when she learned that you lived and demanded a sign from the spirits to understand how you were led to new life. Understanding seems to be beyond her."

"She never liked me, huh?" She let off with a sigh, shaking her head sadly. "I remember making that straw hat for her once and seeing her just throw it away like a discus."

"The first time you open your eyes she dropped you in shock." He said with a sigh, shaking his head as he looked towards the fenced in fields of the stables. "I understood after I had caught you, of course, but even then... to do so seemed... a tad much, to say the least..." Miria sighed hearing that and pinched her nose. "I love her still, but I cannot excuse her at times..."

"I blame old prejudices more, but she never helped." Miria said as she smiled. "But... it's amazing what can be when you see past them." As he gaze followed his...

To see her brother and sister bonding...

[-]

When asked to show Miika around I opted to show her around the gardens first and then the stables; the idea being if she was going to be around for awhile she'd be outside a lot (Being a Savannah girl like her sister) and so the gardens and the stables were the most likely places she'd go to. I even grabbed a few carrots before hand for said stables. Once we had gotten to the stable's fence none other then White Peach trotted up for pets on her face as I guided Miika into gentle petting the friendly beast.

Apparently only a few Catalan tribes bothered with horseback riding so while she was aware of it she never saw it until arriving at Eostia. Getting the idea I took her into the stables proper as Peach followed and soon, with Serra's help, White Peach was saddled up and I was on her back, Miika seated before me. Leading to...

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Simple childish glee.

She was holding onto the saddle horn as I used one hand to hold onto her as White Peach ran around the fenced in yard. I dare say she was enjoying herself as much as Miika was as she seemed spurred on to go a bit faster without me commanding her to as some of the other, few horses about joined in and followed; some even running alongside of us. White Peach even opted to have some fun; moving to a log simply to jump over it and showing off what she could do. Of course all good things must end and soon we were trotting back to the stable; White Peach seeming to have a slight swagger to her steps as she went along. "That was fun!" Miika chirped out as I dismounted then let her fall to my arms as I chuckled.

"Come now, that's not all." I let off as I set her down. She seemed confused before I reached into my pouch and pulled out a pair of carrots... and White Peach took notice quickly. "Hold this." I said as I passed Miika one and held the other to the mare who did a fully body shake before bobbing her head twice before moving to start eating the carrot as I petted her face, Miika cooing as she watched on. Soon the carrot was gone; green bits and all.

Miika caught on quickly and held hers up to White Peach as the mare shook once more before craning her neck down, eating from her hands. She squealed as the mouth started to reach her hands but the gentle mare was careful to not bite the girl and pulled the rest from her to swallow as I moved to undo the saddle. I could see Peach keeping her head low, allowing Mika to easily pet her as Miria and Mokria walked inside.

"A fine beast. She must make you and yours proud." The former Mir hunter let off as I chuckled.

"She is something alright. I often regret not riding her more." I said. Soon I had her saddle and girdle off and set aside as the man walked closer to stand before the horse and behind his daughter. Peach regarded him for a moment before leaning in; fishing for a pet... and while Mokria left her hanging for a moment soon he reached out and petted her face softly.

"You can sense how tame and gentle she is..." He said with a soft smile. "Wondrous creature." He said with a soft tone; Peach seemed to understand as she bobbed her head as Miria chuckled.

"Well James seems to think so anyw-"

"Mouse!" Miika chirped out as we looked to wear she was. The girl squatted to all fours with a grin as she looked ready to pounce as Mokria looked on and seemed ready to watch his daughter hunt it.

"Don't bother..." Miria let off as she sighed. "It'll be caught before you get there..."

"By who?" Mokria let off as the mouse clambered up a small ramp onto a bucket, climbed over a modified lid-

"By James..."

-and stood to reach the honey and peanut butter over it as it's weight made the lid's trap fall, dunking the mouse into the bucket. "Still works." I said with a shrug as Mokria blinked and Miika let off a cross between a sad mewl and an 'awwwww'...

It really was cute.

[-]

As fun as playing with Miika was and refreshed as I felt I had work to do and so return to work I did. I opted to start with researching previous failed counter-measures and found... not much. The main recommendation for any non-elf needing to go deep into the Field or stay too deep in for a long period of time was mana potions. Lots and lots of mana potions. Obviously it wasn't used as a means to defeat the Dread Field because it would be far, far, faaaaaaaar too expensive and be a logistical weak point.

Shielding to ward off strange energies was also tried but also failed; at most it worked for awhile then failed over time. If I had to guess and working under the assumption mana poisoning is the reason the enchantments started to pull poisoned mana into itself as fuel and started to expel it as it was used. It was like making a submarine so you can go around underwater with a water powered engine... that exhausted water into the submarine.

Most of the others just wouldn't work as most didn't effect the mana in the air at all. It makes sense why they wouldn't; mana was something normal and common in this world and most creatures, humans included, evolved to take advantage of it. Cutting mana off from people for a long time would be like countering a gas attack by wearing a clear, plastic bag over your head and zip-tying it around your neck; it would keep you from breathing in the gas... and breathing at all.

Bad idea.

I spent most of the rest of the day bouncing between researching what failed to block the Dread Field and trying to work out why mana poisoning as we knew it blocked spell casting but the Dread Field didn't. I had more luck on the first; none of the counter-measures really targeted the mana in the air for previously mentioned reasons but if I was right then it was, in theory, possible to filter the mana in the air and I had even drawn up a rudimentary enchantment. That would be work still...

Come lunch two days later I was still musing over the problem as Sora and, of all people, Terra cooked as Miika sat on the counter in the kitchen, watching them with fascination. I was behind her tapping a finger as I read and reread the notes I had humming. "There we go..." Sora let off. "Nothing like a good soup to go with a cooked sandwich."

A cooked sandwich was more or less a burger... although the idea of ground beef turned into patties had yet to catch on as far as I knew. Instead you got long, thin strips of cooked meat usually in a sauce of some sort; beef, pork, chicken, what have you. Add the usual topping along with it. In addition you could put it on a long length of bread as opposed to a rounded bun; these were the longer ones.

"Never really got used to cooking, I'll be honest. Well, save over an open campfire." Terra mused as her mother giggled.

"Will you teach me how to make them?" Miika let off as Sora giggled and looked back at her.

"Of course. You're welcome to learn anytime." She said with a smile. "We'll start with the simple stuff, of course. I'm sure a clever girl like you will work out how to do it with ease."

"Yay!"

"Guess I'm learning to cook with a small child now." Terra deadpanned as she stirred the soup in question (Tomato, my favorite) as Sora giggled as she moved to the ice box and opened it.

"Cooking is an art, learned over years and perfected with practice." She said as she pulled out a long, glass pan setting it on the counter. A series of steaks was set into it and soaking in a deep, black colored sauce as the dark elf reached in, picked one up, let it drip then set it back in after flipping it.

"What are you doing with that?" Miika asked as Sora smiled.

"Oh, I'm marinating some steaks." She said with a smile... I bet she was waiting for it...

"Why?" The child asked, spouting the favorite question of children across time and space.

"This way you can flavor and even soften the meat.." Sora let off smiling to her. "You set it in and wait... the meat will slowly soak in the marinade into itself. This one is one I like a lot, made of... M'lord?" She let off as I had sat up and looked straight ahead with a look of shock.

Slowly soak in...

Slowly soak in...

Slowly soak in...

"That's it!" I let off, barking out as I banged my fist to the counter as I stood, making everyone jump up. "I bet that's it; that's why the Dread Field doesn't prevent casting!"

"Did you just have a 'eureka' moment?" Sora asked as Miika blinked at her.

"Eureka?"

"It translates as 'I have found it'." I replied with a grin. "And I think I have; mana poisoning as we know it stops spell casting but it's a sizable shot of mana slammed into another person. That prevents casting but it might be because the system is being shocked by the sudden influx of poisoned mana. But with the Dread Field it's not a sizable amount of mana hitting a system all at once... it soaks in..."

"Like marandade!" Miika let off loudly.

"Marinade, but yes." I replied with a nod.

"Well... How do you test that?" Terra asked as I thought... and pulled out a voxlux as I made a call. Soon Celestine answered and before she could get a word out I was speaking.

"Cele, I think I'm onto something but I need something to test my theory out..."

[-]

I was surprised at just how fast Celestine sent what I needed; a mana condenser. In short it was an expensive device, usually formed from a large piece of spell orb or a quality spell stone that bore some size that was enchanted to absorb mana set to it along with mana in the air, condensing it within. Moreover the type of mana it converted what it drew in varied on what it was forced to absorb first; none had been used with poisoned mana before but I was willing to bet it could.

I found Mokria and directed him into forcing some inside and... it worked; the condenser was pulling mana into it and converting it into poisoned mana and it went from a clear, colorless orb on a tri-pronged brass stand, double the size of a baseball to a sickly, blood red. I fed the device my own mana into it to speed things up, letting it convert it as well, but for the most part we just left it over night to draw in mana and convert it...

Marinade, you might say...

Once the morning came it was all about using that mana... on a test subject... Not what I wanted to do, but what I had to in order to ensure things would work out. Riri was the volunteer this time and while I didn't like it... well, I didn't like making anyone suffer this crap... Still, someone had too and she stepped up, Sora taking notes as we went back to the clean room. This time we had readied a chamber made of enchanted spell glass that was about five feet wide and about eight tall with a door that could be sealed and steel bars and beams to reinforce it. Riri walked in with a stool that I set the condenser on before setting it to slowly release the poisoned mana into the air as the chamber was sealed; a steady stream of red mist rising up before vanishing from view inches away. "You okay there?" I asked, patting the glass once and holding my hand there after it was shut as she nodded and took a calming breath.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I think it'll be a moment." She said as she reached up and patted the glass near where my hand was. In her other hand was the same device Robert had when we tested him and it glowed softly as she used it. I nodded as I stepped back.

"Say the word and we pull you out." I said as I pulled up a stool. We didn't need suits this time as the clean room would, well, clean itself of mana and the chamber was enough to isolate the mana. I could hear Sora writing as I sat down and waited nervously. And I was nervous because all I could do was wait. I tapped my foot as seconds turned to minutes and I could see her start to fidget some ten minutes in. "Riri?"

"I'm okay." She said as she held up the device and channeled mana; lighting it up. "Just... jittery..."

"Right... It's releasing a bit fast then compared to the field... but not so fast your system can't adjust..." I mused as I watched her device stay lit up. "Keep talking to me Riri, stay focused on me. It'll get rough, I know, but keep focused." I said as she nodded to me once more.

"R-right..."

We chatted for a while with Riri using the device on and off; checking that, yes, her mana systems were still working and usable. After twenty minutes it was clear she was feeling a high level of fear and I was ready to yank her out but...

"I can take it!"

Brave girl...

A liquid lightly ran down her left leg and I noted it as what was called stage three of the Dread Field's effects; light bladder failure. Still her device was lighting up. I offered to pull her out but she refused once more.

Then thirty minutes set in... "Riri? ... Riri!?" I... think we were in stage four as she was panting hard and slumped into the wall of the chamber. Still the device was lit in her hand. I was satisfied. "Okay, that's enough."

"N-no... I can... I can..." I stopped caring what she thought in that moment, opening the door as she slumped down to her rump, tears falling from her eyes; I was mindful enough to turn the condenser off before picking her up and pulling her from the chamber; you could feel the darkened mana once inside like a think mist. I cradled her to my chest as I looked to her face, device still lit as I gave Sora a glance as she pulled out a mana potion.

"I'm sorry... I should have pulled you out quicker..." I let off softly as she shivered, almost convulsing in my arms.

"B-but you need-"

"I have enough..." Soon Sora set the vial to her and we fed the potion to Riri. "I'm sorry, you didn't need to suffer..."

"Swallow your guilt M'Lord." Sora said with a smile as Riri swallowed. "Yes, she pushed herself too far and perhaps you should have ended the test... But it won't change what was done and she'll be fine in the end..."

"I know... I know..." I said as Riri's shaking subsided. "That's my girl..."

"S-so... Was it... enough?" She asked as I set her down on still shaking legs.

"More then enough." I replied with a smile. "I'll have Mokria recharge the condenser... It might take some work but I think I know how to counter it." I said lifting up a finger.

While maybe it wasn't one hundred percent, ironclad proof the Dread Field was poisoned mana I was satisfied with the results and convinced I was correct. It was mana poisoning that the Dread Field caused... meaning I needed to do some work...

[-]

I was looking up every bit of information about elven mana systems that was available (Little as it was) and recalling what Celestine told me. I even called up the central office of the Spellcaster's Guild and, thanks to my credentials, managed to get some information. The receptionist was kind enough to use her voxlux to take pictures for me so I could read off mine for additional information. My idea was to mimic the outer layers of an elf's mana system to filter the mana in the air.

Skin tight and near skin tight shields were not used often outside of Mana Armor and Armor Weave and using a single enchantment item to do it often made it too unstable or too weak... but I didn't need a strong shield. In fact I didn't need a shield to ward off physical or magical assaults; just the mana in the air. A weak shield could be made skin tight and if it ignored attacks then it would be unbroken to carry on it's task; ensuring only normal, clean mana came in and poisoned mana stayed out. I didn't have as much time as I'd like; who knows how long until Garan tried another attack? On the other hand as long as I could take enough time I could pull it off.

In the end I opted for a double shield set up; both weak enough that even a very low grade spell stone could handle it to be double sure that it would work. I worked for almost two days straight... and I was ready.

The stone in question was the size of three rice grains side to side and was fairly weak. I chose this stone because it was weak; if I was to use this as a solution I would need a metric shit ton of stones for the armies of Eostia. In that case the quality of stones wasn't a guarantee and I would need to use whatever I could get my hands on. Once I was confident it was time to repeat the test. Riri opted as the volunteer over my objections and I was about to put my foot down... until...

"I'm sure it'll work. You made it!"

God dammit Riri, how can I say no to that!?

The stone was glued to a cord that she tied around her neck like a necklace. She was back in the chamber as I turned the condenser on to fill it with poisoned mana as I shut it. I was nervous; Riri might have had faith in me but I was a bit more worried. I was confident that the enchantment would work, but it was a very weak stone. Still; if it even resisted the poisoned mana then that means a stronger one should work.

Sora was taking notes once more but both Mokria and Miria were here as well... and Miika who invited herself along with a Battle Fleet game to play with Miria. I was too nervous to pay attention to them as I focused on Riri and her condition. It was nerve wracking but... ten minutes in... and no change.

Twenty minutes in... no change.

Nor at thirty.

Forty, no change.

Fifty and nothing.

One full hour later and no change. You could see the red mist rising up and a little more aggressive then before and the air in the chamber was starting to tint red in a visible manner. That chamber was soaked in poisoned mana... and Riri acted like she was in a a chamber of sunshine and flowers. "Okay... I think this is more then enough. Hang on a moment." I let off, moving to the chamber and setting a hand on it; I gave a command for it to pull the mana within to store. The clean room would deal with it overtime but it was for the best to not let it spill out... not with Miika here, anyway. Once done I opened the chamber and turned the condenser off and then gave Riri a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"So... That's it then... That's the last test?" Miria let off as she looked to mew with a grin... as I shook my head.

"Not yet. We proved that it can handle the poisoned mana in controlled conditions but we need to prove it beyond that." I said as I smiled. "For that I'll need some more volunteers and use of a Cloud Rider." We had finished Cloud Rider number six and it was sent off north for transport but a seventh was ready to go. The spell fiber was installed this morning and just needed me to enchant it. "Sora, I want you to ask the manor guard for eight volunteers. I'll also want you and Terra to come along for the test; just in case."

"Of course M'Lord but... why do you need a Rider?" Sora said as she blinked at me as I smiled back.

"To have complete and irrefutable proof we need to go to directly into the Dread Field." I began as I held a finger up. "More importantly... right to the source of the Dread Field; the Dark Citadel itself."

[-]

Come the next morning we loaded onto the Cloud Rider; Miria opted to come along as well as, of all people, Robert Greenhood. Sora informed him of the trip and he wanted to come along; to spite his old enemies by getting as close to the Citadel as possible. One thing I had asked was anyone who came be competent in magic or a ranged weapon; being in the air meant the only threats to us was going to be gargoyles and ranged magic. As such while we loaded up on food and drinks as we'd be gone for awhile we also stocked up on arrows to be on the safe side. Sora would be driving the rider and Terra would be along for extra support while Riri would look over the Manor in the meantime. Finally, once I gave everyone a filter stone we took off and went straight north.

This would take us up over Feoh, Arafe and then Highdagger Peaks of Garan; the terrain on the ground was difficult to pass so we were banking on few or light patrols in the region. Moreover there shouldn't be armies in that direction either and, based on what we knew, few settlements. I made sure that everyone was talking about their current conditions; the stones varied in quality from grade seven to grade nine. This was a further test to see if the weaker stones could hold up to the Dread Field. I kept a few stronger stones on me to hand out just in case, of course, but testing the weaker ones was also important.

Soon we'd turn to the east for a time before dipping east-southeast towards the Dark Citadel and approaching it from the west-northwest; this also meant we were crossing into the Dread Field proper. It was a bit of a trip but soon we were approaching our destination and dipped down over a forest; flying just over the tree tops to be harder to see from below due to a lack of cloud cover to use. Before the Citadel came into view we slowed down and I activated the cloaking feature. That would make our motions one, big Predator Blur but it would still obscure us from such a long distance away. Finally we slowed further (And as a side effect lessened the blur) as we moved from over forests to over a barren landscape with patches of vegetation here and there...

And in view was a strange and bizarre looking... construct that looked like a spire, pyramid and alien art project rolled up and mashed into one, unusual building. The top of the spire seemed to glow with a bright, red energy that ran over the top like one of those plasma ball things, if in slow motion. The air had a red tint to it, making the place even more ominous looking. I directed Sora to fly us closer and only stopped when we were a mile away from it. We were about three hundred and fifty feet up in the air, closer to the Citadel then any known human and closer then any willing human ever has. The Illusion spell hid us from plain view and you'd need to be directly below to have a chance of sensing the wagon magically. The only tell we were here was the shadow cast below us to the ground but with the mostly barren landscape it didn't stand out that much. We weren't perfectly safe here but we were safe enough as long as we stayed alert. If nothing else I was confident the Cloud Rider could turn and burn afterburner (So to speak) if worse came to worse.

I stood up at the front of the wagon as I looked out. With the filter stone on me I felt fine even though with the miasma of the Dread Field being so thick here I should have gone into stage two or three of the Dread Field's effects based on what was known as it's sheer density hit. I gently directed Sora to turn the wagon so the rear was to the Citadel and moved to set up a voxlux in a corner of the Cloud Rider and turned it to record. Propped up on a stand and fixed in place with nails to be sure it wouldn't move about I moved to the back as the men looked over to me and looked about in fascination; none the worse for wear.

"I am having this recorded for both posterity and proof of what has been done." I began as I stood in the back corner looking to the voxlux; itself projecting an image of what it was recording. "As you can see we are about a mile away from the Dark Citadel testing the mana filtration spell stones and how well they hold up. These stones are all of the same size, grades seven, eight and nine to test the viability of each; no one knows what grade they have but myself. Despite being so close I am feeling no ill effects of the Dread Field. Now then, when I point to you state your current status." I pointed to Miria first.

"Fine and dandy!" I pointed to a solider next.

"Just like it's another day, M'Lord." Robert was next.

"Rather well; wished I got more sleep last night though."

And down the line it went with an answer along the line of 'I'm okay' from everyone. Satisfied I nodded once and smiled. "Right. Remember, speak up if you feel any Dread Field effects, do not act tough and pretend it's fine; everything needs to be truthful; the truth will shake loose otherwise. So... We're here until the morning so... break out the cards."

After all we were stuck on a small wagon fairly high up in the air... We needed something to do...

[-]

That Evening
Nightsong Palace, Mooncast City
Territory of Onyxcloak, Kingdom of Garan

Czarina Nightsong smirked to herself as she sat atop of the balcony of her palace as she looked to the courtyard. A glass of fine bragg was in her hand as she swirled the glass as she watched her sister's child, Bronka, train once more. Honestly it was her niece that let Czarina displace the former Matron, Czarina's own sister, from her position and to her palace's dungeons. Zhestokiyhad grown complacent and weak enough that her own daughter struck her down. Bronka wasn't weak by any means but she wasn't the level expected of a Matron... nor smart enough to cloak her shortcomings and appear stronger then she was.

In the world of the Highborne of Garan the appearance of might is often as, if not more, important then being strong. Had they been the High House Drakepyre a level of respect and camaraderie might have spared Zhestokiy or allowed her to step down with grace. Had they been the High House Goldtomb she might have just had someone like Czarina call a meeting, present the facts of the situation and challenge her, assuming command if she could pull enough support to her.

This, however, was the High House of Nightsong, however. They allowed their laborborne more leeway simply because it didn't matter to them; they could still take what they needed from them as they needed it. The laborborne was there to serve as needed and if they let one or two rise to the lowborne, well, it would make the bulk believe they too could rise up and work harder for the Nightsong's ends. As her great, great, great, grandmother told her you can, at times, gain more by carrot then stick. In reality they just had to hold the carrot out, let the odd one have a nibble and it helped kept the masses complacent as they chased the carrot just out of reach.

The threat of physical punishment further helped.

More over Bronka was an excellent pawn and false heir until she could position her own daughter into the position of heiress; and all she had to do was pretend she cared a little, let her train to her hearts content and teach her a little magic here and there. She never even asked about her mother who, 'tragically', died in the dungeons by hanging by her neck with the bedsheets. Such a tragic suicide...

She made a mental note to give her cousin something nice for 'assisting' her sister with that.

And there it was, the three hundred and seventy year old Czarina was now the Matron of the High House of Nightsong, leader of the latest incursion to destroy the humans of Eostia... and it was going poorly... It was at that thought her smirk turned into a frown...

Vasilisa Chaoxis was slain, by all accounts the humans had a lightning fast means of communication and flying wagons. It was rather frustrating that, thus far, they've been unable to slam deep into the opposing territory; if it wasn't for the Trueborne Queen they wouldn't have even pushed them back at all. It was a humiliation for all of the Matrons that they all couldn't press through the first lines of the foe's lines without assistance by a Trueborne and lost two of their number but it was all the more humiliating for her as she just took her position merely days before the war began. It was making her look weak before her House... and if she kept looking weak...

She might be assisted with the bedsheets... in the dungeons...

To that end she ordered her troops trained, Aberrant trained, conscripts raised and trained and even trained her magic more then she ever had before. The next battle was going to be a Nightsong victory... she could afford nothing less... "What did I ever do to suffer so many troubles once I took over..?"

[-]

We had arrived at our position outside of Dark Citadel at about mid-morning. Come lunch we ate a meal of Imperial Salads, sandwiches and soup. The bulk of the morning was Miria and the men prodding Robert to tell them his old war stories and tell them he did. I told him he needed to write some memoirs at some point and made a mental note to have him and Akanji meet; she would love to hear his stories.

By the early afternoon the men were playing cards and joking around as a bottle of whiskey was broken out. I put my foot down and told them they would have to take shifts with the bottle given we were, you know, in enemy territory. If I felt we were under any real threat I'd have tossed the bottle overboard but the reality was if something happened we would slam south at full speed. Even then I didn't want everyone drunk and told them to be mindful.

Thankfully they were and come mid-afternoon at most a couple guys were buzzed. Cards, as mentioned, were broken out as were two Battle Fleet games. So far no one reported feeling uneasy except one man... who felt better after he threw up over the side. As it turns out some people shouldn't drink on flying wagons.

Late afternoon had no changes on their status with everyone being fine and well. A small viewer we brought along was playing the local news at first but we swapped to a play that was recorded; The Good Prince Steward by Gaelicson Buchanan. It kinda felt like if you took Hamlet, Braveheart and a fantasy hentai, threw them into a blender, set it to puree and had someone like Luke Skywalker as the main character; I liked it anyway. And no changes on anyone's condition.

Then the evening came and we ate; Sora brought along what was more or less a small, charcoal grill to cook steaks and corn on. Everyone still felt fine... until one of the men opted to showcase for the recording that, yes, we were by the Dread Field and pulled his filter stone off, attached to a cord and set it to the floor... and collapsed to his hands and knees five seconds later and was left shivering hard; slamming to at least a stage three of Dread Field exposure near instantly.

After we got the stone back on him and got three mana potions into him he agreed that, yes, that was a dumb idea. He took two shots of the whiskey to calm his nerves and a fourth mana potion to further help him recover. I made sure to lean into the recording voxlux and remind everyone that, yes, this was serious business and suffering the Dread Field this close to it's source is a stupid idea.

Mid-evening we started to roll out bed rolls to sleep on and agreed for shifts to be sure nothing snuck up on us. I would take first shift along with a younger guard as we sat on the bench where we snacked on some beef jerky for a bit. We had a small spook when we spotted a flight of five gargoyles but soon they turned south and started to split into different directions; likely messengers then.

Finally I got to settle in for some rest; waking up Terra and Miria. I could hear them chatting as I drifted off to sleep for the night. Come the morning I was awoken and while everyone wasn't exactly bright and cheery that was more due to sleeping conditions then anything else. With the grill Sora would make sausages, eggs and serve some bread along with coffee from my own stock; I assumed we'd need something stronger then tea.

Finally come late morning I opted to call the test successful and asked Sora to take a picture of everyone as I stood with Miria and Robert with two other men and the rest kneeling before us with the Dark Citadel behind us. "And with that... we're done." I said grinning as the men hollered. "Now you can break out the whiskey; just save some for Sora since she's flying us."

"Little early in the monrin'... but if M'lord insists!" One man said as everyone chuckled, sharing a laugh as they set the benches up to sit on as Sora took the pilot's seat. I turned the recording voxlux off and, at a whim, turned and gave the Citadel a jaunty salute before we started to fly off; slowly since we were still under cloak. I had figured out how the Dread Field worked and devised a counter. Now I had one last hurdle...

Getting a metric shit ton of spell stones... So that means...

I pulled my voxlux and made a call out once more. "Ah, James." Celestine said as she looked to me. "How goes your work? Is there more you... ... Where are you that the sky is red?" She asked as I smiled to her face.

"About that. I'll be coming to your camp soon, can you call a Council for the afternoon? I think you'll be pleased." I told her before turning my voxlux to show her the dreaded Dark Citadel just a mile off.

"That's...!? Incredible! " She screamed from the voxlux as I turned it back to me; seeing her wide eyed, dumbfounded face as I smiled back. "I... I had perfect faith you could do it, but even I would never suspect you could do so in so little time! You... I have no words!" It was a rather bit euphoric to hear the usual stoic and calm High Queen talk in an excited and openly energetic manner; clearly I had impressed her beyond what she expected I could do.

"Thanks... But there's still more to do yet." I told her as I smiled. "I plan on addressing the lords to explain what I discovered, but we'll also need them to collect all I'll need to ensure we can send armies to the north."

"Of course! It'll likely be the late afternoon or early evening by the time I can call the meeting, but it will be done."

[-]

Castle Elddale, County of Elddale
Walrien City
Castle Library

"It must be the Resonance Theory... Nothing else makes sense, it has to be the mana in the air that is causing the effect but how... How does it work? Some... vibration that causes an emotional reaction?" Channer was pacing back and worth before the long table, a series of ten open books laying on it as he frowned and cupped his chin with one hand, his index finger stroking besides his mouth and at the edge of his chin. "Or a mass spell? What do you think?"

"I think you should have asked about the other human's progress..." Avdotya let off as she frowned at the vial in her hand. It bore a red tint; supposedly concentrated mana from the Dread Field. Rather then mimic the spell paper test Channer had opted to collect the mana more directly. She had overheard the call and assumed there was something important about it; enough so that she was curious about it. "Or at least copied his test."

"Please, I'm not going to copy him just like that." He said as he lifted his head with a grin. "It'll take a few months, I'm sure, but I'm going to beat him to the answer and-"

Ping-Ping-Ping-Ping!

"Excuse me." He said as he pulled out his voxlux and answered, seeing his father's face. "Hey Dad, how is it going?"

"Channer; we may have an issue." Arnold told his son through the device. "Celestine has called for a Council and you should use your voxlux to listen into it."

"Huh? What's wrong? What happened that she called a Council?" Channer let off with worry.

"I'm not yet sure... but it's being called on behalf of James Noxdecus." The count said as Channer's face went pale.

"N-no... That's impossible..." He let off, eyes wide. "It's been a little over a week... He couldn't have solved it so fast!"

"I am aware, and I doubt he's solved it yet." Arnold let off sternly. "But he's discovered something important enough to bring up."

"...What then...?" Channer let off as he thought about it for a long moment.

"I'm not sure, but the subject must be on the Dread Field." His father said sternly before he looked off to the side. "I need to go. I'll call you when the meeting is to start."

"R-right... thanks." He said as the call ended as he looked to the voxlux, created by James Noxdecus as he moved to fall into a seat. "R-right... He wouldn't solve it so fast... he couldn't..."

Avdotya wasn't able to leave the room, not until she was dismissed... but she could sneak around one of the shelves and cover her mouth, starting to shake as she did her best to hide her laughs from the human as she enjoyed his suffering.

[-]

Once I was home I started to work on a series of enchanting boxes. I had the boxes with stones attached and ready to go and with proof that it worked I set them up to mass enchant filter spells onto stones. Each could do twenty at once and took two minutes to enchant. Giving unloading and reloading each box took under a minute but rounded up for the sake of simplicity that meant twenty stones every three minutes. That means four hundred an hour. I made ten boxes so that's four thousand an hour. That meant in thirty hours I could equip one hundred and twenty thousand troops with a filter stone. A day and a half and we'd have more then we'd need.

I just needed enough stones to enchant and, as such, rode the Cloud Rider to the war camp; we had arrived in the middle of the afternoon and my return was quickly noted. And yes, we; I hadn't come alone as both Miria and Mokria was with me as well... and both of my parents were waiting as we landed... I could see Mokria stiffen besides me as the Cloud Rider touched the ground and we moved to step off. "Mom, Da-hurrk!"

"Gahhh!" She had no chance to finish speaking before we were both scooped up by Saxon and hugged tightly. "Missed you too Mom..." I let off.

"And you must be Mokria." My father said as he walked over to the man in question with a warm smile as he extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you at last." He said, warmth in his tone as the Catalan's eyes widened and, after a moment, he moved to shake the mage's hand.

"I thank you. I... did not expect to be greeted so well." He said as Merlin chuckled softly.

"Make no mistake; there is still... upset from what you did." He said as he shook his head. "But no man would envy your choices. Rather then dwell in a dark past let us stand in the present and stride to a better future."

"... Your son is right. You are possessed of good wisdom." Mokria said as myself and Miria was released.

"It does help she told us what happened at the contest of yours. Now, come." Saxon said, smiling to him. "You brought a daughter of yours along, yes? Why don't you tell me about her?"

"I am... I do not mind, but this is-"

"Come, come stop being a stranger!" She said, grabbing his arm and tugging him along as she walked to a campfire; letting go once she was sure he'd follow. "Honestly, I can't wait to meet the dear!"

"So; you've cracked the case, then?" My father asked as he looked to me; I turned to him and nodded once.

"Somehow. In honesty proving it would have taken a lot longer and with a lot more difficulty if Mokria hadn't arrived when he had." I said with a shake of my head. "But I suppose the Mir's loss is our gain."

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky then good!" He chirped happily as we shared a laugh. "The meeting is in a couple of hours. Prepare yourself."

[-]

The same tent that hosted the last meeting of the Council of Lords hosted this one. Unlike before I stood behind Celestine and the arrangement of the projections of other lords were different with Channer being projected in one of them; set up near where Arnold sat which didn't really surprise me. Celestine began the meeting for a moment, mentioning a few small developments before getting to the crux of why the meeting was called.

"As you know last time we met I charged James Noxdecus with discovering a means to defeat the Dread Field." She said and you could hear her voice was a bit brighter then usual. Some watching on, like Claudia and Prim, picked up on it by their reactions. "Given what there is to report I opted to allow him to address the Council and report his findings. She said as she stood and turned to me. "The floor is yours." She said before walking around the table and to a seat off to the side as I took a calming breath and looked ahead. Okay... presentation time.

"Good evening; collected lords, ladies and aides of all stripes." I began, resisting the urge to say 'welcome to my TED Talk' as I looked to everyone. "I will go over my findings and progress for the Council's review. I am aware some of what I will be going over at the start is common or mostly-common knowledge. I will still be going over things in a manner to ensure that on the off chance someone is missing this knowledge they will understand what is being talked about but I'll stay brief and stay to the crux of the matter. To begin with; the Dread Field and it's effects."

"As you all should know-" I let off as I carried on. "-the Dread Field causes feelings of unease, fear and dread in those within it who are not elves. The longer one is exposed or the deeper in one is the worse the effects. It made an assault on Garan unthinkable as morale would tank in days and the physical effects will start to manifest eventually. Staying within for too long can result in comas or worse. While attempts to explain how it works have been attempted all evidence was shoehorned into one of three theories."

I kept going as I paced behind the table slowly like a teacher addressing a class. There was some silent muttering but I seemed to have everyone's attention; even if some was divided. "To start with when I started my own I opted to disregard all three of these theories to focus alone on what evidence and facts; beginning with using a modified Sky Eye to follow and retrieve a sheet of spell paper flying into the Dread Field. In short what it showed was it bore the same amount of mana as a normal sheet, however it absorbed mana in the air that corrupted it's spell matrix. Once my examination was done I exposed it to the air of Mungale Manor and the sheet, in a short amount of time, restored itself to normal."

A little muttering was heard as those magically inclined seemed surprised as they looked to one another and whispered. "Indeed. That was what led me to the idea that the Dread Field could be causing wide scale mana poisoning to those within it. Elven mana systems are, for lack of a better term, denser on the outer layer and could act as a natural filter for such an event while humans, halflings and others lack such protections. If any of you are familiar with studies of mana poisoning then you might realize one issue that doesn't fit; mana poisoning as we know it disables a person's ability to manipulate mana. The topic has been understudied as the only reliable means to induce the condition was via an offensive combat technique that was limited to the Catalan Tribes of the Savannah."

"With luck I found myself with one such man in Mugale having this technique through a stroke of luck." I said as I smiled a bit as I carried on. "Testing it on a volunteer who was a decades long veteran of the wars who had been deep inside of the Dread Field he confirmed the feelings of mana poisoning matched that of the Dread Field, although he couldn't manipulate mana while under the effects. I felt I was on the right track but it took a Eureka moment to realize that the technique injected the mana in a forceful manner and I reasoned that if the body absorbed the effects over time as opposed to having it forcefully injected in one, sudden strike it wouldn't be put into a state of shock."

"Our good High Queen was kind enough to allow the loan of a mana condenser; a device that could collect the technique's mana and convert additional mana to match it." People were looking about and while some seemed to have a look of 'get on with it' most seemed curious about where this was going. "A test with another volunteer showcased the effects of the Dread Field as exposed to the poisoned mana being released into an isolated chamber... and could manipulate mana."

I could see the shocked look of most people. "Wait, wait, wait..." I heard as someone with House Magister's emblem on his robes let off in one of the projections. "You're saying you've proven that not only are the Three Theories wrong but the true cause of the Dread Field's effects is mana poisoning?"

"Indeed." I replied, nodding as I spoke on. "Mana poisoning as a condition has been under studied because of how difficult it is to study. More over the Three Theories have been so popular with scholars that any and all evidence was crammed into them no matter how it fit. Anyway then; both knowing how the Dread Field effected people and suspecting how the elven mana system guarded them with no harm I opted to try using a modified shield spell to ward off the unusual mana fitted onto as weak a spell stone as I could and repeated the chamber test. The subject remained inside the chamber for a full hour... with no ill effects."

You could hear a pin drop as silence came over the tent. Everyone, no matter what they were doing before, payed me their full attention now. "You... you did what, M'boy..?" Jamicia let off as I smiled and pulled my voxlux out.

"As a final test I took myself and eight volunteers on a Cloud Rider with my family's dark elf maid and her half elf daughter to the Dread Field with everyone holding such a stone; grades seven, eight and nine." I began as I set it down and selected the image Sora took of everyone on the wagon with the Dark Citadel in the background and made the projection large enough for all to see as everyone gawked at the view. "We parked some three hundred feet over the ground under cloak and a mile from the Citadel itself. We loitered for a full day, over night and didn't leave until the morning. No one suffered any ill effects... save the one guy who took his stone off and learned how potent the Field was at that range. Replacing the stone and four mana potions helped him recover. A recording of it from start to finish is available for review, if anyone wishes."

"What the... This is..."

"Oh my goddess!"

"I don't believe it..."

"Do you know what this means!?" Count Robert Flarewing bellowed as he stood up and grinned in his own projecting with other Ken lords. "We can finally hit the bloody bastards where they live for a change!"

His comment caused even more excitement as chatter rose up to a fever pitch. I used Arcane Weapon to form a small mallet to my hand and reached to the table, knocking firmly on it. "Fellow Lords!" I called out to get their attention and after a moment people started to settle down somewhat. "While I understand the excitement I do have one issue I need assistance with in this manner before we can even consider marching north." That settled everyone down as I looked around. "While I have a substantial store of stones for making voxluxs and my new Games Workshop products I do not have the amount needed to equip a fraction of our forces let alone enough to wage siege on opposing cities. As you know I have the means to enchant stones en masse but doing so is pointless without enough stones. As such to supply our needs I must ask for the alms of the Council. I do not need high grade stones." I held up a stone half the size of a jelly bean. "Grade seven to nine stones of this size are more then enough. Smaller is even still usable; but I need tens of thousands if this is to work."

"You need not ask M'boy!" Good'ole Grand Duke Samuel Fiorire let off as he stood up and grinned. "Rest assured Ur will start to supply what's needed."

"You'll need more then one territory's stock; much as Ur has." Tantan Kalkan of Blarian (And a business partner of mine now) let off with a grin. "We've spent too much on this war over the centuries; if handing over a stockpile of stones is what we need to end it and get to making money, well, funds well spent I say!"

"House Victor still holds a good stock; a couple thousand anyway."

"As I speak for House Roisage I can say we'll be able to send a large stock within short order. If the loan of a Cloud Rider can be made we should have them in Mungale by tomorrow evening; the following morning at most."

Not all lords were as generous of course; either unwilling or unable to make such pledges but with such large suppliers already I had no doubt there would be a flood of stones soon. "The High Crown will also supply what it can." Celestine said as she moved up to the table as I stepped aside for her. "More importantly those who cannot assist with the collection of stones should place their energies towards their preparations and logistics. Once the stones are readied we will be marching north. When we do we must be prepared." She said as everyone muttered in the room... but with a heavy undertone of excitement.

"If this is true I could modify a shielding orb..." Channer let off from his own projection, loudly enough to get most of the room's attention. "Assuming what he says is right the Aberrant must be feeding on this poisoned mana as well... If we can adjust the spell to effect a wide area they'll run through their stocks of poisoned mana and weaken, making facing them easier as well as adding an extra layer of protection to anyone who loses a stone."

"Huh..." I let off, cupping my chin in thought. "I hadn't thought of it. Good thinking, Channer." Honestly, it was a good idea; giving us the ability to fight was one thing but if we could hinder the enemy at the same time that was a bonus.

"Forward your notes to him, if you would." Celestine said as she looked to Channer. "I'll leave the shielding effects to you, Young Blitzhaus." I nodded as she looked to everyone, present and projected and nodded once more. "Those pledging stones; rush and send them to Mungale. If possible we will march north in one week's time."

Once upon a time this was an unthinkable scenario. A dream for Eostia. A nightmare for Garan.

Soon it would be reality.

[-]

Castle Elddale, County of Elddale
Walrien City
Castle Library

"How!? How!? HOW!?" Channer let off once the meeting had ended his ability to keep his control lost as he knocked over his reading podium with a kick; sending it tumbling to the ground as the book set atop of it, a rare and old edition, hit the ground with a plop before slamming his fist to the table. "Just over a week and he manages to solve a seven hundred year old problem!?" He growled out as he seethed as he hunched over the table, seething darkly as he glared to the book directly under him; an old tome he thought would have helped him over the months he'd need to crack the case... and now it was useless to him...

The worst part of the whole thing was that as James laid out how he reached his conclusion he was forced to admit that it wasn't a greater level of intelligence that let James beat him to the answer, it wasn't the good luck of finding a Catalan with the right technique to help but rather that it was through pure wisdom that let James defeat him.

James didn't waste time chasing unproven, over studied theories. James didn't waste time reading old tomes hoping to find one overlooked sliver of knowledge. He didn't waste time on looking what was just written down and already known.

Instead he searched for a new answer by experimentation, he tested his theories to prove or disprove them and he spent his time finding a new answer.

Channer had chased the Three Theories like those who had come before and through hard work found nothing useful.

James had chased something new in a different direction and in doing so had changed everything. Again...

At least by suggesting the modified shield orb for their use he had saved some face for himself and his father and hearing James admit he hadn't thought of it was a minor victory. He looked up and saw Avdoyta standing there and shaking a bit in place; perhaps effected by his outburst. He sighed deeply and waved a hand at her. "Leave me for now. Go back to quarters."

She said nothing as she left... and rushed away to the private quarters she was allowed (She was sure he wanted her to go to his quarters... but as he hadn't said so she could choose which quarters she went to) and once she arrived she opened the door, slipped inside... and started to laugh loudly as she clutched her sides and fell to the bed, legs kicking out.

Once more she got to see her new 'master' suffer defeat... and it was joyous...

[-]

Blitzhaus War Camp
Northern Elddale
Evening
Private Tent of Arnold von Blitzhaus

"Goddess damn that boy..." Arnold hissed out loudly. "I can't believe it... I was sure I hadn't underestimated him and yet... he did the impossible..."

The Count of Elddale was sat at a travel table he used as a desk and had a bottle of whiskey on that table with a full glass in his hand. He was tempted to call up Channer to console him as he was sure the boy was frustrated but he ended up in a conversation with a few, fellow lords he couldn't dismiss right away; in addition he was sure it was better to let Channer calm down and call him in the morning. Even then he had his own problems to deal with...

As the Count of Elddale and a Lord of Eostia the ending of the Garanian War was a massive benefit to him and his. He wouldn't need to spend time, money and effort on the maintenance of northern forts, reduce the need to hire and maintain mercenaries and increase the overall security of his realm. It would open up northern Elddale to settlement for farming, mining and other possible industry and, thusly, allow his realm to grow in wealth and population. Total victory or a secure treaty; either benefited him and the northern lords more then anyone else.

As a member Cloaked Crowns the ending of the was was a possible disaster... Their current plan of action for the Black Storm was to allow for a drawn out conflict to weaken both Eostia and Garan to make the conquest of the latter viable by 'Varro' and the former after. The war had already gone better then expected but not so well to upset the plan. However if Eostia could launch an attack and crush the opposition and Garan crumbled instead of held it's own...

...the new empire would fail to rise... or at least they'd need a new plan to lift it up. He frowned as he sipped his drink as he glowered darkly.

And of course as a good Count of Eostia he couldn't protest or undermine the efforts lest he expose himself. No, once more House Noxdecus had proven to be a thorn in his side and without fully realizing it. Indeed, James would likely know overcoming Channer's efforts would be a hit to their reputation, recovered thanks to his son's quick thinking, but he likely didn't know how much he might have hindered the Crowns.

He snorted softly. No... the new empire would rise... at worst it would be delayed...

The Might of the Brazen once established by the late Emperor would return...

[ - Author's Note - ]

Yup... That little Dread Field issue is... no longer an issue...

Before I go too far; I sent little teasers to Likes2Lllllurk (IE; the guy writing Eostia: Harem Quest: Ready Player Two) and that included a bit of the Questlines chapter that he heavily suggested I include in this chapter which was the flashback with Avdotya here. So... why did I write him like that; you might ask?

I've said it more then once in regards to how I treat most people who support slavery in this story; someone good seeing something evil as something normal. And that... that is what you get. Someone good doing something evil because he sees it as normal... and in doing such stains the 'good' part to anyone on the outside looking in and requiring the twisting of thoughts and mental gymnastics to look at yourself and say 'I am good'.

The scene in Questlines was a means to showcase just how bad it could be... and that while Channer might not be as bad as his brothers (From a certain point of view) and he thinks slavery should be reformed he still, at the end of the day, supports slavery as an institution and has a darker streak in him...

As for the rest...

We get to see what's really happening to Olga, Arnold and Vult have a nice little chat over... something innocent I'm sure, and a look into Czarina and what her thoughts are... for no reason I'm sure.

Leave a comment and say what you liked, didn't like and thought! And yes, I have the story on my hard drive and it's cross posted on Archive of Our Own (AO3) so you can always find it there.

So, next chapter... We're going north...

~~Eostian Scribe