A Vulpine Spanner in the Works
Chapter 46: Kashia's School of Magecraft and Foxery
[Kashia]
Stepping out of the portal and onto the front steps of the golden palace, I turned around to see Lukrut, Tuare and Ninya, and Saizo follow soon after. Saizo looked unfazed due to likely already having seen this place before, but the others? All three of them looked around the area with astonished gazes, likely never having seen this much gold in one place before. I couldn't hide the smirk that grew on my face at their reactions.
"Well, what do you all think?" I asked, pulling their attention to me.
"I-Is that solid g-gold?" Lukrut was the first to respond. My smirk turned into a wide grin.
"Sure is, though it's really only a gold plating that covers a reinforced wall underneath. It's a little bit of the reason that I've never exactly been worried about money. After all, I can literally create gold or precious metals whenever I wish." I admitted without hesitation.
That was when Ninya piped up, "You could literally become the richest person in the entire kingdom if you just made a bunch of gold right now."
I gave Ninya an amused look, "Yes, if I wanted to crash the entire economy of the kingdom this instant. I have to be careful about making or handing out gold so as to not cause any unintended damages." I explained, earning an understanding nod from my kit.
"Even so, this is radically different compared to the 'humble' home you have now, my beautiful fox." Lukrut remarked.
This made me shrug, "Technically, I'm not the one who designed it. Trust me, I almost had a heart attack when I saw it for the first time myself. Still, it serves its purpose." I said before ushering my mate and kits to follow me, with Saizo following right next to Tuare with their hands and fingers entwined with Saizo trying to avoid my gaze. I was really going to have a lot of fun messing with him.
"Now," I said, "let's give you all a bit of a tour of the place since you're new to it, and the palace is a bit big." My attempt to try and downplay the size of this place did not work as my kits and mate gave me dry looks in response.
"A bit big?" Tuare snorted, making me sigh in defeat.
"Okay, very big." I corrected as I began walking slowly up the steps to the palace to give my family time to catch up. They quickly hurried after me until we were all walking in step together. As we drew closer to the front door, I didn't need to bother opening it myself as the doors opened by themselves to reveal the red-furred kitsune Tsuki. Instinctively, her four tails wagged happily at seeing us before Tsuki finally got them to stay still.
"I am pleased to see you return to your palace once again, your Highness. It is truly a wondrous occasion to also see the rest of your family accompanying you." Tsuki said with a bow in her fox form.
I smiled at the steward of my palace and gave her a nod in return, "Thank you for the kind words, Tsuki." Turning to my family, I then said, "It appears that introductions are in order. Lukrut, Tuare, and Ninya, let me introduce you to my palace's steward, Tsuki. She runs things here while I'm away and would be the one to go to if you have any questions about this place."
"Nice to meet you, Tsuki." Tuare said.
"Thank you for your kind words, Princess Tuare," Tsuki bowed to Tuare before turning to bow to me once more, "Princess Kashia. As you have all just arrived, would you like me to show you to the rooms you shall be staying in or would you prefer for me to give you a tour of the palace?"
"Sounds wonderful. Lead the way, Tsuki." I replied, earning another bow as Tsuki waited for us to get closer to her before she began leading us away into the palace. Upon entering into the main entrance, we were led to the throne room of the palace with the large jewel-encrusted throne at the end along with the pillars lining the room towards the throne.
"This is the throne room of the palace where her Highness would meet with guests or her subjects. Currently, I utilize it as a main hub to command and handle all necessary work in and around the palace while her Highness is away." From there, the tour began in earnest. While I already knew much about the throne room and the guest bedrooms, I found myself both surprised and impressed by all the other areas of the palace, which my copy had either premade or my subjects had assigned use of.
There was a craft room, a kitchen, an above ground storeroom and an underground version that was also next to numerous underground dens that some of my subjects preferred compared to rooms aboveground. The palace had a dining hall, a ballroom, a barracks, multiple studies, training rooms, a library. If there was a room necessary for a functioning castle, then it had been created. When we were shown the huge royal bedrooms of the palace, Lukrut and I shared a look as we would probably be christening that bed later tonight.
Really, the only three parts of the castle that weren't normal for a castle on Earth was the mage study, which was meant for creating and practicing spells, the alchemy room, and finally…
"And this is the Gate Room." Tsuki announced as we entered into a room. Upon entering I was greeted to a strong pressure of mana that all of us could feel, judging by the reactions my family made.
Examining the room, I found a few kitsune working on a large, but incomplete, archway made up of individually carved stones inscribed with magic runes. Each stone perfectly fitted onto the next stone to build up this archway, yet even with my knowledge of magic, I couldn't put together what exact sort of magical structure this would form into aside from being the eponymous gate.
The incomplete runes didn't help to paint a clear picture as the most my mind could figure was that the incomplete runes were made to transport something alongside runes that created stability, and runes that made 'two into one' if I understood them correctly.
Ninya was the first of my family to recover, though Saizo seemed unfazed, as she asked, "Why is there such a heavy concentration of mana in here? And why couldn't we feel it until we entered this room?"
"This, Princess Ninya, is what is known as a Realm Gate. They are one of the few devices that mortals are capable of creating which allows for a constant bridge between two differing realms of Yggdrasil." Tsuki answered, causing Ninya to cock her head in curiosity.
Realm Gates, weren't 'exactly' new to me. In YGGDRASIL, there were Realm Gates, like the one in mid-creation before us, that existed to allow Players without the spells or skills to traverse realms to be able to. They were one of the few methods to do this that were available besides certain NPCs, random pathways that could open or close by themselves, items, and specific locations. Though, every Realm Gate I ever saw in YGGDRASIL was extremely old and decrepit-looking.
Beyond that, there wasn't a skill or spell that allowed Players to create them. As such, Realm Gates were more relegated to set-dressing of the game. Though, I could understand the Devs of the game not giving Players the ability to make permanent gateways like this. Namely because of how likely Players would cluster entire realms with these things or utilize the Realm Gates to cheese the game harder than they already did.
But really, I think they just didn't want to deal with the programming and server hassle of all these gates popping up.
So, it's good to know that making these are fully possible.
"Are these made quite often?" Ninya asked.
Tsuki shook her head in response, "Rarely. Aside from the resource cost to create them, they require an immense amount of skill to create correctly. Realm Gates consist of two gates that superimpose upon the space of one another, making the two gates into one. As such, each gate has to mirror the other exactly. If there is one tiny difference between the two, be it a small chip in the stone of one or the mana imbued into each stone being slightly more or less than its counterpart, then the gates won't work. The time to create a Realm Gate is also a factor as they take years to produce.
There's also the amount of mana they produce which is highly noticeable to those specifically looking for it. As such, the other realm that is being connected to should be alerted about a Realm Gate being created beforehand, typically with treaties and agreements put into place, else it will be assumed that the Realm Gate is being made with hostile intentions. Since this realm lacks a divine authority aside from Princess Kashia, we won't have to worry about that. All that's needed to be done is to hide the gate's mana from all regular forms of detection, which is why the walls of this room are inscribed with spells and enchantments to muffle and hide mana."
Interesting to know.
Additionally, now that I thought about it, I should learn to make a full-time portal to mom's realm when I had the chance since it should be a lot simpler to do as a full goddess. Oh, and speaking of mom, I just realized that her paladin, Nero, was also relatively new to magic like Tuare was. I think it would be a good idea to invite him here and get a measure of his ability with spellwork since it wouldn't do for mom's paladin to have a lacking skill in magic.
I'll have to send a [Message] to Yamato about it a little later. And, a few of the kitsune in Elwuld knew teleportation magic, so they should be able to teleport the pair over here so that I won't need to.
With this in mind, my family and I followed Tsuki out of the room and into the hallway once more. "With this, I have shown most of the palace that is currently in use. Is there anything else that you might request of me, your Highness?" Tsuki asked.
I shook my head with a smile, "No, that is all that's required. You may go back to what you were doing before we arrived. I think I can take it from here." I answered, earning a bow from the red kitsune.
"Of course, your Highness. Please, feel free to call upon me for whatever you or the royal family might need." Tsuki said in reply, which a gave a nod of my head to. With that, she gracefully scampered off to continue her duties, leaving the five of us alone once more. Well, alone in the relative term since I knew that there were hidden guardians all around us at the moment.
With this, I turned back to my family, "Since we've had the entire tour, I feel that it's time we got to work." I stated as we were here in the palace for a reason. "Tuare, let's get you started on magic."
Tuare's eyes became wide and slightly excitable at hearing this. Guess my kit's a lot more thrilled about this than I expected. Then again, being taught how to conjure fire on command would probably seem pretty awesome to most people.
[Tuare]
Arriving at the mage study room that we had been shown earlier, I still found myself quite amazed at how I was about to learn about magic. This was going to be a completely new experience for me, but it would make me that much closer to Ninya and mom once I did learn more about casting magic.
Once we entered, mom led me to the middle of the room made up of a marble-like stone for its floor and walls with copper filigree spreading throughout it. Ninya followed after us, but Saizo and Lukrut stayed at the edge of the room to watch. Once we had arrived to a spot that mom felt satisfied with, she had us stop. Mom took a moment to examine me with a smile which I found myself returning.
"Alright, Tuare, how much do you know about magic? I just want to get a read on that much, at least." Mom asked.
Thinking about it, I answered, "Mages use mana available to cast spells. They also have a limited amount of mana that takes a day to recover. Also, that there are different Tiers of spells. I'm sorry that I don't know more than that."
Mom ruffled my hair and laughed, "No need to be sorry about what you don't know. It's why you're here, after all." She assured me, "You're correct on the basics, though. Spells require mana, and casters are limited by their pool of mana that they can channel each day. Well, most casters are." Mom added with a wink, causing me to giggle at the joke.
"There are three sources that casters channel mana through to cast spells. There's the innate source, which is the rarest, where a caster uses themself as a conduit to channel mana to cast their spells. These casters are usually sorcerers or beings innately tied to magic. Then, there's the worldly source, that's the most common, where a caster channels mana through their surroundings for spells, like wizards or druids. Finally, there's the external source, where a caster channels mana through a patron of some sort, like priests and paladins."
"What kind of caster would you be? Innate, right?" I questioned.
"I'm all three." Mom replied. The confusion must've been clear on my face as she added, "Primarily, I am an innate caster due to my heritage, but as I traveled and grew stronger, I learned other methods of casting. In addition to this, I am a goddess of magic at this point, so that pretty much makes all methods of magic casting as being in my authority."
"Makes sense." I said in understanding. "Is there any advantage for knowing any specific method of casting?"
"There are advantages and disadvantages for every method in comparison to the other. Internal casters are typically stronger and more destructive with their spells than the others, but it comes with the cost of losing versatility. External casters will always be the most unique in spells available to them, but the downside is that they will rarely be able to learn spells outside of their patron's purview. It also comes at the cost of being fully dependent upon your patron as you are merely borrowing their ability to cast spells.
Finally, worldly casters are the most well-rounded and versatile, but it comes at the cost of being a jack-of-all-trades master-of-none. Their spells will never be as bombastic as an internal caster's, and they lose out on unique spells because they aren't drawing upon another's power."
That's something I never thought of before, but it did make sense as to why I've never seen a priest cast something like a fireball before.
"Where does that leave me then?"
"As an innate caster due to your already highly magical nature from your body eventually becoming that of a kitsune." Mom answered, which I still found strange to believe, but I only had to take a glance at Ninya to confirm what I had been told. Aside from some changes, it didn't seem all that different from just being human. It would take some time to get used to, but I'm certain I could quickly adapt.
Actually, last night, Saizo and I both had a long talk with one another about the topic. One main benefit to this was how we wouldn't end up being separated because of me dying of old age. In fact, I wouldn't have to be separated from Ninya or mom either. We had forever to be together.
I liked that more than any potential power I might gain from the transformation. I've seen enough of my family die in such a short span of my life that I could stomach.
"With the basics of mana taken care of, we should have you get a feel on your mana so that you can start manipulating it. When you're able to do that, we'll go onto the basics of spell arrays."
"And how would I begin trying to manipulate mana? Is there some type of process for it or do I just mentally cause it to happen?" I questioned.
"Not everyone initially manipulates mana in the same way. For some, it just comes naturally as breathing. Other might need a little push to begin. For instance," mom looked over to Ninya, "how did you first learn to start manipulating mana?"
A little bit of nostalgia filled Ninya's eyes as she answered, "A traveling mage came by our village when I was younger, and I watched him cast a few spells. Somehow, it just sort of clicked together in my mind on what he was doing, and I figured out how to manipulate mana that same day."
I could also remember the day that Ninya was talking about. She was so excited the night it happened, and both our parents and I were extremely surprised when we saw tiny blue sparkles in her hands. Sadly, our original mom and dad didn't get to see any of Celicia-Ninya's further developments as the plague came a little later.
Mom turned back to me, "Ninya's Talent no doubt helped in that regard. As for you, a little help might be needed." She then put her hand to my stomach, and I felt a small clump of warmth gather in my body as she did so. The only equivalent I could think of was being next to a warm fire while out in the cold. In fact, it was remarkably similar to when a cluster of golden mana motes entered my body, just more concentrated now.
"Feel that?"
I instantly nodded, "Yeah. It feels so comfortable." I responded.
"That's good. It means your body is taking greater notice of mana within you. Now, I want you to concentrate on that exact feeling as I pull my hand away. If you can't hold that feeling the first time, then it's alright since we can just do it again." Mom consoled me and added, "Think of it like lighting tinder with flint and steel. Sometimes, it takes a few tries to get a spark."
Mom then pulled her hand away, and I tried to hold onto that feeling of warmth as the feeling died down from a fire, to a small flame, and then to an ember. I held onto that feeling for as long as I could until it finally snuffed out. Looking up to mom, I shook my head in disappointment, "I couldn't hold it."
"Then we just try again. I know you can do it, kiddo." Mom said in encouragement while putting her hand to my stomach again, reigniting that feeling of flame within my body once again. Once more, she pulled her hand away, and this time, I closed my eyes and tried to just hold that feeling once again.
The closest equivalent I could give was like trying to cup water in my hands as said water tried to wriggle between my fingers and escape from my grasp. A lot of this excess power escaped from the mental container I was trying to hold it in, but as it died down to a small fire, I was finally able to hold it in my grasp!
"I've got it!" I announced excitedly.
"Good job! Do you think you'll be able to recall that exact feeling if you let it go?" Mom asked.
"I'll try." I said while doing exactly that, letting that warmth go. Waiting a few moments, I mentally recalled that feeling of scooping up warmth and holding it. A pregnant pause occurred as I almost felt that I had failed to recreate my prior feat. But slowly I felt that warmth gather until I had grown it to the size I had before.
Mom grinned proudly, "I can feel that, Tuare. You're doing wonderfully. For our next exercise, we'll have you practice gathering and releasing your mana until it becomes instinctual for you."
"Okay." I said before letting the feeling go again until it fully dispersed, then starting again.
[Ninya]
"Since Tuare is going to be busy with her exercise for a while, we'll start with teaching you the basics of [Kitsune Illusion] since you won't always have me around to hide your furry bits." Mom told me, taking my attention off of Tuare who was intently focused on the activity of summoning and dismissing her mana.
"Really?" I said with enthusiasm, "How does it work? I've never really seen any spell array appear whenever you do it, so I've nothing to really base the spell on."
"That's because it's more of a mental manipulation of mana than a spell. The idea behind it is to cover your kitsune features in mana before almost changing those features into a similar form to mana. Then, you overlay human features over what is hidden with the mana-like substance your features have become." Mom explained for a moment.
Then, she decided to add, "An analogy for this would be to see your kitsune features as clay covering invisible sticks which are attached to you. The mana you use to cover your features could be seen as the water you use to wet the clay so that it can become easily moldable. When you mold this clay and change it to appear human, you still leave those invisible sticks behind which the clay will reform back onto once you stop adding water to said clay."
Mom's extra analogy did help to simplify the process, but it also was similar to a concept in a book I read about spell theory, "This sounds exceedingly close to the theory that the mage scholar Pramikus Malorn talked of. He theorized that everything, from people, to the ground we stand on, was made up of mana that could be manipulated and changed into anything else if one knew the correct spell array to do so."
An inquisitive look filled mom's face as she replied, "He isn't that off on the theory. Everything is technically made of energy taking form in one way or another. Mana is just energy that allows one to change reality based on a user's knowledge and power of it. [Kitsune Illusion] just allows us to transmute the mana of our highly magical forms to something else for a period of time. Did this Malorn get any further with his research on this subject?"
A wry grimace filled my face at the question, "Not exactly. While there were many theories he came up with, it was the one he tried the most to experiment on. From what the history books say, he attempted to try and apply this transmutation to himself so that he could become immortal. There wasn't even ash left behind after he vaporized himself." I answered while recalling the time I had learned about that when I had been in the Magician's Guild's library trying to study and become stronger.
To be honest, multiple historical records about magical theorists ended with them somehow killing or permanently harming themselves in imaginative ways. A lot vaporized themselves, some turned into grotesque monstrosities unable to stand or form coherent speech. There had even been Gavlin the Dauntless who turned himself into a crystal statue which resided in the capital's branch of the Magician's Guild.
Part of the issue with these mages is that most weren't the most sane and cautious individuals. The other issue just came down to very bad luck.
"Shame." Mom said with an expression of disappointment, "Either way, you are just doing a simple-enough transformation. It's one that comes naturally to kitsune that have worked with magic enough. You'll get it down pretty fast."
I gave her a raised brow, "I wasn't always a kitsune though." I pointed out.
"Don't worry, instinctually, you are a kitsune. Even then, I know that you'll figure out how to do it." Mom said in encouragement. "Just start simple and cover your tail, ears, eyes, and fangs with mana. You'll then try and infuse them with mana before attempting to shift it to a human appearance."
Hearing this, I slowly began covering my bestial features with mana until they were fully cloaked. Then, I tried to change my features, but looking at my tail, I saw that nothing had changed. "This is going to take a while." I remarked.
"We've got time, Ninya." Mom replied.
[Nero]
Day 39:
As we entered the lake palace after being teleported here by a kitsune named Homura, I found myself glancing over to Yamato as he padded alongside me. "Would you mind telling me the exact reason that I'm coming here for magic training instead of remaining in the village?" I asked. The gray kitsune glanced over to me before rolling his green eyes.
"The reason, Nero, is because her Highness is teaching one of her daughters the basics of magic and she has invited you to be taught as well. Because she is a goddess of magic, Princess Kashia knows more about magic than most everyone alive." Yamato replied, causing my brow to scrunch as I found a new question come to me.
"And why can't you just teach me magic like you've been teaching me combat?"
That earned a sigh from Yamato, "You should feel honored to even be receiving instruction from Princess Kashia. Besides this, compared to her Highness, learning the exact basics of magic from me would take much longer. I would prefer to hasten this process, wouldn't you?"
I smirked at hearing this, "Are you saying that you aren't a good magic teacher?" I teased the kitsune, getting an annoyed huff alongside another roll of Yamato's eyes.
"I understand the areas that I am slightly weak in. I am specialized in teaching you physical combat, combat-based magic, and paladin abilities. Teaching you the basics of magic would be a little difficult for me as I was more of a…prodigy at learning magic and combat in comparison to you, Nero. Showing you how to physically move and fight requires less guesswork than manipulating mana." Yamato answered before going silent once again.
"Right." I said with a minor bit of amusement. At the same time, I couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. Even though I had already met with Kashia before, it was still odd to consider that I was actually interacting with a former demigoddess-now goddess. But that didn't mean that I wasn't thankful for what she did to save my family and village.
Speaking of family, I knew that Kashia had adopted daughters, but I didn't know much beyond that. "Hey, Yamato? What do you know about these daughters of Kashia's?"
Yamato took a moment to consider the question before he answered, "Her Highness' adopted daughters are Tuare, who is her eldest that is a few years older than you and who you will be learning with; and Ninya, who is her youngest around your age who has been her Highness' student for a while now."
"And they're both human?" I asked, confirming what I could recall.
"…Yes." Yamato's answer earned a raised brow from me.
"You kinda hesitated right there." I pointed out.
"You will find out."
I didn't know if I should be worried about the answer that he gave or satisfied with it. And I doubt that he'd care to explain any further. Unfortunately, that just meant that I'd have to wait and see what would happen. Hopefully, it wasn't anything that was too surprising.
As we walked through the palace and into the throne room, I noticed that there weren't as many kitsune here as there had been last time. But that didn't mean the throne room was empty, because, aside from a kitsune here and there, I also saw the familiar face of Karin as the blue-haired woman approached us.
"Hey, kid! Good to see ya again, though I am a little surprised to see ya here at the palace." Karin said before stopping in front of Yamato and I. She then patted me on the shoulder while I chuckled.
"We literally saw each other three days ago." I remarked. Karin had come by the village four days prior to 'patrol' the area. Oddly this patrol of hers seemed to occur a lot around my family's home. Still, I did appreciate her stopping by to check on us. Karin even had dinner at our home that night. After that, she left the next day by being teleported. In fact, kitsune coming to and from Elwuld has become a pretty common occurrence at this point, either by traveling on foot or teleporting.
Surprisingly, some of these kitsune were even fully living in the village at this point like they were villagers. For instance, one kitsune that had made a home near my family's house named Genshiro was actually starting up his own farm. Well, I think it was a farm since it didn't look like any farm that I had ever seen before.
It was all being enclosed in this large building that he had been constructing from wooden frames and some type of glass-like material. Inside, it was warmed up by multiple brasiers filled with [Foxfire] that surrounded the tilled ground. More impressively Genshiro had managed to build the entire structure within two days. When I had asked about it, he called the structure a greenhouse that would allow crops to be grown throughout the upcoming winter.
All the farmers of the village were beyond amazed upon hearing about this. A few even asked if more of these structures could be made, which Genshiro said was possible if they requested it. At least the people of Elwuld had something to distract themselves with after all the horror that we had gone through. It would take a long while before we got back to any sense of normalcy, but we were getting there.
"Yeah, ya are right about that, but ya humans live such short lives compared to kitsune, so it's best to appreciate the time with my currently favorite human. Besides, most men would give their left arms to spend more time in my beautiful presence, so ya should be thankful, kid!" Karin boasted, earning a chuckle from me.
"Humble, much?" I teased back. "And what's this about me being your currently favorite human?"
"Nah, just being honest about my looks is all. And as for currently favorite, your little sister is really making strides in getting my favor with how adorable she is. Makes it hard to choose, kid." Karin replied with a grin.
"Fair enough." I agreed.
That got a laugh from Karin as she put her hands on her hips, "Now, while I'd love to believe that ya came here to be blessed by my lovely figure, I'll have to assume otherwise. What brings ya and Mr. Grumpy to the palace."
Yamato gave a slight grunt of annoyance at the nickname. Then, he spoke up, "I am bringing Nero to her Highness, Princess Kashia, to be taught the basics of magic alongside her daughter, Princess Tuare. If-" Yamato froze mid-sentence as he sniffed the air for a moment and then gave an exasperated groan. "Karin, would you please escort Nero to her Highness? I need to take care of something."
I gave Yamato a curious look, "What is so important that you need to take care of it right now?" I questioned.
Yamato was already padding away from us before answering over his shoulder, "An idiot."
My eyes made a questioning glance to Karin's. She snorted in amusement before answering, "Appears that Yammy found out his brother is here. It's for the best that we go the opposite direction he's heading, and lucky us, her Highness is in this direction." She started walking and I followed right after.
"Why is it best for us to get away? Does Yamato have some feud with his brother or something?"
Karin shook her head, "Not in the slightest. It's more of a clash of personalities. The two idiots, and we're including Yammy as an idiot, regardless of what he says otherwise, tend to show their brotherly affection in a…physically violent way. Their personalities are like oil and water, so one brother can usually do something that ticks off the other. No doubt, Yammy will definitely want to kill Saizo when they meet."
"How can you be so sure?"
A wry grin grew on Karin's lips, "Because Saizo has become romantically entangled with Princess Tuare while being her guardian. I couldn't care less about it, since Princess Kashia didn't kill him immediately, which means that she approved of the relationship. Unfortunately, Yamato is a bit of a stickler for duty, so he's going to see this as Saizo shirking his responsibilities."
"Should we be worried?" I asked cautiously. Karin ruffled my hair in reply.
"If neither has killed the other at this point in their centuries of living, then I'm really not worried." Karin said without worry.
"I guess I'll just have to trust you on that." I mused while still feeling a bit of worry for my teacher. Yamato wasn't the most personable person around, but I was steadily becoming attached to the serious fox. Hopefully, nothing too extreme would come from his meeting with Saizo.
Trying to take my attention off of my thoughts on Yamato, I asked, "So, do you know what Kashia's daughters are like?" Might as well find out now if I might be interacting with them for a while.
Karin seemed to put some thought into it before she replied, "Both girls are quite humble and very kind to others. While those are the similaries, they share quite a few difference. The older sister, Princess Tuare, is the more confident and outgoing of the pair. And, just like ya, kid, she is relatively new to using magic, so you'll be in the same boat of learning like her. As for Princess Ninya, she can be a bit unsure and shy at times. She also has a studious nature which, when combined with her natural talent as a mage, makes her pretty advanced compared to other mages."
"That's good to know. Thanks for the information." I said appreciatively.
"You're welcome, kid."
We exited the throne room and walked around the palace halls, making turns here and there. While Karin and I walked down the hallway to the room where Kashia was to be teaching her daughter and I, we turned a corner and I found myself crashing into a girl reading a book as she came out of a room. This caused her book to fall to the ground. "I'm so sorry! I should've paid attention to where I was going!" I apologized profusely as I leaned down and picked up a leatherbound tome with a blue flame design on the cover.
"It's alright. I could say the same about myself." The girl replied. Then, I stood back up and got a better look at the girl, allowing me to note that she was a kitsune, like almost everyone else in this palace. Though, unlike all of the other kitsune I've seen so far, she only had a single brunette tail. In addition to this, the girl appeared a lot younger than the other kitsune I've seen before.
Like her tail, she had long brunette hair tied into a ponytail and a matching pair of ears that stuck out from the top of her head. And just like the kitsune I've seen before, she had a pretty face. One thing that I found myself being drawn to were her literally glowing golden eyes filled with slitted pupils. As for her clothing, it consisted of a pair of boots, gloves, and a dress that were all a matching shade of green.
"Here you go." I said with a smile while holding out the book to the girl. She smiled and took the book back from me with a thankful nod.
"I appreciate it." She said with thanks before looking at me with a curious look and asking, "Odd to see another human around here. You wouldn't happen to be Nero, would you?"
Another human? Wait, Kashia's daughters were supposed to be human, so that would make sense. I'd probably be the third human here. "Yeah, I am. Though, I'm curious to hear you mention more humans here. Who are the other humans here besides Kashia's daughters and I?" I questioned.
"Currently, there's just Tuare, Lukrut, and now you." She answered, confusing me. It seemed like she picked up on my thoughts as she asked, "Is something on your mind?"
"Just a bit of confusion. Shouldn't there be four humans in the palace, since I heard that Kashia's younger daughter, Ninya, is also here?" As soon as she heard that, the girl giggled in amusement, and I heard a small snort of laughter coming from Karin, making me raise a brow at the action. "What's so funny?" I slowly asked while looking between the two.
Eventually, both Karin and the girl settled down, though Karin seemed to barely contain her laughter. That was when the girl replied, "You weren't exactly wrong, since I used to be human. That changed a couple of days ago, and I'm now kitsune."
"Wait! What?!" I found myself exclaiming in surprise before Karin burst out into another fit of laughter. Glancing over to Karin, I immediately asked, "Why didn't you tell me that?"
"Because I wanted to see the surprise on your face when ya found out!" Karin answered between fits of laughter as she patted me on the back. This only made me narrow my eyes at the kitsune.
"Ha ha, nice surprise." I shot back with a heavy dose of sarcasm. Quickly, I turned my gaze back to Ninya, "Sorry about any kind of insult I may have given to you, uh," recalling some of the etiquette lessons that Yamato had given me before we arrived, I quickly added, "Princess Ninya." An expression of embarrassment grew on the girl's face as she waved my apology away.
"No apology is necessary. You didn't know, so there is nothing to be sorry about." Ninya said with a reassuring smile as she tried to temper down her blush. "Also, you don't need to refer to me by any titles of royalty. It's still strange for me to hear the kitsune around the palace call me Princess or Highness."
That got a small chuckle from me while I nodded, "That's pretty agreeable. Truth be told, never in a million years did I ever think I'd get close to interacting with royalty. I came from a village on the outskirts of the Empire, so somehow talking with the Emperor was more like a funny little dream any of us from the village could imagine."
Ninya's tail seemed to flit to and fro behind her as she heard this. "I know the feeling. When I was little, the girls in my village would pretend to be princesses like in the fairy tales we'd hear. Never would've thought that I'd actually become one after being adopted by a goddess. Funny how that ended up happening."
"Yeah, it is." I agreed.
That was when Karin spoke up, "Princess Ninya, is your mother still with Princess Tuare in the training room?" Ninya nodded in reply.
"I was there a few minutes ago and they were both still there. I was just about to head back to them if you don't mind me tagging along?" Ninya answered. Karin and I shared a look before glancing back to the brunette mage and nodding.
I smirked and teasingly added, "How can we deny a princess' request? Besides, this is your family's palace, so I think that means you have free reign to do what you want here."
"I said that you didn't need to call me by any royal titles." Ninya stated with a hint of embarrassment.
"Well, my teacher will probably try to kill me if he finds out that I'm not being formal. Then again, with you being a princess, you could probably have me imprisoned or beheaded if I call you princess and upset you. Bit of a conundrum, isn't it?" I said while laughing, which got laughter from Ninya as well.
"Would it help if I made it an order?" Ninya joked back.
Thinking about it, that would certainly get Yamato off my back about etiquette. "Sure, why not?"
"Then, I hereby order you to just call me Ninya." The green-clad princess commanded in amusement.
"Okay, Ninya." I replied.
Karin snickered at this, "Okay, ya two, we probably shouldn't keep her Highness waiting any further." We nodded at the recommendation and followed Karin as she led us to the training room.
As we walked, a thought came to mind, "By the way, why were you in that room instead of with your mother and sister?" I asked Ninya.
"Using the toilet." My brow rose at the unfamiliar word.
"What?"
"It's something that's better than using a chamberpot." Ninya responded quickly as realization dawned on me. She was relieving herself…
"Oh." I thought aloud as I suddenly felt like an idiot. I was quiet the rest of the way to the room that I would be taught in. As we entered, I was surprised to see how different this room was to the hallway that we had just come from. It was covered in marble and copper, while in the center of the room, I saw Kashia standing next a blonde girl, a bit older than Ninya and I.
The blonde girl, I assumed to be Tuare, was concentrating on a creating a spell array, as Yamato called them. Yet, it seemed really basic as the circle was empty and seemed to slightly waver at certain sections until becoming smooth once again. "-et used to forming spell arrays before we start with trying to learn a basic spell." We overheard Kashia say.
It was after she said this that Kashia finally turned to look at us with a welcoming smile. "Good to see you again, Nero. And it seems that you've already met up with Ninya as well." Her golden eyes then flicked to Karin with a hint of surprise, "Though, I expected that Yamato was going to be with you."
"Yammy had to take care of something as soon as we got here, your Highness. He asked me to escort Nero to ya." The blue kitsune answered and then turned to me "Since I've dropped ya off, kid, I better get going back to work. I'll see ya later. Have a good day, your Highnesses."
"You as well, Karin." Once Kashia said that, Karin took it as her moment to leave and left us. By this point, Tuare had stopped her practice as was now intently studying me with a friendly expression as Ninya and I walked over to the pair. "Seems that introductions are in order. Girls, this is Nero, paladin of my mother. Nero, you've already met my youngest, Ninya," Kashia said while pointing to thee brunette girl, "so let me introduce you to my oldest, Tuare."
"Nice to meet you, Tuare." I said as friendly as I could.
"A pleasure as well, Nero. At least I'm not going to be the only one here who is relatively new to magic." Tuare replied. I gave an easy laugh at that.
"Well, I'm not completely new to magic since Inari gave me gave me this skill that allows me to coat my weapons in blue flame. But I'm not exactly even sure how it works, so I don't know if that really counts." I admitted before pulling out my sword and activating [Inari's Smite], coating the blade in blue flames until I quickly let it die down so as not to use up all my mana.
"That's still pretty new, Nero." Kashia said in amusement, "But no matter, you're in good hands here. From the way that you didn't have any issue summoning up mana, you appear to have a good grasp at moving said mana throughout your body. Has Yamato gone over forming mana into spell arrays with you?"
I shook my head, "No. He's mostly been trying to work on my physical skills alongside increasing my time limit with [Inari's Smite] by increasing my mana capacity." I answered.
"How's he going about doing that?" Kashia questioned.
"For the first few days, he was just having me use up all my mana for the day by keeping my skill continually activated. Then, he'd begin physical training with me. It's only been the past few days that Yamato's had me mix magic into my attacks during physical training. Though, he makes certain that I've used up all my mana before training ends." I said while recalling Yamato kicking my ass, even when I used magic in my attacks, while he just fought with a one-tail handicap.
"That's good for a start." Kashia remarked as her brows furrowed in thought. Then, she looked over to Ninya, "Do you use up all of your mana before the day's end?" Ninya looked slightly confused at the question before she shook her head.
"I don't that often. Magic users are taught to be highly conservative with our mana as we never know when we might need it." Ninya explained. "Mages who can't cast spells are typically useless in a fight, otherwise."
The blonde goddess gave an odd scrunched look at the girl, "That's a waste of mana, at least, it's a waste if you're somewhere you know is completely safe. It's a bit reasonable if you're out in the middle of the wilds at night and are uncertain on your safety. The three of you should try to expend all of your mana at the end of the day if you are able to.
Imagine your mana capacity like a muscle that needs to be trained to become stronger. This certainly explains why a lot of the mages in this realm seem to have such a low mana capacity. Mages here are all being excessively conservative on mana and have a narrow mindset on training. I'll have to look into this later." Kashia mused to herself at the end.
"Never thought of it like that." Ninya thought aloud as I pondered on how magic users were normally taught, if not the way Yamato, Kashia, and their people learned? I could only assume that it was just differences in cultures, alongside having two goddess of magic that heavily interacted with their subjects.
"Well, since you have become aware of it, I hope that all of you put it into practice." Kashia requested before walking over to me. "Now, have you ever tried emitting mana before without trying to activate your skill?" I shook my head at this, earning an understanding nod from the blonde, "Then, I want you to try and focus your mana out in front of yourself into an empty circle."
Cocking my head at the goddess, I asked, "How would I go about doing that?"
"By simply thinking it. You already do the same by sending mana to your hand to activate your skill. Just imagine doing something similar to this, except that instead of your hand, you want it in front of yourself in the form of an empty circle. It's as simple as that; just close your eyes, conjure up your mana, and think about where you want it to go. The rest will follow." Kashia explained.
Closing my eyes, I pictured the way that mana would flow in my body and through my arm whenever I activated [Inari's Smite]. Yet, this time, I didn't let it stay stay in my arm, and instead imagined it leaving my body as a circle that would hover in front of me. And, as I thought this, I felt a warmth exit my body before I could somehow feel it hover before me, almost like being connected by a thin line of string.
"Look at that, you're already well on your way to the beginnings of a spell array." Upon Kashia saying this, my eyes quickly opened to see the circle of blue mana that floated in front of me. Though, one thing I could make mention of, in comparison to Tuare's circle, is that mine seemed a lot more wobbly and unstable. "You'll have to work on tightening your control on forming spell arrays since spells need precision to cast them."
The blonde goddess held up her right hand and a wobbly circle like mine appeared in it. "When forming a spell array, an unstable array like this can lead to a spell not being cast, if it gets cast at all, or it being cast wrong, which could lead to horrible injuries. Compare it to this," she held up her left hand and formed a perfect blue ring of mana, "where the mana is perfectly contained and heavily mitigates any risks from failing to cast spells."
Tuare then spoke up, "Try not to be discouraged. It took me the entirety of yesterday to even form my spell array like this after figuring out how to manipulate mana." Glancing over to Tuare's example, it was relatively stable, with some slight wobbles every once in a while.
"That's encouraging to hear." I said optimistically. "Why does this have to be so much harder than just using my skill?" I pondered aloud.
"It's simply because your skill is channeling my mother's power to do all the work of forming the ability. All it needs from you is mana to power it. It's the equivalent to baking an entire loaf of bread yourself compared to just buying a loaf from the baker." Kashia explained in metaphor, helping me to fully understand the concept.
I found myself quickly chuckling at a thought, "Looks like I'm to have a career as a magical baker instead of as a paladin." That earned a smirk from Kashia.
"Then you'll need to start learning to make bread quickly, young baker." Kashia teased.
[Lukrut]
"Why does everything in this palace have to be so far apart?" I asked Saizo who was walking besides me as we made our way back to the training room.
"Because it wouldn't be a fancy palace if it wasn't a massive building, now would it?" Saizo replied, earning a laugh from me.
Earlier, when we had been watching the girls practice, the gray kitsune asked if I was up to grab some food for a few minutes. I agreed since it was something to do besides sitting around and waiting.
Maybe, I should find an empty room to have a few targets set up in? I'll have to ask Kashia or another kitsune about it.
Still, complaints aside, this was actually a fairly nice place to stay at. The food that Saizo and I had just had, given to us by one of the palace chefs named Teuchi, was amazingly good, just like the lunch and dinner we had yesterday. The staff of the palace were always helpful and could be called upon when asked. Oh, and the massive bedroom that just Kashia and I stayed in last night was large enough to be home to an entire family of commoners.
The bed was also amazing to sleep on, not that Kashia or I got much sleep last night.
My mind then flashed to the image of that flawed copy of myself. I had another nightmare of him ramming his fist through my chest before ripping out my heart. It felt so real, but I knew that it was only just a bad dream. Either way, I didn't get as much sleep as I'd have liked for today.
"Hey, Lukrut, you ever find it weird that we might end up as in-laws to each other?" Saizo suddenly mused, pulling me out of my thoughts and causing me to actually ponder the idea.
"That you might end up as my son-in-law even though you're probably centuries older than me?" I replied.
"Yes."
I gave him a side glance with a raised brow, "Not until you brought it up. Now, I doubt it's going to leave my mind for a while to come. Thanks for that." I said dryly as Saizo gave me a wry grin.
"Uh, you're welcome." The gray kitsune joked, earning a new set of chuckles from me. "Hey, at least there's some humor in the entire-shit!" Saizo suddenly said as he stopped where he was and looked ahead, a gaze I soon followed to find a gray kitsune in fox-form with seven tails and green eyes glaring at Saizo.
"Please, tell me what humor is in this situation, brother?" The kitsune growled out as he slowly padded over to us, more specifically, to Saizo.
Brother?! Who the hell was this guy?
"Hey, Yammy. It's, uh, been a little bit of time since we last saw each other." Saizo said awkwardly.
"It's been almost a month. And in that time, I just learn that you've become romantically entangled with one of her Highness' daughters instead of guarding her. I think I'm going to have to kill you." The fox named Yammy said as he got closer.
Saizo sighed at the threat, "Oh, brother of mine, I'll put my boot up your ass with the stick that's already residing there before you'll ever kill me." The humanoid kitsune retorted, "So, let's try to keep the potential damage to a minimum and avoid using skills and magic."
"Fine." Yammy answered.
"What's going on?" I asked.
Saizo looked over to me and replied, "Just a regular sibling disagreement between us." I gave the gray-haired kitsune a blank look.
"Right. How about, in the interest of preventing death or causing damage to the palace, you two don't try killing each other? I think that being in a relationship with Kashia should give me more than enough leeway to get both of you to not do that." I said in a mixture of recommendation and order.
That got a look from both Yammy and Saizo to me. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, then Yammy seemed to relent first, "As you wish, Prince-Consort." Yammy responded before glancing back to Saizo once again, "This isn't over, brother."
"No need to tell me, Yamato. We'll finish our chat later." Saizo shot back as Yamato gave an annoyed huff and seemed to stomp away." Once he was gone, Saizo spoke to me, "Mind if you keep what was said between my brother and I to yourself?"
"He did say that he planned to kill you, and, sibling or not, it sounded like a promise on his end." I said back.
Saizo shrugged, "We always say that we're going to kill each other. My brother and I are still alive after all these years, so it's gotta count for something. At least, I think so. Besides, I'll owe you a debt of gratitude if you keep quiet."
No doubt this was because he didn't want Tuare to worry, and he definitely didn't want Kashia to get involved."So long as you don't end up going missing one night with your brother still around, my lips are sealed." Also, I had no real measure on if sibling relationships like this were normal in kitsune society, so I'd be silent for now.
"You're a real pal, Lukrut." Saizo said while patting me warmly on the shoulder, "I promise that I'll pay you back for this in the future."
I smirked, "I'll hold you to it since I never know when a favor from a powerful kitsune might come in handy." Yeah, I could already think of a few good uses for a kitsune that could help me set up a surprise in the future for Kashia.
After all, with her hearing, sense of smell, and magic, trying to hide anything from her, like a surprise nameday celebration or a gift, was extremely difficult as a relatively normal human without any of that more complex magic that was beyond me. There's another thought. She has told me that her nameday's on the ninth day of the ninth month, so that would be coming up within a month.
Great, now I'll have to think of what to get for her…
[Later]
[Nero]
Rocketing up from where I slept, I was breathing heavily and covered in sweat. My thoughts were filled with the recollection of the nightmare I had tonight. Of watching mom die in my arms as Oletta and Grandpa were tortured. I've had similar nightmares like these every few nights that was shared with quite a few people in my village.
Doubt that I was going back to sleep for a while, so might as well take a walk and try to clear my head for a bit. That usually helped me go back to sleep. That, or I just did some nightly training to work on my swordplay. At least I'd be doing something useful since walking around a bit of the palace would help me get used to where everything was.
Pushing myself out of bed, I made my way through the darkened room, lit only by whatever moonlight seeped through the windows, and over to where my clothes were and threw a shirt on. Then, I stumbled to the door and opened it to the hallway lit by torches of [Foxfire].
Stepping onto the stonework in my bare feet, I picked a random direction and started walking down the hallways. Every once in a while, I'd pass by one of the kitsune patrolling the palace who would give me a nod before going on their way.
It felt doubtful that these kitsune were the only ones monitoring the area since, I'd sometimes get the sense that something was watching me, but I couldn't spot it once I began looking around. With that being the case, I opted to try and ignore the feeling so that I could continue walking in peace.
At least, I would have, if not for Ninya coming around the corner of the hallway up ahead, not particularly seeming that surprised to spot me. She also appeared like she had just gotten out of bed as well since she wore a green gown more fitting for sleepwear while her hair and fur seemed messier than last we saw each other.
"Surprised to see you awake at this time of night. Though, it doesn't seem that you're that surprised to see me." I commented.
Ninya gave me a tired grin, "Couldn't sleep. And I picked up your scent while walking around, so I thought I might as well try to practice using it." Ninya explained, reminding me of how she said she'd been human until only a couple days ago. So, a strong sense of smell was probably one of those changes.
"Looks like it worked since you found me." I said as Ninya and I stopped in front of each other. That was when I curiously asked, "Why's it that you can't sleep?" I noticed Ninya's smile seemed to drop as her tail slowly seemed to curl around her waist while her ears slightly lowered.
"Had a bad dream. Couldn't go back to sleep after that. You?" She returned as her tail began to uncurl itself. I could only guess that it was something that truly frightened her, not that I was much better.
"Same." I admitted, "Do you want to talk about it?" Ninya shook her head, making me shrug. It was understandable if she didn't want to talk about the subject, I know that I wasn't exactly comfortable bringing up the subject of my nightmare, "That's fine. I'm planning to continue exploring the palace if you're open to walk for a bit?"
"That's fine with me." And so, with a new traveling companion, Ninya and I trekked through the hallways once again. "So," Ninya piped up, "you're from the Baharuth?" I nodded, "What's your country like?"
"Not the best person to ask about that. I've grown up and lived my whole life in the village of Elwuld that bordered the northern section of the Tob. Being here, crossing through Tob and in this palace, is the furthest I've ever been away from home." I admitted, "Aside from that, village life was simple enough. We'd have our harvests and our wares that we'd sell to the city, along with any peddlers that came to the village proper. What's life like for you as a Reezy?"
"It started about the same as you, Ruthy." Ninya teased back, getting a chuckle from me, "I lived in the village of Sunreed with my sister for most of my life. The only difference is that I was learning what I could about magic or practicing it. It wasn't until over two years ago that I left Sunreed after Tuare, along with all the other girls that had reached their tenth nameday, were taken by Baron Baldric and sold off as slaves to Eight Fingers."
I found myself shocked to hear that. Tuare did not seem like someone who had gone through slavery. I've seen slaves a few times from some of the more wealthier traveling traders that visited Elwuld, and most of them seemed like the life had been drained out of them. Tuare, in comparison, seemed so happy and filled with that same life that other slaves had been lacking.
"After that, I left the village to become stronger and search for Tuare. I became an adventurer and eventually ended up living in E-Rantel looking for clues on my sister."
"At least you managed to find and reunite with her again." I commented, earning a smile from Ninya.
"And I'm thankful for it every day. What about you? Got any family?"
"My little sister, Oletta, and Grandpa." I answered.
"Older brother, huh? Sounds so much easier than being the younger sibling." Ninya remarked as I small grimace crossed my face.
"No way. It sounds easy at first, but I'm going to need to beat boys off of her with a stick or a sword when she gets older." I retorted.
Ninya glanced at me with a raised brow, "Sounds a bit overprotective."
"Nope. Not overprotective enough, especially with the guys I know in Elwuld." I stated without hesitation. "If anyone wants to be with my sister, then I am going to make sure that they match my expectations."
"Then I pray that your sister meets someone who meets your expectations quickly. Otherwise, there might be a lot of injured villagers in the future." Ninya said in amusement.
"So do I." I agreed.
For a while after this, we continued to talk with each other, trading stories of our lives in our villages until we both felt exhaustion coming over us. I enjoyed just having a normal conversation with someone else about random frivolous things. It grounded me, and it seemed that Ninya was appreciative of it as well.
"I think it's getting to that point where I'm about ready to go back to bed. We've got more training tomorrow, and I doubt your mom is going to allow a little sleep deprivation to get in the way of it." I commented with a yawn.
"Yeah, mom can definitely be a bit zealous in training others. I enjoyed the talk and company, it helped." Ninya said appreciatively.
"If you ever need someone to chat with during a case of insomnia, then you can try and find me since I'll probably be awake." I invited.
"Thanks, Nero. Same could be said about you to me." Said said before walking away from me, "See you in the morning."
"See you then."
[Prince Barbro]
Day 40:
We had made heavily hastened progress for multiple days, ever since the massive pillar of light had appeared upon the horizon. Dirty Baharuth tricks, most like. After all, they relied upon such gutless and cowardly things, like magic, to try and even measure up with my kingdom's esteemed calvary units. This could not stand as the worthless empire was obviously utilizing an intimidation tactic of some sort to try and demoralize my kingdom. As such, I had my mounted units press forwards at an increased pace ahead of the lesser foot soldiers.
Though, that by no means meant that they would be allowed to falter that far behind. The foot soldiers were given orders to maintain a jogging pace. If I had to guess, it would take them no less than a week to catch up to my calvary. It helped that the leaders of each of these peasant squads would be harshly punished if they couldn't catch up to the cavalry within my expected timeframe. Severe punishment was always good motivator for peasants as it seemed the best way to ensure that they obeyed their betters.
This change of pace had led to a few logistics changes as the supply wagons didn't have the ability to keep up with such speed of the calvary and had to be left behind with the foot soldiers. As such, each member of my calvary was carrying packs laden with enough food for both man and horse to make it to the destination. This was likely to expend more supplies than planned, but E-Rantel would be a good stop to resupply everything we would need and then some.
One good thing about this entire situation is that it would be a good way to blood any of the new recruits on Baharuth mages. But with the way that these Baharuth dogs were able to reach so deeply into my kingdom without being noticed, it made me suspect that E-Rantel and/or any of the villages near the border intentionally didn't report such an incursion by the Baharuth.
Likely traitors, the lot of them. Even if they weren't, it meant that they were so incompetent that they weren't even trying to defend my kingdom as they should. I'd likely have to do something drastic to get to the bottom of this.
For one; Lord Rettenmaier would need to be arrested and stripped of his titles. As ruler of E-Rantel, the kingdom's fortress city and first line of defense, he had been shirking his duties or betraying my kingdom. Secondly; I'd need to go to any of the border villages and root out any traitors or incompetence. Obviously, I would replace anyone needed with nobles who I knew were to my liking.
After this, I would continue with my original plan for Tob before finally meeting this 'Fox Princess'. Even though I received word early on that the capital's mages had been unable to dispel this sorceress' witchery on Alecto, that only meant that these mages were useless and should be removed from office and imprisoned. Obviously, this was just another mage assuming the title of her betters.
I've seen it before where some worthless mage gets it in their head that they can rule the world because they were able to conjure fire from their fingers. Such thoughts had to be culled and punished. Though, with tales of her beautiful appearance, I wondered if there was truth to these rumors? If so, perhaps I may even be merciful were she to apologize in a satisfying enough method.
I could only imagine it now. Were I to root out the Baharuth incursion, traitorous or incompetent vassals, and then establish a foothold in the Great Forest of Tob before subjugating the 'Fox Princess', then Father would have no choice but to name me his true heir.
After that, I'd need to have my brother killed as he's too much of a nuisance alive. So I'd just hire an assassin and let that be it. With that taken care of, I'd deal with Father as well if he doesn't die or abdicate soon enough. As for Renner, I would sell her off for a political alliance or just gift her to one of my close allies. I didn't need her useless whims for peasants to get in my way.
I have no idea as to why Father just allowed such ideas from her, and even enacted some of them?! For instance, what was wrong with slavery of peasants? They already devote their lives to the kingdom, so making them slaves wouldn't change much about it. Actually, it could only enhance our economy as the kingdom could actually just tax slaves openly instead of letting all of the money be traded under the table. Same with the drugs that were banned.
There might be some things that I didn't fully agree about with Hilma, but those two subjects were not any of them. Her arguments and talks about revitalizing both markets legally were highly convincing. What we need is more money, alongside troops. The best thing to do is hire mercenaries to die for the Re-Estize as a start. I'd try to hire them from the Baharuth to take away any mercenary bands they could use against us.
After that, I'd increase our conscriptions of the peasants as we need more troops, not food. Besides, if enough peasants died in the upcoming conflict, then we wouldn't have much of a food issue anymore as my kingdom wouldn't have as many mouths to feed. And then, I'd finally conscript the adventurers of the Adventurer's Guild. For too long have we had a fighting force at our fingertips and haven't used it!
They were residents of this kingdom, so they should use their skills to fight for it.
Things would change once I was in charge.
As I crested a hill with my soldiers, I was baffled at the sight of what seemed to be the beginnings of a settlement that was an absolute hive of activity as people could be seen moving about the area, with a few gazing over to my cavalry and I. A settlement like this should've been reported to the kingdom immediately!
Even more, it seemed to be in the same area as the origin of the Baharuth's intimidation display. This could only mean that these people were the beginnings of an invasion in the middle of the kingdom or they were aiding and abetting our enemies!
"Your Highness, what are your orders?" My commander, Ashton Baldric Carthil, asked as he raised the faceplate of his helmet. He was a noble son of the Carthil family which produced fine soldiers that have served the kingdom for generations.
"I, and ten of our best, shall meet with these peasants and get to the bottom of this. Should their answers prove unsatisfactory, we shall put this place to the sword. As we do this, have our units surround the settlement in preparation for my signal." I stated. Ashton gave his agreement and called out some names to the men behind us.
As he did so, I put my steed to a light trot as I had no true reason to fear the peasants up ahead. As prince of the kingdom, they would parley with me since I was being so kind as to even speak with them instead of putting them down to be done with this whole affair. If these peasants were smart, they should be coming out to bow before me.
Behind me, I could hear the hoofbeats of the riders who were accompanying me. Yet, ahead of me, two figures walked out from this settlement and approached us. One was a man with red hair streaked with blue who was garbed in robes reminiscent of a priest. The other was a veiled woman with red hair wearing a scandalous white dress. Was this woman a whore or concubine of some sort?
Once we grew close enough, I halted my horse and signaled for my men to do the same. "Greetings, riders. For what purpose does the illustrious army of the Re-Estize visit us?" The woman asked while giving a bow of her head to us. Why would the man next to her let this woman speak for him?
"I am Prince Barbro, your prince and heir to the Re-Estize Kingdom. I wish to know who you people are? What this settlement is doing here? And where the Baharuth mages that conjured that golden pillar have gone?" I commanded.
"Of course, Prince Barbro." The woman replied with a smile visible through her veil. What grabbed my attention for a moment was when the brim of the woman's conical hat briefly rose enough to catch what looked like a glowing gold in her eyes, "I am Priestess Evelyn Carthwright. Next to me is Priest Puraimu," said priest gave a nod of acknowledgement to me. What slightly incensed me was the way that both of these peasants didn't show me the groveling respect that I deserved.
That was already a black mark to them as obviously Baharuthian scum were unlikely to show me the proper treatment that Re-Estize nobility should be given. Perhaps it was due to them being so utterly shocked and surprised at my sudden appearance that they forgot such decorum?
"Currently, your Highness," The redheaded beauty began, pleasing me to hear that her senses had come back enough to recall how she should act around her prince, "this is a nameless collection of houses that have been built around the temple of the Fox Princess by her followers."
My eyes narrowed at hearing this name. This witch was already building up her forces within my kingdom instead of still residing in the forest! I can now effectively confirm that this witch planned to take my kingdom from me! I understood it now!
It all made so much sense as to why this fake goddess arrived just before the Baharuth and Re-Estize were to battle once again. Especially when this goddess enchanted Alecto to name a large number of nobles of the kingdom as being associates to Eight Fingers. This was all to sow chaos within the kingdom so that it would be unready!
"This place came to b-" I tired of being lied to by this peasant as I understood her game now. Deception of this nature could never escape my mind.
"Cease your prattling. You would dare try to deceive me, the prince of the Re-Estize?! I know of this bestial witch who claims to be a goddess! I also know of who her true masters are! Obviously, the Baharuth Empire are employing this witch to weaken the Re-Estize through a false faith alongside using magic to cow and intimidate the people of the Re-Estize!" I accused, knowing that these Baharuthian spies or traitors had been caught in the act!
The woman, obviously terrified, began to plead with me for leniency, "Please, your Highness, what deception are you talking about? I have not lie-"
"And now, you are creating this garrison of cowardly spellcasters to cut off E-Rantel in preparation for the Baharuth Empire's forces to invade, taking the city and region." I said while drawing out my sword and pointing it to the man and woman. "Bring out this witch immediately and you might survive this day, Baharuth scum!"
This was when the man stepped in front of the woman, shielding her. "Your…Highness, I believe that you are making a critical misjudgment. We are not affiliated with the Baharuth Empire. Please, let us discuss this peacefully and prevent any bloodshed." The man said with a deep gritted voice.
My eyes narrowed at how this peasant dared to accuse me of being wrong. Behind him, I could see the woman praying, as if the Four would ever deign to help her. "I command you to bring her out now, before I order my men to run this whole settlement down!" The peasant had the gall to try and glare at me.
Without receiving any response, I went to signal my men to attack until a golden light appeared before me.