Chapter 38: The Results of Her 'Training'
Sam, Zutiria and I settle on a plan for the day.
First, I make us a light breakfast, as always, but Sam brings up a valid point that after a bit over a week of spending time with me the menu has gotten repetitive. I try to explain how I'm not a chef and we don't have the money to start buying lots of different food, but we all agree on one thing. The Guild is going to need a kitchen staff and a very well stocked larder when we're further along in our restoration efforts.
When I was young I was definitely spoiled by the kitchen workers- at least until Grandpa died. along with the rest of the Guild, started looking at me differently... but before all that, it was great. I got anything I ever asked for and as much of it as I wanted. I'd love to return to that era of culinary freedom, but kitchen staff isn't going to be super important until we have a lot more people. Especially when both of my girls consume about half as much as an ordinary person would now that they're on the effects of my semen...
Gods, I'm never going to get used to how weird that sounds.
After breakfast I sort out the new quests for myself. It's not that I don't trust Sam's judgment on picking them out, but the stack was a lot bigger than it's been in a while and it had me curious. I can quickly figure out the reason for the increased size of the pile. Many of the brand new quests are... morally questionable at best and downright illegal at worst, with the majority trending towards the latter. I think it's safe to say Abner came through and he's been rounding up each and every one of Dewhurst's myriad problems for us to solve.
The problem with that, though, is that it's specifically Dewhurst's problems. The vast majority of the new requests are blatantly illegal and they make no attempt whatsoever at hiding it. There are requests for just about every crime I've heard of in here as well as a couple of particularly vile new ones that no sane person could have possibly considered before.
Fucking hell, this was one of the TAMER requests,
'Capture Quest, 600G, bonus rewards including several pounds of delicious meat of promiscuous origin.
The pink catboy that's been wandering around the town for a while now... shaking his delectable ass like the cheapest of whores... bring him to me- leashed AND muzzled. I heard he ain't got an owner and the last of my pets is no longer with us as of yesterday. I have a lovely kennel prepared for him in my basement away from prying, judgmental eyes. I hope he likes milk because I have a lot of it to feed to him... Here kitty, kitty.
Client- Butcher Bludman'
Still, making steaks out of the only good person remaining in Dewhurst aside, this is a very good development.
When illegal acts are filtered out properly it leaves us with an extra ten quests more than we would usually have. Most of it is stuff I think Sam could handle, but... I'm not enthusiastic about the idea of sending Zutiria out alone on the streets of Dewhurst. At least not when crazed butchers are roaming the streets for new sources of meat. Something tells me she can't whack things very hard with that staff of hers and I already know can't defend herself reliably with her magic. Setting her new pet on them would probably be her only option...
We aren't doing any of these new quests today, anyway. I want Sam around for when we find out if my semen worked on Zutiria yet. The fact that she's less hungry than usual is promising but we need to make sure.
Carrying a stack of bronze ranked kill quests and a number of the usual fetch quests, the three of us head to the bright and grassy outskirts of Dewhurst.
It was hardly what I'd call a pleasant stroll, the villagers looked madder at me than ever before despite the fact that many of them submitted quests to the Guild. Rather than shirk like a feeble coward, though, today I glared unflinchingly back at anyone who dared give me such a look. It made quick work of them.
When we arrive at the meadow, the place is just as crawling with easy to kill monsters as always. It's a reassuring feeling. Like meeting up with an old friend you intend on slaughtering and turning in for gold. Not the best metaphor in the realms, sure, but I'm a Guild Master and not a poncy bard.
It's just afternoon and it's a typical day. Bright, sunny, the seemingly permanent drab grey overcast of Dewhurst is behind us so it actually feels nice to be outside.
I bring the girls towards a little bouncy blue slime and point at it, "You ready to do your thing, Zutiria?" I try my best to smile reassuringly and Sam pats the little mage on the back, hoping to pass along some of her can do attitude.
Just this morning Sam was concerned about pushing Zutiria too far but I assume she's trying to make peace with her friend's decision and encourage her. I'm still mixed on how I feel about it, myself, but I'm not going to stand in her way if she really wants to do it for my sake.
I just don't want to ever see her in a worse state than she was in last night if I can help it... and if it were my fault she got like that I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive myself.
Zutiria steps out ahead and clutches tightly onto her fancy, ornamental staff. 'Let's make this comparison easy, Sir. I'm going to try to do the same basic fire spell from yesterday, Burnhit.'
"Once more- with feeling!" I do my best to motivate her, but I'm worried I just came off as lame. It's hard to tell with her when she stares as blankly as she does.
Sam and I both step a good distance away from the Black Mage, leaving her side and letting her focus on the task at hand. There's no telling how much stronger she might end up and considering how terrifyingly strong her mana pressure already was... needless to say I felt that backing off a few paces was a good move just in case.
The little slime notices the Mage lifting her staff to point directly at it's target. It watches, unsure of what Zutiria's doing and studying her every move carefully. I can feel it in the air again. Perhaps I'm adjusting to the sensation or perhaps Zutiria is controlling the pressure, it's nowhere near as suffocating as it was yesterday.
A little ball of light sparks from the tip of her staff. Sam and I watch eagerly as Zutiria opens up her mouth and closes her eyes to find her center. Then, after a sharp inhale, she strikes. "B... urhnhit..." She whispers ever so quietly under her breath. She did it. She actually said the spell!
The ball of light grows into a roaring fire the size of a small boulder and launches straight toward the slime, exploding it on impact. The hard slime core falls to the grass below and the rest of it becomes a steamy mess in the air. Sam and I watch in awe, and end up hugging each other out of shared pride for our girl.
Then we both run out to meet her and throw her up into the air in celebration. We only pull it off once before Zutiria blushes and gets annoyed. 'Please stop.' She says, right back to her floating text. Ah well, baby steps and all that.
"You actually pulled it off...!" I still can't wipe the smile from my face.
"I didn't doubt you for a second, personally!" Sam's full of shit, but is honest about feeling good for Zutiria.
Zutiria is a lot like me, and she's not used to being the center of attention. 'I only did what I said I'd do... I tried. Nothing special in that.' She tries to be humble, but neither of us are having it.
"Come on. This is your first verbal spell in twenty-eight years right? I think a little bit of pride is excusable."
Zutiria looks to the side awkwardly. 'I suppose. Although there's no guarantee I'll be able to do it every time... and if you couldn't tell, the spell was much weaker than it was supposed to be- especially used by someone as powerful as myself. I couldn't raise my volume loudly enough to put more mana behind it. Really, I don't think that puny fireball was even 1/1000th of its full power...'
"Damn, Zuzu. You went from 'it was nothing' to 'you have yet to see my final form' in no time at all!" Sam bellows a rowdy laugh which makes Zutiria blush even further.
Zutiria's words bother me, though.
She makes me think back to the day before and remember how strong I could feel the oncoming spell was going to be. I'm... almost unsure if I would even want to witness a 'basic fire spell' at her full power. It already felt like it was going to burn down the entire meadow, and knowing she had even stronger spells in her magical arsenal was an even more terrifying thought.
After the initial test we also tried a version where Zutiria used a non-verbal version of Burnhit. While obviously much weaker than with its incantation, even this scaled down version was much more powerful than the hot take she produced yesterday.
This time it was about the size of a closed fist. It took roughly five shots to completely kill the slime but it certainly looked like Zutiria would at the very least be able to defend herself out on the streets of Dewhurst if she should ever need to. Good to know that my 'blessing' would power up her non-verbal spells as well since I'm sure earlier was an exception and not the norm.
The truth is I can't come along with these girls much further than the outskirts. I have a sneaking suspicion that my presence is what inspired Zutiria to be able to speak her incantation in the first place. If I'm not around I don't think she'll be able to cast them as easily... and there's no work around to that. We just need to keep working on her speech until she can say things confidently, no matter how long it takes.
I'm still very much afraid of letting my girls out into the wild on quests without my direct supervision, but thank the gods that's a bridge we don't need to cross for a while yet.
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PunishedKom
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