Bab 4: 23
As we rode, I molded a slot for my phone on the 'gas tank' section of my bike and slotted it in, then had Sprite project a hologram from one of the small drones that I'd had flying overwatch for us. We picked up speed as Ruijerd grew more comfortable riding (and I was able to extend the range for my earth spells to create a road and the occasional bridge—seriously, the terrain here was awful) and I frowned as I watched our path veer around monsters—even when terrain prohibited line of sight. He's obviously detecting them somehow. I wonder if I can make a spell to do the same?
Still, it was irritating. I needed to see just how much danger we were in for myself and he was skirting around said danger. I left it alone the first few times he did it, but eventually I moved up beside him and asked.
"You're riding around monsters before we even get close enough to see them."
"It would be better to avoid them," was his short answer.
I shook my head. "No can do. We need to get a feel for the local monsters and what we're dealing with."
"You are children. There is no need for you to worry about it."
"I'm a King-level Elemental mage capable of silent casting and Advanced-level in Sword God and Water God styles. Eris is Advanced-level in both of those, if not close to Saint-level, and Intermediate-level in every element and healing magic." Only because I beat it into her head that she needed to be able to heal herself during or after a fight, in case she was ever in a situation where she had to act on her own. "I know the village is close so it's not a big deal right now, but later, we need to get some experience fighting actual monsters."
Ruijerd was silent as he considered it. Finally, he asked, "You wish to become warriors?"
"We already are. Untested, maybe, for the most part," I admitted, because I wouldn't actually call what I had done to rack up my count as any kind of test beyond one of will to survive, "but we've had training. Besides, I'm looking at this as an opportunity. We get to test those skills out on live targets. I'm sure you're a pretty powerful warrior if you're wandering around out here by yourself, but we don't want you to fight our battles for us. With us, as partners, certainly. But we're not going to be dead weight."
"Very well."
With that decided, I fell back closer to Eris. "What was that about?"
I turned and shot the redhead a smile. "Don't worry about it."
The Migurd village wasn't all that far from where we had fallen. A few klicks maybe, but most of that was up and down steep terrain, ravines, and so on. Even so, I'd built the bikes with rough terrain in mind (much rougher than the relatively smooth road I was making) and even at a low speed and going around enemies, they ate up ground much faster than if we had been hoofing it. We were rolling to a stop outside their gate within the hour, to a confused look from the blue haired guard. There were a dozen or so homes crowded inside a crude fence, with a little plot of tended land off to the side.
"Ruijerd, what in the world are you riding?" the man asked, eyeing the bikes. I say man because with Migurd, it was hard to tell. He didn't look any older than Roxy had.
The green-haired Superd dismounted his bike and popped the stand down as I'd taught him. "A magical tool for traveling. Do you remember the shooting star we saw fall last night? That was them."
"Uh huh," the man looked us over critically. Eris glared back, not taking kindly to being eyed up. "They look suspicious."
"They are victims of a magical disaster—"
"What did he say?" the redhead asked quietly from behind me.
"Don't worry about it. I'll explain later," I murmured back.
Sliding off my bike, I walked up to Ruijerd's side as he was glaring at the guard, reaching under my collar and pulling Roxy's necklace out of my shirt. "What do you mean, they look suspicious?"
"They just—" the guard stopped, his eyes swiveling to the trinket dangling around my neck. "You! Boy! Where did you get that?!"
"My old master. She told me if I ever found my way to the demon continent, I should be treated well if people saw it," I explained.
The man stared at it before asking, "What was the name of your master?"
Ruijerd was now eyeing the necklace as well—a necklace that closely resembled the one worn by the guard. "Perhaps this is a conversation best held with the chief, Rowin."
The now-named Rowin's eyes cut over to glare at Ruijerd before he sighed and closed his eyes. He was silent for several seconds and I blinked as I realized what it was he was doing. That's right, Roxy said they can communicate telepathically. It's why she left her village, because she couldn't. …Wonder how she'd react if I could figure out a spell version? Well, we have the bikes, so I could spend a day or two here observing to try and figure something out. It'd give me time to turn out a few more drones in the meantime.
With that in mind, I took hold of my mana and pushed outwards, trying to feel for anything abnormal. I had felt things with it before, especially recently—as though powerful mana were brushing against my own. All of the direct manipulation spells contained an element that I'd taken from earth spells and started using with them that allowed me to sense what I was doing. So I took it the next logical step and tried to feel out with my own mana, like a sixth sense. The result was… strange. A sort of static in the air. Like trying to listen to a radio with the tuner set to a dead station. Except the static came in bursts and I could pick out the direction each burst came from.
Yeah, may be on to something here.
"Rudeus, what are they saying?" Eris demanded again. "And why'd you show him your necklace?"
"They think we're suspicious. They've sent for the village chief."
Eris considered that for a moment before nodding. "Okay."
Not long after that, an oddly youthful looking bald man came walking out with a cane and the help of two young women who, again, looked around Roxy's age. And like not-quite clones of Roxy herself. Damn long-lived races. They're probably in their first century, at a guess, but he's got to be pushing one-eighty.
"These are the children?" the elder asked, aloud for our benefit.
"Yes," Rowin nodded. "And the boy speaks the Demon language. It's suspicious no matter how you look at it. Also," he gestured my way, "he has that necklace."
Moving closer, the elder Migurd eyed the necklace. He hummed quietly before smiling. "I see. I am the chief of this village, Rokkus."
"King-level Elemental mage Rudeus Greyrat, at your service. Nice to meet you," I nodded. Turning a considering look on Eris, I added, "This is my student, Eris Boreas Greyrat."
"Oh ho? And how old are you, Rudeus?"
"Ten," I answered, having an idea of here this was going.
Rokkus nodded and asked, "That level at your age? I find it hard to believe."
"And this was why I stuck with 'Saint-level' for so long," I muttered, shaking my head. Louder, I said, "Hard to believe or not, it's the truth, sir."
"He's lying. Ask him about the—!"
Rokkus held up a hand, cutting off Rowin. "Where did you get that pendant you're wearing, young man?"
"I'll tell you the same thing I told him. My former master and future wife."
The old man chuckled. "And what is this lady's name?"
"Roxy Migurdia."
Rowin went pale and wide eyed, spluttering as he stared at me. Rokkus, on the other hand, laughed out loud. From somewhere in the village, there came a high pitched 'squee!' Finally, Rowin pulled it together, but he seemed to be stuck somewhere between angry and anxious. "Roxy? My Roxy? Where is she now?"
"My Roxy," I countered immediately, "unless you're her father."
"I am her father!"
Well, it's plausible, given the aging thing. I nodded and added. "Still my Roxy, then."
"Over my dead body!" the man growled.
I grinned. "If that's what it'll take—"
Eris sighed before reaching over and slapping my arm. "I can't tell what you're saying but I know whatever it is, you're doing it to make him mad. Stop."
"Don't worry, I'll give you plenty of attention later," I promised, earning an annoyed look and a flush from the girl as she balled her hands into fists at her side. "But the adults are talking, so shush."
"Reincarnation bullshit," she grumbled, but quieted down.
Turning back to Rowin, I decided to stop fucking with him for the moment. "Last I heard—that is, last night—she was heading back into the Shirone Kingdom on the Central Continent to secure my maid and half-sister."
"She's still alive," Rowin whispered. "After twenty years, and not a word…"
"That is very welcome news." Rokkus reached out and patted Rowin on the shoulder. "Perhaps we should sit down? Come, let them in. Let's retire to my home."
We followed them inside and I frowned as I looked around. The place was, quite frankly, barely scraping by. There were less than twenty buildings, almost all of which looked like they were dug into the earth and then covered with a giant tortoise shell. The fence looked to be mostly made of monster bones. They had a garden, but it was filled with wilted plants, things that looked like weeds, a few scraggly herbs, and some kind of toothy flowers on the edge of the field that looked like they'd come straight from the Mushroom Kindgom.
Worse than the run down feeling was the absolute silence. I could partially attribute that to the low population—just a few women and girls, and very few men. I assumed most of the menfolk were out hunting or something, seeing as the women seemed to be doing the usual sort of 'women's work.' The other half of the silence equation must be the telepathy. I can see why Roxy left and never looked back. This place feels like it's got one foot in the grave already. It's creepy.
On the other hand, an entire village full of Roxy clones. Younger Roxy clones. Slightly older Roxy clones. Pregnant Roxy clones.
Urge to knock up my waifu rising…
We made our way into the elder's home where his two escorts left him. We were seated around his hearth, where a new woman soon joined us, introducing herself as Rokari—another Roxy clone, but this one sharing even more of my waifu's features. By some unspoken, but likely telepathic agreement, Rokkus went first. "What are you planning to do, now what you've found yourselves here?"
"Search for other Fittoa region survivors along the way to Wind Port, after we report in at Rikarisu to the Guild to register a mission for the same."
Stroking his beard, the old Migurd hummed quietly. "Forgive my saying this, but I don't think you quite realize what you're getting yourselves into. The trek is long and arduous. There are many dangers between here and Wind Port. On foot, it would take months of non-stop travel—much longer if you're trying to earn your way. And if you intend to branch out from that path to search for survivors, then it would surely take even longer. You could be looking at years, if you plan to search every village between here and there for survivors. I believe you may have some magical aptitude, but—"
"Rudeus is what he claims he is," Ruijerd interrupted.
Rokkus raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen proof of this?"
The Superd shook his head. "No. I have not seen him cast King-level magic. However, I have seen him demonstrate a skill with magic that I haven't seen since Laplace and things that not even Laplace himself created. If he says he is a King-level mage, I believe him."
"Putting that argument aside," I interjected, drawing the elder's scrutiny back to myself. "We're not traveling on foot. We came here on magical vehicles I made—the ones you saw at the gate. They're many times faster than a horse and never tire, so we can cover a lot of ground in a day. I have a tool that lets me see what's around us, so we can avoid monsters we can't deal with and turn every engagement we choose to take on into a surprise attack. And we're not going alone. Ruijerd has volunteered to escort us."
Elder Rokkus turned a disapproving look on Ruijerd. "And what purpose would that serve? You can't enter towns, can you?"
Sometimes, the wisest course of action was to simply shut your mouth and open your ears. I listened while the pair argued. Apparently, Ruijerd was feared enough that he had been run off from cities before by their garrisons. He was also stubborn enough that, if we went into one without him, he would either find a way to follow, or spy on us with the magical organ on his forehead and kill everything between him and us if we were threatened. Apparently, the man had some sort of soft spot for kids. He had actually met the Migurd tribe here by rescuing one of their kids from a monster attack and had been staying with them for the past five years.
As they spoke, I quietly translated for Eris, who watched the back and forth with a growing look of annoyance. "We can handle ourselves," she muttered.
Sensing a mutiny brewing, I reached over and laid a hand on her knee. She stilled, red eyes tracking down to my hand before coming back to my face. "I know that. You know that. They don't know that. As far as they're concerned, we're just two lost kids talking a big game and who are likely going to get themselves killed because we underestimated just how much danger we're in. I think the elder is trying to push for us to stay here."
Eris growled quietly and shook her head. "No!" she hissed, quietly but vehemently. "I need—we! We need to get back to Roa! Together."
"Agreed," I nodded, squeezing her knee gently. The elder said something that caught my attention and I perked up. "What's this about a goal?"
And so, I learned of Ruijerd's goal of clearing the name of the Superd race. Of the truth behind the betrayal of Laplace and his cursed spears gifted to the Superd. Of Ruijerd's murder of his entire family while under the influence of what sounded like a Berserk effect. How his son managed to break Ruijerd's cursed spear and free him from its influence. How he freed his remaining men and they fled, swearing vengeance on Laplace. His assisting of the heroes in the defeat of Laplace. And his subsequent ages of exile and isolation on the Demon Continent, broken up by the occasional good deed.
"Well," I said, when the Superd warrior finally wound down. "That's—I'll be honest here, that's all kinds of fucked up. I wouldn't even know where to begin repairing that reputation. I mean, it's hung around for hundreds of years past the actual events…"
"You don't have to do anything," Ruijerd denied.
"No, if you're helping us get home, then I'll try to help as I can. Give me a few days to think of something. We'll have to test whatever we come up with in Rikarisu…"
Putting that aside for now, I checked my phone. It was approaching noon, which meant it was still early where Roxy and Sylphie were. Sprite had by now generated a second clock readout displaying the local time in Fittoa, which confirmed that—and confirmed my guess that we were about twelve hours ahead. Pushing myself up to my feet, I cracked my back and stretched out. "Eris, are you hungry?" I asked the girl, earning a nod. Pulling off my bag, I passed it to her. "Here, you know what to look for."
"What about you?" the redhead asked, frowning.
"I'll be fine for now. I'm going to go take a walk. Get some air. I need some time to think."
As I turned to leave, Rokari called out, "Wait! What about Roxy?"
"We're twelve or so hours ahead of them, so she's sleeping right now. If you'll wait a few hours, I'll let you talk to her," I promised. Not giving them a chance to say more, I left the elder's hut and started walking. Pulling out my phone, I said, "Give me the view from the western drone."
The hologram popped up, showing a view of nothing but dark land lit only by the moon. At first, I thought I was looking at a wall or something, then the drone must have passed between the moon and its field of view and I caught sight of its shadow. The area below it was flat. Barren. Not a tree. Not a blade of grass. Just a bare patch of dirt.
No, wait. There, I squinted and the hologram zoomed in. There, I made out shapes in the dirt. The occasional partial wall. Even some grass, outlining square shapes where buildings had been. So the bare parts were occupied by buildings. Okay.
"Let me know when it gets light enough to see by unassisted there. Put the drone into a holding pattern over… over where Roa should be," I instructed.
"It already is, Master," Sprite answered quietly, and I winced.
"Okay. Survey the rest of the area then and we'll see how bad the damage is." I pocketed the phone and looked up as the hologram dispersed. I saw I had attracted some curious looks, but ignored them as I continued my walk, letting my mind wander.
Soon enough, I found my way to their little garden. Stepping inside the fenced in area, I knelt down and examined the plants. While some of them were looking particularly ragged, some looked like they were holding up better than the rest. Humming quietly, I put my hand to the ground and focused on the feedback I was getting from earth manipulation. Low on water. Poor nutrients. Deficient in everything else. Can't do anything about the microbial content, worms, and so on. Maybe the rest though…
Taking out the phone again, I waved it at the garden. "So, what are these?"
Sprite's answer was detailed, pulled straight from Roxy's book on the Demon Continent and its language, people, monsters, and plants. Thanks, Roxy.
Reaching out, I touched one and cast my diagnostic spell. Results came back filtered through Sprite as about what I expected: malnourished and barely holding on, even if these plants had been selectively bred to better handle the harsh environment. Picking off a few leaves and seeds from each of the different plants, I made my way out of the garden, to a bit of empty ground inside the fence.
Sitting down, I set the phone in my lap and the samples to the side as I focused on the earth ahead of me. I cast, turning over the soil and restoring a patch of ground a few square feet wide to something approaching healthy dirt and topsoil—all it was lacking was water and the biological components that made topsoil a small ecosystem. A quick water spell fixed at least that part of the problem and I had a serviceable section of soil. Taking one of the leaves, I planted it an inch into the ground and began playing around with healing magic. The Diagnostic spell to see what I was doing. Healing and Flesh Crafting to grow a new plant, using nutrients from the soil and water to speed its growth.
Plants were so much easier than animals, as it turned out. Much less likely to get cancer and the cellular structure was just simpler to manage. I could do things with plants that I wouldn't dare try on animals yet, outside of lab mice. Not until I either figured out my own method of doing it, or cracked whatever the hell broken method Sylphie used to combine my scientific approach with the 'just go more like hnng' school of casting.
Humming quietly, I considered what I was looking at. I could give them a larger garden, but the water issue is a permanent problem. I could modify the plants to survive better, grow faster, or produce more… but that would take lots of time experimenting that I don't have in the here and now. Transplanting and regeneration into new plants is the best I can do. The best possible advantage I could give them would be fixing their soil problem and giving them a better water source than a handful of mages.
That decided, I stood up and brushed my pants off. Moving over to the side of the plateau the village was situated on, I looked down the sloping rise of rocky terrain. Earth manipulation sent a rumble through the ground as I began flattening sections out into recessed terraces, connected by a series of steps, all the way to the bottom. Within each terrace, I turned over several feet deep worth of dirt, enriching it as best I could with what little I had to work with. Next, I made my way into the center of the village.
I ignored the crowd I had gathered as I found a nice open spot. Reaching down with water manipulation, I searched for water… and found it. It was deep, but it was there, and clean. Ground parted, shifting into a stone circle four feet wide that would be a well to store water. Fifty feet down, I bottomed out the well. Then, I created a pipe of stone, roughly six inches wide, down the side of the well and deeper into the ground, until it hit the water table, then a good fifty feet below the start of it just in case. I used water magic to begin drawing clean water up to fill the well from the pipe.
Next, I added a second pipe underground, connected to the well and running off towards my terraces with a simple stone lever to open or close it. Running the pipe underground, I brought it out above the terraces. Carefully elevated sections would slowly drain excess water towards the lower levels, which would then empty out below the village. Careful use of small stone structures would prevent topsoil runoff while allowing excess water to drain. The main pipe coming out of the mountain was elevated above each terrace and branched out into smaller pipes, each with small holes in their bottom, allowing gravity to draw water down and spray the field. The whole system of pipes, I supported with thick stone pillars. A check of the system at full pressure provided a decent, fairly even spray of water over every level of the terrace.
Once I was satisfied, I made my way back up to the well, where I summoned a magic stone from storage. Going to need to hunt for more of these soon.
Planting it somewhere the locals could reach, I enchanted it to pull up water from the ground, cast detoxification on it daily, and keep the water nice and cool. Finally, I capped off the well and added another pipe coming out (with another simple on/off lever), leading above to an open, covered basin big enough to hold a few gallons of water. I even made a few stone buckets (filled with hollow vacuum spaces to make them lighter) for them to use for drinking water.
Not quite satisfied, I made another pipe leading up to a raised reservoir, which I slapped a heating enchantment on—to be powered by the same magic stone that purified the water. Then, I ran pipes back down to a stone building, where I constructed a single communal bath, with a separate shower area and toilets. Waste water would be directed to a reclamation tank to be dried, purified, and the ammonia broken down so the nitrogen could be used in the dried remains as fertilizer.
I'd have to explain everything to them before I left, but it was all pretty simple to operate and shouldn't need to be maintained for years.
Essentially, I made in miniature the project Sauros, Phillip, and I had discussed but never started on beyond some research in Roa. Then, I went back to the newly created fields after collecting my samples and set about making more crops.
"Sprite, any matches for refugees that the drone's picked up?" I asked, taking out the phone so it could project the display while I worked. What I saw was both good and bad. There were several that she had found last night, but for every one near a village or city, another had been stranded in the middle of nowhere and confirmed killed, unless they were very lucky to be near an adventurer party at the time or Sprite got to them first and killed every threat in the vicinity. "Alright, plot me out a route for the least amount of travel time from here to Rikarisu, then out to Wind Port, stopping at every major village between here and there."
Can't just run out and get them all myself, though. That's definitely a job for the Guild. Once they're secured by adventurers, send them back to Fittoa by way of Wind Port. My options here are overland or building airships now.
If we go overland, have to provide some money for travel expenses, paying for adventurers to escort them the whole way too—better to send them in groups, then. And if they're making a long overland trek, this place is the very definition of a hostile environment. They're going to need shelter and water, at a minimum, along the way. Somewhere they can stop, give their guards a chance to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
What about rest stops? I could easily erect permanent structures that could hold up to pretty much anything this place can throw at it. I just proved that making wells is easy peasy with magic, so water's taken care of. I'll run out of magic stones long before I finish though, so I'd have to start hunting monsters and collecting them. While I'm at it, may as well see about planting a few vegetables or something for whoever gets there.
That is a lot of work. Versus just making an airship and flying to each village, picking them up, and going from there.
The problem with the airship approach is resources. Lack thereof. I don't have enough material processed in the bunker to do it. Trying to buy it would break the bank. That's just raw metals though. I don't have the monster cores necessary to power them. So I'd need to collect cores and metal if I wanted to build them.
…Could have Sprite do it? Make kill drones, have her hunt down and harvest bigger monsters for their parts. Excavation drones to find and process resources. But we're getting back into the power source bottleneck, meaning more kill drones. Ugh.
May actually be better to go the land route and build up my drone supply over time as I collect the resources for it, then build airships in Wind Port.
Thinking of the -bunker- storage vault reminded me that it was getting kind of full, and I was in a new land full of new critters and such. If I kill things and collect parts for later use, I'm going to want somewhere to put them. Bunker's getting kind of cluttered. Going to need to make a new one.
What better place than here, under a small mountain? What better time than now, when I had some time to do it? So, I dug into the side of the hill (away from the well) and set about constructing a second storage area almost identical to the first and marking it with Summoning/Sending markers so I could designate where I wanted to Send things.
When I finally finished, I made my way back up to the village. I found Ruijerd waiting nearby, sitting at the bottom of the nearest set of stairs. "Sorry, didn't mean to keep you waiting. Where's Eris?"
"She decided to take a nap shortly after you left." He stood and followed me as I made my way up.
I nodded. "Not surprised. The time difference is pretty big, so she's probably going to feel off for a few days."
"And yourself?"
Shrugging, I said, "I'll sleep tonight. It'll be easier to force a hard reset than trying to adapt over time. Come on, let's go wake her up. Roxy and Sylphie should be up by now. Or if not, close enough."
We reconvened in the elder's hut, rousing Eris from her nap and sitting down. "I heard you did us a great service, young Rudeus."
"Don't worry about it. I needed something to occupy my hands for a while so I could think, and it's something I wanted to try prototyping anyway, for later in our travels," I waved him off.
"At least let us pay for for the magic stone."
Sighing quietly, I shook my head. "Roxy is going to be my wife. That makes you family by extension. And you're in kind of a poor situation out here, so I'm not going to take what little you have for something that cost me nothing but time when you can't afford it."
With that decided, I took out my phone and set it on the floor in front of me. Eris scooted closer to my side to watch. Then, I had Sprite put in the call. Sylphie didn't answer, but Roxy picked up right away. "Rudy," she greeted, before her eyes trailed over her feed, moving over Eris before pausing. She went very still, her already pale face going even more so. "Rudy, behind you," she whispered.
"Hm?" I asked, looking behind me, to find Ruijerd sitting and watching. Turning back, I asked, "Him?"
Roxy nodded. "Superd."
"It's fine." Roxy's expression shifted from fear (likely for my and Eris' lives) to what I had come to know as her 'what the fuck, Rudy' face. She never actually said the words, but the emotion was clearly there from time to time. "This is Ruijerd—"
"Dead End," Roxy whispered again.
Ruijerd shifted uncomfortably where he sat. I sighed. "Roxy, play nice. He's going to be escorting us across the continent."
The bluenette considered me for a few moments. "You trust him?"
I made a so-so gesture with my hand. "He hasn't given me a reason not to and he seems like a decent guy. I'll give him a chance until he gives me a reason not to. Doubt he will, though. He may look tough, but Ruijerd there has a soft spot for kids."
"I see," the woman murmured, nodding to herself. Blue eyes flicked to Ruijerd before disregarding him entirely. "Has there been an update?"
"Sprite?" I asked, and the spirit projected a second hologram on both sides. The view was of a vast expanse of flat land, most of which was covered in grass, but some places were barren stretches of dirt—as I'd seen earlier.
"What's that?" Eris asked, pointing to one patch of dirt in particular.
Sprite answered before I could, overlaying the hologram with the map of the Fittoa region, stretching and adjusting it as needed to make roads and terrain features match up. The patch of dirt Eris had pointed out was covered by a drawing of a city. The label read: The Citadel of Roa. Then, just to illustrate the point, a transparent hologram of images taken of the city from previous drone flights overlaid the map—buildings lining up perfectly to square patches of dirt in the ground.
Eris' hand found mine and I felt the girl tremble, but her face remained a stern mask. "Okay. So Roa is gone. What about the rest of Fittoa?"
The feed panned out, showing more and more flat emptiness, little patches of dirt labeled as a village here and there. Buena Village was among them. Roxy's hand covered her mouth, her eyes moist at the corners. "No."
"Yeah," I sighed. "It stood to reason that everything at least out that far was affected. I've got some good news though. Sprite, bring up the survivors you found." The display of Roa was replaced by individual pictures of humans or small groups of humans, taken from altitude. "These were taken last night. We know people survived. We're going to try to get them home."
Roxy rubbed at her eyes, looking away from the feed. "I have a few contacts on the Demon Continent who may be willing to offer you assistance if you can track them down, but it's been years since we last spoke."
"Better than nothing," I shrugged. "As for money, is there an exchange rate between the currency here and Asuran gold?"
Roxy nodded. "There is. You can exchange it through the Guild."
"That takes care of money, then. Saves us from having to rely on shit jobs to make coin."
"You should use what funds you have on yourselves sparingly. They must last the entire journey. There are fees you have to pay in order to board ships and they will undoubtedly be expensive."
Sending my blue-haired former master a mischievous smile, I nodded along. "Yeah, probably wouldn't want to spend all of my ridiculous stacks of coin sitting in my underground storage."
Roxy nodded. "I will return to Shirone and visit the Adventurers' Guild there today to put in the search and rescue mission there, then secure Lilia and Aisha. After that… do you want me to search for your family? And where should I take them?"
"Paul can take care of himself. It's Zenith and Norn I'm worried about, since they're the only ones unaccounted for. But to be honest, there's not going to be much you can do on foot that can't be done faster by air. I'd say get down here as quick as you can and we can go from there. As for Lilia and Aisha… would you mind bringing them with you? I'd rather have them where I know they're safe as opposed to in some random city with no real means of providing for themselves. At least with you, they'll be mostly safe."
Shaking her head, the Migurd woman smiled. "I don't mind at all. Since we have confirmation of the fate of the Fittoa region, I think I'll head southeast and travel to Millis."
"Then I'll set up shop in Wind Port and we can meet up and take the rest of the journey together."
"Very we—"
"If you're going to be coming to the Demon Continent, why can't you visit your home?" an irritating voice interrupted, and I was abruptly reminded that we had no privacy—and in fact had an audience, in the form of Rokkus, Rowin, and Rokari.
Roxy frowned. "Father?"
"Yes! We're both here," Rokari called.
Roxy sighed quietly, her head drooping a bit. Rowin continued, "Well? When are you coming to visit? We haven't seen you in twenty years!"
"You can rotate the display on your end, Roxy. It picks up in a half-sphere, so…"
The bluenette nodded and reached out to touch her side of the hologram, turning it around until it stopped. "Hello mother, father."
Standing, I made my way over and handed Rokari the phone. "Here. Take a while and talk things out. I've got some things I need to see to in the meantime. Try not to keep her long, that was kind of important."
Rokari's eyes went wide as she realized the implication, before she turned and swatted her husband's shoulder. "Apologize for being rude!"
"What? No, I—" Rokari swatted him again. "I'm sorry. It's just…"
"Yeah, I get it. It's why I'm not mad. Just make it quick, because we've got more to discuss and I'd like to talk to Sylphie too. I can always just leave you a phone and you can talk with her later. This situation is time sensitive."
I left the elder's hut again as the Migurd began speaking with their wayward daughter for the first time in two decades. Eris and Ruijerd followed. "Is that to be our course of action, then?" the Superd asked.
"Hm?" I questioned, finding an empty spot to sit out by my new terraces. "Yeah, I think it'll work best."
"What about taking adventurer jobs?" Eris had that sulky look on her face that she got occasionally when I was denying her something she really wanted. Usually a new spell, when she hadn't mastered an old one yet.
I also knew that Eris loved Ghislaine's adventuring stories and one of the reasons she did so well in my lessons these days was that I catered them to her interest in adventuring. Moving from lessons to actual guild jobs in Roa had improved her mood and willingness to put forth effort to learn significantly. I didn't want to just take that away from her, but in the same breath, I saw it as a time waster here. Well, I suppose it wouldn't take too much time out of what we're doing, given that we have the bikes. As long as Sprite organizes everything properly and we don't stay too long in one place, we could pick up a few jobs, spend a few days in each town with a Guild office, spread the word that we're looking for survivors, and then move on.
Sending her a grin, I asked, "Did I ever say that wasn't part of the plan?"
"I thought, since we had money we could exchange, you wouldn't want to do it because you didn't need to…"
I rolled my eyes. "There are benefits to being an adventurer and you have to keep that stuff up to date, otherwise they revoke your membership. Namely, access to the Guild's resources. Besides, I want to collect some materials off of the local monsters, and what better way to do that than to get paid while doing it? I'm not saying we'll be spending a huge amount of time on it though. No more than a week in any large town with a Guild office, just to look for survivors while we're doing jobs."
Eris' eyes lit up at that. "You really mean it? No changing your mind after!"
"When have I ever changed my mind, once I've made it up?" I asked, earning a nod from the girl. "Now, I've got an airship to prototype. Hey Ruijerd?"
"Yes?" the man asked from where he was watching passively, seemingly content to follow along.
"Would you mind sparring with Eris? Don't want her to get rusty."
The man considered Eris for a moment. "Very well."
Eris smirked. "I can use magic, right?"
Ruijerd raised an eyebrow before nodding. "Let us spar. First without magic, then with. I will evaluate where you stand." Turning to look at me, he added, "We will be below the village."
I nodded, waving him off. "Yeah, go ahead. I'm not going anywhere."
Ruijerd and Eris left, and I sat down to work. Pulling metal out of the ground, I constructed a basic skeleton for a ship, then coated it with a thin layer of iron. "Okay, let's see if we can make you fly…"
As I worked, I extended my fledgling mana sense and listened to the telepathic chatter, with the hope that I could crack it before I left.
"Hey Sprite, going to need your help on this one. Think you can help me crack this telepathy problem?"
I was a bit surprised when the spirit materialized a full-sized avatar at my side. Normally, she stuck to chibi-sized avatars to fit inside a holo-call. The one time I'd seen it was when I asked her to help Phillip. Of course, that time she had been nude, before I'd asked her to put on some clothes.
I shouldn't have really been all that surprised that, like with the rest of her avatar, she seemed to mix and match elements from the women in my life. She wound up with short boots, mid-thigh stockings, a skirt that stopped just a couple of inches above the stockings (making for some delicious Absolute Territory), and a hoodie. The colors were all in a shade of off-white, trimmed in gold.
Sitting down beside me, the… woman, if I'm being fair, sent me a smile as she settled in to watch me work. "Of course, master." Smiling conspiratorially, she asked, "Do you think mistress Roxy will enjoy it?"
My lips quirked into a small smirk. "Probably. Pretty sure Sylphie would too. Eris is a maybe." Sending her a look from the side of my eye, I asked, "What about you?"
"We already share bonds, master. Would you tie me to yourself a third time? Your soul, your mana, and now your mind?"
I sent the spirit an amused look. "Maybe you're right. You're so nosy, I mean curious," the spirit pouted, "I doubt I'd be able to keep you from ferreting out everything I know the minute you have any kind of access. That is, if it even works like that. What I'm feeling seems more like… data packets than some sort of mind meld. Transmission of thoughts and maybe feelings without any read or write access from the other party to anything else. Otherwise, there'd be a lot more traffic."
"It could be," she nodded. "Why not both?" Raising an eyebrow, I hummed in question and she elaborated. "A 'data transmission' version of the spell similar to what the Migurd use and a 'mind meld' spell for more… intimate exchanges."
Considering the woman for a moment, I smiled. "Liked that idea, huh?" When she simply smiled, I gave a shrug. "Sure, why not? Could be fun. As long as we're safe about it, anyway. Don't want to accidentally break something or hurt someone. End up with some weird mixture of two people in two bodies, instead of the right person in each. Or some kind of body swap…"
"Your mind goes to the strangest potential failures, master," Sprite mused quietly. "Why can everything not simply turn out for the best?"
"Because that's not how the world works," I answered with a chuckle. "It's called Murphy's Law. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Usually in the most spectacular fashion."
Looking confused, the spirit asked, "Would that not fall into the realm of superstition? Or self-fulfilling prophecy? For instance, if you believe you can't cast silently—"
I groaned. "Then you won't be able to."
I can't believe I need my own lesson to Roxy turned around on me. Again. Maybe… I should reevaluate a few things for assumptions. And maybe I should have someone around to check my work on things, to make sure I'm not missing something—baking in potential failures because I made an assumption that seemed obvious to me. Well, that kind of is what I summoned her for—to help out.
Turning my attention to the small ship forming between my hands, I shook my head. "Thanks for the reminder, Sprite.
She said nothing, but she didn't really need to.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone