章 23: Chapter 21

Standing in the same meeting room as I did months ago while planning the defense of this village was nice. Standing before me is Jaren and we have been catching up.

"It's good to see you, Jaren." I said.

"And you, my Lord." He replied, emphasizing the my Lord bit.

"Don't start, let's get to business shall we?" I said, getting serious.

"What would you like to know?" He replied.

"Where did these new people come from?" I asked.

"They came from neighboring villages that suffered from those bandits. Word spread of what you did. Some of the girls you brought back went home and well, they came back. There might be more coming still." He said.

"I see, as long as they don't cause any problems then it's fine. I want you to take a census as soon as possible." I commanded.

"What's a census?" He asked.

"I want to know who it is that comes here. Just take down their names, family size, things like that. The sooner the better. This will be done for everyone, and those to come in the future." I said.

"I will get on that." He replied.

"Now, I want you to get everyone settled. I will be heading out and won't be back for some time. Until then I leave you in charge." I said while rising to my feet.

"You're leaving already?" He asked while rising to his feet.

"Yes, while this village is nice, it's not in an ideal place. I will go out to seek a more, worthy location to be the seat of my house." I replied while walking to the door.

"I understand." He said.

I exited the room and got the attention of Gentle and Gunnar.

"You two stay here and hold the house down. Don't worry, I don't plan on having you play house for too long. I just need Ivar for this task, otherwise he would be the one to stay behind." I said.

"We'll alright, we can manage for a little while. But if someone gets on my nerves, I can't promise not to hurt them." Gentle said while folding his arms.

"Make sure that people understand that Jaren is in charge. Tell Brant the same, I'll see you later." I said before heading out.

Aela was nowhere to be found, so I decided to just leave with Ivar. Once we were out of sight of the village, Aela came out seemingly from behind a tree.

"You were going to leave without me?" She asked.

"I had told you we were leaving. I trusted you would be able to track us. Let's go, I don't want to waste daylight." I said and carried on.

"How are your studies going?" Ivar asked.

"They are going well, I have a general understanding of the basics." I replied.

"That's fast, have you attempted any spells?" He asked.

"No, I just want to develop my understanding a little more. Haven't you noticed that the magic of this world is rather lacking?" I asked.

"Indeed I have, I've been relying mostly on my own reserves as of late. Why, do you have a theory?" he asked.

"As you stated when we first arrived here, this is not Nirn. The sun and the stars are not tears in the fabric of reality. They seem rather mundane." I said.

"I too have come to the same conclusion." He replied.

"If that is the case, why does your magic regenerate?" I asked.

"I, I'm not sure." He replied.

"I think that whatever brought us here changed us in some way." I continued.

"How So?" He asked.

"Well, on Nirn magic was all around us. When we used it, it would become replenished in time. It wasn't ours however, we were just vessels that could store small quantities and channel it through our bodies." I said.

"Yes, I know this, it is common knowledge." He replied.

"It could be said that the energy we call magic, and those able to wield it, aren't one in the same, I think. What I'm trying to get at is, we should not be able to even use magic since that energy is not in this world." I finished.

"But it is in this world, can you not feel it? Sure it may not be abundant, but it's still here." Ivar protested.

"Yes, but this is not the same energy produced by Magnus and his Magnagi. This is not Nirn and there is no void where the magic leaks from." I countered.

"You have a point there." Ivar conceded.

"I believe we were changed to be able to produce magic on our own, while also being able to draw from the ambient magic in the world around us." I continued.

"I have already attempted to feel my own mana. What I found left me astonished." I added.

"Really, how much do you have?" He asked. I walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. Closing my eyes I sought to transfer my mana in a sense. Whatever I was doing seemed to have forced a reaction from Ivar because he cried out and jumped away from me.

"What?" I asked.

"How much power were you planning on flooding me with!?"

"I don't understand." I said.

"What are you two doing?" Aela asked as she turned to face us.

"Whatever you did sent wave after wave of mana into me. It felt as though I would drown." He explained while breathing heavily.

"I didn't know, I'm sorry. But why do I have so much mana?" I asked while thinking deeply. This character was no mage, I should have the bare minimum of mana.

"You're a Dragonborn, I'd imagine the Dragonborn to have massive amounts of mana." Aela said as if it was common sense.

We both looked at her in shock. Of course, I had completely forgotten. The game never used magic for the shouts. But if you think about it, the thu'um is indeed magical. And the Dragonborn is a rare and powerful being. It stands to reason that I would have massive magic reserves. So I was using magic this whole time? Interesting, very interesting.

"Can you two do this some other time? We are looking for a place to build our home." She said before turning and walking on.

Ivar and I looked at each other and nodded. We would continue this some other time. For now, we would focus on the task at hand. Although, I couldn't help the smile from my face. This just opened up a bunch of possibilities for me. And I couldn't wait to put my ideas to the test.