บท 205: 203: A Company of Fools: Red Wedding Anniversary II
"Before we do anything, I need food!" Bo grumbled as we reached the bottom of the stairs. He made a beeline towards one of the wait staff that was walking around with platters of finger food and tugged on his pants to get his attention.
"They're going to need more food…" I said to myself as I started after Bo only to be cut off by The Morgan.
"How dare you! Pretending you don't know who I am!" The Morgan snapped. I blinked a few times and then squinted at her.
"Sorry, you don't ring any bells." I said. It was deeply satisfying to see her puff up and turn red at my words. She pointed her nose to the ceiling and took on an air of superiority.
"I am The Morgan Paragon! I came to Andromeda and judged your class on Baset Paragon's behest! The fact you can't remember a Paragon coming to your class only shows a lack of manners and breeding." The Morgan snapped.
"Or how little of an impact you left on him." Bo said as he walked back over to me with a tray full of food balanced on one of his hands. Bo popped a small cheese dish into his mouth, then looked up at me. "Chase, who is this old lady?"
"OLD!" The Morgan snapped. I looked away to cover my smirk, but as I glanced around, I saw that we'd attracted a small crowd of people that were watching from a distance. A couple of them looked mortified at Bo's audacity while others looked amused.
"Apparently, she's a Paragon, and we've met." I said. Bo looked up at The Morgan and frowned.
"Were you volunteering at an old folks home?" Bo asked.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" The Morgan barked and started casting an enchantment spell sigil.
I channeled void attribute mana into my fingertips and snapped them. A wave of dark energy shot from my fingers and passed through her spell sigil, destroying most of it and destabilizing it. As the spell sigil shattered, she stumbled backward a bit from the shockwave.
"Oh…now I remember you. You're that old woman who kept claiming to be the world's foremost expert in the runic language but couldn't even make a spell from scratch." I said, curling my lip up at her.
"HOW DARE YOU!" She screamed. I bit my thumb and then started drawing runes on my forearm.
"NO HOW DARE YOU!" I snapped as I finished the runes and channeled mana into that arm. I started casting an enchantment spell sigil.
Two stone pillars shot up from the marble floor and clamped around her wrists before descending back into the ground and forcing her into a kneeling position. Which, given how tight her dress looked on her, it probably wasn't comfortable. She shriek and looked up at me in shock, then struggled to get free. She tried to cast a spell sigil, but the moment she did, it shattered.
"Don't even try to cast any spells. Those pillars have shadow attribute mana flowing through them. Every time you try and use mana or cast a spell, those will absorb them and feed me the mana." I said with a smirk.
"What?! Impossible!" The Morgan exclaimed, then tried to cast a spell sigil a few more times.
I could understand her disbelief. Before I learned all this new information about the runic language on that space station, I could never have crafted a spell like this before. I used complex runes that, before I didn't even understand, now they were second nature. 'Infuse', 'flow', 'link', 'drain', while they sound simple and basic now, I didn't understand that they were runes and attributes that weren't tied to elements but instead described what those attributes and elements did. My basic understanding of magic and the world was lacking.
"UNDO THIS NOW!" The Morgan demanded bearing her teeth at me. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I CAN HAVE DONE TO YOU?!"
"God's above! Why is it always threats with you, Paragons! How about I'm sorry for threatening to attack a child? Please forgive me Master Kingston, I promise I won't do it again?" I exclaimed. The Morgan glared at me.
"I would never allow myself to stoop so low as to apologize to an uncultured swine like you!" The Morgan growled.
"Hey! That's a new one!" Bo exclaimed, then popped another piece of food in his mouth.
"Considering you're on your knees right now, The Morgan, I hardly doubt you can stoop much lower." A voice said from the crowd that had gathered around us.
Bo and I turned and saw a man dress in a full quilt. He had long red hair down to his shoulders that had braids mixed into it and a short goatee that he kept trimmed.. A plethora of gold and solver rings adorned his fingers and expensive looking necklaces and brackets hung off his body. What struck me, though, was the rather simple looking circlet that he wore. It was bronze that seemed to clash with the rest of his jewelry.
"PRINCE LACHLAN!" The Morgan cried then bowed her head. The prince rolled his eyes at her, then turned to me.
"I'd never imagine I'd find my country's Paragon in such a sorry state…or that someone so young would be the one to put her in that state." The prince said. He glanced around for a moment, then up at The Pharaoh and royal family before setting his eyes on me. "Given the royal guards' lack of reaction and how our noble host is watching us, I'd say that he's enjoying this little show you're putting on."
I arched a brow at the prince and crossed my arms. The man looked to be in his mid thirties to early forties, meaning he was either the brother of the current King of Scotland or an uncle that was close to the throne. The fact that The Morgan willingly bowed her head and looked fearful said another about what the man was capable of.
"Can I help you?" I asked warily. The prince nodded and motioned to The Morgan.
"You can release this poor woman. It's obvious to me and everyone here that she is no match for you. It's not very gentlemanly for you to pick on a former Paragon like this." The prince said. The Morgan's eyes grew wide at his words, and he immediately started struggling to get out of the pillars that held her captive.
"Your majesty, wait! I'm not beaten! I am still worthy of being a paragon!" The Morgan yelled. The prince walked over to her and knelt down in front of her.
"Siobhan, you haven't been worthy for some time. A Paragon is a person who stands at the forefront of their chosen specialty. Yours is the runic language and spell craft. And here is a boy, just barely old enough to wonder from home able to not only read runes better than you, not only craft spells from scratch with his own blood, but also make enchanted items….can you do any of that?" Prince Lachlan asked. The Morgan gritted her teeth and then glared at me.
'Why is she getting so pissed off at me? All she had to do was leave me alone, and none of this would have happened.' I thought.
"Wait a second….you're only a prince. I thought only a ruler of a country could give or take away a Paragonship." Bo said, then popped another piece of food into his mouth. Prince Lachlan turned and smiled at Bo.
"You're right, little boy. However, if that ruler can…" Prince Lachlan paused and pulled a sealed letter from the purse-looking thing on his kilt and placed it in front of The Morgan. "...can empower someone in their stead to take away or give that title. This is a signed letter from his royal majesty, King Peter McGowan, giving me that authority."
"Oh snap!" Bo exclaimed. Prince Lachlan stood up and turned to face me with a broad smile.
"That letter also authorizes me to offer you the title of Paragon for the country of Scotland, Chase Kingston." Prince Lachlan added.
A collective gasp filled the room, and a hush fell over everyone nearby. All eyes turned to me, waiting to hear my reply. I didn't make them wait.
"Thanks, but no thanks." I said plainly, then snapped my fingers. The spell that restrained The Morgan was dispelled, and the stone pillars let go of her wrists before returning to the marble floor. Leaving them looking perfect as if nothing had happened.
"What?" Prince Lachlan asked, astounded.
"I don't want the title. Being a Paragon sounds like it took much of a hassle anyway." I said dismissively.
"Do you not understand what I am offering you? What being a Paragon would mean for you! It would mean the entire world would admit that you are the strongest or most knowledgeable in your chosen specialty! In Spell Craft and the Runic Language!" Prince Lachlan yelled.
"But…the runic language and spell craft isn't my chosen specialty." I said plainly and calmly. The entire ballroom went silent again.
"WHAAAAAAT!" a cacophonous echo of voice bellowed at once. I flinched and looked around me. There were hundreds of faces, all looking at me with disbelief.
"What? I mean, spell craft and enchanted item crafting are cool and all, but I'm not going to say that they're my specialty. They're more…fun hobbies I dabble in that make me money." I said.
Yet another hushed silence fell over the ballroom only this time it was quickly broken by The Morgan. She threw her head back and laughed loudly. At first, I was a little insulted until the laughter kept in and became loud and manic sounding.
"This is a joke, right? I've dedicated decades of my life to understanding the runic language and clawing my way to being known as the foremost expert of spell craft and the one person who knows more than me doesn't even claim it as his specialty! IT'S A FUCKING HOBBY!" She bellowed then jumped to her feet. "THE AUDACITY! THE DISRESPECT! STAR CRYSTAL BEARER OR NOT! YOUR VERY EXISTENCE IS AN AFFRONT TO RUNIC SCOLARS EVERYWHERE….!"
While The Morgan went on her rant I channeled mana into my void pocket enchanted ring and pulled out one of the rings that Jade had made. It was not enchanted but that suited my purposes perfectly. I then pulled out my scribing tools and closed the pocket.
I went to work scribing a few simple runes into the ring while The Morgan went on her rant. They were runes that I had scribed a few hundred times already since I opened the shop and was able to do them in a matter of seconds. I then took out my rhank pen and traced the runes, filling them and placing the pen back. I then closed the ring in my hands and channeled heat attribute mana into it and finished making the enchanted ring.
The entire time I was doing this The Morgan had been so involved in her rant that she didn't notice what I was doing till the end when I had started to put away my gear. However everyone else in the ballroom had noticed and were watching me intently. I held up the new enchanted ring to the light then tossed the ring to The Morgan.
"Take it, consolation prize for being second best." I said. The Morgan caught the ring then looked it over. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw the runes.
"You didn't! Just made an enchanted item that quickly! That easily!" She exclaimed then slipped the ring on her finger and channeled mana into casting a defensive spell sigil. A shield made of shadows formed onto her forearm and she let out a loud gasp.
"Shadra shield. May it shield you from the criticism that you will no doubt face in the coming days." I said with a smirk.
The Morgan did not react for several moments before she held the ring up in the air then stared laughing manically while looking at it with reverence. She then threw the ring down on the ground and fell to her knee then started slamming her fist into the marble floor.
"YOU MADE A ENCHANTED ITEM RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! WHILE I WAS TALKING AS IF IT WAS NOTHING! A HOBBY! CREATING NATIONAL GRADE TREASURES IS NOTHING MORE THAN A HOBBY TO YOU! WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING WITH THE LAST FIFTY YEARS OF MY LIFE!" She shrieked and then broke into maniacal laughter. "YOU'RE NOT HUMAN! YOU'RE NOT HUMAN! YOU'RE NOT HUMAN!"
She reached up and ran her hands through her hair while she laughed, now in the middle of a full mental breakdown. Looking down at her I suddenly felt a little sorry for her. As if hearing my thoughts Bo stood next to me and frowned.
"I think you overdid it Chase." Bo said.
"Yeaaaaaaaah…I think so too…."
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Hutexa_The_Djinn
Hutexa_The_Djinn World Fact: Paragons are often used as deterrents to prevent war, especially if the paragon's specialty is combat based. Not having a paragon is dangerous for small countries or countries with a lot of enemies. The killing of a Paragon by another Paragon can be seen as an act of war as a country can only have one Paragon.
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