The following day, an air superiority wizard in service knocks on the inn's door after he landed near the front door of the inn.
"Who's there?" Janick asks while looking through the peep hole.
"This is about the air superiority company. Our captain died last night in battle" the air superiority wizard (ASW) tells the bad news to the innkeeper's family.
I knew death tolls paid by air superiority wizards were high, Janick sighs before asking for more information from her comrade-in-arms. And she starts crying as well. It was due to happen at some point.
"Sir Chumzurk's funeral is held in three days, and our lord will give him a proper burial" the air superiority wizard tells them. "He also issues an invitation to the entire family of all air superiority wizards in service to attend his funeral"
"He died so suddenly, and he didn't have a succession plan for his command. Will our lord discuss the succession plan at some point?" a worried Janick starts wondering about the vacuum in the leadership.
"All the details of the succession plan, as well as of his death, will become clearer when the funeral comes.
The air superiority wizard on patrol tells them about the time and place of the funeral, which has the father worried about the inn and, in turn, whether it's feasible for him and the rest of the family to attend the funeral of Janick's captain as an ASW.
"I'm afraid I will have to decline this invitation; Janick will be the only one of our family attending" Janick's father answers his invitation.
"One more thing: will I be able to supply my own drinks?" Janick asks. "I might even sell our own drinks on-site after the funeral ends; I know people will use alcohol to wash their sorrows in it"
"I'm not sure, I'll check with our lord" the ASW on patrol answers her.
As the ASW takes off to follow a patrol route that takes him to the homes of other off-duty ASWs, Janick starts thinking of whether she can fly her broomstick with an empty underslung barrel and, if so, how will that affect the handling of the broomstick in flight. I know what that means: I will need to attend my commander's funeral in battle gear, she starts thinking about the amount of rope she deems necessary to have the barrel obtained from the miller securely fastened to her battle broom, or besom. It will take much longer by foot or by cart than on my besom. Even with an underslung barrel, which will slow me down some, but I'm going to get there faster on it nonetheless.
Speaking of besoms, their riders often attach standards at the rear, especially when the rider is on active duty. And ASWs prized mobility in besoms; after all, in an aerial battle, being able to dodge enemy attacks could mean the difference between life and death.
To test how much of a mobility loss she is incurring in flight with the empty underslung barrel, she waits at night to fasten it to the besom so she doesn't draw unwanted attention. Then she performs all the maneuvers she feels are expected from her in battle.
Of course, I wasn't going to be as fast as I would be without the underslung barrel, but I didn't seem to lose much in agility, she thinks while she lands with the broomstick shaft angled perpendicular to the ground. I think I can proceed that way two nights from now.
---------------------
And certainly Janick, before leaving Caladon on her besom, refills the inn's alcohol barrels with magic, feeling oddly relaxed after casting the spells.
Upon arriving at the lord's castle on the designated day, a flying carpet arrives with the body of Janick's former commanding officer and the remains of his broomstick as well as his weapon and armor. She can't help but feel a little down; as much as she was willing to accept that being an ASW is a dangerous job, she starts wondering whether she could have had prevented his death.
"I really wonder under what circumstances Sir Chumzurk's death occurred... maybe I could get over his death if I had a better idea of how he died!" Janick asks the carpet wizard.
"I wasn't there when he died, I was only hired by the lord to bring his body back here!" the carpet wizard answers her, clueless about it.
"Then who could? Another ASW on patrol in the area where his death occurred?" Janick's face starts to turn red.
Damn it... I guess, there is no one else I could ask until the ceremony starts and pray that at least some fragment of truth is revealed to the circumstances of his death! Janick seems to despair and wait until the arrival of other ASWs.
Obviously, there are preparations to tend to before the funeral proper could begin, and, of course, she believes it's inappropriate for her to interfere for etiquette reasons. As the other attendees trickle in from outside the castle, mostly family members of the ASWs, but also some others whom she recognized as carpet wizards, and their families thereof.
In the castle's grand hall, the attendees are assembled at the behest of their lord, and the funeral begins in earnest.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
"Today, we are assembled to mourn the memory of Sir Chumzurk, captain of the air superiority wizard company. His death occurred as he was leading an assault on a bandit stronghold at a border toll station" the priest celebrating the funeral rites starts talking about the generalities of Chumzurk's death.
"Ouch. The border toll station the priest is talking about is at a key junction and hence makes trade much more difficult from and to regions that can't be accessed by barge from here" the carpet wizard continues, realizing that carpet freight, while faster, is much more expensive for trade since carpets couldn't carry much more than a hand cart.
"Hence the critical nature of the assault leading to his death. We must retake the toll station since bandits are essentially blocking the road!" the lord announces. "However, that assault ended in failure, and there is one survivor here today"
"We need to do something about this toll station; our lord can't even guarantee safety of the roads on his own territory!" an angry attendee starts shouting.
After that phase of the funeral ceremony ends, the armor and weapon of the deceased ASW captain are stripped off his body; however, since the ASW's besom (normally besoms are about four to five feet long) is deemed beyond repair, its remains are put into the funeral pyre. Which is lit by the ASW who survived the assault. After the funeral pyre is lit, the other ASWs are assembled around it:
"There are some tactical details that were left unsaid about this failed assault. The ones that matter most to me include, for one, what types of magic the enemy used, if any, and also other information about the enemies remaining at the toll station" Janick asks the survivor of the failed assault on the toll station.
"The only remaining enemy is by far the most troublesome. It's a dragon and it's known as the electricity-stealing dragon for a reason: not only does that dragon steals unsuspecting adventurers passing through the region, it spits electricity to kill people" the surviving ASW answers her.
Oh boy: this means I mustn't wear metallic armor, nor wield metallic weapons. Which means my halberd is not going to cut it for this operation, Janick reflects on the implications of electricity magic for fighting the electricity-stealing dragon and hence retake the toll station.
The lord then convokes the ASWs for a meeting regarding specifically the succession of command for the ASWs at his service. The atmosphere might be a bit grim since, well, they lost Chumzurk in battle. As much as they accept these sorts of deaths as part of the harsh reality of serving as an air superiority wizard, or really, in the army in any capacity, their mood is a little down.
"Dear air superiority witches and wizards, this matter should be resolved quickly and quietly, but Sir Chumzurk's death left behind no clear chain of command. We have bigger issues, but I believe air superiority wizards are part of the solution. And yet, I don't want to leave the company under unproven hands" the lord harangues the ASWs.
"With all due respect, milord, we mustn't treat this as a punctual issue, especially given the high mortality rates of air superiority wizards in service" a male ASW points out.
The ASWs keep arguing about the specifics of a succession plan, knowing that they may very well be next, either to be called upon to lead the company or to die. Chumzurk died a little young and his children are too young to serve as ASWs, one of the ASWs starts thinking.
"For the time being, I propose Janick to lead the company" Seloniel, a female ASW, tells the assembly after a while of no one putting names forward.
"I might accept to entrust the command of the company to Janick, but the usual privileges of the position will not be bestowed upon her until the toll station is recaptured! We cannot afford these privileges until then" the lord decides on a temporary commander.
"What is obvious, though, is that no one here can recapture the toll station on their own. And because it's an electricity dragon we're dealing with, we can't approach within point-blank range, nor can we use metallic weapons or armor, so I don't think a direct clash would be of much help. However, what would cause the dragon to fall asleep? Killing it in its sleep is our only hope" Janick asks her comrades-in-arms.
"Also, Janick, would arrows be problematic against electricity magic?" another male ASW asks her.
"We need to raise money to properly supply an attempt to retake the toll station. Also, I needed to borrow money for the previous one, we need to repay these debts as well before we can think of a new attempt at recapturing the toll station" the lord raises another concern. "And we can't afford a large-scale expedition against it either"
"Using arrows with metallic heads wouldn't affect the archer loosing it if it was hit by electricity magic" the lone electricity wizard present answers them.
Electricity magic is the magical school of choice for precision strikes, yet the typical image people hold of wizards is them hurling fireballs. I assume this is the main reason why fire seems to be the most popular choice for would-be battle wizards of any kind, the electricity wizard thinks of why people seems to have all these questions regarding electricity magic.
"Now, I believe it can succeed with only a handful of people, but I guess going in unarmed and unarmored is going to be a problem. Maces with stone heads are best, but before we proceed any further, do we have any other volunteers for this operation?" Janick asks the other ASWs, believing that the size of the party will determine the financial burden of the operation.
"Me!" Seloniel decides to put herself forward since the others are simply terrified of having to fight what killed their previous commander.
"You two, Janick and Seloniel, will need to shoulder a greater share of the financial burden of this quest since you volunteered to go on it" the lord warns them. "You want to kill the electricity-stealing dragon, you should pay for it. However, I don't care how you earn the money"
"My liege, just tell us how much debt was incurred as a result of the previous attempt to retake the toll station and we'll decide whether the debt is worth assuming" Janick asks her liege lord before she can even think of the financial burden.
"You must assume that debt, too!" their lord orders them before turning to the others. "This session is over"
The usual privileges of being the captain of the air superiority wizards mean the privileges of knighthood, and the costs of paying one knight banneret because that's essentially what the position is from a financial standpoint, Janick thinks while the lord's words about his inability to pay for the privileges ring in her mind. Seloniel then meets with Janick right outside the keep.
"I'll just keep making metal tools, armor and arrowheads, just that I won't be shy about using magic to do so. There's a reason why popular jobs for fire wizards not on duty include blacksmithing or baking" Seloniel tells her.
"As for me, I can conjure alcohol and sell it on the market, I just need to know when market day is for given villages" Janick then picks up the underslung barrel, starts conjuring a barrel full of ale and sets up shop in the castle's courtyard.