Chapter 14
Down with the tyrant
“No problem, I will do it.” How unpleasantly stupid of me. I would like to go back in time and hit the ‘me’ who said that!
A few days ago, it occurred to me that was a major discrepancy between the Words of power I knew, and the one taught in The City, so I raised the subject with the Queen.
“I understand your chagrin, but the people's power and understanding are limited: I had to remove the knowledge to reduce the risks of accident. Gravity while useful, also poses a great threat when improperly used.” Was its answer.
It was right, even with my warning and the staff’s careful teaching, there have been quite a few people hurt practicing with this very Word. “I am sorry, I underestimated their recklessness.”
“It is not your fault, people were hurt, but considering how helpful the spell turned out to be in civil engineering, I fear I might have been acting overprotective.”
Since the Queen was not angry at me, I decided to stop beating around the bush and ask directly. “Is there a lexicon of all the words known in the Queendom? I have discovered a few I did not know, but I would love to know if there are more.”
It looked at me for a long moment, then told me. “I will let you consult the tomes, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you: it is mostly words you know but have faded out of memory due to difficulty with their use or redundancy.”
“I do not mind.” There has always been a lot of redundancies associated with the Word of power, I distinctly remember there used to be an encyclopedia on units of time and another just for temperature.
“I see… Oh, there is no urgency to it, but if you have time, can I ask you to reassess the threat and potential?”
“It is no problem.”
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I cast a spell to remove the air but my hard work continues to consume itself without flame. It is entirely my fault, all because I wanted to take a shortcut. I had to, even after a strict selection there still was well over ten thousand Words and I not possibly have written everything by hand.
In retrospect, my not-so-marvelous-idea-after-all idea to modify the carving spell into a writing spell was doomed to fail. When writing a spell down, it is customary to introduce minor flaws in the drawing as a measure against random activation… something my spell obviously did not do.
Again, I will say in my defense that writing a dictionary is a mind-numbing task and that I had long stopped thinking properly about what I was doing.
A knock on the door takes me out of my trance. How long have I been looking at the ashes of my work?
I open to the door and a royal knight salutes me. “My lord, I am here to take your measurements and inquire of your preferences for your armor.”
My lord? Since when did I become a lord? Oh well, as long as it takes me out of working on this ‘unpleasant’ dictionary for another minute I do not care about the whys.
“What do you need?” I ask in a happier tone than I would have liked.
“Could you please remove your armor and look at these designs? If any of them strike your fancy, or if you have an idea of your own, I will take note.”
While I remove my armor, I ask. “What do you mean by ‘my lord’?”
“Her Majesty appointed you as the grandmaster of the department of magic, sir.”
“I am already working all day long; I do not have time to add some administrative tasks!” Unless… Yes, if duty calls, I will have to stop working on the compendium.
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As he measures me, the Great Korok answers apologetically. “You will not be replacing the Master, my lord, Her Majesty is creating a new rank over his for you. Considering who and what you are, it would be unreasonable to expect you to accomplish such menial tasks.”
Who and what? “Wait a minute, does it mean I will be able to work after closing hours?”
“If that is your wish, sir.”
Take that Chief Janitor. I shall no longer suffer thy mindless tyranny! “When do I start?!”
“Once the armor is ready, there will be a public ceremony to induct you into office.”
“About those designs, are there any like yours?”
“Yes, my lord, her majesty recommended these two, they were derived from the royal guards and lord captain armors.”
“The Queen knows me well, I always liked these, ever since I first laid eyes on them... figuratively speaking. I would like one like yours, but I am not fond of gold. If possible, I would rather if mine was silver on black.”
“As you wish my lord, I will have the armor-smith start on it as soon as possible. Excuse me for disturbing you during your important work.”
“Do not worry about it!” In fact, do not go!
<><><>
“Master, make copies of this Enchant.”
I present him with the finished tool and he answers. “I am sorry my lord, we still cannot decipher the Words of Power once they have been inscribed.”
Was that why? I thought they were just being lazy. I take two sheets of paper from his desk and write down the spells I need.
He reads it and gulps loudly. “I do not understand the entirety of the spell, but… does it severe space?”
“Indeed, it is called an exclusion barrier and as you suspect it removes the content of normal space to create a nigh-indestructible barrier. The downsides are the consumption and the fact it can only be controlled from inside.”
“What about the people inside?”
“In the worst-case scenario they might get drained of all their mana, but that is unlikely since the spell should run out long before that.”
“It reminds me of an Enchant we have been unable to gain knowledge about for the longest time: we call it ‘the bag of holding’.”
“Never heard of it, what does it do?”
“In appearance, it is similar to a normal bag of about this side, but it can hold an almost unlimited volume.”
“Very interesting! How does it work?”
“As I have said, we do not know. In fact, we have been unable to remove what we put inside. It’s been in storage for decades.”
I do not see how something like that could exist. “Have it sent to my workshop; I will look into it when I have some time.”
<><><>
Why did I take upon yet another project when I am already pressed for time? At least there is no urgency with this one.
Maybe I should have someone else takes over the writing of the compendium. I already put annotations on my own copy, and I have written pages upon pages of notes… That is it, I will have someone take over writing the lexicon for me!
It is not all bad for the one doing the work either, they will learn a lot from it! I walk back to the management office to discuss the arrangement and on the way; I walk into the chief janitor.
“I will be staying late tonight.”
“As you wish, sir. I’ll make sure no one disturbs you! Since you have never stayed the night before, I would like to remind you that there is no fire security team at night and that you must inform the security personnel when you leave. “
That is it? I thought he would be more difficult about it. “What is a fire security team?”
“They are personnel trained to combat fires, raise awareness and reduce the risks. Even with our best efforts, there are still many fire hazards and unruly persons, and since we do not have the funds to hire a full team for the night, we’ve been forced to ban the use of workshops after dark.”
“I can take care of any fire by myself.” There are some useful spells, but most of the security staff have been either Korok or human. “I know a few useful spells for dealing with fire. I can have them taught to the staff and student and even have enchants made for you and your team.”
“That would be wonderful, sir. Early response is the best way to limit the damage!”
“It is alright. I am glad to be of help.”
I thought him a tyrant, but he was only working in other people’s interest and I was the one not following regulations – not that I ever cared if there were any and still do not see why they should also apply to me.
I leave the small Korok behind and enter the head administrator bureau. “Master, I would like to put a request for helpers. For the first task, I have laid down the groundwork for a new Word compendium but it is a waste of my time to write the actual book. Next, I have reached the limit of what I can do alone, I will take some apprentices but they will have to help with my work.” I get up to leave then remember my earlier promise. “I take a piece of paper and write various fire control spells. “They can be used extinguishing fires or prevent damage from heat, teach them to everyone and have a few Enchant made for the security team.”
“It will be done, sir!”
I am about to go again when I remember who I am dealing with. “Please, tell them not to light fires indoors… Also, some of these spells can become dangerous for people if used repeatedly… Also, tell them not to target people.”
That is about it for the risk, but I know from experience my warning will not do much good though.
I go back to my workshop: with some help, no curfew, and someone else in charge of the dictionary, I am sure I will be done awakening the remaining Children before the end of the week.