Though I turned 15 on the 9th day of Noxtranus, the 11th month of the year, nearly another month and a half passed before my mother came to our little fort all by her lonesome.
Though the celebration was far more remarkable than anything I'd gone through thus far, not much happened after. On that day, a course of events transpired in ways that were similar to my fifth birthday. My father appeared at our compound to beckon me back to the estate. And after hours of feasting and festivities, the staff and my family all gathered around to give me gift after gift after gift.
From Ebbet, I received an unassuming bedroll that was nearly as soft and plush as the woobie Giorno made. An item that would remain with for as long as possible. Gerolt, on the other hand, gave me something that would probably not be used, at least by me: a bow and quiver that he purchased for a high price, coupled with a complete butcher's set. And then there were my father's gifts, which seemed to know no bounds.
First was a train that was completely identical to his. A seemingly useless thing to have once I left the Empire. But with my core awakening on the horizon, I couldn't help but feel excited as I dragged the massive machine into my shadow. His second gift was my very own boat. A yacht by all accounts. Though it was far smaller than the craft we rode to the mainlands on, it was still more than enough for the seven of us to ride comfortably in. His third and final gift was an absolutely monumental horde of coins he claimed to be my savings account. A trust fund, essentially. A pool of wealth my parents had been investing in since I was first conceived. In his words, the underground of these realms runs ever-deep; yet below that lies the Darkworld: a place so far beneath the surface, metals become as common as dirt. Because of that, what had been my daily allowance was only one one-hundredth of the money they'd been setting aside for me. And even that fraction had been rebated by my father.
It'd been years since I last checked my wallet. After spending so much on the mana wells, I needn't a reason to check it. Thus looking at it now was numbing to the mind. Even for royalty. Looking back, however, my income had been large from the start. Still, I couldn't help but retrace my second life and go through each and every transaction I've made thus far; not that there were many to begin with. At three, tenday weeks per month coupled with a daily allowance of 1,000 gold coins, my 'allowance' equated to 30,000 gold a month. The product of that and 13 months a year equated to an annual sum of 390,000 gold. Multiplying that by five years, until I was ten, brought my balance to around 1.95 million altogether. Reducing my three veteran vassal's pay of 3,900 gold a year, for five years, brought that down by 58,500 gold, equating to around 1.98 million. And after spending 600k on external wells, that went down to around 1.29 million. Another four years of paying my vassals with no allowance brought that down to about 1.23 million. More like 1.21, after making a few purchases here and there for the tinkerer's competition. The last year of allowance and paying five vassals finally brought my sum total back up to about 1.6 million.
Now, however, I received the first five years of my allowance, plus the other 99 parts he held on to. In short...
[Wallet: 549,819,600 G.C.]
I know the Empire was wealthy, but even that gave me a moment of surprise. As extensive as my father's gifts were, however, my mother had yet to give me anything. As such, I couldn't help but feel a little hopeful as I stepped out of the compound to meet her.
My vassals seemed surprised to find such an esteemed lady walking around the woods in the middle of the night. But I knew better than to think of what I assumed to be a quite old drow in such a light manner.
"Gather yours and Your Lord's things and return to the estate. The departure for the Iron Mountain is at dawn." She regally snapped, prompting them to rise from their knees and scramble back into the compound at once while my mother gestured me to her side.
While my mind moved at near lightspeed, I calmly stepped into line beside her and started on a slow trek back to the estate. 'Finally.' I grinned in euphoria at the thought of finally awakening my cores and putting the laundry list of spells I've imagined to the test.
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<> I sang. Then threw a bit of shade on the ground. <>
Much to my delight, she affectionately gushed over the wagon the moment I brought it out. I made sure to give credit where it was due and told her that Ed, the neurotic one, was the creator. She praised him for his efforts and me for having the insight to recruit such a skilled individual at a young age before settling inside and calming down; if only a bit. Her eyes wandered around the carriage, yet her focus remained on me. Almost... waiting for me to talk. So I decided now was as good a time as any to voice my theories to her.
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'How old are you, anyways?' I squinted at her.
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'That checks out.' I nodded, asking. <
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'One of them.' I scoffed to myself. <
In that instant, her poker face broke. It peeled back into a subtle and intent gaze that implicated that something had been confirmed by what I'd just said before reverting back to unbridled amiability the next instance. A shocking contradiction in relation to her actions. Wherein she calmly reached into the folds of her robe to withdraw a cylindrical object that was roughly the size of an empty toilet paper roll. Only made of a crystalline material that held back a thick soup of vibrant blue-white energy. Additionally, there was something I instantly recognized: a spider-shaped brooch. Imbued with the same thick mana as the Well. It was quite a dark surprise, considering my mother never wore anything of the sort. It was always silks and robes of the same purple moon color as her skin and eyes.
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My brow inquisitively raised at the sound of her words. Yet, I could say nothing as she held the Well up in my face and said. <
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<> I nodded, taking the potion. 'It's like a capacitor mixed with a compressor. Or...' <> I added, staring at her for confirmation and getting nothing in return. <<...compressing the mana within my well. Or expanding it. Or both.>> I shrugged.
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< < < < <> I sighed. <> She huffed. < < <> She nodded. < < <> She blankly blinked. <> 'Ah.' I nodded internally. 'So they don't worship Telin as he said. They just do his bidding.' <> I finally said. < < She paused as if she were waiting for some type of reaction on my part. I however was too engrossed in the story to feint any type of surprise. It wasn't as if she'd have believed my lies anyway. Instead, I could only ask questions. < < < < < 'Sounds like the buildup to a bad story.' I snorted internally before she continued. <> She wearily sighed. <> She wore a hopeful expression with those words. I mean, she probably has. 'I could only imagine why.' I internally shook my head, then turned to her again. < < 'Technology?' my ears perked up. < < < < < < "Hmm." I scratched my chin in contemplation. < <> Mother calmly shook her head. <> I reassured her with an open palm before bowing in thanks. < < < < < < < <> She sighed almost in relief, then motioned to stop the carriage and proceeded to disembark. Following a long, spine-popping hug, she pulled away to step off towards the woodline. Only to stop at the edge and turn to look over her shoulder. Looking closely, it wasn't hard to see a subtle quiver running down her spine, a sudden glaze in her eyes, and a noticeable wavering in her voice as she said. < <> I called after her fading afterimage. After a few moments of standing idly in the snowfall, I climbed back into the wagon and resumed the journey to the estate in silence, gathering my thoughts until well after Karu halted at the walls. My mind continued racing, even after my vassals arrived and we entered the estate to hear the elated greetings and comments from the staff regarding the upcoming ceremony. Unsurprisingly, my father was nowhere to be found. I highly doubted my mother's disappearance came from left field. But that didn't change the fact that the man obviously loved her, and was now heartbroken. Looking back at my own conversation with the deity, his mention of luck directly implied he'd be challenging me or assessing me in more ways than he described. In what way exactly, was my biggest guess. It could have been something as simple as changing the paradigm, something as cliche as killing my family, or something as predictable as placing millions of lives at risk for the sake of judging how I would react or perhaps test my morals. On the contrary, it could have all been an elaborate hoax to make me paranoid; or he could do nothing but watch and see what I'll do with absolute power. Considering his meddling with the elves, I couldn't help but think of my father and wonder if his love was due to Telin's influence as well. Unlikely as that seemed. It's been said time and time again that humans knew nothing of elven knowledge. But that was just that- hearsay. He could be a subconscious actor in Telin's play without even knowing it. Or, he could simply be another elder soul. A seed of consciousness that was as loving and caring as he'd been in every life he'd lived up to this point. Regardless of what was true, I couldn't exactly tell if I'd be sad or enraged if he were to die. And despite me being a bit saddened by her abrupt departure, such feelings were extended toward my mother as well. While they gave me a lot, I hadn't exactly spent a lot of time with them growing up. I've bonded the most with my vassals. Day in and day out. For a decade now at this point, we've trained, learned, and lived together. I could safely say I'd be veritably pissed if they were to meet an untimely demise. An inevitable effect of me personally training them, I supposed. But then again, it wasn't as if death would be the end for them. On the contrary, death was simply a new beginning.