“What god is it that you worship, surface dweller?” The important looking ant person asked Arthur as he stood up from the table. Arthur paused and took a good look at her, now that he could get a good look without being rude he noticed that she was dressed in a very feminine yet opposing way and her voice was far more distinguishable from the other ant people. It was almost like she understood how humans viewed the world.

Arthur used this moment to think about all the gods that he knew of, but in truth he didn’t really resonate with any of them. The only name that he could recall that held significance to him was the name of Armok, and even then he didn’t even recall if this Armok was even a god. “I haven’t found one yet, but perhaps I will find a god that I can relate to.”

The important ant person remained silent at Arthur’s answer for quite some time as she thought about what to say, after several minutes of just standing there waiting she eventually spoke up again. “You have already been touched by a powerful god, but most importantly it is not one I am familiar with. When you are ready to discuss this you may return and speak with me in Lou Kata.”

The important ant person quickly stood up and walked off while being followed by another far smaller ant person that looked to be around five feet tall. Arthur was left confused by what she said and watched her as she walked away. Once she was out of sight he snapped back to reality from Decius tapping him on his shoulder.

“Hey, sir, are you alright? What did it say to you?” Arthur quickly turned his head to Decius and back to where he saw the ant person disappear. After looking for a few more seconds he eventually answered. “Something that I need to look into.”

Soon after everyone that made up the twelve person group was prepared to head out and return to the surface, mostly everyone was happy to leave excluding Arthur, he was still looking around for the important ant person who said he was ‘touched’ by a powerful god.

‘She must be some powerful religious figure down here, she must be the equivalent of a high priest or something. That spear she held alone was enough to prove she was important, but her words showed she was very wise.’

Soon the group left with Arthur in the lead, they followed the road back to the small village they considered to be a residential area. ‘This place must have been cleared out by the ant people from all the sick when the disease first took over. They likely knew about the entrance and wanted whoever came down it to avoid all the sick.’

Quickly the group entered the room at the base of the stairway and climbed up with a steady pace. With a half hour of walking they eventually reached the entrance and found ten guardsmen waiting in the basement for them, each held a spear and wore just as much armor as those who accompanied Arthur.

Detective Lyco was also there speaking with who Arthur assumed to be the highest ranking member of the squad. When they first noticed Arthur exiting they quickly pointed their spears towards him but quickly lowered them once they saw who he really was.

“Welcome back sir mage. What do you have to report?” Lyco asked as he quickly pulled up his small communication orb and contacted Captain Dio before putting her on a mode that allowed her to hear and see everyone in the room.

“We found a lot down there, a village and then a city both abandoned and their inhabitants likely killed off by a disease they called the pestilence.” Arthur said as he reached for the piles of documents tha detailed everything the dwarves that once lived down there knew about it. Detective Lyco quickly looked at the documents and frowned upon noticing he didn’t understand the language that was used.

“Those are written in the language that the dwarves who lived down there used, I don’t know what language it was but I suspect that you will need either a mage that can cast the Comprehend Language spell or a linguist who specializes in dwarven languages.”

“What about this disease that you all encountered down there? Should we be worried about an outbreak happening up here now that you have all returned?” Detective Lyco asked as he handed off the documents to another detective that arrived.

“No, that shouldn’t be a problem. The disease takes around a day to start showing symptoms in a patient from their observations. Admittedly they start quite small, but by the end of the day a victim will have paling skin and deep bags under their eyes. And as you can see none of us have any such symptoms, but if you like you can keep us under surveillance for the night.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary sir mage, I would be thankful if you came to my office and reported your findings with me in person however.” Captain Dio interrupted Detective Lyco as he was about to agree with Arthur’s suggestion.

“Very well Captain, I will be bringing you everything I found down there right away.” Arthur said as he quickly snatched the pile of documents from Detective Lyco’s hand and waved Decius to follow him. Decius looked a little confused but quickly followed behind and outside.

The sunlight almost blinded the duo as they exited the temple, it was well past noon by this point and the sun was preparing to set, yet the light almost blinded them from its sheer intensity. Clearly they had both spent far too much time below ground.

The duo slowly adapted to the light enough to navigate the city and find the western district barracks. When they entered the building they were happy to actually be able to see without squinting their eyes. “Captain Dio is expecting you in her office sir mage.” The secretary waved Arthur and Decius as she quickly turned back to her task at hand.

The duo quickly entered the room and found Captain Dio on a group call with the other district captains and the king's secretary. She quickly waved them over without taking her attention from the conversation that was currently ongoing.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“If you haven't found the perpetrators of this attack on the city then I highly doubt there is anything that can be done at this point captain. The people and the crown were expecting results, and so far there haven’t been any.” A male voice Arthur was unfamiliar with said in a depressed tone.

“To be fair, mister secretary that isn’t the case anymore. We have identified the location of where the werebeast that tore up part of the southern district was created and we have found a survivor of an attack on the location in question.” Captain Dio interrupted this voice who appeared as a well dressed middle aged man.

The conversation went silent after that for a moment before this voice spoke up again. “I would like to see and speak with this survivor if that is the case.” He was less formal and more direct as he spoke again, clearly he was anxious.

Captain Dio quickly waved Decius over to where she was sitting and had him stand within the communication orbs detection range. Decius stood tall as he looked at the four different people each split into their own section of the orb.

“Are you the survivor of this attack that we have been speaking of young man?” The king’s secretary asked as he looked over Decius. While this wasn’t what he was expecting he was thankful that there was actually someone who could speak about what happened.

“Yes I am sir.” Decius gave a small bow as he spoke.

“Good, then I along with the four Captains of the guard will have several questions that we will need to ask you regarding the attack you experienced not too long ago. I hope that will not be a problem for you.”

“It will not be sir.”

“Good. Now I must remind everyone here that this conversation is classified and you must remove anyone that doesn’t have the clearance level to hear this information. I will give you all a minute to do so, but I suggest you act quickly so we can get this over with for everyone's sake.” At this statement by the king's secretary Captain Dio waved Arthur out of the room, Arthur simply gave a nod and exited the room and closed the door behind himself.

Outside the room as he was walking past the secretary she stopped Arthur before he got too far. “Excuse me sir, I have something for you from Captain Dio.” She reached into her desk and pulled out a pouch containing several coins that clinked together as she handed it to Arthur. Arthur opened up the pouch and found five gold and ten silver coins contained within, he looked up to the secretary in surprise at the amount and wondered why he received it.

“The Captain told me to give that to you on your way out. She said something about a new law that was passed to prevent mages from interfering with legal proceedings, there was a loophole regarding payment that would allow mages to continue to do such work as long as they were regarded as private mercenaries as opposed to civilians.”

Arthur knew what she was speaking of, he recalled something about a new law being pushed by some of the wealthier and more questionable nobles. And it looks like they got what they wanted, but with a loophole slipped in to allow for people like himself to do what he already did just for a lot more money.

Arthur chuckled to himself as he imagined just how pissed off those nobles must be, they tried to stop any possibility that they might be exposed and instead got played. “Thank you miss, and have a nice day.” Arthur smiled as he turned to leave and so did the secretary.

Once outside Arthur placed the pouch full of coins in his bag and began walking towards the northern district, it had been around two days now since he had spoken with Henry and had any lessons with him. With the sudden windfall of money he should probably put it to good use by for example putting it towards his magical education.

********

Arthur stood outside the front door of Henry’s temple, he gave three good and loud knocks on them and was currently waiting for him to open them and allow him in. He could hear something moving around in there and out of curiosity Arthur put his ear up to the door right as the noises quieted down in hope of hearing something interesting. Suddenly as he was doing this the door began to open and Arthur looked up to see what appeared to be a blocky golem made entirely out of clay that matched him in height.

“Welcome, Arthur. Master, Henry, is currently busy at the moment, but you may wait inside until he is done.” The golem sounded almost like it was speaking with a limited set of words in a specific order. The way it emphasized names sounded like they were added in after by an inexperienced illusionist. Arthur did however notice that neither the mouth or head of the golem moved as it spoke, like it wasn’t even actually creating the sounds but was instead just spitting out scripted lines as it assembled them into something coherent.

“Very well, please show me the way.” Arthur answered as he stepped into the old church, the golem quickly closed the door behind him and locked it with a large wooden beam. As the golem did this a large amount of magic inscriptions suddenly became visible across the door and along part of the walls. Arthur was about to take a look when the golem spoke again. “This way please sir, Arthur.”

Arthur was a little annoyed by this interruption but quickly followed the golem up the stairs and up to Henry’s office space. As they entered the golem gestured towards the chair that Arthur always found himself sitting in when he arrived here for lessons with Henry.

“I will contact, master, Henry, and inform, him, of the situation.” The way the golem spoke was starting to make Arthur feel slightly uncomfortable, it wasn’t like a normal person speaking, it was weirdly exactly the same way he expected non-living things to speak, and yet that was part of the reason why he was unnerved by it.

After telling Arthur it would be contacting Henry the golem went silent and simply stood there off by the window as Arthur remained within the chair. Despite it not having any eyes, or any other identifiable orifices it still gave Arthur the feeling of being watched. Only after what felt like an hour of waiting did Henry enter the room and ending the torture Arthur was feeling.

“Ah, there you are Arthur. How have you been?” Henry smiled as he entered the room. With his off hand he waved the golem away and it exited through the door they all entered from.

“I’ve been alright sir, I was wondering if you were free for some more lessons aeromancy again today. I recently received some money and I am quite eager to continue with my magical education.” Arthur pulled out four silver coins from his bag as he spoke and placed them on the table. “I was hoping that we could do this a bit more often from now on since I now have some proper savings.”

Henry smiled and picked up the four silver coins. “Sure thing Arthur, I recently hit a roadblock myself with the project I am working on. It might be a good idea to slow down and think about something else for the time being, and I can help you out while I’m at it.” Henry chuckled and waved Arthur up off from the chair he was sitting in and directed him to stand in the open space he kept for Arthur closer to the door.

“I don’t see why we can’t move onto something a little more complex now that you have decent basics.”