The voice of the stranger immediately had the adventurers in the area on guard, with weapons drawn, not knowing where exactly the source of the voice was. There was a strong gust of wind and a group of three adults landed gracefully on the ground, each covered in a black form fitting robe and a white mask covering their faces, looked to be two men and a woman. The mask on the two men had a half sun symbol, while the woman’s had a full crescent moon.
The group was strong. Even without a core, it reminded me of the feeling of Selene’s aura when she released it. The group looked around at the area and saw the battle that had occurred. The two men without speaking a word, moved towards Gren and poured a small vial of a red potion into his mouth. After a few seconds, one of the men nodded to the woman as she looked intently at me.
I’m too tired to deal with this shit, and there’s no time we need to get my Mom to the cli-
Without speaking a word, she waved her hand and I felt the wind grab me and lift and pull me towards her direction. “Do not get in our way! My mother needs help NOW!” I yelled as I channel mana into my hands and imagine forcing a gust of wind out my hands. Spell-less mana is not efficient, but handy for niche situations like this. The currents blast out of my hands, and break the gust of wind carrying me and I fall to the ground.
My father looks ready to pounce, but is hesitant to do so with my mother in his arms. “Take care of Mom, I can handle this, Dad.” I tell him and he still looks worried.
The woman seemed to hesitate for a second as she looked like she was going to try again. “If I heal your mother and you, will you cooperate and answer our questions?” She said softly to me. Her voice was soft and serene, which was completely different to the ferocious aura she expressed, like a vicious tornado ready to ravage a town.
“How can I trust you? You randomly show up and start doing whatever you want, and even try to forcefully snatch me without a word? Now you think that I will let you close to my mother? For all I know you’re part of the bandits that hurt her!” My anger was overtaking the exhaustion. I keep trying to control my anger, but when I see my unconscious mother it starts to rise again.
The woman responded calmly, “We are not part of the bandits. If that was the case, you would all be dead already”. That… Was reasonable. She continued, “We have been sent by the capital to investigate the strange circumstances surrounding the bandits here. You are a child, and an unnaturally powerful one at that. While examining the forest, we saw your mother drop, and then a kid using not one, not two, but THREE elements at Tier 1 level and expertly dispatch three men, and tactically take out the fourth in a matter of minutes.”
This is not the attention I want. If they are part of the military, this will get annoying very fast, if not dangerous to my family.
I asked the woman, “Why do you want to heal my mother and I then? You could just forcefully have all of us comply and execute those who don’t comply”. She let out a small laugh and said, “We have the authority to do that, yes. But you’re an interesting child who fought his hardest to save his mother, even at your young age. You can think of it as a reward or a bribe to get your cooperation without a struggle if you’d like.” The adventurers looked stressed
“How will you heal my mother? What was that potion those men gave the crippled man, Gren?” I asked her once again, curious and distrustful as I have not heard of a healing potion or such besides water magic.
“The potions provide an internal healing effect, it works good for keeping a suspect alive but not fighting capable. No, I will personally use a Tier 6 Water spell called Goddess’s Cleanse on both of you. It can be considered excessive, and I hope this shows that I am being sincere in wanting to obtain your help without conflict.” She said and then hell broke loose.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“She’s a Tier 6 Mage?! One that has a dual affinity for Wind and Water magic too?” Chatter broke out among the adventurers, and I was conflicted and looked towards my father for help deciding. He considered for a second and then asked, “I am of course grateful if you’d heal my them. What do you need my son’s cooperation for however? He’s not an adventurer, and is only involved in this by chance. What help can he provide you?”.
I had not considered what they needed me for, and I’m sure it wasn’t because of this incident. Recruit a mage with multiple affinities while he was young?
“Selene asked me to watch over you while she was… Occupied in the Fae Courts, Lucian”. The familiar mental magic that Selene used with me appeared in my head.
I quickly responded back, “Selene sent you?! What happened, she made it sound like it would be a quick trip there and back. It’s been three years!”
“First, I will cast the spell on the two of them.” The masked woman held her arms out towards my mother and I, and chanted, “O’ Merciful Goddess, Grant these souls the cleansing power of your love and remove the impurities affecting them!” And a large amount of water mana gently covered both of our bodies and vanished inside of us.
Internally, the magic ran through what felt like the entire body, and any damage or wounds quickly bubbled and vanished. Truly the power of a Tier 6 spell. One day I will be able to do the same, and never be in a situation like this again.
This might be a side effect of the spell, but it even removed the blood from our clothing, and I had grown used to the feeling of being drenched in blood like I did as Callum, but now that it was gone… It felt uncomfortable. A mental muscle memory perhaps?
“Your son was involved in the incident, and will likely be able to remember better details than we can identify now that they have been.. Dealt with. We can match this information up and use it to easily tell when this.. Gren lies or speaks the truth.” She spoke to my father, who was focused on my mother’s face turning a healthy color, along with her breathing and nodded to the woman. “I understand, thank you very much for healing both of them. It is up to Lucian to cooperate, but I am sure he will do so as thanks.”
“Do you actually need help from me with this, Miss…?” I asked her
“No, but Selene wanted me to watch over your progress once I got here, and verify everything was okay and your core was not at risk of formation. You may call me Eveline, but publicly the name for me is Captain Eveline of the Sun and Moon Squad.”
“Of course, I will be happy to help with your investigation. Getting rid of these bandits is a benefit to us all.” I respond so everyone hears it.
“I don’t suppose you have some solution to not letting the adventurers leak my magical ability? Something tells me the city will not keep this a secret.”
“Don’t worry about that, the adventurers here will not remember the event that happened here. My two squadmates near them have already casted the spell. We’re not in the business of being seen, and remove traces of our visits when possible”.
“I understand, the best I have been able to do is replicate Selene’s mental magic into a one way communication, not able to make it go both ways like this one does.”
“You.. What?! You spoke with Selene once, and managed to create a version of the magic without being taught how mental magic works by her? Selene told me your potential was unmatched, but her title of little monster truly fits here.”
“Dad, you can take Mom home to rest, and she should hopefully wake up soon. I will go with them and return once I’m done helping them.” I tell my father, and he nods and says “Men, report back to Chairman Vincent and let him know the specialists are taking care of it. I’m taking my wife home and will be back once everything has been resolved here”.
The men grumbled about not being able to see any action, and moved to leave back to Seastrand. The two masked men look at Eveline and nod. I assume that means the spell has gone off without a hitch.
I go and kiss my mother on the forward and say, “I’ll be home soon, Mom. Get better and we can figure out dinner for a while while you rest”. Looking at my father, we both nod at each other, “I protected her while you were gone, now it’s your turn to keep her safe while I am gone, Dad.” I wink at him, and we both have a laugh as he sets off to take Mom home.
Eveline and the two men are waiting for me, and I approach them and give a small bow, “I apologize for my outburst earlier, and hope that it did not leave a bad impression of me. My name is Lucian Eldritch, and I am at your service”. All three looked amused by my polite show of manners.
The three of them took off their masks, and revealed their faces underneath. Eveline looked to be a young woman in her 20s, with medium length brown hair and green eyes. You’d think she was a gentle flower, if you did not see the turbulent storm in her eyes that screamed destruction. A gentle flower with thorns it is.
The two men turned out to be identical twins, both with short black hair and blue eyes. One of them smiled and spoke up, “Not to worry, little one. It was extremely manly of you to protect your mother from those bandits! My name is Owen, and this quiet brother of mine is Alex!” Alex looked at me, and nodded. Quiet type, my favorite kind of person.
“Alright, let’s head back to our office and go over the necessary details” Eveline says and waves her hand, and I feel a strong grasp of wind surround us and we lift off into the sky over the forest.