Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing this fine day?
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So here comes the next chapter of Destiny: Infernal!
Theres not much else to say here so uh eh.
Anyways, I hope that you enjoy reading it!
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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One hour later... - Castle Attic - Alice's Point Of View...
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"Fuhh.." I groaned both mentally and physically as I pushed another box of antiques out of the way."Mistress! You really shouldn't be... pushing things around." Francesca reminded me as I let out a massive sigh, my halberd floating beside me like the creepy weapon of life stealing it was.
"I don't see you or anyone else doing it for me." My reply was apparently somewhat stinging as the maid gulped."W-w-well, these are all priceless artefacts... for us lowborn peasants to lay h-." I sighed."If you don't want to work then get the hell out. The mayor, the appraisers, the herbalists and needlessly hired hands are more than enough people to help me with this."
"They are indeed more than enough to settle this matter alone, young mistress! You need not spend any more time in this.. dusty and infested attic." She countered with a grimace as I caught her wink towards one of the hired hands. The man nodded back with a greedy smile."Francesca..."
I spoke her name in a tone of annoyance and silent rage."Y-yes?!" She yelped at the tone of my voice, her adamant need to get me out of here seemingly receeding."Take yourself and your little boyfriends out of here before I have you all beheaded for thievery. You can tell the king whatever you want as for the reason why you were exiled from this place, but I sincerely doubt that he will believe you over me."
Her shaking form betrayed the outrage she felt, but knowing that she was in the wrong caused her to keep her mouth shut as she signaled several men and women alike to get out of the room, following behind them with a curt bow.
The witch sought to steal some of my treasures. How disgustingly convinient.
I was just about to look for ways to get rid of the Kings spy myself. Thankfully, there was no need for ... complications."That was rather splendid, your highness. Though we do have less manpower now..." The mayor complimented me with a bright smile upon his frame.
I let out a sigh."Thank you, mayor... In all honestly, the trade off might just be worth it. You there, start examining those dried herbs and cataloguing whatever alchemical potions you can find. If you can find out exactly what each potion is for then thats extra pay for you."
The herbalists, some of which were also alchemists, got excited at the prospect of earning more money and thus got to work."Appraisers and hired hands.. I know that theres a load and a half of boxes, plaques and chests which we have to rummage through and while I can't exactly promise you the same payment as the herbalists, I can promise you a divided share of the eventual profits. You see I intend to sell most, if not all of this crap, so the better you appraise it, the less artefacts get damaged from accidents, the more gold will eventually be in your pockets. However, anything you break, you buy, got that?"
A set of silent nods, several of which appeared slow and confident, were my answer as I turned my head back around."Milady, look here!"
Following the mayors voice, I came across a hidden treasure chest full of gold coins and had their gleaming light pierce the veil around my heart... untill I realized that they were ancient and rusted."Dhurrian coins?"
The mayor nodded, his formerly excited face now filled with dissappointment."Sadly yes... funny how gold coins can be worthless if they come from a nation of demons, no? Still, they're made out of ... mostly gold. If we were to smelt them, it'd still be a big profit, although not nearly as much as this entire chest would otherwise provide."
Originally, demon coins or not the Dhurrian gold was as usable as any other form of money within the three kingdoms... but one greedy king saw how the chosen heroes of the past were using said coins to purchase whatever they needed within his country. This influx of a new and, to him as a merchant, rather unwanted currency caused the king to bribe the Church to proclaim the coins cursed and vile, making them about as worthless as stones.
Naturally, the money wasn't cursed and it was all happily moved to the kings treasury, where it was melted and replaced with about half of its worth as normal Clausian gold. Most of the nobility see this event as something shrewd... but I just think of it as a waste of money.
He could've had the church *bless* the money and *purify* its taint, taken it all for even greater value as it was now blessed money and given half of it to the church. The heroes could weep all they wanted, but the gold would no longer be theirs."Then do it... this should be around two thousand gold, perhaps a little bit less by eye measurement alone. What do you think, Yvain?"
He rubbed his chin in thought."Honestly? I'd place that at around one and a half thousand at best, but who knows. Perhaps we could sell them to a collector for some more? In any case, we shall have to consider multiple option-hey, whats that you're holding?"
I blinked in confusion as I realized that I held a single coin in my right hand... suddenly, the coin started to glow an ethereal, clearly holy light. It illuminated the entire area and blinded me."GAH!"
Many of the workers turned to stare at the light before it died down, still in my hand as I regained my sight. Then, the coin started to... to bleed."Ugh, what the hell?!"
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I waved my hand away and yet, neither the coin nor the blood moved themselves of off my hand. The blood then weaved itself into the coin and it was reshaped before my very eyes, eventually collapsing into the shape of a beautiful, runed ring with a white diamond radiating holy energy on the top.
It was a rather wonderful piece of jewelry."Th-th-that w-was?!" Yvain shook his head out of his stupor yet did not manage to say anything as he watched me put the ring onto my left ring finger, finding its shine to be as seductive as it was beautiful."Milady, are you sure putting that on is a good idea?"
Yvain asked me with a worried glance as I watched the ring with some interest, the sheer Chaos Energy leaking off of it made me feel healthier by the second... yet there was something else about the ring.
Something holy.
Something... cruelly divine."I.. have no idea, Yvain. I think this ring might just be one of mothers artefacts, one of those which she bound to her own soul considering how it was willing to reveal its true form to me."
"Your mothers? This is one of the artefacts used to defeat the former Demon King, eh? Wonder what it does." He stated with wide eyes as I chuckled and shook my head in negative in order to answer his somewhat question."I have no bloody idea... but while there was a lot of blood involved, the light was clearly a form of holy energy... so maybe it was a holy artefact that got corrupted so mother put it away?"
I tried to remove the ring, causing me to feel extreme amounts of pain as I did."Urgh!" I grit my teeth as I quickly pulled my other hand away."Uhh.. looks like I can't remove it anymore either way..."
"Ahh, figures... and to think that beautiful diamond on top could have been the answer to all our problems, most likely. Anyways, at least it looks good on you, milady." He sighed but spoke the last bit with a beaming smile, like a true merchant and gentleman at the same time. I chuckled at the mans antics."Oooh, flattery will get you everywhere, mayor. Especially if you keep that up."
"Well, I don't know about that, milady. You may think it amusing, but if others heard me using my best lines on a lady as young as yourself..." He swallowed in uncertainty as I laughed at him.".. people might start saying rumors."
"And those are costly to get rid off?" I asked him in a joking tone to which he replied with a rather comical sweat drop."Very. Costly."
"EUREKA!" One of the herbalists exclaimed suddenly, stunning people and causing more than one person to drop what they were carrying."Those were some priceless antiques! You better have a good reason as to why you just screamed!" The mayor exclaimed as a young woman somewhere in her twenties, clan in a green dress, gray cowl and barefoot with the signiature stench of dried herb all over her, rushed towards us with a bright, excited smile upon her face."Your highness! My name is Irene and I am a druid from a nearby village but thats not important! Come, come! You have to see this!"
"Alright, alright, calm down champ and, show me what you found." I chuckled merrily at the supremely excited girl as me and the mayor followed her with curiosity etched upon our faces. She brought us towards the other end of the attic where a myriad of dried herbs and alchemical potions were stashed alongside some kind of laboratory... though it appeared dusty and unused, with many alembics shattered long ago.
Mother abandoned this place, long before father died.
I wonder why. Irene took a strange, leathery book out of a closet and flipped towards a certain page showing an herb with a bulbous crimson pod... I knew this herb. Its name is Devils Glory... it is a cursed herb which should be destroyed on the spot, or so the church would like everyone to think.
In truth."As you may know, this herb is the legendary Devils Glory! Although it requires extensive care and is very dangerous to the untrained harvesters, when properly handled it can be made into one of the highest grade healing potions known to the world! When we passed by your mothers garden, I noticed these herbs growing everywhere and reading through this book, I ... have found evidence that your mother was attempting to gain immortality from these herbs. She sadly failed, but managed to create an amazing healing potion nonetheless alonside a detailed process of how to care for the herbs during all stages of its growth to its time of harvest! If you would hire me, I could easily procure this potion for you, as well as care for the herbs in the garden!"
The shine of gold was etched into her eyes, not to mention a heathy amount of ambition."Hmmm, are you willing to show me results first, then discuss the amount you would be paid?"
She nodded feverish."Yes! Of course, madam! It should not take me long to create one of these potions as the herbs outside are more than overgrown and ripe for plucking! Not to mention that this lab here has all I need otherwise."
I took one look at the shattered alchemic table and turned towards Yvain."This could be a potentially long term gold mine... how much does a new alchemic set cost?"
"If you want one thats the same quality as your mothers... which was sadly annihilated in the explosion, around two hundred gold coin." He replied with a sigh as I closed my eyes for the moment before turning towards the excited girl."Alright... listen here, I can't provide you with a better lab right now nor can I pay you for your work for the time being however that is liable to change soon. Are you still willing to work for me?"
"I already said yes milady. As my father would always say; quit digging, you've already struck gold!" I blinked at her cheery tone and shrugged as the mayor nodded."Well, I guess that means you're hired then. When can you start?"
"Stefan, Bryn and Antonia! We've got a job to do in the garden!!" She made her way towards her three friends..."Uh.." Yvain blinked uncertainly.
"Guess she forgot to mention that her friends would be getting hired too.. oh well, a problem for another time. Hopefully, mothers high grade healing potions are going to sell well." I sighed heavily as I turned my head to look back at the ring.
Its pure, white gleam shone against my eyes and blinded me for the briefest moment, causing me to close my eyes in thought."Anyways, I have to leave the rest of the pilfering here to you, mayor... I need to go find what remains of my books and order a new set of Academic materials."
He sighed, much the same as I did and nodded."As you wish, milady. Shall we meet in the courtroom after dinnertime? Your mother has had some artefacts of... unwanted quality. If we were to find one such artefact then I believe you should have a say as to what happens to them."
A nod was his answer, as the man most likely meant something along the lines of that infernal crown...
You see, as most mages do, mother preffered fire magic as her go to offensive magic. In order to gain the level of fire magic needed to fight against the former Demon King, she subdued one of his infernal minions... an elemental lord of primal fire named Az'ni. A terrifiying beast who incinerated whole cities for fun and games, killing thousands each year from the moment of his creation at the Demon Kings hands.
A creature born of magic, he could not be killed through conventional means, so mother bound his soul into a jeweled crown, transforming it into a magical artefact of awesome power that granted its user unparralled command over fire itself. The church wanted the artefact destroyed, of course.
No doubt their desire would not have changed now.
However, that level of power... I must admit that I have... other interests concerning it.
After all, as the shunned goddess, surely Mother Vytar would not mind me using such a thing for my own purposes... right?
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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And that is it for this chapter of Destiny: Infernal!
I hope you enjoyed it!
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Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!