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Divine Bladesmith
Chapter 55: The Encounter

Chapter 55: The Encounter

Another one of the delegates disappeared. Again, it was an elven man. This time, he was more powerful than the last, and commanded one of the elite elven armies. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that these disappearances are accidental anymore.

That being said—There really is no way to keep them from happening. We don’t know why or how they are vanishing, nor do we have the slightest inkling as to who might benefit from this. Well, the higher-ups among the elven delegation are toiling away to prevent the next one, should it happen. Meanwhile, the other two delegations are on tenterhooks, and have become a little testier. Who wouldn’t be?

I, for one, have made sure to set up the most powerful wards I can bring to bear around my room. It wasn’t lost on me that those two men had disappeared from inside the elven building, within days of each other.

Other than these concerning vanishings, the end of the summit brought some hope to me. It had been boring as all hell, but some good things might be accomplished here. Least of all, unity. It was paramount that all the nations existing within the continents act together, else an outside threat bring all of us down. After a few months of wheedling out deals and compromises, the human kings are nearly willing to accept what we have been working towards.

Though, I could tell there were a few weeks yet left for me to enjoy. They were still dragging their feet to the bitter end, I guess. I’ve gotten into a routine though, so it should pass by quickly. Hopefully.

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(POV Selina)

You know, it’s really not fun to have to hold back ALL THE TIME.

Why should I be restricted to simple spells and healing magics when I can just have my undead hoards deal with things? It’s so much easier, and quicker as well.

Well, I think that, but I do understand the necessity for me to hold back. After all, I wouldn’t want the others to feel completely incompetent.

Especially after we had finally made it to the twenty-something floor of this school’s dungeon. It would somewhat reduce the joy of them having made it down this far, if I revealed that I could make it much farther with my ‘friends’, as Kai always called them.

It’s sort of like;

“Ah, we have made it down here after much effort! Now, let us continue down—AGH! Undead Dragon!”

No, wait. I just remembered. The dragon is too big for these dungeon levels. Damn it, I guess I would just have to use the trolls.

Or not.

Stick to spells, she said. Well, she’s not the one who has to deal with ‘King’ Arthur. I’ll stick my spells right up his…

“Selina! Can’t you just help us with the tents for once?” yelled Merlin.

I sighed, throwing my hands up into the air with an expression of exasperation.

“Can’t you just put up the tents without me?”

“That’s not the point! Teamwork is important, even when grappling with a tent frame!” chimes in Rust.

The poor kid. He’s been brainwashed by those common morals.

And he had such potential as well…

I stubbornly refused to help with the tents, though I relented when they needed someone to light the fire. A simple spell took care of that, and I slowly began warming up by the flickering flames.

These heroes were an interesting group. Well, besides Arthur, though he’s getting marginally less annoying.

Some of the people here would almost never be considered heroes.

Harving for example.

He’s killed quite a few people. I know that the others know how much he has killed, but I don’t think they can even begin to guess at the sheer volume of bodies he’s left behind. He’s a little comparable to Kai in that regard.

Though, Kai’s definitely a special case. She’s on her sixth reincarnation, you say? Bullshit, I call.

Though I only know this after accidently peaking into her memories once, when I first met her. When she was a he, and in another world. When I had power enough to worry about accidently peering into the mind of another.

That’s not a problem anymore. All my power must have been exchanged for something to come here, though I know not what I might have gained from such a deal.

Eh. I got to see Kai again, and that alone makes the whole thing worthwhile.

And, she’s so cute here!

Never would I have thought that the great leader of man, Kai, would be reborn an adorable little girl in any life.

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

I’m glad to see her here though, and know that she is marginally happy as well.

When I had known her before, she had been such a serious person, and always so unforgiving.

It does her good to be able to smile for once.

“Come on, Selina! We only wanted you to check out this inscription, not break the entire wall!”

“Well, my way also worked, so I see this as a win-win situation.”

We were standing in front of a broken down wall, which had been battered down by some earth spells. Formerly, this wall had held some sort of hieroglyphs on it, and the rest of the heroes had thought it might have been a clue telling us how to leave this floor. Well, they did, but in the form of a tunnel running behind the wall. After breaking down said wall, the others got angry at me for not consulting with them first.

It worked, didn’t it?!

“But, what if that wall held some clues as to the next floors or something? We won’t know now, since you’ve destroyed it.”

I sighed. These people really don’t understand how awesome and talented I am.

“It doesn’t matter if that wall still existed or not. I remember what was on it.”

Arthur scoffed at this.

“Please save your placating words for those who would believe them.”

I scoffed straight back at him.

“Please save your insulting words for those who would care about them.”

He sputtered about, and Merlin chuckled a little at his expense.

Merlin was interesting to me.

As an illusionist, the first thing he did was make himself look young again.

In his current form, Merlin looked like a young man with long, straight brown hair, and piercing grey eyes. He was also fairly short, but had an enviable amount of spirit.

From what I could glean, this was how he had looked when he was young, with no changes besides the removal of his true age. Most other people would then go on to make themselves a more attractive version of themselves, but Merlin refrained from this. He looked fairly plain, actually.

Meh. I guess it’s his choice as to what he would do.

I would end up making myself completely irresistible, though. Well, more than I already am.

Oh well.

Hmm. I wonder what Kai’s doing right now?

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(POV Kai)

Well, I found out something about myself today.

It’s been a few days since the last disappearance, and with two elven men missing; all the elves are losing more and more of their focus.

As for me, I had something else to focus on.

Unfortunately, I discovered the hard way that it’s a six-month cycle, and not the year that I had been expecting, and hoping for.

So, I was in bed for now, and tried every now and then to get up and walk around a little, before deciding that staying in bed was a good idea.

I think I’ll try to go to the summit though, since that’s just a bunch of sitting around. I won’t have to do anything, really, and I’ll be able to hear how the whole summit progresses.

I think the worst part of this is that healing spells won’t do anything to ease the cramping or the slight nausea I feel, since they’re completely natural processes.

I can do nothing but bear through the pain. It also helps that I know it’ll be gone in a week, and will return in half a year.

Well, unlike that first time, I didn’t get any new titles or skills to marginally dull the pain this time. I felt a little relived about that though. I already seem to have more that I can keep track of, and adding more on top of that at the moment seems to simply ask for more trouble.

Ah crap.

It seems like I’m in for trouble anyway.

My wards just went down in an instant.

Someone’s coming.

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Author's Note:

Shortest chapter that will happen in this story!

I apologize for it, but I lost the energy required to do a full one about ten minutes ago.

It worked anyway, since the length of this chapter works for it, instead of against it. 

I mean, now we have another cliff, where someone is entering Kai's room.

I wonder who it will be?

—River.

Ah, and, yes, I know I'm evil for doing this. I really just couldn't write any more.