POV: Descal

The one thing that went through my mind as I traveled with the Princess and her two escorts was “fuck me”, “why me”, and “oh well”. Her story was a clear flag that this country was headed straight for civil war, and I am escorting one of the god damn leaders. I have heard of numerous rumors in the taverns of how the traditional nobles were not happy with the king’s extremely progressive policies. The king was breaking down the class barriers such as opening universities and military academies to commoners and even going as far as naming an heir with commoner blood.

Sigh. Now, I am hearing of how the king has been ousted in a coup d'etat, and the princess is going to the Fortress City of Uwile to request aid from the Lord. Just my god damn luck. Of all the people I could have met in the damn capital, I meet the Princess and now I have been roped into this fuckin mess. The only reason I have agreed to escort the Princess is that the Annapurna Mountain Range is nearby the Fortress City of Uwile: the mountain range where the underground ruins are located. In addition, I needed a group to travel with to Uwile as well. The road to Uwile is extremely dangerous right now because monster activity is much higher during the late summer season. As a result, many caravans don’t travel there during this time period. However, Fall is a dangerous time to be exploring the Annapurna Mountain Range because that is when the mountain’s stability turns wacko with landslides and earthquakes appearing out of nowhere. So if I waited till the caravans could travel to Uwile once more, I would literally have to wait till spring until I can get those four items. That is too much of a risk especially in this unstable time period. I NEED unrestricted use of my magic as soon as possible. It is also because of my lack of magic that I did not even dare to attempt to make this journey by myself. I will get attacked by bandits or monsters if I make this by myself so I need companions.

So to sum things up, the Princess appearing before me and hiring me is both a blessing and a curse. On the bright side, I have managed to convince the Princess to allow me to wear my mask when we go to public areas, and she said that she will try to think of a fake name to call me when we are with people who don’t know me. It is so annoying that I can’t make a fake name for myself. I truly wish I was completely normal human. It is so annoying to be bound by certain rules that humans aren’t bound by. The name Descal Binus is in a way my true name, the name that describes my very being. As a result, I cannot simply choose to go by a different name. If I am to receive a different name, someone else has to decide for me. It is kinda like when a baby receives its name from its parents. Although it is not the baby’s true name, the baby can still connect to it as it has been given to the baby. That is why I asked the Princess to think of a name for me other than Descal when we are with other people. I am still keen on keeping my identity as secret as possible, and I have made that very clear to my employer. I really have no desire to embroil myself in politics. The thought makes me shudder.

Ever since I have separated from the Adal, Les, Blythe, and Trevor about four months ago, I have been slowly reincorporating and strengthening myself to this world. First, my emotional attacks have so far stabilized through the carefully connecting it to my mana. Now, I should be able to prevent emotional attacks as long as I have some mana in reserves. Two, I have stabilized my mana using my flesh as a medium. This means that I should be able to use low tier spells without my flesh burning up to a crisp. Third, I have been slowly working on my fighting skills with my weapons. It took a while because I had no precedent to base it off of, but I think I got the rhythm of my weapons. I should now be able to pull off a couple “combos” of my own. Last, I have been slowly expanding my knowledge of chemistry and explosives through trial and error. I have finally been able to create mercury fulminate and fuses. So I have made extremely primitive explosives. That should be the highlights of my improvements.

Now, I was starting to think over my plans. I need to bring this girl to the Fortress City and collect my payment. Next, I have to restock and go to the ruins. Afterward, I need to set up the ritual and get my full magical powers back. Then… Then what. What will I do? Once I get my magic back, I am going to be one of the strongest beings in this world. I won’t be in any hurry to make use of my life since I am essentially immortal in this god damn world. So… what will I do? Explore? Fool around? Experiment? Learn? …. I guess I should find out how I got back to this world so quickly, but… Should I get some land? Maybe I should…

My thought process was interrupted by Ugurtz who came back from scouting ahead and reported a nice camping spot a little bit off road. Now is not the time to think about this. Take things one step at a time. Once we set up camp, we began to dig out our rations and plan out our next steps.

“In about two more days, we should reach this town near the Elbe River. There we should restock, rest for a day. After that, we will need to head to the Gorge City as the last stop before we enter the Misty Forests. Once we get through the Misty Forest, we should stop by a couple more towns before we reach the Fortress City. Any questions?” (Lehai)

“Is the Lord of Gorge City a traditionalist?” (Descal)

“I believe he is neutral in this conflict.” (Lehai)

“You believe?” (Descal)

“One cannot be too sure of nobles. They can change on a whim.” (Lehai)

“Yup. You can’t trust them.” (Ugurtz)

“Ahem. If I must remind you three, I am still here.” (Cecilia)

“Oh. Forgive me, Princess. I did not mean any insult.” (Lehai)

“Eh. Purple. I know you aren’t like the other nobles. No need to take offense.” (Ugurtz)

“Princess. Ugurtz. I have prepared today’s supper. Please eat up before the sun goes down. I have also boiled some water for some tea.” (Lehai)

“Ugghgghghg. I can’t stand pickled food. It has been all we have been eating for the last two days. There has to be something else!” (Cecilia)

“I am sorry, but we are unable to go hunting nor can we stop to hunt because of our need for speed.” (Lehai)

“Sigh.” (Cecilia)

“Well, like always, I am going to eat my supper on top of a tree. If you need me, just call me.” (Descal)

I went over to my stuff, pretended to rummage through it, and quickly climbed up the tallest tree. There was no way in hell that I am eating the disgusting pickled food no matter the risk of discovery. If the Princess ever found out about my ability, I will hear no end to the nagging, threatening, and bribery as she would probably push me to become the food provider of the group. Hell, she might even try to permanently hire me to make use of my space-time storage. However, the repulsiveness of the god damn pickled eggs forced me to try and keep these things a secret. Anyway, my meal should be a secret if I eat this high up in the tree. Lehai and Ugurtz would be too heavy and too busy to follow me up in the trees I have chosen to climb, and there is no way that a Princess would follow me up a tree. Hell. She probably does not know how to climb a tree.

Once, I finished my supper, I went back down to take straws for the night watch between the three men. This time, I got the last straw so I had to wake up early. While my three employers set up their tents on the ground, I chose a sturdier tree to climb up and bundled up. Once it was my turn to keep watch, I packed up my blankets and watched over the camp site. So that was how the majority of our initial trip went. We were not attacked much because we were still close to the capital so the knights were still doing their job of eradicating monsters and bandits.

In fact, it was so peaceful that I began to think that this would be an easy trip. And I was reminded of how dangerous the escort truly was when we stopped by the town.

So, we managed to enter the town just fine. No problem. We even managed to find an inn without much problem since this town was a popular stop for many boats to restock and for sailors to rest. Ugurtz went off to the taverns to see if he could gain any new information. Lehai and the Princess went to buy some supplies, and I restocked at the bakery and bought some fish at the market. It was at night when things went to shit.

When I was sleeping on the table (there is no way that I am going to sleep on the bed for obvious reasons), I woke up when the door opened. The door is supposed to be locked. Pretending to be asleep, I waited until the invader was right next to me until I immediately turned and punched the guy straight in the jaw knocking him out. I searched through the guy until my heart froze when I saw the symbol on the knife. It was the symbol of the Bloody Strings, one of the most ruthless and dangerous assassination groups in the world. The reason why they are so dangerous is that they are capable of using a blood ritual in which they use a drop of their targets blood to enchant a needle that will always point in the target’s direction for an hour once every day. As a result, there is no escaping the Bloody Strings. If they managed to find us here so accurately, it means that they somehow got the blood of Cecilia, Ugurtz, or Lehai. Oh fuck.

I sprinted out of my room and ran into Cecilia’s room by smashing through the door. It was a mess. Ugurtz and Lehai were tussling with their own assassins while Cecilia was desperately trying to avoid getting stabbed by an assassin who pinned her down and was slowly pushing a knife down into her chest. Running quickly to the Princess, I ran my arm blades through the assassin’s throat and threw him off Cecilia. Taking advantage of my sudden appearance, Lehai grabbed the assassin’s head and broke it while Ugurtz head-butted the assassin before throwing the guy out the open window.

“Who are they?” (Lehai)

“The fucking Bloody Strings. They managed to get a drop of one of you guy’s blood.” (Descal)

“Oh fuck. Lehai, Cecilia if they tracked us using our blood, we need to get out of here now.” (Ugurtz)

“But who are they tracking? It wouldn’t matter if we run if they can just chase us down! They probably have this entire town surrounded!” (Cecilia)

“Then, you three have to separate. That way if it is Ugurtz or Lehai the assassins will follow them and distract them from their true target. Besides, if it is all three of you that the assassins have gotten a trail on, then they will have to split their forces to tail all three of you. We also have a final destination anyway.” (Descal)

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“No. I refuse to leave the Princess alone. What if it is the Princess’ blood that the Bloody Strings are following? Then, who will protect her?” (Lehai)

“Me. Also, I am the strongest out of all three of you. I can bring her safely to Uwile.” (Descal)

“And how can I trust you! You are just a random gold mercenary we hired since the princess insisted! How do I know that you won’t abandon the Princess?!” (Lehai)

I looked straight into Lehai’s eyes.

“Because I am your only choice right now.” (Descal)

“It’s alright. This is a risk we need to take.” (Cecilia)

“Guys. They are coming!” (Ugurtz)

“Okay. Lehai. Ugurtz. Gather up the blankets, put a cloak over the bundle, and tie it to your back. Don’t argue with me right now. Just do it. Okay. Princess. Put on the cloak and hop on my back. Now. Lehai. Ugurtz. Fight your way through the main entrance and break up once you get to the alleyway.” (Descal)

“What about you and the Princess?” (Ugurtz)

“I am gonna jump out the window and run through the back street. I will meet you at the Fortress City.” (Descal)

“Wait. Lehai. Ugurtz. This is an order. Don’t die.” (Cecilia)

“I have an order for you Descal. Keep the Princess alive and bring her safely to Uwile.” (Lehai)

“I will hunt you down if you abandon Purple.” (Ugurtz)

“Understood. Good luck.” (Descal)

Ugurtz and Lehai stormed down the stairs, and I heard yelling and swords clanging from downstairs. That was my cue. Once I had Cecilia secured on my back, I put my mask on while running toward the window and jumped out. As I fell, I heard Cecilia yelp in surprise as I smoothly landed and took off running.

“Descal! We’re being chased.” (Cecilia)

“Duly noted.” (Descal)

I began to run faster, and the assassins began to have trouble keeping up with my speed. However, I noticed that the assassins have begun to split off and were trying to block me off at critical intersections preventing me from reaching the gates. Realizing this, I began to make a beeline for the harbor. Once I got to the harbor, a group of assassins was waiting for me so I was forced to stop, and we quickly got surrounded.

“Give up. You are surrounded.” (Hooded guy number 1)

“She hired me to bring her somewhere safe. I plan on doing just that.” (Descal)

I then whispered to Cecilia to get ready to get wet. She was going to say something, but it was too late. Here we go. I put mana into my legs and did my signature super jump. As I soared through the air, Cecilia was screaming into my ear as I prepared a couple of spells to soften the impact and mentally prepared myself for the cold.

Now, things took a turn for the worse when the Princess lost her grip as soon as we impacted the water. I miscalculated two things: the river’s current and Cecilia’s inability to swim. As a result, I was desperately trying to hold on to the princess while trying to fight the current and keeping her head above the water. Cecilia panicking was also not helping as she started to drag me down as well. It didn’t take long for me to realize that we would both drown at this rate so I reached into my storage and pulled out a log that we could hold onto. Cecilia immediately grasped onto the log that showed up out of nowhere as she started to cough.

“Did. We. *cough* lose them?” (Cecilia)

“Probably. Help me kick to that bank over there.” (Descal)

Once on the bank, I gave up on trying to keep my storage abilities a secret and began to pull towels and a change of clothes from thin air. Cecilia watched everything with a wide eye as she started to open and close her mouth trying to understand what her eyes were showing her.

“You’re gaping like a fish. Here. Go dry yourself and change into these clothes. You’ll have to get used to wearing men undergarment for a while. Also, I will explain everything later. For now, we need to move.” (Descal)

With those words, I pulled out my own towels and clothes and began to change. However, Cecilia stopped me before I could take off my pants.

“Do you have no shame undressing in front of a girl?” (Cecilia)

“No. Why should you care? Just look away.” (Descal)

“Then, where will I change?” (Cecilia)

“Uhh. Right now. Right here. I am not going to look.” (Descal)

Cecilia immediately turned around once I shook her off, and I began to take off my pants. Once I was dried and changed, I saw Cecilia staring off into the stars without having changed, and she has only dried her hair. Her hair dye has wiped off from the dive into the river so her hair was shining a brilliant purple under the moonlight.

“Sigh. You can change. I am going to go scout out our area. See those rocks over there. Go over there and try not to wander.” (Descal)

I moved off into the trees and began to have a quick look. From what I could tell, it seemed that we were alone. Hopefully, it was Lehai or Ugurtz that was being tailed. Anyway, I should get back. I don’t want to tempt fate. As soon as I came onto the river bank, Cecilia ran over to me.

“Did you see anybody?” (Cecilia)

“Nope. But that doesn’t mean you are not the one they are tailing. There is a limit to how long and how often they can tail you for. We need to move.” (Descal)

“You are pretty knowledgeable about the Bloody Strings.” (Cecilia)

“Let’s just say that I have my ways of getting information.” (Descal)

“You pull these clothes and towels out of nowhere. You can run and jump better than any beast man. I have so many questions, but let’s start with who are you?” (Cecilia)

“A random gold mercenary.” (Descal)

“I find that hard to believe. Also, I find it hard to trust someone who will keep secrets like this from me.” (Cecilia)

“I find it difficult to tell a complete stranger of my entire identity.” (Cecilia)

Stunned, Cecilia stopped walking and simply stared at me. I began to sweat drop thinking that I have gone too far until Cecilia started to laugh.

“It’s been years since someone talked back like that!” (Cecilia)

“What are you talking about?” (Descal)

“You see. I wasn’t always living like royalty. I was actually born and raised like a commoner. My mother was actually one of the king’s consort, and one of her requests from the king was that she raises me in a place far away from the royal palace. As a result, I was born and raised like a low-born noble instead of royalty. As a result, I sort of lived a comfortable commoner’s life. Until my mother died from an illness when I was twelve years old. After that, I was taken to the royal palace where I was taught how to be a proper princess and things somehow ended up with me being the crown princess. I told you about me. Now. Tell me something about you.” (Cecilia)

“I am not completely a human which should answer a little bit of your question. My physical age is 19 years. I have had a very normal human childhood. I have a wide variety of hobbies. I am intelligent.” (Descal)

“Okay. That’s a start. So where are you from?” (Cecilia)

“A place called Earth. I traveled around a lot with my parents so I never really had a single place to call home.” (Descal)

“How did you pull out those towels from thin air?” (Cecilia)

“Cecilia. That is a trade secret.” (Descal)

“Okay. If you don’t want to talk about it, I am okay.” (Cecilia)

“That is exactly why it is a trade secret... eh? Really? That easily” (Descal)

“If you don’t want to talk about it, then I won’t pry.” (Cecilia)

“Huh. You really are different. I thought you would annoy the shit out of me for the secrets.” (Descal)

“Well. I wasn’t raised like the other upper nobles nor royalty. So what is in the storage?” (Cecilia)

“Food, clothes, all sorts of supplies. Don’t worry. We won’t starve or sleep cold. Let’s be quiet now. There might be assassins after us. No more questions.” (Descal)

Cecilia immediately shuts up and started to follow me in silence. It was kinda funny because her face was just busting with questions. After an hour of hiking, Cecilia began to sway for fatigue. She probably never had to skip bedtime before. Since it was too dangerous to stop, I had Cecilia grab onto my back, and I began to “hike” through the forest while she slept. All night, I moved North East to a village that I remembered from the map that Lehai had. I should be able to arrive at the village in the morning at my current speed.

It was sunrise when I finally broke out of the forest onto a field full of wheat. I saw the village in the distance and breathed a sigh of relief. I began to prepare myself and thought of some bullshit story. Realizing that the purple hair would be a dead giveaway, I bundled it up on top of her head before covering it with a hat. With that, I was ready to make some negotiations. The first villager to see me was a middle-aged farmer.

“Who are you?” (Farmer)

“We were attacked by some monsters and got separated from the caravan. Is there anywhere we can stay in this village and buy some supplies?” (Descal)

He scrutinized us before simply nodding his head and pointing to one of the houses near the wells.

“Check with the elder. We might have a couple empty houses that you could use. As for supplies, you will probably have to ask around. Ask the elder as well.” (Farmer)

“Thank you.” (Descal)

It took a while to tell my “story” to the elder before he agreed to let us stay for a day, and I even gave the elder 11 silver coins for the trouble. I asked him if there were any dangers near this area, and he warned me about a hill a walking distance from the village. He wouldn’t go into more detail except that there was a weird stone formation and that there was a strange atmosphere around the hill. As much as I wanted to go explore the hill, right now, I needed to get my head straight and a clear plan of what we are going to do, which I cannot do until Cecilia wakes up. As soon as I laid down Cecilia in the empty one-room house, I began to go around the village and began to buy more travel necessities. Sadly, the villagers refused to sell me their horse since it was their only one, which is a problem because a mount is an absolute necessity if we are going to even attempt the journey... well actually I guess I could carry Cecilia and travel by super jumping but I am not confident in the amount of mana I would have to pump into my mana saturated flesh right now. Uggggghhhh. Why are things so damn difficult??!!! Why can’t things just work out like the freaking Japanese light novels???!!! First, I should get back to Cecilia.

As soon as I was going to open the door, Cecilia opened the door and ran straight into me. Once she realized that it was me, she calmed down and proceeded to scream at me.

“Where did you go? I thought you abandoned me! Are the assassins here? Where are we?” (Cecilia)

“One question at a time.” (Descal)

“Where are we?” (Cecilia)

“A small farming village. Don’t worry. We should still be going in the general direction. We just have a small problem right now.” (Descal)

“What?” (Cecilia)

“We don’t have a mount, and the villagers won’t sell the horse to us because it is their only horse, and they don’t own any donkeys. If you want, we could use your authority to force them to give the horse to us…” (Descal)

“No. We are not doing that.” (Cecilia)

“I thought so. Now what?” (Descal)

“How far is the nearest village by foot?” (Cecilia)

“A week. And even then there is no guarantee that they will have a horse to sell us. I mean villages aren’t really known to have a bunch of horses lying around unless they are a ranch.” (Descal)

“Then, what do you suggest we do?” (Cecilia)

“……” (Descal)

“You look like you have an idea right now. Spit it out.” (Cecilia)

“Damn. You can read my face that easily.” (Descal)

“You learn after dealing with a shit ton of nobles at parties. Now spit it out.” (Cecilia)

“Umm. The village elder said something about a hill that was north of this village that may be worth investigating. We might find something that might help us out.” (Descal)

“… And how do you think a strange hill is going to help us out?” (Cecilia)

“Uhhh… I don’t know. It won’t hurt to check it out.” (Descal)

With that, we made our way to the hill. I immediately knew this atmosphere. This stone structure is the entrance to a necromancer’s lair. This should be interesting.

“There’s nothing here. It’s just a bunch of stones. This was a waste of time. C’mon. Let me try negotiating with the villagers… What are you doing?” (Cecilia)

I inserted a bit of magical power into the out of place stone of the formation, and a stairway opened. Cecilia panicked and threw herself at me before I could go down the staircase.

“What are you doing?! You shouldn’t just go down any flight of stairs that mysteriously shows up like this!” (Cecilia)

“This is a necromancer’s lair. I am pretty sure I can find an undead mount that we can use if we explore this…” (Descal)

“You are going to use an undead mount! No! This is an atrocity! We need to call in the city knights and…” (Cecilia)

“Which I must remind you is very far away and is crawling with assassins. Don’t worry. I have experience with dealing with undead mounts. You just need the control crystal and voila!” (Descal)

“That is not the point! And what does vooilaa even mean!” (Cecilia)

“You whine too much. I am going down. You can try and negotiate with the villagers if you want, but they aren’t going to sell the horse.” (Descal)

“Wait! Descal! It’s dangerous! What if…” (Cecilia)

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What could possibly go wrong?” (Descal)

After hearing those words, Cecilia looked around and quickly ran down the stairs to catch up with me. It took me a while to notice, but I realized that I just induced Murphy’s Law. Damn it.