It is said that time heals all wounds. What they don't say is that deep wounds leave scars. Most of the time ugly scars, a few rare cases they would be handsome, charming scars. That was not the case for some people in the capital of Yutis.
A few days after they were inflicted, one person was desperately trying to cover one of these scars. She was nervous, sitting in the waiting room of a fancy mansion in the northern ward of the town, the area reserved for nobles.
"Your Highness, the Duke awaits you." An attendant told the princess.
The girl stood up, hands calmly laying on her lap. Hands adjusted her long hair on her back. She smiled at her lady-in-waiting and followed the attendant. He took them into a lavishly decorated room, filled with maps, books, and trophies of one's travels.
"Princess. It is such an honor to have you in my humble office. To what I owe the visit?" The man looked at the lady-in-waiting besides the princess and smiled.
"Your Grace Duke Glam. I came to talk business." The princess answered. "I have a unique commodity to sell and also a very rare one to buy."
"Please have a seat. Can I offer you a drink? I have a fruity wine that will certainly appease your delicate tongue. Daughter, if you please."
The lady-in-waiting went for a cabinet and produced a bottle of wine. She set two flutes, uncorked and poured the light red liquid. The princess and the duke took their flutes and toasted.
"To the prosperity of the realm."
They tasted the wine. A very good one, indeed.
"Now, what do you bring, your Highness?"
Dawn opened a pouch and showed him a bit of cooked rice. Preserved by magic, it was steaming. "This is rice, grain from the other world. As you know it is impossible to grow in our own world. I need mithril, at least two kilograms of the metal. And I need your help to obtain what I need and get a good quote for my rice."
"Yes, yes. I've never seen a grain so white, so fluffy." The Duke eyed the commodity with great curiosity and interest.
"I believe you've never tasted it either, have you? Please have a bite. Lory, could you get the Duke a fork?"
Duke Glam took a portion of rice with the fork. "It is soft and has a delicate taste. Very refined too. I can't figure out the spices, there is a slight tang to it. Yes, this is something fit for nobility if I may say so."
Dawn smiled. "Otherworlder heroes literally die for this thing."
The Duke did a dry, nervous chuckle, "So I heard."
"Speaking of hearsay, I must declare how pleased I am to have Lory in my inner circle. Your daughter's aid was invaluable, your Grace. So was Pamela and Nancy's too."
"It warms a father's heart, to hear such praise."
"All the effort and love you placed on her upbringing really shines through, your Grace."
Duke Glam was the minister of trade and a close confidant of King Helios. He was something like a cousin twice-removed of the acting Royal Family. Dawn was not very sure and didn't ask. But that made Lory Lumina's second cousin thrice-removed. Or something like that. Dawn was not too keen on family trees. Maybe Cythrel knew better.
"How much... rice do you have to sell, Your Highness?"
The Duke was a shrewd merchant, and the one most troubled by the trade dispute with Heath to the north. He was also trustworthy. This trade might bring great revenue to the country.
"I don't know, maybe too little. How much do I need to obtain two kilograms of mithril? Orichalcum might work too, but I know it is a long shot."
Now that Kazuya was gone, they had a few kilograms of 'otherworlder bait' with no Japanese tongues to appease. The grain would last for very long due to preservation runes, but they had a more pressing matter. Obtaining a bounty of mithril.
"I will have to check. Test the waters. Talk to some associates. The availability of mithril is too restricted."
"I was already expecting this, your Grace. I took the liberty of bringing a quarter of a kilogram of rice, hoping it was enough. I'll leave it in your care. I might have more, but I was hoping to cook it for the King."
It was a calculated move. Luxury goods were priced by their scarcity. And now, by stating that any more rice would come at the expense of the King's tastebuds was a gamble to drive that assumed scarcity to the highest they could. It also upgraded the sample the Duke just tasted.
"I understand. Do we have a timeline?"
"The sooner the better. After all, my father is bound to get hungry sometime."
They laughed at the inane joke. Dawn bid goodbye and left the Duke's office.
The King got very hungry, a few days after that meeting. One might think that if they saw the feast commissioned to celebrate the memory of the knights and the achievements of the living. Given the secrecy surrounding the incident, it was an intimate feast, with less than a hundred people. They ate and drank. And it came the moment of the awarding ceremony. The awards were granted in order of achievement, the lesser ones first. The knight-scouts were praised, then the Knights of the Rose, Baroness Theresa and some other people that helped indirectly, like the chief of the town guard. And then it came to the stars of the evening.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The master of ceremony stood forward and cried. "King Helios of Yutis calls forth Cythrel the elf."
From her usual clique, the little girl came forward. Her hair was braided and decorated with silver leaves. She was wearing a heavy cloak to hide her arms. She approached the rehearsed distance and nodded to one of the castle maids. She came and removed the cloak. It was forbidden to approach the King with heavy clothing that could conceal a weapon. Some of the people attending the ceremony gasped at the sight of the girl without hands. It didn't escape the elf's ears, and she sighed.
Elves are rather stoic people. Their outlook in life is attuned to nature, and it is well known that nature brings disasters. Even though they live long, their focus is on savoring the moment, what makes some other races think they are hedonists. They cherish the small, frequent boons that life brings, but also try to weather the big, rare tragedies. And this lass has endured a sad fate. Only one in every hundred elves is born without mana affinity. Of those, one in every ten won't have any elemental affinity. Cythrel was one of the unfortunate thousandths. Her reaction at the loss of both hands unnerved her friends. How could she be so calm? How wasn't she drowning in sorrow? In her mind, it was a fair trade. A hand for a life? Even with the bulk package of two hands for two lives, it was worth it, in her mind.
"Cythrel the elf, you may approach." The master of ceremony spoke after she knelt for some time. She stood and walked slowly until the second rehearsed position.
King Helios spoke, "Cythrel the elf. For your selfless acts of bravery protecting princess Lumina in face of mortal danger, we offer you, from the bottom of our hearts, thanks." A pause for a brief round of applause. "We desire to offer you the title of Lady of the Court and a modest stipend of ten gold coins per month."
Two gold coins could feed and clothe a peasant family of four for a year.
The master of ceremony took over. "Cythrel the elf, do you accept the boons the Crown bestowed upon you?"
"I do," She answered.
"We require no further vows from you. Lady Cythrel, you may go." The master of ceremony finished.
She stood up, bowed, took five steps backward, turned and moved to the first point. The maid placed her cloak back and the now Lady Cythrel walked back.
"Ambassador Sora of the Squirrel-kin, you may approach."
Sora repeated the steps and soon was before the King.
"Ambassador Sora. For your bravery in fighting the threat, we bestow you these adamantite-laced archery bracers."
They gave her a set of leather bracers with metal plates laced with blue attached to them. It protects the hands and fingers as well.
Sora returned and then it was Aidan's time.
"Lord Aidan. Your service was above and beyond the call of duty. We allow you to name your reward."
They were not expecting an award ceremony, but after the incident became known in the court, the King had to show something and throw his weight around. Aidan paused to think. He knew what he wanted.
"Your Majesty, we ask for a broken sword. One already in my possession." He fumbled his pronouns.
Lucien stirred in his seat next to Helios, but the King placed a hand in front of him. Helios glanced at Duke Glam and nodded.
"Very well. We know what sword you speak of. It is yours to do as you please."
Following protocol, Aidan returned to his friends. Everyone was eyeing him.
"What's the big deal?" Cythrel asked. "What do you want with that sword?"
He was evasive. "What? It is a nice sword. Once I get it reforged, I'll have a mithril sword. Dawn has her adamantite alloy rapier. I have to get something exclusive to me as well." She elbowed him. "What?"
"I'm hungry. Feed me." She complained with faked grumpiness.
"Of course, milady." He bowed and took her to the food.
He didn't mind spoiling her. Not at all. And even after she learns Sylph's Hand, it won't be a solution, only a crutch. There will be moments when she won't be able to use the spell. Moments where the spell will fail. But he wanted to solve it. If he can't grow her natural hands back or reattach the ones held in stasis at the academy, he would go for the next best thing.
The sword was a good start, but it was not enough.
They resumed their routine at the academy.
Kamak was now a guard at the academy, hired under a major geass. He would be let go if he refused the geass with a bag of coins, but he accepted after Astromelicus explained his former self's background. Without memories of his childhood of abuse, prejudice, and larceny there was hope he would be an outstanding member of society.
The class expanded. There were four students, with the addition of the recently awakened Mist mage. Cythrel was pulled from the social studies classes. She spent the time mostly reading books anyway.
"We got three more prisoners willing to undergo the process," Astromelicus announced at their first session of private tutoring. "They were delivered to me yesterday."
"And we need more blood mana stones, right?" Aidan pointed out.
"Yes. Today's exercise is bleaching monster cores," The Archmage picked up a crate of small cores. "It will be a good exercise for our new pupil to train her mana affinity."
Cythrel grumped but complied. She managed to bleach one small core that morning. Pearl, twenty-four. Aidan and Dawn, two hundred each. They could've bleached more, but it took time to pick up new cores.
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They were having lunch at a restaurant in the academy square. They had to wait for Sora to arrive, because now she is the only one at the knight training grounds, further away from the magic facilities.
However, Pearl was aloof and skittish. She evaded attempts to discern what was going on and she seemed uncomfortable from just being there. It was obvious that something was wrong, and nobody needed to be a genius to understand why, given the events of the last few days. She was shutting down and cutting her bonds in an attempt at self-preservation.
But to deal with that, the group had the perfect ice-breaker. The fact that it would fulfill her silly wish of being cared after by a royal was just a faint bonus.
"Feed me!" The elf complained and requested. She was sitting on a chair next to her target and looking up, making a pose like a puppy desperate for love.
"No. Why would I? Can you please not guilt trip me into doing it?" A princess, the target of the request, refused.
"It is easier if you just do it, Pearl. She just wants you to do it once. And she won't brag to anyone. We are in a private room. Not even Lumina's ladies are here today." Dawn encouraged her.
"Please? I'd..." Cythrel would start the guilt trip for real, but Aidan cut her off.
"Don't. I know what you are going to say, don't."
"If it is just once and nobody here speaks a word of it, I'll do it," Pearl surrendered, took a spoon of porridge, and put it in the elf's mouth.
Cythrel bit the spoon and took it in slowly. Her ears twitched with pleasure. After she was finished she licked her lips. "The most delicious ever."
"What? Tastes like torn pride?" Pearl protested, hurt.
"No. Tastes like you care." Cythrel headbutted Pearl and rubbed her face on the princess dress. "Thank you."
"O-of course I care!" Pearl interjected, surprised. "Why would you think otherwise? After all we went through together?" She hugged the elf.
"You have to say it. Welcome back, Pearl," Cythrel looked up with a big grin. She moved her arms to hold the sides of the princess, "We may be battered, but we are not beaten."