Trapped between several mountain chains in a huge valley, the kingdom of Yutis is a new one. Founded two centuries ago it focus on culture, knowledge and rural activities in the rich valley soil. Its population is most human but immigrants of all races found their way there and stayed because of the lack of prejudice. Yutis' has several elite mercenary companies for hire. The prowess of its knights-for-hire work as a deterrent for greedy neighbors. The strongest unit is led by none other than the crown prince, Lucien.
The difficult access to and from Yutis makes it hard for invaders, but also for traders.
Excerpt from A primer on the world's nations vol 2.
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For the sake his body's recovery, Aidan took to the spell design with a madman's fervor. He needed to put his spellcraft skill to the test. He needed to create a spell to restore his body. And he had a week.
In the middle of the night of the sixth day, Sora came with a hot beverage. Some herbal tea he didn't identify. It was a bit bitter but helped dispel the weariness.
"Thanks, Sora."
"How is it in your room, your Highness?"
"Lonely. How is Aidan doing?"
"Fast asleep as always."
They knew Pearl was spying on them. It was just a matter of how not if. Skippy didn't find anything magical but in Lumina's body, Aidan didn't have magic sight. They decided to treat each other with some distance to keep the masquerade.
"I made a spell to show the damage on one's soul. Want to try it out?" He said with enthusiasm. To Sora, it was like seeing Aidan's phantom lingering over the figure of Lumina.
"On me?"
"It is harmless. But it is better to get a neutral test subject."
Aidan picked a bell from the desk and rung it. Moments later the maid assigned to Lumina entered the room. she was sleeping and tried to hide her irritation.
"You called, your Highness?"
"Yes. I need to test a spell, it is harmless. Come over here, girl."
She was clearly afraid. Terrible stories were told about people being experimented on by mages. Given those were the more deranged side of the community, it had enough real cases to cement this fear.
"As you will, milady."
"What is your name?"
"Deb, milady."
"Deb, can you use magic?" Aidan asked making the sweetest voice he could.
"No. No. I am no mage, milady."
"Good. If someone asks, you have my permission to retell everything that happened here. But I will set some privacy wards."
Aidan activated some magic circles inscribed into blocks of wood around them and tested the ward. When he was satisfied with the effect he continued.
"It is fine. Just relax. Bring that chair here and sit down. Close your eyes. Think of nothing. Don't be afraid."
The girl complied, and Aidan touched her solar plexus and drew the spell glyphs in the air over the spot.
"Soul Reveal!"
The girl shivered and from the spot, Aidan touched came the usual diagram of magical affinities. But in the middle, there was a humanoid shape tinted in the colors of the magic affinity. For the girl, it was the blue color of water. Around the tiny person floated two small translucid marbles. One faint blue, one faint white.
"Open your eyes, deb."
She looked at the figure floating in front of her. It was a scaled version of her body, naked but without detail as it was uniform in color and light.
"Is this me?"
"A representation of your soul. Perfect, unharmed. Beautiful."
The girl blushed. Sora coughed in her fist.
"Lumina, what are these orbs floating around?" The squirrel-kin asked.
"These are Deb's elemental and mana affinities. Lower rank F in both. Not enough to be considered a full-fledged mage, but she could cast a few first circle spells of the water element with training."
"Your Highness, is this true? Can I use magic?"
"With training and effort, you might be able to cast a minor first circle spell. Just that. As I said, it is not enough to be considered a mage. But yes. You can use magic, Deb. Tomorrow I will tell Pearl and ask her to get you some tutoring and a magic circle for basic water magic. Maybe purify water. I bet you could use that in your daily activities. But you will have to learn the basics of spellcraft and wizardry."
"Thank you, your Highness. You are too kind!"
Breaking protocol Deb took Lumina's hand. Aidan quickly placed a hand over hers and held it. She noticed and shuddered. But with a smile, Aidan dismissed her worries.
"Now go back to sleep. You are dismissed."
The maid bowed and fluttered out of the room.
"Your turn, Sora. Sit down."
Sora's effigy was a bright white squirrel with very tiny red and green orbs. The white orb was nowhere to be seen.
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"You have fire and wind affinities, the sun element. But you have no mana affinity. Sorry, Sora."
"What are you sorry for? Is this me? It is beautiful."
"Yes. Your soul is bright, warm, cozy and beautiful, your element is Sun. You can resist heat and exhaustion better than most."
"Hehe, thanks. And now it is your turn." She pointed at Lumina.
He repeated the spell and what came was awful. The figure of a man, with holes and missing spots, wisps of brown trailing out and fading away into nothing. Big and solid red, orange, purple and white orbs spun around the effigy.
"And this is me. Damaged. Incomplete. But even in this state, this is the soul that inhabits this body."
"What do you mean with 'inhabit this body'?"
"If I were merely possessing Lumina's body, it would show her soul wrapped in a faint outline of mine. But as you can see it is a man's soul. There is no girl in here." He tapped the princess' solar plexus.
"There is no Lumina."
"No. Only me. Tomorrow I will use this spell on Aidan's body. We will know the truth then. But now I must finish my ritual."
Dawn turned around to continue working on the diagrams and the calculations and Sora reached out a hand that never touched her. This overworking was bad for both the girl outside and the boy inside, but she had not the strength of heart to force her to take a break. The bags beneath the eyes betrayed the princess natural beauty. The tone of voice betrayed the boy's confidence.
Aidan was desperate and so was Sora. She didn't know how to help. The feeling of powerlessness was killing her.
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Two days later Aidan spent the whole morning drawing a magic circle in the room reserved for Lumina. He sent Pearl's servants to buy the stuff he needed yesterday and before the sun rose he was already bothering them again to move the furniture away. Fancy inns have too much stuff, Aidan noted.
His idea was to use a magic ritual to empower the soul fragments in his body and in Lumina's. With that, they might awaken and allow both bodies to work at the same time. There was a risk of Lumina waking up in his body, but he was willing to write it off as a mishap of the ritual and reveal the takeover of Lumina's body as a body swap. There was nothing left of Lumina's soul in her own body and no chance of bringing her back.
Sora was helping him with minor things that didn't require much precision, like gathering and counting the materials. Shinji was on standby on the inn's common room if Lumina needed a magic recharge. Aidan finished drawing the circle and washed his hands.
"It is done." He declared. Sora stopped grinding herbs to look at him.
"How does it work?"
"It is a version of the 'Resist Death' spell. The spell strengthens the soul against attacks, especially from undead and spirits. I dropped the damage resistance part and added part of a restoration spell and part of the MP recharge spell Shinji used."
"And you are going to cast it tonight. Did you even sleep? Will it work? Shouldn't you take a break and rest both this body and your mind?"
"I don't know. At least I am sure it won't be harmful. The problem is that I mixed too many different things. I can't use my elemental affinities for this one as it uses literally a glyph of each element. This part here is from the Underworld because it is the best for affecting souls. Shinji magic is holy, between these two it already uses all elements. Adding in the elements of Lumina's healing magic, it has several elements more than once."
Aidan was drifting off a tangent. Sora had no interest in knowing the elements, she wanted this ritual to work as much as her companion. But Dawn was droning and explaining things on autopilot. She bit down on her worries and faced the mage.
"You must rest a little. Even I know that using delicate magic tired is a recipe for disaster."
Sora walked behind the princess and massaged her shoulders. Aidan let a faint pleased groan escape.
"You are right. I am tired. I will rest, eat lunch, ask Shinji to restore my mana and in the evening I will cast the ritual."
Sora wanted nothing more than to tuck this girl in bed and let her get a good night's sleep. But the deadline for Pearl's expedition was already pushed forward because of them.
"Sounds like a plan."
Before leaving, Dawn burned half of his available mana powering the magic circle. The drawn lines erupted with light and remained there, glowing. The mana used to power the circle would slowly seep away. It was wasteful to leave it powered, but since he was going to leech mana off of Shinji it would increase the available mana for the ritual by a significant amount. He picked a paper sheet with a copy of the ritual spell circle and descended into the common hall.
Deb went ahead of them and announced.
"Her Highness Princess Lumina of Yutis."
Dawn took a deep breath and walked down the stairs. All eyes were on him - her. 'Graceful, graceful. Glide."
Pearl came to greet them. "Lumina, I'm delighted to have you join us for a meal. Come, sit. I bet you are starved from working overnight." There was no smile in her eyes.
Aidan translated that as, 'Why did you come downstairs to ruin my bonding time with MY heroes? I bet you are staving, poor creature. Come, sit here where everyone can see you and embarrass yourself eating like a pig since you now like peasant food.'
"Thank you, Pearl. I will have to impose on your generosity once more. I only came to have a small refreshment and then I have to return to the ritual room."
What Pearl made of Aidan's honest words would make a veteran prostitute blush. Since she didn't speak, Dawn continued.
"Pearl, I brought a copy of the ritual spell for you. I think the mages back in your palace will like to have it. And maybe have a secondary caster to assist me. Could Shinji learn it?"
Pearl looked at the sheet of paper, at Lumina, at Shinji and suppressed the urge to rip that stupid magic circle apart. She made a dismissive gesture.
"That is a fifth circle spell, darling. Shinji never learned spellcraft. I am afraid it is impossible."
"Can I ask him? I really need help."
"Go ahead."
Aidan approached Shinji with the spell circle.
"
Shinji looked at the circle upside down with a goofy puzzled look. Pearl frowned and came to scold Lumina.
"I told you that he doesn't know spellcraft. He can't learn our spells!"
Both princesses looked at the Japanese boy as he just stared a blank gaze at the paper.
"
Pearl froze. Then all blood left her face.
"
"
Aidan could not believe. A fifth circle spell could take an average mage months to learn. Monsters like Astromelicus could learn in a few hours, but instantly? And what the hell was a Skill Point? Otherworlders are scary.
"
"
Pearl looked at the window of the inn. Then she remembered it was not the first time the heroes spoke of invisible windows only they can see.
"
"
"
"
"
"Ahhhh." Dawn moaned as the spell homed in his very essence and started doing its job. He threw his head back and his world spun. He was falling backward but Pearl supported Lumina's body.
"Lumina? Are you okay?" Pearl asked. After a minute, Dawn could speak again.
"You should try it, Pearl. It is awesome."
He turned to Shinji. "
"
"Wait, wait, wait!"
"
"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" Pearl screamed loudly as the spell homed in her very essence and started doing its job. Without the endurance born of adversity Aidan had, she couldn't resist. She quivered and her legs failed to bring both princesses to the ground.
"
Pearl's skirt flipped. And she was grabbing Dawn's boobs.