– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 54 –

Terry was walking through Syn, and he mentally said farewell to the city. Terry still had no idea how he had arrived in that accursed dungeon, but at least some good had come out of it.

I may have never seen a place like this… Or meet deathfolk like here…

Terry did not know when he would be able to return to Arcana, but even if it took a while, it was unlikely for him to see Syn again.

While walking, Terry filled up a mana container in his left hand and aspected the throwing needle in his right hand.

Huh?

Terry noticed a change in the needle with his mana sense and examined the weapon more closely.

“The mana…” Terry raised his eyebrows and excitedly exclaimed: “It has become self-sustaining!”

Terry returned the mana container to his dimensional bag. Then he squinted at the aspected throwing needle.

What’s the point though? I don’t notice any effect…

“Hm…” Terry tilted his head and muttered to himself: “Maybe it works just like unaspected mana for aspecting?”

While aspecting with unaspected mana was technically possible, it was mostly pointless and considered a waste of mana. Unaspected mana had no special effect, and the only benefit of the procedure was that it was harder to designate such a mana-crafted item as a spell target.

If that can be considered a benefit at all – the difficulty applies to my own spellwork, too.

“Look on the bright side.” Terry cheered himself on. “There are way more spells from opponents to block than from me.”

Yay, rang a sarcastic voice in Terry’s head.

“Ah well, I can at least use it as an emergency mana supply or some—” Terry interrupted himself when he noticed Devon’s mana signature approaching.

You were supposed to stop talking to yourself. Weirdo.

Terry channeled mana to enter the aspected throwing needle into his storage bracelet…

However, the throwing needle remained where it was. Terry felt a slight pang in his hand.

Terry looked at the storage bracelet in surprise. He was aware that such entry failures were possible, but that mostly happened when the user was lacking in mana control. It was the first time that Terry had ever experienced this.

“Hey, Terry!” Devon greeted him. “The belly-drum lady asked me to get you.”

Terry nodded.

I will miss the Captain’s group.

Terry followed Devon and attempted to enter the throwing needle into the storage bracelet…

Ouch!

Second failure in a row. Terry switched hands, but the other storage bracelet showed the same failure.

“What’s wrong?” asked Devon.

“Uh…” Terry shook his head. “Nothing important.”

I can figure that one out later.

Terry placed the aspected needle at a free space on the sheath belt and channeled mana into the belt. The leather reshaped itself to create a sheath, and the throwing needle was held in place.

Afterwards, Terry followed Devon to the others. Amelia had already arrived and was waiting with Sigille and Matteo.

Terry quickly said a few parting words to the inhabitants of Syn.

“I’ll say goodbye to Elvis and Poppy for you,” said Devon.

“Take care, Terry,” said Megumi.

“Don’t let the dungeon fairy get to you again,” said Lizzy.

“Alright, time to go,” said Amelia. “Everyone, come closer together.”

Sigille, Matteo, and Terry went to Amelia.

Terry became nervous when he remembered his family’s warnings about unanchored dimensional travel. He reminded himself that both Sigille and Matteo trusted Amelia.

Terry observed the spell structures shaped in front of Amelia’s eyes. A moment later, his sense of balance was thrown off, and the surroundings shifted.

*Ting*

The group’s departure was accompanied by the sound of metal falling onto stone…

***

Terry’s group reappeared on a path through a forest. The outline of a city was already visible in the distance. A giant tree that was pulsing with nature-aspected mana was towering over the back of the city where the Guardian outpost was located.

Libra City. That is where Aunt Sigille is stationed.

“Here we are,” said Amelia. “With some walking distance, as you wished. Sorry, but I have to take my leave already.”

“Thank you, Amelia,” said Matteo.

“Thanks, lass,” said Sigille. “Better to avoid entrances that draw attention.”

“You can call me if they try to cause trouble for Terry,” said Amelia. “Good luck!” She vanished.

“Trouble?” asked Terry. “Ah… My legal status, is it?”

“Meh, don’t worry about it,” said Sigille. “Welcome to the area around Libra City. The westernmost city in the north of Tiv. Last Guardian outpost before the Wasteborder.”

Terry walked next to Sigille while Matteo walked in the front. Terry’s eyes wandered to the sword on Matteo’s back – more specifically, to the aura emanating from the sheathed katana. Terry recalled some of the most recent conversations.

“Aunt Sigille, you talked about the signs of mind-influence before. What exactly are those?”

“Heh, Matteo?” Sigille forwarded the question.

Matteo glanced back. “It’s been a while since you did pop quizzes with me.”

“Just making sure that you haven’t forgotten.”

“If we’re talking about yourself, then the best defense is to know yourself. Understand how you would normally react and reflect on any potential deviations. Imagine yourself as a third character and examine yourself from the outside. Changes in character, inconsistencies, twisted emotions, general muddle-headedness, gaps in memory – that sort of thing. There are also warding items that react to active mind-affecting spells or abilities.”

“In the case of others, a telltale sign of extensive influence without substitute personality is parrot speech,” added Sigille. “That would also be an indicator that victims are beyond the point where they can defend themselves.”

“Parrot speech?” prompted Terry. “Substitute personality?”

“Parrot speech is when someone demonstrates no attempt to actually grasp what you are saying or what you are asking,” explained Sigille. “Instead, they only latch onto keywords to repeat phrases or statements that are familiar to them. Substitute personality means something to replace the original mind.”

“Charming and similar suggestion spells only influence but do not replace the mind,” elaborated Matteo. “Possession has a different mind taking over. Domination is like a temporal possession, but with respect to the original mind, the symptoms afterwards are basically the same as for any other influence.”

Terry repeated the words in his mind to better put them to memory. “Is it safe to use that sword? The Captain said something about it trying to possess the user’s mind.”

“Depends on who is using it,” said Matteo. “For me, it can be safer to use it than not to.”

Terry furrowed his brow in confusion. “Ma Isille and Pa Bjorln once said that you were…”

“Possessed by elementals, yes.” Matteo spoke with controlled calmness. “Further possession attempts will encounter difficulties because my mind is a bit crowded to begin with. Courtesy of an old mentor.”

Sigille clenched her fists and cursed under her breath. “Anand, the wasted bastard.”

“There is no cure for elemental possession,” said Matteo. “Normally, there isn’t even a window of opportunity to intervene. I was… lucky.” Matteo recalled scenes from the past. He glanced at Sigille and murmured to himself. “Luckier than I had any right to be.” He fleetingly placed his hand on the heart-seeker dagger.

“Elementals react to emotions,” said Matteo in a louder voice again. “Every emotion is feeding some of the beasts. That’s why the heart-seeker inscription eases the situation somewhat. It starves the beast. Still, although Ma Sigille has gifted me the dagger, she insisted I don’t rely on it all the time.”

“If I had wanted to raise a zombie, I would have adopted one from the Wastes,” grumbled Sigille.

“Some items can help weaken the elementals in a different way, but all of them have their limits. Soul Fury was a novel approach. Since I have been possessed by multiple elementals at the same time, there are…” Matteo searched for the right word. “Factions of a sort.

“There is a kind of balance to it, but entering combat can tip the scales. A high-rank storm elemental is the strongest individual entity inhabiting my mind. It naturally allies with the ice- and lightning-based elementals. Wrath and reckless fury disproportionately feed the fire elementals, determination feeds mostly the earth elementals, and so forth.”

Matteo took a deep breath. “Soul Fury was forged from the bones of a lightning-corrupted dragon whose soul refuses to let go.”

Terry’s eyes widened at the word ‘dragon’ because it had been nearly an era since the last known dragons had disappeared into the Wastes.

“Adding the lightning-focused dragon soul to the mix re-establishes a stalemate, in which I can stay in control.” Matteo’s gaze became distant, and he muttered to himself. “As long as my resistances stay ahead of the problem, anyway.”

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***

The group walked through the city entrance. Terry was worried when looking at the guards, but they simply waved them through after recognizing Sigille and Matteo.

“Matteo!” a man came running at them.

A slight frown appeared on Sigille’s face.

“Greetings, Santos,” said Matteo calmly. “How is the family?”

“Good good. Thanks for asking.” Santos grinned. “Impressed that I already know about your arrival?”

Sigille snorted and mumbled: “What’s there to be impressed about? Paid off one of the guards, I bet.”

“Thinking of continuing on the information broker path?” asked Matteo without changing his calm and friendly expression.

“Oh, you know. I would like to do proper mission work and accept missions from the Guild, but the wife does not want me to move too far from the city.”

“At least there is some sense in the family,” said Sigille. “You would probably get yourself killed before dinner and then what? Why don’t you get a normal job instead of wasting your time at the Guild?”

“Ugh, stop nagging me, old hag!” groaned Santos. “Anyway, Matteo, I know you are interested in unusual undead activity. The season of the Setting Moon is approaching, which means that you’ll be going out to hunt again, right? Since you’re my first real client, I took the liberty and compiled some useful information.”

Santos handed over some thin paper folders, one by one. “Rumors of death spirits in the southern area. Traces of a deathcult dealing with a demon in the west…”

Matteo received the folders without comment and nodded.

“There have even been some whispers about some strange activity near the Bulwark. There is nothing definite yet, but I have collected whatever I could find.” Santos handed the last folder to Matteo. “Interested?”

Terry’s ears perked up.

Bulwark? Wouldn’t that be…

Matteo nodded. “Thank you, Santos.” He retrieved a stack of vals from his storage item and gave it to Santos. “Give my regards to Alejandra and the little ones.”

Santos’s expression visibly brightened after receiving the payment. “Will do. I’ll have to take my leave to stay on top of things.” He walked away.

Sigille shook her head and stared after the departing Santos. “Typical dreamer. Instead of training at the Guardians or wherever, he just… Hmph. No understanding of his own abilities.”

Sigille turned to Matteo. “Why are you paying him for that kind of info? That deathcult sighting is a hoax. I know that you already know about the death spirits as well as all the other things that weren’t complete nonsense.”

“Yeah, isn’t the Bulwark rumor probably about…” Terry left the last words unspoken. He did not know what other ears were listening, and he did not want to add fuel to the gossip about Syn and the battle at the Bulwark.

“There is no way that someone at his level will come up with anything useful you don’t know already,” continued Sigille.

“Santos is alright,” said Matteo. “He loves his family and they love him. Unfortunately, he has got it stuck in his head that he needs to earn more to offer his children a better life.”

“Which would be admirable if he went about it the right way,” interjected Sigille with a frown. “I don’t see how earning himself a premature death will improve the situation of his family.”

“I agree, which is why I prefer him to stick to information gathering. As long as he can draw an income this way, he won’t do anything too stupid or reckless.”

“Hmph, you’re enabling him,” complained Sigille. “The man needs to grow up, eventually. You shouldn’t pay so that he can keep entertaining his delusions.”

Matteo shrugged. “It’s little money to me, but if it keeps him out of trouble, then it’s a world of difference for his family. Besides…”

Matteo put the folders into his storage item. “I am getting something out of it, too.”

“Intel that you already know?” Sigille raised an eyebrow.

“Sort of.” Matteo smiled lightly. “I don’t pay him to receive new information. I pay him to get a glimpse into what kind of information can be considered common knowledge.”

Sigille wore a dissatisfied expression, but nodded. “Yeah, some value in that, I guess. Knowing what information reaches ears like his. Still, there is no way that this alone is worth that much.” Her grumbling was less insistent than before.

They walked towards the Guardian outpost. A man with a bright white sash across his upper body approached them with large strides.

“Ugh…” Sigille groaned.

“What is the meaning of this?!” demanded the man.

Sigille scratched her nose with her pinky. “Greetings, Little Lucas. Could you be more specific?”

“Don’t get smart with me!”

“Should I act dumb then?” Sigille gasped. “If that is what the ministerial representative desires, I can try…”

“You, hmph. As far as I know, your dungeon pioneering had finished a long time ago. Where did you run off to? We had other missions waiting.”

“That is odd. I thought the ministry is not supposed to pre-assign missions.” Sigille scratched her nose again. “I thought for sure that Guardians still have a say in the missions they accept. Did we become common soldiers while I wasn’t looking?”

Lucas’s expression darkened.

“Last I checked the regulations on Guild-Guardian-partnership,” interjected Matteo. “The ministry has no say in the work we take up together as long as the Guardian fulfills their quota and I accept the Guardians’ rate of payment. As you can see, we are still working together.”

“Damn Guildheads,” spat Lucas. “I’ll have a talk with your management, too.”

Then Lucas’s angry eyes moved to Terry. “And who is this person who went through the city entrance without being inspected by the guards?”

“My nephew,” replied Sigille as if it was the most obvious fact in the world.

“Human nephew, huh? Since when do you have a nephew in Tiv?” Lucas was smelling an opportunity to exploit.

“He is just a kind nephew that is paying a visit to his aunt.” Sigille maintained Lucas’s gaze calmly.

“A mana user.” Lucas eyed Terry and looked for mana traces on his items. He displayed a thin smile and turned back to Sigille. “I am sure that you have followed the proper immigration procedures?”

“Nope,” said Sigille nonchalantly.

Lucas was put off-balance by the simple admission of guilt. He suspiciously continued: “You know that this means—”

“Let me stop you right there,” interrupted Sigille. “There were no proper immigration procedures, because there was no one around to perform them. Terry did not arrive through the other empires. None of your pencil-pushers were waiting around at the Wasteborder to receive my nephew. You see the problem?”

Lucas sneered. “Are you expecting me to believe that this…” Lucas refrained from spitting out ‘kid’ when he noticed Terry’s mana signature.

Terry’s mannerisms still carried a childish air – the way he stuck close to Sigille and Matteo, the open excitement and curiosity in his eyes, the timid reaction to Lucas’s appearance. However, that impression of childishness clashed hard with Terry’s mana signature.

Lucas decided to stay on the safe side. “This person has arrived through the Wastes?”

“Precisely,” replied Sigille. “When I met him, he was defending the Bulwark from an undead horde together with the Wasteguard. You can verify that with Mal. There are plenty of witnesses that can vouch for him.”

Lucas was stupefied. If that was a lie, then that would be too easy to demonstrate, but there was no way that the Divine Hammer was that stupid.

“What about you? What useful thing have you done recently?” questioned Sigille. “Pushing pencils and bothering the people that are actually doing useful work doesn’t count.”

“You…” Lucas gritted his teeth.

“Anyway, there were not that many immigration checkpoints near the Bulwark. Maybe you can talk to your minister and get that sorted out.”

Lucas snarled and said: “That does not absolve you or him from conforming to Tiv’s laws. This—”

“Terry is the accepted son of my baby sister. I have accepted him as my nephew. My whaka.” Sigille emphasized the last word and caught Lucas’s gaze.

“I like the idea of having a little cousin,” said Matteo. “Whaka Terry is already family.”

Terry was tongue-tied. He had been called cousin or nephew before, but this was the first time that they addressed him as whaka. He could not completely follow what was going on, but he clenched his fists.

Whaka.

“Are you threatening me?” growled Lucas.

Sigille tilted her head. “Well, that depends, doesn’t it? Did it seem threatening to you?” She showed a toothy smile.

“Hmph,” scoffed Lucas. “And what are you going to do if the imperial censors have a different view on this?”

“Don’t know.” Sigille did not break eye-contact. “I guess we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.”

“This is—”

“This is enough, I think.” A woman in bright yellow robes was approaching.

Sigille’s expression turned sour, and she growled under her breath: “Witch…”

Terry’s eyes widened when he saw the woman’s mana signature. It looked odd. While there was a normal unaspected signature, there was also an intense pure light-aspected center that was distinct from the other mana. It seemed slightly different from normal light-aspected mana, too. There was also a trace of an aspect he had not sensed before, even though it appeared somewhat familiar.

Maybe? Channeler?

Terry tilted his head.

Terry was jolted from his thoughts when he heard Matteo inhale deeply. Terry noticed how Matteo straightened his back and how all expressions left his face.

“Don’t forget that your mana is not yours to use for your own purposes,” spat Lucas at Sigille. “Being allowed to use mana is a privilege. You do not get to eschew the rules just because you’re strong.”

“I can leave if I am not wanted here,” retorted Sigille. “If anyone has a problem with Terry’s presence, then I can escort him out of the Tiv Empire immediately.” Sigille shrugged. “Perhaps there are others that would like to join an escorted trip to another empire? What do you think?”

“Lucas, I am sure that we can make some accommodations for the family relationships of our Guardians,” interjected the woman with the odd mana signature.

“If Guardian management says so.” Lucas remained unwilling, but he gave in. “I’ll be waiting inside, Willow.”

“Greetings, Matteo,” said Willow with a bright smile. “Let me thank you for your continuing support. If only all Guild-members would show the same sense of responsibility. Truly commendable.”

Matteo looked at her with calm, measured breaths and with no attempt to make a reply.

“We’ve finished our missions,” said Sigille. “Next season—”

“About one of those missions,” interjected Willow. “The group of otherrealm worshippers that were suspected of misconduct.”

Sigille scratched her nose with her pinky again.

“I remember us talking about the possibility of there being hostages…” Willow left the words hanging in the air.

“Yup. I remember bringing that up.”

“I think we had agreed that gathering the information takes priority over rescuing any hypothetical hostages.” Willow’s cold eyes rested on Sigille.

“I remember you advocating for that position.” Sigille maintained a deadpan expression.

“And yet I have been informed that some people that appear to have escaped from a deathcult were escorted to the nearest settlement guard while all the alleged cultists are now dead.”

Sigille nodded with a guilt-free expression. Terry could see the faintest trace of a smile on Matteo’s lips.

Willow smiled with cold eyes. “May I request an explanation?”

“Sure. Well, Matteo and I were there investigating the cultists and go figure.” Sigille displayed insincere shock. “The cultists acted all cult-like. They were planning to offer innocent lives to a being from another realm. When we arrived, they were about to sacrifice a little girl.”

Sigille tapped her temple. “I, of course, remembered the talk with you and that we were not supposed to extract any hostages. You made that point very clear.”

Sigille puckered her lips and rocked her head from side to side. “Therefore, I had to improvise a solution that does not make me hate myself for all eternity. Luckily, we have found a solution that also complied with your request.”

“How so?” Willow raised an eyebrow.

“We figured that if we kill all the captors, the victims would stop being hostages.” Sigille maintained a deadpan expression. “We only escorted the people after they had already stopped being hostages. Technically, this cannot be considered a hostage extraction.”

“Is that so?” Willow did not show any emotion on her face. “You two took down the entire group before moving the hostages? How exactly did you do that?”

“Carefully,” replied Sigille without missing a second.

“...”

Sigille made no attempt to elaborate.

“Could you share some more details?” prompted Willow.

“Of course,” replied Sigille. “Very carefully.”

Willow let her eyes wander over all three of them. “Welcome back. As always, thank you for your service.” She smiled a thin smile. “Until later.”

Willow left towards the entrance of the Guardian outpost while the others stayed behind.

“Two-faced witch,” grumbled Sigille. “As if kind words would make us forget her despicable actions.”

“She sure has climbed up quickly in Guardian management,” remarked Matteo with disappointed eyes.

“Hmph.” Sigille shook her head. “Yeah, you were right back then. So much for you ever becoming a proper Guardian.” Sigille sighed regretfully.

“Was that woman a channeler?” asked Terry.

“Huh?” Sigille turned to look at him. “Ah, yes. The witch is a cultist, alright. A follower of the Bright Lady. More and more of those around. They claim the creature they call the Bright Lady is from a heavenly realm, but of course they would claim that.”

Sigille patted Terry on the back. “Anyway, we still need to reserve a slot for you to have a proper visual with Isille. The Little Silly I know will only calm down properly once she has seen you herself.”

Sigille glanced over the area that was mostly devoid of people. “I would introduce my most recent disciples to you, but they’re still out on mission work. They should return with the Setting Moon. That is when I usually focus on instructing while Matteo is doing his own thing.”

***