In Gaiman and Kubert's "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader," the Joker is seen sad and without purpose after he killed Batman. As I slithered back to the duchess' mansion, I felt kind of the same. Was it survivor's guilt? I should've died during that duel. Or went down in a blaze of glory as I burned dozens of Perks to deal one epic finishing blow to Bundeus. As if everything was scripted.
It didn't happen that way. No. It was a fair fight, but I had one or three advantages. Bundeus was weakened. The sudden "unlocking" of a {God Slayer} Perk. The conclusion I reached was that someone, or someones, had a finger in hedging the fight against me. But he had the Broodmother's favor, whichever that one was. Somehow I suspect it wasn't just bringing him back from the dead. Well, it gave me one extra core. Who cares. I'll deal with things as they come.
Whatever happened or not, those things didn't steal the merit of the accomplishment. Bundeus was dead. Gone. Rosalinda was avenged. Slavery would take a lot of time to come back to Auvanini. But I felt hollow. Killing him didn't give me more time to spend with Lorna. And now I knew not all my actions in previous lives was under free will. The drive to fight the Demon Lords. The way I left Lorna behind to go duel with Bundeus.
Now, in retrospect, I could see the faint and subtle influence otherworldly powers had on me. I had to thank McCalister for teaching me that, even though unwittingly.
I reached the gates and the lamia knights stationed there opened it right away for me. The look of awe in the young girls' faces made most of my guilt vanish. They were staring at my tail.
There wasn't much for me to do. I settled into a routine, training with the girls in the morning, lounging the rest of the day. Resting, meditating, just living my life. For the first time in forever, there was no crisis. Nobody attempting to summon a demon, no God throwing shit my way, nothing threatening Windemere.
I sent birds to my usual correspondents and one to Solana in Auvani. From Sariandi I learned the elves decided this was the birth of a new era. Year one of the new calendar. Neep wanted me to go visit him in Theirian. Solana didn't answer.
One week after my return, Eric called me for a talk. As I sat with the King and explained to him what happened, he told me that slaves all around the continent were revolting now that the collars stopped working. Several groups of non-humans were coming to Windemere, trying to gain entry and shelter. He asked me what we should do to accommodate all those people. We could expand the dwarven outpost into a full-fledged city but that would mean cutting part of the Eleon forest.
That's when I remembered the secluded valley I found in the mountains. We could expand Windemere deeper into the mountains, going up the hills and breaking through into that valley. It could hold twice the capital's current population. Eric was very excited. It was basically free land if the valley had no guardians. Even if they had, I could negotiate or force them into letting us use it.
After some small talk and news of the Realm, we finally came to the big question.
"What are you going to do, Rosie?" Eric asked.
I was in my normal shape, basking in the glory of my shiny tail. He still called me Rosie, not Lakerta. To the reborn silk-man, I was still that tiny blind eleon that rescued them in the Dungeon. But Nenandil called me Silverstreak when I stayed with her in my fairy form, so I thought it was fairly normal.
"Take a vacation, I guess. Train some more lamias, oh. Can you isolate a portion of the forest for my exclusive use? No hunters, no foraging, no trespassing."
Eric gave my question some thought, "What for?"
"I think that I can attract some fairies to live here in Windemere. They'll need a primeval forest to make their homes though."
He pondered for a while, "Like in Theirian, I suppose?"
I nodded, "Theirian and Windemere are sister countries. What's good for one is good for the other, and I have a vested interest in seeing both prosper."
The King grinned, "We are thankful for your concern, Matriarch."
There was an undertone of admiration, worship even. It made me slightly uncomfortable. I knew what Gods were and I had no interest in being one of them. Or to be treated like one.
"So, Your Majesty, can we do it? Isolate a section of the forest?
"Yes. We can use the deep forest north of Dragonfall and east of the Iceking Road. The eleons don't go there very often but it is close enough to Rosebush that we can send help should they need it."
I drew on the map the fairy reserve. It wasn't too big, just a few square kilometers of pristine forest and foothills as far from civilization as possible. The King agreed, "That's for the best."
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The wake of Bundeus' death brought slave revolts all around Auvani. Talbain, Kazuyran, and our agents didn't release all slaves as that would be an impossible task. But with the God that helped create the collars dead, they failed and the slaves suddenly weren't repressed anymore. Worse, some of them were forbidden from using their accumulated Exp for years. Suddenly, a lot of slaves ranked up overnight, undermining their collars' influence into nothing, and then the slave-holders had a bunch of overpowered people very angry at them.
It was bloody and gruesome. The survival rate of the freed slaves wasn't very good but most of them wanted to take revenge more than getting away, the sudden rush of levels going over their head.
While I didn't directly participate in the revolts, I had our agents spread the word to the rulers of the small nations that massive suppression would earn them a visit from me. the freed slaves were to be granted freedom and safe passage out of their country. The threat of a third-ranker knocking down their doors was enough of a deterrent. The former slaves that left their nations migrated to Windemere. Over the next few years, we would welcome with open arms several groups of freed slaves in Windemere once they passed the "Trial of the Tabard". The original stayed in the palace but there were dozens of "child" tabards in use by the government officials. The main Tabard created one more child about every twenty days.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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After settling the area for the fairies on the map with Eric and Vanagon's help along with Nenandil's input, I set out to mark the territory. Using Magic Cores and my {Crystallize Magic} Perk, I set repulsion wards based off of my {Keening} banshee ability. That would instill on trespassers a sense of dread that forced the weak-willed to avoid the area. It didn't work on elves or fairies. I enchanted the cores using the MP regeneration and storage enchantments I learned from the storage rings. This way the magic would be self-sustaining forever.
Inside the forest, I searched for the best spot to put a mushroom ring. Not pressed for time, I decided to make one as big as I could. The ring wasn't just a teleportation waypoint. It would keep the fairies inside the region hidden and separated from reality. I could create a ring with one hundred and eighty meters of radius. More than ten soccer fields of sheltered space.
"That's a huge ring," Nenandil whistled once I finished my day of meditation. "Let's put our house here. It can stay here and we come back via teleportation."
"Okay. But we don't know if we will have enough energy to teleport between continents if we are reborn."
She dismissed my concerns with a handwave. "Nah, we'll make it work somehow."
I knew Nenandil was up to something but I wouldn't deny her request unless it was something completely absurd. After making a hole for the basement, I placed Rosewise's first house, the one that was in the cul-de-sac back in Perenneth.
"Good. Now, let's take some utensils, here, there, what do you have there from the other houses?" Nenandil started to fly around and ask me for odds and bits fro my item box. "You should get a Perk that allows me to use your item box. This way I could steal... put things there for you, and maybe browse the inventory too."
Given the System's ability to create Perks from people's wishes if they were lucky enough, that might be possible. In a thousand years when I level up and gain another Perk.
"Aren't you just littering the house?" I asked after half an hour of pulling junk out. "I'm getting the jitters to clean it up."
"Good!" She chirped. "Now we wait."
"For what?" I asked, just a bit annoyed.
"Shh. Would you shut the fuck up for a while, please, my love? You'll ruin it. And keep a happy mood."
I swallowed my irritation. What did she want to do? I used Apricot's superpowers of boxing my emotions, coiled my tail under me, and entered a meditative state. I'd just spent three-hundred-fifty millions MP on this fairy ring. Maybe that was the problem. MP headaches.
Allow me just a parenthesis. Seriously, a lamia's body was so freaking convenient. Not having to sit, adjusting one's height to anything from a meter to more than three, being able to lay down to rest anywhere, the marvelous scales, among other conveniences.
"Lakerta, it's starting," Nenandil gushed excitedly. "Open one eye and don't do anything."
I opened an eye to see some rags swirling like a dust devil. It gathered some dust and dirt on the floor and then it suddenly sprouted arms, legs, and a caramel-colored mane.
"Good morning!" The tiny creature said. "Oh, dear, what a mess!" She exclaimed. Yes, it was a she. A brownie girl. She had a dark tanned complexion and tiny features.
She put herself to organize and clean the scattered objects. It reminded me of a scene just like that but it was me in her place. She started to weave House Magic as if it was natural and I had to force myself to remember that I still had my magic blocked at that time.
She cleaned the whole house, including the upper floors and basement. Meanwhile, I made a silkie-sized silk dress replicating my scale pattern.
"Is that for me?" The recently... Born? Spawned? Created? silkie asked. Her face didn't betray her emotions.
I transformed into Silverstreak, the trusty and ridiculously-high-leveled {Fox-Kin Disguise Kit} shifting along with me to become Silverstreak's signature mane. Then I used {Summon Arms and Armor} to don the dress.
"This is mine. Weave your own, sister!" I playfully scoffed at her.
The fairy squealed and jumped to hug me! "Amazing! You can transform into a huge snake-person! I KNEW you were a fairy but I didn't comment! Of course, you wouldn't do something as rude as giving me clothes!"
"Of course not. I'm Silverstreak," I reached out with my hand.
"And I'm... can't tell you my true name! Call me Vesper."
I shook her hand. "Vesper it is. Funny you spawned out of nothing..." My eye caught one mischievous water fairy fluttering around. "Nenandil! Come down here! How the heck do fairies come to be?"
She sheepishly landed next to us. "Oh, you see, Silverstreak... when two fairies love each other very much..."
I deadpanned and stared her until she wilted. "Cut the crap."
"We just spawn when the time is right! When there's a need for more fairies in the natural world! And this HUGE, MASSIVE mushroom circle isn't 'fairying' itself enough with just the two of us. So more fairies are spawning to fill the gap. Can't you hear the giggles outside?"
Now that she mentioned it, I could. It reminded me of some bygone pie thieves. "But your mother created you from an egg," I pointed out.
"Yeah. When you are as strong as her and have your own domain, you can spawn fairies at will."
Some newborn airhead pixies flew in through the window. "Hey, girls! Do you wanna play?"
I took a deep breath and let the levity take over, "Sure, why not?"
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After we finished organizing the fairy area including, we talked for a while and Eric seemed very interested in my mental state. Once he was satisfied with my answers, he withdrew an ornate wooden box from his storage ring - I'd gifted him the one from the slaver.
"Lakerta, please sit down. This is important," Eric said with a serious voice. He placed the box on the table between the couches. "Lorna wanted you to have this. I'll leave you alone."
The King of Windemere left the room, leaving me alone with... a time capsule?
The box had a breakable metal seal. I felt a faint security enchantment designed to show that the seal was intact. I broke it and lifted the lid. Two vellum scrolls rested on a velvet display. A note on a piece of parchment read, "This one first." It was Lorna's handwriting. I opened it. I could see wrinkles and smudges on the parchment where tears fell and stained. I knew I would soon add mine to them.
> Rosewise, my master, savior, lover, and eternal King.
>
> I'm sorry for being a coward and leaving you alone. I can only imagine how hard it is to be you. But this is not to be a sad letter. Thank you. Thank you for rescuing me, for sheltering and training us. For sharing your life with me. I won't thank you for making me a Queen because that was a "pain in the ass", as you liked to say. Even though you never let me play there. Talk about being sensitive.
>
> This letter is to thank you for everything. And to ask for your forgiveness. I did a terrible and petty thing by taking your bread away. I knew how important it was to have that link to your father. I had to do that. To find out if I was more important than the bread to you. Look at me. A foolish Queen, competing with a pastry. Delicious pastries, by the way.
>
> You came back for me. I was so scared of what you'd do. But you came back for me. I know that if you are reading this, the storm clouds over Windemere are gone. You got a Deity to leave us alone. I have a smile on my face as I try to figure out how you did that. Knowing you, O mighty Death Princess, it must've involved a lot of dead people. No doubt they all deserved to die.
>
> It is good to know you finally came to terms with your loss. Please never forget me. I know people will remember Queen Lorna of Windemere, who ruled for a century. I want you to remember Lorna the [Prostitute] and [Sorceress]. Your apprentice and lover.
>
> Yours forever, Lorna.
>
> P.S. 1: You were the best bathwater ever.
>
> P.S. 2: It took me a lot of effort, but when I mentioned to Temus that is was for you, he agreed to give me the recipe for his fruit-honey bread. It's on the other scroll.
>
> P.S. 3: There's something from me to you underneath the velvet that held this scroll. Take care when you lift the velvet so the wind doesn't blow them apart.
The other scroll was my father's honey-fruit bread recipe. Next life I'm picking [Baker] just to learn how to make this bread as well as him. I lifted the velvet and found a bunch of short curly hairs, carefully tied with a red silk ribbon.
I groaned and broke into a fit of laughter along with tears that didn't stop. I married the naughtiest Queen ever.