Chapter 12 - Pressure

The group relocates to a training area owned by the Guild, located just outside of town. Senna extracts the Ogre and Stone Ogre corpses from her [Storage]. Taking a step back, she lets the others examine the corpses.

They look around the Ogre and notice the wounds Senna gave it. The Stone Ogre completely amazes them though.

“Senna, you didn’t damage the Stone Ogre skin at all.” Arnost asks with bright eyes.

“No, I did.” Senna pats her stomach. “I burned a bit of the stomach area here. It didn’t have much effect, so I had to damage the inside instead.”

Arnost climbs up the Stone Ogre and takes a closer look. “That isn’t much. You could say its undamaged even at that level.”

“Is it important? I can imagine breaking down some of the skin to concoct a or   potion, but bringing the whole Ogre wouldn’t help much.” Senna tilts her head.

“If it’s undamaged, there is no need to worry about blood in the mixture.” Arnost explains.

“Hang on old man. It’s more useful as armor. That much skin will be material to craft high quality armor.” Davor retorts.

“What?! That’s blasphemy?! It’s more important to craft a potion that could save your life!” Arnost argues. The two of them start bickering over what to use the Stone Ogre for. Arnost turns to Senna. “Senna! You’ll give this to your Master right!?”

“Senna, our clan would benefit from this Ogre’s skin. It would help Anahid stay safe. That’s more important right!?” Davor argues.

“Hey! Don’t drag me into this!!” Anahid retorts.

Arnost and Davor’s gazes lock on Senna. Senna turns to Vermer. “Isn’t a Stone Ogre in the abnormal?”

“Of course. Only Goblins and Horned Rabbits are supposed to be in the . That’s why it is treated as a beginner area. A rare Hobgoblin may be seen, but never an Ogre.” Vermer answers.

“Then before worrying about how to profit from these corpses, we should prioritize what’s important. It should be given to the Guild to examine why this strong monster appeared, so other adventurers don’t get hurt.” Senna responds with a logical argument. The two of them freeze from Senna’s argument slumping over when they realize they can’t take advantage of the material in front of them. “If that’s enough, I’ll drop off the bodies at the Guild later?”

“Good.” Vermer nods.

“Is there anything else you need from me?” Senna asks.

“Join clan.” Bernard points to himself.

Senna bows. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to travel soon and don’t want to be tied down.”

“You have no say in the matter.” Anahid sternly declares.

“Heh?” Senna tilts her head.

“I’m making you join no matter what. You almost died yesterday. I’m not allowing this to happen again. You’re going to stay nearby and I’m going to train you. I won’t accept ‘No’ for an answer.”  Anahid’s adamant tone leaves no room for debate. Senna’s jaw drops listening to Anahid. Senna looks at Leah and Russell, but they shake their head.

Unable to receive any help from her parents, she turns to Arnost. “Nope. Can’t help. You’ve surpassed me as an Apothecary. I have nothing left to teach you, so there’s no point continuing to work for me. I was going to help you find some other work to do, but this works just as well.”

Senna slouches at the unreasonable demand. Bernard puts his hand on Senna’s shoulder. “Give up. Welcome to your new home.” Senna shivers feeling Bernard’s touch. She looks at Bernard’s hand. Her vision flashes. Instead of a hand encased in steel armor, it’s replaced with a pudgy, bare hand with a thick gold ring on all 5 fingers. Her head awkwardly moves upwards looking at Bernard. The brown haired Bernard is replaced with the bald headed, greasy skinned Rimmer.

*CRACK* In one fluid motion, Senna swings her hand up knocking away Bernard’s hand. She jumps back several meters crashing into a large earthen wall. She panics as she sees Rimmer’s large face distort in anger. The unexpected attack confuses everyone as they see Senna slouch down to the ground shivering like a newborn fawn.

“ARGHHH!!!” Bernard yells out as the pain begins to register. His arm hangs limply at his side. “THE HELL?!” Brought out of their shock, everyone starts moving. Rache and Arnost run up to Bernard and look at the state of his arm. The armor around the arm is bent inwards marking Senna’s attack. They carefully remove the armor and see a large, dark bruise.

Arnost examines the bruise closer making Bernard wince in pain. “It’s broken.”

“Senna?” Rache asks as her eyes widen.

“Probably. The bruise matches where she hit him.” Arnost opens his bag and starts taking out bandages.

“Wow.” Rache turns to look at Senna.

While the two of them are treating Bernard, the others run over to Senna. She curls up into a ball when she sees them approach. “I’M SORRY!! I’M SORRY!! I’M SORRY, MASTER!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!” Seeing her reaction, they stop approaching and look at one another.

“She’s hallucinating? About her old life?” Anahid asks looking at her parents.

“She’s never talked about it much, but it definitely looks like it.” (Leah)

“No different from her nightmares. We’ll just have to snap her out of it.” (Russell)

“Someone mind telling me what’s going on?” Davor questions unable to keep up with the situation.

“““Not now.””” The three of them reply in sync.

“AHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Senna screams as magic leaks from her body making her entire body glow a pale blue. Wind collects above Senna forming a whip. With a loud *Snap*, the whip descends cutting through her clothes and digging into her flesh. Blood sprays through her clothes as the whip separates from her skin. Wind condenses again as two more whips form. The three whips swing down again cutting into Senna’s skin.

Anahid and the others watch the involuntary display of magic and cringe when they see it injure Senna. As the wind whips descend again, they move to interrupt the act of torture. As they approach, they enter a magic field and feel a stifling amount of pressure making it difficult to breathe. Their armor begins to creak and groan as they persist in approaching Senna.

“” Leah casts a protective barrier around the four of them.

“” Davor also strengthens his defense with his magic.

forms a layer of light around their group reducing the power of any magic based attacks, while Davor’s is a type self-protection spell against magical attacks. Their bodies glow with their magic’s influence pushing away at the condensed magic in the air. They feel the pressure alleviate, but quickly increase bearing them with even more force than before. The field of magic acts as if it is annoyed at the resistance by constantly increasing the pressure on the four of them. Their armor begins to creak and groan as the pressure starts to constrict them. Davor suffers the most with the dual effect of the two support spells. The four of them are forced to retreat when Davor’s armor starts to cave inwards. They hurriedly escape as Davor strips off his bent armor.

“What the hell!?” Davor looks back on the invisible mass of magic before him.

“You okay?” Russell asks patting Davor.

“Barely. More importantly, what do we do?” Davor asks. The wind whips strike down for the fourth time injuring Senna. Russell and Anahid frantically try to cut into the condensed field of magic to disperse it.

“” Leah casts an intermediate light spell directly to forcibly wake Senna. A beam of light is released aiming at Senna, but the spell starts to distort as it passes through the condensed magic. It pressures the light beam weakening it as the spell begins to fade. Halfway to Senna, the light beam begins as thin as a thread before fading out of existence. Leah tries casting the spell again, but it fades just as quickly as the first attempt. “No good. It’s not working. Rache! Can you do something with your magic?”

Rache looks at them with a conflicted look. “Rache, Senna can give better treatment than I can. Snap her out of it and she can help spend up Bernard’s treatment.” Arnost motivates her to help.

“Try.” Rache approaches the barrier. “Sorry. Will hurt.” She mutters quietly to Senna. She gathers her magic in front of her. Wind starts to condense in front of her as more wind is drawn from her surroundings. A large gust of wind suddenly feeds into her spell as she finishes her chant. “” A concentrated ball of wind is released towards Senna. The spell moves through the field with minor resistance. Peeling off layers of wind as it moves, the mass of wind continues to move at the same speed. Passing through the raised wind whips, Rache’s spell strikes Senna on the side of her head.

Senna is knocked off the ground crashing again into the wall again. She limply lies on the ground for a short while. After several minutes, Senna stirs and tries to push herself up falling back down several times. Shaking her head, she sits up and looks at her ripped clothing drenched in free flowing blood. She looks around blankly spotting the others. Her eyes refocus as she awkwardly stands up weakly walking over to them. “Hi. What happened?”

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“……You don’t remember?” Anahid speaks up.

“Um… I remember my old master surprising me from behind…I unconsciously knocked his hand away, so he kicked me and brought out the spiked whip to punish me……and…then I was here.” Senna answers blankly looking at them. She looks around again seeing the dirt filled training ground. “Ah, now that I think about it that doesn’t make sense. He can’t be anywhere on Remia. I guess I made a mistake.”

“Senna, you…” Leah recounts what just happened. Senna nods calmly listening to her. “…We need to heal those wounds.”

“A-ahhh… , .” Senna raises her hand into the air quickly casting one spell after another. The water healing spell cleans her wounds as it repairs her skin. The light healing spell closes the wounds leaving fresh red scars across her body. She drinks a health potion when she notices her exposed scar ridden body. The men cringe looking at Senna’s mangled body. “Sorry. I know it’s ugly.” She takes out a new dress as she covers herself. Senna notices Leah chanting a healing spell. She grabs onto Leah’s shoulder. “Mom, don’t.”  

“But, you…” Leah grimaces thinking about the new scars on her body.

“I wouldn’t be able to handle it if you make it worse.” Senna seriously replies. Her eyes plead with Leah to hold back.

“…Fine. But I’ll get you treated later.” Leah sighs at her oddly persistent daughter.

“Thank you.” Senna hangs her head.

Rache walks up to Senna tugging on her clothes. “No incantation?”

Senna looks at Rache. “Un. Because it’s faster.”

“Teach.” Rache points at herself.

“Um…I can try. Not today though.” Senna answers.

Rache nods. “Promise?” Rache extends her hand.

Senna shakes her hand. “Promise.”

“Senna, are you really okay now?” Anahid walks up to Senna.

Senna nods. “I’m not at my best, but I can manage.”

“Oi! If you’re better, hurry up and help out!” Arnost calls out.

“Sorry! I’m coming now.” Senna replies. Rache runs ahead to Bernard’s side. They hurry over to Bernard where Arnost is bandaging his arm. “I’m sorry. I hit you.” Senna deeply bows.

“Why?” Bernard looks at her with some resentment.

“…You said the exact words from my former master before I was locked and tortured for 8 years. Your hand touched me in the same place too. So I had a relapse to that time and acted out in the same way. I apologize for that.” Senna bows again after her explanation.

“Fine. My Fault.” Bernard relents hearing her answer.

“Thank you.” Senna takes out a bottle of . “This will fix your broken bones.” Rache takes the potion from her and feeds it to Bernard. “, ” She performs some healing magic to help him recover faster. With both Senna and Leah casting healing magic as Arnost treats him, Bernard is back to normal in a few minutes.

Davor picks up the heavily bent arm armor and grimaces. “I think you’ll have to scrap this.”

Senna twitches hearing the damage. {It’s probably really expensive. If only I could heal… Ah… I haven’t tried it, but maybe I can.} Senna takes out two and drinks them. She walks over to Davor and places her hand on Bernard’s bent armor. Releasing her magic into the air, she concentrates on the armor.

“Senna, what are you doing?” Anahid asks. Senna doesn’t respond focusing on the armor.

“.” Senna mutters. The entire arm section shines as her magic surrounds the armor. The dent slowly moves back returning to its normal position before Senna hit it. Her magic continues to move without a place to fix the armor. The scratches are filled in with her magic and the discoloration fades away. As the spell disperses, Bernard’s arm armor looks as if it was brand new.

“Wow.” Someone mutters under their breath. The men’s eyes shine seeing Senna’s power. With her magic, they would never have to get their equipment repaired. Before they can make further plans, but Senna’s face pales and her knees buckle under her. She falls to the ground wondering what she did wrong. In the corner of her vision, the MP bar catches her attention. It flashes briefly to indicate the critical state as it is gradually refilled. {I overdid it. I didn’t think I would use half of my entire magic power.}

“Reckless. What are you doing after barely recovering?” Russell scolds Senna picking her up in his arms.

“Sorry. I wanted to fix my mistake.” Senna replies weakly.

“Let’s head back.” Russell sighs seeing Senna’s state.

“Actually… Please leave me behind. I have something I need to do.” Senna protests.

“You don’t think we’ll really leave you alone after yesterday, do you?” Russell asks with a stern glare.

“……” {Probably not.} Senna wisely chooses to stay quiet.

“I’ll stay Dad. Leave her to me. You head back first.” Anahid volunteers to stay behind.

“Fine. You stay safe and watch over her.” Russell nods. “Let’s head back. They can finish things later.” The group reluctantly follows Russell’s plan leaving Anahid and Senna alone.

“What do you have planned?” Anahid asks.

“I need to recover my magic first.” Senna closes her eyes and leans against a tree trunk. Her breathing becomes steady as she falls asleep.

“Geez, such a troublesome sister.” Anahid mutters with a wry smile.

***

Far away on the Chaos Continent, a flying drake lands on the parapet of the castle. The rider speaks with a servant before being escorted into the castle. The rider removes his helmet revealing the dark skin and two horns atop his head. He is dressed in flaming red armor as he walks through the castle halls. The servant opens the door leading the rider into the office. Entering, he stops before the desk and kneels. “Duke Pazra, I have come at your call.”

The man sitting at the desk puts down the document he is reading. Duke Pazra is similar to the armored man with dark skin and horns, but has distinctive silver tattoos on his forehead. In a regal black suit he exudes a far stronger aura of nobility compared to the man. “At ease, Visount Mater.” The man straightens himself. “Take your army and investigate the seaside regions of Lios to the south.”

“The seaside regions of Lios?” Viscount Mater questions. To examine the entire seaside of Lios would be an extremely long expedition taking over a month to explore just one side of the continent.

“Yes.” Duke Pazra picks up a document. “Over a month ago, a large collection of was detected. It was believed to be from that accursed Goddess. No activity was seen up until a few days ago where another large scale release of was detected. While much weaker than the first event, it is still believed to come from a member of the Angel race.”

“Even though those damn Angels preach nonintervention, they’re suddenly using magic?” The Viscount questions.

“Exactly!” Duke Pazra slams his fist on the desk. “I want to know what they’re planning! Mobilize and go to the South. Find out what they’re doing and capture it! We will not let them get the upper hand!”

“But Duke. The South is a large area to cover. What should I be searching for?” Viscount Mater asks. The expedition is one thing, but the vague objective means they would have to take into account everything in the area before they could move on.

“Hell if I know. Search for anything abnormal. Most likely with the humans. But be sure to investigate everything out of the ordinary.” Duke Pazra reluctantly replies.

“…Understood.” Viscount Mater salutes. “I shall set off immediately.” He turns around and leaves the room.

“No matter what we find. The waiting game is coming to an end.” Duke Pazra mutters quietly to himself.

Outside the room, Viscount Mater is fuming in anger. “That bastard! Ordering me around just because he has a higher rank than me. Just wait! I’ll capture whatever it is and present it directly to the Lord. I’ll get all the credit for the findings.” He storms out of the castle and flies off on his drake into the distance.

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Author's Note

I got a little too into writing again. This chapter ended up too long so I had to splice it. Good news is that its almost complete and I should have it up in the next 24 hours. Also, a nobility ranking to make the last part less confusing. The rankings will come into play with the next part too. When I stop being lazy, I'll compile a glossary for all the random details.

* King, Queen

* Prince, Princess

* Duke, Duchess

* Marquess, Marchioness

* Earl, Countess

* Viscount, Viscountess

* Baron, Baroness

* Knight

I'm off to deal with Chapter 13. See you soon!

!!Σ(ﾟДﾟ;≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ヾ(;ﾟдﾟ)/