“ - With that said, it’s good that we did sell them the airship schematics earlier.”
Kamil, Cezary, Nestor, and Aaron were discussing how to approach Atra. Yes, Aaron was in Ceres. Since he retired, he was no longer bound to Tantan. Additionally, he claimed that he should be away from the town to give his son, Alosie to get a bearing on his own.
“Brian’s party has entered the labyrinth and have explored a bit. He claims that it’s very deep,” Nestor was reading off a report.
“We are going to need Atra’s permission. In fact, we might see a small settlement starting over there. Words are going to spread, and adventurers are going to flock to the location,” Aaron said.
Damn it.
Kamil rubbed the bridge of his nose with his eyes shut. He really did not want to deal with Atra, but it appeared that there was no other choice.
“Adventurers will need a place to stay and eat. A tavern will be established. This will kick off the basic foundation of the economy,” Aaron explained.
“What happens if a settlement is established? Would it belong to Atra?” Nestor mused. His question brought immediate, but brief, silence among them. Under normal circumstances, it would indeed become an Atra settlement. But this situation was anything but normal. First of all, those who’d flock to the location would be mostly foreigners. Secondly, the one who found the dungeon was from Ceres, a neutral entity.
“This is going to get complicated, isn’t it,” Kamil said, and the others glanced at each other.
“What I fear the most is Karsten butting in this matter,” Aaron said. “He probably has his eyes set on tackling Atra, and I say this is the perfect opportunity.”
“On what grounds? He has nothing to do with this.” Kamil retorted.
“Ceres used to belong to his kingdom not long ago. That will be his ground, probably,” Cezary added. “It’s a bit weak but valid enough to cause frictions.” Aaron nodded in agreement.
“Oh, Gods…” Kamil rubbed his temples.
Now is not the time for even more wars, Karsten…
But he was a warmonger. The only way for him to stabilize his kingdom was wars. Now, such a method wasn’t entirely wrong. Not everyone was a peacemaker, and conflict was his method. What troubled Kamil was that the age of darkness was approaching. Unity was what would be needed to fight back, and Karsten was kicking unity out.
Remove him…?
A dark thread of thoughts came to him. He couldn’t tell this to the others in the study. He could probably talk about this with Cezary, but not anyone else. He was from the Siwen after all. Aaron and Nestor were both Egra-origin, and he didn’t know how they viewed the king.
“Let’s … send a diplomat to Atra. I don’t even know their capital city… Where is it even?”
Cezary explained, “The capital of Atra is Endal, a city of about 70,000 people. It’s very far and deep within their territory.”
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5463/N4R8zT.png]
“Indeed, by foot, it’d take months to get there. Thanks to the airship, it won’t take as long although I wager it will take days.”
That far, huh.
“Very well, let’s see how the first stage of the talk goes before deciding to do anything else. For all we know, they might just agree without giving us a headache,” Cezary said. It was wishful thinking, everyone knew that.
“Hold, I would like to talk to Lady Izabella before sending a diplomat,” Kamil interjected.
Cezary smiled back and replied, “I don’t disagree. They are our ally for the time being.”
Upon being summoned, Kerekes Izabella entered Kamil’s study. She was dressed in male noble attire, meaning she was wearing a pair of pants, like Flora. Originally, she wore a dress like any noblewomen did. But upon the first interaction with Flora, she was pretty amused because she was wearing pants, so she decided to follow the suit. It looked like she never fancied dresses anyway, and it proved to be a good opportunity as well as an excuse to ditch the feminine clothing.
“Duke.” Leaning forward, she displayed respect and spoke in Estana dialect which Kamil replied in her language rather fluently.
“I have a matter to discuss.” And he went on to explain what had been happening and the discovery of a dungeon.
“Interesting,” she replied with a smile. “I am sure you didn’t call me to inform me about that because I already know.”
Oh, do you. Spies, eh.
“True. The issue lies with the fact that the site is within Atra territory. We are going to need their formal permission to enter freely from now on since adventurers will flock to the location, and a settlement is likely going to start over there.”
“Oof,” she sighed. “That’s a complicated matter right there. Rightfully so, they will want to claim the future settlement to be theirs.”
“I personally do not have an issue with that as long as they do not meddle in. My primary concern is the king of Egra.”
Her eyes narrowed and projected a look of understanding.
“I see. Oh, yes, he will interfere. In fact, he has to. This would be a golden opportunity for him.”
“Thus, I request your wisdom on the matter,” he said with a crooked smile and a shrug.
“I can’t think of anything right now. Perhaps send me as the diplomat? I will think of something along the way.”
“That’s …” He trailed off. She was taking it a bit too casually. “Has Estana ever dealt with Atra before?”
“Nay. We had no reason to. For us, it’s been a distant nation.”
Folding his arms, he sighed. True, they shared no border, and the Kingdom of Egra sat in the middle. Atra didn’t have a port settlement even, thus they had no way of casually running into each other.
“Duke, I do understand your concern. By sending me, you will show that you and Estana have a close connection. It will be a show of a force which Atra won’t be able to just discard.”
Well, I am out of ideas anyway.
“Very well, you shall go, Lady Izabella.”
“Thank you. But, please, don’t expect a good result,” she said, beaming a crooked grin. They knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
“Okay…, it’s all dead.”
With a hand on his waist, he heaved a long sigh. He was checking up on the indoor farming research room where all the wheat on pots were withering and turned yellow.
“I thought this was bright enough…?” He mused. There were ten fire crystal lamps on the walls, and the room was quite bright. He had been gradually increasing the number of lamps. So far, it wasn’t working out. The wheat began to wear within days once placed indoors.
“Is there something more to the sunlight…? Or do I need to make it bright? Can I even make it brighter than this?”
The answer was no. There was a diminishing return with small fire crystals. Additionally, with ten fire crystal lamps, they were heating the room up to a point that he was beginning to sweat while just standing still.
“Hmmm,” he groaned. He needed a second opinion, thus Ravas was summoned, the mining foreman in charge of digging and establishing the underground settlement.
“Is there something that is brighter than the ones used in a fire crystal lamp?” He asked the grand question to which Ravas furrowed his eyebrows and went into thoughts for a brief moment. “There is a type of crystal that emits brighter light. It’s the one you’ve discovered before, the reusable crystals. But they aren’t that better.”
“But it is better.”
“Yes.”
“Could you bring me a large one?”
“How large are we talking about here, duke?”
“Something that is bigger than a head, perhaps about twice larger.”
“It shall be done.”
But the room had to be modified in order for the large crystal to fit inside. Ravas had to bring in a small group of miners, dismantle the ceiling and dig further up to increase the overall height of the room. Then a chain was installed in the middle on the ceiling to hang the large crystal midair. The untamed crystal was colorless at the moment.
“Elementals of fire, heed my call. Grant me -”
Even before he could finish his incantation, a small ball of fire flew lazily toward the crystal and entered, turning it red and starting to emit light which was becoming progressively brighter by seconds. Blinking his eyes a few times, he was speechless for a brief moment.
Huh? I didn’t even finish …
He sort of figured out that his connection to elemental fire may have increased. How, he had no idea.
Well, it’s not like I am smart enough to be able to figure whatever is going on anyway. It’s gotten better, so be it. I do wonder how this will affect the blessing though…
He wasn’t going to try hauling potted tea plants to the deadland however since he was fairly certain that it wouldn’t work in the end.
“Anyway…”
He observed the large fire crystal emitting bright light. It was so much brighter to a point that the light was bright orange.
“And … it’s hot. The temperature is too much.”
So…, the brighter the light, the hotter? But the further the distance, the less intense the light is. Man, how am I going to make this work? There has to be some sort of a middle ground I can reach…
He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“There has to be something…..” He mumbled. “Hmm…”
So far…, I’ve used fire to make light. But do I have to use fire?
He believed that the reason it was hot was because it was fire. At the same time, fire was used to create light. Campfire for example. Fire had always been used to create light and heat. The concept of using other elements to create light was alien.
Nothing to lose by trying, right…?
The crystal had to be swapped out. This was one of the rare reusable crystals. However, in order to reuse it, it had to be depleted which would take a while depending on its size. Given its large size, it was going to take weeks for it to burn out. Thus, he called Ravas to swap it out. The trouble was that it was too hot to be handled by hand. They barely managed to get it out of the research room by wearing thick leather gloves which were literally burning by the time they got it out of the room. They eventually loaded it up on a cart and swiftly drove it out of the manor before the cart would catch on fire.
“Well, that wasn’t easy,” he said while massaging his shoulders. “Now…”
Elementals of wind, you know what to do.
A single wind elemental appeared out of thin air and flew toward the translucent crystal that was the size of two heads. As soon as it flew through, it began to turn green and emit green light.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Well, what do you know; It doesn’t have to be fire.”
But it’s green. Will this work? The color of light from fire was more similar to that of sunlight.
There was no intense heat radiating from the crystal at least. A wind crystal created a current of airflow which was actually a benefit for indoor farming.
“Well, we will see how this fares.” He turned around to leave. Suddenly, a question popped in his head.
What would water and earth crystal do?
Neither would probably help him with his research, but it was worth trying to find out what they exactly did. He called Ravas once again and brought in several fist-sized reusable crystals. He, then, called Lara and Nestor. He wasn’t going to let Flora cast any magic since it’d drain stamina. In his knowledge, she could cast five magic water spells a day before sweating bullets and almost passing out. He wasn’t going to put any burden on her since she was pregnant.
“Oh, hey, Nes,” Lara greeted Nestor really casually.
“Nes?” Kamil wondered aloud.
“That’s apparently my nickname, Milord,” Nestor replied, looking somewhat displeased.
“I didn’t come up with it!” She protested with a pout. “His wife is calling him Nes!”
“Woah, woah!” He dashed toward her and covered her mouth. Apparently, he didn’t like being called by his nickname by anyone other than his wife.
Kamil smirked in response. It looked like the couple was doing well. As long as a couple did not outright hate each other, arranged marriages worked in general. They would learn to love each other in the end. There were plenty of examples around, including his own.
“Anyway, kindly cast a basic water and earth spell on one of these.”
Lara cast a simple water arrow spell, and Nestor cast a stone spell which was literally summoning a fist-sized rock. Both of them had to cast a few times for the crystals to turn their colors. Soon enough, Kamil had a dark blue crystal and a brown crystal.
“Well, what are you trying to do?” Lara asked, looking down on the two crystals of colors.
“I am trying to find out what water and earth crystals do. We know fire crystals emit light and heat. Wind crystals create wind and light.”
“Wind crystals emit light?” Nestor interjected.
“They do apparently. It’s green but light nonetheless.”
“Milord, we’ve been using your wind crystals for the airships. In my knowledge, they do not emit light. It’s just green.”
What? Maybe it's because of the size?
Kamil cast breeze to turn a crystal. Lo and behold, it turned green at once and began to emit light.
“What?” Nestor blurted. Kamil understood what was going on immediately.
It looks like my connection to wind and fire increased both. I make wind crystals frequently for the airship supply. They didn’t shine before like Sir Vogel said. I completely forgot about that. I think it increased after I fired the hurricane arrow a while ago… Why, though?
“Milord, I think we should check for your elemental affinity again,” Nestor suggested. He had no reason to refuse since it wasn’t something that took a long time to determine. Nestor ran to his study and brought a small leather pouch, containing the four elemental crystals. Not wanting to waste time on it, Kamil simply took the whole pouch and inserted his hand. As expected, wind and fire crystals reacted by glowing.
“Five and one…, the same but…?” Nestor said while looking utterly confused. “It does not make any sense.”
That’s my affinity. It does not change. But it does look like my affinity has increased. Well, perhaps not exactly affinity.
He did not need elemental affinity because he was communicating with elementals directly. An affinity was required to borrow powers from elementals when one could not communicate with elementals. He could communicate with elementals, thus it didn’t matter. The only thing it mattered was his own conviction. The stronger it became, the more fuel it gave to elementals. For elementals whose domain was the elemental plane, a mortal’s conviction was like sweet liquor to them, which they could hardly resist. Additionally, he had two personal supporters within wind elementals. Essentially, his “affinity” was beyond ten at this point.
If only I could make these crystals, it won’t do any good after I am gone, will it?
Even if he could successfully find a way to farm indoors, if it required crystals only he could make, it would indeed be meaningless. Still, it didn’t mean the whole research was in a vain. Once it was proven that indoor farming was possible, he could still pursue a way to artificially create sunlight. At this point, he decided to hand over the research to someone else once he could prove that it was possible because he frequently relied on magic only he could cast. He needed the minds of those who didn’t rely on special magic.
“Well, anyway, let’s see what water and earth crystals do.” He changed the subject. Lara didn’t seem to care either way, and Nestor reluctantly nodded. Picking up the blue crystal, Kamil mused.
“Aside from the color, what does this crystal do?”
“In general, to activate a crystal, we either throw it onto the ground to crack it or use a small pickhammer to make a crack,” Nestor said. “But these are reusable crystals, so I wouldn’t recommend doing that…” He trailed off as if he realized something important. Kamil, too, seemed like he realized something. Meanwhile, Lara couldn’t care less.
“Sir Vogel, if so, how are we going to discharge the crystals?”
A moment of silence dominated them. For crystals that discharge some form of energy, just letting it be for days if not weeks generally discharged reusable crystals. In contrast, these water and earth crystals were not discharging anything, meaning they would well stay as they were for eternity.
“What about we just wait out?” Lara suggested.
Reusable crystals were rare and were found only within the cave Kamil found, meaning there was a limited supply of these. This was why these reusable crystals were never sold.
“Wait out for how long, I do wonder…,” Nestor said while rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“Well, Sir Vogel, let’s take these away for now and see how they go. I thank you for your assistance.”
Lara took the water crystal while Nestor carried the brown crystal, and they were out. Then, he summoned Cezary to his study and discuss what he had in his mind regarding Karsten.
“You want to remove him?” He raised his voice although he didn’t look shocked.
“You are probably the only one I can talk to.”
“Well, I wouldn’t be the only one. I doubt Lazy Izabella or Estana as a whole would have a problem with talking about that.”
He wasn’t wrong.
He continued, “May I ask why?”
Kamil explained to him about the upcoming age of darkness and needing unity to fend whatever was coming off.
“As long as he sits on the throne, the Kingdom of Egra will continue to wage wars. I don’t have a problem with that itself, but the timing is not right,” he added. Cezary nodded along, looking stoic.
“There are certainly ways. I am assuming here that you don’t want people to find out that you were behind this.”
“Well, or I would need a valid justification going after him.”
“There are several paths I can think of. However, Duke, I must warn you that none of the paths in my mind has a high chance of success.”
It was never going to be easy. It would be utterly foolish to think otherwise.
“Let’s hear your thoughts, Sir Waszak.”
“Very well, off the top of my head -”
He explained that the first path would be inciting a rebellion within. There was no doubt that several houses within the Kingdom of Egra were not pleased with Karsten’s regime and some were neutral. Only the Lux Fenchel and the Flissing were known to be absolutely royal. At the same time, the Flissing was very close to Kamil in addition to the failed marriage between Daniel and the princess, meaning it wasn’t impossible to think that the Flissing could be swayed, leaving just Lux Fenchel.
“In addition, you could ask Estana to meddle in. Once a rebellion force is set, they along with Estana could send an ultimatum, demanding the current king to step down.”
If he refused, it would be war. Kamil would need to choose a side and he would choose to side with the rebellion without much negative feedback from others. Knowing Karsten, he would choose war over the other option.
“That is the first path,” Cezary concluded.
“And the second?”
“This one’s a bit more discreet. The king has two daughters, both of whom are out of the succession.”
His first daughter had been married for some time, and his second daughter, Lillian, was a literal whore. She basically threw a white towel on her own. Her title, princess, was even revoked.
“Now, he has two sons. The eldest son is twenty four now. The second is just ten years old. Obviously, his vassals would favor the eldest son to succeed. Either way, the king has not declared his heir clearly.”
Oh, I see where this is going.
“He is not young anymore,” Cezary added. “His vassals would want him to declare who will be the crown prince to stop any internal conflicts between vassals. Thankfully, he has not done that. Now…”
His face darkened at this point.
“Simply put, we need the two princes to fight. The second prince is from a mistress, thus his position is obviously weaker. In fact, I don’t believe he sees himself as a prince at the moment.”
“Isn’t that why the king hasn’t declared his crown prince?”
It sounded like the second prince’s position was so weak that there didn’t need to be an announcement on who was the crown prince.
“No, Duke. No matter how weak, you cannot lie the blood tie. The king hasn’t declared who his crown heir is, meaning the second prince has a chance albeit small.” He lowered his voice slightly into an ominous tone. “Now, let’s say that he earns several backers… This will create ripples.”
Oof, this guy is scary.
“I cannot be his backer, though? I am not even a vassal of the kingdom.”
“Oh, you can be. You may not be a direct vassal, and that’s even better, because you have far more connections than a regular noble. As long as you have a righteous cause with you, you will be able to bring several noble houses from the kingdom under your fold and back the second prince.”
“What would be a righteous cause, Sir Waszak?”
Cezary smiled at this point. “We make one,” he declared curtly.
“We.. make one?”
“Yes.”
“Ehm, such as?”
“Well, it doesn’t need to be true. Off the top of my head, we can come up with something like: The first prince loathes the second princess and thus he came up with a trap to make his sister fall into a trap, thus disqualifying her from succession - or something like that.”
That’s something that came off the top of your head??
For an idea he just came up with, it was surprisingly detailed and thorough although it wasn’t that convincing. Why would a first prince see a second princess as a thorn in his side anyway?
Still, to be able to come up with a slander like that in a blink of an eye…
“You are quite a devil, Sir Waszak.”
Beaming a bitter grin, he replied, “I’ve always been, in order to survive.”
He was a commoner back in the Siwen and dragged himself out of there to a better future. He certainly achieved his goal.
“Anything else?”
“The third path is a bit tricky, and it is only possible due to your relationship with Sir Knell. He is the king’s advisor.”
Hmm, I think I can see where this is going also.
He continued, “If you can convince him that the king is a lost cause, you may also be able to convince him to advise the king with ill suggestions, which would accelerate the current situation in Keviel.”
Keviel was economically very unstable at the moment. It wasn’t on verge of total collapse, but the folks there weren’t having a good time. If they were pushed further, the folks might raise their pitchforks.
“Sir Knell has been granted a fief. Surely, he would be fully loyal?”
“He was given Rokk, however. Given his accomplishments, I don’t think that was a just reward.”
Rokk was a small village. It was true that, as a reward, it was a bit lacking especially when there were significantly better options at that time.
“Maybe so, I don’t think that’s going to work still. He has shown no sign whatsoever about being displeased.”
“Perhaps. Again, this is just an idea.”
“Hmmm, anything else?”
“Certainly, but I feel those three have the highest chance of all.”
“I think the first idea was better than the second and the third.”
Cezary grinned. “It should have been obvious.”
I get a feeling that he was testing me…
“Anyway, Duke, my honest opinion is that you should not do anything.”
“Is there a reason why you’d say that?”
“Yes, because I am pretty certain that the upcoming negotiation with Atra will alter the political landscape. How much and in what way, I cannot say yet, but I can say for certain that King Egra will meddle in. And, to be honest, he shouldn’t be meddling in this affair but he will anyway.”
“Hmm…” Kamil folded his arms, his eyes downcast in thoughts.
“There is an old saying where it says not to disturb your enemy when he is making a mistake. I say leave him be.”
“I suppose you do have a point…”
Besides, there was already a considerable amount of stuff on his plate. Taking on too many things at once was only going to cause mistakes.
“I will heed your advice, Sir Waszak.”
“Thank you.” Cezay beamed a smile while leaning forward with a palm on his chest.
Not long after Cezary left, Avina visited him in his study suddenly. She rarely visited him, if ever.
“Oh? What brings you here?”
“Duke, Lady Flissing has arrived.”
Lena Flissing was Baptiste’s official wife. She did say she’d like to visit her daughter due to the pregnancy back when he met her at the recent royal party.
“I see. Let us go greet her then.” He stood up at once and followed her out.
Lena Flissing was just coming down from the airship platform. She wasn’t wearing a dress and was wearing pants. She looked remarkably similar to Flora, just an older version and longer hair. She was in her late 30s and had yet to show any clear sign of aging since she never saw any physical labor and always had a nutritious diet. She had a simple white blouse on with black pants that were a bit wider on bottom. This was what Flora came up with initially but a bit toned down. She could pass as Flora’s double to those who had rarely seen her.
“Lady Flissing, I welcome you to Ceres,” said Kamil, leaning forward with a palm on his chest. Lena did the same. She wasn’t wearing a dress, thus performing a curtsy was out of the question.
“Duke, I’ve come to see my daughter.”
“You are certainly free to visit her. She is in her study.”
“How has she been doing? If she is anything like me, she shouldn’t have suffered any side effects.”
Kamil beamed a grin. “She has not and is as healthy as possible.”
“I am glad to hear that.”
“Please follow me.”
She was surprised to see the manor because it was built inside a mountain.
“So, Daniel spoke truthfully. Your manor is actually inside a mountain.”
“Well, I didn’t actually mean to build inside a mountain initially. It was just that building inside a mountain proved to be convenient and far faster.”
Not to mention that it would be far easier to defend. Of course, he didn’t need to let her know that part.
“Mother?” Flora looked surprised upon seeing Kamil entering her study with her mother.
“Hello, dear. It has been a while.” Lena beamed a smile at her. Flora stood up and walked toward her at a fast pace. There was a small bump on her belly now but only Kamil knew and saw it. Due to her pregnancy, she was wearing a very loose pinkish white dress at the moment which hid the bump, for the time being at least.
“Mother!”
They exchanged a warm hug.
“I will leave you two alone,” said Kamil and exited the study while Avina chose to stay. Leaving the three women behind, he casually made his way back to his study.