I paused, my mouth hanging open. “Trick a King?” I gushed.

“Maybe ‘trick’ is not the right word,” Darko said. “We aren’t scamming His Majesty, nor are we causing him any harm. We are simply using a few lies to make ourselves appear more appealing than we actually are. Your presence is a fantastic tool for this.”

“We’re lying to who?” I asked.

Darko ignored me and walked ahead. Our wagon was in sight.

God fucking dammit! I thought, rushing after Darko. Huss had warned me of this, I remembered. A King was involved in this shit too. I’d have to meet him. Negotiate with a damn medieval King. Too many things had happened in between, and I’d forgotten.

We found the girls sitting side to side by the back of the wagon bed, taking in sunlight. Or moonlight, as the weirdos of this world called it. Rakash sat beside Shena in the open but kept her head covered with an oversized hood. Bystanders wouldn’t see her dark skin unless they looked at the right angle. I should have probably hidden my identity the same way.

On our arrival, Remy hopped off her seat. “Cill!” she said, a surprised look on her face. “Have you woken up?”

“What?” I asked.

“You look alive,” she said. “Thank the Moons. We can finally start learning!”

Darko let out a laugh. “I bullied him into proper posture. Makes all the difference, doesn’t it?”

Remy grinned with thankful enthusiasm, as if I was her totaled car that Darko had fixed for free. Her smile was contagious. The grass below her stood slightly higher simply by her presence.

I looked away by second nature. I certainly did not feel alive. “Distraught” was a better word. Every single inner problem in my head was left unprocessed.

“How is the village?” Shena asked. “Is the issue worth our time?”

“We’re checking out the mana mines,” Darko said. “Hopefully we find something interesting.”

Shena looked as if she didn’t agree. “The driver is ready to depart. Do we have time to solve every conflict in every tiny village? If your goal is to gain fame, there are a dozen more effective strategies. Word of our achievements here likely won’t reach Arkber in time.”

“People are missing,” Darko said. “The village needs help. We’ve got some hours to spare, and we might find something interesting along the way. If nothing else, we’ll have gained the favor of one more village. I say this is a perfectly valid job for us to take.”

“I want to help them too, of course,” Shena said. “I say this because there are more important matters we could be helping with.”

“Every small problem we fix works towards our larger goals,” Darko said. “Don’t forget this. It’s the minor problems that often escalate.”

Shena sighed before saying, “Let’s get moving, then.”

The girls prepared to embark. Remy picked up the weird urn thing and other valuables. The others grabbed their staves and adjusted their robes.

I turned to Darko. “You need me for negotiations. I don’t need to, um, investigate the mines, do I?”

“You don’t specifically need to investigate the mines,” Darko said. “You just have to do something. And that something happens to be investigating mines. You’re coming with us if only to look around. Stay determined and watch us work. I won’t allow you to stare at the floors. That’s the least I ask of you.”

My throat felt heavy. “What if the mine is hijacked by cultists?”

“It could be,” Darko said. “If so, today’s payday holds a whole lot more prizes.”

That’s it? I thought. A potential death mission was simply “more prizes?”

“I…” My gaze lowered on its own. “I understand why I need to stay determined. But I can’t fight them. I’m not ready. Negotiations I can survive. Maybe I can even perform this ‘King tricking’ plan. But if I have to meet more cultists…”

“Don’t worry,” Darko said. “My team is more powerful than you think. If we happen to end in a fight, you are perfectly safe. That's the benefit of being damn strong. Even fights to the death tend to be relatively safe. As long as we don’t meet fighters who are damn stronger.”

I bit my lip. How could I explain my perspective to someone whose whole life revolved around swords? It wasn’t just my safety I was concerned about. I didn’t want to see death at all.

The girls were ready to embark. Nobody waited for my nervous ass to calm down. Once again, the world reminded me that I had few choices. Shiela had me tied tightly to the intended path. And nothing short of Darko’s third option could untie me from this future.

I dismissed the thoughts and walked after the group. The trot led us beyond the village on a wider wooden bridge. Remy kept me company, saying we couldn’t waste an opportunity to learn. She was excited to teach me more magic, though made sure to talk quietly in case passersby were listening.

Her grin didn’t last long when she noticed my mind wandering off, even more distracted now than before.

***

The mana mine turned out to be a simple descending opening within a hillock. Wooden beams were built around the entrance as support. The mine didn’t look too different from a real mineshaft, or perhaps it resembled a cave from a fantasy video game.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

As the townsfolk had promised, two royal guardsmen stood by the entrance. They proudly wore roughed-up black military outfits with insignias and all. Their frowns appeared immediately, swords hurrying off their scabbards.

“Private property,” the taller of the two men said. “You have no right to pass.”

“We’ve got three mages and a glyphsword.” Darko pulled his sword and held it out, emphasizing the hilt. “Do you want to surrender and tell me what’s going on in here, or do you want to get your asses beat?”

The guards looked at each other.

At that moment, Shena and Remy lifted their staves and blasted a projectile at the guards’ heads. It happened so fast, I couldn’t see what hit them. Both collapsed and would have likely suffered permanent brain damage had Earth’s logic worked here. They appeared to have simply passed out, sprawled across the wet moss.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Remy asked. “Firing at royal guards, when our goal is supposedly to impress royalty?”

“If these fuckers are real royalty, I’m Cerdri’s descendant,” Darko said. He knelt down to examine the guards’ coats. “The uniforms are real. They’re simple Privates’ outfits. Privates never wield glyphswords. The swords aren’t of royal make either, but the cheapest mass-produced crap money can buy.”

“Impostors, then,” Shena said.

“Yes,” Darko said. He grabbed the fallen guards’ swords and casually snatched them into the trunk Remy was carrying. She didn’t physically carry it, of course, but floated it in the air with magic.

“Let’s get in, then,” Darko said.

I swallowed the awful worries and forced myself to follow. Bad memories from the church’s catacombs resurfaced in my head. Darko strolled ahead of me, the girls behind. We walked quietly, listening.

The mineshaft descended into the ground like a long-winded and unstable ramp. Some sections were steep and required stairs, others barely descended at all. The ground varied from wood to wet dirt. I had to watch my step. The place was lit with the same gooey lamps I had seen in the more expensive buildings of this world.

Within the walls, behind the lamps, hung an ominous feeling. One that I couldn’t explain through my usual senses. I just felt it there, like a force pinching my body from the inside. The sense came from what I had come to identify as my mana chords.

“Sensing the mana?” Remy asked. “This is called a mana mine for a reason. For us mages, getting near natural mana can get quite uncomfortable. You should grow used to it quickly enough. Feeling mana is not that different from your real sense of touch.”

“You should mention,” Shena said, “no fire underground. A mage isn’t to cast anything fire within a confined space. Unless, of course, the plan is to kill everyone including yourself.”

No need to remind me, I thought, my nerves only growing. How was it that my team always managed to say the most nerve-wracking crap at the moments I was most worried?

“What is our plan?” Rakash asked, speaking in Krose. “My understanding tells me we are meddling with another tribe’s conflicts. How will you sort what is not yours?”

“We won’t know before we learn,” Darko said. “If the mana workers are protesting for whatever reason, all we can do is talk to them and ask them to convey their intentions better. It could be that the mine workers are doing this silently to avoid getting their village into trouble. Or what’s much more likely, a third party is causing some sort of trouble.”

“Such as the poachers,” Rakash said, conveying my exact thoughts.

Darko opened his mouth, then paused our step. “Shh,” he said.

I listened, sensing nothing for a few seconds. Then I heard it. Hasty taps. Running footsteps.

Our mages held their staves in preparation for what was to come. I stood still in a panic, struggling to convince myself that nothing bad was happening. Who was to say that the slightest noise meant cultists coming to kill me?

The figure of a fear-struck man ran towards us from below. Lone strands of scraggly beard had just started to grow from his chin. His tunic was ripped from multiple ends and covered in wet dirt. The sheer unkemptness of his appearance was enough to overshadow his otherwise tough and attractive features.

His face paled further as he spotted us. He paused, unsure whether we were enemies or not.

Assailants followed him. Three figures paused a short distance behind, blocking the path below. The man let out a cry and continued the run towards us.

“Help!” he screamed. “They’ve gone insane. They—”

A projectile from below smashed into the back of his head. A real projectile. The white of his eyes turned red, pressurized blood escaping from between the sockets before the man collapsed on his face.

It took everything in me not to puke on the spot. I felt dizzy even through the rush of adrenaline. A man just died right in front of me.

Below him, I spotted an orbed staff, wielded by a cowled figure. The staff pointed dangerously close to us. I felt as if the barrel of a gun was pointed at my head.

Instead of shooting me dead, however, the figure turned around. It and the two other assailants fled deeper into the cave.

“Shit,” Darko said. “They’ve got mages. Run before they set traps!”

This was a command I was happy to comply with. For once, my leader had said something sensible. I turned around and…

Something grabbed my arm. Remy. She shook her head, then pulled me downward.

Darko’s order to run, I realized, did not mean to run for an escape. He meant to run for a chase.

The leader was already on the move, Shena and Rakash not too far behind. I watched in horror. What the hell? Why would we ever go down there? This was madness!

“You’re safest with me,” Remy said. “Let’s go.”

I had no opportunity for arguments. Remy yanked me into action with more strength than I could imagine her arms giving. My body registered her command, deeming compliance as the best chance of survival.

And so, we ran. Directly into the heart of danger. I could not begin to explain how much I hated this move. I could have listed a hundred terrible emotions I felt, and all of them stemmed from the fear of whatever the hell waited for us down in the mines.

Luckily, I didn’t have time for thoughts. My body acted on my instincts, lacking as they were. I tried my best to replicate Remy’s experience and training. Right now, this meant running. A skill that even my idiotic self could manage, despite the few near-falls along the way.

The run must have lasted a minute at most—my mana chords squeezing harder and harder with the sensation of mana in the air—before we finally reached the action. Darko, Rakash, and Shena paused by the entrance to a circular room, filled to the brim with metal pipes. A tree-like stem glowed purple in the middle of the room.

A concave of masked men blocked us from entering, crossbows and a staff pointed at our faces. Beyond them, men were tied down to a metal fence with rope. A young girl, presumably Meryv’s daughter, kicked and cried under a masked man’s hold.

Behind us, more cultists appeared to block our exit.

Arcane Discharge - Now this is a real spell. And dangerous. I guess I should warn you about that. Anything this spell hits will most likely disintegrate into nothingness.

The spell shoots out a wave of uncontrollable arcane magic. Kind of like that ‘Kamehameha’ attack from Earth. Do not cast while allies are anywhere near your field of view.

* Goddess Shiela’s description of the spell, “Arcane Discharge”