ASHA’S POV
Rayleigh has been behaving oddly since that day, extremely courteous and thoughtful towards her but not initiating conversation unless absolutely necessary. His ruby eyes and handsome face are always hard, lips set in a grim line as the Grand Duke rides next to her quietly, and she wonders if this is for the best.
It’s better than him being all self-centered and morose.
Monique and Valora have been thrilled with this turn of events, and they occasionally snark at Rayleigh when only Conroy and Ethan are within earshot. The Grand Duke’s personal attendants clearly know something’s amiss, but the soul contract prevents Rayleigh from revealing anything without Asha’s or her father’s permission, so the duo are left clueless and seething but unable to question or retaliate.
Nothing has happened in the capital yet, according to the twice daily updates Asha receives, and now they’re approaching the scene of the landslide where gunpowder had been discovered.
“Your highness, Lady Asha.” Andrew Gloria - one of Rayleigh's personal order of knights who'd left the capital right after the nobles met the Emperor on the landslide issue - greets them respectfully as Asha dismounts and takes in the destruction.
The rain and explosives brought almost half a mountain tumbling down. It’s a miracle so many made it, especially when it took Imperial Knights more than a week to dig a path to the survivors.
“Who discovered the gunpowder?” Rayleigh’s voice is cold, the way it used to be before their relationship improved slightly in this life, and it brings back memories Asha would prefer stayed away. A scrawny teenage boy and a thin elderly woman are brought before the Grand Duke quickly, and Asha turns to look at the commoners trembling in the cold.
“Distribute the supplies.” Monique immediately nods and gets to work, issuing orders and organizing the commoners while Valora remains by Asha’s side. “I’d like to see the location where you first found the gunpowder.” The boy can’t seem to stop staring at her face, and it takes a sharp nudge from the woman next to him before he blinks and nods, bowing as he gestures for them to follow him.
Is he mute?
“According to the villagers, the boy is unable to speak, my lady.” Conroy seems to have caught on to her questioning gaze. “He was searching the rubble for food and clothing when he discovered the gunpowder, then he brought the traces to Healer Rita for confirmation, since she’d been in the capital for the summer festival and had described the fireworks and that ‘incident’ to the others. She followed him back to the scene and helped dig around some more before notifying the village elder.”
Is it too much of a coincidence that someone who was in the capital at the time of the explosions lived here? I suppose it’s not unnatural, since many citizens flock to the summer festival.
“My lady.” Valora has been deliberately making sure Rayleigh doesn’t get a chance to offer Asha his hand, and now the redhead helps her up the steep but shifting slope.
“Over here, your highness.” A knight points into a large hole surrounded by a makeshift barricade, and when Asha peeks over the edge she wants to squeal.
“Otters?” They’re adorable, sliding on their bellies before realizing their audience and blinking large dark eyes up at the crowd. “Why are otters here?”
A gesture from Conroy has the old Healer speaking hesitantly. “M...milady, river otters often wander this area.”
“They’re messing up the evidence, though.” Peering back down, Asha wants to squeal again when she realizes one curious little fellow in particular has started to climb towards her, whiskers trembling as a black nose pad twitches while it chirps. “I suppose we’ll have to inspect them as well, since they might have traces on their pelts.”
“Yes, my lady.” Ethan immediately directs several knights to descend and catch the slippery creatures, which start to growl and scream.
“Please don’t hurt them.” It’s almost comical watching these highly trained warriors try their best to gently coax frightened animals, but when the ground starts to shift and rumble Asha knows they’re running out of time.
“Tsk. Amateurs.” When Valora pulls out some dried cuttlefish snacks from where they’ve been tightly sealed in her pouch, instantly all the otters’ dark gazes hone in on the redhead, muzzles twitching before the short-limbed creatures start to make their way up towards Asha and her guard. “My lady, don’t forget that they have sharp claws. You’ve been scratched enough times in the north.”
Valora really knows her too well, since Asha has always had a weakness for cute animals and is already kneeling to touch the otters. “I’ll be careful, Val.” When she beams up at her guard, the redhead just sighs and hands her some strips of the dried snack.
As the curious one reaches her, it chirps while sniffing the snacks, before webbed hands grab a piece and it starts to munch furiously.
“Do you like it?” Asha reaches her left hand out carefully but stops before she touches dark fur, letting the otter decide whether to close the distance. She can’t help the small squeal when it rubs its head against her glove as more of its friends start to snatch food from her right hand and from Valora. “We’re not going to hurt you, but I just need to rub a piece of cloth on your bodies, alright?” It cocks its head and blinks before humming. “Clever little fellow, aren’t you?”
As soon as she and Valora have carefully used clean handkerchiefs to wipe any potential traces of gunpowder and other chemicals off the otters, the redhead distributes more food while Asha creates ice steps leading down into the widening hole. Immediately the playful creatures leap onto the ice, but slide off and end up tumbling down muddy, rocky slopes before landing in some puddles.
“Are all of you alright?” They start chirping and rolling around while hurriedly finishing their snacks, and Asha giggles as she descends frozen stairs.
“It’ll rain again soon, my lady.” Rayleigh has taken to addressing her formally since their ‘talk’ at the inn. Nodding without looking at him, Asha pulls a small detector out of her pouch, activating the magic stones and carefully moving the device along the walls. While the rains have probably washed away other traces since this hole was first dug, she hopes to find at least some parts of whatever explosive device was used.
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Is that...?
The device, created by Viscount Fleming two years ago, beeps frantically over a particular spot, and Asha carefully prods soft soil, pushing dirt out of the way before her fingers touch something hard.
“What is that, my lady?” Rayleigh is standing an arm’s length from her, so Asha just holds the little metal piece towards him.
“It’s part of the device.” Her fiancé does his best not to let their fingers brush as he takes the item from her, holding it to the lights Conroy conjures while turning it this way and that. “Viscount Fleming’s detector says it’s copper, and was probably used as the casing for gunpowder before turning into shrapnel when the gunpowder combusted.”
“Copper?” Rayleigh glances at Conroy. “There are many copper mines in the west.”
Things really aren’t looking good for Duke Nathaira.
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RAYLEIGH’S POV
He’d forgotten, since the last time he played with Asha in the north was when they were still children, but his fiancée has always liked cute animals. And most of the time, they seem to like her too.
The otters are clever creatures, noticing Asha’s digging and removal of copper and other metals, and they get to work as well, scrabbling at dirt and proudly sliding over to the white haired genius with their finds. Each time they do, they get small pieces of fish and meat snacks - the latter courtesy of Mage Monique - which quickly leads to the short limbed creatures turning into a veritable army of diggers.
Thanks to the otters, a considerable amount of evidence is collected just as the drizzle starts. Asha wistfully pets the short creatures and hands over the last of the snacks before ascending her ice stairs, waving goodbye to the chirping semiaquatic mammals once she’s out of the hole.
I really don’t deserve you.
By the time they make it down the increasingly slippery slope and reach their camp a safe distance away, Asha is completely soaked from torrential rain but has already pieced together the evidence and figured out the size of the device.
“I’d say whoever did this had to use a lot of them, since each is probably the size of a flower vase.” Her Mage maid is vigorously toweling wet hair, causing Asha’s already wild waves to bunch and stick out here and there. “It wouldn’t have taken a lot to destroy bridges, and the heavy rains would’ve helped moved a lot of earth while more explosives would destabilize rockier slopes. Most importantly, if they were installing this many then there would’ve either been a large group acting quickly or a few people lingering. They should’ve been noticeable, especially if they were placing explosives under bridges - even if they worked at night they would have needed some light.”
Every word from the petite beauty with a damp bird’s nest on her head makes Rayleigh fall further in love and into despair.
It’s impossible to call off the engagement now that we’ve tied the strings, so I can only hope that becoming her husband provides Asha greater protection.
“According to the villagers, it’s not uncommon for there to be more traffic on the roads in the lead up to the rainy season.” Conroy is watching him carefully, so Rayleigh makes a bit more effort to dry his own hair. “Local farmers and traders try to move as much product as possible before landslides hit, since they generally occur around the same time every year.”
When Asha cocks her head like that, her hair reminds him of her ‘artwork’. Only the fact that he doesn’t deserve to touch her keeps him from reaching out.
“Surely someone would have noticed individuals going under bridges?”
Conroy pulls out a map and some sketches at Asha’s question. “These are the main bridges connecting the east to the capital, my lady.” He points to six locations. “Without them, it would add almost two months to each journey as one traverses the original river and mountain routes. Each bridge cuts across deep gorges, and all were constructed by the best alchemists, engineers, and Mages the Empire had at the time.”
Asha’s bright blue eyes fixate on the area of the map they’re currently in.
“These are what the two key bridges that have been destroyed looked like, my lady.” They were architectural and engineering marvels at the time of construction, and have been carefully maintained by the Imperial Family and Eastern Nobles for centuries.
“Hmmm...if I wanted to blow this one up, I’d plant the explosives here, here, here, and here.” Rayleigh doesn’t know why he keeps being surprised by her intelligence, especially when she seems quite fond of mathematics lately. With just a glance, Asha’s determined the weakest spots of the structure, and had clearly run complex calculations in her head in a split second.
“This one, however...” The Moines Bridge, named after its designer, is almost nine hundred years old. As the original sketches and notes were lost centuries ago, this bridge in particular costs the Imperial Family a considerable amount of money to upkeep since it's a complex mix of magic and alchemy, as well as clever carpentry and metal work. “Val?”
Only Asha and her Mage remain impassive when the red haired knight immediately points out seven spots on one of the newer technical drawings. “Weaken the support beams at these locations, and the whole thing will crash at once, my lady.”
“Th...that...” Ethan is gaping openly, while Conroy has a hand over his mouth, brown eyes wide with shock. “Da...Dame Valora, you...”
“Hmm?” Asha looks adorable and alluring when she smirks, and once again Rayleigh has to remind himself that not only is he unworthy of her, but she’s lost her mind and can’t think straight when it comes to him. “Val’s a math genius, didn’t you know?”
“I see.” Conroy recovers first, as expected, reaching over to push Ethan’s chin up in order to shut his mouth. “You mentioned ‘weaken’, Dame Valora. Is that because you suspect that the explosives used on the bridges were not as strong than the one used on the mountains and hills?”
The redhead looks to Asha for permission, and answers once the beautiful wild-haired fairy grins with pride. “Most likely, because based on Lady Asha’s calculations and what she’s taught me about gunpowder and explosives, more potent ones would have dispersed bridge parts in a way that wouldn’t be a ‘natural’ result of landslides. Since explosives were not suspected until leftover gunpowder was found, that means the bridges were weakened in such a way as to collapse ‘naturally’ due to landslides from Mount St. Greyfus and Mount Elvira, which based on reports and topographic maps I estimate to be 73,825,207.16 and 76,391,658.42 cubic meters respectively of displaced soil and rock.”
Why does Ethan look like he’s in love...?
Rayleigh’s black haired personal guard is staring at Asha’s knight, green eyes wide and soft.
“My lady, if I may.” Mage Monique looks troubled, but the fact that she hasn't yet picked a fight with Dame Valora is more troubling to Rayleigh. “I’m not comfortable with how the gunpowder just ‘happened’ to be found, despite torrential rains.”
“What are you saying, Mage Monique?” Rayleigh knows that Conroy privately respects Mage Monique’s competence, but outwardly hates the way she acts with the Grand Duke.
“I know you used your network of informants.” Purple eyes are steady as Asha’s maid stares Conroy down. “But after visiting the location in person today didn’t you think to question why the traces weren’t washed away by rain and mud, especially when the original landslides occurred more than two weeks ago? Even if they happened to be protected by some sort of cover in the initial landslide, subsequent ones as well as the constant digging and rains should have destroyed all evidence by now.”
“As much as it pains me to say it,” Dame Valora looks disgusted, and Asha clearly can’t help giggling despite the situation, “she has a point. It’s almost as though whoever it is wanted the gunpowder found.”
No.
Horror is hot on the heels of realization, as Rayleigh leaps out of his chair.
“Asha, y...!”
The world is torn apart with a might and fury he’s never experienced, and though agony assails his body it can’t drown out the torment in his heart.
“ASHA!!”
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MOONRISE BY LUNASEA: CHAPTER 32 END