Norman continued his grisly work with Gail and then J-son. Sharina avoided his ire, mainly because she hadn’t actively participated in the attack. That didn’t mean she got off scot-free. She got thoroughly questioned over the next week and was kept in lockup.
Why only a week?
Norman was sick of looking at the woman after that amount of time. She showed zero remorse for what her ‘associates’ did. And kept demanding to be released. She would be released, but Norman doubted she would enjoy the experience when it came. Now he just had to wait for Grobert to complete his project before that could occur.
Speaking of Grobert, with little more than a pop of disturbed air, the man appeared inside the teleporter complex. And he wasn’t alone.
“Sorry, Miss, but I have to hand you off to these gentlemen. My boss is a slave driver.”
He didn’t wait for the flustered woman’s response as he vanished again through the teleporter.
The woman was shorter than he thought she would be. She had long brown hair, tied up in a messy bun and was wearing floral print pajamas and bunny slippers. It made it seem like Grobert had abducted her right from her bed. Norman could totally see him doing that.
“Ahem,” Norman cleared his throat to get the confused and slightly frightened woman’s attention. When she turned his way, he got his first good look at her face. She didn’t have the model-like appearance that Anna had after her transformation, but she wasn’t ugly either. She had kind of a nerdy, girl next door look to her. But the most striking feature was her eyes. They were like azure pools flaked with emeralds. It felt like she was weighing his soul when she looked at him.
Soon the feeling subsided and he realized that maybe she had been. Pulling himself back together, Norman reached out a hand. “Hi, I’m Norman.”
She didn’t immediately reach for Norman’s hand, instead her eyes flicked over the guards, no, not the guards, their enchanted weapons he realized.
Norman stood there, awkwardly as she took in their weapons, armor, and the enchantments built into the building before she turned back to him. The woman – Norman had forgotten her name – crossed her arms and glared at him. “And who are you supposed to be? First, that damn dwarf breaks into my home, then rips me out of a peaceful night's sleep, and then promises me he can get rid of this magical block that’s preventing me from using my magic. And now I get stuck with some low-level assistant. What, the leadership too self-important to greet me in person?”
Norman was so taken off-guard that he let his hand drop. It had been a long time since he had run into someone who didn’t know who he was. And it was honestly so refreshing that he couldn’t help a huge smile from forming on his face.
“Why are you grinning like a fool?” The angry woman demanded.
“Would you like to have a meal with me? I can get you caught up.”
At first, he thought the woman was going to turn him down, but then her stomach rumbled. She looked a bit embarrassed by that. Norman didn’t comment, he motioned one of the guards over. “Please see that our guest has a fresh change of clothes and a place to clean up.” The guard nodded and motioned for the woman to follow him.
She seemed more at ease with the guard, but it could be the fact that she started pestering him with questions about his armor and weapon as soon as they were out of sight. Norman lightly chuckled at that. She reminded him a bit of himself, eager to learn everything about this new world.
Norman looked down at his clothing. He was only wearing a loose rough white long-sleeve shirt and black pants. He did kind of look like some sort of assistant. Had he known Grobert was bringing her back so soon, he would have dressed for the occasion. He smiled and started heading back toward the castle to clean up and get dressed as well. She was in for a surprise.
As he entered the front door, he could hear the kitchen in full swing. Jacob or Stewart must have notified them he was having a guest. Even the table was set. Norman missed the rustic old table made from wood, but he couldn’t argue that the bone table didn’t look fantastic. Of course, it was another modified Bone Horror but that didn’t take away from the elegance of it.
He had been iffy about creating a new one after seeing it hadn’t been that effective at preventing the attack in the Ministry but Eugene’s recounting of the events changed his mind. According to him, if it wasn’t for the table, they would have died without having fired a shot. The three had been discussing some unrelated matters when the gomer burst through the doors. Until then, the three had no idea there was an attack. That bit was on Norman, he had specified the room to be soundproofed beyond even their offices. Turns out that dampening sound from escaping to that degree also dampened vibrations or any sort of shaking.
Because of that, the three were caught completely off guard. Only the table’s lightning-fast reaction to the threat allowed the three the time to react. The table sliced four gomers apart before it was forced back into the corner by the combined attacks from seven more of the creatures as well as Gail and J-son. So the tables would stay. He would need to figure out a way to protect them from the Gorfan’s weapons though. They ate through bone with disturbing ease.
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He hadn’t had a chance to study the weapons. Not that he was an expert on weapons. Then again, the perfect person had just arrived who could help with that. Maybe he could use that as a bargaining chip.
Those and other thoughts flitted through his head as he showered and dressed. He was going full-on Lord regalia for this meal. Not that it differed much from his normal clothing. Norman wasn’t big on pomp. He saw it as an act and anyone who needed medals or affectations to show their station probably didn’t deserve it. So the only thing Norman wore was his amulet. And only because it served a purpose.
Once he was presentable, he headed back downstairs. Just before he arrived, he heard the guards thump their spears into the stone floor and announce his arrival. Norman made sure to roll his eyes out of sight of the guards before he stepped into view.
The woman’s hair was now running halfway down her back in soft curls, and she was wearing brown linen pants with a form-fitting top. The woman had more… assets than he had realized. She seemed just as surprised to see Norman though.
He approached his seat at the head of the table and sat as Stewart pushed his chair in for him. He motioned for the woman to sit and Jacob assisted her on the opposite end of the table.
The two sat about ten feet apart. It was a bit ridiculous but it could have been worse. This table was actually shorter than the previous wooden one.
“Let me formally introduce myself again. Hi, I’m Norman. Or as you heard from my guards, Lord Norman.”
“I- I didn’t know,” the woman managed to squeak out in embarrassment.
Norman waved away her concern. “It’s fine. I don’t force anyone to call me Lord or any such nonsense unless it's something formal.”
She nodded quickly before her face started to go red. “Oh my god, I haven’t introduced myself yet. Uh, I’m Kalia.”
That was a relief, it would have been really awkward to not address her by name this entire night. Then again, that would have been preferable to using the wrong name. He had done that once with a girl he was dating, and it did not end well. “Well, Kalia. Welcome to Ashvale.”
The two ate in silence, Kalia still seemed too embarrassed to look at Norman directly, but she kept glancing his way. It took him a while to realize she was glancing at his pendant and not him. He wanted to chuckle at her poorly disguised interest but he managed to restrain himself. Mostly because he was the same way. Magic was just fascinating.
After the dishes were cleared away, Norman addressed Kalia. “So, what do you want out of this relationship?”
“…I’m sorry, what?”
“With Normenia. I assume Grobert gave you a quick rundown and you agreed, otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”
“Oh… He promised me autonomy and said you could remove this block on my magic. All I want to do is craft magical items. I don’t care about any stupid politics, I don’t want to be involved with the government or used as a pawn like I was back in California. That being said, if you can fix me, I’m willing to make stuff for you. As long as you pay that is.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else.” And he didn’t. There were very few laws governing crafters other than they had to get permission to craft for anyone outside of the kingdom. And there were a few restrictions on certain items.
The woman cut off his musing. “You made that orb didn’t you?”
“Orb? What orb?”
She placed her hands about six inches apart. “About yay big, looked like it was made from dirt.”
“I was wondering where the last one disappeared to,” he muttered. “And yes, I did. It’s a phylactery. I don’t suppose you kept your findings from Donovan and Vincent?”
“As if I had a choice,” she huffed. “You know that dumb thing is what got me censured. Donovan never did tell me why, but I had a few ideas. Besides, there wasn’t much to tell. It was a very crude device. Although I can’t figure out how you crafted it.”
Norman laughed at having his crowning achievement called crude. Because it was. “Would you like to see?”
Kalia nodded rapidly, her eyes seeming to grow. Without standing, Norman flicked through the gestures of his spell that formed a three-dimensional model of an object. The glowing construct floated in the air, waiting for the next part of the spell. He didn’t have a blank orb to carve the design into so he just grabbed a large melon left over from the meal.
When he glanced back over at the floating spell form, he was shocked to see Kalia was right next to it, studying it fervently. Her eyes sparkled as the spell rotated. That had to be her calling, some sort of magical sight or something. It was interesting that the censure didn’t block it. Whatever caused it, it made her eyes extremely enchanting. Norman swallowed and cleared his throat. “Here, place this so the framework inside the spell is entirely inside. It’ll stay wherever you place it.”
She glanced over at him, then at the melon, giving him a dubious look. That didn’t stop her from snatching it up and stuffing it inside the circle though. Once she was satisfied with its placement, she pulled her hands back and he activated the second phase of the spell.
“Don’t let it hit the ground!” he urged just before the spell was completed. In a panic, she reached out and caught the fruit phylactery, then she yelped and dropped it.
“It shocked me! What the hell was that?”
Norman chuckled softly, “It was the item binding to you. Don’t worry, it’s harmless. Just a bit disconcerting.” He picked up the busted melon and handed it to her. You could clearly see the lines and symbols sliced through the broken insides.
“Holy hell! I figured you used some sort of 3D printing or a powder-based sintering method. But this changes things. Who needs to make an item out of gold or metal when you can mass produce things in less than a minute.” He almost missed what she said as she started muttering to herself more than she was speaking to him at the end.
“That’s true. But these are single-use. I would like you to work with the other crafters I have to create a permanent one.”
Her head snapped up, and she looked at him for the first time since the spell had been activated. “You have other competent crafters here? What am I saying, of course you do. I can see it everywhere I look. Who’s in charge of this group?”
“A jorik by the name of Saliu. Why, is that going to be a problem?”
She shook her head. “Not unless he’s incompetent. Undead?”
Norman nodded.
“Will they have a problem with me not being undead?”
“No, but we could remove that from the equation if you want.”
“I’m gonna stop you right there, Buddy. I would prefer to live out my life, thank you very much.”
He shrugged. It would make fixing her more difficult though. But he knew Gail overcame the censure on her own, so he was sure there was a way that didn’t involve killing her. And he didn’t even have to research it himself, he could just ask the woman.