Yeah, let’s head inside.

I dove off my perch and fluttered around the particularly large castle. Tier after tier of towers and battlements cropped up one after the next in an ever widening fashion giving the whole structure a sorta loose cone shape.

It was especially surprising to look at because Uriel pointed out which parts of the castle were built in chronological order, and explained the construction methods and aesthetic sense of the people at the time. It all just looked like a standard fantasy castle to me, but entire generations of effort and a veritable history were built into that stone, resulting in it becoming a testament to the community that built it and the family that led them. One that I was only just coming to appreciate.

With my interest in the exterior exhausted, I turned my marvelous senses to the interior. They showed me large and spacious rooms bedecked with finery at first, but as I made my way down the whole place became more austere, and well, jumbled.

I mean, it was practically a maze at the bottom, what with all the waiting rooms, guard posts, armories, and other storage spaces. Thankfully the soldier types and various maids and servants seemed to be fairly accustomed to moving around in it so I guess it wasn’t so bad once you got used to it.

But hoo boy, if I didn’t have these abilities of mine I wouldn’t even consider going in, I’d get lost in an instant! Then again, I guess the whole point of a castle is to, y'know, be defensible. So I guess it makes sense that the space not allotted to the Lord and his family would be rather complicated to make the defender’s lives easier. Or harder… If you’re new… but I digress.

I went back up to the Lord’s living area near the top of the castle, and hovered near an open window. To my surprise, my ‘feral form’ spell allowed me to transform again without needing to recast it, so I assumed the shape of a fly and moseyed on into what appeared to be a kitchen.

And I do mean a kitchen.

Because this castle has like six others, and that’s only counting the ones I’ve seen so far!

But this one. This one was the Count’s kitchen! It had golden pots and pans, diamond carving knives, enchanted utensils that would work on their own!

…

Okay, fine. Maybe I let my imagination run a little wild there. But it’d be cool if it was like that, right?

To be honest, the pots and pans were sturdy and well made, and all but the cast iron skillet were in immaculate levels of cleanliness, so much so that I could see my reflection in them as I buzzed by. The knives, all of them not just the carving ones, were sharpened to the point that they slipped through whatever the super professional chefs used them on, cleanly cutting meat, vegetables, heck! They even sliced bone!

As for the silverware, well, it wasn’t anything special. Shiny and clean, yes, but other than the elaborate metalwork and the tiger paw crest stamped at the bottom of each I couldn’t find anything even remotely magical about them.

The lunch they were preparing looked to be magnificent, but since it wasn’t why I was here, I hurried on my way.

Long corridors with wide windows made up the majority of my path. I followed a long red carpet with gold fringes and bordering as I went, with the monotony of it all broken only by the occasional pair of potted plants, paintings, or guards.

Every once in a while one servant or another would go bustling past, frantic for reasons beyond my understanding.

Obviously I made a bit of a commotion just a little while ago, but come on! It was outside the city, and Calden and Ysdra should be able to explain that away right? Right… Who am I kidding? With the speed information travels in time periods such as this I’ve probably got the people in charge in a tizzy and they won’t calm down until Ysdra and her brothers are back to explain the situation.

My brain, though only that of a fly’s at the moment, surprised me as it was apparently capable of pondering all of these human level problems without the least bit of pain. And I only just noticed.

Actually, how am I thinking normally right now? My mental capacity should be limited due to the transformation, so much so, in fact, that I shouldn’t be able to even consider anything at all, let alone becoming something other than a fly! And it should be that way until I’m either squished or the spell expires. So what gives?

Uriel buzzed.

Conclusion: Due to the nature of the magic, though the body and mind are altered, the soul and spirit are not. Since the soul is the self and thus the origin of thought, any thoughts had are transmited through the spirit as per normal, with mana being used to compensate for lack of brainpower.

Ohhh. So basically I’m only able to become a fly for so long because I’ve got tons of mana and a… maximized spirit, I guess?

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Uriel buzzed again.

Correct. Any individual capable of the spell could become a fly, but the time the form is maintained would be limited, that is why most transformations with the spell are brief regardless of the shape assumed.

Hey, hey! I got it right for once! I metaphorically glanced over my insectoid shoulder, which is really easy to do with compound eyes and my magical sensory array–which was also still functioning normally. And here I thought the system was going to retort and ridicule me again.

Then the system spoke.

... Really?

I imagined narrowing my eyes at the invisible voice. Yeah. Sure. Totally believe that one. What about all the time I got an ability for doing basically nothing then? Huh? What about that?

Of course, I got no response, but I was kinda used to the flaky system at this point so I just carried on my merry way until I reached my destination.

And oh boy do those doors look really big from here!

Really big and really in the way!

As fancy as the molding was, and intricate the design, I had no room to appreciate them when they separated me from the man of the hour himself, mister Ysdra’s dad!

I mean the Count!

I could still see and hear him thanks to my peripheral powers of perception, but it wasn’t the same as actually being in the room, and unfortunately I couldn’t just crawl under the door since the carpet fit pretty snuggly against it.

Plus I don’t want to find out what’ll happen if I get squished.

I guess I’ll just have to eavesdrop until someone opens the blasted door.

From what I could tell he was around forty, with the same cute–I mean, totally dignified–tiger ears that his children all possessed. He had a rather stoic face, decorated with several scars of various length and depth, along with some wrinkles around his brow and the corners of his eyes.

He was built like a combination of his two sons. Tall like the elder, and massively muscled like the younger, and topped off with the bright blue blinkers that apparently blessed his bloodline.

Half bedecked in a suit of plate armor, he growled at a dapper elderly butler-type attendant as other servants readied to prep the missing pieces. “What do you mean wait? You felt that wave of mana as clearly as everyone else in the city! My heir and fief are in danger! I will not sit idle at such a crucial time!”

With a glance, the ambling attendants stopped dragging their feet and sped up their efforts to armor their lord.

But none of that fazed the old man, who simply lowered his head. “It is as you’ve said Lord Linus. An immense power has been unleashed just outside our walls, and in spite of its intensity, neither you nor I could feel even a single ounce of malice within it. I’ve even received reports that several temples of various faiths are holding impromptu celebrations, declaring it the feast of the visitation of divine majesty.”

The men moving to arm the Count once again slowed down, and the Count himself frowned; a tremor of annoyance in his tone. “Spare me, and speak plainly, Griswold. How can they all believe it was their deity?”

The elderly gentleman grinned. “I’ve no idea, but from what I’ve gathered, more and more people are listening to the temple's claims, thus the chaos is ending and you won’t need to lift a finger. However, if you go out there now, armed, armored, and ready for war, how are the people going to take it?”

Count Linus ripped his sheathed sword from the nearest page. “But my–”

“Your children are fine, I hear they’re on their way back now.”

The lord’s arm relaxed, then his grip tightened. “Are they well?”

Griswold stifled a chuckle. “Ha! Young lord Ymir was apparently singed by the being that generated the mana wave, but he was spared a worse fate by young lady Ysdra’s plea.”

Linus practically dropped his weapon as he mouthed. “Ysdra?”

Then he bellowed. “Ysdra!? She’s returned? Then is–”

“Yes, the young master Dresdeth is with them and in surprisingly good health and spirits–which are apparently also the doing to that selfsame being. I received word from Barronette Barigg about their journey here just the other day. I thought to surprise you, but it appears I've only caused you undue worry.”

The Count pinched the bridge of his wide nose. He sighed, motioned to his servants who started to remove his armor, and stared at the butler. “What would you advise then, old friend? If Ymir has offended our benefactor, how am I to rectify this? House Dresdeth is the last thing standing between us ‘demihumans’ and an empire supported population cull, and we can’t save them with our own strength… We’re only delaying the inevitable.”

The butler stroked his short silver beard, and his pointy dog ears twitched delightfully. “I suggest we wait on making a decision until we hear everything from young master Calden. Barronette Barigg insinuated that he was close with this Anon Amos character, so perhaps he knows something more.”

“I see. Then let’s head to the reception room, and await them there.”

With that, the doors opened and I lazily buzzed after them, completely lost in thought. Well, it doesn’t seem like he’s too bad of a guy. A little impulsive, maybe slightly dense and slow on the uptake, but not bad. But what do I wanna do now? Do I reveal myself before the kids arrive and talk just with him and butler boy? Look for an opportunity to make a grand entrance during the meeting? Or should I wait to sneak in at the end? Honestly, given the situation, I don’t feel it’d be bad to just not reveal myself at all and guard them from the shadows. After all, as much as I want to get directly involved it’s no good if I just end up doing everything for them all the time. Calden is kinda already scarily trusting of me, and I wouldn’t want to make that worse or see it spread to the others.