ELI POV

It was the day after the town meeting that I was up with the sun in the expanded underground workshop. I had made a wider area further to the right along the path to the now blocked off trolls’ nest. Wide buttresses provided enough space for the testing of the crafts to form the seamless grey stone blocks that would become my towers floors.

Making the oxidization and refining facilities for steel would be too space and time consuming, even without the heating problems it would cause. The dwarves were providing raw steel bars but the furnace in the adjacent room meant I could easily melt them down and use metal crafts to reform them into whatever shape I wanted with a mere fraction of the mana cost that it had before.

I balanced on the three long boards placed in grooves along the blocks walls to hold the hollow square of boards. This was enchanted to summon the surrounding block of smooth grey stone. In the tower core piece corners were little receded spaces to allow for the insertion of the long steel beams and two pipes on opposite ends for the furnace air intake/outtake. Lining up the blocks won’t be too hard with Cell going through the holes and checking to make sure they were flush on the inside.

“All right. Are we good?” I called to Cell. My familiar came out of a hole to my left and nodded his cystal sphere head. His shimmering light then turned down below and he summoned an air spell to fly over to me. From there we got the enchanted square of boards down and started dismantling our work. When we had cleared out the top block, my wife came through the far-left door leading from the main room. Oddly, she was dressed in her steel and wood armor. The steel plates molded around her form and horns as the feathery embellishments and hawk beaked helm showed of the avian motif.

“Is that going to be the final design?” Salamede asked, looking at the blocks with a bit lip.

That was wife code for ‘are you really going to make the tower that ugly?’, I’d bet my life on it.

I gave her a light smile as I pushed some of the crushed stone bits out to the center of the large workspace.

“No, honey. That is going to be the main inner structure. I’ll go over some tile and panel coloring plans with you once the core of the tower is up.” I said cheerfully.

She smiled and walked up to me and planted a light kiss on my lips.

“Good. I’ll be heading out to help clear out more of the undead. We have one, maybe two more days if we’re lucky, before the healing magic starts flooding the deep earth. The guard put out flyers for any help retrieving and burning bodies before the job gets a lot harder.”

I nodded, now comprehending why she donned her armor.

“All right. Let me fashion you two healing bark crafts for you to use on yourself and any other inured people out there.”

She gave me a tight hug and rubbed her chin on my shoulder as she practically purred with joy.

“My man. Thanks Eli.” She said before she let me go.

We both headed into the lower room that had the stairs to the main floor. When I had laid down the enchantments on two spare bark pieces and showed her where to press them, she took them and placed them in a pack that she proceeded to sling over her shoulder.

“Ok, I’ll go slay some undead and you go slay some woman’s hearts.” She said playfully. I huffed at her banter and swatted her steel plated bum.

“I’ll slay their textbooks. That advanced alchemy course could help me set up the magical slugs needed to make a few items I’ve been wanting.” I said seriously. I went up the stairs as the crash behind me said Cell was having fun demolishing the last block.

Salamede looked at me with love in her eyes but her bit lip told of words unspoken. I knew what it was, but we had gone as far as we could in that conversation.

“Before I head out to school, I need to check on the channel Ryan will be working on.” I said with a meaningful look to the back-right corner of the main floor. In a pile were several pistons, large chambers and an electric motor. Ryan and Andrew had come by the previous night to talk about what we could all do to help. Some digging had revealed they were worried about the children they had sired and the women they had them with.

Ryan could get to work on housing and construction projects but Andrew’s fire element would only be useful in the space expansion spell. After checking in for my advanced alchemy course, we were going to meet up at the classroom towers and make a few more chests to help transport goods for the academy and the general public. I donned my student robes and the smiling iron mask with cotton below the metal and attaching neck piece to keep it in place. Salamede was chewing on a granola bar while I was content to get a quick breakfast from the academy canteen.

Another quick smooch and we were both out the door. The trip was different this time as the small woodlands to my right had now properly disappeared. The flat land stretched on with scars of bark dotting the light slopes of the landscape where the bushes weren’t present. I could even faintly make out the dual towers off in the distance above the left side of the grey stone wall erected to protect the back end of the town. Off to the right was the line of workers building the walls for this right back section of the town, using planks of wood to summon large grey blocks and a squad of men to guard them. We walked beside each other for a few minutes in the rising morning sun before our paths diverged with a sad little look between us.

While she worked her way through the crowd to the front gates, I headed over to the main dock area on the other side of the academy town. It took a few minutes but when I got there, the mayor was talking to a man in a worker’s white shirt and dirty brown pants, a stark contrast to his fine white shirt and clean brown overalls.

“Ah, sir mage. Surprised to see you up so early.” George said with a disarming smile that touched his lamb chops.

“So much to do and so little time. How is the planning going?” I asked.

“Better than I thought it would. The sudden… vacancy’s in some of the warehouses left us with a lot more room to work with. Once we get the main channel done, we can get you and Ryan to help set up the main chamber for this thing you’ll be installing.” He said with a curious note at the last part.

“A pump.” I said eagerly. “Not the most awe-inspiring thing in the world but try to go without them once you’ve gotten used to them and it’s like losing everything.”

He nodded, clearly intrigued, but I had to get to school and couldn’t stay behind to chat.

I was still a student at the Diamond academy, and as such I was still legally required to finish my schooling. My familiarity with math had greatly pushed me along in my schoolwork and since most of the curriculum was focused on magical teachings, my affinities allowed me to test my crafts with far greater ease than the actual crafters. I walked through the crowd of peasants and noted the relieved faces of those around the food stalls. With my proposition of using chests of holding, the coming food shortage and expected rationing was forestalled as one of the stalls had its prices for a bag of grain fall a copper. An insignificant data point in the grand scheme of things, but the relieved smiles of the mothers carrying their children with now full bags of food was not insignificant in my eyes.

Going up to the white academy walls, I leaned by the entrance in my usual spot. But unlike my usual pace, the surrounding students looked at me with a sense of eagerness or fear. The latter because they were ones who took special care to heckle me for the amusement of the crowd. Some of those hecklers were also women who were looking at me like I was the best thing to ever grace their eyes. All of the women looked my way with blushes in their skin or bit lips while most of the men looked sullenly at me at my apparent hogging of the girl’s attention.

The chittering of the ants went on until the guards came to escort us to the dual white towers in the distance.

As we walked down the road, we eventually got past the main dual doors of the gate, attached to the finished section of left side wall and the right side still being worked on, and out onto the main road. The morning sun washed over the land with no obstruction as the trees had now fully sunken into the ground. With their retreat, the smell was now less of vegetation and verdant life and more of decay from the undead both in piles by the gates and from the wind blowing over the grass. The undead were still present but off in the distance I only saw few moving weakly over the small shifting hills.

“Lad, would you mind moving more towards the front.” One of the guards respectfully asked me.

Looking back to my fellow students, I realized the women were drifting closer to me on purpose. I had been so used to hanging in the back away from the main group that I was moving away from them even as they slowed down, bringing the group to a near halt. Sighing in frustration, I moved around the right side and towards the front of the group.

When we moved a bit further ahead, the sound of screaming was faintly heard.

Great, more delays to an already busy day.

A burst of wind magic helped propel me forward with elongated jumps even as the rest of the group shirked backward. The yells of the guards became indistinct as three ran for me, far too slowly to stop me. A few more seconds and the screams became close and around a bend in the road was a regular wooden carriage and a metal shod carriage under assault by the undead. A small squad of steel plated men were guarding the wooden carriage carrying a coat of arms with a sword in the middle with a unicorn on the left and a lion on the right.

The men were facing a small wave of shambling corpses and being stretched thin trying to cover both sides. Making a quick earth spell construct to raise the soil just underneath the top layer, a jutting wall suddenly blocked the undead on the carriages right side. The men looked surprised at my intervention but one man with a feather in his metal helm called the men on the right side to cover the two corners of the new wall.

I was restricted to just using earth spells since there was no weapons on the ground for me to manipulate and plant spells weren’t the greatest when the only plants to manipulate were the grass and some far-off shrubs. I used another earth spell to rip a boulder from the ditch and chuck it at the mass of undead. It sailed through the air with a whistle and crashed through the rotting horde, cutting a large swathe through them. Their numbers lessened, the undead stopped pushing against the men as most turned to me.

Keeping aware of what was behind me, I launched an occasional rock at the undead to help stagger them out so the soldiers could concentrate on the few attacking them before moving on to the rest. It was a few more minutes before they took out the last of them, the last of which fell to a spear through the right eye.

“Is it done?” A feminine voice called from the carriage.

“Yes, my lady.” The leading guard said.

The door opened to show the dukes pretty wife. She had smooth cheekbones, pale white skin and was wearing a blue dress with a covered V in the in chest. Her green eyes scanned the field but when she turned to look towards the noise of the coming guards and group of students, her eyes went to me and stayed there.

“Oh, you must be the quad mage.” She said with a smile as she took out her fan and placed it over her face as she walked over to me, her bun of brown hair swaying with her movements. “I must thank you for your timely intervention, Eli.” She gave a light bow at the last word.

“I would have thought your estate was farther south. Why were you heading towards the classroom towers?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“An idle inspection, I’m afraid. Nothing grand or a world-shaking adventure. Seeing things with your own eyes helps in a lot of ways.” She said with a quick look to the approaching group. The guards regarded me with a mix of anger and respect while the students looked at me with wonder as I used another earth spell to flatten the wall I made.

“Eli, I’m Susan. Susan Decksworth” The duke’s wife said. “Would you mind accompanying me in my carriage? I’m afraid my nerves were quite shaken with that attack.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m already committed to walking with the students. Besides, it would be safer for them if I-“

“We’ll be fine” One of the guards said. “The safety of the duke’s wife is also a matter of grave concern and since we can’t keep up with you, you might as well stay with the faster group. I’m sure Rand won’t fuss about it since it’s a safety issue”

Ah, so I guess that’s my punishment for rushing ahead.

“Indeed.” I said, prompting angry, deflated looks of the female students.

Susan shot forward and took my arm as pulled me towards her carriage with a slight tug.

“Excellent! Come, Eli. I would so love to hear about your wonderful adventures.” She said as she lowered her fan. When we got closer to the wooden carriage, her contingent of guards shuffled back into theirs. I opened the door for her, to which she gave me a happy smile as she went through the door. The inside was both plain and ornate at the same time. It had a simple wood floor and two benches, but the woodwork was ornately carved with roses and various woodland critters, emblazoned with gold at the edges.

“So, I heard two other scions were talking to you after the meeting.” Susan said as she took the bench on the right and I took the one on the left. She was leaning backwards with a leg crossed over another and the white cover of her dress had been pulled away to have the deep V in her chest reveal the slope of her bosom with two moles on the left side and one on the right breast.

“Yes. They were worried about their children and the women they got pregnant. We’re going to work on the sewer lines later today and Andrew is going to help me make some more space expansion spells to let the grain and food shipments in more easily.” I said as the carriage jerked forward when the horses took off.

“Ah.” Susan said. “That’s quite good. Mage men showing such concern for their children is commendable. But are the rumors surrounding your own brood true? You have no children here?”

“No, I have no children at all.” I said simply.

She went wide eyed and uncrossed her legs as she fixed me with a pensive frown. Even as the carriage shifted from a dip in the road, she got up from her side of the carriage and came to sit beside me.

“Eli!” She scolded with furrowed eyebrows. “That is unacceptable. How many women were you with this morning?”

“I feel that is a personal matter.” I said firmly.

She puckered her lips before dipping her head in apology.

“I’m sorry. Usually men are quite open and free in discussing such affairs. But I suppose someone of your unique position shouldn’t be held to the same expectations.”

She looked back up at me with a smile before continuing. “That issue aside, tell me what the academy town is like. The peace of the grand estate has its merits but with Necrosis setting in, Beck is having us stay in the town proper and I would like some forewarning about my new homes dangers.” She said placatingly.

Susan was quite clear in her aims on me, or more precisely, my manhood, but she at least had the sense to not immediately strip and throw herself at me, so I indulged her in conversation. Also, she seemed genuinely interested in the local situation, which I told starting with my first impressions and going on from there until I stopped at the meeting yesterday.

“So you were the one responsible for the stone roads. I must say that was quite a nice little surprise when we came into town. I visited the capital in my formative years and riding over smooth roads for any amount of time spoils you.” She said with an appreciative smile.

“Indeed, but I find my life uninteresting.”

At least the parts I can tell you.

“So, tell me Susan. What is it like being the wife of a duke?”

She raised an eyebrow at me, but a smug smile said she was quite happy to tell me about her life.

“Waking up in the morning, I don’t have any menial chores. No worries over food or clothing for myself, but that is replaced with the need to oversee food and clothing for tens of thousands of people in our lands. I’m from a wealthy merchant family and am quite familiar with such things, so I’m at least kept busy when I’m not dealing with my three boy’s antics.”

“Are they here at the academy?” I asked, now actually interested in the conversation.

She put a hand to her mouth in a light laugh as the sun shined over the barren grass hills in the window behind her.

“The two older ones are far too bull headed for academia. I consider it one of my life’s achievements that I kept them in the chairs long enough to learn a passable amount of mathematics. No, the call of the coast’s prestige and luxury lured them in the moment they could move out. Even so, they always seem to have some bit of money or favor they send for every month or two.

The third… Well, we will see. He’s only seven months old and is the son of an air caster but,” Her green eyes had a pained look as she stared at the floor. “He has no magical ability.”

“Does… Considering Beck might have found out that maybe for the best.” I said uncertainly, totally unprepared for her to drop such an explosive secret out of nowhere like that.

She turned to me with a raised eyebrow and just laughed.

“It’s no matter of clandestine shame, Eli. I assure you; such arrangements are commonplace. Becks whole house survived a big dispute several decades back because his grandmother took with an earth mage while her husband was off losing a battle against his rival. It’s also the quickest way to ensure security for your house. That or aligning with a house whose membership includes a mage, scions especially.” Her voice got a sour note at the end.

“It sounds like the last part is something you know from experience.” I prodded, now remembering Agatha talk about only stubborn types objecting to having their wives impregnated by mages.

She just huffed as she crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling.

“Promise me, Eli. Promise me not a word of what I’m about to say leaves this carriage.” She said, sounding at once playful and serious as she fixed me with a mischievous grin.

I nodded.

“We’ve aligned with the Stone ‘family’. Although calling it a family is a bit of a stretch since it’s just Leeroy and his son Ryan. The son seems fine, a bit snobbish when it comes to peasant matters, but not a total degenerate. His father… well let’s say he’s been giving the local bars and brothels a steady income with our coin.

Beck says it’s all worth it. Not wrong, mind you. Being allied with a scions house is a boon unlike almost any other but the debts are piling up and they’ve become a bit too central to our houses wellbeing for my tastes.”

Susan was now showing off her more merchant side, and more importantly, wasn’t making sure I got a full view of her chest with every move.

“From the way they treat the mages here, I’m sure Scions like Ryan will be invaluable going forward.” I offered.

“Pff. But not you, everyone noticed.” She said with a slap against my thigh. “Using chests of holding to move sewage, even as an idle thought. If my mother had been around to hear that, she would have bear tackled you all the way from the front row.”

“When you have all the elements, those crafts aren’t as important as what you can actually do with them.” I said dismissively as I looked out the window and saw the quickly approaching towers of the classrooms.

Susan huffed again.

“I guess when you have such incredible power, the luster would wear off.” She put a finger to my face with a motherly scowl across her dark thick lips. “But don’t let me hear you speak of them like that again. Some of us are still mortal and my poor heart couldn’t take another shock like that.”

I put my hands up in defense as the carriage turned to the left as we came up to the wide double doors.

“I promise nothing.” I said as I opened the door and made my way out.

“Wait!” Susan called to me. She got out of the carriage and the driver closed the door behind her. Her dress had the white cover over the deep V now and she came forward with a light bow.

“Thank you again, quad caster Eli. Me and my men may have died without your aid.” She said grandly, much to the irritation of the surrounding women, be they staff or students.

I nodded and went through the wooden double doors that were nearly three times the size of a man. The grey stone interior and red carpet with rows after rows of bookshelves was the same as it always had been. What had changed was how the open ceiling showing the floors edges now displayed nearly every face stopping to look at me, with even some stopping in the staircase around the central pillar or its lanes towards the rest of the floor. Those who didn’t stop shortly did so to see what everyone was looking at.

Ignoring them, I worked my way to the left of the open main floor to get a quick breakfast. It passed in the usual manner but as I sat down to my eggs and pancakes, the previously empty table filled up with a flurry of female students moving to sit beside me as the blue and white whirlwind blew around me. Occasionally, I felt an errant hand caress my back or thigh. I made a distinct effort not to look at the gropers since it was clear the women here were desperate for any attention I would give them.

Gulping down my meal with a mug of milk, I quickly vacated the cafeteria, to a wave of disappointed sighs and tuts, and went out to the main floor to head to find some needed information. Bess found me before I even took five steps. The plain brown-haired woman with green eyes practically sprinted up to me and locked me in a hug.

“Oh, Eli! It’s great to see you again.” She said with her sharp chin resting on my shoulder, before she pulled back with some unshed tears in her eyes. “So, a quad element caster huh?”

“Aye.” I said plainly with a light smile underneath my steel mask.

“Well first things first, let’s get you a proper pin.” She said as she rifled through her blue and white striped robes. She then took out a pin of gold. It had a big X of gold dividing it into four sections. The pin had a small jewel with a brown mountain, red fire, blue raindrop, and green air symbols in each of the sections. She put her hands over my left peck and worked the regular metal pin with no symbol off before putting this new one in its place.

“To think you were such a talented crafter and now this. The sky truly is the limit for you, Eli.” She said with another happy hug.

“Indeed.” A voice called to my left. It was a pretty, blond teacher with glasses and a sharp chin as well as two brunettes each looking at me with lust in their eyes, the blonde’s green eyes looking particularly heated.

“Yes, Eli. If you need any study sessions or help relaxing just say so. As teachers, it is our job to make sure you have the best work and study environment.” The brunette to the left said with a suggestive bite of her pink lips.

I was tempted to tell them to piss off, but Bess seemed less peeved at them then I was at their interruption, so I let it be with a non-committal nod. But I turned to Bess again for a question.

“I need to sign up for an advanced alchemy class. Besides that, where would I go to find cases on disputes involving mages and siring?”

Bess raised a suggestive eyebrow.

“Got a little miss with a dumpling in her bowl and not sure who made it?” She asked sincerely.

“Nah, I have a feeling I’m going to get a lot of crap for not making children and I want to know all of the legal issues that might go with it.”

That got a lot of sour looks from the other three teachers and the eavesdropping students. One smaller redhead even scowled at me from a table to my left. The blond teacher even spoke up.

“Eli, a male mages greatest obligation is-“

“Of course, Eli.” Bess interrupted, drawing looks that were far more open in their hostility as she grabbed my arm to lead me to my destination.

“Thanks, Bess. You don’t seem too outraged, not that I’m upset about that.” I said appreciatively.

“Male casters need to readily provide their bodies to bring in the next generation of mages.” Bess said in a neutral tone. “But we also need to help them, be it financially, physically, or emotionally. It’s quite a scandalous opinion, but I feel like after everything that happened, that arrangement was not upheld and you not holding up your end isn’t a failing on your part.”

She led me along the huge staircase and to the training towers main legal area here at the Classrooms. It was a floor with several tables, racks of books, and a central circle of a wooden desk with several receptionists. We walked over the red carpeted floor as the grey stone ceiling had several mana lamps giving off a light orange glow that reflected off the white and blue robes of the students and staff members present.

We walked up to the reception desk and the brown-haired woman, thin with brown eyes and a sharp chin, looked at us with mild interest. When she saw my pin, she got a face splitting grin and her shoulder length hair swayed as she stood up.

“Ooh! Are you here to register a siring attempt?” She asked eagerly.

“No, Eli wants to look into legal cases regarding siring and it’s legal implications.” Bess said sweetly.

“Oh, those are at the shelf along the left wall. Row five of bookshelf three. But surely the proper precautions were taken when he did the deed?” She asked. I shook my head before responding.

“This is more about the legal consequences from me not siring. Thank you for your help.” I said as I gave a light bow to Bess and the now scowling receptionist.

“Goodbye Eli. Oh, signing up for the advanced alchemy courses is done like the others at the book checkout by the entrance.” Bess said happily. As I turned and walked off, I caught a bit of the conversation I left in my wake.

“What does he mean ‘not siring’? Bess don’t you fucking dare help him-“ A look back and I saw Bess walking away with an upturned nose even as the rest of the women present glared at her.

Walking up to the right bookshelf, I perused the books for a bit until I got to the book I needed. Taking it and heading to an empty corner table, I went over previous cases where there had been impediments to siring children for mages and the court rulings. Going over all the legal back and forth, the quick and simple explanation was that there were no legal requirements for casters aside from 3 attempts a week. But that was easy enough to get around considering it didn’t require that I ‘try’ with three different women.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Unfortunately, that led into the male scion-oriented section. There was no legal requirement that they sire but there was another nasty way of making it happen. Scions could be declared national assets. Once that was done, they were basically conscripted into the military and to fight with the soldiers.

‘Fight’.

The real purpose was putting them in a place where the mages could pressure them through comradery or the stress of training to produce the needed progeny. Not rape but dropping them into the middle of a high stress situation with the understanding that it would stop when they put out wasn’t a consent-oriented way to get them to reproduce. Being a national asset also meant you were effectively state property. The associations could use the male scion as a stud, no questions of consent asked. They could also be rented out to other foreign parties for the use of their ‘services’.

There were also instances where the mage associations used their connections to pressure the errant soul in a variety of less morally questionable ways, and this was all for single or dual element scions. I had thought about revealing myself as a scion, it was a good card to have hidden in a fight but right now combat strength wasn’t what I needed. Revealing my true status now would create too many problems and provide me no political power.

Sorry, Cell, you’re going to have to wait a good long while before you can peruse the streets freely.

But as I worked through the implications of this, the hair on the back of my head started to stand up. It was virtually impossible for me to keep Cell hidden for decades on end. The likelihood that he could stay unseen for a few years was slim, but it still might be achievable. But, even under the most optimistic assumptions, I was still under a time limit for when my status as a scion would be revealed even if Cell wasn’t discovered.

I was a caster and while it would be incredibly expensive, the Coalition is certainly going to do everything in its power to raise me to the status of scion. It might take months, years, or decades, but, sooner or later, they would be bound to notice that no matter how many magical steaks they shoved in my mouth, I still wouldn’t become a scion. Once someone becomes a scion, feeding them magical resources increases their stamina and physical abilities and when that was noticed there would be no hiding my status. That was also assuming there wasn’t some obscure method of deducing someone’s magical level that I had no way of knowing about before they used it on me. Which would be increasingly likely when the central continent nations started sticking their noses in my business.

My options, for right now, were to either give them what they wanted or faking my own death. I had gotten a lot of practice on the gangster when it comes to changing appearances, but my end game was fixing my AI chips, not living as a no-name peasant. I needed someone to work the scalpel to cut into my head to establish the connection and a lot of people working to help get me to the point where I had anything to connect to it. To say nothing of the fact that I was living in one of the more forgiving nations in this world when it comes to such matters. From the books concerning this issue, apparently age of consent laws don’t even exist for young mage men in the central continent.

Maybe if I got multiple wives, say seven or eight that might be… No. No, I was not going to marry anyone just because of political bullshit.

I felt the clock counting down over my head. Over the course of time, there was certainly going to be some circumstance or set of events where I was going to have the full range of my abilities or some method of detecting scions and ultimate mages was going to find its way to me. The censure and my status as a caster provide some stalling against the coming conclusion, but that conclusion was coming all the same. There was no amount of influence with merchants, politicians, or associations that would shield me when that time came.

What I needed was a third option. Something that would protect Salamede and not cripple me with guilt by having thirty kids with thirty women who I have no chance of being a real father to. I brooded, pondered, and stewed but the answer never came.

I put the book back up and went to meet with Andrew at the practice rooftop to make some chests with expanded spaces. Making my way up the stairs, I came up through the crowd of resting casters. They laid about on benches or sipping cool mugs of water as their stripped-down inner robes were drenched in sweat. Again, all eyes turned to me as I scooted past the lines of benches and went up to the roof.

The bright sun played out over the roof with its metal skeletal frame of a mushroom over the top and the central square of brown tiles in the middle that marked where the students were supposed to be practicing. While the usual table with a staff member was off to the left, the three chests with Andrew were off to my right.

I walked over to him, the red head looking up from digging through one of the boxes to smile at me with his strong cheek bones being emphasized by the action. My presence also drew the gazes of the practicing mages, causing the usual circus of red, blue, green, and brown mana to fizzle out.

“All right Andrew, are you ready?” I called.

His oceanic eyes looked eager and from the left chest sprung his monkey familiar. The red furred little guy was looking a bit bigger than before and his bright green eyes showed joy as he took to slamming the chest open and close.

“Yep” He said.

Andrew did his due diligence and he supplemented the fire portion of the expansion spell. The wide array of spell constructs sent off a wave of oohs from the spectators, even though they could only see the smallest portions of it. Each time that sucking of air was heard over the yard, another wave of whispers sounded off from the crowd. It took until mid-day until we got the chests done. The task would have not taken very long but I had to ‘rest’ for a while after each chest since performing far beyond Andrews ease of using magic would have been too suspicious.

“Damn, Eli.” Andrew said as he sat in a chair to my right as I sat on the ground ‘exhausted’. “Not too many people can say they’ve helped make three space expanded chests. Think this will be enough?” His unkempt red hair played over his strong cheek bones as he looked over the three now space expanded chests.

“It’ll have to be…We’re providing more space on just one leg of the goods journey here. The bottle necks in the distribution centers will prevent more space from getting fully used and there are too many security problems with handing them out to that many people. Even without that, I have too many projects that need my attention to make enough to lift the whole supply chain up.” I said, trying to sound tired. A staff member handed me a cool mug of water, which I promptly chugged and got up to head downstairs.

As I made my way to the main tower and came down the main staircase, the girls continued looking at me with fascination and some of the men as well. When I got to the main floor of grey stone and plush red carpet, I noticed two pairs of parents and one student each coming up to me. One was a pudgy brown-haired man and a woman both in brown clothes of low nobles’ quality with the woman wearing a generous green top. They had the smooth brown hair of their child, John. Beside them was Joey and his mother, Beth, and his Father, Mack.

Joey had his typical thick glasses over his sharp nose. His green eyes showed fear when he spotted me through his long brown hair. A fear that was reflected in every movement of his scrawny frame. While john had deep brown eyes and a body that was polar opposite to Joey’s, his reaction was much the same.

“Ah, the man everyone has been talking about.” The man who I assumed to be John’s father. His small patch of brown hair showed a combover while the mother had a large cascade of hair going down to her hips.

I noticed Beth looking at me with particular hunger. Her purple eyes looked over every inch of my body and her thick pink lips even had her tongue run over them and the mole above the right side of her lips. Her wavy brown hair flowed over a good green dress with a V down the chest that went nearly to her stomach. Mack, an older, more muscular version of Joey, didn’t seem to notice as he put a hand forward.

“Yes, indeed he is. Don’t worry, Eli, this is school business, so Rand won’t be giving you any grief over this meeting.” He said amiably as I took his hand. Behind him Beth’s small sharp nose twitched in anticipation.

“Dear Eli.” Beth said, forgoing any handshake and instead enveloping me in a hug. The orbs of her bust had no bra, a fact made plain from the way she was molding herself against my chest as the relatively tall woman looked up to me. “It’s been far too long my darling.”

I kept a straight face even as the surrounding women stared sullenly at Beth with Mack and joey seemingly unperturbed by her actions.

“Busy days, as always. Tell me, what school business do I have with you lot?” I asked evenly as Beth pulled back to stand by Mack and behind Joey as her husband coughed and spoke for the group.

“Well, we’ve been talking with our boy’s and with the fleeing of Borin and some other fellow you had come to a disagreement with, we wanted to make sure our boys were as well behaved as they should be.”

Oh, so the two casters who gave me grief have fled in fear. Swift and wise, but unneeded. I walked towards the two boys and put a hand on each of their shoulders

“Joey, are we done? No more haranguing me with a gang of scoundrels.” I asked with a meaningful raise of my eyebrow towards Joey. He nodded his head in earnest agreement. Behind him Mack and Beth went a little red. I turned towards his pudgier companion.

“John, are we done? No more mocking, no more trips where you try to kill me?” I asked plainly. My tone was one of a parent talking to a child caught stealing sweets from the kitchen counter. His parents, however, went ghost pale and just bit their lips to keep from screaming.

“I. I never-“ I stopped John’s sputtering by taking my hand off Joey’s shoulder and holding it up.

“John. Do you think I’m stupid? That I’m so blind I couldn’t see you trying to block our minders vision of my tent with yours?” I asked plainly.

“N-No. Sorry.” Sweat was running down his pudgy features as he stared at the floor.

“Good. I consider this matter settled. A good day to both of you.” I said cheerfully with a light shake on their shoulders before I moved off.

The future lay in the merchant associations, smithies, and tradesman. The petty tangle of magician’s lives and feuds was something I now considered myself above participating in.

The two boys gave an audible sigh of relief with their parents, even though Johns parents were clearly shaken by what I had said, the mother in particular. She was a heavier set woman with long brown hair, smooth cheek bones, a sharp triangle nose, and dark brown eyes below her thin eyebrows. Her brown dress had an expansive green top that now had a few drops of sweat on it as her husband hurriedly grabbed their sons left arm and dragged him away.

The kiosk to the side of the entrance was a long row of sheltered desks with stacks of books. I spent a few minutes with the receptionist going over some slots available for the advanced alchemy classes. It also stated it would be taking place on the academy classroom grounds, but I thought it odd considering how troublesome travel is going to be soon. Once I had gotten my preferred time down, I headed out the main entrance and into the now late mid-day sun. The carriage of the duke’s wife was to my right coming out of the building.

Behind me, I saw John being dragged by his father towards the left side of the tower out of the main path of traffic. I was content to lean against the wall for a bit when the sound of shouting from John and his father’s direction could be faintly heard. Not enough to distinguish what was being said but the general note of anger was clear.

There was nothing to do but wait for the next group to head out. As I did so, I noticed some of the soldiers escorting various staff members around while the mages used crafts to shape the earth with various moats and stone blocks with what I assume would be a full ring of protections around the class room towers. A smell of decay still hung over everything as the small dips and waves in the hills showed wind blowing over the rolling grass. While I waited for the next group to go through, the duke’s wife Susan came through the main door. Her blue dress showed a few more wrinkles than earlier but like always, her green eyes shot straight to me through the small crowd of passing students. She then immediately made her way over to me.

“Ah, Eli. Good. We were heading back to town and I thought it would be safer if we travelled together.” She said as her personal two guards nodded and went on ahead to their separate carriage to leave us alone.

Having no real reason to refuse, I nodded and headed towards her carriage. When I had gotten near the carriage with Susan right behind me, two good reasons started calling in the towers main entrance. Beth and John’s mother started moving as quickly towards me as they could without sprinting.

“Eli! Leaving so soon?” Beth said indignantly with a heave of her chest as she took deep breaths, though I suspected she wasn’t actually that tired. She then pointed towards John’s mother “I don’t know about her, but my husband is quite busy with work here and I was wondering if I could travel back to town with Mrs. Decksworth”

John’s mother was content to merely thin her pink lips in a forced smile before giving a light bow towards me and explaining herself.

“I’m afraid I only have business with Eli. If he wants to meet with me behind the tower, our business could be concluded while you two go on ahead.” She ‘offered’ in a humble tone. The two other wives got strained smiles and Beth’s left eye even twitched.

“Nonsense.” Susan said sweetly. “His time is too valuable to spend moving to conversations rather than having them. We can all go in the carriage if that is convenient to you” Her voice had a venomous undertone even as she moved to cover her mouth with her fan.

Johns mother then moved forward and hooked her arm through mine, making sure to press her bust against my arm as she did so.

“Quite right. Julia, by the way.” She said, her brown eyes looking at me with joy as she pulled me to the carriage. When I was looked back, I could see Susan’s green eyes screaming she wanted to murder the woman right then and there. We were close enough to the carriage that I was already moving to hold open the door for Julia before the other women could object.

Julia nodded to me with a sweet smile as she went through the door, taking special care to swing her butt into my view before moving into the carriage. Susan followed suit with a strain in her eyes, followed by Beth. While Julia and Susan were on the right side, Beth was leaning over the floor doing something with her shoe. I sat down on the left side and when my butt was planted on the soft leather of the seat, Beth immediately got up and sat on my lap.

The carriage jerked forward making Julia’s attempt to stand up fail as she was forced back into her seat. Beth ran a soft hand over my face to move the silver hair out of the way as she stared lustfully into my eyes. She seemed to go numb to the rest of the world as her face said she was looking at some great treasure.

“What is with them still using the classroom towers?” I asked the other two passengers. “I signed up for an alchemy course, but I assumed it would be happening at the main academy town, well I guess more like a city now.” Susan kept the fan in front of her face, but her voice didn’t seem too frustrated.

“Having a higher concentration of people causes more of the undead to focus on that area. The base towards the west, classrooms, and the dorms were all spaced out to help deal with this fact. If it was all put in one building, it would save time, money, and it would be easier to maintain, but you run the risk of having so many undead condensed into one area that you can’t get to the bodies to burn them to ash.

Besides, this way they get to kill them in small packs along established and well patrolled routes as opposed to having to sending out random parties who may not have anyone come along to check on them. It’s the least dangerous of the many dangerous ways of dealing with the undead.” She said.

I turned to look at her with a question, but Beth’s gentle hand took my jaw and in a very measured, steady movement, forced my head back to look at her. She made sure to further press her chest into my side as her green dress now almost totally covered my white and blue striped robes.

“Really Beth?” Julia said in an exasperated tone. “Must you be so possessive of him?”

“Not possessive.” Beth responded in a floaty voice. “Remembering good times. Our last rendezvous was quite enjoyable, and I must admit the sense of nostalgia it brings is quite strong.”

“Rendezvous?!” Julia squeaked.

“Yes. Before he became this god among men, he and I had a tussle in my carriage. Bit of tongue and cheek play. After risking his life to save me from a troglodyte, while my worthless husband hid on the opposite side of a river, I showed him my appreciation.” Beth said with a suggestive tone as she ran her right hand into my robe to caress my left shoulder.

I felt my face get some heat and tried to find some way of gently getting her off my lap. The jealous looks of the two other women only prompted her to continue her tale.

“I told him that he was good, but I needed him to be a caster before I would take his child. And did he ever follow through on that demand.” That made Susan’s and Julia’s eyebrows shoot up, with Julia getting a slack jaw.

Ah. So that was why I didn’t just throw her in the floor. She did have an interest in me when I was still a ‘crafter’ and I guess my heart said to give her a bit more leeway than the other cloying shits. My feelings clarified; I gave a light cough before deciding to let her have that bit of self-indulgence.

“I am married, Beth.” I said firmly as I lifted her up and sat her beside me. Beth bit her lip in glee from the contact as my hand gripped her legs and lower back for leverage.

“Yes, I know. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have that woman’s place. Lucky gal that one.” Beth said with a slight pout. My respect for Beth rose a good bit at her calling Salamede a woman and not a barn animal or some other insult.

“All well and good.” Julia said irritably. “But I have personal business to discuss with Eli.”

“What may that be?” I asked as I looked out the window to my right. The plains were mostly empty now with a group of men on the side of the coming road getting the bodies of the undead into wagons from the fight earlier.

I heard footsteps and turned to see Julia kneeling between my two legs with a bite on her thin pink lips. Her green top doing nothing to stop the back and forth swinging of her breasts from the motion of the carriage. She put a single hand on my right knee before she spoke again.

“Eli, my son has done a terrible wrong by you. I am ready to do whatever is needed to correct his mistake.” She said with a meaningful look between my legs.

“What mistake?” Susan asked.

Julia hesitated for a moment before Beth spoke for her.

“Her good for nothing waste of flesh son tried to kill Eli when he was still a crafter.” Beth said with a scowl in disgust.

“Why would he do that?” Susan asked with a clack of her fan being placed down by her side to reveal a curious face.

Julia looked down in shame while Beth looked at the prostrate woman.

“The trials. Some business with my tools winning.” I said simply, wishing now that I had just kept my speech to Joey and John a simple ‘I forgive you’.

“It was that green skinned cunt.” Julia whimpered.

The two women sat there still as statues for a long moment.

“What?” Beth asked in a voice colder than the breeze outside. Knowing how people in this world go nuts when discussing orcs, I tried to tamper down the coming screaming.

“John got his heart twisted on some orc woman and it was my weapons that did her in. A man’s heart is a fragile thing and violence is typically how it processes the worst grief.” I said in a sympathetic tone. Julia looked up at me with appreciation in her eyes, but Beth’s usually full pink lips went thin as she sucked in her mouth and looked wide eyed at Julia. Susan, however, was pure fury. Her pale skin was red hot as she got up from her bench and stomped over to Julia with her blue dress fluttering like a bird of prey.

Susan’s immaculately tended left hand grabbed a knot of Julia’s hair and hoisted the woman back with a feral bearing of her teeth, most unlike a noble woman.

“Your fucking shithead of a son tried to kill Eli over his perverse lust?” Susan said with a voice as cold as ice. Julia’s lip started quivering and a tear rolled down her left eye, but she still nodded. Susan took a deep breath and I could see she was about to do something in a fit of anger, so I leaned forward and grabbed her hand. Both the women turned to me and stood near still as the carriage rocked back and forth.

“Susan, you’re hurting her.” I said in a firm tone.

The hand let go but Susan looked at me with the anger still coming clear through.

“You are far too good for this world, Eli.” Was all she said as she left to sit down on the bench again. Julia looked at me like I was a lifeline and she needed to cling to me as tightly as she could.

“Eli. We are on our last bit of coin. We invested everything we had into John’s education.” Julia said with desperation. She got up off the floor and pushed herself into my lap while putting my head in between her breasts. The scent of sweat was heavy on her as she ground on my thighs with her body. “If that useless cur was born a woman, he could at least make up for it by bearing your child but now we are without money or standing.”

I was distracted with the John being a woman part long enough that Julia got her hands around the smiling masks clasp holding the steel strap to my neck and pulled it off.

“Whatever deformity is under this mask is nothing compared- Ooh!” Julia stopped; tears left unshed as she looked at my bare face with lust in her eyes.

“Quite a looker, isn’t he?” Beth said with a smug puckering of her lips and arms crossed under her chest.

I heard Susan getting up as I struggled to put the mask back on.

“Eli!” Susan squeaked in a scandalized tone as her head peeked out behind Julia’s shoulder. She was looking at me with open lust in her green eyes. “Covering up this face is a crime.”

She and Julia started moving their hands over to my body but a flash of shadow and a quick look out the window showed we were through the gate at the wall. Julia reluctantly got off me and Susan went back to her chair. When we got a bit further ahead, the carriage pulled to the right side of the road and came to a full stop. As I was about to put my mask back on, Beth shot forward and caught my mouth in a full kiss. Her taste of honey invaded my mouth before she pulled away with a smug smile. A smile that got even more smug when she got up and gave a light bow to the strained smiles of the other two passengers.

“I will consider your proposal with my wife, Julia.” I said, Beth’s taste still on my tongue as I got up from my seat. “Good day to you both.” Going out the door, I made a mad rush to the main dock area. I didn’t care for these people, but spending all day having women shooting lustful faces at me, being groped, and finally kissed still riled my primal needs. The recent re-awakening of my sex drive with my marriage did nothing to quell the heat in my blood. Once I got the pumps installed, I hope Salamede is ready for to take all of that need.

When I moved through the crowd of peasants in the mid-day sun, the heat had yet to make any real difference in the temperature. Not cold enough for ice on the roads but enough that most now wore coats or extra shirts. Once I got to the harbor district, I immediately spotted the mayor waving at me on the shoreline of one of the smaller docks farther up the river. Walking up to him I saw several yellow streaks along a dotted line towards the main market from the hole where the remains of a now removed ramp laid.

“Excellent, boy.” The mayor said with a jovial nod that ruffled his lambchops. “Ryan was here earlier and was getting one of the old ramps out of the way.”

“Good,” I said with an appreciative look around. “I need some men to help me move the pump parts.”

He turned his brown eyes towards a group of scruffy work men and nodded to me.

“I’ll go get Ryan while we’re waiting.” He said as I led the men to my home. I had Cell move the parts to the left side on the main entrance and leave the two spheres needed to power it off to the right side of the door, so this task was one of raw muscle. Once I opened the door, Salamede was inside cleaning off gunk from her metal suit, now stuck up on a manequin.

“Ah!” She called as I directed the men to take the various pistons and large barrels. “How was your day Honey?” She said as she walked forward in a white shirt and brown pair of pants, a combination she stole from my personal effects. A fact that was made plain by the stretching of the shirt against her chest.

“Good, good dear.” I said sweetly as I took her in a hug, but I let the raw heated need in my voice come out in a new spirit connection. ‘Those skanks have been putting their hands all over me today and I need someone who can take the loving I need to dish out.’ I bit her left ear to emphasize the point. ‘Know anyone who would be willing to have a hot pounding session with a quad element scion?’

She giggled at first before tightening her hug around me.

‘I might know someone, but I thought you needed to work on the pump?’ She said eagerly.

‘After. After finishing that out.’ I said teasingly.

‘It’s a date. I’ll have something quick and easy ready for our dinner.’ She said in anticipation.

My main task for the day now starting, I headed out with the men who were staring at the pieces of metal dubiously but went about their job moving them while I carried the chest sized spheres that was going to power the whole contraption in a big leather bag filled with dirt. By the time we got back, Ryan was there looking over his precious work. His black hair came downward as he leaned over the piers edge to look over the hole he had made where it touched the water.

“All right! Let’s get this done before night comes.” I called to the surrounding group.

From there we went to work. The first thing we did was create a smooth stone surface along the water’s edge with a ring of wood around a hole letting water in from the river. As a cover we used earth enchantments on the wood ring to create a wall of fine stone strands that would block all but the smallest of debris. These strands of fine stone created an interwoven weave pattern in the stone leading to the main chamber. This held a single large cannister with a thick wooden tube attached to the back and an outflow pipe that snaked to a special hole a little higher up.

This would shoot pressurized water down the hole and through a channel below several planned outhouses. Putting in the channel was less labor intensive with two people able to work the soil and summon stone, but it was still a chore to work around the large stone slabs on the road and traffic. Also, the fact that it needed so much custom work meant crafts were rarely if ever used making the work more labor intensive and, on a less important note, mana demanding. It was only around a hard point in the mid-section where we were in the middle of heavy traffic and had to constantly adjust for more stone and more bracing that we ran into mana problems.

Making the holes and tubes for the spots for outhouses was a task less arduous since we just cut through the stone and made the holes in the ground with no need to work around new patches of soil. It was late afternoon when Salamede came by in her blue dress carrying a large basket filled with warm breads stuffed with meats and cheeses. All washed down with some good beer from the dwarf stalls.

Near nighttime, when the sun was falling in the sky sending a wave of orange over the sky, we finally finished the main tube. The outflow pipe was placed a good way past my tower with a circular stone pipe sticking out of the muddy side of the river. Dripping with sweat and exhausted, a cheer rang out as the spell for the tube finished and Ryan threw up his hands in triumph.

The hardest part finished, we headed back to the pump to complete our main task. I made two stone spheres to hold the copper generators around the top of the pump chamber and insulated them in a crude rubber while fusing two copper wires to the electric motor. With a silent prayer, I made the last connection. The piston head shot up and went down with the spinning of the U-shaped metal pole it was attached to. As it did so with had a slight turn and swivel, it immediately produced the sound of rushing water in the outflow pipe into the channel.

“Amazing!” George the mayor called. “How does that work?”

I spent a few minutes talking about weight negation and electricity. While I don’t think a lot of it got through, George at least seemed mildly interested.

“Interesting. Well, lad, thanks for your help. We’ll have some carpenters come by later to slap together some appropriate buildings for the holes, but I think we’re done.” George gave one final clap at his last word. One final whoop went up from the crowd of workers, Ryan, and curious bystanders. I left the harbor district, taking in the coming of the early night. My limbs were sweaty, and it was only the ever-colder air that prevented me from being drenched head to toe.

Walking over the flat grey stone of my tower’s lawn, I came through the door and saw Salamede lounging on the central boulder chair. What drew my eyes was the large white bra and underwear that peeked out between her thin, open white robe.

“Hello, dear husband. You seem quite exhausted.” She said seductively as she got up from the boulder and walked to me.

“Yes. Sorry baby but I don’t think I have the energy to follow through on my earlier request.” I said with apologetic look as I closed the door behind me. After I worked off my mask and laid it on the floor, I walked up to her and wrapped my wife in my arms.

“I suspected as much when I delivered dinner.” She said before planting a kiss on my lips. Her sweetness played on my tongue for a long moment before she pulled away. “Go downstairs and get a shower.”

“Yes, Ma’m” I said like a soldier taking an order.

I promptly did so, throwing off my student robes and using the heated watercraft to wash away the day’s sweat. Once scrubbed down with soap and dressed in my typical white shirt and brown pants, I headed back up to the main floor and went over to the bed on the left side of the room. The white feather filled mattress was a laughable attempt at luxury compared to the custom heating and vibrating gel nets back ‘home’, but it was where I woke up with Salamede by my side and I felt that made up for it.

Salamede was off to the right going over some pieces of paper while she sat on the boulder. A paper she quickly put down before walking over to me with the white outer robe still hiding nothing of her form, a task barely seen to by her two pieces of underwear. I don’t know if she was doing it intentionally, but the sway of her body in it was particularly appealing. One step from me she established a spirit connection.

‘Lay face down.’ She commanded with a soft rub on my left shoulder as she sat down beside me. I obeyed and moved to lay face first into the mattress. A moment later I felt Salamede’s smooth skin rub against my sides as she sat over my bum and proceeded to massage my back.

‘How was your first day as the quad mage in school?’ Salamede asked excitedly as she did a deep rub into my back.

‘I preferred their scorn.’ I said before a deep moan escaped my lips. ‘No moment alone to study with the women following me everywhere, so I can forget about getting to study anything involving scions or necromancers. The teachers trying to get ‘study’ sessions with me and no real care about who hears the proposition. Nobles wives trying to get me in-between their legs. Nobles wives trying to get in-between my legs in groups’

Salamede just huffed as she lifted my right arm and massaged it.

‘As well they should. You are the strongest, most capable, and most powerful male they could ever hope to have. They and their families should be grateful for even the slightest chance to have your line intersect with theirs.’ Salamede said with a final kiss placed on my neck as she let my right arm go.

‘Speaking of which, one of those women had a proposition for me.’ I said hesitantly.

‘Oh?’ Salamede asked curiously as she worked on my thighs.

From there I explained my history with John, the meeting and my willingness to move past misdeeds. The whole time Salamede just patiently worked the tired muscles in my back but she stopped for a moment when I got to the part of John’s mother getting into the carriage with me, Susan, and Beth. When I finished, Salamede pushed her body fully against mine as she turned my head to the right and kissed me.

‘A good woman with an ill-be-gotten spawn. When is the deed going to be done?’ She asked.

‘Hopefully never. I’ll see what-‘ Salamede reached her hands down my backside and grasped my balls with a rough squeeze.

‘It’s quite odd.’ She said casually as I bit my lip while she sent shivers up my spine from the massage. ‘I know using these is a great privilege. That having their contents is something only to be earned by a woman with the upmost ability and yet, the thought of women the world over needing them excites me. The great conflict of my Kelton heritage and the prestige of your unprecedented position. Do you really intend to be so stingy with them?’

‘No. At least not with the beautiful woman I have back home.’ I finished with a long kiss along her lips and a quick grab around her neck. From there I pulled her fully under me as I worked her bra off and she stirred with lust in her every movement from her quivering snout, shaking ears, and wide white eyes. I guess having a young body with a fast recovery time is good for a lot of things.

A knock at the door shook me awake. The memories of sweaty bodies, heat, and final release flooded my head as a naked Salamede stirred awake beneath me. The knock at the door sounded off again as I gave Salamede a good morning kiss and worked my robes on. Another knock at the door and Salamede was decent with a quick green dress hastily thrown on.

I opened it to see a sweaty guard gulping down air.

“Sir mage! There has been a disaster along the road, and we don’t have enough of those healing beds or elixirs to deal with the injured.” He said in a breathless voice as the heavy morning fog obscured much of the usual scenery from the town.

I ran out the door with Salamede close behind, not even taking the time to get my shoes on as I used air magic to propel myself forward. The wide grey wall and its occupants came into view with the morning fog obstructing most of it with a grey overcast sky preventing the fog’s dissipation to the sun. What I could see was lines of stretchers being moved into several quick and crude stone houses on the left side of the road leading through the gate.

A quick look inside showed they were where the healing beds were stored but a line of several men were laying on the ground on bloody patches of grass and soil as their blood stained through their tourniquet’s cloth. Quickly getting to work I used a healing spell on the closest two men until the bleeding stopped. Salamede quickly came up behind me, using the healing craft I gave her for her excursion earlier to help another man further down the line.

On close inspection, I could see these men were dressed in plain leather armor and their flesh had been torn by what looked like bites and long claw marks. Working through the men it was when I was near the middle of the line, a spot that moved back and forth as men were put in the house to heal on the beds or pulled off since they had left the land of the living and were taken to a pyre that was set up on the right side of the road, that the last man was brought in. I was sweaty and tired from a near hour of work as the local captain came through the fog from the direction of the town. Despite what must have been the early hour, he looked as exhausted as any man near the end of a long days shift.

“What happened?” I asked him as he overlooked the long lines of moaning men on stretchers.

“Necrosis. Happens every year. Some hot-headed merchant thinks he can get one last cargo load in, some farmer group tries to move one last grain silo out, any number of numbskulls still trying to skirt the edge to make a quick copper. But it’s not usually this bad.

As often as I feel like I’m repeating myself, thanks again Eli. I’ll make sure you’re kept informed on the current situation.” He said amiably before he turned to the crowd of soldiers and spotted one in particular, he was set on. “Oscar! Good thinking on getting the mage. We’ll discuss a suitable reward later.”

Tired from a long day’s work before it even really began, I merely nodded and turned back to the general direction of where I thought my tower was. The next time I needed to visit the classrooms was tomorrow so I was determined to spend the rest of the day building a proper domain, a task I headed back home for with Salamede holding my arm for comfort as we pushed through the cold grey fog. In small strips along certain patches of grass and in rough holes in the mud, I saw the faint glow of gold mana, the color of healing magic. It whirled in faint wisps along the blades of grass and in the whirl of the fog as we moved through it.