Journal Entry #8
I left the village today. It will never be my home again.
I managed to muster enough dignity to at least walk out with the hunters and witch. I’ve seen plenty of sad sacks that needed to be hog-tied and thrown onto a wagon before, so I knew there was no escaping my fate.
We walked and walked and walked, until my exhausted body fell to the ground when we camped that night. The sky was clear, and the largest moon Porta shone brightly.
I wonder… Do the gods even care that my life as I know it is over?
---
Travis
Mattius and I escaped the rapidly filling cafeteria with our precious cargo of sandwiches, then stood at one of the outdoor tables between the main walkway and green space, hoping to catch Drozuk or someone else before our mission briefing.
Well, Arc was looking, I was busy trying to console Mattius while he routinely kept rechecking the squad assignments between bites of sandwich, the dread on his face growing more and more pronounced as it refused to change who he was going to be in a squad with. From what I’ve been able to gather, Mattius took the advice I relayed from Arc to heart and hasn’t done anything stupid. However, he hasn’t done anything bold either. The only communication between each other so far have been short conversations during specialized weapons training a couple of times per week, meaning that they’ve barely gotten past basic introductions at this point.
“Isn’t this your chance to get to know her better?” I cautiously asked, “You’ll be in the same squad, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to talk.”
Mattius didn’t bother to finish his last bite of sandwich, opting instead to mope about, “Please, like she’ll give me the time of day. Especially when there’s a pair of twins to flirt with.”
I sighed in response to my friend’s pessimism, and to Arc hinting with his snickering that he knew more than he was willing to divulge. I didn’t even know how to empathize with Mattius’ situation. Here he was with a golden opportunity, but all he could do was sulk. Exchanging letters with Caldia has been nice, but it couldn’t hold a candle to how wonderful it was to spend the day with her.
Well… it was, until our… sort-of-date got hijacked.
“Hey! Professor Quinsandoral is approaching with an elven Ice Mage. How much do you want to bet that’s his son?”
Welcoming the interruption, I perked my head up in time to see my Wind Spells professor walking along the main path with a young elf who, despite some obvious attempts to look different, was clearly his son. Unlike his dad who normally wore traditional high elf robes of varying colors and only carried a wand for spellcasting assistance, he was wearing the same uniform I was. Albeit his arming jacket was blue instead of forest-green, and had an additional leather bandolier across his chest filled with throwing knives that must have also acted as a mount for the oddly shaped shield on his back.
The faces were what truly confirmed they were father and son, not just because they had nearly identical sharp and angular faces topped with platinum blonde hair, but because they both had matching looks of irritation furrowing their brows. The younger also had a dozen silver piercings to differentiate him, the most notable ones being a spike in each eyebrow, a pair of studs in his nose, and two more in his pointed ears. Something I haven’t once seen in any of the other elven students, although I’ll be the first to admit I’ve barely interacted with the non-humans on campus.
Raising my hand in greeting, I shouted out to Professor Quinsandoral, who to my delight, smiled upon seeing Mattius and I by the outdoor bar table. His son, however, visibly sighed and dragged his feet as they moved towards us.
“Young Master Mattius, Travis,” Quinsandoral greeted us with a gleeful tone, “I was hoping to meet you before my son’s mission briefing.” He gestured to his scowling child, “This is Vesril, future Lord of Vörðuhálsmýrdalsjökull, or as you may know it by it’s poorly translated name, Glacier-cut Edge.”
Raucous laughter violently erupted from Arc in my ears so loud that I instinctively brought both hands up to my ears and winced in pain. My obnoxious sword at least had the decency to quiet down, but a hand on my pauldron and worried look from Mattius made it obvious that I needed to think of an excuse fast.
“You okay?”
“Yeah…” I massaged the sides of my head and back of neck to stall, “just… uh, tweaked my neck is all…” I made a show of relaxing my shoulders to help sell the lie, then secretly vowed to test Arc’s heat resistance at the spell range later tonight.
Vesril watched our interaction with his violet-colored eyes, completely cold and expressionless throughout, then in a sudden shift, looked over my shoulder and smirked, “That’s a gnarly looking axe.”
Professor Quinsandoral tensed up, then spoke through clenched teeth, “Yes, Travis does have an eccentric choice of weaponry…”
Vesril huffed, “Figures, it’s perfectly fine for your pet human to wield a unique weapon, but if I want to—"
“Travis isn’t an elf!” Quinsandoral barked. “And he doesn’t have the legacy of his forebears to uphold.”
Vesril rolled his eyes, “Monsters haven’t attacked the mountain pass in over six eras, that’s hardly a legacy. Why do I need to use the same weapon my great-great-something wielded while cowering behind a wall and never using the thing?”
My professor grabbed his son by the shoulder in a tight grip and cut into him with his glare, “You are on the narrowest of branches boy. Your mother still sees you as a child, and your uncle may only be indifferent as of now, but I have final say on whether you can attend this academy. And let me tell you boy, self-expression isn’t looked upon kindly at Krisneirous University. They’ll rip out those piercings, burn away your tattoos, and snap that ridiculous thing you call a weapon in half before you take a second step on school grounds.”
The tension in the air was near to boiling as the two stared each other down in defiance. Mattius looked just as scared as I was to say anything, knowing that this kettle was only a single bump away from exploding.
Ironically, it was a student bumping into Professor Quinsandoral that broke the tension as they rushed by in a hurry, barely able to spurt out an apology. The father and son broke off their staring contest, and in unison with matching faces, cringed upon realizing they just had a very public argument.
Mattius, showing way more initiative than me, pulled out his pocket watch to check the time, “We should probably get to our meeting.” He forced a smile towards Vesril, “Want to join us?”
Vesril shrugged his shoulders while rolling back his eyes, “Sure, I’m heading there anyways.”
---
Arc
As the Ethics & Law building came into range, I decided to scout ahead with my focus and see if I could eavesdrop on anyone coming to the mission briefing or at least figure out where Drozuk was. I found him already in the room, seated with his arms crossed, and looking considerably grumpy.
Hmm… I’m guessing he’s not too thrilled about getting teamed up with Travis, a princess, and an edge lord.
I watched for a few seconds, but after determining that no one in the room was saying anything of substance, I flung my focus over Travis as he entered the building and back outside to watch Princess Seleyna approaching with Sir Asher and another unknown knight. To my surprise, she looked just as grouchy, completely ignoring the unknown knight behind her as they quietly whispered to Asher.
“So, what’s got her kindling snapping in the hearth?”
Asher let out a tired sigh, “She’s convinced that I’m the one who put her on a team with Travis and Reidar, and flat out refuses to believe I didn’t submit anything.”
The unknown knight raised her eyebrow, “You didn’t? I’m surprised, even I requested a roster change.”
Asher chuckled as they approached the building, “Didn’t have to, someone already did.” He then spoke louder to ensure Princess Seleyna could hear as well, “Honestly, she’s being a bit of a hypocrite, given that she submitted a request of her own.”
Seleyna ignored the gossip as she stormed in and made her way to the meeting room. By this time, Travis had already sat down in the front row between Vesril and Drozuk, and Mattius took a seat in the second row next to the Creeksmith twins Thaddeus and Zaccheus, so when Seleyna saw Travis’ smiling face and friendly wave at her upon entry, she noticeably relaxed and put on a royal smile of her own.
Vesril nodded to the princess as she took the seat next to him, “Princess Seleyna.”
“Young Lord Vesril, it’s been a while… last year’s Spring Gala?”
“Sounds about right.” He gestured to Travis, “Your parents pay off the general to put you on the same team with him too?”
Seleyna stifled a laugh, “Not sure, no one’s admitted to it yet, but it’s safe to assume. That shadow show about us does need a sequel after all.” She leaned forward to get a better look at the surly orc, “Drozuk, it was quite the surprise to see that your father was elected Jarl of Coldwater Spring Fortress. Has he been able to settle into his new role?”
“Don’t know,” Drozuk growled, “he hasn’t told me a thing…”
Jarl? Huh… I’m surprised Drozuk never spoke about that, unless… ah, I’m guessing Travis isn’t the only one with a dad keeping secrets from them.
The door opened to permit a dozen people in Logistic Corps uniforms, Mattius’ crush Treblana, and a tall burly half-orc wearing half-plate. He stepped up to the unknown knight who walked in with Seleyna and reached to shake her hand.
“Captain Adaline, pleasure to finally meet you.”
The Royal Knight took the offered hand, “Same as well, Captain Aguk, it’s nice to have a face and voice to put to your correspondences.”
My focus drifted back towards Mattius, who looked just as nervous as ever whenever he tried talking to Treblana, but at least managed to hide it well and produce a semi-stoic nod of acknowledgement when she took the seat next to him.
“Looks like I’ll get to see you fight up close now.” Treblana spoke cautiously.
Mattius smiled, “Same here, umm… I’ll be counting on you to help overwhelm the opponent, since… you’re much more talented at Earth Magic than me. I don’t even have the needed mana to mimic the [Earth Wall Slide] you used a couple of weeks ago to shove that muledeer into the arena wall.”
“Really? I think you’re the talented one. Even from the stands I can tell every repeated structure you build is identical in dimensions and spaced out the same distance.”
As usual, their conversation was cut short, right as they were about to build momentum, when Brigadier General Jonas called the meeting to order.
“This looks to be everyone, so let’s begin.” The general reached to pick up a box in front of him, “Your mission will be twofold; monster eradication in the Coldwater Spring Fortress’ territory, and diplomatic relations with the fortresses you’ll be harboring at during your journey.” He opened the box to pull out a very familiar looking baseball sized sphere infused heavily with Order Mana and a Wind Mana gem embedded in its core. “This is a Master Message Stone. Unlike the private ones some of you carry or the inscriptions in your helmets, this does not vibrate or create sound. Its construction does have a unique advantage though…”
General Jonas grinned madly as he let the orb roll off his hand and crash onto the stone floor with a loud bang, causing all the students to flinch. He softly chuckled as he reached to pick the extremely valuable artifice back up, “It can maintain its paired frequency for a minimum of twelve years, despite how roughly its treated. Princess Seleyna will be presenting one of these to each fortress you visit, partially to build positive public relations with the populace outside of the capital, but also as part of a test run for the Queen’s proposed long-range communication improvements.”
Twelve years! Holy gods and God, I know the gift Travis received from the queen was expensive but… wow! The inscriptions in Travis’ helmet require daily resynchronizations for the private and squad channels to ensure they don’t randomly cut out, the battalion channel needs a weekly reset (assuming normal amount of chatter), and the emergency channel can maybe last two months if he doesn’t take a blow to the head to rattle the inscription.
Travis must have had the same thought since I caught him stiffening up and gently placing his hand over the valuables pouch on his belt.
The general continued with the mission brief, starting with introductions to the battalion’s leadership, “Captain of Squad 1, Royal Knight Adaline will have general command of the battalion’s diplomatic and over all mission, Spartan Captain Aguk of Squad 2 will be acting lead for combat operations, and Raven Four will provide scouting and logistics security with their squad.” He paused to gesture to the back row of people wearing the double-breasted jackets of the Logistics Corps, “Staff Sergeant Julien and his team, along with six horses, will manage supplies, field maintenance, and the camp. Keep in mind that they will be outnumbered three to one, so you will be expected to assist when needed.”
I continued to listen in on the dry presentation, taking notes so Travis could consult me if needed, but I did take time to enjoy watching the corpsmen and mages struggle to stay awake as the general droned on and on. Honestly, two hours to basically state that everyone will take a gun boat down and up the rivers, stopping occasionally to overnight at some of the more prominent riverside fortresses on the way, then coordinating with the Jarl of Coldwater Spring Fortress to kill as many monsters as possible after arrival seemed like overkill, but maybe that’s just because all Travis really needs to do is whatever his squad captains tell him to do.
Eventually, the torture session… err, I mean meeting… ended, and Travis was preparing to leave with his friends for a late lunch when one of the logistics corpsmen called out to him.
“Sir Travis, can you spare a moment of your time?”
Travis whirled around to face the approaching man and nervous teenager accompanying him, “Uh… sure, what do you need sergeant?”
He saluted Travis, then reached into his satchel, “This morning, during our preparations, we discovered to our dismay that one of the horses assigned to our mission will not be fully recovered in time from an injury to be cleared for deployment. As a result, we need a last-minute replacement, and Private Tomas has kindly informed me that your horse, 5751054, enlisted last night.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Heh, he almost makes it sound like Travis’ nameless horse enlisted on his own.
Travis pondered the request, “Doesn’t he need training?”
The Staff Sergeant glanced towards the private, until the social pressure forced Tomas to speak, “Sir! 5751054 is already trained to ride, haul, and self-navigate. He will not be required to know more for this mission given the limited need for equine support.”
Travis shrugged, “Well, if he’s willing… then I guess I am too.”
Sergeant Julien smiled, then handed Travis a document, “Just need your final approval.”
Travis signed the sheet, handed it back, then addressed the private, “Will you be in charge of the horses?”
The corpsman saluted, “Yes sir, I’m Private Tomas, my main duty will be to act as stablemaster and coachman.”
Travis nodded, then spoke in a stern voice, “5751054 is precious to me. My parents saved up for two years to purchase him for my eighteenth birthday, and still had to do so on credit from my village’s horse breeder. If something were to happen to him…”
Tomas gulped, “Understood sir, I will ensure he’s properly cared for.”
Super serious Travis gave another nod, but broke character instantly after taking two steps away, “Oh, wait! When does he need to report in? I was going to take him to run a few errands this afternoon and might need to make a run to get some last-minute supplies tomorrow.”
Staff Sergeant Julien smirked, “As long as he’s in his stable when you drop off your personal supply crate tomorrow night, you should be fine.”
Travis exhaled a sigh of relief, noticed that his friends had already left for lunch proper, then rushed out the door to go catch up.
Julien gave Tomas a firm slap on the back, “See, I told you he’d be amenable. Most mages are too preoccupied to fuss over small details, so the trick is to make it seem like you’re doing them a favor, instead of trying to save your own ass.”
Tomas grumbled, “I still can’t believe 5540237 did something so stupid.”
“Meh, it’s probably for the best. You know how primes can be when told to pull carts in a team.”
“I know, but still… prancing backwards down the exit ramp?”
The Staff Sergeant could only shrug their shoulders in reply.
---
Travis
“Your left one’s drifting again.”
I paused the warmup routine Reidar taught me to check over my [Water Bracer] enchantment and scowled. This spell was proving much more difficult to maintain than [Earth Cleat] or the [Message] enchantment I created on my helmet’s dust filter.
It seemed so simple when I got the spell at first too. Basically, just a trio of condensing arrays on the inside of my forearm to collect Water, and six evenly spaced lines at 60-degrees on my outer vambrace to create a thin layer of fast-moving water capable of deflecting small objects down and away from my face. I didn’t even stumble much on the diagram’s mentioned tricky part of getting the Water to jump over the gaps between my forearm plates, just having difficulty keeping the parallel lines evenly spaced and at the correct angle.
“Hmm… it’s a lot harder to keep my formation consistent without a flat surface, and I don’t have anything to act as guidelines…” Trying to puzzle out a solution, I thought back to the serving pots Ansel’s family used. They were rounded as well but had decorative indentations and ridges to help with spacing and line shape, similar to how I could use my boot treads as a reference for forming [Earth Cleat].
“Ah, I think I understand now why the inscriptions senior students use are so different from the one on Lancel’s sword and other knight weapons. When I got a good look at that shield Vesril carries, I noticed it had a lot of directionless Water inscription lines running along it. I’m guessing any enchantment he casts will use the inscription as a skeleton to keep it from falling apart in combat.”
I nodded along as I cast a cloud of Fire Mana off my palm and tried to squeeze it into as tiny of a ball as possible, allowing some of my frustration to bleed out, “That makes sense. It’d be like using graph paper to write out a formation. I bet it’s a lot easier to invert or neutralize the direction of a line too if the core is made up of mana dust or gems.”
“Thramreat mentioned that dwarves used to paint spell formations on their bodies, maybe you can do something similar with your bracers?”
“Good idea.” I tossed the ball of Fire Mana above my head, reshaped it into a [Fire Orb], then nodded to Arc sticking out of the ground down range, “Okay, I’m ready.”
Light and Shadow Mana pools around Arc as he starts playing music, until a wireframe statue of a bull’s head emerges from the ground. Slowly, but surely, the rest of the creature appears, starting with a wattle, pair of giant chicken feet, bull’s body and hind legs, and a chicken’s tailfeathers.
Bullcock, a single element monster, this stable hybrid of a bull and rooster is well known for their aggressive charges, fast swipes with their spurs, and ability to spit Fire from a distance, but mostly for their excellent tasting meat and valuable leather.
I froze for a moment, eyes locked onto its claws… this is the monster that nearly killed my dad…
Anger floods my body with battle lust, and I nearly forget to dodge when it starts rushing towards me, not even leaving a full foot between us. It digs one of its oversized claws into the ground after it misses me, then swings the rest of its body around in a 180 to quickly about face. I raise my hand to cast [Fire Bolt], but a horn screeches loudly in my ear, disrupting my concentration.
“You want friendly fire? Because that’s how you get friendly fire.”
I swear as the bullcock makes another charge. Idiot! You can only launch spells downrange! I’ll get my boat axed if I damage the building or accidentally lob a spell into another person’s private spell range.
The bullcock angles his charge, so I can’t safely launch a spell after dodging again, but that doesn’t stop it from doing so. The wattle underneath its chin swells up, and a trio of [Light Bolts] fly towards me after the bullcock opens its mouth. I bring up my forearms to block, and manage to deflect the first projectile, but the second and third harmlessly splash against my chest, prompting Arc to start taunting me.
“Oh, c’mon! I’ve seen children with better reflexes than that.”
Clenching my teeth, I try to block out all outside distractions, and focus solely on the task at hand. Using [Earth Cleat] to give my side-steps an extra burst of speed on top of my mana reinforced strides, [Water Bracer] to allow me to forgo a shield and deflect the spit attacks, and at every opportunity, I launch as many Bolt spells as I can downrange.
Like usual, Arc keeps increasing the difficulty, first by making the bullcock move slightly faster, then having it extend a claw to try and swipe at me during its charge, and finally varying the number of Bolts he spits back at me. We keep fighting, long past the point where the monster or I would have died, only allowing short pauses for me to fix my bracer enchantments, but without any warning or fanfare, Arc abruptly stopped the music and dispersed his controlled mana.
Confused as to what happened, I darted my head around, until I spotted Hector entering through the door.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you again.”
I released the breath I was holding in, then reached up to take off my helmet and shake away the sweat from my face, “It’s alright, just… wasn’t expecting company is all. You’re the first person to come visit me here.”
The bearded Packer made a nervous chuckle as he looked back towards the door, “Yeah, I think the only reason the rangemaster let me pass was because I’m your drill instructor.”
My eyes perked up after finally noticing what was on his back, “You got your poleaxe made!”
Hector grinned as he handed it to me for inspection, “Yep, did the final assembly with the polearms club this afternoon, and even demonstrated what I’ve been teaching you.”
I groaned with guilt after taking his weapon. I definitely could have made time this afternoon to visit the club, it’s not like I didn’t know when they were meeting this week. Looking down despondently, I began to inspect Hector’s re-creation of my weapon, seeing quite a few differences before even looking with my mana sight.
Overall, the material quality and mana density was much lower, using the same mid-grade dwarven steel my armor was made of and ironwood, but it did have some good quality leather wrapping around the middle of the shaft and part way up the langets.
“What’s with the leather?”
“That’s what I’m using right now as a workaround to improve my attunement connection to the weapon heads. Tristan and Percy are heading up north for their Fall Expeditions, so they promised to try and win an elmek horn or something similar to replace the shaft with.”
I nodded along, checking over the structural build to see if there were any errors, “Speaking of, I’m surprised you’re not at the Hopkins’ estate. Aren’t you on leave until classes start again now?”
Hector scratched the back of his head, “I… uh… didn’t have any brothers growing up, so… those three can get a bit too… rowdy for me.”
“Ha, I can relate, I’m an only child.” I finished my inspection, not finding any obvious flaws in the build, “Alright if I attune to it?”
“Go ahead.”
The mana inside the poleaxe ramped up to match mine in only a fraction of the time it took me to sync with mine, and unsurprisingly, I was able to maintain the attunement when I tried using mana reinforcement. It did feel a little strange however, like I was squeezing my body through a narrow gap in the fence each time, so I must have been near my limit for how large and mana dense an object can be for me to attune with.
Hector watched me test out his new toy, but cocked his head when he noticed Arc planted in the dirt near the back wall, “What’s your sword doing down there?”
“Oh, umm…” I turned towards my best friend and had a spark of inspiration, “Since it’s indestructible, I like to use it for target practice.”
Target practice? What do you—
Arc’s words cut-off right as I hit his blade with a [Fire Bolt].
“Ouch! That actually hurt a little…”
Hector barked a few laughs as he placed a hand on my pauldron, then suddenly wrapped his fingers around the edges to dig painfully into my deltoid, “Initiate, when in uniform, you are expected to keep your sword sheathed and on your person when not in use. I strongly advise you to do so in the future.”
I gulped, “Yes sir.”
The pain stopped, replacing it with an affectionate pat as he gave me a sly grin, “Now, when you say indestructible, do you really mean indestructible? Because I’ve heard the stories and rumors about these blades, but never quite believed them.”
Arc began to moan. “Ugh, I knew this was going to happen eventually.”
---
Arc
Snowsday, the 32nd of Eighthmonth
Travis looked down at his directions, then back up to the intersection in the artificer burrow and sighed.
“It just says left, not left-left or first left?”
My bestest buddy in this whole world shook their head and frowned. We’d come up to another intersection, but instead of the usual four-way cross, the left side hallway entrances were spaced 60-degrees apart.
“Well, logic would assume they mean the first left…”
“Yeah, but that one is newly constructed. There’s no scuff marks or scratches on the walls, unlike the second one on the left.”
I mentally groaned. That does it, I’m putting a pin in the auto-translator upgrade on my soul’s patch and am going to implement a mapmaking feature. Not like Travis really needs the translator anyways, humans all speak the same language, despite originally being four distinct cultures, and common is used as the international trade language between the three kingdoms.
I still don’t get how that’s possible. I mean, nowadays you have the military shuffling soldiers all over the kingdom and congregating every year for the Spring Flood to help spread and reinforce the language, but according to Travis’ history books, humans all spoke the same language before the four tribes united. Maybe the alphabet being phonetic helps prevent regional dialects from forming? These guys don’t even have a word for homophone. Although, I don’t get how that’s possible either… elves are the ones who invented paper, humans had to use good old-fashioned leather scrolls before Oskar made contact.
“Arc?”
“Oh, sorry, got lost in my head. Uh… just pick a direction, if it’s not right, I can replay my memory and help you backtrack.”
Travis nodded, then took the first left, walking down the tunnel for a full minute before a couple of familiar looking dwarves, plus a human and an elf, came into view.
Thramreat was pacing in full armor with an anime-sized war-pick on their back, glaring occasionally at what I now recognized was the entrance to Durinn’s workshop as the elf held her ear up to the tumbler lock. The beardless dwarf kept mumbling, eventually letting their thoughts be heard. “I still don’t feel comfortable doing this…”
Orebeck, also decked out in full plate, but with an extra bandolier of glass vials across their chest and a heavily modified crossbow on their back, was looking completely fed up, “Well… I didn’t feel comfortable making an aphrodisiac so you could seal the nest with my best friend. So, we’re all just going to have to pound sand for a while.”
The brawny knight (who might have been a goliath, I couldn’t tell for sure), looked down at the two dwarves with a completely baffled expression, then leaned towards the elf to whisper, “Umm… I thought he just mixed up a thing of beard oil?”
The elf stopped her lockpicking attempt to lightly pound her head against the door and sigh, “Yes, they did. But dwarves… work differently when it comes to mating.” She snapped her head towards Travis as he approached and hissed at the party, “Quiet! Someone’s approaching.”
Travis waved to the group, blissfully unaware of who they were at first until Thramreat began to panic.
“Travis! Umm… it’s not what it looks like!”
Orebeck and the bow wielding elf both facepalmed, unlike the knight who grinned and waved back, “Hi Travis! Are you coming back to the estate for the training camp?”
“Uh… no, I’m going on a Fall Expedition… Do I know you?” Travis gave the Darius-sized knight a second glance.
The knight padded their chest, “Oh, sorry, don’t have my tabard on. Thramreat said it would get dirty.” He extended a cheerful hand forward, “I’m Knight Lieutenant Evan Raycraft. You have a really pretty singing voice.”
Travis shook the offered hand, “Thank you.” He turned to look at Thramreat, but abruptly stopped part way to look at the door, “Oh, this is Durinn’s workshop… Wait, why are you guys here?”
Thramreat, still looking as guilty as a rat in a grain bin, quickly spoke first, “Just passing through. That’s all.”
Orebeck rolled their eyes at the dwarf’s pitiful attempt to lie, “We’re trying to break-in to Durinn’s workshop. I know where they keep their hidden files, so we can use them to help prepare while we ride out to the nesting grounds.”
Travis still looked confused, “Umm… why would you need that? Also, why are you all fully decked out and armed to the teeth?”
“Always smart to use protection when approaching a bearded’s nest.” Thramreat replied, then grumbled, “And as for the former… Durinn is apparently a sinner in the eyes of the bearded.”
Orebeck finally lost their temper, and unloaded on the beardless, “Oh, would you quit being such a self-righteous beaver you orthodox piece of slag! Every bearded does it. It’s perfectly natural.”
“Enough!” The elf shouted, forcing the argument to stop. She glared at each dwarf to ensure their silence, let out a huff of frustration, then smiled at Travis, “Apologies, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Watcher Ariawyn Famaris. Was there a reason you came to visit Durinn’s workshop?”
“Oh, umm… actually, I was looking for Thramreat.” Travis turned towards the dwarf, “I’ve been having troubles with a Water enchantment for my bracers and was wondering if dwarves still used monster paste to help assist with their spellcraft.”
Orebeck let out a chuckle as they dug through one of their pouches to toss something dense with Water Mana towards Travis, “Here, catch. Monster paste will just wash away after a few minutes. We use mana-infused wax nowadays for Water Enchantments. Just heat it up a bit to apply, but be careful not to let it melt off in combat, oh… and make sure you wipe your armor clean every night. It’ll corrode the rust protection if you don’t.”
“Thanks,” Travis gave a nervous wave goodbye, “umm… tell Durinn I said hi.”
---
Travis
A pair of golden eyes stared up at me, catching the sunlight from the patio door in my dorm’s living room just right to make them look like they were glowing. I reached forward to tickle the baby’s tummy and started grinning like a madman when Boris started to giggle and smile back.
“Ugh, I can feel my soul getting stretchmarks just from looking at the cute little guy.”
I leaned back to relax in my chair, enjoying the sight of Gramps completely taking over not just the packing of my crate, but Drozuk’s too.
“Waterproof cards, dice set, blank notebooks, charcoal sticks, barbecue sauce, sandals…”
Caldia, to my surprise, came with her dad, but she was busy designing the family crest that Drozuk wanted to submit for reservation before leaving tomorrow and decorating our crates so they’d be easy to identify.
Oh, and Barry was here too. He brought up a crate of “essentials” that every soldier needs, including a pair of paperback “adventure novels” that he told me not to worry about if they get ruined or misplaced. I think my face was still red from blushing when he snuck those into the bottom of my crate.
Everything was just so… peaceful. With Gramps taking charge, I had absolutely nothing to do at the moment (other than anger Caldia by getting to hold the baby). The care package I spent my afternoon assembling yesterday was already sealed and labeled to ship to Aelder Creek, the aelderwood scraps I received from Father Viburnum were secured in my lockbox, and Gramps already agreed to store it in the Hopkins’ vault while I’m away.
My respite eventually ended though. Gramps finished off the checklist that he brought, and closed the lid on Drozuk’s crate, but stopped before doing the same for mine.
“Drozuk, would you mind taking the baby for a moment?”
Not sure what was going on, I stood up so I could approach my roommate, and smiled as he went as stiff as a statue when I handed Boris to him. I then turned back to see that Darius was holding a blanket in his hands.
“Travis, if you don’t mind, there’s an old Packer tradition that my family would like to conduct with you, given how you’re technically a former ward of our house. It’s a very old one that dates back long before the kingdom was founded and is observed whenever a young man comes of age. It originally started as the final parting gift of a mother to her son before he went to become a spartan, a reminder of which clans he and his ancestors were descendant of, but over time, as our values changed, so has this tradition.”
I nodded my head, not even considering the possibility of saying no, especially with how emotional he and Barry were becoming.
Darius unfurled the blanket, allowing me to see the majestic work of art it was. It was a deep black, but the fabric shimmered with a swirling mix of violet, silver, pink, and blue light. The moons and stars were stitched into it, arranged into the constellations of the Elemental Eight greater monsters. Thunderhawk, the screeching death. Thunderhoof, the raging bull. Sunbeaver, the mountain shaper. Copperdillo, the invulnerable force. Diamondback, the walking fortress. Bushtail, the forest tender. Dark Drake, the unexpected disaster. And Icefang, the sun eater.
“In the Southern Plains, it’s easy to get lost after fighting countless battles in the seemingly endless expanse of grass and gentle hills. Should you ever find yourself alone and in need of comfort, let the stars guide you, and eventually you’ll find your way home.”
I gazed up at Gramp’s blubbering face through my own welling tears and reached forward to receive one of his legendary hugs.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you so much.”