Leila's Palace;
Ice King could be seen with Leila still on his back, looking a bit uncomfortable at the fact that a few guards were trying to sneakily tail them and failing terribly at that. He then shook his head with a slight smile; “I suppose this should not have came off as a surprise. You are, after all, a generous and kind woman.”
Leila let out a chuckle, clearly amused by her guards's antics; “Ehh, these guys worry about me too much.”
Ice King in return then spoke up; “You are lucky to have such caring nobles your majesty. The ones in my empire are…quite a bit too loyal to me.”
Eventually, the two reached Leila's living room. Ice King then opened the door, only to see that Bruno was already sitting on a couch, throwing a ball absentmindedly.
When he noticed the two of them entering the room, he immediately ran up to meet Leila; “Leila! You okay?”
Ice King lowered Leila from his back slowly and carefully, letting Leila stand on her own before backing away from her right beside Bruno.
Leila's legs still shook, causing her to nearly fall before she used the sofa next to her as support.
Seeing this, Ice King's expression morphed into worry; “Your Majesty. How are you doing?”
Leila sat on the couch, a reassuring smile plastered on her face as she gave the both of them a thumbs up; “Yep! Doing A-Okay! You boys just go to town and…do whatever things boys do, I don't know.”
Ice King gave Leila a nod before turning around to face the doorway. Bruno however didn't let her go as easy; “Atr you sure you're okay? I mean don't get me wrong-”
Bruno was cut off by Ice King tapping him on the soldiers before he casted an illusion spell to tell Bruno just to give Leila some time alone; “...Fine. we'll…go to town I guess “
As the two men walked out of the room, Leila immediately buried her hands into her face.
=====
Germania ;
The duo consisting of Ice King and Bruno walked around the bustling streets of Germania, formerly known as Berlin. Magic powered cars, mostly made out of Volkswagen cars, drove past them.
All around them were people either getting back to home from work or just watching the two of them like some sort of superstar.
Eventually, they arrive at the intended location, Grornar’s Cafe, a simple cafe serving mostly Dunkel Reich desserts and drinks. This naturally made ice King raise a brow; “Out of all places in this entire state, you chose to bring me to a…cafe?”
Bruno gave him a cheeky smile, sitting down before urging Ice King to also sit down which he did with a shrug.
Ice King folded his wings behind his back before opening his mouth; “So why exactly did you bring us here out of all places?”
Bruno was about to say something before a waiter arrived; “Ah, it is good to see you here sir. Are you having the usual?”
Bruno glanced back at Ice King; “What do you want to drink?”
Ice King politely took the menu from the waiter and looked through the menu, interested in some of the drinks but not exactly wanting to go through a vampire's diet; “I suppose I'll have some wine then. Can't go wrong with those.”
Bruno nodded before turning back to face the waiter; “Get me my usual stuff and a glass of wine.”
The waiter gave him a nod with a smile before turning around to leave. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wave of Bardic and Illusion magic envelopes Bruno.
Confused as to who casted this, Bruno immediately looked towards Ice King who just finished casting an anti-spying spell.
With a satisfied smile, he then relaxed once more. Then he moved his gaze back towards Bruno with a neutral expression; “Now, let's not delay it any further. What is in your mind my dear friend?”
Making sure they were fully invisible from the outside world, Bruno pulled his scroll and handed it over to Ice King; “Took those pictures while scouting. Is it just me or does the marks look awfully familiar?”
Ice King's eyes widened ever so slightly while looking at the pictures. While it was obvious to him that it was a ruined city which could not be avoided in a war, another thing was apparent.
A fight had broken out moments prior. Not a simple fight of soldier versus soldiers but more so a battle between two magically powerful beings.
This was evident by the various mark that seemed to originate from slashes and even vaporisation, making it very likely that a high leveled Aegis was involved.
His eyes widened as he froze when he saw one glaring detail.
There were marks on both the ground on walls, it looked like as if a tendril slashed at it multiple times.
And the only one to use such a technique? Leila.
When Ice King looked back up to Bruno, he had a pretty serious look on his face; “From that look you're giving me, I'm guessing you figured it out then?”
Bruno let out a sigh before pointing at the scroll; “Swipe to the left.”
Ice King did as he was told to and was a bit startled to just see a close up picture of a corpse. Squinting his eyes a bit, he could definitely recognize it as Valk the Brutal, a knife in his chest; “This is rather…interesting. But why would she use a dagger to kill him?”
Before they could continue further, Ice King quickly dispelled his anti-spying spell as the waiter approached their table.
Right as the drinks were given, Ice King quickly put the spell back up before Bruno spoke up once more; “I don't think Leila killed him. That dagger was clearly made by the Domain,”
Taking a sip from his wine, Ice King took a deep breath before releasing it all slowly; “What are you trying to imply here, Bruno?”
Bruno pocketed his scroll, crimson eyes filled with uncertainty; “Call this a hunch but I think he may have killed himself.”
Ice King closed his eyes, hand over his mouth; “You are not in the wrong to make that assumption. I…had quite the interesting experience with the Domain's makeshift air force.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Bruno in return, raised a brow, cup halfway raised to his mouth; “What type of…experience?”
The sound of gritted teeth made its way into Bruno's ears as he watched Ice King grip the table and nearly breaking a chunk of it off; “The kind where tens, if not hundreds of them try and crash into you as a hail Mary move to try and kill you when they knew damn well it would not even do anything other than scratch and hurt you.”
Rigt after Ice King said this, Bruno's face scrunched up from pain; “Oh yeah, that's gotta hurt…”
Ice King slumped into his seat, letting out a sharp whistle which also pulled his glass of wine; “Trust me, You most likely would not like to know the amount of pain I endured flying from Magma Emperor's palace to Sardegna.”
After saying this, Ice King took an overly long sip of his wine. While sipping the wine, he just stops for a moment; “So, do you mind continuing ?”
The sudden and random question made Bruno raise a brow, confusion apparent on his face; “Continue what?”
Ice King gave Bruno a look best described as “Are you serious?” Before putting down his now empty glass of wine; “If you had only wanted to tell me about that, I do not think you would bring me here. Am I right?”
Bruno blinked multiple times from shock before clearing his throat; “Uhh, yeah.”
Ice King raised one of his brows before gesturing for Bruno to continue; “So…how much do you know about human history ?”
Ice King cupped his chins before taking a quick breath in and out; “Everything below World War one and anything after the first wave of the Cascade is a blur to me. I still do not understand mankind's obsession with re enacting the same thing 3 times and making it deadlier everytime.”
“So I take it that you know about Nazi Germany?”
Ice King let out an amused chuckle from this one simple question, finding it a bit humorous; “Ah, may I make a guess then? You are drawing similarities between the Domain and The Third Reich are you not?”
Bruno's smile now seemed like it was forced onto his face, the sound of teeth gritting prevalent to Ice King; “Can you stop doing that?!”
Ice King in return, let out a small chuckle, clearly being quite amused; “Stop doing what my friend? I am simply…using my logical thinking to put two and two together.”
Bruno let out an audible groan right after ice King gave him a toothy smirk; “You're impossible, Frosty.”
Ice King's entire calm and reserved demeanor dropped right after Bruno called him that; “What, did you just call me?
Initially, Bruno's brows furrowed in confusion before his eyes widened with realization. Subsequently, his mouth then also widened into a shit eating grin; “I struck a nerve there didn't I, Frosty ?”
Ice King took a long and deep breath, releasing it all in an equally long whistle. Bruno could also see that he was clenching his talons;.”Please, do not call me that. I have my limits, Bruno.”
Somehow, someway, the grin on Bruno's face widened even more which made Ice King get a bit worried; “Oh? Double standards I see. I mean, I wouldn't blame you. She's a wonderful woman.”
“What are you implying here, my friend?” Ice King's tone was laced with confusion, somehow not realizing what Bruno was implying
Bruno wagged his fingers playfully in front of Ice King, having a teasing expression on his face; “Oh come on, Frosty. Leila calls you Icy all the time and yet you weren't even slightly annoyed. I wonder why?”
Ice King's face went flush red before quickly standing up. He then stood up before slamming 6 Krönemark onto the table; “I'll be exploring this wonderful city. If you want to find me, don't.”
Ice King heard Bruno talking behind him, probably either teasing him. Because of this, he put on a pair of old earbuds, connected it to scroll via Bluetooth.
Following this, he whistled a sharp tune, using his form of spellcasting to easily make himself invisible,leaving Bruno alone; “Oh come on, it was just one joke!”
=====
Central Germania, 10 minutes later;
The center of Germania or Berlin as it was called years ago is a bustling metropolitan city but along the streets also laid a few stalls.
Not far away from the very center of Central Germania was a breath taking view of Leila's palace. The stores and stalls sold items both familiar and unfamiliar ranging from human items such as books, clothing, spare vehicle parts and even food but that didn't mean it was all human things.
In some of the other stalls and shops also were things like blood berries for the vampires, horn wax for the Daemons, training wands for the untrained and most commonly, Mana based technology.
While most of these shops had their personalities and stories to tell, the one with the most signifsnce would be one Mana Tech shop.
This shop as per most others had a dark and purple color scheme, music blaring to a very small amount of people, that being 2. The store owner and a customer.
This customer had pale skin, crimson eyes, pronounced fangs, sharpened nails, pointed ears and navy blue hair.
He was also wearing a simple black hoodie and jean pants while a pendant hung on his chest.
He had a rather annoyed look on his face as a scroll laid on the table between him and the store owner; “Well, can you fix it? It has been randomly shutting off every now and then.”
The store owner, a 20 year old female Daemon with curved horns, purple scales on all but her head, neck and upper torso while wearing a gothic looking tank top and jeans along with a pair of wings casually grabbed the scroll and plopped it onto a stone plate.
Right after this, she then casted a simple spell onto the plate,revealing an intricate circuit of runes and symbols underneath.
Not even 5 minutes after taking a look into the inner workings of the scroll, her eyes widened from shock. She quickly dispelled the plate before putting the scroll back onto it's original place; “Yeah, bad news dude. The thing's internal processing unit's busted beyond repair. Looked like someone sent way too much Mana or even electricity through it really quickly. Beat I'd give is about a week or so before the entire thing just stops working fully.”
The Customer raised his brow in return; “Then what do you suppose I do?”
The store owner quickly pointed towards an assortment of scrolls and human smartphones sitting behind her; “Just buy an entirely new one. Trust me, saves a lot more time than trying to fix it.”
The customer, clearly restless, quickly posed a question; “Do you mind explaining all of these brands? I am on a tight schedule.”
The Store Owner who was idly chewing on some gum, shrugged before pulling out three devices from their display cases.
She then lightly flung a smartphone with an apple logo into the air before casting a spell that caused it to hover in the air; “If you travel a lot, use this one. Connects to all cell towers, chargers, etcetera etcetera. Basically, old fashioned but reliable.”
She did the same to a different device, a scroll of paper; “This one's one of the local ones. I'm sure you've seen the teens with this. Powerful, easy to carry and summon and a bunch of other things I'm sure you don't wanna hear about. But if you are travelling a lot to less magic developed countries, don't buy this. It can't connect to the human internet without the network adapters. Another thing to keep in mind, you need to be decently strong with magic for the summon feature.”
Right after letting the Schriftrolle fall back onto the table, she picked up the last device, a smartphone with runes arched onto the back and sides; “This one's a mix of both. Decent processing power, okay quality runes, can connect to the human internet and can be charged using both electricity and mana. I'd recommend this if you're not strong in magic or travel a decent amount. Though, I'd make sure to bring a mana bank if you travel to somewhere with less mana mines like Australia.”
The Customer picked up the Schriftrolle, turning it around before pulling out his wallet; “What is the latest model for this…Schriftrolle?”
The Store Owner, clearly startled by this request blinked before opening her mouth; “You sure about that? These things get really expensive even for the older models.”
The Customer released a sigh of annoyance before taking a quick in and out breath; “Miss, if I cannot afford such technology, I would not have asked for it now would I?”
The Store Owner had a somewhat offended look on her face, putting her arms up near her head in a sort of show of surrender; “Woah, relax! No need to be so offended dude.”
The customer released yet another sigh, this one sounding heavier than the one before; “Many apologies, Miss. I had quite the stressful day today and I really would like to get this over with.”
The Store Owner had a look of understanding on her face; “Ah, I getcha. So the latest model eh? Let me see what I got in here…”
Not long after that, she quickly opened the case behind her, checking smartphone and Scroll boxes before she found a newer Schriftrolle brand model. Quickly opening the box up, she inspected the scroll, making sure it turns on and checking the internet connection before packing it back into the box and handing the box to the customer; “This'll be…375 Krönemark.”
The customer's eyes widened slightly in surprise before blinking a few times; “Ah, you were really not exaggerating…do you accept credit cards?”
=====
5 minutes later :
“I really have to start making our own brand of Scrolls when I get back.” The Customer who had just left the store mumbled to himself before he looked around him.
When he saw that not a single soul paid any attention to him, he discreetly casted an invisibility spell on himself and then he flew to the skies.
When he reached the clouds, he dispelled both invisibility and disguise spells, revealing Ice King beneath the disguise; “Hopefully I can return to the Kremlin as soon as I can. I cannot imagine what they would do in my absence.”
Eventually, after quite a bit of flying, he finally reached Leila's castle but much to his surprise, instead of light chatter and the usual laughter, he heard what could best be described as chaos.
Curious as to what would be causing an entire palace to be engulfed in chaos, he quietly entered through a window.
Walking through the hallway, he spotted a guard rushing through the hallways, ordering guards to search through the various rooms of the castle.
Ice King approached this guard, making sure that his steps were as loud as possible; “Pardon me, my good sir but what is causing all this ruckus-”
Right as Ice King was about to finish, the guard cut him off; “I'm sorry, sir but the entire castle is in full alert. The Queen is missing!”
The guard who he pulled aside quickly rushed, shouting more orders. Ice King blinked from surprise before he heard a familiar voice behind me; “Oh thank God, Ice King!”
Looking behind him, he could see Bruno flying down from the upper parts of the hallway; “Bruno. Why is this entire castle in chaos? I have heard a guard telling me that Leila herself has gone missing. Please, tell me this is not true.”
Bruno bit his lip, looking slightly at the floor; “Yeah, she just…left when I came to check up on her. We've been searching the entire castle for her but from the results? I'm pretty sure she's not in the castle at all.”.
Ice King put his talons over his face, moving his to the back of his head and combing through his hair in the process before letting out a sigh; “Do you have a potions lab here? I may be able to cook up a simple tracking potion.”
“I think the alchemists wouldn't mind us using the lab.”
=====
Dunkler Palast Potion Lab :
“-Aaand here we are. Welcome to our potion lab, Frosty!”
After admiring the admittedly impressive looking laboratory which looked like a mix of modern and medieval fantasy aesthetics wise, Ice King's face quickly contorted into a frown; “You are never letting go of that nickname are you?”
Bruno had a cheeky smile on his face before he put his finger on his chin as his face contorted into a mock thinking expression; “Hmm…Nah, I think the name will stay.”
Ice King shook his head to his side lightly, having a small smile on his face; “How about we focus on this, Estralez? Now, can you pass me some blinkroot and elderberries?”
Bruno nodded before searching through the various cupboards for the two aforementioned ingredients. When he did find them, he handed the over to Ice King who was brewing the potion without instructions; “Hey Frosty, not to offend you or anything but uh…do you know what you're actually doing?”
Bruno let out a yelp when Ice King practically slid in front of him to grab another ingredient. Right after he mixed the ingredients in, he turned his head to Bruno with his usual relaxed expression; “You don't command the biggest spy network without picking up a few tricks from them, Bruno.”
“Oh yeah…these things are used a lot by epies right? So…how does this potion work? Some sort of clue? Or is it like a riddle or-”
Right before Bruno could finish, Ice King quickly cut him off; “She is at a former prison complex.”
This understandably caught Bruno off guard, making his mouth open ajar slightly; “How-Y-You just brewed the potion!”
Ice King stepped aside to let Bruno take a good look into the cauldron, only to see an
aerial view of the building Leila was in, Auschwitz-Birkenau.
“The potion uses a small amount of Oracle magic to possess any animal near the target. And yes, I do know what the building she is in once was. My only question is why.”