"What do you mean by 'no one will risk travelling during winter'?" I asked, watching Amber stretch lazily in bed. Irene just moaned something that sounded like agreement and covered herself under the duvet.
"Exactly what it sounds like. No one will risk their lives travelling in the winter. Even the Cridia army will stay put in their garrisons, making occasional trips between main cities. But there will be no chance of any regular or spontaneous traffic from adventurers," Amber explained with a big yawn at the end. She stretched one more time and quickly joined Irene under the duvet.
I sighed, enjoying this still-new sight of their staggering beauty, and smiled, listening to their joyful laughs. However, I shook my head to not get distracted... Too much... And after a few moments I looked out the window at the world slowly being covered under a snow blanket. I then asked with a grain of frustration, "But why?"
"Because winter is dangerous, Theon. No one in their right mind would try to travel through the wilderness with the threat of cold, changing weather, and the snow monsters," Irene responded. Only the top of her head and long elven ears were visible from under the duvet.
"Snow monsters?" I was surprisingly unsurprised. "What are they exactly?"
"Well... We are not sure. People are afraid because we never spot them directly... Maybe except for those who have died in a very gruesome way. While we have never seen the monsters, there are many pieces of evidence found in spring. I saw many remnants of those who had to or were stupid enough to travel during the winter," Irene said with serious tones in her voice.
"It is believed that most of the winter monsters are mountain creatures, or even demons. Some say they are dungeon monsters, but I don't believe that. Dungeon monsters would snatch anyone and kill or drag them to their dungeon," Amber added.
"Hmm... I'm curious now. Nothing can be done with this for now, so I..." I started, but then I understood the implication of what they just told me. "That means no one will arrive..."
However... Ian and the Flower Girls didn't tell me that they were concerned about winter monsters, not even a word. They departed before sunrise to tame woolly buffalos. Escorted by twenty high-level skeleton archers and thirty skeleton guards, all led by a skeleton paladin. They took ten wagons with a powerful fairy riding in each. I even sent Thor with fifty wolves to scout the area, trying to track wild buffalos faster than the others could. The group looked more like an invasion force than anything else, but hearing about these winter monsters, I ordered Arani to join them with scouts to warn them about any wild animal or monster nearby. Two of my scions should be enough to allow Ian and the girls time to flee in case of a major fuckup. I thought this strike force was equivalent to anything that Cridia Kingdom used to guard their caravans during winter travels.
•••
The village of Gorn was empty. Two days ago, over fifty people lived here, but today all the buildings were empty. Their owners sealed them shut and secured them as much as possible to survive the winter. Imprints of people in the already-frozen ground betrayed that they all had headed to the west, straight into the wilderness.
Groups had stuck together with women and children inside while men acted as guards, holding any weapon they could grab. They moved quickly since they had nothing on them except all the food they still had. They simply ran as much as they could just to reach their destination before nightfall. Everything was going great until they heard a terrified woman scream from a nearby forest. Five from the group looked at each other and rushed towards it, yelling at others to move on and not wait for them.
Just two hours later, the exhausted group reached the Fog of Avalon. It was early evening when they crossed the gates and entered the dungeon.
•••
"Excuse me, what?" I asked Sebastian, who casually poured me the tea I had received from Alicia's tavern in Everlight.
"The overseer in zone six informed me of a group of fifty-two villagers who arrived today in his safe zone. Entire families carrying only food that would last maybe for a month entered there. It looks like the entire village moved here, my King," he informed me with a calm voice.
"What do you think about this?" I looked at Amber and Irene, who eyed Sebastian in surprise.
"Theon... They have to be desperate. I can't imagine deciding to move into the dungeon with their children," Amber replied softly, drinking her tea while Irene sighed and added, "Lucky they managed to get here."
"In that case, what about meeting them?" I asked, finishing my breakfast.
Amber and Irene sighed after looking outside, but stood up and started taking out warm clothes. I closed my eyes to take a first glance at the situation, but everything looked fine so far. A Slime had prepared campfires and even gave them hot food and drinks for free. Interestingly enough, he wasn't asking for any instructions. He just acted on his own volition in a way that I would in a situation like this.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that Amber and Irene were ready. They wore long, light, and very warm coats. Obtaining XXI-century synthetic textiles and materials like silica fillings without an alchemist is quite costly, but necessary. It's just the third day with snow and it's already minus -2 degrees Celsius. One week ago, it was 10+, so the difference was almost staggering.
"Ready, girls?" I asked with a big grin as they took my hands.
I noticed that Sebastian and four more butlers were standing nearby, waiting to go with us. Sebastian and my other noble slimes can travel through Avalon so fast that it looks like teleportation, but I know it's one of their ninja-related skills. However, we, and by that I mean Amber, Irene, and I, can teleport wherever we want inside Avalon. Irene needed a few days to get used to this particular skill, but she could use it now without any issues. We teleported right in front of the slime overseer, who immediately kneeled before us, bowing his head.
"Your Majesties!" he exclaimed, causing all nearby people to join him in kneeling, making me sigh slightly.
Amber and Irene stayed behind a bit and talked among themselves about how they could help these people, which made me happy.
"Stand up." I raised my hand and smiled lightly, hoping it would help to overcome the sudden fear of these people. It doesn't help that much, however. "Welcome to Avalon. I was informed that no one travels in the winter, so I'm rather surprised to see so many of you here... But why?"
One of the younger women who held an infant in her arms went closer to us and bowed her head in a very distinguished way. That feat genuinely impressed me, taking into consideration her overall condition.
"My Lord, my name is Nadi. In the absence of my husband and the village mayor, it will be I who will speak on behalf of the people of Gorn." I heard her shaking voice and saw fear in her eyes. At first, I was sure she was afraid of me, but when I heard what she said, it was obvious that she was afraid for her husband.
"And where are your husband and mayor?" I asked, looking around.
"On our way here, we heard a scream in the forest. Five of our men, including my husband and the mayor, went to investigate , hoping to help..." she stuttered and tried to keep it together but I saw her fear.
"Sebastian. Take two more and find them. Bring them here no matter what." I ordered my Scion, still looking at the terrified woman.
"It will be as you wish, my King," he responded and vanished.
I saw surprise in the woman's eyes but she managed to say a quiet thanks. I looked at the people with very mixed feelings. They were desperate enough to risk the expedition to the dungeon in winter, bringing all of their families. I already saw one group of men hunting deeper in the zone while the rest were building some tents in the safe area. These people were not only desperate, but also brave and noble enough to help a stranger in need.
"Irene, are they ok? Do they need healing?" I asked quietly. Amber and Irene gazed at villagers wearing rags and scraps of leather to cover themselves from winter's cold. I just could see their eyes telling me, 'Theon, this could be us...'
"Yes, Theon. They are even properly covered. It's just so strange to see them like this while we..." She pursed her lips and I understood her feelings.
"They are safe now, Irene." I warmly smiled and that simple sentence improved her mood.
"Miss Nadi, could you enlighten me why you did something so desperate as moving to the dungeon? I'm rather surprised you decided on such a course of action, considering the general opinion about dungeons." I asked the woman, who hugged her child tighter.
"We... We don't have any other choice, King of Avalon. The Cridian army took all the supplies we gathered for the winter. We were sure we would die back then but someone brought us a quest to complete here, in this Dungeon. At first, everyone was scared, but we already were desperate, so our men came here. When they returned to Gorn with not only food but stories about this place, we all decided we must come here at once. It was our only chance," she replied in a choked voice, but looked straight into my eyes. "Will you allow us to stay here?"
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I felt Amber's hand and heard the sudden deep breath she took. She took a closer look at the woman holding a baby and I saw a surprised smile on her face. Amber gently tugged at my sleeve to lend her my ear.
"That woman once gave me food and most probably saved my life back then," she whispered straight into my ear. "Please Theon, help them."
"Don't you want to do that yourself, Amber?" I warmly smiled at her and saw happiness in her eyes. She can repay a favour that saved her life. "I will allow them to stay in Everlight for now. We have the entire winter to decide what to do later."
Amber happily nodded in agreement and straightened to look properly. She then smiled warmly as well and slightly nodded towards Nadi.
"Miss Nadi, you may not remember me, but almost a year ago, you saved my life." Amber looked at the woman, who glanced back carefully at her.
"That must be some mistake, my Lady," she replied, trying to recognize Amber while bowing deeply. Amber and Irene looked now like living personifications of goddesses of beauty, so for almost anyone, my Queens now and before would appear to be different persons. Their characters, however, stayed unchanged.
"I assure you that's true and even if you can't recognize me, I remember you and your compassion. To repay your kindness, we allow you all to stay in the town of Everlight."
I rapidly turned around, sensing Sebastian and six people with him. Sebastian was holding a badly wounded woman in his arms who looked like the victim of a big animal. The men were wounded as well, but nothing serious. However, the two slimes that followed Sebastian didn't return, so I raised my brow.
"Irene?" I pointed at the wounded woman.
Irene raised her slim hand, and a large golden circle shined under the group. Men were fully healed, but the woman was still in bad condition. I saw how Irene tilted her head and once more cast a healing spell, but this time focused only on the woman.
"Theon, we must take her from here. I must examine her with Stella," Irene said in a serious voice.
I nodded and took the unconscious woman from Sebastian's hands, giving him the order to help the people to move to Everlight. I looked at Amber, but she shook her head and pointed at Nadi. I understood that she wants to help Sebastian accommodate these people in Everlight.
•••
We teleported straight into Magic Tower, where Stella was already waiting for us. I put the woman on the bed and moved aside. Her wounds looked like a bear trying to rip her open. The bloody scarring on her hands and arms showed she tried to protect herself, but that hadn't helped her much. She looked young, as young as Amber and Irene, but was thinner, probably because she hadn’t been able to eat well. Her straight platinum blonde hair was shorter than the impressively long black hair of Irene, reaching to about her shoulder blades. I sat on a nearby chair and closed my eyes so I could talk more freely with Sebastian.
"Sebastian, what happened there?"
"We fought some strong animals, my King. We killed four before we met with the villagers, who fought valiantly to protect that woman. But if not for our intervention, they would have died there. My subordinates stayed behind and made an effort to chase off or kill that last monster," my Slime Scion responded immediately. "I believe they might have been those fabled winter monsters."
"As soon as they return, get the details from them. I'm starting to worry about Ian's group now. Send couriers with a message and warn them about the threat level of these winter monsters."
"Yes, sir."
I opened my eyes and saw how nervous Irene and Stella were. They both were standing over the dying woman, but despite their immense powers, they were unable to help her.
"This makes no sense, Stella!" Irene finally yelled out. "I used Cure Wounds and Greater Heal so many times, yet nothing helped!"
"I... I agree. Thist makes no sense at all."
I moved closer and looked at the woman, while Irene and Stella stood in consternation. My only experience with magic hardly counted, since I use only dungeon-specific magic called Creation Magic. It allowed me to shape the terrain, construct buildings, and create all useful things... Wait. So why does everything in Avalon work as it should? Because I know why and how it worked in my previous world. But what if...
"How does the healing magic work, exactly?"
"It heals wounds..."
"No Irene, that is the final effect. How does it work?"
"I never thought about that," Irene answered, looking somewhat ashamed.
"That's all right, Irene. Stella, correct me if I'm wrong." I patted Irene's head until she felt a bit better and looked at my Faé Scion. "Magic allows someone to manifest the power of the elements in this world."
"Yes." Stella agreed, and Irene nodded her head.
"However, to use a spell properly, you not only have to have the proper element alignment, but also the proper class. You also need more than just a magic formula, which often is just the name of the spell you want to cast. Sometimes the spell contains a proper description or chant describing the intended effect." Stella agreed quickly, so I continued watching the woman's wounds and summoned a few vials of crude healing potions made by the adventurers. "Then magic is nothing more than a construct of your imagination and is restricted by it as well."
"Fundamentally yes, my King," Stella agreed with me, which made me happy.
I was glad that my memories from the time during my education period were not stolen. It's just incredible what you learn during biology classes in the XXI century, to never think about it ever again. Anyway... I summoned a few sheets of paper and poured out on them all my rather rudimentary knowledge about immunology, tetanus infection, blood vessels, and the circulatory system and gave them to Irene.
"Read this." Irene frowned at me at first, but when she started reading, her eyes went wide.
After a few minutes, she finished while I poured the healing potion straight into the women's wounds. Stella took the pieces of paper Irene had already read, looking at them herself. She was in the same, or even larger, shock as Irene was. That made me believe they did not have even a basic idea of how the body works.
"Try to heal her now."
"Cure Wounds!" Irene shouted the spell this time despite the ability to cast it without chanting.
The wounds started closing, making me believe that the World System was enforcing rules but does not bend them to match effect. That was another observation I made a note of before sending it to my journal. I quickly produced information about infections, curing broken bones, and proper wound tending, giving them to Irene to read. After that, she managed to close the woman's wounds and stabilize her condition. I carefully watched Irene in action and started understanding magic a bit better simply by watching her at work.
"So far, you have used your magic mostly in combat situations. Your basic concern was not healing your allies, but reverting them to a previous, unwounded state. As impressive as it sounds, that is not proper healing, and that's why healing Amber after that assassination attempt was so unsuccessful at first. You tried to heal her wounds and not just revert her to her previous state." I looked at Irene, who just nodded, and I looked at Stella. "So that's why you explained to Amber and Irene what phenomena are responsible for what and how exactly spells work as they followed your training."
"Yes..." Stella understood what I meant, her eyes widening with realisation. "Then healing magic is nothing else than understanding how things work when you want to fix a person's body!"
Irene was holding the pieces of paper like some holy grail of medicine, which they probably were in this world. I summoned a blank book and made a copy of all my quite poor, I must admit, biology knowledge. I opened it and glossed over it and decided it was good enough. In my secret library, I have entire rows of bookshelves of what effectively is a printed version of Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica, albeit not a complete version since that would probably consume my entire mana to buy. I had entire tomes about biology, basic healthcare, chemistry, metallurgy, agriculture, machines, and military history and weapons. Most of it was not even bought. It was simply extracted from my memories and supplemented with parts I didn't know which cut costs significantly. I was not even aware of how much time I even spent reading or watching documentaries.
But I had no book about psychology and that made it hard to help people with PTSD properly. That was always something I just wished to have, which finally would make me take the entire knowledge of my previous world. That may look great on paper, but without computers and proper search engines, such an enormously large database would be more useless than helpful. What I already have is vast, and I still considered this knowledge exceptionally dangerous, so I must take extra precautions to secure it. I presented the just created book to Irene. She took it and after opening it, she started shaking.
"I had no idea..." she whispered, reading the first pages.
"Don't worry. You will learn much more." I promised and looked into her shining eyes with a warm smile.
The woman was breathing slowly, and at least to me, she looked like she was going to make it. She suddenly sobbed in her sleep, changing before in our eyes. A long fluffy tail and fox-like ears grew from her body as her nails changed into sharp talons. I sighed and rubbed my eyes, after which I went closer to take a better look.
"Anyone care to explain to me what this is?"
"A Kitsune? Here?" Stella exclaimed in shock while Irene just stared at the woman she just saved, terrified.
"Judging by your reactions, she is something bad, am I right?" She looked harmless and frail, but so did Amber and Marie. "Is she dangerous?"
"No," Stella replied.
"Yes," Irene disagreed, looking angrily at my Faé Scion.
"So why yes, Irene?" I asked, amused by the situation.
"Kitsunes are evil and vile creatures that bring destruction and death wherever they go. They deceive, lie, seduce and kill just because they can. They used to be benevolent guardians and committed friends, but that's just a fable!" Irene looked at Stella with a fierce expression on her face, as if she was challenging her to disagree.
"And why no, Stella?"
"While I agree with Irene, she simply doesn't have full knowledge. There are three different kinds of Kitsune. Good, neutral and evil. And surprise, surprise! I thought only evil ones stayed in the world. Check for yourself, Queen Irene. You can feel her affinity thanks to your Saintess class, I'm sure of that," Stella explained.
It made sense to me. I watched as Irene, pouting slightly, moved closer and put her hand on the Kitsune's head. My Elf-girl looked very surprised, making me regret I did not have a camera with me.
"She really is aligned with the forces of good and order... Just like you are, Theon!"
"I guess we can lock her up for now, anyway. Prison would be overkill since she hasn't wronged us in any way, so maybe... I can close her in one of the Palace rooms and order the Slime maids to keep an eye on her?" I thought aloud. "When she wakes up, we can learn more about her and decide what to do next."
Irene and Stella just nodded their heads in agreement.