“I thank you all again for coming to this party on such short notice. I will now introduce you to the guest of honor. Lucia, please greet our guests” Sophia says while using a sound charm on both of us.
“Thank you for coming. My name is Lucia and as of right now I am the greatest mage in the nation.”
It has been a little more than a month since the change of plans. Right now I am in the Moon Saloon, a big empty mansion that can be rented for parties. It is just a city away from the capital so we had to use carriages to get here. One of the spells that this kingdom was able to perfect is the Fast Travel spell.
Unlike what the name suggests it isn’t a teleport spell but a spell that when put on a road will make everything there go faster.
It still took a full week to get there with little to no stops. I never had sex in a car but this is close enough. Monica tended to my needs the entire trip as we don’t want me attacking the royals.
When we got there everything was almost ready, the servants were waiting for orders, food was prepared just needing to be cooked and we had rooms for us and some guests that would stay a little after the event.
The mansion itself was made in a way where in the first floor there was the saloon itself where as soon as you entered the mansion you would be there. The saloon had a big splitting staircase that led to the two wings of the second floor where there were suites with private bathrooms. I counted 20 rooms, all of them big. On the first floor there was a big kitchen and two public bathrooms for male and females.
The saloon could be furnished in an infinitude of ways as there was a warehouse full of furniture just south of here.
The saloon was furnished in a way where a lot of space could be made, with minimal places to sit that were only there for the elderly that could come.
Lots of tables with different types of food that you could eat with just one or two bites and a lot of drinks.
I was instructed to stay on the second floor for a while until I was called and there I stayed until It was time for me to present myself using my beautiful red dress.
It isn’t really that fancy compared to the dresses of some of the women in the saloon but I am not out of place here.
Sophia is using a battle dress again, this time a blue one with obsidian plate armor. She is a white maiden in a black dress, she doesn’t look creepy in any way, it is just strange to see her in black as she almost always uses light colors.
Returning to the party, almost everyone is in silence.
“That is a big claim for someone with mana just enough to be on the small level and carrying swords.” A man in fancy mage robes and a golden staff says.
“I hope you understood that I said I was the greatest mage in the kingdom not the strongest one.”
“And did you mean with that?” He says angrily.
“It would be best to show all of you. Everyone please follow me outside, I will give all of you a show you never saw before.” I say while walking straight from the stair to the exit.
Little by little people are coming outside. The mansion is literally on the middle of the road, there are just plains around us but you can see a city a few kilometers away.
The sky is full of stars and no clouds.
“I want everyone to look at my hands before looking up. Those who are knowledgeable about magic will understand things quickly.”
Everyone disperses a little in anticipation.
“Fireworks, Dragons Dance!” I shout while casting a spell.
A oriental dragon made out of fire forms from my hand and went up the sky flying in circles for several seconds before exploding like normal fireworks.
Most people there were dazzled, they just stood for a few seconds and started to clap. The ones who weren’t just realized what I just did.
As far as I know the mages that were invited were all high ranking in the Magic Institute. I know that the really high ups wouldn’t come but Sophia said to me they were enough to get the word going.
Before anyone had time to really say anything I started to speak.
“I would like to thank everyone again for coming but I would like to give a special thank you to Lady Sophia that helped and continues to help me after my journey to reach this kingdom.”
She gives a bow of thanks to me from a distance.
After that we all got back to the saloon and enjoyed the party. The factions there all appointed hours with me via Sophia as they were a little scared of me since they know nothing about me.
--//--
“Lucia was it? What did you do yesterday?” The same mage asks me again. He is in charge for now.
This time we are out in the open, everyone who wants to talk with me will have to do it in public in front of everyone, it is like a big picnic as there are no chairs or anything.
“I used a custom spell without the need of a Rune.”
“But how?”
“I don’t know, I just do it.”
“You need to share how you do this or the institute will not do business with you anymore.” He says it in a normal tone, he is just stating a fact here.
“Look, I first need to have a confirmation that your high ups don’t know about this.”
“And why do you need that?”
“Because if I just tell you how to do it and word goes out, most people who try this will die. Also you will become unable to use Runes again just by starting the process.”
Everyone is in shock and starts to whisper to each other.
“Ladies and gentleman, I understand your shock but there is also another bit of information that you have to know before you make your decisions.”
“And what would that be?”
“This method uses far less mana than runes and you will be able to increase your mana more easily if you can survive the process.”
After that I leave the area and give the people there some time to talk. Monica approaches me near a tree.
“How are the negotiations going?”
“We are still the part where they have to think if this is good or bad.”
“Just remember to say that you will not work for anyone unless they help Lady Sophia.”
“I don’t think I will work for any of those people anyway.”
“May I ask why?”
“I can beat all of them in a fight even if they come together.” which is true, none of the nobles or mages there are the battle type.
“That is to be expected.”
“Well, let’s hope the word gets to the higher ups soon.”
After that the same mage signaled me to come back.
“We all decided that the Institute will pay you a visit soon and after that negotiations will resume.”
“I hope with negotiations you mean what I will earn for telling you this. As of this moment you have to understand that I pretty much don’t need the Institute anymore.”
“If this is something desirable for the Institute I am sure you will be compensated accordingly.”
“Well, I hope so.” I say calmly to not sound greedy. “I hope all of you have a safe trip back home.”
After that everyone dispersed and in a question of hours I was going back to Sagrada with Monica and Sophia on my carriage.
“Now we just need to prepare.” Sophia says to me.
“For what?”
“I am pretty sure you will meet the really important people.”
“Like the King?”
“Yeah.”
“I hope there is someone from the church there.”
“Why?”
“So I can increase the price of this knowledge.”
If someone higher up in the church is together with the king and whoever will probably be in this next gathering for me to show my powers, I will be able to say I have demon blood and flesh and make them admit that I have the right to live, unless they don’t want the knowledge. If that is the case people will die along with me.
--//--
Today is the 1st of Libra. I spent all the time between the party and now training as much as I could to increase my mana. Right now it is at the intermediary level.
I am in an inn in the capital waiting for my escort to an undisclosed location along with Sophia.
We tried to come to the capital the normal way but a lot of people were attacking us and at some point a royal mage just opened a rift in space and hid us in a fancy inn he paid soon after.
No information was given besides the fact that the meeting we would be having will start soon so we are just waiting.
After a while he finally reappears and makes another rift that leads us to the gardens of the Royal Castle as described to me by Sophia.
“Welcome to Cruxadia, I hope you enjoy your stay.” A man with a big black beard, black short hair with a golden crown on its head, black eyes, using some fancy clothes says to me. It is the King.
“Welcome back, it’s good to see you again Sophia, also welcome Miss Lucia.” A woman with long blonde hair, green eyes, a nice figure in a green dress says. That is the Queen.
There are some other people there but they are not talking to me.
Sophia and the mage kneel down but I stay standing up.
“It’s an honor to see you two again majesty.” Sophia says while kneeled.
“Hello, nice castle. It’s prettier than the one I went before.” I say.
“Lucia kneel, you are in the presence of the King and the Queen.” Sophia says to me, clearly embarrassed.
“I kneel to no one who doesn’t show to me they deserve my respect.”
Sophia freezes.
“That is bold of you young miss. I could make people kill you right now if I wanted.” The King says while approaching me.
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“But you still wouldn’t be able to make me kneel to you by my own will if you do that.”
“We have a fiery one here.” The Queen says while she approaches me as well.
“Look, I am not trying to disrespect any of you, but I only respect your power and authority not you two as people.”
“And what would that require, young miss?” The king asks me.
“That you make the right decision.” I say as I see someone who clearly is a priest of the church, and someone in a high position at that in a table sitting with another two people not far from where I am.
“Then let’s get to business, shall we? Sophia, stand up. Right now you are an equal here.”
Sophia stands up but stays in silence as we are moved to the tables.
The garden is really big, as big as a soccer stadium. Really green, full of multiple types of flowers that cover even part of the walls of the castle.
There are some trees that don't let you see the castle from the garden but you can see the walls, probably the ones around the castle, in the horizon.
As we sit I analyze the people on the table.
There is one elf here, he is using common white robes that mages use. He has really long pointy ears and green hair.
The priest looks more like a bald pro-wrestler dressed as a priest. His clothes have a lot of gold details in it.
The last one on the table is a man I am pretty sure is the prince. Blonde, black eyes like the king, using a simple metal armor filled with spells as far as I can sense it. He is probably just a few years older than me.
“My time is short so I will cut the small talk. Lucia, we were informed that you can use spells without runes. If you can prove it.” The King says in a commanding tone.
I just stand up and shoot some fireballs up.
“So it is true. We need to learn about this.” The elf says.
“May I ask who are the other people here?” I say while sitting again.
“I am Maxoiliodas the current leader of the Great Magic Institute.” The elf says.
“I am the Great Cardinal Baar.” The priest says.
“I am the Prince, Artheus Cruxadia.” The armored man says.
“You heard their introductions, can you now tell what you know about what you do?” The King asks.
“Not yet, before I tell anything all of you have to know something. I have demon blood and demon flesh as curses.”
The Royalty is shocked, the elf is surprised and the Priest is in rage.
“Then I will vanquish you, beast!” The priest says ignoring everyone else.
“Are you sure you want to fight me here? Unless you make the church stop this bullshit of trying to kill me just for existing, not a single one of you will get this information.” I say to everyone.
“Then may the gods have pity on you.” The priest says while charging his mana into a rune.
“I suggest you stop.” The elf says while pointing his hand straight to the face of the priest while making a rune.
Everyone else is calm as you can.
“She has both and still is a human, who knows what kind of malefic power she has, she needs to be eliminated.” The priest says.
“Then let’s ask. Girl, what do you need to do to not go crazy?” The elf asks,
I guess my sex drive really was tied to my curses.
“I guess I need to experience sexual pleasure. At least that's what I've been doing for a while.”
The King freezes, the prince turns red along with Sophia and the Queen starts to laugh.
“That… uhn… is… unexpected.” The elf says.
“Sophia, I didn’t know you were into girls.” The Queen says joking.
Sophia is too embarrassed to respond.
“Nah, she is still pure as white snow.” I say.
The Queen and everyone gets that I am not having sex with her.
“See, she will seduce the man of this land.” The priest says.
“Objection! I don’t like men, I prefer women.” I say.
The prince and the king show a little interest in this as any men would.
“As you can see, she isn’t trying to do anything wrong.” The elf says.
“King, the royal family has been at war with the demons since ancient times, you know the right choice here.” The priest says to the king.
The King gets serious.
“Of course. As of this moment the church is to stop the killing of children with demon traces unless proof that they are incapable of living in society is presented to me. If the Church can’t abide by this rule I hope you understand that you will not have our support anymore.”
The priest sits in defeat.
“Does that satisfy you, Miss Lucia?”
“Only if you did that out of kindness not the need to know about my ways with magic.”
“That is for you to decide.”
“Then miss Lucia, would you be willing to share your knowledge with us now?.” The elf asks.
“Sure. First you need to know that I have no idea how different my spells are different from rune spells as I could only use a single rune spell before and it was the most basic fire one.”
“That is a surprise.” The prince interjects.
“The next thing you need to know is that I have no idea how this will affect the user. Using me as an example. Any spell I cast has me as it’s point of origin.”
“Continue” the elf says.
“Let’s see. I have no idea if you can still use spells similar to rune spells. There is also the fact that after you start the process to convert to this type of casting you will be unable to use spells until you finish it. You will also probably die as it is painful, but all of you probably know about this.”
“The dying part is new.” The Queen says.
“Ok, but what exactly do you do?” The elf asks.
“I circulate my mana inside my body. Since I used runes before it was painful, like really painful when I tried it without using a rune to get the mana outside my body. Took me two months if I remember correctly of non-stop mana circulation inside my body, even when I was sleeping for the pain to stop.”
“Ok, but how do you make spells like that?” The prince asks.
“Movement and Mentalization.”
“What?” The elf asks.
“Use your brain to make your spell take form and your body to direct it. The more personal or appropriate the movement for you, the stronger tha spell can be.”
“And how do you know that?” The elf asks.
“If I try to make a spell using a gesture that looks like something I absolutely hate, the spell will not appear, so as it might be just my speculation, the more personal and physical I get to cast a spell, the more powerful it gets.”
“Anything else?”
“The mana consumption drops a lot. I can probably spend all day casting those fireballs and still have mana left. I also don’t know what happens if you run out of mana.”
“Ok, can you show us the process of mana circulation?”
“I am doing it right now or do you mean you want it faster?”
“Go as fast as you can so I can analyze you.”
“Ok…”
I leave the table and go a few meters away trying to just stand on the grass.
“Hey, if anyone here can use water spells, be ready.” I shout.
I then begin to circulate my mana as fast as I can. Doing this generates an aura of fire around me. My hair starts to become red too and I get a lot stronger, shame I can’t move.
After what I think is 30 seconds I am hit with water and break my concentration.
“Did I start a fire?”
“No, but you were about to.” The elf says.
I then return to my seat.
“This is really fascinating, how we didn’t hear about a child like you for all these years?” The elf asks.
“Because I am from the Maka Kingdom. I had to pass through the Sure-Death Forest to get here.”
Everyone that isn’t Sophia is in more shock, even the priest.
“How? How old are you, miss?” The queen asks me in panic.
“14.”
“Is it true Sophia?”
“Yes my queen. She proved time and time again that she is telling her true age to me.”
“Dad, I want her.” The prince interjects.
“Shouldn’t that be directioned to another person my son?” The King says cheerfully.
“You are a monster.” The priest says in a low angry voice.
“That does not matter to me. You may squabble for her favor, I will be going.” The elf says while preparing a rune.
“Hold on! The King is giving me liberty, what do I earn from you elf?”
“Humans, always greedy. Can’t you just share your knowledge with the world?”
“I was promised money or at least some kind of compensation by one of your subordinates.”
“That has nothing to do with me.”
“Then prepare to die!” I say while arming myself with Mira.
At this point everyone probably thought I was joking but I wasn’t. The elf didn’t try to stop me so I cut his left arm off. Before I could do another swing Sophia, the Prince and the King all grabbed me from the table stopping me. The Queen was holding the priest with a spell.
“You actually tried to kill me.” The elf says surprised.
“If any of you are going to kill me do it now because if I don’t receive something I will go after that man and kill him.”
“My dear child, would it stop your rage if we gave you money?” The queen asks.
“Yes.” I say without flinching.
“Then our business here is over. Now if you excuse me I have to reattach my arm and start to study your way to doing magic.” The elf says as he opens a portal with a rune. The arm I cut off was not bleeding due to a spell and he just walked through the rift in space holding his arm.
As the rift disappears the queen cancels the spell on the priest.
“Now great priest, you should probably go inform the church about our new position.” The queen says in a scheming tone.
“Yes, of course, I will be going now.” The priest says in a voice of defeat. He is probably trying to rationalize this entire situation since he can’t just kill me.
A few minutes later he leaves the garden. It is just the royal family, me and Sophia at the table.
“You found yourself quite the company my dear.” The Queen says cheerfully to Sophia.
“You don’t want to know what she is actually capable of.” Sophia says exhausted, hinting on my last escapade.
“Now about your paying Lucia, what were you expecting?”
“Money or something that I could trade for money.”
“We are asking how much” The prince interjects.
“I just told all of you how to make a normal villager become a war machine. You tell me how much this information is worth?”
“That would be quite a lot.” The king says.
“Look, if you need a value from my mouth, 75000 Kir.”
“That is a really high amount of money, what would you even do with that?” The queen asks.
“She will start a war.” Sophia says after recovering a little.
They all start to laugh a little.
“Very funny Sophia, good to know you are finally warming up.” The Queen says.
“She is not joking, I will destroy the Maka Kingdom, probably the Church too.”
“You just said to the ruler of a Kingdom that you will declare war against an ally of his, do you get your position?” The king says to me in a serious tone.
“They banished me even after I helped save one of their cities, twice. The most important person to me in the world is probably being tortured or brainwashed in some way right now because like all of you, they blindly follow the fucking Church of all Gods.”
“But…” The Prince tries to say.
“But nothing! Unless I get an apology and compensation they will go down, if you are in the way you go too. All of you can kill me right now or do something about it yourselves.”
I will not go back on anything I said. They are really thinking about what they should do.
I don’t care if I die here, I will not back down from what I want anymore, If I had fought before, maybe someone else might have helped me, but the past is the past and now I have to live how I can.
“Lucia you are just a girl, think about your life.” The queen says to me, concerned
“Queen, how would you feel if right now I said to you that you can’t see the King or the Prince again, you will be banished from this kingdom and everyone that thinks you are a good person will have to be re-educated to see how bad of a person you were?”
“I can’t imagine it, but that is no reason to attack innocent people.”
“And who said I would?”
“Didn’t you just say you would go to war with the Maka Kingdom?”
“Yeah. I will kill everyone responsible for me getting banished, so probably the entire royalty, some adventures that live there and the part of the army, along with the church there.”
“That won’t return anything you lost.” The king says to me.
“But if I don’t do it more people like me will die without knowing why in the future. I am the lucky one, almost everyone in my position would have been killed when they were 5 years old. Can you look a 5 years old in the eye and tell him that he doesn’t deserve to live?”
All of them stay in silence for a few minutes.
“I have a proposition.” Sophia out of all people says. “You stay in Sagrada and help me with the city. In exchange you get a salary, housing, Monica and the Cruxadia kingdom will do all in it’s power to make the persecution of kids like you stop. If they maintain their part of this deal you will not go to war with them.”
“Hey no, join my army!” The prince shouts.
As tempting as joining the prince army is, I can feel something in Sophia's words that makes me want to stay there. Probably Monica.
“Prince, I am sorry but I don’t think you can offer me something greater than what she just proposed to me.”
“She didn’t even say a number.”
“I am not talking about money.”
“Then what?”
“I have needs that have to be taken care of if you don’t remember.”
“I can take care of them.” he says, trying to sound like a true alpha.
“I don't like men, but I think the royal ass will be something special. I wonder how tight your ass is.”
I can see the chills going through the Prince and King spines. The Queen is just baffled and Sophia is just red.
“You are a girl of particular tastes aren’t you?” The Queen says, trying to joke about this situation.
“A wig, a dress, maybe some make up. Your son can look like a woman if he tries enough. Maybe satisfy me like one.”
At this point even the prince gets a little red and excuses himself from the table.
The king starts to laugh a little and addresses me.
“Lucia you are a unique girl, I don’t remember the last time someone like you appeared in front of me.”
“And I hope no one else like me comes.”
“Yes. Now if you excuse us we have to continue with our duties. An official will be sent to Sagrada in a few days to give you your money and help your situation. We will pressure the Maka Kingdom along with the church to stop hunting down and killing demonic childs like you.”
“Don’t start any wars for now.” The Queen says. “The mages will get you back to Sagrada as soon as you ask. Sophia, take care, it is a shame we couldn’t talk normally today. I will see you both at the end of year.”
After that both the king and the queen left the garden and soon after we signaled the mage to take us back to Sagrada. It was still noon but Sophia went straight to bed, she probably was mentally exhausted, I on the other hand will maintain my normal schedule. And now that I don’t have to study random shit I can look for things I want. Time to look for books about magic.