“You called?”

I stood in Morgan’s palace, the woman on the throne smiling sweetly but menacingly.

“Yes, I want to know what exactly happened a few days ago. You and numerous other humans entered my forest, then after going to a lake, you disappeared for hours, before reappearing again.”

“Didn’t Maven tell you?”

“Yes, but I don’t believe your little talking rock story, also, Wings, I am not happy about you telling that story to him.”

“Please, it’s just as much my story as it is yours, I can tell whoever the heck I want.”

The Lady of the Lake, Taurael was lounging on my head. She had no more fear of Morgan, after all, Morgan couldn’t use her name to control her anymore… of course, Morgan had no knowledge of this.

“My, Wings, you are getting quite feisty, do you need a reminder of who rules you right now?”

Me.

“Of course, I don’t, Morgan, but I am still the Lady of the Lake, so I can tell my story if I so wish.”

Morgan sighed.

“Fair, I suppose.”

Morgan stood and walked over to me.

“So? Answer, what did you actually do?”

“As Maven told you, we spoke to a magic stone that… didn’t tell us much at all.”

Morgan sighed.

“The worst part about this is that I can tell you are telling the truth.”

“See?”

“I suppose that there could be a… magical talking rock, but I’d need to meet it.”

“I don’t know if she would want to meet you.”

Morgan smiled.

“I see, also, I want to let you know that Mordred is a major threat, do avoid him if at all possible in the future.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Good, he seems interested in you, oddly enough.”

“Maybe he recognized that I was collared.”

The snap caused Morgan to twitch.

“I’d assume the rock informed you of that?”

“Yep.”

She sighed.

“My reasons are my own, but yes, until I know how dangerous you are, I’m keeping you collared.”

“Because of my magic?”

“Because you are the first human with enough magic to kill a demon, and yes, I know you didn’t just scare it away.”

“Didn’t-“

“Yes he did, but that was with a combination of sword and magic. Besides, not only were you able to do that with only magic, but you then were blessed by the dream, all this while you are still developing your magic. Having a collar only makes sense.”

“Why?”

“Because, to put it frankly, I have reason to suspect that you are hiding something from me. There is no way you beat a demon with fire alone. While it is possible, you would’ve been a lot more burnt.”

“That makes sense, tell you what, you tell me what you’re hiding from me about me, and I tell you what I’m hiding from you.”

Morgan smiled.

“You’re beginning to understand our ways. It’s almost like watching an infant learning to speak.”

Then she stood.

“I have no need to explain my piece, thus you have none either. Now, thank you for the report, go back to… whatever you humans do.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I walked out and the doors opened.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

As I walked back,

“She’s getting worried.”

I smiled.

“She is. She’s slowly losing control of us, and she is realizing it.”

“She will strike at us eventually.”

“And we’ll be ready when she does.”

“You know, she is listening to us.”

“I am aware.”

I smiled at the Spriggan’s aura which got startled and returned to the palace.

Taury sighed.

“You need a magic teacher.”

“I mean, you’re not bad.”

“Yeah, but I can only teach you elemental, there are plenty of neutral magics that I can’t teach you anything about.”

“Like?”

“Well, projection, for one. You can do it, but not at will. You need to learn how to do it. There are many others, like illusion magic. You could conceal your aura and even make yourself look like a fey or someone else.”

“Wow… could Alvane teach me?”

“No, the knights don’t like the neutral magics. Neither do I, really, but you need any tool you can have.”

“Simial uses illusion.”

“As I said before, if it was up to him, he’d simply kill any human that got near, it’s likely that he developed the illusion just for the purposes of protecting the lake.”

We walked further and found something strange.

“Uhm… that’s disturbing.”

A girl was hanging upside down, she was entirely green, likely rotting in the front.

“What happened there?”

“Should we take her down…?”

“Yeah.”

I reached for the rope.

“Hello!”

“GYAH!”

I jumped back and Taury latched onto my head as we both yelped in shock. The girl spoke.

“Come on, I smelled you, let me down.”

“What?”

“What?”

Taury’s eyes dawned in understanding.

“She’s a goblin, she’s not rotting.”

“What, you thought I was rotting cause I’m green?”

I winced.

“Kinda?”

“Heh, that’s funny. Could you help me down now?”

The goblin spun around, and aside from the pointed ears and… green skin, she looked exactly like a human.

“Um, sure.”

I untied the rope and she fell.

She stood up.

“You’re a human, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Cool, but your magic is intense.”

“Okay?”

“Hm, is that pixie for sale?”

“WHAT? No!”

“Oh, okay, no lunch for me I guess.”

“HEH?!”

Taury sighed.

“Goblins will eat anything, I’m not really surprised, but no, I’m not for sale.”

“Oh…”

The goblin smiled.

“Yeah… do you have any body parts you don’t need, I’m sure that what I don’t eat will go into my experiments.”

“Experiments?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m a scientist.”

“A scientist? For magic?”

“Of course!”

“… Do you know neutral magics?”

“Yes?”

“Could you teach me?”

The Goblin thought for a moment.

“Tell you what, you get me a book I’ve been looking for, and I’ll teach you.”

“What book?”

“Universe in a Nutshell both parts.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah, I need to see how human theory works with mine, but I can’t enter a library… for obvious reasons.”

“Regular people can see you?”

“Of course, goblins and kobolds are some of the few races that would need to use illusion magic to not be detected, and goblins are resistant to magic, meaning that I’d still be green, even with magic.”

“Huh, yeah, I can get you that book.”

“Nice. Meet me through the nexus.”

“You are from a different realm?”

“Nope, I simply have a nexus point, like Morgan.”

“How do I get there?”

“Look for Dee’s realm.”

Then she walked off.

“So… Dee?”

Taury sighed.

“Honestly, this isn’t much of a problem, goblins are simple beings, and they would definitely use a lot of neutral magic, not to mention, if she’s a scientist, she may be able to figure out how to fix your problem.”

“Maybe.”

“Well, let’s get the book.”

“Nice, so, to the library?”

“No, I don’t have a card.”

“So…”

“We’re gonna buy it.”

_

I was walking through the bookstore and looked through the science section. I couldn’t find it.

“Pardon me, ma’am, do you know where the Universe in a Nutshell is?”

The lady looked at me with a bored look.

“I don’t know, do I?”

“So, you don’t?”

“If it’s not in the sci-fi section, we don’t got it.”

“It… it’s not a sci-fi book.”

“It’s not? Sounds like one, well if it’s not in the fantas-“

“Could you please check the computer?”

“… Fine…”

She rolled her eyes and scrolled through the computer.

“Okay, it’s in the clearance section.”

“Nice. Thank you.”

The lady blinked and rolled her eyes again before scrolling on her phone again.

I walked over to the clearance section and found it.

“Well, that was kind of easy.”

Then I heard a gasp and a click.

“William Cambell, come with me or die.”

I froze, the metal of the gun on the back of my head.

“And you are?”

“None of your business.”

From what I could tell from the voice and the reflections, it was a female assailant, and she was masked. Given her nonresponse to Taury, she had no relic.

I walked where she guided.

Then I saw three more masked guys in front of a black truck.

“Put him in.”

Then I went into the truck.

The gun never leaving my head, the girl followed me in.

“So, who do you work for?”

“None of your business.”

“Mercenaries?”

“None of your business. Shut up.”

With a gun on my head, I wisely stayed silent.

Taury had a deathlook.

“William, a single word and I’ll kill all of them.”

“Don’t, I’m curious. If I’m about to die, or you’re in danger, then intervene.”

She wrinkled her nose, but she was unable to disobey. One of the few times I’d directly administer an order.

I sat there, waiting for the ride to finish.

“Come on, speed up, or GET OFF THE ROAD!!!”

The guy driving was yelling at people.

“Shut it, man, we’re trying to look intimidating.”

“This man is going 30… WE’RE IN A 50 ZONE!!!”

The guy honked three times. They were definitely not professionals.

If they were, they’d not have a vision constricting mask over their face while driving.

I had to use earth magic to stop the horrid amount of swerving.

Why couldn’t whoever wanted me kidnapped spring for actually good kidnappers?

After an hour, we stopped.

“Alright, now, get out.”

I slowly got out. The gun never leaving my head. The girl was the only one who had any experience, it seemed.

We were at the library.

The girl hid the gun in her sleeve, so now it only looked like she was holding her hand on my shoulder.

“Move.”

We entered and I spied a familiar face.

“Jones, you can’t invade my home, so you kidnap me, what fun.”

“That new resident of yours set up way too many security measures.”

“She is good at that.”

I smiled, Aoi was certainly a very experienced trapmaker.

“So, what is it that you want?”

“I need you to answer a few questions.”

“What are they?”

Jones smiled.

“I don’t think you figured it out yet. I don’t know why your pixie hasn’t lashed yet, but I’m taking advantage of that.”

A net launched and netted her.

I began to speak.

“Figh-“

Then I was clocked on the side of the head, and the world faded to black.