“And done.”

“Human? What happened?”

“Um… I accidentally did this in my sleep, so Ms. Astella is forcing me to make an entrance.”

“Wow… you an earth user?”

“Yeah… sorry…”

“Honestly that’s quite impressive, so, how do we get up there?”

I sighed.

“There are two entrances, first is a simple stairwell, that took a few hours to make and it still needs refining. The second is a rock wall.”

“A rock wall?”

I gestured to the various holes.

“Basically, you climb to the top, but there are holes in the mountain side to make it easier to climb.”

“Woah… I’mma try that.”

Then a line of minotaurs made a line to go up the rock wall.

Some tried going up the stairs, only to be called cowards and get peer pressured into trying the wall.

Astella came out and slid down the mountain side.

“Alright, what’s happening… I repeat, what’s happening?”

“Um, I made a hard and easy way, stairs and a climbing challenge.”

“That wasn’t smart.”

“Why?”

“Minotaurs always go the way of most resistance. You should have done the stairs only.”

Then a minotaur fell, screaming.

“Help me!!!”

Many tried to assemble, but the minotaur fell from high enough that it wouldn’t matter.

I waved my hands and summoned a gravel cloud, using fire to inflate it softer. The minotaur landed and broke through it, but then fell a lot lighter to the ground.

She sat up.

“That was terrifying. You, Human. No one can get up that. It’s impossible!”

I blinked.

“It’s not even that challenging of a wall, there’re no overhangs.”

“Then you do it.”

“Okay.”

The minotaurs cleared out and I stood, breathed deeply, then I leapt up, grabbing the third hole, and threw myself hole to hole, climbing up the wall.

Within ten minutes, I reached the top and looked over before shouting.

“See? It is possible.”

I walked down the stairs and a few minotaurs gaped at me.

“Okay, not impossible…”

Astella looked impressed, then she shouted.

“I’ll set up a safety here, but for now, use the stairs.”

Some complained, while others, including the first minotaur seemed happy to do the stairs.

Astella looked at me.

“To think, you made two entrances…”

“Well, the stairs are kind of simplistic.”

“Yeah, they’re just stacked rocks in crevices, but you still managed to do it.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Anyways, we can talk sooner, meet me in my quarters.”

“Okay, what are we going to talk about?”

She smiled.

“Business.”

_

“So, what did you mean, business?”

“First, I want to know something, why are two councilors enamored with you?”

“What?”

“Malkek can’t stop mentioning your honor and genius, and Maven flat out has a crush on you. I can’t seem to figure out why?”

“Well, I proved to Malkek that Taury was innocent, and Maven… I don’t actually know.”

“Huh, well that explains Malkek, but yeah Maven, after your camping with her, I sort of just assumed you wooed her or something. What exactly happened?”

“Well, I did trick that demon.”

“That’s another thing I can’t figure out, how did you, of all people, trick a demon…? Their screw ups are rare, and that’s a pretty major screw up.”

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“As I’ve told others. I basically yelled at him to release me and her, and then he said it back.”

“Yeah, but it seems too simple.”

“Yeah, it felt that way too.”

“I’d imagine, but how did the demons even know what would happen?”

“What?”

“I mean, according to Maven’s story, Mordred was at the stream randomly, but the other demons mentioned something like, send him out, implying that they knew where you’d be.”

I blinked.

“That makes a lot of sense, could Mordred have been spying on us from the get go?”

“No, because according to Morgan, you guys never disappeared until you went to the stream, except for the talking rock thing that I still think is a lie.”

“Nope, not a lie, but… how would they know if none of them detected us beforehand?”

I thought for a moment.

“You think there was a mole?”

Astella nodded.

“Some humans have sworn loyalty to demons to prevent from being eaten. They inform them, assist them, and all other sorts of things.”

“You think that someone in the class is sworn to serve demons?”

“It’s only a guess, but not one that you can ignore. Another explanation is that they smelled Taurael’s power and sent Mordred where they thought she was heading.”

I sighed.

“That makes more sense to me than a mole.”

Astella also sighed.

“Yeah, I suppose it does.”

I thought for a moment.

“Anything else?”

“Yeah, I’m actually somewhat curious about the rock, because Morgan said that you just flat out went missing, and Mordred wasn’t near at that point.”

“Yeah, the gem took us to her own realm. I started calling her Arty, cause that’s short for Artifact, which she said that she was called at one point.”

“Hm… Artifact…”

“The Merpeople in the lake call it the Elder Stone.”

“Hm… Yes, I saw it a thousand years ago, when Taurael was showing us the lake. It’s alive?”

“Yeah, Taury was as surprised as you are.”

“Wow, did it say anything interesting?”

“Well, it refers to me as my mother’s name, because apparently, she was more historically important.”

“So, what does she call you?”

“Child of Amelia.”

“Hm… don’t know any Amelias unfortunately.”

“Darn it. So, only Morgan has the potential to know.”

“Why would Morgan know?”

“Because she marked my father’s grave.”

Astella blinked.

“She did?”

“Yes, I don’t know their relation, but Taury recognized Morgan’s wood made up his gravestone.”

Astella considered for a second.

“Are you trying to find your mother?”

“That’s why I originally came to Challsville in the first place.”

“Huh…”

She seemed deep in thought.

“Well, I’ll look out for any information.”

“Thanks…”

“What?”

I looked at her.

“Could I ask about some history. Like for some elaboration?”

“Why?”

“Well, because I’ve heard legends of Theseus and other Grecian heroes, but I wasn’t there, so I can’t really tell how they went.”

She smiled.

“Sure, I could elaborate a few things.”

“Nice… why did Theseus attack you?”

“Phew, that’s a rough one. I’m sure you heard about how I supposedly imprisoned his people. Well, I kind of did, except the people I imprisoned tried to kill me for no reason.”

“Huh, so, how did it happen?”

“Well, the walls of the labyrinth had poison berries that caused paralyzation, so he lined his sword with it and when we began fighting, he was poisoning me with the slightest things. I wasn’t even trying to kill the boy. After the poison took effect, I fell and he slashed my back open, then he acted like a hero.”

“Huh… do people like Zeus exist?”

She snickered.

“They don’t but they are inspired from actual people. A good example for that is Morgan.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she inspired Frigga of the Norse.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow… did you know Heracles?”

“Oh, yeah, he was a tough cookie. Me and him sometimes talked. He loathed Theseus, claiming that because of his pride and trickery, he ruined the names of heroes.”

“Makes sense, what of Oedipus.”

“Oh… that guy, yeah, it really sucked. He killed his dad out of necessity, and even swore to find the king’s killer. They treated him horribly, and honestly, I was half tempted to ravage his city because of their cruelty to the one that ruled them justly.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because Oedipus asked me to not.”

“I see…”

“Yeah, he was a truly good person.”

“Did he actually gouge out his eyes?”

“… Yeah… I offered to find someone to heal him, but he refused.”

“Huh…”

“His story is probably one of the few that humans didn’t dramatize.”

I thought for a moment.

“Did you know Orion?”

“Never met the guy, but I do know that he had water magic. For that, you’d need to ask Roman.”

“Why Roman?”

“He inspires Hephaestus and numerous other Grecian gods. He also knew the person who inspired the legend of Artemis. Though, if I remember correctly, she gave up her no man vow and married him.”

“Wow… the story ends much differently.”

“Yeah, the Greeks weren’t big on mind changing.”

“Wow…”

“Yep.”

“Huh… were you involved in any other legends?”

“Not really.”

I sighed, then Astella asked a question.

“About this… Artifact, do you know who called her that?”

“No, but she called him the First Song. Do you know who that is?”

She thought for a moment.

“Nope, never heard of him.”

I sighed.

“Unfortunate.”

“Indeed, with a title like the First Song, he has to be incredibly powerful, likely, though, it’s just some fey big shot from millennia before Morgan was born.”

“Maybe, but she said I acted similarly to him in the past.”

“Yeah, and you act like an Archon, so maybe it was an Archon big shot.”

“What exactly is an Archon?”

“Peace loving weirdos with intensely powerful magic. Their supposedly more magically attuned than atronachs.”

“Woah…”

“Yeah, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you were confused with one every now and then.”

“Alvane already thought I was an Archon.”

“Alvane… Alvane… Oh right, one of the Knights of Avalon. I remember her, yeah I could see her confusing you with one.”

“Huh…”

Then I looked at her.

“So, anything else you need?”

She thought for a moment.

“Actually, yes, I think there is. There was a cave I used to use as a personal lab, I need you to put this thing in it.”

“Why?”

“To activate security, though, a word of warning, don’t read any of the documents there, it’s full of classified files.”

“I see, don’t worry.”

“Good to know I can count on you. Oh, and please don’t bring Taurael.”

“Why not?”

“Because that pixie is incredibly nosy.”

“Oh, alright.”

I walked out of the quarters and saw Taury doing pull ups.

“Wow, nice form.”

“Are you talking about my exercise or are you flirting?”

“Exercise.”

“Lame.”

“Sorry, I just learned a crap ton about Greek mythology, I’m considering historical stuff.”

She thought for a moment.

“I can tell you a bit about American mythology, and a bit about norse mythos.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I inspired a few gods myself. Heck the Greeks called me Aphrodite.”

“Anything else.”

“I was also occasionally called Athena too.”

“Wow… any norse gods?”

“Hm… me and Morgan inspired different parts of Frigga, so I suppose that would work, other than that, no not really.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, I am quite old compared to numerous fey, so I guess you can say you discovered a relic.”

“Maybe.”

She jumped off the bar in front of me and smirked.

“Wanna find out what I can do~?”

I flushed and sputtered.

“M-maybe later.”

“Awe, is someone flustered~”

“Maybe?”

“Nice. Anyways, did you talk about anything else?”

“She wants me to handle something for her tomorrow.”

She looked somewhat surprised.

“Wow, what is it?”

“Setting up security in an old lab of hers.”

“Nice, I should get ready.”

“Actually, she said I shouldn’t bring you.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re nosy.”

She blinked.

“I’m not nosy.”

I looked at her with a raised brow, recalling all the times she tried sneaking into the bathroom to figure out what I was doing in there, and the other times where she’d read over my shoulder to figure out what I was doing.

“Okay, I’m a bit nosy, but I wouldn’t do that.”

“Too bad, you can’t come.”

“Awe…”

Then she gave me puppy dog eyes.

“Pleeeeeease?”

“No.”

She sighed and went back to working out, so I did the same, acting as her spotter, and she acted as mine.