-tinkerer-

[https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]

I had watched as my sister stared out at the city through the bedroom window.

She had been hurriedly stuffing one of our leather packs full of clothes and accessories. But her attention seemed to be anywhere but here.

More than once she folded and unfolded the same few shirts. Even now, miscellaneous objects were still scattered over her bed cover. The unlucky casualties of her indecisiveness.

She and Hailey had gone with Julius to the big military headquarter building after lunch, sending me home with Mei as an escort.

I waited patiently for them to return. And when she finally got home, she went straight for that bag.

Then less than an hour later… Julius came back and they both left again.

What gives!?

I can’t even leave this house without a small army following me around. But the two of them can just go run off to wherever.

Airis had left her pack here. Which means whatever they have planned is not until later.

Well, I’m gonna pack my own bag. I’m going to.

They’ve been gone for a long time.

I sighed.

I’m bored!

Boooooooored.

B-O-R-E-D. Bored.

Hmm. I wonder if anyone is still hanging around the manor.

Racing out of the back bedroom I blitzed past a guard. He yelped out in surprise, but collected himself and called after me.

“Young miss, please don’t run through the halls!”

Ignoring his cries I continued ahead to the common room.

Nobody in here.

Maybe the kitchen—nope. Empty as well.

A dejected groan escaped my mouth as I slumped down into a dining chair.

I held out my open palm and pushed the flow of magicka through my body into the tips of my fingers. Each one now being enveloped by small orbs of magicka.

Little arcs of lightning danced across my thumb.

The flicker of flame licked at my index finger.

My middle finger glimmered with an arcane barrier.

A miniature gale rotated around my ring finger.

And ice crystals formed at the nail base of my pinkie.

Focusing on the magicka flux through my skin, I transferred each orb from one finger to the next.

A guard that had been stationed at our manor during the night shift was a Magister, an apprentice instructor, at the magic academy in Axio.

I was sneaking around the manor one night to steal a late night snack from the kitchen, and stumbled onto him doing this same trick.

By forcing spells of differing schools of magicka through the same mana circuit, you can reinforce your body to withstand greater stress.

I thought it sounded too good to be true.

Until my runic interface alerted me that I had increased my INTELLIGENCE and WISDOM stats.

I haven’t told anyone except for Mei. But my AETHER attribute was now at fifty-three. Four nights ago, my INTELLIGENCE finally crossed over the seventy threshold.

According to the notification, that was a big deal. Now I was able to learn Tactical class magick.

The door to the manor closed abruptly, causing a loud enough bang to hurl me from my thoughts—the orbs dissipated from my fingers, leaving behind some residual feeling.

I rubbed my hand to relieve the minor burn left over from the scorch spell.

Every dang time!

I silently cursed the fire school of magick and stuck my head out from the kitchen to see who had entered the manor.

“—dangerous though. A trip through the forest with humans isn’t the same as traveling via’sine fin.”

“Which is all the more reason for us to make haste. The very reason the session comes to a pause is because the animo become more energetic in the spring and summer seasons.”

The two elven ambassadors were making their way through the common room.

Catching the last bits of a serious sounding conversation, I stayed in the kitchen to eavesdrop.

They were speaking in Iọ-ton’ic, the runic-like language of the elves.

I consider myself to be pretty fluent in elvish—and if you asked Mei, I’m certain she would agree. We often have entire conversations in only elvish.

There is a difference from learning it as an elective in a boring primary tier college from actually putting it in practice. But with Mei’s chats, I think I’m gotten a hang of it.

That said, I had no idea what a via’sine fin is.

“Hastefulness is not the same as foolishness.”

“Yes, yes, my dear draeid. You may be an envoy of the animo, but forget not your position within the Aestori.”

“…My apologies, Matriarch Aisling. My concern for the young empress’ safety is—”

“Refreshing. I’m as concerned for her well being, as well as the ones who will be accompanying her to Umbraedomis.”

Umbrae… Loosely translated to shadow or dark. Domis means home. Dark home? Oh!—shadow home. The Forests of Ixia are often referred to as the Shadow Forest.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Umbraedomis must be how they refer to their village within the enclave.

“—why leaving tomorrow is the best option. Each day we delay risks missing the deadline with the tribunal, as well as increased danger.”

The fair-haired woman, I think her name was Viane, sighed reluctantly. I could hear her fall back into one of the couches in the room.

Footsteps sounded as the other woman went upstairs.

Aisling had obviously had enough with the conversation, and it seemed like she out ranked Viane well enough that there wouldn’t be any further dissent.

I quickly, and quietly, rummaged through the pantry and found some cookies stashed in a small tin.

Heading out of the kitchen as inconspicuous as I could manage, I tried to sneak past and head back to my room—but I garnered Viane’s attention.

“Whoa—Empress? I could’ve swore we just passed you and Julius in the market square moments ago.”

I froze with one foot hovering above the floor. Slowly turning to face the elven woman, I finished biting into a cookie.

Viane had jumped up from her relaxed position on the sofa and was fully engaged with me.

She tilted her head slightly.

“Oh. You’re not the Empress.”

I kept her in suspense as I finished chewing.

Though, I had entertained the thought of just continuing down the hallway, but I figured Airis would just have to deal with that drama later.

“I’m not, but I get that a lot here. I am the much less famous Vanixi, my name is Rias. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I inclined in a slight formal bow, which Viane returned, “I was just grabbing a quick snack, please don’t mind me.”

“Uhm, sure thing. My apologies for the mix-up.”

“No worries. Please have a good evening.”

I left the visibly confused woman to her own devices and shuffled down the hall to my room.

Bribing the guard with a handful of cookies to keep my running infractions to himself, I started pulling clothes from my drawers.

I needed to finish packing.

----------------------------------------

My pack was prepared and hidden away under the bed from prying eyes.

“What do you think? Proper looking right?”

Airis returned home with Julius just a few moments ago and was now showing off to me in some new armor pieces she had Dori and Rhia craft.

“…”

I was speechless. My eyes were glued to the shiny metal. My sister had glossed over the material type in her haste to ramble on about their defensive stats and how pretty they were.

But I wasn’t interested in that nonsense.

The material, big sister! The M-A-T-E-R-I-A-L!

“What did Dori say they were made of? Chondiasteel? Are you sure that’s what she said?”

Airis stared at me with a vacant look on her face.

“…Cromiansteel?”

“Sis!”

“I don’t remember! Hmph. Give me a second, I’ll appraise them for you if it’s so important. I just wanted you to tell me that they looked cool.”

She pouted at me but swiped over her rune, bringing up an interface showing off the item’s attributes and details.

“Chro-ma-steel. You were so close, yet so far away.”

“I don’t care what the metal is called! I just care about the stats.”

“They do look cool, though.”

My sister’s smile beamed across her face.

“Don’t they!?”

With a halfhearted laugh she swiped the aetherial displays away. Her brightness soured, taken over by a serious note.

“Hey, listen. I know it’s short notice and probably a big surprise, but—”

“You’re leaving in the morning with the elven ambassadors to head to their village.”

“—I’m leaving tomorrow to—How in the Aether do you already know about that?”

I placed my hands on my waist and struck a pose.

“Hehe! Sleuth-extraordinaire Rias Vanixi, at your service.”

Airis tilted her head down and gave me the stink-eye.

“Heeey! I’m being serious.”

“Yeah, me too. I overheard it from somewhere. And you’re not heading out on another perilous trip without me. I’m coming with this time too. I was a great help at the church. I’ve been improving my magick everyday.”

My sister sighed, letting her shoulders fall.

“Ya’ know, if we were having this conversation a month ago. I would’ve fought you till I was blue-faced.”

“Uh huh?”

“They said the journey could be really dangerous.”

“Sounds like you’ll need a powerful artificer to accompany you then.”

“The weather is going to be shitty. Super cold nights.”

“Good thing I can use fire magick.”

Her hand came up to rub her forehead.

“No way I can convince you to stay?”

“Nope! Besides, If Mei is coming with, she’ll keep me safe.”

“Fine. Two conditions.”

“Hmmm, maybe. What are they?”

“One, if I tell you to retreat you follow my order right away.”

“I’ll consider it?”

“Rias!”

“I’ll consider it… definitely?”

“…”

“Number two?”

“Two, is that you’re coming with me tonight to the memorial stone.”

“Memorial stone? Oh, the big one out by the church. What do you need to go there for?”

“I wanted to say my peace to father… before I left to talk with the elven tribunal.”

“Oh. Yeah… I’ll go with you. Let me get dressed a little warmer.”

Night had fallen, but the city remained brightly lit.

Lantern-like magi-tools had been distributed through the main roadways and now illuminated the streets.

Airis and I made our way to the cemetery with a small guard detail in tow.

When we arrived, she asked them to stay below as we walked briskly up the stairway leading to the memorial site.

Standing at the entrance was a statue.

The intricately carved stone spared no detail in its imperial armor—but when it came to the warrior’s face, a blank canvas was all that was there.

I suspect the features were purposefully forgotten to give the whole thing an air of mystique.

The faceless statue’s figure leaned more masculine in scale but overall had an androgynous shape. At a glance, I could see almost any of the divisional soldiers I had met represented here.

Airis stood front and center, her eyes searched the faceless statue over and over. With a deep sigh, she pulled out a small cloth bundle from a pouch under her coat.

She unwrapped it, hesitating on pulling away the final bit of cloth.

I stepped in close to her, gently leaning against her. With my free hand, I reached around her and pulled the final strip away, revealing a jet-black metallic circlet.

The magickal power coming from the item was almost overbearing.

“What is that?”

I spoke softly, a mix of being in awe of the thing and trying to be mindful of my sister’s nerves.

“A crown. Dori and Rhia made this along with the armor. And it’s been… blessed, in a sense, by Capricorn. A bit ironic if you think about it. Since the Goddess probably couldn’t care less about the Empire as a whole. Not like I know how to even get ahold of Virgo. I guess one Goddess is as good as another in this case.”

“Well it’s very beautiful. Have you worn it yet?”

“No. I…”

Her voice wavered. I could feel her arms tense up as she tightened her grip on the crown.

“Concerned you’re not worthy of it?”

“I’m not our father.”

“Nobody expects you to be.”

“…”

[https://i.imgur.com/m46tX8b.jpg]