Lady Niadas said "My brother should be in his meeting room. We were meant to meet him after the Auction. Follow me. I would recommend Princess Ritalassa to keep yourself silent, it may cause issues if it was known you were aware."

Jack looked down at Ritalassa and said "Is it alright if I carry you?"

"Yes, just don't swing me around." Ritalassa said, and Jack gripped her. She found his hand was warm against her hilt. It was a strange feeling to be held like this. Almost pleasant a if he was doing what she was born to do. Which when she realized it, freaked her out inside.

The woman in the pink dress led them to a meeting room with a large table. At one side was a man in a green and gold tunic, with two strange humanoid creatures next to him. One of them looked like some sort of large lizard woman, and the other was a birdwoman.

"What are those beings?" Ritalassa asked.

"They are monsterkin." Jack replied mentally.

"I've never seen the like, where do they come from? You said monsterkin? As they come from monsters?"

"So they didn't exist in your time? Lord Attomas mentioned that they didn't see any recorded evidence of monsterkin before the Kingdom of Sevaris. They are related to monsters yes, the main difference being monsters don't have souls, and monsterkin do."

"Monsters were incredibly rare during the time I lived. In order to find a monster you had to go to a dungeon."

This conversation was quick, while Jack took a seat at the other side, while Lady Niadas sat next to a man who was glaring daggers at the monsterkin, and another man who was in a pink uniform.

The green tunic man said, "Glad you could join us Sir Jack. Tell me sister how did our Auction go tonight?"

"We did better then last year Lord Attomas, though we did have an unexpected visitor with a very deep pocket for a magical artifact." Lady Niadas said.

"Ah you must be referring to the Princess Falaen." Lord Attomas said pulling out some pieces of paper from a satchel.

Lady Niadas frowned at her brother and said "You were aware that she was attending and didn't deem to tell me?"

"I believed your new ally-" Lord attomas looked pointedly at Jack,"would have informed you of his princess attending the auction. Perhaps the two of you are not as close as I thought. Today I was informed the Empire has sent an official delegation to our King. They will be arriving in two weeks to our capital. Which means we must push up our timetable."

Lady Niadas said "Indeed. We were planning to leave next week, how fast can we push it up?"

Lord Attomas pushed a series of papers across the table to Jack and Lady Niadas. Leaning against the table Ritalassa took a look at the papers and found she didn't understand the script. She would have to learn to read all over again. She looked over at the man when he began to speak again.

"The day after tomorrow is the earliest we can leave. I would have said tomorrow, but unfortunately the one of the supplies we will need won't arrive till then. With Sir Jacks help, we will be able to dramatically lighten our load and increase our speed. There are several stops where I have prepared in advance where we will be able to trade out horses."

Lady Niadas frowned and said "When were you going to inform me of this? If you had, I would plan the horse route better. How long are you planning on running the horses?"

"On my timetable we will reach the entrance to the Lost City in six days."

"The only way we could do that is if we cut down on the personal even more. We might be even able to go faster, if we didn't have to bring your 'mistresses' with us." Lady Niadas glared at her brother.

"They are going with us. That is non-negotiable. Since we are so short on time I find I am forced to accept your proposal of how to split the treasure amongst us. Sir Jack, each of us will only be able to bring six people with us. Will you be bringing others with us, if your not, I would like to bring more people."

Jack said "I expect to bring more people. What of this Empire Princess?"

"I'm not sure. I suspect this may be a veiled threat that they are opening watching us, despite your attending us on this trip. We may have to part with a portion of the treasures we find if our Kingdom becomes a vassal nation. Though that may be better then if the Empire conquers us and takes everything."

Jack nodded and said "If there is nothing else, I will be retiring for the night." He reached out and grabbed Ritalassa.

Lady Niadas stood and led him out of the room. “Sir Jack, I assure you as long as you keep your end of the contract, I will do all my power to aid you.” Lady Niadas said. “In fact I can sign a contract to become a follower of yours if you wish?”

"I would consider it, but I'm afraid that I hesitate to sign any contract with you."

"Perhaps that is for the best. Have a good night Sir Jack, Princess Ritalassa."

While Jack attached Ritalassa to his belt, she saw the cloaked woman hanging near a door. She looked like she was waiting for someone. When they were passing, she called out to Jack and said "So you are the one the rumors. They say you are from the Empire."

"Those are rumors, Princess Felaen. You should surely know the truth of them." Jack said looking at her pointedly.

While they were staring at one another, Ritalassa took this time to examine the woman. It was hard to look at her through the cloak, but she had quite the figure underneath. While she was examining the woman a message informed her she had gained a skill, and a screen popped up.

Name

Felaen Montage

Race

Human

Diffulculty: 5

Age 23

Level 34

HP 300/300

MP 450/450

Princess Falaen frowned and said "I was unaware that my name is so well known in this backwater city."

"Or perhaps we already met, and I simply left no impression on your memories." Jack said.

"Is this what nobility has become since I've been asleep?" Ritalassa asked Jack mentally.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Princess Falean let out a laugh and said "I'm quite sure you would have left an impression on me. You have a strange air about you. It's not magic, nor divine. How curious, I get the feeling you are stronger than me. What is your name?"

"She is perceptive, I give her that. Your energy is very odd Jack. Not many people would notice it at all." Ritalassa commented. Indeed even for her, Jack's energy almost was in the background as if it was never meant to be out in the open.

"My name is Jack, Did you want something Princess Falean?" Jack said.

"Yes, I have some matters to discuss with you before I go see Lord Attomas about joining this expedition of yours." She said.

"I don't believe Lord Attomas will easily let you join, even if you are a Princess."

"Too bad for him, I have an order from his King to let me join or else the expedition will be scrapped."

"What did you wish to speak with me about?"

"Please let's go into this room to speak. Some of these matters are sensitive, I don't wish others to hear of them."

Going into the room, carried by Jack, Ritalassa found that this room was more of a broom closet then an actual room. "Officially I am on this expedition to get a fair share of the treasures for the empire as a good will initiative by your King." She said turning around and looking at Jack.

"Unofficially?" Jack said.

"I hardly care what treasures you take from the city. Just make sure I get a few, and I will overlook what you take. What I am more interested in is Knowledge."

"What Knowledge are you looking for?"

She leaned forward and whispered "The truth about what happened at the end of the Kingdom of Sevaris. From what I have learned, it appears that seven archmages brought the kingdom down for some reason."

"Are you looking for more information about them?"

"Yes, I believe that what they did is still affecting the world to this day. If we don't want to go back into the dark period of the goblin wars and the like, we need to find out what they did and stop it."

"Okay, I understand, but why are you telling me this?" Jack said a little exasperated.

Princess Falaen took out a piece of paper and unfolded it several times. When she did, Ritallassa could see it was a rubbing of a tablet in charcoal. On it were indecipherable characters that made no sense to her, but two large words however did. They were Elerom and Jack.

Jack grew visibly alarmed and said "Where did you find this?"

"There is an island off the coast of the empire. It's basically uninhabited. The entire surface of the island is basically melted glass. Nothing grows there, and magic density is poison to life. Deep in a cave we found the remains of a group of worshipers. This tablet was one of the only ones that remained intact. However, that was not the biggest discovery."

"What was?" Jack said shakily.

"A set of drawings on the walls that have been carved with magic. It was of a man carrying a large glowing ball. That man looks strangely like you."

Jack drew a deep breath and said "What do you know about this group who lived on that island?"

"Not much, from what we have been able to translate, they claimed to be able to see the dreams of a lost god. They were active a thousand years ago, but they were destroyed for some reason. Yet you look exactly like the man in the drawing. Care to tell me how that is?"

Jack narrowed his eyes and said "This meeting was not by chance, was it?"

"No, I found this information several years ago. I have not made head way into it. When I was traveling from this Kingdoms capital, I received word from my god that I would find more information about what I was searching for from the man who the rumors claim to be from the empire. How surprised am I when I saw you."

"Which god would that be?" Jack asked.

Princess Falaen crossed her arms and said "Libres."

"That is the second time I heard that name today."

"He tells me, that you came to his attention, when you began to modify that old temple. Though he has not told me much else about you. Not even if you are a god. Which I suspect you are, I know gods do descend in Avatars, so your appearance in that drawing could be explained like that."

"You said you were here for knowledge? I don't particularly like the Empire knowing about me."

Princess Falaen said "Any knowledge I learn from you won't make it back to them. I know of our reputation, and I admit we do have problems. Those problems can only be solved by what figuring out what happened to the Kingdom of Sevaris."

"Having never been there and only looked from a birds eye view, I have no idea of the problems your Empire faces other then an apparent desire to conquer the rest of the continent."

"I won't get into what I am. Just consider me an avatar. As for why I'm on that wall, I have no clue."

Princess Falean pulled out a notebook and handed it to Jack "Here is a copy of my notes on the group. Perhaps you could look it over and tell me what you think."

"I will do so. Do you know who destroyed them?"

"Libres believes it to be the work of the Seven Archmages."

"What do you know about these seven?"

"Like most of what we know about the Kingdom of Sevaris, not much. What we do know, is that they were incredibly powerful. It is said that they could fight a god to a standstill. They each apparently abandoned their names to take on a code name."

"What were the code names?"

"We have only found one of the code names written down. As to what it means, we have no idea at the moment. It is Avaritia."

"I will think on your words and examine your notebook. If I see anything, I may tell you. But I won't guarantee it."

"That is alright. We will get to know each other better on the expedition. Now I must get to Lord Attomas, before he leaves." Princess Falaen exited the closet, with Jack following her.

A servant was passing by and gave them a weird look. Princess Falaen said "Good Night Jack."

"Farewell Princess Falaen." Jack said.

When she had left Ritalassa said "I think I don't like her. I've dealt with people like her. It's like a hidden snake in the grass, never knowing when it's going to leap out and bite."

"Yeah, lets go back to the Inn, where you can try out your summon, and then I'm going to hit the hay. I'm exhausted."

"You look exhausted." Ritalassa said. It was odd looking up at Jack but he did look dead tired. As if the world was weighing heavily on him. They stopped off at the payment area, where Jack paid for the things he bought and acquired what he bought. Then they headed out for an inn.