Cira’s back felt tense—full of knots. She sprawled out with a big yawn as daylight forced her eyelids open. Why do I hurt so bad? There’s no way I would have fallen asleep without enchanting my resting place… Just when did I—Oh…
Cira remembered the back of Gratos’ wrist approaching at speeds which could not be matched by someone who hadn’t trained their body in six years.
Damn… I’ll get him next time.
“My Lady!” Shores fell to his knees, startling and displeasing her at the same time. She was forced to get up.
“Don’t start with that. Why aren’t you training?” Cira got a bad feeling for some reason. “And where is Gratos?”
“We would have apprehended him… but that weird old man you summoned has been protecting him.” Shores clenched his fists.
“You idiot…”
Apparently, Cira was only out for a couple hours this time. She found Gratos sparring with old Io, and thought it could be left alone for now. Surprisingly, those who called themselves her harem were practicing simple conjurations—fireballs, icicles, and the like. Ember had even formed a basic domain. Quite impressive, she thought.
They too were busy, so Cira decided to check in on the junior division. Their morning quiet time was over, which meant they were practicing sorcery and the like. The kids were happy to see her, and one little girl even cried saying how worried she was after she disappeared. None of them could form a domain yet and it was too early to tell if there were any standout talents among them, but their hearts were in the right place.
With determined glints in their eyes, they each showed off as best they could the extents of their sorcery. A breeze fluttered Cira’s hair and a boy conjured a candle’s flame above his palm while another girl doused it with a dollop of water. More than a couple found holy light easier to conjure but the lil’ pirate kid from the other day grew little sparks from his fingers, talking about how he already surpassed Captain Sticks.
Cira made a mental note to check in on him later, but made sure to praise each and every child here. A little advice on their form and some ambiguous fluff to inspire them, and they would become great sorcerers one day, so long as they willed it.
Patiently awaiting nearby sat the young aspiring artificers. Funny enough, they looked to Pita like some kind of master of the craft. He did have a pretty fancy chisel, after all. The boy was attached to the original, so only Cira inlaid some mithril and orichalcum along with some shiny catalysts to support the new enchantments. It had all the functionality of a needle, but in chisel form. The kind of tool only a master could possess and use.
The other day was, however, her chance to impart the boy with a new hammer, designed to look like part of a set. Its weight scaled in reverse to density, so he could swing it with little effort and crack a boulder in half if he channeled enough mana in. Currently it was just a lightweight hammer until he got stronger.
It wasn’t just the gifts in his hands that caused the other kids to look at him with a glint of wonder in their eyes though. He hadn’t even looked up at Cira yet, diligently chiseling some kind of sculpture out of a block of stone she left for such purposes. It looked like a common gull.
“You seem to have been taking good care of them, Yotan.” He lit up when she spoke, “I’m surprised you’re not involved with the Council’s development efforts.”
“Oh, no, not me. Lord Spider seems to have everything under control there.” Interesting… “I believe I’m of more help here, where I can impart my wisdom to the youth of tomorrow. Grandmaster approved as well, so long as I can keep on production.”
She was going to complain about this grandmaster business, but he looked nervous. Seemingly because he did not have Cira’s direct approval. “Don’t worry, you have mine as well. It appears they’re making good progress.”
Much more curious was his last comment. So long as he keeps up on production?
Cira found two forges, and they were behind the table Yotan sat before, away from the children. To each side was some kind of loom looking artifact with a basin of what looked like molten gold beneath it. It wasn’t in operation now, but steam rose from it as if it were cooling down.
“What is this…?” Cira asked.
He opened his eyes wide and got up frantically, pulling golden sheets off the platform and tossing them into a basket, “A special request from Lord Spider and the Immortal Mistress. They require gold paper, but Grandmaster Io helped us develop the loom. I need only operate it.
Gold paper, huh…? Despite whatever’s going on there, none of the kids seem neglected—they’re all on task and excited about their work.
Since they were too young to operate a furnace or most equipment in a forge, they were solely inscribing plaques with familiar glyphs she had dubbed Sunbearer. Apparently Kuja enlisted help for thinning out Archaeum’s slime population as well, and it ended up as practice for the children. A misfired artifact of this kind wouldn’t harm them, so it was perfect to help them get their technique down.
“It’s a shame, though…” Yotan shook his head, “The boy is so talented there’s hardly anything I can teach him. He doesn’t even need my runes.”
“How do you think I feel?” Cira laughed, but it ended in a sigh, “I haven’t been able to teach any my students anything and they just keep getting better. Why am I even here?”
Yotan only chuckled, “Wasn’t it… to help those you care about?”
Not that she had expressed it directly, but Cira was quite worried about leaving so many people who depended on her behind. That was why she decided to extend their instruction to a whole week. Perhaps they’re not quite as helpless as I thought. As if by fate or deliberate intent, her time with them was reduced back to the original couple of days.
That old bastard… He couldn’t have been so sly as to show her that they would be just fine after she’s gone. I refuse to believe it. And what about him? He’s looking less dead every day. Did I turn him into a fully-fledged lich? Eh, whatever.
“Big Sis, look!” Uly was busy training with the big girls, so Pita could only have been speaking to Cira, “I finished it!”
Before her eyes, a stone gull not bearing a single glyph fluttered its wings and lifted off the ground. The other girls swooned as they watched Pita’s gull become a speck and fly over the shore, but he put his hands on his hips and shot Cira a triumphant grin.
“I’ll be damned,” Cira gave him a pat, “You’re already making golems, huh?”
“Yeah…” He looked down, somewhat ashamed, “but they don’t do what I want.”
“Hah!” She couldn’t help it. A golem without orders typically didn’t move. To fly of its own accord away implied it had some will of its own. On one hand, this was similar to what the Paradise Mage accidentally did with the storm, but unlike the storm fiend… This bird was free to explore the horizon. “One day you will realize how impressive that is, Pita, but I don’t recommend you create golems beyond the bounds of Paradise until you have a deeper understanding of your own powers. Use them sparingly.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Their techniques were not the same, but Cira made a couple little golems of her own. A few small birds she enchanted by hand with a needle so he kids could step by step. They other children were amazed, but only Pita seemed to reach some kind of realization after watching her enchant orders into it, despite the boy not using glyphs himself.
This seemed like a good opportunity to let them continue their training as inspiration tumbled around their little heads, and Cira prowled around for the next group to check up on when a curiously constant stream of people walked up and down Breeze Haven’s steps with satchels at their waist caught her attention. Appearing in her garden, Cira found a few handfuls of pirates diligently transcribing books in the grass. They looked quite peaceful working under the sun, and a few didn’t even notice her arrival.
Cira went over to the table she usually had breakfast at and sat across from Kuja, who almost purred as she slept with a smile on her face, atop a book bound in some kind of leather.
“Ahem.” Cira spoke up, jiggling the table a little bit. The old woman with the remarkably youthful face awoke with a start.
“Huh?!” She looked around in a panic, “Cira?! It’s not what it looks like!”
“What isn’t it supposed to look like?” The sorcerer was genuinely perplexed. Didn’t we already talk about this?
“Everything they’re transcribing is from the regular library, I swear!” Kuja nervously tried not to glance at the book she was reading.
“I know. We talked about it before.” Cira let out a chuckle. Did she always act like this in the morning or is her youth starting to settle in? “Divergence of the Flesh? The hell is that supposed to be?”
One look at the cover of that creepy leather tome and Cira was appalled.
“I-it sounds worse than it is, I swear!” Kuja waved her arms in protest.
It was amusing to see her flustered, but it did sound like a compelling read. She shrugged, “Just leave it on the desk when you’re done with it. More importantly, where are all your transcribed books going? I admit, the gold paper is a nice touch.”
“Old man Io helped us develop it, but what else are we going to make paper out of?” Looking around, Kuja had a point. The landscape was all gold, as far as the eye could see. “Unless you want to chop down your orchard then teach everyone how to make paper with wood, be my guest, but I don’t know how. Either way, all of these books are going to Central Elysia’s first library. You should go take a look. I had Mac finish it a couple days ago because we needed the space.”
“Oh? That does sound interesting. I think I’ll stop by the Council on my way over. Guess I’ll catch up to you later…”
Cira trailed off as Kuja was already poring through the ominous book again. Alright, then… I’ll leave her to it. Just for fun, Cira appeared subtly in one of the empty seats when she was certain nobody was looking.
“—I’m not really sure if I can expand them, even with Lord Spider’s help,” Tawny spoke, “I wouldn’t even know what I’m looking for or if the soil was any good.”
“It appears I’ve arrived at the perfect time.” Cira interjected with a smirk, startling… no one.
“You’ve gotten better at concealing your mana, but you still suck at it.” Io spoke from directly over Cira’s shoulder, scaring the life out of her.
“Gyahh!” She failed to conceal a shriek, “What is your problem, Io?”
“Just some wise words for the arrogant—”
“Ahem!” James shouted, looking quite tired and ragged, “To what do we owe the pleasure? You’re your greatnesses come to assist in our efforts to expand the orchard and make way for standard crops?”
Io took a seat and rested his chin on a fist, looking to Cira for answers.
“As a matter of fact, yes. I agree the first library should be stocked entirely with golden books, but we need to prepare for some exports like real paper and potentially even lumber. Of course, food crops are important both for the future of this island and Acher’s.” She put a hand to her chin and gazed into the distance through a veil of sprinkling ale, “Make sure that our geomancers consider widening the island over time, but keep in mind I think it would be smart to retain some underground space for Moonberry plums or whatever else you want darkness for. There is only so much gold, after all, so a well-planned network of catacombs could work wonders for stretching that out.”
“Right…” Dutchy blinked in confusion, “There’s only so much gold, huh?”
“Back to the fields. Tawny.” Cira stared at her student who had been there for the first round, “I hope you still have your notebook, because you’ll be in charge this time. I’ll provide the pile of fish and stake out the new area. You round up all the mages you need to move stuff around, strain the river, and grow plants, water them and such. I’m pretty sure we have someone with nature mana floating around for you. Anyway, everything we did the other day will be in your hands. I’ll go talk to Mac and enlist some geomancers to send your way.”
“Hang on, I’m not ready to do all that!” She was utterly distraught, jumping out of her seat as if she could feel the mana around Cira.
“I have absolute faith in you.”
As Cira appeared in front of a charming city entrance, trees uprooted below the Agora and the entire orchard was crushed within the soil. At the same time, a section about double the size was flattened while Cira softened the rock until it turned into golden sand, more like the starting state from the first field.
She mulched her own field up, but it was her students’ job to mix it all together. It would take them forever to gather the fish themselves though, so Cira plucked them out of the sea and made a neat pile next to the newly designated field. As one last courtesy, she drizzled some unsalted seawater over it all.
The walls to her second founding city was grand and shiny as opposed to that of Stygian Deep, but it was the people that built it this time. Glimmering brick and tastefully wrought bars for the gate so one could see Elysia beyond. All made of the same material, of course. There were even people in the streets already, though they seemed to be primarily moving materials from one place to the other.
She pushed against the gates and found they opened smoothly with a surprisingly satisfying silence. That there is a finely crafted gate. Cira was already impressed. There were obvious storefronts, albeit empty, and further up the way existed homes where some folk had already started putting their things.
Someone had even taken into account including nature features and parks, though it appeared they were lacking in soil at this stage. There were storehouses and other workshop type spaces available. The city wasn’t large, at least not yet, but it was nice to see the team being so thorough.
Unfortunately, yes, there was a church. The man responsible for convincing Mac was certainly already known as Reverend, though it wasn’t hard to imagine how much support he had. Hell, Mac’s mentor Rictor was a believer.
She ignored the church for now and took a little trip to the library. It wasn’t hard to find, because she could follow some of the book-carriers. They had apparently walked about a mile to get here from Breeze Haven.
The road was paved with brick gold, noticeably enchanted to improve the malleable metal’s durability. On closer look, the buildings all seemed to share similar enchantments, seemingly forged into the material itself.
Her library stood tall with panoramic windows on the second story that would look great with some glass. That was something Cira didn’t think she could make out of gold, so perhaps they wanted to fill them in later.
The steps had similar handrails to the sides like the curled wrought iron from Breeze Haven, and when she walked through the doors it was exactly as she imaged. It was almost a bizarre sight seeing bookcases made of gold, full of gold books, in a library of gold… Somehow, they tied it in together pretty nice.
High ceilings and a more contemporary design with straight lines and gentle angles hid much of the gaudiness inherent to the material. Impressively enough, they already had a couple bookcases full, despite having a great many empty ones.
“What do you think?” Mac floated in through the door, perched on his rock beneath the crimson flower Cira gave him.
“Believe it or not, I am beyond impressed,” She leaned against the reception desk, “with the whole city really. I can tell you studied those books I gave Rictor.”
“Oho, no need to flatter me.” He said that, then proceeded to brag, “Most of these bricks are hollow, you know.”
“Tch. You think I didn’t check the bricks?” She could have taken another five or ten percent of material out of them especially with a few good enchantments, but she was still impressed to see their progress.
“Yeah, yeah, ever the vigilant one.” With a few click clacks, he crawled over to the edge of his little island, “Rictor has really come a long way though, and I get all the other earth mages after their morning run.”
Apparently, they had guys for making bricks, planks, and other such materials in the after noon, so those who didn’t have lessons could assemble them in the morning for another crew of mages to meld it all together after lunch, then finish off the heavy lifting as well.
“Fine, I get it. This is quite the efficient system you’ve devised. Remarkable progress for just a few days, I must say.” It was nice to see the spider was actually so reliable, “Oh, that reminds me. Tawny needs some geomancers to expand the fields. Probably a fair amount of your best ones, and maybe even in constant rotation for a couple days. Feel free to relieve them of their physical education and lessons during this time.”
“What?!” He sounded frantic, “But that pushes us back… days! I wanted to finish the aqueduct by tomorrow evening!”
“You’ll only have to revisit it when the fields are complete, so I’d say I caught you at a good time.”
“I… I guess that is more efficient.” Cira thought so too, “You’ll have your geomancers… I’ll send them to the orchard. And that reminds me—you should probably find Jimbo. Came here with a paladin looking for a book to help fix his leg. He probably thinks you forgot.”
“Right…” It was on the list, but now was as good a time as any. “Thanks Mac. Keep up the good work.”
And she was gone.