[06.15.AC0119]
[Ashford Homestead]
Gilbert was in the barn with a set of tools, he had just finished running errands for Bael and so he decided to opt to go for his newly developed pastime, trying to fix the Earthland Radio.
A handful of radios were salvaged from the Stormtrooper Attack from a while ago and so Gilbert decided to try and repair one so he can eavesdrop on the conversation of Earthland so that he can track their movements and check if Melissa and her group managed to evade Earthland as a whole.
Truth be told, Gilbert wasn't any special trooper as he was just a grunt. Many from his group were just nobodies within Earthland with no chance of climbing the ranks. Why? Cause all of the more glamorous positions and ranks were taken by the Elites of Earthland, those born with higher education, deep pockets and more importantly connections. And those who stand against them are often sent to die, he and his friends were a testament to that considering they were sent to the Meat Grinder.
Taking a break from the tinkering of the radio, Gilbert stepped outside to breathe the fresh air as he looked at the Ash Tree on the horizon.
According to Bael, she had been carefully tending that tree as part of her studies; whatever it was she never told him. And yet for some reason he found himself drawn towards the tree as the next thing later he found himself standing in front of the tree again.
"This is bad," Gilbert said as he shook his head and walked away. "If the Master saw me here she'd be livid."
And yet he cast one last lingering look on the tree and for a moment he saw the same sword from that night embedded onto the tree, he took a deep breath and shook his head. He was probably just hallucinating that's all, and then opted to walk back to the mansion's grounds where he found both Bael and Aerial discussing something.
"Ah there you are Gilbert, I have a job for you." Bael said, crossing her arms. "You are to accompany me to the Merchant District of Versa and be my baggage carrier."
"Fair enough, never been to that place though, will I be fine?" Gilbert raised a concern.
"It's fine, we have non-magic people go there as well, not everyone in Urdheimr has a Magic lineage after all." She said and then reached into her bag and pulled out a set of papers. "Also fill this up, I need to register you as my actual Servant."
"You need paperwork for those?" Gilbert asked in confusion.
"Of course, Servitude to a Mage is a newly developed way for us to gain more citizens in Urdheim." Aerial said pulling out a large ledger containing various certificates of various Servants with the words [CITIZENSHIP APPROVED!] stamped over each one. "Work hard and if you earned the approval of your Master you're going to be approved as an official citizen."
"Sounds like an easy way to trick people into slavery." Gilbert said, which was true. The main flaw of this system was that this has no requirements other than the approval of the Master. So they can easily keep the servants under the pretense that they don't approve their citizenship.
"Well who am I to judge, I agreed for this after all." Gilbert said as he started filling up the paperwork most of it was already filled by Bael who gave him the name 'Gilgamesh Thronos' as his Legal name within Urdheimr likely to mask the fact that he is a defector from Earthland.
"Right now that's sorted out," Aerial said, summoning a horse drawn carriage. "Onwards to Versa!”
Versa was a coastal City located off the Urdheimr border far from the battle of the war as it was protected by massive Aquatic Prana Beasts that aided Urdheimr's navy against Earthland's own navy. As a result, there are many people that flock to Versa not only for sanctuary but to start over as it was home to a variety of shops causing a nice source of income.
According to Bael, aside from the fact they have to file in the paperwork legalizing his servitude they also have to attend an auction of a Dead Mage and they were hoping to score a handful of items from said Mage.
But there was one small detail that Gilbert anticipated.
Servants were not allowed to be in the Auction.
And so after storing the things they bought into the carriage, Gilbert decided to wander around town and look around to see what he could buy. But what caught his eye was a little boy in his early teens, 12 years old thought it was hard to tell considering he looked malnourished, with messy blue hair and steel blue eyes that had this feral look on them as he was being beaten up by a group of merchants who were likely angry that the boy stole from them.
"I shouldn't get involved," Gilbert said to himself as he decided to get involved.
The action hall was filled with all sorts of Mages all of which were eager to get a slice of whatever this mage had left behind.
"Whoa we got some celebrities amidst all of this Bae-Bae," Aerial said looking around as she spotted a handful of other famous Mages. "And all of that to get Solomon the Grand Caster's belongings."
"That's because Solomon the Grand Caster is the most powerful mage to ever live, Aeri," Bael said as they both took a seat and watched. 'I wouldn't be surprised if members of the High Council were here.’
Eventually everyone present went silent as the auctioneers arrived and started the selling process.
Being daughters of the Ashfords and Wilhelms, Bal and Aerial managed to easily buy a handful of items that were once owned by Solomon. However they were easily outbid by more wealthier Mages that were present and the best thing that they were able to acquire from Solomon was his dueling wands, both are 15 inches, one made ashwood with the core of a phoenix feather the other blackwood with the core of a thunderbird feather.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Eventually everyone present went silent as the auctioneers arrived and started the selling process.
Being daughters of the Ashfords and Wilhelms, Bal and Aerial managed to easily buy a handful of items that were once owned by Solomon. However they were easily outbid by more wealthier Mages that were present and the best thing that they were able to acquire from Solomon was his dueling wands, both are 15 inches, one made ash wood with the core of a phoenix feather the other blackwood with the core of a thunderbird feather.
"I can't believe we got outbid," Bael said as she was holding the 15-inch, Ashwood Phoenix Feather Wand in her hands. The wand was pale white with flame like engravings onto it, the handle had the likeness of a Phoenix. "I was aiming for a book or two."
"Are you kidding me? The fact we scored these two dueling wands is worth the fortune we spent for this." She said waving her 15-inch, Blackwood Thunderbird Feather Wand. The Wand was pitch black with lightning engravings unto it while the handle had the likeness of a Thunderbird.
"Well yes that is true but the thing is that I need it for my research," She said, tempting to explain to her what she had learned about the tree that she was growing as well as studying for a certain sword from legends of old.
"That reminds me," Aerial looked around with a concerned look on her face. "Where's your boy toy."
"He's not my–" She paused and looked around and went pale. If they found out that he is an Earthlandian then this may complicate things.
"We need to find him."
[VESTIGE:SUNRISE]
In a nearby restaurant, Gilbert was rubbing the bruise he got on his face as the boy was eating a large amount of food. But then the Kid stopped as he suddenly choked on his food causing Gilbert to give him a worried look.
“Take it easy kid, nobody's gonna take your food.” Gilbert said handing him a glass of water, fortunately he was given a large sum of money to buy whatever he wanted, likely clothes and other essentials, but he didn't mind spending a large sum just to help a hungry kid.
‘Remember Gil, true strength comes from kindness. Be strong enough to be gentle.’ Those were the words of his adoptive older sister before she disappeared, being sent off to an unknown mission to never come back.
“What's your name,” Gilbert asked, giving the Boy a kind smile, wanting to know more about the kid and hoping he can be friends with him.
“Mika,” He said, taking a bite from the "People call me Mika."
“Mika?” He asked in confusion, to which the boy nodded as he continued to eat. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Aerial and Bael arrived with a worried look on their faces.
"Oh hey, wanna grab something to eat?" Gilbert offered as Mika had a guarded look on his face as he was silently reaching for a dagger on his belt.
"Mages." He said in a low voice that showed clear disdain which he managed to hear causing him to speculate what the poor boy went through that led him into such a sorry state.
Bael was about to say something but then the boy erupted into a blast of black smoke enveloping the restaurant, the smoke wasn't harmful and all it did was obscure the vision of everyone present. As soon as the smoke cleared the food was gone and so was Mikaleaving everyone confused.
"Impressive, the kid knows basic illusion magic," Aerial said with an impressed look on her face.
"Don't praise the street urchin, check your pockets." Bael ordered as she checked that her wallet was still present, the same goes for Gilbert and Aerial who to their relief their pockets were still intact.
"Now that's out of the way," Bael said, aiming her new wand at Gilbert, causing him to flinch and the tip of the wand began to glow bright.
“Where on Vestige were you?” She said with an angry look on her face.
“Got bored, wandered off and helped a kid.” Gilbert said in a panicked voice.
“Now Bae-Bae, he was only being nice.” Aerial said, placing a hand on Bael who was still glaring at Gilbert all the while the other patrons of the establishment were looking at them.
“What's going on?”
“Looks like a servant is getting scolded.”
“Poor guy, looks like he's helping the kid earlier.”
"I'll spare you the scolding for another time, in the meantime we need to go home. Gilbert nodded and sighed, all the while looking around hoping that Mika hasn't fully left the area.
'I hope we meet again,' Gilbert thought to himself.
Later that day, Gilbert was lazing around the room that Bael provided him as his thoughts still linger to the 12-year-old Mika that he met earlier. A part of him wanted to plead with Bael to take him in as well so he can have a better life but he knew that she'd say no to him and that he doesn't have the right to make such requests.
'Meet me by the tree, now.' He heard her through the Arcane Collar she had given him.
'On my way.' Gilbert replied back as he got off the bed and started making his way to the grounds where both Aerial and Bael were discussing something, it was heavy with Magical jargon so he wasn't able to follow most of their conversation.
"You can't expect to some Earthlandian to wield supreme power just 'cause some Artificial Tree threw a sword at him!"
"I'm telling you Aeri, this will become my Thesis, my shot at becoming an Archmage. Bael said excitedly.
"Listen Bae-Bae. Strange Artificial Trees distributing swords is no basis for an Archmagedom." Aerial said, crossing her arms skeptically as Gilbert jogged towards the two of them, once again he can see the sword jutting out of the Tree much to his curiosity.
"What's going on?"
"Good there you are," Bael said, handing him a book. Gilbert then proceeded to open the book and read it's contents, this lasted for a few moments until finally Gilbert spoke.
"Yeah I can't read." Gilbert said, causing Bael and Aerial to place a hand on their faces in mild frustration. "I'm just a grunt, we're only trained to point and shoot, not study Urdheimic."
"This book is about the Legend of a Powerful Sword known as Sunrise," Bael said, taking the sword from his hands and reading a passage from the book.
"By the base of the World-Tree lies a great sword, an Unbreakable Sword meant to usher in the start of a new age. This sword will cause the Sun to shine on the World once more." Bael said, closing the book loudly. "The Sword Sunrise."
"It's just a fairy tale, a kids story," Aerial said sceptically once more.
"Show her the Sword," Bael said crossing her arms, Gilbert looked at the Sword that was still embedded into the tree, he walked towards them and then grabbed the sword. He felt the hilt and then pulled the Sword as it fully materialized causing a bright light to erupt from the hole from which the sword.
"What the hell?" Aerial said in awe as the light of the sword subsided the sword was now in Gilbert’s hands, Bael was about to explain further the situation but the Sword floated up in the air as it pointed towards him and the next thing he remembered was the sound of Bael calling out his name as he blacked out.