by John Nest
“Yes, my lady?” answered Vrai, flapping her thick Druid coat as she bowed down before Sierra.
“You and Ardu and the rest of our men will stay here,” began Sierra.
At once, Vrai was about to dispute her orders but was silenced with a stare.
“We don’t want to let King Adrizol think that we’re warmongers,” explained Sierra. “Relax, Nenek and I will be fine.”
Vrai nodded. “If you insist. Ardu and I will have our men ready if you call.”
“I bet,” said Sierra, pleased. “Well, we’re going now. So, I’ll leave you to it.”
“Take care, my Lady,” said Vrai and bowed down once more.
Sierra and Nenek set off on foot, giving them plenty of time to catch up.
“… Listen, I got a hundred new Acolytes, do you want them?” asked Nenek.
“Of course! All your graduates turn out to be awesome,” answered Sierra, grinning. “But, how come you’ve never taken another Sonstwelter?”
“Ha!” exclaimed Nenek. “The last one turned out to be such a pain in the ass!”
After an hour’s worth of walking and catching up, the two of them finally reached the outskirts of Centeo City. An excited Sierra looked up to see her starting city again. Yet, her smile vanished when she saw the overpopulated capital of the Chayotl Kingdom. Several houses had been built outside the city walls while the walls themselves had large cracks as if portions of the wall were about to fall off.
“What happened here?” asked Sierra.
“Adrizol says it’s ‘Progress’,” answered Nenek, doing air quotes. “After lowering the prices of houses, Sonstwelters began building them to the limit.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” said Sierra.
“You’d think, but I don’t know… Feels like he’s been neglecting his Zectian subjects lately,” went on Nenek. “But not those Knights of his. He loves them alright!” she vehemently added. ” Supposed he trained a bunch of them in secret. They just popped out of nowhere and the city was filled with them overnight. Now, the capital looks like it’s covered in algae.”
Sierra looked skeptical but kept an open mind. As the two of them reached near the city gates, she saw thousands of green Knights patrolling the homes of the Sonstwelters.
“Best not to make eye contact,” whispered Nenek.
“Greetings, citizen!” said one of the Emerald Knights. “Can I offer my assistance in any way?” he asked with a smile.
“Thanks, but no,” answered Nenek. She pulled Sierra’s arm and led the way towards the palace. “They like to make an appearance about how helpful they are. But they just give me the creeps.”
Looking around, Sierra noticed that most of the green Knights were offering their services to Sonstwelters. Some of them were leading the Sonstwelter’s mounts while others were made into sparring partners, both magical and physical. There were even some who were cooking for them.
“They don’t seem that bad,” said Sierra. But then she became aware of the Zectian residents. There were porters looking for work, but no Sonstwelter would hire them because there were green Knights at their beck and call.
There were still market stalls owned by Zectians, but not even flies bothered to visit them. All of the business went only to the shops owned by Sonstwelters.
Finally, Sierra and Nenek reached the inner wall. There, they were politely greeted with another Emerald Knight.
“Lady Sierra, Madam Nenek, please come in. King Adrizol has been expecting your arrival.”
“Yeah, yeah, Sheesh!” answered Nenek.
Inside the courtyard, the garden was well kept and filled with other Sonstwelter visitors.
“Maybe it’s not so special to see this King after all,” mumbled Sierra.
They were led into the throne room. Where an empty throne was waiting for them.
“Please wait here for a while,” said the Emerald Knight.
Seconds later, a handsome middle-aged man stepped out from behind the throne. His green royal robes glittered in the sunlight.
“Ah! You must be Lady Sierra,” said King Adrizol, smiling. “And what an honor to see a living legend in our midst. Welcome, Lady Nenek.”
Both Sierra and Nenek bowed down before the congenial king.
“Greetings, your Majesty,” said Sierra. “You summoned me?”
“Wow, straight to the point. I like that,” said King Adrizol. “Well, it’s about your village. I heard that it has grown so much that it could probably be recognized as a city now.”
“What!” yelped Sierra, surprised. “What do you mean?”
“It’s simple really,” began King Adrizol. “If you would allow some of my inspectors to visit the city, they could gauge if it’s acceptable to pass the standards as a city of the Chayotl Kingdom.”
Sierra’s eyebrows met. “Hmm… Would there be any Sonstwelters involved?”
“No, of course not,” answered the King. “Only the kingdom’s assessors and a few of my Emerald Knights.”
“And what exactly would happen if we become a city?” asked Sierra.
“For one, you’ll be the first Sonstwelter to have made a city from scratch in all the kingdoms of Zectas,” explained King Adrizol. “Also, you’ll have rights to do commerce with other cities. But most importantly, I’d like to put an end to this squabble you have with Coatl City.”
“Say what now?” blurted out Sierra.
“I appreciate the help that you and your partner have done in defending Centzo City,” he went on. “I would have loved to put a stop to it myself, but my funds were lacking and so were my men. However, now that I have enough power. I do not wish to see such a thing happen again to any of the cities in Chayotl.”
A dumbfounded Sierra stood there with her mouth slightly ajar.
“So, if you become a city I’d like to offer you my protection and settle the matter with Duke Burmistrz in the royal court,” stated King Adrizol. “What do you say? Shall you accept my offer and become a city of Chayotl?”
“First of all, let me just say that I’m flattered,” said Sierra. “But I’d like to run this decision with my friends before answering.”
King Adrizol smiled. “Very well, I see no problem with that.”
“Your Majesty, I have one more question,” went on Sierra. “What would happen to Duke Burmistrz if the royal court finds him guilty?”
“Well, he’ll be removed from his post and imprisoned,” flatly answered King Adrizol.
Nenek tapped on Sierra’s shoulder. “Are you done now?”.
“Huh? What do you mean?” asked Sierra, confused.
“Your Majesty, I’d like to voice out some personal concern,” blurted out Nenek, completely ignoring Sierra.
King Adrizol nodded. “Please do, I’m here to help.”
Nenek took in a deep breath. The saggy skin on her neck heaved deeply. “Why is it that you’ve neglected your Zectian subjects? Your men only buy goods from Sonstwelter owned shops. Also—”
“Now, now, wait a minute! I resent that!” interjected King Adrizol. “Neglected? Didn’t I lower your taxes? Didn’t I provide food rations for everyone? Frankly, I have my men buy from the Sonstwelters because they are selling superior products.”
“Then give us better lands to farm, and better boats to fish in,” countered Nenek.
“I’ve already sold them to the Sonstwelters,” answered King Adrizol. “They pay more. You know that, right?”
“But what about us?” asked Nenek, teary eyed. “Are we simply to resign ourselves and accept your magnanimous alms?”
“No, of course not,” he answered, furtive. “What about this? I shall have a council drawn up, and they will be tasked to evaluate how to better the lives of my Zectian subjects. After all, I want what’s best for everyone.”
“Thank you, your Majesty,” said Nenek, enthralled. “I would hope to hear from your men soon.”
* * * * * *
Back in Mictlan, Smoke and Jeter had been running to and from the vine-br
idge. Both of them still unable to hit any of the chaneques.
“We’ve been at this for a while now. Maybe, we should do something different?” suggested Jeter, putting down his spear and resting.
“I know,” answered Smoke, preparing a meal for himself in the middle of the bridge. “Let me get some soup while you recover your Soul Points.”
Jeter sat cross-legged on the bridge and concentrated on regaining his SP. Whereas, Smoke pondered on another method. He tried using his Earth Manipulation, poisoned arrows, even his Moon Blade’s Lunar Force failed.
He did, however, make a significant discovery. The chaneques were not completely immune to magic. After which he made a mental note. ‘Not everything that Baba and Mitleid told him was set in stone.’ As the only thing that worked was inflicting the chaneques with Berserk. Unfortunately, he ran out of mana before the little red imps could kill themselves.
Then, Baba, Sharur, and Laernea arrived. They had gone off to a different Insel to complete Sharur and Laernea’s Light Bringer training.
“Any progress?” asked Baba, sitting down next to Smoke.
Smoke groaned. “None!”
“Well, have you tried hitting them from here?” suggested Laernea. “Sharur was the first one who came up with the idea. What with him being a Range Sieger and all. I think they don’t really know they’re being attacked unless an intruder is on the Insel.”
“I see. Now, why didn’t I think of that?” said Smoke, shaking his head.
At once, he stood up and equipped his bow. Knocking the arrow into the string, he searched for a chaneque. But all he could see was the tall grass the horned imps were hiding in.
“Don’t think, just pull with all your might,” said Sharur.
“Alright, let’s give it a shot,” said Smoke. He inhaled deeply and released the arrow.
+ Attack hit chaneque. Damage 8,750.
A red horned chaneque stood up, looking around the Insel, bewildered. Its life bar displayed (246,250/250,000 SP).
‘This could work,’ he thought and went back to eating.
“That’s it?” asked Sharur, impatient. “Aren’t you going to finish it off?”
“I will, right after I’m done eating,” replied Smoke. “Need my MP maxed out.”
Sharur walked to the other end of the bridge, pissed off.
Baba stood up, following the burly OrkElf. “Why did you tell him about attacking from the bridge?”
“I didn’t. Laernea was the one who did that,” answered Sharur.
“But you still encouraged him,” went on Baba. “You know, I could just help them out and we’d be done already.”
“No, I want to see what he does,” said Sharur. “I want to remember why I followed him.”
“Oh, alright. We’ve got an eternity to kill anyway,” said Baba.
When Smoke was done, he stowed away his utensils and equipped his bow and readied his quiver. Standing on the edge of the vine-bridge, he pointed the Berserker’s Ring of Flames at the grassy Insel. The floating island was covered with a red casting circle and flames came out from the inscribed runes. He counted twenty of the red imp monsters stand up. All of them had gone Berserk.
“Play! Play! Play!” said one of the chaneques as it attacked its comrade.
“Weee! Fun! So fun!” yelled another as it did the same.
Smoke was grinning as he heard the chaneques’ voices. They kept chanting the same lines as they continued attacking each other. With his increased mana, he was able to hold the Berserker’s Flames for six minutes.
As soon as he spent all of his MP, Smoke released a torrent of poison arrows, striking the confused chaneques. With the red imps’ life bars halved, he easily picked them off one by one. He killed five of them before the others could hide in the tall grass again. But even then, he continued blindly striking the grass with his arrows. Eventually, he vanquished all twenty of them. Afterward, he ran over to the island to collect his arrows, and loot if there were any. Sadly, the red imps dropped none.
“Wow! Beggars really are amazing,” said Baba, walking up next to Smoke.
“Sharur told you I’m a Beggar?” asked Smoke.
“No!” replied Baba. “Let’s just say I’ve known a few of them, back when I was alive. Besides, I don’t know of any other Job that could use sword, bow, and magic.”
Smoke studied Baba’s expression, but found no malevolent intent. “I see. Anything else about me being a Beggar?”
Baba smiled and slapped him on the back. “Well, because you’re so awesome and amazing, we’re taking Jeter with us to train.”
“What? You’re gonna train him?” said Smoke, dumbfounded.
“Don’t worry. I’ll show you how I’ll train him,” said Baba. “Jeter, go pick up your spear.”
Then, both Baba and Jeter walked into another lush floating island. As soon as they did so, the horned chaneques stepped out from the grass.
JANG JANG JANG JANG
Fervently, the DarkElf Bard played a fast beat song on his lute. At once, Jeter felt energized, but strangely enough, the chaneques also began dancing around in circles.
“Go ahead, attack them,” Baba said to Jeter while playing.
Jeter shrugged his shoulders and mechanically stabbed the nearest red horned monster. His eyes almost popped out when he felt his spear pierced the dancing chaneque.
“Well, finish it off,” instructed Baba.
Despite Jeter’s attacks, the injured chaneque continued dancing as it gnawed and gnashed its sharp teeth. After over a hundred spear stabs, Jeter finally killed his first Mictlander. But before he could attack the next chaneque, Baba stopped him.
“Alright, that’ll do,” said Baba, dragging Jeter away. “Save some for when we really train.”
With that, both Baba and Jeter rejoined Smoke, Laernea, and Sharur on the bridge.
Hurriedly, Smoke ran up to Baba and grabbed him by the arm. “Let me do that too! It’ll be a lot quicker than what I did earlier.”
Baba strongly shook his head and removed Smoke’s hand. “No, no, you proved that you could do this on your own. Besides, they say something worthwhile happens when you do it by yourself.”
“Just stick with it, you’ll be fine,” said Sharur. “Bet you’ll be done before Jeter.”
“Exactly,” added Laernea. “After all, you are Smoke.”
“Let’s meet at the barren Insel near Monstro Afiado,” said Baba, patting him lightly on the shoulder. “Take care of yourself. It’ll be months before we’ll see each other again.”
With that, they left Smoke alone to fend for himself.
“Fine! I miss grinding anyway!” shouted Smoke to them.
While waiting for his mana to recover, Smoke blindly attacked the chaneques left on the second Insel where Jeter got his first Mictlander kill. Even though his MP had fully recovered, he only managed to kill five of the chaneques hidden in the green. He pondered whether to use the Berserker’s Ring again, but detested the idea of waiting for his mana bar to recover.
‘If only that grass wasn’t there,’ he thought, annoyed. Soon after, a mischievous smile crept up on him.
While still standing on the bridge, he launched thirty-two fireballs into the air. Using his Fire Manipulation, he turned them into fiery flame swords, which he sent hurtling towards the green floating island. Yet, his intention was not to attack the hidden chaneques. Rather, his flaming blades scorched the tall grass that kept them from him.
“Hey! Who took my hiding place!” cried out one chaneque.
“No fair! No fair! I like being hidden!” shouted another.
The rest of the surviving chaneques screamed similar words of protest. But Smoke did not stop until all the tall grass of the Insel was burned to ash.
In a daze and confused, the chaneques bumped into each other, complaining where their grass had gone.
Smoke then had his flame swords set to auto attack the chaneques. Once, his fiery blades received their new set of commands, he returned
to firing his poison arrows.
This time, Smoke cleared the floating island of chaneques in a third of the time.
“That’s better,” said Smoke. Using his Hyper Jump, he got onto the floating island and collected his arrows.
Hours piled on, and Smoke continued searching for grassy Insels. He always left them scorched and barren. He was not bothered by this, as it only took a day for an Insel to completely recover.
Along the way, he would find vine-bridges connected only to floating islands with great ponds. He dared not attack the coyotls, as they were water based Mictlanders. So, he settled to train on his Manatl barrier and simply passed through them.
Yet, after clearing his tenth floating island, Smoke still felt that he was not fully utilizing the time difference in Mictlan with that of Zectas’.
‘There’s got to be something else I could do?’ he wondered. He thought about planting crops and harvesting them but realized that the return in zecs would not be worth the effort. ‘Something that would otherwise require a long time to finish,’ he thought, adding context to his own mini-project. Then, inspiration struck him. Hurriedly, he opened his acquired knowledge window on ‘How to build a Dragon Hatchery’.
He looked around and searched for a barren Insel. Fortunately, the next floating island was just the place he wanted. Using his Earth Manipulation, he created a kiln according to specifications. He wondered if there would be anyone else that would venture round these parts in Mictlan, but risked it anyway. Sacrificing three of his ember stones, he put them inside the kiln and gently added the three wyvern eggs in his possession. “Time well spent,” he said out loud, grinning. He then ventured to the next vine-bridge in search of another grassy floating island.
For the next couple of weeks(time-based in Mictlan), his world revolved around the barren Insel with his specially made kiln. Despite doing the monotonous and arduous task of conquering chaneque filled Insels, Smoke was still unable to hit the chaneques when he faced them on a frontal melee battle. Although, his Archery and Manatl Barrier did increase, and so did the progress bar on his wyverns from hatching.
However, the weeks had turned into months. The fast moving time of this realm had finally gotten to him. He was almost at his limit. Not even the prospect of getting a wyvern made him smile anymore. ‘Maybe after ten-thousand kills?’ he wondered, hoping it would be similar to when he gained the abilities from the horned rabbit, armored armadillo, and dire fox.
