Xerte

Xerte rushed towards the falling figure of the Archduchess with as much speed as he could muster. Drawing on his Qi, he lashed out towards the shadowy figure that had attacked her, sending three separate attacks. The woman recoiled, clearly shocked at the unexpected attack.

“Get the attacker! I will get her grace to Argus!” Xerte yelled at his comrades, the lot of them circling the woman. But Xerte did not have time to see them deal with her, he had to save the Archduchess. Spending his Qi liberally, he sped close to the Archduchess, taking her into his arms without slowing down at all. While he did not have Argus’ skill in healing, he did know that the only way the Archduchess would survive was if she got to Argus in time.

The journey to the fortress was painfully long, stretched as it was by the stress he felt. But he did eventually get there, yelling at the top of his lungs as soon as he was within earshot, “The Archduchess is injured! Get Argus!”

The nearby guards immediately erupted into a flurry of movements as a figure rushed out of the fortress. The Medical Association’s chief might have been easily ignored by most of the fortress; Xerte knew that he had long since reached Plant stage. The man was nothing if not hyper capable in his field.

“Let her down onto the water bed. Do it gently, the dagger has yet to pierce deep, but although it hasn't cut into any of the arteries, it is dangerously close to a big one.” Argus said.

“Very well.” Xerte said as he dropped the Archduchess on the water bed Argus had conjured. No sooner had she been laid down than the dagger was suddenly ejected from her body, the water pouring in. Xerte raised his head to see Argus’ eyes glow as he concentrated on healing her. The situation was out of his hands now.

The entire fortress seemed to hold its breath as Argus healed the Archduchess. No one knew how close she was to dying, or if she was already safe and Argus was just cleaning up. No one dared ask.

About half an hour in, the Diamond ranked adventurers arrived with the woman and a very grumpy General Aswelth. Xerte had a vengeful feeling that the woman was not about to have a pleasant day.

“How goes the healing?” The General asked him in a hushed voice.

“I do not know sir. Argus hasn’t looked up in the last half an hour and no one has dared to interrupt him.” Xerte replied.

“Have someone inform me once Argus is done. I have a foreign agent to interrogate. I am sure we will gain a wealth of information from this exchange. And I, for one, look forward to it.” The General said, grinning so fiercely that Xerte almost felt sorry for what awaited whoever had attacked the duchy. Almost.

“Yes sir. I shall keep guard here.” Xerte replied.

The General nodded and went into the fortress, the woman in tow. Xerte returned his attention to the gorge beyond the wall, observing it for any sign of further attacks. The forest that had before been a pristine shade of green had since been wrecked by repeated clashes.

The last fight had completely ruined a large portion of the forest, not that much had remained before. Xerte wondered if they would allow the forest to recover, or establish farmlands in the area. The forest was far from gone, however. The beasts were, according to the scouts, only coming from a certain portion of the forest, likely serving under a single beast.

The turtle from the looks of it. A large portion of the forest still stood untouched, though it was a great distance ahead. The amount of forest that had been cleared of the majority of beasts was many times larger than the duchy as a whole. And yet it had to be no more than a small part of the forest.

Xerte wondered what great threat still lay within those great boughs, were there still beasts of higher levels within? The possibility was high. The Archduchess had once said that a ward stood around the duchy, one that hadn’t fallen yet. What would happen when it did? The duchy could hardly survive another war. Not as it stood.

The Adventurers Guild needed to grow, and so did the other parts of the duchy. Doing that would take time. Perhaps rushing into revenge wasn’t the best option, the new land cleared would instead provide ample opportunity for growth. The turtle’s carcass alone would fetch millions of Spirit Stones in trade, and that was just one of the many carcasses they had gained.

Perhaps it was time that the duchy had a finance organization.

Altura

I woke up refreshed. Far more refreshed than I had been in a long while. I took in a deep breath as I tried to remember where I was. And then my memory came rushing in. The fight with the turtle and the subsequent attack…and the dagger. The dagger! I looked towards my chest, looking for it, only to find my body still very much intact and in my own bed. The work of Argus from the looks of it.

I wondered what had occurred since then. How long had it been? I wish the System had a clock… Actually I bet it did. System, unarchive notifications.

Qi gained!

Late-Treeling stage Turtle King: 35,000 Qi

Invasion successfully thwarted: 50,000 Qi

Calculating further rewards…

Diplomatic skill test: Failed

Error! Operation aborted!

Calculating…

Total Qi gained: 85,000 Qi

Level up requirement met. Level up pending.

Early-Treeling (680688/614400)

Begin Trial?

Clock Subsystem activated.

The System will now show time and date. Use command 'Show clock' to activate.

Wait what. Since when did the System make Errors in calculating gains? And I was going to have to wait on that Trial. Best to get some information from Aswelth about it before I stepped into that. I stood up from the bed, my knees still a bit shaky as a young girl rushed in.

“Please remain seated, your grace! I fear that you have not recovered yet.” The girl said.

“What happened?” I asked.

The girl gulped on that, suddenly nervous. Was I really that scary?

“What is the last thing you remember, your grace?” The girl asked, gravely.

“A dagger going through my body. I presume that Argus healed me? “ I asked.

The girl sighed in relief, stating, “Yes, your grace. The Head will be along shortly, is there anything I can do for you in the meantime? And General Aswelth asked me to inform you that the King has called on you. Apparently it is urgent, and he has demanded to hear from you at once. Though the General did order me to not give you the communicator to contact him.”

The ancestor suddenly appeared behind her, saying. "And good of him. Or who knows what else this young lady would end up doing.” I was wondering when I would see that guy again. Wonder what he was here to say now, the last meeting had been cryptic to say the least. And the timing was suspect to say the least.

The ancestor moved to sit down on the bed, gesturing for me to follow suit. Deciding to see what he wanted to say, I sat down too. After all, what did I have to lose? Especially if he had any advice about crossing the realms. I bet he knew more than Aswelth.

“What do you know of the history of this land?” The ancestor asked. Huh, that wasn’t where I saw it going.

“Very little, though why does that matter?” I asked.

“I fear that things have happened in the background that you are yet unaware of. To understand these things you need to know the story behind this Land’s establishment. I know you have a stage to break through into, but trust me, this is far more important right now.” The ancestor said, raising my hackles. What now? I had just ended a war… Why was there another ‘very important thing’ right at my doorstep now.

“A few centuries ago, when this continent was still mostly uninhabited, its resources lush and plenty, six friends moved their people here. A young Prince brought his people to settle in this continent” the ancestor began.

“A young assassin, escaping her pursuers, established the Jade Sect on the banks of the clearest river she could find.”- A picture formed in the air, a mountain range appearing, and a river running from its borders to a plain. As I watched, buildings appeared on the mountains and by the river, marking them as occupied.

— “A merchant saw gold down the stream and a lush plain full of resources to be harvested and traded, and a princess in exile took control of the Rainforest just past his borders. The rocky gorges then found themselves home to a most interesting group of people, ones that were so altered that they could not be called human anymore.”

“And finally a sole valley on the most southern end was occupied by a young lady with dreams of peace.”

The image expanded southward, spreading to cover a plain, a rainforest and a more barren and rocky area. The little I knew about geography told me that these could not be so close, the map was not to scale.