“The new world, Alkerd, was a land of new promise. After the intercontinental war, society once again settled on the land, instituted laws and so forth and so forth. Nonetheless, in throwing away the shackles of the Old World, we turned to Meristocracy as a form of governance. Blue blood no longer conveyed a place of power; instead, based on deeds and deeds alone, the worth of people was judged and if they were cut from the clothe that made leaders, class notwithstanding, we raised them to sit at the pinnacle of society. It was another form of nobility without the ludicrous trappings of power from generations afore. From there, we had families of military, magic and merchant bent who rose to take their place as the leaders that run our towns and cities to today.-”Excerpt from Valerith Quillworth’s, Alkerd: New World History

“ How’f this happend?” Nora asked, as she stuffed herself on crepes.

“Hmm?” Arthur murmured, looking from his pretend maid to the other girl sitting close to him indulging in their own breakfast. The two seemed to have entered some sort of competition over who could stuff themselves faster.

Umbra the grimalkin was also eating from her bowl near the breakfast table; of the three, she was probably the most polite in her table manners. Elena sighed, catching his gaze.

Arthur shrugged; something else held his attention. The object provided by the Arcis; who was now not so little anymore and seemed to have grown to the size of a preteen, still had his attention.

“Are you going to keep staring at that?” Nora asked, dusting off the crumbs from her lips. “You’ve been zoning out again.” She scowled at her breakfast; stress cooked courtesy of the man of the house.

“You also cooked more than we can eat; well, what most of us can eat anyway,” she gestured at her rival who’d wiped off the rest of her food. “What kind of monster is she?” she quirked her eyebrows. “She eats her weight worth in food and grows taller overnight.” She gesticulated in mock hysteria.

“Don’t look at me.” Arthur shrugged helplessly. He’d barely eaten his share of the food, instead, he prodded at it until it was cold.

“Why don’t you ask her?” Elena chipped in. “ No, wait, are you just okay with that? What kind of fantastical places have you been to?” Elena added, head swiveling from Arthur to Nora.

“Synth! I’ve been dying to have someone ask me,” she interrupted almost giddily. “ Isn't that right papa?” that deflected the conversation elsewhere. While Arthur was grateful for the save—

“Papa?!” the elder women exclaimed looking goggle-eyed from him to the silver haired pre-teen. Then they burst into a fit of laughter.

‘Hey now,’ Arthur winced. ‘You don't have to rub it in’

Nora paused mid-giggle to point out that while he’d announced the adoption, hearing it and seeing it were two very different things. They could not help finding amusement in it.

Being a father in the twenties was not unheard of in Eryth. But even at twenty five, it was so far removed from his sensibilities that Arthur couldn’t help but feel he was not ready for such responsibilities.

He and the adopted synth had discussed at length what they required from one another. Arthur helped nurture the wayward girl because insofar as she seemed smart in her own peculiarities, she was still a child because the spirit that caused the chain of events that led to her existence seemed to be young.

It was the most shocking revelation that Arthur had heard that morning. He’d assumed that [Spirit-Body] and [Host-Mind] were just esoteric terms that the synth used to name her personalities.

The man didn't know what to make of that anymore. How a spirit came into contact with a dungeon core was a matter investigating yes, but Arthur didn't know who to ask. Maybe he could ask the elder, he was just a hail of the Psiphone away after all.

Arthur cast about for another topic of conversation to prevent things from a further spiral into awkwardness; he caught onto Elena looking at enveloped letters at the breakfast table. She’d finally settled into her role as a secretary.

“Elena, anything I should be apprised of?”

“Yes Master Sturm— “she coughed “Sorry, Master Arthur. Letters arrived from the Phylandirs and the Flasksunders asking for an audience.”

‘Ugh! I knew It was only a matter of time’

“Tell the Phylandirs I’m indisposed for a while; as for the Flasksunders tell them I’ll entertain their request at a later date. Maybe later in the week if my schedule frees up.”

“Acknowledged,” Elena replied.

“And are the books on enchanting any helpful?” Arthur asked.

“Yes, they’ve been much help,” she beamed. “All I need is the practical and I’ll be able to get the class soon.”

“That’s good to hear,” Arthur smiled. ‘She’s gonna need materials and reagents for that. But she already knows I have a secret lab.’ “When you’re ready let me know; I’ll make the workspace available.”

“And Nora, could you please take Arcis to madame Apaxvn for me? She seems to have outgrown her clothes,”. He said looking at Arcis who wore one of Nora’s blouses that was a tad too large for her.

“What about the town Guard?” Nora asked, quirking her eyebrows.

‘Welp, that’s sticky; how to explain this?’ he looked at Arcis as he contemplated what to do.

“I think I’ll have Elena pay them a visit to apprise them of the situation. Tell them I’ve decided to adopt Arcis,” he winced. Her smile was bright…too bright. “I’ll be in the workshop,” he announced leaving the rest who broke into a gaggle of girlish banter.

For all his faults, Arthur was still a human from a 21st century Earth, a fast moving world where everything lay at the touch of a button. He was used to staying connected and perhaps once manifestation of such a tendency was having had the Psiphone on the breakfast table.

Inasmuch as it was an unconscious act, even now Arthur was still fiddling with his new gadget. Of course he was cautious; staying well away from anything that would induce an equivalent of the shakes whenever thoughts of facing his repressed memories resurface.

There was however, one potent combination that pushed him over the edge; the urge to see how close one can skirt the line without consequences and the fear of missing out—both were manifest as the follies of youth. Thus, alone at last, Arthur did what he implicitly said he’d not do, he made a date with his ghosts.

All it took was a split-casion to swipe into the former gallery, denoted by the iconography of the memory rune. The world burst into life around him; illusory images, and phantasms came alive and seared into his retinas, pierced through his optic nerves and imprinted itself onto his occipital lobe. He recoiled as if struck; and the Psiphone clattered onto the work desk.

Lights were too bright, sounds too sharp even the thumping of his own heart as it pumped blood sounded like a team of dwarven smiths hammering away in the inside of his head.

The edge of the work desk beneath his clenched fists groaned from the enhanced strength he’d unconsciously brought to bear. Arthur was suddenly forced to walk through the recorded memories, the captured images, faces blurred past him as the phantasm took on tangible qualities.

Voices buffeted him on all sides, accompanied by ambient sounds that he’d never thought captured in a video. One time he was hiking in the Swiss Alps, another he was in a Subway cafe ordering some longs, another instance he was on the sidelines watching a familiar face in a boxing ring.

He found a smile coming to his face when the girl with the same color of hair and eyes as his turned around from their partner and said, “ Oh hey Arthur, didn't see you there.”They had the most infectious grin; a filial feeling bloomed in his chest before he was whisked into another scene.

This one was so familiar; of a plane on the tarmac, jet turbines were at full blast, the sun was setting dyeing the wispy clouds dusky oranges which much subdued compared to Erythean sunsets.

In horror, he realized it was from his dream and moved, as though he thought it was all a reenactment. “ Hey Arthur,” the girl turned around. “ We did good saving for vacati—” the image froze—it burst into pixels before he reached it.

Arthur suddenly found himself back in the lab, starting one hand hanging in the air while another grasped the edge of the work desk. He’d impressed indents on the stone from the enhanced strength he’d unconsciously brought to bear.

Arthur tasted iron in his mouth; blood was dripping from his nose. His breath came in gasps and minuscule sweat beaded on his brow as if he’d done a cardio rep in a sauna. And there it was. He had been teetering on the edge, indecisive whether the trove of recorded memories stored on his phone had been lost to him and dreading what he would find.

It had been the cause of his brooding at the breakfast table. And the ostentatious delivery of the Psiphone using phantasmal magic to display videos and pictures was the shove on his back that sent him flying off the metaphorical cliff of no return

“ I’ve really gone and done it haven’t I?” he murmured as [Regeneration] patched his nosebleed.

Like a slap to the face, his denial had hit him in the most painful way possible. Now he had to face the question of the plane seat that sat in the corner of the workshop— his other memento from another world.

To face the fact that he’d not only been running away from his memories but also absolving himself of the agency that came with the knowledge. Arthur had never felt so wrong and only [Eye of the Storm] could keep his mind from descending into further chaos.

That said, he still didn’t know her name. His hand lingered over the memory rune, wanting to touch it just for the screen to suddenly light up again with a message.

[Host-Mind]: Notice; Predicted probability of accessing memories at fifty percent. The message coalesced into the top of the crystal screen.

‘Oh, so now you're using percentages?

[Host-Mind]: Observation; adverse reaction was unprecedented

[Host-Mind]: Conclusion; memory repression was a self defensive reflex. Would advise refraining from further memory retrieval until enough information is had. The memory rune winked out of the screen.

“ Hey! You can’t do this to me,” Arthur bellowed at the Psiphone even as he watched the rune disappear, by gradually graying out. He slammed his fist on the table top.

“ Dammit!” he cursed. ‘I was so close,” he gritted his teeth. Drawing himself up, he unclenched his hand from where he’d slammed onto the table while he wiped off the congealed blood with the back of his palm. The Psiphone chimed again.

[Host-Mind]: Update; Auntie Nora incoming non-hostile encounter with Guardsmen.

“ Huh?! What’s going on?”

[Host-Mind]: Entering telepsychic silence until further notice . To send [Message], hold psi symbol—

A rune floated up the screen like a bubble rising up to the surface of a pond,

think [Message], compose; release to send.

As the message faded out, a befuddled Arthur felt betrayed that his personal phone had been allegedly and magically hacked into and held hostage. Worst of all it was by the same entity that had ensured that it was possible in the first place. He was still reeling from the shock when Nora ported in from her shadows visibly flustered.

“Arthur…Arthur! —; They took her Arthur…”

“Took who and where?”

“The Guard, they came for Arcis when we’d just come out of madame Apaxvn’s. But they let me come back to tell you to appear before the council.”

Arthur swallowed; he peered at Nora scrutinizing her face. She couldn’t lie to him he knew that and besides she was visibly distressed.

“I told her to go willingly; we can sort this out right?” she said with a rueful smile.

“Uh, yeah…I guess we can. But the council?”

“Wait,” Nora blurred in front of his face, Arthur stumbled back with a yelp. “I smell blood!”

”It's nothing, something happened but [Regeneration]patched me right up...what about Elena? Where is she?” Arthur said, deflecting as he self-consciously hid his bloodied palm behind him.

Nora paced, then looked up as she let her hands fall against her sides. “I think they detained her too,” but her silver glamored eyes still flitted from his hand to his face. There was a worried, and questioning expression on her face, ” That’s how they knew Arcis had come back to the mansion.”

“I would have thought we’d just be meeting the Guard. But the Council? What’s got them so spooked they went all the way to the top?”

“I don’t know,” she rubbed at her elbows; “we can’t fight our way out of this with our fists it seems.”

“I think you should get the guildmaster…I’ll get Edel; let’s go Nora.” Arthur began to move, heading for the lift.

“Wait... you're hiding something from me.” Nora grabbed his wrist. She suddenly retracted her hand.

“Nora….I, look. There's some things I can't tell you. At least not yet.” He sighed. “Things have been chaotic, even more so than usual.” he lifted up the Psiphone.

“You kept staring at it at the breakfast table.” Nora's eyes zoned in on the gadget. “What is it?”

“Think of it as our very own telecry,”

“The Elder gave that to you?” Nora took a step forward. She tried to peer over the crystal screen which had gone as dark as obsiderite. Though the Psi rune was still glowing like a notification LED.

“There's lots of things I have to tell you about Arcis too, ” Arthur pursed his lips. “For one, she made this...I didn't. And if she let herself get taken–”

”What are you saying? She's just a child!” Nora exclaimed.

“Even you know she's not normal,...look, she's not like little Nyke,”

A grim look crossed her face; her hand trembled a little before she stilled it.

‘That was a slap!’ Arthur thought as he swallowed thickly. ’Wrong thing to say Arthur–’

“You just need to trust me…”

Nora threw a thumb towards the back of the lab. There, two golems stood still and silence where the Lux crystals had not been lit.

“Really?”

Arthur responded with a tentative shrug of his shoulders and a defeated sigh.

They rode double to the Lalilab’s Estate. Edel dropped everything to get his private carriage prepared while Nora rode to the Guild to get guildmaster Orhill.

The building that served as the seat of the merchant’s families’ council also doubled up as the administrative centre of the Guards; though the barracks were a separate installation.

It was a several storied complex separated into two main wings branching out from the centre. One wing was for the guards and the other for the town administration employees; a convenient placement for attending to administrative and security issues.

At the front of the building was a group of guards led by none other than the guard sergeant Garyson Grizzlythorn himself. He looked stiff and no less stony than the last time they’d met.

“Ah Master Arthur; I was worried I’d have to come after you,” he grinned smugly. “Glad you saw the sensibility of coming by to clear the air and put some things behind us.”

Arthur snorted in amusement. The youth was unfazed by the jab as they got out of the carriage. Edel led the way, he being in the know about where the council seat was; on the third floor. They were flanked by the town guard all the way. An attendant led them to their seats to wait for their session to begin in earnest .

Not long after, guildmaster Orhill made his way in, dressed to the nines in Guild regalia. He frowned at the town guards posted on each corner of the room, doing their best to appear as though they were fixtures beneath his notice. Most of them shifted uneasily.

“Ah, Edel…Arthur! ” Orhill said, dropping the serious facade. “Good you came to get me; I was already on my way here when your maid came to get me.”

“Guild master, thanks for coming,” said Arthur to the older man as he got up from his seat; Edel just nodded nonplussed.

“Hmm, nothing to it, It’s a formality for the guild to be at council’s seatings anyway.” Orhill said, sitting on an unoccupied chaise.

“Uh, where’s Nora?” Arthur asked, looking from him to the door behind him.

“Oh, I had her go back to your estate so that nobody would have the gall to try something while you’re away.”

“Good thinking,” Arthur sighed as he sunk into his seat. Today was rather shaping up to be a rollercoaster. Orhill frowned seeing his contemplative look.

“Something on your mind boy?”

“Nothing to be concerned about guild master Orhill,” Arthur smiled thinly as they waited. The old man was rather perceptive when he wanted to be.

They waited for half a quart before they were called in, past a pair of ornate double doors that had the insignia of Aldmoor; a sword and pickaxe crossed over a shield that had a tree on it—a colossi rougewood.

The council room was a big room that was lit by a skylight above as well as large airy arched windows. The council member’s seats were arrayed equidistantly around a crescent shaped table where the members of the merchant council sat on high backed chairs.

From left sat a bald suntanned man with a garibaldi beard the color of brown chestnut; the second sat a stern faced woman with a eyepatch and a scar peeking out from where her left eye used to be, she had black hair that was graying at the fringes; the third was a regal almost sunny woman with sandy colored tresses; followed by burly man with a complexion that was the colour of dark chocolate–this one was bald as well but had a beard and thick eyebrows that almost covered his eyes.

The last was a sleazy looking man bedecked in gaudy ornaments who had a hawkish nose, thin lips and a well-oiled handlebar moustache.

There was mirth in his eyes as if he found their audience amusing.

Edel and the guild master went to take their seats a distance away from the right end of the table. On the other side was a trio of [Scribes] with stationery.

They were also flanked by the wintry gazed Larissa; captain of the town guard whose eyes were closed and arms folded as if she was meditating.

She was decked in armor like the guard sergeant's; her right pauldron was the head of a lupine creature with jaws mid snarl and a pair of red gems where its eyes would be. Her badge was black with blue edges—black Mithril; a Mithril ranker.

There were no introductions from the council members; it was already assumed that whoever came before them would have been apprised before then. And Arthur knew every single one of them.

However, having been told the protocol beforehand, he was to stand before the council and wait for them to prompt the session’s beginning.

And of course it had to be the sleazy man, Eugene Phylandir starting off the session. He had the slimy look of a used car salesman; Arthur stifled a grimace.

“Arthur Sturmdrache—” Eugene began as if reading a rap sheet. “Mage of unknown origins, powerful enough to warrant noble status…which cannot be verified despite his apparent wealth.

Source of income; unknown as of yet. I wonder if he’s been paying his taxes? Ah, pardon me–he paid his mortgage and included taxes in full too. Though I have to ask where does a mage such as him get his money from when all he does is coop up in his mansion?”

“Get to the point, council member Eugene,” Larissa grunted from across the hall with narrowed eyes. “I have duties to get to; I didn’t come here to hear your monologue”

While this was happening, Arthur had a stoic face on; Whether it was meant to be an implicit jab at his dubious origins he didn't even react. Council member Eugene frowned.

The merchant lord cleared his throat before leveling his gaze on Arthur as though trying to be intimidating. There was a sneer trying very hard to mar his plastic smile.

“Hmm,” he groomed his handlebar moustache. “Fellow council gents and ladies. Imagine; a mysterious girl appears just after a mana wave washes over a quarter of the city. Its origins; the mansion of a noble with dubious origins,” he said the word noble mage with distaste as if it was bitter medicine.

“The same noble whom our dear guild master just happened to find in a forest and who just happened to be in a position to help with an aberrant dungeon—

How do we know they didn’t break the dungeon? For all we know the girl, who wears the skin of a human and yet is not, could be a form of monster that devours dungeons or a form of forbidden magic. And it just so happens they deemed this same girl a stranger, took her to the Guard and a few days later she was back to the same mansion as if she knew where to go.”

“What are you getting at, Phylandir?” the gruff man with a garibaldi beard said. That was the Flasksunder’s patriarch if Arthur remembered correctly.

Eugene Phylandir sneered, “I say this was an attempt at subterfuge; they might be working with the Void Syndicate to usurp our town from right under our noses.

They ingratiated themselves with the Adventurers Guild to get information on us; from Orhill no less and then released the girl to scope out our defenses at the Guard barracks. I heard that the girl didn’t even talk and barely looked like a sixth yearling but now? —I hear that she looks twice as old and speaks. How do we not know she is not a monster or a changeling?”

The rest of the council members had doubtful expressions. Some could see where Eugene was coming from but others were rather skeptical.

“Council member Eugene; for all we know that might be a lucky number of coincidences…” said the woman with the sandy coloured hair—Hanna’s mother

‘Yea right,’ Arthur thought, rolling his eyes inwardly. ‘ Anyone with two cells worth of brain can tell they're just a string of unfortunate coincidences’

“How do we know he hasn’t bought your house to his side. It is oh so rumored that he has been responsible for the discovery of a reliable source of Pyrtherite.”

“Hey! I don’t know what you’re getting at —,” Edel stood up. Arthur had never seen the quiet alchemist so worked up. “Take that back; the Pyrtherite we made is not for weapons.”

“Councilmember Phylandir,” guild master Orhill interrupted. “Need I remind you that the dungeon and the Void Incidents are separate events? It does not seem like their modus operandi at all. Please reserve your judgment after examining the facts,” Guild master Orhill intervened.

“Ooh, I have seen the facts all right. Guild master–” Eugene whirled to face him. “ What do you have to say for yourself?” he said, pointing an accusing finger. “What is the nature of your relationship with this man?” Eugene asked.

“I am afraid I cannot answer that council member.” Orhill said with narrowed eyes. “ The Guild is a neutral entity and has the right of way to make decisions that won’t be questioned as long as they do not harm Aldmoor.”

“Hmm, and what’s got you so secretive?” Phylandir sneered. “How would you explain his association with our dear Alchemist then? He does have a cache of synthesized Pyrtherite somewhere on his estate does he not? It is not a regulated material whatsoever, at least not yet. But it was still made through his and the Alchemist’s effort. Pray tell, what was he going to use it for?”

“That’s preposterous Eugene and you know it! I would never consort with a man who would put our citizens in danger.”

“Then clear our doubts Edel. What was he using it for and why would he have helped you make it and not demand credit for it. I’m sure that were anything untoward to happen in our fair town, you’d be the one taking the fall.”

‘He just wants to rile us up and hope we let slip. Actually, his suppositions are too full of holes; what's his endgame?’ Arthur contemplated.

“Fuel; that I’m sure…” Edel huffed, letting himself fall back to his chair.

“Council member Eugene,” the eye-patched woman sighed. She looked bored with the back and forth that seemed like it would go on for the rest of the afternoon if they let it.

She looked to the other woman on the council who was still impassive and drumming her fingers on the table no doubt deep in thought.

“I think this has gone on long enough,” Rhea Shadowmantle said. “ If we were to talk about the web of things that don’t make sense about the young man in front of us? “ She shook her head, “It would take more council seatings to unravel them; time which we do not have for one person.”

“Council member Rhea—” Eugene started.

Rhea’s eye glinted with contempt as she steamrolled him, “Eugene; we know your antics,” she waved away his attempt to speak as she regarded the other members of the council. “This issue is straightforward isn’t it? Here we have a powerful mage—,” she looked at Larissa; Larissa nodded in acknowledgement.

“And I would wager he is not affiliated with the Mages Guild or the Mage Academies; since we can’t prove whether his intentions are benign or not…why don’t we let him prove that he can be useful to our town? Aldmoor was built by its own citizens after all…”

Excepting Eugene; the other council members nodded to show their approval. “In light of the fact that he’s already contributed to Edel’s research; which is by no means a small feat. I propose that Arthur Sturmdrache be put to work—”

‘Wait, I get to say something?’ Before Arthur could protest. The woman went on,

“According to a quota of earnings from the value of his services. Think of it as a form of residential tax.”

“Huh?!” Arthur gawped. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“Perhaps you are mistaken, Arthur Sturmdrache. We as the council of merchants are being rather lenient.” The Lalilab’s matriarch, Odessa finally spoke. She kept her voice even and cold. Even her husband was surprised.

“You are an unknown; we have observed as much and that is why we’re making a decision that neither favors nor antagonizes you,” she paused. Then she regarded her husband.

“I would like to think everyone just needs a little incentive to show their true colors or their true capabilities. And even I agree with councilwoman Rhea; we cannot have idle powerful human resources just sitting around.”

“But I did pay my taxes in full; surely my residential tax was covered by the mortgage.”

’Feck it, I didn't want to use my Vouch of Identity if I could help it’ Arthur seethed.

“That is true; however, this town thrives off commerce and paying off the mortgage in one lump sum is a show of wealth. We cannot allow you to isolate yourself from the economy. It is a rare case, yes, but there is a clause for such things,” she narrowed her eyes.

“Perhaps if you were of the Mages Guild it would have been an altogether different matter because they pay for the presence of their branches and members in this town.”

‘Crumb! Was the residential tax’s mortgage contingent on how long I was going to be paying it for? So that’s why’, he internally face-palmed. He cursed not reading up on tax laws in the town. In hindsight, he'd had so much on his plate. It was also a little too late that their secretary, Elena, was not privy to their residential arrangements.

“What about the girl?!” Eugene said, trying to salvage the momentum of the debate. It was rapidly slipping from his fingers. “Surely she is even more unknown than this young man?”

‘I wonder how they’re going to handle that’

“Council member Eugene; the girl is not a monster,” Larissa shut him down. The way she regarded a council member brusquely without being reprimanded spoke volumes about how influential she was even though she wasn’t on the council.

“However, her magic is strong enough to rebuff both mine and the guild master’s [Analyze] skill; that she is not hostile is thanks to mister Arthur here who she calls her father,” she smirked towards Arthur.

Arthur felt a shiver crawling down his spine. There were some susurrations in the council seat after that revelation as they deliberated among one another.

Arthur was getting tired of standing; was it a show of superiority? They didn’t treat him with contempt; in fact, he would have said that he didn’t faze them. Though, in the end…they were truly merchants after all. Always weighing costs against benefits.

Perhaps he should have been glad to have flown under the radar for that long—that it had taken a while to draw the council’s attention until they considered him someone worth discussing was solely his fault to blame. More so when there was a wily merchant like Eugene who snooped everywhere opportunity could be found.

Finally, they came to a decision; that Arthur would work as mage providing services to Aldmoor according to some periodic contracts .

As for Arcis, well, she was going to be held under observation by the Guard until further notice—such a subtle way of saying that they had leverage over him.

Of course she could break out by herself but that would just mean that they’d have to fight the whole Guard. Not to mention there was a Mithril ranked captain and a Gold ranked sergeant in the town.

Things would’ve been much worse, like being under the Nightcrawler’s thumb. This situation? It only expedited what he was about to do; build the aership as fast as he could.