Descal

It has been three days since that promise I made, and I am really tired. Having to go back and forth to throw off our pursuers and spending sleepless nights tends to drain a lot of your energy. Not only that, I am really starting to drain my stockpile of gunpowder trying to rig some traps to slow down any potential pursuers too. The good or bad news is that we are getting close to Gorge City and the Misty Forest.

The Misty Forest is THE reason why I didn’t want to take this trip by myself during the late summer season. During the late summer season, the fog gets really heavy making it really difficult to stay on the path. If you stray off the path in the Misty Forest, you might as well commit suicide since you are going to probably die a slow painful death as the forest slowly consumes you. To make things worse, the path changes every night so at least one person has to stay awake the whole night to watch how the path changes.

To top it off, the Misty Forest is also known for illusions that trolls travelers to the extreme. The illusions won’t be that much of a problem for me since I can focus some mana in my eyes to see ultraviolet reflections instead. Since the Misty forest tends to focus on fooling organisms that see visual light, it uses illusions made of visual light. As a result, if I see using ultraviolet light instead, I can literally see through the illusions.

Anyway, before we even think of beginning to cross the forest, we are going to need to stock up on some supplies and that means entering the Gorge City. I am positive that there are going to be assassins there just waiting for us. It is really infuriating trying to decide what the hell I should do. While I was pondering whether I should leave Cecilia outside the city walls and go by myself, a small cracking sound broke me out of my trance. Right. I should get back to Cecilia.

Since the assassins have Cecilia’s blood, I sort of had no choice, but to teach Cecilia how to fight. I have no formal training whatsoever with swords, spears, axes, and any weapons so I was really lost on what I would train Cecilia on. Then, Cecilia reminded me of the pistol, and with a heavy heart, I decided to teach her in the ways of the gun. Surprisingly, Cecilia had really good aim. She seemed to automatically “connect” with the pistol when I first gave it to her to practice with. However, since the pistol is only one shot, I had to think of other ways to teach her how to fight. So I decided to make her a Long Bess rifle. I already got a flintlock mechanism premade as well as the wooden frame so I really just needed to make the rifled barrel. At the moment, Cecilia is practicing with a smooth bore since I did not have time nor the skill to make a rifled one yet, but she is enthusiastically practicing with her new musket. We also have daily sparring practice in which I attach a knife to the end of her musket, and I just have her attack me. I am pretty sure that there are bayonet stances, certain ways to grip the gun, and methods of stabbing, but I never learned those things so I have her learn the hard way. Trial and error.

It turns out that she is getting pretty good. I don’t know how she will fare against experienced warriors, but she should be able to hold her own against the usual grunts or bandits. If an enemy above her level appears, hopefully she can shoot the person before she has to resort to melee. When I went back to the camp, I saw Cecilia stripping a bird of its feathers. Wow. She managed to shoot it through the head. Once Cecilia got used to the gun, she has been consistently getting headshots with it. It scares me how fast she has improved with the musket.

After sitting across from her, I began to wonder if I should bring her into the city with me. It would be far safer to post her outside the city with the undead horse so if she got attacked, she could easily run away. I could tell her of a predetermined location to…

“You’re thinking of leaving me outside the city walls. Aren’t you.” (Cecilia)

“Damn you are perspective.” (Descal)

“Well. You might as well stop because I am going to make that decision for you. No. I am going to go with you.” (Cecilia)

“Why? You know that there is an ambush.” (Descal)

“First, you suck at haggling. Like my gods. You spent a silver coin on a weak piece of rope. Just how? Second, how are you going to defend me if I get attacked when you aren’t around? I am not confident in escaping even if I have an undead horse with me. Also, I still have problems being next to that pile of bones. It still creeps me out. Three, I want to sleep in an inn for once and check if my subordinates are there.” (Cecilia)

“…but…” (Descal)

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear it. I am coming with you.” (Cecilia)

“Fine. Do you want help putting on the hair dye or…” (Descal)

“I can do it. I’ll ask if I need help. Also, since this is a city, for the entrance, take of your mask. I don’t want another run in with the guards.” (Cecilia)

“Yeah. Yeah. Oh. Remember. It is the jar with three stripes. Not two stripes.” (Descal)

“Are you still carrying around that pile of shit??? I thought you threw it away!” (Cecilia)

“No comment.” (Descal)

After Cecilia went to the nearby creek to start washing her hair, I began to start sharpening my knives. After that, I unsummoned the undead horse. Starting now, we will go on foot.

Once night came, we climbed up a tree, and Cecilia slept on the thickest branch we could find. I tied Cecilia to the trunk in case she accidently fell off. It turns out that our stalkers never expect for us to be camping up in the trees. I remember one night when they actually went by underneath us one time. Ever since that night, I made sure to be even more unpredictable with our path. Of course, I don’t sleep. I can’t afford to. I try to catch up on my sleep while we are riding. I tie a blindfold across my eyes and have Cecilia control the horse. It sucks. A lot. I had to use some magic on my body to alleviate the side effects of sleep deprivation.

I look down at my arms. Due to my overuse of magic recently, the veins on my arms went black. Not only that, my pupils have begun to glow red at night. I’ve managed to hide it from Cecilia because of my mask but… I need to get to the mountains and do that damn ritual. My body can’t handle any more of this.

I knew that Cecilia fell asleep when I began to hear muttering from her side of the tree. I learned a lot about the “commoner” princess over the past three days. In order to pass the time, we decided to tell stories to each other. It didn’t take a genius to piece together who the “main character” of her stories were. It turned out that her mother was the king’s secret mistress. Since her mother wanted to live a life away from politics, she lived in the commoner district in secret. However, one day, the king’s political opponents decided to bring Cecilia and her mother into the fray. They did so by poisoning her mother. Cecilia still cries at times during her sleep over how her mother just wasted away through delusions and paranoia and died a skeleton of her former self. At the time, Cecilia thought that her mother only got ill. It was only when she entered the royal court that it was poison.

Yup, her sniffling has begun. The stress must be really getting to her. Maybe it is a good idea to bring her into the city. Hopefully, Cecilia can get one good night’s rest at an inn before we get attacked.

Cecilia

“And then the mermaid lived happily ever after.” (Descal)

“Where in the world do you get these stories?” (Cecilia)

“Ehh… I guess I had access to a lot more bards than you.” (Descal)

“Nonsense. I call bullshit on that.” (Cecilia)

“OOOOO. The princess is cussing again.” (Descal)

“I gave up on talking clean two days ago. Shut up.” (Cecilia)

“Well, I gave my story. Your turn.” (Descal)

“Hmmm. I got nothing. The rest are the really common stories that everyone should know about.” (Cecilia)

“Humor me. Tell me the common stories that “everyone” should know about.” (Descal)

“I guess you are thinking that you are not included in that “everyone”. Well, haven’t you heard the story about The Promise?” (Cecilia)

“Nope.” (Descal)

“Where have you been living? In a cave? What type of intelligent species that is capable of understanding speech doesn’t know about that story?” (Cecilia)

“Is that an insult?” (Descal)

“YES. Like what the” (Cecilia)

“Oh look there is the city. C’mon. the line is pretty short.” (Descal)

“Don’t CHANGE the subject like that! Only shitty nobles do that! It’s SO obvious. HEY! Don’t run away! Come back here!” (Cecilia)

Of course, he doesn’t listen and runs off. What type of bodyguards just runs off like that? Then again, he could probably come over to me in a blink of an eye if I was in trouble. He is simply shrouded in mystery. He is capable of using this insanely useful space magic. If that’s not enough, he can also use magic without chanting. I have never seen a wizard use magic without chanting. Not even our court mage does that. I know this guy isn’t human, but what type of species is he? I tried asking, but all I have gotten was that he was “kinda human”. What? What type of answer is that? When I caught up, Descal has finished talking with the guard and began to update me on some information.

“It looks like your subordinates managed to make it to this city and has gone on ahead.” (Descal)

“Thanks. That’s good to know.” (Cecilia)

“We should shop for our stuff first, and then go find an inn. If anything, I want to be prepared for an ambush tonight.” (Descal)

With those words, we went shopping with Descal once more surprising me with how much money he had. I remember when he first pulled out these gold coins that had my eyes pooping out of my head. Those coins had an extremely high gold content. They were worth three of the kingdom’s gold coins. Descal seemed surprised at how valuable the gold coins he pulled out was. Then, he seemed to go into a bad mood and began muttering something about scammers. Was Descal a noble of some sort? Or did he come from a place that did not frequently use money? All he does is give me a headache at his utter cluelessness at times.

We ended up buying more food, some clothes, and some horses. At the alchemist guild, we splurged on a bunch of chemicals and saltpeter. At the blacksmiths, we bought some knives, scrap metal as well as some charcoal. When I asked Descal why he wanted charcoal, he once more tried to avoid answering my questions. I have a sneaking suspicion that charcoal is one of the necessary materials for the powder, but I am not sure. I remember asking the alchemists to see if they knew anything about a black powder that explodes, but the alchemists merely gave me a blank look. Sigh. Well, I hope the Court alchemist will have some better answer. Currently, Descal is the only one that has access to that powder and if he goes away, I won’t be able to use this gun anymore so I need to learn how to make it. Descal has been very quiet on the manufacturing process so I have to find out myself. However, it is easier said than done because I have not seen Descal make the powder yet, and I possess very little knowledge about alchemy so I am in quite the predicament regarding this issue.

“Hey, we’re here. We’ll stay at this inn.” (Descal)

“Sigh. You know… With the amount of money you have, can’t we stay at a better in than this?” (Cecilia)

“I chose this inn because this inn will probably complain the least when it gets destroyed, and since there is like nobody going to this inn fewer people will die. Also, the location is pretty good for escaping.” (Descal)

“Wait. Why would anybody die? We are the targets!” (Cecilia)

“Well… they might get killed in the crossfire. Explosions kill everybody around it so…” (Descal)

“Oh god. I didn’t consider that. Maybe we should just sleep on the streets or something. I won’t be able to…” (Cecilia)

“Relax. I’ll think of something.” (Descal)

… And think of something he did. He ended up getting us a room that was a reasonable distance away from the other customers. His reason for it was that he wanted some “time” with his girl, and it might get loud. The innkeeper just looked me over and just gave us this room.

“Did you have to choose such a vulgar method!! He looked at me like I was some slut! Have some sense of decency. In the morning, I don’t know if I” (Cecilia)

“And we got a room in which no one will die.” (Descal)

“I give up. I am sleeping on the bed. Can you makes sure there are no bugs?” (Cecilia)

“Yeah sure. Go ahead and bathe in the tub. The innkeeper even heated up the water for you to clean yourself before our “fun” time.” (Descal)

“Don’t. Push. It.” (Cecilia)

“Yes princess…. Aren’t you going to tell me not to look?” (Descal)

“I gave up. You saw me naked numerous times. You had multiple chances to take advantage of me. I have never seen you get sexually aroused with my body. Either I have no sex appeal or you are impotent. I think it is the latter.” (Cecilia)

“You little” (Descal)

“Yes. HAH. How do you feel being teased! Not so fun now is it!” (Cecilia)

“Ha. Ha. You got me.” (Descal)

That felt real good. Throughout the trip, Descal loved to tease me and piss me off to no end. He is extremely good at getting under my skin. SO good that it infuriates me. I really want to sick Lehai on him, but I have a feeling that Lehai is the one that gets beaten if he ends up dueling with Descal. As I sink into the bath, I let out a groan. One of the benefits of royalty was the baths. It was one of the few perks I had ever since I began living in the castle. The only bad news was that now I had the time to think and my mind to wander. I don’t like it when my mind wanders. All that I think of are all the problems I have, my fears, the future, and my mom’s death. It just fills my heart full of anxiety. In the past, I could cope with it, but now, with all that has happened, it has become unbearable. When I began to think of the time that my father declared me the crown princess, I ended up cutting my bath time short.

“So soon?” (Descal)

“I’m just tired.” (Cecilia)

“Huh. Well, now might as well be the time to inform you of the forest. So if there is no ambush, we are going to leave early in the morning into the forest. When we enter the forest, we are going to loop a rope around each of us in order to makes sure we don’t wander off. Now this forest is dangerous because of illusions. It will try to get you to leave the path. Don’t trust anything you see. Just stay on the path. At night, the paths will change so one of us needs to stay up to watch how the path will change. The forest will actually bend the path, and the trees will begin moving to try and confuse you so be careful. Also, don’t eat anything in the forest. That is why we bought so much food. The forest will even use illusionary magic to make the fruits alluring, but don’t fall for it. Especially the mushrooms. Don’t eat the mushrooms. You will be tripping for days with those things. Are you listening to me?” (Descal)

“Do you think I would make a good queen?” (Cecilia)

“What? What type of question is that? Pay attention. Besides you have a bunch of other siblings that would get priority over you so why are you even worrying? You’re chance for the throne is like…” (Descal)

“My father declared me the crown princess two days before the coup.” (Cecilia)

“….” (Descal)

“Yeeah. I know. Surprising isn’t it. I felt that way too. What do I have over my siblings that makes me “queenly” material. My brothers are probably far more prepared than me. They’ve been training for the throne since they were born. So why me? If it wasn’t for that decision, the coup would probably not have happened, and I won’t be in this stupid mess. This…” (Cecilia)

I tried to continue, but tears began to come out from my eyes. Why can’t I just live a normal life? I just wanted to live like my friends. Probably go work in a shop or even become a merchant. Why can’t everything just go normally? First, I am royalty. Okay. Next, I am crown princess. Gulp. Then, a coup with war at the corner. Who knows how many people will die. Will my friends get drafted into this war? How many people will die? Can I even survive? It just feels like I am being made fun of by fate. Having responsibilities getting crammed down my throat at every turn. When I ask Urgurtz or Lehai for their opinions, they simply give me vague or generic answers. I don’t KNOW what a great queen is. I don’t want the stupid throne.

I felt some warmth as Descal began to pull me into a hug. I began to unload my tears onto his shoulders. I have never had someone to cry on ever since my mother died. It's comforting to have someone where I can simply relieve everything in front of. No tutors telling me to keep a poker face or telling me to keep up appearances. Just releasing everything on someone's shoulders.