Friend — Maribelle

As I walk back towards the Valbeck mansion, I brainstorm ideas for covertly sabotaging the tournament. I come up empty. Something about using underhanded methods to accomplish my goals feels wrong. My mind keeps drifting back to thoughts of just taking over the city or something. If the Arvali host this tournament, they probably do other things I don’t like. I suppose I’ll find out when I meet them. Joseph probably won’t be happy if I declare war on them at the party. I will have to try my best to keep things civil.

I stop for a moment when I notice a girl staring at me. She is sitting under a cherry tree in the yard of a mansion that appears to have been recently repaired after sustaining severe damage. She wears a glowing crystal tied to a twine necklace. Her hair is long and black, and her eyes are locked with mine. What catches my attention is that her aura is around as strong as mine. Granted, she looks a bit older than me, but it’s still impressive.

I walk over to her. There is a wrought iron fence between us, but I climb over it. She raises her eyebrows, but doesn’t seem to mind too much.

“Hi there, I’m Maribelle,” I say, sitting down beside her underneath the cherry tree.

“Ah, you’re Samuel’s secret daughter.”

I let out an involuntary snort of laughter. I almost forgot that’s my cover story here. I sit back and smile at the girl. She picks up on my amusement and lets out a giggle.

“So who are you really?” She asks.

“A commoner. Joseph mistook me for a noble because my aura is strong.”

She laughs, her face contorted into a look of utter incredulity.

“And you just tell me this? A complete stranger? What happens if I tell someone?”

I shrug.

“I suppose it’s not a secret I really want to keep. I’ll tell everyone eventually.”

“It’ll create quite the shit storm when this gets out.”

“Well, there will probably be bigger shit storms by then, so it doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean by that?” She asks.

I look her up and down, thinking about what to say. I have a good feeling about her.

“What’s your opinion of the Arvali family?” I ask.

She turns to look at the mansion behind her, various parts replaced with newer stone where large chunks of the old building were destroyed. She touches the crystal hanging on her neck.

“My family was once suspected of being revolutionaries. I was the only one the Arvali let live. Of course, I have deep gratitude for their mercy.”

“Cool. So you hate them. Wanna help me and Joseph sabotage the royal tournament?”

Her eyes go wide and she places her hand over my mouth, looking left and right to check if anyone is eavesdropping on our conversation.

“Are you insane? Don’t speak treason in open view of main street!” She whispers.

I squint at her. She clearly doesn’t understand who she just made friends with.

“Why don’t we go somewhere more private?” She suggests, removing her hand.

“Huh? The weather is nice though. You want to go inside?” I ask, mildly disappointed.

“Just come with me,” she snaps, pulling me by the hand into her mansion.

The mansion’s interior is less lavish than that of the Valbeck family. Some things are collecting dust, and I don’t see any servants.

“Are you the only one who lives here?”

“I have a maid.”

“Just one? I have like five and I’m not even a noble.”

“I’m not a Valbeck.”

She pulls me down some stairs into a basement. The walls are covered in enchantments that do something I don’t understand. The only enchanting script I know anything about is ancient cambian, sadly.

“Speaking of which, did you say Joseph Valbeck is helping you sabotage the royal tournament?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Why?”

“To keep his son alive, and because I told him to.”

“Why would he listen to you?”

“People just like to do what I say. I guess I’m just a natural leader. Also, I think he’s terrified of me for some reason.”

She stares at me silently for a couple seconds, as if I’m some kind of rare beast that she doesn’t know how to approach.

“What’s your plan?” She asks.

“I don’t have one. I kind of just want to walk into the royal palace and demand that they shut the tournament down, but Joseph thinks we should do things covertly. To discourage me, he’s bringing me to the party in a couple days so I can see how strong the Arvali are.”

“Yes, some discouragement would do you good, Maribelle.”

“Hey, by the way, what’s your name?”

“Cynthia Dawnsmith.”

“Are you coming to this party too?”

“I was invited, yes. Sometimes I skip these events, but I’ll definitely have to attend now, if only to help prevent you from causing a scene. How Joseph mistook you for a noble is beyond me.”

“It’s not that surprising, it it? I bet you wouldn’t have realized either if I hadn’t told you.”

She smiles, still regarding me with unsatiated curiosity.

“Why did you trust me so easily?” She asks.

I cross my arms.

“Who says I trust you? I haven’t told you any of my important secrets.”

“The fact that you’re planning a treasonous plot is an unimportant secret?”

“Relatively speaking, yeah.”

“Gods, it almost sounds like you’re being serious. Either you’re joking, delusional, or the most interesting person to ever pay me a visit. Regardless, I think I’d like to get to know you better. Would you care for some tea?”

“Sure. I want sugar in mine.”

“No discussing treason outside of the basement. The rest of the house doesn’t have privacy enchantments.”

I reluctantly grunt in agreement and she leads me back upstairs to the kitchen. There, an older woman is cutting vegetables for some kind of soup.

“Vera, can you make some tea for us? Bring some sugar for our guest.”

“Of course, m’lady.”

Cynthia leads me into a living room where everything is less dusty than in the rest of the mansion.

“So, Maribelle, how old are you, exactly?”

“Fourteen.”

“How did your aura get so strong? I was considered a prodigy, awakening at the age of five, attending Salsvale academy early, and spending almost all my time training my magic with the best resources in the world available to me. Your aura is as strong as mine and you’re two years younger than me. If I hadn’t met you, I would have thought it impossible for a commoner to achieve such a thing.”

“I had a really good teacher. Also, I’ve been told my talent is off the charts. I only awakened my magic two years ago.”

I won’t tell her that, technically, less than a week has passed.

“Two years? Incredible. That growth rate is almost on par with Theonius Arvali.”

Interesting. I wonder if he has a divine seed of power. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

“How strong are the Arvali, exactly?” I ask.

“King Langton Arvali is as strong as some of the best gold grade adventurers, as are his royal guards. However, the crown prince, Theonius, is in a different league entirely. I’ve never seen another human as powerful as him. He claims his power comes from the gods themselves.”

Okay, that confirms it. Unfortunately, it sounds like he’s had his seed of power long enough for it to grow into something seriously dangerous. My only advantage over him will be the divine voice. He probably got his seed from the white pantheon, and they would never teach the divine voice to a mortal.

“Did he say which god his power comes from?”

“Yes. Zenath, I think.”

I frown. That’s bad news. Zenath is one of the more powerful members of the white pantheon. He considers himself the god of hierarchy and perfection, so he sounds like a bit of an ass.

The maid comes in holding a tray with a pot of tea, some cups, and a dish of sugar. She quietly places it on the table and walks away.

“Yay!” I exclaim.

I pour myself some tea, mixing in the correct amount of sugar before drinking it. The syrupy substance flows down my throat in a big gulp. I watch Cynthia drink her own tea, taking a small sip as she stares back at me. I slam my empty teacup back on the tray, releasing a satisfied sigh. Cynthia fails to suppress a laugh and snorts a bit of her tea out of her nose. This makes me start laughing, which in turn causes Cynthia to turn red.

“So, what kind of magic do you have?” I ask, offering her a distraction from her apparent humiliation.

“Spatiomancy and enchanting.”

“You have two rights?”

She nods.

“Spatiomancy? Does that mean you can teleport? I saw a drakeling teleport once. It seemed like a really useful ability.”

“Yes. I can teleport. Not in the city, of course.”

“Why not?”

“You don’t know? There is an enchanted structure called a teleportation trap whose magic covers the city. Any teleportation magic that happens in range of the enchantment will have its destination rerouted to the trap.”

“Huh, sounds dangerous.”

“It’s not that bad. It’s essentially just a prison cell. I’ve gone there by accident a couple times. You just explain to the city guard why you were trying to teleport and then they’ll let you out. They make you pay a fine, though.”

“That’s good to know. I have a couple teleportation talismans. I totally would have used them at some point and ended up there.”

“Teleportation talismans? Where did you get those? I thought you were a commoner.”

“My magic teacher gave them to me.”

“Could I take a look at them? I’ve been working towards making one. It’s a bit of a pet project. What destination are they keyed to?”

“Destination? You just think about something familiar and they take you to it.”

“They have an arbitrary destination? That’s really advanced stuff. Now that you’ve said that, I absolutely have to see them.”

I frown. Bez warned me about this.

“You can take a look if you really want, but I have to warn you about something. If I show you, there’s a chance that whatever you learn will make the gods decide to smite you.”

Her eyes widen. Her voice decreases to a whisper.

“You mentioned important secrets earlier. Is this what you were referring to? You have an eldritch artifact?”

“What’s an eldritch artifact?”

“There are some artifacts, usually incredibly old, for which scholars who study them are sometimes smote by the gods. It’s exactly what you describe. I’ve heard there is a vault in Salsvale academy that holds a few of them. Obviously, access is highly restricted.”

“Ah, okay. My teleportation talismans are definitely eldritch artifacts, but that’s not really something I need to keep secret. Do you still want to see them?”

“Gods no. Are you crazy? How are you even comfortable carrying them?”

“I know a technique to survive the attack. Hella tried to smite me once and I was fine.”

She stares at me for several seconds, her face held in an expressionless mask. I mix myself some more tea. There isn’t enough sugar in the bowl, sadly.

“What’s the technique?” She asks.

I laugh.

“I’m pretty sure that how to defend against the magic of the gods is one of the things they’ll kill you for trying to learn.”

“Good point. In hindsight, that should have been obvious.”

“Again, I’m happy to tell you, but if you die in your sleep one night, don’t blame me.”

“How did you learn it then?”

“Yeah, now that’s one of those secrets I mentioned. Though, Joseph and Kevin already know this one, so it’s probably fine to tell you. My magic teacher is one of the dark exiles. Her name is Bezvillia. She’s the one who trained me in the defensive technique I mentioned. ”

Cynthia stares at me in a mix of open disbelief and fear.

“She lives in the bottomless rift. I fell in once, and she saved me.”

“A dark exile saved your life?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna repay the favor by freeing her from her banishment.”

“You’ll destroy the world.”

“No I won’t, it’s the war for the calamity’s promi—”

I cover my mouth, eyes wide. I almost told her about something super important. I seriously need to work on thinking before talking.

“Forget I said anything,” I say, blushing.

“No, that sounded really important.”

“Yeah, but I’m not telling.”

“Fine. By the way, you’re the worst kind of person to be holding eldritch secrets.”

“Yeah, you might be right about that.”

“If I die tonight, it’s your fault.”

“Eh, you’ll probably be fine.”

She shakes her head, a vacant expression on her face.

“Anyway, do you want to help me and Joseph with the stuff I mentioned earlier?”

“Basement.”

“Yeah.”

We head back downstairs. She turns towards me, a cold and serious expression on her face.

“What’s your goal here, Maribelle?”

“I’m going to become the most powerful being in existence.”

She pinches the bridge of her nose.

“I mean with the tournament. Why do you want to stop it?”

“I don’t like that they’re forcing people to participate in death matches.”

“Why does it matter so much that you’d risk your life?”

“It annoyed me a bit, and I ended up making a promise to Kevin that I would stop the tournament and he wouldn’t have to fight. Now I have to do it.”

“That’s not a good enough reason. You could just break your promise.”

“No, I literally can’t. I can’t lie, and my spirit will be severely harmed if I break a promise.”

“Why? Do you make spirit declarations with everything you say?”

“Something like that. I probably shouldn’t tell you the details. It’s another thing the gods don’t want people knowing.”

“This is getting annoying.”

“Hey, I’m telling you as much as I can!”

“Yeah, I know. I still don’t understand why you’re randomly trusting me this much. Are you like this to everyone?”

“Not everyone. Just people I like.”

“You like me?”

“For some reason I have a good feeling about you.”

“That’s all?”

I nod.

“You’re so naive! How have you not already gotten yourself killed?”

“See, you wouldn’t be bothered by me being naive if you planned to betray me.”

“Ridiculous.”

“So, are you going to help?”

Her hand finds its way to the glowing crystal on her necklace. She turns it over in her fingers.

“No. I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Okay, I won’t make you.”

“Just like that?”

I nod.

“For some reason I figured you would push harder,” she says.

I shrug.

“I know your secrets now. I’m a danger to you,” she says.

“It’s okay. You’re a friend, I promise,” I say.

“Think about what you’re saying! Now, if I stopped being your friend, whatever that means, it would break your word, would it not? I’m even more of a danger to you now!”

“Don’t make assumptions about magic you don’t understand.”

“Am I wrong?”

“What you don’t realize is that it’s a two-way street.”

“What does that mean?”

“If you want to deny the friendship, you have to be able to break my spirit. It’s harder now.”

“You’re saying your magic is going to force us to be friends? That’s stupid.”

“It can’t really force us to do anything, but it will have an influence.”

“I’m not entirely comfortable with that.”

“Too bad. As Bez would say, that is the way of fate. You’re like a fish complaining about the currents of the river.”

“I’m a lake fish.”

There is a brief silence before I burst out in laughter. She starts giggling too before she stops herself, eyes wide.

“This is that influence you talked about!”

“Hey, I’m not the one who made the joke.”

“Exactly! Maybe I wouldn’t have normally made that joke. Is your magic influencing my mind?”

“Your spirit, but yeah. That’s how it works.”

“That’s scary! This happens with everything you say? No matter what it is?”

“Yeah, but as you already figured out, the prerequisite is that everything I say has to be a spirit declaration. It’s totally worth it, though.”

“I don’t think I would make that trade. If I understand correctly, you’re losing deception in exchange for your words exerting a nebulous influence on the world. It’s a definite loss for an unclear gain.”

I shake my head. She doesn’t understand at all. The divine voice is a path that eventually leads to immortality and perhaps even omnipotence. I really shouldn’t tell her that, though.

“The sacrifice of deception isn’t a loss, but a commitment. It marks the resolve to forge a voice strong enough to command reality.”

“Interesting. This power that you’re describing isn’t a right or manifestation. It’s something completely different, a kind of magic nobody even knows about.”

A conflicted expression forms on her face as curiosity and fear pull her in different directions. She wants to know more, but she fears the gods.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you too much more,” I say.

She nods.

“Yes. Earlier, you said Joseph is terrified of you. I understand why now.”

“Are you scared of me?” I ask.

She thinks for a moment.

“I’m scared of what you might be capable of. However, I don’t think you’ll harm me. Not on purpose, at least. You declared me your friend with an unbreakable promise, after all.”

I smile.

“Good. Let’s hang out more in the coming days. How about we get lunch tomorrow? Oh, and I’ll introduce you to my brother Ferris at some point. He’s going to be an adventurer.”

“You have a brother?”

“Yeah. He’s nice. He isn’t as scary as me.”

“I look forward to meeting him.”

I talk to Cynthia for a little longer before saying goodbye for the day. Then, I return to the Valbeck family’s training room. Joseph is sparring Kevin, holding back significantly. They don’t notice me come in at first and I sit down against the wall, watching them train.

Kevin is fighting hard, swinging his blade in a barrage of attacks. Joseph is blocking everything, occasionally going for a simple counterattack when his son makes a particularly obvious blunder. Kevin is enjoying himself infinitely more than when he fought me.

Joseph is a good teacher. He has mastered the delicate balance of fighting hard enough to pose a challenge but easy enough not to discourage. It’s definitely a good way to train someone’s skill, but there’s much more to magic than skill alone. Kevin’s aura is no stronger than when I left. At this rate, his raw power won’t improve by much in the two weeks before the tournament, nor will his resolve. It’s definitely best if he doesn’t have to fight at all.

Kevin puts up his hand as he catches his breath, ending the sparring session. Joseph looks at me and smiles.

“Did you have a nice walk?”

“Met a couple people and got distracted. I made friends with Cynthia Dawnsmith.”

Joseph chuckles.

“That poor girl? Well, I probably shouldn’t call her that. Technically she’s a High Lord. Hopefully she isn’t your opponent in the tournament, Kevin. She’s quite the prodigy. I hear she can be rather ruthless in combat.”

“We agreed to stop the tournament,” I say.

“Yes, well, Kevin and I were talking. If we can’t find a good enough plan, it’s probably safer for him to just participate.”

I click my tongue. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth.