Act II: Ameshin Loyalty

Chapter 9 – Towards The Eclipse

8:21 // Day 25, Mittwoch. Luna 97c.

"You’ve trained with Kyomi? And... lived?" Enryn jokingly stated, entering the heart-shaped gate to his front garden.

"We were meant to but got side-tracked..."

Enryn looked back at me while we made our way up the path, possibly wondering what exactly I meant by 'side-tracked', but after a while he gave up, stepping inside the house; a place he had not entered for three days.

"Enryn, where have you been?"

I looked towards the tall man. It has been three days since he left to drop Elise and her butler, Alfred Sericanthe, back home. This was the first I’ve heard from him since leaving. The only information I had was what he told Sara when he passed by;

I’ll be back soon, wait for White.

"You know, she’s been worried sick... and, so have I."

"I’m... sorry, I got caught up, White. All I can say is that, it was for the good of the guild... and yourself." he looked weary; not from travel but from what I could only assume to be stress.

What did he mean, for me? I understood that the guild was at risk, but myself? Though, I daren't question Enryn's judgement or actions. There were few people I trusted more than him, and now wasn't the time to interrogate him (not to mention that I could wake up Sara who had tired herself with constant worry, to the point where she wasn't even awake to greet Enryn).

I know it wouldn’t have changed anything, but I wish I had come straight back from the guild...

"Wh..."

There was... a lot I wanted to ask him but when I looked at his face, I couldn't bring myself to ask those things. He looked dreadful, and it was obvious that he just wanted to rest now. Though, before I knew it, his hand was ruffling my hair, trying to tell me that my worry was wasted on him.

"I’m fine, I just need to rest... is Sa-"

"She’s fine. Just... go and rest. Don’t let her see you like this."

"Yeah... thanks." he said, kicking off his grey, mid-calf boots after unbuckling them, stepping onto the raised hallway floor.

I leant against the wall closest to the storeroom door, waiting for Enryn to hang up his large fur cloak on its hard to reach peg. I at least wanted him to make it to his room and, most importantly, not accidentally wake up the bedridden Sara.

"This wooden bokken—this yours White?"

Enryn came out holding the wooden sword gifted to me by Kyomi. It had so far been left rotting in the storage room as I’d not had the chance to use it, nor the knowledge to try on my own.

"Yeah, Kyomi gave it to me the other day."

"She did...? Interesting." he mused, placing the weapon back where he found it, just across from the ladder up to my room.

"What do you mean? She gave it to me to train with, I just told you."

"Train? Oh, yes—that's it, silly me." he chuckled to himself in that annoying, uplifting way. He was most likely just provoking a response from nothing so I ignored him as he finished rooting around in the room. "Say, White, I got a message from Kai on my way back, he wants some food delivered to the guild. Do you mind going for me? Take the sword too, I'm sure Kyomi will be around to spar... or whatever you kids get up to."

This old bastard... give me back my sympathy; was something I found myself saying a lot—though I always complied.

"How much do they need?" I asked.

"Not sure, I just got a message to start delivering non-perishables to the guild; I’d just take 50kg of the yellow beans, 50 of the rice and some herbs. Hmm... I think the herbs are above my room, I'll go get them for you."

"Thanks. Should I take Red?"

"Yeah, I just put them both in the stables but she's well-rested 'cause we had a pit stop on the way over."

Red was one of two horses owned by Enryn, the other was Smokey—Enryn's personal horse—and both were used to pull the carriage which brought Elise safely home. Though, speaking of carriages, I never saw the broken one on my way back the other day. It was a fair bit later but it’s still impressive that someone managed to move that massive structure so quickly, all things considered.

Now I just need to find these yellow beans and rice. I think most of the non-perishables are stored above the living room, so that was my first place to look.

I made my way into the living room, through that familiar second door on the left. Still lit from when I prepared breakfast not moments ago – or attempted to, then ended up just making a sandwich. I’d been preparing breakfast for when Sara woke since she was close to being in Enryn’s state herself.

It all happened so fast—I thought to myself as I got the ladder to enter one of the many storages amongst our various attics—how I joined this family, how they accepted me and how I've grown. I could have never experienced this at home, that's not to say that I dislike my family, I just, don't feel like they understand me; nor I, them. At least not anymore.

Were they weeping the same tears I heard from Sara’s room when I left? Or were they weeping for the loss of their Kind Light? The supposedly sacred child, with features as pure as his heart...

"What am I thinking...?" of course they love me. I just wish I was...

drip~

T—Tears?

Why? I’m not sad, so... is it jealousy?

I'd only realised now, but the ladder had started to shake; or, more accurately, my legs were shaking for reasons I couldn't explain. I tried to ignore it as I was almost at the top of the ladder, in the process of opening the scuttle holes lock.

And as I did...

"You fool, grab something."

I followed the voices command—for I knew the severity of its arrival—and grabbed onto the sides of the now opened scuttle hole, temporarily forgetting that, up till now, I had been crying.

A massive crash resounded throughout the room, likely to alert everyone inside and outside of the house; that is if this were a normal house. Looking down, the ceiling is fairly high and if I had a bad fall from even half the height... though I should already know this since I live in the attic myself.

Shit. What the fuck am I doing?

I chalked up my state of mind to Enryn’s disappearance, but it’s still here... that feeling. Was it him...? He had warned me about the ladder failing just now, but could he be responsible for, well, whatever is wrong with me.

Luckily the ladder missed the glass dining table just right of it, landing in the large open space in the centre of the room.

After a glance downwards, I let go of the ceiling, landing square on my feet; wiping my eyes and finding the remains of tears, I went about fixing my mistakes, hoping that no one heard me—no one seemed to anyways, Enryn was likely up in the attic, which had enchantments layered around its walls, so he likely didn't hear. I just hope that didn't wake Sara.

I tried to forget the experience as I placed the ladder back between the small, metallic grooves that kept it in place; making my way up and into the dimly lit room.

Much like my room had been before some slight renovation, the walls and floor were bare of any decoration. With the help of enchantments, they maintained the same look that they must have done when the house was first built, the wooden panels appearing pristine and freshly coated as if just stained.

Though, while the walls and decor were limited; the abundance of crates, boxes and other general goods lining the sides of the room, towering above even myself, more than made up for it. And while it may seem impossible to navigate for anyone who saw the sight for the first time, I'd luckily been keyed into the easy solution to finding... anything here.

Somewhere here, there is a small tablet, similar to the one Kai used, made from a rock which conducts World Mana. Using this, Enryn has linked the produce in each room to multiple of these tablets which he keeps on his person and around the house; allowing anyone to ‘search’ for an item by asking the tablet.

Normally, this kind of magic would be difficult to use, but Enryn has managed to ‘program’ the tablet by way of enchantments allowing anyone—even people unable to utilise World Mana—an easy way to use the magic.

Honestly, if he just sold his inventions instead of foodstuff and various goods, he would be the richest man in the Northern Districts.

Well, Enryn is nothing if not an organised mess.

"hmm... maybe it's downstairs?" musing to myself, I turned back to the ladder; kneeling beside the first rung, but then I noticed the tablet behind where my head had first ascended beyond the scuttle hole. "An organised mess indeed."

I reached across the hole, carefully grasping the device from its haphazardly placed spot. Standing up with the device, I kicked the raised panel above the hole, forcing it to click into place, and making the sturdy ropes attached to it fly around the room momentarily.

This also blocked the one source of light from the room, though the problem was easy to fix as Enryn had recently installed slightly worse versions of my mana lamp in every room, activated in the same way. My control over Mana was much better now and I was easily able to activate the device, even without being able to see the exact location; this is because most 'Mana' devices are made with enchantments, only needing mana as a form of energy to activate the device, so as long as it receives the 'intention' to activate, it will complete its task by tapping into the area's World Mana and following the enchantments engrained inside of it.

Generally, enchantments are used to simplify life and, because of this, are typically based off of real principles or objects; kinetic fields, detecting motion... lamps. Using mana to create something that we already understand is far simpler than using it to create a concept that we have never seen or used before, which is to be expected after all, and it what makes Enryn’s inventions that much more impressive.

Now drowned in a pale light, I set my sites on the tablet in my hands, I beelined toward the centre of the room.

"Activate."

With that word, the tablet pulsated; small, blue, waves of mana, ready to listen to my command. The tablet featured no interface—unlike Kai’s, which featured words and numbers—so anyone unaware of its purpose would be stumped upon attempted usage.

"Search: Yellow Beans."

The command was successful, evident by the whirring noise and, not long after, the constant, low hum. A small blue string formed, leading towards the closest box labelled; Yellow Beans.

Now, why were they called yellow beans? That is... obviously because they’re yellow... and are beans. I suppose why they are yellow is the intriguing part but, unfortunately, I don't know why. If they were another colour you could explain that it’s because of cross-breeding, but yellow is a primary colour.

Thinking about why beans were yellow was about as productive as asking why the sky was blue, so I stopped; and just then, after following the clairvoyant path, I found my item boxed up, though at the bottom of a massive pile of crap.

I reached my hand across the left-hand side of every box above my target location, activating yet another enchantment installed by Enryn. This time, however, the enchantment wasn’t using World Mana, but instead utilised Enryn’s very own ability: that being Gravitational Manipulation/Zero-Matter Magic. Essentially, the ability to control the atomic ‘makeup’ of an object, something that every single merchant across the land wishes they had an affinity for.

The enchantment matched the activated object’s weight and gravitational potential energy to that of the local area, essentially allowing them to float.

I was careful not to let the affected boxes float around the room, much like when Enryn woke me up to see Sin Odin. It’s exceedingly annoying when that happens, but luckily my height does give me an advantage in places where I least expected it, namely in holding and moving the above boxes while keeping them together.

The box was labelled; Yellow Beans, 10kg. KEEP UPRIGHT—indicating that I should probably keep the box upright.

Enryn said about 5 of these would do, that and 50kg of the rice, so I repeated the process, quickly piling up two small towers of produce—all without a single one floating away. Now... the next problem is getting them down; is what any other person would think, but thanks once again to Enryn’s foresight I’ve been saved.

I felt like I had been thinking that a lot, but it was true. Enryn has been a merchant far longer than I’ve been alive and knows almost every trick in the Book of Making Life Easier.

The raised panel that I kicked over the scuttle hole was actually a pulley device and, once I attached the ropes coming from it to the rust-free iron carabiner dangling from the roof, I could easily send the boxes down. The pulley worked by detaching a section of the panel—supported by the ropes dangling from the roof—allowing me to place the boxes atop of this panel and send them down.

I did this by pushing down on a small indent on the side of the panel, though making sure that I had a firm grip of the rope before doing so.

8:45

Using this system, it didn’t take long at all to move the boxes down to the living room.

I climbed back up the ladder, placing the tablet in a visible location and bringing the pulley back up. And once everything was back where it should be, I turned the lights off and descended again.

The ladder was back where it was meant to be—lodged between the bookshelf in the left corner—and the scuttle hole was shut. All that was left was loading these boxes onto the single horse-drawn carriage.

Enchantments had their limitations and the weight reduction would only be applied for a short period (the enchantment that allows the boxes to float uses this spell and another—one that changes the gravitational potential energy of the object—though, using only one enchantment causes the effect to last longer). This was more than long enough to move the boxes to the stable; meaning that, if they weren’t so large, I could carry all of them together. Unfortunately, my limit was two boxes per go. Not to mention the beans had to be upright, though the rice had no such warning on it.

Activating the enchantment on two of the boxes, I lifted them out through the hallway, dropping them by the entrance; alongside two other boxes, presumably placed by Enryn. I thought I heard him while I was sending some of the boxes down, though it seems he’s retired to his room without a word.

It seems like he’ll be bedridden for a day or two at least, so should I use the time to train with Kyomi? I thought that plan wouldn’t be too bad, as I unlocked the door—after all, I have had little to no training with a weapon.

Or magic, now that I think about it. The only spells I can cast are those I learned from the library, Enryn himself hasn't shown me a single spell. He mainly left me with cryptic messages about the use of magic, body and mind strengthening exercises, along with the theory surrounding the concept of Mana and the odd lesson relating to anything, and everything, an aspiring merchant should be.

The cold wind of the Luna season hit my face. Being stuck inside for three days made me forget that the weather was indeed, still horrible.

"Yo, is that you, White!?" a young man’s voice cried out; the voice belonging to someone around my age.

Almost as soon as the weather hit me, the sound of a distant man, beyond the garden gate, reached my ears. I took a few steps outside of the house, my view obscured by the extension on my left (right as you enter, and closest to the gate), revealing the young man whom the voice belonged to.

Well, I say man, but... are those...

Cat ears?

"There you are... I thought I heard you, I’ve been waiting long enough." he shouted towards me, mounted on horseback by the gate.

"You’ve been waiting...? Why? You could’ve just knocked, and how do you know my name anyway?"

"Kai sent me, from Eclipse?"

"Right." why is he telling me this as if it’s a question, it’s like he’s trying to confirm my identity after the fact. "Bring your horse around, there’s a stable around the back. You can tie her up there."

"Really? Thanks so much!"

Gods, he’s a character alright. Did Kai really send him? I suppose it’s not out of the question since he did tell a bunch of people to stay home; I imagine he’s either here to rescind that order or to enforce it.

I took the two boxes that I brought with me first—leaving the herbs that Enryn brought till last since they were likely fragile—as I made my way into the garden. Usually, I would follow the path down towards the gate, but this time I headed right instead.

Enryn’s front garden was anything but a ‘front’ garden, seeing as it extended around more than half of his home.Keeping right, I made my way around the corner of the house, being careful not to get too close to the wall should I trample on Enryn’s beloved shrubbery.

This part of the garden was the largest, and most bare; featuring just a bench and a bird fountain, though the grass was well-trimmed much like the rest of the garden.

I passed underneath my window as I headed towards the fairly large wooden stable. The cobbled wall extended around the area, reaching the corner of this section of wall before finally ending, offering another gate—this one was more like a cattle gate, instead of just for people, like the front gate—which allowed the horses to come in through the back. Something that this guy would have loved to know. Just how long has he been waiting there? Surely not long, right?

The stable wasn't far from the house and was wedged between the fencing of a large field owned by Enryn, which he uses to ride on—usually on Sonntag—and access his carriages. I was lucky it wasn't far away because I forgot to put my cloak on, which has been washed to no end after what happened to it.

"Do you want me to get that?" said the familiar voice, offering to open the gate for me since my hands were full.

"Yeah, thanks."

It wasn’t like I needed help, but there was also no reason to refuse.

"No slight, White." he said, grasping his pure black horse’s short reign.

After he dismounted, I noticed yet another odd thing about him; he had a tail. It was a long, bushy thing that he seemed to... control.

As he opened the gate, we both studied each other. I was curious whether he was, well, human for one. I imagine that he is a member of the beast-folk—self-proclaimed as Kin—who found homes wherever there was space to be had. And while it wasn’t necessarily rare to see one, it was my first time knowingly speaking to one (or so I assumed).

"You do have silver eyes! Just like me; it’s like we were destined to be comrades."

Silver eyes? Oh, yeah. I sometimes forget that my eyes are still silver, even though my hair had been dyed for a good month, people still point it out now and then.

Looking at the young man closely, he shared my eyes almost perfectly—apart from a pointed oval-shaped pupil, much like a cat's—and from a distance, if he didn't have incredibly unruly black hair, you could mistake us for one another.

"You’re Kin, right?" I asked casually as he closed the gate, bringing his horse beside him.

He began to follow along after I asked the question, bringing himself and his horse down the mud-free dirt path as he responded.

"That I am, Felis to be exact."

A Felis? I’d never heard of such a species. I had heard of the Faeles, a species of cat-like humanoids, though this person appeared about as human as the rest of us, minus the ears and tail.

Ah, that’s it.

"You’re a Half-Kin? Sorry if I’m asking too many questions, but this is my first time meeting a Kin."

"It’s fine, it’s not a crime to be curious. I know I am too, ‘specially ‘bout humans."

"Well, I’m White, just White. Nice to meet you..."

"Arcrel, Arcrel E’ir." he replied, continuing to follow me down the mud-free dirt path.

If I looked out from my bedroom window the stables are to the right—and just out of viewing range—even with the windows open. This was because the stables are covered by a dense fog of trees, viewable only up close.

The actual building itself was rustic and quaint, matching the aesthetic provided by the main house: there was a small storage room in the centre of the building and connected on either side, at 45-degree angles, were the homes of Smokey and Red. A stone tiled gable roof ran across the top of the building, changing angle as it met each room, accompanied by a large wooden door, leading into the centre room; my destination.

"So, what exactly are you doing? Kai just told me to come to check on you, but you seem fine, right?" Arcrel questioningly asked.

"He was probably just checking I was still at home; but to answer your question, I'm making a delivery to the guild." I said while opening the door into the large storage room and activating the mana lamp in the centre of the room. "By the way, who exactly are you? I've never seen you at the guild, are you just running an errand for Kai?"

I asked only because of his attire, while I can’t say the clothing I wear necessarily screams adventurer; it is obvious that it’s for combat, at least, whereas Arcrel seemed to be wearing fairly casual clothing.

A black, cotton turtleneck; dark-grey trousers, a utility belt and a book attached to it. His boots were the only thing that really said I’m an adventurer, at least to myself.

"I’m one of the new recruits." he gleefully stated, somewhat proud of the fact.

"One of? How many are there?" I responded, placing the pair of boxes in the corner of the clean, somewhat barren, room.

The only things decorating the storage room were a multitude of closets, crates and four doors on every wall—two of the leading directly into Smokey and Red’s rooms, the other two out the front and back.

"Lots of people joined the guilds after The Fluctuation, I’m just one of them."

"The Fluctuation? Is that what they’re calling the ma— monster’s attack?"

Ah, I shouldn't mention that it could have been Mass Teleportation. As far as I'm aware, Kai has only spoken to myself about it. Though I imagine others have reached the same conclusion by now... but I'll not mention it, not before I've spoken to Kai about it.

"Yeah, I think 30 members joined Eclipse, other than myself that is. There might actually be one more?"

"30!? There are only around 100 members, or, there was at least, currently."

That was... shocking, to say the least. Adventuring is a dangerous profession, something I stumbled upon accidentally, so it’s hard to believe so many people are taking up arms all at the same time.

Perhaps I underestimated the severity of The Fluctuation.

I made my way back out of the storage room, leaving the door slightly ajar as I headed back towards the house for my second supply run.

But I thought that making conversation wouldn’t be a bad idea, he was a member of my guild after all, although I had only been aware of this fact for about 5 minutes.

"And, what’s your Elemental State?"

"I'm a Solid Elemental, sir."

"You can drop the sir."

"Alrighty, Whitey."

Aaand~ I instantly regretted opening my mouth; that’s twice he’s rhymed my name with something stupid... and it works, which is annoying me even more.

Nothing rhymes with Arcrel, does it?

"…"

No, at least not an actual, real word.

"I can... stop if it’s, annoying you?"

"It’s... fine... I’m just tired." and tired I was. It wasn’t just Sara who had been sleeping rough, I was also worried about Enryn myself. I’d tried to keep a cool appearance when he came back but I’d never been more tempted to run up and grab someone so much in my entire life.

Not to mention the fact that admitting that he was annoying me would likely just lead to him doing it even more in the future. It would be a temporary cure at best.

"If you want, I can help bring the stuff out?" Arcrel asked, almost like an obedient dog, just with the incorrect ears and tail.

"That would be great, but, don’t you have other places to visit?"

"Uhmm... I don’t, think so?"

Why are you aiming that question towards me!? How am I supposed to know?

"Kai just told me to check on you and I could join the guild; he didn't say much else, he looked pretty busy..."

"Wait, what? He's letting you join the guild just like that...? You don't have to fight him, or anyone else?"

"I don’t think so, maybe he knows how good I am just by looking at me?"

Why are you asking me!? And why would you be delivering messages if you were too good to fight Kai?

Gods, it’s far too early to be dealing with someone like this and I’m starting to think the reason people treat him differently isn’t because of his ears or tail, either.

"Well, sure then. You can help if you want, just wait by the door and I’ll start moving the stuff out."

"U-huh, I’ll be here!"

Unfortunately, that statement is anything but false.

Still, it’s strange for a Kin to join a Northern guild, I thought as I re-entered the house, kicking off my boots as I did so.

From what I know, the Kin usually prefer the Southern guilds as most hail from Enviar; my home continent—which would also explain why we share the same eye colour. Though I suppose that meeting—and dealing—with someone like Arcrel would have come soon enough on my path under Enryn, I just hope that the rest of his Kin are a bit less... eccentric?

Yet, I suppose it’s good for Kai to have accepted him, and people like him, considering the amount of pressure he and the other guild leaders must currently be under. But... knowing Kai, this isn’t the end of E’irs’ trial. I highly doubt he would let 30~ members in without some strings attached...

And, just like that, my worries began to fade away.

My worries about home,

About Enryn,

About monsters,

About... crying,

And, about him.

Lifting the currently weightless boxes, I started bringing them out in pairs to the already waiting Arcrel.

It was certainly a... unique name, but not in a bad way. I suppose in a... well, in a unique way and, after each run back, I saw him conspicuously leaning on the door-frame. And, while I didn't know him at all at this moment, something told me we would one day become close friends; and once I had brought all of the boxes from the living room, we went;

Towards the eclipse.

9:01

Chapter 9, End