Phase 4

Interlude 3

Ramon Thunderblade’s paranoia felt…perhaps excessive these days, as if it was a device overworked by whip. He knew the princess couldn’t follow nor track him thanks to his multitude of protective spells, but every time he looked behind the wagon, his brain imagined her running wildly after them, sword in hand, perhaps even laughing. Really a silly, stupid thought, since the princess could simply fly.

The trip itself began with just the lightning horses, which moved several times faster than the princess’s flight ability. Later, he pulled a large wagon from his storage ring, which served as lodging for this extended trip.

Even with the wagon, the special horses easily zipped them across the kingdom incredibly fast in just days but wandering aimlessly wasn’t Ramon’s style. They needed somewhere to settle down, to hide, make their temporary headquarters until a plan was devised.

Ramon glanced at his party consisting of three women and two men, each among the most powerful people in the kingdom. Perhaps even the world. They weren’t just local kingdom heroes after all. In the pursuit of the peoples’ interest and just global safety, Ramon gave it his all to banish the Midnight dragon. He and his party defeated other major, though smaller threats. Ares the Peace Spawner may me the kingdom’s problem now, but it wouldn’t surprise Ramon if he decided on world domination.

Could Ramon’s party survive long enough to seal him when the time came? Each of them earned their titles. Kelvin the Blizzard Sword, Iris the Heavenly Bow, Nuwa the Goddess Healer, Maxus the Darkness, and Ronica the Phoenix Magician.

“Did you know there’s a town in the far east?” Ronica said as she glanced up from the map. She was probably still annoyed about being the navigator for the night, but that duty rotated to even Ramon and everyone had to suffer equally.

“How far are we talking?” Ramon asked.

“It’s roughly four days from a small city ruled by House Wingston,” Ronica cheerily explained. “Small city or big town…I guess.” She yawned. “It’s the perfect place to make our headquarters until we can come up with a plan to do something about the Peace Spawner.”

“Why not just the city of Wingston itself,” Ramon asked, though he already knew the answer.

“House Wingston may be a smaller noble family, but they’re still rapidly making connections,” Ronica explained, the cheerfulness still potent. “Also the recent rumor of one of their daughters being…arranged to marry someone from a force like House Astral isn’t good for us.”

“That poor girl,” Nuwa the healer said.

“Poor girl indeed,” Kelvin said from the driver’s seat. “It was only a few years ago that I dodged that same bullet. The Lord Ruler’s still an ass for that.”

“Ah come on, at least he arranged you to be with a beauty,” Ramon quipped.

The dark man snorted. “Only the inner beauty counts as true beauty, that is my philosophy. My wife may not be glittery with jewelry, but when I met her on that farm, she sure seemed like she did. Like the brightest star in that town.”

Ramon sighed. “This is what happens to a man that gets married. But hey, maybe your son will learn to appreciate the shallowness of noble women.”

“So about the town,” Ronica said, forcing the subject back on track. There was a tiny edge of annoyance to her voice that no one wanted to challenge, not even Ramon. They liked her cheeriness.

“We’ll make it our headquarters for now,” Ramon said.

“A backwater town,” Maxus said, his voice displeased. “Certainly we can do better than this.”

“Hey, at least you’ll be able to send letters to your wife again without worry of the Lord Ruler’s servants invading your privacy,” Ramon said.

“That was an annoying security measure, more paranoid than you, Ramon,” Maxus said. “How many times have we dealt with the Lord Ruler requesting us to prove our loyalty to him.”

“Too many times,” Iris said, crossing her legs. The elf woman with white hair drank from her water flask, though Ramon doubted there was actually water in it. “It was kind of surprising that you finally grew tired of endlessly sleeping with maids and noble’s daughters and got us out of there.”

“Was it because of the princess?” Maxus said, grinning. “One of the most sought-after beauties of the kingdom and you internally shudder at the sight of her. Is it because she wanted to marry and have as many children as possible?”

Ramon frowned at all of the quips, though he deserved them. Somewhat. Maybe.

“What must you expect from me when I have all the time in the world,” Ramon said. “Aside from endless training. I started picturing myself trapped in a training montage like the heroes in the tales.”

Ronica snickered, which burst into nearly uncontrollable laughter. The others joined in shortly.

Ramon sighed. “Oh, you want to laugh. Well guess what we’re doing when we get to the town.”

“Is it trying to get into the bed of the mayor’s daughter,” Maxus said.

Ramon glared at him. “Endless training to fight the Peace Spawner. You will each meditate, break past your walls, you know, the one’s you’ve sat on for months now.”

The wagon grew silent. No one trained as much as Ramon, though in their defense, Ramon was less human than them, except for Iris, literally. And potentially Kelvin. “The Lord Ruler may send some academy or some sect specialists to retrieve us. We can’t stay untrackable forever.”

“Unless he consults a witch, we’ll be fine,” Nuwa said. “Then I’d have to condemn him.”

Witches were…special types of magicians that thankfully lived outside of human society, that much Ramon knew. The Lord Ruler could attempt to bully a witch of the dark path to track him, but even he wouldn’t be able to avoid paying the price for disturbing her.

The man may be paranoid of conspiracy against him, but he was not stupid. He ruled for centuries, and expanded his reach, even to the edges of smaller kingdoms. He even avoided antagonizing the Astral empire, allowed one of the empire’s men, a relative of the emperor himself, to start a family right in the capital.

If it weren’t for Ramon and his party, the empire would have no reason to hesitate and just take over everything. Then again, even the emperor feared Ares the Peace Spawner and dared not to waste resources.

The Lord Ruler was a force of nature, but so was the Astral emperor. A battle from them would easily eradicate anything caught in the middle of it. Cities, vast landmasses, and even politically neutral sects.

“You’re really good at killing the fun out of everything,” Kelvin quipped with a chuckle. “Especially as someone with the lucky ability to have a companion every night.”

Ramon waved off his comment. “Me being a free spirit aside, we may have to pose as workers in this new town. That or start shops.”

“You’re asking us to get jobs? Boo,” Iris said.

“Why not? It’d be fun,” Ramon said with a laugh.

“Fine, but you’re not allowed to work under a woman,” Ronica said.

“And don’t bother with anyone’s wives or the mayor’s daughter,” Kelvin said.

“I’m not making any promises,” Ramon muttered as he turned. “But seriously, if anyone comes up with a better plan for ridding the world of the Peace Spawner, let me know. And if we can do it remotely so that I may never have to see that smug smile again, then more power to you.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Ares only smiled once, at them, as he vanished. But the smugness, the confidence, within that smile only proved that they were but children hitting at a bear with sticks.

**

Chapter 21

You bet your ass I collected samples of the blackgrass before it all vanished. The hallow itself was gone without a trace, but it left behind some opportunity to gain new potions. The system rewarded me too.

[New special potion listing added, Shadow Potion. Upon consumption, you may hide in the shadows of anyone or object for a short time. You may also travel a small distance from shadow to shadow.]

[Current potion available: Health Potion, Energy Potion, General Medicine Potion.]

[Special potions: Night Vision, Mana Core, Water Breathing, Masking, Eagle Sight, Shadow.]

If the shadow potion wasn’t one of the most overpowered finds, behind the mana core restoration, then I don’t know what is. Unfortunately, it required materialized darkness, one of the ingredients I bottled as much as possible of before it finally all disappeared into the ether. This potion, despite being so powerful, was incredibly limited. And no, I would not be eagerly going on hallow hunts. Fighting to barely survive just wasn’t a potion maker’s style. Besides, I needed to find things to make for regular people, not fucking adventurers. I had no adventurer customers for fuck’s sake. Me getting into battle was obviously for emergency situations, which I hoped would stay rare or never happen again.

The skeleton horses were gone too, as if they returned to whatever hell the hallow lived at. I mean I did consider keeping them as pets, but knowing this time period, people would probably consider me a witch or something to be burned at the stake.

After a short debate regarding a multi-hour trip there and back, we decided to return to Kyushu for now. We easily recovered their wagon, which was thankfully undamaged, and all Mandi and the others needed were fresh horses. Being nobles, the prices didn’t affect them one bit. I on the other hand would’ve coughed my heart out.

Winn and Lou were stabilized by a health potion, but without a mana potion, they’d have to recover from severe mana depletion the hard way. That meant the trio would be stuck here until help from their House arrived. So the next day, Howie called for help.

The butler didn’t use the slow messenger man system like every normal person was stuck with. This motherfucker pulled out a cage containing a pigeon. He had it sent off with a letter secured to its leg within minutes.

“I hope you don’t mind us for a week, maybe two,” Howie told me. “We can’t move Winn and Lou much, not without our house magicians stabilizing them. If we do, we’ll risk crippling them for life.” He shook his head. “They’re lucky to be alive. The only problem now is if the receiver of this letter would believe us. Very few people escape hallows.”

Howie and I were currently in front of a house they rented from a minor noble landlord. Only because that noble didn’t offer me a place to rent out was I even more glad I built myself a custom house. Fuck that guy.

“What matters for now is that you guys are alive,” I said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen a hallow too and believe me when I say I don’t want to see one again.”

“Is it okay if I assume you’re a wandering magician?” Howie said. He flinched under my scrutinizing gaze, but after a moment, I cut him some slack.

“Magician? I’m just a potion maker,” I said and left it at that. There wasn’t a need to go into detail about having just one spell and not giving a damn. Magic spells don’t pay my land taxes every month, that’s for sure.

“I ask because we saw some of the fight and it is far from normal,” Howie said. “Excuse me for not just dropping the matter. We will honor the secrecy we swore and the debts when you come to collect. If not for you…well, we’d probably be suffering eternally in the hell of its belly.”

“It’d be best to forget what you saw yesterday,” I said cheerfully. There wasn’t really a threat in the air and unlike the other three and that other guy from last time, Wingston’s butler, I respected Howie.

The next few days consisted of nothing too eventful, except Mandi stopping by daily, volunteering her help. At first, she was bothersome, with questions that tried to pry in my past, aiming for an angle to ask about my powers.

It took about two days for her to give up and with that, she became far more tolerable. Harmony appreciated having less work to do. Milia’s animosity vanished too, appraising that the younger woman actually tried.

They even invited her over to dinner, though to me, this felt like a test run. He didn’t expect her to fall in love with his cooking, especially the veggie burgers. She wasn’t a huge meat eater, having grown up on a forced diet of less meat, increased fruits and vegetables. She accidentally let slip that she blamed the diet on her small chest but couldn’t understand her sister’s large size. I wisely stayed out of the women’s conversation.

Winn and Lou still remained out, supported by potions and the minuscule magic within their bodies that wasn’t disrupted by whatever the hallow did to them. Tom, Big Ham and I hanged out with Howie sometimes. He slammed down plenty of ale, revealing his commoner roots, but never seemed to get drunk. I could get slightly buzzed at best, but never drunk due to the mana within, which pissed me off. Howie told me that the only way I’d feel excitement from alcohol again was to drink what sect leaders drank. A super strong wine they called Angel Tears. When he revealed the price to me, I tossed away the idea in a mental titanium box of regrets and never looked back.

During the afternoon of the seventh day after the hallow attack, a knock on the shop’s door brought us unexpected guests. The teen Lucas and his blacksmith master. Milia had reminded me about the cauldron, but I decided to put off the idea for now to focus on other things. As a result, I successfully brewed the shadow potion. Let’s just say test running it was more fun than it should’ve been. I even transported myself into Beakwing’s new barn! He was quite happy to hang out with me. I brought him apples. In case you’re wondering, yes, clothes and anything on your person goes with you.

“It’s open, come in,” I said.

Nia of course looked far better than the last time I’ve seen her. Dressed in a kimono, brown hair neat and in a bun, eyes cheery, but full of wisdom.

Lucas the half dwarf was also looking much better. Instead of the eyes of a child that lost everything, he looked like a young man aiming to eventually inherit a legacy, evolving it further or invent his own. A mood that suited him.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Master Nia and Sir Lucas,” I said offering a handshake to the both of them. “Please come in, have tea.”

This timing couldn’t have been better.

“I hope this isn’t bad timing,” Nia said, which made me chuckle.

“We’re also here as customers,” Lucas followed up, seeming a bit awkward. Ah, I forget. Magicians made people nervous. I spent so much time around people that saw me as Nate the friendly potion maker. If my power didn’t remind me it existed from time to time, I’d forget about them.

“You guys remember my betrothed, Milia,” I said as she walked in from tending the garden.

“Hello,” she said warmly. “Welcome to our humble abode.”

“Well met on this fine afternoon, lady of the house,” Nia said, her voice filled with too much respect.

“W…well met,” Lucas said, though he made sure not to stare at the dryad too long. I gave him a prideful grin that carried just a touch of a warning within. He flinched. Milia, as sharp as ever, caught onto that and would probably poke a little fun of me later, but she knew I was just messing with the kid.

“Speaking of customers,” I said as I led them to the dining room. “I’m looking to be one of yours.”

Nia’s eyes widened. “We could certainly use a customer.” She sighed as she relaxed, soaking in the friendly vibes Milia and I most likely left. I kind of wanted to fanboy over talking with a blacksmith that made fucking swords, axes, and other things that would make any fantasy lover melt, but held that in. “After the rebuilding, work slowed to a crawl. We’re considering packing up if things don’t improve.”

“I see,” I told her. “Before I reveal the order, I want to assume you’ve read the reply letter.”

“We have,” Nia said. “Thank you for replying. Your words were very kind.”

“I left the answer to Lucas’s request with a vague response because normally I do not take apprentices,” I said, “not unless I’m looking for them.”

Lucas drooped and Nia, rubbed his head like a comforting mother.

“But things have changed,” I said. “I can accept you as an apprentice, if you can figure out lodging. I’ll pay a fair wage and set a small bit aside to go to your landlord.”

“You’re paying?” Lucas exclaimed.

“Of course,” I said. “There’s no better encouragement for good work than getting paid for it.”

Nia nodded, flushing slightly. “There’s a first for everything I suppose. Most apprentices live with their masters. The food and somewhere to sleep is the pay.”

“I don’t do the live-in thing,” I said. “But I do believe in actually paying. Just ask my current apprentice.”

I gestured at Harmony as she walked in, eyes narrowed at me. I made her plant a new section of the garden and also trained her at the same time. Judging by the pout, she was still quite pissed about that.

Good thing she learned early on to not were white trousers or any dresses.

“Lodging is no problem,” Nia said. “I have a friend that lives in town, who will accept him in while he works. Do you have a starting date?”

“Tomorrow, be early at sunrise and ready to work,” I said. “You’ll have magic training too.”

“T…tomorrow?”

“I’m joking,” I told the teenager. “Whenever you get your things.”

Lucas’s excitement exploded. “Thank you, Sir Nate!”

“If there’s anything we can do for you, let us know,” Nia said.

I grinned. “So about my order. And maybe the start of a new business friendship.” I held out my hand. She accepted it, though didn’t hold too long out of respect for the lady of the house.