“If you look through the bushes here, a little to your right, you will see him,” Hugo said, “If we wait around here, the bastard will see us, so we are going leave for now,” Hugo said.

Huntmaster Ramin had been doubtful, but now he had seen the serpent hydra for himself. He quietly snuck back to the others with Hugo. It annoyed him slightly that the huntmaster was quieter despite being much larger.

“It’s there,” Ramin said when they returned to the girls.

Lina looked at the weapon in her hands. “Even so. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Hugo shrugged, “Not particularly, no. I have no idea if it will work, I never tested it. But you will be safe. The huntmaster will be there to watch your back, and we will be far enough away that you can easily escape at any moment.”

“I am still not sure we should do this,” Lina said.

Despite her misgivings, five hours later the four of them were standing on a familiar rock. Hugo was ready to kill the serpent hydra for the third time. He had his favorite crossbow at the ready, but he wasn’t shooting just yet.

“It’s time Lina, give it a go,” Hugo said, “You can do this, it will be fine, I promise.”

Lina brought up the bow he had fabricated for her and drew it back. The cams and gears gave her draw strength extra power. It was needed. The arrow Hugo had her firing was unique to say the least. Some wouldn’t even call it an arrow. The heavy shaft of metal and porcelain had a tip and fins, but looked closer to a bomb than anything. Hugo reached over and activated the fire rune in the middle of the shaft.

Once she had it sighted in, she let the special arrow fly. It soared through the air, quickly losing speed and falling to the earth. The arrow missed the serpent hydra's trunk and hit its tail instead. As it hit a porcelain tube on the shaft shattered, spilling out the mithril/titanium dust. An instant later, the wick lit the dust on fire. Instead of exploding, the dust just burned. It wasn’t as violent as the bolts he was used to making, but the fire from the strange arrow would burn much longer. The fire spread and burnt across a three meter swath along the monster's tail.

It was bad enough that the hydra flipped itself over to put the fire out. Hugo nodded at Lina, her part was done. Hugo was ready for the monster to attack right afterwards, but it was too exhausted from defeating the tribbles. He walked forward and put a half dozen pure mithril bolts into its trunk. Once they absorbed the mana within the monster and exploded. Hugo was inundated with a flurry of five blue boxes popping up at once. It was overwhelming.

The sensation passed quickly. He was at rank thirty-one now. Which was honestly a disappointment. There weren’t a lot of high tiered monsters around here, and he had missed his chance to pass the rank thirty-two barrier. Slightly grumpy, Hugo took out the greatsword he had prepared earlier and walked over to the corpse. The riese stayed on the rock.

He returned to them fifteen minutes later with bloody arms, a mana core, and a large section of hydra snakeskin. He said, “You guys should consider getting some scales for yourself. Monsters this big are fairly rare, and I bet you guys could make pretty effective armor out of it. I know how riese hate using metal.”

No one looked at Hugo. Yasmin and Ramin were staring at Lina and she was staring off into space.

Lina shook her head and saw that Hugo was there. She said, “I did it! Or rather, you did it. I mean, you helped me get a domain!”

“Good for you, which one did you get?”

“Ritual Domain!” Lina said happily.

“Excellent. That’s perfect for a riese. There is a ritual trainer in Fontein that can teach you without anyone else from the royal court knowing. I recommend getting a trainer sooner rather than later. Just make sure your faith in The Mother is solid before you start,” Hugo said.

They packed up and headed back to Ettel that day. While they were riding through the forest, Hugo gave Lina some advice on avoiding assassination. And avoiding boredom if she ended up in the orrery like he had.

Hugo took a shower as soon as he got to the royal grove. He felt a little silly bringing the mana core into the shower with him, but he wasn’t going to let it out of his sight. He was getting run down so he ate another mana stone. He was starting to think of the stones as medicine, just something he had to take to stay healthy.

Next was the royal reception hall to sell the mana core. He knew he was in danger of it getting stolen, and he figured a public sale was the best way to get the heat off of himself. The regent wasn’t there. Instead, the steward directed him to a smaller room above the hall where the regent was sitting at a smaller table. The queen and Lina were there too, standing in the back.

With a deep bow, Hugo said, “Regent Darius of the Brambled Wood. Thank you for making time for me so quickly.”

Darius nodded and said, “It’s the least I could do. My daughter tells me that your trip was successful. In more ways than one. I am pleased.”

Hugo smiled and glanced around the room. He probably couldn’t say too much with the royal guards around, so Hugo just said, “I am happy to hear that. I have the utmost confidence in your family and their continued success.”

The regent gestured to his bag and said, “Do you have it with you?”

“Yes, your majesty,” Hugo said and pulled out the core and set it on the table, “I adhered to every part of our agreement, and I am happy to give you what you want in exchange for promised payment.”

Darius frowned and said, “Gathering that much platinum in so little time is impossible. Instead, I have a partial payment today.” He gestured to a guard who brought a small chest out.

Hugo didn’t bother to check how much was in the chest before he picked up the mana core and said, “That’s quite alright. I am in no hurry. Please let me know when I should be back so we can complete the sale as promised.”

“There is no need for that. Leave the core here and we will pay you the rest, in time,” Dairus said. As he talked, royal guards slowly moved to block the door behind Hugo.

“That isn’t what we agreed on, Regent Darius,” Hugo started.

Daius interrupted him and said, “It’s my core, harvested on my land. Be grateful I am giving you anything.”

Hugo nodded and set the mana core down. He solidified a chair and sat down in the middle of the room. He turned to Lina and said, “My dear princess. I am sure you told your father all about your good news. Did you tell him what monster I killed to get that? Did you mention that the huntmaster didn’t help me at all?”

Lina’s eyes went wide. She said, “No, I didn’t say.”

Hugo turned back to Darius and said, “It was a five headed serpent hydra. The central head spewed fire a hundred feet. It was enormous, large enough to reach up and snap off branches from this grove tree. Dozens of blessed would have died if you had sent your own men out to fight it. I killed it while keeping your daughter safe. I have been nothing but accommodating and nice so far. I would hate to have my opinion of the throne tarnished. I might do something I regret.”

Darius and Hugo stared at each other for a bit, neither speaking. Lina had a complicated expression on her face. She knew that the only reason Hugo was able to kill the hydra was because of the tribbles. Darius didn’t. Hugo continued to stare at him, patiently waiting.

Shirin stepped forward to stand by her husband’s side and said, “Perhaps there is still room to negotiate. More platinum is not available now, but is there something else we could provide for you?”

Hugo smiled, “Of course. I am a completely reasonable man. What are some of the things you are willing to part with?”

In the end, Hugo left Ettel happy. He had thirty-five platinum, a small house in the city, and an artifact. It wasn’t as powerful as the ones The Mother made, but Hugo felt like it would be useful. It was a wooden bracelet that was enchanted with a weak danger sense.

The bracelet used riese magic to warn the wearer of impending danger. It only worked half the time, but that was much better than none of the time. The only real downside was its size. Hugo had to wear the bracelet as an armband.

He went directly to the Blue Lion Academy. He couldn’t wait to see if there was a response yet from the dean’s golem making friend. It had been just over two weeks at this point. He was anxious to learn more about himself and who he was now.

“Hello Hugo, wonderful to see you,” Dean Artjom said, “I just saw your namesake earlier today. He will make a fine formation mage. Determination will get you far as a mage.”

Hugo nodded politely. He was happy for Rebane, but it wasn't his priority right now. He wanted to know more about himself, about Hugo Ersatz. “Have you gotten a response back yet?” Hugo said hopefully.

“Yes, actually, just this morning. It has the answers we were looking for, but I am afraid you won’t like them,” the dean said and handed over a letter.

Quickly grabbing the letter, Hugo scanned it for information. The first few paragraphs were meaningless pleasantries about family. Then it got to the good stuff.

I am surprised you remembered the term Ersatz. You must have been paying attention in my lessons after all, my dear Artjom. You won’t find the word in any dictionary or reference material. It’s a word only used in the history books about the Acomarians. This is a definition from my personal library:

Ersatz were people constructed out of thin air by the Acomarians. They were creations of pure mana but could become flesh through the same process as mature spawns.

The ersatz were venerated at first, seen as heralds of their gods. They rejected any worship, letting their fellow nox know that they didn’t have a speck of divinity in them. They were created by the Acomarians to live as nox did, to practice magic, to explore all that life had to offer. They claimed they would report back to their creators upon their deaths.

Early historians noted improvements to various domains shortly after the death of a high ranked ersatz. The last known ersatz died in 2855, but no changes to the system were noted at the time.

Hugo sat back. He wasn’t a messenger of the gods. Or rather, he was, but the information was flowing the other way. When he died, apparently he would report back to the Acomarians on what had happened during his life. Which was a weird concept. He had always assumed that they could see everything. Maybe they just wanted a mortal perspective.

Hugo sat back and thought about how he felt.

It was nice knowing the truth. A bit disappointing that there wasn’t a grander purpose besides returning and reporting to the Acomarians. Still, it was something. Now he knew.

“I can’t say that was all that surprising. We had already guessed the part about being made of mana when my shirt dissolved. I hadn’t guessed the ultimate purpose of the Ersatz. That part was new. Not exactly upsetting though,” Hugo said.

“That’s not the worst part, keep reading,” the dean said.

I was distressed to hear that you have a pair of time travelers fighting over the destruction of Shimmer mountain. It sounds like you have confirmed the presence of the eighth grand ritual within the mountain.

I am sorry to say this, but you have to let the mountain explode. This is a direct command from the King. The ritual cannot be allowed to complete its mission. This is vital. The Graff Accords were signed to keep the grand ritual from enacting. The three nations of Gqeberha, Pretoria and Durban agree on almost nothing else, but they agree on this.

You mentioned that you are in contact with the time traveler attempting to stop Deva’s efforts. He must be shown reason. Please send him my way. I have information that will change his mind that I cannot commit to paper. Report back to me on your progress either way. I have already let the royal service of Durban know about this situation.

-Grand Automatonist Vika

“Now you understand. I know it’s shocking to hear, but we have to do what he says. The Graff Accords are inviolate, we must obey them and let the mountain be destroyed,” Dean Artjom said.

What in the hells?