17 - Doomed Either Way (Patreon)

While King’s Dream might have been placed in charge of the research expedition, many were unhappy about following the orders of a fresh Sapphire Caster despite the addition of the titles “Emissary” and “Officer” now stamped on Dazien’s adventuring license.

The gemite was normally charismatic –helped along by his Natural Talent– and laid back when talking with people, but he was mostly business when it came to adventuring and his duties as a leader.

He was happy with the new AOA positions but felt uneasy about the fact that he knew he hadn’t truly earned them. It was fairly obvious that the only reason people were actually heeding his orders currently was because of the Obsidian Caster always hovering behind him alongside the new Regent of House Wayland, who had claimed him as kin.

The Defender wasn’t the only one giving orders though, as Lord Teras surprised him by being rather gracious and patient in dealing with the much younger man in organizing the hastily gathered expedition. He had only been peripherally aware of Polissa’s father, never having met the man in person until their earlier meeting.

The OOM Chancellor seemed to care about gathering the new knowledge waiting beyond the city walls as well as keeping the people of Tulimeir safe from the existential threat they faced. This was a relief after the last person in the noble’s position had apparently believed the opposite when she decided to try to sell the city out to the Soul Reapers.

When the lord had their party alone for a moment, Ethan took Dazien aside and said solemnly, “I wanted to extend my gratitude, by the way, Mister Smithson. I heard from my daughter that you did your best to lead and protect the expedition members when you first discovered the Soul Reapers in the mountains alongside my children. As a parent, I can’t begin to express my relief when they came home safely after that.”

Dazien frowned and bowed his head, “I’m sorry I could not ensure the same during the Soul Reapers’ assault on Tulimeir. I am sorry for the loss of your son, Lord Teras. Simmon was a promising healer and would have been a great Adventurer for your House.”

The cinderen man smiled sadly, “Yes. He was not ambitious in the way Polissa is but he worked hard and died–” Ethan’s voice seemed to catch and he cleared his throat before he seemed to force the word out, “Honorably… far, far too soon.”

The Defender nodded along with the noble’s words, the young healer having only just become old enough to even be on the battlefield was the most tragic of outcomes for an Adventurer. Dazien was about to say more when they were joined by Camilla who awkwardly tried to report to the pair of them.

“Um, M–mister Smithson. Lord Teras. I– um, I finished recalibrating the ambient manameter and, um… and I placed the containment enchantments around the perimeter of the Corrupted Reality Seed… as you– um, as you requested,” she said, never looking away from the ground as she spoke, her brown hair shielding most of her face from view.

“Thank you, Camilla,” Ethan replied to the Sapphire Caste researcher as he looked over the stone tablet in his hand that seemed to behave like a magical computer screen. 

Once the chancellor finished looking over the information, he said to Dazien, “I think we’re ready for you to attempt the first trial and try moving it a meter eastward. You want to let your side know and convince your sister-to-be to give orders to an Obsidian?”

The party leader chuckled as he replied conspiratorially, “I think Paladin Fairweather gets a weird kick out of it, to be honest, making the introverted Crystal Caster boss her around.”

That caused the exhausted-looking lord to actually laugh. It was probably the first time since the man’s son died, “That does sound like something a battle-crazy Obsidian would do. They must often get bored after so long.”

Dazien grinned and mentally whispered for Phoenix and Kara to join them. As they arrived, he explained for Ethan’s benefit, “Lord Teras is ready for Kara to attempt moving the seed a meter to the east. No attacks, just see if your Strength can move it at all.”

Kara pointedly looked at Phoenix, who rolled her eyes at the golden voxen and said in an exaggerated tone of grandeur, “Please, mighty Paladin of the Champion Kara Fairweather, will you attempt to accomplish the trial Lord Teras has set before us?”

The blonde grinned and gave a dramatic bow, “As the Regent and my goddess commands!” Then she was gone, leaving Dazien to wonder if she had some sort of teleport power before remembering that Obsidian Casters were probably just that fast.

The next thing they all heard was the sound of a loud thud and then a string of extremely explicit curses that made most of them blush. The Defender was pretty sure the actions he heard Kara yelling at the giant sickly seed to do from his party’s position a dozen meters away were anatomically impossible without some extreme magical intervention. 

Dazien shook his head in disapproval at the Obsidian Caster meant to be a symbol of hope and inspiration for the people around them. When he glanced at his friends, however, he found Saiya returning his gaze with an indulgently amused shrug and the rest of them laughing hysterically at the imaginative exposition of expletives filling the air around them.

Kara was once again standing beside them with a sour expression that did nothing to diminish the Obsidian beauty as the voxen said, “Yeah, that thing’s not gonna budge without a lot more explosive power behind it, which I don’t think was the goal.”

“Indeed not,” Lord Teras responded wryly. He made a note on his tablet before saying, “Alright, now if you have a suitable power, please try attacking it with as little damage to the surrounding area as possible.”

The champion frowned slightly, then turned to look at Phoenix as she said, “If you wish this, I will attempt it, but I would suggest you relocate much further away.”

“Why is that?” Lord Teras asked with slight annoyance bleeding into the tone at the woman who seemed adamant about needing to be asked to do everything twice.

The blonde turned to look at the Magi as she answered with narrowed eyes, “Because the resulting explosion from its destruction will not only annihilate that pitiful Sapphire Caste containment enchantment but the rest of the surrounding area within a kilometer at least.”

Kara looked back at Phoenix as she said in all sobriety, “If you want me to seriously attack this with the intent to destroy it, then we should move everyone a couple of kilometers away and watch from there.”

Phoenix turned to look questioningly toward him. Dazien noted the disappearance of the normally present smile on the voxen’s face and nodded in acquiescence, “Alright, give us some time to move the expedition, and we’ll go ahead with the next trial after that.”

Phoenix sat with her party at the top of a large hill about two kilometers away from the Corrupted Reality Seed as they waited for the boom. 

Many of the Magi researchers nearby grumbled about the increased distance and difficulty they would have in capturing relevant data but they couldn’t complain too loudly when it was their lives that would be at risk. Still, some made their displeasure known, even going so far as to suggest postponing the destruction for additional time to study the alien entities despite the future lives it might cost.

As they waited, Phoenix felt like she was being watched more intently than usual and soon discovered Camilla Saren’s attention on her but the woman quickly looked away when her eyes sought to meet the other’s. The behavior reminded Phoenix of some of the shyer or more difficult children the hospital had to treat. So instead of trying to push Camilla with words that the woman seemed to struggle with from what she had witnessed up to that point, she focused on extending her aura like Paul had when she was anxious, brushing it against the brunette’s in a gesture of welcome and reassurance.

The researcher slowly gravitated towards the group, and Phoenix said calmly, “There’s no right or wrong answer –and no rush for one– but I’m wondering what you would have done. Being an expert in the field.”

Camilla shook her head and corrected, “I’m f–far from an expert in any field, but this one even less so… I specialize in Reality Rifts. This seed is not a Rift,” the woman paused, seemingly searching for something as she looked towards the sky before stating, “The route we’re going seems the most logical in an effort to reduce casualties over gaining knowledge.” 

The woman fiddled more with her glasses as she looked back down toward the horizon to observe the imminent destruction of the seed, then continued speaking, and Phoenix once again noted that she seemed to be reciting something as the researcher spoke with more assuredness, “I’ve been wanting to thank you and your family for liberating Tulisuda. I had been trying to gain access to the Reality Rift for years, and I even lodged complaints with the government about House Ruwena denying access to other researchers. 

“Even after the Soul Reapers’ activities were discovered and the information relayed around the world, the noble house still refused to allow others access. Despite our distant relation, a commoner like me didn’t have much luck convincing the nobles to budge before you uncovered Lady Ruwena’s treachery and stopped the Renseres.

“Now Lord Teras has granted me access and I’ve been able to help add to our collective knowledge about the dimensional magic the Soul Reapers have been using from what was left behind of their area enchantments in Tulisuda. I wanted you to know that it will save even more lives in the future as we continue fighting this war. Even if my contributions aren’t as direct as yours, it all adds up, and it’s thanks to House Wayland.”

Phoenix was staring at the brunette now as the woman monologued and she hadn’t wanted to interrupt despite the many questions that came to mind. Now that the awkward researcher seemed finished with the speech, she gave a wry smile and asked without judgment but curiosity, “Was that originally a message for me or Paul?”

Camilla flushed pink and admitted, “Y–you. Paul said I should meet you. When we spoke last… I promised to try meeting you and King’s Dream. He–” The older woman seemed to struggle internally for a moment before adding, “He, um, was always kind to me. We’re cousins. His mother’s brother is my father.”

“So we’re technically –what?– second cousins now?” Phoenix asked with wide eyes, having never asked about Paul’s extended family outside of House Wayland.

The researcher corrected, “First cousins once removed,” but seemed to freeze after speaking as she stared intently to the southeast, and a moment later, an explosion lit up the area that caused the amount of destruction that Kara had predicted it would –completely obliterating everything within a kilometer that looked like a combination of the nuke Kara had taken the other ships out with and Phoenix’s supernova ability on steroids as the highly magical item was likely obliterated.

Camilla pulled out an odd-looking device from the satchel slung over her shoulder and quickly began adjusting dials and pressing runes carved upon it. Phoenix watched the woman curiously before Dazien interjected from behind her by asking, “Is that the manameter you mentioned earlier?”

The brunette nodded and began speaking with excitement, “Yes. I’ve been using it to monitor the quality and quantity of the ambient magic in the area while doing my calculations.” 

Her cousin fiddled with a few more nobs before saying, “It looks like we just got a huge spike in both from that explosion and we’ll have to wait and watch for a bit longer to see if it will dissipate. It looks like a large dose of Corruption was dispersed throughout the area too. We’ll need to deploy ritualists to cleanse the land before it spreads. It could turn out that destroying the objects alone will cause a permanent adjustment to the magical ecology of the area.”

“So we’re doomed either way?” Phoenix asked grimly. Not liking the information the researcher was delivering.

Camilla shook her head and seemed more hesitant now, “I–It would have been, um,  w–worse if we let it continue raising the Caste and Corruption. If destroying it would have raised the levels either way, it’s, um, better to limit the overall impact.”

She nodded in acknowledgment and, before the debris from the explosion had even settled, Kara reappeared next to her slightly singed and with a wild grin as the voxen asked, “Time for the next one?”

Phoenix was starting to feel oddly stir-crazy after going so long without fighting any monsters. With their party in charge of this particular expedition, the other Adventuring parties were the ones patrolling the area as they babysat the researchers taking measurements and performing Corruption cleansing rituals of the destroyed landscape once the fires had died down and the dust had settled.

Camilla had stayed near them but the Wayfarer assumed the woman was in “observation mode” rather than interacting with them more directly. Though, to be fair, the woman was working hard on the current project at the same time and Phoenix was understanding enough to not want to distract her cousin with all of her questions.

The Astromancer found herself pacing as the Magi swarmed the kilometer diameter of scorched earth and debated whether they could safely destroy the seed closest to Tulimeir without damaging the city walls.

When night threatened to fall, and the crimson moon began to rise, Phoenix was about to join the other pair of portalists that had been called in to assist with getting everyone back to the city. That was when the most awkward confrontation of her entire life occurred.

“Regent Wayland, I’ve been hoping to meet with you,” Camrin Ruwena’s voice said from a few meters behind her, and she froze. Her fear spiked, and her heart raced as she turned to confront the enemy, but Saiya moved faster to keep her from raising the black dagger quickly conjured into her hand in defense.

Dazien was also quick to respond, moving between her and the murder accomplice as he said firmly, “Lord Ruwena. I believe I can confidently say that your presence is both unexpected and unwelcome here.”

“Please, Mister Smithson, I only wish to apologize,” the young teenager pleaded, taking a few steps closer but that caused Rayna to move next to Dazien as well, fur completely poofed up and ears flat.

“One more step closer, and you won’t be able to take another,” the bard growled.

Camrin collapsed to his knees right there in the snow, the crowd murmuring and gawking as the young lord performed an action Phoenix had never seen before. He raised both palms to his heart, placing them side by side as though shielding it, then bent forward at the waist while lifting those cupped hands in offering over his head, forehead now touching the snow as well. It was probably the most awkward, submissive, and vulnerable pose that she had ever witnessed another person put themselves in, and her party members had all collectively inhaled a sharp breath at the sight of it.

Uriel was the one to place a comforting hand on her shoulder from his position behind her and mentally whisper to her in explanation over the party chat, “He is offering you his heart and soul in apology and capitulation. It’s a form of acknowledging a life debt and surrendering to your mercy. I’ve never seen it performed in actuality.”

Phoenix was stunned. What was she supposed to do with this? With him? She wanted nothing to do with House Ruwena ever again, yet here was its new lord on his knees and begging her… for what?

“What does he want? What am I expected to do?” she mentally asked her party in a panic.

It was Kara, of course, that put her even further on the spot –throwing her to the metaphorical snolves– as the Sunlight Champion appeared standing behind the prostrated noble with a wicked grin and asked her loudly enough for everyone to hear, “What do you grant this young lord, Regent Wayland? In time-honored tradition, House Ruwena is seeking your final judgment in the eyes of the public. Will it be absolution, annexation, servitude, banishment, or death?”

“Say what now?” she mentally responded in shock and confusion.

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