Amazon Apocalypse 4: Chapter 8 (Patreon)

Cyra and I departed for Glacia with little fanfare. We wouldn’t be gone for long, but Cyra didn’t want to spread the word that she was missing. Unlike Crownhill, the lands of the Samhain Clan didn’t run themselves, and a lot of things required her physical presence. She wanted to be back before too many people realized she’d left Myrina in charge.

“Don’t worry. Sakura and Bridget are with her. They’ll keep her from doing anything too crazy.”

“I can only hope...” Cyra murmured.

“Put those worries out of your mind. We’re going to explore a new world! It’ll be fun.”

Normally, when I was introduced to strangers from other worlds, the System wanted me to kill them. This was a rare change of pace where I could meet other races without things leading to a fight. Hopefully, I’d find a few strangers willing to chat because I’d love to get the life perspectives of a few non-humans. There’d been one guy with Reluna who looked like a living tree, but he’d left before I had the chance to thank him and his companions for fighting on our side at Valkyrie’s Watch.

My old life had provided few opportunities to travel abroad. Now, I'd be among the first earthlings to visit whole new worlds. It was an exhilarating thought.

“Glacia, huh? Finally a familiar choice,” Thulga laughed as she prepared to teleport us.

“Do you think you can get us to this address?” I held out the scrap of paper Galbatorix had given me. Thulga peered at it, but was already shaking her head.

“I can find a nearby destination array, but that’s the most I can do. The defensive wards on the planet prevent direct teleportation except to specific locations. Rich worlds like Glacia like to know exactly who is on their planet and what they’re doing there.”

I nodded in understanding. “Then the closest destination array to that location will do fine. We’ll make our way over on foot if that’s alright with you, Cyra?”

Cyra nodded. “That address leads to the same shopping district my mother took me to when I was younger. I can take us through there.”

“Then I think we’re ready to go. Thulga, if you please?”

She gestured, and the world faded. This teleportation took a lot longer than jumping around Themyscira, and it reminded me of the trip between Themyscira and Crownhill. Eventually, the light faded, and we were in the world of Glacia.

“Names, passes, and state your business on Glacia,” a bored guard asked. This was extremely similar to my first visit to Valkyrie’s Watch. The only difference was the guard’s rank.

Guardsman (Level 173)

The man was dressed in armor that surpassed even the enchanted sets I could make, and he had a sword on his hip of even finer make. He was in high C-grade, perhaps well on his way to B-grade, and here he was, standing around like a common guard. Back on Themyscira, someone like this would require an alliance of a dozen elders and a matriarch to take on, as we’d seen with Morgathor.

“Names, passes, and state your business on Glacia,” the guard repeated, a touch annoyed in addition to bored now.

Cyra rummaged through her bag of holding and produced her pass. I did the same a moment later.

“We’re shopping for skill books,” I replied.

“And selling some common foods from my homeland,” Cyra added.

The man nodded like he’d heard the same thing a thousand times before. A flash of mana somewhere told me he was scanning our bags of holding, likely for any sort of contraband. It seemed intrusive to me, but I’d avoided bringing anything too impressive here for just this sort of thing. My bags of holding were loaded up with bulk goods of minimal value, like monster cores, a few steel staffs made by Reginald’s son, raw metals that shouldn’t look special to casual observation, and other odds and ends.

I'd dumped everything but the valuables and camping supplies I recognized from Morgathor's satchel, and most of his stuff was now gathering dust in my basement back home. I'd needed the space for raw goods. That turned out to be a lucky move, because he seemed like the sort of guy who'd be carrying contraband on a world like Glacia.

As the bored guard looked us over, my mind went back to the farmers eagerly wheeling their harvest to the Obelisk back in Valkyrie’s Watch in search of fortune. To this man, Cyra and I probably looked the same as they had.

But the guard’s face finally showed a spark of interest as he read Cyra’s card.

“Samhain? Any relation to the famous warrior woman clan?” He looked Cyra up and down, no doubt thinking she was an imposing specimen of womanhood.

“Yes, but we’re from another branch. There’s no need to notify my cousins that I’m here. We’ll rent a room in an inn if we want to spend the night,” Cyra replied.

“Ah.” The guard nodded and glanced at me. The corners of his lips quirked up in a smile. “Your paperwork all checks out. I hope you and your wife enjoy your stay on Glacia.”

“Oh, she’s--“ but the guard had already turned to address the next people in line.

Cyra’s face flushed again, and I chuckled and shrugged.

“Come on, wife. Let’s go shopping.”

***

As we walked through the streets, Cyra relaxed by my side. Normally she walked stiff-backed and focused, like she knew all eyes were on her. Not here, though.

Being C-Grades was only decent here. The average level was somewhere in D-Grade, instead of between F and E-Grade like on Themyscira. But there were still lots of C-Grades wandering the streets, so nobody stared at us like they might in Shadefall or even back home in Crownhill.

It was nice seeing Cyra when she wasn’t doing her best to act like a matriarch. There’d been a certain stiffness to her words and actions that she’d taken on since her mother’s departure. It had come on so slowly and subtly that I hadn’t even realized how much her mannerisms had changed until she went back to normal at my side.

The city was truly beautiful. In the distance, I could make out an enormous crystal arch. It sparkled in the afternoon light. It stretched from the ground to the sky, ending abruptly, like we were only seeing half of a mighty bridge that vanished into nothing.

Where did that lead?

“I remember those things!” Cyra pointed at a shop that sported a box. “I spent half my allowance on one the last time I was here.” Within the box was a wooden hand suspended by telekinesis. We watched someone use the hand through a small enchantment in the front, where they grabbed a pink stuffed rabbit and almost caught it. At the last moment, their control over the enchantment faltered, and the pink rabbit fell to the ground.

“Aww, so close!” the young woman grumbled as she walked away.

I saw Cyra’s eyes linger on the magic-powered claw machine.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve got more spending money now than you had back then. Want to try it?” I flashed her a grin.

“Oh, I don’t know. We’re supposed to be here on business...” Cyra hesitated, but I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her over.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Pretty soon, the two of us were glued to the claw machine. I tried first and failed as the enchantment on the magic had unexpectedly failed. Like the ones back home, this magical claw machine was rigged to lose its grip on the prize right before you won it.

“How frustrating... I thought I’d be able to do it now.” Cyra scowled as she failed three times in a row. She’d grabbed the pink rabbit perfectly each time, only for the magical hand to drop its cargo at the last moment.

I laughed and explained the trick to her. “See that band around the hand? Those are the enchantments that power it. When it crosses that threshold, its grip weakens dramatically.

There were a few magical defenses on the glass case around the enchanted arm, which prevented external magic use, but nothing too impressive. I could probably bypass all of them by using the telekinetic powers Master Artificer provided, though that wouldn’t be in the game’s spirit.

I looked left and right to make sure no one was looking, then stuck my hand inside the compartment meant to deliver the prize if the claw arm would give one. I pulled on a bit of dirty earth mana from the ground beneath us and sent the tiniest mana bolt I could. Exploit Weakness highlighted the claw machine’s magical defenses for me, and I bypassed each of them to strike a minuscule blow on the enchantment that told the magical hand to loosen its grip.

Just like that, the enchantment was disabled. All it would take to fix was a quick wipe of the enchantment to remove the dirt-like residue my spell had deposited. Still, for now, the machine would work in a manner that seemed much fairer to me.

“Let me try now,” I said, taking over from Cyra.

I adjusted the enchanted hand by pressing my entire palm against the controls and manipulating the enchantment directly without using the crude interface. Under my guidance, the hand scooped up the pink bunny Cyra had been struggling to grab and tossed it in the bin.

“For you,” I said as I presented the toy to Cyra.

“Really?” she asked, having far too bright a smile for such a little thing. For a moment, she looked more like Myrina than her mother.

“Yes, really. I just wish I could have given it to you back when you wanted it. I imagine you were quite frustrated with this thing as a girl.”

Cyra held the pink rabbit tight for a moment before putting it in the bag of holding closest to her heart.

“Thank you, Carter. I’ll treasure it always.”

I waved her off. “It’s just a toy. Come on, there’s a lot to see! This is the first time you’ve had a day off as a matriarch since your mother promoted you, right? We’ve got to get a whole vacation in while we can!”

***

The city grew denser and larger the nearer we got to the address Galbatorix sent me. The city turned from wood to stone, and the buildings here were all of fine make. Smooth walls of brightly colored limestone rose on either side of narrow streets. Shops went from small corner stalls to sprawling shopping centers that reminded me more of Earth before the integration than of Themyscira.

Other buildings were tall, rounded towers, each competing for the greatest height. Some shone like gold. Others looked as transparent as glass. Many seemed so thin they could hardly fit a spiraling staircase inside them to reach the top, let alone any usable space.

“Those are wizards’ towers,” Cyra explained. “It’s a bit of an outdated tradition, but many master wizards enjoy the quiet of being so far above the rest of the city. And seeing who can build the tallest tower is a bit of an unspoken contest between all of them. Mother said my father’s tower is the tallest on this entire world, though I doubt we’ll get the chance to see it.”

“Very nice,” I said as I looked at the various towers. I thought I would have scoffed at the idea of building a vanity project like this one, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it might be a fun project. The only way those things could stand so tall was through the liberal application of enchantments, after all. Still, despite their size and grandeur, none of them could hold a candle to that crystal arch.

“Let’s get all our selling done here. We’ll visit the nearby shops while looking for skillbooks and teleportation array kits.”

Cyra nodded, and we entered one of the many buildings surrounding the Obelisk. One was a restaurant several floors up that sold many window seats. Cyra and I sat down and were served a variety of dishes over the course of an hour while we shopped and placed bids on various items.

The food was alright. To others, it was probably marvelous, but Bridget had completely spoiled me for good food, so I wasn’t too impressed, especially when the bill came.

“I got it,” Cyra and I both said at the same time. I tried to slip it out of her hands, but Cyra’s grip was pretty strong when she wanted it to be. In the end, I was forced to split it with her.

We finished up the last of our meal at the same time we finished selling our wares at the Obelisk. My pure metals went for a fairly high price, even higher than what I was selling the stuff to Galbatorix at.

The metal staffs were a winner, too. The decorative metal rods with a monster core in the jaws of a dragon were quite popular around these parts. I wouldn’t have been surprised to find they all went to D-Grade members of the Dragon Lodge.

Cyra’s grain sold for a fortune and a half by the standards back home, and she offhandedly mentioned doubling the coin she had in the clan treasury back in Valkyrie’s Watch. No doubt that would help her rebuild her war-torn city.

“How long do you think we can spend away?” I asked Cyra as we wandered the streets. “I don’t want to keep you away from your work for too long.”

“Uh... ah...” Cyra stuttered, cheeks flushed again. “As long as you need, I think.”

“In that case, what do you say we explore a bit before doing the rest of our shopping?”

“Okay...” Cyra blinked away a dazed smile as we walked along the street to explore this new world. We were halfway down the block when I realized I’d grabbed her hand and held it tight as we walked side by side.

<Note>
Bonus chapter!

I checked the numbers, this Patreon is doing pretty well all of a sudden. I guess people are coming from the latest book and checking it out. It's been like 2 years since we've gotten close to $1,000 a month, and each chapter is getting triple the likes I'm used to. Neat stuff, and it's cool to see you guys more active. You can consider this bonus chapter in celebration of that.