Spellheart 9: Chapter 37 (Patreon)

Aelina confessed everything I suspected of her and a lot that I hadn't.

She'd been the one to plant the Entling, which I hadn't known. No wonder she'd been the first to notice it.

"Sir, Master, Patriarch, I know I have sinned..." Aelina groveled. "I am willing to pay with my life. Let me die and wash away my betrayal so that my next incarnation can be unburdened."

I shook my head and tilted her gaze up to meet mine. "Denied. You are far more useful to me as you are, Aelina. Now, tell me what hold the Satyr King has over you. He can't touch you on this world, you know."

"My clan," Aelina confessed, eyes to the ground. "We were loyal to the Fairy of the Immortal Glade. She is far more powerful than the fairies you know, but still just as playful and carefree. Her glade has always been more powerful than the Satyr King's Sacred Grove, but her non-combative and forgetful nature has always been our undoing. We were never able to launch a true strike at the age-old enemy because of it. Otherwise he would have been destroyed long ago. Still, status quo persisted for more than a thousand years, with the Satyr King and his ancestors unable to break through the Immortal Fairy's passive defenses.

"But he finally found a weakness. He called to all the Ten Thousand Worlds and summoned up the greatest bakers in all the realms and had them bake the most delectable of sweets. The Fairy of the Immortal Glade could not resist its temptation and left the safety of her realm for a bite of this pastry, and was swiftly captured. From there, my clan was conquered by the Satyrs." She cast her to the ground and a tear trickled down her cheek.

"All except for me had their mortal bodies destroyed and were reduced to wisps. Such elves would be easier to control with scattered and broken memories. The Satyr King met with me personally though, and he promised he would return my clan members if I was successful in my mission of ruining your cultivation. Alas, thinking things through, I suspect the rest of my clan is already gone. Nor could I survive your wrath to see my descendants if I even partially succeeded."

I shook my head. "Are you serious? The Fairy of the Immortal Glade, and Immortal Ascendant-level cultivator... was undone by a pastry?"

Aelina nodded, eyes still staring at the ground.

I let out a sigh. Maybe I'd landed on the wrong world. While I wouldn't give up my beautiful elf lovers for anything, if I'd landed on the World of Woods and Wilds I'd be running the whole planet by now. Between the ease and luxury of Sacred Grove cultivation, the lack of competent human rivals, and the fact that the two most powerful beings on that world seemed like either a petulant teenager or an airhead fairy meant I'd have had no obstacles in my way between me and the Immortal Ascension ranks.

But there was little point in dreaming about what could have been when I could be facing the here and now. And now it was time to tighten the noose around the Satyr King's agents and claim true mastery over this Sacred Grove. From there, perhaps I'd try to get The Wanderer to open up a room just for this. It had offered as much for Goldmongering magic, a type of spellcraft I still planned to pick up soon.

"So how many of the Sacred Grove workers are also working for the Satyr King?" I asked.

Aelina shrugged. "I only know five, but suspect there are more. Not all of the acts of sabotage were done by us. The five I know were all meant to report to me. We are likely organized into cells so that if you were to catch someone like me, there would still be other agents left to cause trouble. I know the other true mages, and all of them have stories like mine. After our defeat at the hands of the Satyr King, our clans were destroyed and our families harvested to be used as workers across different Satyr Sacred groves."

I nodded, running my hands through my hair. "Tell me the names of the five you know of. I'd like to give them the same chance to come clean that I gave you. If they do so, I'll go easy on them."

***

With Aelina firmly in my pocket instead of the Satyr King's, I began my work of uprooting his agents in earnest.

Of Aelina's people, three of them caved as she did. That was more than I'd hoped for. My new Mind Magic spell, Aura of Domination, was already showing its usefulness. I imagined most of those I'd forced to admit their guilt would have continued to deny everything without it.

I sent everyone back to work, though the two who had refused to admit anything would have to be removed soon. That was alright though. With the influx of volunteers from my recent interviews, the Sacred Grove would have plenty of workers. The second round of interviews were less fun and more practical, but I finished them quickly and had replacement workers loyal to the Hearthwood quickly taking up jobs in the Sacred Grove.

After a few weeks of training, they'd know enough that I could encourage the original elves to take vacations and explore the Hearthwood. This would not only let the formerly captive elves take advantage of their newfound freedom, but it would also give their replacements the chance to root out corruption by identifying irregular behavior in whoever was doing their job before. It was a win-win.

After that bit of work was done, I returned to the ongoing new clan member orientation event still taking place at the castle. One little speech was hardly enough time to get to know all my new kids, after all.

"Mac, please keep a record of every one of my new kids. Find their likes and dislikes and build a shopping list for me. I want to have unique presents for our one-on-one meetings later," I said.

[Already done,] Mac replied. [But are you certain you want to meet every one of your new children yourself? Even if we run through these meetings in a few minutes each, this is still going to take a week to get through them all.]

I shook my head. "A few minutes is hardly enough time to get to know a family member, Mac. Schedule at least an hour for each, plus a bit of time between meetings so it doesn't feel like they're waiting in line. Schedule some activities too. I would prefer the meetings be as natural as possible."

[Correct my earlier estimate from a week to several months,] Mac replied.

On that timescale, by the time I got to know the last of my new daughters, the first of them would have changed and grown enough that I'd need to meet her again. But that wasn't so bad a fate. Making spending time with my family a full time job sounded like a brilliant retirement plan for me, now that the Hearthwood Clan could run itself.

Between that, my recent progress on the Sacred Groves, and all the work I'd done with dual cultivation, the future was looking bright.

***

I strolled into the same coffee shop I often went to with Tivana, though this time my company was not nearly so fun. I was with Ethan, and figured I had to give the envoy from the Cult of the Unblinking Eye some of my time to keep relations between our factions peaceful.

The warm, welcoming smell of freshly ground beans flooded my nose, and the dim cozy magical lighting flickered off polished wooden surfaces. The quiet hum of conversations continued unabated, mostly thanks to my Unnoticability bubble surrounding me and Ethan.

"Not a bad spell," Ethan remarked as he studied the bubble. "It would certainly help people like us get around without trouble if we wanted to be unbothered."

"That's why I invented it." I shrugged.

"Still, I could suggest an improvement or two, if you don't mind. I suspect it will be hard to catch a waitresses attention with it activated as it is." Ethan waved his hand and restructured the mind zeal surrounding the two of us. The effect of my spell changed from manipulating the minds of all those around us to ignore us, to instead manipulating their minds to see us as a pair of unremarkable elf women.

It was a bit more invasive than my spell, but I had to begrudgingly admit that it was well crafted. I memorized the zeal patterns for later. It wasn't often that I got spellcraft instruction from a demigod in their field of expertise.

And like it or not, Ethan was an expert on Mind Magic from the premier organization dedicated to the mastery of Mind Magic in the entire world. Their mastery over the subject was so absolute that they mind controlled most of the populace into believing that mind magic didn't exist.

With the modified spell well in hand, the two of us were soon seated and given drinks.

Ethan lifted his cup, eyes widening slightly as he took his first sip. "This is... remarkable. Our own Cult's attempts haven't quite captured this flavor."

The compliment caught me off guard, but I flashed him an honest smile. Good coffee was something to be proud of. Recreating the comforts of home was something every former resident of Earth strived for in this new world, though few had been able to go as far as I had thanks to the abilities of The Wanderer.

While Ethan no doubt knew of The Wanderer from reports, I wasn't about to reveal any of its capabilities if I could help it. That magic ship was my greatest asset, after all.

"My nature cultivators have been tireless," I replied, tasting my own coffee and delighting in the familiar flavors of caramel and chocolate. They'd gotten my favorite flavor right. "They've been trying to replicate my favorite blends from back home. I still think there's a ways to go, but the success so far speaks for itself."

Ethan’s eyes glimmered with genuine interest. “Your elves appear significantly more industrious than what I'm accustomed to. I wonder if our Cult could benefit from your particular approach to leadership.”

"Perhaps," I agreed, leaning back in my chair and savoring the feeling of triumph that bubbled within me. A victory was a victory, no matter how small. "All one can do is hope."

Despite the easy conversation, a part of me remained wary of Ethan. His demeanor was friendly enough, but the caution borne out of leadership and the memories of what Tim, his fellow cult member, had done were still bright in my mind. It would take a lot more than some coffee to let the history between me and the cult be bygones.

Still, things were going well. Exactly as planned, in fact. My agents were rooting out the Cult of the Unblinking Eye's influence. My Sacred Grove was growing. I was approaching the Demigod realm in not one but all four forms of my cultivation, and the Hearthwood was healthy and whole. As soon as I got the end of the Seventh Golden Age off my back, I would be a happy man ready for a life of family and bliss.

At this rate, I couldn't think of anything that could go wrong.

Suddenly, the tranquil atmosphere of the café was violently shattered. A forceful presence, heavy and oppressive, rapidly filled Hearthwood. Ethan and I, caught off guard, instantly abandoned our seats and darted to the window. My eyes widened as I saw a colossal tear rending the fabric of space itself, belching out grotesque monstrosities with each pulse.

"Damn it all," I hissed, balling my hands into fists. I recognized that tear, and I could see the powerful monsters lurking just beyond it. The Devilbeast Wilds were opening up again to spill monsters all over the streets of the Hearthwood. My peaceful day had suddenly taken a dark, monstrous turn.

<Note>

Amazon Apocalypse seems to be doing pretty decent so far. I am going to have to see if I can drum up some new reviews though.

My one mysterious hater hit me with the release-day one star again. Guess she's still really mad that the Dukes of Harem anthology last year called the harem genre "Fantasy Adventure for Men."

But thankfully there are enough of you guys who like me to overpower it! I know you know how much I appreciate it, but I gotta say it again. Thanks guys for all your support!