Technomagica 68. Psyops (Patreon)

[Dante Alan Skyisle]

When I woke up in the morning, I knew that I could no longer delay things. Something had to be done about the new Overseer. I made a quick breakfast on the fire and then went to the Church of Equality.

The old church greeted me with its high walls and a huge, arched gate that stood in the middle of the island leading up to the building. According to Delta, the gateway and the church were rebuilt a few centuries after the fall of Tricameron Citadel, most likely by the Ishira priests, as a lot of their symbology was hidden deep within the walls.

I hummed the Alanian Sentinel's song as I passed beneath the gate. The gate and the building failed to respond to the song, but something softly resonated back to me from the ground itself, echoing from the depths of the island that the church had stood on.

According to my Infoscopes, there was a massive network of Alanian-built catacombs deep beneath the church that contained an Astral Engine Obelisk and large batteries. Checking them out was part of my to do list. The Astral Engine there was barely alive, but it was still reinforcing, empowering my song and calming my soul.

I walked up the stone stairwell up to the Overseer's office. The door was unlocked. Kliss was there, slouching behind the table.

"Hey," I said.

"...Dante." Kliss lifted her head, sharp emerald eyes cutting through me.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Not the best," she replied. "But I'll pull through…”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“My parents died in a dragon attack,” she said simply. “It was... Aradria.”

“That’s the dragon that attacked Skyisle on the day I was born,” I exhaled.

“Damned Giovashi!” Kliss slammed her fists into the table.

I nodded with a frown.

"I... never got to say goodbye to them, never told them that I… loved them," Kliss closed her eyes, clearly trying not to cry. “What use being able to love someone if you can’t even tell them that anymore?!”

"I'm sorry," I said after a deep pause.

"I don't blame you," Kliss sniffed, wiping her eyes. "What's done is done. It's not your fault. It's mine. I stopped keeping up with events in Cessna over the summer. I didn’t want to keep fighting with my parents about my position in Skyisle. The estate manager had sent me a letter, but it clearly didn't get to me. Apparently, Aradria caused numerous shipping lane disruptions."

"That's... not good," I commented.

"Yeah. Not everything is peaceful in the Empire of Equality," she continued. "I think that the Basque are stirring up trouble and Giovashi is working with them. Maybe their goddess… Eunisii is making a move against Equality. Maybe it’s some other nation trying to mess with us… I don’t know. Someone's been driving dragons out of their nests, sending them into a frenzy. In response to this, Emperor Magellium signed a decree to exterminate the dragons, which is causing even more dragon attacks."

"I identified Aradria twelve years ago," I said. “She is level 209.”

"Dragons are incredibly hard to put down." Kliss nodded. "Their scales are tougher than the highest grade of magisteel and their heart is a mana furnace of incredible power. Dragonfire flames cannot be put out by water, even most spells fail to extinguish them. The Eastern wall of Cessna was breached. Many died, but the city held. When Dragons are driven from their nests they fly around and decimate caravans and nearby towns indiscriminately, retreating to the mountains whenever we try to hunt them down. Essentially they're killing machines armed with a firestorm spell and they're much smarter than the average monster, so they can evade warships and hunting expeditions with ease for decades. Apparently, a lot of the scout and mail ships have vanished in the past few years around Ishikaria mountains."

"As if we didn't have enough problems," I muttered. "Are you going to be safe flying to Cessna?"

"It should be fine," Kliss said. "The Overseer-carrying ships are... faster than a dragon. I have no choice. I need to go to Cessna, not just to heal myself... but also to sort out my parent's estate. They lived in the city, but they also owned... some farmland outside of it."

“Could a dragon kill a dragon?” I asked.

“What? Do you have a dragon or something?” Kliss squinted at me.

“Not really,” I said. “Just thinking things over. What about a really big explosion?”

“A big enough explosion can bring a dragon down,” Kliss nodded. “But… they have insanely high Vitality and heal very quickly. Even breaking its wings and bringing it down from the sky isn’t enough. It takes two strikes to pacify the damned beasts, then the dragon's crystalline heart must be removed from the body to actually kill it."

“Right,” I mulled.

"Anyways, did you need something?" She asked.

“Have there been Overseers that have done their job… remotely? Not actually staying in Skyisle?”

“Now that you mention it…” Kliss pondered. “The Overseer that managed Skyisle before me... barely did his job. From what I understand he dumped all of his work onto Wiklogg and stayed in Agamemnon.”

“How did the Vow allow that?” I asked curiously.

“The Overseer Vow’s priority is to keep its bearer safe,” Kliss said. “The second Overseer likely concluded that it was safer to manage Skyisle from Agamemnon… and his Vow allowed it. This was discovered only because he got caught partying in an Agamemnon Red district… and thus he was sacked and replaced with me.”

"Perfect,” I rubbed my chin, contemplating her words.

"Do you have a plan?" She asked.

“I want you to write a letter to the next Overseer,” I said.

"I'm listening..." Kliss replied.

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[Ignatius Oavion Cessna]

I walked down the stairwell connected to the gray church building from which I was to rule Skyisle. As a seventeen year old graduate of the Cessna Academia lucky enough to grab the newly available, well-paid position as the Overseer of Skyisle. According to the Guild Secretary, its current Overseer Kliss was retiring after only a single summer of service. There was a small concern in my heart that I wouldn't be able to level up in Skyisle, but this was only a short term job so I didn’t consider it a big issue. The money and elevated status pin awarded for being an Overseer of a problematic region was worth it.

I met Overseer Kliss on the balcony of the local Church of Equality.

“Hail, Noble Legionnaire Kliss Eliza Cessna,” I respectfully declared with a deep bow. “I am Acolyte Ignatius Oavion Cessna.”

“Hail… Acolyte of Equality,” Kliss replied, her voice weak. I looked at her face. She appeared sickly, tired and incredibly pale. There were large dark circles under her green eyes and she was carrying a very large bag on her shoulders.

“I pass onto you the torch of carrying this… terrible burden,” Kliss said, suddenly going off script. She was supposed to say “noble position”. Something was wrong here.

“B-burden?” I blinked.

“Whatever you’ve read about this job position was likely... understated,” Kliss said, making strange pauses between words as if she was struggling to speak properly. “Know this - I’m leaving not because I want to… but because I’m dying.”

“W-what?” I gasped. My armacus 88 told me that she was completely honest. “You’re dying?! HOW?! WHY?!"

“This land is poisoned, contaminated,” the ex-Overseer of Skyisle uttered, her voice shaking. “What’s your level, Ignatius?”

“Twenty three,” I said proudly.

“My level was twenty four when I started working here. I had just as many skills... I am level twenty now. I have six skills left,” Kliss confessed.

“WHAT?!” I gasped. “SIX SKILLS?!”

“I’ve said... enough,” Kliss sighed deeply.

“You… you aren’t going to show me around? Aren’t going to tell me… why… your level fell so much?!” I stammered.

She pushed a letter sealed with a wax stamp of the Overseer into my hand.

“This will explain everything,” she said. “I need to lie down in the ship's cabin. Goodbye and good luck… Overseer.”

She walked to the stairwell, vanishing inside the docked sky-ship.

I looked in utter horror and bewilderment at the envelope in my hands.

It couldn't be true! Magogenic zone 18 wasn’t this dangerous… was it?! The sky-ship bearing Kliss took off into the clear sky as I ripped up the envelope, breaking the seal and digging into the contents of the letter.

[To the new, misfortuned Overseer of Skyisle,

I have served this position only for one summer.

As I have told you in person - I’m dying. Whatever you’ve been told about magogenic zone 18 was a lie. It is extremely dangerous to your health. The people that live in Skyisle have adapted to the contamination of the fault, but as someone who wasn’t born here you lack the skills to fight the curse emanating from the place which the locals call “the Valley of Death”.

If you stay in the local church, this deadly curse will slowly rip apart your soul and drain your skills one by one.

As I grew sicker with each passing month, I have trained a local boy to take care of things for me. He is incredibly talented, obedient, reliable and trustworthy. He has no oaths on him to the other gods. You can use him, declare him as your local representative to the Village Elders. His name is Dante Alan Skyisle. You can use him to run this cursed Village, to manage the accounting of the land and people via voicecast calls to the Church office.

You can pay him just a single Ishikarian gold per season for doing this and keep most of your Imperial salary to yourself.

I had taught him everything I knew over the summer as my health and skills degraded away.

Simply redirect all incoming calls from the Skyisle communication Orb to your armacus and then take a sky-ship to Agamemnon. Rent a place there. Stay safe. Manage Skyisle remotely.

The Overseer of Skyisle that came to this cursed place before me has done this and nobody had noticed it for three years! You can do the same, simply don’t attend crazy parties or sin against Equality’s laws. Don’t make my mistake. Don’t sacrifice your skills and health for nothing.

Overseer Kliss Eliza Cessna]

I gritted my teeth. Those bastards at the job desk lied to me! The Guild Secretary said that Fault 18 was perfectly safe, that it would only delay further leveling. Nobody told me that the local fault would eat my skills and drain my soul!

Equality damn them all! Lying bastards!

I folded the letter up, angrily shoving it into my pocket.

I felt my Vow. She wasn’t against me staying in Agamemnon. I sighed.

"Thank you, my Angel," I whispered to my observer.

Now where would I find this… boy that Kliss had spoken about?

A white-haired Ishikarian teenager stepped out onto the balcony. I spun, aiming my armacus at him.

“My name is Dante Alan Skyisle,” the boy bowed. “I welcome you to our humble village, new Overseer of Skyisle.”

He was telling the truth. I lowered the armacus. Phew. This was the kid that Kliss had trained herself. Excellent!

“Will you manage Skyisle for me, handle the Book of Records with absolute diligence?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dante nodded.

“What’s your level? Are you able to teach students the Imperial language? Will you be able to read the books I will send to you from Agamemnon? Will you explain the Laws of Equality to the children of Skyisle?”

“I am level six. Kliss and I hunted blood elks and silent moths together to help me level up over the summer as I was her personal assistant. I will also handle teaching children of Skyisle Imperial law, language and mathematics. I know these things far better than anyone in the village,” he replied in perfect Imperial without an accent. “I will teach them as Overseer Kliss has asked of me, I so swear upon the name of Goddess Equality.”

“Very impressive,” I nodded, as my armacus confirmed his words as the absolute truth. “Will the Village Elders give you trouble?”

“No, Kliss has already declared me as her representative,” the boy replied, silver-blue eyes staring at me.

“You will work for an Ishikarian gold coin per season?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dante confirmed.

I exhaled. This teenager was perfect for the job and he barely charged me anything!

“Very well,” I smiled, relaxing fully. “Just let me call a Skyship to Agamemnon and the office of Skyisle will be yours to handle from this point on.”

I dug into my pouch and handed the boy six gold coins and a few silvers. “Here’s your salary for the year with… a small bonus.”

Dante bowed, accepting the coins.

Ha! What a gullible idiot!

Kliss had done well sorting Skyisle out for me.

Four year vacation in Agamemnon, here I come!

“Will you say a Vow to Equality to do this job with absolute diligence under my Voicecast orders and to spread the glory of our Goddess?” My Angel suddenly pulled on my lips.

“Yes,” the silver-haired boy nodded with a smile. “I will.”