§
My eyes snapped open as I woke this time to Material Reality. Eurybia or the HR manager had closed the Illusory Reality directly, and probably prevented me from experiencing any dreams, to insure that I did not lose anything.
The lamp that had been lit in Illusory Reality was dark again. Aunt Elianora was softly snoring in her chair, while the other two were sleeping silently. My sense of time told me it was a half-hour before Morning– say, 5:30 AM– and my fairy sense told me that a pair of soldiers were standing guard outside the tent.
I was probably the reason for them. I was officially here as First Daughter of Pendor, after all.
Just as the HR Manager had stated, my fatigue was still severe. I concluded that my best course of action was to continue napping the remaining half hour until they sounded reveille.
Okay, I didn’t actually think it through so logically. I just didn’t feel like getting up.
But I couldn’t sleep, because of Eurybia’s last words.
Once your mother’s treasure falls into your hand… Was it a riddle? It was like a divination. But it was more straightforward than a riddle or a divination. She spoke as if I would know what she meant, when the time came. I really couldn’t imagine what she meant though, and she hadn’t given me time to ask. My memory of the Illusory Reality ended abruptly, after she spoke one more sentence. So my mind just kept spinning around that one frustrating statement.
I sighed, shook my head, and sat up. All I had on was a backless chemise, so I hesitated to go out of the tent like this. Since I was here as First Daughter, I felt I should avoid offending Genette’s sense of propriety. I needed somebody to fetch me a dress.
Speaking of Genette… I closed my eyes and sent my senses outward, expanding my mind to cover as much ground as possible. It didn’t take long to locate her. She and the female Reladorian mage were asleep in a nearby tent. Garen was in the tent between hers and mine, with the male mages, not including the archmage. He was awake, and equipping his gear, so presumably he had just risen.
Ryuu and two of the royal knights were missing, but the tent on the other side of us held five cots and only two slumbering knights. A little more searching turned up the three missing men in a nearby open area, doing their morning warm-up swings in the dim predawn light.
I turned and looked at the two women slumbering on their respective cots. Chiara and Mireia. My Servant and… according to the heavenly maidens, my new Servant?
When I looked at Chiara, I had a faint sense of connection. It was probably the first glimmering of my adult Elder’s ability to track and communicate with my Servant. When I saw her, I knew my own. But when I looked at Mireia, I didn’t feel anything like that.
Was this her mysterious technique from her home world blocking that sense? According to Eurybia, she could turn the bond into an option. She cut herself off from me, but in return she lost the benefits.
I could indeed recall, now that Eurybia had mentioned it, that Servants who properly cultivated and trained, normally after multiple decades of service, became able to free themselves from the bond. It allowed for senior Servants to have more flexibility of thought, to concentrate on their management and mentoring duties, and it allowed for retired Servants to enjoy their retirement in peace, without feeling a nagging urge to work for me.
Back then, we thought this was a very good system. I’m less happy with it, now that I have a mortal’s point of view to observe it from. Until they achieved a certain level of advancements, my Servants had not been able to keep their eye on their own goals and work for their own benefit. I thought back then that it was a fair trade, receiving boosted power and slower aging in return for a simple Servant’s bond. I’m no longer as sure.
For now, I couldn’t dwell on it. If Mireia was able to prevent herself from being in blood bondage to me, then for now, I could put the matter aside. I needed to focus on matters at hand instead.
My plan to get in contact with Allia to discuss the divination question had been preempted by the attack. As was my plan to join in the intelligence effort and root out whatever traitors were threatening Rod’s security. I needed to get back into the game. Even while suffering continuing anemia and pneuma loss, I could make a difference. And once I had my bearings and fully understood the situation here in Langram, I could fly into the city and find a few prostitutes to take care of my health.
Probably, Genette had my luggage. Rather than causing a scandal by strolling to her tent dressed like this, I stuck my head out of the tent and ordered one of the guards to go fetch my maid. I couldn’t wait around when I had so many things piled up to do.
§
“Go back and rest,” Rod told me flatly, before putting a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.
“I need to eat in order to heal, Your Highness,” I countered while using the Royal Army’s crude steel cutlery to slice a bite of fried canned mystery meat into bite-sized pieces. I won’t say the stuff looked and tasted exactly like Spam, but… Okay, I will say it.
Dining with a prince in another world is supposed to involve fine cutlery and china and a three-tiered cake set, right? Reality can be such a bitch.
He turned a dour look at me for a second, then his lip curled up slightly when he couldn’t maintain it. After swallowing, he stated, “Naturally, I meant after you finish your breakfast.”
We were in the tent the royal knights had secured for Rod, taking our morning meal together. Genette had dressed me in similar fashion to yesterday, except I had no tiara. The blast at the end of the battle, when (presumably) Astaroth had detonated the (presumed) proxy, had overcome the enchantment that kept it on my head, and it went missing. Naturally, I lost the dress as well. Not literally, but the explosion badly shredded it and the chemise underneath.
They did recover Durandal, fortunately, but not the Starfire Jade Writing Brush. Genette had managed to clean him up, and put my sword harness into reasonably presentable condition, so I was wearing him now. I planned to go looking for brush and tiara as soon as I recovered a bit more of my health.
“Your Highness, our parents are still missing. I can’t lay around doing nothing.”
“You won’t be doing nothing, Ti,” he replied patiently, “You’ll be getting well.”
I bit off a retort and tried to think of a reasonable argument, instead. I chewed and swallowed a forkful of Spam and eggs first, to gain time to consider my reply.
I stated, “Whether I stay in my tent or join the other royal knights working on securing this camp, I’ll heal at the same rate, Your Highness.”
“Not true,” he answered without hesitation. “Doctors prescribe bed rest for a reason.”
For a moment, I was tempted to say that my doctor had not prescribed such a thing, but the fact was that I had slipped out before she woke, so I couldn’t say for certain that she wouldn’t.
After a contemplative sigh, I answered, “After I replenish my pneuma enough to heal myself, I will become fully healthy again.”
I could possibly do it already, but I didn’t want to try, yet.
“Rest is the best way to do so,” he countered.
Glancing down, away from his eyes, I said, “I have a faster method. You know what I’m talking about.”
He didn’t say anything, but he nodded. He had seen me feeding on Mireia and knew the reason I did so.
“I can’t lay around doing nothing while our parents are missing,” I repeated.
We still had no news about Mother, Uncle Owen or even Lady Serera who had last been seen chasing after Owen’s abductors.
He was silent for a bit, then reached over and took my hand. “Ti, I…”
I looked up to see him visibly struggling for words. I had an idea of what it was he wanted to say and frowned.
Pointing to myself, I said, “Me, knight.”
Pointing to him, “You, prince. I go into danger, you stay out of danger. I’ve told you that before. Remember?”
Frowning but nodding, the prince said. “I know. I just don’t want it to be that way.”
“Being your fiancée didn’t overturn my sworn oath to protect you, Your Highness.”
“I know that too,” Rod replied, still frowning, “but being your prince doesn’t stop my desire to protect you, Ti. You weren’t awake to see what a terrible condition you were in, after that explosion. Or how hard you hit the ground. I thought you couldn’t possibly still be alive.”
Skills like [Body Fortification] don’t stop immediately after the caster loses consciousness, so mine would have still been active. But Rod wouldn’t have known it was active at the time.
Pursing my lips in response to his pained expression, I asked, “You saw me hit the ground?”
“It blew you in our direction. You nearly reached the carriages. And you rolled at least ten paces after you hit.”
After thinking about it, I said, “I’m that hard to kill, so you can stop worrying about me.”
He shook his head, “Right now, I’m even worried about your mother. If something could happen to her, then something can happen to you.”
“We don’t know that anything has happened to her.”
“She still hasn’t contacted us. And after that divination yesterday…”
“What divination?” I asked after he paused.
Rod’s expression grew bitter. “Destia performed a divination. She received the answer, The gray wings shall bring tidings. Just that and nothing more.”
“The Royal Augurs would have tried again, by now.”
He clicked his tongue and scowled. “I’m losing all my faith in them as diviners. They should stick to consulting oracles and reading signs.”
“What did they say?”
“Nothing at all,” he answered with disgust, his expression about as dark as I’ve ever seen. “They had a complete failure on the last try. They’re claiming it’s because they’ve been hunting the same information repeatedly.”
I drummed my fingers while thinking, then secretly expanded my mind…
My eyesight grayed momentarily, alerting me that I couldn’t be Fan Li in my current condition. But I backed off slightly and was able to summon the quasi-man Kwelabi.
– If divination has similar roots as my spiritual vision ritual, then continuous inquiry on the same subject will cause the quarry to run farther away. Continuing the hunt may eventually result in success, but the pursuit will grow long.
“They’re not lying,” I told Rod. “It does work that way.”
He grimaced and threw another forkful of breakfast into his mouth. I nibbled on toast and sipped tea thoughtfully.
“Wish this was coffee,” I commented, recalling the fragrance when Pasrue had it with her breakfast.
“I can get coffee for you,” he noted. “There’s a Pendorian unit attached to the neighboring brigade. I’ll have them send some over.”
I waved it off. “It’s fine, Your Highness. I’m the only one here who is likely to drink it.”
Tea is the non-alcoholic beverage of choice in Orestania. Coffee is a relatively recent introduction, originally imported from exotic lands in the far west of the continent. But when it gained popularity in the south, growers in Pendor began planting coffee in places where tea plants don’t grow well. Its consumers live mostly in the Dorian countries, although for some reason it’s also become popular in far northern cities like Thuriben and Dava. In the Ostish regions like Atianus, though, it’s still rare.
Rod’s brow bunched up. “You’re a good enough reason to serve it, Ti. Besides, I’ll drink it. Your mother has it served in the Palace, so I’ve grown fond of it.”
I blinked at him. “Really? I never see anything but tea at the estate!”
Rod shrugged. “She spends more time in the Palace. Her estate mostly exists to protect Pendor’s prestige in Atius.”
I wanted to disagree, but he was probably right.
A sudden commotion outside ended our conversation and our breakfast at that point. My ears and my fairy sense picked up enough to tell Rod the details before the royal knights even called for him.
“Lady Serera just appeared and collapsed outside the tent, Your Highness,” I told him. “She’s badly injured.”
