Greetings, Readers. This is the author, Eric Fretheim, also known as Fushigi. I’ve been enjoying spinning this yarn and I hope you’ve been enjoying reading it. With this, Volume I is complete. We have finished the initial arcs of this story, and we have firmly set sail on the arc which will constitute the bulk of Volume II. I know …

. I made a discovery once I lured the wolves above the canopy. They were faster than me. But they became much easier to deal with in the open air, because I was much more maneuverable. I barrel-rolled away from the first to catch up to me, continued over the top and through the roll, catching another wolf with a …

. Okay, so it sort of resembles bikini armor. But, thanks to the sea-serpent skin portion, the ratio of bare skin to armor is much lower than your typical artwork. Maybe call it one-piece swimsuit armor. I think it’s time for me to explain the insanity of fairy knights and their armor preferences. It’s fair to criticize its obvious shortcomings, …

Firgolmir agreed to finish my armor up overnight, so I would return to his smithy the next morning. After leaving his place, I went to the barracks and found a knight who had a thing for Tiana and good magic skills. My slightly-too-sexy mess uniform highlights my anatomy well, which came in handy for talking him into transferring the relevant …

The term “mess uniform” makes it sound like one wears it while crawling through the mud and mucking out the stables. In reality, it’s the second fanciest uniform a soldier can wear. It’s the ‘mess uniform’ because you wear it for formal dinners in the ‘mess’, which is what they call the dining room. Within an hour of receiving Arken’s …

. The only news that came back from the investigation at first was that they had backtracked the demons as far as a small abandoned farmhouse near Copen. They had departed from there ahead of us and waited in ambush. Perhaps they had started out once they saw me arriving in Copen. The palace and my mother both made it …

After they blinked at her for several seconds, I was able to watch it dawn on them that she meant to use one of those skills their mages didn’t possess. Since she mentioned blood, they probably now thought she was a vampire. The way she fully covered up, with a wide hat for shade, was typical of average vampires, who …

I guessed at what Mother was talking about. “Do you mean his dark attribute magic? Yes.” I added, “I didn’t know he was a mage.” She studied my face for a bit, then nodded. “He isn’t really a mage, per se. To conceal his nature, he rarely uses his magic, because it is instinctual, like your Charm.” No human’s magic …

I had no time to worry about her escape. My footmen were still facing two ghouls each. I ran at the ghoul nearest me, screaming at the top of my lungs to turn him away from the wounded footman. Instead, both of his opponents turned to face me. Not smart, I was thinking as the footman immediately plunged his blade …

I had seen the direction of the impact on Carson, so I had a rough guess as to where the attacker would be. While I ran, staring that direction, a huge gash parted the grass nearly under my feet. The assailant’s wild shot had just drawn a nice arrow pointing exactly to them. I turned and ran toward them. I …