Chapter 90 - A Quiet Day (Patreon)

Considering the circumstances, Arien felt surprisingly good.

Sleeping on hard ground inside a tent, bathing in a makeshift shower he had built himself, and eating cold, tasteless Academy rations for breakfast were a far cry from the comforts he had grown accustomed to. Somehow, it bothered him much less than expected.

Maybe it was the warm morning sun, the crisp air, or the endless greenery surrounding them.

"I could lie here forever," he declared, leaning against the low wall while stretching out on the grass.

"Me too," Elia agreed.

She lay beside him, half supported by the wall and half by his shoulder.

Their efforts the previous day to improve the camp had made them friends remarkably quickly. He had a feeling she was flirting with him a little, though more out of boredom than genuine interest.

"Just don't say that in front of Reyna," he advised. "She'll find some work for you to do."

Though their leader was currently taking a shower while Missy stood guard, it never hurt to keep one eye over your shoulder.

"What do you take me for?" Elia laughed. "I'm a master at avoiding responsibilities. My entire mage career is basically an elaborate scheme to avoid managing my family's estate."

"Hundreds of hours spent training mana and memorizing theory are less painful than making sure numbers match up in financial reports?"

"I don't think you have the slightest idea what it takes to manage several villages and sawmills without an army of bureaucrats doing the work for you," she replied with mock indignation. "At the Academy, it's hundreds of hours a month for, at most, ten years. After that, I can spend the rest of my life being a lazy provincial mage. If I went home now instead, I’d spend every day until I died dealing with suppliers, peasants, merchants, officials, and neighboring landowners.”

"Maybe you're right. I wouldn't know."

He shrugged.

"I think I'll take a nap. Wake me up if Reyna comes this way.”

"We're meeting near the Masters' camp tomorrow at noon," Reyna announced, standing over a map of the forest covered with notes she'd added the previous day. "From there we'll move against Effie's camp. Three teams are searching for it today, so the odds of not finding it are low. If somehow we fail, the attack gets postponed until the following day."

"Don't you think those two should be here listening to the plan?" Matt asked, glancing toward Elia and Arien, who were lounging some distance away.

"No."

Reyna shook her head, carefully avoiding looking in their direction.

"They're staying behind to defend the camp anyway."

"Again? Shouldn't we leave someone more responsible on guard duty? Me, for example. Or Matt."

"No, Missy. How many times do I have to explain this?" Reyna said. "Arien was fifth in our year. He'll manage."

“It just seems risky to entrust something so important to a commoner.”

“Are you questioning my judgment?” Reyna asked, turning toward her.

Missy lowered her gaze. “No. Of course not.” 

“Good.”

Reyna returned her attention to the map. "During the attack, Senhal, Basil, and I will focus on Effie. If we manage to eliminate her, excellent. If not, we wait until the rest of you deal with the others." She pointed at Matt. "Matt, you'll handle Liam together with Pori."

Then at the remaining names.

"That leaves seven of us against their remaining four members. You shouldn't have any trouble."

Her gaze shifted to Missy and Greg.

"Most importantly, once you defeat your opponent, you immediately assist the others. If all four of them are eliminated, you move to support Matt and Pori if they're still engaged. By that point, Effie should be little more than a formality."

"What about points?" Greg asked. "Who gets the flag?"

"The team that earns the fewest points from the battle."

Several people blinked. Reyna smiled faintly.

"That way nobody will hold back during the fight just to land the finishing blow."

"That actually makes sense."

Matt nodded. "So today we're focusing on reconnaissance?"

"Yes. We have a truce with Senhal's and Basil's groups, but we still need to watch out for Adam and Effie. And of course, if you discover traces of any other teams, try to locate their camps as well."

She looked around. "Any questions?" Nobody spoke. "Good. Let's move out."

As she left the camp, Reyna did her best not to look toward Arien and Elia, who were still sprawled comfortably beside one another.

"Arien, I'm bored. Tell me something," the girl said more than an hour later.

The sun had climbed high into the sky, and they had moved closer to the stream where the air was cooler. Elia wasn’t particularly patient. She kept fidgeting and had already grown tired of levitating water from the stream and shaping it into different forms.

She wasn’t particularly good at it.

"But what am I supposed to tell you?"

"I don't know. Anything."

"Nothing comes to mind."

He spent a moment trying to think of something before giving up. He'd never been particularly good at that sort of thing.

"Then tell me how you ended up at the Academy. And what's with this whole peasant's-son act?"

"What?" Arien blinked. "I am a peasant's son."

"And I'm a princess. Please, Arien."

"Where did you even get that idea?"

"I've told you before that my family isn't exactly wealthy. To someone like Reyna, I might as well be a peasant myself. But because we spent a lot of time around common folk, I have more experience with them than most people at the Academy." She pointed at him. "You don't look like a peasant. You don't talk like a peasant. You don't act like a peasant."

"I don't know whether I look like one or not, but I got rid of my provincial accent years ago. And how exactly am I supposed to act? Wander through forests? Know different kinds of plants? Blow snot through my fingers?"

"You can change your appearance and your accent," Elia said, "But not your entire mindset."

She sat up straighter.

"Every commoner at the Academy, despite technically having the same status as everyone else, tries to stay invisible. Tell me, how many times has Greg spoken without being addressed since yesterday?"

"Uh..." Arien tried to remember. "Honestly? No idea. He just seems shy."

"Zero." She held up a finger. "And whenever he answers Reyna, he doesn't even look her in the eye. Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

"Honestly, not really. I'm not great at reading people."

"See? Another piece of evidence." She poked him in the shoulder. "You talk to Reyna like she's your equal. Even Missy wouldn't dare. You completely ignore social hierarchies, like you're above them. And any peasant's son would've at least flinched when I touched him, worried about getting punished." She leaned closer. "So? Are you some Old House bastard? Am I getting close?"

"Elia, I don't know how to prove to you that I'm not a camel."

"A what?"

"A peasant's son." He sighed. "I come from a village near the eastern border. I had six siblings. We lived in a house with two rooms. There's no secret conspiracy here."

“Had?” she asked quietly.

“Tyrannyn raid.” His voice flattened. “I’ve got two sisters left.”

“So that’s what drives you?” Her tone had changed. “Is that why you unlocked the System so early? Why you’re doing so well at the Academy? Revenge?”

“Maybe.” Arien stared up at the sky. “But I like magic too. Some days I don’t think about revenge at all.” He looked at her. “Why are you so interested?”

“Don’t you feel guilty because of that?” she asked instead.

“Sometimes. But I promised myself I’d actually live my life, and I don’t think I can do that if I spend every day obsessing over revenge. There’ll be a time for it. I just don’t want it to consume everything else.”

Elia looked away, her hands tightening in her lap.

Arien watched her for a moment. “Did you lose someone?”

She remained silent for several seconds. “Yes. My sister.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” She shook her head, then added quietly, “But I will.”

Arien sat down properly beside her and waited.

Several minutes passed before she finally began.

“I was six at the time. You know how children are at that age. I thought I wasn’t a child anymore and that everyone should take me seriously.

“My sister, Harla, was three years older, and I followed her everywhere. We argued constantly, but our manor was far from the nearest town and we had nobody else to play with, so we always made up quickly. Usually because Harla took the first step. Our parents certainly wouldn’t have allowed us to play with commoner children.

“I had decided that being grown up meant I should dress like one too, so I kept stealing my mother’s shoes and dresses. Everyone pretended not to notice. I suppose I looked ridiculous.”

She smiled faintly at the memory.

“Ligness is right in the heart of the Kingdom. Monsters hadn’t been seen there for centuries, so nobody watched us very closely. We spent whole days running through the fields and forests.

“When the fog appeared, we didn’t think much of it. It was autumn. Fog was normal. We were near the Old Mill, and somehow the mist made everything around us seem more interesting.

“When it grew thicker, Harla wanted to go home. I convinced her to stay and play mages with me, throwing pieces of fog at each other like spells.”

“I still remember standing on my toes in my mother’s oversized shoes, scooping at the mist and throwing it toward Harla while she laughed.

“That was around the time the music began.

“At first it was so faint that it seemed to come from very far away. Years later, I even tried learning the harp so I could recreate it, but I never managed. I don’t think any normal instrument could.

“It was beautiful, and neither of us questioned why music had suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere. It simply felt natural.

“I felt happy and light. I danced through the mist while my mother’s dress dragged behind me, imagining that I was finally an adult and everyone respected me. My mother listened to my opinions. My father praised how clever and mature I had become.

“At first, it was only Harla and me. I don’t know how long we ran like that. It could have been minutes or hours.

“Then I began noticing other children.

“Some I knew. Uwa, the miller’s daughter. Irk, the wheelwright’s son. Others came from nearby villages or the town.

“None of that seemed strange either. In my head, they were all my friends, and of course they admired me and wanted to hear what I had to say.

“The music kept playing as we ran deeper into the fog. Everything around us disappeared behind it, yet somehow I could see more and more children joining us.

“That was when I first became afraid.

“Only a little at first. Some of the children I didn’t recognize looked wrong. Their skin was stretched tightly across their faces. Their eyes were bloodshot. Their clothes were torn, and bruises covered their bodies.

“Part of my mind accepted all of it as perfectly normal.

“Another part knew that something was terribly wrong.

“And I still hadn’t seen the worst of it.”

Elia fell silent. Her hands were trembling now, and Arien realized his own were not entirely steady either.

“You don’t have to finish. It’s your—”

“It’s okay. I’ve told this story many times, and it gets a little easier each time. The Healer who treated me afterward told me not to bury it. After all these years, I think she was right.”

She took a breath.

“The children were in different states. Some looked sick or injured. The worst barely had legs anymore. Below the knees, there was little more than torn flesh, and some of them were running on exposed bone.

“But the music kept playing, and I couldn’t think properly. The fear faded as it grew louder. I remember feeling sleepy, almost as if I could simply close my eyes and let it carry me wherever we were going.

“Then I noticed movement in the mist.

“The spirits of the Mist Procession were running alongside us.

“They should have terrified me, but by then I was too far gone. In my head, we were almost home, and the King himself had come from the capital because he wanted my advice.”

A faint, bitter smile crossed her face.

“I looked for Harla because I wanted to show her how important I had become.

“She was still running beside me and seemed happy too. Maybe she was dreaming about becoming an Explorer. She had always wanted to travel.

“But when she looked at me, I could see how terrified she really was.

“For a moment, the smile disappeared from her face. She managed to whisper my name.

“That was enough.

“The music loosened its hold on me for just a second. I stumbled, caught my foot in my mother’s dress, and fell.”

She swallowed.

“I must have hit a rock. When they found me two days later, I had a bruise the size of a fist on my forehead. I was hundreds of miles south, near the border of the Duchy of Montverne.”

“Your sister?” Arien asked, though he already knew.

“She never came back. Neither did the other children. Fifteen disappeared that day. Usually the Procession takes three, perhaps five.”

“Are you going to look for her?”

“My sister is dead,” Elia said. “I’m going to find the Procession and destroy it. I want to free her spirit, and every other spirit it has taken over the centuries.”

There was no anger in her voice now, only quiet certainty.

"I don't know much about the Mist Procession," Arien admitted. "My father used to tell us stories about it, but I always thought it was just another one of his fairy tales."

"As most people do," she said. "My governess told us stories too, trying to scare us into behaving. But when fairy tales become reality..."

She let out a humorless laugh.

"A few months later, shortly after my seventh birthday, I unlocked the System. Want to know which Aspect I was offered?"

"Oh no." Arien winced. "Seriously?"

"Yes. The Mist Aspect." She shook her head. "The System can be funny sometimes, can't it? But I'd rather die than take it. I don't care how rare it is."

"Yeah..." Arien muttered. "The System can be funny."

They spent the rest of the day talking. Some of it was about the Mist Procession, a subject Elia seemed to know almost everything about. The rest was much lighter, mostly gossip about the Masters and the Academy’s more famous students.

To Arien’s surprise, there were apparently countless rumors about him circulating among the other classes. Most involved him being the bastard son of some noble family connected to House Voltorey or secretly bound to Reyna by contract.

He found that considerably more entertaining than he probably should have.

He also learned that Prince Cedrick, the Academy’s golden child, had moved up to ninth in line for the throne and had gathered a formidable group for the eighth-year Expedition into the Lost Territories.

Overall, the day passed peacefully.

When the others returned that evening, dirty, sweaty, and exhausted, Arien felt slightly guilty about spending most of his time lounging around the camp.

After everyone had washed and eaten, Reyna gathered them for a briefing. Matt had located Effie’s camp, and the attack would begin the following day.

She ordered everyone to get some rest and not stay up talking too late. Reyna seemed more stressed than usual, but Arien decided not to ask. In her current mood, she would probably only snap at him.

Perhaps eliminating Effie tomorrow would cheer her up.

Some people prefer reading chapters without artwork influencing their imagination, which I can understand. Patreon doesn’t have a spoiler function, so I’ll be uploading the images to an external server instead.

The bonus chapter with the first fights goes live in about 20 minutes. ;)

https://imgur.com/a/Ll8iAr1