Memoirss 502 - Missing dog posts (Patreon)

(Schedule should be mostly back on track from now on)

Scarlett stretched her arms as she returned to the quarters provided to them in Dawnlight Palace, basking in the satisfaction the movement brought. There was no pain or soreness. After several days of feeling like a half-limp corpse propped up on stimulants just to keep going, it truly was nice to be back in shape.

Or not even ‘back’, really.

Her body felt better than it perhaps ever had before.

And that was far from the only reward she had received.

Scarlett could hardly wait until she returned to her mansion and had the chance to go through it all properly.

Getting back from Pellin’s little trial realm had proven remarkably easy with the Idol’s assistance. Once their business with him was concluded for the time being, he had simply led them down a path that revealed itself through the underbrush, and at the end of it had stood another version of the [Wayfarer’s Challenge] mirror. Through it, Scarlett and Iyana had been able to return to the palace, where the Keeper of the Imperial Reliquary had been waiting for them alongside several visibly shocked Palace Guards.

Scarlett wasn’t sure exactly how long she and Iyana had been gone—she hadn’t been counting the minutes—but she figured it had probably been somewhere between four and seven hours.

To both her and Iyana’s surprise, though, from the perspective of the Keeper and everyone else, they had only been gone for a little over half an hour.

Time could get a bit out of whack when you dealt with the Wandering Realm. Scarlett knew that, both from old tales in this world and from mentions in the game. She had also experienced similar situations herself before, such as during her time in Freymeadow. Still, it had caught her slightly off guard. Neither Pellin nor the game-equivalent quest had given any indication that this would be one of those occasions, and Scarlett had been fully prepared to throw away an entire day if necessary.

That said, she wasn’t going to complain that it hadn’t proven necessary.

Neither was Iyana, from Scarlett’s best guess.

The Keeper had, unsurprisingly, already sent word about their disappearance, and there had been a certain amount of concern over what had happened to them. But it wasn’t anything Scarlett couldn’t smooth over with some help from Iyana. Since the matter had also resolved itself relatively quickly, the Keeper had eventually been forced to let it rest.

Out of curiosity, Scarlett had tried touching the [Wayfarer’s Challenge] again to see whether it would still activate, but it didn’t. Which was roughly what she had expected. Even when she instructed a somewhat hesitant Palace Guard to touch it, the mirror remained inert.

That was good, because it had allowed Scarlett to order that it be brought to her quarters instead.

It was hers now, after all.

Scarlett crossed the room and stopped in front of the mirror where it had been placed against one wall. She ran a hand along the dark frame twisting around the glass, tracing the uneven branches and knots in the wood with her fingers. Her reflection stared back at her from the surface, rendered in that same slightly too-bright bluish tint as before.

“Give me some time,” she said. “I will see what I can do.”

Nothing responded, of course.

She wasn’t even sure Pellin could see or hear her through this.

But it didn’t hurt to try.

Scarlett turned and looked across the otherwise empty room.

She wondered where Fynn was.

It wasn’t like him to simply disappear. Especially not somewhere like this. She would have expected him to be waiting here for her.

Had he grown bored?

That didn’t sound much like Fynn either.

However, Scarlett had actually been gone longer than she originally expected. Even accounting for the fact that only around thirty minutes had technically passed while she and Iyana were in Pellin’s realm, Scarlett hadn’t returned to their quarters immediately afterwards. After all, before visiting the Imperial Reliquary, she had been called to attend the council the crown prince had convened under the guise of her new title as special counsellor. With the events in the Reliquary already having delayed her, Scarlett had been ushered towards one of the palace’s council chambers almost as soon as everything with the Keeper was settled.

There, the crown prince had greeted her alongside a collection of high officials and nobles who supported him, including Duke Ingomar Valentino and Lord Withersworth. Since word of Scarlett’s abrupt disappearance had already reached him—and since Iyana had accompanied her—the crown prince had briefly questioned both of them about what happened, which had forced Scarlett to provide a summary of things.

He had been pretty amazed to hear that they’d stumbled into the setting of an actual legend, and even more surprised that the key to something like that had been sitting inside the palace all this time without anyone being the wiser. Still, true to his word that Scarlett could choose whatever she wanted from the Reliquary, he hadn’t criticised her for taking the mirror. If anything, he had seemed impressed that she and Iyana had managed to uncover and complete the trial at all, saying that he would very much like to hear more about it when there was time.

After that, the council had resumed with Scarlett taking her place among them.

To be honest, most of it had been fairly boring and only tangentially relevant to anything she personally cared about. They discussed the continued expansion of the Empyreal Barrier, troop movements across the empire, reported reactions from the Tribe of Sin, supply routes to newly secured regions, disruptions to trade and communication, several border concerns, and a brief update on the expedition heading into the Unresting Steppes.

It was at least somewhat interesting to see what discussions at this level actually looked like, and what kind of information the Crown had access to. Scarlett had been particularly fascinated by an enchanted table in the centre of the chamber that displayed an incredibly detailed map of the empire, complete with its major settlements and the current positions of many imperial legions, garrisons, and detachments. Some of the observations made around it had been surprisingly insightful as well, especially when it came to how the Tribe of Sin might adapt now that freely moving through large parts of the empire would become much harder.

Still, Scarlett didn’t speak up much herself.

She got the impression that no one really expected her to, either. Everyone gathered there had already proven loyal to the crown prince, and most of them probably understood that his public appointment of Scarlett as a special counsellor was intended to be more in name than literal.

Despite that, the crown prince did ask for her opinion a few times, and it didn’t sound entirely like he was just trying to be polite.

He seemed to genuinely wonder what she had to say.

Scarlett had found herself surprisingly appreciative of that, so she ended up giving him a few pieces of information she hadn’t originally thought to share. Certain details about how the Tribe of Sin tended to operate, for one, including several locations and strategies she knew from the game. She also offered a little bit about what she knew about the likely threat posed by the Undead Council beyond the Everdust Barrier.

Probably nothing that would fundamentally change the situation by itself, but if they managed to verify even part of it, it should give the crown prince’s faction—and the empire as a whole—a slight head start.

Regardless, the meeting dragged on longer than Scarlett would have preferred. Probably longer than she would have managed if the Spring of First Morning hadn’t restored her as much as it had.

She was just glad it was over.

Now that she was back in their assigned quarters, she had technically finished everything that required her presence in the palace and could return to her mansion whenever she wanted.

That only left the issue of finding Fynn.

And, she supposed, possibly Hilde.

Scarlett had wanted to speak with the girl once more before leaving, after all. She had a suspicion that Fynn’s disappearance had something to do with the princess, but if that were the case, it wasn’t as if she could go around the entire palace looking for them.

With little else to do, she took a seat in an armchair beside the unlit hearth and ignited it with a thought. Then she brought out her Array Forge along with one of her notebooks and started working through a few Zuverian arrays she had previously examined with Yamina. It probably wasn’t the best use of her time, but it was the easiest thing she had available to her at the moment, and there was no telling when being more familiar with the inner workings of magic might prove useful.

Some time passed.

Scarlett’s attention remained fixed on the Forge as shifting runes floated through the air and across the walls around her, arranging themselves into different patterns and configurations. Then she felt a slight disturbance in the mana field spread throughout the room by the Forge.

A moment later, a purple-haired woman popped into existence a few steps away.

Yamina looked around at the runes covering the room and touched one hand to the gold-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. Their lenses flickered blue.

“That’s an interesting formation,” she said.

“Yamina.” Scarlett touched the side of the Forge. Light moved across the metal cube, and the mana filling the room drew back into it along with the floating runes. “What are you doing here?”

Yamina turned towards her. “And hello to you as well. You look noticeably better than when I last saw you.”

The wizard touched her glasses again. Another flicker passed across the lenses as she studied Scarlett for a couple of seconds.

“I recovered,” Scarlett said. “You are familiar with the Spring of First Morning, I assume?”

“The Spring of First Morning?” A thoughtful crease appeared between Yamina’s brows. “The one from the tale of Sir Caelus and the Lost Princess?”

“The very same.”

“You found it?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting. How?”

Scarlett gestured towards the [Wayfarer’s Challenge].

Yamina immediately walked over to the mirror and leaned in to inspect it.

“Fascinating…” she murmured.

“I saved some of the spring water for you to analyse later,” Scarlett said. “You do not need to thank me.”

“I think I will anyway. Thank you.”

“You are very welcome.”

A light chuckle escaped the wizard.

Yamina spent the next few minutes examining the mirror more closely, summoning her spellbook and casting a couple of spells while Scarlett waited. Eventually, the woman seemed satisfied enough and turned back.

“So, what brings you here?” Scarlett asked.

Yamina walked over and sat down in an armchair opposite her. “Mistress sent me away because she wanted to handle the final preparations herself.”

Scarlett arched a brow. “That is suspicious.”

“I agree. Fortunately, it is also roughly what we expected. I’ve put enough of our own preparations in place that I think we should be fine. I’m sure whatever she does will still surprise us, but it should be within manageable limits.”

Scarlett nodded. “I trust your ability. But am I right in assuming there is not much time left?”

Yamina folded her hands in her lap. “That would appear to be the case. She asked me to tell you that you should start preparing your invitations.”

“I see.”

So Mistress’ gala was almost here, then.

Scarlett had hoped she might have a few more days before the time came, but now that she had mostly recovered, there wasn’t actually much reason to delay things. If anything, it might be better to get it over with sooner rather than later.

“Did Mistress say anything else?” she asked.

Yamina shook her head. “She did not.”

Really?

Scarlett had almost expected the woman to add some extra demand or complication. Maybe some criteria for exactly who Scarlett was allowed to invite, or something related to Malachi.

Then again, it wouldn’t surprise her if Mistress had decided to handle the Malachi-related side of things herself. That didn’t really matter, anyway. Scarlett had already been in contact with the pseudo-Vile, so the two of them knew roughly what to expect from each other.

She tapped one finger against the armrest as she considered the last bits of organisation still left to deal with. Most of the heavy lifting had already been done during the first days they spent in Elystead, so there shouldn’t be any need to rush. There were a couple of things Scarlett had postponed, though, and with everything that had happened during the attack on Dawnlight Palace, it might be a good idea to sort those out before the gala.

“A solar for your thoughts,” Yamina said, watching her with mild curiosity.

“I am afraid they are personal.”

“Is that so? My apologies.”

Scarlett waved a hand. “I do not mind. Anyhow, can you—”

There was a click from the entrance. The door opened, and Fynn walked in with Hilde beside him.

Scarlett and Yamina both turned towards them.

Fynn stopped, his eyes narrowing slightly as he took in Scarlett’s appearance. Beside him, Hilde went still, a trace of wariness showing through her usually unreadable expression as she looked at Yamina.

“Fynn.”

“You look better,” the white-haired youth said. “What did you do?”

“I wanted to ask the same of you. Here I was wondering where you had disappeared to.”

Fynn pointed down at Hilde. “I went to a forest with her, Slate, and Nol’viz so they didn’t do anything dangerous.”

Hilde, Slate, and Nol’viz?

Had the three of them gone off on their own little adventure while Scarlett was gone? She hadn’t realised they would take that sort of initiative without anyone prompting them.

That was…actually somewhat concerning.

It was good in one sense. Scarlett genuinely wanted Slate to become more independent, make her own choices, and be able to form relationships that didn’t revolve around Scarlett. It also seemed like it might be healthy for Hilde. But it also came with obvious risks if the three of them were perfectly capable of disappearing somewhere together whenever they felt like it.

There was no telling where that might eventually lead.

Maybe it was a good thing Fynn had gone with them, then.

Scarlett kept her attention on Hilde for another few seconds before looking back to Fynn. “To answer your question, I took a brief trip into the Wandering Realm and happened across something that allowed me to recover. I can explain the rest later. First, however, perhaps we should introduce these two.”

She gestured between Yamina and Hilde.

“Your Highness, this is Senior Wizard Yamina Ward of the Rising Isle. Yamina, this is Her Imperial Highness, Hilde Priscilla Verddun Teronia, the second princess.”

Yamina smiled at the girl. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Highness. I’m a friend of the Baroness.”

Some of Hilde’s wariness faded, though not all of it. Scarlett wasn’t entirely sure what had caused it in the first place.

“Hello,” Hilde said.

Yamina’s smile widened slightly, as if she found the vigilance cute.

Scarlett rose from her seat. “Since you have returned, we can take our leave, Fynn. There is still plenty for us to do.” She pointed towards the mirror in the corner. “See that? You will need to carry it.”

Fynn looked between her and Yamina for a moment, then headed over to the [Wayfarer’s Challenge], grabbed hold of the frame, and effortlessly lifted the entire thing into his arms.

“Yamina, I presume you can find your own way back?” Scarlett asked.

It would be weird if they had arrived at the palace without the wizard and then left with her. Judging by how easily Yamina had teleported into the room earlier, Mistress should have arranged a means of transportation for her to come and go without issue.

“I can,” Yamina said. “There are a few things I wanted to finish before the day is over, so I’ll find you at the mansion later.”

“Then I will see you there.”

Scarlett headed towards the entrance, stopping beside Hilde.

“Your Highness, since it appears you have few qualms about leaving the palace on your own, you are welcome to visit my mansion as well if you wish to talk.”

The girl looked up at her and stayed silent for a while before giving a small nod. Then she turned, opened the door, and disappeared into the room beyond without another word. Scarlett caught a glimpse of Holdger standing off to one side before the door closed again.

She hadn’t pushed things because she suspected she would see the girl again soon enough.

But that should settle everything there, then.

A short while later, Scarlett and Fynn were making their way out of Dawnlight Palace, finally headed back to the mansion.