*Knock* *Knock*
A firm knock on the door rouses me from my peaceful dream.
“Mistress Rola, the seventh hour of the morning has passed. If you do not wake soon you will miss your appointment with the head of the Military Enforcement Department.”
Not waiting for me to respond, my personal maid, an annoying elf named Alice, opens the door and immediately walks over to my bed and attempts to remove my blanket. Before she exposes my fair skin to the cold air, I quickly cycle my magic and force a sword to jump from one of the many decorations covering the walls to Alice’s neck at a lethal velocity.
A sharp *CLANG* rings out throughout the room as the sword collides with a transparent bluish barrier Alice fashioned on a moments notice, protecting her from harm. After the impact the sword flies back to its proper place as harmless decoration.
Not stopping during that exchange, Alice deprives me of my warm blanket. Groaning in annoyance, I reluctantly moved to get out of bed and start my day.
“Mistress Rola, if you continue to attempt to injure your servants, then I’ll be the only one serving under you for the rest of your days.”
Alice scolded me as she dressed me for the day to come. She fitted me with a small white dress that complimented my long, silver hair. The dress was loose-fitting, so if I was in a situation where I was forced to fight, then it would not impede my abilities. After moving my wings through the holes in the back of the dress, she places a small necklace around my neck.
The necklace did not have much in the way of design. It was small and simple, however the semi-transparent blue crystal that the necklace housed could only be described as eye catching. While the beautiful gemstone had much more than monetary value, very few would ever have the privilege of knowing that.
“Mistress Rola, please promise me that you will not make any more attempts on my life- in public at the very least. You’re supposed to be a royal lady after all and harassing your servants is not a good way to gain favor.”
Just like before, multiple *CLANGS* resound loudly in the room as a multitude of daggers clash against various barriers that Alice made at the last second.
She even blocked the one that came from below...
I understand where Alice is coming from, due to my repeated culling of servants my position in the political side of my family has not been doing well recently, luckily Valkyries and Berserkers have a soft-spot for battle, so I have been gaining favor with that camp. However…
“I make no promises.”
Once Alice has finished dressing me, I cycle my magic and move the daggers lying on the ground and hide them in the sheaths woven into my dress. Most Othian royals have a small amount of hidden weapons on them at all times, I prefer to keep ten daggers with me. I would always do better with swords, but swords are much harder to conceal.
“At least try Mistress, doing everything myself has become tiring.”
Alice does make a fair point. As I grow older and my demands increase, it’s foolish to think that a single elf -no matter how competent- can keep up with it all. Fortunately for her, this is a problem I plan on solving today.
“Fret not Alice, that is exactly why I’m going to meet with Sir Thog.”
Although I may not be the heir to the throne, many officials in combat-related positions have taken an interest in me, Sir Thog -the current head of the Military Enforcement Department- is one among these officials.
“Mistress, you know that Sir Thog seldomly cares about the problems of royalty, I doubt he would be willing to hand over one of his officers, especially considering how short staffed the M.E. Department has been recently.”
This is the first time I’m hearing about staffing-problems. Peacekeeping is a violent occupation and my people love those kinds of jobs, why would they be short-staffed?
“I also have to question how long this supposed new hire would last under you Mistress, I don’t want to spend two weeks training them only to have their head mounted on your wall.”
“I do not mount people’s heads.”
Much to my dismay, Alice blocks the swords I pulled from the walls. I would pursue her life further, but there would be no reason to do so. However that almost hidden smirk she’s making is pissing me off.
“My apologies Mistress, it was only a figure of speech. In any case, we must continue your morning routine, lest you miss your appointment.”
I don’t raise any argument and motion Alice to continue. I may have a “habit” of culling my servants, but what I’m doing is intentional. I am royalty, royalty of the second largest empire in the world no-less. I am in a position that I doubt many of my competitors are fortunate enough to share, so I must abuse my position to the best of my ability. I need the best armaments and the best subordinates. If my subordinates cannot defend themselves from me, then it stands to reason that they won’t be of any use against my competition, who may be stronger than me.
Unlike my Goddess, I cannot create swords at will, so I must equip myself with the best weapons possible. Unfortunately, even the Royal Armory leaves something to be desired. I do not expect them to even approach the swords of Vulkria, but even though this world’s magic circuitry is more advanced than my old one’s, I am not impressed with the results.
I have many things to do and people to gather, this meeting will be my first attempt at preparing myself for the battle to come.
“Sorry Your Highness, I can’t spare any officers right now. I’m just too short-staffed.”
I’m sitting in Sir Thog’s, the head of the Military Enforcement Department, office. While the space itself was large, it felt extremely cramped solely because of how much paper was occupying the room. What I would assume to be tasteful decorations were completely submerged by oceans of paper. The chair I was sitting in was actually a foot higher off the ground than it should have been, simply because the only place they could fit it was on top of a large stack of papers.
“I was under the assumption that the M.E. department was a favorite among Valkyries and Berserkers due to the number of terrorist-related incidents, shouldn’t you be swamped with applications?”
Sir Thog made a complicated expression, I would describe it as someone dealing with severe irony.
“Your Highness, that’s part of the problem. You’ve heard of the “Identification Card Plan”, right?”
“Yes, I have.”
The Identification Card Plan is a strategy to get a more accurate number of how many people live in our lands. Currently the system goes like this; A town, city, or country records the number of people who live in it’s borders, then sends us that number and basic information about each person. The problem is that none of it is standardized and it takes too long to get the information. There are some regions that count a pregnant woman as two people, and a whole family group as one person. Sometimes we even get a report without an indication of how many people they've actually recorded, forcing us to do the counting as well as the sorting.
The new system would have us lay down circuitry from the capitol to each settlement and give every person of age a card with their name, race, date and place of birth on it. Every month, the town authority would use the directly connected circuit to tell us the information of every person with a card in that town. Every time someone enters a town, then the town authority would immediately send us the traveler’s information.
This system would give us a better idea of who were ruling, and where they’re going.
“Well, because we have a presence in almost every settlement in the empire, your father decided that we should do all the work rather than move the funds to make a new department specifically for this operation.”
“Technically, it is in your mission statement.”
“‘Organize and protect the people from threats on Othium soil’ yeah yeah. It’s just that we were still short staffed here at headquarters because of that whole tax evasion scandal, so we began looking for new hires as well as trying to keep up with our regular duties, then His Highness gives us the gracious opportunity to work our asses off designing legal-documentation, engineering a communication network, and make rules to enforce it until I can’t even stand up in my office without stepping on some kind of important document. Didn’t even get a pay raise.”
Sir Thog leaned back in his chair.
“I have three things I have to do, all at the same time, and I barely have enough people to do one of ‘em. Getting new people will take my entire staff because of how the screening process works, performing our typical duties will take my entire staff because half our guys decided not to pay taxes, and doing this new work will take my entire staff because it would take my entire staff even if I had half the people in the castle working on this.”
It didn’t sound like I could negotiate my way into a new servant at the moment.
“Well, then I won’t keep you any longer.”
I stood up to leave while I began to think of other ways to increase my employment numbers.
I don’t think the head maid wants to have a conversation about this again, not after I killed the last one. Maybe I hire some mercenaries? No, their potential lack of loyalty poses too many risks. Perhaps I could ask the royal guard? I can’t see that going well.
“Your Highness!”
Just as I was about to close the door to his office, Sir Thog called out to me.
“If you are in dire need of someone competent, then I think I have a person you could be interested in.”
He grabs on of the many sheets of paper occupying the room and tears a piece of it off. After scribbling something down, he walks over and hands it to me.
“Her name is Esia Mirthbrow, she used to be a Captain but resigned for personal reasons. Last I heard she was drowning herself down in Talcoya, a town called Bexelleaf.”
Esia Mirthbrow, I’ve heard that name before…
“Isn’t she that Valkyrie that couldn’t fly when she held her sword? Why would I want someone like that?”
“To be fair, it was a really big sword. I can give you her record if you want, you’d be mighty impressed with what she’s got under her belt.”
“Hm, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.”
“Alright, I’ll have the lackeys send that to you when they get a spare minute, whenever that’ll be.”
“Thank you for the help Sir Thog.”
I smile and give him a small amount of monetary compensation. Vulkria knows the poor man deserves it.
“My pleasure.”
It took me two and a half hours to walk to town. Two and a half FUCKING hours. I was only half-joking when I said I would skin that piss pigeon alive, but now I’m seriously considering it. These bags are seriously heavy, if I didn’t spend five years in a cave working on their contents, I would have dropped them two and a half hours ago.
At least it isn’t cold, it’s actually kind of warm.
The sun was only now setting on the horizon, lighting up the planets rings in a beautiful way.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of those rings, they’re just so cool.
Having gotten my fill of the rings, I look back to the town just a ways ahead of me.
From the looks of it, I think I’m heading into a military base. The town has huge, sturdy looking walls and if I squint I can see people patrolling along them. There's a heavy looking metal gate at the end of the dirt road that leads into the town and I can see three people standing around. They look armed.
Actually, some spots on the wall look newer than others, like they’ve been repaired in the past, and the earth around the road is unnaturally hilly, as if the landscape was changed due to artillery fire. The tell-tale signs of a bloody battle.
I’m a little surprised that there was a battle here, while Othium’s rule was heavily contested, this is the very bottom of Azor. Talcoya’s capital isn’t this far down on the map, why would Othium crusade this far down? Whatever the answer is, I don’t really know or care, but I’m sure the people here really don’t like the empire.
As I reach the gate, one of the three guards reluctantly gets out of his seat and approaches me.
“Hey, you there! Stop for inspection!”
I wonder if I could get out of this by crying, I am a little girl after all.
Not going through with my terrible idea, I drop my many bags on the ground and stop moving, letting the guard approach me at his own, noticeably slow pace.
“Let’s get this over with. Name and occupa...tion, wait, why is a little girl like you travelling alone?”
“‘Cause I wanted to leave the continent, get away from the empire.”
No sense in lying right?
“I can understand that, but where’s your mother and father?”
“Both dead.”
I say that with the most neutral face possible while I stare into his soul. He coughs uncomfortably and drops the subject.
Heh, and they said I couldn’t use magic. Look at that, I may as well have casted the strongest spell in existence, a spell called incredibly-awkward-social-interaction.
*Cough* “Anyways... what’s your name little miss?”
“Julie. No surname.”
“Another Julie huh, that name’s been gettin’ mighty popular.”
He takes out a sheet of paper and jots down my name. I was able to glimpse at the paper and I was able to see that there are four other names written down on it, all of which I can read. That's right, I’m completely literate now. You don’t spend five years in a cave with nothing but twenty books and a large bird for nothing.
In regards to how popular the name “Julie” has become, I think it’s my daddy’s fault. He did parade me around as the best thing ever, so maybe some people heard that and were all like “Oh wow, if we name our kid Julie then maybe some of her greatness will rub off on us” or something. Then again, maybe Caboose has something to do with it.
Well, it could be a coincidence, I think a lot of those have happened so far. The universe does what it wants to I guess.
“Hey do you know any good place where I can spend the night? I would prefer not to sleep outside.”
“It is getting kinda late isn’t it? Well I would recommend the town inn, but believe it or not we actually got Othian Royalty coming tomorrow, bastards just sent the telegram this morning -like we have time to set up for a princess in a single day. Anyways, since yer tryin’ to leave the continent to get away from those guys, I don’t think you want to be anywhere near ‘em. So instead I’ll recommend a local pub called “Cherries & Berries”, they got some guest rooms you could use.”
Why does that sound a little like a strip club? Also, Othian royalty, what the fuck. What are the odds of that?
“Hey that sounds a lot like a st- I mean a gentlemen's club.”
“Why does someone your age know about that?”
“Public education.”
“Whatever, truth is it used to be a strip club up until that blasted empire took over, ‘new regulations’ or something. Now it’s just a bar with bedrooms. Hope you have a spare blanket in one of those bags, because I’m pretty sure they still use the old ones.”
Ew.
“Speaking of your bags, I’m supposed to search them, but if you’re on the run from the Othium guys, then they probably don’t like whatever's inside. Therefore I love whats inside. Entrance to the town will cost ya 5 coins.”
Five coins, I have about two hundred that I looted from the Griffin’s pile, but small expenses like this can eat that up quickly if I’m not careful. I open the bag with my gold in it and fish it out, it takes a little while because of how much crap I have crammed in here.
From what I can gather, currency in this world is just gold. Everything is valued by its “weight in gold” and you pay that much gold for it. It’s the country's job to shape this gold into a standardized coin that people use for basic things. In Othium, these coins weigh about a hundred grams, which is how much your apples typically weigh.
After a little bit of digging, I pull out my coin pouch, and hand over the requested fee. He motions to the guys on top of the wall and the iron gate starts rising.
“Well then little miss, welcome to Bexelleaf.”
After I thanked the guard for his help, I walked through the gate and got my first look at the town.
A wide dirt road was flanked by brick houses as it extended towards the docks off in the distance. Walking down the road exposed dark alleys in the nooks between the houses, with the occasional shifty-eyed thief darting into the darkness as they noticed my curious gaze. After buying a peach-like fruit from a closing-vendor, I reached the docks.
The docks weren’t like any I had seen before, even if you count my last life. They were massive and expansive, houses and shops filled my view as I walked aimlessly around. As I explored the area, looking for that ex-strip club, I quickly found a staircase leading down below the docks only to find MORE DOCKS. There were even more shops and houses beneath the top layer as the wooden pathways I followed weaved above and below. I had been walking around the docks for twenty minutes, seeing new buildings crammed in where-ever they would fit, yet I still hadn’t seen any water, much less ships.
God damn how big are these docks?
I’d been walking around for what felt like an hour. The sun had long since set and the only source of light were dim lanterns littered all over the place. Since I got curious, I decided to take a look at one of them. They were powered by a simple lighting circuit that connected to a long cable that ran to a box on the underside of the docks along with about ten other lanturn cables.
Honestly I wasn’t really impressed with it, but it wasn’t bad. I mean I’ve seen worse.
After a few more minutes of looking around and taking peaks at things, I finally found Cherries and Berries.
The storefront was simple and inconspicuous. The wood was the same color as everything around it, wood brown. The sign was plain text that read ‘Cherries and Berries. Bar’ The word ‘Bar’ looked like it was added to the sign years after it was made. There was no foot-traffic at the entrance.
It really isn’t the kind of place a kid should be staying the night at.
Whatever, I’m packing heat.
The door opened rather soundlessly and as I walked inside the smell of alcohol threatened to intoxicate me all on its own. Despite all the circular tables placed all over the room, only a single seat at the bar was taken. The Valkyrie sitting there was deep into what looked like her eleventh drink and the bartender acted like this was the most natural thing in the world.
I walked up to the opposite side of the bar and hopped on a stool. The bartender, a bulky old looking man walked over while cleaning a glass.
“What’s a lass of your age doing here?”
“I need a room for the night, I heard that royalty was coming and I’d prefer not to be in the same building as them.”
“...Now I know where you’re coming from lass, but what’d the royal family ever do to you?”
“They-”
A loud *BANG* rang throughout the room as the Valkyrie slammed her mug onto the bar.
“BARTENDER! ANOTHER DRINK!”
“I just fucking gave you that one you waste of space! I doubt you could even pay for another!”
“Put it on my tab fatass!”
“The point of a tab is that you’re supposed to pay it later, you still haven’t paid for the drinks you got three months ago!”
“Just give me another drink!”
“Pay for it.”
“Fucking…”
The Valkyrie fished through her pockets and slammed a single coin on the counter. The coin was dirty and slightly bent.
“You know you’re one short.”
“It’s dwarven. I expect change.”
The bartender raised an eyebrow in suspicion as he picked up and weighed the coin. After a second, the bartender made a satisfied look and put the coin under the counter. Then he poured a new mug and gave it to the valkyrie.
“Where's my change?”
“Its busy paying your tab.”
“Tch, what a shithole.”
“You fit right in.”
The Valkyrie went back to drinking with renewed angst and the bartender went back to cleaning glasses, satisfied that his customer finally paid for something.
“So… can I get my room now?”
I’m getting kind of uncomfortable here.
“Can you pay for it?”
“Yeah, how much?”
“Twenty for the night.”
Hold on a second.
“That seems marked up.”
“You think you’re the only person in town who doesn’t have a place to stay and doesn’t like the monarchy? I’ve only got one room not occupied.”
“I’ll be honest, it doesn’t look like it.”
It wasn’t that late, but the three of us were the only people in the entire dining room. The fact that we were all clustered around the bar only made it seem more empty.
“Who’s fault do you think that is?”
The bartender gestured to the drunk across the bar.
“Twenty, take it or leave it.”
“...You at least clean the sheets right?”
“Only on the busy nights.”
“...When’s the last time you cleaned them?”
“Do you want the room or not?”
“...Fine.”
I looked through my bags and gave the swindler twenty coins. Honestly, I’d probably get a better deal with the town inn, but I don’t want to deal with a princess, especially if she’s a Second.
-Wait, what if she is a Second?
That would be absolutely terrible for me, but then again, there are only five others. I mean, what are the odds that she’s a Second?
“Hey, just a random question, but how old is the Princess?”
“A little over nine years old, why do you ask?”
The bartender said that as he handed me my room key.
Shit. That's the same as me. Assuming that we were all born around the same time, then there's a big chance she’s a Second. At least she doesn’t know I exist.
“No reason.”
I walk up the stairs in the corner of the building to go to my room. The room itself was small and had very little in it. There was only a single window, nightstand and a queen sized bed. I threw my bags on the floor and tried not to think about the room’s previous purpose as I got in to go to sleep.
Tomorrow, I need to go to the docks, and find someone willing to get me out of here. Hopefully it’s easier than I think it’ll be.
The sunlight blasting through the window forced me to wake up.
God I hate the sun, why does it exist? We can just heat ourselves with heat lamps? We don’t need that big ball of fusion that hides magic sucking worms.
Glancing out the window, I realize that the sun is high in the sky and I totally overslept.
Shit, I need to find a ship before sundown, I really don’t want to spend another night around that Princess.
I got out of bed and prepared myself for the morning. After I ran a comb through my hair, washed my face, and brushed my teeth, I looked towards my bag with my rock in it.
There is a chance that the Princess is a Second. I don’t have much evidence to support this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was one. The Othium Empire worships Vulkria as their goddess, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that Vulkria gave her Second the honor of royalty. The fact that we were born around the same time supports this line of thinking.
However, that also assumes that Vulkria and the other Gods that the story told me about are the ones playing Caboose’s game. There’s no guarantee that Vulkria is one of Caboose’s siblings. The fact that Caboose isn’t worshiped on Lesotis supports this line of thinking and undermines the other.
But regardless of the truth of the situation, I should take precautions as there is a chance she’s a Second.
I fish out my rock and a knife I ‘borrowed’ from the Griffin’s hoard, and take off my right boot. My shiny, semi-transparent green rock was smaller in my hands then it was five years ago, now only filling my palm.
I compare the size of my boot to the size of my rock. The rock is slightly smaller than the heel of my boot. Good.
I brandish my knife and take it to the inside of my boot. I spend the next half-hour carving a rock shaped hole into the heel of my boot. Once the hole is finished, I insert my green rock and it fits snuggly in it’s new home.
I put the boot back on my right foot and try walking around a bit. Thanks to the smooth surface of my rock, it doesn’t feel too uncomfortable… This will do. Now if my bags get searched for any reason, then I won’t have to worry about being outed as a Second.
With that taken care of, I pick up my bags and go downstairs.
When I arrived at the dining room, I looked around and saw that the room was much more lively than it was last night.
To be fair, there were only like twenty people in the room all eating quietly, but anything is more lively than three people. I walk towards the bar and sit down in the same seat I did last night. Looking to my left I see the Valkyrie from last night passed out and reeking of alcohol. Did she sleep here?
“Well if it isn’t the little missy who hates the monarchy.”
The same old bartender from last night walks over and leans onto the counter.
“Do you want anything for breakfast ‘Princess’?”
“Will it be as marked up as the room?”
“Depends on how I’m feeling, we have cooked fish for breakfast if you’re interested.”
“Why ask me what I want if you’re only going to offer fish?”
“That’s not all I’m offering, but since you paid for the room it’s probably all you can afford.”
“Whatever, I’ll take the fish. How much?”
“Four coins for the fish and a mug of water.”
“Here.”
I hand him the coins and he brings me my food.
“By the way, you wouldn’t happen to know of any ships sailing to Isera would you?”
“Not for free, but there is one that might be willing to take ya.”
“Really? When is it leaving?”
“Not anytime soon I hear, apparently the inner-circuitry of the ship gave out and the local engineer can’t fix it. Well, fix it cheap at the very least.”
Inner-circuitry? Do they have turbines or something?
“But if someone were to fix their circuitry, then they would sail?”
“Probably, but where are you gonna get someone to fix their ship?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
I finished up my fish and got up to leave the bar, grabbing some of the free Talco berries on the way out. The Valkyrie was still drunk and asleep.
I swear these Talco berries look familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it… Oh well, I’m sure I would remember it if it was important.
As I left the building and made my way to the top floor of the docks, I heard a small commotion behind me. I turn around and see a small Valkyrie followed by… an elf coming down to the lower level.
I’ve never seen an elf before. This one is rather nice looking.
The tall, blond-haired elf with a calm and disarming face was wearing what looked like a slim maid uniform and the white-haired Valkyrie with a stern ‘would-totally-kill-you’ face was wearing a dress and...
Oh shit.
I turn around and run up to the top level trying my best not to be seen.
I don’t stop running until I’m a good distance away from the bar.
The small Valkyrie, she was wearing a necklace with a rock in it. Not just any rock, her rock. She was a Second.
Of fucking course the other Seconds would be royalty! I mean, I’m only the daughter of a well-known and deceased fugitive but they get a whole fucking country at their whim?! THATS NOT FUCKING FAIR!
I need to get off this continent now. Maybe find a Second in a worse position than me to deal with. Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Let's be honest here, they were all probably born into positions of power.
While mumbling to myself, swearing vengeance on Caboose for not making me a princess, and with overwhelming spite in general, I asked for directions to the docks. The sooner I fix that ship, the sooner I get out of here.
