Her butt hurt. The saddle was uncomfortable and Ivana wanted to go home. It had been 3 weeks since they had left the castle and they had lost any sight of civilization as fields of tall grass gave way to trees. They had entered the northern territory. Her horse trodded on the bumpy road, jostling Ivana around, making her wince at the pain.
I swear to god, I need to learn how to fly. This was only something high-tier mages could do. Most had different methods of doing so but the entire concept had been dubbed “fly”. Zogard noticed her pained face and called the troops to a stop. The 30 of them slowed before dismounting. Ivana dropped off the horse saddle, happy for relief from the pain.
“You okay mistress?” Zogard asked her.
“I’m fine. And how many times have I told you to call me Ivana? I’m not the young mistress anymore, I‘m a knight!”
“Fine, fine, I’ll call you Ivana,” he sighed out.
“OBJECTION. You said that last time too.” She posed and accused him of his crime.
“What are you a judge? Instead of mistress, should I call you your honor instead?”
“Just call me Ivana! I’m not a kid!” This banter continued for a while and Ivana began to feel better. Then it ended when Zogard called for them to pack up and continue. While watching him direct around the other troops. Even though he was a battle maniac, he was also pretty smart. He could’ve easily been a commander if he went to the center. Suddenly a soldier tapped Ivana on the soldier.
“Mistress, we got to go now. Could you get on your horse?”
***
Upon nightfall, the group stopped in a large clearing meant for traveling merchants, a few who they passed on the way.
“Mistress, would you like to hunt?” Zogard asked her. He was hoping to teach her how to hunt. But this phrase annoyed Ivana even more. They wouldn’t stop calling her mistress.
“Hmph, you can go hunt yourself. I can eat my rations.” She was upset at all of them, they wouldn’t stop even if she asked them to.
“Mistress, that is a terrible idea. Rations are for emergencies, it would be better to hunt when we can.”
“Fine, I’ll hunt by myself!” Saying this she runs off before they can stop her.
They treat me like a kid. I’m grown up now! I bet I could beat half of them in a fight. Ivana wanted to be treated like an adult, to be their equal. She had run quite the distance from the camp, having no idea where it was now. Hearing no sign of pursuit from the knights, she tried to clear her head and focus on hunting, having never done it before. She stopped between the trees keeping a lookout for signs of life. It’s just shooting an animal right? I don’t have a bow but I have my sword. Thinking this, she began to coat her blade in mana, shaping it into the spell she wanted. She discovered a simple method to do so. Magic was based on runes, which her library skill allowed her to store and abuse. The Ivana in the game used this to be a merchant with master crafting skills, but Ivana had no plans to enter that path. It wasn’t the cheat ability that made the user but the user that made the cheat ability. Suddenly some rustling in a bush disturbed her thoughts
“Mana Bolt,” she whispered. Mana began coating her blade and it launched forward in a thin bolt
“OWWW, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!?”
“YOU IDIOT, OUR COVER IS BLOWN. EVERYONE ATTACK.” Not expecting humans, Ivana began to run away, jumping over trees. The sudden sound panicked her. She was fearful of what the sketchy men were trying. She looked behind her and saw armed men dressed in light, ragged clothing running after her.
“CATCH HER!” a man in the front yelled. “IF WE CAN SELL A MAGE LIKE HER AS A SLAVE. THAT MAN WAS RIGHT, SHE DOES HAVE SPECIAL MAGIC!” The panicked Ivana began to run even faster after hearing that. While the west banned slavery, the other regions didn’t do so. She had heard the horrors of slavery from the maids, eavesdropping on them. It was oftentimes a fate worse than death.
“GET AWAY YOU FREAKS! Tidal Wave” She yelled. She coated her blade in mana once again and launched it back towards her pursuers. This time it was tinged blue and spread out to hit them but the spell suddenly vanished. The bandits started smiling. They were beginning to catch up to her. Suddenly an unseen rock wall loomed over her. She had run into a cliff and was now trapped. She was surrounded as the men began to enter on all sides.
“Tidal Wave,” She yelled again, trying once more. But just like before, the magic disappeared right before hitting the bandits.
“You can’t run now little missy. You’re trapped. You thought you could beat some common folks like us, but you’re useless without your magic. We’re lucky that that rich-looking guy gave us this after telling us about you.” The lead bandit said. They all had drawn various weapons and began to close in on Ivana. Suddenly one leaped forward, slashing downwards.
His movement is really bad, he has no finesse, Ivana thought as she put up her sword to block. But when the attack connected, her arm felt numb. She gritted her teeth, trying to push back the attack. What the heck? She forgot that there might be a level difference. Even if they sucked at fighting, they could beat her with pure stats. Then the one that attacked first, suddenly kicked out with his leg, catching Ivana right in the stomach. She went flying and hit the rock behind her.
“Uwack!” she cried as pain spread in her body. She stood up again ready to fight some more, but couldn’t feel the sword in her hand. She spotted it in the hands of the bandit that kicked her. She panicked as she realized there was no way to escape.
Someone help me. I don’t wanna be sold as a slave.
Your wish has been granted. You have been permitted to enter the grave of the 6th hero.
too much deus ex machina :(
Wdym?
@Carpio
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeusExMachina
"the problem is so extreme that nothing in the established setting suggests that there is a logical way for the characters to escape. If a bomb is about to go off, someone finds a convenient bomb-proof bunker in easy reach."
@mon5y-san
ah, I see. What I was thinking is that the god who did this purposefully waited for this moment and was planning on making him use it as debt or gain a new pawn or something but something that needs payment.
"The Ivana in the game used this to be a merchant with master crafting skills, but Ivana had no plans to enter that path."
You should still do that anyways, even if you don't plan on being a merchant. Being good at runes and being able to enchant your own weapons and armor will help you a lot on the battlefield, and you can sell some lesser wares to make extra money since you will have zero funding otherwise since the psychotic duchess will steal all your money that you might have gotten from your father, and she'll try and finagle some way to steal your wages that you'd earn as a soldier
"We're lucky that that rich-looking guy gave us this after telling us about you."
The pig step brother is responsible for this them? I'm guessing he sold information to bandits and gave them the anti-magic amulet/thing to protect them from Ivana's magic, and they're planning on enslaving and selling her off. I wonder how long it will be until Ivana is able to get her revenge on the b*stard
I wonder what legacy or inheritance she'll get from this 8th hero grave...and what restrictions or promises will come with it. Will she have to carry on the 8th hero's legacy and fight their foes or whoever killed them?
Quite a lot to answer here. To a degree, as a character, I don't want to stretch Ivana to thin and make her do to much. The rich man is a man so it couldn't be the step brother.
I originally wanted to make a traitor in the midst of the knights. The info was meant to be a secret known only to the knights, which I'llexplain more in the next chapter.
For the hero thing, well you'll have to wait to see.
@Carpio
I did consider there being a traitor in the knights, but considered it a secondary option compared to the pig brother. As for them calling the rich guy a "man", it could be the bandits being "respectful" towards the guy who paid them well and gave them such a good mark to sell off and the item to make capturing her easier. It being a traitor knight does make a bit more sense for the bandits being able to find her than the bandits being paid off by the pig, but it could be that the pig paid them off a long while before and the bandits have been tailing them for a while
As for Ivana and enchanting/selling stuff with rune magic-she'd probably mostly work on it to improve her own equipment (and equipment for her harem/knights), and sell some of the worse products to get a secondary income aside from the soldier's wage that the duchess will probably try to find a way to steal, but the duchess would have a harder time stealing the money Ivana earns from selling enchanted stuff. That was my thought at least-she'd still be mainly focusing on improving her combat abilities by supplementing them with enchanting weapons and armor, as well as improving her skill with enchanting and magic in general while she's working on enchanting her weapons and armor
Unless she gets some kind of super armor and sword from the tomb (fully possible, and maybe even likely) she'll need to upgrade her gear on occasion and a soldier's wage wouldn't be able to cover the level of enchantment and equipment she'll want, especially if she wants to help kit out her followers and harem. Even if she does get super gear from the tomb she'll still want to be able to help kit out her followers + harem and she won't have enough money for that, not to mention she'd be able to make better gear for them anyways. There's also the concern of her possibly not wanting to risk anything she finds in the tomb being recognized and sparking greed and envy from people around her who might try to kill and rob her for the stuff she found, self enchanted gear is less likely to attract attention like that