It’s been a week since we departed from the Castletown, during that time we did nothing but ride east as fast as our horses would take us. The only breaks we took were to ether eat lunch or to sleep.

            We passed through a number of domains whose owners are ether a part of my faction or are directly owned and administered by the “Fortuna Trading Company” of which I am the owner. Thanks to that we were able to cover a greater distance than if we had to bring the supplies we needed along with us, sadly that couldn’t have lasted. From now on we only travel with the very minimum of supplies as for replenishing those supplies, we will plunder the estates on our way to subjugate the eastern lords.

             Of course, it would be impossible for me to subjugate every eastern lord within the period of time I gave Sir Mayron but there is a way to get passed that and that is to make a show of my eastern campaign. By that I mean to kill anyone who refuses to surrender on the spot. Of course, that isn’t the only perimeter I need to fulfil to attain victory. Another necessary requirement is to ether take down or gain the loyalty of the three great eastern nobles, with them ether on my side or out of the picture the rest of the east will simply fall into my hands.

            Of the three great lords I will soon enter the domain of Viscount Katimus, the man who is said to be amongst the five richest nobles in our territory. From what Aldry could gather during his travels the viscount’s castle is amongst the most splendid in the entirety of the former kingdom. It was built a little over two centuries ago and is the pride of house Katimus. It is said that the beauty of the exterior is only surpassed by the opulence of the interior. The estate is divided into two sections the first is a traditional castle of which defence is the only focus whilst the second is more comparable to a palace meant for leisure with its gardens, Arrendian marble columns and colourful glass windows. In this world those are the greatest of luxuries a person could have.

            The Viscount’s domain is known as a necessary stop along the trade root running from the territories of the lesser nobles to either Aren or the Principality of Welkan. This is likely the source of their wealth.

            After ridding for three days and nights from our last stop, we finally arrived at the gates of the castle town. The force I am leading is all but inconspicuous as a result we were met by a walled city with its gates closed.

            As of now I can say for a fact that none of the eastern lords know of my actions therefore I could use this to my advantage and leverage my position to force the gates open and even walk into the lord’s castle without much effort. Yes, I could but I won’t. My actions here need to spread far and wide and the best way to do so is by involving the populace, especially those who are allowed to travel between the domains of other nobles like peddlers.

            “Send this message to your lord, I Elizabeth Verlie of house Silvier declare him a traitor to the duchy, he is to surrender control over these lands and abandon his family name. if he chooses to refuse or ignore these demands then this city will fall within the day!”

            I received mixed reactions to my declaration, some guards on the walls simply laughed it off, thinking us an irrelevant threat due to our small numbers and the fact that they are protected by walls capable of repelling even monster attack. Whereas others turned pail upon hearing my words. I’d imagine that the second group might be a part of the conspiracy to rebel and join the duchy of Aren, if not then they were simply shocked to hear of their lord’s actions. To me it matters not, I will make an example of them either way, but I must say that I wish to take as few lives as possible. These past few weeks I could feel my stomach turning due to the actions I was forced to take. Ever since the kidnaping incident I lived through as a baby, I could not bring myself to continue to look down on the act of taking another’s life and yet I must do so if I am to achieve my goals. I am so close to taking the first step towards making my ideal world, all I need is to continue believing that people had to die for a greater reason. Whether this will be enough to satisfy them I do not know but it is enough for me to continue on this path.

            After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity a man dressed in luxurious garbs appeared on the top of the walls. Having met him many times before I could tell, even from a far, that it was the viscount Katimus but he wasn’t alone, a man I presume to be his son was standing next to him along with a young man, a boy really, with what I assume to be tattoos all over his body.

            I approached the walls alone to hear his decision not that I really needed to, after all if he was to surrender then he would have opened the city gates.

            “Little girl you are quite arrogant to think you could defeat me with such a tiny force. You did well in finding out where my allegiance lies but it is too late, your family will be no more, your father has no wealth, allies, or power. Your house is fated to fall to ruin, but I refuse to allow my family to suffer the same fate for such a thing as loyalty.”

            What he said is understandable and if I was in his place, I would have done the same, well not exactly, I would’ve tried to take over the duchy then I would have joined Aren as a vassal only to repeat the same scheme.

            “If that is your decision then I have no choice but to forcibly subjugate you. Know that by opposing me you have doomed your family as I shall not spare a single one.”

            I turned the rains of my horse and galloped back to our temporary camp on a nearby hill. As I returned to our makeshift camp, I could see Damian along with his adjutants waiting for me to make the opening move.

            No matter how tall or thick the walls are there is no way that they could withstand me going all out. I started by accumulating all the magic I could find in the air; I drew on as much of it as I could control before transforming it into flaming round stones that I then hurled at the maximum speed I could achieve with my power of manipulation in conjunction with the creation of small explosions within a controlled space meant to replicate the effect gunpowder has when used on cannons. Four of these projectiles were meant for the walls of the city whilst three of them are intended for the weak point of any defensive structure, the gate.

            I could feel both amazement and fear from the mercenaries but most prominent was Damian’s laughter.

            “My lady, I knew you were powerful but this, hahaha… this is more than what I could even imagine.”

            In truth I am just as surprised as they are, I expected this attack to be enough to a least weaken the walls and at most bring them down completely but the sight in front of me is truly terrifying. The seven projectiles hit their intended targets, but they did not stop and instead continued on their way, destroying a good portion of the city and even hitting the lord’s residence.

            Here I was hoping to minimize the number of civilian deaths. To think that I was capable of such devastation. I will need to learn how to better control these powers. In all these years all I did was develop my magic, never really testing what I was truly capable of. At best there were some demonstrations I had when studying under teacher Adam but everything I could reproduce was only a weaker version of what he can do. I assumed that it was the cost of being able to reproduce just about any physical phenomena but what if I was wrong, what if instead of replicating what other can achieve through magic I could surpass them with pure creativity. I am still limited in what I can achieve but from what this has shown me I would be able to go passed those limits.

            Limiting myself to what the people of this world can attain was a mistake or maybe the mistake would be going passed those limits. After all I did just take down a fortified city like it was a chew toy I gave to a ravenous dog.

            The projectiles split into many fragments that rained down destruction upon every part of the city. Even from this distance I can hear the screams of the people crying and yelling, it is almost enough to break my resolve. With war comes death, this is only rational but experiencing war is different from simply thinking of it. As children we look up to the strong and chivalrous knights that wheeled their swords in battle, and we hope to one day be like them and to one day participate in a battle alongside them, but the reality of war is far different from what romanticized stories and history books tell us.

            Should I continue the attack or is this enough for them to surrender? I am honestly unwilling to continue the attack, that is likely why Damian took command of the mercenaries and lead them for a sortie. Before he left, he gave me a fatherly smile expressing the fact that he understood my position. He was born a mercenary and has lived his entire life on the battlefield, but I am different. Whether it be in my previous life or this life I lived in what the people of the time would call luxury. I trained, hunted animals, and even helped in the subjugation of bandits but none of that comes close to the horror of war and being responsible for the death of the innocents. This is exactly why I need to see it through, I am the one responsible, not Damian and not anyone else.

            I turned and took the reins of my horse from one of the solders Damian left behind to guard me and went on a gallop in hopes of catching up with the rest of my unit. In the time between my consternation and recovery they had already entered through the now shattered city gates. I followed their path only to find a city in flames, collapsed buildings and the smell of blood and burning flesh. I couldn’t help but to dismount my horse and throw up.

            ‘Will I ever get used to the sight in front of me, or is it that the only people who can get passed this nauseating feeling are those who were born in it like Damian?’

            I took my time going through the streets of the now devastated city, I even helped some people out of a ruined building for which they thanked me. Yes, granted they don’t know that I am responsible for all of this but how will I look in their eyes. Will they see this as the consequence of their lord rebelling against his liege or will they blame me for bringing them harm by involving them in something to which they had little to say?

            I continued my way to the lord’s castle, sometimes encountering enemy soldiers that try to stop me, but I couldn’t even care about them, I did not even fight instead preferring to immobilize them by numbing their muscles with a lightning whip.

            The longer I walked the more I found myself growing distant from the current situation, I even started to think about useless things like what I could expect for dinner. The more I walked the more detached I became, until…

            “WAAAAAH…”

            A tattooed man tried to charge at me from the back, but I evaded him by simply walking on the air, I then used my lightning chain to paralyze him like all the others, but he somehow withstood it. This drew my attention back into the present where I recognized him as the boy who stood alongside the lord and his son.

            “Surrender, the city has already fallen.”

            “Youuuuu b****! do you think I will simply keel over and let you do as you please? You killed them; you killed the only people who cared for me!”

            “What? Did I accidentally kill your parents or someone precious to you? If so then I apologize, I only meant to take down the walls and execute the lord and his family.”

            I do not know what I said wrong but the boy’s furry intensified and he lunged at me. He probably though that I was standing on a platform, which I in fact am, he tried to grip it but found nothing but air.

            He then changed tactics into using elemental magic to try and hit me but for whatever his attacks were unable to so much as graze me as they faded long before I needed to make a counter move.

            That’s strange, is he really an elementalist? I mean even a novice can do better than him. Maybe he is unable to amass enough mana or is it his control that is unstable? Wanting to learn more about they tattooed boy I touched ground and met his for a one-on-one battle.

            “What’s your name?”

            “Die b****!”

            “Ok Mr. Die B**** how about we have a little talk you and I.”

            He once again charged me with flames on both hands, wait flames on both hands? Even if he is the caster, if the magic makes contact with himself then he will also suffer the effect but that’s not happening. I mean in my case I can simply direct the magic outwards so that even if I make contact with my own spells then I wouldn’t feel a thing, but this is supposed to be specific to me. No matter how much teacher Adam tried to replicate my application of magic he couldn’t, but this man can. Was he may be given powers by G or some other “god not God” just like I was? No, if that was the case then he wouldn’t be this bad at magic. Could it be…

            “Are those tattoos ruins?” Yes ruins, the first type of magic to exist in the world before the arrival of the elves.

            “What is it to you, do you also see me as a demon marked by the gods?”

            “Not at all, I find you fascinating. The only method to manipulate magic I have yet to acquire is the one based on ruins. By any chance could you teach me?”

            Ok, this time I can see how I angered him.

            “Ok, ok sorry I take it back but why are you fighting me, I would expect a man like you to simply desert the Viscount’s army and find a better paying job somewhere else. You are a mage, a ruin user at that. If you want, I will even hire you.”

            “You dare say such a thing after killing the only people who ever welcomed me!”

            “Oh, yeh you said something about people thinking you are a devil or something like that, but you aren’t, if it’s about those marks on your body then I told you, those are ruins not some curse from some god. If anyone told you otherwise, then they must have lied to you.”

            “Stop speaking such falsehoods, the priests of every temple I visited gave me the same diagnostic, the gods see me as a sinner and protecting this domain is the only way for my soul to find salvation. The lord and his family are the only ones to accept me for who I am. I owe them a debt I can never repay.”

            Oh man, I can tell how things ended up this way. What a sly old dog that Viscount was. He probably spread some rumors about those ruins being some sort of curse then bribed the local temples to put the idea in this boy’s head that he needs to serve this domain and by extension the Viscount himself. This way he managed to get a mage, a ruin user at that, to work for him. I am willing to bet that they never paid him a coin in his life. The issue is how can I convince this child that what I said is the truth, I mean it’s not just because I want a rare specimen like him to serve under me… I really don’t… Ehm back to the matter at hand. Is telling him about the Viscount’s scheme enough to turn him to my side? No, I bet that it would only anger him further. How about hearing it from a third party, I could stage a confession from someone in the know, problem is that according to this man both the Viscount and his son are already dead. Who else would know? The priests definitely but touching the temples and by extension those who work in one is seen as an unforgivable sin. I’d rather take my time before I formally abolish those religions, abolish might be too strong a word but at least I need to weaken their influence.

            If I can’t get a confession then I need to find some other way to convince him to join me, killing him would be a waist not to mention that he, like all the other people of this territory, is a victim of the Viscount’s schemes. The fact that he doesn’t know about ruins means that he did not receive any noble education, at the same time simply telling him what ruins are is unlikely to change his mind as he would ether see it as a lie I made up to get him on my side or an irrelevant fact that he won’t consider due to him feeling indebted to house Katimus.

            That’s it! “You said that you owe the Viscount a debt so shouldn’t you at least try to save some of his family members instead of trying to get revenge for a dead man?” yes waiver just like I want you to. “How about we make a deal you and I, instead of killing the rest of his family members I will instead take them as hostages, as long as you prove yourself useful, I will keep them alive and if you were to betray me then I will kill the lot of them.”

            “Who is to say that I won’t backstab you?”

            ‘You mean other than the fact that I plan on slowly clarifying what the Viscount did to you, well…’

            “I am immortal so trying to kill me will only mean your death and the death of the hostages, the same will happen if you plan on leaking information or any other form of betrayal.”

            “None but the gods are immortal, to compare yourself to them how arrogant of you!”

            “Arrogant or not you are free to try as long as you are willing to pay the price. So, what do you say? Will you serve me, or will you fight and die here along with your so-called saviours?”

            I have no idea which option he will choose but after all I did to try and keep him alive, I hope he will accept the hand I offered him.

            “I understand, I will serve you for as long as the lord’s family is spared.”

            “Good, from now on you are to ether call me my lady or lady Elizabeth not that colourful other word of yours.” How cute, he is turning red. “Anyway, how about you answer my first question: what is your name?”

            “I am called Karman… lady Elizabeth.”

Azel35

I have started to correct the mistakes a friend has pointed out for me. The only chapter which I have revised is chapter 1 but I intend to continue correcting my mistakes as I write the story.