The three of us basically took off instantly, leaving Jake’s girlfriends behind. They were already scheming up ways to try and reanimate him.
I had full confidence that they wouldn’t succeed… although I’d let Arachne know about it, and maybe keep me in the loop if any zany events occurred. Successful reanimation would be huge, although with tens of thousands of years of bereaved and grieving people trying, with literal gods probably putting their thumb - or whole weight - on the scale, and it just not being a thing, I had my doubts.
Speaking of… I wanted to chat with Iona about the events.
I flew closer to her, deciding to ride on her shoulders for a minute. My legs clamped around her neck, and she grabbed my knees to keep me secure.
“Hey otherworldosaurus!” She cheerfully greeted me. “What’s up?”
I tilted my head back, gazing at the wondrous blue sky above us, my hair lashing in the wind. Iona flicked my knee.
“Yeah, yeah, very clever.” She laughed. I answered her question for real, and not in the annoyingly literal way.
“I’m pretty disappointed in how little I learned from Jake.” I complained. “The whole thing went off the beaten path so fast I never got a chance to compare all the notes I wanted to.”
Iona pulled a face.
“You’re right.” She said. “The only time I saw you light up was when you two were discussing the years. How you feeling?”
I sighed.
“Resigned, mostly. It was such a fucking disaster, I’m just glad to be out of there.”
My shoulders sagged.
“And a little bummed out. I wanted to know…”
Earth wasn’t home, not anymore. Pallos was, and I’d made my peace with that a long time ago. I had still been curious about Earth though, and Jake had told me nothing useful. I swear, it seemed like he lived under a rock and just played games all day.
And that was before knowledge came into play. Sure, magic replaced air conditioning nicely - I don’t think I’d be nearly as content on Pallos otherwise - but things like the internet, if Jake was capable of making it happen, would change everything.
Not that it had looked like he was trying to make anything, just have a good time.
I shook my head.
Life was good, and comparison was the thief of joy.
“What went wrong, what went right, and what could we have done better?” I asked.
“We found them no trouble. That part went well.” Iona promptly replied. I ruffled her hair. It was right there, too easy not to.
“Strong work.” I praised. She’d done all the tracking and finding.
“We worked decently well when we realized Jake was a problem and needed to be handled. I know there’s not a lot we can do about it, but your [Oath] did throw a few problems where you couldn’t directly fight Jake.” Iona said.
I shrugged.
“Sure, and while I completely agree with the what and why, your [Vow] also might’ve caused issues where you had to fight and stop him. Six of one, half dozen of another, neither one threatened so much trouble to completely derail the mission.”
“Arguably, it did completely derail the mission.” Iona argued. “We wanted to recruit him and bring him back to Exterreri. We almost entirely failed the mission. We didn’t bring him, and whatever knowledge he had is gone.”
I frowned at some of Iona’s phrasing.
“Almost entirely failed?” I asked.
“I’m starting to get a handle on Arachne. Maybe. At least enough to predict that she’ll see a silver lining in all this. We didn’t get to recruit him - but nobody else could either. Nobody’s going to suddenly come out with a major military or economic advantage.”
I snorted in disbelief.
“Him? I got major ‘idiot’ vibes, and it was like he knew the ideas, but absolutely no way to implement them or even the fundamentals of how they worked.” I was skeptical.
Iona chuckled.
“Yeah? Anyone looking at you wouldn’t believe that you - ow!” I had started knuckling Iona’s head as hard as I could about five words into her sentence. I knew I wasn’t actually harming her - my strength was too low - but it was the gesture, the message.
I smiled sadly as I thought of mom, and her wooden spoons. The futile, painless spoons, that dad played along with, and when I was old enough, tough enough, I did too.
The System was both a great equalizer, and a great granter of disadvantages.
“Pbrrrrrrrrrt.” I blew a raspberry at Iona, refocusing on the here and now, not bothering to even spin off a [Parallel Thoughts] process. She tilted her head back and grinned at me.
“You know it’s true.” She teased.
I crossed my arms and pouted… which probably just added fuel to her argument.
Iona sighed deeply as we flew over the Sea of Stars.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Iona hesitated.
“I love you very much.” She said, patting my leg. I knuckled her hair.
“Okay, now you’re making me nervous. What’s so terrible that you need to butter me up first?”
She tilted her head back, looking at me with a mischievous smile.
“You’re the love of my life, and I’m perfectly content and happy with you. With all that said… could you imagine having a dozen beautiful men and women around at all times, all interested?”
Iona’s eyes glazed over a bit again, and this time I knew she wasn’t chatting with her goddesses.
I indulged in the thought for a bit. Iona wasn’t wrong, the fantasy was quite nice.
It was just that though - a fantasy. The reality wouldn’t be nearly so clean or nice, and that was just for sex, not even touching on love.
“Mmmm. Yes, yes I can.”
Iona refocused with a hopeful look on her face. I flicked her nose - gently.
“It’s not for me though. Are - are you completely happy?” I was more than a little worried asking.
Iona flexed her shoulders, and somehow, by sheer physical prowess multiplied by the gifts of the System, managed to ‘pop’ me into her arms, where she caressed me.
“I am. I love you, now and forever.” She kissed me.
I eventually broke the kiss.
“Even with… the Immortality thing?” It hadn’t been something we’d properly addressed, knowing we had years.
Iona hesitated.
“Is it really so bad? With my vitality, I should live 400, maybe 600 years. Ever notice you don’t see old warriors at that age? How everyone fighting is under 100? Yeah. There were no old Valkyries for a reason. You’re Immortal, I’m not, but it doesn’t change anything. I’ll be dead before then.”
I gritted my teeth.
“Not if I have anything to say about it.” I firmly declared.
Iona smiled sadly.
“I know.” She whispered, keeping careful control over her voice.
“So… together until one of us dies. You interested in making it formal at some point?” I asked with roughly all the subtlety of a brick. Dealing with Jake had completely drained my social graces, and this wasn’t exactly a conversation to dance around.
The only thing surprising about a proposal should be the when and how. Both parties should have talked about it ahead of time, and known it was coming. Marriage wasn’t a surprise that should be sprung. It was a measured conversation.
Boring, not terribly romantic, but it was the right way to do it.
Iona didn’t immediately answer, and a terrible weight started to crush on my chest. My mind, sped up by Auri’s bond, started to go over and over a hundred, a thousand different possibilities. My self-confidence started to shake, and-
“Yes.” Iona firmly replied. “But I’ve got some thoughts of my own.”
I repositioned myself on Fenrir, properly positioning myself for a serious chat.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“First, off the top of my head, I hate the Immortal idea that relationships and marriages and the like need a time limit. Till death do us part.” Iona almost cracked up on the last line, and what she’d just said about Valkyries not making it to 100 took on extra weight.
I easily nodded.
“Absolutely.” I swore.
“With all that said, I’ve been thinking about Nina. She was too low level for this, and I’d hate for her to stay low level. I’d like to go on a few rounds with her. Probably outside of Exterreri, they’ve got things down pat here. Not enough conflict for a budding Valkyrie. Barely enough for me! I feel like we’ve settled down enough, found our feet, and now I want to go out and be a Valkyrie.”
I eagerly nodded.
“Of course! I agree with you, we’ve found our feet well enough, have gotten a base established. We’re in an excellent position to go out into the world and do some good. Any ideas where to start?”
Iona clicked her tongue unhappily.
“The Valkyrie-squire relationship tends to be one to one for experience reasons. If there were two Valkyries to one squire, the danger and difficulty of any encounters would go down sharply, which also decreases the experience quite a bit. Both in terms of levels, and real world expertise. Similarly, two squires to one Valkyrie splits the duties and experience a little too hard for meaningful levels.”
I could feel Iona giving me a pointed stare, and I could pick up what she was putting down.
“You want to go alone.” I said.
“If you don’t mind.” Iona said.
I paused, then shook my head.
“I mind a tiny bit. I love you. I’ll miss you. It’s disappointing that I can’t come with you. But I understand. Nina needs experience. Levels. It’s part of your thing to go out and work like this, and I’d never try to stop you. That’s not what our relationship is. Is there a chance I’ll be able to come in the future?”
Iona cracked a relieved grin.
“Thank you. I want to do a few rounds with you and Nina at some point where you’re acting as a [Healer], but I think that’s for the future, like you said. When she’s got a few more levels, when she’s a [Squire] instead of a [Page], when I’m not trying to get the bare bone fundamentals down. When it’s not my first [Squire].”
“Maybe when I’m on a break from being a Sentinel. That could be a good window?” I suggested.
Iona nodded.
“Oh yeah! Or even this summer. We’ll work it out.”
I briefly debated asking Iona if she’d be fine for a few weeks or months without any bedroom fun, but axed the thought.
We both knew where we stood regarding monogamy, and the heart of Iona’s [Vow] revolved around acting honorably. There were few actions less honorable than lying and cheating.
Content and satisfied, I laid back and continued Plotting.
I still had a good number of the Remus coins, but I needed to think of a good spot for modifying them…
In a trip that was too short for the time I wanted to spend with Iona, too long for how badly I wanted to be home, we were getting to Bloodmoon Bay and Sanguino. We’d flown around the experimental island again - there was no way that wasn’t ending in tears one day - and we were getting some nervous looks from the guards on the walls.
I mean, I’d be a little concerned if a huge fucking armored wyvern was approaching our home.
“Hey, I wanna report back to Arachne, and run some errands. Wanna come?”
“Nope.” Iona promptly replied. “I’ll let you have the fun conversation with Arachne. I want to get back home, and see how Nina’s doing.”
I hopped up, standing precariously on Fenrir’s neck.
“Cheers, see you later!” I let myself fall backwards off Fenrir, like a high diver going into a stone basin.
I didn’t immediately open my wings, enjoying the rush of falling. There was still a primal part of me that screamed in terror, that insisted we were going to die, that humans - nevermind that I wasn’t exactly a human anymore, the lizard part of my brain never got the news - weren’t meant to fall like this.
I was fairly certain that I could walk off landing at top speed on the hard streets of Sanguino. I basically had when I’d jumped down for my library reconnaissance mission. At the same time, didn’t want to accidentally land on somebody, nor did I want to traumatize the hell out of anyone by going splat in front of them.
I’d get better, of course, but I had a sneaking suspicion that watching someone turn into a flesh pancake wasn’t an easily scrubbed memory.
I slowly unfurled my wings, flapping a few times to catch the wind. I turned my freefall into a dizzying series of acrobatic maneuvers, finding new and fancy ways to twist and turn in the air as I fell.
I was in no particular rush.
I directed myself near Stormwatch Castle, not wanting to go head to head against the fortress’s aerial defenses.
They were calibrated to deal with very high level Immortals. I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could survive them, no matter how hydra-like my defenses were.
I landed, worked my way through the various systems, corridors, and guards, and soon ended up outside of Arachne’s lair.
One difference in how things were done these days - fewer large scale meetings of all the Sentinels. The report I’d had when I first came back was an unusual exception, not the norm. The expectation was more that our individual teams would handle things the way we saw fit, and various Sentinels had created their own little clubs to meet and discuss things. Like the War Sentinel meetings.
It was a good thing. There were just too many of us.
After a short wait - and an angry-looking Sentinel Mirror storming out of Arachne’s lair, half her bottles missing and a nasty-looking burn on her armor - I was beckoned in.
“Sentinel Dawn.” Arachne greeted me with an arched eyebrow. “I don’t see you’ve come back with anyone in tow. Issues?”
I grimaced.
“You could say that. From another world? Most likely. I can’t imagine many situations where he wasn’t. He was also one of the biggest idiots I’ve ever encountered.” I said.
Arachne didn’t react at all to what I’d said.
“Tell me more.” She said.
I gave the rundown of events, starting from when we’d found him, to the end.
“... then he decided he wanted to rob a dragon. A specific dragon that I knew was nesting nearby.” I gave Arachne a significant look, trying to silently communicate how I knew it. Arachne figured it out - she was the one who’d given me the map in the first place! “I tried to dissuade him, Iona tried to dissuade him, but he was bull-headedly insisting on going through with it, egged on by his harem members.”
The pun was completely intentional. Arachne didn’t even blink, let alone groan. Boo.
“Given the potential for devastation if he followed through, my team and I put forth our best efforts to stop him. He insisted on a duel, of all things, and Iona ended up throwing him into a lake, to try to get him to concede without killing him, trying to salvage the mission. A monster - an oversized anglerfish, I believe - ended up luring and eating him instead. We called it a day, and headed back home.” I finished summarizing the mission.
Arachne was tapping the edge of her chair in the end.
“How do you believe you did?” She asked. I’d had some time to reflect upon that exact question on the way back.
“Acceptably well.” I answered. “We failed in the primary mission, yes. We could’ve executed various maneuvers better, yes. Broadly, we prevented the situation from escalating in a massive way, we didn’t drive Jake into the arms of our enemies, or give him any cause to hate Exterreri, and the secondary purpose of a shake down run was successfully executed. I leveled eight times. I’m not going to put this one in the rousing success column, but it’s not going to haunt me as a massive failure either.”
Arachne nodded, and started to ask me a dozen more questions, each one probing into my thoughts. She didn’t directly comment on anything, but the woman was a master of the Socratic method, asking thought-provoking questions for me to analyze my own actions and decisions.
“Understandable. Why would it be bad if the situation had escalated?” She asked.
I scrunched up my eyebrows at her.
“Because… mad dragon rampaging all over the place, burning cities, killing livestock, causing massive devastation? That’s… a bad thing, yes?” I asked, completely puzzled at her question.
“Where would the dragon in question be rampaging?” Arachne asked.
This felt like a trick question, but I dutifully pulled up a mental map of the world - thank you [Astral Archives] - and studied it.
The Sea of Stars was too large to easily cross in a hate-fueled rampage. Why would a dragon go that way, when easier, more direct targets were in their sight? I mentally traced a dozen different rampage paths, all centered on Kanadaj’s lair.
“Nippon-Koku primarily. Maybe dipping into Modu, depending on the scale of things.” I answered.
“Yes. I believe that, overall, you’ve done a fine job. I have one last question for you to reflect upon, before we move onto other topics. Don’t give me an answer here and now, just think about it with your team. From an Exterreri perspective, what are the benefits and downsides to a dragon rampaging through Nippon-Koku?”
I almost felt something click in my perspective of Arachne and the situation.
I wanted to talk it out more with Iona, but from an Exterreri perspective, devastation and ruin being brought to our neighbors could be both a boon and a curse. It was a prime chance for Exterreri to extend and expand its soft influence, as long as refugees coming into the country didn’t cause too much of an issue. There were a hundred more pros and cons, but I could suddenly see that some people would absolutely benefit from such an event.
Heck, it was almost like when Lun’Kat had wrecked the dwarves. I hadn’t gotten the full story yet, but it sounded like Remus had been merrily expanding into the new territory with almost no resistance at all. Completely different than if they’d been going strong.
Didn’t mean I regretted a single one of my actions. Iona and I had been working as one there, determined to do what was best for the people we’d found ourselves with.
I’d be a terrible ruler. Apart from not being interested, I’d struggle to put the interests of my people over the wellbeing of others in the way that was needed.
Arachne and Night had no such issues. I knew it required a certain way, a certain type of thinking to be in their position, a morally grey character, and it just wasn’t for me.
“I believe I understand, and I’ll give the question all due consideration.” I promised.
“Excellent. Things have been moving in the background, and while nothing has gone as initially planned, I believe I have your next assignment. Again, this one is entirely voluntary, but significantly more important.” Arachne said.
[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 521->522 +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]
I split my mind, focusing on two things at once.
Yes! The mission hadn’t gone off particularly well, but in the end, I’d done enough for a level! A big success in my books, especially with all of my capped healing related skills bumping up a hair.
The other part of me saluted.
“Nine levels!” I quickly updated my report, then got a little more serious. “Ready.” I doubted I’d be a Sentinel if I declined optional missions. Just wasn’t in my nature.
“I don’t want to say the Exterreri Legions have gone soft,” Arachne preambled. ”But we haven’t had a significant threat or conflict within a mortal lifespan. Life is good. Society is stable. Our neighbors are larger than we are, and not directly threatening our interests in a military way. Given that most of them are Immortal nations, the long passage of time favors them heavily for a coming conflict, and they know it. We can keep the best and the strongest warriors alive, but we lack in depth, not without causing more issues than we can solve. We vampires level slowly, while every year that passes has more elves be born, gives them more time to level.”
That sounded like one heck of a story. I’d have to raid the library and find out more.
“The Legions, while they continue to solve smaller problems, are becoming more and more a political body. Scions of powerful houses join not to defend Exterreri, but to further a political career. Soldiers keep themselves at 256, because they know they don’t need levels to survive, and want to see what will happen after their career, to get a class for that. Our fortresses are unassailed, turned into towns by the passage of time instead of defending against attack. In short, there are issues being caused by this long stretch of peace that is threatening to have the Legions fall apart under their own weight.”
Wow. I’d noticed a few pieces of it here and there - the forts becoming towns was a big one - but I hadn’t quite grasped the whole picture. A time issue, or a perspective issue?
“This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered this exact issue.” Arachne said.
Gods, sometimes it was hard to grasp that Arachne and Night had personally overseen the rise and fall of multiple civilizations. This wasn’t a new problem for them. This was the same problem, echoing back over time.
Immortality.
I could see if the same problems kept having the same solutions time and time again, that the same problems would occur as a result. The same solutions being applied again would result in… the same problems.
Again. And again.
Like the hands of a clock going round and round the face, a dog forever chasing its tail.
A snake, forever eating itself. The ouroboros of my Immortality skill took on new meaning.
Night staying as hands off as he possibly could, letting mortals run around trying to solve issues made a lot more sense.
Arachne kept talking as I thought about the issue. Yay [Parallel Thoughts]!
“What we are doing is preparing a single Legion to operate as a foreign mercenary company. The plan is to shuffle, not the most dedicated, but the most interested soldiers in from various Legions to form a single Legion, that we will then send off to another land - The Han empire is the current destination - to act as a mercenary company. There, the Legion will be tested in the fires of warfare, and brought to new heights. The initial plan had revolved around keeping you a secret, and having the Fourth Legion operate overseas. After all, a War Sentinel being deployed is no longer Exterreri working on improving their soldiers, but an act of war, one that would bring the mortal nations screaming to our borders in one powerful coalition.”
Arachne gave me a grin.
“However, you are not a vampire. You do not shy away from the sun, and have multiple means of hiding your level. That, and an entire Legion who will fight on your behalf. The members of your team are from a well-recognized organization in that part of the world, and I’ve even gotten reports that some of the few remaining Valkyries are active in the conflict. Now, I want to be clear on this next part. The Legion going out to gain experience, both in the sense of levels and the practical aspect, would happen with or without you. It is not the first time we’ve done such a thing, and it won’t be the last. Your presence in the field would make life easier. More of our troops would survive to come home, to kiss their spouse again, to hug their children. I am aware of your [Oathbound] nature, and I know you won’t be able to help yourself helping others, no matter which flag they march under. That is fine. I’ll admit, there’s more than a few misgivings about what will happen when you’re faced with other elvenoids in open conflict, and how it’ll work with your [Oath]. This is an excellent opportunity for you to work that out, without the consequences being dire for Exterreri. What do you think?”
This was practically a no-brainer. Chance to heal people, many who probably desperately needed help, and an opportunity to reconnect Iona with some of her fellow Valkyries?
“I’m in. When are we leaving?” I asked, my mind churning with possibilities. Hopefully Iona and Nina could complete a full round before then, get a bunch of levels, then come with me. I had a natural instinct to try and protect Nina from a war zone, but no. That wasn’t right. That’s the path she wanted to take, and the sooner she could see it, experience it - especially under our protective aegis - the sooner she could help, and do something about it. The levels she’d gain.
No, taking Nina was the right call, assuming she had enough basic levels in the first place to survive.
Arachne had a tinkling laugh, like glass chimes in the wind.
“No rush! Winter is coming, and that’s the season where everyone hunkers down. War is a spring and summer game, and the Sixth Legion will be deploying then. I say the Sixth, but in reality, it’s going to take us all winter to finish reshuffling soldiers and rearming them, along with drills. Can’t be too obvious that it’s the Exterreri Legions, otherwise they’ll rightfully think it’s an invasion!”
What Arachne had mentioned before about things being bad for our neighbors potentially being good for Exterreri flashed through my mind again. The Han empire was far away - about as far as Rolland, the two shared a border - but that didn’t mean there wasn’t some advantage. With how bloody and ugly the civil war was from what I’d heard, sending an entire army could be paid for in massive concessions down the line.
Also, the crates of non-legion standard weapons in the Sixth suddenly made sense. They were already gearing up. Logistics took time.
All that was a little over my head. It wasn’t all good, but a single fundamental truth wasn’t changed.
People were dying every day.
I had the ability to do something about it.
I was being given a golden opportunity to do something about it.
One way or another, I’d be saving lives.
Iona and I had even discussed going to the Han empire after we graduated! Trying to find Night and settling in Exterreri had taken priority, but now was perfect.
Even better than going alone?
We had an army with us.
Only downside was we’d need to wait a while, but if nobody was truly attempting to fight General Winter, our presence wasn’t immediately needed.
“Sounds good.” I agreed, and changed the subject. “I’ve got a skill called [Vault of Ages].” I quickly gave Arachne the rundown on the skill, my level in it, and my relevant stats. “Do you have any suggestions for what I should store in it?”
“Food.” Arachne replied after a brief pause. “Food and water. Normally I’d also suggest books, but you’ve got that covered in another skill. Tools are another solid addition. I know you can simply conjure tools with your skills, but keep in mind that most often you’ll want to be giving the tools to others, not keeping them for yourself. A tool that’ll degrade and break isn’t worth it, not when people put their lives depending on it. Similarly, you’ll never know when you’ll be lacking the tools to make the tools.”
I took mental notes.
“Got any recommended books?” I asked.
Arachne did have quite a list, and I took more notes, vowing to swing by the library next time I was in town.
“Sadly, our time here is at an end, and I have another appointment.” Arachne stood up at the end of the list.
I saluted my commander.
“As you will.” I said, and we left together.
The three of us basically took off instantly, leaving Jake’s girlfriends behind. They were already scheming up ways to try and reanimate him.
I had full confidence that they wouldn’t succeed… although I’d let Arachne know about it, and maybe keep me in the loop if any zany events occurred. Successful reanimation would be huge, although with tens of thousands of years of bereaved and grieving people trying, with literal gods probably putting their thumb - or whole weight - on the scale, and it just not being a thing, I had my doubts.
Speaking of… I wanted to chat with Iona about the events.
I flew closer to her, deciding to ride on her shoulders for a minute. My legs clamped around her neck, and she grabbed my knees to keep me secure.
“Hey otherworldosaurus!” She cheerfully greeted me. “What’s up?”
I tilted my head back, gazing at the wondrous blue sky above us, my hair lashing in the wind. Iona flicked my knee.
“Yeah, yeah, very clever.” She laughed. I answered her question for real, and not in the annoyingly literal way.
“I’m pretty disappointed in how little I learned from Jake.” I complained. “The whole thing went off the beaten path so fast I never got a chance to compare all the notes I wanted to.”
Iona pulled a face.
“You’re right.” She said. “The only time I saw you light up was when you two were discussing the years. How you feeling?”
I sighed.
“Resigned, mostly. It was such a fucking disaster, I’m just glad to be out of there.”
My shoulders sagged.
“And a little bummed out. I wanted to know…”
Earth wasn’t home, not anymore. Pallos was, and I’d made my peace with that a long time ago. I had still been curious about Earth though, and Jake had told me nothing useful. I swear, it seemed like he lived under a rock and just played games all day.
And that was before knowledge came into play. Sure, magic replaced air conditioning nicely - I don’t think I’d be nearly as content on Pallos otherwise - but things like the internet, if Jake was capable of making it happen, would change everything.
Not that it had looked like he was trying to make anything, just have a good time.
I shook my head.
Life was good, and comparison was the thief of joy.
“What went wrong, what went right, and what could we have done better?” I asked.
“We found them no trouble. That part went well.” Iona promptly replied. I ruffled her hair. It was right there, too easy not to.
“Strong work.” I praised. She’d done all the tracking and finding.
“We worked decently well when we realized Jake was a problem and needed to be handled. I know there’s not a lot we can do about it, but your [Oath] did throw a few problems where you couldn’t directly fight Jake.” Iona said.
I shrugged.
“Sure, and while I completely agree with the what and why, your [Vow] also might’ve caused issues where you had to fight and stop him. Six of one, half dozen of another, neither one threatened so much trouble to completely derail the mission.”
“Arguably, it did completely derail the mission.” Iona argued. “We wanted to recruit him and bring him back to Exterreri. We almost entirely failed the mission. We didn’t bring him, and whatever knowledge he had is gone.”
I frowned at some of Iona’s phrasing.
“Almost entirely failed?” I asked.
“I’m starting to get a handle on Arachne. Maybe. At least enough to predict that she’ll see a silver lining in all this. We didn’t get to recruit him - but nobody else could either. Nobody’s going to suddenly come out with a major military or economic advantage.”
I snorted in disbelief.
“Him? I got major ‘idiot’ vibes, and it was like he knew the ideas, but absolutely no way to implement them or even the fundamentals of how they worked.” I was skeptical.
Iona chuckled.
“Yeah? Anyone looking at you wouldn’t believe that you - ow!” I had started knuckling Iona’s head as hard as I could about five words into her sentence. I knew I wasn’t actually harming her - my strength was too low - but it was the gesture, the message.
I smiled sadly as I thought of mom, and her wooden spoons. The futile, painless spoons, that dad played along with, and when I was old enough, tough enough, I did too.
The System was both a great equalizer, and a great granter of disadvantages.
“Pbrrrrrrrrrt.” I blew a raspberry at Iona, refocusing on the here and now, not bothering to even spin off a [Parallel Thoughts] process. She tilted her head back and grinned at me.
“You know it’s true.” She teased.
I crossed my arms and pouted… which probably just added fuel to her argument.
Iona sighed deeply as we flew over the Sea of Stars.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Iona hesitated.
“I love you very much.” She said, patting my leg. I knuckled her hair.
“Okay, now you’re making me nervous. What’s so terrible that you need to butter me up first?”
She tilted her head back, looking at me with a mischievous smile.
“You’re the love of my life, and I’m perfectly content and happy with you. With all that said… could you imagine having a dozen beautiful men and women around at all times, all interested?”
Iona’s eyes glazed over a bit again, and this time I knew she wasn’t chatting with her goddesses.
I indulged in the thought for a bit. Iona wasn’t wrong, the fantasy was quite nice.
It was just that though - a fantasy. The reality wouldn’t be nearly so clean or nice, and that was just for sex, not even touching on love.
“Mmmm. Yes, yes I can.”
Iona refocused with a hopeful look on her face. I flicked her nose - gently.
“It’s not for me though. Are - are you completely happy?” I was more than a little worried asking.
Iona flexed her shoulders, and somehow, by sheer physical prowess multiplied by the gifts of the System, managed to ‘pop’ me into her arms, where she caressed me.
“I am. I love you, now and forever.” She kissed me.
I eventually broke the kiss.
“Even with… the Immortality thing?” It hadn’t been something we’d properly addressed, knowing we had years.
Iona hesitated.
“Is it really so bad? With my vitality, I should live 400, maybe 600 years. Ever notice you don’t see old warriors at that age? How everyone fighting is under 100? Yeah. There were no old Valkyries for a reason. You’re Immortal, I’m not, but it doesn’t change anything. I’ll be dead before then.”
I gritted my teeth.
“Not if I have anything to say about it.” I firmly declared.
Iona smiled sadly.
“I know.” She whispered, keeping careful control over her voice.
“So… together until one of us dies. You interested in making it formal at some point?” I asked with roughly all the subtlety of a brick. Dealing with Jake had completely drained my social graces, and this wasn’t exactly a conversation to dance around.
The only thing surprising about a proposal should be the when and how. Both parties should have talked about it ahead of time, and known it was coming. Marriage wasn’t a surprise that should be sprung. It was a measured conversation.
Boring, not terribly romantic, but it was the right way to do it.
Iona didn’t immediately answer, and a terrible weight started to crush on my chest. My mind, sped up by Auri’s bond, started to go over and over a hundred, a thousand different possibilities. My self-confidence started to shake, and-
“Yes.” Iona firmly replied. “But I’ve got some thoughts of my own.”
I repositioned myself on Fenrir, properly positioning myself for a serious chat.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“First, off the top of my head, I hate the Immortal idea that relationships and marriages and the like need a time limit. Till death do us part.” Iona almost cracked up on the last line, and what she’d just said about Valkyries not making it to 100 took on extra weight.
I easily nodded.
“Absolutely.” I swore.
“With all that said, I’ve been thinking about Nina. She was too low level for this, and I’d hate for her to stay low level. I’d like to go on a few rounds with her. Probably outside of Exterreri, they’ve got things down pat here. Not enough conflict for a budding Valkyrie. Barely enough for me! I feel like we’ve settled down enough, found our feet, and now I want to go out and be a Valkyrie.”
I eagerly nodded.
“Of course! I agree with you, we’ve found our feet well enough, have gotten a base established. We’re in an excellent position to go out into the world and do some good. Any ideas where to start?”
Iona clicked her tongue unhappily.
“The Valkyrie-squire relationship tends to be one to one for experience reasons. If there were two Valkyries to one squire, the danger and difficulty of any encounters would go down sharply, which also decreases the experience quite a bit. Both in terms of levels, and real world expertise. Similarly, two squires to one Valkyrie splits the duties and experience a little too hard for meaningful levels.”
I could feel Iona giving me a pointed stare, and I could pick up what she was putting down.
“You want to go alone.” I said.
“If you don’t mind.” Iona said.
I paused, then shook my head.
“I mind a tiny bit. I love you. I’ll miss you. It’s disappointing that I can’t come with you. But I understand. Nina needs experience. Levels. It’s part of your thing to go out and work like this, and I’d never try to stop you. That’s not what our relationship is. Is there a chance I’ll be able to come in the future?”
Iona cracked a relieved grin.
“Thank you. I want to do a few rounds with you and Nina at some point where you’re acting as a [Healer], but I think that’s for the future, like you said. When she’s got a few more levels, when she’s a [Squire] instead of a [Page], when I’m not trying to get the bare bone fundamentals down. When it’s not my first [Squire].”
“Maybe when I’m on a break from being a Sentinel. That could be a good window?” I suggested.
Iona nodded.
“Oh yeah! Or even this summer. We’ll work it out.”
I briefly debated asking Iona if she’d be fine for a few weeks or months without any bedroom fun, but axed the thought.
We both knew where we stood regarding monogamy, and the heart of Iona’s [Vow] revolved around acting honorably. There were few actions less honorable than lying and cheating.
Content and satisfied, I laid back and continued Plotting.
I still had a good number of the Remus coins, but I needed to think of a good spot for modifying them…
In a trip that was too short for the time I wanted to spend with Iona, too long for how badly I wanted to be home, we were getting to Bloodmoon Bay and Sanguino. We’d flown around the experimental island again - there was no way that wasn’t ending in tears one day - and we were getting some nervous looks from the guards on the walls.
I mean, I’d be a little concerned if a huge fucking armored wyvern was approaching our home.
“Hey, I wanna report back to Arachne, and run some errands. Wanna come?”
“Nope.” Iona promptly replied. “I’ll let you have the fun conversation with Arachne. I want to get back home, and see how Nina’s doing.”
I hopped up, standing precariously on Fenrir’s neck.
“Cheers, see you later!” I let myself fall backwards off Fenrir, like a high diver going into a stone basin.
I didn’t immediately open my wings, enjoying the rush of falling. There was still a primal part of me that screamed in terror, that insisted we were going to die, that humans - nevermind that I wasn’t exactly a human anymore, the lizard part of my brain never got the news - weren’t meant to fall like this.
I was fairly certain that I could walk off landing at top speed on the hard streets of Sanguino. I basically had when I’d jumped down for my library reconnaissance mission. At the same time, didn’t want to accidentally land on somebody, nor did I want to traumatize the hell out of anyone by going splat in front of them.
I’d get better, of course, but I had a sneaking suspicion that watching someone turn into a flesh pancake wasn’t an easily scrubbed memory.
I slowly unfurled my wings, flapping a few times to catch the wind. I turned my freefall into a dizzying series of acrobatic maneuvers, finding new and fancy ways to twist and turn in the air as I fell.
I was in no particular rush.
I directed myself near Stormwatch Castle, not wanting to go head to head against the fortress’s aerial defenses.
They were calibrated to deal with very high level Immortals. I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could survive them, no matter how hydra-like my defenses were.
I landed, worked my way through the various systems, corridors, and guards, and soon ended up outside of Arachne’s lair.
One difference in how things were done these days - fewer large scale meetings of all the Sentinels. The report I’d had when I first came back was an unusual exception, not the norm. The expectation was more that our individual teams would handle things the way we saw fit, and various Sentinels had created their own little clubs to meet and discuss things. Like the War Sentinel meetings.
It was a good thing. There were just too many of us.
After a short wait - and an angry-looking Sentinel Mirror storming out of Arachne’s lair, half her bottles missing and a nasty-looking burn on her armor - I was beckoned in.
“Sentinel Dawn.” Arachne greeted me with an arched eyebrow. “I don’t see you’ve come back with anyone in tow. Issues?”
I grimaced.
“You could say that. From another world? Most likely. I can’t imagine many situations where he wasn’t. He was also one of the biggest idiots I’ve ever encountered.” I said.
Arachne didn’t react at all to what I’d said.
“Tell me more.” She said.
I gave the rundown of events, starting from when we’d found him, to the end.
“... then he decided he wanted to rob a dragon. A specific dragon that I knew was nesting nearby.” I gave Arachne a significant look, trying to silently communicate how I knew it. Arachne figured it out - she was the one who’d given me the map in the first place! “I tried to dissuade him, Iona tried to dissuade him, but he was bull-headedly insisting on going through with it, egged on by his harem members.”
The pun was completely intentional. Arachne didn’t even blink, let alone groan. Boo.
“Given the potential for devastation if he followed through, my team and I put forth our best efforts to stop him. He insisted on a duel, of all things, and Iona ended up throwing him into a lake, to try to get him to concede without killing him, trying to salvage the mission. A monster - an oversized anglerfish, I believe - ended up luring and eating him instead. We called it a day, and headed back home.” I finished summarizing the mission.
Arachne was tapping the edge of her chair in the end.
“How do you believe you did?” She asked. I’d had some time to reflect upon that exact question on the way back.
“Acceptably well.” I answered. “We failed in the primary mission, yes. We could’ve executed various maneuvers better, yes. Broadly, we prevented the situation from escalating in a massive way, we didn’t drive Jake into the arms of our enemies, or give him any cause to hate Exterreri, and the secondary purpose of a shake down run was successfully executed. I leveled eight times. I’m not going to put this one in the rousing success column, but it’s not going to haunt me as a massive failure either.”
Arachne nodded, and started to ask me a dozen more questions, each one probing into my thoughts. She didn’t directly comment on anything, but the woman was a master of the Socratic method, asking thought-provoking questions for me to analyze my own actions and decisions.
“Understandable. Why would it be bad if the situation had escalated?” She asked.
I scrunched up my eyebrows at her.
“Because… mad dragon rampaging all over the place, burning cities, killing livestock, causing massive devastation? That’s… a bad thing, yes?” I asked, completely puzzled at her question.
“Where would the dragon in question be rampaging?” Arachne asked.
This felt like a trick question, but I dutifully pulled up a mental map of the world - thank you [Astral Archives] - and studied it.
The Sea of Stars was too large to easily cross in a hate-fueled rampage. Why would a dragon go that way, when easier, more direct targets were in their sight? I mentally traced a dozen different rampage paths, all centered on Kanadaj’s lair.
“Nippon-Koku primarily. Maybe dipping into Modu, depending on the scale of things.” I answered.
“Yes. I believe that, overall, you’ve done a fine job. I have one last question for you to reflect upon, before we move onto other topics. Don’t give me an answer here and now, just think about it with your team. From an Exterreri perspective, what are the benefits and downsides to a dragon rampaging through Nippon-Koku?”
I almost felt something click in my perspective of Arachne and the situation.
I wanted to talk it out more with Iona, but from an Exterreri perspective, devastation and ruin being brought to our neighbors could be both a boon and a curse. It was a prime chance for Exterreri to extend and expand its soft influence, as long as refugees coming into the country didn’t cause too much of an issue. There were a hundred more pros and cons, but I could suddenly see that some people would absolutely benefit from such an event.
Heck, it was almost like when Lun’Kat had wrecked the dwarves. I hadn’t gotten the full story yet, but it sounded like Remus had been merrily expanding into the new territory with almost no resistance at all. Completely different than if they’d been going strong.
Didn’t mean I regretted a single one of my actions. Iona and I had been working as one there, determined to do what was best for the people we’d found ourselves with.
I’d be a terrible ruler. Apart from not being interested, I’d struggle to put the interests of my people over the wellbeing of others in the way that was needed.
Arachne and Night had no such issues. I knew it required a certain way, a certain type of thinking to be in their position, a morally grey character, and it just wasn’t for me.
“I believe I understand, and I’ll give the question all due consideration.” I promised.
“Excellent. Things have been moving in the background, and while nothing has gone as initially planned, I believe I have your next assignment. Again, this one is entirely voluntary, but significantly more important.” Arachne said.
[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 521->522 +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]
I split my mind, focusing on two things at once.
Yes! The mission hadn’t gone off particularly well, but in the end, I’d done enough for a level! A big success in my books, especially with all of my capped healing related skills bumping up a hair.
The other part of me saluted.
“Nine levels!” I quickly updated my report, then got a little more serious. “Ready.” I doubted I’d be a Sentinel if I declined optional missions. Just wasn’t in my nature.
“I don’t want to say the Exterreri Legions have gone soft,” Arachne preambled. ”But we haven’t had a significant threat or conflict within a mortal lifespan. Life is good. Society is stable. Our neighbors are larger than we are, and not directly threatening our interests in a military way. Given that most of them are Immortal nations, the long passage of time favors them heavily for a coming conflict, and they know it. We can keep the best and the strongest warriors alive, but we lack in depth, not without causing more issues than we can solve. We vampires level slowly, while every year that passes has more elves be born, gives them more time to level.”
That sounded like one heck of a story. I’d have to raid the library and find out more.
“The Legions, while they continue to solve smaller problems, are becoming more and more a political body. Scions of powerful houses join not to defend Exterreri, but to further a political career. Soldiers keep themselves at 256, because they know they don’t need levels to survive, and want to see what will happen after their career, to get a class for that. Our fortresses are unassailed, turned into towns by the passage of time instead of defending against attack. In short, there are issues being caused by this long stretch of peace that is threatening to have the Legions fall apart under their own weight.”
Wow. I’d noticed a few pieces of it here and there - the forts becoming towns was a big one - but I hadn’t quite grasped the whole picture. A time issue, or a perspective issue?
“This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered this exact issue.” Arachne said.
Gods, sometimes it was hard to grasp that Arachne and Night had personally overseen the rise and fall of multiple civilizations. This wasn’t a new problem for them. This was the same problem, echoing back over time.
Immortality.
I could see if the same problems kept having the same solutions time and time again, that the same problems would occur as a result. The same solutions being applied again would result in… the same problems.
Again. And again.
Like the hands of a clock going round and round the face, a dog forever chasing its tail.
A snake, forever eating itself. The ouroboros of my Immortality skill took on new meaning.
Night staying as hands off as he possibly could, letting mortals run around trying to solve issues made a lot more sense.
Arachne kept talking as I thought about the issue. Yay [Parallel Thoughts]!
“What we are doing is preparing a single Legion to operate as a foreign mercenary company. The plan is to shuffle, not the most dedicated, but the most interested soldiers in from various Legions to form a single Legion, that we will then send off to another land - The Han empire is the current destination - to act as a mercenary company. There, the Legion will be tested in the fires of warfare, and brought to new heights. The initial plan had revolved around keeping you a secret, and having the Fourth Legion operate overseas. After all, a War Sentinel being deployed is no longer Exterreri working on improving their soldiers, but an act of war, one that would bring the mortal nations screaming to our borders in one powerful coalition.”
Arachne gave me a grin.
“However, you are not a vampire. You do not shy away from the sun, and have multiple means of hiding your level. That, and an entire Legion who will fight on your behalf. The members of your team are from a well-recognized organization in that part of the world, and I’ve even gotten reports that some of the few remaining Valkyries are active in the conflict. Now, I want to be clear on this next part. The Legion going out to gain experience, both in the sense of levels and the practical aspect, would happen with or without you. It is not the first time we’ve done such a thing, and it won’t be the last. Your presence in the field would make life easier. More of our troops would survive to come home, to kiss their spouse again, to hug their children. I am aware of your [Oathbound] nature, and I know you won’t be able to help yourself helping others, no matter which flag they march under. That is fine. I’ll admit, there’s more than a few misgivings about what will happen when you’re faced with other elvenoids in open conflict, and how it’ll work with your [Oath]. This is an excellent opportunity for you to work that out, without the consequences being dire for Exterreri. What do you think?”
This was practically a no-brainer. Chance to heal people, many who probably desperately needed help, and an opportunity to reconnect Iona with some of her fellow Valkyries?
“I’m in. When are we leaving?” I asked, my mind churning with possibilities. Hopefully Iona and Nina could complete a full round before then, get a bunch of levels, then come with me. I had a natural instinct to try and protect Nina from a war zone, but no. That wasn’t right. That’s the path she wanted to take, and the sooner she could see it, experience it - especially under our protective aegis - the sooner she could help, and do something about it. The levels she’d gain.
No, taking Nina was the right call, assuming she had enough basic levels in the first place to survive.
Arachne had a tinkling laugh, like glass chimes in the wind.
“No rush! Winter is coming, and that’s the season where everyone hunkers down. War is a spring and summer game, and the Sixth Legion will be deploying then. I say the Sixth, but in reality, it’s going to take us all winter to finish reshuffling soldiers and rearming them, along with drills. Can’t be too obvious that it’s the Exterreri Legions, otherwise they’ll rightfully think it’s an invasion!”
What Arachne had mentioned before about things being bad for our neighbors potentially being good for Exterreri flashed through my mind again. The Han empire was far away - about as far as Rolland, the two shared a border - but that didn’t mean there wasn’t some advantage. With how bloody and ugly the civil war was from what I’d heard, sending an entire army could be paid for in massive concessions down the line.
Also, the crates of non-legion standard weapons in the Sixth suddenly made sense. They were already gearing up. Logistics took time.
All that was a little over my head. It wasn’t all good, but a single fundamental truth wasn’t changed.
People were dying every day.
I had the ability to do something about it.
I was being given a golden opportunity to do something about it.
One way or another, I’d be saving lives.
Iona and I had even discussed going to the Han empire after we graduated! Trying to find Night and settling in Exterreri had taken priority, but now was perfect.
Even better than going alone?
We had an army with us.
Only downside was we’d need to wait a while, but if nobody was truly attempting to fight General Winter, our presence wasn’t immediately needed.
“Sounds good.” I agreed, and changed the subject. “I’ve got a skill called [Vault of Ages].” I quickly gave Arachne the rundown on the skill, my level in it, and my relevant stats. “Do you have any suggestions for what I should store in it?”
“Food.” Arachne replied after a brief pause. “Food and water. Normally I’d also suggest books, but you’ve got that covered in another skill. Tools are another solid addition. I know you can simply conjure tools with your skills, but keep in mind that most often you’ll want to be giving the tools to others, not keeping them for yourself. A tool that’ll degrade and break isn’t worth it, not when people put their lives depending on it. Similarly, you’ll never know when you’ll be lacking the tools to make the tools.”
I took mental notes.
“Got any recommended books?” I asked.
Arachne did have quite a list, and I took more notes, vowing to swing by the library next time I was in town.
“Sadly, our time here is at an end, and I have another appointment.” Arachne stood up at the end of the list.
I saluted my commander.
“As you will.” I said, and we left together.
