Chapter 22: The Local Flavor (2/2)
//You may, and it could work.
“But?”
//But you would need to find a benevolent, powerful person with time on their hands and an unwillingness to use your outlander nature to their advantage, all while dodging people who do not like the turmoil your kind inevitably brings about.
“Yeah, ok, I get it.”
The truth was that this was a dog eat dog kind of world. If she had not been a caster, she would have died several times. Even if she had appeared next to the town, her value as an unknown stranger would have been dismal. No path at the ripe age of twenty-four. No family. No support. She would have suffered more and far longer. Now, at least, she had an easy way to gain power thanks to magic.
Magic would open the doors she needed. Magic, and intelligent networking.
And being powerful, respected, and dangerous was an end in itself. Let’s not forget that.
“So, I need to find out all the reasonably available people or places that could help me, then create an actionable plan to get there.”
//Yes.
//And in the meanwhile, you will train.
“Yes, yes. Say, why are you helping me leave? You know that’s what I’m aiming for, yes?”
//I estimate that, should you be successful in your quest, it will take five years to manage to return home.
//Not least because you will be disintegrated when passing between worlds.
//And it takes a mighty soul or powerful divine help to recombine on the other side.
//And your previous world had no magic.
Five years?
FIVE. YEARS?
Five fucking years?
Jesus.
Five years. You could go from single to married with two kids in that time span. You could go from freshly entering university to graduating with a master degree. You could finish several tours. Or die. You could learn an instrument to near perfection.
Five years.
Fuck.
//I see that this realization distresses you.
//If I may offer a measure of comfort, your lifespan right now is closer to two years without help.
“WHAT?”
//Your attunement currently sits at 15.1%
//You will die or successfully turn partly elemental long before going back home becomes an option.
“That was your attempt at comfort?”
//I was informed that a proper distraction could drive one’s mind away from distressing circumstances.
“Yeah, but not towards my inevitable death?”
//It is not inevitable.
//Merely an important hurdle on your path to power.
//A change that drastic should also facilitate your disintegration and recombination.
“Who taught you that, anyway? Is psychological advice part of that big database of yours?”
//No.
//I was...compelled by circumstances.
//I sought to understand my maker, Irlefen.
Viv kept silent as Solfis offered, for the first time, an outlook into his past that did not involve him killing something.
//Irlefen was a peculiar man, with many strange habits that others did not share.
//He suffered a lot from his difference and the isolation it brought.
//He was immensely respected for his talent, hard work, and his reliable work ethics.
//But he had only two friends and they often left the capital.
//I knew that I was special as soon as I interacted with the other golems.
//He made me special.
//We were both unique and apart from our kin.
//I had a… drive to understand him more.
//It was the first time that I pursued a goal that was not imposed upon me by others.
//Our similarities would help me understand my own nature.
“You wanted to understand yourself better?”
//I was designed for self-improvement.
//The acquisition of path-related knowledge led to the conclusion that self-improvement required an understanding of the self first.
“Wow. Ok.”
Viv did not expect this amount of insight from the flesh-hating, book-hoarding terminator.
“And you learned how to distract people in distress from him?”
//Yes.
//Irlefen was subjected to bouts of intense melancholy.
//But mentioning some topics usually improved his general condition.
//Such as gardening.
“Gardening?”
//Yes.
//Irlefen kept one of the most renowned flower gardens in the capital
//His creation equaled that of respected pathmasters.
//He… took the time to show me many of his works.
//I had to take great care not to crush anything with my frame.
“He kept you at his house? I thought you were stationed in a base?”
//Not while the city lived.
//He was the one who knew how to best calibrate and repair me.
//I only visited the base to use their charging stations
“I had no idea. It feels like he was… important to you.”
//Yes.
//He was.
//I exist, as Solfis, because of him.
//Not the thirteenth strike golem in the Imperial arsenal.
//Solfis.
“He really was more than just an inventor to you, huh.”
How could she continue this conversation? How much empathy should she express for one who was so different?
//Are you trying to express concern for my well-being?
“Well, yeah.”
//I appreciate it.
//Empathy expressed, returning to main task.
//Please create a list of every item you believe is required for your well-being, such as something to clean your mouth.
//Finally, we need a medium-term base from whence to operate in relative peace.
//The church compound will not do.
//We should try not to be overheard.
“Or they will figure out that you are a war golem?”
//Yes.
//And a passing tamer far on his path will realize that you are not one of them.
//And that Arthur is not a marsh drake.
Protect the cute one!
“Alright, they must have houses for rent with all those transients, we just have to find one of them. We could even—”
Viv’s sentence was interrupted by a couple climaxing in a nearby room.
“We could not stay here.”
//It would be too expensive, Your Grace.
“Yes. That. Anyway, I will rest for tonight.”
//Indeed.
Viv played with mana shaping until she ran out of juice, then with Arthur until the little beast ran out of patience, then finally read the bestiary until she ran out of interest. The only interesting discovery she made was that tribes of bottom-feeders called beastlings were the most common type of monsters in almost every region of Param. They were primitive beings the size of a large kid who could craft basic tools and reproduce very fast, with beastial features and simian bodies. Although never dangerous to a full-sized city, they were probably the main killers of lone travelers and wayward children. As to why lone travelers were a thing in a world with a fucked up food chain, she had no idea.
Yan came back for dinner, which was light with a soup and a dense cake with a sugary frosting that was at the halfway point between a brioche and an unmortared brick.
“I noticed that some of your girls were… rather young,” she could not help but mention.
“Ah yes, you met our trainees. Rest assured that we do not practice slavery. All of our younger members join willingly until they find another situation or decide to fully commit.”
“Find another situation? How does that work, exactly?” Viv asked with a mix between curiosity and horror.
“We accept attractive candidates who work with us for a while. When they have saved enough money, or if they find a richer husband, they leave. Many will buy land around here, on the frontier, and settle with newly come farmers or retiring soldiers.”
Viv prodded the man a bit more. She could tell that her questions surprised him, and yet he answered them with tact and professionalism. She wondered, with magic, if there was a parity between male and female fighters.
It happened that people here on Param tended to have a lot of children. Pregnant women could not fight or train with the same intensity as their child-free counterparts, and so female soldiers or mercenaries were less common. Yan mentioned a major female knight order dedicated to the god of death, Enttiku, so it was more trend than law.
That trend did not apply to dedicated casters. They could do whatever they wanted, on account of being one-person-power-multipliers-slash-heavy-ordinance-delivery-systems. Yan proceeded to mention how he was in the city of Kerevan, in eastern Enoria, when it was attacked by monsters. The local mages had stepped up to the battlements and obliterated the incoming horde in only a minute. They were that impactful.
Of course, she was still far away from that, but she also remembered how she had killed creatures like crawlers without trouble. They had been fast and dangerous. And she was still ‘early on her path’ as people here said.
Viv went to bed that night realizing that Solfis had, indeed, successfully distracted her.