Jjhutto_Son of Flame
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B3. Ch. 25 Late nights all around.
🕑 Added 2024-08-05 19:57:13 +0000 UTCTilly took a deep breath, swimming back through the sea of information he had tried to absorb over the course of the night to the start of their conversation, “I think I remember all three, mind if I give it a shot?” Tilly asked scrubbing the heel of his hand over his red eyes.
“Please, go ahead.”
“Ok, rule number one, no using Abilities. No one knows how they track them, but they do. This is to minimize the risk of magical conflict on the arena floor. Skills and natural magic, ungoverned by the system, are dangerous and frequent exceptions to this rule.”
“Yes! Very good, Mr. Tillman. No one may attempt to affect or control you through a class Ability, but, for example, you will find a female mermaid very difficult to deny, if you are not careful.”
Tilly nodded along, deciding to rattle off the other dangerous charismatic races that he could remember while they were on the subject, “I also need to look out for, succubi, sirens, fea, and… what was the other one, with the eyes?”
“The name is less important than the concept. Any being whose eyes draw on your attention must be guarded against. That Aura that I felt earlier will do much for you in this regard, but you have to notice influence to resist it.”
“Rule of thumb, be suspicious of any interesting eyes, got it.” Tilly confirmed before continuing, “Rule number two, no physical contact with the other guests, this rule is targeted at keeping any guest from harming one another, but is broad enough to try and cover all the weird things these guys could possibly do to me with a touch. Mental influence, as long as it is not tied to an Ability is a grey area that most do not risk. The same goes for airborne poison, pheromones and a few other things that Rule number two does not cover.”
Tilly took a deep breath, “Finally, rule number three, never bid money you do not have.” he finished with a wink, raising his glass,
“And… that's it. This is going to be a piece of cake.” He finished. Mochizuke matched his motion with a mischievous smile and they both took a drink. Tilly found the liquid to be strangely light on his tongue, the slight burn that he had come to associate with alcohol in his old life was gone, leaving behind the layer of tangy sweetness, followed by a pinch of dry.
“Yes, I believe they will have pastries at the event!” the lapin followed up with an exhale. Tilly marveled down at his own empty cup. He had tried sake one or two times in his last life, but this was in a league of its own, “Woah! This is good!” He said, sliding his cup over for another pour.
Mochizuki smiled as she refilled his glass, “We have just finished producing our first batch, and I am quite pleased with the product, apparently we have someone with the Vintner class, and their Abilities along with our agriculturally talented citizens are creating some incredible products.”
“Unfortunately… or perhaps fortunately,” she added with a twinkle in her eye, “With your Endurance, it would take a lake of this to even begin to affect or impair you, so your enjoyment of our newest product will be limited to taste for the foreseeable future.” She said, sliding his cup back over to him.
“To the sweetness of a job well executed,” she declared, lifting her cup again.
“And outsmarting rich assholes,” He added, lifting his own glass in agreement. Then they both knocked back their cups of Threefold sake.
They finished the bottle over the next few minutes, and just like that Mochizuki was heading out, “I will see you at least a stick before noon in the main square, there, away from prying eyes, we will do our final preparations. Come in your normal armor, we want to keep your emissary persona separate from the Alliance for as long as possible.
“Got it. Hey, Mochizuki, thanks for taking the time to get me up to speed. Everything and everyone has been so busy since the day I got here, including me, and I know you probably still have a hundred things to do before tomorrow… So I guess I am trying to say, I appreciate it.”
The lapin slipped on her sandals, a demure smile playing on her lips as she paused at the door, “Mr. Tillman, this was the optimal use of time to fulfill my duty to our people. You are right, none of us has the luxury to sit and enjoy what we have built just yet, but even one’s duty can be enjoyable occasionally, don't you think?” She finished with a wink, before turning and exiting the door gracefully.
Tilly grinned and definitely didn’t flush at the mercurial spy, whose personality seemed completely malleable to any occasion. The soft close of the door caused Kindle to peep tiredly from his dress pocket, and Tilly looked down, “Sorry girl. It has been a long night, hasn’t it?” he said, sending a burst of flame mana down to the center of his chest. He let her bask in its warmth for a minute before flexing his will and changing his armor back into its base form. The suit was surprisingly comfortable, moving with him almost as if it was a second skin, but there was no way in hell he was going to sleep in something so ridiculous, no matter how comfortable. No one should sleep in a suit.
After teh transformation finished running down his body, he flopped on the bed, a huge yawn cracking his jaw. It looked like tomorrow was going to be a huge headache.
…
He awoke just as soft light began to filter in through the mats that made up the squares of his sliding door. Not that it was the light that awoke him. No, it was the small, and surprisingly sharp beak pecking insistently at his forehead, accompanied by images of some sort of animal Tilly didn’t recognize, completely engulfed in flames.
‘...I am assuming that are you asking for breakfast?’ he sent back groggily.
Cheep!
Tilly sat up, gently picking up the phoenix, and pulling her away from her favorite spot on his face. She perched on his palm, giving him an impatient avian side eye, which elicited a small smile even through his morning fog.
‘Here you go,’ he sent along with a steady flow of flame mana down his arm. It burst from his palm in a surge of blue fire that dampened down almost immediately as the phoenix started absorbing the heat in earnest. She trilled in excitement and pulled on his Mana Pathways hungrily, like a baby on a bottle.
Tilly chuckled as he watched her ruffle her down in satisfaction while she absorbed his flame. She ate a surprising amount and almost half his mana was gone by the time the pull on his Pathways decreased.
‘This is definitely more than you were eating last time at this age…’ he sent to her ruefully.
She cheeped happily in response, sending a terrifying image of… a sun exploding? The concept was so intense and surprising that Tilly barely had time to take it in before it was gone.
‘What the-’
…
Despite the somewhat ominous message from his bonded, Tilly managed to grab some breakfast for himself and hurried out the door. As usual, the city was already bustling with activity, and while Tilly could not yet see the sun in the sky, it was already full daylight. His little testing team was probably waiting for him already at the army’s staging area.
He cut his usual path through the streets at an easy jog and was halfway across the parade ground, dodging coalescing formations of soldiers, when he took a moment to look back at the mountain. Something about the quiet morning filled with the bustle of preparation tugging at his mind. He gazed up at its peak which was made up of bare, slate-colored stone pushing up front the shroud of trees that covered its slopes.
Even now, knowing what was hidden in the temple near its peak, and what slumbered in its depths, Tilly found nothing special in the mountains’s appearance. He didn’t even sense anything coming from that direction. Not that he had particularly powerful magical senses, but he figured with his connection to the two Facets, and the fact that he might be some sort of Emmesary for the monster that would emerge in a day or two, he should have felt something.
But its appearance and feel belayed any of those realities, and Tilly wished for a moment that its apparent normalcy was actual instead of imagined. He could head out on a quest or two, find some dungeons… The stuff he had always dreamed about when he gamed.
He sighed, patting his pocket where Kindle had begun to stir at the shift in his mood. With everything that was happening, he wasn’t sure how he felt. Each situation had once again seemed to demand his reaction, and the pace of events was only growing. He hadn’t had a chance to really meditate since he had left on the initial quest to find the Bloom, and now here he was, running from one thing to the next all over again.
Yes, things were getting crazier by the day, but he refused to lose himself in all this. Ever since he had been cleansed of Corruption, he had felt… lighter. The reality of the threat they faced pushed down on him constantly, but without some disgusting parasite trying to take over his body, he was beginning to feel like he could push back.
He was still him. Still that boy, who wanted to be a hero, the husband who thought he could take on the world for his family, the father who would do anything to see his little girl smile. Each of those identities had been shattered by the pain life can bring, leaving him broken and listless.
But now?
Now he had a chance to be a hero again, to take on the world for those under his care, and maybe even make a better future for those kids… well young adults.
Tilly turned away from the mountain, promising himself that whatever happened after the auction, he would make time to meditate. He needed to stay rooted in who he was going to do whatever it was Origin thought he could. He moved through the parade ground with renewed energy, spotting Gorrock bellowing at a group of new recruits a little to his left. He gave the goat man a wide berth, not wanting to get caught up in some pissing contest on such a busy morning.
He made it the rest of the way to the army staging ground without incident and found Marq and Julius lounging in the shade of a tent with some steaming bowls in hand.
“Good morning guys! Sorry I’m behind, I had a late night last night.” He called as he jogged up.
Julius looked up and raised an eyebrow, making Tilly regret his choice of words immediately.
Marq smiled in his direction, “So did we! I went on my first night patrol, and even after several days, we still found a group of strigoi roaming the plains a few miles out from the wall! We crushed them!” he added exuberantly.
Hearing that they had recently gotten back from a patrol made Tilly feel even more like an idiot, but before he could put his foot any further down his throat, Julius cut in.
“So what's the plan? Do we need anything special today?”
Taking the offering for what it was, Tilly jumped at a chance to get down to business, “Yeah, I need projectiles… a lot of them.”
“Hmm.” The Vet answered, turning to look musingly at the group of tents behind him, “Mountain patrol just returned and they got chow before us. A bunch of those bow pullers should still be around here somewhere...”
“That would be great-”
“RANGERS, UP AND AT’EM!” Julius called out before Tilly could even finish his sentence, and to Tilly’s horror, half-asleep men began to stumble out of their tents, called away from their well-earned post-patrol rest.
“Looks like you lot just got called up on special duty! Gear up, we leave in thirty breaths.” The Bastion bellowed happily, not at all missing his opportunity to mess with another branch of the Alliance’s armed forces. Several members of the unit in question shot dirty, bloodshot glances Tilly’s way, before diving into their tents to grab their gear.
‘Looks like this is shaping up to be a real winner of a morning…’ Tilly thought glumly to himself as he fought the urge to cover his face in shame.
A few minutes later, twenty Rangers, headed by Subcommander Nyuk himself, had formed up in front of Tilly. Tilly tried to catch the lapin’s eye, but the bastard stared hard forward ignoring him completely.
“Looks like we are ready to head out, boss,” Julius announced happily as he surveyed the surly unit before them.
“Yep, looks that way,” Tilly grumbled back.
Comments
Joshua Hutto
Got em! Thanks for the catches.
Zachary Koffink
Great chapter! Fea should be Fae, and tell transformation should be the transformation, otherwise, I can't wait to see Tilly screw up everyone's plans at the auction
