"Are we really just going to let them pass?" A dwarf asked in disbelief as he stared at the mass of beasts moving over the mountains. Their numbers in the thousands and their races varying from small wolves to even majestic wyverns.
"You're free to go out and stop them." His companion teased.
"Don't be daft. It would take the entire army to stop them."
"Exactly."
"But won't this ruin our relationship with the kingdom?"
"Leave that to the lords. We just do as we're told." Saying this, however, the dwarf chugged a mug of ale—despite being on duty and there being an army of beasts right outside in the pass they were watching.
Seeing his actions, the concerned dwarf truly did not know what to make of his companion. Soon, he returned his gaze to the horde of monsters, hoping that the lords had a plan in mind. And as his mind thought of all the possible consequences, he joined his companion in drinking.
—
Penthine reclined into her seat, wishing it was a bed. Sadly, she could not go to sleep, not yet. The siege was more or less over. They would need to comb the farming district after sunrise and ensure that none of their enemies were hiding there.
Of course, they were currently going through the city to confirm the damages and perform cleanup. There was much left to do, and Penthine knew she would not get to lie in bed until it was all over.
She had to be ready to help should anything unexpected happen, and she needed to continue to manage everything.
"What of Eldrian?" She asked, having avoided the topic for as long as possible. She had already heard plenty of rumors, but she wasn't sure she could trust them. While he did help them greatly, his actions were a bit much.
"He's gone. We've asked the Chosen whose guild he is in—Phoenix, it is called. Apparently, he had to go to Kynigo."
"I'm guessing we couldn't figure out why, right?"
"Not at all. They were quite forthcoming. He's going to negotiate with the vampires."
Despite her fatigue, Penthine shot up like an arrow hearing this. "What now?" she asked, her voice tinged with disbelief.
"Apparently, he's already negotiated with them and they've been constructing a neutral site for diplomatic talks."
"But..." Penthine struggled to believe anyone could negotiate with the children of chaos. "That isn't possible, right? Has there ever been negotiations during an invasion?"
"I don't believe so, but... we do not know why invasions exist. We only know that they happen and always lead to an inordinate amount of lost lives and kingdoms. According to our records, it is normal for only Tier 1 and 2 kingdoms to survive by the end. But sometimes, even entire empires are brought down."
"And he wants to negotiate? Does that mean he might know the reason for the invasions?"
"It is possible..."
—
Arriving at the fort they have been remodeling, Little Pheonix swooped down and greeted Eldrian by landed on his shoulder. Nuzzling itself against Eldrian's head in a clear bid for mana.
"Ah, right, I guess I left you without for a while." Eldrian noted the firebird seemed much weaker than last time. While Myropsis and Levana fed it magical crystals, it appeared those did little to sustain its existence.
"Sorry, didn't really think about that." Eldrian said, rubbing the bird's head as he fed it some of his mana. Which was basically the same process as channeling mana into a spell.
"Eldrian, what's that?" Ceph asked.
"Ah, right..." Remembering that Ceph had missed the entire southern battle and even border wall creation, Eldrian quickly filled Ceph in on what happened. Though Ceph had heard of most of this from the other players, somehow he had missed any information about Little Phoenix.
Then again, the players themselves weren't too up to date on everything either. "And so, when I threw some spirit magic into the spell from Myropsis, I kind of created this."
"Uh-huh..." Ceph nodded, looking at the firebird curiously. "So, then, you just left it?"
"Ah, well. Then the duel happened, and I had to escape. Then the north war, and so... I just forgot." Eldrian's explanation made Ceph feel like facepalming. It was so like him.
But that was also why Ceph couldn't really say more on the subject. Eldrian had too many things going on. Especially since he didn't just live in ANW.
Though, truth be told, it wasn't the amount of things that made him always rush from one thing to the other. It was his lack of guidance. Hoping from one topic to the other, never properly finishing something before moving to the next.
In contrast, Ceph had his parents to turn to for guidance. They helped him when he got stuck, and they also guided him from their own experiences. Eldrian, sadly, did not have that. He was totally alone in the path he was walking.
And then there was the entire situation from his own world. "You really shouldn't have forgotten about this, though." Ceph still felt he had to chastize Eldrian. The familiar wasn't exactly a living thing, but it was alive—at least it appeared to be.
It was hard for Ceph to put it into words. Creating life was no simple task. What Eldrian had done was closer to forming a clone—
"Well, I did visit and give it some mana when visiting Kynigo." Eldrian had done that via the teleportation before, so Ceph had stayed in the North. While Ceph was fast, it still took a couple of hours to cross the kingdom.
"Eldrian?"
"Yeah? What's that look for?"
"Why the heck isn't this the first time you did this?" Ceph asked, completely ignoring Eldrian's questions.
"Did what?"
Seeing Eldrian's complete oblivion, Ceph started laughing. Feeling like he was going mad. "I see, you don't even know what you did?"
"Umm... Well, I do have a hypothesis. From what I noticed when the evolution happened, it appeared that the bird transformed the emotions I fed it into its own lifeforce. Considering that emotions are somehow connected with lifeforce-or perhaps is the very essence of it-, that gave it a sort of life?"
"So you do understand?" Ceph asked.
"What exactly are you getting at?"
It was not Ceph who replied, but Two. 'It would appear the familiar is in a way similar to me. Though, instead of having been formed in an ethereal form, it has a body of flames.'
'Wait, why didn't you mention this before?'
'It is the same how I wasn't complete when I came into existence. The familiar was first just a bundle of flames with some birdlike characteristics. However, it appears that with time, it is becoming more sentient.'
"Is he filling you in?" Ceph asked, noticing how Eldrian was spacing out.
"Yeah... but it can't be that simple to make something that can count as life, is it?" Eldrian still had a hard time accepting that it was even possible. However, looking at Little Phoenix, he had to admit that it certainly didn't seem like a spell but rather a living creature.
'We are going to need to contact Ziraili to complete the fort. We might as well as her about this when we do.'
"Right, I guess that would be for the best." Nodding, Eldrian mumbled as he shifted focus to those coming from the fort to greet them.
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