Kevin the Bored
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4 The obligatory drama
🕑 Added 2025-08-17 02:11:14 +0000 UTCYo again. I'm really kinda getting lost in the sauce here lmao. I can't even remember what the 2k words I've written for the next Heian chap are even about anymore.
And I know I said no more infordumps last chapter, but I mean the one after this one :)
Also, if you checked out the Max Level Archmage novel that inspired this, then I promise you, after this chapter things will stop looking quite so familiar.
Enjoy! :P
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Making her way back to the Adventurer's Guild in the morning, Kierra watches the other early risers walking about below her as she floats overhead.
None of them are dressed like her friends, thankfully enough. Though that's probably more due to the early time of the day than anything. The centennial festival is supposed to start for real today after all.
She's decided that she might check out the first day or two before leaving. She's not really in a rush anyway. Well, not that much of a rush.
She has also discovered that sleep is likely more of a suggestion than a need for her. If her guess is right, then the only reason she was tired at all was because so much had happened the previous day.
So she only slept for a couple of hours before waking up while it was still dark. With some free time available to her, she spent the early hours of this morning setting up a Ritual in her rented room.
She doubts the inn she stayed the night in would be happy to know that a Witch was doing a Ritual in one of their rooms, but that's fine, because she didn't tell them. Also, it was nice to see that the inn she remembers from the game is still here, even with all the competition that has sprung up in the business.
As for why she is doing Dark Arts inside of a rented room, it's quite simple.
See, her previous thought was that she didn't need to bother with an illusion because no one would believe that she is Kierra Kalashnikova even if they saw her. Especially the Humans, who live such short lives.
However. Kierra was a Human not even a full day ago yet, so she was still thinking as one and didn't consider the fact that longer lived species may have seen her avatar before and might be able to recognise her.
Not just that, but she has also realised that if she goes with the lie that she is just dressing up as Kierra Kalashnikova, then people will probably make assumptions about her that she doesn't want to associate with. Like, what if someone tried to drag her to a look-a-like contest or something?
Plus, it just feels like it would feel demeaning to have people think of her as someone who would admire another to a high enough degree as to dress like them.
So perhaps it all coms down to ego in the end. Kierra firmly believes that one should be true to themselves and follow their own paths. People looking at her and assuming that she is trying to emulate someone else would probably annoy her.
She doesn't need to be anyone else. Nobody else is as good as her.
With that decided, she set up a [Change Form] Ritual. Not to be confused with [Shapeshift].
Shapeshifting is only possible as a Racial Skill, most notably for the Doppelgänger Race. [Change Form], however is pretty much a lesser imitation of that ability. Kierra is fairly sure that the Lore of the Ritual is something about a coven of Witches experimenting on a Doppelgänger in order to steal its ability so that they can take over a Kingdom or something.
She isn't certain though.
Kierra might be a veritable library of in-game Lore, but not even she can remember the Lore behind every single one of the thousands of Spells and Skills in her arsenal. Rituals are a but easier to remember, since there aren't so many of them and the Lore is usually more interesting than Spells that are just 'Some dude wanted to shoot lightning like this, and then he figured out how to.'
Anyway, the Ritual works very similar to [Shapeshift]. The difference is that it is not 'True'.
A way to look at it is that a Doppelgänger's ability could modify their 'base state' into whatever they wanted, and their new form became their 'true form'. However, with [Change Form], it would be more accurate to say that she has layered a 'false form' over her 'true form'.
In layman's terms, the change isn't 'real'. Just a mask. Which means that holding the changed form for too long could get uncomfortable.
Technically, she knows of a Ritual that could actually use to change her form in truth, and she certainly wouldn't mind having the body of an adult. It's a Ritual that can only be done because she is a Lich. However, it requires a bunch of stuff that she doesn't have, so it's not something she can do right now.
She's not really concerned about Lynsil seeing her shifted face and calling her out on it. She doesn't even plan to see him again, but even if she does, he will probably keep quiet.
She basically just made her lie less of a lie. Small modifications so that it didn't feel uncomfortable.
Her body is entirely the same, her hair is still white, but she made her eyes purple, removed the Demon marks around her eyes and also removed the horns.
So now she looks like an Elf in truth, and Kette is an Elven name, so she can keep using that without an issue.
It is the name of her first account, but again, no one knows it, so that shouldn't be a problem. She probably should use a different name anyway, but frankly, she can't be bothered.
One problem she didn't foresee is that without her horns to hold it up, her hat keeps trying to swallow up her head. She's had to enchant it to effectively hover in place as if it is being worn properly.
The Adventurer's Guild is surprisingly bust when she arrives, considering the amount of people walking about elsewhere.
As Kierra flies down to the front door, she hops off of her staff and smoothly transitions to walking inside, catching her staff in her hand.
It feels kind of weird to just not walk anywhere at all.
She still attracts plenty of eyes as she walks to the counter, but more people move on from looking at her now that she's been here before.
Seeing Lisa up and working and free, Kierra makes a beeline for her. It'll save her the effort of explaining her lie again.
"Ah! Miss Witch! Up early this morning?" Lisa greets, far too cheerfully. At least, her smile seems a bit more genuine this time compared to the classic customer service one yesterday.
Naturally, she doesn't notice the [Change Form], since only Lynsil has seen under her hat in the first place. Especially since she's standing right now, so she's even lower down.
"Hm. I have some more questions. And you can call me Kette if you want." Kierra gets straight to the point, not really knowing how to answer Lisa's question without being very sarcastic.
"Of course! Kette! Mr Lynsil is not in today, but shall I fetch someone else for another consultation?"
"No. I only have three questions, you should be able to answer them fine."
"If that's the case, then shoot! I don't know what you talked about, confidentiality and all, but Mr Lynsil seemed really happy after your talk, so I'd be happy to answer any questions you have, Kette."
Kierra decides to just pretend that that display of gratitude doesn't exist and asks what she needs to know.
"Do you have to be an Adventurers to accept Quests?" Her understanding is that the Adventurer's Guild is like a middleman. Someone wants something done, they send the details to the Guild and the Guild finds someone to do it.
Unlike other Guilds like Kierra's own, the Adventurer's Guild is sponsored collectively by the various Kingdoms of the world and is a neutral entity. Thus, it shouldn't be able to act like a private company and do what it wants, especially if doing so gets in the way of a client's job getting done.
"Well, no, not really," Lisa says, confirming Kierra's thoughts. "However, for a non-Adventurer to take a Quest from us, there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that te Guild will take a 25% tax on all Quest earnings made by non-affiliates. The second is that you won't be allowed to accept a Quest without proving that you have the sufficient level of strength that has been assigned to the Quest. Since you have demonstrated use of the [Fly] Spell, a 7th Tier Spell, you could accept Quests up to Platinum, which is very impressive by the way. I don't even know if we have any higher level Quests right now, but if you wanted to take one, you would have to provide some manner of evidence of your strength."
Yeah, that's all very reasonable actually. The tax is a bit high, but honestly she thinks its fair. The rest is more or less as.. she.... Huh?
Wait a minute. What does she mean 7th Tier is up to Platinum? Assuming that they're using the same ranking system as the currency, then it should go Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Orichalcum and finally Celestium. Celestium is so rare as to basically be non-existent, even to Kierra, who barely has any, so she can ignore that one.
But without that, that would make Platinum the second highest rank. Tier 7 Spells encompass Spells between levels 601 and 700. That is way too low to be the second highest rank.
Her second question hasn't changed, but Kierra feels a tad more urgent to ask it. Not that her avatar shows as much.
"How do the Adventurer ranks work?" The question likely would have drawn attention in any other situation, but Lisa is already 'aware' that Kierra is out of the loop, so she's more likely to just take it as her checking to see if anything has changed.
"It's quite simple, Kette!" She's really getting liberal with the use of her name now that she knows it. "Adventurer ranks start at Bronze and rise in order as Silver, Gold, Platinum, Orichalcum and then Titled. Technically Titled isn't a rank, per say. They're still Orichalcum on paper, but I'll get to that in a moment."
Presumably, these 'Titled' are Orichalcums impressive enough to get a Title. She doesn't really feel like that's a perfect explanation though, since some Titles are really easy to get. Like, Job Titles exist too y'know?
"As for one one advances through the ranks, it is a matter of ability and merit," Lisa continues. "To rise to Gold and beyond one needs to have a certain level of merit with the Guild, I'll be happy to share the details if you want, but I get the feeling that it won't matter to you."
An astute observation. Kierra nods. She isn't going to join anyway, so it doesn't matter.
"In regards to strength, I am sure you are familiar with the five level-tribulations," Kierra has no idea what that is, "The ranks basically follow them. Adventurers in Bronze rank are between levels 1 and 300. Silver are 301 to 500. Gold, 501 to 600 and so on and so forth. Titled are those few Orichalcum that manage to surpass level 1000. I'm pretty sure the idea of making a new rank for them is floating around with the higher-ups, but an Adventurer's badge is made out of the material of their rank, and Celestium is way too rare for hat to be feasible. I think I heard about some researchers trying to make an alternative Orichalcum to use for a new rank, but I dunno."
Lisa ends with a shrug, while Kierra takes a moment to digest this information. She assumes that the 'so on and so forth' means that Platinum encompasses levels 601 to 900, while Orichalcum would be 901 to 1000. If you do count Titled as it's own rank anyway.
Which would make those 'level-tribulation' things just the Class and Race advancements. Classes advance every 300 levels and Races every 500. Race advancements are naturally a bigger deal, but level 1500 should be the true cut-off point, because you advance Class and Race at the same time.
Seriously, the difference between a level 1500 and a level 1501 is actually night and day.
But anyway, having Orichalcum Adventurers basically walking around with an Orichalcum coin pinned to their chest seems a little overboard. Unless you count it as a signing bonus? Then maybe. It is a Guild after all.
The bit about Celestium makes sense though. Kierra was stupidly rich in the game, she had over a hundred million Gold last she checked. But even with all of that, she had maybe thirty thousand Orichalcum and only exactly 189 Celestium coins.
The only one with more Celestium than her was her friend Yeveline, and that's just because she was an Elf from one of the few places in the world capable of producing Celestium.
It's not like Kierra is the only one with cool Lore. Her Party is Legendary for a reason.
But yeah, using Celestium to make badges would be an absurd waste even to Kierra. She doesn't get why they can't just make an Enchanted Orichalcum rank or something. Hell, they could make an Enchanted version of every rank to show who stands at the top of it.
Eh, not her problem.
What's more important is that people are apparently being revered just for surpassing level 1000. That's way too weak, is there even going to be anyone she can fight properly?
She can think of a few ancient immortals that should stand at the peak of the world. But it'd suck if the only people she could enjoy a fight with were those few that shared the Title of [Ancient One] with her.
How depressing~. What's even the point of existing if you can't cast [Fireball] into someone's face?
"You had another question?" Lisa prompts when Kierra doesn't respond.
Right. She brushes her useless thoughts away to focus on paying attention to the most pertinent of the three questions.
"Does the Kingdom of Laptalia still have its Capital in the same place as it was 200 years ago?"
The Capital city hadn't moved since the founding of the Kingdom, so she could have given any time frame really. But since she isn't sure how then when and where works when translating the game she played into reality, she figures she should probably give a date before the Third Calamity showed up.
Her house was only a short walk from the Capital, so the information is pretty relevant about where she is heading.
"Ehhh," Lisa tilts a hand side to side, which is not promising. "Kinda? The Capital was wiped out during the Age of Blood, but it was rebuilt around the Palace of Forbidden Magic, y'know, the home of the Legendary Mage Kierra Kalashnikova. It was right next to the former Capital, so if you're looking to travel there, it's more or less in the same place."
....Je ne sais quoi? Que? Nande?!?
What do you mean they rebuilt the capital around my house??? I swear to God, if some stupid King of Laptalia dared to plunder my house and take my stuff, then I will show them why so many of my Titles talk of Ruin and Catastrophe.
"...Hm." She's actually impressed at her avatar's ability to remain aloof no matter the emotions inside of her.
Like any gamer, Kierra is a hoarder. If it was just a couple sets of equipment, she wouldn't mind. Even if the bank closed her account and took all her money away, she would at most think of it as little more than an annoying inconvenience. She wouldn't mind it too much.
But so help her God, when she returns back to her house, her vaults had better not be empty.
"Anything else?" Lisa asks, and she shakes her head. Taking a moment to calm herself of unproductive emotions before responding.
She will continue with the assumption that no one has taken any of her stuff and save any thoughts of reprisals for only after seeing if said assumption are wrong.
"No. Thank you."
Conversation over, Kierra turns around to start heading for the Quest board, ignoring Lisa's cheerful goodbye. Since she might be staying for a day or two, she might as well see if here are any Quests for hunting some powerful monster or something.
As she walks to the Quest board, Kierra finds her eyes being drawn in a very specific direction.
There is a girl staring at her. Maybe in the latter half of her teens, short orange hair and blue-green eyes that almost seem to glow.
The girl isn't the only one staring at her, likely with the belief that she won't notice their eyes on account of her hat being in the way. She isn't anything special to look at either. Cute, but in that way kids are that makes you want to pat their head and praise them, but not exactly strong.
The kid does have what Kierra thinks is an impressive aura of mana for their age, but she still isn't certain about translating game knowledge into reality. But by all means, there is nothing about the girl that should attract her attention.
Except that she has been staring at Kierra with almost open-mouthed shock ever since she walked in and has not stopped. For some reason, this kid's stare is just unnecessarily intense. Way more than everyone else.
Enough to get her attention.
Kierra feels like there's something going on with the kid. Some instinct within her. Kierra Kalashnikova's instinct, she realises after a moment of thought. She just isn't certain what her body has noticed just yet.
"Excuse me!" A cheerful voice interrupts Kierra's pondering, and she looks away from the kid to meet the eyes of the young woman blocking her path. Not that they can see her eyes in turn.
"Yes?"
"My name's Mary, Silver ranked Ranger! I noticed that you don't seem to have a Party, and since you're going t the Quest board, I assume you wanna make some quick money before the festival starts, right? As it happens, my Party is the same, but our Mage got super drunk last night and has a hangover, so we're looking for a Mage to fill in for him. You interested?"
"No. You're too weak."
Stepping around the frozen woman, Kierra continues her walk to the Quest board, internally musing on all the annoying memories of the occasional stupid NPC trying to give her trashy Quests as if she wasn't one of the most powerful people around.
At least Free World Online wasn't as bad about it as some games. Most NPCs would learn as the game went on, and generally they could recognise if a Player was too high level for their dumb fetch Quests. It wasn't like those games where you could be Godkiller King Awesome Guy and still have some random dude yelling at you to fetch their shopping for three silver.
Shaking the useless thoughts away, Kierra reaches the board and looks through the Quests, trying her best to ignore the prickling feel of a certain pair of eyes drilling into her.
Boring, boring, lame, boring, ew gross, boring, how lazy do you have to be to make that a Quest? Boring, bring, holy moly that's way too far to go for a proposal gift, boring, cheapskate, ew an escort Quest, boring, boring, okay this sucks.
Most of them are just 'Go here, collect that', followed in number by 'Kill this thing' and then 'Patrol here'. Shouldn't patrols be left to the city guard? Seems kind of silly to outsource that kind of work.
The problem is that none of the fetch Quests are for anything rare and none of the monsters mentioned are strong.
She eyes one Quest.
[Quest: Slay the Mutated Arctic Owlbear in the Sharpwind Forest. Req. minimum level: Platinum]
It's one of two Platinum level Quests, and the other is the escort one, which she will never take, because escort Quests are the worst.
To be honest, she isn't really interested in fighting the Owlbear. It should only be around level 800 tops if it's mutated. They're normally on the lower end of the 700s. However, Owlbears are super cute, and she wants to see one in real life.
Glancing about the board, she doesn't see any pins with tiny bits of ripped paper on them, so she assumes that you're not supposed to rip the quests off when you accepts them.
With that in mind, she simply turns around to the exit. However, before leaving she decides to throw a [Mark of Muninn] on the girl with the glowing eyes.
Most likely, nothing will come of it. But Kierra can't shake the feeling that there's something about that girl, so better safe than sorry and all that.
The Spell is basically a more advanced version of [Watcher's Mark], which itself was the more advanced version of [Tracking Beacon]. As the name implies, the Spell will let her view the target of the mark whenever she wants, no matter the distance.
What makes her version of the Spell different is that it is semi-sentient. Not enough to think, but enough to pull at her attention if the mark thinks it is seeing anything that might interest her. Such as if the object marked were to be in danger.
Because of this, she doesn't need to bother checking the mark periodically and can just put that girl out of her mind and focusing on finding a cute Owlbear to play with.
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A/N: I'm sure we all see where this is going lmao.
///
"Hey, you okay Flamelle?"
The girl in question startles slightly when the owner of the voice, a young Cleric called Markus, nudges her shoulder.
"Ah, yeah, I'm fine," Flamelle responds with a smile, brushing some of her orange hair out of the way of her eyes as she turns back to the track ahead of them. "Just thinking about something."
Flamelle was still thinking about that Witch she saw in the Guild, even though it's been a few hours since then. But with Markus' reminder, she shakes the thoughts away to focus on the present.
She only arrived in Laptilla recently, and seeing as she came here right after getting kicked out of the Institute, it's not like she has a party to Quest with. Normally she would be fine with that, but this far North is too dangerous for her to be wandering the wilds alone. That's why she came here in the first place.
Well, it's part of the reason. She wanted to use the harsh environment to force herself to be better. But admittedly, the other half of her rationale is simply that Laptilla is about as far as she can get from the Institute.
So when she was approached to fill in for a Mage, she naturally accepted. She kind of needs the money right now anyway as she's flat broke.
The party she joined is a pretty standard one. Two Warriors, a Cleric, a Rogue, a Ranger and now her, the Mage. Her brief study at the Institute taught her that this kind of party composition only became commonplace in mimicry of the Hero Party.
Some of them were a little bit leery of her age despite the fact that she is Silver ranked like they all are, which was annoying. But they changed their tune when she informed them that she is a former Red Robe. Well, half a former Red Robe.
Technically she got kicked out of the Red Institute before she could finish her initiate training, but so what? She didn't get kicked out because of her ability as a Mage. She got kicked out because she's just a poor little commoner that dared to surpass some uppity noble brat.
Once she proved that she could even cast a [Fireball] despite only being level 327, none of them continued to object to her joining. [Fireball] is a 5th Tier Spell after all. That makes it something that she should need to be in the 400s to be able to learn.
She can even cast a 6th Tier Spell, but that is a Gold level Spell, so she can only cast it after channelling it for far too long to be useful in a fight, so she didn't mention it.
Right now, they are a good way out from the city, looking for some Glacial Roses for their Quest.
The two Warriors are taking point with her, Markus and the Ranger behind while the Rogue scouts ahead. They've faced a few monsters so far, but should be near where the flower grows, which is nice, because it's very cold.
Only one thing keeps bothering Flamelle though, and she finds her eyes flicking to the Ranger walking besides her as she thinks of it.
She doesn't know what it is exactly about them that has her so on edge, but Flamelle just feels like there is something off about the otherwise friendly Ranger.
Apparently noticing her gaze, the Ranger, a female Beastman of the feline variety called Mox, turns to her with a raised brow.
"Need something, Spitfire?" They cheerily ask, smiling a friendly smile that Flamelle just can't bring herself to believe. She also chooses to ignore the nickname she got after showing off her [Fireball].
"You're just filling in like me, right?" Flamelle asks, wanting to see if she can figure out why she can't seem to trust Mox. "Do you have a regular party?"
Apparently, this party's Ranger decided to join their Mage instead of participating in the Questing. Flamelle doesn't know the story of why, but apparently they suddenly got really demotivated, so they had to find a Ranger to fill in as well as a Mage.
"Sure do!" Mox happily answers. "They all got hammered though, so they're too hungover to Quest, and someone's gotta pay the bills nya? So here I am~. What about you, Spitfire?"
Despite Mox being incredibly friendly, Flamelle really just can't trust it at all. The more they talk, the worse her feeling gets. She tries not to let it show on her face.
"No. I prefer to go through life at my own pace."
Their conversation is brought to a halt when an eagle swoops down through the snow weighted branches above. Mox's arm snaps up and the eagle lands on her forearm a moment later.
"Finally," Mox mutters with a sigh as she pets her pet and sends it flying back away.
Flamelle's bad feeling suddenly amplifies into a sharp instinct of danger that reminds her of how she felt facing against her instructor at the Institute.
What?!
However, before Flamelle can do anything to follow her instincts, her breath is forced from her lungs when a powerful blow impacts her.
Following the arm digging into her up to its source, she sees Mox looking down at her, face devoid of any warmth it once pretended to hold.
"Wha-!" She hears Markus's voice get cut off, though she doesn't see exactly what happened as she collapses to the ground instead, fighting the urge to curl into a ball at the stinging pain in her gut.
Flamelle barely manages to look up in time to see a group of men appear from the forest and immediately take down her entire party without even a hint of struggle.
Gold. They must be. Her thoughts panic her even as she has them, but she can't deny it. Taking down a party of Adventurers so quickly wouldn't be possible if they were in the same Tier of strength. Even then, doing it this quickly... Could they be Platinum!?
Markus' face appears in her vision, slamming into the ground right in front of her with Mox's leather boot pushing him down.
Flamelle feels indignant at the treatment the kind Cleric is enduring, but she knows there is nothing she can do about it. One of the things at the Institute they teach is patience. A Mage's greatest weakness is the time it take to actually cast their Spells.
Flamelle knows that even if a [Fireball] cast by someone at her level would probably do some damage to a Gold, there's no way they wouldn't notice her preparing it and interrupt.
"What're you glaring at, Spitfire?" Mox asks her, crouching down with one foot still on Markus' head as she grins mockingly down at her.
Flamelle doesn't say anything. She just glares at the older woman.
"Not gonna share~?" Mox's voice is as mocking as her smile. But at least, it no longer feels fake to her. She wishes that was a good thing. "Awe, c'mon~. Are you only ever gonna glare? I swear," she takes the time to shake her head theatrically, "You've been glaring at me this whole time, surely you've got something to say, nya?"
Flamelle's eyes widen unconsciously at the realisation that she was caught. She should have jut trusted her gut from the start. Damnit.
"Yeah, I noticed. Tell me, what gave it away? I'm always looking to improve my craft y'know? Now now, don't be like that~. I'd be willing to grant some mercies in exchange for-"
"Oy Mox!" One of the strangers' voice calls out, sounding annoyed. "Stop chatting and tie 'em up already."
Mox exaggeratedly rolls her eyes. "Yeah yeah, get off my tail."
Despite sounding irreverent, Mox does as she's told and starts tying them together.
Markus tries to resist her and gets another solid punch to the gut that has tears forming in his eyes. Flamelle doesn't bother to try, something that Mox makes sure to know she is disappointed by.
But Flamelle isn't stupid. This situation is bad for sure, but they are capturing them, so she shouldn't be in any immediate danger of death. Most likely, and as much as the thought does terrify her, but most likely they are just slavers. Which is obviously very very bad, but Flamelle still has her 6th Tier Spell that Mox doesn't know about.
If she can wait for the right moment, she might be able to free herself. Trying t act now will just get her beaten. What she should do instead is gather information, so she tries to focus on their conversation.
"-should I care?" She tunes in on one of the newcomers saying. There are four of them in total, including Mox. "The rest can go for standard rates, but you know The Cult loves getting little Clerics like this guy, we should be able to get triple up here."
"Tch, I hate dealing with The Cult, they're so damn creepy."
"No shit, it's a Cult."
Flamelle's blood feels like ice in her veins as her eyes fall on Markus, who is now thrashing even more despite the pain at the mention of The Cult, pale as the snow surrounding them. Their captor's don't seem to like that and hit him hard enough to knock him unconscious.
She can't blame him for struggling though. The Cult is terrifying, especially for Clerics. She has only heard horror stories, and as callous as it might be to think, and as much as she hates that she could even have the thought, but.. Flamelle is just glad that she isn't the Cleric of the party.
And then Mox joins the conversation.
"If we're going to The Cult anyway, this brat is a former Red Robe."
All thought flees her mind at the feline woman's words and the way the rest of their eyes fall on her.
"Shame, she's cute," one of them comments, making disgust well up within her.
"Ain't you gonna panic like him, Lass?" Another says, looking between her and Markus' slumped form with visible amusement.
She can only grit her teeth and glare at them.
She briefly considers trying to use the Red Institute's name to intimidate them off. But this far north? With a group that is at least Gold level and already dealing with The Cult?
What would even be the point?
"I like her," Mox comments, winking in her direction.
"Whatever," one of the others, who Flamelle pegs as the leader by the way the others listen to him. "Let's just grab 'em and go. I'm freezing my balls of."
The whole thing is so rote that is strikes her for a moment. Like this isn't even anything special to them. Just another day clocking in at work.
How may people have they done this to?
This level of confidence implies a certain degree of experience. Experience implies that they know how to avoid being caught. That implies that her odds of getting a chance to escape are likely to be low.
Is this really how it's going to go? This is where everything in my life has led to? To becoming another horror story for The Cult?
As one of the men summons a board of light—a mage then—to load them on, Flamelle feels the telling sting of tears threatening to form, no matter how hard she fights them off.
"Before you go," a new voice fills the clearing. Calm, feminine, bored. Almost condescending in tone. "I have a question."
Everyone's eyes snap to the source of the sound together, even if Flamelle has to twist awkwardly in her bindings to do so.
That Witch, she thinks, wide eyes in surprise.
There, seated high above on a branch, legs crossed in front of her and resting on her floating staff, is the Witch Flamelle saw in the Guild.
With how high she is seated, Flamelle can actually see under the giant hat at her face. The Witch is beautiful, is the first thing she notices, it would b impossible not to. She is an Elf, going by the ears. Purple eyes, white hair.
But more importantly than any of that is what attracted Flamelle's attention in the first place. The aura, large enough to drown all nine of them. She doesn't know how the Witch got so close without her noticing it.
Concealment? Teleportation? Just how strong is this Witch? Why is she here?
Flamelle doesn't have any answers, but meeting those aloof purple eyes, Flamelle feels hope.
Comments
Lucy Edwards
she's done enough
Yuval
I hope she has a sacrifice spell to summon Cthulhu and accidentally cause another calamity
