I have returned from LitRPG Con. Regular chapters will resume, starting today.
Chapter 229 – Conversation
It had only been a mere six years since I had seen King Mournaxe, meaning he was forty-one winters old, if I remembered correctly. He had not even been born when Athelia-that-was summoned me, and my class, to Onerth. The first time I’d met him was after the rout of the Demon King’s army in front of this very city, the first defeat that Rorzomon the Terrible had ever suffered since taking up his crown. We’d met only a few times since, but he had not relaxed when my Army of the Damned passed by. Instead, he’d heeded my warnings, and kept his city strong. Which is why he, unlike most of this world’s rulers, received a warning before I left, unleashing the ‘Unmaking’, as this world’s people called it.
Still, as I looked the king over, I could see that those winters had tempered him, rather than breaking him, making him stronger. He was a Lightsoul Warrior, and had practiced his cultivation enough to rise to the Master rank. He looked as though he were still in his early twenties, and, if he continued diligently with his training, I did not doubt that he would look much the same when he was closer to eighty. After all, a human noble who had the time and training to properly cultivate their mana could easily live to one hundred and twenty years old, before age started getting the better of them. Some human archmagi had even lived to two hundred, though they were rare exceptions.
Introductions were made as we rode to the castle. Delegations from the temples of Murena and Taesis had apparently joined the King, along with his Queen and Seneschal, to greet us. That much ran in line with my expectations. Other than Murena, Taesis was the only god who I expected that I’d be on good terms with, in this world, since he was Murena’s twin brother, the other side of her coin.
Murena had told me that her brother had lamented the summoning of heroes to fight the battles that, by rights, ought to have been faced by Onerth’s people. However, as a God of Life, with a focus on birth and renewal, his influence was greatest amongst young mothers, midwives, and farmers tending their crops, not the nobility. He had been powerless to intervene, but Murena, who was a Goddess of Death, could, and had.
There were other gods in the world, of course. The Gnomes and Halflings shared the human pantheon, but the Dwarves, Elves, and Demons had their own. Thybris was the elven God of Life and Change, while Katyr was their God of Death and Undeath, and Vildon was the elven God of Peace and Hope. However, since the elven gods were primarily venerated by elves, I did not expect there to be temples to them in this land, which was primarily settled by humans, just as I would be shocked to find a temple to the dwarven pantheon. And the pantheon led by Yesis, the God of Demons, had been all but wiped out, along with the demons themselves.
That said, it was surprising that only Murena and Taesis had any great presence in Vacete. While I knew that Ludon, God of Slavers, had never been welcome in the city, it was surprising that Tedum, God of Battle, Roaris, Goddess of Crafters, Rither, God of Trade, and Baena, Goddess of Knowledge, had no more than a token presence in the city. Small chapels, with no more than one or two priests, and some shrines set up, but no temples, like those of Murena and Taesis.
Lifebinder Brockhouse laughed merrily at my question, when I asked it. “That is because Vacete was no center of trade, before the kingdom arose around it. And while our King has long prepared the city for war, it was not something he sought out. As for Craftmistress, she has temples in the outer villages, and the Blessed Archivist has a temple-library in Khastalan, which holds the greatest archive of tomes and scrolls in the Westlands.”
Huntmaster Deepbinder nodded. “Taesis and Murena are in ascendance amongst the human pantheon, at the moment. Thanks to the chaos of the Unmaking, Ludon has perished, but the rest of the pantheon remains. Fortress Monasteries dedicated to Tedum and Rither dot the roads between the different kingdoms in the Westlands, an alliance that keeps trade flowing through the dark and dangerous wilds.”
“Aye,” nodded the Lifebinder. “And your elven companions could say more than I about how their pantheon has fared, but I have heard from Lord Taesis that the dwarves yet remain in their holds. Those that did not earn your ire during the Long War, that is. Their surface doors are sealed, but rumor has it that they still have traders through the Underdark, using the Deep Roads that connected the dwarven holds of old.”
The conversation wound through other topics, and I noticed that while the King and the two head priests stayed close to me, the others were talking with the elves, and my disciples. My enhanced hearing caught more than a few discussions about what my world was like. Not surprising, honestly, since I had never been in a great deal of hurry to speak about the world I’d been stolen from, especially not to people who might use the knowledge against me in some way.
Eventually, we made our way to a sitting room in the castle, where the King could have a conversation with people that was neither formal enough for the throne room nor intimate enough for his chambers. Not that I would have cared, either way, but a ruler had to remember how he was perceived by his subjects, since it was all but guaranteed that the tone of the meeting would spread to the populace, even if the specifics were never shared. The sitting room was a good balance, from that point of view.
Once we were all seated, the king started the conversation. “Well, Queen Akagawa, I must admit that, after the Unmaking, I had not thought to see you again. Obviously, the elves who passed through our lands to Athelia-that-was were successful in making contact with you. May I ask what your intentions are, now that you have returned?”
I chuckled softly. “So polite, and yet straight to the point. Even if you’ve aged, you still remind me of the earnest young Lord Mayor who was holding the city’s defenses together after his father’s passing. You would be correct in assuming that I never had any intention of returning to this world, once I made my way home. But the creation of a stable gateway between worlds has changed the equation somewhat.”
The Queen, who was the last of the Khasta royal family, gasped, despite herself. “I knew that the Hero Summoning could steal people from another world, but even that ritual, if any copies of it yet remained, would not create a permanent passage! How is this possible?”
Archmage Ilimys took a breath, and said, “It is possible in the same way that a cloak, pierced by an arrow twice in the same spot, may, despite mending, find it easier for a tailor to create a hole with proper hems and seams, so that there is no risk of unraveling. The fabric between worlds was pierced twice, in the same place, with great violence. Enough time and power focused on that wound allowed me to trace the path back to her Majesty’s world. That tracing was the hard part, in truth, and creating the gateway, in such a way that it would not tear, was far simpler.”
“It is as she said. Though I had also been alerted to the magic being cast, by those who were tracking such things. I added a bit of power on my side of the gate to make it open on my schedule, and ensure that the gate did not accidentally connect to other, less hospitable, spaces, such as the void between worlds, where you would have been faced with an unending tide of soul-eating monsters to contend with.”
Looking back at the King, I said, “As for my intentions? Once, I was content to wash my hands of Onerth, and let things fall as the fates and fortunes decreed. After ensuring that there would be no means for people to drag summoned heroes into the mess, of course. And yet, now that I have returned? I believe that it is time for Risen Athelia to reclaim its old borders. Athelas will be remade into a fortress city, with the Gateway at its center. This will cause it to become a center of trade, as goods begin to pass from my world to this one, and back again.”
The Seneschal, Jasmine Brockhouse, leaned forward, interest writ plainly on her face. “The scouts who have made it that far into the Blighted Lands and looked upon the former capital of Athelia-that-was said that the city had been wiped out, with a mighty crater resting where the city once stood. You intend to rebuild, upon that site? That is no small feat, even with magic to aid the process.”
“If I were relying on the skills of this world alone, you would be right. However, my world, up until recently, had not had magic, which meant that their learning, and their skills, went in other directions, with other focuses, which may add to, not replace, what this world’s magic offers. The project will not be a simple one, of course, but with the ground scoured of previous buildings, options that would be too expensive in time or resources when facing an inhabited area are open to me. Much as clearing a site to build a new castle is cheaper and easier than rebuilding an existing castle to face new realities.”
Turning my attention fully to the Seneschal, I said, “Of course, this means that, once Risen Athelia’s old borders are reclaimed, the Deathwatch Kingdom will be our primary trading partner in this world. Skyships, though of a form less steeped in Death mana than my own flagship, will begin plying trade lanes between Athelas and those lands which have survived the Unmaking.”
“That is heady news, your Majesty,” the Seneschal nodded. “And welcome, I might add. While the Deathwatch Kingdom may be the focal point of the Alliance of the Westlands, it is no secret that trade between the lands has fallen to levels not seen even during the Demon King’s wars. Mages who know teleportation magic may charge whatever they please for transporting people and goods to distant lands, and there is no recourse, as some roads have fallen into disrepair, if not become home to monsters and bandits which all but choke off the flow of goods for entire regions at a time. Being able to avoid threats on the ground, at least, would allow some true competition to the mages, who grow a bit bolder every week.”
The king cleared his throat. “What manner of goods would you be looking to trade, Queen Akagawa? We only spoke once of your homeland, but the stories you told about these ‘nookes’ were enough to frighten me as a young man, I am not ashamed to admit.”
That got a couple forced chuckles from my disciples, and when I turned to look at them, Nawai Kai, my Flame Sorcerer disciple, just shrugged. “The truth is, your Majesty, that those nuclear weapons scared our entire world into a period of over seventy years where there were no major wars, because everyone knew that a war that became an existential threat to one of the main powers would end up potentially wiping out all life on Earth. And since the first and weakest of those weapons could wipe a city off the map in a flash of light, and leave the ground tainted and unlivable for decades after? Few leaders were willing to play that game.”
“In other words,” the Queen said, her eyes shining, “the goods and of nonmagical knowledge from a world where magic is young could be traded here for magical goods and knowledge, where they are more common, and therefore cheaper. More than a few merchants and scholars would flock to your city. Even warriors and the like, who are seeking new weapons and armor may look to see the way your world’s tools of war work. The trade, once it began, would be quite lucrative, but also potentially quite disruptive.”
The king chuckled. “Though with the world already in shambles, I don’t see a bit of further disruption doing more harm than good. I am no merchant, myself, but I’ll be interesting to see their reactions to what you may bring them, your Majesty.”