A Bright and Shiny Life

It turns out my discussion with Sarah about raiding the last pirate boat was pointless as they don’t survive the storm, which I find out after my dawn teaching session.

Edward gives me another medium coin since that was the last of the lessons he previously paid for. He seems hesitant since Edmond has yet to cast any spells, but I assure him that is normal. Edmond is the deciding factor as he excitedly tries to explain the phenomenon of the eye that makes the world inverting its gaze on him. I don’t think Edward understands, but at the very least he is convinced that Edmond is excited about something that sounds like progress.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to guide Martin further due to him being on the other ship, but he is at the point where he can make progress on his own and I see him standing on their deck chanting along with us.

Inspired by the thought of the ‘bargaining chip’ in our hold I experiment on trying to learn plant grower by targeting the berry staff. Surprisingly it works. The world seems very willing to compromise in allowing me to learn the spell when trying to accelerate what is already accelerated growth. I make rapid progress in the spell and two days later I succeed in casting it. Unfortunately, ‘compromise’ is the operative word, and the world still won’t let me cast it on normal plants. However, I am confident that will soon follow.

I haven’t heard of using normal magic items as ‘chips’ for specific spells before. Certainly, it wasn’t mentioned in my grimoire or taught by the cult. Maybe it’s something everybody knows so they don’t bother to write it down. I might have been told about it if I had a regular teacher.

The cult only had magic items they made with blood runes, which are similar but distinct from the symbols used for most items. So, they probably would only count as ‘chips’ for Anar spells, which were already made easier from the sacrifices. Thinking back though, we did usually learn spells while holding enchanted knives. Perhaps that was for this.

I try using the throwing knives on my wrist as a chip for learning the field missile guidance spell, since they also have a minor course correction feature. It doesn’t work for the increased power version, but it does provide a small boost for the multi-targeting team one. I’m not as interested in that version though, so I put it aside for now.

It is annoying to think that this method would have helped when learning the base spell, but I push the past behind me.

I start thinking about what other specific chips I might have. The berries seem to provide a small boost to learning healing, and the mirror helps with remote sensing. However, the boost is minor each time, to the degree that I might be imagining it, or rather that the boost is to my confidence which does provide some benefit. Nothing else seems to work.

The berries, by the way, do seem to be gradually restoring the sight of the blinded pirates. Everything is still blurry for them, but it’s enough to put them to work. They’re very grateful since otherwise they’d face death of personality.

…

I’m itching all the time now, waking up to long scratch marks on my arms, neck, chest and face. Luckily, I don’t have to interact with anyone while the scratches are visible, as I make sure to wake up a few hours before dawn, giving me time to heal for Edmond’s lessons.

I feel nervous, jumpy. I find myself suddenly smiling when the itching is the worst, thinking that maybe I’ll learn to control the ‘hunger’ from this.

“What’s your problem?” Sarah asks on a visit to my room.

“…Nothing… maybe the waves.”

“The waves are mild today, and you haven’t had a problem with them before. Remarkable given that this is supposedly your first sea voyage.”

Was I supposed to have a period of adjustment? I guess my coordination from Anar saved me that indignity… I had noticed Edward moved oddly, but I assumed it was normal for him.

She looks me in the eyes and speaks compassionately. “Listen, was it the fighting? I thought you acted okay with it, but it’s okay if it affected you. Sometimes people get a delayed reaction to killing. It’s okay. We can talk about it.”

I open my mouth, then close it. There were people in the cell who had trouble killing. I always thought that was strange. The older members called them cowards, which I don’t understand either. They had no trouble fighting the enemy, they would just freeze when it came to finishing them off.

This would often get them killed, which resulted in the second oddness being that they would be the only fallen the old members would routinely bad mouth. This caused tension but Gebal never reprimanded them for it.

So, I don’t know how I feel about being inadvertently compared to them, even if it’s clearly in error. She seems to think that being like them would be fine, almost a relief, which confuses me more.

“…No, I’m just not feeling well. It might be contagious… maybe you should leave.”

She hesitates, her face pained like she wants to say something, but just leaves instead. I stare as she goes, regretting pushing her away, but I can’t risk letting her stay. Her conversation was pleasantly distracting, but I don’t know how long I can stand her noble blood being so close. The only thing stopping me from attacking is the knowledge that I would stand no chance even with surprise… that and her pleasant conversation.

I find myself standing in the lower decks on my way to the galley with only a vague recollection of coming. I remember feeling an intense hunger, a regular one, since I haven’t been eating as much. I didn’t think to just have some food brought to me as it has been, but rather went to the galley out of habit? That doesn’t make sense. I had to climb up to the poop deck and jump back down. I’ve never gone to the galley that way before.

Suddenly a blur of motion and someone strikes me with a chair leg, but it bounces off my shield spell–visible only at the moment of impact. I only half remember casting it, but at least I had that much sense.

I look at my assailants. Three of them. They look terrified, likely feeling desperate and realising they would need to kill me to have any chance of a successful mutiny. They wouldn’t have tried anything if not for the strange apparent opportunity.

I bludgeon them all quickly with the cudgel Kalen gave me, easily done with the shield active.

I stare at the hapless fools. Offering them all to Anar would be reckless, but I could kill two and offer the third then burn their face off with a lesser firestream.

Remey has been very helpful using his wind spell to speed us along, we only have a day left before port. Surely, I can hold off until then? Surely, I have the will to do that?

I stand over them breathing heavily for what must be minutes until a sense of perverse satisfaction of my own suffering drags me away. It feels like seconds pass between each step.

One of them looks conscious. What must they be thinking about me?

I decide not to mention the attack when I reach the galley. The cook is alarmed that I came down here, but I brush it off with a laugh. I force myself to eat a hearty meal and get slightly drunk. The prisoners look at me in terror.

When I get back to my room, I repeatedly cut myself, using the injury as motivation to learn healing magic, and my enhanced healing as a bargaining chip. I don’t learn it, but I do make significant progress. The blood loss isn’t an issue since I suck it back up with the magic dagger.

When I wake in the morning, I have fewer scratches than the days before.

…Yes. I might be able to do this. It’s like breaking a fever, I just have to wait it out… I just have to wait.

Edward comes to the class again to work out a deal. He intends to stay at an acquaintance’s place for a few days once we reach Tibrous and then take a carriage to the capital. He’ll pay me three more medium gold if I agree to go with him and continue teaching Edmond until we reach there, as well as provide lodging and transport.

I agree readily. Counting the lessons has grown tedious, and I need an excuse to stay in port to find out who picks up the orb. I’m still working on a plan, but I’ll need information first.

“You’re less scary today.” Edmond musters the courage to say mid lesson.

“… Yeah. Sorry about that. I was going through some stuff… um magic related.” I do actually feel sorry, which surprises me.

After that he finally lights a candle with the cantrip. I congratulate him on officially becoming a mage and we tell his father together with a demonstration. Edward cries, so I leave them to be in private, not knowing what else to do.

I spend the rest of the day writing out the next spells Edmond should learn and divinations for Martin, even though he still hasn’t broken through. Martin looks sullen at being passed up when we make port, but I remind him that it was to be expected at his age.

We make port in seven days after leaving Salunt. Sraw grumbles about our bonuses, since it’s obvious at least one of the days is because of Remey continually casting his wind spell. But the contract is clear that external circumstances are not to be factored– though he obviously intended for that clause to work in his favour. One medium gold to me and Martin.

He also grumbles about our triple pay, but Sarah made sure the contract is ironclad, and so I get another 3600 raem.

The bounty for the knight and the ship were the same, being a large gold coin before splitting. We also get a reduced bounty for the ships we indirectly sank. It’s halved first for not bringing them in, and again for the indirect nature of the confirmation. They had to divine the destruction of the latter and rely on the captured pirates for the former. Still, given my heightened involvement in their destruction (I get a major portion of the second one) my share ends up being a large gold piece, bringing my total bounties from the knight and ships to six large pieces.

We then distribute the loot. There are two large gold coins. I get a quarter of one and combine it with the bounties to make a whole. The rest of my share after taxes, including treasure and additional bounty for live crew totals to 4755 raem, paid mostly in medium golds.

I also get to choose two magic items to keep. The most powerful items are the knight’s magic armour and sword, but I let Sarah take them. There is some pushback from the captain given that they’re the most valuable items, but she argues that the armour is severely damaged from the heat wand and so gets away with only giving up a few hundred raem.

There are a trio of magic daggers, but one is much better than the others so I take it. Sharp, strong, self-repairing, and most importantly iron phasing. It’s not as sharp or resilient as the blood one, and also isn’t self-cleaning, but iron phasing alone is more than good enough to carry it, and it’s also shorter and balanced for throwing. I put it on the back of my belt horizontally and move Tanyth’s to my boot.

The other item I take is a belt that grants fire protection and toughens my skin. The latter part isn’t much, maybe to the degree of leather armour without affecting mobility or texture, and my firestream might overwhelm the former, but I’m mostly looking forward to wearing it in the bath at boiling temperatures.

The skin toughening also applies to the inside of my body which makes me a bit resistant to smoke and airborne toxins. The only downside is its garish shade of red, though that is mitigated by its resizing function when I shrink it down to a choker making it much more fashionable.

I sit in my private room at the inn named Penguin Prophet repeatedly counting my coin. I get bored after the fourth count, and I just pick fistfuls at a time and watch as they slip glittering through my fingers. The shining flitting through the air distracts the itching.

Timos said I wasn’t greedy in the same way as Linrid, but I clearly have a love for coin. It’s not even what I can buy with it– nothing comes to mind– it just feels good to have so much. It makes me feel more confident. Like it’s a measure of my worth.

…No that’s not right. It’s a measure of my impact on the world… No that’s not it either. It’s a measure of my capacity to impact the world.

I have a sudden desire to spend frivolously. Letting myself get scammed, ‘forgetting’ a pouch of coin when I check out of my room… or buying frozen cream. As if saying ‘this much is nothing, I can earn it any time’ and thus increasing the measure.

Discipline stops me. I’m on a mission for my homeland. Every coin can further the cause.

…Buy hey, I’m in SoOps now. Those guys are a bunch of drunks. I should practise.

“Hey!” Sarah shouts as I enter the Tired Trout (inn alliteration seems to be a thing in this town). “You made it! The crew was taking bets. Made me a silver.”

“Glad I could help.” I smile.

“So, next round’s on you, right?”

“…Right.” I smile. This is the SoOps way, right?... Her blood makes my skin itch, but it’ll be fine.

“Oh, the rich kid’s paying? Good. Time to get back some of the coin he took off us in your fight.” One of the crew, Thed I think, says.

“…Fine by me. Your turn’s next, right?” I say, trying to fit into the flow.

The crew laughs, well only the half that are here. They all order the most expensive drink, costing me a whole gold. It feels great, and I have to stop myself from offering the next round too.

“This is awful! No wonder I never get it!” Thed complains.

“Nah, you’re just not refined enough.” Sarah says.

“Oh, yeah, why don’t you refine me then?” Thed counters.

“I misspoke, you have shit taste.”

More laughter… I thought it tasted fine.

We drink into the night, playing bawdy games and singing songs of lovers in other ports. I do end up spending another gold on a round. Sarah drinks several times the rest of us, a requirement for her to get slightly drunk due to her rapid healing and resilience. The rest of them quickly end up on the floor with only Sarah and myself still standing.

“So, Malzad… wanna see if you can’t put me on my back?”

I raise my eyebrow sceptically. “How would that work? Your healing is so much greater than mine that any drinking contest would be meaningless.”

She laughs loudly. “You’re funny Malz… so funny… so small, but scary like a pent up badger…or a snake… I think I’ll call it a night.” She says, stumbling up the stairs.

I stare at her going, wanting to follow, but itching too much to dare.

Suddenly alone, I stumble out of the inn back towards my own– pausing at the door to take in the night air. A trio of rowdy sailors follow me, so I slow my pace and exaggerate my swaying.

“Hey, why stop the party? Come with us.” They say surrounding me.

“… Okay.” I deliberately slur.

They take me to an alley by the storm wall and back me into a corner laughing.

“All right kid, hand over your coin.” They say, pulling out knives.

“…”

“You heard me, your coin!”

“…I’ve been good. Right?”

“…What?”

“I mean, I went without for so long. Don’t I deserve a reward?”

“Listen kid, we don’t care how poor you were. We’re all poor. Now hand us your…”

I smash him in the temple with the pummel of my knife, then kick the side of a second one’s knee in. The third one stabs my face, but the shield spell I cast before leaving the Penguin Prophet deflects it. Their eyes go wide as I sweep their legs and bash their skull. The second one is crawling away, so I go over and bludgeon them too.

This might have been easier if I was allowed to keep the cudgel from the ship, but then maybe they wouldn’t have targeted me.

I roll up my sleeves and use their clothes to soak up the blood as I offer them to Anar. I use the blood absorption property of the dagger to soak up everything that seeps through. I immediately feel feverish from the incompatible blood, but the increased healing will quickly take care of it.

I stand over the corpses, feeling good, feeling clean. I start chanting lesser firestream to burn their faces but stop as the healing clears the alcohol from my system. I used that spell in a pirate battle that the whole town is talking about. If three bodies with their faces burned off show up, then I’ll be the obvious suspect.

…shit. I really should have thought of that before.

Thinking of a plan I cut their coin purses and go through them. Just some copper: 37 raem. Hardly anything, but at least it’ll cover my room for a few days… They must have been about to take another voyage.

They spent all their coin here, got hired on a boat, and thought they’d rob a rich ostentatious fool and skip town before they could get caught. Meaning only a ship that’s going to leave, probably in the morning, will be missing them, and they’ll think they just didn’t show up and leave them behind. The tide waits for no one after all.

So, if I get rid of the bodies without a trace then things will work themselves out.

Okay. I’m not too far from the harbour so I cast concealment and scout out a rowboat tied to the dock. It’s big enough for all four of us so I go back to the bodies and carry them one at a time like they’re drunk to the boat and hide them under a tarp. Then I find a chain to tie them together, and I look for something to weigh them down.

An anchor would be ideal, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any just lying around and removing them from a ship would be obvious in the morning. I make do by scouring the beach for stones and shoving them in their tunics and trousers.

Shit… this is a bad plan. The harbour is deep, but still shallow enough to see the bottom. They might be hidden by the water on a cloudy day, or if there’s a lot of dust, but it’s too risky. I’ll have to find a way to conceal them.

Maybe if I went farther out, but the harbour entrance is guarded constantly with a thick chain stretching across it, making it far too risky. Especially as they’ll be on particular lookout for small boats sneaking up to sabotage it, and so may overcome my concealment spell.

… I was on the verge of learning how to grow mundane plants. I guess I’ll have to force the issue.

I go back to the shore and grab a large bundle of seaweed washed onto the shore which I take back to the boat. I make incisions in the bodies, stuff the weed into them and begin quietly chanting under the tarp. Unfortunately, I have to drop concealment to concentrate on learning the last piece of the spell. I nearly panic when I hear someone walking the dock, but quiet my breathing as they go past, then continue learning the spell.

Perhaps I was closer to learning it than I thought, or perhaps the world yields to desperation– I’ll have to test it– since I master the last of the spell in ten minutes. With three boons I’m even able to recast concealment and maintain it while the weeds grow around the three, consuming their blood and flesh as nutrients.

While they do that I row out to the middle of the harbour, apply runes of decay on their faces, and dump them over after about an hour of growth. When they go down, they’re nothing but a green blob that disappears into the dark waters.

I’m slightly surprised that I can maintain the spell after they leave my sight since the book didn’t mention it, but I’m grateful for the advantage and maintain it well after I reach shore.

That done I go back to the Penguin Prophet and take a bath in boiling water using the heat ward loop. It feels good without any pain. I sit in it for hours chanting new spells to learn with my grimoire set on a pedestal next to me. I cut myself and find the pain is much more manageable soaking in the tub. More importantly the regeneration from the active boons allows me to make even faster progress learning the spell than yesterday, or no, the day before now. I fall asleep like this, watching my wounds heal with calming speed.