Loremaster of the Amaranthine lands

Regis ate his lunch and drank some water before returning to his work, the pile of elemental and arcana stones around him slowly diminishing as he infused their energies into the runes one by one. By the time the sun was starting to fall, more than half of the symbols on the stone archway were green, proving that he had already stepped into the border of the ‘well-made’ grade with his work.

“I think it’s time to get home.” He told the others he stood up and dusted off his clothes.

“Finally,” Letty said as she sprung up from her seat. “I never understood how you could sit still for so long without going numb all over.”

“Sorry about that. I know it looks boring from the outside but it’s not that bad. Although it does make my legs go numb from sitting in one place for so long.”

“I think I’ll stick to tending to the greenhouse.” The druid remarked as they mounted the summoned creatures and headed back to the outpost.

When they arrived at the fort, they found Grandmaster Felix waiting for them. The elderly spellcaster was talking with the guards and a couple of knights, only noticing the group when they dismounted.

“You look tired,” the spellcaster noted. “You must have worked hard.”

“The gate is almost completely infused to the ‘well-made’ grade,” the dark elf replied. “It should be finished by tomorrow evening.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Felix admitted as he followed them toward the local gateway. “I also have some news we received while you were working.”

“Anything good?”

“It depends on how you define good,” the old man sighed. “Menelrond had officially refused to help us once again.”

“They’re stubborn to the end,” Quentin remarked. “Not that it matters any more.”

“Perhaps,” old Felix agreed. “But it will still strain any future political relations between the two kingdoms once this deal with the archdemon is over.”

“Are there any other developments?” Regis asked, earning a slight nod from the elderly spellcaster.

“We received word from King Mikkel the Second. Or rather... a declaration.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound foreboding at all.” The loremaster chuckled.

“He made a declaration that he will abdicate the throne in favour of his sister, Princess Helena.”

“You’re joking, right?” Regis looked baffled at the grandmaster.

“Why would he do such a thing?” Letty asked with a slightly sharp tone.

“He declared that he and some of his elite loyalists will follow... Lady Ulgrath to another world.”

“Smart move,” Quentin said from the side. “The man knows that his career as a king is over once the archdemon leaves so he decided to escape while he still has a chance.”

“I admit,” Felix sighed deeply with a tired look on his face. “The nobility and the church would have tried their best to dethrone him after Ulgrath was gone, so his declaration came as a welcome surprise to everyone.”

“The real question now is what will he take along with himself. I mean... the royal treasury must be brimming with good stuff he could make use of even in another world.”

“We are not quite sure about that, given that his declaration was short, but I believe he will not overreach any boundaries as a fallen king. Apparently, he is still mostly himself despite the Exiled Court’s influence on him.”

“It doesn’t really matter as long as the princess can clean up the mess he leaves behind. Anyway, I apologise for skipping out on you when you came all the way here to talk with us but we really should get going. I’m tired as hell and I need to get some sleep to power through tomorrow’s work.”

“It is understandable,” Felix nodded. “I will relay your progress to the others. If everything goes right we might just get rid of Ulgrath the morning after tomorrow. I wish you all a good night!”

“Likewise.” The three said in unison before they disappeared in a flash of light.

“So,” Quentin hummed as the trio left the room that housed the gateway. “Shall we meet here tomorrow morning?”

“If you want to get bored out of your mind for another day.” Regis noted with a smirk while walking.

“It might be boring, but it sure beats letting you get attacked while your head is in the clouds during your enchanting work.”

“I might be willing to... skip on tomorrow’s watch,” Letty said with a somewhat guilty tone. “But I’ll sleep here today. Okay?”

“Okay,” Regis agreed. “Let’s get something to eat first.”

“I’ll leave you two love birds alone then. Good night!”

“Night.” They said as the paladin left the manor.

The two headed over to the dining room where Dana was busy clearing of the table after dinner.

“Milord,” she squeaked quietly after noticing them. “We just finished dinner a few minutes ago.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he waved away her worries while looking at the smiling Letty. “We’re fine with any leftovers as long as it’s enough for two.”

“Of course,” Dana nodded with a relieved voice. “Just give me a minute.”

She hurried back to the kitchen and soon brought out two plates that had cooked vegetables and some roasted meat on them. The couple ate their dinner in a peaceful quiet that was only disturbed when one of them brought up something unimportant to chat about. Letty seemed anxious for some reason, but the dark elf found no answer to its cause during dinner.

After they finished eating, the two headed upstairs and took a long bath before collapsing on the bed. Their minds were too tired to think of anything else but sleeping through the night. Regis woke up to a soft kiss landing on his cheek, Letty smiling at him as she pulled her head back.

“Time to wake up sleepyhead.” She said with a gentle smile as she got out of bed, the dark elf following suit with a few yawns.

“Will you be tending to the greenhouse today?” He asked from the wood elf, earning a slight nod.

“The next harvest is almost ready and the need for potions is likely a lot greater than before.”

“A lot of things will be out of stock after the war.” Regis noted with a sigh as he got dressed.

“How many do you think...”

“Don’t,” he stopped the young woman with a soft hug. “Just... don’t think about it. There is nothing we could have done to stop it, but now there’s a chance to stop any further bloodshed.”

“I know,” she relented. “It’s just that... how could they do this? Natalie knew what would happen and she still went along with it without hesitation.”

“Why would she care?” the dark elf let go of her and the two got dressed. “For her, it was just a means to an end. She might have cared about whether she had to lose some of her pawns or not but that’s all. Look at the bright side of it. They’re leaving with Ulgrath, along with King Mikkel. Now they won’t be able to cause any more trouble.”

“You’re right,” Letty nodded while they walked downstairs. “I hope that wherever they go, they’ll get their just dessert.”

“Same here. See you tonight?”

“Of course.” She nodded before hugging him, leaving the manor through the main entrance.

Regis entered his study and began reading through the reports Tristan left behind regarding the town's situation. Soon enough Quentin arrived as well, greeting him with a tired tone.

“Morning. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

The two used the gateway in the nearby room to teleport back to the fort before summoning their mounts and riding over to where Ulgrath’s gate was.

“Lord Regis!” The guards and mages greeted him, earning a slight nod in return.

The dark elf checked the arcane materials necessary for the task before starting the arduous work of raising the quality of the gate's enchantment. Hours flowed by with work before a commotion snapped out of his rhythm. Turning around he noticed or carriage bearing the crust of the royal family near the small group of guards that were supposedly watching over him. As the carriage stopped, he saw familiar faces leaving its confines.

“I see you’ve been working hard,” Ulgrath said as she stepped out of the carriage, dressed in an elegant if somewhat revealing dress. “I didn’t expect you to get this far so quickly. If I knew...”

“Foul demon! You will... urgh.” One of the newer guards spoke as he rushed toward the archdemon with his sword drawn, but a moment later he came to a grinding halt.

As the soldier looked down he saw Ulgrath’s tail piercing through his steel breastplate. The archdemon yanked back her tail, ripping its spear-like tip out of the man’s chest with a small splash of blood. The soldier collapsed on the ground with a heavy thud as the others took a step back in fear.

“Does anyone else want to play the hero?”

“You...” one of the mages stuttered in anger. “The Archaean oath...”

“The oath doesn’t prevent me from killing people in self-defence,” Ulgrath stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “Just a little something for you to think about. As for him...”

“He’s not one of mine,” Regis remarked with a shrug. “They were sent here by the noble’s council to guard me and the materials I needed for the gate.”

“I thought as much,” the demon nodded as she wiped the blood from her tail with a napkin offered by Natalie. “Speaking of the gate, how much time do you need before it’s finished?”

“I should be able to increase the enchantment’s quality to ‘excellent’ by sundown. That’s ought to be enough for you.”

“It is,” Ulgrath confirmed with a pleased tone as she turned toward the still-wary guards and mages. “I expect your leaders to keep their end of the pact and be present tomorrow morning to power up the gate.”

“Yes,” one of them stuttered. “We will bring the news to them as soon as Lord Regis is done with the work.”

“Excellent,” she said, turning back toward the carriage. “Tell little Helena to come too. Her brother wants to say goodbye to her before we leave.”

With those words, the archdemon got back into the carriage with the dark elf siblings and left the site.

“That monster,” one of the soldiers finally spoke up after a couple of seconds of awkward silence. “She killed Sir Gregor without hesitation.”

“What did you expect?” Quentin asked as the guards began to drag away the corpse. “She’s a demon. Just be glad that her oath prevented her from killing all of you in retaliation.”

“If we would have all attacked at once...”

“Then all of you would have died,” Regis noted as he returned to his work. “There’s a reason we are building this gate instead of fighting her.”

“But I heard you have created a weapon that...”

“It only worked before because the other archdemon was not aware of it and the danger it posed to him.

Ulgrath already knows what it’s capable of and thus she’s wary of it. We wouldn’t be able to catch her by surprise.”

The dark elf explained, not waiting for any counter-arguments before continuing his work. While he was strengthening the enchantments, Quentin kept walking around, always having the loremaster on the edge of his vision while making sure that no one else stepped out of line. Hours went by uneventfully before the last runic symbol turned deep blue on the archway and Regis could finally breathe up. ‘It’s finally done.’ He thought to himself as he got up, dusting off his clothes before casting Charlatan’s wisdom on it.

{Planar gate}

{Rarity: Fabled}

{Quality: Excellent}

{Durability: 2500}

{Charge: 0/50000}

{This planar gate has a singular destination embedded into its rune-work. The gate can only be opened once and will stay open for thirty seconds before closing itself. Once used, the gate will crumble apart.}

The description was short and on point, making him nod while letting out a relieved sigh.

“It’s done,” he said to Quentin while looking up at the slowly falling sun. “Let’s go back home.”

“Fine by me.” The paladin agreed and the two summoned their mounts, leaving the small encampment.

On the way back to the fortress, Quentin couldn’t stop himself from speaking his mind.

“Do you think we’re doing the right thing?”

“We are doing the right thing for us.” Regis answered curtly.

“I guess you’re right. Damn. Just one more night and we’ll get Ulgrath off our backs. Do you have any plans for after this?”

“Not really, although I’m pretty sure we’ll be busy for a while, dealing with the aftermath of the Archdemon war.”

“True,” the paladin agreed. “Ecragurne is pretty much a mess right now. It will be a miracle if Harmarond or Menelrond will be able to hold themselves back from trying to attack the kingdom.”

“Hopefully the rumours of the capital’s battle will be enough of a deterrent to keep them at bay.”

“You mean the golem bomb thing?”

“Yep. I doubt they could match that anytime soon.”

“True but if the princess’ advisors think the same then she will likely be hounding you for golem commissions as soon as this is over.”

“Most likely. Then again, I don’t mind crafting a few basic golems for her. For the right price of course.”

“Sounds like you have it all planned out.”

“Not really, but it should net us a bit of an extra income and having the royal family as a backer would get a lot of people from our backs in the long run.”

“As long as her requests aren’t too outlandish. We wouldn’t want her to have an army of Gatling spiders.”

“I won’t make any more of those unless it’s necessary.” The dark elf promised as the two rode forward.