NOVEL WEB 363. City Slickers
It was a long and boring walk to the city in the distance. It was further away than it looked, and even at Ike's top sustainable speed, it still took some time. There were at least woods and hills between them and the city, making it a more interesting run than a flatline over dead land, but it still wasn't super exciting. There weren't many beasts worth hunting between them and the city, and the closer they got, the fewer mana signatures Ike sensed, as the beasts grew weaker and less interesting close to the city. For Ike's part, he didn't bother hunting, since he had plenty of gold from his more recent exploits, and he was pretty happy with his skills, even if he couldn't check them easily anymore since his last breakthrough. A mage city this big, though? There was little chance there were any useful skills left anywhere near it. The beasts would all be hunted to extinction.
The closer they got, the more signs of human occupation he saw. There were well-defined roads, then small mage settlements with clusters of mortals living close by. Mages wandered the woods, paying Ike and his party no mind. Mag remained as a bird, and Wisp remained as a spider, and no one had any reason to consider either of them as anything but beasts. Once, a low-Rank mage fired an arrow at Mag. He didn't even see the blur of purple lightning coming until he was already flat on the ground, unconscious.
Ike eyed a few of the mages, but had no way of telling if they were human or puppet, except for the guy who shot an arrow, who definitely bled red. In any case, none of them reacted to Ike, not that it meant anything. Brightbriar could be subtle, when he wanted to be, and now that Ike had figured out the truth about the greater being, there really was no reason for Brightbriar to prevent his 'prodigal son' from 'coming home.' Even if every single mage here was a puppet, they had no reason to prevent Ike from meeting Brightbriar. Brightbriar himself wouldn't want that, as evidenced from the many times they'd almost met, or the times someone had almost seen through Ike's disguise, only for Brightbriar to make some excuse and distract them. Honestly, the only part that didn't quite click was Llewyn trying to kill him… but if Llewyn was a part of the greater being, too, rather than a piece of Brightbriar as he'd initially thought, then it made complete sense. Llewyn was just like him. Just another piece of that being, jostling for dominance and the chance to become the greater being to Brightbriar.
In my case, I'm after the strength to beat Brightbriar outright, and that's why I'm hunting the greater being, but I don't think all the other pieces of me…of the greater being, have the same low opinion of Brightbriar. Llewyn, for example, was so aligned with Brightbriar that some people took him to be nothing but an agent of Brightbriar. If he truly was a piece of the greater being, then he was a piece that had perhaps died, but then been puppetized by Brightbriar. Or maybe he was an attempt to house the greater being in a puppet to begin with, a technique Brightbriar had then furthered with Rosamund.
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There was no knowing until he reached the city and confronted Brightbriar. Even the idea that Llewyn was a piece of the greater being like him was just that—an idea. An idea that made a lot of sense with Llewyn's actions so far, but an idea nonetheless. He set his eyes ahead and marched on.
As he approached the city, the roads filled up. Ike became one among many, mages and mortals like, who wandered toward the city. Some moved with purpose, while others stumped along with the slow steps of the duty-bound, their profits on their shoulders or borne along on carts that walked alongside them. There were farms outside this city, it seemed, by the proliferation of grain carts, watched over by low-level mages, perhaps; or perhaps the monsters of this region had been hunted down to the point that even mortals didn't have to worry about what dwelled outside the city's walls. Ike watched the carts quietly, curious, but not curious enough to ask. It wasn't as though mortal logistics really mattered to him anymore. If all the farms in the region collapsed, he would survive.
Ike raised his brows at himself. I've changed. Not long ago, he was railing against the tyranny of the mages. Now, he was so callous as to be able to consider mortal food security as beneath him. It made sense, now, why mages cared so little about mortals. Aside from when mortals produced new mages, mages and mortals really had nothing in common.
I wonder if it's a good sign, that mages here have made things good enough for mortals, one way or another, that mortals can freely move outside of the walls like this. Ike watched them silently, thoughtful. Maybe the king here was actually a good leader.
That would be good for him. It'd be easier to motivate the populace against Brightbriar, and he'd feel better about fighting to keep his rule. True, it didn't matter either way whether he was fighting 'for,' since the only person he was actually fighting was 'against Brightbriar,' but it was nice to have the moral upper hand… or at least a morally positive standpoint.
"Hello, stranger. You're a fresh face."
Ike ignored the voice at first, but the persistent gaze and smile at him from the side refused to be ignored. At last, reluctantly, he turned toward it.
A man with blond hair, cut short in front with a few long strands in the back, smiled at him. He had a friendly look to him, and a kindness in his eyes, and he wore the rugged, well-worn leather armor of a career adventurer or hunter. The large daggers crossed on his back and the array of skinning knives on his leg agreed with Ike's guess.
"I'm from a distant city," Ike said at last. "I've come a long way to end up here."
"Oh? You'll have to tell me all about it. I'm born and raised here, myself. Always dreamed of encountering someone who knew the world better. What have you seen?"
Ike took a deep breath. After so long with no one but Mag and Wisp around, he'd forgotten how burdensome small talk could be. He didn't want to be involved in this conversation, but didn't know how to break out of it. "Well, you know."
"Yes?"
Another sigh. There was nothing for it. He set his eyes ahead and marched off even faster than before.