Vandalvagabond

Family Business 2: Hidden Magician

Added 2020-09-18 19:05:17 +0000 UTC

Family Business
Chapter 2: Hidden Magician

-VB-

Despite holding an official household position of importance, my family considered me to be a child and thus incapable of protecting myself.

That was true. I possessed magic and could do a little bit of tricks with it, but I was in no way a master of magic; the Demacian culture saw to that. However, Demacia was a territory both riddled with bandits and skirmishes.

That’s what happened to a nation that focused so much on outside threats that the crown had to delegate the duty of policing the territories to the nobles.

“And that’s why we all know the Harrington, Angrimoria, and Rekarris provinces need to be avoided,” I ranted to Lux while we rode in the carriage for the “children” of a noble house while our twenty-four guards rode on horses, twelve in the front and twelve in the back. “Instead of having to go through the more populous towns along the river, we have to settle for taking the countryside because of how shitty the provinces’ securities are!”

Lux laughed nervously across from me. “Brother, I don’t think it’s their fault…”

I took a deep breath in and sighed. “You know that that’s objectively false,” I grumbled, unable to raise my voice at my well-meaning twin sister.

Unlike the canon Luxanna Crownguard who grew up naive to the world, my Luxanna grew up with me, and I wasn’t about to let her go into the world so unprepared. Simply because of my circumstances and reincarnation (a fact I’ve kept secret so far), I was called the genius Crownguard. Garen was the devout and strong eldest. Lux was the pretty “youngest.” This didn’t stop me from making sure that Lux didn’t stay only “pretty,” even if I thought she was cute as an angel.

When our private tutor spoke of magic and its “inherent” evil, I swore Lux to secrecy and gave her books that detailed how magic was used for good.

When other adults excluded Lux but included me in “adult” discussions, I would later tell Lux what occurred and explain why they occurred as they did, swearing her to secrecy again.

After Garen left to become a squire, I regaled her with stories about the outside world beyond the walls of High Silvermere. I spared nothing but the most gruesome tales. I spoke to her about Fiddlesticks, the Fear Incarnate. Of Ionia and its thin veil between the physical and the spiritual world. Of Shurima and the long forgotten desert empire. Of Nocturne, the Eternal Nightmare. Of Piltover and Zaun, the twin cities of ever towering technological heights.

Of course, just like all other things, I swore her to secrecy.

These were our special moments. Nothing will taint them with their bias, culture, fears, and hopes.

But I digressed. This entire trip through the woods was necessary in the first place because the neighboring provinces and their governing lords were inept pieces of shit who spent more money on lavish parties than actually strengthening the garrison, patrols, and whatever else.

“Lord of Harrington threw a lavish party. You heard from Mother how rich and delicious the food there was while you’ve seen my spies’ report on how many people in Harrington Province are living in poverty,” I grunted. Lux tried not to flinch, but she did.

Just as I shared the world’s wonders with her, I never shied away from showing her why we should work towards a better future. Why working towards a better future was a constant necessity.

The Great Nation of Demacia existed at the western end of the Valoran continent. While the nation wasn’t as isolated from the world as Frejord, it still lived far apart from others. On top of that, it covered a lot of territory, much more than one might think with its official borders. Some of this territory had to do with tributaries while others were allies. Demacia, being the “great” nation that it was, spared no manpower in ensuring the continued “protection” and alliances between these tributaries and their allies.

So its military was forced to cover a territory comparable to Mexico - a nation whose land area was the same as the United Kingdom, Portugal, Ireland, France, and Spain put together - while possessing barely over two million people.

This led to the central government of Demacia - aka the monarchy and its loyal court - was unable to manage everything on their own and delegated many powers to the nobility in a system that was widely recognized as feudalism.

Maybe the initial lords were good people.

Maybe it worked out at first.

It wasn’t fucking working out anymore.

Just to reiterate, High Silvermere and Demacia existed on western side of Demacia within its official borders. A river flowed down from around High Silvermere, our home city, down towards the sea, and Demacia sat not too far from the mouth of the river. Many other cities existed between High Silvermere and Demacia, and it was arguably that region which made up Demacia’s breadbasket.

And in that region of Demacia, seven-eighths of the population lived in poverty.

Half of the money I skimmed from the Crownguard house was spent to takeover ill-managed plantations, farms, and workshops - under a different name and through intermediaries - and making sure that the people who worked for me lived in good condition. I earned more wealth, people were happier with me, and Demacia was better!

It also helped that I used this connection

Ugh, I digressed again.

“You’re thinking of your schemes again, aren’t you?” Lux asked me with a knowing look.

I sighed. “Sorry, I can’t help it.”

She sniffed. “You still think that I can’t help.”

At her words, I raised an eyebrow. “What’s fifty-seven times thirty-two?”

She blinked, struggled to do the math in her head - and her fingers - before she proudly answered, “One thousand five hundred and eighty-four!”

“Ehhhh. Wrong. One thousand eight hundred twenty four.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she looked mildly upset.

“Sorry, Lux. You know my work requires a lot of math.”

It was an unfortunate thing that there were no calculators in this world. Abacus and magic spells that did calculations existed, but the former was a device I had no training in (but soon will once my order for it arrives home) and the latter was an option I could not publicly show.

So a lot of math for the revenues and expenditures had to be done on paper or in the head.

She pouted in irritation.

I chuckled at how cute she looked. Both of us were fourteen years old right now and were growing into our puberty. Lux, being a girl, was the one to start growing taller first. I didn’t particularly mind, especially when I realized that it meant she was going to fill out first and I got to be the one to see it all the earliest.

I, of course, kept those thoughts to myself while encouraging Lux to exercise(play).

“Well, do you want to play the Word Train again?”

“Yes. I am bored.”

We both giggled.

I opened my mouth to start us off when I heard a whistle. The whistle ended just as the sound of a small metal hitting another metal rang out. Someone screamed outside.

That… didn’t sound good.

Clang-Thud.

“AMBUSH!”

Oh fuck.

Both of our eyes widened, and I quickly pulled out my shortsword from the scabbard that rested at my hip. Despite receiving little physical training, I was an “okay” swordsman. If I had to fight, then I could hold my ground for at least a bit until help arrived.

I opened the door to the carriage, only to be pulled and shoved in by Lux and the captain of our guards respectively.

“Stay inside!” he shouted.

Whistles of arrows wheezing into our formation continued, and Lux screamed in fright when a pair of arrows shattered the glass and landed where I’d been sitting. She latched onto me, and I pushed down my desire to push her away to ensure that I had mobility.

There was a roar and a stampede charged into our horseriders. Even without looking out of the carriage, I knew that there were just too many of them for our soldiers to handle. The captain tried to talk to me, but he was shot down. His lieutenant died seconds later.

The Crownguard soldiers were professional and well-trained, and those were the only reasons why they wreaked havoc on the bandit numbers. It didn’t, however, make up for the sheer difference in numbers and the tactical advantage the bandits had with their ambush and range.

When the sound of the fight began to die down, I steeled myself and pushed the door of the carriage open against Lux’s silent pleas.

The dirt road was stained with the blood of the Crownguard soldiers and the bandits, and there were only a dozen of them alive right now.

“Eh, look! It’s a lil’ lordling!”

Ugh, couldn’t you speak proper Demacian?

I sneered at the bandits, who lost some of their mirth upon seeing my sneer. “Leave,” I told them.

“Oh, this lordling thinks ‘e can do sumthin’ to us!” one of the bandits holding a bow and arrow cackled. “Why don ya just come with us quietl-”

He didn’t get to finish when I finalized seeing who among my guards were alive: none. I let the rage at seeing the men I handpicked into my service all gone and dead and snapped my face towards the speaker.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out three vials, one black, one green, and one white. I pulled out the black vial and the dark green vial and stashed the white vial back into my coat.

These vials contained the results of my own brand of magic, or alchemy as such a title was more accurate.

Without ceremony, I threw the black vial towards them. Curious, they watched it sail over them and land among them. When the glass cracked and the viscous content of the vial touched the air, magic happened.

In an instant, a deep black fog spewed forth from the vial and covered the entire “battlefield.” From within the fog, my mind and magic worked as one, and monsters began to come out. Though fictional and imaginary they may be in my mind, this black fog gave me the power to make imagination real for a brief time.

The bandits realized quickly what they were dealing with. “MAGICIAN!” one of them shouted, but his voice gave away to screams and gurgles as one of my monsters bit into him.

From within the fog, the likes of the Dog with Many Voices and the Demon Born of War emerged, coalescing from the material that made the black fog. The roar of the Demon as it slashed, bit, tore, and shredded bandits and the human-like screams and giggles and laughter of the Dog were haunting on their own.

The bandits tried to run but there was nowhere to run. The fog prevented anyone from leaving it.

But in seconds, the fog was gone, and only one bandit, so very close to death, remained.

I walked up to the dying bandit and uncorked the green vial. I shoved the vial to his mouth and forced him to talk.

When I killed the bandit half a minute later, I was furious.

-VB-

Hesitantly, Lux, hearing the screams end, drew the curtain covering the windows back just a bit to peek outside.

There was a moment where everything was black before everything came into focus. Her twin brother stood over a bandit with his blade bloodied and his boots stained with blood.

It’s been only a minute since Mar stepped outside … and all of the bandits were dead.

He turned around and saw her. Their eyes met.

And he smiled.

“We’re safe, Lux.”

She rushed out of the carriage, ignoring all of the dead bodies and the blood, and jumped into her brother’s arms. She cried as relief hit her.

She didn’t notice the light covering her hands, but her brother did.

“Lux, can you help me put the bodies of our soldiers into the carriage? We’ll have to ride back home.”

She nodded without speaking.

-VB-

Chapter 2, end.

-VB-

This is the second part of this story, the Alchemy CYOA.