[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 226 – Diplomacy II

“Sil’mara will welcome any of your people who wish to join us.” Raiko said, turning back to Kale and his assembled group, “Once the alliance goes through.”

“I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re more than happy to accept an alliance immediately,” Kale told her with a grin. “In fact, I don’t think any of us particularly want the headache of leading, but we would be willing to manage the people we’ve come to know in the past few weeks. If you’ll have us.”

Raiko nodded. “That would make things a lot easier.”

From their vantage point, they could clearly see the clearing around the tree-shrouded village. Chris pointed. “Using tree cover to protect from flying monsters? Smart.”

“That is our settlement,” Lenal confirmed, sounding proud of her home. “It does keep us safe from most monsters.” She looked over at the tattered tents and scraps of cloth flapping along poles. It wasn’t hard to tell that the survivors had tried their best but had failed miserably.

“We lost most of our people to aerial raids,” Chris said somberly.

Simon, Kylie, and Kale nodded along. It was clearly a worry of theirs, but when Raiko and the others talked to them about their settlement, the earthen dome, and even the workshop they had built, the pall was lifted and hope began to blossom.

“You seriously built a workshop?” Kale couldn’t help but ask. “Does that mean you guys have Professions? We haven’t seen a single person with one so far!”

“No wonder they’re so strong,” Simon said, sizing up each of the Sil’marans. “Does a Profession also give stats like a Job?”

Kale noticed the way Raiko watched Simon closely. Her violet gaze fell to his dagger before they met the Assassin’s eyes. There seemed to be an air of tension between the two of them. “Professions do indeed,” she said evenly. “However, the attributes are suited for the Profession’s needs, not necessarily combat. That’s why it’s ideal to pick a Profession that suits your style of combat. And possibly your Path, if you have one.”

Simon paled at that. His hand twitched as if he were about to defensively grab his dagger. “You have Paths as well?”

Raiko grinned in answer. Her expression reminded Kale of that final day on O’ahu’s beach. She wasn’t as pale skinned anymore, which was plenty ironic.

Back on Earth, he used to think she was a crazy foreigner.

Now she was offering a place of safety to protect them all.

Kale was having a hard time coming to terms with the discrepancy in their power. He could feel the difference standing before them. No wonder the monsters were afraid of these people. “What does a Path do? Nobody we’ve ever met has had one.”

“While there could be many kinds of Paths,” Lenal explained, seeming eager to jump in. “So far, they offer powers and attributes related to a specific variant of mana one possesses an attunement for.”

“Each one appears to be a pillar of progression,” Raiko added, studying the edge of the Skyshard they were standing on. “Path, Job, and Profession, culminating in one’s Legend.”

“I don’t know how Berserker makes for an Adventurer,” Kale said. “Wait.” He turned to Raiko. “Does that mean if you get a Path and Profession your Legend might change?”

She nodded.

“So then Adventurer is more…of a starting point,” he mused.

“I think so. I imagine some people might earn a more advanced form of Adventurer, if that’s what they feel called to. Or their powers and skills particularly develop around that facet.”

“Are we able to learn these things from somebody who has one?” Kylie asked. “So far I haven’t seen anything that made it seem we could, and that seems…weird.”

“Professions, I suspect. There might be two, maybe even three ways of picking up a new Profession,” Raiko said. “If you’re willing. But there’s a caveat.”

“Isn’t there always?” Chris said.

“We need a balanced spread of Professions. Miners, smiths, leatherworkers, weavers, and the most coveted of all…that perhaps Haman has covered. Even still, he’s just one little, irresistibly cute and adorable pobul…” Raiko trailed off, tickling Haman’s tummy.

The pobul squealed and woke up, grabbed her finger with his tiny grabby paws and gnawed playfully on it. After a few moments, the gnawing turned to pacifier-like sucking, and then he fell asleep.

“Raiko?” Kale pressed. He had never seen Haman act so baby-like before.

Kylie cooed and leaned in incredibly close to Raiko and Haman. “Awww look at those little tiny paws! He’s grabbing her finger, Chris! And ohh, look, he’s sucking on it like a baby.”

Kai cleared his throat, trying to bring things back on track. Kale could tell how much he cared for his Queen’s image, and didn’t want her seen as anything less than the ruler of Sil’mara.

“...Hm?” Raiko finally looked up. “Right, well…Chef, that’s what I was saying. There’s likely more. That isn’t to say you can’t become Alchemists and Carpenters should you wish to. Our King is a Blacksmith, and his creations were in the highest demand.”

Raiko pressed her hand, glowing with magic, to Haman’s middle. When she took her hand away, a golden symbol was left on his fur. The pobul seemed to sleep easier after that.

Kale wasn’t the only one interested in what that spell did. It obviously had to do with those tattoo-like symbols that shone through her arm’s armor sometimes.

“And your King…” Kylie said leadingly.

“Is Sam,” Kai answered for her.

“Sure, sure.” Kylie nodded. “Sam. King. Totally.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and looked at Kai. “So, just one teeny question.”

“Yes?”

“Who are you, and what have you done with the real Kai? You wouldn’t have been seen dead in Sam’s company, especially if he was the leader!” She pointed sharply at him. “J’accuse!”

“I have changed,” Kai tried to explain. “Sam saved me.” He swept his arms wide. “Saved all of us. All of Earth and Islegard too. He is owed more rest and reward than any man I know of, and yet he labors every day for our wellbeing. I…have realized I gave him a hard time, but I never disliked him. I always saw his potential and if I ever seemed angered by him, it was because I saw him squander his talents.”

“Only because you constantly berated him!” Chris blurted out. “C’mon man, seriously? You saw his talents? We were his best friends! You had enough money you could have lifted us all out of the gutter, instead–”

Kylie put a hand on her brother’s chest. “Enough, Chris. This is a new life, right? Let’s make the most of it.”

Chris glared at Kai, who had the good graces to look abashed. “I apologize for not being a better person.”

Kale was overwhelmed. Not just with the apology–something he never thought he’d hear–but with the options to pick from.

He learned that Blacksmithing could pick up skills that allowed the Profession to produce a vast amount of different materials, one of which Sil’mara needed most for new buildings: stone.

However, there was a chance that these skills were rare and specially offered to Sam. So there was no guarantee Blacksmithing was the way to go for that.

Fortunately, they had a little better than just secondhand knowledge about Blacksmithing. Ghosts from the Aker Academy were all sorts of crafters. And more than just what the Sil’marans had.

They talked for hours, not least of all about the ghosts which seemed to be a fixation of not only Kylie’s but Simon’s as well.

The Queen didn’t waste any time in creating a bridge of stairs connecting Kale’s Skyshard to the larger Sil’mara below. He watched her do it, but he still had no idea how it was possible.

That arm of glyphs lit up and she somehow shaped the land itself. It was mesmerizing watching chunk after chunk fly into place, then smooth over and fill in with detail like a sculptor with a block of clay.

Kale found himself wishing he could do something like that too.

“What’s that?” Kylie asked, motioning to the process. “Path or Profession?”

“It’s a bit of a confluence for me. [Glyph: Sculpt] is mostly from my Path now.”

“Is that something you can teach somebody?”

Raiko lifted up her arm covered in those symbols. “Maybe if we found the trials from Islegard again.”

Kylie looked a little crestfallen. “Oh. Figures, amiright?” She waved off Raiko’s concern, though it didn’t seem to work. “It’s cool. I know that’s a fancy way of saying ‘no’. Been told that enough my life to recognize the signs.”

“Don’t be so dissuaded,” Raiko said. “There are many styles of magic and skills, and countless ways of obtaining them. While learning these Glyphs requires trials, there could be Professions that specialize in similar.”

Kylie looked away. “So, these ghosts…are they like the spooky ghosts that make furniture move, or the silly ghosts like Hogwarts? The ones that are always drifting around and complaining.”

Matt shook his head as they headed down the stairs with the rest of the refugees in tow. “Neither really. They’re pretty…normal. For a given value of normal, I guess. They mostly stay up in the Academy over there. We’re working on clearing it out. Lots of monsters and magic gone awry.”

“Wait, that’s a magical academy?” Kylie asked, her eyes lighting up.

“Yeah, more tragic than whimsical though,” Matt was quick to add, looking askance at the gloomy expression on Lenal’s face. “They were good people there that lost their lives. The professors, those that chose to stay behind, are ghosts. However, they’re really quite nice. We wouldn’t have Professions without them. I bet they’d be willing to teach them to those they deem worthy.”

“They will test anybody who wishes to learn from them,” Lenal said. “The professors do not suffer fools gladly, so I would strongly suggest that anybody looking to pursue a Profession is absolutely certain of their decision before approaching a professor. They may be ghosts, but they do not appreciate their time being wasted.”

They were warned ahead of time, so nobody started pulling out weapons when the mandragoras came running with a…treasure chest in the lead.

Raiko’s breath caught. “Oh, Chompers…” She sounded heartbroken.

Even Matt began to tear up.

“Somebody needs to break the news to him,” Kai said gloomily.

“He won’t understand. He’s just…”

“A baby,” Matt finished for her.

Chompers rushed around like a dog greeting the dozens of new guests to his home. He barked, his lid of white picket fence teeth opening wide and closing with each booming sound. Dozens of furry corgi paws danced around as he performed otherwise impossible maneuvers.

“I can’t let one of us fall again,” Raiko muttered, unshed tears shining in her eyes. “I’ll need to create rope, grapnels and gliders.”

When it became clear that neither Komachi nor Sam were there, the mimic went up to Raiko and bumped gently into her ankle again and again.

Tilting his treasure chest body, he looked up at Raiko with his golden keyhole.

“Oh fuck,” she whispered, horrified.

Matt patted Raiko on the back gently. “Let ol’ Lord Matthew take care of this.” He knelt beside Chompers. The mimic about-faced to look at him. “Hey little guy, Sam and Komachi had to uh…run out for a gallon–”

“No,” Kai said sharply.

“For a pack of–”

“Try again.”

Matt hung his head and put a hand gingerly on the mimic’s lid. “Komachi and Sam will be back, but they had a very important mission to keep us all safe. Isn’t that right, everybody?” Matt said, his forced grin hardly fooling anybody as he looked up at them. When nobody said anything, he repeated himself forcefully, “I said: isn’t that right?”

A chorus of agreements from everybody there, even Simon, sounded off. The mimic looked from one to the other, believing the tale.

Even still, Chompers whimpered softly. He loved Komachi and Sam above all else. Turning about to look at each of the collected people, Chompers bumped into each of their ankles as if trying to determine something.

After a while, however, the mimic whined and somehow managed to convey sadness in the way it half-dragged its corgi paws away from the group.

“Way too much like Komachi,” Matt muttered. “My heart feels like it’s going to explode. How can a box seem so sad?”

“You’re not the only one,” Raiko said miserably.

The ground trembled as one of the dullahans marched down the steps and stood on its home of Sil’mara. It clapped its massive gauntlets together, sounding oddly like a pair of gongs crashing together.

Chompers paused mid-depression-crawl and turned around.

The dullahan knelt to one knee and put out its arms.

The mimic paused for a moment, and then sprinted with all the effort of dozens of corgi paws toward the dullahan. It fell several times in its exuberance, but it always got up again.

Kale watched as the dullahan scooped up the mimic in its armored arms. The mimic’s red mahogany tongue licked the headless suit of armor as the dullahan set it on its broad shoulder and walked away toward the workshop.

“That’s Sam’s apprentice, isn’t it?” Matt guessed.

Kale stared. “His what?”