nemorosus

Chapter 11: Lion Cub's First Hunt

Elias alighted from the carriage at the gates of Vendleber, scanning the small town’s streets thoroughly. He had removed the gray robe of the Order of the Gray Owl, instead donning the traditiona...

Chapter 10: Early Onset Eldritch Baldness

A few days had passed. After cashing the banknote and opening an account in the local bank, Argrave stayed at a fairly expensive inn in Mateth that valued order and cleanliness—virtues he found i...

Chapter 9: Theft is Morally Acceptable if Kidnapped

It was dawn. The pale, somewhat blue light of the early morning sun began to make its way across the vast plain in front of Mateth. Subtle rainbows of refracted light dappled the landscape where th...

Chapter 8: Sun Tzu Teaches Horseplay

“What an unpleasant trip…” Argrave complained aloud, sitting atop a rock as he cleaned off his clothes with water magic. Dust, dirt, grass, and worse covered his clothes. His upper legs had b...

Chapter 7: Argrave, Meet Margrave

A big, gauntleted hand reached forward and rested itself on the edge of the carriage’s windows. Then, Margrave Reinhardt dismounted from his horse and stood at the side of the carriage, peering i...

Chapter 6: Hitchhiking is Dangerous

The halls of the Tower of the Gray Owl were filled to the brim with people. They were talking amongst themselves feverishly, most with some degree of relief and nervousness on their faces. Nikolett...

Chapter 5: Bloody Hard Work

Argrave approached most things very methodically. His present situation, unbelievable as it was, was no different. In the month he had until the thesis submission deadline, he worked long past nigh...

Chapter 4: Hot Night, Cool Looks

Argrave scanned the bookshelf, holding the ensconced magic lamp up to the titles as he walked by in search of the tomes that he needed. In his periphery, he could spot a dash of red hair—the self...

Chapter 3: Choose Between Boredom and Suffering

Nikoletta stared at the closed door a long time after Argrave had left. Her mind was disturbed by a thousand thoughts. She had not interacted with her cousin much at all. He was the bastard of the ...

Chapter 2: Unsocial Visit

Argrave stared at a plaque on the side of the wall. It read ‘Nikoletta of Monticci.’ He carried a stack of documents wrapped by a few strings in his right hand. He felt calm. All of the faces t...

Chapter 1: Valhalla-Bound at the Speed of Sound

In the middle of a vast plain, a single, well-travelled dirt road led to a tower. The tower was circular and made wholly of a dark gray stone, and it stood hundreds, if not a thousand feet tall. St...

Chapter 118: Caress the Tense Blue (2)

We swarmed through the mansion like a swarm of locusts. I took a position near Ruel at the front—considering he was the strongest person, and basically out babysitter, it seeme...

Chapter 117: Caress the Tense Blue (1)

There had been something fishy about this mission since the very beginning. 

It was difficult to imagine that those bandits that we fought were capable of dealing with...

Chapter 116: Tell Me

I sat in a hovercar. Not the same velvet-lined one that had taken me to Jewls place, though it was still far nicer than the one we’d taken to the city. It was larger, too—it ...

Chapter 115: Broderskap (4)

“You’ve had more than enough time to explain. This is a trade. Line out the details of your offer on me.” The doors slid open behind Jewls, and two Shashen Servant entered ...

Chapter 114: Broderskap (3)

“I know this is worth your time.” I toyed with the communications device on the table. “You have a lot of it, considering you can divide your consciousness. And you’re he...

Chapter 113: Broderskap (2)

Very hesitatingly, I put one step in front of the other and entered the room. The Shashen Servant waved at me, and then the door slid back shut. The room was accommodating and lu...

Chapter 112: Broderskap (1)

“A soul-related transaction, huh?” 

Though the receiver had been disinterested in tone before, and sounded more like a robot than a human, he was now very intrigue...

Chapter 111: Early Afternoon, Folks

We opened the door to the hovercar and alighted onto the black sand. I helped Zinuetet down, and left Day to jump down himself just as I had. The vehicle was suspended in midair ...

Chapter 110: The Sprout

I watched the Dagger Captain through the small tablet in my hand. I regretted not getting a drone capable of recording sounds, but I considered it mostly unnecessary. Now, though...

Chapter 109: The Seeds

Far above the city covered in black sand and grime, the people were living relatively clean lives. Though it was not near as dirty higher up, the smoke from the factories filled ...

Chapter 108: Boy for Sale, He’s Going Cheap (2)

Even in the midst of the night, the smog from the factories rose high in the air, threatening to conceal the skies above. The cities were all depressingly cramped. They weren’t...

Chapter 107: Boy for Sale, He’s Going Cheap (1)

I stood alongside Day and Zinuetet. The child had gone to sleep in her arms. Her uniform was quite a mess where the boy had been crying, but she didn’t seem to care. We stared ...

Chapter 106: Decisions

“Day, we need to discuss this.” I tried to be adamant and authoritative in my tone. 

Zinuetet walked into the room, and though she had her spear in her hand, she d...

Chapter 105: Through Ash

“Alright then, it’s time to move out.”

If you can give me a good reason not to eat poison, I’d be surprised. 

Sure, it hurt a bit. But after hav...

Chapter 104: Rising Fear

“Fantastic. Just great. So much extra shit to do now,” Ruel muttered, walking past the now-mellow squad. “Now I have to contact the employer. Now I have t...

Chapter 103: Land of Black Sand

I was the last to leave the ship. The pilot, Rigser, stayed aboard. I was last for a reason, that reason being that I was slow. More than that, I wanted a good vantage point unob...

Chapter 102: Major Caz to Ground Control

I hadn’t run out of ingredients first. I’d run out of bottles. 

Bottles were quite annoying to carry around, especially so in bags. I’d only one bag, and I could...

Chapter 101: Gray

“So you can help me then.” The Long-name sighed, sounding relieved. It was perhaps the first time she’d sounded anything other than distant. 

I swirled the white...

Chapter 100: Keeping It

I held a razor-sharp blade of Primordial Energy to my face. I willed energy into the mechanical hand’s fingers, and with a snip, the scissors I’d created soundlessly cut thro...