Blue Core

Shayma ran southeast, paralleling the spine of the mountains. She had a compass in her [Phantom Pocket] but didn't need it yet, not with such a ready landmark. Once she got away from the mana-deprived region I was in, we started seeing signs of habitation. Unfortunately, not promising ones. A few farms she ran across were abandoned. Not yet overgrown, but thoroughly looted. The crops weren't exactly rotting in the fields but there seemed to be several weeks of neglect at the least.

“Everyone who lived here has probably been fed to the dungeon,” Shayma said grimly when I remarked on it. “When I was still in the city they’d mostly left the people there alone and got all the slaves from the countryside. I've heard that closer to the coast it's completely overrun by the dungeon monsters and everything that grows is inedible to normal humans.”

“That's pretty awful. I didn't realize the mage-kings had monster minions, but of course they do.”

“I don't know they have any human servants at all. Why would they bother?”

“What about the Flame Knights?”

“Mercenaries,” she replied with disgust. “There’s one particular group that’s been a trouble magnet for ages, and with this...I'm sure they'll get what's coming to them.”

I wasn't sure why he'd need mercenaries, though if the capture party was representative of the monsters he could make, I could see it. Only the shadow guy had seemed to be even marginally intelligent. But intelligent or not, the burned remnants of a village over the next hill served as a grim reminder that they were powerful and ruthless.

She ran on, in shorter segments now, stopping whenever she spotted a trace of civilization. Mostly there were just abandoned buildings, and occasionally the traces of boots or feet tramping through dirt and gravel roads. The abandonment was eerie, but eventually she found fresh tracks. “All my Skills and I don’t have [Tracking],” she said wryly. “Pretty sure these are monsters, though.”

It was clear enough that a large group had gone through, trampling down the dirt road, and some of the prints were too large and too deep for a human. The rest were too muddled for me, but I trusted Shayma knew what she was talking about. “I guess you might as well follow them and see what’s up. I don’t imagine they’re up to any good.”

“No.” Her mouth formed a grim line as she started to [Ghost Step] alongside the road, staying where even her faint form would be lost among the trees and brush. Paradoxically, it took more stamina to constantly stutter it like that than it did to just run, so by the time she caught up with the group she was depleted to maybe a quarter of her total. But catch them she did, a group of monsters assembling within sight of a palisaded town.

They were goblins.

That seemed pretty unimaginative to me, considering how fantastic the rest of the fantasy pieces I’d seen were, though to be fair, one of them was a dragon. These weren’t exactly warty green things, either, but rather half-sized, dun-colored, deformed humanoids. Their arms were too long and their legs were too short, their heads too big and their faces lumpen. But they could be called goblins, and the overlay agreed when Shayma got within range of them.

There were also two big guys, who might be called ogres but had entirely too many mole features and were built like gorillas, alternating between quadrupedal and bipedal movement. When one of those beauties came within range of [Genius Loci], it was identified as a moil, which sent me back to the first time I’d met Shayma. I couldn’t physically shudder, but I felt a the urge anyway from the combination of anger and disquiet, considering what I knew those things meant.

So, twenty goblins and two moils, all of which were at least mundanely armed and armored and with an average level of four, versus whoever was inside that town. Neither of us could see how well they were defended from her perch, though. “So what do you judge the chances of those people?”

“Not good,” she whispered back, crouched far away from the encamped monsters. “Even with those defenses, if they don’t have Classers or adventurers, there’s not much they can do. But...how do I deal with this many enemies?”

“They’re all above level one, too. A lot are three or four. So let’s think.” I noticed she didn’t even consider not helping, which I approved of. Since she wasn’t me, I was pretty sure she could without worrying about any Bargain shenanigans, and of course I could help her however I wanted because she was mine.

“If I could have gained a few levels first,” Shayma muttered, frowning. “Maybe I can lead them off? But they wouldn’t send everyone…”

“I think I have an idea, assuming those things are capable of fear?”

“They’re pretty cowardly,” Shayma confirmed. “Well, I don’t know about the big things, but they look pretty dumb so maybe?”

“Okay, then I’m pretty sure your illusions will do the trick.” I was pretty certain nobody in this world knew any of the sources I was drawing inspiration from, though maybe they had experience with something similar in reality. Which might help or hinder the strategy.

Shayma crept up to the edge of the scraggly woods, putting a better eye on the group. They’d erected a simple camp out of range of anything the village could throw at them, which made me think they had patrols out. Otherwise, they’d probably just rush the palisade. I wasn’t going to complain though, the longer they stayed in place, the better.

The first illusion took the form of a goblin that was an exact copy of one of the lookouts, which emerged from the woods and walked directly up to its original. While everyone was staring, it calmly unsheathed its short sword and swept it across the throat of the goblin lookout, sending it gurgling to the ground.

What actually killed him was Shayma using [Ghost Step] and [Illusory Presence] to overlap her own illusion for a moment before retreating using the same skill. There was a beat, then uproar. Shayma had the illusion roar back - by having it split down the middle from head to gut, revealing a vast and toothy maw that screeched with a wet and hideous gurgling. Then the illusory aberration fled back into the forest and vanished as Shayma dropped the spell.

Not that anyone was eager to follow.

Shayma remained crouched and nigh-invisible under [Illusory Presence], which barely cost any mana to maintain, though her little show had eaten maybe a quarter of her total. Which was fine, the whole operation depended on light touches anyway. The lead goblin eventually calmed down the rank-and-file with shouting and expletives, then packed off five of the remaining goblins with a moil to find the nonexistent monster. Since it had run off away from where Shayma was hiding, we weren’t worried.

As soon as the patrol reached the edge of the woods, another gurgling roar sounded from a different direction. Then a second one, from yet another direction. The goblins hesitated, but with another roar from their leader they pressed onward, stomping around entirely innocent brush.

Shayma was grinning widely. Not that I blamed her, it was pretty fun to lead these things around by the nose.

The next move was when the patrol came back empty-handed. They didn’t go far, so it didn’t take long, and all Shayma did was cover one of the patrol goblins with a glamour to make him look exactly like the leader that had sent him off. At that range, and on a living target, it actually wasn’t perfect, but that just made it better.

The leader snapped out an order and a few goblins jumped forward to stick the unlucky mark with their short swords, felling him before he could react. One more illusion then, to make one of the attacking goblins look like he was forming a maw like the vanished abomination from earlier, and the moil simply pulped him with the oversized club it had.

There was shouting and screaming as the goblins and moils started to turn on each other. “Would our master Vok Nal wish us to turn on each other?” The leader bellowed, which quieted the screaming for a moment - until Shayma spent the last of her mana on one particularly panicked fellow, making him see for a moment that everyone looked like the leader.

That one stabbed the goblin next to him and ran, screaming. That started a general melee, and Shayma generated a few monstrous roars from the surroundings before creeping away to start regaining mana.

“That was...easier than I expected? Also, that was amazing and terrifying.”

“They’re not gone yet. You’ll have to catch their patrols returning and do something about the moils. If nothing else maybe pit-trap them.”

“I think I can take them, if I catch them one at a time.”

“Really? They’re pretty big.” I wouldn’t have gone at them head-on, if I were in Shayma’s place. But then, I actually didn’t know her Skills as well as she did, even if I had certain ideas about how to use them.

“Their arms don’t bend enough to reach the back of their neck. I’d just have to get on top of them and I’d have plenty of time for a good swing.”

“Huh. I didn’t notice that.”

“My parents are adventurers. Not famous or anything, but I learned that sort of stuff from them.”

“Are? Present tense? Where are they now?”

“They were off in Nivir’s Great Dungeon when the invasion happened.” She sighed. “I’m more worried they’re worried about me than I am that they’re in trouble. They could be anywhere though. Hopefully they’re still in Nivir.”

I really wished my grasp of local geography was better. But I was pretty sure Nivir was the kingdom sort-of on the other side of the mountain range. There was a break in it further south, a pass a hundred miles wide like someone had flattened the mountains with an enormous fist. Considering Ansae’s stats, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that it had been someone on her level. Nivir was probably as yet unmolested by the mage-kings, but without direct communication it was difficult to be sure.

“Yeah, definitely. Seems to be a mess over here and it’s going to take a while to clean up.”

“If it is even possible to 'clean up’ at this point.” Shayma said, glum.

“Believe me, countries have recovered from a lot worse. Soon as you push these guys out, you'll probably find it's not as bad as it looks, anyway.” I didn't know if the platitudes were helpful, but they weren't empty. The countryside hadn't been burned and salted or anything, so the long term prospects were probably okay. Not that it'd be easy.

“I suppose, but it just seems like...so big a thing.”

“True, but a lot of people are going to be helping.”

Shayma didn't reply for a moment, ears twitching. “Patrol,” she hissed, and started forward with slow and careful movement. She'd probably end up getting [Stealth] or something pretty soon.

Despite the fact that I had access to her senses, and within [Genius Loci] I could see every sparrow that fell, she was better at spotting these things than I was. Probably because I had no idea what to listen for. Experience counted, and not the kind that showed up on the overlay.

They were headed back toward the base camp Shayma had disrupted, and appeared somewhat disturbed by the sounds of screaming and moaning from the survivors of whatever had happened after Shayma had left. The leader of the patrol made a few hand signs and they drew their weapons, moving forward quickly.

She didn’t need my suggestions this time. When the patrol broke out of cover, weapons drawn as they surveyed the dead and injured, she focused on one of the moils. Her mana reserves dropped worryingly quickly, but she was rewarded as, with just a few dregs of it left, the moil roared and ran at the incoming patrol, swinging its weapon. They scattered, the goblin leader shouted, and the second moil went after the first, the two creatures trading blows with their clubs. None of the remaining goblins joined in, several of them simply running back down the road, away from the encampment as the monsters bellowed and smashed each other with tooth-jarring cracks.

[Genius Loci] counted a solid twelve goblin corpses, which left five after discounting the ones who had fled. The leader goblin remained, as did a group that I mentally labeled as his posse, who were watching the fighting moils without getting too close. Shayma began to creep around behind them, I figured to try and ambush them, but before she could either get into position or figure out where she wanted to [Ghost Step], one of the moils broke the leg of the other with a sickening crack, sending it toppling to the ground.

Apparently it was not the one the goblins were hoping would win, since they immediately scattered off into the brush. The losing moil keened a hideous squeal-cry, bleeding thick black-red blood into the dirt, and promptly had its head pulped by the winner. As it started to lumber off in the direction of the vanished goblins, Shayma scooped a sword up from the ground and ran at its back.

I knew she had [Physical Superiority] but it was still a hell of a leap, and she buried the shortsword right in the back of its neck with a wet squelch. The moil simply crumpled, and I watched on its Status as its health simply drained away. “Okay, wow, that was impressive.”

She ducked back into the brush with [Ghost Step] before replying, creeping along with [Illusionary Presence] until her mana ran low again. Her stamina was pretty low too, but I thought that was pretty good for effectively having defeated an entire raiding party. Even if she only killed two herself. “It was actually pretty dumb,” she admitted, fingers shaking only slightly. She was a lot calmer than I might have expected in the situation, but then, she was the daughter of adventurers and had been through a war. “I should have waited to ambush it. But I just don’t have Skills to do much direct damage yet.”

“Do you need it? I think that turned out pretty well.” A few moments later, after it was clear none of the raiding party knew where she was, the overlay reported something new.

Shayma Ell has gained combat experience.

Shayma Ell has gained [Trickster] experience. Calculating…

  Advancement to level 2 available.

  Advancement to level 3 available

  Advancement to level 4 available.

  Advancement to level 5 available.

  Shayma Ell has begun forming Ability [Stealth].

“...hey, Shayma, when people level up, how does it happen? Do you see your Status or what?”

“No...usually it takes some time to really sink in, a meal and some sleep at the very least. Except for breakthrough levels, where your Class has the chance to evolve.”

“Huh. I just got a bunch of notifications for you. It looks like you can’t level up until you come back here. You need access to the Core...I assume it’s because you’re a dungeon spirit.” The bit about evolving Classes also answered some questions. Some of the more absurd Classes I’d seen were probably second or third tier evolutions, rather than something a person became when they were a teenager.

“I guess I’m going to be level one this whole trip.” She sighed.

“Given what you just did at level one, I don’t think that’ll be an issue.”

“I suppose not.” Shayma took a breath, let it out, and then stood. “Still would have been nice. You know that first find got me to level three as a [Seeker] and then I didn’t level again for ages. I never did get to level ten, even.”

“I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem now. That group got you to level 5. It counted combat and Class experience separately.”

“Five!?” I couldn’t tell if she was more surprised or pleased. “That’s...well, that will be nice when I can get that advancement.”

“I’ll see what I can do to put together a celebration. Though it’ll be awful difficult since I can’t actually speak to Iniri.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something. But speaking of Iniri, I need to let that town know she’s alive, and point them your way. No use having farms without farmers. Or seeds.”

Shayma was a lot more driven than I was. She was already focused on the next thing while I was mostly lazing about, watching her be awesome. Admittedly, my standards of lazing were different than they used to be, since I was excavating into the mountains, tweaking my mana engines, expanding the [Warding]-protected area Iniri’s party could hunt in (and watching them do so), and shifting the standing stones to match. All while watching her journey and her fighting.

Actually I still felt pretty vulnerable, given how much of me was just under the surface. With Expansion I didn’t need as much room as one might think, but I still did need a lot in absolute terms, and I wanted that lot to be well protected. I wanted to put the primary rooms, and my core, deep inside the mountain and just have feelers outward. Eventually, I could put a tunnel straight through the mountain range and, who knows? Maybe even charge a fee for the shortcut. At the very least I’d have access to both sides.

But none of this was particularly strenuous work. I could be doing more detail-oriented things, like trying to expand my repertoire of [Dungeon Ecology] flora or inventing new trap designs, but that could come later. Besides, I already had a new defensive measure I was ready to test. I’d even gotten experience from [Defender’s Superiority] for it. All I lacked were actual enemies, and I could hardly complain about that.

The people manning the palisade watched Shayma as she approached along the road. I doubted they could see what had happened with the monster's force from that distance, save that they'd fought and scattered, so they probably couldn't tell that she was responsible. Which was fine. What sort of Trickster is obvious about these things?

“Identity yourself!” One of the men guarding the palisade shouted, unnecessarily so, once she had reached the defensive structure.

“I am a messenger from Queen Iniri,” Shayma said, producing a royal seal from her [Phantom Pocket]. This much was rehearsed, though she was quite capable of being proper and formal on her own. “I wish to speak to your elders.”

According to the overlay, this fellow was a level seven [Farmer], and the others within range had similar civilian Classes. [Rancher], [Carpenter], and [Farmer] were the three Classes ten men had between them, and a young woman behind the barricade came close enough that she registered as a level twelve [Herbalist]. There wasn't a single combat Skill between them, and the only weapons they had were actual farm implements. I'd thought with the palisade maybe they would have had a chance against the monsters, but maybe not.

There was a cloaked figure with a bow on the roof of one of the buildings though, so there was at least one person who could defend properly. At the moment they were focused on Shayma, and I kept a wary eye out in case they decided she was a threat.

The man clearly decided this was above his pay grade and hurried back into town. A few minutes later the cloaked figure moved, dropping down to the ground and vanishing inside the building, only to return outside a moment later and head toward the palisade.

“Glenn Weald, Level six Ranger,” I muttered in her ear. “Looks like he's sort of in charge.”

She flicked an ear in acknowledgement, peering up at the man as he appeared on the palisade.

“You say you're from Queen Iniri,” he said cautiously. “But Meil is still held by Vok Nal when last we heard.”

“It still is,” Shayma said promptly. “She has found a more defensive position. She asks for her subjects to join her, to prepare to retake Meil and her kingdom both. She regrets the ravages you have endured in this struggle, but this new holding is secure and free from monsters.”

I didn't much like being called a holding, but it was probably better to not try and convince people of my nature immediately. Iniri and I would have words if she didn't explain it later, though. Shayma, poor thing, was caught between us, but for the moment I didn't push. Iniri did have a point.

Glenn grunted. “Just because you have that seal doesn’t meant Iniri sent you,” he pointed out. “Especially if Vok Nal got his hands on her.”

I would have argued. Shayma just looked up at him and smiled without replying.

“...but he could have just crushed us with that force we saw on the hill. And there’s no way we can know this new place actually is any better.”

Shayma’s smile grew wider.

“But it’s not like we can actually hold here if he decides to send anyone to take the village.” He frowned at her. “All right, come on in.”

She crossed the palisade with [Ghost Step], making most of those defending it flinch back, but Glenn only frowned more. “Classer?”

“I’m Queen Iniri’s messenger.”

“...all right, come this way.” He hopped down and headed into the village.

“That was amazing. Where’d you learn to do that?”

“From Iniri,” Shayma whispered back. “She just looks at people and doesn’t say anything and it works. It’s harder than it looks!”

“Well, it definitely works.” After that, she was too deep in the village to talk back to me. There were too many people who might hear.

The elders weren’t actually very old. In fact, one was the young woman from before, the [Herbalist], and the only one who seemed particularly aged was a thirtieth-level [Soldier] who was far too wizened to hold a sword and shield. Though he was probably the one who suggested the defenses. The others were a [Farmer] and a [Merchant], and Glenn made five.

“She claims to be from Queen Iniri, and that there is a shelter that we can go to in order to be safe from Vok Nal’s monsters,” Glenn reported. “It sounds too good to be true, but I suspect she’s the one who drove off the goblins, so there’s probably some kernel of truth.”

“By herself?” The soldier peered at Shayma appraisingly.

“Classer,” Glenn said with a shrug.

“We would like to go somewhere safer, at least for now, but we have children and the elderly, and not many combat levels between us.” The [Herbalist] said. “Are you offering to escort us?”

“Actually...I can teleport them, through you. But you wouldn’t be able to move much since the construct would be connected to you.” I should have thought of that earlier, but it wasn’t until Shayma asked me to make her armor that I’d really started considering what it meant that I could act through her.

Shayma’s ear flicked again. “I can take care of your transportation,” she told them. “But you should gather all the supplies, especially seeds and livestock, that you can lay hands on. There are fields that need tending.”

“It’s going to be awful slow going with that long a baggage train,” the [Merchant] objected.

“Not a problem,” Shayma said confidently. “I’ll be teleporting everyone.”

“There’s over two hundred of us here!”

“Good. We have a lot of space to fill.”

“Classers,” Glenn muttered.

Personally, I thought Shayma was doing great. I’d always had the urge to explain or even over-explain, which I knew worked against me for situations like these, but I couldn’t help myself. Shayma clearly could, and was more convincing thereby.

“May I see the seal?” The [Soldier] asked, and Shayma held it up. Producing it from [Phantom Pocket] made it look like she was pulling it from thin air, which was a neat trick. He stared at it a moment, then grunted. “Looks real.”

“I think we dun have a choice,” said the [Farmer], who hadn’t spoken yet. It sounded like he was chewing his words, each one coming out slowly and reluctantly. “We dun have Classers, sorry James,” he shot at look at the [Soldier], who waved it away. “And we dun have a way to do our jobs. ‘n our crops are all ruined. Might as well.”

“...very well.” The [Herbalist] looked over to Shayma. “It’ll take some time to organize everything. We can offer only a little bit of food and drink…”

“I have my own supplies,” Shayma said, taking the hint. “When you are ready, simply tell me.” Glenn got up to escort her back out, letting her take a post at the palisade, and as soon as she had her face to herself Shayma let out a long breath. “Oof. That was harder than the combat! I’m not sure I’m cut out for this stuff.” She kept her voice low.

“No way, that was great. I can’t wait until you’re representing me instead! So aloof!” Shayma made a face, and I relented a little. Though I still thought what she was doing was perfect. “I mean, just when you’re being official. If I’m a Power I’m all mysterious and mighty anyway, right?”

“Not if you talk like that,” she said, a smile creeping back onto her face.

“It’s probably a good thing I can’t talk to anyone else. People wouldn’t take me seriously.”

“And they take me seriously?”

“Take it from me, you’re quite convincing. And since you actually can do what you say, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“I suppose.” She glanced back at the village, where the news was starting to percolate through. What had been people essentially barricaded indoors became a subdued swarm of activity. Carts and crates and bags appeared as if by magic as people started packing to leave. Or perhaps it was magic; surely [Farmer] or [Rancher] Classes would have some sort of Skill that helped them move their goods. There were definitely people carrying more than would be humanly possible, here and there. “...I’m glad I got here before the monsters did. Anything else...there wouldn’t be much left to rescue.”

“I think the saying is ‘war is hell.’ I guess this is more of an occupation but...yeah. The sooner we can take back Meil the better.”

Since I’d finally have some people for the fields I’d made, I went through and double-checked them while the villagers were packing up. Comparing it to the village, there were some obvious things I’d missed. For example, a well. I hadn’t put much infrastructure in place, since I didn’t even know if they’d want to live in the field area or the town, but for there to be absolutely nothing might be disheartening. So, wells, stables, silos. Easy enough, now that I had practice making buildings.

It seemed that the force Shayma had taken care of was the only one in the area, since neither she nor I could spot anything lurking about. The entire village was surrounded by a cleared area, followed by scrubby brush and small trees before turning into actual forest, so there wasn’t any way to sneak up on us.

Actually that was dumb. This world has invisibility and illusion, of course there were ways. Which was probably why that group of goblins had a patrol out, since they couldn’t know absolutely there wasn’t a Classer or something in the village. Heck, even without combat skills a competent ambush could do serious damage. And had done, in fact.

“So how exactly are you going to do this teleportation thing?” Shayma asked, flexing the hand that I’d covered in stone before.

“Probably just have you sit somewhere and put your hands on the ground. I don’t imagine growing stone out of your palms would would be comfortable, so I’ll just use boring tendrils to take over some ground and grow it from there.”

“That doesn’t sound much more comfortable!”

“At least you’ll be sitting down! Besides, it shouldn’t feel too different from manifesting things from my inventory. That’s not like your [Phantom Pocket], it actually uses dungeon-stuff to transport things.”

“I hadn’t even noticed.” She flicked her tail, looking out over where a swarm of children were being bustled into the central square by, presumably, grandparents. “You know, I’ve seen dungeons in action, in the cities the mage-kings took, and you’re a lot better at manipulating your...stuff.”

“Thank you! I’ve worked hard to become so.” Given that I had [Customization], I should be better. It bothered me that the Skill wasn’t ranked, though, so I was stuck with what I had until I could merge it with another Skill. Which Skill in particular it could be merged with hadn’t occurred to me yet, but maybe the next time I got some Skills I could figure it out.

Glenn came by to pull the sentries from their posts, and nodded to Shayma. “We’re ready. What should we expect on the other side?”

“I’ll put them in the middle of town, in front of Iniri’s manor.”

“You’ll come out in a lakeside town. Queen Iniri’s dwelling is the three-story manor with her flag, but I cannot guarantee she will be there to greet you.” She hopped down and followed Glenn to the center of the village before settling down cross-legged and putting her palms on the packed earth of the road. “All right, Blue.”

I pushed Boring Tendrils out through her hands and made the surrounding area mine. First came a stone circle to act as a foundation, then a series of pillars to anchor the mana wrap I needed to do in order to confine the teleportation effect. To the villagers, it appeared as if it had simply risen out of the ground, though the stone came from my stocks. Back in the living space, I flickered the ceiling to get people’s attention, and then ran lights around the receiving area. Without Shayma, that was about as much as I could do to keep them informed.

“Merciful gods!” Someone said. Children pointed. Glenn growled about Classers under his breath. For the heck of it I decorated the pillar and the pedestal, abstract spirals and designs, so it looked more like a proper magical artifact than just a partial gazebo. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it actually glow, though that might have been a touch overboard.

“This tickles!” Shayma hissed under her breath. “Hurry up!”

I had to laugh. Of all the reactions, I wasn’t expecting that one. It was made even worse by the mein Shayma had adopted, where she couldn’t even fidget. “All right, tell them to get going.” Inside the living area, some of the mid-range Classers had joined Joce at the edge of the light ring I’d made, wary but not panicked.

To make the teleportation field large enough to transport the carts and wagons and beasts of burden, as well as establish it so quickly, sucked up something over five thousand mana. And that didn’t count the upkeep. Unless I was being horribly inefficient, this wasn’t something even a Classer could do on the spur of the moment.

“Proceed,” Shayma instructed them, and Glenn was the first to step into the circle. He vanished with a faint shimmer of blue, appearing on the other end at precisely the same moment.

“Identify yourself,” barked Taln, a thirtieth-level [Captain].

“Glenn Weald, [Ranger] for Anton Village.” He glanced around spotting Iniri’s flag hanging from her manor. Two kirin rampant, a tower between them. “The village itself is coming behind me.”

“Ah, so Shayma found you?” Taln relaxed, though I wasn’t sure why he expected me to dump an enemy into town. Better safe than sorry, I supposed.

“The fox-girl? Aye. Hell of a Classer you sent us.”

“..ah, yes indeed.”

The rest of the village started appearing as they stepped into the field on the dais, flicking from village to town and looking about with wonder as they appeared under the pseudo-sky. A child, predictably, escaped from her mother to run down to the lakeshore, and I was glad it wasn’t my job to try and wrangle an extra two hundred people. I was glad I didn’t have to wrangle even two.

In all, it took no more than twenty or so minutes for the entire caravan to pile through, by the end of which Iniri herself made an appearance. It was actually pretty strange to watch all the villagers kneel, and even stranger to watch Iniri receive her due and give them a little speech. For some reason goblins and teleports were easier to swallow than actual monarchy.

James the retired [Soldier] was the last one through, and with that I dispelled the teleport field, pulling everything back through Shayma’s link. The stone teleportation circle melted away, finally freeing her to stand up again.

“Why does it have to tickle?” She grumbled, smoothing out the fur of her tail. “That’s just cruel.”

“Was it really that bad?”

“Not after you finished building. But being stuck like that was just strange. It was like my hands were just too heavy to lift.”

“To be fair, it was a half-ton of stone or so. That’s kind of heavy.”

“It is!” She stretched, shaking her hands as she looked around the abandoned village. “This place seems all forlorn, now. How are they doing?”

“They’re getting a speech from Iniri. They’re fine. I’ll just have to keep an eye on them for a while to figure out what changes I need to make to the farms.”

“Oh, right. Well, hopefully we got them close?” She eyed the purpling sky. “You know, I think I’m going to go ahead and stay here for tonight. Tents are fine, but nothing beats an actual roof.”

“I would agree, but only when I’m the roof in question.”

Shayma grinned suddenly, a flash of teeth. “Don’t tell me you’re going to be jealous of a building.”

“Hush, you.”