Grand Saint Alloy

Tristan wandered around the camp after the duel, quickly realizing something. He had never been given a bunk in the barracks, or at the very least he had not been told where it was. In fact, the only time he had slept in the fort itself, the barracks had been under construction or he had been in the hospital.

So back to the hospital he went. He was unsure how long Shadow Fist would be out, but no one would bother him if he simply read in the waiting room. Normally less severely injured people would wait here while the medical team dealt with the more serious cases. When he sat on the padded bench and opened his book, the room was empty. Well, there were no patients, he had to tell the young nurse that he was healthy, and not to bother him. Aside from the confused looks of the staff, he was left alone.

People came and went, most needing nothing more than disinfectant to avoid a cut going rotten. Tristan ignored them while he read. Despite the books only having fifty pages, a lot was packed a lot into them, while avoiding some crucial details. For example, the glasslike reservoirs that Hadrid had were retrieved from something called a soul revenant. What was a soul revenant? No idea. Unfortunately, Tristan needed to know how to get those reservoirs, but the book assumed that soul revenants were common knowledge.

Tristan paused, he should probably stop complaining. It was quite good luck that the literature of an extinct civilization was still legible at all. Maybe Hadrid translated it. Regardless, he would need to ask the alchemist the next time he saw him.

The reservoirs could be filled with a force if one incorporated them into the growth of a plant. It seemed that it would filter out the force that was foreign to the plant’s natural state. Tristan sighed, gardening. He was going to have to take up gardening. There would be plenty of time later, after the war, he assumed that there would be dramatically less violence to go around. Hopefully, he could reach tier three or four and simply go do his own thing. Even if that thing was boring, he would literally have to watch grass grow.

Someone sat down across from him. Tristan almost told the nurse to go away when he saw that it was Eve. He frowned, did something happen? Eve had puffy and bloodshot eyes like she had been crying.

“Do you trust Kale?” Eve blurted out.

The odd question surprised Tristan, but he had not kept his amicable relationship with Kale a secret, “Yes, he is a very good man. He is one of the very few who deals genuinely with others.”

Eve took a deep breath and asked “Do you trust his team leader?”

“Do you mean Conni or Siren,” Tristan asked, then realized that was a dumb question, “Never mind, I trust them both. Why are you asking?”

“Lesly and I have become friends over the last few months,” Eve looked at Tristan like she expected some kind of response. For his part, Tristan just assumed that all girls did girl things, so it was not weird for girls to be friends. Eve took another deep breath and let it out slowly, “She told me why we ended up at the River Caldera.”

Tristan closed his book, he had not realized that had been intentional. He leaned forward and asked, “Was Lesly trying to start a war?”

That was the only option. There was no way it would turn out differently, Elder River would not be able to pass on a tier six artifact. Especially when it was headed to his mortal enemy. The only way a war would be avoided would be if had helped them deliver the artifact. Instead, he had both tried to steal the artifact and stop the crab plague. The Lake Caldera had tried to destroy the seeds as well.

Eve nodded, “Yes, that was the goal.”

“So you’ll go back to your grandfather?” Tristan asked. Most people would ask who a war would even benefit, but Tristan honestly did not care if a bunch of people he had never met killed each other. It was not his fault they were bloodthirsty.

“No,” Eve shook her head, and fidgeted a little, “I am going back to the mine with you.”

Tristan could only stare at her for a few moments before inspecting her puffy bloodshot eyes. There was only one reason Eve would want to follow him to the mine, “Have you been drinking?”

Eve slapped Tristan, “You, insufferable jerk. I’m not drunk.”

The slap actually hurt. It got Tristan right in the jaw where he had to extract the root to his shattered canine, “Ow, explain why a sane princess would want to go and frolic underground with a bunch of dirty sweaty men.”

“I can’t go back to my grandfather. Regis survived, and is the most powerful card in his hand as he is the most powerful civil protector,” Eve glared at Tristan who was motioning for her to get to the point, “Regis wants me dead if my grandfather shelters me, then the man will switch sides. Then it will be Kerri against all the remaining civil protectors.”

“I admit that scenario is quite pleasant to imagine,” Tristan said, “Wait remaining? How many are dead?”

“There are only three left. Regis’s brother was killed by Hadrid and the Plains Caldera’s was killed by a ghost crab,” Eve said, “The River and Lake Caldera’s cannot afford to lose the last real powerhouse they have.”

“Well, sucks for Grandpa, but why frolic with sweaty men? You do have other options, Hadrid for example,” Tristan said.

“I don’t frolic. Hadrid is as unreliable as one can get,” Eve said, “Lesly said that Kale has the disposition to protect me from the Forest Caldera, while still keeping Regis from attacking the River Caldera. It’s a win-win.” Eve gave a forced smile, “This Siren can even protect me if Regis came, at least from what Lesly told me.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow. So she intended to hide in what was effectively his home from the man with the strongest fire kern in the Caldera. On second thought, Luke would jump at the chance to crack his kern on Regis. It was odd that the mine would become a second locus of power in addition to Alchehall. Elder Forest was not aware of what was going on beneath his nose.

“Will Regis show up at the mine?” Tristan asked.

Eve winced, “It’s a possibility. But if we are quiet-,”

“Make it a certainty, if you can set the date of his arrival, then you have yourself a deal,” Tristan said, “Well, Conni still has to agree.”

Eve teared up, “Thank you, I don’t know how to thank you.”

Tristan shrugged, “I don’t know why you are thanking me, Olfred is standard issue there. Most are just one or two tiers lower.”

“Oh, that nice man who saved us when Vin burned the bridges?” Eve asked brightly.

Tristan could only stare, half in shock, “That was one of his better moments.”

“When do we leave?” Eve asked, “I already have everything packed.”

“What do you mean leave? I’m not going anywhere,” Tristan said.

He intended to fight while he had the opportunity. If he could crack his kern a few more times, then he would be happy. Opportunities like this were uncommon, as violence tended to be frowned upon. Right now he had thousands of crabs and a war brewing, medics would be close at hand to save the lives of the warriors. It was perfect.

Perhaps it was wrong to ignore right and wrong, however, most of these people had a reaction to Tristan on a sliding scale from apathy to hatred. He cared about who had the better benefits. His entire existence hinged on offering a service that was too valuable to throw away. Right now that could be war, silver devils were pretty good at it.

Eve’s face fell, almost making him feel bad. Tristan almost gave in to his sense of pity, when the door to the infirmary was swung open. Shadow Fist stepped out. Sticky poultices covered the decay sores and his wrist was in a cast, but other wise he looked fine.

When his eyes met Tristans he stomped over and said, “By order of the Elder of the Forest Caldera, you are to return to the mine.”

“Why? What’s in it for me?” Tristan asked.

Eve seemed uncomfortable, which was fair, it was an uncomfortable scene. Shadow Fist seemed shocked that Tristan dared to talk back to him. Tristan sat passively with his arms crossed protectively over his binder. He was not worried about Shadow Fist, his father was hurt, and Tristan had fully recovered his essence in the last half day.

“Because your elder told you to,” Shadow Fist said.

“My uncle is an idiot,” Tristan said, “Now what’s in it for me, or did you intend to do this by force.”

Tristan knew very well that the goal was to force him to return. That plan would have worked if he was still tier one, but now, they would need a high-quality tier three to force him. He knew they needed him and was willing to return if they gave him something of equal or higher quality to jump to tier three. Tristan suspected they would not pay it.

However, Shadow Fist gritted his teeth, “What do you want.”

Tristan flipped out his sword breaker and pointed to the marble at its hilt, “I want as many of these as you have, I want information on soul revenants, and how to harvest these reservoirs.”

Shadow Fist seemed surprised at the request, he had been expecting something hard to meet like money, “I think I can work with most of that.”