Not (Just) A Mage Lord Isekai-Chapter 65 - Loud

Helping Nexxa clean up turned out to be more involved than I expected. She hadn't been very discriminate in dealing with the 'scavengers'.

"You know, I think you killed more goats than you did… I'm not even sure what these are. Some sort of wolf, maybe?"

"Gnarlhounds," Nexxa replied, gently nudging one of the heads to the side with her boot to reveal its face. "Nasty if they get near water crops. They're only tier one, but they tend to roam in big packs, tearing up anything with even a little water affinity. Least that's what Hash says."

"Whatever they are, they're ugly," I said as I used Sculpt Stone to create a carrying pole for yet another set of monsters, encasing them when necessary. Soon as I was done, a pair of villagers dropped a rope, looping it around the ends.

Then they swung back to the Waygate with it held between them.

"That still feels so… wrong," I said as I watched them go, swinging through the forest as though it were a highway.

"Have you seen the way they walk?" Nexxa asked with a laugh. "I've seen monsters with one leg that could walk straighter."

I nodded, and we continued on.

"So," I said a while later as the last of the goats was hoisted into the air. "Much as I appreciate having you here, how long you think you're gonna hang around?"

Nexxa didn't answer at first, moving to lean up against one of the massive trees, her static shield crackling. We were right at the edge of destruction, and the scent of freshly broken wood was nearly overwhelming. Nexxa hadn’t wanted to deal with the smell, so she didn’t. "I mean… it's probably fine if I stay for a while, right?"

"Hash is the only one back in your domain?"

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"Yep, yep," Nexxa confirmed, though the pep felt a bit forced.

"You guys having trouble again?"

"Nah, Hash is great. Super great, he’s teaching me so much stuff that my old… nevermind," Nexxa said, letting out a long sigh. "It's just… when I get back…"

"When you get back…" I repeated, leaning against the tree next to her.

"People. There are gonna be actual people coming, Perry. And they're gonna expect me to be… well, a Magus Dominus," Nexxa said, waving her arm over her head. "Not sure I'm ready for it."

I blinked, slowly turning my head towards her.

She gave me an almost awkward grin, chuckling softly. "Silly right? It's just that… magic is easy. Solve for affinity, and all that. People though. I’ve tried people before, and it didn’t… What if they think I'm lame? What if they don't listen? What if… what if I can't protect them?"

Was not ready for that. Not from Nexxa. Guess being a prodigy didn’t mean you couldn’t worry ‘bout things. Leaning back, I looked up into the canopy, where the villagers who were under my care were still swinging back and forth, harvesting a monster bigger than a city bus. People who expected the same things out of me.

I didn't have any magical answers for Nexxa. She'd been as prepared as I was. Probably more so.

"Does it matter?" I finally replied.

"Of course it matters," Nexxa huffed.

"I mean… you'll do your best. It's what you do, Nexxa," I said, tilting my head to look at her. "And… I wish I could say you'll save them all. But…"

"But?" The uncertainty in her voice made me hesitate.

Yet if sharing my own burdens helped her… "But… I couldn't even take charge of my own village without… I failed my first night here. Even got mad at Calbern for no… it was a mess."

"Ah, Front," Nexxa said, squeezing my shoulder.

"Sorry. Just… I don't have the answers. I barely know what I'm doing," I said, waving at the villagers. "If I didn't delegate, I'd be a complete mess."

"The books did say that was important," Nexxa said, holding her hand up, a spark bouncing between fingertips.

"You should get the Captain to find someone you can pay to help. You've gotta have a garden of Thorns," I said, rubbing my fingers together like I was pinching one of the golden coins.

"Drowning in Waves, actually. They don't call them Thorns here, remember?" Nexxa asked, bumping my shoulder. "But you're right. I just… what if they don't respect me?"

"Make the Captain bring three of em and have them fight it out," I said with a shrug.

"Not the worst idea. I think I’ll make them wear little hats," Nexxa said, her head tilted back. "In the morning."

"Huh?" I replied at the seeming non sequitur.

"I'll head back in the morning. Should probably sleep first. That's kinda why I smacked into the… Rift, I hope that wasn't actually a dragon."

"Uh… yeah, I guess that might make it trickier to get back."

"I'll be more careful this time. Shouldn't be that hard to avoid something that big if my eyes aren’t trying to slam shut," Nexxa said with a rueful chuckle.

I chuckled as a call from nearby alerted us to the fact the villagers had finished chopping up the mist-rex. It would still need to be split into smaller pieces, but that could be done later, once the village needed them. They'd fit up the shaft we'd made, if only barely.

When Nexxa and I arrived at the clearing where the mist-rex had died, I let out a low whistle. The villagers were packing up everything. Even the busted trees were being sorted into piles. One of the villagers was using a smaller tight woven net to gather up leaves and other stuff from the forest floor.

Right above the Waygate, someone had erected a swaying platform, with a rope ladder that led down right to the door. There were even hammocks strung out amongst the trees. It was like they’d extended Tetherfall out from the portal, nets, ropes and all.

"Hey boss, your sister sure is loud, huh?," Tanis asked as I approached, putting one hand to his ear. Then he swelled up, a smile stretching his lips before I could answer. “By the way, boss, good news.”

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We've got a bunch who want to be guards. Your buddy said ‘they will prove adequate sentries until I have time to instill proper awareness,’ whatever that means. Think he wanted to make sure they weren’t messy," Tanis said, thumbing over his shoulder at a group of villagers who were hanging on a nearby net, watching us. “Figured we’d keep ‘em here, where they could practice keeping watch.”

I noted that the young man Selvi had smacked earlier was among them. Dethi, I was pretty sure she'd said. He didn't exactly look pleased to be there, with his arms crossed, and his face scrunched up in a sour expression. The rest though, were watching Tanis and I closely. Close enough that when I'd glanced over, they'd all immediately looked away.

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"What changed their minds?"

"The forest, boss," Tanis said, waving around. "It's like Tetherfall, except even more freedom. And now we don't gotta hike it overland."

I had suspected there'd be some folk who wanted to keep using the Ways Between after we opened them up. That since we'd used them once, why wouldn't we keep using them. Obviously, so had Bevel. There'd been a reason she hid the entrance.

And it was probably better for the village if we did allow their continued usage.

Still, I didn't know where the Waygate was drawing its mana from. For all I knew, it had a limited storage, and once that ran out, poof, no more door.

Which meant…

"Okay. But the door isn't going to be free for everyone to use at any time," I said, before laying out my reasoning for him. "And Calbern and Selvi are going to be in charge of training."

"Whew, thank the net, boss," Tanis said, his shoulders slumping. "Getting people to listen is hard. Don't know how you do it."

Nexxa cackled, but I just gave him a half smile.

"Neither do I, Tanis. Neither do I."

With the mist-rex gone, meat secured, and guards in training, I felt good about spending the rest of the evening with Nexxa, discussing the many mysteries I'd uncovered since arriving.

With her help, I also decoded the rest of the spells on the staff.

Her experience with her own Magits helped a lot.

The big thing she noticed was that all the spells were keyed to the Earth affinity. This wasn't because of the runes, but because of the material the staff was made out of. It was a tier three heartwood from a fruit tree the family actually grew in their domain. And the family grew it because it was an excellent storage and conduction medium. I even had a small number of seeds for growing them in my storage ring. Just hadn't recognized they were for the same tree. Or known that the heartwood was so valuable. I'd gotten the seeds for the tier two fruit cores.

We hadn't planted any of the special seeds I'd brought with me since they all required pretty special conditions to grow. The least of which was having sufficient Nature-attuned mana in the air.

Once I had time, I'd be able to enchant special greenhouses, but that was the sort of thing I wasn't expecting to be able to accomplish in the next few years, even with the materials Nexxa had brought me. Until she revealed that the behemoth trees that the mist-rex had taken out likely held similar quality heartwood. Didn’t have the equipment to process it properly, but if I could build it…

The heartwood would keep for years, even without treatment. Treating it would be yet another project for later.

Holding the staff, I added each of the new mana regulation configurations to Spellkey. Then I worked my way through the new abilities.

"Okay, starting with Trench," I told Nexxa, who was standing behind me, near one of the great trees.

"You've got this," she said, even as she ducked out of sight behind the tree.

Rolling my eyes, I aimed the spell at the open ground where the mist-rex had fallen. A second later, a thin line shot forward.

"Huh, that's-" I was cut off as the rumble broke free as the ground swelled, leaving a two foot deep trench stretching thirty feet forward. It was cut at an angle, so it was as wide as it was deep. The edges had swollen, giving the entire thing an extra foot of effective depth.

"Front," Nexxa said as she joined me. "Too bad it won't work on stone."

"Where did you even read about this? I don't remember the family having this spell," I said, poking into the trench with the staff, and finding the soil to be as tightly packed as before I cast Trench.

"That's cause you were in the family library. The Gardeners have their own library."

I gawked at her. "I missed out on an entire library of spells?"

"Relax, I've got em all tucked away up here," Nexxa said, tapping her forehead. "Well, most of em, anyway. Besides, Gardeners aren’t as nice as they seem, they still haven’t… Anyway, you have to earn your way in."

"How'd you get it? You're the furthest thing from a Gardener the family's produced in a couple hundred years," I said.

"Harsh… yet true," Nexxa agreed with a shrug. "I did a bunch of pest control with some of their… recruits. Wanted access to their weather domain spells. It's how I built most of my grimoire."

"Huh, I never knew," I replied.

"Woulda found out pretty quick, if your calling had been anything other than the Rifting Front," Nexxa said, shaking her head. "Still can't believe father wanted to send you there as a fresh ensouled. And after a failed soul ritual."

"Nex…" I said, letting out a heavy sigh. "That soul ritual… it basically killed the Perth you knew."

"Ha," Nexxa said, shoving my shoulder. "Perth I knew…"

"At the time… I was sure that's what happened," I said, staring up into the sky. "I woke up, and it felt like I was a whole other person. But… I still have all the memories. From both lives. And the longer I'm here, the more…" I trailed off, realizing Nexxa had gone still beside me.

There was an unfamiliar glint in Nexxa's eyes as she looked at me. Then she took a step back, looking me up and down. Slowly, she shifted her jaw back and forth. "Fair 'nuff." She said it slowly, sounding it out. Then she said it again. "Fair 'nuff."

"Nexxa?"

"Front, how could I have been so stupid," Nexxa said, slamming herself in the forehead hard enough to cause a cracking sound, her shield sending sparks flying all over.

"Whoa, easy there," I said, stepping forward, grabbing her arm before she could hit herself again.

"Not now, Perry," Nexxa said, twisting her arm out of mine. "I… Front, you're not even my Perry. That's… that's messed up."

"I…"

"Listen, we'll talk… later. But, I… I need to think. Think Nexxa, think. If he took Perth's place, but kept his memories, then that means… by the crimson goddess. Soul rituals. How did I not see it. Front. I have to go. I have to…" She took a deep breath, clenching her teeth as she turned away from me, her hand crackling with sparks on it. "I should-"

Halfway through her sentence, Nexxa swirled. I wasn't sure what happened next. All I knew was there was a brilliant flash of light. All the air was crushed out of my chest in an instant, and I barely registered the sound of crashing trees.

I thought I might've just been able to make out the sound of my name as everything went dark.

Waking up was not pleasant. When I’d been a teenager, the first time I’d attempted to run away from home, the old man had caught me. He’d brought me back to our flat above the shop, and beat me across the chest with a breaker bar. One of those heavy duty ones we used to use to break the tires free of their bead.

I’d thought I was going to die.

This was worse.

It felt as though something was pressing down on my ribs, a massive weight that kept me from drawing breath.

There were spots in my vision, and I could barely make out a pair of shadows above me. I tried casting Minor Heal, and the pain abated ever so slightly. But not enough to fix anything important before I lost focus again.

Was… was I going to die because I finally told Nexxa the truth?

I hadn't even meant to. It'd just… slipped out. We'd had such a good productive day together, and then…

And then she'd nearly killed me.

Despite the agony I was in, that somehow felt worse. That despite everything we'd done together since I woke up in Perth's body, Nexxa had still…

She still cared more about her brother. The real one.

My train of thought was thankfully derailed by a fresh wave of searing agony as the weight on my chest lessened. The shadows above me shifted, and for a second, I thought I could make out Calbern.

Then a liquid hit my throat.

Right. Healing Elixirs. After that night with the elves, I'd asked Calbern to pick up a few. I'd forgotten about them. There were even a few in my storage ring.

The pop in my chest was disconcerting and came with yet another wave of fresh agony. Once more, I slipped into darkness.

When I awoke, my vision was better. And I could hear voices nearby. Tresla and Calbern, talking in low tones.

"Nexxa?" I tried to say, but it only came out as a rough cough.

"Master Perth!" Calbern called as I rolled onto my side, hacking out what felt like a giant hairball. His hand was on my shoulder, keeping me from flopping onto the floor. Which was good. I felt drained, as if I'd spent a solid twenty-four hours doing Storm-dancing with him.

Something was held to my lips, and after a second, I started drinking. Unfortunately, despite Calbern's soft warnings, I drank too fast, and soon I was coughing again.

Eventually, I was able to sit up, my throat somewhat recovered.

I was still in the forest, though I'd been moved to a cot on the swaying platform over the Waygate. "Nexxa?" I tried again as I looked around. Yet there was no sign of her. Tresla was there, standing just behind Calbern. Bevel was above him, hanging on a rope only a couple feet above his head. And I could hear the whistle-hiss of Inertia somewhere nearby.

But no sign of Nexxa.

"I'm afraid Lady Nexxa had to depart. She was rather frantic when she delivered you. The lady was rather disheveled. After informing me an emergency had arisen, she departed in her usual manner," Calbern said, his gaze shifting towards the setting sun, a frown clearly fixed in place.

I shifted my gaze to follow his, but I knew she wouldn't be there. I'd screwed that up. Had to just go and tell her the truth, didn't I? And probably in the least sensitive way possible.

Really was an idiot, no doubt about it.

I took another deep breath as my body continued to shift and itch. There wasn't much chance of me following her. Even if my body was intact, I still only had second order spells.

And did I even want to follow her?

Yeah. Yeah, of course I did.

A fresh wave of grief washed over me. A finger flicked my nose.

Looking up, I found Bevel glaring down at me. "Time for lessons," she said, then dropped down on the cot beside me. "Teach."

"This really isn't the-"

"You made a promise," Bevel said, and something in her voice caught my attention. It wasn't her reprimanding me. It was almost like she was hinting at something. Not that I was in any frame of mind to figure it out.

Pulling her previous night's work from my storage space, I sat up. The others were still there, but when they saw me pull out her lessons, Calbern retrieved dinner while Tresla sat to the side.

No one said anything as I tested Bevel on her recognition of the basic rune functions. No one said anything as I showed her how to sketch her first storage rune. No one said anything as I ate my meal while Bevel drew a rough copy.

No one said anything so loudly, it was all I could hear.