NOVEL FROG Chapter 9: Leaving
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Amaya
I hugged the trembling Lucy. She looked like she needed one. I was serious about hiring her. That should hopefully give her some protection. I was not sure what skills she had. Maybe she could be my butler?
Frederick was still suffering the effects of his electrocution. The duke was just standing there speechless. There would definitely be consequences. I had a feeling my powers would soon be tested.
Finally William recovered. “Lady Amaya, you have gone too far. Return the slave to sir Meisler immediately. Your behaviour is unacceptable.”
I looked at William and laughed. “Unacceptable? You ignore your own laws and dare to lecture me? Pathetic. Lucy accepted my offer. As long as she is willing to work for me I will consider her a member of my house. Any attack on her will be treated as an attack on house Delphinium.”
Of course there was no house Delphinium. Since I only invented my name earlier that day. I also had no idea if that would match with elven society. I just sort of improvised my speech based on books and tv shows.
But my game character did have a high persuasion skill. I think that helped me deliver my speech. In my old life I would have been a nervous wreck in that situation. I definitely had more confidence now. Was it the change in my mental stats? Who knows.
Suddenly the door burst open and more guards entered the room. Two of them were wearing mage robes. I could see outside through the window. That means I could use my teleport. If I used a higher tier slot it would be possible to bring Lucy with me. But something told me fleeing would make this worse. I wanted to make a show of strength.
What could I use that would be intimidating without killing anyone. Winter’s Grasp would certainly be an option.
Or… maybe it was time for an elemental lord. A 9th tier summoning. While I still stared at the guards I started my spell. 5s is an eternity in battle. But currently nobody had any idea what to do. During this standoff I completed my magic and I called forth the lady of storms. Unlike a normal wind elemental she was not in the form of a tornado. She looked like an elf with a skin made of wind. You could see clouds moving along her body. Her eyes sparkled with electricity.
“What is your command?”
“Why don’t you accompany me and my friend Lucy here. We were just about to leave.”, I said. Lucy was still in a state of shock. I just took her hand and started to leave. The elemental lord projected a powerful aura. The guards were trembling and unable to move or act. The duke just stared.
When we left the palace an old man was standing on the road. He was bald with a long grey beard. He was wearing an ornate robe and a staff with a giant emerald on top.
“I am archmage Nicholas Earthbreaker, headmaster of the Iron Rock academy.”
“Amaya Delphinium, archsorceress.”, I replied. I had no idea if archsorceress was a title. But it felt like I deserved a fancy title too. My elemental was still floating next to me.
Nicholas stared at the elemental. The elemental stared back, then she winked. Nicholas raised an eyebrow. “Fascinating. If you are not here to harm the city I would be delighted to offer you a tour of the academy.”
“Thank you for the invitation. I will see what I can do. Have a nice day.”, and with that I walked past him. Lucy still did not say anything. So I started a conversation with the elemental.
“So what do you do when you are not summoned?” I knew that lower elementals were not really self aware. They were magical constructs, more like machines. They could follow orders but they were not truly alive. This lady seemed different though.
“Aww you noticed. It is so rare that someone uses the elemental lord spell. It is more like an invitation, we can decline if we are busy. Or don’t like the caster. If we accept the summon we have to follow orders. So a lot of us just always decline. There are several lords in the elemental plane of wind. You got suuuuuper lucky to get a cute one like me!”
“So is it lord or lady? Do elementals have genders?”, I wondered.
“Both works. Our official title is lord. We do not really have genders but most have a preferred form. We are not really born. If an elemental is around for long enough they can start to form a consciousness. Eventually they get powerful enough to become a lord. At that point you can be summoned. Lower tier summoning spells just form a body and stuff some energy into it. Only the 9th circle is powerful enough to actually bring a being from another plane into this world.”
That was incredible information. It also meant that the spell could fail if the summon refused. Good to know.
“I hope you are not too bored. There probably won’t be any fighting. Or would you like to return to your own plane?”
“No fighting? Well it’s still more fun than the plane of air. Nothing ever happens, it’s soooo boring! I will happily stick around until the spell runs out!”
“Perfect. Also please do not scare the people around too badly.”
“Fine… I will retract my fear aura. Next time can we kill things please?”
“I will see what I can do.”
Now what should I do next? I doubted that the duke would attack me. Fighting at my level of power would threaten the city. The Empire might retaliate but they would not have the resources nearby in the short term. Maybe it would be a good idea to leave the city for a few days. I also needed to make sure Lucy was ok.
“Lucy, I think we should buy some supplies and leave the city for a few days. What do you think?”
“Certainly my lady”, she answered.
I would need to have a long talk with her later. While I did free her she probably felt obligated to follow me now. That would not be true freedom. I would love a travel companion but only if it was her choice.
I bought two tents, two bedrolls and some clothes for Lucy. My storage still contained more than enough food. With that taken care of it was time to leave. My summon was no longer around when we approached the gate. I was not worried about myself but Lucy would be vulnerable. To avoid any risk I used an invisibility spell to get us past the gate. It was early afternoon as we made our way into the forest.