The Siege of Arconia: Chapters 9-11

The only other fields that were easy to specialize in, or so I’d heard, were healing - which was something that you basically had to have specialists in no matter which country you were in given the necessity and importance of healers, and summoning - these were Liberomancers who specialized in using their summons and buffing them. Using summons was quite popular because it meant that you didn’t have to put yourself in the line of fire and it also didn’t require mana.

Currently I was tending more towards following the path of becoming a summoner - because much like becoming a healer, it was more universal in the sense that there would be other Liberomancers throughout the world who were also tending towards the same speciality no matter where you went. If I locked on to becoming a fire elementalist, however, that was fine while I was still in Chipker or Hitutsa, but might not be as good if I went somewhere else where it was not such a popular field and where the specific grimoires I would need would be harder to find.

As for healing - I had enough healing grimoires to the point where I thought it was ‘acceptable’ for my own use for now. I could search for some Rank Three healing grimoires, because there were still potentially many things that my current set could not heal, but they were rather rare and some families hoarded them as their own specialties. Not to mention, becoming a healer meant that I would likely be taking a supportive role to someone else, which did not mesh well with the likelihood that I might be on my own in the future. There was a reason why most healers stayed in big cities, away from where they would have to fight.

“I was a bit curious about one thing,” Zeke said. “Did you ever get to try out that demonic spell you learned - what was it called again?”

“[Crimson Lance],” I told him.

“Yes, that.”

“Well, I haven’t had a need to use it thankfully,” I told him. “I don’t think it’ll be that useful right now either, because it only targets one individual, and the main use of it is that it causes massive bleeding after striking the target, so if the initial hit doesn’t finish off the target the resulting hemorrhage will. But I’m not sure if that holds true for the dryads - do they have blood or some kind of sap that circulates through them?”

“I’m not sure myself,” he answered. “So, it works almost like a viper’s venom, is that right?”

“Yes, you could say so.”

“Hmm…” he said. “If only you hadn’t used it - I was thinking of a way to help you get a grimoire that might allow you to fly, and one possible way to have arranged for it is if you’d have agreed to trade it.”

“Really?” I asked. It seemed crazy that someone would trade a Rank Three grimoire for a Rank One grimoire. The difference in value between the two was immense. A Rank One grimoire would take an hour or two to write and could feed someone for a week. A Rank Three grimoire could take a month to write and buy a small house depending on the location.

“Yes, there are many people who would be curious about it,” Zeke said. “There are many unique grimoires in this world, but not all of them are useful just because of that.” That was true - like the grimoire that gave [Fragrance]. “But, that would still have uses even for a Rank Three Liberomancer. And the possibility of getting one through completely legal means - yes, many people would jump at the opportunity. Ah, but that’s all water under the bridge, nothing can be done about that now. I’ll have to see if there’s another way… but in all likelihood you’ll probably have to travel to Hitutsa yourself if you want one.”

“That’s fine,” I said. I was okay with that - I would be traveling with the merchant train as it were anyway.

We finally reached our destination - though as Zeke was climbing out, he turned to me. “Just one tiny last thing - do you know there’s a reward for making a new Rank Four grimoire?”

“Yes, the earldom, right?”

“Yes, I thought you knew, but I just thought I’d mention it again,” Zeke said. “I’m not good at making grimoires myself, I’ve never even made a new Rank Two grimoire myself successfully. But - you seem to have a real talent for it given you made a new Rank Three one when you’re so young. The guild was saying that you might even make a Rank Four one day, or at least, you were the Liberomancer within Chipker with the highest potential to be able to make one - so I wanted to make sure that you knew, well, just to motivate you. Our country could use another Rank Four grimoire.”

The palace was larger than the guild, but the interior seemed to have been fit more for function rather than style unlike the Guild, as in, it was less impressive on the inside than the outside.

We didn’t have much time to appreciate the inside as the meeting was already beginning. We didn’t exactly run towards it because that was unseemly and we couldn’t be doing it in a place like this, but we did power walk as much as was allowed.

“Sorry,” Zeke said as we approached the double doors leading us to the meeting room. I had to say - his house was huge and I would’ve likely gotten lost if he hadn’t been leading the way. It took us nearly ten minutes of walking to get to where we were now. “I didn’t mean to make us rush like that, but, can’t be helped. The ride here was a bit longer due to heavier traffic with everything going on.” He knocked on the door, poked his head in, and motioned me to follow him.

Everyone else was already seated around a large rectangular table. It kind of looked like a corporate board room from back on Earth, but a lot more old-fashioned with paintings on the wall of blue-scaled lizardmen who I guessed were Zeke’s ancestors, a large statue of a sea dragon, and other such artistic pieces. It was a much fancier room than what the rest of the interiors of the house otherwise would’ve indicated.

Near the head of the table was Drake, and another blue-scaled lizardman who looked a bit older as his scales were slightly faded.

This was the governor - La-smack-n-hiss-r. Something I shortened to ‘Lance’ in my head as the actual did not make much sense to me.

There were around twenty lizardmen in the room - I was the only human there. One of the lizardmen had a purple sash around his waist.

All eyes were on us of course, because one, we were late, and two, probably because of my presence. There were whispers as I passed by people and followed Zeke’s lead to the head of the table.

“Who… is that…?’

“Yes, the new Master Liberomancer.”

“The one with the demonic grimoire?”

“The same.”

“I’ve seen him before - didn’t he work for you at one point, Lauren?”

“I heard he handed that old monster Jiah Pei a defeat in the tournament last year…”

“Really? He beat Master Jiah Pei?”

“No, I was there, he only won one round, but it’s been years since even something like that happened...”

I ignored the whispers as I became rather self-conscious of some other things and cursed Zeke in my mind mentally.

If I had known I was going to be meeting the governor, I would’ve dressed better. Up till now I had only bought the basics when it came to clothes- I had no reason for anything better than that, I just needed to make sure that they were clean. When I had earned my place as a Rank Three Liberomancer, Granny Qi had insisted I get at least two sets of good robes - I negotiated that down to one, but I went along with it and bought a single set. A single set that I had never worn - but this would have been the perfect opportunity to do so!

Clothes did not grant any magical abilities in this world - otherwise I might’ve seen the value in buying some finer one, but if there wasn’t a magical cloak that could boost my mana recovery or give +1 to Resistance, I saw no use. That was my thinking earlier because it wasn’t like I was getting invited to any fancy parties - though this changed when I had become a Master Liberomancer. I had gotten some invitations which I’d declined or deferred for the time being, but I could see the use in having at least one set of good clothes by that point.

I had spent fifty Denarii - enough to buy a Rank One grimoire on that set of robes - and here I was, in my normal clothing while they sat in the dust at home.

Couldn’t Zeke have given me a chance to change before coming here? Well, we were already late as it was, so the answer was likely ‘no’, and I doubted whether Zeke had done this on purpose to make me look bad given that his plan relied on me seeming respectable, but I couldn’t help feel very annoyed by him in the moment regardless.

After all, appearances did matter, regardless of what anyone else would tell you. You wouldn’t go to a job interview in your pajamas back on Earth! The other lizardmen were mostly dressed up well, and some had even come wearing armor and other battle gear, I guess to show their readiness for the upcoming fight. I would’ve done something similar if only I’d known about this meeting beforehand and could’ve prepared, which I hadn’t.

Still, there was nothing I could do about this now, and I put on a smile and hoped that things would turn out fine. Maybe they would take my poor dressing sense in stride thinking I was some kind of savant who was only concerned with Liberomancy and did not concern himself with worldly matters? I doubted that would be the case, but a guy could hope. Governor Lance himself got up to greet me as we approached the head of the table.

“Welcome, Zeke,” Lance said. I expected him to greet Zeke, his own son, of course, but was a bit taken aback when he offered to shake my hand. “Master Liberomancer! Thank you for joining us this evening - I trust that you have been well?”

I found myself a bit tongue-tied by his sudden enthusiasm and welcoming nature, but I managed to blurt out, “It’s all been good - circumstances considered, of course.”

“Yes, yes,” he said. “That’s excellent - I had always intended to meet with you in person one day, by inviting you to one of my banquets at some time - it is unfortunate that we are meeting in such dire circumstances, but certainly once this is all done, we can find a time then?”

“Of course.”

“I have been the governor of Arconia for many years,” he continued. “My duty and responsibilities extend to all of my subjects - humans and lizardmen included, as well as any other intelligent races within the city. The altercations that have occurred were isolated incidents, though emotions have unfortunately, it seems, gotten heated and out of hand. I would’ve preferred to deal with this issue as soon as it struck, but the incoming dryad invasion has kept me occupied. Still, we need to cooperate if we are to survive - and it is much appreciated that you accepted Zeke’s offer to assist us with the same. Please come, sit.”

A seat had been reserved for me, it seemed, right next to Drake. The lizardman greeted me like we were total strangers, which, given the brief but somewhat unpleasant history between us was quite welcome.

Lance began detailing what was going on with the incoming dryad invasion - parts of it I already knew, though I wasn’t aware of the scale of destruction that they were causing until I heard the numbers.

I glanced at everyone else in the room who were all also listening to Lance intently - with the exception of one person.

Lauren - my former employer, who was giving what I thought were nervous glances my way.

I had gotten somewhat better at recognizing some lizardmen expressions, and I thought that I could see the fear written on her face.

I put the pieces together and tried to think of things from her perspective, assuming that what I was seeing was real and not just wishful projection on my part.

She had fired me - well, not technically, but it had been for all practical purposes kicking me out without any real justification regardless of what the official story was.

Now, she saw me sitting here as a Master Liberomancer. That likely had surprised her quite a bit; she would not have even assumed that I could have reached Rank Three so fast. The gap between Rank Two and Rank Three was huge and many people were stuck at that bottleneck for months if not years - I had been lucky enough to soar across it with ease thanks to my knowledge from Earth, but if Charlotte’s Web hadn’t panned out like it had, I might’ve still been at Rank Two right now. However, Rank Two or Rank Three, from her perspective that was still fine, even if I had gotten this title, there was little in the way that she would have to fear from me.

The title was valuable in the sense of having a lot of ‘soft power’, but it wasn’t like I had the ability to lock her shop down or whatever. I had, after all, left willingly as far as anyone knew, and even if I told them what had actually happened - I had a feeling that many people would’ve agreed with her decision.

Pragmatism trumped nearly everything else in this world when it came down to it, and the only reason that some may have sided with me on the matter was because of my current title. If I was still just a Rank Two Liberomancer, they would not have even cared.

Regardless, if she had been worried about something along those lines, she would’ve reached out to me sooner to apologize or smooth things over. There was no way that she had not heard of me becoming a Master Liberomancer given it had been the recent talk of the city until the dryad threat appeared, and there had been ample time to make up if that had been her concern.

She had likely thought that the ‘severance’ I had gotten at the time was enough to smooth things over, and there was nothing further to do.

No, she was likely shaking in her boots because she saw me seated so close to the governor. This was what was really bothering her.

It was like a low-level manager firing an employee unfairly, only to see that employee on the Board of Directors of that company a few months later.

Now, if I brought this fact up to the governor that I had been treated unfairly - it was a different ball game entirely. At least, in her head that must’ve seemed catastrophic.

She was likely worried that it might affect her shop or her standing in society, or both.

Currently, she had no idea how close I was to the governor, only that he seemed to be friendly enough and had asked me to sit close to him. In other words - she was unaware that I really didn’t have any real connection with the governor. But that sense of not knowing for sure what was happening was what really terrified her, I thought. In a lot of horror movies, the monster or creature in question was usually scarier the less of it the audience saw most of the time, simply because what you could imagine was typically far scarier than almost anything a filmmaker could actually show you. If she had been human; sweat would have already coated her forehead as the gears within grinded against each other at record speed.

With that said, she had no actual reason to be worried.

For one, I did not have the pull to do anything to her that would seriously give her trouble. Neither Zeke nor Lance would risk offending one of their own in order to moderately appease me, I was sure of that.

Secondly, even if I could, I had no desire to take revenge on her.

The reason was that even if I still had bitter feelings about what she had done, I understood why she had done it. This was not modern Earth after all, and if I had remained in the shop it likely would have impacted sales majorly in some way or the other. It probably already had, otherwise she wouldn’t have let me go. Why would she sacrifice the well-being of her collective lizardmen employees over the case of one human?

The only issue I had is that I felt like she should’ve come out and told me why she was firing me in the first place rather than having Mark do it in her stead. I felt that I was owed that much after the months I had worked under her and the profits I had generated for her.

Still, there was little reason to carry resentment over such a thing.

I likely would’ve been far angrier at her right now if I had been unsuccessful in reaching Rank Three and becoming a Master Liberomancer, but if that were the case, I would not be sitting here in the first place, now then would I?

However, in a ‘all’s well that end’s well’ sort of sense, I had little reason to complain given that her firing me had, as a silver lining, given me more free time to work on my own grimoires and it had all ultimately worked out for me.

Also, there was no real way that I could dish out any kind of punishment against her without it also impacting my old friends back in her store - I did not want to see the likes of Rose or even Mark suffer because of my hurt feelings. If people stopped going to her shop, she would close it down and find another business to go into, but those people would just be fired. And I had no desire to see them caught in the crossfire.

Plus, ultimately, I intended to leave Arconia. I was only here and cooperating with all of them so readily because I had no other choice other than dying to dryad hands, but after that, I would leave and wouldn’t have to ever think of her again. So what did revenge matter anyway?

I had no desire to seek revenge against her.

I had no ability to seek revenge against her even if I wanted to.

And still…

There was no need for me to openly say those things, now then was there?

Back when I was a Rank One Liberomancer, I had nearly gotten into a bar fight. I would certainly have been beaten to a pulp were it not for the fact that I was a Liberomancer causing them to back off. I couldn’t have actually done anything to them at the time if they had decided to knock my lights out, but the mere implication of that fact that I might have been able to was enough to get them to not only back off, but also apologize to me.

It was the same situation here.

Lauren had no idea what was going on between the governor and I, so naturally her mind was thinking of some of the worst possible scenarios! Her brain must’ve been doing a hundred calculations at once, most of which were incorrect as she didn’t know the full details of what was going on.

I smirked inwardly. No, I was not going to take any direct action against her, but I did get quite a bit of schadenfreude imagining how she must be squirming and torturing herself.

Yup, that would be my revenge. It was perfect as it was all Lauren’s own guilt and worry that was causing her so much distress as she was basically tormenting herself - all of that without me even needing to raise a finger. I also had complete plausible deniability if she were to ever confront me in the future about this, and I had a bit of leverage over her so long as I didn't reveal my hand. Lauren was definitely smart, or at least, moderately business-savvy, but that was coming to bit her in this situation because that was what was causing her to worry so much. Someone who was dumber wouldn’t have even begun to consider the implications, and in this one situation, would’ve been fine.

Even as I inwardly rejoiced, I turned my head to give my full attention to Lance.

Lance started talking about our battle strategy to deal with the dryads.

“We will be placing the Rank Two and Rank Three Liberomancers atop the city wall,” Lance said. “Of course, I shall be there alongside you. The Rank One Liberomancers will be assigned other tasks based on their capabilities, either to use buffing magic or for things such as [Create Water] to help with logistics. We do not think they have the capability to breach our walls, and so the only real point of weakness is the portion of the city facing the sea - we must do everything in our power to prevent them going into the sea and then striking us from the rear. My sources tell me that they can float, though I don’t know how well they can swim, especially against the tide, but regardless, we will be fortifying that side of the city with wooden barricades. As it is also the weakest section, we will staff most of our Rank Three Liberomancers at the two ends of the wall. Our forces will be thinner in other regions - but given our primary objective is to stop them from getting through to us via the ocean, this should suffice. If we had some more time, I would’ve liked to build two flanking fortresses at those positions if only on a temporary basis - and perhaps we should consider this once this ordeal is over, but such will not be possible given the timeframe. In case the dryads do break through that side, we will have a wall of conscripted spearmen to hold the line while our forces rally to that side. I will remain near the city gate, which is our other point of weakness, so that I can easily respond to anything coming from either side, as well as change our battle strategy depending on the changing situation.”

As he spoke, he gestured to a large map of the city, pointing at places of interest. Seeing the map, I thought of two things: one, the city was a lot bigger than I had originally thought of it as, and two, there was indeed a wide area that was open. It was clear that a lack of threats such as invading forces over the centuries had resulted in several things wanting when it came to defense.

‘We really have been caught with our pants down,’ I thought.

Lance took a deep breath and looked at all of us. “I know many of you are worried, but from what I have heard from our allies in Hitutsa, and my own understanding, we have an extremely high chance of not only getting through this predicament, but doing so with minimal casualties.”

“Why don’t these people from Hitutsa come to help us?” one of the lizardmen seated there complained. “Haven’t we essentially taken this problem off of their hands?” There were similar voices of discontent from other people - and I agreed with them.

“I understand your feelings,” Lance said. “But think about it - can we really ask for a foreign army to come in and save us so nonchalantly? It will take them a long time to reach us, and even if they could, the political consequences of such would not be something we can ignore.”

He turned to me. “Master Liberomancer,” that was how he always addressed me - though there was another Master Liberomancer in the room. Likely he just didn’t know my name, I realized, or didn’t want to mispronounce it. Or perhaps he was emphasizing my status so that the other lizardmen would take me seriously? “We would of course need to co-ordinate with our human allies regarding this defensive plan, I take it that you can convey our thoughts to them?”

I nodded. I had understood most of the defensive plan, and felt relatively confident about explaining it to someone else.

Lance turned to the lizardmen gathered there. He then changed the topic and his tone shifted ever so subtly to accompany it. “Since the founding of Chipker, humans and lizardmen have lived together. There are a few other intelligent races within our walls who we have welcomed from time to time, of course, but these have been the two largest groups. Two different species - lizardmen and humans, with different lifestyles and needs, living side by side, without waging war, this is nothing short of a miracle. Of course, there have been incidents throughout our history where this peace between species has become strained, as it has been recently. However, this is not the time to dwell on such aspects. The dryads will not discriminate between humans and lizardmen when they climb over our walls and slaughter all of us - children included. Cooperation is a must in these turbulent times.”

“Tell the humans to withdraw their complaint about having one of our own hanged for something that was not murder - they are the ones making a mountain out of a molehill!”

“We have peace only because the humans do not have the power to wipe us out… we preach peace, tolerance, and cooperation, but what of them? If we did not have the upper hand, we would either be lying in our graves or living with chains binding us in slavery.”

“Indeed, they cooperate with us only because they lack the strength to slaughter or enslave us all - if they had a few Rank Four Liberomancers of their own and the tables turned, they would not hesitate to-”

“If the humans don’t like it within Chipker they can leave, there are other countries out there which are majority human-”

Such objections rang throughout the room. I winced.

I had not imagined the extent to which relations were strained before I accepted this ‘job’, but I hadn’t thought it was this bad.

I had been able to get along with most lizardmen when I went outside, whether it was to buy something or the like, but it seemed that their real feelings were different.

It was likely then that a good portion of the lizardmen also felt this way, even if they repressed such thoughts and did not openly air them out in public.

People were cordial enough to me when I spoke to them, but who knows what they were thinking or saying about me behind my back or behind closed doors?

I was snapped out of these thoughts by Lance slamming the table with his hand. It might as well have been a judge’s gavel, because instantly everyone else became quiet.

“All of you - perhaps I was not clear enough when I said this… We. Will. All. Die,” he put stress on every word as he pointed to everyone in the room and then to himself. He had increased the volume of his speech by a small fraction, but it was enough to gain the undivided attention of everyone in the room. “Should we not cooperate? I have heard these complaints a countless number of times during my long life, and they are always the same. Despite this, we have lived with the humans peacefully for the majority of our existence as a country, and I see no reason why that should change. These complaints that you have - I cannot say that you are wrong for having these grievances in your hearts, but for now, it is necessary that you bury them so that we have a chance against what is coming against us.”

There were no objections to this.

“Many of you are very well aware of Master Stefan here, who has in his short time within our walls, already made quite a name for himself,” Lance continued. “Many of you have already met him.” He motioned towards Lauren.

“Right… yes that is correct,” she fumbled with her words initially before finding her voice. “Master Stefan here was a scribe in my bookstore. I have watched his growth from a Rank One to Rank Two Liberomancer myself. Many of you have purchased Sonnet 95 from him. He was an excellent worker and very talented at creating new grimoires even back then.”

Lance nodded. “That is why I wished to reach out to him - I intend to create a position for him so that he may ease communication between our two factions and smooth out any issues that may arise. I know he is human, but remember that he also does not have any strong familial ties to the humans of this city, and is a foreigner. He is the closest to an impartial mediator we might find.”

“I agree!” Lauren said hastily the moment Lance paused. “I wholeheartedly think that he would be fair and impartial in his dealings with us. The Goddess of Fortune had clearly blessed me the day that he wandered into my shop when he did to become one of my scribes - though I did not know at the time that I had such a diamond in my hands else I would’ve never agreed to let him go!” She chuckled, but it was clearly fake laughter.

I had to resist the urge to snort. All of this praise was born out of possible fear of retaliation from me, and so she had decided that by backing me right now, I would be less likely to strike out against her.

Yes, I had done the right thing by not giving her any hint that things were already alright between the two of us.

“Thank you for your input,” Lance said. “Any other objections?”

The other lizardmen turned their gazes towards me, with quite a few of them locked onto the purple sash I had.

Man, was this thing coming in handy!

“Master Liberomancer, I was simply curious, where are the ninety-four other sonnets? I’ve been waiting for them for some time,” one of them asked and there was some mild laughter, some of it was even genuine, from the others.

“Ah, that was from a famous poet where I’m from,” I said. “Not my original creation - so I don’t remember the others.” It hadn’t been a serious question, but I threw the answer out there anyway.

There were no serious objections.

Lance nodded in approval. “Alright then, my eldest son Zeke will be my deputy - with any issues when I am not present you may defer to him.”