Aleks Kotov

Vol 9, Chapter 2

"...So, based on measurements, in a thousand years its fabric will begin to tear in the weakest places. Presumably, the cracks will start from the Peak of the Center of the World, and for several dozen years afterward they will not significantly affect people's lives. Except, of course, for climate change, sudden summer frosts, and natural disasters..."

"Doesn't sound that scary," I comment.

"Only a thousand years!" the Elder repeats. "Although in our previous measurements, made o...

Vol 9, Chapter 1

◆ Capital of the Kingdom of Steel, Dastan the First POV ◆


In the dungeon beneath the Royal Castle, silence reigned.

Well, almost silence, for the faint hissing of a magical barrier gnawed at it, just as the barrier itself gnawed at the Theocracy's artifact.

The sacred fang, too elongated to be human, floated above the table, separated from the surface only by layers of transparent wards. A multitude of magical instruments surrounded it, meticulously measuring energy...

Vol 8, Chapter 26, END OF VOLUME 8

A torrent of flame had pierced the dirigible end to end and lit the sky. The metal sheets had melted and deformed; the airship's lifting capacity had dropped so sharply that before long we would have slammed into the Dragon Rocks, for they were already that close. We urgently needed to climb higher and… get rid of the dragon.

"Angle all engines for vertical lift!" I ordered, climbing into the hatch at the same time.

Thanks to the internal comms, the order raced through the airsh...

Vol 8, Chapter 25

◆ First Duchy ◆

The Count's dining hall was unusually empty.

A huge hundred-seat table was occupied by only a few dozen people—the Count himself and his close aides. The aristocrat, bored, was prodding his silver plate with a bone, trying to fish out a spinal cord, while his adviser, in turn, attempted to get through to his sovereign's mind.

"There's a rebellion in our lands, Your Grace," the adviser repeated for the second time.

"Yes, yes, I've heard... Baron M...

Vol 8, Chapter 24

◆ First Duchy, Castle of Baron Manus ◆

Morning. The cawing of crows echoed above the fortress walls.

A crow, comfortably perched on the shoulder of a hanged man, lifted its head nervously. From the snow-clad forest surrounding the castle on three sides, its kin were taking off—more and more of them. The neighboring crows that had roosted on the corpses hanging from the battlements grew restless too. One rose into the air, then the whole flock followed, blotting out the dawn...

Vol 8, Chapter 23

◆ Border of the First Duchy, Recruit Camp, Rostislav POV ◆

Far from what Rostislav had imagined a holy campaign against the undead, demons, and traitors of mankind would be. He had pictured valiant battles! A wall of shields and knightly cavalry smashing the enemy like a hammer while the infantry held the line, acting as the anvil.

Glory, honor and… of course, good drink. Maybe even wine!

But in the end…

Cold and total boredom.

After being given a token ...

Phase One of the reconstruction is complete. Phase Two is in progress.(This post will be replaced with Chapter 22)

So, 4 days. It took one day longer than I expected, and I also completely forgot to factor in the time needed for translation.

Still, overall there were no major problems, I managed to get into the flow of writing fairly quickly.

Although, maybe I could have done it a little better... But you can ALWAYS do better, and overall I achieved what I set out to do.

So, the freshly written and freshly translated Chapter 17 is now in place.

Next up is Chapter 22, and then I’l...

Vol 8, Chapter 21

◆ First Duchy, Len POV ◆


The first week, everyone simply consumed the stored supplies. The most responsible ones left food for the children... but far from all were so considerate.

Hunger crept closer. Even in the city, no usable grain remained. Malicious tongues whispered that Baron Manus had hidden all the good grain in his castle. Perhaps they weren't just whispering idly, but what was the point? Even a small castle was an impregnable fortress for any crowd.

By t...

Repair work in progress. Reconstruction.

As you probably remember, before translating I also do a round of proofreading the original, trying to fix all the rough spots. Usually, that means a lot of small edits - from fixing typos to rewriting or adding individual sentences. Sometimes it’s more serious changes, like the completely rewritten fight with the tree spiders-ents in Volume One or the entirely added scene of the Third Duke’s murder in Volume Seven. (By the way, I had originally planned to end Volume Six with that scene, ...

Vol 8, Chapter 20

◆ First Duchy, Len POV ◆

"...today I expect your full effort, and don't you dare slack off!" hissed the Overseer, desperately trying to suck in his belly. It didn't work. His open cuirass bulged over his stomach, pushing up into his chin. Alas, there was no way to fasten it; the straps had long since grown too short for the Overseer's massive frame.

Still, the cuirass had been polished to an unbearable shine, dazzling the eyes even more than snow on a sunny day.

Norm...

Vol 8, Chapter 19

◆ First Duchy, Len POV ◆

Just a few days and a dozen attempts allowed him to cast a fairly decent pipe… at least from a goblin's point of view. Uneven and crooked, full of voids, but he wasn't going to be shooting from it anyway, as long as the moonshine flowed through, it was fine. He even put together a box specially for the pipe, into which he would pour cold water, and when the stream froze, it could be packed with ice and snow. The fact that the pipe turned out a bit too sho...

Vol 8, Chapter 18

◆ First Duchy, Len POV ◆

Len was gradually getting used to the mad order of the First Duchy.
Admittedly, this was not what he had expected when he accepted the assignment.

In the Kingdom, it was common enough to encounter rulers who treated peasants as playthings. Outwardly they maintained a veneer of decency, while in secret—they killed them for amusement. Magic allowed grain to be preserved from drought, soil fertility to be enhanced, and harvests to be secured. Thus, ...

Vol 8, Chapter 17

◆ Commonwealth, Workers of the Steel Tower POV ◆


Revolution. A terrible word for the Commonwealth.

After the Age of Strife, the Lodge feared that word like fire. They feared it and did everything to burn even the thought of uprising out of the world.

But here, inside the locked Steel Tower, that word was being repeated more and more often...

…

At first everything went reasonably well. Metal mages were still valued far above ordinary people; they were a...

Vol 8, Chapter 16

◆ Some Time Ago, First Duchy, First Duke POV ◆


The Black Castle, nicknamed Dragon's, stood proudly atop the ridge that separated the Kingdom's lands from the outer, dead sea.

Once, it had been gray, like the surrounding cliffs, but dragonfire had melted its sharp edges and coated it in soot. No mortal could climb those cliffs, where every crevice and ledge had become smooth as glass. Not even the nimblest fingers could find a hold, nor could the strongest hands drive an i...

Vol 8, Chapter 15

◆ Reikland, Scout Lariel POV ◆

Walking through the deep snow was hard. Not only did the snow reach her waist, but on top of that her legs kept stumbling over stones that, judging by the feel of it, littered the entire field.

"Oh, Moon, why are there so many stones here?" she squeaked indignantly when her foot slipped into a crevice between rocks hidden under the snow.

The stone responded to her complaints with true stone-like indifference. No matter how the elf girl tug...

Vol 8, Chapter 14

Flash. A second of disorientation. The thick smell of alcohol. A tavern? Yes, that's what it was. Concrete arches, chairs woven from blackwood. Several tables overturned. Sticky traces of dried alcohol and snoring bodies on the floor. Everything swam before my eyes, I had to rub them properly.

"You're ba-a-a-ack!" Asha greeted me from the floor, saluting with an empty mug.

"What are you doing here, shouldn't you be recovering?"

"What do you mean? I am recovering, see..."...

Vol 8, Chapter 13

◆ Several Years Ago, Dungeons beneath the Capital, Memory ◆

"Be so kind, pass me the forceps," the third prince requested, extending a hand behind him. His gaze never once left the figure lying lifeless on the operating table. A helmet, shattered from a monstrous blow, lay kicked beneath the table. A carefully sawed portion of skull rested on a side tray, exposing the patient's damaged brain, with several shards protruding from it.

Randall handed it over, and I noticed that t...

Vol 8, Chapter 12

The Moscow Ripper — that was the simple nickname given to this serial killer.

For more than a year now, bodies had been found in and around the city. Some were drained of all blood, others had their hearts cut out. Still others bore strange, unknown symbols and carvings on their skin. There was no pattern to the attacks, not even a single method of killing. But one detail always appeared in the cases: a scalpel.

The number of missing persons suggested that the discovered bodies ...

Vol 8, Chapter 11

"Let's… take a break."

"You can absorb an entire human lifetime of memories, but you can't absorb…" I flipped quickly to the table of contents. "An eighth-grade physics textbook?"

"That's different, humans are all the same. Once I ascended as a higher demon and learned to devour their souls, I found there was little left in them to surprise me. To me, you are all but copies of one another. But this knowledge… it is of a different order. Too abstract, too complex...