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TRAS Chapter 54: One with Nature

Ailn hated his damn cottage. 

It had been a day since he’d been expelled to it, and while Kylian had brought him some dried meat and fruits, he was still hungrier than he was used to. 

And he had a bigger chip on his shoulder. 

Those first few hours spent freezing in the cottage, brooding over the Knight Commander, his older brother Sigurd, had rekindled a sense of obstinacy in Ailn that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Frankly, any hard-earned acts of self-...

TRAS Chapter 53: The Name eum-Creid

“Disowned…?” Renea repeated that one word, and said nothing for the longest time. Since her head was bowed, no one could see what her face looked like. It wasn’t hard to guess, though. “I—I understand. And I am… grateful for the mercy that I’ve been shown.” 

Her voice tightened at the end there, the last few syllables raising in pitch. 

“May I return to the lord’s chamber?” Renea asked. She spoke rapidly, and her words clipped. 

“You ...

TRAS Chapter 52: The Oldest Brother Returns

The scheme was more elaborate than Kylian could have guessed—and it was a great deal fouler too. 

Despite himself, Kylian couldn’t help but be impressed by the ingenuity of the grander plan. 

First, the criminal ring acquired capital through their debt schemes. With that acquired capital, they bought buildings from failing businesses throughout Varant, particularly in the industrial quarter.

Geoff, one of the ring’s founders, provided the capital for the oper...

TRAS Chapter 51: Hidden Mechanics

Once again, Ailn asked his weary knight friend for a big favor: to let him speak with two of the prisoners alone for a moment, while Kylian and the knights went ahead and interrogated the others. 

Ailn figured the other prisoners would give the Azure Knights the info they needed anyway. 

It almost felt like that would be good for the prisoners—to get a chance to lay out their plans and regroup their minds. As they left the Chapel of the Sun, the prisoners seemed confus...

TRAS Chapter 50: The Big Cheese Stands Alone

Even a cathedral empties out at midnight, and when it came to choosing the setting for his interrogation, Ailn had his pick.

Why not the chapel of the sun? Seemed fitting for dragging a reincarnator kicking and screaming into daylight. Sometimes mood setting went a long way in getting suspects to talk. Bright lights created discomfort, giving the sense that there was nowhere to hide. The dissonance between the actual time of night, and the illusion of dawn would disorient them.  2025-01-11 07:39:28 +0000 UTC View Post

TRAS Chapter 49: Fearful Things

While nudging at Kylian to keep his sword raised, Ailn drew his own sword, taking stock of the chamber they were in.

He was doing it to get a sense of space, but he couldn’t help but notice the pointedly Egyptian-esque art on the right side’s mural. No, actually, now that he looked—there was more than just stylistic resemblance going on here. 

Ailn recognized that vignette. He’d be a fool not to. But now wasn’t the time.

“Can you show Renea the way to ground...

TRAS Chapter 48: Running in the Dark

Renea stared at the staircase.

God help her, she did not want to go in there. It would be an indefensibly reckless thing to do, if she were being perfectly rational. Not that it mattered. Her irrational sense of terror was in total agreement with her higher reasoning anyway.

Only her nightmares pulled her forward. 

One foot in front of the other, at a steady pace. If she just kept moving her feet, she wouldn’t have to consider what she was doing. She could disassociat...

TRAS Chapter 47: Working the Paradigm Shift

Renea had caught sight of her horrible, scoundrel brother just as the workday was easing down. 

Varant was a well-lit city, and a busy one. Merchants tended to close up shop only after the sun had completely set, and then they took their time either getting home or finding their way to the tavern. 

The guilds were nearby, so most craftsmen lived in a guildhouse. They ambled around, too, sometimes finishing up deals with the merchants right there on the street—their lod...

TRAS Chapter 46: All Roads Lead to a Bunch of Bones

Those steps were more modern than Kylian had imagined. However old the crypt must be, its access points must have been constructed at the same time as the rest of the cathedral. 

The crypt itself was somewhere between a basement and a cave. 

At first, it seemed to Kylian that the crypt was lit by torchlight. But a closer inspection revealed artifacts which produced soft, orange lighting, placed at regular intervals along the wall. Kylian wondered if similar artifacts had...

TRAS Chapter 45: What’s Hidden Beneath

Saintess Celestia the evanescent was the first. She was Varant’s founder, and the eum-Creid’s forebear. 

Among her most recent descendants, Celine and Renea clearly bore the strongest resemblance. They were the quintessential eum-Creids, with silver hair, blue eyes, and noble countenances to match. 

But the first Saintess was not merely quintessential. She was pre-eminent. The pattern flowed from her, because she led it. Her hair was said to shine like actual silverw...

TRAS Chapter 44: The Cathedral of Saintess Celestia, the Evanescent

On the other side of Varant, a certain knight was visiting the city’s greatest sanctum: its cathedral.

Kylian’s reputation had, unfortunately, preceded him. He did good work, and his superiors recognized it. Regrettably, the consequence was that he was given more work—to say nothing of the fact that the expectations upon him seemed to be multiplying as well.

The inquisition had left an impression on the knights, suggesting to their minds that Kylian was the obvious and prope...

TRAS Chapter 43: What Could Go Wrong?

Taking the city’s main thoroughfare, surprisingly it only took a bit under an hour to reach the main gates. The gates were wide open, and the knight checking entrants into the city-proper only did their job gesturally; invasion simply wasn’t much of an issue for Varant. 

As for people leaving, they didn’t even pretend to care. Ailn and Ceric walked right through. 

This wasn’t really where Ailn expected to find himself, when he woke up this morning. Outside the ci...

These Reincarnators Are Sus! Chapter 42: Nightwriter

Ailn made a promise to meet up with Ceric the next day to see the results of his question to Nightwriter. 

Before the two had left the tavern, Ailn considered asking Ceric for where he was staying in case Ceric got cold feet. The guy had said a lot after all. But he wouldn’t be too hard to track, anyway. In fact, Ceric Windrider might just be the easiest man to track in all of Varant. 

So, for now, Ailn just took Ceric at his word. 

He wouldn’t say he had ...

These Reincarnators Are Sus! Chap 41: Ceric Windrider

The tavern they were in was probably the nicest in Varant. It wasn’t a city for merchants, by any means, but as the logistical center of the northern wall the market for armaments was thriving. 

And since the knights were paid handsomely, they tended to leave most of their salary to their family’s discretion. Coin purses were stout enough to support a healthy commercial district, and it was a choice location for ambitious merchants looking to be the big fish in the small lake.<...