nemorosus

Chapter 423: Upscaling

Durran took a longer time to return than Argrave had anticipated—and by extension, Elenore was delayed, too. In truth, he was a little surprised to see her get emotional about Durran. He’d shared that with Anneliese, and she guessed that her emotions had been building for a long time: decades, even. His sister seemed to do everything practically; she even chose the time to get emotional practically.

When the pair did return, it was in brighter spirits than they had left. Whatever ta...

Chapter 422: Convergence

Argrave sat on the windowsill of Margrave Reinhardt’s keep, peering out into Vasquer. Anneliese sat in a chair just before him while Galamon stood beside her, ever watchful. These two had been his main council through his most difficult moments, easing the transition from hothouse flower college boy to whatever he was now. And he felt glad they were both gathered again when this difficult situation had come up.

Anneliese turned her chair around so that she could lean forward against i...

Chapter 421: Bet Everything

Argrave stared at Durran as he very obviously tried to avoid the subject. Thinking back… he remembered Durran asking questions about the Alchemist. Anneliese had inadvertently taught him to be well-used to indulging idle curiosity, and he trusted Durran enough to blab about the Alchemist without second thought. And because of that…

“Galamon, grab him.” Argrave rose to his feet and pointed.

His knight-commander moved without second thought. Durran rose to his feet quickly, ...

Chapter 420: King of Many Peoples

Margrave Reinhardt of House Parbon was diligently reading through all of the reports that he’d gotten this morning. Undead attacks had become more prevalent, and so he was much more proactive in looking for anomalies. Abominations from the Order of the Rose were more common everywhere, and the nearby Low Way of the Rose was proving particularly problematic. Indeed, he had a meeting with someone from the Stonepetal Sentinels today.

A knock disturbed him from his reading, and the margra...

Chapter 419: Can't Bear It

Argrave and Anneliese spent the remainder of the day with Galamon and his family. Dras had given him the duty of dealing with the killings in Veiden while he investigated another matter, and with the ice wraith dead, that meant his duties were over. Rhomaden and Galamon were quite similar in appearance… and perhaps in temperament, too, for they played with a bear twice their size and seemed to have a great deal of fun doing so.

Argrave and Anneliese sat on a stone bench while watching...

Chapter 418: Bearish on Happiness

Galamon blinked his eyes open. The whole of him felt heavy, but it was considerably better than the numbing pain that had come after his battle with the ice wraith. That had been one of the fiercest opponents he’d ever faced, beaten only by the Shadowlander in Dirracha. But for foes that he’d fought personally, and killed personally, it took the prize by a large degree.

He felt a slight grip on his hand, and remembered that the last time he’d awakened, his wife had been by his sid...

Chapter 417: An Old Friend: Silence

Argrave felt a brief sense of the totality of Vasquer’s perception extending deep into the mountains and the depths below. He could see the cavern which Anneliese had retrieved her A-rank ascension, and could see the marble city below that. Nothing stirred in their streets, and beyond a certain point, the sense of vision ended. Even as he viewed this for a few moments, his head began to throb.

Argrave pulled his hand away from Vasquer and brought it to his head to tame the pain. This ...

Chapter 416: Unwanted Faces

Anneliese and Onychinusa sat on the rocks of the mountain peak. The ancient elf stared at the snow elf.

“Your braid is pretty,” Onychinusa said matter-of-factly. “I tried to copy it, but I couldn’t.”

Anneliese smiled at the sincerity as her fingers brushed the half-crown braid keeping her hair back. She suggested, “The dryads could braid your hair. I know they always miss seeing you.”

“They put wood and stuff in there. Something about dryad wood is special. I...

Chapter 415: Simple Old People

As Melanie delivered her line, she turned back and popped open the chest in a fluid motion. Argrave immediately spotted several relics of value—relics recognizable enough to pinpoint where, exactly, she had been. Her expeditionary team travelled to a cave in the west, at the base of the mountains north of the Tower of the Gray Owl.

Argrave stepped to her cart, parsing through what she had. A lot of the enchantments that might be on these relics were not especially useful to him, but t...

Chapter 414: Foundation of the Shield

Melanie, a native of Relize, technical royal auditor for the crown of Vasquer, but definite sword-for-hire walked beneath a fortified archway. The building was wedged firmly in the valley road leading to the newly-born capital of Vasquer named Blackgard. Her long red hair whipped against her neck as her head turned from place to place, taking in the sight. When she left from the southern side of the mountains enclosing Blackgard, this archway hadn’t been here. It hadn’t even been in const...

Chapter 413: Oceanside Family Picnic

Argrave and Anneliese sat on the sandy coast of the Bloodwoods, staring out across the vastness of the ocean that divided this continent from others. Orion stood a healthy distance away, guarding them diligently while giving them space to speak alone. They faced the sun as it faded beyond the horizon, hueing the waters purples and oranges.

But there was one more with them. Onychinusa sat on a rock, watching the calm ocean lap gently against the sea. Where there had once been a bloody st...

Chapter 412: Looking Forward, Above and Below

When Anneliese returned from her visit to Onychinusa far later than she normally did, and with a large smile on her face, Argrave knew she had made a significant advancement in helping the wounded ancient elf. In truth, hearing of her descriptions of her condition day after day was quite saddening. She had been broken in body and mind as a result of their actions… but in the end, perhaps it was possible to have a cake and eat it, too. They’d just have to make two cakes.

“Was begin...

Chapter 411: Giving Up

“I don’t want her to hate us, but I understand why she does,” Argrave nodded as the dryads grew closer. “So long as she knows that we did what we did to hurt Erlebnis, not her.”

“Please, give this to her!” Anneliese called out, retrieving a paper from her pockets. She dropped it in the air, and then grabbed Argrave’s hand. With that left behind, she cast shamanic magic to transport them elsewhere.

When Argrave adjusted to his surroundings, he realized they were onc...

Chapter 410: Everything At Once

Argrave’s head turned ever so slowly, taking in all the sights before him. He saw the redwoods, as thick as towers and stretching as far as the eye could see. He saw the destruction left behind by the paths of war—the elves, Kirel Qircassia’s servants, or the centaurs following Sarikiz’s lead. The great beasts of this land already scavenged the corpses that had fallen, sating their long hunger after the chaos wrought by the battles.

Next, Argrave saw the empty plain left behind ...

Chapter 409: Sea Change

Erlebnis fought from an incontrovertibly advantaged position. He had already proven that his emissaries were a match to the elven gods. Every second he waited, his presence on this realm grew stronger, allowing him to field more of those potent combatants. If they should bunch around his breach, their strength would rise and rise until it was unassailable. It was low-risk, high reward. Even as the invader, the onus for attack rested on the elven gods.

It was unfair, but then so was the ...

Chapter 408: Desire to Trust

Sarikiz sat before Argrave, much of the tension in her shoulders drained. Her eyes did not wander from place to place so frantically, and she did not fear an attack from any direction. Indeed, it might be said that she seemed somewhat happy.

“Kirel Qircassia had made that rift. So long as he wills it, the thing will stay open,” Argrave explained to her. “More precisely, so long as he is willing and able to exert his divinity, it will stay open.”

“Do you intend me to brin...

Chapter 407: Too Cautious and Too Bold

Sarikiz stared down at the four assembled elven gods. Then, in sudden motion, she lashed out fiercely and her foot descended on them with tremendous weight. Merata, Ghan, Ujin, and Gunlik and joined the strength of their projection to catch the attack.

“Stop it!” Argrave shouted out, stepping forth behind the gods. “If we wanted to fight, we wouldn’t have stopped to say ‘hi’ beforehand!”

Sarikiz looked at him, her golden dreads waving before her eyes as she half-craw...

Chapter 406: The Man Who Is Nothing

Of all the original protagonists that Argrave had encountered, Dimocles was the one that that had acted most like a player of Heroes of Berendar. His personality was the most well-suited for that role—just like him, players sought to collect things for the sake of collecting them. Artifacts, spells, abilities, companions… the players get more and more, collect the best of the best, and make the numbers go higher and higher until the game ends. That, or until they get bored.

Before c...

Chapter 405: Snake's Lunge

Argrave and Anneliese crouched near a redwood tree. Both had heavy, tired eyes, but upon looking at the other in the eye they were renewed with flame. They exchanged a nod of tacit understanding, and then Argrave rose up and walked ahead alone.

Though his steps were heavy and he took them slowly in anticipation for what was to come... nothing did. He walked into a relatively open clearing between many redwood trees, where nothing could be seen for miles in any direction. Five steps... t...

Chapter 404: Snake Coils Before Bite

When Argrave, Anneliese, and Orion made to return to the elven camp, Anneliese’s scouting discovered that it was simply gone.

...but further scouting showed that it had moved to another location, seeking an advantageous position in wake of the sudden shift of roots in the forest. With the ground cleared up, traveling was a much faster, if much stranger, thing. All of the soil was loose and unpacked, and felt a little squishy beneath their boots. Whatever the case, they made it to the ...

Chapter 403: Empire of One

After a while, Argrave managed to get the story out of Anneliese. When she mentioned going too far, too deep, she was talking about her evaluation of Onychinusa’s emotions. Apparently, what she had experienced was so profound she could all but perceive the elven woman’s thoughts. It had enabled her to say what was needed. But at the same time...

“I cannot shake this feeling,” Anneliese recounted. She sat on a root with Argrave beside her. The Brumesingers sat all around her, nuz...

Chapter 402: Finding Purpose

Anneliese felt sick to her stomach as she followed Onychinusa and the dryad down into the place that was to be the deciding point of this scheme. Battles she could handle, wars... she felt she had vision, there. But now she had insisted Argrave deviate from the surer course, following her down this path that she herself didn’t understand. She wasn’t made for this.

But then, more was made of everyone every day by the actions they take in the circumstances they land in. With the world...

Chapter 401: Lies of Lineage

Argrave and Anneliese spent their time stuffing their packs full of the valuable things in this library. There were bags enough to carry more than they probably had a right to. Onychinusa looked a little taken aback at their blatant raiding, but this place was a point of research for shamanic magic. There were many spells to go around. Unfortunately, the old emperor had no care for enchanting--in the end, that didn’t matter. The search parties sent out to scour old ruins undoubtedly would u...

Chapter 400: Imperialism Is Good

Argrave opened the first tome left behind by the elven monarch, reading through it carefully. It began without introducing its author, diving right to the heart of its contents. It was written in a strict yet elegant script. The writing was uniform enough it seemed typed.

I have witnessed twenty disciplined pikemen put an end to a horde of charging centaurs. Though the centaurs were also twenty, and easily quintuple the size of the pikemen, they died easily. That is not meant to dim...