nemorosus

Chapter 128: The Old Guardians

Corentin sat in a group of near eight others, in the same house that he had just had his discussion with Argrave. The other southron elves were grizzled, scarred warriors just as he was—obvious war veterans. They were in a loose circle, some standing, some sitting.

“So, just as Durran did, this new arrival claims to have met my daughter, Gebicca?” one asked, a man with a missing nose.

“Yeah,” Corentin nodded, looking out towards the door. “Same tale as Durran, too. She...

Chapter 127: Jet-Black Relics

“Wanted to say…” Galamon looked at Argrave as they watched the oasis town, far out of sight. “You’ve gotten tougher.”

“The hell does that mean?” Argrave asked, worried at Galamon’s praise.

Galamon shook his head as though telling Argrave to calm down. “You used to never stop complaining. Couldn’t bear the sight of blood. Hated physical work. Different, now.”

“Not my choice, believe me,” Argrave turned his head away. “I like soft hands.”

...

Chapter 126: Sleeping Oasis

Come morning, Argrave had fully repaid the small debt he’d accrued to Erlebnis, enabling his use of the Blessing of Supersession once again. Their route to navigating the obstacles ahead was much clearer after a lengthy discussion. And, lastly, the Brumesingers spent the night gorging, turning their fur from a snow-white to an off-white.

The Brumesingers were magic creatures and had been living here for years, feasting on the high-quality souls of the dead southron elves in this tomb....

Chapter 125: Beast's Instinct

The Vessel, Yarra, placed her bare hand in the spring inside the cave. Argrave stood just behind her, watching this act with some degree of curiosity. They had retrieved their backpacks from outside. His Brumesingers were off in the cave, eating some of the still-lingering souls in this place. The fox-like little creatures actually ate with their eyes—not nearly as disgusting as it sounded, actually. Their gaze alone could devour souls that lacked attachment.

The water in the spring b...

Chapter 124: Death in Totality

Argrave was the farthest thing from a hunter.

The people with him, though, both hailed from a northern island where hunts made up a large portion of the food produced. Galamon had been a part of many hunts, and Anneliese knew much of the process by virtue of her sheer curiosity. As such, Argrave had learned that their people took two approaches to hunting animals in Veiden: trapping, or cornering.

They could not afford to make any traps, and so they had worked at cornering the Mis...

Chapter 123: Mistpads

Backpacking was a laborious thing. Argrave was coming to terms with its necessity, but he could not say that he was fond of carrying a pack on his back with the bare essentials and the heavy non-essentials while travelling across landscapes of varying types. Without healing magic to ease him of blisters and other things brought about by the journey, Argrave would never have made it across the Burnt Desert. Between its dunes of sand and its rocky hills, even in the winter it was not an easy pl...

Chapter 122: Burdened We Toil

Argrave returned with Brium to Cyprus alongside his escort of Vessels. Once they were inside the first room, with its decrepit tapestry winding about the walls, the Lord of Copper spoke with a natural authority.

“The hunt is on. All know what to do,” he said, and these words alone were enough to send the Vessels beneath him scattering despite the vagary of the command.

Argrave stood with his companions, waiting as the other Vessels left the room. Brium walked to the couch they...

Chapter 121: Metal Clashing

With Garm’s existence made known, the Lord of Copper had gained leverage over Argrave. That was an incontrovertible fact. With a word or two, Argrave could become an outlaw in most of the lands in the Burnt Desert. Fortunately, the significant delays in their travels had enabled Argrave to recover fully from his magic debt to Erlebnis—he could use the Blessing of Supersession again.

“What do think we should do?” questioned Anneliese. The three of them watched the Vessels speak t...

Chapter 120: Indomitable Copper Link

Argrave found the town of Sethia to be a mix between Delphasium and Malgeridum. While lacking the despotism of the latter, and not exactly possessing the abundance of the former, it met in the middle. Evidently the Vessels were somewhat cautious of their treatment of their people with a threat—the southern tribals in the mountains—looming so close.

Indeed, they had managed to find an inn at a decent price. The coins they’d obtained in Malgeridum had been of tremendous help in secu...

Chapter 119: Contracted Metalworker

Argrave had been pondering morality the whole time during his journey to Sethia. He supposed it was normal to examine oneself when confronted with the uncaring power dynamics within this southern region of Berendar. Argrave had his own moral code, naturally, and though he might be a bit more flexible than most others, he largely felt he was a righteous person.

And yet Argrave now found himself exposing a secret smuggling ring that offered people freedom from the Vessels, all to earn the...

Chapter 118: A Hand in Need

Argrave had a question: how does one gain the good graces of a faction in a xenophobic cult with enough power to rule over a city?

As much as he wished to, he certainly couldn’t walk up to any of the three towers, declare his intention to go inside, and be welcomed. The circumstance in Delphasium had been exceptional, but Sethia was a much larger city, and its lords were not nearly as gregarious as Mistress Tatia had been. Argrave and co. would be refused at the gate, he was certain, ...

Chapter 117: Myriad Metal Monuments Marring Mountains

Argrave’s legs gave out as his feet sunk into the top of a sand dune, and he collapsed ungracefully onto the ground. As he lifted his face up and shook his head to dislodge sand, a lizard blending in with the surroundings scurried away, heading for the distance. Argrave followed it with his gaze, and far ahead, a great monument loomed above.

“Are you all right?” Anneliese asked, kneeling beside Argrave with genuine concern in her voice.

“Just…” Argrave rose to his knee...

First Goal Met!

I appreciate everyone's support. All of you have given me the ability to work towards a long held dream of mine. I've been very fortunate to be connected to all of you, and even more fortunate that enough people are generous enough to sustain my writing endeavors.

I could thank all of you for hours, but I'm sure what you most care about is the promised chapters.

T1's and T2's will have access to the promised chapter counts immediately.
For T3's, I'm going to do daily releases...

Chapter 116: Expedience

The Dragon Palace, seat of House Vasquer, moved as though it were a beehive with an invader on the outside. Officials, guards, and royal knights flowed quickly, each with their own purpose and with a sense of urgency. Diplomats met couriers, frantically reading and writing letters to send off to Vasqeur’s supporters. Royal knights obeyed commands from their commanders, each seeking different leads on the murder of Bruno of Parbon.

One person waded through the crowd with slow, steady s...

Chapter 115: Caged Pride

Once the revolt was suppressed, the people went back to their usual routine with an odd sense of normalcy, returning to the forges and the mines that they had been operating with an almost routine disappointment. The disappointment didn’t seem to stem from the Vessels’ victory—rather, it was almost as though they had been deprived of an interesting happening.

As Argrave advanced with Anneliese and Galamon, they were still treated to oddities. The aftermath of the fight left water ...

Chapter 114: Watershow

The ‘Hidden Tryst’ room was, as it turned out, a place with only one massive bed. It was large enough to accommodate ten people easily. The three of them had travelled together long enough that such a thing didn’t really cause a problem—the Low Way had dissolved all boundaries. Argrave set Garm up with a book, and the head used simple E-rank magic to turn pages. The room was well-cleaned, it smelled nice, and the bed was soft. A pleasant place, by all standards.

The room wasn’...

Chapter 113: Malgeridum

Delphasium, Mistress Tatia’s town, could not be called grand in scale, though the shining marble streets inside made it seem like a pearl amidst the desert. That place was far behind them, and Argrave felt it had been a suitable welcome to the Burnt Desert.

The mining city, Malgeridum, was giant compared to Delphasium, yet it lacked the magnificence the simple trading town had. It stood at the point where the sand dunes began to fade in way of hills of black rock and dirt, cratered de...

Chapter 112: Ensnared

A fire crackled, sending smoke up into the darkness. For the first time in a long while, Argrave sat before a man-made campfire and not one born of magic. The flame was contained in a bowl of some sort that seemed to be well resistant to heat and kept aflame by chopped logs. Above it, goat meat sizzled, dripping fatty grease into the fire which would let out a cascade of sparks.

Argrave and Anneliese sat near, each using the campfire to read. Galamon had his back turned to the flame, wa...

Chapter 111: An Arid Goodbye

Argrave blinked open his eyes, staring up at the white ceiling above. He took a deep breath. His lungs felt back to working order, finally. He started to move and found his body happy to obey. He sat up, his head clear and everything in working order. He touched his chest, putting on a pondering expression.

Anneliese looked at him from where she sat at a table, reading a book. “You slept well,” she remarked.

Argrave ran his hand over his face. “Yeah… I guess I did. I feel ...

Chapter 110: Empty Vessels

The first thing that Argrave noticed when entering the palatial estate of Mistress Tatia was neither a sound, nor a sight, nor a smell. Instead, it was a sensation.

The air around them felt incredibly dry.

It was strange, then, that the second thing he processed was the presence of rushing water.

Argrave stepped past the purple cloth blocking the entrance, staring into the room. Arrayed before him was a decadent marble table, inlaid with gold at the corners. It was low set, ...

Chapter 109: Lure of the Fellhorn

Argrave shut the door to their room, taking a breath before turning around. The rolled-up piece of paper that had been delivered to them sat in the center of a table, each hovering about it as though it was something dangerous that needed to be watched.

After glancing between his two companions, who remained silent, he stepped up to the paper. He removed the purple sash, unrolling the paper gingerly with his gloves. He read through it.

“Huh.” He lowered it. “It really is jus...

Patreon Goals and Discord

Hey. I'll keep this brief.

I decided to take the summer semester of college off to save money for tuition/focus on writing. To that end, I've overhauled Patreon goals. Since those reading this are patrons already this won't mean much, but in time you'll get some more chapters. Read them if you're interested!

And secondly, I finally got around to making the discord. It should sync with discord roles-- I don't know how this works, so if something's off about the server or the patr...

Chapter 108: The Unexpected

Elias opened a set of thick stone doors, stepping into a cold hall. His father sat there at his desk. At Elias’ entry, he set down a dagger.

“Father,” Elias greeted a bit stiffly.

Margrave Reinhardt stared at his son. He said nothing for an uncomfortably long period, and Elias felt the need to squirm. He managed to stay still, though only with his best effort.

“Where is your fiancée?” the Margrave asked.

“I… introduced her to Rose,” Elias stepped forwa...

Chapter 107: Sullied Marble

Argrave boots met something other than sand for the first time in a long while. The ground beneath his feet was still black, though it resembled baked clay more than sand, and some sparse few plants sprouted from cracks in the soil. They were yellow or gray, though, all dead and decaying. The air was incredibly dry.

Ahead, the vast dunes of sand began to fade away, if only for a brief bit. The first bit of civilization entered into sight: a giant wall of black clay. It was smooth and st...

Chapter 106: And the March Goes On

“What do you think?”

Anneliese stared at Galamon, her arms crossed expectantly. Galamon turned around, looking to where Argrave had gone briefly to take care of nature’s call.

“Doesn’t matter. I didn’t need answers. I had already resolved to follow him,” Galamon shook his head.

“But I want to know what you think,” Anneliese insisted.

Galamon grinded his teeth together, saying nothing as the wind blew across the desert. “I’m reminded of when I was ...

Chapter 105: Two Stars Consume the Darkness

Argrave, Anneliese, and Galamon sat around a faintly flickering spell. Garm was there, too, though considering he was stabbed into the sand upright, he wasn’t exactly sitting. Despite being the middle of the night at the end of fall, the temperature was quite pleasant. In the Burnt Desert, the heat would linger in the sand for a long time after the suns set, both because of its color and its composition.

Galamon did nothing. He had done all of the maintenance he needed for his weapons...

Chapter 104: End of the Long Night

Ossian leaned over a railing, staring down at the drained bottom of one of the the canals. Despite having traversed the Low Way since he was but twelve in secret expeditions away from the senior Sentinels’ eyes, Ossian had not known the canals had a portion that could be dried entirely with the sluices. Why it was drained, or where the dried portion led, Ossian did not care to test. That would be a journey for another day, if indeed it came at all.

“…it’s been a day, Ossian. Rat...

Chapter 103: Knight of the Wellspring

Argrave steadily stepped up the jagged red crystals that bit at his boots. If there was one thing he had not expected to appreciate, it would be the enchanted boots. There was a limit to the level of comfort one could offer for footwear on Earth, even with advanced technology. Here, though, despite the sharp, ruby-colored crystals sticking up into his soles, he felt nothing. The only pain he felt was from the gradual wear and tear of walking.

The confines of the crystal cave were narrow...

Chapter 102: Thicker than Water

Argrave stared into the rushing red water, watching it rise and writhe against the red-stained stone. He leaned against a railing just before the canal. Anneliese stood just beside him, looking around Nodremaid with Garm in her hand. Evidently she had grown to tolerate the place much better, for she was less troubled than Argrave.

He was coming to terms with the fact that Berendar had changed him. Beyond the initial rush of fear, uncertainty, and panic that cropped up in the act itself,...

Chapter 101: Sentinel's Capstone

Alasdair ducked beneath the iron gate of the Menagerie where a few of the Stonepetal Sentinels awaited him.

“Nothing, sir,” the closest to Alasdair said immediately.

“Nothing?” Alasdair repeated. He raised up both hands, kneading his gauntlets together anxiously. “Gods be damned… where would he have put the accursed thing?”

“We searched everywhere. All the rooms, every corner… not a thing,” the Sentinel confirmed, shaking his head.

“Damn it all,�...