Monk_Origins

When I started this journey of being an amateur author, I strapped 3 weights to my ankles. First was the name of the book, which I managed to somewhat mitigate. Second is the title of my chapters, which I can only hope to get better at. And today, I spent couple bucks with an artist, to eradicate the 3^rd issue, the horrible thumbnail. It should be ready in a week or so, and I should be able to post some sketches tomorrow.

Silva Laverna POV

It took us only one more night to reach their commune. And it was one night too many, as I couldn’t sleep. Even with Horst butchering the creature, I could still smell it, even if it was in the other ship, tailing us 30 meters behind.

The stench, that I could endure. It was not that which made me unable to sleep. First was the way wyvern died. That shot could kill even a Tier 6 or 7 monsters in a blink of an eye. It made one wonder the world this ‘hyuman’ belong to, to require such weapons. It could kill me without sparing me a single thought. Like how one would view an ant whoso life one could take with a simple step. My father used to say that it was too common of a feeling for the people at the top. An apex person could simply kill an elf with a wave of a hand, and not even care, as if swatting a fly.

While this was interesting to wonder about, I had a more immediate reason not to be able to sleep. The core of that beast. With it, it would be all but guaranteed for me to reach the 4^th Tier in 8 to 9 months. Or a year at most, without the mana tree they claimed to have. It was so close to me, yet under the eye of that hyuman, so far away at the same time.

Even during my grandfather’s time, when the kingdom was still around, Tier 4 cores were valuable beyond belief. During the peak, the mage corps had over 500 Tier 3 mages, yet there was only 8 Tier 4 ones. For one, the there was no supply. The few that was available, was the result of countless deaths in the forest. Many dozens of mages gave their lives to get a single Tier 4 core. Even in the rare cases where there was one, they were always given to the mages who had proved themselves one way or another. A mage like me, who had no real combat experience had no chance to get it.

No, this wasn’t the old kingdom, neither was I the old Silva. What I need was leverage. Something to make the village give it to me willingly, but how? Reveal my identity to them? No. It would be a miracle for them not to kick me out.

Money? I had not much left, only single platinum and some chump change. It wasn’t even a fourth of its worth.

It was when Auda called out for me did I realize that I was about to step on a gangplank.

I managed to gather myself, to put up the usual half smiling face.

It was clear that they had not lied, as I could feel the increased density before I managed to spot the village. Indeed, in the distance, there was a grand tree, leaves shimmering on my mana sight.

The tree had been fascination of many inferior bards, claiming that there was something poetic with this tree. In a sense, they were right. It was the greediest of all trees. It sucked mana from earth, stealing for itself. It strangled any plants in its vicinity, not allowing them to benefit from its effects. When the tree was cut down, it returned to normal wood, perhaps even worse than normal wood, as it had many holes in it, not allowing anything to benefit from its remains.

Yet, this was also the most useful tree of them all, as the fact it drew mana to surface helped the elves living near, to grow stronger, to live longer, to thrive.

Near the tree, there was a small village forming. While most of it was tents, as Galdwin had said, they were building houses as fast as they could. At this pace, they should be able to make it to winter.

I saw Galdwin approach and say something to an old man, only for him to nod.

Afterwards, Galdwin came closer to me.

“My lady, the village heads are gathering for me to report, and I am sure that they would like to see you, our benefactor.”

Illusion of choice. I wonder how he would react if I said that I didn’t wish to.

“Of course, Mister, I hope you can guide me till there, if possible.”

. . . . .

It took 30 minutes. Why were we going so far away? It’s not as if they would build a meeting hall so far away, right? And it was impossible for them to try anything against me, a Tier 3 mage with guards of the same level. It took but a moment for my puzzlement to be replaced with curiosity, when I saw it.

That ‘thing’ was entirely metal. It was not one, but its shape reminded me of one of the sea monsters that had terrorized eastern island for years. Then, from its back came a person, a ‘hyuman’.

Indeed, it was not an elf at the first glance, even though it was only small changes. His ears were shorter, unmoving, as if glued to their places. He was wider than an elf, too. It was not that he was fat, on the contrary, he was full of muscles, unlike an elf, whose muscles would stop growing when reaching the warrior level. Physically, he looked like an amalgamation of an elf and an orc. He was as muscled as an orc, as tall and handsome as an elf. Thankfully, his skin was the normal healthy pink, instead of green, like the orcs.

He ushered us in with a fluent elvish. It was as if I entered abode of a powerful mage. Mage lights on all of the walls, Living doors instead of normal ones, and tablets with flowing rune script on the walls. Yet, there was no magic. The lights weren’t made of magic, doors didn’t have artificial souls, and what was shown on the devices on the walls was no rune script that I knew. Only when we entered a room to sit down did I realize that I had been acting just like a peasant before.

There were 4 people already inside, talking. The meeting wasn’t anything fancy. Short-eared one stayed silent during the meeting, except when telling them to wait few more days for something. The rest was dull. A smith and his apprentice, an alchemist and a crippled old soldier. This was not good.

If they were self sufficient, it would be bad news for me, as they would have no use for the only thing I could offer, connections to the north. But situation was even worse, as they were so small, they had no need for it.

“I am greatly thankful for what you have done for us, young Lady. Would you like to introduce yourselves?” It was the cripple who asked me, and my guards. It seems like they finished whatever they were discussing.

“Ah, yes. I am called Mary. Mary Gerber. My father was used to be a successful merchant, but he was killed during a raid. The viscount, a friend of my father was kind enough to allow me to stay with his wife and daughter in my grief. What I gave you was what little remained of my father’s merchandise. These 2 are my father’s bodyguard and my cousin, Horst and Auda.”

“I see. You can stay with us as long as you would like to. I see that you and your guards are strong enough to take care of your security, would you allow us to call you for the defense of the village?"

This peasant! To play political games in such an old age of his, isn’t he a shameless one.

“Of course, you may. I might have given that much grain to the village, but I will come to save the village if only the times necessitate it.”

“Alright, enough of this, is there anything else in the agenda?”

Silence fell to the room, after the hyuman named Lloyd spoke.

“Since there is nothing else, come with me. Brian and I have something to show you lot.”

Once outside, there were a few things waiting for us. A pile of wood, a similar pile of coal and  buckets of water. They were all standing next to a plow, and a weird iron, no, steel contraption. It had pipes of all sizes, wheels, levers and many more parts. What kind of device was it to require this much steel? It might be no mythril, but steel was still valuable. It seemed like only the smith also understood the value of this thing.

“It’s the steam engine I told you about. Brian will now introduce how to operate it.”

Brian, the apprentice that was standing next to the smith, walked up to the device. He first lit pile of wood on fire before shoveling it to a compartment at the back side of the wheeled monstrosity. Afterwards, he carried and emptied bucket after bucket of water at the top. After messing around with it 20 whole minutes, contraption started to wheeze into life. The giant god knows how many ton thing begun to move. It was noisy, spouted black and white smoke, moved slowly, and took this much valuable materials. It was insanity. Brian, the driver, came to a stop after giving it a tour.

“I guess its charming enough, but what is the use of it? If you wanted to move around, a horse would be better. And I don’t think it is as elegant as a magic carriage, is it not?”

The hyuman answered my question, with bemusement.

“Ah, you mean the ones nobles use to flaunt at the capital? Tell me, are you aware how much it costs to make one? And to run it?”

“Each is unique, of course, but in general, it takes about 200 grams of 50% mythril to engrave the runes. With the décor made by the artisans, it should be around 3 platinum coins, or 1500 golds. As for using it, if you are a mage at least Tier 3, then, nothing. If not an aether block per hour should be enough. Each one costs 5 gold coins.”

“I see. Thank you for the answer Mrs. Mary. One more question, what can you use it for, except showing off? Can you use one to farm? Or anything else for that matter?

“My goodness, of course you can’t. Running it for an hour costs more than what a farmer can make in a year, how can it be? What would the use of it be, in the first place?”

“Let me tell you about it then. A farmer can farm 2 acres of soil each season, 3, if he is young and strong. Per acre, he can expect around 1200-1400 kg of grain, which can feed 2 to 3 people. After subtracting his own food, he can earn 3-4 gold per year from these 2 acres. But this machine can plow seed and harvest more than 10 acres per day. And as you saw, it takes only wood, coal and water to run it. I am sure that you can imagine the outcome, can you not?”

Monk_Origins

Some of the casual fast reader might not notice why the old man is so hated by the Silva, so I decided to try explain it. For one, Silva just saved the village from starvation, and the old man showed no signs of being thankful besides a sentence. Second, the line “I see that you and your guards are strong enough to take care of your security, would you allow us to call you for the defense of the village?” is extremely problematic. First part tries to diminish the strength of the Silva and her bodyguards. A tier 3 mage and 2 Tier 3 warriors can easily wipe the village from the face of the planet, granted Lloyd doesn’t interfere. Yet, the old man is trying to lower the position to merely “somewhat strong”. Second part is even worse. If the Silva was to simply say “yes”, she would find it hard to establish dominance in the village. She would fall from a powerful mage with powerful guards to simply someone who acts as a villageguard at a call of from the old man.

 

One more thing. Are you enjoying the novel? Perhaps enough to leave a review..?

Can't blame an Author for trying, can you? :P