Chương 51: Chapter 50: Wake Up, It's Time For Patricide!

A firm knocking and a shout woke me, and I sat up suddenly in bed, my Wolf-Ren spreading out from the center of my perceptions outward. Gelidia was there beside me, and I could have sworn that Ghosts didn't sleep, that she'd said as much, but there she was blearily blinking her eyes as anyone might when wakened suddenly! I was too, but I'd lived too long in a wasteland to sleep too soundly with sudden loud noises. My Wolf-Ren washed out the door, and I saw Ms. Birchwood, along with...

Roxala, Torch, and Felorikaan outside. Oh! I rolled from the bed to my feet, and adjusted my clothing a little so I didn't look like I'd just slept in my clothes cuddling Gelidia.

"mmmwuh?" Gelidia asked, and I smiled a little.

"It's our friends the Wayfinders and Ms. Birchwood." I said, and made sure Gelidia was ready before opening the door suddenly. Ms. Birchwood twitched and met my eyes for a moment, before looking past me at Gelidia, who was coming up and straightening out her hair as she came. Before anyone could say anything, Roxala held up a big, imposing gilded key in one gauntlet-ed hand with some relish and satisfaction.

"Dunno what happened, but the floor is cleared, and this appeared in front of me." Roxala explained, and I blinked at the pretty hawk's head shaped grip of the thing. I remembered the notifications waiting, and let them flow over me. Good Girl! You have humbled Cook Susan Cook, skeletal chef of Windbinder Keep level 8 💀 Bonus XP is gained for defeating a monster above your level! Bonus XP is gained for defending your Lady! Bonus XP is gained for sparing your opponent! Oh. Umm. Oops. Good Girl!

You participated in a Crafting Event, and created a Masterwork dish: Potatorr Gnocchi Pesto with Great Gourdon Soup and Baguettes! Bonus XP is gained for crafting with multiple people above your level! Bonus XP is gained for being trained by a higher-level crafter! Bonus XP is gained for making a significant contribution to the result! Whoah! I got EXP for a crafting event? I'd never gotten that before! Then again, I hadn't done anything like that before.

I mean, fighting wasn't all this world had to offer, so that made a good deal of sense. You have learned a new Peasant skill: [LIFE] Herbalism Due to Synergy, your [LIFE] Herbalism skill has evolved into [LIFE, MAGIC, SYNERGY] Braucherei. The skill is returned to rank F and any invested skillpoints are returned. Could I never get a normal skill? I had no idea what Braucherei was supposed to be, but... it was a magic skill? One that had a root in herbalism?

I'd picked a bunch of herbs and spices for the dinner tonight, that was true, so herbalism made sense to get, but... what had I gotten, synergizing herbalism like that? I checked the skill description, and as I did, I furrowed my brow. [LIFE, MAGIC, SYNERGY] Braucherei, Rank F: 0% - The ability to blend will and action together by means of herbalism, craftwork, and sympathetic magic power to cure - or to curse. That..

didn't actually make things much clearer, but it at least told me that I'd picked up a definite and clear magic skill - my very first, in fact. I still had no idea how to do... anything in its description save for find herbs, but at least it would help with my cookery by helping me find more herbs, I figured. As for the magic component, it sounded an awful lot like the books on Wicca I'd picked up when I was a teenager. I'd ask Gelidia and Fel about this later. Ding Ding Ding! Floor cleared. Wait...

waaaaaait a minute, WAS COOK THE FLOOR BOSS? I'd definitely beaten him. Inside me, Wolf chuckled, a pleasant low rumbling noise in my mind, but didn't comment otherwise. No levels this time, but... I had leveled very recently in the battle of the pantry, so that was okay.

"That means we can progress, right?" I asked, and Roxala nodded with a great big grin.

"That means we can open the final door, yeah. Torch confirmed - the last hawk on the steps spread her wings. Also, WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?" Roxala said calmly and then SHOUTED, eyes going wide as if JUST NOTICING. I stepped into the hall into the light and showed her, doing a little twirl with a grin to show it off making the skirt splay outward around my legs, showing off the apron and all.

I got the last piece from the chair I'd left it on just inside the door, and clipped that on as well, the shawl and cloak hanging comfortingly over my shoulders.

"You like it? Gelidia had it made for me." I said, and it surprised me how much Roxala's approval meant to me. She looked at it critically, rubbing her chin as she stepped forward and took the scaly padded cloak in one hand, pinching it between her fingers. She lifted it, clearly checking out the straps, and looked over the apron, made of that same scaled leather and padding. She nodded.

"It's a pretty dress... and a perfectly functional suit of leather armor, at that." She observed.

"This is pretty big, Emily. Your collar will even let you change shape if you need to without worry." She said, clearly approving. I nodded enthusiastically and lifted my skirt, to the shock of Ms. Birchwood who said'OH I SAY NOW HOLD ON'. Gelidia facepalmed in the background, and Fel had to turn his back on me, his shoulders shaking hard as he covered his mouth and fought off a laugh into a strangled noise. Torch and Roxala though, they just looked at what was under with interest!

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Oho! Flap!" Roxala observed"Very, very practical." as a passing guard who happened to be innocently patrolling in the hall ran face-first into a door with a clatter like dishpans being used as a trampoline. I hadn't shown anything lewd exactly, the drawers were about as objectively erotic as cheese, but even so Ms. Birchwood motioned me to put my dress down, please! There was a flash of mischief in me, and I briefly considered doing a can can instead, but...

I obediently smoothed down my skirt as Gelidia snickered to herself.

"World preserve us." Ms. Birchwood said, and SIGHED in a long-suffering way.

"Go on, then, go - you all look fine. And Gelidia dear?" Ms. Birchwood asked, stepping aside a bit. Gelidia moved away to follow her, to speak in private I assumed. I tried not to listen, to see, turning my back on the scene, but I couldn't escape it at all - my Wolf-Ren showed me everything. Back to us, Ms. Birchwood lifted her hands to do some last minute adjustments on her Lady's bows and the positioning of her dress, making sure that it wasn't wrinkled or damaged by sleeping in it.

Gelidia blinked at her Handmaiden and friend, the woman who helped raise her, and seemed... tense as she answered. Somehow I could tell, though no outward sign showed.

"Yes, Abbey?" my Lady asked in a quiet voice.

"I've served this family, woman and girl... since I was younger than you when I first met you. Your father was a generous ruler, and a good Duke. He died defending us all, and he is a hero." She said, and went on"And your mother, you could not ask for a kinder matron of the family, or a stronger foundation upon which to build a home. Even if they are... changed, even if they aren't how you remember them, I..."

she hesitated, staring down at her sensible little shoes and her white apron, curling spectral hair shading her eyes.

"Please, be merciful... and remember who they were. Remember that you love them too, and they... you." She said, and looked... old. Older than I'd seen the woman look yet, and so, so very tired. Gelidia hugged her, and said"I promise to try." she said quietly, and Ms. Birchwood nodded. Then, turning away, Gelidia held Abbey's hand as long as she could as she followed us off the third floor, and into the night air. Ms.

Birchwood stood with tears in her blank eyes the whole while, and folded her hands in her lap until the door shut and she vanished from my perceptions, like the rest of the interior of the keep with a heavy wooden clunk. I reached out, and took Gelidia's hand. We took up the rear, and I could hear source-less - literally - noises of a party. Like, I could hear them but they were originating from the air around the central structure of the Keep itself, without an internal source that I could detect.

It made the whole building shimmer and sort of smoke in an aura of blue-green lights with starlight sparkles in the air of half-heard orchestral music. I didn't let it distract me - just kept close to the others for a few steps, and held on tight to my Lady's hand, our fingers entwined.

"Are you nervous?" I asked her, voice low, and she bit her bottom lip a little as she mulled over her answer.

"... Yes. I'm nervous that I... might need to fight my parents. I know I said that... I would take the town if I had to, and I meant that, but... they're my parents." Gelidia said, squeezing my hand tight. It made sense to me. I would hate to have to do that too, to fight my own parents, maybe even kill them even if it was for the good of everyone else. That'd be... terrible, truly. And yet here Gelidia was, going through with it.

"I'll be right there with you, every step of the way." I vowed, and turned my face to her. We were lagging behind now, and stopped to turn face to face with each other.

"I promise." I said"I know... my sweet hound." She said. Roxala cleared her throat, and Gelidia tore her gaze from mine but I didn't look at her and tugged Gelidia's face back with a gentle grip of her chin. She looked up into my eyes, and my lips brushed hers a moment as my hand moved to cradle her cheek in my palm. She was cool, but soft and sweet and lovely as the day I'd met her. I stared into her blank white eyes, and smiled a little at her. Then I turned, and nodded to Roxala firmly, moving to follow.

When we arrived, it was to find the gargoyle hawk statues, each with their wings extended and heads raised, and I could see why Roxala had referred to them as feminine. There was a definite aspect of feminine curves to the way they were sculpted. Each issued a small pillar of green light upward from their eyes and open beaks. They didn't move... but they looked as if they might as we ascended the short flight of stairs leading up towards the final doorway, the detail was just so realistic.

They made a constant low noise, a humming, droning buzz that made them shine bright green in my perceptions even when I wasn't looking at them, the sound putting me in mind of a cicada made of glass. The door made a deep, resonant clunking noise that seemed to reverberate unnaturally through the whole of the portal as Roxala firmly pressed the key into it, and another round of clunks and clicks as she turned it with some effort on her part.

The hawks lowered their wings and folded them around themselves slowly, like stop-motion animations of birds mimicking life with a sound like stone grinding on stone, once again the effect making them seem nearly alive with how... weirdly organic the motion had been on such beautifully sculpted figures. Whoever had made it, assuming they were made once and not just an artifact of the dungeon itself, they were a genius. With no further drama, the door swung open into darkness... and silence.

The room revealed was in shambles - and looked like something that was exactly right for what had actually happened to the people of the castle. There was human wreckage, there were barricades. Roxala and I even had to give an almighty shove to permit us further in, because one such barricade had been erected in front of the door, to bar entry. And everywhere we looked, grinning skeletons and bones lay strewn about. Despite the music of the outside... it was dark, and silent as the grave.

FOURTH FLOOR Almost immediately afterward, then came a voice from the center of the room. A man's voice, dry as the bones strewn about, rasping, almost... painful sounding.

"Hello, my sweet Mirabilis, my flower that blooms in the moonlight. I've been expecting you." and the doors slammed shut behind us.