Chương 458: Chapter 453 - Final check-ups

"—both Lady Morton and Lady Carlyle will be receiving us at their estates in the morning, and Lady Withersworth said she'll be joining us for those visits. After that, you'll have to handle the meeting with Countess Bentley by yourself while I meet Lady Helma Morley and accompany Lady Withersworth to speak with Lord Montague and Duke Roscoe," Evelyne said from where she sat in front of Scarlett's desk in the office. Scarlett only nodded absently at the list of names of imperial nobility. There was a brief silence.

"Do you have to do that while we're talking?" Evelyne finally asked, pointing at the desk. Spread across it from one end to the other was a large parchment, already half-filled with scorched lines and sigils that Scarlett was etching into it through pyrokinesis.

"I do," Scarlett said, flipping another page in the notebook in her hands while keeping most of her attention on reproducing the glyphwork detailed there across the parchment. It was the complete glyph of the primordial spell she had already inscribed one section of onto the armoury wall, and Evelyne was fully aware of that.

If Scarlett hadn't already numbed the woman's sense for absurdity beyond repair, Evelyne probably would have been far more disturbed by Scarlett casually copying down something that had previously existed only in legend right in front of her. But compared to killing an ancient dragon and dragging its heart back home, apparently this ranked significantly lower on the scale.

"I would have finished this earlier," Scarlett continued, "if I had had the time. But as you well know, I have had other priorities." This was far from the most important thing she'd needed to get done, but she did want it finished before they left, which meant doing it now. Evelyne's eyes lingered on her for a few seconds.

"Did you get any sleep tonight?" Scarlett paused and looked up.

"Yes." Evelyne's doubt showed plainly on her face.

"I did," Scarlett said.

"Seven hours, in fact. I am aware that you often function on significantly less, so I would appreciate it if you did not attempt to lecture me on getting proper sleep." Faint embarrassment flickered across Evelyne's expression, and she looked away, seeming to drop the matter. Her gaze drifted to the painting behind Scarlett.

"Anyway, that was everything I wanted to update you on before we leave. There are still a few replies we're waiting on, though. I'll go over the itinerary with you again in Elystead."

"Good. Then for now, you can join the others. I will be there as soon as I have finalised my preparations."

"Don't take too long. It will be difficult to secure another passage to Elystead if we miss the current one."

"There is no risk of that. I am keeping track of the time." Scarlett made a brief shooing motion with one hand, earning a raised brow from Evelyne, but the woman stood, said her goodbyes, and left the office without further comment. Scarlett kept working on the single, absurdly intricate glyph spread across the desk for a good half-hour longer before she finally had it in its entirety, just as it appeared on the stele beneath the House of Fire where she'd first found the primordial spell.

Up until now, she hadn't had any reason to recreate it properly. She couldn't cast it anyway, nor did she know anyone proficient enough in pyromancy to do it for her. It demanded an arch mage at minimum, after all. Looking over her recreation and checking that it was accurate despite the adjusted scale, she gave a small nod to herself and set the notebook aside. Then she reached into the [Pouch of Holding] and drew out a curved silver fang set into a circular frame of bone.

[Canticle of Remembrance (Unique)] {Verses once scattered now sing in unison} Olgolzkreh's heart undoubtedly remained the greatest prize she'd brought back from Fynn's trials, but this came in as a very secure second. Even if most of her attention had been on the Loci and the heart the previous day, she had still been looking forward to seeing whether this would work. With a thought, the Array Forge appeared on the desk.

A single touch activated the artifact, and the office was immediately overlaid in a shifting display of runes and geometric light that spread across the walls and floor. Before, Scarlett had been somewhat uncertain how exactly she was supposed to get the Canticle to memorise the primordial spell without actually having anyone around who could cast it. In the game, you could use the Canticle to copy spells stored in scrolls and books, but she didn't actually know how that mechanic translated here.

She had, more or less, been operating on the assumption that it would become obvious once she tried, and if it didn't, she would just have to work out another solution. Fortunately, the Array Forge might give her a way to sidestep that problem entirely. Her mana, guided and regulated through the Forge, moved to precisely mirror the primordial glyph inscribed on the parchment, and it unfolded at the centre of the room like a flower.

Generally, spells were different from arrays in that they weren't built to function without a caster actively giving shape to them, so simply reproducing the glyph wouldn't be enough to truly activate the spell. And since she was doing this through the Forge, it wasn't a real activation anyway, but closer to a simulation, drawing far less mana. Still, it should carry the basic imprint of the spell itself, which the [Canticle of Remembrance] could theoretically register. And it did.

A hush of melodic whispers brushed across the air as the runes carved into the Canticle lit up in confirmation. Scarlett smiled. One primordial spell stored. She put both the Forge and the Canticle away in her pouch again, then let the parchment curl into cinders that spread from the edges. Soon, all of it had blackened and collapsed into ash, which the Loci obligingly whisked away. Next would be working out exactly how much mana the spell would take to cast.

By Scarlett's estimate, she was still short by a few thousand, and from what she remembered of the game, the Canticle didn't take into account skills that helped lower mana costs, like [Superior Pyromancy]. Still, there should be a few ways around that. With that matter settled for now, she sent another thought to the Loci, asking it to check the arrays she'd set up around the estate while also probing to confirm that it still remembered and understood her instructions for while she and the others were gone.

The reply that came back felt close enough to confirmation to satisfy her. She would still be inspecting the arrays herself before leaving, just in case, but the fact that the Loci could answer that sort of question at all now was enough to— A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Suddenly, through their link, another response came back from the Loci.

It was like a probe in return, though it felt less like a question and more like a reminder tangled up with a request. Scarlett fell silent.

"…I will try," she said after a moment.

"But you should not get your hopes up." A pulse of satisfaction passed back through their link. It was followed by the space on the desk in front of her twisting. With wings of pale light shifting lazily at its sides and a tail of translucent scales curling around its small legs, the sleeping phantom Will of Olgolzkreh's heart had appeared. Perched on its neck between the slender horns that swept back in smooth arcs was the sprite, also apparently asleep.

Scarlett sighed, unsure whether the Loci had actually understood her cautioning. With the Array Forge speeding up her work, she had made a surprising amount of progress on integrating Olgolzkreh's heart into the estate over the roughly day and a half she'd had to work on it. There was still plenty left to do, but the foundation had at least been laid, and she had succeeded in adjusting the heart enough that the Loci could now use it as a mana source. She hadn't expected that alone to cause much of a change.

In essence, it wasn't all that different from simply upgrading the battery the Loci was running on. Which was why she'd been caught off guard when it seemed to have prompted actual shifts in the spirit, such as it now apparently being capable of making vague requests of its own. Her eyes settled on the phantom dragon before her, and as she watched it, its eyes slowly blinked open and met hers for a moment, slit-pupilled irises of pure white regarding her. Then it languidly closed them again.

Scarlett swallowed another sigh as she rose and leaned over the desk to pick up both the dragon and the sprite resting on top of it. Why did it feel like she'd started collecting mascots everywhere she went? First Slate, then Nol'viz, and now they were somehow getting progressively smaller with the phantom dragon and the sprite. As the dragon settled into her arms, she realised it wasn't as heavy as it looked.

The sensation was odd, somewhere between touch and the absence of it, almost like she was holding a shape made of very dense air. Without thinking, her hand moved to test its scales. While what she felt was more an impression than actual contact, they were unexpectedly smooth and strangely pleasant to run her fingers over. The dragon didn't react as Scarlett stepped out of her office. Technically, this phantom Will wasn't actually the true Will that protected and dwelled within the heart.

It was something more like an offshoot that the Loci had somehow drawn out. That the Loci could somehow do that was probably what had surprised Scarlett the most. As far as she could tell, it wasn't an offshoot in the sense of being a copy, but something more similar to an extension. Or maybe an avatar of the original Will. She wasn't really sure how it worked, or how the Loci had managed it in the first place, but she assumed the Will itself had cooperated in some fashion.

Either way, Scarlett had ended up making something close to a promise to the Loci that this version of the Will would be coming with them, so for the moment, she didn't have much choice but to carry it around. Moving through the halls of the mansion, she stopped at the places where she'd set up arrays she wanted to double-check were still functioning properly, just in case the Loci had been mistaken.

Once she was done inside, she had the Loci teleport her around the estate to inspect the rest before finally confirming that everything seemed to be working as it should. That covered most of her remaining preparations before leaving. Now there was only one thing left. She had the Loci bring her to one of the guest rooms in the mansion's west wing.

Her arms were beginning to grow a little tired from the whole dragon-carrying arrangement, but she kept it up, shifting the Will just slightly so that she could knock on the door. Not that a response came. After waiting for half a minute, she opened the door and stepped inside anyway. Carnwedain's towering figure stood near a window overlooking the western grounds of the estate. In front of him, at a square table, Nol'viz was bent over a chessboard with only the white pieces arranged on it.

The Cabal girl's trio of bright lavender eyes blinked in thoughtful concentration as they studied the board, and one sleeve-covered hand moved out to push a pawn forward by a single square before drawing back to hang motionless at her side. Scarlett stopped a few steps away and watched them for a while. Neither of them spoke or looked her way.

"…What are you doing?" she finally asked.

"Chess," Nol'viz answered softly in her whispered voices.

"Slate told us it is a game of mental strategy. We have heard of it, and we want to learn."

"Typically, it takes more than one person to play chess." The girl's head turned, three eyes fixing on Scarlett as the mask tilted to the side.

"We are not one?" Scarlett glanced at Carnwedain. The knight's gaze seemed to rest briefly on the dragon in her arms before returning to Nol'viz.

"She will learn," an ancient voice said from beneath the helmet.

"If you say so." Scarlett had her doubts that Nol'viz was going to learn much playing against nobody—not even herself—but she would leave it be.

"My people and I are now leaving," she said, shifting her attention back to why she was here and addressing Carnwedain directly.

"The pact has already run its course, but I know you will honour the spirit of our agreement. You have earned Nol'viz's freedom. As a final courtesy, I can have you transported beyond Freybrook so that it will be easier for you to make your own return." She absolutely wouldn't allow any of the Hallowed Cabal's teleportation anywhere near her estate if that was how they would be departing.

While the Loci would likely need time to adjust to having something as powerful as Olgolzkreh's heart as a mana source—and Scarlett was nowhere near figuring out what to do with the Anomalous half of that power yet—she was at least confident that the spirit could now block essentially all spatial transportation near the estate and the surrounding area. If it wanted to, the Loci's reach might even stretch well beyond its actual domain and over the whole of Freybrook's northern district.

"If you would prefer," she continued, "I can also—""We want to join you in Elystead," Nol'viz said. Scarlett blinked, then stared at her.

"No." It was true that she'd thought it might be useful to keep access to their strength a little longer, and she would even feel at least a little bad about separating Slate and Nol'viz. But actually bringing these two with her to Elystead was not an option. Nol'viz looked at her curiously.

"Why?" Scarlett frowned.

"Why do you wish to join us?"

"You are fascinating. You are more."

"Not because of Slate?"

"No."

"And what of the Cabal? What of your goal of assisting them so that you can survive?" The girl blinked slowly, and Scarlett wondered if there wasn't surprise in the motion.

"Know that I cannot help you with that," Scarlett said. Nol'viz went silent for a few seconds, then gave a small nod.

"We are not in a hurry. We are not dead yet."

"Regardless, I cannot bring you. I have no use for you in Elystead, and there is too much risk involved." Nol'viz was easy enough to hide. Carnwedain was not. Scarlett could accept some minor risk in having him join just briefly here in Freybrook, but having someone of his size moving around with her in the capital was far too conspicuous, especially when she was about to have a lot of eyes on her. And there was also the possibility that someone in Elystead had fought him before and would recognise him.

Nol'viz's head tilted again, then turned towards Carnwedain.

"You are in the way." The knight didn't respond.

"Can you not be?" Scarlett couldn't help giving Nol'viz a slightly surprised look. Was she…asking him to get lost? Carnwedain's gaze settled on the masked girl, remaining on her for several long moments. Though there was no wind to stir them, his tattered robes shifted faintly around the dark armour beneath. Then, with a weight that seemed to come from more than just his large frame, his slitless helmet turned towards Scarlett again.

"You fear I will be recognised?"

"Among other things, yes."

"This will not happen." The words carried a near-absolute certainty. Scarlett studied him, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"How can you know?"

"My word will be given."

"…You are serious?" Once Carnwedain gave his word, he couldn't go back on it. That was part of what tied him to the Cabal, and more than that, part of what he fundamentally was as a vessel of the Bound.

"I will pay the price," the knight rumbled.

"None will know." Scarlett frowned again. She had no idea what method he was considering to be able to promise that, but if he was willing to give his word on it, she doubted he was bluffing. The seconds passed in silence as the other two appeared content to wait for her to answer. Scarlett kept her gaze on Carnwedain a moment longer, then turned back to Nol'viz.

"I must still refuse your request."

"Why?" the girl asked.

"I stand to gain nothing from it." Nol'viz's three eyes all stared at her. Then they closed, one by one, and she sat there, as if turning it over.

"We understand," she finally said, eyes opening again.

"Then we will pay you." Scarlett was about to dismiss that too, then stopped, considering it for another moment before speaking.

"What do you have to offer?"