Chương 74: 142 - Short

Bonegulch was a wasteland dropped into the middle of the otherwise verdant forests of the Western Kingdom. The transition was even more stark from a thousand feet in the air, where they saw the greenery wither and peel back into bright sand in what couldn't be a longer stretch than a quarter of a mile. The rules of science as Vivi knew them already had at most a loose hold on geography in this world, but not even natural magical influence typically caused barren deserts to spring up out of nowhere.

"How does something like this even happen?" Saffra murmured at Vivi's side, gazing across the rolling dunes. They had slowed to a crawl in their high-altitude flight to take the image in.

"Not sure, but it was a magical disaster in origin. The ambient mana is thicker here. I feel it. You do too, I'm sure." Vivi's attention slid leftward a few degrees, toward a distant hum so faint even she could barely sense it. The memory of a crumbling stone altar in the midst of an enormous ribcage flickered through her thoughts. The same place Embralyne would be seeking out—or hopefully already had. Though, maybe she hadn't. It could be tricky to find. Vivi had come prepared for the possibility.

"Something happened here, a long time ago, to leave the whole area uninhabitable," Vivi elaborated.

"Probably a ritual."

"A ritual for what?"

"Not sure. Bonegulch is old. Well before my time." In multiple meanings of the phrase. The main-campaign quests that had taken her through the desert hadn't explained much. The lack of detail, she thought, had been specifically to emphasize how ancient the place was. Lost to history. Another reminder that there was no shortage of mysteries to unearth in the world of Seven Cataclysms. Which, recently, she had decided she didn't like. Mysteries in this world tended to have teeth.

She would have preferred a more predictable and calm existence. She shook the thoughts away.

"It's also very hot, if you couldn't guess." They were already feeling some of that despite not having crossed the boundary yet.

"So here. [Aura of the Winter Elk]." Saffra stiffened in surprise as the magic settled over her.

"There's an oasis-town near the center," she continued.

"You can see it now, if you look hard." She pointed, and Saffra squinted into the distance.

"I… don't see anything. Should I?" Vivi paused. Though a speck on the horizon, Shimmer was still easy enough to pick out. A second of confusion passed before she remembered just how much better her senses were than the lower-level mage's. She dropped her hand.

"You'll see it soon. It's a small settlement. Not many people choose to live out here."

"I'm surprised anyone does."

"Mostly adventurers, I can only assume. High ambient mana means stronger monsters. Valuable crafting reagents." A pause, then she added dryly, "There's also all the skeletons." The namesake for the zone.

"And the dungeons."

"Dungeons?"

"There's six buried entrances to the Ruins of Terevos scattered throughout Bonegulch. Probably at least one more to dig up with enough effort. Anyone who does find a new way down would become very rich, very fast."

"Or die to all kinds of unknown and horrible monsters," Saffra muttered.

"Well, yes. That is the tradeoff." Leaving it on that bleak note, Vivi propelled herself toward the oasis city of Shimmer, picking up speed rapidly. Saffra followed. As an afterthought, Vivi cloaked both of them in [Invisibility] spells. Anonymity wasn't especially important for her mission today, but she would all the same rather not be seen flying into the city. Flight instantly identified a person as a Titled mage to anyone who knew anything about magic.

Shimmer came into full view after a few minutes of hyper-speed travel. The pool at the center of the huddled town was an almost electric blue—only partially the effect of the dense mana suffusing the desert's secluded reprieve. The water shimmered like liquid sapphires, something even a non-mage could sense but which was doubly unnatural for magic users. This whole zone oozed mana, despite how barren it was.

Clustered around the jewel-like pool were date palms and scrubby vegetation—and past that, winding paths covered by awnings to shade against the blazing sun. Those paths linked to squat sandstone buildings thrown up without much semblance of organization. The largest single building was, unsurprisingly, the Adventurer's Guild, and it was also the best-kept and the only one taller than two stories.

A small permanent population lived here, she was sure, but otherwise, the entire economy of the town connected to the guild in one way or another. So of course it was the most prominent. The remoteness of Shimmer, and the accompanying strength of monsters, meant the average rank might be gold or higher—and even then most were probably unprepared for the threats lurking in the desert. She wouldn't be shocked if a team of orichalcums had taken up residence.

Though more likely, adventurers that strong would be out exploring the wastes rather than lounging around. Wasn't much reason to hang about in Shimmer. Not an amenity in sight. She landed a few hundred feet outside the settlement and dropped her [Invisibility]. The scorching sun overhead couldn't pierce [Aura of the Winter Elk], but she felt the stifling heat in an abstract way. Like watching a thunderstorm from behind a window. It left her vaguely uncomfortable.

"You think she's here already?" Saffra asked as they trudged through soft, shifting sand.

"With any luck. But she might not be, especially if she stopped by Stormspine like I hoped she would."

"Stormspine?" Vivi realized she hadn't explained that part to Saffra.

"The Fourflame Amulet needs four primal energies, matching the gems. As it happens, one such nexus is in the frozen wastes north of Prismarche. Ice—the blue gem. Another focal point is here in Bonegulch. And yet another is between the two, if with a slight detour." Saffra didn't press on the details—what elements matched to which gems. She addressed the practical instead.

"I see." The girl frowned at the ground as they plodded forward in silence.

"You… do know that she's not gonna be happy with you, right, Lady Vivi?"

"Obviously." In Vivi's last meeting with the dragon, she had acted brusque and dismissive. Behavior even human nobility would take offense to, let alone Embralyne.

"But let me worry about the angry dragon princess." Saffra shot a supremely dubious look at her, though she quickly wiped it away. Vivi found that more condemning than if the girl had voiced her skepticism outright. She wasn't that hopeless. She had a plan for dealing with Embralyne—of course she did. She might get caught up in the moment sometimes or not know how to navigate complex social situations, but she could at least map out important events in advance, when she had the time to.

Before long, they had trudged through deep sand into the town's outskirts, and they immediately began drawing looks. She was hardly a stranger to attention—at least recently—but it was usually due to her reputation. She could normally pass as just another face in the crowd. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Saffra noticed the gazes too, but she didn't passively ignore them like Vivi tried to.

Instead, the catgirl glared at each and every intent expression leveled at them, silently challenging all comers to a fight.

"What is it?" Vivi asked eventually.

"Everyone's looking. Did we do something?"

"It's either because we're not dressed for the weather, or because kids don't show up in places like this often, not without an adult." The scornful emphasis on 'kids' made clear it was a sore point. She paused as she realized what she'd implied.

"Not that I'm not accompanied by my master, or that, you know… um…" Vivi understood exactly what Saffra was getting at, but she met the girl with a flat gaze, letting her squirm.

"It's probably just how we're dressed," Saffra said, coughing into a fist.

"Even gold-rankers get hot. That cooling spell is pretty amazing, Lady Vivi." Vivi mentally rolled her eyes at the deflection. She graciously chose to let it pass. Because yes, if a person were to look at the two of them, she knew they wouldn't see master and apprentice. She could sometimes get away with her height and build not immediately forcing incorrect assumptions of her age, but standing next to Saffra did the opposite of help with that eternal plight. The catgirl was taller than her, for heaven's sake.

If only by an inch. Vivi side-eyed the girl and thought sourly, Maybe two.

"If she's not here, she will be soon," Vivi said, picking up the thread of conversation from earlier.

"Maybe we can choose a quest from the guild in the meantime. If there are any." She suspected pickings were thin compared to Prismarche. Predominantly requests for rare monster parts rather than proper missions, if she had to guess. Those would be quick and easy, though, so maybe it was ideal.

"A quest? Why would we do that?"

"Rank points. You do still want to hit gold, don't you?" Vivi remembered her discussion with the receptionist back at Prismarche. While Saffra had reached the standard level mark for picking up her next badge, there were other requirements she had to worry about. Sufficient renown with the Adventurer's Guild and passing an official test were the two major prerequisites, from what Vivi understood.

"Though you probably have enough points already, with how you talked about it earlier," Vivi added.

"Still, might as well start working toward mithril too. It'll come faster than you think, and I haven't been leaving you much opportunity to go questing yourself." Vivi paused as she realized something.

"You do still care about ranking up?" she prompted. Saffra had seemed caught off guard from the start, and only grown more bewildered as Vivi went on. At the final question, Saffra pulled on the straps of her backpack and frowned down at the pathway before answering.

"…yes?" the girl ventured.

"I do. I've been working on ranking up since—" She cut off.

"But still, really? You clearly have—" Vivi summoned her staff and raised it threateningly toward the girl. Saffra wisely fell silent and stared, wide-eyed, at the length of wood.

"You were about to say something dumb," Vivi said pointedly.

"Like that I 'clearly have more important things to do' than look after my apprentice's future."

"But—" A cautionary wave of her staff, and Saffra went quiet again.

"Do you care about getting your gold-rank badge? And further?" Vivi asked.

"…yes."

"Then we'll work on that."

"…alright." Satisfied, Vivi nodded and lowered her weapon.

"You do have enough points, or however that works? You told me earlier that you were ready to take the gold-rank exam."

"I do," Saffra replied carefully.

"And am."

"Is that something we need to set up?" She considered.

"I suppose I can ask Rafael for help, though he did just step down. Maybe that's not his job anymore." For some reason, her words produced an expression close to panic on Saffra's face.

"It's never been the role of the Guildmaster to set up gold-rank exams. Please, Lady Vivi, don't. I'll schedule it like everyone else. At the local branch." If Vivi were in her old body, her lips probably would've quirked in amusement—because at the reaction, she couldn't help herself.

"I could also put in a request to skip the whole ordeal," she mused aloud.

"Rank you up without an official test. It'd be unorthodox, but you are the Sorceress's apprentice. I haven't spoken with Allegra yet, but I could likely pull some strings."

"W-what?"

"Maybe we could jump you straight to mithril, even. You deserve it." Saffra stared, aghast, at Vivi. She seemed to realize the game a second later with a full-body jolt; the horror on her face turned to outrage.

"Are you teasing me?" the catgirl demanded, stomping her foot.

"Oh, look. We're here." Small as the oasis-town of Shimmer was, the trip to the Adventurer's Guild hadn't lasted more than a few minutes. Vivi ignored the catgirl's violently swishing tail, opened the door, and strode in. As the glare of the sun dimmed and she was met with the new environment, Vivi faltered. There were fewer adventurers present than in Prismarche's guild, but each and every individual inside turned to look at her.

Interest was clear on their faces, but at least without the astonishment she'd begun picking up in the northern city, her reputation having solidified. Newcomers weren't common in the middle-of-nowhere town; the curiosity was of a more mundane sort, Vivi could only assume. But she nevertheless hated it. She'd had enough of being stared at for a few lifetimes. Silence lingered, and it wasn't Vivi who broke it.

"We're looking for a tall woman, long gray hair, in fancy armor," Saffra announced, stepping forward.

"Has she arrived yet?" The reactions of the dozen or so patrons scattered throughout the guild's common area were varied: some raised their eyebrows at Saffra's confident demand, some seemed amused, and some looked away, taking another swig of their drink. The receptionist behind the sandstone desk was the one to answer. Polite, as receptionists tended to be.

"Lady Ember Caldwell?" the deeply tanned man in his twenties asked.

"She was looking for you as well." Oh. So Embralyne had made it to Bonegulch already, and been vocal about her search. Maybe that explained the staring more than just them being newcomers.

"Is she here?" Vivi asked.

"In the training yard, last I saw her." He made to walk around the counter.

"Should I get her for you?" Before Vivi could reply that there was no need and that she would go herself, a man near the back of the room stood with a scrape of his chair against slick tile. Unkempt black hair, a bent nose, and a smile Vivi instantly didn't like.

"No need, darlings," he drawled.

"I'll fetch her." He sauntered over to the curtain acting as a door to—presumably—the training yard and slipped through. Vivi was left in an uncertain, awkward position as she decided whether to pursue. Then, after choosing not to, she wondered what she should say to the receptionist. She opened her mouth to introduce herself to the man—that seemed like the appropriate minimum—but she was interrupted by a shrill, outraged exclamation of "Excuse me?!"

Vivi's head jerked back to the curtain only for the man from earlier to come tumbling in, like he'd been shoved. When a fiery-eyed Embralyne de Caldaros came stomping after him, Vivi realized he probably had been tossed through.

"Pipsqueak?" the dragon demanded." Pipsqueak? Is that how you speak of people you've never met? By slapping petty labels on them?" The words didn't fit inside Vivi's head, not immediately. She took brief umbrage at the implication that the man had announced her arrival with the diminutive, but she was focused more, as everyone was, on why Embralyne had exploded over the relatively harmless remark.

Vivi pieced it together first among her company, as of course she would—because she was the only person in the guild and possibly the Western Kingdom with the proper context. She suppressed the intense urge to facepalm.

"You don't even know who she is!" Embralyne growled, stabbing a finger into the man's chest. By how he staggered back, she probably wasn't moderating her strength like she should.

"Who are you to talk, anyway? Crooked nose. Messy hair. Sleazy smile. Is that how I should introduce you to strangers?" The man seemed nothing less than dumbfounded; he tried to cut in with a stammer, but Embralyne talked over him.

"What does her size matter? The only measure of a person is their deeds, and you're the lowest sort of fool, no more than a worm, to think otherwise!"

"Is… is she defending you, Lady Vivi?" Saffra whispered incredulously. Even this new body's reluctance to emote couldn't stop Vivi from pinching the bridge of her nose. She threw up a silencing spell as Embralyne continued her tirade.

"No," Vivi said flatly.

"She's defending herself."

"What?"

"Embralyne is"—Vivi paused as she picked her words—"size-challenged. For a dragon. If you know what I mean." Saffra digested that announcement.

"What," the girl repeated.

"She's very small. Most dragons are seven feet tall even in their halfdragon forms." Embralyne barely broke six. Impressive for humans, but puny for her own immortal race.

"In her proper body, it's even more dramatic. I had no idea she was sensitive about it, though." Vivi had seen her apprentice's brain melt down on a number of occasions, but for once, Vivi herself had nothing to do with it. The girl stared at the ranting dragon, and her mouth worked soundlessly as she tried to find a response.

"Oh. So she's the same as—""If you say, 'the same as me,'" Vivi said, "then I'm going to start assigning you apprentice chores." But yes. The comparison was rather unfortunate. Saffra cleared her throat.

"N-no, of course not, Lady Vivi. This is… something to take seriously. Clearly." Vivi gave the stink-eye to the girl who was struggling to keep a straight face. Cat ears twitched, giving away the act.

"And you!" Embralyne finally demanded, leaving the poor, cowering man alone and spinning on Vivi.

"We need to talk."

"Yes," Vivi said, exasperated by how quickly things had gone off the rails.

"We do."