Chương 84: 151 - Mind Magic

Vivi waited patiently for Embralyne's response. Eventually, the dragon grimaced and said, "I don't have much for you. As I said, it was a gut feeling. If I had real evidence of a threat, I would have been far more expeditious about addressing my concerns." Vivi didn't fully buy the explanation, but to be fair, she didn't think Embralyne was lying to her any more than she was lying to herself. The princess's worries had to have been more than minor to urge her out of the Sky-Pillar Range.

Or maybe she'd had mixed motives and had ventured out half from curiosity, wanting to explore the human lands? Vivi shouldn't pretend she knew everything about this woman and how she thought.

"But something gave you that gut feeling," Vivi pressed.

"It didn't come from nowhere."

"He was behaving oddly. Distracted at first, which was unusual to begin with, but then… sluggish?" Her tone tilted upward, uncertain. She shook her head.

"I tried speaking with Solfirus, but he didn't share my unease. Went out of his way to assure me I was being paranoid, in fact." She twitched as a realization hit her.

"You said Scorian is 'compromised.' How many others do you think are too?" Vivi could intuit what Embralyne feared.

"Solfirus very well might be. I would have to investigate, but if both your father and the head of the Royal Guard are, I doubt it would be just them. Considering Solfirus's talent, he would've figured out what was wrong by now if he were free from influence, so I would add him to the list. Honestly, we should assume most of the Palace is affected." A deep frown settled over Embralyne's face.

"If it wasn't targeting only my father, why was I spared?" Vivi shifted uncomfortably. She hedged, "How strong is Scorian?" No dragon would take such a question well. Embralyne glared, but eventually grouched, "In a duel, he would probably win more often than not, if that's what you're asking."

"A lot more often than not?" The heat in the dragon's gaze doubled, which was answer enough.

"Whoever's responsible for the mind magic probably tried to take out the biggest threats first," Vivi said bluntly.

"Because if they hadn't, then Cinereus or Solfirus would have detected what was going on. So it prioritized the most important targets." Embralyne clearly hadn't sensed anything magically wrong back then, not on a conscious level. Her intuition had come from knowing her father and detecting a change in his behavior—with perhaps a sliver of help through her arcane instincts. The dragon's expression shifted from outrage to sour displeasure.

She no doubt saw the logic in Vivi's argument and resented the implication: that she'd been spared not out of oversight, but because she hadn't mattered enough.

"I see," she said tightly.

"These are a lot of assumptions based on very little, though."

"What I saw in Scorian is undeniable. That your father, brother, and possibly many others in the Palace have also been compromised is an assumption, yes, but given the facts, a plausible one. Setting that aside. Do you really have no suspicions what caused it? An opponent? Something your father was investigating? A personal project that went wrong?"

"Opponent?" Embralyne scoffed.

"None that could threaten us. My father's rule has always survived on strength. There isn't a clan in existence who would accept being ruled over if there were any other choice. As for investigations or experiments… Solfirus is always doing something of that ilk."

"Did your father find or bring something back with him?" A pause.

"What do you mean?"

"That's where many of these kinds of threats come from," Vivi said, shrugging, thinking about the debacle that had ensnared Eshara. The long-dormant Seed of Genesis.

"Buried things that should've stayed so. I imagine the immortal lands have even more forgotten treasures, so to speak." Embralyne stared down as she thought.

"My father trusts me, but he hardly confides every adventure of his. As I told you, I don't have a theory. Not even a starting point, else I would've shared it." Vivi hummed in response.

"With luck, he's not fully under the control of whatever or whoever it is. I can't imagine anything would instantly overtake him, and the fact that you saw small changes rather than an immediate, major shift tells me that the magic is working slowly. Burrowing past his defenses. I doubt it's completely penetrated, but it's probably advanced from what you last saw. Maybe by a lot." She shook her head.

"Regardless, things could be worse."

"Worse," Embralyne repeated.

"The King of Dragons, the appointed First Prince, the Lord Commander of the Royal Guard, and potentially half the Palace is infested with Cataclysm-level mind magic, and you think 'things could be worse.'" Vivi didn't bat an eye.

"Yes. We're fortunate in the grand scheme of things. There haven't been any casualties." That she knew of.

"All we have to do is break the magic and deal with whatever caused it." Embralyne stared at Vivi for nearly five seconds.

"I see now why my elder siblings speak of you as they do."

"What does that mean?" The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Embralyne snorted and didn't answer.

"Then, what is our plan? Will you withdraw and muster a defense?"

"Withdraw?" she asked curiously.

"No, we'll just go and see him. Hopefully Scorian has told him you're here by now, and we'll be summoned shortly."

"What?"

"There are some steps I could take, but every hour—maybe minute—we delay carries way more risk than preparation would offset." Filling the Codex would set her at ease, but that would take too much time. Her thoughts brushing against that artifact, and against how recent events with Prismarche and the Archbishop had drained it more than she would've preferred, a realization hit her like a thunderbolt. A full-body twitch went through her. Embralyne's hand instantly shot to her sword.

"What is it?" Embarrassed, Vivi answered, "We forgot to link scrying tables with Meridian." The discovery that the Dragon King had been taken over by mind magic was one of the more excusable reasons a person could grow distracted, but she should have linked tables the moment she arrived at the Palace. A large oversight, and one with possibly catastrophic consequences. Embralyne relaxed, though she seemed annoyed. She'd probably thought that the reaction had meant something far more serious had happened.

"Of course. We can take care of that now." The errand was brief, with Embralyne [Blinking] to a scrying room and Vivi linking to Meridian, confirming with the staff there, and then ending the connection. No void rift had split open in the short time Vivi had been gone. Two minutes later, they returned to the sitting room.

"You really intend to stride into a meeting with my father with no plan?" Embralyne insisted.

"We have so little information there's not much of a plan to make. I need to lay eyes on him and analyze the situation." And things would almost certainly devolve during that meeting.

"But no matter what's going on, I don't believe any amount of waiting is beneficial." She pursed her lips.

"That said… and I know you're probably not going to be happy with this… it'd be for the best if you gave me the Fourflame Amulet."

"Excuse me?"

"It's a very useful item, even by my standards. Should I need to break the mind magic on Cinereus forcibly and instantly"—and she could imagine a few reasons she would have to, though only after mitigating steps had been employed to prevent mental damage—"then I'm better equipped to put it to use when necessary."

'Better equipped' was a generous way of putting it. Vivi was trying to minimize how much she inadvertently insulted Embralyne, but there was no way to tiptoe around the fact that Embralyne would be outclassed in the coming conflict. She was strong for a dragon, but not top-tier. Solfirus himself was far out of her reach, to say nothing of Cinereus. Vivi almost felt bad about how visibly Embralyne wrestled with herself.

The draconic princess tended to face facts when she needed to, though, and to reject Vivi's words would be to deny obvious truth. While Embralyne might be in the habit of doing just that anyway, she wouldn't when her family and kingdom were in peril. She looked like she had swallowed a lemon as she fished the artifact out from her breastplate, unclasped it, and handed it over. Vivi took the item wordlessly, sensing that acknowledging the exchange any more than necessary wouldn't go well.

Unfortunately, the next topic would be no easier.

"There's also the matter of what part you'll play," Vivi said carefully.

"If a fight breaks out, then I'll need to focus on Cinereus and Solfirus." She could hope that the latter, the second-largest threat in the Palace, wouldn't be present for whatever conflict was brewing, but she'd learned to stop thinking so optimistically. The temperature in the room seemed to rise several degrees as Embralyne crossed her arms and glowered.

"What are you implying, demon?" Vivi held her ground.

"It would be easiest if I went alone, or barring that, if you had some means of fleeing should the situation deteriorate." Because having to watch over you would just complicate things, she didn't finish explaining. The sentiment was exceedingly clear. Embralyne flatly replied, "If you think I won't fight for my family and kingdom, you are delusional."

"But—""Which is not to say I don't understand the danger. The solution, however, is not for you to tend to me, but rather that if I am too weak to contribute, then I will die. Refusing to participate in a battle of this importance, no matter how little I could help, would be gross cowardice and invalidate any claim to nobility I hold." There was zero yield in Embralyne's voice.

Vivi supposed that she had already received more reasonable responses than she would normally get from dragons—prideful and obstinate beings to the point of infamy. Suggesting that Embralyne stay out of the fight went too far. It would not happen no matter how much logic Vivi tried to use on her. She could read that in Embralyne's clenched jaw and burning eyes. Vivi sighed.

"You've been potion-sick before, I assume." The statement made Embralyne uncross her arms and furrow her brow.

"I… have, yes. What of it?" A thin green vial and a fat, square elixir containing bubbling yellow liquid appeared between Vivi's fingers. She handed them over.

"Double whatever your worst experience has been—that's what you're in for if you drink those. You're not strong enough to properly digest them, but you're high enough you'll get some portion of their effect." With Embralyne still blinking—and then her eyebrows rising at the descriptions she read from the potions—Vivi pointed her staff and began layering her strongest stat-boosting and defensive spells onto the woman. Protecting Embralyne was Vivi's smaller concern.

[Prismatic Barrier] could hold up to serious abuse, including taking blows from Cataclysms. But as far as making Embralyne truly useful in a high-tier fight, Vivi couldn't do much. She was no [Priestess]. Her buffs were better than her healing abilities, but not by a lot. The potions would do more, but still, not nearly enough to bring a 1400- or 1500-tier fighter up to 1900.

She would rather the dragon sit the event out entirely, but at least this way Embralyne could contribute, and Vivi wouldn't have to worry about her dying. A fight against the Dragon King would need Vivi's full attention; she wouldn't be able to babysit Embralyne. The princess had recovered from her shock by the time Vivi finished casting. She seemed embarrassed, thankful, and, in classic fashion, aggravated, probably at needing help to begin with. She didn't face that anger toward Vivi though.

Instead, in a rare display, she dipped her head and mumbled, "My gratitude, Lady Sorceress."

"It's your family. I understand why you want to fight."

"I won't forget the aid you've rendered us this day."

"This is just us getting even, as far as I see it." She wasn't sure Embralyne's assistance would make up for the mana she had just expended—her top-tier buffs and defenses weren't exactly free, and those potions weren't cheap either—but a second set of hands and eyes on the battlefield wouldn't be worthless. A knock at the door drew both their gazes.

"Princess Embralyne?" The voice belonged to Scorian, which probably meant he'd finished informing Cinereus and was fetching them for an audience. Vivi shared a look with Embralyne. The princess's expression firmed, and she nodded. Well then. Time to go and see the Dragon King. Find out how bad this really is. She had a feeling things were about to go off the rails, even by her standards.