A Journey Unwanted

[Realm: Álfheimr]

[Location: Heart Kingdom]

[Pulchritudo]

[Banquet]

The doors themselves were difficult to ignore.

For most people, it would have been their sheer size that immediately demanded attention. They towered over the corridor, broad enough that several people could have walked through them side by side, and their height made the surrounding architecture seem smaller by comparison. They occupied an almost absurd amount of the wall, giving the impression that whatever lay beyond them had been designed to require something equally excessive to keep it contained.

For others, however, the size would have been secondary to the craftsmanship.

The doors were made from thick, solid gold, their surfaces polished so thoroughly that the light from the surrounding chandeliers glimmered across them. Elaborate floral engravings covered nearly every visible section, winding around one another in patterns that looked like the work of someone who had refused to leave even an inch of the surface plain. It was almost difficult to believe that something as mundane as a pair of doors could have been made into such an extravagant display.

Bluebeard had apparently found a way.

Ella, however, was not impressed.

She did not stare at the gold or marvel at the size.

Her red eyes merely moved across the surface once, then again, this time with considerably more focus.

The longer she looked, the more the golden surface seemed to become irrelevant.

("Layered wards, huh.")

Her gaze narrowed slightly.

("Some are designed to repel physical damage. Not just damage to the doors themselves, either. They’re spread into the surrounding walls. Clever.") Her eyes shifted a fraction. ("There’s another one beneath that. If someone damages the door, it triggers an alert. That one’s connected to the estate’s defensive network.")

She continued examining the invisible structure made through the entrance.

("And that one strengthens the wards throughout the entire estate once the alert goes off. So breaking through here wouldn’t just make things easier. It would make everything else harder.")

Ella’s expression remained entirely unchanged; she could see more, much more.

("There’s a paralysis ward too. Anyone recognized as an aggressor gets hit with it the moment they cross the threshold.")

Her eyes moved towards another layer.

("And... seriously?") The corner of her mouth twitched. ("That one hexes the target and turns them into a...") Her expression soured. ("A rat.")

A genuine flash of disgust crossed her face.

("Ugh. God, I hate rats.")

She quickly suppressed the reaction, forcing her features back into their usual composed state. But the wards continued, one after another.

Some were layered so closely together that they almost appeared to occupy the same space. Others had been separated, leaving gaps between their effects while still forming part of the same defensive system.

("And that’s only some of them.") Ella’s eyes became increasingly focused. ("One thousand two hundred and sixty-seven.")

The number settled into her mind; she had counted them.

("Some overlap. Some are spread across the surrounding structure. There are probably additional connections buried deeper into the estate that aren’t directly tied to the door itself.")

Her fingers shifted slightly at her side.

("If I didn’t have Chthonia, I wouldn’t even notice half of these.") That realization was more interesting to her than the gold itself.

The wards were concealed exceptionally well. Even an experienced mage could have stood in front of these doors without realizing that the entire entrance had been turned into a carefully constructed magical defense.

Besides her, Gretel stared upward at the enormous entrance.

"This is a pretty big door," she murmured.

Ella glanced at her; she wasn’t surprised.

That was roughly the extent of what Gretel could perceive from the outside. The wards had been concealed so thoroughly that most would struggle to detect them without the appropriate means.

Ella’s gaze shifted towards Trismegistus.

The golden-masked Royal Guard stood besides Bluebeard, his posture as composed as ever. Bluebeard, meanwhile, already looked distinctly pleased with himself, apparently enjoying the anticipation he had created.

("This Hermes is an even more accomplished mage than I originally thought.")

Ella’s eyes lingered on him for another moment.

("Those wards are pretty coordinated. Someone had to design the structure connecting them all, and he understood exactly how to hide the individual layers from magical detection.")

Her attention returned to the doors.

("Interesting.")

Bluebeard finally stepped forward.

"Now then, ladies." His voice carried easily through the corridor, and the satisfaction in it was difficult to miss. "Prepare yourselves to see something truly worth gushing over."

He grinned.

Gretel’s expression shifted slightly at the wording. Ella merely stared at him as Bluebeard raised one hand towards the enormous golden doors.

He did not touch them.

Instead, he simply held his hand in the air before the entrance; for several seconds, nothing happened. Then the wards reacted; there was merely a small shift in the magical pressure surrounding the doors before the enormous slabs of gold began to move.

Slowly the doors opened on their own, pulled apart by an invisible force that required no physical hand upon them. The movement was smooth, as the heavy structures somehow glided without producing the grinding noise one would have expected from something so massive.

Gretel’s silver eyes widened while Ella’s eyes remained steady, but even she watched. The opening revealed an enormous chamber beyond. The scale of the room was immediately apparent.

The floor was gold; its surface had been polished to such a degree that the light reflected from it. A long blue carpet ran directly through the center of the chamber, creating a path across the otherwise overwhelmingly metallic floor.

Bluebeard turned slightly and gestured towards the interior with one broad hand.

"After you."

His grin remained; he clearly wanted them to see it. Gretel hesitated for only a moment before following; Ella walked besides her.

The moment they entered, the reason for Bluebeard’s pride became obvious.

The chamber was a vault.

Along one side of the enormous space stood a series of extravagant display cases, each constructed to showcase whatever treasure had been placed inside. Their contents varied so wildly that it was difficult to take everything in at once.

Jewelry filled the first displays.

There were necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, brooches, and other pieces whose exact purposes Ella could not immediately identify. Some were made from materials she recognized. Others were composed of strange metals and stones that did not correspond to anything familiar to her.

Some appeared almost luminous.

Others seemed to contain something moving beneath their surfaces; the jewelry alone looked valuable enough to purchase entire estates.

And that was only one section.

Further along were weapons, swords, spears, daggers and staffs.

Weapons of shapes Ella had never encountered before.

Some were decorated with jewels. Others had elaborate engravings running along their blades or hilts. A few looked less like weapons designed for practical combat and more like artifacts created to demonstrate wealth and craftsmanship.

There were pieces of armor as well.

Individual suits stood within their own displays, arranged upright as though people were still wearing them. Some were ceremonial, covered in precious metals and decorative designs. Others appeared considerably more functional, though their materials were no less unusual.

Gretel’s eyes moved from one display to another; she could not help it. Even she had to admit that the collection was impressive.

Along the walls, meanwhile, were paintings, dozens of them, perhaps more. Portraits, landscapes, scenes of battles, strange places and stranger people. Some paintings were so old that their styles seemed completely foreign to the modern world, while others appeared almost unnervingly recent.

Ella slowly looked across the chamber.

The extravagance of the banquet had suddenly made sense: the excessive wealth, the imported food and the Duke’s confidence.

Everything pointed towards the same conclusion: this was where Bluebeard kept the things he valued most.

His private collection.

And judging from the sheer scale of it, Bluebeard had not merely been boasting about having something worth showing.

He had been waiting for the opportunity to prove it.

("No wonder this fat bastard is so damn proud.") Ella thought, eyes moving through the room. ("There are some high-quality magical items in here. Any mage would fall over themselves just to see this room.")

Magical artifacts like these had inherited abilities like unique magic. How a snob like the Duke managed to get his hands on things like these was anyone’s guess.

("That Goiim probably wants the flashiest thing here,") Ella surmised as she glanced at Gretel.

Nil seemed to be somewhat sensitive to magic, depending on how potent their abilities were. She was almost certainly able to see the true value of most of the items here.

("And even here there are wards everywhere.") Ella noted. ("Though they’re placed in such a way as to not interfere with the magical artifacts. You can’t even touch an artifact in this room.")

To the ordinary eye it would have seemed like sloppy decision-making to let two strangers inside. But the Duke was merely that confident in his vault’s security. Ella could not blame him, but she did find herself amused.

("Not good enough.") She thought,

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