Blade Over Magic

Musings

Eventually, after much more talking and planning over the half hour, their discussion finally came to an end. Xander patted Ben’s head, much to the boy’s glee before he was sent back into the pocket space by Archmage Finn.

"Well, I believe it’s clear, but now that you’ve seen a good deal of my cards, what do you say about an alliance?" The princess asked as she stood, Xander doing the same and he sighed.

"What a scary tactic. Rather than using bluffs and bait to rope me in, you just overwhelmed me in so much truth and honesty that refusing would feel wrong on so many levels. Sigh. Well, I suppose I can see your sincerity, and to be honest, you have a lot of information that I need, so... sure." He raised his hand for a hand shake, and the Princess smiled sweetly.

She took his hand and shook it.

"Happy alliance. Oh, and you might know this already, but my name is Felicia." She gave a small curtsy when they let their hands go, and Xander gave a small bow.

"Xander. Also, if I need to communicate something to you, or you to me, how do I contact you? I can’t imagine that I can just go to your royal chambers. As things stand, half the people down below probably want me dead." He half-joked.

The princess, Felicia, giggled. Then she gestured at Archmage Finn who took out a small bead from who-knows-where and gave it to Xander.

"Just inject a small amount of mana into it and saw what you want to say. You don’t need to worry about losing it as it’s very durable and will stick to you at all times." Finn explained in his deep voice, and Xander nodded at him.

"Alright. When next we need to meet, I’ll communicate with you. Take care, Xander." Felicia said, and Finn’s body vanished just as she deactivated the booth.

Numerous eyes immediately moved towards that direction, and Xander ensured his expression was absolutely flat as he began to walk down the mezzanine.

As he did so, he thought about many things. The information Felicia revealed, the reality about his Transmigration, the upcoming crisis, Archmage Finn’s true loyalty, Ben, and so on.

’Huh. Normally, at leas in novels, the character has to go through some arduous trial to get even a smidgen of information about their origins. Who’d have thought I’d get so much from one conversation? It’s weirdly relieving.’ He sighed.

’Existential razor, huh? Actually now that I think about it, Ben should have been a ’hole’ as well. Why didn’t she rely on him to help sever her fate?’ As he had the thought, he quickly thought of an answer.

’According to her, much of the ’severing’ is a result of my actions affecting those around me. From how things seem, Ben is mostly kept away from other people, so this specific effect is probably very limited. Hm, for someone like that, being kept alone is probably not the best. I guess he passes the time by speaking with the entities from other layers, but... is that really okay? I get he can’t get corrupted, but those are still creatures that are unfathomably old. I’ll ask Felicia if I can speak to him more often. At the end of the day, he’s still a kid.’ His eyes furrowed slightly.

’And speaking of, there’s still the third mysterious transmigrator. The fact she doesn’t know where they is, even with Samuel’s help, and the fact that there hasn’t been any uproars that could indicate the presence of a third ’hole’ means whoever they are is either intentionally lying low or is in another area entirely. It’s not impossible that they transmigrated into the body of someone from another race in another kingdom. Hm... many things to think about.’ He resisted the urge to scratch his head.

And there were still the words Samuel left behind about not being hasty to choose violence. An assassination attempt or something similar in his sleep seemed like the most obvious thing, but it seemed a bit too obvious, and why would he not immediately choose violence if someone tried to kill him?

He groaned inwardly. He was glad to have had many of his questions answered, but it seemed like now, he had even more questions.

Ignoring the piercing gazes, Xander made his way towards where the group was currently lounging on the other mezzanine, and conversations halted as he walked.

As he did, he noted the appearance of a few guests from other races.

On one side, Wraith guests could be seen. Their bodies were humanoid, but they had dark skin, dark hair, and even darker eyes. However, this was just to be polite. In reality, their true forms resembled clouds of pure darkness that made it hard to strike them with physical attacks.

The other races he saw were the Oni, and again, they looked humanoid, with even the shorter ones capping out at 7’0. Their skin came in a variety of colors which usually matched whatever magical affinity they had, and on her foreheads were two curved horns with grooves. It’s said that the number of grooves an Oni has on their horn determines their age, with every groove representing a decade.

Then there were the Elves. And Dwarves, the most being the most numerous as the Elves had lots of dealings with Solvaren.

’Huh... actually now that I think about it, why are Wraiths here? Aren’t they obscenely reclusive against other races?’ He suddenly noticed an oddity.

Wraiths... didn’t really like anyone and preferred to keep to themselves. One rarely ever saw them unless they sought them out. And even then, it was unlikely one would find any. The fact that they were based in the frigid North made going over there even more difficult, which was probably intentional.

In short, they were hard to come across in most setting, yet they came all the way to Solvaren to attend this ball...

’All I do know is that as we get closer to what this thing is, more and more events will begin to occur. The Hell Gate at Landor was just the beginning.’

The words of Felicia rang out in his mind, causing his eyes to narrow ever so slightly as, finally, Xander arrived at the area their group was in.

Xander was pleasantly surprised to see that among Mia, Keir, Aubrey, Falael, and Curtis, Mary had also returned from wherever Mia had sent her.

"Mary, you’re back." Xander noted aloud as Mary just nodded with a brief smile.

"Indeed, Milord. I’ve resolved the issue." Xander nodded with relief.

"That’s good."

’With how long you were taking, I was starting to think that you’d forgotten about us. Did you enjoy talking with the princess? Must have been nice, none of us are royalty. How was it? Is she refined enough for you?’ Everyone paused at Falael’s... well, calling it an outburst wouldn’t be quite right, but there was certainly a note of bitterness in her words.

Xander blinked slowly, then he asked directly.

’Are you jealous?’ Falael’s face instantly reddened.

’Wh-What are you talking about?! I’m just... making observations...’ She hissed, and Xander scratched his head.

As though he didn’t even hear her denial, he continued.

’Yeah... sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel any way. She just had information I needed, so I had to meet her.’ He sighed.

’I... I said that wasn’t it...’ Falael’s indignation faded when she saw the earnestness in Xander’s gaze, and she just huffed, looking away.

’... Fine, whatever.’ Already very familiar with her antics, the group moved on.

’Was whatever you needed to know really that important? I think you’ve already noticed, but I’m pretty sure everyone’s threat assessment of you rose dramatically when you both danced with her and spoke privately with her for so long. If before the Mage Tower seemed like the most significant threat, other factions are going to be much more involved in getting you removed.’ Curtis frowned, and Xander suddenly felt a sense of disconnect.

He’d just spent half an hour uncovering the truth behind the formation of Solvaren, his own origins, and learning that a very wide scaled cataclysm was probably going to arrive at some point in the future. Yet there were people here who still saw him as a threat because he was good with swords and spoke with Felicia.

’... I’d say it was that important. As for how we’ll deal with the fallout... We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.’ At this juncture, Xander frowned internally.

The group was already dealing with quite a lot, and now the future threat had been added to the list of things to look out for as he couldn’t help but wonder...

’Should I tell them the truth about myself?’ As time passed and the group grew closer, he suspected that the truth of his Transmigration would come to light sooner or later. The problem is what reactions that would elicit, especially if it was revealed at an unfavorable time.

The issue was that would their reactions even be good regardless of when he revealed it?

’Keir probably won’t care. Same with Mia, and that’s assuming she doesn’t know already. As for the others...’ Suddenly, Xander felt very hesitant about his next course of action.

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