by Sarah Lin
Though Senka whined interminably about not getting to eat the cloth, the meal eventually came to an end. Fiyu licked some of the spices from her empty wrap, then experimentally took a bite, only to immediately remove it from her mouth. Theo supposed that he should commend her open-mindedness.
"Should we rest and get an early start tomorrow?" Nauda asked. Fiyu immediately shook her head.
"It's only just stopped being so bright. We should do something."
"Actually, we should discuss what we intend to do on the last day." Theo wiped his mouth and set the cloth aside, doing his best to ignore Senka and look only at the other two. "We have the option of purchasing a sleigh as soon as possible and departing. There are advantages to that, if we want to make sure to avoid any further conflict."
Nauda tapped her fingers along the table thoughtfully. "Our whole plan was to invest time here because the hunt is our best chance to earn money. I don't think that the additional risk of one more day hunting is so high that we should just give up that opportunity."
"I agree, but I wanted to ask you first. There's also an economic risk: lots of other soulcrafters will be temporarily wealthy after the hunt, so prices might go up. I've had to push to get the money immediately, so I think it's usually given among the prizes at the end."
"Can we buy our vehicle now?" Fiyu asked. "We could get a sleigh and use it to help on the last day."
"It's not a bad idea, but I think that's a bigger risk." When they turned to look at her, Nauda shrugged. "It would make us a bigger target, plus it could potentially be destroyed. Fiyu almost broke that sled with collateral damage, and there are a lot of Archcrafters or even Rulers participating. Another day of hunting is worth it, but not risking everything we've worked for."
"That is rational." Fiyu paused, nodding to herself for a time, then brightened. "Could we arrange the purchase tonight and acquire it later? Can that be done?"
Theo raised his eyebrows as he considered the idea. "The dealer might try to renege on our deal, but now that Nauda is an Archcrafter, she's due respect, unlike base soulcrafters. Plus, they don't sell sublime material vehicles so often that they can afford to just ignore a sale."
And so, they headed off to contact one of the sellers, even though it was already late. Some of the wealthier regions of the city remained lit up by ivory lanterns, but most were beginning to fade and the moon only cracked the horizon. With Fiyu moving at the head of the group, spreading her senses through the shadows, they were essentially safe. The dangers of Deuxan weren't bandits attacking in alleys, after all.
When they arrived at a likely store, the merchant and his family appeared to be getting ready for bed, but when they showed the number of Silver Crowns they were carrying, he hastened to accommodate them. Soon enough, they were the only ones in the display courtyard, free to choose among those they could afford.
That proved to be most of the most reliable versions, none of those gilded for nobles. Each was made custom, of course, so there were no standardized models or obvious patterns, but Theo quickly discerned that there was a logic to the construction. Different sleighs produced for different purposes, from narrow and highly efficient vehicles for leaders to defenseless sledges that could carry a great number.
Within their budget of 2000 Silver Crowns, Theo thought they could get a highly functional sleigh that could float with all three of them plus supplies. He dismissed attractiveness out of hand, but even looking at the most modest creations, they were going to need to choose between space, defenses, and agility.
"Given what we've seen, we might look for durability." Nauda stood in front of one of their options, a compact little sleigh with high reinforced sides. "This one looks like it could take a beating."
"It is very small." Fiyu stepped to the side and regarded the seating area dubiously, then looked to the owner. "May we try it?"
As soon as they received a confirmation from the owner, Fiyu hopped up into the sleigh, so there was no choice: they were testing it out. There was only one bench, so they needed to join Fiyu on it, which quickly proved that there wasn't enough space. Even with one person wedged into the space for supplies behind, their bodies ended up pressed together.
Fiyu shivered and shrank into herself, prompting Nauda to try to shift further away. "Are you okay, Fiyu? Is this too close for you?"
"It is okay." Fiyu's voice could hardly have been less convincing. "This is not intimate touching, it is necessary. It is okay."
"Clearly it isn't." Nauda hopped back out, for once not needing to restrain the urge to pat Fiyu. "We can pick something larger than this. A few sublime materials as defenses won't help if a Ruler or a dangerous sublime beast attacks us. If we pick a larger sleigh, we could effectively use it as a platform to fight."
"This is a good idea." Fiyu bobbed her head in such eager agreement that Nauda only barely restrained her smile long enough to redirect it toward Theo.
Regardless of the reasons for her decision, her logic was sound. If they continued advancing in the Nine Worlds, they would eventually leave behind even the most expensive sleighs offered in the city. They could grow better vehicles on Siata, and any priority would be better met by something else: Arbaian floating fortresses for defense, Ichili cloudships for stealth, Noveni wings for speed, and likely others he'd never even encountered.
Eventually they settled on a narrow sleigh that had three separate seats, as well as good speed and lift. It was lacking in defenses and maneuverability, but Theo managed to negotiate a deal with the owner: they could return the following day with their earnings from the hunt and purchase a more ideal sleigh. Allegedly without any markup, though Theo anticipated an argument about that.
Still, it had been a successful trip, and he felt confident that they would soon possess a reliable vehicle to take them north of Nlukoko. During his first life, he'd been given a far more expensive flying vessel by an impressed Deuxan lord, but Theo felt a sense of satisfaction that he had actually earned this one.
Though their business was done, Fiyu was clearly not ready to go to sleep yet, so they wandered further into the city. They came across a fountain in the center of a large square, the silver water spouting from the top rendered dreamlike in the moonlight. Most Deuxan nobles still awake were at bloodhouses or private mansions, so the square was almost shockingly empty.
While appreciating the fountain's beauty, Theo drifted into his soulhome. Ideally they would have a significant amount of time to soulcraft on their journey north, but he decided to operate on the assumption that it wouldn't go so easily. The question was what he could do to improve his efficacy in a short period of time.
First, he picked up the meal of rainhorn venison, placed it on a wooden plate from Tatian, and added it to his feasting table. The wooden plate didn't look quite right, but he didn't want to spend money on sublime dishes from Deuxan. Besides, the difference in strength between a perfectly set feasting table and one just piled high with powerful sublime food wasn't overwhelming. He did take some of the displaced flamefruit and tossed them into his singularity.
His chambers to create mass or anti-mass were functional, simply not powerful enough. It would take a lot of intricate work on the walls to improve them, which was time he didn't have. Spending all their money on the sleigh meant that he couldn't afford any dramatic new sublime materials, and those would be monopolized by the local court families anyway.
One thing he did have sitting unused was the impressive set of rainhorn antlers. They didn't generate much cantae, but they were filled with solidified strength, with a particularly sharp edge. If he was a swordsman like in his past life, they would have been perfect for hanging on the wall of a sword chamber. He could also add them to one of his empty rooms, letting it strengthen the cantae and hopefully improve its effect, but it wouldn't be ideal.
Ideal... Theo wandered through the corner rooms, examining each technique. What he needed to do was find a less than ideal solution that could serve as a stepping stone.
Eventually he decided on his torsion chamber, which was still nothing but carvings. Given time, it could become something truly dangerous, but at the moment it wasn't viable. However, if he changed his goal and turned it into a more ordinary cantae attack, he might be able to create something he could actually use.
Focusing his will, Theo drew out one of the solarstone blocks in the wall by spiritual force alone. He didn't have materials to create a window or anything more elaborate, but opening the hole made it easier to interact with the outside world. That could be the basis of a technique.
First he tried to just prop the rainhorn antlers in the hole, but it felt wrong. Instead he found some old hearthtree wood and built a hasty frame, with a place to attach the antlers. Not pretty, but it created a proper aperture to release a technique. The room would generate gravitational and twisting forces, which filtered through the horns to create a sharp bolt of cantae. He knew that he'd definitely need to replace it in the future, but it might actually work. Of course, he could refine the concept further...
"Senka found you!"
Of course she did. Theo could feel her running around the fountain and decided that he didn't notice her after all, just focusing on his soulcrafting.
"You're a bunch of fumpets, leaving Senka alone like that!"
"We didn't leave you," Nauda said. "You just wandered off."
Fiyu nodded her agreement. "You need to be careful, Senka. This world might be mostly safe, but there are other places where something might try to eat you up."
"That's scary!" Senka paused, then tilted her head. "Or not scary? What if Senka likes being eaten up?"
"You should still be cautious. We can't protect you if we don't know where you are!"
"What about Jake? Jakey jake. Jake jakey jake." Senka began spinning in circles around him, repeating the fake name in a singsong voice. He continued ignoring her right up to the point where she started clambering up his back. "Jake, hey, Jake. Do you like Senka, Jake? Why are you being so mean?"
"Let me soulcraft." He emerged just long enough to speak, but it didn't seem to stop her, climbing up onto his shoulders even while soulcrafting.
Eventually he'd had enough, leaving his soulhome and reaching back to grab her. She tried to scurry away from his grip, but he managed to pick her up. Standing, he held her in both hands in front of him, briefly surprised at how light she was. Senka beamed up at him.
"Jake does like Senka! Give Senka a kiss!"
Theo dropped her into the fountain.
At first Senka spluttered and thrashed wildly, leading Fiyu to stand up in alarm, but eventually she managed to begin swimming in a rough doggy paddle. "Now Senka has swimmies! Swimmies are fun!"
Fiyu laughed, Nauda smiled, and Theo decided that he could endure it for at least a little while. From a distance, perhaps with earplugs.
He moved away from the fountain to continue soulcrafting, but found himself looking over his shoulder at Senka's antics. Part of him still wondered if she might possibly be some sort of construct, perhaps a lost tool designed to sniff out certain materials. A more sinister explanation was that someone had sent her to track them, but he'd never seen her do anything particularly suspicious, or even any actions that benefited herself. If anything, she seemed designed to annoy him.
There was more soulcrafting to do, and Theo resolved to focus on it until they needed to sleep. The solution for today was refining his techniques, but he'd need to strengthen his body if he wanted to survive against Archcrafters. Perhaps it was time to begin an advanced technique in his empty western room...
Chapter 23
The final day of the Great Rainhorn Hunt began explosively, with almost all groups using floating vehicles of some kind. As Theo's group was left behind, it seemed like they were at an insurmountable disadvantage, but as they passed several wrecked sleds, the benefit of holding off on their purchase became obvious.
Since they already had sufficient money for their purchase, Theo's goal was maximum profit without getting involved in any conflicts. It seemed that several groups of rainhorns were pinned down, essentially just a prize as different groups warred around them. Several of those had Rulers involved, so they steered clear. Once again, they focused on the outskirts, hoping to track down rainhorns that were too fast for other groups.
Unfortunately, they'd only found a single rainhorn after several hours. Just as Theo was starting to think they'd chosen the wrong flank, he heard a disruption ahead... but he doubted it was a rainhorn.
A brief fight had begun in a small clearing, already finished by the time they arrived within Fiyu's sphere. Theo didn't recognize the robe style of one side and could only note that their badges suggested they were a noble family, just not a large one. The other side only had a few members, but they were standing uninjured, while the first side fell back.
"How dare you?" Delarde seethed at the front of the group, lifting a man off his feet by the front of his robes. "You can't beat us in a straight fight, so you sabotage us?"
It didn't make sense to Theo until he spotted the sled from earlier: this time, a massive hole had been torn through it and the shattered sublime materials released ripples of force as they broke down. That damage wasn't getting fixed, and he presumed that the other side had struck Delarde's vehicle to impede his hunting efforts.
"What do you expect?" The soulcrafter in Delarde's grip weakly struck at his arm, but the blow was ineffectual. "The Armeau family is strong, do you really think we won't target your weaknesses?"
"This is too far." Delarde threw him to the ground and glowered at the entire group. "That sled was worth more than your life... in fact... it really was."
Delarde glanced around, looking directly at Theo's group... but his gaze passed on, oblivious. Apparently stronger observation skills or techniques were among the things he'd sacrificed for his infinite stamina blueprint.
Then he turned back to the beaten group, a new cruelty in his eyes. Fiyu's gasp was caught in the sphere of stealth, the defeated soulcrafters flinched, and Nauda took a step forward too late. The pike tore directly through the chest of the fallen man, an overwhelming surge of cantae destroying his soulhome as well. As the body collapsed, everyone looked back to Delarde.
"Eradicating such filth from Anguedan is worth the bloodprice." He reached into his cloak and tossed a bag of coins onto the ground, hard enough that it spilled. The opposing soulcrafters watched him with fear and hatred, but they had no choice but to scramble to pick up the coins. While they did, Delarde weighed another bag of similar size in his hand. "Is that lesson enough for you? I have enough here for a lot more, and the Armeau family could purchase the lives of your entire little clan."
As the group gathered up the bloodprice, Delarde occasionally knocked one over with a non-lethal blow, while his supporters jeered at them. Though the act might have been a deterrent, Theo thought he saw cruelty in Delarde's expression that went beyond what would be expected for Deuxan. He could easily have intimidated his opponents less expensively, so the fact that he could act freely meant he had some real authority in the family.
"He doesn't have many allies." Nauda gripped her staff tighter, gaze set on him. "If I recall your list, there's no bloodprice for any injury I deal to him, right?"
"No, but this isn't our fight." Theo kept his voice down, just in case, but there didn't seem to be any risk of the others piercing the technique. "Getting involved will only make our departure more complicated."
"You're going to just watch this happen?"
"The time to intervene would have been before he killed someone. What happens now is just Deuxan politics, and fighting him won't stop it. Even if we killed him, there would only be someone else in his position doing the same thing."
Nauda's knuckles tightened even more, but she didn't argue. Theo himself had felt simultaneous impulses to act and to leave, which had canceled each other out and left him hesitating when he could have acted. But he did believe what he said, and fight
ing wouldn't earn them any rainhorns.
"Bartolo aina Fithe!" Esaire's voice suddenly rang out over the clearing and Theo realized that retreat was impossible. The familiar grand sleigh floated to a halt and Esaire sprang from the top. "It wouldn't be fair of me to challenge you to a duel, but what do you say to an informal little scrap?"
"Now?" Theo gestured to Fiyu to drop the sphere, then gave an overly humble bow. "But your servant was doing his best to hunt rainhorns for you."
"The hunt is nearly over, and the Armeau family has won again. No, I'd like to have a little contest." Esaire removed the gauntlets from where they hung on his chest and slipped them onto his hands - definitely Archcrafter armaments. "Just for our mutual edification, of course. No bloodprices, eh Delarde?"
"Accidents happen." Delarde hefted his pike with undue eagerness.
"Well, that would be a pity. So... why don't you try your best to make this interesting?" Esaire and his followers went to walk alongside Delarde and the others, leaving them sorely outnumbered.
However, when Theo looked more carefully, the odds were different than his first impression. Many of the soulcrafters didn't have particularly large soulhomes, and other than Esaire and Delarde, the one other Archcrafter was only nominal. Of course, if she got near him with that knife, her more intense cantae would tear right through him. On the other hand, she had no defenses...
Theo glanced at Fiyu and then acted first, before Esaire could take control of the fight. He hit the entire clearing with a gravitational field, sending most of the group into the air. Before they even reversed direction, Fiyu unleashed a hail of bolts, knocking them backward into the forest.
She immediately swept her hands down to catch Esaire and Delarde in the blast, but both had manifested their cantae cloaks. Theo didn't even waste his time trying to use gravity against them, he needed a direct strike.
Unfortunately, Esaire was every bit as fast as he'd feared. He leapt for them, and only Nauda's reflexes allowed her to intercept him.