Sense: A Fantasy LitRPG Saga (A Touch of Power Book 3)

by Jay Boyce

  “He’s been a great friend to me. Sorry, but you’ll have to excuse me, I need to catch the king before he leaves.” She smiled politely at him, then quickly turned and walked towards Derrick, seeing the small flash of anger in his eyes as she did so. He knew he was being quickly ditched, and probably suspected at least part of the reason why was because of her quick defense of his brother.

  In all honesty, Derrick looked like he was getting ready to leave, and she truthfully did need to talk to him. When the man he was talking to noticed she was waiting patiently by the side, he quickly bid his farewells and excused himself while Derrick looked over her with a smile. “Ah, Jade. You did a wonderful job today.”

  “Thank you. I actually have a question for you, though...” Proceeding to tell him about the magic of the trees and her theories regarding its potential uses, she did her best to present a convincing case so she would be able to trim a few trees on her way out. He listened thoughtfully as she spoke in low tones, nodding every so often to show he was listening, though not saying a word.

  When she finished, he let silence rule the air for a few moments as he seemed to think it over. “It’s...not a practice I’m going to encourage. However, if you can do it without harming any of the trees, and do it in such a way that no one else finds out about it or where you got it from, you may try.” Ren had been on the money. Operation secret tree gathering was in effect! She undoubtedly needed a better name, but dismissed that as she thanked the king.

  “Of course. No one else, aside from Ren, who I told first, will ever know. Thank you.” Derrick looked resigned that someone else already knew, but then he patted her on the shoulder.

  “Don’t thank me. I’m still not sure it’s a good idea, but I trust you. You’ll be at the gates to welcome the delegations tomorrow?” He voiced it as a question, but it held the sound of expectation.

  After what he’d just given her permission to do, she wasn’t going to miss anything he asked her to be at anytime soon. “Absolutely. What time?”

  “Eight sharp.” She nodded, and they bid their farewells, him gathering an entourage as he began the trip back to the castle.

  Allison and her family hesitated, and Jade smiled as she walked over, “I’m going to take a bit of a walk around the cemetery, but I’ll catch up to you for dinner. Is there a good restaurant we could meet at?” She paused for a moment, realizing that if it was a new place, she’d likely not know how to get there. “Actually, do you know the restaurant Evergreen? I liked it, and I know how to get back there.”

  She grinned self-deprecatingly as they laughed softly, and Allison nodded. “We know the place. We’ll see you there, Lady Jade.”

  “It’s just Jade, and I’ll see you soon.” Almost everyone left by this point, Ren’s fellacai having rejoined her as she left, though Jade’s were still playing in Christopher’s tree. She decided she’d come back for that particular tree, and began to wander deeper into the cemetery, mana sense active as she searched for what she wanted while waiting for the others to clear away. It helped that she was wandering further from the entrance and they’d heard her desire to explore, thus leaving her be.

  It was time to do a little pruning.

  Chapter Twenty-Six – Slaughteryard

  As soon as she could no longer see or hear anyone, the first thing she did was turn into a giant black shadow blob, sucking in the last of the fading light from the area as quickly as possible. A thought crossed her mind, and she giggled softly, singing, “Hello darkness, my new friend. I’ve come to take your light again…”

  When she felt mostly recharged and true darkness was encroaching, she created a light bracelet around her wrists that illuminated the area around her in a soft glow. When her babies came winging over to her, she added their customary glow and sparkles so they could fly around in comfort. In all honesty though, she probably didn’t need to add any extra light, simply because when she turned her mana sense on again, the glow of magic basically made objects appear as they would in bright daylight.

  Now that there was no one around to spot her, she lowered her gravity, quickly running up a trunk and using the branches to swing herself up as she imagined herself like Tarzan, gracefully weaving through the jungle. Grinning at the image, she stopped near the top of the tree, picking a branch that was growing off at a weird angle and encroaching on another branch.

  Patting the tree, she let her nature magic wash through it as she murmured, “Just a little trim, no harm done. Slough it off.” The branch dropped into her waiting hand, the trunk quickly growing over the hole like it had never been there. She patted the trunk affectionately, because it seemed half alive. She considered that if it wasn’t a haunted forest, then maybe it could be the forest that birthed ents instead.

  From tree to tree she flitted, gathering branches into her ring. She tried to get every combination of magical wood she could find, never taking more than a single branch from any tree. About fifty branches in, she decided it was time to go, so she began to run through the woods gleefully, her babies trailing behind like sparkling gems.

  Her last stop was Christopher’s tree, which was blissfully alone for now. Up she went, taking one of the branches from both his and Tevon’s trees, before she stopped, pondering. “Can I take a piece of you back with me for my garden?” She mused aloud, then knelt on the ground, feeling for the roots of the tree. She pulled a shallow one up until it sprouted into a tiny tree. She thought of the massive forests of aspen that were all one organism because they shared the same root system that made them strong.

  Carefully using her magic to cause the root to separate, she ended up with a mini version of her masterpiece, but frowned slightly when she realized she didn’t want to put something still living into her ring. Pulling up the interface for her ring in what felt like the first time in ages, she began to go through her inventory, stopping when she found the bag that held food Kaylee gave her. She happily pulled it out, cautiously putting her baby tree inside and covering it with an extra shirt to hide the glow as she held it to her side gently.

  “All right, little ones. Time to fly.” She called out to her babies, who flew over to her, attaching to her hair like glowing ornaments so that they didn’t have to try to keep up with her speed when she used her wind bullet. Rising into the air, she let the light on her wrists go out since she didn’t need to worry about hitting anything up there, though she left the sparkles on her babies because they enjoyed it so much.

  It was fascinating to see the city lighting up beneath her, glow stones beaming forth in the darkness. She detoured slightly, wanting to check out the farms before she went back into the city proper. Most of the maze was dark, the animals bedded down for the night, the fields and orchards silent. There was only one brightly lit area, and she drew closer to it, curious.

  The smell was the first thing that told her what she was looking at. The raw smell of hide being tanned was distinct and pungent. Beneath that was the smell of dried blood, which she realized was the result of the slaughterhouse. This is where they killed the animals for food and leather, processing all the different bits. There were groups of people working on different animals while chatting.

  It was a reminder of what she had in her ring, and slowly she descended to the ground to the surprised cries of some of the workers, until all activity stopped and everyone was staring at her. Scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment that she’d interrupted their work, she asked meekly, “Um, sorry to intrude. Is there a manager I can talk to?”

  “Back to work, the lot of you. You’re making her uncomfortable and those beasts won’t skin themselves!” The woman’s commanding voice cut through the silence, and suddenly everyone was very industrious once more, though she could see them sneaking glances at her whenever they thought they could get away with it.

  Jade smiled as the woman walked over to her, both of them studying each other. Her hair was covered in a gray cloth, and though she was a heavyset woman, it looked entirely lik
e muscle. Her expression and clothes all exuded an air of no nonsense, though Jade thought the black attire was hiding some of the bloodstains she was sure were there. After appraising Jade a moment and inspecting her fellacai, the woman spoke gruffly as she gave a little bow, “Lady Jade, I’m Lupa Craith, the supervisor for this area. What can we do for you?”

  She was a little surprised the woman knew who she was...but then again, she was basically a celebrity at this point, so maybe it wasn’t surprising after all. Besides, she had two obvious identifiable features that indirectly proved her identity: flying and her sparkling fellacai, who were fluttering around her now that she’d landed.

  Smiling, she gestured to the workers, “It’s nice to meet you, Lupa. I was wondering what I needed to do to hire your services here. I have several animals I brought back from my trip to the woods that I need to gather the materials and meat from, but I just don’t have the time and skill to do it myself.”

  Lupa nodded thoughtfully, then explained, “It depends on the animal. Their size, accessibility of meat, skin, feathers, and claws, whether or not you want it made into leather, if you want the meat cooked or raw, all of these factor in. Where are you storing the animals? I can have one of my appraisers accompany you to figure out an appropriate cost.”

  Waving her hand to stop her, Jade interjected, “Oh, it’s not necessary to go anywhere, I have them with me.” When she saw Lupa focus on the small bag on her shoulder, she smiled and waved her hand again, “Sorry, not in the bag. I have a special spatial storage where I’ve got everything.” She glanced around the busy courtyard as she went on, “Though I’ll probably need you to clear a little bit more space to pull out the bodies.”

  “You have the creatures...in your spatial storage?” Lupa’s words were slightly strained and unbelieving.

  Flicking her hand, one of the dead beann appeared floating mid air, since she didn’t really want to touch it at the moment. “Yeah, I have twenty seven beann and four tialon.” Everything else was given to Marcelle’s group to take care of. She paused, frowning slightly. Five of those beann were the tutor’s, and she’d forgotten to give them back to him. She’d need to have them separated out and contact him somehow. She also needed to make sure she split the two tialon with the guards who’d actually killed them.

  She noticed that both Lupa and a majority of the people working stopped to stare at her again, obviously having heard her last comment. Lupa asked softly, “Four...tialon?”

  Nodding absently as she flicked the beann back into her ring, she confirmed, “Yeah, I killed two and the guards killed another two, but I ended up with all the bodies for the sake of speed. I guess I’m going to need to keep things separated...actually, why don’t I pull them out for your appraiser to take a look at while I make a quick call? I should figure out what the guards want me to do with their part.”

  “Of course. Go ahead and make your calls while we clear a space and get one of our appraisers out here.” Lupa regained her stoic composure, and Jade nodded gratefully while the woman turned, barking out orders that had people scrambling. Jade felt a bit bad about making them move their work stations, but thankfully, not that many people had to move. It was done with orderly efficiency as she moved closer to the wall, pulling out her mirrors.

  Her first call was to Count Ammon, and he picked up quite quickly, though by the movement behind him, he was still walking through the streets to go home...or wherever he was headed. “Hi, Ammon!”

  Smiling kindly back at her, he said softly, “Jade, did you forget something again?” There was humor in his eyes as he teased her, and she realized this was already the second or third time she’d called him that day.

  Laughing softly, she nodded. “I did. I have the bodies of the tialon that the guards killed. I’m at the slaughtering yard and I was wondering what I should do with them. I don’t know if there was a preferred way to take care of things to distribute or prepare the bodies?”

  Ammon looked thoughtfully at her, then spoke gently, “You don’t need to do that. From what I’ve heard, the only reason they took them down was because you sent your fellacai to help. They also wouldn’t have been able to bring them back without you, so you can keep them.”

  Frowning, she replied adamantly, “Absolutely not. They risked their lives to kill them, even if I helped. I’d like to make sure they get their fair share. And I’d like Allison to get Christopher’s part as well.”

  He smiled sadly at her, giving in. “Fine. Tell Lupa to give them the normal guard treatment and send me the bill with delivery. I’ll make sure it’s distributed to the men.”

  Happy that the guards were going to get their just rewards, she blew him a kiss as she said cheerfully, “Thanks Ammon! You’re the best! I’ve gotta make another quick call though. Have a great night, and be safe!”

  “You too. Goodnight, Jade.” She smiled as they cut off the call, pulling out a different mirror and sending out her mana to make the call.

  A few seconds later, Camille’s face came into view, smiling through the mirror at her as she stuck her tongue out. “Aren’t you supposed to be at dinner?”

  Jade smiled helplessly, shrugging. “Yeah, but I made a quick stop first at the slaughtering yard. I wanted to touch base with you and see if you could get in contact with one of the tutors I brought back? I didn’t catch his name, but he was the one who used ice magic…”

  “Hi, Jade! You’re talking about Count Stathos.” She was interrupted by Hayden’s head popping up over Camille’s shoulder and grinning down at the mirror connection. A chorus of “Hi, Jade” resounded from the mirror, and she grinned as Tisha pushed Hayden out of the way while Hunter smiled at her from the other side. Being next to Tisha, it made the deep circles under their eyes more prominent.

  She was going to ask when she was distracted by Tisha’s question. “What do you need with Count Stathos?”

  Amused by their antics, she replied, “Oh, I was wondering what to do with the beann he killed.”

  Hunter snorted. “Keep them.” His disdain was obvious, and she realized he’d noticed how Count Stathos was looking at her with judging eyes the entire trip back.

  “Oh, be nice. I told him I’d bring them back for him.” She stuck her tongue out at them so he would know she wasn’t actually upset with him. He’d been staunchly by her side and on her side, and she appreciated that more than he knew. His firm stance to defend her gave her warm fuzzies.

  Camille sighed, leaning over to kiss Hunter on the top of his head before turning back to Jade. “Just leave them with the supervisor. I’ll let Count Stathos know to contact them about what should be done.”

  “Will do.” She glanced up, noticing that the space had been cleared and there was a new man next to Lupa who seemed to be waiting patiently for her to finish her call. “Hey, it looks like they’re ready for me, so I gotta run. Be safe!” A chorus of ‘you too’s, ‘goodnight’s, and ‘stay out of trouble’s echoed through the mirror as she cut the connection, leaving her with a broad smile on her face as she walked back to Lupa and who she could only assume was the appraiser. “Are we ready?” she asked brightly.

  “We are. Lady Jade, this is my appraiser, Kimo Malia.” They were walking towards the emptied space as she introduced the man to her. He had darker skin, with brown eyes so dark they almost appeared as black as his hair. He was obviously appraising her too, and she could tell he was weighing every outer aspect on some unknown scale.

  “It is my pleasure to meet the traveler,” he spoke at last, giving her a slight bow.

  She smiled back at him, nodding. “Likewise. Thank you for taking the time out of what I’m sure are very busy schedules to help me.”

  Lupa smiled at her as she gestured to the yard, “It’s what we do.”

  They stopped before the open space, Jade noting for the first time how incredibly clean the stone courtyard was. It made sense, since they were handling food, but it was impressive nonetheless. “Here goes…” She said softly, then
held her hand out in front of her, calling the tialon and beann from her ring. The beann she floated over to a table that was at the side, while she laid the tialon directly on the ground. There were gasps of amazement and perhaps a little fear as the beasts winked into existence seemingly from nowhere.

  “Are you sure they’re dead?” Lupa asked, staring at the two tialon she’d killed in morbid curiosity. In reality, they looked like they were sleeping. There were no outward marks of death, unlike the two the guards killed, which were filled with numerous holes where they’d bled them out.

  “Yes, I suffocated them.” Total lie. She’d mashed up their brains, but she didn’t feel like explaining that at the moment. She paused, gesturing to the two marked tialon, “So, for those two, I talked to Count Ammon and he said to give them the normal guard treatment and to send him the bill with the delivery. For mine, I’d basically like all the materials I can get out of it. Hair, cured leather, claws, bones, and then the meat cooked. It doesn’t really matter how it’s cooked to me, I can keep the food fresh in my spatial storage.” Walking over to the beann with her two shadows, she indicated the five that were killed by icicles, “These five beann belong to Count Stathos, and he’s being informed to get in contact with you as to their use. The rest of them, I’d like the feathers and bones, and just...however you can prepare the meat.”

  Lupa nodded, asking quickly, “Would a soup be okay? That’s generally how we get the most meat off of the small birds.”

  Eagerly, Jade nodded. “That’s fine with me.” She hadn’t had soup yet in this world. That would be a nice change. Something new to try!

  She could see Kimo inspecting the tialon a bit more, before he came through and inspected each of the beann one by one, assessing their conditions. She realized that the fact that some of the beann were cut in half was probably a mark against her, since the blood seeped onto the feathers and they’d probably need to be cleaned, plus not as much would be salvageable. Kimo was obviously doing mental calculations as he finally spoke, “For what you want for the two tialon and the twenty two beann, you’re looking at two crowns, two laurels, and two leafs.”