Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn

by John Nest

  "Well, there might be some earth you can manipulate about two-hundred kilometers south of here," said Flora. "If you have some hidden abilities that could get you there faster, It's best if you use them, now."

  Smoke was apprehensive, and did not want to glide away in front of her.

  "I don't mean now," said Flora, as if reading Smoke's mind. "Do it where no one else will see you."

  Smoke kept silent, and continued to study the young flower girl.

  "Do whatever you think is best," said Flora and shrugged. "But if you do decide to try and train with Eleve, I suggest that you get back here in three days time."

  Flora abruptly left and headed back to the seminary. "Oh, and don't worry about your dirus wolf. I'll take good care of him."

  Smoke could not get a fix on Flora. He felt like he could trust her, but that she was keeping something from him as well.

  "Well, Igniz? What do you think?" Smoke whispered to the metal orb on his chest.

  Igniz let out a bright purple light, and Smoke took that as a sign to fly southward.

  * * * * * *

  After checking his map, Smoke found four of the OrkElf settlements marked by Colere and Esper in the general area. Thinking that if he needed to improve his Earth Manipulation, he might as well help some of the deprived OrkElves in the process. Smoke and his symbiote were gliding towards one of them now.

  One hour and twenty minutes later, Smoke arrived in the supposed settlement. The pomegranate forest was the same as the one he encountered in Souer. When he ventured inside, however, he found nothing but rotten pomegranates stockpiled near the spring.

  "Where do you think they could be?" Smoke asked Igniz. "Do you think they moved on, and joined with another settlement?"

  The dark ember sprite hurriedly zoomed around the forest and found no sign of the OrkElves. Not even Smoke's Cunning of the Dire Fox sensed anything.

  He knelt down next to the spring, and investigated the tracks. There, he realized what had happened.

  "Blaise took them," said Smoke out loud. "There are no signs of struggle, but only an orderly march towards that direction," said Smoke, pointing to one of the many exits in this pomegranate forest patch.

  Leaping directly from where he stood, Smoke and his symbiote headed to the next settlement. Yet, in the next one, it was the same. Only rotten leftovers of pomegranate fruits were left beside the spring in the center of the forest patch.

  "Blaise has been really busy," said Smoke. "I wonder how many OrkElves Cynar and Blaise have now?"

  Igniz's purple flames grew dim, as if saying he had no idea.

  "Alright, Bud, just one more time," said Smoke. "If the next one is still empty, we'll just start training by ourselves."

  Despite traveling at 150 kilometers per hour, it still took them twenty-minutes to arrive at the third supposed OrkElf settlement.

  He had traveled farther than he wanted to from the seminary, but his curiosity of the abandoned settlements overcame him.

  Softly landing in the outskirts of another pomegranate forest, Smoke's Cunning of the Dire Fox instantly picked up several OrkElves gathered at the center of the forest.

  "Finally!" said Smoke out loud. "I knew Blaise couldn't get all of the settlements."

  Quickly putting back his full-faced mask on, Smoke entered the forest patch with Igniz hidden inside his metal compartment.

  As soon as he walked farther in, Smoke spotted several differences from Colere and Esper's settlement.

  Here, he could see wooden fences joined together by vines.

  'I don't think even the sand cheetahs could easily break through this fence,' surmised Smoke, as he knelt next to one and touched it.

  "Who's there? State your business here!"

  Looking up, he saw a middle-aged OrkElf, pointing his rake at him. He calmly raised both his arms and said "I mean you no harm. I got the location of this place from Colere and Esper, maybe you know them?"

  "Colere and Esper, huh?" asked the burly OrkElf. "Yeah, I do. They had someone send over a couple of their used sand cheetah furs here. Saying, they don't need it as they recently had a great home put up in their settlement."

  The OrkElf slightly lowered his rake and studied Smoke closely.

  "You're not the DarkElf who helped them, are you?" asked the OrkElf.

  "Yeah, that's me," said Smoke.

  "Well, you can turn around and leave," said the OrkElf. "They might have needed your help, but we don't."

  Smoke was about to reason with him, when he spotted a familiar silver Flame Knight appear from behind the middle-aged OrkElf.

  "Relax, Paysan, I know this DarkElf," said Blaise. "Faux, what are you doing here?"

  Smoke was glad his face was covered by his mask. Otherwise, Blaise would have seen his surprised and disappointed face.

  "Well, I was going to check whether they needed help with their home," said Smoke. "But I think they have it handled."

  "So, it really was you, who built the Souer Settlement!" said Blaise.

  "Cynar guessed it might have been you. Thanks to their new home they refused my offer to join me," pleasantly added Blaise. He paused and patted the middle aged Farmer's shoulder.

  "Paysan, relax. Why don't we invite him for dinner instead?" asked Blaise. "Faux makes a mean rejuvenison soup. It's made with the juciest venison."

  "Blaise, how many times do I have to tell you, we're vegetarians," said Paysan.

  "Oh, I can make a vegetarian dish!" exclaimed Smoke. He wanted to enter their settlement, interested to see their way of life.

  "Really? What kind?" asked Paysan.

  "Um. I can make you some medicinal carrot soup," said Smoke.

  "Uck, I've had my fill of carrot soup, even if its medicinal. That's all we ever eat. That and mashed potato," said Paysan

  "Wait? You don't eat pomegranates here?" asked Smoke.

  "We still do, but only on occasion," said Paysan.

  "Maybe, Faux could get a better idea of another vegetarian dish, if he sees your crops?" suggested Blaise.

  "That's right," hurriedly added Smoke. "And even if I can't cook you anything new, what's one more mouth to feed?"

  "That's already one mouth to many," said Paysan. "On the other hand, I'm sure that everyone would welcome the idea of tasting a new dish."

  Paysan held his rake with his right hand, while scratching his head with the other.

  "Alright, you can come, but the minute you do something inappropriate I'm having you thrown to the sand cheetahs!" said Paysan.

  The moment Smoke stepped inside the tightly bounded wooden fence, a notification window popped up.

  + Entered Lagraine Settlement

  This OrkElf Settlement had been founded eight years ago. It is composed of mostly middle-aged OrkElves and boasts of having the most OrkElf children born from both OrkElf parents.

  Smoke only paid half of his attention to the window, as he was astonished at the sight of cultivated lands in the settlement. Using the spring at the center of the forest patch, they had built a crude irrigation system to water their crops.

  Suddenly, he was pulled away by Blaise. "Hey, what exactly are you doing here? And where's that dirus wolf we gave you?"

  "Freifahrt's with a friend," said Smoke. "I needed to improve on my Earth Manipulation ability for the Magi Gagnant Tournament, and I thought that I could help some OrkElves while I'm at it."

  Blaise studied Smoke's body language. "Really? You're really that kind of guy, huh? Well, I guess you are. After you helped out those people in Souer, what else could you be?"

  Smoke shrugged and resumed walking after Paysan.

  "Hey, Faux, did you know that Diebe Den was attacked by Orks?" asked Blaise, catching up with Smoke and Paysan's stride.

  "When did that happen?" asked Smoke.

  "About the same time when you, Cynar, and I went after Wertlosvati," said Blaise.

  "How's everyone in the den? I hope no one got hurt," said Smoke.

  "Yeah, it was really
weird," said Blaise. "Only Cynar's gathered loot and the aristocrats were taken by Orks, but they left all of the OrkElves alone. Of course, the ones who were there said the Orks used a cloud of smoke to initiate their attack."

  Blaise paused and stared at Smoke.

  "None of them even had a chance to fight the Orks," said Blaise.

  "Listen, Blaise, there's something that I've been meaning to tell you," said Smoke.

  However, the OrkElf Flame Knight did not give him the chance to speak up.

  "Yeah, I really hate those nobles!" exclaimed Blaise. "I even had a fight with Cynar about how well he's been treating that kid... what was his name again?"

  "Jack?" asked Smoke.

  "Yeah, that one," said Blaise. "It's like Cynar's gone soft on him. I guess it was good of the Orks to take those wretched aristocrats with them, but if I ever catch the one who did this—"

  Blaise suddenly unsheathed his enchanted flaming sword, and sliced it menacingly through the air.

  "Hey, what's going on back there?" Paysan asked them both.

  "Nothing. Faux was just looking for something," said Blaise. He then picked up a random rock from the ground. "Oh, here it is," he said, handing it over to Smoke.

  Paysan shrugged and continued to lead the way to their homes.

  "Blaise, I'm really sorry to hear about losing your loot and the captured aristocrats," said Smoke. "But at least none of the OrkElves were injured."

  Blaise scrutinized Smoke once more.

  "Say, Faux, you're not here to recruit these OrkElves, are you?" asked Blaise. "You're not trying to build your own private army?"

  Smoke strongly shook his head. "Of course not. If you've been to Souer then you should know that I genuinely just want to help them."

  Desperate to change the subject, Smoke called out Paysan. "Say, what kind of crops do you have here?"

  "Well, we have carrots, potatoes, radish, and bread root planted in our fields," said Paysan.

  After hearing this, Smoke briskly searched inside his backpack and found that he still had a few sweet potatoes in there.

  "What about, sweet potatoes?" he asked Paysan, breaking the root crop in two, for the OrkElf Farmer to see. "Do you have any of this here?"

  "No," Paysan eagerly shook his head. "Why is it purple on the outside and orange in the inside? Does it really taste sweet?"

  "Absolutely! Even if it's just poached it still tastes great," said Smoke.

  "Why don't you cook some for us then?" asked Paysan.

  "Certainly," said Smoke, and immediately went to work. He was led to a pot filled with water.

  Blaise then knelt down next to Smoke. "Same as before? Cooking without fire," said the silver Flame Knight and chuckled. He drew out his Salamander Tongue, and slashed it across the firewood, setting it ablaze.

  "Thanks," said Smoke. He washed the sweet potatoes, and then dumped all of them straight into the pot. He also added in some medicinal wheat grass, in order to enhance the effects of the sweet potatoes.

  While waiting for his dish to finish, Smoke observed that the OrkElves in this settlement had already formed family units. They didn't look like refugees forced to be together.

  Two children walked over to Paysan, as the middle aged OrkElf was cutting open a pomegranate. He then submerged it in a large clay bowl filled with spring water.

  As Smoke had never seen this, he decided to watch what Paysan was doing.

  "Oh, that caught your attention, huh?" Blaise asked Smoke. "Look closer, Faux, you may want to add this in your cooking repertoire."

  "Hurry up, Pap, I'm thirsty!" said the little OrkElf girl, tugging on Paysan's sleeve.

  "Pap, you said I get to drink first," said the older looking OrkElf boy, tugging on the other side of their father.

  "Now, you two, you better behave. If you want to drink the pompom," Paysan said to the children. "Also, if you're good, I'll even let you taste what that nice DarkElf is cooking," he said pointing to Smoke.

  A smile came across Smoke's face, but his mask prevented anyone from seeing this.

  Next, the bowl were Paysan had placed the sliced pomegranates, were now filled with floating yellowish white membranes of the fruit. The OrkElf scooped these out, and placed them in a different container. He then began crushing the seeds which had sunk down to the bottom of the bowl. The spring water inside quickly turned a tarty purple texture. Paysan added more water to it and resumed mixing the seeds with the water. After two minutes, he served it to the children.

  "Mm, that was yummy, Pap," said the boy.

  "Pap, can I finish this bowl?" asked the girl.

  "Hm. I was planning on giving it to Faux," said Paysan. "He's been staring at us for quite some time now."

  "Oh, alright," said the little girl. She carefully brought the clay bowl over to Smoke and handed it to him.

  "Here you go," said the girl. "Pap's pompom is the best in all of Zectas."

  "Thanks," said Smoke, he raised the bowl to Paysan and drank all of it. He found it syrupy with a hint of piney taste, but strangely satisfying.

  Then, a notification window popped up.

  + 100 MP Restored

  'No way! Concentrated pomegranates restore mana!' surmised Smoke.

  After he finished his share, Smoke handed the clay bowl to Blaise. In one gulp, the OrkElf in silver armor drank all of what was left.

  "That was tasty," Smoke said to Paysan, "and I think Blaise likes it too."

  "Yeah, pompoms are great alright," said the OrkElf Farmer.

  Paysan's kids then ran off to play with other OrkElf children.

  "You know, we learned how to farm for them," suddenly said Paysan.

  "We made all of this for them," said Paysan, pointing to everything around.

  "Many of us of here, started most of the OrkElf settlements," said Paysan. "When we were younger, we wandered through the cities until we were driven out by their prejudice and maltreatment."

  Paysan pointed around the pomegranate trees. "It was here that we found peace, and it was here that we found hope. As we paired up, it was also here that we found love."

  "However, we were well aware of our situation," said Paysan. "We knew that if we had children then, they would only come to hate the life they're living, and would only know suffering. The same way as we did."

  "None of us wanted our next generation to experience the travesties of life we've experienced," explained Paysan. "Wanting a brighter future for them, all of us submitted ourselves to be Farmers in various cities," he said, and paused for a moment. "We envisioned our families and their descendants to have simple lives, but free from discrimination, suffering, and war."

  "Yet, despite our best efforts, Blaise here arrived," said Paysan. "He told us that Sawtorn wasn't getting any better, but if we were to join their cause, then maybe the life that we envisioned for our small settlement could be experienced by all of the OrkElves."

  Paysan smiled. "I would love to see that. A world where all OrkElves are free to live wherever they want," he said turning to Blaise.

  'Looks like this settlement is joining in with Blaise too,' surmised Smoke.

  "But I'm afraid I must decline," said Paysan. "We have worked so hard to get to where we are."

  Paysan kept smiling at Blaise. "And we did all of that without using violence. If we were to use our strength, and force all of Sawtorn to recognize us, do you really think that will help their image of us?"

  Blaise smiled back, and nodded at Paysan. "Thank you for your honesty, and I respect your decision. But I also believe that what Cynar and I are doing is the right way. I'm not saying yours is wrong, but I just feel that mine is better."

  Blaise stood up and offered his hand to Paysan.

  "Now, why don't you try these sweet potatoes," said Smoke, thinking on his feet to lighten up the mood.

  Smoke used his Earth Manipulation, and created a modified strainer. He fished them out from the boiling water and ran them through the cold spring.

  "Her
e, try some," said Smoke, handing them to Paysan and another to Blaise as well

  "Mm. They are sweet!" said Paysan. "Do you have some more that we could plant?"

  "Yeah, I have some," said Smoke. "I'll give them to you, if you'll allow me to do what I came here for."