Polymath Redux – How to effectively set up your pawn
Chapter XIII
“Wow! I didn’t even know that there was an open air hot springs in this place!”
Wrapped around by a single towel, Yda exclaims as she enters the open air hot springs. Though it may have been a little weird to find hot springs in the middle of the city, that was not really the case as actually many inns had such features. This was of course all possible due to the power of magic, creating a localized pocket of changed atmosphere, meaning that people on the outside of the magic’s influence wasn’t able to see the ‘open air’ portion.
Basically it was a slightly altered version of illusion magic used to change the atmosphere and ambiance of a localized area. Also the hot springs weren’t natural but kept warm with items known as ‘magic stones’ which had a variety of different uses with substituting a heater being one of them.
“Indeed, but I’m glad that there is one.”
Morgana slowly followed after her, also with a towel draped around her. Her long golden hair glistening due to the steam and her fair skin becoming shiny due to the moisture, needless to say Yda wasn’t able to keep a straight face. Smiling back at her Morgana dipped her toes into the warm water and slowly entered the warm spring, like a tea bag slowly being lowered into a cup.
And like a tea bag, to Yda, the water had been ‘purified’ with her mistress’s ‘purity’. Yda also slowly entered the springs with a satisfied and relaxed look on her face. Her face became flustered, most likely because of the temperature of the water, giving her a big dumb smile plastered over her face.
Noticing this, Morgana giggled to herself. The current Morgana was more than a kilometer away from Mordred thus she was acting entirely autonomously. It would be possible for Mordred to remotely control her actions and see what she does but they could not swap positions unless they were within a kilometer radius of each other.
Though she wasn’t Mordred’s main body, she too was technically Mordred. While she wasn’t exactly tired but after three days of being in this world certainly there was small mental exhaustion. So sitting in a warm, relaxing bath without any worries really did soothe her mind and body.
“Is the water to your liking?”
A voice came from behind her, it was Rena who came to make sure that her patrons were enjoying themselves.
“Yes, quite. Why don’t you join us?”
Morgana asked in a pleasant voice.
“I- I couldn’t. That would be too intrusive of me!”
Rena was flustered.
“Isn’t it fine? It’s not like anyone here would mind.”
Morgana turned to Yda to see if she thought otherwise but Yda was lost and on the verge of phasing out in this soothing bath.
“A, are you sure?”
She asked to confirm, truthfully she did indeed want to join them in their bath. Though it may not have meant much for Morgana or Yda, for Rena it was the first time she’d been treated so nicely by other people. Almost as though she was a friend, but she knew when to draw the line between friend and patron, but at this very moment, ‘perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad’, Rena thought to herself.
Taking up their generous offer Rena also stripped down to a single towel and entered the springs with them. She felt a tingly sensation inside as she entered the warm waters and soon she too was lost in the tranquil feelings of relaxation.
“Umm, if you don’t mind me asking…”
Rena spoke up to Morgana.
“Yes?”
She replied.
“Umm, if you don’t mind telling me, what is your relationship with Mr. Mordred?”
Upon hearing this Yda too jumped up with keen interests. She too wanted to know the answer to this question, but all the answers that were given whenever she asked was that ‘he was special’ or that they had some ‘connection’, vague answers such as those.
“I too would like to know!”
Yda exclaimed with a stern face, to which prompted to cover her mouth and giggle. Her shoulders could be seen trembling from trying to hold back her laughter.
“Well, I don’t think I can ever explain it to you in words that you could understand, it’s not that kind of relationship. But well, to sate your curiosity, he and I are not in that kind of intimate relationship. So you don’t have to worry.”
Morgana answered as she placed a hand on Rena’s shoulders. Morgana knew that Mordred wasn’t dense enough to not realize the internal workings of a girl’s feelings when it was this obvious, so it may not have been necessary to do this but Morgana tried her hardest to block whatever information was being said right now from reaching Mordred.
It took a lot of conscious effort to achieve this but it was a part of Morgana’s kindness that allowed her some self autonomy. Of course Morgana also understood that if Mordred really wanted to know he could simply force his way through the mental block that she had erected but at the same time she also knew that Mordred trusted her. Why would he not? She was him after all.
“I… I see… thank you.”
Rena replied as she dunked herself into the water to clear her mind.
“Fufufu~”
Morgana was thoroughly enjoying herself and the time she spent with these two. Those were her honest feelings as a semi autonomous being.
…
“Who are you?”
Irina gazed upon the suspicious child. She had half a mind to draw her sword and cut her down this instant but held herself back greatly by not following through with that train of thought.
“Now, now, Irina. Don’t you remember rule number two?”
“Rule… two? Could it be? My master?!”
The little girl, revealing herself to be Mordred’s [Alter: appearance], gave a mischievous smile back at Irina. It was no wonder that she was able to sneak up on her so easily, it was because she was her master! ‘As expected of master’, she silently thought to herself.
“Correct~ though it’s a little disheartening to see that you couldn’t indentify me in a single glance.”
Mordred answered back.
“I- I am sorry! Please forgive me my master!”
Irina shouted and tried to kneel and apologize but she was stopped by Mordred.
“Please think of the time and place when you do things like this. Anyway I was just joking, I made sure to hide my presence with the intent to fool you so it’s not your fault. Now raise your head.”
“My apologies. Umm… is there a reason why you’re in this form? My master?”
Irina asked, tilting her head in confusion.
“A reason… well yes there is a reason. You see test audiences loved this form, they said it was ‘innocent’ and ‘vulnerable’ which also brought out the paternal instincts within people and emphasized their desires to help. Or something like that.”
Mordred was referring to the players back in [Hellgana]. He had a few friends there and went through a variety of different appearances to see which one would lower a person’s guard the most. Back when Mordred wasn’t as strong as he was now, he had participated in various PK (Player Killing) guilds and the basics of success in PK were lowering an opponent’s guard.
“Hah…”
Irina didn’t quite understand what her master was talking about but pretended to understand regardless. The inner workings of her master’s mind was like a labyrinth to her, forever convoluted and always thinking on a higher level, ‘maybe it’s best not to question my master’s motives’, she thought to herself.
“Well, anyway Irina. You’ve checked the status of the Hywel Knights, correct?”
“Yes, they should be in their inns right now but one of them always comes to see if there are any big jobs that they could take on. They should be here in a few moments.”
“I see, that’s great. Then Irina, I’ll be seeing you later, though I may not be able to return to the inn for a few days. Give Rena and Yda my regards when you get back.”
“I understand.”
Though seemingly a little dejected, Irina bowed back to her master and left to complete her mission quota for the day.
“Now then. Shall we start on our end too?”
Mordred asked himself.
…
“Man that job was super difficult~ it was so fun!”
A haughty man with spiky silver hair exclaimed in glee. This man was known as ‘wolf’ of the Hywel Knight’s party, a front line damage dealer with the main profession of [assassin]. He was in a slightly larger room in one of the most prestigious inns in all of Solaris.
He wasn’t alone, three other members except him was also there.
“You always say that. Personally I would rather not fight.”
‘Rio Heart’, a young elven maiden who served as their resident [cleric] and expert on magical artefacts. Though she looked young her true age was somewhere in the triple digits, while most elves weren’t long lived Rio was a tad special. She was blessed, or cursed from another perspective, with the gift of ‘immortality’. Ever since then she had been traveling the world in search of any magical artefacts that would one day cure her immortality.
For the time being she had found companions to travel with until that day.
“Zzzz~”
Next to her was the sleeping figure of a gaudy [magician], ‘Stella Nightwell’. She was the runaway daughter of an obnoxious noble of Baliazoural, of course this was kept strictly confidential amongst the Hywel Knights, since if it was revealed to the public it would be a whole heap of mess.
As it was their day off she had decided to sleep in.
“Mmm. I agree with Rio, I would rather not take another difficult job again.”
A large man, about 50% larger than wolf was ‘Joutr’, a half titan, half human hybrid. He was the team’s resident defender and [templar]. He excelled at closer quarters combat and had extremely tough defenses, often times his job would simply be being a wall for his team using his large dual shields.
“What?! Of all people you?! You must be joking, you’re practically carrying this team, pretty literally too.”
Wolf commented with a hearty joke.
“Mmm.”
Joutr replied with a disgruntled voice.
“So where did Leona go?”
‘Leona Crom’, also a noble daughter, in fact she was the 3rd princess of the realm to the Xagontetian royal line. Her purposes for becoming an adventurer with such a prestigious status waiting for her at home was unknown, but the party members of the Hywel Knights were glad that she did because without her the party would never have been formed in the first place.
Wolf asked as he looked around to see that their leader wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Actually he had noticed that their leader goes missing every morning around this time but didn’t know for what reason she did.
“She went to the guild to see if there’s any mission for us. Well there are cases of emergency missions so she just wants to keep an eye out for those kinds. She wouldn’t accept an ordinary mission during our off time.”
“Oh… so when’s she coming back?”
For some reason wolf looked dejected that their leader wasn’t here but accepted the explanation.
“Soon I reckon.”
…
“Ehh?!~ How come?!”
As Leona entered the guild early morning she heard the sound of a young girl at the counter. The young girl looked to be around 9 or 10 with blonde hair and a silky white one piece, ‘so cute’, Leona thought to herself. The girl seemed to be in distress for some reason as she was hurdling up at the counter.
“I’m sorry young miss, only those over the age of 15 can put up requests.”
“But my brother! He’s missing, what am I going to do? I have some gold I can offer as a reward, can’t you make an exception this once? Without my brother… with… without…”
The girl was on the verge of tears and the lady at the counter was in distress at what to do. She felt pity for the girl and wanted to accept it but regulations were regulation, and in the midst of such a complication starting to arise, coming to her aide was the leader of Hywel Knights.
“Miss Leona? I’m sorry, could you turn a blind eye to this young miss?”
The lady at the counter was a little worried because out of all the adventurer parties, the Hywel Knights were the only one with a strong connection with the guild master. If she reported that the receptionist was about to break regulations she could easily lose her job.
“What’s the problem, young miss?”
Leona crouched down at the teary eyed girl and asked in a soft voice.
“My… my brother went missing… and I want to find him.”
“I see… if you want help I don’t mind helping you.”
“Really?!”
The girl jumped up with a surprised expression as she was offered help.
“Yes of course. We can talk more about this back at my inn, my party members would be more than willing to help you out.”
“O… okay. Thank you.”
The girl smiled and replied.
“I’ll take on this issue so don’t worry.”
Leona told the receptionist lady to which she responded with a sigh of relief.
“Thank you.”
“Then shall we go?”
Leona asked and the girl responded with a hearty nod.
Rebirth Online World 