Polymath Redux – The product of a strength that is not truly your own
Chapter XLIII
Atop an isolated hill overlooking the village outside the capital’s walls was the manor belonging to the new Xagontetian Minister of Defense. As heavy rain overtook the entire region and if one concentrated hard enough a faint outline of what seemed to be some kind of barrier could be seen surrounding the manor. Added to this fact and the isolated proximity of the estate, the entire area had come to be known as the ‘holy ground’ by the locals as it also housed their treasured saint and savior, Morgana Daltress.
In contrast to the chaotic rain outside that roared viciously the inside of the Daltress manor was as calm as ever. Morgana sat quietly in her study continuing to work on the countless number of paperwork that had piled up on her desk, yet as a professional she didn’t let the tedium get to her. Gracefully working through in a near ‘Zen’ like state, the sound of her pen scraping against the paper created a very warm atmosphere when contrasted with the violent rain outside. The sounds of jealous winds tapping across the window as though to suggest that they wanted in, it accentuated the feeling of being ‘safe’ inside the manor.
Elegantly she picked up her coffee mug with three of her slender fingers and took a small sip. A homely feeling overwhelmed her stomach and throat as the warm liquid oozed down her body. She gazed outside at the unforgiving rain but offered a relaxed smile instead of displeasure like many would against such horrible weather. Many people enjoyed the sun, which was especially true for the inhabitants of the country of the sun; however for both Morgana and Mordred they much preferred the rain.
The rain washes away everything and drowns everything in static noise. Out of all weather conditions, the rain feels most alive and expressive, through its melancholic and depressing sound to the dampness of the atmosphere, like tears of the sky. It was such properties of the rain that Mordred had come to be fond of; though in truth it was the ability of the rain to ruin other’s day that Mordred actually enjoyed. As other children played outside with each other, he had spent the majority of his time inside and alone. It was only when the rain came out that everyone had become like him and isolated inside; a comforting thought, it was the only time he could feel ‘normal’.
“Did something good happen, Mistress?”
Yda who had been silently observing her mistress at work had asked. It’s not to say that it was bad but she was slightly confused as to why Morgana was so pleased as she gazed out at the horrible rain.
Morgana responded by shaking her head in denial.
“It’s nothing… just, thinking about the past.”
‘The past’, as in Mordred’s past. Of course Morgana herself knew by now that she was evolving everyday into her own individual but if there was one thing that still kept her from taking a step further, it was the past. Her past was Mordred’s, she was Mordred, thus she understood very well the feelings he had gone through.
When she compared the situation from back then to now it was evident that this was far better. No longer alone, no longer trapped inside that prison; free but aimlessly hoping for an unsure goal.
“The… past?”
Yda repeated.
“Yda, I have a small task for you.”
“Ah, yes! What can I do for you, mistress?”
“Could you go down to the basement and lower the defenses to the manor? We’ll be having a guest soon so it would be unwell for our security to register them as the enemy.”
At her orders Yda became a little curious as to how her mistress knew that they would be receiving guests. Having been stuck in this manor all day today due to the rain there was no real way for her to know that anyone would be coming. However Yda let go of such thoughts when she really thought about it; both Mordred and her mistress were unfathomable people. There would be no use in figure out what they were thinking since they seemed to be thinking on some higher plane.
“Understood~”
Yda left the study for the basement generator room. In truth this underground room was the heart of the manor’s defenses in that it contained a very special mana crystal that allowed all of the manor’s defenses to operate autonomously. There was actually a similar thing hidden deep in the hearts of the city as well that powered the countless defense golems and sentry cannons but of course no one knew of this room’s existence except for Morgana and Mordred.
As Yda was exiting the room she ran into an unpleasant face; the master of the house. She made an obviously displeased face to which Mordred gave her a smirk and coughed while pointing to his neck in an arrogant manner. Yda quickly flinched back at the reminder of what was on her neck and scurried away in a hurry to carry out her prior orders.
“You shouldn’t tease her too much. She’s a valued member of this manor after all.”
Morgana greeted Mordred by acknowledging his appearance and giving him a quick warning.
“It’s fine, she knows I’m not serious.”
“I wonder. So was there a reason you’re here? Shouldn’t you be playing with those Hywel Knights?”
“It almost sounds like you’re unhappy that I’m here.”
“Not particularly.”
“Hmm, well whatever. I’m just here to give you a head’s up.”
Morgana stopped her pen to better focus on what Mordred was about to tell her.
“Head’s up for what?”
“About a new player in town; the First Prince of King Lionel Crom, Leo Crom. I’m not sure what kind of person he is or why he’s even here but well, I just thought you’d like to be informed. Since you are the minister of defense for this country it would do you well to know who’s coming in and out.”
Mordred knew of the First Prince’s appearance due to the Golems and Sentries scattered all over the place. Every person who came in and out of the city he would know. Although, if it had been some random, no-name individual Mordred would have not given much care but this was the First Prince of the country thus special attention was paid.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Morgana asked with a slightly displeased frown.
“’Why’?”
Mordred responded, for the first time unsure of what his doppelganger was so upset about. It was a reaction that was outside of Mordred’s prediction, rendering him speechless for a few seconds.
“Yes, why are you telling me this personally? We are perpetually connected so information like this could easily be transmitted telepathically. There was no real reason you needed to come here to personally.”
“… I guess you have a point. Duly noted.”
Mordred too was confused as to why he took all the trouble to come here personally. As she had said he could’ve easily informed her through telepathy, so why hadn’t he? When he had actually thought about the given situation the truth of the matter was that he was simply talking to himself. Morgana was himself yet for the past few days she had appeared to be a separate entity in his eyes.
“Is sharing your mind really that unpleasant? Even if it is with yourself?”
Morgana asked. ‘Telepathy’ was the method in which they communicated information to one another. It wasn’t as though they would garner all information that the other was thinking about but as Morgana had said, for a brief time their thoughts would join to become one. Such a system had never existed in their world so it was not surprising that Mordred was having trouble adapting to it. He convinced himself that this was the reason why he had come personally to speak instead of use telepathy.
“It’s not unpleasant. It’s simply unnatural. Forgive me, I still haven’t adapted perfectly to this world so there are many things that I have trouble with. It’s like with the Extrasensory Feedback, I just need some time to get used to it.”
“Is that so?”
Mordred nodded. Without saying much more he disappeared in a puff of black smoke as though he were a stage magician. Though in truth it was the [blink] skill.
For a being created to be perfect, it was hard for Morgana to grasp the concept of adaptation.
“Adapting… huh?”
…
Running through the heavy rain in desperation was a slender blonde girl in her late teens. The harsh rain and wind were almost like a metaphor to stop her from approaching her destination. Out of breath she reached the bottom of the hill of the Daltress manor and once she gazed up she beheld a miraculous sight of an impressive manor.
A small tint of a blue hemisphere could be seen hovering above the manor, though she did not know what exactly this was but it painted a holy imagery in her mind. ‘This was it!’ she thought to herself as was finally within arm’s reach of her destination. ‘With this I can save Tau!’ she mentally prepared herself and climbed up the hill to request an audience with the one that the locals have been referring to as ‘saint’.
It took several heavy steps through the rain but she had finally made it to the top of the hill and reached the front gates of the Daltress manor. Waiting for her with an umbrella was a well dressed butler with stern facial features, like his expression was glued to a perpetually serious one.
“Welcome to the Daltress estate, Lady Morgana Daltress has been expecting your arrival.”
The well dressed butler spoke.
“Eh?”
This information came as a surprise to Alice. Morgana had already been awaiting her arrival? How? Since when? She wanted to ask but didn’t find the opportunity to in this heavy rain.
“Please step inside. I will prepare a towel and a change of clothes for you.”
Placing Alice under his umbrella he escorted her inside the manor and followed through with his words. Inside she was further greeted by another maid, one from the demon race as evident by the horn on her forehead. One of the horns was broken off, ‘ouch’, she thought to herself.
“Welcome, I’ve prepared a warm bath for you so please enter it and I will lay out some fresh clothes for you in the meanwhile.”
The demoness maid greeted with a smile and ushered her to the bathroom.
“A- ah, thank you…”
Unable to decline she was swept up into Rena’s pace and every inch of her body was washed. Though Alice felt a little embarrassed to have someone else helping her wash she was a little tired from running through the tempest to decline. She had come to this place to request help but somehow down the line she had already made friends with the maid known as ‘Rena’.
After having been washed and dressed in comfortable clothes she was now ready to meet with her intended target.
“Thank you, Rena.”
Alice said with a smile.
“No problem, please ask if there is anything else. Now then, the mistress has been expecting you so please, this way.”
Rena ushered her towards the study. Alice was confronted by a large wooden door that emanated a formidable pressure. She swallowed to clear her through and meekly pushed the door open.
“He- hello~?”
She spoke with an unconvincing voice.
“Ah, Alice, you’ve arrived. Excellent.”
Standing before her was a woman who looked not much older than her yet exuded a completely different aura to the meek one she had been oozing out. She had a similar shade of blonde hair yet for some reason Morgana’s looked much more prominent and beautiful, she could even smell the nice aroma from it. Pale white skin as if it was snow and a thin and graceful figure… ‘this’ Alice thought, this was the Minister of Defense, Morgana Daltress; the one people have rightly been calling ‘saint’.
“He- hello… My, my name… Alice.”
Unsure of what to say in the presence of such a perfect person Alice stared down at the ground and spoke. After thinking for a brief moment she realized that Morgana had already spoken her name before she introduced herself. ‘How?’ she wanted to ask how she knew but was too intimidated by her shining figure that she didn’t know how to.
“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Alice. I am Morgana Daltress, the recently recruited Minister of Defense. I’m already aware of why you’re here. You want me to help rescue your friend from incarceration, right?”
“Y, yes! Please help Tau!”
With a sudden burst of courage Alice gazed forward with prepared eyes. Seeing her cute expression Morgana couldn’t help but let out a small giggle which only served to confuse Alice even further.
“Ah, sorry I didn’t mean to laugh at you. It’s just that you were too cute. Anyway getting back on topic… Mmm yes, unfortunately it might be hard for even me to help your friend from incarceration as it was supposedly a direct order from the king himself.”
Hearing a negative response Alice’s face paled as all of her energy started draining.
“N- no way…”
“But don’t lose hope yet. Although I may not be able to help your friend immediately I will do everything in my power to ensure that he has a proper trial and prove his innocence.”
“R- really?!”
“Yes, of course.”
Morgana answered towards the happy Alice.
Why Morgana knew who Alice was and what she wanted was a mystery that was swept to the deepest recesses of her mind. She was so happy at hearing the good news she didn’t even question how she knew the information that she did.
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. Since it’s getting late today we shall depart early tomorrow morning. You can use the guest room in this manor for the time being so be sure to get lots of rest as we’ll need all that energy.”
“I understand, thank you very much!”
The next morning Alice, Morgana and Grimal had departed for the place that Tau was being held. This was the start of a secret war between two silent factions secretly governing Xagontetia, but of course no one except for the people involved would realize its importance to the future of the nation.
Rebirth Online World 