Chapter 23: In-Laws
---D-Day+54, Glenic 25th---
"Why am I nervous?"
Don't get it. Really don't. I'm already accepted. Shit, one of the VIP's for this shindig is me. Why the hell am I nervous? Maybe, its the crowd?
Sitting at a table on the Grand Suite's western balcony. See over half of Pearlden and all of Stormgarde spread out under me. And on this bright dawn morning?
Pearlden is packed.
Stormgarde too. So, many, people. A riot of color and noise. And since there is no where near enough room? A tent city has sprung up beyond Pearlden's walls. This is also the biggest turnout in memory.
The Deans are even thinking about upping the freshmen count to two hundred. Normally two to three hundred compete for one hundred to one hundred and fifty 'slots.' This year? Almost four hundred hopefuls have paid the testing fees.
Oh and making this even crazier? Stormgarde is the only school in Tourin that does this. The rest are invitation only like Crownfair or first come first serve. According to Frosty, an entrance competition was another of Sayo's wishes.
Maybe I'm nervous about my new guild rank? Apparently Dwarfinator raised hell in the Raelera branch. Yesterday a guild rep suddenly showed up with a gold tag for me. It even lists both Swordmage and Necromancer for class now.
I'm getting kind of tired reminding people that I didn't actually fight those dragons. At most, just channeled mana to those who did.
Its a beautiful gold plate. Made to be shown off. Of course my wives demand I wear it.
Sigh.
Maybe its because of the big wigs? Beyond the crowds come to watch the show? Over three hundred of the wealthiest and or strongest families in the western half of this continent have shown up.
Or maybe its my lost privacy? Tonight and for the next seven nights. The Grand Hall of Lions Keep will have a ball. Food, music, and dancing till way to god damn late at night.
So every night when I'm usually winding down and my wives are winding up? This week will instead be spent way to dressed up. And surrounded by people with way to high an opinion of themselves
Not really worried about upsetting them. More worried about killing them. The attitudes of these people. Already been attempts to brow beat me out of the Grand Suite. Fuck off and die.
Oh, and it seems they don't actually like being told to 'fuck off and die.' You don't want to hear it? Stop making me say it. Dumbass. How do the seneschal, chamberlain, marshal, and others, put up with this shit every year?
It really is a festival. Or maybe a carnival? The streets are filled with stalls selling crap. Actors, musicians, acrobats, hookers, pickpockets, grifters, and others, work the crowds. Races and games take place in temporary tracks outside of town.
There are only a couple of streets being intentionally kept clear for carriages and wagons.
Food is everywhere. Alcohol is everywhere. Scheming is everywhere.
Nobles, merchants, and priests, from across half the continent are going from meeting to meeting. Wheeling and dealing. Trade contracts, marriage negotiations, property sales, alliances formed, alliances broken. The stuff [Super Senses] is picking up?
Holy shit.
Not just Tourin either. Families from Granya, Thurl, and at least a dozen other countries and tribes are here. Arrogant little shits too. Already had to shutdown a couple of casanova wannabes making moves on my wives.
And its only been a couple of days since these morons started flooding my town.
Same as previous years. New old seneschal has hired mercenaries and adventurers to help keep order. Unlike previous years, none of them are allowed in the keep. Not going to invite disaster in case someone's paid them more.
I've got a quarter of my undead on patrol, another quarter on guard duty, a quarter on standby as a reaction force, and the last quarter on R&R. This includes ghosts and skeletons.
Interesting things happened after the Battle of Erienberg when sorting and reorganizing the new undead. Ended up keeping around half of them. Still doubled my numbers.
The zombies had all become skeletons since their flesh had been burned away during the fighting. By the end they had been re-raised and patched back together so many times that they were clean slates.
With some experimenting, was able to upgrade the charred skeletons to something Frankie knows from her church studies as skeletal warriors. A few I was able to push even further to what are called death knights.
The ghosts are a lot like living shadows but lack anything material. What most see is only projections of their astral form. Frankly they are pretty damn weak so most were faded. The strongest remaining I experimented with like was done to the skeletons.
According to Frankie, again, the remaining ghosts are now specters. With a handful being the even stronger wraiths.
Back to [Super Senses]. While it has improved a lot since that first night eavesdropping on tin can? The population of Pearlden has basically doubled. Listening in to thousands of conversations simultaneously? Way way above the current me.
"Is it true what they say about his, stamina?" Some though? Attract my attention.
More than just applicant families are here. Plenty are attracted by just the party. Including Blue's mother, niece, and Lili's sister. Yep, the reason I'm sitting on the cold shady west side balcony this morning is they are having a breakfast in the sunny eastern side garden.
Laughing, gossiping, scheming, crying, bitching, arguing, more crying... Thank you god, again, for making me a guy. And of course discussing their husbands and or lovers 'equipment' and skills in the sack.
Sigh.
Naturally they are teasing me mercilessly. They know I can hear them. Can feel it even. Just wait till I get them alone. You know? Might not even wait till we are alone. Ha! That got a stutter out of them.
Strange, the teasing seems to have suddenly stopped all of a sudden. Oh my. Whatever could have happened?
Revenge being a dish best served cold, slimy, and slithery, aside? There aren't any big issues yet. Duchess Melicent Chastel is not happy with Blue marrying me out of the, well, blue. But?
Marrying the titled, Lions Keep, Pearlden, and Stormgarde, viscount son of a marquis? Not a bad deal.
Certainly great compared to what her options were before I gave her enough mana to become a first class mage. Like, being assassinated by her own family.
Lili's sister though? Is very supportive. Too supportive. Pushing through her [Shroud] and [Falsehood]? Baroness Auriol Gilend's looks to be Steel ranked. Maybe even Silver ranked. She's being very subtle but her strategy is clear.
Sounding out just how 'attached' to me Red really is. And undermining it. Thought Red's dad was going to stop this shit. Looking for weak points. Cracks to exploit. Lili has figured out what she is doing. Getting pretty pissed over it too.
Auriol is her sister and she's a concubine compared to Red being the first wife. Auri's game is putting Lili's position at risk. The primary wife has a lot of power in the family, written and unwritten.
Fucking bitch! She's casting.
She's being even sneakier with it than her wordplay but, she's casting a spell.
It feels like [Mind Magic] but its not [Mind Mist] that the succubus used. More like [Mesmerize] that casanova's magic charm was projecting. Or maybe, [Vex]? From what [Super Senses] can tell, I am the ultimate target.
Can see her spell reaching out to my wives. Trying to pull their spirits toward her. But its grip keeps slipping.
Its the rings. The link they create to me. Witch's magic can't handle our connection so keeps failing.
Its almost funny how Baroness Bitch is getting more and more upset. Like casanova, seems she's not used to her trick not tricking. She was initially casting at Red but now she's throwing it at all six wives.
Of course using more mana? Makes it harder and harder to hide. Girls can tell something's up beyond witch's poison words. Can feel it. They are wary now. Causing the spell to fail even faster. Wonder who will start.
"Baroness Gilend." Simone? "A spell stole my heart once and cost me, everything. I was not even a person anymore. Became only a thing to be used." Ouch. "Did you think I would not recognize the feeling that magic gives? Notice the smell of its taint? Remember the whispers of its lies?"
Damn. Didn't even stereo with Odaline.
"I watched my husband devoured before my eyes." Oh Lili. "If not for that man? Clari would have been next. He owes my child and I nothing. We owe him everything." Yeah, she's peeved. "Auriol. Get out."
"What sister? Whatever do you mean?" Witch is starting to sweat.
Lili's not done.
"Sister. He is not cornering us. We are cornering him." Eh? "We need him. But if we fail him? We will lose him." Uh... "Now my own sister wants to drive him away? Even spell weaving? Trying to trick us into failing him? Get. Out."
Not sure how I feel about that statement. Not feeling any of the other wives disagreeing either. Shit. That doesn't sound like a very healthy state of mind.
"Lilias, please." Witch is desperate. "He still blames her for Iselota's, corruption." Who? "Emme hates her for reminding him of Iselota." A shudder? "This spell will just help you forget him. So it won't hurt when he's, gone."
Bullshit. Can feel what its trying to do. Twist feelings. Turn love into hate. Hate into love. Designed to make relationships self-destruct. Way to complex. But why? Red drops the clue I need.
"Father."
Oh... God dammit.
"He knows he can't beat the Beast." Beast? Shit. "So the count has decreed to the entire house. Either find another way to break the monster? Or the count will break us."
Blue's mom is completely confused. Was probably just looking for an ally to help get Blue away.
"Beast? Break who Lady Gilend?"
"Me."
"Eee!"
Suddenly appearing next to the witch gets a nice and load scream. The eyes of Lili's sister get big as plates. Her attendant attempts to step in between us.
Give her my finest evil grin.
"Do you really think I have to go thru you, to kill her?"
Multiple living shadows form across the garden. I stare down witch's bodyguard and speak in the most condescending tone I can muster.
"Since the Count of House Gilend cannot kill me? He attacks what I love." The duchess is white as a sheet. "Even his own daughter, who carries my child in her belly."
Red's trembling. I can feel her sorrow and guilt. What a fucked up childhood. She barely squeaks out.
"I. I. H-have brought t-trouble aga-" Ushi and Ali wrap Red in hugs while her tears start falling.
God dammit.
"Edelys Barton. This is not your fault." Lift her chin with my finger. "I forgave them once. They still want you disgraced. Broken. I will not forgive them again."
Red's reluctant nodding is interrupted by my kiss. She begged me to spare her family, so I did. If they still won't stop? Then I'll stop them.
Both Duchess Melicent Chastel's attendant and her niece's, Countess Mara Eerbu, attendant don't know what to do. They are badly outnumbered and outflanked.
When out and about, the high class noble women of Tourin are accompanied by female 'attendants.' They are combination servants, secretaries, chaperones, and bodyguards. There to keep their boss's ladies out of trouble.
Yeah, they don't answer to the wife. They answer to the husband. Few have any magic of note. Instead trained for melee. Using daggers and other easily concealed weapons. They are not happy right now.
Well, fuck 'em. I'm not happy right now either.
"Baroness Bitch." Auriol Gilend shudders. "I killed the last fool to use charm magic in front of me without my permission. Drove a sword down his throat until it came out his ass and pinned him to the ground."
She's turned very pale.
"..."
Her mouth is moving but no words are forming.
"How should I punish, you?"
Her attendant speaks for her.
"Viscount Barton. What proof do you have Baroness Gilend was cast a spell?"
Trying to be clever?
"Do I need proof? Or just witnesses?"
"...Perhaps a ransom instead of execution?" Attendant is desperate.
Though if she comes back without the Baron's wife? Her head will be on the chopping block next.
"I'll spare her in exchange for a service."
Don't give me that dirty look. Christ. Is everyone on this planet's brains stuck in the gutter?
Witch has found words. "W-what must I d-do?"
"Deliver a message to Count Gilend."
Confusion and fear mix on the face of Lili's sister.
"W-what is t-the m-message?"
I ignore the 'desperate to survive this' attendant and lean in close to her equally desperate boss. Waiting until the witch finally looks me in the eyes before speaking.
"Tell him, 'I am coming for you.'"
After walking away and returning to the western balcony? Their little tea party soon ends. The baroness is a bit shaky on her feet. So the attendant has to help her out.
Could tell duchess really wanted to demand Blue leave with her but, after I put the baroness in her place? She doesn't want to risk my wrath. Her and the countess also quickly exit.
Born with no talent for magic Blue was an afterthought for much of her childhood. Someone to be married off to some lesser family for a minor sum. Like the title-less son of a count's family. Becoming less than nothing when she contracted an incurable disease.
This completely changed when me curing her leprosy had the side effect of massively expanding her mana reservoir. Giving her the potential to become a powerful mage. Suddenly making a much more valuable bargaining chip for her House Chastel.
Of course changing her 'status' among the nobility, marriage prospects wise, takes time and me claiming Alote? Pulls the rug out from under the Chastel's.
After all, what House would be strong enough, or fucking insane enough, to negotiate for a girl who has already been claimed by the Gold ranked dragon killing Swordmage son of the war hero Marquis?
Maybe the royal house but the last thing the king wants to deal with is me. Wants to keep me as far away as possible until he's sure I won't kill him the first chance I get. Yeah. I will totally murder him to death the first chance I get.
So the duchess and guess who's actually a priestess of metia countess, were probably planning a quickie divorce slash annulment? Instead leave pale and sweating bullets after getting an in your face confirmation that I have no problem protecting what's mine.
No matter who the swiper-no-swiping turns out to be.
"Frazur."
The scaly undead must have sensed it coming because he is already out if his hole in the sorcerer tomb and at my side.
~Archon.~
"I have a job for you."
Chastel, Melicent (female, human, tourinese)
Eerbu, Mara (female, human, tourinese)
Gilend, Auriol (female, human, tourinese)
Gilend, Emme (female, human, tourinese)
Gilend, Iselota (female, halfling, tourinese)
Gilend, Remon (male, human, tourinese)