***
Neugieri,
"...three daughters, all married, all in Sturmkamm," the old man beside her on the cart was saying, his voice carrying the easy, unhurried pace of someone used to long rides. "The youngest works at the tannery. Her husband is a decent sort. Quiet."
Neugieri nodded along politely.
The man, who had introduced himself as Ernte when she hired his cart that morning, was weathered in the way farmers tended to be. He was tanned, possessed a creased face, and broad hands that held the reins loosely.
A wool cap sat on his head at a slight angle.
He had been talking, on and off, for the better part of an hour. Neugieri didn't truly mind. She preferred listening to filling the silence herself, and besides, he wasn't the sort to demand much in return. The occasional nod or small sound of acknowledgment was enough to keep him going.
Despite the rather unwelcoming name, Dornpass Valley was shaping up like quite a pleasant place, in Neugieri's experience. The snow was gentle, the air was crisp, and the coniferous forests that blanketed the mountainsides were familiar.
"Gets cold up here, though," Ernte continued, clicking his tongue at the horse, who had slowed on the incline. "Not like the North, I imagine, but cold enough."
"It's similar, actually," Neugieri offered. "The altitude helps."
"That so?" He seemed genuinely pleased by the comparison. "Well, the snow's been light this year. Good for the roads. Also terrible for the spring runoff, but you take what you can get."
The cart creaked. Wind stirred the treetops without reaching the road.
Somewhere to the left, a half-frozen mountain river was visible through a gap in the trees, its water white where it churned over rocks.
No tracks in the snow along the roadside. No claw marks on the bark. No scent of anything dead or rotting carried on the breeze.
Second day on the road and nothing.
Neugieri's fingers, resting in her lap, twitched slightly. She caught herself scanning the treeline again and deliberately stopped.
"You've been watching those trees for a while now," Ernte observed mildly, without looking at her.
She offered a sheepish smile.
"Sorry. Force of habit." she admitted awkwardly.
"Bandits?" he asked, raising a brow.
"Monsters, mostly," she said. "Back home, a forested road like this, you'd have run into something on the first day. Depends on the place and the season, but…" She shook her head, "It's not supposed to be this safe in the wilds."
Ernte let out a thoughtful grunt.
"It's that bad up North?"
Neugieri considered how to put it without sounding dramatic to a man who had likely never left these mountains.
"It's not that any single trip is particularly dangerous," she said carefully. "But it's a danger you need to be aware of. Someone may clear an area of monsters, but new ones drift in within weeks. Hunting particularly dangerous ones is essential, and occasional cullings are necessary, but you can never clear monsters out completely, even an hour away from a town." She shrugged, the gesture small. "I don't remember a single trip through areas like this without at least an accidental encounter with a monster."
Ernte scratched his chin with one hand, keeping the reins in the other.
"Sounds exhausting," he said simply.
It was, though Neugieri had never thought of it in those terms. It was just how things were. Every caravan out of Äußerst expected to fend off at least a probing attack from something. You planned for it the way you planned for the weather.
Here, the snow on the road was undisturbed except by cart tracks and the occasional boot print.
But then again, Neugieri wasn't that good at reading tracks; she might have easily missed some.
"We've got our share of trouble, mind you," Ernte said, as if reading her thoughts. "Things come down from the higher peaks now and again. Wolves too, though just the regular sort." He adjusted his cap. "Old Grau down the road lost two goats to something last spring. But the only monsters we get are the ones living far away from people, or the ones that wander through unpassable mountain trails, and the flying ones. All are hunted when possible." The man chuckled, glancing at Neugieri and shooting her a smile, "Otherwise, those mountains around us are practically defensive walls. We have fewer monsters than probably any other region in the Central Lands." The man boasted easily.
Neugieri doubted him on that.
The inner parts of the Strahl region or Royal Capital itself are probably even more monster-free, on account of those places being surrounded by civilization from all sides. But she understood the sentiment.
"And if something did attack, how would you defend yourself?" Neugieri asked the man curiously.
He glanced at her and shrugged.
"I have a bow," he said, kicking the box behind him to illustrate a point, "There is also a magical item I bought that creates a very bright flash of light and a loud piercing sound, bought it in the academy, actually. Scares the soul out of the wolves and bears!" he chuckled, shaking his head.
"As for the monsters? Well, the ones we still have around usually only attack humans because they are feeling territorial or because of the opportunity," he said, lifting one finger up, sharing some insight. "There are some types of monsters that want to kill humans so much that they are ready to die for it, but there aren't any like that left in the valley. So the ones that are left could probe you, check if they can have an easy way to kill you, but if they encounter difficulty or danger, they will run away like normal beasts," he explained.
Neugieri blinked at the man. That was a surprisingly informed thing for a farmer to say.
The distinction between monsters that hunted humans with purpose and those that merely acted on opportunity wasn't something most people would articulate so clearly. Neugieri herself knew it, of course, because her master's library contained several bestiaries that went into great detail on the subject, but she wouldn't expect to hear it on a cart ride from an old man who sold produce for a living.
"You know quite a bit about monsters," she noted, tilting her head slightly, not quite able to keep the curiosity out of her voice.
Ernte let out a small laugh, shaking his head briefly.
"Not really," he said, waving the compliment off with one hand while keeping the reins steady in the other. "I know what I was told, and I remember most of it because it was interesting. But I wouldn't call it knowing." He scratched behind his ear, his expression turning a bit sheepish. "The headmaster of the academy, sir Albert, he teaches classes there. About monsters, among other things. For the students."
Neugieri straightened slightly in her seat.
"You attended a class at the academy?" she asked, unable to mask the surprise entirely.
"More than one," Ernte admitted, and the faintest hint of pride crept onto his weathered face. "First time was an accident, sort of. I was dropping off a delivery at the kitchen, and I could hear someone talking in one of the halls. Lots of people inside, sounded like a proper lecture." He shrugged, the motion rolling through his broad shoulders casually. "I had some time before the ride back, so I came close to see what this was on about. Bumped into the headmaster himself accidentally, he asked if I was interested in the lecture." A small, bewildered laugh left the man.
"I said I had no idea what the lecture was even about, and he said it was about monster… eh, behaviors and whatnot. Asked if I wanted to listen to." The old man shook his head, "I was plenty curious after that."
"The headmaster just allowed you in?" Neugieri leaned forward just slightly, her hands still folded in her lap.
"He offered," he said, shaking his head slowly as if the memory still surprised him. "Just told me to find a seat in the back and not to interrupt. So I did." The old man's gaze drifted to the road ahead, but his eyes had that particular unfocused quality of someone looking at something that wasn't there anymore. "Can't say I understood all of it. It was a class for the students, after all, and the man talks about magic sometimes, which goes right over my head. But the parts about how monsters think, how they hunt, what makes one dangerous and another not so much," he tapped the side of his temple with a thick finger, "That I could follow. There are other lectures I visit sometimes now, about history and other lands, things like that. It's all very interesting," he admitted a bit… bashfully, perhaps?
Neugieri was taken aback by this enough that she was quiet for a few long seconds.
Äußerst wasn't particularly secretive with magic either, but… You needed to be a mage or a student to access the information freely. Besides, most mages were still taught in apprenticeships.
If the rumors she heard about this Academy - entire classrooms of students were true, it was already an incredibly odd approach that should only create third-rate mages at best.
And now it turns out the headmaster allows anyone to attend his lectures, too.
"And the bit about territorial monsters, that was from one of those classes?" she asked, gesturing vaguely at the treeline around them.
"The whole bit," Ernte confirmed with an easy nod, settling back in his seat. "He explained it better than I just did, mind you. Drew pictures in the air with magic, showed the different types." He waved a hand vaguely, tracing a rough shape in front of him as if trying to recreate something he had seen. "There was this one talk about why some monsters will chase you for miles, and others give up the moment you leave their territory. Something about instincts being set differently in different species." His hand dropped back to the reins. "The ones that are built to hunt people specifically, those are the truly nasty ones, and he said most of them in this valley were dealt with years ago."
Neugieri filed that away mentally.
She had certain suspicions about the headmaster's identity. Besides, she was quite certain that her tracking spell was pointing somewhere around here, and the supposed elven mage Albert was fitting 'A' quite a bit.
Especially if he gave lectures on monsters of all things.
Neugieri was so close to her fellow apprentice she could practically taste it.
"Sounds like an interesting man," she said, glancing at Ernte with a polite, measured expression.
"Strange man," Ernte corrected, though the warmth in his voice undercut the word entirely. "But also wise. That's to be expected from someone who lived longer than my grandpa, I suppose. Sir Albert is well-liked here for a reason; his heroics are only part of it," he said with an easy smile.
The cart lurched slightly as the road leveled out, and the horse picked up its pace without prompting. The trees thinned further, and then, quite suddenly, fell away.
The road ahead ran straight across the valley floor, and at the end of it, the Dornpass Academy.
"There she is," Ernte said, straightening in his seat. He gestured ahead with one hand, and the pride on his face was hard to miss. "Looked a whole lot different when they first started building."
Neugieri didn't respond immediately.
She had spent her whole life in Äußerst, the greatest center of magical learning on the continent.
This was not Äußerst. Not even close.
Yet, without a doubt...
"Quite something, isn't it?" Ernte prompted, glancing at her when the silence went on a bit.
"It is," Neugieri said, and meant it.
As the cart drew closer, the details filled in. A wall ran around the grounds, perhaps three times the height of a man, built from the same kind of pale stone as the mountain road beneath them. It seemed molded by magic rather than constructed; as there doesn't seem to be any brickwork or seams.
Over the top of the wall, the upper floors of the main building were visible. Three stories tall, wide, with arched windows that caught the pale afternoon light. To the left, the roof of another building stood. On the opposite side, thin smoke rose from behind the wall, at this hour that would make it a kitchen, a bathhouse or a workshop of some kind.
Something caught her eye on top of the wall. A golem, small, about the size of a large dog, made from the same stone. It walked along the wall's edge at a steady pace, and the surface behind it looked cleaner than the section it hadn't reached yet. She spotted a second one further along, going the other direction.
Maintenance or guarding ones? Either way, this was quite something; golems of such sorts required constant maintenance from a professional, which isn't a small thing; it's one of the reasons Äußerst had actual guards manning the walls.
The gate was wide enough for two carts and open. The cart passed through, and the grounds opened up around them properly for the first time.
For the most part, she immediately picked up on the places she spied over the walls, and could spot two or so smaller buildings. Maybe sheds to house equipment, maybe something else, it was hard for her to tell.
Strangely enough, there were no students or other people as of now, aside from…
"Ernte, finally here I see!" A voice called out, and Neugieri saw a man gesture over from the… kitchens, judging by the apron? "Glad you could make it safely! Now, bring the carriage over, I'll have the boys carry the baskets and crates!"
The aforementioned farmer did as asked, hurrying the horses forth.
"Good day to you too, Cheff," the farmer said as they rode close, and Neugieri took that opportunity to jump down from the carriage and look around more closely. "Busy again?"
"When am I not?" The other man asked rhetorically from behind the carriage where he headed, and seemed to be examining the goods, "You got everything we agreed on this time?"
"Of course," Ernte replied, sounding a touch offended, "I've been paid good coin; doing good work is the least I can do."
Neugieri barely paid attention as she examined the surroundings. Both with her eyes and her mana sensitivity.
There were plenty of people here, even if she couldn't really pinpoint the exact amount, and even more magical items. Other than that, the inner territory of the Dornpass Academy was… a bit different from what she expected, Neugieri supposed?
She knew that, according to the information she acquired, it was just barely established, but she wasn't expecting to see signs of ongoing construction still around.
It gave the place a rather interesting atmosphere, in her opinion.
She couldn't help but note, however…
"Where is everyone?" she asked who she assumed to be the chef, gesturing around pointedly.
The man who seemed to have been checking inside one of the crates glanced back at Neugieri and measured her with a look for a few seconds.
"It's that stupid game of theirs," he said after a moment, letting out a sigh, and gesturing somewhere towards the west, "Behind the main building, there is an arena. See for yourself, Miss Visitor."
Neugieri blinked at the vague answer and glanced at Ernte for clarification.
The man just chuckled and nodded.
"Go ahead, it's something worth seeing. I still have business to take care of."
Neugieri did hesitate for a few brief moments, but complied.
The path around the main building was paved, which she appreciated, given the thin layer of snow on the rest of the grounds. Up close, the stonework of the building itself was much the same as the wall; magic was definitely heavily involved in construction.
As she walked, the sounds grew. Voices, mostly.
Neugieri rounded the corner.
Behind the main building, a section of the grounds had been shaped into something that could reasonably be called an arena. It was simple in construction; a circular pit, perhaps twelve or so steps across, dug into the earth and lined with the same pale stone as everything else. Around it, tiered seating had been carved into the ground in rough semicircles.
Most of the academy seemed to be here. Twenty, thirty people? Students of varying ages, from what looked like teenagers to men and women well into their thirties. Some sat on the stone tiers, others stood at the edge of the pit. A few were talking animatedly amongst themselves.
The atmosphere reminded Neugieri of dueling arenas for practicing combat magic.
So this is where everyone went.
Yet, as she glanced across the arena itself… she immediately started to doubt her conclusion.
In the arena, two golems stood opposite one another.
The first was squat and broad, fashioned from what looked like iron, with thick limbs and a heavy base. It had no head to speak of, just a flat surface on top of its torso where a simple mana-receptor was embedded, at least from what she could sense and deduce with her limited expertise in the field.
Those might have been controlling nodes for all she knew.
It looked crude, but purposefully so. Everything about it suggested that whoever built it had prioritized durability above all else.
The second was different in almost every way. Taller, slimmer, built from wood reinforced with strips of metal along the joints. It had something resembling arms, long and jointed in two places, giving them an unsettling range of motion. It looked like an incredibly unsettling puppet, with a carnival mask on its face to match. The golem seemed agile.
Where the iron golem looked like it was meant to take hits, this one looked like it was meant not to be where the hit landed.
On the far side of the arena, in a section of seating slightly elevated from the rest, an old man sat in a heavy chair that someone had clearly carried out here for him. He was thin, frail-looking, with sharp eyes that contrasted with the rest of him. His arms were folded, and he watched the proceedings with an expression that sat somewhere between professional scrutiny and honest enthusiasm, as a small smile was ever-stuck to his face.
Neugieri could immediately tell that the man was the strongest mage present; his mana was decently powerful.
On either side of the arena, small groups of students stood behind marked lines on the ground. Three on the left, near the iron golem. Two on the right, near the wooden one. Their hands were raised, and Neugieri could feel the threads of mana connecting them to their respective constructs.
They were likely doing… what, last-minute calibrations and maintenance rites?
She could connect the dots - clearly, the golems would fight. This must be some sort of test, or exam… that others assembled to watch for entertainment. But are they to fight, directed by their creators, as puppets? Or do they follow their pre-programmed algorithms?
The old man raised one hand. The conversations around the pit died down. He waited a moment longer, patient.
"Now, while the contestants are getting ready, I have an announcement prepared," he said. His voice carried across the arena clearly enough that Neugieri suspected a minor amplification spell. "First of all, as you all know, Albert isn't here today due to some urgent matters that came up in the city. As such, I will be replacing him to supervise the matches." The man waved his hand off, "For those who don't know me, I am Zaudern, current head of the Enchanter's guild of Sturmkamm City. I will be judging the competition and making sure no one cheats," he glanced at both teams behind the golems. "Second, I am here to remind you, students, that those are placement matches, and they will be conducted daily for the rest of the week. This year, the tournament proper will be conducted at the venue we bought out in Sturmkamm City, and it promises to be more grandiose and exciting than in the last two years," the man said with some enthusiasm. "I was also asked to remind you that all the students of the academy will receive a discount if they buy the tickets to view the main event, and the best ten academic performers will get tickets for free."
A small cheer erupted from the assembled people.
Apparently, the leader of the entire guild of artisan mages smiled with honest amusement as he glanced around the assembled people.
"Now, both the placement matches and the tournament allow for any golems to be submitted. Meaning some teams, or individual mages from my own guild, or even from amongst the adventurers, might participate. Naturally, most of them would be more skilled than the participants from the academy," he said seriously, glancing at the team behind the puppet-like golems. "To the students participating, I am saying this as a mage who sharpened my skill over enchanting magic my whole life; view this as a learning opportunity to hone your design, don't expect miracles, and have fun."
The man waited for a few seconds before nodding and gesturing with his hand.
A small hourglass floated upwards and turned upside down.
The sand started to fall.
"Both teams have a minute before the match starts for whatever final preparations you may have left," he said simply.
The preparation minute gave the assembled students an excuse to talk again, and they did. Conversations picked up across the tiers, some hushed and speculative, others less so.
Neugieri used the opportunity to move closer and find a seat.
Near the end of one of the lower stone tiers, a young man around her age sat with his elbows on his knees, watching the two teams work on their golems with an attentive stillness. Next to him, a younger girl, sixteen or so, was leaning forward with her chin in her hands, her leg bouncing restlessly.
Neugieri sat down beside them. The stone was cold, even through her traveling clothes.
"Excuse me," she said, leaning slightly toward the young man. "Is this a regular event?"
He glanced at her. His eyes lingered on her face for a moment, the way someone does when they're placing a stranger, before apparently deciding it wasn't worth thinking about.
"The placement matches? They run once a year, before the main tournament," he said, straightening up a bit. He had a calm, measured way of speaking, though his eyes easily betrayed interest as he took in her clothing and appearance. "This is the third year they are doing it. First two were just here at the academy, but this time the actual tournament is being held in Sturmkamm."
"It's gotten bigger," the girl next to him added without looking away from the arena. "Last year, it was just us. Now the guild people want in, too. Winning the prize would pretty much be impossible now…"
"The prize used to be symbolic before the outsiders joined in on the fun, though." The young man said in a tone as if he had already made this observation. "It's only that big now because people will pay for tickets. Even the Headmaster isn't made out of gold, you know? Getting past qualifiers gets you full marks for the golemomancy that year, and can even land you an apprenticeship in the enchanters' guild; it's plenty enough."
The girl just sighed, shaking her head, clearly tired of what seemed to be a topic they discussed before.
Neugieri glanced at the arena. The team behind the iron golem was making adjustments to something on its back, one of them feeding mana into the construct while the other two seemed to be arguing about something in hushed voices. The team behind the wooden one was calmer; the girl with closed eyes from before was now crouched beside it, her hand flat against its leg, her expression focused.
"So the students build the golems themselves?" Neugieri asked.
"Build, design, operate," the young man confirmed with a nod. "Teams of two or three, usually. The Headmaster participated in the first tournament's exhibition matches. He used to be a one-man team, but no one else who tried that got anywhere," the man said with an echo of admiration in his voice, "It's very straightforward; you are responsible for everything, from the materials to the control scheme." He paused, glancing at her. "Are you from the enchanters' guild? Or an adventurer?"
"Neither," Neugieri shook her head. "I am just visiting the region. I'm from the Northern Lands."
"Ah," he said simply, as if that explained everything and nothing at the same time.
"Northern Lands?" The girl finally turned to look at her properly, her eyebrows raised. "From the Empire?"
Neugieri blinked before shaking her head.
"No, no," she waved her hands in the air hurriedly, "I am not nearly stuffy enough to be an Imperial Mage." Nor was she good enough in combat to qualify, really. "I am from Äußerst."
The girl blinked and suddenly looked very impressed.
"Wha- no way, from the City of Magic?" she asked, honestly bewildered, "What would you even be doing here?!"
Neugieri smiled awkwardly at the reaction.
"Ah, well, I am on a bit of a personal quest of sorts. Actually, do you know if-..."
But Neugieri was interrupted as once again a magically enchanted voice thundered out.
"Time out!" Zaudern glanced around the assembled teams, "Both teams prepare yourselves! Fight in three, two, one… match start!" The old enchanter giddily announced.
The wooden golem moved first.
It crossed half the arena in a single motion, faster than Neugieri expected from something held together by metal strips, and swung its right arm in a wide arc at the iron golem's torso. The double joints gave the swing a whip-like quality, the arm bending in places where a normal limb couldn't.
The iron golem took the hit without shifting. The crack of wood on iron echoed off the arena walls, and the wooden golem's arm bounced back from the impact. Before it could pull away fully, the iron golem reached out and grabbed it by the forearm.
Wood creaked under the grip.
The mana from both teams flared behind their lines, and the wooden golem twisted its whole body at the waist, a full rotation that no human could replicate, wrenching itself free. Splinters scattered across the stone. It put distance between them immediately, circling left, its right arm hanging at a slightly wrong angle now but still moving.
The iron golem started to advance. It was slow compared to its opponent, but the arena was only twelve steps across. Each step was deliberate, and Neugieri could see the pattern; it was cutting off angles, pushing the wooden golem toward the wall. Less space meant less room to maneuver, and maneuverability was clearly all the wooden golem had.
The wooden golem darted right. Then left. Then right again, quick changes of direction, looking for a gap in the advance.
The iron golem kept walking forward. Its team wasn't bothering with anything clever. They didn't need to.
The wooden golem dropped low, almost flat to the ground, and swept its left arm at the iron golem's legs. The impact rang across the arena. The iron golem didn't move, but the wooden golem used the momentum of its own strike to roll sideways and come up behind its opponent.
The iron golem's back was exposed for a brief moment. The wooden golem struck at the flat surface on top of the torso, where the mana-receptor sat.
The iron golem turned in time. Not fast, but enough. The blow caught its shoulder instead, and the iron golem answered with a backhand that connected with the wooden golem's chest.
Wood buckled inward. The wooden golem was knocked sideways, its feet leaving grooves in the stone as it skidded. The carnival mask cracked down the middle.
The wooden golem steadied itself. One of the reinforced joints was visibly bent, and the left arm had lost some of its fluidity. It was still standing, still circling, but slower now.
Neugieri could feel the mana from the two-person team spike. The girl who had been crouched by the golem earlier was standing with both hands extended, feeding mana into the construct at a rate that seemed disproportionate to its size. Something was building inside it.
Just looking at them, she could immediately deduce that one was piloting, the other focused on supplying energy.
It was a similar enough division on the team on the other side.
The wooden golem stopped retreating. It planted its feet, squared its body toward the iron golem, and raised its right arm. There was a sharp clicking sound from somewhere inside the forearm, and it separated at the lower joint.
The forearm launched forward with a burst of fire- or perhaps an explosion, startling Neugieri and most of the spectators.
It crossed the arena faster than anything else in the fight had moved, trailing visible mana behind it, and hit the iron golem square in the chest. The detonation that followed kicked up a cloud of pale stone dust from the arena floor and sent a flash of light across the tiers. A few people nearby flinched.
This was also one of the coolest things Neugieri had seen.
Judging by how the small crowd exploded in enthusiasm, she wasn't alone in that thought.
When the dust settled, the iron golem was still standing where it had been. Its chest plate was scorched and dented inward, with cracks running outward from the point of impact. One of its legs had been pushed back, leaving a gouge in the stone.
But it was functional, and it was already closing the distance again.
The wooden golem, missing its right forearm entirely, tried to back away. The balance was wrong now, its movements jerky where they had been fluid, and the arena wall was right behind it.
The iron golem walked into it and slammed it into the ground.
Then it simply pressed its full weight forward, shoulder-first, and pinned the wooden golem against the stone. Wood groaned. Metal strips popped free from joints. The carnival mask fell off entirely and clattered to the floor.
Zaudern raised his hand.
"Enough," he called out. "Winner, team on the left."
The iron golem stepped back as its team pulled the mana threads taut. It settled into a neutral stance, the dent in its chest the only real sign of the fight.
The wooden golem slumped against the wall.
Neugieri, with her experience in mental modeling, could immediately tell that the wooden golem had barely any personality configuration at all. To go limp like that meant that, without direct control, it likely had no instructions whatsoever. The iron golem's entering an idle stance meant it likely could at least walk by itself without being manually controlled.
That was the difference between the creation of students and the actual enchanters, she supposed.
Conversations broke out across the tiers almost immediately. Neugieri caught fragments. Whether the arm should have been used earlier. Whether the iron golem's team had been too passive. Whether the wooden golem could have won if the first strike had landed on the receptor instead of the shoulder.
The girl sitting next to Neugieri let out a long breath and leaned back.
"Now, now, I have no comment to make," Zaudern's voice rang out again, "Team on the right, while this wasn't stated in the rules, I would highly appreciate you warning me that an explosive would be used in your golem. Luckily, no one got hurt, but if that arm missed, flew past the enemy golem, and into the spectators, there might have been a tragedy today," he said simply, but seriously. "There will probably be some change in rules… or spectator sitting arrangements."
As the man quieted down, the students started to discuss what happened between themselves.
"That was… quite something," Neugieri said carefully, genuinely a bit taken aback, "And this will be a big event in the city? For the citizens to spectate?" she asked carefully.
In Neugieri's experience, citizens in Äußerst tended to be a skittish sort. There were a lot of rules of conduct and behavior for mages in the city, most aimed specifically not to unnerve people incapable of magic.
A fellow mage could understand why you would have an explosion of harmless purple smoke from your cauldron when experimenting on a new potion, but a normal person you rented the building from will panic, and likely won't believe you that the smoke is harmless.
Which is why Neugieri could scarcely imagine the council in Äußerst agreeing to allow a tournament like that.
It would only make people be afraid of mages more, no?
"It's the first time they are doing it," the man confessed, glancing at her, "Apparently, the Sturmkamm's bürgermeister was invited to the previous tournament, and he loved it so much that he wanted to make it into a public event," he explained passionately, "And I mean, I get it completely, you know? Golems fighting is brutal and incredibly cool."
Neugieri… couldn't really argue with that, could she?
"Boys," the woman who was leaning back groaned, looking at Neugieri for sympathy, "Obsessed with their toys no matter the age, right?"
Neugieri just smiled awkwardly, internally sweat-dropping.
"Right."
Golems were very cool. Mentally, Neugieri resolved to buy a ticket and see the main event.
"Now, excuse me," She spoke up again awkwardly, "I know it may sound weird, but I sort of arrived here wishing to see the headmaster? Is that possible?"
Both students blinked at her, seemingly surprised.
"Sure, once he gets back," the young man said, "From what I know, it's not really difficult to see him, even for outsiders, is it?" he asked the woman.
"Yep," She confirmed simply, "Despite his broody reputation, he is surprisingly sociable. The downside is…"
She didn't get to finish.
The excitement in the air, the animated conversations, the lingering buzz from the explosive arm and the fight itself, all of it dulled. Not gradually, but in a single, noticeable pull, as if someone had opened a window in a warm room and let the cold in.
Neugieri felt it clearly. The emotion didn't vanish entirely, but the sharp edge of it was gone. Where a moment ago the students around her had been talking with genuine enthusiasm, now they just seemed... fine. Calm. Mildly interested at best.
A collective groan rose from the tiers.
"Oh, come on," the girl next to Neugieri said flatly, her earlier energy completely gone. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Every single time."
"There it is," the young man sighed, though he sounded more resigned than angry. He pointed.
Neugieri followed his finger.
A small creature was making its way along the edge of the arena, moving at an unhurried trot. It was difficult to describe. Small enough to fit in someone's arms, with a round body and stubby legs, covered in what looked like soft fur or possibly very fine feathers. It was making a quiet, satisfied chirping sound as it walked, and its pace had the contentedness of something that had just eaten a very large meal.
"What is that?" she asked.
"Protos," Both students said at the same time, in the exact same tone of weary familiarity.
"He is the headmaster's chimera," the young man explained, watching the creature waddle along the arena's edge with an expression caught between irritation and something softer. "He eats emotions. Strong ones, specifically. Whenever people get too excited, or too angry, or too anything, really, he shows up and..." he gestured vaguely at the now-subdued crowd. "This."
"He does it during exams, too," the girl added, her voice dull. "You are panicking about a test, really getting into that productive panic where you actually start studying, and then he walks into the room, and suddenly you don't care anymore." She folded her arms. "It's the only reason someone didn't kidnap it and murder it at night… well, that, and Protos is also surprisingly durable. I've seen the headmaster kick it out the window… of his office, on the third floor. The creature seemed to treat being thrown around like a game."
The young man spoke up, too.
"I heard it fell into a cauldron of an unfinished potion, which was flammable. It was supposedly an accident. Half the classroom burned down, but even the feathers of this little bastard were just a bit blackened," he complained, sighing. "We, the students, are convinced Headmaster created this creature just to torment us."
Protos, apparently having finished his circuit of the arena, changed direction and headed toward the tiers. Students shifted their legs out of his path without really looking; the motion was practiced and automatic. One of them reached down and scratched behind what might have been an ear as he passed. The creature let out a pleased purr and leaned into the touch without slowing down.
"I despise him," the girl said, watching this. Then, after a second, in a noticeably smaller voice, "He is also very cute, though."
The young man nodded solemnly, as if she had stated a widely accepted and deeply unfortunate truth.
Protos reached the end of the row and hopped up onto the stone tier with a small scramble. He settled down between two students who had been arguing about the match moments ago and were now just sitting there, blinking, trying to remember what they had been so worked up about. The creature curled up, chirped once, and closed its eyes.
Zaudern, Neugieri noticed, seemed entirely unaffected. The old man was writing something down on a piece of paper balanced on his knee, his expression unchanged, some fire still in his eyes.
"A chimera that eats emotions… but isn't he still a monster?" Neugieri asked, glancing at the old enchanter. "I mean, what's stopping it from just attacking people? Isn't it dangerous?"
"According to the Headmaster, only as dangerous as any other domesticated trained animal," the man spoke up seriously, his expression hardening, much to Neugieri's surprise, "In our classes in chimerology, he explained that training the chimera of your creation is as important as building it. When creating a chimera, you aren't creating a golem or an undead construct; you are shaping an unborn living creature, and you have to realize it will have autonomy and its own wants and needs. You can pick and choose which and prepare to accommodate them, but that's the limit of what you can do as a creator. You are responsible for the creatures you tame, naturally, you are also responsible for the creatures you create. And Headmaster, well… he created chimerology, and he trained Protos very well." This was… fascinating for Neugieri to hear.
She's seen A's work on chimerology, but an insight like that seemed very different from the very dry language of the tomes their shared master helped to edit. This was the wisdom of a master mage that was passed down to genuine apprentices, not just the skill itself, but philosophy.
When she first heard of this academy… she wasn't expecting to see it here.
She still wasn't sure if a proper mage could be trained in such conditions, but the fact that even knowledge like this was passed down genuinely surprised her deeply.
"He is teaching chimerology here?" she asked, honestly curious as she glanced around, "Are there any other chimeras created?"
In Äußerst, last she heard, small teams assembled to try the proposed methods 'A' published. But no creature was created yet.
The process is just too difficult. You need to have a team of combat-oriented mages who can catch the creatures you need, and you need to have a team to design the creature you wish to create, either using A's own 'Encyclopedia of Cores' or by manually experimenting on captured monsters, then you need to check the feasibility of your design on the assembled chimera, until it turns out alive and well… and then you need to raise it too.
The process was incredibly resource, time, and man-power intensive. Promising to the extreme, yes, but few could even attempt doing this.
Yet, neither Neugieri nor other mages in Äußerst or around the world were blind to the possibility.
Taming a flying monster was always a thing of stories and fairytales… but creating one was possible now.
"What? Of course not," the man shook his head, "It's incredibly difficult to make one, you know?"
That allowed Neugieri to exhale a bit.
"That said, the Headmaster promised to fund research departments for graduates who choose to remain and work in the academy. Chimerology is one of the departments that he promised to personally oversee," he explained, "And I think the final exam of the last year will probably be creating some minor chimera. Likely just combining two different, closely related local monsters."
That was already too much, and way too fast!
She blinked when something bumped against her leg.
She realized after a moment that it was Protos, sniffing her carefully.
Carefully, Neugieri extended her hand, and the chimera only looked up at her curiously, completely unafraid.
Gently, she picked it up and placed it on her knees.
Its adorable dark eyes that were incredibly large stared right into her soul.
They were right, it was so unfairly cute!
"The Zaudern person," Neugieri said, scratching the creature's chin and making it purr (and cooing internally at its reaction). "I don't think he was affected by emotional drain?"
"The little bastard knows better," the young man said simply, glaring down at the creature, who, as if not noticing the hostility, kept purring happily, "He tried it once with Zaudern, apparently. Never approached him again."
Now Neugieri was incredibly curious. Yet…
"When will the headmaster return?" she asked, honestly curious, "And by chance, do you know what the emergency was?"
The man just shook his head.
"Honestly, no idea. A day or two, maybe. It can be awkward because of how many subjects he teaches, but he is an important person in the region, so we can't really complain. He once disappeared for an entire week, though." That… was way too much time!
Neugieri gently clenched Protos between her hands and resolved herself. Sturmkamm was around five hours away by carriage from here.
"Do you know who I can speak to here to know more?" she asked simply.
***
Meanwhile in Sturmkamm,
Albert,
"Aight, the lad's here," Berg said with some finality when Hanseln sat down on the stool across from us, "Good. We can start."
The cellar was cramped and damp, the sort of place that existed under most taverns in Sturmkamm and saw use only when the owner needed somewhere to stash barrels he didn't want taxed. The ceiling was low enough that Hanseln had to duck when he entered, and the stone walls were rough-cut and glistening faintly with moisture. Barrels of varying sizes were stacked along the walls in uneven rows, and a few empty crates had been repurposed as seats around a single crate that served as a table.
A magical lamp sat on it, providing enough illumination for the three of us, but not much else.
The fact that we sat here, in the cellar of a tavern owned not by Berg himself but by some relative of his, spoke volumes. Whatever this was about, the dwarf clearly still didn't want anyone to see the three of us gathering to discuss it.
I took a look at Hanseln. Judging by his pose, body language, and facial expression, as well as how he looked at me, I could immediately tell that he knew something I didn't.
And so did Berg.
"Why exactly have you brought me here?" I asked simply, my tone and face flat, as always, even though I hated voicing redundant waste-of-air questions like this.
Were I younger and more nervous, I would have assumed they somehow knew I was a demon and lured me here, to the confined space with no room to maneuver, to get rid of me.
Nowadays, I am experienced enough not to needlessly get terrified of fantasies I create for myself…
"We've got a demon problem," Berg said, folding his thick arms on his chest. "One we need to sort out now."
…nevermind.
I snapped to full attention immediately.
"What master Berg is trying to say," Hanseln spoke up awkwardly, "Is that we think it may be a demon problem. We don't rightfully know."
I glanced at the knight, mentally relaxing quite a bit. I also ceased trying to sense other mana sources for whatever ambush they might have planned.
"I've heard of the demon activity in the neighboring region," I said seriously, considering the two men, "But I assumed it was far enough from us."
Demons weren't common in Central Lands. Sometimes you had a demon or two, but they tended to be exterminated or chased away quickly.
Then there were the demons who accumulated enough entourage, or who were personally powerful enough to create problems of regional scale. By having warbands big enough, for instance.
That was precisely what was happening south of us.
"Rightfully, so do we," Hanseln said honestly, "But there were… suspicious strings of incidents."
Berg leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. The crate beneath him groaned.
"Here's where it stands," the dwarf said, his voice dropping to something quieter and considerably more serious than his usual gruff tone. "Over the last two months, we've had four fires. Two armories belonging to the Valley Guard, a storehouse near the eastern gate that held spare equipment, and a warehouse on the outskirts that the guard used for surplus."
He lifted a finger with each one, counting them off.
"The armories burned on different nights, a week apart. The storehouse went up durin' a storm, which folk chalked up to a lightning strike, but I've seen lightning damage, and 'twasn't that." He shook his head. "The warehouse was the strangest. Burned clean through in the middle o' the night, and not a soul saw or heard anythin' until the roof caved in."
"What was stored there?" I asked.
"Weapons, mostly," Hanseln answered, his jaw tightening. "Replacement gear for the guard. Shields, crossbow bolts, a few crates of alchemical supplies. Nothing irreplaceable on its own, but taken together..." He trailed off.
"Taken together, 'tis a pattern," Berg finished for him, his green eyes sharp under his heavy brows. "Someone's been guttin' the Valley Guard's reserves, bit by bit. And either nobody's noticin', or nobody wants to."
I considered this for a moment.
"Arson then?" I asked.
"That's what we're thinkin'," Berg confirmed. "But provin' it is another matter. The fires were thorough. Too thorough, if ye ask me. Barely anythin' left to examine."
"Have there been any casualties?" I asked.
"None," Hanseln said, shaking his head. "Every fire happened at night, at unattended locations, which… is usually how fires happen. Whoever was on duty or nearby didn't see anything, or if they did, they immediately started to fight the fire and call for help," he explained.
"It could be sabotage from some of the neighboring regions," I offered, "Demon involvement is a significant assumption."
Berg and Hanseln exchanged glances.
"That's hardly better, but possible, yes," Hanseln said, glancing at me, "In any case, we clearly need an expert on things magical to take a look. Someone we can trust to do so."
"More than that," Berg spoke, cutting off the knight softly, "You deserve to know. So if something happens… You won't be caught off guard."
I glanced across the two men with some confusion.
"I don't get it. It is unlikely for such a thing to happen, true, but clearly, whatever investigation was conducted revealed nothing." I asked, studying both of them, "Why are you both so on this?"
"'Cuz the Valley Guard is fucking gutter, Albert." Berg said curtly, almost growling, "They will have trouble operating properly from now on. And bringin' it to the Bürgermeister…" The dwarf's lip curled under his mustache. "The man couldn't be less interested if ye paid him to care."
Hanseln straightened on his stool.
"We've brought our concerns forward twice already," the knight said, and the frustration in his voice was quiet but unmistakable. "The first time, Ahnungslos said the fires were likely caused by poor storage practices of alchemical reagents. The reagents we use to maintain magical items, that is. The second time, he didn't even grant us a meeting. Sent his aide to tell us to file a written report."
"The Valley Guard's reserves are bein' bled dry, and the man who controls the city's purse won't spend a copper on an investigation," Berg said bluntly. "'Tis no secret he doesn't care for the Guard. He's been cuttin' our funding for years, and Hanseln's been holdin' things together with spit and stubbornness."
The knight looked uncomfortable at that, but didn't deny it.
"What we need," Hanseln said, meeting my eyes, "Is someone who can examine the sites properly. Someone who would know what to look for, and who the Bürgermeister can't ignore or dismiss."
Both men looked at me.
I understood. A legendary mage inspecting fire damage carried more weight than a guard captain's suspicion. And if there were traces of magic involved, I was considerably more likely to find them than anyone else in this region.
"I am willing to do what I can," I said simply.
Berg nodded once, something in his shoulders easing. He clearly expected more resistance.
"There's one more thing," Hanseln added carefully, glancing at Berg as if checking whether to continue. The dwarf gave him a small nod. "The burned storehouse near the eastern gate. The night it went up, one of my men, a reliable man, told me he saw something near the perimeter. He couldn't describe it well. Said it moved wrong. Too fast, and then just... gone."
"He was scared," Berg added, his voice low. "'Twasn't the sort o' fear ye get from a fire. I've known the lad since he was a boy. He doesn't get startled easy."
I absorbed this in silence.
A witness who saw something that moved wrong and felt a fear disproportionate to the situation. That could mean many things. Demons were one possibility. A mage or an adventurer was another. Seeing things in the night was also a possibility.
It could have been nothing more than a frightened man's imagination on a bad night. To begin with, the fires could be incidental. It's not like only warehouses caught on fire in the city of craftsmen.
A lot of things burned here, especially with magical ores and magical items involved.
But I understood the reason they wanted the investigation; the things that did burn down were too important. As far as those two understood, they needed to be forewarned if there is some danger approaching.
"We go now?" I asked simply, glancing across the two men.
They exchanged looks.
"We go now," Hanseln said with some resolve, nodding, "I'll lead you around; it's better for Berg to not be seen around those areas."
That made plenty of sense to me.
----
Author Notes: Another setup sort of chapter, you get the drill, but I think there are a few interesting things here. Hope it's enjoyable enough.
One more chapter on Patreon as always.