Chapter 29: Sacrifice – Chapter 27: Onwards, to Ebenlowe

GamingWolf

Aperio wasn't sure if she should be annoyed that more questions had popped up, or happy that she had gotten some answers and seemingly done the right thing. At least she did not seem to be angry. Just confused.

The woman in question was still sitting in front of her, looking at her briefly from time to time. Should've probably changed into something that has not been torn to shreds. She would do that once they got closer to the city, but for now she was fine as is. While a part of her was very unhappy about being anything but proper, a bigger part enjoyed the ability to do as she pleased.

Laelia had mentioned something she had called the Rage. What that was, she did not know. Apparently her blessing was supposed to help with it, but Aperio had been unable to find anything else wrong with the Human. Even if she did not know how a Human was supposed to work, she had grown more confident in her instincts, and they told her that the woman in front of her was fine. Physically at least. Using her mana to probe someone's mind was not something she would try to do. Aperio assumed that it was possible, for how else could something like the collar work? Or that crystal.

Not wanting to ask more questions, she tried to grasp the blessing of Arden with just her mind. She knew now that it was possible, for it had worked with Laelia, but probably only because she had used a much greater amount of mana. That was not something she wanted to repeat, not until she knew her blessings would not try to bend the will of their bearers.

Arden's blessing was more akin to a wet bar of soap during a bath than anything else. No matter how hard she tried to grasp it; it would simply slip from her again. Reaching out to touch the man caused him to jerk to the side, a motion she easily prevented by holding onto his shoulder. With the added ease from physical contact, the information at last entered her mind. She knew what her blessing had done since the last time she checked in, like a diligent worker reporting to their boss. Or a slave to their master. But she knew the mana was a part of her; not something she took and commanded, but an actual extension of her being.

The knowledge was comforting, but the behaviour of her mana itself was unsettling. It was not something Aperio particularly wanted to inflict upon others, but then she remembered Vigil's twisted thing – she could not call it a blessing – and what had happened when she stripped it away from Laelia. Removing her mana from the two Humans, it seemed, was not an option either.

That thought only brought more questions with it. What should she do if one of them decided to abuse their new strength? What would her blessing even do to them? Aperio knew Arden would be slightly stronger and be able to heal from most wounds. She got the same feeling from Laelia, but the woman had received a good deal more and Aperio had seen how her mana improved the Human. If it is anywhere close to what it does to me…

Blessing people was something she would put on hold for now. Not that I wanted to do it.

Letting go of Arden, and ignoring the fact that he shuffled as far away from her as he could, Aperio returned her attention to her aura. Furthering her control over it could only be beneficial, especially once they reached Ebenlowe.

The blank spot in her aura around Thaddeus was still there. It had stayed intact, unaffected by anything she had done. A closer inspection revealed that her mana was still there, just spread so thinly that she barely noticed. She supposed that calling the area a blank spot, or bubble of nothing, was not entirely correct, but neither could she think of a better term at the moment. Nonetheless, it seemed like removing her aura completely was not possible, but at least she knew she could designate an area where it would not harm people. But can I cover an entire city?

Aperio doubted that she could.

Her attempt to widen the bubble around Thaddeus was met with failure. It was seemingly as big as it would ever be. Maybe I will have to bless everyone , after all? The thought was both pleasant and revolting. First I will have to know if it tries to control them.

A quick check of Laelia's blessing showed a small change. Her mana was still doing its best to improve the Human, but a tiny part of it wandered aimlessly around her body. Aperio tilted her head at the tiny drops of her mana that seemed to have forgotten their purpose. She knew it was still hers, but she could not tell why it moved the way it did.

The droplets immediately followed her will as she directed them back to join the rest in their effort to strengthen Laelia. A startled yelp caused Aperio look at the ex-paladin. Laelia was staring at her with wide eyes. For a moment Aperio thought she could see the fear in her expression, but that was quickly dismissed as she felt a few drops of her mana start to move aimlessly inside the Human's body again.

She is doing that deliberately? Can I move hers as well? Though Aperio wanted to try, and felt that she could accomplish such a feat, she quickly decided against it. Trying to control the mana of Laelia would be exactly what the blessing of Vigil had tried to do. Definitely not what she wanted. Having Laelia control the mana that made up her blessing was a good sign in Aperio's book. If the person herself could control it, the likelihood of the blessing trying to overcome its bearer wasn't high. At least, I hope so.

Leaving the ex-paladin to what she would now describe as training, Aperio returned to her own. Her aura would undoubtedly be a problem and she would like to minimise that as much as she could. Shifting her mana around in an attempt to find a way to make it less oppressive for those around her had still not gotten any easier. The only reliable method was the one she used on Thaddeus; not something that could be applied to an entire city.

Once she had tried all the options she could possibly think of – all of which were failures – Aperio grew frustrated with her lack of progress and shelved her training for later. Looking around she saw Laelia sitting with her back straight and eyes closed, likely still trying to figure out how to better control the mana of her blessing. Thaddeus and Arden were silently eating something Aperio could not identify. Where they had gotten food, she did not know, but she doubted they had stopped to hunt while she was trying to figure her aura out again. But then, it didn’t feel like days last time either.

A glance outside showed that it was still dark, something she hoped meant that she had not spent days doing nothing but trying to figure out how to exist near others without making any progress. Pushing the thoughts of her own perceived inadequacy down, she shifted her gaze onto the thing the Humans were eating.

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Aperio did not know what it was, and as a byproduct of her previous service to the 'nobles' she had seen a lot of food variety. Though, this was certainly not something they would have wanted. It looked like a mixture of bread and meat, pressed into a block. Smells good, though. "What is that?"

Arden looked momentarily confused while Thaddeus winced at her words. Soon the newly-blessed Human made the connection between the food in his hand and the fact that the Goddess had probably not had seen something so mundane. "I actually don't know what it's called. It's just something adventurers take with them on the road. Doesn't go bad that quickly and tastes decent," he said.

"May I?" Her question seemingly caught him off guard, the man not expecting the Goddess to ask for what amounted to glorified field rations. Despite this, he offered her a piece he had broken off of the other side. Aperio very carefully took it from his hand, turning it every which way before putting in her mouth.

It tasted like nothing.

Her face twisted into a frown. She had expected something from it, but it was actually devoid of any taste. Didn’t he say it tastes decent? Aperio knew she could still eat things, and the weird fruit and bread she had tried in the village had taste. Or is it because I hadn't truly accepted what I was before? But…how would that even work? Miffed by the persistent lack of answers, Aperio took to training her aura again. That Arden had laughed at her reaction had been pointedly ignored. It was a lot better than him being frightened of her, at least for now.

Another attempt at trying to lessen the impact of her aura was met with failure and Aperio decided to shelve the idea yet again. Once they had reached the city she could find a library, or someone who knew more about auras. There was only a small bit of doubt in her mind, a tiny voice saying that said that a Goddess would likely not be able to employ mortal techniques. Still going to try.

Instead of trying to restrain her aura, Aperio tried her hand at aiding the constant enhancement of her body again. While ripping out someone else's blessing was not a very pleasant experience, it did show her how to weave mana into a living person. Whether the same technique worked on herself was still in question, but at the moment she had nothing else to occupy her time.

Guiding a sliver of mana to her legs, she let it seep into her muscles and bones before she willed it to fuse itself with her flesh. Instead of the brute force method she had tried last time, Aperio moved her mana along pathways she had deemed irrelevant before. They certainly were not irrelevant, for as her mana filled them a sharp but subdued pain spread in her legs in response to her actions. Further inspection revealed that her mana was indeed doing what she wanted, just that it was doing it a lot faster than she had thought it would. Does it slow down after a while? It has to, right?

A knock on the door caught her attention and she opened it. She was greeted by the Elven mage who bowed slightly upon seeing her. "We will be reaching Ebenlowe tomorrow. We thought it best to allow you some time to fix your attire."

Hearing his words, Aperio thought that he had been replaced for a moment. Is that how people usually talk to a Goddess? If she was honest with herself, she was pretty tired of the formal speak, even if she herself tended towards such language. Shaking her head, she stepped out of the carriage and moved towards the chest of garments in the back.

Picking a black back-free dress with silver and blue accents, she disappeared into the trees. A bit of wiggling and unreasonable stretching later, she reemerged in proper and unbroken attire. Aperio also finally understood why the nobles of the Empire had such expensive clothes. The silky smooth fabric brushing against her skin simply felt nice; divine even if she compared it to the rags she had worn for most of her remembered life.

Stepping back inside the carriage, Aperio chose to spend the rest of the journey speeding along the strengthening of her body. Can't hurt to be stronger. Probably. There was also the fact that it felt like the right thing to do, that her current self was not as good as it could be. Guiding her mana to further strengthen herself, Aperio fell into a trance. She did not know how much time had passed, but her body ached from her magical exercise. Why does this hurt more than being punched by an armoured fist?

A chance to further question the nature of her being was taken from her as she noticed an ever increasing number of people inside her aura. Most of them did not seem to notice or mind its presence but a few of them did something that caused her aura to momentarily recede. But it was just that, a momentary reprieve. Her mana was too plentiful to be kept at bay. The few that had tried to remain outside her influence soon gave up their attempts, instead seemingly just accepting that they wouldn’t be able to push against her.

Shortly after she had been able to sense them with her aura, Aperio could hear them. Countless conversations, creating a cacophony of noise that only grew louder as they approached. Nobody needed to tell her; she knew that they had reached Ebenlowe.

GamingWolf

Not much happened, but we reached Ebenlowe!

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