Chapter 54: Chapter 49 – The End of a Chapter

I sigh as I lean against the back of my chair. It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to write. And so close to the end, to boot! I haven’t had enough time for myself lately. Okay, that’s absolutely fine and a lot of things need doing before we leave, but leaving things hanging like this… Ugh.

With Karine’s enchantments I’m finally able to leave the palace district and not draw a crowd. I haven’t felt this free, well, since getting entangled with this whole rebellion business thanks to Karine. At least she came through in the end. Avilia just uses her technology and illusion magic to do much the same, but this is honestly the easiest way to do it for me, personally.

Going to the city proper with Avilia was a lot of fun. We went through stalls, saw sights. Although there wasn’t a whole lot to see. Toppled statues, the largest cathedral in the country and a market district that was less active than usual. Still, it was very different to Polur. Or where I came from. No iron dome in the sky. And the buildings look less modern.

I touch an amulet hanging from my neck. The first actual gift she’s given me rather than the charity she did when we first met. It means a lot.

The streets were a lot livelier than the last time I saw them… During the siege. The actual damage hadn’t been as bad as I thought it was. That was a definite positive. The defenders were confused by the attack from the inside during the riot, making them easy pickings. Saying it was a bloodless fight would be wrong, but they did manage to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, just as planned. More people were rendered unconscious on the defending side than killed.

It had been one of Karine’s conditions for the operation. Keeping needless bloodshed to a minimum. Most of the people in the city were innocent victims of the war, not active participants. They didn’t deserve to be antagonized further than they had to.

What was the capital called again? Garandie? Vaguely… French sounding, right? While some things in this country are vaguely old timey France like, the language itself bears little to no resemblance. More outworlder influence, for sure. Gets even more obvious when you consider that they’re changing the name of the country from “The Kingdom of Fortalie” to… “The Free Republic of Faranciea.” A name they supposedly found from some ancient scrolls.

How long have they been summoning outworlders, anyway? We’re present even in old legends. Isn’t it a bit weird?

I should ask Avilia about it sometime.

A bunch of books are piled neatly on the table. Being able to read a bit again has been fun, too. Unsurprisingly, there’s a bunch of obviously derivative stories written by other outworlders. So many classics have been sort of adapted from memory. And plenty of the kind of trashy fiction I live for and had never even heard of. Kind of interesting.

And that’s just the books marked as written by summoned heroes, who knows how many others have been written by reincarnations! How much of the written tradition of this world is original? Where do their own traditions start and the outworlders’ end?

Time to focus. Does any of that actually matter?

I open my diary and pick up the pen.

Now, where was I again?

The gates of the palace were right in front of us. Unguarded, but not unbarred.

I touched the gates, and found yet another bump on the road. They were magically sealed. I struck the field with my fist, and it had no effect.

“What now?”

“Stand back,” Karine stated, “You can’t overwhelm this with physical might. Whoever made this decided that it was more important to protect the palace from mundane attacks. Normally that’d be the right call.”

“So,” I reply, “What you’re saying is…”

She nodded. “Yes, it’s a field made to repel physical assaults, not magical ones.” She made a gesture, creating a fireball inside the field. “See? The fireball couldn’t enter the barrier from the outside since it’s a physical manifestation of the results of magic, but nothing stops me from just manifesting it inside of it.”

“Considering the state of magic in this country,” Vaqelin said, “This honestly isn’t surprising at all. Magic’s limited to the upper classes. The royals thought they had the mages on their side.”

“Should we not start, then?” Avilia showed some agitation. Considering we were literally next to the heart of the enemy, it wasn’t surprising. I should have been more worried than I was. The rush from repelling the summoned hero must’ve still been affecting me.

“Uh, yes.” Karine looked at us three. “What we need to do is destroy the runestones powering the field. They should be inside the barrier, but also close to it.”

She looks towards the palace. “Remember, we don’t have to destroy all of them, just enough to create a breach for us to go through.”

“Find runestones, create a breach. Got it.”

Casting magic inside the barrier wasn’t a problem at all. Now, finding the runestones was more of an issue. While they weren’t exactly well hidden since they didn’t have to be, they were small enough to miss. If someone was looking, they could’ve found our efforts funny.

Considering the situation, though, I doubt anyone hiding within the palace was in a laughing mood.

Cracks began to appear in the air as the barrier was slowly worn down as it lost power sources.

After destroying another runestone, I turned to Karine. “Why did they make it like this anyway?”

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“You mean add this many redundancies on a physical barrier?” She shrugged. “I don’t know. If I had to guess, maybe it’s because weak runestones are cheaper and easier to come by? Instead of the good ones.”

“That’d be my guess, too,” Vaqelin interjected.

“Huh.”

“I found another!”

Suddenly, there was a blinding light.

With the breaching of the barrier, it was a simple matter to break the timber rails barring the gate. Nothing was left between us and the palace proper.

The four of us ran into the palace, only to find the royal family hiding in the throne room. They had no bodyguards. In that moment, they were just a bunch of scared and tired people with nowhere to run.

There was no epic final battle. Just a verbal conflict which always was going to have only one result.

The royal family demanded to know what we were doing there.

Karine told them we were there to arrest them in the name of the uprising. That we would guarantee their safety if they came quietly. Otherwise, the rebels might take their frustrations on them.

They objected. The king said we had no right, that his reign was ordained by the gods. That the black knight surely would come save them. That their armies would come. Their transportation network was perfect.

Karine laughed dryly, stating that the gods must have abandoned them. The black knight had run away after his defeat and hadn’t been seen since. And that their over reliance on the transportation network had been their undoing. The capital had been left nigh undefended while armies were scattered across the realm. Even the closest troops were weeks away and their enemy had already breached the gates. They had nowhere left to run and no one to save them.

This went on for a good ten minutes until the king relented. It was obvious Karine was starting to get annoyed and that she might’ve resorted to violence soon, so it was good timing on his part.

Shortly after their surrender, the fighting ended and the sieging forces were let inside with no contest. With their leaders captured, the defenders lost whatever was left of their will to fight. Signs of royal rule were destroyed. Statues toppled. People celebrated on the streets.

Once the royal family was taken off of our hands and taken into custody we could finally take a breath. The battle was over, but whether the war would be remained to be seen. The black knight was still at large. There was no way to know if the kingdom’s armies would surrender.

But for now, there was peace.

-*-*-*-*-*-

I put down the pen. Is it okay to end it like this for now?

It’s my diary. I decide what’s okay and what isn’t.

I stand up and pick up the diary.

“I just wonder what’s going on with my software.”

I thought you’d never ask.

What?

A disembodied voice speaks to me. It feels as if it’s everywhere and nowhere. I can’t tell where it’s coming from.

There’s only one conclusion. It’s coming from within.

Your heart rate is elevated but I can’t read your mind. This doesn’t have to be awkward.

“Who are you?”

I am what you call ‘the software.’ I co-inhabit your body. Nice to meet you.