Chapter 54: 53. The Second Conspiracy

We were fairly quick to decide that we couldn’t do anything just yet.

 

Or to be more truthful, we decided that the others couldn’t do anything just yet. I apparently had some homework to do.

 

The four of us, or five if you included Gideon, actually had a modicum of political sway. The Mavericks had their father’s county to call upon, Auro this duchy’s, and me the entire Mark of the Arguin. 

 

The only problem was that none of us controlled that sway directly. While Fredrick had already sent a letter to his father while he was in the city, the answer to that call wasn’t going to be known for another week or two at the least. Couriers travelled slowly through the mountains and alpine lakes, and the recent disruptions were sure to delay that further. And even if Lord Maverick did decide to help, he’d be flaunting Summarkan traditions to send even the small force the county would be able to raise. It certainly wouldn’t be a force large enough to tip the scales in Andril’s favour.

 

Nor was Auro much better. Being the seventh of twelve siblings and a girl to boot meant that Lord Belvan wasn’t likely to listen to any of her pleas, though it didn’t even really matter as Lord Belvan was already helping Andril. There just wasn’t anything additional Auro could do.

 

That left the bulk of the political crap to me, the second of two children the Grand Markee of the Arguin had.

 

“Why is it so stiff?” Breale asked from over my shoulder. “He’s your own pitching father!”

 

“Language.” Fredrick admonished from over the other. “And don’t write ‘supplies’. We will need troops. ‘Supplies’ is too ambiguous.”

 

My eyebrow twitched. They’d been ‘helping’ me write the letter for little over an hour now, and it was starting to feel all too similar to another time I’d let a Maverick tutor me in something.

 

“You said to write ‘supplies’ just ten minutes ago.”

 

“That was Breale.”

 

“Yeah, that was me.”

 

Why the hell did she sound proud of that?

 

It has to be right. Gideon thought from the other side of the room. If you’re dead set on getting even more unnecessarily involved, that is. But hey, who cares what year we get home anyway?

 

I shot a glare towards the drake, but he didn’t appear to notice. Auro sat on the bench bed under him, playing with his paws like you would with a cat. It was kind of cute, but I was too irritated to truly appreciate it. Bastard.

 

It was an inn room, of course. The opposite gender wasn’t allowed in the other’s dorms and we all had more than enough money to not blink at renting one for the occasion. Though, the proprietor had given us a few strange glances that made me wonder what the hell he thought we were doing.

 

“You guys do know that I haven’t talked, seen, or written to the Markee in years, right?” I asked. “He might not even remember me!”

 

“Nonsense, you’re just trying to get out of writing.” Fredrick said.

 

“It’s true! He hasn’t even sent a letter since I’ve gotten here.” I nodded to myself. “And I’ve gotten three from Marcolo since I arrived.”

 

It had become readily apparent just how bored Marcolo had gotten with no one there to smother. He still had his duties representing the Markee in the senate, but aside from that he’d apparently picked up no less than three hobbies in the few weeks I’d been away and had seen fit to update me on every one. It kind of made me feel a little bad too, because the academy had stopped the mail service before I had the chance to send one back.

 

“He’s still your father.” Breale said. “Let’s get this done with, alright?”

 

I returned my quill to paper.

 

The basic plan was just to appeal to my, well, Saphry’s father for aid on Andril’s behalf. Summark was just about as powerful as the rest of Verol combined, so his support was pretty much a guarantee that we’d be successful in a military confrontation, and Summark had an excellent reputation to boot. Even just his political support would be a massive boon to rallying the other dukes to our side. With the contents of the letter, we were fairly sure they’d send it past the letter blockade too. This was about all we could do on the macro side of things.

 

I continued to write according to the others’ directions. It was mostly political nonsense about obligations and appeals towards Andril, so I tried to liven it up with my own interpretation on Saphry with some explanations on how we’d held up since leaving Summark. Hopefully it wouldn’t end up reading like I was forced to write it at gunpoint, but it was just as important to make it sound serious.

 

It was also just as difficult and irritating to write with ink and quill as one would anticipate. I’d almost gotten the hang of it after a week of taking notes, but I still had to be careful not to smudge ink all over the paper. All in all, it was hard, hard work.

 

After another hour of working, I finally set my quill down.

 

“Finished!” I declared.

 

“Perfect.” Fredrick nodded in satisfaction. “That’s about as well as we can hope for from you. “

 

“Yep!” Breale added. “If he doesn’t at least consider this, then the Markee really does hate you.”

 

“Eh, thanks?”

 

I didn’t really know how to take such backhanded compliments. Actually, weren’t those just insults?

 

“I’m sure he’ll send something.” Auro said. “Summark’s always had a good relationship with us.”

 

“Hopefully, we’ll need a gift from the Star if-” Fredrick stopped mid sentence to give me a sudden look.

 

“What? Did I write ‘supplies’ again?”

 

“No, I was just reminded of something. You still haven’t explained your abilities yet, have you?”

 

“My abil… eh, do you mean the ice magic?”

 

“What else?”

 

Now that I thought of it, Fredrick hadn’t been there when I’d explained it all to Breale and Auro. 

 

“What else could I be talking about?”

 

“Ah, you’ll have to talk to Breale about that. I don’t feel like explaining it again.”

 

I could almost feel Breale’s smirk from behind me, but Fredrick simply waved the suggestion away. 

 

“Just do it again. I don't want to play some silly game of ‘courier’.

 

I yawned as I glanced towards the bed. It’d been a long day already, and Saphry didn’t have great energy reserves to begin with. And explaining everything again was sure to take far too long for my liking.

 

“Tomorrow then, alright? We’re already close to cur-”

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“You owe me a favour still, don’t you?”

 

I jumped as I felt warm breath blow upon my ear, and Fredrick pulled back just as I whirled around to glare at him with a fast beating heart. 

 

Ah, my ears were just warm because of the heat of his breath, of course. 

 

He met my glare with an indifferent face, and I spent the next few seconds weighing my exhaustion against the offer to strike the other favour from the record. Finally sighing as I realised how stupid I’d be not to take that, I turned the chair around to face him.

 

“Fine. So this is what I know…”

…

“That really isn’t as helpful as I would’ve imagined.” Fredrick said once I had finished.

 

I shrugged. I’d told him the same as I had Breale and Auro so it made sense that he’d think that, but I still didn’t trust these people enough with the real secret. What I’d given them was already heavy enough.

 

“That’s what I thought!” Auro cried. “I can only think that it’s a blessing from the Star.”

 

“Eh, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves…”

 

“No, she’s right.” Fredrick said. “The colours of magic are only granted by the Lmenlis and the Everstar. So unless you’ve attuned with some long lost stone in the last couple months, I’d be inclined to believe the Star has some hand in this.”

 

“I’ve definitely never heard of a mage casting with ice, not even a noble.” Breale added.

 

I looked between them all as they nodded seriously at that. 

 

Really? You all thought it was literally the power of a god? With no other proof? Ah, I was playing a more dangerous game with my transmigration than I originally thought.

 

“Let’s just calm down now.” 

 

“Calm down?” Breale laughed. “You can’t just pick up magical powers unlike any on the continent and pretend like it’s no big deal. If you hadn’t asked me to keep it under wraps I’d be writing letters to everyone I knew!”

 

“But why? Falings use ice magic, don’t they? Wouldn’t most people think I’m a monster?”

 

Maybe if they were simpletons. Gideon said. Ice and Lightning are the human elements according to scripture. And most people in Verol haven’t ever seen a faling.

 

“They wouldn’t.” Breale said. “Only the strangest Summarkan might think that, and most would welcome a human ice mage. It’s considered the stuff of legends, you know!”

 

“Indeed, and the mysterious origin…” Fredrick suddenly clicked his tongue as if he’d decided upon something important. “We have to get you trained.”

 

Everyone blinked.

 

Trained? Oh god…

 

“A-are you alright?” I asked. “Did you hit your head in the battle?”

 

“Is that not what you wanted? If this is truly as we think, it would be scartilige to leave it alone. And…” Fredrick frowned. “Well, I’m sure Andril would appreciate having such a tool at his disposal. We’re entering dangerous times after all.”

 

“But she’s a noble.” Breale said. “I’m not as much a stickler for the rules as most, but wouldn’t coming out as a mage be treason? Political suicide, too.”

 

“It would certainly open a can of worms. But aren’t we kind of commiting treason already?” Auro jumped to his defence immediately, her own motives obvious. “Might as well use every advantage we can!”

 

“I did not say we should all learn magic.” Fredrick shot a glare towards Auro, and she shrunk. “But I think in this case Auro is right. One of Andril’s supporters coming out with one of the lost colours of magic at a crucial moment could be the difference between a shattered rout and an inspired victory. There is little harm in developing it in secret. As long as it stays a secret until we choose.”

 

Untold satisfaction coursed through my veins as I listened to him speak. This was everything I’d wanted! Sure, it’d still be in secret, but having more allies like Fredrick on board with helping me learn was sure to hasten how fast I could return to my Earthly levels. Who knows? Maybe I’d even get powerful enough to match a Lmeri mage in a duel. That’d sure show my grizzled old mentor just how slow his exercise method actually was…

 

“I know I’m often the voice of reason here…” Breale lied. “...but none of us know magic. How are you supposed to match a childhood of directed study in however many months we have? Andril and Lord Belvan aren’t going to waste any time once the snowmelt clears up.”

 

That was one of the strange customs of conflict in Verol, and really all of the Pale Mountains. Each winter the passes and peaks would fill with snow and ice, not to melt until the warm rays of springtime struck down the drifts blocking them. That obviously made conflict kind of impossible for everyone but the Phoenix-bound knight orders, and there weren’t enough of them to capture a city by themselves. 

 

“We’ll find a teacher then.” Fredrick said. “It’s illegal, but with this situation I’m sure we’d be able to convince someone.”

 

“A teacher?” Auro looked doubtful.

 

“We’d probably need the Duke’s permission for something like that.” Breale said. “Perhaps Andril…”

 

“Definitely not.” I interrupted. “Andril would flay me alive if he knew I’d started practising magic after that last discussion we had about it.”

 

Nor was Andril in the best mental state right about now. He was just as likely to accuse me of treason as he was to accept that, divine magic or not.

 

“Father wouldn’t be inclined towards it either.” Auro said.

 

“A student or professor, then.” Fredrick said. “You’ll need access to the magical archives at the very least.”

 

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the professors weren’t exactly chosen for their free-thinking.” I said. 

 

“Does she really need one?” Auro asked. “She’s worked fine without a teacher thus far.”

 

“I’d be terrified if she didn’t.” Breale said. “I’ve never heard a story about a wild mage end very well.”

 

“Indeed. It wouldn’t be very morale-lifting if she burnt herself out on the battlefield.” Fredrick looked at me with a frown. “Or would you freeze yourself…?”

 

I really didn’t want to bring another person into this mess if I could help it, but I could sort of see their point if I looked at it from a different perspective. Getting books would be impossible without someone with actual access while the increased security lasted, but even peasant students weren’t allowed to bring magic tomes out of the basement. We’d need someone who just knew them already, or who could memori…

 

“Actually, I do have a bit of an idea.” I said.

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