Chapter 31: Encounter with Death

“A fine night for stargazing, if I do say so myself.” A young man chuckled as he rested his hands on the nearby balcony wall. The beautiful night sky swirled with countless multi-colored stars. 

“Indeed, Fergius. But it is [Astrology], not stargazing my boy. It is not just a hobby, it's an entire dedicated class. It allows us, mortals, to catch a glimpse of the stars, the gods' domains, and borrow their powers.” An old voice croaked from behind a massive telescope from behind Fergius.

“Tch, is this about my daughter again?” He groaned. 

“Yes, you buffoon! She has all the traits and more that would make her a world-famous Astrologian! She is gifted in this field of expertise, even before her awakening ceremony! It is the best time to teach a child, and yet, you keep her locked to the inferior arts of common spellcasting!” With each sentence, the old man grew more and more agitated, spittle flying out of his bearded mouth. 

Fergius let out a deep sigh. “I don't want her to become an Astrologian, plain and simple. For generations, my family has raised only [Spellblades], I will not be the one to break this tradition.”

“Damn your tradition to the 9 hells! Denying your immensely talented child in the field of [Astrology] is bad enough, but to set her on the brutish ways of the [Spellblade] in which she has no talent?! You... you!” A single crooked finger pointing accusingly at Fergius. 

Fergius simply smiled and shrugged. “You never know, she might be more talented in [Spellblade] than [Astrology].”

The old man simply clicked his tongue, not wanting to continue arguing with a terribly incompetent idiotic parent, and returned his focus to the stars.

An unenlightened mind like Fergius would simply never understand the beauty of his trade, and probably never will. It is more than just peering into a telescope and looking for signs from the gods, but also borrowing from the near limitless powers of the stars to cast spells without spending your own Mana.

While adjusting his telescope towards the Northern Star, he spotted the Black Star, a constellation of pure black circles in the sky, which belonged to Ehstus, the Primal of Death. This constellation was the most stable in the sky, with only a few records of it ever flickering. And if it did, it meant that his contractors are in pursuit of a god's soul.

"FERGIUS!" He shouted, which jerked Fergius from his resting position. "Grab me my notebook! Now!" 

"Sheesh, geezer fine." He walked over to the nearby marble table and tossed his leather book toward him. "A once-in-a-lifetime occurrence..." He murmured. "Never before seen in hundreds of years..." As he watched, the nearby stars of omens also flickered. 

Something was happening, and it involved the soul of a dead god.

Fergius watched as the Old man furiously scribbled away at his notebook, and looked back to the stars. Nothing changed, as far as he could see, with the night sky staying perfectly normal. He shook his head. All crazies might not be mages, but all mages are definitely crazies. Some were just crazier than others.

If that geezer didn't look like he didn't take a shower in 10 years, with the knee-length gray beard, chest-length frizzled hair, and as many wrinkles on his face as there are stars in the sky, he might've considered letting him teach his daughter. Might've.

His mind wandered, thinking about how he should get him to actually be somewhat presentable, starting off with getting him an entirely new wardrobe. He wasn't one to wantonly waste talent, especially if it was the old man who kept nagging him about it. He had personally seen him at his peak as an Astrologer in his party, someone who could breeze through packs of level 400-499 monsters like it was nothing. 

"Fergius." The old man said, abnormally calm.

"Yeah?" 

"Notify the Imperial court that I will not be attending the scholar's gathering this year." Through his furious scribbling, he kept glancing between him, the telescope eyepiece, and his notebook. "Oh, and put the guard on high alert. The stars speak of a great omen appearing in the near future, and whether it is good or bad, I do not know."

"Sure... I'll take temporary command of the militia." As he exited the room, the old man said one last thing. "Let me know if you change your mind, Fergius." 

"As if. Clean up a bit first, and then I'll consider it." He closed the door behind him, as he descended the tower. Looks like something big was coming to the city of Drodon.

...

You are reading story Masamune, The Blood Blade at novel35.com

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Charlotte sighed as she got off the military Caravan. It's going to be strange to go from a snowy wasteland to a desert wasteland. 

After she reported to Captain Robert on how it was just a vampire instead of the presumed beast tide, Headquarters immediately sent a full squad of Aemis priests up north in a week. 

Many excuses were made, like how 'they must make sure' that the vampire was genuinely dead, or 'search for any others' nearby. She had personally seen the XP gain, so she definitely killed him. They were just stuck up and paranoid.

On the brighter side, more luxuries and supplies came up now, with the soldiers finally moving inwards, clearing out the land and forests for permanent settlement on the base of Mount Seljanor.

She claimed her rewards from the system, deciding to keep her Vitality and Mana orbs away for later usage, but consuming the Mana Jewel for the extra few levels. She let the still unconscious Masamune absorb the Tendons, which were a bunch of large, sinewy white tissue.

The Rune Deciphering kit was quite the enigma, with it giving her an entire box of little tools that she had no idea how to use. There was a book, though it was completely blank, so she just tossed it into her bag. 

The redeployment letter came within just a few days, telling her that she's been moved to the Desert to the south. She was promoted, now a fully decorated captain. Her new assignment was to manage and oversee the expedition corps of the oasis city, 'Drodon', and the newly formed dungeon there. It was a bit more complicated than that, but the general gist was to basically, 'do your job', 'make sure the adventurers don't fuck it up', and 'watch for suspicious activity.' 

"Alright lass, we stopping here for the night." The old man said. He was a grizzled old man, a scar proudly decorated his face, from the tip of his forehead through his right eye. Taking out a thick chain of iron, tossed it around the pack animals and tied them to the nearby rock. They were bears, although he kept reassuring her that they were domesticated.

Going to the back of the caravan, he took out 2 pieces of thick-cut meat and chucked it at them. They gobbled it up without mercy. 

"Make a fire if you want, I'll be heading off to bed." As Charlotte got off the caravan, he walked towards the bears and made a shooing gesture. They made way for him, as he laid on their fur and closed his eyes. She watched as the bears didn't even give him a single glance, and felt a bit jealous. They looked super cuddly...

Grabbing a few snow-covered sticks, she cast a fireball spell, finally lighting the pile after 4 tries. Thick plumes of smoke rose into the air, as Charlotte sat nearby, warming her hands in the fire.

Now without much to do, she reached into her bag and began admiring her things. As its name suggested, the Mana Orb was a white spherical object with wisps of blue inside. Same thing for the Vitality orb, but it was red rather than blue.

She debated on whether or not to use her bottle of Condensed Ichor, but eventually placed it away. The Soul Gem of Zedar was the most interesting thing in her collection since it seemed that almost no light went in. It was like a hole in the world, where nothing resided on the other side. 

Suddenly, she felt something move on the edges of her senses. 

She quickly slipped the fragment into her pouch, as she got up into a defensive position. As she watched intensely, time seemed to slow, as the embers of the fire crackled and fizzled away in slow motion.

Wait.

They were actually moving in slow motion. 

Her instincts screamed that something lethal was approaching from her left, and she used her sword to block. From the darkness, illuminated by the firelight, a cloaked figure swung a massive scythe toward her.

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