Chapter 76: Ch 75 “Cheating Smarter”

  When Iris opened her amethyst eyes, she instantly noticed that the sun was no longer visible, obscured by the grand mansion around her. She roughly estimated by observing the remaining beams of light it took her four bells to come up with a solution to her problem.

 

"Did you figure it out?" An angelic voice sounded from her side.

 

  Iris looked in the direction where she heard the voice. Kia sat beside her, holding the bronze sphere with one hand turning its gear in boredom. The elf felt something cold touching her back, she turned to see what was touching her and saw Kia's hand snake away from under her clothes.

 

"What was that for?" The elf asked the girl with confusion.

 

"Nothing."

 

"Kia?" The elf's brow raised in suspicion.

 

"I...I just helped you a small bit." The girl's eyes turned away from her companion in guilt.

 

"You caused the vision to appear?"

 

"Ehh...no. I just helped your brain to work a little faster."

 

"Thank you but aren't we both undead? We have all the time we would want." Iris stated, concerned about the tired look the previously energetic girl possessed.

 

Kia snuggled to the taller undead, sucking out her warmth before answering. "Bored." 

 

"Only that?" Iris began to stroke the girl's long pearly black hair.

 

"Mmmm... don't know." The girl mulled over the question. "Show me the ward spell you learned."

 

"Alright." Iris stood up, her body felt sluggish as she moved her petrified muscles. "Hopefully, it works." She said as she focused on recreating what she did in her mind.

 

"[Infernal Mirage]" The risen whispered the name of the spell, hearing a system notification ring inside her head.

 

  Kia made a "U" noise as she stared at the standing elf. Beside the risen a small fireball in a vague shape of a beetle appeared, slowly orbiting around its creator. The elf let out a loud sigh of relief as the inquisitive undead approached her.

 

"Something wrong?" Iris asked the girl as her slender fingers were began to be shrouded in a dark mist. Kia tapped the air in front of her causing a thin orange bubble to appear around the elf.

 

"Why didn't I think of that?" The necromancer loudly voiced as an expression of fascination and disappointment appeared on her face.

The black fog somehow became darker and more sinister as she tapped her finger again on the orangeish surface of the ward, causing it to shatter like glass onto the grass with the fiery insect fizzling out of existence.

"You still have to strengthen the protective layer with hierodules which you forgot to add." The girl spoke like an old sage with words which the elf didn't understand.

 

"Hierodules?"

 

"You saw the words and symbols when I casted my spell?" The girl asked. "They are hierodules. Hierodule is like a slave to your primary spell, psych."

 

"And how do you cast hierodule?" Iris asked.

 

"..." 

 

"Kia?"

 

"It's very complicated." The girl's tone glumed as she stared at the elf.

 

"Master?" A familiar voice suddenly rang from the edge of the garden. "Ahh I felt your glorious aura and I just had to see you again. I see Harbinger is practising magic."

 

"That is correct." The elf answered the vampire.

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"Could I know what are you practising?" Umbria's look changed, her golden eyes earning a curious glint to them.

 

"Do you know what are hierodules?" The necromancer spoke.

 

"..." The woman wearing a light night-blue dress which elegantly showcased her figure without showing any of her skin pondered on her master's words. "Could you explain what this hierodule those? Maybe I am familiar with it by a different name?"

 

"It's a spell inside of another spell," The girl asked, her posture shifting to look dissatisfied with the long silence. "Iris don't know what they are and I don't know how to explain."

 

"Does Master mean secondary casting? If that is the case I could help." Umbria answered. "Show me on which spell you are trying to secondary cast?" Iris recasted [Infernal Mirage] as the vampire ordered. "I see you use a passive ward spell with an energy vessel..." Umbria said while stroking her chin, her hand vanished as she reached into her inventory and pulled a long string with two large knots at both ends with rings with many different types hung in the middle.

 

"What are those?" Kia asked while staring at the vampire.

 

"Repeater rings, Master," Umbria said while searching through the rings. "Fire... blood... earth... spark... condensor... Oh, vessel!" She announced as she pulled one of the rings from the string before casting a spell on the ring and granting the ring resembling a three-pointed star to the elf.

 

"What did you do?" Kia asked a question which Iris also wanted to ask.

 

"I casted the incantation which the repeater ring will apply when it detects a specific segment of the spell. If I had given you this repeater ring it would repeat the stored spell after detecting a word for fire instead of a vessel." Umbria explained, pointing to a golden ring with a small red gem.

 

  Iris put on the plain silver ring on her middle finger. "[Infernal Mirage]" Around her, the fiery mirage of an insect started to orbit her once more. Near Kia's pointing finger black fog started to gather as she tapped the invisible surface of the spell. The girl's gentle tap caused the orange barrier to blink into existence with inscriptions loosely covering its surface as Iris felt her mana being drained by the ring.

 

"That's cheating!" The necromancer whined at the vampire. "I have to do so much while *Grrr*" The two youngest undead watched with glee Kia's adorably frustrated face.

 

"I have to compliment today's warmbloods, because of their incredibly short life span and their weakening grasp on the magic they have to come up with many inventive ways to simplify the art of sorcery. Each word which doesn't have to be remembered lessens the possibility of a miscast or worse from happening." Umbria explained.

 

"But I have to remember thousands of sequences to cast a singular spell and you cheat, that's not fair!" Kia groaned while her face was frozen into a deep frown. "Inefficient mana distribution, weak linkages, inflexible..." She angrily muttered words as she stared at the silver ring on the elf's finger.

 

"M-Master, Are you sure it is wise to perfect each spell to such a radical degree?" The vampire said. 

 

"Of course! Doing it my way saves 12.3214 mana points for only a marginal increase in casting time." The strangely defensive undead explained. "And I can regulate my mana expenditure to make my spells more flexible in terms of damage with less strain on my mana linkages."

 

"Of course, Master. I am greatly saddened to have ever questioned you." Umbria pressed her head into the soft ground causing the two undead in front of her to shuffle in discomfort. 

 

A servant emerged from behind the vampire with a small tray stuffed with food. "I thought you would be hungry by now." She stood up and moved to the side allowing the servant to deliver the food.

 

"Mmmm." Iris watched the undead mage smell the many colourful treats brought by the bloodsucker. While filling her eyes with an adorable sight Iris felt cold hands wrap themselves around her arm.

 

"You need something?" The elf asked, turning around to see Umbria glancing at Kia.

 

"Yes, I do actually." Umbria's eyes locked onto the elf. She pushed the elf further away from Kia, occasionally checking on her master with a nervous expression. "Harbinger I know you might not favour me too much but I have a proposition you can't refuse." The woman's voice turned conspiratorial as she leaned toward the elf. Iris was about to open her mouth to prove there is no such thing as an unrefusable offer but the vampire was faster. "The King had organized a grand ball for today's evening and wouldn't you agree it would be truly tragic if we didn't dress Master for such an event? We would have to find the perfect clothes by sorting through my vast collection and of course, we can't make such an important decision without actually seeing how the clothes would actually fit in Master's perfectly made form." She explained, her warm expression melting away revealing an apex predator beneath.

 

  Iris pondered on the tempting offer made by the vampire in front of her, a voice of an overly enthusiastic elf with chestnut hair suddenly rang in her mind as she turned to peek at Kia. 

 

"You don't have to worry about the warmbloods swarming around Master like root flies to a fresh corpse, the thought of such lower life forms seeing Master's perfectly crafted face makes my soul rage with righteous fury. Thankfully my vassal for all her particularities introduced sporting of decorational masks when attending royal balls. *Cough* For lowering tensions between loyal nobles of the kingdom who do not have to worry about talking to the wrong faction member and allowing themselves to relax a bit~." Umbria gave Iris a seductive wink which caused the elf to straighten her back compelling the vampire to move her hand away from the elf's back.

 

  She wouldn't be disloyal towards Kia nor is dressing her gorgeous doll-like physique in outfits harmful in any way. If the privilege of seeing the most beautiful girl she ever saw in many fantastical dresses must be shared with a fanatically devoted vampire she would have to endure it. It's not for me... It is for Kia to not look ugly in front of a crowd right? Iris's mind tried to seek solace in the grey area of her morality as she all but accepted Umbria's secret scheme.

 

"You will not touch Kia and we can leave whenever we want to from that ball." The elf unknowingly adopted the conspiratorial whisper of the vampire as she stated her terms.

 

"Then our agreement is sealed. A maid is already standing in front of the door to your room." The woman whispered to her co-conspirator before turning on her heel to leave. "What happened? Why are you embarrassed?" She asked the stoic maid behind her as she moved away from Iris.