Chapter 413 (2/2)
“Not yet, but if the Alacryans there are as dug in as our early reports suggested, it could take soested, his tone and intentions unclear “It was good you didn’t,” he added after a round for too long—literally in my case—and the Lances need to be seen, their presence felt”
Virion snorted with a to look up Bairon “An ironic sentio”
“I’m…needed here, at your side,” Bairon replied hesitantly, looking down and away “Varay is the better choice to revive the name of Lance in the hearts of the people”
I felt hope dwindle as I listened to the exchange, feeling I already knew the answer to the question I’d colad to hear you say that, Virion, because it relates to why I’aze toout into an impassive, curious expression, while behind hiely back in our hands,” I started, considering my words carefully, “and I’ve extracted a vow from Kezess Indrath hirona, who is busyhis own continent at therun It’s ti…”
Virion leaned forward, resting his chin in his hands “Yes, I’ve been expecting this I…a Tessia back…” Virion cleared his throat then went quiet
“If I’ht into the aspect of Fate…well, I’ve already told you everything, but I have hope”
Virion s the wrinkles etched deep into the skin of his face “Hope is enough, for now It has to be, because it is all we have” He refocused on , or was there so Virion’s cross-legged position “I don’t plan on returning to the Relictofully at Ellie, who had rehout the conversation, then looked over Virion’s shoulder at Bairon “I’d like a Lance to come with me as well”
“Absolutely not,” Bairon said instantly, his head shaking “Sorry, Arthur, but Virion needs round next to hi back at Bairon, who hesitated but eventually gave in and sank down into the softincredibly uncomfortable, he continued “There are thousands of elven faoal to reunite as many families as possible We still don’t even really kno ees were able to escape Elenoir after the Alacryan invasion”
“A noble undertaking,” I acknowledged, “but hardly a job necessary for a Lance”
Bairon breathed out hard, started to stand, glanced at Virion, and forced himself to be still “I…wasn’t always kind to others, before You…” He paused, his eyes darting everywhere but me or Ellie “You knohat I was like You were on the receiving end of it yourself, ht I would never recover from the…from my wounds, Virion and his people cared for me in a way I don’t think anyone had before They helped th, and convinced me I had a purpose This is my purpose, Arthur”
Bairon’s jaorked silently, and finally, his gaze met mine “Don’t think I do not yearn to testout into the distance like an open road The ht me far, but there is so much more for me to learn and accomplish” He set his hand on Virion’s forear I could say to counter Bairon’s arguinal interpretation of the situation—that there was little need for a Lance to be involved in such a hted and even, perhaps, a little selfish If Ellie was going to come with me, I needed assistance to make sure she was safe But I couldn’t ask Bairon to leave behind this work, especially if it meant soa hts “And I appreciate what you’re doing Elenoir was my home too, after all, even if only for a few years”
Bairon’s brows rose at that, and he chuckled “I’d nearly forgotten It's difficult to think of you as a child”
I rose to ht smile “To be fair, I never really was”
We said our farewells, Ellie and I wished the pair luck, and we began the long descent back down the stairs, hurrying out of the dwarven palace before the Earthborns or Silvershales could try to drag me into so highway
Ellie was the first to break the silence “So, you’re really taking eon with a whole different world in each room?”
“That’s the one,” I answered, bemused
“Wait, then why didn’t you ask Mica earlier, since she was right there?”
I griht Bairon would be the more…stable coe, as can Mica, and the two together…but I expect that to stay between us, got it?”
‘Ooh, I’is piped in from afar, his boredom palpable
Ellie hid her ser to get out of the city, though Shewith Lyra earlier” The smile faded, and my sister sobered considerably “I think the death of the other Lance—Aya?—hit her pretty hard…”
Flashi+ng in and out of Realnature, still within the depths of the Earthborn Institute “Let’s go see if she’ll join us then, shall we?” Read first at ReadNovelFull to do this right here, in…” Lyra paused and looked around the sainst the wall “Is this your bedroom?”
The space was relatively cra aardly around the s portion of the Co an opaque, oil-slick oval into the air above it Boo had shoved his head and shoulders into the roo her neck to watch from outside
“The Coh the Relictombs,” I answered “Here, we’ll have an eets injured and we need to return”
“I won’t go anywhere,” Mo on her tippy toes to better be seen Worry lines wrinkled her face, and she pinned me with a sharp look that was both pro happened to Ellie, there would be hell to pay, but she would be ready Despite her obligatory parental apprehension, we had approved of thefor Ellie to become our test subject for the spellfor excitedly on the balls of her feet “Co to do this or what?”
Cois I want you focused entirely on—
‘Protecting little sis, yeah, I know I’ve got this’
I took a deep breath and met the other’s eyes in turn
Mica had eschewed the Lance’s military uniform for a set of heavy dwarven-style arraved with runes, and there was a shi+mmer of visible mana projected just a fraction of an inch across her entire body A circlet of se of her nose like a helm Subtle runes were etched into the surface Below it, her eyes, one bright and alive, one a dark gemstone, narrowed in determination
Ellie stood beside her, a ne in her left hand, the knuckles white around the grip It was a siraceful recurve bow n altered to ift fro ago
She wore leather and chain to keep herselfsome protection Like Mica’s, her armor was heavily enchanted with protective runes, but I would be relying on Boo, Regis, andme an almost imperceptible nod Read first at ReadNovelFullme
On Ellie’s other side, Lyra Dreide was draped in bright white ar other than the ash gray and crimson uniform of her previous station, and she looked so in this new attire
“Mica, you go first Lyra will follow right behind you, thenup the rear with Boo” When everyone had acknowledged their understanding, I focused on Mica “Watch out for the geysers, the water is acidic and full of…well, you’ll see”
Mica cracked her neck and conjured a huge earthen warhaed into the portal Lyra cocked an eyebrow at Mica’s back, but followed i out, I mimed a soft punch on Ellie’s bicep, like she’d done to me earlier “Deep breaths” Before she could reply, I stepped into the oily surface of the portal
And reen pool, one of hundreds—perhaps thousands—that eyser wasfor dozens of feet in every direction But Mica and Lyra had already ju a heavy shi+eld of dirt and stone to catch the spray, the other hitting the jet of water with vibrations that interrupted the liquid’smost of the acid to splash harinated frois materialized next to me just as Ellie stumbled from the ascension portal, and he interposed hieyser that burst up behind us an instant later Then Boo was there, pressed against her other side, his bulk barely fitting on the narrow shelf of solid land the portal appeared above
“We’ll need to h the muck while at least tatch the pools,” Lyra co across the alien landscape “Regent Leywin, is there any safe place within—”
“Oh, can it,” Mica snapped, already lowering her guard as she followed Lyra’s gaze around the zone, her lip curling up in disdain “Even the bear outranks your prodigious station of prisoner”
“Wow, it really stinks here,” Elliewalls on either side of her “It’s definitely not what I was expect—”
The pool right in front of us began to bubble, and a ed into the air, the diffused light reflecting off its sli, blacker than tar and covered in dozens of toothy, snapping maws, arced into the air toward us
While Mica was still adjusting her grip on the oversized ha a whispered curse, I stepped forward An aether blade shi+ in a s it in two and sending the disparate parts flying to either side of the others
Mica’s ha it to a pulp, while a silent but visible vibration e the air around the other half until it suddenly burst apart into green and black sli of her bow, her mouth open in surprise, eyes wide
“Welcome to the Relicto so this for every chapter but I wanted some visualizations for you in at least the Patreon version