We Come in Peace (1/2)
As Lyr, Lena, and Yesee are being escorted out of the main hall, Lyr is barely suppressing his urge to request an interview with the general or with his soldiers.
… Well, he IS a historian. This is a chance to get a first-hand account from someone who's actually seen history. Isn't that exciting?
However, Lyr Belna also remembers how horrifying this man's aura is… 'I don't want to die… right?' Lyr thinks despondently.
At the same time, he thinks, 'I mean, I never expected my job as a historian to be lucrative. I'm studying a time in history that's hardly looked at anymore, after all.'
Clearly, if he didn't become a historian for the money, then history is more of a passion for him than an actual career.
As he drags his feet further and further away, he can't help but feel his heart breaking.
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Once they get out of the inner palace, the golden-haired Arkin carefully notes the 3 humans' expressions and Spiritual fluctuations.
That captain lady seems anxious to get home, the little mage girl seems pretty scared of this place… and the historian boy? His feelings are a lot more complicated. There's a mix between fear, longing, and disappointment.
"What's wrong?" she asks the little 'history boy'. "I can sense your strange feelings. Just spit it out."
Maybe it's because of the lady's pretty face, calm aura, and polite tone, but Lyr has no reservations about being honest with her…
… And so, he explains how he's feeling – how he's wanting to interview them for their historical accounts, but he's too afraid to tell General Haalfrin that he wants to stay here.
"Oh, that's it?" the pointy-eared woman laughs. "That's easy. We have guests all the time in this fortress. As long as you don't trespass in the inner palace without an escort, there's no way the general would say 'no'."
She then remembers the true source of this man's fear. "Oh, don't worry about asking the general for permission. I'll do it."
She then sweeps her hand forward, as if gesturing to a crowd that's not there. "Most of my comrades would be happy to tell their stories."
Lyr brightens up at this. 'Wait,' he thinks, 'How long would I be staying here? What about the captain and her mage? What do I tell them?'
Realizing that he might have to go back with the soldiers anyway, the man hardens his heart.
After all, when a dictator overturns a country, wiping out existing cultures and traditions is normal. Book burning is normal. Rewriting history is normal.
With nearly 150 thousand years gone by, countries revolutionized or were conquered over and over again. Frankly, it's a miracle that Brancotte's language is still intact.
Having gotten his true feelings out, Mr. Belna suddenly feels like an uncomfortable pressure in his heart was suddenly released. Speaking up for himself and standing his ground actually felt pretty good, even if he knows that he'll get into a lot of trouble with his government over this.
'But I don't care!' Lyr laughs in his heart. 'Consequences be d#mned!'
Just as he thinks this, he feels some strange fire ignite in his soul…
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"Oh, look. The boy became a mage," Tal laughs. Between him and Melli is a little boy who's lying in a pile of his old clothes. After shrinking down, the "history boy's" clothes were suddenly too big for him.
"Heh…," Melli gives a polite chuckle. "I don't know what he was arguing about with these two ladies, but it seems to have triggered his Enlightenment.
"Hmm…," Melli mumbles under her breath as she leans down. Slowly, a single black soul gate is drawing itself on the ground beneath the prone boy. "A black soul, huh?"
"Right, I'll hold the boy," Tal offers. Without waiting for an answer, the Arkin man bends down and effortlessly picks Lyr up. The boy's clothes are hilariously too large for him now, now that he's in the body of an 8-year-old. Still, as long as Tal holds the boy tight, his clothes won't slip off.
Just as Tal picks Lyr up, the older-looking Lareen captain gets this angry look on her face, and she attempts to snatch Lyr out of Tal's arms. <@*#$@#$@> she mumbles some incomprehensible nonsense.
"What's she saying?" Tal asks.
Melli replies, "Dunno. She's probably not happy about us taking the history boy."
"Eh. Let's just throw them out of the castle anyway. They can come for this little mage later, once the boy has woken up and can speak for himself," Tal says assertively.
"Right."
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Needless to say, but once Lena, Yesee, and the rest of her scouting squad make it back through the World Gate, Lena gives her full report of what happened to their superiors – including the reason why they couldn't bring their translator back.
Lena expected her superiors to get angry about her leaving Mr. Belna behind, but instead, she's told dismissively, "It's fine. That young man isn't the only person who knows how to speak in Brancotte; he was just the most convenient pick."
After that, Lena is immediately assigned to take a larger contingent of scouts to explore that world again… This time, however, her scouting team won't be the only team going through.
"You mentioned that the natives are part of these so-called 'Rehkin clans? All right. You're to explore the land and try to get in contact with these natives…"
Needless to say, Lena and the other soldiers of Lareen are going to be very busy in the foreseeable future.
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Over the coming months, things are happening in such quick succession that Haalfrin doesn't quite know what to make of it. Maybe it's because he's lived for so long, but his soul has gotten used to important events at least having decades between each other.
One of the first things that happen is that he ends up resummoning all of his Arkin soldiers. They clean the castle up a little (especially the inner palace), then they spend several weeks having a reunion party.
One of the main reasons the party lasts for so long is because they find out that a historian is here to collect their stories. Naturally, like the old grannies and grandpas that they are, they enthusiastically sit down and blabber on about their lives.
In fact, they're so violently enthusiastic with sharing their stories that the Lareen historian eventually gets overwhelmed and has to excuse himself. A man's got to eat and sleep, after all.
Still, Haalfrin expected the historian to take down notes and write a book (or something along those lines.) Instead, the Lareen man takes out several enchantments that apparently record their voices. The historian then has another enchantment that takes vocal speech and directly prints it out as text.
This way, the Arkin get to blabber on at lightning-fast speeds. They don't have to wait for the young man to actually write anything down.
Very handy enchantments, indeed.
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Other than the uproar that the Lareen historian is causing, there's also the problem of a certain, pesky dragon.
Once Dakka finds out that his friend has finally woken up, the beast ignores his wife's warning and flies across the world at lightning speed. The sonic boom he created echoed across the land – shattering windows and nearly scaring the locals to death.
Dakka crashes his way into the Valor hall – ripping doors off their hinges in his haste and roaring, "HAALFRIN!!!! GET OVER HERE NOW!"
The old dragon is still a little upset about his friend secretly sealing himself away.
Frankly, Dakka was planning on beating his friend half to death, but when he sees how old, wrinkly, and emaciated his friend looks, all of his anger is painfully punched out of his heart.
"Bro… what happened to you?"
"It's been 150 thousand years…," Haalfrin snorts. "It's a miracle I'm not a pile of dust by now. You should be grateful that I'm still alive after this long."
"N-never mind that!" Dakka quivers out. "Anyway, let me tell you how things have gone while you've been asleep…"
Needless to say, Haalfrin doesn't get another moment of peace during the celebrations. Dakka is sticking to him like glue and talking his ears off.
Still… 'Even though I like my privacy,' Haalfrin thinks with a smile, 'I can't get angry at Dakka's annoying clinginess. I'm just grateful to have a good friend.'
In the end, Dakka only backs off when Fina shows up and scolds the man, "Dear… Haalfrin is tired. Give him a few hours alone, at least."
"Yes, Fina…," Dakka says sullenly.
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Once the Arkin get the winter fever out of their blood, Haalfrin lets them all go back to their families in the Death Realm, though the Arkin volunteer to occupy the Valor Hall in shifts of a thousand soldiers at a time.
They need to have SOME military presence at such an important border, right? It IS a World Gate.
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Shortly after the Arkin start to go back home, Haalfrin is already beginning to feel a little lonely again. It's always a little depressing whenever his castle is silent and empty.
Still, Haalfrin knows that it would be too much to ask for, for these soldiers to stick around and abandon their loved ones in the Death Realm – all so they can inanely patrol a fortress that guards against no enemies.
At least Haalfrin doesn't have time to mope for long....
It's early in the morning now, and the insulating enchantments on the castle are up and running – all to ward against the unbearable summer heat.
It's at this time that Haalfrin is sitting at one of the empty longtables in the dining hall. Just as he finishes his breakfast, one of his attendants marches up to him and says, "Sir, there are more visitors from Lareen."
"Who are they? More soldiers?"
"No, sir," the Arkin replies. "They're ambassadors. They came to talk terms with you officially."
Haalfrin wipes his face with his napkin and stands up. "All right. Lead the way."