Chapter 57: Journey To Aste; Cheats, Kids and Thieves

Anselm and I followed the three distinguished looking trio back to their lodge. My confusion and doubt that anyone would stay so close to…nowhere is immediately dispersed as we come around the sloped road and a magnificent mansion comes into view.

The house is settled into the far side of the road; where the grass is long and wilder, where there is little to no gravel to stub our feet on.

I wonder how the little child managed to make an escape so far away from his strict guardian.

But more importantly, I wonder about how many uses that crystal embedded in the butler's glove actually had.

The curt and straight butler spoke constantly into it and it spoke back. It ought to be the shiniest Bluetooth I've ever seen…if it was a Bluetooth.

It is pretty obvious the crystal is powered by mana or magic, I'm not sure how but I'm sure of it. The butler asks the woman he speaks to to send out some cleaners for our carriage wreck at the end of the road, he goes into a bit of explaining and apologizing as he speaks to her.

Meanwhile, behind, Anselm and I compare notes.

"Did you injure any of them?"

A frown mares his face as he shakes his head, "No, the one I was fighting even stopped his assault and left himself wide open, I stabbed my spear straight through him and yet…"

I nod, sharing in his confusion. "The butler said they're weak to fire alone, nothing else can hurt them."

"That can't be…" He mutters, looking lost within himself, "What are they? What sort of creature is that immune to attack?"

"Well, the butler called them wisps." I shrug, just glad to still have blood pumping through my veins.

"You keep calling him the butler," The older boy lets us catch up to him as he says this, deliberately cutting himself off from the butler and his younger brother as he does this.

"Since you are Nelvar's guests of sort, I will tolerate this rude behaviour, but I do demand you address our guardian and your saviour by his name, Audwin."

I smirk down at the deep black-haired youth. Despite his bored demeanour and apathetic vibe, he is passionate. "And what is your name, if I may ask?" I speak with a flourish on my words and a large grin on my face.

He scoffs, rolling his eyes as he begins to proclaim, "Why I am. Lord Mevir of-"

"Of not learning when to keep his mouth shut." The butler, Audwin scolds. His quick tongue lashing causes the boy, Mevir, to gasp and slap a hand to his mouth.

Audwin watches me narrowly even as he addresses Mevir, "You still have a long way to go in learning restraint, Young Master," he huffs, straightening his vest.

"I'm sure these gentlemen would much rather spend their way to a comfortable, albeit temporary lodging in silence given all they have been through, best not to pester them now."

With that silence reigned up until we finally arrived at the beautiful gardens that were a mere prelude to the inside of the massive mansion.

As we pass through the gates and I resist the urge to unsummon Anselm to spare me much embarrassment, we are passed by the aid Audwin called for, he stops and lets them know where they're headed and warns them to prepare fire magic just in case the wisps appear again.

This interaction alone distracts me from Anselm and his fawning.

Each of the servants are dressed in a similar manner as Audwin, Nelvar and Mevir, except more formal. Their gloves are also embedded with crystals, crystals I can safely assume perform the same functions Audwin demonstrated.

Amplifying magic and communication.

Does this mean that anyone with this crystal can perform magic? Is this crystal the blue screen of this world? The cheat script that lets any noob bypass the natural laws of physics and chemistry to produce wondrous and baffling effects known as magic?

"I-"

"I will see it that your belongings are returned in person, Sir…?"

"Asher."

"No last name?"

"No, Asher is fine for now." If I can't know the boys last name then they don't get to know mine…worthless as it is in this world.

"And you are?" His question is directed to a severely distracted Anselm. I can't blame him; this place is so much fancier than Leriva's Hall.

"Anselm, I am Anselm." He replies not bothering to look back at Audwin, completely engrossed in the finely groomed topiary.

He claps his hands and chirpily says, "Right! Then she will show you to your room…or rooms? Whatever pleases you, I must get the Young Masters to their Matron." He doesn't so much wait for an affirmative before pushing the boys on their way.

"Hello, this way please." A woman says. She's dressed in a bona fide maid suit, black and white too. She points the way and begins walking off in that direction, leaving us to follow behind.

She leads us into one of the much smaller buildings in the large mansion compound. It's about the size of a standard home back in Carbina, except without the straw roof. But in comparison its much smaller than the lumbering mansion in view.

Unlocking the door with a wave of her hand and a brilliance of light; yet another function of these crystals. She leads us in and stands right in the middle.

"These will be your lounging's for however long you have to stay here," she picks up a small bell from the one of the wooden beams that starts the stairs, "Use this bell to ask for assistance and one of us will be here momentarily to help you."

The maid proceeds to curtesy before us and head out. Fancy.

"Guess we're back to me being put on hold." Anselm chirps. What he's trying and failing to say is, we're back to pretending he isn't dead.

I nod, "For the most part yes. These doors don't have locks, anyone with those crystals can walk right in and demand to see both of us. I don't want a situation where I have to wrack my head on how to summon you without actually summoning you."

I plop onto the bed that immediately assaults me with comfort beyond my wildest dreams, it's even more comforting than the beds at Carbina.

Then again, this place does have a lot of things Carbina doesn't. Maids for one, proper, fancy maids in their dresses trotting about with buckets and dusters in their hands.

Let's not forget the most interesting thing though; the crystals in the staff gloves. Audwin's crystal gave him an extra bit of mana for his spells and even more functionality. Instead of letters being sent back and forth via pigeon or hawk, you've basically got a cell phone in your hand.

Honestly the first bit of something remotely close to the level of technology I'm used to, I'm excited to get my hands on one.

How? Well, there are a myriad of options to choose from, including but hopefully not limited to stealing.

"So, what's Mevir like?"

Anselm floats about the house, looking at everything with such interest, "Why do you ask me?"

Mevir is the older of the two brothers. The one that stood beside Anselm in pyjamas and the one who deigned to invite us into his luxurious home, perhaps against the wills and wishes of his father, definitely against those of his butler though.

Whatever discussion Mevir and Anselm had in the short time between me reluctantly embracing death and suddenly being saved by a firebolt shooting butler, it seemed to have made quite the impression on the young master.

Or at least, endeared my spectral friend to him.

"Well, you two seemed to have hit it off, plus, he looks at you weird."

Anselm floats into the room with a box hopping from hand to hand, "Weird?"

"Yeah, not at all like how he looks at me," I snort, "Heck he doesn't even look at me, I'm not sure he knows what I look like."

"Well Asher, a lot of people who know what you look like generally regret having the knowledge afterwards." He sniggers.

I roll my eyes at him and wave his sick burn off like it doesn't hurt, "Seriously though, I need to get my hands on one of those crystal thingys the staff all have in their hands."

"You mean the gems? The jewels?"

"All the same word Anselm, I need one and I know you're not likely to help me steal one."

He nods, snapping his finger at me, "Yes, that's right. Why do you even need one?" He asks, suddenly puzzled as my words finally hit him and he sets his box distraction aside.

"It stores mana, Anselm. What Mage doesn't need a crystal that stores mana?"

"Mages with mana?" he says pointedly.

"Ugh! Tonight, I couldn't save myself because I'd expended much of my mana between refilling you and maintaining the tendrils of the horse."

"I told you not to kill the horse, did you listen? Nope, you never do."

I can barely keep myself from crying out loud. Massaging my temples and balancing my breathing and say, "Fine, you were right, I shouldn't have killed the horse even though it's gotten us so much closer to Aste and so much faster too. Now can we move onto the point of getting one of those crystals?"

Before he can answer with another snide or sarcastic remark, there's a knocking on the door.

Quiet falls on us as we each give each other a look. The knocking continues undeterred, not stopping since the first one. This person has no intentions of leaving without seeing us huh.

Hopping off the bed and heading for the door I straighten up just in case this place has the proper etiquette of my fantasies; Maid for the bed? Why thank you!

Swinging the door open and leaving the persons knocking hand to come slamming down on my chest, I am disappointed but not at all surprised.

I pull on a grin and say, "You're Mevir right?"