Winter's Crown: Act 2, Chapter 19

Chapter 19

With little else to share or discuss, the Guardian Overseer adjourned the emergency meeting.

Shalltear made her way out of the throne room, maintaining an elegant, measured, pace as she went out through the doors and into the antechamber to use the teleportation gate. As soon as she appeared on the Second Floor, however, she lifted her skirts and set off at a brisk pace, and her Vampire Brides scurried after her. She sped through the corridors of the catacombs and over the tattered rope bridge leading to the Adipocere Chamber. The Vampire Bride waiting at the door barely opened it in time to allow her unobstructed entry.

The entire way, she found herself with a smile on her face. It started as a small, tranquil, smile that she carried out of the throne room with her. After teleporting to the catacombs, however, she could no longer suppress it and it grew into a strange grin. The smile grew wider, and she dashed home so she could relish the sensation in privacy. She slowed her pace and came to a stop in front of the Vampire Bride who awaited her orders inside until she heard the entrance click shut.

“Yosh!”

Shalltear Bloodfallen made a double fist pump before throwing her hands up in glee. The Vampire Brides attending to her jumped up in surprise and fell over backwards onto the floor. Paying her handmaidens no mind, she continued further into her home with a beaming smile, all feelings of fatigue washed away as she bathed in the twin sensations of pride and accomplishment.

I did it!

She had managed to pull it off.

She found an opportunity to put forward her proposal – the crystallization of weeks of hard work, research and study – for a new royal highway. She was able to make a concise and convincing case for the project, and it was met with an overwhelmingly positive reception from the other NPCs present. It didn’t even matter that Albedo had chosen to deliberate on it; Shalltear was confident that, as time passed and she was able to collect more data, the Guardian Overseer would have no choice but to accede to its benefits.

Even the fact that she had such confidence in her work felt amazing. She could do it. She could come up with her own accomplishments and be even more useful to her beloved. Her crimson eyes glimmered with excitement as she prepared to head out to make her routine checkups at the various posts where her Vampire Brides worked. The first stop would be E-Rantel…

Shalltear turned to look at her bed, where the scented Ainz-sama doll lay. She felt that she was on a roll, so she gently picked it up and added it to her inventory in hopes that she could find a way to exorcise the Demon stink possessing it. After collecting the rest of the things she needed, Shalltear left Nazarick with Hanzo escort in her shadow: using a teleportation gate to reach the surface before opening a Gate to E-Rantel’s central district. She arrived in the gazebo with the mid-morning sun casting its light over the surrounding gardens. Strolling out with a pleasant smile on her face, she organized her thoughts.

Ludmila was in the city. After a series of strange training deaths, the greatly annoyed young noblewoman resolved to correct the issues that were causing them and relevel before she needed to return to her demesne. The summer harvest was fast approaching, and she wouldn’t be able to return to her training for quite some time. As she was nearby, Shalltear decided that she would visit with her first, then drop by the Wagner manor to return some materials she had borrowed. She turned out to follow the street towards her manor and was surprised to come across Baroness Zahradnik heading in the opposite direction.

“Good morning, Lady Shalltear,” she made a curtsey which looked decidedly odd in her brigandine armour, “I hope the day finds you well.”

Two footmen arrayed in House Zahradnik’s livery – padded suits of forest green and white – bowed together with their mistress’ greeting. One was a freckled youth roughly Ludmila’s height, with sandy blonde hair and grey eyes, while the other was slightly older, with auburn hair and hazel eyes. The second man was also slightly shorter – what were their names again? They tended to always be away on house business, so she rarely saw them.

“Good morning, Lady Zahradnik,” Shalltear replied. “I seem to have caught you just in time.”

“Is there something I can do for you, my lady?”

“There might be, in fact,” she replied. “How long until Mare tries to kill you again?”

Ludmila turned to her footmen and sent them on their way after reviewing their instructions. They made one last, respectful bow before striding off down the street and out of the central district’s front gate.

“I hope Lady Aura isn’t around here somewhere to overhear that,” Ludmila replied after her footmen disappeared from view. “She gives Lord Mare a hard time whenever it happens.”

“I don’t blame her,” Shalltear said lightly. “It always seems to be something utterly strange and unexpected, and it makes it hard for her to keep track of what levels you possibly have, arinsu. Aura says she can’t tell whether it’s a result of your constant experimentation or if Mare has become so comfortable with you that he feels that it’s okay to try out ‘new things’ when you’re in there. Perhaps it’s both: you two just feed off of each other, leaving swathes of devastated Adventurers in your wake with all the ‘improvements’ to the Training Area that result from your antics.”

“I believe it’s to everyone’s benefit that Lord Mare continually improves upon his work. It’s often a painful experience, but the ultimate goal of the Training Area is to produce Adventurers that are unmatched anywhere else. As for my end, I’m continuing in my efforts to figure out why I am experiencing these problems so regularly – this suit of armour I ordered from Mesmit’s forge finally came in, so hopefully it will help in some way.”

“It would be a pleasant change, arinsu. You’re supposed to go up in levels: not revisit them every week.”

Shalltear turned around and made her way in the direction of the Wagner manor, crossing the main promenade to the eastern side of the central district. Ludmila fell in step beside her.

“You’re in quite a good mood today, my lady.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“It’s quite infectious,” Ludmila’s slight smile reflected her good humour. “Did something good happen?”

“Yes, and I plan on running with it-arinsune. Speaking of which…”

She reached into her inventory and withdrew her Ainz-sama doll. Ludmila looked down at it curiously.

“This is…His Majesty?” She said, “It looks a bit like the statue at the Great Lake. Is someone selling these? It’s very cute.”

“No, it’s limited edition, arinsu.”

“Gen…tay…heen?” Ludmila’s mouth slowly formed over the words.

“Er…I suppose you could say that it’s custom-ordered.”

“I see…what about that scent?” Her vassal wrinkled her nose, “It’s not one of yours, and it smells like someone soaked the poor doll in…whatever it is.”

“That bad, huh?” Shalltear sighed.

“I’m…actually not sure, my lady,” Ludmila admitted.

“You’re not sure?” Shalltear frowned, “You detected the odour, did you not, arinsuka?”

“My senses deteriorate and improve as I die and retrain,” Ludmila explained. “It’s been happening so often recently that there’s no time to adjust to the changes, and I’m not too sure what is supposed to be normal anymore. The ebb and flow of my strength and capabilities have been compiled into quite a convincing argument for the existence of these levels you’ve described, and how they directly influence the performance of the Adventurer Guild’s members. I assume this odour is something you want removed, my lady?”

“That’s exactly right – do you know of any local methods?”

“Hmm…what have you tried, so far?”

“I’ve had it soaked, washed and aired out a half dozen times. Nothing my attendants try seems to help, arinsu.”

“What about magic? A Clean spell by a local magic caster is easy to access and does not cost much. Actually…since we seem to be heading in that direction anyway, Wagner has a few maids versed in divine magic.”

“She has Clerics as maids? This seems oddly familiar somehow…”

“Ah…I would not go so far as to call them Clerics, my lady,” Ludmila replied. “They are casters of the first tier of divine magic, but, for the most part, they’ve learned what is useful for their occupation. Her maids can conjure basic supplies, provisions and use various forms of utility magic. They also have some healing magic to respond to accidents and such, and are capable of using wands containing divine magic of all sorts.”

“I’ve not heard of noble households in Re-Estize employing magic casters before,” Shalltear said. “Even the ones around here appear to just be mundane servants, arinsu.”

“I hadn’t either,” Ludmila nodded, “until I came to know Wagner. Village priests will attend to the local lord, but generally as a part of their wider duties to the communities that they serve. According to her, the existence of household retainers that cast magic is due to the nobles who have attended the Imperial Magic Academy. After graduation, many of these nobles pursue the traditional paths, filling prestigious positions as higher-ranking household staff under more powerful noble houses.

“House Wagner thought that this was, in general, an excellent idea and applied it to promising members of their own common staff. The key difference being that, while graduates of the Imperial Magic Academy are arcane casters, House Wagner’s maids are divine casters who learned from the local Temples. Considering their access to healing magic, I would say that having divine casters in the household is the more practical of the two.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Shalltear said. “Why don’t the other noble houses do this? There appear to be no downsides to the practice.”

“There are probably a few reasons,” Ludmila replied. “The first is that House Wagner is simply far more progressive than the other noble families in Re-Estize. As a merchant house, they have a far more cosmopolitan outlook than even the citizens of E-Rantel, which is itself a centre of trade. Whenever I’m exposed to that side of her, I just feel like some backwards noble from the edge of nowhere – actually I suppose I’m basically that.”

Her vassal offered a self-deprecating smile, but Shalltear knew that she was worth more than what she portrayed herself as. Time and again, she had proven a quick study: adopting new ideas and implementing them effectively. Mare had nothing but good things to say about her as well, even going so far as to choose her to assist with the upcoming expeditionary training. As long as she continued to absorb information and ideas, it wouldn’t be long until she caught up to whatever she was using as an example.

“What were the other reasons-arinsuka?” Shalltear asked.

“Another major reason that comes to mind is that Re-Estize is a secular state by law,” Ludmila answered. “Arcane magic is not promoted like it is in the Empire, so it is seen as not much more than a curiosity or a convenience for daily life. This makes divine casters the only real option, and having a battery of priests in a Household can be construed as an avenue for unlawful influence over the administration for the Temples.”

“I see…is this something you believe as well?”

“What I believe does not matter, my lady,” Ludmila replied, “it is the law. Being a follower of the Six, I am constantly balancing the tenets of my faith with my duties as a noble. I think that things are going well enough so far, but I can easily see how a persistent priest in one’s household could influence decisions that they have no legal right involving themselves in. A fully ordained member of the clergy would face similar dilemmas between duty to faith and duty to secular law. I would only accept the services of such an individual if they had already proven themselves capable of keeping these duties separate.”

“Someone like your lady’s maid, arinsune?”

A surprised look briefly passed over Ludmila’s face.

“That is correct – Aemilia is actually doing just that right now.”

“Your maid is becoming a Cleric?” Shalltear smirked, “Has she finally just decided to go off and join you on your adventures?”

“I don’t know if she’ll become a full-fledged Cleric, my lady,” Ludmila replied, “but she’s spending her free hours at the cathedral learning what she can. Due to much of our menial household labour being performed by the Undead, my maids have had a lot of free time on their hands with as little as goes on in my demesne compared to the other nobles. When Aemilia learned of Wagner’s caster maids, she decided that it was the perfect complement to her position and begged me to let her make the attempt.”

“Hmm…that’s interesting, arinsu. Is anyone else doing this?”

“House Gagnier has been close to House Wagner for generations, so they’ve had them for decades too. Corelyn has sent a few of her most capable and loyal servants to learn from the Temples as well. As for the others…I can’t say that I’ve seen or heard of anything along those lines.”

“Yet the conditions seem simple enough,” Shalltear noted. “Trustworthy retainers and the resources to support their training. There must be something else holding things back.”

“The last major reason why such servants don’t exist in Re-Estize is actually one that would exist in the Empire as well,” Ludmila said, “something to do with what I mentioned previously. Members of the nobility, traditionally, do not learn magic in this region of the world. It is the Imperial Magic Academy that produces nobles learned in magic; those nobles, in turn, go on to occupy their traditional roles as retainers under higher-ranking houses. That is how magic casting household servants in the Empire came to be – Imperial policy and regional noble traditions common to both Re-Estize and Baharuth have combined to manifest in these individuals.

“With no such institution in Re-Estize, similar developments are practically impossible. The nobles who aspire to serve in higher households do not learn magic, and common folk who obtain magic casting ability seek their fortunes elsewhere – mostly becoming tradesmen; sometimes Adventurers. For our part, we’ve simply imitated the concept with the means available to us rather than coming up with it as a matter of course.”

“Yet in your efforts to imitate this concept, you’ve decided that your own product – Divine Maids – are superior to Arcane Maids, arinsu.”

“I’m certain that both carry unique benefits, but, yes, I believe that ‘Divine Maids’ have a more complementary set of advantages when it comes to domestic household duties, my lady.”

“I wonder what Nabe would think of this…” Shalltear said absently.

“Nabe, of Darkness?” Ludmila’s expression turned thoughtful, “I’ve heard some rumours floating around about Momon actually being a noble or even royalty from some distant nation, and Nabe is his attendant…I suppose if she is, it may be worth asking for her opinion.”

“Digging around too much might be considered rude,” Shalltear warned her. “If you do plan on consulting with her, you should be careful with what you ask.”

“Yes, of course, my lady,” Ludmila nodded. “I wouldn’t want to be seen as prying into their lives.”

With the Wagner Manor looming before them with its extended grounds, they made the rest of the way in silence. A pair of footmen stood before the gate. They straightened at their approach and bowed deeply.

“Minister Bloodfallen,” the elder of the two greeted them, “Baroness Zahradnik, Lady Wagner has been expecting you.”