Valkyrie's Shadow

Empire in Chains: Act 1, Chapter 21

Empire in Chains: Act 1, Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Upon their return to the main floor, Ludmila found Ilwé Linum and Glasir Gel Gronvidr glaring across the potted tree at one another. The Death Knight was still holding onto the pot. Both the Dryad and the Elf had a hand on the edge of the pot, though it seemed that they had given up on trying to wrest it from the Death Knight’s armoured grip.

At the sound of their approach, the Ilwé Linum lowered herself reverently before Lady Aura and Lord Mare. In response, the two siblings seemed to be trying their best to ignore her.

Ludmila still had no idea why Elves acted that way around the Dark Elf twins. Lady Aura and Lord Mare treated it as an annoyance at best, and Ilwé Linum barely spoke at all. Even Merry, the free-spirited and easy-going Adventurer, turned deferential in their presence. This deferential behaviour usually came in the form of a sort of care of the twins, treating them as if they were indescribably precious. On rare occasions, however, they reacted with wariness.

“Glasir,” Ludmila said. “Have you given further thought to the idea of staying in Warden’s Vale?”

“Erm…no?” Glasir looked up at her blankly, “Was I supposed to be doing that?”

She wasn’t sure if it was just the way that Dryads were, but Glasir seemed remarkably oblivious to anything but threats to her tree. Then again, she was probably less than two hours old.

“I hadn’t specifically asked you to, no,” Ludmila said. “I have no right to detain you, but I would welcome a Dryad such as yourself with open arms. The foundations for the city here have just recently been raised, which is why it appears as an expanse of barren stone. In the future, however, it will become a place with an abundance of verdant spaces. As Lord Mare has mentioned, you are a very special Dryad. Your presence here would be a great boon.”

“Special…I don’t feel very special. Not in a good way, at least…I actually think there’s something wrong with me. I was born in the autumn and my tree is tiny. It’s in a pot. My leaves are all shiny, too! A-and I don’t think trees are supposed to glow…”

Admittedly, trees were not supposed to glow. Nor did they have shiny golden red leaves all year long. With the advent of the Sorcerous Kingdom, however, a tree that glowed slightly was far down on the list of realities to question.

“It’s because the tree you were born from is Divine Ash,” Lord Mare’s voice came from her left. “They don’t all have leaves like yours, but they're still the same species. Divine Ash doesn’t fall asleep in the winter – it grows in every season, so being born in the autumn isn’t weird.”

“…really?”

Glasir turned a suspicious gaze to her tree. Lord Mare’s eyes turned teary, and his lip quivered.

“A-and look!” He held up his staff, “Divine Ash is valuable, too! My staff is made from Divine Ash.”

The Dryad’s head snapped around, eyes wide. Her head went up and down as she compared her wrist to Lord Mare’s staff.

“N-n-no…” Glasir shook her head, “Nooooo! I don’t want to–”

“Ah, annoying!” Lady Aura suddenly shouted, “This is why Dryads are…all they do is scream and complain! Kindling! Just turn her into kindling – that’s all she’s good for. Just give up, Mare, we can use the other trees: ones without annoying Dryads.”

Behind Glasir, the Death Knight set down the pot and drew its flamberge.

“Waiiiiit!” The Dryad screeched, “I’ll do it! Don’t chop me up!”

Lady Aura crossed her arms and looked over at Ludmila.

“What do you think?”

“Do they truly scream and complain that much, my lady?”

“Uh-huh,” Lady Aura frowned. “Pinison was even noisier than this one. Was.”

“Hm…”

Glasir came over, falling to her hands and knees. She clutched Ludmila’s skirts with dewy tears in her eyes.

“You’re…you’re supposed to be a Warden, right? A-a-are you going to let this happen? I’m a nature spirit, you know!”

“She really is noisy,” Ludmila murmured.

“I-I’m sorry I wanted to go away!” Glasir cried, “I’ll do whatever you want – you can plant me wherever you want!”

Ludmila placed a hand on Glasir’s leafy head.

“I suppose we can see how you do as my vassal,” she said.

“A ‘vassal’?” Glasir sniffed, “What’s that?”

“If I were to put simply, it is someone who has sworn their service to someone else in exchange for land, security, and certain rights. In your case, it would mean that you would be allowed to live here under my protection. In exchange…Lord Mare, are Dryads Druids?”

“Eh? Uhm, no, they’re just Dryads. Dryads have some Spell-Like Abilities that are Druid spells, but they aren’t innate Druids like Nymphs. Let’s see…they can use Twine Plant, Speak with Plants, Tree Shape, Charm Person, Deep Slumber, Woodland Stride and Suggestion. Since they’re Spell-Like Abilities, they’re more like Skills? They’re really good for her current level, but the magic stays at the potency of a Level 18 Druid no matter how much stronger she gets.”

For someone who was just born an hour or two ago, her magic was quite powerful. Humans truly had an uphill struggle for survival in the world.

“Would it make sense for her to become a Druid?” Ludmila asked.

“Un,” Lord Mare nodded. “It’s really useful for plant-type Heteromorphs to become Druids. The spells that I’ve been using to improve crop yields are Third-tier druidic magic, so they can use their own magic to feed and grow themselves. Even Demihumans like the ones that came to live up in the mountains around here use those spells to cultivate their alpine gardens. Anyway, I think it’s perfect for her job, but…”

“…but?”

“Dryads are kinda lazy. At least the ones that live around our place.”

“Yeah,” Lady Aura said, “when they’re not picking fruit, they sort of just hang out around their trees and veg.”

“‘Veg’?”

“Sleep, stand around, do nothing. Kinda useless.”

Ludmila looked down at Glasir.

“D-d-don’t compare me to those other Dryads!” She huffed indignantly, “I’ll be the best Dryad Druid ever!”

Glasir stood up again, brushing off her knees. Ludmila frowned at her appearance, eyes going back and forth between Lord Mare and the Dryad.

“Is it possible for your foliage to grow in a more…modest arrangement?” Ludmila asked.

“What does ‘modest’ mean?”

“The people around here cover their bodies,” Ludmila explained. “Something like what Lord Mare is wearing would be fine.”

The Dryad regarded Lord Mare with some confusion.

“But Dryads are female?” She said, “I-I don’t think I can grow huge leaves or even that much foliage, but I can try to imitate her.”

Glasir pointed to Lady Aura. Ludmila lightly slapped the top of her hand.

“Ow!”

“It’s not ‘her’,” Ludmila told the Dryad. “You need to address others properly. Lady Aura and Lord Mare are both very important people. You’re lucky they’re not as strict as Lady Shalltear, or you might have ended up short a hand.”

“A-a hand?” Glasir looked down and started counting off her fingers, “I don’t even know how long that would take to grow back!”

“That’s why it’s important to treat people with the proper respect,” Ludmila said. “I can teach you everything you need to know over time, but we should cover what you will be doing, first.”

Ludmila went into Nonna’s office, gathering supplies, a spare map of the island and a satchel to carry everything in. When she came back out into the hall again, everyone was standing near Glasir’s tree.

“Since you two are doing your usual thing now,” Lady Aura said, “I’m gonna head out.”

“Thank you for arriving on such short notice, my lady,” Ludmila lowered her head, “as well as for everything else.”

Glasir flinched as Lady Aura hopped into her tree with a parting wave. The Dryad’s fingers tentatively ran over the bark of its slender trunk, face painted in an expression of disbelief.

“…that isn’t going to happen all the time, is it?” She asked.

“Lord Mare uses that tree as a teleport marker,” Ludmila answered. “So unless he chooses another tree, he’ll be going in and out of this one whenever he comes by.”

“Since Dryads have Woodland Stride,” Lord Mare said, “it shouldn’t be that weird, should it?”

The Dryad cast a dissatisfied look at her tree.

“I can’t use it,” she said.

“You can’t?” Lord Mare tilted his head, “Ah, I get it – your tree is too small.”

“That’s right!” Glasir pouted, “I can’t even hide inside my own tree! How stupid is that?”

“What spell do you use to teleport around the Sorcerous Kingdom, Lord Mare?” Ludmila asked.

“That’s the Sixth-tier Druid spell Transport via Plants,” Lord Mare answered. “Both Transport via Plants and Woodland Stride are teleportation-type spells, but there are some big differences. Transport via Plants is basically the Druid version of Greater Teleportation. I pick a plant, choose a destination, and the spell finds the closest plant of the same type to send me and the people I’m taking with me to. So say I want to go to E-Rantel: I cast the spell targeting the Divine Ash here, and it will pick the closest Divine Ash to E-Rantel to teleport me to. Since there’s only one Divine Ash in E-Rantel, it will always teleport me to the same place.”

In a way, it seemed more powerful than the teleportation spells that other casters had access to. They either needed a degree of familiarity with the target area or set it as a teleport point. Transport via Plants only required the same type of plant at both the departure and destination points. It was not as convenient as the other teleportation spells that could be cast from anywhere, but if one ensured the species of plant at each point was unique, it could be just as reliable as Greater Teleportation. One could also carry a potted tree with them as a sort of portable teleport point for others to use. Not that there were many Sixth-tier Druids around.

“How does Woodland Stride differ?”

“Transport via Plants only requires a medium-sized plant,” Lord Mare said, “but Woodland Stride requires a tree that is at least as wide as the caster. I-it’s still a really good spell, though! Woodland Stride is a long-duration, short-range teleportation effect that lets you move from one tree to another tree up to one kilometre away in a single ‘hop’. The effect lasts one hour per three levels, and it lets you teleport an additional time every three levels. Going in and out of the same tree counts as one hop. The Dryad version is a Skill that they use to hide inside their trees and get around their groves. In combat, I can cast a spell, hop into a tree when my enemy gets too close and pop up elsewhere to cast spells at them again. Or I can cast it on someone that wants to close distance on an enemy the same way. It works really well when big sis and I both use it to juggle enemies around.”

“That does seem very useful,” Ludmila said. “What tier of magic is Woodland Stride?”

“Uhm…Fifth.”

So much for having it available to employ in regular tactical use. One needed a Druid in the realm of heroes just to cast it. Or be a Dryad. It did not mean that she would never encounter an opponent that used it, however…

“Is there any way to deal with an opponent that uses Woodland Stride?”

“Without any advance preparation,” Lord Mare said, “You can brute force it with Dimension Lock. That would be trading an Eighth-tier spell for a Sixth-tier one, though. Then the Druid can just bring the fight out of the radius of the Dimension Lock effect. Most casters capable of Dimension Lock can’t sustain themselves as well as Druids, either, so it’s to our advantage. Hmm, what else…hallowed or unhallowed areas with Dimensional Anchor effects will stop it within their area, then there’s Lopsided Duel which is a Third-tier spell that teleports you to wherever your target teleports to. Again, most casters don’t want a Druid anywhere near them, so it’s to the Druid’s benefit if they cast it. The only thing I might not like is if a warrior uses a Skill that produces an effect similar to Lopsided Duel. There are worse ones that keep bringing you back to them, too.”

“I’ll work on that.”

“Eh?”

Lord Mare blinked and looked up at her.

“Well,” Ludmila said, “if even you think it’s annoying, it would probably be a nightmare for any opponents that I run into. Do you know anyone with a Skill like that? I have no clue how to begin developing this sort of Skill or Martial Art.”

“Mmh…Aura doesn’t have one, but Albedo and Cocytus might. Albedo especially – she’s a tank, so she should have some Skills that help keep targets from escaping to attack others.”

Despite being a Noble of the Sorcerous Kingdom for over half a year, Ludmila had never seen the Prime Minister. This was actually not abnormal – in fact, a minor noble being able to see so many royal courtiers was abnormal. Still, it felt a bit strange considering that she had recently been in the company of the Sorcerer King for two weeks.

A rustle of leaves sounded beside them, and Ludmila realised that she had gone off on a tangent with Lord Mare. She and Lord Mare often became absorbed in whatever topics that they were covering, which was why Lady Aura tended to leave them. Ludmila pulled the map from the satchel before handing it to Glasir.

“These are all for you,” Ludmila said. “The first thing you will need to do is learn how to read, write, and work with numbers, so I will be enrolling you at the village school. Classes begin after midday and run until late afternoon, so I can arrange for other activities in the morning and the evening.”

Ludmila tapped her chin in thought, looking down at the map in her hands.

“You should be able to learn from the Lizardman Druids when they hole up in their homes for the evening. In the mornings, you can wander around familiarising yourself with the island…do Dryads need to sleep?”

“Dryads are nature spirits,” Lord Mare said. “I’m not sure if you can call it sleep like regular living creatures sleep, but they’re usually active during sunlight hours and can become dormant, which looks like they’re sleeping.”

“What if we provide her with magical lighting?”

“Plants still have day and night cycles,” Lord Mare told her, “so I don’t think it will work the way that you probably think. Also, uhm…you’re getting scary.”

“Scary, my lord?”

“Yeah. She was just born a few hours ago, right? You’re already trying to figure out how you can maximise her utility.”

Maybe she had become too accustomed to working with the Undead. A cold droplet of worry trickled through her at the possibility that, as an Undead being, she might be losing her empathy for living things. It was not something that she had any desire to relinquish.

Her gaze went over to Glasir, who only watched them nervously. The exchange with Lady Aura had probably been too much, as well.

“…you’re right,” Ludmila said. “I’m sorry, Glasir – I got ahead of myself trying to figure out how you could best fit in.”

Ludmila went over to the dining area, motioning for Lord Mare and Glasir to join her. Not only had she been treating a newborn Dryad poorly, but she was also being a poor host. Lluluvien hadn’t come in yet, so she produced the magically-preserved meals from her Infinite Haversack. Lord Mare’s eyes lit up at the sight of the sandwiches and village stew, and Glasir examined her cup of water curiously.

That’s why it’s important to treat people with the proper respect.

She probably seemed like a self-serving hypocrite.

Withdrawing several sheets of paper and a pen, Ludmila took a deep breath as she settled herself. Though Glasir looked and communicated like an adult, she was essentially a child. The Dryad wasn’t anything like the babies that had just been born to her household, but she was still a newborn under her care.

“Let’s start over again,” she said. “Properly, this time. Beyond the tidbits of lore that contain unverified information, I know very little about Dryads. Warden’s Vale will be your home from now on, Glasir, and you will be one of the most important people here. I would like to turn it into a place where you can flourish.”