Valkyrie's Shadow

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 1, Chapter 2

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 1, Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Who’s that?”

“Who’s who?”

Shasuryu pointed his snout towards someone behind Glasir. She turned around to see who it was.

“Ah, that’s Ilwé Linum. She helps take care of Lord Mare’s tree.”

Glasir wanted to say that it was her tree – she was born from it and would go mad and die without it, after all – but certain people from the Sorcerous Kingdom were touchy when it came to what belonged to whom. Since the Warden, Lord Mare, Lady Aura, Lady Shalltear and the residents of Warden’s Vale didn’t seem to mind her saying so, she at first referred to her tree as her tree.

Undead new to the Warden’s territory, however, always referred to the tree as Lord Mare’s. By extension, this also meant that it was the Sorcerer King’s tree. Once, an Elder Lich from elsewhere heard Glasir refer to it as her tree and had nearly blasted her with a Fireball for making unlawful claims.

She wasn’t sure if it was an attempt to console her following the experience, but the Warden’s right-hand Elder Lich, Nonna, pointed out that the tree belonging to Lord Mare was superior in several ways.

First, Lord Mare was inherently far superior to Glasir meaning that his possessions were also far superior to hers. When Glasir pointed out that she wasn’t a possession, but a resident, Nonna said that there was little effective difference. Everything in the Sorcerous Kingdom belonged to the Sorcerer King and that anyone possessed anything was by his mercy and grace. The Elder Liches around the manor at the time unanimously agreed so her ‘opinion’ was drowned out.

Secondly, being a possession of Lord Mare would offer Glasir more protection than if she was simply her own possession. She once again pointed out that she wasn’t a possession but the point fell on deaf ears or ear holes or whatever Elder Liches listened with.

Lastly, it was a given that she should be proud and happy to be a possession of Lord Mare and thus a possession of the Sorcerer King. There was something wrong with her if she wasn’t. At that point, Glasir gave up trying to convince them, but she still called it her tree when it was safe to do so.

“So she just follows the tree around everywhere you go?” Shasuryu asked, “Doesn’t that trouble you?”

“I guess I got used to it…”

More like she had to. Mrs Linum was impossible to get rid of and the only time Glasir could escape alone with her tree was when the female Elf was distracted by Lord Mare or Lady Aura. After they left, however, Mrs Linum always found her somehow.

Glasir led Grand Marshal Cocytus and his party to the west side of the island, where a flight of stairs had been shaped out of the stone. Three metres below, a small harbour had been constructed for the Lizardmen living on the lake to moor their boats. Sometimes, she would see a few dugouts tied to one of the piers when the lake residents came over to trade, but the only vessel present at the moment was a large rectangular one.

“Hmm…you must have found quite the tree to fashion that dugout out of,” Shasuryu said.

“It’s not a dugout, Mister Lizardman,” Glasir replied. “It’s a…barge? One of the Vampire Brides said it was a test vessel.”

The barge had arrived one day last month via Gate as part of some sort of trial by the Ministry of Transportation. It was ten metres long and three metres wide, fashioned completely out of steel. There was some sort of enchantment on it that prevented rust, but that didn’t stop it from getting all dirty from the muddy waters around the Lizardmen villages.

Roughly one-third of the barge – the back third – was something like a building that housed a big, weird contraption that no one in Warden’s Vale appeared to be familiar with. Two Death Warriors turned a crank between them which made the contraption turn two spinny things under the rear of the vessel. This somehow moved the barge forward, so it must have been some sort of magic item.

On top of the building housing the magic contraption, an Elder Lich steered the vessel around by operating some levers. People were supposed to ride on top with the Elder Lich as well, but the Grand Marshal’s party had too many members so most stood in the cargo area.

“This thing is even bigger than the wagons that the Soul Eaters pull around,” Shasuryu said. “Why does it have to be so large?”

“Others, larger.”

“You’ve seen something like this before, Lord Cocytus?”

“Mm. In the north. Shipyards. Wooden ones, built first. By Frost Giants.”

Shasuryu tapped on the metal hull.

“How did it become metal? A spell?”

“No. After testing, sent to Feoh Berkana. New vessels forged – and assembled – by smiths.”

The barge left its dock, quickly gaining speed after it cleared the harbour area. Shasuryu looked over the side, watching the waves created by their passage.

“Pretty fast…you said that there are larger ones? Do they go this fast too?”

“Faster. This one: built for lakes. Larger ones: for rivers and seas. Results, promising.”

“I guess one might be nice to get around the Great Lake,” Shasuryu said. “What do they use it for here?”

“Moving stuff,” Glasir told him. “The Lizardman Village we’re going to had all of their pieces made in the harbour by the Human artisans. Then they loaded it onto this ship and put it together out there.”

“Hoh…that’s interesting. We do it that way at home, too, but I guess you can put parts for a whole building in here. What else?”

“Um…moving other stuff? Oh, Chief Esess said that once they start harvesting from the fish farms they’ll use this barge to export fish to the harbour.”

“…just how big are they making their fish farms?” Shasuryu muttered, “Didn’t we only send a hundred or so of our people here? Oh – I can already see them, I think.”

In the distance, the newly rebuilt Lizardman village loomed over an array of sectioned-off areas in the water. Each section was a ‘field’ of the fish farms, which occupied a three-kilometre radius around each village. According to Chief Esess, a small percentage of their production was enough fish to feed the Warden’s territory all year round. The rest would be exported to Corelyn Harbour where they would then be delivered to markets all around the Duchy of E-Rantel.

The barge went along a marked-off corridor that led to the Lizardman Village. Unlike the old village, which was composed of a collection of huts on the water encircling a large central hut, the new village was a ring-like structure of two stories encircling a three-storey central building that was two hundred metres wide. The outer ring was built above the water like the old outer huts, but instead of wooden pilings, Lord Mare had raised stone ones that could support a large complex.

“B-big?” Shasuryu’s tail went limp, “Why is everything so big in this place? There are only about a hundred Lizardmen here, right? This is too huge!”

It was big for the number of Lizardmen that lived there, but that didn’t seem like a bad thing. There was plenty of room and a lot of construction material lying around. The residents were pretty pleased with it, too.

The ship slowed as it approached the village, coming up to slip into a dock of identical proportions to its counterpart in the harbour. A delegation of local Lizardmen lowered their heads as the Grand Marshal disembarked.

“Lord Cocytus,” Chief Esess said. “Chief Shasha. Welcome to our village. You honour us with your presence.”

“Chief Esess,” Lord Cocytus nodded.

“Yo!” Shasuryu waved a hand, “Looks like you’re doing well for yourself, Kestris.”

“We’re managing, I think,” Chief Esess chuckled. “How we will fare is yet to be seen.”

“You’re joking right?” Chief Shasha clapped Chief Esess on the back, “Everyone at home would be astonished. They thought you were all going to be eaten by that Human Lord…how many did she eat, by the way?”

“Erm…none, Chief Shasha. Come – let me show you around.”

Curious to see what they were up to, Glasir followed from behind. Chief Esess led them to the only completed section of the outer ring, though even that part was large enough. The outer platform of the Lizardman village was two hundred metres wide and separated from the central building by a fifty-metre span of open water.

Though the completed section only covered one-eighth of the outer ring, it was more than large enough to house every Lizardman in the village four times over. This appeared to be possible because unlike Human dwellings, where each family had its own building with different rooms for different things, Lizardmen had private rooms for sleeping but otherwise lived in communal spaces.

The explanation Glasir received for this was because Lizardmen were cold-blooded and more bodies meant more warmth being shared. Once, they relied on firewood – which was difficult to retrieve for Lizardmen – for heat. Though that was no longer the case, their customs and preferences remained.

As they walked around, the residents came up to bow respectfully to Lord Cocytus before continuing their business.

“This outer ring will house the residential sections of the village,” Chief Esess waved a claw to one side of the central corridor, then the other. “It’s purely for homes, so we can comfortably fit quite a lot in here.”

“How many?” Chief Shasha asked.

“We’re still seeing how things go,” Chief Esess answered, “but with the layout of this section as it is, five hundred.”

“…and how many sections are there in total?”

“Eight.”

Chief Shasha stopped in his tracks. His tail steadily tapped on the floorboards.

“Oy,” he said. “That’s four thousand of us, you know? We don’t even have half that many in the entire Sorcerous Kingdom!”

“That’s true,” Chief Esess replied. “But Lady Zahradnik says it is for the future. Urban planning…or something. Once this place is finished, we’ll start working on the next one.”

“The next one!” Chief Shasha’s toothy maw fell open, “How many ‘next ones’ are there?”

“…five in total.”

“…just how many kids are you trying to make? Is life really that good here?”

They wandered out of the residential section, crossing over a bridge that spanned the way to the central building. Unlike the outer ring, the central building was built on an island. The centre of the building contained an open-air courtyard fifty metres in diameter. Since it had been constructed over the winter, nothing was growing there yet. As with the outer ring of the settlement, most of the central building was unoccupied and incomplete.

“If everyone is living on the outside,” Chief Shasha said, “what is this building for?”

“Everything else one might find in a settlement,” Chief Esess replied. “The first floor will contain workshops and markets. This courtyard here will have a Druid Grove and a shrine. Mmh…I would like a statue here like the one at the Great Lake.”

Out of the things he had listed, there were only a couple of simple workshops where tribal crafts were made. There was also a line of market stands along one of the walkways where a handful of Lizardman Merchants bought and sold things. Even so, Chief Shasha seemed impressed with what he saw.

“I feel like you’ve leapt ahead of us here somehow,” he said as they stopped to watch some Lizardmen haggle over bolts of fabric. “Before, everyone was scared that they would be sent to a desolate place where they would have to huddle in mud huts and survive on roots and insects. Now they might get mad at me for not sending them.”

A blast of cold air made Glasir leap backwards.

“Shasuryu,” Lord Cocytus said. “Why…would you think this?”

“Muu…that was the impression, I guess.”

“This is indeed a bountiful place,” Chief Esess said, “but there were still difficulties at first. For about a month after we arrived, I had the feeling that Lady Zahradnik was trying to turn us into Humans. She also terrified us by just standing there. After that, however, she changed her methods for some reason…plus she stopped being so frightening.”

“What’s with that?”

“The hunters claim it’s a hunter thing. According to the Baroness, her tribe fought Demihumans all the time so the hunters say that she was using an Ability that Demihuman slayers employ. It was a very strange experience: she spoke like she wanted to help us but at the same time she was scaring us stiff. Anyway, her approach changed: instead of having us adopt Human ways, she helped us to understand various concepts that Humans were familiar with and encouraged us to figure out how Lizardmen might employ them. It is slower than simply telling us to do something but I feel that this way works out for the better.”

After the visitors were satisfied with what they saw on the first floor, Chief Esess led them up the nearest flight of stairs to the second. This floor had a more quiet feel to it and every doorway was closed.

“The second floor here is for more…studious pursuits,” Chief Esess said. “Classrooms, laboratories, libraries and things like that. For now, there is a school for elementary education, a workshop for our apothecaries and a place for the mystics to research and craft. Some went to see what they can make out of Human Alchemy and Enchantment, but I don’t think they’ve come up with anything yet.”

They wandered from door to door and the Lizardmen within each room came to respectfully greet Lord Cocytus and explain what they were doing. Along the way, they came across the female hunter called Ezsris. Chief Shasha gave her an appraising look.

“Oh, your tail is nice and fat,” he said. “I thought it would be all pathetic looking by the end of wint–”

Ezsris leapt into a spin and Glasir winced as a heavy smack shook the air. The floor shuddered as the big black Lizardman was knocked into his back by a powerful swipe of the female’s tail.

“I’m telling auntie that you said that, Chief Shasha.”

“Muu…spare me please, it was an honest compliment!”

“There are some things that you shouldn’t be ‘honest’ with your niece about!” Ezsris fumed.

Chief Shasha rolled back to his feet, rubbing his arm. He eyed his attacker warily.

“When did you become so strong? Not many can knock me down like that. Have you been training at Lord Mare’s place…erm, the Adventurer Training Area? We have a few people there…”

“No,” Ezsris replied. “I’ve just been training here.”

“Here? Doing what?”

“Hunter things. Lady Zahradnik calls it ‘Ranger training’. All of the hunters are doing it and so are a handful of Human children from each of their villages.”

The big Lizardman gave her a dubious look.

“If just ‘doing hunter things’ can make one that strong, we would have kicked out all the other races around the great lake long ago.”

“It’s more intense than you probably think, Chief Shasha,” Ezsris replied. “Everyone in this territory works very hard – I thought they were crazy at first.”

Glasir only knew the people of Warden’s Vale, so she wasn’t sure how they compared to others. They did seem to do a lot, however, even going so far as to find ways to challenge themselves when they weren’t working or resting. From Farmers to Blacksmiths to Alchemists, they all seemed driven to improve.

According to Lady Zahradnik, it was a product of the tenets of her faith. Once Humans settled on their careers, devotion to one’s craft was a spiritual matter. Except it wasn’t just Humans anymore: the Warden applied her values to all of her subjects. The Lizardmen did not complain, instead adapting this ‘worship’ to their desire to please the Sorcerer King. Taxes took the place of tribute as they worked to improve themselves and their little part of the world, following the guidelines left with them by the Warden.

Ezsris went to stand beside Chief Esess. Chief Shasha’s eyes went back and forth between them.

“I can’t help but think that you’ve all become a different species of Lizardman,” he muttered. “You say that this Human Lord hasn’t converted you to her ways but you act very differently from before. Are you sure you’re all from the Great Lake?”

“Manners here,” Lord Cocytus said. "Much improved. Chief Shasha…your people: too lax.”

Chief Shasha rubbed the top of his head with a clawed hand.

“S-speaking of improvements, you’ve really bulked up, Kes–erm, Chief Esess. You might get as big as me one of these days.”

“Hm…yes, this surprised me as well. I thought I was long done growing, then I suddenly got bigger last month.”

Ah, I get it now. They’re both Lizardman Lords.

Lady Zahradnik was training Chief Esess in the ways of leadership, so one could say that he was becoming a Lizardman Lord. He was getting bigger like Demihuman Lords often did and Chief Shasha was already huge for a Lizardman.

“That’s good,” Chief Shasha nodded, “that’s good. Maybe I’ll see some big and strong grandnieces soon, eh?”

“Em…”

“Uncle!”

Chief Shasha probably had the right of it. With so much territory and plenty of resources, the Lizardmen of Warden’s Vale set about breeding prodigiously. Every family had children and many had more on the way…except for Chief Esess and Ezsris. They obviously wanted to become mates, but they wouldn’t, well, mate. Glasir couldn’t understand why this was – having progeny was the responsibility of all living creatures, wasn’t it?

“These dwellings,” Lord Cocytus said. “Warm. How?”

“That’s right,” Chief Shasha nodded. “When we arrived, I feared for the worst seeing how frozen this place was. But it’s as warm as a summer day inside the buildings here.”

“Ah, that's…”

Chief Esess stepped forward, pointing up at a metallic band around a support pillar nearby.

“That’s a magic item that keeps a certain volume of space at the same temperature,” he said. “The Humans started making them at the beginning of autumn. The Baroness prioritised sales to us because Lizardmen are not so good with the cold. All of her subjects should have them by now.”

The other Lizardman Lord eyed the metal band, scratching the corner of his mouth.

“Sales, huh…you’re speaking like our people in E-Rantel. How do we get our claws on these?”

“Our Merchants only move around the territory for now, but, eventually, they should bring goods that our people might like to all places.”

“What about that Ghost Ship that comes to the Great Lake every other week?” Chief Shasha asked, “Does it stop here too?”

“Mmm…yes, it does. You’ll have to ask Miss Marchand about that, though.”

“I’ll probably need to prepare my heart for that. How much do these sell for?”

Chief Esess listed a figure. Chief Shasuryu swallowed.

“How…how can you afford that?”

“Most of it is paid for by a loan from Lady Zahradnik. Fish exports should start this year, so that’s the main way we’ll pay her back. Also, we harvest the marsh plants, manage the flocks of geese and pick up bog iron when we see it.”

“What’s this ‘bog iron’?”

“Iron ore that grows in the wetlands,” Chief Esess said. “Come to think of it, there should be plenty around the Great Lake.”

“…you mean to say we've been sitting on iron all this time?” Chief Shasha furrowed his eye ridges, “While we struggled with tools and weapons of wood and stone and bone?”

“Unfortunately, yes. You still need a Blacksmith and fuel to turn it into iron…and the imports from the Dwarf Kingdom have made iron cheap. Still, it’s something.”

“Muu…maybe we need Merchants as well. Our people no longer fear starvation and we must see to improving our homes. The Lizardmen living in the city never come by and visit anymore…”

Something poked into her side. Glasir jumped. She turned to find a young Lizardman Druid behind her.

“I was wondering where you were,” the Druid said. “You’re late for your lessons.”

Glasir left Lord Cocytus’ entourage behind, following the Druid – whose name was Fesres – back down the hall. They entered one of the classrooms that Lord Cocytus’ group had passed. Inside, a half dozen Lizardmen children were sitting in a circle around a stand with a plant. The Death Knight carrying her tree went over to a nearby wall and set it down. Glasir joined the circle of Lizardmen.

“Hey, Glasir!”

A small female Lizardman greeted her as she sat down. She still had a bit of a broodling’s bright colouration on her scales, so it meant that she should be around four or five years old.

“Hi.”

Though not as clingy as Humans, the Lizardmen were still social and enacted customs that reflected this. As if figuring out how Humans behaved wasn’t enough, she had to do it for Lizardmen too. That many things were the same while different at the same time didn’t help.

If her tail is moving like that, is it the same as a Human smile? But what makes her happy to see me? Did I do something before?

Fesres tapped the tip of her tail on the floorboards.

“Alright children,” she said in a pleasant tone, “it’s time to get started. Is anyone low on mana?”

Around the circle, the children shook their heads. Unless there was some emergency that they had to attend to, all of the students were instructed to make sure they had at least half mana for their ‘Druid lessons’. These lessons were held every evening and Glasir had been attending them since the beginning of winter. As for her progress, she was at least keeping pace with the other children.

Druids were an integral part of Lizardman society, serving as mystics for their communities. Not only did they cast spells, but they served as apothecaries, counsellors and advisors to a tribe. As divine casters, they branched out into various roles, becoming not only the Druids that the Humans were familiar with, but also Shamans, Seers and Summoners. The community broadly referred to them as ‘priests’.

With this being the case, Glasir learned spells that were far from the excited expectations of her Human classmates. The lessons generally revolved around a Druid’s role in a tribe and she received instruction on spells commonly used in daily life. So far, she could cast a total of six Orisons and three First-tier spells.

The Orisons were Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Mending, Minor Cure Wounds, Purify Food and Drink, and Read Magic. They all seemed personally useful, aside from Purify Food and Drink.

While Glasir could ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ with her mouth as Humans and Lizardmen did, it didn’t do anything – her tree did the real eating and drinking, absorbing food and water with its roots and light with its leaves. At one point she tried purifying dirt but dirt didn’t seem to count as food. Purify Food and Drink appeared to be a discriminatory spell.

There were a handful of other Orisons that were highly recommended by the magic casters around the village. Tier Magic casters of all categories had access to utility magic known as ‘Lifestyle Magic’, which, as the name implied, consisted of spells that helped out with daily life. The Humans in the harbour had a few that the Lizardmen did not know at first, such as spells that conjured paper, spices and other materials.

That would have to come at some other time, however, as her lessons had moved onto First-tier spells which took a lot more time and practice to study. Her first three were Light Cure Wounds, Endure Elements, and Summon Beast I.

Light Cure Wounds was an obvious choice for divine casters from races of living beings. The way that people described it, however, differed. Lord Mare appeared to have the most accurate description, which was absent of any sort of the romantic language that Fesres used. The spell channelled positive energy, the amount which was determined by the ‘Level’ and power of the caster, relevant Skills and Abilities, bonuses provided by equipment and any metamagic applied to it.

Glasir wasn’t sure if she had any Skills or Abilities that affected Light Cure Wounds and Lord Mare was still devising methods to definitively find out. Simply comparing herself to the other students didn’t work. As a Heteromorph, she was far more powerful than they were and everything from her physical capabilities to the effectiveness of her spells was affected. Lord Mare also said that she shouldn’t learn any metamagic too early because her mana pool was still too small to deal with the additional costs.

Her second spell was Endure Elements, which allowed its target to operate comfortably in extreme temperature conditions for twenty-four hours. While it was a natural choice for the Lizardmen, who were cold-blooded, it was especially crucial for them in Warden’s Vale where temperatures could drop below freezing in the winter. As a Dryad born from Divine Ash she didn’t need the spell, but Fesres told Glasir that she never knew when it would come in handy and save the lives of others.

Summon Beast I conjured a natural creature to aid the caster. Despite the name of the spell, it could summon more than just Beasts – one could summon Magical Beasts, Vermin, Elementals, and creatures that were aquatic or plant-based – anything ‘wild’ as long as it was something that naturally existed.

“Today’s magic lesson will be Twine Plant,” Fesres said. “It’s a spell with many uses and can help you and your friends in a pinch.”

The olive-scaled Lizardman gestured to the pot on the stand.

“?Twine Plant?!”

One of the students squealed as the plant in the pot suddenly grew to form sturdy vines that reached out to entangle him. Once he was thoroughly bound, Fesres walked over and gripped the vines to dangle him in the air. Glasir idly wondered why the pot hadn’t tipped over: the child was clearly heavier than the plant and its pot.

“Twine Plant will cause plants in a thirty-metre radius of the spot you cast the spell to temporarily grow and form into vines. Those growths will attempt to entangle any targets that you choose. It doesn’t work when there aren’t any plants around, so make sure there’s something there before casting the spell.”

“How long am I stuck?” The dangling student asked.

“For a new Druid,” Fesres replied, “thirty seconds. This spell is also a way for us to figure out whether someone is ready for Second-tier magic. If the Twine Plant effect lasts for three-and-a-half minutes without using metamagic or other means to extend the duration, then one is ready to learn Second-tier spells.”

Doesn’t that mean…

Glasir used the simple maths she had learned in school. Lord Mare always talked with her about something called ‘Levels’. Everyone had them and they determined what people could do. Many spells did more when one’s ‘Level’ was higher. Fesres said they could use Twine Plant’s duration to determine when one could cast Second-tier spells, which according to Lord Mare happened when they had a total of seven Levels of the appropriate Classes.

A new Druid had a single Level in ‘Druid’ and the duration of their Twine Plant was thirty seconds. A Level 7 was the first level that a Druid could cast Second-tier spells. Since their Twine Plant lasted three-and-a-half minutes, it meant that the spell lasted thirty seconds per level of the caster. That meant people could tell exactly how many Druid levels they had if they divided their twine plant duration by thirty.

She reached into her bag to get her notebook and pen, writing down what she had figured out.

“Oh, taking notes,” Fesres said. “Was what I said that insightful?”

“Um…maybe?” Glasir replied, “By the way, how long does your Twine Plant last, Fesres?”

“Er…I’m not sure.”

Isn’t that something important to know?

Fesres ended her spell. The captive student thumped to the ground. Before he could get away, another Twine Plant caught him again.

“One…two…three…”

Glasir pulled out her pocket watch, just in case. Four minutes passed before the vine-like growths disappeared into nothingness, leaving the original potted plant behind. She scribbled down another note.

Fesres…Level 8 Druid…

She would show Lord Mare the next time he came to visit and see what he thought. Maybe she could collect a lot of people’s Levels and compare them.

“What are you writing down now?” Fesres asked.

“How powerful you are,” Glasir answered.

“I could’ve told you that,” Fesres said. “I’m a Second-tier Druid. Well, I guess that proves what I said before. Anyhow, can anyone think of a use for Twine Plant?”

“Catching fish!” Four of the students said in near-unison.

Lizardmen loved to eat fish. The young ones always seemed to be hungry.

“It might work,” Fesres nodded at their enthusiasm, “but Twine Plant can be evaded if the target is agile enough. Slower targets like crabs and turtles will be easier for novice Druids to catch.”

“But didn’t you say it covers a big area?” Glasir asked, “How can a fish escape that?”

“The vines do try to entangle targets in the area every six seconds, so the fish has to keep evading vines until it leaves the area of effect. Fish are very agile, though, so they may easily do it every time against a weak Druid.”

“Doesn’t it slow things down, too?”

Fesres peered at Glasir curiously.

“How did you know that?”

“I-I’m a Dryad? I can cast Twine Plant as an Ability.”

“Oh, uh…do you even need to learn this spell, then?”

“Lord Mare said I should.”

There were various reasons why. According to Lord Mare, a Dryad’s ability to cast Twine Plant was as a Level 18 Druid. This was very strong by the standards of the average person, but Lord Mare suspected that she could be much stronger. Since Spell-like Abilities were always cast at a set level, she would eventually be able to cast a stronger Twine Plant with the regular version of the spell.

Additionally, since the spell was fixed, she could not apply metamagic to it, nor would any items, Skills or Abilities be able to modify it. Her other Dryad Spell-like Abilities – Speak with Plants, Charm Person, Deep Slumber, Woodland Stride and Suggestion – were also cast as a Level 18 Druid and subject to the same rules.

“Well, if Lord Mare says so…where was I…ah – does anyone have any other suggestions for the spell?”

“Stopping Toadman raiders!” The formerly-entangled student said.

“Erm…there are no Toadmen here, but yes, you can use it to stop people or at least slow them down. Physically strong targets may be able to break free, however. Goblins have an easier time evading the vines but once they are caught it would be hard for them to escape. Ogres, on the other hand, are strong enough to break out semi-reliably if they try, but they’re not very agile and would probably get caught again. Now, does anyone have any other ideas?”

“Stopping boats or holding things down?”

“Hm…you’ll have to be careful about that. You can use the spell to secure objects to a spot, but don’t do it carelessly. Also, if someone decides to play a prank and cast it on a busy road, I don’t know what Baroness Zahradnik will do to you.”

Audible swallows sounded from around the circle. Was the Warden really that scary? Glasir supposed that culling problematic populations was part of a Warden’s job, but it wasn’t as if she did it all the time.

Fesres reached down to pick up a satchel at the foot of the stand, slinging it over her shoulder. She went around passing scrolls made out of fish leather to each student.

“Here are your copies of Twine Plant to study. You can use Read Magic if you have trouble understanding them. Don’t accidentally consume the scroll. The test will be in two weeks.”

Plaintive noises rose from the Lizardmen children. Two weeks. That meant it was a hard spell to learn. Orisons only took a week or so studying two or three hours a day. Glasir wondered if she would be able to learn it faster since she naturally knew how to cast it.

“We’re going upstairs next,” Fesres said. “I hope you brought your little books with you.”

They lined up behind the teacher, who led them out into the hall and up the stairs. The third floor of the Lizardman village’s central building was where the administration’s offices and archives were. Two doors from the top of the stairs was the Elder Lich’s office. Glasir fished her booklet out of her bag.

Contained within the booklet’s pages was a record of the spells they had cast to help people out around the territory. The Lizardman students only helped out around their village, but Glasir could end up anywhere in the territory during her wanderings.

“Welcome~”

The cheery voice of a female Lizardman with brown scales greeted them as they entered. She was one of three administrative aides in the village – each covering the entire day with eight-hour shifts. The Elder Lich that presided over them didn’t even look up from its desk as they approached the front counter.

“Have you kids been busy?”

A series of non-committal noises sounded in response to the aide’s question. The Warden’s territory was a very safe place, so work was supposedly infrequent compared to other places.

Glasir waited, placing her booklet on the counter to be examined when it came to her turn. Five lines had been filled for the day, each accompanied by a stamp from the person she had healed.

“Let’s see…” the aide poked her chin with a claw as she copied the contents. “One sprained ankle…one pulled back…a baby delivery…a crushed foot?”

“Someone dropped a crate of nails. He was really noisy so I came right away.”

“Ah, lucky…or not? Or maybe you were lucky and he wasn’t.”

Since everyone had potions on hand in Warden’s Vale, it was rare that major injuries were healed by casters. No one waited around with a sliced-off finger or a broken leg when it could be taken care of right away. There were healable things that people could afford to wait on, however.

Minor injuries like sprains and chipped scales and teeth went on a waiting list if a healer wasn’t on hand. Once in a while, a Druid would go around taking care of the requests on that list. On the topic of chipped teeth, dental work was also the purview of healing. One could pull out a recently-damaged tooth and cast a healing spell to get a replacement tooth.

Healing mothers after childbirth was one of the more reliable, if infrequent, sources of work for healers. One could apparently die from the whole affair and a healing spell prevented that. It also allowed the mothers to be out and about right away, allowing them to get back to whatever they wanted to do. This, of course, applied to livestock as well.

“…and a cracked pot. Hm…how much mana do you have at present?”

“I’m almost full,” Glasir replied. “Did you need me for something?”

“No,” the aide handed Glasir’s booklet back to her, “it’s just part of a new policy handed down by Baroness Zahradnik. Something about keeping track of mana to…what was it again?”

“To determine the throughput of the magic caster demographics in the territory,” the Elder Lich still didn’t look up from its desk as it answered the aide. “Conditions have developed to the point where considerations for Mana Economics must be made.”

“M-mana Ec…ec…”

“Mana Economics. Determining the territorial mana supply and regeneration rates and optimising the utilisation of mana across all fields.”

Glasir and the Lizardman students stared blankly in the wake of the Elder Lich’s description.

“Well, I guess that being full of mana is basically wasted mana regeneration,” Fesres said. “We can learn a conjuration spell or two after Twine Plant.Conjure PaperI or Summon Spices…what do you think, Mister Lich?”

The Elder Lich rose from its desk, robes whispering over the hardwood floor as it made its way over to a bookshelf. It retrieved a large binder and started flipping through. It stopped after a moment and ran a bony finger down the page.

“Production of plant-based paper currently exceeds local demand,” it said. “There are no local sources of salt. My recommendation, however…are you capable of conjuring Celestial Uranium?”

“Er…what’s that?”

“What about Adamantite?”

“A-Adamantite? Didn’t even know that was possible.”

“Then…Orichalcum? Mithril?”

Fesres shook her head at both. The Elder Lich let out a sigh that sounded more like a death rattle.

“In that case, consulting with the local guilds to determine the optimal resources to conjure is advised.”

After returning the binder, the Elder Lich headed back to its desk. The Lizardman aide offered them an apologetic look.

“Thank you for your hard work,” she bowed from behind her counter. “We look forward to seeing you again.”