The Hundred Reigns

Chapter 113: The Cocagne Affair (13)

Norbelle’s airship, TheLegendary, returned to Cocagne in triumph.

Norbelle herself arrived flying on her summoned Phoenix for dramatic effect, to the acclaim of nobles and commoners alike who had filled Fabliau’s streets to welcome them. Her eidolon landed atop the castle with a cry that sent flaming pillars rising to the sky, which the mages aboard the Legendary echoed with conjured fireworks.

Simon clapped alongside many dignitaries once Filip and the alliance’s soldiers climbed off the airship. The Ranger arrived riding on top of his wolf, waving at the people present, smiling at his son and wife… and scowling the moment he saw Simon. Their successful alliance hadn’t endeared him to the king in any way, and the way his wolf’s eyes darted from him to Remedia back and forth unsettled him. Simon and his lover had done everything in their power to remove the other’s smell, but he feared the beast might still catch something that escaped their notice…

“Verdis, how I missed you!” Norbelle lied the moment the royal family gathered, taking the prince’s hands into her own. “Did you miss me?”

“I was worried sick,” Verdis replied as he gallantly kissed her on the back of her hand, and unlike Norbelle, he was entirely sincere.

“Welcome back, my husband, my good daughter,” Remedia greeted them. “I am well and truly relieved to see you come back alive.”

“Please, was there any doubt?” Norbelle replied with a smirk. “The gods and my brother dear were with us. There was no way we could lose.”

Simon remained silent, unsure of what to make of that statement. Filip didn’t share his wariness. “You would put your brother on the same level as the Phoenix?”

“Why not? His strategy worked perfectly.” Norbelle put her hands behind her back and smiled at Simon. “All the strings he pulled backstage led to our brilliant victory.”

“I only provided sound advice,” Simon replied. His gut told him Norbelle had guessed a little too much, and he was leery of exposing himself.

“And what advice it was,” Norbelle replied, a mischievous look on her face. “Magvolia and Navarre are ours, and our siblings now stew in Telluria. A buffer area stretching from the Dragonsea to Uyo protects this beautiful nation from my wicked brother, Louis. Her Majesty can now rest easy.”

“Cocagne is more than willing to help in ensuring a peaceful transition of power in Magvolia and Navarre,” Remedia said, which was a diplomatic way of saying she was pulling back her forces and wouldn’t help Euphemia and her allies pursue Louis to the north. “What of Lady Satine? I would have expected to see her messengers escorting you.”

“Princess Satine and her allies departed for Magvolia’s Darkwood,” Filip explained. “They sought to investigate an evil lurking in the region before proceeding with the princess’ coronation.”

“But they promised to invite us to the ceremony as soon as a date was agreed upon,” Norbelle finished. “A day that cannot come soon enough.”

This reassured Simon that Satine had apparently taken his warnings seriously and convinced Alphonse, Frea, and the White Unicorn to follow through on them. The sooner they and the Oracle realized where the real danger lay, the greater their chances of saving the world.

“I say this calls for a celebration,” Norbelle cheerfully suggested. “A Grand Hunt, maybe?”

“That is a great idea!” Verdis replied with enthusiasm, having fallen into the trap his fiancée had laid so easily in his path. He had been eager to take up arms alongside his father and frustrated that his mother wouldn’t allow it. “Simon and I could participate!”

“Yes,” Filip said, squinting at Simon. “Yes indeed.”

Simon kept his mouth shut as he considered what to do. Grand Hunts were a Cocagnian tradition dating back to its unification under the first royal couple, where the Ranger asked the Mage for her hand by offering her a dragon’s skull. Only open to men, the tradition involved multiple noble house scions tracking down monsters reared in the royal woods by the Wildguard, with the winner being the one to kill the most impressive catch.

In short, it was the best setup for an unhappy ‘hunting accident.’ Nobody would bat an eyelash at the sudden demise of a Magnos advisor who had the misfortune of encountering a dangerous manticore or bandits in the woods… not to mention that the Ranger was in charge of organizing such events, with little to no input from the queen.

Remedia wasn’t blind to this exercise’s purpose and tried to shoot it down. “Such an event would be welcome, but premature,” she argued with Filip. “Accidents are common in Grand Hunts, and our borders aren’t entirely secure yet. I would rather avoid shedding the blood of our youth.”

“On the contrary, I think it will be good for Verdis and everyone else,” Filip countered. “A Grand Hunt offers many opportunities for levels. What better way to prepare our young for future conflict than practical experience?”

He’s not wrong, it might be a good opportunity to gain a few levels, Simon thought. He was confident he could take out any creature sent his way… but perhaps not without the Overlord outfit. I could go as a Ninja and reinforce my Agility. It would be the safer option, not to mention I doubt most weaker monsters would give me much Overlord experience at my current level.

Remedia and Filip argued for a bit on the matter, though it made no difference. Organizing a Grand Hunt fell under the King-Consort’s purview and Remedia didn’t have a good excuse to prevent the event. Cocagne had just won a great victory worth celebrating. What better moment would there be to impress the population and showcase Cocagne’s power?

In the end, the best Remedia could do was ask for a delay until representatives such as Satine or Euphemia could come observe it; something that might take weeks or months.

“Are you pleased with yourself?” Simon whispered to his half-sister, knowing exactly why she had planted the idea in Verdis and Filip’s heads.

“Quite,” she shamelessly confirmed. “This Grand Hunt ought to be suitably amusing.”

“At no cost to yourself, since you cannot participate.” Her plan was painfully transparent: ensure Filip died trying to kill him during the Grand Hunt so it would cause an international incident, destabilize Cocagne, get rid of an internal obstacle with plausible deniability, and hopefully create an opening for Simon to fill. “This was ill-advised. I’m already making steady progress.”

“Don’t tell me you’ll miss on your chance to take out the romantic competition?” Norbelle whispered, before leaning in to kiss his ear. “My dear Daddy-Killer.”

Simon froze where he stood, his spine stiffening, though he managed to hide his unease behind a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

Norbelle simply smirked at him and patted him on the shoulder, a knowing look on her face. “It’s truly clever, how you’re setting the stage on fire,” she replied. “I can’t wait to see the endgame.”

She knew. Or she at least suspected enough to try and gauge his reaction. Simon knew better than to confirm her suspicions. “I don’t understand.”

“I think you do,” Norbelle replied with a shrug. “Either way, Mother believes Lauriane and Dassein will fold once we’ve slain Louis, and she is pleasantly surprised with your work here. She will let bygones be bygones.”

That was… surprisingly considerate given how Euphemia had tried to execute him once. He guessed she was pragmatic enough not to let old grudges get in the way of her power and successful governance.

Simon was considering how to proceed with the next steps of his plan when he sensed a sudden attempt at telepathic contact. Shabram.

“Your Majesty?” Shabram called out to him, her tone slightly unnerved; a rarity that put Simon on edge. “Prince Louis sent orders to our ship to divert from its course to another location. We are to board an airship to a new base.”

“A new base?” That was unexpected. “Where?”

“I do not know, which worries me greatly. If Prince Louis refused to tell me, then it means he distrusts me.”

Simon had a bad feeling about this, too. Did Louis have a secret trick kept in storage for the day he was pushed into a corner? “Play the model ally for now and keep me informed of any new developments.”

“As Your Majesty wishes.”

Simon closed the telepathic line with a clouded mind. The War Party had been pushed back to the end of the continent, more or less securing a quick end to the Endymian civil war before it could truly begin. Cocagne had secured peace with Euphemia and its borders. He had even managed to reason with the White Unicorn, and Vouivre was mysteriously inactive. Everything was going extremely well.

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So why did he have this ominous feeling sinking in his gut?

—------

Remedia was quite tense during their spellcasting training session.

Maybe it was her husband’s return, the Grand Hunt, the situation abroad, or a combination of all of them that bothered her, or perhaps the fact that they would have to stay strictly professional during their time together from now on. Either way, she mostly stuck to keeping her arms crossed with a thoughtful look on her face as Simon attempted to master the Timethief spell.

One of the miasma-based Chronomancy spells he learnt from the Chronomicon, it was the closest thing to a standard Haste spell he could get. This particular piece of sorcery worked by applying the Slow status to a target and used the ‘stolen time’ to grant the caster Haste in return. It was relatively inefficient in that the former condition was required to trigger the latter, but it still had its offensive uses.

“You are doing well, Simon,” Remedia complimented him after another round of practice. “Your intuitive grasp on magic is simply astounding.”

“I only progressed so far thanks to your teachings,” Simon replied humbly. And the Overlord Class’ Perks.

“You flatter me, yet I feel I only refined what was already there. You possess both the curiosity, flexible thinking, and affinities required to become a powerful spellcaster.” Remedia bit her lip. “Natural talent indeed…”

Simon frowned. “What’s on your mind, Remedia? The Grand Hunt?”

“No, no, it’s… not only that…” She took a deep breath, and Simon could tell she had reached some kind of important decision. “Close your eyes.”

Simon blinked in confusion, then followed her command. He wondered what she had in mind until he sensed reality shift around them as they teleported away. His feet landed on sand rather than the room’s solid stone floor, and the warm wind on his face suggested Remedia teleported them to the beach they briefly visited during their first time together.

Remedia’s hands took his left palm, opening it… and then placed something inside. A warm object that nearly burned his skin on contact in a way that felt incredibly familiar.

No way… Simon dared to peek at the queen’s gift: a small Crestone covered in arcane symbols radiating with a surge of mana. This cannot be…

Yet he knew it was the real deal, even before he checked its stats. The power within sensed his true nature and despised him like the Merchant before it.

The Mage: The master of magic, the arch-sorcerer, the wise wizard who weaves spells capable of wonder and terror into being.

Strength D, Vitality E, Agility D, Perception C, Magic S, Intelligence S, Charisma A, Luck A.

Innate Perk: Adaptive Spellcasting (Passive): You are a master at creating customized spells. You can create unique variants of any spell you can analyze and memorize, changing its element to one in which you have a Very Strong affinity with.

Innate Perk: Spell Analysis (Passive): You can instantly understand and analyze any spell you see, gathering intel such as its affinity, spellcasting school, and casting time. The amount of information you can gather depends on your Intelligence stat.

Innate Perk: Accelerated Spellcasting (Passive): The time it takes you to cast spells is cut in half.

Innate Perk: Efficient Spellcasting (Passive): The mana cost of your spells is cut in half.

Level 1 Mage Perk: Magic Master I (Passive): You can learn and cast any spell up to Tier I, except those belonging to the Prayer, Performance, and Libromancy schools of spellcasting.

“You warned me that consuming a Noble Crestone resulted in a powerful mana surge,” Remedia recalled as she sat on a nearby rock facing the sea. “We are far enough away from civilization that no one should track it back to Cocagne.”

“But… why?” Simon asked Remedia, utterly dumbfounded. “Is this a test?”

“No, it is a reward.” The queen smiled slightly. “You did as I asked, and saved Cocagne from a costly war. Our borders are safe, and Euphemia will be too occupied fending off Louis to bother my Queendom.”

“But what of the third wish?” Simon replied. He had expected to undertake another task before they had this discussion. “I didn’t fulfill it.”

“I have a third wish, that is true… but it is something I would rather see you fulfill out of your own free will rather than a sense of obligation.” Remedia stared at the Mage Crestone. “Either way, as I told you, it is not a high price to pay for me. You may consume the Crestone now.”

“Are you certain?” Simon inquired. This entire setup bothered him, because he could tell it was still a test of some kind. “There is no guarantee you will be able to recover it once I devour it, even with your knowledge.”

“I am certain I shall… and your reluctance only solidifies my trust in you,” Remedia insisted. “Go on. Take your pick.”

Simon clenched his jaw as he reviewed the Mage’s stats. True to its nature as the archetypal spellcaster Class, its stats and Perks fully focused on magical mastery. Magic Master being unlocked at level 1 also meant the Mage would always be one spellcasting Tier higher than the Overlord.

All the innate Perks were highly interesting and useful. Accelerated and Efficient Spellcasting were so simple, yet so effective, both would provide him with a tremendous boost to his magical proficiency; the former more than the latter, since branded individuals provided Simon with all the mana he would need. Spell Analysis would further his understanding of magic and grant him an intel advantage.

However, all of those paled in comparison to Adaptive Spellcasting. Almost all Darkness and Ailment element spells required miasma, and he had a Very Strong affinity in both, which meant… which meant…

“I could create miasma variants of existing spells?” Simon inquired, his fingers trembling with excitement.

“My thoughts exactly,” Remedia confirmed. “For example, you could create a variant of the Haste spell using Ailment rather than Support as its main affinity, which will likely work by giving you the status at a cost. I am convinced that whoever created your ‘Hell’ series of spells used a similar process to adapt the original elemental versions.”

This… this would change everything. Rather than break out of the Overlord’s exclusivity on miasma spells, Adaptive Spellcasting would let him create new branches of sorcery that fell within those confines. This would greatly improve his spellcasting repertoire, and by extension, his crafting expertise. The possibilities were immense.

“Do you have other Perks similar to this one?” This discovery had inflamed Simon’s greed. “Perks that let you invent new sorcery from nothing rather than adapt existing spells?”

“There is a very high level series of Perks called Spellforge that helps me invent new spells on the fly by merging existing ones, among other things, but it would take you many, many years to unlock them,” Remedia replied with a hint of amusement. “Those are years I am not willing to give you yet, Simon, if ever.”

“Yes… yes I understand.” It probably didn’t matter either way. Adaptative Spellcasting alone would open up so many options that it would take many reigns to explore them all. “Then, let us proceed.”

Simon put on the Overlord outfit and consumed the Crestone, feasting on its power as he did with the Merchant one a handful of reigns back. He felt the Mage’s spirit resist him, denying him its memories, its wisdom, its past… but it was too weak to deny him its power. A pulse of raw mana erupted from his hand in a gust that sent wind flying in all directions, with Remedia waving her hand to keep it all away from her.

Simon felt the rush of power coursing through him, the flow of experience, the joy and thrill of a new Perk joining those he had already consumed.

You have assimilated the Adaptive Spellcasting Passive Perk. It shall now replace Devour Crestone III.

Simon faced Remedia, who had observed the entire ritual with close attention. They locked eyes for a long moment, the tension palpable, until the queen’s shoulders relaxed in relief. Simon had passed her test.

“You feared I would teleport away or leave once I had what I wanted,” Simon guessed. “You thought I was only using you for the Crestone, or that I would kill you once you outlived your usefulness.”

“The thought crossed my mind,” Remedia confirmed, smiling kindly at him. “Your father could be charming when he wanted to. I chose to believe you were different.”

“I am different. I do not abandon those who are kind to me.” The reigns had forced him to compromise on many things, but gratitude was a virtue Simon Magnos would never forget. “Your trust will not go unrewarded, Remedia.”

“Thank you, Simon. I am very relieved to hear that.” Remedia plucked a Vassal Mage Crestone from her necklace, which Simon recognized as the Wizard one, and then held it within her fingers. “Noble Refinement.”

Mana coursed through the Crestone, its arcane scripts growing more complex and more layered; like a writer enriching the original text with new additions until a mere booklet became a grimoire. A handful of stones around Remedia’s neck were sucked dry for their magic to complete the process, until the Noble Mage Crestone was fully reborn from its Vassal.

“You can connect a Vassal Crestone to the Noble archetype it is a mere fragment of,” Simon guessed, amazed by the phenomenon he had just witnessed. “This lets you recreate any Noble Crestone from an associated Vassal one.”

“This spell only works if the Noble Crestone has been destroyed, or else the Vassal cannot tap into the greater archetype, and it requires an immense amount of skill and mana to perform…” Remedia chuckled upon catching the flash of desire in Simon’s eyes. “You are thirty levels away from casting that one yet, Simon.”

Simon grunted in disappointment. Of course such a spell would be a high-Tier one. It’s not like I will need it either… My current goal revolves around taking Noble Crestones from their current holders, not recreating them from scratch.

“What is your third wish, Remedia?” Simon asked. He still intended to fulfill it, but out of affection rather than obligation.

“It is too early for me to tell… although I believe you will come to guess its nature on your own.” Remedia presented him with the Mage Crestone again. “Will you take another Perk?”

“I only have one slot left,” Simon admitted with some hesitation. Accelerated Spellcasting would be great, but there were so many powerful Noble Class Perks, and so few available Devour Crestone free spaces… “Do you think I should use it?”

“I will not stop you if you want, but I would suggest against it,” Remedia replied. “Opportunities when you can claim a new Noble Crestone will be rare, if not unique. You should at least always keep a spot open in case you get your hands on one. You never know which Perk will be most useful for you, or when the right moment will come.”

Wise advice, as always. Simon decided to wait for now. “True. You might need to restore the Ranger Crestone soon at this rate.”

He meant it as a dark jest, yet it didn’t amuse Remedia in the slightest. “I do not want you to slay my husband, Simon.”

“Me neither,” Simon replied. He felt ambivalent about Filip after learning about how his father had cursed him. While he didn’t like the Ranger—especially not after the assassination attempt against him—he didn’t particularly want him dead. “Yet he will try to kill me during the Grand Hunt.”

“He will try, and you will ensure he fails,” Remedia insisted. “In spite of his faults, Filip remains a good man with whom I shared many happy moments with once upon a time. I do not wish him dead, and neither will Verdis. Losing his father would devastate him.”

True, Simon thought. He had grown fond of the young prince and considered him a friend by now. He will need my support once his parents divorce. It will hit him hard.

“Moreover, his death during the Grand Hunt would spark another tournament, not to mention an international incident if you were implicated in his demise,” the queen insisted. “Swear to me you will not quarrel with him, Simon.”

“I swear it,” Simon reassured her. “In that case… I suppose you wouldn’t have a perfect spell to deal with the situation?”

“I do not.” Remedia smiled at him, having read his mind. “You will need to invent it.”