Born From A Divine Gamble

He was almost ready to leave his room already but one last element delayed him, his belt. Years ago, just after he was created, he had complained about the size of his belt buckle, it was way too big for him. He ended up having Harriett change it for a smaller one that looked more fitting to his size but right now, the opposite was happening.

He kept growing and growing until his belt buckle ended up looking ridiculously tiny hanging from his waist. He had Harriett buy him a new leather strap to replace the old one and had her tie up the large buckle he received at his creation. She was almost done with it and after that, he would have a brand new belt with an appropriately sized buckle.

He wondered if Strength or Luck knew how tall he"d end up being and that was why that belt buckle was so large. Maybe it was just a wild guess from Luck? That wouldn"t be overly surprising.

"Here it is master. Please try it on."

Emp slipped the belt around his pants and tied properly. It was just the right size.

"Thank you Harriett, it fits, good job."

"Thank you master. Although I think a more n.o.ble buckle to fit your standing would be better, I believe master to be good looking in whatever he wears."

"Thanks Harriett."

That was a slightly strange way to express her opinion but he understood what she meant. Not about the good looking part but about the more n.o.ble buckle. He had heard and seen that many n.o.bles liked to expose the emblem of their houses on their belts.

It was a practical way to do it when their clothes didn"t leave any s.p.a.ce for it in their complicated designs. High n.o.ble in particular liked to wear things adorned with many jewels and have precious stones directly sewn into the fabric of their clothes so they didn"t have much s.p.a.ce.

He could have done the same, about the belt buckle not the clothes, but it would have exposed the Muracier"s wall to everyone so he didn"t. Plus, he felt a bit attached to that large buckle. He had outgrown all his clothes so this buckle was the only thing remaining from his creation aside from the four divine treasure he was gifted.

"I"m leaving the room to you and Celtine for now I won"t be away long."

"There isn"t much to look after anymore though." Harriett answered while c.o.c.king her head to the side.

Emp had started collecting all of their things and stored them in the bag. The rooms were pretty close to being as empty as they were when he first came in. He was ready to leave at anytime, most likely before the end of the week.

"I guess you could go outside then. The garden might be interesting to see."

"Don"t worry for us master, we"ll find something to do."

"In that case, see you later."

He waved to Harriett and then Celtine sat further back with her writing tablet and left for the duke"s office.

On the way, he came across many other students who were going the same way he was and adjusted his pace to walk there with them and talk. Their group almost ended up all coming together before they reached the office.

"Does anyone know what we"re being gathered for?" Kenneth asked the others.

Of course, none of them knew. Emp gave them a bit of information since saying he didn"t know as well would be a lie.

"The old lord Muracier wants his grandson to gain experience and he asked him to select some promising students to work with him."

"For real? What"s Odilon here for then?"

"The next lord obviously recognized my talent! The old lord must have spoken highly about me, I knew he had high hopes for me!"

The others all laughed and they soon reached their destination. They were all quickly allowed in and joined up with those that were already there. Then, they were made to wait for the last few that were missing.

From what Emp told them, the others expected to see all the talents from every group but they were surprised to find that almost everyone here was from their group C.

There were Norval, Nicolas, Oran, Frits, Cyril, Oliver, Kenneth, Odilon, Ivar and even Zoran. Then, Penny, Brenia and Nessa came too and were soon followed by Noirantel and Jin, those were the only two men not from group C.

Everyone wanted to know what this was about but no one wanted to be the one to ask the duke. Instead, they waited for the old man to express himself after everyone was gathered, they didn"t even speak to each other while they waited.

"Ay, ye all finally be here. Let me tell ye all why I be gatherin ye here. I be given a list of names and a letter goin with it. All yer names be on the list and this message from the Muracier"s young lord be addressed to ye all."

The old man produced the letter while many of those present held on their breath. The feeling was similar to receiving a letter from an imperial prince or a king, this sort of things usually never happened.

Instead of reading it himself, the duke presented the letter to one of his servants with a much better diction and p.r.o.nunciation who read it aloud for everyone. The unfolded letter let everyone see clearly the wall stamped on the red wax at the back of it.

Emp didn"t really need to listen to that letter because he was the one who wrote it. It spoke about how he was tasked to bring order to the kingdom of Greenpeaks as a form of test and how he requested the help of everyone on the list to accomplish this goal.

In the letter, he also precised to everyone that he knew some of them had prior arrangements or tasks to attend to and that they were free to refuse this invitation. He would not be taking it to heart as he already expected many to refuse, he had written all those names as a form of recognition of their efforts up until now and their talents.

Whether they came for his help or not would not change his opinion of them and that was a Muracier"s promise. In fact, he would rather have less people than more who didn"t want to be there.

Instead of listening to his own words, he looked at the reactions of everyone. Many looked excited or proud to receive acknowledgement from a Muracier which was funny to Emp. Nessa looked particularly relieved when the part about being free to refuse the invitation came. He had written that part especially for her so he had expected it.

He couldn"t possibly not mention her since the simple act of placing her name in the list would help her legitimize her claim on her father"s territory but accompanying him would have put an axe into her plans. This way, they got the best of both worlds for her.

Others too seemed pleased to hear that they weren"t obligated to answer the call, it seemed that many had other things to do. Emp would soon hear about it all, he had no doubt.

"There it is. The Muracier head isn"t here today so that ye all won"t feel obliged to follow his grandson. Ye all be free to leave if ye don"t want to partic.i.p.ate. Ye can all discuss this between yerselves if ye want. Once all those that want out have left, I"ll give the remainin ones further instructions."

"In that case, you will all have to excuse me, I won"t have the pleasure of accompanying you all this time. Tell the young lord I was flattered when you meet him please." Nessa showed everyone a bow to go along with her words and a servant opened the door again for her to leave.

After her, Frits, Norval and Noirantel also left almost right away.

Frits and Norval said they had a territory to return to and learn to take care of quickly while Noirantel gave a more colorful answer.

"While I am delighted to know that the heir has heard of me, I am forced to decline as well. I have made prior arrangements with lord Graube and I am to depart for the northern front shortly."

Since Emp didn"t know him well and thought he was a bit annoying, he wasn"t disappointed to see him go. It also meant that he would be in Nessa"s way later on however so it wasn"t a perfect ending either. He hoped he wouldn"t be too much.

Nicolas was the next one to leave saying that he was tasked with the protection of princess Heida so even though he wanted to go and even though they were going to his homeland, he couldn"t follow them.

Emp had expected that too, just like how he expected Penny to leave. She said she wasn"t suited for the military and much preferred research so she left. She didn"t seem even mildly interested for the whole time she was here. She must have thought that this whole thing was a waste of her time, Emp felt sorry even if he really would have liked to have a talented mage at his service for this.

The next one wasn"t someone who he had expected to leave however. Brenia made a dismissive gesture with her hand and harshly spoke of the whole thing.

"I"m not coming either. I feel like its a trap from these old men to have me meet that guy again, they just want to match me with him. I don"t have time to waste with that, I don"t want to be ordered around by someone I don"t know and I"m afraid he"ll put me in the back since I"m a woman. I"d rather go on my own hunt some big game. Anyone here wants to come with me? Emp? Ivar?"

Emp was almost certain she would come with them. He was really surprised to hear her words. Even if he had wanted to accept her invitation, which he didn"t, he couldn"t possibly leave since he was the commander of this whole operation.

"Err... Are you sure you wouldn"t like to come with us instead?" He asked her with a grimace.

Ivar too only made a pained face.

She showed them a disappointed pout seeing as how no one wanted to accompany her. She might have underestimated how death-seekers were ridiculed in n.o.ble society or maybe she just though that others would think that fighting giant monsters at their own pace would be more exciting than following an army.

"Oh... Alright then, I guess I"ll see you all some other time, maybe. Have fun playing soldiers guys and remember to not die for pointless s.h.i.+t. And don"t you all dare leave without saying goodbye or the next time we all see each other I"ll punch your heads five feet underground."

With that, Brenia spun around and left the office with a carefree att.i.tude. Emp had to wonder how could someone sound so angry yet seem so casual at the same time?

He felt really disappointed, it was a huge loss for him as she was a very talented fighter and he trusted her. He"d miss her, that was for certain. Maybe he could at least catch her later and give her one of the magic rings.

His thoughts were then interrupted by Zoran"s worries.

"M-m-m-m-maybe-be I should leave t-t-t-too. I don"t-I don"t.... Why was I called?" Zoran struggled to ask in between his stutters.

The short man didn"t provide any context to his question but everyone understood what he meant. Zoran had no talent in fighting whatsoever and everyone knew he was cowardly too. That being the case, how did he end up in the list of the most talented.

"Well, Penny isn"t a warrior either, she"s a mage. The Muracier heir probably thought your knowledge in light and healing magic would be useful." Ivar proposed.

It wasn"t exactly right but it was a good explanation for the rest. Zoran was not the best of mages but Emp had his name written in order to help him out.

"I think you should stay Zoran." Emp told him from the other side. "You haven"t convinced your father of not forcing you into the army have you? If you come along this time, he will get the satisfaction of saying his son worked under the direct orders of a Muracier in a military operation so you"ll be free. This is a peacemaking job too so we shouldn"t face any extreme opposition and if you truly were picked for you magic, you"ll be in the back too, with all of us around and in front of you. I think this is your best chance."

"I-I-I-I-I"ll think about it-it." The weak man answered with difficulty.

The idea of joining such a group was obviously stressful for him so he wanted to delay it as much as possible but Emp believed he was right, there would be no better opportunity for him than this.

"Don"t think too long though because the duke is waiting." Oliver pointed out.

That was true but it was for the best to take your time with this sort of decisions. Emp didn"t want any of them to regret it later. Zoran wasn"t the only one worrying about what he should do either. Ivar didn"t seem like he wanted to come either but he was in the same situation as Zoran and forced to join up the army once he"d leave the school.

That being the case, he seemed to think that this was a good opportunity as the others would be around too and working for a Muracier was more prestigious than mostly any other position he could possibly get.

Jin worried for different reasons.

"Lord director, I understand that you"re not the one who made the list but how come only Noir and I weren"t from their group? Doesn"t it seem like a group C thing? What am I doing here?"

"Ye said it, I be not the one who made tha list." The old man shrugged.

"I don"t know for the others but I"d be happy to have you with us Jin." Emp told him.

"You"d be happy to have him? The first time you met properly was when you fought him and you broke his arm." Oran said with a confused air.

"Well, he was too fast, that was the only way to win for the old me. Jin has some interesting skills and he isn"t a bad person either, he even likes cursed-bloods."

"What are you talking about? The Josephals are known to be particularly hateful towards the cursed-bloods."

This wasn"t really news for Emp since he fought both father and son for this but Zoran seemed incredibly surprised to hear about this. On a rare moment of courage for him, probably fuelled by his surprise, he spurted out some crazy revelation.

"B-b-b-but I saw him kiss a c-c-c-cursed-b-b-blood servant!"

The others all either stared in surprised or chocked on what they just heard. Even Emp was surprised to hear that. He knew that the mouse girl was dear to him but he didn"t think he was this close to her.

Jin turned red in anger.

"How dare you spout such slanderous things about me! You want to pick a fight with me?"

Zoran squealed and stepped back in fear, hiding quickly behind Oran.

The others felt unsure on whether this was an attempt to hide the truth behind Zoran"s words or if Jin was actually offended. Doubt could be read on everyone"s faces now that Zoran had said that.

"Anyway, I heard that the Muracier don"t really have the cursed-bloods in their hearts either so I guess Emp would be the one most out of place there." Odilon tried to divert the conversation away from Zoran.

"Exactly right they do! Just as they should! All cursed-bloods are disgusting freaks born outside of natural laws!" Jin approved strongly.

"Oh but this be a wrong idea. I happen to know that the young lord be rather found of a few cursed-bloods." The duke intervened, flipping the whole situation around.

"What? Is he?" Jin got confused.

"n.o.body here hates cursed-blood, you"re the one sticking out right now." Ivar pushed him further.

"We don"t care if you get intimate with your servant or not either. It"s none of our business." Oliver added in a rather uninterested way.

There was a short silence while Jin tried to figure out the intentions of everyone else before he let out a sigh.

"I guess I"ll have to see for myself. I"ll drop the matter if everyone here swears to keep it to themselves for now."

The rest agreed rather easily since they either didn"t care or were curious to see where this would all go. After all, it wasn"t everyday that someone turned out to be completely different than what everyone said of them. They were tempted to confirm aloud that he did have a thing for cursed-bloods but they wisely chose to not upset the man just yet.

With Jin"s case on hold until they met the young lord Muracier, only one person still remained undecided. That person was Cyril, he had been silent for a while now, immersed in his own thoughts.

"Cyril? What are you thinking about?" Kenneth asked him.

"Yeah, tell us what"s wrong." The others insisted.

The young man explained that he hesitated on accepting this summon because he didn"t know what was the better path for himself. His objective was to become a knight, a known and respected one to make his home village proud. To become a knight, usually, one had to be knighted by a higher n.o.ble. This meant that Cyril had to impress a n.o.ble with his talent despite his lower origin.

"I feel that answering this summon could be good because one can hardly find a higher n.o.ble than a Muracier but I"m afraid I"ll end up stuck in the role of a soldier forever and never be knighted. I don"t know what I should do. And if I accept, I won"t have time to go back home to show everyone how I progressed."

He could have written them a letter but like everywhere else, only a few in the village would be able to read properly and it wouldn"t stop him from missing them. He was very attached to his roots after all.

"What would you do if you don"t join?" the others asked by curiosity.

"I don"t know either. I just hoped that everything would fall into place."

Cyril was a hard worker and a strong fighter now, he had good grades in every subjects taught in school and put his whole being into improving himself and learning about n.o.ble society. Yet, life outside the school wasn"t like life inside of it, he didn"t know where he should go from now on and it stressed him out. He had been worried about this for months already.

Emp had hoped that he would join them but the man was right to worry. Emp had never knighted anyone and he didn"t know if he was the best person to hire a man such as Cyril. It might take a long time before he was ready to offer him what he wanted. He might be better looking for another lord to serve. That was why he had prepared a second option for Cyril. He looked towards the old man and gave him a discreet nod to signal him to speak.

The old man had been informed of this idea earlier and him, Aminui and Emp had all spoken about this. They had agreed to offer Cyril another path.

"Ye could still ask the old lord to build ye into an imperial knight. He be recognizing yer potential already, since he came to this school, and had everyone try that workout, ye be the only one that showed the will to keep at it every day. I be hearin ye made good progress and mostly can complete tha warm-ups now. I"m sure that if ye asked tha lord properly, he be willin to train ye some more and show ye off in the capital."

That was what the three of them had thought of for Cyril. Either he could join Emp in his training on the field and hopefully make a name for himself there or he could go with Aminui back to Highsteel and after a lot more training, rake in some achievements in tournaments in the capital to showcase his talent. Then, high n.o.bles would line up to knight him and possibly even the emperor himself would want him.

From Emp"s point of view, both choices were good as long as Cyril put in the efforts and he knew that he would. Cyril had always been that type of person after all.

After collecting the opinions of everyone including Emp"s which was simply "I think both are good for you.", Cyril chose to try to get Aminui to train him some more.

It was a bit disappointing for Emp because another of his friends would not accompany him on the field but he"d be with his grandfather and that meant that he would improve quite a lot. Cyril would be pleased and get closer to his goal which in turn would please Emp.

The young man excused himself and left the room leaving eight students behind if Emp was included. Oran who had nothing else to do, Oliver who was honored to work for a Muracier and hone his spear skills further on the field, Kenneth who was thrilled by the occasion and desired to help those in Greenpeaks, Odilon who kept raving about being the hero the kingdom needed, Ivar who didn"t really have a choice, Zoran who almost got pressured into accepting for his own good and Jin who needed to see for himself what the young lord Muracier thought about cursed-bloods.

"No one else be wantin to leave?" The old man inquired.

With no answer coming, he quickly followed up with the next steps.

"Good, here is what ye will all have to do now. First, if ye have not yet, ye all should write down yer wills."

Poor Zoran shook on the spot hearing that but it was just a standard thing to do. Even Blackbull pestered them to do this sort of thing all the time in case an accident happened to them.

Emp"s own will was simple, he left everything he owned to Calla and everything belonging to the Muracier house returned to it at his death. His will also expressed how he wanted Calla, Marcy and Mable to be kept safe but obviously, he had no intentions to die. He saw this more like a formality than an actual safeguard.

The old man rea.s.sured Zoran with a few words right away.

"The operation shouldn"t be all that dangerous but ye never know what will fall on you in the field.

Once yer all done with that, ye"ll all pack yer things and leave together fer Rivière-duventeu, a small town on the border of Greenpeaks and Grandbois. Of course, ye"ll all have maps to find it hastily."

Emp and the duke would have liked to set a precise date for their departure but they had to face the evidence. Even if they set one, they would miss it because of how the students weren"t prepared for this. All they could do was push them to be quick.

"On tha way there, ye will all join up with the reinforcements prepared by the old lord Muracier, they be waiting fer ye all somewhere along the road. They be told to stop at Dark-glint at the furthest. Ye be takin all those troops all the way to Rivière-duventeu and then merge with the old troops."

Emp had been given the details of their numbers and abilities already so they"d be able to recognize them. The troops themselves also knew they were to meet with the students and that one of them was their commander Muracier. They were told to come this way to join with the students as early as possible but also told to stop in Dark-glint to not worry the king of Artefine with even more foreign troops than what he already allowed in Bêtéclair for Aminui.

"Ye all be allowed to take servants or whatever ye want with ye but remember ye"ll have to carry everythin yerself and protec yer servants yerself. A battlefield is not a place fer non-fighters. There be wagons and support staff in the troops but be aware that by leavin yer things there ye agree to leave them behind in case of emergency."

This was a perfectly normal rule. n.o.bles and knights were usually required to bring their own equipment and care for it themselves. To do that, they often brought servants to do it for them and help them put on their armors. When that wasn"t the case, the task fell to a page they were training to knighthood.

"Once ye meet him ye"ll all fall under the direct commands of the young lord Muracier. He be allowed to do as he pleases with ye and the troops to train his commending skills so do yer best to follow property. Be there any questions?"

No one had any, everything the old man said sounded pretty straightforward after all.

"In that case, be gone from my office and go prepare, ye all be leavin as soon as plausible."

The students waited for the servant to correct his last word but she never did. Maybe he had told them to not do it with so many students there? They all bowed to acknowledge his words instead and left the office. Thinking of this, Emp felt the old man did pretty good this time, he must have practised.

"Ancestors, I can"t wait to meet that Muracier. Do you think he"s as scary as his grandfather?" Oran asked first thing after they closed the door of the duke"s office.

The students argued vividly about the subject for a while as they walked towards all of their rooms to prepare. They mostly had two opinions on the "mysterious" man. Either he would be just like his grandfather or he would be more like them because of his age.

"In a way, both are good things because if he"s like the elder, we know we can trust him on the field and if he"s more like us then he"ll be easier to understand and maybe bond with." Ivar a.n.a.lyzed.

The others mostly agreed but there was also a third option they dreaded.

"What if-if-if he doesn"t c-c-care for us?"

"He might not care for the ordinary troops but he should at least entertain us to a minimum, we are all n.o.bles after all. However mighty he his, he needs us." Oliver stated in answer to Zoran"s worry.

Emp thought all of that was very funny and he couldn"t wait to see their faces once he"d tell them it was him all along. He had planned on revealing it once they"d meet with the reinforcements.

Right now however, what he needed to do was to say goodbye to everyone he would leave behind. His belongings were already packed so it was the only thing he had to do before leaving.

*-*-*-*

-Rise of the squid with the face of a belle-

A skit of old often performed in the great halls of Thronewoods.

This here be the tantalizing tale of how rose this squid with the face of a belle!

Far and wide they know of the deep river belle, but when of squid spoken, they can"t tell!

Far and wide they don"t know of Black the belle and so implore this jester" squib, do tell! Do tell!

Black of ink and black of soul, no better name to be than Black the belle!

This squid had many limbs and so long they were that they touched all ends of the crescent land!

Oh so clever the squid was and so pretty the belle was but greedy and gluttonous too.

It kept taking from all, pillaging and safekeeping the fortunes of the land of green and blue.

Lords protect in vain for nothing was out of its reach and all their efforts were turned to sand.

They hired sharks to guard against the squid but the slimy scamp was not afraid to turn blue to red.

They had better pay or a puff of dark hid the truth and with a somersault hurrah! Justice turned dead.

And so it was that the shark all turned into rats.

Scampered away from fear of the squid or even turned their coats.

With no cats to catch the rats, the squid was free to rock the boats.

Riches and gold were parked into its many laps.

But life is like a river and always goes forward no matter what.

It was said that the squid could turn the river any witch way it wanted but here comes the belle.

She comes and goes, in popular wrath calls to act for the old snail on its throne of sh.e.l.l.

"I could make it all stop if only you would listen, let me put it to squat."

She sang and rang, honest and earnest!

The belle comes and the belle goes, hired by the king to cut down the squid.

Two by two she cut its limbs, always in pair made for quite the affair!

Hurray for the belle for her sword like the river flow, cut"em up like a fanfare!

The slimy ruler throws and wretch and soon enough no tentacles remains to rid.

The belle was allowed to the snail"s court for its duty achieved.

But the dark whispers, the head of the squid remained vanished.

And all that treasures, look and look again but still lost is the varnished.

This is the tale I led to the hears of fish and turtles alike and oh so loved.

For what is a squid without a face but a belle without limbs?

Made third by a snail, the belle in black awaits to take a new hold.

The first being an old turtle with a sentient carapace, the wait gets old.

But all that is sentient once gets thirsty and so this jester sings.

When a turtle gets naked, the carapace turns black.

The river ran red but in fact it has always been black.

Swords can flow and so does fate, from blue it goes black.

A squid awaits, not in the deep and dark but here at the very surface instead and it has the face of a belle named black.