Rin jumped back onto Aerwyn"s lap, bringing her little face close to his and staring into his eyes."I can talk!" Rin"s voice was filled with youthful excitement as she jumped up and down on his lap.
"I can see that, silly. Do you feel anything else different besides being able to speak?" Aerwyn asked as he pat her on her head.
"Mmm... I don"t think so." Rin mumbled as she glanced over her body once more.
Aerwyn pulled Rin in for a hug and turned his attention to Ren. She was inspecting her body, the same as Rin, having just swallowed the final mana core that she was allotted.
"What about you, Ren?"
"...Nope, I feel the same."
"Hmm, maybe brexil cats don"t evolve the same way... That reminds me, Erit, didn"t you say before that you could use magic once you became a person?"
"I"ve tried, but the only thing that works is my voice magic! Everything"s different from what mother taught me, I still can"t even turn into an arache."
"What about soul flames? You used them when you transformed into your spider form, can you control them even in your human form now?"
"I haven"t tried yet, master."
"Try... When I was learning, I just imagined what caused them to appear the first time. In my case, it was a dream I had."
Erit shut her eyes and furrowed her brow as if to let him know she was taking the matter very seriously. Aerwyn let out a quiet chuckle but was quickly taken aback when soul fire began bursting out from Erit"s eyes. Unlike the time when she transformed, the soul fire didn"t spread, it merely burned in place as it did with all his undead that weren"t fully evolved.
Erit"s head moved around as if to signal that she had opened her eyes behind the purple flames. She looked down at her hands, and they instantly sparked before being consumed in soul fire.
"Master, I did it!" Erit excitedly juggled a ball of soul fire between her hands as Aerwyn watched on speechless.
"This is... bulls.h.i.+t!" Aerwyn roared as he stood up from the sofa.
"...Huh?" Erit, Rin, and Ren all spoke at the same time and looked towards Aerwyn with dazzled expressions.
"It took me months, MONTHS, to just barely control my flames! Why can you control them the first time you try?!" Aerwyn"s little tirade caused Erit to extinguish her flames and grab ahold of his hand in an attempt to console him.
"...Maybe master paved the way for this little spider? Yeah, that"s right! Master"s advice and-"
"Stop, it"s not gonna make me feel any better... Apparently, I"m just as poor at using my own power as I am in melee combat..." Aerwyn grumbled despondently.
"Isn"t that why you created us?" Ren asked mockingly.
"That"s right! I"ll protect master!" Rin announced cheerfully, clearly not picking up on the intent behind Ren"s words.
"Thanks, I"m gonna get some sleep. Erit, can you go hand out mana cores to each of the named undead that have yet to evolve?"
"Yes, master..."
Erit being able to use soul fire would provide a significant advantage in battle, but it still annoyed him. He couldn"t even freely juggle a ball of soul fire as she had just done, and it was his d.a.m.n power. There was only so much he could blame on his memories being lost, and now it was perfectly clear that he was just talentless.
Despite the painful realization, he resolved himself to practice controlling his flames more. What he lacked in talent, he would make up for in sheer determination. If, in the end, that still wasn"t enough, then he"d always have his undead to fight for him.
The following morning, as Aerwyn was leaving the tent, he was confronted by a hobgoblin he had never seen before, but the soul fire in its eyes was a clear indication that it was one of his undead. The saber on the hobgoblins hip quickly brought the image of Teek to his mind.
"Teek?" Aerwyn asked as he a.n.a.lyzed the creature before him.
"Yes, master. I evolved last night, but I"m not here to display myself. There have been orcs sighted near camp." Teek"s voice lacked any femininity, much like her outward appearance. It sounded raspy yet monotonous and gave the impression that she was reading off a report that she found uninteresting.
"Are they still there? How many are there?"
"Only two, they were spotted only a moment ago. I was on my way to wake you up when you stepped out."
The jakku should have notified him if the orcs made any substantial movements, so this was likely only a few orcs that wandered too close to the camp. Either way, it would be best to check on the situation at the orc village. Aerwyn entered the darkness, and when he connected to the jakku, he saw nothing out of place in the village just as he thought.
"Have the undead start packing up camp. Also, bring me Gromok Grel, he"s one of the orcs in full plate armor... Get Earl Abery and his men to bring me thirty living humans as well. Do it quickly, we have a long day ahead of us."
"I enact your will, master." Teek bowed before scurrying off in a hurry.
Teek seemed overly formal, which made Aerwyn wonder where the little goblin went who got so excited at receiving a spear that she nearly fell down. She always had a good work ethic, which is why she was in charge of the goblins when there wasn"t a hobgoblin around, but her evolution appeared to kick it into overdrive.
"Master! I"ve brought you breakfast!" Erit called out from near the s.h.i.+ps. She was carrying a plate of food and walking as fast as she could, taking care not to sacrifice her n.o.ble lady-like appearance for speed.
"...Since when do you bring me breakfast?" Aerwyn asked, giving her a suspicious look.
"Master! You mustn"t be rude when a lady does something nice for you!" Rin reprimanded him. Aerwyn gave her a confused look, and out of the corner of his eye, he witnessed Erit send a satisfied wink in Rin"s direction.
"Pfft.." Ren stifled some laughter at the clearly rehea.r.s.ed scene.
"Thanks?" Aerwyn took the plate and Erit motioned for him to sit at a table and chair that had been set up outside the tent. This was no doubt Erit attempting to apologize for last night, but this morning was already too much for his tired mind to handle, so he let it be. He wasn"t mad at Erit, to begin with. In fact, in hindsight, he was more embarra.s.sed at his childish outburst than anything else.
Gromok arrived a few minutes after he began to eat, and Aerwyn explained the situation to him.
"The s.h.i.+ps will be left alone for nearly eight to ten hours, and I"d rather delay the orcs from being made aware that they are unattended for as long as we can. Will killing or capturing the scouts cause issues for Setrhyn?"
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"I don"t believe they will attack the elves again no matter what we do, but we"re very close to their village. If the scouts don"t return within a few hours, the orcs will just send more to find out what happened."
"That"s fine. Even delaying the orcs a few hours is better than nothing. Take the orcs, capture them, and bring them to me alive. Do it quickly. We leave within the hour."
Gromok didn"t bother with formalities, leaving immediately after receiving his orders. Shortly after, he left Earl Abery, and his men appeared. They surrounded the thirty living humans in a manner that would dissuade even the most bold from attempting escape. Aerwyn had finished his meal by now and walked to the first man before opening the man"s throat with his staff.
Perhaps it was just that these men attacked Setrhyn unprovoked with the intent to enslave the elves, but he noticed that he didn"t feel the same sense of guilt by ending their lives as he had with others. He turned his attention to Earl Abery and spoke as he made his way to the next human.
"We"ll be taking all four merchant s.h.i.+ps, I want thirteen s.h.i.+ps in total..." Aerwyn spoke as the blade of his staff slid across the man"s throat.
"...Two of the merchant s.h.i.+ps will be sailed by Nyris and Tylin..." Without skipping a beat, he continued his orders as he made his way to the next human in the line, ending the man"s life.
"...So that will clear up some men. I need the sailors to be on the lookout for any appropriate landing areas..." Aerwyn continued as another human fell limp.
"...Since I don"t think the broken harbor of Ardin can accommodate all of the s.h.i.+ps without being repaired first..." The b.l.o.o.d.y monologue didn"t end until the last of the thirty humans. .h.i.t the ground, dead.