18 Crea's training regime - city hall

My opinion about the mansion took a drastic turn for the worse as soon as we entered it. Catching natural light through the wide open wooden shutters of the glassless windows was apparently more important than preventing chilly air from coming inside. Although I noticed a few brass candelabras standing on small tables, each fully equipped with a set of five candles, it seemed that they were used only as a last resort. Besides, no doormats and everyone's lack of interest in cleaning their boots resulted in a filthy and muddy floor. The elves who constantly came through the front door didn't even bother to brush off the snow from their fur cloaks and capes. Lastly, the corridors were soaked with an unpleasant musty stench and cluttered with pieces of broken furniture.

We followed Crea to the second floor and went inside a medium sized room that looked like an office merged with a meeting room. In the middle stood a square wooden table with two chairs placed on its every side, except for the west one as further in this direction was a sizeable desk. Under the east wall, I saw a mostly empty bookshelf and a large apothecary cabinet which many drawers could be used to neatly store various items.

The goddess made herself comfortable behind the desk and we took the chairs opposite to her. Eri released her hand from mine. Her eyes were bloodshot to the point that it wouldn't be strange if she started crying bloody tears. But it didn't seem as if we were going to move from here any time soon, and she was quickly getting better.

'Since you won't be able to invite anyone to the district where you live, treat this room as your own.' Started Crea while looking for something inside the desk drawer. 'We're currently low on space and furniture, but you don't mind sharing, right?'

'That's fine, but what's this place anyway?' I asked, unable to pinpoint the exact role of this building. If it was an important one, then why it was so neglected?

The goddess took out four trinkets from the drawer and placed them on the desk.

'A city hall I guess.'

'A city hall?! This shabby place?!' Erupted Eri after receiving Crea's slightly troubled statement.

In response, the golden elf pointed to a corner in which were a wooden bucket, three brooms, and a few rags. 'Feel free to do something about it yourself. Or wait for the slaves to come and clean, like everyone else. But don't count on it too much, they're kind of busy with making sure that the idiots who live in the past won't starve.'

Her words made me realize that I had my priorities wrong.

"Can you see the view outside?" I whispered to my sister before she engaged in a pointless argument.

"What view?"

The fact that Eri froze as soon as she focused on the open window meant that the recovery of her sight was steadily progressing. From this slightly elevated position, the overwhelming ruins outside looked almost picturesque. Among them were countless trails of black smoke, each marking a group of depressed elves who were trying to warm themselves near the fire. I was a bit ashamed of myself for thinking that cleaning should be something to worry about in this situation. And Eri only now realized the scale of the problem.

'I'm glad you understand.' There was a smug smile on Crea's face. 'Also, It's cute that the two of you have your own language to whisper sweet nothings in public, but it's easy to take it the wrong way. Some may think you insult them straight in their faces.' She warned and pointed at the bookshelf behind us. 'I prepared those in order to teach an otherworldly soul the language and some universal concepts. Make the girl read them to you later.'

'The girl has a name.' Cut in Eri, still unhappy about the previous insult. "Erica Yelvesfor."

'Erica? Very elf-like. Oozing with tradition. But it's fine, and since the girl already has a name...' The goddess' attention shifted to the trinkets she took out before.

Two of them were necklaces, each made of a silver chain and a transparent crystal seven-pointed star. The star was tightly wrapped with thin metal strands that neatly separated each of its arms from the center. She tossed the necklaces to us.

"Life stones… and their quality is good." Explained Eri and after some hesitation put on her bribe, then urged me to do the same. It wasn't hard to notice that for the first time since we left the underground the corners of her lips were twitching upwards.

"Just… don't start gathering on our way back, ok?"

The remaining two trinkets were small green metal ingots. Crea took them, one into each hand, and wrapped in mana particles of the same color. I looked questioningly at Eri, and she shook her head slightly, signaling that there was nothing to worry about. After this encouragement, I was able to focus on the show in front of us and watch as the ingots' shape changed.

If not for the high-pitched metallic sound that sometimes emerged when two still solid pieces collided, and the distinctive way the light was reflected, I would have thought that it was no metal but green plasticine. The ingots quickly became half-liquid, and the goddess mana particles started shaping them to her liking.

'Voice your full names, clear and loud.' Sent Crea in an autocratic manner.

"Erica Yelvesfor."

Crea clenched her right fist, trapping inside the molten metal together with green mana.

"Victor Yelvesfor."

She did the same with her left hand.

For the next few minutes, we watched as the goddess silently worked with her eyes closed. During that time my sister went back to maintaining her thorny aura, and I was pondering about our names. After all, I automatically followed Eri's lead and stated my name in a language that for sure wasn't the one from my previous life, yet the wordplay behind it remained unchanged. I found it strange, and as soon as I tried thinking 'Victor Yelvesfor' in my native language, it lost its meaning. Which meant that from the very beginning I had been using it in this form and somehow didn't notice anything. Maybe due to the unclear nature of the telepathic connection? This thing was somehow bypassing the language barrier without breaking a sweat. Or perhaps I was being influenced by my soul bond with Eri? If yes, then learning the elven language might turn out to be way easier than I thought.

'And done.' Sent Crea.

The goddess opened her hands and revealed two intricate jade-like brooches in the shape of three merged fairy wings. Each wing was different, slightly bent and rounded. Together they formed a beautiful circle. Despite their complexity and the enormous level of details, the brooches weren't bigger than twice the size of my thumbnail.

'What's this?' I asked curiously.

'A sign that you work directly for me. Wear it at all times in a visible place and no one in The Shelter will bother you. You can prove that it belongs to you by loudly stating your name while holding it. If it ever gets stolen, or if you're an immeasurable fool who somehow misplaced a priceless masterpiece made out of jade iron, then let me know. I should be able to trace it.' Responded Crea with a satisfied stretch and tossed the newly made jewelry to us.

I swiftly caught mine and had to grab Eri's as well since for some reason she was scowling at the goddess and refused to move.

Only after releasing a very deep unhappy sigh, Eri snatched the brooch from my hand. Her reaction was the opposite of the one she showed after receiving the necklace. She scrutinized her trinket with a clouded expression as if wondering if throwing it out the window wouldn't be the best solution. In the end, she didn't attach the brooch to her cloak and stopped me from doing this as well.

"Sister?"

'Just show it when there's no other choice.'

To my surprise, Eri changed her mind and started obeying Crea's previous warning about languages. She didn't look like it, but I had a feeling that she accepted her defeat. This feeling was additionally strengthened by the vicious smile that didn't leave Crea's face from the moment she showed us the finished jewelry.

We pocketed our brooches, and without any further interruptions, the goddess went back to talking about the situation in The Shelter.

First, she sent us that each district had a single elf in charge called district warden. And since there were fourteen of them, in order to save time and trouble connected with various meetings and formal affairs, each was obliged to come to the city hall at least once a day. Crea wanted any and all of the important decisions connected with The Shelter to be made in this building. As a result, any elf who played an active and essential role in this city could be found behind one of the doors on the first or second floor. That was also why we were given this room. As for the third floor, Crea's personal quarters and office were located there.

After obtaining the brooches, our status was comparable to that of a district warden. But without districts of our own, we had no actual authority to support it with. The district in which we lived was called 'The Goddess Playground', or simply Playground, and Crea was its warden. In other words, no one other than Crea could order us around, but we were also unable to force anyone to listen to our orders.

'Remember, no matter if you're talking with someone who used to be a baron, marquis, duke or even a king, in this place those titles mean nothing. There are only slaves, above them are refugees, then residents, then wardens, and me on top.' Sent Crea while playing with a feather quill.

'Nobility means nothing…? Just how did this happen?' Eri's disbelief temporarily overshadowed her bad mood.

'Maaaaaybe in the future I will think about restoring them to power.' This message was robbed of its credibility by the short snort that followed it. 'Got it? If you want to get rid of some pesky old noble, tell him that. Also if someone asks about my telepathic talent then say that I can connect up to one million elves and that there's no range limit. I'm the worst nightmare of enemy tacticians.'

Next, Crea sent a few more words on how she was planning the future power distribution and even started pondering about various untested political systems, but she stopped me when I tried to share my opinion. Apparently, this was something we would discuss in detail on some other occasion. For now, she wanted us to have a perfect grasp of the current situation inside the city, introducing new solutions came after that.

The Shelter had a straightforward political system, one in which Crea ruled thanks to the fact that she brought everyone here and due to her personal power. The existence of district wardens, who worked under her, not only lessened the burden but also shielded her from the residents' direct dissatisfaction. At the same time the wardens had to be careful, because if the number of complaints against them reached a certain threshold, Crea could easily appoint someone else in their place.

Moreover, with a territory consisting only of one ruined city, there was no need to establish any more complex rules than 'the goddess word is the law'. Especially when the said goddess could easily kick out the malcontents. I was starting to suspect that the grim situation on the surface actually helped Crea to threaten the ones living underground into obedience.

All those elven slaves had to be taken into consideration as well. Crea was their sole master and only lent them out to the wardens. Theoretically, slaves were also the only group allowed to carry weapons, but there were many exceptions from this rule. While it was nearly impossible to find an elf who willed to do such disgraceful tasks like cleaning public space, it was fairly easy to find a lot who wanted to gloriously spill some blood.

'Well, let's stop talking about this for now. I bet you're all stiff from sitting and could use some exercise, that's why next is combat training. The instructors are probably tired of waiting and-'

'Crea wait.' I stopped the goddess as she was about to get up. 'The issue with my eyes.' I reminded her.

'Oh! I almost forgot. So? Why are you fine? Decided not to use night vision? Or that girl wasn't capable of teaching you the basics?' Crea's entirely filled with shades of gold eyes were drilling holes in Eri. There was a very brief sound of cracking wood that came from my sister's direction, but other than that she didn't take up the challenge. Moreover, by maintaining a constant scowl, she successfully hid any changes in her expression.

'That's not it. My sister explained everything in detail, but there's some problem with my internal mana core. Something's stealing my life energy.'

'What do you mean?' Crea removed her mocking smile and started treating this matter a tad more seriously.

I explained how I achieved a state of quasi-meditation while trying to pinpoint my mana core and circulate life energy. How I scanned my mind and excluded each sense, and how that ominous foreign feeling was found.

'Not bad Victor, you're making quite a good use of that elven brain. You took the idea of the internal clock to a brand new level. It should make triggering overflows much easier. But you say that despite all that you were unable to find life energy? Describe that strange feeling some more.' The goddess came this way and started watching me from up close.

She unknowingly gave me the answer to the question that was bugging me from the very morning, but I put it aside for now and focused on the topic.

'Murky, foreign, conflicted, and apparently it triggers the appearance of strange rusty metal doors.'

'Huh? Metal doors? In your mind?'

'No. In real life. I clearly saw as the red light attached to each of them illuminated the corridor we were in. And that's not all. They looked like doors from my previous world and even had a plate inscribed with letters I know well.'

The goddess looked at Eri but received neither the confirmation or denial of my words. 'Stubborn girl. Anyway, you're telling me that by trying to activate the racial trait you somehow summoned something strange? Are those doors still there?'

'No, they lasted only for a few seconds, then turned into dust.'

Crea leaned against the table and started pondering over my words while biting the tip of the feather quill she picked up from the desk. From time to time she asked an additional question and sometimes wanted me to describe the same thing but with more details. In the meantime, Eri sat with closed eyes and crossed arms.

'Can you do it again?' The goddess finally asked the question I was waiting for.

'No idea, but let me try. Sister, I'm counting on you to bring me back like before.'

Eri clicked her tongue, but in the end, relaxed slightly and turned my way. She was acting strange since the time Crea gave us those brooches, and I didn't like seeing her like that. Though judging by the way she started preparing to hit me with all her power, offering myself as an outlet for her stress might have been a mistake.