Chapter 67: Pondering

The room was vast, stretching out beneath a soaring ceiling adorned with ribbed arches that seemed to reach high up. The arches divided the space into sections.

Massive stone pillars rose up at regular intervals throughout the hall, their surfaces adorned with elaborate carvings. Lantern sconces were affixed to the walls between the pillars, their flickering flames casting a warm glow that danced across the stone floor below.

Long wooden tables, hewn from sturdy oak, dominated the center of the hall, their surfaces polished. Each table was lined with benches, where some knights sat shoulder to shoulder, their helmets on the table illuminated by the soft glow of lanterns.

The walls of the hall were adorned with banners and tapestries. Above, a series of stained glass windows depicted various scenes, their jewel-toned hues casting vibrant patterns of light and shadow across the room.

On one table, a rather unique trio sat.

"Damn, this food is pretty good!" Mirabella could not help but exclaim as she chowed down on a piece of steak.

"Could you be more uncouth?" Agatha questioned dryly.

"Oh, shut it, blondie," Mirabella shot back with a full mouth of food, this was not helping her image. Agatha shook her head as she took a sip of her tea. To her side sat Lucinda, who sat seemingly lost in thought. "That Asaun guy is a real creep, but at least the food here at his base is pretty good."

"You would do well not to use such crude wording on a knight captain," Agatha advised.

"Like I care, if you're gonna act like a creep, I'm gonna call you one," Mirabella argued, continuing her meal.

"While Ser Asaun may seem a bit too much, he is a good man," Lucinda finally spoke up, drawing the gazes of the other two.

"You know him?" Agatha asked, and Lucinda nodded.

"He fought in the festival last year, and he was quite skilled as well as powerful," her words, of course, elicited interest from the two girls. "His abilities with a sword far surpassed my own. If I did not have magic on my side as well as my Familial Arts, then I would have surely lost our short bout," she admitted.

"Guess the guy wouldn't be a knight captain if he was not at least a bit strong," Mirabella mumbled, but Agatha's interest was more drawn to something else.

"I have to say I am quite curious as to what the Familial Arts of a spawn of Octavia are," Agatha stated.

"Ah, well, I guess I never did tell you all," Lucinda murmured thoughtfully. "I suppose there would be no harm in telling you. We will be fighting together in the near future." Lucinda gestured to her eyes. "This is a passive Familial Art called Chthonia."

"Chthonia?" Agatha repeated the tongue-twisting name.

"And what does it do?" Mirabella asked. "I doubt making your eyes a pretty red is all." Lucinda chuckled.

"Of course not. Chthonia helps me process and dissect any kind of magic to give the full scope of it. It helps me broaden my processing ability for magic. With it, I can use any spells I see, no matter how absurd they are."

"Hold on, does that apply to other Familial Arts as well?" Agatha questioned, the very prospect seeming absurd to her. Lucinda nodded her head.

"I can."

"Whoa, ain't you a little too overly strong?" Mirabella questioned. Agatha shared the sentiment. Lucinda could only give a sheepish laugh.

"Others certainly see it so," but she would rather change the topic to something that is not about how freakishly strong she is. "But enough about that, I have to say, where are Mikoto, Fiona, and Victoria? I have not seen any of them since we came to Emberreach."

"The professor said that the wolf girl and the other blondie were busy in some lab with something. Mikoto was with Professor Eugene; the professor wanted him as a witness because he fought with the fourth princess of Vel'ryr," Mirabella explained.

"Mikoto battled with Amaury?" Lucinda questioned. "And he came out alive?" There was some absurdity in that; she had met Amaury, and the girl held absurd power. She did not doubt Mikoto's prowess, but to think he would even survive. "How is Mikoto?"

"Same arrogant bastard as always; he wasn't even injured," Mirabella stated with a small smirk.

"Hmm, odd that you refer to Mikoto by name now," Agatha stated, glancing at the princess. "Was it not usually 'that masked bastard'?" Agatha questioned.

"Tch! What's it matter that I call him by his name now?" Mirabella asked with a quirked-up eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing," Agatha stated, glancing away.

"Oi, don't go saying stuff and not bothering to continue it," Mirabella spoke with clear annoyance in her tone.

("These two seem like oil and water; it seems the smallest things can cause them to grow annoyed with one another.") Lucinda thought in contemplation. ("It would be good if we can all grow bonds with each other; we will be fighting together in the near future.") And so an idea hit her.

"Hey, you two, would you like to go see a play with me?" She asked; the other two girls looked at her in confusion.

"A play?" Mirabella questioned; she had seen her fair share of plays in the past. She was never that much of a fan of any.

"Hmm, what kind of play?" Agatha asked; she, however, had never seen one. Most of her entertainment came from books.

"They vary usually, but there's always a play in the city square of Emberreach," Lucinda stated excitedly. "Come on, it could be fun."

"Not like we got anything better to do," Mirabella murmured.

"For once, I agree," Agatha stated with her. Lucinda gave a bright smile.

"That's great! Then it's settled, to the city square!"

------------------

Emberreach, while not even the capital of Verdantis, was quite large, not quite as large as the capital of Galadriel though. But that did not diminish the grand sight of the city; it was the exact opposite of what you would expect in Galadriel. There were way more places of worship, cathedrals, and churches.

As well as a lot of statues depicting the Gods; he even saw one for Rheya.

"Quite the sight, is it not?" Ser Asaun stated; he, along with Professor Eugene, was walking in front of him. "Emberreach holds a reputation for being the city with the most places of worship, surpassing even capital cities," he continued.

"Yeah, I can certainly see that," Mikoto murmured as they passed by yet another large cathedral.

"Oh, but it just occurred to me that I have yet to ask for your name," the knight just realized. "May I have the name of you, mysterious fellow?"

"It's Mikoto Yukio."

"What a charming and beautiful name!" Asaun exclaimed. Mikoto blinked; the man was odd. That fact just cemented itself more as he spoke. "I have to say, out of all the students sent here, you are by far the most interesting."

"Oh? What about the spawn of Octavia? Surely she is more interesting," Mikoto argued, but Asaun merely chuckled.

"One would think so, but I find the unknown much more appealing than that which is very known," the knight informed. Mikoto hummed.

"You don't say."

"And as a knight, my intuition tells me you are quite the interesting fellow, Mikoto," Asaun stated.

"Maybe your intuition is right," Mikoto murmured, but he sought to change the subject. "But I have to say I love the ring."

"Oh, this?" Asaun gestured to the ring on his right hand. "You've a good eye."

"I sense magic from it," Mikoto stated, wanting to gauge for more information. "Where'd you get it from?"

"It was with me as a babe, according to my foster father," Asaun informed with a small, sincere smile. "I know not its origins, but I feel as though it connects me to my birth parents in some way." Mikoto internally sighed.

("Damn, I haven't even stolen it yet, and I already feel bad.") Mikoto shook his head as Professor Eugene spoke up. He had honestly forgotten that the man was here.

"We've arrived," the man stated as they came to a stop at a particularly large cathedral.

"So what are we actually doing here? I get that I'm a witness and all..." Mikoto trailed off as Asaun saw fit to inform him.

"One of the governing body members resides here, the archbishop," the knight captain started. "Though we have multiple witnesses that have encountered Vel'ryr troops, it could still be seen that those troops were deserters who stole technology from Vel'ryr to chase down their own goals."

"I see, I fought a hostile princess of the empire, meaning that would certainly be enough to find Vel'ryr hostile," Mikoto surmised.

"Indeed," Professor Eugene stated. "The archbishop will use a simple mind-reading spell to confirm things, but worry not, he shall only look at more specific memories."

"I don't really mind." It was a simple matter to keep memories he did not want seen hidden.

"Then let us not keep the archbishop waiting any longer," Asaun stated as they entered the cathedral.