CHAPTER 16.

"They are powerful people who wield one of seven weapons of legend," stated Bellamy,"it is said that they are weaker versions of the Legendary Weapons and that they can be used to summon people from other worlds to act as their wielders or if that fails they can find people from our world to wield them. The Seven Star Heroes are incredibly powerful in comparison to most warriors Sir Adrian, though they are nothing compared to your power."

"That is very...interesting." he stated, his emotions moving towards an interesting combination of intrigue/concern/anger," Anything else about them? What are they doing about the waves?"

Andrea and Bellamy looked towards each other, and for once she felt that they were on the same wavelength. This was a complex topic that they had stumbled on, and Adrian was very concerned about the answer. Andrea took a moment to consider it and then decided to explain in full, it would likely be for the best, she was certain that Adrian would not react well to a lie, even a lie of omission.

"They are politically constrained." she stated," All the Seven Star Heroes are very important figures in their country's politics and lack the ability of the Legendary Heroes to teleport directly to the waves. Which makes deploying them a problem."

"If they are truly unusually strong, and given that you used them as a benchmark for incredible strength I can only imagine that they are a critical part of a nation's military power. Does Melromarc have a Seven Star Hero?" he asked.

"Yes sir we do," said Bellamy," you have already met him. King Aultcray is the wielder of the Legendary Cane."

At this point, they had neared the atelier so Andrea said," We are here Adrian, perhaps we should continue this later?"

For a moment his impatience was clear to her senses, he definitely wanted to continue the conversation, then it was rapidly eradicated as he took a deep breath and slipped into his battle mindset. He was about to say something when he took a look at the atelier and then blinked rapidly in succession while shaking his head.

A second later he closed his eyes for a second or two and opened them slowly, before saying," What exactly is this odd feeling around the atelier? It feels like its...distorted somehow."

Andrea frowned slightly before extending her mana towards the atelier, she had her suspicions about what he was feeling and her mana thread confirmed it, somehow he had sensed the protections around the atelier, perhaps it was a passive skill that he had obtained from the Holy Sword?

Bellamy didn't have to verify the situation as she did, he answered immediately while she was still contemplating Adrian's new ability," Those are magical protections, sir. I do not know much about the Witch of Ruin but even I have heard of her skill and the amazing enchantments she is capable of. It is likely that these protections are needed for her safety and to ensure that theft is prevented."

Andrea wanted to interrupt here, Agatha was many things but she was not one to bother with such paltry protections. If it were up to her she would have layered the place with any number of lethal spells rather than the alarm and barrier spells she could sense, this was probably the work of one of her apprentices, Ethan most likely, but just as she was about to say so, the door was opened and it slammed into the wall hard, the sound echoed throughout the street and some nearby birds were started enough to take flight.

Andrea took one look at the unnerving smile on Agatha's face, the feeling of hunger/awe/desire and immediately realized that this had been a mistake.

"Show me that Sword of yours boy!" said the old mage. Andrea felt like slamming her head against the wall as Adrian began to shift into his battle mindset fully, the Sword that he had hidden away by transforming into a small knife was immediately transformed into a hazy looking blade that she knew was called the smoke sword, it allowed him to generate and control some very dark grey smoke, it was a weapon he had told them was meant for retreating from a powerful enemy. She had to stop this before it escalated.

"Agatha," she said, her tone flat and annoyed, "please meet Adrian Black, Hero of the Sword and Bellamy, a member of my party. Adrian, Bellamy meet Agatha, magic obsessed maniac."

Her words disrupted the behaviour of both sides, Andrea felt a surge of embarrassment/annoyance from Agatha but ignored it, the old woman should know better than to act in such a ridiculous manner, no matter how much she enjoyed learning about magic.

Adrian didn't change his mindset and still had his sword at the ready but he had given her a nod and indicated towards the witch, clearly expecting her to handle the old magic-user. Bellamy was far warier, no doubt he knew of Agatha's reputation for massive overkill but despite his fear of her, Andrea could tell that he was willing to take a hit or two, even if they would be fatal, so that he could give Adrian enough time to escape, his loyalty was quite admirable but unnecessary in this case.

She continued once she was certain that neither party was about to say anything," Agatha, we came here because Adrian had some interesting questions about magic and the Holy Sword. I am sure you can come to an agreement with him if you give him a chance."

Andrea wasn't particularly worried, Agatha had clearly shown her interest in the Legendary Weapon and Adrian would probably be able to get a good deal out of her.

"Hmph! Arrogant child!" the old woman stated," Don't you dare decide if I think this brat is worth speaking to." but her words didn't match her actions as she signalled them to come in. Andrea nodded at Adrian and Bellamy when they looked to her, she wanted to sigh at their clear scepticism but was grateful that they followed her lead.

Agatha wasn't as much of a horror as she seemed. Some of the time she was quite normal.

Once they were inside the atelier, Andrea realized that her assumption about the spell barriers outside was probably false, the whole place was a mess with fragments of some gemstones lying all around the place and clear signs of a mystical explosion marking the whole room. Agatha caught Andrea's look around the room and said," That is something you owe me for brats, that Sword of yours distracted me and ruined my experiment."

Adrian raised an eyebrow and said," That sounds like it was your mistake, Miss Agatha. I had imagined that someone who is supposed to be as skilled as you are would be willing to admit to such a thing, perhaps I was mistaken."

Andrea was a little surprised to see that Agatha was actually amused by Adrian's statement and the fact that Adrian had recognized that Agatha had just been attempting to get him on the back foot for negotiations.

"Rude brat," she said, her tone still showing her false irritation," clean this mess up, and ask your questions while you're at it. You'll be showing me that sword of yours once you're finished."

Adrian was now as amused as Agatha, it seemed that he had recognized that she was willing to entertain his request first before getting what she wanted.

"Thank you," he said politely, already moving to pick up some of the fragments and directing Bellamy towards a broon near the corner, "I appreciate the help. I suppose I should start from the basics, what exactly is status magic and how does it work?"

"Hah!" she stated," you go straight for the ridiculous questions don't you brat?" but despite her words Andrea could feel a sense of approval from the old woman, "I'll talk for as long as you keep working, and you can be damn sure that I'll be running some experiments on that Sword you're cursed with."

"Cursed with?" he asked a slight bit of concern/horror/worry slipping into his mind.

"Not magically brat," she waved off his concerns," but you're going to be thrown at the waves until you die, that's a curse in its own right."

Bellamy jerked upwards from where he had knelt to pick up some of the smaller gem fragments, he opened his mouth about to say something but Adrian laughed loudly, stopping him in his tracks, Bellamy looked just as stunned as Andrea felt as she could feel Adrian's amusement/vindication towards this whole situation.

"You have a very different reaction to this whole Hero thing than most people Miss Agatha."

The old woman raised her eyebrows as she sat down in her armchair," Don't believe me brat?" she asked.

He shrugged," What you say may very well be true, in fact, part of the reason why I am so desperate to get stronger is because I have no real idea how strong the waves are going to get, but what I was referring to was that you just said it straight to my face. It's rather refreshing to have someone tell me what they think so bluntly."

Adrian and the witch ignored him, instead, the witch cackled and said," Not as stupid as I thought you were," Andrea felt the flare of approval/amusement pass through the Witch, "maybe you'll live past the year."

"Sir Hero... " muttered Bellamy, his clear horror/anger was clear to see.

Adrian just chuckled ignoring Bellamy save for waving a hand to silence him, "I certainly plan to do so," he said, "and if you are capable of more than just sly statements then my chances will improve. So, Status Magic?"

Agatha cackled again but capitulated and began to explain, it was fascinating and she could sense Adrian's emotions shift into curiosity more than anything as the conversation went on. After they had cleaned up the fragments of the gems, the three of them took a seat on the small chairs lying around the room, Andrea and Bellamy said nothing as the other two began to speak of increasingly esoteric ideas occasionally interspaced with insults and mockery.

Andrea could feel Adrian's control over his emotions slip as it was no longer needed, the deep-seated anger/hate/determination did not vanish, but as he spoke to Agatha his emotions slowly shifted to amusement/curiosity/interest. The old woman was also interested in the conversation, her awe regarding the Holy Sword had not vanished, if anything it had flared up to an even greater level and every time Adrian demonstrated a feature of the Sword be it a transformation or pulling an item her emotions peaked again.

As the conversation continued Andrea found it very interesting how Bellamy was finding himself more and more confused while the Sword Hero was genuinely amused and rather relaxed. The contrast was fascinating.