Sacrifice Mage

I was a little bit floored by Khagnio’s discovery, yet at the same time, I really shouldn’t have been. Ring Zero was messing with my business. I needed to deal with that.

“The Roaring Claws don’t forget their grudges very easily,” Khagnio said. “We’ve seen that already in Eversight dungeon.”

He was right. Those bastards had attacked me and my party in our dungeon run a few months ago and had complicated everything there. We were lucky things hadn’t gotten so messed up that my mana implosion ended up wiping out my own teammates. A part of me had hoped that it had at least killed the Claws, but as with Zoltan, they had survived.

“I haven’t seen him personally,” Khagnio said. “But Shagor wouldn’t have died that easily, mageling.”

“Easily,” I muttered.

Khagnio began heading out. “I’ll poke around, see what else I can find. Although, that weird, uh, that… woman might be better at this.”

“Who in the Pits do you mean, Khagnio? Revayne?”

He had said it so strangely, I was very sure he hadn’t meant Revayne despite having blurted out her name. How would the captain of the guards have even helped with problems in the undercity? Had she even been there before?

“No, no, not her,” he said. He looked supremely uncomfortable. I had never seen him look like that, like he was almost afraid. “The other one. You know, the half-Scalekin, half-Scarseeker? The crazy one who turned into a vampire!”

I blinked. “Oh. Thefris.” Then I frowned. “What’d she do to you?”

“She doesn’t have to do anything for me to feel extremely freaked out, mageling. Can you imagine?” He looked like he wanted to grab me by the shoulders and give me a good, hard shaking. “She literally gave up her life to be with that Scarseeker. Can you believe that? Giving up your whole personhood just to be—”

“Khagnio, I’m sure it’s not as crazy as you think. We’ve got Scarthralls at the cult and on Ring Four too. They’re good people. You’ve met some of them.”

“I’m not saying they’re bad, you hairless ape. They were violated and now they’re making the best of their new life. Kind of like you,” he muttered. “But to give up who you were of your volition…” He shook his head. “I don’t want to argue about this, mageling. But there’s nothing in this world that’s going to inspire that level of…” He shuddered.

I took a deep breath and tried not to let my initial instinct assume that he was being bigoted in some way. He just had a complex, clearly. Khagnio didn’t have anything against Scarthralls.

It was just the idea of someone being so devoted to something or even someone else that had him freaking out. That was probably why he adamantly refused to have anything to do with the cults or any sort of religious faith in general. I was just left wondering what in the world he had gone through to come out with a viewpoint so ingrained.

Khagnio reiterated his promise that he’d pry into whatever the Roaring Claws were getting up to. The power of the rumour mill and their connections with various noble houses were no doubt doing a lot of work in suppressing sales for the Starlamps.

I sent a letter to Thefris when I got back to the temple and received a reply before long. She promised to look into it as well, though there wasn’t much she could actually do.

“You already seem to suspect the real culprit,” her letter read. “So all I’d be doing is confirming your suspicions. I might be able to scrounge up which houses and other overcity parties are carrying out anything clandestine regarding your business, so I can contribute there. But really, Ross, the real issue is that catching the culprits isn’t going to fix your sales.”

She was right about that. The damage they had inflicted was already spreading like rot, and it couldn’t be easily reversed, if at all.

That thought had me so frustrated, so fucking annoyed at the pieces of shit who were conspiring against us, that I actually ended up feeling terrible about myself. Was this uncontrollable, near-frothing rage what Casvat had felt when I had—rightfully—dissed him? Justified or not, it was stupid. I needed to be less angry and more purposeful.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with what I ought to do beyond what we were already attempting. And it wasn’t like that was completely ineffective.

“Our first organic sale!” Linak boasted to me a couple of days later. “An old merchant in Ring Three was highly intrigued by our device, and after he learned that you were involved, he got even more intrigued and actually bought a couple. How amazing is that?”

“Well… I wouldn’t call someone buying it after hearing I was involved as something completely organic,” I said. I smiled, though. “But it’s great we’re getting sales.”

Linak shook his head, his enthusiasm undampened despite me trying to pour cold water on it. “No, I could see it in his eyes, Ross. He was genuinely interested in the Starlamps, and rich enough to buy multiple.”

I nodded, mentally berating myself for being a Negative Nancy by nitpicking. “That’s amazing. And hopefully a sign of things to come!”

“I hope so too.”

Despite the little bit of progress, I couldn’t help but think how much of a better position we’d have been in if Ring Zero and the upper echelons of Zairgon weren’t against us.

“Try and relax, Ross,” Hamsik said later that evening.

We were all gathered together for a nice cult dinner. I had invited everyone who was an official member of the Cult of the Sun to come together so we could have a communal get-together of sorts, where I had arranged some special food too.

Regardless of what I was feeling or whatever troubles I was experiencing, I couldn’t let that distract me from my responsibilities towards the cult. A part of that included ensuring that everyone remained in good spirits. Thus, communal dinners.

It was a nice way for me to see everyone together. Our cult had grown so much, we now needed two separate tables. Our dinner hall was getting a tiny bit cramped.

Still, it was nice seeing everyone there. Sreketh and Aurier, free from school and work respectively. Hamsik making the time for us. Aqrea taking the evening off work to attend the dinner. Then there were the Scarthralls, and Santoire and Guille, plus all the new initiates whose names I couldn’t fully recall just then. I’d need a little bit of time to get to know them all.

With a shake of my head, I tried clearing my mind of negative thoughts. “You’re right,” I said. “Sorry.” I raised my glass of aged wine. “This is a night of merriment for the Cult of the Sun. Troubles are natural. But for the time being, let us all put aside our woes and take comfort and enjoyment from our togetherness.”

The others cheered and dove into their food with relish. I distracted myself from the ongoing issues with my Starlamp business by talking with the others.

It was nice learning about everyone else’s little goings on. Sreketh was stressing about her upcoming exams. Passing those would finally place her as an official academy student.

Aurier was getting orders that specifically requested abilities that only he was capable of, not Gutran, which made him a little giddy. Hamsik was taciturn as always, but he said he was thinking of purchasing a little house for himself and Thefris.

Stolen from NovelFire, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Where in the world have you been living all this time, then?” I asked.

“At her place, obviously,” he said.

I stared. Then laughed loudly.

“What’s so funny?” he asked with a little bit of heat. “Can a husband not stay at his wife’s home?”

“No, no, it’s not that. I’m just imagining some dark and brooding guy sneaking into an apartment late at night, freaking out the nearby neighbours who complain about hauntings—”

I was unfortunately interrupted when Hamsik tried to choke me.

It was nice, though. I felt a lot more relaxed, even as the dinner wound down and everybody started leaving. I made sure to thank them all sincerely for attending.

There was another distraction the next day that I had almost forgotten about in all the mess with the Starlamp business. I had been invited to Revayne’s wedding, and today was the day of the main ceremony.

The wedding customs here were interesting. Apparently, weddings were significantly more involved affairs than the ones I was aware of from back on Earth. It was all tremendously ceremonial, so much so that I started wondering if I could possibly create a Ritual of Marriage, if one didn’t exist already. Considering no sort of faith was involved in the process, it was possible.

There were multiple steps involved before the couple was considered married. The complete thing was not only extravagant in terms of time and effort, but also in terms of expenses, so it was only rich or noble families who went through it all.

Revayne’s family being one of the Great Houses of Zairgon, they spared no expense in running the full mile.

They conducted lavish parties in both House Uralivanth and House Revayne, inviting all their guests and performing Swearing Ceremonies with certified witnesses. Then there was the Exchange of Favour between the two Houses, where both Houses provided a specific gift to each other to ceremonially ensure that this was an even partnership.

I learned about quite a few other intricacies involved, like daubing the married couple with ritualistic herbal paste, reminiscent of mehndi from Earth, another strange custom where they had to take a small ride—on palanquins since horses were non-existent—and so on.

Basically, I was very justified in thinking of the whole thing as a long, elaborate ritual.

Thankfully, I only had to attend the final main wedding function which signalled the end of the series of ceremonial events.

I was a little surprised to recognize more people than I was expecting to. Guildmasters I had interacted with, adventurers I had seen, nobles I had tried to avoid, even academy professors I had the pleasure of knowing had all been invited. Of course, there was also the entire contingent of the city guards, plus a lot of the military too, going by the uniforms.

Oh, and several Councillors as well. They really weren’t kidding with the whole no-expenses-spared thing.

“Good to finally meet you, Cultist Ross Moreland,” Lord Revayne said with a genuine smile.

He was tall and thin, his face lined with age and his hair somewhere between silver and blond. I saw a bit of the Revayne I was familiar with in him too, aside from their signature dark eyes with light pupils. He had the same kind of gait, the same slightly distant look, and something about his mannerisms reminded me of her as well.

Oh, right. Unlike her, he wasn’t perpetually lost in a book. But he sure looked like he wanted to be.

“Thanks for inviting me,” I said. “Everything here is incredible.”

I was being sincere. The venue was House Revayne’s estate, and they had turned the large open grounds around the manor into a series of pavilions decked in white and adorned with lights that glowed warm gold. Stringed music filtered through the fragrant air, and there was never a server too far away from any of the guests to bring light refreshments.

“We spared no expense or effort!” he said brightly. Yes, I could see that. “House Revayne is entering a new era!”

I smiled at his exuberance. It was nice that Revayne had a good family.

“I’m also very grateful you didn’t pursue her yourself,” Lord Revayne said, with all the tact of a bulldozing water buffalo. Wasn’t he supposed to be a noble well-versed in being smoother with his words? “You are terrifically eligible yourself, of course, but there are some things beyond a person’s individual worth that we must consider.”

“Right…” Well, this had turned rather awkward. “I think I’ll go pay my respects to the happy couple.”

“Enjoy!”

It would have been easy to characterize the aforementioned couple as being not happy. Revayne was being perfunctorily pleasant at best, still with her head lost in her book, despite all the people going up to meet her.

Her groom looked a tiny bit stressed, his mostly genial laughter edged with the faintest panic every now and then. He was a pretty handsome fellow. Tall, broad-shouldered Rakshasa dressed in flowing white with his horns capped in shining silver. Better yet, he had turned out to be a pretty decent fellow too. Unlike most of the other attending nobles, he had returned a bow with genuine respect when we had first met.

I had to wait in the little line of people that had formed before I finally got my chance to congratulate them officially.

“I hope you’ll enjoy the Starlamp I got you,” I said.

“It’s very fascinating!” Gushal Uralivanth said. “An invention of this calibre is magnificent. And to be at the forefront of it, free of charge at that too! I tried using it already—I know we’re not supposed to open our gifts yet, but its quality well surpassed my expectations. You’ve done excellently, Cultist Moreland.”

I winced at the expectations bit. There was the rumour mill from the undercity at work again. Revayne looked up with a soft glare for her husband, who suddenly realized his implication.

“Ah, my apologies, truly,” he said. “I didn’t mean to insinuate anything.”

“No worries,” I said. “And please, don’t give me all the credit. The real hero behind the Starlamps is my partner, Linak.”

Who hadn’t been invited to the wedding, but that didn’t mean I was going to steal his thunder.

More guests wanted their turn to meet with the couple, so I stepped aside. Revayne called me over while her husband took care of the frontlines temporarily.

“Aren’t you going to drop your book?” I asked. “It’s literally your wedding.”

She looked up at me blankly. “What of it?”

I sighed.

“Besides,” she continued, her voice lowering to a whisper that I had to make an effort to understand. “I’m busy. I’m making progress in my investigations. I’ve already discovered certain trails that I need to follow. Uralivanth’s culpability is almost assured, now.”

“Culpability in what?” I asked in the same low tone.

“Many things. Too many to list out. All illicit in just enough of an underhanded way that they normally couldn’t be implicated directly. It’s why I needed some time to draw the noose.”

“…and you’re not bothered at all that you’re convicting the family you’re marrying into?”

“Justice comes first, above even things such as these.” Even as she said so, her eyes flicked to her husband, who was weathering the storm of the seemingly excited gaggle of Ogres. “For the ones who are implicated in all this, that is. Gushal has thankfully been innocent in everything I’ve unearthed so far, but…”

She was right. Her husband did seem like a good guy all told. It was hard to imagine him being involved in anything illegal, though of course, looks could be deceiving.

I quietly wished Revayne luck in her somewhat crazy intention to convict her in-laws.

The function proceeded through its different stages. In all honesty, I was looking forward to the final stage—dinner. The lavishness of that had me very intrigued. But before that, there was going to be a formal dance, led by the married couple.

Most people were clearly looking forward to it. I, on the other hand, lacked any kind of partner.

Maybe they wouldn’t mind if I pre-emptively hung around the dinner tables…

“Mage Moreland!” said a boisterous voice. “You’re free!”

I turned, cringing internally a little as Kudva gallivanted over. The Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild had shed her usual armour for an expensive midnight dress covered in a thick robe-cape-thing of shimmering white fur.

“Greetings, Guildmaster,” I said. “I’m afraid I’m not exactly the best dancer.”

I wasn’t lying. Apart from dance lessons I hadn’t exactly enjoyed as a kid, my experience was practically nil.

“That’s fine,” she said, approaching without being even a smidge daunted by my inexperience. Even if I had been a prolific dancer, I had zero ideas about Zairgon dances. “Because I’m not going to be the one handling you. Come on.”

My feet started following before I gave any explicit orders, and I considered stopping and just saying no. But then I saw where she was leading me and my eyes widened just a tiny bit.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one without a dance partner. Se-Vigilance was also standing alone.

And what was even weirder was the fact that she had a rather calculating look on her face too.

People were entering the dance floor, quickly taking their positions as they waited for the main couple to take centre stage. This gave me just a tiny bit of time to get it in my head that I was supposed to be dancing with the Councillor of all people.

“Honoured Councillor,” Kudva said. Despite the formality of her words, the familiarity with which she spoke was a tiny bit astonishing. They knew each other, which I supposed shouldn’t have been that surprising. Powerful people tended to make a habit of being well acquainted. “I’ve brought you your little snack. Try not to waste it, please.”

I stared at the Guildmaster. “Snack?”

“Kudva.” The admonition didn’t come from the Councillor. Rather, the guard commander glared at the Guildmaster. “Enough.”

Kudva shook with laughter. “Don’t worry, I’m not ignoring you, Trik.”

They went off together afterwards, quickly approaching the dance floor arm in arm. I stared after them for a bit before turning to face the Councillor.

“You’re being awfully quiet, Councillor,” I said. “Regretting your decision to drag me into this already?”

“Not at all,” Se-Vigilance said. “I’m not worried about the actual dancing. I believe you should be able to manage that rather easily.” Her glimmering golden eyes turned a darker shade of amber. “Instead, I am left wondering how your… first steps into divinity will transform your future. Come. Let us dance and discuss.”