The Ethersmith

Alda didn’t have a decisive answer to Vivi’s question. She gave an uncomfortable laugh, saying that it was her job as a hunter to protect and serve Ythar’s kingdom. Though, from her expression, it was clear she wasn’t confident in that answer either.

She probably doesn’t like the hunters’ system, Vivi thought. But she’s too nervous to admit there’s a problem.

Essi’s captors had said something similar, Vivi recalled. Gwenor, one of the men who Lortel had knocked out, had been ordered to hold Essi’s family hostage and to kill Essi on sight. He admitted he didn’t want to do any of that, but he followed orders anyway.

So was he an evil hunter, or was that only Ellinoir Sylva, the one giving orders?

People kept moving out of the way as Alda and Vivi moved on the horse. To Vivi, Ranewal felt like the opposite of Shivenar. Whereas Shivenar felt open with bright facets always shining on her back, most of Ranewal was covered by rain canopies. Her sight was always blocked by the walls of buildings and the next intersection, and of course the ceilings of canopies. The city felt like a labyrinth of rain canopies with sparse plazas, empty due to the rain.

“I’m surprised how nice Ranewal is,” Vivi said, hoping to lighten the mood while she rode up the streets with Alda. “There are good people here.”

“Oh, Ranewal is always pleasant,” Alda said. “Sure, the skies are gloomier than any dungeon I’ve ever been in, and this rain makes me insane, and, uh, the city leaders are what they are, but the people are somehow always ready to party. For a mud swamp, this is positively lovely.”

“You were raised underground, then?” Vivi asked.

“I had a perfectly normal childhood exploring dungeons on the third level, thank you very much,” Alda said with a smirk. “I didn’t go to school or whatever hunters do these days. I had my dad with my grandpa’s old runesword, and a lot of ether surges to keep me company.”

“Wait, a runesword?” Vivi asked. “Which runes?”

“Mass and Sharpness,” Alda said. “Just lifting it was pretty much impossible. But, hey, learning to swing it anyway at nine years old is what got me where I am today.”

Vivi found herself smiling. Alda’s smug grin somehow looked cool. Wasn’t Alda like the type of person Lortel wanted Vivi to be? Cool and collected, with a grin people wanted to see again if they saw it once.

No, probably not. Lortel wanted Vivi to be like a commander. Alda was more like a cool older sibling.

“I heard you were starting some runesword resurgence,” Alda said. “Is that true? You’re trying to craft runeswords that outperform spirit blades?”

“My runeswords are much more powerful than spirit blades,” Vivi said. “How do you think I just defeated a Godslayer outside the city walls?”

Alda puffed through her nose, amused. “I heard you shot the wyvern down with some insane ballista.”

“Yeah, our ballistas and missiles also both work with runes,” Vivi said, now with a smug smile of her own.

Alda glanced at her, observing Vivi for a longer time. “I’m going to be honest, Vivian. You look more like my little sister than someone who just saved an entire city.”

Vivi laughed at that, and they continued chatting for a few more minutes, until Vivi’s mansion—or rather, the temporary residence given to her—came to sight. She waved goodbye and Alda continued on her way. Vivi passed the gates, protected by another rain canopy that led to the mansion’s front doors.

She was nice, Vivi thought. Maybe she can become a friend as well?

“I would suggest focusing on finding a second exalted skill instead of looking for friends,” Lucius said. “But she was more interesting than most. Just a little weak.”

Didn’t you say she was a third elevation hunter? Vivi thought. If she fights with a runesword, she’ll still be much stronger than anyone else. And it’s not like I’m much beyond the first elevation anyway. I’ll need to get back to channeling and—

The thought was cut off when a sharp jolt appeared in the ethereal realm. A projectile aimed directly at her head from the left.

In a flash, Vivi activated Shield Of Nature, flicking the shield at whatever was just aimed at her head. A cling resounded, and the object dropped to the ground.

A translucent dagger, vaguely orange, and clearly a creation of a spirit.

It disintegrated as Vivi spotted it, and she sensed the residual wisps of ether retreat to the garden where the dagger had been thrown.

She activated Momentum Leap, pressed her foot on the ground, and dashed in the direction like jumping a really long distance. The jump wasn’t powered by her legs, but by ether, shaped by the skill to send her in the desired direction, though she still involved her legs for added control. Within seconds, she landed at the opposite end of the garden, having jumped over fifty feet.

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The attacker was gone without a trace. She observed the area with her eyes and her ethereal senses, finding absolutely nothing. It all happened so fast, even Lucius didn’t have time to say anything.

“A concealer!” he eventually said. “Someone sent an assassin!”

Vivi bit her lip. “An orange dagger… So that’s our only clue?”

“Could be anyone!” Lucius complained out loud. “I can’t even tell you how many spirits are orange. These abyss-cursed concealers!”

“Seems like they were weak, though,” Vivi said.

“Yes…” Lucius said. “Too weak to kill us. If that was a hired assassin, that means someone is trying to kill you for cheap. Probably someone who doesn’t know how strong we are.”

Vivi spent a moment thinking. She hadn’t seen the assassin at all, but the way at which the attack was executed still had hints. “We’ll let Lortel investigate.”

She headed back to the double doors and stepped into the mansion, surprised by how calm she felt. Someone had just tried to straight-up kill her. She barely felt alarmed. After surviving Zand and the blight, and after fighting two godslayers, the dangers of the ordinary world felt kind of mundane.

Even if an ethereal spirit-wielder had just tried to kill her.

I’ll probably have to watch where I sleep, she thought with a sigh.

She entered the mansion, finding the foyer empty. The mansion was way too big for Essi and the dozen or so demons. Adding ether to her ears, Vivi listened for which room had movement in it. The sounds led her to the large parlor near the middle. The room had turned into their temporary hangout space for now.

“Lortel?” Vivi said, entering. “Someone just tried to assassinate me.”

Lortel, Vivi’s seamstress and stylist, and assassin, sometimes advisor, faced the corner of the room with an assertive look. Patryn and a few more demons from the ballistics team sat on the couch. Her scorched demon face, with a cracked horn, looked even scarier than usual.

“Yeah,” Lortel said, not one bit surprised. “And these idiots tried to kill Patryn.”

Vivi blinked, walking deeper. Five men were unconscious, tied down with ropes with their hands shut with nothing cuffs that stopped them from channeling ether. They wore dark cloaks, and they’d worn full-coverage horned masks, but those masks were on the floor, and their human faces were revealed, sleeping. Everyone looked to be middle-aged with clean haircuts and shiny skin, perfect skin-care maintained by ether.

“Oh, wow,” Vivi said.

“Your friends?” Lortel asked. She didn’t seem to be alarmed by the assassins either, as if their presence was merely an amusing problem.

“Lucius?” Vivi asked. “Do we know any of them?”

“Probably mercenaries,” Lucius said, floating next to her. “Could be nameless hunters that don’t belong to any hunting company. Or maybe they’re all from the same company working together. But I’ll remind you, even if they’re unconscious, their spirits can still listen to their surroundings.”

“We have only fed them false information,” Lortel said. “Vivi. Come with me. I need to talk to you. Patryn, if anything happens, flare your aura.”

He nodded. Lortel exited and walked deeper into the mansion, picking one of the empty study rooms. Vivi followed her in.

“The slingshot launchers are about to be repaired and operational,” Lortel said. “Veronica Lifeweaver has supplied us with replacement stretch ropes. We are soon ready to depart, whatever our destination may be.”

Vivi opened the curtains, and looked into the garden where she’d just been attacked. She thought of how to respond. There was still a lot to do on the surface…

“As far as I know, your friends and their families are now safe,” Lortel said. “Essi and her family won’t be targeted anymore. The longer we stay, the more attention we bring to ourselves.”

“You’re all hoping I’d lead you home, then?” Vivi asked.

“Patryn and Monto have families,” Lortel said. “We have no communication with Coshi. Shivenar could be safe, or it could be falling to more storms. We simply don’t know.”

Vivi bit her lip, staring out of the window. She also wanted to return. Shivenar had the Lost Raindrop. People there actually respected her. Eem was in Shivenar. It was nice.

“I know you still want to stay,” Lortel said. “The ether hunters are too weak to deal with storms. This place is a total mess. I see a lot of work to be done.” She eyed Vivi sharply. “But there’s too much work to be done. From what I’ve understood, you don’t have any personal connections here anymore either.”

“You might be right,” Vivi said. “A lot of hunters still want me dead. I have no reason to stay here and help. But…”

Lortel waited for her to continue.

“But,” Vivi said, facing Lortel’s stern eyes. “Before we leave, I want to dethrone at least one sub-sovereign. I want to show the ether hunters that their greed is just not okay.”

Lortel snorted, smirking. “Well, assassinating that Helegar fellow should not be an issue. Do you want me to perform it tonight?”

“No, not like that,” Vivi said. “I want to set my stance. If that makes sense.”

Lortel studied her look. “I don’t sense any intelligent plan from your words.”

She was correct. Vivi didn’t really know what she wanted to do. All of her hopes and ambitions were just as hazy as the city’s leadership itself.

On one hand, she wanted to head back home, but on the other… How many people would die on the surface, and the upper three levels, if people like Helegar stayed in charge up here?

“We can stay for a few more days, right?” Vivi asked.

“We can stay for longer,” Lortel said. “I am merely hoping to hear your intentions. I want us to be concise about our goals.”

“Yeah…” Vivi said. “Sorry. I don’t really know what I want either.”

Lortel wasn’t surprised. “I can tell.”

“This city is nice,” Vivi said. “Everywhere I go, I meet genuine people. More friends like Essi. And none of them like the way the hunters work these days. But I feel like the city will be destroyed soon.”

“Yes,” Lortel said. “I’ve felt the same, many times.”

“I’m just not sure what can be done about that…” Vivi said.

The seamstress kept eyeing Vivi. Oddly, Vivi still felt like she didn’t know much about Lortel as a person. They hadn't once talked about personal topics with Lortel like Vivi had with Essi. The relationship with Lortel was still like one between close acquaintances.

But Lortel was undeniably a genius at everything she did, and she was one of the smartest people Vivi knew.

“You’re meeting Veronica Lifeweaver today, correct?” Lortel asked.

“Yes?”

“Take me there,” Lortel said. “I’ll need to learn more about the politics here. If we’re going to cause chaos up here, let’s at least ruin the government properly.”