A Guide to Kingdom Building

Vener, Year of Severus, 18, I.R., the 73rd day of Spring, Broken Springs

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"How is the woman, Aelderman Hostea?" Nullus asked the village leader as he went over the town to check on what was left of the melons, they fermented a few days back.

"She is safe, although still asleep." The old man answered. "You said she hit her head hard during the explosion?" He curiously asked.

"Yes, she did." He answered. "I saw her lying unresponsive near that flaming, monstrous… thing." Nullus lied.

"By Oyue's name! I am glad you only got out unscathed." The aelderman praised his loathed goddess. "I wonder what would we do of the big damage it did on that forest? It surely would give us a problem with hunting." He sighed.

Nullus pointed to the east. "We can hunt there."

"T-there? That's insanity!" Aelderman Hostea exclaimed. "That forest is too dangerous! There are lurking mons—"

"We have no choice. Since our products wouldn't be available up until the next month." Nullus said. "I don't want to starve myself to death." He shook his head.

"We will need to gather up the men to—" The aelderman hesitantly agreed.

"Good!" Nullus exclaimed. "Let me see what other options we have." He bowed and went on his way.

"Where are you going?" The aelderman asked.

Nullus looked back at him, "Going back to the burnt down forest. I might find something there worth of money for barter." He bowed once again and went his way.

He immediately took off and went directly to the site of the crash. It has been a few days since he went there last, and right now the smell of burnt trees and rotting flesh were clearly getting obvious. Nullus sighed, thinking about the irresponsible woman chasing out the animals from that forest, most likely killing some of them during its crash and explosion.

The forest became a maze of uprooted and charred trees, along with occasional boulders blocking a path or two. He needed to jump over it or pass under the damningly placed debris.

On the way to the site, he saw scorched and rotting carcasses of game and other animals they would have considered hunting for the winter. Some of these animals were too difficult to identify at that point because of its mushed state while others where grotesquely rotting with parts of its body missing or maybe hanging in a scorched tree stump somewhere which he noticed somehow.

Nullus clicked his tongue as it was becoming very clear how big the damage that big metallic contraption did to the one forest, they all depended their survival on. He wanted to slap the woman so hard she'd wake up and pay them up for the damages that might cause famine for years to come, but even that was impossible.

The aelderman Hostea would certainly intervene immediately and most likely, out of his kindness would let the girl live and assimilate in their town. Nullus cursed under his breath. The old man was too nice for his own good. He was putting the town in danger, but Hostea was stubborn and wouldn't listen.

He finally reached the remains of the burning machine he encountered a few days prior. The dome shaped machine was reduced to nothing more but scraps of plated metal and charcoaled wooden boards. There was nothing available for him to salvage from it, or so he thought.

Nullus went back to the origin of the blast, a small crater formed from the impact and began digging through the dirt and rubble using a broken branch he picked up on the ground. After a few footlings worth of dirt, he hit something metallic and hollow.

He dug up the rest of the object until it became clear what it was, a box. The box was sealed with a chain wrapped around it before a lock was placed to keep whatever was inside secured. Nullus saw the box and out of his curiosity tried opening it. However, the lock was made differently from the ones he saw on the camps before.

The lock was made of adamantine, shaped like a wheel with numbers surrounding it. At the center was a knob with a glowing piece of what seemed to be an artificial form of aetherium.

"This must be an aetherite." He mumbled as he bent over the box and look for any signs of a trap.

The lock, as simple as it looked, had an intricate design of engraved lines that seem like the vines that he would usually see in a slave master's quarters. As he looked on the bottom part of the lock, he notice some small claw-like appendages hooked on the chain, a sign that whatever the mysterious woman was hiding she didn't want it found.

He knew that if he had been impatient and twisted the knob the wrong way, it was certain that the lock would activate its security feature and most likely would explode or destroy the document inside. There was also a possibility that he was overreacting to its strange, yet beautiful design, however, he wasn't there to risk that chance.

Nullus raised his hand and tried calling out his sword through his mind. It was something he figured out after being saved by his gladius so many times. A part of him loathed it because of how it was connected to his most hated goddess. However, he was also reaping the benefits of that blade saving him during the most dire of times. To him, the blade was a mixed bag of his emotions towards the goddess.

But this wasn't the time to spite Oyue. He needed the gladius to get into box's content. It was the only way he knew that could neutralize the aetherite core and stop whatever trap was placed inside it.

Not a few moments later, the blade came flying into his hand like a bolt of lightning descending from the sky. Nullus immediately stabbed the center of the lock, absorbing the energy of the aetherite and finally, rendering it useless.

The lock dropped on the ground along with the chains.  Nullus placed his gladius on the ground and opened the box. The box was smaller than what he thought it was, and that's probably because of the chains wrapping around it. Under his estimation, it was the size of a newborn baby. It was relatively small and light.

The first thing he saw in the box was its colorful red lid. On that lid was a name written on it in the Principalian alphabet. Nullus wasn't as able to read it as well as he wanted to, but judging from the words, it looked like it meant the woman's name.

"Kal…Ca…" He squinted his eyes on the letters. "C-Calatea? K-kalathea?" He shook his head and moved on the contents of the box.

The box was filled with parchment letters, some rolled while others, folded. He took a glance at it and figured it was far too hard for him to read the letters. Even the simple name was already hard enough for him to read.

He was supposed to carry the box back to the town when he heard a clinking sound as he was trying to carry it. He shook the box again to confirm if the sound came from it, and truly it was. Nullus dug through the letters until he felt a round metallic thing at the bottom of the box. He pulled it out from the buried letters and was surprised to see a symbol he never thought he would find again.

The round metallic thing was a locket with a symbol of an eagle spreading its wings. On its right claw was it held a sword on the other were three arrows. On the eagle's head was a small crown etched with letter he wasn't familiar with. However, one thing was clear, the woman was part of the Arterian royalty or maybe the Arterian force.

From the distance he could hear Squeakers screaming out his name.

"Nullluusss!" The child's voice squeaked as he shouted loudly. "Nullus! Where you at?!"

"I am right here!" He shouted back as he looked around, trying to find which direction would the kid be coming out from.

He immediately threw his gladius into the air where it immediately flew back home and waited for the kid to show up. Squeakers showed up a moment later at the eastern side of the burnt forest. The kid stood over a boulder and shouted for his name once again.

"I am here, Squeakers!" He waved his hand. "What do you need?!" He asked.

"Oh! There you are!" Squeakers shouted and waved back. "The Aelderman wants you back in town, the woman has awakened!" He added.

Nullus nodded his head as he carried the box in his arms.

"I will be right there with you." He said. "I have so many things to ask about this woman." Of course, he whispered that last part to himself.