NOVEL NEXT 143- I Like How Ronan Treats Mary.
I'm blissfully asleep after solving the ant problem, finally enjoying some well-deserved rest, when an insistent "my lady," "my lady" echoing in my mind jerks me awake.
Damn it, Ronan... I kept quiet during the whole baronet capture and rescue operation to avoid bothering him. Back on Earth, this happened to me once. Just once. My boss sent me an email at 2 AM that not only woke me up but kept me tossing and turning for the rest of the night. After that incident, I not only turned off email notifications but also started putting my phone on silent before bed entirely.
So how the hell do I put Ronan on silent mode?
Ugh...
Ronan, enough already. I'm fine, but I was sleeping.
My lady, forgive me. I was worried because you were not responding.
What about your vassal soldiers? Why didn't you ask them first? They would've told you I was sleeping, and you could've avoided waking me up.
Uh, I'm being snippy. But he yanked me out of my first deep sleep of the night.
I did ask them, but they are not answering either.
Of course they're not. They're probably asleep too.
And I bet this guy only kept bugging me.
Well, tell me what's so important that it cannot wait until a decent hour.
I just wanted to know if you were all right, my lady. If you had solved the ant problem or needed my help.
Everything's fine.
There were a lot of casualties among the undead, were there not? I feel lighter. Every time I raise one, it is like putting a bit of pressure on my head. With the trolls, golems, and wolves I tried to take from the dungeon, that is when I noticed it most. And now there is almost nothing.
Yes, Ronan, sorry about the casualties.
Do not worry, my lady. They are feral creatures without souls that simply follow orders. I think since I have a limit, I will take advantage of the cleanup to raise better, more powerful ones.
Wait... what do you mean you have a limit?
Yes, I set it myself.
You did?
That does not make sense.
You see, when I felt so much pressure in my head and you told me about the lines under my eyes and I saw that you seemed upset, since I do not want to frighten you and I realized those lines had appeared when I crossed a numerical threshold of undead, I decided not to expand my horde beyond that number.
Oh, that makes sense.
His self-imposed limit to avoid going down the path of becoming a final boss lich. But man, from what he's saying, if I hadn't realized those were the same lines as the final boss from the trailer, he would have kept surpassing that number like it was nothing.
I think it's great that you respect that limit, Ronan, I think while trying to fill my mental voice with all the warmth I can, so he knows clearly that yes, he did the right thing.
That is what I figured, my lady. Would you like me to tell you how things went with Mary?
Since you've already woken me up...
A quick summary, please.
My intention was to capture the baronet alive because Mary wanted justice, not for me to take revenge on behalf of Bob, Joe, and Tom. But he broke free when we captured him and attacked Mary. He was going to kill her with a knife to her throat. I had to exhaust him, animate the remains of his food in his stomach, and order Bob to shoot. If I had not given that order, Mary would have died.
I listen in shock. That he'd want to avenge his friends—totally predictable. That he'd hold back for Mary's sake—very admirable. But that they almost killed Mary... Maybe I should have gone... now I feel bad...
However, Mary, who is very kind, was relieved, Ronan continues, oblivious to my private thoughts. She seems worried that I might stain my soul with violent acts, but she says that since at first I did not kill him but captured him, and the reason for the violence was to save her, my soul is still fine. I was relieved too, because the soul that needs to be cared for and protected is Mary's.
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Oh... that's really sweet.
I offered Joe and Bob their freedom, to go back and live with their families. But they do not want to. So they are going to spend a few days with them but then come back to me. Do not worry, my lady, I will convince them eventually.
You could just order them, I suggest.
My lady, they are my friends. You do not give orders to friends, especially binding ones like a necromancer gives to his creatures.
Oops, well I've given orders to Ronan, and they must be binding too since he's my vassal by oath.
Ronan, even though I sometimes give you orders, I'm your friend.
Do not worry, my lady, I know that already.
Okay, I exhale in relief. For a moment I was worried.
I'm sorry if at some point, without meaning to, I've forced you to do something you didn't want to do. If that ever happens, please tell me so I can make it right.
Do not worry, my lady. If that were the case, I would tell you. By the way, he continues, are you in the cave or at the academy?
I stayed to sleep with the goblins, so I could help if there were problems. I doubt it, since all the ants are eliminated and the crack is sealed in stone. But just in case, I'm more at ease staying.
Oh, those ants... do you have the corpses?
Yes, Ronan, you have got quite a few more or less intact. With holes or their heads lying apart from their bodies, but otherwise whole.
Thank you, my lady.
I have also figured out how you can obtain a mastery that should do the same thing as my meditation spell.
I'm about to tell him I'll explain tomorrow, but he responds so excitedly that I give him a summary.
So, my lady, when will you come to the academy to find me and take me to the goblin village?
Are you at the academy already?
No, we are on the way back.
Alright, then I'm going back to sleep. I'll let you know when I wake up and I'm there. Try to get some sleep in the carriage, because you need your seven hours to rest and recover mana.
Yes, my lady. Good night.
Good night, Ronan.
Of course, it's hard to fall back asleep because I keep thinking about what he told me about Mary. I'm so glad Emmy is safe and with her mother, but it hadn't occurred to me that a trial from the board could end up uncovering such disturbing matters as kidnapping girls and a baronet who forced himself on some of them... the ones who fit his pedophile tastes. If I'd imagined it, I would have suggested Mary pick another note from the board because, for someone with high-level light affinity, realizing there are beings as abject and despicable as that baronet in the world is something that could make her lose faith in humanity and weaken her affinity. I'm so glad both that Ronan took good care of her and that Emmy came out unharmed. What's more, I don't know if I would have been able to not kill that bastard.
Ronan is definitely still full of surprises. When you think you know him, he throws you off with something like this, the delicacy with which he treats Mary, not doing what for him was justified revenge without any moral problems just because she asked him not to.
That soul of Ronan's is also pure and delicate. Not like Mary's, but in a different way. I find it curious that, without being petty or evil, he can have such high affinity for darkness.
Remember, Bianca, a fucking final boss, I tell myself.
He has the potential to wipe half the kingdom off the map without feeling like he's doing anything wrong. And the thing with his parents... since he's at the academy, he hasn't had time to go kill them. I have to watch him, to prevent him from doing it. I think that was the trigger for his dark path.
In any case, I eventually fall asleep, and I dream that I'm sword in hand, standing beside the lich and his undead, fighting against Vincent and the rest of our friends. It's a distressing nightmare, though it doesn't feel like one. I wake up well into the next morning.
One of the females has approached and left cooked deer meat beside me. The delicious aroma fills my nostrils.
"Good morning, leader," she says. "Breakfast is ready."
I eat the food the goblin female thoughtfully brought me and chat briefly with the goblins. But only a little, because I'm not about to let it go to my head. Not the part where they're thrilled with all the experience they gained from the ants, but the other part. The one where they're full of praise for their powerful leader, who not only fought hand-to-hand alongside them but also used powerful earth magic to eliminate enemies and seal the entrance to the ant nest.
Alone. Without help from the divine beast.
And then there are the whispers I catch of "great sage," which stop when I approach because the totem must have told them I don't want to be called that. Well, what can I say? They're contagious. Their bodies are small but seem to overflow with energy, which they let out when they talk about the fight and how their leader fought. Those monster features, their fangs, the gleam in their eyes, the way they sometimes move, their claws... they really stand out when they get so enthusiastic.
I have to say goodbye and leave because there really is a part of me—the one that says I did well and that they're my soldiers, my creatures, mine to lead and help grow and prosper—that's enjoying every compliment.
"Come on, light affinity, do something," I whisper to myself as I head back to the village on top of a skeleton deer. "Young ladies around here are supposed to think about marriage, not building monster empires."
Obviously, everything stays the same. For once, not even my thoughts change. I just hear what I'm not sure is a sneeze or a strange wolf-like chuckle from my backpack pocket.
"You stay quiet. I don't know what you're doing with me when I don't have dark magic," I remind him.
And it's the honest truth. Sure, I can be useful to him because of my spirit affinity, which as I level up is going to make me very powerful. I don't know what other spells it'll grant me, but for now, I'm the only one in this world who can channel elements through her body or objects.
However, I still think a future demon queen should have dark affinity. That and the resistance seal I received from the special dungeon—the one only open to travelers from other worlds—are two of the safeguards that let me be at peace with myself, knowing I won't need to break the contract to avoid becoming a real villainess.