Me, My Spirit, And I [Book 1 Complete]

"You know you are due at the Academy in just two days, right?" Shinobin asked.

"I do, but if I must be a [Baron], then I will at least get a good look at the land I am going to be in charge of in a few years." Lusha shrugged. "It also gets me away from the Queen's court and the capital, which is not a fun place for me after grandmother's announcements.

Shinobin nodded in concern and sympathy. No one could blame Lusha for leaving to survey their new barony, but they were still essentially avoiding the attention Kiera had put on them.

"Then safe travels, my love. I know you will be an excellent [Baron] even if it is not something you wanted." Shinobin gave Lusha a hug before returning to the palace. Lusha would return to give her a ride back to Westlin after the survey.

"Come on Lady Lusha, we are wasting daylight!" Westlin said jokingly, but enthusiastically, as he tugged on Lusha's arm and encouraged them up the tongue like ramp of the Shadow Beast.

"Get your hands off me, peasant!" Lusha said while pushing at Westlin's hands.

"But my Lady! You must have a proper escort! How can you call your loyal knight a peasant?" Westlin was laughing as the two raced up the ramp together.

"Ok, enough. You are my best friend! Quit calling me Lady!" Lusha demanded as they slowed down once they entered the halls of the ship.

"Of course my Lord!" Westlin replied cheekily.

"Don't call me that either! Call me Lusha, or even Luca, but please don't use noble honorifics unless we are in a formal situation. The very sound of it still irritates me." Lusha's frown gave their youthful face and unusually serious cast.

Westling smiled and shrugged. "But I like annoying you?"

"Yes, I know, but please take a break." Lusha did their best to smile to take the sting from their words as they entered the bridge.

Their best friend gave them a nod and thumbs up while Lusha went up to the captain.

"Captain, as you no doubt already know, we are going to head north again to do a quick survey of my new barony." Lusha pulled a map from their Inventory that the captain took readily. "As you can see, the southern and eastern borders are clearly defined, but the north and western borders will be whatever I can tame from the wilderness."

The two of them looked over the map, and the captain took note of how the map's quality faded beyond the area bordering the original County of Northwood. "Do you know why the map is so poor in these areas?" the captain asked, pointing north and west.

Lusha grimaced. "I do, but I really don't like the answer," with a sigh Lusha pointed to the general location of the new Dungeon. "It is a Growth area that has only recently stabilized."

The captain nodded in understanding, but Westlin who was listening nearby became confused.

Turning to Lusha, Westlin asked the obvious question. "What is a Growth area?"

"As an Awakened planet, Sierrallas grows. It literally grows new land and sea areas, which is something I struggle to wrap my mind around," Lusha explained.

"Wait, so land just appears suddenly where there wasn't any before? How does that work? Wouldn't it cause chaos as the distance between places changed?" Westlin was curious and mildly alarmed at the same time.

"It is complicated. You know how when mud dries, it forms patches of solid dirt divided by cracks?" Westlin nodded. "Well, the planet is like that sort of. The dirt represents the solid or Stable regions. The cracks are filled with Fog. Growth areas occur on the edges of these solid areas. They are only partially covered with Fog. When the Fog fully retreats, the Growth area becomes a part of the Stable area it grew on."

Westlin's face scrunched up in confusion. "Can you travel through the Fog? If not, are all the Stable areas isolated?"

Lusha looked at the captain who shrugged. "That is where my analogy breaks down. There are passages through the Fog, but they shift over time. It makes intercontinental travel a real pain."

"I guess that makes sense, but why does it bother you so much if it is just part of how the world works?" Westlin felt reassured by the explanation so couldn't quite grasp why Lusha looked so uncomfotable.

"It just does," Lusha said out loud. Privately they spoke to Westlin via a Spirit Speech channel. "It defies everything the scientists of Earth knew or thought they knew about how planets form and develop. Planets are supposed to require millions of years to undergo any significant changes. These take place over centuries. It is insane!"

Westlin just giggled. It wasn't the first time they had heard Lusha rant about something that worked in a way that violated their Earthly knowledge. They always became utterly fascinated by the difference, or frustrated. Sierrallas's growth seemed to result in the latter.

Lusha turned back to the captain and the map. "We will survey the newly Stabilized area that includes the new Dungeon. Then skirt the edge of the Growth area north and west of my new barony."

"As you will [Baron]," the captain said.

Westlin giggled at the look on Lusha's face when the captain used their new title.

After a pause Lusha thanked the captain and turned to sit in the captain's chair.

A few more chairs had been added to the bridge for the captain and guests, but Lusha still took the largest central seat.

It was only a few more minutes before the captain let Lusha know everything was ready. "Send us up and over, captain. Let's go get a better look at my new barony."

An hour later, the Shadow Beast slowed as they reached the border of the original County of Northwood. Lusha's new barony, that they were already thinking of as the Shadow Barony, was shaped like a blunted, or rounded, irregular wedge that pointed Southeast. The Southern and Eastern borders were well defined, but the curved Northwestern border was a foggy Growth area that was eventually fully obscured by the Fog further Northwest.

There were two distinct areas on the map. The land, which was roughly shaped like a boot and defined by the Southern and Eastern border with the Count of Northcover, and the ocean, whose coastline curved East before curving North. It looked like it might eventually form a full bay, but the rest of the coastline was obscured by the Fog.

They couldn't get accurate measurements from the air, but it looked like the new Dungeon was 20 miles Northwest of the Southeastern corner of the new barony. The coast was another 40 miles beyond the Dungeon, with the Southern border being around 60 miles long and the Eastern border coming in at 80 miles. The total land area was approximately 3,000 square miles when accounting for the irregular shape. There were a couple thousand square miles of ocean to the Northwest and what may have been new land beyond that; but again, the Fog made it hard to tell.

"This seems a little large for a barony, don't you think, captain?" Lusha asked curiously.

The captain shrugged. "It is, but I doubt you are expected to settle even a fraction of this any time soon. Securing just the 20 mile radius around the Dungeon will be a challenge."

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"True; it looks like the land is higher near the Dungeon and slopes downward towards the coast," Lusha noted.

"Aye, the terrain is a bit of a mix though. There are those cliffs where the Southern border meets the water." The captain was comparing the view on the screens to the map they were provided. The inaccuracies were numerous.

"Yeah, but they are all relatively far from the Dungeon. Looks like there are only a few streams near there. That might be a problem for future settlements."

"I wouldn't know, [Baron], I have never tried to build a community before," the captain said with a shrug.

Lusha smiled at that. "I would have been surprised if you had, captain."

"The southern border is definitely higher and a bit hillier. You might luck out and find some good mining sites, but it doesn't look like there are many mines in Northwood, so I wouldn't bet on it." The captain was a well traveled and educated man who had plied the navigable rivers of the continent for years before accepting the position of captain of the Shadow Beast.

Lusha laughed at that statement. "Captain, I can pull metal from dirt and sea water if I have to. Mining sites aren't a big concern."

"I would be curious to hear how that is possible, but I suspect it is one of those Company secrets, right?"

"You are correct," Lusha said with a nod.

"Sir, er I mean [Baron], it looks like the army has managed to push to the Dungeon entrance." One of the crewmen on the long distance scry screen said suddenly.

"So soon? I expected it to take longer. We have only been gone a few days and their main camp was 30 miles away." Lusha stood and went to look at the screen themselves. "They must have pushed hard." After a bit of mental math Lusha looked impressed. "Something like 10 miles a day through hostile territory is nothing to scoff at."

"No it isn't, but it looks like they might be struggling a bit." The crewman pointed to where a line of Monsters and soldiers were engaged in a fierce back and forth battle.

"That it does." Lusha straighted and started issuing orders while heading back to their chair. "Captain, let's double back to the Dungeon. I have added a new trick to the Shadow Beast's arsenal, and this looks like a good place to test it."

"You all heard the [Baron], turn us around and head straight for the Dungeon!" the Captain ordered the crew.

Lusha looked at Westlin. "Keep an eye on me. I am going to split. Shada worked on creating a single targeted beam, but it will be tricky to control unless I do it as Luca and Shada."

Westlin nodded while giving a mocking salute. "Yes sir, [Baron], sir!"

Lusha rolled their eyes and did the mental gymnastics needed to split their mind. They didn't need Spirit Walking for this, just the ability to focus on multiple sections of the runic arrays at once.

The Shadow Beast took a somewhat roundabout path to come up from behind the army so as not to startle the soldiers too much, but they dropped down to only a couple of hundred feet above the fight.

"Captain, hold us as steady as you can. I am going to try and help thin the thickest clusters, but the targeting is untested and a bit tricky." With that order, Luca and Shada sunk into the Shadow Beats enchantments.

Instead of multiple small runic circles, a single larger circle appeared at the tip of the Shadow Beast. It could only handle a fraction of the Essence the multiple arrays could manage, but it was far more concentrated.

"Preparing to fire captain, I suggest closing your eyes." Luca and Shada's voices seemed to come from the ship itself rather than the teenage body sitting in the captain's chair. The double echo and reverberation of their voices caused several crewmen to shiver involuntarily.

"Firing…" Luca and Shada's voices echoed as a lance of coherent light pierced the air and the shoulder of one the larger Monsters that looked like they might break through the army's lines of tired soldiers.

The Monster staggered as the creature's shoulder joint gave out. Soldiers that had been attacking its feet had to retreat hastily as the elephantine Monster lost its footing.

"We missed…readjusting the array…firing…"

Each time the crew heard the word 'firing' they covered their eyes and counted to ten before looking back at their screens. Shada had yet to add a light fliter to the scrying systems. It took five shots for the Monster to come to a stumbling halt and collapse to the ground. The soldiers made quick work of the creature once it was grounded.

For 30 minutes, the SCSS Shadow Beast moved up and down the army's front, taking out targets. After the first few, the army's mages started to use artillery spells in tandem with the Shadow Beast's precision shots. With Luca and Shada working together, their shots became more precise over time. This allowed them to pick off smaller targets, which in turn allowed the army to push forward. By the time the enchantments were starting to be strained, the army had been able to push so hard that they encircled the Dungeon mouth. When this happened Luca and Shada stopped and merged.

"Ok, that is all I can do now. Anymore and the enchantments will crack and so will my skull," Lusha said while wincing in discomfort. They had pushed too hard again, but it looked like it had been worth it.

The area around the Dungeon had been desolated by the break and all the spells being slung about by the army. Lusha ordered the captain to land behind the army near where he could see General Halless and Count Credus.

It didn't take the two long to head towards the Shadow Beast and Lusha sent a crewman to escort them to the bridge; they were too tired to go meet them.

General Halless and Count Credus entered the bridge at the same time, but it was the General that spoke first. "Boy, I don't know if I should thank you or spank you over my knee!"

Lusha squinted at the General. "Why would you want to spank me? Is that a kink of yours?" Lusha's mind was a bit frazzled so they couldn't quite stop their rude response. Working the enchantments like they had was tiring, to say the least. Not in terms of Essence, but in terms of control.

Count Credus laughed at the poleaxed look on the General's face. "I would like to thank you personally. Your intervention saved lives and helped us make the final push to the Dungeon mouth." Gratitude was clear in their words.

The General scowled. "Yes, but you nearly got people killed with lances of light shooting from the sky and a giant beast appearing behind high strung soldiers!" His voice was accusing.

"I am afraid to say that I had no way to announce myself. I did what I felt was necessary when I saw the army struggling; marching 30 miles in 3 days through hostile territory." Lusha waved a hand dismissively. "If I could have warned you I would have. Adding a voice broadcasting enchantment to the ship is on my list of improvements." Lusha then glared at the General and pulled a series of sealed scrolls from their Inventory. "Also, I do believe 'boy' is not the proper way to greet a [Baron] in their own territory." After saying this Lusha floated the scrolls over to Count Credus who smirked as he speed read the documents.

"Looks like you stuck your sword in the wrong Beast here General. The 'boy' was literally just doing their duty as the new [Baron] of this territory." The Count gave Lusha a respectful bow. "As Count of Northwood, I welcome [Baron] Lucanarius Intarius Aseralis to their new lands, and look forward to the newest Princess of Gloddus being part of my County."

The poor General looked a little green. Unlike Lusha and Credus, Halless was not a [Titled Noble], though becoming one wasn't impossible through service without noble blood. It was still rare. Insulting a [Titled Noble] was considered not only rude, but could end careers and Halless very much liked his career.

"My sincere apologies, [Baron] Aseraelis. I did not realize who I spoke to. I must confess to being quite fatigued after the long march and hard battle for the Dungeon mouth."

Lusha almost rolled their eyes at the quick change in the General's tone, but just as quickly suppressed the urge. "I understand, General Halless. I too am tired after bending the ship's enchantments to my will for this campaign, again." Lusha gestured to Lord Credus. "I was surveying my new barony and wanted to drop off the documents from my grandmother, the Queen, before I head east."

"Thank you for the speedy delivery. I will be sure that the early administration of your territory goes smoothly while you are away at the Academy, [Baron] Aseraelis."

The Count seemed thrilled to have a new [Baron] in their territory, which seemed odd to Lusha, but they couldn't figure out why. "You are most welcome [Count] Credus." Lusha turned to the captain. "If you would give the copies of our aerial survey to [Count] Credus we can begin our journey east."

"Yes, [Baron]," the captain had the copies easily at hand, so wrapped them up quickly. "Here you go, [Count] Credus. The map is still poor, but far more detailed than what we received from the Witch Queen before our departure."

"Thank you captain, I appreciate the efforts of you and your crew to add detail to the area's maps. They will be invaluable as we secure the Dungeon for [Baron] Aseraelis." The [Count], who was far more socially adept than the General, gave Lusha a polite nod before turning to the General. "I believe we should get back to the troops, don't you?"

The General looked between the Lusha and Credus before nodding and turning on his heels to depart. "Good luck on the rest of the campaign, General Halless," Lusha said as the General walked out. The General turned and gave Lusha a politely grateful bow before continuing their less than graceful exit.

"Well, that was awkward. You would think a General would have better social skills." Westlin chimed in once they were back in the air.

"I am sure he does under normal conditions, but I think the Shadow Beast unsettles the General, or maybe I do. I am honestly not sure." Lusha shrugged. "Captain, we will be going back to the capital to pick up my mother, then drop her off in Westlin. After that, full speed East to the Academy."

"As you will, [Baron]," the captain responded before issuing the necessary orders.