The Prince of Demons

Krahinn

I left the demons to enjoy their ever so touching reunion as Luna was now free from entertaining a Lord. I summoned the <Geas> between Nil and Scius, seeing the <Astral Scale> value had increased yet again, verifying what I just checked. It shouldn't be doing that. I had originally assumed it was irregular from Nil's ability to reset timelines and some odd accrual artifact that resulted from that, but this <Geas> shut that down; this <Geas> was written well enough to stop Nil from resetting time with <Magic> this far back. It might be possible to cheat it once Scius is here trying to kill Nil, but that is a move of desperation. That was not the important part right now; Nil and Luna both had their <Astral Scale> value increase by unnatural amounts over the last few days. Luna's made sense as she just garnered the attention of Lord Utol, but Nil was baffling.

What could possibly cause the value to increase like this? I kind of paused for a moment, taking in the wonder as I felt myself smile a bit. For once in a long, long while, I truly did not know the answer. There was this odd joy as I realized I would have to actually research and look into it rather than just read over something. Should I ask Nez? Unfortunately, he and his husband were currently arguing with each other, and I did not want to be anywhere near that. I let out a small sigh. Oh well. Ipnerslei might be able to give me some insight on the <Spell>. Did I feel like going to Phestia to find her? She might know the actual answer. I would rather enjoy figuring out an answer since it has been centuries since I've had to. Like solving any good problem, it was best to start with what I knew.

Nil and Luna's values increased by differing amounts; Nil's tended to tick up day by day usually but recently they had been unnaturally increasing faster whereas Luna's took a massive leap from her chat with Lord Utol. Okay, Luna's is more of a reference as it has a direct explanation. I was curious to see what she gained, if anything, from meeting Lord Utol. While her dad and Nil may not have taken her sudden trip well, she looked more resolved and centered when she reappeared, so I was hopeful that it was something interesting. There was a chance it was intriguing at least. Noted for later because now was for trying to solve the problem with no logical answer, for now. Back to the fun part, what caused <Astral Scale> to read a higher value? A favorable encounter from a Lord was a surefire way to increase it. Nil might chat with Kron at Temple occasionally, but that is more of a small spike than this ongoing increase. Someone actively taking malicious actions against you increased it. I checked the <Geas> again to make sure Scius properly severed himself from Nil. He did.

Performing actions to selflessly help other could increase it as well. Did Nil using his otherworldly knowledge to help make reforms count? That would be such a boring answer if that were the case. Old man Nil was known for being a fairly selfless ruler that took great strides in reforms for the people, so he should be a valid reference point in trying to figure this out. After doing a quick scan of the castle, I used <Warp> to appear near him. He raised a curious eyebrow as he went to say hello, but I just cast <Astral Scale> to check my theory. High, but not high enough to explain the anomalous increase. The theory that his ideas to help commoners may have fed the number; the sample I had did not support it being able to explain the rate, or why the rate suddenly began to increase.

"Hello, King Krahinn. Did you need help with something?" Elder Nil inquired, clearly curious as to what I was up to.

"I needed you as a reference. Thankfully, the boring answer does not appear to be correct." I answered. Elder Nil looked at me for a few seconds as he processed how he wanted to reply.

"What question are you trying to answer?" Elder Nil probed. Maybe explaining it to someone might be helpful.

"Do you know how the <Spell> called <Astral Scale> works?" I checked as Elder Nil shook his head no to answer me.

"So, it is basically a neutral <Spell> that shows a number which represents someone's good will from the world around them; it is the driving force behind the <Veil> that shields someone like Nil from someone like Scius. As long as the overall actions and behavior of a person, and by extension Realm, are good or earn the favor of a Lord, the <Veil> shields them from outside influence, which is why Scius needs to sow so much chaos and destruction over years to weaken the <Veil>. To focus on what I'm trying to answer, Nil's value is way higher than it should be, which is not surprising, but the weird part is recently it keeps increasing more than it is supposed to. Luna's increased as well, but she just had a chat with a Lord, so it is to be expected." I explained. Elder Nil clearly thought it over for a few moments.

"What all constitutes good will or more rather increases the value shown by the <Spell>?" Elder Nil inquired. Fair enough, explaining how it worked was necessary if I wanted any input from him. He's one of the demons that's fun to talk to.

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"The four ways I can think of are to earn the favor of a Lord which is what Luna did by entertaining Lord Utol. Suffering or having unfortunate events occur around you will increase it a bit, like if your home is destroyed by an earthquake, it'll increase the value. Selflessly helping others will also make the number bigger. Finally, someone actively plotting or actively taking actions to harm you will cause the number to jump up as well. The issue is, as far as I can tell, none currently apply to Nil enough to explain it." I elaborated for him.

"What did you need me as a reference for?" Elder Nil asked. You know, he was quite useful; the demon asked such good questions to understand things.

"I was wondering if helping make policies that in turn made good reforms increased the value more than I thought it did. While your value is high, it is not so high, that unless you have some war crimes you committed I'm unaware of, to justify how much Nil's has been increasing." I informed him while he nodded along.

"It is safe to assume you checked the Void King is not somehow leaking his malice to cause this?" Elder Nil verified. Strong starting point, make sure I checked the obvious.

"Scius would not currently explain it. Frankly, if it was his malice, I feel <Astral Scale>'s value would explode." I confessed. Elder Nil and I stood in silence for about thirty seconds as he processed what I had told him.

"Well, my next guess would require knowing how long the increase has been occurring. What motivated you to check as well might be helpful." Elder Nil stated. It was nice having someone go along my exact thought process.

"I check the <Geas> and Nil's <Astral Scale> regularly to make sure nothing has happened as the <Geas> is a direct link between Nil and Scius. If Scius is trying to circumvent his own creation, or some malicious plot of his testing the limits of his <Geas> were afoot, the <Astral Scale> value of Nil would jump by a lot. I would much rather be safe than sorry on that front, so the why is simply a precautionary measure. As for how long, roughly a week." I explained. Elder Nil did some fast calculation in his head.

"That's aligns with approximately when Magus Supreme Praecan and her ward arrived in Umbra." Elder Nil pointed out. Talking to him was proving quite fruitful. To be fair, he is one of the more interesting people here in the castle.

"I mean, that would be an odd coincidence; there might be something there." I confessed. It was a starting point at least. Elder Nil seemed irritated though.

"What?" I checked, not grasping his irritation.

"Our guest is actively plotting against my grandson somehow." Elder Nil stated, his annoyance oozing into his voice.

"I highly doubt it's Magus Supreme Praecan, or an actual child." I retorted. Still, that fact was quite peculiar. It was too coincidental to just ignore.

"What has you so confident that she is not the cause?" Elder Nil inquired with some annoyance in his voice at how quickly I dismissed her as a possibility.

"She seems to be under a lot of stress and pressure in trying to keep the Institute of Mages alive despite its precarious state. Additionally, from the knowledge compendium that Nil passes himself she usually dies pretty soon. In every other iteration she's dead before she matters to Nil; this is the first time that fact is different as far as I know. I am still going to double check; I just am quite doubtful." I informed Elder Nil.

"Is her <Astral Scale> value high? Can you check? If she is actively plotting something malicious to the degree it is artificially increasing Nil's, it should logically decrease hers at least a bit. I suspect there is a difference between thinking and acting, but if the increase is such an outlier, the effect I suspect is there from what you described." Elder Nil requested. He had a solid point. It didn't hurt me to eliminate her.

"I'll be right back." I informed him.

I used <Warp> to go to Praecan, who leapt at my sudden arrival. I fought the urge to chuckle when the kid leapt and slammed his leg into the desk. She went to open her mouth, but I quickly cast <Astral Scale> on her to see what it displayed. I blinked. What? I rubbed several of my eyes before recasting <Astral Scale>, and the number was already higher. What? What was going on? I cast <Astral Scale> one final time, seeing it barely increased again. That was not good; that was seriously not good for her at least. Well, well, well. That just made this a lot more interesting to me. What was afoot that was causing this? I assumed Nil was the original target, but her <Astral Scale> might have just proved otherwise.

"Hello, King Krahinn I believe. How may I help you?" Magus Supreme Praecan asked, trying to contain how annoyed she was I just materialized in the room.

"Nothing currently. I was just checking something as there was a bit of odd <Magic> afoot; now I can eliminate you from the list. I'd recommend just staying here for the day while I sort this out. Sorry for the sudden intrusion." I informed her. That was uncharacteristically nice of me. Honestly though, might as well be kind to the dead woman walking.

"That's fine, I guess. Please knock next time." Magus Supreme Praecan replied. If there is a next time.

"Fair enough. Have a good day." I told her before returning to Elder Nil.

"So, what was the result?" Elder Nil probed as I was processing what I just learned.

"Her number was increasing as I was looking at her, quite rapidly I might add. Magus Supreme Praecan's value is well outside the bounds of normal. Someone is actively plotting to kill her at minimum with a value like that, and I'm starting to suspect Nil, or at least the Imperial Family, are going to be used as scapegoats." I informed him. Not the answer I was suspecting, but this just got way more entertaining to figure out.