Chapter 3: FE-Fates: 002
After a little more 'sword fighting' wound down into relaxed cuddling and casual snacking out of the pantries, Shin Lee got down to business.
Step one, of course, was explaining the situation to Astolfo. With no perks to share critical intelligence on the situation... Well, even if 'Grail Knowledge' had been purchased, that only covered common sense and the general sort of required knowledge and life skills to function in a given world. Plot details were a different matter entirely.
All the same, Astolfo nodded along to the explanation of how two great kingdoms were at odds due to the machinations of a third secret one, picking up and crunching away at kernels of buttered popcorn in between licking his fingertips clean.
"The linchpin is Corrin." Shin concluded. "Born by blood to the royalty of Hoshido, but captured and raised in Nohr. As a hostage, of course, but close enough that he and the royal family of Nohr became close."
"Yeah, that's always a problem, historically speaking." Astolfo acknowledged. "Sometimes you get a situation where that means a marriage can form an alliance, buuuut..."
"Corrin will soon be put in a position where it seems that he is forced to choose. Either his blood relations, or the family that he knows. One or the other, but there will be pressure for him to pick a side and stick with them." Shin outlined, as Astolfo graciously winced. "The third known route is neither. Where he rejects the idea of fighting against either of the kingdoms, both consider him a traitor, and he ultimately reveals the conspiracy and the insane dragon pulling the strings from behind the scenes."
"Sounds like that's the ideal option... Well, if you've got to pick one of the three." Astolfo noted with a shrug.
True enough. Shin had some thoughts about that, though... but that could wait a minute.
Next was covering an explanation on his job, the requirements, the benefits, and how he could get stronger... actually, 'Grail Knowledge' would have been useful for that, since it should have included details on how the company operations worked, and would mean that Astolfo wouldn't have as much opportunity to play cutely dumb with the explanations.
... He did get side-tracked a little.
"The Tao is a fundamentally benevolent force, but one that is restrained in direct actions to neutrality. Any benevolent action must be counterweighted with an act of malevolence, as in nature. For the hawk to eat, the hare must die... or pigeon, or river trout." Shin explained.
"Neat." Astolfo replied breezily, the philosophy barely ruffling his hair as it flowed past him without finding particular purchase. "How's that mix with the slavery?"
The question was not a condemnation, but rather a matter of curiosity. Astolfo was one of the Paladins of Charlemagne, a group which existed in approximately the late seven hundreds. This was a period of time where slavery was... perhaps not considered right and good, but where it was a fact of life for Europe. What was forbidden was the owning or sale of Christian slaves, and that specifically by first Jews and then by Muslims, by different Papal decrees and not as a matter of law. It wasn't until the eleven-hundreds that slavery in general started being made uniformly illegal... in Europe. The thirteen-hundreds, in France.
And Astolfo himself was written to have pressed the giant Caligorante into servitude, after all.
"The company is an evil force, and there is no doubt about that. It can be utilized to do good, however. In my case, being sponsored by the Tao, I am incentivized to perform great and heroic acts that positively improve the lives of many, while sale of individuals with positive or merely neutral Karma is forbidden, thus disincentivizing thoughtless captures for the sake of sales. There is also a benefit in releasing captured individuals, to boot." Shin outlined. "I can't deny that I'd at least consider that widespread capture doctrine myself, if left to my own devices. The purchase catalog is designed to encourage a user to want ever more from it, for their safety, power, benefits... and of course, the beauties."
"Of course." Astolfo chuckled, wryly. "Can't forget the beauties."
"That would be sacrilege." Shin agreed. "But as it happens, while the Tao incentivizes and guides me towards heroic action, it's likely that I will control others, briefly at the least. I cannot force the issue at the moment, however... No stamp. Thus, I am reliant on love confessions and binding contracts. In all honesty, I am somewhat hesitant to consider buying a physical Stamp back even when I have the option... it seems to be a temptation that I'm not sure I would be able to resist. Contracting honestly seems just as useful, for the time being."
"'Kay." Astolfo answered wisely, as he flipped a piece of popcorn up into his mouth. "So... what's the plan?"
"Once open hostilities between the kingdoms are sparked back up, there will be plenty of opportunities to save lives... but none of them will be lasting matters until the war is resolved, and if the dragon Anankos is not defeated then it's only a matter of time before it flares up again." Shin noted. "With that in mind, there is no lasting success that doesn't account for him."
"So we're slaying a dragon, huh?" Astolfo asked, with a grin.
"It's not quite so easy as that. Dragons here are... essentially also gods, of a sort." Shin explained. "There are special preparations that have to be made, for it to be possible. But yes. Eventually, we're going to be slaying a dragon."
Shin chuckled to himself.
"But that's going to take a bit." he acknowledged. "The first step to take is to set ourselves up as traveling mercenaries. That will give us some ability to explain moving around freely instead of attempting to settle down somewhere to farm, or join a noble's forces. And while I think that we could do a reasonable job of it, there's also going to be questions if we seem too good for just a wandering pair of combatants. Better to not test the limits of noble ability to accept a 'no', right? I think it would be best to look for a recruit."
With a little work at his smart phone, Shin brought up a picture and turned it around to show Astolfo. Then he hesitated in thought for a moment.
"Though it might take a little bit." he admitted. "I have the mapper function on this, but I can't track or locate targets with it. The Tao clearly wants me to work for my results. So, the first thing that we'll have to do is locate mounts... war horses, pegasi, or wyverns."
"Riding wyverns, you say?" Astolfo said, interest visibly caught. "Tell me more."
-
On an ordinary morning, much like any other, the living curse Nyx rose from slumber before the dawn at her campsite. She spent a few minutes thereafter drudging about, stoking up the campfire and setting a pot to cook the morning's porridge, before returning to her tent to lie back down.
The birds had started singing, and it was disgustingly cheerful. She was tempted to shoot them down with fire magic, but that would solve nothing. More birds would fly in, continue singing, and the ones that she charred wouldn't even be good for eating. Not that little birds were particularly good for that to begin with. Not much meat on their tiny, spindly bones, after all.
Between that and the effort of putting wood on the fire, she wasn't going to be able to drift back into a nap despite her best efforts. After a few long, disgruntled moments of considering her options, she slipped a hand up under the pillow of her travel bedroll, fingers pressing against the cover of a slim novel.
Her plans were interrupted by a thumping crash from outside of the tent, and she swore to herself as she rose again and stalked out.
She was met by a pair of wyvern riders, seated on the back of very nearly feral beasts, the beating of their wings and irritable demeanor showing that they were barely trained... the one mounted by the pink-haired damsel coming off as somewhat more docile and obedient despite its displeasure when compared to the second, more temperamental and ornery beast, whose stamping and beating of wings had turned over her pot into the fire, dousing it with barely-cooked oats and water.
Nyx's temper flared up at that as her gaze shifted to the rider.
He was a dusky and handsome young man, seeming to have walked right out of the pages of one of the secret novels that she perused, but she was no shy young maiden that might allow her rightful anger to be replaced with the flush of ardor. Not even when he spoke with a voice like melted butter dribbling over a steaming slice of fresh and lightly toasted bread, smooth and intoxicating as wine-soaked silks.
"I have come following rumors of a mysterious mage. You are her, if I am not wrong." he said, before confidently extending a hand. "Tell me... would you like to take part in saving the world?"
Nyx irritably tossed a bolt of flame at his head.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone