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September Poll Winner - I am Not a Mage Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2024-09-02 14:15:45 +0000 UTCA/N
Here is the first of the side stories that will be updated this month. It’s been a while since this was updated but I hope that it meets expectations. I hope you enjoy!
I am Not a Mage
Chapter 7 – Meeting Brandish
(Zack POV)
I stretched out my back to release the pressure of being hunched over my desk, looking at the latest, successful, test of the dragon lacrima that I had been working on for the last week and a half. Sitting on top of a page covered in an extremely complex set of Runes, were two Lacrima. One was the original Lacrima that Irene had given me. It still looked the same, though there was a noticeable dim to it, a testament to how many experiments I had run on the thing. It was still swirling with colour, but the colour had changed a little, looking a more vibrant red but strangely, or not if you consider her history, with a few tinges of black in it. They were so small that they looked like pepper grounds inside the Lacrima. I have no idea if she knows about that.
Right next to the first lacrima, also surrounded by a circle of Runes, was a second Lacrima. This one was a strong browny-green colour. The magic was swirling more actively than the magic in the original Lacrima. My guess is that it was that Dragon Slayer Magic was more chaotic, or more wild, than normal magic; much like the dragons themselves.
The second Lacrima was of inferior quality, not able to hold nearly enough magic in it as the original one, but that wasn’t the point. The point was, that I had successfully separated the magic within Irene’s Lacrima, only drawing out the dragon magic but leaving Irene’s magic alone in the original. And those little black flecks too.
I had found the way to take the Dragon Slayer Magic out of Irene.
It wasn’t a cure at all. It was a first step, that was it. There were still some massive problems before anything more could be done. For instance, Irene had absolutely massive reserves of magic. The amount of Lacrima required to take all of the magic out of her would be so great, it would make the Tower of Heaven look a Lego block.
I wasn’t even kidding. She had the ability to completely alter the physical landscape of an entire country, while the Tower of Heaven would destroy large amounts of Fiore, but not the whole country. It would do enough damage to bring down the nation’s integrity though, and the propaganda that they spread, saying that it was capable of destroying entire nations was a good deterrent against anyone considering declaring war against Fiore.
Makarov had told me the truth though, a few years ago. I had dropped by while I was taking care of Mira and Elfman before I left for Iceberg. We had talked about the most powerful magical attacks in the past, but this time he had been drinking and opened up to me about Etherion, the Magic Council’s not-so-secret weapon of mass destruction. That was what was going to power the Tower of Heaven once the morons fired it.
Long story short, knowing that Irene alone had more power than a war-deterring super weapon was terrifying. It was another one of the reasons that I was trying to win her over a little bit. Add to her dragon-scale hard skin which was strong enough to stop any weapon I could get from doing little more than scratching her, there was nothing I could personally do to her to stop her if she decided to go on a rampage. It would take a massively powerful Dragon Slayer to do the job.
Then again, Acnologia was about the same level of strength, without any of her respect for life, good nature and sanity. The only reason why the world hadn’t been taken over yet was because they didn’t want to.
I shook my head to clear it of those less than cheerful thoughts, and looked back at the Lacrima. I was happy with what I had achieved, but without being able to take out all of her Dragon Magic and the Dragon Seed it was an empty gesture. I couldn’t store that quantity of magic in anything I could get and I was still on shaky terms with exactly what the Dragon Seed was. Without more of an understanding on what that was and how to counter it, or just remove it completely, I couldn’t fully cure anyone from being a dragon. It’s not like I had a dragon to put inside her like Natsu had to provide antibodies.
Still, the original goal Irene gave me was to separate the dragon magic from her own magic and I seem to have done it. I had completed her task and she might even be willing to make that sword that I was after when I first arrived. I still had no clue on whether or not I was going to go to Edolas personally, but as I was rebuilding my relationship with Erza after all the stuff that happened before I left, I wasn’t going to let her be at risk if I could avoid it.
“Can you let Irene know that I am ready for her to inspect the results?” I asked the maid. “And find out if she wants to see it now, or if she wants to wait until after the meeting with Brandish?”
“I’ve just been informed that Miss Brandish has just arrived,” the maid spoke up, making me blink. She had spoken only a few times during the last ten days and it was easy to forget that she could talk. I had tried to egg her on a little bit to get her to open up between experiments, but it had all been for naught.
“Well,” I said slowly, twisting from side to side to loosen my back, earning another pop as I did. And caught a whiff of myself as I did, reminding me that I hadn’t showered today. “I shall pack this up, get dressed into something less pungent and make my way to Lady Irene’s throne room. Please let her know that I will be there shortly.”
The maid nodded and headed off through the doorway. I knew where to go by now so I didn’t need to be escorted, but I had no doubt that someone would be there to escort me from at least my room to the meeting.
A short trip back to my room to pack my few items and use the wash basin to clean my hands, face and wash my armpits, then a quick change into my cleanest and nicest outfit had me ready. I had been planning for this trip for the last week, so I made sure that my best clothes that I brought with me would be available for my meeting. It wasn’t much, just a long sleeve shirt and some pants that didn’t have patchwork sewing done on them, but it was the best I had, especially after a week of exploding Lacrima.
Over this, I put on my coat, which had all my personal items. I hadn’t needed to wear it in Irene’s house before this, but I always made sure that everything I needed was available on my person in case of an emergency, of differing types. After all, Brandish and her responses and behaviours were mostly unknown to me other than the brief stuff I remembered from the anime, but that had been so long ago now. I wasn’t taking anything for granted.
It had only been fifteen minutes since I was informed about Brandish being here when I entered Irene’s throne room.
At least, that’s what I was calling it. It wasn’t exactly as large as her ballroom, but it had a long carpet leading its way along the floor to a few steps going up to a landing where a very large chair was place, where Irene sat to entertain people when they came to ask her for stuff. Thus, a throne room.
Irene was seated regally on her throne, looking down at me as I approached at a casual pace. But the beautiful crazy lady wasn’t the one that I was focusing on right now.
No, my attention was focused on another young woman about the same age as Lucy Heartfilia, this one with green hair that was cut short to her shoulders, wearing an open robe that showed she was wearing… not much, actually. It was a half-cut push up bikini top that was holding her very generous bust, and a tiny pair of shorts that were not quite skintight.
Considering she only wore a robe and a bikini in the anime, this seemed almost modest for her.
“Zack,” Irene greeted me as I got closer to her throne. “This is the one you asked to see.”
“Thank you, Lady Irene,” I said, giving her a smile. “I am in your debt for your assistance in this matter.”
“Your debt shall be paid depending on your other work,” she said, her tone taking on an ominous note.
I nodded in concession to her again and turned back to Brandish, looking her over again from close range, though making sure I wasn’t ogling her.
“Miss Brandish,” I greeted her. “My name is Zack…”
“Is this really the person you called for me to meet, Lady Irene?” Brandish interrupted, ignoring me and looking up at Irene.
Irene shot me a look before facing Brandish again. “He is indeed,” she replied smoothly, her tone slightly amused. “Mister Zack has come all the way from Ishgar to speak with you.”
“He is not a wizard,” Brandish said bluntly.
“That is correct,” I said, my tone steady, even though I was starting to feel annoyed at her attitude. Sadly, it wasn’t something new; many wizards, especially strong ones, looked down on non-magic users. I’d had to deal with it a lot before the war.
That said, during the war it worked to my advantage. It meant they looked down on me, which made them more vulnerable. I took that and ran with it. It was why I survived and others didn’t.
“What could some non-magic user from Ishgar need to tell me?” Brandish said to Irene, sounding dismissive and bored already as she ignored me.
I raised an eyebrow. I was going to wait until she stopped being so rude before I gave her the message. Apparently though, Brandish wasn’t even going to give me a chance as we stared at each other with matching unimpressed expressions. Mine at her behaviour and attitude, hers at my lack of magic or status.
I think she last all of thirty seconds.
“I have a great number of things to do,” Brandish said, sounding even more bored, it was almost like her tone in the anime. “I came out of respect for Lady Irene, not to have my time wasted by some non-magic user from half a world away. If there is no reason other than to have you stare at me, then I am leaving.”
Hmmm, I have to admit, I wasn’t a fan of being looked down on by her. Even if she was already pushing to be an S-class wizard, I didn’t care for this dismissive attitude. I had hoped it might have been something that came along later in life, but she seems to have made up her mind already.
She started to make her way towards the exit. I let her get a few steps further away before I called out to her. “It’s about your mother,” I said. “I have information about her real murderer.”
Brandish froze instantly, letting off an impressive amount of magic as her emotions started to clearly take over. She slowly turned to face me, her fringe covering her eyes to give off an ominous look. On another person it might have worked, but I had faced off with a Balrog. Her anger was nothing in comparison to the sheer malevolence that I felt from that monster’s presence.
“What did you say?” she hissed softly.
“You heard me,” I replied casually. “That’s why you stopped and looked at me. You heard exactly what I said. I have information about your mother’s murder. You might want to stick around and hear it, instead of storming off like a toddler.”
The pressure of the throne room increased as Brandish’s body clenched, her face getting angrier and angrier. Her head raised a bit and I could see a weird mix of fury and disdain in her eyes as she stared at me, as if I wasn’t worthy of speaking to her at all, let alone talking about something that was clearly a hot button issue for her.
“Toddler!?” she bit out. “I’ll show you!” She lifted a hand as a magic circle started to form.
I reacted instantly; having no desire to see what magic she might throw at me. I know she specialised in some sort of growth and shrinking magic, and I could truly believe that in her current state that she would shrink my body, any part thereof, or massively expand my head or something.
I wasn’t letting that happen.
Fast as I could, I threw a magic stone in the air between us, the Lacrima equivalent of a flashbang that I had learned how to make from the Iceberg-Bosco War. I then tapped two more Lacrima sheets in my pocket, activating them. The first was an extremely short-range portkey, the distance barely more than I needed to get behind her from where she stood. It was my Runes equivalent of a flash-step, just instantaneous.
The second Lacrima was the more important one. I drew it from my pocket in a single smooth motion, ready to go. And finally, my spare hand, which had thrown the flashbang and was empty, flexed at the wrist, which brought out a blade I had strapped to my forearm.
In less than a second from Brandish raising her hand to cast a spell, I threw a flashbang Lacrima out, forcing her to cover her eyes and pause her casting. Then I teleported behind her, slapped a sheet of paper with Runes on it to the back of her neck, at the base just above her shoulders but below her hairline. Then I brought my assassin’s knife to her throat.
The magical power cut off immediately as Brandish tensed, feeling the sharp steel blade ready to slice her throat open in an instant if I wanted it to. I flicked my eyes over to where Irene was watching, noticing that she actually didn’t look angry. No, she actually was looking at me with an intensely interested expression on her face.
“Wha… What did you do?” Brandish stammered, sounding terrified as she started to twitch, clearly trying to do something and not getting anywhere with it. “What happened to my magic?”
I pressed the flat of the blade a little more firmly against her neck, just above the leather collar, and the twitching stilled instantly. She instinctively tried to move away from the blade which moved her back into me. My body was pressed into hers tightly, and I was doing my best not to be distracted by the curves that I could feel pressed into me, or the smell of her hair.
“It’s a little trick I came up with years ago,” I said conversationally, as if I wasn’t looking like she was being held hostage. “After I got the idea from some of the things that the Rune Knights use against wizards that they arrest. You see, when I was a young boy, my home was raided by dark wizards. They killed nearly everyone, including my parents. You know how that feels, right? Unfortunately, as I told you earlier, I don’t have the ability to use magic on my own. That meant that I had to find other ways to defend myself against those magic users that would threaten me. At the time, I was able to steal a knife and kill two of my attackers, but that only worked because of how much I caught them by surprise and how low levelled they were.
“As I am not an idiot, I realised that I couldn’t really on a massive surprise to protect myself against dark wizards. I had to establish other ways. And, while I can’t use my own magic, I can write in Runes, and tie those runes to Lacrima. Or really, any other magic source. What I did just now, was find a way to use a way to use Runes to disrupt the magic in your body, effectively stopping your ability to use magic. Don’t worry, it’s not permanent. In fact, judging by what I guess your strength to be, you will gain back the ability to use your magic in about twenty minutes once the Runes run out. The stronger you are, the faster the Runes will burn out.
“Oh,” I continued thoughtfully, as if it was just coming to my mind right now. “You should also know that taking off the sheet from your neck won’t stop the effects. The Runes are only initiated by the Lacrima, but they are now being powered by the magic in your own body. Once the Runes are finished, the whole paper will burn away. In fact, the writing on it is already starting to disappear.”
I was being truthful too. This had been a devilishly tricky Rune set to create and it burned out quickly. I had been able to add a security feature to the paper though, that would burn the ink of the Runes away as the effects went on. It essentially acted as a timer for how much longer it would keep disrupting someone’s magic. It was a defence method I had written into the Rune sequence, to make sure that no one could steal it from me without picking my pocket.
It was actually this Rune sequence that allowed me to survive the war, fighting against Bosco’s wizards. I couldn’t fight them directly with magic, however I had found out a way to interrupt their magic and severely reduce their combat capabilities. And seeing as how most wizards relied so much on their magic that they didn’t learn how to defend themselves physically, it meant that they lost the one thing that gave them such a major advantage on the battle field.
Teleporting, stabbing and magic denial had become my calling cards on those Iceberg battlefields whenever mages apeared. And because all I needed to make it work was a tiny piece of Lacrima, a piece of paper and a pencil, it was very simple and effective way to take out enemies, either for killing or capturing. I might not run fast enough to ever match a strong magic user and I couldn’t provide enough blunt force trauma to do much damage to a stronger wizard, but that didn’t matter if I could teleport and stab or slice someone.
“You didn’t think I was worth listening to because I don’t have the natural ability to use magic, like you or the Lady Irene, or any other lesser wizard,” I continued, breathing softly into her ear, my voice turning slightly husky as I spoke softly to her, my body pressing firmly into hers to stop her from moving. Not to hide it from Irene, because I had no doubt her altered anatomy would allow her to hear what I was saying, but to speak in a more compelling way in Brandish’s ear. “That was a mistake that many wizards have made of me over the years. Not many of them are alive to talk about it. Even now, I imagine that I could have cut your throat, pierced your heart or stuck a pick in your brain if I had wanted to. Just because I am not a wizard, don’t for one moment think that I am helpless. Understand?”
I saw the skin on her neck pimple into goosebumps and a tiny flush, so small I might have imagined it if I hadn’t seen it up close, tinged her cheeks. She did give a tiny nod though.
“Now,” I said, still speaking softly into her ear, my warm breath tickling her cheek, “I am going to let you go. I know that you can’t hit me with magic right now, but can you be polite and listen to the message nicely before storming off?”
Another nod came from the attractive green-haired girl. I slowly let go of her and took a large step back and away from her. She likewise took a step forward, a hand coming up to touch where the knife had been held at her throat, while the other reached around to grab the piece of paper stuck on the back of her neck.
Plucking it off, she glanced at it, then threw it away. She turned to face me with a grimace and paused for a second before her face twisted in shock. “You really stopped me from using magic?” she asked, sounding both incredulous and horrified.
I nodded. “You were about to cast a spell at me!” I defended myself. “I wasn’t just going to let someone as strong as you hit me with a magic spell. I also didn’t want to hurt you! This was the best option I could go with.”
She gave a tiny scowl, then crossed her arms under her impressive bust as she turned away. “What’s the message?” she asked sullenly.
I sighed. I hadn’t really wanted to be on Brandish’s bad side, but she was going to attack me. At the same time, I knew how important a wizard’s magic was to them. By taking it away I took away a massive part of their identity, in most cases. Someone like Erza or Laxus would still be able to fight, but most wizards wouldn’t.
“Your mother wasn’t killed by who you think it is,” I said. “Layla Heartfilia wasn’t the one to kill her.”
Brandish’s arms dropped to her sides, her hands clenched into fists. “That’s not true,” she objected angrily. “They told me it was her! She’s the only one that made sense!”
I shook my head. “Whoever told you that, wanted you to think that for some reason,” I said firmly. “I would assume that they had an ulterior motive, or were one of the people that were jealous of the Heartfilias. It might have even been one of Layla’s enemies. From what I understand, she had a few. But at the time that your mother died, Layla was herself dying.”
Brandish froze. “What? What do you mean she was dying?”
“Layla had done a particularly rare but powerful piece of magic involving the gold Celestial Spirit Keys,” I explained. “Unfortunately, to do it without consequence, she needed all twelve of the gold Celestial Spirit Keys. She didn’t have twelve at the time. She only had eleven. She had given one of them to someone else for safe keeping. Grammi.”
“Mother?” Brandish asked, sounding confused as her hands unclenched themselves.
I nodded. “Yes,” I replied. “Your mother had come to Alvarez, while Layla performed the spell in Fiore. From what I have come to understand, there was a time factor and Layla had sent for your mother to come back with the last gold key, but Grammi didn’t make it in time for Layla to use it for the spell. She performed the spell anyway and something backfired because she only had eleven of the gold keys and Layla was injured. It eventually took her life. Your mother didn’t get there until after Layla’s spell was used. Layla was already bedbound.”
Brandish stood still listening intently. “Then who killed my mother?” she demanded tightly.
“From the looks of it, it was another person that stole a key from Layla,” I replied. “The Capricorn Celestial Spirit Key was taken, and the wizard that did it performed some ritual that let them take over Capricorn’s body, but let his own mind control him. A form of Take Over Magic.”
“But Take Over Magic shouldn’t ever be used on Celestial Spirits,” Brandish said with a frown. “It is meant for monsters, animals and demons.”
I nodded. “It is unnatural,” I agreed. “But that person somehow did it or something like it and is now part of a dark wizard guild in Fiore.”
Brandish’s hands were clenched again as she thought on what I had told her. She looked up at me sharply. “Do you have proof of this?” she demanded.
I shrugged. “Not on me,” I admitted. “But I know how you can get it.”
“How,” Brandish said. It wasn’t phrased as a question.
“Go to Fiore,” I replied. “Head to Magnolia Town, where the Fairy Tail wizarding guild is. Ask to speak to Lucy Heartfilia. She has the Aquarius Celestial Key. Ask to speak to Aquarius. She can take you into the Star Memory which can show you the past.”
Brandish’s hands were now shaking with how hard she was clenching them. “You’re sure of this?” she demanded, her tone shaky. She was clearly trying to be strong even as her sure view of the world was crashing in front of her eyes.
“Yes,” I said. “I even managed to speak to Aquarius only a few days before I left Fiore and came to Alvarez. She confirmed that she could take you into the Star Memory so you could see for yourself.”
Tears were forming slowly in Brandish’s eyes, her jaw clenched as she was obviously trying her best not to cry at this new information about her mother but a tear still leaked down her face. I was almost surprised; in the anime, she had come across as someone that didn’t feel much emotion. I suppose that it was something that continually developed as she got older, like when the core Fairy Tail group were trapped in their bubble for seven years. Right now, Brandish was a teenage girl that found out shocking news about her mother’s death and killer. She wasn’t yet so hard-hearted that she wouldn’t cry about her mother.
“Fairy Tail, huh?” she said softly to herself, looking into space as she thought about it. “I will have to make a trip to Ishgar to check.”
“By the way,” I said, bringing her attention back to me as she looked at me intently, “sorry about, you know, disrupting your magic and putting a knife to your throat.”
I wasn’t simping, but I would rather not have the attractive, strong and emotionally stunted wizard that used magic that could shrink certain parts of me, have a grudge against me if I could avoid it. I wasn’t looking to date the crazy young woman, but I was hoping to not have to watch my back if she held it against me.
She stared at me for a long moment. “It’s fine,” she said flatly. “If you are telling the truth about my mother, then I forgive you. Even for having a knife to my neck and… pressing yourself against me.” Her cheeks flushed the tiniest amount as she said that last thing.
I saw the blush but wasn’t exactly sure the source. It could have been from embarrassment, shame or even attraction. I don’t imagine she’s allowed anyone to get too close to her, considering her mental state before, though I could be wrong. Trauma does weird things to people’s minds. She could have allowed anyone and everyone to ‘get close’ to her to try drown out the pain. I really don’t know.
The weirder guess was that it could be attraction. Having pressed my body into her and holding a knife at her throat was something that wasn’t exciting, except to a very small group of people. If attraction was what the blush was for, then I hope it was because my body was pressed against hers closely.
I really, really hoped that I hadn’t just helped Brandish develop a knife kink. That was just a step too far.
I gave her a nod that might have been mistaken for a shallow bow if a person was being generous. “Thank you,” I replied, choosing to ignore the blush. “That was all that I needed to speak with you about. Thank you for coming. I won’t take up any more of your time.”
Irene stood from her throne. “Yes,” she agreed, dismissing the visiting wizard properly. “Unless you have anything else, there is much business I must discuss with Mister Brown. You may leave, Miss Brandish.”
Brandish gave a shallow bow to Irene, shooting me one last look, her cheeks tinging pink again before she turned and swept out of the throne room, one of the maids in the house escorting her to the exit.
Irene waited until she heard a door close in the distance before she spoke up.
“My, you naughty boy,” Irene said, her tone amused as she smirked at me. “Using magic items in my house without permission, then seducing the wizard that you asked to come see you. It would make me wonder what other nefarious actions you might have planned for my own virtue.”
I grinned at her coy display as she idly played with her hair. I knew that this woman was crazy as well as crazy strong, but somehow, even with her extremely provocative clothing, which might almost be labelled lingerie, she managed to act like a shy virgin quite convincingly.
I bowed to her. “Oh, mighty Queen Irene,” I said in a grand, staged voice, “Please forgive this insignificant peasant for his crimes of using magical items without your express permission in your domain. This unworthy soul begs your leniency and offers the deepest of apologies for violating the honoured custom expected of guests and visitors against their hosts.” I finished with a grand sweeping gesture and fell to one knee. I held the pose for a few seconds before looking up at Irene with a tiny smirk on my face.
Irene grinned for a moment before making her face appear stern. “Well,” she mused thoughtfully in a regal tone, “after such an impassioned plea, I have no choice but to offer you clemency. You may rise, but know that I will punish any further transgressions most harshly.”
“You are most magnanimous,” I replied, standing on my feet again and bowing humbly before her. These tiny plays were something I had discovered that Irene enjoyed, as long as she was in the mood. It was a sparring of sorts, but purely verbal. I didn’t fight too hard and always let her ‘win’ which seemed to work for whatever dragon instincts she has to be dominant.
“I know,” she agreed easily, before turning and walking up the stairs to her throne.
“You told my maid that you wished to see me,” she stated as she sat back down on her cushioned seat. “I take it you were at least partially successful in your task.”
I stepped forward up the stairs and pulled the two Lacrima from my pockets, presenting them to her for her inspection. Irene took them both, looking them over intensely.
“As you can see,” I explained as she looked at the two Lacrima, probably already assessing them with her magical senses as well, “I have managed to get only Dragon Slayer magic from your original lacrima into the new lacrima. This in turned revealed that there is potentially a third magic in your system which may be interfering with any work I can do to remove the dragon magic.”
Irene’s head jerked up to look at me for a moment before staring down and glaring at the original Lacrima, her lips tightening. It only lasted for a moment before her expression cleared to a state of mild annoyance.
I looked at that, remembering that Zeref had been the one to allow her to transform back into a human. Black was his magic colour from the anime, red was Irene’s and Belserion the dragon was a green-brown colour. Irene was probably annoyed to see that whatever Zeref had done had left his magic intertwined with her own. I wouldn’t be happy about that either; the guy was nuts.
“Also,” I continued as I pretended to ignore her expression, “this only proves that I have the ability to separate the different magics inside a container. I don’t know if it would change things in the process of drawing the magic out of you as compared to the Lacrima. Not to mention, considering how strong your magic is, I am uncertain if there is any way of being able to drain enough of it to have manageable levels left for transferring to Lacrima.
“Of course, none of this is fully going to work without a way to take out the Dragon Seed. I will need more time to research that and see if there is a way to do so safely.” I shrugged helplessly. “I believe it should be possible to do so, but I need to do more research, and most of my research stuff is in Fiore.”
Irene didn’t look up from the Lacrima for another long moment, her face inscrutable. It was like staring at a marble statue of the woman, not the woman herself.
Finally, she looked up and stared at me directly. Her face was normal, however, there was a gleam in her eyes that I wasn’t completely sure that I was comfortable with.
“You managed to separate the dragon magic with your Runes,” she said softly, but intensely. “You managed to divide the different magics from a whole.” She stood up slowly, her expression getting sharper as she talked. “I have lived for centuries and haven’t come across anyone that has been able to do this in a permanent fashion. All attempts were temporary at best. How did you manage?”
I felt the hair on the back of my neck start to stand up as my senses told me that this was the side of Irene that I needed to be very careful of.
“As your maid can attest,” I said slowly, keeping my tone submissive. I wasn’t naturally submissive but there came a time when self-preservation played a part. “I used my knowledge of Runes and tried over and over again for the last ten days. I failed a lot and broke a lot of your spare blank Lacrima, but eventually I was able to combine some basic knowledge of magical transfer with more specific work on the nature of different magics. There was some work in origins of source as well, which meant that I could separate magic that was of human origin to that which wasn’t, which meant I could drain magic that your body might consider foreign.”
Zeref’s magic was human in origin, not demon or dragon. It meant that my current Runes were insufficient to remove it from Irene’s body.
“I had some concern that the dragon magic had become so ingrained into your own magic that it wouldn’t identify the dragon magic as a foreign magic, but I assume that because the Dragon Seed hasn’t been taken over by your body and, as you said, is still a distinct and separate thing inside of you, it has a different origin. I also had to add Runes that dealt with energy division and life power.” I gestured helplessly. “Ultimately, I got a lot of ideas for the Runes from what I knew and could read of magical healing methods.”
I was summarising it and making it sound easier than it was. I was familiar with a lot of different concepts in dealing with energy. It was the nature of being an engineer. Energy is everything. And while I wasn’t a doctor, I was familiar with transference and conversion of energy to matter or from one source to another. I had to apply that to magical definitions that I could write into Runes, which was harder than I made it sound. Just the notes that I had recorded for this would be enough to publish a thesis on. And I had done all of that in less than two weeks.
Fear of crazy hot women can be one hell of a motivating factor.
Irene’s eyes were showing more than a hint of her madness as she came down and stood right in front of me. Being taller than her, I had to look down, even as she looked up at from under the brim of her massive witch’s hat. It felt like she was trying to assess my soul.
“Zack Brown,” she said slowly, her tone taking on the barest hint of threat. “You have completed a task that I myself failed at, as has anyone that I could confer with. I gave up nearly two hundred years ago that there would be a way to fix me. This is the first progress in centuries. Ever since Zeref was able to turn my physical form back into a human.”
She stepped into my personal space and, with a gesture of a finger, put such a magical force on me that I collapsed to my knees in front of her, letting her looked down on me ominously.
“You will be allowed to return to Fiore now,” she said firmly. “However, you will continue to research more into the Dragon Seed. If I have to come there myself and let you examine me, I will, but I will be most displeased if I come and find that you have not done anything to look into it. You will find your freedoms removed and I will keep you chained here in that laboratory if I must. Do you understand?”
There was no way out of it if I wanted to live. Luckily for me, continuing to look into the Dragon Seed was something I wanted to do anyway; not just for Irene, but for my own information on the topic. After all, it was possible for artificial Dragon Slayers to be created, even from those that didn’t have magic.
Unfortunately, the mortality rate for implanting Dragon Lacrima into a non-magic user’s body was significantly higher than it was for those that used magic. About eighty percent of non-magic people died after a Dragon Lacrima was implanted. Half of those that remained ended up with physical deformities and of the remaining ten percent of the initial group, half of those ended up with mental issues, such as schizophrenia.
So yeah, a Dragon Lacrima might work, but it was for too risky for me to consider trying on my own.
“That’s fine,” I grunted against the pressure that was still being placed on my shoulders. “I know at least three people that use Dragon Slayer Magic and I can definitely study two of them to try find out more about the Dragon Seed. I also know of at least three others, but I don’t know them personally. I can continue my research there.”
“Oh?” Irene mused thoughtfully, tapping a finger against her bottom lip. “Another five Dragon Slayers? Well, I suppose in the issue of fairness, you had probably better tell them about the Dragon Seed. It would be… concerning, if I needed to be challenged by other dragons for my territory.”
I nodded, sweat running down my forehead. “I will,” I said, feeling the pressure easing off of me.
“Good,” she turned and marched back up to her throne. “Then, if there are no other questions, you may leave. You have left a mess in your laboratory and my maids are already complaining about cleaning it.”
I breathed a faint sigh of relief before straightening up. “Just a couple of quick questions if you don’t mind?” I said, keeping my voice respectful. “You mentioned that Zeref was the one that turned you back into human form again. I assume that it was his magic that I was seeing intertwined with your own in the Lacrima?”
Irene nodded, her lips slightly compressed.
I hesitated for a moment, before taking the plunge. “I know of at least one other dragon, such as yourself, who is still alive from those days; Acnologia. I know that he also has a human form and spends a lot of time in it. Was he turned into it by Zeref too?”
Irene frowned as she considered the question. “Acnologia,” she muttered. “I haven’t heard that name for some time. By my knowledge I don’t think he was turned human by Zeref.”
I nodded. “Is there a way for you to learn how he transforms back into a human?” I asked. “It might make it easier for me to cleanse your magic if I didn’t have to worry about Zeref’s magic too.”
Irene’s frown deepened now. “I do not believe so,” she mused eventually. “Acnologia was a little wild with hints of madness and obsession, even when I knew him during the dragon attacks in Ishgar those centuries ago. I don’t believe that he would have improved when he has openly shunned the presence of others. Moreover, he has always had a special hatred of dragons, ever since they killed his family. It’s quite ironic, considering how he is now a dragon. If I show up it is possible that he won’t even try talking or listening. He will likely attack without question, knowing what I am.”
I nodded. Oh well, that would make it too easy, I guess.
“Very well,” I replied. “Thank you for hosting me for these last ten days, and for allowing me access to your library, which allowed me to learn a great deal more about Runes in general. I will try to learn what I can about the Dragon Seed and once I know more, I will contact you. Though,” I replied slowly and inwardly felt the cringe in case of an oncoming explosion, “I cannot give a timeline on something like this. It might even take a few years, if neither I nor they can come to a clear understanding on how the Dragon Seed works completely. I just want to throw that out there in case you thought I went too long without hearing from you.”
Her eyes narrowed for a moment before she gave a short nod. “Very well,” she conceded. “I expect to be informed of any developments you make. After all,” she said with a sly smile, “you only need a day to come out here and go back to Ishgar.”
I nodded. “True,” I replied. “Then, by your leave, I will head back to Fiore now. Thank you again for hosting me.” I clenched my teeth to stop myself asking a risky question, before my mouth decided to outrank me. “Is there anything you would like me to say to… a certain redheaded friend of mine?” I asked very slowly.
Irene’s face grew stormy and the pressure of her magic started to weigh down on me again. I immediately put my hands up in a surrendering motion.
“Sorry,” I said evenly, “I overstepped again. I will just leave before I say something even more stupid.”
“Do so,” Irene ordered.
I bowed and headed out the door, picking up my bag of personal items from where it was laying at the door at the entrance. I looked back to see her still watching me neutrally. “Farewell, Queen Irene.”
I took a step towards the exit, only to halt when Irene called out again. “Before you go,” she said, her voice still slightly stiff.
I turned back to face her, staying on my spot as she walked over to me. I was taller than her, but with her hat it felt like she was looming over me. She stopped right in front of me and held out a hand to the side. A flash of light from Requip Magic later and she was holding a sword in her hand. It was a plain looking thing, with a simple cross guard. It looked like a European short sword.
“As payment for your service,” she said imperiously. “Enchanted against foreign magical influence, as you asked. I won’t have it said that I failed to keep my word.”
I gingerly took the sword from her and bowed with it in my hands. “Thank you, Queen Irene,” I said softly, a small weight taken off me at the sight of the sword. “This will help my friend a great deal.”
She nodded and turned, marching back to her throne. “That was all,” she said dismissively as she sat down again.
With another bow, I headed out the door for the barn where my plane, the Wind Sprite, had been parked. I managed to pull and push her out of the doorway and onto an open field. Once I had my gear and the new sword stowed away in the small cargo bay, I climbed into the cockpit, eager to make for the skies.
I pulled a compass from my pocket and set it in an empty holder on the dash. I hadn’t needed it for the flight over, but as I wasn’t going straight back to Fiore, I needed to be more precise in my travel plans.
Finally ready, I activated the plane’s Lacrima, turned into the wind, and took off.
Investigating the Dragon Seed would wait for now. The first stop was something that I needed to do and was more time-sensitive. Galuna Island. More specifically, a certain ice shell covering a demon that was being removed.
But before that, I had a stop off to make.
Tenrou Island.
…
