Saintess Summons Skeletons

Sofia and Alith entered the manor as another tethered ‘servant’ led the horse away to the stables.

In the regular world, the manor was in such a bad state that there was almost nothing left of the entrance, which was why the tethered butler could easily go in and out without his tether catching onto anything.

A few door frames are still standing on the lower level… Does that mean they can’t enter those rooms in the light world?

Sofia had very little time to entertain those thoughts as the butler led them directly to the main staircase in the middle of the entrance hall. She could very clearly see from Pareth’s point of view, these stairs did not exist outside of the light world. Slightly apprehensive, she stepped up, following Alith and the butler. Stepping on air was nothing new for Sofia, she walked on air more often than she walked on the ground, but doing so without using [Dodge me] felt a bit disturbing.

As Sofia followed, she noticed a tether coming closer.

Crap.

Fake-tripping, Sofia bumped into Alith, narrowly pushing her out of the collision-course with the incoming tether.

“Sofia! What’s wrong?” Alith asked, helping her get back up, her voice showing hints of worry that stemmed not from Sofia’s wellbeing but from the meaning of this sudden ‘tripping’ which she knew had to be faked.

“It is nothing, I have just tripped… I apologize, my lady.”

“No, no,” the butler chimed in, “the floor was recently polished and is still quite slippery. It was my mistake that I failed to warn you and your retainer, lady Sorcerer. I humbly apologize for this error. Should I send for the doctor?”

Is he… Covering for me?

“Are you injured?” Alith asked Sofia.

If I go see the ‘doctor’, this is an opportunity to get separated and explore the manor from different places… But I’d be leaving Alith alone surrounded by a bunch of tethered…

“I am perfectly fine, I merely lost my footing, it will not happen again,” Sofia answered, flashing a thankful smile to the butler, despite both of their faces being blurred. She thought that perhaps for them this blur was not a thing.

I wish I could read his expression right now. The blur makes nuanced social interactions difficult…

This little incident over, the butler led them to a small living-room decorated with flowers and bright paintings. “The count is busy and will receive you in a minute,” he explained with a bow before he left the room.

“What was that all about?” Alith asked in a whisper as soon as the door was closed.

“You were about to walk into the tether of someone on the ground floor.”

“Oh shit, thanks for the save… Wait… There’s no floor, then?”

“We’re both sitting some eight meters in the air right now…” Sofia answered.

“Neat. How are things looking, aside from that?”

“Nothing much. Our arrival hasn’t kicked up much of a fuss. There are two tethered in the next room over, and one next to the door we entered from, it’s one of the guards we walked by on the way.”

“Feel no mage?”

Sofia shook her head, “No. The tethered all have no mana in our world, but here, while some have a bit, the highest level is probably around level fifty, from what I can feel. But… I found something more disturbing.”

“That’s… Really?”

“Yeah… There are small tethered. From what I can feel, probably the count’s kids. They’re in the most secure room of the manor, six guards.”

“We saw children in the village so that’s not too surprising… But yeah… disturbing is the right word…”

“You don’t say…” Sofia said with a sigh, “Does Dopple have nothing to say about this whole moon?” she asked, observing Alith’s long black robe.

Stolen story; please report.

“Seems that way. He rarely has much to say, to be honest. Unless there’s something for him to eat nearby.”

“Yet he translated the Fairy’s nonsense back then.”

“A rare occurrence. But he’s been a lot more silent ever since you told me about the admin’s return. Must be related.”

“Yeah, he seemed to personally know the living sword admin key after all… There’s definitely some history there that Dopple doesn’t want to share.”

“As long as I’m protected I won’t try to pry further,” Alith said with a shrug.

“That is the most important… Someone’s coming.”

Alith quickly nodded and fixed her posture on her chair.

A rather portly man energetically entered the room, “Stay right there,” he told the guard following him before he could also enter. He closed the door and sat in the room’s largest seat, facing Sofia and Alith. Without any greetings or gestures toward them, he pulled a cigar out of an interior pocket of his garments, and lit it with a spark shooting from his fingertip. ṛἈƝỘＢЁ𝙨

Around level thirty? Sofia guessed from the mana she could feel in the man’s bloodstream.

“So…” The man finally started after taking in a deep breath of smoke, “Who’re you two lasses, then? I know every sorcerer on this side of the moon, and I’d remember those pretty faces if I’d seen them.”

Not the best start…

“Are you fond of asking questions containing their own answers?” Alith asked back.

The count laughed. “What, coming from the other side, are you?” He asked, before laughing even harder until he started to wheeze. He stopped at once, “Are you serious?”

Alith turned to Sofia, “Sorry, our cover is blown, looks like,” she said with a shrug, prompting the count to start laughing once more.

That’s one way to defuse the situation…

“Is it that ridiculous to imagine someone from the other side coming here?” Sofia asked, since things had gone off the rails already anyway.

“Bahahah, you must be from the land below, I suppose. No one here would believe that you come from the other side. Not a soul. Not ever since the queen passed. A rightful mess you’ve gotten yourselves into, huh. Tell you what, if you girls can leave the moon still, then get the fuck away from here,” the count said, before leaning in and whispering after checking that the close was still closed, “We’re dead men walking here, all of us. Beyond saving. I don’t know how you got your hands on a life fruit, but you’d do well to forget about it and leave this accursed place behind while it’s still time.”

“Life fruit?” Sofia repeated.

“You don’t even know what you’ve got your hand onto?” The count asked, pulling in another breath of smoke from his cigar, “How did you two even end up here…”

“It’s a long story… If I am to be completely honest, we are both strong sorcerers, we’ve just arrived here, and are looking for the remains of a dead god,” Sofia stated candidly.

“A dead god?” the count repeated, pensiveness showing through his voice, “All we have here is a dead queen, and hopes. A dead kingdom, really. Most of the other nobles have killed themselves already, everyone has gone crazy! I’ve been struggling to maintain a façade of normalcy for my kids,” he explained, clear sorrow in his voice, “but the end is near… I’ll repeat myself, forget about everything, this dead god of yours included, and escape. There’s nothing else you can do, really, strong sorcerer or not.”

“If it’s that bad, why are you not trying to escape as well?” Alith asked.

“If only we could… I’d ask you to save my kids, if that was even still possible. But it’s not. We were foolish and greedy, and we’ll pay the price.”

It looks like they’re already paying… Sofia couldn’t help but think, as she watched the count’s tethered form writhe and squirm in front of her in Pareth’s view.

“What did you even do that was so bad?” Alith continued to ask, “We’ve heard about some grand ritual, is that not going to save you?”

“Ahahah. The grand ritual… The grand end of a civilization. It seems you two really know nothing. Give me a second, I will show you the source of this madness,” the count said, standing up with some difficulty. He then left the room.

Sofia and Alith looked at each other.

“This is going surprisingly well,” Alith said first.

“Indeed… It looks like the nobles all knew something was going to happen and they left the general population in the dark… But I don’t think he knows about our current world…”

“Yeah… I almost wanted to bring it up, but I didn’t want to ruin our one shot at getting someone to talk.”

Sofia nodded, “He really sounds like he believes he’s got nothing to lose, he even came to greet us without a guard despite knowing we were probably impostors…”

“Considering the state of the moon, we can’t say he isn’t right on the money.”

Sofia and Alith kept exchanging ideas in whispers while they also kept track of the Count’s movements through Pareth.

He’s back.

The count entered the room again, again ordering his guard to stay out. He was carrying a tall golden frame, only letting Sofia and Alith see the back of the canvas.

“Here it is,” he said, closing the door behind him. “The source of everything. You’ve most certainly already heard of her name. She was our beginning and our end, our most precious lady,” the count said with nostalgia, pivoting the frame that was almost as tall as himself to reveal a gorgeous painting of a tall and thin lady in a simple military uniform standing straight with a perfectly neutral expression, and a long rapier planted in the ground in front of her, “The tenth lord of the mortal world, blessed with eternal youth, an incredible warlord, just ruler, and conqueror of the demonic moon, the silent Queen herself! Lady Esprizia Ormoncleth, the Regulator.”