The Protagonist System

56 One More Thing

It took the entire three weeks for the lists to be marked off and everyone was found, tried, imprisoned, or executed. It shook up the entire Tristain nobility, because so many of them had been traitors and conspirators. They had gotten away with corrupting the country for years and it would take a lot of work to rebuild the trust that was lost between the Royal Family and the remaining nobles and the children of the traitors.

Thankfully, none of the children had been involved or knew what their fathers had been involved in. Unfortunately, a lot of the wives had been and they were either in prison or dead, just like their husbands. It was a huge blow against the Queen and Princess to know that most of their country's nobles had been convinced to get rid of them for the betterment of the country.

In between the trials and inquisitions, I had been extremely busy making expanded bags and trunks to earn money. Funnily enough, Princess Henrietta bought them all to give out as gifts and I had to buy more materials to make more. She did make me ridiculously rich in a very short time, so as a thank you, I expanded her personal rooms and enchanted her packing trunks that were more expensive than the one Kirche had.

On the positive side of the inquisitions, Princess Henrietta had been far too busy cleaning up her kingdom to write a letter to the man she loved, the Prince Wales of Albion. Because of this, the proposed marriage to the Emperor of Germania was fully accepted by the Queen of Tristain and was not in jeopardy because of the Reconquista.

Because Tristain depended on its allies for defense, the marriage was going to cement Germania's pledge to defend the country as if it was their own. Military forces would be brought in over the summer break and the entire country relaxed as their safety was assured from all aggressors, especially from the civil war in Albion.

Instead of being sent back to the academy like we expected, Princess Henrietta, soon to be Queen Henrietta, gave us a mission to investigate Albion and to bring copies of the death certificates of all the Reconquista agents that had been killed. They should only be handed over to a trusted member of the royal family, however.

Louise refused to accept it, because she was only a second year student and I was only visiting and would leave as soon as an opportunity presented itself. Plus, there was no one with a high enough authority that could be spared to go with us. If we were caught with that evidence, both the Reconquista and the locals would have us executed for killing their people, civil war or not.

The princess tried to convince her that she trusted her to survive and Louise still refused. If she wanted to send someone to warn Prince Wales, she would have to pick someone that was experienced in espionage and not an inexperienced noble's daughter. The princess reluctantly agreed and released me from the service of the crown to return to the academy.

Louise quickly left to go pack up our things and I approached the princess. Without saying a word, I held a hand out for the paperwork. Princess Henrietta squealed like a little girl getting ice cream for the first time and handed me the folder, gave me a pointed look, and pulled me in to kiss my cheek. She whispered a thank you and rushed out of the room with an epic blush on her face.

I tucked the folder into a side pocket of my backpack and followed Louise to our rooms. It didn't take us long to put everything away and Louise carried her bag as we went out into the courtyard to the royal carriage. Surprisingly, Agnes was there and was going with us. She nodded and helped us board, then we were off to return to the academy for the summer break.

To our surprise, when we stopped for the night at an inn, we met another carriage. It was from the academy and both Chevreuse and Cybil were on it. That settled our sleeping arrangements for the night and Louise and Agnes shared a room and I spent it with my two contracted mistresses. I also gave them their share of my earned money, as per the contract, and both women had a lot of fun thanking me for making them rich.

The next day, we stayed at the inn and Louise took her exams all day with the two teachers while I finally had the chance to talk to Agnes about her job, weapons, and tactics. Instead of loaning me one of her pistols for the day to let me examine it, she gave me her backup one that she had tucked into the small of her back. She whispered words about the princess approving me and that was good enough for her.

I thanked her and she showed me how to handle and load the odd gun with a gunpowder pan and little iron balls to shoot. It was a great lesson and she was a marksman that would put everyone to shame if she was allowed to show off. Since it was a lesson to show me how to shoot, she showed off. We both had a great time because of that.

At the end, she gave me a load of gunpowder and enough shots for twenty tries. I thanked her and gave her one of my expanded bags that had a food compartment on the side for trail rations that would never go bad. She gave me a deep and passionate kiss as thanks and she looked quite embarrassed afterwards, so I gave her a deep kiss back as thanks for the thanks.

Agnes laughed, her face still red, and she left with the royal carriage to return to the castle and the side of the princess. I stayed outside and practised with the gun as I tried to reproduce it with a more modern feel and look, which was why I wanted the gun in the first place. The flintlock was too slow and inefficient.

Louise was already asleep when I checked on her, so I went to the other room and spent the night with two tired teachers. They had put Louise through her paces and she performed wonderfully. My changing her affinity to Fire from Void had really brought out her magical potential and she was almost at the level of a triangle mage already with square probably six months away.

Unlike them, I knew Louise still had Void magic inside of her, like I had Fire and Water, it just wasn't her main focus anymore and she had no way to train it, since it was a lost art.

In the morning, we ate and left in the academy carriage to return to the school. Both teachers were very pleased with Louise's results after marking her exams and Louise was extremely happy about actually passing her mid-terms and not coasting through on just her written exams and failing the practicals like she did the year before.

We arrived back at the academy and it is a beehive of activity, thanks to most of the students choosing to return home for the summer holidays. The two teachers gave me quick kisses and rushed off to help close down the school and help the students leave the academy without incident.

Louise almost floated as she walked with her head held high and waved around her exam results for everyone to see. Everyone that saw them were shocked, because she was in the top ten percent of the year. Even Tabitha, the acknowledged know-it-all, had wide eyes behind her glasses when she saw Louise's marks. Kirche's face was the same color as her long red hair.

That gave me a perfect opportunity to ask Tabitha for her assistance, since she was staying behind for the summer break as well.

“Tabitha, can I talk to you alone for a minute?” I asked the blue-haired girl and she nodded. “Louise? Go ahead and start unpacking. I'll be along in a few minutes.”

Louise barely noticed as she continued on and basked in the shock and awe that her marks gave everyone. Kirche gave Tabitha a searching look and the short girl shrugged and waved her on. Kirche gave me a squinted look and walked off to follow Louise.

I led Tabitha to the side of a nearby building and cast a silence spell around us. “I accepted a covert mission from the princess that Louise refused and doesn't know I accepted. The problem is, I need to get to the floating island nation of Albion somehow and the only thing I've seen flying around are wild griffons and your dragon.”

Tabitha looked thoughtful and motioned for me to continue.

“Do you think I could borrow Sylphid for a few hours tonight? The sooner I can get this mission done, the sooner everything will settle down.” I told her.

Tabitha shook her head in refusal. “I can't let you borrow my dragon without me there to keep her behavior under control. I need to come along to keep her safe, in case you do something stupid.”

I was surprised she would offer like that and I couldn't resist reaching out and petting her short blue hair. “It's very brave of you to offer to come with me. Thank you.”

Tabitha blushed and didn't try to avoid my hand or pushed it away.

“I'll put Louise to bed tonight and make sure she's asleep before I come to your room.” I said and Tabitha nodded. I stopped petting her hair and took out a nice carry bag from my backpack. “I made this expanded leather bag for you.”

Tabitha caught her breath at the sight of the deep blue bag that looked like it was covered in dragon scales. She took it like it was made of glass and her fingertips caressed the rough texture.

“I'll see you tonight.” I said and left here there as she admired the workmanship. Transfiguration really was a wonderful cheat to make things look a lot more expensive than the original materials.

*

Siesta was in her opulent room at the Mott Mansion and loved her new life. She barely had to do any work, because there were so many other maids working, and her new lord adored her and pampered her. She sat down at her dressing table and looked into the mirror, then saw a bright flash of light.

After that, she told her entire family's history to her reflection, even their generations long sworn secret. The location of their family's treasure was also revealed and how to get to it. She wasn't sure why she was happy to tell all of that or why she didn't feel guilty about it.

When Siesta eventually looked down, she gasped at the 1,000 écu piled on her dressing table and a note that said her family's legacy would be put to good use.

*

Tabitha was giving me a cold stare after that side jaunt to a respected noble's home to interrogate his mistress. I couldn't really do more than say that she would understand when she saw what I just bought for an obscene amount of money. She huffed and went back to flying Sylphid towards Albion. We would have to stop a few times to let the dragon rest and to eat, which I had agreed to pay for.

Who knew you could buy entire pigs and cows for a single sou? Tabitha did, which was why she usually didn't splurge on anything personal. All of her spending money went to feeding her dragon familiar. Neither she nor the dragon took it for granted and appreciated what each of them had to do to afford that food.

During one of the stops, Tabitha had admitted that she received a summons to do a mission for her uncle, the King of Gallia, and would be paid handsomely for completing it. I didn't tell her that I knew it was to investigate the rapid flooding of one of the country's villages by a water spirit. However, I did offer to go with her after my mission in Albion was over.

Tabitha gave me a very pointed look and I immediately pointed at Sylphid, then myself, then into the sky. Her eyes widened slightly and then she understood and nodded. She had agreed to help me as a friend and I had agreed to help her in return.

We made it to Albion in the dead of night and that was perfect for my purposes. I had Tabitha land Sylphid in the outskirts of Londinium, the capital of Albion, and created a giant blanket to cover both her and the dragon up. I made them promise to stay there, no matter what they saw or heard, and then I changed into my full armor.

Tabitha giggled at it, because it practically glowed like fire in the darkness, and she slapped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment. I chuckled and touched each piece to change the color to black, winked at her, then I ran.

I made it to the palace and no one saw me. I cast silence on myself and entered the royal dwelling to search for my target. I found the king and queen dead in their bedroom instead and Prince Wales was mind-controlled as he sat at their desk and wrote several love letters to Princess Henrietta. That made me sigh and I erased the letters from existence with some fire and whacked the prince on the head.

Surprisingly, he didn't wake up from the mind-control. I put him to sleep and continued to search through the palace for my target again. I found the fool in the treasure room pillaging the jewels from the king's crown. My sword flashed and Oliver Cromwell's head rolled across the floor, his schemes of world domination ended.

I took the enchanted ring from his dead fingers and left him there in the treasure room. I did help myself to some of the piles of gems and gold coins. By some I meant I took most of them, since the real thief was right there with the broken crown in his hands and he and his rebellion would be blamed.

I left he body there and went back to the prince to undo the mind whammy with the enchanted ring. It worked and the prince was back to his normal arrogant self with the memories of all the horrible things he did while under the mind whammy. I dropped the file with the details of the traitor deaths on the desk and left.

As I moved through the castle to leave and kept casting my magic detection spell, I found a strong magical signature that seemed both familiar and foreign at the same time. I used my detection spell and homed in on a basement access.

I went down and down, farther into the dark than I thought was possible, then I caught my breath when I reached a ward stone room. It was the size of a stadium and was filled with thousands of enchanted stones that were all interconnected with embedded artificial ley lines in the surrounding rocks.

A quick inspection told me that the runes were for levitation, power absorption, and stability. The largest stone in the middle had the parameters for height and for holding the island nation together in one piece. So, I did the only thing I could do in this situation.

I altered the height parameters by an inch.

I felt the entire room shudder as the island dropped an inch through the air and more than half of the ward stones flared with magic to hold everything together. I knew then that it was going to take some finesse to pull it off. I very slowly changed it by an eighth of an inch to give it a more smooth transition and the room didn't shake.

Once I had the procedure down and injected a few Karma points into the process to not cause a cascading failure that would cause the island nation to crumble apart from moving so much, I continued to use magic detection to tell where we were in relation to the sea below and kept dropping the height an eighth of an inch constantly.

I eventually returned the island back to where it had originally come from in the sea and then I spent a good two hours going along the outer edge to fuse the bottom of the island back onto the bedrock it had been sheared from. I couldn't tell when it had been done, though. As I worked, I slowly started to dismantle the ward stones and had to use several enchanted trunks and bags to hold them all.

I left the main ward stone in the center with an array around it to maintain the island's integrity, then removed the control runes for the levitation option and erased the runes themselves. If anyone ever found this chamber again, they would only see the integrity system and think that was all there was to it.

With my cover-up work done, I left there and sealed the chamber behind me. I moved up and sealed the tunnel, then went another twenty feet and sealed it again. By the time I was at the basement entrance, there was no trace of anything being there. I transfigured the wall to remove the last evidence of a doorway and then teleported out of the castle.

My secret mission was complete.