By the end of the day, the place under the arena was ready to serve as our little army’s office.
Most of the original furniture has rotted away, and the place is still slly, but it’s enough for to open up a portal. But first, there’s one thing I need to discuss with the knights and the residents.
"Everyone, please gather here."
We are in the grounds of the arena, the training place. I wait for them to gather before starting to speak.
"You all know the difficulties of fighting a war against the Church, right?"
"Yes. But I’m sure that with your guidance we will be victorious!"
"Yeah!!"
"I do hope so, but there’s a chance that all the other nations will rally against us if the Church calls for them."
There’s a bit of a silence following these words.
"So, I think that we need to gather all the help that we are able to secure. Even people who aren’t humans."
"Like the beastkin?"
"Exactly. I went to them a few days ago to propose an alliance to them. But I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter."
It’s the resident leader, Elberth, who speaks first.
"I think that the beastkin are the most wronged people in this land. The way they are treated is not right, and after seeing that scene today... I want to help them where I can."
"Yeah!"
"Agreed there!"
" too! Those poor fellas... they never deserved what ca upon them!"
Both the residents and the knights rallied by the words of Elberth. That’s actually great. I was a bit fearful of the reaction, especially the knight’s reaction. This is going better than expected.
"What the king offered them for their assistance is to train them within our army. That is, here, with you. And also, slavery will be outlawed in Wesgoth, and they will be welcod to live here."
"Yeah!!!"
"Perfect!"
"I’m in!!"
The cheers were a lot more than what I was expecting, that’s for sure.
Of course, this is a minority of a minority. Even though I’ve been openly outspoken for their rights, and my mother, ’Saint’ Lillian, as well, it’s sheer coincidence that the people living here are open to it.
And the knights... well, they were carefully chosen to be part of the core of our army.
They’ll still have to fight a lot of prejudice from the society at large. But maybe the whole thing about the goddess’ narrative pushed by the Church might actually play a role in overcoming it.
After all, if we fra racism as a tool of the Church at the sa ti as we are making the Church the enemy of the people and fighting an actual war against them, it will create a fertile field to work a new worldview into the common people’s minds.
Let’s see how it goes...
:::
After the commotion ceased and I spoke a few more words, Lovelace and I guided the knights into the big hall, which I will call ’office hall’ from now on. No need to address the way it was used before.
"I still can’t create a stable portal that stays up for a long period of ti. Max I can do is half an hour, so until soone else learns, you’ll always be depending on to open it. So you need to learn it before my sester at the Academy begins."
"Yes, Your Highness."
As the knights can’t see in the dark, I cast a spell that adds so light. Just simple yet effective electricity tricks.
"Today we have already had a lot going on, with the resident families, the burial, and everything. So I’ll just do a simple explaining as I go through the motions to open the portal. Tomorrow I’ll go more in-depth into it, okay?"
"Okay!"
"Well, there are two ways to traverse space. One is the one everyone knows, which is just moving around."
I say that while walking towards a sword that I see fallen on the floor in a corner.
"The other one is a lot trickier. It involves traversing the ties between stuff. For example, this sword."
I pick up the sword and show it to the knights.
"It was used in the battles that were perford outside. It has probably drawn out the blood of many people and caused many deaths in this area. It was also an item that belonged to soone with deep emotional ties to this place. Do you follow?"
"I... think? I an, I understand that the sword has so sort of connection to this place, but not how it leads to instant travel..."
"The details I’ll explain tomorrow. Right now, it’s the abstract concept that I need you to understand. This sword has a connection to this place that transcends space. It doesn’t matter where in the world I take it; it will always be connected to this place. Is that correct?"
"Yes, I think."
"It is. That connection is the basis for all spatial magic. I don’t know yet how to classify it in terms of spiritual or magical or stuff like that. I only know that it exists and that I can use it."
"So, with that sword, you can create a portal to this place from anywhere?"
"Perfect, Seufroy. That’s exactly it. And that’s exactly the one big limitation of spatial magic. To go anywhere, I need to have a physical object with a strong connection to that place or to soone who is in that place."
"To soone?"
"Yes. To a person. For example, to visit the beastkin to make the proposal of an alliance, I used a comb that was created by my friend and given to . That allowed to create a portal to the exact place where she is, without regard to what place that is."
"So, if we can infiltrate soone into the enemy’s headquarters, we could open a portal to that place and get a whole platoon inside?"
"As long as we have sothing with a connection to that person, yes."
"I see... this changes everything."
"And that’s why I think that we can win this war. And also why Lovelace and I will be training you personally. I don’t want my role in that war to be a simple gatekeeper."
"Of course, Your Highness! I’ll do my best to learn it!"
" too!"
"Oh, it also ans that even if you get captured by the enemy, you can just teleport back ho if you only manage to keep a small object with a connection there with you."
"Yes... is there a way to block it?"
"Not that I’ve found out yet. It’s a completely new field that I’ve been developing for the last five years but only managed to actually pull off a few months ago. I haven’t had many opportunities to test its limits yet."
"Understood."
"Now, pay attention as I chant the aria. It is in Draconic, but the wording isn’t actually that complicated."
I take a ring that belongs to my grandmother, which she has had with her since childhood, and then chant the words of the aria, slowly so the knights can hear them clearly.
When I finish the chant, a glowing expands from the tips of my fingers and opens a rift in the air, creating an opening in the fabric of space itself. The interior of that opening is a white mist that doesn’t let anyone see what’s on the other side.
"Now, let’s go."
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