Free Web NovelChapter 433: Chapter 430: Ending the Civil War
"Tun Tun" was dead. A tremor wracked the Elder’s body. The Mage he had followed in his youth was formidable, but even he would have given such a mythical Giant Beast a wide berth. Yet this young man had destroyed it in a single blow.
In the lower levels of the plane, dense clouds of heavy gases roiled like a tempestuous sea. Perhaps it was because the atmosphere at the bottom was thick enough, or maybe because the Chronos Sky Beast’s very nature contained traces of Elemental Creatures, but its remains didn’t continue to sink. Instead, they slowly drifted and dispersed.
A few draconic roars echoed from below, and the faint shape of wings could be seen circling among the remains. On the Prime Material Plane, Dragons had been driven to the status of a legendarily endangered species, but here, there were hints of their presence. They were the first to appear after the Giant Beast’s death, apparently preparing for a grand feast.
The small Winged Dragons that had been fleeing in all directions were surprisingly intelligent; at the very least, they immediately understood what had happened below. The earlier jet stream had startled the little creatures, but now they were starting to squawk and fly back down to an atmospheric layer that suited them, salivating at the prospect of the Giant Beast’s "endless" flesh and blood.
These cunning, obnoxiously loud creatures didn’t dash with all their might as they had when fleeing for their lives. Now, they spiraled down cautiously and slowly. They circled the human Caster before finally groveling at Rorschach’s feet.
"It’s been a while since I’ve been able to stretch my legs. That felt great!" Rorschach had been swamped with various matters ever since arriving in Bayern. His clone had been handling things, but the Magic it could cast was limited in both power and Ring Tier. Here in the vast Air Elemental Plane, he could finally, purely, "let one rip."
Caroline restabilized the "waste outlet." "The danger has passed, for now. But that commotion was huge. Do you think it might attract other creatures?"
Rorschach pumped his fist. "Let them come. I’ll take them down one by one. If I can’t win, we’ll run."
Caroline didn’t doubt Rorschach’s flippant remark in the slightest. She had first been shaken by the Giant Beast, and now she was shaken by her former student. Although this wasn’t the first time Rorschach had cast this particular Magic, Caroline had assumed back then that he’d had the help of a Great Mage. But now, acting alone, the spell’s power was even greater.
’Great Mage... Just what Ring Tier is he at now? After the Istani incident, Rorschach lost all his trust in the Magic Guild. He hadn’t participated in the Guild’s tests or registrations in Bayern and showed no desire to have his rank updated. In fact, he deliberately kept the Guild at arm’s length. I had no idea Rorschach had seen the symbol inside the Magic Guild’s emblem at the Thoth Temple, and I’m not familiar with the specific process for advancing to Great Mage myself.’
Rorschach had no idea the Mage beside him was having such complex thoughts. He was in high spirits, observing the "whale fall" unfolding below as he recovered his Magic Power. He watched as creatures that looked like Flying Dragons appeared and disappeared in the mottled, brownish-yellow clouds of gas, tearing at the flesh and limbs left behind by the Giant Beast.
"It’d be nice if we could go down for a closer look. This gaseous... the ecosystem of the Air Elemental Plane is richer than I imagined. I bet even Master Humboldt, who refused to come, never imagined there would be so much life here, let alone natives." As he spoke, Rorschach’s attention returned to the little blue people beside him.
These folk were no longer fighting amongst themselves. The jet stream released when the Black Ball became saturated had hurled a massive amount of material from the lower levels—the Giant Beast’s flesh and blood—high into the air, right up to the stratum where Rorschach and the little people were. To them, any solid matter was a precious resource. Most of their tools and clothing were made from flying creatures; besides eating the meat, the bones could be used to craft all sorts of things.
That jet stream had been a windfall from the heavens. While most of it had plummeted down immediately, many lighter pieces remained floating or were descending slowly, giving the little blue folk a chance to collect them. They tugged at vast sheets of membranous skin, while others gathered up sinew.
The luckiest of all was a floating raft that was struck by a fragment of bone. This bone may have been one of the smallest and most delicate within the Giant Beast, but it was nearly as large as the raft itself. If the vessel hadn’t been what passed for the tribe’s "warship," it likely would have disintegrated on the spot, sending its passengers plummeting along with the bone into the bottomless depths of the plane.
However, wherever Rorschach’s gaze fell, the little people would stop their work and stare at him apprehensively.
’Am I the boogeyman now?’ Rorschach didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but at least they had stopped fighting.
The Elder approached again on his flying recliner, trembling as he spoke. "Great One, your Mighty Power is unlike anything I have ever witnessed! Please, accept our entire tribe’s..."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Rorschach cut him off before he could launch into a long-winded speech. He checked the time; he and Caroline needed to head back. He got straight to the point. "You won’t fight amongst yourselves anymore, will you?" To the tribe, this had been a civil war for the history books, but in the eyes of the two visiting Mages, it was just a brawl.
"We will not. Absolutely not." The Elder pointed his staff at his kinsmen. "You have slain Tun Tun and brought us the Giant Beast’s bounty. Our tribe now has enough resources; there is no longer any need to fight. Am I right?"
He boomed the last question, his voice suddenly rising, clearly not addressing Rorschach. The moment the Elder finished speaking, two burly individuals emerged from the two flotillas of native vehicles. They were the chieftains of the two great families, and they respectfully promised Rorschach they would no longer fight.
’It would be best if this tribe could stay by the disposal outlet and act as my maintenance crew.’ Of course, his presence today, combined with the bounty from "Tun Tun’s" remains, had eased the tribe’s internal conflicts, but there was no guarantee they wouldn’t resume fighting in the future. Having decided to make them the "waste outlet’s" maintenance staff, Rorschach chose to intervene directly. He told them to value harmony and to negotiate any conflicts they might have.
The Elder had said as much to the two great families before. But who, in a fight over tangible benefits, would listen to the bullshit of an old codger with one foot in the... air? Things were different now. The same words, spoken by a Caster who had one-shot a "Divine Beast," were now ironclad law, the gospel truth.
And the Elder, being the most "enlightened" of the bunch, was put forward as Rorschach’s lackey... er, proxy. When Rorschach wasn’t on the Air Elemental Plane, the Elder’s word was to be treated as Rorschach’s own.
"They’re practically treating you like a god," Caroline teased after watching Rorschach finish laying down the law to the Elder.
"What use could these little Goblin-like...’Air Elves’ be? They can just help us look after the waste outlet, make sure it doesn’t get clogged, and stop Elemental Creatures from getting in. Besides, I made it very clear: no personality cults." He said this, but he had also taught the Elder how to draw a symbol that represented him.
The Magic Power environment of the Air Elemental Plane was similar to that of the Prime Material Plane. ’It can’t hurt to skim off a little Power of Faith,’ Rorschach thought. He wasn’t sure how he would even use the Power of Faith generated by these "Blue Elves," but it was free for the taking. Why not?
