Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

I could barely sit still through the rest of the play I was so excited. I spun off a [Parallel Thought] to pay attention while I practically vibrated thinking over the implications.

I’d never fully read through The Tale of Princess Kaguya, also known as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter or Taketori Monogatari. I was familiar with it, but not enough to fully tell the story. I’d had dozens, hundreds of other stories that I’d told instead.

It didn’t come from me.

It was always possible that the story was independently created, but it matched too closely. There were too many similarities for it to be a coincidence.

There was someone else from Earth here!

I’d accepted that Pallos was my home. I wasn’t super hellbent on getting back to Earth or visiting or anything - the loss of the System would be brutal, and I frankly didn’t know if I could adapt, if the year was anywhere close to the same, if people I knew were still alive… anything really.

But there was something about finding someone else who shared a common background. Who understood what it was like to be thrust into Pallos, who had the same frame of reference I did.

I was already looking for someone though!

I once again thanked [Parallel Thoughts]. I wasn’t missing anything.

Settling into our new home was first. Everything was going smoothly so far, but I never knew when a hiccup would occur.

When it came to putting my time, energy, and effort towards finding someone, Night took priority over the unknown Earther.

At the same time, it cost me practically nothing to make the lightest of inquiries about the new person. See if I could send them a letter or something, or if they were in town.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 470 -> 475]

“Uh. Curses.” I quietly whispered to Iona.

“What now?” She asked, a little exasperated. She was trying to watch the show.

“Auri just got five levels. In one go.”

Iona knuckled her forehead.

“Until we hear alarms, let’s enjoy the rest of the show. Auri’s a big bird. I have to imagine with her guard escort that Auri’s levels are someone else’s problem, and not hers.”

Iona’s logic was flawless. Auri getting a ton of levels at once most likely meant someone else was having a really, really bad day.

The event ended, and I stayed in my seat as the rest of the audience cleared out.

“What’s up?” Iona asked. We were both ignoring, by unspoken agreement, Auri’s level up notifications. Hadn’t heard any alarms, and she did have a member of the guard with her.

“I want to see if they know the author. Trying to push against the crowd is stupid, so I’m just going to wait a moment.” I said.

“Makes sense! What are you thinking?”

I gave Iona the quick rundown of what I’d thought about during the play.

“Sounds good. Let me do the talking?”

I nodded, and Iona worked her magic, getting a meeting with the important people with minimal waiting.

“Hey! My friend and I absolutely loved the play! Do you know anything about the [Playwright] who made it?” She asked.

“Ahh, I wish I knew!” The… I totally missed what his job was answered. “It’s the newest thing out of Nippon-Koku. Those kitsune know how to make a good story! Always good for filling seats. We’ve got the best crew in Sanguino, but if you can afford a trip across the Sea of Stars, you should see one of their performances.”

I looked at Iona. She slowly shook her head.

“Thank you.” Iona said, and made some more polite noises. We left the amphitheater.

“Something to look into later.” I said with a little shake of my head. “We need to finish getting settled in first.”

Iona patted my head.

“Yeah. We’ll get there eventually. I don’t see anything on fire, let’s head back to the inn for dinner with Amber?”

“Sounds good. Then again, it’d be hard to spot something on fire with all this Ash.”

The Eventide Eclipse all managed to make it back to the Drop of Blood inn in one piece, although Auri didn’t want to dish on what she’d been up to. Amber joined us, and had interesting information.

The [Innkeeper] had made a lovely stew, and we ate it outside in the late summer air. Amber was the only one who looked slightly squeamish at Fenrir eating a whole raw cow, with a side of goat.

“Dropped your books off, no problems at the library. It’s really nice! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.” Amber said. “Speaking of books, the Medical Manuscripts are bulky and large, and they’re more tangible than anything I’d like to carry around and sell, but I’m sure I could sell a few copies signed by the original author here in town. If anyone would believe it.”

She made the money motion with her hands, blindingly transparent about her motives and desires.

“I don’t see why not! Give me a quill and a stack of books, and I’ll be happy to sign.”

Amber held one finger up.

“Just… keep in mind the more often you sign copies, the less valuable they are.”

I snorted.

“Yeah, but I’d get more each time, right? As long as I did it slowly, what do I care about resellers?”

Amber groaned.

“Because of perceived scarcity and… you know what, if you want to sabotage yourself, I’m not going to stop you.” She said.

My eyes were metaphorically sparkling along with the literal sparkling they did thanks to my Celestial element. Teasing Amber was fun!

“I want my part of my business back.” Amber said more seriously. “I was heading to the local [Information Broker] to check on anyone who might have sweet skills to sell. Went to the highest leveled one in the city! While I was there, I asked after Night. Guess what he said?” Amber said with a mysterious smile.

“No.” I gasped. It couldn’t be that easy?

Maybe it was!

Iona leaned in, and Auri stopped stuffing herself for a minute. Fenrir’s pipe came out of nowhere, and he was contently puffing on it, ready for the great denouement of the mystery.

“He said…” Amber paused, riling us up. “He didn’t know.”

I groaned. Iona threw a rib at Amber.

“Brrrrppppptt…”

Auri wasn’t mad, just disappointed.

My mercantile friend held her hands up defensively.

“Whoa! Hang on, remember the gifts I got from the fae?”

[Astral Archives] made recalling them a breeze, and I gasped.

“No.”

Amber grinned.

“Yes! He was lying. He knows Night.”

“And if he’s lying about it, it means he’s relevant. Which means alive.” Iona quickly concluded.

Fenrir snorted and started to get up.

“Whoa! Fenrir, this is Elaine’s hunt. You don’t like others muscling in on your investigations, are you going to do it to Elaine? When she’s not asking for help? When you’re not hired?”

Fenrir snorted, and settled back down.

“Case?” He asked me.

I had a quick vision of Fenrir, pipe in mouth, hat on head, bulldozing through the streets of Sanguino, knocking over buildings, and generally getting into trouble.

The thought made me sad. How was Fenrir supposed to pursue his love of investigations and mysteries with his size? How was he supposed to engage in shady deals?

I spun that thought off into its own [Parallel Thoughts], and refocused.

“If I can’t manage it, I’ll give it to you.” I promised. Now I had to do it, just so the entire city’s militia wouldn’t come down on Fenrir like a ton of bricks. He was strong… but still so low leveled.

Iona gave me a little kick under the table, and I tilted my head at her. The Valkyrie’s eyes flickered to the city walls and back, and I sort of got what she was suggesting.

The [Information Broker] could be enough of a lead for her [Relentless Pursuit] skill. She didn’t want to tip Fenrir off though - he’d want in too badly.

Now I was feeling bad all over again. Amber was still grinning at me.

“Well beanpole, I suppose I should charge one of those gems for you. Hand one over… and you’ve clearly researched this, how many years should I preload into it?” I asked.

“138 is optimal.” Amber promptly answered, fishing out a moonstone. “But due to various superstitions and the like, 128 years sells better.”

Made sense with the System and all. People really liked their powers of 2.

I focused on the stone, charging it with [The Stars Never Fade], idly wondering if White Dove already had a curse picked out for whoever would receive it, or if she’d figure it out when it was used.

[*ding!* [The Stars Never Fade] leveled up! 12 -> 13]

Just like that, I’d probably made something like 300,000 arcs, after Amber did all her wheeling and dealing and traveling. A real letdown from Emperor Augustus’s initial offer, but it was a decade of work for a common laborer. Made in a minute.

And I could do it again in two weeks.

I shook my head. Why had we ever been worried about money again? Apart from the difficulties of finding a trusted intermediary, negotiating the deal, and finally collecting the money of course.

“Well, I’m so hungry I could get seconds. Anyone else?” Iona asked.

“Brrrpt!!” Auri insisted she was starving, never mind that I thought I could see the food sticking out of her stomach. How did that work anyway?

I poked my fiery friend.

“Careful! It might just be the gluttony talking. Wouldn’t want you to get so fat that you can’t fly anymore!”

Auri waved off my concerns, and we had a wonderful evening. Good food, good friends. Shame the night sky was filled with Ashes, instead of stars.

“Plans for today?” I asked Iona.

“I’m going to explore. I’ve got a whole list of things I want to check out or get done.”

“Alright, sounds good. My to-do list is getting a little long, let me see if I can knock some things off it. Are we still in the ‘wait and see’ phase, or if I see the chance to rent a spot for a healing business, should I take it?”

“I’m feeling pretty rich right now. Rent it for a month or two if you find a nice spot, although frankly there are either too many spots open and it doesn’t matter, or the competition’s so stiff it doesn’t matter, or the best answer is to work at a Healer’s Guild… at which point it doesn’t matter.” Iona shrugged. “So go for it, but it can probably wait a day or two.”

I nodded and we walked to the gate, once again pulled off to the side as we entered.

“Brrrrpt!” Auri was pleased with her VIP treatment.

“Can we just go while Auri waits for Atlas?” I asked the guard.

She shook her head.

“Nope. Only have your word about what’s going on.”

I sighed, and Auri patted my head.

Atlas showed up a few minutes later, this time with a whole squad of guards with him.

My eye twitched.

“What did you do?!” I asked Auri.

“Brrrrrpt!” She chirped, not telling me, flying away to her new best friend.

“Should I be worried?” I asked Iona.

“May the goddesses give you the grace to accept that which you can not change.” She replied. I lightly punched her arm.

“Fat lot of good that does me!”

Iona gave me a quick hug and a kiss, and we went our separate ways.

I had two items on my agenda today:

First - figure out what I needed to do to work as a healer here. My recently revitalized income stream had me eyeing up more charity-style work, but I was still cognizant of Osengard, and the story the [Guild Mistress] had told me.

I wanted to heal people. But if I went out and healed so many people so fast, I could cut the knees out from other healers trying to make their own way, and overall reduce the total amount of healing that could be done. I should think of others, and see if I could work with whatever systems Sanguino had. I was an Immortal now. I needed to take the long view. This wasn’t a plague. This wasn’t a war.

Those would come soon enough.

Fortunately, I knew someone at the Healer’s Guild, and I found my way back to Aulus again. Making a long story short, as long as I was keeping my healing ‘reasonable’, nobody would find issue with me. Kinda explained why there were no powerful Immortals crisscrossing the city as fast as they could, doing stuff like making sure everyone’s clothes were permanently mended, or scrubbing everything clean, or repairing every structure.

“We live in a community.” Aulus had said. “Which means we need to be aware of the smallest of us as much as the large.”

He’d suggested I work directly with the Guild, but also mentioned I could set up shop in various places. Near an Adventurer’s Guild was a popular spot, the idiots constantly getting themselves hurt, and I shuddered in distaste. I could try my hand in the wealthier districts, but it was hard to break into that market - everyone wanted to be the personal healer to someone rich. It was a ticket to the easy life… as well as requiring significant interpersonal skills for the personal touch. There were a wide range of other options, but in a fit of altruism, I decided to hit some of the poorest slums to set up shop.

I was making bank off my arrangement with Amber and selling my Immortality gems. What need did I have to make even more money? Why fight and struggle for 100,000 arcs a year, and deal with the whole business aspect and customer service and accounting and marketing and all the other nonsense that went with running a business, when I could just do no-fee feel-good help for the poorest segment of society?

That, and Aulus had mentioned there was tax nonsense around that sort of work.

I wasn’t going to do something as stupid and impulsive as go out and find a place and sign any sort of deals on the spot. No, I’d get Iona to help me with that.

The second thing?

I had a date with the library.

There were a thousand-and-one things to do now that we’d gotten to Sanguino, and I was finally checking off ‘visit a library’.

The library. Sanguino had a dozen of them, some small, little local things, others larger. This was entirely disregarding the little tiny “libraries” that were glorified shelves on the side of the road, scattered around here and there, filled with children’s books.

And oh, what a library it was. Sanguino, for all its blessings and nice roads, still hadn’t mastered the concept of a city block. I recognized the library as one of the larger rectangular buildings I’d seen from the air, about 2/3rds the size of the colosseum back in Remus. It towered over its neighboring buildings, and had a direct line from the aqueduct. The facade was all tasteful marble with various trimmings, and a plaque on the front listed thousands upon thousands of donors to the library, with a note at the bottom that these were only the top-tier donors, and the full list could be found upon request.

The entrance was a grand archway with ornate drawings along the edge. I felt a little shiver go down my spine as I recognized some of them.

An eagle on a crib. A baby strangling a snake. A toddler writing poetry. A boy killing a lion. A young man in a colosseum.

They were all scenes directly out of A Nearly Complete History of the Exterreri Empire, the book that had named Night as the founder and first [Emperor] of Exterreri, the book that had led me to believe that Night was possibly in Exterreri, even if not currently the ruler. They were a powerful reminder. I wasn’t looking for Night, my friend, my mentor.

No, in Exterreri, he was so much more than that.

I was looking for the person revered as the mythological founder of the nation. I was looking for a living legend, praised and practically worshiped by the citizens of Exterreri.

Perhaps I should work on being a little more discreet about my inquiries. Possibly give Amber a heads up, especially if she’d already annoyed one [Information Broker].

The entry hallway was filled with frescos, and they seemed to move away from Night and the country’s founding myth. They looked mostly like vampires, although it was hard to tell on a few. An imposing man with a dark and stormy face, foes slain at his feet without a weapon or magic shown. A laughing man surrounded by Lightning bolts. A woman swimming under the sea. A… I had no idea what was going on, it was a bunch of green blobs and… confused enemies? Weapons?

I didn’t know, I was as confused as the people in the fresco.

A woman styled as a spider, a red hourglass on her black clothing, lying in a web. A man with a cloak made out of feathers.

A woman skating on Ice in the air.

Hey! Wait! Didn’t I see her when I came to Sanguino? Were all of these people still alive now?

I mentally recategorized the pictures I’d seen from “Interesting historical figures” to “potential contemporaries”.

Then again… I shook my head.

Immortality. Just because they were one, didn’t mean they couldn’t be another. Wasn’t I looking for one myself?

Focus.

I reoriented myself before getting to the main hall of the library, and wow.

The books! Every wall was coated, and they went four stories tall, shelf after shelf after shelf. Long ladders were on little wheels, but only a few poor patrons were unfortunate enough to need them. Books spun through the air, moving to and from rows of tables on the floor where people were crammed elbow-to-elbow reading. Now and then one would finish with a book, and it would move back to its shelf.

Assuming one of the flocks didn’t get it.

Some of the books looked positively feral, flapping around the room in small flocks, looking anything like birds. Perhaps it was a collection of editorials with biting commentary. They swooped and snapped at the books flying to and from the shelves, and a harried-looking [Librarian] on a broomstick was sweeping after them, silently engaging in aerial combat for the integrity of the books.

I had no idea if the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft simply had a better handle on their library, if the library here had special enchanted books let loose, if someone was screwing around with a skill, if there was a curse, if this was supposed to be Sanguino’s idea of entertainment, or what.

I figured as long as I didn’t end up wrestling my books I wouldn’t need to worry.

The entire place was oddly quiet, too quiet, and I figured there were enchantments or skills at work.

There was an obvious vampiric [Librarian] gatekeeping who could be let in, and I quietly walked over, letting my dexterity soften my footsteps to nothing. Hey, there were enchantments, but I could at least make an effort.

“Hi! Can I come in? And can you direct me to what I’m looking for?” I whispered.

I got a stern look from behind a pair of glasses that I swear were decorative.

“Citizen?” She asked.

“Yup! Looking for information on vampire lineages. Can you direct me?”

“East wing, third story, 29th section.” She promptly rattled off, gesturing for me to enter.

It was easy enough to find the east wing, but the third story confused me for some time before I realized it was the third set of levels. Annoying that, but once I realized I managed to find the 29th section.

There were a good number of books here, the topic obviously popular in vampire circles. I had to wonder if there was any other library in the world that had nearly as good of a collection of books on the topic.

This was the seat of vampiric power. In theory.

I skimmed over a few of the titles.

The Vampire Chronicles.

Blood and Brotherhood.

Bloodline: The Vampire Files.

With a sigh I grabbed four books, stacked them in front of me at a desk, split my mind into four with [Parallel Thoughts], and started [Comprehensive Speed Reading] all of them at once.

Even with my speed, skills, and ability to read four books at once, this was going to take a while.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 105 -> 110. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

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