PATRIARCH FOWL
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Casual Heroing, Chapter 175
🕑 Added 2023-08-27 20:36:07 +0000 UTCNext chapter comes out Monday, August 28th!
FIRE IN THE HOLE!!! đłđłđł
7/7 chapters this week!
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Chapter 175 - Restless
I stare at the unmoving [Soldier] with a raised eyebrow.
âWait, is this a trick?â I look at the massive handle of the Vanedeni swordâthe weapon is currently resting on top of my shoulder. But it bears no evidence that it could suddenly become able to shock my enemies to death or something.
Soon, though, after not seeing the mean [Soldier] rise up, doubt takes over the collective attention of the arena.
Is he actually dead? My strike was strong, but it wasnât nearly enough to kill the man. Not even close. At best, I could have broken his arm or dislocated his shoulder. But killed him?
I turn to the referee and see no particular reaction on his face. I shift the weight of the sword and let it fall on the ground tip-first, planting it in the soft terrain of the arena.
I start walking toward Appius, wondering whatâs happened to him.
I could snap his neck with my bare hands. Is he really that scheming to fake it?
I am ready to crush the man at a momentâs notice, still wary that this could indeed be an interesting ploy of his.
But when I get to his body, I move his shield away and find a ghastly spectacle in front of me: Appiusâs face is streaked with black, bulging veins, enlarged as they go down his neck and, most likely, the rest of his body. His expression is one of terror: his eyes are wide open, and his mouth hangs loose.
âI think heâs dead,â I tell the referee, whoâs now walking toward us after I crouched down and personally touched his neck.
He has no pulse, I confirm with empty eyes.
The referee gets to the body of the [Soldier] who challenged me and put me through one of the most hellish training regimes one could ever experience.
The referee takes Appiusâs wrist and looks at me with a nod.
âHeâs dead.â
The words are amplified by some spell and vibrate through the bleachers, making most of the crowdâs whispers turn to silent astonishment.
âSo⌠is that poison?â I point at his face.
The referee looks troubled but says nothing and instead eyes the many exits from the arena. From the corner of my eye, I see a few people starting to move there. Two of them, I recognize.
âLucillus! Antoninus!â I exclaim, still mostly focused on the body on the ground.
âJoey, letâs go before the [Soldiers] realize something is wrong,â Lucillus speaks curtly.
I donât even argue. I just look at the body on the ground one last time. More than confused about what just went down, I am completely empty. I cannot process the feeling of emptiness that this situation is having washed over me.
âŚ
âWhatâs happening?â I ask Lucillus as soon as we walk through one of the corridors of the arena. The people on the bleachers are now starting to boo and shout at the refereeâthey probably think I cheated.
â[Captain] Drusillus has already confirmed that Appius has been poisoned by a high-level individual before the duel. He said to get you out of the barracks before the [Soldiers] could stir up any trouble with you, Joey,â Lucillus explains.
âHey, Joey, where have you been?â Antoninus asks. âYou ran away that day, and we havenât seen you since.â
Oh, shit, I realize I have never even mentioned that Antoninusâs mother was sick, very sick.
âIâve been training andââ
âBoth of you, shut your mouths,â another [Guard] says from the side. âThis could cause unprecedented civil unrest if they think the Human poisoned that fucking idiot. Shut your rotten mouths until after we are out of here.â
And shutting up, we do. But still, what the hell just happened?
Who the hell poisoned Appius? And how? Itâs not like he was sick before. Was it some slow-acting poison that flared up all at once? Maybe itâs because of my hit? But again, who would do this? Are they trying to do me a favor or frame me?
We are escorted out of the barracks before any civilians or [Soldiers] can be sure of what just went down. I guess that most of them must be thinking that I just one-shotted the idiot. Given the wild stories they might be telling about Humans, thatâs, perhaps, whatâs keeping most of the peaceâfolklore.
Well, now I can go back to my normal life⌠maybe.
âŚ
âJoey!â Flaminia gives me a big hug and squeezes me tightly. âYou have so much to tell us! And I have so much to tell you! You wonât believe what I got from cooking those steaks! Iâve already told Clodia! Youâll lose your mind!â
âHey, Flam,â I say with a hint of shyness in my voice. In my heart, Iâm still in front of Appius, still ready to use my sword to cleave him in two. But in reality, Iâm back at Happy Bakery. Thatâs where Lucillus and Antoninus escorted me together with the other [Guards].
âYou stupid Human,â Clodia comes in next and gives me a big hug, almost pleasantly crushing all the bones in my body.
âYo, boss,â I say, forcing a smile.
âYou killed him!â Raissa smiles. âHow did you do it?!â
âJoey, you were fantastic,â Tiberius says with pride.
âYou cracked that rotten bastard like an egg,â Quintus agrees from the side.
âIâI am not sure what happened,â I reply. âI didnât think that swing would be enough to kill him.â
âYour sword was massive!â Flaminia exclaims, immediately going on a tangent.
Everyone looks at me expectantly, clearly waiting for a joke or something.
âOh, yeah, er, huge⌠yes. Like⌠Well, whatever. Itâs a heavy sword. Itâs in my bag of holding now.â
âThese damn Humans and their big swords,â Clodia sighs happily. âI had some food prepared and shipped here in case you won. Are you ready to celebrate? Now that this is over, we can start working towards getting things back on track."
"Yes, back on track,â I reply, still feeling the thrum of the sword smacking against Appiusâs shield. âAbsolutely. Letâs have a drink, maybe?â
âŚ
âSo, how did you do it?â Flaminia asks. âHow did you swing a sword that big? Was that your strategy? Is it an enchantment?â
âItâs⌠not,â I clear my throat. âItâs the real deal.â
I look at my team at Happy Bakery. To me, it doesnât feel like I was away for two weeks; it feels like a lifetime.
Training with Magister Mulligan was much more intense than anything I had gone through since I arrived in this place. Itâs more like going on a goddamn LSD trip that lasts two weeks and finally having to go back to your 9-5 job. Itâs⌠weird. And it also feels like something is missing, like Iâve missed something myself.
âThird, marring the viscera of the Earth and taking the burden of ambition will be the blood of your foe...â
The words of Magister Mulligan echo in my mind as Tiberius is re-telling me about some experiments they ran on the Mimosa cake. But Iâm not just not listening to the man. Iâm not there at all. My mind is still in the arena, still waiting to make sense of Appiusâs death.
Why is no one coming to tell me what just happened?
What is going on?
âŚ
You decided to, as your people would put it, duck the party?
âI felt like I was about to get a bout of psychosis,â I tell Magister Mulligan. âIt feels like a dream. Appius is dead, but⌠was that really supposed to be the point? Just him being dead and out of the way?â
Young Luciani, you have grown in ways that you still do not comprehend. A great opportunity was missed. Now, it will take time for you to re-adjust and rebalance your soul.
I might have called the old man corny in any other context, but his words hit close to home this time. It does feel like I have a hole in my soul at the moment â as if something was gnawing at me from the inside, trying to come out and straighten up this nausea that is mounting inside.
I walk through the wallâs Northern exit and wave at the [Guard], that gives me a long side glance as, amidst the dark, I make my way beyond the wall.
Why am I going out? After all the work I put in to stay, Iâm not thinking about leaving Amorium or anything crazy like that. Iâm just going for a walk to clear my head. If I go to sleep now, I might go crazy before I actually manage to sleep. Also, I donât have a bed anymore. It collapsed at the endâit couldnât take the Enchantment anymore. Iâm not even sure how it was possible that it lasted this long; Iâm sure Magister Mulligan was up to some of his typical shenanigans.
Anyway, the walk, yes.
The last time I was about to go outside of the wall, I found out that Antoninusâs mother had cancer. Since I wanted to test out [Lightbolt] back then, I thought this would be the right occasion to try it out. At the very least, I would be finishing one of the two things that recently got interrupted. It feels very apt.
I walk away from the walls and closer to some sparse trees that populate the Northern side of Amorium. As Iâm walking, a cluster of clouds passes in front of the moon, turning everything dark.
I canât see shit, I swear internally, immediately whipping out a [Light].
But as soon as I do, the earth opens below my feet. For a moment, Iâm free-falling, but in the next, an invisible force yanks me up and levitates me to the edge of the now wide-open hole.
âWhat the fuckââ
A Dungeon, Magister Mulligan says in my mind, it reacted to your spell⌠fascinating. My senses cannot extend into it, Joey Luciani. This is⌠remarkable.
I look at the deep hole and click my tongue.
âIt looks interesting.â
The old me would have already run away from this â obviously the start of some weird quest; itâs clear as the day that this is some main character drudgery. But Iâm not that person anymoreâor at the very least, I feel something pulling me into the dark depths of the hole.
âYo, letâs explore it? I mean, you are a very powerful [Archmage] and can still launch spells and shit, right? What do you say I jump in there, and if itâs too dangerous, you blast me out of there?â
You almost speak like a Vanedeni, Joey Luciani, minus the fear and the need to be bailed out. Go. Follow your instincts.
Without needing to be told twice, I jump into the all-enveloping darkness.
Comments
Fowl
The real party will come down the line. This was specifically engineered to be this way because of how everything ended
Holy cow, I just had a crazy thought about a class combo I can see in the future for Joey, and feel free to tell me to shush or delete this. Heâs been making shapes with light, right? And learning runes? And Magister Mulligan mentioned a possible runic class down the line? (You see where Iâm going with this) He could also utilize it inside the light shield if he figures out infrared radiation, making the runes hidden and increasing the shieldâs strength exponentially. Additionally, using the same infrared technique to heat up the light and shape it into a runic âstampâ to easily put runes onto the food while cooking/baking.
wholock202
Felt like a rough chapter to many things pushed together abrupt end to the fight nothing said ⌠then a party that felt incomplete and rushed nothing was said really the new class was mentioned but not talked about at all? And then a dungeon. This felt like it should have been 3 or 4 chapters then on to the dungeon. As for the climax of the fight for me fell flat from expectations felt very short and disappointing. Just my thoughts and feed back still loving the story but I think this could be a much better chapter or 3
