Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

“Move along.” The two guards at the front of the Henrietta Estate said to the driver when he stopped on the road in front of the gate. A second later, they were pressed against the gate and their own bodies were crushing them.

“So that's what happens if you push only a person and nothing else.” I said and stepped out of the carriage. The men groaned in pain, unable to scream as their lungs had been squeezed and they couldn't breathe. “Did you kill my guards?”

The men didn't respond, not that they would if they could. No one but me actually admits to killing people, even if they did it. I stepped forward and they were crushed even more inside their armor. I kept walking and the bodies burst and blood flowed out and poured down to the ground.

“It doesn't affect anything not attached to the body. Good to know.” I said and ended the enchantment. The two suits of armor dropped to the ground and I used my magic to open the gate. Touching anything directly might be bad, even if I technically owned the place now.

I walked up to the house with Gella walking twenty feet behind me. If anything attacked us, I wanted to be the first target and it would give her a chance to flank and attack back. Farra had stayed with the gold in the carriage. Just because we paid the driver, it didn't mean he wouldn't run off with free gold when given the chance. I even left the gold sacks I had tied on my belt.

Two more guards at the mansion's doors took aggressive stances as we approached and drew their swords. Gella threw a knife at the one on the right and he deflected it with his sword.

“They are better than normal, my lord.” Gella said.

“They'll still die.” I said and she nodded.

“Why don't you knock and announce your presence, my lord?” Gella suggested.

I had to smile. “What a good idea.” I said and raised my hand toward the guards. “Booming Sound.”

Three loud booms sounded and the pressure waves hit the guards. Their eyes burst and their ears leaked blood. They let out screams and dropped to their knees to grip their faces, not that it would help them.

Gella ran over, swiped her sword at them, and their heads fell from their bodies. She ran back to me and waited.

I took out the thing Greta gave me and charged it up. The metal glowed brightly, much brighter than it should have, and I threw it at the front door. It hit a magical barrier and another boom sounded that shook the whole mansion and probably scared everyone inside. The barrier shattered and every ward protection on the building fell.

I walked over to the front door and the thing Greta gave me was blackened and dead. I picked it up and used Minor Mend on it, only for nothing to happen. I tossed it aside and opened the front door. Ten fireballs hit my chest and exploded against my mage shield.

I flicked my hand at the mages in the lobby. “Immolation.”

They all screamed as they were covered in the white fire and burned to ash in only moments.

I walked into the house and felt three people were left inside. That couldn't be good, not if the Grand Mage was actually home. I walked over to the parlour where Helena and I first sat with her parents. I entered and Mona was there with a little bundle in her arms. She sat on the nice couch and she was cooing at the baby.

“Where's the Grand Mage?” I asked.

“At work.” Mona said without looking up. “Who's a good boy! You are!” She said to the bundle. It giggled as a baby should and a bright glow came from inside. “Another one! You're so precious!”

I watched as she took out a filled magic storage crystal from inside the bundle.

“Damon is such a good boy!” Mona said and put the crystal down on the coffee table and added it to the pile that was there. “You are going to lead this family into the next generation of prosperity!”

I walked over to her and she finally looked up at me. “Where's Helena?”

Mona frowned at me. “Who are you supposed to be?”

I reached down and grabbed the shoulder of the arm not holding the baby, and squeezed.

“AHHH!” Mona screamed as I broke her shoulder.

“Where?”

“She... she's dead. She died when she gave birth to the new Henrietta Heir.” Mona said, tears in her eyes. She looked at the charged crystals on the coffee table.

“I'll hold him while you try to use them.” I said and held my hands out for my son.

Mona looked conflicted, then she held the baby up for me.

I took the bundle and cradled it to my chest, then Mona lunged to grab the crystals. I overcharged them and that ended their containment enchantments. All six of them snapped and the discharge blew out the bottoms as six beams of magical energy tore through Mona's chest and stomach.

Mona didn't scream at the pain and only looked confused.

“You've ruined the heir by stunting his magical growth.” I commented.

Mona slumped backwards onto the couch and her eyes went to my face. “He... prodigy.”

“He could have been so much more than that.” I said and opened the bundle, only to see a rail thin little body and eyes without pupils.

With Helena supposedly dying of childbirth, and not murdered as I believed, the baby didn't get the magic infusions from Helena or her breast milk nutrients that he needed. I used Sense Magic on him and he was so full of magic boosting potions that he was barely more than a storage battery himself.

I cast Empower on him and nothing happened, which meant there was nothing left inside of him. I tried to just share magic with him and not even a trickle would go inside of him. I shook my head and placed the bundle back in Mona's dying arms.

“You're right, he's more your heir than mine now.” I said.

Mona smiled as she slowly bled out through the six holes in her body. “Knew you... understand.”

I walked away to let them both die in peace. Gella didn't say anything to me and followed me up the stairs to Helena's room. Her personal maid was there and Jill looked like her face was permanently stuck looking terrified. I knelt in front of her and lightly touched her hand.

Jill looked at my face and her expression didn't change. “D-David... are you... here to kill me?”

“I came here for Helena.” I said and tears flowed out of her eyes without her crying.

“They killed her.” Jill said. “She wouldn't let them take her baby and tried to fight.”

“So did you.” I said and she nodded. “What happened?”

“The mages... they...”

“Was it quick?” I asked.

“Y-yes, they...” Jill took a deep breath. “She had to take the amulet off to give birth.”

“Why did you stay?” I asked.

“The baby.” Jill said. “Helena said to protect him and...” More tears flowed out and she still didn't cry or make noises. “I don't know why he kept getting thinner, no matter how much we fed him or used potions to keep his strength up.”

“It's because he needed Helena's magic.” I said and she caught her breath. “Without it for this long, he was going to die anyway.”

“Wh-what do you mean anyway?”

“Mona has been siphoning off as much magic with crystals as she could while he was dying.”

“No! She... she wouldn't...” Jill tried to protest and the words died on her lips.

“He's already too far gone for me to do anything to help him and I have full regeneration potions.” I said and she finally let out a wail of anguish and wrapped her arms around my neck to hug me. If I wasn't so resilient, I might have choked or been strangled.

It took ten minutes before she finished crying and let me go. When she looked at her damp arms and saw the concealer there, her eyes went to my now bare neck. My very white bare neck.

“By the Son's Light.” Jill whispered. Her hands reached for my face and I stopped her by taking her hands in mine.

“You don't need to see what I went through.” I said.

Jill nodded slightly and then her eyes widened and looked down at our clasped hands and my missing fingers. “Oh, no.”

“Do you want to come with me when I leave?” I asked.

Jill looked hopeful and then shook her head. “I don't deserve to be saved with Helena dead.”

“No one deserves to be saved.” I said and stood. “It just happens and we have to live with what happened to us.”

Jill opened her mouth to respond and I touched her chin to stop her.

“Greta is waiting at the Longshore Estate. Go there and wait for me.”

Jill nodded and looked around the room.

“Take anything you want. I own it all.” I said and she looked surprised. “I stopped at the bank first and they gave me everything I was owed, including everything the Henrietta family owns.”

Jill sighed and nodded again. “I'll pack everything up and head over as soon as I'm done.”

I walked over to the door of the bedroom and looked back at her. “Where are my personal maids?”

“They left with Hope.” Jill said. “They said that being around her would keep them closer to you.”

I nodded and left the bedroom. Gella walked beside me and we went down the stairs and outside. A group of guards were there and prepared to fight.

“You're all fired and removed from the family's protective magic.” I said and there was a little snap sound. Their slightly glowing swords winked out and they seemed to slump a little. “Gella, have fun.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Gella said and attacked with her glowing sword.

The guards had no idea how to handle a woman that could actually fight better than them and they each fell to her blade as they tried to counter her attacks. Even when the last two attacked as one, Gella avoided them with a step back and then used the power thrust to impale one and then she punched the other with her free hand that suddenly put a knife in the other guard's face.

“Well done.” I praised her as she wiped her weapons off on their clothing. We left the bodies of the guards where they lay and walked back to the carriage. I didn't bother locking the gates after we went through them and climbed inside the carriage. Jill wouldn't be able to leave if I locked the house or the gate.

Farra didn't say anything about us not returning with either Helena or the baby.

“The Mages Guild.” I told the driver and we drove off towards the fated battle that was going to be as pointless as my visit to the Henrietta Estate had been. Killing the Grand Mage wasn't going to accomplish much and I wasn't even going to be happy about it. It was a long time in coming and none of it would have happened if Helena hadn't forbidden me from killing him and her brother.

Now that she was dead, our deal was over, as were all the promises we made to each other. I seriously considered staying at the mage academy, though. Now that I could cast magic like a normal mage, even if it was different from them, I could become an accredited mage in the Gulf Kingdom. I chuckled at the thought.

“What is it?” Gella asked.

“The mage academy.” I said.

Farra and Gella smiled. They knew I didn't actually have to attend for the next two years and would become a mage anyway, thanks to Grand Mage Henrietta's interference. It was funny that no one tried to change it or alter the rules for it at all, even though they all knew it was in place. They all just accepted it as fact and moved on.

We arrived at the Mages Guild and I asked the driver to stop just down the road, because I didn't want to put him in danger. Farra seriously debated coming with us, then sighed.

“I'll work it out soon without killing you, I promise.” I said and she nodded. Until the storage crystal inside of her was full, she couldn't use all of her magic potential. The thing was, we also knew that if the crystal wasn't removed or discharged safely, it would blow out when it was full while the enchanted device tried to add more magic to it.

The hole in the chest could be easily fixed. It was the device no longer having a power source and not working that was the problem. It was her heart and if it stopped working, she would die.

On the plus side, I could easily detect that she was barely a quarter full and it took a long time for normal mages to charge up a storage crystal.

Gella and I left the carriage and used our enchanted necklaces to disappear from being seen. We walked up the road and entered through the gatehouse. I used Detect Enchantment on the thing and nothing was there except fire suppression and an alert ward. I shook my head at the stupidity and disabled both before we killed the guards.

We entered the grounds and every mage we came across, we murdered. As far as I was concerned, they were all guilty of compliance, even if they didn't commit the acts themselves, which most did. The good ones were usually ostracized and either left on personal business, like the extra teachers at the academy, or quit like Greta and Mage King.

We roamed the grounds and checked each person, some with blades against their throats and some were just asked. Anyone who lied, died immediately. The others were asked if they knew of crimes and then killed. For once, I didn't hate being right that they were all compliant.

When everyone outside was dealt with, we entered the front of the building and dispatched the guards and the mages in the lobby. I disabled the enchantments as well, except for the structural reinforcement one. That one I studied and remembered. It could be useful, especially if used on ships, because they wouldn't have to rely on the magic intensive mage shield.

“Let's go up each floor and remove the people without damaging anything.” I said and Gella nodded. We both knew the value of loot that could be used for the betterment of our people.

Bokuboy