Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (33 page)

Smoke instantly lowered his head and said. "Thank you, your Highness, I promise not to disappoint you."
'Looks like getting that slight Intimacy boost with the King paid off after all,' thought a relieved Smoke. He was hoping to actively take part in this war. He feared for the safety of the ordinary Zectian residents, but most especially for the OrkElves scattered in the pomegranate settlements.
"Alright then, all of you go out and make preparations for the Orks arrival!" exclaimed the King, and dismissed all of them.
Both Eleve and Ouragan pulled Smoke towards them, wanting more explanation on what he knew about the Orks' invasion.
As they were about to leave the throne room, Smoke heard the tiger Lioumerean lamenting. "Pfft. What a lucky guy to be made Vice-General just because he became a finalist," spouted Trottel.
Smoke stopped, and excused himself from Eleve and Ouragan.
"Sorry, I'll catch up with you two," said Smoke. "There's something important I forgot," he said and walked back towards the Monarch.
"Oh, Faux, what is it?" asked King Kajou. "Is there anything else?"
"Actually, yes," replied Smoke. "Your Highness, how do you feel about interracial marriages?"
King Kajou raised both his hands in confusion. "What? What does that have to do with the Ork invasion?"
"It's not really connected, per se, but I think it could help increase the morale of my men," replied Smoke.
"Hm. Well, if you must know, of course I approve of it!" declared the King. "I am born from a Human Father and a Gnome Mother, but I do not hold it against my father."
Behind his Paradox Mask, Smoke let out a wide grin.
"Great! Then, let me tell you something about an ordinance created in Vlahui City," began Smoke, and told the King of Trottel's stand against interracial marriages.

An excited Nash spent thirty-minutes cleaning up his room. The bed was made, his laundry were out of sight, and his Zectas game pod polished to a shine.
Sherry was going to arrive anytime soon. It was her first time to visit his house, and they planned to watch his battles in the 999th Magi Gagnant Tournament.
Also, he wanted to ask her opinion on what to put up next for his video, as he was running out of ideas.
"Nash! Sherry's here!" called out Seth from downstairs.
Sprinting down the flight of steps, taking two of them double-quick, Nash arrived in their living room in record time.
"Hey, I thought you won't be here for another five minutes," said Nash. He came in for a tight hug and a quick peck on the lips.
"Oh, sorry. Were you still doing something?" she asked.
"Nah, not really. Just wanted to be the one to greet you, is all," replied a giddy Nash. "Anyway, let's go up stairs."
As they walked up the steps, they heard Seth's voice. "Don't do anything foolish, you Two. Remember Mima is right down the hall!"
Nash and Sherry laughed, and headed into his room.
"So? What do you want to watch first?" Nash asked Sherry.
"The very first one, of course!" she replied. "Who was your first opponent, again?"
"The Prime Wizard of Vlahui City, Trottel," answered Nash. "He's a cocky tiger Lioumerean, who uses Lightning."
Nash pulled his computer chair for Sherry to sit on, while he stood and watched from behind her.
One by one, the two of them reviewed his matches in the Tournament. Until finally, they saw Ouragan freeze him in a block of ice.
"That was a great battle! And that Fire Manipulation ability… looks really powerful," said an excited Sherry. "Bet it costs a lot of mana though."
Nash gave her a sheepish smile. She was right, he still had a long way to go in order to use his Fire Manipulation more naturally.
"Anyway, what really happened when I called you during the Tournament?" asked Nash, changing the subject. "I've been asking for a while now, but you still haven't told me anything."
Sherry let out a deep sigh. "I don't know how to say this, but Mamelon lost a lot of her Avendre Mercenaries."
"What! How?" asked Nash with a stricken expression. "Exactly how many did she lose?"
"She lost a little less than seven-hundred men," she replied.
"How could she have been so careless?" asked Nash. "She should have known better than to take any unnecessary risks! How else could she have lost that many!"
"Nash, calm down," said Sherry in her softest voice.
"How can you say that!" he asked, enraged. "And why did you keep this from me, for this long?"
He then walked over to his game pod. "I have half the mind to call her right now."
"Nash calm down!" she shouted and sprang up from the computer chair. "Don't you dare start throwing your tantrum at me! You're not a kid!" she said, as she pointed her fingers at him.
Nash fell silent, and subconsciously backed away from her. "Of course, I'm not a kid. Why would you say that?"
"Every time something like this happens, you always blow things out of proportion," began Sherry. "I thought you already had that hot head of yours under wraps?"
"Do you want me to leave? Is that it?" she threatened. "Because I will."
"No, no. Of course not..." said a calmer Nash. "Sorry, it was just..."
He paused and walked closer to her.
"Please sit down," he begged. "I'm calm, see?" he said and helped her take a seat.
"So, what happened?" he asked with restraint.
"First, you should know that Mamelon was not being reckless with the lives of the Avendre," began Sherry. "She was out capturing dirus wolves when it happened."
She took a deep breath, and clenched her fist. "She was ambushed by Macher and Sagen."
Nash's eyes fully opened. "Sagen? You don't mean—"
"Yeah, the same one," replied Sherry. "Apparently, he didn't learn his lesson from last time."
She paused and looked at him.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Nothing, just checking your reaction," she said. "His guild members have grown theirs numbers too."
"Numbers don't matter, if they're all made of lousy members," replied Nash.
"Oh, and there's one more thing," she added. She faced the computer screen, and quickly browsed through the Zectas website. "Now, this is sort of an iffy news."
 

"So? What do you think?" asked Sherry. "On the bright side, there are still a few loyal fans."
Nash grinned. "This is great! They've completely neglected Smoke."
"But what about your videos?" asked Sherry. "Don't you make your money from those?"
"That is, a problem," he replied. "And I have to make one soon, too."
"Well, you can't make a video about your adventures in Vitzytl," reminded Sherry. "Wish you could insert your own video of the Ifrit Quest."
"You and me both," agreed Nash. "But I still have a little over six months in Zectas time before I could retake that Quest."
Both of them ogled blankly at the ceiling, thinking up of what to make for his video.
"And if you showed that you had the Fire Manipulation ability, people would get the connection that you're actually Faux," said Sherry.
Nash stared at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Fire Manipulation? No, I can't show that, but I think you just gave me an idea," he replied and kissed her on the cheeks.
 

* * * * * * 

Hidden inside a forest patch near the outskirts of Votl City, Smoke glanced at the displayed time on the opened appointment window. It displayed eight in the morning. He nodded and grinned, as he still had an hour before needing to meet with Eleve and the rest of the Prime Wizards.
'Alright, time to put her idea to the test,' he thought, and took out two black metallic rods.
Equipped with the Florissant Journeyman Emblem, Aral's Lightning Rods were lined with red flames as it received Xantico's Inheritance.
He removed the Paradox Mask, Serval Shoes, and modified Wings of Cologus, as they were a clear give away of him being Faux.
GROWL
'Looks like it finally caught scent of me,' surmised Smoke, now looking like his old self again. He bookmarked the scene to record for his next video.
From within the woods, Smoke saw two large yellow eyes and an even larger striped body of his prey.
He had asked Perdant if he knew of any ferocious monsters here in Sawtorn that were also found in Wysteria. The old stout Merchant hastily replied with one such beast, the lemurcat!
Smoke recalled how he had trouble fighting with a group of them before, even with the help of his albino Simiavulg friend, Saru.
'Well, here goes nothing,' he said in his head, and synergized with Igniz.
Forthright, smoke came out of his purple skin.
'Oopps, better edit that out later,' he thought as he charged the three meter long monster.
With his Agility of the Horned Rabbit now in Master level, Smoke delivered sixteen swift strikes to the  lemurcat's head. On each strike, he delivered a small explosion which dealt 10,000 damage points. As the black metallic rods made contact with the beast's fur, its life bar dropped down by 5% of its maximum capacity.
The lemurcat did its best to retaliate with its claws, but Smoke dodged each one. He could now afford to solo this beast without endangering himself.
When the monster's life bar displayed (80,000/240,000 HP), Smoke leapt back and activated the black metallic rods' special ability, Lightning Strike. Coupled with his Beast Monarch ability, Smoke burnt the lemurcat to a crisp.
Smoke released his Synergized state, and whispered to his chest. "Good job, Igniz!"
'Now, I have the footage of a weapon blessed with both Lightning and Fire elements at the same time,' he smirked and picked up the lemurcat's pelt.
After which, he replaced the black lightning rods for two Orkish books. Ouragan had given him an Orkish ability tome, and now he was earnestly leveling up his Orkish. They were entitled 'Angi Ork giyatapog Unano' and 'Ork Generalir: angi iyanir Sikritor.' The books translated to 'An Ork wrongfully murdered by a Dwarf King' and 'The Secret to becoming an Ork General.'
With both books in hand, Smoke headed towards the city. The progress bars on the books rapidly filled. He thought he could easily finish both books before they discuss their defensive plans for Votl City.
 

* * * * * * 

As soon as he stepped out of the forest patch, Smoke found a large gathering of both Sonstwelters and Zectians alike, outside the gates of the amethyst city.
He roughly estimated them to be easily over a hundred-thousand.
'They're even more than the invading Brandals of Centzo City,' he mused. A smile of confidence grew on his face. 'Looks like we'll be able to deal with the Ork Horde.'
Fortunately for him, he looked down and saw that he was wearing his Lunar Boots. He reflexively grabbed his face, and found that he forgot to change his equipment. He even forgot to wear the Paradox Mask.
Ducking down into the bushes, he hurriedly went back into the forest and changed his items to that of his Faux persona.
A few minutes later, he walked up in full disguise at the gathered masses.
"Hey, it's Faux!"
He turned to the direction of the ones calling his name, and found that some of them were heading for him.
"Faux! Over here, over here!" said one of the Arch Mages.
Smoke waved, but did not come closer. He casually walked away from their general direction.
However, he bumped into a Sonstwelter who was slightly taller than him. He wore silver plated armor and had the Job of a Paladin Lord.
"Hey, sorry about that," said the Paladin Lord, and offered his hand. "The name's Edel, and I'm the Guild Leader of the Sunrise Kingdom."
Smoke shook it and said. "Nice to meet you, but I have to go."
"Wait, I was hoping that we could talk," said Edel. "I want to discuss the benefits of joining our Guild."
"Thanks, but I really have to get going," replied Smoke.
"Wait, wait. Did you hear about the Kingdom Quest?" asked Edel.
Smoke then looked at the gathered crowd.
Edel followed his gaze and laughed. "Of course you did! Who hasn't, right?" he said eagerly and laughed some more. "Anyway, the 16th Magietrois Florissant was named Prime General, and the three Prime Wizards as Vice-Generals. They were placed in command to lead the army against the Ork Horde."
"Although, I heard that there's one more Vice-General, but I don't know who," said Edel. He then paused and stood straight, as if trying to make himself appear taller. "Now, as Guild Leader of the Sunrise Kingdom, I can assure you a good spot during the attack. You'll get lots of experience points for sure."
Smoke did not utter a word, as he searched for Eleve and the Prime Wizards.
"Hm. I guess you already had other offers, huh?" said Edel. "Well, let me sweeten the deal. I'll give you 50% of all the earnings in this Quest."
Smoke moved his head, looking towards the group of black-clothed Warrior Guards surrounding several white tents.
'Guess that's where they are,' thought Smoke.
Suddenly, Edel stood in front of him, blocking his view. "Hey, didn't anyone teach you to look at the person you're talking too?"
"Sorry, but I'm really not looking for a Guild," said Smoke.
"Hmmp!" exclaimed Edel and walked away. "Can't believe you're this rude in person. Just because you got your fifteen minutes of fame. I'll flood the forums of your true identity," added the Paladin Lord and stormed away.
"Hey, Edel, I really wasn't trying to be rude," called out Smoke, but was ignored.
Walking closer to the white tents, Smoke spotted two familiar faces. A muscular tiger Lioumerean carrying a large brown sack, and a curvaceous LightElf with flaming red hair walked up to him.
"Hey!" greeted Smoke. "What are you two doing here?"
"We came to defend the Kingdom of course!" replied Chouchou.
Smoke expected a handshake from them, but Xantana ran up and hugged him instead.
"I knew we could count on you, Faux!" she said, all excited. Her hugged tightened even more.
Then, a strong grip fell on his shoulder. "I don't know how you did it, but Trottel suddenly had a change of heart," said Chouchou.
"I told you the guy I was working for had some power," explained Smoke.
Xantana released him from her embrace, and motioned Chouchou to give Smoke the brown sack he was carrying.
"Oh! Right," said the tiger Lioumerean and handed it over.
An unexpected notification window popped up.