-Grief is the Price, Part 1-

Julius pressed his hand against his head, rubbing at a headache that I too was feeling from trying to explain things.

"So, what you're telling me is that this glob… of whatever this is dripping from this altar, is Renault's head."

He pointed at the raised stone with a 'what in the Aether are you saying' look on his face.

I believed his confusion—the cause of my current mental pains—was due to how the altar currently looked.

Chunks of stone had been blown apart, leaving a hole straight through the center, and the edges were crumbling away as we spoke. Dark-orange crystalline spikes were embedded in everything nearby, piercing globs of viscera, and were themselves covered in spattered blood and offal.

Gods, the blood…

There was blood everywhere. Too much to naturally come from one person.

"And," Julius continued, "If I wait a few minutes, it'll just reform and start talking like nothing happened?"

He looked to Hikita, pleading with his eyes for more details.

"Yes. We smashed him, burnt him, cut his body into a hundred bits, Ruin blasted him with holy and chaotic power, I bled him dry with void magick a dozen times…"

Hikita was not the person to look to for answers, as Julius found out. She rambled on about the different ways we'd tried to dispose of Renault.

He came back each time—well, just his head. We'd long since obliterated his body in hopes that would stop this cursed death game.

"Julius, are you listening to the words I'm saying properly?" I asked, "If you just wait a minute, you'll see what we're talking about."

"Yeah, I heard you the first three times, but it's hard to accept. It looks like you massacred a village in here, so I apologize if I don't believe you."

"What the actual… do you think I'd—we'd—do that?" I motioned toward Hikita, including her in this offense.

Julius' silence was answer enough.

"You're really pissing me off. Don't think your crap attitude with me is gonna win you points with Airis. When she wakes up, she'll be pissed at you, like I am."

"Yeah, we'll see." He scoffed.

I resisted the urge to claw at his stupid face.

"Se–ems–your–eff–orts–were–was–ted–a–gain."

Julius grabbed me and jumped back, throwing his other arm over me. His shield expanded in a flash of silvery light, trapping me between him and blazing metal.

"Get off of me!" I whined, struggling to crawl out from under his arm.

Hikita was at the ready, piercing Renault's head once again with her void-infused blade.

The soul-rending magick has gotta take one of these times, right?

Regardless of my wishful thinking, the head stopped babbling once Hikita crushed it under her foot.

Seeing is believing, as they say. Julius was quick to accept the dilemma we were in and stationed a contingent of troops in the underground château.

We couldn't risk Renault gaining power if left to recover, so their job would be to ensure his cursed head was crushed every time it reformed until we could find a proper solution.

When Julius told me he was leaving Soren and Alistaire in charge of it, I felt a little bad for them.

The tiny palace wasn't a terrible place to spend their off-duty hours, but having to stomp Renault for the half hour it took Julius to arrive had been exhausting.

Granted, Hikita and I went a bit overboard…

It could be days of constant watch and effort.

My empathy for them ended there, though. I wasn't about to volunteer to take the role. We'd had our fill. Maybe once we figure out a way to end him for good, Hikita and I might be more interested, but killing Renault over and over in various ways had sated my desire for revenge.

The collective of egos had their fill as well. Even the most ruthless of them were bored with stomping heads.

Now if only something could save my fleeting want for fun.

After the encounter with the undying bastard, Julius had rallied a bona fide raiding team to secure the place, and I was placed on standby.

Reports on the hidden chambers were expansive, with more rooms further in past where we'd found Renault, but filled with mostly useless antiques. If I hadn't known better from Hikita's shared memory, you could've convinced me this was a museum instead of a treasure vault.

Scouts had found two stone tablets roughly the size and shape of a person with an unknown writing that didn't match any of the standard languages used by the republics.

Everything here, down to a grain of sand or speck of dust, was subject to investigation. The Seeker teams that Hanna and Luke sent were scouring the place for anything that could reveal Renault's secrets or the Renaultians' crimes.

Fatigue was setting in. It had been nearly ten hours since Hikita and I had been warped away by Renaire, but we were still underground in case the situation deteriorated.

Akari was curled up next to me, her head on my lap as I slowly ran my fingers through her hair.

I wondered if she really didn't have any prejudice against me while Airis was away. Of all the people in the know, Akari seemed the most adjusted to the ego switch.

Maybe where she came from has odd stuff like this all the time.

It had been some time since her sudden appearance and unfortunate run in with Aestori knights. We were sort of similar, being thrust into conflict without our consent with no way to leave.

A pinch of static followed by Hanna's voice jarred me from a spiraling thought, "Seeker-One to Regal-One."

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She had her agents install some of their aethertech equipment down the tunnels to resolve the issues we had with coverage, and now we could contact topside without problems.

"Go for Regal-One."

"Two-part report, as follows. First, Regal-Two believes she has a solution to the RN issue. Artificers at High Command have given a three-day estimation for a prototype. Second, Seeker-Five requests assistance in investigating the artifacts found below. If possible, they've asked for divine intervention."

What am I, the attendant at the celestial gates?

"Acknowledged first report, relay that to Assault-Three as well. Try not to get their hopes up, but at least knowing there is an effort being made might boost morale. On the second report, I'll see what I can do."

"Ita'vo gloria, Regal-One. Seeker-One out."

Hanna signed off the channel with that weird praise-like phrase the Church folks had picked up when talking to me—well, they all assumed they were speaking to Airis, but even she had never heard that one before.

Karina had been doing something weird. I could literally feel it. It was just a matter of what nonsense she was riling up the common people with.

One of the Seekers from the investigation team came to collect me from the living space, and I left Aeko to watch over Akari while she napped. The rest of the gang, including Hikita, followed us down the hidden stairwell, past the vault, and through yet another secret tunnel.

So many secrets, including these ancient tablets.

"What do we know about the writing?" I asked the intelligence officer.

"An Aestori scholar with us ID'd the language as an old script used by a tribe of humans called the Revan Natori."

Revan Natori…? Oh.

I turned to Hikita.

"Your nanny mentioned something about that, they're tied to… well, you know what."

She nodded but wasn't able to provide any details; it had been the first time she'd heard of them as well.

"Maybe we can call Hanna back and ask if they've got any Renaultian scholars locked up." I suggested to the Seeker, "If they can provide real help, so long as they aren't directly involved with the Republic's schemes, I might offer them amnesty."

I had no clue if I'd even be able to help out, so setting up a plan B would at least make things less sour when my presence ended up useless.

The officer happily accepted my suggestion, calling in the request to Hanna over their secure channel immediately.

We were led down a series of labyrinthine corridors until we hit a large chamber, which was similar in size to the one we'd found the monolith stone and beat that rose lady, Audrey.

The scene resembled that room in a way. One singular large stone tablet sat on the opposite side. Instead of ritual circles and sacrificial bodies, there were aethertech lights and scholars.

"Your Majesty!" "Your Imperial Divinity!"

They greeted us, clearly excited to discover the secrets inscribed on this stone.

Let's hope I don't rain on their parade too quickly.

I did the tedious little archnoble response that Airis usually gave in formal settings to really sell my enthusiasm to be here—which honestly wasn't too far from the truth since this adventure was the closest thing to a normal fun time I'd had since getting the reins.

"I was told you ran into a wall with translating. Have you made any progress, or are we at square one? Even a few words may be enough to grasp at."

There was a hierarchy among the scholars, as I didn't receive a direct answer but instead the ones who'd welcomed us scurried away to ask my question to others, who in turn, went to report on up their chain.

Finally, the ones that were closest to the tablet came over to us, and a pale-haired elven man with a soft, youthful face gave a noble greeting and spoke as the head of the group.

"I sincerely apologize for the discourtesy, we were informed of your impending arrival, however, a slight breakthrough had us too engrossed. I am Magister Aullis Sempronia, Chief Scholaris of the Stellae Praecantoris' Wing of Ixian Research, and an attaché to Your Majesty's Crimson Seekers."

As I had already given my formal greeting, it wasn't proper to give another, so I just responded back naturally, "Quite the list of titles for an introduction, it rivals the tedious names I'm given when presented."

The scholar smirked, "The ever-growing pain of upward promotion, though I dare not compare my meager titles with the ones Your Majesty holds."

Sempronia… Sempronia…

I remembered the two white-haired men with the same surname in the Aestori's provisional government, the Tribunal.

"Are you related to Consular and Lord-Magistrate Sempronia in Umbraedomis? Your appearance is quite similar."

"Indeed, I am," He said with a smile, "They are my nephews, my brother's sons. I joined the Seekers at young Gracci's request, though now it has become a new home with fellow-minds."

Aullis and I chatted briefly as the scholars prepared their findings and speculations.

He was knowledgeable in Ixian history, which had some shared ground with the Revan Natori. That is how he was so certain the writing was in that language.

"—and ultimately, their people would go on to found the Kingdom of Rena after the Rena clan brokered the Rena Armistice Treaty that ended the war with the Ixians nearly three-thousand years ago. The head of the Rena clan took the name Renault, was elevated as the kingdom's royal house, and their capital was shifted to the town of Estoc."

The wrap up to a half-hour history lesson on late Revan Natori–early Kingdom of Rena finally arrived just as the scholars finished preparing.

I was wrong about this being fun.

In summary of the research done so far, a few key phrases had been transcribed, and the tablet was confirmed to be written in the late-era Revan Natori script that Aullis had theorized.

With the broken bits of unknown language, I sent a modest request to the ruler system to see if it could do an auto-translate for me.

» REQUESTING LANGUAGE IMPROFICIENCY RESOLUTION » LOCAL CODEX DETECTED WITHIN RANGE » FORWARDING REQUEST TO LOCAL CODEX ARCHIVAL FRAME

» RULER STATUS VERIFIED » REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED » INITIALIZING DECRYPTION PROCESSES » DECODING – STANDBY » DECODING – STANDBY » DECODING – STANDBY

» LANGUAGE CODEX DECRYPTED: LANGUES D'REVAN » COMMENCING TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION » PROCESS SUCCESSFUL: AUTO-TRANSLATION ENABLED » LANGUES D'REVAN TO ALTAERIAN » ALTAERIAN TO LANGUES D'REVAN

Hot damn, hell yeah!

I pumped my fist in the air to celebrate the success, surprising some of the researchers.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. My bad. Good news, though. Divine inheritance came in clutch, and I think I can read the tablet."

Aullis wasted no time, practically pulling at my arm to lead me over. His overzealous nature was quickly tamed by my Knight-Captain.

"Truly, we thank you for agreeing to aid us. Any insight is welcomed, Your Majesty."

Hmm…

The tablet was stranger now that I was close up. Not only was it in the general shape of a human, but I could see faded etchings that would add definition to the face and body.

Well, that's for these scholars to hum and haw over.

⌈THE GRAND CONFLICT

Hearken and witness these truths that lie herein, for they are the last legacy of the Revan Natori, who came to know alētheia and were placed under heel of the Abyss.

There is a war that burns on even now, outside the world that we know – between the Cosmic Fields of the Celestial Heavens and the Terrible Depths of the Dark Beyond.

This war is known to the theïkós angeliafóros as the Grand Conflict, and it has raged and burned longer than the races of man.

The forces of Light and Darkness constantly vie for control over the engine of creation and an eternal archive of total knowledge.⌋

What in the Aether…

I read the inscription twice and was still confused about what exactly I was supposed to take away.

No proof or supporting evidence? No follow up or call to action? Just, 'there is a massive war in the heavens, FYI.'

"Your Majesty?"

Aullis' prodding reminded me I had come to translate this for them and not to amuse myself with its content at leisure.

A few words hadn't translated through the codex system, but the scholars could try to figure those out along with the purpose of this warning.

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