-Pruning the Roses, Part 1-

The workload never seemed to lessen, no matter my efforts.

Airis' close companions allowed me some time to myself throughout the day, but we had appearances to keep up. Meetings that needed my presence, rulings that required the empress' express judgment, and worst of all, the vast number of out-of-the-loop folks I had to keep up the Airis façade for.

"Tired! I am so tired!" I whined.

Coming to a resolution with the battle-crazed Alaetüs left my whole body sore. Too many of Airis' followers preferred talking with their fists.

Is it a good or bad thing she only has so few henchmen that are ultra observant?

I shook the thoughts from my mind.

Those were things for Airis to concern herself with.

Me? I wanted fun adventures befitting a free spirited personality such as myself.

…

Haaah.

All my efforts to have fun have led nowhere.

Everyone is too uptight, worshiping me, or fearful of very presence. The zealous knights make me jump every time I leave the office, snapping to attention like that should be illegal.

I almost dropped my breakfast this morning…

» YOU ARE AFFECTED BY A SPELL [AURA OF ST■■F■]

» YOU ARE AFFECTED BY A SPELL [AURA OF D■■C■■■]

And what in the Aether is even this?

Ever since Airis went nighty-night, I've been emitting the magickal equivalent of a monster raid siren to every person I come across.

Stupid, shitty Goddess system.

You're not even obfuscating the words well.

I fiddled with the aethermist display interface projected by the rune tattooed on my wrist.

"To: Annoying Ruler System," I typed a message requesting clarification on what I suspected our divine domain truly was, "Stop playing hard to get. I already know the stupid answer."

"Okay~ and send!"

» REQUESTING RULER DOMAIN CONFIRMATION

» FORWARDING REQUEST TO LOCAL RULER ARCHIVAL FRAME

» INITIALIZING REQUEST:

» FORWARDING—STANDBY

» FORWARDING—STANDBY

» FORWARDING—STANDBY

» QUERY ACCEPTED:

» RULER SYSTEM RESPONSE:

» YOU ARE ASSIGNED AN ARCHDEITY DOMAIN:

» GODDESS OF STRIFE AND DISCORD

» CONFIRMATION OF DUAL DOMAIN CUSTODY:

» STRIFE

» DISCORD

"Aha-ha!"

Third-rate goddess my ass…

Airis and I had our reservations, but these two domains were indeed far from some all-good, all-loving, all-protecting Goddess for the people of Vanixia.

- - - - - -SPELLS- - - - - -

[AURA OF STRIFE]: [School: Divine][Class: Operation] Affects all targets within visible range.

The target must pass a [>45] resistance check against their RESOLVE. Failure to pass causes the target to suffer a physical disharmony debuff.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[AURA OF Discord]: [School: Divine][Class: Operation] Affects all targets within visible range.

The target must pass a [>45] resistance check against their SANITY. Failure to pass causes the target to suffer a mental disharmony debuff.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"This is why everyone I run into keeps acting friggin' stupid!" I exploded.

Now, how do I turn this off?

Whatever was powering the two auras was outside the standard. They seemed to function more like Ikuye's AURA OF ANNIHILATION rather than Airis' holy-based AURA OF LIGHT.

Which is to say, not a very helpful detail in this case.

Ikuye's aura was something she couldn't control on or off by itself, it manifested when she released the restraints on her physical form.

I had not, to my knowledge, currently undergone a six-winged transformation or anything similar.

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"All we did was stab some douchebag…"

Everything pointed to something otherworldly being the cause. Of course, that also meant it was out of our control for the moment.

Virgo wasn't answering my calls, presumably laid up.

Capricorn… well, she was still throwing a fit according to Ikuye.

How fickle.

"Damn, does that mean my only hope right now is the battle-junkie? Nooo…"

Airis' guard knights rallied for my impromptu outing.

I wanted to go it alone, but Julius wouldn't stop his nagging, so we bargained. He'd stop whining, and I'd take the entire accompaniment of knights, attendants, and an overwatch team belonging to the Seekers would tail us.

Did I say it was a good bargain? No.

But at least it shut Julius up.

We left the sad excuse for a military command post like a momma duck and two-dozen ducklings, heading toward Airis' home district. A pang of guilt struck me at the thought that I would be the one visiting home while she was MIA.

It was only for a moment, though. Since we'd fill her in if anything neat happened, anyway.

Speaking of ducklings, Blondie tagged along as well.

Airis seemed to have a soft spot for her.

But we almost died because of her more than once, and almost dying a single time was enough fun for me.

As if she had heard my thoughts, Hikita glanced my way with a distressed look.

The relaxed atmosphere we had going changed when Knight-Captain Flik drew her sword, crackling with blue lightning.

"Halt, identify yourself!"

She challenged a shrouded figure who'd appeared in the middle of the street.

"As you wish." A woman replied slowly pulling back the hood obscuring her face, long blonde hair spilled down her shoulders.

Her eyes glowed unnaturally, a chilling bluish hue.

Hikita instantly drew her dual blades, jumping to the frontline alongside Flik.

"We should fall back." She suggested.

"Oh, but I came all this way just to see you, my dear Azure Rose. However, it appears you aren't locked away right now, doesn't it? Such an oddity."

"We really should run." Hikita repeated herself.

"Now, now. My darling girl, like I'd ever allow you that option."

A mesh of barrier spells activated, isolating Hikita from the rest of the group. She tried striking one with her swords but it bounced off without a sound.

That's when I noticed I, too, was isolated from the group by a series of person-sized barriers.

Oh, for the love of…

Hikita disappeared from sight, leaving a fading magickal sigil on the ground where she'd stood.

A flash of light under my feet revealed, as if an afterthought, an identical sigil.

My vision went black as I was teleported somewhere, and I passed out.

Watching Airis being yanked around by Renault was much more fun than being on the receiving end.

More and more, I felt the need to apologize to her whenever she woke up—yes, that's right, she was still sleeping. Snoozing through a kidnapping? How lame.

I was currently bound to a chair.

It was a comfortable chair, and the bindings were soft.

"Hello~," I called out, "I'm awake now. I'd like to get whatever this is over with so I can go back quickly. Before all the idiots fussing over me start blowing up the city!"

"I am aware," A woman's voice startled me, "I just dispelled the magick keeping you asleep."

The blonde-haired woman from before came into view. Her long hair had since been braided, and without the large hooded-robe, I could see her skin was dreadfully pale.

Now that she was up close, I also noticed her long, elven-like ears.

She crossed her arms and looked me over.

"So," she started, "You ended that worthless man?"

Her cold fingers griped my chin, turning my face side-to-side. She tilted my head back, then let me go with a click of her tongue.

"What," I scoffed, "Not pretty enough for you? Sorry to say, but you aren't my type either."

"Nothing so immodest."

She turned away, leaving the small room I was tied up in. Through the only doorway, I caught sight of Hikita in the adjacent room, also asleep, lying in a bed.

She gets a whole bed? Come on, that's just straight up discrimination. Wait, maybe I was also in a bed before waking?

"Hey, how long has it been since you abducted me?"

…

"Hello?"

…

"Hey~, weird elf lady?"

My occasional calls for attention went unanswered, and Hikita showed no signs of showing. I was left sitting in silence for what felt like an hour before the sounds of my kidnapper's return clamored from the other room.

"This sure is a new kind of torture." I joked.

The woman placed a chair across from me and sat down.

"First off, I don't trust you." She started off strong, "Playing the little hero, running around with her newfound powers to vanquish 'evil'."

"Umm. Okay, but where does your trusting me come into play? I still don't understand the game we're playing. Am I a hostage, or…?"

"The problem with heroes is that they would choose to sacrifice the few to save the many."

She ignored me.

Fine, I'll bite. Whatever to save me from boredom.

"You obviously don't know me very well. I'm more of a villain because I'd let the world burn to save my few."

Well, Airis would, anyway. Just look at this city reduced to rubble.

The woman went silent. Through the glowing blue light, I could see her eyes shifting, inspecting me. She waved her right hand toward Hikita, and a magick sigil appeared, then sputtered out.

Hikita woke instantly, sitting up in a daze.

She grasped at empty air for her blades when she spotted the woman sitting before me. A look of determination took hold on her face, and she jumped off the bed to stand between us.

With her back to me, she stuck out her arms in a weird stance.

"Don't harm her!" Hikita pleaded with the woman.

A cold reply came in return, "I haven't."

Hikita glanced back at me, doing a once-over to confirm that I, indeed, had not been harmed.

The woman stood and headed out of the room, stopping at the threshold, "You're acting quite unlike yourself—or rather, perhaps it is more accurate to say that you are acting like yourself."

She turned to me before she left, "I shall give you two days to snoop around my laboratory. If you somehow live up to my expectations, then I will send notice to your retainers and set you loose."

A magick sigil sputtered out near me, and the rope-like bindings keeping me tied to the chair melted into mist.

I jumped up, "Hey, what do you mean two days? How long have I been down here? Oh, come on! She's gone? Haaaaaah!"

I flopped back onto the chair and sighed a sigh so sighful it made me want to sigh.

"Who are you…?"

Hikita looked at me with a puzzled face.

Come on! All Airis does is sigh. How'd I get caught this time?

"Ooo, one of my favorite questions! Who am I~" I goaded Blondie.

"The redhead calls me Atë—though to be fair, it was an option I'd given at the time—but I've actually grown quite fond of the name Ruin. The others call me that, mostly. That or Nefas. It's a weird thing. Someone gave you your name, but we just know ours instinctively. Like a nagging tap-tap-tap in our thoughts."

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