Have you ever noticed inconsistencies in your life? Like dreaming something that happens the very next day? Or being run over by a worm that definitely shouldn’t exist? Two hundred years in purgatory, and at no point did I see anything remotely like the worm. It didn’t freak me out, but it still worried me nonetheless that it was incredibly inconsistent with my prior knowledge.
This wasn’t the only thing that was inconsistent though. Magic. Everything I knew about it so far indicated that everyone was able to use magic, except me. I mean, why would Aska feel sorry about my inability to use magic otherwise? And yet, I read that only two percent of all beings can use magic. The others aren’t knowledgeable enough to use it or don’t have the ability per se, just like me. As such, nobles were the broad majority of magicians as they could afford to train and did have the time to do so.
The books read were not just inconsistent with what I learned so far, but among themselves as well. Some claimed that mana resided in the blood because it fed creatures like me, and others said that it was an ability of the soul. Needless to say, the science behind it was incredibly shallow and no answer could really satisfy my thirst for knowledge in that regard.
But the thing that really made me wonder was history books. Yes, there were these books that portrayed a king as a good ruler and some that claimed exactly the opposite, but that wasn’t what made me suspicious as I already anticipated that.
It was the lack of information that made me read every history book I could find. I wasn’t satisfied. King Hannibal the great lived from the year 885 to the year 945. He wasn’t any special man in any way as his greatest achievement was apparently climbing some mountains, but he lived in a period I was very interested in. This period was approximately 215 years in the past, which made everything even weirder. In comparison, I was 209 years old. Very odd.
Hannibal lived quite a normal life, I dare say. A few affairs there, a bit of war there, a bit alcohol here. If I would have to summarize his entry in the history book, it would be kind of like this.
Year 885: Birth.
Year 910: Crowned as King. Marriage.
Year 930: First war against a bunch of elves. Times never change…
Year 932: Peace with elves.
Year 933: Killed his own wife because she was saddened by the death of her sister and drunk too much alcohol.
Year 934: Starts drinking alcohol, saddened by his wife´s death? Alright … I guess…
Year 936: Second war with the elves. Why is it always elves? Why not a few half-humans?
Year 939: Peace with elves. Who would have guessed?
Year 940: Illness. Second wife.
Year 941: Another Illness, another wife. At least he has a son now.
Year 942: Another war? For real?
Year 944: Some naval empire attacked a few ports. Another war was declared.
And now, to the climax of his story.
Year 945: Death.
Why was I the only one who was able to spot the very, very weird behaviour of this king? Everything seemed fine at the first glance. Which king doesn’t declare a few wars in his life and who doesn’t behead his wife every second year or so? And yet was the timing incredibly strange.
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Who rules twenty years over a kingdom and then starts to declare wars left and right in his last thirteen years of life? Why living together with his wife for so long and then kill her after all this time? There certainly could be a justifiable reason for that, but no person who lived with someone for 23 years switches partner in a quick succession afterwards.
Why did nobody notice that his first 45 years were barely documented? There were just three entries for all of these years as if he barely did anything during this time. He wasn’t the only one whose life was cleanly cut in two. There was another king who died in 931. He got his first son this year and then two other girls with different mothers. It was as if some goddamn historian forgot to write down how lewd this person until he was near the end.
Every historical figure I went through seemed to have the same phenomena. They were all barely documented or largely inactive before 930. Curious, isn´t it? Something must have happened this year. Something magical. As I asked a few maids, they naturally couldn’t answer me. I didn’t expect anything to begin with though.
Like this, I spent two weeks of my life, holed into a single room only to be occasionally interrupted by a maid who brought animal blood. Arthur, Mary or god forbid Markus never came to visit me once. I was a bit disappointed by Arthur, but he had enough to do with the preparations for war.
Occasionally the maids also brought me new clothes. All of them were incredibly white, but at least the shoes were normal and the dress only went to my knees. They even gifted me a large hat, as if that would help against the sunlight.
As the moonlight shone on my face during a peaceful night around two weeks after my arrival, my solitude finally came to an end. Arthur finally visited me without knocking on my door.
Before he could even greet me, I confronted him with my findings. Either he knew something and could help to shine light onto the unknown, or he couldn’t. Either way, I was fairly certain that he was unable to lie to me.
“What happened in the year 930?” He furrowed his brows at my question as if he couldn’t understand what I asked him at all, or why I asked him in the first place. He didn’t look away though, and I couldn’t spot anything that indicated any knowledge about the topic. “Forget about it.” He shook his head slightly, still unsure what to think about my question, but he did apparently decide to ignore it.
“It is time for war.” If I learned one thing during these past two weeks then that it was always time for war. And yet, I anticipated the battlefield more than anything else. Finally, I could see a lot of blood and satisfy my darkest desires again. I smiled as I turned my head towards Arthur who was clad in white coloured leather. He was apparently quite obsessed with the colour white as if it presented his status or so.
“Is it though? I hoped that I could have my own unit?” He didn’t turn away as I said that, which probably meant that he didn’t forget.
“You can recruit anyone you like, except the mages.” I smiled even more as I listened and wondered about all the possibilities if he stood true to his word.
“Perfect. I´m ready then.”
“There are two things first. Here is a little gift from me.” He handed me a little box he previously stored in his jacket. “Those are coloured contact lenses. I suppose you know how to use them?” I nodded slowly as I opened the box and saw the four lenses, floating in liquid. I haven’t read about these, but luckily Aska let me perform a few plays with main characters who had golden irises. As such, I knew the value of the gift perfectly well but still made it look as if it was natural to gift me these.
“And the other point …” continued he and indicated me to follow him. Only after we stepped out of the mansion and he pointed to a larger carriage did he continue. “You will sleep here with two other female mages. Make yourself familiar with your new home and find an excuse as to why you cannot go out during the day. We will start marching tomorrow at noon.” I sighed as I noticed that I would have to depart from my books this night.
“I need a weapon.” I could use a kitchen knife, but this was largely impractical during a fight. I obviously needed something else.
“I suppose you use the sword? One is already in the carriage. It is yours.” Largely unsatisfied by his answer, but too disinterested to change it, I turned around and went back into the mansion without saying anything else. Hopefully, I didn’t damage his ego with this move, but as I turned around to look at him one last time, he seemed fairly calm.
Inside the mansion, I pondered about the things I needed to carry with me. As I was already given a backpack, I knew how much I could pack, but not exactly what. I definitely needed a second dress, but I also needed bottles for blood, eating utensils, seasonings, the books I haven’t read yet and more.
Sadly, a helpful Aska wasn’t in sight to help me carry everything …