Bog Standard Isekai-Book 4 - Lumina Interlude

Lumina hid her grin behind a cup of tea as Master glared at the door where the [Maid] had recently made her escape.

"She didn't offer to tuck me in," Master said with a cute little pout.

"It hasn't been in fashion for the staff to offer to tuck in your napkin in seventy years, Master," said Lumina.

Her Master didn't look nearly as old as he was, that was something that everyone could agree on with confidence, but she couldn't say that age hadn't made his mark on him at all. He had white hair cut short, and a wide, round face, though not as many wrinkles as one might expect due to a healthy amount of body fat. He always wore round glasses with thick black frames that enlarged his eyes and made the people he looked at feel like he was trying to peer straight through their skin.

He snapped the napkin irritatedly and then tucked it into his collar himself. "It's not about fashion. It's about respect! First the little things change, and then the larger systems fall apart. It's like... it's just like..."

She knew that he wasn't stumbling because he couldn't think of any example, but rather because he could think of so many that it was impossible to decide which to start with. She needed to redirect. "Have you given thought to what I asked?"

He nodded three times and picked a pastry off the table. "Yes, yes. Have a tart, dear. You look famished. Have you been eating well? You know you sometimes forget when you're in the middle of a project."

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"I've been fasting. I told you this! I spent nearly two months in prayer and fasting."

"Yes, that's right. Good. That's good! It's good for a woman to be pious. A man as well, but I've found that if a woman pays proper respect to the gods, her husband will follow suit. But if you're here then I assume that's done? Eat something! You look half a ghost."

Honestly, she was famished, but the food on the table was made to Master's tastes, which meant that there was nothing remotely edible at all. Case in point: he currently nibbled on a crumbly little scone with currants. That wouldn't be bad on its own, but he insisted it be made with aged tallow, so old that it was well past spoiling and only saved from being poisonous by the Skills of a high level [Chef]. She'd tried having the [Maids] hide some normal pastries among the rest, but even the smell of it rendered her completely unable to eat.

She put something on her plate, but didn't even look at it and definitely didn't take a bite.

"Well, you can hardly accuse me of being overly pious. It was all an effort to redirect this little blemish," said Lumina, gesturing with her curse-blackened hand. “I thought the best way to reclaim a curse would be with a blessing, but nothing came. The heavens are silent and I fear I am running out of time.”

He probably thought she meant that she was running out of time before she’d need to leave for Prinnash, but it was more than that. Even Master didn't know that the curse had grown to cover her entire arm, half her chest, and was even starting to creep up her neck. That was also the reason he hadn’t made any comments about her clothes; she was dressed exceptionally modestly today.

"Oh, right. That. I told you to have it removed, young lady."

"I'm trying–"

"No, not redirected and empowered, not integrated. Removed,” said Master.

“I have the death curse of a [Great Witch] thrumming through my veins. Just think of the possibilities if this power could be brought around to my benefit instead of my detriment,” said Lumina.

Master frowned. “It’s unnatural! A woman should keep the skin color she was born with. Be happy with what you are! There's no reason a Frenarian can't look like a Frenarian and a Pollisian can't look like a Pollisian. And I have nothing against the Pollisians, as you well know. A fine people! But there's no reason a Frenarian woman should wish to look like one of them. In my day, women used to change their skin color every day to suit their mood. It was madness! I know you believe that I think that everything old is good, but that's one trend from my youth that I'm glad died out."

"I believe it was the women doing it who died out. From silver poisoning," said Lumina.

Master chuckled. "That may be so. That may be so. Changing skin color, always different hair, and then the medallions to look like medals from the... you know my mother, she lived through the Bronegew Blitz? She never spoke of it. I didn't know until after she died. See, I found an entry in a travel registry and when I compared dates..."

Hogg had told her something about Master. He'd told Lumina that Master talked like an old man, which had upset her so much she refused to speak to him for two days. His exact words had been, "He talks like one of those old turds who've gone at least ten years since the last time they were interrupted."

She hadn't understood at the time, but now she couldn't unsee it. She didn't mind it exactly, she liked the way his conversations danced from topic to topic, but she had to admit that Hogg had a point. Who could interrupt the Master of Magic? Who would even want to explain to him that his stories were boring or confusing? Who would dare? No one, unfortunately, but she.

She decided to take a risk. "Ah, what? I'm sorry, first we were talking about curses, and then skin color and now... the Bronegew Blitz?"

Master hunched over, looking so ashamed it nearly burst her heart. "I'm rambling, aren't I? I'm sorry, my dear."

"No, no! Think nothing of it! There's little I like more than listening to you get into a good ramble," she said.

"In that case--"

"But perhaps we can turn this topic back to my original question? About the spell?"

"For the war with Arcaena you mean? I'm not sure I should. You know, in all the years I've been Master of this Tower, she's never once interfered with my work here." Master turned his attention to a greenish blue pudding. Lumina decided to believe it was lime flavored and leave it at that.

"That's only because she can't," said Lumina.

Master took the spoon out of his mouth and pointed at her with it. "No, darling, it's because she respects boundaries. Enough so that I can only wish that our other neighbors would follow suit. If Prinnash had half the respect for rules and norms as Arcaena does, they wouldn't be ruled by a half-wit fake [King] and a council of--"

"We're getting distracted again," said Lumina. Interrupting him was easier the second time.

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"My point is," said Master, "she doesn't interfere with me." Then he paused and put on a sly smile. "Though sometimes I wish she would. It's been too long since I had a real dust-up. You'll deploy it on our side of the border? She hasn’t overstepped and neither shall I, but on our side of the border…"

"On Prinnash’s side of the border, but yes. It'll be the opening salvo, something to soften them up for our first charge," said Lumina.

"You won't attempt to use this by yourself?" he asked.

"I've already selected a group of fifteen [Mages], [Anti-Mages] and fate watchers. We'll be careful," said Lumina.

"Oh I suppose it couldn't hurt," said Master. He whispered a word of Language into a small jewelry box, a word that still gave her a tingle of mageburn, even after all these years. She felt his magic fill the box, not summoning anything yet, not activating, but waiting to be unleashed.

Then he set the box to the side and went back to his pudding.

Lumina suppressed a shout for joy, keeping her face calm, like she was barely interested in the box.

A [Footman] entered the tea room, no doubt sensing through Skills that he was wanted. His face went pale when he saw the box, and Lumina bet that only his Class saved his hands from shaking when he picked it up. He put the box on a white pillow atop a golden tray and carried it out again.

"Do you have your plans in place to ensure that the war will certainly come? All of our [Heralds] are still out there denying that anything is going on at all, and if I have the most recent count, there are thirteen thousand dead from the undead incursions.”

“Not to mention the budding rebellion of House Cobol,” interjected Lumina.

Master shook his head. “Xander would never. I had dinner with him only last week; that’s a man who understands the proper way of things. Lords will work to advance their houses, as they should! But Xander won’t rebel, he’s a man of reason. The undead are bad enough, but other nations have their own problems. Prinnash is suffering from a goblin situation, and I'm even hearing rumors that the Storm King has returned in Olland."

Lumina sniffed in derision. "The Storm King is always returning in Olland. That country, at least, I can say for sure won’t be distracted."

"I've never agreed with that, by the way. The [Heralds], I mean. Why are they telling the news? That's not what a [Herald] is for. They’re for diplomacy and edicts, giving orders and the like. Using them for propaganda is distasteful in the extreme."

Master was offended by the idea of [Heralds] spreading lies, and even more offended by all the people who didn't believe the lies. From there he sprang into a diatribe on the poor quality of modern music.

She had to smile when she imagined him finally meeting Brin and learned that Brin was responsible for the kukubaru song. Or… maybe Lumina might endeavor to keep that one little fact from him.

Master lectured about the state of the roads, about how children didn’t listen to their parents, and complained about the perpetual cloud of smog that hung over Steamshield, as well as a dozen other gripes.

Lumina's mind was of course only on that spell he'd given her, but for the worth of that alone, he more than deserved an hour of her time as he expounded on all of the world's woes.

Master waged an eternal war against disorder, striving to root it out wherever he found it. He loved order and predictability more than anything. And while she didn't always agree with the order he chose, she admired his quest for it. He seized the randomness of the universe and forced it into place. That's exactly the way that he had to be. One would want him to be this way, need him to be this way, if one knew the sort of magic he specialized in.

When she departed, she found a [Knight] waiting for her outside the door. He now bore the golden tray, the pillow, and the box.

"I believe I am to turn this back over to you," he said.

Now that Master was no longer nearby, Lumina allowed herself to let the elation and desire show on her face. She [Inspected] the box.

A box containing an undirected word of primordial power, imbued by the Master of Magic in Frenaria, the [Archmage of Chaos].

Fool of fools! Reckless and ignorant! You know not the forces with which you meddle! Do not seek to control this magic. Throw this box into the deepest chasm and forget you have ever seen it, lest terrors beyond imagining be unleashed upon you!

Lumina's grin grew wider. The statuses that Master assigned his objects were always so dramatic.

"We really could use this for the war," said the [Knight]. “A tool like this might save a thousand lives."

"After I succeed, I'll tell Master what I did and beg him for another one. He'll grump and grouse, but he'll give it to me. He's nothing but a big old softie."

The [Knight] clenched his jaw, gazing at the box with visible fear. "Only you could say something like that."

They were both very careful as they walked down the steps of the Tower. She avoided use of the lifts, judging any possible jostling from the machinery an unnecessary risk. The [Knight] carried it the entire way, and Lumina went in front of him, ordering all she saw to turn around and walk the other direction.

Six floors down, they entered the laboratory. The third largest in the Tower, it was two hundred feet long, wide and tall, a cube except where it followed the curve of the tower wall at the end.

Her group of fifteen were really there; she hadn't lied to her Master about that. Four of her [Mages] were specialized in magical engineering. They had set up the machinery for this procedure. The device looked like a freight locomotive without wheels or tracks that had been disassembled around a hospital bed; its purpose would be to extract the curse and force it manifest physically. The rest of the [Mages] were experts in runes and enchanting; they’d covered the space in an array of runes that would keep the curse trapped in the room and guide the chaos magic to merge with it, and keep the chaos from killing them all before it did so.

Two specialists on fate would keep watch during the procedure and suggest a path towards victory as time progressed and the future became more clear.

She also had three Lances on hand, as well as three [Anti-Mages], and Hogg. The [Knights], [Anti-Mages], and Hogg would help her deal with all the little surprises that came up. There would be surprises. Master's magic was anything and everything; the only thing it couldn't be was predictable. Not in any hands but his, at least.

“It worked. He gave me one!” Lumina said with a happy squeal as she entered.

“Ma’am,” said the [Knight] carrying the box, a look of extreme stress on his face.

“Set it there, Donalan, show him,” ordered Lumina.

Hogg’s face lit up when he saw the box. “That’s it? You really got one. So this is happening. We’re really doing this! First we should… but what about… this is really happening!” He started pacing, keeping to the areas of the floor not covered with runes. If anything it reminded Lumina of when a friend of hers found out that his wife was in labor.

Now that the image was in her mind, the similarities to childbirth didn’t stop there. She made her way up to the place prepared for her, which was not unlike a hospital bed. She was put into a state of some amount of embarrassment as she was required to remove the chaste shawl over her shoulders and arms to expose as much of the curse-marked skin to open air as possible. There was pain as her [Mages] connected the tubes and hooks that attached her to their machinery.

And there was a hand holding hers; Hogg offered it to her when a particularly long needle made its way into her shoulder.

He had a habit of sinking into a shadow on the floor and then reappearing somewhere else nearby, a trick of hard light that he pretended was [Shadow Mage] teleportation Skill. Even with her magical senses, she had a hard time figuring out which was his real body, or if any of them were real, so it was always a surprise when she took his hand only to find it soft and warm and real.

“So how will this work? The chaos magic will change your curse, but into what?” he asked.

“We can’t know that. I’ll accept whatever comes,” said Lumina.

Duarda the [Reader of Fate] spoke up, her voice coming muffled through the robes that covered every inch of her body including her face, “The most likely future is one where the curse is turned on its head, changing all negatives to positives.”

“That’s five points of Magic per level,” said Hogg flatly. “That’s absurd. No one is that lucky.”

“Great risks yield great rewards. I wouldn’t bother for anything less,” said Lumina.

“And you’re sure your Master isn’t going to notice us doing this,” said Hogg.

“No, not at all,” said Lumina. “He’ll know. I’ve already rehearsed my apology.”

“If you’re ready, your Radiance, the omens indicate that now would be a good time to begin,” said Duarda.

The [Mages] rushed to their positions. Some went to monitor the dials and levers on the machinery, and others to focal points of the enchantments. A few left the room completely, their part in this ritual already complete. The [Knights] and [Anti-Mages] drew their swords. Hogg stood next to her, still holding her hand. They were ready.

“Then all that’s left to do is release Master’s spell,” said Lumina. “Hogg, would you mind?”

“With pleasure,” Hogg said with a grin.

He reached forward to open the box, and all hell broke loose.