With the threat in this city dealt with, we made our way back towards the capital to reconvene with the Sultana and fill her in on what happened here, get her opinion on what we should have done and rest for a day as we gave Anput the ti she needed to forge our new gear.
That was the plan, but since we were traveling amongst the routes that the Sultana had planned out for us to make communication over the vastness of the desert easier, we were t with a rushing Death Jackal who handed us a letter, penned by the Sultana herself.
Her orders to change heading and make our way to a new city - or more specifically, the encampnt she had set up outside of the city - ca seemingly out of nowhere, but we began to make way without too many questions.
It was a bit hard for to understand the map that she had drawn out, specifically how we were ant to understand where the hell these routes were and how to follow them when the entire Sultanate was covered in sand, hills of sand, and deep dunes of sand; everything was sand.
How did she make routes in the vast expanse of this sandy ocean that they would know how to follow?!
Whatever thod they had I wasn't able to determine for myself as we mounted the Jackals and rode out into the needlessly hot desert to head to a new city, our spoils secured to our saddles and adding just a little bit of weight to the fluff balls that we were riding.
So of course I kept my fluffy friend nice and cool as we rushed over the golden grains, and as we did I both tried to decipher the thods being used - I couldn't see or sll anything, so I was at a loss on that front - and tried to pass the ti by coming up with so more spells to make use of going forwards.
That fight had scared so more sense into too, so I was browsing the spell books inside of the System for both inspiration and perhaps to see what so potential future purchases should be when we have a couple of hours to ourselves again.
The primary purchase on my mind was another ring to replace the broken one for Leone, and the next was to get so more stat boosting items that would focus on defense since it was clear we were at a position where our damage was good, but our ability to take damage was... a bit limited.
Yeah, the armor that Anput wanted to make was definitely going to increase our ability to take damage by many multitudes compared to the leathers and overlapping chainmail and scale mail armor that we were currently wearing, but I still wanted to just multiply that even more and ensure we were set for the ti being.
Also... percentage based increases are always going to be welco no matter what, that's for
sure.
As we rode over the desert towards the new location of interest to the Sultana, Leone eventually pulled up beside and looked over as she asked "Kat, I've been aning to question you after what I heard from yesterday, but... y'know..."
The Vampire's eyes dulled for a mont before she focused on once again, showing that she was finally beginning to get over what had happened and bringing relief as I nodded and waited for her question, not pointing out her slip back into that unhealthy shell she had donned yesterday.
"Ahem... well, Jahi said that you made use of incantations yesterday, and I saw you use them too... in collaboration with your runic magic, which... we were literally just discussing a few days ago, so how..?"
I smiled wryly beneath my veil and shrugged my shoulders as I replied "The training that I had for the Lust Mana seems to be really helpful with incantations; that whole willpower thing that Cali was talking about just kind of... clicked with .
If I need to make use of my vocal cords for magic, and give it shape through thought, then it really isn't that hard, now is it? I an sure, the control is complicated and definitely more precise than guiding it to your finger - at least for the more ta applications - but we've been practicing for a long ti now, so I guess it just wasn't as hard as I thought - as we thought it was going to be."
The Vampire just stared at for a few monts before turning back to the sands in front of us as she thought it over, and I could almost see the gears beneath her skull churning around as she picked apart my words, finding the nuggets of reasoning and logic inside of them.
Whether or not they were acceptable to her was a different story, but she sighed and reluctantly nodded as she said "That makes sense, no matter how much I think it was idiotic to have rushed into sothing like an entirely new branch of magic..."
Glaring at , she made it abundantly clear she didn't like that at all, so I just raised my hands before smiling sweetly beneath the veil as I said "[Chione's Caress].", showing her the runes as well as I cast the sa spell I had over myself and my Jackal onto her.
The breeze was amplified and chilled as it wrapped around her body like a blanket, but instead of warming her up and making her cozy, this one cooled her down and made the sun's rays far more bearable for this long ride.
My Vampire lover reluctantly accepted that I had managed to get a good amount of control over this new way to utilize magic in such a small amount of ti, and the primary reason behind that was simple; she began to play around with it as well to pass the ti, and since we had hours to spare...
I got to watch as she cracked this version of magical casting in a few hours, the Vampire learning how to cast simple spells with just her voice to add another tool to her arsenal going forwards, and that was enough to make feel a tad guilty about having bought the shortcut.
It also made my pride swell as I watched her since that was MY genius lover over there, figuring all of this out on the back of a fluffy Jackal and getting a degree of mastery over it in re hours.
By the ti that we reached the destination that the Sultana wanted us to get to, she had expended a good amount of mana and drank a few of her mana potions as she maintained a certain level of battle readiness, so when we guided the Jackals over to the various tents she wasn't any worse for wear.
Letting the Jackals shelter beneath a nice canopy and drink whatever they wanted, we followed one of the Death Jackals and entered a rather innocuous tent that wasn't in the middle of the encampnt, finding the Sultana looking over a map adorned with dozens of pieces that she moved freely.
"I assu your excursion was successful?"
She only looked up when we remained silent for a few seconds, and when she focused on her daughter she got the answer she wanted as Anput took a deep breath before saying "Yes... but the Fiend that appeared nearly killed Leone."
The Jackalkin kept it brief, not mincing words with her Mom as she stared at the veiled futanari, who nodded and turned back to the map as she started moving the pieces again.
"A Ka Fiend, if I had to guess? Finally got a proper taste of one that wasn't just a few decades old? Nasty bastards, all of them. Now you can understand why anyone with a modicum of intelligence fears the Asmodia na; imagine having an Arch Fiend of Ka locked in your basent."
We all nodded, and the mories of Ka'Hondi made shiver slightly as I recalled the glowing red eyes and sheer, oppressive void of emotion that rested inside of them; that was a creature so far detached from anything I wanted to associate with...
"Well... good news then; we found a few different cells of the Fingers around this area. More than I had expected, but it makes sense if they're preparing to make a move. No idea what they want to do in this area - at least, not any concrete ideas - but I do know where they are
and how many.
Here, here and here; those are the closest three cells, and each one is a dozen or so strong. Talented and trained, not just a cluster of thugs hoping to have so fun or keep an area loosely beneath their control. Want to take a crack at them and whet your palate again, Princess? Wash away the taste of defeat and replace it with the sweetness of victory?"
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