We should discuss the nature of mana and elements. In this barbaric world, people divide all of creation into four elements. This is plainly wrong. I come from a sophisticated, more advanced world, and I can tell you with certainty that all of creation is split neatly into one hundred-odd elements.

  — Excerpt from Notes For Newstar

  Day 1072, 6:50 PM

  She was there, relaxing behind the counter, reading a book. She looked no different than she did three years ago. Her chair was all the way to the counter’s edge, her head slightly bent right to avoid the late afternoon sun aiming for her eyes. I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Good day, Ruby.”

  The words came out of my mouth with some difficulty, and I wasn’t sure they were the right ones. A part of me wanted to say, “Hey there, beautiful,” but it fit neither my mood nor the tone I was trying to set.

  Yes, I cared about Ruby. No, nothing else would happen between us. We could be friends, as much as two people who had seen each other naked and enjoyed the fact can be. Which is to say very awkward friends. To make matters worse, some lingering emotions leaked into the mix of my thoughts, betraying and twisting the fact that I still cared about the woman.

  She looked at me from behind the counter, the unruly lock escaping her ear.

  “Dandelion, why did you come back?”

  Because of you. But that wasn’t something I could say.

  “I was in the area and noticed the signs of the saurian onslaught about to start, so I decided to come here and do my duty.” It was a lie. Then again, it wasn’t a lie. A part of me found it my duty to help her and ensure her safety.

  “Uh-huh.” She stared at me flatly, obviously aware of the lie, but she had the decency not to call me on it. She also had the decency not to click her tongue the way Manny would under the circumstances. “I thought you paid good money to buy your freedom so you could stay away from what will probably be a very dangerous and very bloody onslaught.”

  Cold scorn bled into her voice, but I didn’t care. I guess in her mind I had earned it after leaving her.

  “I bought my freedom to be free.” I shook my head slowly. “As for the onslaught, I don’t expect it will be much of a threat, what with you and your master around.”

  Based on the historical records I had browsed, it’s been a long time since an onslaught truly threatened Hailstown, the last one being back when the town got its new name.

  Ruby held my gaze for a moment before looking away. “What do you want?”

  I wish I knew.

  “An intelligent conversation with a person I hold dear. I’m open for dinner, but that’s all. We can also swap some insights into realm shaping or similar arts, if you’re interested.”

  She sighed. “Dandelion, why are you here? You are free to be wherever you want, why did you come back to Hailstown when you smelled trouble?”

  She knew. She bloody knew, and she wanted me to say it. Fine.

  “Because leaving you behind while getting away from danger myself didn’t sit right with me. That’s why. Now, do you want me to leave? Am I unwelcome?”

  “No, you’re welcome.” Ruby smiled. “And if the onslaught reaches us this time, having a third realm mageknight will make a difference on the walls.”

  I searched her face for hints of irony or sarcasm, but she seemed as sincere as her voice indicated.

  “Basil’s?” I asked.

  “I’ll be there after sundown.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  It would be nice to say the dinner was pleasant, but our past relationship hung over us. No matter how adult we were, deep down, Ruby was a lonely woman, and I was an even lonelier man. Principled at least, for what it’s worth. So I slept alone in a well-aired and thoroughly scrubbed brothel which would soon become a mix of a hospital, an orphanage, and a shelter. A strange concept when you think about it.

  Had I planned ahead, I could’ve just bought three warehouses and hired some help. Unfortunately, there’s something about my nature that just draws me to dens of sin, regardless of how virtuous I try to be.

  Days passed, and the expected nightly chats with Ruby either didn’t happen, or worse, felt weird as hell, which told me we had emotionally invested in each other more than we should’ve. A fling between peers wouldn’t make us act like overly anxious elephants in a glass workshop.

  Ten days after I had arrived, the refugees started trickling in. At first they came, one wealthy family at a time, with beasts of burden and carts full of belongings. Poorer folks followed two or three households at a time, then came what was left of their hamlets and villages.

  For twenty days, the only problems we faced were the ones caused by man. Theft, murder, kidnappings… Predators preying on the weak and vulnerable who were forced into their domain.

  Such behavior allows one to see just how animalistic humans are, but a month after my arrival, the chance arrived in earnest.

  I was at the brothel, checking on a pregnant woman when the alarm bells sounded.

  “Pardon me,” I told my patient and rushed out, heading for the wall. Men were screaming and running, others just staring blankly into the distance, their eyes and bodies frozen in panic.

  I reached the top, and my heart skipped a beat.

  There were hundreds of them, roughly two thousand, each at least at the third realm, with several dozen at the fifth, and a peak fifth realm dragon leading them. The beast had a giant snake-like body, wings and four-clawed arms, but no legs.

  Ruby and her master appeared beside me while I was gawking at the incoming onslaught.

  “Ruby,” the old man said, staring at the sight. “I wish you the best of luck fighting them. Try to buy as much time for me to evacuate the library.”

  My jaw hit the floor, and Ruby staggered, unable to believe her eyes. The old rat didn’t care. He flew off towards the library to evacuate the precious books, copies of which existed in every town’s library.

  “He’s fleeing for his life and painting it as duty while leaving you behind because you would slow him down.” Blunt said, and I saw no reason to stop it.

  Ruby nodded, her face as white as chalk.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “We have two options. We try to run for it, but I’m not sure I can outrun that dragon even without carrying you, let alone with you in my arms.” As if he had heard me, the dragon roared, and the incoming tide of saurian monsters spread, rushing to overwhelm the town from all sides.

  “Why would you carry me with you?” She asked the stupid question, wasting what little time we had.

  “I’ve already told you. I hold you dear, even when times aren’t the best, and I wouldn’t want to leave to your fate. Which brings us to option two. We fight, and almost certainly die, but we do it together. We’re dead both ways, but one is as heroes the other as cowards with slight odds of making it out alive. Which do you prefer?”

  She clenched her jaw as she stared at the incoming horde.

  “We fight.”

  “In that case, follow me.” I jumped off the wall, running towards the tide of monsters.

  “Don’t stay on the wall,” I shouted. “Those trihorns will plow right through it.”

  Not to mention the half a dozen fliers would attack those outside melee with other saurians, and they represented more than half the danger.

  Ruby followed after me, and together we charged into the mass of flesh. She unleashed two giant icicles, impaling two third realm monsters. While running, I unleashed a bolt of lightning straight into the mass of them, but my effort made no difference.

  Clenching Batsy, I jumped into the thick of it. While my arms moved, my heart and brain weren’t into it. I was thinking about what to do, and how to convince the town’s population to retreat in the next loop.

  That being the case, my performance was underwhelming. I dodged an ultraraptor’s attempt to behead me from behind, but its claws bit into my back, slashing my spine. Batsy spilled its brains, but because of my limited mobility, a trihorn pierced my chest, and we exploded together.

  The next moment, I was back in the brothel, working on an old man’s broken leg.

  Instead of wasting time on splinting it, I just healed him with mana.

  “There you go, old timer.” I patted his shoulder. “Tell them I’m done for the day.”

  I left the room, ignoring the three remaining patients, and headed straight for the library.

  “Hey Ruby, do you have the time to talk about something?”

  I would try with the most obvious, buying her from the imperials. She wasn’t cattle. She had a say in the matter, and I wanted to convince her to leave the town with me. The odds of it succeeding were small, so I would first ask roundabout questions.

  Since failure was likely, my backup plan was to have her join me on a scouting mission in two weeks, so we could see what was going on with the saurians. Her senses as a fourth realm mage made for a great excuse to have her along.

  No, I should start with that. I just have to arrange it in a less suspicious manner. We could go scouting every four days or something, but her master might not let her. Or I could go alone, and then ask her to come with me because I couldn’t come close enough to a group of monsters.

  Yes, that could work. That could work.