NOVEL SIMPLE Ophelia’s Side Story(Part 4) : A duel from the locals
"Ahhhh-haaaa"
Ophelia yawned as she awoke from her sleep, the sunlight from the open window hitting her straight in the face and partially blinding her for the moment.
“Damn, close that” she mumbled as she swished her finger and the window quickly closed.
“That was a very good sleep…some of the best I have had in a while even” she continued to mumble as she stood up from her bed and took a deep breath and a short stretch. Making her sure her body was awake,
‘This room is quite sizable for a guest room, Udaria must have had quite the reference when she was making this place. Almost feels like home,’ she thought as she admired the room designed by the Siren she met yesterday.
This room, the room in question, was a room she was given after meeting the tribe leaders the other day. It was a very simple room that was big enough to fit two single beds, besides her lone bed in the room, there was a single table and chair near the wall and a small bathroom in the corner, with a window that had a good view of the sea. It was located in the northwestern corner of the castle and was one of the only few private rooms that were completed.
‘Ah, I’m still wearing my gown, granted I could just use my ‘Transformative Multi-Purpose cube’ but she felt that it would be disrespectful as she remembered that she was given simple tribal robes by one of the maids since she was still wearing the lavish black dress she wore when she was banished from the empire.
But before she could do anything else, she took out the Wisp Crystal necklace nestled in her bosom, channeling some of her energy into it and watching as the crystal responded to her energy.
[Contractor. What is it you require?] a small voice called out from the crystal
“Connect me to the other necklace. I wish to speak with my beloved” Ophelia said, her voice firm and filled with anticipation
[By your command]
A few moments of silence filled the room as Ophelia waited for the two necklaces to connect, suddenly the necklace began emitting noise
“You said it would be fine...yet here I am...alone” a sad and disheartened voice came from the necklace, making Ophelia frown as she heard her beloved lament her absence.
"Sniff...hngg..sniff...Ophelia...you liar" Amelia murmured, with Ophelia imagining that she was wiping away a lot of tears.
Quickly clearing her throat and sitting down on the bed, spending a minute or two focusing on reconnecting the telepathic link she had severed when she was thrown into the portal
[I really wasn’t lying my love] she spoke into Amelia’s mind, her voice warm and soft. Trying to calm and soothe her lover.
“Ophelia?” Amelia’s weak voice came from the necklace
[Yes. it is me Amelia, but I am talking telepathically...I contacted you to check on you my dear...and what I have been hearing for the past few minutes have been tearing my heart to shreds] Ophelia answered her, her voice filled with regret and sadness.
[Remember that necklace I gave you before? please put it next to you] Ophelia continued as she poured a bit more power into the necklace
“I wish to be displayed Wisps, and I wish for her to be displayed as well” she commanded as she looked down at the necklace, before placing it to her side
“By your command” the wisps responded
“I did, what else do I do?" Amelia asked
[Wait a moment] Ophelia answered as she took a deep breath
The wisps then proceeded to exit the necklace and swirl around her, taking in every detail of their contractor before they began forming an image that sat beside her. The figure of a beautiful young girl with short hair and a beautifully well-endowed body formed across her, a warm smile on her face as the wisps finished forming a full likeness of her lover.
"O...Ophelia?" the wisp figure of Amelia called out to her, making her smile as she placed her hand on the cheek of the wisp
“I’m sorry my love” she followed up as she pulled the wisp in for a deep kiss, the special properties of the wisps were that alongside mimicking their appearance, the touch sensation was real, meaning that Ophelia was not kissing a wisp, but Amelia herself,
………………………………………………………………………………………………
A few hours went by and it was already noon, Ophelia, although she woke up recently, had spent these hours fully energized as she spent time with Amelia in wisp form, soothing her lover, answering any questions she had, making sure that the wisps were contracted to her as well, and finally explaining the full plan in detail to her, the plan that had been prepared just for this moment.
It was quite a simple plan really, on the Andria Eclipse, she and the rest of the dutchy would disappear, using magic circle incantations that were meticulously designed by herself to lock onto where she was and teleport within the vicinity of herself or a receiving magic circle that she had yet to set up. The reason for the Andria Eclipse being the date of the escape, was that the eclipse would render almost all but the most powerful magic utterly unusable, and the fact that Amelia had Holy Tracking magic placed on her by Jacon, meant that if she were to escape now, they would know exactly where she went and she did not want that. The eclipse would kill the tracking magic and give her lover and everyone else the time they needed to escape.
To make sure that everything went off without a hitch, this plan was given to Emperor Gaius beforehand, a year before the entire thing went down. Who, when the plan was set in motion did a few things that Ophelia had asked beforehand
- To grant the duchy autonomy and self-governance
- Lie about finding a new noble to replace and own the territory, to ensure that power-hungry and expansionist nobles would be kept in check, as any attempt to encroach on the territory that the Emperor himself had claimed would be seen as treason and thus basically suicide to those arrogant enough to try it.
- Ensure that any imperial government agent, spy, soldier and the like be kept away from the duchy, except for the Emperor’s own imperial guard who would routinely walk around the duchy to give it an air of their presence still around.
- Have said imperial guard help in the preparations of her plan, as these were soldiers who were loyal to only Gaius himself, and since his health was declining, refused to serve the rest of the imperial family, having especially swearing their loyalty only to Gaius.
- Secretly fund and send much-needed supplies and materials to the duchy by having convoy’s planned for other noble territories pass through them, said convoy carts each carrying more supplies that needed that were to be discreetly and quickly dropped off before continuing to their destination.
- Help coordinate with Amelia when he meets her in person.
- Keep the imperial family out of the land, to ensure this, placing tracking magic on them. And threatening to not give them the throne if they dared disobey his orders.
‘Hopefully everything will go smoothly’ Ophelia though to herself as she stood up from her bed and walked around the room,
She looked at the tribal robes sitting on the table in her room and picked them up, it was a two-piece set, with one being a skirt while the other being a proper robe that stretched just down to the knee, with a belt that was to be tied around the waist. They had a beige color and were woven in tough and durable fabric, they also had red lines and symbols all over which Ophelia didn't understand but was sure it was something magic related since she could sense a hint of magic woven into the robes.
‘Interesting, let’s see what you have for me’ she thought as she activated <Appraisal>
Item: Comfy Robes
Type: Clothing
Material: Ironsilk harvested from Irontop Silkworms,
Magic incantation: All-weather capability (Keeps the user either warm or cool, depending on climate) Strengthened durability (Increases the durability of the item) ‘This…this is interesting, huh…’ Ophelia was pleasantly surprised with what the readout had told her,
“But…as much as it pains me, I would rather use my own” she muttered as she shook her head and put the robes back down
Opening her item box, she took out a colorless cube and using her mind formed the item into a set of clothes
‘I’ll make it look like the robes though, don’t wish to be disrespectful’ she thought as she formed the cube into a very detailed look alike to the robes and a pair of simple slip-on shoes,
Using her <Appraisal> she read out the item she just formed
Item: Transformative Multi-Purpose cube
Type: All-purpose item
Material: [ERROR]
Magic incantation: [ERROR]
She then undressed from her ball gown and put on the two-piece robe that was given to her, sliding on the top part of the robe, tying the lace around her waist in a simple ribbon formation, then sliding on the skirt that stopped just shy of her feet, slipping into the slip-on shoes and finishing by picking up her glasses that were on the table and putting them on. Conjuring a mirror and adjusting her look a bit more before heading out of the room and into the still-being-constructed hallway.
Heading out from the hallway, she walked passed many scaffoldings on her way to the throne room, Olertin had told her yesterday that after he finished talking to the tribal leaders, he would ask for her the next morning.
When she came down the staircase that led into the throne room she saw Olertin and three others chatting in the middle of the room. She walked closer and saw that the three other people were the kitsune, the elf, and the lamia tribal leaders from the other day. The kitsune was named Yamato and she wore a black kimono with red flower patterns, Ophelia learned that the kimono was the tribe's main clothing for both the men and women with the black one being reserved for the tribe leader, thanks to Olertin. Yamato was a beauty by all standards, with her smooth-looking fair skin, her sleek black hair and small black ears, her captivating face that had luscious red lips, and crystal clear blue eyes. She was also pretty tall at 6ft and 5in that supported by Ophelia's standard, "mountains".
Next to Yamato was an elf clad in lavish elven clothes sporting green lines on a beige robe that had intricate symbols on it, his face looked older than Olertin and he had a long white beard and mustache, his emerald eyes however were full of life and wisdom that made him indispensable for Olertin, he was called Wilcor.
And finally, there was the lamia who was standing behind the group and towering over all of them. Her name was Python which made Ophelia giggle inside but felt it was a fitting name, her ruby red eyes accompanied her healthy-looking but pale-colored skin and the black and gold scales of her tail. She wore the same robes that were given to Ophelia earlier but was more lavishly decorated and instead of beige it was a bright red with black lines.
Thanks to Ophelia's excellent hearing, she could hear the conversation as she was walking toward them from the stairs
"That damn Valantros is stirring up trouble again. He never did this before but now that you announced a successor he has begun trying to stir up trouble citing that the person you elected is not worthy and that you have lost it, Your Majesty" Wilcor said, anger seething in his voice at the audacity of the person he was talking about
"Wilcor is right Your Majesty, Valantros is trying his best to stir up more trouble and some of them are siding with him, specifically Lowe, and his wolves are his most open supporters against this new successor. He even has the gall to try and approach many of my brethren citing that foxes and wolves should support one another in this "grand cause" it makes me mad just thinking about it" Yamato added, the same anger in her voice as Wilcor but with annoyance as well
"What Yamato says is true as well Your Majesty, Lowe, and Valantros have both been trying hard to gain more supporters and have also approached my tribe asking me to join them, I, for one have no intention of joining them and if they do try something drastic like revolt I assure you that you have my support" Python added, her loyalty laid bare
"Three of you please calm down. I know that those two and their tribes are stirring up trouble but I already have a solution, I will ask Ophelia to take the test and hope that she passes. It s not the safest solution but if successful it will solidify my announcement and Ophelia will be held in high regard" Olertin told them, disappointment in his voice as he reflected on the information about the two who were supposedly loyal to him.
The three of them were silent at Olertin's response but none in the group had noticed Ophelia who was standing right beside Olertin,
“So, this is a very problematic situation no?” Ophelia said out loud
{!}
“Wha?!”
“Hah?!”
“Huh?!”
“Whathe?!”
SCHING
SHING
SKING
HUP!
The four of them shouted in surprise as this happened and Ophelia could only reply with a smile. In their surprise, all four of them drew their weapons and aimed them at her, Yamato was holding a tessen war fan while Wilor was holding a decorated cutlass and Python brought out a lance. Olertin, on the other hand, was raising his fists
“I’m sorry, did I startle you?” she jokingly asked as she tried suppressing her laughter, causing the four of them to calm down
"Please announce yourself the next time you come, Miss Ophelia, you nearly gave all of us a heart attack and we nearly jumped into action against you" Olertin said as he dropped his shoulders and relaxed.
“Hehe, sorry, but I did not wish to disturb your conversation” she replied with a playful smile
“Regardless! My old and weary heart will die to your sudden appearances before anything else” Olertin, his face with a slightly sour expression, sulked, making Ophelia laugh as she was entertained by this, meaning no harm of course but finding the situation amusing.
But as Olertin sulked and Ophelia enjoyed herself, the other three were still very much surprised and a bit on edge, with their minds racing with their own questions.
'How did she sneak up on us?! My senses are very sharp' Wilcor wondered
'How did she get the drop on us?! My excellent hearing and smell should have alerted me to her presence' Yamato as well questioned
'My eyesight is one of the best around...how did she escape my vision?!' Python thought to herself,
But then all of them came to a conclusion
'Must have been luck'
Ophelia could tell the other three had questions but before they could act on those questions she turned to Olertin
"If you need me to do the test, I am ready to take it anytime" she said with an air of confidence,
All of them were shocked at this, especially Olertin who thought she would have needed a few more days before she said she was ready. Their reactions made Ophelia smile as she waved her hand to draw their attention.
"If you are worried about me, please don't. I know what I am doing and I believe that I will be perfectly fine" she added
"But how can you prove it Miss Ophelia? His majesty has told us you have much to offer than him but I do not understand" Wilcor asked, his voice had concern within it
"Wilcor speaks the truth, we need to see if you are truly ready to face the test we will put before you" Yamato added with the same concern
"Both of them are right, while we do believe Olertin's words that you have greatness in you, we need to see it to believe it" Python finished as she crossed her arms,
Olertin looked concerned but understood what these three wanted. They wanted proof that Ophelia was a successor worthy of leading, if she did the tests provided by the tribes she will probably succeed but there will be those who will try and sabotage her, so it was good for her to gain allies before trying to win the rest over.
“You do remember my status correct Your Majesty?” Ophelia asked Olerin
{!}
"Oh!...yes…yes I do, I see…if you are that confident in your abilities Ophelia, If you can prove yourself ...then it would be for the best" Olertin answered her, his eyes widened as he remembered what he saw from using <Appraisal> on her
"I understand their intentions your majesty, which is why I will meet them in kind. Name your test please, and I will succeed in it" Ophelia declared, a smirk on her face as she did so
Yamato, Wilcor, and Python looked at each other and nodded, they turned back to her and said in unison
"Combat"
Ophelia nodded at their answer and that smirk on her face turned into a full-blown smile. With Olertin on the side, sighing inwardly as he had forgotten to tell his subject and assumed that even if they tried to use <Appraisal> on her, she would have only given them some sort of decoy as even he couldn’t read everything she could do, leaving him slightly worried for his subjects.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Soon they were at the base of a mountain in the west, none of the other tribal leaders had arrived and it was only the four of them since Olertin stayed behind to manage everything before the test.
They were standing in a clearing near the mountain and all of them were in armor except Ophelia, who was still dressed in the tribal robes she had made with her Cube.
“Alright Miss Ophelia, we will not go easy on you, so prepare yourself” Yamato stated as she stared down her opponent, trying to get a good read on her since <Appraisal> revealed nothing on her.
“I understand, please, give me everything you have got” Ophelia replied with confidence, much to her opponent's confusion.
“Very well, let’s begin” Wilcor stated, unsheathing his weapon.
‘Time to have some fun’ Ophelia thought as she simply smiled
………………………………………………………………………………………………
They stood across from one another and the wind was blowing gently, all three of them had taken their battle stances and were waiting for Ophelia to do the same. But she didn't, she was busy stretching and then when she finished she simply stood still and muttered something under her breath and began walking forward.
“Go!” Yamato instructed
And in a flash, all three of them immediately rushed her from three sides, with Yamato rushing up the middle while Wilcor and Python took each side. The three of them unleashed magical attacks as they did,
“Fire Blast!” Yamato yelled out as she waved her tessen and sent out a wave of fire
“Root Break!” Wilcor shouted as he unleashed a bundle of sharp roots from his open hand
“Air Bullter!” Python conjured and launched deadly air bullets.
VWSOOSH
THRUK THRUK THURK
PISHHH PISHHH PISHHH
BAM BAM BAM!
All of their attacks seemingly hit Ophelia dead on and caused a cloud of smoke, that blanketed the clearing.
“Move in, stay close” Yamato said as they walked forward,
All three of them approached where Ophelia should be, together and on high alert,
“What the!”
“Impossible!”
“Where did she go?!”
But to their surprise, the only thing left was a blacked-out scorch mark surrounded by several overgrown roots sticking out and craters from the air bullets.
“Shit. everyone in triangle formation” Yamato commanded as they all turned their backs together in order to stop any sneak attacks and closed together
"Where is she?" Wilcor asked
"I don't know...my ears can't hear anything" Yamato replied
"Nor can my eyes see her, if she was in the smoke I would have spotted her" chimed Python
They all felt a hint of fear as they couldn't tell where their opponent was, their senses still on high alert.
FWISH!
Suddenly Yamato turned her head to the right as she heard something run past them
"On the right!" she shouted as they shifted together and moved as one, Python immediately used her eyes to see if there was anything but there was none, the smoke then cleared and all of them were still together.
SWISH!
SLASH!
STAB!
“Dammit!” Yamato exclaimed
“You sure you heard her?!” Wilcor asked as they were staring now at a tree that had been slashed and stabbed by the three of them,
“Obviously Cor! My hearing is better than any of us here!” Yamato replied
“Calm down, why don’t we fan out. We won’t be able to find her if we continue to just go in one direction, it would dictate the battle in her favor” Python said as she tried to calm down her comrades
“But we would be leaving ourselves exposed, a hidden enemy that can strike at any one of us at any time when we are alone is just a recipe for disaster” Wilcor said
“Then we do it slowly, step by step, that way we will still be mostly together, then if she strikes, we can immediately join up, plus we won’t go to far from one another” Python added
“Hmm…I see your wisdom, let’s do it” Yamato said with a firm nod.
They kept their weapons ready as they moved away from one another to find Ophelia, they were only five steps away from one another when Yamato, who was clutching her tessen tightly in her right hand and she felt something behind her,
“What the!” she shouted as she spun around to slash at it but her hand was caught mid-air and she felt a painful blow to her stomach, she saw that it was Ophelia and she was muttering something in slow motion as she was sent flying into a row of trees
BOOM
“AAAAAAA!”
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Python and Wilcor immediately whipped around to see what had happened and both were in shock as they saw that Ophelia was now standing in the open and clutching in her hand, Yamato's tessen. Without giving the two time to react, Ophelia rushed forward and snapped her fingers.
Wilcor, who was standing on top of the scorch mark was immediately gone from view
“AAAAAAH!”
With all that Python heard was a short scream as he did. She then tried to raise her lance to stop Ophelia but saw that it was already too late as she was right above her and the tessen's sharp end was pointed directly towards her throat.
“M..Monste-”
VOOM
Python tried to say something but Ophelia's eyes flashed red for a moment, she felt immense pressure from that one glimpse and she fainted on the spot.
Ophelia threw the tessen to the side and quickly supported Python as she fell back, making sure she didn't hit the ground hard but instead lay her down softly. She snapped her fingers again and Wilcor reappeared from the scorch mark unconscious. She quickly picked up Wilcor and lay him next to Python, then she dashed over to where Yamato was and healed her with magic before laying her alongside the other two and placing her weapon in her hand. She then scanned them with magic just in case they were suffering from anything dangerous and then conjured a chair for herself to sit on.
'They are pretty good and coordinated, shows they have been together for a long time' she thought to herself
‘But, if I do it like this, it will be tedious and I personally find it annoying, even though I want to just beat them’ she thought about the upcoming test and how to deal with both Valantros and Lowe before they got out of hand.
‘I swear, no matter where I go, trouble always follows’ Ophelia sighed to herself as she realized that this successor thing would be more troublesome and work-heavy than she thought.
An hour had passed and Yamato woke up,
“Ughh…damn…huh?” Yamato moaned as she opened her eyes
she saw that she was laying on the ground with Python and Wilcor both still sleeping,
“Where? Where is my wea-oh, here it is” she said as she felt her tessen back in her hand and she quickly got up and looked around.
She saw Ophelia standing a few feet away from them with a table and a set of chairs, on the table was a teapot set and some treats known as "Turkish Delight" from Ophelia's original world, she called them "Snack Cubes" in this world just for safety purposes.
Yamato approached her and marveled at what she was looking at, her clan produced teapot sets on their own with their own designs but the designs on Ophelia's set were as beautiful as her own, what's more, it looked as if Ophelia's were engraved with high tier magic that even she couldn't do. She stood there motionless for a few moments before Ophelia broke the silence
"Care to sit down miss Yamato?" she gestured to the chair next to her and flicked her wrist to push it out.
Yamato nodded and slowly sat down, it was a comfy chair and felt amazing to sit in, her eyes were still glued to the teapot set and once again Ophelia broke the silence
"It's a teapot I made when I was still managing my territory back in my home...it uses monster crystals as a power source to keep the tea hot and tasty" She then filled up a cup with some tea and handed it to Yamato
"Here, try some," she said as Yamato grasped the cup, she looked down and saw it was green tea and she took a sip, it was delightful and tasty.
"This is lovely Miss Ophelia...I can see why Olertin has chosen you as his successor...on that note, I have some questions for you"
Ophelia smiled as she placed a snack cube into her mouth and ate it,
"You are free to ask whatever Miss Yamato"
Yamato raised her eyebrow at the answer but dismissed her thoughts and immediately leaped on the opportunity.
"When you fought us, you were able to disappear and we couldn't sense you, the same thing happened in the throne room earlier...how did you do that?"
Ophelia let out a chuckle as she took a sip of her tea
"It is a skill I have perfected over my years of being an adventurer"
"Adventurer?"
"Right, you guys don't know that concept yet. Basically, they are people who take requests to fight monsters, bandits, bad people, etc"
"So you are warriors for hire?"
"Something along those lines, but there is a difference between a mercenary and an adventurer. Basically, mercenaries are hired for the army, adventurers are not"
Yamato nods in understanding and Ophelia continues
"That skill I used on the three of you is a skill I perfected, it is a skill that lets me go into a pocket dimension where I can see you but you cannot see me and makes me immune to your attacks. In simple terms, I become invisible and invincible, it’s called <Rift Walker> "
{!}
Yamato was shocked and surprised at this, she knew spells that can make you disappear exist but whenever she encountered those types of spells she could still sense them if she tried hard enough, but when it came against Ophelia she couldn't sense her no matter what.
"So how long have you been an "adventurer" Miss Ophelia?" she asked as she took another sip of the delicious tea
"Since I was thirteen, I am twenty-three now so I guess around ten years" Ophelia replied as she popped another “Snack Cube” into her mouth
Yamato's eyes widened in surprise, her tribal warriors themselves had been trained since childhood but none of them had shown the same prowess Ophelia had, she had nothing more than respect and admiration for her now after suffering such a defeat and witnessing such prowess.
‘Huh. Olertin where did you find this girl?’ she thought to herself
"Your movements tell me you're experienced in hand-to-hand combat Miss Ophelia" Yamato added as she glanced at Ophelia’s rough hands
"Indeed, I was trained by the best, then used that knowledge to beat the best. Your technique is not too shabby as well Miss Yamato, if you have free time soon why not let me spar with you?" Ophelia replied as she took a sip of her tea
Yamato let out a laugh and nodded
"If you ever come by where my tribe lives I will most certainly ask, heck I might even ask you to spar against my tribesmen. I may even trouble you to teach them how to make this fine teapot set for our own use" Yamato added, a smile on her face
Ophelia nodded and then saw Wilcor and Python finally gain consciousness
"Ah, it seems the other two are awake now"
"So it would seem" Yamato replied and stood up to help her friends who were trying their best to reorient themselves.
She helped Wilcor into a seat and helped Python relax as she used her long tail as a makeshift chair. When both of them locked eyes with Ophelia both shuddered and also fainted again but thanks to Yamato they were stable, she noticed that they kept shifting their eyes towards Ophelia before quickly looking away, this made her laugh inside as she understood that all of them were beaten by her and that she was a terrifying foe. The silence between the four remained for a while until Wilcor piped up in a squeaky voice with as much confidence he could muster,
"Miss Ophelia, I have lived a long life and have seen many forms of magic...but the magic you used on me is something I have never seen before" Wilcor said, stroking his beard
"Ah, right. I hit you with my <Shadow Devour> spell. I apologize for any lasting trauma it may cause you down the line" Ophelia said as she bowed her head in apology before facing them again
All of them had their eyes on her, surprised by her sincerity
"It's a spell I designed to make anyone who gets hit with it bend to their fears and collapse on the spot, I did the same thing to Python but used only an intimidation spell named <Will Breaker>. These are my nonlethal ways to take down someone" she explained,
Her explanation made the three shudder at her words, all of them had the same thought in their mind when she said "nonlethal"
'That was nonlethal!?'
A/N: Hello!, sorry this took a while, trying to rewrite chapters from memory is surprisingly hard, the original version had the stats for the characters introduced but I decided to put that in another character sheet. anyways, just for clarification, a Tessen is a Japanese war fan. and once again, I am grateful for your patience and I hope you enjoy reading this chapter, and I wish you a pleasant day!