NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter-132 Advance Payment
‘Asymmetricity is the norm of the universe,’ the book read. ‘Even in balance and symmetric nature, its essence sings aloud. From the ratio of perceived beauty to the spread of celestial bodies, from their orbits down to the elemental runes, its presence is ever-present.’ Ewan flipped the page, frowning at the content as he lounged in his yard. The first book he picked from the bunch that Kiev had the guards deliver to him talked about a topic that couldn’t be more irrelevant to what he was looking for. It mentioned runes here and there but focused more on how its unbalanced categorization supported the asymmetric theory.
‘Light, Wood, Dark, and Blood made up the Life and Death category together—Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water made up the Nature category—Fire and Ice made up the Temperature and Febricity category—while the Mystic stood alone.’
Ewan skimmed the book, and when he found nothing important on the runes, he slammed it shut with a scowl. Was it deliberate? Unequal partners in trade would result in unfair and problematic transactions, especially when no one oversaw it; neither an authority nor a contract. So, the Ensils might’ve fucked him over with these books. Or perhaps they really did not have what he asked for. His cynicism pushed him towards the former argument, they screwed him over because they could, because he couldn’t contest them.
It was still a good book, its theory could even be useful to him down the road, but it wasn’t what he wanted now, far from it. And the fact wasn’t lost on the Ensils, they weren’t so naïve and simpletons as to misunderstand what he was asking for. Still, this was only the first book, he could be wrong about it all, so he restrained his judgment and picked another one.
‘Runes are the gateways to Anima as well as the pillars that support the Severynths. It is the answer that allows humans to stand tall against other Starons. Even when humans lack the needed affinity, runes connect us to the Anima—they become our means to substitute affinity.’
Another book that barely brushed the topic of runes….and another, and another. Ewan picked one book after the last, but the result remained the same, and it steeled his conclusion. None of them talked about the origin, the structure, the design, and the build of the runes. They were useless to him in his current context.
All of this reeked of ‘advance payment’, and the rest he would get when he got the job done. Ewan could only bet on that. If not, if this was the extent of the knowledge he would get, then he would pull out of the game and the city. The threat of a Step-2 Severynth loomed over, not to mention even the Step-1 Severynths under the Governor could crush him beneath their feet. But still, he wasn’t willing to slave away for pocket change without resisting.
For now, though, he had to continue his research on runes in the dark. And the only thread of relevance he could start with was the spell <Contract>, it was what initiated the runes after all. Other than that, he also considered buying slaves to complement his experiments. Theories and hypotheses could only take him so far. Animating them on live subjects and analyzing their state would give him solid results. After all, he was going to create a rune in his soul space—the most important and sensitive place for Severynths. It required a delicate touch, from the conception of the final plan to actuating it.
……
The temperature rose, the wind warmed up, the sun soon baked the ground at its peak. Daylight stretched out; the moons stayed less. The dress code shortened; the beaches widened. And a peaceful yet scorching month went by as the cicadas sang, deep in the Flamecrest season.
Ewan finished his fire-element bath while continuing his research and now was in his resting period, at the end actually, which gave him some extra time to allocate into studying new spells—the Elementalist subtype focused on all the elements available after all.
So, he devised a course to match his other elements with mystic. Its support could create variations in his arsenal, even a simple spell could become deadly if he matched it well with an aspect of mystic.
Luckily for him, Drarith remained quiet over the month. No war, no skirmishes, only a few casualties in the hunting parties. Even the disturbance he expected with the church didn’t happen. Kiev sent word of his grandfather’s rejection of the plan, so they moved on to the heavy tax approach—it was a slow burn, though, and hadn’t produced any substantial effect yet. But other than that, his villa saw no other guests…or at least he hoped it would be so.
Valarie, the youngest of Ensil’s current generation, knocked on his door each daybreak with a different baked snack on her foil-wrapped tray. Since the day she found out Ewan couldn’t taste sweet, she switched her cooking style and prepared only salty dishes—her salted walnut bread was her proud creation. Her friendly gesture aside, her action pushed Ewan into a dilemma. He couldn’t reject her for it would sour his relationship with the Ensils, and he couldn’t let her continue for she sometimes disturbed him at the most crucial of moments.
She was an open book, her emotions led her actions, her impulses dictated her speech. Ewan could see inside her mind through her glittering eyes. So, he thought to quell her budding idea by bringing Nana up. Yet, he failed and instead triggered her competitive itch. Just when he considered talking to Kiev about it, the situation worsened—one morning, Kidd showed up at his villa with Cork’s message about the slaves at the same time.
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