Mage Among Superheroes

There I was, the local duke with his fist pressed up against my chest. Was that some sort of greeting I was supposed to return? That was the safest option, but I didn’t understand why. The other two had received completely different greetings.

After another few moments, when neither Malaliel nor Sir Kalman stepped in to say anything, I just had to do something. “I’m not sure I’m familiar with that greeting.” That seemed to be the politest way to do that.

The duke guy looked disappointed. What was his name… Ruvyn? I think I might have actually gotten that right. “Oh. I believed that to be a traditional orcish greeting. Not that I have had as much peaceful experience with orcs as I might have liked.”

I looked at the guy. He appeared as skinny as a twig, and just as breakable. But I didn’t want to assume anything. “I do actually know a similar tradition,” I said. “But something might have been lost in translation. The attack is meant to be serious.”

Various emotions flickered across his face, and I had the feeling I made a mistake. Ultimately, Duke Ruvyn’s face settled on the most troublesome option, looking like a kicked puppy. “... but I was serious.”

Well there went the whole introduction. Things had been going so well until they got to me. Fortunately, I was rescued by Sir Kalman as he cleared his throat.

“Perhaps I could help demonstrate the tradition, as the two of us are more familiar.”

The elf perked up quickly. “Yes, that would be grand!” He took half a step back… and I moved a bit further, turning towards Sir Kalman.

“Before we start,” Sir Kalman said, preventing me from springing into action. “Would you like to explain the purpose?”

Oh yeah. It would probably look weird to the elves if we just started beating the snot out of each other.

“It’s fairly simple,” I said. “The purpose is to impart experience upon one or both participants. To that end, all blows must be serious, even if one party happens to be significantly advantaged.”

“That’s right,” Sir Kalman said, adjusting his stance. “The actual motions are freeform, but we can demonstrate just one way things might happen.”

A moment later, his gauntleted fist came for my face. I turned my head with the blow as he struck one of my tusks. It hurt, but it would have been far worse if the tusk wasn’t there. I could have easily lost a tooth. I did have head protection, courtesy of invisible materials from Francois, but the face was more flexible than the rest of the head covering so as to not hinder breathing or speech.

Obviously I didn’t just let Sir Kalman keep hitting me. I immediately swept out my leg to try to topple him. His low center of gravity made that difficult, but he had to plant his feet instead of continuing his assault to keep his position.

The match devolved into a grapple, as it usually did given I had no desire to punch solid steel. Sir Kalman needed no enhancements to overpower me, as even though I had over a foot of height on him our weight was relatively even. His class also bolstered physical training, while mine did not. I might be able to catch up to him, still, but he was also older and more experienced so for now I pretty much accepted being on the losing end.

My head cracked against the ground as he tossed me away. And that was the end. It was pretty easy to figure out when an appropriate time to stop came up, and anyone taking more than a second to stagger to their feet was one of those.

“Do be careful,” Malaliel said. “If any of you lose a tooth or something, we don’t have access to anyone who can fix that…”

“Oh!” Ruvyn interjected. “We do, though.” Our eyes turned towards him. “It’s quite traditional for any druid to take Regenerate upon reaching the twenty-fifth level. It’s just about the right amount of points and there’s nothing more practical.”

“Good choice,” I said. “I don’t think other places do enough practical stuff.”

“Really?” he asked. “What do- what have you seen others do?”

“I didn’t see anyone in my hometown take it. Perhaps because none of them were druids. Few healers in general, though.”

“How odd,” the duke said. “I would assume the angels would do fine with their innate abilities. What about you, Sir Kalman?”

“It’s one of the reasons for the Order of the Lion to exist,” he said. “Though paladins cannot necessarily heal all wounds, it is a functional and practical class for covering a wide variety of necessities. Including battle.”

“Yes,” Ruvyn nodded. “A shame, the world had been so peaceful for a while.”

“Was it really?” I asked. That’s what I was told, but I didn’t really see that being the truth now.

“Oh yes. Not a single world ending threat in over a decade!” Ruvyn gestured grandly. “Second longest span in my lifetime. Obviously there were smaller wars. Conflicts with beasts and the like. But that’s still practically peace.”

“Graotan certainly stressed that during my lifetime,” I said. “Perhaps a bit more than was proper.” I had no reason to bring up Aspect of the Barbarian here. I doubted it would bring me popularity among the elves. Some of those watching were still a bit hesitant after just a little spar.

“Regardless,” the duke shrugged. “It appears we have reached the end of peace, at least for Linduel in the near future.”

“... Can Regenerate fix laser burns?” I asked.

“I don’t know what a lay-zer is,” the duke said. “But while burns take a bit longer, Regenerate can wholly heal anyone living given time and effort. Much faster with points spent on upgrades.”

I wondered if he knew about training. Was he part of the conspiracy? He might be.

“Lasers are… most likely the weapons your enemies have brought against you,” I said. “Though we will have to be able to see them to confirm completely.”

“Ah, the spears of light,” Ruvyn nodded. “I suppose that is what we are here to discuss. But oh! I should let everyone rest their feet.” He bowed towards the rest of those waiting at the back. “Entheas welcomes the Order of the Lion and their associates. We have made preparations for you to stay. I would invite your leaders to discuss more at the evening meal.”

-----

I would have preferred to talk right away, but that wasn’t my call to make. Besides, I did like the arrangements they had made. A comfy room in a tower- and to my understanding the entire company had similar arrangements. At the very least, the rest of the Brigade did. Even Zeb. Though she wasn’t spending much time inside.

“I got talked to by another druid!” Zeb said. “Not Ceira, I mean. Because I’m not. But they said they would introduce me to a squirrel! Also a beastmaster.”

“That’s… great,” Midnight said. “Maybe they can teach you how squirrels will react.”

“Yeah all the ones on the road ran away and I don’t know why,” Zeb complained.

I was fairly sure we had explained that as well as we could already. They thought she was an animal barking at them. She should be able to learn to speak with animals but she didn’t really have points yet and it hadn’t just… worked out. Her own companion was an exception, of course.

I had volunteered for Zeb watching duty. While it could generally be said that she was a good person, she was still the one most likely to accidentally cause trouble. Next on the list was probably Punk Monk. Brigade members as a whole were on a buddy system- not because we didn’t trust the elves, but because it was just better to not cause any sort of disruption if we could manage.

But since some people wanted to meet Zeb and Fluffy, it was better to do that. And she might learn something.

The beastmaster in question was not the sort I expected to have a squirrel. He looked more like the sort who should have a bear. Or maybe not, given that he was wearing a bear pelt.

He was old and wrinkled, but he still carried himself with the strength of youth. I had the feeling his punch would be much more impressive than the duke’s. His eyes barely lingered on me as he searched over our group. He did pause slightly longer on Midnight.

“I hear your group is under the effects of Translation?” Fortunately, I’d encountered elven before so it worked more or less immediately. Plus I had upgrades so that certainly helped.

“I can’t even speak these languages at all normally!” Zeb agreed, bouncing over. “Hi! I’m Zeb. This is Fluffy.”

“Zeb and Fluffy. I am Lyklor. This is… Fang.” That name was translated from elvish. I thought I saw a smirk on his face as he said the name. A squirrel peeked out from the inside of the bear fur as his name was spoken. The little guy- or gal? chittered briefly. “She says she is pleased to meet you.”

“Hi! Pleased to meet you as well, I’m Zeb! All of our squirrels are gone and it’s very sad!” Zeb was very enthusiastic, and though I was fairly certain that to an animal it would have seemed just like frantic barking… the squirrel stood her ground. “This is Fluffy! He’s a rust mole!”

“Fascinating,” Lyklor said. “May I touch him?”

“It’s up to Fluffy! But you’re not made of metal and wires so he shouldn’t bite.”

The old elf gestured gently, and Fluffy trotted over like he had known the guy forever. “I must say, I’ve never seen anything like you. Giant moles, yes, but you radiate such a strange magic.”

Fluffy didn’t seem to care what Lyklor was actually saying. He just accepted pets. He was friendly and I’d seen him do that with others, but usually it took prompting by Zeb or a lot more time.

“Can I pet you?” Zeb asked Fang. “I promise I don’t bit or claw or anything bad!” She wagged her tail, but the squirrel remained dangling from Lyklor’s side. “I don’t think she understands.”

“Not fully,” Lyklor said. “She might understand your words to some extent, but until you learn Speak With Animals she won’t know your intent. It’s alright, Fang. She is a friend.”

At that, Fang hopped forward, landing on top of Zeb’s head. Many things made Zeb happy, but I don’t think I’d ever seen her more excited. And even though she was bouncing around like crazy, Fang managed to stay balanced on top of her, her tail swishing in front of Zeb’s nose.

“A squirrel! And one that isn’t running away! This is the best! Hey, can you teach me the Speak With Animals thing?”

“It is a low level ability. But a few points.”

“Yeah, but I’m like super low level. And it should be easy to just learn right?”

“Even if it is but a small thing, that does not mean I could- ah,” the man’s face changed slightly. “Of course. It would be possible for you.”

“You know?” I asked seriously, looking into his eyes.

“Few people live as long as myself without picking up a few secrets. And the same is true for those who don’t know how to keep them.”

“I don’t like it,” I said, crossing my arms. “Nobody has a good reason to hide any of that.”

He laughed. “Some do. Or did. Others, not so much. But I have no intention of meddling in that area. However… Zeb, to speak with animals you must focus.”

“I’m focused!” Zeb said, seemingly trying to look at the squirrel on her head.

“Not as you need to be. You must display to your intended target sincerity on one thing. That, and a small amount of mana, will allow you to communicate with animals. I am surprised you managed to get your first companion without. Though there are alternate methods of understanding.”

“I wrestled Fluffy into submission!” Zeb said.

Lyklor raised an eyebrow. Not so much at the idea of wrestling an animal, but most likely on the idea that Zeb won. “Is that so?”

“It was a reverse pin,” Zeb explained. “He thought he had me, but he was the one entrapped!”

“I see,” the old elf grinned. “Fantastic. Now, focus on one emotion and try to convey it, along with words, to Fang here. Otherwise, you’ll never make a squirrel friend.”

“Oh noooo! Don’t worry, I’ll focus!”

I felt mana flowing through Zeb… but I didn’t know if it was doing anything useful. Well, they’d figure it out.