CHAPTER 93 Miss Hammerwinkle’s Axe-Throwing Tea Party

Henrietta

I thought it was a reasonable question, so I was surprised when Keith started choking on his pastry.

Derilla just stared at me for a moment before bursting into deep-throated laughter. "I see the rumors are true, then?"

I shrugged. Keith had rejected my proposal, so this was going to be on him.

"You could compete." The Dark Lord composed himself and shot her a soft half smile. "Do you want to compete to become queen of the Dark Enchanted Forest?"

"One way or the other." I flashed Keith a sly look.

"Good to note that I have some decent competition this year." Derilla refilled my small teacup. "Maybe we can have a friendly bout beforehand?"

Keith voiced, "I wouldn't—"

"I'd love to."

My Dark Lord face-palmed and turned to his friend. "Your funeral."

"I'm obviously a higher level." Derilla waved off Keith's concerns. "It'll be a fun match."

"Why do you assume I'll win?" It was too bad Keith had choked on his pastry because wow, this was delightful.

Keith stared pointedly at Jacqueline, whom I'd brought with me to the table. I shrugged. It wasn't as though I'd wake her up for a simple spar. I'd suffer the consequences if I did. And critical hits weren't easily won when fighting a trained opponent. I didn't say that aloud. No sense revealing my strengths or weaknesses to a man—er, arachne who wanted to kill us.

I sized Derilla up as I considered my experiences with arachne. I'd fought a nest before, in the Dungeon Valley Crest. The monsters had an uncanny skill with traps and enjoyed eating their prey alive. They were one of the biggest reasons I liked to solo the dungeon. Even though I'd only seen midlevel arachne, they had a way of spreading [Panic] or [Fear] effects from their specialized [Intimidation Aura] skill. It was a work of art.

Deadly art.

"Should we fight after lunch?" I rolled my shoulders, actually eager for the chance to spar. I had a lot of frustrations to work out these days. Julia hadn't quite been at the level to give me a real challenge.

Derilla looked out over the mountains, the spring rain a dull drone. Layered soft-gray clouds let in light while showering the hot springs below with countless droplets. It was a beautiful afternoon, but admittedly very wet.

"I have only just awoken." Derilla offered me a polite excuse. "We may take to the plateau and test each other's skills when you are free after the ball."

"When next we meet." I nodded.

We settled into comfortable silence, finished our snacks, and then bid Derilla Vane and Thistlecrick a polite farewell. A small part of me was sad that I didn't get to visit with the naga I'd met earlier, but I would see them again soon. After all, traveling about Nilheim was my greatest joy—after kissing the Dark Lord of Nilheim, of course.

My [Sword Aura] proved a useful skill while journeying, and we only passed one person who showed up as a threat between the hot springs and the border. Lilith handled it so Keith and I could relax and enjoy the ride.

Though Keith excused himself shortly after we set off to get some last-minute work done.

"Can I help with anything?" I asked, eyeing the pile of documents on his lap.

He looked up at me over his glasses. "You are helping."

"How so?"

He took a deep breath through his nose and resettled himself. "You're here. But if you want to divide and conquer these ‘talking points for the various kingdoms of Valaria,' I won't stop you."

He pulled out a stack as thick as my arm. "Here. These are the reports on Baldorin's economic struggles. With the trade guild feuds, assassinations, failed feuds, deaths, births, royal affairs, and artistic cultural scandals of the last few years … On second thought, maybe you should read all of these. You're a royal too. I should've thought about preparing you—"

"It's alright." I didn't want him kicking himself over this, especially when I did have some etiquette beaten into me already. "We have time, and we can help each other at the ball. Pass me the first pile."

That's how I spent the rest of our trip reading about dwarven royal feuds. I was reading with fascination about a unigoat that had ruined Ms. Hammerwinkle's axe-throwing tea party when we reached the edge of the forest.

The trees continued, but we'd definitely left the Dark Enchanted Forest.

I could feel it. Something was gone. Something small and comforting; something magical, a sense of being watched … I'd grown used to the playful sentience that filled the woods.

And now, we were riding down into the city that sat on the North Sumbrian side of the border: Holly Hill. The town sprawled over a pair of forested hills. Houses nestled between trees, and the entire place was a plethora of magical wonders. North Sumbria was best known as the birthplace of Archwizard Jeffrey. Jeffrey, who mass created wonders such as the Crystal Cast Network and street lamps and teleporter pads. Though the pads were only found in North Sumbria, and no one really knew how they worked.

Taking them apart destroyed the internal spell script, and even simple tinkering with the plate deactivated it permanently. A few were lost before everyone gave up. Better to try again when another magical engineer reached a level high enough to stop destroying national transport artifacts.

Even in this small town, hours from the duchy capital, the entire place was vibrant with magical things. There were construct carts that picked people up and delivered them across town, baby strollers for mothers to load up and push children around with ease, and pocket watches that always told the right time without needing to be wound. It was in everything big and small, and it was marvelous.

Keith must love visiting. I glanced his way; his legs were crossed, and he was slumped forward reading documents.

Usually, as I understood it, Rufus attended these kinds of events as a representative. I'd only gone a few times myself, mostly to events in Peldeep, but as a minor, there was little I could assist with. My parents used the opportunity as a way to get me access to local dungeons.

We pulled up at the Waddling Wombat Inn at sunset, and despite doing little to nothing except sitting, I was ready for bed.

Of course, Fate had other plans.