A Hero's Quest: Eye of the Demon Emperor

Winning Votes:
- Plan Dragon Slayer Part 3
- Go to your mother to ask counsel about this curse.
-- Explain that you are responsible for talking to Cervitou and was insistent even after he refused to reply to you after multiple attempts at nagging.

---

This definitely isn't a sound decision. It is the furthest away from a good choice you could make, but it is something that must be done regardless. Etiquette, familial love, or simply 'your own good' don't matter in this situation. You need to know.

With that in mind, you push open the doors of the foyer and walk outside the house. You walk in the direction that the butler said Ms. Baragar was at, right now. You go to a small dirt path that leads somewhat into the forest, following it, until you arrive at a small opening.

The treetops open up above your head, creating this "hole" in the forest, letting a fairly big amount of sunlight in. The rays of light illuminate the grassy area. There's plenty of tall rocks everywhere, and there are lots of training dummies and circular target shields stuffed with arrows. Some of the arrows scored perfect hits and headshots, but not all of them. Others missed completely.

You look around and see your mother and Roland. Roland is holding a well-crafted longbow in his hands, with several runic carvings on it. One of these runes is glowing in a bright, blue color and you can see why, kind of. Although your knowledge of Magical Theory is completely lackluster, you speculate that the rune supplies the string with Mana, which is then materialized into an arrow. The only reason you put this theory together is for two, very simple reasons.

First, Roland doesn't have a quiver.

Second, that's the premise that magi-bows operate on, except that magi-bows are more primitive because they produce a glowing, blue facsimile of an arrow that disappears after a minute or two, while the products of this one are the real thing. Clearly, this is some expensive equipment that Roland is working with. Possibly a birthday gift from mom, since his birthday was but a few weeks ago.

Speaking of birthdays, yours is coming up soon.

[] Skip birthday. (Artoria will participate, but I won't include it in the story.)
[] Participate in birthday. (Chances to socialize and meet several new characters of mother's, father's and Roland's invitation, but the Quest will drag out for several more updates.)
-[] Who do you invite? (Kids from the local village, your teachers, or even Cervitou are viable options, but your mother won't be happy with that last one. Feel free to make interesting write-ins if you have any ideas.)

Regardless, you approach the two of them.

"Mom, can I talk to you? It's kind of important."

"Not now, sweetie... Roland! Damn it! Steady. Your. Legs!" Your mother throws herself at Roland and puts his hands on his shoulders, squaring them and moving his legs slightly apart with her own right foot. "You have to stand like this."

"O-okay," he replies.

This reminds you of your own training. She's kind of a perfectionist, but mother does have your best interest at heart. She only wants you to become well-trained and experienced in what you ask her to be able to do. She pays all of the expenses, like teachings from a mage, or similar things.

"Okay, let's talk," she turns to you, before turning to Roland again and giving him a mean glare. "And you. Keep it like this."

"You got it, mom," Roland replies, sighing. He puts his fingers on the bowstring and a real arrow with a wooden shaft and metallic tip appears in it, meaning your theory was correct. Roland draws it until the bottom of the arrow is near his cheek and fires at the dummy, hitting between the eyes.


Leona and you leave Roland to his archery and go to a secluded corner of the forest, roughly twenty meters away to speak in privacy.

"I wanted to talk to you about the curse."

"The curse?" She's surprised.

"Yes. That's why I can't use Excalibur. You mentioned it's a bad omen, but never told me anything about it," you reply, in a kind of pseudo-dominant and patronizing manner.

Your mother's eyebrows furrow in anger. "Who told you about it?"

"Cervitou."

Your mother's hands visibly clench in anger. "Cervitou... I'm going to rip his jugular out and..."

"It's not his fault."

She calms down suddenly. "Eeeh? What?"

"He slipped and told me prayer won't make Excalibur work. After that, he apologized and walked away, but I kept nagging him. I insisted on it constantly and pestered him, so leave Cervitou alone and tell me how to get rid of the curse."

"You can't," she replies. Your mother shakes her head sorrowfully. "It was cast with a dying breath. It's exceptionally malignant and difficult to remove."

"Who put it on me? What does the curse do in the first place?"

"Artoria, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me," she protests. "Besides, it is better for you not to know. This curse is trouble, plain and simple."

"Who put it on me, mom!? Just answer me. I'll believe it."

... Your mother gives up, sighing. "Sit down."

"What? I don't need t––"

"Sit. Down." Your mother emphasizes the two words by shaking her head twice when speaking them.

You gulp and sit on a nearby rock. Your mother sits near you and prepares to explain.

...

...

"Long ago, before you were born... there was a war. Not in our world, but in the parallel worlds. The spirits fought with demons. Demons with angels. Angels with spirits. It was an uproar caused by the election of the new Demon Emperor. Do you know who that is?"

"You mean the leader of all demons?"

"Yes," she nods.

"One night when I was still pregnant with you, a Duke of Hell lucked out and managed to make it into our world, near the mansion. Hoping to destroy the bloodline, he made his way near us. Your father protected me valiantly, but it wasn't enough to destroy the demon, so I dealt the killing blow while both of them were stunned. Instead of exorcising the demon, I managed to destroy him, but with his last breath, he made an incantation and transferred all of his remaining power into a curse, to plague you and me forever. The curse is why you can't use Excalibur, and why Gods are and will always be blind to your petitions, Artoria."

"But what does Cervitou have to do with any of this? How does he know?" you ask.

"That's when the 'ex'-black mage, Cervitou arrived," she put a very sarcastic emphasis on the 'ex,' as if to say she doesn't believe that's true. "He offered his services. He said he could block the curse. He was saved by me once and wanted to repay the favor, so as soon as I gave birth, he prepared a ritual to amend the curse's effects. Without the ritual, holy water would burn you, Artoria, and the sight of an angel would give you a heart attack. This way, most of its power is locked away. He visited every month since then to make sure that the spell is holding alright and discuss anything regarding it with me, but I don't trust him and you shouldn't either."

"Why?"

Mother looks at you. Her glare is deadly serious. "He's killed people, Artoria. He butchered whole villages for his masters. He's maimed, crippled, and destroyed lives."

"And what?"

"And what?!" Your mother enters an outrage.

"And what if he did? He doesn't look evil to me right now."

"He is. Black mages don't change. It's just how black magic works, Artoria. You might use it for a noble purpose at first, think that everything will be okay, but sooner or later, everyone loses themselves in the promise of power and they become addicted to it. There's no way to change that."

"Whatever," you stand up and begin walking away.

"Wait!" Mother yells at you. "Where are you going?"

"To get my fitness training?" You keep walking, without turning around.

Your mother just stares at you as you leave for a few seconds, then returns to overseeing Roland.


As per usual, physical training. This time, you also did some work on your muscle mass. The days passed and you honed your swordsmanship. Once father returned, he took over your training and gave you a few new neat skills that you're thankful for. You learned how to properly adjust your breathing during combat and you became more experienced in general.

Next came a new kind of education. Namely, diplomacy. Through it, you learned how to convince others of your point of view and use their own motivations to make them more likely to do what you want. It kind of borders on manipulation, but, really, that's what diplomacy is about. It's like combat in itself, except you remove the 's' from 'swords.'

And next up, magic. You learned the equivalent of something called 'Reinforcement' in another, parallel universe. Enhancement magic, as it is called here, can be used to make things more effective at their intended function. Wine tastes better, walls are tougher, swords are sharper. While generally useful, it is very incompatible and difficult to use on living beings, or at least animals, since plants and fruit are still viable targets. Even when using it on a certain organ, you need to pour a lot of energy into the spell to make it work, but it is possible. Regardless, while you can use it to strengthen your limbs, make your respiration better, or similar effects, but using it on your whole body is going to be difficult. In addition, the effects are impermanent and much like your bodily enhancement, only last an hour, whereas a very experienced mage in the spell could add some degree of permanency to them.

You also learned magical countermeasures, such as a simple disenchanting and dispelling which is sure to annoy quite a few mages in the future.


Calendar: 1005-09-30 (Last time you get to train before the journey. Choose wisely.)

[] Tell mother about your intention of slaying an ancient dragon to prove yourself. It's about time to do that.
[] Don't.

[] Physical training. (Raises physical parameters.)
-[] Focus on strength.
-[] Focus on stamina.
-[] Focus on agility.
[] Melee combat.
-[] Swords.
-[] Spears.
-[] Order new weapon training for yourself. (Write-in.)
[] Ranged combat.
-[] Crossbow, including Auto-Crossbows.
-[] Bows, including Magi-Bows.
-[] Flintlocks.
[] Animal Ken.
-[] Taming.
-[] Riding.
-[] Animal Lore.
-[] Magical Beast Lore.
[] Strategy & Tactics.
-[] "How to defend a castle 101" course from the local knights.
-[] Theoretical Warfare.
-[] Strategy Board Games.
[] Magic.
-[] Countermeasures.
-[] Magical Theory. (ie: how leylines work, the alignments of spiritual realms, why mana exists, etc.)
-[] Practical Thaumaturgy.
--[] Any specific school or desired type? (Golem-Crafting, Hermetic magic, Rituals, Alchemy, Transmutation, Mind Magic, etc.)
-[] Search for excerpts from the Codex Gigas and study them. This will take you down a dark path... black magic, so to speak, but you didn't hear that from me.
[] Diplomacy.
[] Logistics and management.
-[] How to run a mansion, maintain servants, and organize affairs.
-[] General logistics and management.
[] Etiquette.
-[] "Why your pinky must be up" course.
-[] Ask some snobby aristocrat to teach you how to speak in his accent to sound more distinguished.
-[] General Etiquette.
[] Art, including painting, dancing, and singing.
[] Piety. (LOCKED, due to curse.)
-[] Memorizing the holy book verses. (LOCKED, due to curse.)
-[] Miracles. (LOCKED, due to curse.)
-[] Prayer in seclusion. (LOCKED, due to curse.)
-[] Politely ask the Gods in Heaven to make Excalibur listen to you for once. (LOCKED, due to curse.)
[] Write-in.

Well we did pick the "above medium" option *smirk* but i don't expect to find our 'prey' directly after our training so we still have time to improve against bandits/wild life during our journey. still you have a point a i didn't thought about that but i don't think a knight is supposed to have a castle ? more like a baron as the lowest ranked noble which generaly have small castles in most fantasy settings.

Got an image for our mom , i claim nothing