Mage And Wolf
Chapter 142

Chapter 142: Chapter 142

Morning comes as quietly as expected. Those that aren’t too hungover to move left early, or were shamed into quiet meditation by those who are. The faint din of the outer sect can be heard in this silence, giving a feeling of remoteness.

After a quick shower I put on my Priestess Robes and head down to make breakfast. Or maybe it’s lunch by now? The kitchen is all but deserted, one lone cook looking like an unfortunate kitchen Omega back in my old pack.

"Nobody else made it?" I ask with sympathy.

"Nobody. I’ve got breakfast ready though, for 35 so far." He smiles.

"How many more out of this kitchen?" I ask, curious.

"On a good day, this would be enough. But the main kitchen has nobody at all in it so far, and we can expect about three hundred Inner Disciples soon. It gets hot in the dorms, so everyone finds better spots to cultivate during the day."

It really is much hotter here than it was in the mountains. "I’ll make oatmeal, you cut and prepare the bowls of fruit."

He looks relieved, knowing that good quality will let him get away with a much simpler than usual meal. He’s good at his job, and only a little unstable on his feet, he must have recalled he had limits last night.

We’re just finishing, getting ready to move breakfast to the tables still set up outside, when Karl comes down looking the worse for wear. Not sure what’s wrong with him, I woke up feeling fantastic.

"Nothing? Nothing at all to say for yourself?" he asks me.

"Breakfast?" I ask, then look him over. He looks rough. There’s scratches on his arms, bruises on his chest and neck, wait, are those hickeys?

"And a healing pill?" I add hastily.

"So you do remember that I’m human then?" he grumps and takes both his breakfast and the pill. That’s a tier 4 regeneration pill, even if I’d taken a limb off him he’d recover.

"Thank you for your hard work" I bow and the kitchen worker collapses in tears of laughter.

A few more disciples on kitchen duty arrive, bowls in hand and start prepping for lunch service.

Noon comes and goes with minimal fanfare, very few are awake, and most of those who are awake are doing penitent prayers, begging forgiveness for their excesses.

Elder Choi and Sect Master Qin are awake, so we say our goodbyes and promise to consider any further missions they might have for us. It’s time we got back anyhow, see how our base is holding up and look for more information now that we know what to look for.

Our arrival at the base only brings more annoyances though. Sect Master Kel’Dahn and four other Elders are in the cathedral, poking around.

"This place is still under renovation Sect Master, not open to the public" Karl calls out when he sees them.

"Ah, Highness, I wasn’t expecting to see you here" he begins.

"Obviously not, or you wouldn’t be rummaging through the cathedral without setting a guard" I respond "Again, how might we help you?"

"We came to make sure there were no documents left in the ruins, but found the entire Cathedral rebuilt from the ground up."

Good thing Karl locked and hid both entrances to the old dormitories where we stay with his own magic. Wouldn’t want them getting to anything useful.

"You understand I’m upset with you, yes?" I ask him softly and he bows his head.

"I’m sorry Highness, but it’s for the good of this world that the things forgotten here are never discovered. Until you arrived the few remaining who knew of its location thought it would be forgotten forever"

"As I am certain I mentioned, we destroyed the documents left here" Karl says. All that is left is in this cathedral, and the only relic of value is the totem that supports the enchantments keeping this place hidden." Karl informs him.

The four Elders return, shaking their heads, not having found what they were looking for.

"Legend holds that the council, killed at the start of the war and held in eggs, their rebirth delayed by the clergy here should still be found within these ruins." A very old Dragonkin Elder wheezes.

"Why did Nobody come to look for them in the millennia that followed?" I ask curious.

"Oh, we did, and we were again. But with the Cathedral back, I thought they might have been moved to the nursery."

There are incubators in the nursery, as well as beds and nursery rooms. But we removed the eggs from their hiding spot in the basement.

"The nurseries were empty when we reactivated the spells and the cathedral was rebuilt. Anything not yet standing has been obliterated by time, or crushed by the stones of an ancient rock slide" I tell the assembled Dragonkin.

They look a bit dejected. If the council died early and wasn’t resurrected, they missed the truly nasty part of the war, and would be the last remaining High Priests of the land.

"Who else can we expect?" Karl asks

"Just Sect Master Qin and one other. A white dragon named Jin, though we’re not sure she still lives, or is even in this world."

"Alright, might as well search while we wait for the Sect Master" I tell them, looking to Karl to ensure he’s hidden the entrances to the important areas.

They’ve searched the interior, so now they’re searching the grounds, digging through rubble in likely spots and looking around, like they’re working with an ancient mental map. It’s only a few hours before Sect Master Qin arrives, shaking hands and greeting everyone politely.

"Is everything destroyed then? I can feel that the totem survived" he frowns, looking around.

"We rebuilt the totem from rubble. It was smashed into a hundred pieces when we arrived and the misdirection spell was failing" Karl says with a shrug. "Rebuilding it let the Cathedral itself rebuild, but most of the furnishings were scrap, mere rubble pushed out to the wall nearest the mountain."

That gives them a lead, and they spend the remainder of the day and night digging through boulders, bent metal and scraps of half petrified wood.

Being the gracious hosts we are, we kept drinks coming, and even made both dinner and breakfast for everyone.

Once the search was finished we pulled the boulders and rubble back against the wall, returning the appearance to that of an abandoned building in a ruined courtyard.

"This way, should the spells fail again to keep out visitors it might be mistaken as simply abandoned and not a significant ancient find." I tell them, explaining our actions.

"So you’re not staying?" Sect Master Kel’Dahn asks.

"Not forever. We’ve got duties at home, but we may return here from time to time." It is actually pretty relaxing here, we really should return on occasion.

"Sorry to intrude Highness. We wish you the best of luck renovating your home" the ancient Dragonkin Elder wheezes.

"Feel free to visit again, but do keep in mind others might be living here" Karl nods back with a smile and the old man chuckles.

"I’m too old to be barging in on naked folk, I’ll be sure to knock next time" he laughs with a rough wheeze.

"Wait, before you go. Take this pill, it might cure your lung problem" I pass him a regeneration pill and he looks at it in awe. In fact, everyone does.

"Where did you find this? In the ruins?" Sect Master Qin asks "The recipes for rank 4 pills were destroyed during the war to slow the opposition’s cultivation."

"No, I make these myself" Oh, my bad, I shouldn’t have said that. Should not have said that at all. Now they’re looking like they want to take alchemy lessons.

"Tell you what, have the Elder take this one, and send one each of your most promising Alchemy disciples by. I’ll teach them a few essential recipes before I go"

The effect is immediate, the Elder looks more sprightly, his breathing clears up, the aged film to his eyes clears and he’s looking like a much younger Dragonkin. That’s remarkable, the pill doesn’t reverse aging, could he have been cursed?

"By chance, were you cursed Elder?" I ask, making notes of the effects on his body.

"We all were, the entire city and our descendants. Until we earn forgiveness we will live shortened lives and fall to ill health." Looks like he’s earned some of that forgiveness.

"Good news then Elder, it seems you’ve earned a little forgiveness today. For what I don’t know, but you’re in fine form and likely to stay that way a while."