The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 119 - Sir, Even If My Brain Were Muscles... I Don’t Think My Wife Would Mind

Chapter 119: Chapter 119 - Sir, Even If My Brain Were Muscles... I Don’t Think My Wife Would Mind

Amid the twisted trees, a cultivator base camp sprawled across the forest and parts of the sigil-strewn clearing. Tents and other makeshift structures were positioned carefully... plotted to avoid the worst of the gravity distortions.

A certain swordswoman approached the heart of the anomaly with movements a bit less cautious than others on the surface. Qatrand strode confidently through the orderly chaos, her deliberate steps more aware than most of the most dangerous sections in the middle of all the activity.

Numerous Coiled Serpent Guild members hurried about the area as she passed. Some huddled over the complex sigil formations, concentrating as they worked to unravel the anomaly’s secrets. Others took measurements between different sections of the area... and plenty of samples.

When reaching the center, she overheard a familiar name being spoken by a group of animated sigil researchers.

"...and that’s why I wish Elua were still around. My husband argued that the containment sigils should be placed in a pentagonal pattern, but I insisted it must be a nonagonal arrangement. We bickered for hours over this!"

The Yecine’s ears perked up at the mention of her wife. She turned to see a salt-and-pepper haired man standing and shaking his head in exasperation. He caught her intentful gaze and approached with a curious expression that morphed to understanding after seeing the Order’s emblem. He extended his hand for the ’swordsman’ to shake.

"You must be here about the supply delivery. Thank you for coming on short notice. We had a little... mishap while containing one of the advanced sigils and it crushed a significant portion of our goods."

The raven-haired cultivator shook his hand firmly as he spoke. A smile began to show on her lips - not because of the trouble they faced, but because of how interconnected things could be!

"That does sound like trouble. My name is Qatrand er Yecine. You are the husband of my wife’s mentor, I presume? El has told me stories of your... passionate debates together."

Realization dawned after only a moment of confusion. He had heard the name ’Qat’ many more times in those two months than Qatrand, after all. He’d also had his hand slapped away once... when he touched the girl’s forehead in a pat while trying to call her ’El’.

"Yes, well, when you’re married to a brilliant mind like my husband, that thinks he is more brilliant than you... passionate debates come with the territory. But enough about me - what brings the young rising star of The Ironclad Order to our little research base?"

The man chuckled with mirth at the seeming ’coincidence’, not remembering that the report of the initial exploration and assessment had contained the Yecine’s name written on it as a participant. It was one of the reasons they preferred to send their young member back, as her Gravity Element might be deemed useful in the joint operation.

Qat was a little uncomfortable about his complimentary metaphor, but could tell it must have been because of the bragging of the mint eyed girl. Her letters did not fail to mention the number of times her El talked to people about the fiance back at home.

’In short, she talked me up... a lot. Was she trying to put me on the spot?’

"I’m just assigned the delivery duty. Though, I admit to having a keen interest in the work you’re doing here. Gravity is my Element, after all.

Qatrand’s gaze swept over the makeshift containment sigils surrounding the anomaly.

"The letters she sent also spoke generally of your research project. I’m wondering if it’s part of the reason you are here?"

The man raised an eyebrow, both surprised by Qatrand’s knowledge and the memory of a ’hunky Gravity user’ being involved in the anomaly’s dangerous discovery. At least, those were the choice words of that woman always seeking his husband’s approval. He had long thought it was a shame that she wasn’t just a little brighter, to gain his interest.

’She was also not bright enough to accept my mentorship so long ago. That girl would have seen plenty of her idol while working next to me. More than she wanted, even...’

"Elua has been keeping you well-informed, then. I suppose that’s to be expected, given your relationship. As much as we argue academics, my spouse and I would not think to stop talking about things with each other anymore. That usually takes a long time to learn."

Qatrand nodded as a sense of pride warmed her chest. Somehow, it felt good to hear a near stranger subtly approve of their relationship, even if it was missing so many details. Especially when that person obtained her El’s ’approval’. There were a lot of other individuals she complained in her letters about, but never him!

’Ah, except that mention about him trying to shorten her name...’

"My wife’s insights into sigils, cultivation, and relationships is... unparalleled. I’ve gratefully learned much from her."

The man could sense that the statement was said almost reflexively and that it would be better not to ask for any follow up. He was plenty old enough to recognize the bloom of love in an otherwise stoic figure’s voice and when not to engage with it. He also noticed it was the second time the ’young man’ used the terminology ’my wife’ with an obviously restrained twitch of a smile on ’his’ lips.

’...Ah, newlyweds.’

"You said that you have a Gravity Element? If you wouldn’t mind, I would appreciate you taking a quick look at something."

He merely gestured for the ’swordsman’ to follow instead of continuing to talk about the Goltbred girl. They approached the heart of the anomaly, the space where the vortex could form if the sigils were activated. The air itself seemed to hum with barely restrained essence as sigils pulsing with an unsettling rhythm beneath the Serpent’s attempts at containment.

Qatrand couldn’t shake the unease that crawled up her spine. Her gaze swept over the elaborate and foreign feeling geometry of sigils. She had already seen the result of an accidental activation once before.

’And they already crushed supplies. What if that was a person?’

"I imagine El would have some fascinating ideas about how to stabilize this. Her outlook on sigils could be invaluable to you here."

For a moment, she felt a little awful over volunteering this thought. The man also paused... and if she was as good at reading the spirit of others as she was that of the cute girl, she would understand that it was done due to a mix of surprise and the faintest hint of suspicion.

He was well aware that the Goltbred girl was a prodigy... but he wondered just how much others could tell. Especially someone that was meant to be in such a good bond with. Prejudice toward physical cultivators wasn’t a favorite part of himself... but after all-

’What could a Yecine even know of sigils?’

"Yes, Elua’s insights would be most welcome. You said that she was keeping you informed of my work. Perhaps you’ve gleaned something of her wisdom?"

Pigeon blue eyes looked at him as the ’young man’ smiled. She didn’t need to read anyone’s spirit to understand when she was being looked down upon. At least, not anymore. It was only the fact that he had been good to the girl she loved that she didn’t mention the ’condescension’ in his gaze.

The older teen also thought that proving his sudden fit of snobbish behavior wrong would be more effective than pointing it out. That could be saved for after he bit his tongue! She looked away noncommittally recalling the countless hours she’d spent poring over Elua’s letters, listening to the training tool, and studying the illusive sketches.

"Correct me if I’m wrong, but these containment sigils... they’re designed to create a localized barrier of attuned essence, aren’t they? Essentially forming a safe bubble around the anomalous areas?"

Qatrand approached closer to the heart of the anomaly while pointing in a certain direction, even as her gaze swept over the rest of the moderately elaborate sigil geometry. While she raised her voice with enough inflection to phrase it as a question, the rest of her tone made it clear she was confident.

"Your nine point arrangement here is probably better to distribute the essence flow. Using more vertices than normal, given the unique properties of Gravity, means more constant stability... even if it is more costly in carving time and maintenance."

The older man’s eyebrows rose and he cursed himself for it still being stuck that way when the young cultivator turned back around.

"I respect the adherence to safety over quick fixes. Things cannot always be done right, but they should be done with the utmost respect for the worst of failures."

"You’re... quite an observant young man. Yes, safety is our primary concern given the unpredictable nature of this anomaly."

The Yecine nodded obligingly. She’d done enough to prove she shouldn’t have been looked at as useless. Yet, her eyes traced more of the intricate patterns all around them. Her thoughts picked up on what she’d seen at the edges of the camp

"It looks like you’re trying to use a set of inner containment and outer geometry of large scale sigils to further stabilize the anomalous ritual’s effect on the entire clearing. I trust you’ve considered that the stresses caused by any more accidental activations will bleed through the barely contained fluctuations and ruin this sort of work? At least, nothing you’ve done prior to another accident should be trusted."

The researcher covered his open mouth and cleared it violently. An amount of respect he usually reserved for promising helpers and students replaced his earlier, knee-jerk behavior. He was also realizing that antagonizing the Little Snake’s spouse, even a bit, had been ill conceived. He really just... did not get along with ’muscle-brained’ men.

’Though if every one of them surprised me like this, even if I had to regret it - I wouldn’t dare stop looking at them like barbaric children!’