Hunter Or Huntress

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Chapter 128: Down to Business

When the time had finally come to send the investigator on her way, everyone had been assembled for the handover of the lists and a few copies of interest. Even the people from the vault were allowed up to get some fresh air and some better-made food than could be managed down below just for the one day.

“Will that be all?” Linkosta questioned the investigator as she ceremoniously handed over the inventory list.

“I believe so. Thank you for getting this done in such a timely manner. I will be departing post haste with Galaxer heading for the capital, expect company in two weeks’ time. Then we shall see... In the meantime, I recommend you make yourself as familiar as possible with what has been found, we will be getting to the next vaults in due time. So, please do try to refrain from blowing them up unless we say so,” she replied, rolling up the copy of the inventory list. “And perhaps make use of the opportunity to relax a little. There is gonna be a lot of work ahead of us.”

“I think we can manage that,” Linkosta replied with a bow.

‘Gonna be easier when we don’t have to mind our mouths or risk execution,’ Saph grumbled to herself. They pretty much all let out a unified sigh of relief as Galaxer climbed off into the distance. The precious, if unwelcome, cargo on board. “Right… now what?” Saph had questioned, looking around at all of them.

“Well I guess we carry on where we left off. We have a festival to plan and a literal dragon’s hoard of knowledge to go through,” Tom replied with a shrug. “I say we divvy it up and get to work.”

“Hey, we’re not that greedy,” Jarix protested, receiving little sympathy.

“So, hands up who wants to go look at the most historic find of historical records in our lifetime?” Apuma went, excitedly raising his hand. A fair few keep dwellers, including Linkosta, and of course the entirety of the academic division following suit.

‘God, good, it’s like being at summer camp,’ Tom mused to himself, raising his hand.

“Aww come on, I wanna make more guns!” Jacky protested as she saw Tom's hand.

“But they have Steampunk airships down there,” Tom tried to protest, receiving a disapproving look from Jacky, though it was clear she was running the calculations on what would lead to more awesomeness.

“Tom, how about we get you some interesting things to look at? Perhaps you could come down every now and again, and then you focus on the defence of our home,” Nunuk went in the sweetest, or more likely most diplomatic, voice she could muster.

“Fine,” Tom replied, lowering his hand again. “I guess I’ll get to see it eventually.”

“YUUS!” Jacky went with a little jump. “Now, who wants to make shit and throw a party!?”

To no one's surprise, that resulted in most of the keep dwellers raising their hands, including a rather reluctant Dakota.

“I guess someone will have to calculate the expenses.”

“Oh don’t be such a downer, old Dak. Harvest starts tomorrow now that we have miss-troublesome out of the way,” Raulf joined in.

“We are gonna be rich!” Wiperna added, the two farmers doing a jumping high five. “Oh you lot don’t need to worry about getting all dirty, we got this,” she continued, looking at the bewildered crowd of academics.

“Very good, everyone go do your thing. Jarix, you are taking your crew and Dakota to go tell Deriva what’s up and the slight change in schedule. Remember, we definitely haven't found anything down below yet.”

“I got it. There better be a hot deer waiting when I get back,” Jarix protested, licking his chops.

“I’ll see if I can manage to catch your dinner for you while playing ferry,” Glira added with a laugh. “Or perhaps his excellence could do a spot of hunting on the way back home?”

“Shut up, Mum, it was a joke.”

“Just not a very funny one.”

“I said shut up!”

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In hindsight, staying at the keep and just getting the most awesome tidbits of info was great for productivity, but it really sucked that he had to wait for them to get back with more info when they found something really interesting. Then again, judging by the fact even Apuma had been struggling to read some of this stuff, Tom probably didn’t stand much of a chance with anything other than the translated copies anyway. His reading had improved quite a bit, and he was getting better quickly now too. The documents did make good evening reading, and as a side bonus it had proven surprisingly effective at getting Jacky to fall asleep more or less on command. Something about technobabble designed to kill just seemed to calm her right down.

Things like flash powder injection, variable geometry turbines, self-adjusting airbrakes, and power outputs measured in ox power (which was just too fucking hilarious). He had almost expected thrust to be in dragons and demi dragons, but sadly not. Of course, the heart of the system, the flight core as they called it, was by far the most interesting part. Tom still thought that was a stupid name, but hey, it sorta worked. He needed to crack how the thing worked though, no use to just float upwards uncontrollably after all. Not to mention, his last device couldn't even lift Sapphire using a full cylinder of the oil.

The temperatures and pressures they were working with were just hilarious, but throw magic metal and enchantments at the problem and he guessed it would hold. Even if it would be damn hard to replicate. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with propulsion, even if it was a touch hard to tell. He didn’t have anything other than sketched copies made by the academics, and they were skilled, but their technical drawing abilities were a bit lacking for the task at hand to say the least. But rules said no originals came out of the cave, so he had to make do with what he had.

Judging by what he had, they used mainly big ass propellers and the like to deliver thrust but one of the smaller craft had something that looked suspiciously like a rocket engine. It was all very complicated, but the result did look like a pocket-sized rocket. The fuel consumption rates looked a little crazy, and it definitely used gravity oil somehow, but so did the outputs for such a small device. The little fighter-like craft that they had found the blueprints for only used two of the little rockets, and it should be capable of kissing 700 kph in a dive, despite its less than stellar aerodynamics. This is assuming his conversion had been correct. On the level, the listed top speed was around 450 kph, far faster than any dragon could go to Tom’s knowledge. Hell Jarix was supposed to be one of the fastest around and in the little timed run they had done a while back he had struggled to break 200 without a dive to accelerate. When he was allowed to dive into the run he had managed nearly 250 but it was easy to tell that was not something that he could hold for much more than a minute or two. What really stumped Tom was the realization there was no ratted service ceiling for the fighter. Not even a mention of it. The level speed was rated at something which translated to 40.000 paces, whatever that was.

The guns of the fighters were rather normal, if a little underwhelming actually. Two machine guns chambered in somewhere around 15mm. The rate of fire was impressive though. Looking at the craft's design, it would seem weight was still a problem for them. The heavy drives, boilers, flight core control systems, and armament were all packed in as tight as it would go, creating a labyrinth of pipes, hoses, and cables that was nearly impossible to understand, especially on the subpar copy of the design. It seemed that it was mostly made of steel, with a hand-hammered aluminum skin. At least, the blueprints seemed to describe a very light, soft metal, so that seemed likely to Tom unless they had an alternative.

It was all very fascinating stuff, but sadly he did have more pressing matters to attend to as he got up leaving the snoring Jacky alone in the bed. He did have to admit that he felt a little inadequate looking over at his design for a single-shot shotgun in comparison to the masterclass in mechanical and aerospace engineering he had in his hands. Especially considering that the first one had actually blown up on the first shot. At least he no longer had to argue about safety procedures. In fact, Dakota had made him tighten up on that front. So with a soundtrack of Jacky snoring happily, it was as good a time as any to get this done. They couldn’t have these blow up in their hands after all. Not unless they wanted to give some to the enemy.

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Jarix had returned with news that Deriva had accepted their requests. They had gone with the idea of just sending everyone rather than leaving a rearguard, reasoning that there wasn’t really much worth taking back at the keep and what there was they could bring easily enough. Should it happen they had more than enough combat power to take it back should that become necessary. Victoria even approved of the strategy. Saph believed the Colonel was almost hoping any darklings in hiding would take the bait, then have them annihilated.

For Saph, that meant she had almost come to savor the times when she would sit down with Tom to both help him in the workshop and receive a bit of tutelage in turn. Most of her days were now spent on hunting, gathering, or preparing for both the feast and the supplies Deriva would be taking back home, not that they knew that of course. Today, though, was a special day for all of them. It was harvest day.

“Time to dig up some money,” Raulf had gone, rubbing his hands together after he had finished handing out what implements they had for getting the beets out of the ground. They had pulled the first one yesterday, and it had looked good. Tom gave it the seal of approval despite admitting he didn’t actually know what one was supposed to look like. But the size fit what it said in the book, so they were coming up today. Baron had relieved Glira on hunting duty, which had been quite the sight to see yesterday, even if the results had probably been best served as a stew or maybe ground into pre-smoked sausages. He and Victoria elected to stick around to see what it was they were digging up today before going on another hunting trip.

Looking back, Baron’s display of… firepower, might have been a tactical decision, to avoid being tasked with assisting with the farm work, not that they had any chance of forcing the old red to take part. He and Victoria had decided to watch from a distance with most of their crew. Only Maiko actually took part in the fieldwork, much to the amusement of the rest of his crew. It had certainly been a surprise, though, when Jarix had asked if he could help.

Saph had nearly broken out laughing at the expression on Baron’s face as he had sat there looking at them all dignified, then the sheer shock had hit him. Followed by an internal debate that shone through like a beacon. The venerable old dragon seemingly was not quite certain if he should reprimand or praise the younger dragon. Victoria had just gone over to give Tom a solid pat on the shoulder when Jarix was distracted by Raulf and Wiperna.

The farmers and the young dragon soon had a system up, with Jarix digging down either side of the row of beets with his front legs as he shuffled backwards. Then they just had to pick them up and load them into baskets to be taken into the keep. In the end, it didn’t even end up taking an hour, as Jarix backpedaled down the rows, dirt flying everywhere, he even looked like he was enjoying himself. He definitely did when he ‘accidentally’ flung some dirt at an unsuspecting target. One-shot actually knocked Unkai to the ground much to their amusement.

“Why oh why didn’t we have you before,” Raulf let out in glee as he tossed another beet into Saph’s basket.

“I was too expensive,” Jarix retorted with a deep throaty laugh. “Don’t forget I’m getting a bath in the lake after this.”

“You can bet your tail on that, you big blue beauty.”

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“I have to ask, how did you do that? You have given him his payment,” Victoria had questioned Tom after taking him aside in the middle of all the work. “He’s never wanted to do anything other than sit around before? Maybe show off or take a nice leisurely flight.”

“Sit around with his friends if I remember right,” Tom went, gesturing at the field. “His friends are now working. It also helps that when you feel like you are part of something and the others are doing hard work you end up feeling bad. He’s a very good kid after all.”

“Huh, but he has already gotten the machine gun,” was all the response Victoria had for that as she stood there dumbfounded.

“Yup, and this is the reason he got it. He’s done it. He’s now a part of this place. He will fight for it, we will fight for him, as such we will equip him.”

“So what you are saying is... If we fight for your keep. Which we are ordered to do, not considering our little agreement...” Victoria replied, rather leadingly before Tom cut her off.

“What happens if the Inquisition decides to wipe us out? Will you be the one to do it?” That comment clearly didn’t sit well with Victoria as she pondered how to respond with a sneer on her face, failing to come up with a reply. Tom knew that wasn’t a fair question, the colonel didn't strike him as a bad person but she was a colonel after all. “I know you wouldn’t want to, but you are also a soldier.”

“And you think Jarix isn’t?” She replied with an edge to her tone.

“Not sure anymore. I think he would at least be torn.”

“And you think I would not be torn when it comes to the extermination of people whose only crime is breathing?”

“I still think you would do it.”

“You’re probably right,” Victoria relented, looking back to the merry band hard at work in the field.

“Do you think they will order us exterminated when they have what they want?” Tom questioned going to retie his bootlaces.

“Sounds like Joelina wouldn’t. No telling about the rest of them,” the colonel admitted reluctantly. “If they want to open their vaults they are gonna want you that's for sure. Knowledge is useless if you don’t know what to do with it.”

“So, our main hope is that an ice-cold woman, who cracks minds open as a pastime, might want me for her pet project,” Tom replied with a deep sigh.

“As much as it pains me to say it… and whatever you do, don’t say that to her face.”

“I figured as much. Nothing we can do to help their case?”

“Don’t make a mess of the current situation?” Victoria retorted with a slight sigh. “Atl least I think this is a bit more than a pet project. Knowing her, she will heaven and hell to get it done.”

“Right, don’t die, pretend everything is normal, and wait for the important people to do their thing… Very well. Step one, we have work to do and fun to be had. Then we can pray later that everything is gonna be just fine,” Tom replied before walking off back to the field to lend a hand.

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Well, Saph had finally gotten a break from the more tiring work, currently being assigned to decoration creation with some of the kids. They were working with a bit of a hodge-podge of materials: various scraps of leather, parchment, and paper (most of it sketches Tom had thrown out). They had both the red paint that had been bought as well as the old-fashioned blue to make it all look pretty though.

Esmeralda had taken some of the kids that were old enough to fly out to pick flowers and other pretty things to decorate the tables. That is to say, Saph had Kiran, who had for once been lured away from Tom; the twins, who seemed to like sitting down and be artsy; Turinia who was happily helping Kiran; Lothal, and Jinora, though the baby obviously wasn’t much use aside from crawling around a little and playing a bit with whatever she could get her hands on. It wasn’t good for productivity, but it was catastrophically cute.

It did feel a little weird sitting here doing arts and crafts while everyone else was doing something incredibly important, and she was making streamers with a bunch of kids… Not that she minded. Saph had gotten her fill of stressful, hard, or important work as of late; this was all very nice and relaxing.

In her little zone out she had missed the kids’ conversation changing to a one-upping competition on what kind of magic they wanted to get when they grew up.

“I wanna breathe lightning like Jarix,” Kiran had piped up, doing his best little roar then looking very proud of himself.

“Wouldn’t that hurt?” one of the twins had questioned.

“Not if it’s magic… Right, Saph?”

“I have no idea. Never heard of someone breathing lightning before.”

“Jarix!” the other twin went, raising their hand. Saph honestly couldn’t tell which was which. It didn’t help that she had never seen two kids look that alike.

“Jarix is not Dragonette.” Kiran Turinia retorted with an exaggerated sigh.

“Glira!” The guy tried again with equal enthusiasm.

Saph let out a bit of a chuckle as Kiran did his best, and very over-exaggerated, facepalm. “I wanna breathe lightning like Jarix. He's cool.”

“What about Tom, don’t you think he’s pretty cool?” Saph tried with a bit of a snicker.

“Tom is best, but Tom have no magic,” Kiran stated matter of factly. It was hard to argue with that assessment though. “If Tom get magic then I want that.”

“Do humans get magic, Saph?” the first of the twins asked, looking up from their delicate project.

“Not where they come from. Here we have no idea.” Saph replied with a smile and a shrug.

“I heard he has magic,” the second twin piped up.

“Yeah, but Jacky don’t like when he uses it. She keeps screaming and shouting at him when he does,” the second twin added, Saph’s eyes going wide as she frantically tried to figure out what the fuck to say in that situation.

“No, you dumb dumb, they are practicing. Tom need learn sword fight,” Kiran stated matter of factly.

“Ooohhhh,” both the twins went in unison, nodding to each other.

‘Oh thank whoever is listening,’ Saph went to herself, noticing her heart was actually pounding a little.

“Oh Saph, show them yours,” Kiran went, looking up at Saph with a pleading expression.

Saph didn’t need much of an excuse to show off a little and she hardly needed the energy for this job. She took a quick breath then lifted the shears she was holding. “Not bad, hey?” She questioned looking around at them. Jinaro crawled over, attempting to grab the shears.

Saph moved them up a bit higher before grabbing them out of the air, taking a deep breath. “Now, now, shears are sharp. We can’t have you playing with those now can we?” Saph went, taking Jinaro into her lap. “And we are all wondering what might happen with you.”

“Guaah,” Jinaro went, reaching for the shears in Saph’s hand.

“Fine, I’ll do a bit more.” Saph got a little brush instead, the shears were a little heavy after all, and lifted it above Jinaro as she played with it. Jinaro sat happily babbling and trying to grab the floating brush, finally managing to grab it and seemingly displeased she didn’t start floating herself, looking pleadingly up at Saph. “I know you aren’t very big yet, but you are still too heavy,” Saph replied with a chuckle as she pulled around the brush a little despite the strain. It was just so cute to look at. Then before she really grasped what was happening, Jinaro’s eyes went pale white and the baby lifted off the ground with a gleeful shriek. Saph quickly cut the flow of magic, Jinaro falling back into her lap.

“That was sooo cool!” Kiran shouted out, standing up.

“Again again” the twins went in unison, Turina just looking curiously at her own brush.

Saph just sat there for a second contemplating what had just happened, looking down at the baby. ‘I guess that answers that question,’ she finally went to herself.

“Lothal, keep an eye on them, would you? I’m just gonna go see Nunuk real quick.”

“Okay.” The older boy replied not moving from his station of the little assembly line.

“I wanna come too,” Kiran predictably went as Saph stood up.

“No, you just stay here. We still need to have Jarix decked out. He won’t be pleased if they aren’t up to standard.”

“Okay,” Kiran went a little reluctantly, sitting back down with the garlands he was working on.

Saph had done her best to keep Jinaro happy, letting the baby play with her finger as she made her way upstairs, looking for Nunuk, politely knocking on the door to her room.

“Come in,” the familiar voice came from inside. Opening the door, she found the old lady looking over a large tome full of numbers. “Oh Saph, come in. What is it?”

“I think we just found out what happens with the whole unicorn blood situation,” Saph replied, holding out Jinaro a little before clutching the baby back into her chest.

“Go on,” Nunuk replied, turning around to face Saph after putting the quill down.

“I think she can amplify magic.”

“Huh… So what you are saying is we have a one-year-old that can do what?”

“She made my magic stronger. I was just playing a bit with a brush. She grabbed onto it and obviously I couldn’t lift her… Then I just could… It was easy too.”

It took a bit of Nunuk looking for the right words, going to speak a few times before thinking better of it. “Why?” The lady finally went staring ahead blankly.

“Why?” Saph echoed curiously tilting her head ever so slightly.

“Why do these things just keep on happening. We have riches of knowledge beyond compare. A person from another world, an ancient tomb of ancient history beneath us, the Inquisition breathing down our necks, Royal Guard everywhere, and now we have a baby blessed by a unicorn which just so happens to develop strong magic at age one!” Nunuk replied, shoulders slouching. “What is it with this year!”

“I gave up trying to figure that out a while ago,” Saph replied, giving Jinaro a finger to play with again.

“Gods, I wish I could do that,” Nunuk replied, going over to tickle the baby a little.

“At least there won’t be any young ones this year, I guess you will have to do. You are a cute one though.”

“Yeah, I guess no one wanted kids in the middle of all this.”

“And thank Itova for that. Anyway, so how did she do it?” Nunuk responded, looking down at the little one.

“Her eyes just went moon white, then she simply took off.”

“Right… Well, I guess we just need to keep an eye on her. She’s just a kid after all; we can’t start training her any time soon... At least none of the other children have magic for her to enhance. I’ll let everyone know at dinner, then I guess we'll just have to see.”

“Can do,” Saph replied, playing a little with the baby’s snout, which earned her a nip on the finger. “Oh, so you wanna fight now do you?”

“Guaahh!” Jinora replied, spreading out arms, wings, and legs looking up at Saph.

“Good, we are gonna need real fighters.”

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