Digging Up The Past

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 13, Post Number 314

-Nebdoui, early morning-

Wearing her blue, white, and gold outfit that could repair itself, Leona also wore her Argent Gloves and wore Shoki on her left hip. Ses Revanche was concealed in her right boot and her ever-present backpack full of supplies was on her back. Today she was here on the request of her mother, the newly minted advisor to the new chief of Nebdoui after Chief Elijah fell ill. In the letter sent to her Sophia explained that the village doctors had determined that Chief Elijah had not been poisoned but simply fell victim to infirmities that came with advanced age. Those problems were not helped by the stresses of life in the desert.

Leona landed on the outskirts of the village and hopped off of Winged Lion, then dispelled the summon. She then walked towards the village and saw her mother standing at the village entrance, which was marked by a newly built waist-high adobe wall that was presumably built for defense. Leona was apprehensive about what her mother had to say, but she had to answer the summons because she had promised Chief Elijah that she would protect the village and keep the alliance strong. Sophia spotted Leona and began walking towards her with a scroll clutched in her left hand.

Mother and daughter met each other just outside the wall and Sophia spoke first.

"You received this scroll yesterday afternoon. It's from the sultan." Sophia said to her. Leona knew that it was time to fulfill a "request" from one of the three rulers of Desierto. Leona accepted the scroll from her mother and carefully unfurled it, holding the bottom end in her left hand and holding the top in her right hand.

"It looks like the bill's come due." Leona remarked. As she read over the scroll she learned that the sultan "requested" Leona's assistance with exploring an archaeological site in Central Desierto that was believed to be connected to King Saarghon. The site in question was located in a mine, but it had not yet been opened. The Wizard Saint recalled from her study of Professor Henry Rosetta's thick tome titled Ancient Desierto that Central Desierto was where King Saarghon had established his capitol city of Niveneh hundreds of years ago. She wondered if this site had a link to the ancient capitol of the Kurran Empire.

"It has indeed come due." Sophia said dryly. Leona knew that the protection of the sultans did not come for free. They would want something out of it and they had decided now was the time for them to begin collecting payment for their protection. While her left shoulder still hurt from the duel with the pirate captain, she had no choice in the matter. When the sultans "asked" her to do something Leona had no choice but to do it unless she wanted Nebdoui to suffer the consequences.

"I'll get going right away." Leona said, carefully putting the scroll in her backpack. The conversation between mother and daughter was even more stilted than it had been in the past, which was saying something. Her mother was now the advisor to Chief Joshua and she could not play favorites without accusations of favoritism being directed at her. Leona had to be treated just like any other member of the village.

"This should be an easy job for you, Wizard Saint." Sophia said to Leona. Leona was quick to note the distant tone in which her mother had said that remark and the use of her title instead of her name. It seemed like any hope of reconciliation between the two Jarnefeldts had been dashed when Sophia was appointed as the official advisor to Chief Joshua. Oh well.

"It should be." Leona said before turning around and walking away to the village outskirts to get enough space to summon Winged Lion for another trip. She was pretty sure that this was not going to be the easy job it was made out to be. If they needed someone with a scholarly background to explore the mine, why not send for Dr. Anna or Dr. Crouch?

Leona was pretty sure that there was going to be fighting at some point in the job, but that was fine by her. Fighting was what she did best anyway. She summoned Winged Lion and climbed onto his back, then instructed him to make for Central Desierto. He complied and soon the Wizard Saint of Courage was airborne.

-Central Desierto, three hours later-

Leona landed at the location in Central Desierto and noticed that it had been fortified with a high wooden wall that ran the entire perimeter of the camp and was manned by members of the royal army. Leona brought out the scroll from her backpack and carefully approached the large double doors of the main gate. The gates began to open and Leona stopped where she was.

Once the gates had opened Leona entered the camp to find a hive of activity. Inside was a large tent city filled with laborers and guards plus a sizable number of archaeologists in khaki clothing. Leona waited for an escort to the mine and soon met with the one-eyed Captain Hisham and eight of his men. She waited for the men to approach to disarm her but they remained by the captain's side. Chances were high that they let her keep her weapons because she would need them for whatever lay inside the mine.

"It has been a long time since we have last met, Wizard Saint. I see that you have answered the summons of the sultan. I trust you know why you are here." He said to her.

"Yes." Leona answered laconically.

"Good. Then you will begin right away." He said to her. Leona let herself be led to the mine, which was located in the northeast of the camp and flanked by tents, presumably those of the archaeologists. Leona followed the captain and his men to the entrance and after a brisk five-minute walk stood outside of it, peering into the mine that was lit by lacrima-powered lanterns that were positioned at 25-meter intervals.

"You are to go inside the mine and find a way to open the entrance to the ruins. Once that is done, you are to explore them and eliminate any threats that might be waiting within." Captain Hisham briefed Leona on her responsibilities in a simple and clear manner.

"Understood." Leona said. She then took a deep breath and entered the mine to begin the exploration. She wondered what kinds of threats might be waiting for explorers of the ruins. Her thoughts leaned in the direction of dart traps, collapsing floors that concealed spike pits, and mummified soldiers.

[Post Word Count: 1,123]
[Total Word Count: 1,123/8,000]

-Inside the mine-

Leona slowly walked down the path that had been helpfully illuminated by the lacrima-powered lanterns until what was believed to be the entrance to the ruins came withing view. She stopped in front of a wall that was decorated with phrases chiseled into the stone that praised someone for their beneficent rule and offered wishes for a long and prosperous reign. In the center of the wall was what looked like a single stone door that had tool marks around the edges like someone had tried to pry it open. Perhaps the archaeologists had had some laborers try to open the door by force and gave up when they failed.

Standing in front of the door, Leona put her hands on her hips and looked at the expressions of praise that filled the walls. They were chiseled in ordinary Court Heiromesh, so Leona was able to read them with no trouble.

ALL HAIL KING SAARGHON, CONQUEROR OF THE SANDS!

THE WILL OF SAARGHON BROUGHT ORDER OUT OF CHAOS!

MAY KING SAARGHON'S RULE LAST FOR MANY CENTURIES!

Leona looked at those phrases plus many more that filled the walls. She looked towards what she believed was the door and noticed something odd... a phrase was chiseled onto it as well. The Wizard Saint approached and used her right hand to brush off a mix of dirt and cobwebs, uncovering the entire phrase.

TO ENTER THE KING'S HOUSE, PRAISE HIS NAME.

Praise his name.

Leona took a few moments to ponder what that meant. She did not know what praise she could offer that was not already chiseled on the walls. King Saarghon was definitely a vain monarch. Perhaps that was because he was of peasant origins and had to put on an act worthy of a king to keep the Kurran nobility from overthrowing him and installing their own candidate on the throne. Only the ancient king knew for certain and he was not exactly in a position to talk to Leona or the sultan's archaeological team.

Leona thought about the phrase a bit more and applied a bit of critical thinking. The words on the door were not random gibberish. They were instructions!

"ALL HAIL KING SAARGHON, HE WHO CONTROLS THE SANDS!" Leona said aloud. The door did not budge. The Wizard Saint was momentarily stumped until her eyes wandered to the wall again.

All the phrases were in Court Heiromesh. What if the praise had to be offered in Court Heiromesh as well? It was worth a try.

"Are you having difficulty, Wizard Saint?" Captain Hisham's voice asked Leona. The Wizard Saint slowly turned around to find the royal army captain and four of his men, who were armed with bolt-action rifles and scimitars at their sides. She wondered if he was sent to keep an eye on her and execute her if she failed to produce results.

"I was for a moment, but now I think I've found a way in. It has to do with those phrases on the wall. They're written in an ancient language called Court Heiromesh." Leona answered confidently. The captain raised an eyebrow. She turned back to the door and recalled Professor Albert Rosetta's patient tutoring and how he taught Leona an ancient language that only a few dozen people had any proficiency in. Captain Hisham seemed unimpressed and did not hesitate to let her know that.

"The archaeologists outside have told us as much. They are hand-picked scholars from Crocus Magicka University, some of the best and brightest in their fields. The sultan was hoping that you could find something that they could not." Captain Hisham told her. Leona kept that in mind as she turned back to the doorway and uttered the same phrase, this time in Court Heiromesh.

"ALL HAIL KING SAARGHON, HE WHO CONTROLS THE SANDS!" Leona offered praise in passable Court Heiromesh. It had been so long since she had studied the language, but she had remembered enough of the pronunciation and grammar to get by. It was certainly good enough to solve this puzzle. The phrase on the door glowed gold and the door raised open.

"It appears that I underestimated your resourcefulness, Wizard Saint. I apologize for that." Captain Hisham apologized to her as Leona approached the door and let her natural night vision take effect.

"I think I see something in the distance, Captain. It looks like a human shape. Stay here. I don't think your rifles and swords will do you any good." Leona replied, drawing Shoki and preparing to go into the newly opened hallway. There was no way that the human shape in the distance was friendly. No human could survive sealed up in an underground area that had been sealed for centuries. Leona hoped that Shoki had enough holy power to deal with whatever lurked inside the underground structure. Captain Hisham and his men hung back while Leona went inside to scout ahead and eliminate any danger that lay ahead.

-Inside the hallway-

Leona entered a wide hallway with Shoki at the ready and noticed that there were scenes of people in lavish robes walking towards a man seated on a throne that sat at the top of a dais. In the hands of the people were platters bearing extravagant gifts like bars of precious metals, diamonds, jewelry, and other gifts worthy of a monarch. Leona recalled the text of Ancient Desierto and how it listed gold, silver, diamonds, and other expensive ingredients as part of the life-lengthening elixirs prepared for King Saarghon by his chosen alchemists. If that was the case, the tribute had practical value as well as a symbolic value.

Leona turned away from the tribute scenes and focused on the path ahead of her, which was wide enough to accommodate four people walking side-by-side and was completely dark. Up ahead was a humanoid figure standing about 200 meters away, but now it was not alone. With it were five more humanoid figures and they were all facing her. Leona sensed dark magic emanating from the figures and readied herself for combat with enemy mages.

Leona recalled her last encounter with mummified creatures and recalled that no mortal weapons could harm them, but fire could. Their wrappings were flammable and once the creatures were set on fire that was the end of them. However, Leona did not have a burning torch, only Shoki and Ses Revanche. The holy sword should be enough to deal with them, but she would not find out until she closed with the figures. They moaned and began to shamble towards her with arms extended... a closer look showed that they were mummified humans, possibly mummified servants.

Leona took a deep breath and tightened her grip on Shoki before waiting for the right time to engage the mummies. Once they were within 50 meters of her the Wizard Saint went into action against them. Shoki flashed in the darkness as she cut into the first mummy with a diagonal right-to-left slash through the chest and it paused in place, falling to the floor in two pieces and ceasing to be a threat. The discovery that Shoki was effective on them boosted Leona's confidence and she pressed her advantage against the slow-moving mummies, being careful not to be grabbed by them as she attacked.

Leona dispatched another with a downward chop that severed its right arm followed by a horizontal right-to-left slash that bisected it at the waist. As three more mummies approached Leona put Shoki into its scabbard, then quickly drew it to make use of the Blue Flash technique. The blade cut all three in half at the waist with a left-to-right horizontal swing and they fell apart, leaving only one more mummy in her way. Leona dispatched it with a downward chop that split it down the middle from the top of the head.

Now that the mummies were gone Leona had a moment to catch her breath. The hallway continued up ahead and ended at a prominent single stone door roughly 200 meters from her current position. Leona felt her left shoulder begin to ache and waited for the pain to stop before moving on.

[Post Word Count: 1,367]
[Total Word Count: 2,490/8,000]

After a brief pause of two minutes the pain stopped enough for Leona to move on, so move on she did. Clutching Shoki in her right hand as she carefully advanced down the hall, Leona had only proceeded ten meters when she heard footsteps and voices calling out behind her. The Wizard Saint turned to see a team of laborers setting lacrima lanterns on the floor at neat 25-meter intervals and a group of archaeologists begin to examine the scenes of tribute depicted on the wall. Leona did not think it wise for the archaeologists to begin piling into the area before it had been completely cleared, but the presence of Captain Hisham and some of his men told her that they might be here on his orders and kept her mouth shut. Instead she faced forward and proceeded towards the door in the distance to see what puzzle waited for her next.

After a brief and brisk walk of two minutes Leona approached the door and looked at the walls around her for any clues on how to open it. On the walls on each side of the door was a bas-relief of people in lavish robes bowing to a man seated on a throne and looking down the supplicants. Again the seated figure was none other than King Saarghon. Leona was not sure how to proceed until she saw what looked like a face on the door that was obscured by dust that had gathered over centuries.

Leona carefully approached it and gently blew on it, removing dust and revealing a bearded figure with a crown on his head who was staring directly at her. Leona backed up three steps and looked for any text chiseled beneath the depiction of King Saarghon and did not find any this time. Leona then backed up five more steps to get a look at the big picture, so to speak.

Her eyes drifted towards the scenes of people bowing in supplication and pondered over the implications for a few moments. Again she started to think about what was in front of her and surmised that it might be a clue on how to open the door. Behind her she saw the archaeologists getting closer and realized that she needed to hurry because they were not waiting for anyone or anything.

Leona noticed that the bowing people were on their knees with their foreheads touching the ground. Maybe she needed to bow to the image of the king to open the door. With nothing else to lose, the Wizard Saint set Shoki aside, carefully got on her knees, and bowed exactly as depicted on the bas-reliefs.

She touched her forehead to the ground and held it there for a silent count of three. Her bowing in homage to an image of a long-dead king was rewarded when she heard the sound of stone grinding against stone and the door sliding to the left. Her joy was short-lived when a gaggle of soldier mummies equipped with ancient iron swords marched out of the doorway to attack. Leona heard screaming behind her as frightened archaeologists and laborers fled for their lives in case the Wizard Saint and the royal army were not able to stop the mummies.

Leona quickly got to her feet and picked up Shoki, brandishing it in her right hand and quickly backing away from the approaching undead soldiers marching in two ranks with thirteen men in each rank. The Wizard Saint retreated to get enough room to cast a Wind Blast with her left hand, then raised said hand and channeled magic into it before firing the spell. It knocked down five of the mummified soldiers marching in formation and broke up the formation, allowing the Wizard Saint a chance to attack them.

Leona ran in and attacked a mummified soldier in the middle of the formation she had just blasted a hole in, cutting it in half at the waist with a right-to-left horizontal slash before it could even turn to face her. Leona then hurried over to the next one and decapitated it with ease, then repeated the process on the third and the fourth before being forced to back off when the first rank stepped aside and made way for the second rank to march through the gaps. The blonde was quick to note that despite their slow speed the soldier mummies possessed some basic tactical acumen, but it was not enough to stop her from falling back ten meters before readying another distance spell to break the new formation.

Leona raised her left hand and began to channel magic into it for a Gale Cannon spell when behind her the human soldiers began firing their rifles at the approaching enemies. While the normal bullets did not kill the undead enemies, the impact of the rounds still staggered them, giving Leona an opportunity to attack isolated mummies. She began to swing Shoki at individuals separated from the formation and carved through four mummies before being forced to fall back again. She was tempted to use her special adrenaline rush to boost her strength to cut through them even faster, but she did not want to expend the special ability in case there were even tougher enemies lying in wait deeper underground.

The Wizard Saint instead raised her left hand and fired a Gale Cannon at the chest of the closest mummy, knocking it down and blasting a small hole in their ranks. She exploited that opening to begin carving through more enemies, eliminating another five before the ranks could reform. She was starting to whittle them down, but there were still over a dozen of them to go before this batch was defeated and the archaeologists could safely resume their work.

The men of the royal army fired a volley and staggered a few of the mummified soldiers, giving her another chance to attack. Attack Leona did, taking out another three in quick succession with decapitating strikes. This time the Wizard Saint decided to press her advantage and did not back off, carving through the right side of the front rank while easily dodging the slow and clumsy sword swings of the mummies that she could see coming from a mile away. The riflemen held their fire while the Wizard Saint turned and began cutting through the left side of the front rank before being forced to retreat when the rear rank began moving in on her.

Leona backed away ten meters and watched the remaining mummified soldiers advance towards her, Captain Hisham, and his men. She counted eleven enemies remaining before she could catch her breath. Leona gripped Shoki and waited for the next volley from the riflemen before making her move. Seconds later they fired a volley and Leona moved in with a Zephyr Dash to mop up the undead.

By moving swiftly and going for the head Leona dealt with the remaining undead soldiers without any real trouble. Once the last of them had fallen Leona took a moment to recover from the exertion and the pain in her left shoulder, which was starting to flare up again after raising her left hand to cast spells. That was a problem because during this adventure Leona's usage of Wind Strike Magic revolved around using the off hand to cast magic while she used Shoki in her dominant hand. With her left shoulder still bruised casting magic was harder than it would ordinarily be, but that was just an obstacle for the Wizard Saint to overcome. If she could survive the cursed sword Kamisori absorbing her life force until her right arm was skeletal, she could survive a shoulder that was bruised from a gunshot wound.

[Post Word Count: 1,290]
[Total Word Count: 3,780/8,000]

After the last of the mummified soldiers fell to the earth Leona took a deep breath and put Shoki away for a moment so that she could move the fingers of her right hand about after holding Shoki in such a tight grip. Leona flexed her fingers and took another deep breath, then approached the open door and went through it to see what was on the other side. She did not want the archaeologists getting too excited and moving ahead of her, thus running the risk of running into traps or more mummified protectors of this place. Speaking of this place, the Wizard Saint had no idea what exactly she was in. Was it a tomb of an important official, an underground library, an underground temple, a treasure vault, or simply yet another monument to King Saarghon to ensure that his name would live forever even if he did not?

Leona set those questions aside and strode through the door while Captain Hisham and his men remained behind to protect the archaeologists and laborers who were filing back into the recently cleared corridor.

-Inside the next hallway-

Leona walked through the open door only to find herself in still another hallway that was exactly the same as the two preceding it. The Wizard Saint paused five steps away from the door and looked at the walls around her for any carvings that set this hallway apart from the others and was soon rewarded by seeing carvings of men seated in a cross-legged style writing on parchment as the man on the throne held a hand out as if making an edict. Leona surmised that the scene depicted King Saarghon dictating an edict to royal scribes, which could indicate that this place was ultimately an underground library, but that was not certain. She had seen scenes of tribute being brought to the king and people bowing to the king, but so far this place had not turned out to be a treasure vault or a temple.

Leona walked down the hallway until she got to within five meters of the door before stopping to look at the walls for clues, but all she saw on both sides of the door was a repeat of the scene with the scribes writing down the king's edict. Maybe the door would provide a clue. Leona approached it and looked for anything that stood out but her examination came up with nothing out of the ordinary. She ran her fingers along it looking for anything obscured by dust and cobwebs but could find nothing with that approach either, so she took a few more steps back to get a look at the bigger picture in the hopes of finding something out of the ordinary that had eluded her sight the first time.

Leona stepped back and reviewed the scenes on both sides of the door for any irregularities and was not spotting any. Maybe there were no hidden tricks or hidden levers to open the door. Maybe she could just walk up and pull it open, a concept that was so novel that the architects probably banked on people not trying that trick. The ancient architects never banked on Leona overthinking the matter and to actually try pulling the door open either. The Wizard Saint approached the door, gripped the left side of it, and pulled on it, expecting to fail and be laughed at by the captain and his men.

To her immense surprise her idea worked. There was no lock on the door and it was opening with no resistance whatsoever. Leona could hardly believe what was happening.

The door was actually opening by being pulled to the right.

Instead of being thrilled that her idea was working, Leona was deeply worried about what lay on the other side of the door. Things seldom went this easy for her and when they did that was usually a sign that an unpleasant surprise was not too far behind. She finally opened the door and expected to be attacked by still more mummies who had been set to protect this place, but after a full minute of waiting and nothing coming through Leona concluded that maybe this one time there was no hidden catch.

"Is there any trouble, Wizard Saint?" Captain Hisham asked her. Leona turned around slowly and faced the captain and his men.

"I just pulled this door open without any trouble whatsoever. That concerns me." Leona reported to him. The captain gave a small smile.

"Perhaps the locking mechanism was faulty. Or perhaps there was never a locking mechanism to begin with. I would take that as a sign that luck is with us." Captain Hisham said to her. Leona was still concerned that there was something bad that was going to happen soon. She kept that concern to herself so that the captain did not get concerned about her mental well-being and report it to the sultan. Leona needed the sultan to trust her so that Nebdoui could remain safe.

"I hope that's all there is to it." Leona said to the captain, putting on a false smile in an effort to hide how she really felt. In her experience any good luck like this came with a dose of bad luck that was commensurate to the good luck she had just benefited from. Maybe she was just overthinking things and today she had caught a lucky break for once.

Leona walked into the room to see what was on the other side of the unlocked door.

-Inside the next area-

Leona walked into the next area expecting another undead army to be waiting for her but found nothing of the sort. Instead was a long room that was the same dimensions as the hallways she had just walked through. On the walls were more scenes of scribes taking dictation from the king and at the end was a tall stone bookcase loaded with something that looked like tablets. Leona took a deep breath and began walking through the room to try and trigger any hidden traps before the archaeologists, laborers, or Captain Hisham and his men did. She walked all over the room, zigzagging as she went and walking on every square inch of floor available to her, but there were no dart traps or collapsing floors to be triggered.

After walking on every square inch of the floor to make certain that it was not trapped Leona approached the tall stone bookcase and looked at the contents. There were a lot of clay tablets that had been baked to harden them, but she did not dare touch them because she did not have proper gloves and she was not sure how sturdy they were. Knowing her luck they would crumble the moment she touched them and accidentally destroying the tablets would definitely piss off the sultan. Instead Leona would stand back and let the sultan's hand-picked archaeologists handle them since they had the equipment and the training to handle delicate objects. They were not long in coming.

Leona stepped off to the right side of the room and let the khaki-clad people do what they were paid to do while she did what she was paid to do, which was ensure their safety and the safety of the newly discovered tablets. She heard footsteps off to the left and turned to see Captain Hisham and his men approaching.

"See? There was nothing to worry about. Today luck is with us!" Captain Hisham said to her from a short distance away, giving her a small smile. Leona relaxed a little, but she would not truly relax until this job was over and she was back in Nebdoui to report her success to her mother. For now she stayed out of the way and waited for further instructions from the captain.

[Post Word Count: 1,312]
[Total Word Count: 5,092/8,000]

-Three hours later, outside the mine-

After hours of watching the archaeologists collect the hardened clay tablets and examine the room Leona was glad to finally see daylight after spending hours underground. Now that the underground library had been declared free of both undead enemies and hidden traps, Leona was at loose ends while she waited from orders from the captain. She stood to the left of the mine entrance basking in the sunlight and watching the stream of laborers and archaeologists gently carry the hardened clay tablets to a large rectangular tent about 50 meters northwest of her position. Her left shoulder was aching off and on, but since she was expecting no more combat she did not worry too much about it. She stood and felt the wind blow through her hair while she watched the activity all around her.

Leona stood in place and waited for orders from the captain, but he and his men were still inside the underground library, presumably ensuring the security of the remaining tablets. Leona looked towards the wooden walls surrounding the camp and saw some riflemen patrolling the top of the walls and others standing in place while keeping an eye on the horizon. Inside the camp were patrolling teams of riflemen who walked the perimeter of the wall to catch any intruders who may have slipped by the sentries atop the wall. The sultan spared no expense to make sure that would-be thieves did not get anywhere near the site, much less make off with any of his ancient treasures.

Leona turned her attention from the walls to the tent city that loomed to her immediate right. The tents were arranged in a neat grid pattern and were all plain canvas tents that belonged to the laborers and the royal army. The archaeologists had a small tent city of their own near the northwestern corner of the wall. There were roughly a dozen smaller tents to the left of a big rectangular tent where the clay tablets were being taken to for examination. Thinking about the archaeologists made her briefly wonder if Desierto had its own university like Capital Crocus did. She had not heard of one, but just because she had not heard of one did not mean that it did not exist.

Leona then thought back to the lessons on Court Heiromesh that she had taken to date and realized that she had yet to take the Expert-level test so that she could be officially qualified to help on the intellectual side of archaeological endeavors, maybe even help out in a museum somewhere. However, the Wizard Saint had been too busy saving the world from various threats to study for the exam. She was also too restless to give academia a sustained effort. Despite what she had learned reading through most of Ancient Desierto was a chore and it would take a lot of effort to motivate herself enough to plow through the three hundred or so remaining pages of the work. Leona would have to dig deep and find the motivation so that she could truthfully say that she had completed at least one academic endeavor in her life.

Leona's thoughts then turned to what information the clay tablets had written on them. She wondered what had been so important that it was deemed worthy of placing in an underground library for preservation. Maybe they held some long-lost secrets of the ancient world like the formula to the life-prolonging elixirs that King Saarghon took. Maybe they contained other useful things like some history of the last days of the Kurran Empire as the Muserian-led coalition took over the empire's provinces before laying siege to Niveneh itself, the location of King Saarghon's tomb, or any number of other topics that were of interest to modern scholars. Even if the tablets turned out to contain no such important information but were instead something more humble like accounts of life from centuries ago, they would still make for good records of ancient life.

The Wizard Saint was waiting for instructions from Captain Hisham but had not yet received any, so she remained where she was and continued to watch over the steady procession of people going in and out of the mine without pause. Everything was peaceful and there was no sign of trouble on the horizon, which suited Leona just fine. Sometimes the blonde liked peaceful moments when things went smoothly and there were no last-minute complications to endanger the job's success. This was shaping up to be one of those jobs.

Leona watched the stream of people and near the end of the line spotted Captain Hisham and his men making their way out of the mine. She wondered if he had any instructions for her and watched in anticipation as he walked towards her. The one-eyed captain eventually reached her and stood in front of her as to not obstruct the flow of traffic. His men stood just off to the side of the Wizard Saint and watched her like hawks.

"An archaeologist examined the door you pulled open and learned that there was no lock installed on it. He also learned that the door you pulled aside weighed roughly four tons. Luck was truly with us today." Captain Hisham informed her. Leona was surprised to learn that there was no lock on the ancient door, but she was not surprised as to how she had opened the four-ton door by herself. It was all because of the Argent Gloves she wore. Since they granted Leona the strength to move up to twenty tons of weight, a feat such as moving a four-ton stone door to one side was child's play for her. The Argent Gloves had saved the archaeological team a lot of time and effort and they had also saved Leona from the sultan's wrath, making the gauntlets an invaluable part of her adventuring gear.

"I'm glad I could help." Leona said calmly.

"The archaeological team is still examining the underground library that you cleared out. So far they seem to think that it has a connection to the ancient ruler King Saarghon. You are familiar with him, yes?" The captain stated before asking a question.

"Yes, Captain. I'm familiar with King Saarghon. I've been reading old books about him and have some familiarity with Court Heiromesh, but I'm not officially certified as an expert in the language." Leona answered the captain's question. He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? That explains how you were able to open the first door. You are more versatile than I thought." He said to her. Leona felt only mildly insulted because the man was only speaking the truth. The Wizard Saint was best known for winning numerous fights across Earthland, not as a scholar of ancient history. It was only recently that she had started to seriously study an ancient language and ancient culture.

"Thanks." Leona modestly thanked the captain for his praise.

"Since there is nothing more for you to do here, you may return to your village. But know that you are now sworn to secrecy until the details are made public by the sultan himself. Everything I have told you about this site and everything you have seen here cannot leave this camp." Captain Hisham told her in all seriousness. Leona was sure that the penalty for revealing anything was death not only for her but also for Nebdoui and its allies. She was not going to tell anyway, but now she had even more reason not to breathe a word of what she had seen and heard.

"I won't say a word." Leona assured the captain. He nodded and gave a smile.

"Very well then. You may go. The sultan will be in contact with you for future work." He said to her. Leona bade the captain farewell and made her own way out of the camp. She would return to Nebdoui and report back to her mother to tell of her success in helping the sultan with making the underground library safe for the ruler's archaeological team to do its work in peace.

[Post Word Count: 1,358]
[Total Word Count: 6,450/8,000]

-Three hours later, on the outskirts of Nebdoui-

Riding Winged Lion from the fortified camp surrounding the excavation site to the outskirts of Nebdoui, Leona hopped off of the summon's back and dispelled it, then began walking towards the desert village to speak with her mother before heading back for Silver Wolf Guild Hall and either taking on the paperwork that waited for her or forcing herself to sit down and finish reading the remaining three hundred or so pages of Ancient Desierto. Leona spotted her mother waiting for her near the same waist-high adobe wall that she had met Leona by earlier today. Again Sophia Jarnefeldt approached her daughter like she did not want the Wizard Saint to enter the village of her birth. Leona wondered why she was being kept at arm's length by her mother.

"I take it that your mission was a success?" Sophia asked Leona. Leona nodded.

"I completed the job the sultan asked me to do. I'm not allowed to tell you anything about what I did because I've been sworn to secrecy by a captain of the royal army." Leona replied solemnly to her mother. Sophia was inclined to ask what Leona had done on behalf of the sultan, but once the oath of secrecy was brought up the older blonde quickly abandoned the idea and instead began to speak about something else. It was safer for everyone that way.

"It's best that we leave it at that." Sophia quickly said. Leona nodded in agreement. There was not very much to talk about between them ever since her mother had been appointed advisor to Chief Joshua. Her mother had become distant because even talking with her daughter the Wizard Saint could be seen as either Sophia trying to use her famous daughter to elevate herself further or Leona attempting to manipulate her mother for her own benefit. Neither claim was true, but in order to keep the skeptics from getting fuel for the rumor mill mother and daughter had to treat each other a lot more formally than they had treated each other in the past.

"Yes." Leona readily agreed. The Jarnefeldts were obviously struggling for something else to say to each other. Both of them looked at each other and tried to find the right words to say, but nothing was coming out. Leona was not sure if she should ask about Chief Elijah's condition or not because it was too soon to be asking that kind of question. Sophia might have also been sworn to secrecy on the chief's condition, so even if she asked Leona might not be able to get an answer from her mother.

"I take it you are going to go back to your guild hall soon?" Sophia asked in a desperate attempt to keep the dying conversation going. Leona nodded.

"I'm about to go back to the guild hall as soon as we're finished here. I probably have some paperwork to do and a lot of it." Leona said to her mother. This conversation was really dying on its feet. Both of them fumbled for something they could talk about, but to no avail. Leona could see a look of mild sadness in her mother's eyes as Sophia felt constrained due to her new and unexpected position of power forcing her to keep her children at arm's length for the sake of the village.

"Very well then. Farewell, Wizard Saint." Sophia said to Leona, hesitating a bit before turning around and walking back towards the village. Part of Leona wanted to follow her mother to try and speak to her honestly, but that would only play into the hands of the skeptics by giving the appearance of a Jarnefeldt plot to seize leadership of Nebdoui, so the Wizard Saint had to watch her mother depart without getting a chance to speak. The Silver Wolf mage shrugged her shoulders and returned to the outskirts to summon Winged Lion and return home to Silver Wolf Guild Hall. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice calling to her and spun around. It was Leonidas!

"Hey Leona, wait a minute!" Leonidas called out. Leona obliged and waited for him to approach her. Her older brother eventually stood a meter away from the Silver Wolf mage and spoke to her.

"Man, things have changed in the village ever since the chief got ill." Leonidas started saying to Leona before the latter held a hand up imploring him to stop talking. He got the hint and went quiet.

"I have a couple of questions. First, does the entire village know that? Second, is it safe for you to talk to me?" Leona asked him. Leonidas nodded both times.

"First, everyone in the village knows. It was announced in a village assembly the same night that he got sick. Second, it's safe for me to talk to you because all the scrutiny's on our mother." Leonidas answered convincingly. Leona was sold on both points, so the conversation continued.

"Everyone in the village is worried about Chief Elijah. They're hoping that he pulls out of the illness and takes over as chief again." Leonidas told Leona a bit about what had happened in the village since Chief Elijah fell ill. Leona was intrigued to hear that, especially since she had not heard news about Chief Elijah since the last time she was here.

"Chief Joshua's trying his best to lead, but he's way too nervous. He's also way too formal and doesn't have the common touch that his father does. Our mother's real nervous about being his advisor and she's pushing me away so that she can't be accused of playing favorites." Leonidas gave insight into both the village's opinion of Chief Joshua and how their mother was doing after her recent promotion to advisor. Leona knew plenty about being pushed away. Sophia had treated her with great formality, referring to her by title instead of by name.

"I'm sure that Joshua will grow into the role, Leonidas. I had to grow into my role as Silver Wolf's Guild Mistress." Leona said to her older brother in defense of the new chief. The part that Leona had left out was that she was still growing into the role. The guild's reorganization had forced her to take a more prominent role in both administration and in leading the guild, but she needed to step up to both tasks if she wanted to be considered the legitimate leader of Silver Wolf, not just a pretender coasting on the hard work of her faithful Aces. Leonidas conceded that point.

"That's true. I'm willing to give Joshua a chance, but the other villagers are having a hard time coming to grips with what happened to Elijah. Everyone is so attached to Chief Elijah that Joshua might not stand a chance of being accepted." Leonidas stated. Leona readily conceded that point to her brother. Chief Elijah was a tough act to follow because he had run Nebdoui for well over thirty years at this point and had guided the village through famine, outlaw raids, and the formation of an alliance with other desert villages, not to mention being the first face that new arrivals who had left their homes and crossed the desert to resettle in Nebdoui saw.

"Our mother's become real distant lately." Leonidas repeated an earlier point to Leona.

"Tell me about it." Leona commiserated with her older brother before the wind kicked up a small dust cloud and both Jarnefeldts closed their mouths to avoid getting sand in them.

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"She's real distant lately. She doesn't call me Leonidas anymore. She only calls me Master Blacksmith, which is technically my title, but it's so impersonal." Leonidas elaborated on the point he had raised earlier. Leona knew all too well where he was coming from. Her mother had started calling her Wizard Saint instead of by her name.

"She doesn't call me Leona either. She just calls me Wizard Saint." Leona said to her brother. Like with Leonidas, she was being called by a title. Unlike with Leonidas, Leona did not mind quite as much because it felt like Sophia was finally taking her daughter seriously. It was kind of sad that it took Sophia being appointed advisor for her to finally take her daughter's job as the Wizard Saint of Courage seriously instead of treating it like part of an adolescent rebellious phase that would pass given enough time. Oh well.

"I know it doesn't affect you as much because you two have been at odds for awhile." Leonidas said bluntly. Leona could only nod in agreement. There was no point in lying about it because the blacksmith knew exactly how his sister felt.

"Yeah. Part of it's because she keeps pestering me to leave the life of a mage behind and settle down here to have children. The other part is because she thinks I'm just going through a phase. Being a Wizard Saint and Guild Mistress aren't phases. They're serious responsibilities... people's lives are at stake and they're counting on me to fulfill my duties." Leona said to her brother. She had never bought into the "home and hearth" outlook her mother had and that did not sit well with Sophia. That was one of the principal sources of conflict between mother and daughter and it was not going to go away any time soon, especially since Sophia's new title prevented her from speaking to Leona as her mother. Again Leona was not bothered too much, but part of her wanted to at least try to mend her relationship with her mother. That would have to wait for later.

"She hasn't even brought up me having children lately." Leonidas told Leona. Leona blinked. Sophia was all about having grandchildren, so to hear her brother say that the topic had not been brought up was kind of a big deal.

"Damn. That is serious." Leona said in response. Sophia had harped on the subject for years, so for her to suddenly not discuss it was something that was more than a little alarming. Perhaps Sophia's new responsibilities diverted her attention from that topic, which was a welcome respite for both Leonidas and Leona. Still, it concerned them a little. Was Sophia really doing OK or was she just putting on a brave front?

"Yeah." Leonidas replied tersely. Again the conversation between the Jarnefeldts was starting to fizzle out, so it would be best to end it now. Leonidas sensed this and bade Leona farewell so that the latter could go on her way.

"Well, I'd better get going. I know that you're busy too, so I won't hold you up any longer. I'll catch up with you later, Leona." Leonidas said to his sister before waving goodbye, then turning around and heading back for Nedoui. Leona waved goodbye and summoned Winged Lion, then hopped on his back and immediately took off for Silver Wolf Guild Hall. The Wizard Saint was a bit upset that the Jarnefeldt family was becoming more and more distant from each other lately, but that was nothing new. Sophia, Leonidas, and Leona all had their own lives and their own responsibilities, so they had been drifting apart for years now. The chief's illness and Sophia's promotion to advisor had only exposed those differences to the spotlight.

Maybe one day the three Jarnefeldts could reconcile and become something approaching a happy family, but that would have to wait for another day. The duties of a Wizard Saint and Guild Mistress called and Leona had to answer them. In a few hours Leona would be back at the guild hall and would be at the job notice board looking for another exciting job to complete for the glory of Silver Wolf and to add yet another chapter to her lengthy and illustrious story.

[Post Word Count: 716]
[Total Word Count: 8,428/8,000]