Saintess Summons Skeletons

Chapter 897 - Sofia, side-quester extraordinaire

Sofia entered Herzal without trouble, no one stopping her this time, and she quickly made her way through the streets of the elven capital to stand in front of old Rahkam’s door.

“Well, are you going to stay outside?” the old elf’s voice came from inside, “Come in, come in, I made some tea.”

“Were you expecting me again this time?” Sofia asked, entering the diviner’s house.

Carefully pouring steaming hot black tea into two cups, Rahkam smiled, “I had a hunch.”

The [Radiant World Mirror] passive seemed to have a hard time getting a read on the old elf, but still formed a blurry golden number above his head after a few seconds, reading his level as ‘379’. Sofia ignored the number, as it was about what she expected anyway, and noted that the small golden plaque Sun had given her for him was framed behind glass above the sofa he was sitting on.

“Good to see you received the payment properly, I gather that Sun was correct in thinking you were going to like it.”

“But of course. She cares for us more than she lets on… I was glad to hear that you and your sister were successfully reunited. But never mind that, surely you have not come for this old man’s ramblings, have you?” Rahkam asked, already rubbing his hands together at the prospect of the next payment.

“Straight to business… Well, I need you to locate someone, I have an object from her but it’s supposed to crumble if someone else touches it, so… I’m not too sure if that works for you?”

Rahkam nodded along, sipping on his tea. “Have no fear, that is barely a hindrance. No dragon, this time?”

“Hopefully not. I’m looking for a human hero named Izuka. Likely somewhere around level 250 to 300.”

“Does she use divination magic?”

“She’s some kind of archer, probably not, though I don’t have details.”

“It should be easy enough to find a trail, even without the object as a catalyst, but since you have it, we might as well use it.”

“What about the price?” Sofia asked, before taking her first sip of the black tea, which was strangely bitter and refreshing at the same time.

Rahkam played with his beard, seeming to consider the question, but considering he had foreseen her arrival, Sofia guessed that he already knew exactly what he wanted.

“My son…” he started, Sofia staring back with narrowed eyes, fearing where this might be going. “He’s terrible with women,” Rahkam said, “Incapable of finding a good match. Work work work, train train train, he’s wasting his youth. And you’ve seen him, no outward emotions, expressive like a brick wall…”

“What… What are you suggesting, exactly?” Sofia asked with frown.

“Oh, would you look at this, this old man running his mouth again. I just want you to find someone willing to give him a chance.”

“That’s it?” Sofia asked, “Your son what that guard captain with the fancy black armor, right? I mean… I remember that he is a bit scary, but he’s still… Surely it can’t be too hard, he’s not ugly and I think he was above level 300, too?”

Rahkam sighed, and took another sip of his tea, “A good prospect, right? But the stubborn fool… I tried to find him a match here, which was hard enough, mind you! And what did he tell this old man?! That he would only date a beastkin! I have no idea what got into this thick skull of his, but I was just about ready to give up and accept this as the end of my bloodline! Now that you are here, though…”

Sofia was left speechless at the old elf’s demand. Sun’s signature was already out there as a payment for divination, and now she had to play matchmakers?

“What… Alright… Let me get this straight, you want me to find your son a beastkin date?”

Rahkam nodded, “That would be the idea, yes. Same type of deal, you can take your time, and it is perfectly fine if it never happens, as long as you try.”

“I don’t exactly have the largest beastkin network but I can try… Why them, though?”

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Rahkam laughed. “Truthfully, he probably only said this to get me off his back.”

“And you still want me to try… What if I find someone and he refuses to meet her? You are putting me in a bit of a difficult situation. Not to mention I know nothing at all about him.”

“Oh, no, no need to worry about that. You see…”

Sofia was on her fifth cup of tea by the time the old elf stopped rambling about his Son, and asked to see the object linked to Izuka.

Holding a hand a few centimeters above the statuette with his eyes closed, he silently cast spell after spell. Compared to the first time Sofia had seen it, she understood a lot more about spell structures now, and found the incredibly precise coordination and intricacies of the stacked spells even more stunning than she had in the past. The spells also seemed to use an unusual amount of square structures amidst the circular ones.

It’s no wonder good diviners are so rare… To use so many out-of-body spells at once, for how many centuries must one train to get there? I don’t think I could handle a twentieth of that without the structure collapsing.

There were no adverse reactions this time, no backlash, just oddly mechanical clicking sounds as the spell structures rotated like clockwork under Rahkam’s minute control. Just a minute later, he dispelled the spells-patterns one by one in reverse order, and opened his eyes.

“I believe I have found the human you are looking for,” he announced calmly, “your own shielding against divination was a great boon in isolating her traces from yours. That woman has been moving a lot, alas you will not be able to find her anytime soon.”

“Wait, why?”

Rahkam smiled, “She is currently out of my divination range. Nonetheless I know where she is,” he continued, pointing up at the ceiling. “You should be able to guess.”

Sofia blinked a few times, “Cerberus?”

Rahkam answered with a nod.

“She should have left about one to six months ago. With an interesting wager, too, from what I gather.”

“An interesting wager?

“The details evade me, but she has procured an unusual essence. If I had to guess… Peace.”

“Peace?!” Sofia reacted, “I really can’t imagine Peace, of all gods…”

“I might be wrong,” Rahkam added, “Divination is the art of informed guesswork. Nonetheless, this old elf has a good track record. Now, let me draw you a map… That woman does not seem to have any permanent dwelling, but there are places she visits more frequently. Leave a message there and with some luck, she should find it.”

Sofia left the red sand desert going straight east to the beastman continent. It was apparently where Izuka had found refuge after leaving Skyreach behind, and while Sofia had considered not checking the locations out and just going for the Arege Union right away, she ended up going on this detour first.

I need to get this damned tasklist shorter!!!

Just like her flight to Herzal, the traveling was pretty quick once she was out of the red sand desert. Focusing on nothing but flying, she could follow and catch natural mana currents with ease, and gain even more speed. The ground below disappeared like a blur, and in under two hours, she was quite far east in the beastmen continent, trying to follow the notes on Rahkam’s map.

Yellow tower in a forest… Yellow tower… I should be around the right place? I don’t see any yellow towers. There isn’t even anyone I can ask for direction, no one lives around her for some reason…

Seriously, with how good my vision is, how hard can finding one tower be?!

Being unsuccessful for another few minutes, Sofia flew up as high as she could go, staring down for any trace of yellow amidst the trees of the multitude of forests in the region.

After a long while, she noticed something strange, and zoomed in.

Oh, motherfucker!

The yellow tower turned out to have a green-tiled roof.

At least it was undoubtedly the right place, as there seemed to be hardly anything else in the region beyond forests, meadows and low-level wild animals.

Flying down, Sofia scanned the tower with her mana first. There was barely anything standing out inside and around the tower, and definitely no one in it.

Looks like a mage tower. Long time since I entered one of those.

Sofia entered through the old wooden door, which wasn’t even locked.

The interior was simple, like a hunting cabin. There were a few tanning racks, a stockpile of wood and basic supplies, a barrel full of arrows near the door, a pile of books on a shoddily handcrafted bed in a corner, and a few wooden statuettes decorating the room. A curtain separated the main room from the stairs leading up, and when Sofia checked above, she found that the upper floors were just full of old furniture and trash.

The sculptures are Izuka’s work without a doubt. Rahkam certainly does not disappoint.

Sofia ended up leaving a letter well in view on the central table, held in place by the sculpture Izuka had given her before.

There was a slight concern that someone else might find it before Izuka came back, but considering how remote and abandoned the region was Sofia decided to leave it at that and not bother with adding extra security enchantments on the letter.

And done! One fewer thing to worry about for now! I still need to tell Beatrice, but that barely counts. And now… Full north to the Arege Union!