Chapter 281 B4 Chapter 37 - Statue

Shivenar’s front lines hadn’t calmed in the slightest. Freyven offered everyone in the carriage ear-plugs to protect them from the deafening snaps of a firing slingshot launcher. Four such snaps came during the short time the convoy passed the front lines and through the city gates.

With the thick walls between them, the noise quieted, though each firing missile could still be heard inside the city. The first highway barely saw any traffic, which wasn’t surprising, considering merchants weren’t traveling back and forth anymore. The city had been mostly self-sustaining for a few weeks now. Vivi could only hope they had enough food.

Her first destination was the Lowmoor district at the very bottom of the city. Her home, and the residence of the Runes And Rain company, founded by Lucas, who was unfortunately the first major casualty of the storm season. Senith and Umbre had taken over, but with Vivi gone and believed to be dead, there was a chance the company had closed. It was mainly a management company for Vivi’s runesmithing store, after all.

To Vivi’s delight, the banners of both The Lost Raindrop and the Runes And Rain company were still present. She helped everyone out of the carriage. Helegar and Aolinn were the most nervous as everyone observed the street they’d been brought to.

The door to the Runes And Rain company opened, and Vivi saw Senith.

The gentlest and kindest person Vivi knew. Senith’s hair looked hastily put together, as if with limited time, and she wore a simple silk dress. She stayed inside to avoid getting sand on her outfit. Spotting Vivi, her reaction was just as shocked as Essi’s.

With a wide smile, Vivi headed over and couldn’t resist hugging her friend. It felt like ages since Vivi had last seen her. Senith was the one who spent the most time with Vivi after she recovered from Grandpa’s passing. If not for Senith, Vivi knew she would have grieved for weeks to come. That was far from the only time Senith had pulled Vivi up from the worst bouts of sadness she’d had.

“I’m so happy to see you,” Vivi said.

“I’m so happy you’re alive,” Senith said softly, showing a smile close to tears. “You almost got me worried this time.”

“I won’t just die like that,” Vivi said. “I won’t leave anyone alone anymore.”

Senith pressed her horns against Vivi’s forehead. “Is that a promise?”

“Promise.”

“I’ll need you to tell a long story of why you disappeared this time,” Senith said. “Over good tea and muffins.”

Vivi thought of her answer. “The long story is still growing, unfortunately… I need to get straight to work. I brought a friend who would love to meet you, though.”

She turned around, introducing everyone. “Could the Nemonn estate accommodate my friends?”

“Of course!” Senith said. She bowed to everyone. “Senith Nemonn. A member of the Runes And Rain company. I’m one of Vivi’s managers.”

Cael and Alda introduced themselves and both bowed as well. Aolinn listened carefully, clearly struggling to understand, but she knew introductions were being spread. She gave a curtsy. “Aolinn Ranewal. Hello.”

Helegar said nothing, not understanding the language.

Senith just smiled at them. “Welcome to Shivenar. Does everyone speak Fimian?”

“With translation magic,” Cael said, Alda nodding.

“Little,” Aolinn said with much worse pronunciation. Helegar said nothing, probably not even understanding the question. Aolinn turned to him. “Father… No.”

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“Two translation skills, then,” Senith said.

“I’ll return as soon as I can,” Vivi promised. “Until then, please accommodate my friends.”

Senith curtsied as well. “The baths will be prepared. Please step inside.”

First task handled, Vivi thought. Helegar and Aolinn had a place to stay. Vivi would need to chat with Alda and Cael for a bit before locking herself in her smithy, but she had other tasks to complete first.

“Is Lortel’s room still untouched?” Vivi asked.

“Yes,” Senith said, smiling awkwardly. “We didn’t have time to renovate anything.”

Vivi turned to Lortel. “It feels like a long time since I’ve had a bath, no?”

Lortel smiled subtly. “Shall we get you prepared for a ball tonight?”

“No. Get me ready for the mines.”

***

After a quick, relaxing bath, subtle make-up applied, Vivi found herself back on the streets that used to fill her schedule every day. She put on her black and purple raincoat and headed up to the mines.

It felt good to be back. The alleys of the Lowmoor district still had the same drunkards. A fight immediately paused as Vivi came to sight, everyone freezing on the spot to watch her pass, silently terrified.

The upper streets had similar reactions. Passersby stepping out of the way wasn’t out of the ordinary, but they didn’t salute or bow or offer respect. Instead, most people stared at her as if they’d seen a ghost. After passing, Vivi heard multiple whispers along the lines of, “Is that her?”

Lucius couldn’t have been happier about the reactions, grinning wide. Midway through, he decided that wasn’t enough and showed his physical form, sitting proudly on Vivi’s shoulder.

She didn’t stop him, but sighed from the added attention. How is it that we’ve gotten even more famous after they thought we were dead…

“I wonder what nickname we have?” Lucius said excitedly. “Slayer Of Gods? Behemoth Destroyer?”

Sure, Vivi thought with an amused smile.

Anything but those. If the city had given her any of those names, that would have forced her to move back to the surface.

Sounds of construction came from the market square. Vivi stepped in to see two teams working on different projects. The first looked like stonemasons or artists crafting some sort of statues. The second team had constructed surgeways underneath the platforms, and were now tearing the ground apart to spread the surgeways out of the market square.

Vivi was about to walk past, until she noticed that one of the statues looked a lot like Grandpa.

Apprehensively, Vivi approached the artists. An annoyed construction worker lifted his head, probably to tell her off, but when he spotted who she was, he went silent just like everyone. The artists paused their work.

It really did look like Grandpa, with his raincoat on and all, though the upper half of the statue was still incomplete, his face being shaped. Text had been carved into the platform. It read, “Thomas Warren’s Son - Inventor Of Inside-carving.”

What’s the other one, then? Vivi thought.

The second statue was even more incomplete, with only a rough humanoid shape on its platform. The text read, “Vivian Runeblessed - The Ethersmith”

Vivi blinked, mouth ajar. “The Ethersmith?”

The artists working on her statue, three of them, all gaped at her, until the first man bowed. The rest followed suit. “Welcome back from the dead! This would be you, Miss Runeblessed.”

The Ethersmith… Vivi repeated in her head. Who had come up with that?

“Technically, you do smith ether,” Lucius said. He floated around the statue, examining it. The artists backed out of the way. Not that Lucius would have minded either way.

With that logic, every runesmith would also be an ethersmith, Vivi thought with an internal sigh. Did they really need a statue of her?

The artists looked passionate enough. The city seemed to like the nickname they’d given her. “I apologize for not dying,” Vivi said. “It’s not as cool to create a statue of someone who’s still alive, is it?”

“No, no, don’t apologize,” the man said. “If you’re alive, that simply means your features can be more accurately depicted.”

Vivi snorted, then summoned Dawnpour to pose for the artists. She mimicked Coshi’s usual pose of resting her hands on the pommel of the sword, blade pointing at the ground. The artists watched her for a good five seconds, until Vivi grew embarrassed, and she placed the sword back to storage. “Good luck with it,” she said, and left the artists to their work.

Shivenar really tried its best to make her existence as embarrassing as possible. At least the nickname wasn’t only partly horrible.

Let’s just get to the mines… Vivi thought. She already knew Ealan, the overseer of the mines, would be just as awed and honored as everyone else in the city to meet her. Hopefully she could get straight to business fast.

And Eem was there. Something interesting had apparently happened to her. Hopefully a positive surprise.

Whatever it was, Vivi felt bad for not visiting Eem in over a week once again. Hopefully the fiend wasn’t too mad at her. She headed up the streets, and straight to the mines.