Ash looked at him with a perplexed expression, slowly lowering his steak back onto the table. "What brought this on, Master?"
Zeke sighed. "I... realized that I haven't been entirely fair to you all. What I mean is that our relationship shouldn't be so one-sided."
The Chimeroi shared confused glances, evidently unaware of what he was trying to say.
Zeke pondered on how best to explain his thought process. Ultimately, he decided just to be straightforward about what was bothering him. "Despite spending so much time together, I hardly know anything about you—what you enjoy, your hopes for the future, and all that. As the person responsible for you, that's something I should know, don't you think?"
Ash's confused expression turned into a contemplative frown. "Enjoy, huh? I don't really know, but… why does it matter?"
"I don't plan on dragging you along if that isn't what you want. If you secretly hope to become, I don't know… a gardener or something, I would find such a position for you instead."
Ash snorted in amusement. "A gardener? Me?"
Zeke smiled as well. "Just a random guess, but you never know. Sometimes, people have interests you'd never suspect. One of my best friends became a smith after discovering that he couldn't become a Mage."
The memory of his childhood friend left Zeke with a bittersweet feeling. He hadn't contacted Markus even once since fleeing the Empire. Zeke was certain his messages would be intercepted, and he couldn't risk letting the Empire know how much he cared for his friend. Who could say what they might do to him if they knew Zeke thought of him as a brother?
"Well, I don't want to be a smith," Ash said, taking the matter more seriously now that he understood Zeke's perspective. "As for what I want to do in the future... I'm not really sure. I like being outside, and even though the trip through the jungle was dangerous, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit."
Zeke focused on Ash, nodding encouragingly to keep him talking—a gesture that proved unnecessary. Now that the wolf man had started, the words flowed freely.
"...I want to live in a large group. Maybe it's due to my species, but I've always wanted to belong to a pack. One with a strong leader. A wife, maybe? Children, lots of children." Ash paused here, catching his breath.
Only then did he notice that the others were staring at him.
"What?" he asked, turning slightly red. "Something wrong with that?"
Zeke shook his head, a wide smile on his face. "Not at all. It is a nice goal. I'll see what I can do."
Before Ash could feel too embarrassed, Zeke moved on to his next target. "What about you, Vulcanos?"
The large man shrugged, gulping down the mouthful of meat he was chewing on. "I've never met another of my kind, and I don't know what our lives are supposed to be like." His eyes gleam with excitement. "Though, as long as I can fight and grow stronger, I'm quite content."
Zeke nodded slowly. That was an easy request to fill. He had more enemies than he could count, and bloodshed was definitely in his future.
"Let me know if that changes, okay?"
Vulcanos nodded, though his blasé expression showed how unlikely he thought that to be.
Zeke turned to the last of his followers. "What about you, Gravitas?"
The woman hesitated for a moment, her eyes showing an uncertainty that was uncharacteristic for her. Zeke remained patient, giving her all the time she needed. Whatever internal battle she was fighting, he wasn't going to rush her.
"I don't like fighting all that much," she said, her voice more hesitant than he had ever heard it. "If I had the choice, I'd rather use my power for something else."
Zeke was surprised to hear that, to say the least, though he didn't let it show on his face. Instead, he nodded at her. "What did you have in mind?"
Gravitas shook her head. "I've been fighting all my life, and it's all I've ever known. I don't know what else is out there. All I can say is I would rather do something less… destructive?"
Zeke pondered her request. He could think of a dozen uses for her powers. Originally, he hadn't sought her out for combat prowess but for the uniqueness of her innate ability. That initial reason had faded under the weight of the problems they'd faced. However, now that she herself was bringing it up, Zeke felt a renewed sense of eagerness to resume those experiments.
"Very well," he said, a genuine smile emerging on his lips. "Once we return to Tradespire, I'll introduce you to my head engineer. I'm confident that together, we'll come up with something. Believe me when I say this: Your power is extremely valuable, even outside of combat."
Gravitas looked at him with a dubious expression. "It is?"
Zeke's smile grew. For once, he had the perfect answer ready. "Do you know what my family does in Tradespire?"
Gravitas creased her brows in concentration. "You are… merchants of some kind?"
Zeke raised his hand and tilted it left and right, indicating that she was somewhat right. "We build Airships."
"Airships…" Gravitas repeated as if hearing the word for the first time.
Zeke's eyes widened. Could it be? Looking at the others, who shared similar expressions, he realized his oversight. Not only had he not seen any airships, but he hadn't seen a single regular ship anywhere in Korrovan either. The latter wasn't surprising, given the country was a desert, but there should have been at least a few airships.
The answer hit him like a ton of bricks. It was something he had long known about but never really connected the dots: the storms.
Korrovan was plagued by storms that lasted for weeks and sprang up out of nowhere. They were so severe that most inhabitants had to seek refuge underground to escape their wrath. Of course, there wouldn't be any Airships in such a country.
This put Zeke in the awkward position of explaining Airships to a group of people who had never even seen a boat. Fortunately, the concept wasn't that hard to grasp, and he could see the growing excitement on Gravitas's face as she slowly understood what he was saying.
"Then, how do they fly?"
"Controlled air pressure," he explained. "We use dozens of runes that displace the exact amount of air to compensate for the ship's weight."
"…And that works?" she asked, her eyes wide.
Zeke tilted his head. The concept worked; he had seen and experimented enough with it to know that it did. However, from her perspective, the idea must have sounded ridiculous—like a bunch of monkeys rubbing sticks together to make a fire in front of a Fire Mage.
In one word: Primitive.
The use of the [Gust] Rune wasn't a perfect solution by any means, but it was the established practice. Yet, considering the possibility of manipulating gravity directly, it seemed utterly ridiculous. To say that their current system was inefficient was a massive understatement.
His smile turned even wider. "Do you now understand why I said that we would find something for you to do?"
Gravitas's eyes went wide. It seemed she finally understood what he meant when he said her power could be valuable. "Do you think… I could help with that?"
Zeke nodded confidently. "In time? Certainly! Though, you'll have a lot of studying to do until then. Are you fine with that?"
Gravitas nodded, a determined expression on her face. "I would love that, actually. Do you have anything I could read right now?"
Zeke smiled slightly before turning his focus inward. "Akasha?"
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<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgba(236, 240, 241, 1)">Shall I prepare materials?</span></p>
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"Yeah. I was thinking about something light to get started. An entry-level book on Airships and a novice textbook on Runes, maybe?"
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<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgba(236, 240, 241, 1)"> [Answer] </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgba(236, 240, 241, 1)">Affirmative. Does Host want me to copy existing works exactly, or should I compose a new work from existing sources?</span></p>
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Zeke paused, shocked by the offer. "You can do that?"
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<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgba(236, 240, 241, 1)">Affirmative. Combining multiple sources is not a problem. The only challenge is to fuse them seamlessly while keeping the style and difficulty of the material consistent.</span></p>
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"If you think you can do it, then sure. You have yet to let me down."
Akasha didn't reply, but Zeke could feel the drain on his Core intensify. He was sure she was already hard at work composing the books. She would likely use [Telepathy] to write the physical copies while he was asleep.
The entire conversation with Akasha had only taken a moment, and Gravitas was still waiting for him to answer. "I'll have something for you by tomorrow," he said out loud.
Her eyes widened, catching the implications of his words. "You don't have to stay up for my sake. I can wait—"
"Don't worry," Zeke said, cutting her off. "I won't be staying up, I promise."
Mollified by his reassurance, Gravitas nodded once, a bit of the earlier excitement returning to her face.
At that sight, Zeke felt warmth in his heart. He had done a good thing today. Taking his followers, his friends, for granted and using them as tools was not what he wanted. That was how Mind Mages thought, and it was the exact opposite of who he wanted to be.
If Gravitas wanted to pursue something else, he would support her fully. Perhaps her contributions would be even more impressive that way. After all, success often came more easily when pursuing one's passions.
A massive yawn fought its way up his throat. Sometime during the conversation, they had finished all the food, and Zeke started to feel sleepy. It had been a long day, and now that his stomach was full, he was beginning to feel the extent of his exhaustion.
Zeke waved the waiter over as he addressed his companions. "You guys ready to turn in for the night?"
There were no complaints as everyone got to their feet, with Snow looking as tired as he felt.
The man from earlier approached, a warm smile on his face. "Sir?"
"Can you show us to our rooms?"
"Certainly," the man said with an elegant bow. "Please follow me."
Their rooms were on the third and highest floor of the building, with the Chimeroi having rooms right next to each other and Zeke getting one at the end of the corridor. It was supposedly the nicest one they had.
Zeke fought to keep his eyes open as he shuffled toward his room. It had been a while since he had felt so tired.
"Good night, sir," the man said from outside the room.
Zeke nodded in thanks, closing the door behind him. He dropped his backpack next to the bed and collapsed face-first onto the mattress. It wasn't as soft or high-quality as the ones in Cassius' house, but he didn't care at the moment. He could have landed on the floor, and it wouldn't have mattered.
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<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgba(236, 240, 241, 1)">Host's condition is not natural. I suspect that some untraceable substance was added to the food…</span></p>
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That was the last thing Zeke heard. Using all his willpower, he managed one final sentence before the darkness claimed him.
"…Take care of it."