“Lady, Lady Magos, I do not know what to say.”

  The Count du Bellenesse was down on one knee in grass that already rose to his knee, unable to stop himself from reaching out and caressing a blue wildflower that was in full blossom there… and staring at the bright blue and gold bee that was already at work on it, although I wondered where its hive might be.

  There were already trees regrowing in the many holes where they had once stood, so who knew?

  The nobles and leaders of the city also knelt behind him, while behind him, the people of Sanamar were running around in celebration, laughing and crying in equal measure as they ran through the fields they had never thought to see again.

  “If you think this was me, you are mistaken. At the moment of the dawn, when the Salute is voiced, Aru can see into the hearts and minds of those who pray to Him. I gave but a touch of guidance and connection to the Land, and He guided the power that was here to restore what was lost, instead of letting it sink back into the ground and disperse.

  “That was the whiteness you saw in the stones, the power of vivus, freed from the dead Aurochs, and it is the key to restoring the islands of the Hlaetians ravaged by the Eater hordes here. That was no power of mine.

  “It was the power and call for mercy from your hearts, and He heard you.”

  I snapped my fingers, and two score Force Disks popped up around them. “Climb aboard for a moment.”

  The Viamontian leaders glanced at one another, except for Count du Bellenesse, who simply rose, strode over to the nearest Disk, and sat down without hesitation.

  A minute later, they were all seated, and I was streaking above the green grass that extended right up to the Walls I’d erected with life and health, the train of them following after me and the celeste Wings extending behind me.

  They’d likely never traveled so quickly, and had to turn their heads and shield their eyes from the wind. Still, it was minor to the miracle they had already witnessed come into being all around them.

  The wall came up on us, and I floated up high enough to bring them all to the top of it.

  The other side of the wall was just as bleak and desolate as the land behind me had been just minutes ago. They stared at it, then behind themselves, contrasting the verdant green across the lifeless stone and pitted hills they could see there.

  “This is all your responsibility to make bloom again,” I informed them calmly, gesturing at the lifeless landscape ahead of us. “The only way to do this is by slaughter, and sacrificing to the Land the lifeblood of the creatures that did this to it.

  “Each Eater horde you slaughter and feed to the Land will return another square mile of land to life and prosperity. As the Eaters tore the life back from the land, so they will return it.

  “Thus, you will have to kill the Eater hordes, but not ALL the Eater hordes. By my calculations, it takes about two weeks to make enough Eaters for a completely new horde, spread out across these islands.

  “I will put up a new section of walls, enclosing most of a square mile of area. You will pull an Eater horde into that area. In the center of that area, I will make a hardpoint. At that hardpoint, we will slaughter the Eater horde, we will Burn them en vivus, and the following morning you will raise the Salute to Aru and ask Him to guide the Land into restoring what was lost.

  “Horde by horde, mile by mile, weeks by weeks, this island and the others of the Hlaetians will be reclaimed. I will build the walls to guard the lands restored, and I will take them down once the territory you expand moves past them.”

  I paused long enough for them to comprehend the enormity of what they had to do, and how long it was going to take.

  “This will take years. Decades. Perhaps even centuries,” Count du Bellenesse murmured, staring out at the naked rock from next to me.

  “Yes, and it cannot be sped up without titanic levels of magic neither you nor I can command. The Eater hordes only swell so quickly, consuming the hapless Summoned beings, but they do swell. They are our only tool to restore what your people’s idiocy and their ravaging appetites caused to come to pass.

  “If you want to reclaim and grow your lands, the means and method is right before you. You will earn every inch of ground you take for your own in blood, sweat, and tears.

  “And if you are not sincere of heart, when you Salute Aru, He will see, and the Land will simply take your offering and leave behind the naked stone you brought to pass upon it.”

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  They shook about me, looking out over the miles and miles of stone and realizing just how much work they had to do to restore what they had made happen.

  “What do you gain from this, Lady Magos?” Count du Bellenesse asked hoarsely. “I, I cannot see where any of this benefits you. You do not need us to accomplish this…”

  Well, he was definitely wiser than his comrades. “You have no way of paying me the value of what I am going to help you with. I gain from this no more than Aru does, but Aru bade me show mercy, so here I am.

  “Remount your Disks, I will return you to your fellows to celebrate. I imagine there will be some discussions about the farms and orchards you will be setting up, and who owns what and when and how and why.

  “I will return in two weeks. I will know who has Saluted Aru, and who has not. If you are not ready, I will leave, and come back at my leisure.

  “When I return, I will wall off a new area, lure an Eater horde into it, and support your warriors while you slaughter them.

  “Search your hearts, and find a noble fire there that Aru can see and admire. Today, He saw me and the need and suffering of those left behind. When I return, He must be able to see you, or all that you do will be for naught, and these fields are all you will ever have.”

  I saw them clenching their fists as they slowly sat back on the Disks. I stepped off the wall, drawing them after me.

  They had a great deal to think about, but at least they had felt Hope, and knew there was something they could build towards, instead of trying to take it from others.

  ===========

  “You are very generous, Lady Magos,” the towering non-armored Duke Bellas said gravely, bowing deeply to me as I finished my report on what I’d done. He looked much more approachable outside that suit of custom Armor Briggs had made for him. “Thank you for your intervention in this matter.”

  I waved off his courtesy calmly. “It was little more than you might have done yourself, Your Grace.”

  He was contemplative as he considered what I had done. “We can still liberate more enslaved souls among the souls on the Hlaetians, can we not?” he asked me.

  “Yes, although Princess Kristie or Commander Briggs is necessary to break the System’s hold. Conventional magic cannot do so,” I answered readily.

  “The more we can free, the more labor we have on hand, and the more warriors whose hands we free up to free more of them. Furthermore, the islands are vast, and it will take a very long time to restore them, and that if we kill the Eater hordes regularly as soon as they are viable.”

  “Also very true,” I agreed with him.

  “Is it possible that we might presume upon the Commander or Her Highness to join us on a regularly scheduled excursion to the northern islands? They are cut off from the southern islands, so they will not be interfering with the people of Sanamar at all, and those islands also need some restoration, even if only on the shores and southern areas.”

  “I will present it to them, and I doubt there will be much issue. Freeing souls from the System is definitely something they want to happen, so there should be little issue with it. Also, they enjoy some regularly scheduled mayhem, as you might have noticed.”

  He coughed politely. “I must confess that the Princess has a thirst for combat I’ve seldom seen outside belligerent drunkards and the near-mad. That she can control it as well as she does is a testament to an extraordinary amount of willpower.”

  “That it is,” I agreed with a smile. “She’s almost as insane as the average adventurer was before the Fall, I reckon.”

  That earned a deep chuckle from him. “Given the stories I’ve heard of the amount of killing and slaughter of the Summons from back then, I feel I must agree with you. I missed much of that time in my prison, and the years in there are little more than a blur at this point.”

  “Probably for the best,” I just nodded. “I will bring the request to them. Another thing you might want to consider is how you might make use of your cousins in Sanamar.”

  “Oh?” His skeptical tone was cool, but interested.

  “Among the most valuable tools almost everyone has is eight free hours a day to Invest magical items. There are hundreds of people in Sanamar who do not have enough to occupy their time. You could recruit them to Invest pyreal on your behalf, and even pay them a fair wage in pyreal or trade goods, if you were amenable to the idea.”

  He did consider that, turning it over several times, and finding it quite attractive. “Will there be any trouble securing the pyreal?” he asked, knowing Briggs had absolute control over the dispersing of goldweight bars.

  “None. You should probably coordinate with the crown about what exactly you’ll be Investing for. I recommend only civilian-use items, but there are many of those.”

  “And they might opt to actually buy some of them for their own use,” he deduced quickly, earning an inclination of my head for him. “Or something more practical, like seeds for their new fields…”

  “I think even Viamontians get sick of the same foods for years on end. Enduring sieges is never enjoyable.”

  “I will see what we may do to aid our cousins on the sly, and will await word from the Commander and the Princess.”

  I bowed to the new Duke of House Bellenesse, and turned to my other duties.

  ---------

  “How are you adjusting, Master Harlune?”

  He looked much better than several days ago. He had put on some weight, many of his scars had faded or peeled off, and his complexion was better.

  Still, he moved carefully, the motions of a man without much muscle or exercise for years having to recondition his body to the simple duty of moving around.

  It was late in the day, and he was reclining in my favorite force-chair, padded and cushioned and molding itself to him, with no legs to bump his shins as he idly turned it around, and drifted around the room.

  “Lady Magos!” He battled his way back to his feet, I waved him back down into the chair as Haul peeled itself out of my Masspack and formed itself behind me. I seated myself calmly, and only after I did so did he return to his chair.

  “Your lab is wonderful, Lady Magos,” he admitted, gesturing graceful fingers to the array of mechanical, magical, and alchemical devices cluttering the wall and several worktables to the other side of the room. “I admit to not even knowing the function of some of the devices you have over there.”

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