I feel miserable right now. Even with a week to heal, there is no improvement. I guess that I should describe my present injuries. Right now, I am suffering from three major injuries. The first is that my head feels like somebody is hitting it with hammers. I can also feel my thoughts forming at a slower rate, like somebody has put me in a gravity spell.
My present state is a result of enhancing my mana sense with vital mana. I am not even supposed to have a mana sense at my present cultivation level. To overuse it like that will naturally have its consequences.
The second thing is that my body has become completely numb. At the moment I can't feel any part of my body. Not my hands or legs. Nobody knows why that is the case, though. All I know about this is that I am getting better. I can feel my toes twitch even at this moment. My healer claims that it will take me a week or so for sensation to return to my body.
Yet, the worst injury that I have faced is the one to my mana sense. It is not as bad as it had gotten when I had lost my consciousness. Still, it feels like I am actively suppressing my mana sense at this moment. Normally, I should be able to look at the next two rooms with my mana sense, even suppressed. Now, my mana sense is barely able to cross the boundary of my bed.
At least it is not permanent. My healer, a fellow by the name of Paltroc, is sure that my mana sense is going to recover to usable levels in a couple of weeks. It will take about six months to heal fully, though.
Paltroc thinks that the reason for my present state is due to some kind of damage to my. He thinks that I might have passed too much of my vital mana into my mana sense.
He told me that while scolding me about how stupid such an action is. (I never thought I would have to hear something like that from a person of the snow tribe.) The domain of the soul is something that I don't really understand. I know that if anything goes wrong with it, the damage tends to be permanent.
The only problem with that conclusion is that I know the strength of my soul. I can enhance my mana sense for short periods without issue. I have enhanced it for way longer periods than this and gotten away with merely a headache.
That must mean that there is something else that is the cause of the soul damage. Maybe some kind of hidden spell meant to harm me. Maybe something to make it easier for Laufen to attack. I can't exactly prove it, though. I don't even know the rune structure of their magic to be able to decode the purpose of a spell.
While I might not agree with that man. I have to admit that Paltroc has been a boon in this entire mess. The man is a gossiper, and through him, I have been learning a lot about the tribes. He might not have a strong grasp of hexmountain common, but that doesn't stop the man from speaking. Haltingly, the man has been speaking to me for the last week.
I wish I could get a scholar with me in this room. The amount of information that he could provide to the scholars. Knowing the scholars, they would be speaking the man's language better than the man in a few weeks. They are the true magicians in that regard, I say.
I guess that I should report what I have learned here. Right now, all the leaders of the tribes are coming to the council. They are supposed to be mages who can make the weather of the place worse with their mere presence. Paltroc speaks about how the council has to consume ten times more mana just to keep the weather stable. Even with this increased consumption, the range of the council has decreased. (He told this while complaining about how his favourite restaurant had to shut down due to this.)
I also learned quite a bit about the people coming to decide my fate. The most important thing I have learned is their titles, which I am recording right now.
"The lady of the spear" is the leader of the spear tribe. "The Lord of the Fallen Inked" is the leader of the tattoo tribe. "The lord of blood" is the leader of the blood tribe. "The lady of the beasts" is the leader of the beast tribe. Lastly, we have the arch magus of the wolf tribe, who is the leader of the wolf tribe. Lastly, Cloak will be there.
I don't know how useful these titles will be, but I am sure the head office will appreciate me adding them. The scholars will make use of them in one way or another. The reason that all of these people are moving is naturally not because of me. These are supposedly monsters that don't usually leave their bases. The reason that they have come is due to my master.
Turns out, my master is the reason that I am alive right now. The man has charged into the truelands to find Laufen attacking me, it seems. He saved me and brought me here to the council. Ever since then, Paltroc has been healing me.
Well, there are three reasons my master is causing such a reaction. First, it is due to the identity of my master. My master holds a complicated relationship with the people here. He can be considered an ally. At the same time, he is also considered to be tied too closely to the legion for him to ever be trusted. At the same time, he is strong enough to wreak havoc on the truelands if he wanted to.
The second reason for this is that in the process of saving me, the man has destroyed Laufen. It seems that the man is standing on the edge of life and death. Even if he were to recover, the man would lose quite a bit of his cultivation.
The tattoo tribe is coming here for blood, while the other tribes are coming to calm things down a bit. A fight between my master and the tattoo tribe is something no one wants.
The third and final reason is that only the full council is allowed to meet my master. The reason for that is so that nobody can individually make a deal with my master.
I can't believe that my master has this much influence here. The man had managed to stop the snow tribe from executing a legioner. The only thing is, I have never heard about this before. I have only heard my master mentioning the north in passing. Even then, it was mostly to caution me about the people here.
Well, they are going to be announcing my fate soon enough. Cloak is going to be the one to tell me my fate. The meeting should be over any minute now, and Cloak will be coming here the first thing after it is over. That is why I started recording in the first place.
I can't even decide how to feel about that. It is oddly freeing to have not to worry about what is going to be done to you. At the same time, it is not a nice feeling to have your life in the hands of others like this. Even if the other person is my master.
Well, the only thing that I will achieve with recording is to make my panic worse. I will continue this when Cloak finally comes here.
(After God knows how long.)
When the door opened and I saw the man, my heart dropped. For a second, I was sure that cloak had come to announce my execution.
"The council has decided about you. They have decided to drop all of their charges on you. You are to immediately leave the truelands in return for this. You are also not to participate in any matters involving the snowlords and the snow tribe. That involves building formations for the snowwind empire, as well." Cloak recites, most likely word for word from the council's verdict."
The man sits down. Hearing this, I guess I should have felt relief or something. The only thing I feel is sleepy and exhausted. Exhausted enough to stop wondering how exactly the council came to such a deal. I wonder what nightmare the council will have to deal with now. Any deal made with my master never leads to anything good.
"Well, leaving immediately might be an issue. At the moment I cannot even get up if I wanted to. I am quite stuck in this bed for at least a week." I ask. My head is still pounding.
"Oh, that is fine, you won't be leaving this land on your own. You will be taken home by your master, it seems.", he replies. "And before you ask, yes, there is an escort that is being sent for your soldiers as well. They can complete their mission even without you, and winter has not ended exactly."
"So how exactly are we leaving this place?" I ask. "Did my master bother to tell anything about that?"
"Well, I am acquiring a sledder for your master even as I speak." Cloak replies. "It will take a while since the tattoo tribe is being very unreasonable right now."
"So the tattoo tribe is meant to provide us with a sledder. Do you think it is wise? They might sabotage the ship.", I ask.
"It is fine, young wolf. It took too much effort to acquire that ship to risk it due to a child's fight." Cloak says, "and the tattoo tribe knows who the ship is going to. They will not risk offending your master."
As he completes speaking, the man stares at me as we look at each other awkwardly.
"By the way wonder if you could tell me what forbidden art that you used in the fight?" he speaks. "To think that you would be able to fight with a snowlord on equal footing."
"What forbidden art, cloak? I don't know any forbidden arts. My master never bothered to teach me. He believes that is something meant for suicidal idiots." I reply, wondering why the man asked such a thing so suddenly.
"Well, among my people, there is a technique called the forbidden bond.", the man says. "It could be considered a forbidden art, by your legion's definitions. The damage to your soul matches the damage I see here."
"I don't know any forbidden technique, Cloak.", I speak. "I left the legion before I could learn any of theirs. My master certainly didn't teach me any."
Looking at Cloak, it is quite clear that the man thinks that I am lying. For a moment, I worry that I have divulged something important. Well, I can't even think at the moment how I might have messed it up. Well, whatever will happen will happen. The head office is the last thing I am worried about right now.
"Well, that is interesting then.", he says. "I will still warn you, I have seen how arrogant you sages can get about your soul. Your soul might be stronger than the average person's, but you should still be careful. The damage to your soul is enough to leave an ordinary person a blabbering fool. Damage to your soul is not something to take lightly."
Then he sits again as we look at each other awkwardly.
"Well, it seems that matters here are well in hand. I have quite a bit of work elsewhere in the building. So take care and rest up. You need to be able to walk before your master makes it here." Cloak speaks and leaves.
That leaves me here again in this room, quite bored out of my mind. Well, there is only one thing that can be done now. That would be to sleep. The gods know I am tired enough to sleep an entire month.