On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Forty-Three

On returning to my apartment I slumped down, exhausted. Putting the TV and games console to one side I rolled out on my futon and yawned. It had been quite the day. Beside me Shaeula was playing with her new smartphone, slowly typing out a text to Konoe-chan, probably. In the end we had managed to get her phone number when we took her back to her apartment. She had even invited us in for a brief while.

Shaeula wasn’t shy though, she devoured the tea and snacks that Konoe-chan laid out, and complained there was no beer. I was mortified. Still, it was quite cute seeing the two pretty girls chatting together. Even if one is really a faerie weasel…

Besides, now I have another couple of girls’ numbers in my phone. My sister would be pretty proud of me, once she stopped making jokes at my expense, that is. Eri-chan would no doubt be amazed, too.

Stifling another yawn I pulled myself to my feet and turned on my computer and scrolled down to the local daily news. Sure enough, there was a brief article on the incident with the thugs and Konoe-chan, stating just that the police had received an anonymous tip and found a group of men in an injured state chained up in an alleyway, surrounded by weapons, some with blood on them. It merely said that they would be making enquiries after they had questioned the men once their conditions were stable, and that they would ask for witnesses and review CCTV footage. Wait. CCTV footage? Were there any cameras in the area?

I hadn’t thought of problems like that. Still, while I had certainly been over-rough with the thugs, it wasn’t like any of them were dead, and they were armed and I wasn’t, so it was clearly self-defence. The only issue was the couple of attacks by wind elemental energy Shaeula and I had done. Still, even if there were cameras it was unlikely they would be in the position and quality to pick them up… Oh hell, no point worrying about it. If the police find me, I’ll come clean about what I can. I acted to save a girl, I shouldn’t get into much trouble… besides, there were more important issues to discuss.

I went to the fridge and pulled out a pack of beer. Opening up a couple I took a long swig from one and passed the other to Shaeula, who had reached out without turning. As I drank the cold beer I suddenly started trembling, feeling dizzy. Slumping back to the futon I felt nauseous, barely keeping in bile that was rising in my throat.

Shaeula, sensing my discomfort, turned to look at me. “Are you well-well? You look pale.”

“I just feel… pretty shaken all of a sudden.” I replied, trying to control my trembling body. “It’s… well, I don’t know.”

“Perhaps the events of the last few hours have caught up with you, Akio?” Shaeula came over and patted my hand reassuringly. “You did not have to put your life at risk for a female you did not know, though I am pleased you did-did, for such savage males repulse me. Still, you are not used to fighting here on the Material, are you? Perhaps this experience has proved quite trying?”

Washing down my nausea with beer I nodded. Yeah, to be honest… it was pretty scary. When I got into it I forgot about the consequences, but now my adrenaline has run out and I’ve calmed down. I was tense all the while we were with Konoe-chan, and I finally just relaxed.

Still… I let my eyes drift over to the picture standing on my table. “It wouldn’t have sat right with me. Leaving her I mean. Like I said before, I have a sister and a good friend I care for a lot, and I wouldn’t want them to go through such an experience. My sister might have been able to run away, she’s pretty athletic and no shrinking violet, but Eri-Chan…” The picture of them was a year old, my sister had sent it to me saying I needed an updated one. Still, it really showed their characters, my sister outgoing as ever, while Eri-chan was timidly behind, though still looking lovely. “…Eri-chan is a very shy girl and doesn’t get on with people, especially men she doesn’t know. That type of situation would have crushed her.”

“And of course you do not like the thought of that, do you-you?” Shaeula said knowingly, also peering at the picture. “She is very cute, is she not-not?” she smirked, eyeing Eri-chan. “You sister too, I see a little resemblance between you.”

Really? I think Aiko got all the looks in our family.

“So, is that the type of girl you like?” Shaeula asked, finishing off her beer with a little burp and taking another can. “She is very small and pretty, but if such is the case, perhaps I had better be wary-wary?”

“Oh come on. I’ve known Eri-chan ever since she was born. I see her as a little sister. Of course I worry about her, why wouldn’t I?”

“A little sister, hmm?” Shaeula raised one eyebrow as she eyed me quizzically. “I see-see. And are you sure that she feels the same way-way? Perhaps she has other ideas of how you stand?”

Eri-chan, and me? Being honest the thought had crossed my mind. After all, there were plenty of manga’s about childhood friends and romance, but… Nah, no way, surely not. Eri-chan wouldn’t be interested in that sort of thing, right?... although… My sister and family did make jokes about it sometimes, but Eri-chan always looked so uncomfortable…

As I was lost in thoughts Shaeula patted me on the shoulder. “All better now, master?”

Huh? Realising that while I was lost in thought the shaking and nausea had stopped I gave Shaeula a grateful glance, causing her to flush a little.

“I find it is best to take one’s mind off their fears-fears. Once more my royal wisdom was proved accurate.”

Thanks Shaeula. She was always thinking of me. Really, I had found such a good ally. Embarrassed, I tried to change the conversation to something else that had been on my mind.

“So, changing the subject… I wanted to ask about a couple of things.” I asked her as she took a swig of beer. Popping her can down she went back to typing, but she nodded her consent.

“Firstly, when we draw ether in from the surrounding area, are we pulling from people too?”

“All living beings need aether, for it is the energy of the soul. Even you humans, who have a chakra network so puny and inefficient, will draw in some ether unconsciously and convert it, though this amount is but a trickle-trickle.” She finished her message, gave out a pleased sigh and rolled over to face me, taking another swig of beer. “Those of us with a stronger ability will take some from those whose network cannot hold onto it. It is natural and we Fae and others have been doing this since the distant past-past.”

“But is it harmful? I’m a bit concerned.” The way the thugs went dizzy and lethargic when we drew in ether made me worry. After all, I had been drawing in large quantities of ether constantly around my apartment…

“Over the long term, it could be.” Shaeula conceded. “Long term aether deprivation would damage their chakra networks and even cause injury to their subtle bodies themselves. Still, such events are rare, usually caused only be evil Fae who stalk their victims for months, draining them dry-dry.” She finished most of her can noisily. “In most cases some draining would just result in lethargy, weakness and an aching within the body at the active chakra nodes-nodes.”

While I’m glad that I’m not putting them in danger… probably… no wonder my fellow apartment block residents are having a hard time. I’ve been contributing to their tiredness though my own ether drawing exercises. I feel pretty bad about that… resolving to do my practice in the Boundary or in areas where no-one else was about, I sighed loudly. “Oh well, that’s good to hear. I also wanted to know about your wind. What did you do to those punks earlier? Was that your new blessing?”

“Indeed it was, a blessing worthy of the noble princess of the Fae that is me-me.” She boasted, finishing her can and holding out a hand for another. Careful, or you’ll become an alcoholic. That’s your third already… Once I had passed her one she continued. “The wind carries my voice, and those with weak wills will listen and find their mind fogged, agreeing with and submitting to what I say-say. It works best on those who are already confused, be that by persuasion or by being in pain or fear-fear.”

Damn, that’s awesome, it’s like charm spell. “That sounds super useful. How long do you think it will last?”

Shaeula shrugged. “A second or many minutes-minutes. It is hard to be certain, as it depends upon the strength of mind of he who heeds my words and winds, as well as their condition at that moment. Once the wind has taken root I dare to say that their minds will try and justify the decisions they have made though, so modest requests or those that they have no reason to oppose would remain-remain.”

Okay, so in fact it is more like some sort of super-hypnotism in the end. Still, it is pretty damn useful. I can think of one of my problems that I may be able to make some headway on with that ability...

“Well, that explains the thugs then. They were in no state to resist you. But do you think they’ll really confess?”

“Who can say-say?” Shaeula shrugged again, turning back to her phone as it beeped. “A message from Ichika. I must reply to this-this.”

First name and no honorific. You really are not Japanese… and proud. “All right then, I’ll leave you to it while I get everything set up.” It didn’t take me too long to unbox the television and games console. Plugging it all in I went through the configuration and tuning, and soon the TV was working, displaying the news.

“All right then, you can watch on this, there are also games to play.” I had explained the concept of video games to her earlier, and while she didn’t quite get it, I knew she was smart and would pick it up quickly. “You have a choice of puzzle games, fighting games and role-playing games to choose from. Or you can just watch TV. At least you won’t be bored while I gamble.”

Shaeula nodded in agreement. “I shall watch for now. This button changes the… channel, is that correct-correct?”

“That’s right. Have a play around with it for now. I’m going to get started.” I had spent quite a bit of money today, and while I was still well above target for what I needed to enact my plan, recovering some of the expenditure would make me feel better. The blessing of fortunate winds had faded from me, so Shaeula re-applied it while looking for anime on the television…

********

I yawned and stretched, half-listening to the young magical girls speaking from the television. Shaeula had found some anime and was watching it intently, only stopping to respond to the frequent texts coming from Konoe-chan. She says a lot more than I would have thought. I didn’t even really expect her to reply to Shaeula, never mind exchanging long streams of texts….

Closing the roulette app on my computer (from a new, second site) I considered my winnings. There had only been one scare, my luck working well, and in total I had recovered a bit over two thousand pounds. Still not what I’ve spent today but not too far shy of it. I am best stopping here, no need to get greedy and blow it all…

“It’s getting pretty late.” I observed as I sat down beside Shaeula, who was rolled up in my futon. “It got dark hours ago.”

“Yes, it has been quite the day-day.” Shaeula agreed, yawning cutely, wiping her mouth with one sleeve of her yukata. That reminds me…

“Don’t take this question the wrong way…” I asked. “But can you remove that yukata or is it a part of you? I don’t mean anything lewd by this question, I promise!”

“I can of course remove-remove it.” Shaeula said, arching an eyebrow at me in surprise. “Though you are correct in that it is a part of my Material body, so it would vanish when removed-removed.” She paused for a second. “Why, have you fallen for my many charms? Should you try anything perverted, my noble father would have you nailed to the great tree at the heart of the Seelie Court and tormented for eternity-eternity!” she smirked. “Eri would no doubt be heartbroken too, I surmise.”

“I assure you my intentions are strictly honourable. I just thought you might like to buy some clothes, to have a few options. Girls like that sort of thing, right? Besides it would look odd if you wore the same thing all the time. Unless you can change your yukata yourself of course?”

“No, I believe I can only dismiss it or re-summon it-it.” she replied. “So if you wish to treat your loyal and powerful servant to suitable attire, I would of course accept. I assume your work has gone well-well?”

“Not bad.” I agreed. “Most of what I spent today was recovered, so we are ahead of our minimum needs for the next stage. We won’t push our luck too far, but hopefully we can add a bit more, with a little change to treat you for your assistance.”

“It is good to see you recognise that you have the most powerful and helpful of all servants you could have, a princess of such beauty you can hardly wait to spend your money on dressing her up-up.”

“Yeah, yeah, enough teasing.” I laughed. “In any case I think it is time to return to the Boundary and check on our Territory. I’m a bit light on aether as I’ve not been gathering and we used some up earlier, but I can supplement my supply from what our Territory has gathered. It’s a bit inefficient, but I don’t want to cause more trouble for my neighbours.”

“I doubt the amount of ether that you are drawing would have much effect over the short term. But if that is what my master wishes, who am I to argue-argue?” Shaeula shrugged. Putting away her phone she turned off the TV. She’s got the hang of that quite quickly.

“It will be good to see my kin again. But I will miss this television thing. Perhaps there is a way to bring one to the Boundary? It would make passing the time there far more pleasant-pleasant. Besides, my siblings would be jealous…”

She muttered the last sentence at a barely audible tone. “What was that?” I asked, only for her to dismiss it with a wave of her small hand.

“Oh well, I can imagine there would be a lot of problems with that, such as not having a power source, or even a signal, but maybe if we paired it with a Blu-ray player… hmmm.”

“So you do not think it is impossible?” Shaeula brightened up. “If you could work on it, I would be most grateful-grateful.”

“All right I’ll see what I can do.” I ruffled her hair playfully, causing her to squirm a little. “But it is low on the priority list for now. I want to get through the etheric tide first and get things back to normal before worrying about things like that.”

“Very well then. We should waste little time and depart immediately. My kin are waiting-waiting!”

Shaeula was pumped up for this, bringing a smile to my face. “All right then. Off we go!”

And with that we departed for our Territory once more…

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