Page 18 of I Ran Away to Evil
But I digressed.
Keith looked contemplative as he completed the ink trail down my side and around my feet. He looked away while he drew between my legs, up to my knees and back down again.
Leave it to an Arcane Sage to not even need to watch what they were doing while inking out a spell!
Keith finished connecting the circle of spell script with a flourish, then put aside his ink and brush. His eyes looked off in the distance, probably checking his character sheet or notification tab. A moment later, Tulith stepped into the doorway, waiting for direction.
“Send a group of raiders into North Sumbria and gather up any wayward minions who haven’t already passed the duchy’s citizenship exams,” he ordered. “Also, Rufus should have just returned this morning. Find him and send him out to get me no less than three healers. I want it done by this time next week.”
“Yesss, Your Viciousnesss.” Tulith curtsied. “Right away, Your Viciousnesss.”
“Well, that’s settled.” Keith smiled down at me. A very toothy smile. He had nice teeth.
I hesitated but asked, “You aren’t going to drag back the ones who passed Grand Duchess Calisto’s test? Why?”
If my father discovered that his taxable subjects had run off to another land, he would cry treason and haul them all back kicking and screaming. Then he would make a few into examples so it didn’t happen again.
“Paperwork,” Keith announced.
“What?”
“You heard me.” The Dark Overlord shuddered. “My illustrious northern neighbor is asadist, and her favorite thing to do is to send me large swathes of foreign rights and trade requisitions mixed with incredibly tempting intellectual tidbits. Do you think I could touchanyonewho’s completed the immigration registration into North Sumbria without having to go through a wagonload of bureaucracy for the trouble?”
“But you’re theDark Overlord!”
“I’m still king of Nilheim, ruler of the Dark Enchanted Forest. I can take time to master magic and create golems and foil assassinations because my carefully crafted system of oppression requires areasonableamount of paperwork.”
“I see.” It made sense when he put it that way.
“Another reason for the four-day work week. Magic is my hobby, not my job.” Keith waved at the ink surrounding me, and it began to glow. “Are you ready, Princess?”
I braced myself. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
He smiled again. “Don’t worry. This should only hurt a lot.”
CHAPTER 10
This Was Going to Be a Lot of Work
Keith
Keith pulled out the teacup he’d given Henrietta just after her arrival the previous day. He held it up over the princess and used his free hand to continue manipulating mana into the spell script. Then he cast the spell by whispering a single word under his breath.
[You have attempted to use the Perk:Quick Chant. You have succeeded.]
[You have attempted to use the Skill:Magic. You have succeeded.]
[You have attempted to use the Perk:Sense Motive. You have succeeded.]
In order to test how Henrietta had been feeling during her arrival the previous day, Keith had inscribed an enchantment to connect her with something that she had interacted with. Namely, the teacup.
Keith used the [Imbue] perk to give each and every one of his creations [Identify], which revealed parts of the target’s character sheet information, and [Sense Motive], which measured a person’s killing intent.
They would scan the kingdom for trespassers and react appropriately. If an identified individual was not a citizen of the Dark Enchanted Forest of Nilheim, they were automatically scanned with [Sense Motive] and removed. Their motive, combined with how willingly they accepted removal, determined how dead they were when they arrived at the border crossing.
The advanced spell cast on Keith’s defense golems reacted to any form of harmful intent toward his minions or his person, and to a lesser extent, his lands.The thing about an enchanted forest, and a Dark Enchanted Forest at that, was that the land could take care of itself.
Keith expected only a little screaming as his spell activated, connecting the teacup and Henrietta. The mana would give her a shock equivalent to the strength of any killing intent.
