All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 124: Slice of Life

Practice with my thrusters had gone well after the initial hiccups. After a day and a half of near-constant trial and error, I could maintain a consistent hover around six inches off the ground and move 75% as fast as I could on wheels. I had a feeling that I could move much quicker and on a more vertical axis as well, but that was just unnatural. Also, why would I need to go up? The floors that needed cleaning were down here.

I still didn’t like being too far from the ground unless I was being carried. Maybe I would eventually become more comfortable with the idea, but as it was, I wouldn’t pursue it yet. Besides, I valued stability much more than speed. Still, it was worthwhile to develop my skills a bit further here. I had the time in the afternoon anyway, and it would let me improve my cleaning on stairs and higher areas. As I got better, there were few opportunities to expand my capabilities like this.

When I was cleaning the stairs, the idea of being able to hover just made sense. But as I practiced, I found so many other benefits to being able to just stay six inches off the ground. The big one was that I no longer needed to roll through the dirt outside.

That wasn’t to say that there were no downsides. The thrusters themselves caused dirt to blow everywhere. Sure, I could capture the dirt, but that was a short-term solution. If I stayed in one spot for too long, I slowly started to sink down as the dirt my thrusters blasted against the earth below me, digging a big hole.

If I simply captured and transmuted the dirt, then there would be less dirt, which would be good. However, there were a couple issues with that too. Less dirt was a desirable outcome inside. After all, if the inside wasn’t kept clean for humans, then why would I bother with any of this? But after learning more about soil quality than I ever wanted from Trent, I came out with a better understanding of the importance humans placed on dirt in its “proper” place.

The other issue was simply a consequence of time. If I spent enough time hovering around the castle grounds, even if I was careful not to stay in one place too long, the sheer amount of time I was spending outside would cause grooves and uneven patches to form around some areas. This would ruin the pleasant leveling the ground had with the road and the castle base. There were probably many other consequences that I wasn’t aware of too.

Still… Even with all of those negatives, it was tempting to hover about everywhere. Not having to worry about tracking mud with my wheels or cleaning my underside was truly amazing.

This got me thinking, though. What could my other abilities be doing for me? I realized that training was important a long time ago, back in the catacombs. Back then, I had done a few exercises with my abilities to train them, strictly to try and improve them, but I had fallen out of the habit. Seeing what my thruster control had done for me, though, my predictive models were abuzz with the possibilities for what my other abilities could do.

This feeling was mostly related to my least-used abilities. My two newest ones were the obvious ones to experiment with. But honestly, my least used ability was Air Purifier. I kind of regretted choosing it. At the time, I was too caught up in evaluating the choices based only on their immediate cleaning applicability, and I didn’t really consider what secondary benefits they would give me. With how much better my thrusters allowed me to do my job, though, I was sure that other options might have been better.

Well, that was in the past now. I might as well figure out what to do with it. I had left the purifier on nearly constantly, but it didn’t seem to have much effect on anything. The air around here wasn’t perfectly pure, but neither was it contaminated enough to cause any real issues.

The Divine Sword was proving to be incredibly useful on its face, though. Being able to cut the grass was relaxing and good practice at the same time. Also, from my testing, it could cut through most things with ease. Stone wasn’t even that much of a problem. In fact, sometimes, I would go over and assist Trent with breaking up large rocks in the field, the ones that were hard to lift.

The last one he called on me for was approximately 20.2 tons. Much too large for any of us. After a few minutes of work with my sword, I was able to cut it into regularly shaped blocks. The humans were all rather impressed. They moved the rock into pleasing, organized piles for later use. They even started requesting specified dimensions, which I was more than happy to provide.

As I finished the latest circle of grass trimming around the castle. I found Felix waiting for me. I paused my work and inquired what he wanted, and his face lit up. “Yes, your um holiness! Mary humbly asks for your grace’s help in the kitchens.”

“Your grace” again? I thought I had gotten him to stop with titles like that.

—-

Bee rushed up to the staggering woman, slinging her pack on the ground next to her. Startled, Susan stopped moving and just looked at her for a second.

“Bee?” she whispered, confusion clear on her face. Before Bee could respond, Susan was sinking to her knees. It seemed that it was all she could do to not fall on her face. Bee put a steadying hand on her shoulder and helped the woman sit down.

“What happened to you?” Bee exclaimed as she examined the woman. Dark bruises covered her face and arms. Her clothes were ripped, and her hair was dirty. The woman’s cracked lips turned up in a slight smile that caused a thin trickle of blood to run down her chin. The smile faltered into a wince as Bee’s probing fingers found a store spot on her ribs.

“They didn’t believe me.” Susan whispered with a wet chuckle.

“Get your bedroll out.” Bee called over to Tony while she was digging through her own pack. “They did this to you because they thought you lied?”

Bee was mostly talking just to keep the woman focused. She could tell that Susan’s consciousness was tethered here by a thread, and it would be easier to treat her for now if she was awake and could answer questions. “Oh, no, my lady. This was… This was from escaping.”

Finding what she was looking for, Bee turned to the battered woman and tipped her chin back, pressing a glass bottle to her lips. “Drink.”

Susan tried to swallow but coughed, spraying a mist of the potion out. Bee winced at the waste, but it wasn’t too big of a deal. The medicine that had gotten down her throat started to do its work on Susan as she continued to cough. Torn between going back to her pack for more supplies and trying to comfort Susan, Bee stuck with rubbing her back gently as the woman recovered.

“Sorry,” Susan whispered as she was able to talk again.

“No, it's okay,” Bee said as she leaned back to get her pack. A lot of her healing equipment had been upgraded from when she had first started her adventuring. At first, she used salves and balms as they were easier to make and required fewer ingredients. That had been perfect for her when she only had access to the smallest storerooms and limited skill.

Bee was still a long way from being an expert, but she was more than competent now, and she had access to so many materials. The castle had stores that would last her for a very long time, and most of the things that needed to be gathered fresh were available in the castle. A few of the systems the college used to have in place to that had failed. But most were recoverable. Plants could be regrown, and animals had mostly survived. Some of the most complicated ingredients were out of reach, but she didn’t really need them yet.

Finally, getting a few things set up, Bee started mixing the contents of three vials together. Now she mostly used potions. They were trickier to make but were much faster acting. Not instant, of course, but it no longer took her days to heal broken bones.

“You escaped?” she asked to keep Susan talking.

“Yeah. I didn’t even… make it to the commander,” Susan said, licking her now-healed lips. “I told them where I had come from, and they had me taken off to the side. Lots of questions. Didn’t like the answers.”

“So what did you do? You said you got hurt from escaping?” Bee asked, carefully lighting a candle under a beaker. She went back to the pack, digging out another prepared general-use potion.

“Mostly. They did try to use some…enhanced interrogation…but they were complete amateurs. Broke a few ribs and the like. Really disappointing stuff.” She grinned darkly. “But I’m an Infiltrator. We’re hard to keep down. It took a few hours, but I made it out. I had to fight for a while, and that isn’t something I really excel at. But once I got out of the camp, I was able to give them the slip. A few dogs caught up, but they lost my scent after my blood became exposed.

“Blood Disguise is a terrible skill. I don’t recommend taking it.” Susan said, starting to ramble a bit. As she spoke, Tony rolled out his bedroll behind her and helped Susan lay back against it. His face mirrored the horrified concern of Bee’s own.

Hearing about dogs, Bee stopped what she was doing and went to examine Susan more closely. The woman has been limping. Pulling up each of her loose pant legs, Bee winced in sympathy when she saw the wound. Deep puncture wounds formed deep holes in one calf. She cursed and turned back to her pack. Pulling out one of the prepared portions, she got ready. “Brace yourself. This might sting a little.”

Susan visibly gritted her teeth but only flinched a little as Bee poured the potion on the bite. The bloody holes started to bubble, and all sorts of disgusting liquids started flowing from the wounds. As they were purified, the angry red color started to fade from the skin, and the swelling visibly retreated.

Bee went back to tending the potions she was mixing, taking them off the heat. She went back to asking questions to keep the injured spy focused. “Then what happened?”

“Well after I broke out of the camp I had to sneak my way through the undead lines.” Susan said, relaxing her jaw slightly. “That wasn’t too hard. I could still hide my scent, so they could only feel my life force really. Unless they saw me. Which they didn’t. After that, I started walking back to the castle. It’s been… a couple days, I want to say.”

“The undead? Where were you?” Bee asked, now a little worried. Things might be worse than she thought. Greg being destroyed was bad. But if the army was fighting like this, rather than just exterminating the threat outright… The crown was bound to do something to fix it, right?

Touching the glass to make sure that it wasn’t too hot, Bee didn’t give Susan a chance to answer. This part was a bit time sensitive. “This will help target the broken rib and any organ damage.”

Helping Susan tip her head up, Bee pressed another glass to her mouth. This time Susan was able to swallow without issue. She’d give her a moment to recover before asking anything else.