Chapter 78 (2 of 2) Casket of Boons or Casket of Curses. (Patreon)

“So.” Sedric slammed his cup of water down on the table they were sitting at for lunch. He glared at Raegan. “You going to tell me what you did to me or just sit there acting innocent forever?”

“If I never did anything…” Raegan spun his fork and stabbed it into his steak. “Then I don’t need to tell you anything, do I? I’m not sure why you happen to believe Scytale’s nonsense claims of me being able to grant bad luck all of a sudden, but-”

“Even as I watch you now, it’s so fascinating,” the mage next to him mused as he studied the boy.

Raegan gave Marellen an irritated look and tried to ignore him. “As I was saying, Scytale is a liar so-”

“Are you doing this intentionally? Or is this a passive effect of your presence?” Marellen continued, eyes wide as he watched Raegan do something as simple as raise his fork. “No, I don’t believe you’re granting people ill fortune. But what is it that you’re doing? It’s clear you’re not using any element I’m familiar with and certainly not the light element.”

Raegan scowled and turned to look at Lucy. “Hey! Lucille! Can you do something about this creep? I’m not an object to be studied!”

“His name is Marellen,” Lucy replied calmly. She smiled. “When we first met, Marellen had been gambling on which event would become the Millennium Chapter this millennium to study Fate and fortune. Did anything come from that, Marellen?”

Marellen tried to cast a spell to analyse the properties of one of Raegan’s hairs and the boy quickly swatted away the mage’s hand with a scowl. “Quit it!”

Efratel clapped his hands to grab the navy-haired mage’s attention. “Marellen! Lucille is talking to you!”

“Hm?” Marellen looked up and blinked.

Garthe pointed at Lucy. “She wants to know if you made money from gambling back when she met you, Marellen.”

“Ah, that.” Marellen nodded. “Yes, I did. I placed my bets on your choices and ended up receiving part of the prize the next day. I ended up spending it all on alchemical reagents the next day…”

Efratel rolled his eyes as Larena smirked and crossed her arms. “I heard you told the Vadel cousins you were a time traveller, Lucille. Supposedly, that was how you knew what to bet on.”

Roa turned to gaze seriously at Lucy, looking interested to know her answer. At the same time, Vincent broke into a coughing fit as his water went down the wrong pipe and Annaliese and Raegan exchanged looks. Jasten Albrecht had raised a bushy eyebrow, looking very sceptical.

Scytale laughed until Lucille elbowed him and then shrugged. “Just call me Lucy. And I may have told them that, yes. Is there something you want to know?”

Larena grinned and propped her chin up. “Does the time traveling Count Goldcroft have any pieces of wisdom to share with us?”

It’s clear she’s not taking me seriously, which is good. I should play into her expectation of it being a joke. I never exactly expected so many people to be here to learn what I jokingly told Marellen and Efratel.

Lucy hummed and raised her eyes to the roof in mock thought. After a moment, she nodded and steepled her fingers on the table as she gazed solemnly at Larena. “Within five years, the Duchies will be usurped as the most powerful fiefdoms in the Empire.”

Larena narrowed her eyes and smiled. “Oh? And who will usurp them?”

“The Aurelian Commission. Headed by me,” Lucille stated calmly. She raised a gloved finger. “Also, invest in shops that sell fire element goods. The demand for them is going to increase.”

The others stared at her for a few seconds and then Garthe laughed. “Right, right. We’ll be sure to do that,” he said through chuckles.

“I am still waiting for an answer about how Raegan managed to make me unlucky,” Sedric said grumpily.

“Oh, fine!” Raegan said, suddenly standing up. “You want to know how I made you unlucky?” He smirked and pointed to his heart as Sir Albrecht buried his head in his hands. “Because I’m Annaliese’s nemesis, okay! If she can make people lucky and change their Fate as the Prophetess, then I can reverse everything she and the Sages can do.”

“…Prophetess?”

Lucy sighed and shot Scytale a flat look as he gained a broad grin, most likely because this time it wasn’t him who got anyone in trouble. The mercenaries, Trisroa, Marellen and Efratel turned to stare at Annaliese.

The blonde-haired girl smiled and waved. “Oh, I forgot to mention. I’m the Prophetess.”

Everyone but Marellen stared at her, disbelievingly, but the navy-haired mage sprung up and grabbed her hands. “Prophetess Verdon, as a friend of Lucille’s, I’m sure you’re willing to do many favours for her, right? My interests lie in studying the effect of magic on cause and effect and as Lucille’s sponsored mage, I’m sure she’d love an opportunity to help me strengthen my abilities. If you could offer me the chance to study-”

“I may be your sponsor, but stop using my name for your personal interests,” Lucy said with mild exasperation.

Sir Albrecht got up and dragged Marellen away by his collar with a flat look on his face, then plonked the mage back onto his seat. “Do not approach the Prophetess without her and my explicit permission,” he warned.

Raegan groaned and kicked his feet onto his chair. “Look, this is what always happens when anyone finds out my sister is the Prophetess. I thought this discussion was supposed to be about me and my abilities. She can get all the attention she wants from other nobles. I’d even say yes to your request to study my abilities if you just ask me!”

Marellen froze and turned to stare at the dark-haired boy. “Really?”

“Er…” Raegan hesitated when he saw the mage’s excited expression. “You know what, maybe I’ve changed my mind…”

“I have to admit, I’m very curious about your abilities myself,” Lucy said with a hand on her chin. “I have my doubts that your ability purely grants people bad luck, especially if you’re supposed to have powers on par with the Prophetess. That has to be a reason why the Citadel branded you as their ‘antithesis’ for all these years.”

Garthe screwed up his face and leaned to the side to whisper into his sister's ear, “Do you have any idea what they’re on about? Antithesis? Abilities on par with the Prophetess?”

Larena shook her head. “No clue.” She turned to look at Sir Albrecht, who had sat back down next to Annaliese across from them. “Are we allowed to be hearing this?”

Jasten Albrecht gazed down at his empty plate, his expression twitching. The cup in his armoured hand shattered and then he just ran a gauntleted hand down his face. “Raegan’s position in the Citadel is… ambiguous. The Sages haven’t come to a consensus, so I’ll just have to assume everyone at this table has enough motivation to live that words won’t be spilt.” He shot Lucy a disgruntled look. “It doesn’t help that I’ve received an order from the Great Sage to accept all of Count Goldcroft’s requests that do not harm the Prophetess or her brother…”

Lucille paused when she overheard that and then smiled. She rested her chin on her steepled hands. “Really? Interesting. It seems that granting the Citadel permission to build a branch of Protection in Gilded Seat made them see me favourably… or maybe as just a pushover.” She gained a slightly evil grin. “After all, to them, I’m just a naïve girl barely two years older than Annaliese, aren’t I?”

“Oh! Lucy!” Annaliese interjected with cheerfulness, not caring that she was completely diverting the conversation topic. “When is your birthday?”

“Me?” Lucy blinked. “Today.”

Annaliese glared at her. “I’m trying to ask a serious question.”

“Uh, Miss Verdon, I feel mandated to inform you…” Vincent lowered his raised hand when eyes were on him and removed his glasses with a sigh. “…that prior to your arrival, Lucille told me that this morning she had, in fact, turned nineteen and that her birthday was the 2nd of July.”

“…huh,” Annaliese said, stunned. Then her eyes widened with panic. “Wait, I didn’t get a birthday present!”

Lucy raised an eyebrow. “Why bother with a present? I can buy anything I want. Unless your gift is unlimited access to all of the Citadel of Fate’s secret records, then I don’t feel inclined to accept anything.”

Annaliese paused and her expression fell. “I… don’t think I can give you that.”

Lucy smirked and shook her head. “I was only joking. Sir Albrecht knows I’ve already read all their secret records, anyway.”

They all turned to stare at Sir Albrecht who sent her a weary look. “I never claimed I believed you.”

“Believe it or not, I have nothing to prove to you.” Lucille rested one hand over the other and directed a grin to Raegan. “Raegan, how much do you know about your own abilities?”

Raegan looked at her with suspicion, but answered reluctantly, “Only as much as I’ve seen when I use it sometimes. I won’t get to see my Status until I’m sixteen.”

“I see. Well then.” Lucille leaned forward and smirked as she tapped on the table in front of him. “Would you be willing to give Marellen and me two hours of your time today to do some experiments? We only need to record some basic data and then you’ll be free to go.”

Raegan gave the excited mage next to him a disgusted look. “…him too?”

“I believe this will be the first time Marellen will have first-hand experience with Fate and fortune abilities, and I’m sure it will be… enlightening.” Lucille spread her palms and leaned back in her chair at the head of the table. “You’re free to decline, but considering you’ve expressed interest in being a more active participant in the politics around your sister, this may be worthwhile.”

The dark-haired boy swept aside his fringe and frowned. A second later he jabbed a thumb of his shoulder in the direction of the Paladin at their table. “What about that?”

“I have a name, Raegan,” Jasten Albrecht stated flatly. “And it is not ‘that’.”

Raegan blew the armoured man a raspberry as Lucy nodded. “Anything Marellen or I discover will be shared with your ward… if you permit it.”

Raegan crossed his arms and could clearly be seen thinking about it as his nose screwed up. He looked between Marellen, his guard and Lucille, before throwing his arms up and then digging into the rest of his lunch. “Fine. Do whatever you want. Only two hours though and you will tell me what you find out.”

“Of course, Young Master Verdon,” Lucy said with a bright smile.

He shuddered and gave her an aghast look while his sister next to him clapped her hands together. “Isn’t this great, Raegan?” Annaliese asked. “Lucy’s the smartest person I know!”

The boy rolled his eyes. “You only know Sir Albrecht and myself outside of those in the Commission, so the bar for being ‘smart’ isn’t very high.”

Lucy cocked an eyebrow but Raegan wordlessly pointed to the humanoid snake next to her. She turned her eyes to her bond to see Scytale sitting upside down in his chair with his legs hanging over the back, throwing knives into the ceiling where they lodged themselves. She swiftly pushed Scytale’s chair over and he yelped as he fell to the ground next to Garthe.

“This is all cool and all, but I still have this blighted ‘bad luck curse’ on me!” Sedric exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table.

“It’s not a curse, it’s a hex,” Raegan argued.

Sedric glared at the boy. “All I hear is a confession of guilt.”

“Okay then, please remove the ‘hex’, Raegan,” Lucille interjected. “He is my private crafter and it will be an issue if his work quality is impacted by his bad luck.”

Raegan rolled his eyes and poked Sedric’s shoulder. “Fine. There, it’s done.”

Sedric frowned as he looked down at his hands. “I don’t feel any different.”

“Hmm…” A mana-circle spun above Marellen’s palm and he blinked as he shifted his gold-framed circular glasses. “I’m not sensing the same instability in my elemental harmony model. I would guess that this means you’re no longer affected.”

“An ability to cause bad luck without using fortune or Fate essence…” Vincent mused with a strange expression. “I feel like my worldview was never this large before I met you, Lucille.”

“Hopefully, any changes in your worldview will be taken as a benefit by you,” she replied with a smile.

“Speaking of changes… what happened to him?”

They all glanced at the Prophetess at their table, who was pointing to the man directly opposite her.

Hargrave stilled and hesitated when he saw the attention on him – attention he had so far managed to avoid by remaining silent. “…me?”

“I worked so hard to give you a decent haircut and then you go and dye your hair blue,” Annaliese replied, grumpily crossing her arms. “If you were going to change your hair colour, then you should’ve dyed it all blue! Why is it still mostly red?”

“This… wasn’t intentional.” Hargrave grimaced as he picked up a lock of his hair and then dropped it with a sigh. “It’s an effect of… gaining a water affinity.”

“I see… Sir Albrecht?” Annaliese blinked at the blonde-haired Paladin. “Is something wrong?”

Lucy quietly sipped her tea as the Paladin studied Hargrave, who was plainly emitting draconic presence, a stark difference from when they last met.

Well, Hargrave’s change wouldn’t have been able to get by Jasten Albrecht. He did become one of the twelve Templars.

“Hargrave… did you become a dragon-blooded?” Sir Albrecht asked, his tone unsure.

Something about the word ‘dragon-blooded’ made a dark look briefly pass across Hargrave’s face, but he caught himself when he glanced at Lucy, who was slowly shaking her head. Hargrave scratched the back of his neck with a frown. “I… yes. I gained a water-element draconic beast bloodline.”   

Sedric raised an eyebrow. “Hold on a moment. I definitely heard Scytale say you were-” He yelped when a white-gloved hand pinched him and twisted to the side to see Lucy pull back her hand. She looked away as he glared at her.

Lucille glanced at the mercenaries and two mages, who were exchanging looks. Larena shook her head, which seemed to silence any remarks from the rest of them as they all nodded.

Larena was quick to notice me warning Sedric and they all followed her lead. It seems she has a well-honed habit of avoiding trouble when she can. She’s smart.

Annaliese had wide eyes as she stared at Hargrave, clearly waiting for him to explain. Hargrave awkwardly looked away and avoided eye contact.

The conversation lapped into silence until they all finished the rest of their meals and then Marellen blinked as something occurred to him. He reached into the satchel under his dark blue cloak. “Oh, right. Efratel said that he told you about the strange artifact we found on the Sundown Continent plane shard, Lucy. I brought it along to show-”

“No, what are you doing, Marellen?!” Larena growled, getting up from the seat. “Don’t carry cursed items on you! What if Lucy and the others got hurt?!”

Cursed items couldn’t affect me due to the spells contained within, but Larena wouldn’t know that.

“But I-”

“No buts!” Larena threatened.

“Uh… okay…” Marellen slowly placed the golden casket on the table and slid its ruby key next to it. “But I just wanted to show Lucy this…”

Lucille stood up from the table, looking at the casket with curiosity as she walked around to Marellen’s side of the table. Marellen stood up and gestured to the artifact.

“This artifact kept following us around but none of us wanted to test it due to the System warnings that came with it,” he explained. The navy-haired mage held up a finger. “Stay here and watch the casket. You’ll see what I mean.”

Marellen walked over to the door of the dining room and exited. They all watched to see when the casket would move. It didn’t. A couple of minutes later, Marellen re-entered the room with a frown. “Why didn’t anything happen? It’s been following me around ever since we first found it. Roa even tried to melt it with fire and it still turned up on my table unharmed only a few seconds later.”

Lucy tapped a finger on the top of the casket and then picked up the ruby-studded key to inspect it. She glanced at Marellen. “I want to try a little experiment. Just wait a few minutes. I’ll return with a dimensional artifact to test if it can escape dimensional boundaries as well.”

They watched as Lucy left the room, but then they all jumped and turned to stare as Lucy entered, holding the finery-covered casket in her white-gloved hands. “Ah, so this was the phenomenon you were referring to. Indeed, I saw it reappear in my spiritual perception on the shelf closest to me as soon as I rounded a corner.”

“Why did it work for you and not me?” Marellen asked, dumbfounded.

Lucille hummed as she turned the casket in her hands, then sat it on the dining table. “Were there any details about this artifact in the records of the Institute for Nomological Augmentation?”

“There were no details supplied with the artifact,” Roa interjected as she approached. “Even the label for the artifact had been wiped away in the destruction of the protective cases.”

“Hmm… well, if this artifact was held in a secret facility on the plane, and the Allbright empire had the capabilities to explore other planes…” Lucille smirked and placed a hand on the lid of the casket. “Then the possibility exists that this is far older than any of the other artifacts you brought back from the Sundown Continent plane shard. Potentially as old to the plane shard as that Old Era plane is to us.” She shrugged. “With access to plenty of mana and hundreds of millennia, the powers of artifact can only be imagined.”

Lucy straightened out her glove sleeves and picked up the key. “But I’m curious to know what this System message is, so I think I might test it.”

Roa tried to hold out a hand to stop her. “Count Goldcroft, I don’t believe that would be the wisest idea. We still have yet to discover what this artifact uses stat points for and-”

The words died in her mouth as the notification sprang up.

[Warning: This object consumes Stats when used. Do you want to proceed? Yes/No]

Lucille only glanced at the notification for a second and then a click sounded when the key turned in the lock. The top of the casket opened to reveal inky black darkness with no bottom in sight within the jewellery box.

“Artifacts require a minute input of mana to activate regardless of buttons and the like, so I knew nothing would occur,” Lucy explained to all the observers. She leaned against the table and crossed her arms, tapping her fingers against her forearm. “An artifact that consumes stat points, however… I have to say that I’ve never heard of such a thing. Stat points are a refined form of System ‘Influence’, the energy that composes our skills and few forces ever learnt to manipulate spiritual information… this lends support to my theory that this is an artifact from at least the era before last. Only such a long-lived artifact could have developed the abilities to adjust to its new environments as time goes by.”

Lucy tilted her head and remained silent for a minute, thinking about what to do, but then she smirked and put a hand up to the right side of her face. She took off her black half-mask and ignored the stares of her guests as she gazed at the artifact on the table with her ‘Shard of Totality’.

[Artifact – Type: Jewellery Box                                                                                                                         ]

Name: ???’s Casket of Boons

Rarity: Legendary - Forbidden

MP: ∞/∞

Desc:

An indestructible box of mysteries. Nobody knows where this artifact came from or who created it, but it was surely not made for the purpose it now holds. Time has left it utterly removed from whatever its original form was. This casket allows the Keyholder to make an exchange – The Keyholder will sacrifice a portion of their strength in return for a ‘boon’. This boon will take on a fixed form of becoming whatever the Keyholder needs the most from the time they first use the artifact. The detriment of this is that once a Keyholder has been chosen, any who use this artifact, including the Keyholder themselves, may no longer obtain a boon of any other form until a new Keyholder is chosen.

Abilities:

Exchange of Needs – Originally a magical item crafted only for one individual who needed it most, it has kept this trait over its lifetime. It will forever search out the Keyholder that can wield it to its fullest potential.

-              Artifact is incapable of becoming lost. The artifact will always appear on people’s personage or within their luggage to meet with the Keyholder it has selected. As the key is a component of the artifact, the casket can teleport to wherever the key is and vice-versa.

-              Keyholder will be selected. The Keyholder cannot be changed unless willingly be the Keyholder themselves, or the Keyholder dies. Other individuals may still use the artifact to gain a ‘boon’ in the form of the Keyholder’s need if given the key by the Keyholder.

Law of Equivalent Exchange – This artifact may grant you what you require the most yet it will always demand a sacrifice worthy of its boon.

-              The artifact will take from the Keyholder a form of power to exchange it for another ability or enhancement the Keyholder needs. Requirements are that the matter or energy of the boon is composed of the same matter or energy of the sacrifice, that the Keyholder can provide the artifact with the sacrifice at the time of its first usage, and that the Keyholder can provide enough sacrifice to either obtain portions of the boon dependent on the quantity of sacrifice, or a large amount of the boon if a large amount is provided.

-              Grants the artifact the ability to activate when the key is rotated 360 degrees.

Forbidden Artifact – A rarity granted to only the most dangerous of items. The System warns the User that this artifact can potentially affect the User’s Status and abilities in ways outside of its control. Be careful that you do not ruin yourself with it.

-              Grants the artifact immunity to the abilities of any other artifact or ability of a member of the races. It is impossible to alter the boons granted by this artifact without using the artifact itself.

[                                                                                                                                                                   ]

Lucy stared at the description of the artifact, and then her face split into a broad grin. She twisted the key in the lock another semi-circle until it returned to its original position, and then she let go. The others watched warily as a metallic tune reminiscent of a music box sounded, and then a plate rose up from the depths of the inky hole inside. It clicked into place as a small figure the length of Lucille’s index finger slowed its rotation on the plate.

Lucy leaned close to the casket with Marellen watching curiously by her side, and they both studied the figure of a hooded, masked man holding up a pair of miniature scales. Two flattened bowls sat on either side of the plate, making it clear that they were supposed to represent the sides of the scales.

“How fascinating…” Marellen murmured.

“The ‘boon’ is something I need the most,” Lucy mused. She smirked and placed a finger on one of the empty bowls. “Then I need to see what this artifact deems an ability I need the most.”

As soon as she touched the bowl, incredibly small particles that appeared like glowing white dust flowed into the dish and sat on the bottom. She watched her Status as five free stat points were taken away.

The particles disappeared, sinking into the bowl. And then, with the sound of a chime, the scales held by the figure tilted to the opposite side. A small glowing orb similar to the unattributed Influence that Ouroboros had generated formed for her, and she picked up the crystalised form of pure Influence. Her eyes widened when the Shard of Totality activated to give her its description.

[Aspect Bestowment]

Info: A unique Status modifier that grants one stack of ‘Bestowment’ to an Aspect, multiplying its effects by x1.25. Each upgrade of Bestowment grade adds +1.25 to the enhancement, A maximum of ten grades can be upgraded per Aspect. Multiple Aspect Bestowments stacks are needed to upgrade to a 2nd grade Bestowment Enhancement]

…if only there was a way to give her sponsored party a pay rise when they already had unlimited budgets.