Headed by a Snake

"Here," Tycon tossed the crimson spear to Bucket, who caught it deftly with one hand.

"Sir?"

"Magic spear. Drinks blood. Doesn't restore wounds, though-- just makes you feel better," Tycon summarized the spear's effects in quick succession.

"Sir?! You're giving me a magic spear??" Bucket's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"It's a... Lifedrinker spear." Tycon narrowed his eyes.

Taree, the mediocre Martialist's eyes glowed to match Bucket's excitement, hugging the young man and pressing her nonexistent chest to his arm. "Warrior Pale! That's a Spirit Weapon! Perhaps if you train with it, you'll even be able to attune to its spirit and learn its name!"

"It's called... the Lifedrinker," Tycon frowned.

Bucket held it up and stared with huge eyes, "The Lifedrinker... Cooool."

Taree puffed her cheeks, looking like she was about to rudely complain. Thankfully, the appearance of a hurried elderly human in scholar's robes made her pause. Tycon glanced above his head to be reminded of the gentleman's name, 'Elder Kakui.'

"Young Mistress! Something terrible has happened!"

Taree ran up to him and looked up with her disproportionately large eyes, "Grandpa Kakui? What's happened?"

"The Young Master was out gathering herbs for the ritual..."

Tycon had seated himself on the table that Pale and Taree were seated on, "By the way, Elder Kakui. I've appropriated all the herbs."

"Well, Warrior Tycon, that's wonderful news, but... the Young Master has been kidnapped!!"

Tycon took the tiny fork and sampled a colorful looking cake. That Kagehisa girl, Tamaki's mother, was a decent cook but was an excellent pastry chef. He didn't usually like pastries, but her cakes were wonderfully rich and their sweetness... comforting.

Taree was panicking, raring to go. Pale was trying to calm her down. The Elder was also trying to calm her down. Taree began to cry. Pale and the Elder began to panic. Tycon took the opportunity to quickly finish Taree's slice of cake.

"Elder Kakui."

"Y-yes, Warrior Tycon?" The old man was flustered, looking somewhat unused to pandering to children.

"Where has Young Master Tamaki been taken?"

"W-we don't know yet! We'll send out our best scouts, immediately!"

Tycon sighed. He waved his hand, silently activating his spatial ring. A box of herbs appeared beside them. "Here are the materials for the ritual. Are your people ready to produce?"

"Wh-what?! But-- we were expecting-- this amount of materials would take weeks or months to gather!"

Tycon took a deeper sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose, "Do I have to do everything myself?"

The old man lowered his head in shame.

Tycon glared, "I asked you a question, old man."

Elder Kakui jumped to attention before bowing respectfully, "No, my lord! I will send for men at once. We will recover the Young Master, at all costs!!"

"Don't bother," Tycon waved in annoyance. "Focus on completing the various components for the ritual."

"Y-yes!" The elder replied.

Tycon glared, unmoving.

"Yes, lord!" The old man gulped.

Tycon stood up and waved for Pale to follow. Pale gave Taree a quick apology and hurried after him.

...

Taree and Elder Kakui were left watching their backs.

Kakui took a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his brow, "Oh, my. I haven't been scolded like that since the sect wars, some twenty years ago..."

Taree frowned. She hated that man. He was so rude and arrogant. But she couldn't truly be upset... The thought of it annoyed her to no end, "Warrior Tycon is doing as much as we can for us. We can't let down his trust... I'll... I'll go talk to the Alchemists, myself."

...

Tarquin Wroe found out where Young Master Tamaki was being held. It took him 30 minutes. Tycon questioned if (A) Guild Invictus was very proficient, or if (B) House Kimura was grossly incompetent.

He concluded that it was a little of Column A and all of Column B.

The western fortress was maintained by House Muto, and it served as an outpost against raiders from either across the Icehorn mountains or from within them. As the Ivory Judge sect hadn't been attacked in years, the fortress served as a prison for House Muto's internal affairs.

Guild Invictus was going to raid it.

Tycon had assumed his large white snake form and slithered alone along the mountainous crags in the darkness. He had two entire bells before Invictus would move without him, so he had to move quickly.

...He was uncertain that Dragan and the others would be able to wait even that long.

He wished he had purchased a second pocket watch, back in Nice... There was no way in the seven hells he would lend the rest of Invictus his own. He would take a crossbow bolt for any of the useless bastards., yes, but he refused to trust any of them with anything nice.

Tycon slithered up and around a thick petrified tree, wary of a particular creature lying in wait. The System had assigned its transparent name with a might-attack-him yellow tag, and he had no intention of provoking it.

"(Are you searching for anything in particular?)" Tycon offered towards the creature in the shadows.

The larger creature slithered out, twice as thick as Tycon around, and far lengthier. Its scales were dark and smoke smoothly emanated from its form, "(Ohh? The male has such excellent vision?)"

Tycon grew far, far more wary, upon hearing the Shadow Snake's female voice. Medusa society was matriarchal. And for all the snakes he knew of, including Shadow Snakes, the female was much, much larger than the males, and their domineering natures reflected their size.

Tycon was confident that his snake form was a quarter-tonze and over 20 fulms. She was thrice his size. Easily.

"(Ohhhh, mmmyyyy. You're the most impressive male I've ever seen.... Boy.)"

Tycon did not like the interest this female had taken. He did not like it at all. "(Please excuse me, Miss. I really have someplace I need to be.)"

With a ludicrous speed that Tycon dearly wished hadn't belied her size, the female slithered in front of his path, "Oh, come now, I've been ssssssoooo bored~"

"(Please, excuse me, Lady, I...)" Tycon paused, staring blankly. She spoke the common tongue. "Oh. Is that how it is, then?"

He should have known that something was amiss. Shadow Snakes were jungle-dwellers and did not at all belong in colder mountainous areas of the Kingdom.

« System, Cancel Snake-Form. »

[Large Snake Form Cancelled. Returning to Human-Form.]

Tycon took off his dark hood, revealing his youthful face and green hair, skin as ivory as his white scales, "If that's the case, I'm certain we can come to an arrangement."

The snake swirled around Tycon, well-away, but close enough to put Tycon on edge.

"(Ah, Ivory Prince)," The female did not seem surprised, at all. "Sssssstay with me awhile. I do sssssooooo desire the *warm* company of a man."