Roge felt a bit bad that they couldn’t level it up, but at the very least, they didn’t feel too cold with the sleet coming down. Hops, on the other hand, didn’t receive the bonus, leading to him needing to keep up his warming runes. He also pulled out a large steel umbrella to keep the ice from harming the group as they moved towards the entrance to the city.
Looking at the architecture for the first time, the dragon kobold felt a jolt of surprise upon seeing everything made out of snow and ice. Even as everyone kept their guard up due to the passing happy city dwellers, Roge asked Hops how the buildings kept during the summer.
“It’s a combination of natural weather and the magic snow and ice they harvest from the ocean,” Hops commented, pulling out his book and flipping to the correct section. “This year has been especially cold, but usually the hottest day of the summer is around sixty Fahrenheit. So they use specifically enchanted ice and snow that has a lot of ice magic to make the buildings last. They then ‘recharge’ so to speak over the winter months, absorbing the high magic content of the storms.“
Roge kept looking around at the various buildings, finding the shapes to be mostly the same from what he saw in Centerville. His eyes then got distracted by the various people again, most of them having manic smiles on their faces. “So… Can your trinket track where the mind magic is coming from?”
“Not really,” Hops grumbled, pulling out the rune-inscribed metal plate. “They all count as a source of it, so I’m getting false positives everywhere. But the air also has waves of magic to it, so I assume the effect binds the source to them to keep up the effect. Otherwise it’d wear off after a while.”
“Maybe this is a… good thing?” Sean mumbled, even Marge giving him a shocked look at his comment. “What? The people here seem… happy and everything.” The lion gave a small grin at that, Roge feeling concerned as he suddenly snapped his attention to their bond. It hadn’t always been the strongest, but after the previous night it apparently had weakened a bit further, Roge barely feeling anything from Sean on the other end.
“Uh… we might have a problem,” Roge mumbled. “I think our weak bond is making Sean susceptible to the magic…”
“It’ll be fine, My Dragon,” Sean said with a growing smile, Marge swearing as Hops whipped out another metal plate and started inscribing on it. Realizing they’d stopped on the middle of the street, Roge quickly ushered them off to a side alley, grimacing at the sickly-sweet taste he was getting from Sean’s bond.
“… Do you know where it’s coming from?” Marge asked, Roge focusing on strengthening the bond and a bit too distracted.
“The… main square? I just want to go there and meet him!” Sean’s smile dropped right off his face as Hops pushed one of his metal plates into the lion’s hands, the runes glowing as Roge felt them banishing the effect on Sean. “Woah…” Sean slurred, leaning to the side and catching himself against a nearby snow brick wall.
“That should do it. The [Mind Magic] concentration in the air is too high,” Hops commented, waving his detecting plate around. “It might be snagging new people right away, like a web, if it hit Sean before he even met the source.”
“That was awful…” Sean muttered, shaking his head as he fully snapped out of it. “It was like… hearing about someone and wanting to go meet them. Mixed with a crush… Felt like my feelings were being pushed into something I didn’t want. Until… I did.”
“Yeah… we should head to the main square…” Roge mumbled, barely keeping a growl in at how annoyed he was, now that the danger had passed. His instincts were *screaming* at him that someone had tried to take what was his, but he was shoving them down in that moment as much as possible.
~~~
Roge grunted as they walked towards the main square, the city seemingly just as huge as Centerville, which had been a couple dozen kilometers wide. Compared to Jadedwater, a town that had been, at most, one or two, it took them quite a while to reach the center. The dragon kobold tried to distract himself some as he noticed his [Alchemical] skill ticking up in rank, his first batch of flaming spark bombs having been completed. He tried to add a [Warding] coin into the mix, finding one unit of the ten splitting off to the side and changing into something new.
Nodding at the new potion, Roge quickly set up his cauldron to make ten of them, knowing that he’d end up with nine of the improved bombs and two resistance potions. It wasn’t the best, but it would allow his friends to test out the resistance if they ever encountered a creature that used the combination.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Looking over his automated alchemy only helped distract the dragon kobold for a few minutes, going back to stewing as he pushed down his instincts again. They were now wanting to snatch Sean into the hoard, something the lion would most likely not like. He couldn’t even keep himself distracted by finally testing out his magic gun wand, not wanting to use it in a crowd of people. It refused to give him a description when he tried to look at it, his skills letting him know he needed that last bit of intent by activating it.
“Hey Roge… You okay?” Sean asked, the dragon kobold looking up at the lion’s concerned face.
“Not really,” Roge grumbled, having to keep his voice at a reasonable level to be heard over the ice hitting their umbrella. “The upgrades I got finally kicked in my dragon instincts…”
Marge cocked her head to the side as Sean and Hops looked confused at Roge. “You didn’t feel them before?”
“Not really. Not until my ability upgraded. They now pop up every so often and it’s hard to resist sometimes.” His eyes kept glancing at the metal plate Hops had given Sean, feeling nervous that the enchantment might lose power.
“What are they telling you now?” Hops asked, Roge strangely feeling better when he pulled out his book again.
“I just… really don’t like people controlling Sean,” Roge muttered, having to repeat it when the others didn’t hear. He decided to communicate the rest through his new thought-speak, connecting all of them together. Sean was the hardest to connect to, though he got it in a few seconds and by adding inspiration to it of all things.
“We’re here!” Marge called out, snapping Roge out of his introspection. When he raised his eyes to the main square, he frowned, practically seeing the purple magic flowing through the air.
“Uh… does Sean’s charm need a refresh?” Roge asked, looking at the lion and noticing the grimace on his face.
“It’s not out of power, it’s just not strong enough,” Hops grumbled, looking over the charm as Sean’s breathing started picking up. “It’s the best I can make, though.”
“Hoard then,” Sean slurred out, reaching out and grasping Roge’s shoulder. The dragon kobold could feel the bond increasing at the gesture, though clearly not enough to make Sean immune.
“Got it.” Roge quickly activated the effect and pulling Sean’s form into his hoard. He had just enough room in his inventory to add in the doll that was left behind, grimacing at the increased weight before he transferred more of his stuff into Alton’s inventory.
“Now I’m worried about us,” Marge joked, giving Roge an eye roll when he looked at her with concern. “I’m feeling fine. Hops?”
“Fine as well. Seems we’re both keeping the full immunity for now.” They all jumped as, right after Hops said that, the crowd around them started screaming, clearly excited beyond belief. The surge and movement of the crowd was even enough for his dodge to activate, Roge pulling Marge and Hops up onto one of the nearby roofs to avoid being trampled.
“Uh… not what I was expecting…” Hops muttered, all of them watching the various people push and sprint to catch up with one figure, who’d apparently just left one of the buildings in the square.
They looked to be a [Wolfkin] as far as Roge could see, the person’s fur a dark pink in color, which made them really stand out. He also seemed pretty tall and fit based on the size of people around him, though Roge couldn’t tell too much from a distance. He wore the plain tan and brown outfit that Roge had originally worn for a while, leading Roge to feel confused. ‘If you have almost the whole city under your control… why not take advantage of it?’
He got his answer a few seconds later when the wolf shouted, everyone around them instantly quieting down to hear their words. “Okay everyone stop! Please go back to what you were doing and ignore me!” Roge could tell that their words didn’t do anything, the wolf sighing before speaking again. “Go back to what you were doing!” Whereas their tone had been friendly at first, that last sentence was said with authority, everyone in the square obeying and moving away from them to continue on their business.
“What in the…” Roge muttered, glancing away from the strange wolf to look at Hops and Marge. “Are they… What is happening?”
“I don’t know…” Hops mumbled, his brows furrowed as he watched the wolf walk through the square. “Maybe we should… talk to him? Nothing’s adding up here…”
“You sure that’s safe?” Marge asked, the deer woman crouching down with her eyes locked on the wolf. “He could overwhelm us.”
“Only one way to find out,” Roge mumbled, activating the wand on his belt and trying to hit himself with a splash of paint. Thankfully, it counted as an attack to his dodge skill, allowing him to teleport down into the crowd. No one payed him any mind as he slowly made his way through, hoping that his teammates would stay close.
“Um… hi,” Roge said when he reached the wolf, only then just noticing the ice battering his clothes. ‘Must be from the ice resistance.’ The wolf had a smaller version of the steel umbrella to manage the bad weather, Roge noted. “So… what exactly is going on here?”
The fushia wolf blinked at Roge, frowning as they glanced around at the other people who smiled and waved at them a bit too energetically. “Um… What do you mean exactly?” they asked, their voice soft as their eyes snapped to Roge upon speaking.
“Well… people are acting a bit strange aren’t they?” Roge asked, grimacing at the jealous looks he realized he was getting from almost everyone. “Did you have-“ Roge was cut off when the wolf was suddenly inches away from him, kneeling down and staring Roge directly in the eyes.
“You… you aren’t infatuated with me?” they asked, the intensity of their stare causing Roge to frown and take a step back, the dragon kobold noting that their eyes were the same dark pink as their fur. “You aren’t! Oh my hells what a relief!” The last part was shouted, Roge wincing at the volume. “Please! Come with me to a cafe! I really need to talk to you about this!” Roge was suddenly dragged along as the wolf headed towards a nearby restaurant, the dragon kobold not liking that his dodge hadn’t activated with the grab.
“Hey wait! I don’t know you,” Roge growled loudly, ripping his arm away from the now excited canine. “Who are you? What are you doing to these people?!”
The wolf sagged at that, Roge feeling the attention of everyone suddenly zero in on him. “Everyone leave!” the wolf suddenly shouted, the people in the square turning around and quickly vacating the area.
“Were they going to… attack me?” Roge asked, frowning as Hops and Marge quickly took stances next to him.
“Sorry! I just really need your help! This skill won’t turn off.” The wolf whined at that, Roge freezing at that statement. “I think you might be able to help me with that, especially since you seem to be sharing the effect.”
“I can’t give it to everyone…” Roge mumbled, pushing his friends back as the wolf invaded his space again.
“Oh no! I mean give it to me! So I can use it to suppress my skill. In exchange, I’ll do whatever you want! Anything to make it so people treat me normally!”
Roge looked to Hops at that, the elf frowning as he looked the wolf over. “I’ve never heard of a skill not being able to be turned off…” he muttered.
“It… it’s not exactly a normal skill,” the wolf said, wringing their paws as they stepped back. “It’s supposed to take my leftover allure regeneration when the resource is full and use it to make people like me. More of a passive than anything, though I can use my allure to specifically give commands if I need.” They whined again, Roge growing concerned about their mental health as he thought that effect through. “But I have no other skills that use the resource. So it’s always constantly pumping the passive into the air, and I can’t use the active on people that are already under the passive effect. When I try, the command works anyway without using up any allure.”
“That…” Hops muttered, Roge looking to him and seeing the same concern growing on his face. “That’s actually plausible…” he muttered, deciding the situation for the dragon kobold.
“Let’s have a drink,” Roge muttered, grabbing one of the wolf’s paws and dragging him towards the restaurant. “We’ll talk about it as you calm down.”