perizou
patreon
MAZE - Chapter 1068 - Unexpected Meeting
🕑 Added 2025-06-06 21:12:11 +0000 UTCIt took just a few days for the Empress to return to Zaxalam. But unfortunately, the items that she was waiting for were not there. She had already talked to Typhera and nothing was wrong. In fact, the metal that she got to Atlas was already on its way. It was good that he was going to stay where he was for a couple of weeks still. And according to Helena, he had already gotten his rewards. But the weapons that Hera had requested would still take some time to arrive.
The Harpy Queen made it clear that this wasn't a case of Stonebeard being petty. Although she did agree that the way Hera handled the negotiation might be influencing the delay. However, since she was asking for some specific items, the Dwarven King was making sure to give her the right weapons. While the negotiation happened quickly, she actually had a full list of things that she wanted from the weapons. One that she sent to the Thrain to help him find the right types of items.
Mainly, she requested that every single one of the weapons that she gained only had a single active skill. This was for a simple reason. She already had a lot of skills that she had to keep in mind, and even if she was going to have Oberon controlling and commanding everybody, she still needed keep track of the abilities and mana cost of each of her court members in mind. And while she could just ignore the passives for the most part, that couldn't be the case for actives. Having to keep constantly reminding herself of all the different types of attacks or skills that her weapons could use made her lost.
It was good to be versatile, but there was a moment when too much became a hindrance. The jack of all trades and master of none might be better than the master of one, but if you're being a jack of all trades that is not proficient in anything, then what's even the point. And that's exactly what she was trying to avoid. If she was aware of what she had available to her, she could use those attacks and skills to benefit herself.
The Empress did add that if possible, she would like the unique weapons to have buff skills since they were generally more powerful the rarer an item was, but she made it as an optional thing, not a mandatory request. But Typhera knew that King Stonebeard would do his best to fulfill the request. Even the optional parts.
The Harpy Queen explained that the entire council was treating Hera as if she was part of their own on a fundamental level. Even though they were not giving her the same type of responsibility as the rest of the council had. After all, what was the point of having her discuss immigration policies when she didn't have people to speak of? Having her participate in that sort of conversation would just be a detriment to the overall situation.
Despite that, because she was the Aspirant Hero, they were doing their best to help her in whatever way they could. And that's exactly what King Stonebeard was doing. Trying to fulfill the request the best he could without making it seem like Hera was walking all over him. After all, the Dwarven King had to maintain some measure of authority, even in a situation like this.
And on that note, the queen also added that Hera should start to spend more time with the rest of the council members. It was understandable that the harpy and the Ophidianite became closer, especially considering where they lived, and everybody understood that Hera was someone close to Sovereign Nereus. But at the same time, it meant that the other members of the council were being left behind.
While that wasn't a problem in itself, having a better relationship with them was never a bad thing. Especially once more people started to become Ophidianites and Hera would need to deal with more political issues.
The Empress made a note of doing just that. After all, she knew that these people would be very important for the future of her species. Even though she wasn't very sure when that future would arrive. But at the same time, she wasn't going to go out of her way and drop everything she was doing just to hang out with them. Unless there was a large event or something that required her presence.
For now, she had only one thing in mind. Although in reality there were two. She really wanted to go back and explore the Deakoshara. But before doing that, there was someone who came all the way here from Earth to talk to the Empress, and it wasn't fair of her to let them wait any longer than they should have.
After waking up in her own bed, Hera had breakfast with her dad, spending some time together but the Empress quickly left to a meeting room where Insomniac was waiting for her. The human fighter seemed to have something to discuss with Hera, and considering he was still the strongest person in the MAZE, she didn't feel keen on letting him wait. But she was surprised when she arrived at the meeting room.
He was not alone. Beside the man was an older woman in her later years in life wearing a messy bun with a head of gray hair, sitting on a table with a cup of tea in hand and a cane by her side. The woman was wearing a beautiful blue dress, it was a shade of electric cobalt that seemed familiar. Hera couldn't put her finger around where she had seen those colors before.
"Hera," Insomniac said with a smile, showing that the man had slept recently. As he used to be a bit more grumpy if his legacy was keeping him up.
"Insomniac. What brings you to my neck of the woods?" She returned to the woman. "And who is this who you brought along?"
She gave a small bow, a modest of respect for an elderly. She had the sense of the woman being some sort of noble from nobility, which seemed to appease some of the sour mood that the woman was giving off.
"At least you know your manners," the old woman grumbled, but Hera just took it in stride, ignoring the rudeness.
"Yes. This is actually something I was meant to do a while back but couldn't find the moment for it. This is Valera Bridget Catones. She is the matriarch of clan Catones," Insomniac explained.
Hearing that, Hera didn't show any emotion, waiting for the rest of the introduction. But it quickly became clear that was it. Almost as if she was supposed to know who this woman was.
Valera smirked and leaned in towards the Empress. "You don't know who I am?"
Hera just shook her head. "Not really. Sorry."
"Tell me, girl, are you from Earth or from the MAZE?"
The Empress held back a frown and followed the lessons she had with Typhera, "I don't believe we are close enough for me to give you this information."
She turned to Insomniac, making a point of twisting her entire body away from the old woman. "Now, I came here because you are a friend and you asked for me. But I don't appreciate being ambushed in meetings with people that have no appointment with me whatsoever. Could you please tell me why you came here so I can get back to what I was doing without being interrupted again?"
Insomniac was taken aback and glanced at Valera with a worried expression before turning back to Hera and trying to explain himself. "Hera, sorry, I didn't know you were busy, but this is very important and I ask you please to just listen for a moment. And there is no need to be rude."
"I am friends with you, Insomniac. Not with whoever you brought. And I'm not going to be polite with someone that's being overly hostile to me without even saying why. So, what can I help you with? I have things I have to do."
The older woman started to laugh, making Insomniac even more frazzled, but Hera only got more upset about the situation. She held her tongue, letting the old woman dig her own grave.
"You never told me she had this much spunk," Valera turned to Insomniac, who clearly didn't know how to react.
"You are right, girl. Excuse me. Empress. I mean no disrespect. It's just how people at my age tend to speak. We forget that not everybody who is young is a pushover like some." She bumped Insomniac with her cane, making Hera even more confused about what could be their relationship.
She didn't think they were related, otherwise Insomniac would have introduced her differently. But at the same time, she wasn't really sure what Insomniac's last name was. Hell, she wasn't even sure about what was his first name.
"Let me introduce myself properly. I am Valera Bridget Catones, and Azure Chain's grandmother. Sorry, I meant great grandmother.
Hera was still not really understanding why this woman was here, but felt less annoyed about her. After all, the Ophidianite technically had Azure Chain's legacy.
"I see, and I am sorry for your loss," the Empress replied with the most polite tone she could muster.
Valera nodded. "Thank you. But I did not come here for this. You might not know, since apparently you don't know about the great clans, but we are people who live in the MAZE and our entire influence revolves around one thing. Our legacies, and I don't mean just what we leave behind when we are gone."
"You mean the actual legacy. Azure Chain's legacy?" Hera asked.
Valera nodded. "I do. You see, my family has had that legacy for generations. I myself wielded it once. And we pass those powers to the next generation when it comes time to do so. As a matter of fact, we were already in talks about who was going to be the next person who would be bestowed the legacy."
Hera nodded but quickly realized what this could mean. "You know I don't have a way to give you that legacy, right? And I hope you're not asking me to give my own legacy as payment or something like that."
"No, no, of course not," Valera quickly replied. "Do I really look that desperate to you?"
Hera gave her a look that pretty much answered that question positively. And Valera chuckled.
"This is not the first time my family has lost the legacy. It's not even the second time that happened. We developed some backup plans. Right now, we have ways. We have a few books teaching us how to exactly replicate our legacy in case it is lost to someone else. As long as the legacy is completely destroyed, we're able to make it again. And we have done so in the past."
"The same legacy?"
"Roughly. There are some differences, as the legacies are never exactly as they were before. But we managed to create this recipe, if you want to call it that. About how to make certain skills into the right legacy. It also helps that when we lose someone, we already have people ready to create the legacy again. But now we have a problem. My son, Azure Chain's father. Was a very petty and paranoid man," Valera sighed and took a sip of the tea.
"Being the head of the current branch of the family to have the legacy, he became too paranoid about keeping the legacy with his offspring. And while he finished passing the legacy to his own son, the man was still worried about the next generation. So a long time ago, without letting anyone know, he locked the most important parts of the manual that taught us how to recreate the legacy away. And he did so with a specific box with a specific lock that only the current wielder of the Azure Chain legacy could open."
"But the legacy is gone, so what? You're hoping that I can somehow unlock that?" Hera asked, shaking her head.
"Exactly. Insomniac mentioned that during the trip back from that laboratory, he saw how your floating weapons were attached by chains, blue chains. And wondered if this was the remnant of Azure Chain's legacy. I was hoping if you would be kind enough to just test if you can open the vault so that we can recuperate our legacy."
Hera wasn't really excited by the fact that someone she saved was telling other people about her skills. Or the things that she gained during the fight. But at the same time, it was clear that Insomniac was close to this family. Maybe not to Azure Chain specifically, but at least to Valera.
The Empress thought for a few moments before sighing. "Look, I can try, but I don't think I could go to a far away place right now. I just came back from a mission. I was doing something really important here for my people and I need to go back to that. If you want, maybe we can go there in a month. A couple of weeks if it's too pressing. But I can't just drop everything and go help every single person who asks for my assistance. If I did that, I would never do anything for myself. And before you start saying that that's the life of a hero. That was something that was given to me, and I appreciate if you could respect my privacy and my will."
Valera nodded. "I had no illusion that you will be coming with me today. However, I do have a way for us to check if this trip would be even worth it or not. Because let's face it, we don't know if your chains will be able to open the lock. And having you go all the way back to my house only for it not to work would be a waste of both of our times. So if you don't mind."
Valera pulled a small wooden box from a bag on her side and placed it on the table. The box was, by all accounts, a simple wooden box. However, there was one difference. The surrounding wood had some marks, as if burning chains, were placed around the box. By the size and shape, those chain marks were very similar to the ones that Hera could make, although their form wasn't exactly right. Hera's chains were a bit thicker with smaller holes in each link.
"This is a box with a book inside it. It has one of the steps to recreate the legacy written on it. It uses the lock I mentioned, a smaller version."
Hera stared at it for a moment and turned to Valera. "So you want me to try to open it?"
"I would appreciate if you could. It's marked with a specific mana signature that should come from the legacy. My grandson used the previous Azure Chain as a key to make this. Something his father, in all of his wisdom, convinced him to do," Valera said the last words with utter disdain in her voice.
Hera just nodded. "I can't promise if it will work, but..."
She created a venomous dagger and, from the butt of the pommel, the chains came out, wrapping themselves around the box. She could have done that directly, letting the chains connect to herself. But the Empress didn't want to show everything she could do with the legacy. Not to this woman. And after a few moments, she slowly made the chains fit those grooves exactly.
She couldn't help but feel like this version of the chain was too weak for her. And even Valera was staring at the chains with a confused expression. But once they were in place, the box glowed softly and unlocked, revealing a simple book inside.
"Would you look at that," Valera gasped.
"Look, I'm happy I can help, but again, I'm not going there right now. I hope that this book can help you for a while, but I need to do my own thing."
"Thank you. You can keep that one," Valera passed the book towards Hera.
The Ophidianite gave it a look on the table for her to see its name. It was a book of martial arts. A combat style made to be used together with the chains.
"So you lied to me?" Hera asked when she read the cover of the book.
"I said that this was the first steps. But we already have those books back at my estate. What we need, is what's inside the vault. If you ever manage to go to my estate and open the vault, we are more than willing to give you lessons and any sort of help you might want related to using that legacy. Or the pieces of the legacy that are still with you. We know that not everything is going to be there."
Hera gave a side look. "I appreciate the offer and I'll see if I can go there in the next month or so. Just tell me where it is and if I have to go nearby, I'll stop by and try to open the vault. But with all due respect, this is hardly a good reward."
Valera frowned, "It is a book teaching you the basics on how to use the legacy properly."
"Yes, but that's not my legacy. This combat style that you're talking about will probably be missing several key components when I'm using."
Valera nodded. "I understand that. And don't worry, this is not going to be the only reward. But something tells me that money wouldn't also be a good reward for you either. So instead, I'll offer this. When you go back to my estate and help me open the vault, not only do we let you take your pick from the armory of our previous legacy holders, with a couple of exceptions, of course, but I will personally sign a deal with you and your people. A binding oath that the Ophidianites are forever allies to my family. Whatever you need, whenever you need, you call and we will be there. No questions asked."
Hera paused, trying to be sure if she was fully hearing this right. "Are you really saying that if I can give you the steps to get the legacy back..."
But Valera finished the sentence. "My family is willing to become your army. That's how much this matter to us."
