I have started this log to speak about the Scholars and how they fared through this mess. We have not really been able to establish contact with them until today. To put it in brief, the magical ruin with the Scholars is perfectly safe. (For anybody from the Head Office reading this.) The only point of note is that they seem to have been assaulted by a troop of Ice Beasts, but the rest of my troop handled that. (quite splendidly, if Trevor is to be believed.)
I guess that I should be thankful for this. I don't know what I would have done if I had to help them. We barely have enough people to guard this place, let alone send anyone to them. I also cannot go after them on my own.
Turns out that if the chill gets extreme enough, it is even possible for you to get paralysed. Right now, I can't move my body at all. The soldiers had to haul me down here to prevent the chill from becoming any worse.
At the moment, I cannot leave the room. The barrier is the strongest here. There is barely any ice mana in here. If I were to leave its safety, all the surrounding ice mana would flow into me and turn me into a ice sculpture in an instant. Sadly, the barrier does little about the ice mana that has already taken root in me.
For the last couple of weeks, I have been feeling the chill wreck my body. Recovering from it has been a task, but there is progress on that front at least. A week ago, I could feel only a weird sense of warmth. My body has gotten so cold that it had overloaded my ability to even feel it. That warmth is something that I don't want to feel ever again. I swear that I could feel my life slipping all that time. It was like sand that I was trying to hold in my hands. Thankfully, I have since recovered from that state.
Now, I can feel my body shiver as a bone chilling cold affects me. I would say that it is the least of my concerns presently. There is a whole host of pains wracking my body. Let's just say that the fight with the Snowlords has left me half a zombie. The worst injury that I have at this moment is the one on my left arm. Even now, it is bound in a sling. Even trying to move it is causing waves of pain through my body. Even passing all of my vital mana to it, I can barely feel it get better.
Other than that, the only injury that I can notice is the one in my chest. My ribcage feels like somebody has been playing it like an instrument. There is an odd throbbing in my body, which while not painful, leaves me worried. At the moment, it would not be wrong to say that I have no combat strength. I won't even be able to defend the fort if something happens.
Thankfully, my reinforcements can handle that for me. A couple of days after the fight, a group of sixty soldiers and three mages reached here. They have taken over guarding the place, so I don't need to worry about that anymore. They also seem to be well-trained, seeing the speed with which they are working. I can't really tell beyond that though, since I have not actually seen them in action.
Our reinforcements are pretty interesting. Especially the three mages. Each of them is supposedly a noble, though I don't know from which family. The only thing I know is they are "Spoilt Brats" that don't know how to adjust with the cold. (The soldiers here gossip a lot and my hearing is sharp.)
Other than that, I can say that they are strong. Even now I can sense the mana being moved up there. At least one of them is at the peak of the second circle. To be more precise than this, I will have to wait for them to come down here. That is going to take a while. They have their own worries, you see. The giant and the female Snowlord have disappeared. We cannot find any traces of them anywhere. They might be right next to the fort even as we speak and we wouldn't know.
The third Snowlord is dead, thankfully. My gamble with the man worked. The soldiers literally ripped through the man after I had lost conciousness. (If the body is anything to go by.) I am happy that is the case. Of the three Snowlords that came here, he worried me the most. (Though I don't know why)
Other than that, the fort itself is not in a pretty state. The walls of the fort are intact (The Ironskin took the brunt of the failed snow drive), but the buildings inside have been wrecked completely. At the moment, the fort is not my concern. After all, one of the three reinforcements is supposed to be a construction mage of the Construction Corps.
Now the Constructions Corps of the Snowwind Empire is legendary. Every faction on this continent have their own construction mages. These mages that exclusively focus on building things are the cause of all the forts that are littered across this land. Even with their importance, it is rare to see an organisation that is purely dedicated to construction mages in this manner.
They say the Construction Corps is the reason that the Snowwind Empire survived till now. They are an entire regiment exclusively meant to build, maintain and upgrade their legendary forts. They are an elite group that we know pretty little about. The Snowwinders are careful in never letting us interact with them much.
That is why I am surprised that they let one come here. Even now, I can sense that the entire place being fixed by a single construction mage. (I can sense only one mana source, at least.) I can't be precise since the damaged buildings do not have an intact Ironskin for me to use. Still, I can confidently hazard that we have already reached a state where we can hold against an attack.
That reminds me, the construction mage should be coming to meet me any moment. He will have to come down eventually. After all, even if he fixes the entire place it won't last long without the ironskin covering it.
(After God knows how long.)
I don't know how long I have been down here, but I can finally move my limbs. To be frank, it is closer to shivering than actual movement. Still, moving my body gives me something to do other than just staring at the ceiling blankly. At the moment I am just waiting for the construction mage to come down here. Speaking with him is going to be an interesting challenge to say the least.
The other party is a noble. That means dealing with him is not going to be an easy task if things do turn violent. Even as he comes down, I can feel the plans form in my mind. Different methods of attacking the other party. I am actually in a pretty good position, all things considered. The only problem being that not being able to move leaves me exposed.
As I make these unlikely plans, I finally get to see the man. He is at the moment being directed in here by Shamon, who leaves the room almost as quickly as he enters it. (Looks like Shamon wants to play no part in our little meeting.) From where I can see him, the man is wearing a fur coat. (and an expensive one at that.)
He is a young man, about a couple of years older than me. That instantly makes me wish that I could record his face in more detail. The Scholars are going to love this. The only way that such a young man could have achieved such a level of strength is if he were a young master of some family. (Let's just say that the Scholars know very little about these young masters.)
"I would presume that you are Captain Antonio," The man speaks first, bending down to match my eyeline. That allows me to get a better look at him. I must admit that I had expected more.
Other than his age, there is nothing particularly eye-catching about him. You can still tell that the man is a noble just from his walk, though. You can even hear the arrogance in his tone. This is a man who thinks quite heavily of himself.
"That is the case, my friend. Though I do not think that I know your name," I reply.
"I am Captain Ankon Starfall, of the Snowwind army," he speaks, the annoyance clear in his tone. The man clearly did not like not being recognised. "of the construction corps."
"That is nice, though I am not in the state to greet you properly, I fear," I speak. I already have an inkling as to what he wants. There is no way I am going to make it easier if that is what he is after.
"I have no wish to intrude on your healing, if it were not a matter of urgency. It relates to your formations. I have never worked with formations like yours, so I am unsure of how to fix it," He speaks, finally sitting down next to me. He tries to be polite, but is failing at it. "If you were to just provide me with the formation design, I will figure out fixing the thing on my own. This way there is no need to disturb your healing."
"The formation that I have put in the core is quite complex. Only a trained formation mage will be able to work with it. I will just have to ask for a couple of days, though, since I need to recover a bit," I reply, trying to hold back a grimace. There is no way that I am sharing my formation designs that easily. The Head Office will certainly kill me if I do that.
"The chances of the Snowlords attacking us are quite high, Antonio. It would be wise to return the fort to a combat-ready state as quickly as possible," he says. The lack of honorifics is a clear proof of his impatience. "The repairs to the fort will be done within half a day. Right now, it would be stupid to wait for you to heal. We are at risk of being attacked even at this very moment."
"It is a job that requires precision, Ankon. I am sure that you are a fine mage, but I would say that it is better if I do this. I will have barely recovered enough to start my work within the time you repair the thing. You focus on repairing the fort. I will look after the formation," I speak. "Now, I would request that you leave. I will need to meditate if I want to meet this deadline."
"Is there any chance of completing it earlier if I assist you?" he speaks again. Seriously, just how stupid does he think I am. I shake my head (the little that I can) indicating my refusal.
"I shall take my leave then, Antonio," the man says, getting up and leaving the room quite abruptly. I am surprised. I thought that he would have tried more to convince me. (That would have required patience.)
It looks like I have offended the man, though. It is fine, I have not come here to make friends. I shift myself to make myself more comfortable. (I attempt to do so at the very least.) It would have been better if I had a couple of weeks to recover, but half a day should still be enough. I can barely finish this task.
To start with, the formation is not really damaged. I just need to set up a few runes to recognise the new location. It is a delicate work, but one that I can manage. I would have been able to do this in a few minutes at any other time. Now, I will have to take at least a couple of hours to do so. It is unlikely that I will fail, though. (there is no way that I am telling this Ankon that, though.)