Chương 209: BECMI Chapter 208 – Cover Operations

The exterior of the Zanzyran Consulate was needlessly showy, with eye-bending displays of elemental mastery swirling in complex patterns and reactions around the front of the place. On the other side of the plaza from it, the Delphan Embassy waited, the entire edifice floating three feet above the ground atop some gently swirling white winds. That effect probably cost half a million gold to put into place.

If you had any brains and could calculate spell-weaving costs, the flashy Zanzyran display was maybe a twentieth of the price. True flexing while also being conservative and modest in appearance. I hid a smirk at the display, out of the corner of my eye watching the reactions as the others did the math, calculated the rough weight, the costs of the magic, carried the zero, and the zero…

They were all clearly disgruntled, one-upped even if all the normal people passing by would be considerably more impressed by the showy Zanzyran magic. To the people that mattered, namely other wizards, the Delphans were totally upstaging them. It was what it was. It was even more amusing to meet the head ambassador Auroygus, who was a member of House Argencal and thus of Delphan ancestry himself.

In short, he had to endure being a lesser or outcast Delphan noble family being looked down upon by loyal Delphans, as well as overmatched by his own ancestral homeland's magic! He'd just have to take solace in being an Air Elementalist of the Third Circle, I guess. Still, we were reasonably well-received as travelers from home, feted adequately, and tales told, warnings exchanged…

and a bunch of mail delivered, while Entelia ran into a cousin working here and was soon exchanging pleasantries and sniping comments in equal measure with her kin. Naturally, the ambassador was powerful enough to Teleport home without incident and could have taken care of this minor detail himself, but a noble Wizard stooping to the job of delivering mail like a commoner? It just wasn't proper. Maybe as a favor between friends, or for… adequate compensation, of course.

He was quick to purchase some genuine Zanzyran wares, however, and recommend some names to talk to about such things, along with the required haughtily sneered warnings about Siricilan duplicity. I had the feeling he'd been taken in a time or two despite all things, and was frequently bothered with complaints from disbelieving Zanzyrans looking for some form of justice for being snookered themselves. I doubted they got far.

The Thieves Guild of Siricil was VERY powerful, and basically protected those who did something and got away with it from the authorities. The only way to get revenge was to do it yourself, but hey, wizards. Wizards could be VERY inventive in taking revenge upon others…

Pontius Treadtoes was indeed waiting for us outside the Consulate. He didn't look out of place at all, having traded rough cotton breeches and shirt for a rather formal and clean white tunic, light jacket, and colorful short trousers, along with laced sandals, looking rather look like a noble page or messenger running about town on their master's business.

"Ye clean up well, Master Pontius," the Mick said after a glance after him, casually helping him up onto a Disk of his own without batting an eye. The Federyn Embassy wasn't far, and we had mail to deliver. Pontius just grinned and polished his knuckles on his jacket.

"Gets me into a lot of places that wouldn't let a poor hyn street urchin into them, ever," he acknowledged with a grin, giving the Caergard in his native garb a once-over himself.

"Have to admit, don't see too many humans running around in a full wool skirt here."

"It be called a kilt, and it be armored and layered, wee one," Miklan McMikal replied without any hesitation or ire, his dark eyes roving the area casually.

"Well, it's one clothing tradition that hopefully won't catch on in this area." The hyn shuddered for exaggeration, before pointing west.

"The Federyn Embassy isn't far that way down the road, closer to the Senate."

"Politically significant?" Nico asked, popping up to listen in with interest.

"I would think anyone with sense would keep the Delphans much closer."

"There's some that say that it's an insult to the Delphans, sure enough," the hyn agreed.

"The wise ones point out that keeping them too close makes it easier for them to spy on the nobles, and, well, the Zanzyrans are too happy to mess with any scrying the Delphans do in a test of egos." He coughed slightly as the Zanzyran wizards all looked at him.

"They know Zanzyran wizards," Braun nodded matter-of-factly.

"So true," Entelia piped up cheerfully.

"Zhelia was nattering on and on about showing up those arrogant Delphan airheads." Her voice dipped lower.

"They call themselves Followers of Air, and all they have is standard aeromancy spells!" She was clearly dismissive of the very idea. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"With a magical Tradition three thousand years old, and most of their blooded magic-users reaching Archmage by the age of thirty," I said over my shoulder as I glided into motion.

"Can Zanzyr claim the same?" There was shocked silence from behind me at the news.

"Is, is that true?" Laurentine asked in shock. She was Frier, with the same ancestral heritage as the Delphans, but from the side of Fire.

"Yes." I looked back at her.

"You do know they have a ruling Council of a thousand Overmagi, right? Their magical Tradition is complete and fully intact, cherished and protected. The road they walk down is wide, clean, complete, and full, a step-by-step guide and test to great magical power. Moreover, they aren't in great competition with rival Houses and mages that claim so many Zanzyrans on the climb to power. They help one another climb, they don't compete for the right and tear one another down." The students swallowed behind me.

"I thought that was just hyperbole…" whispered Hammel in disbelief.

"Why don't they rule the whole world?" he had to ask.

"The exact same reason tailors don't rule the world. They've got better things to do with their time. They are archmages, not politicians, not statesmen, not conquerors, not tyrants. As long as they can experiment with their magic, have enough money to do so and live well, and can use their magic to pursue their passions and dreams, that's all they are concerned about.

They are about as interested in rulership as you all are in serving in the Zanzyran army, and I don't see any of you putting on a uniform and proclaiming 'Zanzyr forever!' in unabashed patriotism.

"Zanzyr's magical Tradition is much better at innovation and expanding into new avenues of thought and power. It is very, very bad at actually nurturing magical talent and making the most of the magical power of its people, and it is unfortunately tolerant of a great number of anti-social behaviors on the part of its wizards, especially arrogance and undue pride.

"Just look at how many wizards are willing to serve under Prince Drakker and go out all a-warring and fighting and conquering and beating on them Tukhmen and Zakarum heathen savages." I let them think about that.

"Delphans are even worse. They are Followers of Air, and Air is not a conquering Element overall. Sure, you'll get some folks who want to fight and rule and conquer, but Delphans don't generally want to… and they don't make one another do so, either.

"The last person to try to make the Delphans do what they didn't want to started a war that broke a world. It's just not going to happen, and there's enough forces around that the Delphans aren't going to go rampaging over this world without losing most of the people that want to do the rampaging.

"So, they don't have to be unique in their powers and ability. The Followers of Air walk down a road wide and free and clear to power, and it built what they have today. Looking down on how they did something Zanzyr has no capability of doing is the height of arrogance.

An individual Delphan might not have the power of the Seven Schools backing them, but when they are Archmages and you're just Wizards, why would they give a damn what you think, except that you don't know what you are really talking about as far as power goes?" They all flushed at that viewpoint. Indeed, power was everything. The Secret Schools meant you were stronger at your level, but enough to overcome several Levels from a more powerful foe? It was unlikely… and against a LOT of higher-Level wizards?

No, Zanzyr didn't have anything to be particularly proud about. That the Secret Schools only worked because of Zanzyr and the Arcane Core there, and literally couldn't be learned anywhere else, was a restriction, not a benefit. Delphans couldn't learn Air Elementalism, and literally didn't give a damn about the fact. The additional tricks weaker Zanzyran mages had didn't impress them in the slightest. They'd just be unmade, overcome, and defeated by superior true magical power!

Limited Wishes could duplicate the lesser School Powers, and Wishes duplicate the Third and Fourth Tier powers. Fifth Tier powers could only accrue to one person in the world, so what did Zanzyrans get that was so special? …

"How?" Isadora asked, still rather shocked at the revelation, and we hadn't even met a Delphan yet.

"What system do they possibly have?" My laugh was dry and without mirth.

"Well, first of all, they are extremely wealthy, with centuries to accrue that wealth, and they use it to support their younger generations in a virtuous cycle. The cost to raise a fellow Delphan to Archmagery is almost pocket change to the older archmages, and the funds can easily be returned to them by service or the wealth that flows to archmagi.

"So imagine if all of you had basically unlimited funding to pursue your path to Archmage, but you HAD to pursue that path. No need to take time off to earn money!

"Then imagine that all of you had been tested at birth, and your magical education had begun when you were still toddlers, until using magic was as natural to you as walking. It didn't matter what family you came from, ALL of you had unlimited funding to pursue your wizardly education.

"You didn't have to compete for funds. You didn't have to show off. You didn't have to grasp and claw for attention and research materials and instruction. You had the money, you had the components, you had the teachers, and you had real friends helping you along the whole way, instead of potential rivals racing you to the goal, and possibly betraying you and stepping on you to get ahead themselves, or undercutting you from below as those behind you want what you have.

"That's the magical world the Delphans grow up in. You can imagine that they are very different people than Zanzyrans are. It doesn't mean they are all good people, or even nice people, but they consider the Zanzyran method of instruction little better than bloodsport with blinders on."

"How do they treat their non-Casters?" the Mick asked reasonably, interested in that aspect.

"As just another skilled, non-magical professional. A good warrior is a good craftsman in the art of war, and they'll defer to someone in their specialty when the time is appropriate, like anyone with sense. However, they don't consider them equals. You have to have some kind of magic to be a noble in the Delphan Empire, but that also includes Clerical magic. While they venerate and treasure arcane power the most, Clerical magic is equally valid and Clerical power stands equal in their political system.

"If you can't master either magical Tradition, they'll test you to see if you can advance in the Traditions of the Mystics. If that doesn't work… you're basically left to your own decisions on how you want to live your life, since you'll never be a noble.

"Great warriors can have the ears of powerful wizards, but they won't rule in Delpha, any more than they can in Zanzyr now."