She was beginning to hate the word "soon". Whenever someone didn't know how long something took, even if they knew it would take forever, they would say "soon". Riza sighed, and then took a seat. Besides the excitement of having completed a spy mission, she was quite worried about what had happened. She had her behind handed to her by a zombie. Quite funny right?
Well, it wasn't her fault. How was she supposed to know that zombie had that kind of combat style? Speaking of that combat style, if she were to learn it, is there anyone else who could beat her? As she wondered about this, there was a certain someone who came to mind. This person was once considered the ace of the academy, and Riza was sure they would be the new army general in the next few years. She had fought with them once, during the tournament, but she had lost. Dismally.
However, she knew that, if she learnt that combat style, she could beat anyone else. That was if they didn't use magic, of course. People with magic were overpowered arrogant idiots. If she were to fight one, unless she used magic herself, she was sure she would lose. Unfortunately, she had never awakened, therefore using magic was a distant dream to her. Besides, the academy heavily discouraged using magic. Even if she had any, she would never get the chance to learn the spells, let alone use them.
Back to the creature and its weird combat style, Riza knew that if she wanted to learn that, she would have to make a sacrifice. The question now was, will it be worth it? The pain stinging in her chin answered that question for her. If she managed to do whatever she was now planning, she was sure Lord Saedis would never let her get away with it. Unless …
The door to the study opened just as Riza came up with what she thought was a brilliant idea. Saedis came in with a smile on his face. He looked very content.
"What took you so long? I had to arrange a meeting with those merchants just to get those backwater idiots to wait! Hmpf!" he snorted as he came in. That feeling of being content disappeared completely, to be replaced with impatience.
"I ran into some trouble. I managed to solve it, however", she said, as she began narrating her ordeal. She started with the plan concocted by the Southern Water tribe elders and ended with what had happened in the Southern Earth tribe. However, to keep her plan secret, she neglected to tell him about the foundation stone. She wanted to use it as her own bargaining chip.
Here is how her story went: after leaving the mansion, she spied on the Southern Water tribe elders, and found out that they wanted to arrest Karim, grand priest of the Southern Earth tribe. With that information, she went to find commander Will Valdis, and asked him nicely to help her out. Black lines developed on Saedis's face when he heard her say "nicely". Anyway, she continued to the Southern Earth tribe where she started another life as "Erica". Saedis wanted to say something, but he quickly shut up. Erica was his wife's name.
At the Southern Earth tribe, she learnt that the grand priest, Karim, had summoned a zombie to protect the tribe from the Southern Water tribe. Before Saedis could ask, she told him she suspected that the summoning ritual was the cause of the pillar of light.
She ran into the zombie and fought with it. She narrowly lost and was almost captured. However, she managed to escape thanks to her people skills. And now she was here.
One had to admit, despite being a story composed and doctored in a few minutes, it was thoroughly convincing. No, not the part about her awesomeness, but everything else. And of course, it wasn't flawless, but it was thoroughly convincing. Well, Saedis was convinced at least. And no, he didn't believe the part about people skills either.
A wise sage once said, "Liars who are telling the truth are the best liars." Fortunately, Saedis had never met this sage, otherwise he'd be suspicious.
"So, that's the case? Seems I was excited all over nothing!" said Saedis as he sighed. He continued, "However, how is it that a tribe in a backwater place, has a type of magic that's non-existent? How did they manage to summon the zombie?"
"Apparently they performed the weird ritual seven times. Six times failed, but the seventh time, it worked", answered Riza. Even she wasn't sure about this. It sounded completely crazy.
"Oh? How did Karim get the spell for the ritual?"
"No one knows. I asked around, and no one knew."
"That's a suspicious point. And this zombie, was it really alive?"
"Yes, and it had a consciousness of its own. It can speak and think. We fought, and it had a very weird style of fighting. I was caught off-guard and lost narrowly", replied Riza, trying to sound heroic.
Saedis didn't believe this. In fact, he was wondering how bad the fight really was. He sighed, as he began to think of the next step forward. "You're dismissed."
"Yes, Lord Saedis", replied Riza, as she stood up. "Can I trouble Lord Saedis with something?"
"You've never made a request before. What is it?" said Saedis with a surprise.
"I need to completely thrash the Southern Water tribe's plans", she replied, with a mischievous smile.
"Oh? And why is that?"
"Just for fun. You have to admit it would be fun to watch their plans go into dust."
Saedis frowned. Riza had never really schemed against him, but he could feel something different. It was like she was hiding her true motives. Well, it didn't matter. As long as she carried her duties without question, he didn't care who she schemed against, or why.
"Alright then, did you have something in mind?" asked Saedis with a sigh.
"Yes, Lord Saedis. I've got quite a big plan", she answered, with that mischievous smile growing bigger and bigger.