From the moment Captain Uric had stepped into Aurelia's office, it had taken great restraint on her part not to figure out how many wind blades it would take to change his mind. Not only was the barbaric human leaning into her table like to threaten her, but he was also questioning her orders. Though due to the current situation, the elven general did not want to inflame the conflict with the citadel garrison so she restrained her more forceful impulses.
"You honestly think we can trust an offer from the orcs? Instead of letting us go, they will probably just chase us for sport," Aurelia retorted before standing up to remind the human that she was almost as tall as him. Though even with her green-plated mage-knight armor, it was clear that her weight had been distributed way differently than the northerner's who looked like a walking closet even without armor.
"I'm just suggesting that we should think of a better plan than just waiting for the orcs to attack," Uric countered as he took his hands off the table to cross them. The move shifted his muscles that were visible from his open white and gold uniform jacket. Aurelia wanted to reprimand him for breaking the dress code but like this, it was easier for her to see him as a worthless human savage. So she just turned around to examine from the window the mass of green brutes gathering beyond the artillery range since those brutes were at least blurred to her due to the distance.
"I just need one night, and I will give those orcs a surprise that will shake the world," Aurelia mused while her right hand rose to stroke her long braided ponytail. The move would have wedged her silky blond hair between her highly empathized breastplate and her arm if she had not lifted the braid with the perfect timing. Something she had learned to do very precisely to not get any strands stuck.
"Just how many thousands My Lady thinks she can personally kill? And then there is the slayer of our most beloved Sun King," Uric voiced with a weird mix of politeness and demand in his tone. It gave Aurelia an impulse to pull from her ponytail to channel her annoyance to not lash out at the captain. She was not in the habit of letting her subordinates question her, but still, she needed the local garrison of rejects to be cooperative at least for now.
Even Aurelia did not believe that the debilitated citadel with a third-rate garrison if putting it politely, could withstand the sheer number of the green beasts outside that could just form ladders with their own bodies to climb over the crumbling battlements. Not that the brutes were that mindless but imagining it did give the general a moment of amusement while she thought about what she could say without revealing her plans before they were complete.
"All I need is one night and I can personally dispose of all of them," Aurelia promised and she turned back around to lock her purple eyes into Uric's green pair. She was reminded of the main reason why she had been tolerating him this far. Though there was a limit even to her how much she was letting something so superficial as her favorite color calm her down.
"Maybe our lady could offer something money can't buy," a half-orc sergeant named Rick grinned from behind the captain. Only a moment later cutting cold wind suddenly swirled in the room and Uric turned around to slam his fist into the brute's gut. It almost brought a smile to Aurelia's perfectly sculpted symmetric face but she pulled harder from her ponytail to fuel her anger since she had been given an opportunity to make the men stop complaining.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Aurelia flared while her eyes locked into the man that had the mixed features of a feral brute and a human. Though even then his slightly green skin did little to calm the angered noble as she mostly saw it as something that was tainting the purity of her favorite color.
"Nobody needs to die today, let's just take our chances with the orcs tomorrow," Uric boomed as he pushed his sergeants towards the door of the room. Some of them had the same idea and the first ones bolted to a run the moment they reached the corridor. The captain had brought them for moral support to present his demands but now they ran away from the first sign of the fabled elven magic.
"You sure nobody wants to die today?" Aurelia asked with a slight grin like seeing the fear of the humans calmed her down on top of amusing her. At that moment she almost got close to being content having these pitiful soldiers under her even if they were as likely to run before the enemy as before her. If only she had not needed to hide the fact that there was something special about the citadel she would not need to tolerate only having the local rejects under her command.
"I'm sure, I will personally make sure the men are ready to fight," Uric voiced before he departed with a nod. After that Aurelia just checked some papers before leaving herself as she had something she needed to inspect.
** * **
After Aurelia heard that some strange dome had been discovered, she began jogging along the wide mining tunnel that was lit with shining rocks. Men in borderline rags were walking past her in the opposite direction while sending her glances but she did not let their dirty forms sour her mood. Today was truly the day when she was going to ascend and no orc warlord or menial was going to distract her.
At the end of the tunnel was a large open space filled with half-buried ruins of some ancient civilization. Not that Aurelia even spent that many seconds examining them as she saw a faintly glowing green dome at the other end of the cavern. She immediately decided that her favorite color was a clear sign from the gods that she had been chosen to find the divine weapon that had been claimed to be buried beneath the citadel.
"Mina, by the gods, please tell me that is what I think it is," Aurelia shouted across the cave as she sprinted over to the dome. Next to it stood a half-elf whose curly hair had been tainted green by some alchemist experiment to match her naturally green eyes.
"If your guess is a barrier guarding divine power, then you are correct," Mina voiced without looking away from the dome. Aurelia stopped just behind the woman who was wearing green alchemist robes. The two had only known each other for a few months but the noble had already grown fond of the slender beauty who clearly shared her appreciation with the most appealing color.
"I take it we can't just break through?" Aurelia asked excitedly. Even if the slightly glowing material was something she had never seen before she became convinced in seconds that it was made of the purest form of green.
"It does not seem to be affected by physical impacts," Mina replied with a hand wave at broken pickaxes nearby. Aurelia immediately began imagining just what kind of strength she would need to focus on a single spot to apply maximum force but then her eyes lit up even more.
"You mean the barrier itself is divine?" Aurelia demanded as she began walking around the dome that was too tall for her to see above it. If it were just a thin layer protecting something, one might be able to park several horse carts inside of it.
"Can't you feel the divine warmth?" Mina asked and Aurelia closed her eyes to focus. Her body was indeed filled with pleasant radiation that might have been calming if she had not been so excited.
