Chapter 5: First Summon
Magus POV:
'What was I thinking? Of course they would jumping to sell their soul for eternity. Now I feel ridiculous and slightly guilty.'
I just spent the last 15 minutes explaining or attempting to explain to these little masochists what I wanted to offer them, and every negative point I make just makes them happier!
Eternal slavery? YAY! Right? You will never truly die unless I die, sounds great? You realize I'm immortal, right? DON'T HUG MY LEG WITH THOSE GIANT SHINING EYES FILLED WITH INNOCENCE! IT BURNS!!
"*sigh* You know what! I don't care anymore! I refuse to feel guilty about this. You guys ready? Timy, Gol, Sil, Bron?"
""Yes my lord! We's swear to alwaz serve!""
'Ugh whatever, how do I activate this ability? I'll try silent casting later, for now, I'll just follow my instincts and try being vocal about it.'
"[Shadow Servant]." I spoke out loud. At first, nothing happened, but then my shadow moved. It was a weird feeling, kind of like having an extra arm or leg.
My shadow extended from me to their shadows and slowly rose up against their bodies until they were covered from my sight. They began to sink into their shadows like slowly falling into water, there were even ripples in the shadow. A few seconds later and the shadow started rising, except the only difference was they didn't stop rising! I'm less than 4 feet tall at the moment, so these guys felt like giants.
When the shadow began to dissipate, I almost had a heart attack.
"SEBAS?!?"
Standing where my four house elves used to be were honest to god copies of 'Sebas Tian' the butler from 'overlord.'
The head elf Timy looked like an exact replica of the guy. Standing at just under 180cm, Timy has the appearance of an elderly butler while he is dressed gracefully in his traditional black uniform with the Peverell insignia. Timy's hair is entirely white, just like his immaculate beard. He has visible wrinkles on his hollow face, which makes him seem gentle in appearance, but his eyes are as sharp as an eagle's.
"T-Timy?" 'Sh*t my voice cracked.'
"Yes my lord, thank you for granting me this gift, I swear to pay off this debt for eternity." His voice came out in a deep baritone that really cemented his current image.
'Oh god, how the hell am I supposed to call this guy Timy? There is no way I can call an exact replica of Sebas fucking Tian by the name Timy. It just doesn't fit.
I'm mentally calling him Tom from now on. I know someone had something to do with this, grandma, it was you, wasn't it? …ah screw it, this is actually pretty cool.'
""Thank you my lord, we eternally swear our loyalty to you."" Standing behind Timy, Gol, Sil, and Bron were almost exact replicas. The only difference was the skin tones and the younger-looking faces.
Somehow their names affected them because Gol has a light-yellow golden skin tone, Sil has a silvery skin tone, and Bron has a dark yellow bronze-colored skin tone.
'This is kind of creepy, would all elves look like this if all their limiters were removed? A whole world run by Sebas the magical butler and his infinite copies?'
I shivered at that thought 'They would probably solve half the world's problems on their own and call it part of the job.'
"*cough* Well, you guys look great. Can you tell me how your feeling?"
Tom decided to answer. "My lord, I'm not sure how to say this, but I've never felt better in my life. I feel stronger, smarter, faster.
My thoughts have never been this smooth, and I've never felt this comfortable before. I feel complete loyalty to you, but my thoughts have never been this free. Is this how being alive truly feels?"
'Damn, Tom answered with some real emotion there.'
"I'm not sure what the answer to that question is Timy since I'm not sure if anyone can honestly answer it, but I will tell you that your minds are now free. Any and all magical blocks, physical blocks, and curses that were cast upon your species have now been cleared from your systems."
In fact, I heard a notification sound in my [Alerts], but I was too stunned to check. Taking my eyes off the four elves who were checking their bodies and looking around at everything in a new light, I pulled up the tab and saw a new email like alert.
[Alert:
New shadow summons gained:
Race: House elf x 4
Summon Type: Shadow Servant
Description: House-elves were a race created by wizards for the sake of being magical assistants and to be loyal servants. To ensure loyalty, many curses and limiters were placed on the elves to the point they lost most of their physical and mental abilities while retaining their magic. Over time the race has been bred and treated worse with every consecutive generation.
Now freed, they have regained all their latent abilities and have undying loyalty to you. Not useful in direct combat but will protect the master's home with a ferociousness unseen before. Warning: do not threaten any home guarded by fully unsealed house-elves.
Abilities:
Territory: Can power and use home wards in the absence of the lord by using the ley lines. Can repair or replace anything that has to do with the house (example: rotten window blinds will be converted into a new version). Masters of home economics.
Teleportation: Possess a unique form of teleportation untraceable by usual wizarding means.
Shadow Servant: Unique Ability: Telepathy: If necessary, as a summon, they can contact their lord through your shadow and speak telepathically.
Summons 4/30 ]
*Whistle* "Damn, you guys are really badass!" Seeing their confused looks, I quickly explained all their new abilities, and they seemed to intuitively understand how to use them.
"Well we have been here for a while, let's go check out the mansion. Gol, Sil, Bron, please go start fixing up the mansion. It seems to have decayed a bit with time."
""Yes my lord."" They quickly disappeared without even their usual *pop* noise. I turned to Tom.
"Timy, please follow me."
"Of course my lord."
I started leading us on the path to the mansion and turned my head to speak with Tom.
"Timy, I apologize if this offends you, but you look far too badass right now to continue using the name Timy, I would like to start calling you Tom if that is alright with you."
"It would be my honor my lord, thank you for the new name. I feel that with the new sense of freedom, a new name will do me well."
'Phew, I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep calling him Timy with a straight face.'
"Wonderful, do you think I should rename the others as well? And how did you four survive in stasis for so long?"
"While they would be honored, I don't believe it will be necessary, that have always had unique names even among our kind. The last lord was a kind man.
He refused to allow us to remain by his side at the end and placed us in stasis, after that his plan was to perform a ritual with his life as the cost to shield the entire island in a very powerful ward that hid us from the rest of the world.
The main wards of the mansion require a living Lord or Heir to be activated and continue shielding the island."
"The wards are not powered by the ley lines?" I was honestly curious, I thought that even without a lord all mansions could continue powering its wards from ley line until the wards themselves or the hearthstone decayed enough to fail.
"My lord, you see the Peverell's were a very powerful family. They studied deeply into the necromantic arts, and the majority of Lords were never corrupted by its influence.
The family wanted to create a sentient mansion, I believe they shared this with the founders of Hogwarts. The idea for Hogwarts was as a school where the sentient life would not only be born from the power of its many ley lines but from the very student themselves.
The generations of students would give off subconscious thoughts with their magic, and the purest concentration of them would be fed into its hearthstone to eventually give birth to lady Hogwarts herself. I have been in stasis for many years, so I'm not currently aware of its status."
Tom seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, so I gave it a minute and continued slowly walking and enjoying the field of flowers that were beginning to go into full bloom. 'So the Peverell's were related to the creation of Hogwarts huh?'
"So how does that relate to the wards of this island?"
"Ah! My apologies my lord. You see there have never been more than a handful of living beings occupying this island at the same time so instead of through the power of human magic, the previous lords engraved runes into many parts of the mansion and used both the ley lines which we have two of, and the ambient mana in the air to funnel pure mana into every piece of the mansion.
They even used a few runes to push mana into the metaphysical plane where the mansion stands. Due to this, the Main wards guarding and running the island couldn't be powered since it was being redirected.
The main problem seems to have been that the last lord never expected the Peverell line to truly die out. No one was left to become the new heir, whatever plan the last lord made for the Heir ring never seemed to be fulfilled.
That is until you came my lord, now after many centuries of mana being funneled into the home, I believe it may truly be sentient."
As Tom finished his speech, we came up to the front of the home.
It was a magnificent sight. Mainly built from stone a two-story home with three adjoining towers that go a few floors higher that were positioned in a triangle with the center tower at the farthest back.
It had a simple greyish coloring to it, but it wasn't depressing, rather it mellowed me out.
There was a small drawbridge leading to the front door and a moat that from what I guess surrounded the entirety of the home. I'm not sure how deep it goes, and I don't think I want to find out.
The mansion seemed to almost hum with energy, and as I approached it, I could swear it flashed with a multicolored light. 'Huh, maybe it really is sentient after all. Well, let's deal with things one at a time.'
"Tom, can you please explain to me everything the island holds and what other properties we still own? And I know it may be hard but please don't always say 'my lord,' if you really need to, then you can call me Sir. Just mix it up a bit if you can't help it."
'It's not that annoying, but I can't help but feel weird being called my lord repetitively.'
"Of course sir, I'll commit myself to your new orders." 'Eh close enough.'
"On the island, we have the magical herb garden which was able to keep the majority of things in prolonged stasis and will be up and running in a few days.
With the main ward back up, the power is once more sustaining everything on the island and not just the mansion.
The fields are magically altered to produce faster, and with more nutritional benefits, we will have things to work with by tonight at the latest.
As you can see, the flower garden is back in pristine condition, and it stays in bloom year-round.
Behind the mansion there is an overlook at the top of the small hill and around the area are old habitats that were used to hold magical species. I don't believe anything survived the long stasis period, but I'll take a look as soon as I can.
As for the mansion itself, despite its large size, it was never meant for anything more than a dozen people at one time.
Therefore, many of the rooms are empty, the labs in the basement were used for necromantic studies and homunculus creation. The high left tower was used for potion creation with its ideal ventilation options.
The high right tower is the library and study. And the central tower contains the master bedroom at the top with a master bath a floor underneath, and the vault on the ground floor, or to be literal, it's built into the ground floor.
Between the three towers is a large open courtyard with a garden and an open-air hot spring set up on the side. Each tower is also connected to the rest of the mansion, which contains the dining room, storage rooms, kitchens, dueling arena's, Infirmary, and the dungeons."
'….This family knew how to live life. Holy sh*t I'm taking this place with me. After living here, I don't think I would want to live anywhere else. You would have to rip it from my cold dead fingers before I will just come back and kill whoever took it.'
"Sir?"
'Oh shit, I started quietly laughing evilly.'
"*cough* Please continue Tom."
"Of course sir, off the Island, I'm afraid the only places I can still feel a connection to would be the vault in Gringotts and the island of Azkaban."
"We own Azkaban?" 'I don't remember that being mentioned before.'
"Yes sir, the island was originally ours, and we made a deal to allow a prison to be built. The Dementors were actually a creation of the Three brothers of the Peverell family.
We supplied them with enough to guard the island, but I'm afraid I don't know who has claimed ownership of it at the moment. I can guarantee that all the dementors are loyal first and foremost to the Peverell family.
No matter what happens to the island or its wards, it will never impede a true-blooded Peverell member. They would have to rip the very foundation of the island away and rebuild it to take away our ownership.
Since I can still clearly feel the connection, it seems that such an action has not happened."
'That's pretty cool, maybe I'll try and get Sirius out of there. I always liked that guy's character.'
"Is there anything important in the vault?"
"Yes sir, we kept all important artifacts here in the mansion, but our deal with the island of Azkaban was a rental agreement. I am not sure what the current state of the vault is, but we should have been collecting rent the entire time we were in stasis."
'That's centuries worth of galleons! Did anyone realize this? No, of course not. The British ministry is so backward they couldn't tell where anything is.
I'm pretty confident the goblins must have known, they probably stayed quiet and hoped the wizards would die out so they could keep everything.'
"Thank you Tom, if you can then please go and check on the vault in Gringotts as well as the current state of the prison on Azkaban, and please try and stay unseen. I don't want any questions being asked this early into things."
"Of course sir, it will be my pleasure." Checking to see that he was gone, I took another look around at the island and couldn't help by marvel at the fairy tale scene. The castle-like mansion the flower fields and the ocean and beach in the distance.
'So, this will be my home from now on? The future just keeps looking better and better.'