On weekends and holidays, tourists were allowed to go up the two towers closest to the main gate. For a small fee, of course.
The next two towers out were mostly lookout towers. If ever a dragon decided to visit the city, a guard would see them with enough time to set up an impenetrable defense.
The fifth tower, unofficially, was an officer’s lounge area. Only senior-ranking members of the Guard were allowed to the top. And more often than not, they came back down slightly drunk.
And the sixth tower was now home sweet home for Athena, the woman who had served as Empress for longer than the current Empress had been alive.
It had been under Athena’s rule that the country had gone from a simple kingdom to a true empire. It had been under her rule that technology and engineering had flourished while the other nations ignored all that and tried to do everything with magic alone. It had been under her rule that the empire had become what it was today.
She had ordered dozens of people executed for various crimes. She had been the one to start skirmishes and wars, causing the deaths of scores of soldiers. But just because she murdered one single bratty teenage girl, Athena was now considered a danger to the Empire and locked up in the tower, not allowed within charming range of any living being.
Or so the guards and Empress Echo thought.
A sparrow flew up to her window and settled down in its nest. Athena moved slowly to the window, careful to not startle it.
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“Hello, little bird,” she called gently. “Would you like to have a conversation today? Please don't hide…” She set a few crumbs on the windowsill and waited.
The sparrow looked at her warily before hopping down; the closest it had ever dared come to her.
“Come on, say something,” Athena breathed, watching for the prompt.
The bird chirped at her.
- Congratulations! You have met all the requirements to unlock the [Beastmaster] class!
- Your class of [Ruler] is no longer a valid class for you.
- Would you like to replace [Ruler] with [Beastmaster]?
- Yes/No
Athena immediately chose [Yes].
- Congratulations! You now have the [Beastmaster] class!
- For replacing a class, your new class spells will immediately gain half the levels of your old class spells.
She waved away all the notifications and descriptions, only interested in one thing: how long Speak With Animals could be active for.
She immediately activated it.
“Hello, do you have a name?” she asked the bird.
“I am Towerwindowowner,” the bird chirped.
“A good name…” Next, Athena laced charm magic into her words. “Hop to my finger,” she ordered.
The sparrow resisted the spell, fear of people making it hesitate, but before it knew what it was doing, it had spread its wings and flitted onto her hand. Once there it immediately hopped back to the windowsill and eyed her suspiciously.
Athena stepped back, laughing. It worked. It actually worked. She could control animals now.
“Don't be afraid of me, Towerwindowowner,” she ordered, then let the charm magic drop. “I will give you and any friends of yours food every morning. I love all birds. I want as many as possible to be my friends.”
“Yes, you give food. We be friends,” the sparrow decided.
Smiling, Athena mentally put together a schedule for how far to push this bird each day.