APRICITY // technoblade x reader DISCONTINUED

5 - Travel and Treaties

You let the curtain go as your home passes the horizon, your throat closing up as you do. You expect to spend the rest of the two-day journey in silence, but the Magister seems to disagree with this notion, breaking it almost immediately.

"It's you." Magister Technoblade says, those red eyes locking onto yours. "The girl from the library a month ago that knocked a bookshelf over onto me."

Your cheeks burn as you flush red. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to, and I already apologized!"

His mouth twitches into a small smile, revealing the corner of a small tusk, and you can't help but smile a little bit in return. "I'm just teasin' you. Oh, by the way, I never got your name."

"Oh! it's y/n."

He nods. "I suppose that you already know my name is Technoblade, then." You nod your assent. "I apologize for never officially introducin' myself." His smile fades then, turning more serious as he seems to mull over his words for a moment. "I've been meanin' to ask... What did you do to get tried by the Magisterium for murder, of all things?"

Your smile fully slides from your face and you look down at your boots, scuffing them against the carpet of the carriage. "It was- It was odd. I can't prove anything, because everyone else was asleep."

He frowns. "What do you mean? Even at night, there's guards and wardens."

You shake your head. "That's exactly what I mean. Nobody was awake. No wardens, no guards. It was silent when I found her b- her in the vault, kind of like the library was holding its breath."

"That's.... not right."

"That's what I'm saying, yes."

He rolls his eyes. "That's not what I meant. Why were you the only one awake? quite honestly, that sounds like magic, but it would have to be a highly skilled sorcerer. Maybe even a Magister's level, I'm not sure."

"But why wouldn't it smell like Enderdust then?" you ask, making him frown beneath the boar skull mask.

"I'm not sure. It could be that the spell was cast some time ago and the sorcerer who cast it set a sort of trigger, like a condition to be fulfilled or a string to be pulled before the spell would complete." He fiddles with the clasp of his cape before finally pulling it off of his shoulders and laying it on the seat beside him. "I'll have to fiddle around and try some things when we arrive back at the manor. You'll spend one night in my housing and care before the Chancellor will take over your case."

"Who's the Chancellor?" you ask, curiosity winning over caution.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I don't know who the Chancellor is. I've spent my entire life in the Camarvan Library," you admit sheepishly. "I was set to transfer to the L'manburg branch in a week or two, but then..."

"The Chancellor is the head of the Magisterium. They're elected by the sorcerers of the country and serve office until they retire, which can be up to twenty years. Most retire before that, though. Chancellor Haveneaux has been in office for about eight years now."

You nod, staring out the window as the scenery blurs by. Mulling over the new knowledge in your mind, you two fade into silence as the day stretches on. Before you know it, you can feel the carriage rumble to a stop. Technoblade tosses the cape back over his shoulders, clasping it shut before he steps out of the carriage. The door on your side swings open, the servant boy offering a hand to help you out.

You hop down, robes flaring a bit as you do so, and murmur your thanks.

The carriage is stopped on the side of the road, next to an open meadow surrounded by forest. The servant boy helps Technoblade set up two tents, pitching them alongside the treeline before he begins to start a fire. Before long, a small fire is crackling heartily, casting dancing shapes against the blank canvas of the tents, and the stars spread into the sky above like freckles of golden light.