[Chapter 2: Wistful Journeys and a Heretical Charade]
The Swords of Darkness didn't exist anymore. Well, they didn't exist as an adventurer team anymore, the people who used to make it up were alive and well. It all happened on one fateful night when they were camping near the Great Forest of Tob during a routine patrol…
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Their camp was simple. There were three tents set out, one for Peter and Lurkut, one for Dyne that was slightly smaller and a small one for Ninya because he always insisted on sleeping alone, thus creating such a convoluted setup. Right now the one on night watch was Lukrut, the one most qualified for it thanks to being a ranger. As expected, it was a peaceful night. In fact, nights nowadays tended to be too peaceful. Not a single monster had left the Great Forest of Tob for what felt like weeks and probably was at this point. It's not like adventurers wanted people to be endangered, but they did want to eat and such calm was bad for business.
However, that calm was about to end. He spotted something in front of his eyes. It seemed like a dark blue oval. He rubbed his eyes once, twice, but it was still there and out of that hole in reality tentacles shot out. Screams followed, both his own and his teammates' as more abominable limbs came out and grabbed them. The grip and pull were too strong to break and soon the swords of darkness found themselves being pulled into the rift.
Instead of being turned into their base elements or consumed by monsters beyond their worst nightmares, they found themselves being thrown onto a marvellously well-kept, marble-like floor of a turquoise colouring. As expected of adventurers, albeit only silver ranked, they recovered quickly from the shock and drew their weapons, the drowsiness banished by the adrenaline that now coursed through their veins. They got into combat formation wordlessly, a bond forged from countless battles in the past.
The shock however kicked back in with twice its previous strength as they saw who, or rather what, stood in front of them. First there was a blue giant of a man who towered over the entire team, a mythical scythe that seemed to be cut from the very cloth of reality on his back. Next to him stood a robed undead that possessed no flesh in the slightest, its bones a pristine white. The feeling it gave off however was not that of a mere skeleton, but a godlike being against whom even death would cower. And last was… a maid. She was pretty, but nothing amazing, and was dressed in an orthodox maid outfit.
"Thank you Vair, you may go now." dismissed the blue monster, his voice deep and echoing seemingly to the team's very core.
The undead bowed and tucked the grimoire he was carrying under his skeleton equivalent of an armpit, "I unlive to serve, my Lord." Despite its raspy voice and terrifying appearance, one could swear a smirk was present in the line it delivered and it was only not visible because a skull lacked such emotive capabilities.
Waved away once more by its seeming ruler the undead turned around and went on its merry way, unconcerned with the living. The existence of intelligent undead was known to all, elder liches being the most famous example, but an intelligent undead that would simply ignore the living it summoned? By this point three members of the team were wondering if they were summoned into another world, like in some old folk tales, but Ninya, their magic caster, was focused on the maid.
"Well, Tsu-" before the monster could finish his sentence the maid practically lunged at the magic caster and locked her in the hug equivalent of an iron maiden. As it turned out, the two were long lost sisters and the reunion was long and tearful. Of course there still was the matter of being in what seemed to be another realm, but that was resolved quickly.
Negotiations weren't an adventurer's forte most of the time and the Swords of Darkness were no exception. Indeed the offer given to them was one they couldn't refuse; quite literally given that the options given were "Serve or die." As all but idealists would do, they chose servitude, even though for Ninya saving her sister was all they needed to secure her loyalty.
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And that is how they ended up here, in the office of the Black Lagoon company. Frankly, they knew terrifyingly little of their employers except for the fact that many of them were monsters. Even their boss, Keno, who turned out to be an extremely attractive, blonde woman, was very tight-lipped and gave them no information about anything besides what they needed to do at that very moment. Not to mention Jericho, who often ignored them entirely and gave them the creeps.
For the most part they carried out deliveries or simple healing tasks that were ordered from the company, which was the bulk of the work. As much as everyone thought of them as mercenaries, they didn't get many such jobs. No upstart nobles came to them and asked for someone to be assassinated, no lovers asked for their partner to be poisoned; well, not often for that last one at least. Even the competition with the adventurer's guild was almost non-existent, as most monsters either seemed to be gone or they could be taken care of by low rank adventurers.
Of course jobs such as healing or potion selling brought them much ire from the Church and merchant guild. However their anger didn't change the fact that the people were very much on their side and their reputation was immaculate. It did help that the owner of the company, Pyke, often appeared in public and did such deliveries himself. At this point the mayor must have been sweating, concerned that the people may demand he be exchanged for Pyke. All the people needed was for someone to both help them and seem tangible to elevate him to hero status.
This simply gave Lukrut more time to get in trouble with Keno as he repeatedly hit on her, only to get mortally injured almost every time after he continued harassing her despite being politely rejected over fifty times. Speaking of women, the revelation of Ninya being a girl was shocking, but alas it came and went. Women in general often were thought to cause problems in male-dominated adventurer teams and avoided at lower ranks, but they had shed enough blood together for a simple question of identity to not matter much.
Today, as most days, the group hung around the office and waited for orders. As expected, Keno walked in and announced their activities for the day, "We're going to be killing undead, possibly a death knight. Reports of that have come in and the mayor is paying us several hundred gold." she said, her voice sonorous and as calm as a lake on a windless day.
For the group however this was rather shocking news and they all collectively choked on whatever they were drinking. "E-excuse me Miss Keno, but why us? Shouldn't one of the… um… specialists handle it?" The specialists in question referred to the various legendary monsters that the company fielded in the shadows. In previous times, when reports of basilisks came in and the guildmaster Pluton Ainzach turned to the Black Lagoon Company, given that there was no adventurer team in the area that could deal with them easily, such a team of monsters was sent out.
"Order from above." Keno said, while pointing at Ninya, "Jericho and the boss want to see if her talent will work faster if she kills things. I don't get it either, but orders are orders." Her voice showed that there was no room for negotiation and soon the team was gearing up. In comparison to their past equipment they may as well have robbed the gods' bodies. The gear given to them seemed to be on par with things such as the legendary swords of darkness they were searching for and named their team after, but Vacuus, as they've come to know the man, said that this was the lowest quality they had in storage.
Peter was armed with, ironically considering the team's name, a sword of pure white that seemed to have no problems cutting through even adamantite. His armor was equally flashy, being primarily chainmail of the white variety. It felt light and it felt good. There were even some low level enchantments on it all. A noble's entire demesne was unlikely to contain enough wealth to buy this type of set.
Lukrut was given a bow that was made only from leaves and branches, but still packed more of a punch than everything he had seen in his life put together. Frankly, he barely had to aim with this thing since the arrows just went in a straight line for so long! It wasn't even like he needed extreme strength to draw it either. His armour followed this theme and in it he looked like he was wearing a bush. Apparently it was something called a ghillie suit. Oddly enough when he wore it all the bow's strength seemed to increase, something Jericho called an "armour set bonus."
Dyne, appropriate for a druid such as him, was given light robes that were enchanted for mobility rather than being able to tank hits. In addition to that he was given a branch. It may have seemed like a simple wooden stick to most, perhaps a convenient walking stick for a hermit, but many would also recognize the magic that flowed through it. All of this was specialized to increase his healing capabilities, as otherwise the team would lack a healer.
Last was Ninya, as she kept the nickname and abandoned her old name, who was the arcane caster. She could cast up to Tier 2, but with her gear those parameters were increased to be the equivalent of Tier 3 or even 4. The reason for sending them out was the existence of her talent that let her learn magic spells twice as fast. Jericho speculated that this doubled her experience growth and thus he wanted to see if she could rapidly level up if she killed a strong foe. Sadly summons didn't count, but luck turned out to be on the devil's side once more and a naturally occurring death knight appeared.
Of course no amount of gear could turn four silver adventurers into beings that could kill a death knight, well, no amount of gear that they were willing to give them. So Keno would be joining them as well. In her current form, following the absorption of souls given to her by Jericho, was around level 55 to 60, miles ahead of a death knight, even if the results for the demonologist were lacklustre as the souls "lost their value" for some reason that was unknown even to him. And so the plan looked as such, she would use one of her powerful spells, most likely a racial, hemomantic one such as [Blood Spear] to effectively one shot the death knight.
Death knights were level 35, but had the defence of a level 40. Such a thing would not matter, however the most skilled necromancers of YGGDRASIL still used them at the highest level, why was that? It was thanks to their passive, which allowed them to survive any hit with 1 point of health left, an extremely useful spell for absorbing a valuable spell in exchange for a mid-tier summon. Jericho informed Keno of this and the plan was created due to that.
The [Blood Spear], maximized, would be more than enough to kill a death knight and it would sense such a threat coming towards it, activating its ability. From there Ninya would cast a [Magic Arrow] and they could all go back home. The existence of a death knight was a major threat to entire cities, even countries if one was sufficiently weak. They were considered legendary monsters and their appearance was enough to get the entire royal court up in arms in some places!
But for Keno it was more of a midnight stroll… Not that sunlight bothered her much, it was just a bit inconvenient is all. Most undead seemed to have at least a semblance of aversion to daylight.
Still, a thought stirred in her mind, 'A death knight just popping up? No big battle, no massacre, no nothing? Actually, isn't that near the place where the boss killed all those mercenaries? But that still wouldn't be enough…' The way undead spawned was still a mystery, but it was thought to be connected with the negative energy that was released upon death. That energy would then build on itself until stronger undead spawned.
Death knights were at the tier where a proper massacre must have happened, or the Katze Plains must have been left unattended for too long. For one to just appear was… odd? Unheard of? Worrying? In truth, it was all of the above. And all of these things were likely to attract the attention of Jericho, but he had business in the capital, so for now it was only her… and the few hanzos that she decided to bring just in case.
Their trip was brief, thanks to the fact that the region was already known to the tireless overlords of the Swimming City's observatory, and a gate was all it took to put them where Brain's and Gazef's reunion initially happened. They stepped through and the cracking of bones followed.
They looked down at their feet and noticed that the bodies of the bandits were still where they fell. Bodies left out like that were, as expected, picked clean by the various wildlife. Keno knelt down, "Something isn't right…" she mumbled and touched one of the bones.
Peter looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, which prompted him to ask, "Looks like a regular boneyard, Miss Keno. Happens when bodies are left out and about. We've seen plenty in monster liars. I'm guessing some barghests got to the bodies." His team nodded collectively, it wasn't too uncommon a sight in their line of work.
Keno shook her head, "It's too soon to be completely clean. Two weeks or so and not a scrap of flesh left? No way. Fully armoured men, a good twenty of them, and not even stale blood on their armour? Impossible. Especially since it didn't even rain in this area since they were killed." Her senses as a vampire were particularly keen to blood and flesh and she could say with certainty that everything was gone, down to the bone marrow, which was even more odd since the bones weren't taken and the marrow extracted later, like a barghest would, but it seemed to be extracted and the bones were left where they were found.
Another sense afforded to her via vampirism was a sense for negative energy and the area was within the margin of what you would expect. The death knight must have not come here or a trail would have led them right to it. Skeletons and zombies on the other hand were too weak to leave a sufficient trail. Deciding it wasn't worth lingering in the area, she gathered up her group and wandered through the forest, past the cave and beyond.
Sadly, the overlords wouldn't be able to locate the death knight specifically because, as their representative Vair told her, "What? You'll want us to find a needle in an ocean of bodies next?! Not happening! A dragon would hardly be able to find a mouse's life force from the sky, would he now?" The signature of the undead was just too low. If it was something like a death emperor or another overlord then it would be much more doable, but a death knight? For them it was no different from a skeleton.
Despite that she managed to convince them to at least scout for concentrations of negative energy in the area and wouldn't you know it? Around an hour by foot away from where the gate initially dropped them off was an area with saturation levels higher than even the Katze Plains. Vegetation became more scarce as they made their way there and eventually all the natural sounds of the forest ceased. No longer could owls be heard hooting, crickets chirping and even the wind seemed to be unnaturally still.
Everyone, besides Keno, had chills running down their spine and felt more fatigued, the area evidently sapping them of their energy. "Miss Keno?" panted Ninya, a wordless question evident in her voice. With their gear and experience, even if they weren't very strong, they should not be getting so tired. The effects of negative energy were decently documented and they recognized their condition as the result of it. Unfortunately, Ninya didn't have any spells that could protect them from it, unlike Keno's gear which they presumed did have such capabilities.
She looked back at the struggling team, "Hm? Oh." Quickly she rummaged through one of the numerous and seemingly bottomless bags that she had with her and took out a scroll. "[Mass Protection From Energy: Negative]." she chanted, the scroll burning up in heatless flame and offering the group the respite they needed.
And needed it they did as the concentration increased and increased until the very grass beneath their feet was already dead as can be. The area looked like a complete wasteland and it all cantered on a hill, which had a rather substantial cave opening in its side. From that opening came the fiery, red glistening characteristics to the eyes of most undead.
Out stepped a skeleton, then another and another until a veritable horde of the abominable creatures had amassed. Finally, out of the darkness stepped their target, the death knight. It appeared to almost be leading the skeletal mass. In contrast to common perception of the undead, death knights, despite being mute behemoths of death and rage, were actually rather intelligent. That still didn't change the fact that they didn't have the innate ability to lead or control any other undead than the squire zombies they could create.
Keno sighed, "This calls for a bit more strength than I'd like to have used." The swords of darkness weren't afraid of the skeletons, even without their new gear they would be hard pressed to find them anything other than a subpar workout, but the slightest distraction against a death knight could easily prove to be fatal. Thankfully, Keno seemed to be slightly annoyed by the additional forces, rather than distressed.
A globe of blood appeared in her hand and expanded, until it was around the size of a decently heavy medicine ball. "[Maximize Magic: Blood Nova]!" she called out. The red sphere made its way through the air and impacted the shield of the death knight, who sensing the attack got into a defensive stance. It wasn't the most damaging spell in her repertoire, but its area clearing capabilities were solid.
It exploded like a grenade and concentrated blood spread around the area in an instant, turning the atmosphere around it into a fine mix of bloody mist and powdered bone. The amount of skeletons was substantial, but the brainless undead gathered practically shoulder to shoulder, letting one such move eviscerate all fifty or so that were there. Needless to say, it was Keno's record for foes destroyed in one spell and a satisfied smile now rested on her face.
She looked at the death knight and noted that the amount of negative energy it still gave off was substantial. Some undead, with such a sense like Keno's, did not need to use [Life Essence] to analyse their fellow undead's health, instead looking at the negative energy left, since it was what kept them together in most cases.
Given that even in this state the chances of the Swords of Darkness were slim she opted to test out a spell she recently learned, "[Maximize Magic: Crystal Spike]!" As the name of the spell would indicate, a crystalline spike of large proportions rose from the ground and pierced the chest of the death knight, along with its shield, receding afterwards. Left behind was an undead that if not for the hole in its chest, that had a meter in diameter, would have looked fine. The unique nature of undead allowed them to fight with the same ferocity no matter how bad their condition got, until the negative energy ran out that is.
The vampire in disguise looked at Ninya, "What are you waiting for? Do it." There was a hint of urgency that the Swords of Darkness didn't like, not one bit.
Ninya stepped forward, albeit rather gingerly as the death knight was now rushing at them, a desperate and ultimately futile attempt to end the life that it so hated. "[Magic Arrow]!" she called out. A blue arrow of pure mana left her staff and impacted the hulking behemoth, which fell apart into pieces and soon began to evaporate, becoming a black mist.
"What?!" Keno cried out. In an instant she put a finger to her temple and called one of the overlords with a message, {I need an emergency extraction for the interns! Now!} A second later a blue oval appeared behind them and tentacles once again materialized out of it. Cries of "Not again!" left the former adventurers as they were dragged to the Swimming City and then immediately thrown into a gate that led to their office in E-Rantel.
"What the hell was that about?!" yelled out Lukrut, rubbing his backside which constituted all the damage he took on this excursion.
"Must have been serious if it worried Miss Keno…" said Dyne thoughtfully. Their boss was always cool and professional when they interacted, as if she didn't want to give something away.
"That doesn't matter, she'll be fine. You saw how she dealt with a death knight! I doubt there's much that can fight her. Anyway, even if she comes back without a hand she'll probably still want a report. Or Jericho will ask for one." said Peter, prompting the entire team to shudder and the thought of the eerie and seemingly all too kind demonologist.
He turned to Ninya, "So do you feel any stronger?" he asked. The point of them going out was to find out if Ninya would get stronger after killing a death knight. It was an abstract concept as she wasn't a warrior but instead a mage that would need to study to increase their capabilities, alas orders were orders.
The caster looked deep within herself and found that… "Nothing. I don't feel even a bit stronger." she said, prompting the entire team to sigh.
"So it was pointless? Man, anymore jobs like that and I'll get grey hairs and no girl will be into me!" cried out Lukrut. But what would cut a job like that short?
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Undead did not turn into mist. In fact, some undead were an extreme pain to clean up after a fight, since their guts and blood were not only disgusting but also got everywhere. Although that wasn't the whole truth either. Some undead such as elder liches would become mist due to the mana that was contained within them being released and destroying the decaying flesh now that there was no negative energy to keep it together.
But death knights didn't have mana.
There was however one condition that made undead disappear into mist upon death even if they were purely melee combatants. That was if they were a summon without a body as a base. What came from mana became mana upon death. Beings such as angels would leave blood behind when being killed due to the brief instant between turning into mana and still being a physical construct. Bits and pieces of them like feathers would be ripped away and float for a while before disappearing. Summoning wasn't an exact science after all and not all beings behaved the same way.
However Keno was sure of one thing, if a death knight disappeared into mist it meant that it was a summon. The appearance of someone who can summon a death knight was troubling to say the least. Thankfully, she brought the hanzos with her and with only a bit of trepidation did she begin walking into the cave. Hanzos were strong, stronger than her, but a summoner of a death knight almost certainly was as well.
The cave was, as expected, pitch black, yet she traversed it with no problem thanks to the [Dark Vision] skill that was native to most, if not all, undead. As she reached what she presumed to be the end of the cave she instead came upon a massive opening in it. It seemed as if a dragon could live here! And as it turned out she was almost right, the issue was that the word live couldn't exactly be applied to it.
Immediately she cast an [Invisibility] spell on herself, even if it didn't really conceal her from the beast it gave her some peace of mind. The reptile lay there… in pieces it seems. Its skeletal outline was there and its body was fully fleshed from around half of its torso. It had red, almost orange, markings that reminded her very much of Jericho's own quirk.
She would have called him, but he was supposed to be busy right now and he wasn't the scholarly type anyway. Who else… Amal'Thazad? She got the feeling he didn't like her. Ferra? She only worked with reagents and materials rather than living beings. That left only one person, Trise!
A silent message was sent out and the beauty in the lab coat appeared, looking almost no different from usual. The one minute change was an odd elixir of pure black that she had on her belt. As an alchemist it was natural to have potions and flasks with her, but this one gave off power like no other. That was because it was the World Item given to her, [A Drop Of Evil].
Upon being ingested it would create a second version of the person who used it, that copy having opposite karma values from the original, similar to the story that inspired it. Gaining an ally in a duel was useful, but not quite powerful enough for a World Item so the devs made the only decision they could, a shitty one that broke the game's balance of course. Both the copy and the original would gain a buff that lasts for 24 hours and give them stats comparable to those of Pyke and other World Enemies.
The one saving grace for those who were facing someone in possession of the item was that you had to control the copy at the same time as the original, which was not only shitty design, but also felt really weird thanks to the DMMORPG system. In this world it only got more broken, given that Trise theorized she could refill the normally one time use item with one of her skills. If the logic of the developers applied here then surely it would stack as well.
She looked upon the dragon and then to Keno, waving at her in her usual, overjoyous manner, "Heya! What'd you find here? Is this one of these dragon lords?" she asked, walking up to the creature and running her hand across its scales. "Doesn't it seem a bit… decayed for one?" All of a sudden a death knight seemed to materialize next to her, only to become mana once again as Trise showered it with one of her acidic spells. Being an alchemist came not only with work concerning creation and theories, but also destruction and application. Alchemists in general were rather underrated in PVP, able to dish out good area, overtime and direct damage, as well as debuffs and buffs.
Keno broke out of her stupor at seeing the death knight just be summoned, "How did that thing appear?" she asked, still invisible.
"Hmm." Trise said, walking up to the head of the beast and prying its eyelid open. In the eye there was no recognition of its surroundings and it kept looking ahead with a thousand yard stare. The alchemist shrugged, "My best guess? It acted on instinct, but still can't move itself so it used some magic to attack me. As for why undead? You didn't happen to see some bodies cleaned of everything, but bones, did you?" she asked.
"I did, some bandits around an hour walk from here. Even the bone marrow was gone and it was way too soon for all those bodies to look like that." answered Keno.
Trise pointed at the seemingly catatonic dragon, "This guy's the reason. He's probably been summoning and sending out undead to gather flesh and try to piece him back together. Still…" An unsatisfied expression appeared on her face and she began tapping her foot on a nearby rock.
"Something wrong? Everything fits in your theory." said Keno, confused by her colleague's behaviour.
Trise sighed, "It just doesn't make sense! That girl Lillius kidnapped and healed said that the Catastrophe Dragon Lord was supposed to be revived somewhere here, but dragon lords aren't supposed to use Tier Magic! No way Draudillion could have lied and lived!" She kicked one of the dragon's exposed ribs and a piece of it fell away.
She put her hand to her head and shook it, "Whatevs… Nice find anyway Keno, we didn't know how to look for this guy. You can head home now!" Trise said, her cheerful demeanour returning. Two gates opened up, no doubt thanks to a message she sent, "Take the left one. I'll take this lizard to my workshop. Can't wait to see what I find out!" Trise said, practically squirming in place.
Keno went on ahead after bidding her goodbyes and Trise used her strength that did not fit her small frame at all and pulled the half-dragon half-carcass through the gate. Before she made the final step and went home she swore a curse in a language exclusive to eldritch beings could be heard somewhere in the cave… She merely shrugged and dismissed it, "Maybe those are the voices dad talks about?" she said to herself before leaving.
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Pyke walked through the familiar halls of the Valencia palace, behind him rang out six pairs of footsteps that belonged to Zesshi, Cophi, Cirina, Lilith, Lucius and Winston. Why was it only part of his entourage? Well, Galakrond, Hycarius, Brain and Valodan all said they weren't made for courtly matters, which in the case of two of them was certainly wrong, and instead they decided to do some sightseeing with Brain, albeit those sights were most likely to be taverns.
Jericho instead decided to do something useful, that being to check out how the Eight Fingers were operating. In truth, he most likely wanted to see how broken the leaders were and criticize his brother's work, since Amal'Thazad was still an amateur in his eyes. In any case, the Re-Estize court was too boring when he wasn't allowed to set it ablaze and the incentive of possibly getting to break the leaders of the Eight Fingers was a powerful one.
One person who actually was in the castle right now, even though they weren't supposed to be, was Lillius. Pyke once told him of Clementine and guessed that she was still kept in the dungeon. The idea of getting a new pet, possibly one as sadistic of him, was exhilarating for the assassin and soon he made a game of breaking in. His presence meant that soon a few families would have to put out missing posters of men who were last seen on duty guarding the prisoners.
The décor didn't change, why would it have? Even the flowers in the Queen's garden looked the exact same, not a single petal out of place. Perhaps change would come to the palace soon, it did after all come for the throne and Pyke was its herald for the country. Kingdoms often stagnated and until now Re-Estize was a perfect example of that.
Pyke pushed open the ceremonial door as he did in the past, the ones to close it would most likely be the guards who came from noble families and just stood around, so might as well make them earn part of their pay. He stepped in the middle and stood still, not even bowing his head. He was the real ruler here, the rest just didn't know it yet, so might as well act like it.
The nobles, whether now culled and more supportive of the crown or not, did not take to this kindly and started mumbling among each other. At least they would if not for the fact that they were staring at Pyke's four female companions. They looked like Goddesses, more fair than even the Golden Queen that now sat on the throne, at least with the exception of Zesshi, who, while pretty, did unnerve the nobles due to her ears. Similar comments should have been said about Cophi, however for the moment she changed her ears to be of human origin.
Renner was about to speak, but a particularly unsavoury comment concerning the teenage looking Cirina reached his ears and he unleashed the first level of his aura. In an instant everyone was engulfed by a primordial fear, as if they were dunked into the icy depths. All life, even if it lacks the mental capability to feel fear, is afraid of one thing, asphyxiation. It was only due to the limited amount of aura he let out that the entire court wasn't either having a panic attack or fleeing in horror, gasping for air.
"W-welcome, Sir Pyke. I presume these are your s-subordinates?" said Renner, feigning ignorance of the identities of the others. Still, the stutters weren't faked, they were born of admiration as she basked in the cold feeling that emanated from the being in front of her, as if reflecting the depths of her soul. It was both uncomfortable and glorious, but nevertheless she kept up her mask.
Pyke nodded and his followers introduced themselves, albeit Zesshi, Cophi and Cirina possessed no title to boast of. "Down to business. What is it?" Pyke said, cutting to the heart of the matter.
Gazef meanwhile, who stood at the side and merely greeted Pyke with a silent nod when he came in, was praying that Climb wouldn't do something stupid. Sure, the man in front of them made the atmosphere feel claustrophobic and his presence chilled one to the bone, but his thoughts still wandered as he saw the boy's hand twitch next to his blade, 'Just don't get into a fight Climb. Pyke won't kill her… Probably.'
Renner cleared her throat, "Of course. You know of the war between the Empire and us, correct?" she asked.
"Two monarchs fighting over nothing with lives that aren't theirs. I know of it, it don't concern me." he answered, crossing his hands, " 'Specially when one kingdom's lap dogs try to kill me." With a swift throw, a bag found itself in front of Renner. She motioned to it and Climb picked it up, opened it and gagged instantly. He may have been determined to get stronger, but the stench of a corpse is something only experience can build a tolerance to. "Pespea sent soldiers after me. Whatever you want it's gonna cost ya."
The nobles of the royal faction collectively gulped, already acknowledging their attempt was a failure when Pyke entered through the door, but his discovery of who's plot it was was worrying indeed. It was a rather grave loss for the royal faction, as Pespea was married to one of Renner's sisters and had a valuable demesne, both of which could have given him a chance at the throne. Alas, his desire to prove himself proved to be his downfall. At least that's what they believed, but a few provocative letters from Renner to her sister undoubtedly caused the poor Marquis' wife to encourage him.
Renner continued, "Your company provides military services as well, correct? How much would those cost us?" she said, her voice a mask of innocent curiosity.
Pyke looked over towards Winston who then stepped forth, "You are correct my lady. However the cost may change, do you wish to win the war or only minimize losses?" This little charade was quickly growing old for Zesshi who stood behind the prime minister, however getting to at least hang around with him was always a pleasure, especially after he beat her until she was a bloody mess that one time, so she listened to the staged show.
Gazef silently prayed in his heart that Renner would be reasonable. He knew she was smart, but she was just a girl in the end, warfare being a far removed and abstract concept for her. He also knew Pyke had the power to end the war in an instant, but what would it cost them? And more importantly, how much bloodshed would the victory itself cost?
But in the end a viewer has no influence on the theatre stage and Renner went along with the plan, "I strive to win, as any monarch should!" Her proclamation was both adorable and chilling because this deal in the end was one with a monster, perhaps worse than the devil himself.
Lucius smirked as he twirled his cane once more, "Are you ready to burden that cost? And is the kingdom able to do so as well." The tales of the white clad monster were already known in every court in the region and the nobles backed away as his gaze passed along them.
Renner looked away for a second and bit her bottom lip; an amateur mistake made only by amateur politicians… or geniuses pretending to be such fools. "I'll admit the treasury has seen better days, but I can pay with land! I just want the beginning of my reign to be peaceful…" she said, a sombre note slipping into the end of her speech.
"That is indeed an attractive option and we can provide such a service. In that case it all depends on what Lord Pyke wants…" said Winston, thoughtfully rubbing his chin and then looking towards his creator.
"I want a kingdom."
It was as if an earthquake struck the room and even the fear of water rushing down their throat and drowning them that the aura caused was not enough to silence the creatures called nobles.
"Peasant! Know your place!" cried one.
"Lowborn! You will never be even a noble!" shouted another.
"Trash! A monster like you could never rule!" exclaimed the third.
Gazef hit his armoured chest several times, the clanging sound almost faint in the cacophony of offense thrown towards Pyke. He did it once more with a sense of urgency as Pyke's brows narrowed in displeasure, but it had no effect once again.
Then the aura fell upon them with twice the strength as the mercenary sighed deeply, as if his breath was enough to force everyone to their knees. A sickening crunch rang out as a few of the nobles' knees cracked against the floor, unable to withstand the pressure. Miraculously, there was no additional pressure directed at Gazef, Renner or Climb, a result of Pyke's experience with his aura since his last visit in the court. Still, the chill remained, reminding them that at any moment they too could be crushed.
Shouting was replaced with groans and yelps of pain, until the pressure seemed to lift and the nobles stood up or at least some of them, the others either knocked out from the stress or perhaps even dead. It didn't matter, the loss of a few nobles was a boon rather than a loss; there was no shortage of intelligent people to whom titles could be granted.
Pyke repeated his help's cost to a chorus of groans and hyperventilation, "A kingdom. All the land around E-Rantel, the entire Great Forest of Tob and some of the land around it, including the border villages like Carne, and the Katze Plains. The forest is already mine and no mist will stop me in the plains. You agree to this and you have a buffer state, your victory and your peace. You reject my offer and the empire crushes you. What'll it be?"
He extended his hand. Renner stepped off the throne and shook it, recognizing him as king. A spark of magic, barely noticeable to those not attuned to it, emerged and the Queen felt something wrap around her mind. Most would call it mind control, but Lillith would call it an insurance policy. Despite being powerless, Renner was still smart, so Lillith planted one of her spells, [Remote Puppet], on Pyke's gloves beforehand. This spell was the reason negotiations with a mind flayer in YGGDRASIL took place at a distance.
It was a spell that could overcome a player's mind control resistance if the player was within two meters of his opponent and could only be used via touch. Alternatively, once placed, it could be activated at any moment, at any distance and was undetectable and permanent, but no longer ignored resistance. It was only available to the highest species of mind flayers when combined with a rare illusionist class, [Loki's Replacement], which was gained from a hidden quest chain… or gained via a World Item being used during the creation of an NPC.
Renner thought it felt strange, but maybe that's just how interacting with a highly magical being went? She let the idea go and sat back down on her throne. "The paperwork will be done and sent over once the war is over. I hope that works for you and thank you for your help." she said, a radiant smile on her face as she got one step closer to an immortal lifetime with Climb.
"Hand it over the day the war starts. I guarantee there won't be much delay between that and the end of it." he said, turning around and leaving without so much as a bow. Soon after the court was dismissed Gazef went drinking with Unglaus, who was waiting outside his house with some new, very powerful friends. But even the alcohol couldn't suppress his worry and excitement at the idea that Pyke was going to fight an army.
He took one more swig of the honeyed ale and sighed, it just never seemed to end with Pyke…
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It wasn't easy being an elf in the Theocracy. Although that doesn't say much since being an elf, particularly female, wasn't easy in the Elf Kingdom either. But there was a fundamental difference between the two and that was that not only were you a slave in the Theocracy, but it was the Theocracy you were a slave to. Breaking slaves here was as much an artform as painting or sculpting.
Being in Kami Miyako was especially brutal. Beyond the walls was a forest, a safe haven for elves, but escapees were still rare. Thankfully, if you did manage to escape without killing a single human and no other escapes happened at the same time then there was a chance they wouldn't send slave catcher after you.
Those were the circumstances of Haila. She had been a slave in a brothel in Kami Miyako. Almost everybody owned a slave there and almost every business ran on them, the income of bodies making prices low, even if the war did seem to hit a low point at the moment. By elf standards she was maybe fifteen or sixteen? She didn't know, elves weren't allowed to teach each other and humans definitely weren't going to teach them.
However despite her age being only around 170 years, her body was well toned from years of being forced to keep in shape in order to be more appealing. Her hair was snow-white, like her skin, and her eyes were red. In ordinary circumstances market forces would have dictated she be sold for an exuberant sum that bordered on extortion and she indeed was, however her circumstances were by no means ordinary.
Albino elves were thought of as defective by the lower classes and cursed by the higher classes. Their skin was easily burnt and they couldn't function too well in sunlight, so they were useless in fields. The nobles and so on instead had a story about how an albino elf had caused the downfall of a lineage with a mysterious curse, making them unwilling to purchase such a thing.
There was only one destination for elves such Haila, one that drove the prices through the roof, that being the brothel. For the citizens of the Theocracy sampling distinct elves at expensive brothels was like experiences fine vintages; albino ones were the peak of the peak, taken meticulous care of when it came to appearance, only to be thrown to the horny dogs that would pay the appropriate amount of coin. Even when she looked no older than thirteen men would still come in, her price even higher, as she was considered a "forbidden fruit" that they could sample. For decades of her life her beauty had been nothing but a curse.
It was hell. Endless hell made of violation over and over and over.
But it could be over now. At the most expensive brothers slaves slept in the room they… worked. Not on the bed like humans, but on a mat like dogs. One day however her master forgot to close the window and she climbed out, managing to sneak past the drunken patrols and run into the forest with nothing but the sack she called her nightgown. It didn't matter, starvation was far more preferable than what awaited her in the decorated walls of the brother.
Elves were agile and her eyes, despite how much she hated them for their exoticism, worked well in the night. As she ran through the dark forest she cursed her body. If she was ugly then she would have been sent to the farms. If she was deformed then maybe even killed. Instead, the Gods decided to play the cruellest of jokes on her.
And so she ran and ran and ran, until the only thing that propelled her was the faint idea that maybe there's food at the bright orange glow ahead of her.
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Raymond was maybe a day and a half out of Kami Miyako by Black Scripture standards. He said he's going on a vacation and, despite complaints from his colleagues, did so. However, his actual goal was to find Zesshi and just a few days prior news reached his ears that a half-elf with black and white hair was spotted in Re-Estize, acting like a complete drunkard. That same day he began packing.
In the Black Scripture, as dysfunctional as it had been during its existence, someone needed to do fieldcraft. In Raymond's heyday, that was him. Frankly, his combat skills could be called miniscule when compared to how skilfully he could set up camp. Not that he was weak of course, at his peak he was on par with an adamantite adventurer, but he was just that good at setting up camp. Even with the captain's orders, him setting up someone's tent wrong could have easily caused a brawl to break out and so it had been a necessary skill.
And now he was alone in the woods, poking the fire with a stick in idleness as he thought of other matters. Normally one would have to be on guard in the woods, yet he was not. He was still deep in Theocracy territory and all monsters here were long gone. 'If I continue at this pace I'll be at E-Rantel around the war between Re-Estize and Baharuth… I can say I'm on official business or just sneak in.'
He sighed deeply, 'Working with the elf king…' After staring into the fire for a few seconds the stick in his hand cracked and he threw it with the force earned via his years of service, shattering it into splinters on a nearby tree. "Wasn't Jeannete's sacrifice enough?!" he yelled, leaves rustling as startled birds rushed out of the nests.
Raymond hadn't known her himself, he was not born at that time, but he knew her daughter and he'd heard enough stories. That woman was practically sacrificed in the hopes of creating a weapon and now that that weapon ran away they turned to the other half of its creation.
The elf king embodied everything that the Theocracy hated, the very fuel for their propaganda against elves and demihumans. Beastmen were one thing, as they actually ate humans, but elves were relatively peaceful and humanity would be more than capable of establishing positive relations with them, but neither side was willing up until now.
Their almighty king sought nothing but breeding material, even if it was his own daughter, and the Theocracy desired human supremacy. Years of war, countless agents lost to elven guerrilla warfare and for what? Just to ally now? Because a greater threat was seen even if they provoked that threat? No, it wasn't defence. It was revenge the other cardinals wanted, led by a zealous Pontifex Maximus. They would give the one who saved the country countless times in the shadows a fate worse than death.
The cardinal sat there once more, thinking about his brash and ill-mannered comrade, one who saved his ass more times than he could count; one he could call a friend, even if the Gods deemed her heritage to be inferior. Every rule had its exceptions right? Raymond had always been a bit cynical and a man of action as much as faith, and having seen the Gods die he now wondered if his faith had ever been worth anything.
He turned around as he heard a branch crack and saw a pale figure. 'A banshee?' he initially thought, getting into a defensive position, but as the figure stepped closer to the light he realized it was no undead, although it soon may have become one. 'What's a teenage girl doing all the way out here? Did she run from bandits?' As he sheathed his dagger the girl managed to finally stumble into full view, seemingly tripping on an exposed root.
"F-food…" was all she managed to say before she fell and passed out, exposing her clipped ears.
Raymond looked at the sorry sight that was the bag of almost translucent skin and bones in front of him. Judging by how starved out she was she must have been wandering the woods for at least for a few days. Even slaves in brothels weren't fed more than to look good so they also wouldn't have the strength to power their bodies for long. One like would be in good shape initially, but rapidly deteriorate.
Looking upon her once more, she really was beautiful, like a phantasm spawned by the moon upon the mortal plane, except for the dirt that covered her entire body and sack she used as clothing. As a Theocracy citizen, and even more so as a cardinal, he should have killed her or worse, returned her from whence she came. And normally he would, but a thought crept into his mind, 'White hair… Like a part of Zesshi. A sign from the Gods?' he thought for a second and then sighed, 'The Gods are in no position to give me a sign. And if they're really dead then what's one more sin?'
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Haila woke up in cold sweat, another nightmare that was in fact just a memory of her painful life. Oh how distant the days in the Elven Kingdom now seemed, like a different world. Just as she calmed down and caught her first breath she began panicking once more. Around her was a tent! A tent! Such things didn't pop up out of nowhere! At least not in the Elven Kingdom, maybe human lands were different? She never did get to go out… No! Definitely doesn't make sense!
As her nonsensical train of thought continued the entrance to the tent billowed open and in came a man. He didn't look young, but certainly not old either, maybe in his thirties? Forties, if he was lucky. His eyes, despite trying to appear kind, still held an edge. He had a rather impressive brown beard alongside well-groomed hair of the same colour, albeit a dash of grey could be seen. None of this however changed the fact that he was the worst monster on the planet, a human. "Oh, you're awake." he said, his voice kind.
Immediately Haila got on her knees and put her head to the mat she was on, "M-m-master." she stuttered out. Tears began streaming down her face as she realized what her fate was to be. "P-please m-master. D-don't make me go back... Please!" she cried out in between sobs. "I-I could k-keep you warm… at night." she said, showing off her womanly assets. House slaves apparently sometimes got to become mistresses and live decent lives, or at least that's what some of the other slaves told her.
To her surprise, the man averted his eyes, although she quickly understood that he was one of those that thought having sex with an elf was no different that having sex with a farm animal. Raymond coughed into his hand and went with the cover he prepared while the girl was past out. Undoubtedly if he said he was a cardinal the poor thing would die of stress on the spot and so he said, "I'm not from around here. I don't share the Theocracy's… tastes."
It was not a lie in its entirety, Raymond after all wasn't the biggest fan of slavery and you certainly couldn't compare him to someone like Dominic, while the Cardinal of Wind still had his mind that is. Slavery of beastmen and so on made sense, the other party used humans as food after all. The slavery of elves on the other hand was an unfortunate but necessary evil. Elves weren't inherently evil, but it was humanity that was chosen by the Gods and so slavery was their destiny, a preferable one to extermination, at least in his eyes.
But there was a crack in that belief, a crack named Zesshi. Half-elves were thought to be more elf than human and treated as such, but Zesshi was no different from the human Raymond knew, in fact, she was better than many of them. As… unique as some of her life goals were, she was still strong, diligent even if prone to bouts of temper and kinder than she let on. Perhaps it wasn't only half-elves, but elves as well.
Haila's eyes widened and after a brief while she shook her head, tears going everywhere, "A-all humans are t-t-the same, master. P-please don't take me back. P-p-please." she said, her voice shaking like an unstable bridge on which a giant was now trying to step on.
Raymond looked at her once more, "I'm from Re-Estize, elven slavery was banned there. I was here visiting some distant family. I'm going back home, maybe you want to come with me?" he said, keeping his hands to himself so as to not appear intimidating, even if his build and height were counterproductive in the effort.
She wanted to believe it so, so badly. In her past profession stories came from her visitors, of distant lands where slavery was banned. They hid nothing because for them it was like talking to a doll that could be forced to disappear for a bag of gold. The very idea of such a place however was more like a fairy tail than anything she could imagine, but even at her age, she had that bit of naïve curiosity children and teens possessed.
'Even if it's a dream it'll be better than back there…' she thought to herself, silently praying that the man in front of her wasn't a sadist that would simply toy with her. Hope that was turned into mere embers by the Theocracy was reignited into a small flame; whether it would be stifled or turn into a roaring inferno only time would tell. After a deep breath she allowed herself to relax, albeit very slightly.
Raymond, seeing that he was making progress, continued, "Come, I've cooked up some stew. After you've eaten you can go clean up in the nearby lake." He took the grumbling of her stomach as a yes and left the tent, sensing the elf's footsteps a few seconds later as she walked behind him.
Seeing that the man was walking out, and with the premise of food on the other side, she followed, but first she cleaned up the mat and folded it neatly, as years of training instructed her to do so. Stepping out she noticed it seemed to be almost dawn, although in truth it might have been later and the trees just stopped the light. In either case she must have slept at least for half a night, which given that it was winter was quite a long time.
Quickly the smell of stew reached her senses and she looked at the cauldron. The man must have been a superb hunter or extremely lucky given the amount of meat she saw in it as he stirred. She began to salivate, almost drooling, but she quickly wiped her mouth and made herself presentable. Even if the brothel wanted her to look good that didn't mean she was fed good food, but just enough of the half rotten scraps to keep her attractive.
The man looked at her briefly and quickly averted his gaze once again, a behaviour she suspected was caused by pity rather than the utter disgust she was used to. He patted the fur that was next to him in a gesture that signalled her to sit. "M-master." she said out of habit, sitting on her knees next to him. He stopped stirring and began pouring into some wooden bowls, "Don't call me that. I said I'm not from here."
Raymond may not have had the acting skill of someone with theatre training, nor was he the Golden Queen, but he was still a politician with years of deception under his belt. Although this did remind him more of that time he had to sneak in the Black Scripture through a merchant's caravan, 'Good times.' he thought to himself, dispelling the smirk that threatened to appear on his face, lest it be taken as something negative.
As he passed the bowl to the girl? Lady? Dealing with elves was always so complex… Well, given that she looked even younger than Zesshi, undoubtedly a product of her pure elven heritage rather than Zesshi's mixed one, he would stick with calling her girl for now. His hand slightly shook as he got distracted by a crack of the branches behind him, a slight tremor appearing both in his mind and body at the thought of having to fight slave catcher's that would undoubtable recognize him and blow his cover.
He turned back to the girl after gazing out into the forest as he felt an odd sensation of something wet gliding across his hand. The bowl was full and he knew it spilled a bit, but it was no great loss, there was much more to go around and in the worst case game was plentiful around here.
The elf turned out to be licking his hand in an attempt to… clean him? On pure instinct he moved his hand back and the girl tilted her head slightly, tears already appearing in her eyes, "M-master? D-did I do something w-wrong?" He looked at her silently for a second and a glimmer of what seemed to be understanding flashed in her eyes. She got down on all fours and began to lick the area of the mat where the stew had been spilled.
He put the bowl on the ground next to him and gently grabbed the girl's shoulder, causing her to flinch, "Look at me." he said, as gently as possible.
"M-master?" she questioned him once again, her voice quivering and eyes pre-emptively watering. Isn't this what was expected of her?
"What is your name?" he asked, trying to establish something at least resembling a connection.
"H-Haila, m-m-master." she said.
"Where did you work before, Haila?" Raymond took his hand away from the girl that was now known to him as Haila and saw her visibly relax. Slaves in general were afraid of touch since most often it brought pain, but for a girl like this to react like that? He already had an idea of what she was going to say.
"A-a brothel, i-in Kami Miyako, master." she said, the memories of that hellish place resurfacing.
'Kami Miyako? No wonder she was that dead tired. Travel with no supplies from there for someone like her is four or five days if you're lucky.' A hint of respect appeared in him, but he ignored it for now. "You're not there anymore, are you?"
She sniffled and nodded in response. "B-but isn't what I did what humans like?" she asked, her voice cracking.
Raymond quickly answered with a lie larger than the false charade he was playing at now, "Not where I come from." Men in Re-Estize were just as degenerate as those in the Theocracy and the Eight Fingers, if they were still as active as in the past, would have done the same thing to her as the Theocracy brothels.
Luckily, she didn't question him and just nodded, so he continued, "My name is Raymond."
Her eyes opened so wide that he believed for a second that they were going to fall out, "L-like the c-c-cardinal?"
'Fuck. I should've known this'll happen. For all I know Ginedine or Maximillian visited her in the past.' His thoughts however didn't show on his face and instead he played dumb, "Is there a cardinal like that?" he asked, scratching his beard thoughtfully, "I've never been into politics." He smiled a slightly awkward smile and Haila replied with one of her own. A more paranoid and less innocently naïve slave would have recognized him on sight, truly he had a surplus of luck today.
He once again passed her the bowl and a wooden spoon, "Now eat." She didn't respond, merely staring at it for a second before digging in with such gusto that he wondered if even the most gluttonous demihumans could compete.
After pouring his own portion he began speaking, "Well, if we want to make it to E-Rantel then we have to get a horse." Alone, with his scripture level strength, he could easily do without one, but there was no way Haila would keep up.
He thought back to his days in service and about how Zesshi always complained about how slow he was. 'How the tables have turned.' he thought. Maybe this girl couldn't even begin to replace Zesshi, but company was nice when travelling, certainly better than being alone with his own thoughts.
Seeing that his companion stopped eating he turned to her. It simply turned out her bowl was already empty, stew still running down her cheek. "Another?" he asked. The girl only held out her bowl, but that was enough as confirmation.
And so he kept on planning his heretical trip, praying to the Gods both for their forgiveness and for their well-being…
(AN: Wow a new chapter, which means I lived. Crazy, I know. Fun fact, I actually got Covid while I was in Florida, not very pleasant tbh. Anyway, couple things to say. That promised Black Lagoon story got merged into the first part of the chapter here because frankly it isn't important enough and I didn't feel like writing about it so what can you do. Maybe if the muses gather and hit me in the back of the head with the hammer of inspiration then something will pop up but I doubt it. Second of all, to the reviewer that asked why this isn't tagged as Overlord x LoL; there is a simple answer to that. Pyke has become a much different character than the one in LoL by now, sharing only his name, design and some themes. By this logic I could tag it as Overlord x WoW because the design of Vacuus is that of Argus the Unmaker [Great boss btw and Legion was the last good expansion]. Anyway, if you don't like my story then perhaps go read [The Ascendance of the Overlord and the Shield] by I am the string cutter instead? As always, thank you for reading and there's more to come!)