Back in Warden's Vale, they found Wiluvien gathered around the dining table with the three newly-arrived Vampire Brides. The Half-Elf chambermaid appeared to be explaining what everything on the map meant, and they rose to greet Lady Shalltear and Ludmila when they entered the hall.

"Welcome back, Lady Shalltear, Lady Zahradnik."

Wiluvien lowered her head, as did the three Vampire Brides. With six people inside, the manor was feeling noticeably cramped.

"Did anything happen while I was away?" Ludmila asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Wiluvien replied. "We've set about eight stockpiles on fire since last night, and now we're seeing how they respond. There hasn't been a new shipment of supplies to the encampment we took over yet, either."

Barely four hours had passed since the last shipment, so that was to be expected.

"What about activity in the western pass?"

"Demihumans continue coming in, my lady," Wiluvien replied. "The information is from Bone Vulture reports, but they haven't noted anything distinctly different."

Ludmila wondered when it would end. Even after so many had spilled into the upper reaches, they just appeared to keep coming. She frowned down at the map: two new camps had been made along the northern branch, following the river, while what appeared to be the main body of the army had grown even further in the central valley. The numbers there grew ever more threatening, as the valley was far more navigable than the higher elevations of the upper reaches. Cover was far more abundant as well: Bone Vultures could spot any weak Goblin scouts being sent up to investigate the passes, but they probably couldn't detect the ones moving through the dense vegetation of the valley.

It was entirely possible that the Demihumans had already discovered the entrance to the canyon, though they wouldn't be able to enter the narrow passage without being spotted first. They would definitely know it was there if the northern arm advanced all the way to the Katze River, and it would make massed advances up the eastern pass more likely as well. With this in mind, she had already planned to use the next night to move down from the encampment where her forces were currently stationed. They would move south to arrest the progress of the northern arm entirely, then sweep eastward.

With what she now understood of her own Undead contingent, cleaning up the isolated Demihuman camps in a single night was barely doable. All she could think of was speeding up what she had done the previous night: whittling down a camp before overwhelming it, then repeating the process. She could only hope that there wasn't a Goblin that was sneaky enough to elude her forces and report what was going on. The arrival of Lord Cocytus' promised Death Knights would simplify things immensely, but, at the same time, she wasn't sure if she could properly command more than a handful at once.

"Straight into commander mode, I see," Lady Shalltear said lightly to the side.

Ludmila looked up from the map, blinking the dryness out of her eyes.

"Apologies, my lady," she said. "The defence of my territory just seems to override everything once I start thinking about it."

"Don't worry," Lady Shalltear smirked, "if my own demesne was being invaded, I would feel the same way. Why don't we step away and go over to your desk?"

Nodding silently, she followed Lady Shalltear over to the hall. It had barely been thirty minutes since they left to speak to Lord Cocytus, but the time away felt like hours. She turned her head to look out the window and up the valley, but then the cool touch of Lady Shalltear's slender fingers gently turned her head back to face her. Her liege looked up with the small smile that she so often bestowed upon her.

"We've just returned, Ludmila," she lowered her hand. "Even if Cocytus sent out those Death Knights the moment we left Feoh Berkana, they'd still be an hour or two away if they ran all the way over. You seem to have fully embraced all of the benefits that the Ring of Sustenance confers to you, but you are not immune to becoming mentally weary. Despite how much mental endurance you naturally possess, it will catch up to you eventually."

"I suppose I'll never be able to match the Undead on that front," Ludmila exhaled lightly, "no matter how much others mistake me for one."

"People are mistaking you for Undead?" Shalltear asked curiously.

"A few have made comparisons," Ludmila answered. "Most recently, it was a straight misidentification from the Hobgoblins in the first camp I took. They just refused to believe I was Human."

"Interesting…well, what I was going to say was that even if we do not need to sleep, Undead can still get mentally weary – take it from me."

"I wasn't aware of that, my lady," Ludmila said.

"To be one of the Undead is a wondrous blessing," Lady Shalltear told her, "but it is not all moonlight and lilies. We have many strengths, but they also come with weaknesses – even one such as myself, who can grasp all of the pleasures that life and undeath have to offer. Beyond my purely physical traits, I can laugh and love, but I can also feel worry and regret. Like all intelligent Undead, I can feel stressed and overwhelmed by my own mental burdens. Even His Majesty tells me that I must allow myself to rest and recover, no matter how much I feel I can continue with my duties."

Before she had met Lady Shalltear, Ludmila had never met an Undead being who could claim that – or even communicate, for that matter. Aside from perhaps Ghosts, Bohdan's mention of an Elder Lich was the first she had heard of Undead who could even think. How her perception had changed was bemusing: she was now a noble of a nation ruled by an Undead Sovereign, worked with the Undead every day, and swore herself to an Undead liege that she had grown quite fond of.

"A change of pace, then," Ludmila said. "What about the Vampire Brides that you've assigned to the Vale? I know we went over it briefly back when we were planning out the transportation network, but that was for a single Vampire Bride."

"Work again?" Lady Shalltear frowned, "Well, I suppose this is more of an idle conversation. The harbour town you're building here…actually, you showed me those plans: it looks more like a fortress city – larger than E-Rantel, even."

"Unless things advance faster than anticipated," Ludmila said, "it's something for the far future. E-Rantel is also bound to grow with this tremendous surplus of necessities. By the time the harbour here gets to that point, E-Rantel will be larger than the capitals of our surrounding nations. Due to requirements for security, I'll be putting up the first two walls, but the inside will be mostly vacant. It will look rather sparse to begin with, but we'll eventually grow into it."

"That means that we can build as nice of a post office as we'd like, doesn't it?"

"If that is your desire," Ludmila smirked. "But it might be a little embarrassing if it was far too grandiose-looking for its intended function."

"Yes, well, like you said, we must plan for the far future. Warden's Vale should end up as a major hub for both air and water transport due to its placement in the southwest."

"I anticipate some local growth," Ludmila said, "but it sounds like your expectations are far greater."

"You've placed quite a bit of territory under your management, have you not?" Lady Shalltear asked, "You're nearly the size of Corelyn County now."

"If you only account for land area, yes," Ludmila answered, "but unlike Corelyn County, the vast majority of my territory is undeveloped and will stay that way, save for a few select locations."

"What about the upper reaches?"

"The upper reaches…?"

"It's unclaimed by any nation, yes?" Lady Shalltear said, "Everyone in there is going to be scared silly of you once you mop up that army. You're no longer part of a nation composed solely of Humans, so it shouldn't be an issue bringing all those tribes to the south under your rule."

Her liege was correct, though Ludmila didn't really fancy the idea of having even more Demihumans under her. Any and all previous attempts by both Re-Estize and the Slane Theocracy to permanently drive out the Demihuman tribes in the southern reaches had eventually ended in failure, but if they were simply brought under the Sorcerous Kingdom's governance like the Great Forest of Tob, there probably wouldn't be any issue on the Sorcerous Kingdom's side. There was another problem, though…

"It would put us right up against the border of the Slane Theocracy…"

"Clara is right up against the border of the Slane Theocracy already."

"Clara's demesne is one hundred percent Human," Ludmila said. "If it simply came down to brute force, I believe I could easily keep these Demihumans well-behaved. If the goal is integration, however, I'll have to put a lot of thought into how to go about it."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Lady Shalltear said. "Florine is doing wonderfully up north. Oh, speaking of integration, I'll be sending someone your way soon."

"Erm, when? Who?"

"A promising individual who I've identified recently: she's currently studying in the city, but those studies are decidedly lacking in several aspects that you excel in. Proper conduct, law, duty – that sort of thing."

Did Lady Shalltear decide to send her this new protégé because she was currently mentoring Chieftain Esess? Maybe it was another Demihuman. Those things weren't something one could simply pick up overnight. It sounded like she would have this new student for the indeterminate future.

"If she's in the city," Ludmila said, "why not refer her to Liane of Florine? I know that they're not your vassals, but they are still proper nobles."

"Ah, no – a firm hand works best with this one, so training her is right up your alley. That reminds me…"

Lady Shalltear held out her arm, and her hand closed to grasp a long object that shimmered into existence before her. Ludmila's eyes widened as she took in its details and realized what it was.

"My lady," she breathed, "this is…"

"I've been carrying this around for months," Lady Shalltear said. "I keep forgetting to give it to you, but now that I'm sending that one your way, you might need it. If she misbehaves, just give her a good poke."

A poke?

She eyed the object with a furrow on her brow. It was a glaive with what appeared to be a polished white haft of some unknown material. The blade of the weapon was wreathed in a dark aura that slowly pulsed over its long edge. It was clearly a magical weapon, and, if it was as powerful as it looked, 'poking' someone with it wouldn't end very well.

"Don't make me hold this out forever," Lady Shalltear prompted.

Ludmila reached out, hesitantly taking the weapon into her hand. After she did so, it grew to match the proportions that it once had relative to Lady Shalltear. The weapon now stood at over two-and-a-half metres, with the blade over a half metre long. Though it was slightly longer than the spear that she was used to wielding, it was roughly the same weight and felt comfortable in her grip.

"A-are you sure about this, my lady?" Ludmila said, "You did mention something about some equipment back then, but this is…"

"You needn't worry about it being something of mine," Lady Shalltear told her. "It is a replica of the one bestowed upon me by Lord Peroroncino. I took the liberty of altering a few of its properties to be more suited for your use."

Examining the glaive again, Ludmila hadn't a clue about what it did at all. Having never wielded a magic weapon in her life, she had no idea what to expect.

"The first feature I'm not certain will work for you," Lady Shalltear said, "so let's try that out. Do you recall how you retrieve specific items from your Infinite Haversack?"

Ludmila nodded.

"It's a bit of a similar feeling. Will the weapon into your bag."

Frowning, she did as her liege asked. The weapon vanished from her hand, and her arm jerked upwards slightly with the sudden absence of its weight.

"Ooh, it does work. Now–never mind."

After sending it into her bag and back into her hand several times, she held the weapon in hand again.

"What else does it do?" Ludmila asked.

"There's nothing too fancy on it," Lady Shalltear told her, "but it does have quite a bit of dat–er, it has a decent enchantment on it, so the power of your attacks will be similarly affected. In addition, it inflicts negative energy damage to whatever you hit. The effect on the blade is just cosmetic – any attack you make with any part of the weapon will deliver the effect of the enchantment. This means you should be careful not to bump into anyone with it when the effect is active, and if you drop it on your foot…well, try to avoid that."

Ludmila's gaze on the exquisite weapon turned wary as it started to feel more and more like a deadly hazard.

"…so if this person coming to learn from me misbehaves, I 'give her a poke'. Are you sure she won't instantly die from that?"

"Not a poke, no. She's quite resilient. Also, don't hesitate to use it in a fight – just like with any of the magical items and equipment you receive from us, we'll have to chase down whoever kills you and runs off with your stuff."

"I will try to avoid that," Ludmila said, "but I'll need to practice using this weapon. You mentioned that I shouldn't bump into anyone with it when the effect is active: does that mean that it can be disabled somehow?"

"That's right," Lady Shalltear nodded. "Many magic items have effects that you can activate and deactivate through various conditions, so you should get used to that. This one in particular can be willed to do so, but it will still be a powerful weapon even when the effects are deactivated. Like your other weapons, you'll have to mind how you move it around."

Nodding as Lady Shalltear spoke, she tried to disable the weapon. It felt strange at first, but it was no more difficult than moving it back and forth between her Infinite Haversack and her hand.

"Hm…you're deactivating everything at once," Lady Shalltear told her.

"There's more than one effect?"

"Yes," Lady Shalltear nodded, "there are several effects built into it. The first is the Quickswap enchantment that lets you equip and unequip it like you've just learned. Second is a weapon enhancement that increases the effectiveness of your attacks. The third is a Keen Edge enchantment that makes it easier to score critical hits. Finally, there's the negative energy effect, which has several components: the dark aura you see on the blade, the negative energy damage itself, and the ability damage it inflicts."

"I only have cursory knowledge on how the whole negative energy thing works," Ludmila eyed the dark blade of the glaive, "could you provide an explanation on that part please?"

"Negative energy is the opposite of positive energy…" Lady Shalltear frowned at her own words, "I-I suppose you might consider it the 'element' delivered by healing spells. Creatures that are healed by positive energy take damage from negative energy and vice versa, which also means that the negative energy component of your weapon will not harm creatures fueled by negative energy, like the Undead."

"Shouldn't that mean that touching Undead servitors with this weapon will heal them, since Undead are healed by negative energy?"

"I've heard it worked that way at some point in the past, but, unfortunately, His Majesty said it was patched out."

"Pa…what?"

"T-the important thing is that it doesn't," Lady Shalltear waved her hand dismissively. "Negative energy from spells and abilities that are supposed to heal the Undead will do so, while all other sources of negative energy do not – so don't go around poking your Death Knights thinking that it might work."

"I see," Ludmila replied. "After the first battle last night, Nonna used some sort of…touch attack? Is this weapon's effect something like that?"

"Yes, that's right. I adjusted the power downwards from the original weapon to lower the chance of unfortunate accidents, adding the attribute damage in its place. Overall it's still far superior to even the best magic weapons you'll find around here. I've configured this glaive to be perfectly in line with your personal fighting style."

Lady Shalltear was right on the mark with her assessment. Guildmaster Ainzach and Merry sometimes called it the technique of a soldier: defensive, fast, and maneuverable – exploiting the leverage, speed and raw power of a spear. Once she became accustomed to the glaive, it would be perfect for her.

"I wasn't aware that you knew how I fought," Ludmila said.

"I drop by the Adventurer Guild sometimes," Lady Shalltear replied, "and Mare lets me examine your assessments."

"So this is for more than just 'poking' a problematic student…isn't it a bit much for someone like me?"

"'Someone like you'," her liege snorted. "A vassal who is talented and ambitious, yet loyal, is a treasure in themselves. Any liege would be a fool to not invest in measures to retain them. As long as you continue to provide feal service, more will surely come your way. I sincerely doubt that this will not be the case, so you had better get used to it."