…Abelion Hills…
General Leinas Rockbruise wondered if anybody had ever experienced anything as strange as the events of the last few weeks. She now had fifteen thousand demihumans of various tribes and another fifteen thousand humans of Black Justice. The two sides had sparred with one another in safe contests, and while the demihumans had, frequently, ample strength, the strange rapid variations of human combat methods played to the humans' strengths and let them set the tone for the fighting, allowing a surprising number of human victories. In this context, Leinas herself performed exceptionally well, which was paramount if they were to have the confidence of the demihumans, who valued strength over all.
However, none of that held a candle to Aureole Omega, she took the strongest demihumans all at once and they could not lay a hand or paw or tentacle or claw or any other appendage on her. Then she told them to stop her, and she broke their defenses and sent them onto their backs.
While Leinas had been confident from the outset that the demihumans of the Abelion Hills were going to be loyal…the unity imposed by the Sorcerer King had been of boundless benefit after all…it was still a fact of their way of life that strength was to be admired and followed.
Then came the drills, the constant drills, humans and demihumans fought together and apart, they stood as brothers and as rivals and back again with blunted weapons, one tribe was pitted against another, then those two faced off against two more, then the four faced against four others, then eight against eight others, and by this rivalry turned unity, one force was forged out of many.
Bruises and broken bones were plentiful, but both of those were easily healed, and the powerful buff spells of Aureole Omega gave them new strength, and over the course of time as the Elves and the Slane Theocracy forces advanced on her, brotherhood and sisterhood of arms was made complete.
Leinas Rockbruise was not one to waste time or waste effort, and as soon as Aureole Omega declared them to be ready, they began the march to the border. Aureole Omega was truly in her element as she rode beside Leinas Rockbruise, and as a result the red and white dressed miko was in high spirits. She wore a cheerful smile and chatted quite a bit as they moved.
"Did you enjoy my dance?" She asked Leinas.
"Very much so, is that one of the arts of Nazarick?" Leinas asked curiously.
"No…well…sort of. It comes from a realm from the first world." Aureole said with a smile.
"What is that?" Leinas asked curiously.
"It's the realm before the nine realms, the one that the Sorcerer King comes from, all our arts came from there." She said.
"Are you allowed to tell me things like this?" Leinas asked, concerned, "I mean I'm not going to just wake up somewhere else with my memory erased, or with an enchanted dagger in my heart or anything?" Her voice said she was trying to be light hearted but was actually quite serious.
Aureole Omega covered her mouth with the tops of her fingers and laughed. "No. I think not, what would anyone do with this knowledge anyway? And everybody knows that a god does not come from the world, it comes, or rather, he comes, from elsewhere. There were nine other worlds our master traveled through with his forty companions, including my creator, and before that, they came from a place we've dubbed 'first world' to which they would return when they finished their business in the nine worlds. When they came to the nine and created us, they brought with them the arts of the first world, I am dressed as a miko, and through my ceremonial dance I may bestow power onto friends and work terrible harm to our foes. It is not unlimited, I have but a fraction of the power of my creator…but between that and the knowledge of war that I was created with, you simply cannot be defeated." She said with a very kind, small, and reassuring smile on her face.
"Amazing…" Leinas Rockbruise said softly. "I recall at the assembly that you had said you wanted to invade the Slane Theocracy." She continued, shifting the subject away from arcane matters that unsettled her to her bones.
"I do, we can, we will." She said, and then her eyes went blank as if she was no longer seeing the terrain in front of her, her pupils moved around in her eyes as if she were focusing on different places. "Yes, we will…" She drifted off a moment and Leinas went quiet.
Aureole Omega's face was expressionless, she had for the moment, drifted away from Leinas and the line of march. Before her she saw the world laid out, then more narrowly, she saw the nation and the line of march before them, then more narrowly than that, she saw the pace of progression and where they would cross the border. Aureole Omega, battlefield commander class, had the nature of the great generals of the first world built in to who she was, and she had their vision. She could see the formations in their maneuvers, she could feel the heat of the day, the flights of arrows passed before her eyes as if real, the sound of man, elf, and demihuman alike calling for support, the path to victory like a road of golden bricks reflecting the light of the shining sun…it was all so clear…it was beautiful and terrible, and it was her duty to see it done.
Finally she came back to herself, her eyes became clear and focused. "Are you back with us now?" Leinas asked cautiously.
"Yes, I'm sorry, it's just something I do." Aureole Omega said cryptically.
"Can I maybe…ask just what that is?" Leinas asked.
Aureole Omega shrugged, "Why not?" She asked rhetorically, "In the first world, there are traditions of war that went back many thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years, and this gave rise to divine gods of war, or so I see them, with such a gift for victory that they could make one living being out of an army of thousands, and bring down or build up empires just by existing, their power could destroy cities in seconds or erode powerful nations as slowly as water eroded rock. My creator gave their wisdom to me, and a consequence of this I have…visions, as I plan and think of the way to win, my plans take shape before my eyes, I see the maps as clearly as we see the terrain right in front of us." She said, gesturing to the open ground before them, letting her boisterous voice become soft and melodic.
"I can hear the whistling arrows and see the sweat on the brows of the infantry, I can hear the calls of people desperate for aid, and I see a shining light guiding me to where our blow must fall to break our enemies, its not 'real' it's just the vision of how strategy will play out. Does that make sense, General?" She asked, looking at Leinas curiously.
"Ah…sort of." Leinas said, "When I was an adventurer, sometimes I felt like I could see the way to victory in a fight, like I knew what they were going to do and what I had to do to defeat them. It's like that, right?"
"Yes, exactly." The terrifyingly beautiful miko said as she clapped her hands together. "Where you could do that for yourself, I can do that for an army in the field."
"You're right." Leinas said in a voice of absolute confidence.
"About what?" Aureole Omega asked.
"About this." She said looking back at their army and then at the road in front of them. "There is no way we can lose."
"Nope." Aureole Omega said with a contented grin.
"So, what is this plan of yours?" Leinas asked.
"There is a fortress, called Fortress Alaf…one that has expanded in its size to be like a city on its own." Her radiant smile turned predatory, "It's found north of Kami Miyako and west of Fortress Cross, it is responsible for all of the supplies for their expeditionary force going over the border. I intend to take it. They cannot sustain an invasion of the Abelion Hills unless that fortification remains in their hands. Once we have it, we need only hold it, and the Abelion Hills will be safe from invasion and we can bleed them dry as they bash themselves bloody against the walls." Aureole Omega said grimly.
"OK, but…if the fortress is so hard to take, how do you plan to achieve it so easily?" Leinas asked uncertainly.
"It has a weakness we can exploit, which they think of as a strength. For now, we need only see the combined armies of the Slane Theocracy and the Elf King slowed down, those remaining behind in the Abelion Hills have been instructed to practice a scorched earth policy. There will be nothing for them to forage on, they're crude about war, even primitive, they're looking for battles to win, while I'm looking for victories without battles." Aureole Omega said quietly as Leinas listened in rapt attention.
"They'll be looking for armies to engage and cities to take, its understandable why they would, after all that is the norm for here, but the Abelion Hills has no large cities, and thanks to previous conflicts and large scale resettlement in the Sorcerous Kingdom, it has a much smaller population than it used to, the population can abandon areas with just what they have, and leave nothing behind. How long can they march with just the food they have on them? Yet we can seize their chief staging area for supplies and use that to hold out for weeks, even months. I want them to invade the Abelion Hills, because that is where many of them will die. The population will withdraw and wage guerilla warfare, striking at patrols, foraging parties, sentries, anyone vulnerable. Then we cut them off with no food and force them to make the long march home. Still they'll be subjected to raids along the way, as they're 'escorted' back to the border. By then, the Supreme One will have entered the next stage of his master plan, and all I need to do is hold firm." Her face showed unflagging confidence, and for a moment Leinas felt like she could see what Aureole Omega did, sentries dying in the night, hungry soldiers on quarter rations sitting around a camp that had little to no fire because there was nothing for them to burn, scouts venturing out and not returning, taking a town only to find it is completely empty, littered with traps and with nothing for them to eat.
Leinas shuddered. "You'll destroy most of their army without ever fighting a real battle." She said.
"That's the idea." Aureole Omega said happily, clapping her hands together in a boisterous upbeat fashion that seemed to be her character.
"I would not want to fight you." Leinas said seriously.
"No, I wouldn't want to fight me either." She said teasingly and stuck her tongue out just a little.
"So, I take it you've already sent a small raiding party ahead?" Leinas asked.
"Yesterday." Aureole Omega replied, "On undead horses with a handful of rings of sustenance. There is a chance they'll die, and their raids will fail, but I don't want those armies to reach the border of the Abelion Hills before we reach the mountains."
"How much does the Sorcerer King know about all this, I remember you covering some of it in the general assembly, but not to this level of detail." Leinas asked curiously.
"Probably everything, I expect that if he does know everything, he'll open up more fronts against the Slane Theocracy soon, my one regret is that there is no way to invade the Elf Kingdom, because that would force the entire Elven Army to return home." She shook her head, "I'll be content with a single additional front though, even a weak one. It doesn't have to win, just be threatening enough that they have to deplete themselves to fend it off." The Area Guardian said casually.
"I have served his majesty for only a very short time compared to you and those others of Nazarick," Leinas said confidently, "yet in that short time I have learned one thing of the Sorcerer King, and I will not forget it."
"What might that be?" Aureole Omega asked.
"That nothing for him is impossible, he will always find a way, and whatever you expect out of him, both in reward and penalty alike, you will get far more out of him than you can ever begin to expect." Leinas said with an affirming nod.
Aureole Omega grinned widely at her companion. "We're going to get along very well, General Leinas Rockbruise, very well indeed, it's going to be a real pleasure winning this war with you." She stuck out her hand, and Leinas shook it firmly.
"I think that might be exactly as his majesty intended." They said in unison, then realizing what they'd done, they started to laugh.
…Elf King's Army…
He'd barely left his carriage except to throw another one of the females out of it when he was done with her and to call for another. The army with him had many of his children in it, and some of these females were their mothers, it was humiliating, it was degrading, they hated him one and all. Yet with his overwhelming power the only thing that would happen if they dared disobey or turn on him, was the stuff of nightmares, told to children as they came of age so that they would know they must never disobey or resist his commands. No matter the humiliation, there was a worse fate ahead for those who couldn't or wouldn't bear it any further. So, the elven army's morale was rock bottom, however they were nonetheless, a skilled people and sharpened their skill with the bow on a daily basis.
The Slane Theocracy trained with heavier weapons, halberds were a favorite, they were versatile and could stop a charge cold, but in addition to the halberd they trained with shield, sword, and horse. Combined, the two armies were a versatile force to be reckoned with. Morale among the Slane Theocracy's army was very high, a stark contrast to the anger and depression of the elven forces, and almost as if to escape the gloom of their own camp, the elves began to wander among the humans.
It was an irony not lost on many that the elf soldiers preferred the company of their erstwhile enemies to being nearer to their own king. At first this tendency among the elves was treated with hostility, then with curiosity, then with comprehension, then with a gradual begrudging acceptance. The elves it seemed, could do more with field rations than the average human soldier, so after the first few elves started showing the human soldiers how to improve their food…well not for nothing do they say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
Good eating turned to conversation, conversation turned to camaraderie, and small group leaders began to organize joint exercises, nominally for military purposes, but more and more often because they had friends among the elves and they were doing favors for friends by getting them away from their monster of a king.
In turn this led to trading stories as much as trading arts, and as the human armies improved with the bow, the elves found benefit to the increased use of heavy armor. The long march soon found itself approaching high mountains, these ran far to the north, stopping between one and several days from the border of the Abelion Hills region, and this presented them with a choice. March on the east side…they would come to Fortress Alaf. March on the west side, they would be without resupply until they were beyond the mountain range, but that would also ensure the elf King remained well away from any human women he might turn his eye towards.
For almost half a day they remained encamped discussing the matter, only for the question to be settled by a raid. One hundred humans…or so the estimate said, attacked a patrol from the east side of the mountain range, and that settled the matter. They would march along the east, passing between Fortress Alaf and Fortress Cross. Somewhere within, anxiety rose.
…E-Rantel…
Zesshi walked to the supply office of E-Rantel with great happiness. It was a simple, functional building, large overhanging roof, part office, part warehouse, thousands of pieces of gear, weapons, gloves, boots, cloaks, field kits, shields, all filtered through the place. The solid stone walls were respectably well built, if not ornate, it was fairly obvious that this was a Pre-Ainz structure from the Kingdom era rule. But it sufficed well enough that nobody saw fit to replace it.
She walked through the plain simple wooden door and approached the counter, a grizzled looking older dwarf stood behind the counter marking things down, while behind him there were boxes and boxes of goods being sorted through by large numbers of peasants who were calling out numbers as they counted them.
"Huh, I thought there would be mostly undead working here." She said as she came close.
The dwarf looked up, he had the hard eyes of a veteran, once upon a time, he might have been a fierce fighter, now he was a little on the heavy side as age had taken its toll. He sighed and put his clip board down on the counter. "Ever-body says that, but no. Skeletons don't count too good, and people like me need work, so his majesty hired on a bunch of veterans who're to old ta fight any longer, but still wanna have work and support our country. Sides, still some stuff people're just better for, we can think more creatively to problem solve when issues come up, and it still makes a lot of the newbies more comfortable to see us around. Now what can ah do for yah miss?" He said with a gruff professionalism as he leaned forward on the counter.
"I'm Zesshi Zetsumei, I was sent here to get some Black Justice armor for myself." She said politely.
"What kindja need?" He asked.
"There are different kinds?" she asked with surprise.
"Well yeah, common soldiers don't need the same enchantments as commanders, so…what're yah going to be?" He asked as if the answer should be obvious.
"I'll be leading an army." She said.
"Gotcher letter of issuance then?" He asked gruffly, looking rather doubtful.
"Right here." She said as she drew it from her breast pocket and handed it to him.
He took it in his gnarled fingers and opened it and read it aloud. "Zesshi Zetsumei, appointed to command of the Elven Liberation Forces, blah blah blah, authorized armor, boots, gloves etc. suited for command, plus an additional set of duelists gear…" He looked up at her curiously, "unusual addition that one…" he said and then looked back down at the paper, "…issue priority one for immediate departure."
He looked at her with surprise. "Oh, well general. Ah…well…ma'am, I'm afraid we're out of duelist gear, the last of it went to Prart this morning and it'll take the craftsmen here several days to make it. Do you want to wait, or do you want to go to Prart?" he asked.
"Wait…you can send me to Prart?" She looked at him with disbelief.
"Well…not me…but see, the Sorcerer King has given key positions a handful of scrolls, I can issue you two of them, one to get you to Prart and one to bring you back, you can go to the central issue facility there, draw your armor, and return here. I normally wouldn't do this, but as you're going to command an army…seems reason enough." He said with a resigned shrug.
"Alright, I'll take them." She said.
And that was how she found herself walking through the streets of Prart. It was a city bustling like no other, not even Kami Miyako was this active on the streets, but with what she knew of the ongoing war, she assumed it pertained to an expected action. She approached a guard and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me." She said, and he turned to look at her. Her hair was still done in a pony tail behind her head, displaying her half elven heritage quite obviously, even aggressively. When she saw that the guard was a human, she expected the Kami Miyako treatment and prepared herself for hate and contempt to pass over his face.
Instead he said politely, "Yes, how may I help you miss?" She blinked, she looked at him, wondering why he wasn't talking down to her, she'd braced a fist…but there was nothing. She was apparently quiet for a bit, because he touched his face, "Do I…have something on me?" He asked and started to wipe his cheek.
She chuckled, "No, it's just…I wasn't expecting good manners. You caught me off guard."
"Oh…ah…um…OK, it's part of my job to be polite, if you've run into issues with our other guards, you should report it, General Neia Baraja would be very unhappy and correct it immediately." He said with some concern.
She shook her head, "No, no issues here, I'm not from here, I'm looking for the 'Central Issue Facility' for this city, I need to have some duelist gear drawn for myself, I've just come from E-Rantel via a gate."
The soldier looked shocked, "May I see your letter of issuance?" He asked, holding out his hand and prompting Zesshi to marvel at the degree of professional consistency between such distant operations. She took out her letter and handed it to him, he unfolded and read it over.
"Wait…you can read?" Zesshi asked as the sudden oddity of finding a literate city guardsman.
"Of course." The guard said, "I'm part of Black Justice, literacy is required for service and everyone who joins gets at least a minimum of education, with strong encouragement to pursue more."
"Oh…different than what I'm used to." She said.
"Well, lots of things are different with us." He said with a smile, drawing one in return from her as she reflected on how right he was.
"OK," he said as he read over it, "I see, well General Zetsumei…if you'll permit me, why don't I take you to meet General Baraja, and then you can enjoy her hospitality, and I'll send one of my people over to the Central Issue Facility to draw your equipment for you, that way you're not stuck in line all day." He offered politely.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Very." He said confidently, "I'm sure General Baraja would love to say hello, and maybe escape paperwork for a few minutes," he chuckled slightly at that, "and it won't take any more time than if you went to the facility yourself."
"Alright, lead the way." Zesshi said and gestured the way forward.
"So Prart is busy." She said as they walked together.
"Yes ma'am, we're preparing for battle, perhaps the biggest one of the war, perhaps the biggest in the history of the world." He said.
"You don't seem anxious." She said with some curiosity.
"Well, I'm not eager to see arrows flying at me," he admitted with a wry grin, "but I have absolute confidence in our ability to win this battle we simply cannot lose. Our god and our general are unbeatable." His voice was full of confidence as he spoke, and Zesshi looked around as they walked, the streets were very busy every step of the way, but the people were enthusiastic, well fed, they carried themselves with the confidence of winners, and despite the fact that compared to her they were surely weak, they were all clearly fit and probably more than a match for anyone they might face.
"Confidence is good, but a dagger through the eye will kill anything." She said with caution.
He laughed, "It didn't kill commander Skana."
The name sounded vaguely familiar, Zesshi wondered if she'd seen it mentioned in one of the reports she usually ignored at least or skimmed at most.
"Commander Skana, General Baraja's second in command, she took a Gray Scripture dagger in the eye and stayed alive." He said matter of factly.
"Oh, well she got lucky." Zesshi said.
"Well then I'll just have to be just as lucky or better." He said with a boyish grin as they moved along a sidewalk going uphill a fair way.
"Do that." She said with a laugh, and they walked the rest of the way in amiable silence until they reached the governor's manor. He greeted the two guards at the entrance.
"This is General Zesshi Zetsumei, she's here to see General Neia Baraja, please see her in, I will be having her gear sent here for delivery from the central issue facility shortly." He said, and he held out the letter Zesshi had given him. They checked it over doubtfully until they saw the Sorcerer King's seal at the bottom, and then they promptly saluted with fists over their hearts, and the soldier on the right opened the gate.
"Please follow me." He said, and after handing the letter back to Zesshi's escort, who himself quickly departed on the errand, he walked to the main entrance and opened the door. Zesshi followed him through and looked over the walls, there were many outlines on the wall, suggesting something 'had' hung in those spots, but did no longer. It was odd, but only odd, not a point of concern, so she brushed off the observation as unimportant.
When they got to the office where General Neia Baraja worked, it was immediately identifiable by a simple brass name plate beside the door. The guard knocked hard three times and a moment later a woman's voice said, "Enter" and he walked in, he rendered a salute to her, which she returned after setting down the paperwork she'd been reviewing.
"Ma'am, Sergeant Hamton reporting, I am providing escort to General Zesshi Zetsumei, here in Prart for the issuance of military equipment." He said with military crispness.
"Very well Sergeant, thank you, you're dismissed…but when you go," she thought for a moment, "before you return to your duties, go and seek out Tinamoc and have him join us." She said politely, and the two exchanged salutes once more.
"Immediately, ma'am." He said and wheeled about on his heel and departed.
General Neia stood up and looked at Zesshi Zetsumi for the first time, they appraised each other briefly. Zesshi was somewhat taller than Neia, but the aura of violence hung over them both, and when Neia removed her visor, Zesshi saw what those briefs she'd bothered looking at all reported. Within the eyes of Neia Baraja there was nothing but burning, as if the demon emperor had laid his fire in her eyes as he died, she could swear she saw the torture of monsters within, and for the former black scripture, to say that there was a towering nightmare close by was a…very strange thing.
The smile that Neia gave to her however, was genuine. Neia, for her part, assessed Zesshi no less quickly, the woman carried with her the aura of power, as if she were the embodiment of the words 'battle maniac' and it was no small thing for Neia to admit, if she had to fight this woman, she would almost certainly die, and die quickly at that. Oddly enough, that warmed Neia up to her immediately.
She stuck out her hand and Zesshi took it, they shook firmly, each considering the other's grip to be a good one. "Please, sit." Neia said, keeping her smile warm as she gestured to the chair opposite her desk.
Zesshi sat, and when she did, Neia returned to her own seat.
"So…forgive me if I'm blunt," Neia began.
"I prefer blunt, no sense in wasting time." Zesshi interjected.
"…Good," Neia said, "I haven't heard of you before…are you…someone from Nazarick?"
"No." Zesshi said. "I'm a defector from the Slane Theocracy."
That gave Neia pause, and immediately rage began to build up in her, Zesshi did not flinch from her gaze, but it was as if the suffering demons in her eyes had their agony dialed up to eleven.
"You're not fond of them I take it." Zesshi said bluntly.
"No." Neia answered shortly.
"Me neither." Zesshi replied.
"May I ask why?" Neia asked, doubt creeping into her voice.
"Mind if I give you the short version?" Zesshi asked.
"If you prefer." Neia said.
"They abused my little sister, and lots of other relatives of mine unbeknownst to me, I found…well one of them, my little sister that is, was so broken inside from all that they'd done to her that she was starved half to death and licking food off a stone floor just to stay alive and avoid a punishment of some kind. The people who…more or less raised me, were only using me because I'd been born with power, every one of my relatives with none, was reduced to the level of an object, and when I sought to change this, they flatly rejected me and everything I am, so…I rejected them too. I killed many of their breakers and overseers, burned down brothels, slaughtered many of the worst, and helped a great many slaves escape Kami Miyako, then I sought out the Sorcerer King, I gave him all their most powerful equipment, and joined his side. Now he's tasked me with liberating the elf kingdom and he's backing an army behind me to make it possible. Good enough summary?" Zesshi asked abruptly.
Neia listened to the whole thing, and as she did, her growing hostility faded away to nothing and was replaced by a rising sense of understanding, empathy, and rage. Zesshi was not immune to understanding others, she was just usually indifferent, yet as she felt the hostility of Neia rise, she also felt it fall away and gradually be replaced by the same rage Zesshi felt and it rose in her as well as the telling came to its conclusion.
"So you understand then." Zesshi said.
"I do." Neia said. "I've seen how elves are treated, I sought the destruction of Wenmark because of it, I don't imagine Kami Miyako was much better."
"I take it you have no question then about why I want to wear your armor. You are the people who sought to free those like my little sister, the only people to do that other than the Sorcerer King himself. It is entirely right and proper that such armor set foot in the elf kingdom." Zesshi said calmly.
"Agreed. But can you defeat the elf King?" Neia asked.
"That I don't know, but I think I can, and I plan to, even if it kills me." Zesshi said firmly.
"Probably not the ideal trade off, but…probably worth it." Neia said darkly.
"Agreed. I realize it must be…strange, for me to be here. I was a high placed member of the Slane Theocracy until not too long ago, now…here I am, with one of their number one targets for assassination in arms reach and we're going to be war sisters instead of rivals." Zesshi laughed, and Neia shook her head.
"I know, here we are. Ten years ago I thought I'd live as close to the life of my mother as I could, serving as a squire in the Holy Kingdom army and eventually die alone after years of service. A few years after that, Jaldabaoth came along and I thought I'd die fighting him, a year later…give or take, and he's dead and I'm a general, a pope, a governor, a god damned dragon rider…and I've met the love of my life and we're fighting a war to change the entire world, a war we can't possibly lose. If somebody ever writes this down, in a thousand years it would all be mythology but for the memory of our master." She said with a laugh of her own.
A knock came at the door. "Enter." Neia said, looking away from Zesshi momentarily.
Tinamoc entered and closed the door behind him. "Tinamoc, have a seat." Neia said and stood up, and Zesshi stood right after.
"This is General Zesshi Zetsumei, I thought you should meet her, I think you'll have a lot to discuss." Neia said.
Tinamoc approached and held out his hand, he winced at the firm grip of the half elf, but grinned. "Quite a grip there, afraid a soft old merchant like me can't match it." He said warmly. Zesshi looked him over for a minute, her mind a whirlwind of doubt, but when he sat, both she and Neia did as well.
"Tinamoc was instrumental in helping me get as many elves out of Wenmark as possible." Neia said.
Zesshi's eyes snapped to him again, her opinion of the soft looking merchant shooting through the roof compared to her first assessment.
Tinamoc's face was serious as he folded his hands in his lap, "It was what had to be done. I'm not much for fighting, but I'm no coward."
"Thank you." Zesshi said sincerely. "Were there any…any children of the elf king among them?" She asked softly.
Tinamoc nodded, "Out of the hundreds, there were twenty or so. Ranging in ages from ten to one hundred years old. Why do you ask?"
Zesshi's eyes welled up. "Those are…little brothers and sisters of mine…you saved so many?" She said with a gasp of surprise.
"Well, not alone, I had the entire team of Black Justice elites helping me out, they were spending their pay left and right buying up slaves and hiding them in my warehouses, if any of them had a coin left over after all that, well I never saw it." He said proudly.
"You did…what?" She asked as she looked from Neia to Tinamoc.
"Yes, to get more out, we smuggled them out of the city as 'cargo' Tinamoc depleted most of his goods in the city to buy as many as he could, and per my orders, they were smuggled out before the large escape." Neia said simply.
"I never…how did I not hear about this, why wasn't this in any of the Slane Theocracy reports?" Zesshi asked.
"Probably because it was secret." Neia said, "Nobody knew, that is why it worked, we'd have gotten even more of them out except for Remedios Custodio showing up with cavalry and killing many of those we'd helped over the walls." Neia said bitterly.
Zesshi stood and bowed first to Tinamoc, then to Neia. "I am truly grateful for what you both have done, and I'm proud to be on your side, and I won't forget it when this is over. Tell me…are there any other children of the Elf King here in the city?" She asked.
"Probably a few dozen." Neia said, "Most of them are now members of Black Justice and are planning on avenging their fellows on the Slane Theocracy and on Remedios Custodio in particular.
Zesshi sighed with relief and slumped forward, "Then I have to win, they should have a kingdom to come home to that isn't ruled by a nightmare. You know, for years I've dreamed of killing my father, but it was always just to avenge both my mother and myself for ruining our lives…but…I have to do this for so much more…so much more…" She said as she trailed off, the silence that followed was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Enter!" Neia said firmly.
"Ma'am, the equipment for Zesshi Zetsumei has arrived." A guard said, poking his head briefly through the door.
"Thank you, she'll be out shortly." Neia said.
"Well I think our time is up then." Neia said, "But before you go, let's drink once together, and promise to do it again when the war is over." She reached into her desk drawer and took out a bottle and placed it on the table.
She took out three glasses and laid them out in front of each, she popped the cork and poured one glass after the other, the liquid sloshed gently, red like blood, with a sweet cherry scent, it was a good vintage.
They each took a glass and stood up together. "To so much more…and next time." Neia said and held out her glass.
"To next time, and so much more." Tinamoc and Zesshi remarked, and clinked their glasses to Neia's at the center, and they drank together and slapped their glasses back down on the desk.
"General Baraja, it's been a pleasure and an honor." Zesshi said and rendered a genuine salute in the style she'd seen from the other Black Justice soldiers.
Neia returned it, "And it will be next time as well." She said, and rendered one in return.
"Tinamoc, thank you, I'll see you again someday, and repay what you have done for us." Zesshi said, and reached out and shook his hand, more gently this time.
"Give me a good bottle of wine and a good dinner and we'll call it even." He said warmly, and Zesshi walked out and found a set of armor sitting outside the office, she took it up, activated the gate scroll, and returned to E-Rantel with much on her mind. She retrieved the command armor from E-Rantel's issue facility, signing a document from the dwarf at the desk, and departing with his well wishes.
…Two weeks later…Zesshi's Army…
The march was good, Zesshi was not much for excessive words of praise, yet 'good' seemed sufficient even if she had been. The elves who flocked to her banner on the endorsement of the Sorcerer King were every bit as weak as she expected them to be, yet they were eager, they were angry, and above all they were confident and hopeful.
The instructors Ainz had gated to her from Black Justice proved a constant driving force, they carried themselves with dignity and confidence, and even though…as most were to Zesshi, they were profoundly weak, she had not seen their confidence flag even once.
Their combat style involving the use of the bow had been embraced with the fervor of a religious convert…which many of the elves now were. The Black Justice instructors doubled as priests, giving sermons on a daily basis which Zesshi did not bother to attend herself.
The Sorcerer King was freeing her siblings, he was overturning her manipulators and the ones who had tormented Aorli, he was giving her the chance she'd been promised but never given, to finally kill the man who had ruined her life and given her reason to hate even seeing herself in a mirror for her entire life. That was enough for her, she didn't' really care if he was a god or not, it was enough that he was worth following.
The strength of the elven army was augmented by a handful of beastman kingdom mercenaries who, had heard the call for volunteers from among the residents of the elf city of Forton, and they proved so very effective in using their brute strength that they were stationed on the wings of her army to prevent easy flanking of her forces. As a battle maniac she had little experience commanding soldiers, but with the firm support of her advisors she found herself able to function well enough that she could learn on the job. Some of the elves had been veterans of the war with the Slane Theocracy, and these functioned as an effective corps of squad leaders and platoon and company liaisons that the Sorcerer King called 'Noncommissioned Officers' who oversaw the health, safety, progress, and general issues of the common soldiers, while officers handled command interactions and oversight. It proved an effective system that spread responsibilities out and improved discipline among the ranks.
By the time they reached the abandoned fort on the Katze Plains, as she thought about the days ahead, she looked in the direction of the elf kingdom. "Soon father. I'll be seeing you very soon, and that day, will be your last day." She said softly to herself, her confidence continuing to rise.
AN: Well here is Chapter 69, this one took longer than expected because I didn't have anything to draw on for Aureole Omega and had to dig in to her a little bit through speculative videos and what little was on the wiki, I 'think' I got a pretty solid handle on her character, and if I didn't, well I guess we'll find out when the original author shows me how wrong I am. :)
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