"See, I told you it would be easy to slip into the 'return' trip." Taen said with a cocky grin behind his mask.
Saelin rolled his eyes behind the mask of his own, dressed as magic casters with low tier equipment, cheap enchanted robes and each bearing a staff worth barely a few coppers, their masks were the cheapest of magic gear, providing only light boosts to mana that neither of them really had anyway. But it was enough that nobody paid any mind to them, not even other casters.
They sat on the wagon with their legs swaying back and forth as they watched Komestrans riding or walking, laughing and talking on the long road home. Spirits were clearly high despite the fact that with rare exceptions, they wore collars of iron or silver. "You were right." Saelin begrudgingly acknowledged. "I talked with Skorazen, he's with her servants, so we've still got a man inside her house."
Saelin looked up and down the long lines of people. Somewhere at the front, Prince Rasgen was riding beside his wife, arguably they were now the most powerful couple in the city-states, and with Yanlim in her pocket, it was the seed of an empire already. He absentmindedly caressed the sheath beneath his brown robes where his corkscrew knife sat waiting to be used. "Are you… do you plan to hit the Prince in the city?"
"Plans are useless. Planning is essential. I plan to if I can, and plan not to if I can't. For now I just need to see with my own eyes. The temples should be tense, held back chiefly because everybody is caught up over the murders, and the temporary absence of the Prince, and probably plans of their own are in the offing. Who knows what will happen next? But both of them are going to have to die." Taen answered, his voice muffled by the mask, so the dark elf could not tell what expression his enigmatic employer was making, but he sounded very calm at least.
Saelin frowned behind the mask, it was a nonanswer, really, but that was unsurprising. His sharp jawline's clench was hidden, but at the root of it all, he was displeased. "Fine, don't answer, but do you really think I should be here? The human servant saw my face."
"Did you give her your name?" Taen asked like he was speaking to an idiot.
"Of course not." Saelin would have spat with his answer, had the pale mask not had such a thin slit for his words to pass through. Getting his own spittle on his face held no appeal, but his contempt for the question was obvious in the way he tensed.
"Then you're safer in Komestra than elsewhere. It'll be chaotic, and there were many dark elves there, far more than Pas'en and many more than in the villages. You're safer there than anywhere." Taen answered and slapped him amicably on the shoulder. "Just avoid getting arrested, and avoid getting seen by that one servant. Then you should be fine." Taen answered and began tapping his staff on the wagon, more passing the time than anything.
"So… wait, hide, watch." Saelin concluded.
Taen shrugged and his voice became hard and driven, "More or less, the bitch has a lot of enemies now, find an agent or two of those in the city, and we've got allies. Allies enough to maybe bring her down in her own fucking house."
To that, even Saelin had no answer.
Kaiji was breathing hard while she rocked back and forth on her horse in time with its slow plodding steps, every sound of the hoof in the dirt was like thunder to her dark purple, sensitive demon-elf ears. Her blood red eyes stared relentlessly ahead and every time they rounded the bend of a large forest or crested a hill, she felt like she was about to cry out 'There it is!' it was all the slave could do to contain herself, and it was obvious.
"Soon, very soon, my love." Priceless said from beside her. The soft hand of the gentle brown haired woman fell to Kaiji's arm, and the demon-elf broke her gaze to look at the woman she loved.
"I know, I know. It's just that we're so close… so close…" Kaiji replied with a catch in her voice.
"Closest to victory is closest to danger, sometimes." Nua chimed in, her voice was harder and colder than Kaiji was used to, the raw vicious edge was a part of her mistress she knew existed now. The tension in the wood elf's fingers was enough to wring a small groan from the leather of her horse's reins, but the cause of it was unclear.
"Mistress… nobody will stop us from this…" Kaiji gently said, lowering her eyes to her goddess, despite looking over to face her. The dark aura of violence and death hung over the woman like a cloud, every bit as bad as the day she learned her owner knew how to skin people.
"I know." Nua answered without turning to meet her servant's eyes.
"Then why so tense?" Rasgen asked from her right hand, "You're spooking my horse, and I've ridden this one," he patted the long muscular neck of the warbeast, "into dozens of battlefields."
"Because of what comes after." Nua glanced behind her, they were somewhat ahead of the line of escorts to allow private conversation, and when she was reassured, she spoke more freely. "I fully expect a crusade to be called against Komestra. I've taken precautions, I bought futures in grain and rice from all the great cities. The ones who side with me… like you, my husband, will eat. The ones who don't? By the time they realize what I've done I will have already bought up the entire market reserves for over a dozen cities north and south. They'll try to raise armies and find that they can't. I'll hire mercenaries and I've already been using my Lur'gin ownership to take fighting slaves… but."
"But." Rasgen asked with wide eyed disbelief.
"But it's still vulnerable. If they really push it, if they buy food from other small cities, they may be able to bring armies to bear. I can still lose. I'm not invincible, and if ever there was a time to strike, it's the campaign season after Komestra is renewed." Nua explained with a dark frown.
"It's your religion, isn't it." Rasgen guessed.
Nua's eyes became golden as the sun, though her tone was quiet, the monstrous weight of her words hung in their heads like a mountain's shadow over a valley. "Yes. My state religion will not be the Starwatcher faith. I follow the Justice of the Black, the Ainzian faith is my faith, and in my city, my faith will rein supreme. There is but one god in this world, and his name is Ainz Ooal Gown. He has but one child, our Dark Savior, she who bleeds when she breaks the enemies of our god."
Rasgen felt the chills run through his body like ice in his veins, "You're not 'expecting' a war. You're asking for one."
Nua did not answer.
"You planned this, didn't you, mistress." Kaiji guessed with her eyes still down in humility.
"In the fine points, no. I couldn't have planned out the fall of Komestra, and I didn't know I would find you or Priceless, and I didn't know what would happen to Sobella, or Lodira… I just got lucky. I knew I would need a mercenary company, I knew I would need armies and that sooner or later I would have to take a city for myself. It was simply that this place was better prepared to meet my needs this way, and I got… very lucky." Nua's face formed a whimsical smile that briefly overshadowed her dark aura, and she reached out to touch the cheek of her most treasured slave affectionately.
Rasgen however, was less than pleased. "You're going to drag me into a full blown war, three great cities against three great cities backed by who knows how many minor cities. And by the way your own 'great city' will be in a bad way for some time. Is this… really worth it?"
"What would you give to have Sobella back, husband?" Nua demanded, and Rasgen fell to a moment of quiet.
"From all I've heard, Komestra fell because it was simply 'piled on' by everyone. Prince Sado was praying for his dear friends to not turn on him, he couldn't believe you'd do that… and he was wrong." Nua remarked and gave Rasgen a long, long stare.
He had the good grace to hang his head, "My city came before my friend, I won't apologize for that." He murmured, but the regret was clear.
"I won't ask you to, but he's back there," Nua jerked her thumb behind her toward the long wagon train, "recovering from wounds inflicted by the Questioners who lashed him so severely that he'll have scars for the rest of his life. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to at least make some kind of peace with him. You did marry the woman he loves 'after' destroying his city."
Rasgen winced at the implied criticism and let out a heavy sigh, "You're right, he might not have taken it personally, we were both Princes after all, but… still."
"Good." Nua said in a sharp, approving voice. "Regardless, yes, you're right, it'll happen… but I am prepared. We may or may not be heavily outnumbered, I'll offer to trade food in exchange for neutrality or 'more food' in exchange for actual support. Everyone else will bankrupt themselves buying food and mercenaries, then I will crush them, and then I will have a free hand for years. Mict'aratz is mine, and it all begins here." Nua stated, and her left hand came up from the reins and gestured straight ahead as they crested the hill, bringing Komestra into view.
"Welcome to the new world… whether you're ready for it or not." Nua declared, sounding every inch to Rasgen's ears, like the Empress she planned to become.
Anton knelt before the throne of Prince Myle. The throne was drab, gray stone and purely functional. A small gray cushion was beneath the Prince's ass for comfort during long days sitting in the court. But other than that, the room was bare of anything worth mentioning. No comfort, no art, no decorations. Windows allowed light within, and the slight 'yellowish' glow of the light was the only real color to speak of. Myle himself was a thin, small man with a sour face and a wisp of brown mustache.
In his thin hand he held a document that was rolled up and pressed with the royal seal, "This is your task, and you will carry it out, you and your house. And if you succeed, your house will be rewarded." Prince Myle's voice was somewhat nasal, and this was exaggerated by his upturned nose and clearly uncomfortable posture.
"As your majesty commands." Count Anton Valoisin replied, bowing his head and taking the scroll in hand before rising and withdrawing from the presence of the Prince.
Anton Valoisin held the sealed scroll tight in his hand when he was outside again, the sun was far too bright for his liking, and so he waited until he was in the comfortable dimness of his dark carriage before breaking the seal.
"Father, what does it say?" His son asked with eager eyes that loomed all the larger when the young man leaned forward.
"Sit back and comport yourself and I'll tell you, boy." Anton grumbled, and remembering himself, the young man in brown and gray shirt and pants cleared his throat, coughed into his mouth, and sat up straight with his feet on the floor and his eyes straight ahead.
'Fools, all that enthusiasm is so undignified. Still, he does it less than his sisters, he'll be a decent family head one day… he just needs work.' Anton pondered while he broke the seal. His wrinkled face only wrinkled further while he read.
A moment later he rolled it back up and looked to his son, "We're to provide a tenth part of the funds for mercenaries, or mercenaries themselves for the city's use, and a commander for the same."
"I have practiced my sword work, father." The young man replied, keeping his face carefully neutral to avoid showing any pride or happiness.
"Good, you will need it. We will use some of the dead slut's inheritance, so I hope you haven't become too attached to it." Anton said pointedly, "The rest will come from our trade holdings. We'll provide soldiers, you will lead them, and when the temples make the official call to arms, we will be the first house to be ready to sack Komestra a second time."
AN: I know, it's been quite a while, things have been hectic, wife caught Covid, daughter caught Covid, life has been rough for the last few months. Family is fine now, but everything stayed busy. On the good side, I refurbished the Who Endures series into an original work, and the first six novels are on Amazon starting with 'Who Endures: Strange Lands'. I'm working on another one 'Conflicted Duty' which is 1/3 finished. And I'll have published twenty novels all total by the end of the year, I hope you enjoy them! :)