Chapter 20:
Meeting Lord Jerhyn
Izuku was woken by Isendra knocking on his door.
He at first struggled to remember leaving her room the night before, but assumed he must have fallen asleep first. Had she carried him back to his own room? Cane wasn't kidding, theirs really was a deep relationship
"Are you ready to go see Lord Jerhyn? We had best not be late for such a gracious invitation." His mistress' voice came in through the door.
"Yes mistress." Izuku called out.
He got dressed quickly and opened the door to let her in. Isendra took one look at him and nodded.
"Good. You have the sense about you to wear the new, nice clothes to a meeting with a lord and fellow warriors. But take your staff along as well. It is a symbol of your status as a warrior mage."
Izuku retrieved Ash Bane, who had gone little used save as a walking stick for some months now, and followed Isendra out. Both made sure to lock their rooms behind them before exiting Elzix' place.
It was early in the morning, and yet the streets were alive with activity all the same. The first catches were being brought in by the fishermen while other stalls were being set up by yawning women and the elderly. He thought he spotted Myr down a side alley, but it could have simply been another street rat sneaking about.
The palace was a long walk, but an easy one. On account of it was the largest thing on the skyline. IT was impossible to miss. When the pair arrived it was to be greeted at the entrance by two imposing men. Both wore similar red sashes around their necks and identical armor, reminiscent of mongolian armor to Izuku but studded with steel. The only difference he could tell between them was that one wore a christmas hat and leather gloves while the other carried a spear in his bare hands.
"Isendra and Izuku?" The man with the spear asked.
"Yes, we are here on instruction from the gate guards." Isendra said, bowing.
Izuku mirrored her bow.
"My name is Kaelan. I am the head of the palace guard and I am to escort guests to where you may break your fast." The man with the spear introduced. "This is Greiz, captain of the local mercenaries, whom you can expect to be working with in time. For now, if you would kindly follow me."
They did so, marching through the reinforced front doors down a long hallway of guards and similarly reinforced doors, if less grand ones. Soon they turned down a much nicer hallway, this one with a wall of stone on one side, and beautiful white arches on the other. Vining plants grew down and up said arches and beyond them was a lavish garden where many tables had been set out, each covered in platters of food.
Instead of chairs, each table had about them many cushioned seats, most of which were already occupied by some of the most imposing men and women Izuku had ever seen. He recognized Strom and Drognan, along with that platinum blonde-haired woman that wouldn't leave his mistress alone.
"Please. Find a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the food provided. My lord will be with you all when you are all properly fed and watered." Kaelan instructed.
They did as he said, making sure to avoid the amazonian and any scene she might cause if Isendra and he sat too close, and getting comfortable in their cushions.
The height of luxury in these parts seemed to be measured in freshness, as there were few things that could be considered dishes. Instead, fresh, ripe and strangely beautiful fruits and vegetables made up most of the food with some baklava and soups. In fact, the soups made up all of the meats and spices, with beans and lentils making up as much of them as meat.
He noticed that the only thing to drink was water, tea and Turkish coffee. He didn't mind this, but he caught a few of the others around eyeing the preferred beverages with disdain.
It was six in the morning, people. The sun hadn't even fully risen over the ocean yet. Did they really need to be plied with mead and wine this early? Or perhaps they just expected such from these kinds of functions?
Izuku noticed nobody reached for any food, seeing as there were no dishes or utensils he assumed they must all have been waiting to be served. He further noted a few last stragglers trickling in, led by Kaelan, to fill the remaining seats. Among them was Cane himself, who looked at him knowingly before finding a seat a few tables over in a position that they could look at each other. It seemed he and Isendra had been among the last to arrive.
A bell rang when the last person sat, and new doors opened from which a host of servants came through. They were male and female, but the former could be mistaken for the latter because they were so effeminate. He decided to simply assume they were eunuchs and leave it at that.
Musicians followed with them, taking up a roost on a stone platform on the north of the garden, where they began to play as the servants served.
They brought with them trays of cups, plates, bowls, eating utensils and serving utensils like ladles. The servants then walked around, providing each person with all of these, save for the serving utensils, before then going around and putting food in people's plates and bowls, and filling their cups, before standing aside to wait for further requests from the guests.
The uncomfortable quiet ceased, replaced with metal on glass, poor table manners and much discussion. Izuku went to war with some of the lentil soup and berries. The blueberries were especially juicy, and having real beef in a stew was divine compared to all of the dry meats and fish he'd become accustomed to.
"So, young one." Said a thin man who was more scar than skin or muscle. "What great, heroic exploits have you embarked on to warrant your presence here?"
A burly, and oddly hairy, woman next to him smacked his shoulder.
"I wanted to let him breathe and relax a little before we pounced on him with questions!" She chastised him, before turning on Izuku. "I'm sorry dear, but you are the youngest person in the room and everyone is going to be naturally curious."
Izuku was more taken aback by the viking with an x-chromosome having the personality of a coddling grandmother than the initial question. He looked around and, sure enough, the next youngest person was a older teenage girl wearing a loincloth and not much else on the other side of the room.
Ignoring all of this, he thought on the question. What exploits were his proudest achievements so far? A scarred but unbearably kind rogue wearing nothing but a white, see-through gown came to his mind unbidden.
"I once saved six sisters of the Sightless Eye from being tortured to death and turned into undead, demonic thralls." He said. "That's probably the most heroic thing I've ever done. Followed by rescuing a wise man from a months-long imprisonment by demons."
Isendra face-plamed but he could see she was clearly smirking beneath her hands. She was terrible at hiding that, although, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what he'd said wrong. He wasn't lying! Why did the people in earshot look confused?
"That's… very commendable work, young man." Said the viking woman a little too sweetly.
He didn't appreciate the condescending tone of that one.
"He is being modest." Isendra said in an angry, but level tone. "His greatest achievement, along with mine, was defeating Andarial, the Maiden of Anguish, in two-on-one combat. Banishing her from this realm and freeing the Blood Moors from the evil that has gripped it for a year now. It was nearly at the expense of his life."
A few looked impressed by her boast, most within earshot looked unconvinced by the claim. One man, the largest there when counting large in terms other than muscle, outright scoffed. He looked a lot like the monkey from that animated movie with the genie in the way he dressed.
"If a child could manage to kill her, then I'm sure some of us could have done it in half the time." The man slurred, half drunk from wherever he'd been before. "And probably without getting injured."
The man stared at Izuku seriously after this grave insult, then continued.
"Still. I can't completely disparage you. You must be skilled indeed to have survived against one of the vaunted "Lesser Evils", as if there was anything lesser about their wretchedness. When most die against minor demons. You're on track to deserving a place among the company here, if you don't already." Said the drunkard. "But until I see you in action and am wowed, I'm going to assume the pretty lady did most of the heavy lifting."
The man made of scars scoffed at the end of the drunkard's speech.
"Don't mind Geglash, he always starts with venom then turns to honey. He is trying to fight against a bad case of permanent pessimism." He explained. "He is an acquired taste, but a much better one than he used to be, I assure you."
"Even so," said a man across the table. "It must have taken you great bravery for you to fight, where most warriors would flee, and greater skill to survive. I say I believe you, and can't wait to see what you can do. But I have to ask, why did you boast about these other exploits instead of that one?"
Izuku shrugged.
"I'm not as proud of that one. It was just another fight, eradicating filth like any other. They asked me what my most heroic exploits were, not my greatest battles. And I always felt it far more heroic to save people from death or horrible suffering, and to put to rest souls in torment, than to kill an enemy." He explained, without even having to think on it.
Isendra once again face palmed, this time with a clearly proud smile on her face while a few of the warriors around him looked ashamed. The scar man lifted his hands to his face, looking almost wistful, as he examined himself. It was not difficult to imagine how Izuku's words might have affected him, nor how he got so many scars.
He noticed somebody across from him on another table looking intently at him, and glanced up to see Cane nodded in approval. Did the man have superhuman hearing or something?
There was another chime.
Izuku looked around to see a few of the warriors about him suddenly develop even more atrocious table manners, were such a thing possible. He looked to a nearby servant, a veiled woman who barely looked old enough to be considered a woman.
She leaned down and whispered to him.
"That was to indicate that breakfast shall end in five minutes. So have your fill." She said. "Is there something you want more of?"
Izuku looked over to the platter of baklava, which he hadn't had any of yet.
"Say no more, young master." She said with mirth in her voice.
He didn't care if people thought him childish for eating sweets. And boy, did he eat them. He'd never had baklava before, but it was like eating a solid chunk of the flaky bits of a croissant. If said chunk of flaky bits were soaked in honey and syrup and had some nuts ground up and thrown in there.
He ate them until he was nearly sick, knowing that while he had missed good, red meat and vegetables, he wouldn't get much more sweets in the foreseeable future. If ever. They were arguably better than the stuff he could get in Japan, unlike everything else. He supposed that could be boiled down to fruits and vegetables not losing quality from being mass produced, but sweets did. Between the manufacturing process and preservatives.
Had he ever had any real, homemade sweets? Definitely not with chocolates, those were never made from scratch on valentines day but were just made of store-bought chocolate that girls melted down and poured into molds. Same for baked goods. Mass-produced flour, sugar and the like. The intricacies of handmade flout, sweetening from less than perfect sugar or salt.
He worried he might be spoiled on properly made food here in Sanctuary.
A final chime rang and the servants came around to take away their dishes. Izuku handed his to the nice lady who served him baklava. He tried to thank her again, but his mouth was too dry. Thankfully the servants left the water and tea on the tables, along with their cups.
Why was all of the tea mint?
The servants vanished back through the doors they came through and the musicians followed them.
"All rise for Lord Jerhyn, Sultan of Lut Gohlein." Kaelan announced.
They all did so, standing at attention with eyes downcast out of respect. Izuku did his best to mirror those around him.
The man who walked in was nothing like he expected. He was far less gaudy than he imagined the sultan of such a place to be. His clothes were clean and well-fitted, sure. He wore a sultan's fez and carried himself with dignity, but aside from that there was nothing overly kingly about him. He did not wear excessive jewelry, for one, save for the golden hilt of his sword and a spot of it on his crown. He supposed the purple die of part of his clothes was a showing of great wealth too.
The most striking thing about him, to Izuku's mind, was that he didn't look… soft. From afar he could tell the man had calluses on his hands from hard work, that his skin had been weather by sin, wind and sand. This man knew what real work was, and Izuku couldn't help imagining him helping down by the docks when workers were needed, fighting threats to his city beside his guard, and doing his best to remain a part of his people.
This is a man who could work a day in the fields. This was a man who could fight.
"I would like to first give you all a warm, if late, welcome to Lut Gohlein." Lord Jerhyns said. "I'm sure you have all deduced that I did not bring you here to share good news. So you will find it unsurprising to learn that a dire threat now faces Lut Gholein and the Empire."
He paused for dramatic effect. The response he got was silence interspersed with a few bored sniffles and a single cough from somewhere behind Izuku. Jerhyn continued.
"An oasis town nearby has fallen to corruption, and begun the process of demonification. It must be purged." He explained.
That time he did get a reaction. Mostly solemn sighs, like those of a hard worker in a really dirty and difficult job being told they need to pull triple shifts for a month. Or maybe a young man being told he had to put down his dog?
"My scouts have reported the extent of the corruption, and the Vizjerei Mage-Lord Drognan agrees with my strategists." Jerhyn finished.
Wait. Mage-Lord? That sounded like a high, potentially highest, title for a mage. And Drognan had still taken the time to go around in order to help a stranger, let alone a child, feel better? He had to wonder about that.
But the role of demon eradication was as unexpected to Izuku as a pest exterminator being called in to squash some roaches.
"It is an unfortunate necessity, but we must scorch the earth and salt it. You are all hereby drafted into my service, a right I have never before made use of, but one I have as Sultan. But know that I do not place this role on you lightly. I do not enjoy the prospect of what I am asking you to do, many of the unturned survivors deserve none of what we are to visit upon them, and yet you must kill them to the last woman and child. Leave no survivors." Jerhyn declared.
Izuku gaped and readied to respond when he felt Isendra clasp him, painfully, by the wrist. He looked up to see a solemn, defeated look on her face as she shook her head. Hers matched the faces of everyone else gathered and he knew all of them were hurting, they just weren't naive enough to be angry too.
"Preparations have been made for a three week campaign. One to travel in each direction and one for combat. We will be leaving at sunset." Jerhyn sad. "Just know that you will be compensated. I pledge my support to any and all that come to the aid of Lut Gholein, as such, whether it be wealth, passage or honor, all are due to you."
Izuku felt just as defeated as everybody else had looked by the time they returned to the inn and walked into his original room to pack up. They canceled the remainder of their stay and planned to sleep for the rest of the day for the journey ahead.
"Izuku really, it is a necessary and solemn duty." Isendra said from the doorway.
He turned around to see her closing it behind her.
"It is a sad fact of life that when one delves into evil magics, it doesn't just effect the caster. It can poison the surrounding are and people as well." She explained. "It's not uncommon, but it's not talked about in polite company for good reason. Because the only course of action is to cauterize the wound entirely."
"Even the innocent people who haven't been corrupted?" Izuku asked.
"We cannot know for certain who is or who isn't. People have taken mercy on those they thought were clean and almost always proved wrong in the past, and the infection spread a second or third time." She explained. "They can fake it really well. It's difficult in the extreme to tell the demonic from the clean, to the point you can effectively assume all are."
"Why don't they choose to simply kill the confirmed infected and quarantine the uninfected?" He pleaded.
She shook her head.
"It's not about choice. It's about ability. I know you come from a place of seemingly infinite wealth and manpower. This is not that place. We cannot afford, financially, to contain the seemingly safe for the rest of their lives. Let alone guarantee that we have the physical and magical might to do so." She explained.
He understood it. He didn't like it, but he understood it. If vaccines didn't exist and quarantine couldn't be guaranteed for a virulent disease with insane fatality rate, there is only one alternative. Kill all of the infected and those who came in contact with them, then burn it all.
"Can we refuse?" He asked.
"No." She said. "A sultan, king or any other ruler has every power to enlist any person within their lands. We agreed to such by entering, trading with, living and accepting his own hospitality in said land. The only way to get out of taking part in this would be to go on the run as outlaws, which would be certain death for us."
Izuku looked at that claim suspiciously.
"No place would give us sanctuary. All cities, towns, caravans and ships will know of us. But they would in all likelihood sent the Viz-Jaq'taar after us." She warned. "They are colloquially called the mage slayers. Assassins specializing in dealing with people exactly like you and I. They would also likely send the Khral-Harzhek order after us as well, as us defecting would lead people to suspect that we have been corrupted. This is all assuming we make it past the gate without being executed."
Every day the gaps in Izuku's understanding of this world seemed to grow. All this time he had been assuming that most of Sanctuary and its people were like those of the Blood Moors. Weak, small in number, disorganized and incapable of dealing with these threats.
He should have known better just from the strength of character and skill of the Sisters of the Sightless eye how incorrect that was. They had only been in such dire straits because they had been blindsided and overwhelmed. Other people were surely just as strong, if not far stronger, but also better organized and well-funded.
His threat assessment of the people on this planet just increased by an order of magnitude. And if these demons are as big of a threat to all of the rest of Sanctuary as they were to the Blood Moors, then he ought to heighten his estimation of them just as much.
"How powerful can sorcerers become?" He eventually asked.
"There truly is no limit." Isendra answered. "But it is common for them to be an order of magnitude more powerful than me. I am brilliant, but young. There are other brilliant people out there. And many of them have lived thrice as much life as me. You've seen the snowball effect of your improvement just in this last year. Imagine what you could be in fifty years. Such men and women are out there."
Izuku sighed. Yeah, that was about what he suspected.
"We really need to get me caught up on geography, religion and politics." Izuku said. "All I knew of Sanctuary was the Blood Moors. And they gave me the wrong impression. I need to know who I may fight wars with or beside. I never considered until now that my war wasn't just with hell. Other wars, between men, are ones I may have to fight as well."
She nodded.
"Get some rest. We leave this afternoon to buy extra rations and head out. After one last bath, of course."
Isendra and Izuku advanced to the front gate just as the sun was setting.
They were once again among the last to arrive, as the entire street leading up to the front gate was full of the warriors they saw earlier, though now they were dressed for war and packed for it as well. The two sorcerers had brought enough rations to feed themselves for four weeks, and he was sure they had all done the same.
Some even had horses. Drognan was one of them, and he rode over to them as they approached before they got in earshot of others.
"Are you feeling well, young Midoriya." The Mage-Lord asked.
"I'm fine. What happened during lunch didn't happen because of the horrors I fought, and won't come again during war." He explained. "It comes during peace."
The serious man gave him an expression that Izuku almost mistook for pity, but after a moment recognized as understanding.
"That is usually how it is, isn't it? Don't go developing the empty sight. And when we come back, alive, I will introduce you to people I know who can help you cope with that." Drognan told him.
He then turned around and trotted to the front of the army. Izuku and Isendra followed.