Morey was relieved to find the village empty when they arrived back at the wall, zombies hot on their heels. The villagers had sensibly evacuated once Grand Cross proved to be insufficient, as was clear the moment Ereli summoned it. The last of the villagers were already streaming out the furthest gate from the zombie advance. Etani gathered her magic into her feet and simply bounded to the top of the single storey wall in one leap.
Not for the first time, Morey resolved to try learning Ems again, the last few times he had given up in frustration after the amount of work made itself apparent. But it was sure convenient.
"Now's our chance to go as well!" Etani shouted from the walls, pointed at their Rekis the villagers had left tied in the middle of the village square.
"But then the zombies will overtake the villagers!" Morey shouted up at her as they ran through the small side gate and up the stairs, "we must stall the monsters for them to get away! Nal, fire the wall enchantments!"
Instead of blasting the raw power of the enchanted walls at the zombies, Nal instead began to cast a spellstorm. Ever since Morey had got her to attack the Titan with that unusual spell conversion, Nal had suddenly developed an interest in not doing things the normal way.
"Do you want to die?!" Etani screamed. Still, she slammed the door down beside her and unslung her bow. The compound bow designed by Morey's stories and the best smiths in Inath over the last two months was very close to what a weaponized compound bow might have been. Optimized for Ereli's Em-enhanced strength, the steel limbs could drive the metal arrows clear through four feet of solid stone, with all the speed and accuracy of a normal shortbow, and that was before the acceleration and aiming enchantments they could stack on steel arrows. The downside was that the bow couldn't fire normal wooden arrows, it was so powerful the arrows invariably shattered on firing.
They hadn't managed to optimize the accuracy yet, but judging by the black tide of zombies pounding the crop fields flat, she wouldn't need it.
Morey left her to it and looked at the other two. Ereli was already setting up her Blade Wall summoning stone, surrounding their short length of wall with a ring of sharp flat plates. Locoss was moving up the walls, tweaking the enchantments according to Nal's instructions.
Etani's arrows began to fly right before Nal finished her spell. A swarm of small spells flew across the wall, activating enchantments. Then all the platforms behind the walls, except for the area directly under them, exploded outwards over the walls.
Morey had noted that the black mist of the zombies behaved a lot like a magic disruption effect. And thus physical projectiles were the obvious counter, given their experience with the giant crab-thing.
The logs making up the wall tumbled end over end as they flew outwards towards the zombies, a rain of wood from the sky the size of tree trunks. More zombies were crushed and even more broken and knocked over by the rolling bouncing projectiles.
Zombies normally couldn't shoot back, but this time they answered in the form of two beams of light. Only for the beams to scatter into wide cones. Morey flinched as one of them caught him, it was hot! Even through his armour! But at least it wasn't instant death. He nodded a silent word of thanks towards Locoss, the telltale distortion in the air in front of them as a waterfall of magical Mist blurred all light heading their way.
What protected them from the deadly beams also protected the monsters generating them from Etani. She had fired back almost immediately but her aim was off and the arrow merely plowed into the zombies near the shooter. Her next arrow caught it dead center and the blurry glow from the charging second shot winked out. That was insanely lucky.
The other shooter missed them entirely, even the area of magical Mist hovering in front of them.
As Etani exchanged shots futilely with it, it was up to Morey and Ereli to protect them, the zombies were now at the walls!
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He huffed and puffed, the air was getting hot in his armour from all the dancing around. Another wave of zombies came over the tops of the walls only to be bisected by the rotating shields of Ereli's Blade Wall. The edges of the flat shields were as sharp as any Sword summoning.
Three zombies made it through and Morey pounded over to them. His sword smashed into them, wielded more like a club than a cutting device. It bounced off a crystal growing over the zombie's head, ringing in his hand. Shit! These zombies were hard!
Morey sent his magic into his arm, driving it downwards again with more force, the only Em he could use as yet. The sword vibrated like a ringing bell and Morey hung on with a death grip as the crystal shattered and the zombie crumpled. As zombie limbs flew in all directions, he caught a glimpse of more out of the corner of his eye. A mental command sent his Sword summon to the other side of their platform, beheading a zombie that had climbed up from the side.
Behind him, Nal continued to fire her spellstorms downwards into the zombies packed around the base of their platform. All around their little section of defended wall, zombies were clambering over the walls and falling into the village itself. There weren't too many to overwhelm the Rekis yet, but it was clear that it was only a matter of time before they had to retreat.
Etani growled as she fired another arrow and missed again. The first lucky shot that destroyed one shooter hadn't been repeated yet and firing at the blurry white dot was like trying to hit a mirage.
"We can't hold on for much longer!" Nal shouted over the stampeding zombies. The dogpile of zombies outside the wall was turning into something like a ramp.
"One more shot! Just give me one more-" Etani's yell was cut short when the Mist generated from the wall enchantment suddenly collapsed under the onslaught of the dark disruption magic and Ereli's blade shields suddenly wavered. The disruption hit them like a tidal wave, lapping at their magic and lifeforce like the ocean attacking a sandcastle.
Below them, the Rekis howled as they savaged another group of zombies. They felt the dark magic too.
Growling in frustration, Etani slung her bow over her shoulder and readied her shield and warhammer. Right on time. The entire crysteel door suddenly flashed pure white, light pouring from it in all directions as it absorbed and scattered a beam of light. The crystal shooter on the zombie's side was clearly aiming for Etani now.
"Back! We're leaving now!" Morey said, praying that they had done enough to delay the zombies.
If the zombies reached the fleeing villagers... he shook the dark thoughts out of his head. Etani leapt straight off the platform and landed in the dirt pack road, warhammer bowling zombies left and right like so many pins. Ereli recalled her blade shields into a tight circle and they simply ran down the staircase, not caring if the edges bit zombie or wood.
As the platform collapsed below them, Ereli renewed her flickering summoning spell with more magic while they mounted the Rekis and bounded clear out of the ever increasing zombie horde.
Riding through the streets, Morey suddenly slowed to a halt in front of the tavern that had been housing them. A thought came to him.
"Wait! Let me check something!" he said. The four girls looked at him incredulously, eyes darting from him to the zombies running after them. Nal rolled her eyes and fired a spellstorm down the street.
Not wasting any time, Morey looked into the tavern. Yes, the spirits were still here. At least that crazy innkeeper wasn't crazy enough to take the Hero's alcohol with him. Morey ignored the conspicuously missing plates they had been using the past days.
He charged up the maximum five firebolts he could manage and scattered them into the tavern's wine cellar, making sure at least one went into the cask of strong spirits.
The Hero's party rode as fast as they could away from the village, trying to catch up to the column of fleeing refugees. The burning village, including the zombies inside, left a streak of dark smoke in the sky behind them.
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"It's the Hero. " "The Hero has come!" "Hero!"
Whispers surrounded them on all sides as Morey walked through the camp. The huge group of adventurers rushing to save the village was camped, there was no village to save anymore and the zombies weren't moving fast.
He sighed at the worshipful stares sent his way, Morey hadn't wanted to walk in front of the four girls but they wouldn't hear of it. Despite seeing his inadequacy of combat power, the four girls still regarded him as the Hero. And it looked like everyone else in the camp did so too.
"It is good that you are here," the big adventurer leading them to the center said cheerfully. The man was almost three heads taller than Morey and the shiny bald dome of his head fit the rippling muscles all over his body. Everything about the man was big and strong. The man's arms was almost as thick as Morey's own leg! Now that was what Morey thought of if anyone asked what he thought a 'Big Damn Hero' should look like. Or 'Human Wall'.
The big man's arm slapped Morey on the back, knocking the breath out of him. The man laughed again.
"We fought the zombies before this, trying to buy time for the villagers," Morey said, "I thought I should tell you what we saw. There is a new type of monster, and it's very dangerous. "
The big man, whose name Morey learnt was Deka, listened attentively as Morey began to describe their battle. Gasps and looks of astonishment surrounded them, the adventurers following behind to hear the story.
When he was done, they were nearly at the center of the camp and Deka had a rather familiar look on his face. One that Morey had come to recognize very well in the last few days.
"Truly you are the Hero," Deka said, a wide eyed grin on his face. Then he bowed suddenly and deeply. A heartbeat later, everyone else around them was bowing to him as well.
"What-" Morey stammered, looking at the circle of adventurers all looking at him with starry eyes, "why are you bowing?"
"I was sure you were called here for a reason," Deka said, still bent at the waist, "only a Hero could have achieved what you have done. With you to lead us, I am sure we will win this war! Please, lead us against these zombies! As the Hero, your rightful place is as our commander!"
"I don't understand," Morey turned around to find Etani grinning at him.
She smiled and spread her arms at the bowing adventurers all around. "Do you think they can do what we just did?" she said, "I almost forgot what it was like to be an adventurer, after traveling with you for so long. But no adventuring group can do so much damage to a zombie army. We must have destroyed a few thousand zombies all by ourselves! Anyone would be intimidated. "
Morey glanced at Locoss, their most recent member. She hadn't been intimidated when she joined, unless he had seriously misread her silence. "Except her," Etani qualified lamely.
"That's just what happens when you put the four best people in the country together with the best equipment that money can buy. We could only do what we did because of all your power," Morey said. He looked down at his sword sadly. It was true though, that all the work had been done by the four girls. In all their battles, Morey was always playing second fiddle to one of the girls at any time. "I haven't actually done anything heroic. Not personally. "
"Perhaps you haven't noticed but all our tactics comes from you," Etani said, off to the side, Nal nodded as well. "My bow, storing Ereli's power, steam propelled rocks, even this door. In all cases, you came up with the ideas to improve what we do, to make us help each other in ways no one has ever thought of before. You tell us when to attack, when to retreat. Please don't sell yourself short, Morey. You have led us, as a leader. And as a Hero. "
Almost as if they had pre-arranged it, the four girls bowed to him as well. Morey fought down the complex feeling, a mixture of pride and guilt. He still felt like he wasn't worth all of this praise but it sure felt good to receive it. He knew most of their admiration was just plain hero worship though.
"All right, if you think I can help," Morey nodded as they raised their heads, "then I will try my best. "
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So much for acting all cool and heroic out there. Morey rubbed his forehead as he tried to wrap his head around the next problem they were bringing to him. The commander's tent he had appropriated from Deka, Morey wasn't surprised to find out he was the commander, was at least spacious enough.
"And so you want Nuem's group to pay you compensation for damaging your Reki?" Morey asked.
"Of course!" the big man shouted, causing the smaller girl standing on the other side to flinch a little. Honestly, the man's account was a little sketchy, how had one tiny girl managed to steal his Reki and take it for a ride only to put it back where she got it? And use it as magical target practice? But Morey had had enough and he just waved to Etani.
"I'll pay for the Reki, you will hold no grudges against her," Morey said, then turned to the girl, "the evidence speaks against you but I have doubts about this case. I will not hold you to this but if you were guilty, I trust that you will not repeat this. Now go, I don't want to hear about this again. "
The two of them looked at him as if stunned, then they bowed and murmured, "the Hero is truly generous. "
When they were gone, Deka spoke up from the side, "was that wise?"
"I don't know, I don't care," Morey said, cradling his head. "What is this, Deka? You asked me to be an army commander, not a judge," he held up a hand to stop Etani from speaking, "I do not mind the money, it's just two Rimes and I'm not short of those. Why do we have so many problems? Shouldn't we be working on tactics to deal with the zombies?"
"But that's what a commander does," Deka said, "you keep the army together and in fighting condition, until you reach the enemy. The commander manages the morale and keeps the adventurers focused on the target. Sometimes with incentives. "
Incentives. Wasn't that just paying them to fight? "What about these squabbles? Why do I have to settle all these small problems?" Morey complained.
"They happen all the time," Etani explained, "adventuring groups don't get along well, even when they are have decided to team up. I mean, you can't expect different styles of magic to work together. "
Morey rubbed his head for a moment then he blinked. "Wait a minute," he looked up at them, "what do you mean different styles of magic don't work together?" Was there a completely different magic he hadn't heard about?
"The battlemages are too rough and lack elegance, of course," Nal snorted.
"And stuck up pampered Academy mages are clearly not ready for the battlefield," Etani shot a smirk back.
Morey shook his head in exasperation. He understood that the two of them were just joking but Deka seemed to consider it normal. He looked at Ereli and Locoss.
"Summoners are too rare to bother with, same for Em masters," Nal said.
"Rarely fight. Alchemy is wrong magic style, too slow," Locoss explained in her own stilted way. Wait, Locoss can talk in complete sentences? Morey shook his head again to remove unnecessary thoughts.
"So you mean to say that the people using different styles of magic don't work together?" Morey frowned.
It was common sense that they should work together. Battlemages and Em masters were natural frontliners, delaying monsters and guarding the more destructive but also more fragile summoners and spellstorms. Alchemists were also extremely useful, when not in the middle of battle; Locoss's efforts had increased the efficiency and accuracy of their alchemical enchantments by at least two fold, probably three, and had opened up a vast array of magical traps and weapon enhancements that Morey couldn't use before. And one of the summoner clans provided the bountiful supply of magical power for alchemical and general combat purposes.
And here he was, hearing for the first time that none of them liked to work with each other. Only Em masters and summoners worked with other groups simply because there were too few of them to form independent adventuring parties. As outcasts.
"How is it then that we are working together? You guys supposedly hate each other," Morey asked, "all four of you are from different styles of magic. And I'm... a bit of everything. "
"We don't hate each other," Nal said, "in the end, we're all in Inath fighting against the monsters. And we're not like the others, there's no need to feel superior to rivals. We are superior, the best in Inath. Besides, the four of us were specially chosen to be in your party. "
"You are the Hero," Etani said simply.
Right. So it all came down to the fact that he was special. A Hero.
That made no sense at all.
"Deka, if I told everyone to disband their parties and form groups like ours with different styles, how would that work out?" Morey ventured.
There was total silence in the tent for a few moments. Then Deka shook his head minutely before appearing to change his mind.
"Not going to work, I see," Morey cut him off before he could make an excuse.
Deka grimaced then apologized, "I'm sorry, even if you're the Hero..."
"So, you see that there are limits to what a Hero can do," Morey made sure to smile. He didn't want to find out what would happen if they thought he wasn't joking. "But you asked me to lead your army, so that is what I will try to do. I don't understand your customs. If I'm about to break some social taboo, I'll have to rely on you to tell me. Please don't hold back just because I'm the Hero. I don't want you to tell me I can do something and find out later that it wasn't done because you didn't want to tell me I'm not allowed. "
"I- I understand," Deka said, looking conflicted.
Morey stood up from behind the commander's table. "I don't want to deal with these petty disputes. Deka, do you know someone you can trust? Someone who has a sense of justice and understands the law?"
"I have a few friends," Deka said cautiously. Well, even if he didn't like where this was going, Morey was the Hero, whatever that counted for.
"Get one person and tell all of the petitioners to talk to him, I give him my authority as a commander to arbitrate. As long as he is fair and settles the problems quickly, I won't complain. He can even use my money like I did just now, as long as it's reasonable," Morey said. Then he turned to Ereli, she probably couldn't help with what Morey had in mind. The girl had no sense of battle tactics, as expected of an Iris. She did however, have a bright and innocent outlook, even naive at times. That could be useful too. "Ereli, will you please go with him and work with his friend? I trust that you can represent me. "
She beamed and nodded happily. Then after Deka passed a message to his party sitting outside the tent and sent Ereli off with it, they got down to business.
Morey dragged the big commander's table into the center of the tent.
"Firstly, does anyone in this army have a map? If we don't, I need someone who is very familiar with this region to help draw one, please find them and bring them here," he said, continuing as Deka began to relay messages to his subordinates, "secondly, I need to know what kind of people we have in this army. How many battlemages, how many spellstorms. What are the most common spells everyone knows. That sort of thing. Give me a rough guide, your best guesses will do, until we can compile a more complete list. "
Then he hunched over the table, drawing in Etani and Deka. He took out a few large sheets of paper from the drawers underneath. "After that, we need to create a simple formation we can use. Hopefully with little training. If we just charge the zombies, that new light beam attack will cut us to pieces..."
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The order of knights that had positioned itself across the road would not have been recognizable to any Inath observer. A commander usually arrayed his forces into a single thin line, to give everyone an equal chance at the bounty. This force was arranged in a rough square. And that was not the only difference.
With a sea of glinting iron in front packed into a dense block, the heavily armoured battlemage knights formed something of a vanguard. It wasn't as dense as a proper pike formation Morey had read about in history but this was the best they could manage. Besides, the knights weren't using pikes anyway. A much less dense crowd of less armoured spellcasters was arrayed into large groups behind the battlemage line.
The zombies crested the top of the hill, the tallest in the region. The downslope to the frontline wasn't that steep but it was enough to conceal most of the zombie army from them. As well as any of those deadly light beams that happened to lag behind. That was also unusual of course, most commanders just attacked the enemy directly.
Morey had only managed all this by promising everyone who participated to the end and followed orders a payment higher than any of them had expected to receive from bounties. Of course, that meant that he was exhausting the entire allocated budget for the battle, leaving none for himself, but Deka hadn't explained to Morey that most commanders usually aimed to profit as much as possible while maintaining victory. All Morey wanted was to win.
That and the fact that he was the Hero.
The battle was joined almost immediately. As multiple light sources appeared among the zombies, the back line showered their immediate vicinities with a storm of flying rocks that pounded the area into a fine paste. Morey had made it clear that the shooters were to be killed as soon as possible and each of the firing teams of roughly twenty mages had been given a preferred target zone beforehand for which they would target any shooters first.
Of the ten attempted shots, only one managed to fire. The beam of light struck the front line and diffused into a harmless shower of heat against the Mist wall. Then the first of the zombies were charging into the waiting swords of the battlemages. The battle had begun for real.
"I would never have thought simple force spells could be used so successfully," Deka said, watching the veritable rain of fist sized rocks that streamed out over their heads. The zombies' own magic disrupted magical energy and ate away at spells and fire. But it didn't stop projectiles, so Morey had applied the same protocol for dealing with antimagic. He was tempted to start calling it the Anti-Crab Tactic in honour of the titan but he suspected that Etani wouldn't find it as funny. In any case, a sackful per mage had relieved the entire local area of rocks.
"Signal the vanguard to spread out, the zombies are spilling around the sides," Morey said and the waiting runners sped off to the front. His command post at the base of the hill afforded him the best view of the battle without a tower. And he didn't want to be sitting in a makeshift wooden tower when the enemy was throwing around those beams.
"Message from Etani at the front," a runner came in, "she says that the zombies have more crystal on them. It's like armour. And the number of light beams are higher. "
"Tell her I noticed the light beams too," Morey said. They had faced only a pair of shooters two days ago and Etani had destroyed one. And now the knights had destroyed twenty already and there were still more appearing over the top of the hill. He nodded to Deka and pointed at the center of the vanguard, "signal to give ground, the front is pulling too far forward. "
Deka nodded and blew two short notes on the big horn. The battlemages at the very front had been pushing forwards into the mess of zombies and now they risked getting pressured from the sides. At the signal, the entire front moved back slowly, still chopping zombies. A single short note stopped the retreat.
Any Inath knight was more than a match for a normal zombie, even these crystal armoured ones. Most of the time, zombies were only a threat when they surrounded and assaulted the knights and adventurers from multiple sides. In the dense frontline that Morey had created, there was barely enough space for a man to swing a short sword and a knight faced only two, at most three, zombies at once, and only directly in front of him. The flashing of swords and bladed spears made mincemeat out of the dead flesh, like a blender in slow motion. The real threat of the frontline was the constant drain from the zombies' erosive magic and keeping the Mist wall functional against stray light beams.
The roar of the knights in battle and subvocal mutterings of concentrating spellstorms reminded Morey of the time he went to a football match. It waxed and waned according to its own rhythm, the pulse of battle. Occasional crashes and bangs cut through the noise, making the ground jump. The source of these was the huge boulders that went sailing overhead. The four summoners present, including Ereli, took turns hefting massive boulders and flinging them like a giant's bowling ball. Each of these would flatten zombies and carve out a line of destruction as they rolled down the slope, on the other side of the hill. They didn't have many, but not even the summoners had unlimited magic and those boulders were big.
The battle was turning into a slog. The zombies were being destroyed with a ridiculous kill ratio but there were just so many of them. Bodies that had been destroyed many times kept reanimating and the knights continued to chop them down methodically. A pile of shredded zombie flesh and bones were piling up in front of the front lines, forcing the knights back.
Morey looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was already past noon. The fighting had gone on for more than an hour now and the frontline must be feeling tired. And the zombies were starting to threaten their flanks again.
"Send the signal, fire one," Morey said.
Deka nodded and blew a long high pitched note on the small horn. The four summoners had been waiting for that signal ever since they ran out of boulders early into the battle and now they pooled their magic into Ereli's summoning stone, helping her to control the building spell. The power came from the wagon load of iron and steel beside them though, no point wasting their magical power.
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Ereli only used just enough power to summon Grand Cross. They had enough for three shots, with some spare, so Morey had told her to keep magic in reserve. The Grand Cross slammed downwards in a thunderclap and threw back the zombies, smashing into the right flank and flattening that advance completely.
The vanguard subtly shuffled left as Grand Cross swept a line of destruction across the zombies' right, relieving the pressure on the knights there. Then Grand Cross expended itself in a final explosion of force that made the ground jump and knocked over the zombies in a huge radius. A light shower of dirt pattered downwards. Dirt and bits of zombies.
Morey brushed himself off and examined the effect. The battle was tilting towards the left and he caught sight of Etani on the exposed side. She was leading a large group of battlemages off to one side to intercept the flank and within a few minutes the zombie advance there was crushed. That was good thinking, and Morey didn't even have to give any orders.
The zombies continued to pour over the top of the hill, in a seemingly endless flood. But the knights had regained all the ground they had lost, Grand Cross had done its job and they were back to square one. Only more tired and with thousands of crushed zombies underfoot.
Time to do it all over again.
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The moment the tide turned was visible to Morey. He had been staring at the zombies, issuing orders to close holes opening in the front lines and rotating out exhausted spellstorms. In a way, he was learning to read them, the swarm of featureless grey hulks that alternately lurched and charged in a pulsating counterpoint to the knights' roar.
Past two hours into the battle, all three Grand Crosses exhausted and Ereli debating whether it was possible to launch a fourth with contribution from the spellstorms, Morey suddenly felt the flow change. An undefinable ripple passed through the zombies, the pressure on the knights easing slightly.
Then the zombies stopped charging, slowing their reckless run down the slope towards the mountain of chopped bodies then stopping. Morey could hardly believe his eyes when the zombies turned around and began to retreat.
They ran! The zombies were actually running away!
Surrounded by cheers of the adventurer army, Morey's grin suddenly died as a thought occurred to him. Since when were zombies smart enough to retreat?
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Cato sipped the tea appreciatively. There was actual sugar in this cup. A true display of Minmay's wealth given that purified sugar was only available through a specific species of root plant that was very labour intensive to harvest. One more thing for Cato's to-do list.
"We still need to decide which projects you want to focus on," he said.
Minmay nodded, sipping his tea as well. The bright morning sun outside beckoned temptingly but neither Cato nor Minmay was inclined to go out. The front reception room was as good a place to have tea as any other.
"Which projects would you suggest, Cato?"
"That depends on how much tolerance you have for change," Cato explained, still holding his cup.
"You will find that I can be quite flexible. I want the projects that you think are most useful. " And earn the most money, was left unsaid.
"You can say that because as far as I know your history hasn't undergone rapid change since the fall of the First and the Tsar," Cato put the cup down and faced Minmay, "you yourself told me that apart from the Inath federation being formed, your father lived a life much like yours. These ideas I am considering come from my world, where our society changes so rapidly that we're barely keeping up. The most radical ideas can cause change so quickly that your daughter may grow up to find a world completely different from her childhood. "
"Hmm? So what do you have in mind?" Minmay raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Out of all of them, the most disruptive ideas are the farming tools," Morey said, "the second I would guess is the Mana Tax. Or let's call it compulsory education since I also plan to teach reading and writing. Thirdly, the fastest way to gain money would be to start a bank and issue money. And lastly, I would like to start studying magic. I admit a magic laboratory is a shot in the dark but we may discover properties of magic that could be extremely useful. "
Cato didn't mention how much he was looking forward to investigating magic. He would still work on it in his free time even if Minmay didn't want to fund it. The main benefits would accrue to himself instead. That said, Cato was fine with any sort of laboratory if Minmay was interested.
"I didn't understand your concept of a bank, however," Minmay said after some thinking, "I don't see how a place that gives you money for keeping your money is anything but a sure loss. "
"You find people to loan money to at interest," Cato explained, "but the main effect comes afterwards, by convincing people that your promissory notes for the gold is just as good as the gold itself. After all, if enough people put gold in your bank, they won't all take it out at the same time. Also, you are Chancellor Minmay and a bank under you will be guaranteed by tax income. That lets you have more promissory notes than the gold in your bank, which means you can lend out or spend money you don't have simply by printing more notes. To a certain limit, of course. "
"I still don't see it," Minmay admitted, "won't people know that you don't have the gold to pay for all those notes? They will want their gold back and we won't have it!"
"If you're still uncomfortable with the idea, we can do something else," Cato shrugged, "hopefully one that earns money. "
"What about the magic laboratory? What can that do?"
"I don't know," Cato said simply, "that's why we should do it. "
Minmay raised an eyebrow, "if Landar won't do it, I can teach you magic. But why do you think anything unusual will happen? Everyone learns magic the same way. "
Cato frowned, "you can teach magic? I never saw you use..."
He paused at Minmay small smile. The chancellor was holding up a finger, with a small ball of magic balanced in front of it. "Most nobles do learn magic. Some of them even go on to be adventurers, although I'm just an alchemist and quite out of practice at that," Minmay explained, "All of the nobles are honorary members of the Order of Knights, if we didn't know a little magic, we would just be embarrassments. "
Cato nodded in apology, "I understand but I'm sorry. I can't learn magic. Landar tried to teach me but there seems to be something wrong with my lifeforce. "
Minmay had a complicated expression at that. A mix of disbelief warring with something harder to read. "All right. I'll take your word for it, but then how will you study magic if you can't use it?"
"Landar will be there to help me," Cato said, "I also have a few ideas for magical tools. Landar showed me how she could use spells to influence other spells, and I intend to try making alchemy items that can manipulate magic. It's probably going to be even slower than Landar but I'm not intending to cast spells in battle anyway. Their main purpose will be to see if I can make using magic more accurate. More a science than an art. "
"The primary benefit won't be that however," Cato continued, "I noticed how practically no one understands how magic works, apart from how to use it and what effects it has. I intend to study magic itself. What is magic, how do we cast spells, how spells affect each other. That sort of thing. Who knows what I'll find?"
Minmay nodded and sipped his tea. "Ambitious," was all he said.
That it was. To imagine that Cato would do better than generations of Academy mages before was arrogance. But he couldn't not try, not when there was magic right in front of him, just calling out to be studied.
There was a clatter of shoes on the wooden floor behind them and they turned around.
A young girl, barely out of her childhood, was standing behind them staring at the ball of magic above Minmay's finger. Her waves of blonde hair framing two deep blue eyes and fair skin was the very image of a noble girl. Her light dress was rumpled, as if she had just got up, but the girl paid it no mind.
"Papa!" she cried and almost leapt into his arms, "you're back! Why didn't you tell me!"
"Haha, I had to talk to an important guest yesterday," Minmay said, nodding at Cato, "I'm sorry but by the time I was done, you were already asleep. "
The girl turned to stare at Cato. He nodded at her hesitantly, not quite sure what to say.
"I'm Arisacrota," she untangled herself from her father and bowed politely to him, "Arisacrota Eien, daughter of Chancellor Minmay. May I have your name?"
Cato snorted involuntarily at her suddenly formal attitude. "Ah, sorry. I'm Cato Lois," he bowed back, "it is nice to meet you. "
"Say, what are you talking about?" Arisacrota asked. Her formal pose evapourated as fast as it appeared and she was just another over excited little girl again.
"We were talking about magic. About studying how magic works," Cato said.
"Ooo, I know about magic!" Arisacrota clapped her hands happily, "papa bought this amazing magical window! I can even draw pictures on it!"
Wait, she was the one who got Landar's magical window?! He looked at Minmay worriedly, was this really safe to give to a young child? Minmay rubbed her head indulgently and smiled.
"So are you here to give me another toy?" Arisacrota asked again, looking at Cato, "I can't wait to see it!"
"Arisa," Minmay got her attention with a more serious tone, "he's not here to do that. We're talking about how to improve Ektal. It's about how to grow food better. "
She looked at Cato again, her face showing a hint of displeasure, "is that going to cost money?"
"A lot of money," Cato said, "if you want to see improvements quickly. But we expect to earn even more money later. "
"Muh," she pouted, "so that means papa can't buy another thing like the window?"
She was worried about a gift from her father? Cato sighed, guess she was just another spoilt kid.
"Arisa, please, we have to do this," Minmay said, looking at her seriously, "Cato is a very important guest and his ideas can give us so much more money later. In a few years, I can buy ten windows for you. "
"But I-"
"Actually," Cato cut off her impending protest, "how would you like to see a monster? Your father could put a request for someone to capture one or two. "
She was suddenly right in front of him, eyes wide in astonishment, "a monster? Like the ones the knights are fighting?"
"What?!" Minmay said, pulling his daughter back, "but I thought you said that you didn't want monsters? "
"I know I said last night that the monsters aren't a good source of magic, but we still need to study them," Cato said, "I have asked many times for a chance to capture some monsters but the knights never listen to me. It shouldn't cost too much to obtain a few, right?"
Minmay frowned, he obviously didn't like the idea, but Arisacrota did and she was using every kid's ultimate weapon against their parents, the wide-eyed innocent look of anticipation.
Minmay was not immune to that and eventually he sighed and rung a bell on the table.
The butler Arthur walked into the room almost immediately. "You needed something, sir?"
"Arthur, you were an adventurer when you were young," Minmay asked, "how much money do you think would be necessary to get knights to capture a monster for me?"
The butler seemed to freeze and glanced quickly at Arisacrota's excited face then at Cato. It was obvious what lead up to this. "Sir, you are asking the knights to risk their lives. Capturing a monster will be much harder and will mean risking the monster's attack," Arthur said unhappily.
"But it is possible, yes?" Cato asked.
"It is," Arthur said reluctantly, "if you ask a large group to target a small monster, perhaps a few zombies, they shouldn't have much problem. If I was still a knight and needed to plan this mission, I wouldn't try to head into the monster lands without at least a mixed party of twenty and not expect to return in less than two weeks. And paying that many adventurers for so long will be expensive. Perhaps even a hundred Rimes. "
"It will be worth it," Cato said, looking at Minmay, "I doubt the zombies or nightcryers are without weaknesses. We can find out what they are, how they work and how to kill them. In fact, I have a number of questions I don't have answers for about zombies already and this information will help the knights defend your borders better. "
"A hundred Rimes is a lot of money," Minmay said, "how will you fund the rest of the projects? What about that six hundred Rimes bridge across the Tine that Muller wants and you say is a good idea?"
"The bridge can pay for itself," Cato said, "even without setting up a bank, you can still issue something called a bond to borrow money. I can explain the details of that arrangement if you want. The other projects, especially farming, will cost even more money I'm sure. "
"You're asking me to trust you enough to put myself into debt," Minmay said, "that's too much risk for me. "
Cato sighed and looked at Arisacrota eyeing him unhappily again. It looked like she really wanted to see some monsters. If Minmay wasn't willing to risk debt until he could trust Cato's ideas, then that severely restricted the number of things he could do. He would have to choose.
"Leave the bridge for later then," Cato said, "there is at least a ferry. Since we have limited funds, I suggest we focus on only a few issues at once. How about farming tools, the mana tax and capturing monsters? You can ask the monster hunting expedition to search for natural magic while they are at it. I have a few other minor requests for such an expedition too, like collecting rocks. "
And once the monsters were captured, Minmay would likely agree to study them using magic.
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The council sat around the only stone table in the village, tails fluffed and ears twitching. It had been two weeks since the letter and they still hadn't managed to reach a decision.
"Taking in outsiders is foolish," Tharoden said, slamming his hand onto the table.
"We need more people here," Banage said, "with every tail, we will defend ourselves better. With every pair of hands, we can feed more mouths. "
"Who knows what sort of outsider ideas they will bring in? You know what the Inaths are like, and you propose to take in people we don't even know?" Tharoden slammed his hand again.
"Cato came from the outside," Banage pointed out.
Tharoden's face twitched a little as he realized he just got called, "I admit that not every Inath is bad, and that perhaps the Inath Fukas are more trustworthy than the humans. But that is still no reason to trust all of them blindly. "
"Then let us choose," Banage said, "send someone to Corbin to meet the Fukas and check those who want to come. Only those we can trust and are useful are allowed. Simple. "
"The Fukas out there are suffering," Tatit spoke up. That happened so rarely in meetings that everyone paid attention to her. "We do remember how the Inaths treated us. That is why we did not follow them when they retreated. Now that we have a place we can call our own here, can we ignore the other Fukas?"
They looked at her then clearly decided to ignore that.
"It would appear that my way is the middle ground," Banage said, "perhaps the two of you could consider it as a compromise?"
Tharoden sniffed and looked at the Elder. Tulore simply watched their discussions, thinking and listening but not saying anything. "Elder Tulore, would you please lead us," Tharoden said, "our village council cannot reach a conclusion like this. "
Banage winced. That was low of him. The village council often presented agreed decisions to Tulore before asking for her authority. Traditionally. With the Elder's authority, Tulore's opinion would sway the council too much and neither she nor her mother before her had wanted that kind of control. Of course, traditionally, they wouldn't have left at all and would all be dead now.
Tharoden was using her authority like a club, sure that she would support his stance. After all, Tulore was known for being traditional. He only did that when he absolutely needed to, out of respect for Tulore, but everyone knew that this debate had been going on for so long that the council was beginning to lose face.
She looked at Tharoden then nodded. "I think we should accept Danine's request," Tulore said.
What.
What. Banage could feel his jaw dropping. He could see Tharoden's mouth flapping open and close but no sound was coming out. The other three council members were statues in their seats. Only the most junior member of the council, a certain hunter called Ryulo, was looking like he had received a present from Aleas.
Tulore settled back into her chair, "we will need to choose who we can accept, this village does not have unlimited food or space. But Tatit's point is valid. "
They looked at Tatit who was slowly melting in her chair. She had never had any real influence in the council, meek and unassertive as she was, and now the Elder had suddenly taken her position in everything but practical details.
Banage thought quickly. Tharoden had effectively undercut himself, so now was the time. "Elder, please understand that we also have concerns about the proposed newcomers. Can we really afford to support Fukas who cannot contribute?"
"I do realize that, but we are not so poor. Especially if our first caravan visit has given us so much," she raised an eyebrow at Banage, clearly indicating his clothing. The heavily dyed blue velvet cloth that made up his luxurious shirt was one of the many benefits Banage had traded for when the merchants Cato sent had last arrived. It was even more luxurious when one took in account the fact that the dye was also the same one that Tulore needed to make curse breaker.
They had all gained many things, even Tulore was looking considerably... rounded. That was probably from the amazing array of spices the merchants had traded her for just a few potions of curse breaker. Cato had been right that much of the village's food was in high demand since the Inath Fukas weren't able to produce very much. Banage had made private arrangements with the bigger merchants for certain highly prized desserts that his extended family was going to make for the next visit. Yama jam was ridiculously expensive, even if it was a pain to make. He was looking forward to that.
"Even so, our pockets are not deep," Banage said, glaring Questeross to avoid any insinuations about Char clan's profits, "we cannot simply send all the Fukas here. Besides, the Death Marsh is quite the formidable barrier from what Danine tells us. Can weak Fukas risk such a journey and survive?"
"It is simple, we send someone to guide them," Tharoden said, "someone with much experience in fighting such monsters and surviving. "
He was looking at Ryulo. Banage blinked then turned his glare to Tharoden.
"Yes, indeed," Tulore said. She got up and addressed Ryulo, "will you go to Corbin on behalf of this council to welcome those who would join us and guide them safely back?"
Ryulo, the straightforward charge happy idiot that he was, shot up out of his seat and grinned, "of course! It would be an honour to perform this duty for the council! I only hope Aleas can follow me. " No doubt he thought it was a great honour.
Banage caught Tharoden's smile, concealed from Tulore. Even if he had lost the argument, Tharoden had still managed to remove Ryulo from the council temporarily. Darn him, Banage had been counting on having another Char voice on the council once Ryulo finally married into his clan.
Banage sighed. Oh well, at least with yet another achievement when he returned, Ryulo would have even more influence. All the better for Banage's eventual replacement.
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"So you have heard," Amarante looked up to see her husband walk into the council chambers.
He had his full parade dress on. Glinting gold lines set into an impractically huge steel full plate, flanked by twin pauldrons emphasizing his shoulders. A heavy glittering cloak trailed out behind him, adding to the regal air. The heavy steel boots clanked on the polished stone floor, Amarante could already see her groundskeeper wincing, polishing down the scratches was going to a pain. There was no helmet for this set, it wasn't meant for battle after all.
On that bear of a man, the armour turned General Vorril into a giant easily twice the size of a normal man. Larger than life and impressive, he seemed big enough to hold back the hordes of monsters all by himself. Still, Amarante was glad he had taken her advice and turned up to the grand council chambers in this, rather than his unpresentable battle armour. That thing even had actual scratches!
Vorril never appeared in casual dress in any formal occasion, despite Amarante's attempts to make him more approachable to the nobles. He would even turn up to dance balls in parade armour, although there was no lack of noble women futilely trying to get him out it every time. None of them succeeded and they wouldn't try if they knew of the beast inside that armour. Amarante had felt like she was being crushed to death on their wedding night and didn't want to repeat that experience.
"I have," Vorril said, his rumbling voice echoing around the gathered Lesser Council. He eyed each of the most powerful people in the Inath federation, feeling no intimidation. The leader of the Order of Knights could have a seat at the table of kings any time he wanted. "I want you to recall him from his quest," Vorril said, straight to the point as he always was.
The leaders of the federation murmured amongst themselves while Amarante held his stare.
"I will not do that," Amarante stated, "there can be no task more important than finding the Sword. "
"Send someone else to find it," Vorril stated flatly, "we can always give the Sword to Morey. "
As virtual sparks began to fly between them, Ektal interrupted before one of the famous arguments could break out again. "General," he said, waving his hands nervously, "why don't you tell us why you want this request?"
Vorril looked at Ektal, a flat gaze of cold hard steel wilted the fragile flower of the northern king. "His victory was nothing short of brilliance," Vorril said, "the man has a talent for command, we can use him. "
"How do you propose we use him?" the Ranra king asked.
"You have prevented me from leading the army from the front, he can be a good substitute," Vorril said, "his status as a Hero and the strength of his companions overawes most adventurers, he can organize them far easier than anyone else, even me. Let me give him an army, just a one and a half thousand adventurers, and we can recapture Algami plains. "
"The Enemy grows stronger year by year," Amarante retorted, before anyone else could be tempted by the thought of regaining land, "if we don't find a permanent solution, any gains you could make are only temporary. Didn't his report include a description of zombies growing crystal armour? And a ranged attack?"
"All the more reason to strike!" Vorril grunted. But even he knew when an argument was lost, the kings and queens were already making non-committal sounds.
He glared at them again and then turned around. "Fools. " And with that parting shot, he left the chamber. The slam nearly broke the door.
Amarante sighed and leaned back into her throne, the seats of the Greater Council were empty, leaving Vorril's footsteps echoing around the chamber. The moment of indulgence passed and she returned to the table. The other kings smiled and nodded at her in sympathy. None of them wanted to be the person who had to hold the General's reins.
"I spoke true," Amarante said lamely, "I am sorry that he just doesn't see it. "
"We understand," the king of Ranra said, "the General has his uses of course, it's too bad that he is unaware of our greater concerns. "
"Well said," Ektal said, still flustered from his brush with the General.
Amarante nodded, happy that they were still happy. Things could ugly if the General managed to anger too many kingdoms. He just didn't understand how nervous he made them.
"I trust that you will not let him form this... army?" Ektal asked again.
"Of course not, one man controlling a thousand knights at once?" Amarante shook her head. It was just not done. Not since the self-proclaimed Emperor Muppy the Terrible. The name often made noble children laugh but back when his feared death squads made up of hundreds battlemages roamed the land, no one found his name very funny. And everyone knew of the terrible concept of Total War wrought by the First and the Tsar. It had given Amarante nightmares when she was a child.
Besides, when Morey found the Legendary Sword of Tsar, he could destroy the Enemy outright. Might as well use Morey and his brilliance to find it all the faster than prolong their slow death.
And she had better find a girl Morey liked before he found the Sword and won the war. The man's loyalties were unknown, even if he seemed cooperative. Also the idea of one man holding that much power without someone to restrain him was too awful to contemplate.
Hopefully a nice and naive girl that he could be happy with in a luxurious retirement.
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Double length special