Chapter 18: Advanced Sensors
High Priority Target - Riveg Military Command
Esetera Malina Vare Rithkul Cavaral sat behind her desk, writing a report that nobody would ever actually read, except to look for an excuse to replace her. She was half tempted to write that into the report, but instead just filled it with the same text she always wrote when nothing was happening. Riveg was important for maintaining the safety of ore shipments traveling along the rivers from the eastern mountains towards Bronzetown, but all that meant was more paperwork for people pretending to "manage" the town.
She refrained from writing about the young Calder going through town with a bunch of mercenaries and a bodyguard. Better to look foolish than to get stuck between noble houses and their machinations. Baron Eabar was unlikely to be pleased by his presence in his lands, but she sure as hell wasn't going to piss off House Calder by spying on them.
She finished her writing, signing it as Guard-Commander Alyssa Spara, her...real name? Fake name? Regular name? Esetera Malina Vare Rithkul Cavaral was her "true name", known only to her and her parents and never shared with anyone else. She was supposed to refer to herself by true name in her thoughts. It was a family tradition that used to be a lot more common, supposedly meant to ward off malevolent spirits. Sadly it seemed to be ineffective against the baron's steward, who regularly crept around town, terrifying half the guards by walking out of shadows and asking them how their day was going. She accidentally headbutted him once actually. It was pretty inevitable that at some point one of the guards was going to stab the fucker out of reflex. Which would be a shame, he was actually kinda cute when he wasn't being a pain in the butt.
She heard walking and a knock on her door. It was Karl, the newest trainee guard, judging by the sound of his footsteps. She had already told the senior guards to quit being lazy and stop using him as a messenger.
"Enter. What is it? Another tavern brawl?" she said while shuffling papers to pretend that she was still busy with paperwork. The trick to not being bothered with random requests all the time, was to appear to be constantly busy with something.
"No, commander. Oscar saw something flying in the northeast." answered the young man.
She rose from behind her desk, and cracked her back. "And he had to send you instead of coming himself?"
"I didn't have the Skills to see it." he answered.
"All the more reason to keep you from running random errands for other people instead of doing regular guard work. You're at the age where levels come easy." she said, as she started walking. "Got my own [Farsight] by counting sheep from the wall during a boring shift. Not that you should try it yourself."
It was the truth about her, but also tended to weird people out. She suspected people tried too hard to level instead of just living their life.
The guardhouse was a fair distance from the north-eastern wall and the guard tower there, so she looked around as she walked. The town was absolutely packed with people and houses, as nobody wanted to live outside the walls if they could. The only direction for houses to grow was up, so that's what they did. She was hoping the baron would buy another core to expand the reinforced walls just so she wouldn't have to climb so many ladders and stairs.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
She climbed up the tower, trailed by Karl, and spent a few seconds catching her breath when she reached the top. Oskar was there, looking to the north-east and rubbing his eyes.
"I don't see anything" she said, blocking the sun with her hand to keep it from blinding her. All she saw were fields and sheep pastures around the city, the nearby woods cut down a long time ago as construction material, although the edge of the forest was still in sight in the distance.
"No shit. You're not looking high enough." came the answer from Oscar. "It's hovering right in the sun. Going to see spots for a week from staring at it."
Esetera tried, but gave up the attempt after a few seconds. "What does it look like?"
"Like someone glued wings and chicken legs on a woman." was the answer from Oscar.
Karl perked up, recognizing what it was, but Esetera spoke before he could. "That's a harpy, dumbass. We have a bestiary in the guard house, you're supposed to read it." She sighed before continuing. "Fuck...if it didn't fly here from the eastern mountains, then it came through a breach."
Closing a breach wouldn't be a big deal if all that came out of it were harpies, but it meant having to somehow sober up the local mage to help track it down. The woman was single-handedly funding half the taverns in town with her drinking, but Esetera thought it was a ruse. Well, half a ruse. Or more like a quarter of a ruse. Mages were rare, especially in towns like this, and that meant attention from everybody with even a little bit of power. Esetera once saw her fall asleep and drool on a merchant trying to hire her. It was a brilliant move to be honest, but Esetera had too much of a positive reputation to mimic it.
A few minutes later the harpy descended, and grabbed a lamb from a pasture near the forest before flying off, heading north. There was something weird about the way it moved, but she couldn't put her finger on what that meant.
"Keep looking." she told Oscar. "Call me if it comes back."
She made her way down the stairs, leaving Oscar and Karl on the lookout. She needed to put together a team to track down the breach and also somehow convince the mage to work with her. She thought back and she could have sworn she had heard something about birds and the sun a while back. She didn't reach the guard house before another guard ran towards the guardhouse, looking for her.
"It's Mad He..." he almost said, earning a pointed look. "It's your father. He's in the marketplace, scaring everyone." He motioned towards the market.
She sighed, before following the guard. Her father wasn't well, and had gotten worse ever since her mother died. She remembered how clever and clear-headed he had once been, but his Class and Skills took their toll. She hastened her steps, as she heard a loud voice emanating from the marketplace.
"The five-eyed freak is coming!" came a shout from Henry, causing people to back away. He looked disheveled and had dark bags under his eyes. His gaze flitted from person to person.
"Dad." she spoke as she sprinted towards him.
"You need to cut off its limbs!" he shouted, waving a knife around and pointing it at a merchant.
"Dad!" she screamed, as she took the knife from his hand, without him even noticing.
"AND SHOVE THEM INTO YOUR FUCKING SPINE!" came his final words before Esetera cradled his face with her arms. He looked like he was about to continue, but no words came out, and slowly his eyes focused as he looked at her. "Alyssa?"
He looked around at the marketplace full of terrified people, and averted his gaze towards the ground. "I...I don't..." He mumbled. "I thought I saw it trying to kill you."
"Let's go home." Esetera said, as she began to lead him back home. She apologized to the merchants and farmers who had come to peddle their goods, but most said there was nothing to apologize for, as they had known her father before it got bad. They knew him from back when he had been a simple Sage, telling minor fortunes and predicting the weather for anyone who asked. Back then, he knew what he was seeing instead of being lost in visions that nobody could understand.
On the way, while escorting her father, she saw the mage leaning against a wall of a tavern and staring at the sky. She seemed more sober than usual, and uncharacteristically concerned as she traced something in the air with her finger.
Esetera thought she could almost hear a whisper in the air, but there was nothing when she listened more closely. She felt like it was going to be a long day.