‘Now, I appreciate the fact that you have enthusiasm to join my sortie today but I’m not clear on bringing an innocent civilian along to her death. You’ve told my assistants that you’re a professional mercenary and….is this right? Technically immortal? I’m not quite sure how to take that. I see that you marked down your previous profession as a baker, although you clearly don’t hail from my kingdom. I’d wager you moved here or your parents before you were born? Never mind, the moment you settled here you became one of my subjects but all of this is besides the point. This might be the first time that we’ve had a baker on a sortie, but I do need to ask how well trained you are. Did you receive previous militia training or have you been out on the walls with the expansion movement? I’m afraid that their...opinion and my own don’t see eye to eye but I can respect their love and effort for the kingdom.’ said the King Consort Ulrich.

After he had said his farewells to his wife, and he and his personal soldiers had shaken off the after-effects of her Goddess infused words he had made his way to one of the southern gates leading to the countryside beyond his capital city of Nurburg.

The usual volunteers, hangers on and his own personal soldiers had arrived armed, prepared and the horse and carts needed to carry supplies, wounded or survivors for the vanguard had been prepared.

He barely had to do any preparation these days aside from ask for assistance from his two bodyguard knights to dress him in his golden armour but they had already done so and it had been sufficiently blessed before he had left his own quarters and met his beloved for their date touring the walls.

None of it meant that he would neglect it though and he would need to check and re-check those who were going to join him, he had been the son of a lower tier noble but his own mother had taught him the value of being thorough before they had both lost their lives at the end of the war against the Dark Lord from his final revenge.

‘Hello? You asked to join my...are you inspecting my soldiers?’ said King Consort Ulrich.

Her appearance clearly marked her as being from a foreign land, long black hair and eyes and pale skin but her accent told him that she had been born and raised in the city. Not a noble but the fact that she had been able to read the recruitment posters and write her own name meant she had some degree of education.

Those who worked as merchants or shopkeepers usually did but not many wanted to personally risk their own lives for a sortie even surrounded by experienced soldiers, priestesses, priests and the occasional warrior monk. When he was concerned for the safety of volunteers, the King would secure a few worthy from the Mercenary Guild.

As far as he knew there was no such woman amongst their ranks, he would have either heard of her prowess or ability given that the rankings shifted so fast depending on the skill level.

Presently she was showing a degree of tactical awareness which didn’t match with her self-explanation as a baker turned professional mercenary. Her equipment was interesting to say the least, a mixture of half-pieced together metal armour cobbled along with a collection of rough and worn weapons which jangled from a belt around her waist.

‘Yeah, you’ve prepared better this time. I was right to die a few more times to get it right. Did you know that you’re usually targetted by criminals who look for an easy payday by taking some of your supplies or switching them with lower-quality copies? This time they didn’t manage to make the switch. I guess I made the correct choices this time round.’ said the woman as she closely inspected one of his more experienced volunteers, an older noble with his two bodyguards who joined with his group a few years back.

‘Excuse me your Majesty but is this a test or a joke on your behalf? It does liven things up a little. Eh, girls? You think she’d hire on with my estate? I keep telling my family that they gots to look out for the strange ones. The ones with hidden abilities. You don’t want her your Majesty then I’ll take her on. Young woman, who trained you? It’s all in the eyes and you’ve seen death before. I know those eyes. Not a natural killer but someone turned you into one.’ said the old noble as he lifted both arms up and turned around as the women gently prodded him and carefully inspected his armour.

Both of his bodyguards were dressed in long boots, leather armour with a long sword on a sheath and a small mace on the other side of their hips. Their hair was cropped short and one had a sharp scar on her face. They mostly looked amused at the antics of the young woman but kept a hand on their weapons to protect their employer.

‘Why, I even found these two’ said the old noble ‘as I was wandering through the poorer quarters of the city, I found them protecting this rough inn see and I said to them. I said work for me and I’ll pay you better and give you chances to see the world. Of course they were much younger at the time and this was before that terrible war which we managed to avoid being outside the kingdom at the time. Stuck to my promise though, eh girls? Eh? All done? Do I pass standard young madam?’ said the old noble as he lowered his arms and placed them on his ample stomach.

‘Ira, Tessa. He’s honest with both of you as much as he can be. Do not trust his family though, if he dies, do not trust them and leave the city. Trust me on this.’ said the young woman.

The King Consort was heavily considering telling the woman to leave and stop playing games until she mentioned the names of the bodyguards of the old noble. How she knew them he had no clue, even the old man who had been familiar with his father once had been reluctant to share them with him personally.

‘Conrad. Do you know this woman, how about you tell me the truth about how you encountered someone new and decided to liven things up a little?’ said King Consort Ulrich.

The old noble simply shook his head as his own worn chain mail armour jangled lightly.

‘Never seen her before in my life. Pretty sure my two haven’t seen her before either. They wouldn’t let her. get this close though if she was a real threat. What’s your name young lady?’ said Conrad.

The soldiers around the King Consort had been half-listening the conversation taking place and had steadily moved into a loose formation around the young woman in order to protect their monarch. The wagons had been fully prepared as they were ready to head out on a single word, there were usually a few odd ones who turned up and the crowds of city folk around the gate on the sides was enjoying the street drama as money changed hands through bets.

‘Etsuko An’Yu. You lot killed me once but I don’t hold it against you. I just took the wrong approach, of course the two bodyguards over there killed me a few more times by accident until I was able to learn their names and a little about them. How about you soldiers get back to preparing your weapons and equipment until we’re ready to go? Ah...how does it go again...got it.’ the young woman bent down on one knee as she pushed her rough weapons to the side with one hand.

‘….I think we’re beginning to waste enough time on the words of a single person who has unjustly suffered trauma. Please, I’m not the Queen nor the Goddess. I work for a living after all or I don’t receive my monthly allowance! Conrad, why don’t you take your bodyguards and head to the gate first?’ said King Consort Ulric.

He received a chuckle from the soldiers around him as the pressure and tension in the air lessened. The old noble along with his two bodyguards went ahead as one of them smiled at the young woman who remained knelt on one knee.

King Ulrich decided to ignore her for the moment, if she was eager enough to fight or touched in the head she would be willing to wait a little longer. With luck she’d lose interest and leave of her own accord.

‘We head out in fifteen minutes. I’ll try not to be killed by a lone assassin, soldiers and volunteers prepare yourself for our usual excursion beyond the walls. Those of you who are new to this, it’s no shame to be scared or have misgivings. Anyone who chooses to leave and try again is welcome to do so! There is no shame in wanting to live or fear of injury! I repeat, nobody will look down on you if you choose to leave!’ said the King Consort.

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Given not a single one of the volunteers or his own soldiers took a step made King Ulrich smile with relief. The numbers had begun to lessen over time and he was grateful for those who stayed with him.

‘Fine. We prepare to leave. Go into your pre-assigned groups and someone tell the guards to open the first part of the gates. Those in front will take their positions in case of sneak attack, I don’t expect it but we need to stick to established protocol. No casualties straight out of the gates.’ said King Ulrich.

One of the priestesses had prayed to the Goddess and checked the woman after she had arrived along with every volunteer as was standard. The number of cultists who still believed in the revival of the Dark Lord and how the magical infection was designed to bring them all to an afterlife of his own design had significantly dropped as progress had been made through the powers of the Church.

The priestess had found no significant changes changes to her being but had reported that the woman's aura was strange but nothing else. Apparently the strange woman had no magical abilities to name aside from an odd story which she had ignored.

‘The woman is pure...she has no traces of corruption or any hidden weapons or threats that we can detect. Your own soldiers checked her belongings but she has a presence about her that I would warn your Majesty to be aware of.’ said the Priestess who had been assigned to his forces on a temporary basis when she had inspected every single one of his small band of troops, volunteers and support workers when they had arrived at the southern gate.

He turned his attention to the gatehouse itself and the series of portcullises, drawbridges and massive gates which led outside of the city. It would take an army to break through but they had been fortunate that the evil hordes of the Dark Lord had been defeated in battle. The corrupted on the other hand were a different matter.

The southern gate was heavily guarded and had been even more warded than the walls but the presence of the Goddess had been slowly whittling down the effect of the magical infection and even the average citizen realised that it was only a matter of time until they could mount a true attack on the final stronghold of the deceased Dark Lord and eliminate the source of the corruption.

The true facts behind it had been carefully hidden by the Church of Purity but it was believed to be an artefact of significant power with a degree of sentience whose only purpose was to corrupt every single living being inside the kingdom and turn them into unthinking monsters of its own design for an unknown purpose.

The King Consort had attended enough debates at the Academy of Purity and heard plenty of theories but he had left the final matter to his wife in her role as both ruling monarch of the kingdom and head of their remaining religion.

The weather today was turning better if a bit cloudy, the land had always lent itself to rain, storms and cloud and the occasional sunny days were seen as divine blessings from the Goddess herself.

By this point, it had become a matter of routine although crowds always turned up to cheer or place bets on who would return and who would be injured or killed. The King Consort had always tried his best to mitigate casualties but when he was dealing with semi-professionals or entirely untrained it became a different matter entirely.

After the first few times both those enthusiastic citizens and minor nobles who had been hoping to gain his favour, personal glory through martial affairs or other opportunities had realised that there was danger involved. The same soldiers who had stayed with him for at least ten years and survived had grown more experienced and the actual sortie was a more controlled event.

This close to the city walls, the main threat was no longer from corrupted but from those who wanted to take advantage of farmers, merchants and those of the towns and villages outside who practised other professions such as blacksmithing or crafting.

King Ulrich had never made vast promises, he simply had stated initially that he wanted to become involved in beating back the magical corruption that had infested his kingdom and caused the majority of the surviving population after the war finally ended against the Dark Lord to end up in the sole designated capital city. The Kingdom had never been prosperous enough even before the war to sustain anything other than a series of towns and surrounding villages. The mountainous and rough terrain made it harder to grow crops and raise livestock as it was.

A polite cough from one of his trusted and true soldiers drew him back to his present situation. The rest of his soldiers, a few minor nobles along with the occasional warrior monk and priests and priestess appointed to his group by his wife to ensure the relative safety of their literal souls and physical forms had already prepared the necessary equipment and running through how this sortie was going to span out.

The woman had remained knelt down with her head bowed and not uttered a single word of complaint or even tried to approach anyone else there. The waiting crowds around the gate were beginning to discuss likely what action the King Consort would decide to take. A new member of their small troop was a rare occurrence these days as the same actions had become boring and stale over time but still appreciated by the city.

There was those who watched it as a form of entertainment and routine and anything new would spread talk throughout.

‘Your Majesty...you agreed once to accept any who volunteered. Do you remember a young boy who wanted to prove himself after he was abandoned on the streets? He was a half-starved boy with a broken knife but you accepted him as your soldiers. The kingdom offers opportunity for those who fail to resound with the powers of the Goddess. Are these words not true today? Even those who have been damaged in the mind hold value, let her come with us your Majesty. I will protect her personally.’ said Sergeant Reinhard.

The man had hardened but been always been an average soldier at best, the fact that he had survived the first months had been a shock as had the years that followed. He was a steady presence which King Consort Ulrich was grateful for as it kept him grounded in the day to day affairs of his kingdom.

He lacked the political, religious and martial power that most would have for his title but he had married into his wife’s line of succession even if it had been a tragic affair when her family, cousins, aunts and uncles had died during the initial final revenge of the Dark Lord.

There were those higher tier nobles who mocked him for his actions and called him an ageing fool, he’d never seen the value of the six Lords and Ladies who governed the Kingdom along with his Queen but this was his passion, his project and he’d continue it until he was no longer physically able to or the threat of corruption was finally ended.

‘Sergeant, you will assign this woman to a position in the middle and protect her as though she was the Goddess Aliza herself. I’m not sure quite sure what she means by technically immortal but she can explain it for us briefly. Another soldier with remarkable powers would be appreciated and our main aim is to go outside these walls, make it a little safer at our designated point and try to keep everyone alive, relatively uninjured and return.’ said the King Consort Ulrich as he watched the old noble Conrad and the few forward troops prepare to go through the first gate as it was opened and a portcullis was drawn up.

The young woman who had knelt on one knee looked up and smiled at Sergeant Richter as she rose from her feet and stretched out her body.

‘Thanks. If that didn’t work I was going to say that Lars Kroemer sent me here on a contract. He wants to establish better connections with farmers and this would make a good impression for future negotiations. You’re my favourite man Sergeant, after all you haven’t killed me yet. Did I tell you that I was technically immortal? Also, I need to be paid as a mercenary for this. My bakery burnt down this morning. I said no to a couple of greedy thugs.’

The woman took her position next to the Sergeant as the waiting crowds which had grown with the appearance of the seemingly strange woman, partly due to her antics but also the fact that she was entirely dressed in a bakers apron, rough black boots and covered in portions of flour and blackened patches.

They gave a cheer as she gave them a wave as moved forward to the southern gate to wait her turn to enter the countryside on the sortie with the King Consort and his group.

King Ulric simply shook his head and raised both arms and joined with the cheering as he prepared to protect the wagons at the rear. It hadn’t worked out cost effective to equip the soldiers with horses every time they went out so all of them were prepared for a decent walk.

‘TO THE GOLDEN SORTIE! THANKS FOR ATTENDING!’ shouted King Ulric as he gave his usual flourish.

Time to kill some bandits. The usual. Except for a madwoman to make it interesting.

Unless she was telling the truth. Or one of the lost gods of the kingdom had decided to return.

He hoped so. Anything to free his wife from her chains of faith.