Chapter 23: Lines on a Map
DM smacked Jonathan’s hand away with a tentacle, causing him to drop the key on the ground.
“What!?” Jonathan bent over to pick up the key while staring up at DM.
A nearby tentacle monster morphed to take on Jonathan’s form.
“W–What!?” Jonathan stood back up but took a step back. DM wondered how many times in a row he could get Jonathan to say that.
“…You think your collar works on me?”
“What?”
DM internally celebrated. Three times in a row.
“…I’m not bound by your orders.”
Jonathan moved his hand to the hilt of his sword for just a moment. Then he lowered it again. “Why are you cooperating then?”
“…I’ve been playing along so that I could observe you.”
“So you could attack me or my sister at any moment?”
“…You’re surrounded by an army of monsters that I command, too.”
Jonathan glanced around at all the monsters in the vicinity. Numbers-wise, they were basically the entire roster of creatures DM could summon from two separate dungeons, including the Lower Gordu Dungeon which now had a fairly high capacity. “If that’s true, then why did your monsters end up stuck by the coast to the north? Was that feigning failure?”
“…Indeed.” DM wasn’t being totally honest but Jonathan didn’t need to know that.
“What do you intend to do?”
“…Continue to play along, for now.”
“Even though I already know?” Jonathan looked around at the monsters again, although they weren’t paying him any attention yet, other than the morphling which had his own form. “Are you going to kill me and have that look-alike take my place?”
“…If you don’t cooperate, I’ll do exactly that. I doubt things will end well for your sister, though.”
“Karen will notice it’s not me.”
“…I highly doubt that.”
“What?”
That made the fourth time.
“…Normally, morphlings aren’t capable enough spies to take somebody else’s place. In your case, your relationship with your sister is so… Well you get what I mean, right?”
“Sh–She’ll become suspicious.”
“…If my morphling just occasionally complains about one of her actions and otherwise follows along silently that should work for a few weeks or so.”
“You…”
“…If you want your sister to survive this, listen closely now.”
Jonathan nodded.
“…I want to know exactly why your faction is opposing the Emperor. Ultimately, once I’ve heard the position of both sides, I’ll decide what to do. …So long as your sister doesn’t dig herself a deeper hole I won’t kill her.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“…Stand still.” DM hooked an appendage around Jonathan’s ankle, applying infect. “…Continue to travel with your sister and give her basic advice, but do not reveal to her the fact that you’ve spoken with me or that I’m free of her control.”
“That’s it?”
“…Time permitting, I want you to explain to me the events leading up to today and why these middle-region nobles are rebelling. For now, it looks like we won’t have the chance.” DM’s morphling reverted to a tentacle monster form.
Karen stomped over. “Jonathan, just what are you doing? It’s time to go.”
“Yes, Sister.”
Karen and Jonathan climbed into a carriage escorted by a few soldiers mounted on horses again. DM followed behind along with his two armies of monsters. This time, DM was able to eavesdrop on Karen’s conversation, although the discussion was seeming innocuous so far, so he turned his attention to someone else.
“Grummanonth.”
“Can you speak now, DM?”
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“Yes. Sorry about that. I encountered some trouble before but things should be all right. I have quite the story to tell.”
“And I should like to hear it,” the dragon responded.
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Nobody complained about Kat’s party routinely climbing up the wall to observe all the monsters milling around on the beach. Should the monsters suddenly decide to attack Zirar, having adventurers nearby couldn’t hurt.
“This is so boring…”
A few guards glanced at Lupy, not appreciating her remark in light of the fact that they could enter battle with monsters at any moment. Still, they didn’t say anything. Being on alert for several days like this was very challenging, after all.
“Being an adventurer isn’t all about fighting,” Shiba lectured Lupy.
“I know that.”
“Look!” Bandit pointed to the southeast. The girls all squinted to see what Bandit was pointing at, each suddenly spotting a bat flapping its wings. It flew in front of the rising sun like a heretic among its nocturnal brethren, stopping to circle around the monsters below it.
The nearby guards hadn’t paid much attention to whatever Bandit pointed out, barely sparing the random bird a glance. In contrast, the girls all stared intently, looking for signs of any other changes. They saw the signs immediately.
Tentacles rose from the ground below several of the monsters, grabbing them by their ankles or any other available part of their bodies. The girls knew this meant the monsters were getting infected or perhaps charmed, but probably just infected. The tentacles disappeared too quickly for it to have been anything else.
The girls looked around, but it didn’t seem like anyone had noticed the tentacles. They each glanced to one another, signaling with their eyes not to say anything. Thankfully, Lupy seemed to understand this as well. They returned their attention to the monsters and noticed the bat fly off to the northwest, bypassing Zirar. The other monsters didn’t move.
Kat thought it was odd. If that bat was DM’s, and he needed to apply infect for some reason, why wouldn’t he kick the monsters into motion immediately? Were they waiting here until something else happened?
As soon as she finished that thought, the monsters turned on their heels, or whatever they used to walk, and proceeded southwest.
The guards shouted to one another, calling for reinforcements and demanding runners alert the rest of the city to what was going on. Surely, guards in Adzah across the way were doing exactly the same thing. Meanwhile, the monsters marched along a path that would bring them between the two nearby cities, almost perfectly equidistant from each.
After a few minutes, the monsters had proceeded far enough that both cities were behind them, albeit at an angle. Kat led her party down from the wall to see how the city was responding. They found a cluster of guards and city leaders having a discussion, so they wandered over.
After listening for a minute, Kat determined that the group was making arrangements for sending runners on horseback to the various cities and towns west and southwest of the area. One each would get sent to Nazibarar, Gumunbund, and Kharb. Bandit mentioned to the other girls that they didn’t include Baram in that list, even though it was just as close to Zirar as the other cities and towns. Vulp suggested that Baram might be a central-region territory, but they weren’t sure and definitely didn’t want to ask anyone right now.
As soon as the runners were dispatched, Kat’s party proceeded to the gate. While they were passing through, a guard called down to them from above.
“Where are you five going?”
“We’re going to follow the monsters from far behind!” Kat shouted back up.
“All right. Good luck.” The guard waved them on.
The flat territory allowed them to keep an eye on the monsters despite remaining a fairly large distance from the marching army of monsters. Even without that benefit, tracking these creatures wasn’t particularly difficult. They left a trail that even an amateur could follow. Interestingly, nobody other than Kat’s party was currently trying to do so.
They hoped the monsters would lead them to DM.
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Sasha’s party stepped out of the Gulukkhath Guild branch and wandered over to a vacant lot.
“Well, what do you think?” Sasha asked Ardreth.
“I thought by now there’d be an update. It’s been quite a while since Gulukkhath was first notified of the monsters that passed by to the north…”
Luna chimed in. “That’s why I’ve been saying we should journey east and follow them!”
“I agree,” the two brothers said in unison.
Sasha looked from the brothers back to Ardreth. “Shouldn’t we?”
“I still want to wait until—“
“Oh come on,” the hunter interrupted, clearly out of patience.
Before anyone else could respond, they all noticed a commotion. Jogging over, they found a squad of guards being briefed about something. After a few moments, the guards scattered in every direction, shouting instructions as they went.
The nearest guard approached Sasha’s party. “The monsters departed Zirar and are heading southwest! Their destination is unknown but they could be here as soon as early tomorrow morning! Either evacuate to the north or prepare to take shelter! Pass the message along!” He paused when he encountered Sasha’s group. “You five, stick around in case there’s a battle. You’ll be rewarded.” He ran past them to spread the message further.
“Just how do you do it?” Sasha asked her elven friend.
“Never mind that,” he responded. “We need to decide quickly whether to ride this news out here in Gulukkhath or depart.”
“Where would we go?” asked Luna. “In the direction the monsters are coming from?”
“We could, but that’s not what I have in mind.” Ardreth unrolled a map and pointed with his finger. “If you draw a straight line between Zirar and that wyvern dungeon, I believe we should intercept that line as quickly as possible.”
“That means we should head for Baram?” the older brother suggested, actually pointing his spear at the map as he spoke for some reason.
“Yes, that should work. If we haven’t noticed anything before we arrive at Baram, we can ask in Baram for the latest news.”
“Wait,” said the younger brother while his falcon ‘kacked’ in support. “I don’t mind going to Baram, but why do you think we need to go that direction?”
“Since the monsters aren’t heading toward Gazahanar in the north,” Ardreth explained, "the next most likely destination is the wyvern dungeon or alternately a meeting point between the wyvern dungeon and Zirar, or perhaps Gazahanar. If you extend lines from the wyvern dungeon to Zirar and Gazahanar, they are quite close together in the central region of the empire. They don’t separate much until they get about this far north, so let’s head east.”
“I’m not totally sure I get it but okay!” Sasha agreed, perhaps making a weak show of being the party leader. “Do you think the guards at the gate will mind if we say we’re going to Baram?”
“Excellent question, Sasha.” It was rare for Ardreth to actually compliment her like that. “I recommend we claim we’re heading over to Gumunbund to reinforce it since it’s closer to Zirar than we are right now. Once we’re out of sight of Gulukkhath, we’ll turn eastward and rush over to Baram.”
“Any objections?” Sasha looked around, but the rest of her party seemed to agree. The brothers appeared just as eager to figure out what was going on as everyone else. “Then… Let’s go in more circles!”