Chapter 26: All Roads Lead to Baram

“Really? You’re Valorous Vulp?”

“Yes…”

“That’s hard to believe given how young you are,” said the town guard. “Did you really win a duel in front of the entire Union army?”

“It… wasn’t a duel.”

“What was it then?”

She hesitated, not out of fear for revealing any secrets, but simply because it was a delicate subject for her. “The Union horseman was… offended… that Lord Davidson brought someone like me along as his guard.”

“So you executed him?” the guard postulated, his tone suggesting her actions were unwarranted.

Once again, she hesitated, not wanting to make excuses.

Shiba looked down and happened to notice Vulp’s sword hand was ever-so-slightly trembling. She chose to answer on Vulp’s behalf. “She didn’t execute him! He drew his sword and tried to kill her! In cold blood!” Shiba hadn’t even witnessed it but she knew more or less what happened.

“And you cut him down in self-defense?” the guard presumed.

Vulp nodded quietly.

“What’s the big deal? He was an enemy and she cut him down. He struck first. That’s all.”

The guards turned to face Lupy, a bit disturbed by how casually she just said all that. Still, she had a point.

“What?” Lupy looked around, unsure why people were reacting strangely. “Lots of Union soldiers died in the battle.”

Kat thought it wise to move the conversation along. “She’s right, the horseman who fought Vulp was just the first of many to fall that day…”

“And how many was Valorous Vulp responsible for?” The guard didn’t sound accusatory anymore. Instead, he just seemed curious.

“I didn’t count…”

“W–Well, it would be strange if a young girl like you was boasting about exactly how many soldiers she slaughtered, I suppose…” Now the guard was even throwing her a bone.

“Why would it be strange?” Lupy complained.

“Oh? Do you have a kill count from that battle?”

Before Lupy could answer the guard, Shiba grabbed her tail violently and Kat threw a hand over her mouth. She yelped.

“Uh…” The guards seemed like they were just unsure what to say at this spectacle.

“A–Anyway, we’re all happy that the battle ended a while ago.” Kat made another attempt to smooth things over.

“Yes. You girls are really something. Anyway, I can’t allow you to travel south of the city right now.”

“Why not," asked Bandit, eyes narrowed as she entered the conversation for the first time.

The guard turned to look at the other guards, an awkward expression on his face. Another of the guards shrugged back at him.

“Do you know why the monsters are marching that direction?” asked Vulp.

Suddenly, the guard started sweating. “Honestly, we weren’t told exactly what’s going on… just that we need to keep that area clear right now, even if monsters pass through.”

“So you were expecting monsters to pass through?” Kat’s piled on, tag-teaming with Vulp.

“Well, no, of course not. We just… knew of monsters wandering around the Empire and were told not to engage them if they should happen to pass south. I’m sure other detachments will deal with them in short order. We wouldn’t want you and the Guild getting in the way of our swift response!” The last part of his explanation sounded forced like he just made it up on the spot.

“In that case—“ Vulp was going to tighten the screws, but Bandit put a hand on her shoulder and cut her off as she made a proposal.

“Why don’t we wait in Baram instead? That’s how we can stay out of their way.” Bandit took a step forward so she could turn around and face away from the guards. She widened her eyes, secretly indicating that she had an ulterior motive for the suggestion.

“G–Good idea,” Kat agreed. She turned to the guard. “Is that all right?”

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“Of course. Having the hero of the Twin Cities stay in our humble abode would be quite an honor. Here, follow us into town.”

As the group walked toward the nearest gate, Bandit whispered into Kat’s ear, “I got the sense things would get very bloody if we made a big deal out of the monsters. Probably, Baram is close enough to what we’re investigating for us to learn something useful.”

“Ah.” Kat was glad she’d trusted Bandit’s instincts as a secret agent type.

“Why doesn’t anyone pull Vulp’s tail when they want to interrupt her…” Lupy grumbled to herself.

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“This is our staging point,” Karen explained to DM. “Join your monster armies on this side of the road. Once the fourth army arrives, I’ll let everyone know.” She stomped away with Jonathan close behind her.

DM cycled through his limited choices for infected people and monsters. First, he verified that his final army, the one he asked Grummanonth to dispatch on short notice, was in the grassy plain between Gumunbund, Gulukkhath, Nazibara, and Ukthelnarg. At their current pace, they’d arrive at the staging point by the end of the day. His other three armies were now all with him, originating from the Lower Gordu Dungeon, Guluk Dungeon, and Nabilgat Dungeon.

His next choice was Jonathan. The man was sticking close to Karen as she wandered around chatting with her co-conspirators in the area. So far, the discussions seemed to be centered on estimating when the group would depart, with nobody offering anything beyond rough guesses. Neither Lord Burger nor Lord Vosk nor any other major noble was present, at least not yet.

Changing focus again, DM noticed the maid he had previously infected walking around Gazahanar. She must have been off duty since she was out of her maid uniform and walking the city streets. It was possible she was actually shopping on behalf of the Emperor or his staff, but DM didn’t know and didn’t really care, either. He abruptly shifted his view to that advisor who previously answered most of DM’s questions about Emperor Noah to his satisfaction.

Unsurprisingly, Noah was meeting with a large number of people discussing plans for a likely upcoming battle. He listened in for a bit.

“…So, are all of the monster armies in the central region now?”

“As far as we know, your Imperial Majesty.”

“Hm, what about fleets? Anything new from Zirar?”

“Nothing new,” a different advisor answered. “No signs of a buildup near Adzah. We’re waiting for word from Bahargazir, Zilabaddibu, and Khundun further east."

“What about the waters all the way around the horn near Kharag?”

“Emperor Noah, I believe that is too far away. Even if the central lords built up their fleet there, they would need to stop along the way at the places previously mentioned anyway. Their ships are not equipped to enter combat after such a long uninterrupted journey.”

“So we only need to worry about a land invasion…”

“Unless they send wyverns at us!” It was the same lesser member of the court who had jumped into the previous day’s conversation, speculating that the odd monster behavior near Zirar was somehow connected to the Eranamean Theocracy, despite all evidence so far pointing to the contrary.

“What a foolish—“ The advisor’s admonishment was cut off by the Emperor.

“No, we should consider that too,” said Noah. “Perhaps all their messing about with wyverns has paid off and they can control them now like they do the other monsters. How many could they control at once?” He turned to the local Guild Master.

“Your Imperial Majesty, I’ve never heard of wyverns spawning or moving around in groups. I’d be surprised if there were more than one or two of them, even in the worst case.”

The Emperor breathed a sigh of relief and turned to his advisors again. “Can we repel one or two wyverns from the city?”

Several advisors looked back and forth at one another, not particularly eager to answer the question. Eventually, one swallowed and spoke. “I’ve no knowledge of any actual wyvern attacks on Gazahanar, so this is only conjecture. A wild wyvern we could of course repel with sheer numbers. If it single-mindedly attacked our defenders, we could quickly lure it into a one-sided slaughter. If it was more cautious, we would have time to repurpose heavy weaponry to target it.”

“But?” The Emperor could tell there was bad news to go with the good news.

“That’s assuming it’s a wild monster. If the wyvern was behaving the way these disciplined monster armies all over the Empire are, it would be far more difficult to deal with. It could target gates and other weak points in our defenses with breath attacks from the sky. Heck, it could even fly straight into the throne room.” The man pointed at the poorly fortified wall with more openings than masonry.

“True, we’re way too high up to worry about direct assaults normally… Should I rule from somewhere else during the battle?”

“I don’t believe so, Sire.” The man to answer was the very same advisor DM had recently infected, although he wasn’t charmed anymore. “While you could go into hiding, the drawbacks are no lesser than the unverified risk of an attack directly on the throne.”

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Sasha’s party was escorted into Baram. After a brief discussion between the guards and the two brothers, the party was granted free reign to move about the city. As they walked toward the central district, the hunter turned to Ardreth.

“So, what do we do now?”

Ardreth kept his voice low so that passersby wouldn’t overhear their discussion, but Sasha and Luna both listened intently. “Our first priority is to figure out what happened with that monster army which departed southwest from the area between Zirar and Adzah. Judging from the guard’s words, it passed south of here. If so, the passage most likely occurred on the east side of the city. Let’s start looking over there before we find lodgings.”

The older brother gestured with his spear, pointing at a government office of some type. “Why don’t I go ask for an update? Given my name, they’ll probably tell me something.”

“I suggest you hold off, for now,” said Ardreth. “It seemed that using our influence to enter the city was necessary, but I believe both you and we will benefit most from keeping you as uninvolved as possible for the time being. So long as Luna is with us, there’s no risk of her doing anything to subvert your family’s efforts. If the local guards, lords, or other citizens are acting in a way that contradicts your mission, you’ll be best positioned to correct the problem or report it to your uncle if you learn about it from a position of anonymity.”

“Uh, okay I guess…”

The brothers weren’t totally sure if Ardreth had their best interests at heart, but they knew there was no way they could keep up with him if they actually tried to debate anything. For now, they would keep an eye on Luna while investigating as Ardreth suggested.

The party neared the eastern end of the city.

“Oh, how cute!” Sasha pointed at another party of adventurers entering the city. They were all surprisingly young girls, and each one bore the trademark ears and tail of a different animal.

“Yes, they are,” Luna agreed.

“Eh.” Neither brother seemed particularly interested.

Ardreth tilted his head slightly. “Are those girls…?”