Chapter 29: It all Comes Together

Kat asked Lupy to step away and ran over to the defeated spearman, crouching down to assess his injury. Ardreth walked over as well.

“How does it feel?” she asked.

“It hurts like hell.”

Ardreth leaned in close. “Hm, it looks like you can heal that directly. Do you need assistance?”

“I don’t think so.” Kat prepared to cast healing magic. While she did, the hunter stepped closer.

“She got you good, huh?”

The older brother turned and spat. “Just what kind of moves were those? Is she some type of combat genius?” They both turned to look at Lupy, who was holstering her axes. “Hey, just why are you so strong?”

“I’m good with axes,” she answered. “It’s the only thing I’m good with.”

While Lupy’s answer sunk in, Kat completed her healing spell under Ardreth’s supervision.

“Ah, well done,” the elf complimented her. “I was a bit concerned on account of your age, but it seems your warrior over there isn’t the only competent party member.”

“Thanks.”

Using his spear for support, the older brother rose to his feet while replying to Lupy. “It’s not just your axes. The way you swung my spear around—I saw it. Those moves were incredibly crisp. You’re not just talented with axes, I don’t think.”

“Really?” Lupy had only ever trained with axes so she had almost no idea how skilled she would be with any other weapon.

“What do you think?” He addressed Sasha, who had been silent until now. Only then did he notice she was staring wide-eyed at Lupy.

“W–What? Oh, yes, she was impressive with the spear as well. Those movements though…” Sasha was a warrior too, and her weapon of choice, a sword, was more similar to axes than spears were. She was in a better position to gauge Lupy’s strength after watching the battle. “Dual wielding axes is pretty unusual to begin with… Who taught you how to fight with axes?”

“Nobody?” Lupy thought back. “The Guild taught us some stuff the day we joined, though.”

“The day you joined…” Sasha thought back to her first day in the Guild, certain that such rudimentary instruction couldn’t possibly explain why someone excelled with a particular weapon.

“It looked impressive to me,” remarked Luna. “Not that I’m really one to judge.” Although her mace had some similarities to Lupy’s axes, Luna lacked experience.

“Anyway, there’s no need for more rounds. You kicked my ass, and I doubt my spear could survive much more anyway. A deal is a deal.”

“A deal?” Lupy tilted her head.

“Didn’t you want to know who we were?”

“Oh yeah. Okay.”

The older brother closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “We’re—“

He stopped speaking when he noticed the falcon settle on to Lupy’s shoulder. She instinctively lifted her arm to give the bird more space to place its feet, all the while squinting at it.

He turned to his younger brother. “You need to control your companion animal better than that. Why did you let it—“ For the second time in as many sentences, he was interrupted by what he saw. The falcon was still on his younger brother’s shoulder.

“Kack!”

“…Kack.”

He looked back and forth between the two falcons, trying to make sense of what just happened.

“And where did you come from?” The younger brother sounded like he was speaking to a small furry animal in a cutesy voice.

In response, the new falcon lifted its wing and pointed toward Baram.

While everyone else tried to decide if it made sense for a falcon to be that smart, Ardreth’s eyes widened ever-so-slightly. “Sasha, that’s probably…”

Before Ardreth could work up the courage to state his theory, the falcon morphed into an entirely new form: Lupy’s. This left a Lupy sitting on top of the original Lupy’s shoulder, causing them both to topple over.

“Kack!” The falcon was not amused.

“Oh God, now there’s two of them!” The older brother’s trauma was evident.

“Aww…” His younger brother was just disappointed at the reduction of feathered friends.

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“Does this happen to you girls often?” asked Luna.

Each Lupy returned to their feet. “I wonder who’s stronger,” said the original.

“…You are.”

“Oh, okay.” To Lupy, the affair was apparently settled and the group could move on to other matters.

“Wait!” Sasha shouted. “Just what is going on!?”

Ardreth placed a hand on her shoulder. “Sasha, doesn’t this remind you of anything?”

“Birds turning into overpowered girls!?”

“No, I just mean creatures which morph into people and talk, with that observable pause before every other statement.”

“You mean… Oh.”

“You know what’s happening?” Kat acted like she had no idea what the creature impersonating Lupy could be.

“Yes,” Ardreth answered her. “I’m pretty sure.” He turned back to the fake Lupy. “How can we help you?”

“…Indeed, I need your help. Probably help from all of you.”

“To what end?”

“…Saving lives.”

“A noble goal. Sasha and I will surely help, but I’m not sure about the rest.

“Ardreth, just who is this?” asked Luna.

“Someone Sasha and I encountered back in the Holy State, although I’ll let him speak for himself.”

“…Yes, I remember our meeting well. It’s also a pleasure to meet you, Luna Kraus.”

“You know me?”

“…Yes. I more or less understand who you are and why you’re here.”

Luna tightened her grip on her mace, unsure if this new arrival was hostile, but the creature moved on to addressing others.

“…You two are Andrei Vosk’s nephews, are you not?”

“No point in hiding it,” the older brother admitted. “That going to be a problem?”

“…No. And you five I recognize as well. …Didn’t you visit my dungeon once?”

“Yeah,” said Kat. “We escorted Vera the first time she visited you.”

“…Ah, Vera. We’ve had so many interesting discussions. …Anyway, to answer your question, I’m the dungeon master of the Lower Gordu Dungeon, speaking through a morphling which has taken a human’s form, specifically this girl’s.”

“What’s your relationship to our uncle, and how involved are you in all these monster armies marching around the Empire?”

“…The marching armies are mine. Andrei Vosk intends to use them in any upcoming battles as fodder. …I have a question for you. Why is Lord Vosk targeting Emperor Noah?”

“He’s… He’s not targeting the Emperor…”

“…I attended the meeting where he discussed the plans to invade Gazahanar and unseat the Emperor. Let’s try again. …Why do you think Lord Vosk is targeting Emperor Noah?”

The older brother looked down, not wanting to meet the morphling’s gaze. “Noah is… a usurper.”

“He is not!” Luna shouted in protest.

“…Now now, let’s give him a chance to explain.”

“I can’t believe you’re using that form to try and intimidate me.” He looked the fake Lupy up and down. “Fine. Noah was involved in taking out the previous Emperor, Leo, as well as his son.”

“…Who told you that?”

“Our uncle. He said he had proof.”

“…Did you see this proof for yourself?”

“Of course not. We don’t get involved at that level.”

“…Couldn’t Andrei Vosk be hiding the truth about that from you?”

“Why would he do that? We’re not disloyal. Right?” He turned to his younger brother, who nodded.

“Kack!”

“…So he didn’t hide from you his plan to imprison the Lower Gordu Dungeon Master, force it to summon multiple monster armies, and march them all over the Empire?”

“Well…”

“…He seems to be hiding a lot of things from a lot of people. I don’t think your uncle has been at all honest with you.”

“Why would he lie to us?”

“…Not just you. He seems to be misleading Lord Burger and many others as well.”

“Even Chuck!? No way.”

“…Andrei Vosk seems to have everyone believing that Noah was responsible for stealing the throne, yet he’s the only one who supposedly has any evidence that Noah is guilty.”

“I don’t believe it. Why would our uncle do something so underhanded?”

“That power-hungry…” Luna trailed off.

“Yes, I believe our resident blacksmith has the right idea, here,” said Ardreth. “From what we just heard, it sounds highly likely that Lord Vosk is opportunistically using Noah’s legitimacy as a pretense for wresting power from the Zarak family.”

“But he’s not planning on taking the throne for himself!”

“Our uncle wouldn’t do that!”

“Kack!”

“…If Vosk is successful at removing the supposedly illegitimate emperor, what will happen next?”

“He’ll work with the other lords to ensure the Empire is taken care of.”

“…How many people on both sides will die in the upcoming conflict before that happens?”

“A lot?” He pointed at Luna with his spear. “But that’s why we’ve been following her around—to make sure she didn’t alert the Emperor to what’s coming or garner support that would prevent a quick resolution to the conflict!”

“…Andrei Vosk probably made it sound like the goal of your mission was to save lives on both sides, but realistically, he just wanted to remove an uncertainty that would risk his rebellion failing.”

“I just… I just don’t believe that Uncle Andrei would lie to everyone to seize the throne for himself. Noah must be guilty.”

“Oh come on!” Luna interjected again. “Noah didn’t even want the throne! When his cousin died stupidly, he thought about running away to avoid the responsibility! Only after I visited him and told him to put the Empire’s citizens first did he seriously consider becoming the new ruler!”

“…Do you feel responsible for the predicament Noah’s in right now, Luna Kraus?”

“That’s…”

“Ah, I wondered why you were so reckless about all this,” said Ardreth. “It’s all coming together now.”

“That… That can’t be true…” the older brother muttered, spear shaking slightly as his hands quivered. “Noah wanted the throne, didn’t he?”

Luna rejected his statement. “Absolutely not. When Emperor Leo died, before his idiot son got himself killed, Noah suggested he and I go on a trip to find his father. Only when I told him I refused to give up my current life as a blacksmith in the Empire did he decide to stay in Gazahanar himself.”

“Yes, everything adds up,” Ardreth commented thoughtfully. “So long as Lord Vosk is hiding from even his own allies the fact that Noah’s reign is legitimate, the events until now make sense. But what of your participation, DM?”

“…Andrei Vosk seems to have delegated to the Burgers two missions. One was to round up the troops of the central region, and the other was to assemble a monster army making use of customized slave collars they developed while experimenting with controlling wyverns produced by the dungeon south of Nabilgat.”

“Of course!” Ardreth exclaimed at a volume unusual for him. “The wyverns! We knew they were originating from the central region, but I had not put two and two together. By controlling the dungeon master, you control the wyverns produced by the dungeon. But unlike your esteemed self, most dungeon masters are not intelligent enough to issue complex commands.”

“…That’s what happened. They experimented with controlling an ogre mage dungeon master, but the wyverns would quickly go out of control, leading to the battles you even participated in.”

“Of course. But what about yourself? Are you in duress?”

“…No. Whatever other experiments they did with developing slave collars for monsters didn’t work out. …I’m just pretending to be under their control, for now.”

“It can’t be…” Vosk’s nephews weren’t taking these revelations well.

“…I understand this is difficult for you, but I need you to get over it soon. I need your help. All of you.”

“With what?”

Rather than DM, Ardreth answered. “Weren’t you listening? Saving lives.”