Chapter 31: Reunion of Childhood Friends

While Sasha’s party walked the grounds, ostensibly to inspect the soldiers’ preparations, Lord Vosk returned to the command tent where Chuck Burger was inspecting the map, alone.

“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with that elf.”

“And?”

“Aren’t you being too trusting, Andrei?”

“You think he’s secretly supporting Noah?”

“Could be. They also spent a lot of time with that Kraus girl.”

“If anything, I think it’s more likely he’s connected to that tentacle monster your daughter’s dragging around.”

“Isn’t that even less likely?” Chuck was being sure to keep his voice low. “According to your nephews, the elf and his partner have been in the Empire for quite a while, since long before we invited the dungeon master from the Lower Gordu. How could the monster have anticipated our actions and sent agents out so far ahead of his capture?”

“Hm, I admit it does seem a bit of a stretch. How smart has the creature proven to be so far?”

“Far smarter than any normal monster, of course, but it’s hard to say beyond that. My daughter’s kept a tight leash on it, prohibiting it from communicating, you know. I wasn’t there when they had some initial conversations, though.”

“This restriction seems hardly necessary. So long as it’s obeying our commands, we should let it speak. Didn’t we suffer a setback because your daughter couldn’t direct monsters here the first time?”

“Yes. Fine, I’ll have her get the creature talking again. Let’s set some verbal traps for it to see if it knows anything about the elf. In the meantime, we should be careful not to show the elf anything too sensitive. We’ll keep escorts with him at all times.”

“My nephews are still with them.”

“Sorry, Andrei, but I don’t think that’s going to cut it.”

“What?”

“Your nephews were away with these people for too long. We’ll need to add additional guards, just in case.”

“Oh, very well. I’ll come up with some excuse.”

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A cat jumped from branch to branch, growling with each hop. It stopped to sniff twice, then turned its head and changed directions. After traversing a few more trees, it climbed down the trunk and landed on the forest floor in one fluid motion.

“There you are.” Shiba got down on one knee and beckoned to the cat.

It sauntered over to her and hopped up onto her shoulders, purring once.

“Was there an army?”

The cat turned its head in the direction it came from and growled.

“Probably a half-hour walk or so in that direction,” said Shiba while pointing.

“What if someone saw it?” asked Lupy.

Kat answered diplomatically. “If an army sees a cat running away, they’ll just ignore it.”

“Oh, so that’s why you wouldn’t let me use my minotaur.”

“Yes…”

“Let’s get going,” said Vulp. “We need to report this to the nearest Guild branch.”

“Yeah, then we need to hurry east to find the other army,” added Kat.

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“Announcing Luna Kraus of the Blacksmith’s Guild!”

Luna entered the imperial throne room carrying several pieces of armor. She gently set them down and took a knee.

“Why have you sought an urgent audience with me, Ms. Kraus?”

“Your Imperial Majesty, I believe I found some personal effects of your father’s after searching through my own father’s collection from his days as an imperial blacksmith. I brought them here with all due haste.”

“That’s wonderful! Perhaps we’ll learn something useful about my father’s whereabouts. Please bring me the items.”

“Noa–er, Your Majesty, I believe the secrets contained within these items might not—“

The Imperial Guard shared knowing smiles with each other, struggling to keep up appearances during this whole charade.

“Ah, yes, I should dismiss everyone save for my most trusted guards before inspecting or discussing the items.” Emperor Noah nodded to his guard, and they started clearing the room. “Wait just a moment, Lun–Ms. Kraus.”

“Of course, Sire.”

Only three guardsman remained, including the captain of Noah’s guard. All others had exited.

“Luna, I’m guessing your story about those items is made up.”

“Of course. What the heck is wrong with you, inviting me to bring the items up to you? What did you want me to do? Start making up reasons why these items are connected to your father somehow? These items I grabbed off the shelf half an hour ago?”

“Y–Yeah…” The Emperor cleared his throat. “Well, what did you want to discuss? Learn anything useful while traveling around?”

“Yes. I lucked out.”

“Well, you’re only the second to come through for me, then. I can’t figure out what the heck is going on. Are you here to tell me about the wyverns, the monsters marching all over the place, or Vosk’s secret rebellion that everyone but me knows about?”

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“All three.”

“What!?”

“I told you, I lucked out.”

“Well? Start from the beginning!”

“I thought I’d blend in better if I traveled south with adventurers, so I joined the Guild.”

“You what?”

“I registered and joined the first foreign party I found that was recruiting members. I needed cover before I did anything else.”

The Emperor narrowed his eyes. “Did that work?”

“No. The next two people to join the party were agents of Andrei Vosk, although I didn’t realize it immediately.”

“What!? Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. They were keeping an eye on me, but they didn’t do anything.”

“Were you with them all this time?”

“Amazingly, yes. The party was originally an elf and a swordswoman from the Holy State, so in all there were five of us.”

“The Holy State? What were they doing here?”

“At the time, they said they had come to the Empire out of interest and to train in a new region. It worked out well for me because they weren’t tethered to Gazahanar. I cajoled them into traveling south without revealing my true intentions.”

“You pulled the wool over their eyes?”

“Initially. It turned out they were here to investigate the Empire.”

“What!? Just what the heck was going on with your party!? Was the party name ‘Cloak and Dagger’!?”

“I know… In hindsight it was pretty incredible.”

The Emperor steadied his breathing and narrowed his eyes. “Wait, Luna, on whose behalf were they investigating the Empire?”

“That’s where things get interesting, but let me tell you this in order. The five of us traveled around for a while, jointly investigating the region while questing on behalf of the Guild. The questing was a lot of fun, actually. I’d invite you to try it if you weren’t busy being the Emperor.”

“Says the woman who told me I should accept the throne. I’d much rather—oh just continue.”

“At one point we ended up in a battle with a wyvern, but we sided with the local garrison and all survived.”

“A wyvern…”

“Oh, relax. Anyway, when I realized the hunter in our party was secretly sending messages back to the central region nobles, he and his brother flipped out on me. Ardreth, oh, the elf, mediated and convinced them to jointly investigate the happenings of the central region with the three of us.”

“He… what? He convinced the people spying on behalf of the central region nobles to help you investigate the central region?”

“He can be surprisingly convincing. They were in the dark at the time regarding the cause of wyvern attacks as well, so we all basically agreed to investigate the source of that together. Then when monster armies started marching all around the Empire, they had no idea what was going on, same as us. Well… Ardreth and his adventuring companion, Sasha, had an idea.”

“So I take it these two agents of Vosk’s would detain you if you learned anything that the central region nobles wouldn’t want you sharing with me?”

“Pretty much.”

“I’m glad you escaped, then.”

“Oh, I didn’t escape. In fact, would you just let me finish?”

“Oh, uh, go ahead.” The Emperor’s usual stern voice was nowhere to be found.

“Just when we were close to discovering the truth behind all of Vosk’s machinations, we were approached by a talking monster.”

“A… talking monster? Well, given all the marching armies, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Is this connected the monster army that was seen at the Twin Cities recently?”

“Yes. Are you aware that there is a dungeon in the Lower Gordu Forest near the border between the Holy State and the Union?”

“I think I saw that mentioned in a report. Why?”

“Noah, you really should pay more attention. The dungeon master is an intelligent monster.”

“A dragon? I did hear of dragons just recently.”

“No, a tentacle monster.”

“A… what?”

“A tentacle monster, Noah. It’s a type of monster. I’ve never seen one before either. This one can send shapeshifting monsters out to speak on its behalf, which is how we met it.”

Noah stared at her, not wanting to interrupt her, prompting her with his eyes to continue.

“The Burgers invited this tentacle monster to seize control of the dungeon on our side of the border with the Holy State.”

“What? The nerve of them doing that on their own…”

“It gets worse. Just as the tentacle monster was claiming the dungeon, one of the Burgers slapped a modified slave collar onto its body.”

“A slave collar, is it?”

“Yes. The tentacle monster soon learned that the dungeon south of Kharb was releasing out-of-control wyverns because of the Burgers’ unsuccessful attempts to control the wyverns by enslaving the dungeon master. Apparently, the master of that dungeon was not intelligent.”

“They wanted to tame the wyverns after all!”

“Yes, although their initial efforts all failed. Sasha said two of their party members had to retire because of injuries sustained when fighting one of those wyverns…”

Noah’s hands squeezed the armrests of his throne, shaking slightly. “When the time is right, I should apologize to this Sasha for my ineptitude.”

“If you say so. Anyway, the collar didn’t work correctly. The tentacle monster was only partly limited by it and eventually broke free of it entirely. He’s been pretending to be under their control ever since.”

“What!?”

“Last I heard, he was with the Burgers, Vosks, and others at a staging point south of Baram. Apparently, Karen Burger is controlling him, or at least thinks she is, and had the tentacle monster summon armies from four dungeons he now controls. This monster army is also at the staging point.”

“And he’s… just pretending to go along with it all?”

“For now. He did some investigating on his own and came to realize that Andrei Vosk is single-handedly spreading the theory that you seized the throne improperly.”

“So? That’s hardly shocking.”

“Don’t you get it, Noah? Vosk is even lying to the Burgers and his other allies about this!”

Noah leaned back. “Is Andrei Vosk really the only truly guilty person in all this?”

“It seems that way. Obviously, you can’t just forgive attempts to seize the throne or start a civil war, but the one who truly deserves to pay for this is Andrei Vosk.”

“Even if he broke free of his bonds and kept up the act, how did the tentacle monster investigate that? Did he happen to overhear a conversation?”

“It’s… probably better if you don’t know that for now.”

“What? I’m not invited into this little conspiracy to save the Empire?”

“Dammit Noah, there’s still more. The tentacle monster spied on the most recent planning meeting regarding the upcoming conflict. Vosk revealed several secrets. For one there are sympathetic armies hiding south of Zinar and Meethil, waiting for the right moment to pincer Gazahanar.”

“WHAT!? We… We need to get everyone back in here—“

“Noah, seriously, just give me one more minute. The enemy also has nearly its entire fleet hiding at Zaranar harbor somehow.”

“WHAT!?”

“You already know that Vosk has spies throughout the capital and even a few in the castle, probably. Here’s what we’re doing about it.”

“Oh, so I don’t even get a vote in how to save my Empire.”

“Ardreth worked out the details with the tentacle monster. They sent some trustworthy adventurers north to interfere with the hidden armies. The tentacle monster also said he had some plan to deal with the fleet although I don’t know what it is. The rest of my party proceeded to the staging area and are pretending to be sympathetic with the rebellion since you are such an evil and fake Emperor and all that.”

“And you came here to tell me all of this.”

“Yes. It will likely blow what little cover you and I have, but I think we need some pretense for you to keep me near you, for now.”

“Why?”

“Apparently, the tentacle monster can see everything I can through my eyes.”

Noah stood up, alarmed. “Even right now!?”

“Yes, although I don’t know if he’s actually paying attention to me right now. Also, he said I can get the status removed by a healer at any time if I don’t want it.”

Noah turned to his guard. “Is that possible?”

“Sire, I cannot believe a monster could pose such a threat from that far away. Still, I will consult with a monster expert at the next opportunity.”

“All right.” He turned back to Luna. “Most importantly, what do this elf and this tentacle monster want? Wait, who is the elf working for?”

“Yeah, so, the elf and the tentacle monster met back in the Holy State. I don’t totally understand what happened. I think the elf maybe owed the tentacle monster a favor? Anyway, the elf agreed to investigate the Empire on behalf of the tentacle monster.”

“Why was the tentacle monster interested in the Empire? This was before the Burgers messed around with him, right?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was just curious about whether or not the Empire might pose a threat in the future? Clearly… it did.”

Noah sat back down, a grim look on his face. “And what do they want?”

“Basically, all five of us from my party recognize you as the rightful emperor. We’re trying to minimize the bloodshed in the upcoming conflict, and the tentacle monster is contributing toward that as well.”

“Before I call everyone back in, tell me what you need me to do.”