Chapter 7: The Question

Lord Davidson stepped between Vulp and the King. “Your Majesty! Please reconsider!”

The king paused his approach. “Hm? Why?”

“First of all, she’s not yet qualified, and second, I won’t have anyone poaching her!”

“Bah!” The king stepped around Vulp’s defender. “Mere trifling matters.”

“But Sir!”

“Damn it! Either I’m knighting someone with this sword or I’m cutting someone with it!”

The Prime Minister called out from his original position where he still stood. “Please don’t throw out your back.”

The king turned to face the Prime Minister. “Suddenly I’m leaning more towards cutting than knighting.”

“On second thought, just knight her already!” Lord Davidson shouted in exasperation.

The king turned back to Vulp. “Fine.” He gestured with the sword, drawing a pattern in the air over her head. “Valorous Vulp, consider yourself a squire until your lord determines you meet the qualifications for becoming a knight. There, I just saved you a trip.” He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “You should get yourself checked out by a healer after this.” The king returned the sword to its owner and sat back down on his throne.

Vulp just blinked as she struggled to make sense of everything that had just happened. Noticing helpful gestures from around her, she returned to her seat.

“That concludes the awarding of honors and decorations,” said the Prime Minister. Everyone watching applauded a final time. The Prime Minister turned to the king, waiting for instructions on how to proceed. The king turned to look over his shoulder at the quiet gentleman in priestly robes who had stood by expressionless the entire time. The men appeared to exchange silent words and the holy man shook his head reverently at the king. The king nodded and addressed the assembly.

“That takes care of our first order of business. Of course, if all we needed to accomplish was handing out a few accolades, it could have waited until tomorrow.”

That much made sense to Vulp. She still didn’t really understand why they were rushed into the palace so soon after arriving at the city.

“Lord Davidson, before we change topics to our strategy against the Union, I have a few small questions for you. Of course, please feel free to consult with the rest of your group as we discuss the answers.”

“Of course, your Majesty.”

“You see,” the king continued, “I’ve read carefully every report and message sent to the capital from the twin cities since the end of the siege. Something surprising was mentioned several times, yet I do not understand what happened.” The king stood, as though to emphasize his position. He even paused dramatically before asking his question. “Why was the Union’s siege broken by an army of monsters?”

Vulp’s sensitive hearing could make out Lord Davidson gulping in response to the inquiry. Clearly, this was not a topic he was looking forward to discussing.

“Well—“

The king interrupted somewhere between Lord Davidson’s first and second word. “WHY IS THERE A MONSTER ARMY MARCHING AROUND MY KINGDOM, AND WHY AM I THE LAST TO BE INFORMED OF THIS!?”

As the reverberations from the king’s voice died down, even Vulp couldn’t hear a sound coming from anywhere in the room, the king’s labored breathing excepted.

“A–As I was about to explain, the Guild—“

“The Guild? THE GUILD!?” The king turned to an attendant. “Summon the Guild Master right now!”

Before the attendant could depart, the Prime Minister offered counsel. “Sir, I advise we request his attendance. As you know, the autonomy—“

“AUTONOMY!? There are armies of monsters interfering in war and international affairs, they march along our roads like a force of the apocalypse, and the Guild provides ZERO information to the crown. Do you think autonomy extends to a situation THIS dire!?”

“W–Well…” Even the Prime Minister was at a loss for words.

“Let me be clear.” The king sat back down. “We’re not leaving this room until we get to the bottom of this. Until I am satisfied.” The king turned his gaze toward the attendant. “Except for you. Go.”

The attendant didn’t need to be told twice.

“Oh, I shouldn’t keep our honored guest here either. Daphne, please pass on my regards to EarthGlen.”

“I will!” Not wanting to miss this chance, Daphne hopped up from her chair and sprinted out of the throne room, escaping many jealous glares.

“So.” The king addressed Lord Davidson again. “Do you want to start talking now or wait for the Guild Master to get here?”

“Sir, I think it’s an excellent idea for the Guild to attend this conversation.”

“In that case, let me ask you about something else while we wait.”

Everyone braced themselves as the king continued.

“One report mentioned a new game some adventurers and children in the Twin Cities were playing. It involves a board and various pieces meant to mimic soldiers on the battlefield. Do you know the origin of that game?”

Everyone exhaled at the seemingly innocuous question. “I must confess, despite being the Lord, I have not heard even rumors of such a game. Given recent events, I’ve been quite focused on other matters and haven’t paid much attention to minor changes in the city. I apologize for my lack of diligence.”

“Hm, I see.” The king didn’t seem particularly disappointed. “When you get back to the Twin Cities, look into it for me, would you?”

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“Of course!”

Vulp was amazed at the king’s ability to compartmentalize his concerns. He was clearly livid, if not terrified, about the news of monsters roaming the countryside, yet he could still worry about things like reports of new games. He’d probably be quite surprised to learn that the origin of the monster army and the game were one and the same…

“Hah, it seems on this matter I’m not the last to hear about it.” Even the king could celebrate the small victories.

The Ereacht Guild Master entered the throne room just a few minutes later. He had a similar air to the Twin Cities Guild Master, athletic except a fair bit older. “I’m here, your Majesty.”

“Wow, that was pretty fast. What, were you waiting right outside for us to call you?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Once I heard that you summoned the Twin Cities entourage straight from the city gates, I hastened to the palace.”

“And why would you do that?”

“There’s a certain matter the Guild is investigating which I’m sure your Majesty’s going to want more information about. This issue can no longer wait for the Guild to put together a verified and comprehensive report, especially considering recent escalations.”

“And how long has the Guild been looking into this matter?” The king’s tone was far from jovial.

“I’m uncertain, Sir. The Twin Cities Guild has the leading role, and communications between their branch and the capital are currently strained. I only recently received the first legitimate update myself.”

“How convenient. And now, I can receive my first legitimate update, too. The Lord of the Twin Cities doesn’t seem very eager to tell me anything, so why don’t you start from the beginning?”

“Your Majesty, this is pertaining to the shifting role and anomalous behavior of monsters in the eastern regions of the kingdom, culminating in an army of monsters participating in the conflict between the Union’s sieging forces and the Twin Cities defenders. Am I correct?”

The king shook his head. “Actually no, I just wanted your opinion on the unseasonable warm weather recently.”

The Guild Master closed his eyes, bracing for the follow-up.

“TELL ME ABOUT THESE DAMN ARMIES OF MONSTERS, NOW!”

He opened his eyes. “By your will. We’ve confirmed that the monsters sighted during the siege of the Twin Cities originated from dungeons to the northwest of the city.”

“Are these the dungeons that the Union supposedly invaded? Is one of them the dungeon that I hear has been used exclusively to train newbie adventurers recently?”

“Yes and yes, your Majesty.”

“Things are finally starting to make a little bit of sense. Tell me from the beginning.”

“Of course. A new dungeon spawned in the Lower Gordu Forest a few months ago, providing an opportunity for newbie adventurers from the Twin Cities Guild to train and level up. The dungeon master established communication with the Twin Cities Guild Master and eventually reached an agreement that the dungeon may be used as a safe place to train so long as the Guild provides some degree of protection to the dungeon, although I don’t understand the details of that arrangement at this time.”

“Wait a moment.” The king leaned his face onto his fist with his elbow supported by an armrest. Vulp could hear whispers around the room as the king stared down at the floor in thought. “How do dungeon masters make contact with Guild Masters?”

“I’m not certain of the exact events and timeline, but the Guild Master journeyed into the dungeon to speak directly with the dungeon master.”

“Guild Master, I am not an adventurer, former or present. I chose a different occupation, as you can see.” The king lifted his head and gestured toward his crown, glossing over the fact that he hardly chose to becoming king. “As a result, I’m not an expert on monsters or dungeons. Could you please clarify for me, briefly, how does a monster speak?”

“That I am unsure of, your Majesty.”

“Do they speak with their mouths? Do they draw pictures with their claws?”

“Tentacles.”

“What?”

“Your Majesty, the identity of the dungeon master is a tentacle monster.”

“A… tentacle monster,” the king repeated back, resting his face back on his fist.

“I’ve heard from a subordinate that the dungeon spawns a rare monster called a morphling which can take the form of other creatures. The morphling then speaks the dungeon master’s words while in a form capable of speech. As to why a tentacle monster is intelligent, I cannot say.”

“Okay, now I’m really worried about those morphlings, but let’s set that aside for the time being. What happened next?”

“The dungeon master seized control of a separate dungeon in the Upper Gordu Forest. I’m not sure how exactly it accomplished that since I’ve never heard of such an event occurring before.”

“Wait. So the Union’s claim that we were violating their borders and improperly influencing their dungeon was actually as a result of this tentacle monster’s actions?”

“That appears to be the case, your Majesty.”

“Continue.”

“Apparently, before the Union invaded those two dungeons, the dungeon master spawned a large army and marched them to the twin cities, yielding control of the dungeon floors to the Union.”

“Why would it do that?”

“Your Majesty, I’ll have to defer to Lord Davidson for that, as well as for questions as to what happened next.”

The king turned to the Lord in question. “Are you willing to explain what happened next, now?”

“Yes, Sir. The monster army broke through the Union’s siege, marched up to the Twin Cities outer wall, and transported two people back into the forest.”

“You let monsters kidnap your citizens!?”

“I do not believe so, your Majesty. The individuals in question escaped the city and joined up with the monsters.”

“What? Who were they and why did they do that?”

Lord Davidson turned to look at the Guild Master who shook his head. “It appears neither of us know the answer to either question, Sir.”

The king sighed. “Things are getting stranger and stranger. What happened next?”

“The army retreated back to the forest, presumably to return to the dungeons.”

“The dungeons occupied by the Union?”

“Yes. We didn’t see or hear anything of the armies or those two individuals after that.”

“I see.” The king seemed satisfied, at least for now. “Anything else?”

“We subsequently learned that all of the soldiers which intruded either of the two dungeons were slaughtered, save for one lucky prisoner.”

“What!? That’s in addition to all the reported losses from the battle with the Union at the Twin Cities?”

“Yes. However, the Union had embedded quite a few of their adventurers with the soldiers that were holed up in the two dungeons. All of the adventurers were captured and turned over to the Twin Cities Guild for questioning.”

“Wait.” The king was confused again. “How did you capture all of the adventurers? Did they all somehow escape the fighting between the dungeon monsters and the soldiers, only to get captured by your forces? Weren’t you too busy dealing with the aftermath of the siege to go hunting through the woods for prisoners anyway?”

“Well…” Lord Davidson hesitated to answer this question. He took a breath and continued. “As I said, the soldiers within the dungeons were slaughtered, but the adventurers were only captured, likely because they were being forced to march alongside the Union’s army.”

“This dungeon master… actually managed to capture all the adventurers while eliminating the soldiers?”

“Yes, your Majesty. He healed the seriously injured ones and then turned them all over to the Twin Cities.”

“Just what are we dealing with here?”

Lord Davidson gestured to the Guild Master, figuring the question was better addressed to him.

“Either a powerful friend or a dreadful enemy.”

“I’m hesitant to even consider the idea of a monster as a friend,” the king remarked. “From what I can tell, all he’s done to aid the kingdom is assist the Guild in training some newbie adventurers and rescue two people from the Twin Cities who wanted to escape the siege. That’s hardly enough to evade suspicion.” The king turned to Lord Davidson. “Right?”

“That’s all true, your Majesty, but there is one other thing that I feel duty-bound to report.”

“Oh, another report at the eleventh hour. How shocking. I somehow doubt this will be anything minor. Go ahead.”

Once again, Lord Davidson hesitated, unsure if he should really say this or not. Well, it was too late now to take back his offer. “One of the major contributing factors toward us defeating the Union was that we obtained a copy of the enemy’s written orders. In fact, their strategy involved pre-engineering all facets of the invasion to minimize delays in the middle of battle, but that backfired since we obtained their plans in the nick of time.”

“I see! Impressive work! How did you manage to obtain them?”

“Oh, it wasn’t my doing, I’m afraid.”

“Oh?” The king turned to the Guild Master.

The Guild Master shook his head, not taking credit for the deed, at least publicly.

“I don’t believe it was the Guild either,” said Lord Davidson.

“Why not?”

“The written plans literally fell into my lap. One of the soldiers swears he saw a bat-type monster drop the document right on top of me.”