“Any sign,” I asked Captain Cardin, and he shook his head as he put down his binoculars.
He had a skill that let him see far and, with the enchanted, he could see ever further. “Till now, everything is clear,” he said.
It had been nearly twenty minutes since I had been informed about the second horde. I didn’t like it, but I have accepted it. We have also informed all the important people and the officers being informed.
They must know about it before the second horde is spotted. The time will give them a chance to process the news and they won’t panic, when they see the second horde.
What happens next is extremely important, and I want everything to go as smoothly as possible.
The undead are still attacking the wall and couldn’t help, but feel genuine fear for them. If a warrior is doused in oil, burned. It will injure them and even kill them; they wouldn’t be capable of fighting.
The undead are not like that. Burn them, hit them, or cut them; the undead will keep coming unless one destroys them.
Currently, we are doing fine, because our enemy is barely sending enough numbers to keep us busy. If they had truly attacked us; I don’t think, we would have been here, defending on the wall.
Though, I would have preferred that. We wanted that, but unfortunately, the bastards did something unexpected, called the second horde.
It will make things more unpredictable and dangerous for us.
“Lord Governor, they are here,” informed a Mage.
I took a last look at the wall, before climbing down off the wall. I rather not leave the wall.
Seeing me here gives people confidence. I need to be as much in public as possible, despite the dangers, but they have come, and I need to meet them. I truly hope, what she said is true; I need, all the help, I can.
Soon, I reached the white building and walked into the basement, before reaching the room, which was being guarded by the two guards.
They bowed, opened the door, and I walked inside. In there are three people; all of them, I am very familiar with.
There is Ina, and in front of her are Margaux and Eudo.
I wouldn’t want them here outside of the safe zone, where anything could happen at any moment.
I wouldn’t have those two come here if not for Margaux telling me. It is extremely important and could help me in battle. Margaux isn’t one to make such a statement without substance.
I turned to them; to Eudo. It is likely because of him. She had said those words in the message.
The question is now, what he has, that could help me in this battle.
“Master Silver,” “Lord Governor,”
They greeted me as I entered the room. “Please, sit down,” I said as I sat down, before turning to them.
“What it is?” I asked.
Immediately, both of their eyes turned to Eudo, who took a deep breath, with a lot of pain appearing in those eyes.
“Have you heard of sabers of siamet, Lord Governor?” he asked finally.
“The elite group of powerhouses of the Siamet Empire,” I replied, and a small smile appeared on his face.
“An understatement,” he said, and this time, it was my turn to smile.
It is truly an understatement to call them just an elite group. They are one of the most powerful units in the world, solely in command of the Siamet Emperor. Kind of like imperial knights, but far more powerful.
They can chew the imperial knights and spit them out; only the kinds of Knight Schegan would be able to contend against those monsters.
“Do you know what the real name of the unit is?” he asked. “Nightquill,” I replied, the book, I had read about them had their real name.
“Do you know why, they have that name?” he asked, and I didn’t answer immediately.
“I read, that they covered their bodies with paints, which gave them the powerful enhancements and abilities,” I replied, to which she shook his head.
“It is not paint, but script,” he corrected. “And you are telling me this because?” I asked.
He smiled, and that smile was filled with such pain that made me want to hug him. Margaux seemed to see that, as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
“I was the member of Nightquill,” he replied, in an almost inaudible voice, that seemed to come out with all his efforts.
I looked at him, not at his hands or not thereof, but at him. He is not a warrior; they are easy to recognize. If Eudo had been part of such a powerful unit; I would have seen the sign of him being the warrior.
“I was not a warrior, Lord Governor,” he confirmed, with a small genuine smile appearing on his face.
“Most people don’t know this, but the Nightquill has two types of members. First are the sabers, the ones who fight, and the second is the quill. The ones provide them with the scrips,”
“I was a quill,”
I didn’t react for a few seconds. It took me a while to control my emotions and turned to him and there was excitement in my eyes.
“Can you paint the script on our people?” I asked with hope, and he smiled, without mirth, before shaking his head.
“I had lost that class, and the knowledge of quill scrips has been sealed. Even if I knew, it wouldn’t have helped much. To use the scripts, one needs to have the classes of nightquill,” he replied.
All the hope, I had in my heart was dashed, but I quickly controlled my emotions and turned to him.
If it was just that, he wouldn’t have come here. So, I looked at him and waited.
“I may not have lost that class, but I have gained another and crafted my own script. While my scripts aren’t as powerful as nightquills; they would still be able to provide good enough enhancements,” he added and removed the wooden box from his bag.
Once again, hope rose in my heart. Any type of enhancement is welcome; it will help us against the powerful enemies we will be facing.
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“Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough paint to lay the script on all your officers. This ink will be used on five to six people at most,” he said, looking at half-empty bottles of ink in the wooden box.
“We have some magical ink from orcs, will that work?” I asked, to which he shook his head.
“No, orcs use the different types of ink. This is a different ink,” he replied. “Can it be enhanced?” I asked, that he began to shake his head, before stopping mid-way.
“There are some things that could enhance it, like the essence of startwhisper lily, bloodforge crystals, or emotion essence,” he replied.
I thought for a moment before taking out four bottles with each holding a drop of emotional essence.
“I knew, I had sensed the change yesterday. I thought it was my mind playing tricks, but it seemed like it was true. The establishment had upgraded into the Grade II.” He said and took the bottle with the mixed emotion essence, while we watched in shock.
Less than ten people are aware of the advancement of the establishment. I only told those who needed to know; even most assistant madam’s aren’t aware of it.
“You don’t have to be shocked, Lord Governor. I have been in the establishment from the beginning, and I have seen every change. It had also changed my class and my level was high enough that I could sense the changes happening in it,” he said.
If I am not wrong, he should be the highest-level person in the whole damn city. I had nearly forgotten that he was at Lv. 30, that was when I had hired him.
Since then, people working in the establishment have gained, tens of levels. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume he had leveled up a few times as well, and he said, his class had changed, which would have brought him closer to the legacy.
While I was in my thoughts, he opened the bottle of the mixed essence and brought the drop of essence out, which transformed into a big cloud of dense essence mist.
The emotion essence may look like liquid, it is a very concentrated mist. It will remain in a mist state until Grade III before the state change will occur at Grade IV.
At the same time, the caps of paint ink bottles were opened, and the emotion essence began to funnel into them.
“I have the skill to let me do this, but it is such a waste to use emotion essence this way. In the capable alchemist's hand, it would have been, a far more efficient process, with a power of ink, increasing more than, what it would now,”
We didn’t say anything and watched in silence and shock.
Using the emotion essence directly is dangerous, but he has the skill and the way he is handling the emotion essence. It is clear, it was not his first time handling it. He was able to recognize, the emotion essence being Grade II at a single glance.
Only those, who know it well, could guess the grade at a single glass.
A little more than a minute later, the mist stopped funneling into the paint bottles. The remaining 10% of the mist, went back to its small bottle, which he gave back.
I looked at the paint bottles and saw their volume had increased by more than twice; the paint also glittering like stars.
“Emotion essence is best,” he marveled and turned to me. “I think I will be able to use it on ten to thirteen people, now,” he said.
“Can’t you use, any more emotion essence?” I asked, looking at the bottles in front of me. I do not care about their value right now. I only care for the power; it could provide me.
“The ink could only bear this much of emotion essence,” he replied with a shake of his head.
“I will start with you, Lord Governor,” he said, but it is I, who shook the head.
“There are people who need it more than me. They will need the enhancements to fight the powerful enemies attacking us.,” I replied, to his surprise.
“Ina, call Stone, here immediately,” I said to her.
She nodded and hurried out of the room. We didn’t have much time; the enemies will be coming soon, and we need to be ready to face them.
I hope Eudo is quick with quill, because we have one and a half hours before enemies arrive.
I looked at Eudo, who was looking at me with various emotions. Some, I could guess. There is a question in his eyes and the answer is simple.
Yes, I would love to have the enhancements, but I am aware, that it will be more useful to others. It would help them tremendously deal against those Lv. 30s. They will be fighting.
“Carla had asked me to give you this,” said Margaux suddenly and handed me the letter. I took it and looked at her question, but she also didn’t seem to have an idea. What’s in it.
I tore it open and read the first line, which shocked me.
The assassin had attacked her in the bathroom, she described what happened and how she killed him with Bell.
There was anger in my eyes for a few seconds before I was able to control myself.
I understand why, she didn’t inform me about it immediately. It is useless, as even now, knowing the assassin attacked her, I couldn’t send anyone to protect her.
Some people earlier had suggested pulling out the city guards from the safe-zone and adding them to the army. That’s how bad our conditions are, where every person has become important in the fight against the undead.
I am glad, I was right in trusting my heart and told her about the secret and gave her access to it. I didn’t even want to imagine, what would have happened. If she didn’t have that, to protect herself.
“What happened?” asked Margaux, in worry. “Nothing much; she is just complaining about merchants, acting like spoiled children,” I replied.
She looked at me; it’s clear she didn’t believe me. I didn’t lie to her; Carla complained about the merchants acting like children at the end of her letter.