Uno

Stupid.

So stupid.

Here I was, once again getting ahead of myself, and not taking all the possible factors into account. You can say that no plan survives contact with the enemy and yada, yada, yadda, but forgetting about Non’s hatred of Geinard Kingdom was completely my fault. It was already a pain to stop her from decimating the undead aboveground, not to mention murdering more of Charles’ soldiers and now I had to deal with her inability to differentiate between the new Silver Oasis and the former Kingdom-controlled Silver Oasis.

Or, as they say, the lack of an ability to understand politics.

“Tinna! Tinna! You’re alive!” Charles continued his crazy shouts, only adding to the confusion while his guards desperately tried to keep him apart from the clearly undead girl.

I had my own screaming to do, so I promptly ignored his reaction. It was a problem for another time.

[Non, please!] I repeated my earlier askance. [These people are not enemies. They no longer respect the authority of the Geinard Kingdom! An independent city-state, that’s what they are!]

[Trai. Tors. All.] She sent back, not even trying to speak aloud. [Child. Kill. Ers.]

What?

Making use of my confusion the revenant girl sunk into shadows, her usually emotionless face sending shivers down my nonexistent spine.

[Guardian, stop her!] I ordered, desperately scanning the room.

Despite not hearing the contents of my conversation the humans’ alertness shot through the roof. They knew that something was amiss from Guardian’s reaction and Non’s undisguised hostility. Only Charles still couldn’t accept that a former ally was now trying to murder him.

Non reappeared from the Guardian’s shadow, popping up between him and his charges. She jumped, ready to drop on her victims like a personification of vengeance. Thankfully the armored warrior noticed her shadow jump and swatted her back while she was still suspended in the air.

A superhuman feat, that.

For a millisecond the metal collided with metal and a jarring screech echoed in the room. The shadow assassin was thrown straight at the nearby wall, her arm stretched out to cushion the impact. This turned out to be not that great of an idea because her appendage crunched nastily as she hit the rock wall. It bent in the wrong direction, making me cringe at the mere sight of the damage.

This however didn’t stop her in the slightest, as she glanced down before fixing it up with the simple use of inhuman strength. The arm crunched again, before regaining its earlier shape. After the damage was undone Non focused on the humans once again.

“Stop.” She hissed towards the Guardian, her eyes blaring with a dangerous light.

“I can’t, little lady. It is the Lord’s order for the visitors to not come to harm. I live to serve.” He answered with a mirthless chuckle, slowly repositioning his armored body between the undead and Charles's entourage.

“My. Due.”

“I know that vengeance is what you subsist on.” The Guardian answered with a touch of pity in his words. “But is it really an act of righteous revenge if you dish it out on the innocent? Where does it end, and where a senseless slaughter begins? Reconsider, before you fall into darkness.”

His words had fallen on deaf ears, as the feeling of aggression Non gave out didn’t diminish in the slightest. My servant’s words didn’t strike a chord so I silently added my two cents to convince her. That and reinforcements were already on the way, so playing for time was a valid strategy.

[You mentioned child killers - who are you talking about? Charles and his cronies didn’t have any contact with you or yours. How are they worthy of your rage?]

The undead’s gaze turned toward my fake onyx core.

[Lord. Hawk. Friend.] She ground her teeth. [Ene. My.]

[Wait, wait, wait. Your enemy is anyone who’s friends with Lord Hawk? That scary dude, who kicked my ass and saved the elves? That Lord Hawk?]

[Ene. My.] Non nodded. [Vam. Pire.]

[That’s a bit too large of a revelation…] I mumbled helplessly. [How do you even…] My voice trailed off. [You know what? I don’t want to know. The highest-leveled leader of a monster-hunting organization in the country… An organization that was literally named after him, may I remind you - that guy is a monster. A freakin’ vampire. Sure. Let’s roll with it. The King and the Queen were also turned, so it isn’t that unbelievable.]

Another nod. [Now. Kill.]

[No!]

This time Non decided to sacrifice one of her daggers, throwing it in Charles's direction. The Guardian intercepted it of course, but doing so forced him to overextend. His form lunged forward just as the girl sunk into another shadow, a second later emerging behind his armored frame.

The situation was similar to one before, but this time my Guardian was just a tad too slow to intervene.

But Non had also miscalculated. These people weren’t her usual prey - helpless soldiers or undead taken by surprise but instead prepared human elites hardened by countless battles. Well, two of them. This Adam fellow was instead busy shaking in his boots.

Anyway.

That was why the moment taken as she prepared to strike was already a moment too late. A fireball and an arcane lance punched through her center of gravity at the same time, once again sending her flying. There was a THUNK and another wall had its carvings reduced to dust.

The Sculptor was going to be exasperated.

Contrary to the explosive visuals Non was pretty much unharmed, her black eyes filled with anger, not pain. She started to rise… but the time was already up.

Reinforcements had arrived.

A gaggle of Spider-walkers and a few Spider-walker Generals burst into the room, readying their nets and needles. A few Spider-walker Butchers arrived too, primarily to provide support in case somebody was hurt.

The large room suddenly felt much smaller, with the metallic appendages clanking on the stone floor. Under my direction they moved near Non, aggressively waving their arms.

“We have you surrounded, Non. Please desist.” I answered with a bit giddily.

She glared back but decided to keep silent.

“You said that those who are Lord Hawk's friends are your enemies but it was him, and other Geinard Kingdom’s bigwigs, who sent the undead army against the surface people. Against the Silver Oasis, whose leader you just tried to assassinate.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Doesn’t that make you a person that’s helping the Geinard Kingdom the most?”

There was confusion in her eyes. Good. One last push.

“An enemy of my enemy is my friend. Does that ring any bells? You already had to flee from the Kingdom’s pursuit. Are you going to keep trying with the same resources to get the same result? Or maybe you need allies? Strong allies, that can easily fend for themselves, just like they fended off your attack?”

“Think about it.”

She answered with a short nod, her gaze considering. She tugged on her braided hair, thoughts of battle instantly forgotten.

“What was that?” Charles asked and I cursed under my nose. Right. I had to explain her presence. “Why is Tinna down here? What happened to her? What’s with all the metal?!” He screamed out the last words.

“Hmph.” She scoffed, sizing up the red-haired mage and waving her hand in my core’s direction. “Tell.” She spoke and then promptly melded into darkness, but not before dumping the explaining duty on my shoulders.

Women.

I sighed, before answering. “That’s a long story, I’m afraid.”

“We have time.”

“Sure… let’s start at the beginning.”

It took a few hours to explain how Tinna (now Non) was a member of Hawks, her role as a spy for the said group, how she was rescued by the divine magic (I sure wasn’t going to tell them it was Gangria, the corrupted Goddess that did it), and then started working as my dungeon’s contracted monster. In the meantime, I also asked Non about the child killers she was raving about and learned what happened to her siblings. Starvation was a bad way to go. Even more when it happened to the children…

When I finished the faces of Charles’ entourage were hard to describe.

Both Charles and Adam were nearly crying their hearts out. It was easy to understand. The most interesting one, however, was Master Vincent. His face looked a little bit off. There was regret, anger, and a pinch of understanding in his expression.

“You know, Charles.” He started speaking in barely a whisper. “I knew that the situation in Shieldstar was bad. That the people living in the capital were dying of hunger. That’s how I get most of my recruits - orphans with a penchant for magic taken off the streets.”

“I noticed that they seemed to be especially devout. More so even than mages reared by my family.” The noble agreed.

“Saving one’s life does that for a man. Or a woman.” Master Vincent smiled feebly, before putting his hand on Charles’ shoulder. “And yet I didn’t understand how bad the situation was. How the people were not even starved but deliberately killed off… and then probably buried in the dungeon.”

“That’s… horrible.”

“It’s only efficient. Use whatever you can use, right? Even level-less starved children provided some sustenance to the capitol’s food-bearing dungeon.”

“Don’t let Tinna--”

“She’s now called Non.” I interrupted.

After glaring at my interruption Charles continued his thought. “Don’t let Non get wind of this. She’ll try to assassinate the Geinard Kingdom’s whole damn bureaucratic class.”

“And maybe she should.” Murmured Adam, his expression still horrified. The old man wasn’t taking the news well.

“One death is a tragedy.” I cited. “A death of a thousand - merely a statistic.” There was a brief mourning silence before I continued. “The people who give out orders aren’t seeing what the commoners see so it’s easy for them to not care.”

“Is that also ancient wisdom from a bygone era?”

Damn it… me, and my big mouth.

“Yes.” I answered curtly.

“It’s oddly comforting that the human race doesn’t change. The atrocities committed by the ancients remain the same as the ones done today. Otherwise, why would there be a need for such a callous saying.” Mused Master Vincent, his eyes clouded with emotion.

Charles clapped his hands. “Let’s focus on the now.” Seeing the agreement, he continued.

“Uno.”

“Yep?”

“I agree to your terms. You will get your volunteers and the required sacrifices. After they return I will send Agnes to join you on the fourth floor. On one condition though.”

“Yes?”

“Your core will remain in the room.”

“A fine collateral.” I agreed. The fake core can stay here all they want. “That is agreed, then. Of course, I’ll have my creatures stationed nearby for everyone's safety.”

“That is fair.” Charles agreed impassively. “After my fiancee is healed I’ll also arrive, to finish what we started.” He added ominously.

“Sure.” I was certain that this meant an expedition would be forming with the sole goal of shattering me… once I outlived my usefulness. “Please hurry though. The sooner I finish my tests the earlier I can start healing your precious girlfriend.”

“She’s not…” He breathed out with a tired gaze before forcibly changing the topic. “If that’s all then we will begin our ascent shortly.”

“Would it be all right if I stayed on the third floor? The garden there is fascinating.” Master Vincent took this opportunity to push his interests.

“What about your safety?” The red-haired noble worried aloud, his gaze focusing on a few of my creations still lingering around. I let them stay because no one knew when Non’s mood would turn.

“Young Charles, there are things in life more important than one’s safety!”

“Researching farming techniques of monsters located deep underground isn’t one of them.”

“Maybe for you.” The mage grumbled under his breath before smiling teasingly. “Alas, weren’t you given a gift yourself? Way to disparage the little rats after receiving such boon.”

“This… You’re not wrong. Their generosity may be a way to stave off the starvation.” Charles shook his head. “Do what you want.”

“It’s fine with me too.” I added, not wanting to be outdone. It was my dungeon, dammit!

It wasn’t all bad though. Maybe - just maybe - my Ratlings can learn something useful from the old master of the arcane. I need to remember to give them copies of the sonic weapon too. Well, it was technically a megaphone but tomato - tomahto.

Having said their lines the humans retreated, once again following Guardian’s armored back. The journey upward was uneventful, save for a small gathering of Ratlings contained in the Gardens. They waved and squeaked in delight at the mere sight of Charles.

Seeing him not knowing how to react was kinda funny.

All good things come to an end, though. Soon they reached the surface, only to be greeted by a frustrated runner. The young man was sweating even more than before and started to yell as soon as he saw Charles emerge from the dungeon’s entrance.

“Master Charles! Master Charles! Trouble!”

“Calm down, boy!” The noble yelled back, despite not being that much older. “What’s the problem?”

“Master Outeles has disappeared with most of the Republic-borne people! The horses are also missing!”

“Curse that merchant!” Charles spat angrily.

“A-a-and he left a letter for you!” The noble took the paper gingerly, before breaking the seal.

Now, that was interesting!

If only…

Yes!

YES!

I had an Evil Eye nearby and it was growing just in the right spot to glean the contents of the letter.

Now, if only I had some popcorn…

Master Charles,

I hope this letter finds you well. You’re probably furious both at me, and my people, but please, hold back your anger. We simply had no choice, and the time was not on our side.

What I’m about to tell you is a bribe, plain and simple. It is however one of the most guarded secrets of our people.

Well… Not anymore. The cogs of history had turned and soon what was secret would come to light. But you will have an earlier start than your competitors and knowledge is always worth something. Even if only to bargain with it or sell it to the highest bidder.

The continent is dying. I’m sure you know it as well as I and every other doomed soul walking this earth. Most of us choose to take our last stand and defend those we love and the country we were born into to the bitter end.

The Dross Republic chose differently. We poured our resources into exploring the unknown and in the end, in the blood and sweat of our sailors, we found it. The mythical second continent. We called it Drossia. Quaint, don’t you think?

And we’re all going there. By boat, by airship, on the backs of the tamed monsters, and onboard never-seen underwater machines. For three years we tirelessly prepared and now - we’re ready. The few who choose to remain will bury our cities and destroy the remaining infrastructure. The reservoirs of toxic substances and corrosive gases will be released.

Soon the former Dross Republic will be reduced to ash and rubble. May the world know that even during our escape we honored the agreements made by our ancestors. No monster will leave the Republic's soil alive.

I and my people are already late. The escape vessels are leaving and if we stretch our supplies we can barely make it. And while working for your Oasis was intoxicating this was never a stable commitment, but just a temporary fling. I do not wish to lie down my bones here, in defense of a foreign dream.

So forgive me and don’t chase after the people I’ve taken.

Yours eternally

Outeles Kamap

P.S. The horses were taken from my caravan. I’m not stealing anything.

Well… damn.