Chapter 15

Omens

*Leuke*

The capitol was wild.

I feel like if I wasn't a Hero, it wouldn't have been so intense, but on the other hand, if I wasn't a Hero, I don't know that I could have afforded it, either. Everything was so fancy, everyone was dressed so well, and every bit of food was so expensive.

I probably would have starved if there hadn't been an army of nobles begging to pay for everything.

Well, okay, we were only there for three days, so starved is a little strong, but I would've gotten really hungry. Still, Captain's always telling me I shouldn't exaggerate.

But wow, nobles are really big fans of Heroes. I mean, sure, everyone loves Heroes, everyone grows up hearing stories about them, every little boy claims to be one when playing pretend. But nobles? Nobles are crazy for them. I'd never have thought it, I always thought nobles only had, like, two emotions, and that all others were trained out of them for not being snooty enough.

All I did was break a few training dummies, though, and by the time we got out of the strategy meeting (I got scolded for saluting a general!), four girls were waiting outside begging me to marry one of them. Every one of them was beautiful, and all of them were the daughters of nobles.

The only thing I could think of was how angry Captain would be if I went and got hitched to some girl I'd only just met like some sort of impulsive playboy, but they were all so insistent that I couldn't get a word in. If Tash hadn't come along and pulled me out of there, I'd probably have had to run.

Thinking back on it now without all of the pressure, I can't imagine marrying a girl that's only interested in me because I'm a Hero could turn out very well, either.

Tash was approached by someone, too, actually. A fat, bald man strolled over like he knew her, and whatever business they had was already decided, but she threw a weird gesture at him and walked off. Whoever the guy was, she clearly didn't like him as much as he had thought she did.

We ended up staying the night at Benny's. Who, by the way, is a noble! And a super important one, too! His parents are diplomats, those people that go talk to other people to solve problems like war and trade issues. And his mom calls him Benny, too! It was great! Well, he didn't think so.

Obviously, his family's going to support him as a Hero, but apparently only halfway? They're going to let another noble family cover the other half as a way to strengthen bonds between them. I'd feel bad for Benny being sold out like a rental product by his own family, but it was his idea! And rather than feeling any shame, his parents praised him for his cunning.

... Maybe diplomats are a lot scarier than I thought.

I'm not actually sure who's sponsoring Sei. Apparently, there's an alliance of noble houses with ties to the Temple, and because she's a Theurgist, they took an interest in her as a group.

We don't look like a uniformed squad anymore, either, which is a little sad because that was neat, but we do look actually ready for combat. The best steelsmith in the capitol worked all night to get a full suit of armor ready for me. And he got paid for the extra effort, too. Minister Buradel probably could have just ordered it done, he's such an important person, but he was excited to pay for it, like he wanted to impress me with how willing he was.

Nobles. So weird. I never will understand them. Except Benny, he makes sense. But then, he and his family haven't lost their heads over all this like so many others seem to have done. Though he still looks pretty silly in his long, fancy robes. I can't decide if he looks like he's on his way to a wedding or a carnival. But then, mages have weird fashion tastes. There's one back home and she loves the same sack style. And, like Benny, doesn't like me calling it that.

I figured Sei would get armor like mine, since she's got that weird mace flail and all, but she showed up in what I first thought were the white robes and red belt of the priesthood. On closer look, it's actually a combat dress scribbled with verses worked into the print. I guess she needs more mobility than armor. She reminded me she has barrier magic when I brought it up, and I suppose that makes sense.

I think Tash really stole the reveal this morning, though. A full suit of oil black leather armor with hooks for her Fangs' scabbards and some other tools. She looked absolutely ready for action. I don't know what all of her extra tools are, but I recognized a grapnel hand crossbow and some vials. Medicine, maybe?

I thought the generals would just tell us what we needed to know and then let us go. I was even planning to head right back to Captain. Not only would she want to know what happened to me and why I'd gone and disappeared from my post, but I really wanted to make sure my home was safe first.

Stolen story; please report.

Not that I don't intend to do everything I can for the rest of the empire, of course, and if there were a place in more urgent need, I'd go there first. But I'd feel a lot better traveling across the country if I knew the people I actually know are safe.

Letting us go off does seem to be their general plan, but first, we're going on some sort of trip before we all split up. Furinshao's military leaders want us all to see the blight firsthand. I don't know if it will make much sense to me, but they seem to think it will definitely make an impression. Some sort of motivation through fear to make us focus and take it seriously.

The ride is long, even in the big, fancy coach we take from the capitol, and it's being pulled by six horses! I feel bad for them because every time we change over to a new set, Lord Hagasu, the noble accompanying us, demands they be driven hard. The one mercy is that they probably have a good chance at recovering since he orders them swapped out again at the next stop as soon as they start to flag. He seems to value speed far more than the fact he's going through horses much faster than necessary, or the harm to the beasts in the process.

It makes for a very rough ride, honestly, and it didn't take long before Sei was complaining of discomfort. Lord Hagasu insisted that speed was of the essence, however, and refused to slow, despite the girl being in enough pain that she spent most of the trip surrounding herself in the glow of her healing magic.

Now that we're here, I pause halfway up the hill from which we'll be able to see the Western Demesne. Lord Hagasu isn't with us and I look back to see him still at the base of the hill, though he remains a distance from the coach.

"Lord Hagasu," I call, "aren't you coming with us?"

Long and thin, with eyes already large in his lean face looking even bigger behind his thick glasses, the man has reminded me of a beetle from the moment I first met him. His black robes kept tight around him make the resemblance all the stronger.

"Oh, Champion," he answers back, his voice reedy, "I dare not! I am no Hero. My life depends on the head start should anything go wrong, heavens forbid." He shakes his head morosely. "No, that is an excuse. Please, do not ask me to look upon the land I once called home as it is now."

Benny steps in at the confusion on my face. "Lord Hagasu was one of the landed nobles who oversaw the Demesne prior to the darkness. He and his family had to retreat to their capitol estate when their defenses fell. They were one of the last ones out of the region just over a year ago."

My confusion changes to sympathy quickly and I give a nod. "I understand, sir. I'm sorry for being insensitive."

He nods back, but says nothing more, and we head on up.

My breath catches in my chest when I crest the ledge, and as the others come up behind me, I hear more than register them doing the same.

The border of the Western Demesne is a visible line across the land as far as I can see. On our side, the trees and tall grass are green, the sky is blue and the air is clear. Down the other side of the hill perhaps a couple hundred meters from where we stand, the grass is a bruised purple and the leaves of the trees look like they've melted together in larger sheets the yellow of rot, the excess material running down the tips to pool into teardrop-shaped pustule fruits.

The air is full of a roiling dark fog, not thick enough to obscure sight, but heavy enough that we can see it rolling up to collide against the line and retreat like the tide against a beach. Trying to erode the boundary between us and it a few grains of sand at a time.

The worst part is that there's life on the other side. Life I recognize but wish I couldn't.

A three-eyed buck raises its head from the bruise grass and blinks around at some sound or another, its rack twisted and gnarled and dripping black oil. The blade on its swishing tail must surely be a shock for any predator attempting to ambush it from behind.

It doesn't see the wolves watching it from another hill, their spines erupting down their backs like the blades of a lumber mill and their eyes a ruby red. The smaller second mouths within their main jaws drool with anticipation.

In the other direction, I can see a rundown farm, the house in ill repair, the field overgrown with blood red thorns. I wish it was as abandoned as it looks.

Through the Farsight skill I learned as part of the guard back home, I can see a man and two children in the field. They're half bald as if from mange and their exposed skin is mottled with raised growths, but none of them seem ill or hindered from what looks like some sort of horrible plague.

I watch as the bored daughter idles a bit away from the others and deliberately jabs her thumb onto one of the thorns, just to suck on the blood from the hole like a candy stick.

The man is showing his son how to properly set some sort of body on a series of stakes. It's so bloated and foul that it takes me a long moment to realize it's a human corpse. That realization is followed by another as I take in the rest of the field and more of those stakes, most of them sporting hominids to ripen them in the sun like a jug of tea.

I jerk my gaze away with a seizure of my neck as I fight to suppress the contents of my stomach.

The Demesne is still full of life. The longer we watch, the more we see. Men, animals, birds, everything's there, all of it crazy and wrong.

A great bellow comes from behind us, like a deep horn. The sound makes me feel queasy and I lose my focus on Farsight as my eyes blur. The muscles in my shoulders clench. Somebody behind me barfs and I hear it slapping the ground at our feet.

I turn around with a stagger like that time I tried to walk home after too much rice wine. Back where we came from, Lord Hagasu has begun to laugh, his eyes seeming to bulge even larger. Even as I stare, he inflates his chest like a balloon and squeezes it out, creating that horn sound again.

Somebody else pukes. It takes me too long to realize it was me.

Tash grips my arm hard enough to make the metal of my armor protest, but her arm's shaking.

"Leuke," she struggles to say, turning my attention back to the Demesne.

The bellowing has drawn the attention of every lifeform we've managed to pick out, and they're all working themselves into a frothing rage at the sound. Even more that we didn't see come surging out of the edges of slag-dripping forests and shooting down from the sky. All of them coming together to stampede toward our position.

Without even really thinking about how far they still are, I pull out Ryutaiji and hold the massive sword before me with drunken focus.