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65th of Summer 5859
Below the walls of Casamonu, Casamonu
A black, starry blanket had covered the entirety of Gemeinplatz. Under it was many things, from sleeping wild animals to awake “civilized” animals who were going about their illicit nighttime business.
Among these civilized animals was a human named Ayda, the head of an extensive smuggling ring in Casamonu and former love interest of some insignificant bloke named Shinasi. She was travelling in the middle of a forest, reached by the underground tunnel system that Brown and co. had passed before to smuggle textiles, all by herself in a move that even she found to be irrational. She had passed this place countless times before, so she had no problem navigating the trees by intuition. She went a bit north, then a lot west, before turning three times and walking ten steps forth to find herself out of the woods and into a path leading to Casamonu.
The full moon shined on Ayda, so bright was it that she felt like she was on the moon itself. She saw her surroundings somewhat clearly, as grey and pale as her surroundings were under the moonlight. What wasn’t grey and pale were the campfires lit up by soldiers keeping watch for any intruders like her. It was odd to see such a large group of armed fugitives, but Ayda wasn’t going to complain about those giving her extra business. She casually walked up to the soldiers, waving at them like she was walking into her own house. The soldiers, just doing their job with nothing personal, raised their spears up and got ready for their encounter with the strange woman who had come out of the dark. Her dark robes and fashionable leather gear didn’t help her look less suspicious.
“Stop right there witch, or whatever you are!”
Just as she was about to open her mouth to explain the purpose of her visit, Ayda had to turn around and raise her arm. Behind her was an even shadier lady in dark robes, who had a knife wielded by her arm which had just been blocked by Ayda. “Good going, you just about got me.”
“I wasn’t trying to get you. I just wanted a closer look.” replied the other lady in black, who had withdrawn her arm along with the knife.
“Do you usually take a closer look at people with a knife on your hand?”
“I don’t have a knife in my hand right now.”
“You just did- whatever.” Ayda sighed and gave up on the futile argument. “I was called here by your boss.”
“Yes, we, and I, were looking for you. I assume you’re the correct person. I don’t think there’s anyone bold enough to walk into a military camp without permission.” Kyauta had clearly not heard of what spies did.
“You’d be surprised at what people get up to for the right money.”
“You’d be surprised at what some people have to get up to for no money. Follow me.”
Ayda expected way more security for such a location of a military nature, but she was allowed to walk behind Kyauta without anyone else guarding her. Not that they needed to send anyone to guard and watch over her – the soldiers in the camp were closely watching the stranger who wore even stranger clothing. Walking through the camp, watching the armed fugitives, Ayda wondered what state the world had come to. She had been bombarded with clergymen in the streets rallying people in defense of the town against the Demon King, and then she had been bombarded with actual cannonballs as the walls of Gemeinplatz met Ayomide. She couldn’t help but believe that someone capable of leading an army of fugitives against a walled city must be the Demon King of legend, and she was right in the middle of his lair.
After a brisk walk, Ayda found herself entering a modest tent. Far from the lair of a demonic entity, the tent was… to put it clearly, the inside of the tent looked like how she’d expect the inside of a tent to be. A bedroll on the side, a bag or two on another side, and nothing else but the earth beneath and the tent above to protect one from the elements. In the middle was an old man who looked nothing special except for his magnificent white beard. “Welcome, Miss Ayda was it?”
“Yes, top of the night to you.” She sat on the floor, finding herself alone save for the old man right in front of her. He seemed to be judging her with his eyes, though his gaze didn’t bore deep enough to actually read her mind through magical shenanigans. Aya stared back at the old man, pondering in the silence as to when the Demon King would show up. Sure, she had seen the old man before come to her, but such an old timer would definitely just be an underling and not the embodiment of all that is doom and gloom.
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Brown ended the uncomfortable bout of silence with a cough. “…and I am Isaac Smith or, as the people here know me and you should refer to me from now on, John Brown. Glad to meet you again, you have been a great help to us.”
Ayda looked around her again, making sure that she wasn’t being fooled somehow. “…I was called here to meet your boss. Is he busy right now?”
Brown raised his brow, confused. “I’m the Commander-in-Chief of the League, though I definitely wouldn’t call myself ‘the boss’. The only one above us here is the good Lord above.”
Ayda looked above, only seeing the walls of the tent again. Perhaps they preferred the title “Demon Lord” rather than “Demon King”. “Then I want to see your lord as soon as possible.”
“Miss Ayda, we’ll all get to see Him eventually. No need to rush when you’re so young.” Sensing the point of the conversation float away from where it should be, Brown paused his evangelizing for a second. “I was the one who called you here, to ask for your help.”
The old man did look to be some sort of right-hand man to the Demon King (Demon Lord?), so Ayda stopped trying to search for the big bad evil guy and get on with business. “Alright then. What do you need help for? More gunpowder? More textiles? More of anything? The only thing we can’t find is food right now, the big git at the top has been rationing it pretty strictly.”
“No, we have no need of any more physical goods for now. The opposite in fact – we need to have fewer physical goods in the hands of the count. Your last point is of particular interest. How is the food situation in Casamonu?”
“The men of Corvus have been selling food at a very high price. He practically has the market cornered, the clever bastard. You can see huge lines forming in front of the castle walls every day.”
“So, all the food in town is stored in one location?” Brown raised his brow so high that his forehead disappeared amongst a sea of wrinkles.
“Yes, but they have… Well, I’m not your scout now, am I?” Ayda simply shrugged, and then extended an open palm forward. “A little donation, if you would be so kind.”
“Greed is a horrible sin, Miss Ayda, and I pray that the Lord cures you of it, but I’ll humor you and give you a great deal.” He pretended to take out a pouch of money from his pockets, only to take out a folded piece of paper and leave it on Ayda’s hands. She unfolded the paper expecting it to be a cheque or something else of a monetary nature, only to find some sort of contract written and signed by Commander-in-Chief John Brown.
Without waiting for Ayda to read it in full, Brown began laying the basics of his proposal through speech. “Simply put, Miss Ayda, we’ll need a bit of help from enterprising individuals like you in the future. For now, you’re considered a criminal from violating the laws of the Empire and the country, but we’ll give you a pardon and funding to conduct your business legally. The League won’t enact mercantile laws as strict as the Empire’s, so you should be able to thrive without having to hide behind the backstreets.”
Ayda took a pause. A very long pause, going over every word on the written contract. It was dangerous to make contracts with devilish influences like that of the Demon King, but she couldn’t find anything unexpected in the text. She would be pardoned of all the times she broke the mercantile laws of Casamonu, receive funding for the production of gunpowder and facilitating trade into the League, and be given a certain amount of land to be appropriated from soon-to-be-isekai’d nobility. From her perspective, this seemed like an excellent deal as long as she helped the fugitives into the city. She understood this to be Brown’s goal: she wouldn’t be able to receive anything from the deal unless she threw Casamonu into the hands of the Demon King. It was truly a deal with the devil. Ayda wasn’t the type to turn seedy deals down, but even this seemed too far for her. “This is the oddest deal I’ve ever received in my life.”
“In which way, if I may ask? I think it’s a pretty simple one.”
“It’s odd in that… well, you deal with fugitive slaves, you deal with demi-humans, and now you deal with some smuggler as if she were a respectable burgher.” Ayda removed her eyepatch, revealing a closed eyelid behind which no eyeball stood. “I haven’t a shred nor have ever had a shred of nobility or respectability Mister Brown – I lost this eye in my youth in the slums where my late mother had born me as the bastard. My father is a nameless slave whose name I don’t know. I don’t know where you come from, but you look to be a well-bred man, perhaps an otherworlder, the type to never deal with fugitives or bastards.”
“Is that the problem?” This was definitely not the first time that Brown was receiving such a question. He had a simple answer. “I would rather have the small-pox, yellow fever and cholera all together in my camp, than a man without principles. Noble blood doesn’t make up for principles, neither does ignoble blood mean a lack of principle. Far from it – I have seen that men of highest stature tend to also be men of lowest principle. In the eyes of Omnipotence all men are made equal; in my eyes, a shrewd woman like you who has conducted fair business with us is worth way more than any emperor.”
Worth more than an emperor? These words had left Ayda shocked. Brown would have been drawn and quartered for having uttered the first letter of such a sentence. She was on the guard for flat flattery, but she could feel clearly that Brown was genuine in his speech.
Brown continued. "It's a mistake, madame, that people make, when they think that bullies are the best fighters. Give me men of good principles, God-fearing men, men who respect themselves, and with a dozen of them I will oppose any hundreds of such men as the ruffians hiding behind that castle.”
Having felt that he evangelized enough, Brown procured a thin piece of charcoal for Ayda to write her signature with. Soon enough, she had signed the agreement, and less sooner but soon enough nonetheless, the League was cooking plans to infiltrate the castle thanks to Ayda’s intel.