Somewhere at the eastern border of the Aurelian Kingdom.

A low-ranking inquisitor is giving a salute. “Mis Radiant, we searched all of the houses. There isn’t a single soul here.”

“Are you telling me that a whole village just went and disappeared?”

“Yes, as if spirited away.”

“Nonsense.” She sighed. “They’re hiding somewhere. Secret basement or something.” She showed the man out of her way.

The Radiant Sword, the appointed leader of the Inquisition force, was beyond frustrated. This was the third village they’ve visited today. All of them were empty. She kicked the doors of the nearby house and stomped inside. There, the table was set with plates and food which went cold not too long ago. She looked around for more, there were minor valuables around. She looked out of the nearby window, there outside, the laundry was still there left to dry. Indeed, everyone was gone. And they must have done so with high urgency. But where? There was no nearby forest or mountain to hide. And the disappearance seemed to be recent.

However, she couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. It was way too eerie and quiet. Not just humans were missing but farm animals and pets too. Her subordinate's words rang inside her mind.

“Spirited away, huh.”

She refused to believe those words and kept looking for some sort of secret hideout. Predictably so, she couldn’t find anything like that, and time was of the essence.

“Let’s head to a nearby town. If anywhere they will be there.” She urged.

The Inquisition moved out. The goal was to unite with the Holy Empire’s army and force the nearby border town into submission.

…

A lot of a while ago, at the undisclosed border village.

Village Chief looked at the unharvested and now spoiling wheat crops. An entire field was left unattended, a good twenty tons of wheat. But no one even bothered to start harvesting it. Something like this was hard to imagine, especially considering that the Kingdom was under a severe famine not too long ago; the memory of it was still fresh in the minds of the common folk. The reason was simple, there was no point… The wheat price had crashed. It was almost worthless.

When King Aurelius II signed the trade treaty with the Spider Kingdom, a peculiar crop flooded into the Aurelian Kingdom. It was filling and delicious, but most importantly it was dirt cheap. Many people praised Aurelius II and the Spider King as their saviours. But not everyone was happy with that turn of events.

Merchants who peddled Fertile Kingdom’s wheat went out of business. Nobles and wealthy landlords had gone bankrupt. There were competent farmers, who despite the harsh conditions still managed to grow crops here in the Aurelian Kingdom, they too had suffered from the crashed prices.

The Village chief was exactly in this situation. He didn’t even have enough money to hire help to harvest all the wheat. And even if he had it harvested and stored, there were no merchants buying it. He was doomed!

Or maybe not. A genius idea sprouted in his mind. He could let farm the animals graze on the unharvested wheat. Surely, the animals soon would fatten. Of course, there would be a massive loss but at least he wouldn’t go bankrupt. After all, meat remained a precious commodity.

Some time passed, and the animals grew plump and fat. The animals were rounded up and ready for the slaughter. The local butcher ran up to the Village Chief.

“Chief, the spider caravan!”

“Yeah, yeah!” The chief waved the man dismissively.

The spiders were known traders. They came here every week peddling their dirt-cheap wares. The Village Chief wasn’t too interested.

“No, it's different. I think we should hold on to our animals.”

“Huh?”

“Come. You need to hear it yourself.” The butcher urged.

He followed reluctantly. The spider caravan was unusually large this time. There were more wagons than usual, most of them empty. The empty wagons were pulled by some sort of unknown creature presumably a type of demihuman. The Village Chief would be startled, if not for the now familiar presence of the spiders.

“Centauri Express. Everyone, come aboard.” The spider chirped.

The villagers were already hopping into the wagons.

“Hey, what’s going on.” He questioned the villagers.

“You didn’t hear? There is a feast in the capital.” A scrawny man responded.

“Yeah, apparently everything, from food to lodgings will be free.” A middle-aged and equally scrawny woman replied.

“I heard there will be games and other entertainment. Oh, and the trip is also free.” A man added.

“I always wanted to visit the capital. Never been.” A young woman was giddy with excitement.

“Sorry chief, we won’t be available for a few days. And it’s not like there is any work here anyway.” Another man complained.

“Chief, don’t look so worried.” A young man smiled. “Not everyone is going just to loiter there. I for once, will be looking for employment. With a feast that big they will need some extra hands.”

“Yes, a spider told me that the King is also looking for hostesses and labourers.” A young woman nodded.

“Centauri Express. Everyone, come aboard.” The spider chirped again.

Seemingly an entire village was dropping whatever they were doing and just leaving.

‘How irresponsible!’ He wanted to shout. But he knew better. He knew that everyone here, and not just him, was struggling.

The butcher grabbed the Village Chief by the shoulder giving a gentle shake and a meaningful look.

“Chief, do you understand now?” The butcher asked.

“The animals… Oh, yes. We can sell them in the capital.”

The timing could not be better. With the gathering that big, there was bound to be demand for meat.

“Spider?” He asked the nearby spider merchant. “Do animals also travel free?”

The spider looked thoughtful for a moment. “Aurelius the Great said. Everyone is invited. That must include the animals. Yes.” The spider nodded.

“Let’s put them in the separate wagon.” The butcher said sagely.

The Village Chief wasn’t stupid, he knew that it would be uncomfortable if they hauled the animals and the people together. He didn’t say anything and instead ran back to the enclosure to begin herding the animal stock.

…

The inquisition arrived at the closest border town. Being a small town, it had no walls or anything like that apart from a few watchtowers. The Inquisition and the Army just walked straight in.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“What is this? What’s going on?”

The town was abandoned, completely empty.

Of course, Aurelius II could have ordered the retreat, but there were issues with that. First, there would be some opportunists around like the homeless and looters, but even those were missing. Second, if a retreat was issued it was way too quick and organised. There was no way for Aurelius to know where the Inquisition was striking. There were a few little towns like this…

“Unless he ordered all of them to retreat.” The Radiant uttered under her breath.

“Nonsense.” The Army General protested. “Why would they follow his commands? I’ve read your report, isn’t he a Mad Tyrant?”

“Maybe that’s why everyone is obeying. They’re afraid.”

The general scratched his chin. “Ha! He’s just handing the territory to us without a fight. I reckon he’s just a coward.”

No, she still remembered that Aurelius II didn’t flinch even when he stood alone against a hundred inquisitors. He might be mad but definitely not a coward.

She shook her head. “Something just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“You worry too much. A sign of tiredness? Let’s set an outpost here, we’ll rest and tomorrow we’ll march towards the capital.”

She was worried. Worried about all the people who were supposed to be here. What if they were sacrificed in some sort of evil dark ritual? She shook her head again, dispelling those thoughts.

“Yes, I’m tired. You don’t mind if I go and rest?” She asked the General only out of politeness, as an inquisition leader she didn’t need such permissions.

The general slammed her shoulder forcefully. This was his way of saying yes.

Indeed, the plan was to take this city and use it as a supply base. The Aurelian Capital was still a week’s worth away from here. They’ll need to make a few more bases like this. However, the underlying issue was that the Inquisition failed to capture any Aurelian citizens to use them in their schemes. If this continues, King Aurelius II will be more difficult to depose. Of course, he stood no chance against the combined might of the Inquisition and the Army, but still…

Anyway, she retired to a nearby vacant mansion for the night.

…

Screams woke her up in the early morning.

“Ambush!” She expected that. But even then, there was a huge army inside the town. It should have been impossible.

She ran towards the Merchant Square which was converted to army gathering grounds. Everyone was panicking and shouting. It was impossible to tell where the enemy was. But soon she realised that there was no enemy. Whatever had happened it happened at night, and this was only the consequence.

One after another, dry and desiccated corpses were hauled out of nearby buildings. There was a survivor. His face was pale and gaunt.

“What happened.” She began interrogating the man.

“Shadows. Became alive. Drained.” He uttered.

“Explain.” She demanded.

The man began sobbing. “Darkness. Shadows. Drained. Tentacles.” He was too terrified to speak.

“Tch!” She clicked her tongue. “We shouldn’t have relaxed. This is the work of demons!” She announced to everyone. “Don’t worry, from now on each group will have an Inquisitor with them. We’ll put the end to these demons.” She tried to encourage the panicked men.

“Radiant sister!” An inquisitor ran up to her. “I have managed to kill one of those demons at night. They’re rather weak.”

“See!” She spoke to everyone. “You have the Holy Inquisition with you. There is nothing to worry about.”

The panic lessened. However, she knew just how shallow her words were. After all, she still didn’t know what they were dealing with exactly.

…

The Army left the garrison in the town and marched towards their next goal. The next town was two days' march away. This meant that they’d have to set camp in the wilderness. And that would be just another affair of the army, but the men were still perturbed about what happened the previous night.

Worse, a strange sickness swept through the ranks of peasant levy. The food was poisoned leaving the men to deal with uncontrollable bouts of diarrhoea. The march had to stop abruptly, and the food had to be cleaned. Luckily the inquisitors had just a spell for that.

The Radiant pressed her hands on a parcel of food. “[Cleanse]”, bright sparkles showered the parcel dispelling any tainted magic it was contaminated with. “It’s safe to eat now.” She assured the warrior.

“Thank you, sister.” The warrior bowed in gratitude.

“Think nothing of that. That’s why we’re here.” She walked to the next person. “Has your food been blessed?” She asked.

The inquisitors were walking around the troops, cleansing the army rations. It was draining their MP reserves and taking time, but it was necessary. As she was doing that she had picked up on strange rumours. The men were talking about a dark curse. They were saying that the Demon Lord had sacrificed the townsfolk and the villagers to place evil magic on the entire army.

“Nonsense!” She would reply. “Just check your Status. See, there is no Cursed there.”

She would say so, but the more she said that line the more she doubted her own words. The draining and poisoning incidents remained unexplained. However, she and her men had spent the rest of the day reassuring the peasant levy and even professional warriors that everything was under control.

The march didn’t progress as far as anticipated, and the night was near. She might have slept an hour or two, but once again she was awoken by shouts and screams.

“Demons!” The men were shouting.

She rushed outside the tent. Some strange creatures were darting in and out of the sky. They were winged resembling a bird or maybe a kite, but they were completely black as if made from shadows.

The archers were shooting their arrows hitting the demons but those just pierced their bodies doing no damage.

“Ah!” Someone shouted from the side.

A tentacled mass of darkness vaguely resembling a wolf assaulted one of the soldiers. The tentacle violated the poor man draining his life force. The nearby soldiers slashed at the demon with swords, but even then, the demon remained unscathed.

“Curses!” She ran to the rescue. “[Radiant Light]!” She coated her longsword and swung at the demon.

*Pop – it disappeared.

“Light spells. Use your Light spells!” She commanded her men.

The Inquisition began countering the threat with their magic. In the end, it was super effective, and the terrors retreated into the darkness. However, evidently so, the demons were invulnerable to normal attacks. The warriors and the peasant levy had no way to deal damage, leaving them increasingly demoralised. Of course, the army had their magi, and they proved useful, but those were few in number; barely enough to counter the threat.

“The Inquisition will take the night watch. You go and rest.” She announced to everyone.

“You know…” The General looked at her intently. “Thanks for that.” He even bowed.

Was he, the General, scared? She purged those thoughts. “Think nothing of it. That’s why we’re here. To purge this land from evil. Aurelius II will pay for this!” She grumbled with a tightly clutched fist.

In the end, the inquisition ended up taking the night watch and then cleansing the food in the morning. The duties she was putting on her men were ever-increasing. And she too would have collapsed long ago if not for a certain secret booster she was taking.

…

The people flocked into the Aurelian Capital and King Aurelius the Great met them with open arms. The festivities were only in their beginning stages but even then everyone was already in a jovial mood. Numerous spider stalls were set up all over the streets and it wasn’t just TomGrape they were handing out here free of charge. Various meals pioneered by Spidery Delicious had reached the stalls and the people were lining up to engorge themselves silly.

A young human lady was walking with a tray. “Spider-FizzPop™ grab your Spider-FizzPop™,” she smiled at the passersby adding, “to quench your daily thirst and to fill you with life!”.

Surprisingly so, in between the spider stalls there were human stalls too. Those were peddling their items, such as meaty goods, crafts and other trinkets. Those weren’t free exactly, but no one even thought to blame Aurelius the Great for false advertising. The stall owners came here from the provinces to make money, and they were allowed to do so with no fee or any tax. A lot of people were grateful for that; it added the unexpected variety.

Aside from food, there were many other traditional games taking place all around the capital. The most serious games had monetary prizes generously sponsored by the King himself. Those who craved entertainment came to watch the games or even participate in a few. Naturally, the most competitive games were dangerous, but even then, the Healing Potions were handed out free of charge.

Outside the city walls, a massive construction was taking place. This wasn’t a single mega project, but it was grand in scope. Both spiders and humans joined their hands to build thousands of buildings to house an ever-increasing number of guests. The human labourers were paid a generous wage by the King. So yes, not everyone was here to just celebrate. Those who were interested in money found work here quickly. However, perhaps ironically, or maybe it was just natural with the spiders, the buildings built were superior to the buildings inside the Capital walls. There was even a working sewage system put in place. The designs were slightly alien and definitely spider-like, but they were simple and sturdy, also quick and easy to make. Humans worked under spider direction to build the lodgings.

There were whispers and rumours that it was a waste to spend so many resources to build houses to house temporary guests. But no one wanted to complain too much, after all, the guests were staying there free, and the labourers got a nice pay for their work. Yes, the money was coming out of the Royal Treasury, but it was up to the King how he spent that. If it went back to people's pockets, even better!

In the end, everything was going well. Maybe too well. An imaginary conversation would go like this:

“Do you know we are at war?”

“What war?”

“With the Holy Empire.”

“Eh? What’s that? Sounds not important.”

“How about the Spider Kingdom?”

“Ah! I know that. That’s the one with spiders, right? Aren’t they just magnificent, just look at them go.”

“But some say the spiders are evil!”

“Who said that? There’s that bastard? Guards! Guards!”

In other words, the Aurelian people were mirthfully ignorant about the current predicament of the Aurelian Kingdom. But hey, they were a happy bunch.