“As I said I never intended to look for anything – no bugs, no minerals, no other valuable crap – the idea was to hang around and go home in a couple of years after doing the time in the exile. But before the queen took me along to the sea voyage I saw the queen’s great-great-grandmother’s painting who had an amulet in a form of a beetle that seemed just like the one we were supposed to look for.” Silvio told in a lowered voice as if he was divulging an incredible secret.
“Oh? I know those.” Leo nonchalantly nodded, “Some kind of a token of the imperial family. But why did the former queen of Livania kingdom have one?”
“It seems you’ve done some research yourself, although not thorough enough.” Silvio got slightly upset the boy didn’t find his story as compelling as he expected him to, “A couple centuries ago the whole continent was a united empire, but at some point empress’s daughters had a fight or a kind of disagreement and the empire was split up. Queen Amanda has this ambition to unite it once again, hence her plans to go to war.”
“Ye … women are weird.” Leo nodded, “All they want is to fight. Lady Evelyn also destroyed the Voodoo sect who knows why ...”
“You’re digging too deep, my friend!” Silvio said and patted his shoulder widely smiling, “All you need to do is to ‘do’ them and not bother with anything else. Life is too short to waste it thinking about the useless stuff.”
“… do them?” Leo repeated slightly confused.
“Ye – f*ck them, hump them … call it as you wish.” Silvio said still all smiles, “You’ll understand it when you get a bit older, I guess. Say, why don’t you stay here with me in the palace? We can take care of each other while f*cking the whole capital!”
“I was kind of thinking of getting the bug and then going back to cultivate.” Leo seriously said, but it was met with a hearty laugh.
“Why? Do you really think you’ll become some kind of immortal?” Silvio asked, “Regular people like us don’t even have a chance to become Nascent soul stage cultivators! Even if by some miracle you create the golden core, your lifespan will be, what – hundred fifty, two hundred years? I’d rather stay here and f*ck anything that moves! Well … for now I’m allowed to only do the queen, but she might as well die in the upcoming war – then I’ll have all the women in this world for myself! All the male-slaves are so weak and stupid …”
Leo could somewhat understand Silvio’s thinking, apart from the ‘f*cking’ part that is, but his physical body was getting stronger by day and he was pretty certain there will come a day when he can resume the cultivation. Truth to be said, if he had never stepped on the floating islands of the Golden city and if Silvio wasn’t an evil backstabber, he might’ve accepted the proposal, but after seeing what the Immortal realm was about and how incredibly powerful and smart the people residing there were, Leo wished to become a part of if.
Yes, Anna was incredibly beautiful, but so what? She or her sister would kill him the moment he did something they deemed unacceptable. For now everything seemed to be fine, but it became more and more tiring by day to be on the guard with the seven women. In addition, Leo was really concerned about those ape-ish urges he got around the goddess and was afraid to forget himself at some unlucky point and die because of that.
On the other hand, if he managed to get to the Nascent soul stage, he could come back at any time and make her wash him for a change … and maybe do the other stuff as well.
“Probably you are right, I’ll think about it.” Leo diplomatically replied, “I still want to go to Vidantia and take a look at what’s going on there.”
“To the capital of the empire? Well ... your choice, my friend.” Silvio shrugged, “Just be careful to not get caught up in the war, that’s all I can say. With thousands and thousands of people dying it’s basically impossible for you to guarantee your safety.”
“Mhm. Thanks.” Leo nodded.
They sat for a while in silence until Leo heard his squad members returning.
Then he got up and asked, “Do you have a clue how to find the mountain with the teleportation platform?”
“No idea.” Silvio also got up and said, “The mountain range is somewhere to the north-east, but I don’t know which mountain it was exactly. Initially I didn’t intend to travel this far … but in the end somehow winded up here anyway.”
Seeing his fellow disciple was about to leave, he said, “Listen. If by a miraculous chance you manage to get back to the sect after all, if anyone asks – tell them I died or you have no clue what happened to me. I really like it here and don’t want to return ...”
After leaving the palace the group split up to purchase supplies and left Pananga city with the sunrise. Leo didn’t know what task they had and didn’t ask – his main goal was still to train and increase his physical capabilities. Anna and the others continued to teach him and for now it was enough.
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For the next month the group traveled north in idyllic atmosphere. Leo practiced and a couple of times a day dutifully washed Anna, while the rest hunted and enjoyed his cooking.
At some point Leo even began to consider Silvio’s idea of permanently staying with the ladies, leading a carefree lifestyle, but when the jungle slowly got replaced by pine forests once again, the seven women grew serious and the boy realized the short period of happiness was just an illusion.
They were back in the empire’s territory and soon the commando squad began to attack seemingly random imperial army squads, patrolling units and caravans. They moved around like ghosts leaving no trace, arriving from nowhere, killing everyone and disappearing in the wind.
At first Leo didn’t pay much attention to the events as they somewhat resembled the fights with the army squads they had few months ago, but after six or seven attacks Leo was struck with revelation – without noticing it he had become a part of a bandit gang. And the worst thing was – they never got any loot! His squad only roamed around, killed and left to find the next target. In that sense even regular bandits were much better – at least they targeted the rich to get something valuable and left the common folk alone. It was one thing to fight with the army since people there kind of were getting payed for giving up their lives, but killing just for killing’s sake did not make any sense.
Lana, of course, noticed the change in cook’s mood and attitude and patiently explained they were doing it for ‘the cause’ and in the preparation for the war. Outwardly Leo expressed his understanding, but what he didn’t say was how he hated every single moment of being part of it.
In fact, he even began to think of ways to escape, but there was no chance to get away from these seven angels of death even though in the past months he had become much stronger and faster. While his current abilities could be comparable to Ruta, she was a women in her forties and it was doubtful he would achieve Anna’s speed or Lana’s strength any time soon. To his great amusement Leo realized he actually needed to cultivate in order to be able to compete with them, but it was obviously impossible in Dreadlands.
After a dozen or so attacks which for some reason Lana called ‘special operations’, the group began to infiltrate larger cities. Since none of them were built on tall mountains like Kinta, getting in or out disguised as regular hunters or even simply escaping over a city wall was not that hard.
To Leo’s relief at least in cities the group didn’t attack random people, but met up with the Southern queen’s spies who provided them with detailed intelligence and assisted in picking the ‘best’ targets. During the attacks Leo was either left in an inn where he could only die out of boredom or at a smaller mansion or house that served as a hideout where he could cook.
Lana explained it was only because of him lacking the experience and being clumsy and unreliable, but promised that ‘soon enough’ he’ll be able to take part in important operations. On the other hand Leo, of course, promised to do ‘his best’ and ‘try hard’ while inwardly cheering and establishing rule number eight: “If you don’t want to take part in anything – appear unreliable!”.
Afterwards he was able to go back to cooking and practicing and never actually payed attention to what atrocities the seven women did or what their plans were. He had only two thoughts in mind: first – find an opportunity to escape and second – do it before the imperial forces captured everyone just like they did with Lana in Kinta city.
Varena was a large city only in few days of walking distance from the capital. The squad rushed here after learning about a large warlord summit that was going to be held in Vidantia the next month. Obviously despite her incredible prowess Lana didn’t have the nerve to start ruckus right under the empress’s nose and infiltrate the capital, but making warlords nervous by killing their people in the surrounding cities seemed like a good idea.
Perla Doubis, a thin and wrinkled elderly woman was their contact in Varena. Apparently everyone in the group had met her before and no special introductions were needed. Of course, similar to the other Southern queen’s spies, after noticing Leo she threw a weird look at him, but as usual the seven ladies pretended to not notice it and the boy was left alone. Obviously just like always he was not allowed to take part in any discussions or be present for that matter, not that his presence would’ve changed anything.
“There are several ‘interesting’ targets in Varena.” Perla Doubis said after thinking for a while.
The sun had already set and the group was gathered in a relatively large courtyard not far from Varena’s center to discuss the most effective ways to inflict damage to the empire. Of course, the ‘discussion’ happened between Lana and Perla Doubis while the rest of the ladies attentively listened. Meanwhile Leo was getting busy around the kitchen, excited about using a stove for a change.
“Imperial family members frequently visit the city and then there is the nearby garrison.” She continued, “Besides the several famous aristocratic families Varena houses few important weapon workshops as well. Basically the capital is so close you don’t even need to look for a good target – no matter where you hit it’ll hurt.”
“Do you have any suggestions?” Lana asked.
Obviously she already knew all of this, but the proximity to the capital not only provided them with more opportunities – any move was much more dangerous at the same time.
“Actually I do.” Perla Doubis said, but for the next part lowered her voice, “The warlord!”
The expressions of the squad members instantly changed and before anyone said anything, Lana sternly stated, “No.”
“Listen to me first …” The old spy tried to argue, but Lana interrupted.
“I said ‘no’!” Lana seriously said, “Yes, we obviously are capable of assassinating warlords – they are living women, just like us. But for now there is an unspoken agreement between the Southern queen and the empress – we do not attack each other’s high ranked officials.”
“I know.” Perla Doubis said, “Just listen to what I have to say.”
Lana stared at her for a moment and then said, “Fine!”
The old woman was very experienced and had lived undercover for a long time. Hearing her out would not harm anyone.