Alaster eventually reached the City Lord’s Castle and was let through by the Guards. Unlike all the others before, they didn’t look at him and the Dread Knight with fear and hesitation, but with resolute firmness. If they needed to, they would fight, even with certain death.

A servant immediately approached Alaster, despite his nervousness, and guided him to the City Lord.

Back in the Meeting Room, Alaster once again saw the same Lords crowding around the City Map.

Alaster was immediately noticed by everyone upon entering. He approached them, ordering the Dread Knight to stand against the wall.

“You asked for me?” Alaster asked.

The City Lord looked at him curiously, “Was there an attack on the Wall that we haven’t heard about yet?”

“No, why?”

“Because you have blood on your armor.” Lord Siphas said, a bit of worry behind his eyes.

“Oh, apologies. No, there was no attack on the wall. Only an attack on me. Some assassin attacked me on my way here.”

“And you survived? How many?” asked one of the other Lords, who had taken out a notebook.

“Seven. From the way they attacked, it was more of a probing attack. Only six attacked me, with the seventh hiding on the roof tops. He was the first to die.”

“Thank you for ridding the city of them. There have been several attacks on the people and influential, even a few sabotage attempts since the siege began. Reports suggest only a dozen or so. With you killing seven, that will put everyone at ease.” The Lord explained.

“And none of you thought to tell me before?” It wasn’t an accusation, only a question.

“I was going to this morning, but I hadn’t expected you to sneak out and repair your section of the wall overnight.” The City Lord said with a barely suppressed grin.

“Only minor repairs, they are not as sturdy as the original wall, but it should be sufficient to fight on.”

“If you did the bulk work, we could have one of the engineers stop by and check it out, fortifying it.” A Lord suggested.

“Not yet, let’s see how the Tarians react. If we spend so many resources fortifying that section only for the Tarians to destroy it again in a day, it’ll be a waste.” Lord Sedall suggested.

“So, besides a status report, why am I here?” Alaster asked.

“I thought you would want to hear the general status of the city before breakfast. Apparently, you promised both my daughter and Lady Siphas that you would be there.”

Something about how the City Lord said ‘daughter’ put Alaster on edge, but he couldn’t figure out why.

‘Moron. The girl likes you. The man is just being protective of his daughter.’ Sedall said, laughing.

‘Human habits are strange.’ Belgroth commented, confused.

‘Your own people didn’t have protective fathers?’ Sedall questioned.

‘Not like this. So long as the male could prove his worthiness, there was no objection.’

‘That’s what’s happening here. Just in a slightly different way.’

‘What do you mean? Alaster has already proven himself to be a competent warrior.’

‘But he hasn’t yet proven himself as a competent man. Just keep watching.’

While Alaster tried to ignore the two voices in his head, the Lords began to all give their reports of their responsibilities. They apparently did this every day before the City Lord’s breakfast. Ordinarily, one of the Section Commanders would not have been invited, but Alaster was a special case.

Both Lord Siphas and the City Lord believed that the young man would be able to more effectively fight if he knew how well the rest of the city was defended.

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After an hour, the sun was still only just past the horizon. However, Alaster now knew the general situation. And it did not look good.

Simply put, the city defenses could only handle a few more attacks. Once the outer wall fell to Tarian hands, the Inner wall would at most last a single day. The Bailey was holding well, but they were slowly being ground down, and if the outer wall fell, the Bailey would as well, without mere hours.

The defenses within the city itself were not great either. The Guard Barracks built throughout the city were like miniature forts in themselves, but they would fall within a few hours. The district walls would hinder most of the attacking Soldiers, but they weren’t tall enough to prevent some with more specialized Classes from jumping over in various ways.

Everyone in the Slums would likely be killed, their meager homes and possessions not worth enough for the Soldiers to care. They would simply charge through it.

The Residential District would be looted, and the people terrorized. Homes and businesses would burn. Prized possessions and treasures would be taken by the Soldiers for themselves. The people were be beaten, raped, and if they resisted in any way, killed. A few would likely also be taken as slaves.

The Military District would likely be where the bulk of the fighting would be, but the walls would fall within a day at most. There wasn’t much to loot there, as it was meant to supply the Onigarian Guard.

The Noble District would last the longest. While there would be much fewer defenders, they were also much stronger. They would defend the wall, killing many Tarian Soldiers, but they too would be swept aside by numbers. The Noble Estates would be looted, the families slaughtered and put on display as a warning.

As for the Last District, pretty much just the City Lord’s collection of buildings and his Castle, it would likely be occasionally bombarded, but would simply be waited out. Every Guard of the City Lord and his family was an Expert, every Guard protecting his Estate was the elite of the City Guard. It simply wouldn’t be worth the cost to attack it.

Eventually the defenses would be starved out. And the City Lord and his family would be hung in the most public places after being tortured and used as a warning for those that would dare oppose the Kingdom of Tarvia.

In his Skeletal form, Alaster was not angered by such revelations. He knew that Tarvia was not the only Nation that would do such things. In fact, it was the norm. All the other Nations would do similar or worse. If Onigas had been part of another Kingdom, the children of the City Lord would likely be stolen away from him, to keep him in line as he continued to rule the city for them.

Had Alaster been in his human form, he knew he would have shattered the table from gripping it too hard. He was close to both the Siphas Family and the City Lord’s daughters. Alaster knew if he returned to his human form while still thinking about it, he would still destroy the table.

Of course, the Tarian army could simply continue to siege the city, preventing any supplies from making their way insides, and gradually starve the city. But everyone was in agreement that the Tarians seemed pressed for time.

As the meeting ended, the Lords all left, each returning to their Guards and Estates or duties. Alaster remained staring at the map as the last one left, leaving just the City Lord and Lord Siphas in the room with him.

Lord Siphas approached him, “Ready for breakfast?

“I could eat.” Alaster joked, in truth, he had no idea if he was hungry. In his Skeletal form, he didn’t feel any of those needs.

The City Lord led the way out of the Meeting Hall. The Dread Knight followed him. Lukas was there waiting, as was another man who Alaster suspected was the personal guard of the City Lord. They all fell in behind their respective charges.

“By the way Alaster, why didn’t you take off your helmet at all during the meeting?” Lord Siphas asked, resting his hand casually on the sword at his hip.

“Because it would have frightened the other Lords.”

The City Lord glanced over, “In what way lad?”

Instead of responding, Alaster had the Pact remove his helmet, revealing his bare skull. Their eyes widened, even Lukas and the other guard seemed surprised. As they watched, Alaster deactivated [Dead Embrace]. His muscles, eyes, nose, and skin regenerated within a moment.

“While I am in my Skeletal form, I don’t grow hungry or tired, though it is Mana intensive.” Alaster didn’t quite want to reveal everything about it, even if the Mana was in fact easily manageable.

“So that’s how you were able to work through the night despite fighting.” Lord Siphas realized.

“Impressive.” The City Lord commented.

“By the way, who is this?” Lord Siphas asked, motioning towards the Dread Knight.

“My newest Minion, but it is still a bit unstable. I had wanted to keep at least one of the assassins alive, but the Minion acted on its own, killing the last two before I had the chance to stop it, quite brutally, I might add. Not a big loss in my opinion, I doubt they would have had anything worthwhile to say.”

“Is it safe?” Lord Siphas asked, subtlety adjusting his hand to grab his sword if needed.

“Yes. It will obey me. During a battle however, less so. It’s like a Berserker. Which is just another reason I wanted the Section by myself. I don’t want to accidently kill allies, either with my Magic, or with my Minions.

They then reached a pair of double doors.

“Here we are.” The City Lord announced, “Before we enter, could you remove your armor, it’s still got blood on it.”

Alaster quickly did so, glancing at the Dread Knight. It had absorbed all the blood that had covered it. He had noticed that the glowing blood-filled grooves had dimmed after an hour after, and completely vanished after two, along with the increased power.

The Pact removed his armor, the blood vanishing along with it, leaving him in his travel clothes. Nothing fancy, but they didn’t look too bad.

Satisfied, the City Lord opened the doors wide, revealing both families already sitting at a long table with an assortment of food on it.

Alaster’s stomach grumbled.