The men led Lieutenant Tex deeper into the Slums. Deeper than any patrols went, let alone street cleaners. Tex expected the streets to be stained black with filth, the walls of the buildings to be covered in all manners of filth. He expected the road to be broken and uneven. He expected the stench to be overwhelming.
He certainly did not expect the streets to gradually become cleaner the deeper they went. Until it became as clean as the streets in the Noble Quarter. Even now, Tex could see Water mages working together with Fire Mages to clean the streets and walls.
The Water Mages would control large blobs of water, which the Fire Mages would heat until it was near boiling. The Water Mages would then slowly run it over a small section of street, where the Fire Mage would use a mop to scrub.
After cleaning a certain area, the Water Mages would dump their filthy black water into a large bin. An Earth Mage would come and take out as much dirt and minerals as he could, and the rest was taken away by a few haulers, who Tex suspected had come from a farm by the rich dirt caked onto their pants and boots. They likely took the remaining filthy water to use as fertilizer.
The more proficient Earth Mages were busy working on the road itself after it was cleaned. They worked on smoothening the road. They redesigned them to have two deep grooves where cartwheels could be pulled. The grooves were deep but angled so the cart could be pulled out of the grooves without much issue. They also had channels carved into the grooves spaced evenly to allow any rain to funnel into the gutters.
Overall, it was all very busy and chaotic, but it was the sort of chaos that had reminded Tex of a military operation. Everyone had their task, and everyone went about doing their task as efficiently as possible.
Of course, it was not perfectly smooth. As Tex was escorted past, he spotted several fights break out. But what impressed the Guardsman was that people, clearly in charge of overseeing the work, were quick to intercede and calm both parties down, getting them back to work.
His respect for this Black Monster grew slightly. He was not a high-ranking officer. But he knew enough to know that it was impossible to get this many people working in tandem with each other in such a short amount of time, unless they wanted to do the work themselves.
Somehow, this Monster had destroyed the gangs and united the people of the slums in under a month.
Tex was escorted to a warehouse under extensive repairs. Numerous people were replacing wooden boards or conjuring bricks while others were hauling away broken materials.
However, there were also plenty of people running around and not helping with the repairs or cleanup.
‘Messengers.’ Tex realized.
His escort opened the large double doors, meant to comfortably fit a large cargo wagon. His escort waved him in, closing the door behind him while they remained outside. Inside, it was a whirlwind of activity.
Tex stopped in the doorway, eyes wide.
‘This is a war room.’
Maps were hung up on the walls and boards or laid down on the many tables. Each portraying a certain region of the city. Some were crudely drawn, others were clearly bought from large scale map producers, but there was a large percentage that were masterfully created, meant for accuracy and not displaying the author’s artistic skill.
Dozens of people crowded around the various maps, all working on their own project in small groups. Most of the maps had various markings, some of which were obvious.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Tex had lived in Zolis his entire life. If he couldn’t identify his own Barracks on a map, he would have been ashamed of himself. Using the marker placed over his barracks, he was able to quickly spot several other barracks on different maps. He spotted many other symbols he could identify, but there were also many others he didn’t.
But there was one symbol that caught his attention, half bright sun, half dark moon. The symbol itself did not mean much to him, but their placements did. He just couldn’t figure out why.
‘Wait a minute.’
Tex pushed past two men overlooking a map on a desk. They objected, but he ignored them as they moved aside. He traced his finger from one half symbol to the next, growing more and more hectic as he began to connect the dots.
With a sharp intake of breath and realization, Tex spun around, and immediately attempted to jump back, stumbling over the desk.
Something so large should have made a sound, or at least given off some sort of presence, something Tex was well experienced in sensing after his many years of catching criminals in back alleys, yet even when he looked at the figure that had been standing directly behind him, he felt nothing.
Tex had grown used to feeling the air move with everyone’s movement, hearing their breathing, even smelling them. He had grown reliant on this as it had saved his life countless times. Yet, the only reason he knew the figure before him was actually there, was because he could see it.
“Hello there.” A mountainous voice from the figure spoke. Despite speaking fairly quietly, even with the noise from everyone else still rushing about their work, Tex clearly heard him and felt the voice rattle around his bones.
Fear gripped his heart, causing him to stumble over his words, but Tex forced them out, “Y-you are plotting the attacks against ‘Dark Magic’ users.”
Light from the mage lights seemed to be sucked into the black knight’s armor as he took a step back, “Why are you?”
Tex stood straight and composed himself, “So we can stop and arrest the criminals.”
The black knight chuckled slightly, “That is where we differ. I do not wish to catch them. I wish to make an example of them.”
Tex narrowed his eyes in suspicion, “Why? how do I know you aren’t the ones doing the killings?”
“Tell me this, Guardsman, why did you come here?”
“Because I heard the rumors and saw the changes in the Slums. I wanted to meet the man responsible.”
“And if it really was my doing, do you really think you could stop me?” The Knight suddenly seemed to be as large as a mountain, and as ferocious as a Dragon.
Struggling to conceal his trembling voice, and failing, Tex asked, “You mentioned making an example of them. What did you mean?”
The Knight shrugged, “Nothing much really. One morning, they would simply be found hanging over the gates.”
“And what’s your stake in this? Why do you care?”
The Knight motioned to the map behind Tex, “Because this Kingdom is on the tipping point. One wrong push, and it could all come crumbling down. Here in the capital, every little movement can be that wrong push. Tell me, Guardsman, how much of Zolis’s defences rely on these so called ‘Dark Magics’?”
Tex hesitated, but quickly realized that the Knight was simply making a point, nothing Tex would know about was truly critical or important.
“I don’t know. A large amount I’d guess.”
“Neither do I. But I know enough to know that if those in charge of maintaining those defenses were turned against, their colleagues and friends butchered on the streets, they would not be very willing to continue their duties. The defenses of the Capital of Lissura, Zolis, would fall apart without any assistance from another country.”
“We don’t know if the killings are orchestrated by someone or any large organization, like a country.” Tex countered.
“Nor will you find any evidence of such a thing, because these killings are not done with a plan. The attacks are caused not by some organization, but by a simple idea. This idea creeps into people’s minds, infecting them with a false sense of fear, insecurity, and even superiority.”
“And what is this idea?”
“That these ‘Dark Magics’ are evil and should be exterminated. An old idea, but one that holds great power. It does not help that many ‘Dark Magics’ tend to make people uncomfortable or even disgusted.”
“So what? You are trying to save Lissura by stopping this idea from spreading?”
“Me? No. I could not care less if Lissura crumbled apart. By the Gods above, I might even throw a party. However, I also do not wish for it to break apart just yet. There is too much relying on its continued existence. So, for now, I will protect it.”
The Black Knight shrugged casually, “Plus, I am a user of ‘Dark Magic’ and it just irritates me that they claim to be better than me.”
Tex looked around him once more. In just a month, the man before him had assembled nearly the entirety of the Slums and tasked them with hunting down these murderers. He did not want to see what would happen if he turned that power against Lissura.
“Who are you?”
“You may call me Fenrir.”