City-Lord Cosgrave sat in her office chuckling at the report that had just come in. The noble house of Morisson had lodged an official complaint against General Branson. They were apparently unhappy with his recent actions. As she read the specifics, she just shook her head in amusement.
They were saying that the general had no right to remove their spies. Lord Morisson was of the opinion that their house’s retainers having a secondary objective didn’t violate the oaths of service to the army. As it wasn’t illegal for a house to have their retainers serve in the military, he wasn’t technically wrong. And since the spies were told to follow all of the orders they received from their superiors, they would have been indistinguishable from a common soldier. However, she doubted that spying would be considered an acceptable ‘personal activity’ which would fall outside of the army’s purview.
Guard Dalton was sitting across from her, waiting patiently for her to read the report. His face was serious, as he didn’t see what was so funny about the situation. Sitting next to him was Terrance Blackwood, one of her consorts, and HE at least seemed to share her amusement. Terry sat there with a subtle hand covering his smile.
Finishing the report, she said, “So what’s the Tower of Law going to do about this?”
Terry answered, “I heard that Lord Bennings was trying to stop the council of law from ordering sanctions.”
Surprised, she said, “They were actually going to try and sanction General Branson?”
Terry replied with a smile, “No. They were so annoyed with House Morisson, they were going to sanction them for wasting the council’s time with such a ridiculous complaint. Last I heard, Lord Bennings was trying to calm them down.”
Dalton interjected, “That’s the least of our problems. Since yesterday, the general has been very loud. Historically, he has worked behind the scenes, but now he is visiting the various army compounds in person. He has started multiple training initiatives, along with increased recruiting drives. He even ordered recruiting posters to be put up in the guard stations. There is going to be a picture of Lord Walker standing bloodied on a training field along with a caption, “Our nobles are working hard to protect Dorchester. Are you willing to make them defend the wall alone?” From what we can tell, it’s already having an effect on the guard enrollment numbers, and it’s only been a day.”
Terry laughed, and said, “That’s not the half of it. The general also applied for additional funds from Oglivarch to supplement what he receives from Dorchester. I’ve heard that he plans to mount defensive emplacements along the wall. He has army engineers going through the old plans which are archived in the mage tower. It seems he wants to recreate the old defenses from before House Cosgrave took over the city-seat.”
Lord Cosgrave sat there with a smile, completely unconcerned. In her opinion, all of these were positives. If the general could fund the increase in defenses without harming Dorchester’s war chest, she was completely fine with it. The issue with the guards wasn’t ideal, but word had already been sent out to the surrounding villages and towns. An influx of refugees seeking safety within the walls would be coming soon. There would be plenty of fresh bodies to replenish the ranks.
Looking at Head Guard Dalton, she said, “Make sure the guard increases their recruitment efforts in kind. Have someone come up with something catchy to make serving as a guard sound like a worthy cause. In the next few months, we’ll have plenty of refugees coming in. I’ll set aside some of the funds from the noble war with the Dorchens. I want you to use them to increase training initiatives for the guard.”
Terry tapped a finger on his chair arm while taking on a look of concern.
Noticing his change in demeanor, Lord Cosgrave asked, “What is it Terrance?”
Looking at her, he said, “I was just thinking about what has the general so spooked. Is it possible we’re underestimating the coming beast wave? I have to admit, I didn’t really understand what that presentation was trying to convey. I’m talking about the one that Center-Research gave.”
Lord Cosgrave nodded, and said, “It was rather difficult to follow. From what I understand, it will be a large beast wave. But you're right, try and find someone who has a handle on what’s coming. If we’re missing something, find someone capable of clearing up the confusion. If the general is doing all this, there must be a reason.”
Dalton asked, “Are we going to do anything about the fact that we no longer have eyes on the army? The general didn’t limit his purge to just the elite camps, he released a total of 1590 troops with ties to the noble houses, ours included. And, I doubt he’ll stop with just them. This could change the political landscape of the city.”
Lord Cosgrave nodded and said, “It will. But in the long run, this is a good thing. The army is supposed to be separate from the political arena. The fact that we let it get to this point was our fault in the first place. This is a good time to refocus the city’s defenses onto what matters. We have other ways to keep apprised of what’s going on with the army, and our spies were just there to keep an eye on the spies from the other noble houses.”
Dalton seemed to accept her position, even if he didn’t agree with it. Looking at him, she said, “Now, I want you to get started on those initiatives for the guard. I’ll have the funds for you by the end of day.”
Head Guard Dalton stood up and offered a short bow, then left without another word. As the door closed behind him, Terry’s tone changed to one of worry as he asked, “Are we going to talk about Deidre’s plan to eliminate Lord Walker? I think that -”
Lord Heleema Cosgrave stared at him with cold eyes and interrupted him, “No… No we’re not.”
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They were now on day 3 of their training, and Nero was starting to feel the pressure. Captain Angelton had introduced the 16 new recruits to Nero’s squad before their morning workout. They were, in a word, intimidating. Each one of them had been serving the army in the field. They were all hardened warriors, very different from the spies Nero had met two days before.
The morning workout went poorly for Nero. Instead of his weakness being ignored, he heard snickers and mocking from the new recruits. For Nero, it was both reassuring and disappointing. On one hand, it was nice to know that people could suck in this world. But on the other, it was depressing to see that people were fundamentally all the same.
As he was running around the track, Nero heard another recruit shout, “On your left little lord.” Then the woman blew past him like he was standing still. Growling in annoyance, Nero tried to increase his pace. No matter how much he pushed, he was just too slow compared to the other recruits. He tried to tell himself that they were all probably at least level 15, and some of them might even be level 20, but it didn’t help.
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“On your left little lord,” another recruit shouted then blew past him. Nero was going to get Cathleen back for starting that nickname. The woman was getting better at hurling insults. In fact, she was improving at a faster rate than Nero was when it came to fighting. If Nero didn’t step up his game, he’d lose the verbal war in addition to the physical one.
“All right recruits! Fall in!” shouted Captain Angelton.
Like a well oiled machine, all the recruits collapsed into formation in front of the captain. Of course, Nero was the last to find his place. Panting, he stood there, doing his best to stand at attention.
Captain Angelton assigned their groups, and luckily Nero’s squad stayed together under Sergeant Wesker. After some bland words of encouragement, they were released to have breakfast. Nero was a half a second behind everyone, as they all cast a cleaning spell in unison, getting rid of their morning grime.
Looking around, he saw Nick and Cathleen and walked over to join them.
On the way, he was joined by a tall woman with a combat braid and the sides of her head shaved. She tapped his shoulder, and said, “So is it true that you killed 5 men in single combat to earn your house? Or is that just noble propaganda.”
Nero looked up at her and said coldly, “It’s true, but I didn’t exactly fight fair.”
She smiled and said, “Hey, no judgment here. I was just curious. I saw your arena fight. That took some guts to just stand there and let that guy try and take your head. How’d you manage to cast a plasma lance at such a low level?”
As they walked toward the dining hall, Nero had to reassess the mocking he had been hearing. It was less like hazing, and more like they were treating him as a mascot. Nero didn’t know how he felt about that, but he supposed it was better than having his head shoved in a toilet.
He chatted with the woman, whose name turned out to be Marie Denton. She introduced him to her friends from the monster-hunting squads. They were Carrie Moonshanks, and Vance Platt, and they had all come from the same team. They’d been out in the wilds hunting dangerous monsters and beasts for years.
The walk wasn’t long enough for Nero to ask half the questions he wanted. By the time they got their food, Nero felt like they could be good people to know. Promising to talk later, Nero took his plate and went to find his squad.
After locating them, he took his seat and said, “I was just talking with some of the new recruits. It seems most of them came from the monster-hunting squads.” Nero poured himself a glass of water and dug into his eggs, sausage, and something that looked like hash browns.
Cathleen said, “Don’t take anything they said too personally. They’re warriors, not politicians. Any insult they gave was probably just meant as a joke.”
Before Nero could say anything, Nick spoke up while laughing, “Did they pick on you about the posters?”
Nero gave Nick a look of confusion and said, “What posters?”
Rose and Cathleen both looked at Nick with curiosity, they didn’t seem to know what he was talking about either.
Nick smiled and said, “I heard from Vera that the general used a picture of you for a recruitment push. I’m told it looks great. Vera promised to get me a framed copy. I’m gonna need you to sign it at some point.” His amusement was clear, and he dug into his meal happily.
Nero grimaced and said, “He could have at least asked. Don’t people have image rights or something?”
Nick raised his eyebrows and said, “Are you really going to cause a stink? You want House Walker to go on record saying that it doesn’t support the army?”
Nero stabbed a sausage and said, “No, of course not. I’m just saying that my image shouldn’t be used without my permission.” Seeing the blank stares looking back at him from around the table, he continued, “But I guess in this case, it’s for a good cause, so I’ll let it slide.”
Rose muttered, “Good choice.”
Their breakfast continued with some light chatting, and Nero forgot to tell his squad about his new friends. Nick tried to constantly focus the conversation on science, while Cathleen spent most of the time calling Nick a nerd without actually saying it. And Rose just smiled and watched. Nero knew she was trying to present herself as an air-head, but he wasn’t buying it. The meal ended before he made a decision on how to handle her.
All too soon, Nero was back in training ring 2, facing off against Cathleen in hand to hand combat. She never went easy on him, or at least Nero didn’t think she did. Although Nero was improving rapidly, he never got close to actually hurting her. Every time he tried to tackle her, he went face first into her knee. His every punch was met with a block and instant counter attack. Nero had learned that trying to kick her was idiotic. It only took getting hit in the nuts over and over again in order for him to learn that lesson.
Blood dripping from his chin, Nero grinned as he traded blows with Cathleen. She would counter jab, and he would bob. Back and forth they went, until Nero eventually over extended.
“Keep your elbows tight when you strike,” she said, as she elbowed him in the temple.
His mage-armor helped by muting the blow, and Nero dove into a roll in order to gain some distance and let his head clear. Smoothly coming out of the roll, he took his stance and met her low kick with his shin. Instead of just blocking, he tried to angle his block to make her unable to pull her leg back. When she dropped her leg to the ground, Nero stepped forward into her guard. He managed to hit her stomach with a quick 1-2 combination, and then the lights went out again.
Dying in this world was weird. By this point, Nero had gotten rather used to it. One minute, you were fine, the next, blackness. According to Nick, the soul couldn’t perceive the material world without a medium like a body. So when a person ‘died’ they just stopped receiving input from the world around them. Nero had asked why he couldn’t use his psychic field to see what’s going on, but Nick just called Nero an idiot for not understanding how a psychic field was formed. After promising himself that he would look it up at some point, Nero had dropped it.
Coming back to life, Nero shot up from the ground coughing. “It was an elbow wasn’t it?” he asked while hacking up a wad of blood.
Cathleen stood over him, while the medic worked on fixing his numerous fractures and bruises. She said, “Yup. Getting in close is good, but because you’re tiny, like a puppy, it limits your vision. And you are still dropping your guard. You’re relying too much on damage, and not focusing enough on defense. It doesn’t matter if you injure your opponent if you end up dead. Now get up. You look pathetic lying there like that. I know you aren’t a man, but for the next few minutes, how about you pretend you are.”
Nero chuckled at that last line. “You’re getting really good at the trash talk. I know it’s hard to learn new things when you get older, so I applaud your efforts. It’s too bad you put so much effort into learning how to fight when you were younger, you should have worked on your personality back when you were still pretty.” Nero took his fighting stance and squared up for round…. 136 maybe? He had lost track around 30 minutes ago.
Cathleen chuckled and said, “All right little lord, show me something.”
Nero growled, he really needed her to regret that nickname. Charging, he feigned a front kick, then dropped it to allow a low spin kick. He hoped to take out her ankle, but over his shoulder, he saw her raise her foot out of the way with casual grace. Completing his spin, he rose to his feet and met her right cross with his forearm. Ducking under her left, he threw out a weak jab with his right into her floating ribs. Up close, his lack of height was an advantage, but it was always hard to get close enough for it to matter.
Back and forth they went, Nero focused on feeling the world teaching him what he was doing wrong. His senses were spread wide, and the small mental nudges added up. Every second he spent in combat felt like a lesson. His brow furrowed in concentration, Nero blocked, dodged, and parried Cathleen’s onslaught. But things eventually reached the inevitable conclusion, and Nero watched the ridge-hand approach his neck from the corner of his eye. He was unable to do anything to stop it, and winced in anticipation of the pain. Luckily, his neck must have snapped cleanly, as once again the lights went out.
‘At least I think I’m getting better. And I bet her hands must be hurting by now, so that’s something,’ he thought while floating in the blackness.