In the marble palace, in a grand dining room…
「Khak!… Hngggghhh!… Hnnnnnnnghhhhhh!」
The three diplomats and a handful of maids watch on with tight-lipped grimaces, while the fat king sitting at the end of the table is coughing and struggling to take a breath, clutching onto his many chins. The maids exchange nervous glances and turn their uneasy eyes back to the king, who is slowly turning purple in front of his plate of lamb.
He turns his back one of the maids, and with great effort, he forces through the layers of fat to gesture patting himself on his wide back. Though his hand does not nearly get close, the maids seem to understand the message. Remaining completely silent and with a nervous face, the one right by his side tentatively raises her hand. The fat man's gesturing becomes more urgent, and she softly pats him on his fat back, like a baby who was just fed.
Taptaptaptap…
「Hnnnnnnnnnnnnghhhhhhhhhh!… Hnnnnnnnggggggggghhhh!…」
As the king's bloated face slowly shifts from purple to blue, his gesturing becomes even more urgent while he looks up at the maid with his eyes bulging.
Tfwaptfwaptfwaptfwap!…
She feebly slaps his back, until some of her anger seeps out, and the maid outright begins to pummel the king on his layers of back fat.
「Pfoo!…」
After another hit to his back, as if shot out of a cannon, a piece of meat flies out of the fat man's mouth and lands onto the marble floor with a wet plap.
「…Haahhh! Hgheeehhhh!…」
With his bulging eyes wide open, he drools over himself while gasping for air, finally able to breathe. The maid quickly pulls her hand away before she can deliver another, excessive blow.
「…Haaah. What do you mean they are in the city!? I thought you said that they were resting, and that the fortress should hold!」
Slam!
Red on his face both from anger and the lack of air, the king slams his fist on the long, empty table while wiping his chin. The silverware by his plate clatters along with it from the impact.
「…Regrettably, it appears the enemy had marched for far longer than we had expected, and they must have circumvented or captured the fortress by some means.」
Namir meekly replies with his head lowered, along with Absid and Sa-id, both of whom are looking down at their feet.
「Overnight!? They marched this deep in overnight!? The generals left an hour or so ago, and now you're telling me that in that time, the enemy has managed to breach the walls!?!」
The king screams, and begins to pant heavily again from the great effort taken to do so.
「Ahem… Your highness… It appears the walls remain undamaged. The gates have been opened.」
Sa-id chimes in, speaking with a grim face and a quiet voice.
「Wha-?…」
The fat king's jaw drops with a significant jiggle of the blubber around it.
Thud…
He stands up, knocking his chair over on its back as his face goes from red to pale white.
「…Traitors. I'm surrounded by traitors posing as the incompetent!…」
The fat man declares, stumbling around the grand, lavishly decorated dining hall without an aim, staring at the marble floor while absentmindedly wandering.
「…No! No one would dare to cross me! It's their advance forces! The ones responsible for the camp must have gotten into the city, and raised the gates!…」
The king snaps out of his aimless wandering, and his crowned head snaps to the three diplomats.
「That is a likely explanation, your highness. The garrison appears to be loyal, only panicked.」
Namir nods, keeping his head deferentially lowered. The king stomps up, quaking the floor.
「…You fool! You utter incompetent idiot!… You said they were too few in numbers to matter!…」
He shouts at the three diplomats, glaring at Namir. He raises his hands and starts throwing feeble punches at all three.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
None of the diplomats dare to recoil or shield themselves, and despite the punches being very weak, the gold and jewel-encrusted rings on the king's fat fingers act as a weapon.
「My apologies, your highness…」
Namir meekly replies while a trail of blood flows down his brow from the side of his head. Wincing, Absid and Sa-id take a few punches to their cheeks, too.
「…You dimwitted scum! How did you allow this to get this bad!?… Haah!… Nggragh!…」
Seeing as his punches are rather ineffective, the king continues hurling insults, then decides to try and kick Absid, who is standing off to the side.
Barely managing to get his foot of the polished marble floor, he feebly sweeps it in front of Absid's legs, missing him completely and stumbling backwards, nearly falling over.
「…Haah… Haaaah… Haaaaah…」
Greatly fatigued after the failed kick, the king leans forward and rests his hands on his rotund thighs, panting and gasping for air.
「…You!… Haah… You better!… You better fix it by sundown!… Haah… Or it's off with your heads!」
Straightening out a little, the fat man points his finger at the three, and threatens them between the gasps. He turns for the exit, and stomps away in a rushed step…
…
Around the same time, in the streets of the capital…
Straf, the officers, and their men are surrounded by a horde of starving citizens, all swarming the cooks. Those who have the stew in their bowls quickly skitter away to spoon heaps of it into their mouths in fear of someone taking it from them, and those who don't are stretching their arms out towards the cooks' station, begging and pleading with them to be the next ones to get some, while the soldiers loaned to help them barely manage to keep up the pace, mostly prioritizing ladling bowls held by children's hands.
Though still wary, most of the infantry are now relaxed, seeing how grateful and weak the enemy citizenry are for their presence, or at least, for their food. The sheer thickness of the mob in the street forms a sort of protective buffer against any possible enemy advance, therefore the troops are now mostly delegated by the officers to corral the citizenry into orderly lines, keep the chaotic peace, and to keep watch for enemy movement.
「He he!… I thought I'd find you here!」「Good morning, Straf…」
Nona says as she walks up to Straf with Lily, both squeezing in through the narrow gap along the caravan's sides, held open by troops.
「Mornin', Lily… So? Did you get anything useful out of the officers?」
With his fists on his hips while watching the mob with Stripe, Straf turns around and glances at the two behind him.
「I dunno. Have a look.」
Nona shrugs, and holds out a sheet of paper out for Straf. He takes it, and takes a few seconds to read through it while his brow slowly rises.
「Hmm… I guess the question is whether or not those forces will make it here in time. It'd be a pain in the ass if we got reverse-sieged. Seriously, how do they feed all these guys?…」
He rubs his chin while reading through Nona's notes. She tilts her head, and Lily quietly watches on.
「…Anyway, good job. The supply status is especially good to know if we actually have to fight a prolonged war. Hopefully the asshole is sitting in his fancy palace.」
「He he…」
Straf raises his eyes back to Nona, then quickly picks up her dragon-adorned Ministry of Security hat and quickly pets her head, ruffling her fluffy hair, before setting the hat back down upon it.
Crossing her arms, Stripe grimaces heavily while watching Nona get pet, and she turns her head away to look at the palace on the hill.
「…Can I go do something yet? I want to be useful.」
She asks without as much as turning back to Straf. He lets out a large, frustrated sigh.
「If you reeeally want to do something, you can… I don't know, do a little hearts and minds and help the cooks hand out food-」
「No! I do not want to!」
Straf spreads his hands, and Stripe shouts back, heavily scrunching her mouth.
「Suit yourself. I told you already that I have everything under control… Just find something to occupy yourself with if you're bored.」
He shrugs, then returns his fists back to his hips.
「Tsk… I'm going for a walk!」
Stripe declares, then squeezes past the infantry screen and through the hungry rabble.
「Okay! Just don't walk into enemy forces!… If you do, let me know where they are!」
Straf shouts back as Stripe disappears off to somewhere, obscured by the people and the buildings…
…
Less than fifteen minutes later, a few streets away from the capital's gate…
Taking a quick look inside, Stripe climbs into a house through an unlocked window. The interior is dim, dusty, covered in cobwebs, and what sparse furniture is there, is already half-rotten.
「Ah. Anything I could use here?…」
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She notices a small coffer by a bed's foot end. Apparently not locked at all, she swings its lid open with an expectant peek inside.
「Tsk… Just some old rags, huh?… I don't know what I expected…」
Stripe clicks her tongue as she pulls out a very old, weathered, frayed, and poor-looking sundress from within, holding it up in her clawed hands.
She looks around the dark, and sees nothing of use or value in the small, empty home. She lets out a small, disappointed sigh, and glances over her shoulder.
「…I only have this to use, then.」
Stripe tugs at her sweater's back, pulls her curving dagger out from behind. Looking at its blade, she turns it in her hand, before glancing at the dress in the other.
「Tsk… Better than nothing… At least I'll be able to cover my face.」
Rrrrip!…
She clicks her tongue again, and kneels down to start slashing the old sundress into long, wide straps…
…
A mere moment later…
「…There… Agggghhh, this is so uncomfortable on my face!…」
Stripe finishes wrapping her head in the strips of the old dress. Wincing, she immediately regrets her decision as the rough fabric begins to irritate her soft skin.
「…Ahh. Let's see how this thing works.」
She lets out a sigh, braving the discomfort as she looks at the dagger in her hand.
《「…And stop straining! If you strain to breathe, there's something wrong! If you strain to flow mana, there's something wrong!…」》
After some effort and a focused gaze upon the blade, she recalls an older man's words. Exhaling, Stripe then relaxes her shoulder.
「Ah.」
Her eyes open wider when after just a conscious thought to flow mana into the dagger's grip, another, identical copy begins to emerge out of its side.
Clunk.
Stripe loosens her grip upon the blade enough to let the copy slip past her fingers, and catches it into her waiting hand.
Pfsh!
With a flash of violet light, the copied dagger suddenly bursts into violet and purple sparks that gently tingle her hand and fingers, before disappearing without a trace.
「Ack!… Geh… 」
She recoils away on an instinct, before glancing at her empty hand. The original dagger remains.
「…Doesn't last very long with only a little bit, huh?… I'll keep that in mind.」
Stripe remarks as she stands up, puts her magic dagger back behind her sweater at the back, and climbs back out of the house the same way she came…
…
Around the same time, in the rear of the city, outside the defensive walls of the marble palace…
Clakk!…
The goat-masked man drives his climbing pick into the stone wall, making a small puncture into it. Very carefully, he pulls himself upward on its handle and places his toothed, sharp-edged climbing boot higher, into the mortar between the large bricks, securing a very precarious foothold. With the pick still in the stone, his gloved hand then moves to the small hole it made, then in one motion slips his steel-tipped fingers and pulls the pick out.
「Grrghhh…」
Thrown off-balance by the force, he heaves backwards while clutching onto the hole with all the might in his two fingers. The wolf, the bear, two owls, and many other metal animals covered by green cloaks look up from below, watching the goat scale the completely vertical wall unsecured. He manages to pull himself forward and hug the wall again. The goat looks up.
「…Always over an arm's length, huh?」
He grumbles quietly over his mask, tentatively reaching for the wall's top edge, and falling short of roughly his fingers' length.
「Don't tell me…」
The cat below says quietly, while the two teams watch the goat above set his pickaxe aside and coil up.
Fwup!
The goat-masked man jumps, just barely grabbing onto the ledge above.
「Hnnnnghhhhh!…」
Krrkk-Krrkk!…
He strains, scraping away at the wall's side with his boots to make the climb easier.
「…Hnrrrghhhhhhh!…」
Slowly, he raises his cloak-covered head over the embrasures. He quickly adjusts his grip to reach for the far side of the wall, then disappears over the ledge.
「…You're telling me you scaled the mountain like this?」
The wolf turns his face to the cross-armed bear.
「Yup. After we got ourselves a fire and a little stone barricade to hide it, things went from easy to trivial. It kept the wind out pretty good, too!」
The large bear-masked man nonchalantly nods while staring upwards at the ledge. The wolf exchanges a glance with the bull standing nearby.
After a moment, a length of rope flies over the edge down towards the team, and the goat peers down from over the embrasures, gesturing his head towards the wall.
「Don't mind if I do!…」
The bear says, and grabs onto the rope, casually scaling the wall. Soon, the rest of the cloaked men follow.
「…Hup.」
The bull lets out a small grunt as he lands on his feet on top of the wall.
With everyone on top, he pulls the rest of the rope up, tugs the grappling hook out of the wall, and begins coiling it around his arm.
「So what's the plan here?… The garrison seems dead-set on guarding the gate below. They're all piled up there… Should we throw one o' them IEDs at them to leave?」
Briefly glancing at the wolf, the bear asks.
The green-cloaked men peer their heads over the battlements. The garrison guards on top of the walls are focused on the front, and having failed to notice them climb on.
「No. I have a better idea… We use them to make a new exit.」
The wolf shakes his cloak-covered head, then turns his metal face to the bear, dipping below the embrasures.
「Ahhhh!… I see! This type of thinking is why you've got Bull here as a sergeant, instead me leading your team! Ha ha!」
Seemingly enlightened, the bear nods his head in approval, then adds a quick nod towards the bull next to them.
「…You like to get to the point, captain… That's all I can say without getting derogatory.」
The wolf-masked man replies after a brief moment of thought, turning his gaze away to peek at the palace below.
Pat pat pat!
「Come on now, captain!… You know there's no need to be so stiff with me!… Ha ha ha!…」
With a jolly tone in his lightly muffled voice, his large hand forcefully pats the wolf on his shoulder, or on his back… One can't be too sure with the cloak in the way.
「…So, how about we go in from the top, and you from the bottom? Room by room, meet in the middle, and then we do it your way.」
The bear asks, leaning into the wolf's side. The wolf turns his face to him.
「Sounds good to me.」
Fwap!…
The wolf-masked man nods then waves his arm for his team to follow, sending his green cloak up with a noisy flutter, before rushing towards the stairs leading down with his team.
「Here comes the fun part… Don't steal anything. We're done with that.」
As the wolf man's team departs to follow their leader, the bear glances over his shoulder at his own, and moves towards the battlement stairs as well…
…
Roughly ten minutes later, inside the palace…
A metal goat peeks through a closed window, and looks into the hallway inside as much as the angle will allow.
With no guards, servants, or otherwise anyone else around, the goat tries to pull and push the window open.
Clunk-clunk…
The glass and the frame rattle, but the window remains closed.
「Tsk…」
With a very faint sound, he clicks his tongue beneath the metal mask. He reaches under his cloak, feeling for something, then pulls out a long, hooked, and very thin strip of metal.
Krrrk…
The wooden frame lets out a quiet scraping noise as he slips it between the window's gap, then slides it upward.
Clack!…
A muffled noise of the window's lock opening comes from inside. The goat pulls the metal strip out, puts it back away into a pouch beneath his cloak, and gives the window a gentle push.
Crrreak…
It opens, creaking softly, and the goat-masked man steps in. He drops down from the window sill to the polished floor, and quietly draws his bastard dagger as the rest of the team enter. The owl closes the window, being the last man in. With their weapons drawn and without uttering a word, the large bear raises his hand, then points down a hallway while looking at the goat and the owl. With another wave of his hand, he takes the rest of the team in the opposite direction.
The split team then spends several minutes eavesdropping on doors, cautiously opening them, covertly searching rooms, and moving concealment to concealment through the wealth-dripping halls. It's difficult to take a few steps without seeing a grand painting, a beautiful marble statue, or a bust of a long-dead king of the Parnatau dynasty. Even usually mundane things, such as the doors, are presumably worth more than an average peasant's lifespan of work, each being a uniquely carved and decorated work of art, topped off with a golden handle.
After a few moments, the split team regroups at a stairway down, and with a nod of his head, follow the bear-masked man down…
…
At the same time, on the bottom floors of the palace…
Completely unopposed and with the guards busy, the wolf-masked man and his team easily slip inside through the front doors. Their search pattern is similar, with the leader taking the bulk of the men in a split direction. The first few minutes are completely uneventful, with most of the luxurious, outright gaudy rooms being completely empty. Following the wolf, the cat crouches down and presses his ear against a door, then lightly shakes his head as he stands back up.
The wolf nods back, and confidently swings the door open.
「Ahhhh!」「Help!」
A group of already frightened maids turn their eyes to the door, then drop to the wooden floor, shriek in panic.
「Please don't kill me!…」
One of them begs, covering her frilled head with her uniform-cuffed hands, shaking with her face down to the floor. She whimpers when she sees a steel-edged boot stop near her.
「…Where is your king?」
A calm voice asks. The maid shakes her head.
「W- W- We- W…」
She tries to answer, but can't get a coherent word out, visibly trembling.
「We're not here to harm you. Where is your king?」
Another muffled voice repeats the question.
「We… We don't know… We can't find him… Please don't kill us, we're only here for the money…」
The maid finally calms enough to reply, though she does not dare to look up, still fiercely shaking.
「…Well, no one said it'll be easy.」
The voice remarks, and the boots disappear from her vision. The cloaked men leave, shutting the door behind themselves, leaving the terrorized maids inside…