In the meantime, in the capital's throne room…
「Your highness! I brought the mercenaries!」
The young, newly-appointed captain of the royal guard announces to the man on the throne from across the elongated room. He walks down the red carpet in a skittish step, with five people following him in. The guards all over the room eye each other with serious faces, as if communicating non-verbally.
The captain of the guard kneels in front of the throne's steps, and panic sets on his face when he realizes the mercenaries behind him are standing in a line, unkneeling.
「Kneel! Kneel!」
He shouts at them through his clenched teeth, looking at them upside-down with his head lowered towards the throne.
「It's fine. They can stand. Return to my side.」
「Yes, your highness!」
The usurper commands, and the young man shoots up to his feet, going so fast that he almost sprints up the steps. He takes his place next to the throne, facing the mercenaries.
「Well? Who are the lot of you? I assume the captain negotiated your payment with you.」
Staring down from his throne, the usurper king asks the four men and the woman before him. All but one of the men seem to take offense at his question, throwing up their hands or shaking their heads.
「I am Lukhyur of Makwitz. Some call me officer's bane, but I don't like nicknames or titles. I was told I'll get 20 gold now, and two gold a year until I die. That correct?」
The man of average build with a massive executioner's axe twice his size propped up against the ground introduces himself, with a calm voice.
「Lukhyur…」
The man on the throne echoes the name, rubbing his brow with his index finger as his head rests on his hand, partially concealing one side of his face. He makes the mental connection, and his head perks up.
「Were you at the siege of Murusburg?」
He asks the bushy-bearded man with the axe. The man nods in response.
「Aye.」
「But that would mean you were a child. How old are you?」
「Aye. Lost me count. In me 30s, anyway. I was a young lad back then, just got me axe.」
Clank!
He lifts the huge axe up effortlessly to emphasize it, and allows its shaft to land back on the ground. The loud clank reverberates through the throne room doors into the rest of the palace.
「And a man of your size, of your age, supposedly single-handedly killed all of the enemy commanders at Murusburg?」
The man on the throne further questions the bearded man, who calmly nods again in response.
「Aye. It's because of me blessing. I never bragged about it, fame just came to me on its own. Am I going to get that payment?」
「Very well. And you? Who are you? Introduce yourself.」
The monarch's head returns back to his hand, and his bored eyes drift to another bearded man, holding two axes in hands.
「I've been killing your men by fuckin' knarrloads, how do you not know the great Hakkonen!?」
He shouts back, spreading his axes apart. Lukhyur beside him leans away a little, out of the way of his axe, and the spearwoman on the other side of him scowls when the axe flies past her face.
「Hakkonen. You were with the northerners?」
The monarch's eyes widen a little, and his interest is piqued.
「Yeah! And I'm against anyone who can give me a good fight! I've heard you've got a problem that's hard to deal with, I like those kind of problems! You pay me a gold coin a month, and I'll kill anyone you point me to! If they fight good, I'll drink to their name! That's what the gold is for!」
「I have quite an… Indelible problem, indeed. You'll receive your gold, provided you deal with it.」
The monarch looks aside momentarily to find proper words, then nods.
「And you, woman? Who ar-」
Fwooosh!
《Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!! It's so fucking over!》
The captain of the royal guard panics in silence with his mouth agape.
「Hey!」
One of the mercenaries calls out to the woman, who is now holding her spear point to the usurper king's throat, and standing on the throne's steps. Though initially surprised and holding his head tilted back, his previous demeanor slowly comes back.
「Ho? You're pretty brave, for a shitty old man. Figured it out yet?」
The golden-haired woman grins when she sees the man on the throne regain his composure nearly immediately, and return to his previous posture and bored expression.
「Vitsa, isn't it? There are very few in this kingdom that are this fast. Even fewer are mercenaries. And only one of them is a woman.」
He asks, and the woman withdraws her spear when she hears the name, returning to the line of mercenaries before the steps.
「Mhm, I take pride of that fact. If you still wouldn't recognize me, after I cleared your shitty county of mercenaries-turned-bandits and highwaymen, your head become a nice spear decoration.」
She looks at her fellow mercenaries, who are visibly angered by her introduction.
「My memory is far better for accomplishments, than it is for faces. Mere mention of that would have been enough. Your spear bluff was redundant-」
「It wasn't a bluff. If you wouldn't have recognized me, I really would have killed you.」
Vitsa interrupts the usurper king with a smug smirk, and her deep blue eyes stare directly into the monarch's narrowed, bored, dark brown ones.
「…Regardless, you could have mentioned 『The Golden Demon』 or 『Eyes of Ice』 and it would have been sufficient for an introduction. How much were you offered?」
He waves his free hand around as he talks.
「100 gold coins…」
「…Fine, you'll be paid-」
He hesitates momentarily, then shrugs. The spearwoman interrupts him.
「…But since I can negotiate face to face with you now, I want 150 coins, lifetime pension like beard, and a small chunk of land.」
「You're really gettin' on my fuckin' nerves.」
Hakkonen looks at the spearwoman and comments on her completely shameless greed. The man on the throne grimaces, unamused.
「…And what makes you think you are in any position to negotiate for more than you were offered?」
The usurper asks, with veiled disdain cracking through his voice.
「You know me. Like before, you can either pay what I want now, to get rid of a problem, or you can get one free.」
She winks at the count-king on the throne with a smirk, adding a little tilt to her head while playfully swinging her spear around as it's propped up on the ground. The usurper starts rubbing his face with his hand in frustration.
「…Fine. You'll get land and pension after it's dealt with.」
He concedes with a heavy sigh and great irritation in voice.
「…In that case I want 50 gold now, and 5 gold pension. And some land as well, to live me life out.」
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Lukhyur chimes in, increasing his demand.
「Are you in a jesting mood, Lukhyur? Is this a joke?」
The man on the throne is visibly and audibly angered by the intensifying greed of the mercenaries. His hand grips onto the armrest, squeezing it to channel the anger away, and maintain his stone face.
「No. It's me new offer. Take it or leave it.」
Lukhyur rests both of his hands on the axe shaft and leans his weight onto it, his calm tone and eyes are genuine, and not forced in the slightest.
「Fine. Fine. What else? Who else wants an updated agreement?」
The usurper king's patience reaches its limits. He leans back on in his throne, throwing up his hands as speaks each sentence, and his head shaking in disbelief each time as well.
「Me, actually. Give me 10 gold a month and some land, so I can put slaves to work on it.」
Hakkonen also pitches in with a new demand.
「Slavery is illegal.」
The usurper reminds the twin-axed man coated in war paint.
「Well then fuckin' make it legal! Or make me untouchable! Or don't, I'll kill your lawmen! Ha ha!」
Hakkonen laughs at the usurper, then looks at his fellow mercenaries with a toothy grin. They are just barely managing to put up with him.
「Fine. You two, hurry up with your ridiculous demands, and tell me why should I pay you to begin with…」
He glances at the hooded man in dark leather armor set, and a man in a very plain robe beside him.
「I am Grand Magus Tolwick, while I am an expert in temporal magic, my true interest lies in Necromancy…」
The robed man forces an awkward grin, and bows a little with his hand on his opposite shoulder.
「Grand Magus? Is there anyone in the Mages' Guild that will attest to your rank?」
The count on the throne leans forward as he talks to the mage, rubbing his chin. The mage's grin turns into a tight-lipped nervous smile.
「Well… You see, your majesty, the guild and I had a little disagreement over Necromancy some years back, and… Well. Long story short, I'm no longer registered as a mage.」
The mage shrugs and spreads his hands before clasping them together, grinning awkwardly again. The usurper king leans back and slouches onto his throne again, propping his head up on his hand.
「I held the impression that Necromancy was permitted by the guild, provided you have the family's permission?」
「Yes, your majesty… But it was the time of the plague, a lot of those families were already dead and it was not possible to ask for permission… And manpower was very, very scarce. I thought I'd put the dead to some work for once instead of filling out papers while they rot, but the guild didn't agree. And it was to a noble purpose, at that!」
The mage makes his case with his back hunched and shoulders slumped, gesturing with his hands heavily to fill out for his lack of personality.
「And? What is your price? I'd be willing to hire you as a court mage alone, for let's see… 24 gold coins a year?」
The usurper asks with his free hand lifted slightly, vaguely pointing his palm at the mage below. Tolwick shakes his head, bowing it slightly.
「No no no your majesty. I am not looking for gold, that is such a trivial matter. But I would like an old, out of use castle or a tower, or a hamlet if possible. And for the guild to be forced to accept me back, and my Necromancy research. The two-faced Mages' Guild liked my observations on the progression of the plague, but they didn't like the methods! How infantile!」
「Finally somebody reasonable. It will be done, and consider my offer as a court mage. It will come with many perks, provided you serve well.」
「And all of it over a couple corpses! So what they if look fresh because I reverted them to the time they were alive!? They're dead! They have no soul! Everything they say is just a memory imprint of their soul! They're not actually begging for help! I didn't kill anyone, they were already dead! If anything, my research saved lives!」
The formerly nervous mage gets more expressive and irate as he rants about his feud with the guild of mages. The man on the throne rolls his eyes, then rubs his face with his hand.
「Fascinating… And you- Where is he? Did he leave?」 「Why could someone like Richard Redwing summon a demon and get away with it, but I can't raise a few corpses without permission!?」
The monarch's brows furrow in confusion. The leather armored man has had disappeared, and the usurper king is not sure when. The mage continues ranting, much to other mercenaries' annoyance.
「I am Niklaus. I want as much gold as is in your lap each month, for the orphanage in the slums, for as long as it exists.」
Shocked, the usurper realizes the man he was looking for is standing right beside his throne, leaning towards him from the side, as if to whisper something into his ear.
「…What is this?」
The man on the throne asks, taking a single golden coin from his lap out of a large pile of them. He looks at it, confused.
「Gold from your coffers. I allowed myself to take it a form of an advance.」
Niklaus says as he straightens out, and walks backwards down the steps to the line of mercenaries.
「Impressive sleight of hand. But I am hiring mercenaries, not illusionists. Why should I pay you for this?」
He lowers the coin from before his eyes, looking at the leather-armored man with clear disdain.
「Not me, the orphanage. You can think of it as charity if you'd like, I don't care. But I have noticed that aside from the mad mage…」
Niklaus looks aside to the mage, still mumbling something about corpses and the Mages' Guild.
「…Everyone you have here so far is close and personal, in-your-face fighter. That's fine if you're fighting an army, but you want to kill the Redwing princess, that remains a loose end, correct?」
He asks the usurper with a nod of his head for emphasis.
「I don't believe I ordered the captain to divulge that.」
The usurper glances at the wide-eyed, tight-lipped captain of the royal guard.
「He didn't. You expect anyone aside from the dumbest peasants to believe that the girl just randomly killed her whole family, the mage, then left? And you just happened to be there to temporarily take the throne? Very convenient, your majesty. You look quite comfortable in your temporary role to me.」
The hooded man spreads his arms, and the false king's eyelid twitches. The count squeezes the armrest again.
「If you are here just to insult me…」
He growls in a low tone.
「No, I just want to tell you, that I could have coated that razor in a deadly venom, that would have had you crawling on the floor and vomiting blood now.」
The man shakes his head and shrugs.
「What razor?」
「The razor you just cut your hand on.」
The man nods towards the throne, and the count's eyes narrow in suspicion. The usurper lifts his hand off the armrest to look at his palm. His eyes widen in shock. It's slight, tiny, almost imperceptible, but it's there. Blood flows to surface of his skin through a minuscule cut on his finger.
「You're in luck that I work for the highest bidder. Guarantee me that the orphanage will have its finances secured, and she'll die. Sometimes brute force isn't the best approach. I think we'll both agree. No?」
Niklaus spreads his hands as he asks. Greatly vexed, the man on the throne grimaces.
「Has anyone seen him walk up to my throne?」
He asks out loud, and receives silence in return.
「Really? None of you? So when the girl walks in here, you won't notice her either!?」
He shouts at the mercenaries, slamming his fist on the armrest.
「To be fair, I wasn't really paying attention to him.」
Vitsa excuses herself, and flicks her golden hair off her shoulder with her hand.
「He was there, and then he wasn't, then he just kinda reappeared. I wasn't paying too much attention to him either.」
The bushy-bearded axeman shrugs.
「…Fine. Your orphanage will have its gold. But I want none of you to leave the palace. She's heading this way. She was on her way out of the kingdom, and she turned around to Murusburg. Captain.」
The usurper turns his head to the young man beside his throne.
「Yes! Your highness!」
He shouts out, forgoing the inquisitive tone of the voice he probably should have.
「Order the men to set up toll booths on all main roads to the capital. Forbid them from taking any money, but tell them to be on a lookout for her. She will be coming here. I know she will be coming here.」
「Yes, your majesty!」
The young man shouts again and runs down the steps past the mercenaries, and out of the throne room…