“Before I start explaining, what do you know about the Beast Nation of Tyr’s geography, and how it affects their country?” Nico asked Nisos, Ati, and me.
Nisos was the first to answer.
“It’s a nation of coastal cities that are connected only through the sea and have very little in the way of agricultural land. Travel through the desert is arduous for the most part, though the city of Tyr is rather close to Hebnopet, so it is a notable exception with a viable land route. Most still use sea routes for convenience’s sake. This makes Tyr look to the sea for fishing, trade, and travel, since they cannot produce much food and need to sail to travel across their own country.” Nisos said.
Nico nodded, then took over the explanation.
“Right. Due to the relative isolation of each city, Tyrian cities tend to have greater autonomy than in other countries. Each city has a rank S Divine Beast guarding it, and the one protecting the city of Tyr is the Divine Siren of Tyr.”
“Huh? Wasn’t the Divine Elephant the guardian of Tyr?” I asked, and Jezibel answered.
“The Divine Elephant is the elder of the Divine Beasts, so it is considered the patron god of Tyr as a whole. The city it actually guards is Cartagos.”
“I have a general understanding of what you’re saying, but how does that connect to what you found out from Arshut?” Ati interjected.
“That’s because you need to know this to understand what the guild is trying to do. They are preparing to commit a heinous crime on a scale beyond anything they’ve ever done before.”
“Well? Don’t keep us in suspense. What’s their plan?” I asked.
Nico’s face turned grimmer than I’d ever seen before.
“They are going to attempt to massacre the city’s entire population and the Divine Siren with them, then raise them up as an undead army to march on the rest of the world, starting with Tamery.”
“Wha-?!” my jaw dropped.
Nisos gasped, and Jezibel covered her mouth with her hands.
Even Ati paled, the normally expressionless boy’s eyes were wide as saucers at Nico’s words.
“The local guild’s leader is a rank A vampire and a level 182 necromancer. He is also a Demon Lord Seed and is apparently hoping to reach rank S and become a Demon Lord through this abominable scheme. He might even have ambitions to trigger apotheosis and become a new Evil God.”
At Nico’s words, the rest of us could not utter a response.
How could we?
Nico took our silence as an indication to carry on.
“Arshut was an official who they bribed into unknowingly cooperating with their scheme. The murder happened a few hours after we made a scene outside Gebal’s office, so they likely silenced her to throw us off their track, though part of it was also because she was starting to catch on to their identity and plans. I’m also certain that it was them who set the room to trigger the alarm when we entered it.”
Nisos was the first among us to snap out of it.
“This matter has grown far bigger than a group of students like us can handle. We need to report this to the guard!”
Nico shook her head.
“Based on what happened in the manor, I’d wager that there’s already bounties on our heads. The assassin’s guild has to know who we are if they managed to frame us for Arshut’s murder. I am certain that the guards’ investigation will prove us to be innocent, but by that time it’ll be too late to stop the guild’s plot.”
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“Lady Sept, I am grateful to everything you’ve done to help me, but we can’t leave information of this magnitude without informing someone about it! We can at least try to warn them anonymously.” Jezibel said, only to be shot down again by Nicotris.
“No – anonymous reports are unlikely to move the guard, especially with a matter this grave. They will simply treat as a children’s prank. If we turned ourselves in to warn them, they will simply treat our warnings as lies that we concocted to get out of being convicted of Arshut’s murder. Even if they somehow believed us, they won’t have enough time to stop it, and the guild may just launch their attack early anyway. A small, mobile, and capable team like ours is the only thing capable of both stopping the guild and not alarming them into launching the attack early.”
“When do they intend to carry out their attack, and where is their base located?” Ati asked in a frosty voice.
“Their attack begins tomorrow in the middle of the night, so any attempt to stop them has to occur before that. Their location, ironically, is also in the mountains, though Arshut never got to learn more before they killed her. This lead should be enough for us to scout it out; we have four flyers including Jezibel’s owl, and I am the only one without a racial trait for sharper eyesight. The guild should not be able to hide their activities on the day of the operation with all of us scouting for it.”
“You’re not actually suggesting we go and stop them ourselves, right?! Look, I know you and Kiara are insanely powerful, but that’s an entire city’s guild you want us to take on! This is nothing more than suicide!” Jezibel protested in a panic.
The mood became heavy as the dilemma we’ve found ourselves in weighed on us.
“We must go. No, I must go, and I will go alone if I have to.” Nicotris whispered, her voice showing the first signs of agitation.
No one said anything as she carried on.
“I am my lady’s sword; the hammer that strikes down evil. I live to uphold order and justice. My body will be torn to shreds and my bones will be crushed to dust before I abandon my duty to stand against their unholy plot.”
Her eyes glinted with a fiery passion. It seemed that she had already decided to go.
“I am going too;” Ati said, and the dark, hateful look in his eyes was back, “These bastards – no, these monsters have to be crushed here and now. I will not allow them to murder innocent folk and destroy families.”
There was another moment of silence before Nisos spoke.
“I don’t know if I feel as strongly as you two about this, but I am also coming.” He said solemnly.
“I haven’t told you this because it wasn’t relevant, but I hope to one day stand as the champion of Syressa. What kind of champion would I be if I ran away from my duty just because the odds weren’t in my favor? I am with you – they must be stopped.”
The others looked to me to see where I stood, so I spoke up to bluntly answer their expectations.
“I am coming too. I am not leaving you guys out there when you need all the help you can get. Honestly, I care for you four more than I care for the strangers in that city, so I’m coming to try and make sure none of you die. That said, I cannot even begin to imagine what my mother would go through if I died, and I care more for her than I care for all of you, so I am going to prioritize my own life above all of yours if it comes down to it.”
Nico and Nisos looked to each other then back to me.
“That’s fair. Thank you for coming with us anyway, Kiara.” Nisos said.
Nico nodded, while Ati was too busy stewing in his own anger to pay attention.
“Are you people crazy?! You’re just going to die! What hope do you have of assaulting a guild led by a rank A demon lord seed on the cusp of evolving to the S rank?! We have to go and tell the guard, even if there is little chance they’ll listen to us! This plan at least has some chance of success!” Jezibel asked incredulously.
“You’re wrong, Jezibel. This plan is certain to succeed. I have a last resort that I can rely on if things get desperate, but there are going to be consequences for using it. I am not simply throwing away our lives recklessly. That said, I won’t force you to come with us. You can go to the guard and report this matter to them. Even if you get arrested, you should be fine, since their investigators will be able to tell that it couldn’t have been us that killed Arshut.” Nico said gently.
She took Jezibel’s hands, reached into her pocket, and placed an ornate, softly glowing seal into it. She then gave Jezibel a warm smile.
“If I die, I would appreciate it if you had this seal delivered to my family’s estate, where your siblings are. It contains my will, and it will let them know I died fighting honorably in the name of my Goddess. Thank you for your friendship, Jezibel. If I live to see you again, we should go on a shopping trip. I’ll even drag Kiara along with us.”
Jezibel looked speechless as she stared at the enchanted seal in her hand. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before clenching her hands and pushing the seal to Nicotris’s chest.
“Give the seal to your family yourself! If you suicidal morons get yourselves killed trying to save my home while I ran away with my tail between my legs, I’ll never be able to live with myself, gods damn it!”
Nico blinked twice, then pocketed her seal and smiled.
“Let’s go; we have a city to save.”