Maximilian frowned a bit when he saw the elf stop the demonborn girl from going forward, and then whispered something that even his magic-enhanced senses couldn’t pick up. He couldn't really blame them for being wary, now could he? He wouldn't trust a stranger in a place like this, either. Still, it seemed like they bought his story, as the elf sheathed her sword and the demonborn girl soon followed her example. It looked like the elf was the leader here.
Good, thought Maximilian.
Now… he had options. His initial idea was just to have the women help him escape, after so many years down here Maximilian was done with this place, and then to dispose of them, but the longer he thought about it, the more possibilities emerged. The problem was his current master. Could he use the women to ensure the inhuman abomination couldn't ever threaten him again?
‘What’s your name, friend?’ the elf asked.
‘Maximilian Löwe,’ he responded.
‘Nice to meet you, Maximilian. I’m… Sindara and this is Aki.’
That pause. Were the names made up? This ‘Aki’ looked surprised at the names. Yeah. It would be best to dispose of the women, after all. He thought they might make for good lackeys and maybe some ‘fun’. That ‘Sindara’ stirred something inside him, that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He didn’t even think it was still possible, not after what his first “master” did to him. Still… if this was what allowed him to serve his vaterland better then he happily endured it. The knowledge he gained about life and death would be invaluable to the Führer. And if others agreed to undergo the same procedure as he did… yes. The glorious Third Reich would be able to triumph over the lesser races of the world. Maybe they would even be able to conquer this one as well. Nothing he had seen here could withstand the might of the Wehrmacht.
‘How did you end up here, Max?’ ‘asked Sindara.
‘I woke up on a stone altar. Then I was captured and brought here. For what purpose, I do not know.’
Sindara nodded.
‘We’ve entered here through goblin-infested caves. I’ve seen the altar that you mentioned.’
That would explain his new “master” not detecting them earlier.
‘Do you know where we can find the way up?’
‘Y-,’ Max stopped himself. ‘No. I haven’t left my prison since I got here.’
I’ve almost blown it. I need to be careful. Wait… was that a small smirk on the elf’s face? It disappeared quickly. Does she suspect something? How could she?’
‘I suppose we can get to know each other while we search for it,’ Sindara said. ‘Anything useful in the room you were kept in?’
'N-no.’
If the elf noticed his hesitation she did not show it.’
'Let's go looking for it then.’
‘Diese waren schreckliche Monstra,' Sindara said and pointed at the corpses of the Sanguine as they passed them.
‘Ja,’ Maximilian replied by reflex. 'I hasse sie. Waren sie schwer zu töten?’
‘Jawohl, Herr Sturmbannführer.’
Maximilian's heart sank when he realised what Sindara was just doing.
Did the elf just call me by my rank? And where did she learn German?
Max turned towards the elven woman and found himself staring down the length of a sword pointed straight at his face. He didn’t hear her unsheath it. His gaze landed on her hip. The blade she originally had was still there.
Soulbound weaponry? He wondered. Magic either way.
That was going to be a problem. He reached towards the holster on his belt but found nothing but air there.
Schieße. I must have left it by the mirror. No matter.
Maximilian had other contingencies, but he would still need time to launch them. The time he now desperately needed to buy. Pumping the elf for information would be useful too.
'Sorry, Hans,’ she said in Raivarian with satisfaction clear in her voice. ‘ Nice try, but no cigar.’
'How can an elf know German?’ Maximilian asked, too distracted by setting everything up to notice the room had gone dark and he had been seeing through Darksight.
'Appearances can be deceiving, mein Freund. Though I suppose it's to be expected. You people were all about superficial characteristics.’
'You're really from Earth?’ Maximilian still, truth be told, couldn't believe it.
‘Isn’t that obvious? Don't tell me you've spent eighty years here and haven't noticed that magic is a thing here. How did you keep such a youthful appearance? You must tell me what facial cream you are using.
Eighty years? No. It can't be. I know it is hard to keep track of time down here, but it couldn't have been more than three. At least, that's what I can tell based on Rivard's journal and my estimates of how much time has elapsed since Laachersain took over.
'Haven’t you noticed that magic is a thing here?’ he responded, trying to retain a look of confidence.
What on Göring's sweaty ballsack is happening?
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Aki was surprised to see another human being there. Was this well-dressed stranger from Lilyth's world? She wanted to rush over to him, but the way her… companion tensed upon seeing the man stopped her. Lilyth must have sensed Aki's intentions because she subtly gestured for her to stop. Then Aki heard a barely audible whisper from her.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
'Follow my lead, and check out the room when I distract him.’
When Lilyth started leading this ‘Maximilian’ away Aki knew the time had come. She snuck into the room the man had come from. Inside, she found a rather cramped chamber. There were other metal doors to the left and right of the entrance. Most of the room was taken by two rows of six catafalques on which there lay corpses in various stages of decay. Directly to the left of the door there was a bookshelf and what looked to be a very intricate alchemist’s table with a small padlocked chest below it; while to the right there was a dresser with an ornate mirror standing on it.
Aki, first, investigated the table, hoping there would be potions there and she wasn’t disappointed. There were several moderate health, mana and stamina potions standing on it, along with a couple she did not recognize. She immediately drank one mana and stamina potion. Feeling rejuvenated, Aki packed as many of these as she could inside her satchel. She would need to give some to Lilyth. Her companion needed these badly. Aki turned towards the unknown potions on the table.
Item: Moderate Umbral Caustic Essence
Type: Alchemical
Rarity: Coven-made - Uncommon
Effect: Deals persistent umbral damage to any target covered by it.
Item: Sarin
Type: Chemical
Rarity: Terran - Extremely Rare
Effect: Unleashes deadly chemical fumes. Handle with extreme caution.
Aki, lost interest in examining the rest of the substances and immediately backed away from the table.
What kind of a sick person would make this?
Feeling slightly ill, Aki moved towards the dresser. The mirror turned out to be a communication device.
Item: Magic Mirror
Type: Communication - Magical
Rarity: Coven-made - Rare
Durability: 24/30
Charges: 54/100
Power Source: Small Mana Crystals
Effect: Allows for communication between connected mirrors. Consumes 1 charge per 30 seconds of use.
Next to it, there was what looked to be a pistol in some sort of leather sheath.
Item: The Lance of Longinus
Class: Weapon - Magitek - Handgun
Rarity: Artifact - Extremely Rare
Durability: 34/40
Charge: 76/100
Ammunition: Small Mana Crystals
Effect: Launches a magical bolt of any of the arcana types the user is proficient with. Each shot consumes four charges and a small amount of user’s mana.
Lilyth would like this one since she is fighting with a single weapon, I think. Wait… if this Maximilian was a prisoner here, why leave him a powerful weapon?
With mounting terror, Aki squeezed the gun into her overfilling satchel and turned her attention to the dead. They were dressed in various clothes she didn't recognise.
Are they all from Earth?
One that really caught her attention was a black-haired man, maybe in his twenties, wearing a red coat with some parts dyed dark blue instead: the collar, lapels and cuffs; white pants; and black boots. There was a triangular hat lying next to him. This had a distinct look of a uniform, a silly one, but a uniform nonetheless. Wait… didn’t Lilyth mention some formation called the Redcoats in one of her stories? Yes. They were the soldiers of this Bryteesch Empire.
Oh no, Aki thought, fully realising what danger they were in. She rushed to open one of the other doors. Behind it, there were rows upon rows of biers with corpses lying on them. A similar find awaited her behind the other door. Suddenly, she heard a series of soft groans behind her, followed by sounds of cloth rubbing against the stone. Without looking she bolted towards the exit from the room.
----------------------------------------
‘What of the war?’ the Nazi asked me. ‘What happened to the Reich?’
I smirked evilly.
‘What do you think happened? You fuckers lost. Hitler spent his last days cowering in fear in a bunker while the people of Berlin died for his madness. Instead of facing the Soviets he chose the coward's way out and shot himself. Your boss tried to fuck off to South America but got captured and also took the easy way out. Your SS buddies were hanged or went into exile. And now, Germany is a peaceful nation, finally working for the good of Europe instead of trying to conquer it. The very word Nazi has become a short-hand for evil.’
Löwe got paler with every sentence. Good.
‘No!’ he shouted. ‘Those are lies!’
I pressed the Blade of the Black Rose closer to his throat.
‘If you don’t play nice, I’m going to send you to hell where they are all sucking dicks so you can ask them in person for independent verification.’
I had no intention of letting him live. Even if he wasn’t involved with whoever was running this, I just couldn’t trust him not to do anything funny. I didn’t want “Trusted a Nazi” to be written on my tombstone. Plus, you didn’t become an officer of the SS without being a fucking war criminal. I planned to extract some information from him, buy Aki some time to go through his shit, and then deal with him. Of course… there was the standing question of “Will I actually be able to murder someone in cold blood” despite all my bluster.
‘What do you want from me, elf?’ he asked.
‘The truth for starters. What are you really doing here?’
‘I’m a prisoner here, I told you! I’ve been kept here for years and experimented upon.’
I’ve always been terrible at telling whether someone was lying to me. That was the part of my neurodivergence I always hated. I was also biased against believing Löwe due to… well him being a fucking Nazi, but I couldn’t help but think he was telling the truth there. But… his uniform wouldn’t be this pristine-looking then. It must have been soulbound, still… that didn’t explain how was he still alive after so many years. I looked at him again. Maximilian looked to maybe be in his late thirties. So what? Wouldn’t he be a hundred and twenty in 2024? There was some fuckery involved, but I had no idea what it was.
‘Who was experimenting on you?’ I pressed.
‘This monster who introduced himself as Laachersain. He was trying to turn a living person into some special kind of undead.’
A likely story. Though… Maximilian did seem comfortable in the dark. Last I checked Nazis didn’t have darksight. And he had been awfully calm, despite me threatening his life.
‘Who is this Laachersain?’
‘A powerful sorcerer from the same realm as these.’
Löwe pointed towards the Sanguine with his head.
Why not use his arms?
I was about to check what the Nazi was doing when, suddenly, Aki burst out of the room behind the metal door.
‘Lilyth!’ she shouted. ‘Watch out, he’s the necromancer.’
My body acted before my mind fully registered her words. I jumped back in time to avoid a strike from Maximilian’s fist wreathed in green flames. The Nazi’s eye started glowing viridian, and a ghostly green sword appeared in his right arm. I could hear shuffling footsteps coming from the room Aki just left.
Löwe beckoned me with his free, still flame-wreathed hand. I could see small skulls popping up in the fire from time to time.
‘Let’s dance then, Lilyth.’