Chapter 19
As the remains of Fassett Town grew closer, a lingering, acrid odor mixed in with the scent of smoke and char that washed over them with the wind. The entire wooden palisade surrounding the town had fallen into the lake, offering a plain view of the space within. Most of the buildings, composed of timber frames walled with panels of wattle and daub, had been smashed completely to the ground in the onslaught. The ones made of stone fared little better as piles of broken rubble.
Stepping to the edge of the liquid, Ludmila looked across its steaming surface. Wood and stone; flesh and bone – everything seemed to melt, break up and dissolve without a trace. The green-tinged surface seemed to be receding ever so slowly, but the deluge had been so great that it would take some time to drain completely away. A thought occurred to her, and she pulled out the pouch containing the samples of Laira, withdrawing the bundles of plants after untying the container.
“What’s that?” Lady Shalltear asked from beside her.
“This is Laira, my lady,” Ludmila explained. “It’s contraband: used to produce a narcotic that is either heavily regulated or entirely outlawed in every Human realm that I know of. Since this lake seems so…potent, I was wondering if I could dispose of it here.”
She placed the bundle of plants into Lady Shalltear’s outstretched hand. Her liege held it in front of her face as she peered at it, turning the bundle this way and that.
“Mmh…this is the same as what was listed in that absurdly huge tome you four put together?” She said, “Since it was treated as such a grave concern, I figured it would be some sort of plant monster that attacked Humans.”
“It’s the same,” Ludmila replied. “The plants are refined into an addictive substance that has long term detrimental side-effects. Even as a plant, it is hazardous: the fumes from burning it are dangerous, and discarding it carries the risk of the plant spreading to the wild. Even now, there is a field slowly encroaching on the border nearby.”
“「Blight」.”
The bundle of plants withered and turned black, stems curling in on themselves until the next gust of wind scattered them into ash-like particles. Lady Shalltear dusted off her hands.
“Humans are truly puzzling,” she said. “Why one would permanently debuff themselves with no beneficial effects is beyond me.”
Ludmila watched the blackened and desiccated remains of the Laira plant drift away, then turned her gaze back over the town. After scanning the ruin again, she looked at Lady Shalltear.
“...what is it?” Her liege looked up to meet her gaze.
“House Fassett is a case where entrenched ways and prideful ignorance have resulted in misfortune for all involved,” Ludmila said, “in lands newly acquired with customs far removed from your own. I can see similar instances of this occurring in the future – if the circumstances are similar – but what you said earlier…the Sorcerous Kingdom is not only possessed of great power, but individuals of great intellect, wisdom and charisma: extraordinary beings capable of fulfilling their duties as His Majesty’s servants. I cannot imagine any of His Majesty’s subjects openly defying his will with this understanding – has anyone ever actually rebelled?”
Lady Shalltear held her gaze for a long moment.
“Yes,” she finally said. “His Majesty slew me by His own hand.”
Ludmila reeled mentally when the words sunk in, she struggled for several seconds to regain herself.
“But…you love him.”
“With my entire being.”
“He means more than the world to you!”
“Even more than that.”
How was it possible if this was the case? Ludmila was unable to grasp even the tiniest fragment of insight towards how this could be.
“Then–”
“When I spoke to you and your friends,” Lady Shalltear said, “I meant every word that I said. I paid for my actions with my life: worse yet, I lost my honour as His Majesty’s vassal. I feel that recent events have cleansed my heart of shame but, even now, I struggle to regain my place amongst my peers and make up for lost time in His Majesty’s service.”
Ludmila looked down to the cobblestones of the highway. She always felt that there was something going on, something that led such a woman standing so high above her to reach down to extend her hand towards an insignificant noble such as herself. The shadows of worry, uncertainty and self doubt would sometimes seep out of Lady Shalltear’s words and behaviour; now a key piece of that puzzle fell into place.
“Also,” Lady Shalltear continued, “what you said back there about mind control is correct, but not in the manner in which you measured its use. I, of all people, should know and it’s something that I considered after I sent you on your way with your new duties.”
Lady Shalltear reached into the air in front of her, withdrawing a ring with the appearance of unpolished steel. She held it up between the silken fingers of her glove.
“With your duties,” she said, “I have invested a substantial amount of authority in you – authority that you would continue to wield even if you were dominated with spells or abilities. A part of the reason why I sent my Household to keep an eye on you was because of this, but, in the future, I may not be in a position to do so. This Ring of Mental Fortitude will render you immune to harmful mind-affecting spells and abilities as long as it is not broken or removed. It should prevent the vast majority of attacks of this nature against you, but it is not foolproof. Should you be injured or restrained, it can be removed…and there is at least one other thing that will ignore the protection that it grants entirely.”
Lady Shalltear stepped forward and made to present the ring to Ludmila, but then she stopped mid-way. Her expression shifted several times and her lips moved slightly as her gaze turned inwards. Ludmila wanted to ask if anything was wrong, but remained respectfully silent.
“Your work here has proven that my trust in you has been well founded so far,” Lady Shalltear began. “Neither sentimentality towards Human ways nor the fact that your quarry is one of your own kind dissuades you from methodically pursuing your duties with a conviction tempered by prudence. However…”
Her words trailed off into the night wind, and Ludmila felt a knot of unease forming in the pit of her stomach. There was still the matter of her failure: despite being provided powerful subordinates and the authority to enforce His Majesty’s will. Even with her friends and all of their retinues working together, Ludmila had failed to accomplish all of that she had set out to do.
“Once again, I must apologize, my lady,” Ludmila lowered her head. “Despite all that has been placed at my disposal, I was still unable to fully realize my objectives.”
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In the silence that followed, she studied the frilled hem of Lady Shalltear’s gown – awaiting some reprimand or judgement for her errors. The black fabric shifted over the pavement, and Ludmila felt cool fingertips trace the line of her jaw before resting lightly under her chin.
“Raise your head, Ludmila,” Lady Shalltear said.
Ludmila did as she was instructed, her gaze meeting her liege’s own. Lady Shalltear’s crimson eyes glowed in the night; the light from the fires nearby played over her pristine skin. Her lush, carmine lips were turned up slightly as she looked up at Ludmila in bemusement. The appearance lurking beneath her beautiful form mirrored her expression curiously.
“A warrior you may be,” Lady Shalltear told her as she lowered her hand, “but I am not Cocytus: willfully bound by some stern and rigid martial code. I bid you to carry out your new duties under my authority and sent you on your way – I never actually sent you out with any specific objectives to accomplish. My purpose was to see what you would do with undeniable power at your command, and the results have pleased me greatly. As such, you are to continue to serve me in this capacity for as long as you are fit to do so.”
Ludmila breathed a sigh of relief, and Lady Shalltear once again held up the ring. A serious expression replaced her bemused smile.
“The reason for my hesitation just now concerns something on my end,” Lady Shalltear said. “My duties have expanded far beyond the scope of my own experience, and I was considering expanding your own duties to enlist your assistance. For the time being, I have matters well in hand, but it is far more complex than straightforwardly killing intruders or dealing with people that run afoul of our ways…thus errors and even minor issues may be far more problematic.”
“I am at your service, my lady…” Ludmila said, “but I cannot say whether what I can provide would be of any real assistance or not. What was it that you needed help with?”
“You’ve seen the Dragons flying over the city?”
“I have, my lady,” Ludmila replied. “Lord Mare mentioned that you brought them from the north, but most of the nobles assume that it’s related to the events revolving around the formal announcement concerning the Empire.”
“In that, they are correct,” Lady Shalltear nodded slightly, “but it’s also an opening evaluation on how they can be employed. After the festivities end, they will become the backbone of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s aerial transportation network. Lord Ainz has personally tasked me with its planning and execution as His Minister of Transportation.”
“Congratulations, my lady,” Ludmila smiled briefly, “but I’m unsure how I can help with Dragons. The day that they arrived in E-Rantel was the first time in my life that I had ever seen one.”
“You use Bone Vultures to deliver things around your demesne, do you not? The Liches may use their familiars to assist with personal tasks but, from all my flying around observing what the citizens are doing, you appear to be the only person that employs flying creatures for this sort of thing.”
“Anyone who has had something stolen from them by a raven should understand that flying creatures can carry things,” Ludmila said. “I find it hard to imagine that no one has thought of this.”
“Coming up with previously unheard-of concepts and finding ways to make them work is much rarer than you might believe,” Lady Shalltear replied. “We often witness His Majesty accomplish unfathomable feats that appear plainly obvious only in hindsight. One of your kind may witness birds carrying objects or prey, but they would not take this observation and turn it into a network of flying skeletal Undead delivering goods all over the land – the thought would not have even occurred to them in the first place to try.”
“Is that so…? Well, in that case, it will be my pleasure to assist you, my lady.”
Lady Shalltear sighed, biting her lip lightly as she looked up at Ludmila. The conflicted look returned to her face.
“Is something the matter, my lady?” Ludmila asked.
“You should already understand this,” Lady Shalltear answered, “but there is a clear line that divides those that came with Lord Ainz and, well, everyone else.”
Ludmila nodded: it was something that had been conveyed the night which she had made her first oath to her liege. No matter how many generations of service rendered; no matter what results achieved, this distinction could never be attained by one beyond Lady Shalltear’s mysterious place of origin.
“Trust is not a currency easily exchanged with those who stand across that line,” Lady Shalltear told her. “It is especially difficult for those like me. Among us are individuals who can turn everything into a calculation where trust is not required or expected, who can concoct schemes wherein a certain range of results is deemed acceptable. There are even those amongst us, more goodly and kind in disposition, who can interact relatively freely with others. I, on the other hand, do not make these intricate calculations like Albedo or Demiurge. Nor am I good like Pestonya or Yuri.”
“My lady has only shown me patience, kindness and generosity,” Ludmila said. “I have nothing to complain about, and everything to be grateful for.”
“Hmph. It will sink in sooner or later,” Lady Shalltear looked her in the eye. “By the standards of your Human society, I am incomprehensibly evil. You were only fortunate enough to be in the right place, at the right time, in the right situation. My colleagues do not know me for my patience, kindness or generosity. I suppose it helps tremendously that we appear to share notable similarities and are thus quite compatible but, months ago, some other me would have simply turned you into a Vampire thrall or enslaved you to be broken for my convenience and entertainment.”
Lady Shalltear studied Ludmila’s face as she spoke, but aversion to her claims was the furthest thing on Ludmila’s mind. She stood silently for several moments, trying to find the words to convey the feelings within her.
“Kings and highlords; nobles all,” Ludmila replied, “often express nothing but respect for Frontier Lords. Nothing but respect, and nothing but the bare minimum of what is outlined by their obligations. When hardships fell upon us and our strength faltered, we were simply left to be forgotten – to fade away without a whisper or a tear. That was to be our fate: the fate of my house. It was my fate…until the Sorcerous Kingdom. Until I met you, Lady Shalltear.
“You took me under your wing when I needed you the most, restored my purpose and placed your faith in my service. A bright and prosperous future lies before my house and its demesne, where only the grim reality of an undermanned and destitute frontier territory existed before. Though brief thus far, my service under you has brought forth the realization of something that has always been a part of me, yet something that I was too blind to embrace: that words without action are hollow, and will without power leaves one at the mercy of whim and chance.
“In you, my lady, I see a stalwart defender who stands with true pride in her duty. A trustworthy liege and reliable mentor. You are the example I aspire to and, with you, I can dare to hope that my house will finally become what it was meant to be.
“Lady Shalltear, you have won my fealty and I hold you in the highest regard: I am yours for as long as you would have me.”
Ludmila held Lady Shalltear’s gaze as she spoke, and a long silence drew out between them. She could not tell what her liege was thinking but, after some time, Lady Shalltear spoke.
“It truly doesn’t bother you that you serve under an evil liege?” Lady Shalltear asked quietly, “I’m not going away any time in the foreseeable future, being Undead and all that.”
“If anything, my lady,” Ludmila replied, “the fact that you will always be there is a great comfort. Fealty and obligation are a noble’s honour – not adherence to tenets of good or evil. Nobles exist to uphold order; to be an instrument of our liege’s will is the essence of chivalry. As long as those that lead provide us a clear vision to follow, it would be rare to go astray. Those who do will not find themselves in their position for long.”
Lady Shalltear looked back down to the ring in her hand, and the last of her visible indecision had faded away.
“Then there is nothing but to get this over with,” she said. “I believe I know your character well enough to understand that you mean every bit of what you say, but there will always be whispered doubts and even I myself may come to question things once in a while for various reasons. For my own peace of mind, I will be adding additional terms to your oath of fealty – the duties that you consider inseparable from yourself.”
Ludmila genuflected before her liege, kneeling over the rough cobblestones of the pavement as she looked up and waited upon Lady Shalltear.
“Swear to me, Ludmila Zahradnik,” Lady Shalltear said, “that you will always perform your duties in good faith and provide honest counsel in your service as you assist me in my tasks.”
“I, Ludmila Zahradnik, hereby swear to you, Shalltear Bloodfallen, that I will always perform my duties in good faith and provide honest counsel in my service as I assist you in your tasks.”
“Swear that you will be truthful with me in all the things that matter – even though you may fear the outcomes that the truth may bring.”
“I swear that I will be truthful to you in all the things that matter – even though I may fear the outcomes that the truth may bring.”
“Hmm…how did you feel about the entertainment part?”
“Entertainment, my lady?” Ludmila tilted her head slightly, “I know a few old stories, and Clara doesn’t cover her ears when I sing anymore…maybe I could hire a Bard or–”
“…never mind.”
The glowing crimson irises of Lady Shalltear’s eyes flared, and Ludmila felt a jarring sensation as control over her body was wrested from her will. Her liege drew nearer, until her closeness was a tangible feeling in the air between them. Lady Shalltear slowly leaned towards her, gaze lidded, then stopped. She closed her eyes and let out a long breath before straightening again.
“Hold out your left hand,” Lady Shalltear instructed.
“Yes, my lady,” Ludmila raised her hand towards her.
“Even your voice under my domination is indistinguishable from your regular tone now,” Lady Shalltear muttered.
Ludmila watched as Lady Shalltear took her hand in hers, carefully slipping the ring onto her middle finger. The band of cool, grey metal adjusted itself to fit comfortably against her skin. When it did so, Ludmila regained control of herself.
“When this ring protects you from a detrimental spell, skill, ability or effect,” Lady Shalltear said, “it will glow with the dull, grey light that you see right now. It will do so even if you are not being targeted specifically, so it may provide hints as to what is happening to those around you: even if you yourself have not fallen victim to the same condition. It also complements your Talent well: no longer will you be affected by attacks that attempt to create false sensory information in your mind that Truesight does not provide proof against, further limiting the ways by which you can be deceived.”
Ludmila held up the ring, watching the barely perceptible glow fade away. It looked nothing more than a thin, unmarked band of metal without it.
“This ring looks fragile, my lady,” she said. “You mentioned that it won’t work if it breaks – should I be protecting it somehow?”
“The material that the ring is fashioned from is at least three times as strong as Adamantite,” Lady Shalltear replied. “It would be far easier to remove your hand than try to break that ring on your finger.”
Ludmila absently ran her hand over her steel bracer – maybe she should worry less about buying new clothing and look for new armour. She returned to her feet as Lady Shalltear stretched, taking another deep breath and releasing it.
“Now that all that awkwardness is behind us,” she said in a much more relaxed tone, “we should see to dealing with this territory.”