Chapter 20

『Ooh…another one.』

Ludmila looked over at Ilyshn’ish. Her companion was holding up a blue stone between her thumb and forefinger. Her silvery-aqua Snow Elf eyes seemed to glitter as she tried to look at the stone and sniff it at the same time. Ludmila supposed that, as a Dragon, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Elf heads, however, were not appropriately shaped for the action.

『What is it?』

Even with Ilyshn’ish’s thoughts being conveyed to her, Ludmila couldn’t tell what it was. All she knew is that it was a rough blue stone. The ‘smell’ of valuables certainly did not translate into anything she could perceive.

『A sapphire. It was mixed in with the smell of the treasure in the convoy. Now that I’ve had time to look around, it appears that these Demihumans are carrying treasures of their own.』

『I’ve never seen a raw sapphire before.』

Ilyshn’ish went over to an Ogre-turned-Squire-Zombie and untied a woven pouch from its rawhide belt. She upended it into her palm. Her face lit up into a brilliant smile when more than a dozen thumbnail-sized stones spilt out.

『Three emeralds, two sapphires, six rubies, four diamonds…hmm…ew, pyrite.』

With a flick of her wrist, she cast the lump of metallic crystals into one of the wagons nearby. The rest disappeared into an Infinite Haversack.

After the seizure of the treasure convoy, Ludmila ordered the Death Knights to organise their newly-acquired Squire Zombies and Zombies and set them to work transporting the Empire’s tribute back out of the jungle. As Zombies, the former Demihumans were much stronger than before but they were also much slower. At the same time, they did not tire so she couldn’t decide whether they were moving slower or faster than when they were alive.

Ilyshn’ish continually cast covetous glances at their cargo and Ludmila continually reminded her that it belonged to the Empire and they would be returning it to them. This, however, didn’t stop her from doing Dragon-y things like sinking her hands up to her elbows into piles of coins or sniffing everything or looking generally pleased with the sight.

A while later, her attention shifted from the wagons to the Undead conveying the loads of treasure. Since she couldn’t take any of the Empire’s tribute, she went to loot the Undead Demihumans. Ludmila couldn’t stop frowning as she watched her Knight moving about like a brazen footpad filching valuables in plain sight.

『Make sure you keep track of what you find. Actually, if you have an empty Infinite Haversack, use that one for all this.』

『…why?』

『I need to report our findings. After that, I have to figure out what we’ll do with it.』

Ilyshn’ish straightened and turned to look at her, another sack dangling limply from her fingertips.

『What do you mean by ‘what we’ll do with it’?』

『You don’t plan on keeping all that, do you?』

『Of course I do! That’s what treasure is for: Dragons.』

The Frost Dragon went back to pilfering the violently conscripted Undead Demihumans. At least she used a different Infinite Haversack.

How spoils were distributed was undefined in Re-Estize law: something negotiated in times of war. Like many rewards, loot was generally a tool used by those in authority to incentivise desired behaviours and show favour to those who faithfully rendered service.

On paper, all spoils were the property of the highest-ranked participant in the war – usually the King or a High Noble, or a set of High Nobles if there was a joint effort that didn’t include the King. A portion of these spoils went towards replenishing coffers used to fund the war. The rest was distributed to vassals, who in turn used it to award their own subordinates. She highly doubted that it would work out so neatly in practice, but Re-Estize had not had any wars with substantial material gains since its founding years.

As a Frontier Noble who was legally entitled to expand her territory, Ludmila was well-versed in how things would go if she were to wage a defensive war or conquer more land. Simply put, everything belonged to her and she could do as she wished with it. With this being the case, one could attract ‘investment’ into their war effort by offering returns out of realised gains or distributing licences to conduct industrial operations or trade on the newly-acquired land.

It only worked when there were tangible gains to entice others with, such as finding gold or other valuable commodities in a region. House Zahradnik could never put this idea into practice because there were no identified resources other than what could be extracted from lands that carried far fewer risks.

That being said, she was currently just a liaison officer participating in a military operation being conducted by the Baharuth Empire. The Undead forces were under lease so the ‘fruit’ of their efforts similarly belonged to the Imperial Army. While many laws had changed from its time as a part of Re-Estize, the right of spoils had not. It was already to the Emperor’s advantage, after all.

According to the Imperial Army’s regulations, everything found was to be submitted with a report by the company Captains. Instead of the King redistributing the gains to his vassals, the Emperor redistributed it to the military. It was one of the many measures employed to help ensure that the loyalty of the army went to the imperial throne.

『We’ll see how much we can negotiate for you.』

『Negotiate?』

『This is an operation of the Imperial Army, after all. They supposedly award by merit so I’m sure you can come out of it with something.』

『I could have obliterated this entire convoy without a scratch, you know.』

『I know. But you’re not killing the Viridian Dragon Lord on your own.』

『…do you think I’ll be able to get a percentage of her hoard?』

Ludmila smiled in amusement as Ilyshn’ish’s protests abruptly reversed direction, turning coolly calculating.

『Considering the magnitude of your contributions, I would say so. It is ultimately up to the Imperial Army, however.』

With the generally upright behaviour displayed by the Second Legion, Ludmila expected that they would also be fair to Ilyshn’ish – especially if she played a crucial role in the operation. The Frost Dragon would naturally want as much as she could get, but, at the same time, Ludmila was sure that she would take what they offered since it would be more than what she could get on her own.

Thoughts of how the Imperial Army handled the seizure of enemy assets led to how the Royal Army of the Sorcerous Kingdom would deal with the same issue in the future. While their current policy meant that they were not an expansionary power, they would still be called upon to aid their allies and act against threats beyond their borders if necessary. There would be Commanders from the citizenry, strong Demihumans like the Frost Giants and auxiliary forces that supported the main units of the military to consider.

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Strangely enough, it was not the living that Ludmila was primarily concerned about, but the Undead. While one might believe that Undead servitors who would faithfully carry out their orders would be immune to such behaviour, she suspected that the opposite might be the case. If they started equating plunder as gains for the Sorcerer King, they would do everything in their power within the bounds of their orders to acquire wealth and resources from vanquished enemies and their territories.

The way Ilyshn’ish’s eggs were taken from her was a worrisome indication that it was more than a needless worry. With such a thing happening to a citizen of the Sorcerous Kingdom, Ludmila couldn’t imagine what would happen if one wasn’t. Clear regulations and procedures had to be created and refined before an unfortunate mishap occurred.

『This is Plucked Cockatrice.』

She raised a hand to her ear out of habit as a Message spell connected.

『Greenskirts here…are these ‘codenames’ truly necessary?』

『Gartenberg did happen, after all. We don’t want a repeat of that here, my lady.』

Officer Roberbad said so, but Ludmila wasn’t sure that it was possible to destroy a nation with three Message spells. First of all, one needed to know who they were contacting. One couldn’t randomly send misinformation to an official that they didn’t even know existed. As long as the appropriate channels for information were set up and adequate measures were in place to verify said information, it should be nearly impossible to fool an organisation in that fashion.

『Did you find the convoy?』

『Thirty minutes ago. We’re on our way back out.』

There was a long pause in the Message.

『…that was three hours faster than the general staff’s prediction.』

Which was three hours slower than hers. Working on the field with the Imperial Army turned out to be far easier than dealing with the Second Legion’s general staff. With everything being cross-examined in the planning phases, the gap between the performance of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s forces and that of the Imperial Army created a similar gap in their projections.

It took twenty laps around the walls of Enz to convince them that the Death Knights, Death Warriors and Death Priests were as fast on foot as she claimed. The jungle terrain slowed them down considerably, but the way back didn’t matter as much with how slow the Zombies were.

『We’ll be in position by midmorning. After that, we’ll see how long it takes for the Viridian Dragon Lord to find out.』

『I’ll let headquarters know. Was there anything else you’d like to add?』

『Has anything changed out there?』

『I’m not sure. We’re still on our way to the lake and it’s too dark to see anything. I haven’t received any reports, at any rate.』

『In that case, no.』

『Our next contact will be in an hour, then.』

The Message spell ended. With the success of the raid confirmed, the Second Legion’s air wing would deploy over The Blister to watch for the movements of the Viridian Dragon Lord. Depending on where her lair was, it would take the strongest of the Gnolls she had let escape anywhere from two to four hours to inform her of the attack.

This was assuming they went straight to her. If they did not report to her out of fear of punishment, Ludmila and her Undead contingent might be waiting until the Dragon started wondering why her tribute was taking so long to arrive.

As time went on, the Death-series servitors continued to noisily make their way through the undergrowth and the convoy shuffled forward at their painfully slow pace. Ludmila eyed Ilyshn’ish, who was still industriously stripping the Zombies of their valuables.

『There haven’t been any potential threats along the way at all?』

『Not that I’ve detected. Beasts will avoid all the noise. If this lot consists of the strong Demihumans that the Dragon Lord wanted to show off, then any Demihuman that gets within Darkvision range will have already been detected by my Blindsight.』

『How far does Blindsight go?』

『It depends on the strength of the individual. The radius of mine has increased substantially since spring. Without any obstacles or attempts at concealment, my Blindsight can detect an average Human standing in an E-Rantel street from 350 metres. How ‘solid’ the response is falls off drastically as distance increases.』

The range of Ilyshn’ish’s Blindsight seemed like a lot. At least until one considered how fast she could move. In a full dive, it probably amounted to a few seconds of forewarning and it took time for her to alter her trajectory.

『If a Dragon’s Blindsight becomes more extensive as they grow in power, how can we even get close to this Dragon Lord?』

『We should have no problems – the both of us have substantial concealment abilities, after all. By the time she notices us, we’d already be on top of her. The Death Knights, on the other hand, are even less stealthy than the average Human civilian. They’ll have to be positioned in advance and hidden from her senses somehow.』

According to Ilyshn’ish, Blindsight was a sort of ‘super-sense’ that combined all of a Dragon’s considerably powerful senses. Even when one was out of a Dragon’s line of sight, a myriad of other things could give them away. Sound, smell, taste and various tactile senses such as the ability to pick up vibrations in the air and minute changes in temperature and pressure made it very difficult to avoid notice.

Odours; heartbeats; breathing; the warmth of one’s body – they could all be picked up by a Dragon’s Blindsight. A Dragon could even force the issue. By landing or even taking a step, they sent vibrations over the ground and through anything touching the ground or whatever it was shaking.

Concealment Skills that masked movement, visibility, sound, odour and everything else were the direct counter to Blindsight, but the Death-series servitors lacked any of them. The way they clomped around and moved their bodies made them extremely easy to notice.

After a few more check-ins by Officer Roberbad via Message, they reached the boundary of The Spill. There, Ludmila and Ilyshn’ish went to work setting up their ambush. After finding a set of roots for a Death Warrior to lie between, Ludmila stomped her foot twice on the ground.

『Can you sense it now?』

『Its right leg is sticking out.』

Ludmila looked around the tree trunk to the thinning jungles beyond, but Ilyshn’ish had concealed herself. She could only sense the vague distance and direction to her companion. After having the Death Warrior shift its leg, she stomped her foot again.

『How about now?』

『Mmh…I can still sense it, but it might be because I already know it’s there. Oh, what did you do just now?』

『I covered it with leaves and dirt.』

『That works too. If the layer is sufficient, it will blanket any vibrations coming off of objects enough to not notice what’s under the surface. It’s the same way with buildings and closed rooms – I have to get much closer to sense what’s going on inside them.』

They went around hiding the rest of the Death Warriors in the trees around the convoy. Five were positioned in the younger growth of The Spill while the others were nestled in the much denser vegetation of The Blister. The Death Knights and Death Priests were placed on either side of the trail coming out of old growth, though no efforts at concealment were made beyond keeping them out of sight.

As they lay in wait, Ludmila periodically walked up and down to check their preparations. After the sixth reexamination, another Message connected. It was earlier than scheduled.

『This is Plucked Cockatrice.』

『Greenskirts here…is she coming?』

『Yes. One of the flights just spotted her flying over the trees towards The Spill. At her speed, she’ll be there in under thirty minutes.』

『I see. Thank you, Mister Cockatrice.』

『…may the gods watch over you, my lady.』

The Message disconnected. Ludmila took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh as she made her way southwest along the edge of the ancient jungle.

『Ilyshn’ish, she’s coming. It’s time to go.』