Chapter 19

Tira yawned and stretched in the morning gloom. She edged closer to their small fire, eyeing the semicircle of sacks on one side. They squirmed occasionally, looking like Giant Bombardier Beetle grubs wriggling over the snow.

“Think they’ll freeze before she gets here?”

“Should we make the fire bigger, boss?”

“Eh…sure,” Tira replied. “Get breakfast started, too. No point freezing and starving while we wait.”

“How long will it take for her to get here?”

“Shouldn’t be that long,” Tira said. “Our intel says she’s been doing two or three Adventurer commissions a night when that Demihuman Merchant stops in the cities.”

The other Ninjas arranged more branches over the fire. The blaze rose to emit waves of comfortable warmth.

“…isn’t that a lot?” One of them held out his hands towards the fire, “Adamantite teams usually take a week or more to do one.”

“They were local Mithril and Orichalcum jobs, but yeah she’s fast.”

“I’ve never heard of a Bard moving that quickly.”

“The agents all say she’s a Dancer,” Tira replied, “so she should be pretty athletic. She also might have a Spellsong that helps her get around quickly. Plus anyone in the Realm of Heroes is bound to have some weird Skills and Abilities.”

One became less predictable the stronger they were. This was a general rule that could be applied to any target, regardless of their vocation. A Silver-rank Bard could be expected to have a half-dozen or so simple Spellsongs mastered. They would have rudimentary skills with a light weapon, such as a rapier, but no Martial Arts. Depending on how fussy they were about fashion, they would wear anything up to medium armour and were about as durable as a Rogue of the same rank.

Past that point, things became increasingly complicated. While the vast majority of Bards were civilians who worked as creatives, entertainers, scholars, diplomats and information brokers, those who became strong were Adventurers, Workers or something along those lines. In the case of those Bards, the needs of their teams tended to influence their specialisations.

If their party needed a more substantial front line, they could become more like warriors, learning to be more proficient with their weapons and picking up Martial Arts, Skills and Spellsongs related to that role. It was more common that they functioned as backline support, using ranged weaponry and Spellsongs. This was the most beaten path because teams could break up and fall apart, leaving those who filled a strangely specialised niche in an awkward situation.

But where did a Dancer fit on that scale? Tira’s initial speculation was that she was something like a Monk. A Human needed something like Ki to reinforce their bodies so they could fight effectively unarmed.

Alternatively, she could have a magic item that improved her unarmed attacks or wielded floating weapons that she didn’t equip in cities. She was wearing bracers that matched her outfit which were probably some variant of Bracers of Armour. Tira noted several rings, one of which could have been a Ring of Protection.

Between those two items, a Dancer in the Realm of Heroes would have protection equivalent to a warrior in chainmail, at least. Since she was from the Sorcerous Kingdom, it wouldn’t be a surprise if her magic items were strong enough to bestow protection superior to full plate.

Ah...so annoying...

The speed of a Monk, the grace of a Dancer and the defence of a Paladin. Assuming she actually did work solo, it also meant that she was either skilled in unarmed combat or she had powerful Spellsongs that made up for a lack of combat skills. Or maybe she had both just because she could – how quickly one grew in strength and picked up new things was highly dependent on their natural aptitudes.

Still, Tira was fairly certain that they could win. She was a Ninja in the Realm of Heroes, supported by two dozen clan members equivalent to Mithril and Orichalcum Adventurers. The strength of Ijaniya was such that even nations could not impose their will upon them.

“Boss, someone’s coming.”

Tira looked up from the fire. Since the imperial officer was in the garrison when they abducted the others, there were concerns that the Imperial Army would be dragged in. There was no way they could respond this quickly, however.

“Any sign of allies?” She asked, “Someone said that she might have a team in hiding somewhere to get those jobs done so quickly.”

“I don’t think so. Even if they were invisible, they’d still leave tracks in the snow. Unless they were all Rangers. Or flying.”

“Let’s get in position,” Tira walked away from the warmth of the fire. “I can’t wait to go home for a good, hot soak. Oh yeah – this Bard has some crazy persuasive powers: make sure you fortify yourselves against them.”

Their ambush point was halfway up the series of frozen falls. There were a number of lethal traps and the treacherous footing would make their target vulnerable to ranged attacks from the cliffs above. A half dozen Ninjas buried themselves in the snow while the others waited out of sight.

Tira checked the deadfall trap at the top of the first cliff. She took a deep breath before looking over the edge.

“So you’ve come…eh?”

A stupid noise came out of her mouth. The target had arrived, but rather than stopping to figure out how to make her way, she was walking straight up the sheer cliff.

S-Spider Climb? No, that’s a frozen waterfall…

Tira gave her head a shake.

“Stop right there!” Tira called out.

The Bard stopped. She was standing perpendicular to the ice as if she were on level ground, so it had to have been some sort of Skill.

“Oh, if it isn’t Miss Tia,” Shiver smiled. “Fancy meeting you here. I went to investigate what you told me back at Elenel. The buildings are certainly old, but there weren’t any records or local folklore of relevance. Still, thank you for letting me know.”

“Not a problem,” Tira smiled back. “If you–no, wait!”

This damn Bard!

Tira purged Shiver’s attack and scowled down at her. She was a master at making people drop their guard so she could use her ridiculous abilities to subvert their will. Was that how she did jobs so quickly? Just talking to her targets and convincing them to kill each other off?

“Is something the matter?” Shiver tilted her head curiously, “I need to get to a place further up ahead.”

“Don’t play dumb with me!” Tira said.

“B-but I’m not? I really have to go.”

“Y-you are! I know that you know that I know that you know what’s going on here.”

“I’m not even sure what’s going on here, never mind knowing what you know about me knowing about you knowing about what I know.”

“Look,” Tira said, “I’m the one that ordered those people taken from your suite while you were away. I led you to Far Sound in the first place so that could happen.”

“…oh.”

Dammit!

Did she just give herself away? No, she was supposed to know all that by now.

“In that case,” the Bard asked, “Where are they?”

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“They’re safe,” Tira told her. “And they’ll continue to be safe so long as you follow our instructions. First, take off your gear.”

“Why?”

“Wh–I just said why. They won’t be hurt as long as you listen.”

“How exactly will they be hurt if I don’t listen? I don’t see the connection.”

Is she some sort of idiot?

Tira looked around. Was she stalling for time? She drew her dagger and pointed it at Shiver.

“Do it or they die!”

“Oh, that’s a nice dagger.”

“Thanks–nope! NOPE! Hurry up!”

“You don’t have to shou–”

“STRIP!”

The Bard cringed at Tira’s shout. She slipped off her rings and unclasped her bracers. Then the necklace came off, followed by the silvery chain around her waist. Everything went into a pouch on her left hip. Shiver looked back up at Tira.

“All of your gear!” Tira said, “Your clothing and shoes, as well.”

“But–”

“Now’s not the time to be worried about being naked, yeah? The lives of everyone you care about are at stake!”

“But I am naked!” Shiver protested, “What is with you Humans and this obsession with nudity anyway?”

“I mean it!”

“I mean it, too! Look–”

The form of the Bard shifted as she stood on the sheer ice. Tira’s eyes widened as she realised what was going on.

Oh, shit!

She kicked out a foot to trigger the deadfall trap before leaping back and running off. Boulders and huge chunks of ice tumbled down the waterfall.

“Eep!” Shiver’s voice drifted up from behind, “Hey, what was that for?!”

Tira frantically made her way up the frozen cascades, mind racing for a solution to their predicament.

A Dragon. A freaking Dragon! A Dancing Dragon? What can we do…

Shiver being a Dragon changed the rules of the fight completely. Sneak attacks were nearly impossible to pull off and being outdoors in a frozen alpine valley was to the Dragon’s advantage. Could they overpower her?

She was White, so she was probably one of the Frost Dragons rumoured to work for the Sorcerous Kingdom. Frost Dragons were the smallest and weakest of the generally evil chromatic Dragons…could they exploit their rumoured stupidity? She did seem pretty dumb. Tira had never seen a Frost Dragon before so all she could rely on were the highly embellished tales of them.

Not that there were many. There were more exciting, powerful Dragons that the Bards could sing about. Frost Dragons were weak, dumb, small and at most bit villains in short tales of adventures in the wilds.

She was much smaller than an Adult Green, which Tira could kill, but it didn’t indicate what age category the Frost Dragon was. Then there was the fact that she was a Bard. How much power did she have as one? Just as Demihumans could become far more powerful than the vast majority of their kind by picking up specialised vocations, a Dragon who did the same thing was a force to be reckoned with. She could even be a Dragon Lord.

They would not be entirely reliant on instinct and raw strength; they started using equipment and the lore that would-be Dragonslayers relied upon was no longer effective. Their target was horrendously powerful and a complete mystery.

A head shrouded in black popped up from the cliff ahead.

–Boss, what’s happening?

–Dragon! We’re in for it!

Wingbeats sounded behind her, accompanied by waves of primal dread.

Shiiiiiiit. Shitshitshitshitshit.

The six Ninjas hidden in the snow leapt up and fled. Tira shook off the effect, but it seemed that only one or two others had withstood the onslaught of dragonfear.

“Oh, three of you resisted it – that’s pretty good.”

Tira turned to face the voice as she reached the others. Shiver settled on the ice before them, reassuming her Human form.

“See? I was naked.”

“What are we going to do, boss?”

“Thinking!”

Their ambush was in shambles. A cold bead of sweat trickled between Tira’s shoulder blades. Once upon a time, Ijaniya’s founder fought a Dragon with the rest of the Heroes of old. They were soundly defeated, never to recover again. Was history about to repeat itself?

–We can’t run; we need to drive her away somehow. At least she can’t use her breath attack in that form.

–We can immobilise her while you get some good hits in. This fog is going to help too.

Fog? Tira narrowed her eyes at the mist forming over the ground.

–That’s one of her Abilities! She’s a Frost Dragon: we can’t let her blind us!

The two men reacted immediately, splitting off to either side. Tira charged forward, throwing two sets of three kunai at their target.

“「Immovable Binding」!”

Shiver froze in place from a technique employed by one of the other Ninjas, but the six kunai bounced harmlessly off of her body. Tira eyed the iron projectiles as they fell into the ankle-deep snow.

Well, that answers one question…

The Frost Dragon was old enough that penetrating her ‘scales’ required magic weapons. Now the question was how substantial her damage reduction was.

Their foe broke free of the Ninja technique, darting towards the man who had used it against her.

“「Immovable Binding」!”

She was frozen again as the other man used the same technique against her. Tira came in, dagger brandished.

The split-second opening she thought she had wasn’t there. A slender hand shot out and seized her wrist.

“「Shadow Clone」!”

Tira left the Frost Dragon holding her clone, using Shadow Step to appear on the other side of her. Shiver pivoted away as Tira’s dagger plunged in. The blade planted itself into her clone, who had been forcefully positioned as a shield. The shadow clone wore a surprised expression as it disintegrated into nothingness.

Dammit, she doesn’t even have to look! Who the hell taught a Dragon how to fight?!

Dragons were supposed to be ferocious and angry and savage and rawr. One fighting with cool discipline and refined skill had to be against the rules somehow.

Through the thickening mists, a pale fist flew in.

“「Immovable Adamantite Shield」!”

A scintillating prismatic shield blossomed in front of Tira. Shiver’s fist slammed into it. Cracks grew from the point of impact like damaged glass, but the shield did not break. The Frost Dragon gave the six-pointed star the briefest of glances before darting away.

Oh no you don’t!

“「Immovable Binding」!”

Shiver froze in place again. This time, she visibly struggled to break free. While the others couldn’t hold her, it seemed that Tira was close enough in relative power for her techniques to be effective. She kept her fixed in place, then realised that the fog had become so thick that the others couldn’t see what was going on.

“I caught her!” Tira called out, “Get in here!”

Six dark figures appeared out of the mist, closing on their immobilised target. The four Shadow Clones couldn’t injure her, but the two real Ninjas could.

“Owie!”

Their adversary kicked away one of the Ninjas when Tira’s bind expired, then the five other figures piled onto her. Tira made her way in as Shiver cast away the Shadow Clones. The remaining Ninja clung to her waist, activating another Ninja Art.

“「Bursting Flame Column」!”

“Aiiiieeee!!!”

Shiver and the other Ninja were blasted away into the fog by a tremendous explosion of flame. Tira concealed herself, alert for any sound or movement. Fire was the bane of Frost Dragons. Had they done enough damage to drive her away?

She gathered her steps, silently stalking towards the place where she had last seen the Frost Dragon. There were a few spots of blood on the snow around the rapidly freezing puddle, but nothing suggested any significant injuries.

Where did she go…

Though daylight grew brighter, Tira could see nothing through the summoned fog. She hurried through the swirling mists, searching for the edge of the obscuring cloud. Along the way, she came across markings in the snow; signs of struggles that had gone unseen and unheard.

Her dragonfear must have worn off. She withdrew to deal with the others…

A sinking feeling filled the pit of Tira’s stomach as she came across more and more violently disturbed patches of snow. Minutes of wandering passed before a stiff gust of wind blew the fog away. Tira reoriented herself: she was a hundred metres or so from the fire they had set up. She stared in disbelief at what she saw there.

Her subordinates were bound, gagged and neatly arranged into a line. Standing over them were…

Ninjas?

She didn’t recognise the markings on their uniforms, but they were almost certainly Ninjas. Tira wasn’t aware of any other Ninja clans in the region. What she was aware of, however, was the fact that they were unfathomably strong.

“I was wondering when you would come out, Miss Tia.”

Shiver appeared from a few metres away. No sign of injury was visible on her person.

“You…you weren’t even in there?”

“Of course not,” the Frost-Dragon-in-Human form replied. “I never needed to fight you – I was just here to pick up my minions. And your friends here. Everyone in your base, too.”

“What?!”

Tira’s face turned towards Ijaniya’s distant base, which was all but invisible from where they were.

“They’re safe,” Shiver told her. “And they’ll continue to be safe so long as you follow our instructions. I won’t even yell at you to strip.”