“Angie here, Halk has more people who are heavily armed than usual. Blue Ice is buying large quantities of Monster meat. Sounds like an army.”
‘Thank you Angie.’
They might wait for their Spies to bring back information, but those are already gone. Maybe they will stop their fight, when they notice the vanished Spies, but I do not think they will.
For now I just wait and see what they will do. By the way Angie is now a barmaid in a better visited restaurant. Her high intelligence, Memory and ability to count makes her a great boon and helps out the bar with so many Mercenaries. Her cute look makes her also a great hit with the customers.
Grabby hands are sometimes an issue in such a rowdy Town, but otherwise she has no problems in her new role. The talk around the tables are rather moot, but sometimes a few tidbits of interesting things come to her, like the buying of so much more Monster meat in the last few days.
They might hide their presence in most ways, but if someone needs so much Mana rich food, everyone will know there are more Mages than usual in the Fort of Blue Ice. Such fools.
I am not really worried, as I anticipated it somehow. Prime was even sent to the Root explaining the possible invasion of my Domain from Telk, I made it clear they have to not do anything. Still they are willing to thin them out a bit. While I was not expecting anything from them, I am grateful for their offering of help.
While those happenings start… happening, Betty is right now working in the Glowing Ladle on probation. With the increase of variety in their Food and higher Mana inside each dish the place is booming. For a nice Person with a supposedly rather awkward family tree, she fits right in.
It was my Idea to make her transformation slightly elvish to explain her departure of where she came from and strained family relation. Also it is a great way to reduce mistrust, as the more extraordinary their background sounds the less she looks like a Spy. Who would train someone if the person in question would stand out everywhere later on?
Christine has made her debut as a rowdy Mercenary of Ulk. Her reasoning to move is her disgust against the discrimination against other races. The story was, that she traveled with a half-elf, but he was killed by a Noble for ‘fun’. Such stories are dime a dozen in that supremacy laden Kingdom, so it is not out of place.
While she was first not seen in a friendly light, after a few caved in faces and her using chicken blood to look also beaten and bloodied she got the moniker silent Chris for now. It will improve with more and more finished quests. Her most difficult problem is not bleeding accidentally to show her purple blood.
New Grey are in training right now. While they do not have a direct Mission for now, it might be needed, when other Countries start meeting me. I am rather busy for the whole playing nice thing. I am working on a Dimensional Rift Room and can not be annoyed with bad surprises anymore.
…
“Welcome back Mordred. Everything all right?”
“Everything all right Lord Null. You do not need to worry about me. Is there anything you might need, as you are here in person?”
Well I am just here to see how you are reacting to the Militia hunkering down right outside the tunnel. Are they really that stupid and attack right away? Hearing the conversation through the Amulet he is forced to play coy or will be seen as a traitor of Telk. His new bodyguards are all not his own and are listening to any hidden message, so I should not poke the bear and use my own ruse I created.
“I just wanted to ask when the increase in Produce will be needed. Rendlar should have his own connections open right now, right?”
“Ah, yes they are slowly building, but right now there are circumstances to not increase too fast. It might change in a few Months though. Please be patient.”
“Oh, I hope there is nothing to worry about. The Fields are right now plowed for more production. If the increase is not in a while the Stocks might overflow and I have no choice to sell most of it to the Beast Kin on the West.”
“I will bring that Message. Anything else?”
“We had Spies in our Castle. Albeit we caught the five, they just killed themselves, so we can not tell from where they came, but Rendlar could be in danger too. Maybe someone wants to take our produce for themselves, you should increase the Guards and scrutinize them more.”
“That sounds terrible! I will tell him right away, when I am back. Thank you for the warning.”
With that I left and the whole peddling be and go over to phase two.
…
“Meyers, over here.”
“Blick, you are all right?”
“Do I look like that? The whole place is more horrible as you can imagine. Bring me out, we have to regroup before we attack.”
Blick is held up by Meyers and brought to the others.
“Excuse me, is your friend Okay?”
Belk notices the two and asks worriedly.
“Nothing to worry about. He just ate a spoiled ration.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Oh, we have a herbalist if you want to look over him.”
“No thank you you are all right, right Blick?”
“Of course. It is not the first time I ate something bad. I have some stomach medicine, but it takes a while. Thank you anyways.”
“If you say so. Please be careful.”
And with that the parties disband to their own things. Heaving Blick into the group of spies, he was first looked after. Snake bites and some ugly infected wounds are below his armor to be seen.
“Report, what happened?”
“The sewers are dangerous. Every entrance is warded and I needed to stay there the whole time to not be caught. Fucking Monsters down there and ugly snakes. Do not enter it.”
“So you just hid? What is with the others?”
“...Dead. We invaded the Castle but those Maids are no joke. If they see you, they do not stop attacking until they or you are dead. Killed multiple just to escape but the others did not make it.”
“Rest and explain outside more. We wrap the peddling up tonight and set out right tomorrow. You will be guarded.”
“Give me an antidote. I do not know how much Poison is in my body, but I can not even feel my fingers anymore.”
With that the night rest started and the Militia outside hunkers down for the signal, which did not come.
…
“Blick, what the fuck is going on inside there?”
“The Castle is a whole maze. Every single nook has a hidden door or some kind of trap.”
“Any other people there?”
“Several we could find. The so called Greenhouse has a Botanist experimenting with some species. He should be a good target for us explaining the Fields and the curious area. At night one of the Mistresses is often using a hidden tunnel to go into the middle of the Maze. It looks like the Flowers are dangerous, but they are fake and just grown to look like that, probably by the Botanist. A normal Maid is training some children in becoming Servants, not like those killer machines, but normal ones.”
“Children? The one missing in Malek?”
“No, too few. Might be a dozen of them probably from the Orphanage in Halk or maybe Kilt. Poor Children, but they might need to go missing too later on.”
“Not your job to decide, keep reporting!”
Rather anxious is the Leader. Maybe he thinks Blick will die of some kind of injury before he reported everything? Whatever…
“After losing two of us at the same time the Guards are patrolling the main gate more often.”
“Guards? How many?”
“Don’t know precisely. Maybe twenty? Maybe more. They are heavily armed and can fight like real Soldiers in groups. We already found a way to eliminate them. Just poison their regular food.”
“And how?”
“Hidden entrance in the Maze. Leads right into the lower parts where the Kitchen is. Those idiots put the ready food into the hallway to cool down before sending it to them. Kitchen is always doing something. Poison their water flasks, use paralyzing powder on their bread or just mix into the soup a sleeping drug. Easy pickings.”
“For professionals rather clumsy, do you not think?”
“Fighters are all only fighting, cooks are only cooking. The Lord is an idiot to make his Castle into a cheese of hidden tunnels.”
A smirk came from the Captain. Well he understood how valuable this vulnerability can be.
“Anything more?”
“Avoid the white haired Ferral! She is more dangerous than you can imagine. She ripped Malte right in half with her bare hands. I nearly pissed myself.”
“That strong?”
“She is the reason I not even made a peep after seeing her kill the last of my team. She can not be a normal human… Fuck, there was something important I forgot.”
“What is it?”
“The Villagers have a reason to shut themselves into their houses at night. Be careful of the fields as different Monsters hunt at night. While it is more dangerous, no one will see us entering. Just break the gate into the Village silently, as they have a warning bell. They are dead anyway, when Null is gone, as he is rather weak and only relies on his Ferral bitch.”
“Gotcha, anything else?”
“No, nothing that I can remember. Martin was the one with the notebook. He died first with his cousin. Needed to eat snakes the whole time down in the Sewers.”
“Good work. Drink something and relax. You have performed your last Mission well enough.”
“Thanks… Wait, the water tastes… You bastard! Why did you…”
“Don’t you think it is humiliating for you to be the only survivor? Rest well to know you did good enough. Oh, don’t look at me that angry, orders from above: If only one or two survive, treat them as traitors and squeeze their info out of them before disposal. At least you die between Soldiers and not as snake food… well you might still become some. Goodnight.”
And that was the last thing Blick could hear, before falling down and never opening his eyes again.
…
“...Wow, how brutal!”
“What is it Null?”
“They killed Blick, the one you captured after ripping the other one apart.”
“Why did they kill one of their own? I do not understand.”
“Talk about him maybe being a traitor. I really wanted him to be staying alive to see their whole plan through his eyes, but now…”
“Change of plans?”
“No, we can keep the plan, but tweak it a bit around the corners. They have bought all the nonsense I told them. We ready the Wings as we decided earlier, but keep them hidden until they are all inside the Castle.”
“Sure! The Panic Chamber has already been filled to the brim with toys and food. The little ones will be resting a bit.”
“Remember, the ones who can do Magic, incapacitate not decapitate, okay? We need the knowledge for the capable children and for me to analyze.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just break bones not the skull. Got it.”
With that we are ready. Let us see how long they will need to build a working strategy for something that is totally different.