Valkyrie's Shadow

Empire in Chains: Act 3, Chapter 8

Empire in Chains: Act 3, Chapter 8

Chapter 8

After dealing with the latest batch of customers, Dame Verilyn returned to their table. She eyed Fendros and Elise, who were casting Summon Spices to fill pouches of salt.

“So, you were saying…”

“This isn’t the right place for a formal introduction,” Nemel said, “But these are two of my classmates from the Imperial Magic Academy. Fendros usually goes by ‘Rei’, and the tall one is Elise, who goes by ‘Liz’.”

“And now they’ve been employed by Zu Chiru,” Dame Verilyn said. “They appear to be noblewomen – why are they suddenly working at a Merchant stand?”

“They’re not noblewomen anymore,” Nemel lowered her voice. “Their houses were subjected to attainder. They’ve essentially become outcasts of imperial society.”

Both Fendros and Elise visibly faltered at her words. Dame Verilyn did not shift her attention towards them, though Nemel highly doubted that the Frost Dragon didn’t notice how anxious they must be.

“As your seneschal,” Nemel pressed forward, “I will require staff. Fendros and Elise – and a third by the name of Ida – are noblewomen born and raised with an education from the Imperial Magic Academy. Rather than seeing them go to waste here, I recommend that we take them in. Administrative staff of their calibre are not usually something you can pick up off of the street.”

“Is that so? Alright then.”

As Dame Verilyn started to walk away, Fendros spun around.

“Th-that’s it?!” An incredulous look broke out from under her calm mask, “You’re not going to question that at all?”

“Are you not as Miss Gran says you are?”

“We are, but–”

“Then what’s left is to see how well you perform.”

Both Fendros and Elise were staring at Dame Verilyn now. To make such a major decision uninformed was just as odd to Nemel. The Frost Dragon in Human form turned to regard them quietly.

“Human simplicity at work again, I suppose,” the trace of a smile played over her lips.

“W-what do you mean?”

Nemel swallowed. The last time Dame Verilyn broached the topic of ‘Human simplicity’, she didn’t very much enjoy the outcome.

“Does being cast out make one any less than what they are?” Dame Verilyn asked, “Does it change one in some fundamental way? Deny them something? I do not believe that this is so easy to achieve, so it seems just another way that Humans attempt to impose their arbitrary nonsense upon others. It is as if you believe that if you declare a Wizard no longer a Wizard, they will lose their ability to wield magic.”

Dame Verilyn stepped aside and one of Zu Chiru’s apprentices went by to pick up a few pouches of salt. The Frost Dragon’s turquoise gaze passed over each of them in turn.

“If you can do as Miss Gran says, then you can. If you can’t, then you can’t. As for the measure of your character, my liege will be the judge.”

With that, Dame Verilyn wandered back out to speak to the customers gathering in front of the stall. Fendros and Elise finished filling a few more pouches and stepped back from the counter with tired sighs. From their drained appearance, Nemel estimated that they were only two or three spells away from depleting their mana pools.

“Since you’ll be working at the stand,” Nemel said, “you don’t have to empty yourselves out like you used to after school.”

“Hmm…you’re right,” Elise made a face. “Force of habit, maybe? We’re used to tapping ourselves out like Faucets of Spring Water.”

“It’s fine this time,” Fendros said. “If our inventory is too sparse, people will think that they’re leftovers that no one else wanted for some reason.”

Maybe some stands were like that, but would it count for industrial salt? Nemel didn’t think it would matter so much.

“You still have to look good for the customers,” Nemel said. “Tapping out doesn’t look so pretty.”

Their hands went up to lightly touch their faces. Fendros reached down to pull a small mirror out of a belt pouch.

“This is going to be the weirdest ore stand ever,” she said as she tried salvaging her appearance. “Three Noble girls, five rat–I mean, Quagoa, and one…what is she?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Elise lowered her voice. “When Rei came to get me, the people who weren’t watching this stand were turning Oestestadt upside-down looking for the Elf that came in with you. That’s…that’s her, right? Is she using Illusion or Transmutation-school magic to alter her appearance? The way she talks about ‘Humans’ – she’s not one of us, is she?”

“It’s not something we should discuss where people might be listening,” Nemel told them. “If we mess things up for her, she might get angry. Pay attention and you’ll figure out what you need to know when it comes to working with her here.”

Another apprentice appeared to carry the newly-filled pouches of salt away. He brought them over to Zu Chiru, who was neatly lining them up in a wooden case on a newly-purchased table.

Nemel looked around, wondering if someone was creeping about nearby. Dame Verilyn never deviated from the image of a lovely poster girl while she was working at the stand, so there were no cues for Nemel to work with even if the Frost Dragon detected the presence of a spy. She either didn’t care at all or understood that what she was doing was utterly overwhelming for any Human to keep track of. Instead of trying to hide everything, she simply crushed observers with the sheer volume of information that enveloped her.

The notion did nothing to assuage Nemel’s fears, however. Her nervousness grew until she led Fendros and Elise inside the tent, casting a Silence spell to prevent any of their discussion from leaking out. Two apprentices looked up at them from where they were cleaning some new inventories of ore purchased sometime after they arrived in the city.

Elise looked down at them briefly before taking off her gloves and eyeing the spacious interior.

“It’s so warm in here,” she closed and opened her fingers. “Do you think we can rest inside if we get too cold?”

“I don’t think Master Chiru would mind,” Nemel replied, “as long as you keep it reasonable. The Quagoa take turns working inside for the same reason, so if you can find some work of your own to do for the stand in here, it should be alright.”

The two apprentices turned their attention back to their task, nibbling away at the chunks of stone in their claws. She still wondered whether they were actually being paid to eat. Did Quagoa get fat? Was it even possible to get fat by eating stone?

Nemel shook her head, looking back towards Fendros and Elise.

“At any rate,” she said, “all of those other people are still out there, so you’re in the same position that I’m in now. Maybe worse – you’re not members of the army and you’ve gone out of order by joining us. Count Granberg’s people might even retaliate against you for leaving their group, so make sure you have enough mana to defend yourselves with and counter attempts at magical subterfuge.”

Fendros put on a thoughtful look, nodding slowly at Nemels words. As she grew accustomed to their operations, she would probably be far superior to Nemel at dealing with factions that tried to encroach on their position.

“Should we continue reporting back to the Granberg faction’s coordinator?” Fendros asked, “They know you came in with the Elf, these Quagoa, and the rest of the people in that caravan, but they still haven’t figured out which one of them is ‘Frost 19’.”

“I thought some of them would have by now…” Nemel frowned.

“Some suspect that it’s the Elf…or whatever she is,” Fendros explained. “The ‘Human’ is so flashy that most of them think she’s some kind of trap or distraction. We can slowly ease them into the realisation. If we do it that way, Granberg’s people won’t retaliate because they’ll think they’ve managed to position agents on the inside.”

“The longer we lead them on for,” Elise said, “the angrier they’ll be when they discover what’s happening. Is that safe?”

“We’ll be fine,” Fendros waved a hand. “They aren’t expecting us to do anything significant – in fact, they’d rather we didn’t since they will want to claim credit for any major breakthroughs. We are all allies and rivals at the same time. For our part, we’ll behave as desperate fallen noblewomen are expected to and offer up morsels of hard-earned information to our handlers now and then. They might try to squeeze us for everything that we’re worth, but they won’t expect much since we’re ultimately failures in their eyes.”

“The more I think about it,” Elise frowned, “the more relieved I feel. That coordinator was starting to get too handsy with us. Sooner or later I’m pretty sure he would have told us that we weren’t pulling our own weight and demanded that we join him in his bed if we didn’t want to be kicked out.”

Nemel shuddered. They were probably too valuable to easily discard, but even the suggestion that she would be excluded from the group was intimidating enough for many women to give themselves up – especially ones in a desperate situation like Fendros and Elise.

“Well, he isn’t horrible to look upon,” Fendros said, “and you know as well as I that either of us would happily offer ourselves to a Dragon if we thought it necessary. Still, you’re right – I would rather not be required to do something like that.”

Ah…should I tell them?

It was probably better not to so they could more naturally settle into their roles. She didn’t know how they would react to the fact that they actually had happily offered themselves to a Dragon. Being around Dame Verilyn more would help soften the blow.

“What can we tell them, anyway?” Elise asked.

“Slowly crossing off the lists of potential candidates for ‘Frost 19’ would be the logical choice,” Fendros answered. “That’s what everyone’s still trying to figure out, after all…how long are we going to be in the Empire, by the way?”

“According to what I’ve been told,” Nemel replied, “they’re doing the whole outer circuit.”

“…the whole thing?” The golden-haired woman frowned, “But that’s at least two months…more like three. We’ll need more information to dole out if that’s the case. Identifying ‘Frost 19’ will buy us two weeks, at most.”

Fendros and Elise hmm’d. Nemel hadn’t reported in to any of the army offices at all; maybe she should be offering some breadcrumbs of her own to General Ray.

“Do you know what she’s here for?” Fendros asked, “Everyone’s managed to get their hands on the Imperial Air Service filing attached to Frost 19, but it’s rather normal-looking.”

That’s because it is…

Not that it appeared to be. Everything ‘normal’ attached to Dame Verilyn ended up being so extraordinary that observers from the Empire couldn’t help but imagine that something else was going on. Even after travelling with Dame Verilyn for a week, Nemel still couldn’t quite believe that things were precisely as stated: Dame Verilyn was here to learn about the Empire by participating in a trade circuit with a Merchant from the Sorcerous Kingdom.

House Gran’s most powerful secret weapon was the realisation that genuine conduct was the Empire’s greatest weakness. If the Emperor said something like ‘this person is my friend’ as a purely honest statement, untold fortunes would be expended trying to explore the layers of meaning hidden behind his words.

Intrigue was so firmly entrenched into all levels of imperial society that people couldn’t help but try to figure out the hidden angles to every action that they observed. The degree to which it affected an individual depended on where they stood and how they were raised, but there was at least a little bit of it in everyone.

Dame Verilyn and the Quagoa were straightforward people, which Nemel liked very much about them. By simply being who they were, however, they immediately aroused suspicion. Imperial citizens just couldn’t be satisfied until they had rationalised some sort of ‘truth’ to everything.

That being said, House Gran’s ‘weapon’ wasn’t very effective when it came to getting ahead. Her parents were amused to no end whenever a rival tied themselves into knots over nothing, however.

“It’s normal-looking because it is,” Nemel told them. “I think our strategy should revolve around telling people the truth.”

Fendros and Elise wrinkled their noses in unison.

“What does that mean?” Elise asked.

“It means what it means,” Nemel answered. “I don’t mean to say that we should lay everything bare for everyone to see, but if anyone asks, you should offer enough of the truth to satisfy. They won’t be able to say that you’re wrong because that is what they’ll also see.”

“And because we’re stupid fallen noblewomen,” Fendros tapped her chin lightly, “they’ll just settle on the idea that we’re incompetent and the real truth is something they have to piece together on their own. That’s extraordinarily vicious, Nemel. To think that we had a mastermind in our class hiding in plain view the entire time.”

“It must run in the family,” Elise added. “I always wondered why all of House Gran’s rivals just imploded for no apparent reason. Since you’re all magic casters, there were some rumours that you conducted dark rituals to curse your enemies. But to think that a minor house could be so terrifying…”

Nemel wanted to sigh. Attainted or not, these two were imperial aristocrats to the core.

“Ah, good, you’ve not gotten to work yet.”

Nemel, Fendros and Elise all jumped at the sound of Dame Verilyn’s voice.

“Apologies, Dame Verilyn,” Nemel lowered her head, “we were just – wait, good?”

“Indeed,” Dame Verilyn closed the tent flap behind her. “Since you have become my minions, there are some basic rules that I would like for you to follow.”

“Rules?” Elise said, “Are there some regulations from the Sorcerous Kingdom that we must adhere to?”

“Rather than regulations or laws, I suppose they are more like guidelines or customs. The Humans in the southern territories of the Sorcerous Kingdom do not appear to have any problems with them. Since you will be, by extension, Lady Zahradnik’s subjects, it is probably for the best that you do the same.”

Fendros and Elise looked over at Nemel, and she shook her head in response. It was the first she had heard of any ‘rules’ or ‘guidelines’.

“What must we do?” Fendros asked, visibly bracing herself.

“It seems to be common sense to me,” Dame Verilyn answered, “but be sure that you are only doing what you are supposed to be doing.”

“Huh?” Nemel furrowed her brow in confusion.

Dame Verilyn snorted.

“Silly isn’t it? To think Humans would require that sort of reminder. To be born with an identity crisis is a terrible thing.”

“N-no,” Nemel said. “I meant we require clarification as to what this means.”

The Frost Dragon in Human form rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip.

“In the Sorcerous Kingdom,” she said, “there is a place for everything and it is best for people in their respective places to excel at what they do. That means you should do what you are supposed to be doing. Farmers farm; Smiths smith. Nobles noble. This is not hard to grasp, yes? Humans seem to mostly do this, but sometimes they become deviants.”

“But we’re Nobles and Wizards both,” Fendros said. “Doesn’t that mean we’ve already strayed beyond this guideline?”

“Nemel is an Imperial Arcanist,” Dame Verilyn said. “Like that treatise describes. As her classmate, does this not also mean that you are the same?”

Were they? According to Lady Frianne’s work, Nemel was almost certainly what was described as an ‘Imperial Arcanist’. Like Nemel, the trio of attainted noblewomen were in the Academy’s Magic stream, but they did not come from aristocratic lineages with established arcane traditions.

“So you want us to only do what arcane casters and Nobles are supposed to be doing,” Elise said. “Is that correct?”

“That’s right,” Dame Verilyn nodded. “I expect you to put your skills and training as Imperial Arcanists to use, and I also expect you to avoid doing something that you recognize as the work of others. At this stand, for instance, you may do anything that falls within your society’s expectations for your role as Imperial Arcanists. Do you understand what this means?”

They nodded in response to Dame Verilyn’s question. She bestowed a satisfied look upon them.

“Good. As a Bard, my role in Zu Chiru’s business operations is similar. Humans love to gather around the things that they consider beautiful, so with the four of us here I expect the stand to become quite lively. Master Chiru is already trying to figure out how he can capitalise on this.”

Nemel watched as Fendros and Elise nodded with determined expressions. Something in the back of her mind told her that Zu Chiru’s humble ore stand would not be so humble for much longer. Still, there was nothing to be done about it. They needed to work hard and prove that they were worth keeping to Dame Verilyn.

The only worry that remained was whether they would survive the judgement of Lady Zahradnik.