Valkyrie's Shadow

Stone and Blood: Act 1, Chapter 5

Stone and Blood: Act 1, Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ludmila stepped through the threshold of Lady Shalltear’s Gate, taking a deep breath as the heat and heavy odours of the city were replaced with the crisp, cool air of Warden’s Vale. Florine came through behind her, followed by their lady’s maids. Behind them, dozens of other visitors arrived with gaping expressions and baggage in hand.

“Have we been here before?” Mag said, “The scenery looks sort of familiar…”

“The guild’s training expeditions are held in the forests in the highlands to the north and the east,” Ludmila told the Rogue.

“Ah, yeah,” Mag nodded slowly. “I thought I saw those mountains somewhere before.”

More Adventurers came through, spreading out and putting down their things. In addition to the Adventurers themselves, a number of ‘auxiliaries’ came with them. The group consisted of the various civilian experts employed by the guild to analyse its expeditionary findings. At first a bare handful when the expedition to Feoh Teiwaz started, there were now two dozen or so drawn by the allure of exploring the mysteries of the world in relative safety.

Now, they were here to pore over the objects that had piled up over the winter as construction of the former Ai Ai Ai Ainz Highway of Love turned up more and more pieces of the ancient highway. As for the new highway, the name was rejected as soon as His Majesty returned from the trip and Ludmila still didn’t understand what possessed the Prime Minister to name it that in the first place.

“Oh, looks like everyone’s here on time.”

Lady Aura casually strolled up to them, hands held up behind her head. Lord Mare walked beside her, and they were accompanied by Lady Delta, Glasir and Jelena Roscoe. Lady Delta was carrying three Emerald Forest Slimes in her arms for some reason, and one more sat atop her head. The Death Knight carrying Glasir’s pot came behind them.

“Lady Aura,” Ludmila and Florine lowered their heads in a curtsey. “Lord Mare. I hope the afternoon finds you well.”

“Un.”

“How would you like to begin?” Ludmila asked.

“Dunno,” Lady Aura shrugged. “Didn’t Ainzach come up with some kinda plan?”

To Ludmila’s surprise that morning, the Guildmaster had arranged for the expedition to be deployed as soon as he heard Ludmila was back in E-Rantel. As far as plans went, however, he had left matters in her hands. She was assigned as the leader of the expedition’s sixth party, which also made her the leader of the expedition.

She supposed that Ainzach arranged things that way since the expedition was being conducted in her demesne and she was also a member of the Adventurer Guild. With all the work that had piled up while she was away in the Draconic Kingdom, however, Ludmila wasn’t sure how much attention she could pay to the expedition. Hopefully, the Adventurers would follow their procedures and their activities wouldn’t be ridden with incidents.

“We need to get the support staff situated, first,” Ludmila said. “Alessia, can you show everyone else around the harbour?”

“Aye, domina…hey, lolicon! Stop licking the Dryad with your eyes; she is not yet one year old.”

Roughly a third of the Adventurers turned their gazes away from Glasir. Themis and Alessia led the Adventurers into the village square. Shortly after, the Cleric and Paladin were mobbed by villagers. Ludmila shook her head and turned to the expedition’s auxiliaries.

“Load your materials onto the wagons in that lot over there,” she gestured to the Soul Eaters in the southeastern corner of the village square. “I’ll be with you once I stop by the administrative office.”

She called in a few Death Knights to help move the expedition’s things, which were still coming through the Gate. On the way to her manor, she gestured for Glasir to come and walk with her.

“It seems that you've grown,” Ludmila said. “In more ways than one.”

If she were to describe it, Glasir seemed healthier than before. She had lost the air of being a fresh sapling, feeling less fragile than before. Not that she was fragile by Human standards. As a Heteromorph – or, more specifically, a Dryad – she had come into existence with roughly the raw power and durability of a Silver-rank Adventurer. Her branches had extended a few centimetres and sported a thicker crown of leaves, which, in turn, meant that the leaves covering Glasir’s body were less sparse.

In terms of her overall appearance, the lore that described Dryads as being the ‘spirit’ of their trees appeared to be true. How vibrant and strong her tree was could be seen not only in her physical appearance, but also in her mood and personality.

“I reached the second tier of Druidic magic, too,” Glasir said. “I only have one spell, though.”

“That’s wonderful!” Ludmila smiled and hugged Glasir around the shoulder, “You’re advancing as quickly as an Adventurer. How is your combat training with Lady Aura coming along?”

Glasir’s leaves rustled as she shuddered. Ludmila looked across the Dryad at Lady Aura.

“She learned a Skill,” Lady Aura said, “I think.”

“What does it do, my lady?”

“Increases her damage resistance maybe? I was whipping her one day and she suddenly got harder to damage.”

“That sounds very useful.”

“I know, right?” Lady Aura said, “Once we figured she had learned a Skill, I went back home to see if I could get Pinison and the others to learn it, too. But all they did was scream and cry when I started hitting them.”

“It seems that they aren’t very receptive to instruction.”

“Yeah, well, their loss. I don’t understand why anyone would be satisfied with picking fruit when they could also be getting stronger for Lord Ainz.”

When they reached her home, Ludmila found a small jungle’s worth of plants crawling out of the front window. A few of them waved enthusiastically as they walked up to the front door.

“Lord Mare,” she said, “are you sure those plants won’t escape into the wild?”

“They’re all plants that grow around Divine Ash,” Lord Mare replied. “They’ll stay here because Glasir is here. I think most of them have imprinted on her already.”

“Do you mean to say that all of these plants can move, my lord?"

The Dark Elf Druid shook his head.

“Most of them can't move,” he said. “Not like the ones in the window. They’ll still respond in their own way, though.”

“I'm surprised the ones that can crawl around don’t chase after Glasir when she goes out…”

“Uh, they did, at first,” Glasir said. “I had to tell them to wait at home for me. They still wander around the yard, though. A few of them found the dirt that I was collecting and planted themselves in it.”

“So they stay outside, now?” Ludmila asked.

“No,” Glasir answered. “At night, they come back into the house for the light. They’re pretty greedy.”

Did that mean there were even more plants aside from the ones in the window? It seemed that they would outgrow the hall by winter if they hadn’t already. She wasn’t sure if they would survive outside in the cold. Maybe they could copy what they saw in the Empire, closing over the yard and using magical heating.

At least Glasir wasn't growing as quickly – the citadel area was still far from ready for her to put down her roots.

A small garden's worth of flowers blossomed as they entered the manor. Lord Mare, Lady Delta, Glasir, and Jelena went straight into the greenery. Aemilia led Tierre up to the guest room with Florine’s things. Lady Aura followed Ludmila and Florine into the office. Nonna stood from her desk at their entrance.

“Welcome, Lady Aura,” the Elder Lich lowered her head.

“Thanks for your hard work,” Lady Aura casually replied.

“Anything new that requires my immediate attention, Nonna?” Ludmila asked.

“The paperwork from the Adventurer Guild was submitted in a highly irregular manner,” the Elder Lich answered.

“I spoke with Guildmaster Ainzach about it,” Ludmila sighed. “Even after all this time, the Adventurers still like to play things loose. I recommend that you steel yourself for more of this while the expedition is here.”

She could almost feel the waves of displeasure radiating from the Elder Lich. The spirit of obstinate independence and self-indulgence known as ‘Adventurer’s pride’ was retained from the old guild, and it only seemed to grow with their newfound purpose. She could only hope that that pride kept their conduct professional when meeting new people or else the Sorcerous Kingdom would have an endless stream of diplomatic incidents on its hands.

“On second thought,” Ludmila said, “only accept paperwork from the Adventurers that is submitted to your standards. This is an official expedition and their paperwork is a part of it. Ishpen is here and she’s been complaining about that end of things for over a year, so I’m sure she’ll be glad for an ally.”

She went to her desk and leafed through a small pile of paperwork. Since her tasks as an administrator had been delivered to the Draconic Kingdom, most of what remained consisted of matters that required her physical presence. She paused and scanned the logistical reports for some new arrivals that had been delivered from the Abelion Wilderness.

“I didn’t see anything about it in the reports that you sent to me,” Ludmila said, “but has anyone expressed any concerns about these Demihuman refugees that we’ve been hosting?”

“The sentries placed around their designated location have not reported any attempts by the refugees to leave the area,” Nonna replied. “Delivery of supplies has similarly remained incident-free.”

“Has their leadership made any requests?”

“None.”

Ludmila wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. According to the opening reports, the Sorcerer King had encountered a group of Demihumans called ‘Orcs’ while campaigning in the Holy Kingdom. They were being held prisoner by Jaldabaoth’s fiends, and His Majesty had offered them asylum in the Sorcerous Kingdom.

Lady Shalltear was contacted to transport them and she decided that Ludmila’s demesne was the best place to house them for the time being. Between the initial group and His Majesty’s liberation of the Abelion Hills, a total of five thousand Orcs had found their way into the barony. She had allocated a hundred square kilometre plot of undeveloped forest overlooking Warden’s Vale for them to stay in and they were granted basic supplies, so perhaps nothing had happened because there was little to complain about.

“I’ll have to pay them a visit after I get the Adventurer expedition set up,” Ludmila said. “I hope you don’t mind, Florine.”

“I wasn’t even aware that they were there,” Florine replied. “I have a week or two to sort everything out, so don’t mind me.”

Once it looked like everything was in order, Ludmila left her manor to see how the Adventurers and the expedition support staff were doing. The wagons were still in the process of being loaded while the Adventurers were wandering around the village square. A few of them looked like they were trying to impress the villagers.

“Adventurers will always be Adventurers, I suppose,” Florine said.

“What do you mean?” Ludmila asked.

“Whenever they passed through my or Liane’s demesne,” Florine answered, “they always tried to impress our subjects. It didn’t matter what rank they were. Part marketing, part pride, I suppose. My father never really liked them, however.”

“Why is that?”

A pair of Death Knights stomped by, carrying crates to the awaiting wagons. Florine watched them pointedly.

“A ‘hero complex’ was how he put it. They had some idea that their ‘duty’ was to save people and they made sure as many people as possible knew about it. People are attracted to the strong, so it’s something that goes in a cycle, feeding itself. As close as Gagnier Barony is to the city, however, I’m sure you can see how silly and self-serving it seemed.”

Ludmila nodded. Most of the Adventurers passing through Gagnier Barony would have been those on their way to attempt commissions in the northwestern frontier. Thus, they only stopped in Gagnier Barony to brag. It must have seemed especially hollow since the northwestern frontier wasn’t filled with dire threats and the turnover rate of low-rank Adventurers was over ninety-five per cent. Most that came through never returned.

“Do you think that attitude will be problematic with their new mission?” Ludmila asked.

“Well, what they’re doing wouldn’t hurt to have a bit of marketing,” Florine answered. “But what they think works with Humans might not work with other races or even other Human cultures. Since they’re so brazen about it…”

“I’ve warned them often enough,” Ludmila said, “and they’ve been quiet enough on the last two expeditions, but I’m not sure how things will be going forward.”

With most Demihuman tribes, doing any sort of boasting would invite challenges. The problem was that most Humans that she was aware of wouldn’t understand that displays of strength were almost universally seen as a form of diplomacy. How those contests played out over the seasons dictated what the relationship between different groups was and thus the overall power dynamics of a region. Humans, however, would more often than not respond with lethal force to any perceived aggression and end up in a war of extermination.

Hopefully, as Florine had come to do, they would learn from how the Demihuman tribes in her demesne behaved.

“The Adventurer Guild is a government organisation,” Florine said. “I would have thought they had clear procedures for this sort of thing before being sent out on these expeditions.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Ludmila replied. “What they’re doing is ‘new’, so those procedures are more like suggestions. It would probably help if some Demihumans joined the ranks, but the ones that participate in their training are all citizens with homes and families to go back to every day. It’s difficult to be an Adventurer in that situation.”

As far as she knew, none of the Adventurers had children at all. None that they would admit to, at least. With the way that they were, she wouldn’t be surprised if some of the veteran members had a small army of bastards hidden away somewhere.

“Hopefully,” Florine said, “they iron all that out before these expeditions bring them close to other countries. They aren’t supposed to be part of the Royal Army, but they may very well bring the Royal Army into any messes that they make.”

Ludmila glanced over at Lady Aura and Lord Mare, but they showed no sign of their feelings on the matter. As far as she could tell, all of the Sorcerer King’s closest subordinates simply went along with whatever he said. Ainzach also mentioned that the Adventurer Guild was something of a personal project for His Majesty, meaning that any definitive change to the organisation relied on his direct input.

They went over to the wagon lot where Ishpen was busy organising the supplies. The guild receptionist had always had a thing for organising and holding people to rules and regulations.

“Are we almost ready to go?” Ludmila asked.

“I think so,” Ishpen answered. “Where is all this going? I thought we would be doing everything out of this place.”

“The base camp is about thirty kilometres straight south of here,” Ludmila said. “More like forty by road, which is roughly an hour-long trip using these wagons. It’s the old construction camp for the town on the lake there, but it hasn’t been dismantled yet. You can pretty much find everything that you can get in the harbour there as well, so you won’t want for anything. The camp is also at the beginning of the new highway construction that’s been exposing all the ruins.”

Once the last of the supplies were loaded, she sent the support staff on their way. Ludmila called a different set of wagons in from the harbour to convey the Adventurers, but it looked like they were still scattered around the village square. Nearby, it looked like Jelena was still waiting for Lady Delta to release her companions.

“It seems that Miss Delta–”

“Shizu is fine,” Miss Delta said.

“–has gotten attached to your Ems.”

Jelena nodded. The girl had grown a few centimetres since the winter and now stood as tall as Ludmila’s shoulder. She had become stronger, as well, so it seemed that the various curriculums instituted in Warden’s Vale were paying off in general.

“How’s your schooling coming along?” Ludmila asked.

“The teacher said that I can come to the harbour at any time,” Jelena replied. “I learned my letters and numbers and everything.”

“Is that so? Is the next trainee ready to take over your range?”

“He’s still slow, but Miss Ezsris says that he’s ready to take over. Does that mean I can work for the army, now?”

“I suppose it does,” Ludmila said. “Since the Adventurers are still all over the place, would you like to come and see where you’ll be staying?”

Jelena nodded again. Ludmila smiled and had everyone board a wagon to the army base. Lord Mare yawned widely as they sped south toward the citadel area.

“Someone said that I should make a Slime party,” Jelena said.

“Who did?” Ludmila asked.

“Um…everybody? Shizu took me to see someone named Solution and Solution mentioned the party and then sent me to Lady Aura to talk about it.”

“Is that possible, Lady Aura?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lady Aura replied. “I can fight with a bunch of my pets out all at once, so she should be able to do it too. As a Beast Tamer, I think it’s a pretty neat idea. She just has to train them to fight together and level them up.”

A Ranger with multiple companions was rare to the point that she hadn’t heard of anyone raising them as a ‘party’. Still, if someone had done so, it sounded like something that would be remarkable enough for rumours or legends to circulate about them.

“How would this training work?” Ludmila asked.

“Well, I’m not sure how it works around here,” Lady Aura answered. “I don’t think any of the Rangers in the Adventurer Guild have companions, which seems a bit biased. Actually, no – you have one.”

“That’s true, but I’m afraid I haven’t done anything like training with her. We fought in a few battles together and it just seemed to work out.”

“That’s no good,” Lady Aura frowned. “You need to give your companions lots of love!”

“Since the Ministry of Transportation has her investigating things abroad most of the time, that’s a bit difficult…”

She had no idea how to train her Dragon or whether Ilyshn’ish was even interested. Beyond that, Ludmila had no idea what to train in. Any tales involving riders of legendary beings such as Dragons didn’t give any details as to how they fought with them or even what the names of their mounts were. They were just a thing that existed and no one seemed to question the fact that they did or how such a relationship worked.

The closest thing to a hint that she had lay with the Dragoons of the Imperial Air Service, but her time in the Empire had been too short to study them in any real depth.

“Anyway,” Lady Aura said, “we figure that a party of eight would be good.”

Ludmila glanced at the four Slimes on Lady Delta.

“Eight, my lady?”

“Yup! Four Rangers and four Druids. Then they’d be split up into different specialisations to serve different roles in the party. Two melee specialists, two ranged, a damage-focused caster, summoner, and two healers.”

It did sound nice. The Adventurer Guild used parties of six and the ones that had two healers were far more stable than those that only had one. Unfortunately, there was still a distinct shortage of healers in the guild. However, there was a problem with that idea.

“Can Slimes even become Druids?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lady Aura said. “They’re Heteromorphs so they should be able to level up just like anyone else. We’ll just plop them in that Lizardman Druid class and see what happens.”

“I’d like to try, my lady,” Jelena said.

Ludmila considered the proposal. Jelena exhibited the so-called ‘tells of the blood’, but it only went so far as to suggest that she had strong Ranger aptitudes. Since she had bonded so easily and readily with her Slimes, being a tamer was clearly a legitimate option. The question was how far she could go with the idea.

“Does that mean the Ems count as soldiers, too?” She mused.

“Th-they don’t have to, my lady!” Jelena said, “The Ems don’t take much – they can live off of the stuff around the base.”

“They do have to,” Ludmila told her. “If your friends can become Rangers and Druids, then you’d almost be a squad of your own. Not offering the appropriate compensation wouldn’t be fair to you or the Ems.”

Maybe that was why Adventurer Rangers didn’t have companions. The Rangers in the Imperial Army didn’t have them either and the mounts of the Imperial Flight Service were considered the property of the Empire. Only the cavalry had personal mounts and that practice stemmed from their aristocratic traditions.

“The army will have to provide equipment, too,” Lord Mare added.

“Equipment…for Slimes?”

“Un,” the Dark Elf Druid nodded. “It can’t be in any order, either. Lady Bukubukuchagama always explained that tanks should get geared up first.”

How did equipment for Slimes even work? Ludmila eyed the Em on Lady Delta’s head, imagining it encased in plate armour. Would it have a shield and a warhammer, as well? Would the Druids be equipped with staves and scale? She couldn’t imagine it not getting in the way of a Slime’s usual movements.

“My lord wouldn’t happen to have a sample of this equipment…”

“I-I can bring something the next time we come by,” Lord Mare replied. “It won’t be anything too fancy though.”

“Slimes are already pretty tough,” Lady Aura added. “Lady Bukubukuchagama only used a few accessories and two shields.”

The image in Ludmila’s mind somehow became stranger. Did she mean accessories such as rings and necklaces? What did they go around?

“I hope our artisans can come up with something usable,” Ludmila said. “I’m fairly certain they’ve never considered making equipment for Slimes.”

“It makes you wonder whether all of the stuff that gets lost in the gutters eventually ends up being worn by a Slime somewhere in the sewers,” Florine said.

The wagon pulled up in front of the army barracks. Ludmila checked in with the Elder Liches at the main office before leading everyone deeper into the base. Row upon row of Death-series servitors were engaged in their ceaseless training with one another.

“There are two other trainees based here,” Ludmila told Jelena, “but they still live with their families in the harbour village. Others from the farming villages should show up to live with you here before long. Since you’re the first here, you can choose any room in the girls’ barracks that you’d like.”

Like the rest of the army complex, the two Barracks that had been prepared were fashioned out of the same, dark grey granite. They were nearly identical to the dormitories of the Faculty of Alchemy. Jelena stopped at the first room of the women’s barracks and stuck her head into the doorframe.

“Two beds?” She said.

“Eventually, there should be enough trainees to fill them. You have your Ems, however, so it should be fine to have a room to yourselves.”

Jelena went up and down the corridor before going to the second floor. In the end, she chose the first room at the top of the stairs.

“It seems that we have similar tastes,” Ludmila said. “I would have chosen the same room.”

“What do I do now?” Jelena asked.

“You still have your duties at home to attend to,” Ludmila told her. “In addition to letting your parents know and packing your things, the range you’ve been covering needs to be handed off to the next trainee and you need to make the call about whether or not he can handle it. I take it you understand how important that is.”

The girl nodded. Ludmila smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Good,” she said. “On my end, getting the usual paperwork done shouldn’t be an issue, but I’ll have to figure out how to incorporate your Ems into training. After that, your life in the army begins.”