Valkyrie's Shadow

Stone and Blood: Act 1, Chapter 6

Stone and Blood: Act 1, Chapter 6

Chapter 6

?That’s an amazing expression you have there…?

Ludmila glanced to the side at Florine, who was riding beside her on the front bench of the wagon. Through the cabin windows, the mountains ringing the Upper Reach peeked over the crowns of the conifers lining the road as they made their way south to the construction camp.

Florine’s lip twitched. Ludmila wiped her frown away, but it didn’t take very long to return.

“I can’t believe how cheap these were,” one of the Adventurers riding behind them said.

“I know right? They’re going for ten times the price in E-Rantel.”

Shadows danced around the interior of the cabin as someone started juggling a set of magic lights. Ludmila fought to hold in her exasperated sigh.

In the short time that they had stayed in the harbour village, the Adventurers had ‘pillaged’ her stores, picking them clean of magic items and various provisions priced according to her territorial policies. Since her subjects were all rather affluent and didn’t go wild buying things simply because they could, she had hoped that the comparatively poorer Adventurers would also hold back.

“How many did you get?”

“Uh, six of those lights and four of the heating hoops. The guys that came in just before me got the last few preservation containers. Oh, I got a few water pouches and this decanter, as well…”

Florine shifted away from Ludmila as her frown grew more dire.

“Whatcha gonna do with ‘em?” Someone further in the back asked.

“Uh, I’m keeping one of each for my apartment,” Kyla replied. “The rest, I’m sending back to my parents’ farm. They don’t have nice things like this.”

Ludmila’s frown vanished. At least they were still going where they were supposed to go.

“You sure about that?” Howe said, “That’s a loooot of money you’re throwing away.”

“How do you figure?”

“…”

“Th-that wasn’t on purpose!”

“Well, since they go for way more in the city, you could just sell them and come back here once they restock. I hear you can get back and forth from Corelyn Harbour in less than a day.”

Ludmila’s frown returned. Did city dwellers think of nothing but money?

“I think that makes sense,” Kyla said. “I guess I’ll try when I have the time.”

?That Rogue really is a Rogue…?

?What do you mean by that??

?Well, it’s a common enough tactic for Merchants, but it’s also right in line with what Rogues are known for in folklore, as well. If there’s an unproven opportunity with certain risks attached, they’ll convince someone else to try it first. If nothing happens to that person, the one who sent them will hop on as well. One takes a hit to their potential profits by doing things that way, but it’s infinitely safer.?

?Certain risks…??

Florine gave her an incredulous look.

?They’re waiting to find out if you happen to them.?

?That’s terrible! What do they take me for??

?I wonder…?

She did have to do something about it, however. If people started coming by to pillage her villages on a regular basis, maybe she could treat them as invaders. The image of Human skulls being added to her territorial markers drifted enticingly through her mind.

Their wagon slowed as the gate to the construction camp appeared around the bend. They took a turn near the centre of her camp and stopped in front of its now-vacated winter lodgings.

“This is where you’ll be staying for the first leg of the expedition,” Ludmila said after they left their transports and gathered along the street. “Your bunks will be organised by party and you’ll be responsible for keeping things in order. The support staff have set up shop in the workshops along the main road. Work will start in the morning, so use the rest of the day to familiarise yourself with the place."

The Adventurers moved themselves and their things into the wooden longhouses. Themis and Alessia came out to join her a few minutes later, adorned in their civilian vestments. Since they had visited her territory before, the two probably already had some destination in mind.

“Are you going to the island?” Ludmila asked.

“That’s right,” Themis nodded. “I thought we could perform a few services before tomorrow.”

“Thank you so much, Vicar.”

“It’s no problem,” Themis smiled. “Your people were so happy the last time we came around, so I’ve been looking forward to it.”

“How are the Acolytes and Squires coming along?”

“They’re growing fast, physically. Education is the main thing keeping us from ordaining junior staff. It will be another three or four years before we produce the first class of graduates. Once that happens, we can send some staff out here…on that note, there’s something we wanted to speak with you about.”

Themis drew a bit closer, as did Alessia. Ludmila’s eyes went from the Cleric to the Paladin.

“What is it?” Ludmila asked.

“We’d actually like to be the ones that come over,” Themis said.

“I’m flattered that you like the place,” Ludmila replied, “but isn’t the whole point of you two being in the Adventurer Guild to keep a high profile and generate publicity?”

“It is,” the Cleric replied. “And that’s a part of the reason. As the Adventurer Guild gets busier, we’ll be seeing more work as Adventurers than anything else. That means we won’t be doing much in E-Rantel even if we were based in the cathedral.”

“I see,” Ludmila said. “So you’re using the regulations to get temple staff here as quickly as possible.”

A diocese of The Six organised itself according to the Human population patterns. This made it mirror how Human realms were organised. As far as Re-Estize and Baharuth were concerned, it was probably the other way around due to the Great Seeding.

The ideal minimum ratio of Priests to support the daily operations of a farming village was one per one hundred villagers. Frontier villages were traditionally founded with a hundred settlers, and a Priest was dispatched to construct its shrine and service the population.

Unfortunately, Priests didn’t live forever and temples in the north usually didn’t receive any support from the countries that they served. Thus, most of the disparate Priests scattered around the realm couldn’t afford to raise Acolytes and temple staff that died were not replaced. All that the priestless villagers could do was gather at their shrines to pray that the injuries they collected wouldn’t be crippling, plagues wouldn't befall them, and babies were safely delivered.

Along the ideal lines of organisation, Priests came in sets of six: one senior Priest presiding over five junior ones. Each junior Priest was assigned to one village in a fief. A large, prosperous barony would theoretically have three junior priests for each of its ten villages and six senior Priests overall. Those priests were not only responsible for seeing to the health of the population, but also for providing basic education.

As far as she could tell, the only fiefs in the Duchy of E-Rantel that were able to achieve a healthy ratio of priests and thus a healthy population with basic education were Corelyn Barony, Gagnier Barony and Wagner Barony. It was a bit strange to think that the highest literacy rates lay outside of the city, but it did make sense when one considered that the urban centres of the north were essentially bastions of inequality. The vast majority of wealth went to the already well-established and most people only came to the gods when they had problems.

“That’s right,” Themis nodded. “The population here is well-grounded in the faith, so the most pressing need is for temple staff to service it rather than any great degree of theological expertise. The other parts of the diocese need active senior staff, so they’re more than happy to trade five Clerics and five Paladins for it. If we do it the normal way, population numbers unfortunately dictate that your territory will be last in line to receive temple staff. That may take an additional two to three years.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with your proposal on my end,” Ludmila said, “but what about your junior staff? They’ll still need your guidance from time to time.”

“Most of that is either done through a personal visit to the senior priest’s office or more often through correspondence. The Sorcerous Kingdom’s transportation infrastructure and the Vampire Post get that done more than quickly enough. In any instance that Adventurer’s Guild business makes us unreachable for people in E-Rantel, we would also be unreachable for any location in the Sorcerous Kingdom.”

“Doesn’t that mean the way the temples are organised is due for a change?”

“Well, change takes time. There’s also the fact that some other, equally important things haven’t changed, such as the number of juniors one can reasonably oversee.”

That much was true. While in many ways superhuman, experienced Priests and Paladins were still very much mundane when it came to their leadership ability.

“What’s goin’ on here?”

Mag, a Gold-ranked Rogue called out to them as she came from the longhouse entrance. Kyla walked beside her and they were trailed by another Gold-ranked Rogue by the name of Itzal – a member of Ludmila’s party at the Adventurer Guild’s disastrous first skirmish against the Goblin Strategist. They were all followers of The Six, with Mag and Kyla recently returned to the fold.

“Just talking about administration stuff,” Themis replied. “Oh – we’re performing a service on the island in a bit. After that, we’re going back to the harbour for a few more.”

“Ooh, I’m comin’,” Mag said. “Those villagers back at the harbour were way more excited about you two popping up than the whole rest of the expedition. Also, we weren’t allowed to wander around otherwise, right?”

“Not into the wilderness, no,” Ludmila replied. “There are a few ground rules that I have to go over with everyone tomorrow morning. Before that, people are free to travel to and from the places serviced by the transportation network.”

In the end, Mag, Kyla, and Itzal went with Themis anyway. After reiterating her instructions to the other Adventurers, Ludmila went to see how the expedition’s support staff was settling in. She found the shops along the main street of the camp empty and ended up tracking them to one of the nearby warehouses. Within, she found Ishpen looking on as the group of men and women gathered around a large pile of rubble.

“I suppose I should have known that they’d end up here,” Ludmila said.

“I made the mistake of mentioning that there were artefacts in storage,” Ishpen replied. “They wouldn't leave me alone until I told them where they were being stored.”

“Not what they expected, I suppose?”

“Looks like a pile of rocks to me,” Ishpen shrugged, “but they’re all excited anyway.”

Each staff member stood silently with one or two pieces of rubble in their hands, which seemed the furthest thing from excitement. After several moments one of them went out to the empty area of the warehouse and set down his piece of pavement.

“I say that we reconstruct it,” he declared.

The staff unanimously agreed. A minute later, they were all arguing loudly about which pieces went where. Ishpen sighed, rubbing her right temple.

Ludmila wondered whether she should ruin their fun by telling them there was a good hundred kilometres of highway still buried between the new highway and the river on the other side of the ancient pass. Upon further thought, it was probably better not to mention it or they might try sneaking out to take a look. Many members of the civilian support staff were even more adventurous than the Adventurers themselves.

“Oh, by the way, Ishpen…”

“Hm?”

“The administration here has been ordered to refuse any paperwork that doesn’t comply with regulations.”

“Really…” The receptionist’s eyes took on a sharp gleam, “I guess this is my chance to finally hammer the proper procedures into them. I can’t wait to see their tear-stained faces after they’re forced to redo their paperwork for the seventh time.”

Ludmila snorted and turned to leave the warehouse. Ishpen took pleasure in some strange things. Outside, most of the expedition’s members were wandering curiously about.

“Hey, Ludmila,” Heinrich walked up to her with his party. “Or is it Lady Zahradnik here?”

“If I’m functioning as the expedition leader, Ludmila is fine. Otherwise, I go by my title.”

“Huh,” the Fighter grunted. “I guess you really are a Noble. Feels weird.”

“Weird?”

The only thing that seemed weird was the fact that he was looking at Florine while talking to Ludmila. Was this how Liane felt whenever they were together?

“Most Nobles feel unapproachable, I guess,” Henrich shrugged. “They live in a totally different world from everyone else, so there’s no point in talking to them unless they talk to you first…and something’s probably gone wrong if you find yourself talking to one.”

“Is that how things were in your old village?” Ludmila asked.

Henrich nodded. Half of his group nodded as well.

“Our old lord came by twice a year to hold court. The feast that the village got whenever he came around was great, but we never really talked to the guy. Each family only stood before him for as long as it took to make their greetings and he might make some token remark every few families. The Village Chief and the head of each hearth brought up most of the issues.”

“That sounds quite normal,” Ludmila said.

“Oh, it was,” Henrich said. “Wasn’t complaining or anything. I’ve heard some stories from out west…anyway, was just saying.”

“It mostly boils down to being ‘work’ for us,” Ludmila said. “Some Nobles can stay nice and friendly day after day, but it can become a dreary routine for some. There are a lot of things that go into it, just like any other job.”

“I see…by the way, who is this?”

“The Baroness Florine Kadia Dale Gagnier.”

Henrich spun on his heel and scurried away. The women in his party snorted and rolled their eyes.

Unapproachable, huh.

At least he knew his boundaries. Noblewomen were women too. More than a few would be tempted by a Mithril-rank Adventurer and many Adventurers would probably exploit that fact in various ways.

?Is it always like this for you??

?Yes. Some variation of it, anyway. He was nice, at least.?

?I’m surprised Liane doesn’t cover you with a sack whenever you two go out.?

Florine seemed to only grow more beautiful as time went by, and people reacted accordingly. She had a reprieve in the Draconic Kingdom due to its different standards of beauty, but her charm was back in full force now that they had returned to the Sorcerous Kingdom. Maybe that was part of why she worked with other races so much.

“So,” Florine said as they strolled back to the wagons, “what next?”

“The refugees,” Ludmila said. “We can stop by the harbour for dinner, if you’d like.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Florine replied. “Liane planted this stupid idea in my head that eating every day with a Ring of Sustenance on was like eating seven days worth of food in a day. Now I can’t stop thinking about it. I suppose that’s something you don’t have to worry about.”

She wasn’t even sure what happened to the food that she ate, but Liane had her own theory about it. She speculated that any food Ludmila consumed had the life sucked out of it and was turned to dust. Her maids would never realise what they were sweeping up off of the floor.

After they boarded one of the passenger wagons, Ludmila sent one last look at the wandering Adventurers before the Soul Eater sped their vehicle out of the gate.

“I need to figure out how to distribute those magic items without attracting profiteers,” she muttered.

“I may sound like Liane here,” Florine said, “but why not just take the profits for yourself? You can use the proceeds to grow your industries. By increasing your production capacity, the increased supply will gradually lower the market price.”

“Because my ‘production capacity’ isn’t some machine that I can purchase,” Ludmila told her. “One cannot hand a woman a bag of gold and make them give birth to a magic caster. Additionally, my territorial policies strictly prohibit reckless growth so simply encouraging my tenants to have eight children each is out of the question.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, what is your long-term plan for Warden’s Vale? Before we came to visit, the way that you described things made her think that your subjects lived in holes that they dug in the ground.”

“…that was true up until last year,” Ludmila shifted uncomfortably. “And I don’t know why she thinks like that. To Liane, progress, growth, industry and mercantilism are the cornerstones of civilisation. Anyone that doesn’t agree with that view is an enemy of society that wants everyone to go back to wearing animal hides and rolling around in the dirt.”

She could never understand why Liane took such an arbitrary, harmful stance. Despite being brought up in the same society, how they saw the world was completely different.

“That’s how most people think, isn’t it?” Florine said, “I don’t mean to offend, but the way you think is generally attributed to Druids and Rangers…the type that live as hermits in the woods and resist territorial development.”

“I suppose that everyone sees them as obstacles to progress and prosperity and don’t actually listen to what they say.”

“My demesne was fully developed long before I was born, so I’m not sure what it is they’re supposedly saying.”

Ludmila leaned back in her seat, staring at the untamed forests of her demesne. She wasn’t certain that there was anything she could say that those who did not share the same stance could accept.

“When you look out at the wilds of the Upper Reaches, what comes to mind?”

“A forest?” Florine replied, “If you want Liane’s answer, it would probably be something along the lines of untapped resources.”

“You don’t think the same thing?” Ludmila asked.

“I would have a year ago,” Florine answered. “Now, I’m not so sure. At the least, this forest might be someone’s home. It wouldn’t be right to selfishly kick them out for profit.”

“But if you were somehow guaranteed that no one lived here, would you still consider it an untapped resource?”

“Yes…”

“That is the point where our perspectives diverge.”

Florine turned her gaze from the window with a frown.

“So going from ‘forest’ to ‘resource’ is where we differ?”

“No,” Ludmila shook her head. “It’s the ‘untapped’ part. To me, this forest is already being utilised. To you, Liane, Clara, and nearly every other Human that lives in this region of the world, it’s not being utilised until someone profits from it. A forest and its contents have to be converted into marketable commodities for them to have any ‘economic value’. You may believe that your perspective has changed since you started your work around the Azerlisia Mountains, but only in the sense that your ‘economic views’ have become inclusive of the tribes that you’ve been working with.”

“…is that bad?”

“Anything taken to excess is bad. The problem is that everything is so huge that individuals can’t see the effects of what they do until the ‘bad’ happens to them. That’s why no one listens to those Rangers and Druids who try to stop them from expanding. Those people are impeding them from what they’ve been brought up to believe is ‘good’ and there’s no easy way to prove that it isn’t.

“I’ve seen more than enough of it in the Empire, but it wasn’t my place to say anything at the time. There are more than a few Druidic circles scattered around what’s left of the Empire’s woodlands and even more on the imperial frontier. Pioneers won’t believe a word of what they say – if they even listen in the first place – because they’re standing between them and a seemingly endless wilderness. If an entire forest is transformed into farmland, that’s fine because they believe that there are plenty more…which they of course see as another opportunity for industrial development. Swamps are filled, mines are depleted and even entire mountains can disappear as they are transformed into construction materials.”

“I still don’t understand how you can recognise it as a problem in the first place,” Florine said.

“As you’ve noted, it’s a ‘Druid and Ranger’ thing. Understanding the natural world and its systems is simply part of being one.”

“Which makes it difficult for anyone else to accept because your insight is based on a ‘feeling’.”

“Pretty much,” Ludmila shrugged helplessly. “Land development and resource exploitation have too much momentum behind them for something like a bunch of Druids and Rangers with a ‘feeling’ to stop. Everything from top to bottom turns it into an impossible fight. If we use the case of the Empire, pioneers have invested everything that they have in hopes that they can get a slice of land they can call their own.

“The Imperial Army is invested as well – their campaigns in the wilderness are a source of achievements and thus treasure and titles for the Imperial Knights. At the top of everything is the Imperial Administration and I’m pretty sure you understand how they see things. Everything that goes on is abstracted into numbers and they are educated to believe that it is unequivocally good to have certain numbers go up.”

Her frustration mounted as she spoke. It really was an impossible fight. How could a few disparate groups do anything to stop the monolithic efforts of entire nations whose expansionary mandates were considered right and proper by the vast majority of its citizens? The two lines of thinking seemed to invariably lead to a vast disparity in power where those that partook in destructive exploitation enjoyed the advantage.

“Do you think the tribes of the Abelion Hills will see things as you do?” Florine asked.

“Tribes have a high percentage of mystics and hunters – which are usually Druids and Rangers – so those views should hold sway. It should be especially the case if those tribes haven’t seen much in the way of industrial development and haven’t set off down that path of creating ‘value’ out of everything that they can.”

“In that case,” Florine said, “what’s the alternative? As you’ve outlined, no one will stop simply because a Ranger and Druid comes around and tells them that it’s bad. Without showing them something better or at least somewhat comparable, things will keep going the way that they’re going.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do with Warden’s Vale,” Ludmila replied. “It’s the legacy left to me by my ancestors and the reason why the founder settled here in the first place. A verdant jewel in the highlands nestled in its natural sanctuary. Everything that I’ve done here has been to achieve that goal…but the problem is that it will take a long time to achieve. Centuries or perhaps even longer.”

People like Liane wouldn’t accept the answer that Warden’s Vale provided. In the time it would take Ludmila to show something close to a complete result in her single fief, the entire world could be conquered by the Sorcerous Kingdom and turned into a factory in the pursuit of ultimately pointless productivity and artificial notions of value.

“I think that what you have here seems nice so far,” Florine said. “It’s a far cry better than how our people’s lives were before.”

“I don’t think that anyone would disagree with you on that point,” Ludmila said. “But the problem still winds up being that fundamental difference in perception. When people think like that, there is no such thing as good enough because they think that there is always more to be had.”