Valkyrie's Shadow

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 13, Chapter 10

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 13, Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Mistress!

Ilyshn’ish bolted upright from her litter, eyes wide with shock. At the same time, an indescribably horrible sense of wrongness suffused her entire being. Something beyond loss. Her anxiety rose a hundredfold. It almost felt as if the world itself was shrieking alongside Ilyshn’ish in the emptiness left in the ruins of her broken telepathic bond.

I need to do something. I need to go. I need to–

She took two steps before tripping on something and landing on her snout.

“Rude,” Vltava said.

The shape of the Krkonoše Druid resolved itself in her frantic senses. Ilyshn’ish pushed herself back up to her feet.

“How can you be so calm?” Ilyshn’ish cried, “Can’t you feel it? The…the…the Warden is…she’s…”

“It happens,” Vltava told her.

“Huh?”

“It happens,” Pinecone said.

“It happens,” Pebble mumbled through the tail in her mouth.

“It happens?!” Ilyshn’ish whispered weakly.

The sounds of the jungle drifted in from the entrance of their stone den in Xoc’s clanhold as the three Krkonoše silently stared at her. How could they be so nonchalant? They made it sound as if they were remarking on the weather.

?Dame Verilyn!?

?Hiiiieeee!!!?

?Kyaaa!!!?

Pebble and Pinecone jumped. Vltava gave her an odd look. Had she screamed out loud, as well? She probably did. It took a moment for her frazzled mind to realise that she was being magically contacted.

?M-m-m-miss Gran? Why would you just shout into someone’s head like that??

?I’m sorry! No, forget that – this is horrible! I don’t know how I know, but something’s gone terribly wrong. Baroness Zahradnik, she–?

?It happens.?

?I-I beg your pardon??

Ilyshn’ish glanced around the den.

?Three out of four people say so.?

?Hah??

?Now that I think about it, the citizens in Warden’s Vale mentioned that. Some of the Adventurers did, too. Haven’t you seen the billboard in the village square? ‘So and so days since last incident…’?

?This is the ‘incident’?! I thought it was like those accident-free signs that the Imperial Ministry of Magic puts up in their laboratories.?

?Well, now you know.?

?Still, that feeling…ugh, I won’t be able to do any work like this.?

?If you don’t feel like working, then perhaps you shouldn’t.?

?…really? That doesn’t sound like something you should say as a liege.?

?It isn’t as if I’m one of you productivity-obsessed Humans.?

?Aren’t you always talking about how you look forward to receiving your taxes??

?It’s just a byproduct of you people trying to convert everything that you can into coins in the first place, so the taxes aren’t going anywhere if you need some time for yourself. Also, I think your perception of Dragons is a bit off…having a hoard is nice and all, but the balance of our domains comes first and foremost.?

One day, she would find whoever made up all those silly stories about Dragons and have a stern word with them. It was already bad enough that Dragons were seen as bundles of crafting materials. ‘Possesses stupendous hoards of treasure’ being cultivated as a default expectation just felt plain malicious. Home invaders that assaulted poor Dragons probably even had the gall to be angry about the fact that their victims didn’t have much in the way of ‘valuables’.

?In that case, I’m going back to bed. I haven’t had a day to myself since we arrived in the Sorcerous Kingdom. Thanks, Dame Verilyn.?

The Message ended. Ilyshn’ish looked to the three Krkonoše.

“So…it happens?” She said.

“It happens,” Vltava replied.

She hoped they were right. Frost Dragons didn’t experience second-hand knowledge. They couldn’t know something until they experienced it. It wasn’t a problem for most, as they happily dwelled in their domains for their entire existence, but Ilyshn’ish lived a markedly different life.

Nemel probably has the right idea…

Ilyshn’ish went back to her litter and settled comfortably upon it. For Dragons, sleep was a reliable recourse for passing time. Hopefully, by the time she woke, everything would be back to normal.

Now, then, how shall we go about this…

Sebas stroked his beard as he digested the latest reconnaissance reports from the Royal Army. From the shadows of the nearby cedar tree, Queen Oriculus cast her gaze over the countryside with a tiny frown. He offered her a reassuring smile.

“Worry not, Your Majesty,” he said. “The matter of your security is still well in hand.”

Rather than displaying relief, the Queen’s troubled expression only deepened. It was a look that waxed and waned in intensity since they departed Phelegia for Oriculon, and she remained closed on the subject.

One thing was certain, however. Whatever weighed upon her small shoulders overrode mortal peril, even with forty thousand Beastmen making their way toward her.

He turned his attention back to the landscape below. Roughly a kilometre away, the central thrust of the Beastman counteroffensive was entering the small forest at the base of the hill. The entire area around the hill was commonly known as a ‘kingswood’ or ‘royal forest’ – one of many locations in a country where hunting and foraging were reserved for the provision of the crown and its guests as she held court around the country. The territories reserved tended to be rugged areas that were ill-suited for agriculture and local Rangers were assigned to manage them.

Those Rangers were long gone, however, and the forest was quickly filling with foes. Baroness Zahradnik had chosen the location not only because it offered a vantage of the area around Eastwatch, but also because there would be ample opportunity to flee with the Queen if necessary. She had recommended exactly that should things take an unexpected and undesirable turn. Sebas, however, had been issued another set of instructions from the Royal Court.

The diplomatic mission to the Draconic Kingdom was originally planned to be an exercise in what Pandora’s Actor termed ‘soft power’, and Countess Corelyn’s delegation operated explicitly within those lines. The Royal Army had been deployed with a different set of objectives, namely dealing with the unexpected Beastman occupation. Sebas was often considered a member of the diplomatic delegation, but he had been dispatched as and continued to be a bodyguard from the ‘royal household’ of the Sorcerous Kingdom assigned to Queen Oriculus.

Any doubt cast upon his capabilities cast doubt upon the capabilities of his Master’s household. As such, none of his actions as a bodyguard could be construed in ways that undermined his charge’s confidence in his capabilities. Fleeing before the very Beastmen he was sent to guard Queen Oriculus against was, of course, out of the question.

Unfortunately, he had no way to efficiently get rid of so many Beastmen in such a wide area. Furthermore, he couldn’t leave Queen Oriculus’ side. Shalltear had dispatched over ten thousand Quagoa in Feoh Berkana, but Aura had trapped them in a painted facsimile of the city using Depiction of Nature and Society. Shalltear’s polearm also gave her much better reach than Sebas and she could perform wide, cleaving attacks with it.

He could uproot the straightest tree he could find to swat the Beastmen with, but he wasn’t sure whether a tree counted as a quarterstaff and Monks were not proficient at wielding weapons in the ‘tree’ category. The notion in itself felt crass and the tree would likely break apart anyway.

Snarls issued from the woods down the eastern slope. They were getting close. It seemed that he would simply have to dispatch them one at a time.

Sebas tightened his left glove, then his right. The first Beastman appeared, a Lord of the ‘Nar’ variety. Countless others streamed out of the forest and onto the bald hilltop. Several smooth stones whistled through the air at Sebas. His hand moved to intercept each in turn. The lead Beastman narrowed his eyes at him.

“Hhrolhr! Thurgakhr! Go around and get that female. I’ll deal with this one.”

Two Nar behind the leader immediately split away to either side. Several hundred others went with them. Sebas’ feet shifted as he turned to intercept the one heading to his left.

“Oh no, you don’t!”

The Nar Lord roared and pounced. A paw as wide as Sebas’ chest came in, its gleaming claws wreathed in fiery light.

“?Crimson Tiger Claw?!”

The Nar Lord used his momentum to perform an attack that raked across Sebas’ back from shoulder to waist. Sebas planted his right foot on the ground, exploding forward to his target. He closed the distance in an instant. His left fist caught the leading Beastman squarely in the chest, then he went on to hit the twenty-three next closest targets. A fine mist tinged the clear afternoon sky with a bloody hue.

Sebas reversed direction, splattering two dozen more Beastmen over the stones of the hilltop before stopping beside Queen Oriculus to intercept eight bullets aimed at her. He flicked one back with each hand, killing two Beastmen with slings standing at the treeline. Moreso than the warriors, the hunters were limiting his movements with their attempts to snipe the Queen.

“Shadow Demons,” he said. “Deal with the enemy Rangers.”

Six blotches of darkness separated from his shadow, sliding along the ground toward the trees. Sebas stopped twelve more bullets before the Nar Lord finally caught up to him. The Beastman assailed him with a barrage of slashes, but Sebas ignored him as he alternated between killing the flanking Beastmen and stopping the bullets still flying at the Queen. A different Beastman Lord threw itself at him bodily.

“Restrain his movements!” He shouted, “He has to go down eventually!”

Four Beastmen latched onto Sebas as he continued to block bullets, followed by three more. He frowned at one who had its jaws clamped around his forearm, its saliva running over the sleeve of his coat.

“Hmph.”

Sebas squeezed his fist, flexing his forearm. The Beastman’s head exploded. He grabbed the others trying to hold him down and hurled them into the warbands closing in. Shouts filled the air as they crashed into their fellows, pulping everyone they came into contact with.

Still, the Beastmen came. He jumped up and swept out a leg, removing the heads of five attempting to encircle him with a flying roundhouse kick. He landed and dashed between two of the Beastmen to annihilate the ones crowding behind, returning to the Queen’s side before the first five bodies collapsed to the ground.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the other group heading for the Queen drawing close. More claws raked at his arms, legs, and back as he turned to address the threat.

“Hhrolhr, dod–”

The front half of the flanking group was rendered into a shower of gore. The back half only started to widen their eyes in shock before they joined them. Sebas returned to the tree with the Queen, zipping by the centre force still doggedly trying to stop him. In their eyes were neither fear nor grief – only frenzied determination that intensified with every heartbeat.

He laid low another line of Beastmen before observing their reactions in the lull of his movements. They now all appeared to be focused on him.

“Destroy that vile monster!” A furious roar issued from the first Lord, “Our homes and families are doomed if we do not!”

Sebas met their determined gazes. His beard shifted as his lips formed into a thin line. Was that how they saw things?

He reappeared at the Queen’s side. She issued a squeak as he picked her up and dashed south, kicking apart the warbands that were emerging from the worn cliffs along the riverbank. Snarls filled the air as he used Beastman heads as stepping stones on the way down, but Sebas disregarded them as he confronted his thoughts.

In Re-Estize, who was good and who was evil were as plain as day. The unjust acted with open irreverence toward any notion of goodness while the righteous were punished for daring to oppose any wrongdoing. To Sebas, the choices that he made there were a matter of course and he was fully willing to accept the consequences of his actions.

The Draconic Kingdom, however, was nothing like Re-Estize. He couldn’t say that everyone was good, but it was a good country despite all of its troubles. The bonds between the people were strong, be they aristocrats, commoners or anything else. When trouble came, they banded together and fought. Then they banded together to rebuild their lives and continue on. It wasn’t a place like Re-Estize where parents would sell their children into slavery and people turned their backs on one another without a second thought. Even those that ended up as slaves in the Draconic Kingdom out of necessity were protected by the very organisations that would abuse them elsewhere.

In all, it was a place where people did what was right. Sebas was both pleased and proud to be of assistance to them.

That being said, the Beastman clans that were their nemesis were surprisingly not as evil or cruel as their relationship with the Draconic Kingdom suggested. They simply were what they were, and there was a distinct nobility to the character of the warriors he fought now. From their perspective, they weren’t ruthless invaders being driven out of their ill-gotten gains by the forces of righteousness. Instead, an unspeakably evil threat had appeared and they were the champions who had risen to the occasion.

He alighted at the base of the cliff amidst a throng of growling Nar. After getting his bearings, he dashed straight for the river. Trees and bushes were painted red as he kicked his way through the grasping claws of thousands of Beastmen.

According to Queen Oriculus, the invasion and follow-up occupation were both unprecedented and uncharacteristic. The use of Laira was an utter shock. As far as their history was concerned, the Draconic Kingdom and its Beastmen neighbours shared a relationship that was not unlike that of many countries elsewhere. Humans, as weak as they were, more often than not ended up being prey for non-Human powers that saw no benefit to more cooperative arrangements.

She did not begrudge them for their current circumstances. At first, Sebas thought it odd, but he thought he was starting to understand why she felt that way and how her people could conduct themselves as they did.

The world had its rules. There were rules for the weak and rules for the strong. The Draconic Kingdom was not strong, so Queen Oriculus played by the rules of the weak. With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide and a nominal suzerain that disallowed them from forging alliances with their neighbours, all they could do was improve, slowly becoming better and better while they endured the cycles of predation visited upon them.

Even if they were invaded and their land occupied, they would continue doing so. At some point, it would become undeniable that it was a waste to treat them as food. With that approach, harbouring hate and resentment were counterproductive, blinding one to opportunities for positive change. Adopting the attitudes of the Humans in Re-Estize and the Empire would be similarly fruitless, as they seemed irreconcilable with other societies too far removed from theirs.

It might have taken generations or even centuries, but the people of the Draconic Kingdom could find their place in the world through almost any circumstance. Now, it appeared that Queen Oriculus’ grand strategy was about to pay off beyond her wildest expectations.

Sebas arrived at the highway along the riverbank and looked down at Queen Oriculus. Cradled in his arms, she was so red that he at first thought her covered in blood from the thousands of Beastmen he had slain along the way.

“Is Your Majesty alright?” He asked.

“I-I’m alright,” her small figure seemed to shrink even further. “What about you? They hit you so many times…”

“I am unharmed, Your Majesty,” Sebas replied. “Thank you for your kind concern.”

Aside from being soiled by their attempts to bite him, Sebas’ equipment was unaffected by the Beastmen’s attacks. It would have probably been a different story if he were a Human, but he had enough damage reduction to negate their offence.

Beastmen started to appear out of the forest along the highway, their slings of braided rope in paw. Considering the movement penalties imposed on individuals in wooded terrain, they were likely all Rangers. Several fell to the ground as razor-sharp claws reached out from their shadows to hamstring them. The Shadow Demons were still carrying out his orders.

“What’s going on with them?” Queen Oriculus asked.

“I had some allies interfere with their Rangers to reduce the number of ranged attacks made against Your Majesty,” Sebas answered.

They could only deal with so many at a time, however. Soon, hundreds of Beastmen were swarming out of the forest, then thousands.

?Sebas-sama. The general staff predicts that the Beastmen will combine their forces in an attempt to defeat you through the use of overwhelming numbers.?

?Is there any danger to Queen Oriculus??

?We have not noted the approach of any flanking forces. The handling of the Queen has been left to your discretion.?

In all honesty, he was far from the best choice for VIP protection duties. Out of Nazarick’s most powerful NPCs, Aura would likely surpass Albedo if the form of that protection came in wide-area security, but one could hardly have her Magical Beasts running all over the place. Albedo was by far the go-to option when it came to direct personal protection, but she was the Prime Minister of the Sorcerous Kingdom.

That aside, Sebas believed that there was a fifty-fifty chance of Albedo and Queen Oriculus either getting along famously or Albedo strangling the person that she was supposed to protect. Their ideological approaches to statecraft were so different that they could be perfectly complementary or those same differences could set them at odds with one another.

“There he is!”

Eventually, a Beastman came out of the forest close enough to spot them. The entire army responded to the alert, moving as one up the highway towards their position. Sebas shook himself free of his wandering thoughts. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, he had a duty to perform. He existed to serve the supreme beings and their cause. All else was insignificant by comparison.

He considered his options. They were now on much better terrain to fight on and they were all approaching from a single direction, making it easier to keep the Queen safe while he fought.

There must be a better way to do this…

Monks had a wide range of Ki abilities, but the vast majority augmented their existing physical fighting ability in some way. Since even a finger flick was enough to kill most of the Beastmen coming his way, any such augmentation was superfluous. Monks were, by and large, focused rapid attackers and even ranged Skills such as Ki Blast only affected one target.

It seemed that his best option was simply punching over thirty-five thousand Beastmen once each.

“Um…Sebas?” Queen Oriculus said, “If you’d like to free up your hands, you can put me down. I-In fact, I’m not sure how much longer I can bear this so please put me down.”

Was he causing her discomfort? Sebas chided himself over his lack of awareness as a butler.

He looked over his shoulder to the barge moored a few hundred metres away. The briefing before the battle indicated that even the strongest individuals were in the low to mid-thirties level-wise. If he placed the Queen belowdecks and assigned all six Shadow Demons to guard her, it was highly unlikely any Beastmen would come close enough to present a physical threat.

“I beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty,” Sebas said. “In that case, shall I bring you to the ship?”

The Queen nodded and Sebas made his way southwest along the highway. He alighted on the deck of the barge a minute later and looked back the way he had come. The Beastman army continued to pursue him, forming a long column on the road.

Hmm…what was it that Countess Corelyn mentioned again?

He rocked back and forth experimentally, feeling the ship respond to his movements.

“S-Sebas?”

He turned and planted his feet on the deck,

“Hup!”

Sebas dashed in the opposite direction of the Beastmen. The barge flew down the highway, smashing into the Beastman column. It continued skidding along, greased by the strip of pulverised flesh it left in its wake. Mouth aghast, Queen Oriculus stared at the carnage with wide eyes.

“That’s…that’s…uehhhhh…”

The Queen leaned out and retched, leaving a trail of vomit in the air as she and Sebas arced over the Oriculon.

Over on the highway, the barge came to a stop, but not before it had combined ninety per cent of the Beastman column with the pavement. A Fireball exploded amongst the remaining Beastmen as the barge’s Undead crew boiled out to defend their vessel like angry wasps from a kicked nest. They were quickly joined by the Shadow Demons and several of the Royal Army’s Elder Liches, who had been observing from high above.

Once Sebas landed on the opposite shore of the river, he set Queen Oriculus down. She immediately turned away from him, raising a hand to wipe her mouth.

“My apologies for any discomfort Your Majesty may have experienced,” Sebas said.

He produced a Trooper’s Towel from his inventory and held it out at the Queen’s elbow, then offered a flask of water. Several minutes later she finished washing out her mouth and fixing her appearance.

“I had no idea you were so strong,” Queen Oriculus said. “When you were fighting on the hill, it looked like there were ten of you. Are you from a Draconic line, as well? Or perhaps…”

She closed her mouth and swallowed, tentatively looking up at him. Sebas retrieved his things and put them away.

“I am but a humble butler, Your Majesty.”

“If you are a ‘humble butler’,” the Queen snorted, “then We would like access to the Sorcerous Kingdom’s job market. If the Sorcerer King’s entire household is anything like you, then all of the enemies in the world would be a laughable matter.”

Queen Oriculus offered him a tired smile, but she seemed to sense that it was an awkward question and did not press him any further.

“So,” she said, “now that our little adventure has concluded, how goes the battle for Eastwatch?”

“I will convey Your Majesty’s query during the Royal Army’s next report,” Sebas replied. “Shall we return to our vantage?”

“That hill? Eh…”

The Queen’s expression shifted behind her sovereign’s mask. Considering the state they must have left it in, it was a thoughtless proposal.

?Sebas-sama.?

Sebas raised a hand to his ear.

?Yes, what is it??

?The general staff has a request. Captain Zahradnik has been slain in battle; they would like you to recover her remains.?

?What of her slayers??

?…unknown.?

?Unknown??

?None of the servitors with her survived. Reconnaissance assets are being destroyed before they can come close enough for visual identification.?

?What about divination??

?All attempts at divination turn up nothing at the location. We suspect that the individuals in question have the benefit of a Nondetection effect or something similar.?

While some of Nazarick’s agents used a Ring of Nondetection or some other Nondetection item for covert operations, very few outside of Nazarick were known to employ them. Magical development in the region was, in a word, lopsided. Some nations had very little of it while those that were considered leaders in arcanistry and divine magic focused on certain fields while ignoring others.

Divination and counterdivination were mostly ignored. Pandora’s Actor speculated it was that way because there were both mundane and magical means to foil it, making it ‘unprofitable’ for magic casters to focus their resources on. This made things rather convenient for Nazarick as the poor state of those fields created all sorts of openings for their intelligence operatives to exploit.

Nondetection wasn’t completely unknown in the region, however. Assassins, for instance, were masters of disguise and Nondetection was one of the ‘techniques’ that they used to defend against any attempts to foil their mystical subterfuge. That was if they developed it, of course. Most of the Assassins in Ijaniya had it. There was also the fact that there were many unknown Job Classes in the New World and there were many things that shouldn’t have been.

?I will see what I can do. Is there someone available to lead me to the location??

?We will have them rendezvous with you, Sebas-sama.?

?What if the individuals who defeated Captain Zahradnik are still present??

?Capture them for interrogation, if possible. Destroy them if not.?

?Understood. Ah – Queen Oriculus would like an update on the Royal Army’s progress.?

?Thanks to Sebas-sama breaking their counteroffensive, our forces are cleaning up the remaining enemy elements in the vicinity of the hill. Our offensive on the northern front is proceeding nominally, and sub-commander Olga is working to restore the encirclement.?

?I see. Thank you.?

Sebas lowered his hand. Queen Oriculus looked up at him expectantly.

“It appears that I have an errand to attend to,” Sebas said. “Let us return to the battlefield.”