Valkyrie's Shadow

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 6, Chapter 5

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 6, Chapter 5

Chapter 5

23rd Day, Upper Wind Month, 1 CE

Rivulets of frigid water ran down the scales of Ilyshn’ish’s neck as her head surfaced from the waters of her lair. A low growl filled her throat as the scent of an intruder filled her nostrils. She silently glided through the water, sensitive to any sign of movement in her surroundings.

Ilyshn’ish came ashore and slipped into the tunnels of the icy island in the middle of the underground lake. She made her way through the twists and turns towards the central chamber wherein her precious horde lay. Along the way, she looked into a side chamber.

“Hejinmal.”

“Hiiiieeee!!!!”

Her brother leapt up in fright, smashing into the ceiling ten metres overhead. He came back down with chunks of ice raining all around him. Ilyshn’ish watched him roll around in chaotic confusion.

“Did you shrink?” She asked.

“What? Shrink? N-no, I’ve lost weight!”

Hejinmal looked less like a scaly white Nuk with wings and more like a proper Frost Dragon…or at least he was about a third of the way there. Her gaze went to the loose folds of his belly. Hejinmal righted himself and sat back down.

“P-please don’t look, sister. It’s embarrassing.”

“When did this happen?”

“While you were away? Lady Aura had Lady Shalltear book my schedule full of express flights! They were merciless – I thought I was going to die…”

Ilyshn’ish wondered whether his express flights were ‘express’ at all. He was slower than a Fly spell in his previous state.

“If they’re working you so hard,” Ilyshn’ish said, “then do you really have time to be lazing about at my place?”

“The new route I’ve been doing goes nearby, so I usually check in to see if everything is alright here. Since you’ve been away and all. My room in the aviary was getting crowded as well. I’ve been moving all of the things I finished reading here. Since we always passed books between us back then, I figured we could keep on like that…”

“I don’t mind…are you storing the rest of your treasure in here too?”

“I’m keeping that at my place in E-Rantel.”

Ilyshn’ish clicked her tongue.

“Oh, that’s a very Human-like expression.”

“So,” Ilyshn’ish said, “are you coming or going from wherever?”

“Going. There’s no point in carrying all those books there and back again.”

“In that case, I’m coming with you.”

“You are?”

“Mother was talking about it, so now I’m curious. Besides, Lady Shalltear likes dispatching me to places that I’ve never been to before. This time I’ll be one step ahead of her.”

The evil little Vampire wouldn’t catch her off guard so easily now that Ilyshn’ish had seen more of the world. The Ilyshn’ish of today was better than the Ilyshn’ish of the past.

“Oh, by the way,” she said. “This is for you…”

She stuck a foreclaw into one of her Infinite Haversacks, producing a small book. Hejinmal received it and held it up to his right eye.

“The Definitive Guide to the Azerlisia Mountains…I thought you were supposed to get a souvenir from the Empire?”

“It is from the Empire,” Ilyshn’ish said. “Some famous imperial scholar published that. I’ll let you be the judge as to how ‘scholarly’ their work is.”

“?Mage Hand?.”

The book rose from his claw and opened in mid-air. Ilyshn’ish’s tail lashed over the ice in irritation. As usual, she couldn’t figure out how he was casting the spell.

“Oh, speaking of scholars, sister,” Hejinmal said, “I have a new part-time job.”

“You were complaining about being nearly worked to death just now.”

“I was, but this job is much less likely to have me drop dead from exhaustion. I’m instructing classes at the Azure Sky, Iron Fist Institute for Promising Young Children. Their offer to teach the city folk is finally starting to gain in popularity and now they’re short-staffed.”

Ilyshn’ish’s tail stopped. Her brow ridges drew down as she silently stared at her brother.

“Wh-what?”

“Are you sure you should be doing that?” Ilyshn’ish asked.

“Well, I have had my face stuck in books for over a century,” Hejinmal answered.

“…as long as you’re certain. I don’t want you to become all twisted, dear brother.”

“I-I won’t! I feel that the scholar’s path is suited to me.”

I certainly hope so…

Her brother was becoming more and more of a deviant every time she saw him. She hoped his path wouldn’t lead him somewhere strange.

Ilyshn’ish continued through the tunnels and entered the central chamber of her lair. Nothing appeared to be out of place. A sense of contentment filled her as she felt every coin and treasure vibrate slightly at her purposely unconcealed approach.

The story of how each individual item entered into her possession was recalled with crystal clarity. She picked up a dwarven coin: one she had received from selling the corpse of a Frost Giant a year previous. The treasures that pleased her the most were the ones obtained through some act that suited her nature. Hunting prey. Asserting dominance over her rivals. Trophies that affirmed her existence as an apex predator.

Ilyshn’ish emptied the coins she had earned in the Empire onto the pile. Riches earned as an Adventurer counted, too. Nearly all of the commissions that she completed were successful hunts. Everything else – her salary from working for Zu Chiru and other minor gains – was converted into platinum coins and diamonds.

After putting her miscellaneous other things away, she left her lair. Hejinmal was waiting for her outside. They took wing and angled west by southwest.

Hmm…seventy? No, eighty kilometres per hour now.

It was a vast improvement from when Hejinmal could barely keep himself aloft. She eyed the loose folds of hide hanging from his body.

“Isn’t that annoying to fly with?” She asked.

“Very,” Hejinmal sighed. “I can only hope that it will fix itself…you know, an odd fellow in a white outfit came by and offered ‘skin removal surgery’ the other day.”

“That doesn’t sound terrifying at all.”

“I know right? It sounded like one of those barbaric practices those old texts in Feoh Berkana attributed to the Boastful Sage. Anyway, he kept talking about how it would ‘increase happiness’ but even that was disturbing. I couldn’t imagine being skinless, never mind being happy and skinless.”

Ilyshn’ish scales rippled down the length of her body as she shuddered. The Sorcerous Kingdom had all sorts of odd people.

“So where is this new destination, exactly?”

“About three hundred kilometres from E-Rantel, in this direction. We’ve been flying back and forth constantly – the whole transportation network is involved. They’re even using Gate to teleport those new cargo containers over.”

“Why are they moving so much?”

“Mmh…think back to what happened back when Demihumans started moving into E-Rantel.”

“What about it?”

“Their lives underwent a colossal change, right? They couldn’t raid one another anymore, couldn’t take slaves, couldn’t expand their territories…that’s happening in the Abelion Hills on a much larger scale.”

It was certainly a major problem. All living things had hunting or foraging ranges and other living things were part of what they hunted. The Sorcerous Kingdom had several crown laws that severely disrupted the normal lives of most.

“So they’re having a government-mandated famine?” Ilyshn’ish watched the rocky crags pass below them, “And you’ve been transporting food this entire time?”

“Essentially.”

Ilyshn’ish scoffed.

“That’s like melting a lake and freezing it over again for no reason. How do these Demihumans pay for everything?”

“I don’t think they do. The Vampire Brides gossip about what’s going on all the time. There’s no infrastructure out there to speak of. That’s why we’re relying on air transport and Gate. It’s essentially a huge collection of disparate tribes. The only ‘economy’ they had was raiding and slavery. Now, they can’t even do that. There are a few things that counterbalance it, though…”

“Such as…”

“There was a major conflict in the region,” Hejinmal told her. “Some powerful Demon took over and did all sorts of demonic things to the tribes. After that, he put together an army and attacked the Human kingdom nearby. Millions of people died.”

“Oh, that’s lucky for them.”

“I know, right?”

“Hmm…wait, are the Humans of that kingdom really so powerful? Most of the ones I’ve seen in the Sorcerous Kingdom and the Empire aren’t much stronger than a Goblin.”

Barring the weakest of them, Demihuman races were generally more powerful than Humans in some way. A Demihuman army would probably wreak havoc on Human countries.

“Ah, that’s right. The Demihuman army wasn’t very large. Roble lost two million people in its northern half, but the southern half survived unscathed. It wasn’t just the war that killed Demihumans, though. It was the Demons who took over the Abelion Hills for over a year. There isn’t any proper accounting due to the chaos and destruction, but some claim that the Demihumans of the region suffered just as many losses in that time as the Humans did during their war.”

“Still, if they hadn’t died then, they’d be facing mass starvation now with the Sorcerous Kingdom’s laws in place. There’s one thing I don’t get, though…”

“What’s that?”

“The Elder Liches always go on about efficiency, productivity and all that.”

“Sorry, sister,” Hejinmal said. “I’m not familiar with those things.”

“Er…the Sorcerous Kingdom is giving away resources doing this. The Demihumans can’t pay, right? That makes it a loss for the Sorcerous Kingdom. Where are they getting all of the food you’ve been transporting, for that matter?”

“…I have no idea. I do know that it’s a wide assortment of Demihumans, though. Watching all that food get handed out makes me hungry.”

They crossed over the spur of rocky peaks jutting south from the border ranges. A river coursed along the base of the forested slopes on the other side. On the opposite shore of the river was an arid grassland. Beyond the grassland was a vast expanse of sparsely forested hills.

“Hmm…there aren’t any Copper Dragons around here, are there?”

“It is the right environment, but no one sensed any Copper Dragon domains over the last month or so. You’d expect at least a few in a place this expansive, but…”

It was a curious anomaly. Being apex predators with few competitors, there should have been hundreds of Dragons in the region. In the north, one could sense the domains of the Platinum Dragon Lord, plus there were the former domains of the Frost Dragon Lord and the Viridian Dragon Lord. Those domains were pretty much contiguous along the northern coast, leading to the Dragon domains further east in Karnassus. The waters in the north had Sea Dragons. South of the Azerlisia Mountains, however, there was nothing.

Lady Shalltear mentioned a great calamity that had set the world aflame half a millennium ago. Maybe that had something to do with it, but it shouldn’t have taken the Dragon population that long to return to normal. A few centuries would see tens, if not hundreds of thousands hatched, though that didn’t take into account how many would probably survive to adulthood. What competition survived the same event would determine how hard it would be to reestablish the population.

Three hours passed and they arrived at their destination without incident, alighting in a large meadow that had been long trampled into a dusty field. Several of the smaller containers she had seen around the Sorcerous Kingdom were lined up in neat rows with Death Knights standing nearby.

A trio of Vampire Brides came out from under a pavilion to meet Ilyshn’ish and Hejinmal as they landed. Two of them went to retrieve Hejinmal’s delivery. The third looked up at Ilyshn’ish curiously.

“I don’t believe you were scheduled to fly here, Dame Verilyn…I wasn’t even aware you had returned from the Empire.”

“I just got back yesterday,” Ilyshn’ish replied. “They were talking about this place, so I came over to look around.”

“You didn’t report to headquarters?” The Vampire Bride asked.

“No?”

“Get that done right now,” the Vampire Bride told her. “In person. Our mistress has been expecting you.”

“But…but I just got here!”

“If you had reported in, you wouldn’t have wasted your time.”

“Ugh…”

With a groan, Ilyshn’ish took wing and headed back towards the Sorcerous Kingdom. It took her less than half the time that Hejinmal had taken to fly out to get back to E-Rantel. She assumed her Snow Elf appearance as she landed on the roof of the Ministry of transportation, dropping down to go in through the front entrance and putting on a smile for the receptionist.

“I’m back.”

“Welcome back, Dame Verilyn,” the Vampire Bride smiled back.

Ilyshn’ish walked past her and up the stairs.

So far, so good…

She entered the main office on the top floor. The map on the central table had been expanded to portray the lands southwest of the Sorcerous Kingdom. Another extension had been made east and southeast of the Katze Plains. Ilyshn’ish went over to stand near a Vampire Bride adjusting markers with a plotting rod.

“What are those places?” Ilyshn’ish pointed to the new areas in the east.

“This is the wilderness area that the Baharuth Empire is attempting to expand into,” the Vampire Bride tapped the plotting rod on the part next to the imperial border. “South of that is the territory of the Wyvern Rider Tribes. This country along the inland sea is the Draconic Kingdom.”

“We deliver things there now?”

“There is an office being built in the capital of the Draconic Kingdom. The other cities will have offices eventually. For the time being, the majority of deliveries are made by ship.”

Her Vampire Bride agent rose from her desk, making her way over to address Ilyshn’ish.

“Dame Verilyn,” she said, “are you ready to deliver your report?”

“…my report?”

“You were out on an information-gathering assignment. You need to report that information, yes?”

“But…I thought I just needed to know. How do you plan on recording this information?”

The Vampire Bride produced a pen from somewhere. Ilyshn’ish frowned at the implication.

“That will take years!” She said, “Decades, even! You clearly don’t understand just how much I’ve experienced.”

“We just need information relevant to our operations,” the Vampire Bride told her. “The state of their infrastructure, commercial traffic, local economies and such.”

“It would still take a long time,” Ilyshn’ish replied. “I remember every pebble and pothole along every street and highway, you know.”

“The goal, for now, is to assess the viability of expanding our transportation network to the Empire. We don’t need such fine detail for that.”

Ilyshn’ish was brought over to her agent’s desk, where she started asking various questions about each locale she had visited.

“Oh, by the way,” Ilyshn’ish said. “Did the Empire start delivering my treasure yet?”

The Vampire Bride reached into a drawer, pulling out several sheets of paper.

“These are the deliveries made so far,” she said. “You can pick them up in Wagner County’s capital.”

Each sheet of paper was a manifest. Ilyshn’ish carefully read through them, answering the Vampire Bride’s questions at the same time.

In addition to the spoils from the Demihuman tribes, the Empire had located eight lairs around The Blister. Each contained a portion of the Viridian Dragon Lord’s hoard, though some had more valuables than others. The Imperial Army was still cataloguing their findings, periodically sending convoys of treasure according to Ilyshn’ish’s specifications.

Broadly speaking, the Empire wanted to retain unprocessed materials such as ore and uncut gemstones. Presumably, they would turn them into equipment and magic items. This was fine with Ilyshn’ish, as she was more interested in refined metals and any bits and pieces of history that she could get her hands on.

Eighteen hours passed as the Vampire Bride bombarded her with endless questions. Rather than the Undead attendant being Ilyshn’ish’s agent, she had become her interrogator. Eventually, however, reprieve came in the form of Lady Shalltear.

“Oh, you’re back. I have another task for you.”

“…does it have to do with going to some new place with Demihumans, my lady?”

Lady Shalltear blinked in surprise. She looked over at the Vampire Bride across the desk, who shook her head in response.

“Why yes,” she said. “How did you know?”

I knew it!

With a little bit of effort, she had preempted some of the confusion, stress and anxiety that would come with exploring an unknown region of the world. She mentally went through all the features she had seen from above the Abelion Hills, ordering them according to how interesting they looked. As a bonus, it was less than two hours from her lair, so she could explore things at her leisure. Since it was an ‘undeveloped wilderness’, there wouldn’t be many unfamiliar things to figure out.

“Never mind that,” Ilyshn’ish smiled, “when would you like me to go?”

“You’re strangely enthusiastic about this,” Lady Shalltear peered at her suspiciously. “Was the Empire so enjoyable? Well, whatever. I suggest that you settle on a Beastman form before heading over.”

“Beastman?” Ilyshn’ish furrowed her brow in confusion, “Why would I need any mortal appearance? If it comes down to that, what I’m using right now should work, yes?”

“Oh, no,” Lady Shalltear tittered lightly. “Though it might be amusing to witness, wandering around the Beastman country as a Snow Elf would make your task exceptionally difficult.”

Ilyshn’ish gave the Vampire a long look.

“Just to be certain, my lady,” she said. “This ‘Beastman country’ is a location in the Abelion Hills?”

“No,” Lady Shalltear tilted her head curiously, “it’s a place east of the Draconic Kingdom. I don’t think I’m mistaken…”

“That’s correct, Lady Shalltear,” the Vampire Bride agent said.

“Right. Anyway, Demiurge said that I should send you to take a look before something happens to it.”

“But…” Ilyshn’ish turned her head to look over at the map on the central table, “it’s not even on our transport map!”

“Well, we wouldn’t need you to investigate the country if we already knew about it,” Lady Shalltear said. “Once you’re done with your report here, make your preparations and head on over.”

Lady Shalltear left the office with a satisfied look on her face, leaving Ilyshn’ish dangling over a yawning chasm of doubts and fears. What sort of Beastmen lived in the Beastman country? What if they ate Dragons?

Ilyshn’ish mentally reached out for Lady Zahradnik, but she was out of range. She then physically reached out across the desk and grabbed her agent by the shoulders.

“Help!”

“What do you require assistance with?”

“What do you think?!” Ilyshn’ish cried, “I don’t know anything about this place!”

“I’m afraid I don’t know anything either, Dame Verilyn.”

A whimper passed between Ilyshn’ish’s lips. The Vampire Bride responded with her characteristic polite mask.

“So I’m not being sent with anyone?” Ilyshn’ish asked, “There isn’t anything specific I have to do?”

“I believe what you’ve been doing is fine,” the Vampire Bride said. “As for travelling companions, sending Humans and such wouldn’t work.”

So much for that. Travelling with others was convenient in the sense she could observe them interact with the locals, allowing her to familiarise herself with the way things worked in any given place. It was annoyingly ironic that she would desire company as a naturally solitary Frost Dragon.

After another full day of interrogation by the Vampire Bride, she left the Ministry of Transportation, feet dragging over the cobblestones of the central district. She tried distracting herself from her worries by heading over to the Adventurer Guild headquarters. Maybe they would have something nice prepared for her work in the Empire.

After assuming her Human appearance, she went around the fighting pit that they had built. A half dozen pairs of Iron and Silver-rank Adventurers were hitting each other with swords, screaming out an assortment of words as if it would make their attacks more effective somehow. Inside the entrance, she found Wina stationed at the front desk.

“Shiver,” the guild receptionist smiled, “welcome back.”

“Thank you, Wina,” Ilyshn’ish smiled back. “It’s been a long trip. Is the Guildmaster in?”

“He’s up in his office right now,” Wina said. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.”

On the way up to the guildmaster’s office, she passed a group of battered-looking Silver-ranked Adventurers. They stared and whispered to one another after she turned up the next flight of stairs. Of course, she could still hear everything they said.

Why are Humans so obsessed with breeding? No, it’s not even that – it’s the act of breeding.

They often seemed to prefer if nothing was produced. It felt terribly pointless to her. Why waste energy for nothing?

Guildmaster Ainzach was idly brushing the feather of his quill over his jaw when she appeared at his office door. The male Human appeared to have bulked up over the winter, the muscles of his arms, legs and torso were firmer than when she had last seen him.

“Shiver,” he nodded. “How did it go?”

“I went and did as you and Ishpen asked,” Ilyshn’ish said. “As for the effect, I’m not sure.”

The guildmaster put down his quill, rising from his seat and gesturing to the wooden chair in front of his desk.

“Please, have a seat. I’d like to hear how things are going with the Empire’s Adventurer Guild branches.”

“Which things?”

“How busy they are,” Guildmaster Ainzach said. “What sort of work they have. That sort of thing.”

“If the guild office in Engelfurt is any indication,” Ilyshn’ish said. “The Adventurer Guild in the Empire will cease to exist soon. The Imperial Army has started deploying Death-series servitors for border security.”

“So the same thing that happened here, huh,” the guildmaster stroked his chin. “Where did they say they would go?”

“Karnassus, mostly. Some team by the name of ‘Silver Thread Bird’ left the Empire for the City State Alliance and many Adventurers intend to follow their lead.”

“Damn,” the guildmaster thumped a fist against his desk. “I was hoping something like that wouldn’t happen. The local Adamantites would have a lot more sway over them…what did you end up doing?”

“I took two or three commissions a night, starting with those that had been left unfulfilled for an extended period.”

Ishpen said to leave commissions under Mithril alone so she wouldn’t anger the local Adventurers by taking all of the work, which she mostly did. Lower-ranked jobs didn’t pay as much, anyway.

“Two or three commissions,” Guildmaster Ainzach gaped. “That’s even faster than Darkness.”

“Well, it’s easy to go from commission to commission if one can fly as fast as I can.”

“I guess that’s true. You’d have also run out of commissions if you were working out of one city like Darkness did. What was the response like?”

“They were suitably impressed. Many of the local Adventurers asked questions and I tried my best to promote our guild here. Did anyone show up?”

The guildmaster shook his head.

“Not yet. It’s too soon, anyway. You’ve only been away for a few months and it’ll take time for the reality of those Undead security forces to sink in. You got their attention and spread the word about our recruiting. All we can do is wait and see what comes of it.”

Guildmaster Ainzach rose from his desk, turning around to unlock a metal cabinet. He withdrew a sack of coins and placed it on the desk between them.

“Your pay for the last three months,” he said. “I believe you wanted everything in platinum…”

“Yes, that’s right. Thank you very much, Guildmaster Ainzach.”

Paid to go out and get paid. It wasn’t a bad arrangement.

“Oh, by the way,” Ilyshn’ish said. “Do you know if the Beastman country has Adventurer Guilds?”

“Which Beastman country?”

“The one next to the Draconic Kingdom. On the other side of the Katze Plains.”

“You never hear anything about that place save for the fact that they’re constantly eating the neighbours,” the guildmaster said. “But since nations with Demihumans like Argland and Karnassus have Adventurer Guilds, I wouldn’t be surprised if the country you’re talking about has them too.”

“I see.”

“Are you heading in that direction now?”

“I’m being sent there, yes. I’m afraid I know nothing at all about it.”

“Well, you could try asking around the Draconic Kingdom’s Adventurer Guild branches about it. Rumour has it that the Sorcerous Kingdom is helping out there in some way, so that should help with information gathering.”

“Maybe I’ll go and do that. Thank you, Guildmaster Ainzach.”

Lady Zahradnik had come close enough to communicate verbally through their bond while Ilyshn’ish and her new minions were travelling up the Katze River. She had shared plenty about her experiences with the Beastmen in the Draconic Kingdom. They didn’t seem like very reasonable fellows, but at least they functioned in understandable ways.

Ilyshn’ish went up onto E-Rantel’s inner wall before returning to her Frost Dragon self. She examined the clear midday sky before flying east to Wagner County’s new capital. Thoughts of the treasures that awaited her swept away the anxiety over the new assignment. Twenty minutes later, she landed outside the town and assumed her Snow Elf appearance before heading straight to the office where Zu Chiru had rented storage space.

An elderly man looked up from his desk at her entrance. His gaze flickered over her body as she stepped up to the office counter.

“Excuse me,” she smiled and placed the cargo receipts on the wooden surface in front of her. “Is this where I can take care of these?”

The man took the documents in hand, holding them up mere centimetres in front of his face.

“You here to transport all this away?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“In that case, we’ll settle your fees now.”

Ilyshn’ish blinked.

“F-fees?”

“Storage fees. Security fees. The usual stuff.”

She didn’t want to pay any fees. She didn’t ask for them in the first place. It was the Empire that put everything here. Why weren’t they paying her fees?

The clerk frowned at her reaction.

“…how much is it?” Ilyshn’ish asked.

In response, the man gestured to a sign behind her on the wall. A wall of words and numbers in an unfamiliar configuration threatened to crush her already fragile psyche.

Ilyshn’ish turned back and snatched the documents from the counter.

“I-I’ll be right back!”