Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 6, Chapter 1

Winter's Crown: Act 6, Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“That will be all – you may leave.”

The party of Iron-rank Adventurers quietly filed out of the room, leaving Ludmila to complete her reports for their Training Area session. Overall, they had done well, and she offered several constructive points where she thought the greatest improvements could be made in the near future. The Fighter and Ranger in the group appeared to be ready for Martial Arts drills as well, so she made the recommendation that they should do so in the time between their scheduled group sessions.

“Woo…we survived,” a voice drifted up the stairwell and through the open door of her office.

“My heart almost stopped when I saw her in the room.”

“No kidding – I was praying for Ainzach on the way back.”

Ludmila’s pen stopped, and a furrow appeared over her brow.

“I-is she always like that? I thought we nailed it, but then she just ripped us apart!”

“Maybe she’s just trying to be helpful? She’s one of the first new Platinum-ranks in the Guild, after all – she probably knows what we’ll be facing in the future.”

“Or maybe she just loves cracking the whip.”

Someone made a whipping sound, and the rest of the party laughed.

“I dunno about the rest of you guys, but she can whip me any day~ That whole feeling she gives off is just mmm…”

“Oh gods, don’t you start now. Might as well aim for Nabe instead.”

“Nonono, you don’t get it. We got no chance with Nabe, but Ludmila is a Noble. She’s the head of her own house, so eventually, she’s going to start thinking about having kids.”

“She doesn’t ever give off that feeling. Training, work, duty – that woman’s just a big blob of boring.”

“That’s because she worships The Six, yeah? Those zealots don’t consider themselves adults until twenty, so they act like prudes until bam: the shackles come out. If you can line yourself up nicely beforehand, you’ve got yourself a rich and powerful wife. I bet you she’ll stop Adventuring around that time to pop out kids, and you could be the lucky one that helps her out with that. She’ll be wild after holding out for over five years…”

“Hmm…”

“Hmm…”

“Hmm…”

“Hsst! What if she hears you? You’re gonna get sniped the second you step out onto the street.”

Too late, Ludmila thought.

Not that she’d actually loose arrows at them from the office window. Possessing the enhanced senses of a Ranger, which grew keener as she gained in strength, Ludmila heard a great many things when people thought her out of earshot. Not all of it was so frivolous, of course, but it at least appeared that Isabella’s assessment of Ludmila’s ‘image’ was more accurate than she cared to admit.

The door to the Adventurer Guild office opened, and the sounds of the central district drifted up the stairwell along with the continuation to their conversation.

“You have to admit I’m right.”

“Maybe. She might be all that, but that’ll also mean she’s super picky about cultivating strong bloodlines. You better train hard – she probably won’t even give you the time of day unless you can beat her. Also, she doesn’t have those curves, so she’s just no match for Nabe.”

“Yeah, but she’s tall – those skirts of hers are probably hiding some amazing legs. Put some heels on her and who cares about the rest~”

“Ah, step on me, please!”

Ludmila stood up from her desk and walked over to the office window, peering down to see if she could pick out whoever had just spoken. One of the departing Adventurers glanced up at the office window, but he somehow didn’t notice her standing there. She watched them disappear down the promenade and out the southern gate with a frown. A note should probably be added that they became oblivious to potential threats when they thought themselves safe.

She turned back to review her report and pack her things, deactivating the magic lighting before locking the door. A sense of curiosity tugged at her, and she went to the room at the end of the hall. Lord Mare looked up at her approach.

“Ah, thank you for your hard work.”

“It’s the least I can do to return the favour that you’ve shown me, Lord Mare,” she smiled. “Has anything interesting happened?”

Ludmila walked up to where Lord Mare was seated, turning to examine the half-dozen Mirrors of Remote Viewing set up in the room. He was using them to keep track of various parts of the Adventurer Expedition headed north to the Azerlisia Mountains.

“They’re still making their way through Tob Forest,” he told her. “It’s all under the Sorcerous Kingdom’s control, so they’re basically doing survey work for the proposed highway.”

“What about those caves that are rumoured to lead below the forest?” She asked.

“None of the entrances are around where they are right now,” Lord Mare answered. “The closest one is further north, near the border with the Empire. Hmm…”

Lord Mare’s voice trailed off uncertainly, and Ludmila looked away from the scenes presented by the mirrors.

“My lord?”

“N-no, it’s just something I heard from someone once – about a big underground system of caverns that spans the entire continent. I was thinking that maybe those are a part of it?”

“I’ve never heard of the like,” Ludmila said. “The caves below Tob are only mentioned as a part of the forest. If what you say is true, wouldn’t that potentially mean that there could be a whole empire under the Empire that we don’t know about?”

“Really? That sounds like trouble…”

“Well, if no one’s heard about this subterranean world, it either doesn’t exist or they simply have no way or desire to come to the surface. If nothing has happened in our recorded history, then there shouldn’t be any imminent worries.”

“What about the Adventurer Training Area?” Lord Mare’s worried voice rose, “I keep wondering if I’ll accidentally dig into something that might cause problems now.”

“You could just cover it right back up again if it happens, couldn’t you, my lord?”

“Maybe. We have no idea what’s down there, so it doesn’t hurt to be careful? A-anyways, things look like they’re going okay for now – the Adventurers aren’t randomly attacking the locals that they come across, and everyone is pretty helpful…what?”

Ludmila looked down at Lord Mare, wiping the growing frown that she belatedly realized had appeared on her face.

“I understand that they’re still essentially in training for the expedition system, my lord,” she said, “but isn’t this a bit too nice? I wouldn’t expect this warm welcome from most of these Demihuman and Heteromorph tribes – or any sort of diplomacy, for that matter – unless they were either allied with the Sorcerous Kingdom or faced with clear and overwhelming strength.”

Now it was Lord Mare’s turn to frown. He scratched his nose lightly as he appeared to ponder her words.

“Maybe we should set up some ambushes for them…I could go out and organize something, maybe…”

“I’m not suggesting that we have our citizens attack them,” Ludmila said. “It’s just that this experience so far might set an incomplete precedent. If everyone is friendly, or at least neutral, to their presence, the Adventurers’ expectations will be similarly twisted. All these people that they’re encountering would most likely be hostile to intrusion upon the lands that they depend on to live, if not for being subjects of the Sorcerous Kingdom. There will also be those that will attack them because, well, Humans are edible.”

“The Azerlisia Mountains haven’t been subjugated yet,” Lord Mare offered, “so maybe they’ll be able to experience that once they leave the forest…”

“I have every expectation that they will, my lord,” Ludmila said. “I’m just worried that it will come in the form of something that is far too powerful for them to fight directly, and they’ll be caught entirely unprepared since they’ll have just left the forest with that mindset. It sets the stage for a catastrophe, as far as the Adventurer Guild is concerned.”

“Hm…I’ll remind the veterans leading the expedition, then they can convey what they understand from experience.”

“That does seem like a more natural way to do things,” Ludmila agreed. “They can work on what they know, which will give them a sense of ownership in their methods. It probably won’t prevent disaster from befalling them if they encounter powerful opponents, but it should at least speed up the development of the appropriate procedures.”

“I think so too. We’ll be able to recover all the pieces even if the worst happens, so it’ll be a good learning experience.”

“Guildmaster Ainzach is going to cry tears of blood.”

“Shalltear is sponsoring the expedition,” Lord Mare told her. “Well, the Ministry of Transportation is. A bunch of us are in favour of her proposal for the northern highway, and Shalltear wants to see it succeed.”

“I wasn’t aware of that, my lord,” Ludmila wondered if her taxes were being used for that. “Anyways, it’s about time for dinner – I can send one of my maids here with some food if you’d like.”

“Ah, someone’s already gone to pick up dinner for me. Thanks, though.”

“In that case,” Ludmila lowered her head, “I’ll be heading down to hand over these reports with the guildmaster. Have a pleasant evening, my lord.”

“Un.”

Ludmila gave the mirrors one last glance. The Adventurers being monitored really did look like they were on some relaxed excursion rather than exploring a potentially lethal environment.

She made her way back down the hall, then down the flight of stairs to the first floor. Stepping outside, she turned north up the sidewalk and peered into the newly renovated training hall. The space was entirely exposed to street traffic, and several pedestrians could be seen observing the Adventurers going through their drills within.

Near one of the corners of the building, she found the guildmaster. He was tapping the point of a practice longsword lightly on the floor as he gazed out over the dozen or so Iron and Silver-ranked Adventurers. She fished out her written assessments on the Training Area sessions for the afternoon as she approached.

“Here are the reports for the afternoon, Guildmaster Ainzach.”

“Good job,” the guildmaster said as he took the reports in hand. “Seeing that they only walked out like whipped dogs, I assume that everything went pretty well.”

“That’s–they did do well, Guildmaster,” Ludmila thought they certainly didn’t sound that way. “I have no idea why walking out like ‘whipped dogs’ would be any sort of indicator of that, though.”

“Well, I figure that if they didn’t, you’d just dump their ashes out of the office window.”

Ludmila restrained a sigh. Since her administrative duties kept her at home and around the city in the weeks surrounding the summer harvest, she couldn’t join the ongoing expedition. Instead, she decided to help out a bit with the Adventurer Guild, as there were no teams for her to train with in the time she usually set aside for her regular Adventurer activities. The other proctors were out on the expedition, so she and the guildmaster were taking turns assessing the performance of the lower-ranked members undergoing training during that period.

With the additional time freed up by the Ring of Sustenance, she saw to House Zahradnik’s business in the morning and the evening, assessed Adventurer teams in the afternoon, and spent time training and reading up on promising subjects for development at night. It had barely been a week since she started, but the Adventurers-in-training already appeared to view her as some sort of harsh taskmistress.

“It’s not as if I shout at them,” Ludmila said. “I have no idea why you all see me that way.”

“Hmm…” the guildmaster raised a hand to stroke his moustache, “I think it’s more that you only focus on what they should be addressing, and you don’t mince words when they do. You pretty much never compliment them on anything that they do right, so it sounds like you’re constantly attacking them for everything. Come to think of it, your father was the same way as well – trying to get a compliment or anything beyond basic pleasantries out of him was like trying to socialize with Nabe…‘cept he was a lot uglier than Nabe.”

“It’s not hard to speak with Nabe,” she frowned.

“It’s not?” The guildmaster frowned back.

“Of course not,” she told him. “I think we get along just fine – some people just don’t like frivolous communication.”

“Uh…if you say so. Most people do like ‘frivolous communication’, though, so it wouldn’t hurt for you to stroke their egos a bit.”

“When it comes to Adventuring or any other dangerous vocation,” Ludmila replied, “that sounds like a good way to get people killed. They learn new things, gain confidence in their abilities, and receive their promotions. I find a life of honoured service gratifying enough.”

The guildmaster barked out a short laugh, shaking his head with a bemused expression on his face.

“Aura said something like that too,” he told her. “I guess some people just have a different approach. Well, as long as they continue to improve, I’m more than happy with my rising popularity since everyone’s so damn scared of ya. When they see me walking into the office, their faces look like an Angel just came down to save ‘em.”

Guildmaster Ainzach stopped stroking his moustache, and his lips turned up into a sly smile.

“Since you’re here,” he said, “how about you spar with the newbies for a bit? We don’t have any other polearm users, so they could use the practice against one.”

Four of the Adventurers practising nearby wavered and stopped, stealing glances towards where Ludmila was speaking with the guildmaster. She eyed their equipment, then looked over at the others in the hall. Eight out of the twelve present used swords of various types, then there were three warhammers and a battleaxe. She supposed it was to be expected. The most common polearms that could be seen in the region were spears, which were viewed as the weapon of impoverished smallfolk and unskilled militia by the vast majority of Adventurers.

Though much had changed in the past few months, culture and common perceptions remained very much the same as generations went by with nothing to forcibly alter them. Never mind that the Empire reportedly used it as the primary battlefield weapon for Legions, and the Adventurers that she sparred with could barely touch her, never mind best her, the nonsensical idea remained entrenched in their minds. Rather than demonstrating the benefits that came with using a polearm, all the results ever amounted to was another facet of her entirely undeserved reputation as a proctor and trainer – or perhaps a higher-ranked Adventurer who would bully trainees that were so weak that she could do it in a dress.

“I’d love to lend my assistance,” Ludmila told the guildmaster, “but I have an appointment in the scented quarter this evening.”

“I didn’t know you were one for perfume,” Guildmaster Ainzach raised an eyebrow. “I guess you’re trying to soften that image of yours, after all.”

“Actually, it’s an order for alchemical oils,” Ludmila told him. “The Alchemist said she would be done filling a shipment of glass arrows this evening, so I need to go over and pick them up.”

She patted the Infinite Haversack strapped over her left hip, and the guildmaster sighed.

“Figures. Well, you go ahead and have fun with that, I guess.”

“Thank you,” she inclined her head slightly, “have a good evening, guildmaster.”