Chapter 89 – Before an End (2)
By the ti we arrived, it was already midday.
With the sun overhead, we walked down the central street toward the main square, where I’d left the others with the Unawakened. Eve looked around at the signs of destruction along the way and raised an eyebrow at when we were just a few blocks away.
“It may have survived a demon attack,” she said, “but this city looks halfway to abandonnt.”
I grimaced. I at least held so sentintal attachnt to the city and hated to see it abandoned, especially after the effort it took to save it.
“I guess a demon threat will do that.”
The square was largely cleared out by the ti we arrived—the Unawakened still lingered here and there, but most had apparently been assigned lodgings.
Koise and Eileen stood in discussion under the shade of the towering Association building’s awning. They looked up at my approach, and Eileen stepped away, taking that as her cue to leave.
Even partly abandoned, many Awakeners called Karfana their ho; Eve, with her hood down, imdiately attracted both of their attention.
“Did you figure out the caravan issue? Who’s this?” Koise asked, his eyes imdiately attracted to Eve’s missing ear.
“It turns out there was a dungeon trapping people on the route,” I briefly explained, “and this is—”
“Eve,” the elf interrupted, holding her right hand out. “I’m Eve.”
Koise glanced down at her hand, as if contemplating whether to return the greeting for a mont.
Finally, he gave in and shook her hand. “Koise.” He looked back over to after the brief greeting. “What were you saying about a dungeon trapping people?”
I gave him a brief summary of events, including the odd way the dungeon had delayed its activation to drag us in and the demons inside.
He rubbed his chin in thought and alternated his gaze between and Eve. “So you’re a demon hunter? Is that an elf thing?”
“You could say that,” Eve cryptically replied. “I’ve been tracking their influence, and I wanted to know more about how this city survived the attack when other outer cities fell.”
That was news to . “Other outer cities fell?” I asked. “How many?”
From what I could recall, human territory was divided into inner, middle, and outer cities. The outer cities were the most nurous, but they were also the smallest, with so being little more than glorified outposts.
“Out of the ones that were attacked? All of them. From what I’ve been able to gather, around a fifth have already fallen. Though your leaders are trying to keep that information secret, for so reason.”
Koise slightly nodded in agreent. “Reports from the guild say pretty much the sa thing.”
“So you can understand why I’m here then. Out of all of those cities, why did this one co out intact?” Eve asked. “I can see it’s relatively large, but nothing else of note stands out that could’ve possibly helped.”
I hadn’t directly told him, but Koise had likely already heard the story from others. Maybe even from Rhil, who had been there.
Koise’s eyes briefly flickered over to .
‘Sothing is odd about this…’ Eve thought.
She noticed that the mont she asked about how the city could’ve survived the demon attack, Koise’s eyes naturally moved to Aizen.
‘Does he have so sort of special anti-demon ability?’
If he did, it would be her first ti hearing of such a thing. She’s seen many Awakeners of her own species fall to demon corruption and dealt with the aftermath in more than a few elven villages.
Almost every ti, the corruption ca from within. A promise for gold, power, life, whatever one might desire combined with the greedy nature of mortals, and then it was over.
‘I need to figure out what I can, for his sake.’ She couldn’t just return to the emperor and tell him the humans had soone capable of resisting demonic influence.
She would be expected to learn his secret, take him back to the emperor herself, or—in the worst-case scenario—kill him. If he wouldn’t cooperate with the elves, the humans couldn’t be allowed an advantage.
Deciding to reveal so information, she said, “The humans aren’t the only ones dealing with this. Us, dwarves, orcs… I’ve heard rumors of such attacks originating in each of their territories.”
Trying to convey just how urgent it was that they share whatever they were hiding that’d enabled them to survive the attack, she spoke with great care. “Whatever it was, it can also help human cities.”
“It’s that bad?” Aizen asked her, his eyebrows rising in what could only have been genuine surprise.
‘Did he think it was just limited to humans or sothing?’
No, humans weren’t that special.
A tense silence fell over the air between them, Eve staring into Aizen’s eyes in what seed to be an attempt to bore the information straight from his mind. Of course, she didn’t have any ntal abilities to speak of, but the silent aura of intimidation still weighed down on him.
Koise finally clapped to break the silence and said, “Well, as important as this is, we’ll have to travel to the Central Cities regardless.”
He clapped Aizen on the shoulder. “The good news is that your bounty was lifted through the Association’s guild managent options. The bad news is that we’re still short on supplies.”
“Now…” Koise gestured gently toward the both of them. “We could find a way to send communication for caravans, but from what Eve here has ntioned and what I’ve heard through the guild, a proper eting is in order. We can’t just stay on the defensive.”
He nodded at Eve. “Maybe, if you co with us, you’ll get the answer you’re looking for.”
She knew it was bait, but she didn’t have much of a choice. She wouldn’t hesitate to kill if she had to, but it wasn’t her preference.
“I’ve been thinking about how we can disrupt their plans as well,” Aizen said. “I don’t really have much influence, but the Lion Guild is pretty widely regarded. Would they listen?”
“Of course they would,” Koise replied. “Especially if I tell them to. In fact, Gregor will probably want to et us as soon as we arrive.”
“Gregor?” Eve asked.
“The leader of the Lion Guild,” Koise explained. “If you two already dealt with the blockade, we should be good to head through to the Central Cities, et up with him to discuss the demons, and get the caravans back in action.”
“I just ca from the Central Cities,” Eve pointed out. “They weren’t of much help. They were trying to suppress information rather than act on it, if anything.”
“No offense, but you’re an elf. Of course they’d be guarded around you.” Koise tilted his head in a sort of apology. “I’ll show you how hospitable the Lion Guild can be and what we can do.”
‘It’s not a bad opportunity, if a bit of a waste of ti,’ Eve thought to herself. ‘On top of that, I might get to see the humans’ governing figures in action.’
The elven emperor would be interested in whatever she could glean about humanity’s rulers as well. Sure, the elves had so docuntation on them, but more information was always valued.
“Will the others be alright if we head out?” Aizen asked, his tone laced with a tinge of concern.
“Don’t worry about it. There are plenty of Awakeners here, and Eileen already had the city’s managent well-handled before we arrived. First, though, you should get so rest.”
‘Good,’ Eve thought, ‘I should have so ti to investigate the city.’
She’d slept the few hours she needed during their journey.
Much to her surprise, Aizen shook his head. “No need. Unless you need more ti?” he locked eyes with her.
“Can I look around a bit first?” she asked. “It shouldn’t take long.”
Aizen nodded. “Koise and I will prepare the supplies, then, and we’ll head right out in a couple of hours. We’ll et at the front gate?”
He was eager to see what the Central Cities looked like.
“I’ll see you at the front gate.” With a small tilt of the head, she headed off.
It didn’t take long for her to find what she was looking for. Cities, especially those on the outskirts, always had their fair share of people trying to evade the law.
Karfana was no different. Only a few minutes into the worst-looking group of buildings she could find, while wandering down a shadowed back alley, soone stepped out in front of her.
“Lost your way, eh?” the man asked. He might’ve towered over most, but he was only slightly taller than her, and his attempt to look down on her was almost laughable.
“No, I haven’t,” she replied, Pulling gently at the warmth around her. She didn’t want to kill him, after all.
‘Who knows what information he might have?’ Through her life, she’d learned that those in the back alleys had intelligence networks of their own, and they often knew more than even the officials.
It was only a matter of prying that information out of them.
‘I don’t have the ti for negotiations or the money for bribery.’
The man faltered for a mont, clearly having expected an entirely different sort of response.
He struggled to retain an intimidating aura. “Er… Well, this is a poor place to wander around in, My Lady, especially for soone like you.”
He leaned his face slightly closer to hers. “After all, who’d miss an elf?”
She rolled her eyes. The sa sort of conversation had replayed itself for her in countless other backwater alleys in the most regal of cities and the dinkiest, mismanaged towns.
‘Let’s just get this over with.’
“Now,” the man said, “maybe if you part with so of your valuables, I can help you find y—”
Tik—
Frost suddenly crackled on the alleyway’s stone wall as the warm air snapped into a cold front. The man had just enough ti to realize he’d made a terrible choice of victim.
In the next mont, Eve extended her hand until it was almost touching the man’s chest, and the frost instantly lted, sending water dripping down the wall.
Heat blasted from her hand, warping the air with such violent force that it created a shockwave in the previously chilled air and launched the man backward and out of the alley, where he rolled across the ground and thunked into the wall across the narrow street between buildings.
She’d taken care to not set the man on fire. The technique took ti to set up and required fine manipulation, but the man had given her all the ti in the world.
She strolled over to him and placed her foot on his chest. Before he could try struggling to get up, she hovered her hand over his face.
“You’re going to tell everything you know.”
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