Chapter 4
“There's nothing there, Ida.”
Despite their continued reassurances, Ida continued to frown into the hand mirror. Her free hand touched over her forehead, checking for any signs of her faceplant into the floor the previous evening.
“You’re going to trip,” Nel told her. “And then you’re really going to have sothing there.”
Nel held out her left hand and Ida returned the mirror.
After a sound night’s rest, Ida’s complexion was much improved. On the other side of Ida, Fendros and Elise walked alongside one of their wagons. Da Verilyn was on Nel’s right in her Human form. An Adventurer Cleric was on the other side of Da Verilyn, which made Nel wonder if Da Verilyn was sohow being underestimated despite the Adamantite plate clearly displayed over her breast.
Before they departed from Oestestadt, Da Verilyn had discovered that Adventurers could work as rchant guards. With the logic of ‘if we’re going to the next city anyway, I may as well get paid for it’, she started signing up for rchant escort commissions. After that, she encouraged Zu Chiru to talk to other travelling rchants about joining the caravans she escorted. Those rchants couldn’t deny the value of having an Adamantite-ranked Adventurer for the price of a regular rchant escort, so the caravan grew larger with every departure. Now, it was starting to feel as if a small festival hit every town and city they arrived in.
The morning sun occasionally glared through the clouds as they journeyed out from Nixhaven on their way east to the territories of Niederislein. While the mostly cloudy skies did not have the look of rain, a sharp, cold wind still cut into them from the seas to the north. Fendros, Elise and Ida drew closer to the wagon as a sudden gust whipped over them, throwing their mantles askew. Squeaks of discontent rose from the Quagoa walking behind.
“Master, it is cold!”
“Yes, yes, it is cold.”
“We will be taken from the ground and cast into the trees!”
The wind wasn’t that strong.
As Nel understood it, the Quagoa were a subterranean race that once contended with the Dwarves under the Azerlisia Mountains. According to Da Verilyn and the Quagoa, rather than the cold, damp and dark place filled with horrors that she imagined an underground world to be, the realms below were a warm, damp and dark place filled with life and many wonders alien to those who lived on the surface. Like the surface, it had its share of monsters and other threats, though Nel couldn’t quite wrap her head around creatures that swam through stone, possessed malevolent mind powers, or the other unfathomable terrors that they claid existed the deeper one went.
With the wind making all sorts of noise around them, the Quagoa’s covered noses constantly swivelled this way and that. Apparently, the surface world was just as unimaginable to them as their underground ho was to Nel. To the Quagoa, what Nel considered pleasant surroundings were too open, dry, cold and bright even when wearing magic items that compensated for their day blindness.
They were also terrified of trees. A half-week earlier, one had gotten a splinter in his rear from sitting on a wooden chair. He squealed and moaned and cried as if he had taken a mortal wound. Zu Chiru and the others could only wring their claws – which Nel was sure could easily tear apart trees – in tearful worry until Da Verilyn ca along and pulled it out. Quagoa coats were stated to be as strong or stronger than platemail, but it seed that they offered no protection against wood, which resulted in their fear of trees and shrubs.
This sort of aversion was the case with many creatures in the world whose natural protections were bypassed by one thing or another. Almost all that she knew of required so special material or magical enchantnt or even a combination of things, but the special material being wood seed odd to her. Then again, wood was probably rare underground so the Quagoa were likely a tough opponent to deal with in their native environnt.
One of the apprentices shuffled away from the wagon, crossing behind Nel.
“Where are you going?” Another asked.
“It is cold even when we try to use the wagon to block the wind,” the apprentice replied. “So I will go to the master’s wife, where it is safer.”
The other Quagoa appeared to agree with his logic, shuffling over as well. They huddled closely together
“I don’t get why she’s Zu Chiru’s ‘wife’,” Nel glanced down at the one nearest to her.
“Should a male in possession of great fortune not have a great many wives?” The apprentice asked, “Master Chiru can provide for many children. The numbers of our clan will surely swell to greatness.”
Polygamy was not outlawed in the Empire, but it was rare that anyone had multiple wives. It was more common that wealthy nobles, rchants and adventurers had multiple mistresses. The Emperor, of course, had the Imperial Harem, but he hadn’t yet taken an official wife despite already having many children. The only man that Nel could recall offhand with multiple wives was Count Palatine Peshl, who had five…or was it more now?
“So people see it as a viable option,” Nel said, “but shouldn’t Zu Chiru’s wife be a Quagoa?”
“Master Chiru has three wives,” the apprentice held up a clawed hand. “Two ugly wives the master has taken because it makes business easier in the realms above. Such are the sacrifices a great rchant must make. But Master Chiru also has a beautiful wife who is the envy of all.”
“What’s she like?" Fendros asked curiously.
“Ah, where to begin,” the apprentice scratched his chest with a far-off look. “Her coat is as pure as white jade. Her eyes are like glimring gemstones of clear turquoise. Her shape is like a stone worn smooth and encrusted by the trickle of warm, sulphurous waters. This one hopes to find such a wife one day.”
“I see…”
Nel exchanged glances with Fendros, who looked about as lost as Nel felt. One could apply the apprentice’s description to a Human woman up until the last part…well, the last part might be applied as well but it didn’t sound very flattering.
The other apprentices, however, all nodded and smiled their terrifying smiles, teeth glistening in the sunlight. Given that Da Verilyn was considered ‘ugly’, it seed that Quagoa standards of beauty were too far removed from those of Humans to make much sense of. Still, Nel wondered if she would ever et this ‘beautiful wife’.
“Do you think they have any kids?” Elise whispered.
“Eh…”
“Argh! Don’t make think about that!”
Nel glanced over at Da Verilyn. There was no way she hadn’t heard that, but she did not react in any way. Was it possible that they did have children? Hippogriffs were the result of crossing Griffons with Horses. What would the offspring between a Dragon and a Quagoa look like? Would they have wings and a tail? Did they hatch from eggs?
Aside from the legend of the Goblin King who was said to have married a Human princess, Nel had never heard of a Demihuman having kids with anything other than their own species. At the sa ti, there was also Queen Oriculus of the Draconic Kingdom who had the blood of Dragons in her veins and could wield Draconic magic.
She glanced over at Da Verilyn, eyeing her beautiful figure set aglow by the morning light. If Dragons could have children with Humans, then maybe the Human princess in the legend of the Goblin King was actually a Dragon in Human form. The Goblin King rode a Dragon…
Nel shook the thought away. If she kept on along those lines, she would start sounding like those crazy people who theorised that Sorcerers and Bards derived their powers from Draconic ancestry.
Ahead of the caravan, the Ranger screening the way ahead fell back towards them, trading places with another Ranger in their escort. She rubbed her eyes wearily as she settled in beside the Cleric.
“Good work,” the Cleric said. “Nothing strange?”
“Nope,” the Ranger replied, “just people things and the sun in my eyes.”
The Platinum-rank Cleric turned his gaze up towards the snow-capped range to the south.
“What about up there?”
The Ranger followed his look.
“Nothing’s changed,” he said. “An air patrol crossed over us a few tis, but there’s been nothing but the birds elsewise. Army’s still not making their move.”
The two Adventurers looked pointedly at Da Verilyn.
“I’m still doing regular work if that’s what you’re asking.”
At her words, the Cleric and the Ranger seed to relax.
“You did the Scrags and the Crabs yesterday, didn’t ya?” The Ranger asked in conversational tones.
“I did,” Da Verilyn nodded. “I have to wonder why the commission for the Monstrous Crabs was left alone for so long, though. I hadn’t fought any before now, but I’m not sure if it rited the difficulty rating.”
“If it was one or two,” the Ranger said. “The Army would’ve been enough to take care of it. That colony in the cliffs was just bad news.”
“A Mithril team tried early on when the job was first posted,” the Cleric shook his head sadly. “They never returned. Probably didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.”
Nel wondered if so of their new inventory was from that Mithril team. Fendros leaned forward.
“How co the army didn’t take care of them?” She asked, “They’re just crabs, right? The Wizards could just fly overhead and cast spells on them.”
“People might think that,” the Ranger said, “but it ain’t so easy. That right, officer?”
“If the Army didn’t deal with them,” Nel answered, “then it must have been because the conditions for engagent were poor. What was this colony like?”
“It’s a bunch of caves along the cliffs west of Nixhaven,” the Ranger said. “Completely subrged until low tide. If anything cos by that the crabs can’t reach, they just go into their hidey holes. They’re filled with water so area of effect spells go off when they hit the surface.”
“That does sound annoying,” Nel said. “Regulations restrict patrols from venturing too deeply into caves, never mind flooded ones. And never mind attacking them, trying to identify targets from the air can be pretty hard.”
It was sothing she quickly learned as a mber of the Imperial Air Service. Having a bird’s-eye view ant you could see far, but it didn’t an you could see everything. Even with a tiny bit of cover or camouflage, Human eyes could easily miss those who weren’t even trying to hide. Every patrol flight had Dragoons to compensate for this, as they could telepathically communicate with their bonded mounts and take advantage of their exceptional senses.
“Sea jobs are the worst,” the Ranger grimaced. “You’re like a fish out of water out there. You go on a boat and your boat gets destroyed. You fly and everything goes underwater. If you try fighting underwater, everything does everything better than you. A lot of stuff doesn't work like you’re used to.”
“New teams that co in from elsewhere always learn the hard way,” the Cleric added. “It’s part of the problem with not having Adventurers raised in the area from Copper. Mithril Rank is sothing to be rightfully proud of, but people co in with too much confidence. They’ll see jobs like that and underestimate how different it is from working on dry land.”
“That commission was rated for Orichalcum, though?”
“It was Mithril back when that team took it,” the Ranger said. “That was a year ago and the number of Crabs went up. With how those newly-arrived Adventurers were, I actually wonder if it was the crabs on their own that got ‘em.”
“You an just fighting normally on land?”
“Yeah. Those things are harder to fight than they look. From a distance, they look and act like regular crabs. If soone gets close alone, it’s over. They co at you really fast – faster than Gold Rank Adventurers can normally run. Then they grab you up in one of those big claws of theirs and…”
The Ranger made a snipping gesture with his fingers. Fendros, Ida and Elise made squeamish noises.
“You can get caught off guard too. They can be over twice as large as a man, but they can fit in the strangest places. You can just be walking over the shore and a claw cos out of a crack you never noticed and takes your foot off. Or they’re sitting under the sand or pop out of the water nearby. If there’s a lot of ‘em, it gets plain ssy. One of them grabs you then three more grab you too and they all start ripping you apart trying to get a piece for themselves.”
“How…how did you fight those monsters?” Elise asked, “Wasn’t the job for a colony of them?”
“There were about three dozen larger than a Human,” Da Verilyn said. “Hundreds of smaller ones. I just killed them as they ca.”
“Didn’t they try to grab you? How did you deal with that?”
“Just dodge,” Da Verilyn shrugged. “Or break their claws when they reach for you.”
The two Adventurers shook their heads with helpless smiles.
“Heroes are just sothing else,” the Cleric said. “You fight unard too, right?”
“She’s fast, as well,” the Ranger added. “She knocked out those two jobs in a few hours. Would probably take normal Orichalcum teams weeks to clean out those caves.”
“I always thought Dancers only worked as entertainers,” the Cleric said. “I never knew they could be so powerful in combat. Even the regular Bards I know are only about as tough as Rogues. One good smack from a Troll or an Ogre and they co looking for healing, but here you are taking down entire lairs of Sea Trolls on your own.”
That’s because she’s cheating…
Humans were weak and didn’t have powerful natural weapons, armour or any other pronounced physical attributes like high strength, toughness or agility. Dancers weren’t like Monks who used Ki to strengthen their bodies. Da Verilyn’s humanoid forms appeared to retain her draconic strengths so maybe it was common for Dancers of races with strong physical advantages to engage in a similar form of combat. For Humans, however, it seed next to impossible.
The Imperial Army had Bards sprinkled across their divisions, but, as the Cleric ntioned, they couldn’t last long on the front lines. Most of them perford support roles in the camps, helping with the recovery of the wounded and boosting morale. Bards could, of course, beco strong, but strong people were rare in general. In the Empire, Bards were few and mostly worked in civilian vocations. The last strong Bard who served in the Imperial Army was Duchess Gushmond who retired around two generations ago.
Their conversation drifted from Da Verilyn’s work to the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Adventurer Guild. Having heard it all before, Nel turned to talk to Fendros and the others.
“Are you doing okay, Ida?” Nel asked.
“I’m fine now. A bit tired, but fine. The work that she wants to do at the rchant stand won’t be a problem, either. It’s better than…better than being sold to Karnassus.”
Being sold to Karnassus could an several things. One could sell slaves as livestock to be slaughtered as food, though that was unlikely given she was being sold to shore up her family’s dwindling finances and at cost as much as, well, at. If they were lucky, noblewon being sold as slaves might be purchased to serve as clerks or overseers. It was more likely that they would be purchased for an establishnt in a pleasure district due to the unique beauty that ca with being a Noble. If they were purchased for their skills by a Human, then they would still be used for their master’s pleasure in addition to everything else.
Unlike the Baharuth Empire, slaves in Karnassus had no rights to speak of and were completely at the rcy of their masters. This being the case, slaves were more expensive – especially if they were educated, young noblewon who could cast magic. The high price she would command was probably the reason why Ida had been sold to rchants from Karnassus in the first place.
The Empire was supposed to apply legal rights to any citizens sold as slaves within its borders. With the attainted, however, everyone just looked the other way. Even young children could be taken away in broad daylight.
It might be a long ti before Ida was truly ‘fine’. Working together to create a new ‘normal’ was probably the best they could do for her.
After several minutes of relaxed discussion over how they would be helping out with Zu Chiru’s stand, a slight sigh from Da Verilyn drew Nel’s attention. She grew curious upon seeing her new liege with an unfamiliar look on her face. A mix of anxiety, anticipation, and sothing like timid resolve. It was unlike the powerful Frost Dragon that she had co to know in the past few weeks.
Nel could only think of one thing that might be the cause. She looked up towards the ridge of icy peaks to the north. Neither seeing nor otherwise sensing anything new, she turned her gaze back to Da Verilyn, leaning towards her to speak in low tones.
“Is sothing going on?”
“She’s coming,” Da Verilyn replied.
“Who is?”
Nel glanced nervously at the sky. Da Verilyn smiled slightly.
“Not her,” she said. “My Liege. Lady Zahradnik is making her way down Hochislein. She will be at the imperial border shortly.”
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