[Fanfiction] Volume 14: The City-State Alliance
A big thank you to nobetteridea for taking the time to read my sentences and proposing his edits. He's really enhancing the overall quality of these chapters by a mile !
Chapter 2 — Decision
Part 5
His hands full of gold, a dead branch cracked under Sabaoth foot as he walked beside Halona. They were still in the forest. The Miracle Knight hummed a song — dancing on the leaves — while the lizardman walked in a straight line — as impassive as ever. I had been a while since his friend had started singing her weird melody, and he wondered what had caused such euphoria. Slowly, he turned to his friend, and asked her out of curiosity.
"What makes you so happy ?"
The girl kept humming her song while answering the question with a joyful mood.
"*mhh hhm mhh* Nothing. I just thought my special skill was gone ever since I was killed by the dark elf — but that was temporary it seems. I am still strong, and ready to kick ass !"
The lizardman looked back on the road as he could see what she meant by 'special skill'.
"It was unnecessary to use it against those pieces of trash… You're a talent holder. It's not like you will ever lose the ability to use it."
Halona wasn't listening. She was so joyful about having recovered her full strength that she didn't care about anything else.
Last time she had tried to use her Talent was during the battle with Mirkah and it had been a complete void — as if she had dreamt of ever possessing such an ability. After a few headaches wondering about what could have happened, she had finally concluded that she lost all control over it and would never be able to use it again. It was the main reason for her lack of faith in her capacity to face the Sorcerer Kingdom, and what almost caused her to slide into depression at the idea of living differently.
But now that she knew her Talent wasn't gone, she was as lively as ever.
With it, she was sure to have all the tools to face the dark elf, and perhaps she would even be able to win a duel with her. Of course, it would be difficult, not to say impossible, but what was important is that she had a chance.
Halona imagined bright scenes in her mind, thinking of all the victories she could achieve, and humming her strange melody in a joyful mood. She seemed to live in an entirely different world, toddling from left to right like a child who had found a new toy. It was then that she discerned the third member of her party appears at the corner of a tree.
"*mhh m…* — Oh, Brokk ! Where were you ?! You missed the fun part."
The dwarf had a tired face. He seemed a bit afraid of the morose ambiance of the forest, but his eyes still carried determination within them. Curious by nature, Brokk did not resist the call of the unknown and the idea of exploring new horizons offered to his sight. He had the expression of someone who had the will to unveil the secret of these dark woods, but who was still terrified of what he might find there.
...although, exploring wasn't the only thing he had been doing all this time.
"Verifying something. I'm not a fighter. It's not like I would have been of any use going with you..."
Sabaoth knew about what it returned and asked him about the verification he had mentioned.
"So — did anyone follow us ?"
Returning to his grim expression, the dwarf watched Halona with a look that carried a hint toward her implication in this investigation. She knew instantly that she made a mistake, and looked away trying to dodge the responsibility — as if she had a feeling about what Brokk would say next.
"...This is definitively the First Company."
The words cut through Halona's mood like a sharp knife. It could only be her fault if they were followed, so she could only wait for the end of Brokk's explanation with an expression of shame.
"As you predicted, they followed Halona's steps and tracked her down to the woods. They should be close by now, so we'd better be careful."
Even though she clearly knew she was guilty, Halona couldn't let it pass without speaking up, to lessen the massive blunder.
"...Y—Yo, it's okay. We can always fight them. Now that I recovered my full strength, you can count on me to kick their butts ! Imagine their faces when they will see what happened in the bandit's hideout."
Not willing to contradict the happy mood she had until mentioning her mistake, the dwarf resigned himself and turned to the lizardman for a report of what had happened in his absence.
"And so, did you learn something about these guys ? No trouble there, I hope ?"
"Not much. It was a smooth clean, and their leader revealed right away what he knew. But it is more complicated than we thought. Clavo was behind them. To me, it only means that their leader must have been manipulated from the beginning. We will get nothing out of it."
Brokk sighed as a lousy taste filled his mouth.
That man — Mayor Clavo — he was the beginning of it all. A cunning noble who had his nose everywhere at the same time, and whose goals always felt obscure to the absurd. Each time you thought having guessed something about him, it always ended up being a false trail or a trap.
From the very first day, he and Thunderbird had been enemies, suffering many encounters with the Mayor with Halona as the leader of their adventurer's group. But even after passing years of barely dodging the many attempts to get rid of them, Thunderbird still knew nothing of Clavo.
All they had accomplished, was becoming an obstacle to one of his many schemes and losing against him — again and again.
One time was when Halona tried to bring down demi-human slavery, another was when they wanted to reveal the truth about the tragedy of Biruhi, or even the time when they sought to make public the story behind the eradication of their favorite siblings' village. In the end, Clavo appeared as the central figure behind every one of those incidents, and had never allowed them to stand in his way. Their clashes always ended up with a situation that left behind a bad taste to the group — but which they could never avoid.
At the mention of the man, Brokk already felt as if he was puppetered by an invisible thread woven by this monster. An unpleasant feeling, one that made him feel like his actions weren't of his own accord.
"Brokk ? Are you alright ?"
He had probably let his thoughts take over for too long, and worried his friend with his moment of absence. The face of the lizardman made him feel a bit guilty. To apologize, he explained what he had been pondering.
"Oh — sorry. I was just thinking about Mayor Clavo... I won't hide that I'm terrified of him right now. If he was the bandit's true leader, then everything they told you is probably a fake lead, and we're walking into an elaborate trap. It's probably no mere coincidence that the first company came here in the first place."
Sabaoth rested his chin in his palm as he reflected on the words of his friends. In this sort of situation they would usually follow the wise words of the Ancient — but, as they were talking, he was with the rest of Thunderbird in the fourth City-State. Someone had to take on his duty for now. A single glance toward Halona who was scratching her belly and yawning — and he knew they couldn't count on her for this. He had no choice but to rely on his own knowledge to decide on the course of actions to follow.
"Mhh. I will think about that. We would need the insight of the old man to get a working plan — but for now, we will get things done by ourselves."
The mention of the old man suddenly piqued the interest of Halona as she straightened up and leaned forward.
"Ah ! I forgot to ask ! Where is everyone else ? I understand that you two came to find me, but wouldn't everyone be part of the party ?"
Sabaoth studied the pros and cons of briefing Halona about the situation, and he finally decided to keep it a secret.
"They're waiting for us in Korte. We decided that a smaller group was better for the search, and that's why we traveled in a group of two. There's just Nine who went alone searching for you."
Halona's forehead puckered as she laughed in embarrassment. Nine was her best friend, and she had known her ever since she was born, but it frightened her a little bit to meet her again. She was helplessly drawn towards the idea that she did something terrible and couldn't help but feel that her friend would scold her for this. 'Nine' had the tendency to over-exaggerate everything that happened to Halona — and often went to unparalleled length to make sure everything was perfect in her surroundings.
"Ah — ah ah. I see…"
Wanting to quickly forget about this, Halona swiftly turned to Brokk and watched him with nervous eyes.
Dozen of thoughts popped up in her mind, with one in particular that she had forgotten until now. It was Brokk's presence that reminded her of it — the wooden animal that the merchant had given her. A smug smile appeared on her face. She took something from the bag of gold the bandit had given her and proudly presented it to him in excitement.
"By. The. Way. Brokk ! Look at what I got !"
The dwarf turned around to get a sight on what Halona was showcasing and looked at it with curiosity. At first sight, it seemed like a wooden toy like any others, but with a closer look, he managed to get a glimpse of what she was trying to show him.
"...Wow. Is it what I think it is ?! Can I take it for a second ?"
"I was sure you'd like it, eh eh. You can come get it."
Brokk took a step forward and grabbed the trinket with both hands. He was a craftsman, so he knew instantly that it was an incredible work of art. But what got him to be interested with every fiber of his body was the magic imbued in the trinket.
"I knew it — a second tier enchantment ! How is it possible ? Who gave it to you ?! I thought wood could not hold more than the first tier or it would break. You got to tell me, I need to see how it is done !"
He was almost bouncing on the spot as he held the trinket firmly in his hands, his overwhelming excitement making Halona feel a bit embarrassed.
"I uhh... It was a merchant who gave it to me. Keep it, if it's so great, it makes me happy."
"But can't you see how amazing it is ! With this, I could develop new enchantments and create magical armor with third tier enchantments as if it were a breeze !"
This time it was Sabaoth who stopped the dwarf before he could go on with his rant.
"I don't want to interrupt anything, but it's time to get going. We are still close to the first company, remember ?"
Brokk calmed down a little bit, as he understood that his friend was right, and cautiously packed the wooden trinket in his humongous backpack. It was dangerous to remain in the same place for so long, his friend was right. Yet he couldn't help but complain that his hobby had to be interrupted so quickly.
"...That's a bit unfair, you know. I've seen you take a curious stare at that sword in your bag. You took it from the bandits, right ? I am sure you are dying to test it against an opponent just as much as I am to examine this trinket."
Sabaoth glanced at the dwarf sideways as he affirmed his pace.
"It's different. That one's cursed and would turn you into an undead in less time than it would take you to understand what's happening."
Brokk stepped backward as he stared at the sword. He didn't comprehend. The lizardman was the embodiment of cautiousness, which made it astonishing that he would take on the challenge of a cursed item and risk his life. It had to be quite the fantastic weapon.
"I—If it's so dangerous, then why are you carrying it ?…"
At the astonishment of the dwarf, Sabaoth unsheathed the sword with his right hand and started observing it. It didn't seem like he was struggling to repel the curse and even went to touch the sharpness of the blade with his other hand to show that he could easily resist it.
"That's not really it. The leader told me it was Clavo who gave him the sword, and I don't think that his men missed the presence of the curse. Plus, after a closer look, most of the bandit had similar items without being affected. Do you get where I'm going with this ?"
"Uh… So Mayor Clavo is trying to raise a happy family of undead going on by what you said. But if you're asking me, surely you must have a better idea ?"
Without any warning, Sabaoth turned himself toward the dwarf and immediately thrust the cursed sword past his head into the tree behind him. Brokk jumped three feet back from the sword, ready to fight back at this sudden aggression, before realizing that a Devil Beetle was impaled on the end of the sword.
Understanding that it was what his friend had been aiming for, and seeing a few dozens flying out of the neighboring trees, he lowered his guard and calmed himself — his eyes still twitching from the adrenaline caused by the sudden shock.
"—W—Warn me before doing that ! I almost hit you back, thinking you were that illusionist from the First Company !"
"Had no time, it was about to attack you. But now that it's done, observe."
Halona had stopped in silence and watched the two of them stare at each other in disbelief. From the worried look she gave him, Brokk decided that it wasn't worth it to start a fuss about how his friend's action could have been misinterpreted, or how he could have hurt him in defense, and instead refocused his attention on the beetle.
It had died in a split second, without any suffering.
The aquamarine blue liquid that dripped from the sword made no doubt that this one had just feasted on the mana of a poor creature — but that was about it. There was nothing else exceptional about the dead insect. A perfectly normal Devil Beetle, exceptionally dangerous, repulsing… and dead.
Confused about what his friend had tried to show him, Brokk turned to Sabaoth to get an explanation. The latter responded with a sign of his head as he held the blade firmly to keep the insect in place.
"Keep looking."
The dwarf turned his gaze on the dead beetle one more time without any high hopes of discovering anything new — then suddenly gasped.
"—It's really turning into an undead !"
Brokk observed in awe, as he witnessed the effect of the curse turn the monster into an undead within a few seconds. Giving it a thought, it should be impossible — no curse would be that fast to engrave its effect on a living being. Yet the proof lied right beneath his eyes.
The insect desperately tried to move from the sword as his unique eye had turned red, giving of the signature aura of the undead kind. It struggled with an aggressivity beyond reason, even for a non-living thing, and started ripping itself into half to free itself from the sword. The madness taking over it became clearer with every second.
To stop its advance, Sabaoth swiftly sliced the Devil Beetle in half with an iron dagger and freed it from the cursed sword — with its remains falling lifelessly to the ground.
Without an ounce of emotion on his face, he quickly packed away the two weapons after cleaning them of the blue liquid and turned to Brokk once again, whose shoulders were hunched from the frightening spectacle.
"I don't know what you make of it, but to me it's clear: it's an experiment to see how efficient it would be to turn the City-States into an undead country. Clavo must have betrayed the Alliance to work for the Sorcerer Kingdom."
Brokk panicked as he acknowledged the lizardman's theory as if there could be no other reason to justify the presence of this cursed sword in the hand of these bandits.
It was a reasonable theory — terrifying to consider — but realistic.
When he was alone, Mayor Clavo was already a man dangerous enough to be taken most seriously by every neighboring country as a noble of exceptional ingenuity and resourcefulness. To think that he would join forces with the Sorcerer Kingdom. It was pure madness. The Alliance in its entirety would have enough trouble dealing with him alone if he turned against the City-States…
"Im—Impossible… Y—You mean like this princess in the Re-Estize Kingdom, who joined the undead ? But, if it's true, the citizens could all be turned into undead without the Sorcerer King doing anything ! They just have to hand out those swords to the people."
"...It's just a hypothesis. Only time will tell us if I was right."
Brokk hands trembled from the fear of this potential future. They had never won against Clavo, but would they be able to beat him this time around ? If they fought the way they did during the previous encounters, their chance of victory was slim. Worse — their advantage of power was annihilated, if Clavo could make use the Death Knight lent by the Sorcerer Kingdom. They would definitely lose if they had to fight him.
Their only chance of victory would be to count on Halona's intuition and occasional ingenuity.
His gaze turned to her with the hope of seeing the usual determination and enthusiastic mood in her eyes. But, along with the fact she had not talked for a while, Halona seemed surprised.
Brokk blinked in confusion. If she, who always knew what to do in any situation and always looked ahead, was shocked — what hope remained ?
"…Guys. I wasn't sure in the beginning, but the magic I had cast on the bandits just disappeared."
Even though the tension fell, now that they realized her surprise came from something else entirely, Brokk didn't know if he should be relieved or afraid of her affirmation. Before he could have the time to ponder anything further, Sabaoth already took the lead.
"The First Company... they are faster than we thought. We should go."
It was no use to think of what would happen from now on… As per usual, they would follow Halona, and everything would play out just fine.
Brokk let out a sigh of exhaustion before replying weakly.
"...Yeah. Let's quickly get to Troya."