Chapter 18 : The Undercover Ones

A dark, dark room somewhere in the Andras Empire.

In that dreary place, lit only by a few candles, a group of hooded figures in long, black robes that dragged down to the ground.

Among them was the wizard who had led Bryden, Celine, and the Imperial soldiers to the caverns of Mount Presia’s mid-levels.

As the wizard reported on the events of Mount Presia, someone spoke up.

‘We did all that preparation, trusting in your warping, and then you bungle it so spectacularly, Bastol, the tinnitus of the warped.’

‘Don’t you dare. My distortion was perfect, and it was impossible for anyone in the world to discover the entrance to that cave. With one exception…’

The man called Bastol gritted his teeth.

‘The goddess Lunia.’

Everyone fell silent for a moment at that.

‘The goddess… or her apostle… can see through my distortions, there is no other possibility.’

‘The goddess has fallen, bound to the ground, her light lost, and she can only flail about. Bound in strength and power, she can no longer interfere in this world, and this time, even the crusaders who are supposed to receive her power are vacant.’

‘Yes, that’s exactly right.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The goddess’s light is missing from the crusader. It was our plan to build a suitable puppet, to make it believe it was following the Goddess’s will, to make it do our bidding, but the Goddess, who had been constantly resisting, stopped resisting some time ago, and is now merely silently bound, and at the same time her light has disappeared. If the reason for the disappearance of her light is that she has projected all of her power outward, that would explain everything that has happened.’

‘You’re talking about the sword?’

Bastol nodded.

‘The goddess who held the light didn’t have the power to protect it, so we could use that power in any direction we wanted, whenever we wanted. But if she gave up what little power she had left to resist it and let it drain outward, that would explain why the sword didn’t contain any light. And…’

Bastol turned to Gerhan, who was at least four heads taller than him.

‘I hear, Dantalion, that your plans have also been thrown off course by unforeseen circumstances.’

The man with the sharp teeth of a beast let out a growl.

‘Some bastard destroyed my nearly finished experimental spell creature. It may have been through the medium of a bunch of goblins, but the sacrifices were in the thousands, and the spell was of my own design. It should not have been so easily destroyed.

When no blood and flesh was being offered there after all this time, I went to check on it, and it was completely destroyed, and if I ever find out who it was, I’ll rip its limbs from its body and chew it to the bone.’

At the words of the giant called Dantalion, Bastol turned back to the others.

‘Dantalion’s spell and the creatures it spawned have been destroyed, and my warp has been forewarned. My hypothesis is this. The goddess, instead of giving up her resistance to break her bonds, has taken her power outside of herself, and someone is sabotaging us by becoming her apostle under our noses.’

There was a collective groan of displeasure from everyone in the room as Bastol stated his theory.

The man who had first accused Bastol of screwing things up spoke up, his voice hushed.

‘Damn… It was weird enough when the sword wasn’t imbued with light, but now this damned goddess bitch is pulling out all the stops. Any clues as to the true apostle of the goddess?’

‘None yet. We can only follow the trail from where Dantalion’s ritual site was destroyed.’

‘We still need to maintain the public perception that the Imperial Crusaders are the apostles of the Goddess Lunia. We should have released the gargoyles and let the Crusaders destroy them… why else would we have preserved them in stone!’

‘You’re the one who said that we should awaken them just in time for the crusaders’ arrival, so that they can’t move properly and make the crusaders look more powerful!’

Release a sufficient number of gargoyles on the slopes of Mount Presia to cause rumours to spread across the continent.

A much larger number of gargoyles are preserved in the dungeon in the form of stone statues, and the entrance to the dungeon is disguised with the magic of Bartol the Warped.

After reports of gargoyle overgrowth, crusaders are sent there, either because the crusaders themselves say they’ll do something about it or because they’ve been given orders from above.

When the crusaders arrive, the gargoyles who have just awakened are slaughtered by the crusaders while they are still outnumbered and underdeveloped, to emphasise the crusaders’ power and convince them that nothing is wrong with the world.

Repeat this a few times, and they can play God, harnessing the power of the Goddess behind the surface peace of the world as they have always done.

That was their plan, but the goddess’s manipulation of their power into the crusaders’ swords has prevented them from maintaining the surface peace and from plotting to swallow the world beneath the waters.

The hooded and robed men let out an irritated sigh, and the one who appeared to be their leader spoke up.

‘Lunia may have bluffed, but the Lightbringer is nothing more than the tenuous beneficiary of the fallen goddess’s power. He cannot stand against us. If Lunia has sent her power, she must be out there somewhere, performing crusader-like feats and spreading her reputation among the citizens.

Expand your networks as much as possible and listen to the world. If you find an alleged apostle of the Goddess, kill him immediately. If you have the slightest suspicion, eliminate them without hesitation.’

Everyone nodded at that, and the leader stroked his chin, thinking about something else for a moment before turning to Vastol.

‘That’s one thing, but rumours have already spread across the continent that the sword is not imbued with light, and if it becomes known that a so-called crusader has set out with a small army and returned empty-handed, it will only further spread the word that he is unworthy.

What can we do about it… Bastol, you’re in a position to watch him closely, and I’m sure you have an idea… what can we do about this ‘crusader’?’

‘Well, the way things have been going, I’d say we should just get rid of him, but I think there’s a better use for him.’

‘Based on what?’

‘I’ve been watching him since he graduated from the academy and joined the imperial castle to train, and I’ve noticed that this latest ‘crusader’ has an underlying sense of pride. He doesn’t realise it, but he thinks he’s very special and superior to everyone else.’

‘Haoh, if that’s the case, he should have made a fuss when we tried to recruit him as a crusader in the first place, but he didn’t.’

‘His pride radiated in a different direction: ‘I am special and superior, and it is my duty to use this ability to lead the lesser and ignorant.’’

‘There’s nothing more stupid and manipulative than someone who thinks they’re special and great.’

Everyone chuckled at their dialogue.

‘I’ll take care of our great crusader. With a little help, he’ll fight for us more than anyone else. It’s not just objects that can be distorted. Heh heh heh…’

‘Pooh!’

Almost to the lawless city of Liberta in the kingdom of Presia, I sneezed coolly, looking down the mountain towards the city.

‘You startled me, can’t you sneeze a little quieter?’

‘It came out of nowhere. Someone’s talking about me behind my back.’

‘Then you should be sneezing all the time.’

Bitch.

Despite my deliberate exaggeration of how hurt I was by their behaviour last time, Elfin still hadn’t completely abandoned her smirking attitude.

Though it was much better than the attitude I’d had to deal with the scum I truly despised.

Ravi, in the lead, rattled his rabbit ears to make sure we were clear of threats on the way down, and then gave us the all clear.

As we continued down the mountain, the musty stench of the city slowly began to assault our nostrils.

‘Ugh… what is this smell…’

Ravi gagged, his sense of smell being the most sensitive to it.

The elfin, whose hearing was just as good if not better than the Vani’s, also blushed as he picked up on the sounds coming from the city.

‘What the hell… Drunk and drugged lunatics are bad enough, but me in the street in broad daylight, having an orgy…’

Ravi blushes too, and his gaze drops downwards, so apparently the two of them are getting a first-hand account of the city’s ugliness that my hearing can’t.

‘Never mind what the humans are doing here. You both have hoods to cover your heads, don’t you? Put them on and let’s go in. Don’t let the crazies here know you’re Vani, or elves, or whatever.’

‘Ugh, this city is a bit like that… Is it going to take you long to get around here? It’s not a place I want to stay…’

‘Really… I want to get out of here as soon as possible… what with all this shit…’

Ravi grimaced in annoyance, and the elfin gave me the same look of politeness he had previously worn when looking at me.

The two of us of different races donned hoods to cover our peculiar ears, and shortly afterwards we set foot in the lawless city of Liberta.