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Undying Empire: B3 — 30. Mission Start
🕑 Added 2022-04-02 06:49:19 +0000 UTCPoV:
1. Virgil (Leader of the Argent Dawn; Human religious follower of Elinor)
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Gut tightening as they approached the gates of Mirelitel—the City-State’s capital—Virgil scanned the dozens of on-site personnel, checking goods or inspecting those that wished to enter the walled populace.
He had no clue what Captain Castella looked like, so he couldn’t be sure if she was among them; then again, it wasn’t as if they’d sent a letter ahead announcing they’d be coming. In addition to having Imiraka’s escort, he wondered how they’d be received until movement from the walls above caught his attention.
All motion stopped as a figure jumped from the top of the battlement to land in the middle of the road, causing gasps and mutters to spread. A female Nalvean—judging by her slimmer frame and thick tail—straightened, her bright red armor glimmering in the orange sunlight, causing the guards and citizens nearby to swiftly salute.
They were still too far to hear what was passed between them, but the moment she appeared, a shiver ran through Maliva’si as he whispered, “W-Why is Castella, Lieutenant of the Royal Guard of Shi’Shuka wearing Mirelitel military colors and officer armor?”
His anxiety rose as Gloria and Elluinara gave him a worried look from inside the cart, and Virgil took a calming breath. After a second, he concluded it would be good to hear how their captain was perceived by Imiraka’s ranking soldiers since the City-State bordered the Nalvean capital, figuring they might know each other.
“Hmm… What can you tell me about her?”
Maliva’si shifted in his seat as they slowly moved up the long line; the red-suited Nalvean drew everyone’s attention while waiting by the gate for them to arrive, halberd in her right hand while glaring right at them.
“Right… Of course, you wouldn’t understand the significance of that,” he muttered, forcing a smile. “Ranks are distributed differently in the Capital as to the positions we have discussed in the City-States… Head Captain of the Royal Guard is above City-State generals, and those underneath him are personally selected among the most outstanding soldiers in the Empire.
“Lieutenant Castella hails from the powerful Jo’kroma City-States to the southwest of the Empire and could easily apply for the rank of Colonel in any of the territories. She is a powerful close-range combatant and has been recognized in many City-State melee tournaments.
“If she were looking to move away from Shi’Shuka, we would have certainly heard of it, and that Mirelitel could—no, it’s impossible for Mirelitel to compensate or pull such a renowned figure… Not a single Nalvean in this State could touch Castella’s reputation—her only downside being speech.”
Eh-heh, speech, huh? I’m pretty sure the Empress fixes that, too.
“You don’t say…” Virgil muttered, a strained grin lifting his cheeks. “I wasn’t aware our Captain was so celebrated and accomplished in your nation.”
It took a moment for Maliva’si to connect what he’d just said. “Captain… Castella is…”
Gloria cleared her throat and scooted a bit forward on the bench to peer out at the waiting woman, clearly not happy with their entrance. “Umm… So, that’s our boss, huh? Mmh… she certainly has a dominating presence over everyone else. Ellu, do you know how she came to join the Empire?”
“E-Empire, as in…” Maliva’si’s scaled face faded a tad upon realizing the implication. “Castella was killed, and… and brought back to serve as an officer… in your army?”
Elluinara’s hands tightened in her lap, tail twitching a little while recounting the story. “Yes, well… When Empress Elinor first arrived, there were… many were not convinced of her powers to resurrect the dead, so… she offered to showcase them.”
“I can understand that, but when was Lieutenant Castella slain in combat?”
The woman slowly shook her head. “No, no… Empress Elinor offered to allow one of the High Ruler’s strongest soldiers to test her powers.”
“The ruler of your nation entered a trial by combat… herself, and on the opening of introducing herself to the High Ruler?”
“Yeah, eh-haha,” Gloria rubbed the back of her neck. “Empress Elinor is pretty… intense.”
Elluinara shivered, rubbing her shoulders. “Intense… When Castella was called to be her opponent, the moment the contest started, she was… immediately pulled apart… ripped to shreds without a single hint of struggle from the Empress… only to be revived several seconds later—loyal to her. It was the most bone-chilling thing I’ve ever witnessed.”
The man’s brain seemed to come to a halt. “So… So… Castella and Mirelitel…”
“Ah,” Virgil jumped in, “that is our Empress’ doing; there were… quite a few incidents occurred in the Empire’s Capital that brought Stateswoman Lukuroha and her together. Now, we’ve been called to support her in whatever our Captain requires.”
“I see…”
Maliva’si’s vision drifted from him to Elluinara before settling on the waiting figure of Castella; it was nice to see him speechless for once and realize that Mirelitel had a head start on the relations game that could force them to be far more respectful to the small western City-State.
He thought we were the first contact Mirelitel had with the Empire; now, he’ll know how late he is to the party and be forced to make more favorable deals since they don’t own the riverway. The Empress has the leveraging power, and they’re behind in the trade game… not that we’re here for trade deals, but they don’t know that.
Feeling a little better at getting a bit of a leg up on the Imiraka officer, Virgil hopped down from the carriage with Gloria, Elluinara, and Maliva’si as they drew near the front of the line.
Castella strode forward with two of the wall guards to meet them. “Virgil, General Voukey informed me that you would be arriving in the coming days, yet… I was not told you would be accompanied by an Imiraka cavalry escort.”
“Ahem, Captain Castella, allow me to introduce myself… I am—”
“I know who you are, Lieutenant Maliva’si,” Castella interjected. “I do not see the reason why Stateswoman Lukuroha and I would have our evening report meeting interrupted by Border Runners… informing us that Imiraka cavalry would be pushing into Mirelitel territory with the guise of escorting my subordinates. Why are you here?”
Virgil wanted to flinch at the harsh tone and accusation, and now knowing it had caused problems all the way up to the Head of State didn’t help.
“M-My apologize, Captain Castella—we certainly did not want to bring a fright to Stateswoman Lukuroha—”
“Did I say she was frightened? You presume too much, Maliva’si. It would be best to remember you are not in Imiraka but Mirelitel—a border state that protects your less than adequately defended territory—and by pulling stunts like this, you are drawing away forces that could otherwise be used in keeping your nation secure.”
“I… understand.”
“If you do, take your cavalry and return to the people you are supposed to be safeguarding instead of prancing around in another state’s territory.”
Jaw tight and looking utterly cowed by the imposing woman in front of him, Maliva’si saluted her and walked away, motioning to his nervous men to follow.
Virgil sat in silence as the wagons and mounted soldiers turned around, dropping off their party and leaving to mutters and scorn by the Mirelitel citizens they passed in line. He could see why he’d be so overwhelmed.
Castella appeared to be the type of woman that didn’t take shit and was leagues above rank; to him, it was probably no different than getting a tongue-lashing from a superior, and he was lucky there wouldn’t be punishment involved, yet given what he now had to go back and report, there very well might be.
Accepting the reins of his horse from an oblivious Ectria, he waited by the road with Castella as their captain’s glowing, deep ruby irises followed the cavalry’s sullen exit, and after it was clear the group was departing on the road that led out of the territory, she turned to look at him.
Some nearby guards saved him from a verbal lashing as they grinned and laughed.
“That was amazing, Captain Castella!”
“Yeah! I’ve never seen those leaf-eatin’ Imiraka so timid and scared!”
“They’ll be lickin’ their wounds the entire trip back!”
Castella sighed, shifting her gaze from him to the border patrol that had joined them, rising up to join them. “Be vigilant, Trisina, Comba… And have these soldiers watch them on their return to their post; an embarrassed soldier can do stupid things.”
““Ma’am!””
Scratching the back of her neck, she motioned for Virgil to follow her into the city. “Come on… the Stateswoman still needs me.”
Falling in line behind the Nalvean as they entered the city, he glanced around at the state of the riverside city; they entered through the East Gates into the East Living District.
“I’m sorry for the trouble, Captain Castella; I didn’t realize his generosity in offering us a ride was more politically based until we came to the border. I’ll do better trying to recognize how others might use us to try and get closer to the Empress and Empire.”
Ectria blinked. “Oh, is that what they were doing? I wasn’t aware that the Nalveans fought within their own nation; such inner conflicts are swiftly stomped out by our Chiefs.”
“Haaa… It’s a complicated system,” Elluinara whispered, “and I should have been more forceful—I have experience in this regard and should have better articulated it to Lieutenant Virgil.”
“It is in the past,” Castella muttered. “Pay close attention to your surroundings, so you do not get lost when I am not with you; you can explore while I finish meeting with the Stateswoman.”
Vision falling to look at him, Virgil felt a shiver run through his spine; he hadn’t felt intimidated by any Nalvean until now.
Nalveans were reasonably tall, averaging around 230cm—or so far as he’d been able to gauge—yet with the armored and scaled woman walking beside him, Virgil could tell she was on an entirely different level than any of the other Nalveans he’d met, including Elluinara.
He promptly nodded, speaking lowly upon reaching a point where they wouldn’t be overheard. “We understand there is another purpose why we are here, but the official reason is to build relations with the population—heh, which we didn’t make a good first impression—and for that… could you explain to us a bit more about the City-State and its needs so we know what taboos or areas we can focus on?”
“Hmm… It would be good to go over the basics as we travel. First, you will not be exploring alone; you will be escorting a Nalvean boy named Aluix as he goes about his daily tasks and learning more about the City-State from him.”
“Understood.”
Proceeding to the respectable keep—by human standards—located in the Lower City District, Castella briefed them on Mirelitel.
Overall, the population was mainly centralized around the large riverway that didn’t provide much but enough to keep things in order. For the number of Nalveans that lived in the lands, it was difficult to harvest enough fish to make it a staple household item.
Elluinara mentioned the fish farms the Thélméthra Queen had crafted near Nethermore that were teeming with life and food for its rising population, considering they had been built to support the spider drones’ ravenous appetite.
It hadn’t been well developed among the Nalveans, and she believed they could start such a project in Mirelitel to expand its possible exports of the exotic fish from the Drék'uléph Republic, which brightened Castella’s mood.
Gloria jumped into the conversation, asking about the sewage system, which seemed to be archaic compared to Shi’Shuka’s Seaweaver fueled network. It was certainly something they could bring back to High Ruler Edmon to possibly point them in the right direction.
The City-State didn’t have a substantial Seaweaver population since most born with the gift were recruited by other States or the Capital. It was an issue Lukuroha had been trying to navigate, yet had only taken her position as Stateswoman only a few years prior, hadn’t the tightest hold over the hearts of her people to make a drastic change.
Virgil figured that was something they could help with, and getting to know the individuals in each industry would certainly help. It was possible that High Lady Tiffany could make a trip at some point, or someone within her area of expertise, to judge what products could be grown in the problematic soil.
Triana pointed out it would be better to deal with the heart of the problem—rodents that scavenged everything besides the pepper—and if they somehow found out how to make the things profitable to hunt, they could wipe them out.
Roberto was all for that idea, along with the young Ri’bot; the newly awakened Hunter in him was extremely interested in discovering new trapping methods.
Gloria found an interest in wanting to see how she could cook them, but apparently, the issue came with a poisonous defensive mechanism; if killed, the meat would be spoiled, which Roberto said just meant they needed to be creative in how they handled the creature. Plus, poison could be cultivated for other purposes—use everything!
Castella said they could try whatever they wanted; she could test it out to see if it was poisonous since, well, it wouldn’t kill her, and she could determine if it was poisoned, to Gloria’s delight.
The big things to note were the pepper fields to the east, stables to the north with the cavalry training grounds, and the pastures that had a new project the Stateswoman had started to the west.
Nuvoma, imported from the Sea Grass Plains of the Everglade City-State, were being bred to hopefully support the rather large amount of food their army of War Torlim required, which was a considerable strain on the state’s produce.
Mirelitel rivaled some of the Great City-States, such as Everglade, in their number of Torlim Calvary, yet didn’t have the resources to continually sustain them, which was slowly starving their population. Still, they needed the numbers to show they were worthy of receiving other benefits that came from a high-risk border state, which included reduced taxes to the Capital and Imiraka’s obscene rates of goods passing through their lands.
After being here for a time, Castella concluded that Imiraka had been trying to put pressure on Mirelitel over the past century to eventually absorb it by forcing the High-Ruler’s hand in dissolving the ‘failed’ City-State for the good of the poor people, claiming mismanagement.
It was a slow and dirty tactic that left a bad taste in all of their mouths when thinking about how the Imiraka Lieutenant they’d traveled with was taking part in that horrifying plot.
The more they learned about Imiraka, the more they wanted nothing to do with the City-State and hated how good of a position it was in to take advantage of anything coming into the Nalvean Empire by the Wandering River.
There was plenty for them to do, but for today, they would be learning the culture and area of Mirelitel.
Glancing around at their surroundings, Virgil took note of the various places they walked, Castella pointing out different directions of note, and there appeared to be walls that blocked off each district and required the use of a gate, proving it was a military-based city.
If he’d been back on Earth, he would have thought it was enormous, yet coming from Nethermore… When your own capital was roughly around 25 by 32 kilometers—14,500 square kilometers when counting all 30 floors and not including building levels, such as the Tower or Palace—nothing compared.
In comparison, it didn’t take more than an hour on a casual walk to make it through the Eastern Residential District, Docks, and Lower City gates to reach the Keep.
Most commerce was done in the Lower City, yet more exotic materials could be found in the Weird District, which piqued more than a few ears in their party, and more specialized goods could be purchased in the Merchant Quarters at the North Gates.
The Westside was the slums, which was ironically where the island prison was located; the area had improved in recent years with the Stateswoman’s efforts but was still a place you didn’t want to go after dark—not that Virgil or his party were extremely concerned—they did have a Xaria and powerful Seaweaver in their party.
Plus, they were far more than the weak humans with the Empress’ grace, even if they had a long ways to go to reach even the Ri’bot’s level in their group; they were practicing every moment they had to bridge that gap and Ectria was strict in their training.
Settlements were outside of the city, mainly purposed for collecting and harvesting the pepper farms, and to the southeast were the fishing slums for those that couldn’t afford to live inside the walls.
Overall, it seemed to be an interesting place to explore, and upon reaching the Central Keep, they stopped inside the walls to meet the excited boy they’d be escorting and the Stateswoman.
Virgil followed Castella’s example in their salute as the tall woman eyed them; she was on the taller side of the females of their race, at least five centimeters over Castella at around 240 centimeters.
“The Argent Dawn… I’ve heard a little about you… Hmm. Humans certainly do come in all shapes and sizes,” she whispered, vision drifting between Gloria and Triana. “I did not expect your Empress to be so small compared to the other females of your race.”
Castella forced a smile. “Eh-heh, yes, Empress Elinor is of shorter stature than Gloria and Triana.”
Gloria’s brow pulled in. “True, but… she isn’t really that small—more average when it comes to women—I’m taller than most, and Triana…”
“Haha—I’m in a league of my own!” she grinned.
“Is that so… Hmm. I look forward to meeting more of the Empress’ race when I eventually visit Nethermore; many of my advisors wonder how dissimilar that colossal city will look under new rule.”
Virgil breathed in a deep breath. “Haaa… exhausting to walk, if I’m being honest, Stateswoman. Going at a swift pace, it took us a bit over five hours to make it out, and that was a straight shot and the quickest route.”
A slight jerk of the Head of State’s tail caught his eye, her thumb and index finger rubbing together. “That does seem… incredible. In any case, are you still capable of joining me, Captain Castella?”
“I am! Lieutenant Virgil has been briefed on his assignment to escort Aluix through his tasks.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to the fidgeting Nalvean boy, roughly the size of a teenage human. “Umm, so I can go see my big sister?”
“Yes… Be careful.”
“Yup! I’ve walked the slums a ton of times!”
“Things are different now, Aluix.”
“I know! I just hate how I can’t go anywhere anymore…”
Smiling at the boy’s slight annoyance, the Head of State turned back to the Keep. “Don’t be too long.”
“I just want to get her a present because it’s her Mourning Day.”
“I understand.”
A little confused at the implications, Virgil caught Castella’s shimmering ruby eyes before she walked after Lukuroha. Ah… So, this boy is the reason why we’re here.
Aluix’s shining eyes moved between them, lingering on Gloria’s shining armor. “So… I’ve heard you guys are Empress Elinor’s special squad or something?”
“Something like that,” Virgil grinned. “So, why don’t you show us the way and tell us a bit about yourself?”
“Yeah, let’s get out of this stuffy Keep—I used to love it here,” he muttered, walking between them to take the lead out of the gates. “It was so big, and you can see so much of the city from the walls—like you’re in the center of the world!”
“Up there?” Triana asked, pointing at the tall towers, five in all, surrounding the Keep.
“Mhm. Mirelitel is the biggest city in the City-State, and the Keep is like a heart made of stone… Cool image, huh?”
“It is kind of cool,” Tadeo muttered, the Ri’bot flanking them and scanning the alleys for danger. “You’ve lived here your whole life?”
“Yeah, but when I went to Shi’Shuka… Wow… It’s so huge, and now Mirelitel looks a bit… Well, it looks small.”
Virgil smirked, wondering if the young toad would ever get to see Nethermore; if he really was essential to their Empress, he could see it.
“What about this big sister of yours?” Gloria asked, checking her braid as the wind cut through the wide streets. “What is this Mourning Day?”
“You don’t know what Mourning Day is?” Aluix asked in shock.
They all shook their heads before Elluinara answered.
“It is a day one recalls all of the sacrifices our past family members have made to give us what we currently have… A tradition lost in many parts of the Empire yet seems to be practiced in Mirelitel.”
“Yeah, and Simiti’ran is not really my big sister—she raised me when I was abandoned by my parents—it’s because of her that I got to serve under the Stateswoman!”
Sosimo rubbed his chin and shifted his quiver of bolts on his back. “Humm… she lives in the slums, though?”
Tadeo nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”
“Well…” Aluix’s expression fell a tad. “Simiti’ran does make an okay living by working in the pepper fields, but she refuses to leave her family home… All of her family died from accidents over the years, so she’s the only one left, and she never really found anyone, so…”
“She adopted you?” Gloria asked, features softening. “That was noble of her.”
“I guess… I always thought I was a burden… She wasn’t too healthy when I was a child—oh, it was during the pepper famine—it got bad for a while.”
The conversation died down for a bit, and they moved through the Lower City to the West Docks; it looked like a lower-income area. Medium-sized barges and merchant vessels could be seen on the grungy river, yet Virgil could see a slight green shimmer in the brownish water with the fading sun.
“Did the river always look like that?”
“Mmh… Oh, we need to go to the dock over there to see Drisma—he’s got the present I ordered three months ago—hehe, all the way from Masrika City-State. It was pretty expensive, but I wanted to get her something nice—Stateswoman Lukuroha helped me pick it out in the catalog!”
“Oh, exciting! I’m sure she will love it.” Elluinara caught their confused expression and smiled down at the proud boy, happy he could do something for the woman that raised him. “Giving a gift to someone on their Day of Mourning is a way to show them light can come even during times of darkness… I’m sure there were deeper meanings to it, lost to the past, but it is how we think of it today.”
“Yeah… You know, she was my light, so I want to give her something to feel that way, too,” he muttered with a slightly embarrassed blush.
“Cute!” Triana cooed. “I can’t wait to see it.”
Gloria giggled as she caught the boy eyeing her armor again. “Do you like it?”
“It’s just… so shiny,” he mumbled in awe. “How do you get it to gleam so much? I polish Stateswoman Lukuroha’s armor so much, but it never has a glossy look like that.”
“Eh-heh, it’s actually something that kind of… naturally happens with this kind of metal—it’s self-cleaning.”
“Woah… Okay, maybe I don’t want something like that… because then I couldn’t clean her armor.”
They burst into laughter, Ectria moving close to them as they walked onto the dock to a rather large merchant ship. Aluix proceeded to talk to some of the men ahead of them, Gloria, Elluinara, and Triana joining him.
“For how long?” Virgil asked, scanning the docks with a natural smile to not linger on the two red-scaled Nalveans pretending to look at some merchant’s wears near the pier.
The Xaria’s voice was low. “Since we left the Keep.”
“Hmm… Ina’ko…”
“Yes?” the small Yaltha’ma questioned, big ears twitching as she looked down at him from his horse. “Ina’ko is listening.”
“Can you slip into the crowd and follow them using the stealth skills you’ve gained; find out who they’re working for and where they go after this.”
“Ina’ko will spy on the Red-Scales!”
Jumping off the horse, she flipped underneath the docks to enter the shadows, vanishing from sight.
Koma jumped four meters to land beside them, big eyes bright with anticipation. “What if they attack us when we go to these slums? Do we kill them?”
“Shhh,” Virgil whispered, shaking his head. “No, we need answers. We’re new to the city and its criminal underbelly; we’ll have Ina’ko sniff around, and seeing how many of us there are guarding Aluix, they won’t make a move. They’re scouting, which is precisely what we should be doing.”
He glanced over the docks and all its ships, goods, and Nalveans; the race emphasized silk quality and shades, which showed the differences in classes. “Ectria, Tadeo, Koma, do you three think you could skulk around at night using your cloaking and intelligence skills to find where the criminals like to gather?”
Tadeo’s yellow eyes flashed, his unique vision drifting around the area to make a note of specific individuals; Virgil guessed the boy had been following the pair the entire time. “I thought you’d never ask. Should I stop crimes if I find them?”
“If you can do it on the low. Let them get away so we can draw a line between the various groups and what crimes they specialize in. If we’re going to protect Aluix, we’ll need to grasp the playing field. Do you think you can find some time to sleep during the mornings and join us for evening jobs?”
“Can do, Boss.”
“Ectria?”
“Hmm… Koma and I could focus on the docks since we can utilize the river.”
“I’m good with that,” Tadeo muttered, face hidden behind his mask as he looked to the north. “Nobles and merchants tend to have the money to finance stuff… I can start there.”
“Sounds good. This Weird District could also prove a wealth of information; I’ll have Ina’ko focus on that after her current mission.”
Their attention snapped to Elluinara as she gasped, watching the merchant they talked to several meters away produce a white delicate silk sash that had a glimmer. “Esmi-Silk from Masrika? It’s generally only used for special balls or meeting Heads of State; how did you… afford something like this?”
Puffing up his chest, Aluix grinned. “I’ve worked two years to get it! One noble lady from there stopped by a while ago, and she said she loved how it looked, so I’ve been looking for a merchant that could get it!”
“Hehe, right you were to come to be, Aluix,” the merchant boasted. “I was able to get it at a reasonable price, too. The boy does a lot of physical labor for me every time I stop by Mirelitel and is always careful with the merchandise; not a single incident in four years. That means a lot to a merchant like me—especially considering the products I carry—and not a single theft.”
“I’d never steal from you, Boaty! You pay way better than any of the other stuffy merchants!”
Impressed that the boy seemed to have so many side jobs, Virgil stepped away from the spies to let them work out the details themselves. “I’m glad to hear that! So, this is pretty fancy stuff?”
Gloria examined it closely, watching the flake-like sparkles shimmer in the twilight. “It looks pretty… I think it would go nicely on a Sunday dress.”
“Not my style,” Triana dismissively waved and gestured to her fur bikini. “Now, if there’s some crazy monster out there I can slay to make me some awesome pelt armor—that’s my thing! Speaking of that… we need to find a tanner!”
“Freaking barbarian woman,” Gloria mumbled with a smirk.
Boaty chuckled at the strange conversation. “I’d say this is very out of reach for most lads, had he not been such a hard worker, but… heh, I’d think you’d be more interested in givin’ it to a lady you fancy instead o’ your ol’ mom.”
“No! I’ve been planning this for years, Boaty—you know that!”
“I’m just sayin’... You want me to wrap it up for you?”
“Urm… I don’t have the gems for that.”
Virgil walked back to his horse and reached in to get one of the bags the Empress had given them for their stay, returning with the lesser currency one. “How much is it?”
“Wha—no! No, I couldn’t…”
“C’mon!” Triana giggled, slapping his shoulder and forcing the boy off-balance. “He’s offerin’, so take it!”
“Mmh… okay… Only for Simiti’ran though.”
“Of course,” Gloria grinned. “So… how much?”
The merchant hummed, eyeing them. “Two Decmos will do.”
“Boaty!” Aluix hissed, yet Virgil reached in to get the currency.
“What? I need to make a livin’ too, Boy! Heh, these fine… unusual gentlemen seem to have the means to pay the full price for a decent gift wrapping.”
Gloria and Triana gave each other sad smiles at being called gentlemen by the Nalvean.
It didn’t take long for him to return the silk scarf to the glossy white-wood box the item came in and bind it in rough black cloth. Leaving him, a thought occurred to Virgil.
We’re totally foreign to Nalvean lands as humans… Ri’bot and Yaltha’ma… We should be getting far more attention than we are. It could be the culture, but it… Huh?
On their way to the slums, he saw a plastered image of what appeared to be Empress Elinor and other human drawings that were shockingly good; he hadn’t noticed it at first while scanning the Nalveans themselves, but there were a decent number of them.
A short description of their new northern nation was listed below, naming High Lady Tiffany and High Lord Edmon with Castella; it seemed their Captain and the Stateswoman had been quick in trying to bring their nation to notice.
Still, he would have thought them actually arriving would have sparked more intrigue, and they did get glances, but no one followed or tried to push in to ask questions; maybe it was just a different type of culture.
The slums were just as he expected—filthy—and the district's docks were no exception; it was here that they began drawing notice and from the grungy kind of folk that peered through windows or from around corners.
On their journey, he learned that the river had been taking on a greenish sheen recently that piqued his interest; more fish were being caught than usual, causing people to cheer for their bountiful hauls. Virgil wondered what caused the spike; time would tell if it was just a short influx.
Night taking them, their guard increased; the pair Ina’ko tailed split off, one remaining while the other returned to more than likely report. The Nalvean didn’t engage them or draw attention to himself, and they arrived at Simiti’ran’s place without incident.
She didn’t really stick out to Virgil; bluish scales with flecks of red. Apparently, she hadn’t eaten anything all day and had spent the time counting all of her blessings. He mostly stayed out of the exchange, allowing the girls to share in it while he kept the perimeter outside.
Tadeo, Ectria, and Koma circled around as he whistled Ina’ko’s return; the little monkey-fox jumped back onto his horse to report.
“Ina’ko followed Red-Scales to a big building to far north! Red-Scales talks to Blue-Scales called Umutu’mi—Umutu’mi is a girl Nalvean—Umutu’mi wants to know how much sparkly jewels Virgil has and where Virgil stays!”
“A thief? Well, that’s not interesting,” Tadeo muttered. “I was expecting something involving Aluix.”
“Mmh… It could be a cover for something else,” Ectria offered. “A code?”
Virgil shrugged. “Occam’s Razor—we’ll go off the information we have. Still, if it is in the north…”
“I got it…” Tadeo sighed, running his hand through his silver locks. “I’ll have Ina’ko guide me… Man, now I want the Weird District.”
“Oh, does Ina’ko get Weird District?”
“You do,” Virgil grinned, scratching her head to hear her soft purr. “So, not a plot against Aluix on our first day, but we’ll uncover all this city’s dirty secrets.”
It didn’t take as long as he thought it would for the present to be delivered and to leave for her to complete her Mourning Day activities, and they returned Aluix to the Keep.
For the next week, they were to practice with the military, work in the fields, and better grasp the Nalveans’ way of life in this City-State; at night, they would search for plots against the Stateswoman and, when needed, babysit Aluix, who would evidently be their guide for the foreseeable future.
Virgil couldn’t contain his excitement; they were really in another world, gained powers, and were now building a nation in the light while foiling plots against a State’s leadership at night—this was all he could have hoped for—and there were so many hidden things to discover!
Yet, two days after their arrival at the City-State, the blazing fire that entered their breasts would change everything they knew about their Empress, and the figure they all saw in that pillar of flames that enveloped their souls brought a deeper understanding of the Undead Goddess they worshiped.
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