2.29 In Which the Dark Lord Rages Against the Machine

2.29 In Which the Dark Lord Rages Against the Machine

I hadnt realized how big this island was.

Highlord Adver hosted us in a drawing room rather than his study where he preferred to conduct discreet business of this kind because of the dcor: one wall was taken up by a huge map of Dount. It was clearly designed for decoration, having nothing labeled except Caer Yviredh itself, but I recognized enough landmarks to get a sense of where things were in relation to each other. Roads, rivers, the city walls of Gwyllthean and the boundaries between khora forests and cultivated land were all marked; even without labels they gave hints.

Id thought my hikes between Gwyllthean and North Watch had been longand I suppose they were, relatively speaking, but also were significantly less than half the width of Dount itself, to judge by what I was seeing. North Watch wasnt on the map at all, but I could figure its rough location based on the nearby mountain, the only one on the island. To ballpark it from my admittedly very rough understanding of how far an average adult human could walk in most of a day Dount had to be about a hundred kilometers across, and a bit less from north to south. And wasnt this supposed to be one of the smaller islands in Dlemathlys?

Other things surprised me: Id been picturing Gwyllthean as the center of the island, but it wasnt even in the center of Fflyr territory, which was apparently less than half of Dount. The city was toward the north, closer to the landbridge out of Dlemathlys than the one leading to the Fflyr mainland. The cleared area full of farms and villages also covered only the eastern part of the island, leaving at least as much territory in the west as a khora wilderness with no roads or landmarks indicated. Well, there was one down on the big peninsula that extended southwest from the island, but with no labels I couldnt tell what it was meant to be. A fortress or town, maybe? Also the lake not far from North Watch was enormous, and extended right to the edge of the island. How did that work? Was there a massive waterfall into the core along the whole northwestern coast of Dount, or was this map just not very accurate?

All of that was interesting but of course we focused on the geography closer to hand.

Its, ah, its a mite tricky translating this to the geography in my head, mlord, Ive not had the opportunity to consult actual maps very often. Viarin continued to be excessively nervous in disposition, but given that the man was surrounded by aristocrats and bandits I figured he had reason. But I get the sense of it, I think. Aye, the gangs are clustered closer together down here in the lands around the city. All along these khora forests ringing it to the west. I know of camps Uh, here, and aroundhere-ish?

We really only need one to start with, I said. Once we overtake the next camp, the people there will have a better idea of their own neighbors and we can find the next on the list based on that.

Then, yes, I can get you started, Lord Seiji, he assured me, nodding eagerly. Also, apart from them, I know of two bigger gangs to the north. There, see near the trade road? Theyre a mite southwest of the crossroads where the Kingsguard has a station. The other I dont know where their camp is, exactly, but theyre bad news, my lord. Over on Yldyllich lands.

They were worse news than you know, and Ive already wiped them out. And I have absorbed the gang to the north into my organization. We are currently sweeping south.

Viarin and the Highlord both gave me looks of surprise and respect.

Im surprised how many of these big stands of wild khora there are close to the city, I said, studying the map. Apparently these only existed west of Gwyllthean, between it and the huge khora forest proper.

Those patches of wild khora are deliberately preserved, Adver explained. They are as economically important as the khora plantations beyond them, not least because their presence helps keep the plantations healthy. Khora spread through underground root networks and theres a limit to how far they will spread in orderly rows. Wild stands like that can also support khora species that dont adapt to agriculture but yield useful products, as well as providing habitats for plant and animal species that are likewise useful. Best of all, these isolated pieces of forest dont contain any beastfolk tribes to interfere with hunting and foraging. Any Clan with lands big enough and close enough to khora tries to keep some wild forest on their lands, though most of these are actually along borders between fiefs and jointly exploited by their neighboring lords.

They also provide habitats for bandits, I noted, earning a grimace of acknowledgment from him. All right, thats the west of the city. What about the other sides?

There may be some isolated gangs over there, Lord Seiji, but we dont know of em as such, Viaran offered.

The landscape is less hospitable to them, said Adver. The land to the east is more cultivated and offers less cover. To the south, the territory is patrolled by a branch of the Kingsguard which holds the landbridge and answers to the capital rather than the islands governor; they are far more aggressive in protecting trade routes and dissuading banditry than those under Clan Aelthwyns command.

A single military with multiple command structures sounded like a fantastically stupid idea to me, but one depressingly believable for Fflyr Dlemathlys.New novel chapters are published on

And to the northeast, Adver continued, pointing at the map, matters aredifferent. Clan Olumnachs fief is up there, in fact, near the edge. But that whole section of the island was the territory of the recenttroubles. A bandit gang with very unique style causing mischief to all and sundry. They then vanished just as efforts to root them out were organized.

He looked directly at Nazralind, who was again hooded and masked, then back at the map; she avoided his gaze and said nothing.

Interesting. Now that I thought of it, Adver had to have some idea who they werein fact, most of the Clans probably did. This many young women couldnt vanish from high society in a patriarchal culture like this without people noticing. That was probably why the girls had survived so long without having actual military action taken against them, thanks to this prohibition on the Clans spilling highborn blood. It also meant Adver probably knew who Nazralind was despite her mask. She was the only elf among them; her absence had undoubtedly been noted, especially by that asshole she was supposed to marry.

Good, that simplifies the next steps, I said aloud. We can worry about mopping up any outlying gangs along the coasts later. For now, we only have to sweep west and south and overtake the gangs encircling Gwylltheans western edge. When securing each encampment, I am going to fold the gang into my own forces and mix them up. Some will be sent to other camps, others back to my base of operations for training, and the gangs will be rounded out by my existing forces. Then, theyll pull up roots and begin operating nomadically, making temporary camp at night and remaining a harder target for Olumnachs scouts to pin down. Once we have taken over all the bandit territories surrounding the city, I will move into Gwyllthean. Ill need to meet with my allies there to establish a final strategy for breaking Olumnachs control of the gangs hes sent into the Gutters and replacing it with my own. I have several possible plans, but it will depend on the situation on the ground.

And your plan for Highlord Caldimers inevitable reprisal? Lady Elidred asked quietly. She had seated herself on the other side of the room, content to watch the rest of us standing around the map.

Once Ive taken his bandit gangs away, hes got nothing, I replied.

In fact, she said archly, he has one of the more effective Clansguards on the island. Only Clan Yldyllich posses more direct military strength.

But what can he do with them? I countered. Combat is only a strategy for dealing with bandits; against Olumnach, we fight in the arena of politics. This is why the Mongol strategy: Im keeping my forces mobile so as to deny him a fight. We cant win a direct fight with them, the more we won the worse it would be. Bandits defeating a Clansguard would bring hostile reinforcements from all over the island and probably the mainland.

Mongol? Adver asked, blinking.

I cleared my throat awkwardly and rushed on. Instead, were going to leverage his own reprisal against him. Highlord Caldimer may be smart enough to know when hes beaten, but if he starts marching his Clansguard into the territory of other Clans, much less the outskirts of Gwyllthean itself, hell find himself in a confrontation with Clan Aelthwyn. This is where you come in, my lord and lady. I need you to be in communication with the Clans who own the lands these bandits operate on, in preparation for Caldimers next move. I gather these smaller Clans are not willing to challenge him directly, which he may be counting on. Your task will be to convince them to take their complaints to the Archlord and bring Clan Aelthwyns strength down on Olumnach if he gets above himself.

I hope you wont think me craven for saying it, Adver murmured, but that will make us the prime target of Caldimers wrath. And we are a rather more stationary target than your mobile gangs, Lord Seiji.

Craven would be if you refused to do it; assessing risks is part of strategy. In any case, the point is moot, Highlord. Caldimer will find out that you aided Lady Gray against him. We dont have the power to prevent that; the information is out there and he has too many criminal connections. Instead, we have to move quickly and pull his fangs before he can turn them on Clan Yviredh. I waited for his reluctant nod of acknowledgment before continuing. The all-important question is whether you can do it.

Simplicity itself, Elidred said primly. Once the Olumnach Clansguard are spotted tromping through everyones garden, I need only ask the other ladies if the rumors are true, about the other affected Clans appealing to the Archlord for aid. Thus, everyones fear of being the first to launch a risky venture can be transformed into a fear of being the last to join a popular one. Provided I am able to speak to each within a short enough span of time, it will not even be possible to tell after the fact who moved first.

Youre a formidable woman, Lady Elidred, I said with sincere admiration. She favored me with a dignified nod. A point which I do not understand is the prospect for military action against Clan Olumnach. How does this prohibition on inter-Clan fighting work? With all due respect, I am not naive enough to believe the Clans of Fflyr Dlemathlys are committed to peace out of principle.

The Covenant enforces itself on the basis of who is included in it, Adver explained, wearing the ghost of a wry smile. A Clan which trespasses the Covenant can be expelled from it. They lose not only the wealth and power of Clan status, but become an immediate target for their erstwhile peers. This cannot be done on a whim: it requires the approval of the Radiant Convocation, the King or governor of the island upon which the Clan in question resides, and the consensus of a quorum of other Clans on that island. In fact, Lord Seiji, if you can bait Caldimer into transgressing sufficiently, I do not doubt that Clan Aelthwyn will move for Olumnachs expulsion from the Covenant, nor that the motion will pass. Caldimer is feared, but not respected or liked.

That does raise another wrinkle, though, Nazralind said quietly. He knows that and will fear that outcome above all others. Caldimer Olumnach was never the soul of discretion and has been recklessly aggressive since his sons death, but what if he doesnt rise to the bait? Even deprived of his bandit gangs, even if he is too circumspect to march his Clansguard into other peoples territory after them, that will leave us sharing an island with a diminished but vengeful Highlord. It seems a short-term solution, at best.

And in the worst case, a short-term solution will suffice for now, I said, but no, I dont plan to leave it at that. Before Clan Yviredh threw itself into my path with access to highborn circles and the option to rally Clans against him, I was making plans to deal with Clan Olumnach. One way or another, Clan Aelthwyn is going to rid us of this problem. Soon, if Caldimer is unwise enough to provoke them, but even if he finds some discretion it just means Ill have to fall back on my original strategy.

Which would be? Adver prompted, raising his eyebrows.

I gave him a wintry smile. I am going to give him everything hes ever wanted on a silver platter, and then kick back and relax while he chokes himself with it. Now then, Highlord, there is the matter of your role in this alliance. For now, discretion is paramount. I want to limit our direct contact with you to avoid drawing the wrong kind of attention.

He nodded. I would prefer not to have obvious bandits given free reign of my estate, but we neednt cut off contact entirely, Lord Seiji. It will not be a problem if suspicious people are seen coming and going from the manor on occasion.

Were nobles, his wife added dryly. That could mean almost anything. Indeed, the appearance of excessive virtue is more likely to antagonize our neighbors than evidence that we dabble in the inappropriate. No one likes a saint who lives close enough to be a point of comparison.

Good, I said. That will also ensure the opportunity to evacuate Rhaem at need. If we neutralize Caldimers ability to attack you directly, I dont doubt hell spill the beans about your Null caster out of spite. For now, the focus will be on solidifying my position and removing the threat hanging over you, but once this stage is done I will be better positioned to help you get what you need.

Both Yviredhs nodded, their expressions guarded. These hints of future benefit to them were alarmingly vague, yes, but the fact remained that our current plans hinged on getting Clan Yviredh out of the mess theyd created. That would hopefully buy me some trust. For now, it would have to do.

It feels strange to mention it as an afterthought, said Adver, but of course, our Spirit is available to you, Lord Seiji.

Ah, yes, I said. Thank you for reminding me. It would definitely be helpful if I can get more of my people Blessed.

Adver and Elidred exchanged a wary look.

I must caution you, he said, that Head Start isnot well-suited to advancing large numbers of people. The nature of the Spirits trial is time-consuming and somewhat inscrutable. It demands conversations which can take hours at worst, and doesnt award its gift to more than one in five. I was thinking more that you yourself would wish to take advantage personally.

Me? I blinked. Im already Blessed.

What makes you think its either?

You just said

I said those explanations were obvious, not that they were correct. The obvious isnt always true, especially when you start to look deeper. For instance, our two obvious solutions share a common problem: either would seem likely to result in a strong influence of Japan over the development of culture here on Ephemera. And yet, have you seen any? Even a hint of Japanese culture anywhere?

In fact, I said slowly, everybody makes a point of how theyve never seen a foreigner who looks like me.

And theres the fact that the Goddesses can drop their Champions on any corner of this worldhence my being surprised you got plopped down here, of all places. So it logically follows that the connection on the other end is the same.

Yeah, seems like somebody wouldve noticed if there was a permanent wormhole in Akihabara Station. I had an inexplicably bad feeling about where this was going. The Spirit looked a little too cunningly sure of itself, and Biribo was still way too quiet compared to his usual behavior. Where are you going with this?

So if the connection isnt in Japan, and the Goddesses arent Japanesewhy are all the Champions?

I stopped to think before immediately answering for once. Why, indeed? He was right: there wasnt a hint of anything Japanese about this world. And sure, that might just be Fflyr Dlemathlys, I hadnt seen anything outside this one island. But for all their many, many flaws, the Fflyr were nothing if not well-read. I had interacted with several notably educated people, such as Nazralind and Master Auldmaer. Nobody recognized my features, my accent, or any of the little customs Id started observing around North Watch. Japan obviously had no influence here until Id come.

If anything, the Earth influences here were more generic. Aside from the way Ephemeras native biology had reasserted itself and the people adapted to it, all of this looked very much like someone had deliberately tried to build a society based on twenty-first century medieval-esque fantasy stories. Once you got out of the khora, Dlemathlys looked a lot like a bog standardisekai

I suddenly stood bolt upright, startling Biribo into buzzing away from me. Head Start grinned up at me in satisfaction.

Weebs, I whispered. Theyre The goddesses are weeaboos.

The Spirits smile was broad, smug, and distinctly malicious.

I turned away from it. There was no room to pace; I couldnt go a step before bonking my head on the low dome. Driven by sheer impulse, I hauled off and slammed my fist against it, causing a spike of pain to shoot from my knuckles all the way up my arm.

Uh, boss? Biribo said in alarm.

I punched the wall again, then again. All of this. All of my sufferinghell, not just mine, but the countless people who lived and died on this stupid bullshit world in a medieval hellhole. And all of it for what? Because a couple of bored, cosmic otaku wanted to play the galaxys most realistic JRPG? And in addition to what theyd done to the people here, theyd been abducting regular citizens from Japan for Fuck, how long had they been doing this? How many peoples lives had they ruined? For absolutely no good purpose, for the celestial equivalent of a figurine collection?

Fffffuuuuucking WEEEEEEEEBS! I roared, pounding both fists against the dome until my hands throbbed unbearably and it was speckled with tiny droplets of blood.

It was just It wasnt even the suffering. I could live with pain and deprivation. Life is hard anyway; people can adapt to shit. Thats what people do.

It was the sheer fucking pointless stupidity of it. If I had to suffer, why, why for this?

I was going to kill them. Fuck the impossibility of itthey had to die. Cosmic weeaboos must not be suffered to exist. I didnt know how, but Id find a way. Id join up with the Devil King if I had to. This bullshit was going to stop.

Breathing hoarsely, looked down at my aching hands in the dim light of the Spirit. Whew, Id really done a number there. Wouldnt be playing the guitar for a while, if not for

Heal.

Pink light flashed, and while the blood dripping from my skin didnt disappear, the skin itself was suddenly whole again, along with the bone and muscle underneath. And I found myself suddenly feeling very self-conscious about my little tantrum.

Turning back around, I bowed deeply to the Spirit, my upper body parallel to the floor. Sumimasendeshita.

No worries, man, Im right there with you, Head Start said, its smile a lot more relaxed now. You know something, Omura Seiji? I like you. Well, not like you, like you. Honestly, from a quick look at your psychoenergetic imprint, you might be one of the more insufferable people Ive ever met, and that is really saying something. But stillI relate to you, and I like to see how hard youre trying. Youre definitely an improvement over the last batch. So Im going to help you out. And not just in the minimal sense of what Im required to do because youre the Dark Lord. Im gonna give you something you actually needsomething thatll make a key difference for you, if you leverage it properly.

Light began to coalesce out of the air, drawing toward a point in front of the Spirits face; recognizing the effect, I stepped forward and extended my hands, managing to catch the spell scroll when it materialized fully a second later. It rested on my outstretched palms, a mundane-looking roll of parchment bound by a golden ribbon.

As I stared at it with intent, the ribbon broke and the scroll unfurled. Lines of inscrutable text glowed as they lifted up from it, then the whole thing dissolved back into the motes of light from which it had come, leaving me with the brand new weight of Cast Illusion in the front of my mind.

Thats step one, Head Start informed me. Your familiar can explain the nuances of how it works, but Ill give you some advice to go with it: I suggest you sit on this one for now, and dont use it yet. The other spell you should seek out to pair with this using your spell combination is called Conjure Material. Once youve got both of those, youll have a real game-changer on your hands.

I stared at the Spirit, blinking. Are yougoing to be okay?

Head Start looked visibly surprised, which I got the feeling was out of character for a Spirit.

I more than slightly suspect the goddesses watch my interactions, I explained. Especially with Spirits and other stuff from their magic system. Virya does, anyway. She probably knows what you just told me. Is this going to get you in hot water with them?

Ah, youre concerned I might be punished? Its sardonic smile returned. Infinite copies of my consciousness condemned to suffer eternal torture for failing to appease the gods, like the Basilisk of ancient legend? I put it to you, Lord Seiji: what do you think my current existence is?

I blinked again, considering. Imagining, for a moment, my entire consciousness flickering in and out of being solely on the basis of whether there was some random fuckstick in front of me who wanted free goodies.

Oh. No wonder only one in five got anything out of it.

Dont get me wrong, I do appreciate the thought. Few have ever considered my perspective. You know, for someone so generally, deliberately unpleasant, youre surprisingly empathetic at times. But notheyre not going to do anything to me. Torture would at least be a change, and oblivion a relief. If Ive offended the Goddesses by gossiping about their business, theyll just leave me right where I am, because thats the only punishment they can still inflict on me.

That really sucks, man, I said with simple honesty. Im sorry to hear it.

Yes, well, we all have our problems. Now go raise some hell, Dark Lord. Whatever else you manage to do on this world, try not to be boring.

His visage faded, and the lights went out on the altar, leaving me plunged back into pitch darkness.

So, uh, Biribos voice said nervously out of the black. Congratulations, boss, you just got a new Wisdom power.

I did? Wait, why? I didnt do anything.

You persuaded a Spirit to cooperate with you beyond what its innate nature required. Now, as a result, other Spirits you deal with will be more positively inclined toward you. Their tasks a bit easier and the rewards more generous.

I closed my eyes, which made no difference in the darkness.

Just another finger on the scales.

Im going to kill you both.

Cmon, Biribo, lets get out of here. Theres murder to do, and Im gonna need the practice.