Chapter 84: Empire’s Plan A and Kingdom’s Plan B

Chapter 84: Empire’s Plan A and Kingdom’s Plan B

Sundenelle studies the tactical map in the war room of the Imperial castle squarely in the capital of the Empire. Many things have happened since Mornistae summoned divine heroes from another world. It was long believed to have been a forgotten art, or even simply a fantastical myth. That it was accomplished is something almost miraculous. The gods can be fickle, so the the stories go, and this means it’s difficult to simply pray or even cast spells and expect them to answer favorably.

In this case, there was some reason the gods decided to answer by sending not one, but two divine heroes. By all appearances, one of them has gone rogue, siding with a splinter group of demon-kin to found his own territory. It’s understandable, to a degree, but Daniel has made himself an adversary to the Grand Zenkon Empire.

But, Sundenelle likely has him right where she wants him. She ordered a full retreat from Fort Twilight, allowing the demon-kin calling themselves ‘the Fievegal’ to capture the fortress. It’s a calculated move, though one her inner court is split on.

If Sundenelle learned anything about Daniel over the course of several failed attacks on the Citadel, it’s that he can’t be simply treated like a simple adversary from the world of Zenkon. After all, he’s most certainly not. She’d likely run into the same problems if Rikuto became an enemy as well. They both have wisdom and tactics not present on Zenkon, as well as a pool of technology within their memories that far surpasses the basics of what is available to any of the kingdoms within the alliance.

Daniel made a few specific demands in his letter, and by now, he’s doing his best to try to figure out what Sundenelle’s own angle is. She knows no one in their right mind would abandon a fortress the size of Fort Twilight without a fight, especially because the mountains are basically the last line of defense capable of actually slowing down the demon-kin from invading the east in force.

He’ll be forced to prepare for attack, wasting time and resources, and he’ll be more open to surrendering to Sundenelle when she makes her counter-offer.

Dragons or not, if she can starve them out or force them to ask for relief, they’ll be at her mercy.

She smirks at the tactical map, showing the estimated positions of the three separate corps of the Imperial Allied Army.

Byleathea approaches the table behind Sundenelle, asking gently, “Are you certain your adversary will take the bait, your Grace?”

“I can’t be absolute, but I have done everything I can to force him to make the next move. If he attempts to invade, we’re in position to flank his forces. If he decides to simply hold Fort Twilight, we can circle around and cut off his supply lines. And, if he abandons Fort Twilight, we only need to reclaim it before the demons. Without the dragons aiding them, our odds are considerably more reasonable.”

“I don’t like it... The dragons usually don’t partake in battles, but when they do, it can be devastating.”

Sundenelle looks at her mother, relaxing her expression. She’s not wrong, and she’s only worried about Sundenelle making a critical mistake. Daniel may be the one on everyone’s minds at the moment, but the demon army is still very much a threat, and they are unlikely to be idle. Even now, our spies and reconnaissance teams have reported gathering demon forces in the north. It’s highly probable they will attack Fort Peony.”

“The furthest from the Empire...”

“The alliance stands strong, Mother. We will not falter on our share of the alliance’s duty.”

“I admire your honorable stance, my beloved daughter, but if I may, I am less worried about our enemies at our front.”

Sundenelle is quiet. Byleathea is completely correct. No organization is without traitors and spies in its midst, and by choosing the furthest fortress from the centralized command, those traitors and spies buy themselves time for whatever their schemes are.

Of course, Sundenelle is hoping she can bypass that problem altogether with her current machinations. Daniel is the key player; her real enemy. If his technology falls into the hands of the demons, it’s over.

And, given that his primary companion is the demon-kin Hekate, an unknown fox-like girl whose race is all but unknown, it’s difficult to explicitly determine whether or not they’re a threat.

Until she knows, Sundenelle will do what she’s always done.

Stack the deck in her favor.

***

Choul meets with the messengers from the Empire in the special secluded room they prepared for the messengers after providing them food and drink.

“Good afternoon. I am General Choul of the Fievegal Imperial Army. Welcome to Fievegal territory.”

The leading officer of the messengers bows. “Greetings. Please allow me to speak on behalf of my retinue. I am Commander Jiinlara kos Lorlollan of the Imperial Army First Order Knight Corps. The pleasure is mine, General.”

“Thank you. Now then, please share the message that has brought you to Fort Twilight.”

“As you wish, General.” Jiinlara withdraws the message scroll from his messenger bag, handing it over to Choul.

Choul casts a simple analysis spell on the scroll to detect magic traps. He learned to do this after he witnessed a trapped spell scroll that killed the recipient’s attendant by incineration. Various spells can be bound to scrolls, and Choul learned that day, of all days, to verify that a scroll is safe.

Satisfied that it’s a simple message scroll, Choul opens it. This seems to surprise the officers. After all, it would seem at a glance that he didn’t even bother to check, since his spell was so instantaneous and unseen.

The message is rather brazen in a sense, though Choul takes it seriously.

“[Dear Daniel kos Lawson,

I mean no immediate disrespect, but I must insist that I can only acknowledge a recognized sovereign as a titled ruler. You must admit, the rise of the alleged Fievegal is sudden and without proper precedent.

I am not an unreasonable ruler, however. I will indulge you your conquest of Fort Twilight, if only to acknowledge the fault of the ill-conceived attacks on the stronghold known as the Citadel.

If you are truly a separate sovereign from the polity known as the Demon Covenant, I would be willing to invite you to the Imperial Court to plead your case for independence, and in due respect of your abilities, consider your eligibility as a vassal state to the Grand Zenkon Empire.

It is with sincere respect that I write to you, Daniel kos Lawson, as well as your wife, Hekate fell Lawson. I invite you both to the Imperial Court, where you will be treated with dignity and respect, but of those of honored guests until the validity of your claims can be confirmed.

Please understand, I cannot grant sovereignty to just any who declare themselves rulers.

I look forward to meeting you, Daniel kos Lawson of the otherworld.

Very respectfully,

The Enlightened Imperial Empress,

Sundenelle kos Lindenmorg,

Ruler of the Grand Zenkon Empire

Commander in Chief of the Eastern Alliance

Saintess of the Southern Divine Order

Lady of the house of Lindenmorg]”

Choul studies the letter for a moment. Sundenelle is very clearly provoking Daniel and Hekate.

Fortunately, Daniel’s plan has only entered the first stages. He has every intention of carrying out further mischief in regards to the Empress, and her refusal to acknowledge the Fievegal even after his threat is well within his expectations. In fact, he would have been more surprised if she simply accepted.

“I see. The Empress invites my Liege to meet in the Imperial Palace for an audience.”

“That is correct, General. The path to peace is to acknowledge one’s place.”

Interesting coming from the losing side before the dragons sided with Daniel.

Choul keeps his thought to himself, of course.

“The Empress has disregarded my Liege Lord’s offer. I will have to inform him of this outcome.”

“With all respect, General; not disregarded, but rather, made a counter offer. Business negotiations and political negotiations are the same in at least one respect; not least of which is leverage.”

Choul smiles cryptically. Daniel is trying to win his war without bloodshed where possible, but he has the full might of the dragons, a feldrok exceeding the known magical prowess of the strongest feldroks of the world, the former Demon Queen herself, and various other powerful allies. It is unwise to provoke him. Even if Daniel will be sluggish about the way he retaliates, he will retaliate. He will bring justice to all who oppose him.

Choul knows the answer already, so he doesn’t actually have to speak to Daniel, but he also can’t give in too easily, lest they be suspicious.

“Very well. I shall relay this message to my Liege, Emperor Daniel. However, I am certain it goes without saying; what assurances will the Empress allow to ensure the safety of my liege lord?”

“Her Enlightened Highness the Empress is fully aware of Daniel’s demon staves. To invite him to the Imperial Palace, she is taking the greater risk.”

“As you can guess, my Liege will not agree to arrive defenseless.”

He can not let his guard down for the sake of all of his soldiers and the leadership he cares about.

***

Daniel studies an old tome in the library of the Citadel. It’s after dark, and his only company at present is Xyreko. Naturally, the library is well-lit, and she is seated next to him as he reads the book she picked out for him.

Everyone else is -or should be- sleeping currently, and the communicators just need to be assembled, which they’ll do in the morning. Additionally, Geirahoel was able to break down the assembly design of the surveyor scope to components that can be made with the MDM teams, and she has one of the newest machines making parts, which there are four shifts to fill the day, allowing them to continue producing all day and all night. The lenses are the trickiest part, but she insisted that she can take care of it, and he hasn’t seen her as much since.

During his break, though, Daniel has been researching something important. Xyreko has a pretty-well encyclopedic knowledge of everything that has ever been told to her, but like a human memory, it can be difficult for her to pull up specific data, and in this case, she was only able to steer Daniel to a book.

The book speaks about a time during the height of the feldroks. It seems to be almost a journal entry, rather than a scholarly entry, but much of the personalization is lost in the translation, which Xyreko is projecting next to each page for Daniel to read.

He’s currently researching everything he can about Nemaisol, the strange sword that sometimes seems to have a mind of its own, and always seems to repel magic when drawn, including that of the wielder.

But, what always sticks in the forefront of Daniel’s mind is that even Xyreko can’t identify the element of the sword that causes the phenomenon. Especially because Nemaisol does seem to be stronger at times, capable of easily cleaving metal even in Daniel’s rather amateur hands.

Xyreko is a soulbound dattakorien woman who opted to become caretaker of the Citadel, along with others. This kept her from passing on and affords her many abilities she did not have in life.

Daniel is not the most optimistic person in the world, but he is always thinking. Part of what's needed to troubleshoot and repair equipment is the ability to break something down into its functions and identify the root of a problem, or what’s missing from the function.

And, he often begins thinking along the same lines about everything. He’d probably never be able to solve some grand mystery or escape from those trick rooms that rose in popularity on Earth. But, he considers possibilities -which can sometimes make him unduly paranoid-.

In this case, though, he can’t help but consider the possibility that the thing that makes Nemaisol peculiar is the same thing that grants Xyreko her continued existence.

There’s a soul bound to the sword.

And, on the page he’s reading, he finds the entry, “[The sword was discovered in an old temple preceding even the eldest of our village. However, when it was picked up, the one who touched it seemed to hear something no one else could, and he seemingly chose the name of the sword; Nemaisol.

Regardless, no feldrok was ever capable of drawing the sword from its scabbard, nor any other race. Surprisingly, an Uhl’tall elder seemed especially intrigued by the name of the sword, mentioning a fairytale she heard as a child.

Only the chosen one could wield the sword, as the story goes, and they could stand against any power in existence, even the gods.

It is difficult to believe, but the only things that can be confirmed through even the greatest of our efforts are that the sword cannot be broken, melted, or even scratched, even by our strongest. Even if the scabbard is damaged, it simply regenerates, regardless of prevention of mana and matter from reaching it.

It is difficult to say if this truly is the sword of ancient fairytales that the feldroks do not have record of, and no other historical records exist.

For reference and posterity, the fairytale as remembered by the Uhl’tall elder will be included in the appendix.]”

Daniel finds the referenced appendix, skimming through to find reference to the name “Nemaisol.” From what he finds, the sword appeared before the hero of the story, while a soft, angelic voice prophesied the battle to come.

And, then Daniel finds something especially interesting.

The hero became known as the first Dawnseer. And, he taught the art to the various races of the world to help prevent future calamities.

“A Dawnseer, huh?” remarks Daniel with amusement. “So, it wasn’t just smoke being blown out of someone’s...” He glances at Xyreko, clearing his throat and leaving it at that.

“It’s probably difficult to explain rationally, beyond saying that it simply works. It’s said that the world itself is alive enough to have its own mana, and disturbances within the world’s mana can be predicted, even a measurable amount of time in the seemingly unforeseeable future. I should clarify that it is unclear whether these visions are what may be or what will be, as they are, from what I understand, quite unclear, even to the best practitioners of the art of Dawnseeing.”

“Do you believe the future can be changed from the visions?” asks Daniel curiously.

“I... don’t have the luxury of speaking with certainty. My father was a dawnseer. I witnessed predictions that he made come true. But, it’s usually a premonition, rather than something that can be prevented... from what I have seen.”

Daniel shrugs. “Well, I’m already here, and from what I’ve heard, my rifle and the atom bombs were likely what caused them to summon us, which is strange. I wouldn’t think the atom bombs would... or rather, I figured they would interrupt the ability.”

“I cannot say. I can certainly confirm that they count as a significant disturbance to the world’s mana, though, and would have been very easy for dawnseeing to detect at least the initiation. Am I safe in assuming the dawnseer never mentioned the bombs themselves?”

Daniel thinks for a moment. “Huh. Now that you mention it, she mentioned a ‘staff of all four worldly elements’, but never mentioned ‘canisters of doom’ or anything like that.”

Xyreko stares at him in her obviously-smug way, and Daniel smirks. “Yeah, yeah. Are you capable of dawnseeing?”

“I’m afraid I’m not. I believe the Lady Vaergraes is, though. Or, a very similar reading of the world’s mana. Learning dawnseeing is an innate skill; something one is born with.”

“Innate skill... I remember that when I was summoned, but it never really comes up. So, people are assigned a special magical ability when they’re born here?”

Xyreko nods. “I spoke to Wenlianna about omni-affinity being a mere stepping stone to real magic, but it’s really a result of the short lifespans of humans and human kin, as well as the shorter lifespans of applicable demon kin. What the feldroks referred to as Class E mortals.”

“Class E?” asks Daniel, sounding a little insulted.

“Remember, the feldroks did not discriminate. It was merely to define races that have average lifespans shorter than two hundred years. As goblins average around fifty years, and humans of this world average a little over one hundred...” She trails off as she undoubtedly recalls the conversation about Daniel’s expected lifespan once more.

“It’s fine, Xyreko. I’ll try to remember to ask Vaergraes about it later. It could be handy to see the future.”

“Even if you can’t change it?”

“Sure. Though, that doesn’t mean I can’t try. After all, they summoned me for that very reason.”

Xyreko chuckles. “I suppose, if anyone can...”

“So, why did it matter about the Class E races?”

“Ah, yes. The problem with the omni-affinity belief system has more to do with the traits for magical attunement not being preserved through the generations. Some generations were likely watered down by changing biases of those without magic in places of power, or the masses not realizing they had magic due to not being taught. In fact, the first of the lesser dragons was merely the offspring of a greater dragon, and the greater dragons ostracized the ‘lesser dragons’.”

“I... see...” murmurs Daniel.

“Don’t worry, Daniel! I meant nothing by it. Just as parents with both of them possessing strong magic can produce a child with weak magic, there is always a chance that your children will possess natural gifts for magic.”

He chuckles softly. “Maybe. Assuming magic is a dominant trait.”

“Dominant trait?” asks Xyreko. Because she understands how he looks at things, he knows something she doesn’t.

“Selective breeding works because of both dominant and recessive traits, depending on the goal. But, if something is a recessive trait, it’s virtually impossible for first generation offspring to possess the trait if one of the parents doesn’t possess the trait’s gene. Which, since I come from Earth, a place with no magic, is impossible in me.”

Xyreko sighs. “Then, you are speaking of many traits, Daniel. Did I not just explain? The magic attunements are much more complex than summing it up into a single trait. And, many generations have thinned those traits out. Wenlianna will never be as strong as a feldrok or even a dragon, but she could learn to use magic that she has never believed possible, and by doing so, the practice would expand her mana. If you are worried about preserving the so-called ‘omni-affinity’ traits, then I will happily create a selective matchmaking program. Though, I had thought until this moment, you believed more in self-determination...”

Daniel widens his eyes, looking directly at Xyreko again. And, once more, her posture is her ‘knowing smile even without a face’.

He scoffs and finally relaxes. She adds pointedly with a soft tone, “Daniel, you have done just fine in this world without magic. And, it would be uncharacteristically arrogant of you to think you could single-handedly thin out traits already on the decline in some populations.”

Daniel chuckles. “You got me, Xyreko. You’re right. Though, I think it’s only fair of me to say that on Earth, it’s estimated that it’s quite possible that half a percent of our seven billion population can be traced back to one man.”

“Half a perce-...?” starts Xyreko smugly until she thinks about the math. After a moment of pondering, she jokes, “My goodness, you’ll easily beat him.”

Daniel finally laughs. “Very funny. Now then, we need to figure out how I got magic so we can mass produce it. You know, just in case.”

“Indeed.”

Daniel resumes studying the book, and Xyreko sits with him peacefully, offering help where she can.

Whatever happens, Daniel can only do what he can do. And, he has a lot to do.

***