Stone and Blood: Act 1, Chapter 5

Stone and Blood: Act 1, Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ludmila stepped through the threshold of Lady Shalltear’s Gate, taking a deep breath as the heat and heavy odours of the city were replaced with the crisp, cool air of Warden’s Vale. Florine came through behind her, followed by their lady’s maids. Behind them, dozens of other visitors arrived with gaping expressions and baggage in hand.

“Have we been here before?” Mag said, “The scenery looks sort of familiar...”

“The guild’s training expeditions are held in the forests in the highlands to the north and the east,” Ludmila told the Rogue.

“Ah, yeah,” Mag nodded slowly. “I thought I saw those mountains somewhere before.”

More Adventurers came through, spreading out and putting down their things. In addition to the Adventurers themselves, a number of ‘auxiliaries’ came with them. The group consisted of the various civilian experts employed by the guild to analyse its expeditionary findings. At first a bare handful when the expedition to Feoh Teiwaz started, there were now two dozen or so drawn by the allure of exploring the mysteries of the world in relative safety.

Now, they were here to pore over the objects that had piled up over the winter as construction of the former Ai Ai Ai Ainz Highway of Love turned up more and more pieces of the ancient highway. As for the new highway, the name was rejected as soon as His Majesty returned from the trip and Ludmila still didn’t understand what possessed the Prime Minister to name it that in the first place.

“Oh, looks like everyone’s here on time.”

Lady Aura casually strolled up to them, hands held up behind her head. Lord Mare walked beside her, and they were accompanied by Lady Delta, Glasir and Jelena Roscoe. Lady Delta was carrying three Emerald Forest Slimes in her arms for some reason, and one more sat atop her head. The Death Knight carrying Glasir’s pot came behind them.

“Lady Aura,” Ludmila and Florine lowered their heads in a curtsey. “Lord Mare. I hope the afternoon finds you well.”

“Un.”

“How would you like to begin?” Ludmila asked.

“Dunno,” Lady Aura shrugged. “Didn’t Ainzach come up with some kinda plan?”

To Ludmila’s surprise that morning, the Guildmaster had arranged for the expedition to be deployed as soon as he heard Ludmila was back in E-Rantel. As far as plans went, however, he had left matters in her hands. She was assigned as the leader of the expedition’s sixth party, which also made her the leader of the expedition.

She supposed that Ainzach arranged things that way since the expedition was being conducted in her demesne and she was also a member of the Adventurer Guild. With all the work that had piled up while she was away in the Draconic Kingdom, however, Ludmila wasn’t sure how much attention she could pay to the expedition. Hopefully, the Adventurers would follow their procedures and their activities wouldn’t be ridden with incidents.

“We need to get the support staff situated, first,” Ludmila said. “Alessia, can you show everyone else around the harbour?”

“Aye, domina...hey, lolicon! Stop licking the Dryad with your eyes; she is not yet one year old.”

Roughly a third of the Adventurers turned their gazes away from Glasir. Themis and Alessia led the Adventurers into the village square. Shortly after, the Cleric and Paladin were mobbed by villagers. Ludmila shook her head and turned to the expedition’s auxiliaries.

“Load your materials onto the wagons in that lot over there,” she gestured to the Soul Eaters in the southeastern corner of the village square. “I’ll be with you once I stop by the administrative office.”VIssịT n0(v)eL/b(i)(n).com for the best novel reading experience

She called in a few Death Knights to help move the expedition’s things, which were still coming through the Gate. On the way to her manor, she gestured for Glasir to come and walk with her.

“It seems that you've grown,” Ludmila said. “In more ways than one.”

If she were to describe it, Glasir seemed healthier than before. She had lost the air of being a fresh sapling, feeling less fragile than before. Not that she was fragile by Human standards. As a Heteromorph – or, more specifically, a Dryad – she had come into existence with roughly the raw power and durability of a Silver-rank Adventurer. Her branches had extended a few centimetres and sported a thicker crown of leaves, which, in turn, meant that the leaves covering Glasir’s body were less sparse.

In terms of her overall appearance, the lore that described Dryads as being the ‘spirit’ of their trees appeared to be true. How vibrant and strong her tree was could be seen not only in her physical appearance, but also in her mood and personality.

“I reached the second tier of Druidic magic, too,” Glasir said. “I only have one spell, though.”

“That’s wonderful!” Ludmila smiled and hugged Glasir around the shoulder, “You’re advancing as quickly as an Adventurer. How is your combat training with Lady Aura coming along?”

Glasir’s leaves rustled as she shuddered. Ludmila looked across the Dryad at Lady Aura.

“She learned a Skill,” Lady Aura said, “I think.”

“What does it do, my lady?”

“Increases her damage resistance maybe? I was whipping her one day and she suddenly got harder to damage.”

“That sounds very useful.”

“I know, right?” Lady Aura said, “Once we figured she had learned a Skill, I went back home to see if I could get Pinison and the others to learn it, too. But all they did was scream and cry when I started hitting them.”

“It seems that they aren’t very receptive to instruction.”

“Yeah, well, their loss. I don’t understand why anyone would be satisfied with picking fruit when they could also be getting stronger for Lord Ainz.”

When they reached her home, Ludmila found a small jungle’s worth of plants crawling out of the front window. A few of them waved enthusiastically as they walked up to the front door.

“Lord Mare,” she said, “are you sure those plants won’t escape into the wild?”

“They’re all plants that grow around Divine Ash,” Lord Mare replied. “They’ll stay here because Glasir is here. I think most of them have imprinted on her already.”

“Do you mean to say that all of these plants can move, my lord?"

The Dark Elf Druid shook his head.

“Most of them can't move,” he said. “Not like the ones in the window. They’ll still respond in their own way, though.”

“I'm surprised the ones that can crawl around don’t chase after Glasir when she goes out...”

“Uh, they did, at first,” Glasir said. “I had to tell them to wait at home for me. They still wander around the yard, though. A few of them found the dirt that I was collecting and planted themselves in it.”

“So they stay outside, now?” Ludmila asked.

“No,” Glasir answered. “At night, they come back into the house for the light. They’re pretty greedy.”

Did that mean there were even more plants aside from the ones in the window? It seemed that they would outgrow the hall by winter if they hadn’t already. She wasn’t sure if they would survive outside in the cold. Maybe they could copy what they saw in the Empire, closing over the yard and using magical heating.

At least Glasir wasn't growing as quickly – the citadel area was still far from ready for her to put down her roots.

A small garden's worth of flowers blossomed as they entered the manor. Lord Mare, Lady Delta, Glasir, and Jelena went straight into the greenery. Aemilia led Tierre up to the guest room with Florine’s things. Lady Aura followed Ludmila and Florine into the office. Nonna stood from her desk at their entrance.

“Welcome, Lady Aura,” the Elder Lich lowered her head.

“Someone said that I should make a Slime party,” Jelena said.

“Who did?” Ludmila asked.

“Um...everybody? Shizu took me to see someone named Solution and Solution mentioned the party and then sent me to Lady Aura to talk about it.”

“Is that possible, Lady Aura?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lady Aura replied. “I can fight with a bunch of my pets out all at once, so she should be able to do it too. As a Beast Tamer, I think it’s a pretty neat idea. She just has to train them to fight together and level them up.”

A Ranger with multiple companions was rare to the point that she hadn’t heard of anyone raising them as a ‘party’. Still, if someone had done so, it sounded like something that would be remarkable enough for rumours or legends to circulate about them.

“How would this training work?” Ludmila asked.

“Well, I’m not sure how it works around here,” Lady Aura answered. “I don’t think any of the Rangers in the Adventurer Guild have companions, which seems a bit biased. Actually, no – you have one.”

“That’s true, but I’m afraid I haven’t done anything like training with her. We fought in a few battles together and it just seemed to work out.”

“That’s no good,” Lady Aura frowned. “You need to give your companions lots of love!”

“Since the Ministry of Transportation has her investigating things abroad most of the time, that’s a bit difficult...”

She had no idea how to train her Dragon or whether Ilyshn’ish was even interested. Beyond that, Ludmila had no idea what to train in. Any tales involving riders of legendary beings such as Dragons didn’t give any details as to how they fought with them or even what the names of their mounts were. They were just a thing that existed and no one seemed to question the fact that they did or how such a relationship worked.

The closest thing to a hint that she had lay with the Dragoons of the Imperial Air Service, but her time in the Empire had been too short to study them in any real depth.

“Anyway,” Lady Aura said, “we figure that a party of eight would be good.”

Ludmila glanced at the four Slimes on Lady Delta.

“Eight, my lady?”

“Yup! Four Rangers and four Druids. Then they’d be split up into different specialisations to serve different roles in the party. Two melee specialists, two ranged, a damage-focused caster, summoner, and two healers.”

It did sound nice. The Adventurer Guild used parties of six and the ones that had two healers were far more stable than those that only had one. Unfortunately, there was still a distinct shortage of healers in the guild. However, there was a problem with that idea.

“Can Slimes even become Druids?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lady Aura said. “They’re Heteromorphs so they should be able to level up just like anyone else. We’ll just plop them in that Lizardman Druid class and see what happens.”

“I’d like to try, my lady,” Jelena said.

Ludmila considered the proposal. Jelena exhibited the so-called ‘tells of the blood’, but it only went so far as to suggest that she had strong Ranger aptitudes. Since she had bonded so easily and readily with her Slimes, being a tamer was clearly a legitimate option. The question was how far she could go with the idea.

“Does that mean the Ems count as soldiers, too?” She mused.

“Th-they don’t have to, my lady!” Jelena said, “The Ems don’t take much – they can live off of the stuff around the base.”

“They do have to,” Ludmila told her. “If your friends can become Rangers and Druids, then you’d almost be a squad of your own. Not offering the appropriate compensation wouldn’t be fair to you or the Ems.”

Maybe that was why Adventurer Rangers didn’t have companions. The Rangers in the Imperial Army didn’t have them either and the mounts of the Imperial Flight Service were considered the property of the Empire. Only the cavalry had personal mounts and that practice stemmed from their aristocratic traditions.

“The army will have to provide equipment, too,” Lord Mare added.

“Equipment...for Slimes?”

“Un,” the Dark Elf Druid nodded. “It can’t be in any order, either. Lady Bukubukuchagama always explained that tanks should get geared up first.”

How did equipment for Slimes even work? Ludmila eyed the Em on Lady Delta’s head, imagining it encased in plate armour. Would it have a shield and a warhammer, as well? Would the Druids be equipped with staves and scale? She couldn’t imagine it not getting in the way of a Slime’s usual movements.

“My lord wouldn’t happen to have a sample of this equipment...”

“I-I can bring something the next time we come by,” Lord Mare replied. “It won’t be anything too fancy though.”

“Slimes are already pretty tough,” Lady Aura added. “Lady Bukubukuchagama only used a few accessories and two shields.”

The image in Ludmila’s mind somehow became stranger. Did she mean accessories such as rings and necklaces? What did they go around?

“I hope our artisans can come up with something usable,” Ludmila said. “I’m fairly certain they’ve never considered making equipment for Slimes.”

“It makes you wonder whether all of the stuff that gets lost in the gutters eventually ends up being worn by a Slime somewhere in the sewers,” Florine said.

The wagon pulled up in front of the army barracks. Ludmila checked in with the Elder Liches at the main office before leading everyone deeper into the base. Row upon row of Death-series servitors were engaged in their ceaseless training with one another.

“There are two other trainees based here,” Ludmila told Jelena, “but they still live with their families in the harbour village. Others from the farming villages should show up to live with you here before long. Since you’re the first here, you can choose any room in the girls’ barracks that you’d like.”

Like the rest of the army complex, the two Barracks that had been prepared were fashioned out of the same, dark grey granite. They were nearly identical to the dormitories of the Faculty of Alchemy. Jelena stopped at the first room of the women’s barracks and stuck her head into the doorframe.

“Two beds?” She said.

“Eventually, there should be enough trainees to fill them. You have your Ems, however, so it should be fine to have a room to yourselves.”

Jelena went up and down the corridor before going to the second floor. In the end, she chose the first room at the top of the stairs.

“It seems that we have similar tastes,” Ludmila said. “I would have chosen the same room.”

“What do I do now?” Jelena asked.

“You still have your duties at home to attend to,” Ludmila told her. “In addition to letting your parents know and packing your things, the range you’ve been covering needs to be handed off to the next trainee and you need to make the call about whether or not he can handle it. I take it you understand how important that is.”

The girl nodded. Ludmila smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Good,” she said. “On my end, getting the usual paperwork done shouldn’t be an issue, but I’ll have to figure out how to incorporate your Ems into training. After that, your life in the army begins.”