Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 16

Marcus remained silent in the wake of Baroness Gagnier’s words, their pressure lingering on the hearts and minds of the Paladins in attendance. The Naga cleared his throat, and the young noblewoman released their attention.

“Ehm…as you’ve received the content of our orientation, I will ask if you understand and accept the expectations for conduct within His Majesty’s realm?”

The hall remained still, even following the Naga’s query. Ryurarius looked down at Baroness Gagnier, who avoided his gaze. The hands crossed in front of her waist fidgeted nervously.

“Dear guests?” The Naga spoke again.

“That is, uh…yes, of course,” Lorenzo finally replied. “We have been charged with a sacred duty in the Sorcerous Kingdom, so if this is what must be done, it will be done.”

“Excellent,” the Naga said. “Then that will be all. Thank you for listening to this one – your guide will lead you back outdoors, and you may enter the city proper at your leisure.”

He inclined his body ever so slightly, then looked at them expectantly. Lorenzo stood and turned around to face the contingent. With a nod and wave of his hand, he directed them to follow the militia officer back outside. Marcus stood and waited with Lorenzo, watching the Paladins file out of the room in an orderly fashion. Behind them, Baroness Gagnier could be barely heard, speaking in a low voice with Ryurarius.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” She said, “All of your hesitation over this must seem silly now.”

“…half the room displayed their aggression when this one entered the hall.”

“It was just a reaction,” she replied, “they reacted to me when I walked in, too.”

“This one feels that your comparison is skewed…”

“Oh hush, you. I’m just saying that people won’t act on their impulses in such a straightforward manner as your former associate. If even Paladins from the Theocracy can curb their…enthusiasm, then we should expect no less from anyone else. Your fears are entirely unfounded. Being turned into a purse – who comes up with such preposterous rumours…”

Their voices faded out of hearing as Marcus followed Lorenzo out of the door behind the others. They returned to their mounts and reformed the column. Marcus found himself beside Alessia again as they proceeded through the ‘military district’. He brooded as its ridiculous layout crossed his vision once again.

“Brother Marcus,” Alessia faced forward as she spoke.

“Hm?”

“This Noble, she used a Skill on us, yes?”

Marcus furrowed his brow at her assertion. Alessia glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

“You men were all too busy making eyes at her that you did not even notice,” she said. “Perhaps the Grandmasters should have sent more women?”

“That is not–”

“It is,” her tone squashed his rebuttal flat. “It is worse yet that you do not realize. How many of you were taking turns pulling her attention back and forth with your questions? The Captain barely asked anything, and then I had to ask the scaly old man everything.”

He glowered at Alessia, but she only sniffed dismissively in response.

Thinking back to the orientation, he tried to dissect the interactions between the Baroness and the Paladins. It was difficult to tell whether she had been actively using a Skill throughout the session or it was just the result of her overflowing charisma, but the strong idea that she had imparted upon them near the end certainly could have been punctuated by the use of a Skill.

“That she used some Skill is possible,” he admitted, “but Oratory Skills are rarely wielded by Nobles so directly. Seeing her in person, however, I have little doubt she is deserving of being so highly lauded by the people. It would not be surprising that such a talented individual has learned how.”

“…you are not worried she has done something to you?”

“Done something?” Marcus snorted, “That is not how it works, yes? Vocations with Oratory Skills are not the same as magic casters. The Priestess at the border did it too if you did not notice. Many different things must come together for them to manifest, but they are nearly always used to bolster or inspire others, or reinforce one’s words. Bards, Evangelists, leaders of large groups of people like Nobles and Commanders…they all have the potential to exhibit these Skills, but it is not so easy that all can use them. Leader-types of inhuman races often have these capabilities as well, which is why we prioritize their removal in combat.”

“What’s the worst she could have done against us, then?”

“Hmm…nothing directly harmful, I think. The worst would be some sort of persuasion or intimidation, but she did no such thing. She just reinforced the importance of her words to us, purely for our benefit.”

“Still,” Alessia said, “should there not be some law for that?”

“How can there be a law for that?” Marcus laughed, “It would be like trying to stop Merchants from haggling. We would have to arrest every Bard for performing songs and poetry; every Commander flogged for giving orders to their own soldiers.”

They passed into the second wall through the next gatehouse, entering the common area of E-Rantel. It did not seem as bad as the military district, but it still bore an appearance that spoke clearly of its designers.

The main thoroughfares were paved with cobblestones, while a web of unpaved streets and alleys branched out from them. Buildings along the major streets saw signs of recent refurbishment, but they were still often constructed and organized haphazardly. If one was to say something nice about it, they would probably comment on its cleanliness over anything else.

There were apartments, shops, shophouses, warehouses, inventory lots and guild offices all jumbled together in no discernable order or regard for hazard. The confusing layout had him decide that it might be for defensive purposes: an attempt to disorient those who broke through the second wall just as much as he currently was.

Though the city lacked a moat, the walls themselves were somewhat passable…but he did not see any way for defenders to manage breaches or defend against attackers enchanted with flight magic. There were no towers or anything similar placed in the wide-open spaces between the walls to provide defence against aerial attackers. It was as if the builders constructed a city with larger walls, set aside a crude space for many soldiers and decided to call it a fortress city.

Well, technically they had the right idea on a very basic level, but he didn’t think E-Rantel would have stood a chance against anything but weak ground assaults when they belonged to Re-Estize. A rather mundane fortress city built with mundane perceptions of warfare. Several large blazes set from above would have probably gutted the entire city within a night if what he saw so far was consistent with the rest of it. Taking the city intact would probably be the greatest challenge. Certainly, the Sorcerous Kingdom could compensate for E-Rantel’s weaknesses with its overwhelming might, but the city was probably due for major changes when they were ready to do so.

He was at a loss as to what could be done, however. Challengers to the amount of power displayed by the Sorcerous Kingdom would just as simply obliterate the city – any city, really – in all the configurations he could think of. Anyone else would be simply scoured off of the field before they came within sight of the walls. Maybe they would just turn the fortress city into a regular city to optimize their capital’s utilization of land.

Marcus considered Corelyn Harbour. Though it was much better constructed and organized – and not prone to rapidly spreading fires – it shared several of the same weaknesses as E-Rantel. It relied on assaults being stopped by the castle, or forces on the field should they circumvent the castle. The defences were sufficient for attacks by massive armies, while powerful individuals would be opposed by other powerful individuals.

He thought of the woman that had come to dispose of the Death Knight in Katze Plains. She would be able to destroy any number of Death Knights and Soul Eaters, so the real question was what else the Sorcerous Kingdom could field to challenge her. The outcome of that battle would tilt the balance of power irrevocably in favour of the victor…unless they had other powerful champions to field.

A battle where none but the strongest mattered. Marcus shook his head. There was an order to strength in warfare, but if so many beings like that existed, that order would be casually overturned.

“Brother Marcus,” Alessia said. “Why do you keep staring up blankly at nothing with your mouth half-open? Oh! Is it a Dragon?”

Heads tilted upwards at her excited voice, looking to the unclouded cerulean skies. Alessia shaded her eyes with a hand and turned her head this way and that.

“I was just comparing this territory to what it must have been before,” he replied and looked back down to the street level. “Here, it is most apparent.”

“Oh,” Alessia replied with audible disappointment. “Well, it could be seen on the way in through Corelyn County. The villages and hamlets beyond were not much changed; only the highway and the settlements upon it were new. The place between the first and second walls was quite irritating to behold, but the city around us is to be expected, no?”

“I suppose…” Marcus said in noncommittal tones, “of the city itself, I was not sure what to expect – especially of its people.”

“Hmm…yes, I wonder how to tell the heretics apart? While the gods will know their own, it is not so easy to discern on this side. We are out of the south now, so most of these people should be so…”

The young Paladin looked suspiciously at the pedestrians following the street. Anyone who met her gaze quickly averted their own and scurried off.

“That is not what I meant. In the south, Skeletons could be seen performing common labours, but here it is all sentries, patrols and some Soul Eaters. The people here do not seem to openly use the Undead in their daily lives.”

Alessia looked around as they traversed several city blocks.

“This seems to be so,” she said. “Perhaps there is no room? The city appears crowded enough as it is.”

“Or they are followers of The Four and have difficulties embracing created Undead as labour. Even one of our faithful might decline if all of their neighbours looked down upon them for doing so.”

“The children don’t seem to care,” Alessia noted a group play-fighting along the street. “Ah – that boy just struck a Death Knight with a stick because his fellow ducked behind it.”

Marcus wondered what the limits behind such activity were in this chaotic city. Would the Undead care that it was a child if they were damaged through some unlikely circumstance? He watched the children run along, screaming and shouting up a side street as they continued their imaginary battle and disappeared from view. The Death Knight only continued to monitor the surroundings from its corner.

After travelling halfway into the common area, the busy streets opened up into an even busier plaza surrounded by an assortment of important looking buildings. Hundreds of market stalls filled the space, selling all manner of wares. Ahead and to his left, Marcus saw the massive cathedral that he thought must be their destination…or was it a cathedral belonging to the others? Marcus hoped he wasn’t one of the ones assigned to the city – it would be a constant headache trying to tell everything apart.

Fortunately, a man was waiting in front of the entrance whose white vestments were lined with a hem of gold – the colours of an adherent of Alah Alaf – marking him as one of the priesthood of The Six. They dismounted and Lorenzo made his greetings at the head of the column. After a brief discussion, the captain gestured for the rest of the column to follow him. Going around the perimeter, they found that the cathedral was much larger than it appeared.

There was a long dormitory in the back, and they entered through a gate into a spacious cloister where many herbs and medicinal plants were being grown. There was a stable near the entryway that had fallen out of use for so long that it no longer smelled of horses. It was still in good condition, however, and the Paladins found places for their mounts.

Returning outside, they found the priest standing nearby, who led them into a side hall. Walking past several offices, they found themselves back at the front of the cathedral again. A small trickle of supplicants could be seen going in and out of the vestibule.

“「Lion’s Heart」.”

Several heads turned as Alessia cast the spell on herself.

“What?” She said defensively, “I was so nervous that my heart was trying to come out of my breastplate.”

“It amazes me that you find His Excellency the Bishop more frightening than anything else we have come by here,” Marcus said, and the men around them chuckled.

After a minute of preparation, they entered the vestibule and turned into the cathedral. Within, they were greeted by an interior that might be seen in any cathedral within the Theocracy. There were even old sacraments of the faith that he had never expected to see outside of their nation. Unlike the newly-built temples in the settlements on their way, the cathedral had a sense of history: signs of its use over generations were mended and polished with care. The light scent of incense and beeswax lingered in the air. As a whole, it gave the cathedral a sacred feeling – one that could be tangibly felt by those on its premises.

The people praying and being ministered to in the aisles looked up at the armoured column curiously. Ahead, a man who looked slightly older than Marcus awaited them, adorned in the vestments of a Bishop. The Paladins joined their captain in his crisp salute, then genuflected before the Bishop of E-Rantel.

“Your Excellency,” Lorenzo said in a clear and solemn voice, “on behalf of my contingent and our brethren in the south, I greet you in the name of The Six. We have arrived in answer to your call, and to carry out the will of the gods.”