Chapter 198 - A New Thread

Chapter 198

Elturian Coast, Duchy of Sunrise

City of Sunrise, Ducal Palace

"So, they have failed." Said the duchess, calmly, and the spy master nodded. "Unfortunate. But then again, I am not complaining."

The spy master looked at her oddly, and she chuckled.

"Of course not! Soon our armies will have Darthar encircled. Rebirth's supply of golems will stop anyway. And we both know we cannot trust the Republic. They are our allies only to acquire the dungeon town. As soon as they have finished digesting it, the senate will turn against us. It is as inevitable as the tide. A war between us and the Republic is long overdue, that much their 'majesties' were right about."

"Of course milady. Still, would it not pose problems?"

"If they cannot take a half destroyed city with several hundred thousand trained soldiers, a fleet of airships and Gods know how many siege guns, then they deserve everything that's coming to them. If it comes to that and they are incapable of upholding their end of the bargain, we will be able to take Rebirth at our leisure once we have crushed the loyalists."

The spy master hesitated, and the duchess smiled over her glass of wine.

"Yes my dear? Something you wished to add?"

The spy master nodded, gathering his courage. The duchess was hardly the most stable individual to work for, her immediate family's 'accidents' at the hand of the crown's assassins had left its mark, but she was also in a good mood thanks to the unending string of successes in the field, even if the northern advance was frustratingly slow, thanks to Grant the Giant's interference.

"I would advise against underestimating Rebirth my lady. The dungeon core is extremely lethal, and possesses a sizeable army."

"One that had been crushed by the Old World constructs."

"Maybe. But a dungeon won't have any problems rebuilding it."

"Not when said dungeon has been obliterated by said constructs."

"Up to a point."

"True enough, I suppose." The duchess smiled. "Very well, I'll keep it in mind. But that 'Crystal' is hardly the UDC. Dungeons are only a danger once they have a secondary core and avatars to project their force. Otherwise their monsters are bound to their vicinity."

"That still makes her a considerable obstacle to conquest."

"True, true. Let's make some contingencies then. If the Republic proves even more incompetent than we realized, we'll need to take over that benighted dungeon town. And that means dealing with the resident core."

"And the nobles. The local population exhibits an unusual degree of loyalty and devotion towards them."

"They're pathetic upstarts. But then again, we would not want a prole rebellion, especially not when most of them are adventurers." She could get away with enslaving entire cities, and the odd adventurer her and there, but she was not insane enough to attempt the same trick on a city comprised mostly of adventurers.

If nothing else, Starvak was still right there…and she had no interest in facing off against an archon.

"Indeed."

"Then we can knock out two birds with one stone. We won't kill the nobles, just enslave them. Offer them up to the dungeon as gifts, her 'oppressors' now under her thumb. I'm sure she'll find ways to use them. I know I would." The spy master shivered, but didn't comment. There were somethings he would rather not know, and he had a feeling this was one of them.

"Of course. But I doubt that would be a sufficient carrot, so to speak."

"Perhaps, but sometimes you don't need much of a carrot, if you have a really big stick." She smiled at the spy master's unease. "Don't worry, I doubt the Republic will fail this badly. And even if they do, Rebirth will be caught between the hammer and the anvil, once we have captured Darthar."

"Let us hope. Then, shall we try follow up operations?"

"No. We're done with Rebirth. We upheld our end of the deal, let the Republic deal with it. Focus all your efforts on Darthar." She grimaced. "Corrupt or not, they expected the uprising and had been ready for it for a while. And that shield will make taking it…difficult. Once we have punched through the fortresses protecting it at any rate. Which reminds me, how are we on turning them to our side?"

"Unfortunately, that plan has failed. A royal Knight-Commander named Philia Elcanor has arrived and taken command of the forts. The officers amenable to our advances and arguments have been sidelined, and the royal troops have taken over too many sensitive spots to make a mutiny viable."

"Damn. I don't have to remind you that every day that passes allows Darthar to import more of Rebirth's weapons, do I?"

"No my lady, you do not. I am exploring other avenues to reduce the fortresses quickly, but there are complications."

"There always are. And Asaria?"

"Our efforts are proceeding much better on this front. Grant the Giant has proven as incorruptible as expected, same for his own officers, but many minors nobles are more receptive to our mana and offers for territory. Their majesties won't be able to reconstitute their defensive line around the capital. They will have to retreat from within the city. And once that's done…"

"The war will be as good as over, and the rest of the Kingdom will fall in line. Excellent work!"

"Thank you my lady. I live to serve."

*****

"Well, commander, I never thought we would meet quite like this again." Said Allya as Gothram was ushered into her office, gesturing towards the chair in front of her desk.

"I had assumed as such. Given how little intention we were given, it was pretty easy to guess that you were intent on throwing away the key." Answered the mercenary as he sat down on the proferred seat.

"Hardly. I simply wanted to keep you out of the way, and fork you off somewhere once the current conflict was over and I was sure you would not end up fighting against me again."

"And as a potential emergency levy?"

"Only in the direst of circumstances." Allya smiled. "Still, after your little…demonstration, things have changed. Which I'm sure is why you did what you did."

"Truth be told, while it factored into my decision, it was hardly the primary factor." Allya tilted her head, and the mercenary sighed. "Quite simply, I knew this would have been suicide, plain and simple. I saw what you could do firsthand, and from my cell I saw you and the dungeon stand against an army of the Old World. Compared to that, me and my men are nothing. And your soldiers are probably a bit more talkative than they should be near 'mere' mercenaries, even -or perhaps especially- imprisonned ones. I had some idea of how deep the alliance between you and the dungeon runs, and I wasn't going to bet on her not taking your side in this."

"So, you took the only option that might get you out of this alive?"

"More or less? Even if we'd tried to run away immediately after being freed, we'd have had to punch through your troops, capture a fully stocked airship, and have the crew take us out, not to mention make it out before the air defenses came fully online. An impossible task. Comparatively, stabbing our 'benefactors' in the back at the most opportune moment was child's play."

"Well, child's play or not, it is appreciated. Even if it was only to save your skin, and I somehow didn't care about my knight, I would still have to reward behavior like this, if only to encourage others to do the same should it come down to it." Allya shrugged. "And in this case, I do care about my knight. A lot. Which is why I am sorry that we had to contain you back into the cells for the time being."

"It's fine. The accomodations were rather more hospitable this time around." The baroness nodded. There wasn't much that could be done with a jail cell, but her men had done their best, and she'd personally contracted a few bars and taverns to get them food and drinks worthy of the name. She would have readily used her troops' excellent catering, but it was already significantly strained thanks to the Dusk Blade's unexpected arrival, and she'd rather let it recover and find its footing again. "Besides, none of us expect to stay here for long."

"Oh? How so?"

"We are mercenaries. Trained fighters in a time of war. Especially for you, as enemies are coming in on all fronts. Now that we have proven we are willing to work with you, even at the expense of other employers, and have thoroughly burned our bridges with the other side, you have far better uses for us that making us rot into a jail cell."

"True. To some level." She leaned forward. "Simply put, I can't hire you."

"But-"

She held up her hand.

"I can't hire you not because I don't need you or do not have fund, but because my people hate you. Many died during your attack, and a lot of my citizens suffered. Simply put, you're not worth the unrest and morale cost. Your change of heart went some way towards fixing that, but there will always be those who will see you as the enemy no matter what, including inside the city guard, and we are at a stage now where I simply cannot afford that kind of friction inside my forces." That, and she had virtually unlimited cannon fodder thanks to Alexandra. She didn't need some mercs with dubious morale, questionnable ethics, and an even more questionnable track record. Especially as she'd have to spend a lot of time training them to use the Tarkian or dungeon weaponry. "Instead, I have made some calls, and found…alternative arrangements."

There was a pause, and Gothram leaned forward as well, their foreheads nearly touching. Allya had to withold a smile as she saw Rogard visibly twitch in the corner of her vision, the old elven bodyguard clearly not liking having an ex enemy this close to her.

"What kind of arrangements my lady?" Asked the commander.

"If you are interested, I have a contract for quite a substantial sum to Rapier Enterprise, the main company of Elkaryos, my corporate partner and a Master Merchant of significant renown…and resources. The contract is generous, lucrative, and calls for you to assist in the counter-insurgency operations and siege preparations underway in Darthar."

Allya could physically see the gears turning in the commander's mind. The contract would almost certainly pay less than what she would, and place his troops directly in the path of one of the largest armies to have ever been assembled in the Asarian Kingdom…but it would also place him inside a city with Old World shields that nothing had managed to breach in recorded history. Granted, that hadn't stopped the Kingdom from conquering the city a century and a half ago, but it was still a formidable obstacle.

Compared to her own city guard's record of having been attacked by commandos, mercenaries, a full republic army, Old World constructs and nuked, repeatedly, it wasn't a particularly hard decision.

"Well, I would like to see the terms of the contract for myself before I give a definitive answer, but suffice to say that I am very interested."

"Excellent. Note that I will banish you from Rebirth for at least a few years, purely as a public relations thing, but it will be done."

"Understandable. Will we still be able to buy products from Rebirth though?"

"Of course. In fact, if you wish to acquire anything, the contract comes with a sizeable sign up bonus, that I will pay from the city's coffers in mana as soon as you sign up. Elkaryos can repay me later, and consider it a…tangible token of my appreciation for saving my knight."

Gothram nodded. They both knew all of that money would be sunk into buying muskets and other equipment from the town, with maybe even a bit of speculative trading. But it was round about enough that none of her people could accuse her of just arming the people that had been trying to kill them a few months before.

"Thank you milady, that is deeply appreciated."

"Don't mention it. And with that, we can say that any bad feeling between us, like you ordering your men to target me, is done and over with."

"...What? I ordered no such thing."

Allya froze.

"I…During the battle. Your troops specifically targeted me, ignoring more tempting and important targets to focus all of their firepower on me. One of the reasons we managed to hold the line was because many of the detachments that made it through beelined it for me instead of widening the breach and forcing us to pull back."

"Milady, I've never given such an order!" Said the mercenary commander. "You were a valid and valuable target, do not get me wrong, but my orders were very specific to ignore you and your honor guard whenever possible. If you were willing to keep your most elite warriors out of the fight, far from me to draw them into it!"

Allya stared at him. She scanned his face, and briefly toyed with the idea of bringing in a truth stone…but decided against it. Not right now anyway. The man looked too confused, and was being too candid, to be lying.

Which meant that some of his troops had deliberately targeted her…against they commanding officer's orders.

Her hands tightened as she remembered Sylvia, that bitch, and what Alexandra had found out…Another seemingly innocuous series of oddities that lined up too perfectly.

Sylvia, that had recruited a fair chunk of the Scarlet Swords into her ship's crew. Recruits that had been integrated surprisingly easily.

"Shit." She said out loud, before slamming her hands onto her desk as she sat up. "I need to sent a messenger. Stay here."

Alexandra needed to know about this. Immediately.