Chapter 187 - Truth And Alliance

Note : Chapter 188 has been added to the queue !

Chapter 187

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, Conference room

Allya did her best to appear calm.

She knew she was failing miserably.

"I assume there's no point denying everything? Or trying to make a run for it?" Alexandra shook her head, and Allya sighed. "Yes, I know who you are, Alexandra."

"How you know it is what really interests me."

"Dominique."

"If she had guessed it, she would have come to me immediately."

"She didn't. It's the way you reacted to her, and her news about your old party." That made the dungeon core flinch, and it did wonders to reassure the baroness. Whatever the dungeon core was, she wasn't infallible. "Your poker face isn't as good as you might think."

The jab was stupid, but she instinctively pushed her advantage. She needed to get the dungeon off balance. Diplomacy was the only way she was escaping this alive.

"So it would seem. It would certainly explain why you were so nervous afterwards. I must say, I'm impressed. Deducing who I was from that? Not to mention your little delve to scan my depths? You are impressively resourceful. Having something unfortunate happen to you would be a waste."

Allya tried to keep her expression under control as hope flared within her chest.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that, fundamentally, our relationship hasn't changed. We still need each other. You just know more. That makes you more dangerous…and more valuable." Alexandra leaned forward. "And…and despite everything, you did truly rush to my rescue, several times, and rushed to that of my teammate, without a thought for your reputation and safety." Definitely not infallible. "So." She extended her hand. "Here is what I propose. An alliance. A true one. Not all cards on the table, I'm sure we both have secrets we'd rather keep. But…most of our respective hands. So to speak."

"With you as the senior partner, I assume?"

Alexandra smiled.

"Allya, I'm three times your age, have ten times your troops, and I'm in the process of creating a skyborne navy."

"I see. Would that make me your vassal?"

"In a way?" Alexandra shrugged. "I suppose so. But I have no intention of puppeteering you. I'm quite sure you don't need me looking over your shoulder and with my hand up your ass to puppet you. You've been doing quite a good job already."

"Yes, and I'm sure both of our girlfriends would object as well."

Alexandra opened her mouth, then closed it with a snap.

"Well, you are indeed very good at reading people."

"It wouldn't have taken a master, you were positively glowing at that moment."

Alexandra only looked thoughtful for a second, before nodding. Clearly it must have been quite the memorable night for her to find it so quickly.

"True enough. So, what do you say?"

Allya looked around the room, and sighed.

"There isn't really a choice is there? Do you have a truth stone?"

"No need. Had you wanted to sell me out, you already would have. That it took you so long to tell it to someone this close to you -and the fact that you didn't warn your own lover-, is all the proof I need." She smiled, and Allya shivered. "And I believe I have demonstrated my capabilities to sufficient levels to forgo the need of showing the fact that I have an incredibly large stick to go with my carrot."

"I suppose that's fair enough." Allya extended her hand, and Alexandra grabbed it. "Very well, I accept your offer." They shook, and Allya couldn't help but to compare it to their greeting, a scant few minutes ago, that now felt like an eternity. Theirs now felt like the weight of the world rested on it. She smiled depracatingly, trying to ease some of the tension. "Although now that we are true allies, I feel the need to point out that the carrot is in very large part me staying alive."

Alexandra barked out a laugh.

"I suppose that would be a large part of it. But I mean it. I will put a great deal many cards on the table. Speaking of which." She snapped her fingers, and the doors opened, letting through her advisor, both maids…

And a body, identical in features to the boss, but much taller and muscular. As well as endowed, but Allya couldn't care less in that moment.

"You have another boss?!?"

"Oh no." Allya realized with a start it was the newcomer that was speaking. "This isn't a boss. Allya, this is my dungeon avatar."

The baroness looked at the avatar, then the boss, and back again, before laughing.

And promptly fainted.

Alexandra looked at the baroness, then at Emilia, and held her hands up.

"Not my fault!"

"Honey, all of this is your fault." Emilia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, before gesturing at her maids. Clearly they had come prepared for this eventuality, with Sarah grabbing the baroness while Ella somehow pulled a kind of inflatable mattress out of one of her spatial pouches. "Girls, get her comfortable. I'll be pulling our dear dungeon core's ear in the meantime."

*****

"Better?" Said Alexandra, looking curiously subdued, and Allya took a large gulp of the proffered water bottle.

"Very." Answered Allya. She smiled at the maid, and waved her off as she attempted to help her up. "I'll be fine." She stood back up, and sighed, hoping no one notice the slight shake in her legs. "I was just…thoroughly unprepared for that."

"Not surprising. The avatar is one of our most closely guarded secrets." Said Emilia as a maid pulled out a chair for both of them. Alexandra pulled out her own, which given the exasperated glare the second maid gave her, was something of a long suffering friction point.

The dungeon core seemed thoroughly unaware however. That or she had done it on purpose. At this point Ally wasn't going to bed on either.

"I can imagine." Allya took a deep breath. "So, big ol' avatar. I'm assuming that's how you held off the first core thieves?"

"You mean besides you and your party?" Alexandra put up her hands, and Allya realized that she must have lost control of her expression for a split second. "Relax, I'm joking. And surprisingly enough, no. That was actually Emilia." The Earth-born gestured at the advisor, who nodded, seeming remarkably proud of herself, and Allya had to remind herself that despite the dungeon core being clearly the most dangerous one here, all of her subordinates were impressively deadly in their own right.

Which…included her now, she guessed. To some level, at least, because 'semi equal allies' or not, if the dungeon core gave her an order, she sure as hell wasn't going to say no!

"A good reminder that you're hardly the only one running the dungeon. So you've never used the avatar?"

"I have, against the Republic's commandos, during the Scarlet Swords attack."

"I thought you killed them with the self destruct?"

"I did, but not before engaging them directly. The self destruct was very much a last resort measure."

"I can imagine. I'm amazed they managed to overpower you."

"They didn't. They simply outmaneuvered me. My avatar was beyond their ability to destroy. But not my advisor." Alexandra reached out, and held Emilia's hand.

Well, that answered the question of who she was sleeping with at least.

"Ah, so they took her hostage. Must have been upsetting."

"To say the least, yes." Alexandra sighed. "And since we are laying most of our cards on the table, I should mention that the people here are not the only one helping me run the dungeon."

"Oh?" Said Allya, with some trepidation.

Alexandra nodded, and gestured. A few seconds later, a golem emerged from the doorway behind her. It looked thoroughly normal to Allya, which off course set off alarm bells.

Especially when she realized that, despite being a basic golem, it moved with purpose. That wasn't an automata. There was something intelligent in there.

"Allya, please do not faint. I advise you take a deep breath."

"Some liquid courage might help." Said Allya, only half joking, and her eyebrows rose in surprise as the dungeon core produced a bottle of what looked suspiciously like whiskey. She looked at the Earth-born, who shrugged.

"I came prepared."

"So I see." Allya grabbed the bottle with a muttered 'thanks', before pouring herself a generous measure in one of the empty glasses. She took in the aroma of the liquor, and blinked at how oddly…decent it smelled. It was no cheap swill, that was for sure, which begged the question of where the dungeon had obtained it.

She shrugged mentally, and downed the drink, getting a full body shiver as liquid fire poured its way down her throat.

Not cheap swill, but clearly with the alcohol content of moonshine. Damn. Must have been some high rank's pick me up.

"Alright, hit me." She said, before she could pour herself a second glass. She needed to stay sober for this.

"Allya, meet Seraph. Also known as Seraph four sixteen. Command AI of site Seraph four of the Sagitarius Empire, who I fought while we were holding off the Republic's invasion, and subsequently took over her bunker and convinced her to swear fealty to me."

Allya stared, mouth agape, at the golem, before grabbing the bottle of moonshine and, without a second thought, downing it.

Everyone stared at her as she drank the whole thing, before she threw it over her shoulder.

"Alright. So you have an Old World AI. And you took control of the ruins. Why aren't we radioactive ashes, smashed by the God of Fire?"

"The adjudicator did not object. Especially as the ruins had opened themselves. You had noted as such when you first came into my dungeon."

"I suppose you have a point." Allya chuckled, and there was more than a hint of madness in it, as the maids exchanged a worried glance. "That's just…wonderful, isn't it? What's next, you're going to tell me you found a NLR core?"

Alexandra suddenly looked very embarrassed, and Allya's jaw dropped.

"You…"

"Yeah."

"How…"

"Emergency power supply. The adjudicator actually came into the dungeon to check up on it. Didn't mind me getting it."

"I…" Allya took a deep, shuddering breath, smiling and laughing madly under her breath. "I think I'm going to need another bottle. Or a crate. Make it a crate. A big one."

*****

"So, the liberation draws near." Said the merchant, as he looked at the city through the window. He wasn't especially worried, as they were built as one way mirrors and extensively enchanted, but both of his accomplices certainly looked tense.

They were currently inside his townhouse, ostensibly reminiscing over old times in his well furnished living room.

"To some extent." Said a scrawny looking woman, sat in a seat so upholstered it almost swallowed her whole, a discolored spot clearly visible on her collarbone, where a guild medallion would have laid. "Darthar is still in the way of the army. Furthermore, the Republic already has failed catastrophically before. I would not put it beneath them to fail again, even with the odds stacked in their favour."

"Hear hear." Said the last conspirator, an old and battered warrior, sprawled out on the couch like a heavily scarred cat…but every bit ready to pounce nonetheless. "The repies wouldn't know their way around a sword with both hands, a map and one of them fancy Erisian sensors. No, we can only rely on Sunrise and the duchess to not fuck it up."

"Quite." Responded the scrawny woman.

"I do not share your pessimism about the Republic." After all, he had spent enough time selling them weapons to be pretty well aware of their actual military capabilities. "But I cannot deny that their previous army did not exactly cover itself with glory."

"A considerable understatement." Said the warrior. "So, now that we're certain we won't be left hanging in the wind, is it finally time to kick this revolution into gear?"

"Patience my friend, patience. All in due time. The baroness is still winding her troops down, and the city has not yet recovered from martial law. Besides, we need to finish our, ah, package for the dungeon. After all, if there is one good thing that came out of that little tramp and wannabe general's failure at taking Rebirth, it is that we know the core is bribable. And any bribe will be considerably cheaper and more effective than trying to take the dungeon by force."

"Amelia's not that bad, as far as generals go. A bleeding soft hearted idiot, true, but at least she has some blue blood in her veins. Not like this 'Grant' trash. Legendary mercenary my ass." The warrior sighed. "But as much as I hate to admit it, you're right about the dungeon. Although I do maintain that we could just off the baroness, her little slut of a girlfriend, half the council, and present her with a fait accompli!" He snorted. "After all, what is she going to do? Take over the town for herself? Ah! As if even their majesties would stand for that! Especially not with two armies bearing down on her."

The scrawny woman shifted uncomfortably.

"Given how many people she has killed." She said, after clearing her throat. "I would rather not take the chance."

"Quite." Answered the merchant, before the warrior could speak. "And we attempted to have the baroness assassinated, remember? It did not go well."

"True. I suppose they've gotten wiser since the first Republic attack." The warrior grabbed a canteen off of one of the many pouches dotting his outfit, and took a swig. "But they've been gutted by that fight with the constructs. Honestly, we might not even have to kill that many of them."

"Truly?"

"Yeah. If we offer a good enough alternative, especially with some members of the council for legitimacy, the soldiers will fall in line. They're too weary right now, still recuperating and rehashing the command structure around the fatalities. Offer a stable alternative, give them a raise, and they'll fall in meek as you please. Then we can use them to guard the airfields and caravans or something harmless when the Republic's garrison arrives. No sense in wasting perfectly useable soldiers after all. Though we do need to kill all other pretenders. Otherwise they'll rally around them."

"That is going to be more complicated. Since assassination isn't an option, we need an army. Or at least a significant amount of troops, and a distraction."

"Right, like those grow on trees."

The merchant smiled.

"Actually, the baroness was good enough to provide us one." He turned towards the table in the middle of the room, and tapped the map sprawled on it. Right on the city's dungeons. "After all, most of the Scarlet Swords are still rotting away." The baroness wasn't about to forgive the mercenaries that had almost taken her town, before the UDC had saved her at the proverbial last second. "And one of my underlings has made some overtures, under the guise of assessing them for a 'parole program' as part of an enterprise. Only a maniac like that baroness wouldn't have these able bodies worked to the bones as slaves, but I digress. They are, unsurprisingly, extremely dissatisfied with their current conditions, and would be more than happy to assist provided they are armed, pardoned, and paid their dues by the Republic." He shrugged. "I would have rather reached out to the Void Blades, unfortunately they are beyond our reach, within the dungeon's prison."

"Interesting. Will we actually pay them?"

The merchant shrugged.

"We shall see. I think so. Although they may be favorable to different terms once the Republic's army arrives." He smiled, and so did his co-conspirators. "So now we have our army. Since they had nothing to do but train and keep in shape in their cells, I believe they'll be the strike force we need. Now we only require weapons, and a distraction. Any ideas?"