FB: Chapter 73 – Imperial Power

“Announcing Viscountess Foxy Blight, Guild Leader of the Fanged Fox Guild, Grand Champion, Acolyte of the Human God, and God Slayer!” the herald cried out as I entered the Imperial Throne Room. The last title hadn’t been announced publicly, but Imperial Heralds were cut from a different cloth and I needed all the leverage I could get. The Tri-Crystal Throne was vacant, but there were several other nobles present and courtiers.

Prime Minister Verus was standing on a step to the right and below the elevated Tri-Crystal Throne that rested on a massive, tiered dais. I advanced forward to the base of the stairs leading up to the throne and kneeled while bowing my head.

“This humble servant has wronged the Human Empire and has come to accept judgement,” I declared without hesitation.

“Members of your guild have broken Imperial Edicts in regards to trade outside the Human Empire. The value of trade in question has been assessed to be 12,412 platinum. While this money was used in defense of the Human Empire during your order of mobilization, that has only spared you from formal censure,” Prime Minister Verus declared. They had been monitoring me for sure since they knew the exact amount. I kept kneeling with my head bowed.

“Contribution does not excuse illegal acts. Do you wish to state anything before the Imperial Court before a judgement is rendered,” Prime Minister Verus asked.

“Ignorance is not a shield. The actions taken are ones that I must accept responsibility for, even if they were not carried out by myself. I humbly ask the Imperial Court for mercy befitting its regal and majestic nature,” I said.

Before the Prime Minister could respond, the herald for the Imperial Court spoke up. “All rise and pay homage to Emperor Catan Shadam Ixxion the Twelfth, Supreme Ruler of the Human Empire, Duke of the Imperial Capital, Protector of the Realm, and Divine Saint of the Trinity!”

I stood up and then quickly kneeled once more. Kneeling the first time had been to the Imperial Throne. This time was to the Emperor himself. It was a minor thing, but an important protocol of the Imperial Court. Not doing so would make it appear as if I was appealing to the court as a whole and not the Human Emperor which would be very bad, since he was the only person who mattered. I couldn’t afford to offend him in any way, since that would just be another reason and excuse to make my punishment worse.

There was complete and utter silence as the Human Emperor sat upon the Tri-Crystal Throne. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard as everyone was completely and utterly still, since no one wanted to be caught up in the punishment I was about to get. “All may rise,” the Human Emperor said. I was about to rise as well, since he said all, but stopped when he called me out. “Except for the supplicant. You can stay kneeling.” The half inch my knee lifted off the beautifully tiled floor depicting the Human Emperor stabbing a dark god was quickly corrected and placed back down on the floor.

“The new arrivals to my Empire are quite troublesome. Thinking that the laws we hold sacred are mere suggestions. Foxy Blight is something of a hero to these new arrivals, so I think it is best that an example is made. What do you think Prime Minister,” the Emperor asked. I knew he didn’t care what the Prime Minister said, it was just to make himself look reasonable.

“Your Majesty, she has given contributions to the Empire and has rallied to our defense. I was planning to cancel out all war merits that had been earned and issue a new mobilization order.” That wouldn’t be that bad in terms of punishments. But I knew the Human Emperor wasn’t going to be that reasonable. I just knew I was going to get a quest. I did not want a quest. I was praying to the Trinity, QAI, and anything that might be listening that I didn’t get a quest from the Human Emperor.

“Hmm, that is a sound suggestion. Merits earned through illegal acts shouldn’t count. Let the war merits the Fanged Fox Guild has earned be stricken from the record and a new mobilization order issued. That would place the required merits at 85,000 based on the number of members her guild has,” he said.

“Yes, your Majesty,” the Prime Minister said.

“Now for a proper punishment for Foxy Blight herself for breaking our laws. I know the perfect thing she can do in order to repent, a quest. Does the court approve?” he asked and there was a round of applause and murmurs of approval for the idea. A quest by the Human Emperor was the worst. The last time around, it had become something of a meme.

“Four years should be more than enough time to complete what I have in mind. Failure will lead to a guild penalty and the title of Fugitive.” That title was worse than Outcast. An Imperial Bounty would be issued for my death and if I was killed, I would lose ten levels. The bounty would remain in place until I was level 1. Then the title would revert to Outcast, which meant no one would do business with me inside the Human Empire. That effect still applied as a Fugitive. The only worse title was Traitor.

“What do you think supplicant?” the Human Emperor asked.

“Your divine Majesty is wise and benevolent,” I said since there was no other answer to give. If I complained, then he would be able to apply an immediate punishment without even the glimmer of hope that came with an impossible quest.

“Then I shall now issue you your official quest to clear your name. You are to find the weakness and slay the Unmentionable Horror. Do you understand supplicant?” That was a legendary monster, which had a level in the 400s. Also, with the inclusion of the words ‘find the weakness’ that meant I had to go through whatever asinine things were required to permanently kill the monster as part of the lore. That was why Arch-Mage Blight was permanently dead, but Dark Saint Gamabuturon wasn’t. He might have been weakened by the loss of his blade and pendant, but he was still out there somewhere.

This kind of quest was called a punishment quest and was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to avoid. It didn’t matter if I died on the quest or spent countless resources. All that mattered was if I completed the quest or not. Well, time to make it as easy as possible.

“Yes, your divine Majesty, thank you for the chance to complete this quest. All I would humbly ask is that all information your glorious Empire has on such a monster so that I may complete the quest as quickly as possible in order to return to your favor,” I said. Basically, I was asking to skip all the lore driven parts of the quest and get told exactly what I needed to do to permanently kill the monster. It was a reasonable request since the quest itself meant to be impossible. Dangling hope and then snatching it away. The Human Emperor’s impossible quests were a stuff of legend, nightmares, and memes.

“Of course. Prime Minister, ensure that the information is provided to the supplicant. That way she will have no trouble completing such a quest. In fact the only reason one could fail after receiving such help, would be if they truly were a Traitor to the Human Emperor,” he said. Well, he just upped the penalty of failure by quite a bit.

That was the problem with the noble title. The Human Emperor could replace it with a criminal title no matter the range. If I didn’t have that, then I could run and just never show myself before the Human Emperor ever again and I would be fine. But the noble title was also a chain upon me.

The Human Emperor departed the Imperial Throne Room and I was then escorted to the Prime Minister’s Officer to wait. I took the time to send a message to Henry about the new mobilization order that I was about to get.

The Prime Minister entered his office and took a seat behind his desk. He waved a hand at me to stay seated while he began writing on a scroll. Once done he stamped it and set in front of me. That was the new mobilization order. He also set a stack of paper in front of me.

“Your mobilization order and all information we have on the Unmentionable Horror. Good luck on your quest,” Prime Minister Verus said. I could see the joy in his eyes at my predicament.

“Thank you, Prime Minister,” I said and collected all the documentation and then left. I descended from the Imperial Palace and returned to my office.

“Here, we need to send more people and get more war merits. Our war merit count has been reset to zero,” I said while handing Henry the mobilization order I had been given. “You are helping me go through this and figuring everything out about the Unmentionable Horror.”

I set the stack of papers on my desk and pointed at Quant Z. “Why?” he asked.

“Since I have to kill the stupid thing permanently, which means following the lore. You created this mess, so you can help fix it,” I ordered. He walked over and picked up a sheet of paper. I did so as well. After three hours of going through the stack of paper, we each had a sheet of notes.

“Well, if you have to kill it, you are screwed. It is an ethereal poison monster. So immune to physical damage and poison damage. Only magic can kill it. Attempts have been made, but nothing has stuck. It resides in the Black Swamp, which is a level 300 zone. You can survive the swamp with all the poison resistance you have,” Quant Z stated. Of course the monster was immune to poison damage. The Human Emperor was nothing if not kind and thoughtful to give me a monster that was tailor made to resist my build as much as possible. The sheer sarcasm from this thought was as immense as the burden of the quest.

“It also has no history we can dig into either. Which means it is the kind of monster that needs an alchemical solution,” I said with a sigh. That was going to make things even more difficult. I needed to make a direct counter to the monster to permanently remove it.

“I suggest you run,” Quant Z said.

“I can’t since I have a noble title,” I replied.

“Oh, then you shouldn’t have gotten the title.” I really wanted to punch him. If only I could unleash him on the Human Emperor and let them destroy each other. That would be the best solution to my problems.

“The quest is impossible,” I said with a sigh.

“Really? What does that mean then?” Henry asked.

“Nothing good. Especially since I will be declared a Traitor if I fail. That means I would be imprisoned by the Human Empire inside the Imperial Palace. The chance of escape is zero,” I said. One could advance one room through the Chambers of Torment if they skinned themselves and suffered other such wonderful torments. No one had ever gotten past the first room to learn what the following rooms required. At the end was a shrine to the Trinity you could use to reset your character.

“Isn’t there another authority we can appeal to?” Henry asked.

“The Human Emperor is the highest authority. Absolute power. If you don’t like his rules, the only option is to run,” I replied. That wasn’t completely true, but true enough that I wasn’t going to get out of this impossible quest.

“And he isn’t spying on us now?” Henry asked.

“He probably is, but he will wait the four years before acting. Like rats trapped on a sinking ship, he wants to watch me drown screaming. I could kill the Unmentionable Horror. It would be a pain, expensive, and a major hassle, but it could be done. The problem is permanently killing it.” I let out a long sigh.

“You mentioned needing an alchemist?” Henry asked while Quant Z went back to looking through the papers.

“Yes. Permanently killing things is very hard. This kind of monster is probably linked to some item, location, or even dark god. That connection needs to be undone. If the connection isn’t known, then one can use an alchemic product to break that connection. The problem is, such an item would be a step above a divine poison since we have no starting point,” I said.

“I believe I have something. Look at these passages,” Quant Z said. I carefully read them. He really was a genius. Henry read them after me but he clearly didn’t understand.

“You want to explain?” I asked Quant Z.

“Of course. The reports and stories about the Unmentionable Horror show a trend where it dislikes regular water. Avoiding the spots in the Black Swamp where there is fresh water. All the locations where it has suffered some damage are ones where there is fresh water,” Quant Z explained.

“That is our starting point. We need to locate an item that embodies fresh water. Turn it into a consumable of some kind. That will be useful in a fight. But what we really need to do is a large scale change of the terrain,” I said. Quant Z was already pulling out maps of the area.

“Why do you have maps?” Henry asked Quant Z.

“To plan the guild’s expansion of course. Now stop being a distraction with your stupid questions. The closest body of fresh water is the Mineral Springs above the valley where the Black Swamp is located. Suspiciously convenient. We will need to excavate a channel to this river,” Quant Z dragged his finger along the map. “Then we will need to drain the swamp, by expanding the Black River that leads to the Infinite Ocean,” he dragged another finger along the map.

“We drain the Black Swamp, then fill the entire thing with fresh water. That should be enough to permanently kill the Unmentionable Horror,” Quant Z declared. I shook my head.

“That will deal with the poison nature, but it also ethereal and a high level. Its spirit will need to be laid to rest. I will need to get a favor from a Cardinal to assist in purifying its remains,” I said with a frown.

“Won’t they do that for free?” Henry asked.

“Not for a regular monster like this. For a follower of a dark god, there is no problem, but regular monsters no. Even more so since this is a punishment quest. For something like this they will have to use a Spirit Sealing Crystal most likely, or I need to get one myself.” At least we had a plan, an impossible plan, but it was still a plan to complete this impossible quest, which might not be impossible anymore.