“What?”
The idea just sounded so… Absurd.
“Our military does more than just fight wars or defend borders. We also have subjugation squads that roam around handling threats. Sort of similar to an adventuring squad except you get government authority to go places and do things.”
I raised an eyebrow, “And do these squads see a lot of action? Seltas looks relatively peaceful at first glance.”
He shrugged, “It varies. Sometimes we get creatures coming out of the Vale to the south. But we do have a border patrol for that and it usually keeps monsters hemmed in so that’s more rare. But there are other areas around Seltas that might interest you. Pay is pretty good considering the dangers of the job, you’ll usually have a full squad to run with so you don’t need to worry about that front. You get to keep trophies and some materials from whatever you kill to start accumulating better stuff. There’s more but I think you get the idea.”
I looked at him, feeling slightly suspicious. That sounded way too good to be true, it was almost the same as being an adventurer. A difference was that there was ultimately a chain of command to follow and said the chain of command had tried to screw me over before, namely during the invasion of Elendar. They had sent out the adventurers to essentially be meatshields for them. Granted their plan had worked effectively, but that didn’t fully justify…
“Fuck,” I whispered to myself.
Lillian's eyes narrowed, “What?”
“That invasion? Supposedly Alixia? Pretty sure that wasn’t them.”
She frowned, “Can you prove that?”
I shook my head, “It’s more of a hunch than anything else, but there are a few things that put the idea in my head now that I’m thinking over it. One of the things Ili’kithari mentioned to me was she was going to the other citadels to communicate the threat, and honestly, we don’t really believe Alixia managed to get an army halfway across a country without getting seen do we? That’s more the domain of a really high-level commander. I wouldn’t put it past her to do something to intentionally try and draw the Harbinger out. Besides, did you ever find the remnants of that army after it was routed? Did you even manage to get a prisoner?”
Glancing between the five of them gave me my answer. Although the last guy was still just looking at his paper writing, I assumed that he was recording the whole exchange. Braksilis seemed completely uninterested in what was happening and was just watching the back and forths idly.
I sighed and glanced at Fiona, her face was impassive. She gave me a small shrug.
Up to me then.
I turned back to them, “Fine. I’ll give you the extent of what I know. As you said there’s not really a reason to hold back. As much as I dislike some of the people you work with and allow to hold authority, holding this back isn’t going to help in the long run. The sooner this gets out the sooner people can start working together.”
I didn’t honestly expect people, or even countries, to start working together even after learning about a world-ending threat. It would be way too convenient for that to be the case. According to Ili’kithari that had been a common problem for all of recorded history, and Earth was also a good representation of that fact. And while I felt the cursed goddess was many things, a liar was not one of them.
Why lie when telling the truth was so much more devastating after all?
Well, I guess there’s only one place to start in a story.
From the beginning.
***
Once I had started speaking Braksilis leaned forward and seemed to be fully paying attention. Lillian seemed more contemplative. Orwen seemed skeptical, while Mortimer seemed the least bothered by everything.
“After escaping from Alixia and crossing the border back to Seltas I somewhat made my way straight to Vinwood, the rest is history.”
Orwen frowned, “Somewhat? Where did you stop and why?”
“I stopped between Lustirne and Elendar off the side of the road, why I stopped isn’t important. The only bearing it has on the story is that it delayed my approach to the city by several hours.”
He flipped through several pages before getting a malicious look in his eye. I sighed internally already knowing where this was going to go.
“Ah, testimonies from several of the others mention that she said you were ‘moping’ outside the city.”
I looked at each of them for a moment, waiting. None of them did anything or said anything. I nodded, “Alright. We’re done here then.”
And I turned around to walk out of the room.
I made it to the door before any of them spoke.
“Wait.”
I turned slightly at Lillian's voice, “We still have further questions to ask.”
“That may be, but I have nothing further to say to the rest of you. I spoke on the understanding we would help each other, but instead, you have openly allowed him to mock me twice. All that says to me is that you’re not interested in actually working with me. Regardless of what you actually believe, your inaction speaks louder than your words.”
At this point, regardless of what they did I was planning on fucking him over the second I got the strength for it. My list of self-justified vengeance was starting to get quite long.
Orwen opened his mouth to say something, possibly to mock me again.
“Enough.”
Lillian’s voice echoed oddly through the chamber, her words infused with her magic.
“Orwen, your words are actively sabotaging any chance we have to get information on this threat. I will be having words with the Queen about your behavior. I had planned to do so discreetly in order to preserve a modicum of your pride, but my hand has been forced. No doubt he will use this opportunity to try and wring more out of us while our country and government are already in a perilous state.”
His eyes flashed with anger, his mouth set in a firm line.
“I don’t answer to you, the Investigators are outside government jurisdiction.”
Mortimer scoffed, “That only matters for situations where you’re clearly in charge. Your job is the threat prevention, not suppression. Your organization failed to prevent this threat and now you’re actively hindering our suppression. That leaves it a toss-up as to whether I or the spellblades are in charge. Not you. Coincidentally I find myself agreeing with Lady Lillian on this matter.”
Braksilis meanwhile sat looking rather amused with the whole ordeal.
“Leave the chambers, Orwen. You’ve caused near irreparable damage to this investigation with your need to instigate hostilities with a primary source. That alone is a class-5 crime.”
Lillian’s tone brooked no argument.
Orwen, for a moment, made no move to get up.
“I will give you one last chance to walk on your own two feet, Orwen. But you will leave this room, whether or not I make it happen is the choice you have to make.”
Orwen gave hostile glares at every single person in the room, the look was extremely reminiscent of Raylith’s behavior almost a year prior.
He got up without saying anything and made for one of the side doors, he spared one final glare for me. I flipped him off as he did.
Yeah, his look promised future vengeance. I didn’t disagree with the sentiment. I hadn’t forgotten the fact that he tried to use the Earth Raiders' deaths against me. Maybe not explicitly, but the implicit suggestion that I held no regard for their deaths beyond payment was beyond disrespectful.
I would be having the last word with him.
He slammed the door behind himself after he left.
Lillian let out a frustrated sigh before turning back to me, gesturing to the center floor, “Is that good enough for you?”
I shrugged, “As long as I get updated on what his actual punishment is, then yes. If nothing ends up being done at the end or if I don’t get any proof that anything is done then at the end of the day this was just a pointless show.”
She just nodded, “I will find a way to inform you of the queen’s words on the issue. Her word is final, however, if she chooses not to punish him there is nothing further I can do.”
“Well then for the sake of future cooperation, you better hope she does,” I retorted.
Lillian frowned but nodded again curtly.
“Let’s start from the beginning then, what can you tell us about the Heart implanted in you?” She asked.
I shrugged, “Honestly, I don’t know a lot. At the very least I know it has a level of sentience, it’s the one that suggested I run when the Sentinels showed up outside Vinwood. But beyond that, I don’t have much of a clue.”
“You said it was also tied to giving you a third class?”
“Yeah, a nature-based one. It’s how I make the arm,” I said waving it about, “It also unlocked skill combinations early since I already have a third class. I was hoping that getting to third tier would open up my third class options to allow for more stuff, but now I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”
She just nodded. Mortimer took the moment to interject, “What can you tell us about the Sentinels of Discord? And are you certain that’s what they even are?”
I shrugged again, “I can’t say for certain that’s what they are given that I don’t really know what they are. But I’d say the chances of that being the case are pretty good. Especially given what Ili’kithari has said. I think she’s many things; a bitch, a murderer, a psychopath perhaps, but not a liar. I think the mythology behind the Sentinels is just a case of information control by her and a lot of right place, wrong time situations.”
“I think they were actually looking for me at the time, but they didn’t realize I was me… if that makes sense. Given that, at heart, I was a human, I probably gave off weird readings to anyone trying to look for me. If the Heart is also mostly dormant it would make it hard to detect in a random human.”
Lillian’s eyes sharpened as she looked at me, “What makes you say the Heart is dormant? From what you’ve said, it’s already displayed impressive feats.”
“Hmmmm, it’s how it feels? It's like it’s not fully awake. The moments where I felt it fully were in moments where I was doing something well beyond my capabilities. Like healing nearly one hundred tier-three combatants while still in the first tier. Stuff like that. There’s also the fact that it was a heavily protected elven artifact that was explicitly shoved into my body on the plans of an elven goddess. I highly doubt that what it has shown is the full extent of its power.”
“Is that something you think you could control?”
“Maybe?” I hedged, “I wouldn’t personally count on that. If I can, it’s definitely not going to happen anytime soon.”
Lillian just nodded, sitting back in her chair.
“So you believe the Sentinels of Discord are not, supposedly, the enemies of humanity then?”
I shook my head, “I don’t have a lot to support that, but the little that’s there is pretty supportive of the idea. It also just fundamentally makes sense, maybe not all of them are friends of humanity, but they definitely have bigger fish to fry.”
“What exactly can you tell us about the elves?” Mortimer asked.
“They’re strong. Illesea, Ili’kithari’s alter persona, was considered one of the stronger combatants in the city at the upper levels of tier seven. But not the strongest, there were also a few combatants considered to arguably be stronger than her in the right circumstances from what little I gathered. The problem is I don’t know what those would be or how much of it was even true. I think it’s safe to say that they have plenty of people on par with Queen Ashendra at the bare minimum.”
Mortimer frowned, “That seems hard to believe.”
“Well, you better start believing. You’re fighting against a literal goddess. Not self-proclaimed, according to her she’s the fourth oldest entity to ever exist in this universe. Multiverse? I don’t actually know how planes of existence work here. Regardless, you should already be prepared to have any notion of how you expect the world to work turned upside down, it’s the only way anyone is going to be prepared for what she does.”
He nodded slowly letting out a grunt of affirmation.
“Are you sure you don’t have military experience?”
“Quite, I was kind of a loser where I came from all things considered. At least I assumed that’s how most people thought of me beyond my circle. I may not have experience in military tactics or strategy, but I’m not an idiot. At the very least I understand how to coordinate a group. Besides, military tactics where I came from are extremely different from how they would work here. The way wars are fought in my world wouldn’t be a good experience for a lot of situations here. Sure some skills would transfer over extremely well, but a lot of them get negated by the fact that the system even exists.”
Lillian stood from where she was sitting, “I think we’ve got enough for now. At the very least I have the information I believe is pertinent. Mortimer, I’ll leave the situation to you on how best to accede to his requests for compensation, in whatever way you feel is pertinent. If you require something beyond what you can give, you can come to me and I will assist. For now, I need to report to the Queen.”
She didn’t spare anyone else a single glance as she strode out of the room at a brisk pace.
Barksilis stood up and left as well without saying anything. What an odd fellow.
Mortimer also stood up, “Denithin, I think that’s good enough you’re free to go get those papers turned in.”
Denithin, the scribe, stood up and snapped off a quick salute, slamming a fist over his heart before hurriedly making his way out of the room.
Mortimer gestured to me, “Walk with me, I think we’ll be able to come to an agreement.”
“What?”
The idea just sounded so… Absurd.
“Our military does more than just fight wars or defend borders. We also have subjugation squads that roam around handling threats. Sort of similar to an adventuring squad except you get government authority to go places and do things.”
I raised an eyebrow, “And do these squads see a lot of action? Seltas looks relatively peaceful at first glance.”
He shrugged, “It varies. Sometimes we get creatures coming out of the Vale to the south. But we do have a border patrol for that and it usually keeps monsters hemmed in so that’s more rare. But there are other areas around Seltas that might interest you. Pay is pretty good considering the dangers of the job, you’ll usually have a full squad to run with so you don’t need to worry about that front. You get to keep trophies and some materials from whatever you kill to start accumulating better stuff. There’s more but I think you get the idea.”
I looked at him, feeling slightly suspicious. That sounded way too good to be true, it was almost the same as being an adventurer. A difference was that there was ultimately a chain of command to follow and said the chain of command had tried to screw me over before, namely during the invasion of Elendar. They had sent out the adventurers to essentially be meatshields for them. Granted their plan had worked effectively, but that didn’t fully justify…
“Fuck,” I whispered to myself.
Lillian's eyes narrowed, “What?”
“That invasion? Supposedly Alixia? Pretty sure that wasn’t them.”
She frowned, “Can you prove that?”
I shook my head, “It’s more of a hunch than anything else, but there are a few things that put the idea in my head now that I’m thinking over it. One of the things Ili’kithari mentioned to me was she was going to the other citadels to communicate the threat, and honestly, we don’t really believe Alixia managed to get an army halfway across a country without getting seen do we? That’s more the domain of a really high-level commander. I wouldn’t put it past her to do something to intentionally try and draw the Harbinger out. Besides, did you ever find the remnants of that army after it was routed? Did you even manage to get a prisoner?”
Glancing between the five of them gave me my answer. Although the last guy was still just looking at his paper writing, I assumed that he was recording the whole exchange. Braksilis seemed completely uninterested in what was happening and was just watching the back and forths idly.
I sighed and glanced at Fiona, her face was impassive. She gave me a small shrug.
Up to me then.
I turned back to them, “Fine. I’ll give you the extent of what I know. As you said there’s not really a reason to hold back. As much as I dislike some of the people you work with and allow to hold authority, holding this back isn’t going to help in the long run. The sooner this gets out the sooner people can start working together.”
I didn’t honestly expect people, or even countries, to start working together even after learning about a world-ending threat. It would be way too convenient for that to be the case. According to Ili’kithari that had been a common problem for all of recorded history, and Earth was also a good representation of that fact. And while I felt the cursed goddess was many things, a liar was not one of them.
Why lie when telling the truth was so much more devastating after all?
Well, I guess there’s only one place to start in a story.
From the beginning.
***
Once I had started speaking Braksilis leaned forward and seemed to be fully paying attention. Lillian seemed more contemplative. Orwen seemed skeptical, while Mortimer seemed the least bothered by everything.
“After escaping from Alixia and crossing the border back to Seltas I somewhat made my way straight to Vinwood, the rest is history.”
Orwen frowned, “Somewhat? Where did you stop and why?”
“I stopped between Lustirne and Elendar off the side of the road, why I stopped isn’t important. The only bearing it has on the story is that it delayed my approach to the city by several hours.”
He flipped through several pages before getting a malicious look in his eye. I sighed internally already knowing where this was going to go.
“Ah, testimonies from several of the others mention that she said you were ‘moping’ outside the city.”
I looked at each of them for a moment, waiting. None of them did anything or said anything. I nodded, “Alright. We’re done here then.”
And I turned around to walk out of the room.
I made it to the door before any of them spoke.
“Wait.”
I turned slightly at Lillian's voice, “We still have further questions to ask.”
“That may be, but I have nothing further to say to the rest of you. I spoke on the understanding we would help each other, but instead, you have openly allowed him to mock me twice. All that says to me is that you’re not interested in actually working with me. Regardless of what you actually believe, your inaction speaks louder than your words.”
At this point, regardless of what they did I was planning on fucking him over the second I got the strength for it. My list of self-justified vengeance was starting to get quite long.
Orwen opened his mouth to say something, possibly to mock me again.
“Enough.”
Lillian’s voice echoed oddly through the chamber, her words infused with her magic.
“Orwen, your words are actively sabotaging any chance we have to get information on this threat. I will be having words with the Queen about your behavior. I had planned to do so discreetly in order to preserve a modicum of your pride, but my hand has been forced. No doubt he will use this opportunity to try and wring more out of us while our country and government are already in a perilous state.”
His eyes flashed with anger, his mouth set in a firm line.
“I don’t answer to you, the Investigators are outside government jurisdiction.”
Mortimer scoffed, “That only matters for situations where you’re clearly in charge. Your job is the threat prevention, not suppression. Your organization failed to prevent this threat and now you’re actively hindering our suppression. That leaves it a toss-up as to whether I or the spellblades are in charge. Not you. Coincidentally I find myself agreeing with Lady Lillian on this matter.”
Braksilis meanwhile sat looking rather amused with the whole ordeal.
“Leave the chambers, Orwen. You’ve caused near irreparable damage to this investigation with your need to instigate hostilities with a primary source. That alone is a class-5 crime.”
Lillian’s tone brooked no argument.
Orwen, for a moment, made no move to get up.
“I will give you one last chance to walk on your own two feet, Orwen. But you will leave this room, whether or not I make it happen is the choice you have to make.”
Orwen gave hostile glares at every single person in the room, the look was extremely reminiscent of Raylith’s behavior almost a year prior.
He got up without saying anything and made for one of the side doors, he spared one final glare for me. I flipped him off as he did.
Yeah, his look promised future vengeance. I didn’t disagree with the sentiment. I hadn’t forgotten the fact that he tried to use the Earth Raiders' deaths against me. Maybe not explicitly, but the implicit suggestion that I held no regard for their deaths beyond payment was beyond disrespectful.
I would be having the last word with him.
He slammed the door behind himself after he left.
Lillian let out a frustrated sigh before turning back to me, gesturing to the center floor, “Is that good enough for you?”
I shrugged, “As long as I get updated on what his actual punishment is, then yes. If nothing ends up being done at the end or if I don’t get any proof that anything is done then at the end of the day this was just a pointless show.”
She just nodded, “I will find a way to inform you of the queen’s words on the issue. Her word is final, however, if she chooses not to punish him there is nothing further I can do.”
“Well then for the sake of future cooperation, you better hope she does,” I retorted.
Lillian frowned but nodded again curtly.
“Let’s start from the beginning then, what can you tell us about the Heart implanted in you?” She asked.
I shrugged, “Honestly, I don’t know a lot. At the very least I know it has a level of sentience, it’s the one that suggested I run when the Sentinels showed up outside Vinwood. But beyond that, I don’t have much of a clue.”
“You said it was also tied to giving you a third class?”
“Yeah, a nature-based one. It’s how I make the arm,” I said waving it about, “It also unlocked skill combinations early since I already have a third class. I was hoping that getting to third tier would open up my third class options to allow for more stuff, but now I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”
She just nodded. Mortimer took the moment to interject, “What can you tell us about the Sentinels of Discord? And are you certain that’s what they even are?”
I shrugged again, “I can’t say for certain that’s what they are given that I don’t really know what they are. But I’d say the chances of that being the case are pretty good. Especially given what Ili’kithari has said. I think she’s many things; a bitch, a murderer, a psychopath perhaps, but not a liar. I think the mythology behind the Sentinels is just a case of information control by her and a lot of right place, wrong time situations.”
“I think they were actually looking for me at the time, but they didn’t realize I was me… if that makes sense. Given that, at heart, I was a human, I probably gave off weird readings to anyone trying to look for me. If the Heart is also mostly dormant it would make it hard to detect in a random human.”
Lillian’s eyes sharpened as she looked at me, “What makes you say the Heart is dormant? From what you’ve said, it’s already displayed impressive feats.”
“Hmmmm, it’s how it feels? It's like it’s not fully awake. The moments where I felt it fully were in moments where I was doing something well beyond my capabilities. Like healing nearly one hundred tier-three combatants while still in the first tier. Stuff like that. There’s also the fact that it was a heavily protected elven artifact that was explicitly shoved into my body on the plans of an elven goddess. I highly doubt that what it has shown is the full extent of its power.”
“Is that something you think you could control?”
“Maybe?” I hedged, “I wouldn’t personally count on that. If I can, it’s definitely not going to happen anytime soon.”
Lillian just nodded, sitting back in her chair.
“So you believe the Sentinels of Discord are not, supposedly, the enemies of humanity then?”
I shook my head, “I don’t have a lot to support that, but the little that’s there is pretty supportive of the idea. It also just fundamentally makes sense, maybe not all of them are friends of humanity, but they definitely have bigger fish to fry.”
“What exactly can you tell us about the elves?” Mortimer asked.
“They’re strong. Illesea, Ili’kithari’s alter persona, was considered one of the stronger combatants in the city at the upper levels of tier seven. But not the strongest, there were also a few combatants considered to arguably be stronger than her in the right circumstances from what little I gathered. The problem is I don’t know what those would be or how much of it was even true. I think it’s safe to say that they have plenty of people on par with Queen Ashendra at the bare minimum.”
Mortimer frowned, “That seems hard to believe.”
“Well, you better start believing. You’re fighting against a literal goddess. Not self-proclaimed, according to her she’s the fourth oldest entity to ever exist in this universe. Multiverse? I don’t actually know how planes of existence work here. Regardless, you should already be prepared to have any notion of how you expect the world to work turned upside down, it’s the only way anyone is going to be prepared for what she does.”
He nodded slowly letting out a grunt of affirmation.
“Are you sure you don’t have military experience?”
“Quite, I was kind of a loser where I came from all things considered. At least I assumed that’s how most people thought of me beyond my circle. I may not have experience in military tactics or strategy, but I’m not an idiot. At the very least I understand how to coordinate a group. Besides, military tactics where I came from are extremely different from how they would work here. The way wars are fought in my world wouldn’t be a good experience for a lot of situations here. Sure some skills would transfer over extremely well, but a lot of them get negated by the fact that the system even exists.”
Lillian stood from where she was sitting, “I think we’ve got enough for now. At the very least I have the information I believe is pertinent. Mortimer, I’ll leave the situation to you on how best to accede to his requests for compensation, in whatever way you feel is pertinent. If you require something beyond what you can give, you can come to me and I will assist. For now, I need to report to the Queen.”
She didn’t spare anyone else a single glance as she strode out of the room at a brisk pace.
Barksilis stood up and left as well without saying anything. What an odd fellow.
Mortimer also stood up, “Denithin, I think that’s good enough you’re free to go get those papers turned in.”
Denithin, the scribe, stood up and snapped off a quick salute, slamming a fist over his heart before hurriedly making his way out of the room.
Mortimer gestured to me, “Walk with me, I think we’ll be able to come to an agreement.”
