Night had already descended on the capital of Grimvale, Caldera. The incessant heavy rain since yesterday had kept most of the citizens indoor. Thankfully the city was not inundated from the prolonged heavy rainfall as the rain water was channeled by the city’s irrigation towards the river that ran by the side of the capital.
Unlike the Fortress city of Ambat in the Empire, Caldera was only protected by only a single layer of wall that span the entire city’s perimeter. But the wall was 2.5 times thicker than that of Ambat, easily allowing up to ten guardsmen to walk abreast as they patrolled the walls. Numerous heavy weapons emplacements, like ballista, and trebuchets were placed at fixed intervals along the wall. Any army marching upon the city would have to face a barrage of five meter long metal bolts, and boulders the size of a small elephant before reaching the walls of the city.
But the deadliest feature of this city were the many magic batteries that could eject destructive spells at any would be invaders from a distance, be it from land or air. It was quite common for visitors to heard the people of Caldera boasting their city’s unrivalled defenses.
The people’s confidence were not without basis, as throughout Grimvale’s 200 years of history, no invaders had successfully scale the walls of Caldera nor breached the city’s airspace.
In the military history books of the Empire, during the days of the Guild War approximately 190 years ago, the walls of Caldera were notorious for decimating an invading airfleet from the Empire from a distance of 10km. Since then, a peace accord was signed between both countries, ending any forms of hostile engagement between both countries.
Another unique feature of Caldera was that its perimeter walls were connected to the main castle, located in the center of the city via five distinctive walls that served as a shortcut for the defenders of the city. The soldiers could easily traveled one from side of the city to the other, bypassing the congested and twisted streets below.
If one was flying in the skies directly above Caldera, they would noticed that the walls formed a star shape within the city, separating the city into five distinctive zones. Three of the five zones were designated as the suburbs. One of the two remaining zones were used to house the city’s ruling elites. Whereas, the last zone, who took up almost the Eastern side of Caldera, was the city’s industrial area, where the factories that churned out airships and magic weapons were concentrated at.
Hence, almost all the workers who worked for those factories stayed on the suburbs next to the industrial zone, located towards the North-Eastern edge of the capital. With this, the working class do not require to travel a long distance to reach their workplace. As the city’s factory employed a sizable workforce, the North-Eastern suburbs adjacent to the industrial zone was the most densely populated area within Caldera, where most of the residents worked in the factories. That particularly suburb was christened as ‘Pound Town’ bythe locals.
To fulfill the housing demand, Pound Town, were filled with many densely packed five-storey wooden houses. The alleyways here were more narrow in comparison to other zones of this city as this area was designed to squeeze in as many residential units as possible. Those who were used to living in the sparsely populated farm villages would feel claustrophobic if they chose to stay there. But for those who were born here, they were used living in such conditions. After all, the environment here were not as bad as compared to the slums that were found in other cities or so they heard. At least, the sewage system were well maintained hence, the smell of human waste would not foul up the place even with so many people living here.
Although the alleyways were narrow, the roads were paved with cobblestones. The drainage system prevented the large amount of rainwater from collecting on the roads. Squads of city guards patrolled the streets on occasion. Hence, crime was not rampant although the area was densely populated.
Probably, the only true complaint from the residences of Pound Town would be the noise and smoke that were coming out from the industrial sector just next door, where the airship factories operate 24-hours non-stop to fulfill the increasing demand for that particular invention, melded by both magic and scientific innovation.
Everyday, it was quite common to see steam-powered wagons periodically ply the narrow streets of the Pound Town, ferrying the workers through and forth the factories.
In one such wagon, a young, lean, bespectacled bookish young adult was sitting to one side of the wagon, sandwiched between two large muscular men. The young man’s appearance contrasted sharply with most of the workers, especially the outfits they were wearing.
While most of the workers in the wagon were outfitted in plain light blue overalls and matching sets of bright yellow helmets, the bespectacled man was wearing a leather jacket over his white shirt. The pockets of the man’s jacket were filled with various writing and measuring tools. The differences in the uniforms between both parties revealed the distinctive roles they played within the factory. The former were the production workers in charge of airship assembly and the latter was an airship engineer.
The bespectacled young man was humming to himself happily as he inspected the contents of his lunch box. In it were three pieces of nicely stacked sandwich, and an apple. Although the contents of his lunch seemed like a meagre affair to most, The young man unconsciously smiled as he thought about the person who prepared the lunch for him.
The thickset man to his left got curious and took a peek at his lunch box and chuckled to himself.
“Lunch from the future Mrs. Cromwell?”
“Yep, egg and cheese sandwich from my … sweetheart.”
The young man laughed uncertainly as he uttered the last word. Till today, he can’t believed his stroke of fortune when the girl of his dreams accepted his proposal for marriage. Recently he developed a habit of pitching himself after waking himself up from bed, to make sure that his current happiness was not a mere dream.
“Ah, the lass is too nice for the likes of you. You are a lucky bastard, Tristan.”
The man gave Tristan a strong slap to his back. Tristan almost slumped forwards from the force of the slap. Seeing his reaction, the man laughed heartily.
“Remember invite all the lads for your wedding. We can’t wait to see young Tristan finally become a man.”
The thickset man took Tristan in a choke hold and ruffled his head. Normally, anyone would put up a form of resistance upon such treatment. But Tristan had long got used to such interaction, and feebly accepted the head ruffling. He had long given up in resisting the his friends thickset arms that was used to manual labor. Seeing this, the other workers were laughing and grinning at the antics of the duo.
The man only released Tristan when the carriage got to a stop.
“Tis my stop. See ya later, laddy.”
“The usual tonight, Patrick?”
Tristan asked hopefully. The thickset man, Patrick had given plenty of advice to Tristan in his efforts to woo his sweetheart. Tristan was forever grateful to him.
“Nah, not tonight. The stingy top had ordered the crew to work double shift today. They want the lady to be up by tomorrow. Remember to come early tomorrow to see her maiden flight.”
“She’s going up tomorrow? She was originally scheduled to be launched next week.”
“No idea about what the people in the top were thinking. All I care is going home in one piece. Don’t meddle in business that is more than you can chew kid. See ya.”
“Yeah, you are right, Patrick. Goodbye.”
Tristan waved goodbye towards Patrick and to several other familiar workers as they disembarked from the carriage. He then turned around to look at the structure before him, the airship assembly factory.
The factory was a rectangular brick structure, measuring 500 metres by 80 metres. This particular factory was easily recognisable as the one of the largest building in the city, second only to the castle. Although the shape of the building was rather bland, like a large shoe box. One rather curious feature for it was the retractable roof. Once the construction of an airship was completed, the roof will open up, allowing the temporary crew to fly the airship towards the testing grounds for field checks before delivering it to their customer, mainly the Empire.
Through his years working here, Tristan had witness the launch of many ships until the novelty dried out. But the ‘She’ mentioned by Patrick would be the first of her kind. The culmination of two years of sleepless nights by the group airship engineers that he belonged to. Tristan shuddered at the thought of those stressful moments that he experienced. He survived through the ordeal, thanks to his fiance. She had brought him supper nightly during those dreary nights. Of course, his good fortune was slightly marred by the jealous grumbling and stares of his fellow co-workers.
Tristan placed his palms together in a prayer to the higher existence that was watching over him, offering his sincerest gratitude for the existence of his fiance. Tomorrow, the result of his hardwork would make her debut. Tristan made a mental note for himself not to miss the christening event and to bring along his fiance and her little sisters.
Until today, Tristan could list out every inch of her detail, the very first dreadnaught-class airship, The Indefiable. The airship itself was twice the length of the current largest class of airship. The ship was armed with three levels of magi-cannons that could fire Tier-5 spells. But the most unique feature of the ship was the frame and outer hull, which was constructed out of metal.
Tristan recalled the basics of airships. Since its debut, airships were called by many as flying fortresses of death. There were two things that granted its unique ability to fly. Firstly, it would be the flight spell that was enchanted into the ship’s frame. Second, it would be the magic crystals that supplied the mana to sustain the flight spell.
The earliest airships were mostly made out of wood while the more recent models had steel frames and wooden hulls. The reason for using wood as the main material was simple. Wood was simply lighter than metal. Hence, mana consumption for keeping the airship in-flight would not be astronomical due to the excessive weight. Any airship builders knew what would happen if mana consumption exceeded the mana output from the magic crystals that fueled the airship. The entire ship would not be able to lift off.
Even if the output was able to keep the ship afloat in the air, mana consumption will increase accordingly with flight velocity. The faster the ship was flying, the higher the mana consumption. There was no point keeping an airship in the air if the it could only maneuver like a snail.
There was also another pressing issue about airships. The magic crystal installed in the center of the ship does not only power the flight spell but also supply the defensive barrier that protects the ship, and her crew and power the deck guns as well. The outcome could be easily predicted if such a flawed ship was allowed to engage in a ship to ship battle. A smaller ship would overwhelm its opponent with magic barrage. A large ship would not be able to sustain itself with the need to power both defensive spells and also the flight spell. The larger ship would simply crash into the ground if the mana flow was focused onto the defensive spells or the deck guns, leaving insufficient mana supply to sustain the flight spell. If the larger ship would not activate her defensive spells, the smaller nimbler airship would grind the larger ship to dust from a blind spot.
To solve this issues, airship engineers had to look at root of the problem, which were the construction materials and the mana supply. On the part regarding construction material, they hit an insurmountable wall. The long years of study by the magician guild had solve the issue material degradation by multiple magic enchantments. It was common knowledge that application of multiple magic enchantments on common materials like wood and stone will result in the magic destroying the material itself. As different type of materials had different enchantment thresholds or simply put it, different mana holding capacity.
Common metals like iron and copper had slightly higher levels mana capacity in comparison to hardwood. Common metals had no problems when it being enchanted with two simple Tier-1 spells like <Enhancement Construct> and <Preservation>. But if a magician attempts to further add spells like <Lesser Magical resistance> and <Reduce Weight>. Those materials would simply crumble from the magical stress.
Magical item crafters simply solved the issue by using rare materials like mithril, orichalchum, or bones from magical beast like dragons which had higher mana storage capacity. Hence, magical items were expensive to create as it require rare and hard to get materials.
For airship builders however, there could not afford such luxury. Who in the right mind would buy a ship that was entirely coated with adamantite and its frame made out of dragon bones?
Not to mention, the only magic stones that could supply mana for a Dreadnaught class ship would have to be sourced from legendary magical monsters like Greater Ancient Dragons or Deep Elder Sea Serpents. It would take an army just to defeat one of such monsters. The budget for such a ship would be astronomical, estimated to be ten times the annual budget for country of Grimvale. Just by thinking about the amount caused Tristan’s head to spin.
To reduce the cost of construction, the shipwrights had to rely on more easily and widely available building materials like wood and iron. The magic crafters from the magician guild would be in charge of enchanting the materials. While the construction workers would use the materials to begin the construction of the airship.
Thankfully, the issue insufficient mana supply was improved, with the introduction of magic stone ligation. It was a recent Dwarven discovery where their Magical Crafters would create a magical circle by using mithril as a base. The magical circle would act like a circuit, linking a maximum of four pieces of magical stones.
The circuit works where the flow of mana of first magical stone would double the mana output on the the next stone. The subsequent stones would have their mana output amplified by a factor of two. The process will carry on until the end of the circuit. Theoretically, four pieces of magical stones similar in size, placed within the circuit would increase final mana output by a factor of eight.
The discovery of the magical circuit meant they do not need to source for large magical stones from dangerous magical-monsters that have the power to easily flatten a small city.
With the issue of mana supply solved, the shipbuilders was able to construct an all metal Dreadnaught-class that would fly as well as a wood based airship. The crew did not have to worry about being out-maneuvered by smaller, nimbler airships. While, the dreadnaught’s three layered deck guns could easily lay waste to any enemy that dared to approach it.
Tristan remembered the workers singing as they worked, ‘We ain’t gonna fear no Death Wyrm with Lady Indefiable soaring through the skies.’
Personally, Tristan would feel more reassured if the Indefiable was sent to guard the capital’s airspace. As for winning in a straight fight against the Death Wyrm, boasted commonly by the company that employed him, he was not so sure himself. To him, things have a tendency to go wrong if he developed too optimistic a view.
Before he realised it, Tristan was standing in front of the main door leading to his work office. He had the knack of moving as if on auto-pilot if he was deep-in-thought. His fiance once told him sternly to watch where he was going. For all she knew, he could have been knocked over by one of the carriages as he crossed the road absentmindedly. Tristan shuddered slightly at the thought of how his fiance would look if she found out that he did not managed to kick such a bad habit.
Haha, she won’t know. Definitely, she won’t find out...Hahaha...haha…..h..hurm…
Tristan was smiling nervously as he entered the building and took the staircase towards the second floor where his desk was located. As Tristan stood at the door, linking the second floor landing to the office hall, he looked over the usual scene that greeted him everyday.
There was only one word to describe the condition of the large room where Tristan’s desk was located, ‘Cluttered’. There were four wooden desk arranged nicely in the middle of a large room. Those desk however were decorated with haphazardly piled books, stacks of papers, unwashed cups, plates of half-eaten meals and the one dozing occupant who must had worked throughout the night. Wooden shelves containing scrolls and thick leathered tomes lined on one side of the room.
Tristan moved towards the lone sleeper in the room. The tiny figure was slumping on the desk, a trickle of drool was pooling at the bottom the snoring mouth. Tristan moved his hand forward, intending to shake the person awake.
Before his hand reached his sleeping colleague, the tiny figure’s mouth latched into his outstretched hand.
Nom Nom Nom Nom.
After a few seconds of light chewing, the person spat out Tristan’s hand.
“Pui, the pork trotter tasted too salty, mom.” The tiny figure continued to utter dreamily before going back to sleep.
All this while, Tristan stood frozen on the spot as he experienced his colleague drooling over his hand for the first time. He shuddered slightly as he unmistaken felt the wet slippery sensation of a tongue licking his hand. Anyone would have responded with a kick immediately.
But, Tristan’s sense of pity took over and he refrained from taking a more physical response to solve the issue of a colleague latching onto his hand with his mouth. Another point of consideration was that said person was just a twelve year-old youth by the name of Tim. Tim was easily the youngest person in Tristan’s group. The kid took on the role of an apprentice airship designer.
As an apprentice, he had to do everyone else’s bidding on top of his study on top of being the office mascot. The kid’s bob-style blonde hair, piercing jade-like eyes and slim tiny figure gave out an androgynous feel, made him quite popular among the visiting men and women.
However, the deep dark circles that currently surrounded Tim's eyes, marred the person’s usual cheery disposition.
The boss was driving the poor child to the limit.
Even adults would have quitted after two days of gruelling work. But the young kid in front of Tristan had hang onto the position for more than a year. That was already a commendable feat itself. After undergoing baptism by overwork, the poor kid was considered part of the group forced to do their slave-driver boss’s bidding.
Tristan shook Timothy on the shoulders gently after confirming that the kid would not take a bite off him again.
“Tim, time to get up. It’s already morning.”
“Muu…..Ah, good morning...sen...sen-pai.” Tim tried to stifle a yawn coming out of his mouth during mid-greeting. Then, he promptly returned to the comforts of his table.
“You better wash up before the boss arrives. Come on, time to wake up.”
“Muyah, don’t wake me up, mom. I want to sleep longer today…”
“Hah, looks like I have no choice but to use the secret weapon then… Tim, if you are not waking up now, all of us will be finishing the secret stash of chocolate that you have saved up for yourself…”
The response was immediate. The little figure bolted up right, the little hands grabbed on to Tristan’s shirt.
“NOOOOOOOO, MY CHOCOLATE! Senpais, how could you all be so heartless!!! How could you all touch my precious supply!!! UUUHHHHHWWAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
Tears gushed out like a geyser from Tim’s eye. The kid was practically on the knees begging at Tristan to stop eating his chocolate. The fact that Tristan’s hand was empty and they were the only people in the office at the moment escaped Tim’s notice.
“Calm down, Tim. Calm down. Your chocolate is safe.”
“UHHHWWAAAHHH, how could someone be so shameful to steal the candy bought using a child’s hard-earned money! UHHHHWAAHH”
Sensing that Timothy would not stop crying anytime soon. Tristan flicked Tim on the forehead with his index finger.
“Pain!”
Only then that Timothy stop crying. The smack to the forehead was able knock some sense back into the youngling.
Seeing that the kid was calm enough to listen, Tristan started to speak.
“I didn’t touch the chocolates. They are safe.”
The pair of watery eyes was looking at Tristan intently. There was a slight trace of doubt somewhere in those eyes. Tim was checking every corner of Tristan’s face to see whether were there any chocolate remnants as prove of his crime. After a while, Tim relented, satisfied that Tristan was telling the truth.
Tristan could somehow emphasized with the kid-dish outburst just now. A single piece of bite-size chocolate was worth an entire day's salary. Probably, two days in Tim’s case. Most of his chocolate was likely pilfered during those launch events where the top ranking nobles were present. Tristan mused to himself that he should not point any fingers at Tim on this unseeming behavior as he did it himself. During those events, he would sneak a few pieces of leftover chocolates for his fiance and her family.
As an airship designer, part of their job was to escort the country’s leaders as the entourage toured the newly constructed airships just before the christening ceremony, explaining the layouts and features of the new ships. Most of the explanation work to the visiting nobles were reserved for their boss. Tristan, Tim and the others usually follow quietly from the back.
“Did you know that the Indefiable was scheduled to be launched tomorrow?”
Recalling Patrick’s word, Tristan asked Timothy. Probably, a memo might have came in yesterday evening after work. It was highly irregular for the highers ups to bring forward the launch date as there should know better than to interfere with the ironclad rules of airship manufacturing.
One of the rules was that an inspection group must run a final check on the finished ship to make sure that it was safe and airworthy. This job was particularly reserved for airship engineers. Since the inception of airships, there were several notorious incidents where airborne ships suddenly crashed onto the ground due to a loose manna stone coupling or simply disintegrated mid-flight due to structural failure. After those incidents, the shipbuilders guild in various nations started to implement these strict rules that must be obeyed by those involved in airship construction business.
“You mean this memo that the main office sent over yesterday night?”
Timothy took out a piece of paper that was sitting on top of the tray and passed it to Tristan. Tristan took it and used a moment to read it.
“Do you know what does it mean?”
“There’ll be no chocolates tomorrow?!”
“Hah, no, not really what I had in mind.” Tristan fought the urge to spank Tim on the forehead again. The kid had only chocolate in mind. Then again, probably it was something that kept him going all this while.
Tristan then proceeded to explain to his uninformed kohai. Currently, airships were the symbol of of a country’s military might. Many years ago, the Empire lost a portion of their airships during a battle with the Death Wyrm. After that catastrophic engagement, the Empire requested the builders at Grimvale to speed up the construction process to replace the destroyed ships. If the Imperial Air Armada remained depleted for too long, the Empire's enemies might use their moment of weakness as an opportunity to stage an invasion.
The alternative explanation was the buildup for a large scale war. Likely, the Empire was would be staging an invasion against another country. The invasion would be a perfect opportunity for them to show off their latest arsenal at their disposal. As airships were a symbol of power, the newest airship would cement the current Imperial administration’s shaking rule over Imperial domain.
No matter what the situation might be, it would not change the fact that the Empire wanted the Indefiable to be delivered as soon as possible. As an Airship Designer, Tristan and his cohorts would have to coordinate the work with the inspection team so that the ship could be launch without a hitch.
“In this case, looks like we have to pull another all nighter, Tim. We’ve got to help with the inspection work.”
Hearing that, Tim returned to the comfort of his desk.
“Ah, this must be a nightmare. Yes, a nightmare. I am actually still asleep and Tristan-senpai must be a figure from my nightmares.”
“Oi! Tim, Wake up!”
“Ah, I must be hallucinating from my lack of sleep. I could hear Tristan-senpai’s voice…...Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”
“You’re definitely not having a nightmare, Tim.” Tristan finally lost his patience and started pulling both of Tim’s cheeks. He only stopped when Tim was not showing any signs of returning to the comforts of dreamland.
“Ah, senpai. I forgot. There was another letter that came in yesterday night. It’s for the boss.” Tim rubbing his face with one hand, handed another letter to Tristan.
“A letter?” Tristan received the rolled up letter and inspected it.
At a glance, Tristan could tell that the grade of paper that he was holding was unlike anything he seen before. It even trumps the quality of the paper used by the palace. The texture of the paper was perfectly smooth and soft, unlike the paper they used here with the occasional uneven and coarse bumps. Another remarkable thing about the paper was that it was pure white. The scrolls typically used by the palace even had a slight tinge of yellow to it.
The scrolled letter was wrapped by a red ribbon and sealed with dark blue wax. A set of unique coat of arms was printed on the wax. There was no way that Tristan could mistake it, it was a beetle. But no matter how hard Tristan racked his brain, he could not think of a noble family that had a coat of arms that matched the one that he was looking at.
This strange letter really tweaked his curiosity. Who sent it?
Tristan flipped the scroll around as if trying to catch a glimpse of the message inside. His antics was stopped when a sudden cough sounded behind him.
There was no way that Tristan could mistake the owner of that voice, it was his boss. He turned around slowly to see a gruff middle-age balding man standing in front of him. The man’s piercing black eyes easily cause sweat to build up on Tristan’s back. The man was called William Shanks, or ‘Iron-Will’ by those in the airship building business. He was famous for his no nonsense approach when it came to work. Iron-Will was someone that would bully an entire work-crew if he felt parts of the ship was not build to specification.
“Good morning, Mr. Shanks.”
“Morning, Tristan. You have something of mine?” Mr. Shanks reached out an arm for the letter.
Tristan immediately passed the letter to his boss. As Mr. Shanks gazed upon the coat-of-arms, his face turned from a healthy shade of red to purple. His hands started to tremble. Tristan could not mistake the look of fear that flashed across the man’s face.
Without a word, Mr. Shanks immediately head inside his personal office. With a clicking sound, locked the door behind him.
“What was that about?” Tim asked nervously.
This morning was full of surprises. It unnerved Tristan to see the man, notorious for his ferocity to looked so scared.
After a while, the unmistakable voice of Mr. Shanks beckoned the two into his office. Tristan entered the office with Tim following from the back.
“Take a sit, you two.”
A large bottle of amber liquor was sitting on the table. Mr. Shanks poured one cup for himself before pouring a second and passed it to Tristan. Tristan received it gingerly as he felt the situation was highly irregular.
Mr. Shanks proceeded to drain his cup in one-go as if trying to get rid of some unpleasantness before continuing to speak.
“All right. There’s no easy way to say this. I’ll just keep it to the point. We are leaving the city and we have to do it by tomorrow. If you value the safety of your family, don’t ask questions, tell them to pack up and head to this spot by tomorrow night.” Mr. Shanks then passed the letter earlier to Tristan to read.
In that letter, there was only one sentence, ‘Leave the city by tomorrow’, followed by a map indicating a rendezvous point towards the east, approximately one hour away from the city by carriage, near the Great Northern-Eastern Forest.
“If you want to stay alive, don’t tell this to anyone. Do you hear me?” Shanks added sternly as an afterthought.
Tristan’s mind was swarmed with questions as all of this were just too sudden. But after recalling the fearful look from Mr. Shanks earlier, he decided against it and chose to obey the man’s instructions. To him, his boss might be a fearsome man but he had brought their group this far.
“But sir, what about the launch of the Indefiable? As the group who designed her, people will start asking question if the group who designed her suddenly disappear on such an important night.”
“You are right. They won’t like it if we attract too much attention.”
Mr. Shanks placed his hands on his forehead as if he was wrestling with a heavy decision.
Tristan was wondering who were those people that could force his boss into a corner.
“Fine, we’ll quickly wrap things up by tonight. Tim, I’ll rely on you to pass the message to our families. Get them packing and be ready to leave by first light tomorrow.”
“All right.” Tim promptly headed out the office.
The kid was quick to catch up on the situation. Tristan prayed that he made the right choice. He got the feel that he was like a butterfly caught in the middle of a hurricane.
He had no idea how right he was.
Part 2
Deep within audience chamber of the Caldera palace, a retinue of the country’s nobles had assembled. The nobles genuflected before the throne, silently waiting for the arrival of the monarch of the country.
Crimson banners with golden emblazonment were hung in neat rows on both sides of the chamber. The floor was covered by a layer of marble, polished so finely that it reflected the images of those present like a mirror.
Suits of gleaming armor stood guard like sentinels to both sides of the chamber. Although, the designed of the armor seemed overly elaborated, making it as if their purpose was purely ornamental. Those who kneeled upon the floor knew that the armor would sprung to life at the first threatening sign towards the king.
A single stone throne layered with velvet cushion sat at the distal end of the chamber, opposite the main entrance. A large silver ornate mirror, measuring six meters in height was hung on the wall just behind the throne. A soft glow radiated around the edges of the mirror, signifying its magical nature.
The audience chamber does not have a ceiling. Instead, it was covered by a layer of transparent glass. If one were to look upwards, they would notice the dark thunder clouds that hover above the castle and the thick heavy rain drops that came from the deluge outside the castle. However, the noise from the pitter-patter of the raindrops along the glass-roof was canceled out by the magical glass that prevents external noise from disturbing the tranquility of the august chamber.
Although it was noon, the thick rain clouds stopped any sunlight from reaching the grounds. If not for the magical illumination that adorned the white plastered pillars that ran along the room, the whole chamber would appear dark.
“Announcing the arrival of his majesty, Alrus Novus Volbeck Grimvale III.”
The genuflecting nobles remained still as a statue as they waited for the king to take the throne.
“You may raise your head.”
As one, all the nobles raised their heads. Their sharp gazes were directed at the one figure seated on the throne, a blond young adult dressed in dark red regal long coat. Both his hands were holding on to an intricately carved scepter, measuring about 30 centimeters in length. A large gemstone sat hovering towards the front end of the scepter. All the nobles could sense the power emanating from the scepter, the symbol of the young monarch’s right to rule.
“Thank you all for gathering on such a short notice, gentlemen. Let’s us dispense with the formalities. I would like to finish things up here quickly as I need to entertain a guest in my chambers. ” King Alrus smirked lewdly as he addressed the gathered noble.
The expression of the nobles remained unchanged as they were familiar with their king’s unsavory habit. The proceedings began at the behest of the skinny elderly gentleman standing to the king’s right, Duke Vlock Havens Prescott, the royal prime minister. There were not a single person in Grimvale that would fail to recognise the elderly duke. Duke Prescott had tirelessly served the previous king, and now he served his son.
However, there were rumors circulating that the Duke’s age was catching up to him. Soon, there would be an opening for the position as the prime minister.
“Gentlemen, an emergency missive had arrived from our spies in Ambat. Apparently, the Empire’s Eastern Army, led by the fourth Imperial Prince, Percy Windon Lockmyer, entered the Forbidden Continent…...”
The Duke addressed the gathered nobles. The unexpected development droved many of the noble occupants within the audience chamber into a commotion. The overall response of the gathered nobles were split into two according to age. The older looking nobles looked unease while younger ones were smiling at the possible opportunities that they could benefit from the Imperial debacle.
However, there was only one face that remained passive throughout the whole process, the king himself. In contrast, he looked bored himself. He slouched on the throne, observing the discussion that was occurring amongst the nobles boringly.
“What was the fate that befell the Imperial Eastern Army?” One of the more elderly noble enquired.
The nobles on the floor recognized him as Marquee Estonus. The marquees was renowned as a dedicated historian of the Grimvale. He enjoyed a close working relation with Duke Prescott.
“As far we know, all forms of communication had ceased with the Eastern Army.” Duke Prescott responded without a sign of unease.
“The outcome was unexpected isn’t it? Only fools would dare to brave challenges of that accursed land. Or have we not learned from humanity’s painful history? The Heroes of Old’s attempt to tame those lands themselves. What do they have to show for it? A total lost of the best of humanity had to offer. The likes we have never saw since then...” Marquee Estonus lamented.
The marquis’s words was a grim reminder of humanity's folly borne by all human centric countries. However, there were signs that the younger generation had started to forget about the lessons of history itself. The young nobles had petition for expeditions into the Forbidden Continent, eager to earn glory and exploit the resources of those lands.
The Forbidden Continent was a land full of untapped riches. Many nations that shared the same border as the continent dreamt of carving out a piece of land as their territory. Of course, such a venture does not come without a price.
The land was home to countless powerful monsters, monsters that could easily make the strongest and most fearless of humanity sweat with terror, monsters that could easily bring a country to its knees if left unchecked.
The Death Wyrm attack three decades earlier was a perfect example. The attack itself changed the antagonistic bilateral relations between the Empire and the Kingdom of Grimvale to a more cooperative one. Both nations banded together to slayed the beast.
Since then, both countries maintained a mutualistic relation. Now, the Imperial Eastern Garrison received priority when it came to Grimvale’s arms export. In return, the Eastern Garrison shall serve as a shield against the monsters that venture out from the Forbidden Continent, stopping them from ever reaching Grimvale’s territories.
Many of the older nobles shuddered at the thought of even one of the Death Wyrms penetrating into Grimvale.
“Your highness, we should prepare an expedition into those lands as well!” One of the younger nobles petitioned. Behind him, several of the younger nobles silently nodded in support of Marquees Calavan’s opinion.
The young noble in question looked like someone aged around the late twenties. His had crew-cut black hair that were popular among the nobles that served in the country’s armed forces.
Duke Prescott surveyed the young noble who voiced out. He knew the youth, Marquis Calavan who inherited the title from his father, who retired from old age. The Calavan family had led the knights corps of Grimvale’s for generations.
“Have you not learned anything in school, youngling?”
“Yes, that old should make way for the new. For too long our country’s progress was slowed by some old man's’ fear of some far fetch fairy tail. For all we know, the Empire was feeding us wrong information to throw us off guard. They may have establish a foothold in those lands. While, we from Grimvale languish in whatever meager territory we hold.”
“You would rather risk bringing ruin to our country, boy?” Marquis Estonus retorted.
“You prefer to hide behind your books while our neighbors grew in power, old-man?” Marquis Calavan replied sarcastically.
Duke Prescott observed the exchange between his old friend, Marquis Estonus and Marquis Calavan. Their contrasting stance represented the overall opinion if the nobles. While, the latter’s opinion was nothing new. As the old guard was slowly replaced by the new, many of the younger nobles held a more expansionist view on things. The total territory of Grimvale was only a quarter of the Empire’s. Sure enough, their country was smaller than many of their neighbors but their nations had one of the strongest army. Many of the younger nobles, particular those affiliated with the military, had notions of expanding the country’s borders through warfare.
“That’s enough.” The voice from the young monarch disrupted the heated exchange between the Marquis Estonus and Marquis Calavan.
“Please forgive our rudeness, your majesty.” The two disputing nobles bowed.
“Your highness, the Imperial Eastern Army stood as a bulwark against the monsters that would spill out from the Forbidden Continent. As an immediate measure, it would be prudent to pull our army on alert for any monsters that escaped the notice of the weaken Eastern Imperial Garrison.” Duke Prescott immediately brought the discussion back on track.
“I’ll leave it to you then. I heard that the Empire had requested that we sped up the launch of the newest airship model, the Indefiable. They had also put in extra orders for airships as well. Do you think does it have to do with the matter stated in the missive?”
“No doubt it has. But the crux of the matter lay with their actual intentions and the validity of the information. The number of those missing troops are sufficient to invade another country. There is a slim chance that the Imperial might be spreading false information to mask a perpetual invasion against another country. Our spies within the Empire had also reported an increase in recruitment activity.”
“Could it be that there Empire was replacing their losses stemmed from the misguided expedition?” Marquis Estonus suggested.
“I do not deny that possibility as well, Marquis Estonus. But,...”
“Until we have more information at hand, we cannot take more proactive measures. Duke Prescott, put the border regiment on alert. Immediately inform me if there are any new information from our agents especially with regards to my missing delivery...I will mercilessly crush anyone that dared to mess with me….”
Duke Prescott and the other nobles shuddered from their king’s angry proclamation. When it comes to national issues, his king could still maintain a sense of level headedness. However when it came to the issue of women, the young monarch would go to war just to claim the purity of any woman to his liking.
His majesty is definitely furious about his missing delivery.
Duke Prescott offered a silent prayer to those that would stand between the king and the objects of his lust for. He hoped that those people will remain hidden, for his own and this country's sake.
Part 3
After the king departed from the audience chamber, only Duke Prescott and Marquis Estonus remained. The duke purposely stayed behind after catching a meaningful look from his friend earlier.
“What are the chances that the Empire did actually launched an expedition into the Forbidden Continent?” Marquis Estonus asked Duke Prescott.
“I am not to sure myself, my friend. To even silent our spies within the Eastern Garrison was quite the feat itself. It was as though the Empire was using all efforts to hide the whereabouts of the Eastern Garrison. I cannot begin to imagine what was being done to prevent them from using the message spell.”
“So you think that the chances of an invasion was higher?”
“Perhaps, if they truly intended to invade where would they strike? Although our country received word that the new emperor would like to maintain the status quo between our countries, still I doubt he would sit silently in lieu of our country’s under table dealings and the upcoming celebration. He is no fool.”
“You mean the approaching marriage of the young princess to his majesty? Still isn’t that rather drastic? Both Grimvale had enjoyed relatively cordial ties with the Empire since the incident of the Death Wyrm.”
“..and that was with the previous emperor or the ‘Foolish Emperor’ as they called him. The current emperor was more war-minded. Do you know that some of the younger nobles are actually itching for a war, particular that rallied under Marquis Calavan. They wanted an opportunity to prove their valor on the field of battle….”
“Sigh, that was why not many nobles opposed our King’s impending marriage was it?”
“Yes, and there were also those nobles that do not believe that there will be a war. There believed that the symbiotic relation between our both nation protects us from any militaristic response from the Empire. Their argument had its merit as the Imperial emissaries only sent their usual letter of protest and nothing more than that. After all, the young princess is just a figurehead. It would be more feasible for the Empire to kidnap her quietly rather than starting a war just for a single girl.”
“Yet, the missing Imperial Eastern Garrison caused quite the uncertain isn’t it?”
“Exactly, until we can gather all the pieces to show us the bigger picture, all we can do is to keep vigilant. Still, the whole situation is too unsettling. The Imperial side is too quiet for my liking, as if this was the calm before the storm, my friend.”
“Then, I shall assist you from my end. Probably the history records might shed some light on the intentions of the Empire.”
Hearing that, Duke Prescott smiled wryly. His good friend had a tendency to turning into historical records when he wanted some answers.
“I’ll be relying on you then. Do let me know if anything comes to mind.”
****
Marquis Estonus was back within the comfort of his study room. Since returning from the throne room, he had spent his time in this room pouring over thick dusty historical tomes in hopes of finding something that would enlighten his friend, Duke Prescott.
When it came to solving a problem that befell their country, both Duke Prescott and Marquis Estonus would approach a matter from different viewpoints. So that they would cover all possible scenarios especially from an unknown situation.
In this case, the Duke was approaching the matter of the missing Imperial Eastern Garrison under the assumption that they were still out there, biding their time. As for the marquis, he would be operating under the assumption that the garrison did go inside the Forbidden Continent.
The arquis rested his forehead on his intertwined hands. He was tired after continuously reading for several hours. He used to be able to read the whole day and not feel a thing. But now, the effects of ageing were getting to him.
“People had a tendency to disregard the facts although it is staring them in the face all this while. Those that do not heed the lessons of history are bound to repeat it.” The marquis could not help but mumbled to himself after recalling the heated exchange he had in the throne room.
His mind wandered towards the large ornamented mirror that was hung on the wall just behind the royal throne. Unlike normal mirrors, the mirror did not reflect the scenery within the throne room, instead what was being displayed usually was actually swirling mist. As if the mist itself was from another world and the mirror was a gateway to it.
But the marquis knew better. The mirror was a relic that was left behind 200 years-ago. But the most terrifying fact about the mirror was the powerful monster that was imprisoned within the mirror itself.
The marquis remembered the moment he gazed upon the mirror when he first visited the throne room to received his lordship, 40-years ago. He still remembered the chill that ran through his spine like it was yesterday, the day when he raised his head and his eyes met the shining beast like golden pupils of the monstrosity that dwelled within the mirror.
The marquis once read that a highly skilled swordsman could read their opponent’s intentions just by looking into their eyes. While, he regarded himself as more scholarly than martial. Yet, as he gazed upon those eyes, he could clearly tell that the being would burn the world into cinders ten times over if it ever regain its freedom.
Since that day, the apparition barely made an appearance when the marquis visited the throne room. Although, he occasionally caught a glimpse of its silhouette. Still, for the young nobles to laugh at history as if it was some old wife’s tale. The marquis could only sighed in frustration. He could not understand why the younger generation would choose not to believe in the historical records left to them by their ancestors, especially even when a large shard of evidence was right in front of them all this while.
As the marquis thought about the reason for it, he attributed part of the reason for such a way of thought was due to apathy brought forth from a safer world, or at least a world safer then it was 200 years ago. In a peaceful world, people had more opportunity to pursue their desires rather than simply surviving day to day like the people in this continent once did. In times of peace, many were ignorant of the dangers that once beset this world or simply chose to overlook it.
Is the human mind so feeble that people would simply deny the cold hard truth just by averting their eyes?
Once the marquis was young, foolish, and ambitious, but all of that was gone after that visit to the throne room. Since then, he had dedicated his entire existence to safeguarding the Kingdom of Grimvale and also his family.
On the issue of his family, the Marquis’s thought drifted towards his grandson, whom now resides at the Empire. Many would see him as one of the pride of humanity. If not for the young man’s obligations due to his current post, the marquis would have preferred him to succeed as head of family after the boy’s father steps down.
Marquis Estonus smiled fondly at the memory of his grandson’s antics when he was but a child. While the other grandchildren would try to avoid the subject altogether, only that particular grandchild would pester the marquis to read passages from his historical books all day. The boy had several favorites within the marquis's personal precious collection, The Journals of the Mad Mage, Rise of the Dragon Empress, and of course, the Lore of the Forbidden Continent. Many of those books were almost 200 years old.
The marquis massaged his already tired eyes, trying to dispel his fatigue that beset him. He was trying to answer one particular question in mind.
Why would the fourth Imperial prince lead the Imperial Eastern Garrison into the Forbidden Continent? Was it simply to increase the Empire’s sphere of influence? Or was it some personal agenda.
If the fourth imperial prince had really led an army into the Forbidden Continent, Marquis Estonus doubt that was done without a clear goal in mind. The prince’s gambit would be particularly disastrous without a proper plan. Hence, the marquis tried to search through the royal archives, trying to seek out anything from the Forbidden Continent that would enticed a prince.
After hours of reading, the marquis was about to give up as he yet to find a convincing answer. He had too little information to work with. Knowledge about the Forbidden Continent were scarce. Nations that bordered that mysterious land had strictly forbid their people from entering those lands. Marquis Estonus emphasized with their intentions. Careless allowing people to enter those lands might provoked the monsters that dwelled there.
Then again, is that the only reason?...What am I thinking. I am getting off-track.
His eyes befell one particular thick dusty tome on the table. The title was written as the Ruler’s Lament. It was decades ago since he last read the book. The content itself was a memoir detailing the deeds of the first King of Grimvale, who took the throne approximately 200 years ago. Only those who were certain positions within the government had the privilege to read it. As the Royal Historian and Archive Keeper, the marquis had the privilege of reading the book when he first took up the position about 40 years ago.
Back then his highness, had a different title was it not? I think it was Guild Leader?
Marquis Estonus took a look at the cover of the dusty tome. Then, he recalled a particular page which he read about in that book. The sudden realisation caused him to hurriedly flipped through the pages until he found what he sleeked.
As he read through those pages, his palm started to sweat.
This is bad, This is really bad. Did the world ignored something that should not be forgotten in the first place?
The marquis prayed that his friend, Duke Prescott would listen to his ramblings in the middle of the night.
Authors Note
Dear fellow Overlord-fans, my apologies for this long overdue chapter. I was preoccupied with my work lately. Still, thank you for all your patience and understanding. If all goes well, I hope to publish an additional intermission chapter by this coming weekend.
