Lord of Estaria

by K R Zax

  “OK, lead the way.” I told her when we were back in my palace room.

  “You’re so pushy.” She scowled and walked out.

  I must say that I was a little worried about coming into the palace in this manner, since I already moved to my new mansion. Will someone complain?

  Technically, I was still a guest of the palace, so it shouldn’t be that big of an issue if I don’t come through the front gate. At least, that will be my excuse, just in case someone makes a fuss about it.

  Adjacent to the western side of the palace grounds were a set of big stables, and there was a lot of open space around them.

  “I used to come here a lot when I was younger,” Lillian told me as she watched the empty sky. “Wyvern Knights seemed like such a great thing to me at that time.”

  “You wanted to ride on one, didn’t you?” I would need to be really dense not to see that much.

  “Yeah,” she confessed. “But not anyone can become a Wyvern Knight. You need to have an egg first, then wait for it to hatch, and then try to form a bond with the young Wyvern.

  I guess that every child dreams to be a great Wyvern Knight after hearing the stories. Especially the one about Sir Velry the Terrible.”

  “Who?” I never heard of that name. Was he a big shot or something? And if he was that famous, how big of a harem did he made?

  Lillian looked at me for a second and then she told me about it.

  *

  More than three hundred years ago, there was a war with one of the Murim kingdoms in the south.

  Those kinds of wars were common with them, but that time the Empire wasn’t aware that the Murim kingdom was taken over by a sect.

  When the Empire forces, which numbered around 50000, confronted the 120000 Murims, they didn’t think much of it. Everyone knew that the Empire soldiers and knights were stronger than the Murims.

  And that was exactly when the role of the sect comes in play. They were radical fanatics who didn’t value human lives, and when the two armies clashed, the Empire became aware of the ugly truth.

  All the Murims were turned into slaves by the sect, and they had only one order – to kill.

  When our soldiers stabbed and slashed the Murims, they noticed that the enemy didn’t behave like normal people. They all had smiles on their faces, even if they lost limbs or had fatal wounds. It was like they didn’t care, nor feel.

  Later it was found that they were under the influence of special drugs.

  Anyway, the Empire soldiers had to work harder to kill the maddened enemies, and just as they thought they could manage that situation somehow, the mages come into play.

  The Murims brought a lot of slave mages from the surrounding kingdoms and thrust them into the front lines.

  The mages unleashed their magic spells one after the other, killing, burning, slashing and piercing the Empire’s forces. And they couldn’t stop.

  There were always two regular slaves assigned to one mage, they were there to supplement the spell-caster with mana recovery potions. Orders were placed on the mages to use their magic and drink potions, even if it kills them.

  The Empire’s Mages tried to counter them, but they were outnumbered and didn’t have the resolve to throw themselves into that hell.

  Our forces hit them with everything they had and were successful in killing a lot of the enemies. But, as if things weren’t bad enough, six Murim Mages who previously died, awakened as Liches.

  There were already thousands of dead soldier, and the undead took advantage of that. And for some strange reason, the Liches didn’t attack the Murims - all their efforts were focused only on the Empire’s army.

  Sir Velry and his knights mounted their beasts with the intent to join the battle.

  The role of Wyvern Knights is mainly focused on scouting and to act as messengers. If a Wyvern Knight were to fight into a battle and die, his Wyvern would then went berserk and it would need to be killed.

  The soldiers who were trying to stay alive in the midst of the battlefield said that they saw shadows flew over them and then heard a mighty cry: “Glory to the Empire!”. Then three Wyverns dropped from the sky, attacking the Liches and undead soldiers.

  The fourth Wyvern was hit with a barrage of spells, and he crashed into the enemy mages. With a broken wing and a dead rider on his back, the Wyvern launched itself at the Murims, seeking revenge for his beloved master.

  While chaos raged on the bloody field, Sir Velry flew over the enemy formations, his Wyvern evading spells and arrows as he headed for the Murim king.

  Acolytes formed a meat shield to protect their leader and were shredded apart by the Wyvern’s sharp claws.

  The enemy formations broke when everyone tried to protect the king. They threw themselves at the monster.

  Sir Velry’s Wyvern was certainly strong, but there were thousands of mad slaves sacrificing themselves for their master.

  Sir Velry jumped from his wounded mount and swung his broadsword, cutting the Murims in half. His strength was at A-rank, and he used every ounce of it to get closer to the king.

  Eventually, his fateful Wyvern died, and he was receiving more and more heavy wounds. Hundreds of Murims were lying dead around him, but he couldn’t protect himself from magic attacks.

  He soon lost an arm, and the armor melted on his back. Sir Velry knew that he won’t be able to advance further.

  Then, with the last bit of his strength, the knight threw his sword at the king who was sitting on his golden throne. The sword was flying so fast that no one could follow it with their eyes.

  The mighty sword pierced the king’s chest, along with his golden throne. The crazed cultists ripped apart the lonely knight, but everything was already over for them.

  All the Empire’s Wyverns and their knights died that day, but they managed to turn the tides on the Murim cult, and return victorious.

  *

  Bloody hell! I would pay gold to see that movie!

  Maybe there’s a history book somewhere in my mansion, I’ll ask Aliona if she knows about it.

  Chapter 12.

  “You want to know more about the Wyverns?” A knight who was in the stables asked when Lillian told him why we came for. I could see that his armor was designed to be lighter and had good mobility.

  Right now there were only three Wyverns in the Rasik Empire: one Wyvern and his knight in the capital, while the other two were escorting the Emperor as he traveled the country.

  “As long as it’s not classified information, I can tell you a lot about them, my lord. Is there something specific that you want to know?”

  “How do I kill one?” Let’s go with honesty for now. But then I saw his horrified expression, so I better explain things before he kicks me out. “I am trying to reclaim the Estaria region, and I came across a Wyvern nest near the old road, so I was wondering if there was a good way to deal with them. I read all the information on their weak points, but I wondered if you had any advice?”

  “Hmm, wings, belly, and eyes, more than that… I can’t really tell you. As for the hill you mentioned, I know that place, but we all avoid it.” The knight was inside the pen, rubbing his mount’s scales with a brush. The monster seemed to like that. “There’s no way we would risk ours, or the lives of our precious partners in a confrontation with the wild Wyverns.”

  “Wait, you sound like they are dangerous even for you. What’s that about?” He’s a knight riding on a Wyvern, he can fight with at least one of the monsters.

  “No, my lord,” The knight shook his head. “The one you see here is weak, and so are the other two when you compare them with the wild ones. It’s like comparing an ordinary person with a D-rank adventurer.”

  That much? A D-rank adventurer was about three times stronger than an ordinary person. How can that be?

  “You’re telling me that your Wyvern is somewhere around C or B-rank, while the wild ones are A-rank?” Shit! That’s quite the difference. He could only beat the younger ones! The litt
le ones who couldn’t fly yet were probably around C-rank. And you’re saying that this big fella is on that level?

  “Not C-rank,” the knight sounded hurt with my comparison. “Middle B-rank, maybe closer to A-rank. But in a one-on-one fight with the wild ones, our Wyverns would lose 9 out of 10 fights.”

  “But what about the stories?” I was pissed now. “Why the hell did Sir Velry, and the others sounded so powerful then?”

  “At that time the Empire had more eggs and young Wyverns, my lord. They could afford to do dangerous tasks and could grow stronger. Right now, we only have three Wyverns and we can’t risk losing them. My partner is the youngest of the three, if we had several eggs or young trainees it would be a different story, but eggs don’t appear that often on the markets.”

  Crap. I could post a quest at the guild and launch an attack, there were some A-rank adventurers in the city, and if I spread the word, more would come. Sigh. I could already see my money trickling away.

  “Can I at least touch it?” Since I am here, why not have an unusual experience? Most of the time, I only had the chance to touch a strong monster after I killed it.

  “Sure, my lord.”

  The Wyvern lowered his head and sniffed me before I could touch his body. The scales were smooth and warm when I placed my hand on his side, close to his folded wing. Such a nice creature. It would be nice if I could ride one.

  I looked through the eyes of my zombie rats and mice. They successfully infiltrated the Wyvern’s nest and were hiding now. Shit, it seems that I lost several of them. Ah, there are young Wyverns in a few caves. One was chewing on one of my zombie rats, and I could see a couple of big ones, sitting on some eggs.

  Oh, no… A Wyvern flew into the cave carrying an orc in his mouth. Then he threw it in front of the female. That wasn’t an ordinary orc, but one of my zombies.

  Bloody hell, they were like vermin. Eating at my property while I wasn’t looking. Just you wait! I will exterminate you like… Oh!

  “Lillian, do you know where I could find an alchemist?” I asked her as a crazy idea struck me.

  “We have a few in the palace.”

  “Really? What for?” Why would there be alchemists in the palace? Don’t they usually have workshops in shady places?

  “They sometimes fix magic items and do research. They are also good at appraising various things, like a few of the goods you found in the criminal hideout.” It sounded reasonable now that she said it like that. “But you are strange. First you want to meet a Wyvern Knight, and now an alchemist. What’s next, a fairy?”

  “Why, do you know one?” I could add one to my collection of pretty women. Did they wore Tinkerbell-like costumes?

  While we were going back to the palace, a group of women in white robes were dragging a beautiful elf girl away as she struggled to get free from their grasp.

  “No,” the elf pleaded. “I want to see my love!”

  “Your Holiness, there is no one like that in here,” one of the women said while pushing the elf girl. “Besides, didn’t you say that he wanted to abuse you?”

  “Yes!” The girl said excitedly, almost drooling. “Abuse me my love!”

  “Poor Saril,” Lillian murmured when the group turned around a corner. “She’s been acting peculiar lately.”

  “What’s wrong with her?” Was she mentally unstable? Because she definitely looked like a crazy person.

  “Apparently, she has this imaginary ‘lover’,” Lillian shuddered. “According to what I’ve heard, she keeps describing in what ways he will… Uh, so disgusting!”

  “Huh?” That guy seems like someone I would like to take notes from.

  “Marquess Miller!” A soldier rushed to us as soon as we walked inside. “The Warden Empress wishes to see you.”

  “Lead the way,” I said tiredly. Man, what’s up with this? It looks like I can’t go around and do my business without something else coming up. And what does she want now? I gave her all that fortune and she still bothers me.

  “You used that Portal thing to travel in and out of the palace, didn’t you?” Was the first thing Nalisia asked me when we got in her office.

  “Yeah, I hope you don’t mind it.” I said and remember my excuse. “Since I’m still a guest here and...” Shit, this sounds so lame now that I’m saying it out loud.

  “Fine, but I will put several people there.” She was irritated. But I can’t help it. You don’t expect me to walk all the way here, right? Or maybe she does?

  “So what did you need me for? Your Grace.” I could see Felisy gritting her teeth, infuriated at my laid-back attitude.

  “The Murims who were involved with Baron Leon, are members of the N’Uruq sect.” She looked through some of her documents. “Our intelligence found several people of interest, and I want for you to keep an eye on them.”

  “Why me?” The Empire must have better trained agents, while the only thing I did was watched a couple of James Bond movies.

  “You have unusual methods. Like the way you found the Baron and his accomplices.”

  Ah, my zombies. They were the last word in Necromancy.

  “Your Grace, I have my hands full with the reclaiming of my territory.” I said respectfully. Which was true, I hardly made any progress. It wasn’t a problem to reclaim the land, but with the Wyverns in my way... “It would probably take me a whole month to reach the Estaria region.”

  “Marquess Miller, only you would consider that to be slow.”

  She might be right about that. “So, who are the people you want me to watch?” Let’s see who the target is, and if I can benefit from it.

  “This two,” she handed me two pieces of paper with a drawing on it. This fantasy photography was really something.

  “We suspect that there are several more Murims involved, but so far only those two caught our eye.”

  “What did they do to stand out?” Were this guy sniffing around for sensitive information?

  “One of Baron Leon’s associates identified them,” Nalisia looked at a document. “And apparently they have been sighted close to the Saint’s Palace several times, including the UsKriss celebration.”

  “Huh?” That made me curious. “Does their religion have the same holiday?”

  “No, to put it bluntly – it’s a mess.” I waited for Nalisia to sort her thoughts, and then she gave me a short lesson.

  “There are several sects and they all believe that their God is the only God, and the others are just a fake. For the most part, countries acknowledge the existence of various gods, but the Murims seemed to be stubbornly attached to the idea that there is only one god.

  Some of those gods have normal, reasonable doctrines. But the problem arises when members of evil gods try to brainwash the people, offering them unreasonable rewards. For example, the most popular one is: ‘You will be kings in the afterlife, and all the infidels you’ve killed will be there to do your bidding’. And other such nonsense.”

  “So these guys...”

  “They follow the teachings of N’Uruq, and yes – he is an Evil God.” The Empress made a disgusted face when she handed me another piece of paper. “These are some of their doctrines.”

  “Bloody hell!” I couldn’t believe this shit. Humans were superior to other races? Murims were the chosen people? This document was filled with some sick stuff that I barely read through half of it.

  ‘Shut up evil me!’ I screamed at my Demonic self, who seemed to be excited. ‘We can only do that crap to other evil people. Got it?’

  “My lord,” Lillian handed me a handkerchief, so I knew that there was a smile on my face.

  “Now you see why their presence at the UsKriss was out of place?” Nalisia averted her eyes when Lillian adjusted my collars. “And while they were some distance away, our agents are sure that they were observing the High Priestess.”

  “Saril? What they want with her?” Lillian looked serious, it appeared that the priestess meant a lot to her.

  “I di
dn’t ask you before, but, is this Saril your friend?” It must be, right? Why else would she be worried that much?

  “She’s my cousin,” Lillian said. “My father and her father are first brothers. We were very close. But one day she received her first Divine Message. And they found that her mana and Light magic were at a very high rank, so she became the High Priestess.”

  “What is a Divine Message?” Do Gods really speak to people in this world? Well, even if that’s true, I doubt that they granted wishes.

  “The Patriarch will say that the messages are ‘The Will of God’, if you ask him.” Empress Nalisia said skeptically. “And if you ask a scholar, he will claim that it is ‘A Glimpse Into the Future’ or simply a Foresight Skill. There are too many unknowns on both sides and we try to stay objective about that matter.”