The young man stepped back as the sneer on the face of the Red Falcon Knight who had thrown it faded.
“Shit blade.” The guard leader examined the blade as if he were checking out vegetables on a street stall.
Salyn felt the tang of metal and blood in the air and shivered.
The guard leader threw the blade backward. Salyn felt the rush of wind as it hit the Red Falcon Knight, tossing him out of his saddle and startling his horse. Others moved to calm the beast as a tombstone appeared.
The Knight’s stirrups kept him attached as blood dripped down his red and silver carved armor and onto the ground.
The Red Falcon Knights drew their weapons, their eyes flicking to the corpse.
“Didn’t Rook say, ‘we’ll hunt down anyone that attacks alliance members?’ Guards are alliance members. I don’t like people attacking my rook,” the guard leader said.
Salyn cleared his throat and rode up to Lord Knight Ikeda, stepping between the weapons. “Lord Knight, we have a mission to carry out according to the Queen’s will.” Salyn’s voice was just loud enough to be heard by the people who had hurriedly moved away from the two groups.
Ikeda glared at Salyn as if this was all his fault.
“We have a letter for Aditya from Queen Ikku of the Shikoshi Kingdom,” Ikeda announced.
“Lord Aditya gets letters from across the First Realm. Back of the line and wait your turn. No more than ten fighters are allowed into King’s Hill unless you are a registered mercenary or guard, though I’ll allow three.”
Ikeda gripped his sword tighter.
“Or none of you can enter and I add some more tombstones at the entrance?”
“You’re always making friends.” A woman laughed as another group of guards appeared.
“Back of the line and only three of you allowed in, or as my friend said, we deal with you out here.”
Ikeda gritted his teeth as Salyn checked the best way to retreat. If Ikeda got himself killed, it wouldn’t be a problem. He could pass the message to Lord Aditya himself. Then Queen Ikku would have to fight for nothing else than honor.
Ikeda put his sword in his scabbard. “We can endure anything for our Queen.” Ikeda seemed to be addressing his fellow knights, but he was staring at the first guard leader.
“Back of the line. Three of you allowed in. The rest of you can wait out here. Don’t worry; you should have plenty of fun at night.”
Lord Knight Ikeda turned and led the group to the rear of the line. People moved to allow them back.
“If you give up your spot, you’ll lose it till tomorrow!” The second guard leader had followed with her group. People shifted even further back, smelling the blood in the air.
The Red Falcons stored their comrade’s body. They talked in low tones about the revenge they were plotting out.
“Salyn, Hiraga, you two will come with me. The rest of you find a place to stay for the night,” Ikeda said after some time.
Ikeda seemed unruffled by the incident as if it had never happened, but that didn’t mean the information wouldn’t get back to the Queen. As her Red Falcons leader, he was her authority.
Salyn bowed his head in understanding and waited.
The rest of the group moved out of the line.
Salyn studied Hiraga, one of the few female Red Falcon Knights. She sat as straight as a spear, her eyes roving between people. She barely talked and had a simple appearance, making her easy to miss.
He turned his attention forward. Guards from King’s Hill patrolled up and down the lines, making sure that no one was causing trouble. Some people were turned away or sent to the back of the line. Few others dared to get into conflict with the guards.
“You might be wondering why I didn’t do anything more after confronting the King’s Hill guards.” Ikeda’s mouth didn’t move, but through a spell, Salyn could hear his voice. “You can just nod. Don’t try talking back. I was testing their ability. Fernard didn’t have any family connections, no one to come and avenge him. A good tool to test the guards. They had the one guard unit patrolling. The second guard unit was back up. They also had people on the walls, ready to defend or move out as needed. The first guard leader must be about as strong as Hiraga. Though none of the others revealed anything about how strong they are, which makes me think that they are weaker than they appear. This King’s Hill and outpost alliance is stronger than I thought, and those in power are always looking for more. Keep your wits about you.”
Lord Salyn nodded, inwardly shocked. His evaluation of Ikeda rose rapidly. Using his own people’s lives to gain information on other’s strengths was all an act? As was guiding people to talk to Salyn. With the attention focused on him, Hiraga would be hard to notice, and the best kind of person to gather information.
They reached the wall quickly. Deep scratches and grooves had been gouged in the wall from beasts.
“Gets a little lively out here at night,” the guard waiting to take their money said with one hand resting on his blade.
“No violence or crime inside the walls. Forty coppers, each.”
“Each?” Ikeda’s voice rose.
“It’s what everyone pays. Makes sure only the strong and capable enter the city. If you’re weak, you’ll turn into beast fodder.”
Ikeda dug out the one silver and twenty coppers and passed it to the guard. He put it into a box and waved them forward.
They passed through the large gate and into the city.
It rested on a hill well above the treetops, with the original city at the crown and the second extension reaching a third of the way down the hill. In the distance, one could see the mountains that created the Beast Mountain Range. Roads traveled through valleys, over rivers, mountains, and forests to connect the outposts.
All the buildings in the second extension of King’s Hill were a mix of stone and wood. Most cities just used wood because it is so much easier and cheaper to use.
“The guards are pulled from the military units,” Ikeda said, talking freely now there were no people all around them. “Originally, they were guards at the different outposts. It made them a neutral force. Every guard watching the gates will take a little something for themselves. We raised trouble, and they didn’t charge us more. Even when I was trying to annoy him.”
“You sound impressed.”
“Our cities are guarded by the personal guards of the ruling family or families. The Army is made up of people that have a sworn oath to the queen and bring their personal guards and some of their people to support her. Few have training, and all of them come to get part of the loot from the fighting.” Ikeda turned his head, looking Salyn up and down.
Salyn tried to look as non threatening as possible. Why was he telling him all of this? Ikeda didn’t trust him. Was he putting the fear into him? A warning that he would know if Salyn didn’t tell him everything?
Lord Salyn stewed over his thoughts as Ikeda looked toward the road that led to the inner city.
Traveling through the city, they passed the Consortium’s gates. People were lined up, wearing the crests of powerful families, awaiting entrance.
It took them a half hour to make it into the inner city and to the administration buildings under the watchful eyes of several guards.
“Do you have an appointment?” a guard asked.
“We are on official business from the Shikoshi Kingdom under Queen Ikku’s orders!” Ikeda’s voice was low and threatening.
“We have many people on official business. Who do you wish to talk to?” The guard was unfazed.
“Aditya should do.”
The guard raised his eyebrow. “I will pass your information on to the administrators.”
“You wish to stand in my way?” Ikeda demanded.
There was movement on the top of the wall as guards looked down between the crenellations.
“You might kill us, but you won’t make it out of here alive.” The guards both held their weapons.
Ikeda clicked his
tongue. “Salyn, the letter!”
Salyn had a meek and sorrowful look on his face as he played his part, walking his horse forward and holding out the letter.
“Stop there,” the guard growled.
Salyn pulled up his horse.
“Throw it,” the guard ordered.
Salyn threw the letter, but it turned in the air and dropped on the ground.
“Scan it,” the guard said to his partner. He grunted and pulled out a spell scroll.
Salyn and the others watched as the guard tore the spell scroll apart. Spell scrolls were rare, but this guard used it frivolously.
A light shot out from the spell scroll and landed on the letter. The letter illuminated from within before a green light appeared.
The second guard grabbed the letter and walked backward.
“Please go and wait at the side,” the first guard said.
Ikeda clicked his tongue and pulled on his reins. The group moved over to the side, unable to see completely into the tunnel and past the gate that led to the inner city.
Time passed as they waited. Ten minutes or so later, a man in colorful clothes came out. The four guards at his side carried curved swords, iron armor embedded into beast leather.
The man invited conversation while the guards scanned the area, as well as the Shikoshi Kingdom delegation.
“My name is Emmanuel Fayad. I deal mostly with trade and exterior relations. My Lord Aditya does not have time to deal with your excuses to try to place pressure on our alliance. A messenger was dispatched to your nation with an invitation for five of your youth to join the Beast Mountain Range Consortium. That invitation will be recalled. We will not tolerate these childish games. Your tax rate will increase by fifteen percent when dealing with any trader of the outpost alliance. If you want to threaten us again with some made-up excuse of fleeing traitors, and that one of our longest-standing supporters is somehow hiding them—” Fayad’s eyes were as cold and flat as his words. “—we will cut off all trade to the Shikoshi Empire and ban others from reselling products bought from the alliance to your nation. Good day.”
“You!” Ikeda nudged his horse forward. Three arrows pierced the ground around him and made his horse rear.
“Do not take our outpost alliance’s patience as weakness, Lord Knight Ikeda. I would ask you to leave King’s Hill within the next three days. The guards are rather interested in testing how well your people outside the walls can handle our new beast issue.” Fayad looked at Lord Salyn. “I’d hope you’d have learned better manners since your last visit, Lord Salyn.”
Salyn saw an opportunity to push things further to his advantage and took it. “If you don’t hand over the traitors, the Shikoshi Kingdom will—”
“Lord Salyn!” Ikeda glared at Salyn.
Salyn put on a surprised expression. Shit. He could feel his plan falling away. He gripped his reins. He needed to deal with Alva, and quickly.
“If you’re interested in making trouble for King’s Hill, I hope that you would talk to your neighbors. They will not be happy to have you attacking their children.”
With that, Emmanuel Fayad turned and left.
Salyn made to speak, but Ikeda silenced him with a look.
“Let's get a room to stay. I have a feeling there is much more to learn.”
“What do you think they will do?” Evernight asked, looking in the direction of the main gate.
Aditya glanced up from the map on a large table in the middle of the room. It showed the Beast Mountain Range with King’s Hill in the middle. Floating reds, purples, whites, greens, and blues showed the position of most forces within the Beast Mountain Range.
“Emmanuel knows nearly everything that is happening in the Beast Mountain Range. Since he knows nothing of Alva, if someone uses spells or a contract on him, he won’t be lying. He just doesn’t know the truth.
“He has the power to deal with an envoy from another land and the position to do so. Also, he really hates people who come and push their weight around to get more benefits.
“Those life detect formations are incredible. With linked medallions and the ability to recognize a person’s mana signature, it’s almost scary. Soon, it will be hard for anyone to move in the Beast Mountain Range without us knowing.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Evernight said.
“Lord Salyn must have been tipped off. The Alva Healing House must have reminded him about the village he betrayed. Or he simply thinks that we have a connection with the Earthers. Queen Ikku certainly must to send her Red Falcon Knights.”
“You think she will try something?”
Aditya looked over the outpost in silence for a few moments.
“If it was a few weeks ago, she might have been able to wage war and get people to join her. Now? With the Consortium’s rise, the new resources, and the dungeon, our surrounding friends are being extra friendly… Their future generations are trying to join the school. All of them are looking to impress us to secure more positions in the Consortium.”
“No wonder you’re so calm.”
“Well, even if Lord Salyn knew for sure that Alva Healing House was a group of people from Alva village—Hell, if we told the entire Ten Realms, not many people would care. Wait, why don’t we do that? Say that the Alva Healing House is from the Shikoshi Kingdom, a group of escaped villagers that happened to get some healing knowledge?”
“It would look badly on Salyn if people were to come out and reveal the truth. Queen Ikku would be forced to deal with Salyn, and it would look like he was trying to use her to hide his mistakes.” Evernight rubbed her chin in thought. “We would have to send the information to her directly. We wouldn’t want to broadcast it. It would have a greater impact on her standing, though it would spread across the First Realm. We don’t need people to talk about Alva, Chonglu, or too much about the Silaz family. I’ll send it higher and see what they say.”
9
Body Like Diamond, Mysteries of Bloodline
Jen and the rest of the body-tempering team had been working in shifts for the last three weeks.
“The last of his organs appears to have tempered at ninety percent,” one of the assisting medics said.
“Your tempering by system has worked incredibly well,” Melissa Bouchard complimented.
“Thank you,” Jen said as she studied Erik’s body. They had tempered his blood first, then his bones, his muscles, his lungs, heart, and the rest of his organs as well as his skin.
Erik’s cracked and blackened skin had flaked off, revealing his natural skin, but it seemed gray, duller than before, but much stronger.
His bones had turned gray, adding silver runes to the brown ones, taking on the attributes of metal and greatly increasing his bones’ natural strength. His blood was thicker, and his heartbeat was slow, a deep bass sound that one could feel with their fingers.
Erik’s body had been torn apart as the harsh, inorganic metal attribute clashed with his constitution. There had been multiple times he’d been close to death.
“Okay, let's remove the necklace.” Jen finished checking the different healers’ formations, medical machines, and alchemy concoctions being fed into Erik’s body.
A medic unscrewed the heavy necklace.
The formations turned off.
Silver flooded Erik’s neck, racing under his skin and into his head. The lower half of his body remained the same. Like shattered ice, the cracked black skin raced up his neck and across his face.
Erik’s hair started to fall out as he bled on the table.
“Healing!” It had been less than a second, and already Erik was being torn apart.
Healing formations, healing spells, and healing concoctions poured into Erik’s body.
A rumbling noise came from within his body as ambient mana from the surrounding area surged toward him.
“Stamina?” Jen yelled.
“It’s good!”
Erik’s body was fighting as well. The cracked ski
n flaked off as the silver lines under his skin returned to blue.
What a monstrous body to supply so much stamina to.
“It appears to be working. His bones, blood, and skin are repairing at advanced rates!”
“Brain?”
“The metal attribute is combining with the brain. The healing seems to be fusing them together.”
Jen used a scan to look at the brain.
“We thought the brain would be the hardest and most dangerous part,” Bouchard said. “I wonder if the mana gates at the top of the head, the third eye, and base of his skull mean that he has passively tempered his brain?”
“I’ll take it,” Jen said as the medics continued to pour in their healing spells. The rumbling noise grew louder as energy from the Ten Realms flowed into Erik’s body, through his mana gates, through his very skin. The energy was drawn into his bones and blood, spreading through his body and reaching his brain.
Even now there were so many mysteries, so many things they didn’t understand—yet.
“He’s coming to. His body is burning through the concoctions keeping him unconscious!”
Pain.
Erik gritted his teeth as he forced his way through the pain spreading throughout his being.
He circulated his mana, feeling the familiar flow even as his breathing labored. It felt like his skull was expanding and contracting on his brain. Erik smacked his lips and moved his tongue. He tasted something awfully similar to a concoction gone wrong. It reminded him of the cheap beer he drank end of the month because payday was so far away. It changed to sweet and then sour before it disappeared.
Erik tried to open his eyes but couldn’t. There was just darkness with faint light peeking in.
Come on body, pull it together! He increased his mana circulation and healing spells, fighting the weakness pervading his body. He felt full of energy, but as if there were weights across his body.
Panic started to set in a little.
Pull it together. Your body is just heavy. You’re tired. Come on, work on the problem! Erik felt his body becoming alive. The weights weakened and then disappeared like a band snapping. Power flowed into his body. Erik roared in triumph, feeling like he had put up a new record in the gym. His body, down to his very cells, rejoiced.
Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8) Page 8
