The Champion's Return

by Hyougetsu

  “Are you serious?”

  Please don’t use him as a role model. But even if the plan Jovtzia had leaked wasn’t Lord Bolshevik’s real plan, I had no doubt he really did intend to either kill or capture Ashley. While there were still a few details missing, Lord Bolshevik was clearly aiming for a coup d’état. I couldn’t afford to leave Schwerin empty.

  “Parker, I need to go back to the capital. Can you come with me?”

  “Sure, I can. But doesn’t Eleora need assistance?”

  “There’s only us and my werewolves here. We don’t have enough troops to make a difference even if we did ride to Eleora’s aid. Besides, she’s got four thousand troops. She’ll be fine.”

  I had Parker tell Jovtzia to remain here on standby for now. I wouldn’t be able to face Woroy if I let him die here. At any rate, now that we knew where Jovtzia was, I could begin my plan in earnest.

  Now that Jovtzia was refusing to help his brother, Lord Bolshevik didn’t have much time left, especially since Jovtzia had already changed sides and joined Eleora. Lord Bolshevik would be springing whatever plot he’d been cooking up in the next few days. Or perhaps he already had, and the capital was in more trouble than I thought. That was why I needed to hurry back as fast as possible.

  Fortunately, none of Lord Bolshevik’s soldiers were in the vicinity of Creech Castle. Volka’s clan had followed after Eleora’s army, so they weren’t here either. At the very least, I didn’t spot any werewolves anywhere. But I knew how cunning Lord Bolshevik could be. He’d probably left at least a few people behind to keep an eye on the castle, so I couldn’t run back to the capital just like that. I’d need a disguise of some sort.

  I started by having a few of my werewolves disguise themselves as Rolmund commoners. They’d play the part of off-duty soldiers heading to the capital to enjoy a weekend of leisure. Ideally, I’d prefer to disguise them as merchants or pilgrims, but it’d be suspicious if a large party of pilgrims suddenly swarmed out of the castle—especially since no one had seen a big group enter the castle. Anyone keeping watch would know they were disguised soldiers. That wasn’t the only problem I faced either.

  “We can disguise our appearances, but the moment we talk our Meraldian accents will give us away. Don’t stop at any shops or inns on the way to the capital.”

  The only people here who’d perfected a Rolmundian accent were me and Parker. I knew we’d be discovered eventually, but I wanted to keep our return a secret, at least until we reached the capital. The other major problem was how to sneak my fellow disciples into the city. Parker could disguise himself as a human using illusion magic, but his disguise was far too flamboyant for a covert operation. Anyone who saw him would remember his appearance. Meanwhile Ryucco was a lagomorph, so there was no disguising him. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to stow both of them away with the luggage.

  “I didn’t think you’d actually stuff me in a wooden crate,” Parker grumbled, referring to the joke I made when we left Meraldia. Since he was an immortal skeleton, I didn’t have to worry about giving him breathing room or how comfortable he was or anything.

  “If you can disguise yourself as someone less conspicuous I’ll let you out of the box.”

  “The most I can do with my current level of illusion magic is recreate my face from when I was alive. It’s too difficult to mimic other people’s expressions.”

  Then I guess it’s the box for you. Meanwhile Ryucco was small enough that he could fit comfortably inside one of the larger crates. He lay casually atop the stack of carrots filling the box and gave me a worried look.

  “Hey, Veight? What about you? How are you gonna disguise yourself?”

  Heh, I’m glad you asked.

  “I thought a situation like this might come up, so I learned some new strengthening magic. Hang on, I’ll show you what this spell does.”

  I double-checked the incantation in my spellbook, then started focusing my mana.

  “Eety...Biu...Orde...”

  This was a new spell for me, so I needed to be careful I got everything right.

  “Alright, how do I look?”

  Once I finished chanting the spell, everyone’s jaws dropped open.

  “Hey boss, you sure aged while I wasn’t looking.”

  “Man you’re a real geezer now.”

  “Heh, you look just like your granddad used to when he was young, Veight!”

  Judging by what my werewolves were saying, the spell was a success. I took out a mirror and examined my reflection. As expected, the face of a handsome, 50-year-old man stared back at me. Very nice.

  “There’s aging spells associated with strengthening magic, and I applied one of them to my face.”

  “Hey, uhh, boss? Can you turn yourself back to normal, or are you gonna be stuck like this forever?” Monza gave me a worried look.

  “It’s fine, the disguise’ll go away the moment I transform into a werewolf. It won’t come back when I transform back into a human or anything either.”

  Compared to a werewolf’s transformation, my metamorphosis couldn’t even be considered a parlor trick.

  “What a relief...”

  “Do I really look that bad?”

  “I think you look quite handsome, personally,” Fahn said, grinning, as she looked me up and down. “Yeah, you’ve got that hardened veteran look to you. I bet this’d be a hit with the ladies.”

  “You think so?”

  Personally, I thought this face looked cooler than my real one too. I was looking forward to growing older now. At any rate, now that I looked like a middle-aged dandy, no one would know who I was. Aging myself changed my body odor too, so I’d be able to deceive other werewolves as well.

  “Alright, guys, don’t forget we’re supposed to be soldiers on leave going to the capital for a fun time. No need to rush; act casual.”

  “You got it, boss!”

  “We’ll laze about with all our might!”

  They sure are getting into this. I changed into my casual wear and walked out of Creech Castle’s gates. A good deal of the lake’s ice had melted, and now you needed a boat to cross to the far shore. Because of how involved entering or leaving the castle was, it wasn’t very suited to covert ops. It was a good reminder that what worked for sieges didn’t work for subterfuge.

  As expected, we passed by a lot of very suspicious-looking pilgrims and merchants on the road. Since we were in disguise ourselves, we couldn’t do anything to hinder them, even though I really wanted to capture a few and interrogate them. Fortunately, the people leaving the capital were more than willing to provide me with information. The first person I talked to was a farmer on his way home. According to him, the capital had closed its gates. He’d gone there to sell his surplus vegetables only to find the guards weren’t letting anyone in. I talked to other pilgrims and merchants who were leaving the capital, and they all corroborated his story. Most of them had reached the capital yesterday afternoon, meaning this news was at least a day old. Now that Lord Bolshevik had made his move, this had become a race against time.

  “Duras, you and your squad report this information to Eleora. Hamaam, Vodd, Monza, take your squads and watch over the capital. Let me know if there’s any military movement going on inside. Jerrick, your squad’s with me. Everyone else, head for the rendezvous point.”

  Hamaam and the others nodded.

  “Understood, Vice-Commander. What are you going to do?”

  “Parker, Ryucco, and I are going to sneak into the capital.”

  “You’re planning on charging in alone again!?”

  Now even the Garney brothers were complaining about my tendency to tackle problems alone. Feeling a bit mischievous, I turned to the elder Garney brother and said, “If you’re that worried, you wanna come with me?”

  “You bet I do!”

  “Oh, I wanna come too!”

  The younger Garney brother stepped forward.

  “You’re gonna regret signing up for this.”

  I
gave the two brothers a wicked grin.

  The biggest problem a densely populated fortress city faced was dealing with its waste. In a small farming village, you could just bury what little sewage there was out in the fields as compost or send it down a nearby river, but the imperial capital was far too dense for that to work. It had more than 70,000 people living in a relatively small area. The only way to handle that much waste was to build a sewage system, and so Schwerin had one.

  People never went through it, so there was no security posted at its entrances and exits. It was actually a pretty big blind spot if you thought about it, but even I’d forgotten about the fact that large cities needed sewage systems until I’d read the canines’ report.

  “Holy heck, this stinks!” The younger Garney brother exclaimed. Werewolf noses were extremely sensitive to the scents made by humans. Sadly, that also included their excrement. Centuries ago, our ancestors tracked people by the scent of their feces, but right now that evolutionary trait was backfiring on us hard.

  “Yeah, I did warn you,” I muttered quietly.

  “God it stinks...” The older Garney brother grumbled, agreeing with his younger brother. I’d brought the Garney brothers and Jerrick’s squad with me as my guards, as well as Ryucco and Parker.

  We were currently walking through the sewers; the stench of foul waste filled our nostrils as we walked through the man-made cavern. Thankfully, there was a maintenance walkway so we didn’t have to wade through the filth, just smell it.

  Schwerin’s sewers stretched all the way to a nearby river, and the entrance there had been completely unguarded. However, even if someone had bothered posting guards at the sewer exits, they were so far away from the city that it’d be easy for an enemy to surround and overpower the guards.

  “Hey boss, isn’t this a bit reckless? We got in, but are you sure we can get out into the capital just like that?” Jerrick asked from behind me, his toolbox jangling in his hands. I turned around and nodded to him.

  “Yeah, the people who built the capital realized someone might try to sneak in through the sewers. So all the exits to the surface are too small for humans to fit through.”

  It made going into the sewers for maintenance more of a pain, but it was a small price to pay for safety. They’d made the right call too, since we were trying to sneak in through the sewers right now. I looked down at the map of the sewers I’d gotten from Eleora, then glanced up at the ceiling.

  “We’re here. Look at that.”

  There was a small hole high up in the wall where I was pointing.

  “Oi, Veight, that’s way too small, isn’t it?”

  The elder Garney brother cocked his head. The opening was indeed too small to fit a normal-sized adult. But it was the perfect size for a slightly large rabbit.

  “You’re up, Ryucco.”

  The lagomorphus artificer scratched his head. “Fine fine, I’ll do it. You’re absolutely sure this is a ventilation shaft, right?”

  “That’s what the map says. Besides, you don’t see any crap spilling out of it, do you?”

  “No, but...”

  Trust me, I know how you feel. Sighing, Ryucco took out his magic sack that could hold way more than its size suggested.

  “Alright Parker, hop in.”

  “Yeesh. Your fellow disciple sure makes some outrageous requests from us, doesn’t he?”

  “Oh, don’t get me started. He asks for way crazier shit than this.”

  They’re totally referring to me, aren’t they? Parker stepped into the enchanted knapsack, then waved a bony hand at Ryucco.

  “It appears I fit quite nicely. I’ll be going inside then.”

  There was no guarantee humans or demons could survive inside the warped space of Ryucco’s sack. Considering it preserved vegetables long past when they should have gone bad, I assumed there was something weird going on in there. However, Parker was well and truly immortal, so he should be just fine in there. Theoretically, anyway.

  “Okay, Parker. Cast that spell once you make it to the surface.”

  “You can count on me, Veight. As promised, I’ll plunge the capital into a panic. Oooh, my heart’s beating faster just thinking about it. Not that I have a heart anymore!”

  Parker was making those godawful jokes again, but considering I was asking him to do the impossible, I decided to let him have this one.

  “If things don’t work out, don’t try anything reckless. Just come back here. Master’ll have my head if I don’t bring you two back to Meraldia safe and sound.”

  “Fear not. Oh, but if I do perish in battle, please at least collect my bones.”

  “There isn’t anything else left of you to collect!”

  There, I played along for one joke. Now get going. Ryucco shouldered his knapsack, which now contained Parker, and clambered into the ventilation shaft.

  “You know, normally I like small spaces. But I’m never ever doing crap like this again, alright?”

  “Sorry, Ryucco. Back Parker up for me. And if it comes down to it, help him escape.”

  “Yeah, yeah, don’t worry. You better have a bath waiting for me when I get back, though.”

  As you wish.

  * * * *

  —Ryucco and Parker’s Secret Plan—

  I turn to my knapsack as I’m crawling through the sewer’s ventilation shaft.

  “You alive in there, Parker?”

  A cheery, somewhat muffled voice responds, “I haven’t been alive for a very long time!”

  “So when all’s said and done, are you actually alive or dead?”

  “I’m not quite sure myself.”

  Guess it doesn’t really matter. The ventilation shaft’s too small for humans, but it’s the perfect size for me. I’m a big fan of holes. They’re calming. Though this one stinks.

  “Come to think of it, why do they have ventilation shafts leading to the surface? Won’t that make the city smell like sewer?” Parker asks curiously.

  “Stuff that smells like shit catches fire easily. And as is, it burns especially well.”

  As someone who deals with fire on a regular basis, I gotta know all this for safety reasons. I explain a bit more to Parker while I climb up the ventilation shaft.

  “I heard from Veight that there was some imbecile in a city somewhere who threw a lit cigar into the sewers, and the whole damn sewer burned down. People put in ventilation shafts to make sure idiots don’t blow it to smithereens.”

  “A burning sewer. Now that’s something I’d want to see.”

  Telling Parker that story suddenly reminds me of something. “Though Veight never did tell me what city that accident happened in. Far as I can tell, it can’t have been any of the Meraldian ones.”

  “Isn’t that because he knew you would try that experiment for yourself if he told you where it was?”

  Can’t deny that. I mean, just think of all the ways you could weaponize it.

  I reach the ventilation shaft’s exit while we’re talking, and pop out of the tiny smokestack jutting out of the ground and into the city.

  “Seriously, we’re all the way out here?”

  I’m standing in the middle of a wide square near the city’s walls. This is one of the guards’ parade grounds. The sun’s long since set, so there’s no one else here. I flip my knapsack upside down and shake the contents out.

  “Owww... Well, I can’t actually feel pain, I suppose.”

  Parker’s bones spill across the cobbled floor. It sure is convenient how they all properly rearrange themselves no matter how much you jumble ’em up.

  “Why is it that neither you nor Veight seem to show any respect for your senior disciple?”

  “Please, like you actually care about crap like that.”

  “Yep, I don’t,” Parker replies with a chuckle, his bony jaws clacking together. “At any rate, it seems we lucked out since there’s no one nearby,” he adds.

  “Makes sense. Can’t imagine anyone’d wanna live some place that literally s
mells like shit.”

  Parker’s expression grows serious and he says, “Well then, I suppose I can afford to go all out. Allow me to show you the secret technique I developed together with Master.”

  “Alright, let’s see what you’ve got.”

  I bet you’re just gonna summon a bunch of undead, right? As predicted, Parker starts summoning a bunch of skeletons.

  “Arise from the dark Gates of Gevina, my sworn friends.”

  Though it does feel a little different from usual.

  “Hey is it just me, or are today’s skeletons fancier than usual?”

  They’re wearing tattered robes and have crowns and stuff on their heads. Wait, hang on, these guys look kinda familiar.

  “Holy shit, are these guys all necromancers?”

  “Yep, that’s right.” Parker turns toward me while he’s counting up his new army of a few hundred skeletons. “I can summon deceased spirits immediately, but with my mana, a few hundred skeletons is the limit of what I can call forth at once.”

  “That’s already a ton.”

  Plus, no other necromancer can summon up undead spirits immediately.

  “But if I make the undead spirits I’ve summoned call up more undead on their own, I’m no longer limited by my mana capacity,” Parker makes a few hand signs as he responds to me. “Begin the ritual, my sworn friends. Show me the skills you so fiercely polished in life.”

  Parker swings his arm down and the skeletal necromancers start chanting in a low hum while making a couple of complicated hand gestures. Are you seriously telling me these guys can use necromancy even though they’re dead? A few seconds later, the air around us starts to warp, and even more skeleton soldiers pop up out of the ground. They’re all wearing super old armor from like a dozen eras ago.

  “Hang on, these guys can summon skeletons instantly too!?”

  “They are ancient masters of our craft, after all. Starting from the far left, that’s the Burial Lord, Vicrea. Then there’s the Master of Spirits, Kilgol, and next to him is the Miasma Emperor, Pededotok. Over there you’ve got the Bone King, Gusforitus, and...”