“You think those Dark Templars will be able to put up a fight?” Meomi asked on the secured channel. She and Flame Ripper had decided to do something else after they received intelligence from Gold (Well, actually Silver) that the Dark Templars were not the only ones that would come to the meeting place.
Despite how Silver had acted emotionally…unstable towards Sebastia and Gold, he had still been a capable leader in his own way. Tonight’s meetup was supposedly one of the few meetings that Silver had arranged to get aid and manpower from various groups of power in order to rebuild the resistance group.
Besides, the meeting places were near where the scouting team was located. Their initial tracking of the scent of Necromancy magic brought them to an isolated derelict hut near a swamp area, but the tracks to whoever was casting it was wiped clean. Without any further evidence, they would proceed to the next task of initiating the meetup.
“Blah hahah! I would love to be defeated by the Demons from another world. I can’t wait to see how strong they are compared to me.” Sebastia answered while she simultaneously listened to the random chatters those Demon Rats were talking about. The entire unit of Rat Demons was walking through the town of Uote as if owning the place.
It was a show of power for those who would dare to mess with the Rats. Sebastia noticed that their proclamation was loud and strong since they just past a group of beheaded rebels being hung at the checkpoints and the Central Square as a grim reminder that the people in Uote Town were indeed under the control of the Demon Rats.
“If we can capture the rebels, we may gain information on how to get into the Eastern Region. He he he.” The Demon Rat Captain was talking proudly about the possible achievements, and it seemed to Sebastia they knew in advance who the rebels were supposed to be.
“So it was a ruse for the Dark Templars to come in?” Gold asked Silver who reminded him that because they were the most prominent group to enter the Northern Region, there was already word of them the moment they stepped on to the Ports of the Northern Region.
The Dark Templars could not hide themselves as well as the other groups that were planning to aid the Jacks. The spies from the Southern Star Organisation were already masters of disguise, and the adventurers from Western Skies Guild despite being an odd bunch, were mere adventurers. Each was sending a representative team from their respective regions to meet Silver.
Also, the information that the sailor in the Inn’s bar had shared with Sebastia was true. The South, West and Eastern Regions were not infected with Demon Rats yet and had their borders placed in the highest security alert after they learned about the situation of the Northern Region.
Checks at the ports were extremely strict with all ships were being manually searched with the help of at least one able bodied apprentice from the Scholars of the Compass.
Unfortunately, because of the Scholar of the North and South’s betrayal, there were no leaders left who could be taking charge over the organisation. The apprentices had to scatter and return to their original lives until some new trustworthy Scholars would appear to lead them again.
As it was an unprecedented event for all the Scholars to go missing simultaneously, no one really knew what to do except to wait for the upcoming election to choose a new batch of Scholars. It could only be done during the time for the peak of the Solar Eclipse, and even though it was drawing near, there were no preparations for it since usually the Compass Scholars were the one who settled them.
Besides, the only ones capable to appoint new Scholars were the Heavenly Four Windmills of the Farming World. They were existences similar to the Shaitan Nobles, but without any ambition of reigning supreme. Those willing to serve as their representatives had to pass a trial set by the Heavenly Four Windmills. ‘Knowledge is the only truth, everything else is irrelevant.’ Or so it was written in stone in every Windmill that was situated in each region.
At this point of time, the Scholars of the North and South had lost their respective blessing for betraying their post by siding with the Demon Rats when they caused the death of the Scholar of the West. The West Heavenly Windmill was precisely empty because of that incident.
As for the Eastern Heavenly Windmill, there were signs of a vacant post however the Windmill was still moving, though incredibly slowly, unlike the other three Heavenly Windmills which had stopped completely. It was said that no wind or storm would move the blades of the Heavenly Windmill except for the life force from the Scholar of the Compass that had been appointed. Thus, some believed that Gold was alive or at least his presence was masked, waiting for the right time to emerge again.
“Do the Dark Templars know about your plot?” Gold asked Silver as he brought the latter to his office and Silver laid all the information he had onto Gold’s map.
“Not exactly. I was planning to lure the Demon Rats to our meeting place with the Dark Templars based on the information that I had leaked out to the collaborators in various Inns. So that the information would reach those Demon Rats.” Silver continued to cross out the hideouts that had already been destroyed by Demon Rat Raids on Gold’s map.
“I wanted the Demon Rats to ambush us so that the Dark Templars and the Jacks would fight as a team. You were the one to teach me, that the bonds made in a life and death battle were the strongest… even if its an artificially created situation. That would have also shown them the severity of the situation in the Northern Region. I was hoping that they would send in more manpower from the East to us.” Silver also updated any other miscellaneous information such as the information brokers Gold used to handle, both dead and living ones on the map.
What had started out as a mostly empty map quickly changed into an elaborate one under Silver’s scribble. He was no doubt a capable interim leader after Gold had disappeared. Something the Lord Scholar was extremely proud of.
“But since there is a change of plans with you still living and your master’s odd necromancy powers, it should be for the best to kill those Dark Templars and proceed to negotiate with the Western Skies and Southern Stars.” Silver stated his own opinion.
“More money and power grubbers, in my opinion. The Western Skies had been wanting a piece of the Northern Region for the longest time. This is a treasure trove full of monsters and resources waiting to be mined! well… erm if the Demon Rats did not get to them first that is.” Gold replied to Silver.
“But out of all of the Southern Entities and organisations why the Southern Stars? You know that the Compass hated them. Even the South Compass Scholar had battled them on a few occasions because of their merciless killings.”
“That is exactly why. That assassin organisation was what we lacked to spy and get more information out of those Rats. Besides, they are masters at killing essential targets before we proceed to the main culprits. The ex Scholars of the North and South.” Silver banged the table and gave his reasoning to Gold.
“… and what did they want in return?” Gold sighed as he knew that the assassin organisation would not be so benevolent in nature.
“50% cut of all the loot we would find.” Silver replied
“What about the Western Skies?” Gold felt that Silver was about to say something stupid.
“50% cut of all the loot we would find and a claim to one of the regions.” Silver replied with a straight face.
“…The Dark Templars?” Gold hoped that Silver was not as stupid as he was thinking.
“…50% cut of all the loot we would find as well as a piece of land, to call them lord.”
“DID YOU FORGET HOW TO COUNT?! AND HOW DO YOU THINK WE CAN DO ALL THOSE?!” Gold could not stand the absurdity of the deal that Silver was cutting them. “We are neither dukes nor viscounts that could grant anybody a land just like that either!”
“Ehhhh, I already tried to haggle with them, but all of them refused to lift a finger without getting at least half of the loot. (Incidentally, they yet to be unaware of the other groups.) I figured we could just try and undercut them when they meet. Besides, the losses they bound to incur would have been huge too. ” Silver tried to reason his way out.
“It would be wrong not to compensate them sufficiently. In any case, it’s the loot that we find, not future profits and earnings. I have stored all the sealed deeds of our pact into this hideout here.” Silver drew a new circle on a particular mountain which seemed to resemble the one near Keyrin’s home.
“Huh…let’s see how things go. Worst case scenario, Flame Ripper and Meomi will kill them.” Gold said to Silver. The leader of the Jacks appreciate how Silver tried to take things into his own hands, but it might have made things messier…
Still it was not like he could be mad at him. Noone could have expected their current situation with Jin. At the same time… Assassins, adventurers (They are actually mercenaries, but they preferred to call themselves adventurers to make it sound nicer.) and rogue knights, it would take more than a miracle to make all of them work together… unless of course, if a cosmic entity was to interfere.
———-
Sebastia was waiting all alone at the appointed meeting place which the Rats had clearly deduced where the werejackals were initially going to meet. However, instead of assisting their assailant, they were more than a few hundred metres away from the scene.
The Demon Rat Captain wasn’t stupid for he had mobilised all the Rat Guards under his command and covered every possible route that they could run away from. Not only that, he had already sent runners to inform the nearby towns which were also under control by the Demon Rats. Even the reports of the past movements by the Dark Templars had already been recorded by the Demon Rat Scouts.
“You sure that Battle Lady can be trusted?” One of the Demon Rats questioned the Demon Rat Captain.
“Perhaps… We know she useful. You saw her face when presented more targets to kill? Science Team verified that Silver Mage was real. His signature energy left in the area. If she can kill resistance, why not let her?” The Demon Rat Captain cackled, as he looked through a piece of contraption that resembled a telescope. However, there were tubes around the telescope, being powered by Litoride allowing him to zoom as close as he liked.
Sebastia got bored without anybody showing up and was about to sit down near a tree. But it seemed that she was not given a break when a sword blade crept beneath her mandible and its edge pointed upwards.
“Move, and you shall die. Speak with your hands. What is the code for the meeting.” The voice was muffled yet enough got through his helmet.
“I do not know.” Sebastia was quick enough to evade the blade and bit it with her teeth, biting into the metal blade as if it was some biscuit. The Dark Templar who was trying to threaten her stepped backwards and that was when tens of footsteps were heard throughout the entire area. His companions were hidden in the broken windmill observing Sebastia from the moment she stepped into the area.
“Then there is nothing to be said. DIE!” The templar with the broken sword send the signal for all the Dark Templars to attack and at the same time, he sent a blast of dark energy towards Sebastia.
“Hohoho, This battle lady kept to her promise.” the Demon Rat Captain was excited to see that they might potentially obtain a killing machine that would do the bidding of the Demon Rats.
Using her martial arts, Sebastia deflected the ball of dark energy with only her palms. “Come on. Show me what you got!” Sebastia taunted while in a relaxed, composed stance yet ready to take on any Dark Templars.
An arrow flew towards her, and when she tried to deflect it, the projectile changed position and managed to escape her left palm. Luckily, that was not enough to faze the Minotaur Maid as she grabbed it with her teeth once again. Her eyes were beaming with excitement and there was no saying if she enjoyed it a lot.
That was also when two Dark Templars charged her, attempting to bash her with their shields and subsequently stab Sebastia with swords energised with dark energy. Even if they failed, the other Dark Templars waiting at the side were already conjuring their dark arts to fight against her.
True enough, Sebastia stopped the magically enhanced shield charges with her bare hands and the Dark Templars also missed their sword stab strikes. “Demonic Minotaur Martial Arts, The Noodles That Skips the Mouth and into Stomach.” Her palms were placed onto the shield and her demonic energy vibrated through the shields blasting the two Dark Templars into oblivion.
Call it a warning shot for the others to think that she would be easy to be dealt with.
“Formation Zulu. Make sure her corpse disappears from the face of the world.” The Dark Templar Leader commanded in a stern voice upon seeing the pool of blood and metal pieces in front of Sebastia.
