After five minutes or so to catch our breath, the queen, flanked by a small team of her Guard, leads us inside the castle. When the broad doors open, a warm light from the entrance hall spills out. I’m a bit confused at first, the light looks almost like artificial light from Earth. Scuttling inside alongside the townsfolk, I can see that the light is produced by lamps placed at regular intervals along the walls.
What stuns me is that these lamps don’t seem to have a detectable energy source. No flame or gas or wire at all! What is up with these? Curious, I break away from the huddled fighters around the queen to climb up the high walls to get a closer look at this marvel from another world.
As I get closer…
[Compatible monster core detected. Would you like to reinforce your core or reconstitute a monster?]
Don’t tell me…
Peering closer at the gold lamp stand attached to the wall and the light source itself, I can see that it is in fact a small glowing gem. A core!
This is the attitude of the wealthy, right here! Whereas mercenaries have to scramble for every core they can, the royalty is using them to light their castle. Such a flagrant waste of resources is almost offensive to me considering the circumstances I endured in my previous life… Unbelievable!
Looking about cautiously to ensure nobody is watching as they advance farther into the castle, I quickly confirm with Gandalf.
Reinforce!
There are six lamps in the entrance hall and I naturally refuse to let any of them off. Quickly zipping around on the walls, I absorb all six of the cores before rejoining the strike force headed for the throne room.
Gwehehehehe. The perfect crime!
I’m certain nobody was able to see that.
As soon as I reach the back of the group, I notice a twitch of movement behind me. What the hell!
Turning my head slightly, I can see the priest walking behind me, hands clasped together in reverence.
This guy! He was waiting behind me this entire time? How still was he that I didn’t even notice… Creepy!
Sigh.
I guess I won’t have much chance to keep this secret since he’ll probably preach about it the first chance he gets to open his mouth…
Not bothering to hide it anymore, every time we come across one of the glowing lamps, I clamber up the wall and absorb the core, nabbing myself another four before we make it to the throne room.
As soon as I enter the throne room, shuffling in at the rear of our force, the first thing I notice is the abundant lighting, causing my mouth to immediately begin to water.
So many cores!
I only need a few more to max out my core at 100 MP! After that, a special core will push me over the top and I’ll be ready to evolve as soon as I hit max Level. At Level 16 now, I’m more than halfway there!
The anticipation that only a monster can enjoy toward evolution is beginning to mount within me once more.
Our group has stopped advancing, so I push my way to the front to see what’s happening. Sure enough, lounging nonchalantly on the throne is a black-leather clad mercenary lady, surrounded by flunky looking rich people and a force of soldiers between us and the dais.
This whole thing is too predictable!
45. The Queen’s Circumstances, Part 1
The revered Queen Verita of Liria, second of her name, defender of the frontier and upholder of the Lion tenants of her ancestors, was pissed.
Long had she puzzled over how the enemy had been able to gather so many more troops than she had been able to anticipate. Her closest advisors worked with her on their strategy. The careful plotting, endless information gathering, debates and planning had been overthrown as her soldiers were soundly defeated and outnumbered when the trap had finally been sprung. Her enemies dashing out of the shadows into the light.
Where had all these fighters come from?
Seeing those organised warriors at the castle door was one thing, and now looking at these disciplined soldiers dressed in mercenary gear arrayed against them before the dais of her own throne, it all became clear.
These were not mercenaries or hirelings brought in to bolster the numbers for the fight. These were trained soldiers from a nearby kingdom. There must be a hundred of them there! This wasn’t a small number by any means. Someone must have wanted to interfere in the political situation in Liria desperately enough to commit so many of their people to a coup in another country.
Seeing the Andron ambassador standing beside Corrin while the filthy Union mercenary leader lounged on Verita’s throne, she could easily guess who it had been.
“Great Queen Verita, how nice of you to join us,” drawled Corrin, one leg dangling over the side of the throne. “We were just wondering when my coronation should be held. You wouldn’t have any input on the matter, would you?”
Verita disregarded the mercenary as beneath her notice and turned instead to the ambassador, Regix.
“Regix, so interesting to see you here. Incredible how quickly the kingdom of Andron has been able to adjust to the changing landscape here in Liria. One could be forgiven for thinking you had known about all of this in advance.”
The ambassador smiled tightly and turned to Corrin, deferring to the Union leader.
Enjoying the display of her authority, Corrin beamed at her former queen.
“Don’t be upset, Verita. It turns out people other than me can notice how incompetent your reign has been. Our friends from across the border wanted to assist the people of Liria to have good governance, for once.”
Verita could only roll her eyes at the pretence.
“Corrin, since you were born, the only thing you cared about was money and power. Let’s not pretend anything other than these motivated your treason.”
The mercenary leader’s smile only grew wider. “It’s important to pretend in front of the street rats though.” She gestured to the townsfolk nervously clutching their weapons behind their queen. “I can’t very well say to the public that I’ll be rewarded with mountains of gold by Andron for destroying your rule and handing over the governance of our nation to a neighbouring country now, can I?”
Indignant rage flared within Verita at those words. Her family had founded this kingdom. Her own kin had fought and died in the campaign to liberate these lands from the monsters. Since then, they had tirelessly worked to raise this nation out of the dirt for hundreds of years.
In a moment of clarity, the queen realised exactly why Andron would be prepared to go so far. They were afraid. Liria had risen so far and so quickly, their neighbour to the north feared they would be overshadowed and eventually absorbed. After all, it was Liria that was able to expand their territory by pushing south, Andron had nowhere to go. Rather than die a slow death, why not strike first? If they were successful, the bright future of the Liria kingdom would belong to them instead.
Verita had to admit it made sense. Had she been Queen of Andron, she might have been tempted to secure the future of her people in this way too.
But she wasn’t, she was Queen Verita Leocor of the Leocors. Liria was her kingdom and she’d be damned before she gave it over to these scum.
Throwing any pretence aside, she drew herself to her full height and imperiously proclaimed, “Corrin, you will need to surrender yourself to me for judgement. Regix, order your men to stand down at once and you may escape my castle with your life.”