Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 15

“Now that,” Liane said, “was mean. Did she cross you somehow? The Imperial Magic Academy doesn’t bother teaching other languages and they consider this kind of application outdated and impractical.”

“It was just a bit of harmless fun,” Clara replied. “As a duke’s daughter, Lady Frianne should still have the education required from her family. At worst, she would have shown up at the designated time and been none the wiser.”

Ludmila looked out of her carriage window as they rolled out from the Imperial Palace grounds. She didn’t notice any more invisible attainted on the way out, but she had noticed several men gathering on the streets prior to their arrival.

“Well, what if she figures it out?” Liane asked, “Does she win anything?”

“I suppose she gets to prepare whatever she’d like in advance,” Clara answered.

“I doubt it will be that simple,” Liane said. “These imperials won’t be satisfied until they’ve rationalised all of the hidden meanings they think you’ve nested in there. Frianne’s gonna show up with bags under her eyes tomorrow morning.”

“That, too, will tell us much about the way she discerns and analyses the world around her. Still…I’m just a bit disappointed we didn’t get to see the Emperor.”

Turning her attention away from the window, Ludmila gave Clara a sidelong look.

“Oh, come on!” Liane said, “It’s the Emperor. The Emperor. No warm-blooded woman would turn down the opportunity. He’s smart, talented, ambitious, powerful, wealthy, good looking…”

“He’s from a martial house as well,” Clara added.

“See?” Liane smiled, “Even Clara recognizes how all-around excellent he is. I sure as hell wouldn’t mind being graced by a bit of his imperial attention.”

The carriage slowed as it approached the main avenue. On the walkway outside of the palace grounds, two contingents of Imperial Knights were blocking off a small crowd of men on either side.

“We seem to be getting plenty of ‘imperial attention’ as it is,” Ludmila muttered.

“Ergh,” Liane wrinkled her nose, “you just had to go and remind us. Finding a consort is going to be obnoxious with so much taint slithering around. Maybe we should have ordered them to round up all of the best guys, after all.”

A flash of light filled the cabin. They turned their attention outside. On the sidewalk, surrounded by a group of Imperial Knights, a dozen men covered their eyes as they were rounded up and pushed away. The carriage sped out of sight before they could see what else would happen to them.

“They used a spell for crowd control,” Ludmila said thoughtfully. “I wonder what other magic they employ to maintain public order.”

“We should come up with some tactics as well,” Liane said. “I think formal introductions would work best, now that we’ve seen how things are.”

“It does help filter potential matches,” Florine tapped a finger on her lap, “but is it possible on such short notice?”

Liane reached into her Infinite Haversack, producing a thin binder.

“Hehe…we’re not the only ones lookin’, y’know? Let’s see…”

“What about Lord Anoch?” Florine suggested. “He seems very nice.”

They all stared at the youngest member of their group. A light blush coloured Florine’s cheeks by the time she had finished speaking.

“I thought we were supposed to save the best for last,” Liane said. “Well, no, what am I saying? There’s no point in doing all that if we can get him. Lord Anoch is the most eligible bachelor in the entire Baharuth Empire.”

“If he’s the most eligible bachelor in the Baharuth Empire,” Ludmila frowned, “yet he still isn’t married, then how do you propose to…make him propose?”

“That’s a very good question,” Liane replied. “And I’m sure there must be a very good answer which I do not have at the moment. Even after a decade, no one’s been able to bag him – he’s very nimble when it comes to dodging women. It might be getting to the point where his family will be offering a bounty to whoever can capture him.”

“Shouldn’t he respect his family’s wishes when it comes to marital affairs?” Clara asked, “It shouldn't be anything unusual for a Noble.”

Liane pulled two pages out of her binder, scanning through their content. She cleared her throat.

“Nimble Arc Dale Anoch. Second son of a Baron from the Northern Karnassus Marches. In addition to his martial training as a Frontier Noble, he’s received instruction from the temples and has some spellcasting ability. He came to serve in the capital at the age of sixteen after racking up a whole pile of achievements out in the marches. After arriving, he didn’t rest on his laurels, eventually becoming one of the Great Imperial Knights and Count Palatine of the Baharuth Empire. His parents are still alive, one brother, two sisters…likes tea? According to this, he gets along well with his family, but he’s been able to put off every meeting they arrange for him due to his superior court rank.”

“He seems like a very nice man,” Florine said. “Is there some reason he’s remained single this entire time?”

“There’s no solid information on that,” Liane said. “Some people say that he only cares about work. Others suggest that he isn’t interested in women. Or maybe he just likes collecting letters of introduction. Regardless, marriage isn’t a priority for him since his title isn’t hereditary and his older brother already has kids. I think Florine has the right idea though: he’s just a nice guy – which makes him ideal for women of rank like us.”

She replaced the sheets of paper and closed the binder. Her gaze went from Florine to Clara, then Ludmila. A strange sort of tension filled the air.

“With that said…” Liane leaned forward, “split?”

“You mean we’re going to gang up on him?” Florine asked.

“Why not?” Liane answered, “The four of us can attack him from different angles and overwhelm his defences. Once we have him stowed away with the baggage, we can head straight back to the Sorcerous Kingdom.”

Ludmila frowned at the mental image.

“What are we talking about again?”

“Importing an excellent bloodline to the Sorcerous Kingdom,” Liane said. “We’ll make sure he’s fed and watered.”

“I don’t mind supporting you,” Clara said, “but make sure you don’t cause an international incident in the process.”

“I was joking about that part,” Liane waved a hand loosely. “But we should at least be able to get him out for dinner at some point. Let’s just enjoy ourselves for now.”

Magical lamplight flooded the streets as their carriage crossed into the market district. Liane ordered the driver to slow their pace so they could take in the surroundings.

Unlike E-Rantel – which only had its main thoroughfares paved – every street in Arwintar was covered in brick or cobblestone. The Central Avenue upon which they travelled was even divided into sections for pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Patrols of the First Legion were frequent, attentive to the flow of people and vehicles around them.

While Ludmila was only afforded a few seconds to inspect each squad, the difference from Engelfurt was stark. The men stood proudly as they performed their duties, seeming ever alert and ready to identify problems and intercede on behalf of the citizenry. Not only were the Imperial Knights of the First Legion stronger than those formerly of the Eighth, but the image and sense of presence that they projected was on an entirely different level.

In addition to what she saw of the Royal Earth Guard, which was composed of the elite of the First Legion, Ludmila thought she had gained a basic grasp of the Imperial Army’s range of quality. Her first assignment as a liaison officer was with the Second Legion, so the question now was how large the gap between each Legion was. Did the First Legion stand head and shoulders above the rest, or was the Eighth Legion the bottom of the barrel out of the best we picked out for the rest of the army?

“Ah, I want to jump out and look around at all this stuff right now,” Liane sighed wistfully. “Did anything stand out to you girls?”

“The plaza we just passed was hosting some sort of performance,” Florine said. “There must have been hundreds of people gathered.”

“There are several bookstores here that I was referred to,” Clara said. “I’d like to take a look at that row of boutiques we went by a few blocks ago, too.”

Ludmila shifted nervously as her friends turned their attention towards her. She couldn’t say that she was more interested in examining the security.

“I haven’t noticed any interesting merchandise so far,” she said. “Do they sell equipment here?”

She snapped her mouth shut. That wasn’t any better.

“They sure do,” Liane replied. “The northern sections of the market usually have the things that you’re probably looking for, but there might be some gems elsewhere. You could spend a season here and not get a good look at everything.”

The carriage made its way deeper into the market district, finally rolling to a stop in front of the Mithril Garden Inn. Like the Angel’s Rest in Engelfurt, Lianne had not chosen their accommodations for any sense of luxury, prestige or its high-class reputation, but for the more interesting things that it offered.

In the case of the Mithril Garden Inn, it was an innovative design that had appeared with the establishment over the summer. Occupying an older, yet central area of the market district, the inn was divided into four buildings overlooking an intersection of two boulevards. The boulevards were refurbished, covered over with glass, and turned into a pedestrian market. Renovations were also made to the old buildings, turning their ground floors into large storefronts while the floors above were converted into more exclusive establishments and rooms for the inn.

Their suite occupied the entire corner of one of the buildings overlooking the main intersection, while their maids and footmen claimed rooms of their own on the same floor. Ludmila padded her way through accommodations that she thought luxurious but were probably considered humble to those accustomed to places like the Shining Golden Pavilion in E-Rantel. She opened the door to the private terrace that wrapped around the living room, observing the area below.

The most striking feature was that, despite the onset of winter, the trees and shrubs planted along the boulevards were still green. It brought to mind what the Sorcerer King had mentioned about cultivating plants indoors and her efforts at investigating methods to do so. Everything laid out before her was ornamental, but it was still something worth studying.

“Let me guess,” Clara said as she came up beside her. “You’re looking at the trees and not the markets.”

“What they’re doing with the plants here feels more meaningful to me,” Ludmila replied. “The streets are insulated from the outdoors, so the heat from these buildings and all the people in the market is trapped to keep things warm. His Majesty said that entire farms could be grown indoors – the implications of being able to do this on a massive scale are staggering.”

“They do something similar under the Demihuman quarter, don’t they?”

“They do,” Ludmila nodded, “but, for some reason, it’s something that we don’t consider applying to our own agriculture. The systems that other races come up with always remain some distant ‘Demihuman thing’ to most of the Human population. Even dwarven practises are considered something for Dwarves.”

“All of the pieces have only come together for us recently,” Clara told her. “Building a solarium for a manor is one thing; doing it for a whole farm is another. Even now, we can only accomplish this in an extremely limited way – you ran away when I asked for a quarter-million of those magic items.”

“After seeing this,” Ludmila said, “I don’t think that many are needed. We only need enough to cycle sufficient heat, much like how you use those cooling boxes to cycle cold air in the summer.”

Liane’s head popped out from the balcony door. She peered at them suspiciously.

“What are you two scheming?”

“Big schemes,” Clara replied lightly.

“I wonder if imperial intrigue is contagious,” Liane muttered. “Anyway, our stuff’s moved in and everyone’s ready to go. I already sent the staff ahead to get some food before they all fall over.”

Ludmila glanced over the railing, looking for signs of their maids and footmen below. It wasn’t long before she spotted Aemilia and the others lining up at various stands, chatting amicably.

They left their suite to join them. As they made their way down, however, Liane slowed to a stop in the stairwell.

“Hey Zahradnik,” she said, “can you scout ahead for us?”

“Scout ahead?” Ludmila looked towards the landing below.

“Yeah, I got a feeling…”

Her hand idly went to the cowl attached to her mantle as she concealed her presence. Padding down on silent steps, Ludmila peeked out around the exit of the stairwell. There were several members of the inn’s security, a few patrons…Ludmila looked back up the stairs at Liane.

『What am I looking for?』

『You know…those. The attainted.』

The more they used the word, the more the attainted sounded like some sort of horrifying abomination waiting to pounce upon hapless young noblewomen.

『What are they supposed to even look like?』

『Like Nobles. Except not.』

『Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?』

Ludmila stepped out into the lobby. No one appeared to notice her, but she still wondered what could be done even if she did happen to spot one of the attainted. It wasn’t as if she could preemptively hack them down with her battleaxe.

Not that she could discern any real difference between the inn’s guests. Since it was a lobby, they were all waiting for something, so she couldn’t single them out through telltale signs of watchfulness or anticipation. There were also no dead giveaways such as people suspiciously hiding behind columns or employing Invisibility. Though they all appeared well-dressed to her, it wasn’t to the point where she thought they might be out of place for the capital city of a major nation with a flourishing economy.

As men and women moved in and out of the entrance, a man in the uniform of the inn’s lightly-armoured security staff stepped forward. He stopped a middle-aged man who looked like a well-to-do merchant. The man smiled as he exchanged words with the guard, but, at the same time, he furtively tried to step past him. His attempts grew increasingly more aggressive until the guard pointed towards the street. When the man didn’t heed him, another guard came forward and together they pushed him away. The man cast several desperate gazes into the lobby before vanishing into the crowded street.

Ludmila stopped concealing her presence. When nobody in the lobby moved towards her, she went up to one of the security staff inside the door.

“What happened just now?” She asked.

“Looks like one of the attainted tried to get in to harass our patrons,” the well-built young man answered with an appraising look. “Rest assured, you have nothing to worry about from them, my lady.”

“I see.”

She didn’t. Ludmila could no more identify these impostors than she could discern the value of different pieces of jewellery. In the hostile urban wilderness of Arwintar, she was out of her element.

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