Chapter 61

Red Sands Desert, Elkis Republic.

Trade City of Erakis.

"At long last, we are here. Sia!"

"Yes sir?"

Gothram, the Scarlet Sword mercenary company's commander, smiled at his aide.

"Go ahead and find us some lodgings. I don't expect to be here for too long, but preparing to cross the wasteland is hardly a fast process."

"Yes sir!"

Sia split off from the mercenary column, and rode off into the town, as Gothram stopped his horse by a guard post, and got off his mount. He might have some serious clearance to get underway, and even sealed papers to override the garrison commander in Erakis if it came down to it, but his employers had made it clear that it was very much a last resort.

Besides, he'd rather not piss off the local military if he could avoid it, since they would most likely be the ones charged with relieving him after his 'spontaneous conquest' of Rebirth, and a little politeness cost him nothing and would help avoid some, ahem, unfortunate 'accidents' later down the road.

"Lieutenant." He said as the woman, quite clearly the officer of the watch by her insigna and the way the guards were behaving, stepped out of the guard post.

"Hello, citizen...?"

"Commander. Gothram Edingburgh, commander of the Scarlet Swords mercenary company, at your service." He took off his hat, and bowed deeply.

"I...see. Very well then, commander." The title lacked any of the respect she would have inflected if it had been said to one of her superior officers, but at least it was neutral, not insulting. "What brings you here? I was not aware of any more mercenary companies coming to reinforce her."

"Ah, we are not, unfortunately lieutenant. We were not retained for the contacts the Republic drew up in response to the new...situation. As such, we are travelling north, seeking gainful employment somewhere else." He smiled as the lieutenant's face went blank, and a dangerous spark filled her eyes. "Come now lieutenant, the Asarians have also completed their own mercenary recruitment. There is no need to look at me like that, I have no intentions of joining your...neighbors." And would-be enemies. "Indeed, I have heard that the Saphire Kingdom is quite panicked at the Asarian's increased military activities, and are scrambling for mercenaries to help them bolster their forces as we speak."

"And you think you'll be able to pass through the border without being stopped? Through the Barrier mountains?"

"I have my ways miss. No offense, but the mountains are a far less dangerous environments than the wasteland, and had I not required further supplies, even I could have sneaked through your border." Not that it was especially hard. That border was simply too big to defend completely. "Of course, I'm sure I would have been stopped not soon after." He added quickly as he saw the women's gaze harden at the implied incompetence of her service. "But, well, were I in the same situation as I would be in the Saphire Kingdom, I would be positively delighted to be caught by a patrol once past the border."

The lieutenant nodded, and looked down at her crystal tablet, before looking back up at him.

"I see. Well commander, I do not have you on any wanted lists, and I don't have specific instructions to stop mercenaries from passing through. Just make sure your men cause no trouble."

"Of course lieutenant, and thank you."

The lieutenant simply nodded, and Gothram waved his column onward.

A few weeks at most, and he would be in possession of Rebirth....The impossible amount of mana he'd get from this job, and all the loot he could pillage before leaving...he could almost taste it.

*****

"Excellent work, agent Serabor." Sia's implants said in her head, with their peculiar, monotone voice. "Continue to monitor the situation, and stand ready to take....corrective measures should the need arise. Agent Iknor and agent Salter should be in position shortly as well. Good luck agent."

Sia, with the ease of long practice, didn't even look up from her paperwork, and then pressed her hand against her throat, and subvocalized an acknowledgment to the miniaturized transmitter hidden in her ring, before going back to work.

So far, so good. She didn't trust plans that went like clockwork, but....This was High Commander Lesly they were talking about after all. If she couldn't make a plan go flawlessly, who could?

*****

"I'm not sure it's a good idea..." Said Emilia as she fidgeted on her seat. "I mean, steel would be very nice, and so would be the ingredients, but those kind of deals..."

"Are illegal, I know." Finished Alexandra. "But....well." She shrugged, and gestured in the vague direction of the communication crystal. "That's how we got communications with your family."

"Fair enough." Then Emilia smacked her palm against her forehead. "Oh crap! I almost forgot! I just got a few messages from some of my relatives, other dungeon advisors. They say that the UDC is sending a formal contact mission, but...."

"But?" Alexandra rose an eyebrow. Emilia had already explained to her what a 'formal contact mission' was. It was kind of like sending an embassy to a newly founded interstellar colony, usually mixed in with a demonstration of strength for the dungeon's benefit and the local's, to show the former the advantages of joining the UDC and the latter to not fuck with dungeons. So....exactly like the EFSN contact mission for an independent colony actually. There was a reason their 'embassy ships' were freaking heavy cruisers after all.

"Well...They're being very tight lipped about it. They won't say which dungeon is leading it, or when they'll arrive. Hell, apparently the mission has been in the works for a while, and they hadn't told me yet!"

"That's...odd, isn't it?"

"Very odd, yeah." Emilia shrugged. "I think your presence is making everyone nervous. You're perfectly placed to bridge two halves of a continent, and on either side of that continent are what people see as the pinnacles of magical and technological progress outside the Eris Empire."

"And the nations on either side of the wasteland are expansionist maniacs."

"Yeah."

"What about my....other peculiarities?"

Emilia shook her head.

"They don't know about it."

"I beg your pardon?" Said Alexandra as she blinked in surprise.

"We're loyal to our dungeon cores first and foremost Alex. That means if my family told me a secret and you asked me about it...I'd probably tell you. Perhaps not at first, but...eventually. So to prevent these kind of issues, plus the strife and conflicts of interest, my family circumvents them altogether." Emilia shrugged. "I guess that's what happened here as well, the dungeon cores didn't want you warned until now for some reason, so my family didn't tell me anything. And once the cores gave the go ahead they did."

"That's....A surprisingly elegant solution, all things considered." And was a tremendous relief. Having to worry about Emilia being a potential spy for other people had been a weight on her shoulders she really could have done without. That didn't mean she'd let down her guard and tell the vampire girl everything, but it was still a relief. "Not perfect, but...elegant."

"I suppose so. Anyway, if the UDC shows up, we'll have to bury this kind of transactions under the carpet, you know. I mean, they probably have some of their own member dungeons doing it as well, but they're still treaty bound to at least try to enforce these restrictions you know."

"Treaty bound?"

"Yeah, part of the concessions the UDC had to give after the First United Dungeon War."

"I thought they'd stomped down on everyone, and basically dictated terms."

"Not....exactly. To most states, hell yes. But the Eris Empire had managed to more or less hold them off. So in exchange for acquiescing to all their demands, they asked for the UDC to at least pretend to keep dungeons in line, and so they did. It's what kept the Empire out of the following wars as well."

"Ah, that makes a lot of sense." Kind of like the treaties after the Interplanetary Wars. The European Federation and the UIS had been forced to cede a lot of territory and planets -outside of their holdings on Earth of course-, but they'd also extracted guarantees of keeping the peace and preventing piracy in those newly transferred areas. Hell, those treaties were the exact reason she'd ended up on Vesta station with the peacekeeping mission. "So...Hide everything under the floorboards?"

Emilia giggled.

"Not to that point, but....putting some of that stuff in storage, or at least minimizing it would be a good start."

"Okay, that's good to know." Although how she was going to put a damned blast furnace in storage, if she got them, would be an interesting proposition at the very least.

*****

"That is....a lot of troops."

Allya nodded. Although that was more in sympathy with her girlfriend than anything else. She'd seen entire armies on parade grounds before, tens of thousands of Erisian soldiers assembling for vast exercises. The Royal reinforcements their monarchs had seen fit to send them were pathetic in comparison.

But, well...she didn't have Erisian troops on hand, let alone an entire army. So compared to her own retainers, who formed what was basically a light infantry company, they were extremely impressive.

One full knight company, 180 men, with a full 10 men squad of combat mages on top of that, and of course the half dozen catapults...with their accompanying siege engineers.

Well, at least they'd have people to man the tower said siege engineers were going to have to build fairly soon. And they'd have something more impressive than the crossbows to put into them as well, although honestly she wasn't sure what good catapults were going to be against the Elkisian's siege bombards. They were crude at best, but a cannon, no matter how primitive, was still better than a glorified sling throwing boulders.

"So, do we have the housing?"

"They'll have to finish the roofs, but yeah. I wasn't expecting them this early honestly."

"Neither was I." Allya rose an eyebrow as she looked at Steve Nottingham, the newest addition to her guard detachment. "But their majesties believed we deserved the best, so they sent their best. And that meant they defied our expectations."

The sergeant's chest visibly swelled at that, and Allya mentally shook her head. It had been a decade, and she still motivated troops as easily as she breathed. Some habits never died apparently.

"Alright, well, better show these gentlemen to their quarters. While you're doing that, I'll talk to their CO, see if I can get them included in the dungeon guard rotation." Allya smiled. "The new adventurers might feel like they can walk over our guards, but I'd like to see them try against royal knights."

Pyn giggled.

"That would be entertaining. Well, I'll be off then!"

Allya waved in goodbye as Pyn walked down the small hill they'd been standing upon, and then sighed, before going the other way. Her girlfriend was making a beeline of the engineers -not surprising, given that the quartermaster would probably be nearby, and they'd need to finish the roof anyway-, she had to go to the head of the column. The CO wasn't hard to find however, the woman's armor was coated in so much gold and other shiny, precious metals that it almost counted as an optical weapon with the wasteland's sun bearing down on it.

It took her less than a minute to make her way to the far, far too shiny woman, and as soon as she arrived the royal commander bowed.

"Baroness Allya, Princess of the Principality of Rebirth, Knight Valiant of the Eris Empire, I greet you. I am knight commander Philia Elcanor. Their majesties sent me here to protect the realm and reinforce your principality. I am at your command."

Allya nodded as she noted the things the commander had said, as well as how she'd said them. Notably that she was here to protect the realm first...and her principality second. As expected really, but a useful reminder nonetheless. Those weren't her own retainers, sworn in to her, they were loyal to the crown, and the crown alone.

She doubted they were here to depose her, but it had clearly occurred to their majesties that a reminder that switching side would be a bad idea wouldn't go amiss, just in case.

"Commander Philia, it is a pleasure to meet you. Come, my knight, Pyn Windwrath, is currently showing your troops to their quarters. My guard captain, Anders, as well as our ally Willard are assembling in the council room, so that we may discuss strategy and the best way to defend Rebirth. Pyn will also join us once her task is done. If that is agreeable?"

The commander firmly nodded.

"It is. There is no time to waste." The woman's steely exterior wavered a bit. "After all, the news I am bearing are...concerning."

Allya nodded. That probably meant more reports of Elkisian activity. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.

Hopefully.