“Lord Otto, the scouts all report the same thing. The northmen fought with the Rhanks, won, and left,” a Vyssian footman reported.

“What? Are you telling me that the northmen left their castle to… have a brawl with the Rhanks and that’s it?!” Otto shouted.

“Nay, lord. It seemed that there was another northman army led by… something or someone else. The northman army holding Castle Marcoir is still in their castle,” the footman answered.

“They have another army?” Otto muttered as he scratch his neck. “Very well. Is that all?”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Then scram!” Otto ordered as he waved his hand. With the soldier gone, Otto grabbed the nearby jug and poured himself a new glass of ale. He downed the entire cup in one go, then slammed the cup down onto a wooden table. “Wick, do you have any ideas?”

Eoforwic looked up from the strategic map placed on the table then shrugged. “Perhaps the northmen are moving independently? Much like us, the northmen might be more than happy to beat some Rhanks up for entertainment.”

“I’m not doing this for fun, Wick. I’m doing this to save my cousin. Only Humanos would know how much the Rhanks would demand for ransom. My family already spent a fortune in the upcoming trip, and shame would only be brought upon us if we couldn’t pay for a damned useless cousin!” Otto argued.

“I don’t know the Varangians well. If you want to know, go and talk to them in their embassy. It’s just a few days ride away, you know?” Eoforwic suggested as he placed wooden figurines on the map. “By the way, you said something about the Varangians having magic-like cartography? We could use a better map...”

Before Otto could utter a reply, a Vyssian footman entered the room followed by a slightly short armored man. The armored man turned his head towards Otto then pointed at him. “Weaver wants to know if the trip to Hetten will still take place.”

“What?! I’m too bloody busy doing something more important!” Otto shouted.

“Your cousin?” the armored man asked.

“Aye! Unless you northmen miraculously get my cousin back, me and my army will be here, sitting on our arses!” Otto declared.

“So if you get your cousin back, you will go to Hetten?”

“Are you deaf, man? That’s what I said!”

The armored man scanned the room, then left without saying a word. The Vyssian escort was surprised and had to rush back to escort the enigmatic northman.

“What in the Purgatory was that for?” Otto asked to which Eoforwic answered with a shrug.

Moments later, soldiers rushed into the room. They all looked panicked but at the same time relieved. “Lord Otto! The northmen have brought Lord Hambleot back!”

“Ha?” Otto uttered.

“Lord Hambleot is outside the gates!”

“I asked for a bloody miracle and the northmen gives it. Humanos is playing a trick on us all!” Otto declared as he grabbed his sword and ran down stairs. Sure enough, Hambleot was on a horse surrounded by a small band of northmen. At the head of the warband was one of the most recognizable Varangian warlords, Slayer.

“Sir Slayer?! What is the name of this?” Otto asked when he approached them.

“What?”

“How did you get Hambleot from the Rhanks?”

“Does it matter?”

Otto opened his mouth, confused. He wasn’t sure if Slayer was just testing him or what, but he knew that the northmen went on great lengths just to save his cousin, so he decided not to pick a fight with them. As Hambleot was escorted inside the castle by some soldiers, Otto came back to talk to Slayer. “Alright, northmen. I know you didn’t do this out of goodwill. Name your price.”

“Go to Hetten,” Slayer answered as he pointed at a direction.

“What?”

“We’ll go to Hetten with you.”

“You don’t need payment?”

“We can get paid for saving your cousin?”

Otto scratched his neck, trying to bottle his confusion. He didn’t know how to respond to that so he turned to look back at Castle Norwind. “What in bloody Purgatory…” Otto murmured in bemusement.

“So, you will go to Hetten and pay us for saving your cousin?” Slayer asked.

Otto sighed and placed his hands on his hips. With a tired look on his face, he answered, “Yes, yes. Prepare your men in one month and let’s talk about your reward.”

At the Varangian embassy, a robed man bit his thumb as he contemplated silently on the courtyard. Normally, there was a pair of mages experimenting at the nearby practice field, but it seemed that they left to experiment somewhere else.

Negotiating with the northmen was a bigger hassle than he thought, but he finally found a compromise for his mercenary army. Together with his levy, the Varangians promised to go east to fight under his banner. Now, he had to worry about how he would pay the northmen. He thought he could simply pay with a large amount of silver, but it seemed that they also asked for a variety of other goods which gave him a headache. Timber wasn’t easy to get in his demesne, and cattle wasn’t cheap. He would have to find some merchants to talk to, or perhaps ask for help from the Serjent’s Guild.

“Archpriest Agrianos?” a voice called out to the robed man which surprised him. Agrianos turned and found an unexpected person.

“What are you doing here, Princess Imma?” Agrianos asked.

“I’d like to ask you the same thing, your lordship,” Imma shot back as she approached with her sword-oath, Alleigh, following closely behind.

“Your Highness, you are aware of the situation to the east, yes?” Agrianos asked.

“The Alarians?” Imma pondered.

“No, Your Highness. It’s the Kojan Walls. I’ve been called for a Searing.”

“Goodness, a Searing? My father hasn’t told me about that!” Imma blurted with a shocked expression.

“Perhaps your father already knows. Sanctums are already mustering forces to send eastwards, and it won’t be long until a Searing is officially and publicly declared. Luckily for us, the arrival of these northmen coincided with these terrible events,” Agrianos explained as he tapped the side of his face unwittingly. “I have suspicions that the Royal Army was formed just to respond to this crisis should it appear at the doors of Rhankia.”

“I see…” Imma murmured. She was unhappy that her father had left her out of this serious affair, but she also saw this as an opportunity to improve her independent spy network even further. She had a long way to go before she could reach her mother’s level, but for now, she was stuck with being in the dark.

“And what about you? Why are you here?” Agrianos asked. “Let me guess, you’re trying to tell the northmen to scram?”

“Perhaps. I can’t really tell you.”

Agrianos clicked his tongue then looked up on the embassy walls. It was hard to tell whether the guards on the ramparts were statues or dead men, but he remembered that these things are not quite human. “Since you’re here, I need a favor to ask you. I need permission from His Grace to move my army of northmen mercenaries across the country.”

“What? You’re going east with a couple of Varangians?”

“Not a couple. An army.”

Imma snapped her fingers in frustration. In the first place, it seemed that the Varangians were planning on negotiating a truce with the Rhanks anyway, so Imma was completely played like a puppet by Red. “Scary… These northmen are scary.”

Perhaps it was due to her inexperience or lack of knowledge, but either way, the princess' first deal with the Varangians ended one-sidedly. Imma had to become more wary about these northmen lest they would continue to play with her like a tool. Imma looked back at the main embassy building and sighed. It seemed that this wouldn’t be the last deal she will make with the Varangians.

“Blessed be the Iron Lords!” a giant troglodyte went on his knees as Princeps, the first of Custodian’s Daedeli, walked past him and into a troglodyte village. On his back was a large sack of rat meat which was collected from rat farms scattered across Custodian’s dungeon complex.

Once Princeps reached the center of the village, he dumped the contents of his bag onto the ground which caused the nearby high troglodytes to gather and kneel before him. Only when he moved away from the pile of meat did the troglodytes dare touch the meat provided to them.

Disregarding the organics’ strange behaviors, Princeps scanned the area around.

[Conclusion: Area is in overcapacity.]

‘Understood,’ Custodian answered as it looked over its map. Even with four troglodyte towns and villages under its control, there were still too many troglodytes entering the A.I.’s dungeon complex. The food upkeep was no longer sustainable, and Custodian’s spawn pools had slowed down its spawn rates.

At first, it tried to solve this problem by simply not feeding the troglodytes, but it caused some dissent in some of the refugee troglodytes. Then it thought of kidnapping some troglodytes to process into material, but the monsters proved to be too keen and cautious so it didn’t follow through with this plan.

The only reasonable thing to do was either expand its underground dungeon complex… or move the troglodytes upwards.

“Princeps! Hey! Over here!” a high-pitched drone called out to Princeps.

As usual, Niners carried the baby high troglodyte Zilopohili around, and he was accompanied by the fanatic Razugotter. The blue-spotted high troglodyte bowed to Princeps and kept his head low.

“Princeps, this organic keeps talking to me but I can’t process any of it. Can you talk to it?” Niner asked.

Princeps mechanically turned to Razugotter and asked, “Question. You have?”

“Yes, Iron Lord Princeps,” Razugotter replied while using Princep’s Vyssian name. “It seemed that my effort to save and convert my kin to be your followers had worked too well thanks to the Iron Lords’ overwhelming abilities. The Tilapolan Inners were outsmarted at every turn, and we managed to amass more than a handful of tilapolans to our side. However, I am wondering if I had brought in too many followers?”

“Yes,” Princeps bluntly replied.

“As I thought so…” Razugotter croaked sadly. “Do we need to kick some of my kin out of the Iron Lords’ home?”

Princeps stared at Razugotter blankly then talked to Custodian directly, ‘Question. What decision will Master Custodian make?’

‘I have no plans of making a new army to expand downwards. Hetten and the so-called Kojan Forest is top priority right now.’

‘Elaboration. Master Custodian will send the organic units up?’

‘We can’t risk opening the underground gates now. So, yes, dump all of the new organics out to the surface! Let them figure out how to survive on their own!’

“Iron Lord?” Razugotter nervously called out.

Princeps pointed upwards which caused the high troglodyte to look up. “Explanation. You and your kins go up.”

“Up?! To the place of light?!”

“Yes. Go bring everyone, and get out.”