Stalker much?

“Stalker much?”

I actually retorted that in my mind but Vefal said it without any reservation.

Fellixa seems to be shaken from the accusation for a while before she recovered herself.

“Some feats of the summoned are rather famous so there are public reports available and I also have access to more accurate reports about you, Ruigne of [Synikorvus] or your bodyguard, Vefal the Silent even around here but what ultimately what made me convinced is because of what you are doing here. Specifically, you do realize what is happening right now in Symokiva?”

Huh, guess with some observation and knacks, anyone can guess what my intention is.

I nodded, gesturing for her to continue,-

“-A revolution would happen here in a few years and usual if a summoned such as you had already knew a great deal about it, they would try to curry favour from the Inheritors or the Great Houses by investigating and exposing the culprits but you did nothing as such. I had wondered for quite some time and reached to several conclusion but after seeing you did good deeds and especially solving this case, it seems that I can roughly gauged your disposition. You are at least against the current overlords of Athryshiayl and because of that, you and I have one common cause.”

She stood up and approached near me while rummaging the inside of her cloth. After some times, she took out a medallion. It was an insignia with three pointed star with the tips edges like a spearhead with a circle interposed with the star and inside the circle was a square. The medallion was made from black coloured metal while the linings were ocean blue in colour.

“When you are in Valvakea, take this medallion to the Reravir Pavilion and tell them that ‘Fellixa sent her first gift’ to an old man who drinks tea on table 22.”

After handing me the medallion and giving me an instruction, she turned and walked towards the door.

She opened the door but halfway, she stopped and turned to give me a look.

“You might have a doubt on what I just said or you might arrest me on the ground of conspiring against the authority but I believe you wouldn’t. Everything that had happened here is of my own volition, my belief that you would co-operate with me because both of us will benefit from helping each other in weathering the coming storm because we each have a resolve to protect what we held dear.”

She left as she closed the door.

What a domineering woman. She didn’t leave me enough room for questions. There were still so many things I wanted to ask of her like who started the rumour.

“Heh, ‘Weathering the coming storm’, she sounds like you when you’re too drunk and starts babbling hilarious nonsense, still, she was serious about entrusting this to you.”

Vefal lightly joked.

When I thought about the near one-sided conversation just now, I could sense the impatient urgency in her voice and glint of desperation from her eyes. Irrational intuition caused her to put faith in me that I would comply. I see no reason why I shouldn’t since our goal are aligned of a sort.

“Ruigne!!”

As I pondered, there was a muffled shout from the hallway and the door opened again.

The figure of Ghiscra holding the communication device while breathing roughly showed that she had rushed here.

“It’s Shakil!! He’s saying that half of the guards in the Fortress had devolved into a tribal conflict!”

--

Shakil was watching from outside of the window in an office room at the gathering of many soldiers but for him, they were hardly soldiers in his eyes. They were manipulated by the few theatrics thespians amongst them, engaging in a large play.

On one side, there was a group of angry-looking feathered armoured guards, throwing insults and jeers equivalent to petulant children’s.

On the other side, it was no different except that they wore scales on their uniform, reflecting traditional clothes that the old tribes usually wore.

The growing tension was accumulated throughout almost two weeks after Ruigne and the rest had left for the north. Shakil in his observation, noticed activities of them lurking and gathering, obviously scheming.

The fact that it took them almost two weeks to start was to inform the various tribes and getting confirmations about the coming conflicts.

He remembered how Ruigne told him that during Vefal many infiltrations to the tribes, he received information from the hushed conversations amongst elders of certain tribes that back then, they had actually received funding’s from the Houses that supervised over them, making them actively promote the chaotic conflicts so as the many tribes wouldn’t unite against a common enemy but two years ago, they stopped and staunchly refused the bribes. Something obviously happened at that time but Ruigne couldn’t find anything. He can only speculate that some other external force had extended their influence on them although, Shakil couldn’t quite get what he meant by that.

And so the tribes did a few things to subtly undermine the authority of Athryshiayl and this was one of them. Now the conflicts were directed and controlled, so it can be effective if done properly at the right time.

“The Blood Skies Clan had never answered to the crime of killing the child of a grieving family five years ago!”

“Our Sworn Stones Clan demands the blood of the guilty who had stolen our precious stones heirlooms years ago!”

Each side shouted out their grievance, further exacerbating the situation. A certain guard seems to shout the same thing, calling out for the summoned representative.

[Is it nearing the climax? Then you should go now.]

Hearing the suggestion coming from the strange device held in his hand, he sighed. He had been talking through this so-called ‘Communication Device’, an invention by that bright young girl, Ghiscra, for weeks and yet he was still amazed by this surreal experience of hearing a voice from a far distance.

“Yeah, I got it but they picked such shit timing since Ghrukka is in his ‘Demon’ period but even so, everything had proceeded as you expected.”

Shakil responded back.

[Well, we’ve been practicing a lot so let’s make an even better show than those make-believe actors could ever muster in their short acting career!]

Shaking his head, Shakil sometimes was thoroughly confused listening to Ruigne’s anachronistic way of talking.

On the table, there were stacks of document, prepared long by Ruigne after he had grasped on what they had planned to do in his absence as the summoned representative.

That old man, Sarralus seems to let it be, making Ruigne unsure of which sides he was in or perhaps he never had a side before as he was the sort of person who ‘bend to wherever the wind goes’.

Banishing the constantly straying thoughts, he walks towards the door, ready to face and end the charade.

--

Sarralus was looking at the belligerent crowd while drinking herbal tea inside his office. He was tasked by the Inheritors to only advise and direct the workflow for the summoned so he was under no authority to stop these conflicts but he understood the situations perfectly well.

Throughout his entire life, his way of managing the affair of the state was to find balance so as that he wouldn’t offend any side of the parties but in these recent years, he noticed movements in all regions, signalling a great change.

If he were at his prime of age where he was to be expected, perhaps he would do an investigation but that was no longer the case as one of the summoned will take the mantle of command here. At his age, He was world-weary and tired of politics, so whatever happen, it was no longer of his personal concern.

Some might call him a defeatist but as long as he fulfil his duty while enjoying his small pleasures in life, that was brewing teas and enjoying books, then nothing else matter for him. It had been that way ever since he took over this job reluctantly.

A man from Athryshiayl with no political inclination or ambition thrust into an unfitting responsibility, it was perfect for those higher up as they had better control over him.

And it didn’t matter for Sarralus for at least he had someone to tell him what to do.

“Listen up, you lot. I ain’t got enough time to break you all up so the summoned representative, Ruigne had the foresight to issue this new declaration!”

Sarralus looked at a figure of man with a fiery hair and tattooed face that had appeared alongside with two of the stationed Eomancers, a male humanoid with pale skin and female Draken. His impression of this summoned was a crude and blunt man with exceptional archery skill but it was perfect fit for this job as this man was the closest of an image that can empathized with the tribesmen.

“You can’t stop us! You have no authority to do as such even if you are appointed as his replacement. In these sacred matters, It is our right to settle conflict if the highest authority which is your superior, ‘Lord’ Ruigne is absence!”

With an unruly and disrespectful tone laced with sarcasm, a man stepped out from the crowd and addressed Shakil.

It was true. According to a certain law, the tribes can assume their own decision making in some cases that needs immediate attention if the true highest authority failed to make one for various reasons. What more, these sudden conflicts without permission usually crops out and be classified as high-priority cases that require careful consideration but immediate attention.

Now there were several of these high-priority cases pops out in a single instance and at the same time and the aftermath would brewed a storm of controversies, smothering the Summoned for the failure to rend the guards.

It was clear for anyone with enough political acumen that they were taking advantage of the law and using it as a vehicle for a political motive.

In response, Shakil was muttering something under his breath.

“Well yeah that’s why I said there’s a declaration from him!”

He looked at his side, at the pale-skinned Eomancer and the Draken Eomancer. The Eomancers both nodded and the pale-skin casted a spell of Orange colour in nature towards that particular object that Shakil was holding. It was not casted on the object but rather in front of the object while the Draken took out a recording device and activated it.

“Good Morning, guards, stewards, Eomancers and fellow summoned, Shakil, I come from beyond the grave~!!”

Sarralus nearly spit out the tea that he just gulped down from the shock hearing the voice of their temporary summoned lord, Ruigne clearly and loudly from the direction of the object as Shakil held it in front, facing that object towards the crowd.