Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 15

“It’ll be easier to pick up if you call out the attack.”

“I am not calling out that attack. Why did you give it that name in the first place?”

“Because my son loves when I do tricks with it.”

“It’s not even named after your son: it’s named after you!”

“Oh come on! It’s not as if you’ll lose anything by saying it.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I’ll lose something…”

Over the course of the afternoon, Andrei had offered Ludmila various pointers and bits of tactical advice when it came to the use of a longbow and ranged combat in general. Now, they had moved on to learning one of the Martial Arts that Andrei was particularly proud of – though it was apparently because his toddler son found it entertaining.

It was one that Ludmila was already aware of but never had the opportunity to fully figure out. Andrei used a variant of a Martial Art that more commonly went by the name Called Shot. The basic idea was that one would unleash a ranged attack against a specific part of their target. If the attack connected with the intended body part, additional debilitating effects would be conveyed. For instance, a Called Shot intended for a leg would hamper the target’s mobility if it dealt any damage to the target area.

Gold-rank Rangers in the Adventurer Guild used it often. Merry had an advanced version of the Martial Art, but she appeared to be the only one who could pull it off so far. For Ludmila’s part, she had no idea how the mere intention of hitting a certain part of the body and succeeding ‘translated’ into a Martial Art. Andrei’s advice was helpful towards that end, but she still didn’t want to call out the name of his attack.

“Oh yeah?” Andrei asked, “Like what?”

“Like my dignity and the respect of the entire administration,” Ludmila answered. “I can imagine the Elder Liches in the judiciary snorting in derision when they read any report that involves me using your attack to help apprehend someone. Can I just describe it as ‘Called Shot’ instead?”

“What! My technique is better than that boring old trick!”

Another thing she learned was that it wasn’t only those from the Adventurer Guild, but Rangers in general that probably came up with the silliest names for their Martial Arts. Merry had a completely nonsensical Martial Art called Dammit! that created an arrow out of pure force. From nothing. It was far more powerful than a regular arrow, too. Apparently, she had come up with the thing on a job when she ran out of arrows and just decided to keep attacking.

It was not as easy as that, however. Martial Arts had a logic of their own, and figuring all but the most basic of them from scratch could take a long time to figure out. Ludmila set her stance and drew, trying to get a feel for what Andrei had described and how to apply it to her own technique. Unfortunately, it appeared to be one of those Martial Arts that were more easily grasped when one had a real target to practise on.

“C’mon, give it a try…”

Or maybe she did have a real target to practise on.

“Reporting.”

Ludmila relaxed her draw, turning her attention to the Elder Lich that had come out of the cave. Nabe appeared from behind it, walking out to stand nearby.

“Let’s hear it,” Ludmila said.

“Smoke has been reported rising out of a village in sector A-3,” the Elder Lich replied. “It is too substantial to be from cooking fires.”

Ludmila looked up at the canopy. It was well into the evening and people would be settling in for their evening meals. An opportune time to attack the now-emptied mill.

“How is our response going?”

“The sentries posted around the area are converging to form the cordon that you specified. The Wraith that spotted the smoke is headed to confirm the source now.”

“Good,” Ludmila nodded, “continue overseeing the deployment of our forces. We’ll clean up here and head out to our position once we’re ready.”

Inside the cavern, Ludmila put away the maps and markers after re-confirming each position for the newly established cordon. The steady tapping of Nabe’s foot greeted them as they made their way back outside.

“To think that you’d be such a laggard when your quarry is afoot.”

An impatient look accompanied the Adventurer’s impatient statement. In the time that she had gotten to know her, Ludmila could still not read Nabe’s true face despite her general body language being the same as a Human’s. Nobles were trained to regulate their expressions and curb strong emotions in order to conceal their thoughts, so it felt ironic that Nabe’s false persona conveyed her feelings more effectively than the visage that lay behind it.

“It is a hunter’s patience,” Ludmila replied.

“What’s that?”

“Are you well acquainted with any Rangers, Miss Nabe?”

“At least one.”

“Then you may have noticed some of the same behaviour,” Ludmila said. “I won’t say that it’s something unique to the vocation, but Rangers tend to consider the whole of their situation. The conditions of the environment, potential obstacles and pitfalls, other actors that may exist in the area and the way their quarry may consider their circumstances. It is unlike others who might only think of the distance between themselves and their target, or how to handle them in a direct confrontation.”

“And you think like that all the time?”

“It’s not something that we actively think about,” Ludmila looked over at Andrei, who nodded back. “It’s more like an advanced set of instincts – elements of the environment that we’re always aware of. We might analyse information that we think warrants particular attention, but it’s effortless for the most part. We have a sense of when urgent action is warranted. This is why Rangers are seen to be at ease most of the time, even when going into a fight.”

When described at length, it probably appeared absurd that someone could do so much without thinking about it. Yet it was normal in many vocations. Seemingly complex tasks and a wide range of considerations that laymen would not even give any thought to were as natural to a specialist as breathing.

“I’ll say that there are limits to that, though,” Andrei put in. “How skilled the Ranger is; whether they’re on familiar territory or terrain; what they’ve been brought up to fight…hm, that last one is strange.”

“Strange?” They looked over at him.

“Yeah,” Andrei nodded. “As a border noble, I thought that the bulk of your training and expertise would revolve around Demihumans and Monsters. My father was a professional hunter, so he specialized in beasts and magical beasts. I followed in my father’s footsteps and I get lost trying to follow what you’re doing half of the time even though we’re both Rangers.”

“Nobles are trained to manage their territories,” Ludmila offered. “This includes dealing with criminals and enforcing justice.”

“Mmh…that’s true,” Andrei rubbed his chin, “but I don’t think that’s it. Otherwise, my lord and his nobles would have figured out the same things you have already. Considering Fassett County and the reputation that’s grown around you, are you sure you’re not actually specialized against Humans?”

The corner of her eye twitched. How could a follower of The Six specialize against Humans?

“How can that be?” Ludmila frowned.

“Well, think of it this way,” he held up his hand. “Demihuman Rangers that fight Humans aside, Human Rangers can take up bounty hunting, becoming snipers and assassins. Urban Rangers join the militia and put their skills towards law enforcement. Then there are outlaws that take up banditry or resist Human expansion into the wilderness, professional soldiers and mercenaries that regularly participate in Human conflicts…there’s more than a few reasons why a Human Ranger would become a specialist of their own race.”

Ludmila was vaguely aware of the possibilities that Andrei presented, but had never given it serious thought – especially when it came to herself. Most of her ongoing efforts to apply the knowledge provided by the Sorcerous Kingdom focused on her personal experiences and interpreting the scriptures of her faith. Perhaps her aversion to the decadent and heretical aspects of the northern kingdoms had blinded her to the wisdom that could come with generations of common knowledge. Still, she was not convinced.

“I’ve been trained to deal with border threats all of my life,” Ludmila said. “Why would it suddenly change? I don’t feel any particular enmity towards Humans, anyway.”

“Just pointing out possibilities,” Andrei said. “You’ve clearly picked up a new set of duties in your contract, and your role as a border noble isn’t what it used to be. The same thing’s cropping up here. We’ve tried moving rural tenants around by having them take up similar jobs and some of them still end up with skills they’ve never had before.”

A sinking feeling filled the pit of her stomach at Andrei’s account. Did that mean that she had become the victim of ‘build contamination’?

As if sensing her unease, Andrei turned his attention to their surroundings. It took them thirty minutes to clear the forest, and they made their way to the main road out of the village. In the distance, a small column of smoke could be seen billowing out of the trees.

“Say,” Andrei said. “If we can respond so quickly, why aren’t we heading straight to the village?”

“The culprit has already proven their ability to leave no traces near the site of the attack,” Ludmila told him. “It’s unlikely they’ll start tripping themselves up now. Once they’re safely away, however, it’s more likely that they’ll drop their guard. If they’re relying on magic to prevent detection, they’ll conserve mana for the riskiest stages of their attacks.”

“We can’t flush them out with all of those summons?”

“I thought that we were supposed to keep the Undead out of sight,” Ludmila smirked. “I’m sure the villagers here would be thrilled to find out that their little neck of the woods has been filled with ghosts. Besides, if our culprit proves to be more capable than expected, I don’t want them in a place where they can potentially elude us if they notice that they’re being hunted. It’s better that they’re caught out in the open where it’s more difficult to conceal oneself.”

“I wonder if they’ll even be that strong,” Andrei said. “I always thought our troublemaker would be someone under Silver rank. Anyone over that would be able to inflict a lot more damage to the territory.”

If they were dead set on doing as much damage as possible, what Andrei said would be true. There were far too many things to consider, however. The slow and systematic way by which the territories were being attacked felt more and more like they were dealing with an opponent that was well-practised in disruptive operations.

If that was the case, the arsonist might be falling victim to some of the assumptions born of their previous experience. There was no reaction to new mills being built in the aftermath of the fires, so they might have thought the damage would be as telling as when the land was still a part of Re-Estize.

“All servitors have reached their assigned positions,” one of the Elder Liches with them said. “Do you have any further orders?”

“Was there anything unanticipated?”

“Nothing significant.”

“Then proceed as planned,” Ludmila told the Elder Liches. “Go on up and out of sight – use Message to contact me if someone stumbles into our net.”

The Elder Liches flew off, figures receding into the evening sky. With the Wraiths forming the cordon and the Elder Liches directing them from out of sight, the only people who would notice the Undead were the ones that were intercepted and questioned. Lord Völkchenheim probably wouldn’t mind the few that were disturbed for the sake of the investigation.

Andrei, Ludmila and Nabe took their places on the main road leading out of the woods, roughly two kilometres away from the edge of the trees. The last vestiges of the sunset turned the green fields a ruddy gold, and a cool wind created waves over the sea of grain.

“So after waiting comes more waiting,” Andrei’s voice was dry.

“That’s how it should go, shouldn’t it?” Ludmila replied.

“I imagined something more exciting,” Andrei said. “Like Miss Nabe here casting a spell to find the bad guys and rushing off to foil them.”

“I’ve done this before,” Nabe said.

Andrei looked over from where he was crouching by the road.

“R-really?”

“It won’t work in this situation,” Nabe furrowed her brow at Andrei’s hopeful expression.

“Oh.”

“It’s not that convenient,” Ludmila explained. “Divination spells to locate objects and people exist, but a certain degree of familiarity with what the caster is searching for is required. There are spells to scry locations as well, but you’ll be spending a lot of time poring over every square metre of territory. Tracking abilities don’t work through scrying spells and counterdivination magic also exists. Just like with anything else, relying on a single method exposes you to weakness related to that method.”

“That’s…a surprising amount of magical knowledge coming from one of our nobles,” Andrei said. “You might be able to pass for a magic caster.”

“It’s probably a fraction of the knowledge that Nabe has,” Ludmila replied, “and it’s far from what is required to cast magic. I am ultimately responsible for the security of my territory, so learning some basic knowledge about magic seems prudent. Knowing what divination magic is capable of also causes one to seek out protection against it – I’m less than comfortable with the idea that someone can cast a spell and spy on my territory at their leisure.”

With so many sensitive locations planned for Warden’s Vale, finding suitable defences was an ongoing investigation. The Sorcerous Kingdom used their own magic casters to ward important locations against divination magic, but nobles were left to their own devices despite also being subjected to regulations that practically demanded them.

“Hm…I wonder if my lord has put any thought into it,” Andrei said. “Not that we have a very interesting territory to look at. Maybe being plain and boring is a deterrent for magical spies.”

“You should at least protect places where sensitive documents and discussions are held.”

“Do you have any recommendations on how to do that?”

“Nothing practical,” Ludmila replied. “Someone once told me that lining a space with sheets of copper would help, but it doesn’t seem to work at all. Once a reliable method is devised, I’m sure the administration will require it in all of their offices.”

Andrei covered his mouth and let out a long yawn.

“When’s the last time you two slept?” He asked, “The both of you were up when I fell asleep last night, and you were already moving around when I woke.”

“There are magic items that preclude the need for sleep,” Ludmila said. “They’re quite convenient.”

“I couldn’t imagine using something like that,” Andrei yawned again. “At my age, I’ve developed an appreciation for good bed rest. If that’s the case, I guess I don’t have to feel too guilty about not being able to keep up with you two ladies.”

“I’ll let you know if something happens,” Ludmila told him. “Have a good night, Andrei.”

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