Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 16

Andrei’s snores competed with the rustling fields of grain all around them. It wasn’t long until Ludmila exchanged glances with Nabe. Together, they moved to the other side of the road.

Casting her gaze across the landscape, Ludmila wished that she was looking over Warden’s Vale instead. Völkchenheim County’s endless landscape of rolling fields was occasionally interrupted by stretches of managed woodlands. It was dull compared to the scenery of the highland valley stretching out below the mountain peaks. Not only that, but the sense of ease and satisfaction she felt did not come from looking at someone else’s demesne.

As the hours passed, she received not a single report from the Elder Liches stationed around the area. With the lack thereof, Ludmila started poking more and more holes into her own plan.

“If this caster is capable of teleportation spells,”she asked, “would there be any way to stop them?”

“The range of low-tier spells like Dimension Move is insufficient to travel from village to village,” Nabe answered. “If they are capable of casting Teleportation, It would put the individual at the edge of the Realm of Heroes.”

The way she said ‘Realm of Heroes’ bordered on derision for the term. Ranks in the Adventurer Guild did not go past Adamantite, loosely defining those who stood above even Adamantite as ‘Heroes’. Momon and Nabe, however, were far beyond Adamantite; far beyond being mere ‘Heroes’. They were living legends. Even catching a glimpse of them was an experience for the privileged few…and now she was working with one of them. Not that she could remotely compare.

In hindsight, it was strange that Ludmila had always acted normally around them. Perhaps it was because Momon was so personable, and she never felt the need to put on any out-of-sorts behaviour on display for Nabe.

“Even if it isn’t happening now,” Ludmila said, “it is highly likely that it will happen in the future. No weak nation that understands just how powerful the Sorcerous Kingdom is would dare to challenge it. Any meaningful conflict would involve nations with access to casters capable of teleportation spells.”

“Would it not be better to preemptively eliminate any individuals that represent a significant threat before they strike?”

“Assuming that we even knew of their existence, there’s still the matter of locating them. They can be anywhere within a huge area and move hundreds of kilometres with a single spell. Locating them with divination magic would require a caster familiar with the target or sneaking an object onto the target’s person somehow. This is assuming that they don’t have ways to counter divination magic. Using scouts or other agents to locate them would be even more difficult.”

“Do you think they’ll go to such lengths to protect themselves?”

“If it was possible, they would,” Ludmila nodded. “It’s what I would do, anyway. I don’t know how common they are out in the rest of the world, but an individual of that calibre is immeasurably valuable here. Having them in an unnecessarily vulnerable situation would be negligent beyond belief.”

A caster with teleportation magic felt like an unstoppable force to Ludmila. They could appear in the skies above a vulnerable location and unleash a series of devastating attacks before teleporting back to safety. It would be akin to their current case, but the magnitude of destruction would be far greater as the attacker would have no qualms targeting villages and towns.

“First of all,” Nabe said, “Teleportation requires familiarity with their target location. For the attack that you propose, the caster would have to visit locations in the Sorcerous Kingdom first.”

“With the administration’s current policy, accomplishing this shouldn’t be a problem. Our borders are open – trade and travel are encouraged. We don’t even care about spies, for the most part, so for all we know it has already happened.”

“Critical locations in the Sorcerous Kingdom are protected by defensive magics,” Nabe said. “Also, I have seen the buildings constructed in your territory. They are impossible for one of the casters you describe from damaging in any significant way with a teleport assault. Prolonged attacks would be challenged by the defenders.”

That was the plan, at least. Her farming villages were constructed out of durable, yet cheap, materials and laid out in a way that was problematic for magic casters to destroy with area-effect attacks. Because new spells could always be developed, however, she couldn’t discount the possibility that there was magic specifically developed to address the sort of defences she employed.

“That’s just my territory, though,” Ludmila said. “What about everyone else? Then there are the crops and woodlands that our economies rely on.”

Andrei’s description of how malicious actors could pressure anyone they wanted to filled Ludmila’s mind with all sorts of disturbing possibilities. The people relied on the land, and the land itself could be attacked on a whim. Defending it was immeasurably harder. What made it worse was that organizations accustomed to employing these tactics had untold years of experience and methods that she could probably not even envision.

“They should address their weaknesses,” Nabe replied. “Otherwise, they will suffer the lot of the weak.”

Ludmila sighed. ‘Do your best’ wasn’t her idea of an effective answer.

The approach of dawn lightened the horizon over the woodland, and, still, not a single report had been made. It was unreasonable to expect all sorts of random people to be caught in the middle of the night, yet concerns over whether she had done the right thing mounted. Perhaps showing up at Count Völkchenheim’s wedding banquet had been all that it took to alert the perpetrator to her presence, and now she was being read like a novice by someone with a lifetime of criminal experience. Maybe someone present in the town hall had unintentionally let slip her intentions.

Wisps of smoke started to rise from the unseen village, marking the start of its day. About an hour after that, she was contacted by a Message spell.

『Lady Zahradnik.』

『Yes?』

『Multiple officers are reporting movement from outside of the cordon.』

『Farmers from the surrounding hamlets?』

With the dawn came work, and the fields of grain were tended to by the farming settlements all around the woodlands.

『It appears to be the case, yes.』

『Will they interfere with your surveillance efforts?』

Was it possible that their quarry would attempt to pose as one of the Farmers once they got close enough to the edge of the trees? Lower-level magic casters were also capable of short-range teleportation like Dimension Move, allowing them to cover the gap without being noticed. She shared her concerns with the Elder Lich.

『These numbers are simple to keep track of. There should be no problems.』

『Then carry on. Stay alert – the majority of movement to and from rural settlements occurs in the morning and the evening.』

『Understood.』

The Message spell ended, and the sun continued its slow climb over the horizon. Andrei sat up from where he had fallen asleep in the opposite ditch. He yawned and looked around with some confusion before finding them across the road.

“Did something happen?” He asked, “Why are you two over there?”

“Good morning Andrei,” Ludmila answered with a smile. “We didn’t want to disturb you with our conversation. You said something about appreciating good bed rest, after all.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Nabe gave her a look.

“Ahaha…well, thank you for that,” Andrei said as he massaged his back. “I think I fell asleep on a rock, though. Anyway, I take it that nothing’s happened?”

“Nothing of note,” Ludmila replied.

“Well, that’s to be expected. It’d be awfully suspicious to have someone sneaking out of the woods at night. Hm…”

Andrei squinted down the road, holding his hand out against the rising sun. Ludmila turned her attention eastward as well. Contrary to popular beliefs about the Undead, she was not weakened by sunlight. It didn’t blind her like it would a Human either, as she did not depend on light to see.

She spotted a cloud of dust rising from the road where it left the trees.

“A freight wagon?”

“Seems likely,” Andrei said. “Since the mill’s out of commission, the village probably decided to send out what they had to market. They’ll need to pick up supplies to build a new mill, too.”

“Would every village do the same thing?” Ludmila asked.

“Makes sense to me,” Andrei answered. “You’re suggesting that this is how our arsonist’s been making his way out?”

Rather than answer, Ludmila turned to focus her attention on the approaching vehicle.

Völkchenheim County did not employ any Soul Eaters, so a team of a dozen draft horses was pulling the long wagon nearly filled with lumber. A man led the team from the front, and Ludmila thought she saw several people helping to push from the rear.

“Do you see anything?” Nabe asked.

Both Andrei and Ludmila shook their heads. Even with her ability-augmented perception, she could not sense anything amiss.

“Would they know you by sight, Andrei?”

“Some of them might,” he replied, “but it’s a big county and House Völkchenheim’s still pretty new to the place.”

“See what you can find out about last night.”

The wagon’s approach was slow, taking nearly an hour to cover the two kilometres to their location. Andrei placed his sword and longbow on the grass as they came close, waving a hand as he went up to speak to them. The man leading the wagon visibly tensed, giving the Ranger a suspicious look.

Ludmila frowned. What sort of place had this territory been to have its people react to an unarmed man in such a fashion?

“‘Lo!” Andrei called out.

“‘Lo,” the man replied. “What’re you doing out here so early?”

“Stopped here last night,” Andrei replied. “Couldn’t quite make it from town…well, the smoke coming out of the trees had us decide to stay out here, more like.”

“Saw it, huh? Dreadful business, that. Old mill never did nothin’ to no one.”

“Someone set the mill on fire? Who would do that?”

“No idea. People’ve got no time to worry ‘bout that either. What’re we gonna do now that the mill’s gone? First Katze, then Fassett County, now this. What’s the world come to?”

The man grew ‘clouded’ in Ludmila’s perception as his voice grew bleak. It was so easy for events – even the recollection of them – to shift people’s attitudes over everything. When the people stood on such uneven footing, it was difficult to see how anyone could build on it.

“I heard that it’s happened a few times recently,” Andrei said, “but the new Count’s pledged to help rebuild every time.”

“That so?” The man brightened, then his expression fell again, “Well, we’ll see. If not, then I dunno.”

The wagon rolled by them with his last, noncommittal statement. His attitude was infectious, and even Ludmila found herself frowning as the vehicle rattled and rumbled by.

In the rear of the wagon was a metal crossbar with five men pushing from behind. A few of them openly gawked at Nabe, soliciting an annoyed look from the Adventurer in return. Ludmila’s gaze passed over them.

“Stop,” she instilled her voice with authority.

Three of the men did as she said, letting go of the bar. Two kept going. The wagon continued rolling forward until Andrei jogged up to the front of the wagon and called for it to halt.

“W-what’s going on?” One of the men pushing the wagon said, “Why’d we stop?”

“Do you all know one another?” Ludmila asked.

“Know…why yes, miss. We’re all from that village over there.”

The men all nodded, trading glances and murmuring to one another in confused voices. She took in their appearances again, subjecting each to the same degree of scrutiny. By doing so, she hoped to not play her hand – that she noticed one of the men was in the guise of another man.

Under the illusion was an individual whose features brought a vulture to mind. Under a head of short, blonde hair was a pale and gaunt visage. A large scar ran down his right cheek. He looked as villainous as a character from a tale, save for the haunted look in his sunken eyes.

Ludmila’s gaze drifted down to his waist. His outfit roughly matched those of the other men, and his only weapon was the dagger at his belt. Her mind worked as she tried to figure out what to do: he was at least as strong as an Orichalcum Adventurer – possibly Adamantite.

She had already aroused suspicion by calling for them to stop. The man so far was still pretending to be one of the villagers. Nabe was an arcane magic caster. The first thing Ludmila would have to do was give her room to bring her spells into play without risk of interruption.

“Hey, what’s going on back here–EYAGH!”

The man suddenly turned around at the approach of Andrei, who had come back from the front. His pale, outstretched hand waved out over the Ranger’s face, and Andrei fell back with a terrified howl. Panicked shouts rose from the rest of the men as Andrei’s assailant dashed off the road and into the ditch.

Ludmila activated Wind Stride, reaching for her bow as she chased off after the man.

“「Lightning B–tsk!”

Nabe lowered her hand as the man’s figure took on a ghostly quality in Ludmila’s vision.

“「See Invis–”

“「Papa shooooooot!」!”

“Pfft!”

The man staggered as Ludmila’s arrow found his calf. It wasn’t nearly enough to stop him, however. He reached down and pulled out the envenomed head, casting it aside. Their quarry limped away into the field nearby, his invisibility unbroken. Unable to see him properly amidst the tall stalks of grain, Ludmila put her bow away and gave chase again.

She closed the distance with the crippled man, calling her glaive to hand. Deactivating all but one of its effects, she lunged forward and drove the haft of her weapon into the man’s back. He staggered forward before finding his balance again. The man had slowed substantially, but doggedly tried to flee. She jogged up and touched him with the glaive again. After two more applications of the weapon’s ability damage effect, she swept his legs out from under him.

A rustle from behind announced the arrival of Nabe. She took one look at the depression in the grain where the still-invisible man was on his hands and knees. Striding forward, the Adventurer flexed her gloved hand. Her eyes gleamed as outrage filled her expression.

“「Maximize Magic – Shocking Grasp」!”

Ludmila thrust her arm out, intercepting Nabe’s hand as she reached forward. She steeled herself; the attack was going to hurt – if it didn’t kill her outright. Arcs of electricity coursed down the Adventurer’s arm and into hers.

Nabe’s eyes widened for a split second as she snatched her hand back. Her gaze went back and forth from her hand to where she had grasped Ludmila’s wrist.

“Woodlouse, why–”

“Why did you do that?” Ludmila shouted, “What were you thinking!”

“This locust has inflicted damage to the Sorcerous Kingdom,” Nabe seethed. “He deserves to be repaid a thousand-fold.”

“We are not here to deliver vengeance,” Ludmila grated, “we’re here to bring this criminal to justice. We still have an investigation to complete. The judiciary will determine the verdict for this man’s crimes.”

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