"We are the people who have just rescued you," I replied. "And before asking someone who they are, it's only polite to introduce yourself first."
"Huh? What…?"
As the red-haired fire mage spluttered, I turned to Stella to check on her condition. She didn't seem injured, but I was nonetheless still concerned.
"Are you all right, Stella?"
"Yes. Thank you for your timely assistance, Klein."
"You did well too." I nodded toward the corpses that had died to her sword. "You're getting stronger and more skilled."
Stella turned away, blushing slightly from the praise. "I am honored to be of use to you, my lord."
"Ahem." The fire mage cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him. He bowed his head. "You are right. Forgive me my rudeness. I am Chris Redfield. And these are my comrades…"
"Wilson Willard," the wind mage said with a slight tilt of his head. His short brown hair slightly wavered from the breeze.
"Rose Gardenia," the green-haired mage introduced herself with a curtsy.
"Lance Turner," the blond lightning mage said with a bow.
"Ah, I see. I am Klein Pearson, and this is Stella Nightsworth. The slow guy over there is Lindley." I pushed my glasses up and studied their uniforms. "Are you from the mage corps?"
"That's right." Chris nodded as he fingered the grimoire emblem, and then he scowled. "No, we were from the mage corps. Now we aren't."
"We are deserters," Wilson muttered.
"We…we didn't have a choice!" Rose blurted out, waving her hands frantically while glaring at her companions. "The…the chairwoman, she has gone crazy!"
"By the chairwoman, do you mean Miranda Miller?" I asked. The four mages exchanged uneasy glances before Lance finally nodded.
"That's right."
"I would like to hear more."
"Before that," Stella interrupted and stepped toward a nervous Rose. She frowned as she peered at the smaller girl, her hands on her hips. "Why aren't you wearing a maid outfit?"
"…huh?" Rose's jaw dropped. Of all the questions she was expecting, she never imagined it would be such a dumb one.
"And why is your name Rose? You should be Yulin…"
"What are you talking about?!"
"Stella…" I said, a warning in my tone and she reluctantly backed off. Shaking her head, she sighed.
"This isn't following the script!"
"What script?"
"Never mind, Klein. Please pretend that I didn't say anything."
As much as I appreciated Stella's help, sometimes I didn't understand what went on in that mind of hers.
"Hmm, interesting. Very interesting."
Lindley had finally reached us and was observing the corpses. He turned to me.
"Lord Klein, do you mind if I study these?"
"Please go ahead."
"Lord?" Chris blurted out, his eyes wide. "Are you a noble?!"
Stella nodded. "This is Lord Klein Pearson. I guess his current rank is that of a duke?"
"Archduke," Lindley replied. "If he has successfully taken over Vincent's position, that is."
Thankfully, neither of them mentioned that I was the next Demonic Emperor. Most likely, the four mages wouldn't believe it, and if they did, then we would be in trouble. Nothing I couldn't handle, but I would rather not have to deal with it when I could avoid it.
"Anyway, like I said, I would like you to elaborate a bit more on what's going on." When the four mages exchanged an uneasy glance, I quickly explained. "We are here to investigate Miranda Miller. We've heard some unpleasant rumors about her. Something to do with her conducting forbidden experiments on humans. Not only that, the villagers in the villages in this area have been mysteriously disappearing – entire populations gone overnight. We are checking to see if Miranda has anything to do with them."
The relief on the four mages' faces was palpable.
"That's right!" Wilson growled, clenching his fists. "That bitch Miranda is responsible for everything! She's the one who captured the villagers and herded all of them into her lab at the mage corps garrison! She is the one who performed all those hideous experiments!"
"…the monsters we've been fighting…" Lance nodded toward the corpses and remains of the chimeras. "They are all…former humans. Experimented upon by Miranda and turned into these…these freaks. This is all her doing."
"Fascinating." Lindley raised his emaciated head and put on a rictus grin that freaked out the human mages. "They are correct. These are all former humans who have been surgically altered. There's also a high amount of dark magic used here…alchemical spells. You were right, Lord Klein. This Miranda Miller has been using these poor people as specimens for her homunculus research. Many of these appendages have been genetically cultivated in a lab, rather than existing elsewhere in nature."
"How cruel…" Stella scowled.
"There were many of us in the mage corps who protested," Rose whispered, her voice filled with fear. "But the chairwoman, she…she silenced all those who were against her. Killed them or used them for her experiments."
"Master Merlin, Albus Albion, Master Morag…all of them were taken into the labs and never seen again." Lance shuddered.
"The rest of us were forced to help." Chris clenched his fists, shaking in both dread and anger. "Forced to do…despicable things. But the four of us couldn't stand it any longer. We just couldn't…"
"I know this doesn't excuse our cowardice." Wilson sighed. "This doesn't pardon us for standing by and doing nothing to stop those villagers from being experimented upon. Even so…"
"So we ran away." Rose hugged herself, her face cast downward. "We decided to break out of the lab and escape."
"But the chairwoman must have found out," Lance said. "That's why she set a good portion of her experimental subjects on us. To chase us down and silence us."
"At least she didn't pursue us herself or we would never have stood a chance." Chris shuddered. He gritted his teeth. "That bitch…she's a fucking monster!"
"She's a genius," Lindley said, causing everyone to glare at him. He shrugged. "Objectively speaking, I mean. No ordinary alchemist would be able to successfully perform this sort of surgery. The way she seamlessly grafted these appendages and biological organs into human bodies without triggering rejection…the meticulous way of fusing the neural pathways to ensure neurological control and the use of dark magic to ensure a flawless combination…who would be capable of such things?"
"You…" Chris growled, but I forestalled him with a hand.
"Do you intend on replicating these experiments, Lindley?"
"Certainly not, my lord. But they do pique my curiosity." Lindley had that unnatural rictus grin again. "All I want is her research data. But…I certainly have no desire to create such monstrous abominations."
He sighed and shook his head.
"As fascinating as they are, they are inelegant, inefficient and ultimately a failure."
"Oh? A failure?" I raised an eyebrow. Lindley nodded.
"That is correct. These poor creatures…they won't live long. The dark magic corrodes away at their soul, and the crude surgeries exact quite the terrible toll on their bodies. The telomeres of their cells have shortened considerably, and the damage to their genetic material is extensive. They probably wouldn't last more than a few months before expiring." He shook his head in disapproval. "How wasteful and impractical."
"As long as you don't intend to capture people and perform experiments on them, you can have all the data you want." I wasn't naïve, though. I had best plant spies to watch this dude. He could prove to be extremely dangerous, but unfortunately I needed him and his legion.
"Even so, that bitch still has an entire army of these abominations back in her lab." Chris grimaced. "All you see here is just a small fraction of her forces."
"And already they are so powerful." Wilson winced. "I can't imagine what will happen if she sets them on the kingdom."
"No!" Rose wailed, burying her face in her hands.
"Like I said, she probably can't." Lindley prodded at the remains of a chimera and shook his head. "Even if she wants to, her army will fall apart in a matter of months. They may have explosive power for a short period of time, but they die too quickly. They are unsustainable and impractical."
"Good to know," Lance remarked wryly. "Maybe we can starve her of resources and human subjects, and hope that her abominations die a few months later."
"How do we do that?" Chris grumbled. "She'll just unleash those pets of hers on us again."
"Are you guys sure you don't have a seal called Darkness Pheromone engraved on you?" Stella asked, folding her arms. The four mages stared at her, agape.
"Huh? Darkness pheromone?"
"What's that?"
"It's a kind of seal. Those people who have the seal engraved upon them will emit a scent that attracts demons. I wouldn't be surprised if that mage Miranda placed the seal on you as an experiment to see how many monsters you can lure…"
I smacked Stella in the head and silenced her. Smiling apologetically to the four mages, I waved dismissively.
"Sorry about that. Don't pay Stella any attention. She has been reading way too many revenge web novels."
"Uh…right," Chris stammered, still not comprehending what was going on.
"Anyway, we intend to investigate Miranda's laboratory. Our mission is to check the mage corps garrison out…"
"You can't…!" Rose shouted. "If you do, the chairwoman will kill you! She has already silenced so many master mages!"
"She's known as the most powerful multi-mage in the kingdom of Havan," Lance added seriously. "You are no match for her. I don't know who is."
"That's right," Wilson agreed. "She was a former member of the strongest Hero party, the one who slew the Demonic Emperor, Viledoofus."
"Oh, don't worry. We have our ways." I smiled coldly. "Our primary objective is to eliminate Miranda Miller and end the threat she poses to the Riaju Province once and for all. If we fail, then the royal army will take over. However, as you've pointed out, these chimeras of hers are pretty powerful. If the royal army gets involved, there will be a lot of casualties. To prevent that, we will attempt to assassinate her…so as to minimize the losses."
"I didn't hear about that," Lindley muttered.
"I did," Stella said stiffly, resisting the urge to kick the disguised lich, who was crouching by the body of another chimera. "If you were paying more attention to my lord's plans instead of being obsessed with your research, you might have too."
Lindley shrugged good-naturedly. "Sure. The brute force methods are best left to you."
"Actually, this is the reason why I hired you. I'll let you know more about my strategy later." I then turned back to the four mages. "You guys should keep going. Riaju City is a few days away from here. When we were there, there were still people there. You can hire a carriage and then take it back to Royales. Though I suspect you'll run into the army on the way here. If you do, tell them the same thing you told me. They will need all the information they can get."
"Are you seriously planning to go to the garrison?" Chris asked. I nodded.
"Yeah. Miranda has to pay for her crimes."
"Then let me go with you." Chris raised his hand and I could literally see the fire burn in his green eyes. "I might be of some help. After all, I was part of the mage corps who was garrisoned there. I know the place very well. I can guide you."
"If that's the case, count me in." Wilson nodded. "We know every route in and out of the place. We also know which entrance is the least guarded."
"Yeah, your chances of success will increase if we help," Lance agreed. "We might not be able to provide much help in combat, but if you want to sneak in and out of the place…you can use our knowledge."
"Are you sure about this?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "It'll be dangerous, you know?"
"You saved our lives," Rose replied determinedly. "And you are right. It's time the chairwoman pay the price for her atrocities. We can't allow her to continue preying on innocent villagers."
"I always wanted to smack that bitch," Chris added with a grin. "How can I miss out on such an opportunity?"
I glanced at Stella, who shrugged. Her gesture was clear. She was leaving this to me to decide. I turned to Lindley, but the lich lord was still poking away at the bodies, having no interest whatsoever in this matter.
Taking a deep breath, I made my decision. Turning back to the expectant expressions of the four mages, I nodded.
"All right. I'll be counting on you guys to lead us to the mage corps' garrison…and to Miranda Miller's lab."