Arriving back at the mansion, the two mages were guided to the basement. Entering it Selicia had to cast a spell or two to bring down her stress levels. Normally she didn't like doing it since it came with less fortunate side effects later on.
Still, she knew that there was some explaining to do and being incapable of talking normally would've definitely been an issue.
"Welcome back.", Augustinus wasn't smiling for once, sitting on the edge of the bed, he placed a recently dusted off sword on his knees. His tone already said enough, the people who were normally lying around now stood up, fully dressed in armor and ready for battle.
Grok couldn't have cared less about their display of power since it didn't mean anything to him. Selicia on the other hand felt her stress building up again. Using the same spell, she calmed down enough to talk, but Augustinus was ahead of her.
"I heard some news that didn't please me.", his voice was cold, detached from their previous enthusiastic conversations.
Selicia would've been shaking in her boots were it not for the spells keeping her steady. She took out the clothes Augustinus gave her from the open air, surprising everyone in the room, only Augustinus didn't show any changes in his expression.
"Alex is dead like you asked."
Silence followed that sentence, Augustinus didn't look pleased. Grok, who wasn't following the conversation, looked for some chairs and food. The men blocked his way but instinctively stepped aside as he stepped closer. His presence was simply too much to handle.
Placing the chairs next to Selicia he brought over a small table with some fruit. He sat down unceremoniously before eating some grapes. The sound of him smacking his food filled the room.
Selicia sat down after a few seconds to repeat her spell enough times to reach the level of calm she needed. Inspecting the clothes he got back Augustinus recognized a lot of tears and holes where they shouldn't be.
"I thought you were an expert in stealth?"
Selicia couldn't find the words to respond, her habit of using her actions to speak came up. She turned herself invisible, erasing her presence. Everyone in the room started to listen closely, using every sense they had to spot her.
Yet even with years of training and experience they could only hear the sound of Grok's smacking. Suddenly, Augustinus felt a blade touch his neck, but he still didn't react. Instead, he nodded slightly. Undeterred that the sharp dagger could pierce his skin at any time.
"So the Starborn was capable of finding you even in stealth. How formidable do you estimate him?"
Selicia appeared back in her chair, "Both Grok and I have to fight him to stand a chance.", her quiet voice spread through the room. Augustinus took his time to mull things over.
"This was a victory for the throne, even if I send out everyone to spread rumors it's already too late, a failed investment is never pleasant. I lost a good million pieces of gold on this, if I added the living cost of you two and the clothing you ripped up you have been a big deficit for my budget."
Selicia didn't say a word. However, she also didn't act, she just didn't know what to do next. Grok on the other hand noticed that the bowl of fruit was empty. He waved his hand and summoned a large bag from the air, throwing it towards Augustinus.
Landing in front of his feet, Augustinus opened it. Looking at the contents before lifting the bag with his hand, he changed demeanor in a split second. Suddenly, his friendly presence reappeared.
"Ah, my good friends, while this plan failed, we can still continue our cooperation.", his sudden switch in tone made the surrounding men place their weapons away as they laid down to be served again by the women.
"I instigated some nobles to start rebelling against the throne. It's likely that a war between a small group of nobles and the throne will happen soon. Consider this a war to feel out the current strength of the throne I want you to come up with a plan to stop him."
Augustinus was all smiles again. His plan with Alex failed miserably, but that was only one possible road to his end goal. In the end, he would get what he wanted, no matter what.
Selicia was happy to know that the current issue was resolved, by Grok of all people. Then she remembered the conversation between Lucas and the other advisor.
"I have intel, the Starborn is investing time in making new spears.", Selicia was happy with herself to have remembered the conversation between Lucas and Carian. Delivering that piece of information, she made herself more valuable, not that she needed to. But the connections and power of Augustinus would definitely be useful against Lucas.
Without his support, she would have to fight against him in the castle where he was building an impenetrable fortress, putting arrays wherever he could. Selicia herself wasn't strong enough, but bringing Grok into the castle without him noticing was also quite a task.
Augustinus was capable of keeping their cover intact and giving them an opportunity. It might be better to simply overpower him and take the reins into their own hands, but Selicia didn't want to and Grok didn't know how. Still, the issue was her target.
Having faced just his basic strength, she was almost overpowered. Of course, she wasn't in her element, she was meant to be a master at stealth, direct confrontations weren't her strongest suit.
Augustinus looked at her with a face that said he wasn't impressed. Raising one of his eyebrows, he smacked her with a dose of reality.
"Do you think I don't have my own information network? Plus, spears are the most used during wars, you haven't exactly brought anything new to the table."
Staring at her body for a few more seconds, he thought of something. "If you do want to contribute, there are a few targets that need to stop waking up, if you help out there, I'm sure you'll get your target out in the open.", with his signature smirk, he proposed another tantalizing deal.
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Thurin had a grave look on his face. The mood was sour, Carian stood by wordlessly staring at a soldier who just entered the throne room. His message was anything but endearing.
"The nobles in the west have started to form an army! If the reports are correct, they are preparing to march towards the capital!", the man looked like he was doused in stress, sweat dripping off his face. His message would mean that war was approaching them.
They already had a massive army in the south to deal with, now their forces would need to split as well? There was no way to keep the kingdom stable enough. Besides the men that needed to go to the west, they also needed to find the funds necessary to act as fuel. No soldier would fight for free.
Carian's eyes dashed through the room as his brain went in overdrive to think of some kind of solution, but he couldn't find any.
Thurin on the other hand felt something in his stomach, like a stone was trying to pass through, he almost clammed up.
The only person who was standing straight with a slight smile on his face was Lucas. Seeing the state of his companions, he took a step forward.
"After the assassination, it was inevitable. Thurin, I've read about the situation down south. We can't let them know about our situation, although I'm afraid it might already be too late."
"Those spies you mentioned?", Thurin said as he grabbed his head. Lucas had once mentioned that he believed there might some people around the castle trying to steal intel for their own gain. Carian at first didn't believe him, but the more he explained it, the more it made sense.
"Exactly. Since it's inevitable, we should try to keep the damage to a minimum. I've been working on some projects myself, give me a thousand men and I believe I should return victorious.", Lucas said with a massive grin on his face.
Carian, who had been silent, butted in. "Lucas, I believe in your strength, but what you said is ridiculous. There's no way for you to do this with only a thousand men. The nobles in the west, although lower ranking ones, are capable of gathering at least 15,000 soldiers."
Thurin heard that number and felt his world fall apart. If so many men were going against their own country, how many more are thinking the same? Had he done such a terrible job managing the country?
He worked every hour, not caring about the light cycle in the underground, trying to forgo sleep since that always brought out the worst in him. He drank disgusting concoctions that kept him awake and gave him enough energy to keep gong.
Rarely sleeping, he worked himself to the bone, yet that many people hated him enough to go after his life?
What had he done wrong? Was all his work for nothing? Did he waste all that time, for what? For people to despise him? Had he not done good? He made a few mistakes, but were those big enough to create this much hatred? Where did he go wrong?
While Thurin was starting to go crazy in his own thoughts, Lucas and Carian kept discussing on how to continue.
"Carian, I value your opinions greatly, but this time you will have to trust me. I've instructed a thousand men to memorize a certain weapon, we'll have a massive advantage with it."
'So you were already preparing a unit capable of handling the unruly dogs? He's ahead of me again.'
"I still don't understand, at least tell me your plan.", Carian knew about Lucas's strength and insight, but blindly following someone was simply going against his nature as a Scholar.
"Do you remember our experiments?", Lucas had spent some time with Carian to see which spells were effective against Tier 2 soldiers and used quite a bit of time to figure out what the best ways were to effectively deal with them.
Ever since his encounter with the Tier 2 barbarian, Lucas had been making plans and spells to deal with them as best as possible. He wasn't the greatest when it came to creating new spells, but replication was another thing.
He visited the habitats of multiple monsters and tried to see if they had any good spells he could use.
"Of course I remember.", Carian said as he instinctively grabbed his wrist, remembering the pain and suffering he went through to satiate Lucas's desires. Naturally, Carian had to do this whether he wanted to or not. His life was still bound by a contract that didn't leave him that much wiggle room.
"Well, then you most likely remember that there were certain spells that gave you quite a sting. Now, imagine a group of a thousand men with that power, do you think we can't stand against some Tier 1's?"
Carian couldn't believe his ears, 'If he can give that many people power that rivals a Tier 2 then even if the nobles gathered their best, they would fall without a chance... But still, how is he going to give them that power?'
Lucas grinned like it was part of his natural demeanor, always thinking ahead, never letting something surprise him, or that was at least his goal.
"A thousand men isn't enough to attract attention from the front, it wouldn't make that much of a difference."
Carian was starting to agree with his plan, even if he didn't know what it fully entailed, he could only guess. Suddenly the youngest person in the room voiced his thought.
"Lucas, can you promise me not a single one will die?"
"Wait, from the enemy army?!", Lucas couldn't imagine going to war without having a single casualty, that might happen in fairy tales, but in reality there were bound to be sacrifices.
"No, from the thousand men you'll be taking along with you."
Holding back a sigh of relief Lucas gave it a moment, "Hmm, that shouldn't be impossible, I'll do it. I promise none will die, I can't exclude injuries though."
"That's good enough?", leaving a pause between his words, he suddenly dropped bomb that both his advisors didn't see coming. "I'll go along with you."
"What?! You want to go to a war zone during this time? I, no, we need you back here, no one else can make these decisions!"
Lucas was shocked to see Thurin being so excited to join him. There were some benefits of him performing such a task though.
"Carian, this might not be as bad as you think. In the end, all that people will hear is that the nobles caused a ruckus and the Emperor squashed their defiance. He would become a powerful leader. Wouldn't that boost our reputation as well as take in the nobles who are fence sitters?"
Carian looked at Lucas with furrowed brows and his fast blinking combined with his open mouth said enough about his confusion. "What are you thinking! Even if we say you can succeed in your plan, you know there will be dozens of assassins taking their shot.", with the example they had recently, it wasn't so far-fetched.
Thurin realized that his actions might have a lot bigger impact than he originally thought. 'Perhaps I shouldn't move after all.'
"I can assure you he'll be safe. First of all, we'll never announce his coming, we'll take him with us and keep quiet about it. As long as you can keep up appearances, wouldn't we be able to keep the assassinations to a minimum?"
"You yourself said there were spies, there's no way to hide the disappearance of a King. You would be exposing yourselves too much. If Thurin gets hurt then..."
'I won't be able to forgive myself.'
Lucas looked towards Carian with a strange look in his eyes. To him, no matter what he requested, Carian had to provide. Now he was openly going against him. He could easily use the contract against him, but Thurin interjected.
"Carian.", his voice was slow and deeper than usual, "Isn't a ruler's job to reign over his subjects, correcting or aiding them when necessary? How can I send my own people and friend to their possible deaths just so they could suppress some nobles. I will not throw away lives if I don't have to. If someone had to sacrifice themselves to save a kingdom, it should be the Emperor himself."
Everyone stayed quiet for some time before Thurin added, "I need to know, Carian."
Carian knew what Thurin was referring to, but he just couldn't let him go on such a dangerous expedition. Lucas didn't understand that final note, thinking it was a throwaway comment to convince Carian.
"If we travel by carriage then it'll take around 7 cycles of light before we reach our destination.", Lucas said to reveal another piece of intel.
"You want me to pretend that the Emperor is here for that many cycles? Even if I think about it optimistically, it'll be at least 20 cycles then. How am I supposed to do that?"
"Carian, I hold you in the highest regard. You can tell everyone I started the Tier 2 trail, perhaps I've been going undercover to investigate the front, or something else you can think of. No matter what you say, I'll play along when I get back. I've decided to go."
Carian heaved a heavy sigh, not caring about displeasing the people right in front of him. "Fine, your Majesty, I'll create the necessary plans. But if you're going, I'll need you to do everything in your power to protect him.", pointing a finger at Lucas, he was genuinely worried.
It was an unnecessary comment according to Lucas since that was the only thing he had to provide.
"Hahaha, perfect, then I'll go finish up some things on my end."