"I need you to tell him to go back to his human form and help the troops down there," I said, pointing off the cliff that the general's tent was on and towards the gates of the Fortress, "Tell them that there is a dragonborn tribe helping the forces of the kingdom, he'll understand with just those words."
"Understood, and if thats the case shall I have him teleport me over there to help as well?" He asked, just wanting to make sure he didn't want me to help him.
"No, I'll need your help on our end, we have more dangerous people where we're going, just tell him to fight to his best abilities, even if it's not for "His Liege," I ordered, mocking Arwan a bit, considering how loyal he is.
"Consider it done," He closed his eyes for a moment, perhaps using his magic to send a telepathic message, then opened them again, "He said he'll help them, but that snaky lizard also said he hopes for a reward."
"...You just snitched on him didn't you?" I remarked, knowing that he would never say that if I was around, but Victor just raised his hands and shrugged his shoulders while whistling.
I looked at him in disbelief before shaking my head and shrugging it off, I walked toward Vendetta to get her orders and let her know that we were ready to go. She noticed me walking towards her and spoke something to the mage she was talking to, then turned in Victor and my direction.
"I'm assuming you two are ready to go?" She asked and the two of us nodded, Victor, putting his hand on the hilt of his saber, "Alright then. Vetle, could you please teleport us now?"
"Of course, just let me double check the coordinates," The young mage that she was talking to earlier said, taking a piece of paper out of her pocket and reading its contents, "Alright, prepare for teleport now."
We all put our hands on top of each other, and Vetle the young mage followed suit, and then she used her mana to teleport us to a different place. Behind the four of us was what seemed to be the back of a castle-like structure, but most certainly one you wouldn't see normally on modern-day Earth.
It had walls made of granite bricks and what seemed to be concrete but was a more reddish brown, and seemed to be quite older than the concrete you'd see on sidewalks. We could see slightly past the walls, where there were white marble pills, though it looked to be that some of them had already lost their polish and were starting to look a brownish tan.
The marble pillars were attached to archways, they made us the second layer of walls to the palace, but I'm sure it was just for the outer gardens. Looking up and past them, I could see a few taller structures with dome roofs, and more pillars reaching to the very top of the walls of the palace, but still stopping when they reached the roofs, the smaller parts of the palace having triangular roofs.
"Damn, thats really something," I started to mumble, remembering my history classes, "I'm assuming we're supposed to be sneaking into that palace?"
"Yes," Vendetta confirmed, "I had hoped that we could go through the back but it just wasn't possible without immediately alarming the guards, so we'll have to go through the underground tunnels in the city."
"Pardon me, but shouldn't we have teleported into the actual city, rather than behind the spot that we would get automatically be caught by the guards?" Victor interjected, catching me off guard.
"Sorry, but I couldn't find anywhere closer to an entrance to the tunnels other than here, and I was running short on time so I was also so rushed that my mind was quite clouded during my search" Vetle apologized, rubbing the back of her neck.
"It's alright Vetle, you tried your hardest, and thats what matters, we should really be focusing on finding those tunnels rather than lamenting our failures," I reassured her, trying to cheer her up and get everyone else back to the topic at hand.
"Lev's right, so, for now, we start looking for the tunnels, I've marked a specific one on a map that I had Frederick make, I made copies for each of you, make sure you don't lose them, the two of you specifically," She said, pointing at Victor and me, "You're not from here and don't know the city as well as we do, so I especially don't want you two getting lost in case we have to split up."
"Understood," Victor and I said at the same time, but I continued on, "I'm assuming there are traps laid out in tunnels close to the castle?"
"Yes, I sent some of my men a while back to check if they still worked, we unfortunately didn't see them again, and I don't want that happening to the two of you, so stay close and follow my orders," She commanded, but also stopped for a moment of silence for the fallen soldiers.
"Well, no need to dwell on that, it's best to start heading out, the guards are going to have finished switching posts soon," Vetle chirped in.
"Right, then I'll take the lead, so just follow me…and please make sure not to get lost," Vendetta said, smiling a grin full of anticipation. She then started walking behind us and towards an alley near the palace grounds.
Emerging from the palace grounds, I was greeted by numerous open-walled structures, they seemed to be shops. Each one was right next to the other, with no alleys in between, other than a few that had alleys for side entrances, like the one we used.
The buildings were made of brick-like stone, but upon closer inspection, I could see some limestone and a sort of hard stone made of what I presumed was magma. Considering that there was a valley of Volcanos where some fire and lava elementals resided alongside numerous nymphs, the kingdom definitely had no shortage of volcanic materials.
Looking at the street it was about three meters across and about eight inches deep, I could see stones on the road that the people were using to go across to the other side with, they were most likely on each street.
The stones were close enough to be able to step to the next one quite easily, but also wide and low enough for a carriage to pass through. I knew that from seeing a carriage pass over one that led to a fork in the street, and trailing behind the carriage were marks from other carriages in the past on the volcanic rock they used on the street.
"When were the streets here made? They seem quite old, but also look new," I asked Vendetta and Vetle, noticing them looking around the corner and starting to walk to our right.
"These streets in particular were actually made a couple of centuries ago, the others farther from the palace were fixed with more volcanic rock a few years ago," Vetle explained, looking back and smiling at me.
"Why didn't they lay new rock over these streets? Wouldn't that be a problem for the carriages getting through at the end and middle of the streets, soon enough the path they use will be too deep and they'll end up crashing into the stepping stones if they don't fix it soon," Victor cut in, noticing the state of the rocks.
"Usually they would have prioritized fixing the streets next to the palace first, but the council wanted to keep these the way they were," Vendetta paused and sighed, looking over to the side as we continued our march, "And The tyrant of a king we have agreed to that, he said it was "To show the history of our kingdom!" but I'm just sure he wanted to lower the cost used on the distinct over here."
"I'm sure you'll take offense to this, but no offense, your King and Counsel aren't very smart," I said pulling my hood over my face more, we were all wearing cloaks, and Vendetta, Victor, and I were wearing masks to hide our faces even more.
"I agree with you, that idiotic bastard doesn't even realize that what he's doing is only going to cost more money in the long run, but we all would rather see him bring himself to his downfall rather than say anything or protest," Vendetta responded, mocking the king in her own way.
"Huh, when you put it like that it sounds smart, but if I have to be honest I just don't get it. Instead of silently planning his downfall and acting on it, it just sounds like the people are scared of him," Victor added in, pointing out the factor I had planned to.
"...Thats because they are," Vetle replied, noticing that her leader wasn't going to, "As stated before, due to the King's tyrannical nature, he's made it very clear to the people that he is not one to be messed with, whether it's through protesting or other means."
"I see…then I suppose that everyone was too scared to do anything, that is until you, the revolutionary army showed up, am I correct?" I asked, making my own summary of the situation.
"Yes, that is indeed correct," Vendetta affirmed, "Once we made ourselves an official organization, we immediately started to put flyers in people's mailboxes that we knew would support and agree with us, thats how we got as many people as we did and were able to afford everything we have, its all due to the efforts of the people."
"Hm, thats sounds pretty selfless of you all when you say that," I stopped and paused for a bit, then I walked up to Vendetta and whispered quietly enough for only her to hear, "You're not doing this for a selfless reason though, are you?"
She flinched and looked over at me, before turning right onto the next street, then she looked forward and gazed off for a it.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," She responded with a dull tone, walking faster to get in front of me. I just walked back behind Vetle but in front of Victor.
'How interesting, if only the novel had told us more about her character, then perhaps I could actually sympathize with her.'
***
"What do you mean they've attacked Fort Invictus!?" A man shouted, his shout echoed throughout the large throne room, making all of the people present flinch, except for one.
"My deepest regrets for not getting this information, but your imperial majesty, apparently the revolutionary army has breached the walls of Fort Invictus with the help of a dragon and three people able to use what seemed to be elemental magic, a Divine power, and the power of a nymph," A man with a deep voice replied, he seemed to be an advisor of sorts.
"Urgh! You've got to be kidding me!" The King said, biting his nails in anger, almost hard enough to break them, "And what of the dragon born? Are they proving useless or are they contributing at least something?!"
"The two siblings that the chief of the terra tribe sent are currently facing off against the Dragon and captain of a troop of the revolutionary army," The advisor paused noticing the king glaring at him, but then he motioned for him to continue on, "they seem to be…loosing though."
"URHHH, THOSE DAMN REVOLUTIONISTS!" The king yelled in anger, "It's all that Dames's fault, if only she hadn't rebelled, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Yes, yes, we know, but theres no need to say it over, and over again!" A voice full of annoyance rang throughout the hall of the throne room, "Y'know, if you have such a big issue with her, why don't you, yourself, actually do something, like oh I dunno, issue a wanted sign for her with a large amount of money?"
"Excuse me?" The king jested, his eyebrow twitching, "As if you can talk! We made a deal, you give us the support of the mages of the demon army and some of your soldiers and help us fight, and in return, we give you land, but I haven't seen you or any of your men doing ANYTHING!"
"Oh, but we have," The Demon King'm middle-man mocked, "We gave you mana stones, crystals, and scrolls for high-level water and ice spells, did we not? I think thats more than enough help, don't you?"
"HA! That is only half of what was in our agreement, you Lecherous bastard! Why don't you fulfill your end of the deal properly? Then we'll both be able to get what we want faster!" The king pointed out, trying to persuade the demon to actually do something rather than stay in the luxurious palace.
"Maybe you can sweeten the deal more, then I'll think about actually deploying my men, after all, I am a lecherous bastard," He mocked, spreading his arms in expectancy.
"Why you!- haaa, fine," The king gave in, not wanting to waste time and people, "We can give some of your people a place in the council, and information on other kingdoms, how about that?"
"Wonderful! Now then, why don't we sign a contract for that then?" The demon said smiling a malicious smile and holding up a rolled-up paper with the contract written on it.
As then King stepped down from his throne to go read and sign it, off to the side there was the Advisor and butler, the two looking at each other and smiling a smile full of bliss at their plans coming to fruition.