Chương 157: Chaos

The table erupted into chaos. Of course they did. There was something off about this place, and no matter whether I tried to find a middle ground or not, it wasn't going to help. Why would you purposely let so many of your own people suffer like this if there wasn't some kind of ulterior motive. I leaned back, waiting for the shouting to stop. I couldn't make out anything intelligible, but I wasn't really trying to, either. I'd let them wear themselves out.

Tunmod, who sat on the other side of the table, cast me an expression, as if to say You did this to yourself. I raised my eyebrows, then stood up, holding out a hand.

"Alright, alright." One man stood up to meet me. He had a long, white beard, and a ceremonial circlet wrapped around the top of his head, holding a headdress in place. His robes were salmon-coloured, save for the gold hem.

"The past five thegns have not taken such an interest in our internal affairs, Sir Levi." I shrugged.

"I'm within my rights." Tunmod's eye twitched.

"Now, how precisely do you know that—""I've read the Great Charter," I said." Usually," the man in the salmon-coloured robes continued, "our thegns are satisfied with the wealth we offer them, and leave us to manage our own affairs."

"Hold on a second. Who are you?" I asked. Anchor and Sage both looked down, like a disappointed child at Thanksgiving as their fathers starts arguing politics with their uncle. No, not an oddly specific experience. I'd seen it multiple times. The man scowled.

"I am Seer Jaruwain."

"Ah. Nice to meet you. You're the guy running the…uh, the local temple?"

"Correct. And your insistence on pushing up the festival is already straining me to the limit." I cast him a knowing smile.

"After it's done, you won't have to worry about it at all." I paused, then added, "For another year." That was a lie—this was the last festival they'd ever have here, and I'd make sure of it. But hey, I had to make sure they all didn't pop a blood vessel right here, on the spot. And even after I finished my plan, I still might need a few of them to carry out my orders. From what I understood, there were two classes of thegns. Not officially recognized by any laws, but it was just the way of the world.

There were lower thegns, who met the basic land-owning requirements and had people working their land who pledged tribute to them. They were basically freemen, except they had their titles awarded to them by an Ealdorman or the King instead of just outright buying the land. Then there were the thegns like Hinfic, and now like me. Technically, all this land belonged to me, and it was a lot of it.

I could buy and sell it as I pleased, and I was pretty sure there were a few independent freemen still living on it who had carved out tiny sections—the official deed would contain that information. But to work it, I needed to have plenty of landless freemen who worked for me and paid tribute to me. It was far more feudal than I would've liked, but there was time for reform later. I could parcel up and sell off land once I dealt with the corruption from the top down.

Jaruwain brushed out his robe and pointed a finger at me.

"You are walking a fine line, young Duplicate. Don't forget your place, or who you took these lands from."

"Yes, yes," I said dismissively.

"I'm trying to come to an arrangement that could be more profitable for everyone. You guys do realize that if everyone is wealthier and more productive, you'll be raking in more money as well, right? So sit back down. Unless there's something else you'd like to discuss. Regarding the wells, perhaps? Is there something else I should know?" A few of the men gathered around the table glanced at each other, sharing skeptical glances, before finally, they shook their heads.

"It has been a pleasure meeting all of you, then," I said.

"Especially you, Seer Jaruwain. I look forward to working with you all in the future, and I expect to see you all at the festival. You are all dismissed." The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ~ ~ ~ As my squad and I settled into our rooms for the evening, I met with Romance and Elf outside the hall. I told them, "Keep at least three guards posted around the stables at all times, and call me if something is wrong. Don't worry about waking me up."

"Yes, sir," Romance said.

"We're far more worried about you, though, sergeant—sir," Elf added. I gave him a tiny smile.

"Hey, hey, I'm supposed to be the one who fumbles my way through the ranks." I paused, then asked, "Elf, what do you know about these lands? Anything special about them that you've read about? Any unique history or anything?"

"Aside from uncaring thegns, early deaths, and a steadily declining population? Nothing remarkable. As for the entire Domain, Steelshore port has been pretty important, though. But it's not in your lands." I lowered my head.

"Well, we're going to turn things around here, that's a promise. Keep your eyes out, and keep the horses safe. We'll be fine over here. Sleep tight, because tomorrow's going to be a big day." ~ ~ ~ We actually weren't fine. It was alright, though, because I'd planned for this. I don't know who they thought they were dealing with, but did they expect us to all just sleep soundly, without even keeping watch? Well, it only took two hours for them to show their hand.

We planned to take turns keeping watch, and we all slept in the same room—the guest room. I took the first watch, waiting on the inside of the door, geared up in my armour, holding my spear tight. It was the dead of night. The wind rustled the thatched roof, and cicadas chirped in the distance. The hall trapped heat inside, and it was muggy and hot, but we kept the windows closed to make it easier to hear any threats coming from inside the hall. They went after me first—or where they thought I'd be.

Footsteps shuffled in the hallway outside. There had to be about ten men, judging by how they walked. They were quiet, but they weren't perfect. Breaths whistled faintly against fabric face coverings, and a bow creaked as someone strung it. That was what such high Perception got you, I supposed. Had my Perception still only been at one or two points, I wouldn't have heard a thing. As they moved, I stayed low and darted across the room, then shook my roommates awake.

"It's time," I whispered.

"They're here." They'd all slept in their gear, and it only took seconds for them to blink the grogginess out of their eyes and snap up their weapons.

"Stay low," I breathed.

"Some of them have bows." Aside from my spear, I also had my own crossbow. I glanced at Anchor and added, "Can you point out their locations?" Something thudded, and wood creaked. Someone kicked in the door to my room, and the men stormed in. Something told me they weren't professionals. It probably would've been better to target us all at once, or at least send someone to the guest room. As they searched through my room, whispering to each other, Anchor pointed directly ahead, then held up two fingers.

Next, he pointed forty-five degrees to the left and held up three fingers.

"You take three," I breathed. He stung his bow and coiled his fingers around the feathers of three arrows. I knew he couldn't fire three arrows at once, but if he was going to shoot quickly, he liked to keep a bunch of arrows in his grasp. As the attackers rustled around my room, I locked eyes with the rest of my squad. Anchor, Brawl, Sage. With my fingers, I counted down from three. Then I whipped my crossbow off my back. It was loud, but that didn't matter.

I fired as soon as I drew it, placing a bolt in the firing groove and loosing it with a resonance Skill. It blasted through the thick wooden wall with ease, piercing a man and sending him sprawling onto his back. Before the other assailants could react, I drew a second bolt, pulled the string back into the latch, and fired again. The bolt caught a second man in the chest, incapacitating him as well.

In the same time it took me to fire two arrows, Anchor had loosed three, all of them with a resonance Skill, all of them piercing the wall, and all of them finding their targets. I jumped up to my feet, threw my crossbow onto my back, and took a fighting stance with my spear.

"How strong?" I asked quickly. I didn't want to give our enemies time to regroup, but I needed to know.

"All Steels and Titaniums," Anchor replied.

"Brawl, I need that wall down. Now."

"On it, brother." The big Dupe turned his shoulder forward, tucked his chin, then charged, blasting through the wall with his shoulder first. He swung his flail, catching one of our foes with a heavy sideways swipe. As the sawdust cleared, I caught my first good look at what we were dealing with. They weren't assassins, that much was certain. They wore black robes with a thick sash at the center, and fabric half-masks covered their mouths and noses. Their heads were bald, and their sickly pale skin was carved.

They'd etched lines in their flesh, along with runes, in a circular pattern. Lines continued down the sides of their heads, mutilating their ears, and etched toward their eyes, as though they were crying blood. Some of them had gaping holes in their cheeks where they'd cut through, revealing rotten, sharp teeth. And all of their eyes were pitch black voids—not a single sliver of white showing. Best of all, there were only four left.

I used an Art, pulling two of them sideways into the wall with an angled gravity well. They smashed through, but their bodies broke on the jagged wood. They weren't nearly as durable as we had been at those stages—but then again, they were Path-walkers, not Dupes. Brawl caught another with a smash of his flail, pulverizing the man with a resonance Skill. As the last tried to flee, running toward the door, I jabbed through his back with my spear, aiming for his heart. He fell dead instantly.

I turned in a circle, surveying the carnage.

"Who are they?" I breathed.

"Levi!" Sage hissed.

"That one's still alive." She pointed to one of our attackers, who had an arrow sticking out of his upper chest.

"Keep him alive," I said, rushing over, pointing my spear at him. I wedged it under his chin.

"We're going to find out where these guys came from and who sent them."