Chapter 4

The sun was shining brightly overhead by the time Ilyshn’ish crossed high over the city of E-Rantel. At her ten-kilometre altitude, the clear skies offered a panorama of the nearby region. To the northeast, she could see Arwintar, the capital of the Baharuth Empire. To the northwest was the capital of Re-Estize.

That was what the maps claimed, at any rate. She couldn’t be certain until she had been there herself.

Ilyshn’ish was scheduled to arrive in Arwintar sometime in the autumn to begin gathering information about the Empire for the Sorcerous Kingdom’s transportation network. Even before she left to assist Lord Cocytus, her Vampire Bride agent was already starting to pile all sorts of reading and demands for investigation upon her.

How potential rivals operated; their costs and clientele; what their facilities looked like and how they were arranged. The most annoying part was that the requested information was already provided with her work. Lady Shalltear knew much of what she wanted to know about the Empire through other sources, yet she was sending Ilyshn’ish to ensure all of the reports were accurate.

The Empire, too, appeared adamant about dumping paperwork upon her. They wanted her travel schedule and her flight path. There were instructions delivered on how to approach and land at the Imperial Aviary in the capital. What sort of accommodations she needed, her eight sizes, her ‘feeding requirements’ – the list of ridiculously detailed queries went on and on.

Fortunately, Lady Shalltear told her that she didn’t need to answer any of their questions. As a representative of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s transportation network, she did not answer to the Empire: she answered to Lady Shalltear. A sensible answer when it came to dealing with lesser powers. Why were they so concerned about Dragons from the Sorcerous Kingdom landing in their stupid city, anyway?

Ilyshn’ish adjusted her heading, angling away from the eastern spur of the southern border ranges. She didn’t want to be chased around by murderous sheep like the first time she arrived in Warden’s Vale. As she continued southward, the highland valley filled the scenery below. After a brief glance, she slowed down.

Am I in the right place?

It sort of looked like the right place. The surroundings were certainly correct, but what she saw below here was wrong. Ilyshn’ish banked into a lazy circle, trying to figure out what was going on.

E-Rantel is there, the mountains are there, the river is there…huh?

In place of the valley floor was a lake. A long, rocky island lay along its southern end. Ilyshn’ish grew uncomfortable at the sight. Where did Warden’s Vale go? Did some titanic creature pick it up and toss it to parts unknown?

Her confusion grew as she flew around the edge of areas that she knew. Ilyshn’ish’s wanderings left her over the upper reaches. Far to the south, the vast farmlands of the Slane Theocracy stretched over the horizon. Nothing had changed there. She descended closer to the treetops, taking an inventory of the peoples in the upper reaches.

Undead patrols, Goblins, Goblins, more Goblins. Ogres…Dwarves? What are Dwarves doing here?

She gained altitude again, wary of crossbow bolts. Ultimately, things looked normal in the upper reaches. Aside from the Dwarves. There were only a handful of them, however, so it was probably nothing to worry about. They were weak and the Undead could easily take care of them if they turned out to be bad Dwarves.

With the steady beat of her wings, Ilyshn’ish banked and ascended to the peak that was her home. Though there wasn’t anything there, Ilyshn’ish felt a bit of pride over it nonetheless. She circled the craggy heights, which were higher than the surrounding peaks in the range, inspecting her demesne for anything amiss. Not that there was much that could go amiss. She hadn’t had the opportunity to tempt taxpayers into her territory yet.

Nope, everything’s the same. What’s going on?

She eyed the valley below, but it looked just as strange as it had before. With a sigh, she descended again. Maybe one of the Humans in the farming villages would know something. She dove along the canyon face, levelling out to skim over the road between the fields. Upon spotting one of the Humans working with her Skeleton labourers, she slowed down and alighted on the pavement.

Ilyshn’ish stuck her head through the hedgerow.

“Excuse me–”

“AHHHH!”

Startled, Ilyshn’ish quickly withdrew her head. Did Humans just try to scare people like that on purpose? It was at least the second time it had happened. She looked around nervously for other Humans that might be lying in wait. When none showed themselves, Ilyshn’ish stuck her head out again. The Human female was hiding behind her Skeletons, eyeing Ilyshn’ish warily.

“Ahem. There is a question that I would ask of you.”

“W-what might that be?”

“I am looking for Warden’s Vale,” Ilyshn’ish said, “but it seems to have disappeared.”

The Human’s wariness turned into confusion.

“This is Warden’s Vale,” the Human told her.

“Yes,” Ilyshn’ish nodded, “I recognize this part, but the rest appears to have disappeared.”

“Uh…disappeared?” The woman looked past Ilyshn’ish, “It was still all there, last I saw.”

There was clearly something wrong with the Human. She lived in Warden’s Vale, yet didn’t realize that most of it had gone missing.

“Look,” Ilyshn’ish told the woman. “I just flew overhead. Nearly everything has been replaced. The marsh is gone. The harbour village is gone. Everything is different.”

“When’s the last time you were here?”

“Last month...no – five weeks ago.”

“Then I guess you missed it,” the woman said. “For a week or two the last month, someone went and rearranged the valley. One of the big lords came and did it.”

“I see…so some monster didn’t scoop up everything and take it away?”

The woman seemed taken aback by her question.

“I don’t think the Baroness would let that happen,” she said. “She’s the one that planned everything out, anyways. That big lord wasn’t literally big – was the cute little Dark Elf kid that’s been changing the land around. The harbour village is gone – it’s a city now. Everyone that was there before’s still there. I hear more fancy folk are moving in, too.”

As she spoke, the Human’s voice grew proud for some reason. Ilyshn’ish wondered why that was – it wasn’t as if she had accomplished anything herself. From her description, there was a Dark Elf child that altered the land, which was probably Lord Mare. Ilyshn’ish relaxed somewhat. She had witnessed Lord Mare’s magic in the Adventurer Training Area before, so things now made more sense.

“I suppose I’ll take a look,” Ilyshn’ish said. “Thank you for your time.”

The Farmer tipped her straw hat and turned back to her Skeletons, who wore straw hats of their own. Each hat had a coloured band that matched the one on the Farmers’ own. Across the field, Humans wore hats with bands of other colours, which matched those of the Skeletons nearby.

Does one usually dress up the Undead? The people here are strange…

Ilyshn’ish returned to the skies, cautiously flying up and down the edge of the lake that hadn’t been there a month ago. The southern half was shallow, with raised sections where Lizardmen dwellings were built. In the northern half, the waters grew deep enough to potentially harbour large monsters. She glided over the water, identifying many familiar faces in the Lizardman settlements.

Most of them were out in the water setting up enclosures around the clusters of buildings. According to Chief Esess, their primary export was to be fish, and they would farm them somehow. Maybe the activity below was a part of that.

She finished crossing the lake and headed towards what appeared to be a new settlement on the long island that had replaced the hill and the flats from before. Here, too, she spotted many familiar faces. It appeared safe enough, so she set herself down in the central square. People stopped and stared, and it wasn’t long until a Vampire Bride came running out of one of the buildings.

“You’re not supposed to land there!” She shouted as she approached.

“What’s wrong with landing here?” Ilyshn’ish replied, “There’s more than enough space.”

“It’s a plaza,” the Vampire Bride told her. “For the same reason you’re not allowed to land in E-Rantel’s plazas, you cannot land in the ones here.”

“Then where should I land?”

The Vampire Bride cast her crimson gaze out past the surrounding buildings.

“Anywhere else?” She said, “Until more of the city is built, at any rate. Deliveries will be to a designated area in the harbour district, but the office hasn’t been constructed yet. You should still take a look while you’re here to familiarize yourself with the place. Also, the citadel is a restricted area – you can’t be there without authorization.”

“What ‘citadel’? I didn’t see anything of the sort when I flew by overhead.”

“The area around the hill,” the Vampire Bride gestured southwards. “You should have seen a few buildings on the southern end of the island. Sentries posted there will attack you if you try to gain entry to any of the facilities there.”

Ilyshn’ish furrowed her brow. They would attack her even if she was Lady Zahradnik’s Knight?

“All these changes are just…where is the Baroness? This is very confusing.”

“Lady Zahradnik is away at the moment,” the Vampire Bride replied, then paused. “Oh, she did leave some instructions for when you returned from the north. Just a few minutes.”

The Vampire Bride headed back to the building she had appeared out of. Ilyshn’ish turned her attention to the surroundings, tail idly waving back and forth. The villagers – or should she call them citizens now? It wasn’t much of a ‘city’ – had all returned to their business, giving the impression that they were trying to achieve the same feeling as one of the plazas in E-Rantel. There were only a few dozen residents visible, however, so it fell woefully short if that was the goal.

A familiar face from E-Rantel drew Ilyshn’ish’s attention.

“Why if it isn’t Pam,” she offered a friendly greeting. “Still performing deliveries, I see.”

The young woman was busy loading a wagon nearby. Ilyshn’ish wasn’t sure what everything was, but her cargo was worth about as much as the more expensive tools that she had seen in the shops of E-Rantel.

“Sure looks like it,” she replied. “You’d think after becoming an apprentice I…”

Pam’s voice trailed off as she finally looked in Ilyshn’ish’s direction. Was something wrong?

“I-I’m sorry,” her face turned pale, “have we met somewhere before? No…I’m pretty sure I would have remembered that.”

Oops…

Pam only knew her as Shiver, the Human Bard. With three distinct identities to juggle around now, she would have to be more careful.

“My mistake,” Ilyshn’ish apologized. “It must have been another person named Pam that performed deliveries. Um…”

Her mind worked to correct the error. She sensed the Vampire Bride approaching again and decided to just mutter something unintelligible before walking away. This tactic worked often for some reason.

The Vampire Bride held up a handful of envelopes.

“These are for you.”

Ilyshn’ish glowered down at them. Such tiny things were not very easy to handle with the claws of a Dragon. She held out her Infinite Haversack for the Vampire Bride to put them in, making a mental note to frequent the place as a Snow Elf from that point forward.

“What do they say?”

“I don’t know what all of them are about,” the Vampire Bride replied, “but one of them has to do with your work for Lady Shalltear. Lady Zahradnik is sending you to Countess Liane Wagner. With her, you’ll be brought up to speed on imperial customs and general merchant practices.”

“Right now?”

“As soon as you returned, yes.”

Ilyshn’ish sighed. So much for being able to relax. When it came to keeping her busy, Lady Zahradnik was just as bad as Lady Shalltear. No – she was worse.

Maybe her new assignment wouldn’t be so bad. Lady Wagner had an easygoing personality and was generally pleasant company.

“Is there anything else I need to know?”

“Hm…not that I can think of,” the Vampire Bride told her. “Bulk freight is handled by river transport, and the new workshops are still seeing to local demand. Lady Zahradnik mentioned that magic item exports wouldn’t begin until mid-autumn, and you’ll be in the Empire by then. One of the Dragons stationed in E-Rantel will be able to handle those deliveries.”

“I see,” Ilyshn’ish said. “What about all these other letters?”

“They are personal messages that your agent in the city forwarded,” the Vampire Bride replied, “so you’ll have to take a look at them yourself. I only deal with matters directly related to the Ministry of Transportation.”

Ilyshn’ish left the new not-really-a-city and headed back north, following the long strip of barren land. The island tapered off into what brought a wall to mind: the sandbar that once stretched along the length of the Katze River had been replaced by a broad stretch of stone that kept the lake from spilling over into the river. She paused her journey to land at the southern end of the valley, near a tumbling cascade that fed into the lake.

Assuming her Snow Elf appearance, she fished out the sealed envelopes, too curious to continue onwards before taking a look at what they contained.

First was a letter from the Justice Dragon Dojo: Master Tian had written a stiff and monotonous update on the progress of his disciples. Ilyshn’ish wasn’t sure why he thought it necessary to inform her – it wasn’t as if she particularly cared. At the end of the report, Master Tian ask her to inform him when she had returned and could resume training.

The second, third and fourth letters were notices from the Adventurer Guild. They were weekly messages informing her of examination dates. Was she responsible for letting them know she would be away? The reminders annoyed her somewhat – despite Ishpen’s enticing promotion, Ilyshn’ish had been a provisional member of the Adventurer Guild for five weeks. She hadn’t seen a single copper coin yet for her troubles.

Third and lastly came a crookedly folded piece of paper with several tears and holes in it. Ilyshn’ish furrowed a brow, tilting her head to read the unaligned script.

“Heloo…?”

Below the messy and misspelt greeting was ‘zuciru’.

What in the world is he doing?

Someone was teaching the Quagoa how to write. Was that safe? What was this letter even for? She flipped it over, but it appeared to be nothing more than a single word and a signature.

Putting everything away again, Ilyshn’ish returned to her regular self and rose to the skies. As E-Rantel grew closer, she wondered what changes the last few weeks had brought.