My audience had not taken the declaration well, but the surprise was understandable, at least — I don’t think anyone had ever had an entire army crawl through the sewers just to infiltrate a city.

Still, in a single instant everyone’s demeanor underwent a significant change.

Leonine, far from her usual haughty confidence, had withdrawn into herself, her face the picture of shell shock. She’d treated me as one would another member of the peerage until now, hadn’t taken the whole Villain thing seriously, but now that I had stepped into the role I had been assigned, she didn’t know how to deal with the new context.

Varath was… he’d seemed a chipper sort, but he was completely terrified now, having retreated into a corner where he just sat, trembling. The death of the duke had already unnerved him in the first place, and it seemed that my threat had destroyed the little bit of calm he had had left.

And Kirin, whose full name I still couldn’t remember, just looked resigned. I had pegged him as a man who believed in duty and honor, and his presence at the duke’s side had seemed odd to me, but at least it seemed he didn’t let honor get in the way of reason. I wasn’t sure why, but of all three, he was the only one I felt bad about having threatened. I thought, in different circumstances, we might have been friends.

Even Sarah looked uncomfortable, having finally downed the last of the guards. I had not told her of my preparations, and threatening to murder an entire city was likely putting her loyalty to the test. I would have to mend faces when we were finally out of this mess.

As it was, there were things I needed to make clear, first.

“Now that you understand our respective positions,” I began slowly, choosing my words carefully, “you should also understand that there is no reason for me to deceive you.”

“I did not kill Duke Illvere.”

The reactions were mixed. While Sarah and Kirin seemed to accept it, and Varath was still muttering to himself in the corner, Leonine actually scoffed.

“What does it matter if you did or didn’t? Clearly you came here armed and ready to conquer.” She brought her arms together, hugging her waist. “So go ahead and do what you’re here to do. Just kill me now so I can be spared the grief.” She then looked me in the eye. “You monster.”

I saw red.

“Me? I’m the monster here?” I scoffed indignantly. “The worthless piece of trash you called your liege sent an innocent child and a number of his own people to their deaths, just to further his plan to rule the continent,” I all but yelled as I removed the duke’s letter from one of my robe’s inner pockets, throwing it towards Leonine. The letter fluttered in the air before falling to the ground a good meter from the Viscountess. She eyed it warily but approached, picking it up with a gloved hand. At the same time, Kirin approached, looking over her shoulder at the letter. She unfolded it and held it slightly to a side, letting the Baron read along with her.

I waited in silence for a minute, trying to calm my mind. It had not been right to explode like that. She had called me a monster — but she wasn’t wrong, not entirely. I had crossed that line by making the threat in the first place, but I still held the hope that I could get through this tribulation with my morality mostly intact. I had thought that if I did not act on the threat, my hands would remain clean — but now it seemed that I had damned myself the moment I decided to have the Dead Legion move.

I broke myself out of my philosophical musings to find two pairs of eyes trying to burn holes through my head. Leonine’s hands were clenched around the letter, much like Sarah’s had been. A quick spell ensured the letter’s safe return to my possession.

“When did you get this?” Leonine demanded, her voice steel. My anger did not care for the tone, and I had to clamp down on the instinct to chastise her. She was not wrong to be upset, I reminded myself.

“A couple of days ago. It arrived at my tower by way of a messenger named Vinara,” I answered honestly.

Kirin mulled over it for a moment, then said, “I believe this checks out. The spymaster was absent from the palace grounds for a few days this week.” Looking me in the eyes, he seemed to consider the evidence, then gave me a deep bow.

“I owe you an apology, Lord. Duke Illvere had… led me to believe him a much more honorable man than it now appears he was. I thank you for revealing his duplicity.” He straightened and looked at Leonine. A silent conversation seemed to pass between them, until finally she turned towards me, giving me a hint of a curtsy.

“I will, as well, apologize for accusing you unfairly,” she said, though it seemed to pain her. “He was evil — but so are you. I will not apologize for calling you a monster. ”

My anger surged again, but before I could even think to act on it, Sarah had already acted.

“Watch your tone, or I will watch it for you,” she thundered, her voice gaining an unnerving quality through the dark helmet. She held the tip of a sword — did she even have that a minute ago? — to Leonine’s throat. The Viscountess, to her credit, did not panic when faced with the naked threat, locking Sarah’s gaze — even though blocked by the helmet — and giving her a shallow nod. My knight sheathed her weapon and moved from the noble woman to stand at my side.

I hadn’t realized how much I craved someone’s — anyone’s — validation until that moment, and I was infinitely thankful that Sarah was still on my side. I had only known her for little more than a week, but the child had grown on me — like a fungus, largely, but it was clear I valued her opinion of me. And the simple act of her standing by my side filled me with a kind of confidence I hadn’t felt in a long time — not since my adventuring days.

“Your opinion is your own. But you will have the guard stand down, I hope?”

“You could be bluffing — in fact, it’s very likely you’re bluffing — but to risk having you sic your minions on the city?” She sighed. “I’ll send the order to disperse, but I’m not sure how much pull I have with them. The duke didn’t have any wife or children, so the succession is going to be all muddled.”

“I will leave that in your capable hands, then.”

“You’re leaving the city?” she asked, and it sounded somewhat hopeful.

“Of course not. After all, I still have a murder to solve.”

Leonine had, of course, complained, maintaining that they had the investigation well in hand (which was a boldfaced lie) and that my assistance wasn’t needed, but eventually relented when I pointed out that unless the duke had been hallucinating at the moment of his death, someone had tried to frame me.

I ended up returning once more to my apartment, and with the immediate threats out of the way, it was finally time for an overdue talk with Sarah.

After removing her helmet, she had splattered herself over a plush armchair, and was now staring blankly at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought. I seated myself on the futon opposite of her.

“I should have let you in on my plans for this trip. I was wrong not to do so, and I apologize.”

Sarah quickly straightened from her slouch and blinked incredulously a couple of times.

“Wait, really? That easily?” she mused, shaking her head, “And I had this whole speech prepared about how you’re not on your own anymore and you need to open up… Damn, what a waste.”

I was very confused.

“You… what?”

“Well, you know, on Earth we have all these stories with Heroes and Villains and stuff, and since I’ve been here, I’ve kind of felt like I’m in one of those stories.” she stumbled, a bit embarrassed. “So I figured I’m, like, the sidekick to your protagonist now, so it was my job to help you emotionally mature before we go off to defeat the Big Bad.But then you went and did the reasonable adult thing right on your own.” She was definitely embarrassed now. “Oh God, that sounded way better in my head. Just forget I said anything, please and thanks.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her antics. “I don’t think you’re in any position to help anyone with their emotional maturity, of all things.” My smile fell as I returned to a more serious topic. “Are you okay with me using the Dead Legion as a hanging threat, though? I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect you to still back me after that.”

She grimaced at that. “I can’t say I liked it, but at the same time I get it. Rock and a hard place, anything goes. Plus, you’ve got to be bluffing at least a little bit, right? You wouldn’t really kill everyone.”

I nodded. “Ideally, they’d serve as a distraction as we escaped. Worst case, they’d attack the garrisons and go for structural damage as much as possible.”

She thought it over for a few moments, then nodded. “Okay. What now, then?”

“I want to figure out who killed the duke, and why. My gut says it’s someone related to the conspiracy, probably trying to silence him before I got any useful information out of him.” I knit my eyebrows at that. “I probably shouldn’t have dismissed his soul so forcefully. That’s one avenue of investigation gone.”

Sighing, I continued brainstorming for ideas. “I think our best bet right now is investigating the Court Mage. He was clearly deeply involved in the duke’s business — and his motivation in working for the duke in the first place is suspect.”

“’Cause of the money?” she asked, and I nodded in affirmation. “Could be he owed the duke for something else. Or, plot twist, the Mage was actually in charge and the duke was the flunky.” Her eyes widened as she continued to speculate. “Or maybe it was forbidden love! He didn’t have a wife, after all.”

“Are all those theories from your stories?” I asked, surprised. Some were a bit… outlandish, but they held enough water that I couldn’t dismiss any out of hand.

Sarah grinned, trying and failing to hide her embarrassment. “Yyyup. Probably not it, then.”

“No, it’s a good hypothesis. If you get any more ideas, I would like to hear them.”

“Got it, Boss!” She scratched the back of her head nervously, seeming to want to say something, but hesitating.

“Is there something troubling you?” I questioned with some concern.

“It’s just… what are you gonna do after you figure out the culprit?”

I blinked. “Return to the tower, I suppose. Why?”

Sarah breathed in, mulling over her words. “I think you should take it over. Canneria, I mean, or Ardenburg at least.”

That actually stunned me. “Why would you think that?”

“It’s… I don’t know, a feeling. That Leonine lady is giving me bad vibes, and she feels like the kind of woman who holds grudges.” Shrugging, she continued. “I just feel like if she’s in charge, she’s going to muster her forces and attack you as soon as you’re not holding the metaphorical knife against her throat.”

Grimacing, I acknowledged her words. “I don't think you’re wrong about her wanting to retaliate. But I… this might sound hypocritical, but I don’t want to kill an innocent woman over what she might do.”

“You wouldn’t have to kill her, I think. You could probably strut in and say you’re taking over, and then have her named as, I don’t know, governor or regent, and she’d probably accept that.”

“I doubt it’s that simple, but I’ll think about it. In any case, I believe it’s time to prepare to meet Adept Thaos.”

“Now? It’s still the middle of the night.”

“There’s nothing more dangerous than a mage in their own seat of power. I will need to cover us in some heavy duty wards just in case things go sour. It will take some time.”

“Oh, yikes. I didn’t think of that. I would have just run straight in.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Like you did in my tower?”

She flushed. “Okay, okay! Maybe I’m not as mature as I think I am.”

It took several hours for me to finish the preparations, during which Sarah took off a few times to patrol the corridors surrounding our rooms. It was just about breaking dawn when she stormed into the room, panic written clearly on her face. I could hear another commotion coming from somewhere farther into the palace.

“What’s wrong,” I asked, though I was already beginning to suspect.

“There was another murder. This time it was Leonine.”