Chapter 15

  The Dark Snake Rises

  As Allura meets with Duke Deokk in the Holy Kingdom's Embassy and her companions Suzie and Ricardo head to said embassy to fill her in on their collective failure to find alternate means of leaving the city, in a dark, abandoned building that borders between the poorest part of the slums and the most decadent part of the red light district, the combination brigands and murder cult known as The Black Serpent is holding a meeting to bring their sinister plans for the border city to bear, or die trying.

  A wizened man in dark robes, wearing a helmet of some kind of lacquered material with a single facial covering that has a mirrored surface he can see through but which obscures his facial features speaks to his nearest underling. “They're late! There is nothing I hate more than abject incompetence!”

  A man in a metal mask that is capable of transmitting the facial features of the man below it speaks with with the apparent leader of the group. “Commander. It appears that they've encountered difficulty. The squad we had set up in the slums are clearly dead. Their souls have been added to the ritual magic we have going on in the city.”

  “At least they were somewhat useful, Westro! What of the other squad?!”-Commander

  “Their fate is... uncertain, Commander. The wards we've set up on the city that would indicate someone trying to flee did not track them, neither they nor their items still exist among our forces, and their souls were not sucked up to power our ritual to summon our Lord as would normally be the case if they died.”-Westro

  “Argh! Those incompetent fools! They must have provoked some cult or other worship body we're not on good terms with, and there's many of those! A divinity grabbing them and dragging them off to their native realm still wearing their worthless flesh is the only way that makes sense, unless the spells we put on them fail if they somehow managed to teleport out of the city...MARQUESS!!”-Commander

  “Indeed. That does explain why my latest scry regarding the troops came back with 'that is forbidden, do not ask of it again' when I asked about their fate. And no, if they had teleported out, by choice or otherwise, the wards on their equipment would have been tripped, killing them and adding their souls to the ritual.”-Marquess.

  “Which, of course, leaves us not knowing what, or who, they messed with, and how that's going to throw a sabot into our plans! Is the pleasure district fully covered at least?!”-Commander

  “Yes. That much we can be certain of, Commander! The ritual is all set to go once when the moon reaches its zenith in approximately 24 hours, and even if some wizard, or group of wizards, tries to disrupt our ritual circles, every last man, woman, or child, who has passed so much as even one of them is marked for sacrifice the moment we start the ritual at the master spell circle. The entire city would have to be de-spelled, or the main circle destroyed, and we're standing right atop of that one right now.”-Marquess

  “EXCELLENT! Perhaps, at long last, we'll rid ourselves of this disgusting, primitive place and return to our native world!”-Commander

  “Indeed. Who cares about these natives or the fact that something... unpleasant may find its way here as we're leaving.”-Westro.

  Meanwhile...

  “Well, it's a good thing your Wanted poster says 'suspicion of' the crimes you charged me with, because I'd take great offense to being labeled with things that are clearly untrue by local law and the mandates of The System!”-Allura

  “Now see here, you vile beast! You killed my men, stole the slaves at the duchy mine, and enslaved me to have me blow up the mine for you! How does that not make you guilty of Grand Theft, Murder, and Terrorism?!”-Royce

  “Royce! You are not helping things!”-Deokk

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  “Well. What do you know? You CAN use your brain! That's a legit question. One I don't mind answering.” Quips Allura “Simply having POW in your facility as anything other than medical patients makes your place a legitimate war target, and our two countries are at war, declared or not, so that means I get a pass on both the murder and terrorism charges since I only killed armed combatants in the pursuit of a legit war objective, freeing my nation's 'soldiers' and I use the term very, very loosely because you and I both know that your country is in the business of going into my country to raze villages to the ground and kidnap our people, and yes we are people, no matter what your arrogant king might say on the matter, killing anyone who tries to run or fight, if not directly then by buying slaves with the POW label on them, to exploit for labor or... other things.

  “And as for the 'Grand Theft' charge? Well, I'm no lawyer, but I find it very difficult for you to justify owning those POW in the first place, especially the obvious non-combatants, as your king denies officially sanctioning the slave raids, making any and all slaves from my country 'stolen goods' as it were, and if we're really going to go on about trying to enforce theft charges of any kind during a legitimate combat operation or action, we'd be tying up the courts and The System forever with every soldier, mercenary, adventurer, or whatever looting enemies during or after a fight, and that doesn't take into account all the covert ops and other intelligence activities where an agent has to steal maps, documents, or whatever to get intelligence back home.”

  “Don't try to muddle the issue, you, you, animal! How is slapping me into a slave collar and forcing me to destroy my own mine with explosives not a terrorist act?!!”-Royce

  “Your hypocrisy knows no bounds, Walrus-man! In war, the aggressor makes the rules, and your country is clearly the aggressor. If it's okay for your people to come onto our lands and take our people away to sell on the open market, or otherwise exploit them, then you have no right to complain when that happens to you and yours! If your country really condemns the practice, instead of only feigning ignorance, your king or other government officials should be launching public crackdowns on the culprits, and every Beastkin slave you buy should be repatriated back to Furcadia! AS WE BOTH KNOW, THAT'S NOT HAPPENING! Instead, we have arrogant fools like you who insist we 'know our place' by beating and abusing us, exploiting us in every way!”-Allura

  “Royce! If you have any self-preservation instincts, at all, shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you, permanently!”-Deokk.

  “Thank you, Your Excellency. Now, to whom do I owe the idea of drugged food? Hmm?”-Allura

  “Before I answer that, how were you not affected?”-Deokk.

  “Oh, that? A special ability from my Traveler benefactor. I trust you understand why I'm not going into specifics?”-Alliura

  “Oh. Well, I asked the embassy to help us detain a suspected criminal, you, and left it to them as to the method.”-Deokk.

  “Understandable. Probably would have done the same in your place. My benefactor, Jade, is grateful for the drug's recipe, he says it could prove very useful down the line.”-Allura

  “Can I speak with him?”-Deokk.

  “Of course, Your Excellency. Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Traveler known as Jade. I do beg your pardon for not greeting you face to face, but I am currently unable to at the moment.”

  “Is it because you're a dungeon?”-Deokk

  “It is as you say, Lord Deokk. There's not much use or point in trying to deny it. But, as we've already covered, we're not foolish or naive enough to give you the details of our special talents, classes, or professions, or perks.”

  “Well, can I at least learn your intentions?”-Deokk.

  “Fair enough. As it stands, my partner Allura and I have only two goals, to repatriate as many of the Beast Kin as we can back to Furcadia and to get revenge on the group responsible for a certain rabbit-eared girl having her village, including her betrothed, burned to the ground and killed, and her being sold into slavery under a certain baron...”

  “Your excellency, must we listen to such drivel? Why not kill them both now and be done with it?! That bitch is only a deluded beast who thinks she's human and surely the prestige we'd get for claiming a dungeon is nothing to sneeze at...GAHCKKK!!” Royce says as Duke Deokk stabs him in the throat with a dagger.

  “I told you to be silent before I silenced you, you lout!” the duke loudly proclaims while wiping the blood from his blade. “I beg your honest pardon for this unsightly display.”

  “Oh, don't worry too much about it. I was planning to do that myself anyway. Excuse us a moment.”

  Jade proceeds to use [Analysis] to decompose the corpse into its atomic components, leaving not even a bloodstain behind.

  “Waste not, want not, is a motto I was raised under, and with this new form, it certainly applies.”

  “That's incredible! And you can do that with any corpse?!”-Deokk

  “Indeed I can. And that's obviously not all. How about we stop with the preamble and get down to business?”

  “Indeed. Perhaps we should have the Holy Kingdom Ambassador as a mediator?”-Deokk.

  “Well, they are a party to this meeting already. Seeing as they've already tried to take your side...”-Allura.

  At that moment, Suzie and Ricardo are escorted in, bringing urgent news.

  “Boss! We need to leave this place, now! The Black Serpents are coming, in force!”-Suzie and Ricardo at once.