Lina's eyes were stretched wide open as she took in Satidipug's scenery. It was very different from the Bourgeoisie of King's Rise, where steam and brass were piled on each other like a castle of cards.

  Satidipug, instead, was the perfect cliche of a medieval city. The streets were paved with polished stone slabs, the houses were built out of simple carpentry, and market stalls were almost everywhere.

  More than once she felt the desire to stop and ask the merchants about their wares, but every time Milena or Sahro would pull her back into the group, following Bernard Lampi, the steward for Count Satidipug.

  "As you can see, Satidipug is a flourishing city!" Bernard Lampi, the steward, rubbed his hands in satisfaction. "You might have heard, but our city prospers mainly thanks to trade. We have to thank the presence of the Gold Church's headquarters for that."

  Milena nodded slowly, squinting at the stalls and the merchants' faces. "Stop me if I'm mistaken, but Satidipug and Eari should be the two main trade hubs in the north of Munirp. Your main product was ores, right?"

  The steward smiled as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "You've heard well, Milady. Satidipug has rights to many iron, coal, and gold mines. We're also exploiting small deposits of Mana-infused resources, but they're not worth mentioning due to their scarcity."

  He rubbed his hands together. "We've recently discovered an area affluent in rare ores, but..." He grimaced. "Its position conflicts with the Eari county. The proximity between the two cities has always been the source of many tensions, and with the discovery of the Sanders Mines, war was unfortunately impossible to avoid."

  Bernard Lamp glanced at Lucian. "Hopefully, this conflict seems to come to an end. Both counties have thrown many lives into this war, but pulling back now would make our sacrifices meaningless. But manpower isn't limitless..."

  Sahro scoffed, muttering through his teeth. "Tsk! Our sacrifices, he says..."

  Lina gulped heavily, her eyes darting between every member of the group. The atmosphere was growing more tense by the minute.

  Lucian clapped his hands together and turned to Tuleam, who was picking his nose without care. "Steward, we might need some help finding someone. We're searching for our lost comrades, and Sir Tuleam here found their traces in your city."

  The steward bowed to the waist. "Of course, your Highness. We will support you with all our might."

  The Prince nodded. "Good. I'll also need to meet Count Satidipug. I have some questions about that war I need answered."

  Bernard Lampi paled slightly. "...Absolutely, your Highness."

  The steward led them to a sumptuous guest house, rivaling their Longhorn's Street mansion. "I hope these modest accommodations will suit you and your companions' taste, your Highness." He bowed once more. "I will excuse myself while I inform Sir Satidipug about your request. I shall also start a search for your companions. Would you happen to have a description...?"

  Lina was about to reply but Sahro replied dryly. "Heard about Glenn the Devil's Hand?"

  Bernard Lampi's eyes widened and he cleared his throat with uncertainty. "Y- You don't mean the Devil's Hand, do you? I thought he couldn't return from his expedition into the Beyond—"

  Manalok Tuleam raised an eyebrow. "Doubting my scrying skill, fatty? Think twice before you start spitting out nonsense."

  Lina almost choked on her saliva as she watched the steward's face turn even paler. "O- Of course, Sir Tuleam. We will start the search right away. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask the guards." He pointed at a dozen armored knights standing by.

  "Thank Count Satidipug for his hospitality," said Lucian as he opened the door to the guest house. He stopped at the entry and coldly looked at the steward. "...But don't make me wait."

  Bernard Lampi confounded himself in pleasantries and excuses before practically running away. The entire team entered the guest house, leaving the guards outside. It took only a few seconds for Milena to find a large sofa and collapse on it with a weary sigh.

  "What the hell is wrong with this place...?" She grunted. Tuleam laughed in the distance, already foraging through the kitchen for food.

  "What isn't wrong, you mean?"

  Lina raised a confused eyebrow. 'Did I miss an episode? Besides the war, Satidipug looks fine...?'

  'Milady, I'd recommend listening to them.' Tiamanes' respectful voice was quiet in her mind. 'It will be an excellent lesson.'

  Sahro stood in the corner of the room, his arms crossed. A current of red electricity ran through his mechanical arm, making the new components spin a little faster.

  "I don't like this. That steward smelled of secrets and hypocrisy."

  Lucian sat on a sofa opposite Milena's and pressed his hands together. "This Bernard Lampi certainly is hiding some things. I'm hesitating, should we just storm the Count's home for answers? I'm not on official royal business, though..."

  Milena moistened her lips. "Lucian, why don't we find Glenn and Liara before destroying the town?"

  The Prince chuckled. "Why would I do that?" He scratched his chin with a slight smirk. "Satidipug, even if very suspicious, remains a county of our noble Munirp. I'd have to find aggravating proofs of treason against the crown or something similar. That would certainly be an option I could get behind if that means the end of this absurd war."

  Lina cleared her throat. "Uhm, excuse me, but could you all enlighten me? What is so wrong with Satidipug?"

  Sahro grunted. "The streets are empty. There are no citizens besides the merchants handling their stalls."

  Lina paused. 'Now that he mentions it...It's true, we only saw merchants but nobody buying their wares.'

  "The steward's guards were all Grand Chevaliers," remarked Milena. "Individuals with strength almost equivalent to ours should have been too busy preparing for the next battle. They wouldn't be able to afford to guard a mere steward."

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  Lucian sighed. "Let's not even talk about him. The teleportation nodes between King's Rise and this place have all been broken, yet he still knows Glenn's disappearance, which was supposed to be a rather well-kept secret. Additionally, communication should have been lost with the nodes."

  Tuleam laughed as he returned from the kitchen with a sandwich in each hand. "A city prospering from trade yet there's no one to buy the merchants' wares on the streets. Local trade is the blood of a city, they can't only depend on imports and exports."

  Lina frowned. "It didn't sound that farfetched to me, though?"

  Milena rubbed her forehead. "Lina, territorial conflicts happen all the time. War between counties too. But we're talking about skirmishes. Small-scale battles. Duels. Not whatever this...slaughter is."

  Sahro clenched his mechanical hand, the reinforced gears' speed increasing. "And we know thanks to Glenn that this war has been going on for an entire year. Every soldier in both cities should already be buried five feet under, yet the war still goes on."

  Lucian nodded. "No proper lord would be foolish enough to allow this idiocy to continue. Negotiations over the conflicted area can always be done, concessions can always be made. Lives can never be returned, though. They are only spent once, and once only."

  Milena counted on her fingers. "No workforce means no harvest. No miners. No ressource influx. Nothing to trade with. Even if they imported workers and mercenaries, their coffers would have eventually bottomed out after a year-long war, even more so considering how many lives are spent daily on it. Tens of thousands of soldiers every day is more than even King's Rise military would comfortably afford"

  Lina took an awed step back. 'H- How did they notice all that?'

  'Experience,' replied Tiamanes. 'Knowledge and experience. Be at ease, with my presence reaching that level of awareness is only a matter of time.'

  "What's the plan?" Sahro asked, his arms crossed.

  "...For now, let's wait for the result of the search. If it doesn't work, we'll have to trust you to find a more precise location, sir Tuleam," said Lucian as he turned to the seaweed-headed man. The latter gave him a thumbs up as he swallowed an entire sandwich in one bite.

  They rested in the comfort of the guest house for a couple of hours until a guard eventually knocked at the door. He gave Lucian a letter before bowing and returning to his post. The Prince opened the envelope curiously, his eyebrows creasing as he read the contents.

  "They've been asking around, but nobody saw Glenn in Satidipug."

  Sahro smirked. "That doesn't surprise me. We would have heard about him causing a mess beforehand."

  Tuleam frowned. "It makes no sense. The scrying indicated Satidipug precisely. He should be here." He turned to Lina and held his hand out. The girl nodded silently and poked her finger with a small needle. Tuleam Manalok manipulated the blood magically while muttering in an ancient language. Mana flowed through the room, swirling around his hands. At the same time, he pulled a simple cane from his dimensional pouch. After a short minute of incantation, he slammed the blood onto the cane.

  Milena raised an eyebrow. "Hum, that doesn't look like the scrying you did previously...?"

  Tuleam grunted. "Because it isn't." The cane stood straight by itself, before falling to the ground. Tuleamn picked the cane up and made it stand straight again, only for it to fall in the same direction it previously did. "A trick an eastern friend taught me. Klein something, can't remember his name..."

  Sahro let out a disbelieving laugh. "So we're following a cane now?"

  Lucian grimaced, agreeing. "Even for you, Sir Tuleam, this looks a little too..."

  Tuleam grinned widely. "Genius-like? I know. Anyway, let's follow the cane. We have no time to waste, don't we? And it'll give us an excuse to look around the city."

  Lina nodded excitedly. 'I kind of want to try what the others did and find the suspicious stuff in this town!'

  Tiamanes sighed silently. 'Good luck with that...'

  She ignored the mean hand's comment and stood up with a bright smile. "Should we go find my brother, then?"

  ***

  Liara sat on the floor, pressing her fingers against the scars on her thighs. The stab wounds Nelg had inflicted on her under Nora's orders were practically healed, thanks to the constant transfer of energy. Nelg glanced at her and pointed at the wounds. She nodded slightly before looking back at the carriage. They had stopped pulling it a few hours ago after arriving at some sort of lounge for Nora and her servants. The slaves remained outside, sitting in the mud by the side of the road.

  'Penitentia... The Thorn's Church has developed an entire city underground. How did they even do that...?' The Black Heiress had a hard time recovering from the shock of discovering this underground city. It was a very different atmosphere from King's Rise Bourgeoisie or even Fringe. The buildings looked as if they grew out of the ground, in a strange mix of stone and roots. The light was coming from red moss growing in every crack, as well as red crystals shimmering ominously. They didn't seem to be using magical lights, for some reason.

  They had passed a few squares on the way filled up with bare-chested cultists self-harming themselves together, the sound of whips echoing all the time through the streets. Most if not everyone walked barefoot too, wearing only dark, sober priest gowns. What surprised Liara the most was the presence of children. Even if this city was made up entirely of fanatics, they remained fanatics with families. There were also a few outliers, scrawny individuals with wide eyes inhaling strange drugs. Moon Grass, if she recalled correctly.

  She turned to the carriage with worry. 'Glenn still hasn't woken up. I swear to my ancestors, if it's another trick from that hand, I will cut it off myself.'

  Liara couldn't ponder much longer as Nora came out of her lounge. The slaver lady looked awful, her nails broken and her eyes bloodshot. Her lips were shredded after she bit through it too many times, and scratch marks covered her arms. Even though she was a Saint, an existence powerful enough to destroy armies by herself, she had a terrible appearance. Not that Liara felt even an iota of pity for the bitch.

  A priest approached her and bowed to the waist. "Envoy of the Mother of All. His Honor the Pope wishes to meet you as well as the Savior's vessel."

  Nora slapped the priest tensely, sending him tumbling to the ground. The priest stumbled up, unfazed.

  "Follow the priest, slaves!" She shrieked as her orc driver made his whip crackle. The slaves stood up tiredly, their throats bleeding from the slave collars' tight hold. Liara and Nelg also stood up, pulling with the other slaves. They pulled the carriage to the largest structure in town, a pyramidal temple.

  Nora jumped off the carriage while carrying Glenn's body. She glanced at Liara and Nelg and smirked wickedly. "You two, transport him." She threw Glenn at them. Liara and Nelg barely caught him as the orc driver untied the chains from the carriage and gave them to Nora for her to use as leashes. They were like bad dogs forced to follow their master.

  Liara and Nelg clenched their teeth. Nelg took Glenn on his back while Liara walked beside him. They followed Nora inside the temple, walking past priests who had all missing limbs. Some were wearing spiked braces or collars that bit through their skin, drawing blood with every movement they made. It was as if the priests wanted to feel pain all the time.

  They followed a couple of priests guiding them through the pyramid's intricate hallways, eventually arriving in a dark, gigantic chamber. There was a hole in the ceiling letting a ray of red light fall to the center, where a sole statue of steel stood. Blood was oozing out of it in a constant stream, tainting the already dark stone ground.

  Nora gave a short nod in the direction of the statue. "It's an honor, your Holiness."

  A voice from beyond the grave came from the steel statue, rattling painfully.

  "The honor is mine, Envoy of the Mother of All." The statue suddenly opened up, revealing an interior filled with hundreds of sharp blades covered in blood. A bloody mess that could barely be described as a human stepped out of the statue, his entire body bleeding out. Liara and Nelg felt their knees buckle under them as a strange strength forced them to stick their faces to the ground.

  Glenn rolled out of Nelg's back, landing next to the Pope's feet.

  "Ah..." Liara and Nelg shivered at the sound of the voice, their instincts screaming at them to run away.

  "3333...At long last."

  tenser was a real word? I didn't know. It feels like that's fake word for some reason. I shan't use this variation.

  Milena!