88 No one ever made it out alive (1/2)
The sudden change of atmosphere was so quick that by the end of the time where the Viscount was talking to her, Ymir was already surrounded by a horde of trolls. And not in a bad way, he was literally surrounded by them, but they were acting like servants around their master. Some even tried to touch his armor, but a deep glance at them made them rethink the intelligence of such an act. Not that they were very smart, but they were still capable of understanding that something was off limit.
From the looks of it, the chief of those morons was happily chatting with the Akûl, nothing like he was previously. In fact, he was hiding even more deeply inside the group of elderly than the oldest of them. Only when he noticed the fact that he will not be killed did he finally showed himself. But no one was even battling an eye about such behaviour, so why should Leilade raise a fuss about it? Looking around, she only found that it was a huge mistake to even come inside this thing, it couldn't even be called a village.
There were approximately a hundred or so trolls. Only ten children were visible, but it was unsure if more were not hidden somewhere else. If they hadn't done that and really brought everyone in the main plaza, well, Leilade will really have her mind blow out. In all her hundreds of years, it could be the stupidest tribe of trolls she ever met. And she had seen many of those with more muscles than brains, but they still were quite capable. Even one managed to reach the same level as master Agnil, meaning that it was not something necessarily innate for this race.
As for her, for the moment, she was totally forgotten. The few liches standing right behind her suffered the exact same fate, and only when those hunters tried to encircle Ymir did they really saw them. They quickly distanced themselves from the undead group, showing their immense displeasure and disgust. Unlike the little girl, the Akûl was enjoying such attention. He rarely gained anything like that, since most of the time, people ran away in fear, screaming with all their lungs.
”Empress, I think I managed to convince those trolls. What should I do now?” He still didn't forget that he was not really the one in charge of the entire thing. But when he turned around to face Leilade, he saw her sunken expression. Not knowing why he stood quiet, and the silence spread. Those trolls couldn't understand what he said, but they were quite receptive. They recognized that whatever the small uhanz was, she was important for the large demon.
”As I said, it is up to you. But you know very well how the Demonic Empire works, even if you haven't enforced it previously. Now that we have limited personals, we will all have to improve ourselves. See this as an opportunity, so don't waste it.”
Even if her sentences could be mistaken as kind advice and a caring attitude, the glacial tone left no mistakes to be made. Ymir understood very clearly what it was, but even ten of him couldn't measure to just one Leilade. The only moment he could have killed her was when they first arrived. But after their first departure, everyone silently agreed to let her control their fates like she was doing before.
At the same time, he felt that someone would have to make a crucial mistake to be condemned by the Empress. Like they chose to trust her, she chose to trust them, otherwise, she could have just relied on her undead subordinates. Talking more and more with the chieftain of the troll tribe, he inquired about any dangerous locations with very rare resources. Anything that could Malakov or Agnil to create something.
The chief looked very pained by this question and was reluctant at spitting what he knew. One mighty stomp quickly destroyed his reserves and he began to speak about everything he knew. The liches were continually storing all of those locations and were prepared to scout them if the need arises. At the same time, he began to bring them toward the entrance of a cave nearby. Looking around, both the Akûl and the small girl were impressed by the natural defenses surrounding them.
From whatever reasons, the trolls did chose a very good location. It was hard to say that it was because they thought for once or that they just stumbled on this place by sheer luck. At least, that was how Leilade disregarded the intelligence of that race. By the tribe settled inside a half opened crevice. There was only one path to enter and the same path was used to exit, preventing any type of encirclement. Except if something could dig through the incredibly hard ice walls.
As for a threat from above, it was possible if the monster was flying. But it was nearly fifty meters above the ground where they currently stood, if something living fell from that height, it will be reduced into a meat paste. Therefore, reinforcing the wooden gate and constructing some strange constructs that could vaguely look similar to ramparts were the only improvements possible. It was a wonder that with all those times they traded with the White Hands, it didn't reach their brains to ask for proper fortifications.
” Târlakh!” The chieftain roared this name, and everyone still following them fell to their knees and began to psalm that name. Ymir was perplexed, but Leilade quickly filled the blanks in his memory.
”That's the name of the Hero from the troll. So, the reason why they are here is that this place must have a signification for them. Maybe it is a tomb, but apparently, he fell in a battle with one of the dark god, in this mountain. And they rarely let anyone have a complete body. At the same time, does this look like a battlefield? After thousands of years, it could be …”
Especially the way the crevice was formed. A huge sphere with only one path, it could have been the result of something exploding around them. Or like a meteorite falling on a planet, something threw so strongly that it created a crater in the ice. It was clearly not impossible that it was the last place that the Hero Târlakh ever saw before dying.
The moment that name left the lips of Ymir, all the trolls looked at him like he just killed their entire family. The Akûl felt a bit wrong, nothing prepared him to see such an intense reaction. Only the chieftain was more filled with regrets than with hate. Trying to pat the shoulders of Ymir, but remembering that for once, he was nearly a meter smaller, he explained everything.