91 An Army of Undead (1/2)
”You truly have managed to turn this entire place into such a thing. Everything is perfect, Malakov, perfect. You know what this means, right?” Leilade was roaming into the newly built hall, using her fingers to scrap the untouched table. Whether it was the walls or the furniture, she couldn't find a single speck of dust, no matter how hard she tried. Wand while it was not impossible to find some lunatics with cleaning issues, they were not that common.
”Of course, Empress. Your servant will fix this issue right now.” Snapping his bony fingers, the lich woke up the sea of skeletons and manipulated them to begin to damage the beautiful and perfect scenery. From a totally clean sanctuary that could have been used by priests, if not some unholy things, it was turned into a more believable hideout of maniacs. Some skeletons were still periodically moving the chairs from one point to another, to make some marks on the ground, as Leilade kept visiting the rest.
Even if she wasn't aware of those dark magicians operated in this world, she had tasted the madness and despair that was lingering in the air. Even when she saw the small bone dust and crumbled pieces of skulls laying between two mattresses, she felt it was not enough. What it lacked was still a bit of blood, well, not only a bit actually. It was impossible to never have anyone injured, but as the time before their attack was getting shorter and shorter, she decided to postpone it a bit.
The reports of Meridiana spoke about the cute little slave she got. Apparently, after interacting with the succubus a bit too much, some of her charms tainted the fortunate human. Because of this, she felt that in a week or so, people will have their views changed about the beautiful woman, meaning that waiting was for the best. Past that period, Gwendoline, since it was her name, will still have an increase in status, but not at a rate quick enough to be worthwhile.
At the same time, the convoy of trolls was still inside the mountains, preventing Ymir to be present in case something went wrong. Of course, 3 out of the 5 survivors of Artosis were in the surroundings of Archet. So if someone was capable of beating that group, just the addition of the Akûl would hardly make the balance of power tip in their favor. At the same time, to still have those trolls perfectly visible was something she didn't want.
With their bad luck, the Organization will finally find their base thanks to those primitive giants if they were alerted by the surge of undead near Archet. And seeing the sorry state of Kardel and the fact that their full power was still a variable, no one rejected her proposal of delaying the attack by a few additional days.
With this, she personally entered Archet, to grab a few humans for their blood. Because of the suspicions of the powers located inside the city, and the fact that a family had already disappeared, the inhabitants were frightened. Hardly anyone was dumb enough to not notice the grave face of the guards nor the fact that the patrols had been increased a lot. In addition, groups of adventurers commissioned by the noble families were investigating any traces of something unusual.
The thieves, thugs and other criminals that thrived under the complacency of the guards suddenly found their business heavily impacted. At the same time, many families living inside the poor area reached for them for protection. Only a few appeared in front of them the first day, but after five people disappeared in the night of that day, the number was decoupled. Because a lot of outlaws had their families in that part of the city, the pressure of the unknown threat and the guards created something only a few could have imagined. A frail solidarity inside the darkest and cruelest place.
Shaking her head while hearing Davion reporting this, Leilade looked at the two in front of her. She was inside the room that the two rented in this inn. As for its name or why they chose this one, she hardly cared. But by extending her mana, she felt the numerous people with powers near them. This establishment was visibly flourishing thanks to the influx of adventurers inside its walls.
”Following your instructions, yesterday, we planted some pieces of evidence with the help of Gwendoline inside the sewers. This night, we, accompanied with a few guards, are supposed to accidentally stumbled on the secret room. With those humans as witnesses, no one will think we are accomplices. The Guild Master seemed to trust us a lot and seemed to be a bit infuriated with Meridiana. At the same time, she can't change her appearance anymore.”
While Malakov was building the bait and Ymir was protecting the trolls, Meridiana and Davion were not idling. They had numerous appointments with the Guild Master and even one time with the Mayor. Gwendoline didn't betray anything when they were present, but they had seen that many people were looking at her with the will of protecting her. Of course, not a single magic was used, meaning that no one could find any fault with the beautiful employee.
This favoritism to the two strangers of the city provoked quite a few rumors in the ranks of the adventurers. The origin of those was not hard to find, but because they were supposed to act like a saint from now on, they didn't answer them. In the end, when the Mayor will personally thank them in front of the entire population, anyone with a brain will despise those slanderous adventurers. The more they appear lofty and unconcerned, the better it was.