92 We are out of beta we releasing on time (1/2)

Everyone looked shocked after hearing such words, especially since it was a few moments after dawn. Who among them would have expected that a horde of undead would march under the sunlight to attack them and not behave like normal monsters and use the cover of the night? From her point of view, Meridiana could enjoy the plethora of emotions painted on the faces of the humans in front of her. Diverse nuances of fear and panic, some even had terror visible in their eyes, and only a few were still relatively calm.

For the men belonging to the latter group, it was easy to spot them. Neither the Mayor nor the captain of the guards or the Guild Master showed any surprise like they already knew that it will happen. Tilting her head a bit while thinking, she guessed that maybe the adventurers were not the quickest at transmitting the information. But if they were not, who would be?

”Gentlemen, gentlemen. Please, behave yourselves. Can a mere group of undead truly make you act like a headless chicken?” The firm voice of the head of this small kingdom resonated across the room, making the rest remember both their status and the location they were in. If some were slightly angered by such a crude choice of words, most were embarrassed.

”That's better. They only said that they saw an army, but we haven't heard a single thing about their numbers. Do I have to remind you that our strong city was built on the premise of resisting anything that could descend from those mountains? Or something even worst, breach the southern frontiers and come from the Fallen Kingdom? That's also without counting the adventurers inside our walls, all more experienced at dealing with monsters and capable of unleashing the best of the abilities of our mighty garrison. I am asking you this question, do we really have to fear this?”

Even if he was getting older and older as time passed, it was no wonder why it had been so many years without a change of leadership. The Mayor was constantly smiling as he talked, not a kind one, but the type that one could see on the face of a general winning the war. Confident, sure of his abilities and without a single trace of fear. The murmurs of acknowledgment and the relative calm that followed his declaration proved his great capability at handling the wealthy and the powerful.

”That's true, my family paid a huge price following the end of the Age of Darkness, to help build this city. There is no way that it will crumble in front of mere undead.”

”Mine too. Everyone doubting those walls would be doubting the honor of the Elritch.”

”And the honor of my family too.”

Nearly half of the board was composed of aristocratic families, and all of them looked down at their neighbours that weren't part of them. Those loud taunting both appeased them and displeased the numerous merchants and commoners that didn't necessarily relied on their families to achieve their goals. At the same time, looking at so many of those old men getting more and more confident after remembering that their families played a part at constructing Archet, they could only think the same.

By the time the room was once calmer, a few minutes had passed. The only people that didn't move or even looked pleased was both Meridiana and Davion, and the servant that barged inside the room. The more smiles the unfortunate human saw, the more he was sweating. Realizing his condition, the eyes of the Mayor flashed of incertitude. He already received all he had to know about the army, and while it seemed that 20 000 undead was a lot, they were almost entirely just skeletons and zombies, presenting barely any threat to the huge walls of Archet.

”Helmut, do you have anything else to say? The adventurers probably reported a huge number of skeletons and zombies, but fear not. Even if it something as high as 25 000 of undead, what can they truly do against our mighty walls? Our reinforced gates? And even if they are more, only something as high as 50 000 skeletons could inflict significant damages to our city. And there is no way such a high number of undead could stay unnoticed, isn't it, Guild Master?”

Trying to both calm the servant and reduce the impact of hearing such a large force outside the walls of Archet, the Mayor gained the nod of the Guild Master and the captain of the guards. Even if it would be very complicated to defend against such a horde, it was still possible to contain the threat beyond the walls. But unfortunately for him, the sweating man wasn't really looking any better.

”My lord … the adventurers, they … they talked about sixty … gulp … thousands of undead!”

The smiles of everyone froze in an unnatural way. Inside their minds, only that terrifying number was resonating, again and again. 60 000. ”WHAT?!! HOW!??” The previously calm and confident leader leaped from his chair and began to walk toward the servant. Disregarding any customs and procedures, he grabbed the other party and began to shake him violently. ”TELL ME HOW?”

”I-I-I DON-DON-DON-T-T-T KN-KN-KN-OW-OW-OW!!!” After hearing this, he let go, leading the unfortunate servant to fell brutally on his back. Not even letting out a single sound of pain, he could only see the rock that was supposed to protect them look extremely vulnerable.

”Those bastards, Mayor, let me hunt those rats before the undead arrive. Lying like that after we uphold our part of the deal is just courting death. I am certain that I can catch them in les…”

He didn't finish his sentence, seeing the raised hand of the Mayor. Looking at the Guild Master, he saw him with a pale complexion, pondering about the current situation. Just a few minutes before entering the room, the three of them received an envoy of the White Hand. Because it was in their interest that Archet survived and was not damaged, the envoy of the criminal organization proceeded to sell all the information about the group of undead at an extremely low price.

After all those years in charge of the city, it was not the first time that one of them had to talk or discuss with either the White Hand or the Black Gauntlet. And because the price was really low and the information seemed really accurate, they let the envoy leave with what he asked. It was the complete information of all the movements and actions of the two new adventurers. As for why the Organization sought this, none of them dared to ask. Because there was nothing that was directly hurting the two strangers, the transaction happened without any incident.