Chapter 742 (1/2)

“Ah, there is one more thing,” Reynark said as he was about to leave. He paused at the door of the tent, then finally shrugged. “In the monster capital… hostilities have broken out. There was a coup. But… the Monster Prince is missing. And without him, the Royal Faction is being hunted down and killed. And without them-”

“Who knows whether the remnants of the monsters will follow the armistice,” Allica finished bitterly. She rubbed her eyes. Damnit, she did not have time for this. Another war, now? And in the remnants left by the Coalition Army, the Earth Golem’s wouldn’t have enough centralized communication to mount a resistance. They would be slaughtered.

Although she hated him for forging the coalition army in the first place, that Prince was the only reason-

Allica paused.

“What does the monster prince look like?”

Reynark frowned and scratched his chin. “Well… I have not seen him. But I have heard… you know how the monster’s look. Like stretched out Spriggits, in their royal line. Pale skin. Dark hair. Ah, and his eyes, they burn like a flame.”

After nodding, Reynark departed. Immediately Allica heard him switch gears and speak warmly to some members of her crew that were nearby. It almost made her spit on the ground to ward away his weaseliness.

But she didn’t. There was too much work to do.

Before she started, however, Allica lightly tapped the crack she had made in the table. “Eyes like flame, huh… Emerald flame, perhaps…?”

*****

“Tessa, fetch!” Rejt called. With a flick of his wrist, he threw a metal disk high into the air along the walls of the gorge. Instantly, the martin dashed upwards. With its sharp claws, it climbed the walls as easy as other people fell through holes in the ground. There was such a natural grace in her movements that it was difficult not to admire it.

Somehow, Randidly managed it. He was the scrooge of pets, he admitted to himself. But he had every right to be.

It had been three days since the scouting groups returned and delivered the bad news to Allica. Both Waystations that she had sent men to had some manner of Soulless presence. It was clear that there would be strength enough to eradicate the nests that sprung up, but Allica believed that it would waste too much time. Instead, they had done the back-breaking labor of clearing out the central boulevard here, these last few days.

Well, when every person in the crew, and soon some of the refugees, weren’t wasting time by deriving an altogether unnatural amount of amusement from how much the furry soulless pet was petrified by Randidly.

When he had privately asked Allica why literally everyone made comments about it, she had blithely replied. “You carry around your scowl like an executioner’s ax. Last night, I too was stricken by a night terror where I was forced to endure your contorted soft-skin visage…”

Then she giggled to herself a single time before coughing lightly and ordering to continue clearing rock. When Allica was making jokes as well, it became clear to Randidly that there was something broader going on. Perhaps something cultural…?

Either way, it was extremely annoying.

With a leaping backflip, Tessa spun away from the wall and caught the metal disc in her sharp teeth. Her landing was immaculate, and she immediately pranced back toward Rejt. Many watchers clapped enthusiastically and Tessa’s movements became more arrogant and vain with every ounce of encouraging.

Somehow, one of the refugees had produced a brush and now Tessa’s already glossy fur was lustrous and washed. Truly, she looked like a designer pet from pre-System Earth. Although she was largely deemed too dangerous to be allowed near children, most of the Earth Golems regarded the martin as harmless.

And the fucking thing had very quickly learned that convincing begging would earn it addition bits of food. After only three days, it was beginning to look quite pudgy.

Randidly suppressed an impulse to walk out and spook Tessa and instead watched as Allica appeared next to Rejt. “Alright no more messing around. Gather up crew, I have news.”

After the refugees shuffled away and only members of Allica’s group remained, she announced “Tonight we are going to move on from here. Everything that we are capable of moving is basically moved. Besides, due to other issues… we will be heading for Carthak. There are already a lot of forces working there, but due to the size of the city, and the populations of other Races that have remained there…”