Chapter 70

  Concerns

  To Her Imperial Highness Xuhitana Furinshao

  From Your Loyal Servant Sacred Yorin Holt

  On the Matter of the Stand Against the Darkness

  It is my pleasure to inform you as to the progress of the Gunslinger Hero’s defense of the western Imperial border. Her advancement has been excellent and continues ahead of schedule. As of her latest report, fully one-third of the border against the Western Demesne has been secured, capstoned by the completion of her first Silver-rank dungeon, the Ogre’s Grotto.

  Though it was completed alongside the Swordmaster Hero, it has proven, as we anticipated, a suitable marker of her advancement. She has already begun to push herself further now that she has tasted the challenges ahead of her. I expect that Silver will soon become the new standard of her progress moving forward.

  Were it that the dungeon was the sole motivator of her growth, I would be satisfied in knowing that our plans remain on path. Unfortunately, this is not the case, for a new champion of the Darkness has emerged. Far more powerful than the previous Heart of Corruption and capable of independent action, this “Phantom” enters dungeons directly, slays the dungeon lord to force open the path to the core, and then, presumably, infects it directly.

  “Presumably,” because this one was interrupted before it could proceed to this final step. By sheer good fortune and the blessings of the Essence and Ancestors, the Gunslinger and Swordmaster Heroes arrived just in time to witness the death of the dungeon lord. However, all three forces turned their eyes from them in the battle that followed.

  Not only did the Phantom easily dispatch the dungeon lord of one of the strongest Silver-rank dungeons, but it proceeded to do the same to two of the five Sacred Heroes. It was only by the Gunslinger Hero's quick and unorthodox thinking that we did not lose both Giri Village and two Heroes, all in one battle.

  From the Gunslinger Hero's report, the Phantom took the shape of a man in heavy armor, and bore the Swordmaster class. It wielded a long, thin, two-handed sword with great skill, and moved with alacrity. Holy magic from both Heroes caused it to recoil, but they were unable to deal significant definitive damage. Only when the dungeon core was purified did it abandon the battle, giving us the one beacon of light that the Darkness seemingly cannot yet counteract the purification process.

  It is good that the Gunslinger Hero is ahead of schedule, for this new development has placed us on a timer. Our enemy has been found to hold the same strategy as our own, and we are in a race to complete our barrier before they can create a channel through it. Any inward cut by the Darkness will create an insurmountable back foot in our efforts to wall off the still-uninfected inland, forcing us to chase it north, instead. Were this to occur, my estimates place the losses in the hundreds of thousands of lives, and all of the imperial provinces northwest of a line stretching from Ogansa to Heibeng. I need not detail the economic and military losses that would follow, due to the percentage of Imperial mining interests in the affected region.

  There is no question that this represents a significant new obstacle to the smooth continuance of our projections. This “Phantom” is a powerful adversary in possession of anomalous abilities, the least of which may be translocation. Without knowing its maximum range, we must assume that it is capable of appearing anywhere, of assaulting any fortification, stopped perhaps only by purified regions. Worse, we do not know its numbers or of any other forms it might possess in variety. The only thing that we truly know of it is also the most terrifying: That it is, in fact, a mere projection of something else, something presumably even more powerful and cunning.

  Mark my words, Your Highness, we have seen but the first layer of the Darkness’s capabilities and the forces it can bring to bear. As we near our objective and pull its own further away from it, it will certainly bear its fangs ever more fiercely toward us.

  I urge you again to question the true value of those missions upon which your generals and nobles disperse the remaining Sacred Heroes. Had they been laid as one upon this course the moment we discovered the repelling effect of purifying the dungeon cores, we would surely now be staring at the end of Corruption’s ability to reach into our lands, and the cusp of chasing it back to whence it came. Instead, the Heroes are scattered across the Empire, incapable of raising a unified hand against any single threat, and even when they do stand one day side by side, they shall be nearly as strangers to one another.

  But, my little Xuhi, the border against the Demesne is not the only place from which that vile Darkness strikes at us. Corruption does not target that which it already holds within its monstrous fist. It has no interest in a heart full of vice, but covets the virtuous. It turns from the philanderer, the traitor and the thief, and sets its lecherous gaze instead upon the pure and the selfless. If we fall for the illusion that the distant West alone is where our foe acts, we may return from the fields of battle victorious, only to find that our homes are enemy territory.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  I know it was my advice that you not rush to judgment against House Hagasu, but the news of your rapid successes in tracking down hives of Corruption with the aid of its Lady does not fill me with the joy that one might expect. Be wary of a path through smiling enemies. An informant who can so easily point out enemies that specialize in nesting among us can only do so from a position of intimate familiarity. Whatever power she names as her oracle, trust it as you would the tail of a scorpion, and should she ever offer you one of your own, no matter how sweetly she speaks, no matter how essential it seems, your best answer to her is your blade, for she is about to sting you.

  My advice would be that you not wait for such a time to come to pass. We know now that Purification can remove the Corruption from a soul as surely as it may from a dungeon core. Make her undergo a purification ritual at the Great Temple, performed by the High Priest, himself. Frame it within whatever pretense you believe shall prove effective, and promise her, within reason, whatever you must to convince her. If everything she desires cannot convince her to undergo a harmless procedure, then I implore that you do not threaten her. Simply reunite her with her husband there, without warning or pretense.

  My heart screams that you are in danger, Xuhi. If Lady Hagasu is, indeed, an agent of Corruption, then her target can only be you. I plead with you, do not let your guard down about her. To the contrary, hold it tighter the closer she draws to you.

  Your previous missive asked after her children. Whether she is Corrupted or no, I understand that the bond between a mother and her children is not so easily severed. No doubt, the lack of personal correspondence from them rests heavily upon her heart, no matter her brother’s reassurances.

  Unfortunately, he has proven no more forthcoming to me. I do not believe the children still reside at the Regent of Serazin’s estate. I no longer believe they returned there at all, but ran away again the moment Dabun’s gates were out of sight.

  Share of that what you will with Lady Amara, but neither do I believe that they are dead. If the lord’s search parties have not found them, then the only logical conclusion is that they managed to slip past his net. If they managed that much, then they are resourceful and clever, and I would not do them the injustice of assuming that they could not turn those traits toward reaching safety.

  If you wish me to extend a net of my own, I am prepared to do so, but I do not believe it wise. The children are driven by their own deep geas, and any attempt to turn them aside shall prove of only temporary effect. I hold to my suspicion that they are not Corrupted, just as certainly as I do that they are not dead. They will return to us when they are ready, and we have many other, more demanding demons to slay.

  Be wise, my Empress, and be strong, but, more than anything else, be safe.

  ~ Your faithful servant and friend

  Yorin

  * * *

  *Yorin*

  My quill still hovers above the end of the scroll, even though I have put my signature to it. The letter is complete, but it is far from containing the entirety of my thoughts. Unfortunately, some of those are not fit even for Xuhitana’s ears. Certainly, she knows some of it. She even suspects a good deal more. Some things, however, are simply too beyond the limited perception of a mortal mind to even consider.

  With a sigh, I set my quill in its divot and begin to roll the scroll up between my hands. Once it is laced and set in with all of the other correspondences I must mail, I turn and look out the window of my temporary housing. For a moment, I can almost hear Remmi calling as she comes back from applying to become an adventurer, and my mind’s eye can see her running across the temple grounds.

  I do not need to ask her for any further details about the Phantom. I suspect that I know exactly how that sword looked, how that armor appeared. She may have been unable to distinguish a face, but even after all of this time, that would be no impediment to me.

  I turn from the bright, colorful sunlight of the outdoors and look toward a dark corner of the house, where my ceremonial staff sits, waiting for me to need it. In truth, it only looks like a ceremonial staff, but it has been a very long time since I have had to think of it as anything else.

  The seal has yet to fail completely. That cannot be questioned. If it had, the Phantom would be redundant, and young Remmi would not have lived to tell me of it. Until now, however, the Darkness has been a passive thing, dangerous but functionally willless. I wish I knew if this new threat is the sign of a weakening barrier or a growing influence. It cannot be an act of the Corruption, alone, not from some emergent property of intelligence. At least, I hope that cannot be the case. It might actually be a worse scenario if it is using them as a blueprint.

  I cannot go and investigate it by myself. Not only would it leave the Empire without my defenses, but I cannot risk giving the Darkness another pawn.

  It makes me feel helpless in a way that I have not felt for so very long, but for now, I must leave this matter to the Sacred Heroes. I must trust in their ability to grow and adapt. I must put my faith in young Remmi’s precocious nonsense to accomplish what eludes me still after all this time.

  It is strange. I think I might actually miss her ridiculous behaviors, and her random notions about things she has no reasonable right to know.

  I sigh once more and set the matter aside. I have determined there is nothing else for me to do, and work remains.

  I pull another scroll before me and unroll it. This one is not blank, but holds a compilation of testimonies and figures. Apparently, the Forest Cavern has been acting up again. No one has been hurt, nor returned overly alarmed, but if the Guild cannot muster anyone able to see to it, I might have to go.

  At least it is something that I will be able to do.

  my Patreon! All funds raised are intended to fund artwork for covers and inserts on my projects!

  here on Royal Road!

  over here on Royal Road!