Polymath Redux – Some people have to work for a living, I’m just here for fun
Chapter XXIII
After spending an entire night cleaning up, the mansion had become almost as good as new. Most of the damages and cracks around the mansion were easily repaired through Mordred’s magic. Even the fountain in the front garden was restored to functional order, giving the place a nice ‘homey’ aura.
Afterwards each room was prepared and fixed for the residents, with Mordred and Morgana each receiving an extra study room for their work. Rena, Yda and Grimal were also formally admitted as maids and butlers on the register and their work had finally started. Rena continued to work through the morning sprucing up the place while humming a tune in her maid wear that she happily wore.
The perimeter fences were also fixed with small, flying orbs; sentries, patrolling around the perimeter looking out for intruders. The sentries would attack anyone and if any one of them was destroyed or the intruder got too close to the house the alarms were set to go off. When the alarms rang the multilayered automated defense systems would become active.
The first layer comprised of hidden magically charged auto turrets that locked on and shot the intruders. The second layer activating meant that the ten siege golems hidden as statues would wake up to attack. While simplistic in their movements and patterns, a single siege golem was capable of conquering a heavily guarded fortress by itself. If the intruders were somehow able to get past them then they would be met with the next layer which was deadly neurotoxin and cluster mines.
On the off chance that they got through all of that then they would be faced with an impenetrable repulsion field that could only be turned off from within, meaning that it was useless from the start. However, even after all that if they somehow managed to get through then it would mean that the house was already abandoned at that point and the self-destruction sequence would come online and start a countdown from ten, but the detonation would go off after three seconds instead of ten.
All of these traps were created through Mordred’s [alchemy] skill subsection, with all the materials having been harvested beforehand from [Hellgana].
“Then, I’ll leave the care of the house to you Rena.”
Mordred said as she was preparing to leave. Rena was also given a [communication medal], of the same variety as Irina’s just in case of emergency. Though he had serious doubts that there would be any kind of emergency when the security of this little mansion far exceed even that of the royal castles.
“Yes, please have a safe trip.”
Almost as though it was a wife seeing her husband leave for work Rena bid him farewell with a smile. Mordred smiled and gave a non-verbal wave back as he left the house in his unremarkable suit of armor.
…
It did not escape Mordred, the thought that there was some kind of underground organization that was subtly shifting the events taking place in this city. Of course until he had done more research into them he couldn’t say he had conclusive proof of their existence but often times in such fantasy stories there usually were one or two. For this reason it was much safer to move while assuming they existed and were watching out for him.
Another reason as to why Mordred wanted to join the Xagontetian Military was because he wanted to replace the war minister with someone he could trust and manipulate. Because there was the possibility that the current war minister was working for an unknown organization it was simply safer to replace him. Having done some prior research Mordred had easily obtained the information that the current War minister was a duke named ‘Pierre Granate’. He also served as the king’s aide which would especially dangerous if he really was affiliated with an unknown underground organization.
Approaching the government sector of the city Mordred easily found the recruitment building. As the gate guard had said it wasn’t hard to distinguish from, especially with all sorts of recruitment posters plastered all over it. There was actually a rather long line waiting to be processed and recruited into the military.
Personally Mordred didn’t really understand the idea of patriotism or fighting for one’s country. He often thought such ideals were stupid and that the moment someone dies it was all over anyway. Why bother fighting for a country? What if the country was wrong? Mordred himself emphasized self-autonomy; thinking for one’s self and not fighting for a cause unless one believed in it wholeheartedly.
“Yer fairly young to be joining in the war, aintcha?
The man standing before him asked as he looked back. The man was tall, dark skinned and muscular. His hair was almost non-existent but his gaze was powerful, the perfect look and physique for a warrior type, or so Mordred thought as he analyzed the man.
“And aren’t you too old to be joining in this war, old man?”
It wasn’t Mordred who spoke back but the young lad behind him. A slender elven man with effeminate features; long blonde hair, long sharp ears, pale skin, thin frame, faded blue eyes that almost looked sickly. He looked to be around the same age as Mordred though a little shorter.
“Ey? Who are you?”
The dark skinned man asked.
“Ashen, you can just call me Ash. Anyway you shouldn’t question people’s convictions to fight for their country. Just because we don’t have the same muscle-bound brain as you doesn’t mean we can’t be just as effective.”
‘Ash’, replied back with a snarky attitude, but since it seemed as though he was defending Mordred he didn’t really mind.
“That so? Well whatever, the more the merrier I suppose. Name’s Padan, former mercenary and adventurer. What about you lad?”
Padan asked as he glanced over to Mordred.
“I’m Mordred.”
“Aye, nice to meet ya. Hope we get to be in the same company, I’d get ta rough you all up nice and ready for battle.”
“We haven’t even joined yet and you’re looking to bully people?”
A third voice interjected. A female voice this time; a little too high pitch to be actually considered an adult’s voice but not so childish. Turning to see who it was, it was a girl who was a little shorter than Ash, bright orange hair and playful dark blue eyes. Her stature was naturally small, almost childish but since she was signing up to join perhaps she wasn’t so young.
“And who’re you, lass?”
Padan asked with a skeptical eye, wondering if she really was old enough to be signing up.
“I’m Caroline Granate.”
She answered puffing up her chest to seem bigger.
Upon her introduction both Padan and Ash’s expression turned stiff. It was obvious why though.
“Ey? You have a last name so you’re part of the nobility? Wait, ‘Granate’? Isn’t that the name of that high ranking noble family?”
Padan asked, with an unsure face; almost trying to play his stereotype straight as a muscle brain. Indeed, the only people who actually had last names were those that were nobility or were granted one due to their wealth, such as rich merchants. Though such people weren’t the type to join in wars personally.
“That’s right! Be amazed since I am from the Granate dukedom and am here to be working with you low class peasants.”
“What did you say you brat?!”
Padan seemed like he wanted to fight the little girl seriously, but was interrupted by the clapping of a fourth figure. A tall, slender woman with dark red hair and a sharp azure colored gaze. Named Katy Granate, this woman also hailed from the Granate Dukedom and served as one of Xagontetia’s commanding officers. She was known to have a sharp sense of wit and thus extremely effective in battle, due to this she was able to rise through the ranks at a relatively young age. Her primary trait was her sincerity for upholding justice.
That was the information that Mordred had on this woman. To put it aptly she would be categorized as a ‘crazy’ person; the type that would refuse a bribe of even 50000 gold if offered because it would be against the law. She would not so easily be manipulated but even then she may prove to be useful due to her core beliefs.
“Leave all the fighting for the enemy. Caroline, I told you not to come. What would uncle say if he saw you trying to enlist in the military during wartime?”
Katy asked in a stern voice.
“Eh, who cares about what that corrupt old man has to say. I’m here because I want to believe in my country, just like you big sis Katy!”
She exclaimed with a hearty smile. Katy shook her head but saw the fire in Caroline’s eyes to fight for the side of justice that she herself often had. With a sigh she accepted Caroline’s efforts to enlist in the military, though unbeknownst to her, Katy would be pulling some strings so that she would be placed in a safe regiment.
After the screening process was over, in a sheer act of coincidence, Padan, Ash, Caroline and Mordred were all placed in the same company with Katy Granate as their commanding officer.
After going through official training they were all placed in barracks for their temporary stay during their time in the military. Of course Mordred couldn’t afford to stay in the barracks the entire time, that would leave Rena lonely back at home, so he created a doppelganger to replace him during training and such.
Mordred’s task in the military really wasn’t to actually join it but to observe the people within in. Especially for appropriate candidates to replace the War minister of Xagontetia. So far no individuals had shown themselves with the right aptitude to take over that position, which was slightly concerning since there was only a small window of opportunity for Mordred to execute his plans after intercepting those weapons shipment.
That being said he had decided to observe the personnel a little more to see if there was a suitable replacement.
…
At the center of the Grand Cathedral of Xagon was the Hero’s Sanctuary which in turn housed the ‘Hero’s sword’. It is said that whoever pulls out this sword would become the hero that would lead Xagontetia against the demon lord’s legion. Of course since the Hero’s Sanctuary was housed within the jurisdiction of the Church of Xagon not many people had the opportunity to even try pulling out the sword.
The reason for this was simple: the Wayfarer council did not wish for the hero to be found yet. It was very likely that the hero would become a central figure amongst the populace and a lot of the focus and power will be taken off their core members. For this reason, until they found a suitable way of manipulating the future hero they decided not to let anyone even try.
Two figures walked around the Hero’s Sanctuary and near the sacred sword. They had both already attempted their hands at trying to pull out the sword but were both rejected, much to their dismay.
In the room were the Grand Cardinal, Lazzaro Zeder and Sven Serus.
“What did you call me out here for, Cardinal? I’m sorry, I mean Grand Cardinal.”
Sven asked as he ran his finger through the blades of the hero’s sword. Small sparks of lightning arced across prompting him to pull away.
“Hmm… A few days ago a group of my men disappeared during the small demon subjugation mission I sent them on. They were by no means weak; most of them were former B or A rank Adventurers.”
“You think they were compromised? You didn’t direct them yourself did you?”
The Grand Cardinal, Lazzaro shook his head. ‘It couldn’t be’, he thought.
“No, I gave the order via proxy, so they shouldn’t even know about me. But I’m more worried about how they were taken out. Those men weren’t that weak, at the very least they were equivalent to B or A rank Adventurers.”
At that point a single person came to their mind, but Lazzaro didn’t want to believe it was true. He frowned as he tried to clear away those absurd thoughts.
“You’re thinking it too aren’t you? About the report Casec gave. There aren’t too many people in this city that could silently take down an entire B ~ A rank squad of people, much less have any reason to defend demons.”
“Just what are you trying to say.”
Lazzaro asked with a sour and displeased expression.
“You know it don’t you. ‘Morialia’, that little girl Casec talked about. If she really is interfering then you really should take her appearance a bit more seriously instead of denying her existence outright.”
“Argh, I refuse to believe that my plans are being interrupted by a small girl!”
As Lazzaro shouted, his shadows around him expanded to become bigger and more menacing. After gathering his bearings once more the shadows retracted.
“You can believe what you want, but turning a blind eye to a potential threat is idiotic. At least put up some countermeasures.”
Sven told him, also getting slightly irritated by Lazzaro’s continued stubbornness.
“Fine then, we’ll drag her out by force. If she really is helping those filthy demons then she’ll come out this time too.”
Lazzaro answered as he gave a devious smirk.
“What do you plan to do?”
Sven asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? The demons have been plaguing this city for far too long, we’ll stage an even bigger subjugation campaign than last time. This time we’ll even kill the ones who are residing on the outskirts of the city. I’ll then have my special ‘shadow agents’ to keep an eye out for her. This way we’ll both be satisfied.”
Sven gave a sigh but agreed to this idiotic plan nonetheless.
“As long as you’re taking it seriously.”
…
However little did they both know that their little mass subjugation campaign would be completely overshadowed by an even bigger event, one that would be etched into the annals of Xagontetian history.
The event known as PROJECT: Hellgate.
Rebirth Online World 