King Oliver Oglivarch was well aware of his reputation among the citizens of his kingdom. He was known as one of the most powerful kings they’d ever had and was expected to reach level 100 and ultimately join their pantheon. It was common knowledge that his first pillar, observation, made him a practically all-knowing master of the game, one whom there was no point in crossing.
However, he knew that his abilities did not make him omniscient. He was just very good at monitoring events from afar. The problem inherent in his ability was that he needed to know where to look. Even then, that was all he could do… look. To affect anything, he needs to physically take action. And for that, he developed agents… invisible hands that he could use to steer his kingdom in the direction he wanted.
In Dorchester, that invisible hand was Mage-adept Newbanks. He’d sent her there to manipulate events and keep an eye on things he didn’t have the time or patience to pay attention to.
“Your majesty, I don’t know how, but I believe the evaluators have discovered that I am working for you,” she said quietly, sounding utterly defeated by her many recent failures.
The king stood in his rooms, projecting himself through a communications relay directly into her private room in Dorchester’s Tower of Magic on the other side of the kingdom. He kept his expression calm and supportive as he looked down on her kneeling before him.
It was a delicate process to train agents like her. He needed to encourage her drive while ensuring that she didn’t take too much initiative. She was close to breaking, and one wrong word could render her useless to him.
Keeping voice calm, he replied, “They are no longer evaluators, they have left their ties to the Royal Academy behind and are now wholly dedicated to House Walker. You do not need to worry about them. While they know that you are working for someone outside Dorchester, they do not know who it is. As long as you keep to the tasks that I’ve given you, they won’t care enough about you to interfere.”
Grimacing in annoyance, she replied, “Yes, your majesty. However, I’m sorry to report that I’ve been unable to stop the local general’s execution. The grandmaster of the local order of the Knights of Oglivarch is being particularly vengeful for some reason. He will not allow General Branson to leave the city.”
The king, sounding kind and gentle, replied, “I know. You were not meant to succeed. You were merely meant to make the man question his resolve. In that, you have succeeded.”
Frowning in confusion, Mage-adept Newbanks bit back her reply. Even from the capital, he could see her turbulent emotions through the scry he was using to observe her while his physical attention remained on his connection to her room through the communications link.
“It’s alright. Ask the question you need answered,” he told her gently, mindful of the fact that she was nearing her breaking point.
After taking a deep breath, she looked up from her knees and gazed into the eyes of the king of Oglivarch. “Your majesty, if you already know everything, and you already know how all of this is going to play out, then why am I here? Of what use am I to you?”
Before he could respond, she continued, slowly beginning to rant. “I’ve failed to keep the faith district focused on the narrative you wanted. The pressure from the nobles on House Walker is all but negated by the shrewd business ties that House Verena is developing, and Lord Walker has successfully locked in his image as a talented but unimportant commoner turned noble. Even his status as a unique hasn’t been enough to incite the kind of blind loyalty you requested me to build for him. Granted everyone believes that he’ll at some point become powerful, but no one expects him to save the city all on his own. I’ve failed in almost every task you’ve asked of me!”
The king began to chuckle, skillfully modulating his tone to express a sense of fondness and support for the woman while avoiding even a hint of mockery. “You haven’t failed me. You’ve done exactly as I asked and steered events directly where I wanted them to go. Everything I’ve asked you to do was meant to serve another purpose than what you probably think it was. For example, the general. He was never meant to leave Dorchester alive. The point of procuring voices in the ear of the grandmaster, asking for the general to be sent off to the frontlines of the war with Islangur as a penance for his failure was only needed to test and refine the grandmaster’s resolve. Grandmaster Lancel has been too lax in his duty. By forcing him to take a firmer hand on things, he’ll be more motivated to involve himself in the coming conflicts that Dorchester will have to face. There are instances where someone of his level can intervene in local affairs, and he needed to be primed in order to be ready to seize such opportunities.”
Mage-adept Newbanks wasn’t unfamiliar with the tactics of manipulation, and she could understand in theory what the king was talking about. However, she couldn’t grasp the point of what the king was trying to accomplish through her continued failures.
“Remember, your ultimate goal in Dorchester is to ensure that the city survives. We’re fighting against its fate, and each of your actions is meant to alter the course of the players that will be at the center of events in the future. It was never about the plans themselves, but how the reactions to them shaped the people involved,” he said softly, making it clear that she was serving his ultimate purpose.
Seeing that she was beginning to understand her part in his plans, he firmed his voice and said, “I never required you to be there to monitor events. I could do that from here. There is nothing in my kingdom that is outside my power to know. You’re there to act as my lever, so that I may shift the future events toward an outcome that serves my greater purpose. Dorchester is just a lever itself, which I’m using to reform the Tower of Fate… among other things. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
While she knew that one of the central tenets of the kingdom was to allow its people to find their own paths, she knew it wasn’t her place to question the morality of her king. Nodding in acceptance, she replied, “Yes, your majesty. I understand and obey. What would you have me do next?”
—--
The room they were using for their meeting had reached capacity, each of the chairs having been filled. Nero had to wonder if someone had already known how many people and dwarves would end up showing up.
After Archmage Jennings’ declaration about the kingdom’s non-interference policy, the mood had turned particularly sour. None of the humans wanted to contradict him, while the dwarves continued to mock them for their idiocy. The conversation getting more and more heated. Throughout it all, Nero kept his mouth shut. He could tell that the situation was getting out of control, and he questioned whether or not it was his place to get involved.
The kingdom had practically developed a religious doctrine about letting its people face their challenges on their own, and he could tell that it would be pointless to argue with them about it. What he could do was get them to stop arguing about it and instead focus on what mattered.
Raising his voice to interrupt the ongoing argument, he said, “Everybody shut up for a second! Whether or not the capital knew about the kobalds doesn’t matter at this point. What matters now is what we’re going to do about it. So how about we focus on that!”
Both the dwarves and humans piped down, silently agreeing to let the matter drop for the moment.
Grandmaster Lancel, his impressive size overfilling his side of the table, pointed at the holographic map the dwarves had left up, and asked, “How accurate is this?”
The dwarven king, Mavros Mithrilstrike, replied somewhat offended by the question, “As accurate as we could make it! While we can’t know exactly what is happening inside those areas under their control, we’re able to know they’re there.”
Turning to Archmage Jennings, Grandmaster Lancel asked, “And the local Tower of Magic cannot aid us in refining this at all? Is there really nothing you can do to aid them in their efforts to pierce the kobald illusions?”
Archmage Jennings looked surprisingly sympathetic when he replied, “I’m sorry, but no. As best I can guess, the mages here will not be able to counter the kobald’s defensive techniques anytime soon. And, to be fair, even if I did help, which I can’t, we would not be able to see everything. While it’s true that the kingdom has mastered the techniques required to pierce the kobald ‘illusions’ as you call them, the deeper areas have been completely shielded.”
Nero, listening closely, noted that the archmage hinted at the fact that not even he knew what was down there.
Commander Dahl gritted his teeth and said, “We need that mountain city, and we need it now. We’re still receiving an influx of citizens fleeing their villages and towns in the face of the growing monster numbers due to the density shift. Without a place to put them, and the underground fields to work, our space and supplies will soon run out. Regardless of what’s down there waiting for us, we have to act.”
Archmage Jennings replied quickly, “I’m not saying you shouldn’t. I’m just saying that there is nothing the Tower of Magic can do in the short term to aid you aside from fighting alongside the army. Even then, I doubt the mages here would be of much help to you.”
Mavros, more than a little annoyed at how unprepared he’d found the humans hopped off his chair. The table came up practically to his chest, somewhat ruining the intimidating effect he was probably hoping for.
“Well, you all seem to have quite the problem on your hands. I’ll be taking my people to my mountain and beginning our work. If ye manage to survive, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other in the future. Good luck to ye,” he said firmly while gesturing for his fellow dwarves to follow him out.
Like a light bulb turning off, the hologram hovering over the table vanished. Muttering amongst themselves about the stupid humans being doomed, they made their way out of the room without even bothering to say goodbye. Nero privately took a moment to admire their style. The king hadn’t even offered him a parting head nod… it was a boss exit.
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Grandmaster Lancel ignored them, already turning to Commander Dahl before they even left the room. “Bring up what maps of the mountain city we do have. And show me your deployment plan.”
Gesturing to his aid, Commander Dahl had the woman manipulate the table to bring up another hologram. “While we can’t know how much the kobalds have changed things, we’ve overlaid our historical maps with what little information we have. The first few levels both in the upper city and below should be accurate. Our forces have successfully reached the first chamber and are currently working toward pushing out the kobalds. The fighting isn’t all that intense and I think we should have a first foothold in place by the end of the day. We intend to focus on cutting off the upper floors of the city and then working on clearing them out with hunter teams. Considering how little information we have on what we’ll find, our specific plans remain fluid.”
Grandmaster Lancel nodded in understanding as he studied the hologram, reaching out to manipulate it to focus on the section in the middle. Everyone at the table watched as the hologram zoomed in on the various connections between the upper floors and the first massive underground chamber. While there were many rooms and caverns, there were a limited number of central tunnels that connected the upper city to the lower one. If they could control them, the upper city would essentially be cut off from any kobald reinforcements.
Cathleen joined the conversation by saying, “I’m assuming you intended to deploy House Walker as one of the hunter teams being sent into the upper floors?”
Nodding, Commander Dahl replied, “Yes, I think considering the make-up of your forces, that would make sense. The forward lines need soldiers and people willing to follow orders. I’d rather have you and yours unleashed in an area that takes advantage of your isolated command and control than having to work around it.”
Nero, out of the corner of his eye saw Archmage Jennings smile, as if everything being said was going according to his plan. Not knowing whether or not that was a good thing, he once again chose to keep his mouth shut.
Knight Angleton pointed at the upper city and said, “I agree, our forces number over 300, and can easily be split up into hunter teams. We can deploy from here, and then spread out, clearing the kobalds as we go. I’m assuming you’ll be sending reserve forces to reinforce the levels we’ll be clearing?”
Grandmaster Lancel added, “Be sure to deploy our own forces from here and here to cut off any chance of the kobalds gathering in force.” While speaking, he manipulated the hologram to show the areas he was speaking about.
Nero watched closely as the military types got into the specifics. Meanwhile, his mind wandered onto the bigger picture. Even if the army ended up successfully clearing out the mountain city, and that was a big IF, then they’d end up having to place a lot of soldiers along the routes to the other kobald cities the little bastards had sneakily built up. The whole point of taking over the mountain city had been to remove the problem of having an enemy at Dorchester’s back. Yes, they needed the space for the people fleeing the density shift, and the underground fields for food, but that had always been a secondary concern to an army of kobalds hiding under their feet.
Even if everything went perfectly, and they successfully took the mountain city, they’d still be right back where they started… the kobald threat not having been removed.
Thinking back to how many kobald cities were displayed on the hologram the dwarves had shown them, Nero wondered if the kobalds would even care if the humans took over the mountain city. If they were lucky, the kobalds might cut their losses and just let them have it.
Mentally kicking himself, Nero doubted that they would be that lucky.
Clenching his fists under the table, he felt the unmistakable desire to stop talking about this and just get out there. While all of this theory-crafting and tactics were probably important, it wasn’t really his area. He had zero contributions to make to the conversation.
Reaching out with his essence field, he sent a private connection request to the archmage, bypassing the local Though Hub entirely.
Feeling the connection established as the archmage continued to feign interest in the conversation going on around them, Nero felt the man’s presence appear in his mind. While not exactly oppressive, Nero could feel the old mage’s power dwarfing him.
“Yes, Nero. What can I do for you?” Archmage Jennings asked softly.
Trying to keep his feelings hidden from the man, Nero replied, “I just wanted to touch base with you and clarify a few things. You said that the capital knew about the kobalds, right? Well, I wanted to know how. Also, I wanted to ask you about your plans to reform the local mage tower, which I assume you have.”
Mentally chuckling at Nero’s audacity, Jennings replied, “Well, let’s start with how the capital knew about the kobalds. Like all cities, Dorchester is monitored from the central scrying towers in the capital. The network of towers can be harnessed into relays to send information to the capital from all over the kingdom. While the capital could scry on every inch of the kingdom itself, it doesn’t usually bother. Yet, the information received from each city is still recorded in the central repository. That data is naturally filtered through our tower and analyzed before storage. Many years ago, the kobald infestation in the mountain city was discovered hidden within some of the data we had received from Dorchester’s Tower of Magic.”
Nero tried to keep the frown off his face as he pretended to listen to the military types argue about troop placement and tiered asset distribution.
“And you all didn’t bother to tell the locals who missed it because you wanted them to learn from their mistakes? Couldn’t you have just offered them a hint or something?” he asked, annoyed at their callousness.
“Nero, every city has to face its challenges. Dorchester isn’t any different than anywhere else. Had the mages here been paying attention, they would have caught it. Looking more deeply at the records, I discovered that the mages at the capital even believed for a while that House Dorchen was aware of the threat. They were building up quite a little army, and it seemed likely that they were working toward dealing with the problem on their own. Had they been successful, they would have massively increased their position on the local leaderboards. Alas, they weren’t interested in the kobalds, but were instead preparing for their little noble war with the Cosgraves,” he said sadly.
Nero asked, “And when you all realized what they were really doing? You still didn’t get involved? I still don’t understand how a coup like that isn’t against the rules or something.”
Jennings replied quickly, sounding almost amused, “Not at all! Local politics and control is a matter for cities themselves to decide… for the most part. The only reason the Populators ended up being sent was due to the fact that House Dorchen was secretly building weapons for the Islangurs in the south, violating kingdom law. It was treason against the kingdom that doomed House Dorchen, not against the city of Dorchester.”
Nero, somewhat understanding what he was getting at, replied, “And you guys with your super secret scrying ability didn’t know about what they were doing?”
“No, the mages in the capital responsible for watching over Dorchester hadn’t caught on to that fact. They assumed the weapons factories House Dorchen had secretly built were to supply their own forces for the noble war. No one bothered to look too closely at what they were doing. It’s implausible to expect the mages to monitor everything,” he said.
Nero then asked, “And now that the locals know about the kobalds, you guys still aren’t going to help them? Even sending a few mages who could teach them how to pierce the illusions would be enough to save countless lives. Why do they have to do it on their own? What’s the point?”
“To allow them to earn their levels. If more powerful and knowledgeable mages from the capital handle everything for them, then their progress will be stunted. If the local forces manage to survive, they’ll grow powerful enough to handle the density shift and the long-term war with the kobalds that will inevitably follow after retaking the mountain city. Adversity leads to strength just as surely as coddling leads to weakness,” Archmage Jennings replied sagely.
Done talking about this crap, Nero replied, “Well, fine. We’ll just do it ourselves. I get your point, but I still think you guys are being assholes. I’m sure you’ve got a plan to slowly teach the local mages not to suck, but I don’t want to hear about it anymore. I’m just going to assume that you know what you’re doing, and let you do you.”
Somewhat sarcastically, Archmage Jennings replied, “Thank you, and I do. Now, is there anything else you’d like to discuss?”
Annoyed at the old man’s tone, Nero replied, “Yes, as a matter of fact, there is, smartass. I want to know where you get off-”
Pulled out of his conversation by Cathleen swatting his shoulder. Nero turned to look at her with confusion.
“Well?” she asked.
Nero replied, “Well, what?”
Nick, seated two seats away from him, replied for her, “The grandmaster asked you a question.”
Nero, turning to look at the giant of a man seated on the other side of the table replied, “Oh, sorry. I was too focused on trying to memorize the layout of the mountain. What did you want to ask me?”
The grandmaster, looking rather unhappy with Nero’s flippant tone, replied, “I wished to know if you had any thoughts about our deployment plan for your house.”
Glancing at Cathleen, who was seated next to him, Nero noted the restrained fury in her essence field which was nearly warping the ether with its potency.
Turning back to the grandmaster, he replied with a smile, “Nope. I’m good with the plan. Go in, clear out the upper city, and come back for cake and congratulations. Sounds good to me… can’t wait.”
Nero felt Archmage Jennings cut the connection he’d had with him sharply. The sensation of the man’s mind abruptly shutting off nearly made him wince, but he managed to keep the awkward smile he had on his face.
“My only question is why we’re still here talking about this. Let’s get our asses in gear and go kill some kobalds. We have a city to clear out,” he declared firmly, trying to sound as heroic and upstanding as possible.
Unfortunately for him, Nero hadn’t put much effort into managing his essence field, and everyone in the room could tell that he was just bored and a little hungry. His essence field’s strength had turned him into a broadcaster for his emotions, and unless he trained a bit more on his passive suppression, he’d continue to be an open book for anyone capable of reading him.
Standing up from the table, Commander Dahl said firmly, “Very well. You have your deployment orders. I expect House Walker to be at the mountain gate by 11. Knight Angleton knows the procedures. Fight well, and good luck.”
The meeting ended in silence, everyone filing out of the room. After being quickly shuffled out of the command center, Nero broke the tense silence that they’d all been suffering through the moment he hopped in the cab.
“So, that went well, huh? Ready to do our part for Dorchester?” he asked with a grin.
Everyone in the cab, Nick and Vera included looked at him with blank stares making it clear that he had embarrassed himself and everyone who knew him.
Turning away from the glares, he looked out through the window and said dismissively, “I get it, you’re tired. I feel ya. That meeting sucked. But hey, we’ll soon be fighting clone warrior lizards in an abandoned mountain city built by your forefathers, so we’ll be getting all the excitement we can handle soon enough.” With a grin, he added, “House Walker is going to war… how cool is that!”
