“Incoming contacts!” shouts one of the Stalvaltan Guards equipped with a heavy shield and compact sub-machine gun. The weapon combo is easy to handle, even with his large tower shield, since it can defend him from arrows and spears, while also allowing him to fire barrages into those very same enemies.

And, since providing the firearms, Daniel has asked the soldiers of the Fievegal, and specifically the Stalvaltan elite warriors to use ‘contacts’ rather than enemies to keep anyone from firing instantly, before they’ve assessed who the newcomers are.

In this case, a veritable stampede of buckrokhs is charging up the valley road, mounted by knights with their swords already drawn. Some even have double-riders, which allows the second rider to focus solely on attack, including crossbows, or the most modern of weapons; firearms.

Though, even the Stalvaltan Guards can easily see many of the differences between the weapons the Fievegal provides and the much more simplistic single-shot weapons being employed by the East.

Captain Muindis, formerly of the advanced recon units Wyrm Eyes and Wyrm Gaze, jogs into formation as he shouts, “Fall in! Defensive line! Hold until the break line!”

“Hold!” repeat many of the soldiers, confirming they heard at least that part of the order, though the training they’ve been doing specifically with cavalries in mind is a rough gauge of whether or not the mounted soldiers intend to stop, and if they don’t, to mow them down before any of the beasts of burden can tumble into the defensive line. War buckrokhs are obviously armored across their chests and have a moderate helmet, meaning the pistol-rounds used by pistols themselves and submachine guns have a rather high chance of deflecting, rather than penetrating, and the muscular bodies of buckrokhs would be difficult for a dampened bullet that does pierce to bring down.

The rifles should have no issue, but Muindis calls out, “Dragonslayers! To the center!”

He spots Helbeit and Resken, who are knighted Guardsmen who have catapulted virtually to the highest rank and prestige thanks to the mission against Yaulwembor.

To his understanding, Aramellianna and Yanidere both pleaded with Daniel and Hekate to remove the contracts from the advanced recon unit, including Muindis, which is how he’s even able to serve to this day. Because he made several hasty decisions, including harming not only citizens of the Fievegal, but a highly-adored goblin Queen and mother of one of the two goblin princesses accompanying the delegation through a series of strange events, Aramellianna offered to punish the applicable groups by requiring them to obey any foolish commands Hekate gives, since the fox-eared sovereign of the Fievegal has a growing reputation for recklessness and immature actions. If she orders the newly formed ‘Dragonborn’ unit, which includes many of the affected Guardsmen, to wear humiliating outfits, or even to charge into a killbox, Muindis and his men are expected to obey, particularly if Hekate insists after only one question about her decision at most.

After what he is about to see, and a few other things he has heard rumors of, Aramellianna specifically granted this privilege to Hekate for a reason.

She’s too kind for her own good.

A flash of light appears just above the ground and in front of the shield wall, blinking into existence that very precocious and simultaneously foolish young woman, who seems to simply shout the word “POW!”. However, her presence alone, thanks to a goddes-like amount of mana would likely be enough, but her single-syllable cry was also magically empowered, generating a shockwave comparable to thunder striking between the Stalvaltan Guardsmen and the oncoming cavalry of Margrave Karthuodo kos Niulglodsa, given the banners being flown. Muindis doesn’t know the field commander of the Niulglodsa forces, but he is familiar with the sigils, depicting two buckrokhs pulling a castle tower up towards a standing position.

The shockwave of Hekate’s official Imperial decree of one single word halts the cavalry charge, with buckrokhs bucking and spinning, launching several riders from their saddles.

The capricious girl drops from her midair teleporting arrival to the ground. He has never seen the black-haired teen in flight, even though she has such powerful magic as to transport herself and others in a blink of light to virtually anywhere she can coordinate. Muindis witnessed this himself when she and Xyreko evacuated Erimaya during the first time the Princess of Mornistae made her way to the Citadel, only to do it again later.

With the cavalry charge halted, the Empress of the Fievegal, which officially includes the Stalvaltan Grand Duchy now, puts her hands on her hips. “Excuse me. Had a little sneeze to take care of there.”

Muindis and the other Guardsmen watch silently. Not a single one of them believes that was a mere ‘sneeze’, but it was also not even a meaningful fraction of her true power. New rumors have started that it might’ve been Hekate, in actuality, that defeated and conquered the dragons, though the tattoo was still present on Ryuogriar’s chest when he saw them the first time, since she flaunts her gratuitous bosom in order to entice Daniel. There, on her unavoidably visible chest just below her collar was ‘Daniel’, though written in a language and style few would recognize immediately.

And, among the rumors a single humble Stalvaltan Guardsman has heard, the Dragon Empresses sometimes draw the tattoo on themselves even after the magic contract was removed in order to tease their Emperor.

Regardless, Muindis needs to focus on the here and now, and presently, Hekate is facing off against the knights of Niulglodsa.

“Now then, if you don’t want to die, you’ll drop your weapons!” shouts Hekate. “We just wiped out one band of kidnassinators. I won’t let my guys be kidnassinated by you clowns.”

“We are knights of the Marquisate of Niulglodsa!” shouts the lead officer as the knights behind him try to regroup. “How dare you speak to us this way!”

“How dare I?” asks Hekate with a toothy, devious grin. Muindis wonders if he should intervene, since Hekate isn’t known for being the most… delicate when performing diplomacy. “I guess you’re either the most incompetent assassins in the world, or you’re morons. Which is it?”

“You cur! Watch your mouth! My men and I have come to aid the diplomatic envoy from the Fievegal! If you do not stand down and surrender, you will all be summarily executed!”

One of the junior officers behind the leading man tries to get his attention, which Muindis notices.

Ah, yes. I understand. Even in a dress worth more than your kingdom, she’s easy to overlook her rank. Poor, hapless fools. Be glad we’re not close enough to the Citadel for all of you to be taken captive, contracted with death conditions, and returned in shame to your territory. The Captain can’t help but laugh hollowly at his own past suffering.

Muindis also does recall the Margrave on the western border of Mornistae closest to the mountains and Mattarglos being a Marquis in rank. It’s a rather high noble rank for a ‘frontier lord’, but the peerage was granted a few generations back, and the family chose the role of defending Mornistae’s borders. The main difference between the importance of the roles for the Margrave and the Grand Duchy is that the Grand Duchy was expected to deploy the Stalvaltan Guard to any point of the kingdom, which is why they controlled a rather large central territory. Because Stalvaltan Guards are said to be able to take down dragons in much smaller numbers than a typical offensive, defending the capital was their highest priority.

Of course, like the other Stalvaltan Guards, Muindis knows that, at best, he and a few dozen well-prepared Guardsmen could take on the likes of Magnir or Roeta, who are, in old terms, ‘lesser dragons’.

For the Dragon Empresses, Neith, or even the ravenette standing between Muindis and the Niulglodsa soldiers, sheer luck and thousands of soldiers, regardless of training or creed, would be required to defeat them. At least, before the dragonslayer rifles, which Helbeit and Resken have both readied to quickly aim and fire.

“I’m genuinely curious,” starts Hekate loudly. “If all of the Niulglodsa knights were slaughtered by the bandits they came to stop, and we managed to survive, who would refute my story?”

“Ha! That’s impossible!” shouts the leading officer, and his subordinate tries more desperately, “Commander! Commander, please!” Still the Commander finishes his train of thought, “No mere handful of assassins could defeat us!” The subordinate finally yanks on the leading officer’s arm, prompting him to finally answer.

“WHAT!?” snaps the Commander.

“Helbeit, the buckrokh.”

“Yes, your Greatness,” replies the human knight without hesitation. He steps up, aiming the humongous black-steel staff. Muindis reaches towards Hekate to try to say something, but he decides against it.

Just before the subordinate can inform the Commander of his folly, the god of thunder speaks.

With just a single word, the head of one of the panicked buckrokhs belonging to the cavalry explodes, wiped from existence by a blast of metal followed by a plume of fire and smoke. Several more buckrokhs and soldiers panic as the presently-riderless steed topples lifelessly to the ground with an unceremonious ‘thud’.

The Commander of the Niulglodsa knights looks at Hekate in horror. It’s likely the firearms used by any of the easterners, which are still new to the market and hardly numerous, can only barely manage to slay a person, let alone a buckrokh. Certainly, it can’t vaporize one’s head, which is roughly the same size as a human torso.

Hekate reiterates while Helbeit reloads, and Resken steps up, in case he needs to fire as well.

“I’ve had enough of your tomnanigans and shefoolery! Drop your weapons or die. You charged at us with the apparent intention to attack right after we were attacked by what I can only assume was your first wave. Were I an eastern noble, I would already be killing you all for disrespecting me. Thankfully, I am the ever-magnanimous, beautiful, glorious, and beautiful Empress Hekate fell Lawson, sovereign of the Fievegal and the last person in the world you should have attacked.”

She gives a smirk, crossing her arms in front of her in the least Empress and least ladylike fashion possible.

The Niulglodsa knights can only stare at her in dumbfounded silence. It seems they can’t even fathom that the assassins would be handled so quickly, and they aren’t sure how to respond now that their plan is up in smoke. It’s a common thing for nobles to try to make each other owe debts of gratitude and favors. It’s not common for that plan to fail so spectacularly.

“I’m even wearing a super expensive dress I don’t even remember the name of and my tiara. You must really want to die,” jokes Hekate. She then ‘chants’ “Smokey, smokey, malted croakey… uh… Shadow clouds!”

The sky suddenly fills with ominous black clouds, horrifying not only the knights who came riding in, but some of the Stalvaltan soldiers as well.

Muindis, of course, knows Hekate alone is capable of far worse, and he glances at a few of his brothers in arms in the same situation as him.

“Those who gaze upon these clouds and show me hostility will die in three days! OooooOOOOOoooo!”

The obviously childish ‘ominous threat’ is easy to see through… for those who know Hekate even a little bit. She is arrogant and immature as a fighter because she has the power to back it up.

For the Niulglodsa Knights, seeing the ‘weather’ turn, and not the illusion spell that it is, many of them immediately throw down their weapons and hold their hands up. A few more try to turn their buckrokhs around to flee, but Neith swoops past the group and corners them with a powerful draconic roar.

That one sends a shiver down Muindis’s sides, even knowing the grey knight is on his side.

Even with training and weapons crafted to kill them, dragons are not to be messed with. For Neith’s supposed enemies, it is all but a death knell for everyone but the strongest of will convinced of their allegedly righteous mission to rescue the Fievegal from a handful of assassins.

Few enough assassins, that the Commander believed he could handle without any casualties.

Suddenly, an idea hits Muindis. Daniel has created a device to communicate over long distances instantly, allowing him to inform Lady Ahok of new designs, discuss things with the Grendel Six combat team deployed on a special mission in Fievegal territory, or even receive reports about the troops occupying/defending the Grand Duchy, depending on how much one knows about the situation surrounding the Stalvaltan territory.

Which is exactly his thought. Not everyone knows the true status of Grand Duchess Aramellianna’s allegiance. Some are intentionally meant to believe she has been coerced into cooperating and appeasing Daniel because Wenlianna is a ‘hostage’, others know she is doing business on the Fievegal’s behalf in Mattarglos, and still others know the full truth; she has decided that Daniel is a more stable and secure route of protection for not only the Stalvaltan territories, but even the kingdom of Mornistae itself, if they can settle the disagreements.

Hekate obviously has little regard for her image, perfectly content to appear as a savage or barbarian who came into unfathomable power and wields it primarily to isolate herself from her enemies, only to have been attacked on multiple occasions and near-effortlessly driven all attacks back with immense firepower.

Rikuto’s campaign against the Fievegal is, according to information passed down the chain, due to a disagreement about a specific weapon Daniel is capable of producing, but exactly which one is a mystery to even the highest ranking people Muindis can probe for information. That said, it almost certainly has something to do with what Erimaya learned that caused her to return to the Fievegal a second time. There is something much worse than the dragons or Daniel’s firearms that the Fievegal is keeping hidden, but it’s far above Muindis’ pay grade.

For this situation at hand, he takes a deep breath. He’ll have to commit if he’s going to accomplish what he needs to.

“GAH! The Curse! Blagaha!” Muindis suddenly cries out, clutching his chest as he stumbles forward, doing his best to emulate some sort of generalized pain in his torso, but also maybe his whole body. “The curse is activating! My eyes! My eyes are throbbing! Gaaaaahhhh!” He spits out his saliva onto his chin, doing his best to make his act convincing. He’s not sure what he’s trying to pretend to be, other than possessed by a curse as far as old legends and stories describe the phenomenon. He starts shaking as he stumbles, reaching for his sword as if he can’t control himself. “I can’t… stop myself! Run! No, wait! I ran! I… Glablagha! H-Help… Me!”

He acts as inhuman as he can, twitching and hanging his arms and head at weird and unnatural angles. He is hopeful that he’s succeeding when some of the Niulglodsa knights begin complaining and murmuring amongst themselves, retreating away from him even though several yards are between him and the closest cavalryman.

Something that has always made Muindis proud of being part of the Stalvaltan Guard, though, is the fact that he can always rely on his brothers and sisters in arms to have his back.

Several others suddenly cry out, “No! Gah! Why! I… I can’t… resist!” “Someone! Save me from this curse!” “The Raven Black Empress…! She… She is the master of… all!”

That last one sounded a little more like a cult praise, which isn’t so much a surprise as uncomfortable. Muindis knows there is no small portion of the Stalvaltan Guard and general soldiers that admire Hekate almost to an obsession level. Some collect the emblems of the Fievegal, since it’s widely, and correctly, believed that the emblem of the Fievegal, which depicts the silhouette of a girl with triangular protrusions from her head and an obvious bushy tail in a proud pose, pretty easily recognizable as one she made in just a few minutes. Her sheer power is easy to simply say, ‘to hell with it’, and begin worshipping her, since she might as well be a goddess even to the formidable Stalvaltan Guards, but unlike a typical god or goddess, Hekate will actually appear on the battlefield and defend her allies.

Superstitions about a real person aside, the Stalvaltan guardsmen begin stumbling forward ‘against their will’, ‘compelled’ by the blackened sky and the ‘curse’ to lumber forward like possessed vassals of evil hell-spawn. It might not do any favors for Hekate’s image as a ruler, but Muindis just so happens to notice a somewhat surprised smirk capped with a sparkle in the eyes of the Empress in question.

She may be the most unrefined ruler Muindis has ever seen, but she’s far from the worst. She might even be closer to the best than not.

Regardless, the horde of ‘cursed men’ lumbers forward with their weapons drawn, pleading with the Niulglodsa knights to surrender peacefully and apologize, lest they meet the same fate.

Since Muindis was once magically contracted to the Fievegal, he’s technically using a possible scenario for what he and his comrades are doing. One of the Guardsmen, so committed to his bit, even feigns a fight with himself where he wrestles his own arm as he spits and growls like a feral beast, toppling to the ground.

It’s actually more difficult to resist the urge to laugh at what they’re all doing than to keep the nickelodeon skit going. A few of the men double over or collapse to their hands and knees, coughing to hide their laughter, while still more delve ever deeper into their roles, calling for brains and ‘chanting’ in gibberish language as if to curse the opposing knights.

Hekate calls out, “Surrender now, and I’ll call off my men.” She gestures proudly at her ‘mindless drones’, adding, “If you don’t, you’ll become my unwilling minions. And just ask these fine gentlemen. I’ll find your families and give them what they deserve. Mwahahahahahaha!”

Muindis doesn’t know about ‘deserve’, but he can say Hekate, or at the very least, the Fievegal, will somehow identify and find the families of those she choses. In the case of Muindis and his comrades of the failed rescue missions for the otherworlder who wasn’t imprisoned, the Fievegal directly contacted the soldiers’ families and asked them if they were willing to allow their husbands, brothers, fathers, and sons to serve the Fievegal for the rest of their lives.

It was relatively split, with Muindis’s family initially objecting, which translated to his family loving him very much in the eyes of the Fievegal’s upper-elite. So, they were reinstated and immediately granted an enlistment bonus, as well as a ‘Fievegal One-Time Insurance Plan’, though the details are a little scarce. It took some digging, and one of the guys managed to bribe one of the Ladies in Waiting to reveal that it’s a one-time guarantee that, if the soldier falls in battle in service to the Fievegal, they will be revived with special magic and honorably retired from service with a pension collectable by themselves or their families for the next one hundred years.

Knowing what he knows now, the Ladies in waiting were specifically allowed to divulge that information, so long as the fee was high enough and that they divulged who was told to the Fievegal’s upper elites. The man who obtained the information was not reprimanded nor punished in any way. It was more like a marker on his file to see what he would do with that information, like a test.

Daniel comes from a world far ahead of Zenkon in many ways, so he has many small tests he employs to see what kind of people he’s dealing with. And, even then, it’s unclear what the outcomes are most of the time.

Only in situations such as greedier families happily selling out their sons and daughters did the Fievegal openly snub the families, and instead, focus on the wants of the Stalvaltan soldiers who had a magical contract.

All of that pondering to say that Muindis is relatively content to be one of Hekate’s ‘minions’, if it means the Stalvaltan Grand Duchy to which he was originally pledged continues on as it had been, and Muindis’ own family can live a comfortable life.

He might strive for another child or two, now that he has a relatively stable lifestyle where his own Empresses and Emperor will intervene to minimize casualties with their incomparable individual power.

Muindis is no fool, of course. He may have some obscure clause that means he might get a second chance at life as long as he’s serving the Fievegal loyally, but he knows no power in the world can save everyone from everything. Life is a constantly-shifting balance between successes and failures. Not even the entire might of the Fievegal can truly replace the Creator. Death may be delayed by sorcery of the Fievegal, but it can never truly be stopped. Otherwise, the vile dragon lord before Daniel would likely still be alive.

The last vestiges of pride and resistance evaporate from the oncoming cavalry, and they throw down their weapons, leaving only the Commander holding his. He realizes slowly that everyone else has already surrendered as the hapless drones lumber towards him, and he finally grits his teeth. “W-We’re not your enemies.”

“Too late for that,” replies Hekate. “You charged at us with the intent to attack. That’s how we saw it. You’re lucky I didn’t have them unleash a full barrage on you. Would you like a brief demonstration of how quickly you would have died?”

Hekate waves her hand towards the sky, and Muindis is the quickest to understand. He groans, “To the sky…” He aims his semi-automatic rifle upwards, and the others follow suit, from shield-bearing ‘tank’ roles, to pure mage-roles. All of them aim their firearms to the sky and fire in a relatively synchronous burst.

Hekate grins and gestures her arms out widely. “And, that’s it. You would all be dead already. But, I am Hekate fell Lawson, the Empress of the Fievegal. I am the epitome of merciless strength and boundless mercy. These men and their families were spared by my grace. The only cost of their lives was to carry out my will at my whim. Mwahahahaha!”

Muindis isn’t sure if his relatively new Empress is trying to come across as evil, but she certainly makes it easy to believe that she is. She doesn’t slaughter her foes without warning, which she has had ample opportunity to do so, nor does she make her contracted servants, who are extremely few in number, perform any degrading or dangerous tasks against their will.

In fact, Hekate was the first and foremost to ask for volunteers to protect the delegation, which saw a lot of hands raised regardless of where the loyalties are meant to lie. The Stalvaltan Grand Duchy has pledged itself to the Fievegal and prospered for it. Who is a lowly seamstress’s son to question that?

The Commander of the Niulglodsa finally drops his sword to the ground and holds his hands up. The Fievegal’s envoy is known to have been arriving, and yet, the cavalry of the Niulglodsa knights came charging at full tilt without knowing the situation. They then proceeded to insult the Empress of the Fievegal, the one person who should be the most recognizable person in the Fievegal’s leadership. Hekate resembles none of the known races for any intel available to the eastern kingdoms. She could pass for a shenwulf or half-shenwulf at a glance, but her tail and ears are much bigger proportionally than even the most prestigious full-blooded shenwulf families. It would be a stretch to try to classify her as a gatonine, and even more so as a dattakorien. There are myths of a fox-like people residing on an island further west than the edge of the western half of the continent, but Muindis knows the truth, of course. Hekate is the last living member of the ancient and legendary feldrok race, said to be the most powerful race in the world, and the symbol of the Stalvaltan sigil.

Even the Strylak is said to have avoided the feldroks, which might be why the Grand Zenkon Empire never attacked the Citadel before Daniel took over; the Strylak Empire, as it’s sometimes nicknamed for its massive size and all-reaching grasp, holding back against the Empire of the Feldroks, who strangely kept to themselves rather than conquering the whole world.

Hekate is a fledgling, or even a hatchling in comparison, forging her own path and making her name for herself as one-of-a-kind, rather than fitting into the orthodox.

“You made a wise choice, Commander.” Hekate waves her hand, and the ‘possessed soldiers’  of the Stalvaltan Guard seem to unanimously come to a stop. Those that assumed postures other than standing climb to their feet, and they all return to a normal standing posture as the sky clears.

Hekate then casts a new spell with a devilish-sounding chant. “Come forth, Rawful-lawl of the Lamao!”

New clouds appear with more vibrant colors, and shapes that could be letters appear. The letters are a language most people of this world are not familiar with.

Again, Muindis recognizes several of the letters from a very-distinct and specific tattoo that is identical to the one he bore temporarily, save for the name scrawled across the tattoo.

If Muindis had to guess, it’s a language from a completely different world, though the shapes that Muindis could only draw as “[ROFL LMAO]” are alien to the Stalvaltan soldier.

“Heh heh heh! Behold the divine words of the gods,” remarks Hekate proudly. “It says ‘You Lose’. Hahahahahaha!”

The Commander sucks his teeth, but it’s immensely evident that the Niulglodsa knights are completely outmatched, and they made a faux pas by rushing forward without thinking. Hekate’s point that the story will be whatever she declares it to be if no one else can refute has likely rattled all of them, in spite of those who tried to hang on to their pride a little longer, only to surrender seconds later.

“Now. dismount your buckrokhs. We’ll be confiscating them along with all of your weapons as a penalty for threatening us.”

“We weren’t threatening you!” screams the Commander.

However, the raven-haired empress is not easily bested with words, even if she isn’t always the most articulate person. “‘You cur! Watch your mouth! My men and I have come to aid the diplomatic envoy from the Fievegal! If you do not stand down and surrender, you will all be summarily executed!’ Those were your words, Commander. Said directly to me, the Empress of the most powerful nation on the continent. The whole ‘summarily executed’ part sounded pretty convincing as a threat to me.”

The Commander flinches, holding his tongue this time. Over half of his troops have obeyed the commands, carefully dismounting the buckrokhs and keeping their hands in the air. Some even declare without being asked, “W-We were just following orders.”

One of the Stalvaltan Guards asks a little impudently, as he stands alongside Hekate, towering over her respectively, but not overshadowing her presence, “And what orders were those? We didn’t send any riders for assistance from Castle Northwall. Margrave Niulglodsa doesn’t have the authority to operate in this region without a letter of marque from the Empire or Mattarglos. So, let’s see it.”

This causes the Commander to suck his teeth and grip the reins of his saddle, cornered. It’s obvious he doesn’t have legal authorization from either of the military authorities that have jurisdiction over the region between Castle Northwall and Fort Peony. One of his subordinates tries to nervously reply, “I-It was an emergency, so we were…”

“Right. How were you alerted it was an emergency?” reiterates Muindis. “We sent no messages nor flares. The situation was under control and not visible to anyone from the Fort. So, unless you knew it was going to occur…”

“That’s not true!” shouts the Commander.

“Then, I’m sure whoever gave you the orders to deploy will be happy to accept responsibility for you charging our defensive line after we already had the situation under control. Of course, long before you are able to speak to anyone outside of the area. I suggest you surrender, as her Imperial Greatness, the Invincible Empress of the Moon, is being generous given the blatant disrespect you and your men showed. The fact that you are still standing instead of kneeling before an Imperial Sovereign is disgraceful.”

Hekate stands proud, happy to hear the words being said. Muindis is aware of the group that approached him from behind to check on the situation. Daniel, Gold, the goblin Princesses, Vaergraes, and Aoloan have rejoined the main group, and Roeta is standing between the enemies and Daniel. The human Emperor is wearing his armor with the exception of his helmet, and he’s carrying the tiny princesses, so he is a vulnerable target.

Assuming anyone could launch an attack.

“Sir Resken, take aim at the Commander’s buckrokh. If he attempts anything other than dismounting, kindly assist him in dismounting his steed.”

“As you wish, your Greatness!” shouts Resken proudly, aiming his humongous rifle at the lead buckrokh. Almost as if sensing the danger, the beast snorts and stutter-steps sideways as the Commander tries to keep it steady.

Muindis would be lying if he said he wasn’t envious of Helbeit and Resken. They are the only two Stalvaltan Knights entrusted with the Fievegal’s most powerful soldier-borne weapons, the ‘Dragonslayers’, which is both the name of the weapons and the titles granted to the two knights by even the Dragon Empresses themselves. The two don’t have to boast, since brandishing the weapons is bragging enough.

And, even after his first shot, Helbeit is already reloaded and ready to fire again at a moment’s notice.

“So, what’ll it be, cowards-I-mean-’knights’ of Niulglodsa?” taunts Hekate. “Arrested for attacking a diplomatic envoy, or killed to the last man by bandits?”

It’s likely needless to say which option the knights finally choose.

***