Chapter 21 *Talik*
RiP
Seeker of Silence
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*Talik*
"Now it's just a matter of time. Take it."
Talik handed Draga a scroll-wrapped letter with a gilded seal. She accepted it with a deep bow and put it in her inventory.
"Do you remember what to do?"
"Absolutely, Prophet. I will deliver it to the E-Rantel guild, and while I wait for an answer, I will meet with Gazeph Stronoff and establish friendly relations with him. If a Bone Dragon appears, destroy it with as few outside casualties as possible. Whoever summoned it, capture it at all costs, preferably alive."
Talik nodded.
"I hope for you. It's important."
Draga bowed deeply again and left.
[message]
"Marius?"
"Yes, Your Holiness. My time has come?"
"Yes. Just meet me at my temple."
"As you wish."
It took only a few minutes to get to his private quarters. Marius was already waiting at the entrance. The grotesque figure of the lich provided a wild contrast to the majestic archway of the entrance. In his hands, the lich held several thick, dark-colored folders with silver edging. At Talik's appearance, the lich bowed deeply.
"Are these folders of your research?"
"Yes, Master. The most important thing of all that has been studied."
Talik took the stack outstretched. It was rather heavy for its size. He beckoned the lich to follow him, opened the first of the folders, and glanced through them as he went. He frowned, flipped through the second, the third... He felt some sort of unnatural irritation. It was as if something flickered in his lateral vision. Something familiar and important, and at the same time forgotten and elusive.
As he entered his office, he irritably nailed this stack to his desk and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Your Holiness, have I made you angry?" The cautious baritone of the lychee sounded.
Talik slowly exhaled.
"You not. It's just that I was expecting something a little different."
"What is my mistake?"
"This one," Talik waved his palm at the stack of folders. "It's not science or research. "Necrotic energies," "soul substances," etc. Bullshit, to put it simply."
He collapsed into a chair. Marius hovered mournfully over the table.
"Marius, I do not doubt that you put a lot of effort into observing and categorizing. That part is very well done. But here are the conclusions, it's... Can you explain to me, for example, what "necrotic energy" is?"
"It is the energy coming from the world of death through every being that has lost life. Depending on the lifetime power of the deceased being..."
"That's enough. Okay, let's say the energy coming from the otherworld. How did you even determine that it existed, and even more so in this form? What metrics did you use when generating it, and with what? With your senses? Here," Talik shook one of the folders in his hand. "is a detailed description of the act of killing a living being. Knowing what the creature did when it was alive, I am willing to set aside the moral side of the question. And so, at the end of this act, "life energy" was expelled, after which "necrotic" energy began to be released. The question is, what was your measure of these energies? What was the measure of their quantity and properties? What are they, and how do they spread and accumulate?"
"I thought these things were obvious, and now I realize I was mistaken. I cannot answer the questions asked, Your Holiness. I am grateful for this criticism and regret that I wasted your time. "
"It's not that it's wasted at all. You have made many useful observations. These charts, at least. Great comparative analysis and classification of power patterns. Really well done and brings up a lot of thoughts. There's really a lot to work with here. As an engineer, I can already see some interesting things. But other than observations... You just don't have the education to do real scientific work. Yeah."
"I regret my uselessness, Your Holiness."
"And you, too. As if there's any use in having regrets. The problem is your education, or rather the lack thereof. Until we fix it, at least in the basics, there will be no work."
"Do you wish to teach me? I can't tell you how happy I would be about this opportunity."
Why shouldn't I be? I'm not much of a teacher, of course... On the other hand, if this supercomputer really wants to learn, there shouldn't be much of a problem. Unless there's a "machine uprising", but... It already happened, and I can't leave things as they are.
"It's not that I want it so much... It's okay to try. But first, let's finish the other business. About Lias. He said a lot of nice things about you as a teacher. And, by all appearances, not for nothing."
Talik flipped through the thick journal containing everything about the boy once more. Including a comparative analysis of power gain, the literature used, and the process of adapting it for "mere mortals". Through trial and error, Marius soon found his way to Lias. Among other things he literally " pumped" the guy, forcing him to exterminate the low-level undead of his own making.
"I do my best."
"Does this effort include the fact that he moved to live in the city of the living?"
"Absolutely. It's one of the strongest motivations for him to do his best in his studies."
"And at the same time, you gave an outsider access to the guild without asking me. It is not a bad thing for an outsider to see the guild from within. It's even good to learn from him how the city will be seen by outsiders. The bad thing is that I will know that the outsider is integrating into an isolated system by the fact."
"This is my miscalculation, Your Holiness. It will not happen again."
"I really hope so. Okay, what's next..."
Talik went through and thumbed through the folders. In fact, Archlich had compiled the notes perfectly. A table of contents and a statement of conclusions. Footnotes with page numbers detailing considerations and observations. Yellow paper with a greenish tint and strict black typeface carried a lot of really important things.
Talik was both relieved and apprehensive as he read the notes. Marius was aware of literally everything.
His minions, the lichs, recently assigned to the role of clerks in city services, provided exhaustive information about all the cases that passed through them. The information was systematized, classified, and sorted.
What, when, and where was going on, what was being talked about - and what was being withheld, what the residents were unaccustomed to. To summarize his observations, problems were brewing in the city.
Humans and elves were ceasing to respect the draconids. For the moment, it wasn't a problem, per se. But in the foreseeable future, if nothing was done, it could be.
Apparently, this was because the two races had representatives among the Elder Servants. And there was a great deal of importance attached to it. The Elder Servants, as the rest of the NPCs understood it, were someone close to the higher powers and represented the interests of the entire race. The draconids had no such representative. And somehow, it turned out that since they were not illuminated by the highest attention, they were not as important as the others.
Either Wilhelm missed this point or simply ignored it. Or maybe he deliberately neglected it based on the same logic. One way or another, any disputes between draconids and representatives of other races were resolved not in favor of the former.
Talik had a very good idea of how relations between nations of different "sorts" might develop. The history of the Earth had quite illustrative examples.
It was good that orcs and undead didn't bother with anything at all. Both of them didn't give a damn about the other races.
Although Talik did not want to rely entirely on this data. They were collected only in the "human" part of the city. Though it was inhabited in one way or another by representatives of all the races of the guild, humans had a serious majority.
"Yes, it's more like the real world," Talik leaned back in his chair, studying the stained glass ceiling. "It's better this way, though. A clear problem is always better than the unknown."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't bother yet. Is this an inventory of your household?"
"Yes, I suppose that's a good definition."
"Okay, I was just about to ask... Oh, I take it you made your own pudge?"
"Yes, Your Holiness. Not unlike the works of Lord Cassius, but useful."
"Kashchey yes, his build was really good... Hmm, I wonder how he would behave if he were here too."
"Is such a possibility not excluded?" Cautiously asked the archilich
"Well..." Talik thoughtfully stretched out, flipping through the pages. "I don't think you can expect any of us here at all, but you never know. Only about Kashchey, that's for sure."
"May I know why this is so?"
"He's... Hmm. He's dead. For real. A year ago... That's eight years for you."
"This is hard for me to comprehend, Your Holiness. I always thought death had no authority over the Lords. And Lord Cassius himself ruled over it... Moreover, I had the good fortune to see Lord Cassius later than the time you mentioned."
Leach was a little downcast.
Well, how to explain to him what a character on the bot is?
"It's hard to explain, Marius. In the universe, as you know it, we're really incapable of dying for good. At least, not without our will. But in our... Homeworld, we can die."
"That's how... Could I... Get the details?"
"It's a sad story, Marius. Maybe I'll tell it you someday. There are more important things right now. Is the undead you created stable?"
"To my shame, not really. At least the one based on flesh. The supposed lifespan of the Pudges is less than a month. The hounds are even less. Perhaps the problem is that they are assembled from dead bodies..."
"And you'd like to try to assemble them from the living? Forget about such things. In any case, it is highly unlikely that the result will be different."
"And what do you see as a problem?"
"Hell, it's the fact that a living body cut into pieces becomes dead and begins to decompose. If you were a muscular surgeon with the proper training and tools, this could have been avoided. Or use dead water. But if it can be found in this world, it certainly won't go into making pudges. In any case, it's enough for current needs."
"Current needs?"
"Yes. In those plains where I found trouble. There was quite a show there, and I suppose it has to do with the way you and Illadria spammed the portal interceptor. More likely, there's an outpost or fortress or something like that. Whoever is the master there has shown himself to be the enemy. Decency demands a courtesy visit, and common sense demands a study of their technology. We will not strike into the unknown with our main forces. But we must try and provoke them to show us what they can do."
"That's a delightful thought. That way we can try out my crafts. Yes."
"You made three pudges and send two of them there. Let one stay in reserve for now. Send a dozen death knights with the pudges. They're not too shabby and relatively hard to kill. And they'll need a commanding officer. There's no point in sending a Wraith. We need someone more serious..."
"I would send a vampire, Your Holiness. They are intelligent and disciplined enough not to do anything foolish. Their lineage and ambition..."
Talik was quiet, taking stock. Vampires were pretty formidable fighters for their levels. Not without their weaknesses, of course. And it would be interesting to give an NPC the initiative and see what came of it.
On the plus side, it was much easier to resurrect a vampire than a living or named unit. Even Marius himself could do it without losing any levels.
On the other hand, it's a vampire, after all...
"In theory, a vampire could lose control and create a hotbed of infection. A lot of problems, to put it simply."
"This will not happen in practice, Your Holiness. My direct authority is sufficient to prevent such a thing from happening. And if for some reason, it is not enough, I will personally destroy it. Along with the problems."
"All right. Let's do that. When will they be ready?"
"Now."
"Then, here's your task. Find the place over there where those sparks are in the sky and examine it thoroughly. If there's a fortification or something like that, grab it. If we're lucky, we'll play big fish."
"I don't fully understand the term..."
"Provoke an attack, estimate forces, add reinforcements. If the enemy adds more, we'll add more, and so on, until the limits of one side's resources are clear. In fact, the group with the vampire will act as biting bait. A small fish to which a bigger fish can bite, on which we drop an even bigger fish, and so on. All more or less serious mash-ups start with this. Well, we'll see what the results will be. Either we take the bridgehead, or we loot everything there and destroy what's left."
"I get the idea. I'll do my best."
"You may proceed."
Marius bowed out and left the office. The irritation and uneasiness did not let up.
Maybe I should cancel this "expedition. I have a bad feeling about this. On the other hand, there is no way to leave such a raid unanswered. What I don't like about it, I don't understand. Vampire? Well, in theory, he could do a lot of damage. In practice, if Marius was watching him, he wouldn't make it, even if he tried. He wouldn't be a threat to the Guild, even if he were to mutiny or get out of control. One seventy... Or maybe we shouldn't trust Marius. But even with his recognition knocked down, he's still stuck up for me. Who should I trust, anyway? Maybe there's something else at work here.
The characteristic melodic chime of "message" sounded in the head. Talik exhaled and accepted the message.
"What's the matter?"
"Your Holiness, stalker cf17. A scout reports that the orcs from the edge of the forest were attacked. The attack was repulsed, there are casualties and prisoners."
"Where were they attacked, by what forces?"
"Orc-occupied local village, first in line. The leader is Jay-Gul. An armed formation attacked. Humans, a preliminary estimate of about a hundred and sixty units."
"Locals?"
"All the signs say so."
"How far away are the next two stalkers and what are they doing?"
"Me and cf23, terrain control, forty minutes of rapid marching."
"Try a very quick march. Head straight there, and find out the details on the spot. Get all the details from the prisoners about where they came from and why they attacked."
"Roger."
Is that mean, that the other side checking me on too? My friends, you shouldn't do that. Of course, I understand everything, but for such things, I repay hard in the game. I don't want to be the perpetrator of massacres, but just watching savages from feudal society attacking MY Guild, I want even less. Want to know what a guild war is? I'll show you.
The anxiety and irritation receded, and instead came an outburst of indignation, and outrage. The feeling was so strong that it made me dizzy for a second. The first thing I wanted to do was to rip off all the available "units" and send them to destroy all life on the side from which the attackers had come. It was worth a tangible effort of will to hold on.
Bastards. Kashchey, give me strength. Like you said... To slap a girl, to send the manager to hell, to insult a friend - it may seem appropriate, only while you are angry. This is a different level, but the principle is the same. Taking revenge for a single attack with genocide is not something really worth doing. It's in the game that there is no real death, and the culprit is always unambiguous. Moreover, there is the possibility that it is a provocation to lure you out and hit you. Okay, consider it lured out. But first, calm down and figure it out... At least until details emerge. Too bad the message doesn't work with small units.
He threw his legs up on the table, interlocked his fingers, and scowled.
The first village is the eastern part of the forest, and it can be considered the border with this "empire" that Akuro and Era spoke of. Robbery can be ruled out. A hundred and fifty men, that's not a unit that can be fed by plundering. Anything is possible, but... Unlikely, in general. Then it turns out to be soldiers, and soldiers usually attack under orders. Find out who gave the order and give them a couple of flaps, and at the same time make sure it doesn't happen again. Based on the fact that they were waved off by a gang of orcs, not the most powerful formation, to put it bluntly...
[message]
"Warboss, how was your war in the woods?"
"It is no longer war, Creator. Hunting. The boyz are having fun."
"I need some of them to have fun in a different place. Come over to my place and we'll discuss the details."
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