V1 C7 - The Hierophant of Stonefall

Stonefall was one of five cities of the Holy Empire of Themis and was home to half a million people.

Located in the northern part of the Empire, it had a large army stationed there at all times as a deterrent to their neighbours in the north.

The city was surrounded by tall, white stone walls that were made from rocks mined from the cliffs at the city’s rear which served as a natural, impenetrable barrier.

Stonefall had seven main gates, but only a handful of people could freely move through all of them.

Four were in the poorest parts of the city where the majority of the workers lived; two led into the colourful and vibrant merchant’s district in the east. The final gate in the south-west led into the White Manor district where the nobles lived.

The district earned its name because the stones used to make its houses were the same that were used for the walls, though they were more cleanly cut and beautiful to look at.

In the very heart of the city was the great Saint Theia Cathedral, built four hundred and ten years ago to mark the end of the War of Unification when the Holy Empire was formed.

Just a few hundred metres from there was The Hierophant’s Delight, a large tavern in the merchant’s district that, thanks to Mania’s magic, had recently come under new management.

After Mímir's in-depth research into the city’s commerce, trade and footfall, he decided to buy the Hierophant for two main reasons.

The first was its location.

It was the closest business they could buy to the centre of Stonefall, giving them easy access to every district in the city.

The second was that Mímir knew it’d be a good place to gather information.

Whispers, rumours and drunken outbursts could provide them with new intelligence that could prove useful to the Dark Lord’s plans.

For just ten thousand Rhams, the gold currency of the Holy Empire, it was bought at a twelfth of the actual market price; to the outside world, Mímir had become the new owner with his wife, Mania.

However, despite intending to run a business with just the two of them, they soon realised that they needed more help from the castle to run the tavern. So, they ended up bringing two butlers and three maids to help run the kitchen and front of house, and six Machai and three Ravens as extra security, though they stayed out of sight.

The Machai stayed in the Hierophant’s basement, waiting for their time to act, whereas the Ravens were spread around.

One was hidden in the shadows in the front of the house, observing and listening to everything that occurred inside the tavern’s walls, whilst the other two were on other assignments in the city.

Further, whenever one of the servants was on break, Mímir asked them to venture into local bookstores for him and purchase a wide variety of books for him to study. He wanted everything from world history and maps, to travel guides and newspapers.

The more he could learn, the better he could serve the Demon Emperor.

However, because they were very busy during the day, Mímir rarely had the chance to study what they bought, so he made sure to do a few hours a night before falling asleep.

During her breaks, Mania would teleport back to the castle to train Hilda, though she refused to ever talk to Mímir about how she was training her.

Just before their third day of business, Mímir called Mania to his office to talk.

“What did you want to speak to me about?” Mania huffed, a hand on her hip.

In order to better blend in with the city folk, Mania was currently dressed in a sbarmaid’s outfit and had used her magic to alter her appearance so she appeared to be a brunette with blue eyes. Beneath her regular clothes were her actual clothes and weapons, just in case a situation arose that required her to fight.

Mímir was dressed smartly, reflecting the visage of a wealthy merchant, with a smart white shirt, black trousers and he had given himself blonde hair and green eyes. Unlike Mania however, Mímir’s clothing and appearance was an illusion in its entirety.

“It’s about your charm magic, specifically how it helped us acquire the Hierophant. There could be complications furth-”

“Are you insulting my abilities, Mímir? My magic isn’t so weak that mere humans could-”

“That’s not what I’m saying. However, should word spread that we only paid ten thousand Rhams for this place, people will get suspicious.”

Mania snorted. “What? A man’s never given a woman something for cheap just because she’s pretty?” Mania grinned at Mímir's lack of amusement. “Don’t worry about it. I made sure that they wouldn’t be able to tell anyone the actual amount of money they got. In their minds, they were paid the right price and that’s all they’ll ever say. See? Nothing to worry about.”

“Unless someone from the merchant’s guild decides to spy on them and find out just how much money they got for it.”

Mania clicked her tongue. “Alright, I get what you’re saying. You could just come out and say it straight to me, you know? Should I just kill them?”

“No. I will simply have a Raven observe them for the time being and have any agents that are sent to dig up information turn up dead in a ditch on the other side of the city.”

Mania’s smile returned. “Try not to screw up and leave a trail of bodies to us.”

Mímir narrowed his eyes. “I won’t, Mania. You do remember what we three generals discussed previously in private, correct?”

“I know, I know. If we keep fighting, we’ll just get in the way of Master’s plans, but.” She smiled smugly. “I like being special to the Dark Lord.”

“You feel special just because you haven’t disappointed him yet?”

“I want to be useful to him, but I also don’t want to let him down, and, if I’m being honest, seeing you and Abaddon screw up made me feel great.”

“I’m so happy to be of service.”

“But I know that it’ll trouble Master if I’m always acting on my own in my best interests, so I thought about what you guys said and wanted to say this.” She stuck out her hand to him. “Let’s let bygones be bygones and work together properly from now.”

Mímir clasped her hand. “That’s fine with me. Abaddon will take some convincing, but I assure you he will come around in the end.”

“That muscle head won’t ever let it go.”

“Mania.”

“What? Are we saying that we can’t make fun of one another if we’re working together?”

“Not at all. However.” Someone knocked at the door. “It would seem that we have guests.”

Mania smiled sadistically, resisting the urge to bare her fangs. “Then, let’s not keep them waiting.”

***

Downstairs, spread throughout the room, were eight nasty, rough looking men in leather and chainmail armour. Two were stood by the entrance, three were spread out around the ground floor and three more of them were standing close to the bar, talking ‘politely’ to the staff.

What other patrons were in the tavern had left once those men entered.

Mímir and Mania confidently walked downstairs as the men turned to look at them, a few of them eyeing up and grinning at Mania. Mania felt her skin crawl from their gazes.

I really want to kill them!

Sensing her rising bloodlust, Mímir tapped her back, warning her not to, then walked right up to the men sat at the bar.

“Is there something I can do for you gentlemen?”

A gruff looking grey-haired man who seemed to be their leader grunted. “More like there’s something we can do for you, sir.”

“For me?”

“Care for a drink? I’ll buy it.”

Mímir shook his head and put on his best fake smile he could. “I don’t drink while I’m working and I’m afraid that we’ve recently increased our prices threefold for drinks. I hope you have the money on you to pay for that.”

While the grey-haired man laughed, one of his men tightened his grip on the dagger by his side.

“What’s another few Rhams, eh? I’m Ryan, by the way.” He offered Mímir his hand but it wasn’t taken. “It’s customary to introduce yourself when someone gives you their name in these parts, Curtis Forest.”

Mímir feigned surprise. They had, obviously, discovered who it was that had bought the Hierophant beforehand and had uncovered the fake story that Mímir had started circulating among the streets of Stonefall since they bought the place.

Curtis Forest was a retired adventurer who lived in the northern countries all his life and had settled down after meeting the love of his life, Olivia Vander. With his considerable wealth, they had bought the Hierophant and were already attracting attention from their competition.

“From where I’m from, it’s rather rude to dig into someone’s personal life before meeting with them. I take it you fine gentlemen are mercenaries.”

Ryan chuckled. “Of a sort, you could say. More like, protectors than anything, sir.”

“Protectors?”

“Oh yes. Stonefall might seem like a pretty little place, but, here in the merchant’s district, it’s always a battlefield fought in the shadows. One day, you’ll be on top of the world, raking in massive profits the likes of which most folk wouldn’t see in their lifetime and then bam!” Ryan slammed his fist against bar to emphasise his point. “Someone’s paid someone to come and take you down.”

Mímir remained perfectly calm during Ryan’s explanation. The staff that they had brought from the castle, however, were spooked, amusing Ryan’s men.

“I take it that fine men like yourselves exist to stop such things from happening, correct?”

“Indeed, we do. My employers are actually the main supplier of protective mercenaries in Stonefall and anyone who’s anyone is kept safe by us, I assure you.”

“I find that hard to believe when you won’t give us your name.”

Mímir glared at Mania; he knew that she was fed up of listening to this farce, but they had to pretend to be regular people, not the Demon Emperor’s chosen generals.

In reality, if Mímir or Mania wanted to, they could cut Ryan and his men into ribbons but, as per their orders, they couldn’t afford to draw any unnecessary attention to themselves and that meant not attracting suspicion upon their operation.

Mania, I know how you feel, but please do not ruin this.

Ryan, clearly bemused by Mania, grinned at her and whistled. “Shouldn’t a pretty thing like you know not to be so stupid?” His men chuckled beside him. “You wouldn’t want something bad to happen to your beloved or your home, would you?”

Like you vermin could do anything to us!

Externally however, she just sighed and folded her arms.

“I believe my wife asked you to identify yourselves, Ryan.”

Mania quietly feigned throwing up in her mouth.

“We, good man, are the Sons of Tartarus. We are the prime defenders of good, honest folk like yourself from all the nasty people in the world. We exist in the shadows to protect you from those in the shadows, if you get my drift?”

“…I do.”

“All we ask of you, Curtis, is a small fee every week to ensure that you’re kept from the many dangers of Stonefall. I mean, for all you know, the militia or legion might come over here one day, get drunk, trash the place and refuse to pay for the damages. What would you do when that happened? I’ll tell you what; we’d cover the costs for you out of the fee you’d paid us.” Ryan grinned. “It’s a good deal, no?”

Mímir thinly smiled at him. “And how many Rhams would that be a week I wonder for such kind services?”

“Nothing much, just two thousand Rhams and you get to go to sleep happily every night. Otherwise.” He leant forward and whispered, “I’d hate to see such a beautiful woman reduced to something even her lover couldn’t bear to look at.”

“Try it, worm.”

Mímir could clearly see a vein in Ryan’s forehead pulse at Mania's remark. He bit his lip, chuckled and slowly turned to face Mania.

“The fuck you say to me?”

Mania smiled, unfolded her arms and stepped closer to Ryan. “Try it. Worm. Are you both deaf and stupid?”

Everything went silent.

Everyone watched anxiously to see what Ryan or Mania would do next.

It was unthinkable that someone would stand up to the Sons of Tartarus, but the servants from the castle were more terrified of Mania’s anger than the thugs threatening them.

Then, in an explosive second, Ryan drew his sword and swiped at Mania.

Before he could even get the full blade out of its sheath, Mímir leapt over the counter, grabbed Ryan’s arm, broke his wrist, and twisted the thug’s arm behind his back.

Ryan roared in agony as his sword cluttered to the floor and Mímir pinned him to the counter.

The two men beside Ryan drew their weapons but Mímir pulled a knife from his belt and held it to Ryan’s neck.

“One wrong move and he’s dead.”

The Sons of Tartarus hesitated.

In their arrogance, they had spread themselves out so thinly around the room that they were far away from the staff and Mania, meaning that there was no one they could quickly grab and hold as a hostage without the risk of Ryan’s throat being cut.

Ryan grunted and struggled against Mímir’s iron-like grip, but Mímir dug the blade into Ryan’s neck, drawing blood.

“Alright, alright! We won’t do anything like that again, okay?”

“Did you really think I’d be dumb enough to believe you?” Mímir mumbled, digging the blade a little bit deeper.

“I swear it on my life! On my honour!”

“Honour? Rich coming from scum like you.”

One of the men started to run at Mania, but he stopped when Mímir threatened to slice Ryan’s throat open.

“Try it. I am a former A-ranked adventurer of the highest honours from a place far greater than the gutters you’ve come from. If I see any of you or your men ever come close to my home again, I will kill them. Do you understand?”

Ryan nodded his head just a little bit so he didn’t make his wound any worse.

“Get it down in writing. You.” Mímir gestured at one of the men near the counter. “You have paper on you, don’t you?” The man nodded. “Take it out and cross out whatever contract you had written and write what I just said down. You have ten seconds.”

The man quickly did as instructed and then showed Mímir the paper as evidence. Mímir then made Ryan sign it before finally releasing him. He then snatched up the paper before Ryan could get it and pocketed it.

“Now then, I shall be reporting this to the appropriate authorities later today and you know what happens if you were to break a legally binding contract, correct?”

Ryan spat at Mímir, dirtying his white shirt and then beckoned his men out. Ryan was the last one out and he left after a few parting words.

“This isn’t over.”

Once the door was closed, one of the staff members locked it and hurriedly backed away, fearing that the thugs might still be nearby.

“This isn’t good.” Mímir dismissed his illusion and sighed. “You.” He pointed at a random servant. “Take one of the Ravens and to the nearest guard post and ask who to give this document to, then get it submitted at the city’s records if possible.”

“A-at once, my lord. B-but what do we do when they return?”

“We shall have to simply find new ways of scaring them off. Perhaps it might be worth seeing if we could disguise the Machai as human soldiers to act as our guards. If push comes to shove, Mania or I would be more than enough but that’s the worst-case scenario.”

“My lord, where is Lady Mania?”

Fearfully, Mímir looked around and searched for Mania, but found no signs of her.

Oh no.

***

Ryan had never faced such humiliation before.

His arm and wrist ached, his neck was bleeding and, worst of all, he’d been beaten one-sidedly in front of his own men.

“Who the hell does that bastard think he is?” Ryan grumbled loudly as they walked down the back alleys. “Thinks he’s a big shot just because he used to be an adventurer.”

It had all happened to quickly for Ryan to fully understand what had happened.

The Sons of Tartarus had absolutely been in control of that entire situation, there was no doubt about it. The staff were scared stiff, the wife was clearly uncomfortable with them being there and, though he tried to hide it, Curtis would have been shaken by having so many armed enemies around him.

How the hell did we end up running with our tails between our legs and with a stupid contract like that signed?!

Ryan threw his unbroken fist into the wall and then kicked it a few times. Once he had gotten out his anger, he took a long, deep breath to calm himself down.

“What should we do, boss?”

“What we always do to people who cross us. We’ll come back tonight and rough it up. Let’s see how arrogant that Curtis git is once we’ve destroyed his tavern and beaten his wife.”

Someone cackled from behind them.

They turned and saw Curtis’s wife, Olivia, there, clutching her stomach and laughing giddily at them.

“What’s so funny?”

Olivia wiped a tear from her eye. “You’re more pathetic than I thought. He beat you up so easily and then you started talking about how you’d win next time. It’s amusing that a bunch of weaklings like you would say that about us.”

Ryan grunted and let out a low laugh, drawing his sword. “Seems like you don’t understand what an unwinnable fight is, lady. In case you can’t count, there are eight of us and one of you. Actually.” Ryan smirked. “There’s a bit more than that now.”

Six more men came out from behind Olivia and eight more came from the sides, bringing their total up to twenty-two.

“Change of plans, boys. We’ll have our way with her and leave her for dead. That ought to send Curtis a message not to fuck with us.”

Even after hearing that and seeing more men surround her, Olivia didn’t stop smiling.

If anything, she looked happier than she did before.

“Ah, it’s been so long since I got to let loose. Forgive me, Dark Lord, but I can’t help it!”

A second later, something zoomed towards Ryan’s group, cutting four of the men beside him clean in two, spraying their blood over their comrades.

It wasn’t until their torsos dropped onto the ground that the Sons of Tartarus were able to grasp what had happened.

“You vermin really do know how to piss people off, if nothing else.”

A magical aura engulfed her, tearing her clothes to shreds, revealing her bat-like wings.

“I thought I could hold it in, but you guys just pissed me off too much. I could handle it if you were only talking about Mímir and I, but then you went and threatened the Dark Lord.”

“W-who?”

“You said you would reduce me to a state where even the one who loves me couldn’t stand to look at me, right?” Olivia’s blood-red aura flared and a few of them men’s legs gave out on them. “I thought I’d be generous and return the same courtesy to you maggots!”

Olivia swung her whip forwards at Ryan’s men again, severing three of them right down their nose in half, and then leapt forwards towards Ryan. She kicked him hard in the stomach with her heel, piercing his abdomen and dropping him onto his knees. She quickly withdrew her heel and swept it towards the eight men behind Ryan, sending them flying from the blast generated by her swing.

Olivia then cracked her whip at them, wrapping it around their legs and then tightening her grip, breaking their legs. She then dragged them towards her with a powerful, violent pull.

They landed roughly on their legs and screamed wildly, begging for mercy, a few tried to crawl away but her whip found them again.

It sliced open their backs and severed their spines, leaving them paralysed, unable to do anything but scream as the pain overwhelmed them.

As for the men that had been behind Olivia, they had been killed shortly after Olivia had revealed her true form to them.

Impaled in their necks were thin knives tied to strings and, holding those strings, was Curtis.

Ryan looked down at the blood gushing from his stomach and vomited up blood.

Olivia circled in front of him, her cruel smile back on her lips.

She wrapped her fingers around his skull; then, with her razor-sharp finger nails, she dug into the top of his head and pulled his scalp off, tossing it carelessly behind her.

And just like that, twenty-two members of one of the toughest and most infamous underworld organisations in the Holy Empire had been killed.

***

Much to his annoyance, Mímir’s fears had been realised.

Mania had followed the Sons of Tartarus and killed them all.

Had he been a moment too late, some of them could’ve escaped and put the entire operation in jeopardy.

Thankfully, he’d easily found Mania in time and made sure there were no survivors.

However, there was a much greater issue at hand.

Ryan’s men weren’t even a hundred metres from the Hierophant when they’d been slaughtered.

“Why couldn’t you hold it in? You’ve violated the Dark Lord’s orders.”

“I know that!” Mania winced a little as she finished off the last victim. “But I just couldn’t hold it back any longer. I was able to for most of it, but then they-”

“Mentioned a lover?” Mania nodded. “Mania, you can’t let every little insult trouble you this much, not when we are preparing in the shadows.”

“I know that. I know I messed up and it’s worse than what you guys did, but.” She showed Mímir a pathetic smile. “Is it wrong to get upset for the one you love?”

So that’s how it is.

It hasn’t even been a month since we were first summoned and yet she has already fallen for him. This is something I must take into greater consideration moving forward.

“You didn’t leave any traces of our false identities on the bodies, did you?”

“No. I did shred my clothes but.” She snapped her fingers and small bats appeared in the air and began to feast upon what remained of the fabric. “That’s been taken care of. Should we leave the bodies for the wolves or try to dispose of them?”

Mímir shook his head. “I’ll string them up here and leave them as a grotesque warning.”

“A warning?”

“I’ll explain it once we’ve reported back to the Dark Lord.”

“…Right.”

Once the bodies were left hanging across the alleyway like laundry left out to dry, they returned to the Hierophant.

“I’m sorry,” Mania whispered pathetically.

Actually, this might be a good opportunity to bring us generals closer together.

“Don’t be. Even if you struck first, I'm also at fault. I was going to kill them myself once they started insulting the Dark Lord; however, I don’t think that he will be happy to hear that we disobeyed his orders for such petty reasons.”

Mania dug her nails into her arm. “He’s going to be furious with me.”

“Indeed. However, as I have already said to you and Abaddon, we three must learn to work together to ensure such things don’t happen again.”

“…Right.”

While their failure was a great one and one that would no doubt end harshly for them both, Mímir’s mind was already thinking through a thousand possibilities and eventualities of what was to come.

Of course, it would mean that Mímir’s opinion would fall again in the eyes of the Dark Lord, but it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make if it bore a greater benefit in the long run.

“Before we return, might I ask one final thing?”

“…What?”

“Why do you love the Dark Lord so much?”

Mania smiled faintly. “His strength. His power. The way he commands absolute control over everything. For a succubus like me, there’s no one greater than he to serve and love.”

“…I see.”

***

The corpses of the Sons of Tartarus members were discovered just an hour after Mímir and Mania had hung them there.

Once they’d been found, news spread throughout Stonefall like wildfire.

Rumours, whispers and mumblings gave life to the first signs of a looming disaster approaching the Holy Empire of Themis.

At that time, none of them knew that this was the first sign of the Demon Emperor in this world.