Chapter 37: The First Lieutenant?

Some time after that party departed Ehccihster they arrived in the Empire city, their first goal was to find somewhere to stay within the city, while they sorted out their affairs that they needed to in preparation for taking on the Dark King. And so, the party decided to seek out this worlds equivalent of a real estate agent to help them buy a place to use as a temporary base in the city while they wait for the slow hand of government bureaucracy to take their application for an audience with the emperor and pass it along the necessary channels. With that the party begin their search, to very little success and because of the long travel time and their late arrival time to the Empire city the sun is now setting, and the party don’t feel like being arrested for camping out in the middle of the city. But with no other viable plan they try to find a secluded corner of the city to set up camp in, as they’d rather not wander aimlessly around the city for the entire night not knowing where to go. While the party were looking for a good place to set up their temporary camp they get spotted by one of the empire’s soldiers while on their patrol.

“Hey! What are you doing out at this hour, return to your home immediately.”

Confronted with the soldier, like they did way back when they first entered Ehccihster Ilev stepped forward and told a half truth. One that should get them housed but not arrested.

“Yeah, we don’t have one yet. We arrived here this evening on a mission from another state, however they didn’t arrange any accommodation for us once we arrived here thinking that we’d have ample time to sort that out when we arrived. As it turns out we did not.”

After hearing Ilev’s response the soldier went into a deep thought about what to do with this new set of people that had just arrived, as they hadn’t broken any of the empire’s laws because they don’t have an address to return to because of delays in their travel plans which can hardly be blamed on the travellers after all. After a moment that stretched on into the infinite another voice called out.

“Soldier they are with me, their commander forgot to tell them about the accommodation situation because of the nature of the mission. Welcome to Empire city, I am your lesion within the city. Obviously, they didn’t tell you about that either as I’ve been looking for you all day.”
“Well if they are staying with you madam then please take them to their accommodations, and please make sure your commanding officers sort out their lack of proper planning for future visits to Empire city.”
“I will send a letter at the first light tomorrow to them. Goodnight soldier.”

Ushering the group away from the now quite confused soldier, the hooded woman drops their hood and reveals themselves to the party as Isla.

“I knew you’d get here eventually so I took it upon myself to get here first as you’d probably find yourself in that situation knowing what I know about you all. Come I have a place prepared for you to use during your stay in Empire city.”
“Isla, what, why, how?”
“All good questions Arano, let’s say that the Lord Seolfor and I remain good friends. By that I mean he told me that you were the party he gave the grand quest too. So, knowing about the material that can kill the Dark King can only be found in the Empire now, I knew you’d have to come here to get your hands on a weapon forged from that material. Meaning I came here first and made sure you had a place to stay, because your application to see the emperor doesn’t need any black stains on it from breaking imperial law, does it?”
“You are correct, it most certainly does not.”

The rest of the walk was quiet as Isla walked the party through the back alleys of the city eventually arriving at a moderately sized house, which she promptly entered and waved the party inside before another soldier came by on patrol. Inside the party all but collapsed then and there due to their exhaustion from travelling for so long, but they just about managed to pull themselves into the rooms Isla had designated for each pair before they collapsed. Wanting a nice long rest, they are forcibly awoken to the sound of bells tolling backing the indistinct shouting by soldiers outside the windows. Confused by the sudden commotion the party gear up and head outside their temporary base, only to be told by a passing soldier that they should remain inside and let the military handle the threat to the city. Now intrigued by the situation the party ignore the soldier and using a maze of back alleys and other unpopulated streets find their way to the source of the commotion. With the party perched on a rooftop nearby they can see a single person standing in the middle of an encirclement of Empire soldiers.

“Alyssa.”
“Who?”
“Oh? I guess nobody bothered to tell you know their names yet. Well, that is Alyssa the Wisdom, one of the Dark Kings Lieutenants. She’s a vicious Kitsune mage, but she rarely attacks head on like this. Instead preferring a stealthier approach using curses and the like to take out obstacles.”
“Right, well we knew one of them was a Kitsune. And to be honest we didn’t even realise they would have names. My question is why is she here?”
“Would you like to find out?”
“I would like to remove her from the playing field if that is at all possible with our current equipment. It would save us from having to deal with her later and significantly reduce the strength of the Dark King’s forces.”
“Well said Ilev, let us join the fight shall we. We are more than capable of removing her from the playing field, after all we have our own high rank mage among us.”

Everyone turns to look at Lexa.

“Huh? Me go up against them? Not a chance. Remember what the broker said the Kitsune are the strongest race of mages ever, that and she’s overflowing with mana.”
“Yeah and you are too.”
“Shut it Aromi, not helping. But if you lot want to fight her now then let’s just get it over with. We’ll have to fight her at some point I guess.”