Chapter 38:
Blessed Beyond Reason: How I Survived a Goddess Mistake by Being a Vampire
Anna’s offer hung in the air. She held the bag of corruption seeds out to the Captain, her expression neutral.
Zebril processed the situation with the speed and efficiency of a military logistician. Her senses told her the bag contained something dangerous. Her experience told her that matters of dark magic were volatile and unpredictable. Her mind evaluated the chain of command.
Anna was operating, by all accounts, under the direct purview of Lady Serenya. The Saint, the highest authority in the land on matters of holy and profane magic, had chosen this vampire as her agent. Zebril’s own duty was to manage the barracks, to keep the soldiers fed, armed, and ready. Transporting apocalyptic magical artifacts was far outside her job description and her expertise.
To take the bag would be to interfere in an operation sanctioned by a higher power and undertaken by a proven, albeit strange, asset. It was illogical and inefficient.
Zebril looked from the bag to Anna’s unwavering eyes. She let out a short, decisive breath and shook her head, pushing the bag gently back towards Anna.
“No. That won’t be necessary.”
Her voice was firm, not with trust born of faith, but with trust born of logic. “My expertise is in supply chains and inventory, not dark magical artifacts. This is a matter for the Saint.”
She crossed her arms, her stance solidifying her decision. “Lady Serenya entrusted this task to you. It is not my place to interfere with the Saint's direct orders or the work of her chosen agent.” A flicker of her motherly concern returned to her eyes.
“Just… be careful. And come straight back when you are finished. I’ll make sure the kitchens have a proper meal waiting for you, not just leftovers.”
“Very well then, I’ll get going. But before that, do you know a place that you wished had been purified?”
“Hmm...? Why would you like to know?”
“I can tell Serenya to cleanse it for you.”
Deep in the quiet, moon-dappled forest, Anna stopped. She pulled the small, warm stone from her pouch and knocked on it twice. The connection was almost instantaneous, Pietta’s voice whispering directly into her mind as if she were standing right there.
“Yeah? Anna? You need anything?”
“I have information for Lord Yarte,” Anna said, her voice a low, urgent murmur. “Tell him I have a confirmed location for the Saint. She will be at the Tramble Site, deep in the west forest.” She had picked the name of what Zebril had given her, a forgotten ruin in the middle of nowhere.
There was a pause on the other end, then Pietta’s cautious voice returned. “Confirmed? How? Where is this information from?”
Here it was. The real test.
“It’s a deduction based on new intel,” Anna explained, her tone shifting to that of a confident, master strategist. She infused her voice with the cold, hard logic she knew Yarte would respect. “I overheard the knights in the barracks. The Saint is the one who purified the Ironwood farm and the outer forest. She’s working methodically, cleansing corrupted areas one by one as she moves toward the city.”
She let that partial truth sink in before delivering the brilliant lie. “The Tramble Site is the only major landmark in this quadrant that hasn’t been purified yet. It’s a ruin, steeped in old magic. Cleansing a place like that will take far more time and concentration than a simple farm. It is the next logical target in her campaign. She will be a fixed, occupied target.”
She pressed the final point home. “This is why your progress has been hindered. She is actively working against us, and it’s slowing the Morvanium’s advance to a one-week timeline. I don’t think I’m reporting a rumor I overheard.”
The lie was a perfect tapestry of truth and fiction, woven together so tightly it was impossible to see the seams. Even Maren, listening in telepathically, was stunned into silence.
“Understood,” Pietta finally said, her voice now filled with awe and excitement. “This is invaluable. Lord Yarte will be pleased.”
Uetum’s voice suddenly cut in, full of childish eagerness. “Nyaa!! Anna-chan is really sure Serenya will be there, nya?!”
“I am,” Anna said with unshakeable confidence. “Tell your lord to prepare his ambush. I’ll still be at the barracks.”
She cut the connection, leaving the two girls to relay her fabricated intelligence.
Maren, however, was having a complete and utter meltdown in Anna’s head.
“You just made all of that up! Every single word!” the sword shrieked, her mental voice cracking with a mixture of terror and amazement. “You search where it is at the map for two seconds, heard one report from a nun, and concocted an entire military forecast! I almost believed you! You terrifying, pathological liar! Are we the bad guys?! I think we might be the bad guys!”
“But still tho... Tramble is a word in here? That’s interesting...”
“Mnnaaa, yes! It’s basically where the armies of knight usually hang out before doing any operation in the forest. It means March of the Many, basically.”
A moment after Maren's explanation, the stone in Anna's pouch hummed again. She pulled it out, and Uetum's excited voice immediately came through, layered over Pietta’s.
“Anna-chan! Lord Yarte is mobilizing the Shadow Guard and the Horned General! He’s really sending an army! Can Uetum go fight the Saint too?! Please, please, please!”
Anna chuckled, “I hope not,” she said, her voice softening into a tone that was unexpectedly gentle. “I like you, Uetum. I don’t want you to die.”
“Nyaa? Die? Uetum is strong!” the catgirl protested.
“Not strong enough,” Anna stated simply. “Serenya has thirty-four million mana. She’s not a match for you. She’s not a match for any of us.”
A sharp gasp came from Pietta. “Thirty… thirty-four million?!” The number seemed to suck all the excitement out of her. Her voice turned deadly serious. “I knew it! You heard that, Uetum? Do NOT get near the Tramble Site! Our job is to corrupt this city and search the mines, not get ourselves vaporized fighting a god! Lord Yarte already has his army for that!”
“But nyaaa!! Uetum wanna fight!!” Uetum whined, the sound like a petulant teenager throwing a tantrum. “Big fight! So cool! Uetum can be super fast and go ‘swoosh’!”
Anna let out a patient sigh. It was time to handle the moody infant.
“Uetum, listen to me very carefully,” Anna said, her voice dropping, becoming conspiratorial and serious. “The ambush at the Tramble Site is just Phase One. It’s a brute force attack distraction for Yarte’s main army. They are disposable pawns, meant to wear the Saint down and test her limits.”
“Disposable…?” Uetum asked, her whining tapering off into confusion.
“Exactly,” Anna continued, pressing the advantage. “Our job—yours, Pietta’s, and mine—is far more important. It’s Phase Two. While Serenya is busy incinerating Yarte’s grunts in the forest, who do you think is going to be protecting the capital? That’s when we secretly to in, no fight, ok?”
She leaned in closer to the stone, her voice a compelling whisper. “I can’t do that alone. I need your speed, Uetum. I need your ability to get in and out of places no one else can. Your job is to be my blade in the shadows when the real opportunity appears, saving everyone in the mines.”
“Saving everyone in the mines...?”
“Exactly. Can Marutur and the horned demon armies do that? No. They’re too big, too slow and too loud.” She paused, delivering the final, ego-stroking blow. “Only you can. Secretly going in and out of the mines when I found the key.”
The silence on the other end was telling. The whining was completely gone, replaced by a puffed-up, proud excitement.
“Nyaa!” Uetum finally burst out, her voice filled with newfound purpose. “A secret mission! A Phase Two! Uetum is not a disposable pawn! Uetum is Anna-chan’s… blade in the shadows and portal opener! Okay! Uetum will wait for the real plan!”
Anna smiled. “Now then, I will find the key ok? You both can continue spreading elsewhere nowhere near the tremble site.”
“Okie dokie nya!”
With the connection to her chaotic assets severed, a predatory smile bloomed on Anna’s face in the quiet of the forest. The game board was set. The pieces were moving. Now, it was her turn to play.
“Maren,” she said, her voice a low, excited hum. “Get ready to hunt.”
The sword, which had been mentally recovering from Anna’s masterful lie, hovered in silence for a few seconds.
“Mnnaa?!” Maren’s voice finally squeaked in her mind. “We’re the hunters? Hunt what?”
Anna’s smile widened, her orange eyes gleaming with a terrifying light. “I don’t know… demons, maybe?” she mused, her gaze turning towards the deep western forest. “The ones gathering at the Tramble Site? I’m sure we can get to fifty million mana quick with this.”
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