The 100 Days War - Chapter 4

The Alchemist’s Guild was one of the few organisations in Themis left largely untouched by the Demon Emperor’s forces.

On Mímir's orders, the guild members were not to be harmed during the sack and were not to be harmed whilst incarcerated before being re-released a week later. Ever since, they had been forced to cater their services to the Demon Emperor’s every whim.

If any of the Demon Emperor’s aides demanded something, the guild had to do it, even if it was creating healing potions.

They used expensive materials and the refinement process was a long and difficult one, and only a handful of senior alchemists were true masters of it.

On the surface, that is.

Most despised their new ruler, but they kept their heads down.

A handful actively plotted and collaborated with rebel cells in the city, and a few others had gotten together to do something even more daring.

They had poisoned the potions the Satyr Knight was coming to collect.

Albur, a young apprentice who had personally seen the terror of the Satyr Knight during the sack, had spearheaded the idea.

He and three others secretly schemed to poison not just the raw ingredients that were going into the potions, but they also laced the glass bottles with them just a minute before the Satyr Knight was scheduled to arrive.

“Are you sure this’ll work?”

“It has to! She’s only human, after all.”

“Only human?” Albur grunted. “You didn’t see what she did to Dante.”

“I’m glad I didn’t! How’d you even survive that slaughter?”

“I was cowering in my house at the time.”

One of the others chuckled a little.

“Shut up. Anyway, this’ll work.”

“Albur, we’ve put enough poison in those bottles to fell a giant. Are you sure it was a good idea to use that much when they might only drink one and destroy the rest?”

“It’ll be fine. The Satyr Knight’s never drunk them before now, so why did she start testing them today?”

“You’re certain?”

“I’ve been here all three times she’s come by. Trust me, it’ll work.”

“Actually, Albur, do you know how she runs through them so quickly? I mean, we’ve given her a year’s supply every time, so-?”

“How would I know?! I-!” Albur froze and shushed his co-conspirators. “She’s here.”

Whilst Albur and the others were waiting on the open second floor for the Satyr Knight, the more senior members of the guild were kneeling by the door ready to receive the Demon Emperor’s blade.

The potions were sealed in three small wooden crates and the alchemists were positioned behind them.

She entered followed by her aides, including a group of adventurers Albur hadn’t seen before, and the alchemists greeted her.

“We present ourselves before the honoured Satyr Knight!” The guild’s leader, Mitus the Grey, proclaimed. He was an elderly gentleman with a long grey beard and dressed in dark blue robes. “It is our honour to receive-”

“Wait.” The priest behind the Satyr Knight rudely interrupted. She sniffed a few times, then narrowed her eyes. Then, her head snapped up to Albur and she stared daggers at him. “Lucy.”

Before Albur had even blinked, an arrow found itself into his shin, causing the young alchemist to scream out wildly in agony. The whole guild went silent say for his screams, and no one dared to help him.

“Cain, bring him here.”

“Gladly.”

The swordsman cracked his knuckles, stormed upstairs and roughly dragged Albur by the scruff of his neck before the priest. He threw Albur to the floor, then stepped on his wounded shin for good measure.

“M-my lady, what is the-?”

“Open…the crates.”

“W-what?”

The Satyr Knight lazily turned her attention back to Mitus. “…Open them.”

Albur froze as his fellow alchemists awkwardly opened the crates, then retreated back behind Mitus.

“…Is there a problem with the items, my lady?”

The priest scoffed. “Drink one.”

“My lady?”

“Drink. One. Now.”

“…If you insist.”

“Don’t do it, Master!” Albur screamed, before cursing his own stupidity.

The priest smiled thinly and lightly pressed her heel into Albur’s open wound. “And why shouldn’t he? After all, they are just ‘healing potions’, aren’t they?”

“Albur? What have you done?”

“M-master, I-”

“You’re the Guild Master, right?” Mitus nodded at the priest’s question. “If you don’t want every single one of your guild members to die, you’ll drink that potion in its entirety right now.”

“…Jessica.”

Cain wolf-whistled and grinned whilst Lucy muttered her frustrations.

“…Is this priest’s orders your orders, Satyr Knight?” Mitus asked.

The Satyr Knight slowly shook her head. “No…but you…will follow it…anyway.”

Mitus weakly smiled and whispered, “I see.”

The guild master put on his fine white gloves and wrapped his hands around one of the bottles. Then, he uncorked it and hastily gulped the entire thing down, shocking Jessica most of all.

The great alchemist guild master, Mitus the Grey, who had spent his entire life fighting tooth and nail for his position, threw it all away to protect his kin.

Once he’d swallowed the bottle, Mitus stood firmly before the Satyr Knight, locking eyes with her hollow ones he could just about see through her armour.

Then, it began.

First, he vomited blood.

Then, his skin started to turn white.

Then, he started to scream and scratch at his body, desperately trying to let whatever venom was in his body out of it.

Then, he started to choke on the blood he was vomiting.

Then, he fell onto his side, unable to breath, speak or do anything but struggle, struggle and flail as his insides burnt like a blazing fire.

Finally, after a long, painful thirty seconds, Mitus the Grey lay still.

A few of the other alchemists threw up, many were sobbing, some prayed, but most were too shocked to do anything but weakly call out his name.

Albur himself couldn’t stop crying, he couldn’t stop blubbering the guild master’s name.

Cain whistled. “Damn. This little prick really must’ve hated your guts, Lady Hilda.”

Lucy nodded. “Indeed. It seems he intended the worst fate for one of the Demon Emperor’s favourites.”

Albur’s blood ran cold.

He meekly looked up at his oppressors, all of whom were staring right back at him, hatred flowing off their body like an aura.

“Should we kill this one too?”

“No…Albur lives…because of…Mitus.” The Satyr Knight lazily looked at the other alchemists one by one. “If any…of you…are ever caught…trying…to or…working against…the Demon…Emperor, then…you will…meet a fate much…worse than…Mitus. Have…more healing…potions…ready by the…end of next…week or…else.”

With that, the Demon Emperor’s party left, but not before Cain and Lucy took two of the crates carefully with them and Jessica smashed the last with her magic.

As she left, Jessica let out a cruel laugh.

***

Atryus - the empire’s greatest fort separating the east from the west.

From here, Saint Themis had held back two separate invasions from the Kingdom of Rhodes and twice she had slain their king.

When the Holy Empire fell, Fort Atryus was being guarded by two thousand members of the Holy Legion, but most of them had left with the refugees when they learned of what had happened in the capital.

Only two hundred men stayed behind; now, they were just another two hundred corpses guarding the walls.

From the top of the inner keep’s tower, Mania could survey the entire castle.

The fort had three walls; the first was a short outer wall, then, behind it, was a wall twice its size. The final wall was the one that encircled the inner keep.

Whilst each was manned by the undead primarily, the majority of the garrison were in the courtyard training, sleeping in their tents, or working on the fort’s defences.

The Demon Emperor said that the west would attack at least once within the next hundred days, but we don’t know when. She clicked her tongue. If that idiot Mimir were more capable, we’d know for sure!

Whilst the Demon Emperor’s information network inside his empire was impressive thanks to Mimir’s Ravens and Jorōgumo’s spiders, they had very few agents outside of their borders, and those that weren’t in the empire were in the north, not the west.

Despite her frustrations, Mania knew why they were shorthanded.

Mimir could only summon a Raven a week and they had lost a few fighting the Sons of Tartarus and the Holy Empire.

Jorōgumo had excellent control over her brood, but it took many weeks for a tiny spider suited for spy work to make its way across the border and into the west. Not to mention that many of these spiders had been accidentally killed by people thinking that they were normal pests.

I wish you could’ve sent a few more of those this way.

Instead, Mania had been gifted one hundred spiders the size of horses to use in the upcoming battle.

Just as Mania was getting bored, a portal opened behind her and Jessica’s party arrived, escorted by the Demon Emperor himself.

“Master!” Mania curtsied to him and then smiled seductively at him. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“And you too, Mania.”

“Forgive me for not being able to prepare a proper reception for you, Master. Had I known you were coming-”

“Don’t worry. I’ve only come to deliver them to you and then return to the Dread Keep. I trust that you will be ready for the west’s attack.”

“We will!” Mania got down on one knee and loudly swore, “I, Mania, servant of the great Demon Emperor, will bring you a victory worthy of your name.”

“Good.” The Demon Emperor went to leave, but stopped and said, “How’s your pet project coming along?”

She smiled brightly. “I’ll deliver what I promised and more, I swear.”

The Demon Emperor chuckled. “You did with Jessica’s party, so I have great expectations for this one.”

Mania and Jessica’s party beamed as the Demon Emperor took his leave.

Then, excitedly, Jessica leapt up into the air and spun around a few times.

“Did you hear that, Lady Mania?! He praised us!”

“He did, Jessica!” The two held hands and jumped up together. “He’s proud of both of us. Ah, if only Abaddon could’ve seen that so I could rub it in his face.” Mania cursed her bad luck and then said, “Well, I’ll just have to gloat nonstop the next time we meet.”

“Unless Lord Abaddon outshines you again, Lady Mania.”

“Cain!” Lucy clobbered the swordsman’s head. “Forgive him, Lady Mania, we ran into some trouble in Themis and-”

“It’s fine,” Mania said dismissively with a wave. “I already know that Abaddon’s thinking the same thing, so we just have to do better than he does. That’s all there is to it.”

“…If you say so, Lady Mania.”

“Still, it won’t be too hard, will it?” Mania chuckled. “There’s no way the west could throw enough men at us right now, not when their precious heroes are so close to being summoned.”

“Are we really not going to stop them completing the ritual, Lady Mania?”

“We’re not.”

“…Might I ask why?”

“Because the Demon Emperor has a plan for them.”

The heroes summoning.

A powerful, almost mythical magical ritual that had long thought to be lost. That is until the Goddess Harmonia descended into people’s dreams and taught them how to prepare and activate it.

If they were successful, then the summoned heroes would descend on the eve of the Demon Emperor’s first year in Aangapea.

Mania smiled sweetly as she thought about the times they’d spent together here, and how she longed to be embraced by the Demon Emperor again.

After his marriage, Lady Lilith approached Mania and said she’d be okay with concubines, though the Demon Emperor himself had yet to take one.

Maybe he’ll accept me if I do an excellent job here.

Her motivation restored again, Mania turned back to Jessica’s group and said, “Now, let’s talk about why you guys are here.”

“Lady Hilda said it was because you needed help defending the fort.”

“That’s right. Or, more accurately, it’s to help fill in for the times I’ll be back at the Dread Keep working on our weapon to win the upcoming border battle. In order to give his majesty peace of mind, I requested you three because I know you’re strong and I know you won’t disappoint me”

“Of course not, Lady Mania!” Jessica’s eyes sparkled.

“Good.”

“By the way, Lady Mania.”

“Yes?”

“What is the secret weapon you’re preparing for the battle?”

Mania licked her lips, before her lips turned up into a beautifully sadistic grin.

When Jessica’s party heard what the Demon Emperor had in store for the invaders, the party cackled.

Truly, they thought, what a glorious and vindictive plan.

***

Cliff’s Edge had changed.

Adventurers who once travelled there now stayed, choosing to live further away from the Demon Emperor’s tyranny, even though they slept at the bottom of the Shadow Tombs.

Nate and Mellissa, the owners of the inn the Demon Emperor and Rebecca stayed in, had seen the dramatic shift first hand.

When the news first reached them, they didn’t believe it.

Then, an army of demons and skeletons marched to their gates and demanded their submission.

Even the proud adventurers and soldiers had no choice but to surrender when they were outnumbered twenty to one.

Then, the village grew into a small refugee town and finally it was undergoing a transformation to become an official town of the Demon Empire.

Skeleton soldiers protected the Shadow Tombs whilst the Machai and Hysminai patrolled the streets.

Adventurers were still allowed to carry their weapons, but they were not permitted to draw them inside Cliff’s Edge.

If they did, they’d be arrested and have all their belongings confiscated and then be whipped through the streets.

As Nate had predicted at the time, that sort of punishment would lead to a lot of rebels gathering and an uprising wasn’t far off.

In fact, just two hours ago, before Nate was getting ready to go to bed, a hundred and ten adventurers and former Holy Legion soldiers tried to stage a rebellion.

They killed some of the demons and skeletons, but they were quickly overrun, caught and executed on the village’s main street.

Then, their bodies were left skewered on spikes and were not to be taken down for three days and nights.

Thankfully, Nate and Mellissa’s inn was nowhere near the bodies; the stench of iron and rotting flesh didn’t reach them.

“Honey, would you barricade the door tonight?”

“Sure.”

Awkwardly, Nate pushed their chest of drawers before the bedroom door and placed two sheathed knives beneath their bed, one on each side.

This had become the couple’s normal bedtime routine since the occupation began, and it wasn’t likely to change anytime soon.

“Nate.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think that the Great Goddess has abandoned us?”

“…No.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think abandoned’s the right word. If anything, it’s like she’s been usurped.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, it’s just…a feeling I have. Like the warmth I felt when I prayed to her has been stolen by something.”

Mellissa wrapped her arms around him and the two held one another gently.

“Nate?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m still going to pray for her to protect us.”

He smiled. “Me too.”