As I approached Katiana's rooms, I saw the doors were open, with maids running in and out carrying items both ways - my wife's voice could be heard over the bustle, giving instructions.
"...extra weapons spread evenly to all five item bags; that is chocolate treats - bag 3 has a low temperature - ditto with the dried fruit. Extra dresses and undergarments? Bag 4. Oh, that is fluffy pastry - put that on the table here, I'll take care of it. Spare armored maid outfits? Bag 2. Books? Ah, bag 1 is fine... Has anyone seen my spare star-metal knuckled gloves? Eh, on the table they go, thanks... Oh snacks for Nozomi? Bag 3. My portable perfume lab kit... yes, I want that, onto the table, please..." [Katiana]
Well, someone is sure busy - I decided to leave Katiana to her own devices and moved towards my office, as I still had some work to complete.
As I turned away from the door, I felt a light tug on my shirt sleeve.
Gina, vice-leader combat maid of "Wings of the Goddess" motioned for me to follow her a bit down the corridor.
Again with me not noticing her presence.
I really need to find something I can "hook" onto with her - but she moved more silent than most ghosts and her considerable magic was immaculately controlled.
Just like with my wife, Gina's magic didn't even leak a tiny bit - although with Katiana I was considering she might be actually almost without magic.
After all, I had never seen Katiana do any magic at all, even though she could use her new card to sign for purchases using magic - ah well, something for later investigation.
"My Lord, I just wanted to let you know that yesterday we had my Lady surrounded at all times - the only time she was out of our sight was for a few minutes in a changing room - and we had a maid stationed in the two changing rooms on either side of hers, one on the other side of the wall, one on the floor above, and one outside the changing room curtain, while I was checking out the basement under the changing room - just in case there were any trap doors." [Gina]
"Fine - but why tell me that?"
"If we are travelling, I think the whole 'Wings of the Goddess' party will need to come along, so we can rotate shifts - yesterday was a bit hard on just us six without breaks..." [Gina]
"Of course... I agree. I'll add an extra carriage to the expedition caravan, thank you for informing me."
Gina bowed and returned to my wife's room.
"Good afternoon, my Lord." [Stephanus the Steward]
My steward brought in a tray of tea and a few sandwiches as a snack.
"What do you think of the maids that accompanied my wife yesterday?"
"According to the bakery, your mother's maids went above and beyond to protect my Lady every second she was shopping." [Stephanus the Steward]
Of course I had my agents watch my wife and the maids, too.
"Steward, please give each of the six maids a month's worth of salary today as an immediate bonus - from my personal account."
Yes, the "Wings of the Goddess" were my mother's special agents, but it was my wife they had been protecting, so this was fair.
"Of course - I will take care of it." [Stephanus the Steward]
After my steward left, I reached for a new pile of documents - and paused my hand halfway to the documents.
Huh, let's say something else for a change, shall we?
"Garlic."
Shadow detached himself from the shadows and looked quite dejected.
"Ah really? Sheesh Dukey, how do you do it? I haven't touched any stinking roses for days now..." [Shadow]
"The amount of garlic you have gobbled down over the years means you are a walking garlic toast. It will take a while before that leaves your pores. How about trying out some of my wife's perfume, as a cover up?"
Shadow's eyes lit up in hope - useless hope, but hope nevertheless.
"Will that really help? Thanks boss, I''ll try that!" [Shadow]
Of course it won't help - unlike with my wife or Gina, I sensed him by the ever-so-faint sliver of magic leaking from his talent at melting into shadows - but I was not about to let him know that.
"So, what do you have for me today?"
"Oh, right - so you remember that lanky straw haired Baron de Tohdstuhl that was at the Marchess's secret meeting the other day?" [Shadow]
"So that was his name. Fitting. Yes, both mother and my wife singled him out as a mole... And?"
"Oh boy - a mole - more like a nasty boil - well, we got our hands on a full transcript of all conversations he's had with the second Empress's faction - and some other shady thugs." [Shadow]
"And how did that so comfortably fall into our hands?"
"One word. Demon of Blades. Well, three words... Showed up middle of yesterday on the third floor of the bakery - and when I mean showed up - they 'poof' appeared out of thin air in the middle of the office - same as what you described happened when the fake bandits attacked the Earl's daughter." [Shadow]
"Did the Demon talk to you?"
"Not me - one of the clerks. Who can't recall any of the actual words, just the meaning." [Shadow]
I stroked my chin... hmmm...
"That is the same thing that has been reported by anyone that has dealt with the Demon."
"Yep - Anyway, we received a voice recording crystal - pretty rare artifact that - with hours of material. Our information specialists are putting together an abridged document for you - they've already been working all night on it. Lots of useless bla bla on it with some gems every so often, so it's been tough going for them. Should be ready for you before you leave." [Shadow]
"How did the Demon get the recording?"
"The clerk reported the Demon of Blades explained about having 'bugged' the Baron with a special slime? It didn't really make sense, though." [Shadow]
Aha - so that transparent slime that Katiana had transferred to Baron's arm the other day was one of the Demon of Blade's tamed pets - seeing as Katiana obviously had dealt with the Demon in the past, that actually made sense to me.
Without divulging what I knew, I simply nodded.
"I see. And I recommend something... fruity."
"Eh? Oh - right. The Duchess's perfume as a cover for garlic. Got it, I'll try that."
If I was prone to showing facial expressions, I probably would have smirked at that moment.
After my agent left, I returned to my work.
Noon the next day - the wagons and carriages were lined up in front of the mansion.
One carriage was for my wife, the other three for the members of the Wings of the Goddess that were not riding with my wife at the time.
The four covered wagons held our provisions, spare weaponry, and the tents.
We had swapped out the horses with half-dragons, as their speed and stamina was many times higher - also, half-dragons were cold-hardy, and would not be slowed down in the snow laden mountains we were aiming for.
The five squads of elites on their half-dragons made for an impressive sight - the squad flags flying on poles fastened behind each of the five commanders' saddles lazily swung in the noon breeze.
"Ah, Nitram dear - are you riding with me today?" [Katiana]
"Indeed, if you do not mind?"
"Fufu of course not! I can drill you with questions now before we reach our goal!" [Katiana]
"Fine, for today and tomorrow I will answer all your queries as well as I can - but I will also need to finish some of my work. After tomorrow night, I will be riding one of my half-dragons - we will be entering more dangerous territory then..."
"How long will it take to get to Beldorn mountains?" [Katiana]
"About four days with our current caravan setup - or about two weeks if we were using horses."
"Oh I was wondering why these cute children were pulling the carriages and wagons..." [Katiana]
She scratched the chin of the closest half-dragon - with half closed eyes it purred in typical guttural fashion.
"Indeed - here, allow me."
Holding my hand out to Katiana, I helped her enter the carriage - today, she wore a slightly bitter-sweet scent of minty sage.
I nodded at Gina who was sitting next to my wife in the carriage as I entered, too.
A few moments later my steward, standing at the top stair of the manor, held up his fist high.
The noises around us subsided.
A loud commanding voice resounded from the front of the caravan.
"Here this, magots! Move out!" [Egramora the Barbarian Queen]
And off we went on our expedition.
Katiana mostly looked out the carriage window at the quickly moving landscape as I was catching up with my ducal work.
Occasionally she would ask me or Gina some questions about the various areas we passed.
The afternoon grew old.
"We will be reaching our first stop in about a few minutes, my Lady - it is a larger town with a major inn, so we will prepare a bath for you. But the next evening will just be a village with a simple inn, so I am not sure what to expect there." [Gina the combat maid]
"That is fine, Gina - I am very used to roughing it - we will just take it a day at a time, and hope for the best!" [Katiana]
And indeed, we soon arrived at our first stop - the sun had already slipped below the horizon and dusk was growing darker.
The inn was pleasant enough and the food was plentiful - the five elite squads had made their own arrangements in other inns, but the "Wings of the Goddess" of course all accompanied my wife, and had booked all the rooms around hers.
The next morning we continued our journey.
Finally I got around to reading the digested transcript of the lanky straw haired mole, Baron de Tohdstuhl, that Shadow and his team had provided me.
Hm, according to this, the second Empress faction had already suspected that the first Empress had somehow survived their ambush - mainly because none of their thugs had ever been found again.
The most interesting information was their new plan to ambush us on the way to Beldorn mountains.
Sounds like they did not know we would be travelling with my elites and the "Wings of the Goddess"- unless they had something bigger planned, we probably would not even notice their ambush.
Stop number two was the last one in civilization - a small farming village with barely an inn.
To accommodate all the maids, Katiana decided to share her room with three of them.
Which I greeted with relief, as that meant she would be well protected.
Today I was riding my half-dragon at the front of the caravan as point-man.
Stop number three was in the ruins of a forgotten fort or outpost from a past empire - the leftover walls were constructed of man sized boulders perfectly cut to fit together without any mortar.
There was no roof of course, but we did have our tents along.
The night was cool, but we had also packed many heating stones, so the tents were cozy - the night passed uneventfully.
By the middle of day four we had reached the first pass into Beldorn mountains.
My instinct was acting up - this was a good spot for an ambush - I raised my fist.
"Heads up - beware."
While the elites unsheathed their weapons and moved into a defense formation, I spurned my half-dragon into a gallop to enter the pass first.
Something large and heavy hit my back.
As I rag-dolled towards the canyon wall I reflected that my instinct needed an upgrade.
While in the air I twisted around to look back at what had slammed into me with such force.
Oho!
A rock-ogre, almost three times my height, with a tree in its paw as a club, had manifested behind me just as I had entered the pass.
It seems we are dealing with at least one summoner - this might even get interesting!
